High-speed railway extends to South China's Karst regions

Ecns.cn) 11:08, September 01, 2023

A Fuxing bullet train G4308 departs Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, for Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, on Aug 31, 2023. (Photo/China News Service)

It marks the first railway of its kind to be built in either Guizhou or Guangxi, both of which are known for their Karst landscapes.

Spanning 482 kilometers, the Guiyang-Nanning High-Speed Railway was designed to facilitate a top speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

The new railway has reduced travel time from over five hours to approximately three hours, greatly benefiting residents in mountainous areas and contributing to economic growth along the route.

The railway has 13 stations, with the Guizhou section hosting six and the Guangxi section, seven.

Passengers pose for a photo on Fuxing bullet train G4308 as it departs Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, for Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, on Aug 31, 2023. (Photo/China News Service)

Passengers pose for a photo before Fuxing bullet train G4308 departs Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, for Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, on Aug 31, 2023. (Photo/China News Service)

A passenger takes a photo before Fuxing bullet train G4308 departs Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, for Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, on Aug 31, 2023. (Photo/China News Service)

A Fuxing bullet train G4308 departs Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, for Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, on Aug 31, 2023. (Photo/China News Service)

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Alabama's attorney general is insisting that he has the right to prosecute people who help pregnant women obtain out-of-state abortions. In a court filing earlier this week, Steve Marshall said such actions amount to criminal conspiracy.

Marshall's filing comes as part of a case involving the Yellowhammer Fund, a nonprofit that bills itself as an "abortion advocacy and reproductive justice organization." The group and two women's health centersthe West Alabama Women's Center and the

Alabama Women's Centersued Marshall in July over the attorney general's suggestion he could go after groups that help pregnant Alabamans get out-of-state abortions.

Marshall first made this suggestion last summer on a local talk radio program, The Jeff Poor Show. "If someone was promoting themselves out as a funder of abortion out of state, then that is potentially criminally actionable for us," Marshall said, according to the Yellowhammer Fund's complaint. "And so, one thing we will do in working with local law enforcement and prosecutors is making sure that we fully implement this law."

"There is nothing about that law that restricts any individual from driving across state lines" and seeking an abortion, Marshall continued. But an "entity or a group that is using fundsto facilitate" out-of-state abortion travel "is something we are going to look at closely."

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Marshall "specifically referenced the accessory liability and conspiracy provisions of Alabama law as the basis for prosecuting abortion funds," according to the Yellowhammer Fund complaint. And Marshall reportedly made similar comments at a Federalist Society meeting last summer. He stated "that Alabama law has a criminal conspiracy statute that could apply to attempts to procure an abortion out of state," according to Matt Clark, former president of the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty.

"By invoking these provisions to punish lawful activities, [Marshall] seeks to forbid the act of helping pregnant people obtain safe and lawful abortion care and chill constitutionally protected activities," the Yellowhammer Fund argued.

"The consequences of the threatened prosecutions are significant, even if a threatened prosecution would ultimately be unsuccessful," it added, noting that it is "not operating an abortion fund today because it fears Alabama's anti-abortion attorney general will target the organization."

This week, Marshall asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. The Yellowhammer Fund is "mistaken" in arguing that they "have a right to conspire with others in Alabama to try to have abortions performed out of state," Marshall's complaint asserted. "An elective abortion performed in Alabama would be a criminal offense; thus, a conspiracy formed in the State to have that same act performed outside the State is illegal."

"The conspiracy is what is being punished, even if the final conduct never occurs," stated Marshall. "That conduct is Alabama-based and is within Alabama's power to prohibit."

Marshall's motion makes clear that it's an array of activity that he considers criminal conspiracy, not just providing funds for someone in Alabama to obtain an out-of-state abortion. He mentions speech related to procuring out-of-state abortions, saying it "receives no constitutional protection," and argues that "the right to traveldoes not

grant Plaintiffs the right to carry out a criminal conspiracy simply because they

propose to do so by purchasing bus passes or driving cars."

Marshall has asked the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama to dismiss the Yellowhammer Fund's complaint.

A federal court recently rebuffed Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador for asserting that the state's abortion law gave him the power to prosecute doctors who referred women out of state to terminate their pregnancies. In early August, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho granted a preliminary injunction against Labrador enforcing the state's abortion law in that manner.

It seems unlikely that Marshall will fare any better by arguing that state conspiracy law gives him the right to do so.

Many legal scholarsand Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, among othersare fairly certain that states can't constitutionally ban people from traveling out of state for abortions themselves. Among other issues, it runs up against right-to-travel precedents set by the Supreme Court, and against the Dormant Commerce Clause.

"Abortion would count as an economic activity for Dormant Commerce Clause purposes," noted Damon Root last year. "This means that a state barrier which interferes with the ability of a state resident to take advantage of another state's economic activity (abortion) via interstate travel would be constitutionally deficient under the Dormant Commerce Clause."

This could also be relevant when it comes to helping others travel out of state.

And prosecuting people for referring others out of state for abortions or counseling them on how to get them definitely runs into First Amendment issues.

Can states prohibit paying for out-of-state abortions? A February decision in Fund Texas Choice v. Paxton may be instructive. "Charitable fundraising to support illegal conduct is likely to be constitutionally unprotected," lawyer Eugene Volokh wrote about the decision. "But here the court concluded that the fundraising was aimed at supporting legal conduct (since out-of-state abortions aren't legally forbidden by Texas law), and the Court has indeed treated fundraising for legal causes as constitutionally protected."

The post Alabama Says Helping With Out-of-State Abortions Is 'Criminal Conspiracy' appeared first on Reason.com.
Two men jet skiing off the coast of Morocco were shot dead by the Algerian coast guard after running out of gas and accidentally straying across the maritime border, Moroccan media reported Thursday. A survivor of the incident, Mohamed Kissi, told local media that he and three friends, several of whom were French-Moroccan nationals, had been jet skiing around Saidia, close to the Morocco-Algeria border.

"Around 5:30 p.m., we got lost. We were running out of gas for the jet skis and were drifting. In the dark, we found ourselves in Algerian waters," he told the Le360 news website on Thursday.

The Algerian coastal town of Marsa Ben M'Hidi, known as Port-Say during the French colonial period, just over the border from Morocco's Saidia, near where the jet ski incident took place. / Credit: Fahim Samere via Getty

An Algerian coast guard patrol approached the four jet skiers in an inflatable boat, Kissi said, and spoke to his brother Bilal. He said the four men thought they were going to get help, when suddenly the Algerian forces started shooting.

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"They clearly saw that we were unarmed, my little brother spoke to them and yet they fired," he said.

"Thank God I wasn't hit," Kissi told Moroccan newspaper Al Omk. "But they killed my brother and my friend."

Moroccan media identified Bilal Kissi, 29, and Abdelali Mechouer, 40, as the two men killed.

Kissi said he swam toward his brother and Abelali, calling their names, to try to help, before turning to swim as fast as he could back toward Morocco, where he was picked up by a Moroccan police patrol boat that was out looking for the men.

An unverified video posted online  reportedly by a Moroccan fisherman  showed a body wearing a life-jacket floating face-up in the clear blue water.

According to Moroccan media, the fourth member of the group, Smail Snabe, was shot and wounded in the incident and was being held in Algeria.

Authorities in Paris confirmed Friday that a French citizen was killed in Algeria, without identifying the victim. French officials also said another citizen was jailed in Algeria after "an incident involving several of our nationals."

French television channel BFMTV reported that the second man who was killed was Moroccan.

The Algerian coast guard did not respond to requests for comment from the AFP news agency. A Moroccan government spokesperson refused Thursday to comment on the incident.

A map shows the northwest African nations' Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. / Credit: Getty/iStockphoto

The border between the two countries at Saidia is only a "thin jetty," according to Le360.

The border between the two countries has been closed since 1994, and tense relations between Morocco and Algeria have been aggravated by a long-running feud over the disputed Western Sahara region.

In August 2021, Algeria severed diplomatic ties, accusing Morocco of "hostile acts," which Moroccan leaders called "completely unjustified."

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Wherever George and Amal Clooney are, they are sure to make quite the splash.

Their latest appearance was no different, as the two looked stunning and exuded elegance at their Clooney Foundation for Justices The Albies held at The New York Public Library on Sept. 28.

The human rights lawyer wore a shimmering white floor-length gown, while the actor looked suave in a black tuxedo.

The couple made one stunning pair at their event. (TheStewartOfNY / FilmMagic)

Photographs of the couple making their way into the event showed them being followed by videographers and photographers, who all wanted a glimpse of the pair.

The couples outing marks one day after their ninth wedding anniversary, which they celebrated on Sept. 27.

The couple at their Clooney Foundation For Justice's

Their latest appearance comes after they stepped out in style to attend the 2023 Venice Film Festival on Aug. 31. Photographs of the pair showed Amal Clooney glowing in a slip-style dress with an asymmetrical hem and drop waist.

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The two were also photographed getting into a boat on their way to the DVF Awards, designer Diane von Furstenbergs ceremony that celebrates extraordinary women. Amal Clooney was honored with the Leadership Award.

The couple seen in Venice, Italy, on August 31, 2023. (Franco Origlia/GC Images / Franco Origlia/GC Images)

George and Amal Clooney have been married since 2014 and are parents to twins Ella and Alexander.

Over the years, the Oceans 11 star  who was previously known as Hollywoods most eligible bachelors  has expressed how Amal Clooney stole his heart and became the love of his life.

Here is a look at their major life moments as a couple.

2013: George Clooney meets Amal Clooney

George Clooney met a then-Amal Alamuddin at his home in Lake Como, Italy, in July 2013, per The Hollywood Reporter.

The actor also told David Letterman on his Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction in 2018, that they met through a mutual friend who was paying him a visit. The Ticket to Paradise actor joked that he didnt even have to leave the house to meet the woman of his dreams.

Its the wildest thing, Clooney told David Letterman on his Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction" in 2018. A mutual friend of ours said, Im stopping by and can I bring my friend? And I was like, Of course. I got a call from my agent, who called me and said, I met this woman whos coming to your house who youre gonna marry.

Coincidentally, Clooneys parents were also there and met their future daughter-in-law the same time he did.

The funniest thing was my mom and dad were visiting, so my parents were there, he said. And we just talked and we stayed up all night talking... I got her email address because she was going to send me some pictures of my parents and we started writing.

Adding, I didnt really, I didnt know if she wanted to go out with me. I just thought, you know, we were buddies.

In a cover story for Vogue in 2018, Amal Clooney said of emailing back and forth with the actor: Before that experience, I always hoped there could be love that was overwhelming and didnt require any weighing or decision-making.

She added that their romance felt like the most natural thing in the world.

October 2013: They were spotted on a date in London

The actor was then photographed with the attorney leaving Berners Tavern in London and sitting together in the back seat of a car, per E! News.

The actor spoke about their first date in London while talking to The Hollywood Reporter in September 2017. He invited her to visit him in the city while he was working on the film Monuments Men.

That was a good first date, he said. Then we went for dinner. She said, Lets go to this place. It was one of those places that was incredibly hip and chic. And when we came out, there were 50 paparazzi there. But she handled it like a champ. And pretty quickly, things escalated once I was in London.

The actor also told the outlet that they spent Christmas that year in Cabo San Lucas and went on a safari in Kenya.

April 2014: Amal and George Clooney get engaged

Clooney revealed in his THR profile that he started planning his engagement to Amal Clooney in February of 2014. Months later, they were engaged when he proposed on April 28, 2014, to be exact.

For the occasion, the Hollywood star made pasta for dinner and "over champagne" popped the question.

"After dinner, I told her there was a lighter to light the candle in the drawer, and she reached back and pulled out a ring, he recalled. And I did all the stuff, got down on my knee and did all the things youre supposed to do... and shes like, Holy s---! And she just kept staring at the ring, going, Oh, my God."

He said he was on his knee for 20 minutes and waiting for her to say yes because she was so shocked.

September 2014: George and Amal Clooney make their red carpet debut as a couple

By September of 2014, the pair was stepping out together in public. Their first red carpet moment and major event together was on Sept. 7 of that year  just weeks before they got married.

The couple coordinated in all-black to attend the Celebrity Fight Night gala benefitting The Andrea Bocelli Foundation and The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Florence, Italy.

The couple at the Celebrity Fight Night gala benefitting The Andrea Bocelli Foundation and The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center on Sept. 7, 2014 in Florence, Italy. ( Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Celebrity Fight Night)

September 2014: They get married in Italy

Months after getting engaged, George and Amal Clooney became husband and wife on Sept. 27, 2014.

The couple got married in front of about 100 family and friends in a private ceremony at the Aman Canal Grande luxury resort in Venice, Italy.

The bride wore a custom Oscar de la Renta French lace wedding gown, according to People, which shared photos from their ceremony. The Oscar winner wore a bespoke Giorgio Armani black tuxedo.

George and I wanted a wedding that was romantic and elegant, and I cant imagine anyone more able than Oscar to capture this mood in a dress, she also told Vogue.

February 2017: Amal Clooney is pregnant

News of Amals pregnancy was first revealed in February of that year. While the couple maintained relatively quite about their pregnancy, Matt Damon confirmed it to TODAY during an interview while congratulating the pair.

We were working together last fall. He came up to me on the set and took me aside and told me. I was so happy for him, he recalled. I was hugging him ... and I said, Well so, how far along is she? and he goes, Eight weeks. And Im like, Dont say anything!

The following month, George Clooney told Extra, She is doing really great. She is amazing. I dont have anything to do. There is nothing I can do to help, but make tea and stuff.

2017: Amal and George Clooney welcome twins

On June 6, the couple became first-time parents to twins, son Alexander and daughter Ella.

Per George Clooney, he told THR that their twins were a month premature with Alexander weighing five-and-a-half-pound Alexander and Ella weighing four-and-a-half-pounds.

It was wild, he recalled of becoming a father. You know, everything is conceptual until its real. Its like, Yeah, were going to be parents, yeah. And all of a sudden you go: Holy s---. Im a parent!

Adding, in part, I want them to be happy. I want them to have a sense of humor. I want them to be interested in things. I want them to be compassionate about other peoples plights. Because thats the thing, you know? You have to have some sort of empathy.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
PHILADELPHIA  In anticipation of a major gathering of rural activists a few weeks ago, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party printed out thousands of cards reminding voters to Vote at Polls: Election Day Tuesday November 8.

There was just one small problem: Election Day is Nov. 7.

Pictures of the mess-up were shared among Democratic insiders around Pennsylvania. It was, to many of them, the latest sign of a state party in chaos.

With a little more than a year to go until the 2024 election, the state Democratic Party is reeling from financial problems and a lack of trust across the party, according to interviews with 20 Democratic officials and operatives throughout Pennsylvania. They include elected officials, county chairs, state committee members, former state party employees and strategists.

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Its amateur hour, said a state committee member who, like other Democrats, was granted anonymity to speak frankly about a sensitive matter. Its a fucking disaster, said a former state party staffer.



The state party underwent a round of layoffs in July, which have not been reported until now. One of its political action committees only had $7,500 in the bank as of early June, according to its most recent campaign finance filings. And questions are mounting among Democrats in the state about the competency of its leadership, including state party chair Sharif Street .

The prevailing fear is that the party will not be in the strongest shape possible ahead of the presidential election and a key Senate race next year. A state Supreme Court contest, where Democrats are making abortion front and center, is on the ballot this November.

It's concerning that the state party is laying people off as we're heading into a really important Supreme Court race, which then leads into the presidential year, said Mike Mikus, a Pittsburgh-based Democratic consultant. Theyre going to have to figure out a path forward to build their own fundraising operation, and it sounds like theres a lot of building to be done right now.

A senior Pennsylvania Democratic elected official went further: Pennsylvania is the single biggest battleground state in the country in the presidential election, and we have a total incompetent, lazy guy who has no clue what he's doing running the state party.

In an interview, Street adamantly dismissed concerns that the committee is facing any financial challenges. He said the state party was awarded a $700,000 grant earlier this year by the self-described pro-democracy group democracyFIRST, which has helped fund the hiring of 20 organizers. He also said that he has already received checks for an upcoming fundraiser honoring former Gov. Ed Rendell.

And, he pointed out, the state partys federal PAC had $200,000 on hand as of its latest filing.

As for the layoffs, which included the co-director of the coordinated campaign for the judicial election and a political aide in western Pennsylvania, Street said he had to carry them out in response to worries from national donors. He said they told him that the staff overhead was too high, a result of him keeping on his employees after the 2022 midterms when Democrats swept races throughout the state.

I really should have done some of that trimming back last December, he said. But they were people who had won so many elections. We have done things no other party did. And I couldnt look at any of them in the face and say I wanted to let them go.

But the highest levels of the Democratic Party have expressed anxiety about the state committee. People who have talked to Biden officials have come away with the impression that they are concerned about it, according to three people familiar with those conversations.

The state party has also encountered disagreements with the Biden Victory Fund, a joint-fundraising committee between the Biden campaign, Democratic National Committee and state committees, as well as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee over basic contracts that are essential to raise money and coordinate. In the end, those contracts were executed, but the process took too long in the estimation of national officials and left them frustrated.

Asked for comment, DNC spokesperson Rhyan Lake noted the critical nature of the state and the sustained, historic investments the DNC has made in the state party. As we gear up for the presidential election, the DNC and Biden for President will continue investing heavily in the Keystone State and organizing Pennsylvania voters to reelect President Biden and Vice President Harris, Lake added.



Democrats said the slow walking with national officials wasnt the only time that the state party has dragged its feet in recent months. Last year, Democratic strategists and candidates complained that it took several days or even more than a week to get the state party to sign off on campaign mail, hindering their ability to respond quickly to events.

Joe Corrigan, a Pennsylvania Democratic strategist, said that he isnt confident that the party will have the staff it needs to approve mail in time for 40-plus candidates up and down the ticket next year: I dont see anyone that can handle the level of speed and complexity and attention to detail needed to ensure that paid communications are put in front of voters in a timely way.

Democrats also said they received an invitation for the partys upcoming Independence Dinner in September, a major fundraiser where Rendell is being honored, and the events QR code to purchase tickets was broken. Other invites with a working code have been sent since then.

Democrats complain that there have been other missed opportunities in fundraising. They said they have seen fewer fundraising emails this year from the state party after it parted ways with its digital fundraising firm, SB Digital.

Street said he stopped working with SB Digital because the state party wasnt getting much return for its investment. He said that has not had much of an impact on the state party because it has never relied much on small-dollar fundraising, though he does plan to bring on a digital fundraising firm again in 2024. SB Digital did not respond to a request for comment.

Street said he has not received any complaints about the September fundraisers QR code. He acknowledged that it previously took too long for the state party to approve candidates mail pieces but said that the party had a come-to-Jesus moment last summer and since reduced its turnaround time to under 24 hours. As for the cards with the incorrect date printed on them, he said they were not distributed to voters after Democrats noticed the error and that other cards with the accurate date were handed out at the event.

Street admitted that the state party has had disagreements with national Democratic officials and faced skepticism in general coming from Democrats in Washington, D.C. But he argued that was a byproduct of him taking a different approach to leading the party. As an example, Street said he has prioritized hiring organizers who are from Pennsylvania, which has led to clashes with some national Democrats.

Weve done things a little differently, and I know that may have ruffled some feathers with sort of the national chatterbox class, he said. They weren't exactly excited about my candidacy for chair for a lot of reasons.

But, he argued, his strategy of heading the party was proven successful last year when Democrats won the governors race and Senate contest in addition to flipping the state House. Politics is like sports, he said. We had a good record last year. Weve been winning.

Street, who is a state senator, has his allies. Ryan Boyer, leader of Philadelphias powerful building trades and head of the citys Laborers District Council, said his union has cut a check to the state party for the upcoming Independence Dinner fundraiser. I have the utmost respect for Sen. Street, and I believe that he will steer the party in the right direction, he said.



But there is clear distrust toward Street among some Democrats in the state. And it is partly a reflection of lingering tensions after last years messy race for state chair. Gov. Josh Shapiro, the then-gubernatorial nominee, backed another candidate to manage the party. Street said that afterward, he worked closely publicly and privately with Shapiro during the campaign.

But during the general election, members of Shapiros team briefly toyed with the idea of setting up a separate political entity to overcome issues within the state party, according to people familiar with the discussions. They never considered it seriously, those people stressed, and it ultimately did not happen.

But its not just operational and organizational missteps that have some Pennsylvania Democrats upset with Street. Many in the party are still fuming over his defense of a congressional map in 2021 that would have benefited him, at the expense of other Democrats, if he had run for Congress. (He ultimately decided against a campaign.)

Its unsettling that Sen. Street would be entrusted to lead the state party after supporting a map as bad for Democrats as the Street congressional map, said J.J. Balaban, a Philadelphia-based Democratic strategist.

Street said it was a draft map that he never formally introduced, and if approved it would have been a majority Democratic map that also added a majority-minority district to the state.

Not every Democrat in the state is eager to talk about the problems that the party is confronting. But the tension is visible in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Shapiro, for example, is headlining the New Hampshire Democratic Partys September convention in person on the same day that Pennsylvanias Independence Dinner fundraiser will take place. The governor will make remarks at the Pennsylvania event via video.

Though Democrats are worried about the state party, and especially what it could mean for the Supreme Court race this year, many said they think it can be turned around.

Its concerning, but at the same time, Im going to keep it in perspective, said Mikus. Its August and theres plenty of time to right the ship.


An American Airlines flight headed to Kansas City Friday morning had to return to Charlotte Douglas International Airport because of a possible maintenance issue, the airline said.

AA flight 1616 left Charlotte at 9 a.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Kansas City International Airport at 10:21 a.m. But it instead was forced to return to Charlotte, where it landed safely and taxied to the gate under its own power, the airline said.

A passenger on the plane, Queen City News journalist Savannah Rudicel, tweeted that About 25 minutes after takeoff, I heard a loud pop, smelled smoke and felt rumbling turbulence. The pilot announced there was a malfunction in the tail. Fire crews met the plane on the runway.

A replacement aircraft will be used to continue the trip to MCI Kansas City, the airline stated. We never want to disrupt our customers travel plans and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

American Airlines flight 1616 had to return to CLT airport due to a possible mechanical issue.

On Aug. 19, American Airlines apologized to passengers after possible mechanical issues forced the emergency landing at CLT of a flight headed to Burlington Airport in Vermont. That incident involved a subsidiary, American Eagle Flight 5616.

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American Airlines is the dominant carrier at the Charlotte airport, which serves as one of its hubs.

Charlottes airport also is the seventh busiest in the world for arrivals and departures, according to Airport Council International groups preliminary rankings for 2022. Last year, it saw 505,589 arrivals and departures.

This is a developing story
Two days after the U.S Embassy in Port-au-Prince urged U.S. citizens to leave as soon as possible, American Airlines on Friday began increasing seats available on its daily flight out of the country.

The largest airline at Miami International Airport, which had been using a smaller Airbus A319 with 128 seats on its route between Miami and Port-au-Prince since April, is temporarily switching back to a larger Boeing 737-800 plane, with 172 seats.

Laura Masvidal, a spokeswoman for American, said the larger aircraft will operate Friday and Saturday, and then again from September 7 to 20.

The bigger planes mean more availability for Haiti passengers who have for months faced limited options to leave the volatile country due to reduced flights by U.S. airlines and expensive airfares.

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After September 20, American will resume using the smaller Airbus A319 for the Haiti flights, Masvidal said. Asked whether the temporary increase in seats was due to the U.S. Embassys order, Masvidal directed questions to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. The U.S. Department of State did not immediately respond Friday to an inquiry from the Miami Herald.

Americans temporary move provides U.S.-bound passengers with more options to escape Haitis escalating violence that has forced thousands from their homes and led to more deaths. In July, the State Department had ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel due to increase gunfire in the neighborhoods around the embassy compounds.

In its latest advisory, U.S. officials, which chartered a plane to pick up some embassy staff on Thursday, warned that flying out of Haiti requires passengers to book commercial flights days or weeks in advance. Also, due to a limited number of airlines that fly there and available seats, U.S. bound passengers have faced sticker shock on fares since spring. In April, for example, Herald reporting showed one-way tickets out of Port-au-Prince on American Airlines cost from $1,091 with a weeks planning to $3,404 for a last-minute airfare.

With escalating security challenges and a scarcity of flights to the U.S., Haitians have increasingly grown frustrated by the airfare price fluctuation.

Masvidal said since March American has had a fare cap for main cabin seats between Port-au-Prince and Miami and it will continue indefinitely. Under the cap, one-way main cabin fares are not supposed to exceed $716 excluding taxes and fees, she said.

The fare prices have been difficult for Haitian travelers, as well as those who still do mission work in the country. Mark Mendel, who does charity work in Haiti, sent an email in June to a Herald reporter saying that he found a one-way economy ticket on American from Port-au-Prince to Miami, with one-week notice, costing over $1,100.

In another move likely to help with the shortage of flights, Haiti-based carrier Sunrise Airway said it will start operating direct flights between Port-au-Prince and Miami airport, on September 15. The flight, using an Airbus A320, will be scheduled four times a week, Sunrise said.

Sunrise also will add flights between Cap-Haitien and Miami four times a week starting September 26. The airline saw an increase in demand for U.S.-bound passengers flying to the Dominican Republic, in order to get to America. Fares to Miami from neighboring Dominican Republic are considerably less expensive.

Additional flight options are timely because demand has surged among Haitians looking to leave the country, especially those who have qualified to travel to the United States under President Bidens recently launched two-year humanitarian parole program. The program allows nationals of Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to temporarily migrate to the U.S., if they have an approved financial sponsor. Once approved, they are given three months to travel.

Since January, more than 50,000 Haitians have arrived in the U.S. under the program. According to the Biden administration, 63,000 Haitians have so far been vetted and approved.

Meanwhile, the State Department currently has its highest travel advisory  Do Not Travel  set for Haiti. However, that has not stopped travel into the country. This summer, Haitians visited by the planeloads to participate in festivals in their hometown. Though most are located outside of Port-au-Prince, travel often required landing in the capital first and then flying to other regions.

Jimmy Moise, a Fort Lauderdale resident and international event organizer, said he paid $1,100 in August to fly roundtrip between Fort Lauderdale and Cap-Haitien, for a 90-minute flight on discount carrier Spirit Airlines. Moise organizes an annual Diner en Blanc party in the Haitian city. Between the high airfares, limited flights and the violence in Port-au-Prince, Moise said many of his 800 attendees had to get creative. Traveling from the U.S., Canada and Europe, people have gotten to Haiti, he said, by way of neighboring Dominican Republic and crossed the border in buses and cars.

Spirit plans to continue operating its direct flights as scheduled from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Port-au Prince and Cap-Haitien, company spokeswoman Nicole Aguiar said. But, were monitoring the situation, she said. Aguiar declined to comment about the fare prices between Fort Lauderdale and Haiti.

In October 2018, American Airlines had six daily flights between the U.S. and Haiti, including four daily from Miami and a daily flight to Cap-Haitien, Haitis second largest city. It also had direct flights between Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince and Fort Lauderdale airport, as well as New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport.

By early 2023, American was down to one daily flight between Miami and Port-au-Prince. In April, it began flying the smaller Airbus A319 planes. Then in June and July, American had no flights in or out of Haiti on Tuesdays. It resumed daily flights on August 2.

JetBlue, which also flies to Haiti, has reduced its flight service, too. The airline flies between Fort Lauderdale and Port-au-Prince. The airline also flies limited direct flights from Port-au-Prince to New York. JetBlue did not respond to a Herald reporters requests for comment.
(NewsNation)  An overwhelming majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle want term limits for members of Congress.

Thats the takeaway from a University of Maryland poll earlier this year that found 83% of voters support amending the constitution to establish term limits  including 86% of Republicans and 80% of Democrats.

The survey also measured which arguments  both for and against the change  voters found persuasive.

Thousands of mail carriers wont receive paychecks Friday due to USPS payroll issue

I would say the most significant factor here is this perception that Congress is not responsive to the people  that Congress has become too comfortable, too safe, said Steven Kull, a political psychologist and director of the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland.

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Term limits are back in the spotlight after Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze up for the second time in a little over a month Wednesday.

The incident led Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to declare McConnell not fit for office.

McConnell, who turned 81 in February, is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. His seventh term in office is set to end in January 2027.

Puppy abandoned, malnourished at Northland veterinary parking lot

The oldest member of Congress, 90-year-old California Senator Dianne Feinstein, has also faced calls to resign from members of her party after missing months of work in Washington due to health issues. Shes currently serving her fifth term in the Senate.

Both lawmakers visible frailty has reignited a long-standing debate: Should there be a cap on the amount of time legislators can serve?

Such a change would require a constitutional amendment, which needs support from two-thirds of Congress and hasnt happened since 1992.

Lawmakers tried to impose federal term limits back in 1995, but the proposal failed in the House, coming up 61 votes short. That amendment would have limited members of Congress to 12 years in either chamber.

The current Congress is the third oldest since 1789, and theres been a renewed push to impose term limits over the past year.

In January, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., introduced a proposal limiting representatives to three terms and senators to two terms.

As part of his negotiations to win the gavel, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reportedly promised to bring a term limits proposal to the House floor for a vote. So far, that hasnt happened.

NewsNation reached out to Speaker McCarthys office and asked whether he intends to follow through on that commitment but did not receive a response before the publication of this article.

Despite the widespread public support, Kull isnt convinced there are enough votes on Capitol Hill to get an amendment over the finish line.

I think members of Congress like being members of Congress and they dont necessarily want to have term limits, he said. Its a very heavy lift to get a constitutional amendment.

Poll: Americans support Supreme Court term limits

As of June, 112 House members and 21 Senators have signed pledges backing an amendment limiting House reps to three terms and senators to two terms. Thats well below the two-thirds majority needed.

Normans proposal would not impose an age limit, which is something nearly 60% of Americans want, according to a 2022 YouGov poll.

Opponents of term limits have argued that they are anti-democratic and prevent policymakers from gaining important experience that makes them better at their jobs.

Term limits would impose a tremendous brain drain on the institution, Casey Burgat, director of the Legislative Affairs masters program at George Washington University, wrote in 2018. Fewer experienced policymakers in Congress results in increased influence of special interests that are ready and willing to fill the issue-specific information voids.

Instead, Burgat said elections are the best way to remove unresponsive, ineffectual members of Congress.

Feinstein plans to retire at the end of her term and wont seek reelection in 2024. So far, theres been no indication McConnell intends to step down.

Dr. Brian Monahan, the congressional physician, said Thursday he cleared McConnell to continue with his schedule.

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FILE PHOTO: A G20 logo is pictured in front of the main venue of the summit in New Delhi

By Nikunj Ohri, Shivangi Acharya and Krishn Kaushik

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - About 130,000 security officers will be deployed as India hosts the world's most powerful leaders at a G20 summit in New Delhi this month, a showcase for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country's growing presence on the world stage.

The two-day summit, starting September 9, will have the most high-profile guest list India has ever welcomed, from U.S. President Joe Biden to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Saudi Arabia's Mohammed Bin Salman. However, Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip the meeting, sources in New Delhi and Beijing have said.

Leaders from Japan, Australia, France and Germany are also among those expected to attend, although Russian President Vladimir Putin , who is facing criticism from the West for the war in Ukraine, has said he will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

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The heads of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organisation and World Health Organisation will also be present.

The event will take place in the sprawling, refurbished Pragati Maidan, a convention-cum-exhibition centre in the middle of one of the most populous cities in the world.

"This is a historic and momentous moment," said Dependra Pathak, a special commissioner of the Delhi Police who is in charge of security arrangements in the city. Thousands of personnel from other government security services including the home guards and the para-military Border Security Force will be brought in to maintain law and order, he said.

"To contain protests and gatherings, we will have adequate and robust police presence."

While Pathak is in charge of security in the city, the main venue will be guarded by a team under another Delhi Police special commissioner, Ranvir Singh Krishnia.

Although the capital is relatively peaceful, as recently as last month, communal tensions flared up in the neighbouring industrial township of Gurugram in which at least seven people were killed.

During the weekend summit, New Delhi's borders will be closely guarded and access to the city will be regulated, officials said.

Within the city of 20 million, the government is planning a partial shutdown during the summit with schools, government departments and businesses being asked to remain closed for three days.

DEFENCE IN THE SKIES

The city will be guarded by nearly 130,000 security personnel, including the 80,000-strong Delhi Police, officials said.

A spokesperson for the Indian Air Force told Reuters that it will "deploy comprehensive measures for integrated aerospace defence in the Delhi and close-by areas."

The spokesperson said that the Indian military, including the air force, along with the Delhi Police and paramilitary forces, will deploy anti-drone systems to prevent any aerial threats. About 400 firefighters will also be on call.

Security control rooms are being set up at the venue and special security arrangements have been made at key hotels like the ITC Maurya Hotel, where Biden will stay.

Modi has converted India's year-long presidency of the G20 into a national event, with different meetings of the group being hosted in key parts of the country, including far-flung Arunachal Pradesh state and Srinagar city in Kashmir.

Through the year, roads, airports, bus stops, parks, railway stations, government offices and government media have been plastered with G20 advertisements.

In New Delhi, new fountains and ornamental plants adorn key traffic roundabouts while life-size cutouts of langurs - a large monkey with a black face - have been put up in several areas to fight the city's monkey menace.

Modi inaugurated a $300 million venue in the capital in July to host the summit meeting - a conch shell-shaped building that can seat more than 3,000.

The government has also leased 20 bullet-proof limousines at a cost of 180 million Indian rupees ($2.18 million) for ferrying leaders.

Many world leaders travel with their own bodyguards and vehicles. India has requested countries to be "rational" about the number of cars and personnel that they bring, but has not put any restrictions, one government official said.

The official said the U.S. is bringing in over 20 aircraft over a week-long period around the summit.

($1 = 82.6070 Indian rupees)

(Additional reporting by Rupam Jain; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
A foul presence was haunting the CPAC office  and it wasnt the organizations chairman, Matt Schlapp . Schlapp believed Satan himself had to be driven from the premises, according to a new report from The Daily Beast.

Per the Beast, Schlapp called in a Catholic priest to conduct an exorcism of CPACs Alexandria office after complaints about staff treatment and inadequate pay led to a mass resignation of staffers in 2022.

The priest reportedly doused the place  and any employees he encountered  with holy water, and placed medallions depicting Saint Benedict, the patron saint of exorcism, above the doors.

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It was the weirdest thing Id seen, one person who witnessed the ritual said.

As the priest made his way through the office, spritzing holy water room to room, employees nudged him towards Matts office, another source told the Beast. The way he had treated junior employees, it seemed to us like he was the one who needed it the most.

Schlapp responded to the report on X, the website formerly know as Twitter: Look out Beasts of the swamp you think my God is fake but I think your news is fake. Ill take those odds.

Look out Beasts of the swamp you think my God is fake but I think your news is fake. Ill take those odds  Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) September 1, 2023

Mercedes Schlapp , Matts wife and a veteran of the George W. Bush and Trump White Houses, offered her own response on X, suggesting that the ritual was a blessing, rather than an exorcism.

The Daily Beast, Satans publication, has defaced and mocked Jesus in their latest attack on our faith. These are religiously intolerant individuals. It is common practice for Christians and other people of faith to bless their offices and homes. The Daily Beast operative has no  Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) September 1, 2023

Whether Satanic forces are to blame or not, CPAC has certainly been plagued by scandal recently.

In January, Republican strategist Carlton Huffman sued Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes, alleging that Matt Schlapp had committed sexual battery when he reached in between [his] legs and fondled him in a sustained and unwanted and unsolicited manner and, later, that Schlapp defamed him. At the time, Huffman was working as a staffer for Herschel Walkers unsuccessful campaign for the Senate, and had been assigned to drive Schlapp to and from events. Schlapp denied the allegations made against him.

But the accusations against Schlapp caused a ruckus within CPAC, including the resignation-in-protest of the committees vice chair and calls for further investigation into allegations that Schlapp had previously harassed two other young men  one during a CPAC business trip.

Schlapp is now reportedly employing more secular methods in an attempt to purge his problems. On Monday, the Daily Beast reported that Schlapp had made a back-door low six-figure settlement offer to Huffman, to no avail.

The Schlapps handling of the lawsuit appears to have CPACs management on edge: A previous investigation by Intelligencer found that members of the American Conservative Union, CPACs parent organization, were concerned that Schlapp was exploiting the organizations donor pool to raise money for his own legal defense. According to the the Beast, there is a widespread understanding within the ACU that they may soon join Schlapp as a named defendant in Huffmans lawsuit.

It might be time for an exorcism in the ACU  and not necessarily a religious one.

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The government of France is receiving substantial backlash after dropping a video in honor of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The education ministers reportedly pulled the campaign based on criticism from social media.

Clips from Frances video honoring Martin Luther King , Jr.s I Have a Dream Speech

The European nation posted a tribute to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, the video only featured white children who rendered their own version of the civil rights leaders I Have a Dream speech that King delivered during the 1963 march.

The National Education Ministry deleted the video on Wednesday, Aug. 30, after receiving backlash  saying the middle-school students had no context of or connection to the words in the speech.

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According to Daily Mail, some people on social media asked if it was a late April Fools joke or called it a gimmick completely lacking in diversity.

NEM says the children did not originally write and recite their contributions as an ode to King or the March but as their submissions for a language competition.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

The Ministry of National Education and Youth published a video promoting educational work around commitment. This video was made on June 30, during the award ceremony for The More I Say competition, which encourages the creative practice of English in middle school, the organization said in a post on X to explain the campaigns intention.

It gives the floor to national prize-winning students present during this ceremony, which was held in the presence of Minister Pap Ndiaye, the statement continued.

Calling their recitations a profession of faith by the students for a better world, each student began their pieces with I have a dream, which the organization believed could be used for the anniversary on Monday, Aug. 28.

Faced with the confusion caused by this video and the violence of certain comments towards the students who had enthusiastically invested in this project, the communication department of the ministry decided to remove this video from its social networks, NEM shared with its 1 million X followers.

Some blasted the organization for yielding to public opinion.

Decoding: The Ministry of National Education and Youth lies down in the face of racists! one person posted.

Not everyone was against NEMs choice. Dominique Sopo, the president of SOS Racisme, an organization founded in 1984 that fights against race-based discrimination and anti-Semitism, says this video allows people to see Kings words are still relevant.

Thanks to the choice of students in this clip, the Ministry of National Education shows that #IHaveADream remains glaringly topical, Sopo wrote in French. As Martin Luther King said, I dream that one day little black boys and little white girls will be able to join hands.

Diversity is an issue for France. In 2019, reports show the country had 67 million residents. About 85 percent of Frances population identifies as white, sources say. People of North African descent constitute around 10 percent (6 million). Blacks represent 3.3 percent (2 million), and Asians make up 1.7 percent (about 1 million) of the population.
Little Amal is a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old refugee Syrian girl, produced by The Walk Productions in association with Handspring Puppet Company. Shown here on Staten Island in New York in 2022. (Respective Collective)

Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee, will visit Chicago Sept. 28 to Oct. 1 as part of her fall tour across the U.S.

Produced by The Walk Productions in association with Handspring Puppet Company, Amal Walks Across America aims to give voice to marginalized people and spread a story of hope as the puppet discovers the cultures and people who make up the U.S. According to an announcement from project organizers, she represents the thousands of refugees around the world looking for somewhere safe to live.

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The Chicago Childrens Theatre, Chicago Humanities Festival, Chicago International Puppet Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Chicago Refugee Coalition, Literacy, Volunteers of Illinois, Madonna Mission, MedGlobal, New American Welcome Center, University YMCA, the Chicago Architecture Center and Syrian Community Network will hold a series of theatrical welcome events when Amal stops in Chicago.

Her two-month trek is scheduled to reach some 35 U.S. cities and towns.

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Amal stands for unity and hope, said Walk Productions artistic director Amir Nizar Zuabi. Each artist, organization and institution has a story to tell about their unique slice of American history and culture, and is inviting Amal and all Americans to learn about what makes this countrys heart beat.

The giant puppet was created by South Africas Handspring Puppet Company (which did puppets for the hit show War Horse) and has traveled across 13 countries. The character was inspired by the play The Jungle by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, which tells the story of a French refugee camp.

Amals Chicago stop kicks off with an event titled What city, friends, is this? at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Sept. 28 and will end at Maggie Daley Park on Sept. 30 with Drift into sleep, where Amal will curl up underneath the moonlight to sleep and dream.

Amal Walks Across America will be in Chicago Sept. 28 to Oct. 1 at various locations, more information at walkwithamal.org
Military officials recently charged an Army doctor assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, with alleged sexual abuse following an investigation.

Maj. Michael Stockin, an anesthesiologist at JBLMs Madigan Army Medical Center, is facing accusations of abusive sexual contact and indecent viewing, Army Lt. Col. Jennifer J. Bocanegra, a spokeswoman for I Corps, told Military Times in a statement. She added that Stockin was suspended from seeing patients on Feb. 22, 2022, when the first reports were received.

The charges brought Tuesday against Stockin followed an investigation that spanned more than a year, The Washington Post first reported. The Post noted that the case may involve at least 23 alleged victims.

The number of cases of alleged sexual assault in the military remains to be a concern for the Pentagon, which in April revealed data showing a rise in reported cases.

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These allegations bear striking similarities to those committed by Larry Nassar. Both were committed in closed systems where individuals in positions of power are rarely questioned or held accountable for their crimes, Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group looking to end rape and sexual assault in the military, said in a statement.

New military justice rules set to go into effect with Biden order

Ryan Guilds, an attorney representing those who say they were abused by the doctor, told Military Times in a statement that the court-martial process in this case is in the early stages.

There are more questions than answers, including the scope and scale of the alleged crimes and what military and hospital leaders knew and could have done to prevent this, Guilds told Military Times in an email.

Robert Capovilla, Stockins attorney, said the government and defense teams are in the process of scheduling a preliminary hearing for the case.

Our sincere hope is that the Army prioritizes Major Stockins privacy and his Constitutional right to a fair trial moving forward, Capovilla said in a statement to Military Times.

That being said, the Army cannot forget that Major Stockin is cloaked in the presumption of innocence and my sincere hope is that the Army does everything in its power to ensure a fair process for Major Stockin and not just the alleged victims.

Stockin has been assigned to Lewis-McChord since July 2019, according to Bocanegra. It is unclear at this time how many of the alleged incidents may have occurred there.

The Army major has served as an anesthesiologist in the Army since May 2013, Bocanegra said, adding that the doctor deployed to Iraq from October 2020 to February 2021. Before arriving at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, he previously served at Tripler Army Medical Center Honolulu, Hawaii, from June 2013 to July 2014 and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, from July 2014 to July 2019, Bocanegra said.
Billy James Sweeten Jr., 48, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday on two first-degree arson charges related to the four-alarm fire that significantly damaged St. Joseph Catholic Church early Thursday morning.

But Judge Matthew Tracey said Sweeten, who is being held in jail, "refused to engage" in the arraignment process and so scheduled another arraignment hearing for Tuesday.

Sweeten is accused of intentionally starting the fire at 721 Chemeketa St. NE.

Emergency responders arrived at about 2:30 a.m. at the church after multiple 911 calls and found tall flames from a dumpster fire had spread to the roof of the church, officials said.

Several inches of standing water and debris fill the floors of the church after a structure fire at St. Joseph Catholic Church on Aug. 31 in Salem.

Deputy Chief Brian Carrara said 20 apparatus and approximately 70 firefighters were involved in the response. Crews initially attempted to fight the fire from inside the church, but they had to retreat after 30 minutes and take a defensive approach from the roof, Carrara said. Firefighters began venting the roof at about 3:22 a.m. and stopped further spread by 5 a.m.

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St. Joseph is Salem's oldest Catholic parish, established in the 1800s. The current version of its church was built in 1953. Hundreds gathered at noon Thursday for Mass in the parking lot. The connected school was undamaged and is expected to begin classes as scheduled on Tuesday.

Sweeten Jr. has an extensive criminal history dating to 1993 including forgery, robbery, drug charges and misdemeanor harassment charges.

He faced misdemeanor reckless burning charges in May 2021, accused of damaging personal property by fire, but those charges were dismissed following a plea deal. He had a warrant out for his arrest on Thursday after failing to appear in court for an unrelated case where he is accused of unlawful entry of a motor vehicle and second-degree criminal mischief.

He was scheduled to be arraigned on those misdemeanor charges on Friday as well.

Sweeten Jr. is being held without bail for the arson charges at the Marion County Jail. The state cited Sweeten Jr.'s 138 arrests and more 40 convictions in the request for no bail.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Salem church arson suspect Billy Sweeten Jr. held without bail
[Source]

An Asian woman who fell victim to what she believes was an attack against her race during a ride in Los Angeles Metro in May is now suing the transportation system for allegedly failing to help her.

Background: The incident occurred on the northbound A Line near Compton Station at around 5:30 p.m. on May 17. The victim, 53, was traveling with a male friend from Long Beach to downtown when a woman allegedly began throwing punches at her.

The victim said it all started after she told her friend not to reach out to a pair of younger women standing in the train.

My friend, he was afraid that one of them would fall so he stretched out his hand to try to help the woman in case she fell. And I told him that did not look good, the victim told Eyewitness News. I was like, Take your hand off because youre a man and shes a woman. Dont do that.

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This allegedly led to another man, and later, the pair of younger women, yelling racist and sexist slurs at her.

One of the women is alleged to have then repeatedly punched the victim, leaving her with bruises and a contusion. When the train finally stopped at Artesia Station, the man who first heckled her reportedly knocked her phone out of her hand.

What the victim is saying: The victim is suing Metro and its employees for failing to help her during the attack, which she believes to be a hate crime. A witness previously told Eyewitness News that the victim was calling the police while trying to make the conductor stop the train for 11 minutes.

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The suit claims that the conductor was not far from the scene and that the ongoing attack was in his plain view, as per the Los Angeles Times. But instead of responding, the conductor allegedly allowed the attack to continue, refused to stop the train and did not call the police.

Whats next: The case is being investigated by the Long Beach Police Department, which has yet to make an arrest. Detectives have been trying to interview the victim but she has not participated since her initial interview, the department said.

The big picture: Metros own Operations, Safety and Customer Experience Committee finds dozens of assaults occurring on the A Line. Its latest review of crime trends shows that 52 out of 201 aggravated assaults over an 11-month period occurred on the A line, according to the Long Beach Post.

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Chris Nichols announced he is a candidate for Jackson County Sheriff.

An officer with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department has announced he will seek the office of Jackson County Sheriff in the 2024 election.

Chris Nichols is currently a captain serving as Administrative Division Commander. He has risen through the ranks since joining the department as a patrol officer in 2001.

Janis Mangum, the current sheriff of Jackson County, announced a year ago that she would not seek re-election for a fourth term.

Not long after her announcement, Jackson County sheriffs Capt. Dale Dillow, who serves as commander of the investigations division, announced he is a candidate for sheriff.

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With a population in the county of about 84,000, more candidates for sheriffs post could announce prior to the primaries of 2024.

I believe with the right leadership and a strong connection between law enforcement and the community, we can build a safer and more prosperous future for Jackson County, Nichols said in a statement released with his announcement.

Nichols graduated Hart County High School and worked for the Hart County and Elbert County sheriffs offices as a communications officer before joining the police department in Athens. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and Columbus State University and he is an emergency medical instructor.

He and his wife, Carmen, have three children. He serves roles in the community including the Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority and the Northeast Georgia Medical Reserve Corps.

Elections: Already the interim, Elisa Zarate qualifies to run of Athens-Clarke Clerk of Court

Sheriff: Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum, one Georgia's first female sheriffs, won't run in 2023

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: ACC Police Commander Chris Nichols to run for Jackson County sheriff
Despite a few tropical systems roaming about the Atlantic during the Labor Day weekend, none pose an immediate threat to the United States. However, AccuWeather meteorologists are keeping an eye on a new system emerging from the coast of Africa that may ramp up to a hurricane and eye the Caribbean Islands and the United States before mid-September.

"We call this a period of 'active rest' in the Atlantic, where there are multiple tropical features, but none are a threat to the U.S. in the short term," AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.

On Monday, a lone named system remained across the open waters of the Atlantic: Tropical Depression Katia. Franklin and Jose dissipated across the Atlantic late Friday, Idalia dissipated late Saturday, and Gert followed on Monday morning.

Katia is not likely to affect land as a northerly trajectory is likely over the west-central Atlantic, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty.

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There may be a long-term threat brewing for the Caribbean and perhaps the U.S. later this week.

A tropical disturbance, known as a tropical wave, was beginning to move off the coast of Africa late in the week. It is expected to take many days to cross the Atlantic.

Meteorologists refer to systems that form in this region of the basin as Cabo Verde systems, named for a group of islands just off the coast of Africa. The Cabo Verde season, as it is known by forecasters, forms the backbone of the Atlantic hurricane season.

"Into early week, there may be some inhibiting factors for development with this latest tropical wave," AccuWeather Tropical Meteorologist Alex DaSilva said.

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Looking ahead, perhaps as early as later this week or during the second week of September, conditions may become favorable for development as the tropical wave moves along.

"While the eastern Atlantic can be very tricky predicting storm formation this far out, all of the ingredients are available for development this time of the year," Rayno said. "Low wind shear, sufficient moisture and water temperatures are at their peak."

Wind shear, when strong, can be a tropical system's worst enemy and can inhibit or limit tropical development.

Rayno, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg and many other experts at AccuWeather believe this system could go on to become a tropical storm and even a hurricane. If so, Lee is the next name on the list of tropical storms for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.

"If that storm [the Lee candidate] ends up traveling north of the Lesser Antilles, then a U.S. strike late next week is unlikely," Rayno said. "However, if the storm makes it into the Caribbean Sea or moves westward along the northern islands of the Caribbean, then the risk of direct impact or perhaps a landfall in the U.S. around Sept. 14-15 would be much greater."

AccuWeather meteorologists will continue to monitor the many named systems spinning in addition to emerging threats in the Atlantic, which has already generated 10 named storms and one unnamed subtropical storm this season. The historical average for an entire season is 14 named tropical storms.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, left, speaks with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn , R-Texas, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 23, 2023 Credit: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via REUTERS

WASHINGTON  U.S. Sen. John Cornyn doesnt hide that he wants Mitch McConnells job as Senate Republican leader.

The senior Texas senator has long expressed interest in the position and spent years as McConnells top deputy. After a recent series of health scares raised concerns about McConnells future, questions abound about Cornyns next step.

Cornyn has said that he will continue to support McConnell as party leader, calling him extraordinarily effective during the 2021 Texas Tribune Festival.

But should he decide to step down and no longer serve as a leader, Ive made it no secret that I would like to succeed him, Cornyn added.

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McConnell appeared to freeze for about a half-minute during a public event in Kentucky on Wednesday, in an apparent repeat of a similar incident during a July news conference at the Capitol. He was also out of the Capitol for nearly six weeks last spring with a concussion and fractured rib after a fall.

That absence, coupled with the senators age of 81, has led to murmurs on the Hill of whether it's time for a replacement  even after an attending physician for Congress determined McConnell to be medically clear to work after Wednesdays incident.

Shortly after his latest public freeze, McConnell called his closest allies in the Senate to allay concerns about his health. They included members of his formal leadership team  and Cornyn.

Cornyn served as Republican whip from 2013-19  the second highest position within the party conference behind McConnell. Before that, the Texan was chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the partys Senate campaign arm.

Internal rules limited how long Cornyn could hold the leadership positions, but he has maintained a firm footing within McConnells inner circle. When Cornyns time as whip ended due to term limits, McConnell asked him to stay in an appointed advisory role.

Openly jockeying to replace or oust McConnell remains taboo among top Senate Republicans, and Cornyn said in July there was no contingency plan should McConnell have to step down or take a leave of absence due to his health.

When asked about the Republican leaders health in Dallas on Thursday, Cornyn said he talked to Sen. McConnell yesterday, and he seems to be doing fine.

We all wish him well, he added.

McConnell and Cornyn are both prolific fundraisers and have been active in sharing their cash. Cornyn raised roughly $20 million for Republican Senate incumbents and candidates in the 2022 elections, even though he was not running, developing relationships that could pay dividends when GOP senators choose their next leader.

Both also deeply value the Senates role in the formation of the judiciary. Securing conservative judges has been a cornerstone of McConnells leadership, and Cornyns past as Texas attorney general and Texas Supreme Court justice  and his seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee  have given him a front-line position in the nomination process of federal judges.

Cornyn isnt the only potential successor. The current Republican whip, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, is also considered a likely candidate. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who chairs the Senate Republican Conference, is another potential contender.

Collectively, theyve been dubbed the three Johns. Cornyn has the most seniority, having served in the chamber since 2002.

McConnell is the longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history, leading his party for 16 years with an iron grip. But cracks emerged as his party moved rightward, with some Republicans saying McConnell is past his prime.

McConnell faced his first major challenge from his peers last November when a handful of fellow Republicans voted against reelecting him as minority leader. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was among the rebelling voters, arguing that the old guard refused to aggressively fight Democratic legislation and failed to win back the Senate majority in the 2022 elections. McConnell fought off the challenge, securing 37 votes to remain minority leader.

Some of those Democratic priorities included bipartisan legislation that Cornyn had a heavy hand in passing. He was a critical driver last year behind the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major gun safety law passed in decades. He was also a driving force behind the CHIPS and Science Act, which created new federal funding to bolster the countrys semiconductor industry in response to advances by China.

Cornyn faced a backlash in Texas for his role in passing the bills, receiving boos at the Texas Republican Convention last summer and getting censured by the Collin County Republican Party.

Cornyn brushed off the criticism at the time, saying: Legislating is not for sissies.

The full program is now LIVE for the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 21-23 in Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations coming to TribFest. Panel topics include the biggest 2024 races and whats ahead, how big cities in Texas and around the country are changing, the integrity of upcoming elections and so much more. See the full program.
A manhunt was underway in the suburbs of Philadelphia for a convicted murderer who escaped from Chester County Prison on Thursday morning, District Attorney Deb Ryan said at a press conference.

Danelo Cavalcante, who was sentenced last week to life in prison for killing his girlfriend in 2021, was spotted by an eyewitness Thursday morning, on a street near the prison. Authorities warned he was extremely dangerous.

Cavalcante fatally stabbed his girlfriend 38 times in broad daylight in front of her four-year-old and seven-year-old, Ryan said at the press conference. After he was sentenced last week, he was waiting four weeks before being transferred to a state correctional institution.

His depravity knows no bounds. I mean this is somebody who has nothing to lose, Ryan said at a Thursday press conference, so I dont know what hes capable of doing. If hes already engaged in a murder in broad daylight in front of her two children, theres no stopping him from doing anything more egregious.

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A jury took 15 minutes to convict Cavalcante of killing his girlfriend, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Prosecutors reportedly said he was angry that the girlfriend was going to disclose charges he faced in Brazil, related to a different murder, Ryan reportedly said.

Authorities described him as 5 feet tall and 120 pounds, with curly black hair and a closely cropped beard and mustache, the AP reported, citing a photo released by the county.

Ryan said residents within a 6-mile radius of the prison have been notified, according to the AP.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.






Though it sounds like the plot of a movie, some brazen car thieves have gone straight to the source in recent times, stealing vehicles right off the factory holding lots. There have been stories of Hellcat-powered Dodges and Ford Raptors slipping off factory grounds, and theres now a shocking tale of a stolen Bronco Raptor that somehow made it through a private sale, registration, and insurance before its new owner learned its backstory.

A buyer in Arizona found a Ford Bronco on Craigslist and began doing research before the sale. The SUV had Alaskan tags and low mileage, along with a $75,000 price tag. Nick, as they asked to be called, ran a Carfax report and checked the title through a third-party verification company before he bought the vehicle. Everything came back clean  or so he thought  so the sale proceeded.

Nick told a local publication that he assumed the VIN would have been flagged if there was an issue, but the Broncos history became apparent a few weeks later when he tried to trade it at a dealer. Someone had switched the Broncos VIN, and turns out Nicks SUV had been nabbed from a Ford holding lot in Detroit.

Unfortunately for Nick, theres no happy ending to this story. Police seized the Bronco, leaving him out $75,000 and leading the Arizona attorney general to criticize the states DMV and its oversight of vehicle registrations. As The Drive pointed out, the agency has seen multiple recent problems relating to improperly issued registrations, licenses, and other documents. Police in Michigan, meanwhile, have made some arrests in the factory thefts, in which some of the vehicles wound up with titles created in Alaska, like Nick's.

Though heartbreaking, costly and likely embarrassing for Nick, hes not the only one to fall victim to the scam. Buyers in several other states, including New Mexico and Tennessee, have been through similar situations. Nicks pre-purchase research efforts were noble, but an inspection at an independent shop could have alerted him to the issues before they began, and the pre-purchase inspection is a step wed recommend before all used vehicle transactions to prevent headaches for the buyer and seller.
SAN DIEGO (Border Report)  Fifteen years ago, the city of Tijuana made tinted windows on passenger vehicles illegal in an effort to fight crime.

Police insisted criminals purposely darkened their windows to avoid detection.

But polarized or tinted windows have remained legal in California and other Mexican cities nearby, such as Mexicali to the east.

For years, many visitors in the region have complained about being pulled over due to the color of their windows resulting in traffic citations, towing expenses or bribes to police officers.

Mexico legalizes 1 million chocolate cars

Tijuanas city council has adopted a proposal to ease restrictions on tinted windows, according to Fernando Sanchez Gonzalez, director of Security and Public Safety in Tijuana.

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Sanchez says people will be allowed to darken their windows but no more than 25%. In California, motorists are allowed to tint their windows up to 30% to allowed 70% of transparency. Drivers can tint their rear windows as dark as they want as long as their vehicle has two side mirrors, not including the rearview mirror.

Karim Chalita Rodriguez, the head of Tijuanas Conventions and Tourism Committee, worries that the new guidelines are vague and wont prevent police abuse and unnecessary stops by officers who will continue to decide if windows are too dark or within allowable limits.

Popular tourist destination in Baja seeing fewer murders, less crime overall, police say

Who is going to measure? he said. Its going to be very subjective.

Chalita Rodriguez says there are currently many complaints from tourists about being extorted by police officers for driving with tinted windows.

This happens even with factory-manufactured windows, its going to create a lot of confusion, he said.

Visit BorderReport.com for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border

Tijuana city councilperson, Gina Arana, said tinted windows have become one of the leading reasons why police officers pull motorists over.

Most of the people who file formal complaints are car owners with tinted windows, many of them tourists, said Arana. But for now, police officers will have to make the final determination whether someone is violating the law.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
SAN DIEGO (Border Report)  Baja Californias new state attorney general, Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez, met with reporters earlier this week and promised to lead an open and transparent administration.

She was recently approved for the job by the states congress after getting nominated by Bajas governor, and she replaced Ricardo Ivan Carpio, who resigned abruptly last month.

I want to make a commitment with all the members of the media that they will cover an office that is open and transparent and well always be there to attend to your needs and answer all questions and doubts, Andrade Ramirez said.

The attorney general is in charge of all criminal investigations and legal proceedings in the state.

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There will be times when we cant discuss certain investigations due to secrecy and privacy of the victims, she said. We also have to respect the rights of victims and those charged with crimes. Outside of that, you will always have an ally to answer questions.

Andrade Ramirez also agreed to have members of her office and investigators available to the media.

Visit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border

It will be this way, she said. I want an office with open doors, with regional attorneys available to help the media.

Before becoming Baja Californias attorney general, Andrade Ramirez was the head of the prison system in the state.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
Preston Walls appears in court at the Polk County Courthouse in his trial in connection with the shooting at Starts Right Here at the Polk County Courthouse on Thursday, August 31, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. The trial is beginning this week for the first of two teens charged with murder in a shooting at a Des Moines alternative school that left two students dead and the programs founder injured. (Lily Smith/Des Moines Register via AP) (Lily Smith/AP)

If you feel like youve still got some summer to get in this Labor Day weekend, we can help. Read on.

North Coast Music Festival

The music fest is celebrating its 13th anniversary this year. More than 100 artists will perform across six stages with styles from dubstep to house to trance. Headliners include Marshmello, Flume, DJ Snake, Alison Wonderland and Alesso.

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2 p.m. to midnight Sept. 1-2, 2 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sept. 3 at SeatGeek Stadium, 7000 S. Harlem Ave., Bridgeview; single-day tickets from $125 (ages 17+) at northcoastfestival.com

Fireworks

The pyrotechnics displays at Navy Pier on Wednesdays and Saturdays get a good, long summer run but the final show is Labor Day weekend. You can catch it at 10 p.m. Sept. 2 from Navy Pier, or if youre looking for something special, try one of the boat cruises that set sail just for the show.

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Shoreline Lake Fireworks Tour at 9:25 p.m. Sept. 2 from the Navy Pier docks, 800 E. Grand Ave.; tickets from $40.95 at shorelinesightseeing.com

Chicago Jazz Festival

One of the citys longtime favorite music festivals is this weekend, continuing through Sunday at Jay Pritzker Pavilion and other stages in Millennium Park. Highlights include Makaya McCraven at Pritzker Pavilion at 7:45 p.m. Saturday and Juan de Marcos and the Afro-Cuban All Stars in the same time slot Sunday to close out the festival.

Through Sunday in Millennium Park (seating bowl and Great Lawn open at 2:45 p.m. daily, any entrance to the park is a direct entrance to the event), 201 E. Randolph St.; free, more information at chicago.gov

A night of music at Millennium Park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion during the 2018 Chicago Jazz Festival. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune)

ARC Music Festival

This three-day festival is tailored for house and techno fans. Lineup highlights include Adam Beyer, Black Coffee, The Blessed Madonna, Boys Noize, Fatboy Slim, James Hype, John Summit, Miss Monique, Nina Kraviz, Patrick Topping, Tale of Us and Vintage Culture.

2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 1-3 in Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph St.; single-day tickets from $149 (ages 18+) at arcmusicfestival.com

West Loop Art Fest

Returning for its fifth year, this festival brings four blocks of art to the West Loop neighborhood. A variety of art mediums will be on display and available for purchase. There will also be interactive art, live music, wine tastings and crafts for kids.

10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 2-3 in the West Loops Fulton Market; free, more information at starevents.com

African Festival of the Arts

Presented by Africa International House, this festival celebrates art, sights, tastes, sounds and spirituality of Black global cultures. Washington Park will be transformed into a simulated African village. There will be arts and crafts for kids, live music, yoga, meditation and dancing.

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Noon to 10 p.m. Sept. 1, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 2-4 in Washington Park at 5100 S. Cottage Grove Ave.; single-day tickets start at $20, admission is free on Friday, more information at aihusa.org

Bike the Drive

Enjoy a bike ride down DuSable Lake Shore Drive. The full route is 30 miles, but participants can ride however far they want. Rest stops along the route will offer water, snacks and restrooms. After the ride, enjoy a festival at Butler Field featuring music, beer and activities for kids.

The ride is 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Sept. 3, the festival is 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Butler Field in Grant Park, 235 S. Columbus Drive, admission is $74, youth admission is $18 at bikethedrive.org

A band performs on a flatbed truck at the Chicago Labor Day Parade on South Ewing Avenue on Sept. 3, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Labor Day Parade

Lest we forget the reason for the three-day weekend, the annual Chicago Labor Day Parade celebrates trade unions and the labor movement, never more relevant than right now. Following the parade presented by the Chicago Federation of Labor, Eddie Fest (named for Chicago labor activist Ed Sadlowski) will be held from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Pullman Historic District.

Parade begins at noon Sept. 2 at 108th Street and Cottage Grove and proceeds south to 113th Street, past Pullman Park; the parade and Eddie Fest are free, more information at www.chicagolaborparade.com

Duran Duran

The British band that, for a time, more or less owned 80s music has continued to record in the years since; their newly announced 16th studio album Danse Macabre will be out Oct. 27. The original lineup of Nick Rhodes, Simon Le Bon, John Taylor and Roger Taylor will be at Northerly Island this weekend with their Future Past tour.

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7 p.m. Sept. 1 at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island, 1300 S. Linn White Drive; tickets from $99.95 at www.livenation.com

Freaks on Parade Tour

Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper headline a night that also includes sets by Ministry and Filter  a rather different kind of Labor Day parade.

6 p.m. Sept. 1 at the Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre, 19100 S. Ridgeland Ave., Tinley Park; tickets $25-$356 at www.ticketmaster.com
The Great British Bake Off will no longer feature weeks themed around nationalities or countries following a backlash to last years Mexican Week.

The food competition returns in September for its 13th series, with Alison Hammond taking over from Matt Lucas as Noel Fieldings presenting partner. Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood will be back as the shows judges.

In addition to a new co-host, this years series of Bake Off will also feature a change to the format. National-themed weeks are being scrapped, following backlash in previous years to Japan Week in 2020, German Week in 2021 and Mexican Week in 2022.

Speaking toThe Guardian ahead of the new series, executive producer Kieran Smith said that this years competition would be very traditional.

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Addressing criticism around the themed weeks, Smith said that he would hold my hands up.

We didnt want to offend anyone but the world has changed and the joke fell flat, he said, adding: Were not doing any national themes this year.

During the nationality-themed weeks, viewers often criticised the show for allowing the contestants to make dishes that were not authentic to the countries claiming to be represented.

There were also accusations of stereotypes and casual racism from the presenters.

Hermine serves her panda-decorated Japanese buns on Bake-Off' (Channel 4)

Last year, the show was widely criticised following its Mexican Week challenges. Fans condemned the placement of sombreros and maracas in the episode, as well as a cake decorated with a moustache, branding them stereotypical.

The shows presenters were also criticised for mispronouncing Spanish words, and for making tacky jokes.

The episode also saw contestants make tacos, which some viewers described as butchering the famous Mexican dish. Others suggested the segment showed that the show was prioritising cooking over baking.

Hollywood and Leith later addressed the backlash, with the former saying he felt gutted about the reaction because he loves Mexico.

Id literally come back from Mexico about three weeks before we filmed the episode, he said. I was all over the place, and we set the challenges based on what Id seen there. The challenges were very good, and everyone did a good job.

Hollywood continued: I was gutted. I mean, I was really upset about it.

Leith added that we never go out to be controversial, saying: We try to be dead honest. It was quite unfortunate that quite a few people took offence, but we certainly didnt mean it.

As Paul says, the thing about Bake Off is that it absolutely represents inclusivity and diversity and tolerance and togetherness so the idea that we were set out to insult anybody is ridiculous.

The Great British Bake Off returns on Tuesday 13 September on Channel 4.
By Leroy Leo

(Reuters) -The viral trend of "Barbie Botox" that has women as young as in their 20s rush for toxin-based procedures to mimic the looks of the movie's lead actress Margot Robbie may lead to resistance among them and hinder medical use in future, doctors cautioned.

The procedure, also known as "Trap Tox", has been widely used by doctors to inject a class of drugs known as botulinum toxins, such as Botox, into the trapezius muscles of the upper back to treat migraines and shoulder pain.

But since the "Barbie" movie was released in July, there has been an uptick in demand for use as a cosmetic procedure. The hashtag BarbieBotox had 11.2 million views on TikTok.

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The procedure "supposedly slims the neck and somehow that got attributed to the actress that's playing Barbie," Revance Therapeutics President Dustin Sjuts told Reuters in an interview.

"They're not treating wrinkles or lax skin. They want less girth to their neck, a slimmer, more contoured neck," said Scot Glasberg, president-elect of the Plastic Surgery Foundation, who practices in New York.

The approval of such injections for cosmetic purposes is only limited to procedures involving the face, making the use of the injection in the trapezius "off-label".

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration places the responsibility of "off-label" use on health professionals to judge such procedures as "medically appropriate".

Meanwhile, Revance and Evolus Inc, which make similar toxins under the Daxxify and Jeuveau brands, respectively, told Reuters that though "Barbie Botox" has picked up in recent months, they do not see the trend significantly boosting sales.

Botox maker AbbVie Inc declined to comment.

Historically, people above 40 years would opt for toxin-based injections - a market estimated to be worth over $3 billion in annual sales in the U.S.

However, the doctors said they were concerned about a rise in use among younger women - and six doctors warned that procedures by underqualified staff at some medispas raised the risk of complications.

RESISTANCE RISK

The jump in use among younger women with typically stronger immune systems also raises the risk that the products could become less effective for them over time, said Shilpi Kheterpal, a dermatologist at Cleveland Clinic.

"If they're doing high amounts of Botox very frequently... they may lose its effect over time, not just with Botox, but with the other products in the market too, because they all have some similar molecule," Kheterpal said.

Doctors also stressed the risk from administration by people who may not be properly qualified, especially at medispas where there is little oversight.

"There are no regulations on the type of doctor that can run a medispa," said Melissa Levoska, assistant professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

"So, a family medicine physician or OB-GYN (obstetrician-gynecologist) physician can technically open up a medispa, and now increasingly there are also physician assistants and nurse practitioners who are doing injections."

The toxins are generally safe, but a potential risk, if not injected properly, could be the impact on neighboring muscles which might weaken them for months.

"The science isn't quite there yet, in order to support the clinical profile of it," said Evolus CEO David Moatazedi.

"However, we do know neurotoxins have been used at doses significantly higher for therapeutic purposes than the level of being used for aesthetic purposes and we know the products are safe."

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
WHITE PLAINS - An Arizona man is facing a federal charge accusing him of coercion and enticement of a minor.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced Friday that John Lord, 40, of Sedona, Arizona, was arrested earlier this week after he allegedly tried to persuade, induce, entice and coerce a 15-year-old minor to engage in sexual activity.

According to a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in White Plains, on or about Thursday, Lord persuaded and enticed the 15-year-old minor, who he met and communicated with on an online application to engage in sexual activity with him.

Bacteria contamination: Beaches on the Sound Shore cleared to reopen in time for Labor Day weekend

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On Thursday, Lord allegedly sent text messages to the victim, asking to meet and engage in sexual activity. Hours later, according to the complaint, Lord was discovered with the victim in a wooded area in Katonah. Lord was naked from the waist down and the 15-year-old victim was in his underwear, the complaint said. When approached, Lord grabbed his underwear and fled.

Later that evening, Lord was apprehended and arrested by the Putnam County Sheriff's office, with assistance from the Bedford Police Department.

According to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney's office, Lord was interviewed by Bedford Police and admitted to engaging in sexual activity with the victim on that day and on prior occasions.

West Nile: New Rochelle has Westchester County's first 2023 case of the Virus

Lord was charged with third-degree criminal sexual act, a felony. Lord appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause. According to court documents, he is being held on his own consent, pending a preliminary hearing on Sept. 27.

Lord's attorney, Rachel Martin, had no comment.

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Arizona NY man accused in federal court of coercing, enticing a minor
The State Border Committee of Belarus claimed that a Polish helicopter violated Belarusian airspace on Sept. 1. Warsaw hasn't confirmed the incident.

According to Belarusian border guards, the Mi-24 military helicopter allegedly crossed the border with Belarus' Byerastavitsa district in the Grodno region.

Minsk claimed that the Polish aircraft flew 1,200 meters into the Belarusian territory "at an extremely low altitude" and then returned.

The Committee published a video allegedly showing the helicopter flying back to Poland, but it's impossible to establish the aircraft's origin and verify the location from the footage.

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The border guards added they had notified the Polish side of the purported violation. Belarus' Foreign Ministry summoned Poland's charge d'affaires for an explanation.

As of the evening of Sept. 1, the Polish government hasn't commented on the accusations.

Read also: Poland, Baltic states threaten to close borders with Belarus

A month ago, the Polish Defense Ministry said that two Belarusian helicopters violated the country's airspace during exercises near the border, which has been denied by Minsk.

The tensions at Belarus' borders with Poland and the Baltic countries have been mounting since 2021, when Minsk engineered a migrant crisis.

Concerns among NATO's eastern members spiked again following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and more recently when fighters of the Russian Wagner Group began moving to Belarus following their short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin.

In response to the escalating tensions, countries at NATO's eastern flank began reinforcing their eastern borders and limiting the number of border crossings.

Read also: National Resistance Center: Wagner fighters leave Belarus due to low pay

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claims Wagners core will remain in Belarus despite observations suggesting that the mercenary group is leaving after the death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin .

Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania threaten to completely shut their borders with Belarus should a critical incident involving the Wagner Group occur.

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Meanwhile, Minsk announces that it will host the Collective Security Treaty Organizations Combat Brotherhood 2023 joint strategic military exercise from Sept. 1-6.

The regimes crackdown on Belarus civil society continues as it labels Viasna, the countrys longest-standing human rights group, a so-called extremist formation.

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Belarusian authorities sentence the son of a self-exiled Belarusian opposition politician to over three years in prison for allegedly financing an extremist group.

Lukashenko claims Wagner Group core remains in Belarus

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed on Aug. 25 that the core of the Wagner Group will remain in Belarus, as the fate of the mercenary group hangs in the balance after the presumed death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Wagner lived, Wagner lives, and Wagner will live in Belarus, no matter if some dont want this, Lukashenko said in his first comments about the mercenary group after the plane crash on Aug. 23, which the Kremlin claims killed Prigozhin and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin.

Lukashenko claimed to have helped broker a deal between Putin and Prigozhin to end the mercenary chiefs short-lived and unsuccessful mutiny in Russia. The deal included the relocation of several Wagner contingents to Belarus.

Prigozhin and I built a system for how Wagner would be deployed in our country, he said, adding that 10,000 mercenaries could show up if needed.

Read also: Wagner boss Prigozhin is dead. Heres what it means for Africa

The dictators statement came a day after Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertys (RFE/RL) Belarusian service published satellite imagery that appeared to show a camp for Wagner fighters in the Belarusian village of Tsel being dismantled.

Ukraines State Border Guard Service also noted that the number of Wagner mercenaries stationed in Belarus is gradually decreasing as they depart for Russia.

We remove extra tents  we dont need so many, Lukashenko said in response to RFE/RLs findings. The core (of Wagners contingent in Belarus) remains here.

Rumors have circulated regarding the nature of the plane crash that is claimed to have killed Prigozhin.

When asked whether he believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind Prigozhins alleged death, Lukashenko said he did not think so, although he is not able to say who is responsible.

I know (Vladimir) Putin. Hes a thoughtful man, very calm I cant imagine that it was he who did that, he said, adding that the crash was too brutal and amateur.

Lukashenko also denied having given Prigozhin security guarantees: First of all, I was not supposed to ensure Prigozhins safety. Second, our conversation never went to it.

A flag bearing the logo of private mercenary group Wagner flutters above a portrait of late head of Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin at a makeshist memorial in Moscow, on Aug. 27, 2023. (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images)

Poland, Baltic states threaten complete border closure with Belarus over Wagner

Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania have threatened to completely shut their borders with Belarus should a critical incident involving the Wagner Group occur, as questions arise as to the fate of the mercenary group after the recent death of its top leadership.

We are determined on joint action if a critical situation arises, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said at a meeting with his Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian counterparts in Warsaw, Poland, on Aug. 28.

Regardless of whether it is on the Polish, Lithuanian, or Latvian borders, we will apply immediate retaliation.

All border crossings that are open so far, both passenger and cargo, will be closed, he said, adding that the same protocol applies to Russia.

EU and NATO members Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, which all share borders with Belarus, have expressed growing concern over the threats presented by the Wagner Groups presence in the country, Belarusian military drills near their borders, and the ongoing influx of migrants amid the Minsk-engineered migrant crisis.

Read also: Defense Ministry: Belarusian helicopters violate Polish airspace

We demand from the authorities in Minsk that the Wagner Group immediately leave the territory of Belarus and that illegal migrants immediately leave the border area and are sent back to their home countries, Kaminski said.

Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite told reporters that two criteria could lead to a border closure:

First of all, an armed incident at the border of one of the countries. The incident would need to pose a serious threat to national security. The other criterion is a mass breakthrough of migrants through the border of one of the states.

Meanwhile, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that the presumed death of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin does not improve the regions security situation.

Belarusian State Security Council Secretary Alexander Volfovich claimed that Wagner mercenaries do not pose a threat to Belarus neighbors and denied that migrants are flooding into the EU via Belarus.

Volfovichs claims contradict Lukashenkos previous statements, including his apparent joke that Wagner mercenaries in Belarus want to go on a trip to Warsaw and Rzeszow and his statement in 2021 that Minsk will not restrain migrants entering the EU through Belarus.

Lithuania has closed two of its six border crossings into Belarus, and Poland has closed all but one of its border crossings. Both states have reinforced their borders with additional troops amid rising tensions.

Belarus to host joint military drills with Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan

Minsk announced that it will host the Collective Security Treaty Organizations (CSTO) Combat Brotherhood-2023 joint strategic military exercise from Sept. 1-6.

According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, over 2,500 troops from CSTO members Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan will begin to arrive in Belarus from Aug. 25.

The joint drills will reportedly take place at training grounds in the countrys Brest, Hrodno, and Minsk regions and will focus on tasks to resolve the crisis situation in Eastern Europe, reconnaissance, logistical support, and protecting against nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

According to Belarusian monitoring group Belarusian Hajun, the first echelon of Russian military personnel arrived in Belarus on Aug. 18. Troops from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan began to arrive on Aug. 27, and those from Kazakhstan on Aug. 28.

The CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance consisting of Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia.

Read also: Does Belarus military have the capacity to attack Ukraine?

Court sentences opposition politicians son to over 3 years in prison

The Minsk City Court sentenced Artsiom Liabedzka, the son of self-exiled Belarusian opposition politician Anatol Liabedzka, to 3.5 years in prison on Aug. 24 for financing an extremist group.

Liabedzka, 37, is accused of having transferred money to three unnamed organizations, which Belarus has retroactively deemed extremist.

Liabedzka was arrested in March and sentenced to 15 days in prison then remanded in custody. At his trial, he pleaded not guilty.

His father, Anatol Liabedzka, is the former head of the United Civic Party, a Belarusian political party that opposed Lukashenkos regime. The political party was liquidated by the countrys Supreme Court in August in a string of opposition party shutdowns by Belarusian authorities in 2023.

He is now based outside of Belarus and a member of Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskayas United Transitional Cabinet.

It makes me so angry to see how the regime takes revenge on our families, Tsikhanouskaya said in a tweet. They invented a fake charge, but we know its an act to intimidate us.

Belarus labels Viasna human rights group extremist formation

The Belarusian Interior Ministry labeled Viasna, Belarus longest-standing human rights group, an extremist formation on Aug. 23, pro-regime Telegram channels said.

Belarusian state media said the label was given due to activities aimed at undermining Belarusian sovereignty and public safety, as well as discrediting and insulting public officials.

Viasna, which reports on politically motivated persecution undertaken by Lukashenkos regime, was awarded the U.N. Human Rights Prize in 2023 for its work.

Viasna dismissed the accusation, calling it yet another move in a broader strategy to destroy civil society organizations, the Belarusian human rights movement, and the arbitrary application of Belarusian anti-extremism legislation to suppress civil activism.

The human rights watchdog was founded in 1996 by Ales Bialiatski, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is currently serving a 10-year sentence in Belarus for politically motivated charges.

Bialiatskis former colleagues, Valiantsin Stefanovich, Uladzimir Labkovich, and Zmitser Salauyou also received politically motivated prison sentences.

The move to label Viasna extremist has been condemned by the U.S. and the U.N.

This weeks decision by authorities to declare the countrys leading human rights organization Viasna as extremist is a further disturbing sign of the ongoing crackdown on civil society, media, and other independent voices, the U.N. said, quoting the U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also condemned the decision, saying the U.S. stands in solidarity with the people of Belarus and their legitimate demands for accountability and respect for human rights.

Russification of Belarusian language

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

Aug. 26 marked 90 years since the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted a decree On Changing and Simplifying Belarusian Spelling, that dealt a blow to the Belarusian language from which it has yet to recover.

The decree essentially amended the Belarusian language to further resemble the Russian language  changes which are reflected almost entirely in the languages modern-day form.

By removing many of the Belarusian languages indigenous characteristics, Moscow sought to strengthen its imperial Russification policies across the Soviet Union.

Soviet authorities would often accuse linguists who worked on language reforms in Belarus, alongside their Ukrainian counterparts, of artificially detaching their respective languages from Russian, often arresting them.

The Belarusian language dates back to the 14th-16th centuries when the current territory of Belarus was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

While it originally used the Cyrillic alphabet, years of coexisting with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania allowed the Belarusian language to develop a Latin version. It was later replaced by the Soviet Union with the Cyrillic alphabet in 1918.

The unofficial ban on using Belarus traditional grammar structure was only lifted in 1988. However, after years of neglect, the use of the languages traditional form was lost.

Read also: In Lukashenkos Belarus, Belarusian culture is not welcome

Sixty-two years later, Lukashenkos regime would deal another blow, granting the Russian language equal status as Belarusian in a rigged referendum in 1995.

Following the mass protests that erupted after the fraudulent 2020 Belarusian presidential election, speaking the Belarusian language is associated with opposing Lukashenkos dictatorship and can lead to fines or punishment.

In July 2022, the Union of Belarusian Writers published a report detailing the growing marginalization of the Belarusian language and the increased use of Russian by the government and in Belarus school system.

According to the report, the vast majority of Belarusian media is delivered in Russian, and official statistics from 2019 indicate that Belarusian is spoken by only 28.47% of the population.

Meanwhile, a leaked document supposedly attributed to the chief of Belarus presidential office dated Dec. 21, 2022, suggested Belarusian authorities have decided to stop using the Latin variant of the Belarusian language for geographic locations, such as signs and objects.

One of the reasons cited for the decision was the so-called role of the Latin variant as an imposition of Western liberal values and cultural traditions and an overload on the urban environment.

Belarusian is an independent and unique language. Its grammar and vocabulary have been evolving for centuries, adapting to the changing realities of its country.

Periods of relaxation in the suppression of Belarusian have historically led to swift revitalization efforts among the Belarusian populace. But today, due to Lukashenkos repressive policy, Belarusians can only try to revive their native language from abroad.

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Abortion hadnt really been a topic of discussion for Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear or GOP gubernatorial nominee Attorney General Daniel Cameron in their race for the states top job this year  until a Beshear ad blasting Cameron for his position on the subject aired on Friday.

The ad zooms in on Camerons support for Kentuckys trigger ban on abortion, in particular highlighting its lack of exceptions in the case of rape or incest.

In the ad, Erin White, a prosecutor in Louisville who most recently worked at the Jefferson County Attorneys office, highlights her experience going after serious criminals before calling Camerons position on abortion unconscionable.

Daniel Cameron thinks a nine-year-old rape survivor should be forced to give birth. Nobody, no child, should ever have to go through that. Cameron believes rapists have more rights than their victims. Thats extreme and thats dangerous, White said.

#KYGov: The Andy Beshear campaign is up on TV with this spot hitting Daniel Cameron on abortion -- pic.twitter.com/Ji5YMBTKtA  Medium Buying (@MediumBuying) September 1, 2023

A Beshear campaign spokesperson told the Herald-Leader that the ad would air on television statewide.

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Camerons campaign released a statement in response to the ad calling it a desperate attack, and pointed to Beshears opposition to several pieces of anti-abortion rights legislation.

Andy Beshear stands with Joe Biden and the most extreme wing of the Democrat Party on abortion. Andy Beshear supports making it easier for minor children to get an abortion without their parents knowledge... Daniel Cameron is the pro-life candidate in this race and will work as Governor to build a culture of life, the statement read.

Those bills include a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which included a provision that a consenting parent or guardian should attempt notify another parent or guardian if their child is seeking an abortion.

Cameron was very vocal in his support for the GOP-backed trigger law banning nearly all abortions in the state, particularly during the crowded GOP primary that he won handily, but thats become less of a talking point during the general election. The ban kicked into effect following the Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Dobbs mid-2022, which overturned nearly 50 years of federal abortion protections established by Roe v. Wade.

Beshear has regularly made hay of Republicans position on exceptions for rape or incest as too extreme, but has spoken relatively little of his own position on abortion rights. When pressed, hes said that he believes Roe, which allowed abortions to take place up until viability which occurs late in the second trimester of pregnancy, got it generally right.

This ultimately should be a rare, but legal procedure. There are reasonable restrictions that could be placed on it. Ive always been against late-term procedures, Beshear said last year.

In addition to the ad, the Beshear campaign sent out an email to supporters, signed by Beshear, emphasizing the ads main points and noting that Cameron running mate Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, voted against an amendment that would have added the exceptions for rape and incest to the law.

As attorney general, I worked to get justice for survivors of some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. Kentuckians need to know how extreme and dangerous Daniel Camerons views are, Beshear wrote in the email.

Neither the email nor the ad itself ever says the word abortion.

Support for anti-abortion rights cause has long been a winning issue for Republicans in more conservative states like Kentucky, but the GOPs worse-than-expected performance in 2022 has led many to conclude that the matter is now less politically helpful for Republicans.

In 2022, Kentucky voters rejected a Republican proposal to amend the Kentucky Constitution in a way that would bar courts from interpreting a right to an abortion in the document. The amendment lost by five percentage points.

During that election season, the pro-abortion rights side took the approach of making the amendment a referendum on the states trigger ban, which it blasted as too draconian and highlighted its lack of exceptions for rape or incest. Republican House GOP Whip Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, filed a bill to add those exceptions to the ban this past legislative session, but his bill was never assigned to committee.

The commonwealths trigger law prohibits all abortion except in medical emergencies that threaten a pregnant persons life  an arbitrary standard health care providers have decried as not evidence-based. As a result, women needing medically-recommended terminations have been forced to go out of state for that routine medical care. Kentuckys fetal heartbeat law  also known as a six-week ban  bans abortion after fetal cardiac activity begins, usually around six weeks. Health care providers who perform abortions in violation of these bans can be charged with a felony. Both laws were passed in 2019 during the GOP caucuses third term in full control of the state legislature.

Latest on the lawsuit

Planned Parenthood and EMW Womens Surgical Center sued the state last summer after both laws took effect, arguing their unconstitutionality. After a Jefferson Circuit judge found merit in their case and granted a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of both laws, Cameron vigorously appealed.

The alleged harm here  an infringement on the right to abortion  is nonexistent, Cameron wrote in his appeal last year.

After the Kentucky Court of Appeals granted his appeal, reversing that lower courts injunction, the case made its way to the Kentucky Supreme Court. In February, the high court in a split decision declined to reinstate the injunction, which kept both bans in place. A majority of justices said both providers lacked necessary constitutional standing to sue on behalf of patients directly impacted by both bans; abortion providers needed to demonstrate concrete examples of harm  genuine obstacle or hindrance  the laws caused their patients.

This standard means abortion providers must bring forward women who are actively pregnant, in need of an abortion, and actively being denied that care  a short window lasting days or weeks. Because its a uniquely challenging standard to meet for a number of factors, Planned Parenthood and EMW asked a judge to dismiss their lawsuit in June but vowed to bring a new case once they found necessary plaintiffs.

The primary question brought by the initial lawsuit  does the Kentucky constitution protect an individuals right to access abortion  has still yet to be answered.
The Transportation Department is reversing Trump-era amendments allowing the transport of natural gas via rail. The Transportation Department says it evaluated February's East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, which resulted in harmful chemicals being released into the environment in the area (pictured). File Photo by Aaron Josefczyk/UPI

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President Joe Biden has reversed a Trump-era amendment to hazardous materials regulations that allowed liquified natural gas to be transported by rail.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and Federal Railroad Administration are moving to prevent the transport of liquefied natural gas via rail under the new instructions.

"PHSMA, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration, is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulation, to suspend authorization of liquefied natural gas transportation in rail tank cars," the Department of Transportation said in a press release Friday.

Though there has been no transportation of LNG via rail since July 24, 2020, the Transportation Department says the updated regulations are being put in place to prevent any transport occurring while the safety parameters are evaluated.

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"This temporary suspension of the HMR provisions authorizing transportation of LNG in rail tank cars guarantees no such transportation will occur before its companion rulemaking has concluded or June 30, 2025," the Transportation Department said.

Shortly after taking office, the Biden administration issued Executive Order 13990, which ordered a review of Trump-era regulatory changes.

"Executive Order 139990 required the review of agency regulations and other actions promulgated or adopted between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021, that are candidates for suspension to, modification, or rescission because of inconsistency with Biden-Harris Administration policies to improve public health, protect the environment, prioritize environmental justice and reduce GHG emissions," the Transportation Department said.

The Transportation Department says it is evaluating February's East Palestine Ohio train derailment, which resulted in harmful chemicals being released into the environment.

"PHMSA is working with the National Transportation Safety Board to learn all it can from this incident and determine whether the lessons learned should inform rail transportation of other hazardous commodities, such as LNG," the Transportation Department said.
The White House on Friday announced a round of new initiatives aimed at improving nursing home safety, including one to establish a 24/7 federal floor on staffing levels to ensure homes are properly staffed.

The nursing home industry receives nearly $100 billion annually from American taxpayers, yet too many nursing homes chronically understaff their facilities  resulting in poor, substandard care that endangers residents, the White House said in a statement.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailed several actions it would be taking, including setting minimum staffing levels for nursing homes and enforcing existing standards.

President Biden named nursing home safety as an issue where he wanted to seek improvements in his 2023 State of the Union address.

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Were protecting seniors life savings by cracking down on nursing homes that commit fraud, endanger patient safety, or prescribe drugs that are not needed, he said at the time.

The proposed rule for a federal floor on staffing levels would require facilities to have a registered nurse on site 24/7 as well as a minimum number of registered nurses and nurse aides. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing that this requirement be carried out in phases to allow facilities enough time to hire the necessary staff.

Nursing homes would also be required to provide residents with at least 0.55 hours of care from a registered nurse every day as well as 2.45 hours of care from a nurse aide. CMS estimates about 75 percent of nursing homes would need to strengthen their staffing.

Observed improvements in health outcomes were cited in the White Houses announcement, including one study that associated an additional 20 minutes of staffing of a registered nurse per resident with 22 percent fewer COVID-19 cases and 26 percent fewer COVID-19 deaths.

In recent years, there has been a disturbing trend towards private equity firms and other large corporate owners purchasing nursing homes and slashing levels of staff as a way to maximize profits, the White House statement read. Research suggests the result is more illness and more deaths in those homes

The administration also announced a $75 million investment into expanding the nursing workforce. CMS will partner with the Health Resources and Services Administration to help recruit, train, retain, and transition workers into nursing home careers.

CMS is proud to be leading the Presidents initiative to improve the lives of over 1.2 million residents who reside in Medicare and Medicaid-certified long-term care facilities, and those who will need that care in the future, CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Joe Biden likes to think of himself as the most pro-union president in American history. Only time will tell if his assessment is correct, but his case just got a little stronger thanks to his progressive appointees at the National Labor Relations Board.

Last week the federal agency that oversees collective bargaining issued a landmark ruling that experts believe will make it easier for workers to form unions. The decision, known as Cemex, for the building materials company at the heart of the case, creates real consequences for employers who break the law in an effort to keep a union out.

When workers want a union, they typically gather signed cards and file for a secret-ballot election. But under the Cemex standard, when workers demonstrate they have majority support for a union, the onus is on the company to either recognize the union or promptly ask the NLRB to conduct an election to determine if a majority want union representation.

Then, if the company breaks the law in such a way that it warrants throwing the election results out, the board can order the company to recognize the union and start bargaining. There would be no rerun election, as there has been until now.

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Although it has long been possible for the board to order union-busting companies to bargain even if the union loses a vote, experts say the new system under the Cemex decision makes that outcome more likely  and therefore discourages employers from breaking the law in the first place.

This is going to give us faster elections and less union busting.Sharon Block, Harvard Law School

The idea, the boards Democratic majority wrote in their decision, is to create a disincentive for employers to threaten or interrogate workers, or to make illegal promises so that union support tanks ahead of the vote.

Combined with new NLRB rules that streamline the union election process, the changes make organizing campaigns more likely to succeed, according to Sharon Block, a labor law professor at Harvard Law School. Borrowing a term from the president, she called the ruling a BFD.

This is going to give us faster elections and less union busting, predicted Block, a former Biden administration official. I imagine we will see some real consequences.

Employers are likely to challenge the legality of the new process in federal court  Cemex filed a request Thursday for review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit  and a future Republican board could try to undo the Cemex decision. But labor leaders hope it will stand up and mark a shift from years past when companies could break the law knowing they were unlikely to face real penalties.

Liz Shuler, the president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, told HuffPost the ruling was exciting.

I think it will make a difference, getting back to the principle around workers in a majority being able to join a union and the law being on their side, Shuler said. Its been frustrating for so many years as corporations have chipped away at the law. This NLRB is different.

It can be notoriously difficult for a union to win an election when the employer runs an aggressive counter-campaign against the organizers. A good example would be the Cemex case itself, which HuffPost detailed in a story last year.

Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB's general counsel, asked the board to reconsider the framework for when an employer can be ordered to recognize a union.

Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB's general counsel, asked the board to reconsider the framework for when an employer can be ordered to recognize a union.

Cemex is a multinational corporation based in Mexico that produces ready-mix concrete and other building materials. In 2018, truck drivers at hubs in Southern California and Nevada petitioned to join the Teamsters union. Management resisted the effort even though the Teamsters already represented drivers at other Cemex facilities and had a decent working relationship with the company.

Cemex hired an anti-union consulting firm, the Labor Relations Institute, which HuffPost recently profiled in a five-part series, and paid it more than $1 million to persuade workers not to unionize. A judge later found that Cemex committed extraordinary violations of the law, including making illegal threats, pressuring employees to remove union stickers, interrogating them about union activities, surveilling them and firing a union leader, Diana Ornelas.

It was so traumatic for me, Ornelas previously told HuffPost.

The Teamsters ended up narrowly losing the election, 179-166, even though a majority of the Cemex workers had signed union cards at the start of the campaign.

The judge in the case ordered that Cemex offer Ornelas reinstatement and backpay, but despite the breadth of unfair labor practices he found, he did not order that Cemex bargain with the union. In an appeal to the board in Washington, the NLRBs general counsel, Biden appointee Jennifer Abruzzo, recommended that the NLRB reconsider the framework for when a company is ordered to bargain with a union after the company breaks the law.

The process the boards Democratic majority came up with was different from what Abruzzo envisioned but significant nonetheless. The board, chaired by Lauren McFerran, wrote in its decision that it hoped its new standard would more effectively disincentivize employers from committing unfair labor practices.

In a dissent, the boards lone Republican member, Marvin Kaplan, accused his colleagues of pursuing dramatic changes in Board law and departures from long-standing precedent. He noted that a single unfair labor practice committed by the employer could lead to the employer being ordered to bargain.

Its been frustrating for so many years as corporations have chipped away at the law. This NLRB is different.AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler

Caren Sencer, a labor lawyer who represented the Teamsters in the case, argued that the boards new standard strikes a balance. It still allows an employer to demand an election  they must do so within two weeks  and make its case against the union, even if a majority of workers signed cards. But Sencer said it doesnt allow the company to abuse the process.

You can still say I want a vote and say to your employees, Heres the experiences I had with a union and why I dont think its a good idea, she said. What you cant do is the things you werent [legally] allowed to do anyway, like threatening employees.

She added that the board was smart to frame the decision around protecting employees free choice.

How do you fight that? she said of the reasoning. Do you say, Yes, we should be able to [break] the law?

Though the logic may seem unassailable to union supporters, Republicans quickly came out to blast the decision. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, called the Cemex framework un-American in a statement, arguing it gives labor groups a clear advantage in unionization efforts.

Its a concerted effort to chip away at workers rights and force every worker in America into a union, Foxx claimed.

Even if the Cemex decision makes employers less likely to violate the law, most unions will still view the NLRB election process as a broken system and a major reason why union density has dropped to just 6% in the U.S. private sector. But the major reforms many would like to see  and that Biden himself has stumped for  are not going anywhere while Republicans control the U.S. House.

Harvards Block said thats why the actions of the NLRB are so significant  and why Bidens choice of Abruzzo as the agencys general counsel should be exhibit A for his claim to be the most pro-union president.

Its an incredibly consequential appointment, Block said. We would be much better off if we had different labor law, but we have the labor law that we do. And I think [Abruzzo] has shown an incredible commitment to finding ways to wring the most protections for workers rights that are possible out of a flawed statute.

Related...
Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability member Anthony Driver, second from right, speaks before the announcement of the commission's three nominees for Chicago police superintendent during the panel's meeting at Kennedy-King College in Chicago on July 13, 2023. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Members of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability blasted a recent arbitrators ruling that, if approved by the City Council, would allow for police officers accused of serious misconduct to have their disciplinary cases decided behind closed doors.

Earlier this summer, as the city continues to negotiate a new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police, an arbitrator ruled that state law mandates that police officers accused of serious misconduct should have the option to have their cases heard in private. The arbitration award is not yet binding as the City Council hasnt voted on the contract.

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This is not an attack on the Chicago Police Department or an attack on Chicago police officers. In fact, it is my belief that enhanced oversight benefits everyone, Anthony Driver Jr., leader of the commission tasked with police oversight, said at the groups monthly meeting late Thursday. This arbitration decision, if allowed to stand and if subsequently approved by City Council, will set our city back decades.

When your job comes with the power to take away someones property, the power to take away someones freedom, the power to take away someones life, that bar must be higher, Driver added at the meeting, held at Richard J. Daley College on the Southwest Side. Just like doctors, lawyers and politicians, that bar must be higher. And having a higher bar means having a more transparent approach to discipline.

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Yvette Loizon, another CCPSA commissioner, echoed much of what Driver said, and said that, despite the arbitrators award, the disciplinary process must be fair across the board for both community (members) and police officers.

The FOP, which represents rank-and-file officers, detectives and retirees, filed a motion earlier this summer seeking to pause the disciplinary proceedings of 22 CPD officers in light of a recent arbitrators award.

Tim Grace, a union attorney, previously argued that the recent arbitration award was unequivocal: CPD officers accused of serious misconduct should be given the choice to have their cases heard by the board or by an independent third party. For those officers who choose the third party, their cases would be tried out of public view and the majority of records related to those cases would not be available to the public.

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We all know where this is going to go: arbitration, Grace said Monday. The officers will have a right to choose between the Police Board and arbitration. I think well be trying a lot of cases at the Police Board, still, in the future, but I think that there are going to be some officers that want arbitration.

The nine-person Police Board was previously appointed by the mayor, but now falls under the purview of the CCPSA, as does the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. The Police Board is only involved in the most severe disciplinary cases where the CPD seeks to fire an officer or suspend them for at least one year.

Thursdays meeting also featured several district council members  civilian liaisons between police and civilians in each of the CPDs 22 police districts  criticize the arbitration award and call it a step backward for the city.

The ability to have officers skirt accountability and go through arbitration, for me, undermines the progress that weve made in not only creating the CCPSA, but the Police Board, as well, Alexander Perez, a council member in the CPDs Wentworth District, said Thursday.

Lee Bielecki, a retired CPD sergeant who serves as a district council member in the Morgan Park District, said officers deserve arbitration, especially because those who oversee those cases wouldnt be subject to public pressure.

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The Police Board has shown in past cases that they have been swayed by public, political and media opinion. The police deserve a fair and more equitable system for discipline, Bielecki said.

The arbitration award is expected to be discussed further at the CCPSAs next meeting, on Thursday, when Larry Snelling, Mayor Brandon Johnsons nominee to be superintendent, will field questions from members of the public.
President Biden will award the Medal of Honor at the White House Sept. 5 to a former Army helicopter pilot who rescued four of his fellow comrades in a daring mission during the Vietnam war.

Biden will extend the nations highest military service award to retired Capt. Larry L. Taylor, of Chattanooga, Tenn., a veteran who has already earned dozens of medals for his service, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal.

The White House said in a Friday press release that Taylors brave years of service had earned him recognition for one of the nations highest honors.

Taylors conspicuous gallantry, his profound concern for his fellow soldiers, and his intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army, according to the release.

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Taylor enlisted in the Army in 1966 and trained as a helicopter pilot before he was deployed to Vietnam from August 1967 to August 1968.

In June 1968, Taylor led a light-fire helicopter unit to support American troops surrounded by enemy soldiers during a reconnaissance mission near the Vietnam village of Ap Go Cong.

After the four trapped American soldiers had signaled their locations with flares, Taylor and his wingman attacked enemy positions for about 45 minutes, according to the White House.

But a plan to evacuate the patrol team men was called off because it was unlikely the soldiers could be safely airlifted out.

Facing uncertainty, Taylor directed his wingman to keep up the pressure with return fire. He then designated a new extraction point, where he landed to pick up the soldiers, risking his life under heavy fire, and safely got the troops home.

Taylor flew more than 2,000 combat missions during his career, engaged with enemy fire more than 300 times and was forced down on five separate occasions, according to his alma mater, the University of Tennessee.

Taylor left active duty service honorably in 1970 and was honorably discharged from the reserves in 1973.

He later operated a roofing and sheet metal company in Chattanooga and now lives in nearby Signal Mountain.

Taylor is the fifth veteran to receive the Medal of Honor from the Chattanooga area, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Taylor told the local newspaper that Biden called him in July to inform him of the news and the upcoming ceremony. Taylor said he was proud to join his fellow Chattanooga honorees on the Medal of Honor wall.

To be mentioned in the same company as those people kind of makes you stop and think, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Joe Biden defended his friend Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell during a press conference on Thursday, saying that his second freezing spell was not at all unusual for someone recovering from severe concussion.

On Wednesday, Senator McConnell froze for the second time this summer in front of reporters during a news conference for approximately 30 seconds when asked if he would run for re-election in 2026.

Aides tried to prompt the 81-year-old lawmaker who took several more seconds to compose himself. He then answered two more questions.

Nevertheless, donors and fellow Republicans were quick to voice concerns about whether the Senates most senior Republican  who has represented Kentucky since 1985  has serious health issues.

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The president, who is 80 years old himself, told reporters gathered at the offices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency that he had spoken with Mr McConnell and that he seemed like his old self over the phone.

I spoke to Mitch. Hes a friend and I spoke to him today. And, you know, he was his old self on the telephone, Mr Biden said. And one of the leading women on my staff, her husbands a neurosurgeon as well. Its not at all unusual to have the response that sometimes happens to Mitch when youve had a severe concussion, its part of his recovery.

And so Im confident hes going to be back to his old self, the president concluded.

Later in the day, Senator McConnell was told he is free to continue with his schedule by the Office of the Attending Physician at Congress.

The office has informed Leader McConnell that he is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned. Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration, it said in a statement on Thursday.

After the incident in Covington, Kentucky, on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the senator said: Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today.

Mr McConnell spent a week in hospital after he fell outside a Washington DC hotel in March, suffering a concussion and broken rib. He then spent time in a rehabilitation facility before returning to work in the US Senate in April.

His first freezing incident took place during a press conference at the US Capitol on 26 July.
By Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Florida on Saturday to survey damage from this week's Hurricane Idalia, but a visit with the state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis , is not scheduled, despite the president's assertion that they would meet.

Biden, a Democrat who is running for re-election next year, told reporters at the White House on Friday that he would see DeSantis, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination to challenge Biden in 2024, during the trip.

DeSantis's spokesman Jeremy Redfern said that was not the case.

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"We dont have any plans for the Governor to meet with the President tomorrow," Redfern said in an email. "In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts."

The White House said Biden and his wife, Jill, would meet with members of the community affected by the storm.

"Their visit to Florida has been planned in close coordination with FEMA as well as state and local leaders to ensure there is no impact on response operations," White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said in a statement.

The White House said Biden informed DeSantis on Thursday before visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington that he would be coming to Florida, and the governor did not express concerns at the time.

The back-and-forth suggests politics could be creeping into the storm response.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is also running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, drew criticism for his praise of President Barack Obama in 2012 when the Democrat visited his state in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy.

Biden said earlier this week that politics had not affected his conversations with DeSantis.

"I think he trusts my judgment and my desire to help. And I trust him to be able to suggest that hes -- this is not about politics. This is about taking care of the people of his state," Biden told reporters on Wednesday. The two men have spoken regularly this week.

Biden has asked for billions of dollars in additional emergency funding following a string of severe weather events.

He plans to visit Florida before flying to his home state of Delaware for the weekend. The president regularly visits states that have been affected by natural disasters.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt; additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Oatis)
The White House said Friday that it is asking Congress for an additional $4 billion in emergency disaster aid to help respond to the fallout from a string of natural disasters across the country.

The new request comes on top of the $12 billion that the administration sought earlier this month, as part of a broader supplemental funding package that its urged lawmakers to attach to an upcoming short-term spending bill.

The President has been clear that were going to stand with communities across the Nation as they recover from disasters for as long as it takes," a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement, citing the intensity of disaster activity around the U.S. as triggering the extra financial need. We urge Congress to take swift action on supplemental appropriations.



President Joe Biden has vowed repeatedly to ensure that communities hit in recent weeks by wildfires and flooding get as much federal assistance as they need to recover, insisting during an appearance Thursday at FEMA headquarters that every single Cabinet agency has some contribution they can make and some responsibility.

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The president visited Maui in mid-August after wildfires tore through the Hawaiian island, meeting with survivors and surveying the damage. On Saturday, Biden is slated to fly to Florida to tour areas hardest hit by Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm earlier this week. The administration has also dispatched FEMA teams to both areas to aid with the ongoing recovery.

Im here to make clear that our nation has your back, he said during his Thursday trip to FEMA. And we are not going to walk away.

But keeping that pledge may rely heavily on securing more emergency money from Congress as part of a spending bill it must pass by Sept. 30 to keep the government open. FEMA has just $3.4 billion left in its disaster relief fund, Administrator Deanne Criswell said earlier this week. The agency expects to exhaust that remaining amount by the first half of September.



While there is bipartisan support for replenishing the governments disaster funds, conservative lawmakers have balked at the administrations broader funding request over its inclusion of $24 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

Some Florida Republicans have since called for splitting the package and approving the disaster funding on its own. But the White House has signaled opposition, insisting that all of the funding included in its supplemental package is considered urgent.

We need this money done, Biden said. And we need to do it in September. We cant wait.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden 's administration on Friday proposed setting federal minimum staffing levels for nursing homes, a move aimed at addressing longtime complaints about abuse and neglect in the industry that were highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

THE TAKE: Biden, a Democrat, pledged last year to protect American seniors' lives and life savings by cracking down on nursing homes that commit fraud or endanger patients' safety and address the chronic understaffing at long-term care facilities that was exposed during the pandemic.

BY THE NUMBERS: The nursing home industry takes in nearly $100 billion a year from U.S. taxpayers, yet many understaff their facilities, the White House said. The new rule proposes that facilities have a registered nurse (RN) on site around the clock. It says each resident should receive 2.45 hours (two hours and 27 minutes) of care from a nurse aide every day, plus at least 33 minutes of care from an registered nurse every day.

A nursing home would need two registered nurses for each eight hour shift and 10 nurse aids per eight-hour shift, the White House said. To meet the requirements, 68% of nursing homes would have to hire nurse aides and 36% of nursing homes would have to hire RNs, it said.

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CONTEXT: During the pandemic, more than 200,000 nursing home residents and workers died, accounting for one-fifth of all COVID deaths in the country, the White House said in a fact sheet on the proposed changes. Staffing shortages, it said, may force nursing home residents to go without basic necessities like hot meals and regular baths, or even lie in wet and soiled diapers for hours. They also may suffer more falls and bedsores.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
The Biden administration is suspending a Trump-era policy that allowed for natural gas to be shipped by rail, expressing safety concerns.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) on Friday halted the 2020 policy until it can publish a companion rule or until June 30, 2025, if a rule is not completed by that date.

The DOT said its action would avoid potential risks to public health and safety or environmental consequences and allow for more testing and the inclusion of possible mitigation measures.

The departments new suspension rule particularly invoked the trail derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that spilled hazardous vinyl chloride earlier this year. That train did not carry natural gas but drew renewed attention to the issue of rail safety at large.

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The Trump administration issued its rule in 2020, determining bulk transport of liquified natural gas by rail was a safe alternative.

It said that a certain type of tank car has an established track record of safety in transporting other cryogenic flammable materials.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON  Hurricane Idalia and other recent natural disasters have drained the federal government's relief funds faster than expected, the Biden administration said Friday in a request to Congress for more emergency money.

Three weeks after asking lawmakers to approve an additional $12 billion, the White House budget office said it now needs $16 billion.

The request came the day after President Joe Biden made a public appeal to Congress for the emergency funding while visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"I'm calling on Congress to make sure you're able to have the funds to be able to continue to show up to meet the needs of the American people," Biden said, "to deal with immediate crises that we're facing right now as well as our long-term commitments that we have to make to finish the job in Maui and elsewhere."

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Biden is heading to Florida on Saturday to tour damage from Hurricane Idalia.

President Joe Biden visits the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters on Aug. 31, 2023, in Washington.

A Category 3 hurricane with 125-mph winds when it hit Florida's Big Bend region Wednesday morning, Idalia battered homes and flooded roads before quickly moving to Georgia and South Carolina. The full extent of the damage won't be known for several days, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall said Thursday.

FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund was down to about $3.4 billion this week after months of significant disasters including wildfires in Hawaii, Louisiana and elsewhere in the country and massive flooding in Vermont.

The Biden administration requested an additional $12 billion in disaster relief funding for FEMA earlier this month as part of a larger $40 billion supplemental budget request that also includes $13 billion in emergency defense aid for Ukraine opposed by many Republicans.

Biden said some Republican members of Congress think the FEMA funding "is somehow not needed."

"I'm not even sure what they're thinking is. But we need this money done. We need this disaster relief request. And we need to do it in September. We can't wait," Biden said.

Congress is set to return from recess after Labor Day weekend, when Biden also wants Congress to adopt a short-term funding measure to avert a government shutdown when the current budget ends Sept. 30.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden boosts disaster funding request before post-Idalia Florida trip
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis fired back at former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Thursday after a judge questioned whether his case should be moved to federal court.

Meadows, who was charged alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 others in Willis' sprawling racketeering indictment, is seeking to remove his state charges to federal court, arguing that his charged conduct fell under his official federal duties as chief of staff and seeking to dismiss the charges. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, an Obama appointee overseeing Meadows' request, asked both parties to submit arguments on whether a single overt act out of dozens cited in the indictment is enough to require removal of the charges to federal court.

Willis' team in a filing on Thursday argued that Meadows' alleged actions were part of a greater sweeping scheme to aid Trump's post-election crusade and that even one official should not be enough to boot his case to federal court.

"The circumstances of this case are easily distinguishable," prosecutors wrote. "The defendant conspired not for any purpose related to his duties as chief of staff, but to transform Mr. Trump from a losing political candidate into a winning one, no matter what the outcome of the election had actually been."

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"Here's the crux of the argument from the Fulton County DA opposing Meadow's motion to remove to federal court," explained Georgia State University Law Prof. Anthony Michael Kreis. "Even if some of Meadows' acts fell within his duties, he's not being charged for them. He's being charged for joining in an unlawful enterprise to overturn the election."

Heres the crux of the argument from the Fulton County DA opposing Meadows motion to remove to federal court: Even if some of Meadows acts fell within his duties, hes not being charged for them. Hes being charged for joining in an unlawful enterprise to overturn the election. pic.twitter.com/9Vw6vbWZkM  Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) August 31, 2023

Meadows' attorneys in a response argued that Willis' argument was not enough to prevent the state from being transferred to federal court.

"Removal is also required, even if the State has charged some acts beyond Mr. Meadows's official duties, because what controls is Mr. Meadows's articulation of his federal defense, not the State's articulation of its state charges," Meadows' attorneys wrote.

Jones has not said when he plans to rule but has said that the case could set a precedent. At least four other defendants  former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, former Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer, state Sen. Shawn Still, and former Coffee County GOP chair Cathy Latham  are also seeking to remove their charges to federal court, where they could potentially draw a more favorable jury pool and perhaps a judge appointed by Trump.

Kreis tweeted that he had been unsure on whether Meadows' move would work but after Thursday's filings said he is "confident Willis has the strongest legal argument. Anything is possible but I would be shocked if any pending motion for removal is granted."

"Mark Meadows' goose is cooked on federal removal and so is every other defendant. If you're Jeff Clark, Shawn Still, Kathy Latham, or David Shafer you're in trouble. Testifying opens you to cross with little hope. But not taking the stand gets you absolutely nowhere," he wrote.

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"Meadows is in big trouble," agreed Lee Kovarsky, a law professor and expert on the removal statute at the University of Texas, arguing that Willis' argument is "MUCH stronger."

To get removal, a federal officer must show that the indicted conduct is both under the auspices of his official duties and "a colorable federal defense," meaning it can defeat the charge. But Meadows "made no arguments" on the second point, he explained, calling it a "catastrophic blunder."

Though Meadows argues that the Constitution's Supremacy Clause gives him immunity from state charges, the Supremacy Clause "can't be a complete defense to a RICO charge here even if it knocked out *all* overt acts  let alone something less than all of them."

"A defense is not 'colorable' unless it is capable of defeating the count. And on this argument, it's not just that Willis 'gets the better of it.' Meadows lawyers didn't even get to it," he concluded. "He's in big trouble."

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about Mark Meadows
This article is made possible through Spotlight PAs collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. This article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeats republishing policy.

HARRISBURG  A bill aiming to move up Pennsylvanias position in the 2024 presidential primary calendar advanced out of a key committee in the state Senate this week, but officials say changing the date less than eight months before the election would present a host of logistical problems.

The Senate State Government Committee unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that would move the primary up from April 23 to March 19, a change that would be effective only for next years election.

The current primary date conflicts with the Jewish holiday of Passover, and the three other states that had primaries scheduled for the same day have already moved their dates. Some observant Jews would be unable to vote in person on the holiday.

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The effort to move the primary has strong bipartisan and bicameral support in Pennsylvania, but the exact date it would be moved to is unclear.

Counties, which administer elections, havent endorsed a specific date but have significant concerns about having enough time to prepare for a new date if the legislative process drags out, said John Buffone, a spokesperson for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.

Counties will have to reschedule more than 9,000 polling places in about six months, when they are typically contracted a year or more in advance, he said. With that also comes the responsibilities of notifying residents of any changes and rescheduling thousands of poll workers for the 2024 primary.

Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill  the prime sponsor of the bill that advanced Wednesday  said the state Senate is motivated to act quickly because it understands counties are concerned with securing polling locations.

Its why we would like to get this bill passed as soon as humanly possible, he said.

A competing bill was introduced in the state House on Tuesday. That bill, from Democratic Reps. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, and Jared Solomon, D-Philadelphia, would move the primary to April 2.

The state House is not scheduled to return to session until late September, and Kenyatta said the House State Government Committee  of which he is a member  is not scheduled to take up either the state Senate bill or his proposal until Oct. 2. If fast-tracked, he said he hopes a bill would be on Shapiros desk in early October.

The state House bill originally aimed to change the primary date to March 19, but switched to April after election administrators voiced concerns over the tight timeframe and lawmakers realized campaigns would need to meet deadlines to get on the ballot in the middle of the winter holidays.

State Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, D-Montgomery, the ranking Democrat on the Senate State Government Committee, said her chamber heard similar concerns.

She said that before Wednesdays vote, the committee received messages from election administrators who argued that March 19 was too soon.

Those administrators prefer a primary date of April 9 or April 16, Cappelletti said.

She said state senators plan to add an amendment to the bill when it comes up for floor debate once the chamber returns to session in mid-September, adjusting the measure so that it moves the primary to an as-yet-undecided date later than March 19.

A spokesperson for state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward confirmed the date was still under discussion and an amendment may come, but said Republicans prefer the March 19 or March 26 dates to move Pennsylvania up in the presidential primary calendar.

I would expect that to firm up in the next week or so, spokesperson Erica Clayton-Wright said. Moving it into April doesnt (make Pennsylvania any more politically relevant), so obviously the sooner we can do it the better. She added that the plan is currently to have the full state Senate vote on a bill in September.

Forrest Lehman, an election administrator in Lycoming County, said election directors sometimes book buildings for polling places a year or more in advance, and that a date change may mean some facilities are unavailable, forcing counties to search for new buildings.

What youre going to have is, no matter what the date is, when you move it off the predetermined dates, youre going to have issues with facilities and poll workers, he said. Even if we told them today, we are going to have some problems that we are going to have to work out. Thats going to be 10 to 20 times worse if we wait until December:

The 2020 primary was moved from April to June due to concerns that year about in-person voting in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lehman said the situation now is not analogous. That was a move to later in the year rather than earlier and came during a time when mail voting was at a high and most facilities were not in use, and thus could easily accommodate a change.

Now were at a place where facilities are booked, theyre in usage, people are living their normal lives again, so you are absolutely going to have those conflicts, he said.

An earlier election date also poses a challenge for political campaigns. If the date were moved to March 19, the first date to circulate nomination petitions would be December 19. The April 2 date would set the first day for petitions on January 2. Circulating nominating petitions over the winter holiday season  which requires volunteers to be out collecting signatures from voters  could pose challenges for campaigns, which Kenyatta said was the second major reason for amending the date in the House bill.

Gov. Josh Shapiro  who has said he does not want the primary to conflict with Passover  said earlier this month that he was fine with whatever date the Legislature selects.

BEFORE YOU GO If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
A white-lined sphinx moth hovers as it sucks nectar from a flower. (Tom Dorsey / Associated Press)

A Marin County park ranger was visiting her in-laws two weeks ago when she spotted a baby hummingbird hovering over a thistle in their backyard  or so she thought.

When she stepped closer, she realized it was a creature she had never seen before. Its purple-and-brown coloring was hair, not plumage.

It was Alena Kopshevers first time encountering a white-lined sphinx moth.

Since then, she said sightings of the insects  Hyles lineata in scientific terms  have been reported all over Point Reyes National Seashore, the coastal park north of San Francisco where she has worked since 2011.

Read more: Unplugging at Point Reyes National Seashore, home to a famous lighthouse, pristine beaches and off-the-grid peace

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Kopshever isn't alone in spying the moths for the first time this summer. Several users shared similar experiences on one of the park's Facebook posts earlier this month.

One user who has lived in the same home for 30 years wrote that she recently spotted the moths for the first time and now sees them every day. Another, who spotted two in South Bay at dusk, thought they were tiny hummingbirds.

Thats a common misconception.

The colorful insects are similar in size to small hummingbirds and can beat their wings at the same rate  up to 70 flaps per second. Their elongated feeding tubes are often mistaken for the sliver of a hummingbird beak. And it doesn't help that both creatures love to sip nectar from flowers.

Read more: A wet winter is bringing a bumper crop of insects

Though the recent spate of sightings has been a rare first for many, Hyles lineata is one of the most common moths in North America, pollinating plants from southern Canada down to Central America.

But their population has declined over the last decade, mirroring an overall drop in insect populations, said Goggy Davidowitz, a professor of entomology at the University of Arizona who has been researching the species for 20 years.

In 2005, when wed go out collecting the moths at night, we would easily get 200 to 300 white-lined moths, he said. Now when were doing it, well get three.

Davidowitzs research is based in Arizona, which is about the geographic midpoint of the moth's range.

This summer's heat  scorching even by Arizona standards  seems to have taken a toll on the moth population, which usually peaks in late August and early September, he said. In Northern California, however, an unusual amount of rainfall probably had the opposite effect.

This is a specialist in semi-arid environments, so its very responsive to rainfall, which sustains their host plants, he said of the moths. So if the rainfalls are spread out in a way that sustains plant growth, you can see some very significant population increases.

Read more: West Nile virus is a growing threat this summer in California. What you need to know

Arthur Shapiro, a professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, seconded that explanation. The moths, he added, track rainfall to breed where plants are abundant.

But the migrations are not entirely predictable, so depending on rainfall patterns they could break out almost anywhere, Shapiro said. The rain from the tropical system in Southern California recently may trigger another spasm of breeding in autumn.

Shapiro said more research analyzing how Californias recent heavy rainfall affected various insect populations is forthcoming.

Davidowitz is part of a team that studies edible insects. The fatty moths are a hardy protein source and were once harvested by several Native American tribes across North America, including the Navajo, Cahuilla and Tohono O'odham.

Davidowitz has personally eaten "bunches" of them, sometimes with salsa or garlic and onions.

He recommends a stir fry.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A Cook County judge on Friday denied bail to a South Side man who authorities said trapped two Chicago firefighters at knife point in a gasoline-drenched home.

Judge Maryam Ahmad ordered Melvin Jordan, 47, held during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Jordan faces several felonies, including attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and unlawful use of a weapon.

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Jordans attorneys told the court their client suffers from mental health issues. The judge ordered Jordan to be evaluated by health care personnel, court records show.

The incident unfolded as firefighters responded to Jordans home at the 7700 block of South Marshfield Avenue in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, according to prosecutors.

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When firefighters arrived, the homes garage was engulfed in flames, prosecutors said.

Jordan asked to speak with a Chicago Fire Department battalion chief about a natural gas leak in the house. After the garage fire was extinguished, he led the chief and a lieutenant to his basement, prosecutors said.

The firefighters didnt smell a gas leak in the basement, but they saw Jordan run back upstairs. When they walked up, they found Jordan holding a knife that was 8- to 10-inches long, jabbing it toward him.

Youre not going anywhere, Jordan said, according to prosecutors.

Jordan ordered the firefighters to sit down while directing them from the homes kitchen to its living room at knife point, prosecutors said. The firefighters noticed that the homes rear and front doors were barricaded with deadbolts and wooden planks.

They radioed for backup and fellow firefighters tried to break through the front and rear doors, but they couldnt get in, prosecutors said.

Jordan told the firefighters stuck in the house he wanted to talk with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, prosecutors said.

Eventually, the trapped firefighters were able to escape through a front window when first responders broke the window and pulled them out, according to a police report.

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Police and firefighters then got into the house and found Jordan hiding in a bathroom, prosecutors said. He threatened to harm himself if first responders entered, the report said. Officers got into the bathroom and placed him in custody. They found another knife and an empty gun holster on him, .

Police also found the knife used in the attack on the kitchen floor and a 9 mm handgun upstairs, prosecutors said.

Officers also observed what they believed to be gasoline spread throughout the first floor of the residence, prosecutors said.

Jordan was convicted of murder in 2006 and later sentenced to 35 years, but had been granted a new trial in 2019 and was released from custody after posting $45,000 bail.

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He has previously been convicted of three separate armed robberies. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for each and served the sentences concurrently, court records show.

Prosecutors said Jordans past convictions for armed robbery included attacks on a Radio Shack employee, a hotel worker and another stores employee. In each case, he or a fellow attacker handcuffed their victim.

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He is scheduled to return to court Tuesday.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
Hundreds of people came together near Cape Cod in early August to celebrate Black excellence in space.

A Massachusetts event called "From STEM to the Stars," from the National Math and Science Initiative, brought together four Black astronauts who've already been to space, as well as a Black astronaut candidate. They shared their stories and also took part in activities for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) designed to inspire students from elementary through high school.

Black astronauts are now scheduled to launch toward the moon and the International Space Station (ISS), following generations of work by their predecessors. After the Massachusetts event, two of those pioneers spoke about their experiences with Space.com: Joan Higginbotham , who spent 12 days in space on the space shuttle mission STS-116 in 2006, and Bernard Harris, who accrued more than 18 days in space across the shuttle missions STS-55 in 1993 and STS-63 in 1995.

Higginbotham remembers her mission as the "mini-United Nations crew." It included two Black astronauts (herself and Robert Curbeam), along with astronaut representation in ancestry or citizenship from places like Korea, India, Switzerland and the Jewish community  and that's even before counting the backgrounds of the ISS crew they were visiting.

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Related: Diversity will be key to Artemis moon-to-Mars push, NASA officials say

"When I talk about my flight, I talk in terms of humanity and harmony, and all these people with, I put in quotes, 'differences' working together for a common good," Higginbotham said. "We can do that when we're confined to this little tin can of a spacecraft. Why can't we all work harmoniously here on Earth , where there's so much more space?"

Harris is CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative, which hosted the STEM event; he helped to found that organization as well. His 1993 space mission was a joint effort with the European Space Agency and was a pioneering effort in international cooperation, Harris said, as two German astronauts joined the crew. The 1995 mission was the first space shuttle mission to the space station Mir , newly in the hands of Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

"The highlight for me was, as we were doing our rendezvous and our close approach, I took this beautiful photo of Valeriy Polyakov that ended up on the cover of 'Aviation Week.' It was him in profile in the porthole of their viewing window of the station," Harris said.

He said the cosmonaut's photo remains moving today, as it's a symbol of how ISS collaboration has continued with that country despite the internationally condemned and ongoing invasion of Ukraine that Russia initiated in February 2022. (Most of Russia's other space partnerships have been severed as a result.)

Eighteen Black astronauts have flown into space, according to NASA statistics , out of more than 600 individuals who have flown to space worldwide. (The definition of where space begins varies considerably between entities, and will therefore influence the statistics.)

Related: NASA astronaut Leland Melvin talks Black history, education and dogs (exclusive)

While the first Black astronaut (Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez) flew into space on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 1980, a generation after the first astronauts overall, efforts to bring Black representation came in sooner. Ed Dwight, who attended "From STEM to the Stars," took part in an early 1960s military astronaut training program. He was not selected, for complex reasons outlined in a lengthy Smithsonian Institution article written in 2020.

Then the first American Black astronaut, Robert H. Lawrence, was selected for the military's planned Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) space station in 1967. Sadly, Lawrence never flew in space, as he died in an aircraft accident in December 1967. The MOL program never got off the ground, but seven of Lawrence's colleagues were transferred to NASA in 1969 for eligibility to fly in the space shuttle program.

Some other milestones in Black astronaut history include the first astronaut on a space shuttle (Guion S. Bluford in 1983; the 40th anniversary of launch falls this week), the first woman astronaut ( Mae Jemison in 1992), the first spacewalker (Harris, in 1995), the first pilot (Sian Proctor, on SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission in 2021) and the first long-duration ISS missions by a man ( Victor Glover in 2020-21) and a woman ( Jessica Watkins in 2022.)

That said, every person's pathway to space is a journey worth sharing, the astronauts Space.com spoke to emphasize, as diversity lifts everyone up  no matter their background.

"When you have people that bring diversity to the table, they come to the table and look at things through a little bit of a different lens [than] a group that is homogenous," Higgenbothom said. "So you have the ability to have the perspective of getting, maybe, eight different viewpoints. That just makes you a better community."

Related: NASA needs sharper diversity focus to boost representation, audit finds

Astronaut Victor Glover against a black background.

Higginbotham shared a story from an event she attended honoring Ronald McNair, a Black astronaut who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. McNair's alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University, holds a commemorative event every January, around the anniversary of the tragedy. (The historically Black university has also named a building after the fallen astronaut.)

"This particular year, I was going (to the event), but I was going as my husband's plus-one. So I was being 'Mrs. Mitchell.' I wasn't astronaut Joan Higginbotham," she continued. The host of the event, however, asked to introduce a student with a "wicked engineering degree I didn't even understand," Higginbotham said. The student immediately recognized Higginbotham even though the former astronaut wasn't wearing a flight suit or any other identifying information, she said.

"That kind of blew me away, and then it was incredibly humbling for me to hear that I'm on her vision board," Higginbotham continued. The two have continued to stay in touch as the student continues her educational journey in graduate school.

"I tell that story because that's why representation matters; I'm kind of tearing up talking about it," she added. "Sometimes we (astronauts) don't realize the impact that we can have, but it's impactful what we've done. I am truly humbled and honored if someone thinks that what I've done is motivation for them."

Now new stories are being written in front of us. Glover followed up his historic long-duration flight with an assignment for the Artemis moon program: He'll become the first Black astronaut to leave low Earth orbit when Artemis 2 flies in late 2024 or so.

"Victor is going to be making history as an African-American man that is going to be able to circumnavigate the moon. Unfortunately, he's not going to walk on the moon  that's still yet to come  but yes, that will happen," Higginbotham said.

"Think of the kids that were four or five when Apollo 11 happened and they landed on the moon," she added, saying that Glover will make a similar impact with his own mission.

Related: Artemis 2 moon crew announcement felt like a Canadian history time warp

A woman stands at a microphone wearing a blue jumpsuit.

RELATED STORIES:

 Diversity will be key to Artemis moon-to-Mars push, NASA officials say

 NASA needs sharper diversity focus to boost representation, audit finds

 How astronaut diversity changed for the better in a single NASA class recounted in 'The New Guys' book

Harris was one of those kids inspired by Apollo 11, having been 13 years old at the time and dreaming himself of walking on the moon. "My dream of going to space was accomplished, but my dream of walking on the moon was not," Harris said. "So I am going to be there with Victor in spirit. He is going to be my surrogate, and I think he'll be the surrogate for many of us here on this planet, and particularly the Black community."

On top of that, Jeanette Epps recently got her second chance to visit the ISS as a member of SpaceX 's Crew-8 mission, which is slated to fly in February 2024. Epps was removed (with no public explanation) late from a 2018 space station mission and said at the time that the decision puzzled even her , as she could find no medical- or crew-related reason to explain it.

"She had a choice there, to either give up and walk away and she did not. She stayed," Harris said of Epps' situation. "It's just reflective of what I think the Black community has dealt with, for hundreds of years, where there has been adversity that comes into our lives and we remain steadfast and and continue to be a contributor to this community.

"I think that when things like this happen," he continued, "it makes the person grow individually. It also is of great value to the institution  in this case, NASA  because we haven't lost that "intellectual property," as we talk about it in the investment business. I'm so proud of her that she hung in there, and now has a mission ahead of her. We're going to be watching that and supporting her wholeheartedly."
A Middle Georgia man who pleaded guilty to his involvement in sprawling cocaine, methamphetamine and dogfighting cases that stretched from the midstate into Florida and Alabama was on Friday sentenced to a decade and a half in federal prison.

A multi-agency investigation into drug and dogfighting operations began in late spring 2019.

Some of those arrested and since convicted included 20 Georgians, most of whom hailed from Warner Robins, Fort Valley, Macon, Roberta and Reynolds.

At Fridays sentencing before U.S. District Court Tilman E. Tripp Self III  the last sentencing in those cases  a man named Armard Black Jack Davis, of Fort Valley, was sentenced to 15-plus years in prison and four more on probation.

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According to a news statement from federal prosecutors, Davis, 43, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy involving animal fighting.

Davis plea agreement noted that law enforcement officials, during their probe, used intercepted phone calls and text messages from cellphones belonging to Davis and four co-defendants. The communications were said to have mentioned, among other things, the planning of dogfights and gambling on such events.

In late February 2020, cops searched Davis property on Vienna Street in Fort Valley and rescued nine pit bull-type dogs, many of them injured, some with broken legs and open wounds.

About a year later, in January 2021, DEA agents surveilled a drug deal in Warner Robins during which a woman bought 12 ounces of suspected meth from Davis, his plea agreement stated.

The agents followed Davis for several hours and Peach sheriffs deputies pulled him over for speeding, seizing about a pound of meth and nearly $4,000 cash.
Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton may be in legal trouble after a confrontation between him and Democratic State Rep. Justin J. Pearson led to the Speaker getting physical with the Black lawmaker Tuesday.

The Memphis Tennessee General Assembly on Tuesday was filled with loud chanting, passionate protests and heated arguments, which led to a fight breaking out on the assembly room floor. The incident caught on camera shows Cameron shoving Pearson as Pearson was confronting him about the lack of gun control legislation. Its unclear who started the shoving.

Democratic State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, left, and Tennesse House Speaker Cameron Sexton, right (@CSexton25, @Justinjpearson on X)

Gun control was a huge topic at the assembly that day. This special legislative session was held in direct response to one of the worst school shootings in the history of the state.

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Related: Where Is Our Anti-Black Hate Crime Bill?: The Jacksonville Dollar General Shooting Is Yet Another Example of Why Black Americans Need Specific Legislation to Deter Racist Attackers



On March 27, in Nashville, Tennessee, a shooting broke out in a private Christian school where seven people, including three 9-year-old students, were killed by 28-year-old Audrey Hale. Hale was shot dead when confronted by two veteran law enforcement officers.

Investigators discovered that Hale was diagnosed with mental health problems, according to Metro Nashville police chief John Drake in a press conference. But despite this, Hale was able to purchase seven firearms from five different stores. Three of these firearms were used in the shooting. Because there are no red flag laws in Tennessee, mental health concerns would not have been enough to take away Hales firearms.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.



Things were already heated for the House of Representatives before the incident on Tuesday because of a vote the day before. On Monday, the GOP-led House voted on silencing Pearson and another Democratic member who were expelled from the chamber earlier this year.



Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville was deemed out of order twice during the debate Monday, prompting a vote to silence him for the remainder of the day. It was 70-20 across party lines, leading to a walkout by the Democrats to protest the decision.



On Tuesday, party rivalries would flare again when Pearson, holding a sign in protest, approached Sexton in the middle of the House floor. It is unclear what was exactly said between them, but the results led to Sexton shoving Pearson in response.



The men were quickly separated before the situation could further escalate.



The point of contention between the two stemmed from disagreements to pass a bill that would tighten regulations on gun control that was proposed by Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee.



While I was saying to the Speaker that we are not doing enough, while I was saying that this is shameful and a disgrace to the people in the state of Tennessee, that we are tired of going to funerals, the Speaker violently shoved me in the chest, Pearson said. And then other members of his party also pushed me back towards the clerks desk.



Sexton, on the other hand, said, I told him dont bump me. My security put their hands on the back, which knocked me forward, and the photographer when you look at it, was to my left, so we moved right. At that point, we moved right, and Rep. Pearson comes in and pops me from the right side.



According to communications director Daphne Thomas, Pearson is reviewing legal options with an attorney.


Motorists traveling Interstate 70 recently shifted to the new Lance Cpl. Leon Deraps Interstate 70 Missouri River Bridge at Rocheport. Blasting demolition of the old bridge has been set.

A portion of the interstate in both directions and the Katy Trail will be closed off from 7-9 a.m. Sept. 10 to create a perimeter around the blast site that will remove the truss of the old Missouri River bridge. In case of inclement weather, blasting will happen Sept. 12.

Once the area is secured, the demolition team will use a controlled explosion to drop the old truss into the river at about 7:30 a.m. Crews will then sweep and inspect the new westbound bridge to ensure all debris is clear before the interstate is reopened to traffic. It is expected this process could take up to one hour, the Missouri Department of Transportation said.

Due to limited public viewing locations, MoDOT will livestream the demolition through the Rocheport Bridge project website.

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More: Missouri kicks off work zone awareness week from new Rocheport Bridge still under construction

The blast lasts a moment, but will drop the approximately 1,100 feet of truss, including 6 million pounds of steel into the Missouri River. The demo team must remove the pieces of the truss from the river within 24 hours of the blast in order to reopen the river channel to boat and barge traffic, MoDOT said.

Construction of the eastbound bridge will start after all debris is removed. This bridge is expected to open by December 2024.

From 2020: One more year  I-70 bridge replacement at Rocheport to start fall 2021

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Old Missouri River Bridge to come down in blasting demolition Sept. 10
Blink-182 have postponed a handful of their upcoming Ireland and UK shows as drummer Travis Barker had to return home due to an urgent family matter.

The three-piece rock group were scheduled to perform two shows at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on Friday (1 September) and Saturday (2 September), followed by concerts in Belfast on Monday (4 September) and Dublin on Tuesday (5 September).

However, hours before their first Glasgow night, Blink-182 announced that due to an urgent family matter, Travis had to return home to the States.

The Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin shows are being postponed, they wrote on an Instagram Story. More information in regards to his return to Europe and rescheduled dates will be provided as soon as available.

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No other information regarding the urgent family matter was released.

Barker, 47, is married to his third wife, Kourtney Kardashian, 44. The two are expecting their first child together. Kardashian made the surprise announcement in June during a Blink-182 concert.

Her announcement came around six months after she publicly shared that she had stopped in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments because it had taken a toll on her physical and mental health.

The Independent has contacted Barker and Kardashians representatives for comment.

Blink-182 Instagram Story (Blink-182 Instagram Story)

The new baby will be Barkers third child; he shares two children, Landon, 19 and Alabama, 17, with his ex-wife Shanna Moakler, with whom he was married from 2004 to 2008.

Kardashian, meanwhile, shares three children, Mason, 13, Penelope, 12, and Reign, 10, with her ex-boyfriend Scott Disick, with whom she dated for nine years.

The All the Small Things band, who are currently on a 2023-2024 world tour, finished their North American leg on 16 July in Nashville, Tennesee.

They were due to hit the road again, with their Glasgow shows kicking off the beginning of their European leg.

Blink-182s reunion tour marks the first time the original trio  consisting of Barker, guitarist Tom DeLonge and vocalist Mark Hoppos  have performed together since 2015 when DeLonge left the band to focus on his lifelong extraterrestrial passion.

Hoppos, 51 and DeLonge, 47, formed the band in 1992 with drummer Scott Raynor before he was dismissed in 1998 and replaced by Barker.
Hurricane Idalia has reached northern Florida and continues to batter the state with torrential rain and howling winds, despite dropping from a Category 4 to a Category 2 storm.

Idalia made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region around 7:45 a.m. local time on Wednesday (Aug. 30), according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The storm first hit the west of Cuba on Monday and Tuesday (Aug. 28 and 29), where it destroyed homes and flooded villages on the island. It then intensified over the Gulf of Mexico and traveled north with sustained winds of 130 mph (210 km/h) and gusts up to 160 mph (260 km/h), before weakening to a Category 3 storm as it reached the Florida coast. At least two people have died in crashes, the Washington Post reported.

Hurricane Idalia dropped to a Category 2 storm an hour after making landfall near Keaton Beach, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Tallahassee.

Off-the-charts sea temperatures likely fueled Hurricane Idalia  the most powerful storm to ever strike the Big Bend region, which extends from the top of the peninsula to the west of Florida.

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The storm's "rapid intensification is definitely feeding off that warmth that we know is there," Kristen Corbosiero, an associate professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University of Albany, told AP News.

Related: Satellites watch powerful Hurricanes Idalia and Franklin churn (video)

Ocean temperatures this year have broken every record since satellite measurements began, especially in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes draw energy from warm waters, and experts warned that Florida's bathtub conditions would likely strengthen storms and hurricanes coming the state's way.

These sizzling sea temperatures are being driven by a combination of human-caused climate change and an El Nino event, which is forecasted to substantially exceed the last strong event in early 2016.

Hurricane Idalia hits Florida's Big Bend region.

Idalia rode northward on pools of warm, deep water that carried the storm into the Gulf of Mexico, Corbosiero said. Deep water is usually colder than the top layers, and storms can stall themselves by churning these currents up to the surface. But these deep waters may not be as cold as they have been in other years, and Florida's west coast is not deep enough for them to cool down significantly, experts told AP News.

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Another factor that may have powered flooding from Idalia is a rare blue supermoon rising Wednesday, which may raise tides above normal and boost seawater surging over the coastline. Supermoons intensify the gravitational pull on Earth, which may contribute to worse tidal flooding brought by the hurricane across Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

"I would say the timing is pretty bad for this one," Brian Haines, a meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office in Charleston, South Carolina, told AP News.

Idalia's destructive advance is likely to be felt through Thursday (Aug. 31), with 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain predicted in some isolated areas, according to the NHC.
A 29-year-old Boise man will spend the next 63 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Amanda Brailsford also sentenced Travis Borup to seven years of supervised release, which will take effect after hes released from prison in 2028, according to a news release from the Idahos U.S. Attorneys Office. Borup will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case demonstrates that those who possess child pornography in Idaho will be brought to justice, Idaho U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit said in the news release. I am grateful for the strong partnership my office has with the Boise Police Department and the (Internet Crimes Against Children) Task Force at the Idaho Attorney Generals Office.

In March 2022, the Boise Police Department learned that Borup was distributing files of child porn pornography online through a peer-to-peer network, according to the release. Authorities obtained a search warrant and interviewed Borup, who admitted to viewing child porn on his cellphone over the past three to four years, according to the news release and a plea agreement obtained by the Idaho Statesman.

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Borup will have to forfeit the cellphone he used in the crime, the news release said.

This investigation is an outstanding example of the collaborative efforts law enforcement agencies make in order to protect our most vulnerable victims, Boise Police Capt. Matt Jones said in the news release.
MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE)  A Boston man and a Sacramento woman were rescued by deputies when hiking in Madera County in different areas, on the same day but at different times, according to deputies on Thursday.

On Monday, deputies say a 66-year-old male from Boston, MA was hiking with a small group in the area of Twin Island Lake at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet when he injured his left leg and was not able to walk anymore.

Sheriffs officials say they received a notification of the incident via the SOS feature of a Garmin inReach device. It was reported that the hiker may have suffered a ruptured quadriceps.

Due to the remote location of the rescue, the MCSO SAR team requested the assistance of the California Highway Patrol helicopter H-40.

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Sheriffs officials state despite the extreme heat at that elevation, crews were successful in landing in a nearby meadow, locating the patient, and transporting him to a regional hospital for treatment.

Later that same day, deputies received a report that a 43-year-old woman from the Sacramento area was hiking around Thousand Island Lake when she suffered a facial injury and had a possible concussion.

Her group of other three hikers navigated their way southbound on the Middle Fork SJR Trail to obtain phone service and requested medical help from Madera County Search and Rescue crews.

CHP H-40 was once again requested by MCSO SAR to assist in this rescue and the H-40 crew was able to locate and hoist the patient to the helicopter and transport her to a local hospital for treatment.

Complex medical aid calls in remote locations such as these require teamwork and efficiency to successfully accomplish. We are grateful for the wonderful working relationship we have with our regional partners, and thank all of the responding crews for their efforts, said Sheriff Tyson Pogue.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
A five-year-old boy accidentally shot himself dead after a caretaker fell asleep and left his gun out, according to authorities (ABC 7 Chicago)

A five-year-old boy fatally shot himself after a caretaker fell asleep and left his gun out, according to authorities.

Police say that a 32-year-old man told them that the homes residents had given him permission to check on the boy and a 17-year-old girl while the adults were out.

He told investigators that he got to the house in Gary, Indiana, early on Wednesday after a night out and placed his handgun down and fell asleep, the citys police department said in a statement.

Police say that the man said he was awakened by a loud noise and saw that the child was shot.

The man, who police did not identify, told investigators he believed the boy, who is from Chicago, accidentally shot himself. After the incident, the man rushed the youngster to a hospital, where he died.

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Commander Samuel Roberts of the Gary Police Department said that the man had been detained but no charges have yet been brought while the investigation continues.

He said that investigators were going through evidence and asking the public to provide information to help them determine if it was indeed an accident or something other than an accident.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call (219) 755-3855.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An 11-year-old boy has suffered life-changing injuries after being shot in the hip during a hunting trip.

Police confirmed a shotgun was discharged on Thursday morning at a place between Catsfield and Ninfield in East Sussex, with the schoolboy taken to hospital in London.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: An 11-year-old boy was injured when a shotgun was discharged in woodland near Catsfield on Thursday morning.

The boy was with a party of adults who were rough shooting at the time of the incident and suffered a serious, potentially life-changing wound to his hip. He was airlifted to hospital in London.

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A 54-year-old man from Nottinghamshire was arrested at the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.

Rough shooting is a method of live quarry shooting where trained dogs are used to flush game out of hedgerows, woods or other cover as shooters walk along.

A local man told The Telegraph the shooting had occurred on Three Oaks Farm, a large swathe of land which is divided into units that are being sold.

A passerby told the Evening Standard the incident happened within a field potentially further into the woods. We see the services at the gate and parked within the field.

They added: Its rural Sussex, people shoot for fun, usually at organised shoots  either clay, duck or pheasant  but the season for those hasnt quite started yet.

Some people shoot rabbits in private land if its a pest problem in the area.

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.
Riverside police Officer Zenna Ramos hugs Village Manager Jessica Frances next to Village President Joseph Ballerine and becomes emotional as she learns she would receive a requested waiver for reinstatement, Aug. 31, 2023, during a hearing of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board at the Bilandic Building. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

When former police Officer Zenna Ramos heard the decision that put her career back on track after facing the prospect of never working as a cop again, she began to sob.

The former Cicero officers career had been derailed in April when her certification was blocked by the Illinois Law Enforcement Standards and Training Board while applying to the Riverside Police Department. The board had cited the $14.99 theft of a T-shirt in 2008 and another theft in 2003, when Ramos was 17 years old.

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But Ramos, now 37, won an appeal Thursday when the boards waiver review committee voted to rescind its previous decision to block Ramos certification. The reversal paves the way for Ramos to again patrol suburban streets.

[ DON'T MISS: Riverside rallies in support of police officer decertified for $14.99 retail theft in 2008 ]

I cant believe it, she said, still crying as she leaned on a wall in the hallway moments after the decision. This is what Ive always wanted to do. I wanted to be the police. Im so grateful.

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Ramoss certification was blocked two months after Riverside hired her in February

She had previously studied criminal justice, worked several non-police jobs in law enforcement and worked as a Cicero police officer for a year.

Following the boards denial of Ramos certification, Riverside leaders rallied around her, arguing she deserved a second chance.

The villages president, manager, lawyer and public safety director defended her at the review committees midday hearing at Chicagos Bilandic Building on Thursday.

Riversides attorney, Yvette Heintzelman, argued Ramos expunged convictions from 2003 and 2008 didnt disqualify her from becoming a police officer in Illinois under the states new public safety law, the SAFE-T Act.

Ramos offenses werent listed in the SAFE-Ts lengthened list of disqualifying misdemeanors and didnt count as convictions because of the expungements, Heintzelman said. The new law shouldnt be retroactively applied, she added.

You cant use 2023 eyes to look at what happened in 2008, Heintzelman said. Its just not fair.

Illinois State Police director Brendan Kelly, second from left, speaks during a hearing about whether Riverside police Officer Zenna Ramos would receive a waiver on Aug. 31, 2023, during a hearing of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

But Patrick Hahn, the training and standard boards attorney defended the original decision to not certify Ramos, arguing the SAFE-T Act empowered the board to consider Ramos expunged conviction and dropped charges.

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The bar is high because we entrust these men and women with awesome powers. Powers to arrest. Powers to detain. Powers to shoot and kill when necessary, Hahn said. They have to be trusted to use sound judgment under special situations.

Moments after Riverside public safety Director Matthew Buckley lauded Ramos for turning her life around and described her struggle to overcome her brothers shooting death, Hahn also praised Ramos for her post-arrest actions. She is a testament to the corrective power of law, he said.

She can be almost anything she wants to be, Hahn said. She just shouldnt be a police officer.

Hahn also highlighted Ramos record in Cicero, citing documents that he said showed she had been let go by the department for performance issues.

This is a clash of cops helping cops get jobs, running smack into the SAFE-T Act, which says we need to do better, Hahn said.

Riverside police Officer Zenna Ramos hugs Matthew Buckley, public safety director for Riverside, after learning she would receive a requested waiver for reinstatement on Aug. 31, 2023. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Buckley acknowledged certain struggles Ramos faced while policing in Cicero, but added that the Cicero department recommended Ramos. The slower-paced Riverside department would be a better fit for the policing skills of Ramos, who excelled in the departments testing and interviews, he said.

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Last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker shared a statement calling on the training and standards board to certify Ramos after Riverside leaders held a news conference drawing attention to her plight.

Officer Ramos is a model of someone who, despite making a mistake during a difficult time in her life, has rehabilitated and learned from that past  positioning her to be a strong public servant in the community, said Pritzker, who appoints many of the boards members as governor.

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After private deliberation, the decision was read by Brendan Kelly, the Illinois State Police director who chairs the waiver review committee. The committee determined Ramos wasnt automatically disqualified from policing because of the past thefts, but maintained the training and standards board did have the discretion to block her certification.

However, the committee found Ramos certification as a police officer wouldnt threaten public trust in police, as it had previously ruled, Kelly said. Ramos should undergo training designed to address any issues she had while working as an officer in Cicero, Kelly added.

Kelly also stated that the parts of the SAFE-T Act that could have potentially blocked Ramos certification can apply retroactively.

Earlier in the hearing, Tamara Cummings, general counsel for the Fraternal Order of Polices Illinois Labor Council, argued the law was instead meant to prospectively apply. Theres no question that was the legislative intent. Otherwise we wouldve never agreed to it, she told the committee members.

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As the committee privately deliberated, Cummings told the Tribune she feared a decision to interpret the SAFE-T Act as retroactively applying could hinder currently certified officers with expunged convictions or dropped charges from transferring departments.

Its hugely problematic, because all the departments that Im aware of are having a crisis in terms of hiring and retention, so people are lateraling on a regular basis, Cummings said.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
The Boston Public Health Commission is sharing guidance on COVID-19 and other common respiratory viruses as children return to school.

BPHC is recommending that families have COVID-19 rapid testing kits available at home and ready to use if anyone is feeling sick or if they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. They say that testing before returning to school will protect others from infections. Officials also recommend resting before events when they will be around older adults or others at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

In collaboration with nonprofits and community-based organizations, BPHC has created an expansive network of distribution hubs where residents can get free at-home rapid testing kits. A full list of destruction hubs can be found here.

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BPHC also operates two clinics at the Bruce C. Bolling Building in Roxbury and City Hall that offer free COVID-19 vaccines, boosters, and rapid at-home testing kits which can be taken on-site.

Next week the Bruce C. Bolling Building location will be open from Tuesday through Saturday, from 12-6 p.m. Normal hours of operation (Thursdays-Saturdays from 12-6pm) will resume the following week.

Being prepared is one of the best strategies to protect ourselves and others as we begin to settle back into school and testing for COVID-19 if you are feeling sick or have been exposed is one of the best ways we can protect our classmates, colleagues, and family members, said Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Commissioner of Public Health and Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission.

According to BPHC, the FDA and CDC are expected to issue approvals for updated COVID-19 vaccines and schedules in the coming weeks.

The following steps should be taken to protect yourself from getting sick with COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses:

Having COVID-19 rapid testing kits available at home to test if you have symptoms of COVID-19.

Staying home when sick and wearing a mask if you are around others while ill or have to leave the house.

Talk to your trusted healthcare provider about treatment if you test positive for COVID-19 or flu and are at high risk for severe disease.

Wearing a well-fitting face mask, especially in crowded indoor settings and/or if you are at high risk of severe illness.

Wash your hands regularly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

Regularly disinfecting and cleaning high-touch surfaces.

Boston has seen increases in COVID-19 rates over the past month.

While the number of COVID-19 particles in the wastewater (948 RNA copies/mL on August 23) has remained stable over the past two weeks, it remains higher than at the beginning of the summer (247 RNA copies/mL on June 7).

Hospitalizations have also increased since the beginning of August. As of August 26, there were a total of 69 new weekly hospitalizations in Boston.

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

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

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FILE PHOTO: Brazilian indigenous peoples gather as the Supreme Court on weighing the constitutionality of laws to limit the ability of Indigenous peoples to win protected status for ancestral lands, in Brasilia

By Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Supreme Court is expected to rule later this month against attempts by the country's powerful farm lobby to limit land claims by Indigenous peoples to areas they occupied before 1988.

Lawyers and Indigenous rights advocates believe a majority of the 11-member court will vote to reject the date restriction on the grounds it is unconstitutional.

The vote count is currently 4-2 against the proposal and voting will resume on Sept. 20, the court said.

"At least two more justices are expected to vote against it next week," said Juliana de Paula, a lawyer for the Socio-Environmental Institute ISA, a nonprofit organization that defends Indigenous interests.

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Congress has pushed ahead with bills allowing Indigenous reservations only on land that was occupied by native communities when Brazil passed its Constitution in 1988. The lower house passed a bill last month and its backers want the Senate to follow suit before the Supreme Court rules on the issue.

Brazilian farm interests want to establish the cut-off date to secure non-Indigenous farmers' claim to lands they have settled in Brazil's expanding agricultural frontier.

The case before the court stems from a dispute in Santa Catarina state where the government rejected a land claim by the Xokleng people, who were evicted by tobacco farmers from what was their ancestral land. The government argued that they were not living on the disputed area in 1988.

Indigenous groups protesting in Brasilia against the limitation of their land claims celebrated a crucial vote on Thursday by Justice Cristiano Zanin that all but ensured the 1988 cut-off date would be rejected by the court.

Zanin said Indigenous communities that were not present on their lands in 1988 may have been forced to leave. He raised the possibility that farmers could be compensated if they settled on lands without knowing they were claimed by previous inhabitants.

Indigenous leaders say the Supreme Court decision is vital for the resolution of some 300 pending land recognition claims that would protect their communities from land-grabbers and invasion by illegal loggers and wildcat gold miners.

Brazil has 1.6 million Indigenous people according to the latest census, half of whom live on ancestral lands, mainly in the Amazon but also in farm states.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and David Holmes)
Editors Note: Soldiers in this story are stationed on the front and are identified only by their first name due to the nature of the information they are sharing.

KHARKIV OBLAST  Fighting throughout Ukraine is grueling, even for hardened veterans. For inexperienced troops recently plucked from civilian life, it's something else altogether.

Ihor, a former lawyer, recalls that day at the start of August when the Russians attacked the cratered ruins of Novoselivka in Kharkiv Oblast, which his 1st company was defending.

The attack was well-prepared. The Russian troops scouted out the position with their seemingly limitless drones. When they struck, their mortars zeroed in on what cover remained. A shell dropped into the living room of the house Ihor and a fellow soldier were occupying. They survived because they happened to be in the hall.

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Enemy artillery established fire control over the only roads leading to the village, cutting off medevac and reinforcements.

Read also: As counteroffensive presses forward in southeast, every meter costs a life

This left Ihor's unit, with their three weeks of NATO basic training and two months' deployment in Kharkiv Oblast, one-on-one with professional Russian troops with superior firepower.

The casualties were only recovered by nightfall. An undisclosed number didn't make it, including some of Ihor's friends from the unit.

"I lost brothers in arms there," he said. "I haven't been back since, and I don't want to go back. What I went through there is just chaos."

Ihor's company is part of the 32nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, one of the new brigades that Ukraine began staffing at the start of the year. It's also one of the few brigades that are set to hold the northeastern front, while the majority of troops and equipment is stationed on the southern front where Ukraine's slowly pushing forward.

While its doing its duty defending Russias push in Kharkiv Oblast, lack of experience and the limits of training and equipment made for a harrowing first two months in the field.

Infantryman Ihor (R) and his comrade recall their difficult days in eastern Kharkiv Oblast on Aug. 17 2023. (Oleksandr Bordian / Courtesy)

New brigades

Before January, the 32nd didn't exist, and the vast majority of its soldiers were civilians who had never shot anyone. Many did not want to be in the army.

This brigade is deployed to Kharkiv Oblast, over an hour east of Kupiansk  where Russian forces have conducted a big push over the past month and a half. Russian forces were alleged to have up to 100,000 troops that way.

Soldiers from different brigades told the Kyiv Independent that the Russians in this area are experienced and well-equipped soldiers, extensively stocked with artillery shells and MLRS rockets.

Soldiers from the 32nd are open about how in over their heads they often feel. The infantrymen talk about being outmatched by the competent and seemingly fearless Russian troops they saw on this axis of attack.

"Everything is not like what you read in daily briefings and on the news," said Volodymyr, an infantry sergeant with the brigade, who was in the thick of the fighting.

Read also: Pro-Russian sympathies make life harder for soldiers, cops in Kupiansk district

Like most units, the 32nd is starved for vehicles and artillery ammo. Most of the good equipment is deployed to the counteroffensive on the Zaporizhzhia front.

It also lacks battlefield experience, from low ranks to commanding officers. Nor do they have many options to draw on somebody else's. The year 2022 ground down Ukraine's supply of experienced warfighters to the point where there can be said to be a shortage.

"The brigades where the commanders and sergeants are new are getting experience through ongoing field operations," Sergiy Zgurets, the head of the military analytics center Defense Express, said.

Reached by email, the press services of the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces said they wouldn't be able to respond to questions on this topic.

Limits of NATO training

All the infantrymen of the 32nd brigade had been to Germany to train to NATO standards for three weeks.

This was an obvious solution. Some of the soldiers here had been excited to go, thinking the training would help them become effective.

In many ways, it had been.

The infantry praised the physical training. Press officer Andriy Smiyan and his aide Oleksandr highlighted the life-saving power of tactical medicine training, widely practiced in the West but virtually unknown in Soviet-style armies.

The training also comes with a full set of gear for each soldier.

Soldiers with the 32nd Mechanized Brigade cross a field in May. (Oleksandr Bordian / Courtesy)

However, the same soldiers who spoke to the Kyiv Independent didn't hide their scorn about how the training prepared them for a war that doesn't exist in Ukraine. They said the NATO officers don't understand the reality on the ground.

"A NATO infantryman knows he's supported and can advance with the confidence that there's a high likelihood that he won't be killed or maimed," Ihor said.

The NATO way of war calls for massive preparatory airstrikes and artillery barrages and demining before the infantry is sent in, he added.

It usually doesn't work that way in Ukraine.

Between the country's tiny, old air force, ancient T-64s, and a continuing shortage of artillery shells and infantry vehicles, it often falls to infantry to hold the line against Russian probing attacks and occasional assaults, supported by overwhelming artillery and huge numbers of drones.

Troops said they sometimes struggle to apply NATO small unit tactics because there often isn't enough cover to do so.

Zgurets said that the instructors in Germany put a lot of emphasis on teaching urban combat. But the skills of how to smoke an enemy out from a trench, how to build an assault group, and coordinate it with artillery and drone support were lacking.

The style of battle in the Ukrainian countryside, blending World War I trench combat and 21st-century tech and tactics, are only seen in Ukraine  they are outside NATO's wheelhouse.

Furthermore, the translators that are used often lack a military background and fail to convey accurate commands or responses between instructors and trainees, Zgurets added.

He said that it would be helpful for some of these instructors to visit Ukraine.

"European countries can correct their training," Zgurets said. "There has been a mutual understanding of experiences and concerns, and this is the moment when they can be cleared away."



Retired U.S. Major General Gordon Davis told the Kyiv Independent that training by NATO allies has been "indispensable. While specific tactics and procedures promoted by allied trainers may not have achieved the results that Ukrainian leadership and forces expected, the reason for this shortfall is certainly multi-dimensional."



He added that the training abroad is still better than Ukraine can offer and while realism could be improved, it'd take a huge investment for training programs to be able to replicate Russian tactics.

"Therefore, it is all the more important for Ukraine to invest in the quality of Western provided or supported training by contributing the missing pieces of current combat intelligence and lessons learned from personal Ukrainian sacrifice and success."

Soldiers with the 32nd Mechanized Brigade on the move in May, two months before being going to the frontline. (Oleksandr Bordian / Courtesy)

Struggle to survive

At the infantry positions, Sergeant Volodymyr met the Kyiv Independent wearing the bitterly ironic smile of a man forced to endure too much too quickly.

"None of the guys will want to talk to you," he said. "They don't want to think about it."

Volodymyr himself refused to speak, but once Ihor began explaining the situation, he eventually joined the conversation in fragments, adding this or that observation. By the end, Volodymyr can barely contain his bleak descriptions of the vagaries of combat.

"A heroic feat  to jump out from that basement and shoot aimlessly in their general direction, then end up without an arm or a leg, or just dead?" Volodymyr said. "What's the point?"

To get to the positions, soldiers have to walk on foot for five kilometers in the dead of night, with no sources of light, while carrying all of their incredibly heavy gear.

The positions themselves were ruins, with few places to hide. It's dangerous to stick a limb out from what cover remained, let alone go to the bathroom. Because the Russians in this area are relatively sharp, with professional troops and special forces in addition to conscripts from prisons or the general population. Theyre well-screened and show little signs of fear.

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"They have night vision drones, Orlans, and other tech; they see everything," Volodymyr said. Many of these drones are equipped with droppable munitions, having learned from the Ukrainians using this technique in 2022.

The feeling of constantly being watched and targeted is hugely demoralizing for the Ukrainian troops.

"It locks you up, you want to take certain actions, but you can't because the eye of Sauron is always watching," Ihor said, referencing the villain and master of the orcish horde from the Lord of the Rings.



The 32nd's tank operators seem a bit less edgy. There's a friendly modesty in how they talk about learning to work in teams, or how one of them got the nickname Sniper when he hit all three targets with his T-64 in a training exercise.

But they have their own nasty surprises to worry about. A tank platoon commander named Vladyslav recalls how the first time a Ukrainian tried to use a tank radio, the Russians immediately zeroed in on it and buried it in artillery. Since then, they learned never to use communications devices more powerful than a hand-held. Enemy troops are too-well positioned to punish any slip-ups.

"They (Russians) are sitting on some of the most advantageous positions in the region," said a tank commander with the callsign Yenot.

Ukrainian soldiers with the 32nd Separate Mechanized Brigade gather next to an anti-aircraft autocannon in May. (Oleksandr Bordian / Courtesy)

Many factors to blame

The struggles are straightforward. The question of where limitations end and blame begins is more slippery.

Infantrymen criticized their training as unrealistic for a scenario when youre out of everything but the enemy. But most acknowledged that it was helpful in some ways.

Soldiers also laid blame on their command for specific decisions, for example, taking up a position in a narrow basement that was impossible to escape quickly if the conditions turned life-threatening. Ihor lost some people he knew that way.

The Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces refused to respond to questions.

But it's not always that simple. Press officer Smiyan pointed out that the brigades commanding officers have to make the best decisions they can with the information they have and live with what happens. Without a core of experienced veterans, the command staff in these brigades is learning on the job just like everyone else, Zgurets said.

Russia's massive artillery advantage throughout the country and its predominance of drones and electronic warfare on this part of the front, don't help either.

These explanations make sense but they do nothing to cheer up the men going into battle.

"The infantry takes the entire brunt on itself, Ihor said.

Read also: Governor: Over 300 children evacuated from Kupiansk

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A Spanish care worker has been charged with multiple counts of raping a British teenage girl at a childrens residential home in Gibraltar.

Royal Gibraltar Police said that Pedro Luis Garcia Vallejo, 25, appeared at Gibraltars Magistrates Court on Thursday over the allegations.

He faces 10 charges of rape as well as a charge of sexual activity with a child and abuse of a position of trust.

The court heard how the girl was in Mr Garcia Vallejos care when the alleged offences took place.

A statement by the Royal Gibraltar Police confirmed that he is a Spanish citizen, one of around 10,000 people from Spain who commute to the Rock to work each day.

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Mr Garcia Vallejo lives in La Linea de la Concepcion, a city situated just across the border from the British territory.

The age of the girl, confirmed by Royal Gibraltar Police to be a British citizen, has not been disclosed.

In a second hearing at the court on Friday, the defendant was granted bail and ordered to attend further proceedings at Gibraltars Supreme Court on Sept 14.

He was ordered not to approach the alleged victim or set foot within a 200 metre-radius of the care home where the attacks are reported to have occurred.

Mr Garcia Vallejos lawyer said that the evidence against his client amounted only to hearsay from one other care worker and a police officer, adding that the alleged victim had not reported the defendant.

He said that the alleged victim had sent the defendant cards thanking him for helping her.

The lawyer also claimed that his client had not been present at the childrens home when some of the alleged attacks took place because he had been attending the birth of his child.

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Doctoral student Md Nadim deploys hardware at an Iowa State research farm for the ARA rural broadband project.

A wireless tower at Iowa State Universitys Ag Engineering/Agronomy Farm west of Ames is loaded with hardware sending radio waves across the countryside, creating wireless internet connections for rural users.

There are more poles, antennas and cabinets full of electronics on the roof of the Economic Development Core Facility at the Iowa State University Research Park. And bolted to the top of Wilson Hall, a 10-story residence hall. And hanging from the top of a wooden utility pole at Iowa States Curtiss Farm south of town.

There are also electronics and lower-to-the-ground antennas next to research fields and in a sheep barn. Theres equipment going through the roof of a dairy barn. There are even hardware cabinets on the roof of a CyRide bus.

Deploying all this infrastructure in and around Ames means the $16 million ARA Wireless Living Lab for Smart and Connected Rural Communities is moving to a public testing phase. The projects progress will be celebrated during a launch event Sept. 6-8 on the Iowa State campus, including field trips to ARA deployment sites.

Pictured is the ARA infrastructure atop Wilson Hall at Iowa State University in Ames.

The event will feature technical presentations, including:

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ARA-Enabled Teleoperation of Automated PhenoBots, by Lie Tang, an Iowa State professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering and a Plant Sciences Institute faculty scholar

ARA-Enabled Livestock Health Monitoring by Joshua Peschel, an Iowa State associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering

and, ARA-Enabled Agriculture Automation by Matthew Darr, the John Deere Endowed Chair in Agricultural Innovation and leader of Iowa States Digital Ag Innovation Lab.

Details and a program are here: https://arawireless.org/2023-public-launch/#overview.

A major goal for the ARA project is to address the broadband gap between rural and urban regions and to advance the frontiers of 5G and 6G technologies, said Hongwei Zhang, an Iowa State professor of electrical and computer engineering and the project leader.

Toward a Broadband Prairie

The ARA project launched in June 2021, when the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a consortium of 30 wireless companies and associations, announced $16 million in support for ARA (which stands for Agriculture and Rural Communities and has a logo featuring the Ara constellation of stars).

Over five years, the NSF is providing $7 million, the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Institute of Food and Agriculture is providing $1 million and PAWR industry partners are providing $8 million of cash and in-kind support.

In addition to Zhang, there are major contributors from Iowa State faculty, staff and students. The project is part of Iowa States Center for Wireless, Communities and Innovation.

Other project leaders are affiliated with the University of California, Irvine, Ohio State University and the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

This two-year effort is coming to fruition, Zhang said. ARA phase one has been deployed for research, education and innovation in advanced wireless and its rural applications.

While a project goal is to eventually improve wireless service to rural residents and communities, project researchers are now building a wireless platform using the latest technology and testing its performance in variety of applications, including precision agriculture and rural education.

As a wireless testbed, researchers write and talk of ARAs technical details: AraHaul for multi-modal, long-distance and high-throughput wireless; AraRAN wireless access infrastructure for connecting to equipment such as tractors; many-antenna, multiple-input and multiple-output systems, x-haul radios operating in the 11 gigahertz and 80 gigahertz bands; the TV White Space spectrum and Open Radio Access Networks (O-RAN).

Successfully tie all that together and Zhang envisions ARA one day enabling a Broadband Prairie that connects rural residents, farms, schools and communities.

We are on track, Zhang said. We are overcoming challenges. And I cant wait for this to go public.

Mike Krapfl is a writer for the Iowa State University News Service. He covers natural sciences, engineering, VPR centers and institutes.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: ISU's $16 million 'Broadband Prairie" begins public testing phase
Editors Note: A version of this story appears in CNNs Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the regions biggest stories. Sign up here.

Abad remembers rockets and barrel bombs tumbling over his hometown of Aleppo, a sprawling city in northwestern Syria that became the epicenter of a long-running civil war.

The retired contractor, in his early 70s, told CNN that the political violence triggered in 2011 forced his family apart, leaving them homeless.

We came to Sudan, we never dreamed wed be here. Its the only country that took us in, in the end, he said.

Abad is one of more than 14 million Syrians who fled their homes after a brutal crackdown by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on pro-democracy protesters led to a civil war.

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The conflict set off a humanitarian crisis, with Syrian refugees seeking asylum in more than 130 countries, many of them  approximately 5.5 million  living in neighboring nations, according to the UNs refugee agency (UNHCR).

Over 93,000 Syrians settled in Sudan, the third largest group of refugees in the country after South Sudanese and Eritrean, according to the UNHCR. Syrians did not require entry permits until December 2020, when the Sudanese interior ministry imposed visa requirements on them as part of a crackdown on refugees.

After a conflict broke out between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April, many Syrians found themselves displaced again.

CNN spoke to several who once again fear for their lives  as they struggle to escape yet another war, this time in their adopted country. CNN has changed their names for their safety.

We were living in safety, and woke up to the sound of weapons and bombs. It brought back memories of Syria, Abad reflected.

Sudan will be divided in the same way that Syria is divided today. The Sudanese people will suffer in the same way that the Syrian people did.

An Arab disaster

From grilling meat at outdoor picnics to listening to music late into the evening, Abad describes Aleppo before the war as a colorful hub rich with nightlife.

I was a happy man living a happy life in Aleppo. What a beautiful place it was  people were full of life.

But he says his life changed when Syrian rebels took up arms against government forces, seeking to topple the brutal Assad regime.

It wasnt an Arab Spring. I dont call it an Arab Spring. I call it Arab darkness, Arab Autumn. Because it didnt bring anything good with it. If it were a spring we wouldve seen the fruits of a revolution. This is an Arab disaster, Abad said.

Syria was burned down to the ground. We left after our homes were destroyed, after our relatives (were) killed, after our lives (were) completely destroyed.

A member of the Syrian regime forces stands amidst destruction in the former rebel-held Sukkari district in Aleppo on December 23, 2016. The city was one of the hardest-hit areas of the civil war. - George Ourfalian/AFP/Getty Images

The UN human rights office, in a report published last year, estimated that 306,887 civilians were killed between March 2011 and March 2021 in Syria. The figure represents at least 83 civilian deaths, including nine women and 18 children, every day for 10 years. As many as 6.8 million people have been internally displaced by the war, two thirds of whom are women and children, the UNHCR said.

Abad escaped Syria in 2011 and found refuge in Sudan, where he was later joined by his eldest daughter and his second wife. The family rebuilt their life together in the bustling capital of Khartoum, where Abad said he continued to find employment as a construction worker, earning enough money to buy a house.

But he was forced to flee his second home in the spring, after clashes between the two warring factions erupted into a searing conflict. CNN has previously uncovered evidence that the RSF and its allied militias are carrying out an indiscriminate campaign of widespread killings and sexual violence, unlike anything the country has seen in decades.

I was leading a very happy life. We Syrians bring with us our culture. And I saw that in Sudan. We brought with us our manufacturing skills, our cuisine, our heritage. Im really proud of that, Abad said.

All that I worked for in the past 13 years in Sudan, though, is now gone because of whats happening in the country. We left with only what we had in our pockets.

Adrenaline rush

Uzair said his dream of practicing medicine faded in April, when he was uprooted from his apartment in the Sudanese capital after the violence broke out.

We were living in the middle of these clashes, so we could hear everything, the 28-year-old, who graduated from medical school in December 2022, told CNN. You get an adrenaline rush.

At the end of April, Uzair says he and about 10 of his university friends left Khartoum to make the perilous 500-mile journey to Port Sudan  a coastal city where thousands of refugees coalesced in the hopes of boarding a ship to a safe neighboring country.

They gathered enough money to subsidize a steep increase in bus fares, Uzair said, adding that operators raised their fees more than tenfold, from about $20 to $250 per ticket.

During their 13-hour journey, he said he saw abandoned cars on the streets, and encountered militias interrogating Sudanese passengers, rifling through their luggage and searching their clothes.

Humanitarian groups have warned that the lack of safe evacuation corridors means civilians are likely to get caught in the crossfire of the conflict. More than 4,000 people have been killed in Sudan since April, including 28 aid workers and 435 children, according to tentative figures from the UNs human rights agency published in August. It said the actual numbers are likely to be much higher because many of those who have died have not been collected, identified or buried.

The sights and sounds of war reminded Uzair of his final days in Syria, he said. In 2012, he, his parents and three siblings fled after they heard stories of neighbors being killed and relatives houses getting destroyed, amid heavy clashes in his hometown.

People were afraid of getting killed and getting bombed, he reflected. Anyone could just put a bullet in your head, and itd be done.

We were nothing [to] them.

At the time, he said his family took an indirect route to the capital of Damascus in an attempt to avoid the fighting and flew to the United Arab Emirates. Uzair said he was able to finish his high school education in the UAE and migrated to Sudan in 2016 to start a medical degree.

More than a decade since he left Syria as a teenager, Uzair said he is still traumatized by the sound of military airplanes and helicopters circling the skies.

After I moved from Syria, all of these things have gotten more and more and more severe  this feeling inside my body, this adrenaline rush, just scared me, he added.

It was a terrible experience down there, either in Khartoum or Syria.

Life in Port Sudan

Vendors wait by minibuses and tuk-tuks for customers and passengers at a bus station in Port Sudan on May 23, 2023. The coastal city has become a hub for refugees trying to flee Sudan. - Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

Sitting on the edge of the Red Sea, Port Sudan, once a thriving commercial hub, has been transformed into a makeshift refugee camp for people desperately trying to flee.

When Uzair reached the city at the end of April, he said he was immediately plunged into the chaotic and harsh living conditions of the quayside, where his friends slept on the ground and used blankets to shade themselves from the sun.

In May, he decided to put his medical knowledge into practice and volunteer with the Sudanese Red Crescent, the International Committee of the Red Cross primary partner on the ground in Sudan, to help other refugees who needed treatment after escaping Khartoum.

Some patients had sustained bullet injuries, Uzair said. But the most common medical issues were infections or allergic reactions influenced by the hot and humid weather conditions, a lack of access to safe drinking water, no ventilation and confined living spaces.

He said drug shortages meant about four of his patients died, because they could not access medication to combat pre-existing health conditions that had been worsened by rashes. It was very sad, really very sad.

By the end of June, Uzair said he had treated up to 1,300 patients.

At least 25 million people require life-saving assistance in Sudan, according to the UN, as an overwhelmed healthcare system grapples with a lack of safe aid routes, power shortages, and hospitals damaged in the fighting.

Abad, the retired contractor, also fled to Port Sudan, where he said many are living in disastrous conditions.

Its really bad, I cannot stress enough how terrible it is, he added.

I look at all these young men around me, and I feel so sorry that they have to go through this when theyre at the beginning of their lives. It makes me so sad.

No way out

For the Syrians who spoke to CNN, the thought of staying trapped in Sudan is as unsettling as returning to their war-torn homeland, where entire communities have been wiped out by relentless aerial bombardment led by the regime and backed by Russia.

Men aged over 18 are condemned to military conscription, while dissidents face abuse in the countrys notorious torture prisons.

Shadi, a trained carpenter from the western city of Homs, was aged 15 when the violence boiled over in Syria. He said he remained in the country for nearly four or five years of war.

He eventually finished his carpentry studies and was faced with mandatory military conscription, which at the time had no set service period due to the ongoing war.

There wasnt a single day when one could simply walk peacefully. There was always danger, always fear, explosions at any minute, Shadi, who only shared his first name due to security concerns, told CNN.

After his father died from a heart attack, he was the only surviving relative supporting his mother and two older siblings. Military pay was low, and so he escaped in 2017 to search for work in Sudan.

He has not been back to his birth country since. After settling in Khartoum, Shadi fled to Port Sudan in April when the conflict started  almost exactly six years after he first stepped foot in Sudan in search of stability.

If I go back to Syria, I can stay for three months. But if I stay longer, I have to go to the military, and I dont want to do that. There is no way out of it. Theres no way around service, he said.

There is little recourse for Syrians in Sudan, many of whom say they have been neglected by the government in Damascus.

Saudi Arabia led evacuation efforts in the early days of the war. In April, Saudi authorities flew hundreds of Syrians from Port Sudan to countries in the region including Jordan and Algeria, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

But the majority of those who have fled Sudan are left unaccounted for, instead paying smugglers thousands of dollars and risking perilous routes in the hope of reaching a safe neighboring country to avoid going back to Syria.

A spokesperson from the UN told CNN that the agency and many of its partners have no capacity to relocate refugees away from conflict areas to safe locations.

We have received unconfirmed reports of many Syrian refugees from the initial days of fighting who did move to safe areas, like other residents of Khartoum. We have not received any confirmed report of casualties among Syrian refugees due to the conflict, the spokesperson said in a statement.

The agency has received reports of many Syrian refugees who self-relocated to safe areas, including over 2,000 in Port Sudan, the spokesperson added.

The concept of home is an important one to me, but the way things have played out for me, its made me forget my sense of homeland, Abad told CNN.

Home is not the territory. Home is a sense of belonging. I no longer have a sense of belonging to Syria. I wont go back there.

Days after speaking to CNN, Abad said he had safely arrived in Egypt as an undocumented migrant. But those like Abad contending with financial and bureaucratic obstacles are unlikely to find stability anytime soon.

When I am working, I am occupied. But when I sit still, I start getting thoughts about (the war) in Khartoum and Syria, Shadi, who works as a barista in Port Sudan, said.

I was in Syria, in a war. I left thinking I would go somewhere better. Then I came here and had more trouble. I dont know where to go.

Even if I had support, I dont want to go back to Syria. Anywhere but Syria, somewhere where there is work, life, no fear and no war.

CNNs Eyad Kourdi contributed reporting.

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Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger is seeking to ban cameras from his high-profile trial after bizarrely claiming that the media is honing in on his crotch.

The 28-year-old criminal justice PhD student filed a motion on 24 August asking Judge John Judge to toss cameras from the courtroom where he faces charges for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

In the defence motion, his attorney Anne Taylor argued that past footage from his court appearances had focused heavily on his crotch.

Mr. Kohberger is entitled to defend himself against capital criminal charges without cameras focused on his fly, his attorney wrote.

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She added that the media had been warned back in June not to focus solely on Mr Kohberger during the court appearances  but that they had failed to comply.

The in-person hearing to address the request was slated to take place on Friday but was vacated the night before.

Instead, a scheduling conference was held over Zoom with Latah County Judge John Judge deciding to rescheduled the hearing for 13 September.

A group of media outlets have pushed back on the defences request motion, asking the judge to allow cameras to remain in the courtroom for his future hearings and the trial.

In response, the group argued that no photographic or film coverage had focused on his fly  pointing out that an image included in the defence motion came from a social media post and not a media outlets coverage.

Although Mr. Kohberger argues that he is entitled to defend himself against capital charges without cameras focused on his fly, that assertion misstates the role that courtroom camera coverage played in the X social media post that appears at page 3 of his motion. No photographs or camera coverage focused on Mr. Kohbergers fly, it states.

Mr Kohbergers motion to dismiss the indictment has also been rescheduled to 22 September.

The accused mass killer is asking the judge to throw out the case on the grounds of a biased grand jury, inadmissible evidence, lack of sufficient evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct by withholding exculpatory evidence.

His trial had been due to start on 2 October but has now been delayed indefinitely after Mr Kohberger abruptly waived his right to a speedy trial last month.

Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a hearing on 18 August at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho (AP)

Mr Kohberger is facing the death penalty over the brutal murders of the four University of Idaho students.

Back in the early hours of 13 November, he is accused of breaking into an off-campus student home on King Road, Moscow, and stabbing the four students to death with a large, military-style knife.

Two other female roommates lived with the three women at the property and were home at the time of the massacre but survived.

One of the survivors  Dylan Mortensen  came face to face with the masked killer, dressed in head-to-toe black and with bushy eyebrows, as he left the home in the aftermath of the murders, according to the criminal affidavit.

For more than six weeks, the college town of Moscow was plunged into fear as the accused killer remained at large with no arrests made and no suspects named.

Then, on 30 December, law enforcement suddenly swooped on Mr Kohbergers family home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania and arrested him for the quadruple murders.

He was tied to the murders through his DNA found on a knife sheath left on the bed next to Mogens butchered body.

The motive remains unknown and it is still unclear what connection the WSU PhD student had to the University of Idaho students  if any  prior to the murders. The murder weapon  a fixed-blade knife  has never been found.

As a criminal justice PhD student at WSU, Mr Kohberger lived just 15 minutes from the victims over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman.

He had moved there from Pennsylvania and began his studies there that summer, having just completed his first semester before his arrest.

Before this, he studied criminology at DeSales University  first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022.

While there, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co-wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him.

He also carried out a research project to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.
[Source]

BTS group member RM recently addressed the controversy surrounding his Bad Religion Instagram Story.

Background information: In early August, RM, 30, posted about Frank Oceans 2012 song Bad Religion" in an Instagram Story. The K-pop star often shares song recommendations with his Instagram followers.

Its just a song: On Wednesday, RM hosted a Weverse livestream and addressed the backlash he faced after posting about "Bad Religion."

You just keep telling me that I insulted a religion, but I didnt. There was no any intention or, like, propose to insult a religion. I respect every belief and religion, thats all I can say, he said in part.

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Its a song, OK? Im not apologizing, Im just saying, I have my own soul, Im 30 years old, I can express my truth out. Please, the word is the word, it is what it is, please believe my words from myself, he continued.

Being vulnerable: RM assured his viewers that he is doing fine after a fan asked him during the livestream if the backlash has negatively affected him. He also explained why he finally decided to speak up.

"Im fine, theres no problems, he said. But I've heard that theres some, you know, problems and, you know, the noise is all around. So I just, I just have to say about that because, you know, some people just keep chatting me about it.  I didn't want to say about this, but you just, some people just make me, make me say about this.

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What is Bad Religion about?: The Frank Ocean song supposedly initiates a makeshift therapy session in a taxi. Some of its lines include He said Allahu akbar / I told him, Don't curse me / Bobo, you need prayer / I guess it couldnt hurt me / If it brings me to my knees / Its a bad religion.

Several listeners have argued that the response to Allahu akbar, which is Arabic for God is the greatest, is an insult. Meanwhile, others have claimed that the song is about unrequited love, and the reactions to RMs Instagram Story were blown out of proportion.

Despite this, countless social media users criticized RM for posting about the song, and the hashtag RM apologize to Muslims started trending on X.

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Elmwood Manor, once among the oldest structures in Bay St. Louis possessed a history that set it apart from any other home along the Gulf Coast.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, it held the distinction of being the Mississippi Gulf Coasts most prominent surviving example of the French Colonial architectural style.

Hurricane Katrina destroyed the mansion that was located on the beach in the Cedar Point neighborhood, but the buildings history spans back centuries.

Historical Background

The land upon which Elmwood Manor once stood was chartered by the Spanish during their brief period of control over the Mississippi Coast in the late 1700s. After the Revolutionary War, Spain actively encouraged settlers to move to the coastal region, enticing them with promises of land so long as they cultivated them.

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According to the Hancock County Historical Society, Louis Alexis Lassassier is believed to have acquired the property from the Spanish during this era and began construction of the house around 1803.

The most prevalent narrative is that after his passing in 1823, his widow, Melite Macarty Lassassier, took possession of the land even as the house was still under construction. Sometime between 1826 and 1829, she sold it to Jesse Cowand, who is thought to have completed construction of the house soon after.

However, a conflicting historical account asserts that Cowand purchased the property, along with a small cottage, from Lassassier around 1803. This account suggests he began construction of Elmwood Manor before leaving to fight in the War of 1812, later returning to Bay St. Louis to resume construction.

The exact sequence of events, whether Cowand or Lassassier began construction of the house and when, remains unknown.

Either way, Cowand had served in Beales Company, Orleans Riflemen during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Cowand was one of the few of his company to survive a British ambush, though he spent some time as a prisoner of war before being repatriated.

From the completion of the house and the American Civil War, it functioned as a plantation that produced Sea Island cotton as the primary crop.

Cowand made Elmwood Manor his home until his passing in 1852, at which point ownership transferred to his widow, Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth passed away shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War, while several of their children left to join the Confederate Army.

Over the next century and a half, the house and property changed hands several times. At some point, it came to be known as Elmwood Manor, though it is uncertain as to why.

Elmwood Manor

Elmwood Manor was a sturdy and beautiful 2 1/2 story building, with its most distinctive features being the large brick pillars and its steep pyramidal hip roof. Unlike downstairs, the upstairs galleries were supported by wooden pillars that rested on wooden pedestals.

As documented in its National Registry historical records, the hip roof was adorned with gabled dormers, which contained recessed, round-arched windows with engaged colonettes. French colonial plantation homes such as this were traditionally built without hallways.

While the building displayed a French colonial-style appearance, its upper galleries also featured a Caribbean island aesthetic that took inspiration from Spanish and French influences. Double sets of French doors allowed access from the upstairs rooms onto the galleries.

Residing on a spacious plot of land that faced the beach with several grand trees in the yard, Elmwood Manor was one of the most visually impressive structures on the entire coast.

During the 20th century, an additional gallery was constructed at the back of the house, and the bricks were coated with new paint. Despite these alterations and other renovations, the residence managed to preserve a significant portion of its original colonial charm.

A Historical Landmark

Efforts were made to include Elmwood Manor in the National Registry in 1980 based on its unique and historical architecture, but its district was not listed. Subsequently, there was a proposition to register it as an individual entity in 1986, which the owner initially declined. In November of that year, the house was successfully listed.

As the 20th century drew to a close, Elmwood Manornow officially recognized by that namestood as the largest and most well-preserved structure from the early 19th century along the Mississippi Coast. Additionally, it remained one of the rare few that still retained its authentic French colonial architectural style.

Regrettably, Hurricane Katrina destroyed Elmwood Manor entirely in 2005, erasing one of the final and most well-preserved remnants of the colonial era.

In 2014, a historical marker was installed near the former propertys location, situated close to the intersection of North Beach Boulevard and Boardman Avenue in Bay St. Louis.
An NJ Transit bus maintenance cleaner laid out accusations of sexual harassment, assault and retribution for speaking up about her experiences in a recently filed lawsuit against the agency and one of her co-workers.

NJ Transit fostered a graphically sexual and racially hostile work environment, says the complaint, filed in state Superior Court in Essex County this week.

NJ Transit spokesman Jim Smith said the agency declined to comment on pending litigation.

The woman, who is not being named by NorthJersey.com because of the nature of the accusations, alleges in court filings that the sexual harassment began about a week after she started working in the Orange bus garage in April 2020.

NJ Transit Fairview Bus Garage in Fairview, N.J.

Despite transferring shifts and applying unsuccessfully for other jobs at NJ Transit, as well as reporting the alleged harassment to at least three supervisors, making two written complaints to the agency's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and filing a report with the NJ Transit Police Department, she described dealing with ongoing harassment and retaliation for reporting co-workers and supervisors who routinely made inappropriate comments, the lawsuit says.

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The suit names NJ Transit, bus cleaner Billy Grimsley and multiple "John Does" as defendants, using a pseudonym sometimes appearing in lawsuits until a defendant's name is determined.

The suit alleges a number of harassment incidents:

Shortly after she began defendant Grimsley invaded her personal space, inhaled, and then asked 'why did you wear perfume today? I like your natural scent.' When Plaintiff asked Grimsley to leave her area, he responded with the offensive remark, 'what you on ya period or something today?'" according to the lawsuit.

An NJ Transit foreman allegedly asked if the plaintiff had properly cleaned the bus, because he would 'hate to go behind [her] and check.' When Plaintiff said he could go behind her and check her work," the foreman "outrageously stated 'choose your words wisely' and started laughing," the lawsuit says.

Another NJ Transit foreman allegedly told the woman, in front of other co-workers, "that ass is huge and you gotta admit that ass is nice! according to the lawsuit.

A co-worker allegedly sent her repeated inappropriate texts, including asking her if she was a "go go dancer," the suit says.

An NJ Transit mechanic texted her "a disgusting pornographic video" involving urination, the lawsuit says.

A supervisor discussed in front of the woman and other co-workers that he would send pictures of his genitalia to people, according to the lawsuit.

A co-worker allegedly "physically hit" the plaintiff, and the plaintiff was suspended for 10 days because of the altercation, a punishment that was "in retaliation for her [the plaintiff's] complaint," the suit says.

Plaintiff filed multiple reports

On Feb. 10, 2023, the woman filed a complaint with EEO that said, "I am sending this to you as a written complaint about being sexually harassed at work, repeatedly, since approximately one week after I began my employment for NJ Transit in April, 2020" and named multiple co-workers who "violated me with offensive words, and gestures on multiple occasions," according to the lawsuit.

She requested "an investigation of my complaint and that my workplace be appropriate and healthy, not sexually harassing and threatening," the lawsuit says.

The investigation took about four months, and during that time she applied for other jobs that she claims were awarded to people who had less seniority and fewer qualifications, according to the suit.

Bus rapid transit is a concept that has been studied many times but ultimately not adopted in New Jersey in a meaningful way. However, a new route is being studied for this purpose along Route 9 between Old Bridge and Howell. NJ Transit busses make their way along Route 9. Howell, NJWednesday, February 16, 2022

On June 1, 2023, a determination letter from EEO chief Naeem Din did not substantiate her claims against four co-workers, but it did substantiate her claim against one person, the only one whose alleged harassment took place in text, while the others were allegedly verbal, according to a copy of the letter printed in the lawsuit.

Din's letter concluded with: "All participants in the investigation have been reminded about New Jersey Transits prohibition against retaliation or harassing an individual for filing a complaint, participating in an investigation of a complaint or related proceeding, or engaging in other protected activity. Such retaliation or harassment will not be tolerated," according to the lawsuit.

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About a week before, the woman talked to an officer with the NJ Transit Police Department about her concerns, following a suggestion from the EEO office, and she filed a formal police report about feeling unsafe at work but never heard anything back, the lawsuit says.

On July 27, 2023, the woman was rushed to the emergency room at a nearby hospital for "chest pain, shortness of breath and anxiety," the same day Grimsley allegedly sang pornographic lyrics at her, according to the lawsuit. A month later, a doctor diagnosed her with "post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder" and she went on medical leave, the suit says.

Lawsuits filed in bus, rail and police departments

Her lawsuit is the latest in a lengthy queue of other recently filed lawsuits against NJ Transit that accuse the agency  across multiple departments  of failing to address sexual misconduct by colleagues.

Since the spring of 2021, at least a dozen other NJ Transit employees across the bus, rail and police departments have sued the agency over allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault and sexual or hostile work environments involving co-workers and supervisors that went unaddressed by agency officials, according to those lawsuits. The agency denied the allegations in court documents, and the cases are ongoing.

During that time, the agency settled lawsuits with three former employees for millions of dollars over allegations of facing retaliation for coming forward. For two of those plaintiffs, they were the second settlements with the agency, after the plaintiffs came forward with allegations about discrimination and harassment in prior cases.

Agency officials have said in previous comments to NorthJersey.com and in response to NJ Transit board members that they have made diversity and inclusivity a pillar of the agency's vision, have increased workplace training and awareness and have improved case processing at EEO.

The woman in this case claims in court documents she did not receive training on NJ Transit's workplace policy and complaint procedure when she joined the agency.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJT bus cleaner calls work climate 'graphically sexual,' suit says
Cannabis dispensaries in McHenry County will now be the first in the country to warn customers through in-store signage of the mental health dangers associated with cannabis use, which include psychosis, depression and suicidal ideation.

Dispensaries will also be required to scrub their marketing and websites of any suggestion that their products have medical benefits. They agreed to these consumer protections as part of a settlement with the McHenry County states attorneys office in lieu of a consumer fraud action. Dispensaries that have refused to warn consumers will face litigation.

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Since Illinois legalization of recreational marijuana in 2020, the defining feature of the dispensaries sales strategy has been marketing cannabis as medicine and the antidote to many maladies, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit disorder, immune disorders, chronic fatigue and inflammation.

In furtherance of its strategy, dispensaries have appropriated the scientific lexicon to create their own fraudulent field of medicine, such that one no longer does a bong rip but rather receives a specific dose measured to the milligram by the cashier. (Or, should I say, dispensary health care professional?)

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This sales strategy also required the development of an extensive mythos to explain how a single plant and the hundreds of products derived from it, all of which have basically the same ingredients, can induce such diverse high experiences and treat so many medical conditions.

Cannabis products are distinguished and categorized first by strain  whether indica or sativa. Cannabis purveyors imagine that the differences between these two strains are so pronounced that they produce opposite effects  relaxation and sleep from indica, for example, and an energizing effect from sativa that is apparently great for a boost in early morning productivity.

The elaborate dupery, however, truly begins when the dispensary health care professional begins discussing the importance of a sativa/indica hybrid strains cannabinoid and terpene profile with a marijuana user.

For the uninitiated, there are up to 100 types of cannabinoids in a cannabis plant, the active ones being THC and CBD, and up to 400 terpenes, which are simply aromatic compounds found in all plants. Though scientifically, most cannabinoids and terpenes are inert physiologically, a users cannabis experience and health benefits vary widely depending on the near inexhaustible combination of terpenes and cannabinoids in a specific strain, according to the gnostic cannabis doctors.

In McHenry County, we called balderdash. While a pretentious and fetishized pseudoscience seems to arise from any widespread love affair with an intoxicant (think red wine), saying that the tannin distribution in a pinot gives it an impetuous nose and plush finish is far different from saying the terpene profile of the Pink Kush strain is uniquely cultivated to treat depression. The former is fatuousness; the latter is malice.

The Food and Drug Administration has not approved cannabis to treat a single medical condition because there is no credible evidence that cannabis treats a single medical condition, least of all mental health disorders. As a commentary in The Wall Street Journal by Dr. Peter Bach, a physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, puts it, If weed is medicine, so is Budweiser.

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On the contrary, decades of research, study after study, continue to prove the causative association between cannabis and schizophrenia. A robust and growing body of research similarly establishes that cannabis can initiate and worsen depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and suicidal ideation, especially in young people. This has all been recognized by the National Academy of Sciences, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Illinois, which has been so ideologically, legislatively and regulatorily captured by the cannabis industry and lavished with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax proceeds, has, predictably, warned no one and done nothing. As such, it is left to local government agencies to warn consumers and protect them from this false and deceptive marketing  measures that cannot come too soon.

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Over the last year, McHenry County has endured the immiserating effects of increased cannabis use with a record high number of suicides (cannabis, not alcohol, being the most common drug found in toxicology screenings), hospitalizations for suicidal ideation and prevalence of mental health disorders. About half our recent homicides involve cannabis or cannabis-induced psychosis, cases of driving while under the influence of cannabis have doubled, and our most senior attorney and her 3-year-old son were nearly killed by a stoned driver in a head-on crash.

Cannabis advocates do not want to talk about early reports. They want to lampoon critics with references to the 1936 film Reefer Madness and relitigate the bygone drug war.

The early reports are, however, foreboding of a gathering epidemic. An epidemic, like that of opioids, born of deep-monied interests rebranding a dangerous drug as an all-upside medicine fit for everyday and all-day consumption by everyone. An epidemic currently being nurtured by this prodigal state content to repay debt with mental illness.

Patrick Kenneally is the McHenry County states attorney.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Have you weighed in on the Monroe County Development Ordinance (CDO)? The CDO is currently being updated and will shape land use and regulations for years to come across unincorporated areas of Monroe County. It impacts what housing, business and other uses are allowed.

You can learn how your property is affected and weigh in at a public meeting at 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 5, at the Monroe County Government Center, 501 N. Morton St., Bloomington, in Room 100B or on Zoom. Visit Monroe County CDO (monroecdo.com) for more details.

While there are many good updates, such as CDO simplification and streamlining, a holistic approach to plan for future housing and employment needs is still needed.

Monroe County residential land is slated to decrease, while housing remains challenging for workers. The CDO proposes converting 9,000-plus acres of residential land to a rural designation, due partly to flood zones in some areas, which will decrease allowable housing. This can pose challenges to the development of affordable housing given land costs. $72,000 was the median cost of residential land per acre in Monroe County in spring of 2023.

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Housing costs and availability remain a challenge, especially for single family homes. Monroe Countys July 2023 median year-to-date sales price for homes was $290,900, compared to $193,150 in Owen County and $175,950 in Lawrence County. This is challenging for families, as the Monroe County median household income was about $54,000 from 2017 to 2021 (based on latest available data from U.S. Census Bureau). Home sales inventory has remained low, with an average of 2.8 months inventory in July. (Source for housing data: Indiana Association of Realtors.)

Workers and employers both lose due to lack of attainable housing. Monroe Countys largest employers report pulling half of their employees from outside the county. Commuting employees pay more in transit and time when moving outward to find attainable housing. This challenges employers that are seeking staff. Commuting has an environmental impact. Monroe County also loses the income taxes of these individuals, which are paid based on where individuals live.

Land and buildings remain limited for employment growth. We must support the space needs of our existing employers while working to attract future employers. Both activities are important for diversifying our employment base. Industries shift over time, as we have seen with the past departure of companies like RCA, Thomson Consumer Electronics and Otis Elevator Co.

Properties with proper zoning and infrastructure must exist to capture employment and wage growth opportunities in key industries for Monroe County. These include biosciences, technology, advanced manufacturing and defense among others. Overall, our target industries have grown significantly over the five-year period of 2017 to 2021  180 new establishments, 1100 new jobs and an increase of $18,000 in the average wage per job (source: Indiana Business Research Center analysis).

Monroe County may address these challenges through: (1) Vision: Create a vision for our future which balances the needs of residents and employers while preserving our quality of place. (2) Housing: Retain and expand land of suitable sizes to meet housing needs, especially for owner-occupied workforce housing. Understanding some zoning changes are due to flood areas, we can look at other land for possibilities. (3) Employment: Designate sufficient land zoned for business and industry, to prepare for current and future employment in key sectors. This will enable us to capture more of the opportunities we have seen stemming from investments like the US CHIPS and Science Act and Indiana READI. (4) Infrastructure: Monitor and expand critical infrastructure like broadband, sewer, and water. This ensures we remain competitive for both housing and employment development. (5) Development processes: Streamline, communicate, and digitize development processes to lower development costs and local government administrative burdens.

The CDO is a critical element of preparing for a strong future. Our appreciation goes to Monroe County, the planning department, and local officials for launching this significant undertaking. Learn more at: https://monroecdo.com.

Jennifer Pearl is president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corp. (BEDC).

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Public invited to give input on Monroe County property
Buster Murdaugh says despite his father Alex Murdaughs conviction in the deaths of his mother and brother, he believes his father is innocent and called the trial unfair from the start.

Murdaugh made the comments on the documentary Fall of the House of Murdaugh released on Fox Nation Thursday.

He said he thinks the jury members had made up their minds before the first testimony was given due to pretrial publicity.

The shooting deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in 2021 at their hunting estate in the South Carolina Lowcountry have been the subject of hundreds of news articles worldwide and several television specials and documentaries. Buster Murdaugh testified during his fathers trial but this was his first interview.

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It is told in three, hour-long parts that rely heavily on the broadcast of the trial and video evidence from the investigation the night the mother and son were murdered.

It also has stunning shots of the Lowcountrys marshes, rivers and ocean as well as expansive views of the Murdaughs 1700-acres of farmland and forests. Many family photos and videos interspersed Buster Murdaughs interview, during which he remained stoic until the end when he talked about his mother and the family memories he will hold tight for life.

Holding onto that is what I do to see me through, he said.

He said he was probably closer to his mother and his brother closer to their father. He described his parents relationship as loving.

Host Martha MacCallum asked whether he thinks its possible his father is guilty.

No, he said, because I think that I hold a very unique perspective that nobody else in that courtroom ever held. And I know the love that I have witnessed.

He criticized the work of the police, as did Alex Murdaughs attorneys during the trial, saying he thought they rushed to judgment because of pressure to name a suspect.

It was more than a year before Murdaugh was charged in the case.

I think its one of those things where you have to do something, Buster Murdaugh said. And I think that it was  and thats the option and the route that they decided to go with. There are always two sides of the story.

Murdaugh said he thinks many questions remain unanswered and the killer is still on the loose, which causes him to fear for his safety.

I think that I have set myself up to be safe, but, yes, when I go to bed at night, I have a fear that there is somebody else still out there, he said.

He thinks the murderer was someone trying to get back at Paul Murdaugh for the 2019 boat crash that killed friend Mallory Beach and injured others on the boat. Paul Murdaugh was awaiting trial for boating under the influence causing severe bodily injury and death when he died.

Buster Murdaugh said his father called him soon after he found the bodies. Buster and his girlfriend immediately drove from their home in Charlotte, where he was just starting a new job.

I walked inside and I saw him, and it was utter silence, he said. It was a  it was a big embrace. He immediately broke down crying. I started crying, and that was what that was. I mean, its difficult to relive these  these  these tough circumstances.

Buster Murdaugh criticized Judge Clifton Newman for saying during Alex Murdaughs sentencing that Maggie and Paul must visit him at night when hes trying to go to sleep. Buster called that clever little lines.

The show also featured Alex Murdaugh reading from a journal he kept while in jail awaiting trial. Murdaugh was disciplined by prison officials after attorney Jim Griffin recorded him reading the passages.

In one, on the day his trial started, he said, I am ready and proclaimed his innocence. He said he could not get the images of his dead wife and son from his mind when he found their bodies.

In another, Alex Murdaugh says, the jury is his only hope for a fair trial. I am absolutely exhausted.

He said in another entry after his conviction, he intends to hold his head high, shoulders back, refusing to give the people who hate him the satisfaction of seeing him defeated. He said he believes he would not have been convicted if he hadnt lied about not being at the dog kennels that night.

Months after the deaths, prosecutors found a video Paul had made in which Alex is clearly heard. It was timestamped just a few minutes before the time prosecutors said Paul and Maggie were killed.

Others interviewed for the program include defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters, Attorney General Alan Wilson, Colleton County Clerk Rebecca Hill, local attorney Joe McCulloch, Maurdaughs dog kennel manager Roger Dale Davis Jr., Walterboro Mayor William T. Young Jr., and the prosecutions forensic expert Kenneth Kinsey.

Murdaugh was sentenced to two life terms and is being held in an undisclosed prison in South Carolina.
On Thursday night, Fox News spoke to former President Donald Trump 's attorney regarding his legal teams strategies going forward in the Georgia case, and MSNBC discussed Pres ident Joe Biden's p roposed executive order to combat gun violence.

Fox News  Trumps not guilty move going forward

Earlier today, former President Donald Trump waived his right to an in-person arraignment and pled not guilty, Pete Hegseth said on Hannity Thursday night. That means Trump has officially pled not guilty to all 91 alleged crimes in four jurisdictions.

Trump legal spokeswomen Alina Habba explained what this means for the former president moving forward. Habba mentioned that she doesnt think it comes as a surprise that Trump pleaded not guilty and waived his right for arraignment in person in order to reduce the media coverage.

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From here, we actually litigate the case, Habba said, Which, as an attorney, I look forward to. I know our legal team does as well to getting to take our own turn at looking at all of the information and our turn to put our side out, which is something everyone needs to remember has not happened as of yet.

Habba said that the only information out is the four indictments.

Hegseth asked, What do you anticipate for a timeline down in Atlanta, like how quickly are they going to try to push this in your sense, and how will you push back?

Habba replied that if Trumps prosecutors could have it their way, They would have all trials the same week. Its unrealistic, its ridiculous and its obvious, so what I think is happening is the judges are going to have to fight it amongst themselves.

Adding that, You cannot have one defendant on multiple cases. ... Every single thing says so clearly Joe Biden doesn't know what hes doing in office, so lets distract America so that all we talk about is President Trump and these hoaxes, and thats really all they are.

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MSNBC  DOJ closing the gunshow loophole

Thursday night on The Last Word, Jonathan Capehart asked Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, D-Fla., Whats your reaction to the DOJs proposed rule closing the so-called gunshow loophole?

Frost responded, Im extremely happy about the news. ... Were not as far as wed like to be, but this is a huge step forward, and when we talk about Democrats stepping into our power and using our power, this is what were talking about.

Frost said this action will save lives as well as show Americans that the government can benefit them.

He added, This executive action and this direction that the president is giving to the ATF will essentially end the gunshow loophole. A loophole that gun violence prevention activists and the entire movement have been trying to end for a long time.

Capehart mentioned that Frost is a part of the lockdown generation and asked, What do you tell your generation about what is and isnt being done in Congress?

Frost said that he wonders every time a mass shooting happens if itll be enough for politicians to change their minds. Will this be the one that pushes politicians who seem to care more about profits for the gun lobby than human lives and the lives of our children, and after every shooting, I continue to be disappointed, he said.

Adding, So no, I don't have faith in this current Republican-led United States Congress.
An eight-figure dollar deal for a trio of Sacramento-area Eskaton skilled nursing facilities can go forward with conditions, Californias attorney general announced Friday.

Los Angeles-based International Equity Partners will pay $35.6 million for Eskatons Greenhaven, Fair Oaks and Manzanita care centers in the deal, Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

The deal will add 990 beds to International Equitys portfolio of more than 100 care facilities across California. Cypress Healthcare Group, which operates nine facilities in the Sacramento area, will run the three centers, said attorney generals officials.

Under the terms of the sale, buyers International Equity Partners must maintain the level of service now provided to residents; abide by all admission and occupancy agreements and leases; keep all staff in good standing; continue to participate in Medi-Cal and Medicare for eligible patients and comply with non-discrimination rules.

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After a thorough review process, I am conditionally approving the sale of these Eskaton facilities, Bonta said. The conditions imposed on the sale will protect the well-being of the residents and ensure that their access to care remains uninterrupted.

Transactions involving the sale or transfer of control of a nonprofit health care facility must first be approved by the states attorney general under California law.

Headquartered in Carmichael, Eskaton maintains more than a dozen other skilled nursing and other facilities, such as assisted living homes, in the greater Sacramento region, the Bay Area and Stockton, according to its website. These include Eskaton Village Roseville, Eskaton Village Placerville, Eskaton Village Carmichael and Eskaton Land Park.
As the nations largest provider of natural gas, SoCalGas provides energy to 21 million customers in 500 communities, from Visalia and San Luis Obispo on the north to the California-Mexico border on the south.

The investor-owned utility says it follows three values: Do the right thing, champion people and shape the future.

But a recent investigation by The Sacramento Bee shows those to be mere words when it comes to using ratepayer funds for their intended purpose.

The Bee report found that SoCal Gas booked at least $36 million to ratepayers for political lobbying to undermine California policies aimed at addressing the climate crisis since 2019.

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For context, a quarter of Californias carbon pollution comes from burning gas in homes and businesses.

A former U.S. attorney who once prosecuted gas utilities told The Bee reporters that such misuse of ratepayer monies might represent fraud  a possibility that a company spokeswoman strongly denied.

Questions over law firms

Yet The Bees investigation turned up billing records to law firms hired by SoCalGas that lobbied against climate-change initiatives or filed lawsuits challenging building electrification efforts.

In one instance, SoCalGas in 2022 billed ratepayers $700,000 for work done by a law firm that lobbied against climate-change initiatives. When The Bee reporters asked about it, the gas company said it was removing it from the ratepayer account. It provided no explanation as to why customers had been billed in the first place. The investigation found other similar examples.

Adding to suspicions, the California Public Advocates Office says SoCalGas has repeatedly refused to let it examine the utilitys books. SoCalGas cites First Amendment protections and client privileges in its denials. It is hard to see how opening the books for regulator review would undermine anyones free speech rights.

No, it is clear that SoCalGas is feeling threatened by Californias energy future. The Bee reports this:

As early as 2015, company emails show that executives identified building electrification as a significant risk to our business. In the years since SoCalGas has engaged in a sprawling and varied opposition campaign to defend its bottom line.

Energy-industry experts agree that there is one core reason why SoCalGas has so aggressively fought zero-emissions policies: Billions of dollars of market share and the future of energy in California is at stake, The Bee reported.

SoCalGas spokesman Chris Gilbride denies such a characterization, saying the company fully accepts a noncarbon future and hopes to distribute hydrogen power instead of gas to meet climate goals. He says the company is a leader in its industry for seeking zero-emission goals. And Gilbride flatly denies SoCalGas misspent monies from ratepayers.

Fine and rate reduction

What can be done now? For one thing, the Public Advocates Office within the state Public Utilities Commission has proposed fining SoCalGas over the companys not allowing its investigators to access SoCalGas accounting books and for failing to turn over crucial documents.

That same office has also recommended rate reductions of about $80 million because evidence shows that SoCalGas has not tracked employee time spent on lobbying activity funded by ratepayers.

The PUC last year levied a $10 million fine against SoCalGas for resisting climate-change efforts.

The PUC should act again. Customers in good faith made their utility payments each month to SoCalGas expecting their money would go back into maintaining their systems. To learn that monies were directed to efforts to protect the utilitys future, for the benefit of investors, is outrageous.

The Bee opened its story by describing a PUC meeting in 2019 in Los Angeles. After climate activists testified in favor of clean energy, a series of business owners followed and spoke about why they needed continued use of natural gas.

Unknown to the PUC members, those business owners had been recruited and driven to the hearing by a pro-industry group that had been contracted by SoCalGas for that purpose.

Who paid for that groups services? SoCalGas ratepayers.

Using customers money for reasons other than utility maintenance, without disclosing it, is wrong. Its time for the PUC to put a stop to it.
The initial demise of the child sex trafficking measure by state Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield), pictured in 2019 with Gov. Gavin Newsom , prompted Newsom to weigh in and encourage a resolution. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

A proposed law in California to lengthen prison terms for child sex trafficking that ignited public outrage and divided Democrats this summer was changed during a critical vote on Friday to address concerns over victims potentially being prosecuted.

An amended version of Senate Bill 14, which would add the sex trafficking of minors to the list of felonies classified as serious under California's penal code and subject people to additional time in prison under the state's "three strikes" law, passed the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee on Friday.

The amendments "exempt human trafficking victims from the serious felony provision," said Pasadena Democrat Chris Holden , chair of the panel.

The changes were pushed by progressive Assembly Democrats in response to criminal justice reform advocates' concerns that the bill could harm victims. Holden called the amendments "very narrow," and said they were designed to ensure that trafficking victims are "not further victimized."

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Though the Republican state senator who wrote the bill had said earlier this week that she didn't want it to undergo any changes, she said Friday that she was satisfied with the modifications.

The new version "just clarifies existing law to protect victims that are wrapped up in the trafficking situation as well," said Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield). "That was not our intent, ever, to have a victim prosecuted for human trafficking [after being] trafficked themselves."

Read more: California Democrats reverse course after killing bill to stiffen penalties for child sex trafficking

Disagreement over the closely watched measure reached a boiling point earlier this summer when the the left-leaning Democratic majority on the Assembly's high-profile Public Safety Committee blocked passage of the bill, which had glided through the Senate with bipartisan support earlier in the year.

Democrats on the committee raised concerns that the bill could be used to prosecute victims who had been forced into a cycle of human trafficking, and could retraumatize those who had survived such abuse. Committee Democrats also questioned the bill's expansion of the three-strikes law, a relic of the state's tough-on-crime past that many attribute to the wave of mass incarcerations that has filled up prisons.

Advocates who work with sex trafficking victims have also been divided over the bill, with some agreeing that it could result in incarcerating the wrong people, and others saying that severe prison terms are needed to discourage abuse.

By making child sex trafficking a three-strikes offense, prosecutors could pursue life sentences for those who whose records include other felonies classified as serious or violent. Child sex trafficking already carries up to 12 years in some cases, or 15 years to life if the crime involves factors such as force, fear, coercion or violence.

"SB 14 doesn't actually meet the needs of the victims and doesn't address the causes of the problem," said Natasha Minsker, a policy advisor to the left-leaning public safety organization Smart Justice California. "We are approaching the conversation from a completely wrong direction if we say we are going to increase penalties and we're going to prosecute our way out of it."

The bill's initial demise caused a public relations nightmare for Democrats, handing Republicans the rare opportunity for a legislative win after they painted their counterparts in the majority as apologists for child sex trafficking.

Some Democrats who had not initially supported the bill apologized and reversed course. The chaotic episode prompted Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) to weigh in on the issue and encourage a resolution. More than half of the Legislature's 120 members have since signed on as co-authors of the bill.

Facing intense pressure to reconsider the vote  and after enduring death threats  Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, the Los Angeles Democrat who chairs the Public Safety Committee, called for a new hearing on the measure, and it was promptly passed.

Debra Rush, a survivor of child sex trafficking and founder of the Fresno-based organization Breaking the Chains, said that lawmakers needed to draw a "hard line in the sand," and that SB 14 would send traffickers the message that they will face serious consequences.

"If we don't protect our most precious resource and our most vulnerable  our children  then we fail across the board. These are kids," Rush said. "It is hard to even think of another crime that even comes anywhere near the level of trauma and violence that human trafficking victims experience."

Times staff writer Mackenzie Mays and Sacramento bureau chief Laurel Rosenhall contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
One of the more entertaining aspects of the state's battle to open up housing development to reduce California's housing shortage is the degree to which it has united officials in liberal coastal cities with those in conservative ones. Although Left and Right typically use different rhetoric to evade new housing bills, they are strangely aligned in their ultimate quest to block permissive new construction laws.

Republican-controlled Huntington Beach, which has sued the state government to stop enforcement of state housing mandates (and was sued first by the state for its failure to process "by right" duplex approvals under Senate Bill 9), has championed the "local control" argument and stoked NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) fears about turning this suburban city into an urban hell-scape.

In a column, GOP Mayor Tony Strickland vowed the city will never be "rubber stamps for Gavin Newsom's vision of turning every community in California into his failed experiment of San Francisco, America's worst city, whose decline began on Newsom's watch as mayor there." Strickland lives in an "affordable-housing" unit and presumably his neighborhood has yet to turn into the Tenderloin.

In lefty near-coastal Beverly Hills, Councilman John Mirisch is raising a different specterthat pro-housing advocates are following the model of Texas, which has usurped local control on social issues including gun regulation. Mirisch also complains about corporate profits, the "urban growth machine" and the evils of "deregulation," but arrives at the same place as Strickland in opposing freer housing markets. Strange bedfellows.

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Now, other coastal NIMBYswho claim to stand up for principle, but seem allergic to newcomers moving into their citieshave something new to get agitated about. Senate Bill 423 is still alive in the California Legislature. It would extend the provisions of a landmark 2017 law, Senate Bill 35, which authorized a "streamlined, ministerial approval process" for multi-family projects in cities that aren't meeting their state housing mandates.

That law sunsets in 2026, but S.B. 423 would extend it for another decade. What's really got the no-growth cities upset is one short line in the bill language: "Strikes out S.B. 35's exclusion of the coastal zone." Existing law requires projects to still gain approval from the slow-growth California Coastal Commission. That would end and developers would no longer have to endure that excruciating process. Amendments that exempt additional coastal properties have resulted in the commission removing its opposition to the bill.

Why is this important? S.B. 35 had a measurable impact on the construction of affordable housing projects. "Between 2018 and 2021, developers proposed about 18,000 housing units statewide under S.B. 35including about 13,000 low-income units, according to preliminary data from UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation. Of those, more than 11,000 qualified for streamlining under the law," The Mercury News reported.

Another significant provision of S.B. 423: it expands the streamlining to market-rate projects. That might not create many additional units given that, as Reason's Christian Britschgi has noted, pro-union prevailing-wage laws make it costly to build these projects without subsidies. Still, it's important to expand deregulation beyond subsidized projects. If the government stops stifling construction and imposing overly burdensome and arbitrary regulations, the market will rise to the occasion, boost supply, and open up housing at all price points.

Developers should be free to build more of everythingfrom single-family houses to apartmentswithout subjective approval (while following zoning rules, as the bill requires). Few current residents want more congestion, and yet-to-be new residents don't get a say, so the local default position often is "no". Councils often force developers to reduce the number of units when they do OK a project. And California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuits derail or delay projects.

The bill's opponents continue to throw contradictory arguments at the wall. In their letter of opposition to S.B. 423, some coastal city officials in San Diego County argued: "The fabric of our coastal communities will be forever changed. And for what? SB 423 will encourage higher density and perpetuate gentrication with little to no aordability."

The letter adds that rents for one-bedroom apartments in North San Diego County start at $5,750 a month and new multi-family homes are selling for nearly $3 million. It's true many newer units are pricey, but adding supplyincluding the construction of the rent-restricted units this bill encouragesis the best way to moderate pricing. More supply is the solution. Protecting a community's "fabric" is pabulumand it locks in the current situation.

Environmental groups are complaining, also. They pay lip service to the need for more housing constructionbut like the coastal cities apparently want it built anywhere else. That's the bottom line. The state has been underbuilding housing for years, which has led to eye-popping prices, especially in sought-after coastal cities. The answer is to build more. Sorry, but building it in someone else's backyard is no longer an option.

This column was first published in The Orange County Register.

The post California Coastal Cities' Housing Plan: Build Elsewhere appeared first on Reason.com.
California community college professors are suing state officials after new diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) rules were implemented that they allege violate their First Amendment rights.

The lawsuit, filed in August, contends the rules mandate viewpoint conformity and force professors to endorse the governments view on politically charged questions regarding diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Six community college professors are challenging the new DEI rules, which would affect 116 community colleges and more than 1.8 million students.

The professors are working with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech group that sued Florida last year over the Stop WOKE Act, which seeks to restrict instruction on race and sex and faces multiple legal challenges.

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These regulations are a totalitarian triple-whammy, FIRE attorney Daniel Ortner said about the California rules. The government is forcing professors to teach and preach a politicized viewpoint they do not share, imposing incomprehensible guidelines, and threatening to punish professors when they cross an arbitrary, indiscernible line.

The lawsuit further alleges the DEI requirements threaten professors going for promotions and tenure, arguing they will be punished if they dont abide by the states definitions of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Im a professor of chemistry. How am I supposed to incorporate DEI into my classroom instruction? Bill Blanken, a professor at Reedley College located southeast of Fresno, said in a statement. Whats the anti-racist perspective on the atomic mass of boron?

The state has defended its rules, arguing they do not restrict free speech.

The Hill has reached out to the California Community Colleges Chancellors Office and the governors office for comment.

The lawsuit is among the latest in fights surrounding DEI as Republican-led states such as Florida and Texas have been working to eliminate DEI in their universities.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The number of patients in California hospitals with COVID-19 this week reached its highest point in five months, as the states test positivity rate has continued to climb this summer amid growing virus transmission.

There were 1,668 total hospital patients with COVID-19 in California as of Aug. 26, according to the most recent state data. Thats 182 more than the previous week, according to Thursdays weekly update from the California Department of Public Health.

The latest total is the states highest total since March 27, when CDPH recorded 1,694 hospital patients with COVID-19 in California. The number at that point had been on a steady decline from the states high point to date in 2023, of 4,605 hospitalized patients on Jan. 2.

The hospital number stopped dropping on July 4 with 681 patients and has been climbing ever since.

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Californias seven-day test positivity rate was at 14%, based on state health data updated Thursday, reflecting data through Tuesday. Thats an increase from 12.4% positivity the week before.

Californias positivity rate has been climbing since May 5, when it was at 3.4%, and is now at its highest point since July 2022.

COVID-19 in four-county Sacramento region

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Sacramento County dropped while the test positivity rate increased again. The three other counties in Sacramentos four-county region had slight drops in test positivity rate, but the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations increased.

There were 60 total hospital patients with COVID-19 in Sacramento County as of Aug. 26, according to the most recent state data. The county had 74 COVID patients one week earlier, according to CDPH.

The seven-day COVID-19 test positivity rate in Sacramento County was at 15.8%, based on state health data updated Thursday, showing figures through Tuesday. Thats an increase from 13.5% from the week before. The countys seven-day positivity rate has been climbing since it was 4% on June 28, its lowest point so far this year.

Two weeks ago, Yolo County officials alerted residents of an increase in COVID-19 activity locally. The countys public health officer, Dr. Aimee Sisson, urged residents to be vigilant and take preventive measures.

As of Tuesday, the countys seven-day COVID-19 test positivity rate dropped slightly to 14%. Thats a decline by 0.8% from the previous week; the number has been trending up since July 2, when it was 4.3%. The number of hospital patients with COVID-19, however, increased to seven people hospitalized in the county as of Aug. 26. There were four patients a week before.

In Placer County, the seven-day test positivity rate dropped by 0.2%, to 15% as of Tuesday. The countys seven-day rate has climbed from its low point this year, of 4% on June 22. There were 46 total hospital patients with COVID-19 in the county as of Aug. 26, eight more patients than the previous week.

Through Tuesday, the seven-day test positivity rate for El Dorado County was 17.4%, a decline by 2.8 percentage points from the previous week. The countys rate has been on steep climb since it dropped to 2% on June 27. There were two hospital patients with COVID-19 in the county as of Aug. 26, up from one a week earlier.
Some residents of South Barrington protest before the South Barrington Park District Board of Commissioners meeting at the South Barrington Park District Community Center Aug. 30, 2023 in South Barrington. Residents attended the meeting to protest a pending land sale to Plymouth Brothers Christian Church. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Demonstrators showed up to a South Barrington Park District board meeting Wednesday night, first protesting outside the community center where the meeting was held, then going inside as proceedings started, and lambasted commissioners over a recent attempt to sell a parcel of land to a church.

Are we going to sit here and let the sale close? South Barrington resident Steve Janowiak posed to park board commissioners. No.

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At issue is the sale of Park District-owned land to Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, a faith organization that, according to its website, started in England in the 19th century and currently has 50,000 members worldwide.

Steve Janowiak, of South Barrington, speaks out at the South Barrington Park District Board of Commissioners meeting Aug. 30, 2023, in the South Barrington Park District Community Center. Residents attended the meeting to protest a pending land sale to Plymouth Brothers Christian Church. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Members of the South Barrington Park District Board of Commissioners, including board President Pete Perisin, center, listen to members of the public as they spoke out during the Aug. 30, 2023, board meeting in opposition to a pending land sale to Plymouth Brothers Christian Church. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

The official purchaser, Fourth Avenue Gospel Building Inc., with an address in Schaumburg, was set to buy the approximately 34 acres of land located at Bartlett Road and Route 59/Sutton Road  also known as Area N  for $1.7 million with a closing date of Aug. 29, the day before Wednesdays meeting.

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Residents were irate over the date change, which some said was initially to be in September, calling it a sneaky move by the Park District. They also took issue with other aspects of the sale.

According to published reports, the Park District purchased Area N for $3 million. The land parcel is described as wetlands near The Woods of South Barrington subdivision, which has single-family homes priced as much as $1.5 million.

A sales contract document indicates Area N sold at auction in May to the Fourth Avenue Gospel Building for $1.7 million.

The sale would mean a loss of at least $1.3 million for the Park District, which is taxpayer-funded.

Representatives of the church could not be immediately reached for comment by Pioneer Press.

In addition to the demonstration outside the meeting and speaking out during public comments portion of the proceeding, a group of residents collectively filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop the land sale.

Park District Executive Director Jay Morgan said the board met in closed  executive  session toward the end of the regular board meeting and no action was taken. He said no action was taken in executive session.

I am unable to comment further, at this time, due to pending litigation, Morgan said, referring to the lawsuit filed.

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The South Barrington Park District, village of South Barrington and PBCC are named as defendants. The plaintiffs are listed as various residents of the Village of South Barrington.

There was audience applause and other shows of support as speakers addressed the board of commissioners, voicing their disdain for the sale and how the residents group feels the board has acted.

You have no idea who youre dealing with, obviously, Janowiak told commissioners.

Members of the park board offered little response.

Park board President Pete Perisin said wish I could to meeting attendees about being able to comment.

South Barrington residents Maddy Ghosh and Sage Fattahian also spoke on behalf of the opposing group.

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There was definitely a lack of proper communication prior to the auction, Ghosh said.

Ghosh read aloud to the board a chain of emails to support her assertion.

Why are we here? Ghosh questioned, shouting through a microphone at commissioners. Answer that question for us.

Fattahian referenced the referendum on the ballot in the April election, telling Pioneer Press that it was problematic.

We believe they took missteps, Fattahian told Pioneer Press, referring to the park board.

The referendum on the spring election ballot asked: Shall the South Barrington Park District, Cook County, Illinois, sell the following described real estate: that approximately 34-acre parcel of real property consisting of all of the land, commonly known as Area N, located at the southeast corner of Bartlett Road and Route 59 in South Barrington, Illinois?

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It was approved with 57% of voters responding yes and 43% responding no, according to certified election results posted on the Cook County Clerks website.

Now though, opponents of the pending sale to PBCC say they have a petition with over 1,100 signatures of people against it. Further, the referendum is pointed out in the lawsuit as being an issue.

It was never properly advertised for the voters to make an informed decision and vote on this referendum, Fattahian told Pioneer Press.

Mike Gentile said he moved to South Barrington from Boston about three years ago. He told park commissioners Wednesday their actions showed a lack of transparency and disclosure.

He said the board should be upfront with people, adding if the Park District is having financial issues, then address them with the people.

Theyll be supportive, Gentile said, instead of a " back door real estate deal.

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Others speaking at the meeting suggested the land be developed for recreational or other use, including installing bike paths and providing park space.

Plaintiffs complained in the lawsuit that the church was not open to the public and does not allow for public worship ... and intends to build a church, store and school in Area N that would not be open to the public unless you are strictly a member of the Christian faith.

The land in question should be, a space where we could all use it as a community, right, an open public space, resident Nisha Wadhwa said at the meeting.

We live in a community right attached to (Area N), Wadhwa said, adding her family and others would like to walk a nice nature path over there and explore the land. ... Being able to at least explore the areas right behind our community, thats what were asking for.

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer.
A Northern California law enforcement agency released a report early Friday on the July escape of murder suspect Eric James Abril from a hospital, detailing staffing shortages and policy failures that may have contributed to Abrils escape.

The 18-page report, commissioned by Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo and issued by former Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, gives little detail about how Abril managed to escape from a lone deputy as he was being guarded at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, but the Sheriffs Office said in a news release that it occurred while the deputy was using the restroom.

Our deputy utilized the restroom inside the hospital room without ensuring Abril was properly restrained, the release said. Abril had defeated his restraints and took the deputys restroom break as an opportunity to escape.

There was a failure to follow fundamental law enforcement practices and departmental policies; this, combined with complacency, led to the escape.

The Sheriffs Office said it already has taken steps to improve its security over inmates taken from jail to hospitals for treatment, requiring two-deputy escorts.

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Woo told The Bee in an interview that Abril was wearing a belly chain and had one hand cuffed when the incident occurred, and that the inmate was able to defeat the cuff.

Due to security reasons were not releasing how he was able to do that, the sheriff said.

He added that he could not discuss whether the deputy faces discipline and that the incident is still under investigation.

There were policy violations and the internal affairs investigation is not competed yet, its still ongoing and I cant release information related to employee discipline anyway, Woo said.

Jones report also cited human failures and other issues without detailing precisely how Abril managed to escape.

In this particular incident, there were several contributing factors that allowed Abril to combine his intent with the opportunity and ability to effectuate his escape, Jones concluded. In addition to any potential human failures, staffing shortages and pressures, policy deficiencies and ambiguities, and historical internal practices were chief contributing factors.

The report says Abril was taken to the hospital on July 6 by ambulance for treatment of seizures and that during his time in the hospital he was continuously supervised by a single deputy on rotating shifts.

At approximately 0258 hours on July 9, 2023, Abril, who had managed to slip his only remaining cuff off his right hand, ran out of the room, down a staircase, out an emergency exit, and escaped, the report says. During the time of Abrils initial flight, the deputys attention was distracted but he was almost immediately able to give chase.

The deputy was unable to locate or apprehend Abril and several minutes later broadcast the escape to engage other law enforcement resources.

Police radio traffic at the time indicated a deputy was running down the stairs in pursuit of Abril before he ran out of the hospital and disappeared until he was recaptured a day later.

Fortunately, nobody was injured or further victimized by Abrils escape or his 33 hours on the run, the report says.

The report also notes that because of Abrils criminal history he initially was classified as requiring two-deputy escorts, but that within about a month his compliance with rules allowed that to be downgraded to one-person escorts.

Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo speaks about the capture of murder suspect Eric James Abril on Monday, July 10, 2023, a day after the suspects escape from custody from a Roseville hospital.

Sheriff Woo took responsibility for the escape and ordered the report after Abril was re-captured.

The biggest takeaway for me, honestly, is that while we made course corrections bringing Scott Jones in really gave us the perspective of a larger Sheriffs Office in our region and their point of view, Woo said. We made the appropriate course corrections in order to hopefully ensure that this never happens again.

Abril had been in custody since April 6 following a shootout with officers at Mahany Park that left one hostage dead and wounded a California Highway Patrol officer.

The report notes Abrils lengthy criminal history and says that upon his arrest he was classified as Administrative Separation (AdSep), which the report says commands a higher level of security, due to his charges.

His classification also necessitated that he had two officers escort him within the facility, the report says. Approximately 33 days after his initial classification review, after several successful weekly AdSep reviews, his need for two-officer escorts within the facility was dropped to one.

He remained classified as Administrative Separation. By all accounts, Abril was consistently compliant within the facility.

Jones suggested that inmates backgrounds be evaluated for the severity of charges, criminal history, conduct in jail and potential for violence before a decision is made about whether the inmate is escorted for treatment by one or two deputies.

The Sheriffs Office responded to Jones findings by saying it already had changed policy so that two or more deputies are assigned to every emergency medical escort and/or hospitalization of an inmate.

Jones, who left office as Sacramento Countys sheriff in December, found that there were clues in Abrils cell at the Auburn jail that could have led authorities to conclude Abril was planning something.

Woo said he could not discuss what those clues consisted of because of the pending investigation, but Jones report gave some indications.

In this instance, subsequent investigation revealed some documentation in Abrils cell that could have triggered further inquiry, Jones wrote. There were also recorded calls captured on the jail telephone system that could have likewise triggered further investigation.

Neither may have been enough on their own to decipher the escape plot or his intent, but may have prompted enough concern to elevate his transport to two officers. The jails telephone system is not only capable of capturing all calls from the facility, but is also able to be queried by specific terms, words, or other factors.

Unfortunately, this is seldom done, unless by a detective for a case they are working, the District Attorneys Office for one of their cases, or an outside agency for a specific case or suspect.

In short, there is no targeted effort within the jail to try and discover and thwart crimes, contraband, escape plans, or any other nefarious conduct regularly committed by inmates.

Jones suggested that the jail add a deputy to serve as an intelligence officer who could develop a network of inmate informants that could prove particularly beneficial, a move the Sheriffs Office said already had been approved.

The report also recommended that inmates at hospitals or elsewhere outside of a jail be restrained at all times when medically or legally allowable.

This is also true of an inmate who is hospitalized, regardless of whether they are being supervised by one or two officers, Jones wrote. Belly-chains, handcuffs, and/or leg shackles should be employed to limit the inmates movement and mobility.

Consideration should also be given to securing the inmate to a fixed object, such as the bed rail, when allowable by medical standard or state law. If a hard restraint must be removed for a medical procedure, consideration should be given to soft restraints or zip-ties if they will not interfere with the medical procedure.

Restraints should not be removed unless medically necessary, and only as long as necessary.

The Sheriffs Office concurred, saying policies have been updated to require that deputies shall use restraints that offer the maximum level of security without compromising the need for medical care.

Jones also noted that if a single deputy is guarding an inmate, options must be addressed if the deputy needs to use the restroom, either by calling in another deputy from patrol or using an on-site officer at a hospital. But that issue appears to have been addressed by the sheriffs new two-deputy policy for escorts.

A Placer County sheriffs deputy approaches a home on Greenbrae Road in Rocklin on Sunday, July 9, 2023, after a potential sighting of Mahany Park murder suspect Eric James Abril, who escaped earlier in the morning from a Roseville hospital.

Abrils escape paralyzed portions of Roseville and surrounding neighborhoods as law enforcement agencies used aircraft, drones, armored vehicles and dogs to finally track him down in a creekbed behind a residents home, and Jones report noted that such escapes are not isolated incidents.

There are over 2,000 escapes from custody nationally each year, Jones wrote. Further, over 300 of these escapes occur specifically during transports to and from outside locations, and 68% of those are from a caged vehicle.

All other things being equal, a jail facility is the most secure place to house an inmate. Conversely, when inmates are out of the facility they are less secure and therefore more prone to both planned and impromptu/opportunistic escapes.

An inmate needs three things to escape: intent, ability, and opportunity. It should be assumed that every inmate has the intent to escape. That is the only factor of the three that officers or an agency has no control over.

Jones added that he found both of Placer Countys jails consistently operate at minimum staffing  which is to say they have no officers additional to the mandatory fixed-post positions that must be filled.

There is little to no staffing allocation to cover planned time off or sick leave, Jones wrote. This has resulted in a current climate where forced overtime is the norm.

On the day I conducted interviews at the South Placer Jail, for example, there were seven officers on forced overtime, either by being held over the prior shift, coming in early for the next shift, or called in to work the entire shift.

The Sheriffs Office responded by saying that as of July 1 county supervisors had approved five new deputy positions to address West Placer growth.

Sheriff Woo has made the decision to utilize these positions in the corrections division, the report says. They will specifically focus on handling medical tasks, hospital transports, and related security responsibilities across the corrections division.
California regulators on Thursday approved a controversial proposal to greatly increase storage capacity at the site of the nations largest known methane leak, which sickened thousands of families and forced them from their Los Angeles homes in 2015.

Despite opposition from lawmakers and nearby residents, the California Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 to to permit underground storage of up to 68.6 billion cubic feet of gas at the vast Aliso Canyon field on the northern edge of Los Angeles County as a way to guard against fuel price spikes.

Thats more than a 50% increase over the current cap at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Facility, which is slated to be closed in 2027. Its also near the maximum capacity of 86 billion cubic feet but within safety standards set by another state agency.

This vote is a slap in the face to the community members who have been living with the ongoing consequences of the worst gas blowout in American history, Andrea Vega of the group Food & Water Watch said in a statement. Aliso Canyon poses a significant danger to the health and safety of our communities and is entirely unnecessary to maintain Californias energy reliability.

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She accused the commission of siding with irresponsible and greedy fossil fuel interests.

The expanded storage was requested by Southern California Gas Co., which operates the facility, and backed by the commissions staff. SoCalGas and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. said it would be better to buy natural gas during the summer and fall months when its generally cheaper and store it for winter use.

The commissions president, Alice Busching Reynolds, said the expansion was needed to keep gas bills affordable given the unpredictability of extreme weather events due in part to climate change, and the volatile wholesale natural gas market. She noted that California imports 90% of its natural gas from out of state.

She vowed that the commission will work at the same time toward weaning the region off the facility while the state transitions to cleaner energy.

We will reduce our dependency on Aliso Canyon, but we also need to allow people, especially low income and vulnerable communities, to access affordable energy as we move to a new electrified economy, she said before announcing her approval of the expansion.

The commission, which regulates and oversees gas, electric and other utilities, said the increase could save customers anywhere from $200 million to $450 million this winter.

The 2015 Aliso Canyon gas leak, which took four months to control, released more than 120,000 metric tons of methane and other gases into the atmosphere over the communities in the San Fernando Valley.

Thousands of residents were forced to move out of their homes to escape a sulfurous stench and maladies including headaches, nausea and nose bleeds. SoCalGas and its parent company, Sempra Energy, agreed to pay up to $1.8 billion in settlements to more than 35,000 victims of the leak in 2021.

Earlier this month, the company reached another settlement with the California Public Utilities Commission, agreeing to pay more than $70 million to the Aliso Canyon Recovery Account to address the impacts from the leak on air quality and public health.

Speakers at Thursdays commission meeting were uniformly opposed to permitting more storage.

My mind is just blown that were actually talking about this again, said Jane Fowler of the Granada Hills neighborhood and co-founder of the Aliso Moms Alliance. Were trying to get off fossil fuels for our future, for everyones future. Why would we be going backward? Why would we make ourselves more dependent on poison?

The commissioners were all appointed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has endorsed a long-term plan to shut down the facility by 2027.

Democratic lawmakers were among opponents who argued that the field is a present danger and the state needs to move ahead more quickly toward closing it.

Given the history of disaster and risks from continued operations at Aliso Canyon, I continue to support closing the facility on an expedited timeline, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote in a letter to the commissions president this month. This proposed decision to increase capacity, however, appears to go in the opposition direction.

The field, which stores gas in old wells, was at 50% capacity for years following the leak. But the commission started increasing its storage in 2020, saying it needed to ensure supplies of natural gas for the upcoming winter months in a safe and reliable manner. The volume is currently at 41.16 billion cubic feet.

Administrative Law Judge Zhen Zhang for the commission proposed allowing the increased storage capacity, noting that California and the West saw sharp spikes in the price of wholesale natural gas last winter that affected customers energy bills.

On balance, as a matter of policy, it is prudent to take the conservative approach by protecting natural gas and electricity customers from reliability and economic impacts during the upcoming 2023-2024 winter, the judge wrote.

In a letter signed by dozens of environmental organizations opposing the increase, activists said no shortages were reported in the two years after the blowout when Aliso Canyon was offline.

This is an unnecessary danger to people, said Issam Najm, an environmental engineer and resident of Los Angeles Porter Ranch suburb, where thousands of residents were sickened by the leak.

Each day the facility remains open, it is emitting cancer-causing chemicals including benzene, said Najm, citing reports by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the regulatory agency monitoring air pollution in the area.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
'Canal killings' series:



Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Part 4: 30 years later, Bryan Patrick Miller stands trial

For 54 days, spread out across six months, lawyers presented evidence and questioned witnesses in the case of Arizona vs. Bryan Patrick Miller.

The capital murder case dated back to the early 1990s, when Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas were killed as they cycled along Phoenix canals. The brutal murders shocked the city, but their killer evaded capture for years.

A DNA breakthrough led to Miller's eventual arrest. But at trial, the science was a footnote. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, so the evidence centered on his experiences, the different disorders experts believed he had, and his state of mind 30 years ago.

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As the trial hummed on, everyone had grown used to the empty jurors' chairs. But as closing arguments approached in early April, they loomed again. They were a reminder that Judge Suzanne Cohen presided over a bench trial. She would deliver a verdict and she would impose a sentence.

On the morning of April 5, prosecutor Elizabeth Reamer handed the judge two photographs.

"I think humans want to believe that only someone completely insane would do this," she said, as the judge studied them, unflinching. "But your honor, this entire trial proves that that's not true."

Miller may have some mental health concerns, some diagnoses, prosecutors said. He very likely had a bad childhood. But nothing that came close to explaining what he did to Angela and Melanie. His attorneys had spent months presenting an insanity defense, they said. It was nonsense. Don't believe it. Use common sense. Look at the evidence.

"Why would you move Angela? Why would you move Melanie? If you think what youre doing is fine?" Reamer asked. "Why would you throw away bloody clothing in a dumpster if you think theres nothing wrong with somebody finding it?"

Miller attacked Angela and Melanie as they cycled along the canal, murdered them, mutilated them, and had sex with their bodies for one reason, Reamer said.

"Because that's what he likes to do."

Defense attorney RJ Parker said it was more complicated than that. A lot more complicated. There were discrepancies in Miller's life too big to ignore.

The awkward passive father and the sadistic canal murderer. The immature 20-year-old who could barely remember to shower, let alone reliably pay rent, and the man who had planned, executed and gotten away with two notorious murders for decades.

"You have to ask yourself why? What else is going on here?" Parker said. "That's a tough question. But the answer is resolved by a complex dissociative disorder."

Miller hadn't approached the case with guile, Parker said, hadn't tried to embellish his trauma. He didn't recall things that might have bolstered his defense, like slashing vaginas into his mother's Barbie dolls, or the cookies incident that was so vivid in his cousin's mind.

When he killed Angela and Melanie, Parker said, the trauma state was firmly in control.

"He cant accept having committed these offenses," Parker said. "You know why? Because it would destroy him."

The arguments ended on a Thursday. There were jury instructions, which everyone agreed Cohen should read on her own time, rather than out loud to herself on the bench. She said she would deliberate in the jury room, to be free of distractions and close to the boxes of evidence.

She didn't take long. By Monday, Cohen had reached a verdict. She would deliver it at 2 p.m. the next day.

On Tuesday afternoon, people filed into the courtroom, about 30 in all. Many had come and gone throughout the marathon trial. Their connections to the canal murders varied, from friends of the victims' families, to people who knew Miller, to police who had worked the case, to Lynn Jacobs. They sat, anxious to hear what the judge had to say.

The room hushed as Cohen began to speak, her voice steady as she ran through the requisite preamble. It was the Superior Court of the State of Arizona, she recited, in Maricopa County, in the case of State of Arizona vs. Bryan Patrick Miller, also known as CR2015-102066.

Finally, her verdict approached.

"The court, the finder of fact in the above entitled action, upon my oath, finds the defendant, as to count one, first-degree murder, Angela Brosso, as follows," Cohen said.

Guilty.

Count two, first-degree murder of Melanie Bernas.

Guilty.

Count three, kidnapping of Angela Brosso.

Guilty.

Count four, kidnapping of Melanie Bernas.

Guilty.

Count five, attempted sexual assault of Angela Brosso.

Guilty.

Count six, attempted sexual assault of Melanie Bernas.

Guilty.

Life or death

The sentencing phase began seven days later.

It would roll on for two months. Cohen had two options: the death penalty or life in prison. And although the issues were as complicated as the trial itself, the decision came down to one question.

Did Miller deserve mercy?

The tenor of the testimony would change, delving into the emotional as well as the factual, as the defense team offered an even more expansive view of Miller's life. Again, abuse was at the forefront, the hurt and humiliation Miller had endured at the hands of his mother, Ellen. But Cohen would also hear about his participation in Steampunk and costuming, the nice things he had done for friends over the years, his relationship with his daughter.

All of these, defense attorney Denise Dees told Cohen, could be reason to spare Miller's life.

The defense played recorded interviews with several people who hadn't testified, but whose memories of Miller had been trawled over by expert witnesses. These conversations were informal, sometimes recorded on iPhones that fell over or in parks with planes flying overhead and the sound of children playing in the background.

The anecdotes ranged far and wide. An elementary teacher said she had been concerned after seeing scratch marks on young Miller's back in Hawaii. A high school friend told of how he had carried her books to class when she had a sprained ankle. A friend from the Steampunk community remembered Miller bringing his daughter to "build days" where they would make old-fashioned-looking guns out of toilet roll tubes and paint.

Randy McGlade, Miller's Aunt Barbara and a handful of others said they still wanted Miller in their life. They promised they would stay in touch with him in prison. Yes, they said, when questioned by prosecutors. They knew what he had done.

'Wonderful and dedicated father': Canal killings trial: Bryan Miller's daughter was 'everything' to him, court hears

Several people described Miller as a loving father.

His daughter was not among them. She was too emotionally fragile to testify, according to Deena McGlade, who is Randy's sister, and who cared for Miller's daughter, now in her early 20s, for a period after her dad was arrested.

The letter that Bryan Patrick Miller's daughter wrote to Judge Suzanne Cohen. It was one of the exhibits at his trial.

Miller's daughter had written a letter to the judge, and asked Deena to read it aloud. But as she prepared to do so on the witness stand, Cohen abruptly called the attorneys back to her chambers.

Later, in a motion for a new trial, the defense would say Cohen had tearfully requested Deena not read the letter aloud, told them she would read it and consider it, but she could not emotionally handle hearing it read aloud in court that day. They would suggest the incident revealed bias, perhaps unconscious, on Cohen's part, that it indicated a problem in her ability to separate judge and jury, that it showed she had already made up her mind.

When court resumed, Deena did not read the letter.

But it was entered into evidence.

"Dear Judge Cohen," Miller's daughter wrote.

"I am writing to you today because I would appreciate having an opportunity to have a relationship with my father in the future. My father wasn't a perfect dad by any means, but I know he did try. He tried raising me to the best of his ability."

Her dad had paid for choir field trips to Disneyland when she was in middle school, she wrote, even giving her money for souvenirs. What she appreciated most, though, were the friends he had introduced her to, Randy and Deena among them.

She ended with this: "Thank you for taking the time to read this, I know this is a difficult situation for you to be in and I appreciate all the people like you in situations like this."

Closing arguments

As Parker began his closing argument, he displayed a PowerPoint presentation. "Reasons To Choose Life" it read in white type on a blue background. Next to the words was a sepia-tinted photograph of Miller as a child, missing a front tooth.

"He was not born bad," Parker said.

He asked Cohen questions: Would Miller have gone on to kill Angela and Melanie if he had a different childhood? If he had a different mother? If he had not been abused?

If the answer was no, he said, Cohen should sentence him to life in prison. "You do not have to kill Bryan in order to see justice done," he told the judge.

'Immature' brain: Canal killings: Expert cites Bryan Miller's impaired judgment in murders

Parker described Miller as broken, unable to bear the weight of the trauma Ellen had heaped on him. "We should not kill broken people," he said. "We should work to rebuild them."

He read a poem Miller had published in the jail newsletter. Its final lines went like this:

"You expect to wade through my waters and see nothing / You look into my eyes and expect to see shallow depth / You look into my heart and expect to see an empty hole / Look into my soul and you will see, I am like the sea."

There are parts of Bryan nobody knows," Parker said. "There are parts of Bryan Bryan doesnt know, that he wants to get more in touch with because he knows there's a place of healing that he needs to get to."

"But the parts we do know, the parts he has shared with people  those are valuable, those speak to his humanity, and those are reasons for life."

The next day, Imbordino said he wasn't going to try to convince Cohen that Miller had a normal childhood. "I do think we still have to keep in mind his mother is not here to defend herself," he added.

But so what? He urged Cohen to look at the facts. At what Miller had done. He was asking for mercy, but had extended none to his victims.

He wasn't a child, Imbordino said. He didn't make a small mistake, misjudge a moral dilemma. He was 20, and he made a conscious choice to kill Angela and Melanie because it aroused him.

"You can try to dress him up however you want," Imbordino said. "He was referred to as being broken yesterday. But what he is at his core is a sexual sadist."

It was obvious from the violent pornography discovered in his home, Imbordino said. It was obvious from his words to Amy, in the letters he sent her from prison, and from The Plan.

It was obvious from his actions on Nov. 8, 1992, and Sept. 21, 1993.

Prosecutor Vince Imbordino showed these photographs of Angela Brosso (left) and Melanie Bernas as he gave his closing argument to Judge Suzanne Cohen

As he spoke, Imbordino displayed pictures of Angela and Melanie. Not the images that nobody wanted to see. Happy, smiling photographs. The kind of snaps that should have been a fun throwback, a "Look at you there!" while flipping through an old album.

But they werent in an album. They were in evidence, marked with green Post-it notes as Exhibit 270 and Exhibit 271.

"This will sound harsh, I'm sure," Imbordino said. "Angela and Melanie didn't get to choose when they died. They didn't get to choose the day, the hour, the moment."

"This defendant deserves to know the day, the hour, of his death, for what he did."

Miller sentenced

June 7, 2023, 12:30 p.m.

The crowd gathered early, a handful of people mingling outside court an hour before Cohen would take the bench.

By the time the bailiff unlocked the door, the crowd had swelled, humming, moving inside quickly to find a seat. Melanie's sisters, who had been ensconced in a side room, settled in the front row, surrounded by friends.

Miller entered court the way he always did, a cardboard folder of documents tucked under his arm, closely followed by a correctional officer. But when he sat down, he briefly swiveled his head around to survey the waiting crowd.

For the first time in eight months, every seat in the public gallery was taken. The crowd rose and fell as Cohen entered, falling into silence as the solemn-faced judge began to speak.

She set a stake in the ground early: "There is no question the defendant deserves the death penalty."

But, Cohen continued, for 11.5 minutes in all, it didn't stop there. She had to look at who Miller was, not just what he did.

Her guilty verdicts had been one word only. This time, she had written a special verdict, 26 pages laying out what she had made of the months of evidence.

Of the multiple diagnoses, Cohen found four proven: depression, anxiety, hoarding disorder and sexual sadism. She did not find Miller had dissociative disorders or PTSD as the defense had contended, nor antisocial personality disorder, as had the state. He might have high-functioning autism, she said, but it wasn't proven in court.

She found Miller was an unreliable historian, but did not entirely discount his reports of Ellen's cruelty and abuse. It was clear, the judge said, that Ellen was not a loving mother, that her parenting had been inappropriate, hateful and cruel. It was unclear if Miller had been forced to watch "Shocking Asia" at the formative age he claimed, but even if he had been a teenager, it would have been "wholly inappropriate."

There was enough supporting evidence, Cohen said, to show Miller's childhood had been "marred by abuse and neglect."

This was significant, the judge said. So too was his age and immaturity in the early 1990s.

Judge Suzanne Cohen talks before sentencing Bryan Patrick Miller to death in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix on June 7, 2023.

The crowd sensed Cohen was approaching her conclusion. The occasional whisper stopped. Nobody shifted in their seats. The courtroom, full to bursting, was more silent than it had ever been.

"The question the court must answer," she said, "is if the totality of the mitigation is sufficiently substantial to call for leniency."

Did Miller deserve mercy?

Cohen paused, briefly cast her eyes upward.

"The answer is no."

'You have to protect society'

After a brief adjournment, Parker rose to his feet and made an unusual statement.

"Your Honor, I would just say that it really has been a privilege getting to know Bryan for the past eight and a half years," he said. "And I just wish that you were able to see the same guy that we saw, because I know you'd feel a little differently in your heart right now."

As he spoke, someone seated close to Melanie's sisters made a loud noise  just a cough, perhaps, or a protest.

Motion filed: Defense asks for a new trial in 'canal killings' case, calling judge's actions into question

Weeks later, Parker told The Republic the defense team had been surprised and hurt by Cohen's sentence. They had spent eight years getting to know Miller, he said, and it was hard to put how they felt that day into words.

"In sentencing Bryan to death, Judge Cohens verdict suggested she could not see Bryan as a human being whose life has value," he said, adding that Miller was not among "the worst of the worst."

"I regret that we could not help Judge Cohen clear barriers that prevented her from seeing the worthy person weve come to appreciate and care about."

In a motion for a new trial, the defense said Cohen was the first to suggest a bench trial. She brought it up at a conference in October 2021, they wrote, saying she had been thinking about the case in the early hours of the morning and thought it was something to consider.

After the defense and state agreed to waive a jury, the defense says, Cohen should have assessed herself for "unconscious feelings" about the brutality of the murders that might have swayed her from a life sentence. The motion is pending.

Cohen's decision will also go to an automatic appeal.

Lynn Jacobs lingered outside court long after prosecutors had left quietly with Melanie's sisters and friends, after the tearful defense hugs had ended.

He had come to know a lot of people involved in the trial over the past eight months. Other than a week in which he took his daughter to Florida, he had attended every day. He was the closest thing to a juror the trial had, even if  as he readily admits  he would have been booted in selection because he opposes the death penalty.

For that reason, he did not agree with the sentence. He did agree with the guilty verdict, but not because he wasn't convinced by the insanity defense. Jacobs is a father of three, and one of his adult daughters, the one he took to Florida, has autism. He was thinking about her as he sat through the trial, heard the diagnosis discussed endlessly. He even brought her to court one day, on a weekly outing from her group home, where she colored in pictures and gave one each to the state and defense.

Partly due to his experience raising her, Jacobs said, he found the defense case at least partly compelling. He believed the contradictions in who Miller was, and what he did didn't quite make sense. But the idea that he could be released into the community was anathema. So for those reasons  which fall outside of what an actual juror would have been instructed to consider  his verdict was guilty.

"You can empathize and sympathize as much as you want, but it comes down to practicality," Jacobs said. "You have to protect society."

Sitting through the trial had taken a toll, he said, right from the start, when Imbordino first displayed the crime scene pictures.

"You could pretty much use your imagination as to what was being seen," he said. "And you just watched the expression of the judge, and the people seeing them. And that was pretty heavy in itself."

Troy Hillman had been relieved to hear the guilty verdict back in April. It meant that no matter where Cohen fell on the sentence, Miller would be in prison for the rest of his life.

"As to whether or not he got death  I saw the pictures," Hillman said. "I saw what he did to those women. If that happened to my daughters, or my family? I'm sorry. I'd want the same thing. I'd want the death penalty."

Hillman doesn't think Celeste and Angela and Melanie were Miller's only victims, and he is not alone in that view.

He believes Miller was trying to kill the woman he was acquitted of stabbing in Washington state in 2002. He also thinks Miller is responsible for a different stabbing in the same state two years earlier, of a teenager named Victoria Mikelsen. Mikelsen has since publicly identified Miller as her attacker, but the statute of limitations in the case has expired.

Hillman is also among the many people who believe Miller murdered Brandy Myers, a 13-year-old girl who disappeared from north Phoenix on May 26, 1992. Her body has never been found.

"I think Miller did it. Absolutely," he said. "We just can't prove it."

Unmade memories

Throughout the eight months of trial, Angela and Melanie were barely visible.

Angela came into focus as Joe painted a picture of the life they had shared. Melanie as her sister, Jill Canetta, described the sibling she had lost. Both of them, briefly, as Imbordino displayed Exhibits 270 and 271.

But mostly, they shrunk in Miller's shadow.

"If you happened to join the trial at any time after the first two weeks, you'd have thought the defendant was the victim in this case," Canetta said.

She understood the legal process perfectly, Canetta said. She knew everyone had a job to do.

But still.

"She's not wrong," Cohen would later say, as she sentenced Miller to death.

The judge said she had never lost sight of Angela and Melanie as the trial had unfolded. But what happened to them had never been a mystery. The question had always been why.

Much is still unknown about Angela and Melanie's final moments.

Had Angela just set out, or was she almost home for "In Living Color"? Why did Melanie go riding that night? Did Miller deploy a ruse to stop them, or launch a blitz attack as they flew past on their bikes? How long did he spend up there on the berm with Angela, by the freeway underpass with Melanie, bringing The Plan to life? What happened to Angela's head in the 11 days between her murder and when a fisherman spotted it in the canal? Did he say anything to them? How many seconds passed before they slipped into unconsciousness? For how long were they afraid?

Miller isn't saying.

He did not testify, but exercised his right to allocute, making a two-minute speech to Cohen at the end of the sentencing phase.

He said he was not looking for sympathy. That he hoped his words did not cause more hurt. That he accepted the guilty verdict and hoped it provided "a measure of relief."

He did not say he was sorry for murdering Angela and Melanie. He did not shed any further light on what he did.

"I wish I could provide answers to the questions you have," he said.

The trial had weighed on the Brosso and Bernas families.

There was the pain of hearing, over and over, in gruesome detail, what had happened to Angela and Melanie, their terrifying ordeals squeezed into cold, legalistic language that was inherent to the process, but still diminished the horror of what happened. Hearing the minutiae of Miller's life, the wedding and child and social events he had gone on to enjoy, when for Angela and Melanie there was only a gaping absence.

He had taken Melanie's entire life, Canetta said, and a piece of all of theirs. Her absence had reverberated through the last three decades, always there, changing how they walked through the world.

And then there was the trial, the endless delays and the endless evidence, the family yet again dragged through, as Canetta put it, Miller's "dark world."

Every minute they spent listening, she said, was more he took from them.

With Angela and Melanie's pictures smiling down in Courtroom 5B, Imbordino urged Cohen to think about what Miller took from his two victims.

He stole their unmade memories, the prosecutor said. "He did not give them the chance to live their lives."

Some of those memories were enumerated by Linda Brosso, as she spoke to Cohen in the wake of the guilty verdict. "I've been waiting 30 years for this day," she said, her voice clear and raw as it rang out across the courtroom.

She had called Angela on her 22nd birthday, she said, only to be told she was missing. It was the start of a lifetime of calls not made.

"Angie won't be calling me to say, 'Happy birthday, Mommy.' 'Merry Christmas, Mommy.' 'I met the man of my dreams, Mommy.' 'I fell in love.' 'He asked me to marry him.' 'And I'm engaged. Can you help me plan my wedding?' She won't be calling to tell me about her honeymoon. Or, 'Mommy, I got the promotion at work' or 'We're going to have a baby and you're going to be a grandmother.'"

"I'll never again get to hold her hand," Linda said, "and kiss her smiling face."

All those memories. Gone.

'Canal killings' series:



Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona 'canal killings': Miller gets death; families mourn victims
As Hurricane Idalia approached Florida, Ana Lamb sent a WhatsApp message to the 800 people in the Apoyo para la Comunidad chat group.

For those who are wondering about shelters in Hillsborough County, theyve advised evacuations for Zone A, she wrote in Spanish, adding a video explaining how people can figure out what evacuation zone they live in.

Lets stay tuned for the authorities next steps, Lamb added. We are with you! Life and health are the most important things now.

The online WhatsApp community for Tampa Bay area residents was established during the pandemic in 2020 and has become a key source of information in Spanish for Hispanic families and immigrants. Many in the group are farmworkers from Central America and Mexico. Some of them lack proper documentation and fear reaching out to authorities to get information.

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That fear has become more pronounced after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill in May that is considered to be among the nations toughest crackdowns on illegal immigration. The law took effect on July 1. It requires private employers with 25 or more employees to use the federal electronic system E-Verify to check the immigration status of workers. It also allocates $12 million for the relocation of migrants outside Florida and imposes fines and felony charges on anyone knowingly transporting people without legal status into the state.

Lamb, a Mexican advocate from Wimauma, said the WhatsApp messaging group is meant to help people share trusted information and feel more confident about accessing it. In the past few days, members of the group have discussed finding shelters and shared updates about road closures, flooding and power outages.

Residents living near the Alafia River should seek safe places, Lamb posted on Tuesday. The water levels are rising!

Velia, another user, responded: Yes! And also keep an eye on the power. Mine went out 20 minutes ago! Im on 672, between Wimauma and Riverview.

Lamb and her volunteers take pride in providing reliable information and a sense of comfort. Interactions flow naturally in the group, she said, due to the trust and commitment among its members.

Other Spanish sources also keep the Hispanic community informed. Hillsborough County publishes a hurricane guide in Spanish. Residents can visit HCFLGov.net, scroll to the bottom of the page, and select their preferred language. The City of Tampa offers an emergency text messaging service in Spanish; residents can subscribe by texting TAMPALISTA to 888-777. Pinellas, Hernando and Pasco counties also provide real-time information with operators ready to connect residents to a Spanish-speaking interpreter.

Jorge Calixto, 39, a Mexican migrant now living in Gibsonton, likes to use the WhatsApp community to get and share information. He posted a video alerting people to flooded areas in Gibsonton just a few hours after Idalias landfall.

Last year, Calixto traveled north to avoid Hurricane Ian. This time, he chose to stay at home with his younger sister and parents. Calixto felt sharing useful information was a civic duty to his community.

If you have the ability to do it, many people will be thankful to see it, he said. Thank God nothing happened, but we were worried.
Outside the entrance of the Fraternal Order of Police offices in the West Loop sits a large stone slab, at least 6 feet by 6 feet, that lists the names of Chicago police officers who died in the line of duty.

On Friday, dozens of officers, members of police families, friends and elected officials gathered to dedicate a companion memorial believed to be among the first of its kind: one to remember officers who have died by suicide. The commemoration came on the first day of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and at a time when the Chicago Police Department has been affected by such losses.

One of those to attend was Margaret Dougherty. Her husband, Sgt. Edward Dougherty, spent more than 20 years with the CPD, mostly in the Chicago Lawn District on the Southwest Side, before he died by suicide in March 2022.

I think the thing we want most is for our loved ones to be remembered, Margaret Dougherty said after the ceremony. Something like this, just the acknowledgment and the love that theyre showing, it just helps to keep the memory alive.

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Edward Dougherty is one of more than a dozen CPD officers who have died by suicide since 2018. The year prior, the U.S. Department of Justice found that Chicago police officers had a 60% higher suicide rate than other police departments across the country.

CPD suicides will sometimes occur in clusters. During the summer of 2022, three Chicago police officers died by suicide within a month. Last December, three more died by suicide in a seven-day span.

In recent years the Police Department has sought to expand its employee assistance program to aid officers who may be in crisis. There are currently 18 clinicians working in patrol districts across the city, and two more counseling centers for officers were recently opened on the North and South sides.

Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged the pressures and stresses of policing, and he pledged to support officers who may be struggling.

When I think about law enforcement and what we have, historically, asked law enforcement to do, I think about what it means to have a servants heart and how much pressure we apply to law enforcement every single day, Johnson said. Know that as mayor of the city of Chicago I am committed to making sure that the hearts that serve the city of Chicago  and thats our Police Department  will have someone in office that will do everything in my power to work with you, to make sure that the servants hearts of our police department are being treated.

Rabbi Moshe Wolf told those in attendance that death by suicide is akin to cancer of the heart.'

One of the antidotes to that is (to) let them know they are not alone, said Wolf, a CPD chaplain who often visits officers at district stations to offer both counsel and Tootsie Rolls or other candies. If you see theyre going through hard times, the biggest thing you can tell them is to let them know theyre not alone.

FOP President John Catanzara said the idea for an officer suicide memorial was birthed earlier this year. With his voice slightly cracking, Catanzara disclosed that he nearly attempted suicide in 2008, and he urged any officers in crisis to reach out to the union for assistance.

This department, probably more than any other department in this country, has had this cancer of the heart in record numbers, Catanzara said. I firmly believe talking about it is the best medicine for anybody  not only the family members that are left behind, but any officers that are struggling  to show them that talking about it might just save your life or someone that you know, and you might not even realize you saved them.

Larry Snelling, CPDs chief of counterterrorism, whom Johnson has nominated to become the next superintendent, called on officers to make a deliberate effort to offer help to their colleagues.

We have got to reach out to each other, we have got to take care of each other, Snelling said. Its not a weakness to suffer. The weakness comes when we dont reach out for that help. The weakness comes in others when you see someone in need and youre not reaching out to help them.

The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, a resource for those who are struggling, can be contacted by dialing 988.
How did nation get to divide about 2020 election?

The headline of the Daily Southtown for Aug. 28 was Orland Park minister to surrender. Stephen Cliffgard Lee faces five separate criminal counts relating to attempted election fraud in Georgia. His attorney assures us that Lee is innocent, and we will await the outcome of the trial.

Whatever the legal outcome, while Lee is responsible for his own actions, the bigger question is how did the country get to this point? How was one person able to so easily fool so many people? Part of the problem is the role played by the conservative media in this country.

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One major outlet has already paid out nearly $800 million in a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion, a manufacturer of voting equipment, and that media outlet is facing more lawsuits.

That same media network all but admitted to lying about the 2020 election. Emails and other internal communications, plus the testimony from the owner of the network, showed that the network, and some on air personalities, deliberately promoted Trumps baseless claims.

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Because of this, hundreds of Americans have been charged, many convicted, and many more await trial.

Another part of the problem is that the GOP refuses to move past the lies about the 2020 election. For a brief period after Jan. 6, 2021, some GOP leaders condemned the actions, and inaction, of the former president, but that welcome burst of integrity did not last.

William Beaulieu, Oak Lawn

Soft-pedaled stories on Biden visit to Maui

A friend recently pointed out that newspaper reports on President Biden often differ widely from those available on established, reputable online news sources. Her contention was that online reports provide a truer picture of Biden than newspaper reports that seem to paint a soft-pedaled, rosy version.

A perfect example: the presidents recent trip to Maui where he seemed to search for words, saying the big island, apparently forgetting the word Maui. Online stories/videos of his arrival, 13 days after the devastating fires began, clearly show he was met by protest signs, chants of 13 days and even obscenities as his official convoy drove to the burned city of Lahaina.

Online reports (as I write this) list 115 confirmed deaths and at least 1,000 still unaccounted for. Bidens speech, called tone deaf by some online writers, seemed to say he understood how Lahaina survivors felt because he once had a kitchen fire in his home, put out in 20 minutes by Delaware firemen.

Did you already read this unsettling information in a major Chicago-area paper? I read three and saw nary a word.

Christine Craven, Evergreen Park

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Abortion is the defining issue of this election

The Republican debate proved one thing to me: Conservatives and abortion are like people up north and the Daily Southtown, they just dont get it!

Abortion is the defining issue of our immediate time, period! Since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe, six red states have resoundingly voted to uphold a womans right to choose. The presumed red wave of the 2022 midterms never materialized because voters refused to allow the religious right to foist their antiquated biblical morality on people.

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

In April, Janet Protasiewicz a liberal from Wisconsin ran for Supreme Court justice on one issue only, abortion. In an election most pundits thought would be close, she trounced her conservative opponent by 11% giving Democrats a 4-3 majority for the first time in 15 years.

Recent polling from Gallop and Pew show that 61% of voters favor legalized abortion. For Christian conservatives who like biblical references, until you acknowledge the handwriting on the wall, you will continue losing elections and will only have yourselves to blame.

Wes Dickson, Orland Park

Republicans need to move on from Donald Trump

Its so sad that there are Trump cult followers who are incapable of understanding and accepting the fact that the GOP needs to move on from narcissist Donald Trump and realize with the proved and supported evidence that his self-serving treasonous criminal enterprise is bad for the party, and get back to supporting a viable honest candidate like the George Bushes, Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln were.

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Richard Lange, Orland Park

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Submit letters to the editor via email to suburbanletters@tribpub.com. Please include your name and town of residence for publication. Please include phone number and email address for confirmation. Letters should be no more than 250 to 300 words.
(Bloomberg) -- Chinas reliance on coal  and how to reduce it  was a key topic of discussion at an international group this week as nations work to solve one of the thornier global climate issues, Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said.

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China uses more coal for electricity generation than all other countries combined and is allowing construction of a fleet of new plants fired by the fuel. In an interview, Guilbeault acknowledged that the nations policies to cut dependence on coal are still in development.

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We understand that the way they can reduce their dependency on coal is obviously through more renewables, storage efficiency, Guilbeault said by phone from China, where he attended this weeks meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

But the purpose of the work we will be doing next year is exploring specifically what does that mean? Guilbeault added. What does that concretely look like? Hes vice chair of the council, a body founded in 1992 with support from Canada, which has been its biggest international donor.

Canada has been reducing its coal-fired electricity, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to end thermal coal exports by 2030. In the meantime, Canada exported C$7.7 billion ($5.7 billion) of coal in 2021, according to government statistics that also include metallurgical coal for steel production. Nearly half of Canadas coal exports go to China.

Read More: Chinas Coal Build-Out Raises Questions on Future Power Plans

Asked whether he sees Canadian natural gas helping China transition away from coal, Guilbeault said Canada will have multiple LNG terminals coming online on its west coast in the next few years. But he also sounded a cautionary note.

Governments wont decide where where the LNG goes, the markets will, he said. We want to be mindful of the role that LNG can play, but in the long term, we also need to reduce our dependency on all fossil fuels, and that includes LNG.

Guilbeaults trip this week created significant controversy at home due to a series of diplomatic crises between Canada and China.

The biggest conflict began in 2018 after Meng Wanzhou, Huaweis chief financial officer, was arrested in Vancouver on a US extradition request. Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained within days of Mengs arrest and held until all three were freed in September 2021.

More recently, Trudeaus government has been under fire for how it responded to intelligence reports that China has interfered in Canadian elections in an attempt to elect Beijing-friendly politicians. Trudeau is widely expected to call a judicial inquiry into the matter in the coming weeks.

Still, Guilbeault defended his role with the council. He pointed out that while Canadas Indo-Pacific strategy  which was published last year  aims to counter Chinese influence in the region, it also promises to work with China on climate policy. Western allies including the US and UK also have been engaging with China on climate change.

The council has experts and government representatives from all over the world, and international involvement makes it easier to debate sensitive topics such as coal consumption, he said.

Its a more neutral forum where we can talk about these things and its not as controversial, it makes it less politically sensitive, he said.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping will likely skip next weeks summit of G20 leaders in India, according to multiple reports, a development that would sink the chances of him meeting with President Biden.

Bidens trip to New Delhi, announced last week, had been seen as another opportunity to increase collaboration between Indo-Pacific allies, which could act as a counterbalance to China.

The president said he is still hopeful Xi will attend the summit.

The answer is: I hope he attends, Biden said Thursday.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed last Tuesday that Biden would attend the summit, set for Sept. 7-10, and attend various meetings with leaders, but did not disclose which ones.

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden and the other world leaders would discuss a wide range of topics, including climate change, the global economy, the war in Ukraine and poverty.

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Biden and Xi last met at last years G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, and a potential meeting between the two leaders this year was seen as a chance to mend a deteriorating relationship caused by trade and geopolitical tensions.

Other top officials have been traveling to China in a bid to help alleviate tensions.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo recently met with her Chinese counterpart, the Peoples Republic of China Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, to discuss export controls, which have frustrated Chinese officials.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled in June to China, where he met with two top foreign policy officials and Xi himself.

Tense relations with India could fuel Xi Jinpings decision

Chinese President Xi Jinping gestures as he meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Monday, June 19, 2023. (Leah Millis/Pool Photo via AP)

Xis decision could be characterized as a shot at India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi , experts told Reuters.

India and China have been involved in a three-year standoff over the two countries shared border, and tensions only escalated this week after Malaysia joined India in protesting a new Chinese map that claims Indias territory and Malaysias maritime areas near Borneo.

However, just last week, Xi and Modi agreed to step up deescalation efforts at the disputed border, bringing home thousands of troops deployed there in the process, according to an Indian Foreign Ministry official.

India boasts one of the fastest growing economies in the world at a time when Chinas has slowed.

Bidens next opportunity to engage with Modi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Biden

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Biden are seen during an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, June 22, 2023. (Greg Nash)

Bidens trip to India will also be his latest effort to engage with Modi, following an official state visit at the White House in June. The visit was controversial because of Modis human rights record.

A handful of Democrats boycotted Modis address to a joint session of Congress and pushed Biden to make human rights a focus during their meetings. But Modi pushed back on those criticisms during a press conference with Biden.

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Biden reportedly discussed democratic values with Modi during their meeting in the Oval Office, and the president stressed that the United Statess relationship with India is more dynamic than at any time in history.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A new China map shows the South China Sea with nine-dash line claims under Chinese territory and a new line next to Taiwan are seen on the map, at a bookstore in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 1, 2023.China has upset many in the Asia-Pacific region with the release of a new official map that lays claim to most of the South China Sea, as well as contested parts of India and Russia, and official objections continue to mount. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

BANGKOK (AP)  China has upset many countries in the Asia-Pacific region with its release of a new official map that lays claim to most of the South China Sea, as well as to contested parts of India and Russia, and official objections continue to mount. What is the map, and why is it upsetting people so much?

WHAT IS CHINA CLAIMING?

China's Ministry of Natural Resources released the new standard national map on Monday, part of what it has called an ongoing effort to eliminate problem maps. In it, China clearly shows its so-called nine-dash line, demarcating what it considers its maritime border, claiming almost the entirety of the South China Sea. The current, and other recent iterations of the annual map, include a 10th dash to the east of Taiwan.

In the far northeastern corner of China on the border with Russia, it shows Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island, an island at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, as Chinese territory, even though the countries signed an agreement nearly 20 years ago to split the island.

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Along the southern border with India, it shows Arunachal Pradesh and the Doklam Plateau, over which China and India have long feuded, clearly within Chinese borders, along with Aksai Chin in the western section that China controls but India still claims.

HOW HAVE COUNTRIES REACTED?

China's longstanding claims in the South China Sea have brought it into tense standoffs with Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines, all of which have competing claims. China and India fought a war over their border in 1962, and the disputed boundary has led to a three-year standoff between tens of thousands of Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Ladakh area. A clash three years ago in the region killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese.

After the release of the map, India fired back first, saying China's claims have no basis. Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question. It lodged a formal complaint on Tuesday through diplomatic channels.

Malaysia then rejected Chinas unilateral claims and added that the map is not binding to the country. Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines have since followed suit.

Vietnam said the claims violate its sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly islands and jurisdiction over its waters and should be considered void because they violate the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Illustrating how provocative the nine-dash line is considered by Hanoi, Vietnam in July banned the popular Barbie movie because it includes a view of a map showing the disputed Chinese claims.

The self-governed island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own, also rejects the nine-dash line and Beijings South China Sea claims.

The territorial claims at times lead to direct confrontation. A little more than a week ago, Philippine boats breached a Chinese coast guard blockade in a disputed area of the South China Sea to deliver supplies to Filipino forces guarding a contested shoal.

In its response to the map, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs cited a 2016 ruling by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that largely invalidated Chinas claim to virtually the entire South China Sea and upheld the Philippines control over resources in a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

Russia, for which Chinese support in its war against Ukraine has been critical, has not yet responded.

WHAT DOES CHINA SAY?

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin sidestepped questions Thursday about specifics of the nine-dash line and why China has been using a 10th dash in recent years, telling reporters only that China's stance on the South China Sea is consistent and clear.

He also didn't directly address the protests over the map, saying that the update was routine practice every year with the aim of providing standard maps and to educate the public to use maps in accordance with rules.

We hope that the relevant sides can see it in an objective and rational way, he said.

WHY NOW?

The national map is an annual production that could be released any time, and China knows well that its claims are contentious, even though they are not new.

It seems significant, then, that Beijing chose to release the map on the heels of a late August meeting of the BRICS nations  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- and just before China is to participate in top-level meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Group of 20 rich and developing nations.

At the BRICS meetings, the China-Russia relationship was broadly seen as strengthened as the group voted in favor of a proposal pushed by Beijing and Moscow to invite Iran and Saudi Arabia, along with four other countries, to join. On the sidelines, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping even talked about their disputed border, agreeing to intensify efforts to de-escalate tensions.

Most of the governments with which China has disputes in the South China Sea are ASEAN members, and India is hosting the G20 talks.

In releasing the map now, Beijing is widely seen as signaling it has no intention of backing down on any of its claims and is making sure that its positions are fresh in the minds of other countries in the region.
Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, speaks during the Sutherland Institutes 2023 Congressional Series at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Aug. 3, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Rep. Chris Stewart has some unfinished business as he steps down this month after nearly 11 years representing Utahs 2nd Congressional District.

The Republican congressman started working on legislation earlier this year that would make it illegal for social media platforms to provide access to children 14 years old and younger. Its an extension of his efforts to address a mental health crisis among adolescents, including sponsoring a 988 telephone number for the national suicide prevention hotline that went live last summer.

The evidence of destructive outcomes for young people is just irrefutable, he said in an interview as he begins to button up his political career.

The age verification proposal has bipartisan support and Stewart hopes to pass the baton to someone who could see it through. But it takes time, and his last day is Sept. 15.

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Also on his to-do list is reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which he says government agencies misused to justify spying on the Donald Trump campaign and on hundreds of thousands of Americans.

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Stewart, 63, is the longest-serving representative among Utahs four current U.S. House members, most prominently as a member of the House Intelligence Committee. First elected in 2012, he announced in July that he was resigning to stay close to his wife, Evie, who had a stroke a year ago. While he said shes not incapacitated or paralyzed, she lost most of her vision. He said it was difficult to leave Congress in the middle of a term, but it is the right decision.

Were both really happy. She just needs someone to be home with her. Shes so relieved to know that Im not going to be gone all the time, he said.

In addition to addressing mental health issues, he championed national defense and religious rights during his tenure. His Fairness for All bill attempting to balance religious liberty and gay rights didnt pass, but many of its provisions were folded into other bills. He voted for the Respect For Marriage Act, which codified the right to same-sex marriage in federal law, and also significantly protected religion.

As a man of faith and a conservative, ensuring the religious liberties of people in Utah is absolutely essential. This bill not only guarantees that protection, but simultaneously expands the rights of those in the LGBTQ community, he said in a statement at the time.

Yet big moments arent necessarily the total of ones impact.

In Congress, I dont think theres usually one thing that you think, OK, this is my magnum opus. Its really a collection of smaller bills that you hope in aggregate have a positive impact, he said in a 2018 interview.

Stewart is backing one of his own staffers to replace him. He endorsed Celeste Maloy, the chief legal counsel in his office the past four years, in the upcoming special election. Former state lawmaker Becky Edwards and businessman Bruce Hough are also on the Republican ballot.

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Congressman Chris Stewart, R-Utah, introduces his latest legislation, the Fairness for All Act, which aims to harmonize religious freedom and LGBT rights, during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019. | Cheryl Diaz Meyer, for the Deseret News

Why Stewart ran for Congress

A business consultant, author and former Air Force pilot before getting into politics, Stewart said he didnt know what he would do for work when he decided to resign. He knows now, though hes mum, other than to say hell be involved in the areas of national security and intelligence but it wont require him to routinely be away from home.

A first-time candidate with no previous aspirations for elected office, Stewart entered the political arena in 2012 campaigning to lower the national debt and curb insane government spending. While sequestration  a law requiring across-the-board cuts in some federal spending  did slow both for a couple of years, Stewart said Congress lost focus.

President Trump didnt care at all about the deficit. I talked to him about that, twice actually, he said, adding the president told him he planned to address it in his second term.

But hes a leveraged New York businessman. He uses debt to create things and to build things and just didnt feel the same way about it as we did. Honestly, he was wrong on that. We should have kept on that, kept the pressure on.

Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, holds up a copy of the transcript of a phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, in the first public impeachment hearing of President Donald Trumps efforts to tie U.S. aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents. | Saul Loeb, Associated Press

Relationship with Donald Trump

Speaking of Trump, Stewart wasnt initially a supporter. He served as Sen. Marco Rubios campaign chairman in Utah during the Florida Republicans short-lived run for president.

At one point, Stewart said Trump didnt reflect Republican ideals and referred to him as our Mussolini.

Ive been quoted on that a lot. As soon as I said it I thought thats going to be memorable, he said.

Stewart said he felt he had to respond to then-candidate Trumps saying that he would target the families of terrorists, presumably women and children, and also torture terrorists. When Trump was told that would be illegal, he responded by saying hes such a strong leader that the military would do it because he told them to.

The congressman said he wasnt really comparing Trump to the fascist dictator but trying to draw a contrast. He said the military is trained to know an illegal order and not to follow it.

Trump, though, apparently didnt remember or didnt care about the comment until it was later brought to his attention. Trump was close to nominating Stewart as national intelligence director in 2020 until he learned of a video clip in which the congressmans Mussolini comment was shown.

Even though Stewart had developed a good relationship with and had become a staunch defender of Trump after he became president, the remark doomed his opportunity to join the Cabinet.

Interestingly, he and I got to be quite close. Primarily because of the work we did on intel, the Russia investigation. We spent a lot of time together. We still do on occasion, not as much as we used to. We still talk and kind of touch base with each other, Stewart said.

Trump endorsed Stewart in the 2022 election, which he won just as easily as he did his first five races.

Related

Rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. | John Minchillo, Associated Press

View on Jan. 6

Stewart was all in on Trump in 2020. After the election, he said there was plenty of evidence to question the results. He was among 139 House Republicans who objected to certifying Pennsylvanias electoral votes, though he notes had the objection passed, it wouldnt have changed the outcome. And he said he acknowledged Joe Biden as the winner immediately after news outlets called the race for him.

But, We had to say to Pennsylvania what youve done here does not comply with the Constitution, it clearly doesnt, Stewart said.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Stewart had a front-row view of the wild scene outside the Capitol. He said he saw 30 police officers run by inside the building and followed them to see what was going on. One ushered him into an office overlooking the patio. Protesters, he said, were banging on the window.

Jan. 6 was a mess, he said. I watched the whole thing. I remember texting everyone (on his staff) that this is going to change everything.

In the aftermath, the Democrat-led House voted to form a committee to investigate the Capitol attack and Trumps role in it. Stewart was among a majority of Republicans who opposed it.

The reason I opposed it was borne out by how they acted. This wasnt a fair and bipartisan effort at all, he said.

Looking back now, Stewart said he feels 100% the same about those issues as he did at the time, and with hindsight even more so that his decisions were correct.

Trump indictments

One of Stewarts last assignments was as a member of the House Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government, charged with investigating the Biden administration.

As Trump faces four separate criminal indictments, including some related to Jan. 6 and his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, Stewart said hes deeply concerned that the Department of Justice, the FBI and to some extent the CIA are being weaponized as political machines.

Im afraid the indictments weve seen are an extension of that. Theres no way the country walks through this thing without enormous pain and without enormous danger. Its going to lead to a constitutional crisis we have never seen, Stewart said.

Im not a legal scholar. Im not an attorney. But Im also not stupid. I can look at these charges and go that makes no sense to charge this president with that charge 2  years later.

Even so, as Trump campaigns for president again, Stewart says he hasnt chosen a presidential candidate to support in 2024.

As for himself, Stewart said he cant imagine running for public office again.

Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, shakes hands with Wendy Griffin after the announcement of a new Utah Cold War Victory Medal at the state Capitol in Salt Lake City on Oct. 25, 2016. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Gathering intelligence

Stewart said he recognized the magnitude of serving in Congress on his first trip overseas to a country in the Middle East on an Air Force jet. He said stepping off and looking back at the white and blue aircraft emblazoned with United States of America made him realize the symbol that the U.S. is to the rest of the world.

It was something kind of unique and also something powerful, he said. I thought this is really cool that we get this opportunity to go represent the United States to other people and other nations.

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On the Intelligence Committee, Stewart was privy to a lot of happenings in the world  some comforting, some disturbing  that he wasnt and still isnt free to talk about publicly.

The ability of the U.S. to gather intel on its adversaries such as knowing Russian President Vladimir Putins intent to invade Ukraine allowed it to prepare its allies and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the imminent attack, he said.

But, Stewart said, he has a long list of things that worry him, like the vulnerability of the nations electrical grid and what would happen if it were destroyed. He said he left some intelligence briefings wondering how the U.S. could have possibly put itself in certain unfavorable positions.

With everything that we fix, two things that are deeply concerning pop up, he said, adding hes not predicting the end of the world.

Still, Stewart said he has struggled with pessimism for the future. He said hes sought counsel from church leaders and others about being optimistic. On the other hand, he said he feels like he needs to tell people the truth.

Its been a challenge for me to thread that needle, he said.

For him, it comes down to two things.

First, Stewart said, American society is resilient and the country has gotten through tough times in the past, most recently the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second thing, he said, is his belief that God still cares about this country, and we need this country to survive. We need this country to be the global leader that, whether we like it or not, we are. Other nations still look to us for leadership. If the United States crumbles, the other nations feel it in severe ways. I think God will still help us work our way through some of these huge challenges.
NEW BEDFORD  Penny-wise and pound-foolish?

That's a question raised by critique of the full City Council's reluctance to approve a $7.65 million loan order for bond-funded projects in the past two months.

The city needs the council's OK before it can seek bids for the work because the city has to show it has the money on hand to cover the amount before taking on the debt.

The request to cover the $7.85 million to be bonded to fund ongoing city repair projects  including $3 million in road work  has failed to pass in two consecutive City Council meetings. The council did vote to reduce the total to $7.65 million, however.

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The loan order is in keeping with the city's Capital Improvement Program, a rolling five-year, constantly updated plan to maintain city assets. The city began the CIP in 2014.

The administration described the work as "critically needed."

The loan order came closer to passing Aug. 17, with a 6-3 vote. It requires eight affirmative votes.

The annual request was late this year - usually the request comes around the time the new fiscal year budget is announced in May.

Preservation: New Bedford's past made a mark on Erin Miranda. Now she's shaping its future at WHALE

So the council agreed to hold a special meeting on June 29 to consider it to speed the process, following a two-hour committee discussion on the request.

The board OK'd the loan order after cutting the $200,000 in an 8-2 vote.

The loan order's passage stalls

But attempts to pass the now $7.65 million loan order, which requires three readings before the full board, failed on July 20 and Aug. 17. A loan order requires a super-majority of eight votes to pass.

Councilor Naomi Carney has consistently voted against passage, saying taxpayers deserve a "pause" on any new burdens, though she acknowledged that the city retires debt at the same time new debt is taken on.

Carney said during the June meeting, "I understand critical needs but there is a critical need for taxpayers trying to put food on the table, trying to pay bills."

She said sewer rates are going up, as are taxes. She said the city needed to "take a pause for a year."

The full council failed to pass a second reading July 20 in a 5-3 vote, short of the eight affirmative votes needed.

And it failed to pass it on a second reading again Aug. 17, coming slightly closer with a 6-3 vote.

Because the council also OK'd a reconsideration, the loan order request can still be considered active and come back before the board at its Sept. 14 meeting, according to an administration official.

What are the projects at stake

This loan order would provide funding for nine items:

$3 million for roads and infrastructure. Jamie Ponte, commissioner of the Dept. of Public Infrastructure, said it would fund the city's in-house, road-repair program, which began in 2017. That program provides road-repair money in addition to annual state aid. "It's allowed the department to expand upon its pavement management plan and each year we seem to be improving on the amount of roads we can touch. Last year we had a banner year of about six miles of road that was done with this funding." Mayor Jon Mitchell said, The condition of the citys roads is far and a way the most frequent infrastructure concern expressed to me by residents. That is why, for the first time ever, my administration began in 2017 to include road funding in its rolling five year capital plan, rather than simply relying on state assistance provided to cities and towns for roadwork. By committing to annual funding for street repairs, were starting to catch up after years of insufficient investment. So it is highly discouraging that a few councilors have come to believe that we should delay for a year our road investments and thereby potentially lose an entire construction season. Like a leaky roof, its a problem that only gets more expensive the longer its ignored.

$750,000 for Zeiterion Theater renovation work to bring it up to state building code requirements. Rosemary Gill, Zeiterion president and CEO, said the money will supplement the $30 million to $32 million renovation project of the 100-year-old, city-owned building, which includes $8 million raised privately, $7 million in city and state ARPA funds, as well as state and federal historic tax credits. Council President Linda Morad had motioned to cut $750,000 with the Zeiterion funding in mind, but that did not pass.

$690,000 for Buttonwood Zoo renovations. Zoo Director Gary Lunsford said much of that money is for improvements to the maintenance shop that will help in performing in-house repair work and for vehicle storage. Some money will go toward generators. Jennifer Vieira, director of the Department of Facilities and Fleet Management, said the work included items under the American with Disabilities Act that will need to be completed for the Zoo's accreditation. Lunsford said they'll need to be ready for inspection next June-July.

$125,000 for the Mobile Command Center donated by the Bristol County Sheriff's Dept. Police Chief Paul Oliveira said the vehicle was in "excellent condition," and would replace the city's current dilapidated, beyond-repair command center. A post-COVID estimate for a new model was $1.6 million, he said. The $125,000 will go toward replacing the vehicle's phones and computers, which were removed by the Sheriff's Office. "I don't see why it can't last for 10 years," Oliveira said. It will be used in emergency police situations, but also at events, and for community outreach. "We're not going to mark it up as a command center. It will be used for multiple things."

$250,000 for City Hall's vintage elevator. Department of Facilities and Fleet Management Director Vieira said the elevator was built in 1906, and replacement parts are no longer available. Replacement parts have to be re-manufactured, which is expensive, she said. The work will replace these parts with more modern, more easily replaceable components, she said. The total for the last bid on the job was $1,149,906. The $250,000 is needed to reach that amount, with some money already budgeted. The job will have to be re-bid, the old bid having become too dated.

$350,000 for deferred City Hall maintenance. Department of Facilities and Fleet Management Director Vieira said the money will be used to renovate City Hall's third floor men's and women's bathrooms. The low bid was initially $431,669, and the $350,000 would bring the job's budget to that amount. Council President Linda Morad thought the price was too high and joked, "Are you putting gold toilets in there?" Vieira said $100,000 of the money would also go toward repointing a portion of City Hall's exterior. The bathrooms also have to be brought up to ADA code. Morad's motion to cut $200,000 from the original $7.85 million loan order was approved, bringing it to the $7.65 million figure. Morad had reducing this item in mind by that amount, she said. The board can cut the total requested but not specify from which item.

$2,300,000 for the city yard campus project. Department of Facilities and Fleet Management Director Vieira said the money is needed to supplement funding for the larger city garage renovation project. The project was first proposed for 2020 but the cost has since increased and the additional money is needed before rebidding.

$215,000 for the Hillman Street complex renovations. Department of Facilities and Fleet Management Director Vieira said the money was for a ramp to provide handicap access closer to handicap parking on the street. Once again that money is needed to supplement money already budgeted to bring the total to the estimated cost of $385,000. Vieira said the city is under a mandate to have the job done by June 2024.

$170,000 for the South Public Safety Center Annex. Department of Facilities and Fleet Management Director Vieira said the money is needed to fully complete rehabilitation work for the former dentist's office that currently houses fire prevention and animal control.

Many of these projects have been ongoing and require the additional funding to proceed or to be completed.

Chief financial officer says projects are affordable

New Bedford interim Chief Financial Officer Mike Gagne said, "We can't go out to bid and get actual final prices until the legislative body, the city council, approves the appropriation."

And many of the items - like the road work - are seasonally dependent, he said.

It takes six to eight weeks to go through the process to advertise, bid and review proposals.

That means the city could be starting outdoor work in early November if the council OK'd the appropriation today, he said.

There are three affordability indicators set up to gauge a CIP project's financial viability - outstanding debt as a percentage of per capita income, outstanding debt as a percentage of assessed valuation, and annual debt service as a percentage of the General Fund operating budget.The city is well within those indicators under the current proposed loan order, he said.

Gagne said the Standard & Poor's credit rating agency also requires a capital management program in place like New Bedford's.

"Because if you don't have one and let assets deteriorate the cost will get bigger and bigger," Gagne said.

"They consider that poor management and poor planning. Those are the old days. We don't operate under that system."

City can't take a year off

Gagne added, "The notion that we're going to take a year off defeats the whole purpose of having a capital plan. Most of the projects on this year's list are continuations of projects that are already underway. By taking a year off you unravel the entire planning process."

Those managing the city's capital improvement program meet once a month with city department heads to review building and infrastructure conditions to manage the CIP and keep it current, Gagne said.

He said the three affordability indicators provide a fact-based analysis to the question: Is this affordable?

The answer to the question, he said, is: "Yes, it is."

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Delay in OK'ing loan order could cost New Bedford, say officials
The city of Erie paid tribute to longtime city councilmember, educator and public servant Pat Cappabianca on Friday by dedicating a street sign to his name on Chestnut Street, between west 16th and 18th streets, in Erie's Little Italy neighborhood.

Cappabianca, 90, said he was "thrilled" by the sign  titled "Via Pat Cappabianca"  and said he accepted the honor not only for himself but the scores of Italian immigrants who've contributed to the Erie community.

The city of Erie paid tribute to Pat Cappabianca by unveiling a street sign for him between 16th and W. 18th streets on Friday. Standing, from left, are Mayor Joe Schember, former Mayor Richard Filippi, Cappabianca and former Mayor Joyce Savocchio.

"If you wanted to name a street after all the people that came out of Little Italy that contributed something to the city of Erie, you wouldn't have enough streets," Cappabianca said.

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City Council President Chuck Nelson, who opened the ceremony, said the Cappabianca street sign was put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and never got a proper unveiling. He said he was happy to officially pay tribute to Cappabianca who he described as a "pillar of our community."

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Cappabianca was an Erie city councilman for 28 years, a principal of Roosevelt Middle School from 1972-1987, and regional administrator of the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue under Gov. Bob Casey. He's also served on multiple committees, boards, commissions and authorities.

Also attending Friday's unveiling were Mayor Joe Schember; former mayors Richard Filippi and Joyce Savocchio; members of Erie City Council; and a gathering of family, friends and residents.

Cappabianca remembers Pearl Harbor: Q&A: Erie native remembers news of Pearl Harbor bombings

A.J. Rao can be reached at arao@gannett.com. Follow him on X @ETNRao.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie honors longtime public servant Pat Cappabianca with street sign
Friday afternoon, The City of Pittsburgh announced the creation of a new community advisory board to investigate use of force incidents.

The creation of the board comes just a week after a rough arrest in Downtown Pittsburgh was caught on camera.

>>> Pittsburgh Public Safety aware of use of force by officers during arrest, incident under review

Police chief Larry Scirotto said the preliminary investigation into the arrest of Jashon Martin is complete.

He said the officers use of force was objectively reasonable.

>>> Mayor Ed Gaineys team working on next steps following controversial arrest in downtown Pittsburgh

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The new advisory board will be called the Sentinel Review Task Force, and it will take a closer look at use of force incidents.

Mayor Ed Gainey said the committee will be made up of community leaders from different backgrounds.

We know that we have more work to do. Were always looking to learn how to get better. We think thats important, Gainey said.

The group will be looking at incidents as far back as the tasing death of Jim Rogers in October 2021.

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TRENDING NOW:

Pittsburgh man killed, 2 others injured in downtown shooting 2-year-old crushed to death by skid-steer loader at family business Man killed in Butler County motorcycle crash identified VIDEO: Homeowner shoots intruder wanted by sheriffs office, police say DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
The City of Troy will be holding a back-to-school party for families tonight.

>>RELATED: Boys & Girls of Dayton hosting Back to School block party today

The First Friday Back to School Bash will take place from 5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Troy Public Square, Troy Main Street wrote on social media.

AES Ohio, Metronet, Troy Police, and Fire Departments will be in attendance.

Families are encouraged to attend and grab a bite to eat.

Troy City Schools started the new school year on August 23.

Troy High School played Thursday night and beat Vandalia Butler 16-7.
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On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Clarence Thomas discloses more private jet travel amid ethics reform pressure

USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze puts Justice Clarence Thomas' disclosure about more jet travel in context. Plus, Sen. Mitch McConnell 's doctor clears him to continue working, Proud Boys member Joseph Biggs gets 17 years in prison for the Jan. 6 attack, USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub explains why new advancements mean multiple myeloma is no longer a death sentence, and a dog repeatedly escaped a Michigan animal shelter and snuck into a nursing home. They adopted him.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Friday, the 1st of September 2023. Today, Supreme Court disclosures as the conversation around ethics reform rolls on. Plus, Sen. Mitch McConnell has been cleared to continue with his schedule, and a blood cancer is no longer considered a death sentence.



Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas yesterday disclosed more travel paid for by GOP megadonor, Harlan Crow , last year. The disclosure comes amid pressure for ethics reform on the high court. I spoke with USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze for the latest. Hey there, John.

John Fritze:

Hi.

Taylor Wilson:

So John, what did Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas disclose yesterday?

John Fritze:

Thomas filed his annual disclosure report. He actually filed it a few weeks back and it was made public just now. And there were a few trips on there that were paid for by Harlan Crow, who's the GOP megadonor who's been at the center of all the controversy with Thomas. These three trips, two to Texas for conferences, were paid for by Crow and involved private jet travel, and a third trip to Crow's lodge in the Adirondacks.

In some ways, the trips themselves are of course interesting, although they are part and parcel with what we've seen in some of the past reporting around this travel that's been paid for by Crow. What might be more interesting is some of the efforts that Thomas made to explain it. In particular, I think, there's been a lot of focus in the fact that Thomas seems to justify one of these trips to Texas, the use of a private jet, by saying that, "Well, look. There was heightened security involved after the major abortion decision leaked last year. There was a lot of anger about that." People were showing up at the Justice's house to protest. And so Thomas seems to be suggesting that based on that, he felt it was a wiser course to take this private jet trip paid for by Harlan Crow than to fly commercial or some other way. And then in another instance, he talks about an unexpected ice storm that he said required him to take the private jet back to the Washington area from Texas, after speaking to a group in Texas in February.

Taylor Wilson:

And John, what did his attorney say about so-called weaponized ethics allegations?

John Fritze:

I think the first thing, just to back up for a second, his attorney - the fact that a Supreme Court justice has an attorney and is speaking out like this is pretty unusual and should be noted. I don't think I've ever seen it before. And what we have as a multipage statement from this attorney who's representing Thomas, arguing that the criticism is political. That these complaints that have been raised against him and this news coverage that has been raising questions about some of this travel is politically motivated, and based on Thomas's ideology as a conservative.

I think it's worth just pausing there for a second and noting that Thomas has amended his report here and he, in his own words, is acknowledging omissions, which he says were inadvertent. But the fact that he has changed these disclosures and he's got a couple of pages of explanation here on this report, that's pretty unusual. And I think it at least demonstrates that there were some problems with his earlier disclosure reports.

Taylor Wilson:

And Justice Samuel Alito also filed his disclosure report. What did we learn in his filing?

John Fritze:

Far more perfunctory, I think is the word I used in the story. Alito's report is more like what we expect to see from these reports. Some travel paid for by law schools. In particular, I think the most notable one was a Notre Dame trip in Rome. This is a trip, by the way, that everybody knew about a little after the fact. But we did eventually find out about this trip and that Justice Alito gave an address in Rome. It was newsworthy because he was pushing back on criticism of the abortion decision, which he was the author of. And so the fact that Notre Dame paid for this trip is not a huge surprise.

The difference with Thomas is that a lot of these trips are not official. They involve vacations and in other instances, we didn't really know about these trips beforehand, let alone who was paying for them.

Taylor Wilson:

John, you were on earlier this week talking about how this idea of ethics reform on the high court appears to have stalled. Will these disclosures have any effect on getting the ball rolling again?

John Fritze:

I think I was skeptical that these disclosure reports on their own would prompt a new discussion. I'm not so sure now. I think that first of all, there's an awful lot of explanation here. I think reporters such as myself are going to be looking into a lot of these allegations that are leveled, both in Thomas's statement and in the lawyer statement, looking into a lot of the factual positions taken. And so it could lead to additional reporting and it could lead to additional questions.

I think as has happened with ethical issues on the court for some time now, folks on the left are going to say that this is not satisfactory and doesn't really solve anything. And folks on the right are going to say that Thomas did nothing wrong. And so I don't know that this changes the dynamic for Congress, but it could at least raise the scrutiny level or keep the pressure on in some ways for those of us looking into these trips and these outside entanglements with the justices.

Taylor Wilson:

John Fritze, always great insight for us from the Supreme Court. Thank you, John.

John Fritze:

Thank you.



Taylor Wilson:

Sen. Mitch McConnell's doctor cleared him yesterday to continue working with his schedule. Dr. Brian P. Monahan wrote in a note that the 81-year-old senator has experienced occasional lightheadedness from dehydration and a previous concussion. He wrote the note after McConnell froze on Wednesday at a press conference in Kentucky. It was the second time in several weeks that he had to pause taking questions at a press conference and receive assistance from aides. President Joe Biden said yesterday that he spoke with McConnell by phone and that the Republican leader was again, his old self.



Proud Boys member Joseph Biggs was sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison for his role in the seditious conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election and keep Donald Trump in the White House. It's the second longest sentence yet related to January 6th, 2021, but it's less than the 33 years prosecutors had proposed. Biggs helped lead Proud Boys at the Capitol, made it inside to the Senate chamber and posted on social media that the riot was a warning shot to the government, according to a sentencing memo from prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said he aimed for the sentence to deter future violence and protect the public from another attack like January 6th. He also sentenced another Proud Boys leader yesterday, Zachary Rehl, to 15 years in prison after he was also convicted of seditious conspiracy. Members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups were convicted of being leaders of the insurrection when thousands of rioters fought police outside the Capitol and then rampaged through the building.



The blood cancer multiple myeloma was once considered a death sentence. But thanks to major advancements in recent years, it's now highly treatable. I spoke with USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub for more. Howdy Karen.

Karen Weintraub:

Hello.

Taylor Wilson:

So starting here, for folks who may not know, what is multiple myeloma?

Karen Weintraub:

So it's a type of cancer of the plasma cell. Plasma is part of the blood and it's involved in immune functions. So when you get cancer, it can crowd out the healthy cells and wreak havoc.

Taylor Wilson:

And what advances are we seeing in how this disease is treated?

Karen Weintraub:

It has always been considered a fatal disease. Well, it has been transformed in many cases into a chronic disease, into something you can live with for a long time. And the hope is that it will soon be a curable disease. Basically, there are now so many different types of treatments that people can go from one to the next to the next and live for many years. One doctor was telling me that for a 75-year-old, he can keep them going long enough that they will have a normal lifespan and probably die of something else. For somebody who's younger, again, he can keep them going long enough that hopefully a cure will come within their lifetime. And it may be that one of the drugs or a combination of the drugs that we have at this point will be a cure for many or most people. But we just haven't figured out the exact sequencing of those treatments yet to bring that about.

Taylor Wilson:

And I mean, what's some of the science behind these advances that we're seeing?

Karen Weintraub:

It's a combination of things. Some of the therapies are understanding the molecular activity, what genes got messed up in these cancers, or what's going on at the level of the tumor. Some of them are what's going on at the level of the immune system and helping amp up the immune system to fight off the cancer. And then again, as some combination seems to be effective as well.

Taylor Wilson:

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. announced this week. What's his prognosis and will these new treatments help him?

Karen Weintraub:

So obviously everybody's course is different. I can't predict what will happen to him, but again, this is not a death sentence anymore. It certainly was 15, 20 years ago. Now there's a possibility that he could live out a normal lifespan, certainly one hopes that he will.

Taylor Wilson:

And Karen, this really feels like a success story. What lessons can be taken to help advance other cancer treatments?

Karen Weintraub:

Yeah, so there's maybe not direct lessons in the sense of the same treatments might not exactly work for other cancers. The immune therapies that were invented for leukemia and lymphoma are the same ones that are being used, slightly different targets, for multiple myeloma. So the learnings have gone from one blood cancer to another. This sequence of events here is what's happening actually in a number of cancers and will hopefully happen in a lot more, which is coming up with enough treatments to keep people alive, to turn diseases into chronic rather than acute problems, crises. Keep people alive long enough and sequence treatments enough, improve the quality of those years, the years that people do get, and then eventually, hopefully these combinations and treatments will become a cure.

One other key point, I think, is that not all of these treatments are available to everybody. A lot more people could be effectively treated if they had access to these treatments. Some of them are very expensive. Some of them just require a lot of expertise and specialization that may not be available to people, say in rural areas or people without good insurance. And so it's very important for patients to get access to specialists, and for these drugs to be made available to people who may not have the financial resources.

Taylor Wilson:

Karen Weintraub covers health for USA TODAY. Thanks Karen.

Karen Weintraub:

Thank you.



Taylor Wilson:

After a heavy week of news, we wanted to ring in this Labor Day weekend with a brighter story. So let's go to Michigan and the story of a dog who found a home.

He'd had enough of being at the animal shelter, so Scout the dog climbed over a fence, then another, crossed a busy highway, and ended up on the couch inside of a nursing home. A nurse there found him, called the shelter just down the road, and they discovered that Scout had escaped. The sheriff then came and returned him to the shelter. But a few nights later, on that same couch in the nursing home lobby, there was Scout. He'd somehow again scaled a 10-foot chain link fence, then another six-foot fence, and finally that same scary highway without getting run over, all to find the same couch as before, to make himself at home for the night. A call was made, and he went back to the shelter. When it happened a third time, the nursing home had a decision to make, and they adopted him.

Nowadays, Scout has free rein at Glacier Hill, the nursing home where he kept showing up, and delights the 20 or so seniors who live there. He even knows how to get into their rooms by jumping up and using his paw to pull down door handles. And he knows which residents keep dog biscuits in their walkers for him. Earlier this year, the nurses held a fundraiser in Scout's honor. They raised money for the shelter that brought Scout in off the street and later to them. You can read more of Scout's story with a link in today's show notes.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Special thanks to Cherie Saunders. If you have any comments, you can reach us at podcasts@usatoday.com. I'm Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with another episode of 5 Things.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Thomas discloses more private travel, Proud Boy sentenced: 5 Things podcast
Students and parents wait for the doors to open at Huff Elementary School in Elgin, one of the schools that has a higher enrollment this year after Garfield Elementary School was closed as part of the Unite U-46 plan. (Mike Danahey/The Courier-News)

People who own property in School District U-46 can expect a 3% hike in next years tax bill tied to a planned $48.8 million increase in School District U-46s proposed 2023-24 budget.

Set to be approved Sept. 25, expenditures are expected to be $775.3 million next year, according to a budget overview now available online to the public and presented last week to the U-46 School Board.

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While some of the increase will be covered by growing revenue, including a projected $21 million increase in evidence-based state funding and an additional $12 million in investment income, as well as reserve funds the districts been accumulating, property taxes remain a chief source of district funding.

The exact amount of the hike wont be known until the tax levy is extended next year, but its estimated the owner of a house currently valued at $150,000 will see the amount paid to the district going up by about $84, said Frank Williams, the districts assistant superintendent of finance. For someone who owns a home with a $300,000 market value, the increase will be about $168, he said.

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When creating the budget we have to project revenue from many sources, Williams said. While we dont know the exact tax revenue at this time  the district will follow its normal practice of requesting tax revenue when we set our tax levy in December  we are using a 3% estimated projection for (the fiscal year), which equates to new revenue of $3 for every $100 increase of assessed value.

District officials knew from the outset that the tentative budget, which can still be adjusted by the school board, would have a planned deficit tied to the Unite U-46 capital projects plan, Deputy Director of Operations Ann Williams said.

The massive building improvement initiative calls for some new schools to be built, additions to others added, and delayed maintenance and repair work undertaken. Some of the work is tied to moving sixth-grade students into middle school buildings and adding preschools to some elementary schools.

The total cost will end up being somewhere between $310 million to $380 million, officials have said.

This year they plan to spend $111 million on capital projects, about $50 million more than was spent last year, officials said.

One big chuck of that  $45 million  will be going to the addition planned for Hawk Hollow Elementary School in Barlett, which is being converted into a middle school. Its square footage is expected to double under the construction plan, Ann Williams said.

Many of the other projects are yet to be decided as district officials continue to evaluate each item on the list to better determine how it should be prioritized, she said.

Were still making decisions on how to move forward, Williams said.

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Beyond that, operating costs are going up well, also affecting the amount of money the district needs to collect.

About 47% of the districts expenditures  $361 million  go to employee salaries and benefits. Thats an increase of 4% over last year, officials said.

The proposed property tax increase comes only months after voters approved a referendum authorizing the sale of $179 million in building bonds to help fund the facilities master plan.

However, that money wont be in hand until next year and is not included in the tentative 2023-24 budget, Williams said.

It will be part of the subsequent years budget but will have no effect on property taxes because it will replace a debt of the same amount thats being paid off, she said.

Frank Williams said he believes the proposed budget is in line with districts mission of U-46 being a great place for all students to learn, all teachers to teach, and all employees to work.

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It also demonstrates the school boards commitment to Unite U-46 by ensuring there is enough money to repair, improve and maintain the districts capital investments, he said.

The 35,000-plus students that attend our schools come from many diverse backgrounds, Williams said of the states second largest school district encompassing 90 square miles and 20 communities. Using this as a focal point, the budget was developed with an equity lens centering on the uniqueness of the U-46 student population.

To view the 2023-24 budget and the budget presentation to the board online, go to www.u-46.org/Page/9152.

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
Who wants to be CEO of CNN, anyway? The question sounds like the premise of a very confusing game show in which the biggest winner is simultaneously the biggest loser. The onetime top-dog cable news network is consistently outrated by Fox News these days, and has struggled to remain relevant amid increased political polarization and dwindling cable subscriptions. Its corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, is run by numbers grouch David Zaslav , whose primary interest in journalism seems to be his desire to stop its practitioners from saying mean things about him. The CNN job in this late-cable era seems tailor-made for a masochist or an idiotwhich is why, when the position opened up earlier this year, I fully expected Zaslav to fill it with some anonymous Wambsganian yes man to be charged solely with cutting costs and trimming staff while steering the network slowly but surely toward the allegedly reasonable right.

In other words, CNN could have done a hell of a lot worse than Mark Thompson, the veteran media executive who was announced as the networks new CEO and editor in chief earlier this week. Thompson is neither an idiot nor a masochist, as far as I know; hes a well-respected news leader with a blue-chip resume who will immediately enjoy credibility in the newsroom while commanding respect from the boardroom. (It probably doesnt hurt that the British native is technically Sir Mark Thompson, having been knighted earlier this year.) Unlike his CNN predecessor, Chris Licht, who had never run a news organization before taking charge of the network in 2022, Thompson has helmed both the BBC and the New York Timestwo of the only news outlets anywhere that rival or eclipse CNN in terms of resources, influence, and reputation. Licht had a vision for CNNs future, but he struggled mightily with implementing it, and was ultimately axed only 13 months after taking the job, a fate he surely hastened by agreeing to cooperate with a ruinous Atlantic profile. Although Thompsons vision for CNN as of yet remains hazy, his resume should buy him one advantage that Licht never had: time.

And yet all the time in the world still might not be enough to save CNN, which is in a much worse position than were either of Thompsons two previous Big Media employers when he worked there. The BBC has heretofore been uniquely insulated from the disruptive effects of the new media revolution insofar as it makes most of its budget not via carriage fees or ad revenue but from an annual license fee imposed by royal charter on all U.K. households that watch live television. (The current BBC Charter expires at the end of 2027, and it is not a given that the license fee will be renewed after that.) And although the New York Times was certainly never assured of making it through the news revenue crisis that accompanied the rise of Web 2.0, its survival odds were greatly enhanced by its preeminent stature among American national newspapers, as well as its mission-driven leadership from the family that has controlled the Times for generations. Thompson deserves credit for capably shepherding the Times and the BBC during his stints at each outlet, but its also fair to recognize that Dont screw this up for us is a very different brief than Save us, Mark Thompson, youre our only hope.

To be fair, CNN isnt an entirely distressed asset. The network boasts vast brand recognition, an immense newsgathering apparatus, the glistening star power of Anderson Cooper, and the support of countless hotel-lobby televisions that will tune in 24/7 no matter whats on the air. But CNN doesnt have a Sulzberger family to vouchsafe the networks journalistic values, it doesnt have a giant pot of government licensing money to play with, and it doesnt even have the sorts of ratings numbers that might justify its inflated reputation as the last word in televised news. The network is a cog in the Warner Bros Discovery corporate portfolio, and Thompson ultimately answers to the bottom linefocused Zaslav, who in April 2022 killed the networks much-touted CNN+ streaming service within weeks of its launch after determining that the business wasnt there.

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Zaslav is hardly a sentimental fellow, and he does not seem to harbor very many romantic notions about CNNs unique importance to American democracy. He wants CNN to make money, or at least to not lose a lot of it. Unfortunately, cord cutting has made cable news a less profitable business than ever, while political polarization has shrunk the audience for the down-the-middle reporting and commentary in which CNN has traditionally specialized. The cranks and coots who still watch cable news seem mostly to want programming that reinforces their priors, which is why Fox News consistently eats CNNs lunch, while CNN gets flak from the right for being fake, and from the left for not being MSNBC.

Thompson has said that he sees an opportunity for CNN in this time of peak disruption, a statement that strikes me more as obligatory incoming CEOspeak than an actual assessment of CNNs future prospects. Still, if you squint, you can sort of see the path for the network. Though Zaslav killed CNN+, hes giving the network an expansive portal on Max, formerly HBO Max. If the Max portal gives CNN a fair shot at reaching new audiences beyond its core demographic, the 2024 presidential election will give CNN lots of material to turn into content that those audiences might want to watch. With competent leadership and a lot of luck, its not impossible that CNN might come into 2025 better off than its been in years.

Good leadership creates good luck, though, and its now on Thompson to make the sorts of moves that situate CNN to seize its current moment. Here are a few suggestions for how he might get started.

Stop living in the past: The 1990s arent coming back, and CNN will never again be Americas default choice for television news. America wont ever again have a single default choice for news; the fractured media landscape isnt going to magically reconsolidate like some reverse diaspora. Going forward, news consumers will only ever have more options tomorrow than they had today, and CNNs goal must be to convince these people that it is a more reliable news option than some dumbass with a podcast and a lot of unusual theories about whats actually on the moon. The network cannot accomplish this goal exclusively by relying on a reputation that means nothing to anyone born after the Clinton era. CNN must find ways to make people want to watch its news programming, rather than presuming that people are always just going to tune in out of habit.

Make interesting shows that people want to watch: The thing about the news is that its actually pretty interesting! You know what isnt very interesting, though? Bland, fungible news talk that, thanks to CNNs inherent centrism, will never be partisan enough to attract the nutters nor discursive or flamboyant enough to compete with the chattiest podcasts. Im not saying that CNN should go all PBS or anything; Im just suggesting that the network would add more value to the marketplace while carving out a more unique niche if it spent more time telling interesting news stories and less time talking about interesting news stories.

Stop chasing viewers who hate CNN: During his relatively brief stint as CEO, Licht booted several CNN personalitiessuch as John Harwood and Brian Stelterwho had been unsparing in their criticisms of Donald Trump, his administration, and their boosters on Fox News. These moves seemed to be inspired by some quixotic idea that by axing some of its top Trump critics, CNN might regain the trust of some ex-viewers who had turned away out of a belief that the network had been unfair to the former president and his supporters. But just as you cannot restore an outlets credibility by firing reporters who say true things about unscrupulous politicians and entities, you cannot run a news organization by pandering to people who hate and fear fact-based news. The fake news seditionists arent ever coming back, and CNN shouldnt make any more personnel moves based on the presumption that they ever willor that their eyeballs are ones that are still worth engaging.

Learn to walk the line between advocacy and both-sidesism: Although CNN should not deliberately pull punches in concession to bad-faith criticisms from the right, it also shouldnt seem like the televised equivalent of one of those In This House We Believe yard signs. The CEO who preceded Licht, Jeff Zucker, presided over a network that, during the Trump administration, sometimes seemed as if it were actively trying to perform penance for its role in platforming then-candidate Trump in 2015 and 2016. But CNNs core value-add is in not commentary but its clear and credible delivery of fact-based news. At the present moment, objective facts bear out the conclusion that the Republican Party is in thrall to a cult of personality led by a quadruply indicted, twice-impeached real-estate huckster who poses a unique danger to the future of American democracyand he just so happens to be its leading candidate for president. The network cannot credibly report on the upcoming presidential election without openly acknowledging these facts, but it must do so in a way that underscores that these are facts, not just partisan opinions. The upcoming presidential campaign makes it more important than ever for CNN to clarify its principles and dial in its tone.

If all else fails, resort to stunt casting: Look, one of the best things that CNN ever did was give Anthony Bourdain a show; sure, it wasnt news, but it was engaging and fun and, like the best news programming, it served to expand its viewers understanding of the world. We live in a time when pretty much anyone can self-identify as a journalist, and so maybe CNN might consider being similarly expansive in its casting decisions. Im surprisingly eager to watch the networks upcoming new prime-time show starring Charles Barkley and Gayle King; it might not be Frontline, but it might be enjoyably spicy. And if the network is looking for someone who can really get viewers hyped about breaking news, I have two words of advice: Hire Chad.
The U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed that all ammonia has been removed from the Pacific Producer docked on the Foss Waterway in Tacoma.

Crews removed approximately 20,000 gallons of oily water from around the vessels and placed it in a variety of hazmat tanks. The future of the vessel has yet to be determined according to the USGC.

The abandoned and decrepit boat was leaking ammonia fumes for days and has a history of safety and environmental violations.

The boat was on the waterway for more than a year after racking up a long list of serious pollution and safety violations. The owner of the seafood processor was fined $50,000 in 2017. In 2012, 2014, and again in 2018, inspectors also found violations in connection with fire hazards according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

#UPDATE All ammonia has been removed from the Pacific Producer. Crews have also removed 20K gals of oily water and placed it into hazmat tanks. Future disposition of the vessel is to be determined. Video shows work continuing by the #USCG and contractors. @EcologyWA @TacomaFire pic.twitter.com/sLNFs0MQKA  USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) September 1, 2023
A group of French-Moroccan tourists accidentally crossed into Algerian waters.

The Algerian coast guard shot at them, killing two people, according to reports.

Morocco and Algeria have a long history of political tension.

Two tourists vacationing in Morocco were shot dead on Tuesday by the Algerian coast guard after they accidentally went into Algerian waters while on watercraft, according to reports.

The two men, 29-year-old Bilal Kissi and 40-year-old Abdelali Merchouer, were part of a group of four French-Moroccan dual nationals who had set off from the Moroccan beach resort of Saidia, according to the Moroccan news outlet le360.

A third member of the group, Smail Snabe, was arrested by the coast guard, Agence France-Presse reported. He appeared before a prosecutor on Wednesday, BBC News said.

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The fourth member of the group, Mohammed Kissi, was the only one to make it back to Morocco.

Mohammed Kissi, whose brother Bilal died, told the Moroccan news outlet le360 that the group had drifted into Algerian waters, crossing the maritime border, after getting lost and running out of fuel.

"We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian dinghy came towards us," he said, according to AFP.

Algeria and Morocco have a long history of tension since their independence, which has more recently revolved around a dispute about the territory of the Western Sahara. In 2021, Algeria unilaterally severed diplomatic ties with Morocco.

Kissi said his brother, Bilal, who lived in France but was of Moroccan origin, tried to explain the situation to the Algerian coast guard before they started to shoot at the group, le360 reported.

"They knew well that we were unarmed," he told le360. "My little brother chatted with them and yet they still fired."

According to Al Omk, a Moroccan news website, the Moroccan coast guard recovered the body of a Moroccan man with five bullet wounds.

"Thank God I wasn't hit but they killed my brother and my friend," Kissi said, per AFP.

Kissi told le360 that he swam in the direction of Morocco before finding a patrol of the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie, who escorted him back to land.

Actor Abelkarim Kissi, a cousin of the two brothers, told le360: "They killed Bilal Kissi, my little cousin, his only fault was having crossed Algerian territorial waters, he was on vacation with his friends."

Read the original article on Insider
Leeyona Ward, 22, of Columbus' North Linden neighborhood, is seen here with her attorney, Joseph R. Landusky II, right, during a March 6, 2023 appearance in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Leeyonna Ward was found not guilty of murder charges Thursday by Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page following a bench trial over the fatal 2021 shooting of 24-year-old Preston Allman.

Ward, 22, of Columbus' North Linden neighborhood, had maintained she shot in self-defense over a carjacking attempt gone bad, and her attorney contended she only faced murder charges because she was Black and Allman was white.

In addition to a murder charge, Ward also was found not guilty of felony murder, involuntary manslaughter, non-felony assault, felonious assault, elevated drug trafficking and possession of drugs with a gun specification, according to her attorney, Joseph R. Landusky II, and the county prosecutor's office.

Judge Page found Ward guilty of tampering with evidence with a gun specification, and improper handling of a firearm. Ward admitted she was scared after the shooting and threw away the gun, which was never found. Previous state law at the time of the shooting also made it illegal for her to carry a loaded gun in a car.

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Ward will be sentenced at a later date on those charges.

Landusky told The Dispatch in March that Ward was only facing murder charges in the fatal shooting  which occurred during a reported carjacking attempt  because she is Black and Allman was white.

If you just change the color of the people, if my clients a white woman and shot a Black guy carjacking her, Id bet everything I owned that this case never wouldve gotten indicted, he said then.

Landusky said Thursday he waived the right to a jury and went with a bench trial because he believes Page is smart and fair.

What happened?

The shooting, which Columbus police homicide detectives said occurred during an alleged drug deal gone bad that was caught on camera, happened around 9:30 p.m. on May 1, 2021 in North Linden, court records show.

Prosecutors say Ward was meeting a man for a drug deal in a parking lot. A video of the incident reviewed by The Dispatch shows her pulling a vehicle into a parking spot and a person who was later a witness getting into the passenger seat. Allman then comes up to the vehicle and gets into the back seat. Ward and the witness say Allman pointed a gun at Ward, pressing it into her neck.

Ward apparently hit the gas as she got out of the vehicle with it still in drive, and the vehicle crashed into a building. The witness ran away, and Ward went toward the vehicle with her gun, Columbus police said.

Allman pointed what appeared to be a firearm  later identified as a BB gun  at Ward before she fired two shots, hitting him with one, police said.

More from the attorney: 'If you just change the color of the people,' case wouldn't have been indicted

Allman's mother speaks

Tina Moy, Allman's mother, told The Dispatch that she was in disbelief when Ward was found guilty on only two charges.

Moy said that Ward didn't have to go back to her car and shoot her son, but instead could have left and called police.

"The evidence was there for the involuntary manslaughter charges, or even the felonious assault, but Judge Page, I believe, made her decision on emotion and not law," Moy wrote to The Dispatch.

Moy said she there were drugs found in Ward's car for which she should have been found guilty.

Landusky said no money or drugs were exchanged. He said Allman and another man set the meeting up as a trap to rob Ward at gunpoint and carjack her car.

More on Leeyonna Ward: Woman who claimed self-defense now charged with manslaughter in North Linden shooting

"The city is crying out over all these murders and asking what we can do to fix this, but yet the judges in Franklin County courts give these criminals a slap on the wrist and let them go out to commit more crimes," Moy said. "My son's offender was again allowed to go home today.

"... I know that my son was not perfect, and that he played a role in what happened that night, but he did not have to die."

Ward has another pending criminal case in which shes charged with multiple felony drug trafficking and possession charges from an arrest on Feb. 27. Her trial for those charges is set for September.

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus woman found not guilty of murder charges in 2021 shooting
In The Know by Yahoo

If you've never cleaned your washing machine filter before, you may be surprised to find what's lurking in there.
Arrested members of the Wazalendo sect are sat and lined up in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. More than 40 people died and dozens were injured in clashes in the Congolese city of Goma between protesters from the Wazalendo religious sect and the armed forces, national authorities said. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  More than 40 people died and dozens were injured while protesters from a religious sect gathered in the Congolese city of Goma, national authorities said.

Congos communications ministry said violence related to planned protests led to 43 deaths and 56 injuries, raising the preliminary death toll of seven announced by the army on Wednesday.

Dozens were being treated for severe injuries in nearby hospitals, and the UN human rights office said Friday more than 220 people were arrested.

People have a right to express themselves freely and to assemble peacefully, even if in protest at the United Nations and other actors, UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.

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The protest was organized by a sect called the Natural Judaic and Messianic Faith Towards the Nations and known colloquially as Wazalendo. Its supporters were demonstrating against the regional East African Community organization and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, called MONUSCO, which is in the process of being drawn down by the end of the year.

Gomas Mayor Faustin Napenda Kapend had banned the protest on Aug. 23 soon after it was announced. Congolese security and defense forces had amassed at major intersections in anticipation when violence broke out around 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Wednesdays events were an apparent massacre according to Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group. Security forces used live ammunition seemingly to break up a gathering of people preparing to demonstrate in the streets of Goma, said Thomas Fessy, a senior Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The unnecessary use of lethal force is callous as well as unlawful, Fessy said, calling on authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into senior military officials who ordered the use of unlawful lethal force.

U.N. peacekeeping missions began operating in Congo in 1999. Three decades of conflict in the northeastern region have displaced over 6 million people, according to the U.N., with the crisis intensifying since 2021.

The Wazalendo dont have a problem with the authorities; theyre people who just want peace in their country, said protester Nsimire Sifa on Wednesday. The religious sect and other critics say the U.N. peacekeeping mission MONUSCO, which was the target of deadly protests in July 2022, has done little to help protect civilians from overlapping conflicts in eastern Congo.

MONUSCO remains concerned by the threats of violence made prior to the demonstration and reiterates the importance of the peaceful resolution of disputes and concerns through inclusive dialogue, the mission said in a statement Thursday.

Red Cross surgical coordinator Max Maietti said men, women and children, the majority of whom had bullet wounds in the chest and stomach, overloaded the capacity of CBCA Ndosho hospital in Goma on Wednesday.

It was a very complicated case because our hospital has 64 beds, but by the end of the day we had 90 patients, he said on Friday at the hospital. Maietti said a bullet struck the hospital gate near where injured civilians were waiting to seek treatment.



Associated Press reporters Justin Kabumba in Goma, Congo and Sam Mednick in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this story.
Congress is facing a time crunch to prevent a lapse for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as hurricane season intensifies.

As fears of a shutdown swirl around a heated funding debate in Washington, D.C., there is some concern that the NFIPs authorization could get entangled in the fight.

Funding for the federal government and the NFIPs authorization will both expire after Sept. 30, and lawmakers are nowhere close to reaching a deal to avoid a shutdown.

Previously issued federal flood insurance policies would still be active if the NFIP isnt reauthorized. But the program would be unable to issue new policies and face other funding constraints as thousands of Americans grapple with the damage of hurricanes.

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A lapse of the NFIP at the height of hurricane season would be an apocalyptic nightmare, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) told The Hill in a statement this week.

Families have faithfully paid their premiums, in many cases for years and even decades, and its Congress responsibility to ensure the NFIP is fully authorized to pay out claims and write new policies.

Research finds the programs lack of authority to issue flood insurance policies could also derail thousands of real estate transactions.

Leaders on both sides of the aisle are eyeing a continuing resolution (CR) to prevent a shutdown. A CR would freeze government funding at current levels and give Democrats and Republicans more time to strike a deal.

But Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is struggling to lock down support from House conservatives as the partys right flank seeks to use the deadline as leverage for spending cuts.

McCarthy has said he wants to do a CR into early December, Bill Kilmer, chief lobbyist at Mortgage Bankers Association, said, but he noted questions remain around what an appetite for CR or what the duration of an acceptable CR would be for the conference.

Thatll be kind of an opening salvo that will include policy questions like flood insurance, he told The Hill.

A spokesperson for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told The Hill that the committee will continue to work to ensure the program does not lapse.

Kilmer said the stakes are already pretty high for the program with the coming reauthorization deadline. The current hurricane season certainly heightens awareness, as Tropical Storm Idalia travels the Southeast, he added.

Idalia hit Florida earlier this week as a Category 3 hurricane, leaving thousands of homes without power as winds estimated to reach 125 mph. It was reportedly the strongest storm to reach the states Big Bend region in more than a century and helped drive the fifth-highest tide levels since 1921 in Charleston Harbor, S.C.

Idalia has since been downgraded to a tropical storm and is moving along the Carolinas.

Analysts are already beginning to assess the costs, with some recent estimates placing the price tag for insurance claims in the range of about $9.36 billion.

A report released by the National Centers for Environmental Information found that the U.S. saw 15 billion-dollar disasters in the first seven months of this year  the most in more than four decades.

People can speculate why were having more of these particular events, but obviously if you got the severe weather [of] whats happening in Florida, that can put a strain on the system for any of these programs, Kilmer said.

According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the flood insurance program has more than 5 million policies that provide more than $1 trillion in coverage, filling in a gap left by private insurance.

The program is part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and funded in part through premiums and other payments from policyholders. The annual appropriations process also funds activities such as mapping flood hazards and analyzing risk.

The NFIP was not designed to retain funding to cover claims for truly extreme events, the CRS wrote, and was able to borrow relatively small amounts from the Treasury Department to pay claims and eventually repay loans with interest.

But this has changed over the years, as the nation has seen more extreme weather.

Following the 2005 hurricane season, the office said the borrowing limit to cover claims was upped to more than $20 billion after deadly hurricanes like Katrina left thousands without homes. The limit was later increased to $30.4 billion following Hurricane Sandy in 2013.

Joseph Kane, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, and other experts say the current funding structure is not sustainable.

It wasnt designed to handle these huge bursts in climate risk and huge climate costs, Kane said.

So, I think thats a challenge facing federal leaders, but obviously, of course, state [and] local leaders across the country. I mean, are they just gonna keep rebuilding in all these places?

The program owed more than $24 billion at the onset of the 2017 hurricane season, the CRS found, when the nation was hit by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Lawmakers canceled $16 billion of the programs debt in October, and the debt shot up to more than $20 billion not long after.

We need a model of resilience rather than a model of disaster recovery, because the costs are just so significant once disaster hits  the recovery costs that is  that is just impossible to stay ahead of, Kane said.

Lawmakers have weighed potential reforms to the program in recent years and have passed 25 short-term reauthorizations since fiscal 2017.

Some experts also see a crisis taking hold in the private insurance market.

Weve got an insurance crisis really around the country in certain key states, homeowners insurance availability, where some big carriers are pulling out, Kilmer said. This is really cute on the commercial multifamily side as well.

Its generally California, Florida, states like that, but were hearing about it from members all around the country, Kilmer said, adding that theres not enough availability to close that gap on the private insurance end. He argued that underscores that critical need to prevent a lapse for the NFIP.

Updated on Sept. 1 at 9:13 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The News

Congress faces a hard end-of-year deadline to reauthorize the surveillance powers referred to as Section 702  but its a very different Congress than the one that did it five years ago. The White House and key legislators are conducting a blitz of briefings to bring new members up to speed on the program, which allows the government to collect foreign suspects electronic communications without a warrant.

60% of the current House of Representatives has never voted on 702 before, Joshua Geltzer, one of President Bidens top national security aides, said in an appearance on the War on the Rocks podcast. About a quarter of the U.S. Senate has never voted on it.

Know More

Conservatives have grown significantly more suspicious of the FBI and intelligence agencies in recent years, making reauthorization a tougher climb this year. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., who is leading an Intelligence Committee working group to develop reforms related to 702, told Semafor at an event in Stoughton, Wis. that they plan to brief each Republican member on their recommendations for significant revisions and safeguards when Congress returns in September, after having briefed over 75 members in classified setting during July.

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While the working group hasnt released specifics of the proposed reforms, LaHood said they would aim to address alleged abuses by the FBI in the Trump-Russia investigation (a member of Donald Trumps 2016 foreign policy team was surveilled, but not under 702) and bring more transparency to the court that oversees warrant applications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Asked how worried he was about conservatives standing in the way of reauthorizing the key surveillance power, LaHood acknowledged it would be tough. Are we going to get every member? Of course not, he said. Is it going to have to be bipartisan? Yes. But I feel were on a good path right now in order to do that.
A Central Florida congressman is calling for an investigation into the potential for a HAZMAT disaster along a rail line that runs through Brevard County.

It comes after 9 Investigates highlighted concerns from those living along the line. Residents are worried about dangerous chemicals being carried on the same tracks as high-speed passenger service.

The tracks carrying Florida East Coast Railway Freight are the same that will soon see high-speed Brightline trains carrying passengers.

Susan Mehiel and other members of the Florida Alliance for Safe Trains have been concerned about the rail line for years.

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READ: Florida lawmakers promising to tackle free kill law again

We understand, as a lot of people say, the train has left the station. Well, it has, but there are still a lot of problems and we still need to make it safe before it has a devastating effect on our communities, she said.

Florida East Coasts trains carry chemicals including liquified propane gas, chlorine, anhydrous ammonia and liquified natural gas.

Now, Florida Congressman Bill Posey has called for a federal investigation into the very same thing.

READ: National Human Trafficking Hotline in the hot seat with Congress

In a letter sent to the acting administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Posey noted that the chances of an accident involving a Florida East Coast Freight Train carrying hazardous materials ... are likely to be significant.

He highlights, as 9 Investigates did, that This is the only segment of railway in the United States where hazard material cargos share track traveling in excess of 79 miles per hour ... stating these conditions compound the risks of a hazardous material accident.

Posey pointed out the need for increased maintenance and modernization to offset wear and tear and meet emerging dangers.

READ: Mail theft arrests declining while cases go up

Taxpayers are going to have to continue to pay taxes in order to make these trains safe, which is a sad thing because we were told in the beginning its a private operation. we own the tracks, and were doing this, Mehiel said.

This isnt the first time Posey has raised concerns about high-speed trains and hazardous materials.

So far, the feds have not said if there will be additional steps or oversight.





Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Chinese, Indonesian police dismantle massive cross-border fraud ring

Xinhua) 11:08, September 01, 2023

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese and Indonesian police authorities have jointly dismantled a massive crime ring involving cross-border cyber and wire fraud, said China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Thursday.

A total of 88 criminal suspects were arrested as a result of the action, according to the MPS.

Before the action, the MPS coordinated local police forces to conduct in-depth investigations and analyses into many sextortion cases. The result showed that the fraudsters behind these cases are based in Indonesia and clarified some of their identities.

In late August, the MPS dispatched a task force to Indonesia and launched a cooperation campaign with the Indonesian police against cyber and wire fraud, which led to the successful action.

Upon preliminary investigation afterward, over 40 sextortion cases reported in many localities in China were perpetrated by the crime ring. Further case investigations are underway.

The MPS pledged to maintain a tough stance against cross-border cyber and wire fraud and intensify international cooperation in police enforcement.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
In the processional, first row from left are Rev. Jeremiah Boland, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church and Rev. Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews of Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview during the ninth annual Solemn Vespers for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Church (1775 Grove St.) on Aug. 31, 2023. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

The Archdiocese of Chicago and the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago gathered in Glenview on Aug. 31 to observe the ninth annual Solemn Vespers for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

The prayer service at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Glenview (1775 Grove St.) highlighted conservation efforts by the local Christian community and welcomed people of all faiths to learn about environmental missives and steps individuals could take to care for the planet.

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If you look at this past summer with the ever increasing world temperature, fires, melting ice caps, everything that we were warned about years ago, is coming into fruition, said Rev. Jeremiah Boland, pastor of OLPH. And the urgency of the human community tackling this crisis has never been more critical.

From left to right are Rev. Jeremiah Boland, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church and Rev. Robert G. Casey, bishop and vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago at the ninth annual Solemn Vespers for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Church (1775 Grove St.) on Aug. 31, 2023. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Michael Terrien of Highland Park, co-coordinator, Care for Creation Ministry, Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said about the annual event, Its essential, its a witness to our Christian unity to care for our common home (Earth).

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In 1989, the late Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople designated Sept. 1 as a day of prayer for Orthodox Christians. In 2015, Pope Francis established Sept. 1 as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation for Catholics.

Rev. Robert G. Casey, bishop and vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago, presided at the Thursday evening ecumenical service with the local Greek Orthodox community. On Sept. 1, the Greek Orthodox Church also celebrates the ecclesiastical new year.

Casey was joined at the 7 p.m. occasion by Rev. Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews of Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview (1401 Wagner Rd.) and Rev. Sotirios P. Malamis of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago and parish priest of Ascension of our Lord Greek Orthodox Church of Lincolnshire.

OLPH and Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church take turns each year hosting the yearly event.

We always have to be good stewards of the environment, whatever we do, wherever we are, in whatever way that we can, small ways, big ways, Andrews said.

This year featured the unveiling of a handwritten document called the Ecumenism Metro Chicago (EMC)-Chicagoland Christians United for the Care of Creations Declaration for the Care of Creation.

Center, front, Michael Terrien of Highland Park, co-coordinator, Care for Creation Ministry, Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity for the Archdiocese of Chicago, is among attendees at the ninth annual Solemn Vespers for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Church (1775 Grove St.) on Aug. 31, 2023. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

The document and declaration features signatures by more than one dozen judicatories or their representatives after a ceremony at the 2023 Parliament of the Worlds Religions in Chicago last Aug. 17.

We put a lot of work into that, Terrien said about the document. The beautiful thing is it shows that we are united, no matter what church were from, we are united in our common faith to care for our common home.

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The religious declaration states that people are, responsible for protecting and preserving what is the Creators, for all of the Earth is the Lords.

The document was displayed at OLPH on a large stand. Many people took photos of the declaration.

I represented the Archdiocese of Chicago, Bishop Casey said of the signing of the document. And we stood on the platform and we prayed and we signed this declaration  it was a beautiful moment.

But afterward, I ran into this gentleman who was not Christian and he asked me what that was going on, Casey recalled.

Center, Rev. Jim Barrett of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, is among viewers of the Ecumenism Metro Chicago (EMC)-Chicagoland Christians United for the Care of Creations Declaration for the Care of Creation at the ninth annual Solemn Vespers for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Church (1775 Grove St.) on Aug. 31, 2023. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

And I said, We just signed a declaration for the care of creation, and he looked at me and he said, And?

And it was the best thing he could have said to me because I said, Sir, youre exactly right.

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What we do is not simply sign a declaration or gather for an evening of prayer, we commit ourselves to action, Casey added. That becomes the hope that I have  that it stirs us.

Its awakening us to those small things that we can do each day in order to offer better care for creation.

During the service, Casey told attendees in church that caring for the world is urgent and that change starts with everyone immediately.

We cannot sit still, Casey said.

George P. Nassos of Glenview, with the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago said, Lets all assume that its real, climate change is real and we all do something about it.

Rev. Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews of Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview during the ninth annual Solemn Vespers for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Church (1775 Grove St.) on Aug. 31, 2023. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

After the service, people could gather for a McDonnell Hall reception and lecture by Sarah Elizabeth Ippel who spoke on a topic called, A Chicago Model for Cultivating a Sustainable and Just Future.

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Ippel is a Chicago education expert who founded a public elementary school and has dedicated two decades to cultivating the future of learning and thriving in diverse communities of all economic resources.

We may not always see eye to eye, and not always agree with one another, but at the end of the day, were all here on this one planet with our collective future, Ippel said.

We all have a role to play in cultivating this next generation to be mindful leaders to take positive action, Ippel said, and, to really solve these challenges in our world and to really make the world a more sustainable and equitable place for everyone.

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
A conservative super PAC is launching a major ad campaign urging voters to pick someone other than Donald Trump in next years Republican presidential primary.

Americans for Prosperity Action, a super PAC backed by billionaire conservative activist Charles Koch, is spending $1.68 million on ads in North Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee, according to Carolina Journal.

All three are among the 15 Super Tuesday states, or states that will host nominating contests on March 5. Given the number of states in play, a strong showing can make a candidacy, while a weak one can kill it off.

Christine Ravold, regional communications manager for the political action committee, told the Journal that its time to turn the page on Trump.

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The former president is facing a combined 91 felony indictments in four separate cases, and is expected to spend significant time in courtrooms defending himself next year.

The PAC told The News & Observer that it has concerns over Trumps electability.

The spot appears to be the same one the PAC ran last week during the Republican presidential debate:

Tired of all Trumps Drama and Chaos?



If Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, he will make 2024 all about him, not about us.



To beat @JoeBiden, we must move on from Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/fWYOXPgL6k  Americans for Prosperity Action (@AFPAction) August 24, 2023

That spot was part of a $4 million campaign aimed at the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, according to The Washington Post.

The PAC signaled earlier this year that it was going to support someone other than Trump as the GOPs nominee.

The best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter, Americans for Prosperity CEO Emily Seidel wrote in a memo in February.

Earlier this summer, Americans for Prosperity Action said it had raised $70 million for political races.

The organization has never waded into presidential primaries, but said that would change this time as it seeks to ensure Trump fails, out of a belief that he would lose to President Joe Biden in next years general election.

There is a clear sense of urgency around choosing candidates who can win, an unidentified official with the PAC told Reuters in June. Even a significant number of President Trumps [own] supporters are concerned about his electability and open to an alternative.

Related...
A man accused of murder in a nearly 30-year-old case tied to an ex-Chicago police detective who has been accused of torture was found not guilty Thursday evening after a jury trial, freeing him after hed spent years fighting his original convictions and 60-year sentence in appellate courts.

The case is among a number of post-conviction matters involving allegations of misconduct on behalf of former Detective Kriston Kato that are being handled by special prosecutors because of Katos marriage to a Cook County judge. It was the first of those to go to trial, a test of whether evidence in decades-old cases tied to the disgraced detective can withstand scrutiny by a jury in 2023.

Bernard Williams, 44, was 17 when he was accused of shooting and killing a man and injuring other bystanders near a West Garfield Park tavern in 1996 following an investigation by Kato and other detectives.

In the years since, Illinois appellate courts have returned Williams case back to the trial courts multiple times, and Kato has been accused of torturing and intimidating confessions out of defendants over his long career with the department.

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Special prosecutors Fabio Valentini and Maria McCarthy, who are handling a number of Cook County post-conviction cases related to Kato, brought the case to trial after an appeals court overturned the conviction in 2019, finding then that new evidence aired in evidentiary hearings undermines the courts confidence in the factual correctness of the original guilty finding.

Attorneys delivered closing arguments in the case on Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building after jurors earlier this week began hearing testimony, which included Katos.

Williams was accused of murder in the shooting and killing of Gary Thomas and of injuring other bystanders in August 1996. He has maintained his innocence, though, since his arrest that year, and alleged that Kato fabricated a confession.

The special prosecutors case hinged on that confession, as well as an identification from an eyewitness who later recanted his story. Williams alleged confession was not recorded, and the eyewitness who changed his story in 2015 has since died.

When you go back to that jury room, McCarthy said, you might want to just throw up your arms and say, What am I doing here? This case is 27 years old. Witnesses are dead. One witness changes his story later. This case is so complicated I give up. That would be an easy way out.

McCarthy argued to the jury that the witness likely later recanted because he grew bitter about the system and was angry at police for some recent charges.

Williams attorney, Ron Safer, said it is indisputable that the witness has lied.

We all agree he is a liar, Safer said. They think he lied in one regard, we think he lied in another. We all agree he has committed perjury. ... How could you possibly base a finding of guilty beyond reasonable doubt?

Safer also accused Kato of lying about Williams confessing, which he said was not documented.

If he werent making it up, he would have taken notes, Safer said.

Cook County prosecutors and judges stepped aside because the former detective is married to Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan, who currently works in the criminal division. The case was heard by an outside judge.

But the special prosecutors who stepped in to handle a number of cases connected to Kato have drawn scrutiny of their own for challenging a statute that has allowed recourse for defendants who say they have been tortured by Chicago police officers.

In those cases, a commission created to evaluate allegations of torture by ex-CPD Cmdr. Jon Burge and other police officers, found that Kato had tortured defendants. The commission sent the cases back to the trial courts for evidentiary hearings.

McCarthy and Valentini argued that the commissions role in reopening the cases violated the Illinois Constitution, a move condemned by advocates working to address harm caused by police torture in the Chicago Police Department.

Williams was 17 when he was arrested and accused of killing Thomas, who authorities said was not the intended target of the shooting. He was later convicted in a bench trial. His case has been pitched back and forth between the trial and appellate courts throughout the years.

In 2019, the appeals court ordered a new trial, finding that the trial court judge should have granted his motion for post-conviction relief and ordered a new trial.

The court found that attorneys had presented new and compelling evidence, including that the original eyewitness recanted his initial statement and said Williams was not a shooter. The intended target of the shooting, Eric Smith, also testified at an evidentiary hearing that he saw the shooters and that Williams was not one of them.

mabuckley@chicagotribune.com
As a little kid, Spencer Collart would sometimes break into a wild dance and patter his feet all over the room, his father, Bart, recalled. His younger sister would call it his Happy Feet dance.

As a young man, Spencer Collart became a Marine with a sometimes-tough exterior, but he never lost his goofy side, his family told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday.

Collart, a corporal, was one of three Marines who lost their lives after their MV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Darwin, Australia, on Sunday. Three more were badly injured, with one in critical condition as of Tuesday, according to the Marine Corps.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, the Marine Corps said.

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3 Marines who died in Osprey crash in Australia identified

Collarts family members said they are devasted by his loss. Theyre also deeply proud of him.

We all feel Spencers presence with us, which is really comforting, Bart Collart said. We dont want to be too sad, because hes here in a different way.

And also, we know he was happy, Alexia Collart, Spencers mother, said.

A native of Arlington, Virginia, Spencer Collart was precocious, reading the Harry Potter books at age 4, according to his father.

As a student first at Arlington Tech and later at Washington-Liberty High School, where he played lacrosse, he could be a bit of a rebel, his parents said: He was smart, and didnt like to do busy work.

He signed up for the Marine Corps the day after he turned 18.

Spencer Collart adored animals, including the family hamster, Fluffernutter, who died in March 2020 shortly after the familys house burned down, and dog, Stella, who was put down a week before the Marines death.

He loved bodysurfing. He loved the complex video game Dota 2. He loved the changing seasons, and while he was stationed on Hawaii he missed the cold of northern Virginia. He loved his family.

And he loved every minute of his training as a Marine, his father said.

Collart served in Pensacola, Florida, and Jacksonville, North Carolina, before coming to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, according to the Marine Corps.

His best friend was another Marine who worked on Ospreys, Lance Cpl. Evan Strickland, according to Bart Collart. Strickland died at 19 in a June 2022 Osprey crash that killed four other Marines.

That really broke him up, Bart Collart said of his sons reaction to Stricklands death.

A Marine Corps investigation released in July determined that the Osprey carrying Strickland and the four others had crashed because of a problem with the aircrafts clutch. The Ospreys joint program office said when the investigation was released that it had decreased the probability of a similar issue occurring by 99%.

Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon press secretary, said Tuesday that it was too early to tell whether the clutch problem caused the crash Sunday that killed Collart and two other Marines, and that the Defense Department still has confidence in the Osprey at this time.

Despite the tragic loss of his friend Strickland, Collart loved being an Osprey crew chief, according to his parents. He told his parents he wanted to go to college one day, earn his commission and become a pilot. He planned to start a family one day and eventually move back to his hometown.

While deployed to Darwin, Australia, with Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, Collart enjoyed working with the Australian troops, his parents said.

A week before his death, he participated in an airshow in Pacific Airshow Gold Coast, where he agreed to take a photo with a little boy, according to Alexia Collart. A parent of the boy recently told Alexia Collart that getting a photo with the Marine in his flight suit absolutely made his day.

Spencer Collart deeply respected Capt. Eleanor V. LeBeau, 29, and Maj. Tobin J. Lewis, 37, pilots who both died in the crash, Alexia Collart said.

Marine Corps Times attempted to reach via email the families of LeBeau and Lewis but didnt hear back.

Bart Collart said his familys hearts go out to LeBeau and Lewis and to those who were injured. He said he has heard from several survivors of the crash that the three Marines who died were at the front of the Osprey and took quick action to protect the lives of the other 20 aboard.

In a way, theres a little comfort knowing he was with these pilots, because they were so experienced and caring, Alexia Collart said.

Their sons remains will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in his home city, according to Bart Collart.

Gwyneth Collart, Spencer Collarts sister, described her brother as inspirational, an example of someone who worked hard for what he wanted.

I saw him evolve from the no-shoe-wearing, strawberry-acai-Starbucks-drink-drinking, 7-11-taquito-eating guy to this really standup gentleman in the Marines, the sister said.

She was in tune with her older brother from her earliest days.

When Gwyneth Collart was an infant who could speak only in baby talk that even her parents couldnt understand, Spencer Collart would translate, Bart Collart recalled. The little boy perfectly understood his sister, who would nod her head yes with her thumb in her mouth.

As young adults, the siblings bonded over a shared appreciation for music.

In the days after her brothers death, Gwyneth Collart turned on the car radio, something she said she almost never does.

Two of her brothers favorite songs  Africa by Toto and Die For You by the Weeknd  came on the radio.

I know that if he were to speak to me through anything, it would be music, she said.
By Deborah J. Nelson, Ryan McNeill and Helen Reid

LONDON (Reuters) - Health officials from around the world, as they gather to discuss a treaty addressing pandemic prevention next week, are struggling to agree on funding for developing countries and measures to thwart jumps by pathogens from animals into humans.

The meeting, starting in Geneva on Monday, is part of ongoing negotiations by the decision-making body of the World Health Organization to tackle pandemic threats in a legally binding accord. Representatives from as many as 194 member countries could take part.

Among the sticking points, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the discussions, are costs of measures meant to address the risk of pathogens emerging from wildlife. Risk factors, many of which disproportionately affect the developing world, include deforestation, climate change, rapid urbanization and the wildlife trade.

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Previous discussions on the proposed treaty, which began two years ago, have centered on preparedness of health systems. The discussions next week, by contrast, are meant to focus on prevention. Many health experts say that finding ways to stop potential pandemics before they can emerge is as crucial as any amount of readiness for when they do.

"We will see more pandemics and we will see more severe outbreaks if we don't act on prevention," said Chadia Wannous, a global coordinator at the World Organisation for Animal Health, a France-based intergovernmental body involved in the treaty discussions.

In May, Reuters published an exclusive global analysis of environmental risk factors associated with zoonotic spillover, the term used by scientists to describe a leap by a pathogen from animals into humans. Spillovers are the leading source of infectious diseases in humans.

The pathogens that cause COVID-19, Ebola, Nipah and other deadly illnesses are caused by or closely related to viruses found in the wild, particularly among some tropical bats.

Reuters' analysis found that the number of people living in areas at high-risk for spillover, mostly tropical locales rich in bats and undergoing rapid urbanization, grew by 57% in the two decades ending in 2020. Nearly 1.8 billion people, or one of every five on the planet, now live in these areas.

Since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, global health officials have sought to create a "pandemic treaty" to better prepare for future outbreaks.

The governing body of the World Health Organization, or WHO, chose delegates from each of its six administrative regions worldwide to lead the negotiations. The delegates have met periodically with representatives of member countries and are tasked with forging an agreement by May 2024.

But governments remain divided, failing to agree on some of the basics needed to strengthen health systems worldwide. Those basics, all issues that hindered a coordinated global response to the COVID-19 outbreak, include the sharing of information, costs and vaccines.

The divisions arose anew in June, when the European Union negotiated new agreements with pharmaceutical companies to reserve vaccines for future pandemics. The agreements led critics to accuse the bloc of "vaccine apartheid."

"The trust between higher and low-income countries has plummeted," said Lawrence Gostin, who is director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law and involved in treaty discussions.

The disparity between rich and poor countries at present is noted in the very first paragraph of the proposed treaty to be discussed in Geneva. The draft cites "the catastrophic failure of the international community in showing solidarity and equity in response to the coronavirus disease."

SHARED CONSEQUENCES

Despite broad consensus on the need for pandemic prevention, negotiators remain divided when it comes to specifics. Ahead of next week's meeting, according to officials interviewed by Reuters, the biggest sticking point remains financing for poor countries.

Already struggling for resources to strengthen their public health systems, governments of developing nations need even more funds if they are to invest in prevention. That could include measures like improved surveillance for emerging diseases, efforts to combat deforestation and more oversight of development in areas that could be prone to new spillover.

At present, such measures are proposed in the treaty through a concept known as "One Health," outlined by the WHO and other international agencies in a 2022 "plan of action." The concept links human wellbeing to that of animals and the environment.

The United States and the European Union have both said they support the inclusion of "One Health" provisions in a pandemic treaty.

But as a far-reaching and sometimes abstract concept, "One Health" measures could be costly to put into practice. "Lower income countries don't want to make obligations unless they get funding," Gostin, of the WHO global health law center, told Reuters. "Higher income countries are resistant to guaranteeing funds."

Nearly all of the highest-risk areas identified by the Reuters spillover analysis are in low- and middle-income countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. But much of the deforestation and development in these areas is driven by demand for minerals, food and other raw materials among wealthier countries.

The shared responsibility  not to mention the shared consequences  should mean shared expenditures, some officials argue. "It should be in everyone's combined interest to find solutions, for it not just to be the problems or financial problems for low income countries," said Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist who is the head of the WHO's emerging diseases unit.

"We live in this interconnected world and any pathogen that emerges on one part of the planet could be in another within 24 to 48 hours."

The Reuters analysis identified high-risk areas by pairing the locations of 95 bat-linked spillovers with billions of ecological observations, including concentration of bat species, land surface temperatures and tree loss around the locales where the outbreaks began. The analysis then identified areas around the globe where ecological conditions are now similar.

When broken down by WHO's six administrative regions, the analysis found that more than 99% of the world's riskiest areas are in the Americas, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.

The Americas alone are home to 29% of the high-risk areas, more than half of which are in Brazil. Much of the risk there, Reuters found, is driven by deforestation in the Amazon, the world's largest rainforest.

A Brazilian government official involved in the negotiations, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters the South American country is one of those concerned about fair sharing of costs for prevention. "Ninety-nine percent of the obligations related to surveillance will fall on developing countries," the official said.

Brazil leads the Americas delegation in the ongoing deliberations. The country's support, people close to the negotiations told Reuters, is crucial if measures geared toward prevention are to make it into a final draft of the treaty.

Like any country, however, Brazil has its own interests to defend, including those of its massive cattle industry, the world's largest exporter of beef.

Not only has that sector played a major role in Amazon deforestation, but it also could be affected by calls from wealthier countries for the treaty to address the issue of antibiotic-resistant infections. Like ranchers in most major cattle producers, Brazil's beef industry widely uses antibiotics that many scientists say contribute to resistance among bacteria.

Despite such differences, Brazil's delegation remains committed to working toward an agreement.

"Prevention is definitely one of the most cost-effective measures," the official told Reuters. "It's undeniable both in terms of human lives, which are the most important thing, but also in terms of financial resources."

(Editing by Paulo Prada, Janet Roberts and Feilding Cage.)
While Modesto discusses extending its airport runways to accommodate bigger aircraft for commercial flights, San Joaquin County continues to advance a vision of Stockton Metropolitan Airport serving customers beyond county boundaries, said Richard Sokol, that citys airport director.

Tim Moran asked The Modesto Bees service journalist, who reports answers to reader questions, if there is consideration being given for the Modesto Airport to join the Stockton Airport to attract commercial airlines.

(Stockton airports) location between the two cities and its surroundings would seem to make it a natural as a regional airport serving both cities, said Moran, who retired from The Bee as a reporter 14 years ago. The airport is just east of French Camp, about 25 miles north of downtown Modesto.

In 2019, former Stockton Airport Director Russell Stark came to Modesto to discuss his plan for expanding airport services in Stockton and forging a partnership with Modesto, including changing Stockton Airports name to something like Central Valley Regional.

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To answer Morans question, we spoke to Sokol, who is six months in to his new position as Stockton airports director, to see whether he shares the same vision. Heres what he said about the facility potentially becoming a hub for Central Valley air travel, and what Modesto Bee readers say theyd like to see happen next:

Will Stockton Airport become Central Valley Airport?

Stockton airport is a roughly 30-minute drive from Modesto and around a 15-minute drive from the center of Stockton, according to Google Maps. Allegiant airline can take you from Stockton to Las Vegas or Phoenix.

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Stockton airport officials are making an effort to recruit new passenger airline services, Sokol said. As those efforts bear fruit, we would embrace a more regional role for the airport, he said.

Other nearby airport hubs  Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland  are all roughly a 1.5-hour drive from Modesto.

For the past four months, Sokol said, a consultant has been studying the market, and they are just now starting to reach out to Stanislaus County to understand the countys interests.

Modesto will continue to explore opportunities to expand its own airport, said Diana Ruiz-Del Re, a spokeswoman for the city of Modesto.

Sokol said the pool of potential customers from San Joaquin, Stanislaus and eastern Contra Costa counties is way too big for the airlines to overlook.

At this time, we are simply looking for ways to work together to attract new airline services, Sokol said. Every community in America is competing with us. The national pilot shortage is real. Incentives in this effort are par for the course.

Sokol said the airport is studying ways to improve its current airline terminal, with its site limitations, to better serve customers for about five to eight more years. Strong demand will force them to consider a completely new terminal building after that time, he said.

A brand new airline terminal building would have direct access to Highway 99 and provide convenient access to Stanislaus County, Sokol said.

The plans Mr. Stark alluded to several years ago have been scaled back, Sokol said. Details of our new plans will be ready to discuss by the end of this year.

For now, Stockton airport has formally rebranded the north side of the facility as the NorCal Air Logistics Center, he said.

Do residents want a Valley airport, or an expanded Modesto Airport?

Modesto Chamber of Commerce committee member Chris Murphy was at the 2019 meeting that heard the former Stockton airport directors plan to rebrand the facility as a regional airport, with Modestos help.

When Modesto had commuter flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles, he was a regular flier, Murphy said. Now having to go to SFO twice monthly, it would be nice to get commercial air back in Modesto, he recently told The Bee.

My first preference is Modesto; I think we have the travel market to warrant it, Murphy said. Failing that, Stockton would work if the connections are good times.

A 500-foot extension to Modestos runway would make a huge difference in the airport being considered by airlines, said Jim Ransom, chief inspector at Mather Aviation Modesto aircraft repair station.

The city of Modesto submitted a request for proposals Aug. 9 that included a request to obtain an agreement for consulting services to perform a feasibility study for a potential runway extension, according to city documents.

If residents had a choice between boarding a plane in Stockton or Sacramento, they would pick Sacramento with its greater number of nonstop destination choices, Ransom said.

I dont think Stockton will ever make it because theyre too close to Sacramento, he said. Its a big runway, but from a marketing standpoint  for regional airline business  its never gonna be there.

Stockton is less than an hour drive from Sacramento International Airport.

Moran, who wrote to the service journalism team, said the location of the Stockton airport, its longer runway and its ability to expand make it a good candidate for a Central Valley regional airport.

Im not an aviation expert, but it just seems like one larger airport would be more attractive to commercial airlines than two smaller ones, Moran said. Some folks who are smarter than I am say we cant get airlines in the Northern San Joaquin Valley because we are too close to the major airports in Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose. I dont know if thats true or not.

Have a question youd like The Modesto Bee to answer? Email our service journalist as servicejournalists@modbee.com.
The Tesla Model 3 has now been on sale for six years, and has received a variety of minor tweaks and updates over that time period. Now, it looks as though the new Project Highland update could bring a comprehensive refresh to the popular mid-sized electric sedan.

Update: 31/08/23 9:05 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with details released by Tesla about the Model 3 refresh.

Up front, the most striking change is to the front fascia, which is smoother and cleaner than previously. While the lower grille aperture remains, the small fog light pods previously mounted low on either side have been removed. The headlights have also been changed to a sleeker design with nicely-integrated daytime running lights. The front fenders and doors also feature a new strake around the turn signal area.

Tesla

The images show changes at the rear, too, with a diffuser-like arrangement cutting into the bumper at the back. This is a contrast to the relatively plain rear bumper seen previously on the Model 3. The limited resolution of the photos prevents us from seeing just how drastic the change is, and whether there are actual aero tweaks involved, or just styling changes. The rear tails have also been given a more modern claw-like design.

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Beyond what we see here, the update is set to bring a broader raft of changes to the model's fundamentals, as The Drive has covered previously. The core concept seems to involve cutting component counts for cost savings while updating the car's external and interior appearance to remain fresh in the eyes of customers.

Updated WLTP range figures for the rear-wheel-drive Model 3 see the standard model achieve 344 miles with 18-inch wheels, while the Long Range model will achieve an impressive 421 miles. That's a decent improvement of approximately 12 percent over the current Model 3, which posted WLTP range figures of 305 and 374 miles, respectively. U.S. market figures will be different, due to the EPA's testing cycle, but this indicates more range will indeed be on the table nonetheless.

The Model 3 has been updated inside, too. The interior features aluminum and new fabric materials, with a fresh ambient lighting system illuminating the cabin. The cabin has been sonically improved too, according to Tesla, with new acoustic glass and soundproofing materials. Other changes include a new 8-inch rear display screen with infotainment and climate controls, new steering-mounted controls to replace column-mounted stalks, and slimmer bezels on the main 15.4-inch infotainment screen.

Sources have also previously indicated that the Project Highland update will first go into production at Gigafactory Shanghai, with some indication manufacturing has already begun. Tesla's Fremont, California plant will almost certainly produce new facelift models in turn. Current reports indicate deliveries will begin in October for Europe and the Middle East. Tesla is yet to announce availability for the U.S. market.

A refresh makes plenty of sense given the Model 3's increasingly long stint on the market. Tesla faces fresh competition every year as more rivals fill out the EV sedan market. The company will be hoping that the update will keep sales strong in partnership with its aggressive pricing strategy.

Got a tip? Let the author know: lewin@thedrive.com
Jacksonville City Councilmember JuCoby Pittman (D-District 10) is responding to criticism she faced after telling a crowd gathered at a vigil for the three killed in last weekends racist shooting to listen to the Governor.

It aint about parties today, because a bullet dont know a party, said Pittman at Sundays vigil after those in attendance booed Governor Ron DeSantis as he took the podium.

The comments were met with a mixed reaction, drawing criticism from some who felt Pittman gave DeSantis a pass.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

Just four days later, Pittman released a statement saying she wished the Governor hadnt spoken at the vigil, due to the disruption it caused and vowed to fight against his ideology.

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Let me be clear. The perpetrator alone isnt responsible for this tragedy. It is also the armchair generals; extreme right-wing politicians who created policies for racists and gun-toting supremacists to thrive, wrote Pittman. Let there be no misunderstanding, I do not support any policies that diminish our race and who we are as a people. Nor do I support the Governors ideology of building political dynasties at our expense that hurts our black and brown communities. Im creating legislation that will combat the effects of these policies in our community.

State Representative Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) applauded Pittmans updated stance.

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I welcome more elected officials and leaders across our state in pushing back against the Governor and his hateful and divisive rhetoric and policies, said Nixon.

But State Representative Dean Black (R-Yulee), who was also present at the vigil, argued political finger-pointing has no place after a tragedy like the one witnessed this weekend.

The only person that is responsible for the tragedy that happened in Jacksonville was the despicable, racist shooter himself and we should all be able to agree that is horrific and that we all oppose it regardless of party affiliation, said Black.

UNF political science professor Dr. Michael Binder opined the blowback and reversal speak to the difficult position politicians oftentimes find themselves in when they extend an olive branch to the other side.

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At the, you know, the national level you think about Chris Christie who is running for President. He really got blasted after the superstorm Sandy when he reached out to President Obama for the famous hug. Its 11 years later and hes still getting grief about that, said Binder.

We did reach out to Councilmember Pittman and the Governors Office for this story.

The council member was unavailable for comment.

We didnt hear back from the Governors Office.

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CPAC chairman, Matt Schlapp (L), and his wife Mercedes Schlapp listen during the annual conference at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 2, 2023, in National Harbor, Maryland.



CPAC chairman, Matt Schlapp (L), and his wife Mercedes Schlapp listen during the annual conference at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 2, 2023, in National Harbor, Maryland.

After a group of employees resigned en masse from the American Conservative Unionwhich organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)in spring 2022, its chairman Matt Schlapp, and his wife, Mercedes, reportedly felt there was only one thing that could cure the space of the bad resignation vibes: An unsanctioned exorcism.

The pair brought in a priest to evict satanic spirits from the groups Virginia offices, according to a new report from the Daily Beast. And why did so many junior employees suddenly quit?

Read more

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ACU/CPAC did not reply to comment requests, while Schlapp provided this statement to the outlet: CPAC is being terrorized by a demon self-described as The Daily Beast. The good news is the leadership of CPAC knows how the epic battle against the Beast ends. Id short the stock. Cool!

Lets also not forget that Schlapp was sued by a Republican operative who accused him of sexual assault back in January. The Daily Beast reported earlier this week that Schlapp unsuccessfully tried to settle the suit despite vehemently denying the accusations. We take seriously our professional conduct and would never discuss the details of confidential conversations between lawyers. But since it appears Mr. Huffman or his attorney have done so, let me set the record straight: There was no settlement offer, publicist Mark Corallo told the outlet. From the outset Mr. and Mrs. Schlapp have been and remain prepared to go to trial and are confident of prevailing in court.

But back to the exorcism. Per the Daily Beast:

Multiple sources with knowledge of the event said the rite included a prayer circle in Schlapps office, which one person described as performative and inauthentic. Like a show, this source said. As the priest made his way through the office, spritzing holy water room to room, employees nudged him towards Matts office, this person said. The way he had treated junior employees, it seemed to us like he was the one who needed it the most.

ACU General Counsel David Safavian celebrated the office exorcism (unclear if its the same office-wide exorcism or if theyre just keeping DMV priests busy) with a cigar.

Now that we've performed an exorcism on a recently vacated office, I'm enjoying my new private cigar lounge. Beats the heck out of the corner of the garage where I could get cell service! pic.twitter.com/HP85CQJ5Li  David Safavian (@DSafavianEsq) May 11, 2023

The Daily Beast reported that medals of St. Benedict, the patron saint of exorcisms, are still above some doors. So while all those evil spirits that force employers to pay their employees money cant make it through the doors, maybe they can still fly in through the windows.

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The latest on the abduction and murder of Memphis jogger and teacher Eliza Fletcher

MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Turnaround times for investigators examining rape evidence kits are improving in Tennessee, but the state still has more progress to make.

WREG Investigators have spent more than a decade uncovering problems with rape kit testing in Memphis, and a case one year ago was no different.

We found out a rape kit had sat on a shelf for months, allowing the suspect, Cleotha Abston Henderson, to reportedly abduct a Memphis mother, Eliza Fletcher, on her morning jog.

Woman told police she was raped by suspect a year before Eliza Fletcher murder

It happened on September 2, 2022. A massive search followed as forensic scientists 90 miles away at a state lab in Jackson, Tennessee were making a disturbing discovery.

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On September 5th, they said that Hendersons DNA matched the male DNA in a rape kit submitted in September 2021. Memphis Police didnt request the evidence be expedited, so it sat on the shelf for nearly nine months before the lab could get to it.

The day they made that discovery was the day authorities found Eliza Fletchers body.

In the months that followed, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation didnt deny the concerning amount of time it took to process the rape kit or the long time it was taking to process other evidence submitted to their labs.

In fact, WREG Investigators reported on this very issue in 2019 when the TBI told us then that it needed more money and staff to process the amount of evidence they were receiving faster.

The turnaround time we currently have for sexual assault kits in the Memphis lab is 35 weeks, the Jackson lab supervisor Donna Nelson said. I remember when we had a 12-week turnaround time.

After Fletcher was killed, state and local lawmakers, yet again, promised, to step in.

We put in additional money to hire 50 new scientists, so they could process these rape kits, State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Shelby County) said.

TBI lab adding jobs to help process rape kits

The TBI said its hired most of those new positions. Training can take months to even two years for some roles. It added that retaining employees will also be a challenge as they compete with private labs salaries and benefits.

During the same time, the TBI secured a federal grant to fly more than 850 sexual assault kits to a private lab in Florida to help with the analysis. The last batch was sent in July.

The lab charged $2,100 per kit, which covers any related courtroom testimony cost. We asked the TBIs assistant director of forensic services how long they planned to outsource.

This hopefully will be the last time we do outsourcing. We dont know. We have exhausted all the funding we currently have, Mike Lyttle said.

What he does know is that turnaround times have drastically decreased. The TBI reports at its peak in July 2022, the average turnaround time to process a sexual assault kit was almost a year at the Jackson lab where Memphis and Shelby County send their evidence. As of May, the turnaround time has been cut in half to an average of 26 weeks.

TBI making progress on rape kit testing

I welcome that. I commend them for that. We still have a ways to go, but we are making progress, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said.

He is still pushing for the TBI to bring a lab back to Memphis.

Unfortunately, sadly, we have the biggest need, and it makes sense for us to have that facility here, he added.

The TBI said it closed the Memphis lab because it outgrew the space and chose to build a new lab in Jackson because its central to the region. It claims just one-third of the evidence the lab receives is from Memphis.

In 2015, Metro Nashville Police received accreditation for its $30 million crime lab, so they could process their own evidence instead of waiting in line at a TBI lab. We requested an interview to see how it works, but have yet to hear back.

Memphis Councilman JB Smiley said the council approved a feasibility study to see if a crime lab like Nashvilles would work in Memphis.

Do we have the people in the place that can actually go into the crime lab and get things done? he said. The question will also be if we can staff it and staff it efficiently and actually have a faster turnaround than we have right now.

Its another discussion at City Hall on rape kits. In 2010, WREG Investigators uncovered a backlog of 12,000 untested sexual assault kits sitting on shelves for decades. Since then, weve been committed to asking how this critical evidence is being handled.

Politicians also promised change back then, like updating the public as they worked to eliminate the backlog. While the city made it clear its since sent every kit to the lab for testing, its been a challenge to find out what happened afterward.

The city council stopped its regular updates in March 2020, despite the DAs office saying their work was ramping up.

Through the Tennessee Open Records request, we asked for the same information the police used to provide to the council on September 14, 2022.

Almost a year later, MPD continues to tell us its still retrieving, reviewing, and/or redacting the requested records.

Fletcher was a mother of two, a kindergarten teacher, and a bright light in her community.

Henderson is now charged with murder and also the 2021 rape of Alicia Franklin who wanted her name out there and wanted it known how long it took to process her evidence.

She says she had consented to a sexual assault examination in hopes it would lead to her attackers arrest before he could strike again.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
A Waukegan man was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder, with a potential sentence of life in prison, for the fatal shooting of Stefan Filipovic of Waukegan last year, according to the Lake County states attorneys office.

Jorge Medina, 20, was found guilty by a jury late Thursday night after a four-day trial which started Monday in Lake County Court in Waukegan, after more than 12 witnesses, including Medinas accomplice, testified.

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Medina and Fernando Andino were both arrested by Waukegan police officers for first-degree murder a few days after the May 27, 2022, shooting death of Filipovic and the wounding of another man in the 1500 block of Washington Street.

Andino, who States Attorney Eric Rinehart said Friday pled guilty to lesser charges earlier this year, was one of the witnesses.

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Andino testified he let Medina out of his car at a restaurant on Washington Street, and Medina then walked toward the parking lot where he shot both men. Andino returned to get Medina, and they left in Andinos car. Both Filipovic and his friend were on foot in front of a restaurant on Washington Street.

This type of calculated attack warrants a very high prison sentence in order to protect the community and to tell others when you engage in violence, you will face arrest and severe consequences, Rinehart said in the release.

Rinehart said in an interview Friday Andino agreed to plead guilty to aggravated battery with a firearm earlier this year in exchange for his testimony at trial. He faces between 6 and 30 years in prison for the Class X felony. He must serve at least 85% of it.

In addition to Andinos testimony, law enforcement officers and forensic experts helped tell the story. Police were able to obtain surveillance videos, including one of the shooting itself. The videos came from nearby businesses and residences.

Forensic experts said firearm residue was found in a piece of clothing that was collected from Medinas residence and matched the description of what the shooter was wearing.

J.B. Brooks, the states attorney cyber lab director, testified forensic analysis showed how phone calls were made between Medina and Andino around the same time of the shooting.

Medina faces a sentence of 45 years to life in a state prison. He must serve the entire sentence.

Freelancer Clifford Ward contributed to this report.
At some intersections throughout Orlando, as children returned to school last month, walkers and bikers didnt see a helpful adult wearing a bright vest and toting a stop sign.

There are about 30 vacancies for crossing guards in the city, from Lake Nona to Lake Como and others neighborhoods. In prior years, those intersections would be covered by an on-duty police officer filling in.

But earlier this year, the city decided to outsource its crossing guard program, which previously was run by the Orlando Police Department. The nearly $2 million contract with All City Management Services, signed earlier this year, was meant to relieve on-duty cops of that task, to allow them to do their normal assignments.

That adult presence when youre dealing with kids, its important to have someone thats focused, said Erin Hearn, a parent of a student at the Audubon Park School, whos noticed fewer crossing guards around the K-8 school this year.

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Hearn, who rides her bike with her son to school most days, said parents have noticed near-misses and worry about kids navigating streets in busy, morning traffic.

A recruiter for All City Management Services said the company is working on filling the vacancies, and trying to recruit people to work the two, one-hour shifts, which pay $17.50 per hour.

Filling positions has been challenging, said Hilary Calvert, national recruiting manager at ACMS. Theyve canvassed social media platforms, been to community centers, spoken to local businesses and gone door-to-door in neighborhoods across the city trying to recruit people.

Typically the retired folks are the ones who have that time to give, but we have stay-at-home parents, college students, she said. Anybody that will pass through a background check and is reliable and dedicated to keeping the kids safe is someone we want.

Crossing guards typically live in the neighborhoods where they work, she said.

The national company also runs crossing guard efforts in Osceola, Clermont, Kissimmee and Celebration.

OPD said the decision to outsource the program came following a review by Chief Eric Smith when he took over the department last year.

One of his priorities was ensuring on-duty resources are managed efficiently to further the number of officers patrolling the neighborhoods, improving response times to priority calls, and further reducing crime, the agency said in a statement.

In approving the contract in May, the agenda item said OPD previously had a staffing of 164 crossing guards.

The demand has increased this year to nearly 40% of on-duty police/[Community Service Officer] personnel being utilized for crossing locations. Utilizing this contract will eliminate the need for valuable on-duty police coverage and calls for service, it reads.

The company has halved its vacancies since taking over the program, the OPD statement reads.

For more information on how to apply, call 800-540-9290, or go to acmssafety.com.

Vacancies span beyond the city limits.

Crossing guards in Orange County are hired by the Sheriffs Office, which currently has 38 vacancies. Because some locations require multiple guards, that means 22 areas are unprotected, sheriffs spokesperson Michelle Guido said in an email.

We do often have deputies  or our civilian Field Service Officers (FSOs)  cover crossings if they are available, she said.

Orange County pays $17.31 an hour for the two-hour-per-day gig, and people can apply at www.ocso.com/crossingguard.

Crossing guards in Central Florida are especially important, where inconsistent sidewalk networks and few protected bike lanes can make it difficult to get around. In Smart Growth Americas annual Dangerous By Design study, the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford region was the eighth deadliest for pedestrians between 2016 and 2020.

Nationwide, the Governors Highway Safety Association estimates nearly 7,500 people were struck and killed, a 40-year high.

Calvert said ACMS is sending recruiters out across the city, hosting hiring events and leaving flyers with restaurants to stuff in take-home orders.

Theres so many distracted drivers and we just need to be the eyes and ears for these kids, she said. Its a very part-time position, but its just so important.
On 1 September, the Boevoe Bratstvo-2023 military training (Combat Brotherhood-2023) of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states started in Belarus. The Ukrainian authorities have stated that there is no reason to worry.

Source: Deutsche Welle; Serhii Naiev, Commander of the United Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on Telegram

Details: According to Deutsche Welle, over 2,500 soldiers from Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tadzhikistan with 500 pieces of weaponry, military and special equipment will participate in the training. One more member of CSTO, Armenia, will not participate.

Quote: "By 6 September the administrations of the Brestsky, Gozhsky, Domanevsky, Obuz-Lesnovsky, Chepelevo and Lesishche polygons must arrange the coordination of collective operative forces and special training with troops and means of reconnaissance, means of material-technical supply of troops, joint formation of radiation, chemical and biological protection, and medical support.

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The training of five rescue nuclear and radiation safety units will be conducted in the Astravyets District."

Details: Commenting on the start of the training, Serhii Naiev, Commander of the Joined Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stated that the number of military there is not sufficient for creating a grouping for ground offensive, but Ukraines defence forces will strengthen the defence of the state border anyway.

Quote: "Of course, we are reacting [to this]. All commanders have received clear instructions about strengthening the defence of the state border of Ukraine and being on high alert on all combat positions. We realise that one should expect anything from the Russians. But they should know that we are always ready to react appropriately."

Background:

Mariusz Kaminski, Minister of Internal Affairs of Poland, stated on 1 September that in case "serious incidents" occur on the border with Belarus, Poland and Baltic countries are ready for "serious steps".

On 15 August, Russian saboteurs tried to enter Ukraine on the border with Chernihiv Oblast; the invaders were targeted by Ukrainian artillery and retreated with 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!






A top aide for Donald Trumps campaign in New Hampshire was captured on video telling US Capitol police officers to go hang yourself on January 6, according to a new report.

Dylan Quattrucci, who is the deputy state director of Mr Trumps campaign in the Granite State, attended the Stop the Steal rally, according to New Hampshire news outlet WMUR.

In several social media posts seen by WMUR, Mr Quattrucci professed his admiration for Mr Trump, called ex-vice president Mike Pence a traitor and appeared in a live stream outside of the Capitol on January 6.

In addition, a video posted by SeditionHunters  an X account that uses videos and photos from January 6 to identify people who participated in the riot  shows Mr Quattrucci delivering a particularly vulgar message to police officers at the Capitol.

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If you are a police officer and you are going to abide by unconstitutional bulls*** I want you to do me a favour right now and go hang yourself, Mr Quattrucci said in the footage, which was first reported by NBC News.

Mr Quattrucci continued his rant, calling police officers a piece of s*** and adding Go f*** yourself.

Five Capitol Police officers have died in connection to the riots, four of them by suicide.

Two people familiar with Mr Quattrucci confirmed his identity in the video to NBC News.

Trump 2024 Campaign NH deputy director Dylan Quattrucci on Jan 6, 2021, at the Capitol (foul language warning) https://t.co/aH8yoVuXCH @AdamSextonWMUR pic.twitter.com/S9w9I5IBRv  TheRealJ6 (@SeditionHunters) August 11, 2023

Mr Quattruccis anger regarding the election results is apparent in the video and others shared on X. In another video, obtained by Sedition Hunters author Ryan Reilly, Mr Quattrucci said he worked for the Republican Party but that we need to fight like president Trump

I work for the Republican Party Im done! Im going to attack, and Im going to fucking go, and I am not having this shit. pic.twitter.com/2noh4B3U4u  Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) September 1, 2023

Other footage shows Mr Quattrucci, standing in the middle of the crowd, promoting the rallys actions and smiling about lawmakers being put on lockdown inside the building.

This is nuts, this is history, this is America, we love our president, lets gooooo!  Dylan Quattrucci on Jan. 6, before calling on officers who protected the Capitol to kill themselves pic.twitter.com/TgbogKtgkC  Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) September 1, 2023

In response to the video, a spokesperson for Mr Trumps campaign told WMUR, President Trumps campaign values the hard work of its team to ensure he wins the New Hampshire First-in-the-Nation primary and takes back the White House. The Independent has reached out to Mr Trumps campaign for comment.

WMUR noted that the Trump campaign did not deny Mr Quattrucci was at the Capitol on January 6 but it was not made clear if Mr Quattrucci went inside the Capitol building that day. The Independent was unable to obtain contact information for Mr Quattrucci.
PRAGUE (Reuters) - The media business controlled by Czech billionaire and opposition leader Andrej Babis is being sold to investor Karel Prazak, the two parties said on Friday, ahead of new legislation that bans politicians from owning some news and TV assets.

Agrofert, controlled by Babis through trust funds, has agreed to sell its media businesses MAFRA and LONDA and a chemicals firm to Czech-based Prazak, the two sides said in a statement but did not disclose financial details.

MAFRA and LONDA are major players in the Czech media with assets including national newspapers Mlada fronta Dnes and Lidove Noviny, as well as one of the largest radio stations, significant online businesses and print works.

Opponents have frequently criticised Babis, prime minister from 2017-2021 and still leader of his ANO party, for using his media assets to his political advantage, which he has denied.

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Babis put Agrofert, a sprawling empire of media, chemicals, farming and food processing firms, into trust funds in 2017 to comply with conflict of interest rules at the time.

Those rules have been further tightened under legislation approved by the current ruling centre-right majority and due to come into effect next January. The new law bans members of parliament and government from owning some types of media even through trust funds or related persons. ANO, the largest faction in the lower house of parliament, opposed the legislation.

The sale announced on Friday also included chemicals producer Synthesia, Agrofert said.

"The sale of these assets will allow us to focus more on our key business segments in the future, to develop them more quickly," Agrofert Chairman Zbynek Prusa said in a statement.

Prazak owns chemicals, real estate and other assets worth 33 billion crowns ($1.49 billion) through his investment vehicle KAPRAIN, according to its website.

KAPRAIN said in the statement that Synthesia would bring synergies to its existing chemicals portfolio.

Prazak told daily Hospodarske Noviny on Friday that the future of the media business was open, including possible further sale.

($1 = 22.1790 Czech crowns)

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Fire crews responded to a grass fire in the Dallas Oak Cliff area late Thursday afternoon, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue.

At around 5:10 p.m. Thursday, Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to a 911 call about a grass fire at 2700 Coombs Creek Drive, south of Illinois Avenue.

The fire was located behind a nearby shopping center, a probation office, and was spreading south, according to DFR.

About 60 to 70 firefighters responded, including multiple engines, brush trucks, booster and rescue units as it was deemed a 3-alarm fire.

Coombs Creek Drive, from Illinois Avenue to Pentagon Parkway, was blocked off while firefighters worked to suppress the fire.

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Firefighters were able to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading to any structures, including a nearby neighborhood and businesses.

Fire crews are in the process of mopping up hot spots until being able to confirm the fire is fully extinguished, DFR said.

The cause of the fire is unknown.
Denmark plans to increase the financial aid for Ukraines civil needs to over 200 million.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, European Pravda

Details: The finance law for 2024 includes this suggestion.

"The key priority is the aid for Ukraine and the Ukrainian population. This is why this year we will allocate a record-breaking sum for civil efforts again so that we can continue providing this important support and help in dealing with the harsh consequences of the war.

The reconstruction of Ukraine will take a long time, and the needs are enormous," Dan Jrgensen, Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, stated.

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The Danish aid, among other things, must facilitate providing urgent help to the victims of the war and will be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine. These funds will help Ukrainians to restore critical infrastructure in a more eco-friendly and efficient way.

The Danish government has taken on special responsibility for the city of Mykolaiv and its rebuilding on the request of Ukraine.

In Mykolaiv, Denmark helps facilitate better access to water and heat, and also provides help in rebuilding and repairing residential areas, schools and medical institutions.

Background:

In March, Denmark and Mykolaiv Oblast signed the rebuilding memorandum.

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 roadside memorial honoring an elementary school student killed in a school bus crash late last month has been removed.

News Center 7 Daybreak found the memorial mostly gone Friday morning.

>> PHOTOS: Law enforcement remove roadside memorial honoring boy killed in Clark County school bus crash

The Clark County Prosecutors Office asked local law enforcement to remove the memorial on behalf of Aiden Clarks family, county prosecutor Dan Driscoll said Thursday night.

(Thursday night), my office has asked local law enforcement to remove the memorial created at the site of the Northwestern Elementary School bus crash last week, Driscoll said in a statement to News Center 7s John Bedell. This decision was made at the request of the family of Aiden Clark. All the other families with children who were involved in the crash, as well as bus driver Gene Collier, have been made aware. While the families greatly appreciate the outpouring of support from the community, the memorial created at the site is a heavy reminder of the loss experienced in the Aug. 22 crash.

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Law enforcement removed the memorial on State Route 41 (Troy Road) during the overnight hours on Friday.

>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Clark County school bus crash: Makeshift roadside memorial to be removed, prosecutor says

Troopers identified Hermanio Joseph as the driver of the Honda Odyssey that crossed left of center on state Route 41 (Troy Road), near Lawrenceville Road, and struck the Northwestern Local School District bus.

>>PHOTOS: Roadside memorial grows for victim in Clark County school bus

The bus, driven by 68-year-old Alfred Gene Collier, also of Springfield, then traveled off the right side of the roadway, down an embankment, and overturned.

Aiden was killed in the crash.

>> RELATED: Driver accused in deadly Clark Co. school bus crash makes initial court appearance

As many as 26 other children on the bus suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to area hospitals. One of them suffered serious, life-threatening injuries and was taken to Childrens Hospital in Dayton. Collier suffered minor injuries but was not taken to a hospital.

Joseph and his passenger, Roberto Mompremier, 37, also of Springfield, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Both were taken to Springfield Regional Medical Center, the patrol said.

>> RELATED: Grand jury indicts driver of minivan in deadly Clark County school bus crash

Driscoll said, The families would ask that the community support them in moving forward without the daily, visual reminder at the crash scene. I would ask that you continue to pray for these families and support them as they continue to heal.

Photo from: Adam Barron/Staff

Photo from: Adam Barron/Staff

Photo from: Adam Barron/Staff

Photo from: Adam Barron/Staff

Photo from: Adam Barron/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff

Photo from: Mike Campbell/Staff
Earlier this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis took time off from campaigning to be the GOP nominee for president to offer unconvincing sympathies to the community of Jacksonville, Florida after a white supremacist killed three Black people in a retail shop before killing himself. The audience at the vigil, however, was not having his lame language about how this is "unacceptable" or his efforts to sound tough by calling the killer a "major league scumbag." Instead, they loudly booed him.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was booed Sunday in Jacksonville at a vigil for the fatal shooting of three Black people by a 21-year-old white man. pic.twitter.com/7jJ70C5Ki7  The Associated Press (@AP) August 28, 2023

He was, unfortunately, quickly rescued by Jacksonville County Councilwoman Ju'Coby Pittman, who unleashed a classic "civility" scolding.

"A bullet don't know a party."

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False, when it's only one political party that works so hard to keep bullets in the hands of the deranged and the dangerous. But we shouldn't be too hard on Pittman, who no doubt is well aware that Republicans will often seize on the "civility" discourse to distract from their culpability for these hate crimes, both in terms of how they normalize bigotry and how they make it easier to get the weapons into the hands of terrorists.

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I fully expected the usual fake umbrage over "incivility" in response to the booing or to people like Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, a Democrat, who said "the governor has blood on his hands" because he's waged "an all-out attack on the Black community with his anti-woke policies."

'Blood on his hands': Sobbing Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon (D) attributes attacks on people of color in her state to Gov. Ron DeSantis' war against "woke." pic.twitter.com/fkIzNw5PbY  PoliticsVideoChannel (@politvidchannel) August 27, 2023

And sure, the usual no-name racists are whining about it on Twitter. To my surprise, however, it's mostly been silence from right wing pundits and Republican leaders. Apparently, it's not worth wasting their breath trying to argue that DeSantis isn't a racist.

This week, we were offered another reminder as to how DeSantis has made himself hard to defend, even for even the bad faith troops of the GOP. The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times joined together to file for the release of internal communications from Florida government, which led to state's education department rejecting the previously non-controversial Advanced Placement curricula for African-American Studies. As is typical for our times, the racism on display from the DeSantis-led government is somehow both shocking but not surprising.

Florida officials objected to teaching students that enslavers benefitted materially. Even though that would seem self-evident  why else enslave people?  the DeSantis-empowered reviewers complained it "may lead to a viewpoint of an 'oppressor vs. oppressed.'" They also argued that the lessons "may only present one side of this issue and may not offer any opposing viewpoints." One state evaluator objected to use of the word "enslaver," preferring the term "owner." There were also objections to teachings about the "Black is Beautiful" movement, which promoted acceptance of diverse skin colors and hair types, suggesting it is "rejecting cultural assimilation." Evaluators also wanted to force the textbooks to lie to students by implying slaves earned wages. By law, of course, slaves did not own property or make money of their own.

Republicans want people to believe there's no connection between this racist disinformation campaign and racialized violence against Black people. But, as the booers in Jacksonville understood, the lies and censorship emanating from DeSantis and his allies serve a purpose: It's propaganda to justify white supremacy. That, in turn, emboldens terrorists like the Jacksonville shooter. For instance, the objections to the "Black is Beautiful" campaign rest on the assumption that white people are "real" Americans and everyone else owes it to white people to change how they look. Once you buy that claim, it's not much of a leap to embrace the white nationalist view that it's impossible for people of different races to live in peace with each other.

The way DeSantis and his allies get away with this crap is to paint anyone who draws a link between racist lies and racist actions as "hysterical" and "overreacting." Renee Graham of the Boston Globe pointed out one obnoxious example from May, when DeSantis called it "a stunt" when the NAACP issued a travel advisory noting "the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans."

When the NAACP declared the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and issued a formal travel advisory, DeSantiss office called it nothing more than a stunt.



That was May. Yesterday, a white supremacist murdered three Black people in a Florida store.  Renee Graham  (@reneeygraham) August 27, 2023

Other writers pointed out that DeSantis's historical revisionism must be understood in light of his actions that directly target the rights and safety of present-day Black residents of Florida. As Ja'han Jones of MSNBC wrote:

Ameshia Cross, writing for the Daily Beast, reminds us how DeSantis reacted after a series of neo-Nazi protests in Florida:

At the time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slow-walked condemning the protests until national leaders from both major political parties did so. And even when he did, he still insisted that being asked to condemn the condemnable was just a ploy by "these Democrats who are trying to use this as some type of political issue to try to smear me as if I had something to do with that." The governor added, "We're not playing their game."

Condemning neo-Nazis isn't "virtue-signaling," Ron. One reason that terrorists act is they think they have a large-but-secret vein of public support. When you act like it's pulling teeth to disparage actual Nazis, those Nazis feel affirmed in their belief you quietly support them. And why would you signal such support if it's not how you feel?

Nate Monroe of Jacksonville's Florida Times-Union stood by the booing crowd, reminding readers, "DeSantis pressured the Legislature last year to pass a congressional map that, for the first time in decades, wiped out a Jacksonville district that allowed Black voters to elect the candidate of their choice." As anyone with a decent understanding of the history of Jim Crow could tell you, efforts to undermine Black voting rights and violence towards Black people go hand-in-hand. Politicians passed laws making it harder to vote, and that was taken as validation by white citizens to threaten, beat, or even kill Black people for trying to vote or otherwise live as full American citizens.

Of course, that's why DeSantis wants to rewrite the textbooks: So people don't know this history.

The whole "anti-woke" gambit has been presented to the public as not racist, so much as "anti-antiracist." The argument is that "anti-woke" people don't hate people of color, so much as they find the efforts of anti-racists to be overwrought, annoying, and unnecessary. Thomas Edsall of the New York Times wrote in July of political scientists who argue that anti-antiracism is "conceptually distinct from" the "various measures of anti-Black prejudice." Which is to say, it's the "I'm not a racist, but" crowd. Of course, the research shows "anti-antiracists" share the same prejudiced views as plain old racists. "Anti-woke" is more of a rebranding exercise for racism than a real shift in opinion.

These newly released Florida documents prove it again. DeSantis always frames his agenda as "anti-woke," as if his goal is curbing liberal overreach, instead of pushing a racist agenda. But the documents show that it's just a paper-thin cover for the same old racist nonsense: Claims that slavery was practically a gift, hints that Black people should be grateful to white people, anger at Black people who express pride instead of shame in their identity. The crowd in Jacksonville understood this thoroughly. The public reaction they're getting, which is more supportive than scolding, suggests that the lesson may be sinking in more broadly.
Developer Mikki Schuk pours a beverage in the kitchen of a luxury apartment he renovated in downtown Waukegan. (Steve Sadin/Lake County News-Sun)

Anyone with doubts about gut-renovating downtown Waukegan buildings into luxury apartments should talk to developer Mikki Schuk.

Schuk, the president of Real Invest, Inc., was in the process of turning the second and third floors of an older downtown building into three luxury apartments, calculating if he advertised online Aug. 1 he could rent them for Oct. 1 and finish the work by then.

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I advertised on Zillow and Facebook, Schuk said Thursday. I rented them in one week. I had to get them ready for Sept. 1. I finished them yesterday.

This newly renovated downtown Waukegan building has three luxury apartments on the upper stories with retail planned for the ground floor. (Steve Sadin/Lake County News-Sun)

Schuk cut a ribbon Thursday at the ground-floor entrance of the building near the corner of Washington and Genesee streets in Waukegan, welcoming guests including other business operators in the area in adding to his collection of downtown luxury apartments.

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With space on the ground floor planned for future retail development to be completed next year, there are two apartments on the second floor and one on the third. Schuk said they are all one-bedroom units.

The two on the second floor rent for $1,700 a month. One facing Washington Street is 500 square feet, and the other in the rear is 600 square feet. The third floor contains a 1,000-square-foot apartment renting for $2,400 monthly.

With no small grocery store downtown, Schuk said he envisions one on the ground floor which will also sell sandwiches and other prepared foods. He renovated four units into luxury rentals on Genesee south of Washington Street last year. They are all rented.

You cant find something like these for this price in Lake Forest or Highland Park, Schuk said. Theres a vibe downtown here. You have the lake and the train. Waukegan has the feel of a city. Those other places are like villages.

Two of the residents moving into the building agree with Schuks assessment of downtown Waukegan. One, Tyler Williams, is a Waukegan native and another, Marco Cruz, is moving from Chicagos South Loop neighborhood.

The living room of this downtown Waukegan apartment has an abundance of natural light. (Steve Sadin/Lake County News-Sun)

A sound engineer and song writer, Cruz said he gets a lot of what he likes living in Chicago for a better price. Though the building is old, the apartment feels new with modern amenities.

Its up and coming, Cruz said. It reminds you of downtown Chicago, but it is quieter. The lake is not too far away, and the train is right there. I like the high ceilings, and it has a huge living room.

A 2014 graduate of Waukegan High School, Williams said he works in downtown Waukegan and his commute to work is now walking a few blocks. Like Schuk, he also senses a vibe.

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I sense the energy downtown, Williams said. Its close to the lake, and I can walk to the harbor. Its close to the Metra station. Now I can take the train to Cubs games and Bulls games. I used to drive.

Mikki Schuk and Elena Kryvenko talk about this new Waukegan apartment. (Steve Sadin/Lake County News-Sun)

Along with renovating the second and third floors into luxury apartments, Schuk made a special effort to redo the facade. He said rather than the ordinary look it had with small windows and little glass, he wanted something fitting an urban scene.

People called this the ugly building, Schuk said before cutting the ribbon. They wanted to know what I was going to do with it. Its not the ugly building anymore, he added, referring to an entrance with sculptures and the year 2023 in Roman numerals.

A part-owner of the nearly century-old Waukegan Building at the southwest corner of Genesee and Washington, Schuk said demonstrating to investors and lenders that people will pay the rent he is receiving will be a gateway for that building and more.

Mikki Schuk cuts the ribbon on a building featuring three luxury apartments in downtown Waukegan. (Steve Sadin/Lake County News-Sun)

Former Mayor Sam Cunningham, who was at the ribbon cutting Thursday, said people like Schuk understand bringing individuals to downtown Waukegan will send a message to businesses there is potential.

This is what vision is all about, Cunningham said. This is the vision of someone who saw a future and made something happen.
(Bloomberg) -- The super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis s presidential bid has burned through cash but has little to show for it as polls unanimously show him trailing Donald Trump by wide margins.

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Never Back Down, DeSantiss primary super PAC, begged donors to contribute $50 million dollars last week, ahead of the first presidential debate in Milwaukee, saying it needed that sum to further his strategy to go all-in on the Iowa caucuses coming in just over four months, according to attendees at the meeting.

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The meeting included roughly 60 donors, according to the attendees who requested anonymity to speak about the discussions. The PAC is spending about $5 million a month in Iowa alone, they said.

The revelation of a cash crunch for the super PAC is the latest embarrassment for DeSantiss presidential bid, one that kicked off with lofty expectations following his resounding reelection as Florida governor last November. The campaign, which officially launched in May, has been best by tumult, including missteps by the candidate, donor worries about spending, firings and a leadership shake-up as DeSantis slid further behind Trump.

The super PAC did not immediately return a request for comment on its funding. CNN and The New York Times reported earlier on the $50 million ask.

The money woes are noteworthy because Never Back Down has been the best-funded super PAC allied with a GOP candidate and because of the outsized role it plays in the governors operation, essentially performing all the functions of a traditional campaign  from opposition research on rivals and media requests to deciding where he travels.

Earlier: DeSantiss Campaign Isnt Fully In Charge of DeSantiss Campaign

A large payroll and the announcement last month of a major $25 million advertising buy suggests the group is spending more quickly than it can court new donors. The super PACs biggest donor, hotel tycoon Robert Bigelow, said last month he wouldnt contribute more until DeSantis demonstrated he could attract other major donors.

Never Back Down spent $33.8 million in the first half of the year, leaving it with $98.6 million going into July, according to the groups mid-year filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Filings detailed pricey expenditures, including a $62,136 payment in June to a private jet company based in Arlington, Virginia, and an $88,795 restaurant tab in Reno, Nevada, in May.

How much money the super PAC has spent since the end of June wont be reported to the FEC until next January. From July though August 28, it has spent $5.1 million on independent expenditures, or communications telling voters to support or oppose a candidate, which have to be reported to the FEC within 48 hours of making a payment. That includes $2.1 million for media buys, $1.3 million for digital media and texting services and $979,000 for printing and postage.

Much of its spending, though, doesnt have to be disclosed, such as expenses for polling, the bus that transported DeSantis around Iowa, or the detailed debate memos prepared by a vendor and leaked.

On Thursday, Never Back Down confirmed it was shuttering door-knocking operations in Nevada and California in a bid to preserve resources for early states Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

We see real opportunities, Never Back Down communications director Erin Perrine said. The first three are going to set the conditions for the March states.

Catching Trump

DeSantis trails Trump by over 40 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls, and has staked his struggling campaign on winning Iowa, where he trails Trump by only 26 percentage points.

At the donor luncheon, Never Back Down officials said Trump had likely received over $100 million in free, so-called earned media, TV coverage for each of his four criminal indictments, helping him lift his polling numbers, according to attendees.

The officials said they believe some GOP voters will tire of Trumps legal challenges, though polls show the indictments have boosted his standing and grip on the party.

Officials said they need the cash infusion to make their push before the second Republican debate, scheduled for late September in California, according to the attendees.

DeSantis was one of eight high-polling Republican candidates to take the stage at the first primary debate last week. Trump skipped the forum, part of a strategy to deny his rivals media attention. A Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight and Ipsos poll found 29% of Republican donors said DeSantis won the debate, followed by 26% for entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

They are going to really take the momentum from the debate and put the hammer down, said Roy Bailey, a key backer who has hosted fundraisers for DeSantis.

--With assistance from Stephanie Lai and Hadriana Lowenkron.

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Ron DeSantis will not meet Joe Biden on Saturday when the president comes to Florida to survey damage from Hurricane Idalia, the governor's administration said Friday.

The governors office, in a statement, said the visit will disrupt recovery efforts.

We dont have any plans for the Governor to meet with the President tomorrow, said Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis spokesperson, in a statement. In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.

The White House on Friday night said the president and first lady Jill Biden will still travel to Florida Saturday, along with Deanne Criswell , administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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Their visit to Florida has been planned in close coordination with FEMA as well as state and local leaders to ensure there is no impact on response operations, the White House said in a statement.

A White House official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the trip, said Biden informed DeSantis Thursday and the governor did not express concerns at that time.

As he was leaving Washington for Florida on Saturday morning, Biden said that he did not know what happened to the meeting, adding that "we are going to take care of Florida," according to a pool report.

The two rivals and political enemies were expected to meet on Saturday to jointly survey damage from Hurricane Idalia, a devastating storm that struck Florida earlier this week and left more than 6,000 homes damaged and at least one person dead.

DeSantis and Biden previously appeared together and projected unity after almost 100 people were killed in a terrifying condo collapse north of Miami Beach in 2021, and they worked together last year after Hurricane Ian demolished seaside communities along Floridas Gulf Coast.

But this would have been their first event together since DeSantis announced he was running for president.

Senior White House officials said recently it was important for the president to speak with DeSantis after a 21-year-old white man killed three Black Floridians in a racially motivated Jacksonville shooting last week and, again, in the aftermath of the latest hurricane so Biden could offer federal support.

GOP Sen. Rick Scott, who has long fought with DeSantis, on Friday night also posted on social media that hell be with Biden in Suwannee County, which is about an hour from where the hurricane made landfall, on Saturday. He said hell receive a storm briefing from local officials and will be pushing Biden to approve his disaster relief legislation.

DeSantis, during a Friday morning press conference, also said he warned Biden by phone that Saturdays trip could be very disruptive to some of the hardest hit communities because the White Houses whole security apparatus could congest roadways in the rural areas.

The hurricane made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday near Keaton Beach on the Gulf Coast. The area is one of the most rural regions in Florida, far away from major cities.

Biden and DeSantis signaled a willingness to put aside politics before Saturdays visit. On Thursday, Biden joked that hes spoken so frequently with DeSantis about the storm response that there should be a direct dial, the two of us  Gov. DeSantis and I. Biden also approved a major disaster declaration for Florida and sent Criswell to the state Thursday.

I think [DeSantis] trusts my judgment and my desire to help, and I trust him to be able to suggest that this is not about politics, this is about taking care of the people of his state, Biden said earlier this week.

For his part, DeSantis said this week that helping people affected by Idalia is a top priority. That has got to triumph over any type of short-term political calculation or any type of positioning, he said. He also toured damaged areas with Criswell.

DeSantis frequently rails against Bidens policies on immigration, LGBTQ issues, the economy and pandemic policies. He has sued the administration numerous times, including over border policies, university accreditation and for failing to approve a measure that would allow Florida to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.

On the Republican presidential debate stage on Aug. 23, the governor portrayed Biden as a useless leader relegated to his basement. He called out the president for what he said was an insufficient, tone-deaf response to the Maui wildfires.

"As somebody that's handled disasters in Florida, you've got to be activated, he said. You've got to be there. You've got to be present.

Biden and his administration also doesnt shy away from criticizing DeSantis. In recent months, Vice President Kamala Harris has taken a more public role in attacking the governor. Harris skewered DeSantis over Floridas 6-week abortion ban  which the governor signed into law  and criticized him after he defended a middle-school curriculum that would instruct students that slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.

Speaking in Orlando at the African Methodist Episcopal church in August, Harris said there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: There were no redeeming qualities of slavery.

Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic party, on Friday criticized DeSantis for announcing that he wont meet with Biden.

In times of crisis, the American people expect our leaders to put aside their differences and find strength in unity, she said in a statement. By refusing to meet with President Biden, hes proving again what weve known for years  Ron will always put politics over people.

Adam Cancryn and Andrew Zhang contributed to this story.
Arizona State University's free speech controversies appear far from over, as the school's Turning Point USA chapter prepares to welcome conservative speakers Charlie Kirk and Dennis Prager back to campus in September.

News of the event comes after their last visit, hosted by a university center devoted to personal development and conservative values, ignited a public firestorm.

The previous talk was met with protest from some faculty and students at ASU. It ignited further controversy after Ann Atkinson, the former director of the T.W. Lewis Center for Personal Development, publicly alleged that she lost her job over bringing Kirk and Prager to campus  a claim the university strongly denies. Later, Republican state lawmakers launched a committee to investigate the incident.

Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale and co-chair of the committee, told The Arizona Republic that he intends to go to the upcoming event. He said he remains concerned about free expression at the university and that he and other Republican lawmakers intend to "keep an eye" on the school in coming months.

Republican state Sen. Anthony Kern leads a protest across the street from the Washington Elementary School District office on March 9, 2023, in Glendale.

"This event will again shine a spotlight on the faculty and their reaction," Kern said. "And, ASU in general."

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Conversely, Democratic Rep. Analise Ortiz of Phoenix, who also sits on the committee, said the upcoming talk just proves that the university allows people with diverse political beliefs to speak freely on campus.

"They're going to have the event and it's going to go on," she said. "I don't think there's any reason for the Legislature to be involved, especially since the university has already showed that they went about this the right way, that they gave opportunity for different viewpoints to be on campus, and that should be the end of the conversation."

The live event, called "Health, Wealth and Happiness 2.0," emulates the title of the February talk. Turning Point USA spokesperson Aubrey Laitsch said the event's return was prompted by the "remarkable level of interest generated during its previous hosting at ASU."

She did not say whether the upcoming talk would explicitly touch on the controversy that the initial event ignited, but noted that the organization is focused on holding discussions around "personal development, conservative values and the principles of free expression."

Ann Atkinson takes a photo during a Freedom of Expression Committee hearing on July 18, 2023, in a Senate Hearing room at the Arizona State Capital in Phoenix.

"This was an invitation both Dennis and Charlie were eager to accept after the controversy and subsequent firing of Ann Atkinson following the first iteration of this event," Laitsch said. "What happened to her was wrong and TPUSA believes that ASU and all public universities must adhere to the First Amendment and the free expression of ideas."

University officials said they remain committed to upholding the First Amendment.

"We not only allow but encourage an environment where all members of the university community are able to fully participate in an open exchange of ideas," said Chris Fiscus, a university spokesperson.

State lawmakers' ongoing inquiry

The talk will take place a week after ASU officials are expected to hand Kern and other Republican lawmakers a written investigation into the circumstances around the February event.

Kern said he hopes to hold additional meetings on the matter shortly thereafter.

"We're going to have another (committee) hearing in mid-October, and then we're going to probably continue the investigation," he said. "I'm looking at having students come forward who can keep their identity secret and let us know what's really happening at our state-run universities."

Meanwhile, at a Tuesday night talk in Tempe, Arizona Board of Regents Chairman Fred DuVal said leaders at Arizona's public universities are dealing with free speech issues "every single day" on their campuses, directly referencing the controversy ASU is currently facing.

Regent Fred DuVal speaks at a meeting with Arizona State University and the Arizona Board of Regents concerning ASU's plans for a medical school, held in the Fulton Center on ASU's Tempe campus on June 1, 2023.

"The purpose of free speech is to create uncomfortable truths," DuVal said. "That is the purpose of creating a campus that is filled with a robust exchange of ideas  it makes you uncomfortable. That leads into an enormous array of challenging ideas about where civility ends and where the First Amendment comes in and how you moderate between the two."

He was one of several officials who spoke on civic engagement and civil discourse at the event, which was held as part of a series called Arizona Talks, which aims to gather community members to civilly discuss public policy issues.

"Campus activism is by its nature about challenging authority," DuVal said. "About challenging ideas. About, frankly, calling people out for immoral or wrong behavior. Incivility is the point. How do you square that?"

A pressure campaign?

Kern said his primary concern is that conservative students feel safe to express their opinions and attend events with right-wing speakers without fearing retribution from faculty.

He said he believes from his conversations with students that some have hidden their political ideology from their professors for fear that it could negatively impact their grades, although he said he couldn't provide "actual documented proof in paper" of such an incident.

"The culture there is that they are afraid of making noise," Kern said. "They just want to get through ASU, get good grades, get out in the real world and then they're free to speak. And that's a shame."

Even faculty protesting outside the event, he said, could contribute to a culture of fear. But Ortiz noted that professors still have "every right" to express discontent with speakers who "they might see as extremists who spread rhetoric that hurts marginalized communities."

Analise Ortiz speaks to the group of protesters in the State Capitol complex.

"They do have a right to protest, they do have a right to send letters expressing their discontent with the speakers, and that's the long and short of it," she said.

Kern agreed that faculty have the legal right to peacefully assemble and speak their minds. But he questioned whether they should do so, given their positions at the university.

"That's a position of trust," he said. "They've been hired by the university, and I think they should just adhere to that position of trust. I think students that are impressionable, they see their professor out there ... that's a little intimidating."

Ultimately, he said the Board of Regents is best equipped to create "guidelines" that address his concerns  and he intends to keep the pressure on until they do.

"They're really the ones who should be moving in the direction that we're trying to move," Kern said.

Still, DuVal told The Republic on Tuesday that he thinks Arizona's universities generally strike the right balance when it comes to free speech.

It's often "imperfect," he said, but ASU and other state universities still "commit wholeheartedly to the notion that free speech allows everybody to get heard."

"It's just messy," DuVal said. "There are no neat lines."

Sasha Hupka covers higher education for The Arizona Republic. Do you have a tip on Arizona's universities, community colleges or trade schools? Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Turning Point USA to return to ASU amid free speech inquiry
A Plainfield police officer has been criminally charged after court records state he tried to falsely accuse a fellow officer of numerous offenses to prevent him from being promoted.

The Hendricks County Prosecutors Office on Thursday charged former Plainfield police officer Valentin Khazin with official misconduct, a felony, and false informing, a misdemeanor, following an investigation by Indiana State Police.

Khazin, who resigned from the department Aug. 30, had been with the department since March 27, 2020. He did not have an attorney listed Friday afternoon.

A probable cause affidavit detailing the case said the investigation began when detectives from the Plainfield Police Department were told in June of possible false crime reports and harassment at a gas station.

Former Plainfield police officer Valentin Khazin, who resigned from the department on Aug. 30, 2023. The Hendricks County Prosecutor's Office charged Khazin with official misconduct and false informing.

During interviews at the gas station, the clerk told police Khazin had asked him to make false accusations against a Plainfield police sergeant, who was reportedly trying to become a lieutenant  the same job Khazin wanted.

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The clerk told investigators that in early June, Khazin asked him to compose three letters using an AI program detailing false allegations of verbal, physical and sexual abuse against children by the police sergeant, who doubled as a school resource officer. The letters, the clerk recalled, were to be sent to the departments chief, the Plainfield Town Council, and the Plainfield Community School Board.

The pair had developed a rapport over some time, the clerk explained, as several officers come to his gas station to get coffee and take a break. The clerk told police Khazin said he wanted to retaliate against an "incident" between the two law enforcement officers about a year and a half ago.

Khazin promised if he completed the task, he would benefit in the future with an unspecified, eventual quid pro quo," the clerk said, according to court records.

Investigators in a probable cause affidavit detailing Khazins charges said a fake letter written by Plainfield police officials was drafted, and for the next several weeks, they surveyed the gas station on nights Khazin may come in.

On Aug. 16, Khazin entered the gas station just before 12:30 a.m. and approached the clerk. Court records said surveillance footage and police cameras showed the clerk took out the fake letter, unfolded the paper and laid it on the counter for Khazin to review.

Police in court records said Khazin looked over the letter for several seconds and is heard saying yeah. The clerk responded he found an apartment complex where he could send letters, after which police in the affidavit said Khazin abruptly changed the subject by asking what was on the clerks shirt.

Investigators said Khazin pointed to the camera the clerk was wearing to capture the interaction.

Excuse me for being paranoid, Khazin said, according to the affidavit. Do you understand that? I dont want to look like a weirdo to you. I think youre awesome, man. Everything you do is awesome.

The two men then changed the subject.

The charges

After what police called a second unsuccessful attempt to record a conversation at the gas station, detectives asked Khazin for an interview about the investigation.

During the interview on Aug. 28, Khazin said he hates the sergeant hes accused of trying to tarnish and avoided him. He explained the contentious relationship stemmed from a police call they made a year ago regarding an intoxicated driver. The sergeant tried to assign Khazin to the call, court records state, but Khazin did not want to take it. Court records state Khazin said the sergeant then got into his face and yelled at him.

When showed the prop letter containing allegations against the sergeant, Khazin said hed never seen the letter before and called the accusations false. Investigators said they showed Khazin the surveillance footage capturing the clerk showing him the letter and allege Khazin repeated he did not read the letter the clerk presented and called the employee weird.

Investigators said Khazin stopped the interview and left the room when they began to show video the clerk captured from the camera on his person.

Indiana State Police on Friday said Khazin was issued a summons rather than being detained "due to the safety of the defendant, as the state has not yet reviewed all cases in which the defendant was the arresting officer or participated in and there may still be defendants in the jail on those cases."

Contact reporter Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Plainfield officer accused of trying to 'tarnish' sergeant's reputation
(NEXSTAR)  Its a common joke to refer to the FBI agent that lives in your phone, listening to your conversations and observing your phone usage (this is almost certainly not happening to you, as the FBI uses wiretapping infrequently and only to combat terrorism and the most serious crimes).

But, it is possible the FBI has a file on you.

Legally, you are allowed to request whatever information the FBI may have on you thanks to FOIPA: the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act.

Under FOIPA, Americans are entitled to request records from any federal agency. That agency is, in turn, required to release the information requested, unless it meets one of nine exemptions that protect personal privacy, national security, or law enforcement.

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It doesnt say pickles on most pickle jars. Why is that?

That also entitles you to request information the FBI has on you.

To do so, youll need to complete a Privacy Act Request, which can be done online or by sending a letter to the FBI.

Submitting a Privacy Act Request

A Privacy Act Request is only available to citizens seeking information about themselves or another living person.

To complete the process online, youll need to first submit and confirm your email address.

Then, youll be asked to submit information about yourself (or another person) like your name and address. You will have to confirm it is you, if youre requesting information about yourself  providing false information could result in criminal penalties, the FBI warns.

Who qualifies for $0 student loan payments?

Before submitting the eFOIPA, you will have to state whether you will pay for the search and results the FBI produces. Once youve completed the above sections, you will have to submit your request and wait.

If you opt to complete a paper form and letter to the FBI, youll complete a similar set of steps.

What youll receive

After a wait (which was about 10 days for us), youll receive a response via the mail, regardless of how you submitted the request.

If you are an average person with no record or interaction with the FBI, you may be a bit disappointed by your response: We were unable to identify records subject to the FOIPA that are responsive to your request. Therefore, your request is being closed.

That response may include additional information, like whether relevant records were destroyed or transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (theres a separate FOIPA request for those documents). But you likely will not receive a multi-page report about you.

An empty FOIPA request doesnt necessarily mean there are no records of you.

The FBI notes there are a number of exemptions that keep some records from being released. Among those are records of intelligence sources, methods, or activities, as well as those that are considered law enforcement and national security records. The agency also cannot confirm nor deny whether an individual is on a watch list or in the Witness Security Program, or the existence of confidential informant records.

Map: Does your drinking water contain forever chemicals?

Regarding all three options, the FBI says, This is a standard response and should not be read to indicate that such records do or do not exist.

Youll also likely receive information on how to request an Identity History Summary Check, which is not the same as material in an investigative FBI file. Instead, this includes information taken from fingerprint cards and documents submitted to the FBI in connection with arrests, federal employment, naturalization, or military service. There is a service fee associated with these requests.

Ultimately, if youre concerned the FBI has a file on you, there probably isnt. But, you are entitled to request the information they do have.

There are many public figures that you can, however, find information on in The Vault maintained by the FBI. It contains thousands of documents previously released to the public via FOIA requests. That includes records on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, material related to investigations into former President Donald Trump, documents on the infamous plane hijacker D.B. Cooper, and even astronaut Neil Armstrong.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
COSHOTON  A brave and noble officer of the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office recently retired, but he'll still be getting plenty of belly rubs for being a good boy.

K-9 Officer Chili and his human partner Deputy Steve Mox started in 2017 as the department's second K-9 team. Detective Sgt. Dave Stone began the unit in 2007 with the late Dingo. Dingo was replaced by Henata, who was replaced by Charli in 2021. Deputy Jeremy Johnson and Rip started as a third pair last summer.

Chili will now live out his days with Mox. He isn't getting a new partner right now, but Sheriff James Crawford said adding another unit could be in the future and Mox would be a prime candidate as handler. Chili was starting to get arthritis, which led to the retirement.

Chili retired recently as a K-9 officer with the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office, having served with Dep. Steve Mox since 2017. Chili was instrumental in searches for crime suspects, loss children, illegal drugs and more.

Chili is an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois. Stone said it was thought a good idea to add another unit when he and Henata were switched to the detective division from the road patrol, limiting some of their availability. Mox and Chili worked mostly nights.

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Chili is a dual purpose dog, meaning hes trained to find drugs as well as tracking of missing people and criminal suspects and evidence searching, like finding firearms and cell phones from burglaries. He was trained by Storm Dog K9 Training in Sunbury.

"K-9s are invaluable. Without them, we couldn't do the drug work that we do. We wouldn't have the tracking and finding of loss children we've experienced over the years," Crawford said. "They're also our deputy's backup. When we have a deputy out on patrol, it's nice to know they have someone watching their back and the K-9 will have your back."

Chili with his cake from Good Boy Bakery in Roscoe Village, wishing him a happy retirement as a K-9 officer with the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office.

Significant cases Mox remembers Chili being instrumental on was finding the murder weapon from a double homicide in Canal Lewisville that was tossed in a field, tracking a burglary suspect through the woods for almost two hours and finding a suspect from Licking County in a cornfield near Conesville.

"He's been great. I can't complain how he's been. We've done a lot of great things for this county," Mox said of Chili. "The older he got, I figure he would slow down, but he hasn't slowed down at all. He's still as hyper as ever."

The K-9 division has always largely been funded via donations from local businesses, foundations and service clubs. Many law enforcement offices in Ohio don't have K-9s and those that do usually only have one. Crawford said community support has led them to have one of the most successful K-9 divisions in the state.

"All of our dollars spent on the K-9s and K-9 training has been donated through local foundations, local partners and local residents who have donated thousands and thousands of dollars to make sure this program exists," Crawford said.

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: K-9 officer Chili retires from Coshocton County Sheriff's Office
DOJ loses on appeal in trying to block Trump deposition

The D.C. Appeals Court ruled Friday that former President Trump can be deposed in suits against the FBI brought by former agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

The Department of Justice appealed a ruling from a lower court in July, which came to the same conclusion.

Strzok is suing the bureau for wrongful termination and Page is suing for invasion of privacy after the pair were embroiled in a political scandal due to work on the bureaus investigation into Trumps ties to Russia in 2018.

Text messages became public in which the pair spoke about how they personally disliked Trump, causing concern that the entire investigation was biased, later resulting in Page resigning and Strzok being fired.

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Only the most extraordinary of circumstances would justify allowing a plaintiff to depose a former high-level official about actions he took in the course of his official duties. This case falls far short of that standard, DOJ attorneys argued in their appeal.

FBI Director Christopher Wray and former Trump chief of staff John Kelly already testified for the lawsuits, making Trumps testimony unnecessary, the DOJ argued.

The appeals court ruled that District Judge Amy Berman Jackson properly considered the DOJs concerns about a former president being deposed and came to her conclusion justly.

Having employed particular deference and restraint considering the separation-of-powers concerns at issue, the district court ultimately concluded that extraordinary circumstances warranted the deposition of the former President, according to the ruling.

Under these circumstances, petitioners have not shown that the district courts conclusion was a clear abuse of discretion warranting mandamus relief, it continued.

Kelly said in his testimony that Trump wanted to see Mr. Strzok fired and considered other retaliation.

President Trump questioned whether investigations by the Internal Revenue Service or other federal agencies should be undertaken into Mr. Strzok and/or Ms. Page. I do not know of President Trump ordering such an investigation. It appeared, however, that he wanted to see Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page investigated, Kelly said.

Trump has extensively spoken about Strzok and Page on social media.

The case now returns to Jackson, who previously said that she would allow Trump to be deposed for a short period of time on limited subject matter relevant to the suits.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Massachusetts man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Springfield Friday for allegedly stealing benefit payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs and submitting a false Purple Heart application to the Marine Corps.

Paul John Herbert, 52, of Shelburne Falls is accused of stealing more than $344,000 in veteran disability benefits from January 1, 2010 to March 11, 2023, according to the Department of Justice. In October 2018, the former United States Marine also allegedly submitted an application for a Purple Heart award, claiming he suffered injuries including a traumatic brain injury from a roadside explosion while deployed in Northern Iraw.

Herbert was arrested Friday and is facing charges of one count of theft of government money and one count of making false statements. He was released on conditions.

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Mr. Herberts alleged conduct is an affront to every veteran who has sacrificed to earn the honor of a Purple Heart and who is deserving of disability benefits. According to the indictment, he not only stole tens of thousands of dollars in disability benefits that are supposed to be used to help veterans in need, but he also falsely claimed to have suffered a traumatic brain injury during his deployment in an effort to receive a Purple Heart he didnt deserve, said United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. Every day, thousands of brave members of the military selflessly risk their lives to protect our country. Stealing from our countrys veterans or claiming valor where there is none is an insult to the honorable service members who sacrifice for our safety.

A charge of theft of government money allows for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. The charge of making a false statement allows for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

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Renovation of the former First Midwest Bank building into the new Waukegan Community School District 60 administration building continues. (Steve Sadin/Lake County News-Sun)

With the opening of a wraparound center and other Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 offices in downtown Waukegan less than three months away, district officials are starting a needs assessment to learn what the community wants to see there.

Known now is the lower level of the building at the northwest corner of Genesee and Washington streets will contain seven offices, where partner agencies will provide therapeutic support and access to services and resources when renovations are done.

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Bridget Dotson, the districts director of wraparound center services, said an online survey and five collaboration sessions will help the district learn the needs of the community so officials can determine who will fill the offices to offer services.

Data from the needs assessment will determine what the community feels it needs in terms of partners for the wraparound center, Dotson said. We want to know the communitys needs and the gaps in service.

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Dotson will conduct the first of five collaboration sessions at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Lincoln Center administration building in Waukegan to begin the collection of information resulting in a functioning wraparound center by the end of November.

Individuals from the school community and the city can take the survey online. Dotson said there will be paper copies to complete at the collaboration sessions for those who prefer doing it that way. They must be completed by Sept 11.

Learning the needs people see in social, health and legal services is essential to create a wraparound center meeting those needs. Dotson said the information will be completely confidential so participants need not fear personal information becoming public.

We want to know about needs and gaps in services, Dotson said.

At the collaboration sessions, Dotson said the district wants to learn what people feel is needed. She does not want anyone to be concerned about a stigma which might be attached to mental health or addiction issues.

Its an opportunity to collaborate and give the community a chance to articulate their needs, Dotson said. We want to dispel any myths, and get valuable input from the community.

Should people have needs or concerns they consider to personal to talk about publicly, Nick Alatzakis. The districts communications director, said staff will be available for private discussions.

Additional collaboration sessions will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at Beacon Place, and virtually at noon Friday, 6 p.m. Sept. 11 and 7 p.m. Sept. 12. The Sept 12 gathering will be conducted in Spanish.

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Once the needs assessment is complete, Dotson said district personnel will assemble the data and prepare a request for proposal to potential community partners to be part of the wraparound center. Responses are due Oct. 15.

With the proposals from potential community partners submitted, Dotson said the district will determine who they are. Though filling all seven spaces is ideal, they may not all be filled by opening day. Delivery of services is by appointment.

LeBaron Moten, the districts deputy superintendent for operations support and programs, said services will primarily be available to students and their families. It will also be open to Waukegan residents.

Along with the wraparound center, Moten said a number of district wide services will operate from the new administration building when the lower and first floors open in November.

Those services include family and community engagement, the bilingual department, student outreach, child nutrition and transportation, some registration services and a boardroom available for meetings.

By the end of January, Moten said he anticipates the entire seven-floor building will be fully renovated. It will house Superintendent Theresa Plascencia and her staff, top administrators, the legal department, some academic departments and more. Some central office staff will remain at Lincoln Center.
Island Clark spent much of Thursday wondering where the father of her three young boys was.

Tremaine Jackson had the car that she needed to get to the children's school that day. But the 28-year-old wouldn't answer his phone or respond to increasingly angry voice messages she was leaving him, Clark said.

It wasn't until about 5:30 that afternoon that Clark learned Jackson, whom she'd been with for 10 years, had been fatally shot by Delaware State Police near a New Castle-area Lowe's.

"I don't know how to describe how I feel or how I'm doing," she told Delaware Online/The News Journal as a friend took her her three sons  ages 5, 6 and 7  so she could more freely speak about the incident. "I can only say I'm here."

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While Clark confirmed Jackson was a fugitive as police announced during a Thursday press conference, the 31-year-old woman said Jackson was not violent and doesn't believe police accounts used to justify shooting him.

Delaware Online reviewed Jackson's criminal history using the Delaware electronic court system and found that the overwhelming majority of charges against him were for stealing.

Police, who have not identified Jackson, said troopers with the Governor's Task Force and the Special Operations Response Team were at the Lowe's on Hessler Boulevard just before 7:30 a.m. for a "known fugitive shoplifting at the business."

WHAT HAPPENED: Man killed by police in shooting at New Castle-area Lowe's was a 'known fugitive'

As the man left the store with a cart full of items, police said, officers tried to stop him, but he ran to a "getaway" vehicle parked behind the home improvement store. The man continued to ignore commands to stop, police said, and hit an unmarked state police truck while attempting to flee.

Troopers shot the man "when he continued to drive in a manner that placed officers in imminent danger," police said in a statement.

Delaware State Police did not immediately respond Friday to inquiries about the incident.

Since releasing a statement Thursday afternoon, police have remained silent about the shooting. The department wouldn't even respond to questions by reporters on Thursday about how troopers were injured during the incident or how many officers were involved in the shooting.

Richard Smith, president of the NAACP Delaware State Conference of Branches, said his organization is demanding transparency from police and wants to view video that shows what happened.

"We want the [police] body camera footage," he said. "We need the camera footage from Lowe's. Anything from the Minquadale area."

Minquadale is the community adjacent to where the officer-involved shooting occurred.

Clark said she wants to make sure there is justice for Jackson, adding she doesn't believe what police are saying.

"I don't buy it," she said. "So now we want to get to the bottom of it."

Tremaine and Island

Jackson was battling a heroin addiction that began after Clark said he started taking Percocet, a prescription painkiller that many blame for leading them to opioids.

But his addiction didn't define him, Clark said.

"He was loyal. He was loving. He was all about us," she said. "He died loving us.

"This addiction didn't define his character or who he was."

Clark said she was introduced to Jackson by her brother, Donnell Clark. While this introduction bonded them, Donnell Clark's 2015 fatal shooting brought a change in the couple for years to come  his addiction worsened and the pair became homeless on and off.

THE BACKSTORY: Wilmington killing leads to 25 years in prison

"I would say two years ago, that's when he actually came out and told me about his heroin addiction," Clark said. "I knew, but I was just waiting for him to tell me."

Despite that, she said he did whatever he could for his family.

"He was just the best," Clark said. "He was a giver. He had a heart of gold."

Their last night

After a period of homelessness, the family ended up staying at Clark's grandmother's house on Wednesday.

This is also the last place Clark would see Jackson alive.

It was Wednesday night and an exhausted Clark told Jackson she would be right back as she left him sitting in his car in front of her grandmother's house.

She went to check on their three boys but ended up falling asleep in the house.

The next morning, she went out to check on Jackson but he was gone.

Because she needed to go to the boys' school, she called Jackson but he did not answer her calls.

It wasn't until about 5:30 p.m. that she learned his fate  that's when his mother called her to what had happened.

The Lowe's home improvement store located at 2225 Hessler Blvd. near New Castle is where police fatally shot Tremaine Jackson on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.

In addition to wanting to know what led to Jackson's shooting, Clark said is concerned about her children, who in addition to being sad about their father's loss, are also angry at police officers.

"My baby son and my older son, they are just so angry," she said. "They see a cop and they get just so angry and say stuff.

"I don't want them to grow up and hate the cops. I have to get somebody to help them."

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware police shooting draws scrutiny from NAACP, man's girlfriend
Police have arrested a man in connection with the death of a downtown Raleigh restaurant worker earlier this week.

David Millette, 27, was injured in an altercation in the 600 block of Glenwood Avenue shortly after 2 a.m. Aug. 26, according to Raleigh police.

During the incident, Millette was punched and injuries when he fell to the ground and hit his head on the sidewalk, according to The News & Observers media partner, ABC11 News.

He was taken to an area hospital and died Friday morning from his injuries, according to police spokesperson Lt. Jason Borneo.

Early Saturday morning, police arrested Tyrell Jarue Moore, 23, in connection with Millettes death and charged him with murder. Police said Moore was arrested at 1:39 a.m. with assistance from Fuquay Varina police.

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There have been 19 homicides in Raleigh this year.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department at 919-996-1193.

David Millette, general manager, operating partner and part owner of Midwood Smokehouse.

A big heart

Millette was the general manager, operating partner and part owner of Midwood Smokehouse.

We are incredibly sad to report that we lost a part of our team last night to a senseless act of violence in our neighborhood and will be closed (Friday), according to the restaurants Instagram page.  Normal operations resume tomorrow, but for now please keep our Midwood family in your thoughts. Thank you.

Cov DeRamus, a partner at Midwood, hired Millette when he was a teenager at Bad Daddys Burger Bar.

The common thread is just how much he cared about people and how he went out of his way to do little things for anybody, perfect strangers, friends or family or best friends, he said. That didnt make any difference. He had a big heart and he just wanted to please people.

DeRamus remembers Millette offering to pick up other restaurant employees who needed a ride into work on a snow day.

Along the way, you know, anybody that had pulled over on the side of the road and if they needed assistance, he had to stop at every single car and make sure there hadnt been anyone hurt, DeRamus said.

Glenwood South crime

Glenwood South stretches five blocks between Hillsborough and Peace streets.

Neighbors and concerned residents have complained about the nightlife district at Raleigh City Council meetings, citing drunken behavior, fights and crimes. On a nearby neighborhood listserv, North Carolina First Lady Kristen Cooper questioned the districts vibrancy after a man tried to kick down the door of her private home at 3 a.m.

In late July, The News & Observer sent journalists to spend 24 hours in the district to highlight its day-to-night transformation. As of Aug. 3, four people had been shot in Glenwood South this year, The N&O previously reported.

There have been 21 aggravated assaults and 69 simple assaults so far in Glenwood South this year.

DeRamus lives near Glenwood South and says the city doesnt have the spine to do anything about the crime in the area.

Im in the hospitality business and make some of my living on selling alcohol, he said. However, I think we do it in a manner thats a bit more responsible. At the end of the day, you know, were a community of people. And Im pretty sure that most of us want all the same things. We want a vibrant community, but we need to do so in a manner that keeps people safe.

The city recently started shutting down part of Glenwood Avenue late on weekend nights to keep motorcycles and loud vehicles from cruising up and down the main stretch and is working on other initiatives to make the area safer, said Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin.

We are committed to public safety, she said. We dont take this lightly. This is something weve been really seriously talking with the community about, and our chief has been really working with a great deal of urgency.

The News & Observer has requested a copy of any 911 calls related to this incident.

Reporter Drew Jackson contributed to this report.
Dozens of people were killed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo this week during demonstrations against the United Nations mission in the country.

Protesters in the eastern city of Goma on Wednesday criticized the UNs Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO), the East African Community and other international organizations operating in the country.

At least 43 people were killed and a further 53 were injured during the clashes with local authorities. Over 150 people were arrested, including the leader of the group which organized the protests, the government said.

The DRC government said that the protesters carried out actions that undermined public order, and and that law enforcement intervened to restore tranquility and serenity in the city, according to a statement Thursday.

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According to a MONUSCO press release on Thursday, Congolese defense and security forces tried to prevent the holding of this demonstration, which promised to be violent by the very admission of its organizers.

MONUSCO remains concerned about the threats of violence made before the demonstration and recalls the importance of the peaceful resolution of disputes and conflicts through inclusive dialogue, the statement read.

People have a right to express themselves

Goma authorities have launched an inquiry into the incident and the justice ministry has been instructed to gather evidence.

Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Friday that the UN has received information indicating that the death toll may be higher.

Shamdasani also called for an independent investigation into the killings.

We note the Governments announcement that an investigation has been opened into this incident and call for it to be thorough, effective, and impartial. Such an investigation must also comprehensively examine the use force by the security forces. Those responsible for violations must be held to account, regardless of their affiliation, Shamdasani said.

People have a right to express themselves freely and to assemble peacefully, even if in protest at the United Nations and other actors. Authorities must facilitate the right to peaceful assembly, she added.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Friday called for DRC authorities to ensure that future law enforcement actions in the context of the policing of public assemblies fully adhere to international human rights norms and standards.

Anti-UN protests in the DRC broke out in July and have since escalated. The UN has a longstanding and significant footprint in the country, which has been the object of local demonstrations for years. In 2017, a Congolese military court sentenced 49 people to death following an investigation into the murders of two UN experts in the country.

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Around 70 new dinosaur tracks have been revealed in a dried-up riverbed in Texas.

Intense drought conditions have caused the river to dry up two years in a row.

The giant tracks are thought to belong to the Acrocanthosaurus and the Sauroposeidon.

A series of tracks thought to belong to dinosaurs that roamed the earth 113 million years ago have been uncovered in a drought-stricken riverbed in Texas.

Intense heat has caused new parts of the Paluxy River at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas, to dry up, revealing the astonishing imprints.

A view of the dried-up river Paluxy in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. Paul Baker

There are two types. One set, with three-toed tracks, is believed to belong to an Acrocanthosaurus, a bipedal creature that grew as large as 39 feet long and could weigh up to 7.3 tons.

An artist's impression of an acrocanthosaurus. Getty Images

The other set, comprising wider, elephant-like tracks, is thought to be from a Sauroposeidon, a long-necked creature that walked on all fours, weighed up to 60 tons, and could stretch 111 feet from nose to tail.

An artist's rendering of three sauroposeidens. Getty Images

"The Glen Rose area is a hotbed for dinosaur tracks due to it being an ancient sea coastline around 113 million years ago," Paul Baker, retail manager for the Friends of Dinosaur Valley State Park organization, told Insider.

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The Paluxy River then eroded the land down to the tracks, he said  many of which, until now, have been underwater.

In total, around 70 new tracks in the park have been uncovered in the drought, Chron reported, and a team is busy mapping them.

Three-toed tracks nearby larger ones in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. Paul Baker

Baker posted a video on Facebook of one such print being uncovered, almost perfectly formed under cracks of dried mud.

According to the US Drought Monitor, Glen Rose is currently in an area of extreme drought. "This is not normal for us. Normally, this would all be underwater," park superintendent Jeff Davis told The Dallas Morning News.

Future rains will cover the tracks over again, Davis said, so there has been a flurry of activity to document them.

A three-toed track inside a larger one in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. Paul Baker

"It's been a ton of work," Baker, who took the pictures, told Insider. "At times I have measured the limestone in the riverbed to be at 128 degrees, so it has not been easy."

Baker is with the team that is midway through a process of cleaning, mapping and casting some of the finds. One of the areas, known as the Ballroom site, "is pretty much cleared off now and is a sight to see. Almost double the size from last year," he told Insider.

A wooden ruler is roughly half the size of this dinosaur track in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. Paul Baker

It's the second year in a row that the Paluxy has receded to reveal the wealth of footprints. In August last year, about 60 Acrocanthosaurus prints were revealed in the first drought, the BBC reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Debris from destroyed homes litters a canal in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, one day after the passage of Hurricane Idalia. | Rebecca Blackwell, Associated Press

After devastating Floridas western Big Bend region on Tuesday, Tropical Storm Idalia moved on to hit the Carolinas on Thursday.

Strong storm surges and powerful winds ripped roofs off of buildings and damaged thousands of homes while making some neighborhoods look like lakes in Florida, per CNN. Several deaths have been reported.

The Guardian posted drone footage that showed vehicles in ditches and homes ripped to shreds in Horseshoe, Florida.

WXChasing also recorded the damage from the storm in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, in more detail, with a before shot shown at the end.

North Carolina is bracing for impact, where the National Hurricane Center said on Thursday afternoon, strong winds and storm surge continue along the coast.

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War has changed the way Ukrainian schoolchildren study, as can be seen by at least one class in Lviv, who spent their first day back to class learning how to operate unmanned aerial drones (UAVs), as seen in photos published by Lviv mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, on social media on Sept. 1.

Read also: Sleep-deprived students can skip early classes after an air raid, says Education Minister

Drone operating lessons are now part of the school curriculum for some students in "Defense of Ukraine classes. The format is currently being tested and could be extended to all schools in the future, Sadovyi said.

"There is more to come. I believe that today's schoolchildren will not have to fight evil. But experience shows that it's better to be prepared," the mayor said.

  / Facebook

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Read also: Zaluzhnyi congratulates children as they head back to school on Ukraines Day of Knowledge

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Lessons included in Defense of Ukraine classes include first aid, mine awareness and safety, orienteering, and drone operating instructions. The program was launched by Ukraine's Education Minister, Oksen Lisovyi, on Aug. 2.

Students across Ukraine returned to school on Sept. 1, known as Knowledge Day in 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
By Tom Balmforth

KYIV (Reuters) - A senior Ukrainian official said on Friday that drone strikes on Russian soil were set to increase and that recent such attacks showed that the war in Ukraine was gradually shifting to Russia.

In an interview, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also ruled out peace talks for now, saying any negotiations would amount to "capitulation" on the part of Ukraine and the democracies that support it.

Ukraine had ramped up its strikes on occupied areas, and attacks inside Russia itself would also increase, carried out by "agents" or "partisans", Podolyak said.

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"As for Russia ... there is an increasing number of attacks by unidentified drones launched from the territory of the Russian Federation, and the number of these attacks will increase," Podolyak told Reuters.

"Because this is the stage of the war when hostilities are gradually being transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation," he said in the interview in his office in the heavily-defended government district in Kyiv.

Drone attacks on Russia have sharply increased in scale and frequency in recent weeks, culminating this week with strikes that hit six Russian regions in one night and destroyed transport planes in a blaze at a military airfield.

Ukraine generally cheers such attacks while stopping short of openly claiming direct responsibility for them. Its Western allies forbid it from using weapons they donate to strike Russia, although they say Kyiv has the right to carry out such attacks on military targets with its own weapons.

As the attacks have increased in frequency, Kyiv has touted its progress in developing long-range strike weapons to give it an answer to Russia's longrunning campaign of air strikes on Ukrainian cities.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday praised what he said was the use of new Ukrainian weaponry with a range of 700 km - roughly the distance from Ukraine's border to Pskov, where a Russian military airbase was engulfed in flames a day earlier.

NO NEGOTIATIONS

Ukraine has hit back at critics of the slow progress of its much-vaunted counteroffensive in the east and south that has been hampered by heavily-mined areas and Russian defensive lines that were prepared over the course of months.

The operation is nearing the three-month mark, but has not yet recaptured any major settlements. Russia calls the Ukrainian push a failure; Kyiv says it is advancing slowly on purpose to minimise losses.

Podolyak said Kyiv's forces were continuing to advance and hoped that Western military aid would continue to come in the months ahead. He used forthright language to rule out the expediency for Ukraine of any negotiations with Russia.

"Any negotiation process... it will mean the capitulation of Ukraine and the capitulation of the democratic world on the whole," he said.

Podolyak said he believed Ukraine's Western allies, who have poured in billions of dollars of weaponry, understood that there could be no kind of "compromise" with Moscow.

"At the moment, the partners understand that this war will no longer end in a compromise solution - that is, either we destroy Russia's capabilities by military means, and to do this we need the appropriate tools, or this war with such level of aggression will continue for some time."

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Peter Graff)
A popular wildflower destination on the Mississippi Coast will close at least through September this year after months of drought parched the region and made it nearly impossible to grow flowers.

This is unprecedented, said Terri Doyle, who owns Coastal Ridge Farm with her husband. Its off the charts.

The drought decimated the farms flower fields in Hancock County. Doyle said normally by Sept. 1 she has waist-high stalks. Now, she said, theyre knee-high at best.

Coastal Ridge Farm, near Picayune, is popular with Coast residents. In normal years, visitors can take pictures or pick from fields of sunflowers, zinnias, poppies and daisies. The fields close during summer months and typically reopen in the fall.

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This year, not even the downpours that soaked the Mississippi Coast on Tuesday were enough to save the September crop.

But Doyle has one glimpse of hope: the ground is finally damp. That means surviving seeds could sprout. And if shes lucky, theres a chance the farm will open in October.

The sunflower fields at Coastal Ridge Farm in Hancock County.

It will be a challenge: much of the Mississippi Coast is under extreme drought conditions this summer, according to U.S. drought monitor. Conditions are so dangerous Hancock County has been under a burn ban since Aug. 14.

In early August, drought conditions led to woods fires in Bayou LaCroix, Bay St. Louis, Pearlington and Interstate 10 at mile marker eight. Fires briefly closed Interstate 10 on two separate days.

Doyle tried to save Septembers flowers by irrigating the ground. But the heat raised soil temperatures up to 91 degrees  far too hot for seeds to grow.

We gave it a shot, Doyle said. Right now, we have nothing.
FILE PHOTO: Wopke Hoekstra, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister arrives at the Binnenhof for the Council of Ministers

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra , the country's nominee to run the European Union's climate change portfolio after Frans Timmermans stepped down last week, said on Friday he had tendered his resignation to the King of the Netherlands.

Timmermans stepped down from the role in order to compete in Dutch elections.

Earlier this week, the European Union's chiefexecutive Ursula von der Leyen proposed the appointment of Hoekstra to the post of Commissioner to EU's council and the European Parliament.

Hoekstra is likely to face a tough hearing in the European Parliament, where he needs to win a positive assessment and pass a potentially close vote in the assembly with majority support.

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"It has been an exceptional honour to serve the country as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister (...) As EU Commissioner-designate for climate action, I will start preparing for my work in Brussels," Hoekstra said in a resignation statement.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Country music star Phil Vassar will be the headlining act Sept. 16 at this year's Ribfest, held by the Exchange Club of Naperville. (Courtesy of Phil Vassar)

Phil Vassar to headline Sept. 16 show at RibFest

Country music artist Phil Vassar, named the country songwriter of the year in 1999 and 2001, will be the headline act Saturday, Sept. 16, at Ribfest, the Exchange Club of Naperville announced.

Ribfest, which features a carnival, concerts and ribs, will be held Sept. 15-17 at the DuPage Event Center and Fairgrounds, 2015 Manchester Road, Wheaton.

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Alexandra Kay will be opening for Vasser at the 8:30 p.m. show.

Vassar, who has written songs for Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw and Jo Dee Messina, has had 10 No. 1 singles and 27 top 40 hits.

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Tickets for Ribfest concerts are on sale at www.ribfest.net.

The Exchange Club of Naperville has donated more than $18 million from Ribfest proceeds to help fight child abuse and domestic violence.

Children stand behind a Naperville Park District police truck at a previous Wonderful World of Wheels event, which this year is being held Sept. 18 at the Fort Hill Activity Center. (Naperville Park District/HANDOUT)

Wonderful World of Wheels coming to Fort Hill Center

Children and their families can view and touch a wide variety of community vehicles during the 24th annual Wonderful World of Wheels, being held 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 18, at the Fort Hill Activity Center.

Among the vehicles to be featured at the free event are city fire trucks, police vehicles, park maintenance tractors and public works trucks, Naperville Park District officials said. Children can also talk with the drivers.

The Fort Hill center is located at 20 Fort Hill Drive.

For more information, go to www.napervilleparks.org.

College of DuPage to hold 9/11 memorial event

The College of DuPage and local law enforcement agencies will hold a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks at 7:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 11, at the colleges Sgt. Robert J. Miller Homeland Security Education Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn.

The ceremony will include remarks by College of DuPage President Brian Caputo; Tom Ross, COD associate dean of public services; Jim Volpe, retired Wheaton police chief and current director of CODs Suburban Law Enforcement Academy; and Ryan Lambert, director of CODs Fire Science/EMS program.

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The ceremony will include a moment of silence at 7:46 a.m. to mark the time of the first attack.

The college is one of a few educational institutions to receive a relic from the Twin Towers. The 1,000-pound beam from the World Trade Center memorializes the lives lost and honors the efforts of first responders and civilians, college officials said.

Naperville dental center to off free services Sept. 9

Premier Dental Center in Naperville will be participating in Free Dentistry Day, in which dentists across the country donate their services on Saturday, Sept. 9.

Patients will be seen on a first-come, first-serve basis for free cleanings, fillings and extractions.

The office, 309 W. Ogden Ave., will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 630-355-3339.

Last year, more than 4,000 patients were treated in 211 locations nationwide on Free Dentistry Day. It helps those who are unable to see a dentist regularly because they do not have dental insurance and cannot afford preventative dental treatment.

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For more information, go to www.freedentistryday.org.
DYERSBURG, Tenn.  A police chase in Dyersburg led to $14,000 worth of fentanyl pills being seized Monday afternoon.

Dyersburg Police were alerted that a stolen vehicle out of the state of Arizona was in the areas of East Court Street and Harrell Street around 12:30 p.m. When officers tried to conduct a traffic stop, the vehicle sped away.

Police say a Dyer County deputy saw the vehicle near the city limits traveling back towards the city. Dyersburg Police then saw the vehicle speeding through the Bruce community before it stopped and two people got out.

One of the suspects, identified as Alonzo Pickett of Dyersburg, was taken into custody while the second suspect ran away. Two more suspects fled the scene in the stolen vehicle.

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While police searched for the suspect that ran away, officers located a lunch box with approximately 750 suspected fentanyl pills that the suspect allegedly dropped in a nearby wooded area. Investigators believe the pills were pressed counterfeit oxycodone pills with an estimated street value of over $14,000.

Around two hours later, patrolling officers found the stolen vehicle abandoned in a parking lot on Volunteer Boulevard.

Officers determined both suspects were at the Emerald Inn on US 51 Bypass. Andree Jones and Katherine Dunphy, both of Phoenix, Arizona, were found in one of the rooms and arrested.

Police also recovered multiple phones, laptops, iPads, card readers, blank checks, nearly 100 hotel door cards, and a book with multiple individuals personal information, including bank accounts and routing numbers.

Courtesy: Dyersburg Police Department

Courtesy: Dyersburg Police Department

Pickett was charged with evading arrest. Jones and Dunphy were charged with theft over $10,000, felony evading arrest, possession of methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Dyersburg Police say they are still searching for the suspect that fled the traffic stop and the case remains under investigation.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
A mother mountain lion was hit by a car in Arizona and wasnt going to survive  but she was determined to crawl back to her weeks-old cubs before she died.

She only just made it and died just as she reached their den. But her heroic last act likely saved the defenseless cubs lives, officials with the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center said in a news release.

Biologists with the Arizona Game & Fish Department noticed her tracking collar had stopped moving, and they followed her bodys location to her den and found her kittens inside, officials said.

Animal caretakers at the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center took them in and have been caring for the cubs  who are about four months old now  ever since.

They now live indoors, protected from Arizonas extreme heat, and caretakers are sure to provide them with opportunities for healthy development.

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Mountain lions stay with their mothers for about 18 months in the wild, during which she teaches them crucial survival skills, such as hunting, staying away from people, and caring for themselves, officials said. Because they were orphaned, they wont learn those skills and will need to live out the rest of their lives in human care.

While they may never experience the nurturing of their mother in the wild, they have found a loving sanctuary environment that will be their forever home, officials said in the release.

Now they just need names. The sanctuary is inviting the public to join in on the cubs inspiring journey of rescue, resilience, and community by voting between three sets of names: Alpine and Apache, Bryce and Zion, or Echo and Dash.

Those who want to vote in the contest must donate a minimum of $5, and participants can donate more money to cast more votes.

The contest started Aug. 26 and runs through Saturday, Sept. 9. The sanctuary will reveal the winning names on social media and in its weekly online newsletter.

Although their arrival story is heartbreaking, we are so happy to have them with us safe & sound, officials said on Instagram. We cant wait to share them with you as they grow and develop into healthy, happy (big!!) mountain lions!

Hear mountain lion cubs try their best to hiss and growl at biologists in California

Beloved mountain lion cubs who became cuddle buddies after rescue move to new CA home

Cougar cub with eye-catching fur born in Nicaraguan zoo. See the rare cat
Two Rivers Terminal has been fined nearly $480,000 by the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries after a worker was seriously injured at its Moses Lake plant.

It is appealing the fine.

Two Rivers formulates chemical products for agricultural fertilizer, airports, pulp and paper plants, and water treatment. It has plants in Pasco and Umatilla, Ore., in addition to its Moses Lake, Wash., plant

During an investigation in January 2023 state inspectors found that a worker unloading molten sulfur from a railcar was not wearing proper respiratory protection, among other serious safety violations, according to L&I.

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The worker was on top of a railcar when he was exposed to the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide and was overcome. He fell about 12 feet to the ground and sustained serious injuries, according to L&I.

The worker was not wearing a hydrogen sulfide gas monitor, appropriate respiratory protection or fall protection, according to L&I.

The worker had a full beard which would not have allowed a respirator to seal correctly, and it was not clear from state documents whether he was wearing a respirator or not.

Personal monitors for hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide were not issued to workers until the day after the fall, according to L&I.

Its hard to overstate how serious a risk they were taking with their workers lives, said Craig Blackwood, assistant director for L&Is Divison of Occupational Safety and Health.

Company management told L&I that the process for unloading molten sulfur changed from unloading tank trucks to unloading railcars a few months before the worker fell and was injured.

A worker fell from this railcar at Two Rivers Terminal in Moses Lake after he was exposed to toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, according to Washington state officials.

No assessment of the dangers of the new process had been done, according to L&I.

The state agency stopped work on Jan. 26 at the area where molten sulfur was unloaded from the railcar.

Work was allowed to resume Feb. 6 after Two Rivers provided respirators to workers and made sure they fit and were used properly.

Ten days later L&I inspectors were back to check the area where railcars were unloaded and saw a worker loosening the bolts to a hatch on a molten sulfur railcar.

One inspector saw a plume of gas and heard a hiss of gas escaping from the hatch and then alarms from the employees hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide monitor, according to L&I.

The inspector concluded that just loosening the bolts on the hatch allows toxic gas to escape, substantiating the violations found in the initial inspection, according to L&I.

The fine announced Thursday included $63,000 for each of seven violations the state categorized as both willful and serious, plus lesser amounts for seven violations it considered serious.

2022 Two Rivers Terminal fine

L&I also fined Two Rivers Terminal $192,620 in 2022, including for some hazards it was fined for again this year.

The 2022 find was issued after inspectors found violations of confined space entry rules as workers entered railcar hoppers, according to L&I.

The employees were going into the hoppers to break up and dislodge ammonium nitrate without appropriate safety precautions, it said.

Workers must have special training to enter and work in confined spaces and specific safety regulations must be followed.

Inspectors also found employees working on top of rail cars and sulfur trucks without fall protection. They also failed to make sure the power supply to dangerous equipment was turned off and locked out so machinery did not start unexpectedly.

It also found then that Two Rivers Terminal was not requiring employees to wear respirators while working with hazardous chemicals.

Two Rivers Terminal also is appealing that fine.

Appeal documents were not immediately available from the state, and an official with Two Rivers Terminal declined to comment on Thursday.
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean presidential front-runner Luisa Gonzalez said on Friday she will wear a bulletproof vest while campaigning, following threats against her life and the gunning down of another candidate last month.

She will also accept the government's offer of military protection, her party, Citizen's Revolution, said in a statement.

"I am forced to wear a bulletproof vest and to accept the government's offer to have security provided by the armed forces," Gonzalez said while speaking to voters in Otavalo city, in Imbabura province.

Security conditions in Ecuador have deteriorated in recent years, with soaring murder rates and growing levels of crime. Violence has accelerated during the elections, with candidate Fernando Villavicencio shot to death in Quito on Aug. 10 as he was leaving a campaign event.

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The capital was even rocked by two car bombs on Wednesday night in acts of violence that officials said could be linked to disquiet over prisoner transfers between prisons.

Ecuador's attorney general's office has opened an investigation against a citizen who made threats against Gonzalez, the statement said.

"It's unfortunate to have to carry out a political campaign in a situation where a candidate was assassinated and in which today I received threats against my life as I am the candidate with the best chance of becoming president," she said.

Gonzalez, a protege of former President Rafael Correa who has promised to revive his social programs, won 33% support in a first-round election last month.

She will face off against Daniel Noboa, who came second in the first round, in a second vote on Oct. 15.

Outgoing President Guillermo Lasso - who dissolved the legislature and called early elections to avoid an impeachment process - has repeatedly blamed the spiraling violence on drug trafficking gangs operating in the country.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Sandra Maler)
A homeless encampment along Willow Street in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco on Feb. 24, 2022. A ruling that stops the city from clearing encampments has raised the ire of Gov. Gavin Newsom . (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)

In the midst of enormous battles in San Francisco and beyond over homeless encampments, Gov. Gavin Newsom has expressed plenty of outrage  not just over homelessness but at the federal judges who wont let cities clear the camps.

Just in the last couple of weeks, the city of San Francisco appealed an injunction by U.S. Magistrate Donna Ryu that prevents the city from citing or arresting homeless people or confiscating their belongings. Ryu sided with the plaintiffs, the Coalition on Homelessness, who argued that the city had violated homeless people's 8th Amendment rights prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment and their 4th Amendment rights against unlawful seizure. She also denied the citys request that she stay her injunction during the appeal.

Read more: Are L.A. leaders trying to sabotage homeless housing in Venice?

Chastising her on X (formerly Twitter), Newsom said Tuesday that federal courts block local efforts to clear street encampments  even when housing and services are offered. Courts must also be held accountable. Enough is enough.

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Homelessness is a fraught, long-standing and nearly intractable problem, but blaming the judge for standing in the way of fixing it is not just absurd, its dangerous. And it's not the first time Newsom has engaged in this irresponsible behavior.

In 2021, when Caltrans tried to clear an encampment near I-80 in Berkeley and Emeryville, a different federal judge blocked it.

Read more: Editorial: L.A.'s homeless numbers are grim. We must keep building housing and expanding services

Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle that at the time he thought about putting up a big sign with the judges phone number saying, Call the judge. We want to clean this up, too.' (A federal appeals court later let officials clear the encampment. And Newsom did not dox the judge.)

There will be much to argue in the San Francisco case about homeless people and their civil rights, what constitutes a legitimate offer of shelter and housing and how to deal with the reality  "undisputed," Ryu wrote  that there is too little shelter for the 7,700 homeless people counted last year. But arguing that federal judges are stopping cities from trying to resolve homelessness is ridiculous.

The landmark 9th Circuit decision in Martin vs. Boise established that cities cannot criminalize homeless people for living on the street when there is no place else for them to go. As Newsom well knows, the way to change this situation is to create more housing  interim and permanent  and provide supportive services for people who need them.

As far as we can tell, these judges' orders haven't stopped the governor or any city from doing that.

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.
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media on Aug. 1 about an indictment of former President Trump. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

With March 4, 2024, set for Donald Trumps trial on federal charges related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, one might think that members of Congress, like other Americans, would sit back and let the judicial process proceed. But some House Republicans have a different idea: defunding the special counsel who is prosecuting the former president.

The scheme is unlikely to succeed, but this malicious attack on special counsel Jack Smith and his investigations will further shore up Trumps claim to victimhood in the eyes of his supporters and further corrode confidence in public institutions.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), who famously described the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as not an insurrection, has proposed amendments to an appropriations bill that would ban federal funding for the prosecution of any major presidential candidate prior to the Nov. 5, 2024, election. Clydes targets are not only the U.S. Justice Department but also local prosecutors who receive federal funds. Trump faces trial in New York and Georgia on charges sought by local district attorneys.

Read more: Editorial: Republicans' ominous strategy to thwart criminal justice reform  and democracy

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Clyde isnt alone in seeking to meddle in the prosecution of Trump. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced a bill to defund Smiths office and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has said she would propose a similar measure. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) has introduced legislation to prohibit paying Smiths salary.

In announcing his amendments, Clyde trotted out the nonsense about Trumps prosecutions that is gospel among MAGA Republicans. The American people get to decide who wins the White House  not Deep State actors who have shamelessly attacked Donald Trump since he announced his first bid in 2015, Clyde said. It is imperative that Congress use its power of the purse to protect the integrity of our elections, restore Americans faith in our government, and dismantle our nations two-tiered system of justice.

An actual two-tiered system of justice would look like what Clyde proposed, in which someone accused of crimes could get a free pass simply by announcing a campaign for the presidency. Because he is seeking to return to the White House, Trump already has received a form of special treatment. Citing Trumps status as a candidate, Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland appointed Smith, a respected veteran prosecutor, to preside over investigations of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged retention of classified national security documents.

That hasnt stopped Trump or his supporters from claiming that Smith is biased or a pawn of President Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield), who has disgraced himself with his toadying to Trump, said after Trump was indicted for alleged mishandling of national-security documents: "It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him. Joe Biden kept classified documents for decades. I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump against this grave injustice.

After Trump was indicted in Georgia by the Fulton County district attorney in connection with his efforts to overturn the election, McCarthy complained that Biden has weaponized government against his leading political opponent to interfere in the 2024 election. He added: Now a radical DA in Georgia is following Bidens lead by attacking President Trump and using it to fundraise her political career.

Read more: Editorial: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy  ringmaster of the GOP's impeachment circus?

It isnt just Republicans in Congress who are backing Trump, a man unfit for office. In last weeks televised debate  in which Trump did not participate  most of the candidates raised their hands to indicate that they would support Trump if he won the Republican nomination, even if he were convicted.

Biden "weaponizing" the Justice Department is a constant GOP talking point, backed by no evidence. This week Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, demanded information about a prosecutors visit to the White House to interview a witness in Trump's classified documents case, saying it raises questions about a "coordinated effort" to "investigate and prosecute President Bidens political opponents.

If there is weaponization associated with the prosecutions of Trump, it is the weaponization of congressional oversight by Republicans to protect a disgraced former president, who now faces four separate indictments for criminal conduct.

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.
The car ended up in a field where it erupted in flames (FOX31 Denver)

A probable road rage incident has left eight people hospitalised after a car crashed into a field near Fort Collins, Colorado.

The Larimer County Sheriffs Office is investigating a shooting that happened on Thursday afternoon in area northwest of the city near Owl Canyon Road and US Highway 287.

Shots were allegedly fired by the driver of a car into another vehicle, which then crashed and caught on fire.

Eight people were inside the car when the shots were fired, but none were hit nor received any injuries from the shooting. However, they sustained injuries  mostly minor  from the crash, according to investigators.

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In addition, an ambulance that arrived at the scene to help the injured people also caught fire. However, it wasnt from the burning car, according to firefighters, but because the ambulance was very old, as reported by 9News.

One victim had to be airlifted from the scene. Others were taken to hospital, but have sustained no life-threatening injuries.

A road rage shooting incident led to a fiery car crash (FOX31 Denver)

Both vehicle fires were extinguished around 6pm, yet multiple roads were kept closed for an investigation.

Larimer County investigators are still searching for suspects in the incident.
Elon Musk became vehemently anti-woke because of his daughters gender transition, according to a new book on the Tesla boss.

The billionaires right-wing political leanings were partly triggered when his then-16-year-old child, Vivian Jenna Wilson, came out to her aunt. The claim was made by Mr Musks biographer, Walter Isaacson, in an excerpt from his book  entitled Elon Musk  published in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

Hey, Im transgender, and my name is now Jenna, she reportedly texted her aunt. Dont tell my dad.

Ms Wilson was granted a legal name and gender change last June and has severed all ties with her famous father.

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According to the book, Mr Musk brands his daughter a Communist who ended her relationship with him because she was brainwashed into thinking that anyone rich is evil by her $50,000-per-year school in California.

Mr Musk said he partly blames the Crossroads School for Arts& Sciences for his daughters change in attitude towards him.

She went beyond socialism to being a full communist and thinking that anyone rich is evil, said Mr Musk, who has a personal worth of $257.5bn.

Elon Musk described the rift with his daughter as one of the most painful things he had ever experienced (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Musk has previously blamed woke schools for his daughters transition, but it is the first time that he has named Crossroads.

Mr Musk said that the rift with his daughter is the most painful thing he has experienced since the death of his first child at 10 weeks old from sudden infant death syndrome.

Her mother is the Canadian writer Justine Wilson, who was married to Mr Musk from 2000 to 2008.

The Independent has reached out to Crossroads for comment.
Left, at the podium is Ben Freeman, senior vice president of development at Brookfield Properties, at the combined special meeting of the Northbrook Village Board of Trustees and Northbrook Plan Commission on Aug. 29, 2023 at Village Hall in Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

The redevelopment of Northbrook Court received resounding positive reception by village trustees and plan commissioners at a special meeting of the Northbrook Village Board of Trustees and Northbrook Plan Commission on Aug. 29 in Village Hall.

The Northbrook Plan Commission green lighted the redevelopment plan and trustees directed staff to fine-tune documents so they can vote on Northbrook Court at the Sept. 26 board of trustees meeting.

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At the podium is Ben Freeman, senior vice president of development at Brookfield Properties, at the combined special meeting of the Northbrook Village Board of Trustees and Northbrook Plan Commission on Aug. 29, 2023 at Village Hall in Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Were grateful for the thoughtful consideration and positive recommendation from the Northbrook Plan Commission, said Ben Freeman, senior vice president of development at Brookfield Properties to Pioneer Press. Were committed to continued engagement and partnership with the Village of Northbrook as we advance this exciting project through the process.

Thank you to the community for its interest and support of our effort to transform Northbrook Court into a dynamic, retail mixed-use neighborhood, Freeman said.

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Northbrook Plan Commissioner Jeff Sandler said, I think its a great vision.

Lets get building.

A new tax increment financing district (TIF) will assist in funding mall redevelopment with a 1 % tax added to a shoppers Northbrook Court district mall receipt. A TIF can be a controversial financing method and can last up to 23 years.

The proposed TIF covers the entire 100 plus acre Northbrook Court property. Northbrook Court opened in 1976 and people close to the malls proposal have stated many times that customer traffic has sharply declined in recent years with online shopping and other retail options competing for consumer attention span.

Village of Northbrook, Illinois - Special Meeting (Handout/Pioneer Press)

Last Mays predevelopment agreement launched with the village had Brookfield Properties identifying a gap of $90 million in the developers reconstruction estimate of $750 million. Establishing a business district is part of the plan to capture retail sales tax revenue.

A Joint Review Board met last July after reviewing the proposed TIF district and was unanimously in favor of the TIF. The board included representatives of Northbrook Court revenue stream beneficiaries including the Village, Cook County, Glenbrook High School District 225, Northbrook School District 28, Northfield Township and the Northbrook Park District.

Brookfield Properties, which has represented the mall since 1995, had asked for many extensions on its redevelopment proposal using COVID-19 pandemic challenges among reasons why the developer could not proceed. Neiman Marcus is not part of the redevelopment as anchor owner.

In 2019, the village board launched a redevelopment and economic incentive agreement with Brookfield Properties as a public-private partnership, approving the redevelopment of nearly 18 acres only on the propertys west side.

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On May 23, the board approved the predevelopment agreement to spur the whole site. Northbrook Court is the villages single largest tax generator, Freeman said to trustees and commissioners.

Northbrook Court hosted spring community meetings and also two public open houses last June at the mall. Those open houses were well attended by nearly 200 people, Freeman said.

At the Aug. 29 meeting in the village hall board room, however, several audience members and members of the public left early, complaining they couldnt hear presenters and elected officials speaking due to poor acoustics. Attendees on their way out blamed a bad audio playback system and irregular meeting set up.

The audience at the combined special meeting of the Northbrook Village Board of Trustees and Northbrook Plan Commission on Aug. 29, 2023 at Village Hall in Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)

Concerns that were heard at the meeting included a possible 12-story building as part of redevelopment and also what to do with Rudolph Road when traffic patterns are impacted by future residential occupancy, Northbrook Court special event attendance and regular shopper traffic.

Rudolph Road serves as an access point to three buildings at five stories each at the Condominiums of Northbrook Court to the east of the mall property.

Robert M. Gordon is president of the condominium association of the Condominiums of Northbrook Court which represents 210 homeowners.

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Something has to be done with Rudolph Road, Gordon said, adding Northbrook Court, cant continue the way it is. Theyve got to do something.

Jessie Essman of unincorporated Northbrook (Glenbrook Countryside) would like to see a path maintained to the mall where people can also ride bikes.

I grew up going to Northbrook Court on the weekends with my friends, it was a bustling, popular place and its totally completely different these days, and hope to see something come in that kind of brings the community back and also most importantly, helps continue to fund our school system, Essman said.

At the end of the meeting, Northbrook Village President Kathryn L. Ciesla offered statistics about Northbrook Court.

To have an entity like Brookfield, with the quality of the developer, come in and want to invest $750 million in our community is incredible, Ciesla said. Thats the largest investment Northbrook has ever seen in our community, and its just so wonderful, its just amazing.

Ciesla said that in 2021, the assessed value of Northbrook Court was $72 million and at the end of the TIF (in 23 years), the estimate would be $342 million, meaning beneficiary taxing body school districts would see a significant spike in revenue from mall redevelopment.

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Its absolutely significant, Ciesla said, and something we have to preserve. I am a big yes.

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
Elon Musk and then-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal got dinner together in March 2022.

Musk came away from the meeting describing Agrawal as a nice guy, but not the "fire-breathing dragon" Twitter needed.

That's according to an excerpt published in The Wall Street Journal from Walter Isaacson's forthcoming biography of Musk.

Elon Musk and Parag Agrawal, then the CEO of Twitter, got dinner together in March 2022, and Musk emerged from the meeting thinking Agrawal was missing at least one key quality in a leader.

Walter Isaacson, a writer who spent three years trailing the Tesla CEO, detailed the aftermath of the encounter in his forthcoming biography, "Elon Musk." The book is set to be published on September 12. The Wall Street Journal ran an excerpt of the biography on August 31.

After the meeting, Musk said Agrawal was a "really nice guy." But, in Musk's opinion, being a CEO doesn't require being liked, Isaacson wrote.

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"What Twitter needs is a fire-breathing dragon," Musk said after that meeting, per Isaacson. "And Parag is not that."

The context for the meeting  which predates Musk's $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter and which Isaacson says was held over a secret dinner alongside Twitter's board chair at the time, Bret Taylor  is important.

Just prior, it had become public knowledge that Musk was buying up stock in the platform still known as Twitter. By spring 2022, Musk had become Twitter's biggest shareholder.

While this is Isaacson's retelling of Musk's version of events, another record of the pair's dinner exits.

Messages between Musk and Agrawal were released in September 2022 as part of a lawsuit Twitter filed against Musk in July 2022. The messages showed that at least outwardly, the pair seemed cordial after that meeting.

"Hey Elon - great to be connected directly. Would love to chat," Agrawal wrote in a message to Musk on March 27, 2022.

"Great dinner :)," Musk responded.

"Memorable for multiple reasons," Agrawal texted. "Really enjoyed it."

Soon after the dinner, Agrawal announced that Musk was joining Twitter's board.

But the cracks appeared soon after. In April, Musk fired off a tweet asking "Is Twitter dying?"

Agrawal and Musk then sparred over messages, with Musk writing: "I'm not joining the board. This is a waste of time. Will make an offer to take Twitter private." Isaacson, too, recounts a similar version of events.

In April, Musk offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share in cash while saying he wasn't confident about Twitter's management  including Agrawal.

The two also clashed over how many bots were on the social media platform.

A deal was finally agreed upon to take Twitter private in October. One of the first things Musk did was to fire Agrawal.

In April Agrawal, Twitter's ex-chief financial officer Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, the former legal chief, sued Twitter for $1 million in unpaid bills.

In July, Musk rebranded Twitter to X and said he wanted to "bid adieu" to "all the birds," referring to Twitter's logo.

Agrawal did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the full excerpt from Isaacson's book on The Wall Street Journal's website.

Read the original article on Business Insider
X Marks Trouble

Since Elon Musk took over as CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, the company has been a lawsuit magnet. There's that class-action suit in California by former employees who claim they weren't paid promised bonuses. Another claims the company hasn't ponied up $500 million in severance pay to employees who were laid off.

Now add more than 2,200 arbitration cases, according to a complaint filed earlier this week in Delaware. All told, the social media giant is potentially on the hook for more than $3.5 million in filing fees, according to CNBC's estimate. When it rains, it pours!

The deluge of arbitration cases was revealed in a court document filed by former employee Chris Woodfield against X and Elon Musk. Last month, Woodfield slapped the company and Musk with a separate complaint, claiming they hadn't paid him his promised severance.

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The cases underline Musk's bull-in-a-china-shop approach when he first took over the social media giant in October last year. When he became CEO, Musk laid off legions of workers, cutting staff numbers from around 8,000 to just 1,500 as of this April. That's a lot of pissed off people with an axe to grind  hence the flood of suits.

Angry Legions

The arbitration cases from former employees add another messy wrinkle to the legal challenges X and Musk are facing.

Arbitration is a legal process in which two opposing parties agree to mediate their dispute with a third party arbitrator rather than going through the court system. At Elon Musk's other company, Tesla, employees are forced to sign arbitration agreements as a requirement for employment in states where it is legal, which is a move some politicians decry as a way to hide complaints of discrimination, which Tesla has faced.

In the matter of the arbitration cases against X and Musk, these cases are processed through JAMS, a non-profit legal organization devoted to "alternative dispute resolution."

In December of last year, former Twitter employees started filing requests for arbitration with Twitter via JAMS, according to Woodfield's court filing. By January this year, it'd accrued more than 200 cases, and has since grown to more than 2,200 filings.

In Woodfield's case, he claims that X and Musk have also delayed in paying their required portion of the JAMS arbitration fee of $2,000, as outlined on its website. Employees are only required to pay $400  hence if you have 2,200 arbitration cases, and X is required to pay $1,600 for each, then crunching these numbers arrives at a total of $3.5 million that X will have to pay, plus any liabilities from suits resolved against the company and severance packages they are required to pay. The money owed, in other words, could be staggering.

Whatever happens in the end, X will be poorer for it, both through legal fees incurred and the loss of brain capital  whether employees or luminaries  leaving the platform.

More on Elon Musk: Huge Crowd of Gamers Boos Elon Musk for Ruining Twitter
Director Yorgos Lanthimos said Emma Stone had no shame about her body while filming the wacky nude scenes in his latest movie, Poor Things.

The 34-year-old actor leads the Greek directors new sci-fi fantasy  based on Alasdair Grays novel of the same name  as Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).

Following its world premiere at Venice Film Festival on Friday (1 September), critics quickly hailed it as one of the best films of the year.

Its a shame that Emma could not be here to speak more about it, because it will be coming all from me, the director said at a press conference, according to Variety.

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Addressing the films sex scenes, he continued: First of all sex is an intrinsic part of the novel itself, [Bellas] freedom about everything including sexuality.

Secondly, it was very important for me to not make a film that would be prudish, because that would be like completely betraying the main character, he added. We had to be confident Emma had to have no shame about her body, nudity, engaging in those scenes and she understood that right away.

This isnt the first project the two have collaborated on, in fact, theyve now made four films together, Lanthimos said. Stone starred in the directors 2018 The Favourite, 2022 Bleat and is set to star in his forthcoming movie, And.

Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things (Atsushi Nishijima)

He credits their ability to communicate without having to explain or talk too much about things with their extensive rapport.

As soon as I started saying something about sex, she would say: Yes, of course, its Bella. We will do what we need to do, Lanthimos recalled.

Of hiring on-set intimacy coordinator Elle McAlpine, the director said: She made everything much easier for everyone.

At the beginning, this profession felt a little threatening to most filmmakers, but I think its like everything: if youre with a good person, its great and you realise you actually need them.

Poor Things currently holds a perfect critical rating of 100 per cent on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

In Geoffrey McNabs near-perfect four-star review for The Independent, he praises Stones performance writing that the actor has never been bolder than in this oddball farce.

Stone gives surely the boldest performance of her career so far, in a role that puts upon her heavy physical and psychological demands, McNab writes.

Poor Things is expected to release in US cinemas on 8 December, followed by a 12 January 2024 release in the UK.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission has authorised an updated COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNtech to be used in EU countries' vaccination campaigns this autumn to target the dominant Omicron XBB.1.5 variant, it said on Friday.

The vaccine, called Comirnaty, is the third adapted shot to be used in the bloc. The Commission authorises its use for adults, children and infants above six months.

The European Medicines Authority (EMA) approved the vaccine earlier this week. EMA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control recommend a single dose irrespective of vaccination history.

The bloc amended its contract with Pfizer in May that cut the number of doses after a drop in demand, pushed the deadline to 2026 and includes access to adapted vaccines.

(Reporting by Julia Payne; editing by David Evans)
European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano has condemned the sham "elections" being held by Russia in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda

"Russia has started early voting in its illegal so-called 'elections' in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories. This is a further massive violation of international law and Ukraine's sovereignty," Stano tweeted.

"Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk are all Ukraine! Those involved [in the fake elections  ed.] will be held to account," he added.

Ukraine:  started early voting in its illegal so called elections in temporarily occupied  territories further massive violation of international law & Ukraine's sovereignty. Crimea,Kherson, Zaporizhzhia,Donetsk,Luhansk are all ! Those involved will be held to account.  Peter Stano (@ExtSpoxEU) September 1, 2023

On 15 June, Russia's Central Electoral Commission designated 10 September as "election day" in the temporarily occupied part of Ukraine, that is, Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

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But "early voting" for "parliaments" and "municipal councils" began in some occupied territories at the end of August.

The European Commission has already stressed that Moscows plans constitute a serious violation of the UN Statute, as well as of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity 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!
After Hungary blocked an agreement on Ukrainian funding at an Aug. 31 meeting, European Union High Representative Josep Borrell reiterated his support for Ukraine's peace formula during a press conference in Toledo, Spain.

"Today we discussed this formula for peace and how we can continue to support it, how we can put it at the center of the international discussion to build a just peace in Ukraine," Borrell said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky's 10-point plan calls for the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity and the prosecution of Russian war criminals, among other stipulations.

The EU held a meeting of foreign ministers, including Ukraine's Dmytro Kuleba, in Toledo on Aug. 31.

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During the meeting, the ministers failed to agree on the eighth tranche of 500 in military aid to Ukraine under the European Peace Facility (EFP).

Hungary blocked the provision of funds, vetoing aid on the grounds that Ukraine has designated the Hungarian OTP Bank an international sponsor of war.

This is not the first time Hungary has blocked financial support for Ukraine.

"I hope we will be able to unblock it in the coming weeks. But this is a problem that still needs to be solved," Borrell stated.

Borrell said that the ministers also discussed his proposal to give Ukraine 20 billion in EFP aid over the next four years. He said feedback from the other ministers was "very positive" and that he hopes the plan will be approved by the end of 2023.

Borrell said sustainable support efforts were an important aspect of the discussion, and that the ministers "are standing with Ukraine today, tomorrow and always."

The European Peace Facility was established in 2021 as an extra-budgetary EU funding mechanism to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Read also: Wagner boss Prigozhin is dead. Heres what it means for Africa

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The Beech Grove Police Department has a new vehicle in its law enforcement toolkit, a "rolling fortress" it said would give officers an extra layer of protection during SWAT situations, hostage negotiations, or while serving warrants.

Parked outside Beech Grove's City Hall on Thursday was a recently refurbished BearCat, an armored vehicle the police department purchased partly from grant money.

On Patrol: Live: Beech Grove PD 'taking a break' from TV show

Between 8-10 officers can squeeze inside the 18,000-pound BearCat, which is bulletproof, including the windows, explained BGPD Sgt. Joe Garrison, one of the operators who will drive the vehicle.

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"There's backup steel maybe a half-inch thick behind the lights, the engine compartment, everything," Garrison said. "Nothing short of military-grade ammo would pierce this."

A video monitor installed in the rearview mirror allows the driver to see what's behind them. A 14-foot battering ram can be mounted to the front of the vehicle, Garrison said, and used to smash open doors during a SWAT operation, or bust through windows to drop in a gas cannister.

Sgt. Joe Garrison with the Beech Grove Police Department climbs out of the back of a BearCat. Aug. 31, 2023

On the roof of the vehicle is a spinning turret operated by a hand crank. Different equipment can be mounted on the turret, he said, from a 50-caliber weapon to a water cannon, plus thermal imaging devices or high-powered lights.

Police Chief Michael Maurice said the department had no plans to mount a firearm on the turret but would consider mounted lights. The Lenco-model BearCat was completely refurbished, he said.

"It looks brand new," Maurice said. "They rebuilt the engine, installed air conditioning in the back, and you got all new LED lights, a new paint job. You'd never know that's a 2008 model, and for about half the cost."

How much money does a BearCat cost?

The base price of a 2020 BearCat made by Lenco runs more than $200,700, according to the company. Pre-owned models range from $125,000 up to $180,000 depending on what features are requested.

Beech Grove's cost about $179,000.

"A Homeland Security grant picked up $150,000, and then another $29,000 was paid for from our criminal investigations, which is seized assets of drug dealers," Maurice explained. "It didn't cost the citizens anything. It was paid for with a grant, and with bad guy's money."

According to the federal Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) 1033 Program, about $7.6 billion in military property has been transferred to roughly 9,000 police jurisdictions around the country, including millions to Indiana.

Sgt. Joe Garrison with the Beech Grove Police Department exits the turret of a recently acquired BearCat. Aug. 31, 2023.

Armored vehicle 'absolutely invaluable' to protect the lives of officers, says BGPD

Some law enforcement critics have questioned why police departments need military-grade equipment. A pair of studies published in the scientific journal Nature of Human Behavior found no evidence military gear used by police reduces crime.

Garrison called Beech Grove's new armored vehicle "absolutely invaluable" to law enforcement. For him, it's about two things: safety and intimidation.

"This is something I think every city should provide for officers," Garrison said. "It's essentially a rolling fortress. There's also a massive intimidation factor. Somebody who's barricaded in a home and resistant to coming out  when they see this parked on their front lawn, they know the police aren't going anywhere."

What we know about Steve Monday: A deputy accused of paralyzing an Indiana man stayed employed until a fellow deputy died

John Tufts covers evening breaking and trending news for the Indianapolis Star. Send him a news tip at JTufts@Gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Get a peek inside Beech Grove PD's new 'rolling fortress'
A former Memphis police officer who pleaded guilty in federal court to assaulting a man who was in his custody was sentenced to a year and a half in prison and a year of supervised release Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.

The former officer, Armando Joel Bustamante, told a federal judge in February that he hit a man in the head with his service pistol while the man was in his custody on Jan. 16, 2021. Bustamante was on duty at the time.

"This former Memphis police officer is being held accountable for violently assaulting a man in his custody without any justification," Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke said in the press release. "The Justice Department will aggressively prosecute those law enforcement officers who abuse their authority and violate federal civil rights."

The victim's identity wasn't released. Charging documents identified the person only as "M.L."

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"The defendant struck M.L. with his pistol, a dangerous weapon, and with his hands, without legal justification, resulting in bodily injury to M.L.," the charging document alleged.

"Public trust in law enforcement is essential to public safety," U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin Ritz said in Thursday's press release. "When an officer violates that trust, it makes policing less effective and far more dangerous for both officers and average citizens. We will continue to work with our partners in local and state law enforcement to root out those who violate public trust and endanger those they've been sworn to protect."

After Bustamante hit the man, who the DOJ said suffered "bodily injury," the Memphis Police Department launched an internal investigation the same day, MPD said in an email to The Commercial Appeal after Bustamante pleaded guilty in February.

He was scheduled for an administrative hearing into the excessive use of force, under the charges of "excessive/unnecessary force and personal conduct," MPD said. However, Bustamante resigned prior to the hearing.

After entering a guilty plea on Feb. 14, The CA requested Bustamante's MPD personnel file through a public records request. That request has not been fulfilled, with MPD saying repeatedly that the department is "still in the process of retrieving, reviewing and/or redacting the requested records."

The DOJ launched a pattern-or-practice investigation into the Memphis Police Department in late July, months after MPD officers beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols in January. Nichols died three days after the beating. Those five officers were charged weeks after the beating, and calls to investigate the department came from multiple officials and activists.

The investigation will look at whether or not MPD officers regularly use excessive force, conduct illegal searches or engage in race-based policing and target Black people in Memphis.

More: What to expect with DOJ's investigation into Memphis police: Taking a look at other cities

Bustamante's assault on the man in his custody falls within the five-year time period that DOJ investigators will focus on during the investigation. The sentencing also comes at a time when the team assigned to investigate the department is in Memphis to host in-person community meetings about MPD.

The first in-person event was Wednesday evening at the National Civil Rights Museum, and another was Thursday evening at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ex-MPD officer given 18 months in prison for assaulting arrested man
Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was sent to a different federal prison about 150 miles from his Perry County home.

As of Friday, Householder was listed as an inmate at Elkton, a low-security federal correctional institution east of Lisbon, Ohio. The 64-year-old former Republican legislative leader was sentenced to 20 years in prison for leading a pay-to-play scheme at the Ohio Statehouse.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Black sentenced Householder to the maximum penalty for racketeering conspiracy on June 29; Householder was immediately taken into custody. The former House speaker spent several weeks at the Butler County Jail before he was sent to the federal transfer center in Oklahoma City, which is run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Householder was convicted of trading about $60 million from Akron-based FirstEnergy and its energy allies for control of the Ohio House of Representatives. Once there, he championed a $1.3 billion bailout for two nuclear plants then owned by FirstEnergy Solutions and defended House Bill 6 against a well-funded ballot campaign to block it.

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Householder maintained that he was innocent throughout the trial, including during his two days on the witness stand. He is appealing his conviction now.

Ultimately, a jury found Householder and former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges guilty of racketeering conspiracy following a seven-week trial. Two others involved in the scheme  former FirstEnergy Solutions lobbyist Juan Cespedes and Householder's political strategist Jeff Longstreth  pleaded guilty and testified against their conspirators in court. A fifth man who was charged, lobbyist Neil Clark, died by suicide in March 2021.

Borges is incarcerated at a federal prison near Milan, Mich., according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Borges has appealed his conviction.

Jessie Balmert is a reporter 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.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder transferred to prison in Ohio
As if firefighters in remote northern regions didnt have it hard enough, they may increasingly need to protect us from zombies on our overheating planet  zombie fires, that is.

Whats happening?

Zombie fires  blazes that burn underground and come back from the dead after smoldering through cold seasons  are spreading more extensively in hotter, drier, more lightning-prone Arctic environments affected by the planets warming, a recent study finds.

Because the soil and permafrost these fires burn in can contain carbon-dense peat, zombie fires also release an outsized amount of heat-trapping gas that ultimately causes additional warming.

The new research, published in Science, focuses on record-setting summers in 2019 and 2020, which had exceptional wildfire seasons, reports The Conversation. This news outlet connects the northern fires with Arctic amplification, noting that the Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the world.

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The study shows increasing factors of fire associated with temperature and identifies a near-exponential relationship between these factors and annual burned area. It predicts more large fires in the Arctic before midcentury, associated with climatic warming.

Wondering how fires can smolder underground with limited oxygen? Fire ecologist Robert Gray spoke with the CBC in 2019 about how this underground burning is possible.

You need a combination of very deep ground fuel  that means duff and litter and roots and buried logs  and then you need drought conditions, Gray told CBC.

If you have that combination, then you have fires that can get into that deep, deep, dried organic material, and with just a little bit of oxygen they can hang on for years.

Why are zombie fires concerning?

For many Americans, wildfire smoke billowing over much of the central and eastern U.S. this year brought home the consequences of Canadian blazes burning out of control. Polluted air and hazardous health conditions in New York and other cities illustrate trends affecting large areas of the world that are likely to continue.

Although some of the zombie fires discussed in the latest research are fairly far north, smoke can spread great distances  and even when it doesnt, the fires release of heat-trapping gas can affect the planet, adding to pollution from human activities.

The Conversation reports on the specific difficulties of zombie firefighting. Firefighters in Alberta, Canada, where extensive peatlands exist, have had to battle zombie fires dozens of feet underground. Subsurface fires also make the Earth unstable, meaning firefighters must sometimes fight fires up close without bringing in heavy equipment.

Additionally, the zombie fire phenomenon, also called overwintering fire, allows a fire season to get an earlier start in spring from peat or tree-root embers carrying past fires forward like trick birthday candles that wont be extinguished.

What can I do to help avoid a zombie fire apocalypse?

As with other effects of Earths rising temperature, zombie fires may seem like faraway threats that only firefighters face. Yet anybody can encourage governments and take personal actions to limit the factors of fire stoked by the overheating of the planet. For example, we can reduce fuel burning by switching to electric vehicles or appliances.

Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet.
Jonathan Portis owner of The House of Elegant Florals Shop at 1978 Grant Street, in Gary on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. (Vincent D. Johnson/for the Post-Tribune). (Vincent D. Johnson/Chicago Tribune)

Gary native Jonathan Portis started The House of Elegant Florals Shop in his mothers house in 2020, but starting Saturday, hell showcase his arrangements in a brand new storefront.

God allowed me to get to the point where I was able to afford a spot, Portis told the Post-Tribune. The orders are just flourishing.

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The shop, located at 1978 Grant St. in the Steel City, will have its grand opening at noon Saturday, complete with a ribbon cutting ceremony and raffle. The new store, complete with a lobby, consultation area and wedding planning section, sits near the intersection of Grant Street and 20th Avenue in Garys Tolleston Neighborhood.

Jonathan Portis owner of The House of Elegant Florals Shop at 1978 Grant Street, in Gary on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. (Vincent D. Johnson/for the Post-Tribune). (Vincent D. Johnson/Chicago Tribune)

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the United States in early 2020, Portis was working for the Lake County Coroners Office as a deputy coroner, and experience he said left his anxiety on 100.

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By the end of April 2020, 15 people had died of COVID-related complications in Gary alone. In May of that year, Lake County saw an average daily death toll from COVID of between three and four people. Portis and his colleagues were responsible for documenting and transporting deceased victims of what was then still a very poorly understood disease, all while attempting to safeguard their own health.

It was the fear of the unknown, its something out there that you cant see, he said. It was like walking into third world countries when we were inside the hospital.

Though he described his work at the coroners office overall as a great experience, Portis eventually had had enough. He left and briefly worked as a funeral home administrator before quitting to pursue his own business.

Im like, you know what, I am so tired of seeing death and gloom and doom. I want to do something that can put a smile on peoples faces, Portis said. Somebody walked in with some flowers at the funeral home and Im like thats it!

His mother Rosalind was encouraging, he said, and allowed him to turn the back of her home into a makeshift flower store. Business was slow at first, but grew steadily through word of mouth, even before he set up a website. Sympathy arrangements make up a large portion of his business, Portis said, but he also provides flowers for weddings, school and church functions, family celebrations, and more.

Jonathan Portis is the owner of The House of Elegant Florals Shop, located at 1978 Grant Street, in Gary on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. (Vincent D. Johnson/for the Post-Tribune). (Vincent D. Johnson/Chicago Tribune)

With the opening of his Gary storefront, Portis already has his eye on further expansion, and said he plans to eventually open storefronts in Chicago and Indianapolis. Putting down roots first in his hometown, however, was important to him. Portis, who graduated from Lew Wallace High School in 2009 and is the last of his siblings still living in Gary, said he wanted his business to benefit the place where he grew up.

A lot of people ask me why are you still in Gary? You graduated, you dont have no record, youre not a bad guy. Portis said. Im gonna be something for the city, not only for the city, but for Northwest Indiana.

Portis said he has so far hired four employees, and anticipates hiring more as his business grows.

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adalton@chicagotribune.com

If you go

What: Grand opening for The House of Elegant Florals, featuring a ribbon cutting and raffles

When: 12 p.m. Saturday

Where: 1978 Grant St., Gary

For more information: 219-290-7762 or https://www.facebook.com/elegantfloralsllc/
(Reuters) - Hundreds of followers of a Haitian evangelical pastor, some armed with sticks and machetes, marched through a Port-au-Prince suburb on Saturday and confronted a gang controlling the area, sparking a melee that stood out even in a country accustomed to daily bloodshed.

A local rights group confirmed seven deaths but said the number may be as high as 20, though they were unable to enter the area to confirm. Others were injured and kidnapped in the confrontation.

Why did so many people follow their church leader into gunfire? Here's some background on Haiti's gang violence and the role of pastors:

WHO ARE THE GANGS AND WHY ARE THEY SO POWERFUL?

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Haitian gangs have expanded their control over the country's territory since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, which created a political vacuum.

Some 200 criminal groups form a network of shifting alliances dominated by the G9, G-Pep, Kraze Barye and 400 Mawozo groups, all warring for control over strategic parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Under-resourced police have struggled to battle the gangs, many of whom are armed with assault-style weapons and machine guns. Haiti's government requested urgent international security assistance last October. Kenyan officials were recently in Haiti to assess leading such a force, although many countries have been reluctant to aid a government that is unelected and widely seen as corrupt.

Countries including the United States and Canada have imposed sanctions on a slate of Haitian politicians over accusations of corruption and links to gangs.

Over 2,400 people have been killed this year and some 200,000 are internally displaced, according to estimates from the United Nations. The conflict has cut off access to food, healthcare and humanitarian aid. Kidnappings and sexual violence, often gang rapes, have become commonplace, the UN has said.

WHAT ARE HAITIANS DOING IN RESPONSE?

Some civilians have been taking matters into their own hands. In April, suspected gang members were lynched and burned alive, birthing the so-called "Bwa Kale" movement. Other such vigilante killings have been carried out with help from police, according to the CARDH rights group.

Last Saturday, Marcorel Zidor, known as Pastor Marco, of the Evangelical Piscine de Bethesda church, called on his followers to confront a gang controlling the Port-au-Prince suburb of Canaan. Police condemned Zidor after it ended in bloodshed and have yet to recover the bodies.

The next day followers of another religious leader known as Pastor Edrice gathered to take on Kraze Barye, led by Vitelhomme Innocent - who carries a $1 million U.S. bounty. Police prevented the confrontation.

On Monday, Zidor told a local radio station he would "do it again" despite the deaths, saying those of his followers who had kept faith had avoided the bullets.

WHO ARE HAITI'S INFLUENTIAL PASTORS?

Celebrity pastors have gained popularity in Haiti in recent decades. Pastor Luc Mesadieu first attempted a political foray through his Mochrena party at the turn of the century.

Influenced by U.S. mega-church pastors, such preachers gathered a following from the mid-2010s though radio and TV broadcasts. Some pastor-owned radio stations, notably from the Tabernacle of Glory church, gained thousands of followers.

Today these are sizeable and lucrative enterprises both in Haiti and throughout the diaspora of immigrants in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In a sign of their influence, Miami-based Pastor Gregory Toussaint, of the Tabernacle of Glory church, mobilized thousands of people across Haiti and the diaspora in July to push for U.S. legislation to penalize influential Haitians clandestinely backing gangs and to ease humanitarian migration rules.

Critics accused him of using the march to position himself as a presidential candidate for Haiti. Toussaint responded, "I don't need to be president to have a vision for my country."

(Reporting by Harold Isaac and Sarah Morland, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
A 34-year-old convicted murderer escaped from a Pennsylvania prison on Thursday morning, just one week after he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for stabbing a former girlfriend to death, officials said.

Danelo Cavalcante escaped from Chester County Prison in West Chester, about an hour's drive from Philadelphia, around 8:45 a.m. Thursday.

He was spotted shortly after midnight Saturday by residential security cameras in an area not far from the prison, authorities said. The Chester County District Attorney's Office reported on social media that Cavalcante was seen on video "on the 1800 block of Lenape Road at 1:43 a.m.," adding that "the fugitive has not changed his appearance."

Cavalcante, who is "considered an extremely dangerous man," was seen on Thursday walking on Wawaset Road in Pocopson Township around 9:40 a.m., Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said. A prison official did not give any details about the escape, saying it was under investigation.

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On Friday, the Chester County DA's Office said on Facebook that the search was ongoing "with detectives and hundreds of police officers using every means available, including search helicopters and dogs."

"We are following up on every lead," the office said.

Cavalcante is also wanted for a homicide in Brazil, the U.S. Marshals Service of Philadelphia said. He's a Brazilian national fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. Cavalcante also speaks some English.

Cavalcante is 5 feet tall and 120 pounds, authorities said. He has black hair and brown eyes. Cavalcante has a mustache and beard in an image released by authorities. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers.

Danelo Cavalcante / Credit: U.S. Marshals Service

Authorities stressed that people should not approach Cavalcante if they see him. Anyone who spots him or has information should call 911. The Marshals Service and the Chester County District Attorney's Office are offering a combined $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

The Chester County Department of Emergency Services issued an emergency alert after Cavalcante's escape. Dozens of law enforcement agencies are involved in the search for Cavalcante, Ryan said. K-9 units, drones and helicopters have been deployed.

Cavalcante was convicted of first-degree murder on Aug. 16 for fatally stabbing his 33-year-old former girlfriend in April 2021. Her family has been notified of Cavalcante's escape, authorities said during a news conference. Officials have not released details on the homicide he's wanted for in Brazil.

Concerns persist about pandemic learning loss

Open: This is "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sept. 3, 2023

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on "Face the Nation" | full interview
Parents and children hold signs at an Aug. 22 rally in San Francisco, one week after a crash that killed a 4-year-old girl in a crosswalk prompted advocates to question the city's street safety efforts. (Vanessa Arredondo / Los Angeles Times)

The sounds will haunt Michelle Svelti forever.

She and her boyfriend were talking in her San Francisco apartment when they heard a loud bang outside. Then came the screams.

They rushed to the window and saw that an SUV had slammed into a pole at an intersection where vehicle traffic from a nearby freeway ramp crosses a light-rail line.

A little girl in a red dress was trapped underneath, her stroller completely wrapped around the SUV.

The parents were holding her and wailing  it was the worst sound I've ever heard, Svelti said.

Svelti's boyfriend ran downstairs to help as she recorded video on her phone, hoping that it could help detectives. Good Samaritans rushed to lift the car.

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The father and 4-year-old child were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The girl did not survive.

After the Aug. 15 crash, San Francisco officials scrambled to make fast improvements to reduce conflicts between turning cars and pedestrians in the crosswalk at 4th and King streets, one of the city's most dangerous intersections.

It took someone to die for them to change anything, said Fran Taylor, who tied a plush animal to a tree with a yellow ribbon at the site of a community memorial.

But San Francisco, like Los Angeles, has spent the better part of a decade making such changes as part of an ambitious pledge to reduce traffic-related deaths to zero. Neither city is close to achieving that goal.

Read more: Hundreds died in L.A. traffic crashes in 2021. Is Vision Zero a failure?

In fact, last year was the deadliest on San Francisco's streets since the city committed to Vision Zero in 2014  39 people, including 20 pedestrians, were killed in traffic crashes, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority. On average, 30 people die and more than 500 are severely injured in the citys streets each year, leaving San Francisco far from reaching Vision Zero by its initial goal of 2024.

These deaths and injuries are unacceptable and preventable, said Erica Kato, the chief spokesperson at SFMTA. We know a lot about what the path looks like to achieve Vision Zero. We need streets that move people, not cars. And we need cars to slow down to save lives.

San Francisco was the second city in the nation to implement Vision Zero, an initiative originally created in Europe to eliminate pedestrian fatalities and major injuries.

California cities including Los Angeles soon followed in the quest to make communities more pedestrian-friendly. But traffic-related crashes have climbed since the pandemic , reaching a 16-year high in 2021, and officials statewide now need to reevaluate how to address street safety and meet the initiative's ambitious goals.

In California, where speeding is one of the leading causes of traffic deaths and severe injuries, officials have been working to lower the speed limit on some problematic roads.

Assembly Bill 43, passed in 2021, allowed city officials to lower speeds by 5 mph in districts with high commercial activity. More than 40 streets in San Francisco lowered limits to 20 mph, with 23 more corridors expected to follow in the fall. In Los Angeles, officials reduced speed limits on 77 street segments , including 28 corridors with high injury rates.

Read more: Editorial: Speed kills. It's time for California to slow down cars

A 5-mph decrease may not sound like a lot, said Jodie Medeiros, executive director of the nonprofit Walk San Francisco, but it makes a difference when 90% of San Francisco streets enforce a 25-mph speed limit. A person struck by a vehicle traveling 40 mph has a 20% chance of surviving, according to the SFMTA. The survival rate increases to 90% if the vehicle is going 20 mph.

Our bodies can only withstand so much impact, Medeiros said. If we reduce the average speed by just a few miles per hour, it's going to reduce injury collisions by percentage points, and that's exactly what we need to do.

San Francisco has made efforts to do just that. The Slow Streets program, adopted in December, limits non-local traffic in certain residential areas to fewer than 1,000 cars per day and slows down speeds to about 15 mph by adding turn restrictions, speed humps and pavement markings.

Slow Streets has decreased crashes in residential areas by 48%, officials said. But drivers there are still going upward of 15 mph, leaving the most vulnerable road users feeling unsafe in their neighborhoods.

I can't imagine what San Francisco would be like if we didn't have a policy like Vision Zero, Medeiros said. But do I think that the city is doing enough? Definitely not. The city could be doing more and faster.

Read more: There's a lot more we could be doing to make streets safer. Here are several examples

A week after the deadly crash at 4th and King, drivers trumpeted their horns as transit officers, who werent there earlier in the month, blew their whistles and tried to soothe the traffic. The SFMTA has also moved to reduce the southbound right-turn lanes from two to one and change the traffic signal to show turning drivers a yellow arrow instead of only a green light, to call attention to people in the crosswalk.

A 71-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of failing to yield to pedestrians and vehicular manslaughter in the crash; drugs or alcohol did not appear to be a factor, police said.

Dozens of other double-turn lanes across San Francisco will be evaluated similar to 4th and King, which is one of about 900 intersections in the citys high-injury network , comprising the top 12% streets where 68% of all fatal and severe traffic crashes happen.

Disadvantaged communities such as low-income neighborhoods or those with older residents and people with disabilities make up more than half of the areas on San Franciscos high-injury network. By the end of next year, streets in the network are slated for improvements such as allowing pedestrians more time to cross the street and upgraded crosswalks.

Just 10 days after the child was killed in the crosswalk, a 53-year-old man died after he was struck by a vehicle on Marin Street and Bayshore Boulevard, another dangerous intersection in the high-injury network.

Read more: San Francisco bans most cars from Market Street. Will other California cities follow?

In Los Angeles, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti launched Vision Zero in 2015 to eliminate all traffic deaths in the city by 2025. But two years away from the deadline, and as deaths reach record highs, more Angelenos are criticizing the initiative for failing to achieve its promise.

It's been an abject failure, said John Yi, the executive director of Los Angeles Walks, a nonprofit that works with immigrants and communities of color to build safer pedestrian infrastructure in their neighborhoods.

Last year, 312 people were killed in car crashes and 1,517 were seriously injured, according to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Bicyclists and pedestrians represented 57% of deaths and 41% of severe injuries, though most people in Los Angeles travel by car.

"We are fed up about the car-centric design of our city," Yi said. "A lot of policies continue to support faster traffic instead of investments in infrastructure for walking, biking and transit."

Five years ago, a 4-year-old girl was struck and killed by an SUV in a high-injury crosswalk in Koreatown as she was walking with her mother to preschool. Like the crash in San Francisco, the girl's death spurred a reassessment of traffic safety. Across L.A. County, vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children.

Los Angeles high-injury network, last updated in 2018, identified 509 miles of unsafe streets. Officials evaluate city data every five years and expect to release the next report this year. There are currently 71 corridors and 90 intersections in the network, and 60% of them are in disadvantaged areas, according to the latest Vision Zero report .

Read more: L.A. traffic deaths rose in 2022, surpassing 300 fatalities for first time in two decades

Efforts to ramp up safety in Los Angeles have increased. In 2022, LADOT added more than 10 miles of new and upgraded bike lanes on Avalon Boulevard, Adams Boulevard and Anaheim Street. The city also added 11 concrete bus-boarding islands along Reseda Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.

But much like San Francisco, Los Angeles' goal of eliminating traffic deaths appears increasingly unattainable, frustrating transportation advocates who have long argued that Vision Zero programs are underfunded and underprioritized.

We know what it takes to have safer streets, Yi said. We need to build power among people who are most affected by our upside-down transportation infrastructure so that they have a larger say in the decision-making process.

Some advocates in California are turning toward AB 645, co-authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Burbank), to help decrease traffic crashes. San Francisco and Los Angeles would be part of a five-year speed camera pilot program if the bill becomes law.

Under this bill, drivers caught on camera traveling at least 11 mph above the speed limit would receive a ticket in the mail. Proponents said the technology has reduced collisions by up to 60% in other cities, and it could help address limited police resources and reduce equity concerns about traffic stops.

But some are wary of the speed cameras and have raised concerns about privacy and excessive enforcement.

"AB 645 tickets would act as a taxing mechanism to pay for safety enhancements that the government should have previously made, ensuring that residents in communities of color will have been doubly harmed," said Becca Cramer-Mowder, a legislative advocate at ACLU California Action.

San Jose, Oakland, Glendale and Long Beach would also be part of the pilot.

Read more: Is this the year California OKs speed cameras?

In San Francisco, Svelti watched over the makeshift memorial at 4th and King from her window, wondering if others in the Mission Bay neighborhood were struggling too.

After a woman laid some flowers down and began to weep, Svelti went down and asked her for a hug. I realized that there's so many of us in the neighborhood that can't sleep and that are constantly looking out our windows, she said.

Among the people she has met on her visits downstairs are members of Walk San Francisco who joined the nonprofit after witnessing a fatal crash, losing a loved one in a crash or surviving one.

They include Julie Nicholson, who was running on Masonic and Oak streets when a car came speeding and hit her in 2020.

I was in the air for a long time," Nicholson said. "I hit the ground and I remember thinking, Oh my God, Im alive.' "

She was at a vigil last week for the girl killed at 4th and King, whose parents returned to Korea after the father was well enough to travel.

At 4 years old, there's just so many firsts yet to experience, Nicholson said.

City and transportation officials who attended the vigil promised safety enhancements on the most dangerous roads.

When we design our streets to be safe for kids, they become safe for everyone, SFMTA Chair Amanda Eaken said. I really hope that this little girl's memory will be enough for all of us to say that never again should a child die while crossing the street.

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Family and friends will no longer be able to order books for people incarcerated in Missouri prisons.

Missouris policy already requires loved ones to order materials to be sent directly from a bona fide vendor approved by the state.

The new, more restrictive policy goes into effect Sept. 25. Instead of ordering reading materials from an approved vendor, friends and family will need to add funds to a prisoners account. The person will then be able to order a book through the DOCs vendor.

Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said the change was made in an effort to stop drugs from entering facilities. She also said prisoners will have regular access to ordering books and that the availability of books would not change.

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But incarcerated Missourians and advocates say the departments action is a punitive measure that doesnt address how drugs are actually getting in.

A prisoner at Jefferson City Correctional Center, who did not want to be identified out of fears of retaliation, said he has received books from family members over the years he has been incarcerated. Most have been religious in nature.

Reading is a good pastime, he said.

People in prisons, he continued, dont have a lot of privileges, and the state seems to keep chipping away at them.

In July 2022, the department of corrections stopped physical mail. Letters are sent to a facility in Tampa, Florida, where they are scanned and sent electronically.

Lauren Brinkley-Rubenstein, an associate professor at Duke University and expert on health in prison systems, previously told The Star that change was not scientific or evidence-based.

Its not stopping drugs coming in the building, she said. And its severing relationships, which has a very negative impact on peoples health.

The Kansas City-area organization Liberation Lit has been sending people who are incarcerated in Kansas and Missouri books since early 2021. Last year, prisoners received more than 400 titles they had requested based on their interests.

Co-founder Dylan Pyles said the new policy is Missouri is a de facto book ban.

Really what this does is it puts the burden on the residents themselves to get money from their loved one if they want to pay for a book, which adds to fees for sending money, he said. It makes it increasingly harder for people to access books.

Pyles added that reading materials are a lifeline as well as educational tools, and that prohibiting them to be sent for a birthday or other occasions feels cruel and unusual.

Antwann Johnson, who is also incarcerated in Jefferson City, said that when things that bring prisoners hope are taken away, theyre more likely to turn to drugs.

He also said the department of corrections wants to blame drugs on everything but the real situation.

A prisoner at Chillicothe Correctional Center said, Its a bad policy. Its not how most contraband gets in anyway.

Many, including groups like Missouri Prison Reform and the MacArthur Justice Center, believe prison staff should be more closely monitored when it comes to drugs getting inside facilities.

The department does not have data on how many books have been found laced with drugs. But, Pojmann said, this summer corrections officers discovered a book with blank pages that were soaked in the drug K2 and a book with 52 suboxone strips in its spine.

Since last fall, multiple cell searches have uncovered many magazine and book pages that have tested positive for synthetic drugs, including methamphetamine, she said. In some cases, they were discovered only after an offender was found unresponsive after ingesting or absorbing the substance.

Through the first half of this year, 69 people died under the Missouri Department of Corrections watch.

Of the known causes of death, 72.3% were classified as natural, 19.1% were accidental, 6.3% were a result of executions and 2.1% were suicides. All of the accidental deaths were from overdoses, Pojmann said in July.

She also said the department is addressing substance abuse issues by expanding treatment options as well as access to Narcan, which can reverse an opioid overdose.

In Kansas, friends and family are still allowed to purchase a book from a publisher or vendor such as Amazon and have it sent to someone in prison. David Thompson, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections, said there have been no issues since the vendor must be preapproved.
WICHITA, Kan.  Capital murder charges were filed against Alexander Lewis for the death of Zaiylah Bronson and her unborn child after investigators found her body in the trunk of a car Saturday.

Bronson grew up just outside of Kansas City, moving to Wichita two years ago to attend Wichita State University. At the time of her death, she was not enrolled at the school anymore, KSNW reports.

Suspect arrested, charged in Merriam road rage incident

Her mom and godmother said her death left them shocked and devastated. They saw no warning signs she was in trouble.

Lewis and Bronson were dating at the time of her death, according to her godmother.

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Bronsons loved ones remember her for the kindness she showed the people around her.

Her compassion for others just helped her through whatever she may have been going through, said Taronza Rowe-Bronson, Bronsons mom

That voice, that smile, that happiness, that joy, that pure love that she have for life and everybody else, said Dawn Wilson, Bronsons godmother.

Rowe-Bronson and Bronson talked on the phone nearly every day.

KCK stabbing victim talks about attack weeks after horrific incident

We were close, but like I said, obviously not close enough, Rowe-Bronson said. I dont know what led to this. What were the signs?

Bronsons godmother is a survivor of domestic violence.

Not everybody makes it out, and to see my baby girl not make it out, its just like, how did we miss the signs? Wilson said.

Sometimes friends and family dont know when someone is a victim of domestic violence.

Ive seen plenty of situations in which the abuser seems so likeable, so amiable, and hes very kind to the family as well, said Amanda Meyers, executive director of the Wichita Family Crisis Center. Theres just no blame other than on the perpetrator.

The heartbreak is still raw for a mom now coping with the death of her daughter.

Kansas news: Headlines from Wichita, Topeka and around the Sunflower State

I miss her voice, her phone calls, Rowe-Bronson said. It would be her voice.

Bronsons family has a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral expenses.

Here are some resources:

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
A metro Atlanta man shot in the head after a possible road rage shooting has died, according to his family.

On Aug. 24, College Park police received a call about a person shot off Godby Road and W. Fayetteville Road. When officers arrived, they found a man with a gunshot wound to the head.

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

Paramedics transported the victim to a hospital in critical condition. Family members identified the man as Jovan Jerome Cook, a father, husband and rising actor and model.

On Thursday, they confirmed Cook died from his injuries this week.

With heavy hearts, we share the untimely passing of Jovan Jerome Cook. While his mission on Earth is complete, the devoted husband, Daddy, son, brother and gifted model/actor forever lives.

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College Park police said the initial reports from Aug. 24 show the shooting may have been the result of road rage.

Jovan was a rising and gifted model/actor. Unfortunately, his life has now been cut short due to the senseless acts of violence as it relates to road rage, a family spokesperson said.

The family will be hold a vigil at Flat Shoals Park on Friday at 7 p.m.

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IN OTHER NEWS
The family of a pilot from Keller who was killed when two vintage aircraft collided midair at a Dallas air show in November are suing the organizations that put together the show and owned and operated the aircraft for gross negligence and wrongful death.

Len Roots wife, Angela Root, and daughters Larisa Lichte, Kendra Hockaday and Rebekah Lowery filed their lawsuit in Dallas County Court on Thursday, the familys lawyers said in a news release.

Its with a heavy heart that we file suit, but its something we feel compelled to do to protect other pilots, Angela Root and her daughters said in a statement. Its what Len would want.

Root, along with five other flight crew members, was killed Nov. 12 when a World War II-era P-63 Kingcobra and B-17 Flying Fortress collided midair at the Commemorative Air Forces Wings Over Dallas air show. Root was the B-17 pilot.

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The lawsuit alleges that the shows air boss, Russell Royce, was unqualified, and the air shows organizer, the Commemorative Air Force, was aware Royce lacked the skills and experience for the job.

Allowing Royce to control the flight plan, flight path and operations of these aircraft significantly increased the risk and danger of the Airshow, which was a cause of the fatal crash, the lawsuit states.

Roots family is suing the Commemorative Air Force, along with the organizations that owned and maintained the two aircraft  the American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum Inc. and the American Airpower Heritage Museum Inc.

Representatives for the defendants could not immediately be reached for comment.

The lawsuit states that the defendants were negligent in their hiring of Royce and failed to provide him with the proper training and supervision.

He (Royce) along with the Defendants, failed to draft, organize, and implement a safe and adequate flight plan for the Airshow, including providing safe and adequate linear and lateral, and temporal distance between all participating aircraft, the suit states. The Defendants failures caused the mid-air collision between the subject P-63F and the subject B-17G aircraft.

An expert who reviewed the National Transportation Safety Boards preliminary report of the crash, released Nov. 30, told KDFW-TV that the pilots didnt have a plan to coordinate their altitude before the collision.

The report didnt list a cause of the collision, but retired Air Force and American Airlines pilot Chris Manno told KDFW his major takeaway from the report was that there were no altitude deconfliction briefed before the flight or while the airplanes were in the air.

So they did not prepare for the eventuality of having two aircraft at the same altitude at the same airspace, he said. Thats a problem.

It could take 12 to 24 months to complete the investigation, according to the NTSB.

Roots family is asking for over $1 million in damages for mental anguish and the loss of love and companionship. They are requesting a jury trial.

Root, who was 66 at the time of his death, obtained his pilots license at 16, according to the release. He retired from American Airlines in 2021 as a Boeing 787 international captain and continued to pilot and train pilots after his retirement.

Len loved to fly and share his love of aviation with others, the Root family said in their statement. He spent many enjoyable hours in the company of other pilots flying vintage aircraft, others who were just as committed to safety as he was.
Ruby Franke of the 8 Passengers family channel was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of child abuse.

In response, fans are recirculating old clips of the mom of six acting "awful" to her kids over the years.

One recent TikTok with 11 million views shows Franke threatening to punish her kids.

Internet users are digging up old footage of mom influencer Ruby Franke in response to her arrest on suspicions of child abuse on Wednesday. Viewers say these clips are evidence that she had long acted "awful" to her six children.

Franke  the matriarch behind the now defunct family vlog channel, 8 Passengers  was arrested alongside her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt this week. The two are listed on the Washington County Sheriff's Office's website as "in custody." The arrest came after a malnourished child was found asking someone for help, according to a statement from the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department.

8 Passengers was one of the most popular YouTube family channels, with around 2.5 million subscribers at its peak. The channel launched in 2015 and followed Franke, her husband Kevin, and their six children: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve. Content to the channel began to slow down over the last year until the page was completely deleted in 2023.

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Though Franke could potentially face a serious legal case, fans of the channel have suspected and alleged that abuse was happening behind the scenes for years. In light of her arrest, they are now gesturing at specific instances of concern in the family's vlog archive, like a 2020 video where Chad said his parents forced him to sleep on a beanbag for seven months as punishment for a prank. Some are even pointing to eye-brow-raising parenting advice from Franke, like once likening a child's disordered eating as a kind of "hit," or dopamine rush, and asking parents not to give into it.

Numerous old YouTube clips are now going viral on TikTok and Twitter. Those who have sounded alarms over the years say they feel vindicated by the recent news, and that these clips are evidence that some form of "justice was served," as many of these posts are being captioned.

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One of the most viral TikToks, which has been viewed over 11 million times since it was posted on Thursday, stitches several instances of Franke "being awful to her kids," the video maker wrote on-screen. In one clip, Franke said her youngest daughter Eve missed pre-school because she slept in by accident, and Franke refused to wake her up.

"She can't control when she wakes up," Franke's eldest child, Shari, shot back at her mom in the video. (Shari publicly broke away from her family in 2022 and has since been outspoken about criticism against her parents. On Wednesday, she voiced support for her mother's arrest.)

In another clip, she said her kids are not welcome to live with her after they turn 18. The TikTok also cut in a soundbite of Franke saying she wouldn't bring lunch to her kids at school if they forgot it at home.

Top commenters on the video said they were astonished to watch these clips  all of which were public and once aired to millions of viewers. One person wrote they couldn't fathom "the trauma they all must have," while someone else imagined that if the behavior looked bad on-camera, it must have been "way worse" behind the scenes.

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The same TikTok account, @got2bviral, shared another clip that same day showing Franke forcing her daughter Eve to apologize to her multiple times for not giving her the response she wanted when she announced they were going to the movies. Eve had asked her mom "what movie" they were going to see. In the same clip, Franke filmed herself calling a babysitter for Eve as a threat that she would no longer be invited to the outing.

"Poor baby didn't do anything but still had to apologise, this has broken my heart," one comment with over 30,000 likes said. "She'll grow up to apologise to everyone for the smallest things."

Commenters were equally shocked and outraged that these scenes were so publicly aired.

"SHE FILMED THIS???" a user, who received over 13,000 upvotes, reacted.

The TikTok account @8passengersover was seemingly created to circulate similar clips. Its first video, of Shari showing support for the motion to her Instagram Stories, was posted on Wednesday. Since then, it's reshared multiple clips that have amassed millions of views.

Beyond footage of Franke with her family, it's also posted vlogs of the mom giving questionable parenting advice. In one video, Franke described children with eating disorders as though they lie and withhold eating on purpose.

"She's getting a hit by not eating, and she's getting a hit by lying," she says, responding to a parent-submitted topic titled, "MY DAUGHTER STOPPED EATING."

A commenter who said they've struggled with eating issues said this was "the worst possible reaction" to the condition a parental figure could have.

"As someone who recovered from an ED this is horrifying," someone else wrote.

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Social media users are also pointing to old footage that they're now watching with new eyes in light of the arrest.

Another video by the same TikTok account clips a moment between Franke and Hildebrandt wherein the mom of six admits to being a "disconnected, selfish, aggressive, neglectful mother."

One X (formerly Twitter) post seemed to gesture at irony from a previous YouTube video. Franke is seen saying she felt "righteous anger towards adults abusing children," which was shared next to a screenshot of the sheriff's county booking status that she was arrested on suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse. The video was posted to Franke and Hildebrandt's joint channel, ConneXions, which they touted as a life and parenting improvement counseling program.

"Can we say hypocrite," one person commented on the clip.

Franke and Hildebrant are currently being held without bail in Utah due to a court order, and they face up to 15 years in prison for each of the aggravated child abuse charges.

Franke and her attorney did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday it had searched locations in 14 New Mexico communities as part of an operation targeting alleged members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

Drugs, weapons and ammunition were seized as a result of the searches executed in Farmington, Alamogordo, Ruidoso, Hobbs, Capitan, Arabela, Los Lunas, Rio Rancho, Belen, Tome, Grants, San Rafael, Gallup and Albuquerque, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

Among the seizures were 151 firearms, fentanyl, meth and cocaine, investigators said.

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Dive deeper: Bandidos: 5 things to know about second-most dangerous motorcycle gang

Just two persons  Kenneth Martinez and Henry Mascarenas  were arrested as a result of the multiagency operation, according to the news release. Law enforcement said charges are pending against at least one other person.

The investigation targeted 25 alleged gang members that law enforcement said it perceived as "the most criminally active and loudest voices advocating for continued violence."

Today, we joined forces to take significant law enforcement action to disrupt an outlaw motorcycle gang trying to establish a foothold in our communities, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda in the news release.

The operation, according to the DOJ, was initiated following the shooting incident that resulted in three deaths and several injuries in Red River, New Mexico in May. Law enforcement allege that members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club and a rival club, the Water Dogs were to blame, when a dispute at a wedding turned violent.

Three persons were arrested and charged related to that incident, though a first-degree murder charge against one suspect was dropped in June.

The ongoing violence involving outlaw motorcycle gangs across our state has a negative impact on all the citizens of New Mexico. The law enforcement community owes it to those we serve to come together and stop this behavior, said Troy Weisler, Chief of the New Mexico State Police, in the news release.

Jessica Onsurez can be reached at jonsurez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JussGREAT.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: 2 arrested amid Bandidos Motorcycle Club investigation in New Mexico
The Chinese Film Days opened on Thursday, during which various Chinese films, TV series, and other cultural products were on display.

The TV series titled "Ode to Joy 3," telling of the friendship of five young women who live on the same floor in an apartment building, was given to a Mongolian TV station called "Asian Box."

"Until now, The Khalkha Mongolian Language Dubbing Center for Chinese Films and TV Dramas has localized and translated more than 2,000 episodes of 60 excellent Chinese TV series, cartoons, movies, and documentaries in Mongolia, which has played a positive role in helping Mongolian people better understand Chinese culture," said Li Zhi, deputy director of the Inner Mongolia Radio and Television Station.

Six popular Chinese films, including the sci-fi blockbuster "The Wandering Earth II," the animated fantasy "White Snake 2: The Tribulation of Green Snake," the spy thriller "Cliff Walkers," and others are expected to be screened at the Tengis Cinema in Ulan Bator during the following days.

The film event is part of a week-long series of cultural events promoting northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region called "Feel China," which started here on Wednesday.
Police twice seized Detroit resident Melisa Ingram's car for alleged crimes she was never suspected of committing. | Institute for Justice

A panel of federal appellate judges unanimously ruled Thursday that Detroit's practice of seizing people's cars for months at a time before giving them a chance to contest the seizure violates vehicle owners' 14th Amendment right to due process.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, agreeing with a lower U.S. district court, found that Michigan's Wayne County, which includes Detroit, "violated that Constitution when it seized plaintiffs' personal vehicleswhich were vital to their transportation and livelihoodswith no timely process to contest the seizure."

The 6th Circuit ruled that Wayne County must provide car owners a post-seizure court hearing within two weeks. Maria Miller, a spokesperson for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office (WCPO), said the office is currently determining its next steps in light of the decision.

The ruling is a victory for the rights of car owners, a sharp rebuke of a greedy local government, and a preview of an important issue that will soon be before the Supreme Court. As Reason's Billy Binion reported in July, the Supreme Court has taken up a case to decide if property owners are entitled to a probable cause hearing after a seizure, and how soon if so.

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The plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuitfiled in 2020 by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning public interest law firmincluded Robert Reeves. In July of 2019, police seized Reeves' 1991 Chevrolet Camaro, along with more than $2,000 in cash, after stopping him on suspicion of stealing a skid steer from Home Depot. For more than six months, Reeves was not arrested or charged with a crime, and the WCPO didn't file a notice of intent to forfeit his car, leaving him unable to officially challenge the seizure.

"Because of today's ruling, the next person the county targets will have a real opportunity to go to court and challenge the seizure of their car," Reeves said in an Institute for Justice press release. "And they won't have to wait months or years to get it."

Under civil asset forfeiture laws, police can seize property suspected of being connected to criminal activity, even if the owner is not charged with a crime. Law enforcement says civil asset forfeiture is a vital tool for disrupting drug trafficking and other organized crime by targeting illicit revenue.

However, civil liberties groups like the Institute for Justice say police often target innocent owners or petty offendersnot cartel lordsand force them to bear the cost of challenging the seizure in court.

Wayne County had a particularly aggressive vehicle forfeiture program targeting illicit marijuana, prostitution, drag racing, and other public disorder and nuisance offenses. It typically offered to settle cases and return cars for $900, plus towing and storage fees. (An example of such a forfeiture notice can be seen here.) The alternative was waiting months for the WCPO to file a motion for forfeiture in court, without one's car.

The Institute for Justice argued that forcing owners through a monthslong, onerous process to challenge a seizure was an obvious shakedown and violated their Fourth, Eighth, and 14th Amendment rights.

For example, according to the lawsuit, police twice seized the car of Melisa Ingram, another plaintiff, while her boyfriend was borrowing itonce for allegedly picking up a prostitute and another time for leaving a house connected to drug activity. Her boyfriend was never charged with a crime, nor was Ingram, but the WCPO demanded payments from Ingram to get her car back. The first time she paid. The second time she didn't have the money and relinquished her car to the county.

Stephanie Wilson, the third plaintiff in the Institute for Justice suit, alleged that Detroit police seized two of her cars over a six-month period because she gave rides to her daughter's father, whom police suspected of drug activity, although no drugs or guns were found in either instance. In the first case, she lost her car after missing a filing deadline. She only got her second car back after waiting two years for a court hearing.

After reviewing the plaintiffs' cases, the panel of 6th Circuit judges could only agree that a perverse profit incentive, not crime fighting, was driving Wayne County's asset forfeiture program.

"Although Wayne County ostensibly seized the vehicles because of reasons related to health, safety, and/or drugs, the record suggests otherwisethat the county seized the vehicles in order to obtain proceeds from fees," the court wrote. "If Wilson's vehicle had a dangerous connection with drugs, it is unclear why the county promptly released the vehicle after a payment of $1,355. And if Ingram's vehicle was a public nuisance, the county's willingness to release the vehicle for $1,800 suggests it is more interested in the money than in remedying a public nuisance."

And as Reason has previously reported, this was happening at scale. Wayne County seized more than 2,600 vehicles between 2017 and 2019 and raked in more than $1.2 million in asset forfeiture revenues, according to public records obtained by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free market Michigan think tank.

Of those seizures, 473 were not accompanied by a criminal conviction, and in 438 of those cases, no one was even charged with a crime. In 10 cases, the cars were seized under suspicion of a drug violation, even though the records say police didn't find any drugs.

The Institute for Justice was not alone in challenging the program. In 2018, Stephen Nichols filed a class-action lawsuit after waiting more than three years for a court hearing to challenge the seizure of his car. That same year, Crystal Sisson filed a civil rights lawsuit after Wayne County sheriff's deputies seized her 2015 Kia Soul because she allegedly possessed $10 worth of marijuana.

In a scathing concurring opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Amul Thapar wrote that Wayne County's scheme "is simply a money-making ventureone most often used to extort money from those who can least afford it."

After summarizing the experiences of Reeves, Ingram, and Wilson, Thapar asked: "Does this sound like a legitimate way of cleaning up Wayne County? Or does it sound like a money-making scheme that preys on those least able to fight it? To ask the question is to answer it."

Settlement agreements like the ones in Wayne County are not unusual, however. Before Albuquerque ended its asset forfeiture program, it would force owners, even innocent owners, to pay $850 to recover their cars. In Albuquerque resident Arlene Harjo's case, the city offered to return her car for $4,000 after her son was arrested for drunk driving.

The Institute for Justice's lawsuit will now head back to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan for further proceedings on its Fourth Amendment claims.

"The Wayne County forfeiture machine takes in over 1,000 cars every year," Institute for Justice attorney Kirby Thomas West said. "Now, Detroit car owners can at least rest assured that they will have a speedy opportunity to challenge a seizure when they find themselves victims of this forfeiture machine."

The post Federal Appeals Court Rules Detroit's Asset Forfeiture Violates Due Process Rights of Drivers appeared first on Reason.com.
Four years after ordering Kansas to allow transgender people to change their birth certificates, a federal judge has agreed to reopen a case because of a new state law.

Attorney General Kris Kobach in June requested that U.S. District Court reopen Foster v. Andersen, now Foster v. Stanek. The case had been terminated in June 2019 through a consent order where the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Gov. Laura Kelly 's administration agreed to provide transgender people with birth certificates consistent with their gender identity.

Kobach argued that the newly enacted Senate Bill 180, which went into effect July 1, requires all Kansas birth certificates to identify a person's sex as the one assigned at birth. The Republican-controlled Legislature overrode Kelly's veto of SB 180, known by supporters as the Women's Bill of Rights.

"The trans activists in this case attempted to nullify state law," Kobach said in a statement. "The Court held that SB 180 means what it says  birth certificates in Kansas must reflect biological sex. As long as I am attorney general, the laws of Kansas will be enforced as written."

A federal judge on Thursday agreed, at the request of Attorney General Kris Kobach, to reopen a 2019 consent order in which Gov. Laura Kelly's administration agreed to issue birth certificates to transgender people that reflected their gender identity.

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, counsel and health care strategist at Lambda Legal, which secured the consent judgment in 2019, said in a statement that he was disappointed the judge reopened the order.

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"Let us be clear, however, today's decision does not approve of SB 180, as interpreted by the Kansas Attorney General, but simply holds that the circumstances have changed," Gonzalez-Pagan said. "Indeed, the court went to great lengths to specify that it was not opining on SB 180's constitutionality."

Federal judge didn't address constitutionality of SB 180

District Judge Daniel Crabtree, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote that Kobach properly invoked court rules and thus granted his motion. In doing so, he declined to rule on whether SB 180 is unconstitutional.

"The current motion presents a procedural question. ... Deciding the issue presented by the current motion doesnt require the court to opine about SB 180's constitutionality," Crabtree wrote.

In the old court order, the state agreed that its old policy of not changing birth certificates for transgender people violated their constitutional rights.

"The court didn't reach this conclusion  the parties reached it, and then jointly asked the court to accept their conclusion," Crabtree wrote. "To say it simply, the quoted portion of the Consent Judgment doesn't represent a reasoned conclusion drawn by a court."

The four transgender people who were the original plaintiffs in the case opposed reopening it, arguing that the old order meant SB 180 was unconstitutional. Crabtree said the argument relied on a mistaken premise that a consent order resolved the substance of the issues.

"But federal courts dont function as some sort of free-range monitor of state legislatures," Crabtree wrote. "Instead, they decide specific cases and controversies when  but only whena case's pleadings present an actual case or controversy. Plaintiffs' threshold arguments rest on the premise that the court already has found that SB 180 violates the Constitution. It hasn't. And because the present motion presents a purely procedural question, it constitutes an inappropriate mechanism for resolving the constitutionality of SB 180."

Federal judge was wary of wading into federalism concerns

Kobach argued it would be impossible to enforce SB 180 without violating the consent judgement. Kelly argued in an amicus brief that there was another interpretation of SB 180 that would not conflict with the court order.

Crabtree said controversy is more appropriate for a state court and noted the ongoing Shawnee County District Court case about how SB 180 applies to driver's licenses.

"The court has genuine misgivings about inserting itself into the dispute about the meaning of the new Kansas law, SB 180," he wrote. "Absent some issue arising under federal law, a dispute about the meaning of Kansas law belongs in a Kansas state courthouse. And in parallel litigation pending right now in Kansas state court, Kansas state officials are litigating their disputes about SB 180's meaning."

Despite his wariness of wading into federalism concerns, Crabtree said he must in order to comply with legal standards. He then sided with Kobach's interpretation while stressing that the court's assessment of interpretations of the law was solely for the purpose of analyzing court rules on the motion at hand.

"The court's analysis and conclusion don't diminish the authority of Kansas courts to decide what Kansas law is," Crabtree wrote. "They properly retain that authority, and no one should read this Order to suggest otherwise."

The plaintiffs argued that transgender Kansans had relied on the consent judgment for years, and modifying it would go against the public interest because the Legislature enacted the law "as part of a campaign by anti-LGBTQ activists to erase the progress made by LGBTQ people over the past decades."

"Given the important federalism concerns at issue, the court concludes that an elected, accountable state legislature better can determine the public interest  subject, of course, to any applicable constitutional limitations," Crabtree wrote. "Indeed, a decree like the Consent Judgment is detrimental to the public interest when it risks using federal judicial power 'improperly [to] interfere with a State's democratic process.'"

What happens to Kansas birth certificates now?

It is not immediately clear what the effects of Crabtree's order will be.

"The Legislature decided that birth certificates must reflect biological reality, and they were quite clear in how they wrote the law," Kobach said said. "Today's decision is a rejection of the activists' and Governor Kelly's attempt to twist the English language beyond recognition. The Court has told the Governor what the law clearly means. We now expect the Governor to follow the law and cease changing birth certificates to something other than biological sex at birth."

The governor's office didn't indicate if it will now abide by Kobach's interpretation of the law.

"While today's decision is disappointing, it's not the end of the road," said Brianna Johnson, a spokesperson for the governor. "The state should not discriminate or encroach into Kansans' personal lives  it's wrong, it's bad for business, and it's exactly why we entered this agreement with the court years ago. We will review the decision, including how it impacts operations and potential next steps."

Lambda Legal is also assessing its options.

"The interpretation of SB 180 advocated by Kris Kobach and his ilk is as unlawful as the policies we first challenged in our lawsuit in 2018," said Gonzalez-Pagan. "Access to accurate identity documents is vital; without accurate identity documents, transgender people face even greater threats of discrimination, harassment, and even violence. We will evaluate next steps to determine how best to continue to secure the right of transgender Kansans to have identity documents consistent with who they are.

Jason Alatidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Judge reopens Kansas case of birth certificates for transgender people
A Marine Corps veteran who falsely claimed to have been the sole survivor of an enemy IED blast in Iraqgoing so far as to submit a bogus application for a Purple Heartis now facing federal charges for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars related to life-altering injuries the feds say never existed.

Paul John P.J. Herbert, 52, was arrested Friday morning by federal agents in Western Massachusetts. He served in the Marines on active duty from 1989 to 1993, and in the reserves from 1993 to 1995. But beginning some 15 years after separating from the service, and continuing through March 2023, Herbert did, on a recurring basis, knowingly and willfully embezzle, steal, purloin and convert to his use disability benefits [worth] approximately $344,040, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed Sept. 1.

In a Purple Heart application submitted through his local congressman on Oct. 18, 2018, Herbert claimed he had suffered traumatic brain injury from a roadside explosion while deployed to Northern Iraq, the indictment states, adding, In truth and fact, as the defendant well knew, his statement was false.

Herbert is charged with one count of theft of government money and one count of making false statements. He appeared before a judge on Friday afternoon, and was released pending his next court date.

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I will not be discussing the case, Herberts lawyer, Tracy Duncan, told The Daily Beast.

Questions Swirl Around Vet at Center of Bogus Migrant Story

The Purple Heart dates back to the waning days of the Revolutionary War, and is awarded to those wounded or killed in combat. It is considered one of the U.S. militarys most solemn honors, and recipients are entitled to a plethora of perks including preferential hiring status for federal jobs, tax breaks, and health care prioritization by the VA. Herbert also reportedly obtained a free service dog, with all expenses paid by the VA. As the saying goes, it is a medal that nobody wants to earn, representing a level of sacrifice unthinkable to many. Purple Heart recipients often engender instant respect, which has prompted some vets to greatly embellish their records.

Sharon Toney-Finch, an Army veteran who was inducted last July into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame, made the Purple Heart a central aspect of her public persona, once appearing on Fox News to unveil a set of Purple Heart commemorative coins. She claimed her convoy was ambushed during her second deployment to Iraq in 2010, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury. However, a U.S. Army spokesman told The Daily Beast in May that the Department of Defense had nothing on file indicating a Purple Heart.

Last year, Sarah Jane Cavanaugh, a Rhode Island woman who never even served was arrested and charged after posing as a Purple Heart recipient to allegedly bilk charities out of almost $250,000 while faking Stage IV cancer and a traumatic brain injury she claimed to have sustained in Iraq.

In 2017, the Daily Hampshire Gazette ran an adulatory profile of Herbert, in which he described traveling through the mountains of Iraq with a contingent of British Royal Marines when they hit an IED. Herbert said he and the others were providing safe passage to Kurds fleeing Saddam Husseins chemical attacks, under Operation Provide Comfort, which stretched from 1991 to 1996.

I do think about it, and can sometimes hear the propeller or helicopter noise, Herbert told the paper, recalling his supposed first thoughts after regaining consciousness.

He said he was evacuated to a hospital in Turkey before being sent back to Iraq a few weeks later.

But a group of veterans realized that some of Herberts tales didnt make sense, according to one who spoke to the Recorder in 2022. For one, IEDs did not come into regular use in Iraq until the early 2000s. And vets who knew Herbert and had seen his discharge papers were further taken aback when, at an event, he told stories that didnt match up with his official service record. Further, a local veteran said details of his own near-death experience in Afghanistanspecifically, the part about hearing a helicopter propeller upon coming to in Iraqwound up in Herberts recollections. When they asked Herbert to provide proof of his claims, he gave them a form that hasnt been used since the Korean War, according to the Recorder.

In August 2022, Herbert confessed publicly to having fabricated large portions of his personal history. At the same time, he told the Recorder that he really did suffer a traumatic brain injury when a boat he was riding in during a training exercise in California hit a sandbar. (There is no record of this happening, according to a veterans services official who investigated Herberts claims.) Beyond the Purple Heart, for which Herbert was, in the end, reportedly rejected, Herbert reportedly admitted to wearing more than a dozen other ribbons and medals he never earned.

I just needed to feel important. I started feeling important and feeling good about myself and I didnt know a way to get out, Herbert told the Recorder last year. I know I hurt a lot of people that trusted me and cared about me and everything else I didnt want any of that stuff. I got mad at myself. I hated myself. I still hate myself for this.

In a statement released Friday, United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy said, Every day, thousands of brave members of the military selflessly risk their lives to protect our country. Stealing from our countrys veterans or claiming valor where there is none is an insult to the honorable service members who sacrifice for our safety.

If convicted, Herbert faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on the theft charge, and a maximum of five years on the false statements charge.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The federal government has accepted Gov. Ron DeSantis  request for a major disaster declaration for seven counties devastated by Hurricane Idalia, though some areas in need are not included, the governor said at a news conference Friday.

President Joe Biden will travel to Florida to visit the hardest hit areas on Saturday, though it remains unclear whether he and DeSantis will tour together.

The seven counties now eligible for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are Citrus, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee, and Taylor. Individuals and households can now apply for money to help recover from the extensive flooding and property damage Idalia brought to the region.

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Nearby Madison County was not included, however, though it was hard-hit, with 100% of residents losing power, DeSantis said. He expects the county to be added to the list soon.

I think were going to get that, DeSantis said.

Biden will arrive in Florida on Saturday to tour the areas most in need. Asked if he plans to tour with Biden, DeSantis said I dont have details.

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He added that it would be disruptive to some of the communities to have the whole kind of security apparatus that comes with a presidential visit.

Some of the most devastated areas, like Horseshoe Beach, have only one way in and out, he added. On his recent visit, he said, he arrived by a Blackhawk helicopter and landed on a sand dune.

Theres only so many ways to get into these places, DeSantis said. What we want to do is make sure power restoration continues, relief efforts continue and we dont have any interruption in that. Im sure theyll be sensitive to that as well.

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Search and rescue efforts are beginning to conclude in many counties, transitioning to recovery efforts, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. By the end of the day, nine pods will be open across the region, offering food and other resources.

Over 476,000 accounts have had power restored since Idalia, DeSantis said, with 91,000 outages remaining. Many more Duke Energy customers will have their power restored by either Friday night or Saturday.

And kids are returning to school, with 58 out of 67 county school districts now open, said Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez.

The Department of Children and Families is opening family resource centers for additional support.

Some people were left homeless by the storm; while touring Horseshoe Beach, DeSantis said, he encountered multiple people left with nowhere to go. The state is moving five trailers into the town on Friday.


Los Angeles, CA - September 27: Students participate in a club rush event at East Los Angeles College on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, CA.

Whether its the Supreme Courts recent decision to gut affirmative action or threats made against companies that take race into account in their hiring practices  the war on DEI is clearly heating-up. In August, six California community college professors filed a lawsuit to halt the states new rules on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility.



In their lawsuit, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression argued that the new rules violated their First Amendment rights, by pressuring faculty to promote anti-racism. The DEIA Rules forsake debate for top-down conformity, requiring faculty to endorse contested concepts such as anti-racism...California Community Colleges new rules use the heavy hand of the government not to encourage debate about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies, but end it, argues the lawsuit. The lawsuit also raises concerns about how this could impact tenure and employment for professors who dont comply.

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Filipino peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer was among the recipients of the 2023 Ramon Magsaysay Awards, which are considered Asias equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

About the peacebuilder: Coronel-Ferrer, 63, was awarded on Thursday for her efforts in harnessing the power of women in peace advocacy. Coronel-Ferrer was the chief government negotiator during the time of President Simeon Benigno Aquino III. She helped end a long-standing insurgency in the southern Philippines with Muslim rebels, leading to the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2014.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation noted Coronel-Ferrers deep, unwavering belief in the transformative power of nonviolent strategies in peace building, her cool intelligence and courage in surmounting difficulties to convey the truth that it is through inclusion rather than division that peace can be won and sustained.

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Coronel-Ferrer, a founding member of the Southeast Asian Women Peace Mediators, is also a former senior mediation adviser at the United Nations and a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines, according to Rappler. She reportedly pursued a career in conflict resolution after campaigning against martial law imposed by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in the 1970s.

More from NextShark: Lee Chae-un wins S. Korea's first title, China's Cai Xuetong is champ for third time at 2023 Freestyle Worlds

About the award: The award, which is named after the 7th Philippine president who was killed in a plane crash, is considered Asia's highest honor. Besides Coronel-Ferrer, the foundation also awarded Bangladeshs education advocate Korvi Rakshand, Timor-Lestes champion of food autonomy Eugenio Lemos and Indias hero for holistic healthcare Ravi Kannan R.

According to the foundation, the awardees are redefining inclusivity in these modern yet troubled times. their collective message is very simple yet often forgotten: treat one another with love, care and respect.

More from NextShark: Immigration officials approve first-ever 'Dreamer' Rhodes Scholar's application to leave to study at Oxford

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27-year-old Korean American violinist named concertmaster for prestigious Hamburg Philharmonic
By Essi Lehto

HELSINKI (Reuters) -Finland's former Prime Minister Sanna Marin , who narrowly lost an election in April, stepped down on Friday as chair of the centre-left Social Democrats, hoping to take the focus off her personal life after an often turbulent four years at the helm.

Marin, who had announced her intention to quit soon after the election loss, was the world's youngest prime minister when she took the post in 2019 aged 34, attracting attention around the globe and helping lift Finland's profile.

After leading the country through COVID-19 lockdowns and the ensuing economic turmoil, Marin became a vocal supporter of Ukraine after Russia's invasion last year and successfully pushed to end Finland's military non-alignment in favour of NATO membership.

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She chaired her party's conference for the last time on Friday and in a brief speech, she reiterated her criticism of Finland's eastern neighbour.

"Russia and its representatives must be held accountable for the illegal crime of aggression, war crimes and the consequences of war," Marin said.

"In addition to Finland's steadfast support for Ukraine and the Ukrainians, we must also send a strong message of hope for the reconstruction of the country, for a European future."

Marin, now 37, has appeared on the covers of Vogue and Time Magazine, has a million followers on Instagram and is considered by fans around the world as a millennial role model for progressive leaders.

But at home, voters concerned with issues like immigration and a growing public deficit in April handed Marin a narrow defeat to the right wing National Coalition and the far-right Finns party, triggering the government's fall.

She weathered several publicity storms while in office, including over her nightclubbing during the pandemic, hosting private parties at her official residence and voluntarily taking a drug test after a party video was leaked to the media.

The drug test was negative, Marin announced, and she apologised to Finns when a picture from a party at the prime minister's seaside residence showed two well-known female influencers covering their bare breasts with a "Finland" sign.

After her election loss, Marin said she looked forward to a quieter life and later also announced a divorce from her husband.

Entering the stage on Friday to the beat of Aretha Franklin's "Respect", Marin thanked her party for its support.

Marin handed over the reins to Antti Lindtman, 41, who lost the leadership election to her in 2019 and thanked her for taking their party and Finland through "exceptionally difficult times".

"You showed leadership both in Finland and abroad in a way we are very proud of," Lindtman said, looking at Marin who smiled through tears on the front row.

Marin remains a member of parliament and has also enlisted as a public speaker with a U.S. agency and founded a consultancy with her former assistant.

(Reporting by Essi LehtoEditing by Frances Kerry and Mark Potter)
Your slice of the headlines in Ukraine. Daily. Friday, September 1, 2023.

 Zaluzhnyi congratulates children as they head back to school on Ukraines Day of Knowledge

Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Ukrainian defenders shared a video congratulating students as they head back to school today.

 Drones used in Kursk airfield attack developed by SBU  NV Sources

According to NVs law enforcement sources, the cardboard drones used to strike a military airfield near Russias Kursk on Aug. 27 were developed by Ukraines SBU security service.

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 We dont have a large enough army  Danilov disputes NYT numbers of Ukrainian war casualties

Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (RNBO) secretary Oleksiy Danilov debunked The New York Times reports of 70,000 Ukrainian military personnel losses since the onset of Russias full-scale invasion, he told Germanys Welt newspaper.

 Britains BAE to produce L119 howitzers in Ukraine

British multinational arms, security, and aerospace giant BAE Systems is setting up an office in Ukraine and will help produce L119 howitzers, announced the Ukrainian Presidents Office.

 First photos of damaged Russian jets seen after Ukraines brazen drone attack on Russias Pskov airbase

Photos of the aftermath of the Ukrainian drone strike on Russias Pskov airbase were published by Radio Libertys Skhemy investigative project on Telegram on the night of Aug. 29-30.

 Ukraine making progress on its march to Melitopol

Units of the National Guard in coordination with the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are making progress on the Melitopol front, pushing deep into the defense of Russian occupiers.

 One of Ukraines most popular songs of all-time gets the English-language treatment for charity

Ukrainian rock legend Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, headman of the iconic rock group Okean Elzy (Elsas Ocean) saw his hit song Obijmy (Embrace) covered in English to raise money for charity, UNITED24s Instagram page shared on Aug. 29.

 Zelenskyy ready to run in 2024, open to amending legislation if it is safe enough to hold elections

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented that he is ready to run for reelection should presidential elections take place in 2024, he told Portuguese broadcaster RTP on Aug. 30.

 Sink the entire Black Sea Fleet at once  Ukrainian Navy on how to protect Crimean Bridge

Ukrainian Naval Forces confirmed Russias attempt to safeguard its crossing from Crimea by partially sinking barges near the illegally-constructed Crimean Bridge.

 Poor maintenance, non-compliance, or Russian sabotage  UA to investigate Mi-8 helicopter disaster

The State Bureau of Investigation has announced that it is investigating the crash of two Mi-8 combat helicopters in Donetsk Oblast, which killed six Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers on Aug. 29, the agencys press service reported on Telegram.

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 sentenced two more high-ranking Proud Boys to prison on Friday over the far-right street gangs outsize role in the planning and execution of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Dominic Pezzola, who breached the Capitol by smashing a window with a stolen police riot shield, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars in a D.C. District Court, four months after he was found guilty on obstruction and other charges related to the attack. Ethan Nordean , the gangs most notorious bruiser  known for numerous violent assaults at political rallies in the Donald Trump era  was sentenced to 18 yearsin a second hearing Friday afternoon.

Trump won! Pezzola said while walking out of the courtroom after being hit with a decade behind bars.

Pezzola was found not guilty on the most serious charge of the trial, seditious conspiracy, unlike Nordean and three other Proud Boy co-defendants this past May. But he played a key role in the riot as the first person to smash through a Capitol window using a stolen police shield, and prosecutors argued he should spend 20 years behind bars.

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Pezzola, who wore an orange prison-issued jumpsuit and sported a long beard, spoke before his sentencing and apologized for his actions the day of the Capitol attack.

I messed up and I let the people who care and depend on me the most down, Pezzola said, according to reporters in the courtroom.

Pezzola described his time in jail as an emotional black hole, and apologized to his eldest daughter, who was not in the courtroom.

I pray for the courts mercy to be there for you in the future, he said before receiving his 10-year sentence.

He added that there was no place in my future for groups or politics whatsoever.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly offered little sympathy for Pezzola.

The reality is you ... smashed that window and let people stream into that Capitol building and threaten the lives of our lawmakers, Kelly said. Its not something I ever would have dreamed I would see in our country.

Despite his ostensible remorse, as Pezzola was led away from court, he raised a fist in the air and shouted Trump won!

Four other members of the far-right street-fighting group were found guilty in May on seditious conspiracy charges: Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and the gangs chairman, Enrique Tarrio. All five were accused of scheming to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election.

Nordean was sentenced later on Friday. Prosecutors argued he should spend 27 years behind bars for leading a group of nearly 200 men to the Capitol grounds.

Dominic Pezzola, who used a police shield to break into the U.S. Capitol, walks with other rioters outside the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.

Dominic Pezzola, who used a police shield to break into the U.S. Capitol, walks with other rioters outside the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.

During his sentencing, Nordean said he regretted not being a better leader the day of the Capitol attack.

I would like to apologize for my lack of leadership that day, he said.

Nordean joined Elmer Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers group, in having received the longest sentence handed down to a Capitol attacker. Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy and other charges last year.

Kelly sentenced Biggs and Rehl on Thursday to 17 and 15 years, respectively.

Tarrios sentencing was scheduled to take place Wednesday, but was abruptly canceled and rescheduled for Sept. 5, reportedly due to the judge falling ill.

Like the Oath Keepers trials, the Proud Boys trial allowed the government to lay out its argument that the extremist groups planned extensively for violence on Jan. 6, 2021, holding meetings and texting one another.

The group of Proud Boys did not even take time to listen to Trumps speech near the White House that day  prosecutors say they had already turned their focus on the Capitol.

Pezzola in an FBI photo.

Pezzola in an FBI photo.

Prosecutors described Pezzola in a sentencing memo as an enthusiastic foot soldier in the conspiracy to disrupt Congress, which that day was officially certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Nordean, prosecutors said, was attempting to lead a revolution against a government he viewed as illegitimate.

Like other rioters, the Proud Boys viewed themselves as akin to American Revolution soldiers.

At about 2 p.m. that day, Pezzola used a riot shield hed forcefully taken from a U.S. Capitol Police officer to break a window on the northwest side of the Capitol. The breach allowed pro-Trump protesters to begin streaming into the building, where they came dangerously close to running into members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Ethan Nordean is seen at the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Ethan Nordean is seen at the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

A woman described in court documents as Pezzolas common-law wife told investigators that Pezzola was not interested in politics before the COVID-19 pandemic. In a journal entry, Pezzola said he had come to see the political landscape as a battle between good and evil that required people like him to stand up and take back our god given liberties just like our Founders did.

Nordean repeatedly voiced support for politically motivated violence in the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack. In mid-November 2020, he said on a podcast that politicians who said Joe Biden had won were evil scum who deserved to die a traitors death.

A Capitol Police riot shield became a piece of evidence in the Proud Boys' trial.

A Capitol Police riot shield became a piece of evidence in the Proud Boys' trial.

Prosecutors said Nordean acted like the general of an army the day of the riot, leading his men across trampled police barricades.

Pezzola took the risky step of testifying at the groups trial. He did not deny his actions.

I got caught up in all the craziness, he said, per The Washington Post. I broke one pane of glass  one.

He said hed only wanted the government to listen to him.

In a video taken from inside the Capitol, Pezzola can be heard saying: I knew we could take this motherfucker over if we just tried hard enough! Proud of your motherfucking boy!

As Nordean put it in his own post-riot video, which was entered into evidence: Seventeen-seventy-fucking-six, bitch!

During his sentencing, Pezzolas partner, Lisa Magee, wept as she gave a statement to the court.

In no way am I making excuses for Dominics actions that day, she said. As I said on the stand, hes a fucking idiot.

Related...
This photo taken on Aug. 31, 2023 shows the ground-breaking ceremony for Beijing Aero Engine Services Company Limited in Beijing, capital of China. [Air China/Handout via Xinhua]

Air China and the British engineering giant Rolls-Royce on Thursday broke ground on their joint venture of an aero-engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Beijing.

The new joint venture, Beijing Aero Engine Services Company Limited (BAESL), will provide MRO services on Rolls-Royce Trent 700, Trent XWB-84 and Trent 1000 aero engines to both Chinese and international airline customers.

Air China and Rolls-Royce each hold 50 percent of the shares in this joint venture, which is located adjacent to Beijing International Airport. It will support both parent companies' sustainability goals by reducing the long-distance transportation of aero engines for MRO services.

"BAESL will boost the development of Air China's high-thrust engine maintenance segment and further ensure the flight safety of our fleet. It will also leverage resources from shareholders and local advantages to bring better value for our global customers," said Ni Jiliang, senior vice president of China National Aviation Holding Corporation Limited and Air China Limited.

BAESL is scheduled to launch operations in 2026. It will be able to serve up to 250 shop visits per year at full capacity, which it is expected to reach in the mid-2030s.

Both sides are committed to collaborating in making this joint venture into a world-leading aero-engine MRO enterprise, highlighting efficiency and sustainability.

"China is now our third largest single-country market, also an important part of our global supply chain. Breaking ground on BAESL is a significant milestone for our strategically important joint venture in the Chinese mainland," said Rob Watson, president of civil aerospace for Rolls-Royce.

"BAESL is the first Rolls-Royce MRO joint venture in the Chinese mainland, and the fourth in our global MRO network. It is important for our future footprint in the Chinese market and will drive our global network capabilities," he added.

Rolls-Royce powers more than half of China's widebody aircraft fleet, powering close to 600 aircraft in service or on order, according to the company.
FISHKILL - A Fishkill man has been accused of possessing child pornography.

New York State Police said the Wappinger unit of their Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted an investigation after receiving a law enforcement tip.

According to police, that investigation concluded Efrain Negron, 28, of Fishkill, was in possession of child pornography.

Vassar sued: Women professors claim there is a gender-based pay gap at college

Negron was charged with four counts of possession of a sexual performance by a child, a felony.

Negron was issued a ticket to appear in Town of Fishkill Court on Sept. 12

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Fishkill man accused of possessing child pornography
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Its a soggy start to the month of September. Fast-moving thunderstorms crossed the Las Vegas valley from the southeast to the northeast soaking neighborhoods and streets.

Vehicles caught in flooding at the Charleston underpass east of I-15 on Sept. 1, 2023. (KLAS)

Flooding on Decatur near Sahara Ave. on Sept. 1, 2023. (Credit: RTC)

Heavy rain has flooded streets around the Las Vegas valley. This is Sahara Ave. and Nellis Blvd. (Credit: RTC)

Vehicles caught in flooding at the Charleston underpass east of I-15 on Sept. 1, 2023. (KLAS)

At one point, northbound U.S. 95 was at Flamingo, the Charleston underpass, east of I-15, and Decatur, south of Sahara Avenue were closed due to flooding. People trapped in the floodwaters on Charleston were rescued. The strong storms produced nearly 1 inch of rain in the downtown Las Vegas area and some neighborhoods.

The National Weather Service in Las Vegas has extended the flash flood warning for central Clark County until 3:45 p.m. Areas that could experience flooding include: Henderson, Southern Highlands, Enterprise, Anthem, Paradise, Green Valley, Seven Hills, Silverado Rancho and Henderson Executive Airport.

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The flood warning for northeast Clark County was also extended until 3 p.m. Flooding is expected in Overton, Moapa valley, Valley of Fire, Echo Bay and Logandale.

The thunderstorms are producing heavy rain, lightning, and strong winds. The storms are expected to continue through Saturday and possibly into Sunday and could produce 1 to 2 inches of rain for some Las Vegas valley neighborhoods over the weekend.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
It's been over three decades since John Molchan began his first day as an Assistant State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit in Santa Rosa County, and now, after 34 years, he will step away from his "simple" task of helping people and the community.

Molchan began as an assistant state attorney in 1989 after spending four years as a judge advocate general (JAG) with the U.S. Navy, and since then he's made it his mission to help as many people possible who have suffered from the crimes of others.

"It's been a great ride. That's the best way I can put it," he said as he sat in a partially packed office, gearing up for his last day on Sept. 30. "It's been very enjoyable working with a great group of people in law enforcement and in this office who have made the hard times easier and the good times good, but it's been very rewarding accomplishing what we can accomplish.

"Really, in many ways, our simple task is to put bad guys away," he added. "That's always been my overarching theme  put the bad guys away and do the right thing."

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Memorable Molchan cases: Pensacola's most memorable crime stories

12-28-07, onlineAnthony Mattheiss Pleads Guilty(6 of 6)Prosecutor John Molchan talks with Marva Stanton, the wife of victim Charles Stanton who was killed on May 15 by drunk driver Anthony Mattheiss, in Judge Linda Nobles' courtroom Friday morning before the hearings began. Mattheiss later plead guilty on five counts of DUI-manslaughter.Katie King/kking@pnj.com

Where did Molchan first begin the path of his personal mission of putting bad guys away and doing the right thing? It all began when he read a book written by former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi  "Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Manson Murders."

"That always was in my head, I mean that's what got me interested in the law," Molchan said. "It was a fascinating book about the investigation, the prosecution, and it was just fascinating, and that's what inspired me to go down that road."

Molchan's job of being in court nearly every day or supervising dozens of up-and-coming attorneys leaves little room for vacation  a week at most, according to the retiring attorney. So, he plans to travel and spend valuable time with his wife, traveling to places like Israel, Normandy and the World War II museum in New Orleans.

Even the Pensacola Police Department recognized his 34-year career by awarding him the title of Honorary Police Officer in August.

So, now that Molchan's career is coming to a close, here's a look at some of his most memorable cases.

Asst. State Attorney John Molchan, left, looks over some of the weapons recovered by local law enforcement officers and held in the evidence locker at the local Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, field office.

"Flesh Collectors" store woman's calf muscle in freezer

Jeremiah Rodgers and his co-defendant Jonathan Lawrence killed Jennifer Robinson in Santa Rosa County in 1998. They also killed Lawrence's cousin Justin Livingston after taking him to a remote area and stabbing him to death, and they tried to kill Leighton Smitherman, but he survived.

"Rogers was basically sociopathic," Molchan said. "They decided they were going to kill somebody and take meat from the person."

Molchan said Rodgers and Lawrence made a list of supplies and retrieved scalpels, disinfectant and ice before taking Robinson "out to a remote part," shooting her in the head, taking polaroid photos of her and cutting off her calf muscle. Law enforcement later found the calf in Lawrence's freezer.

"That was an emotional case because ... this was over Mother's Day weekend," he said. "It all broke on a Friday. We worked Friday (and) all day Saturday, we got the bodies and the next day was Mother's day. For Mrs. Robinson, Mother's Day would hold no charm for her in any way shape or form, I would think."

During this case, Molchan was appointed as a special assistant U.S. attorney since the murder cases were federal prosecutions.

Both Rodgers and Lawrence have been on death row since 2000 for the murders.

Fred Rosen, a true crime author and former columnist for The New York Times, wrote a book regarding Rodgers and Lawrence's case in 2003 entitled "Flesh Collectors: Their Ghoulish Appetites Drove Them to Crimes that Only Began with Murder."

Mastermind Leonard Gonzalez Jr. kills Beulah philanthropists

In July 2009, Leonard Gonzalez Jr. led a group of men who forced their way into Byrd and Melanie Billings' home in black "ninja garb" and gunned the couple down during an attempted robbery. The couple had 17 children  13 of them adopted and many of them with special needs  and nine of kids were home at the time of the murders.

"That (case) was an organizational challenge because of the number of defendants, the number of agencies involved and just the sheer complexity of discovery," Molchan told the News Journal. "Using codefendants to testify, the video evidence that made it more challenging, was an organizational challenge more than anything.

Gonzalez was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to death in a 10-2 jury vote. In April 2014, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld his death sentence, finding that despite Gonzalez's claim of errors in his trial, evidence supported the conviction.

Assistant State Attorney John Molchan presents evidence implicating Joshua Douglas in the murder of Jamie Broxson during court Wednesday afternoon.Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.comAsst. State Attorney John Molchan presents evidence implicating Joshua Douglas in the murder of Jamie Broxson during court Wednesday afternoon. Douglas is accused with the first-degree murder of Jamie Broxson in 2010. Broxsons body was found in a wooded area near a Gulf Power Co. substation on Jernigan Road.

Mark Riebe and William Alex Wells leave Gulf Breeze woman buried for seven years

On Aug. 6, 1989, Gulf Breeze convenience store clerk Donna Callahan, who was pregnant at the time, suddenly vanished after work one night, and no one had any information about where she could have gone. Years later, Molchan says William Alex Wells admitted to kidnapping and killing Callahan to an inmate.

"We got a break in the case from Wells, who made some admissions that he was involved in her kidnapping and murder to an inmate who was a former highway patrol trooper who had killed his wife, and he reported it to FDLE," Molchan said. "We then started interviewing him and Wells' half-brother Mark Riebe. He gave us a lot of different stories ... and he basically said they went there, kidnapped her and buried her in Walton County, but we could never find her body."

Was Riebe a serial killer?: Could there have been two serial killers?

After Wells was indicted, he went to trial for Callahan's murder and kidnapping, but after the opening statements Molchan said Wells' preacher told the defendant that "he was going to burn."

"Wells at that point decided to cooperate and tell us where the body was," Molchan said. "We took him to Walton County, and for three days we opened up the area until we found her body."

Although Callahan went missing in 1989, Wells did not lead law enforcement to her body until 1996.

Both Riebe and Wells were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Some believe Callahan was not the only person Riebe murdered and could be responsible for anywhere between six and 13 deaths in northwest Florida.

Teenagers Raymond and Thomas Romero just wanted to get to Michigan

Brothers Raymond and Thomas Romero, who were 16 and 17 in 1995, were from Michigan. At some point they traveled to Santa Rosa County and needed a car to get back to their home state.

So in August 1995, 16-year-old Raymond Romero and his 17-year-old brother Thomas Romero devised a plan to steal a car from Sean Peaden.

"They got together, they actually concocted a scheme to rob him and steal his car," Molchan said. "They lured him to the location, and they took a hatchet to him and just started 'hatcheting' him, just brutally murdered him."

After stealing Peaden's car, Molchan said law enforcement later found the Romero brothers in Michigan still wearing the bloody clothes they were wearing while murdering Peaden with a hatchet.

The reason Molchan remembers this case so well is because it is the only time in his career they tried both defendant's at the exact same time with two different jury pools watching the trial in the same courtroom.

"There was one piece of evidence, one of the brothers had given a statement implicating himself and his brother; we couldn't use that against the brother," he reminisced. "Everything was the same evidence for the juries except for the one letter that was used against one of the brothers."

When the prosecution reached the point where they needed to admit the letter that only one jury could see and hear, the judge excused the second jury pool while the letter was placed into evidence.

"That was just unbelievable, I mean to have two juries?" Molchan said. "We had to give two closing arguments, two opening statements and things like that. That was a challenging trial to say the least."

Both Romero brothers were convicted and given two life sentences.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola John Molchan Florida assistant state attorney retires
The Transportation Security Administration has warned of a busy holiday weekend heading into Labor Day.

The agency said 14 million people are expected to fly between Friday and Wednesday.

The Department of Transportation outlines what customers are entitled to during flight disruptions.

Some 14 million people are expected to traverse US airports between Monday and Wednesday as the busy Labor Day weekend kicks off in full force.

According to the Transportation Security Administration, the holiday's busiest travel day will be on Friday with over 2.7 million people passing through checkpoints  this is above the daily average of 2.5 million passengers the TSA has screened since Memorial Day weekend.

"We anticipate this Labor Day holiday weekend will be busy, with passenger volumes nearly 11% higher than last year volumes that already exceeded 2019 Labor Day holiday travel volumes," TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a press release.

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The agency warned of potentially long lines with wait times of up to 30 minutes in standard queues (meaning not TSA PreCheck or Clear), but said it is "working closely with our airline and airport partners" to keep times below the half-hour mark.

TSA Pre lines are aiming for 10 minutes or less. However, Pekoske said wait times could be longer and asked people to arrive at the airport early and "pack your patience."

The industry also has other factors at play like weather and staffing shortages that could cause a replay of last summer's travel chaos  especially since Labor Day is expected to be the US' third-busiest holiday of the year behind the Presidents' Day and Juneteenth weekends, the latter including Father's Day.

This weekend's biggest weather threat was Hurricane Idalia. Fortunately, the storm isn't expected to impact operations going into Friday, the AP reported.

Although the industry is preparing for a busy weekend, there is always a risk of things going awry. Here is the best advice for what to do if your flight is canceled or delayed.

1. Know your rights as an airline passenger in the US

The Department of Transportation's airline dashboard shows customers what they are entitled to during airline delays and cancellations. James D. Morgan/Getty Images

According to the Department of Transportation, there is no law requiring US airlines to compensate passengers for disruptions due to uncontrollable events, like weather.

The only rule carriers must follow is to refund customers in the event of cancelations, even for non-controllable events. And that does not mean travel credits or vouchers  it has to be cash.

When you get that dreaded notification of a delay or cancelation, ask a customer service agent for the reason, in writing if possible, so you know what you are entitled to in terms of reimbursement. Many carriers have their own internal policies regarding what passengers can get if the reason is within their control, like crew staffing or maintenance.

This information is collected in the DOT's Airline Customer Service Dashboard, which rolled out in September 2022 and outlines what each carrier will offer for controllable disruptions, like rebooking on a different carrier or getting a comped meal.

The guide represents the US's 10 largest airlines and their regional affiliates.

2. Monitor your airline's app for rebooking options

Download your airline's mobile app and connect your reservation before you fly. United Airlines

When a flight delay or cancellation is announced, expect people to flock to the nearest customer service agent for assistance, and for the phone lines to become congested.

Wait times can be painfully long, and the best alternatives will likely go quickly. However, some airlines offer to rebook on their website or mobile app and waive any fees, so it's sometimes easier to make changes online than in person.

But if all the available options are gone, have a plan B, like waiting to talk to a live agent, contacting the airline via social media, or grabbing a hotel for the night. Direct messaging on Facebook or Twitter can actually act as a virtual placeholder, and you may hear back via chat before you speak to a live agent.

Here are the phone numbers for each airline:

Alaska: 1-800-654-5669

Allegiant: 1-702-505-8888

American: 1-800-433-7300

Avelo: 1-346-616-9500

Breeze: No phone number to call, but you can text the airline at 501-273-3931. If you call this number, it'll tell you different ways to contact Breeze, like via email or Facebook Messenger.

Delta: 1-800-221-1212

Frontier: No phone number. The best way to contact Frontier is via chat or email.

JetBlue: 1-800-538-2583

Southwest: 1-800-435-9792

Spirit: 1-855-728-3555

Sun Country: 1-651-905-2737

United: 1-800-864-8331

3. Ask for a hotel or meal voucher

Sometimes airlines will offer physical meal vouchers, while others will tell people to buy their food themselves and then email the receipt for reimbursement. Taylor Rains/Insider

For controllable delays or cancelations that result in a customer waiting at least three hours for a new flight, or requiring an overnight stay, several airlines will offer meal or hotel vouchers.

Carriers offering both are Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines, according to the DoT dashboard. Frontier Airlines is the only carrier that does not offer accommodations in the case of an overnight delay or cancelation but will provide a meal voucher.

For US airlines not on the dashboard, or in cases where the compensation is not clear, just ask. It never hurts to request a meal or hotel during flight disruptions, and you might get lucky with a goodwill gesture from the carrier.

4. Check if your credit card company offers travel insurance

Trip protection is a valuable perk built into many travel credit cards. Evgenia Parajanian/Shutterstock

Several major banks offer credit cards that come with travel insurance, like Chase's Sapphire Reserve or American Express' Platinum Card. Both offer trip protection, meaning customers who purchased their flight with that specific card can reap the benefits.

For example, in the case of a major storm system, it's likely many passengers will end up stranded in random cities across the US. However, banks with travel insurance included can reimburse cardholders for unexpected expenses outside of their control, including hotels, meals, and transportation.

Travel insurance does not apply in all circumstances, like short delays, so be sure to check your policy before making a claim  but it also doesn't hurt to make the claim anyway, even if the answer is no.

5. Know when to walk away

Cutting your loses and taking a train or booking another airline could save you the headache, though be sure to check what your travel insurance covers. FG Trade/Getty Images

During the holidays, it's easy to get tunnel vision on the mission  like seeing friends and family, or just getting away from home for a few days. However, delays and cancellations are bound to happen, especially on the busier long weekends.

But, don't spend all day sitting around waiting  give yourself a cut-off time. Once that moment passes, consider other means of getting to your destination, like driving or taking a train (which may also be covered by travel insurance).

If you are stuck in another city and there is no other option other than to get a hotel or sit at the airport, decide how you want to spend the time and make a plan.

Read the original article on Business Insider
CENTER TWP.  A new community partnership hopes to revitalize Beaver County and support students' access to higher education in local neighborhoods.

On Aug. 30, members of Flourish Beaver County greeted the public at the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) to discuss their plans to help support workforce development, local education and preserve the culture of communities in Beaver County. As the group begins operations, they are currently focused on assisting younger residents with a variety of social and economic issues.

Officials from Flourish Beaver County discuss their goals and announce scholarship plans during a presentation at the Community College of Beaver County on August 30, 2023.

"We are made up of people from school districts, charter schools, law enforcement, nonprofit leaders, parents, teachers, union representatives, community-based organizations and higher education," said Roger Davis, president of CCBC and member of Flourish Beaver County. "It's a large plethora of people that are representing almost every industry possible in Beaver County. I think we chose those stakeholders strategically so that we can drive this fundamental expectation about not only student outcomes but the economic outcomes for Beaver County."

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Actions from Flourish Beaver County will be focused on three "task forces," dividing efforts into smaller groups to focus on issues affecting young people in the county such as mental health, local academics and assistance in career paths or access to college. The group will work with local businesses, philanthropists and fundraisers to help invest in young people across the county and help disadvantaged families get access to these educational resources.

Community College of Beaver County President Roger Davis discusses the goals of Flourish Beaver County on August 30, 2023.

One of the first goals for the group will be establishing a last-dollar scholarship, which is awarded after state and federal grants to address the out-of-pocket costs of college for families. While the exact amount awarded through these scholarships has not been determined yet, organizers are hoping to raise $22 million for this program.

"We're trying to fill in the gap after the institution has provided aid," Davis said. "If you've gotten financial aid, if you've got state aid, then we're trying to just support that gap that exists between the full cost of tuition and the remaining cost."

The investment in young people in Beaver County comes as more people continue to leave the area for other opportunities, resulting in declining residency across the region and local neighborhoods. Members of Flourish Beaver County hope that by investing in families and young people around the region, the culture of Beaver County will serve as a draw and give many a reason to call the Beaver Valley their home.

Community College of Beaver County President Roger Davis discusses the goals of Flourish Beaver County on August 30, 2023.

"Beaver County's population has only grown one year out of the last 11," Davis said. "It's gone down, down, down, so we're looking for strategies to keep young people in this county. We want people to come back, we're looking for families to move to Beaver County. So, this is one of our tools. There's this Promise Scholarship for your child, so hopefully, you'll pick Beaver County as your resting place."

For those looking to get involved, the organization is continuing to look for volunteers for fundraising and local business partners hoping to support their mission. With the community's help, this new group of local leaders hopes to see the county "flourish" into a successful destination for families in western Pennsylvania.

"We're looking for volunteers and we're also looking for people who ultimately believe that they want to fund the scholarship and want to help Beaver County," Davis said. "I think that a lot of people in this county really want to see Beaver County thrive."

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Flourish Beaver County to offer scholarship, fundraising for goal
A now-retired Butler Township police sergeant has been found guilty of assault.

Judge James Brogan, a visiting judge, found former sergeant Todd Stanley guilty of assaulting Laticka Hancock during an arrest at a local McDonalds earlier this year.

At the time she was struck, I find that she was not a threat to the officer, and the actions taken by him in striking her, was an assault, and therefore, I find him guilty, Brogan said.

Stanleys trial started in Vandalia Municipal Court Thursday with opening statements and with witnesses from prosecutors, including the woman Stanley was caught on video punching. Stanley is facing a misdemeanor assault stemming.

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>> PHOTOS: Woman punched in face by Butler Twp. officer takes stand in his assault trial

News Center 7s Mike Campbell was back in court Friday morning where, after the prosecution officially rested their case, Stanleys lawyer moved for an immediate acquittal. The visiting judge handling the case denied that request.

The defense went on to present their side of the case, bringing both Stanley and an assistant manager from the McDonalds where the incident happened.

As News Center 7 previously reported, Stanley responded to the fast-food chain on York Commons Blvd after employees called asking to get a woman, Hancock, trespassed from the building. She had gotten into a reported argument with an employee over cheese on a hamburger.

Officers said Hancock repeatedly ignored their request for her name and date of birth to properly fill out the trespass notice.

When Stanley went to get his trespass notice form, Zellars told her she was being placed under arrest for failing to identify herself. The officers claimed Hancock resisted arrest and in the struggle to handcuff her, Stanley punched her two or three times in the head and face. Videos posted to social media provided another look at the punches being delivered.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Woman punched in face by Butler Twp. officer takes stand in his assault trial

Hancock took the stand Thursday and told the court she felt scared for her life.

I was scared because I never had that kind of interaction with cops, Hancock said.

Butler Township appreciates the work of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Todd Stanley has not been a member of the Butler Township Police Department since April 2023. Butler Township Police Chief John Porter said in a statement.

Stanley was put on administrative leave after the incident. We learned in court Friday that the sergeant retired on May 1.




A former Massachusetts deputy threatened to burn down a courthouse, kill officers and wage a war on the justice system, federal officials said.

Joshua P. Ford, 42, of Kingston was arrested and is in state custody, according to an Aug. 30 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Massachusetts.

An attorney for the man could not immediately be reached for comment by McClatchy News.

Ford, who served as a sheriffs deputy in Middlesex County between 2009 and 2017, detailed his plans in emails and videos, federal officials said.

In emails sent to more than 100 law enforcement officers, he wrote, there is no more justice system anymore just WAR, the U.S. attorneys office said.

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I am calling on all able bodied officers my brothers in blue to suit up for a fight, he wrote, according to the news release.

He requested that officers gather weapons and armored vehicles and wrote, Tomorrow we burn down the Plymouth County Court house to the ground, federal officials said.

The emails also included a link to a video in which Ford, speaking to the camera, says the justice system is corrupt, federal officials said.

Addressing Middlesex County deputies, he said, I am coming to get you, federal officials said. He then said he wanted to injure and kill officers of the court in an attack he said would take place on March 14, officials said.

Law enforcement arrested him on March 13.

A federal grand jury indicted Ford on multiple counts of interstate transmission of a threatening communication on Aug. 30, officials said. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison, officials said.

The threats made by this former employee against our Middlesex Sheriffs Office staff and court personnel in Plymouth County were alarming and deeply disturbing, a spokesperson for the Middlesex Sheriffs Office said in a statement provided to McClatchy News.

We are grateful to our local law enforcement partners who acted swiftly to take Mr. Ford into custody, as well as to the FBI and US Attorneys Office who have now secured this federal indictment, the statement said.

You gonna shoot me? Pregnant woman asks before Ohio cop kills her, body camera shows

12-year-old fatally hit after dog chases him into road before school, Florida cops say

Radiant woman found strangled with zip tie, Florida cops say. Boyfriend now charged
A former Forsyth County Sheriffs deputy will be sentenced this week after his conviction on child exploitation charges.

On Nov. 10, 2020, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested Grady Sanford after it received a tip that photos of child sexual abuse had been uploaded to the internet via email.

After opening the investigation, the GBI traced the computer IP address to Sanfords physical address. Agents then obtained a warrant to search his home, which resulted in his arrest.

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

Authorities did not specify what they found when they searched his home.

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To say this is a shock is a gross understatement. We intentionally set our standards high at Forsyth County. Regardless of rank, every employee must meet those moral and legal standards, Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman said at the time of Sanfords arrest. There is no room for this type of crime in our State, and certainly not in the law enforcement profession. Our trust and that of our community has been betrayed. Ive made a commitment to be transparent, even when one of our own employees does wrong. No one is exempt, and no one is above the law.

TRENDING STORIES:

The GBI notified Freeman before executing the warrant. Freeman told Channel 2 Action News that he fired Sanford immediately once investigators told him what they found.

Sanford was charged and convicted of 16 counts of sexual exploitation of children, according to court documents.

He is set to be sentenced in Cherokee County on Friday.

The ICAC and GBI urge anyone with information about child exploitation cases to contact the GBIs Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes unit at 404-270-8870.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
CANTON  A former Jackson Township police officer has been sentenced to spend three years on probation for stalking a woman who had been his girlfriend.

The incident immediately followed his May 10 no-contest plea in a domestic violence case involving the same victim in Massillon.

On the menacing-by-stalking conviction, Stark County Common Pleas Judge Kristin G. Farmer reserved a prison term of 18 months, which she could order Nicholas F. Marich to serve if he violates terms of probation.

More: Jackson Township hit by digital security 'incident.' No personal data accessed

Marich, a 40-year-old New Franklin resident, resigned from the Jackson Township department on May 10, according to Police Chief Mark H. Brink.

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In an email, Brink said Marich was hired as a part-time officer April 2, 2017, and promoted to full-time on Nov. 18, 2017.

He was placed on paid administrative leave Jan. 24 "due to a situation that he was involved in regarding off-duty conduct," Brink said.

As of Feb. 3, Marich was not cleared for duty and was put on an unpaid leave of absence. He was on the unpaid leave when Massillon police charged him with domestic violence April 25, according to Brink.

Marich told The Repository that he was a veteran narcotics officer who received a medal of valor from the police department.

Marich pleaded guilty July 31 in connection with the stalking incident that spanned May 10 and May 11, according to his indictment. A complaint filed by Massillon police said he went to Orrville, where the victim works, then waited for her in the bushes after dark at her home. He refused to leave and was arrested at the victim's home. He also sent numerous text messages to her, according to the police complaint filed in court.

He had previously been ordered to have no contact with the victim in a misdemeanor domestic violence case filed in Massillon Municipal Court.

The stalking incident followed his May 10 conviction on the domestic violence charge arising from the April 25 incident involving the same victim. In that case, Massillon Municipal Judge Edward J. Elum found Marich guilty after Marich pleaded no contest. The judge stayed a 180-day sentence provided that Marich complies with the sentencing order for the stalking charge, a felony of the fourth degree. Marich was given credit against any future prison sentence for two days he spent in jail. Elum fined Marich $250 and ordered that the victim be paid $189 in restitution. Elum ordered on May 10 that Marich not own or possess any firearms or other weapons.

In the April 25 incident, Massillon police said Marich entered the victim's home after breaking a kitchen window. He hit the victim in the head with her cellphone, head-butted her and then threw her against the wall. He smashed her phone against the wall, then left with her cellphone and Apple watch, preventing her from calling 911.

Farmer sentenced Marich for menacing by stalking on Aug. 18.

Terms of probation imposed by Farmer include having no contact with the victim, having no guns, ammunition, fireworks, explosives or chemical agents or electronic devices used to immobilize a person, completing programs for anger management and victim awareness and performing 200 hours of community service with a nonprofit organization.

Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com.

On X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Former Jackson Township police officer gets probation for stalking
The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee convened a meeting on Thursday to deliberate a set of regulations and a five-year plan concerning the education and training of cadres.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting.

The training should consider maintaining cadres' firm ideals and convictions a fundamental task, and focus on strengthening every dimension of their governance capabilities, the meeting said.

The goal of the training is to cultivate a team of cadres who are politically committed, and who have the competence to meet the needs of the new era and lead China's modernization drive, according to the meeting.

The study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era will be the main subject in the education and training of cadres, the meeting said.

Noting that political training should remain a priority throughout the development of cadres, it stressed that education and training programs should meet the demands of Party organizations as well as the professional and personal needs of cadres.

Specialized training programs should be offered to improve the competence of cadres, and Party schools (academies of governance) at all levels should be the main platforms for such programs, the meeting said.
A former Phoenix prosecutor was arrested earlier this week and booked on one count of aggravated harassment after prosecutors say he sent threatening text messages to his wife who had filed an order of protection against him.

A Maricopa County prosecutor said Robert Smith had sent text messages to his wife referencing the character Jack Torrance and his wife from the book and movie "The Shining." In the movie, Jack attempts to murder his wife with an axe.

The prosecutor also said Smith had recently texted a friend asking him to get a gun for him.

Smith himself spoke to the judge against the advice of his attorney during his initial appearance and noted that he had been a prosecutor for the city of Phoenix for three years before resigning on Aug. 11.

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"This week has been humiliating," Smith said. "The most disgusting week of my life. All over a bitter spouse after I said I was going to file for divorce."

The judge issued a $150,000 bond and ordered him to have no future contact with his wife.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ex-Phoenix prosecutor Robert Smith accused of harassing estranged wife
A Sacramento firefighter maintained his tenure with the department through at least six disciplinary write-ups, including one for a DUI.

On May 17, Shayne Marshalls employment with the city came to an end, but its unclear if he quit or was fired.

Disciplinary records obtained by The Sacramento Bee through a California Public Records Act Request show a range of incidents from 2017 to 2021 in which Marshall ran afoul of fire department policy.

In September 2018, while off duty, Marshall was arrested for driving while intoxicated by Auburn police, according to a disciplinary letter. His Honda Pilot struck the side of a parked Audi. One witness told police she saw Marshall stumble out of the car, in the process losing a shoe, apparently trying to flee the scene.

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Marshall didnt cooperate with sobriety tests, and a physical struggle ensued between him and the officers. On the way to the Placer County Jail he attempted to wrap his legs around the officer, the letter states.

His breath samples showed a blood alcohol level of 0.11 and 0.12, higher than the 0.08 limit, the letter states.

While being taken to jail, you told cop you were a firefighter with the city and this would destroy your job, the letter states. ... you attempted to use your official position as a city of Sacramento firefighter to influence the police officer who was transporting you to jail for DUI to release you.

In February 2019 he pleaded guilty to DUI and disturbing the peace and was sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years of probation, the letter states. His license was suspended for 30 days, requiring him to take off time from his job with the fire department.

The department punished him with a three shift suspension.

Marshall did not return a message seeking comment. He was hired in 2011, and his base salary at the time of his last day was $96,680.

Other disciplinary incidents

About a year after he was arrested for a DUI, Marshalls behavior in a Sacramento emergency room caused a nurse to call his boss to complain.

In November 2019 Marshall transported a patient who wished to have a psych evaluation to Mercy General Hospital.

Marshall wheeled the patient past the waiting gurneys and was forceful in trying to get the patient turned over before a physician had seen the patient, the nurse told a fire department official, according to the letter. He was very aggressive toward the charge nurse in trying to offload the patient.

(Marshall) was upset someone was complaining and mentioned that he couldnt get in trouble again because Ill get fired if I get another complaint, the letter stated.

His punishment was a one shift suspension, for which he was allowed to use vacation time.

Prior to the DUI, Marshall was written up for an incident in July 2018 when he responded to a house where a man was dying and said, what is everyone freaking out about?

Another firefighter wrote, not only have they lost a father, one of their last memories they have of his existence is the SFD insulting his family.

In an interview with department officials, Marshall admitted to making the comment.

I take 100% responsibility for my remarks, Marshall said, according to the letter. It did not come out with a positive end results. For that I am grieved.

Marshall was also written up for discourtesy in 2017 and 2018, but the department declined The Bees request for those records. Under the citys contract with the firefighter union, Local 522, disciplinary records are pulled from personnel files after 18 months.
Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney charged in the 2020 Georgia election case for aiding in the fake electors plan, made clear to a state judge Friday he wants nothing to do with co-defendant Sidney Powell .

Chesebro and Powell  who both pleaded not guilty  filed separate motions for a speedy trial, which would likely allow them to proceed to trial this fall on an advanced timetable.

Chesebro already sought to sever his case from all of his 18 co-defendants. But on Friday, he filed a new motion about Powell specifically, stressing that despite her similar demand for rapidity, the duo still should be tried separately.

The actions of Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Powell are akin to oil and water; wholly separate and impossible to mix (into one conspiracy), Chesebros attorney wrote in Fridays court filing.

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A state judge has set Chesebros trial to begin on Oct. 23 but has not yet set a date for Powell or the others. Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis (D) wants all of the co-defendants to be tried together.

Chesebros attorney, Scott Grubman, insisted Chesebro and Powell have never met, sent emails, called, texted or communicated on social media with each other.

In sum, there has never been any direct contact or communication between Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Powell. Similarly, there is no correlation or overlap between the overt acts or the substantive charges associated with Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Powell, Grubman wrote.

Earlier this week, Powell also asked to sever her case from all of the co-defendants. She similarly indicated she had no relationship with Chesebro.

Ms. Powell can receive a fair trial only if she is tried alone. The prejudice that would inure to her from a lengthy trial with any of those she was not involved and about the vast number of events she had no knowledge of or connection with would deny her Due Process, Powells attorney, Brian Rafferty, wrote to the judge Wednesday.

Prosecutors charged both Powell and Chesebro with racketeering over their alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Chesebro, who faces seven charges, wrote several memos devising a strategy for how slates of pro-Trump individuals could falsely purport to be their states valid electors.

Despite attempts by the State to incorrectly paint Mr. Chesebro as the alleged architect of the Trump elector scheme, even according to the Indictment, Mr. Chesebros involvement consisted solely of sending 18 emails, receiving 1 email, and attending 1 in-person meeting in Wisconsin over a period of approximately 2 months. All of this occurred in his role as an attorney, his attorney wrote Friday.

Powell, another Trump-aligned attorney, is charged in connection with a breach at an elections office in Coffee County, a rural area of Georgia south of Atlanta.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Fox News anchor John Roberts pressed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over his views on defending Taiwan from China during an interview Friday.

Ramaswamy has isolated himself from the rest of the GOP primary field on a number of key policy issues, including not supporting continued aide for Ukraine in its war against Russia, and a radical proposal to cede territory taken by Russia in eastern Ukraine in exchange for Moscow ending its military alliance with China.

The tech entrepreneurs views on Taiwan are another example of his unique agenda.

Roberts confronted Ramaswamy over his stance that America should only support Taiwan because it produces semiconductors.

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Youve said that youd fully back Taiwan until the U.S. becomes independent with semiconductors. So what happens after that point? Do we just give Taiwan to China, Roberts asked.

Dont we also support a robust democracy off Chinas shores?  Theyre not just a factory, he added.

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Ramaswamy pushed back, calling Robertss assertion an incorrect characterization of what he has said, saying that he would resume strategic ambiguity  a government practice of withholding information on a strategy in foreign policy. In this case, it is related to whether the U.S. military would intervene, and to what extent, in a war across the Taiwan Strait.

Recall that President Trump was derided by both parties for picking up a phone call from the Taiwanese president.  Im upgrading to strategic clarity, saying that absolutely we will defend Taiwan until we get semiconductor independence, Ramaswamy said.

The GOP hopeful also noted the bipartisan embrace of the one-China policy, another word for the U.S.s policy of strategic ambiguity in Taiwan and the position held by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that there is only one sovereign state under the name China.

Both Republicans and Democrats, every other Republican in this race embraces the one-China policy. Strategic ambiguity, refusing to call Taiwan a nation, Ramaswamy said.

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Roberts then pushed Ramaswamy on whether the U.S. should support a democracy off Chinas shores, beyond the semiconductors. Ramaswamy responded by calling Robertss comments a caricature.

Absolutely, but the fact of the matter is, the current U.S. establishment in both parties  including the Republican Party  does not even recognize Taiwan as a nation right now, Ramaswamy argued.

John, thats actually a caricature. Its laughable to say that when Im saying Taiwan is a nation, that we actually will defend it until and unless we have semiconductor independence, and then we resume the status quo, he said. Thats honest.

Since the first Republican primary debate, Ramaswamy has faced heightened criticism over his controversial policy stances and lack of experience.

Fellow Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took aim at Ramaswamy for his lack of foreign policy experience, and former Vice President Mike Pence quipped that we dont need to bring in a rookie.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Getting the Wall

A Saudi man has been sentenced to death for tweets critical of his government  and self-professed free speech absolutist Elon Musk is strangely silent.

As Newsweek notes, Musk has thus far been mum about news that retired school teacher Muhammad al-Ghamdi has been sentenced to death for posting content critical of the Saudi government on X-formerly-Twitter and YouTube, which is especially ironic given all the strident remarks and promises the billionaire has made championing freedom of speech on the platform.

As noted by the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch, which first reported the news of al-Ghamdi's death sentence following his more than yearlong imprisonment for online dissent, this case represents an escalation of Saudi Arabia's crackdown on free speech, which, again, is something Musk purports to care so much about that he literally bought Twitter over it.

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Just last month, Musk tweeted a promise to foot the legal bills of people fired for "posting or liking something on this platform," and although al-Ghamdi hasn't been fired per se, one would imagine that being sentenced to death for tweeting would fall under a similar purview.

Movers and Shakers

Last year, the world's richest man exclaimed in another tweet that he's a "free speech absolutist" when diving into the fray of the then-burgeoning Ukraine-Russia war  another indication that he's willing to engage with international politics when it suits him.

As Newsweek pointed out, Musk could also have some sway via Alwaleed bin Talal, a billionaire Saudi prince who became Twitter's second-largest shareholder the day his Canadian-South African counterpart took over the site. In fact, Musk publicly questioned bin Talal earlier in 2022 about the kingdom's "views on journalistic freedom of speech," and apparently got enough of a satisfactory answer that the two became friendly by the time the sale went through, with the prince becoming an investor in the newly-private company.

To be clear, we're not suggesting that Musk necessarily has enough power to convince the notoriously iron-fisted Saudi government to rescind al-Ghamdi's unjust sentence. But at the very least, he could draw attention the grave injustice of the case.

And as the New York Times and the New Yorker reported in July based on interviews with US government officials, Musk does seem to wield an undue amount of influence over global affairs. If there's any time to flex those muscles, or at least make some sort of public commentary in line with his purported values, it would be now.

More on Muskian bargains: Elon Musk, Renowned for Throwing Stones, Accused of Building Glass House With Company Funds
The Donald Trump-themed pep rally known as Freedom Fest won't be held after all, its organizer announced Friday morning.

Former attorney Eric Deters said in an email and video posted to Facebook that problems getting food vendors and equipment for the Sept. 9 event forced a cancellation of the Northern Kentucky event. He vowed that Freedom Fest would return next September.

That means Donald Trump 's sons and Trump-adjacent celebrities will not be speaking on Deters' farm 20 miles south of Cincinnati. There will also not be a "special video message" from Trump to his supporters as promised by Deters.

It's the latest hiccup for what would have been the third annual Freedom Fest. In June, Deters announced Trump himself would headline the event in person. Then a little more than a month later, Deters announced Trump couldn't make it due to campaign events in Iowa, forcing the cancellation. Then, in mid-August, Deters said it was back on due to demand from the public and speakers that were lined up.

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He told The Enquirer in a text that several of the people organizing the event called him last night about problems related to logistics.

Eric Deters

Having canceled the event a few weeks ago made it harder to get the tents, lights, food trucks and other pieces needed to put on a festival.

"I refuse to put on a lousy event," Deters said in the email. "This is all on me. We will be back next year with a bigger, better event for the weekend."

The roster of speakers included a long list of celebrities in the Trump world. In addition to Trump Jr. and Eric Trump , speakers included filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, a controversial filmmaker who made the debunked election conspiracy film "2000 Mules"; TV personality Dog the Bounty Hunter; and former MMA fighter and former Huntington Beach City Councilman Tito Ortiz.

The event, started in 2021, has drawn thousands of Trump supporters to Deters' farm in the rural community of Morning View, Kentucky.

Trump Jr . and Eric Trump headlined the event in 2022.

Deters, in the Facebook video, said the event will be back next year  a presidential election year and will be a three-day event, with a music festival on Friday, political speakers on Saturday and a church service on Sunday.

Deters has been a controversial figure in Northern Kentucky for years. Gov. Andy Beshear called Deters out in July for "blatantly racist and homophobic comments" Deters has made over the years on social media and in videos. Those remarks, which include questioning why white people can't use a racial slur in reference to Black people and using slurs in reference to gay people, have drawn attention online this month after a video compilation of several such instances was published on YouTube.

Republican governor candidate Daniel Cameron decided not to attend this year's Freedom Fest after receiving criticism.

Deters had his law license suspended in 2021 and pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor for chasing down his nephew after he was flipped the middle finger.

A judge in 2020 banned him from the Hamilton County courthouse for comments Deters made on his podcast, "The Bulldog."

He also lost his run for governor in the May primary, garnering 6% of the vote and coming in fourth.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Is Freedom Fest in Kentucky happening? When is Freedom Fest?
Relatives carry body of Bilal Kissi, shot dead by the Algerian coastguard, during his funeral in the city of Saidia in northeastern Morocco - AFP

Algerian coastguards shot dead two French holidaymakers who had jet skied into the countrys waters from Morocco.

The dead tourists were in a party of four French-Moroccan dual nationals who strayed across the long closed border near the popular beach resort of Saidia, local media said.

A third member of the party was wounded and arrested and put before a prosecutor.

Mohamed Kissi, the only of the four to make it back to Morocco, said the party had got lost, but carried on until they found themselves in Algeria.

He told one local news agency: We were low on gas for the water scooters and were drifting. In the darkness, we found ourselves in Algerian waters.

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The 1250-mile frontier between the North African neighbours has been closed for nearly 30 years and the two nations have a long running dispute over the Western Sahara.

Mr Kissi said his brother Bilal Kissi had been shot dead.

He said: We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian dinghy came towards us and those on board fired at us, he said.

Thank God I wasnt hit but they killed my brother and my friend, he added.

He denied the group had tried to escape when they were discovered by the coastguard, saying his brother had tried talking to officials before he was shot.

They arrested my other friend. Five bullets hit my brother and my friend. My other friend was hit by a bullet.

Mourners attend the funeral of Bilal Kissi, shot dead with Abdelali Merchouer, after taking a wrong turn off the beach resort of Saidia - AFP

The other victim was named as Abdelali Merchouer and the arrested man named as Smail Snabe.

Mr Kissi said after the shooting he then tried to swim back to Saidia and was eventually picked up by the Moroccan navy.

Paris confirmed only one of its nationals was dead, saying another of its citizens was jailed in an incident involving several of our nationals.

A cousin of Bilal Kissi recorded a video calling for the return of his body.

He said: These young people werent involved in drugs and they hadnt stolen anything. They are of good standing and were only here on a family holiday from France where they worked, the cousin said.

One [of those who died] left two children, the other a daughter, he added.

There was no immediate response from Algeria, but Moroccan prosecutors said they had opened a case.

There is no legal trade between the neighbours and the long desert border remains tightly shut.

Algeria backs the Polisario Front, which is fighting for Western Saharas independence from Morocco.

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When President Leon Mba of Gabon was toppled by the military in 1964, then-French President Charles de Gaulle sprang into action and immediately sent French troops to restore Mba to power.

With vast iron ore and other vital mineral resources, newly independent Gabon was a jewel in the crown of the former French colony and de Gaulle was keen to protect Frances interests.

Fast forward nearly 60 years later and another coup has taken place in Gabon but this time there will be no French cavalry to the rescue as France comes to terms with another close ally coming under military rule, a sign, analysts say, of waning French influence.

In the aftermath of a presidential election marked by irregularities and an internet shutdown, Gabon witnessed a startling turn of events. Military officers stormed Gabons state TV Wednesday and said they were now in charge, annulling the results and dissolving the constitution.

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The streets of the capital Libreville echoed with gunfire as the army announced the end of an astonishing five decades of Bongo family rule. The streets would later erupt with the sound of cheers and jubilation as Gabonese celebrated the end of the dynasty that vastly enriched the Bongo family at the expense of their citizens.

The junta later announced that General Brice Oligui Nguema  said to be a cousin of Bongos  would act as a transitional leader and that authorities will investigate charges against the presidents son, Nourredin Bongo Valentin, who was arrested alongside six other individuals for high treason.

When Bongo surfaced, he looked alone and frightened, pleading for help to international partners in a video aired by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

A torn campaign billboard shows ousted Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba in Libreville on August 31, 2023. - AFP/Getty Images

Propping up democratic dictators

Whilst the international community has condemned the coup in Gabon, it has not attracted the same vehement criticism that last months coup in Niger did.

Analysts say Bongos time is up.

The Gabonese just want to end the reign of a dynasty that has not improved their economic conditions in five decades. They did that through the ballot but got shortchanged, says Oluwole Ojewale of the Institute of Security Studies.

Weakened by a stroke in 2018, Bongo had faced a previous coup attempt in 2019 which he quashed almost immediately and many felt he was living on borrowed time.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said France was watching the coup detat in Gabon with the utmost attention.

It presents a challenge to France. So far, eight ex-French colonies in West and Central Africa have fallen to military rulers in just three years, each one coming with a wave of anti-France sentiment blamed on interference from the former colonial power.

Mali for example has driven out French troops and cut diplomatic ties with France. It has also changed the official language from French in favor of Malian national languages, while in Senegal, French business interests have been attacked.

Chris Ogunmodede, a foreign affairs analyst who lives in Dakar, Senegal told CNN. French policy is not popular. There are all these protests and people are attacking French businesses which to many people here represent French neo-colonialism.

In Niger, the French ambassador has been ordered to leave the country but he remains in place as France says it does not recognize the putschists authority.

Large crowds supporting the coup gathered Sunday near the French military base in Niamey, with demonstrators displaying signs demanding French troops withdraw.

The evolving political landscape has exposed the vulnerability of the systems of governance that were originally established by colonial powers.

The systems of government that former French colonies have, which were imposed by Paris are no longer fit for purpose. In a country like Gabon one family has ruled for about 50 years, thats not really a government thats a kingdom and they are not an outlier, says Ogunmodede.

This phenomenon is not limited to Gabon alone; it resonates throughout Central Africa, where nations like Congo Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea have single leaders who have ruled for more than four decades. In Cameroon, Paul Biya, who is 90, has been president since 1982 and splits his time between France and Switzerland, barely spending any time in Cameroon, the country he is supposed to govern.

Yet Western leaders and France in particular turn a blind eye to him and others like him.

As Ogunmodede puts it: The ongoing events in Gabon, taking place in the wake of the coup in Niger, shines another spotlight on Frances dysfunctional relationship with its former colonies in Africa and the damaging ways Western support for autocrats on the continent is just as corrosive to democratic governance as the military coups they claim to oppose.

This shift in African political consciousness, largely driven by the continents youthful demographic, is propelling the anti-French sentiment.

The average age of 20 across Africa underscores the yearning for change among the young population, leading them to seek diverse partnerships beyond the historical ties with France.

They dont have any attachment towards France like their parents or grandparents. They do not believe France should have the right of first return in their countries and they want a multiplicity of partners, not just France, Ogunmodede told CNN.

Some of those partners include Russia, which has been keen to expand relationships on the continent and where some believe that it is outmaneuvering the US as some African leaders increasingly embrace the Kremlin.

Others are keen to bridge language barriers too. For example, the Commonwealth, a political group of 54 member states, recently admitted Gabon and Togo to its ranks, a pivot that signals a growing desire for association with English-speaking nations.

A complex relationship

The role of France in Africa has undergone major transformations, but there are some who say that France never really left its former colonies.

Theres a sense that even though France granted independence  they are still tied to the umbilical cord of France. Theres a subtle thinking that nothing takes place in Francophone countries without the tacit approval of France, Ojewale told CNN.

The ongoing shift in power dynamics also exposes the complexities of Frances relationship with its former colonies.

The practice of Francafrique, a term used to describe the continued neo-colonial relationship between France and its former colonies, has perpetuated allegations of French control over African nations affairs.

Francafrique is Frances means of preserving its neo-colonial influence in its former colonies and the intellectual framework that underpins it, Ogunmodede said.

For example, few things have sparked more controversy than the Central African franc or CFA, a currency used by 14 nations in West and Central Africa including Niger and Gabon.

Countries using CFA Francs are required to store 50% of their currency reserves with the Banque de France, and the currency is pegged to the euro. For many Africans, these mandatory deposits are perceived as remnants of colonial taxation.

While Paris asserts that the system promotes economic stability, others say it allows France to exert control over the economy of the countries using it and enrich itself with African wealth.

Senegalese economist Ndongo Samba Sylla has called for the CFA franc to be abolished.

For those hoping to export competitive products, obtain affordable credit, work for the integration of continental trade, or fight for an Africa free from imperialist control, the CFA franc is an anachronism demanding orderly and methodical elimination, he said in a 2019 interview.

France also maintains military troops in many of its former colonies and was involved in a large-scale Operation Barkhane in Niger, which it was forced to pull back recently.

President Emmanuel Macron also recently reframed Frances new policy for Africa and said its military bases would now be jointly run with nations.

The irony is that under Macron France has never been more willing to directly tackle the criticism leveled against the countrys conduct on the continent and has worked hard to reframe the relationship with Africa.

Macron, who spent time in Nigeria as a teenager, has boosted aid given to Africa, initiated the repatriation of cultural artifacts taken during colonial conflicts, and extended his outreach beyond conventional government connections to involve younger generations and civil society.

At the end of a recent tour of Africa in March, Macron was keen to recast the image of France, emphasizing that he wanted to work with Africa on equal terms.

We want to be long-term partners, he said. Africa is a theater of competition. It has to be done in a fair framework  We have our role to play, neither more nor less.

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The News

Gabons main opposition alliance has urged the international community to put pressure on the military junta that seized control of the country to hand power back to civilians.

It follows the overthrow of President Ali Bongo on Wednesday shortly after he was declared the winner of a contentious election. Voting in the central African country took place on Aug. 26.

We hope that the international community will stand up in favor of the Republic and the democratic order in Gabon by asking the military to give back the power to the civilians, a spokesperson for Alternance 2023, a coalition of opposition parties, told the BBC.

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The spokesperson, Alexandra Pangha, said the junta had not shown any indication that they intended to hand power back to civilians. Up to today we have been waiting for an invitation from the military so that they can talk to us and tell us exactly whats the plan, she said on the corporations Newsday program.

Know More

Junta leader Brice Oligui Nguema, 48, is set to be sworn in as transitional president on Monday. No details have been given of how long any transition period would last.

In 2018, Nguemaa, a general in the Gabonese army and a cousin of Bongo, became the leader of an elite unit of soldiers that protected Bongo in the presidents official residence in the capital, Libreville.

In the run up to the election, five of the main opposition parties came together as Alternance 2023 to support Albert Ondo Ossa, a 69-year-old former education minister. Gabons electoral body said Bongo had won a third term after securing 64% of the vote compared with nearly 31% for Ondo Ossa.

Alternance 2023 cried foul even before Bongo was announced as the winner of the vote, for which there were no international observers. However, the government blocked internet access after voting and provisionally banned three French broadcasters.

The opposition group has called for a recount of the vote, the results of which were annulled by the military. Alternance 2023 claims Ondo Ossa would emerge as the real election winner, to whom the military should cede power.

Reuters/Gerauds Wilfried Obangome

Alexiss view

Alternance 2023s calls for a democratic handover in Gabon tap into the central question that unites the various coups seen in Africa in recent years: when will military rulers hand back to civilians? Of course, each of the countries that has undergone a coup is different, plus the question assumes that they eventually will cede control.

In a number of countries  from Sudan, where generals took over following the overthrow of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir, to Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and, more recently, Niger  the military have taken over claiming to have seized power in the name of the countrys citizens. They have then outlined proposed timetables to restore civilian rule.

The issue of a handover is at the heart of efforts to stabilize the situation in Niger, where the juntas removal of President Mohamed Bazoum in July prompted West Africas regional bloc to threaten the possibility of military intervention unless constitutional order was restored. In that particular case, the juntas plan to hand over power within three years was rejected by the Economic Community of West African States and neighboring Algeria has proposed a six-month transition. But there is no sign of an agreement on a length of time upon which all parties would agree.

As weve seen, transitions have not been proven to be straightforward. In Sudan, the proposed transition has fallen apart with warring generals plunging the country into a civil war. And Burkina Fasos 24-month timeline looked in jeopardy when the junta that agreed the handover period was itself overthrown  although the military ruler Ibrahim Traore agreed to respect the plan.

Gabons coup has been unlike those in West Africa, mainly because those were stemmed from instability caused by insurgent groups operating in the Sahel whereas Bongos ousting was driven by animosity that had grown towards his family after nearly 56 years in power during which most citizens had not benefited from the oil-rich countries mineral wealth. The country will differentiate itself further if its junta announces a short transitional period and opts to quickly hand power back to civilians.

Democratic rule matters because its grounded in accountability and gives ordinary people a sense of agency. Frustration grows when people feel unable to hold governments accountable for their policies and vote them out. Without this, people in the coup hit countries will miss out on economic development and an improved quality of life in years to come.

Step Back

Gabons coup was the eighth military takeover in West and Central Africa in the last three years. However, as Semafor Africas Alexander Onukwue reports, there are key differences between the putsch in Gabon and other recent coups in the subregion.
In 2017, the General Assembly passed legislation allowing craft breweries in Georgia for the first time to sell their product directly to consumers in limited quantities.

While the bill has helped spark a huge growth spurt in the industry, craft brewers say they are still hampered by a system that favors beer wholesalers.

Senate Bill 85 was a great step forward, said Joseph Cortes, executive director of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild. [But] it left a lot of restrictions in place for our small brewers.  Theyre still limited in what they can do within their four walls.

Cortes group is gearing up to push for passage next year of legislation that was introduced in the state Senate this year but failed to reach the Senate floor for a vote.

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Senate Bill 163, which remains alive for consideration in 2024, would repeal a provision in the 2017 law that limits craft brewers to selling no more than 288 ounces of beer per day  equivalent to one case  for off-premises consumption.

Thats an artificially low barrier, Cortes said. Every other surrounding state except South Carolina has no limit or a larger limit.

Instead, the bill would let craft brewers sell up to 3,000 cases of beer per year directly to retailers within a 100-mile radius of the brewery without going through a wholesale distributor.

While the bill hit a dead end in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee this year, theres support for it among the chambers Republican majority, said Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, the measures chief sponsor.

We are free-enterprise capitalist people, he said. Thats what this is.

But the bill is sure to draw opposition from the wholesalers lobby, which helped sink it this year.

Martin Smith, executive director of the Georgia Beer Wholesalers Association, pointed to the rapid growth of the craft beer industry in the Peach State during the last decade as evidence craft brewers are doing fine under the current law.

From just 10 breweries statewide as recently as 2011, the number of breweries in Georgia has mushroomed to more than 150, including such high-profile brands as Sweetwater and Creature Comforts, Smith said.

Georgia is already one of the nations top places to brew beer, he said.

But Cortes said the existing law unfairly ties craft breweries to wholesalers in a way that drives up prices.

The current system dictates that if a brewery wants to get a product to market, they have to enter an agreement with a wholesaler, he said. Its nearly impossible to terminate that agreement or switch to another distributor.

Cortes cited limits on craft breweries ability to self-distribute as a factor in forcing four or five breweries to go out of business.

Openings are still outpacing closings, he said. But weve seen an alarming rate of closings in the last year.  They all cite issues with being able to get their products out to consumers in their communities.

Hufstetler said the state of North Carolina allows breweries to self-distribute with no limits, and wholesalers have not suffered any adverse impacts.

I havent seen any distributors go out of business because of it, he said.

But Smith said giving craft breweries free rein would disrupt the three-tier system of beer producers, distributors, and retailers that has existed since the end of Prohibition.

What the brewers are asking for would take away from a structure thats there for healthy growth, he said.

Hufstetlers bill also would let craft brewers and brewpubs donate beer to charitable events, a right that only wholesalers enjoy under current law.

Cortes said hes optimistic the bill will make it through the General Assembly next year, despite the wholesalers opposition.

We just need time to tell our story, he said.
China, Thailand to hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training

Xinhua) 13:19, September 01, 2023

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September.

Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, noted the training will cover sniping tactics, jungle survival, maritime search and rescue, and cross-deck helicopter landing.

The training aims to improve training levels and coordination abilities of participating troops, enhance practical cooperation between the two navies, and strengthen their capabilities of jointly addressing regional security threats, said Wu.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
You are here: China

Passengers board the high-speed train G2963 in Leshan railway station in Leshan, southwest China's Sichuan Province, July 1, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's railways are expected to handle about 831 million passenger trips during this year's summer travel season, which runs from the start of July to the end of August, data from the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. shows.

The country saw 821 million railway passenger trips from July 1 to Aug. 30, with the average daily number of passenger trips at 13.45 million, according to the company.

The country's railway networks are expected to operate another 10.8 million passenger trips on Aug. 31, the data shows.

China's railways have strengthened their safety management and improved their travel services to ensure safe and smooth travel.

Local railway operators have adjusted their transport capacities for popular tourist destinations in a precise and orderly manner to meet passenger demand. They have also optimized security check procedures, facilities and the environments at stations, as well as catering services aboard trains.
The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced a Georgia Tech professor had pled guilty to tax fraud.

John Crittenden, 73, a professor of environmental engineering at Georgia Tech committed tax fraud by overstating his charitable deductions and lying on his tax returns.

According to public records from the State of Georgia, Crittendens salary in 2022 was $368,927.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Crittenden would have to pay all taxes owed from 2011 to 2021, and cooperate with federal officials to determine the total taxes, penalties, and interest that he owes the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

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According to officials, Crittenden lied about the charitable deductions in a fraud scheme involving Chinese nationals. USAO Ryan Buchanan said as a result of his actions, Crittenden will have to pay back the taxes owed and lose his job at the university.

Describing how Crittenden acted to commit the crimes hes accused of, DOJ said Crittenden partnered with a Chinese national, Duo Li, to operate several companies in China, including Beijing Keruiduo Environmental, Beijing Crittenden Environmental Technology Company, and Kunshan Techfirst.

The companies, and people associated with them, wired hundreds of thousands of dollars either directly to the Georgia Institute of Technology Foundation, or to Crittendens personal bank account with Bank of America.

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He would then donate the funds in his account to GTF.

After the money reached the foundation, Crittenden improperly and falsely claimed the transfers to GTF as charitable deductions on his tax returns without recognizing any of the transfers as income, according to DOJ.

Additional money transfers came to Crittenden from Chinese nationals who participated in post-doctoral research at Georgia Tech, or had family members who were in the programs. Then, DOJ said Crittenden donated these funds to GTF and improperly and falsely took a charitable deduction on his tax returns, while not recognizing any of the funds as income.

Neither GTF, nor Georgia Tech, knew that Crittenden was acting this way and using the foundation and his position to do so, according to DOJ.

As part of Crittendens plea agreement with federal officials, hell be required to resign from all positions of employment at Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Research Center, plus pay all of the taxes he owed for 2011 to 201, in addition to cooperating with the IRSs Examination Division to make a complete and accurate determination of what he owes from taxes, penalties, and interest.

No matter the scheme or amount, do not falsify your tax returns, IRS Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman said. We have an incredible team of talented, intelligent agents trained to investigate these tax fraud schemes. Crittenden not only has to make amends by paying his owed taxes, but he also faces jail time, fines, and penalties for his decisions. This guilty plea is evidence that fraud does not pay.

Crittenden pled guilty to making false statements on a tax return, violating Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(1).

Hell be back in court on Jan. 16, 2024 for sentencing.

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FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits the astronaut training facilities in the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the upcoming G20 summit in India remains important despite the absence of Russia and China, in an interview with German radio station Deutschlandfunk released late on Friday.

The G20 still has an important contribution to make and a "big damn obligation" to fulfil, said Scholz, particularly as BRICS - a grouping of the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - grows in significance.

Scholz, the leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD), also said countries with a colonial history had a responsibility to enable development in former colonies.

The chancellor offered to help former colonies exploit and process their natural resources in what he called "fair partnerships."

(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr; Editing by Leslie Adler and Richard Chang)
A 98-year-old former Nazi concentration guard has been indicted on charges of aiding and abetting the murder of more than 3,300 people during the Holocaust, German authorities said on Friday.

The mans name was not made public by prosecutors, in accordance with German privacy laws.

The public prosecutor in the western city of Giessen, near Frankfurt, said in a statement that the man worked at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1943 and 1945.

The man, who was a minor at the time of the alleged crimes, is accused of having assisted in the cruel and insidious killing of thousands of prisoners, prosecutors said.

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The man will face a juvenile court because he was under the age of 18 when he served at Sachsenhausen. The statement added that the trial is expected to be in Hanau, close to the mans home, in accordance with juvenile law.

A psychiatric assessment of the suspect in October 2022 found that he is fit to stand trial within certain limits, the statement concluded.

Germany is racing against time to bring the last surviving perpetrators of Nazi war crimes  now well into old age  to justice.

Last year, another former Sachsenhausen guard, aged 101, was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted for aiding and abetting the murder of 3,518 people during the Holocaust.

A 96-year-old German woman fled before standing trial for crimes she was alleged to have committed while working as a stenographer and typist in the commandants office at the concentration camp in Stutthof, near what is now the Polish city of Gdansk. She was later found by local authorities and brought before court, where she was convicted on similar charges.

Sachsenhausen was built by prisoners and opened in 1936. Of the roughly 200,000 prisoners who passed through the camp, around 100,000 are thought to have died there. During World War II, the camps inmate population fluctuated between about 11,000 and 48,000 people.

An estimated 6 million Jews were killed in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Also killed were hundreds of thousands of Roma people, political opponents, homosexuals, and people with physical or learning disabilities.

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Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani pleaded not guilty Friday to charges in Georgia over his alleged role in conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in the state.

Giuliani also waived his right to appear at an arraignment hearing that was scheduled for next week in Atlanta, according to the new filing.

The move comes a day after former President Trump pleaded not guilty and waived his arraignment in the case.

Giulianis plea was not unexpected, coming after a string of not-guilty pleas from his co-defendants. He was also quick to rebuke accusations that he was involved after he surrendered last week in Fulton County.

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I am very, very honored to be involved in this case, because this case is a fight for our way of life, he said after he was booked at the Fulton County Jail last week. This indictment is a travesty.

This is an attack on the American people, Giuliani added.

The former New York City mayor is one of 19 co-defendants  including Trump  who were charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last month with a combined 41 counts under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

Around 10 others have also waived their right to appear at the arraignment scheduled for Sept. 6, according to The Associated Press.

Giulianis charges were mostly centered on his effort to spread false claims of election fraud and his alleged role in the fake electors scheme in Georgia.

Willis on Tuesday asked a judge in Georgia to expedite the cases of all of the defendants after two defendants  former lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell  asked for speedy trials.

Several defendants have asked to move their trials to federal court, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at the grand opening ceremony for Amazon HQ2 on June 15, 2023, in Arlington, Virginia.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at the grand opening ceremony for Amazon HQ2 on June 15, 2023, in Arlington, Virginia.

Despite Gov. Glenn Youngkins attempt to appear moderate by calling for a 15-week abortion ban, the Republican governor is quietly funding anti-choice extremist lawmakers, many of whom have said they believe life begins at conception.

Spirit of Virginia, Youngkins political action committee previously known as Virginia Wins, donated nearly $100,000 to anti-choice down-ballot Republican candidates in the state so far this year, according to campaign finance records. The governor created the PAC in 2021 to support Republican candidates at every level of government. Youngkin, a former CEO of a global investment firm, was the sole contributor to the PAC when Spirit of Virginia first launched. He remains a major donor and was behind over $295,000 in donations in the 2022-23 fiscal year.

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The $99,214 has gone to 10 Republican candidates running in closely watched races in the state Senate and House of Delegates, according to public records. All of Virginias General Assembly is up for reelection in November, and the outcome of certain races could have far-reaching ramifications for abortion access in Virginia  and, by extension, the whole Southeast, as many neighboring states have passed much more restrictive bans. Democrats hold the state Senate by a slim margin, while Republicans control the House of Delegates by just a few seats.

Youngkins PAC donated at least $3,500 to House of Delegates candidate Republican John Stirrup, who said earlier this year that he would support a total abortion ban. He later walked back those comments, indicating he did not find support in Richmond for a total ban but would support a 15-week abortion ban. Other candidates funded by Youngkins PAC include incumbent Del. Emily Brewer, who pledged to 100% support pro-life policy, believes that life begins at conception, and has supported forced ultrasounds and pre-abortion counseling. Incumbent Tara Durant, who also believes life begins at conception and has vowed to enact anti-abortion legislation, received funding from Spirit of Virginia as well.

Youngkins PAC previously donated to two candidates running in competitive districts: Karen Greenhalgh and Kim Taylor, who are both running for reelection this year. As of August, Spirit of Virginia had only contributed funds to Greenhalghs and Taylors 2021 campaigns, donating $49,000 to Greenhalgh and $8,000 to Taylor.

Gov. Youngkin is looking to bring Virginians together to find consensus, Zack Roday, the coordinated campaigns director of Spirit of Virginia, told HuffPost. He would like to protect life at 15 weeks with exceptions after 15 weeks for rape, incest, and life of the mother. This is a reasonable approach to a challenging issue, unlike the far-left extreme candidates who support abortion up until the moment of birth.

Some experts have suggested that Youngkin may be waiting to throw his hat into a future presidential ring until he can deliver a Republican trifecta in his state  raising his national profile and likely bolstering him to the top tier of Republican candidates. Youngkin has for years presented himself as a moderate candidate  including on reproductive rights while campaigning in 2021  despite pushing more extreme legislation behind closed doors.

Im proud to be a pro-life governor and plan to take every action I can to protect life, Youngkin said in a statement after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. He later said he would happily and gleefully sign any anti-abortion legislation that lands on his desk.

In his state budget proposal last year, he allocated $50,000 toward establishing a 15-week abortion ban, which he and his campaign have continually referred to as a consensus limit. A state Senate subcommittee blocked the ban earlier this year, but Youngkin will likely re-up the restriction if Republicans can win back the state Senate.

Although Youngkin is banking on the illusion that a 15-week abortion ban is moderate  especially in comparison to near-total or six-week bans being passed by contemporaries like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)  it would still have a huge impact on Virginians and patients from neighboring states.

Just over 95% of abortions in Virginia take place before the 15-week point. But often, the people seeking abortions after 15 weeks are the most marginalized: Theyre under 18, low-income and/or live in rural areas with barriers to care. Additionally, genetic testing for fatal fetal abnormalities often does not occur until 18 or 20 weeks, meaning a 15-week abortion ban would force people with wanted pregnancies who discover a fetal abnormality to seek necessary medical care outside of Virginia.

Since South Carolina recently enacted a six-week abortion ban, Virginia is the last safe haven for abortion access in the Southeast, as it allows abortion through the second trimester of pregnancy and into the third if the mothers life is at risk.

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New COVID variant BA.2.86 is now in 5 states. Here's what to know

More health officials across the U.S. are reporting new cases of the COVID variant BA.2.86.

On Thursday, a genome sequencing team at Houston Methodist Hospital said it had identified the first case in Texas, a member of team wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. On the same day, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff confirmed that one case has been detected in his state.

These states join Michigan, New York and Virginia, according to health officials and the open global genome sequencing database GISAID.

MORE: School districts in Kentucky, Texas cancel classes amid 'surge' of illnesses including COVID

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There have been hundreds of variants of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus that led to the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, but most eventually disappear.

Public health experts around the world are keeping track of BA.2.86 because of its high number of mutations.

PHOTO: This 2020 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, which cause COVID-19. (Hannah A. Bullock/Azaibi Tamin/CDC via AP, FILE)

"It is starting to spread here in the United States, as well as in other parts of the world. It's clearly contagious, as are all of these subvariants of omicron," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News. "As we all know, these COVID viruses are not localized just to one country or another. They don't need a passport. They're capable of spreading ... and can spread rapidly around the world."

BA.2.86 was the strain first detected in Denmark on July 24 of this year, then Israel, followed by Michigan in August. It has since been reported in Canada, England, France, Portugal and South Africa, according to GISAID.

It has more than 30 mutations to the spike protein -- which the virus uses to attach to and infect cells -- and is why Schaffner said he and other experts believe it may be contributing to the increase in COVID hospitalizations in the U.S.

Data updated Monday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found hospitalizations rose 18.8% for the week ending Aug.19.

The most recent data from the CDC shows that EG.5, another offshoot XBB, currently makes up a plurality of COVID cases in the U.S.

MORE: Are masks returning? Lionsgate, Atlanta HBCU reinstate mandates amid COVID uptick

"It's possible [BA.2.86] will make a contribution to what's out there, but it may not become the dominant strain," Schaffner said.

This comes as the CDC's advisory committee gets ready to meet on Sept. 12 to discuss new boosters targeting COVID subvariants. The boosters are expected to become available in mid- to late-September.

While it's unclear how well the new boosters will protect against BA.2.86, the current vaccine is designed to target XBB, meaning it could provide decent protection against severe disease and hospitalization, Schaffner said.

Over the next couple of weeks, officials will be monitoring how contagious the variant is and how quickly it's spreading.

PHOTO: A healthcare worker takes a nasal swab sample to test for Covid-19 at a Total Testing Solutions Covid Testing Center in Los Angeles, Aug. 31, 2023. (Caroline Brehman/EPA via Shutterstock)

One important tool to use could be wastewater data. Wastewater sampling is how officials in New York City detected BA.2.86. Officials said the sample did not come from a local resident, but the variant's presence in wastewater means it's undoubtedly circulating.

Public health experts have previously said wastewater tracking is a good early detection tool for monitoring potential future upticks.

New COVID variant BA.2.86 is now in 5 states. Here's what to know originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
WESTERVILLE, Ohio (WCMH)  Footage from body-worn camera shows a pregnant woman asking police, What, are you going to shoot me? seconds before an Ohio officer fatally shot her outside a grocery store.

Blendon Township released body camera footage Friday from two police officers that showed the brief encounter with, and shooting of, TaKiya Young, 21, who died later after being taken to St. Anns Hospital.

Young died August 24 after one of two responding officers shot her through the front windshield of a car, outside a Kroger whose employees claimed Young and others were stealing alcohol. The police department has declined to identify the two officers who approached Youngs car that evening, citing victims rights legislation called Marsys Law.

Wheres my Facebook settlement check? Why payments havent arrived  and when they might

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The body camera footage was redacted to shield the officers identities but showed that in the last moments of her life, Young asked the officer standing in front of the car if he was going to shoot her.

TaKiya Young. (Courtesy Photo/Sean Walton)

Footage from the officer who stood next to Youngs car showed he knocked on the car window and told Young to get out of the car multiple times. When she asked why, the officer said someone accused her of stealing from the store.

I didnt steal s, Young told the officer.

Footage from the officer who shot Young showed the car was blocked from the right by shopping carts and a police cruiser. As the first officer argued with Young, telling her to exit the vehicle about a dozen times, a second officer walked to the front of the car.

Young then began turning the wheel. The officer who stood in front of the car, with gun drawn and pointed at Young, placed his hand on the cars hood. Young, still turning the wheel to the right, asked if he was going to shoot her.

As the car continued slowly moving forward, one angle of footage showed the officer in front briefly lifted off the ground before regaining his footing. At the same time, he fired one shot before Youngs vehicle swerved right, away from the officer and toward the grocery store.

The car rolled about 50 feet, ending on the sidewalk outside the stores entrance. Because the car was locked, the officer who shot Young broke the drivers side window.

TaKiyas death was not only avoidable, but also a gross misuse of power and authority, Youngs family said in a statement. As if the pain of losing TaKiya isnt enough, we must grapple with the knowledge that her unborn daughter was also robbed of her life in this hateful act.

Young is survived by two sons.

This was a tragedy, Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said in a news release that was released with the video. Ms. Youngs family is understandably very upset and grieving.

While none of us can fully understand the depths of their pain, all of us can remember them in our prayers and give them the time and space to deal with this heartbreaking turn of events.

Belford said previously the officers immediately began rendering aid, with the assistance of an emergency room physician who happened to be nearby. Blendon Township police did not release footage showing officers rendering aid. A news release from the police department said paramedics arrived on scene within nine minutes of being called.

Blendon Township police has not said if officers found alcohol in the car with Young.

At a news conference Wednesday, Sean Walton, an attorney representing Youngs family, criticized the police department for the delay in release of the footage. On Friday, Belford said redacting the footage was extremely complex because of multiple angles and reflective surfaces showing the faces of the two officers.

Youngs family watched the video at Blendon Township police headquarters before it was released to the public. They were there less than 10 minutes and decided not to give any immediate comment.

Belford initially placed both officers on administrative leave after the shooting, but he announced Friday that the officer who didnt shoot Young has since returned to duty.

He said the officer who shot Young is considered a victim of attempted vehicular assault and has not waived his right to privacy under Marsys Law. Blendon Township police considered the second officer a victim because Young pulled away while the officers arm was in the drivers side window. Belford said it was misdemeanor assault.

At a news conference Friday, Brian Steel, executive vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 9, said he couldnt imagine what the officer who shot Young was thinking but said officers have a legal duty to act when alerted to potential crimes.

Ms. Young was not shot for stealing alcohol, Steel said. She was shot because following an aggravated robbery, she tried to run down a fellow human being.  Ms. Young chose to accelerate her vehicle directly into the path of an officer.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting, as is typical when officers shoot civilians.

In their statement, Youngs family called for both a thorough re-examination of police training and for a quick indictment of the officer who killed her.

The responsibility of law enforcement is to serve and protect all in our communities, not just those they deem worthy of protection and safety, the statement read. Officers of the law take an oath to protect human life, and in instances where they unjustly rob families of their loved ones, they must be held accountable.

The Kroger, located at 5991 S. Sunbury Road, confirmed that it was closed Friday because of the shooting. It will reopen 6 a.m. Saturday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Democratic Assemblywoman Michelle Gorelow will not seek re-election in 2024, according to a Friday announcement.

The announcement comes a day after an ethics complaint was filed against Gorelow by Republican activist Chuck Muth. The complaint involved Gorelows vote on a funding bill that funneled $250,000 to nonprofit group Arc of Nevada. The organization hired Gorelow as executive director shortly after the funding passed.

If Ms. Gorelows actions are not a violation of the states ethics law, they should be, Muth said in the complaint.

Legislative Counsel Bureau attorney Kevin Powers indicated that Gorelows vote on the matter wasnt an issue because of the importance to the public of the wide-ranging funding bill  Assembly Bill 525 (AB5525)  and the fact that it provided funding to 56 organizations.

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After discussions with my family, friends, and legislative leadership, I made the decision not to run again in 2024. It was an honor and a privilege to serve in the Nevada Legislature, Gorelow said in a statement released by the Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus.

After dedicating decades of my career to nonprofit work, I plan to continue serving my community by advocating for Nevadans with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I look forward to the important work ahead of me and spending more time with my family, she said.

Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager said, I support Assemblywoman Michelle Gorelows decision not to run for re-election in 2024. I thank her for her service to the state of Nevada over the last several years, and I look forward to witnessing everything she will accomplish in the next chapter of her life.

The decision comes the same week that Democratic Assemblywoman Sabra Smith Newby said she intends to resign as she transitions to the job of deputy city manager for the City of Las Vegas. Republican Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert has also said she will not seek re-election.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Portia Robinson wears American flags in her hair during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

When George Washington warned the nation about political factions that could inhibit the workings of the Constitution, he was speaking, in modern terms, about extreme political partisanship, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Thursday, at an event marking the start of September as American Founders and Constitution Month.

Cox, speaking to a gathering in the State Capitol rotunda, said the nations first president understood that extreme partisanship was the only way in which the nation one day could fail. The governor urged Utahns to study the Constitution and to begin holding each other accountable to its principles.

The founders, he said, understood that humans, themselves included, were flawed people. The Constitution is aspirational, he said, and the nation can never achieve its lofty standards unless people are decent and moral, with strong institutions that include civic organizations and churches.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers passed HB179, a law that proclaims all of September as American founders month, an expansion of Constitution Day, which long has been recognized on Sept. 17.

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The Bill passed the Utah Senate unanimously, and it passed the House with only two no votes. Among other things, it encourages all civic, fraternal, and religious organizations, and public and private educational institutions, to recognize and observe this occasion through appropriate programs, teaching, meetings, services, or celebrations in which state, county, and local governmental officials are invited to participate.

Gov. Spencer Cox speaks during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Constitution fitness

At Thursdays event, state superintendent of public instruction Sydnee Dickson unveiled a Constitution fitness award as a voluntary program for grades K-6. The goal is to help students become proficient in understanding the Constitution. Each year, participating students will be asked to complete six Constitution-related elements modified for their grade levels. These, she said, would help students interact with the principles with which the founders struggled.

The idea, Dickson said, is not just to create scholars, but to create stewards of the Constitution.

Former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert told the crowd Americans need to stop looking to Washington for the solutions to problems. Quoting former Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, Herbert said states are the laboratories of democracy.

In a 1932 court decision, Brandeis said states are in a position to try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.

Another speaker Thursday was Tad R. Callister, former general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is affiliated with Why I love America, a group that was instrumental in persuading lawmakers to designate September as American founders month.

Callister expressed concern about the results of a recent Wall Street Journal poll, which found patriotism on the wane nationwide. In a 1998 poll by the same organization, 70% had considered patriotism very important, with 62% saying the same for religion. But in 2023, only 38% said patriotism was very important, with 39% saying the same about religion.

Logan Costa carries an abundance of American flags while leaving the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Bennett Anderson waves an American flag during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

The American Heritage School Choir stands between two giant American flags during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Former Gov. Gary Herbert speaks during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

The American Heritage School Choir performs during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Wade Alexander is dressed as Benjamin Franklin during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Gov. Spencer Cox speaks during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Jennie Taylor, Gold Star wife and founder of the Major Brent Taylor Foundation, leads the Pledge of Allegiance during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

People listen to Gov. Spencer Cox speak during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Students hold American flags during the Constitution Month kickoff event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Fly the flag

He urged Utahns to fly the flag in September, read and study the Constitution as families, attend patriotic events and pray to God to express appreciation for his hand in the nations history and for his blessings in its future.

The church, which is not affiliated with the Why I love America organization, has taken the new laws admonitions to heart. It has urged each Latter-day Saint stake to sponsor one patriotic event in September to rekindle a spirit of patriotism by educating our Saints on the inspired principles of the Constitution and to build a spirit of appreciation for our Founding Fathers who were raised up by the Lord, according to a letter to stake presidents from the churchs Utah Area Presidency.

In addition to the Wall Street Journal poll, a recent First Amendment survey by the Knight Foundation found that high school students are generally supportive of free speech guarantees, but that only 57% believe news organizations should not be subject to government censorship.

Another poll by the National Opinion Research Center found few Americans able to recite the five freedoms of the First Amendment, with only 26% mentioning religious liberty, the first enumerated right. Almost one-third could not name a single one.

Cox expressed optimism for the nations future. He said he recently visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where he saw George Washingtons chair and its engraving of half a sun on its back. Benjamin Franklin used to stare at the sun during the Constitutional Convention and wonder whether it was a rising or setting sun, Cox said. When the Constitution was written he concluded it was rising.

There is increasing evidence, he said, that the sun is setting today, but that is not written in the stars. Americans have the ability to choose whether it is setting or rising. I believe this room  is filled with sun risers, not sun setters.
Several state lawmakers report receiving threats in the days after the indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 of his co-defendants.

This is coming from Republicans as well as Democrats, though they may not be tied directly to those indictments.

Channel 2s Richard Elliot learned Friday that a Texas man pleaded guilty to making online threats against Georgia officials.

Chad Stark admitted he went online and posted threats against at least three Georgia officials in January 2021.

But those kinds of threats have escalated in recent months, against Republicans and Democrats.

The governor said the state will find and prosecute those making them.

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Quite frankly, the people are sick of it, Republican state Sen. Bo Hatchett said.

Hatchett said he and Republican state Sen. Shelly Echols both received threats after they refused to sign a letter demanding a special session to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

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Such a session, he thinks, would be unlawful.

In a statement, Echols told said, The way Ive been treated is just the reason good people dont run for public office.

Hatchett is hoping voters are ready to reject this kind of politics.

At the end of the day, being on the right side of truth is never a bad thing, and thats what we need more of in politics, and honestly, in todays world, Hatchett said.

Kemp addressed the increased threats against public officials, Democrats and Republicans, on Thursday.

Look, I know full well about threats, Kemp said. My family and I have been dealing with that for the last three years, so I understand how a lot of those legislators are feeling right now.

Kemp said hes directed the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to go after those making threats.

It is wrong. It is unnecessary, and in the state of Georgia, when we have people who are making threats against our citizens, whether theyre elected officials or not, we take that very seriously, and we will act on that, Kemp said.

In July, Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat confirmed threats against him and against Willis. He promised to investigate those threats and bring those making them to justice.

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You are here: China

The Chinese and Indonesian police authorities have jointly dismantled a massive crime ring involving cross-border cyber and wire fraud, said China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Thursday.

A total of 88 criminal suspects were arrested as a result of the action, according to the MPS.

Before the action, the MPS coordinated local police forces to conduct in-depth investigations and analyses into many sextortion cases. The result showed that the fraudsters behind these cases are based in Indonesia and clarified some of their identities.

In late August, the MPS dispatched a task force to Indonesia and launched a cooperation campaign with the Indonesian police against cyber and wire fraud, which led to the successful action.

Upon preliminary investigation afterward, over 40 sextortion cases reported in many localities in China were perpetrated by the crime ring. Further case investigations are underway.

The MPS pledged to maintain a tough stance against cross-border cyber and wire fraud and intensify international cooperation in police enforcement.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze up and was unable to answer a question from a reporter during an event in Kentucky on Wednesday, weeks after he had a similar episode in Washington. (Associated Press)

Sen. Mitch McConnell was medically cleared to continue work on Thursday, after he froze in public for the second time in as many months.

Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration, Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending doctor for the Capitol, said in a statement.

In March, McConnell reportedly tripped and fell at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. He was treated for a concussion. The Kentucky Republican has reportedly fallen twice in private since then.

At 81, he is the longest-serving Senate leader in history. He is also nine months older than President Biden, who himself tripped over a sandbag and fell during the Air Force Academy graduation. Biden was fine afterward. However, politically his accident re-ignited debate about his age and whether hes too old to be president. This, despite the list of presidents who have also tripped in front of cameras, including Bidens former boss, who is much younger.

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Yes, age aint nothing but a number. Yet clearly age is what political commentators turn back to time and again when it comes to analyzing prospects for 2024.

A number of health issues can come with age, but aging in and of itself doesnt have to come with health issues. Cognitive and physical decline is a natural progression of life, this much is true. It is also true that the pace of decline is not universal. It isnt tied to a designated number like an exit off the 405.

Read more: Weeks from a possible government shutdown, Mitch McConnell is freezing up in public. That's not a good sign

As Peter Attia points out in his book, Outlive, lifespan isnt the only thing modern science has extended. Our healthspan has improved dramatically because of technology as well. Its our youth-obsessed culture that still sees 50 as the iceberg. "What if the Titanic had had radar and sonar? Or better yet, GPS and satellite imaging? Rather than trying to dodge through the maze of deadly icebergs, hoping for the best, the captain could have made a slight course correction a day or two before and steered clear of the entire mess, Attia wrote.

The issue I have with dismissing someone as too old  to be president of the United States or to get into a bikini  is that it sounds factual when really its quite subjective.

Mick Jagger performs in London on June 25, 2022. His age at the time: 78. (Vianney Le Caer / Invision via AP)

Most of societys age-oriented benchmarks end at 21. Beyond that its a free for all. In 1980, a third of U.S. adults were married by 21. Pew Research has that around 6% now. How we think about life stages has shifted drastically.

Even in our families, age means different things. One elderly relative may not be able to drive anymore, but another can travel solo. Weve been conditioned to cling to numbers and to discount even our own experiences when it comes to age.

Read more: Mick Jagger turns 80! Keith Richards wishes him happy birthday: 'Long may we keep saying this'

If McConnell takes a break from the Senate or steps down, it wont be because of age alone. Itll be because of health reasons. Just as questions surrounding Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) are not about the 54-year-olds age but, rather, his capacity to do the job.

The median age of U.S. senators, now at 65 years, is older than it was two years ago. The two White House front-runners  Biden and Donald Trump  are from the Silent Generation. That may be a lot of wrinkles. But its also a lot of wisdom and applicable lived experience  in theory, anyway.

The casual ageism in our critique of elected officials also feels counterproductive in a society that is getting older as a whole.

When President Reagan was seeking reelection in 1984, he reassured Americans he was not too old for the job in the second presidential debate with Walter Mondale with the quip: I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponents youth and inexperience. Reagan made that joke because his faltering performance in the first debate with Mondale caused people to wonder whether he was, indeed, too old to be president.

Read more: Columnist Steve Lopezs series on Californias aging population

After he revealed his Alzheimers diagnosis six years after leaving office, many wondered about his cognitive ability while in office. Fair. But again, that is a health question. We need to separate that from age.

Health issues can come with aging, but science is helping us, including politicians, age better. When Mick Jagger was 29, he was asked whether he could see himself still performing at 60. He replied, Yeah, easily, yeah.

Last summer the Rolling Stones turned 60. This summer Jagger turned 80 and the Stones are expected to release a new album next week. On the issue of age, too often we fall back to our old habits of putting the number before the person.

@LZGranderson





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.
A wildfire still rages in the region of Evros

A wildfire still rages in the region of Evros

By Alexandros Avramidis

EVROS, Greece,/ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece on Friday rescued a group of 25 migrants trapped in a wildfire which has been burning in the northeastern region of Evros for almost two weeks, authorities said.

The wildfire in Evros, Europe's deadliest this summer, burned for a 14th day after killing at least 20 people, destroying homes and livelihoods and scorching lush forests.

All but one of the dead in the Evros fire are believed to have been migrants who crossed over from Turkey, evading police in the forest. Evros is a popular crossing into the European Union for thousands of migrants and refugees every year.

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Aircraft and hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze in the Dadia Forest amid fast-changing winds on Friday.

A Reuters video showed migrants sitting on a road next to a field, with trees engulfed in thick grey smoke in the background, before authorities drove them away on an open-backed truck.

"While operating between the villages of Giannouli and Dadia, 25 people were found and taken to a safe place by the fire brigade and police," Greek fire brigade spokesperson Ioannis Artopoios told Reuters.

The migrants were all male and said they were from Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, a police official said. The official said they were arrested.

The Copernicus Emergency Management Service said the Evros fire had ravaged at least 812.6 square kilometres (313.8 square miles), larger than New York City's 778.2 square kilometres (300.5 square miles).

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said at least 30% of Greece's protected Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest had been burned.

Summer wildfires are common in the Mediterranean nation but the government has said that extremely dry, windy and hot conditions that scientists link to climate change have made them worse this year, forcing thousands of evacuations.

Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that Greece would launch drones, install forest temperature sensors and hire more staff to improve firefighting after criticism from climate activists.

Switzerland said on Friday it will dispatch three army helicopters and personnel to help firefighting in Evros.

(Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Andy Sullivan)
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

Parading Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in front of microphones as he suffers a series of embarrassing physical ailments is just cruelto both the American public and McConnell himself, according to The New Abnormal co-host Danielle Moodie on this weeks episode.

And its not just Mitch McConnellits true of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), too.

I would not want this for my family members. Like I wouldnt want this for them to be pushed out, to continue to be hanging on to power and to these jobs when they clearly do not have the capability, the function, and the intellectual nimbleness to be able to continue doing the job, Moodie tells co-host Andy Levy. Mitch McConnell can rest assured that he has reigned supreme over destroying America, over destroying our judicial system. Its time to take a break.

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Subscribe to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Overcast.

Levy agrees, adding that the bipartisan pleas for aging politicians retirement are not based on ageism or a partisan issue.

This shit is scary to watch Its grotesque to keep putting these people out there. I am talking now to the people around them. Yep. Theyre the ones being grotesque and just have some baseline of humanity, Levy adds.

Republicans Comparing Trump to Tupac and MLK Are Offensive and Wrong

Plus! National opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Enquirer, Will Bunch, joins the show to talk about his recent article, Journalism Fails Miserably at Explaining What is Really Happening to America. Bunch describes his inspiration for the article and how he saw an almost willful ignorance to the reality of what's happening with Donald Trump.

Then, politics reporter at The Daily Beast Zachary Petrizzo stops by to discuss whether the Republican National Committee is running out of money. Hopefully yes, jokes Levy.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

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.
The Guardian announced Friday that it will block artificial intelligence (AI) text generation program ChatGPT from accessing and using its content.

AI products, such as ChatGPT, scrape content already online and use it as data to create new content via complex algorithms. Concerns over whether these programs have the legal right to use published text, audio and images to train their algorithms have continued to rise since their launch into the public spotlight last year.

OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, announced last month that website owners can opt out of having their content used by its algorithms.

The scraping of intellectual property from the Guardians website for commercial purposes is, and has always been, contrary to our terms of service, The Guardians publisher said in a statement.

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The Guardians commercial licensing team has many mutually beneficial commercial relationships with developers around the world, and looks forward to building further such relationships in the future, the statement reads.

AI safety has been a priority of the Biden administrations dealings with the technology. President Biden and Vice President Harris met with top industry leaders in May to encourage them to make their technology transparent and avoid discrimination.

In July, Biden announced seven industry leaders agreed to a responsible development pledge, which includes rigorous testing and marking AI-generated content.

Legal battles over whether AI-use of content falls under copyright fair use is expected in the future, and some industry experts believe legislation from Congress would only then follow.

I dont expect Congress to step in until at least the first round of litigation is kind of through, and so that means probably five years at least, Robert Brauneis, a George Washington University Law professor and AI expert, told The Hill in June.

Despite that, some members of Congress have pushed for AI regulation sooner rather than later. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) outlined his plans this summer and committed Thursday to bipartisan forums in the Senate on the technology later this month.

The House also proposed its bipartisan artificial intelligence regulation commission in June.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala's President-elect Bernardo Arevalo on Friday called on the public to "unite" behind his government after the suspension of his party by electoral authorities sowed doubts about the transition.

"I call for us to unite to defeat the coup forces that intend to keep us submerged in corruption, impunity and poverty," Arevalo, a 64-year-old former diplomat and son of a former president, said during a press conference.

Arevalo resoundingly won the Aug. 20 second-round run-off election. Prosecutors previously threatened to bar his party, Semilla, from the election, prompting an international outcry.

Shortly before electoral tribunal officials declared Arevalo the victor at a press conference last week, Semilla was notified that a branch of the tribunal suspended the party. It said the party's registration had flaws, but the impact of the suspension was not clear.

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Arevalo said he will appeal the "illegal" suspension while the Organization of American States (OAS) said the suspension was unjustified. Diplomats from the United States, Chile and Mexico have also spoken in favor of Arevalo.

In his speech on Friday, Arevalo called on the public, politicians, entrepreneurs, workers, churches and indigenous leaders to "join forces in defense of democracy and unrestricted respect for the popular will."

An anti-corruption protest is scheduled to take place on Saturday in capital Guatemala City, although Semilla said it is not in charge of it.

The administration of President Alejandro Giammattei scheduled a first meeting for Monday for the transition process with Arevalo, which will be accompanied by the OAS.

(Reporting by Sofia Menchu and Raul Cortesvot; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by)
United Way of Etowah County kicked off its 2023 fundraising campaign on Thursday with a luncheon at The Venue at Coosa Landing that turned into a pep rally, courtesy of head cheerleader Hatton Smith.

The campaign is already at 40% of its goal of $1,017,000 through efforts of Leadership Givers and Pacesetter Companies, which prime the donations.

Smith, chief executive officer of Back Forty Beer Company, was guest speaker at the event. Formerly president and CEO of Royal Cup Coffee, hes been a supporter of United Way for a half-century as a donor and leader.

Hatton Smith, CEO of Back Forty Beer Company, was the guest speaker on Aug. 31, 2023, at United Way's campaign kickoff luncheon at The Venue at Coosa Landing.

Hes served as campaign chairman and chairman of the board for United Way of Central Alabama and has long been a member of that organizations Dunne Circle, for donors making an annual contribution of $25,000 and more.

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Smith related how the Birmingham area where hes from (Mountain Brook) reinvented itself after the demise of the steel industry that once was its economic driver, as people became generous and reinvested in the community. He said it was a sign of better things to come and of people (putting) their money where their heart is.

He said the turnout at Thursdays luncheon shows that peoples hearts are right here in Gadsden, Rainbow City, Glencoe, wherever.

Smith said United Way, which supports 33 agencies in Etowah County, makes a difference in communities for the aged, children, people without homes, people without shelter or with some kind of mental condition or sickness who have nowhere else to turn.

Every donation by individuals and the business community gives them a chance and lifts them up, he said. What a wonderful thing to do for your fellow human beings.

Smith asked representatives of some of the partner agencies where theyd be without United Ways support; the responses proved how problematic that would be.

Butch McDonald, imitating "The King," Elvis Presley, fires up the crowd on Aug. 31, 2023, during United Way of Etowah County's campaign kickoff luncheon at The Venue at Coosa Landing.

He stood on a chair on The Venues stage and led the crowd in a group cheer of Were going to win" because the cause is good and every one of you is great.

United Way officials said their $416,433 has been raised so far thanks to Leadership Givers and the Pacesetter companies: Alabama Power, Alabama Teachers Credit Union, Attalla City Schools, BMSS Advisors and CPAs, Cadence Bank, Etowah County Schools, Family Savings Credit Union, Gadsden City Schools, Gadsden Regional Medical Center, Life Insurance Company of Alabama, Peoples Bank, Regions Bank, River Bank, Riverview Regional Medical Center, Southern Data Automation, The Chamber of Gadsden & Etowah County and the United Way board of directors and staff.

Cadence Bank, Family Savings Credit Union, Regions Bank, Southern Data Automation, The Chamber of Gadsden & Etowah County and the United Way board of directors and staff all had 100% participation from employees.

Molli LeMay, United Ways interim director, said the organizations true goal is always higher than the official one, and Dr. Sabrina Morgan-Graves, this years campaign chairwoman, said, We do want to meet that million, but we really want to go over to $1.2 million or $1.3 million. I know we can do it.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: United Way of Etowah County launches 2023 fundraising effort
Cat Rescue & Adoption Network

Tajin and Kittysaurus are a bonded pair of young adult cats about 3 years old available for adoption from the Cat Rescue & Adoption Network.

Tajin and Kittysaurus are a bonded pair of adult cats about 3 years old available for adoption from the Cat & Rescue Adoption Network.

Tajin is described as a super sociable and mellow orange and white male tabby, and Kittysaurus as a sweet female who is a little shy at first but warms up quickly in a calm, quiet home.

The two cats will make great companions for someone looking for mellow, quiet cats to chill with. They have been altered, vaccinated, microchipped, and are negative for FIV & FeLV.

You can meet Tajin and Kittysaurus at Wags! Dog & Cat Emporium, 136 Oakway Road, Eugene (Open 10-6, Tues-Sun). For more info, please call 541-225-4955 option 1, or visit our website at CatRescues.org

Greenhill Humane Society

Coconut is one of nearly three dozen cats that were abandoned in a Eugene apartment and being put up for adoption at Greenhill Humane Society.

Fifteen of 35 cats that had been abandoned in a rented Eugene Apartment are available for adoption at Greenhill Humane Society.

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While some of the cats are initially shy, many are friendly and affectionate. Seven of the cats are available for adoption today and eight more will be available on Saturday. They are from 1.5 to 2 years old.

All of these cats have health issues including ringworm and some more serious conditions," said Ashley Lalan, Greenhills feline program manager. "We are working to provide them with the care and treatment they need."

Blackberry is one of abandoned cats that is available for adoption from Greenhill Humane Society.

Ringworm is highly contagious, but can be treated in a home environment so Greenhill is looking for families to adopt the cats while still under treatment. They will be provided training, medication and supplies.

More of the cats will become available for adoption in the coming weeks.

Vanilla is one of the abandoned cats that is available for adoption at Greenhill Humane Society.

Those interested in adopting these cats can visit Greenhills website (www.green-hill.org) or visit the shelter from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. today. The adoption price for these cats has been reduced to $45.

Guinea pig sister duo, Daisy (black and white) and Peachy (tan and white) area available for adoption from Greenhill Humane Society.

Guinea pig sisters Daisy and Peachy are best friend siblings available for adoption from the Greenhill Humane Society.

They are looking to be adopted together an indoor-only home and a family with children that can respect their space, to continue living their best lives together. Peachy follows Daisy's lead when out exploring and Daisy enjoys stealing Peachys treats.

Daisy is an American type guinea pig, which means her fur grows in one direction. Peachy is a Peruvian mix guinea pig, which means her fur is long and requires regular grooming. She enjoys getting her hair brushed out and being pampered.

Greenhill Humane Society is open seven days a week, 11 am  6 pm at 88530 Green Hill Rd in Eugene. For more information call (541) 689.1503 or visit www.green-hill.org.

Oregon Coast Humane Society

Bella is a sweet, shy 11-year-old Russian Blue available for adoption from the Oregon Coast Humane Society.

Bella is an 11-year-old Russian Blue who is described as sweet and shy.

Her adoption fee is $50 during Oregon Coast Humane Society's cat and kitten adoption promotion.

You can stop by the shelter and see the cats, and apply to adopt in person or online.

Oregon Coast Humane Society is open seven days a week, 10 a.m.  4 p.m. at 2840 Rhododendron Drive in Florence. For more information call (541) 997-4277 or visit the website.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Guinea pig siblings two bonded cats among pets available for adoption
Two young men accused of killing an 8-year-old boy in a drive-by shooting last year in Warner Robins have since pleaded guilty to murder.

Their pleas in the high-profile slaying appear to have gone unreported by local news outlets. The pleas came this spring in Houston County Superior Court, about a year after a nighttime barrage on March 25, 2022, claimed the life of Jermarrion Pachino Cherry.

Cherry was shot once in the head while he was in a parked car at a home on Virginia Dare Drive, just south of Russell Parkway near Robins Air Force Base.

He was mortally wounded when two men in a passing automobile each opened fire. Prosecutors say the bullet that struck Cherry was not found and it could not be determined which man fired the fatal shot.

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Houston sheriffs investigators initially charged five people in the case, but murder charges against three were dismissed, and that trios cases have only recently been adjudicated.

The two who pleaded guilty to murder charges  Lenny Victor Gupton Jr., 20, and Ricky Aubry McChargue, 22, both of Warner Robins  were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors say the shooting was prompted by a beef that McChargue had with someone he believed was at the home on Virginia Dare, near Booth and Wellborn roads, about half a mile west of the Museum of Aviation.

Gupton has been in the state prison in Savannah since mid-May, while McChargue has been at Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena since mid-April.

Under Georgia law, both must serve a mandatory 30-year minimum term before they are eligible to be considered for parole.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.
You are here: China

Chinese lawmakers on Friday voted to adopt a revised Law on Administrative Reconsideration aimed at enhancing the resolution of administrative disputes.

The revised law specifies the principles, responsibilities, safeguards and scope of administrative reconsideration.

It introduces measures to facilitate administrative reconsideration applications, strengthens the capacity of administrative reconsideration to address and resolve administrative disputes, refines the procedures for accepting and reviewing cases, and strengthens the supervision of administrative law enforcement.

Under this revised law, administrative reconsideration will serve as the main channel for resolving administrative disputes, which is conducive to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the people, advancing law-based governance, and promoting social fairness and justice.

The revised law, passed at a session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  What do Adam Sandler, Hugh Grant, Michael Buble and Afrojack have in common? They were all born on Sept. 9  the most common birthday in the U.S., according to government birth data.

Another fun birthday fact: Nine out of the 10 most common birthdays fall in September, with Sept. 9 ranking No. 1 on the list. And even though September dominates that list, there are actually more people with August birthdays.

But everyone deserves their own special day. Its always a good time to score something free at a restaurant, and we have compiled a list of offers at some of the chains in town. These days, almost every freebie comes with the requirement of downloading an app and creating account, although many still work through email lists you can join.

Know of offers that arent on the list? See information at the bottom of the story to let us know. Click the name of each restaurant for the best information we could find about specifics on each offer. It never hurts to ask at restaurants not listed below.

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Applebees

When you sign up for Applebees Rewards, youll get a free dessert with a $15 purchase redeemable seven days before through 21 days after your birthday. Theyll sing you a song, too. You also get a sign-up offer for a free appetizer.

Arbys

This one has been changing recently, and one valley location tells us there arent currently any birthday offers. Check the app for discounts and offers.

Auntie Annes

Get a free pretzel on your first birthday after downloading the app. That offer doesnt repeat, but you do get a free pretzel after your first order, and youll earn points toward more salty goodness.

Baja Fresh

Another rewards program in transition  the birthday reward is not specified at this time, and creating an account will get you bonus points.

Baskin Robbins

A free scoop (excludes waffle cones and toppings) when you join the birthday club.

Ben & Jerrys

A cone-gratulationary surprise on your birthday through an email coupon

BJs Restaurant & Brewhouse

A free birthday Pizookie for signing up, along with exclusive offers and specials for signing up.

Buffalo Wild Wings

Through the Blazin Rewards app, get six free wings during your birthday month.

California Pizza Kitchen

Free dessert for your birthday when you join rewards.

Samples from The Cheesecake Factory. (KLAS)

The Cheesecake Factory

A free slice on your birthday when you join rewards.

Chilis

Free dessert on your birthday when you join rewards. Youll also get free chips and salsa (or a non-alcoholic beverage) on every visit.

Chipotle

Lets just say we wont forget you on your birthday, the website teases. People in the know say thats a free order of chips and guacamole with a $5 purchase.

Cinnabon

Another elusive reward, but a search reveals its a free iced coffee.

Cold Stone Creamery

A BOGO coupon on your birthday (and youll also get a BOGO coupon when you sign up for their club.

Crumbl Cookies

A free cookie on your birthday every year when you sign up online or through the app.

Dairy Queen

A free Blizzard would sure be a nice reward if youve got a summer birthday.

Del Taco

A free regular-sized shake on your birthday

Dennys

The free Birthday Slam offer is only good on your actual birthday. Its a Grand Slam breakfast.

(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

Dunkin

They know their perks. In addition to the free beverage, youll get 3x points on purchases on the day before your birthday, the day of, and the day after.

Dutch Bros.

A free drink on your birthday  and 50% off on your half birthday.*

Einstein Bros. Bagels

Free egg sandwich with purchase for your birthday.

El Pollo Loco

A $5 credit on the app for your birthday.

Firehouse Subs

A free medium sub with any purchase on your birthday. Claim the reward through the Firehouse Subs app.

Fuddruckers

Coupon for a free 1/3 pound burger with the purchase of your next entree of equal or greater value.

Hooters

On your birthday, 10 free wings. The special is not listed on the companys website, but the restaurant at the OYO Hotel & Casino verified they honor the offer. Check for restrictions.

IHOP

You have entered a new world with IHOPs stackholder rewards. Cryptocakes and more, but it still comes down to free pancakes on your birthday.

Jack in the Box

Two free tacos. Offer good three days before and three days after your birthday.

Jamba

Start earning points online or through the app, and once youve got 15 points, youre eligible for the birthday gift: a free smoothie. Points do expire.

Jersey Mikes

Loyal customers  that is, people who have had the app for a year  get a free regular sandwich.

Johnny Rockets

A free hamburger on your birthday with purchase of an entree and a drink when you sign up for Rockets e-club.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts. (File/The Associated Press)

Krispy Kreme

A free donut and coffee (or a soft drink) on your birthday through Krispy Kreme Rewards.

Marie Callendars

A free slice of pie and $5 off your entree when you join the Marie-club.

McDonalds

Free medium fries on your birthday through the app.

Noodles & Company

A free dessert reward for your birthday if youre new to the program, and entree rewards as you build up more points.

(Nothing Bundt Cakes)

Nothing Bundt Cakes

A free bundtlet on your birthday when you sign up for the e-club.

On the Border

A birthday surprise  a $5-off coupon  when you sign up for the rewards program.

Olive Garden

Free dessert on your birthday when you join the e-club.

Outback Steakhouse

A free dessert on your birthday when you sign up for Dine Rewards. Youll get a free Bloomin Onion just for signing up.

Panera Bread

Your choice of a free pastry or bakery sweet when you register online or download the Panera app and create an account.

P.F. Changs

A complimentary birthday dessert when you sign up for rewards.

Papa Johns

Get a free dessert item on your birthday when you sign up for Papa Rewards. Offer is good for 14 days after its delivered to your account.

Pieology

Buy One Get One through the app when you sign up to be a member of Pie Life.

(Courtesy: @pinkboxdoughnuts / Instagram)

Pinkbox

Its Ya Birthday  Pinkbox has a name for their birthday reward, a special doughnut made just for your special occasion. Join the Perks club to claim your gift.

Pizza Hut

Birthday rewards are not listed on the website, aside from a benefit that says Celebrate with a special reward on your birthday. Some reports indicate Pizza Hut no longer offers a birthday reward.

Red Lobster

A free dessert on your birthday, but there are some restrictions. You must purchase two adult dinner entrees and join the rewards program 10 days before their birthday to receive the coupon.

Red Robin

A Birthday Burger reward once during the month of your birthday for joining Red Robin Royalty.

Romanos Macaroni Grill

Youll get a free dessert with the purchase of an adult entree on your birthday when you sign up for the email club or download the app and create an account.

Rubios

Special birthday surprises are part of the rewards program when you download the app and create an account. Or you can sign up online.

Sbarro

Six Nevada locations are listed as Sbarro kicks off its rewards program. You can get a coupon for a free slice on your birthday when you sign up for the program.

Shake Shack

Add your birthday when you create a Shack App profile and youll get a freebie in your inbox when that special day rolls around.

Smashburger

A free shake on your birthday when you sign up for Smashburger rewards. Youll also get free fries on your second purchase.

Sonic

A free small side for your birthday, and monthly rewards when you download the app and create an account. The birthday offer is only good on your actual birthday.

Starbucks

Free drink! Probably one of the most popular birthday offers comes from Starbucks. But did you know their legal department gives you the option of a free food item or a free bottled drink? Yeah, you probably did. You probably also have an account in the app  a must for getting your rewards.

Steak n Shake

A free specialty milkshake

Subway

Always a good idea to ask when it comes to Subway, because some franchises dont even honor coupons issued by the chain. We have seen offers ranging from a free cookie on your birthday to a free 6-inch sub and a drink, but each franchise might have its own version of birthday rewards.

The Taco Bell at 2288 E. Craig Road. (Greg Haas / 8NewsNow)

Taco Bell

A free regular Mountain Dew Baja Blast Freeze on your birthday might be the reason to sign up for Taco Bell Rewards. You also get a free reward just for signing up.

Texas Roadhouse

Three Las Vegas locations offer a free appetizer on your birthday.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Join the Tropic Rewards club to get a surprise birthday reward  a 24-ounce smoothie. Theres a reward just for signing up, too.

Wendys

Did someone say free frosty? Thats the birthday reward for signing up for the MyWendys email list.

Wetzels Pretzels

Is there a better reason to go to the mall? You not only get a free pretzel on your birthday, you also get one for signing up through the app.

Whataburger

Theyre not even in Las Vegas yet, but theyre on their way. So well put this out there: One free Justaburger when you sign up for the rewards program.

Wienerschnitzel

Three Las Vegas locations have the counterpoint to a burger-and-fries birthday  a free chili dog. It might come in the form of a digital coupon when you sign up.

Yogurtland

The mystery of a free birthday treat has us on the edge of our seat. Youll have to create an account to register for rewards.

*If you read through the full list, you might have noticed the half birthday under the Dutch Bros. listing. Its really a thing. Some people actually celebrate their half birthday six months before their actual birthday. Sometimes thats to avoid a conflict  such as a birthday that falls on Christmas or another holiday that overshadows that special day. Theres actually a guide to calculating your half birthday.

Heres another tip: Companies like to celebrate their own birthdays. Keep an eye out for freebies around those promotions.

Well keep adding to the list as we find out about other offers. Let us know about freebies that didnt make our list by emailing Web-KLAS@nexstar.tv.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Discarded furniture from UCLA students who have just moved out is piled up outside a private apartment building on Roebling Avenue near the campus. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

For the record:

1:25 p.m. Sept. 1, 2023: An earlier version of this article identified Marlon Vargas as Marlon Varga.



Crumpled mattresses and twisted bed frames; torn-up couches leaking crumbly foam; halves of tables and broken bookshelves piled high among busted office chairs and abandoned dressers. Smaller items are buried within these structures  a single Birkenstock, a gaggle of paper bowls, a jewelry bag full of perfume samples.

These weeks before the fall term begins are like no other along the residential streets near UCLA as mountains of debris bare the disposable lifestyle of college students. Under pressure to move out by Sept. 1 and facing the prospect of forfeited deposits for leaving a mess behind, students abandon ideals of sustainable reuse and reducing landfill waste  and public curbsides become their free dump site.

Los Angeles sanitation officials brace themselves for the annual onslaught, logging more than 1,500 requests for bulk-item pickups in August, the highest for the fiscal year in Westwood. Bulky items can be reported for pickup  but with so many requests it's impossible to figure out what exactly has been reported by trash day as the free-for-all dumping ground grows.

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Students admit to the eyesore but say they run out of options when they rent from privately owned buildings.

Armando Diaz prepares to toss a mattress onto a pile of discarded furniture outside a private apartment building on Ophir Drive near the UCLA campus. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

I hate how it looks  and know that lots of it wont get used again, said Hailey Ramsey, a recent pre-med graduate from Marin County. Shes managed to sell some of her furniture on Facebook Marketplace, in her neighborhood group chat and to the tenants taking over her apartment. But she and her roommates were intent on avoiding rental fines.

On move-out day, she hauled out two couches and a coffee table.

Read more: UC admits record number of California first-year students for fall 2023, led by Latinos

Nicole Exaltacion, a Westwood property manager, explained that most of the time when bulky items are left in units, her staff hauls them to the curb, too.

UCLA has taken steps to reduce the debris and promote "low-waste move-outs." University-affiliated housing is furnished. Campus donation sites are set up for clothing, textiles and e-waste, according to a university statement.

But students nearby in private apartments are generally not included in email lists about these programs, which are tied to dorm move-outs in June, not private apartment move-outs in late July and August. UCLA said it is planning on "extending our efforts beyond university housing into the surrounding community."

Across town around USC, Fabian Hernandez of Mosaic Student Communities, a property management firm for private off-campus housing, said its peak debris weeks are at the end of July. He tries to connect the departing tenants with the arrivals and recommends renting storage space to re-use furniture. But most of the time it's left on the curb.

It's a conscious decision they make," Hernandez said.

Read more: UCLA Chancellor Gene Block to step down after boosting enrollment, diversity, rankings

USC Housing also provides furnished dorms and apartments and has sustainability efforts in place for its university-affiliated housing, including teaming up with Goodwill Southern California to place donation bins around campus.

Mia Ward, a USC senior from Simi Valley who is studying accounting and business administration, said she knows about the campus donation bins but still sees smaller usable goods tossed onto the sidewalk.

The reality is a lot of people are lazy and it's easier to throw it on the curb, she said. Especially if you don't have a car, it doesn't feel like there's much you can do other than leave it on the curb.

Curb shoppers frequently try their luck in the heaps. Ward remembers finding a side table while helping a friend move.

Tim Van Hoomissen, 23, who just graduated from UCLA, walks past discarded furniture outside a private apartment building on Glenrock Avenue near the campus. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Ryan Cook and Kaleb Torress poked through what they called a little gold mine on Roebling Avenue in Westwood and heaved a scratch-free shelf into the back of their pickup truck. They live in Brentwood but just graduated from UCLA.

I'm working in Westwood and could see stuff starting to conglomerate, Torress said. They plan to use the shelf for plant storage.

Marlon Vargas sported a larger haul in the back of his pickup, sagging but equipped with metal sidewalls. He comes to Westwood often during the beginning and the end of the school year, sometimes scanning twice a day for items he either uses to furnish his home or to sell.

Read more: UCLA to expand in downtown L.A. with purchase of historic building for satellite classes

Many people in my neighborhood dont have the money to buy this stuff new, so I sell it for cheap, he said. But curb shoppers dont make a dent in whats left behind.

Students in private apartments close to UCLA said they wished the school offered a better way to dispose of their belongings, one that encouraged zero-waste practices or a chance for others to select items to reuse.

Leah Likin, a recent psychology graduate, described the hassle of driving to three donation sites, all rejecting her items because they were too beat up or because the sites were full for the day. I want UCLA to help foster a culture of shared resources. Right now it feels like theres no incentive in sharing rather than throwing stuff away."

Discarded furniture from UCLA students who have just moved out is piled up outside a private apartment building on Roebling Avenue near the campus. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Jackie Pierce, a dance major from Orange County and a roommate of Ramsey's, said even a resource list would be helpful.

Other universities have moved to address the dumping.

Malte Weiland, Georgia Techs senior sustainability project manager, said it should be as easy as possible for residents to donate. The schools award-winning move-out waste reduction program brings six Goodwill trucks to campus each June. Donation bins are set up for non-perishable food for the campus food pantry and old blankets and fabric scraps go to a local animal shelter.

The school hires workers to sort through and separate donations for community groups and for students, making sure students who need it can receive free groceries and household items. The provisions are then stored on campus in rented PODS  waiting for the start of fall semester. All students have access to the donation sites and the salvaged goods from the PODS, and opportunities to donate.

Pierce was intrigued by the idea: As much as I would love [Goodwill] trucks on campus, I really think including us in their emails and reminding us of outside resources would be an easy start.

For now, students devoted to sustainability in other facets of their lives  like Likin, whose honors project touched on waste and climate anxiety  still have items to haul to the curb.

"Its so normalized, I see trash and furniture out every day, so it doesn't feel insane to do it.





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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Anthony Orama and his son, Kaiden, took advantage of a stretch of glorious weather that hovered in the low 80s to hit the basketball court at Crompton Park this summer in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Ten-year-old Kaiden showed off his favorite move of faking left and then dribbling right for a layup as his proud father looked on.

But when the topic shifted to the weather, Anthony Oramas mood turned serious when he spoke of his firm belief in climate change. The world is getting hotter, he said, and Kaiden believes that, too, saying his family only has one air conditioning unit in their Worcester home to stay cool.

So far this summer, that one unit may have done the job as Worcester and New England experienced mild temperatures with frequent rainstorms to keep the air relatively cool. But is that a true harbinger of what is to come for us in a world being rapidly turned upside down by climate crisis?

Anthony Orama watches his son Kaiden, 10, execute a layup at Crompton Park basketball courts.

Why is New England mild, while much of U.S. baked this summer?

That is a question to consider as headlines from other parts of the U.S. highlight record-breaking temperatures and disturbing weather patterns, the latest being the wildfire devastation in Maui.

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Heat domes became part of the vernacular, trapping hot air for prolonged periods above Texas and the West, creating miserable conditions for millions in the U.S. It was especially bad in Phoenix, where the temperature was at least 110 degrees for 31 straight days  the entire month of July  shattering previous records.

There were also air-quality alerts from Canadian wildfires that affected New England, sending vast plumes of heavy smoke into the U.S., putting those suffering with asthma and other respiratory problems on edge.

Albert Robertson, a monitor at OpenDoors, asks a visitor to empty their pockets before entering the building. All visitors to the shelter and cooling center must agree to a pat-down before coming inside.

Northeast mostly dodged a heat-seeking bullet

Worcester and the rest of Central Massachusetts dodged these weather bullets, except for a few days of air-quality alerts from the Canadian wildfires, some stretches of high humidity, and frequent rain showers  some severe  that flooded neighborhoods.

Cape Cod and the Islands, typically several degrees cooler than much of the region but still warmer than was typical decades ago, was also spared the soaring temperatures, although it did contend with high humidity as warm winds blew up over warm water from the southwest. It, too, had a few high ozone alert days related to heat, and haziness owing to the wildfires.

So back to the original question: Why did the extreme heat bypass us? The answer is the heat dome and jet stream, said Mary Stampone, associate professor of geography at the University of New Hampshire, who is also the Granite States official climatologist.

But before Stampone delved deeper, she said it's important to be aware that a core summer month  July  was actually hotter than normal in New England.

In Worcester, that was the case as the average temperature was 73.7 degrees, compared to the so-called "climate normal" average in July of 70.9 degrees.

In Providence, while June was cooler than normal and August was also shaping up to be, July was slightly warmer, with an average temperature of 75.2 degrees compared to the climate normal of 74.4 degrees.

On Cape Cod, the same held true. The average temperature for July was 76.9, while the norm is closer to 71.4. In August, the average temperature was 73.7, while the norm is 70.7.

The Sandy Pond Splash Deck in West Yarmouth off Buck Island Road is a popular spot during on hot summer days.

That higher-than-average heat is connected to climate crisis, said Stampone, because added heat and energy in the atmosphere translates to more rain.

Worcester recorded total rainfall of 12.3 inches in July, far beyond the normal average rainfall in July in Worcester of 3.93 inches. The city's all-time record in July is 13.85 inches was set in 2021.

Providence too saw more rain than normal, recording 8.4 inches in July compared to a normal average of 2.9 inches.

Cape Cod had an average 2.7 inches in July compared to the norm of about 1.63.

As for the heat dome, Stampone said it pushed the jet stream  those narrow bands of strong winds in the upper atmosphere  in a northerly direction. That created a bell curve over the western half of the U.S. that locked that region under suffocating heat.

WELL I GUESS THIS IS US NOW! The heat dome Is. Not. Leaving. Anytime. Soon. Normal highs fall to the mid-80s by the end of next week, but looks like we'll still be in the mid-to-upper 90s. #okwx #okmesonet pic.twitter.com/pWba8DYqBp  Oklahoma Mesonet (@okmesonet) August 31, 2023

Meanwhile, the dip in the bell curve represented the jet stream that dropped over the Great Lakes and New England, sending cooler air our way from the Canadian interior. The downside to the comfortable air, said Stampone, was the cool side of the jet stream funneled many storms to New England.

Thats why we flooded, Stampone said.

We asked her about the likelihood of a heat dome hitting New England and the Northeast in a future summer. Here's what we learned:

IS NEW ENGLAND SUSCEPTIBLE TO A 'HEAT DOME' IN FUTURE SUMMERS? Not highly at risk  but less likely things have been happening due to accelerating climate crisis. Heat domes do require expansive spaces  think of Big Sky country out west. Those areas are consistently dry. Northeast weather patterns are more variable. Heat domes require a build up of high pressure, very hot and dry. The Northeast can have high pressure but in the past not as hot or dry for extended periods of time.

WORCESTER - Regional Environmental Council (REC) YouthGROW program leader Naria Rondeau, 16, feels the heat while helping to pull up weeds and till soil to get a former garlic field ready for growing beets and turnip at the REC farm on Lagrange Street on Monday.

IF IT HAPPENS, THE NORTHEAST IS NOT PREPARED: If rising summer heat in the region year after year leads to drier conditions and then a rare heat dome, the region doesnt have the infrastructure to deal with the crisis. Namely, air-conditioning access and civic protections for vulnerable people. People's bodies in the Northeast have a lower threshold for extreme heat due to lack of past experience, in general. Older buildings mean it currently is more expensive to add central air. That contributes to why region is not prepared, plus a lack of planning and awareness around sufficient cooling centers and emergency heat plans.

DAMAGING RAINFALL IS A BIGGER RISK IN COMING SUMMERS: The higher than average heat that New England experienced this summer is connected to the climate crisis. And the added heat and energy in the atmosphere translates to more rain, raising risks of deadly and damaging flooding.

Climate Central's Andrew Pershing agreed.

He said the maps he has looked at are like lava lamps with bubbles, the conditions that lead to heat domes are rising in the southern area of the United States. The dynamics are fluid, and the heat in the South plays off the comparatively cooler temperatures we've seen in summer of 2023 in the Northeast.

The dangerous El Nino effect, unlocking warmth in the Pacific Ocean that will raise temperatures around the globe, takes about six months to kick in. Based on NOAA maps, the warming will land in a few more months  making the Northeast winter more mild.

WORCESTER - Mitch "Money Mitch Woo' Reardon of Worcester gets ready to skateboard at Crompton Park.

The humidity made even days in the 80s miserable

Mitch "Money Mitch Woo" Reardon of Worcester was skateboarding at Crompton Park in July. He feels like this summer has been hotter than in the past  the hottest summer he can remember. The main thing has been the humidity, he said.

Its been so brutal that he can only go to the skate park for an hour and then he has to go home. Reardon worries that if Massachusetts saw a heat dome like the deadly Pacific Northwest one in 2021, that a lot of people would die in Worcester  many older people at home who get too hot and dehydrated on top of underlying medical issues.

Reardon lives in an old triple decker, and said that in a heat dome, he also would struggle. It costs too much money to run his AC unit. Urban islands like where he lives would suffer greatly, he believes.

WORCESTER - Mitch "Money Mitch Woo' Reardon of Worcester skateboards at Crompton Park.

Still not convinced? Climate change isn't only about heat

An important aspect about the earth's changing environment is that you don't have to be sweltering under a heat dome to be affected by the human-driven climate change that scientists are warning about with increasing urgency. While heat is "a very immediate effect of climate change, Caroline Ummenhofer, an oceanographer and climatologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, pointed out there are other concerning effects as well.

Among them are changes in the water cycle, weather patterns and extreme weather events.

"Extreme events like drought and flood are likely to become more frequent," she said, not to mention more intense.

The earth does go through natural cycles of warming and cooling, she acknowledged, but human activity has long been accelerating and exacerbating these cycles by overloading the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. Consequently, the natural balance is tipping dangerously.

"There are more and more lines of evidence that are kind of telling us the same story," Ummenhofer said.

While there is a lot of variability in the system, she noted, "in a steady climate you would expect a balance."

But that's not happening. And she and other scientists are worried, too, about heat waves in the oceans, causing changes to currents that impact weather and shifting of species that have consequences for fisheries, not to mention providing fuel for hurricanes to become bigger, more frequent and more destructive, and the potential to travel "a lot further north than they normally would."

"What we are seeing is almost one year after another being a record-breaking event," Ummenhofer said. "We're not seeing that balance anymore."

Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, a leading nonprofit environmental advocacy organization in the region, said he doesn't understand why some people are still having conversations about whether human-driven climate change is real or not.

True, he said, that New England may not be frying eggs on its sidewalks, but "it's irrefutable that we are on track to have the warmest year recorded in human history this year."

"Some areas are sweltering hot, some are experiencing extreme fire conditions or flooding," he said. "The hallmark of climate change is bigger extremes."

WORCESTER - Calvin Gray and Yanesis Smith embrace in the shade of a crabapple tree in an empty lot on Harding Street. Homeless, they have spent much of their time under the tree hiding out from the recent heat wave.

For example, last year Cape Cod trudged through a drought that turned local farmers' fields to powdery dust, while this year there have been extreme rain events  just a couple of weeks ago, it rained 4 inches on the Cape Cod town of Mashpee in an hour, and another 3 inches the following week.

And then there are the recent tornado warnings, and one that touched down in Barnstable.

Plus, temperatures at night are not as cool as they used to be, he pointed out. It's not noticed as much, he said, "because a lot of people have air conditioning" they run at night and aren't paying as much attention to the temperature.

Yes, Cape Cod is "still cooler than it is in lots of places in Massachusetts," Gottliebe said, "but it's not as great a relief as one would have grown up with."

So how long will mild temperatures last?

We still have a few weeks left in the summer, so there's still time for high heat. But will we get it?

Stampone studied climate models developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that told her New England would have cool and wet weather in early August. That prediction appears to have played out.

The models also told Stampone that the jet stream will eventually break, and when that happens, we should have warmer weather through October.

WORCESTER - Riley Johnston of Worcester

If thats true, Worcester's Orama family may need to buy a second AC unit to stay cool, an idea that Kaiden is onboard with. "We only have one AC unit upstairs (at home)," said Kaiden while taking a break from practicing layups. "I don't always like going upstairs."

The Telegram & Gazette, Providence Journal and Cape Cod Times are investigating the effects of a rapidly heating planet on people who live in our city. Follow along with "City on Fire" as we report the struggle with summer temperatures, even in New England. This is part of the USA TODAY project Perilous Course.

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter: @henrytelegram. Heather McCarron and Alex Kuffner also contributed to this report. Contact McCarron at @hmccarron@capecodonline.com or follow her on Twitter@HMcCarron_CCT.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Heat domes are not leaving. But New England has been spared for now.
Near the brick gateway entrance of Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix, first responders arrived to tend to a man who was found unconscious lying on the sidewalk. He was huddled between an iron fence and a palm tree, his personal belongings stacked in a shopping cart nearby.

It was one call of many during Phoenixs historic heat wave last month, when temperatures reached 110 degrees or above for 31 days straight. Phoenix Fire said heat-related emergency calls are up about 20% over this time last year.

Long stretches of extreme temperatures can lead to deadly consequences for public health. In Maricopa County alone, more people are dying from heat each year than they are from any other extreme weather event across all 50 states.

Since 2013, the toll from heat deaths in the county has outpaced casualties from any single weather event in the same year, and trends show the gap is widening. Yet despite the significant loss of life and economic impacts caused by heat, the federal government does not classify heat as a major disaster. It's something local and state leaders are trying to change.

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Last year heat killed 425 people in Maricopa County. Preliminary data provided by the Maricopa County medical examiner's office suggests this years heat will be deadlier than last. According to the county health departments weekly heat report, as of Aug. 31, there were 180 confirmed heat deaths, with 330 still under investigation.

In July alone officials suspect heat and the prolonged month-long heat wave were responsible for 290 deaths, including 23 people who likely died from heat on a single day, July 20, when temperatures reached 119 degrees.

Heat is not seen as a natural disaster, but local and state leaders want to change that

In September 2022, Hurricane Ian caused record storm surge and killed 152 people when it struck Floridas Gulf coast. The Category 5 storm was the third-costliest weather disaster on record, and the deadliest hurricane to make landfall in Florida in nearly 90 years.

Scientists widely agree that climate change is affecting the frequency and magnitude of catastrophic storms like Ian, as both oceanic and atmospheric temperatures have climbed over the last 50 years. Yet despite these more intense storms, heat has proven to be deadlier.

Hurricane Ian was considered the deadliest single weather event of 2022, even though heat in Maricopa County killed more people by the end of the year.

And this has happened every year since 2013.

We dont talk of heat as a natural disaster, said Pope Mosely, an intensive care physician and researcher at Arizona State University. These heat waves, they are natural disasters, and the impact on humans is massive.

Following Hurricane Ian, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided at least $5.5 billion in federal funds. But despite the significant loss of life in Maricopa County, the county does not receive any federal aid to prepare for heat or deal with its effects because FEMA does not classify heat as a major disaster.

Local and state leaders are moving to shift the tides. U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., recently introduced the Extreme Heat Emergency Act of 2023, which would add extreme heat events to the FEMA list of major disasters.

By including extreme heat in the definition of a major disaster, FEMA would have the authority to provide federal resources and support to local governments in times of crisis caused by extreme heat.

Currently, FEMA's definition of major disasters includes everything from tidal waves to fires and explosions, yet omits the deadliest natural occurring phenomenon in the country.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego also called on FEMA to revise its list of declared national disasters to include heat.

Support from other levels of government would multiply our impact, which is why Ive called for extreme heat to be added to FEMAs declared disasters list, she said. This move would unlock additional resources to save lives.

July 2023 was Phoenixs hottest-ever month on record, with an average high of 114.7 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly 8 degrees warmer than Phoenixs average July temperatures). The 31 straight days over 110 degrees surpassed the 18-day record set in 1974.

While heat isnt unfamiliar to us in Phoenix, climate change is resulting in more intense, prolonged heat events, said Gallego.

Gallego said the city is expanding indoor shelter solutions, providing cooling centers across the city, and working with community-based organizations and volunteers to distribute thousands of heat relief kits.

Experts say one reason heat may not be considered a major disaster is because it is a silent killer. Deaths can sometimes take months to count and accumulate, compared to catastrophic storms like Ian where deaths can be quantified almost immediately and physical damage is conspicuous.

The effects of extreme temperatures go beyond threats to public health, reaching into the economy in ways that may not be as apparent as a flooded home from storm surge or a burned building from wildfire. Recent studies suggest extreme heat could cost the United States $100 billion annually from productivity loss alone.

Prolonged heat waves are also a major threat to Arizonas $23.3 billion agriculture economy, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Researchers have found that extreme temperatures reduce labor productivity, damage crops, and disrupt global trade.

Heat as a public health crisis: In low-income Phoenix neighborhoods, the lack of shade trees is a question of equity

Heat deaths in Maricopa outpace deaths from other major disasters, but the shift happened recently

In the 1990s, heat deaths in Maricopa County were reported at significantly lower numbers than they are today. In 1992, there were only three heat deaths reported by the county's health department. This is partly due to a change in how deaths are counted, although experts say climate variables and social risks have also contributed to the spike in deaths in the last decade.

Throughout the 90s, other natural disasters in the U.S., like Hurricane Andrew or the North American blizzard of 1996, would kill more people than heat in metro Phoenix, at least in the record books.

This would continue throughout the next decade, except for two years when heat would kill more people over a year than the deadliest single weather events. In 2002, tornadoes ripped through 17 midwestern and eastern states on the Veterans Day weekend, killing 36 people. Heat killed 38 people in the county that year.

And in 2009 a major ice storm across multiple states claimed the lives of 65 people, while in Maricopa County, 74 people were reported dead from heat by year's end.

The last year that Maricopa Countys annual heat death total fell below the deadliest natural disaster of the same year in the U.S. was 2012.

In the last nine years, heat has killed more people than Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Ida, and the Camp Fire in California, to name a few, though the property damage and loss of life from each of those events was catastrophic. And in the last few years, the gap between heat deaths and other disasters has widened. In 2022, heat killed 273 more people than Hurricane Ian.

(The numbers include all 50 states states and DC, but not territories like Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria killed 2,975 people in 2017.)

But other extreme weather events are not causing the same upward curve in deaths.

According to a report by the World Metrological Organization, while natural disasters are becoming more frequent due to climate change, fewer people are dying because of early warning and disaster management. While the number of disasters over the last 50 years has increased fivefold, the number of deaths has fallen by two-thirds.

This does not include heat. Extreme heat is killing more people than it did in previous decades and, according to the Centers for Disease Control, average annual heat-related deaths are up 95% in the U.S. since 2010. That's part of the reason local leaders are urging federal attention.

They say FEMA assistance could allow for better warning and preparation, which could reduce the countys death toll, and for heat to follow the curve with other natural disasters.

Rising temperatures: Phoenix is not prepared for a simultaneous heat wave and blackout, new research shows

How to better count  and account for  the growing number of people dying of heat-related causes

From 2013 to 2022, there was a 459% increase in heat deaths in Maricopa County. There is likely more than one reason why deaths have increased so steadily since 2000.

More than 1.5 million more people now call Maricopa County home than they did at the start of the new millennium. The larger population is putting more people in the path of dangerous temperatures.

Phoenix, like many cities across the county, has also seen a growing homeless population since the beginning of the pandemic. Around half of the heat deaths recorded last year were people experiencing homelessness.

Latest counts estimate roughly 6,000 people are living on the streets in Phoenix.

Experts say accurately tracking heat deaths can be a massive challenge, and in many parts of the country heat deaths are likely undercounted as heat-associated deaths are typically left out of the tally.

But in recent years Maricopa County has added heat-associated deaths to its official count.

Heat-associated deaths include those where heat was a secondary, yet still a major factor, such as a heart attack or complications from respiratory illnesses.

This is, in part, why the countys official death count is higher today than it was in the 90's.

Even with this more comprehensive count, deaths caused directly by heat have also increased because of factors like an increased homeless population, longer stretches of heat waves and higher temperatures overnight.

Greg Hess, the Pima County Medical examiner, said there is a higher volume of deaths, ranging from heart attacks to strokes, during hotter months, and some of those can likely be linked to heat upon investigation. Hospitalizations from heart disease, sepsis, and other blood infections also increase during heatwaves, according to ASU. Pima County also began adding heat-associated deaths to its total this year.

We get a lot more unhoused deceased people, or people outside with no air conditioning, who are dead because of drugs or natural disease in July than we do in December. And thats clearly because its hot outside, he said. But its not as easy to wrap your mind around, like an easy-to-diagnose injury.

Heat amplifies underlying diseases, like heart or cardiovascular conditions. The risk for fatal heart attacks may double during heat waves, according to a new study by the American Heart Association.

If somebody shoots themselves in the head, they died from a gunshot wound, and thats pretty easy to get a grip on what killed a person, said Hess. When you talk about heat, its a lot more subtle.

Counting what is known as excess deaths is not a new method and has been used for decades to estimate death tolls for other natural disasters.

For example, if a person drowns from flooding during a hurricane, the official cause of death is listed as drowning. But because the storm is what contributed to the flooding and death, it is added to the entire death toll of that event.

This more accurate count can give federal officials a better understanding of the destruction caused by a weather event, which allows for appropriate funding, disaster declaration, and management.

Housing and heat: More homes mean more heat. Can new building codes help save metro Phoenix from disaster?

Heat islands, heat waves, and nighttime heat

While Phoenix has always been hot, Arizona State University's climate office says there has been a significant change in temperatures starting in the 1970s. It is projected that Phoenix may experience over 100 days per year over 105 degrees by 2040. By contrast, from 1951-2000 Phoenix experienced only about 44 days over 105 degrees.

Globally, the last eight years have been the warmest on record, but this summer is cooking up to be the hottest ever, both in Phoenix and across the world.

With heat events, its not necessarily how hot it gets, but how long it stays hot, said Mosely.

Phoenix tied another record last month, when nighttime lows did not dip below 90 degrees for seven days straight, including one night when the temperature never dropped below 97 degrees. That means when the air would naturally cool off as the sun is tucked away, the city saw no relief, only adding to the extreme heat wave.

Mosely attributes this, in part, to the urban heat island effect. Heat is exacerbated in urban areas as buildings, roads and other infrastructure absorb the suns heat and release it at night, when temperatures would typically begin to cool.

An ASU study found that nighttime temperatures in downtown Phoenix can be 10 to 15 degrees higher compared to nearby rural areas. During a long heat wave in 1974, the overnight averages were about 10 degrees lower than 2023.

If you talk to people who have lived in Phoenix, for 20 or 25 years, theyll tell you it used to cool off at night, but it doesnt cool off anymore, said Mosely. But we can change that, by changing material, green space, and shading.

And while a FEMA disaster declaration could help provide more resources for the county, experts say there are other ways the city can mitigate extreme temperatures by investing in long-term resiliency planning to address the heat island.

Heat island reduction strategies, such as green or cool roofs, cool pavements, or increased vegetation and trees, can all lower urban temperatures.

Cool pavements  which absorb less solar energy, and in the case of permeable pavements, evaporate more water, than traditional materials  can be used for roads and parking lots to help cool urban areas.

Installing cool or green roofs and planting trees and vegetation can help keep buildings and their surroundings cooler. These measures also reduce electricity demand, which helps improve the reliability of the electric system, particularly during heat waves.

Phoenix is the most important climate laboratory that exists, said Mosely. The solutions that Phoenix finds are going to be really important for a lot of people all over the world.

The city has acted in recent years in attempts to minimize the impacts of climate change on public health with plans to reduce its carbon footprint and expand green space.

The city says it is working to revise its tree and shade master plan, which was originally drafted in 2010. The original master plan set a goal of an average 25 percent tree canopy coverage by 2030. According to the American Forests tree equity score, which maps canopy cover across the U.S., Phoenix is significantly below its goal set 13 years ago, with an average of 10 percent canopy cover across the city.

Phoenix is also taking steps like electrifying city buses. Earlier this year city council voted to buy 40 electric and hybrid buses per year over the next five years to reduce the citys carbon footprint.

The citys 2021 Climate Action Plan also includes goals for electric vehicle adoption and charging equipment that could help slow carbon emissions from tailpipes. The city is projecting 50 percent of all vehicle sales in the city will be electric by 2030.

But Phoenixs EV roadmap acknowledges that the city currently does not have the number of EV chargers, nor the supporting infrastructure, to support target numbers of EVs for the public, the citys fleet or workplace users.

Phoenix is ground zero for the solutions that will need to be applied all over the place as temperatures rise, said Mosely. And we have an opportunity to do things to solve a lot of the problems because we need to.

As summer rolls on, officials say more deaths will likely be added to the official death count. That adds urgency, officials say, for FEMA to declare heat as a major disaster to help save lives and change course on the trend of Maricopa County leading the nation in weather-caused deaths.

Jake Frederico covers environment issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to jake.frederico@arizonarepublic.com.

Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Sign up for AZ Climate, our environment newsletter and follow The Republic's environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and @azcenvironment on Facebook, X and Instagram.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona officials say heat should be classified as a natural disaster
Peoria Mayor Rita Ali pleads for peace after multiple shootings over the last two days during a news conference Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at the Peoria Police Department headquarters.

Peoria police Chief Eric Echevarria and Peoria Mayor Rita Ali once again called on parents in the Peoria community to "step up" and take accountability for their children as a wave of gun violence wreaked havoc on the city Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Their calls for parents to take action against the violence come as four juveniles were shot Wednesday night in a mass shooting that injured six, leaving two people critically wounded.

Thursday morning, two more shootings took place, killing two people and injuring another. All of the victims in Thursday morning's shootings were adults.

Echevarria said Wednesday night's shooting on Marquette Street was not related to the two shootings Thursday morning. The Thursday shootings on Antoinette Street and Helen Street were related, however. He would not elaborate how they were related, citing an ongoing investigation.

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More: Logan Dunne went missing from a Peoria hospital. His case is getting national attention

"I plead with our parents that you know where your children are and who they are with. I also ask parents to not contribute to the delinquency of your minors by supporting or encouraging bad behavior," Echevarria said. "We are losing too many young lives, and we need your help."

Echevarria said there are a lot of adults in Peoria who know what is going on with the violence and they need to step up and help the police.

"The adults know what is going on," Echevarria said. "There is no secret out here. There are no secrets in Peoria. I haven't been here a long time, but I know Peoria doesn't have any secrets. Any little thing that anybody does in Peoria, everybody knows about it, it's immediately on Facebook, on social media. People know what's going on, people need to speak up. This 'no snitch' mentality has to stop."

Ali said she wanted to assure the city that these incidents were not "widespread" and have been occurring in specific neighborhoods in Peoria and have been among "targeted groups of individuals."

"The violence that has happened in Peoria's south side last night and today should not reflect on the community members that live there," Ali said. "They, too, are tired of living with the violence."

Ali, who grew up in South Peoria, said this violence is personal for her.

"These acts break the hearts of the people who live there, work there and have chose to have their home there," Ali said. "I am asking for the sake of our families and our community, to put down the guns and stop the shooting."

Peoria 1st District City Council member Denise Jackson urges residents to speak up if they know anything about the recent surge in gun violence in Peoria during a news conference Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at the Peoria Police Department headquarters.

City Councilmember Denise Jackson, whose 1st District encompasses South Peoria, said that "crime is kind of like cancer," in the sense that it will spread around the city unless people address it.

"When you've got one weak link, the entire city tends to be impacted," Jackson said.

Jackson said any young people or parents who need help can find a "plethora" of programs available to them in Peoria.

Peoria's spike in violence is not gang related, police say

Echevarria said the shootings were not gang related, but rather are the result of unorganized groups of people fighting with each other in Peoria.

"The community needs to know that all of these shootings are not gang related, but rather targeted and isolated between groups of individuals having conflict with each other," Echevarria said.

More: Mass shooting leaves 6 injured in Peoria

There is no "hierarchy" among the groups that are combating each other in Peoria right now, Echevarria said.

"There's no rules and protocols and procedures like you would see in a typical gang," Echevarria said. "These are kids or young adults who have these beefs against each other, whether it's something that happened on social media or some old beefs they've had from other times that have been rehashed. ... There is no hierarchy here. This is just disorder from these kids or young adults who don't know how to problem solve other than pulling out a gun and shooting somebody."

Echevarria said there will be a stronger and more visible presence of police officers in South Peoria and the East Bluff neighborhoods where much of the recent violence has been centered. He said the Illinois State Police will assist the Peoria Police Department over Labor Day weekend.

"Police are doing their job, but it's not just their job," Ali said. "This is a job for all of us, and everyone has something within their power to contribute, to make it safer."

More: Peoria restaurants close early, adjust operations due to rash of gun violence

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria IL surge in gun violence not gang related, police chief says
In the wake of Hurricane Idalia, thousands of people are still picking up the pieces of what remains, and 125,000 customers were still without power as of Friday morning.

Whether looking to donate money or items or volunteer time, people can vet charities and organizations using tools such as Charity Navigator, CharityWatch or GuideStar.

Here are several organizations that are offering services to victims of Hurricane Idalia and accepting donations.

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AccuWeather spoke with The American Red Cross live on Aug. 31, learning about the organization's efforts across multiple states following Hurricane Idalia. Spokesperson Evan Peterson told AccuWeather's Geoff Cornish that victims' stories of damage have varied from describing light damage to severe, but said, "We've heard stories from people saying it's a total loss."

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The organization has 10 shelters still open across northern Florida and Georgia, which can be located via a map on its website. The Red Cross recommends bringing prescription medication, extra clothing, bedding, hygiene supplies, important documents and, if needed, items for children such as diapers, formula and toys for those staying in shelter. Pets brought to the shelter may have to be housed in a different location, depending on the situation.

Donors looking to support people affected by Hurricane Ian can donate to The American Red Cross here.

Layne Padgett, 17, felt relief when rescuing his beloved cat, Muffin, after his family's home was flooded by the storm surge caused by Hurricane Idalia in Steinhatchee, Florida. (Scott Dalton/American Red Cross) Layne Padgett, 17, felt relief when rescuing his beloved cat, Muffin, after his familys home was flooded by the storm surge caused by Hurricane Idalia in Steinhatchee, Florida. (Scott Dalton/American Red Cross)

AccuWeather Senior On-Air Meteorologist Geoff Cornish interviewed William Porter, director of Operations Support at Team Rubicon, on the AccuWeather Network on Thursday. Porter explained that they approach disaster relief a little differently, first ensuring that other disaster relief organizations can reach affected areas.

"One of the first things we did was activate our route clearance teams... to open up roadways for first responders and the general population," Porter explained.

Team Rubicon is a veteran-led humanitarian organization that serves global communities before, during and after disasters and crises. Its donation page can be found here.

The mission statement for Habitat for Humanity states, "We believe that safe, reliable shelter provides the foundation from which all of things can begin to reemerge during the relief and rebuilding process." Disaster relief is just one way that Habitat for Humanity helps families.

Through Habitat's Disaster Risk Reduction and Response program, they are able to provide shelter assistance, education, training, and partnerships to affected individuals who find themselves in "unthinkable situations" like many experienced following Idalia's disastrous rampage. Donations can be submitted to Habitat for Humanity at this link.

A press release on World Central Kitchen's (WCK) website states, "Despite slamming into a sparsely populated stretch of Florida's western coast, Hurricane Idalia caused extensive damage in several small communities. WCK's teams spread across western Florida ahead of the storm and began providing sandwiches, fruit, and water and assessing food needs immediately after the storm passed. Our teams have set up operations centers and are working with restaurant and food truck partners to begin distributing warm, nourishing meals as soon as we find pockets of need."

Founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, the organization employs local chefs and volunteers to cook hot meals for people impacted by natural disasters. WCK has served millions of meals, including in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017 and in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

Jewell Baggett stands beside a Christmas decoration she recovered from the wreckage of her mothers home, as she searches for anything salvageable from the trailer home her grandfather had acquired in 1973 and built multiple additions on to over the decades, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., after the passage of Hurricane Idalia, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

The United Way of Florida Disaster Recovery Fund is currently directing donations toward responding to relief following Hurricane Idalia. Any donations intended for a specific location or county can be noted on the donation page.

If you want your donation to feel more personal, GoFundMe has a list of verified GoFundMe fundraisers related to Hurricane Idalia, consisting mainly of individual families looking for help in rebuilding and recovering. The fundraising platform also has a centralized fundraiser associated with each hurricane that will distribute donations directly to verified GoFundMe fundraisers and nonprofits providing aid related to the hurricane. The centralized fundraiser for Hurricane Idalia victims can be found here.

Project HOPE is an organization that works to provide care for evacuees and supports local healthcare systems through recovery, with a focus on older adults, people with disabilities, and people with pre-existing conditions. According to its website, Project HOPE's Emergency Response Team (ERT) arrived within 12 hours of the storm departing the western coast of Florida and delivered an initial procurement of hygiene items including diapers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and other essential items to the nonprofit Palms Medical Group in Live Oak, Florida.

Lorena Torres cleans up debris from Hurricane Idalia at the Faraway Inn, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, in Cedar Key, Fla. Idalia made landfall early Wednesday morning along Florida's panhandle. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies is a disability-led organization that focuses on equity for people with disabilities, older adults, and people with access and functional needs from disaster preparation to recovery response. The organization hosts a hotline that acts as a hub to connect people with the resources available in their area and has a history of partnering with agencies such as FEMA and charities like The American Red Cross.

People with disabilities and older adults are two to four times more likely to die or be seriously injured during a disaster than people without disabilities, according to a 2017 study. The study attributed the disproportionate rate of injury and death to poor planning, inadequate accessibility, and the misconception that people with disabilities and older adults are more vulnerable because of their diagnoses or age.

Red Cross disaster responder Dariana Molina assesses damage caused by Hurricane Idalia in Perry, Florida (Scott Dalton/American Red Cross) Red Cross disaster responder Dariana Molina assesses damage caused by Hurricane Idalia in Perry, Florida (Scott Dalton/American Red Cross)

Consisting of a team of roughly 20 people and local volunteers, the Missouri-based disaster relief organization Convoy of Hope distributed aid in Perry, Florida, as Idalia moved away. Survivors are receiving food, water, and relief supplies that can be difficult to come by in the aftermath of the storm.

The charity often works alongside local churches, which provide volunteers and offer a connection to the impacted communities.

The Virginia-based disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization Mercy Chefs has deployed to Live Oak, Florida, in response to Hurricane Idalia, noting that it has been over 125 years since that local area has seen a major hurricane landfall.

TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA - AUGUST 30: Makatla Ritchter (L) and her mother, Keiphra Line wade through flood waters after having to evacuate their home when the flood waters from Hurricane Idalia inundated it on August 30, 2023 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Hurricane Idalia is hitting the Big Bend area of Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Its website explains, "Our team is fully equipped with our largest mobile kitchen and a fully staffed team ready to serve thousands of hot nutritious meals per day to hurricane victims, search and rescue teams, first responders, and volunteers. Florida feels like family after all the disasters we've responded to, and with your support, we are ready to show them hope in the form of a meal."

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app.AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Weeks before Russias invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation targeting dozens of prominent Russian officials and others for potential sanctions. The Biden administration moved to issue penalties against a number of them.

But two wealthy Russian businessmen who were on the original target list escaped the financial penalties. And the pair shared something in common: Their investment group employed a well-connected D.C. lobbying shop, BGR, which held backchannel conversations with congressional staff about the sanctions green lit through legislation dubbed the Putin Accountability Act.

Among the oligarchs advocates was Daniel Hoffman, a Fox News contributor and former CIA Moscow chief. Hoffman had been publicly critical of Vladimir Putin . But in this instance, Hoffman, a member of BGRs advisory board, went to bat for a Russian businessman whom the E.U. designated one of Vladimir Putins closest oligarchs.

That Russian businessman, Petr Aven , was recently sanctioned by the U.S. in August along with his associate Mikhail Fridman . But the story of their efforts to stave off punishment, which took about 18 months to be levied, is one of classic Washington influence peddling.



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The campaign kicked into gear in early 2022, shortly after the sanctions list was unveiled. Walker Roberts, a BGR lobbyist, reached out to Capitol Hill to ask about the sanctions target list, according to a Hill staffer granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

A second Hill staffer who worked in an office that supported the bill recalled being approached by BGR to discuss the names in the Putin Accountability Act.

BGR had long represented Alfa Bank, Russias largest private bank, and LetterOne, a Luxembourg-based investment firm. Aven had served as the president of Alfa Bank years ago and he co-founded LetterOne.

In an interview, Jeff Birnbaum, a spokesperson for BGR, said the firm terminated its work for Alfa Bank in 2020. He said BGR had been tasked with monitoring and reporting on sanctions bills like the Putin Accountability Act for LetterOne.

When Walker talked to them, he was simply trying to find out how the staffers were deciding the criteria for potential sanctions targets, Birnbaum said. He was not advocating  his job was simply to find out how it was being done and to report to LetterOne.

He said Roberts did not recall mentioning Aven and said LetterOne has separated itself from Aven. Given the facts, Roberts would never claim that Aven did not have a relationship with Putin, Birnbaum added.



Roberts wasnt the only BGR-affiliated influence broker allegedly seeking to shift opinion around Aven. An intermediary connected Hoffman, a contributor on Fox News and a veteran of the CIA, with Hill staff in early 2022 to discuss Russia and the war in Ukraine, according to two of those in attendance. The group met at a townhouse not far from the Capitol.

At the meeting, Hoffman established his authority as an expert on Russia. He emphasized the importance of supporting Ukraine. But into the meeting, he segued to the Putin Accountability Act, according to one of the attendees. Hoffman stressed that people who pitch ideas to Congress cant be trusted, and questioned where the list of potential sanctions targets came from. Specifically, Hoffman wanted to know if anyone had asked to put Aven on the list, according to one of the Hill staffers.

Hoffman argued that Aven was not an ally of Putin  in fact, he said, sanctioning Aven would only strengthen the Russian president  and suggested that those attempting to punish Aven were connected to the Steele dossier, according to one of the Hill staffers.

Aven and Fridman, along with a colleague, sued the firm behind the dossier and its founder because the materials suggested that they were involved in meddling in the 2016 election.



The two attendees realized that the TV talking-head was advocating for an oligarch. The second person recalled Hoffman advocating for a businessman but could not recall the name. Hoffman never registered as a lobbyist for Aven, Alfa Bank, or LetterOne.

Hoffman did not respond to requests for comment. Aven said he was surprised and disappointed by the U.S. sanctions but declined to comment further.

Hoffmans advocacy represents a common Washington phenomenon. Influence brokers sometimes appear on cable news networks, visibility that helps project access and influence.

Hoffman became a Fox News contributor and joined the board of BGR in 2018.

Its not the first time Hoffmans name has appeared close to Avens. Dexter Filkins of The New Yorker reported in 2020 that Hoffman had requested to be connected with a source of his, whose group had reportedly found that servers owned by Alfa Bank looked up a Trump Organization-connected server. Filkins wrote that Hoffman said it was for a news story.

BGR, which terminated its relationship with Alfa Bank in late 2020, has continued to represent LetterOne. Aven and his associate Mikhail Fridman stepped down from the board of LetterOne in 2022 after sanctions from the European Union.

The EU called Aven one of Vladimir Putins closest oligarchs and said he met regularly with Putin. The EU said Aven, then Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, helped Putin, then deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, with a corruption investigation in the 1990s. Putin offered political help for Avens loyalty, the E.U. asserted. Aven has sought to challenge the sanctions.

[H]e actively supported materially or financially and benefited from Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of Ukraine, the sanctions document states of Aven. He also supported actions or policies which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

Roberts has continued to lobby for the company and reported lobbying for LetterOne shortly before and after the war in Ukraine began.

Aven was also sanctioned by the United Kingdom not long after the war broke out. He has been reportedly under investigation for violating sanctions.

Despite its Western peers issuing tough penalties on Aven, the U.S. did not follow suit until August.

The staffer's assertion that Hoffman mentioned the Steele dossier is notable because Aven and other associates had sued Fusion GPS and the firms founder over the materials that included alleged information about Donald Trumps ties to Russia. They ultimately dropped that lawsuit after Russia invaded Ukraine.



However, filings from that lawsuit also revealed how BGR acted on behalf of Aven and Fridman to improve their reputations. Their entities relationship with the firm dates back to around the 90s, and BGR helped set up meetings for them with U.S. officials as part of an effort intended  at least in part  to yield a positive reputation.

In 2008, a lobbyist there came with Aven and Fridman to a meeting with then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

They provided consultancy services with respect to various matters in the United States of America because we  while we lived in the Soviet Union, we didnt know the first thing about how things worked in the U.S., Aven said about BGRs work for his companies during a 2020 deposition. They did some introductions in the U.S. administration and the Senate and the House.

Fridman, in his deposition, was asked if he knew Hoffman, to which he responded yes. He was questioned whether Hoffman was paid to publish critical op-eds about the Steele dossier, to which he responded Fridman did not pay him. Although Fridman did not recall any contact between Alfa or LetterOne with Hoffman, Fridman knew Hoffman was on BGRs advisory board.
Russian-imposed authorities in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories have been refusing to allow high school students who do not hold Russian passports to attend classes.

Source: National Resistance Center

Quote: "In a number of settlements in the temporarily occupied territories, there are cases of high school students who did not obtain a Russian passport being temporarily refused admittance to schools run by the occupation authorities."

Details: Schools in Kherson Oblast handed over lists of the students who do not hold Russian passports to the local occupation authorities. The students now have 10 days to "rectify the situation". Only then will they be allowed to take part in lessons.

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In addition, the Russians in the occupied territory issued school stationery only to those children whose parents have Russian citizenship.



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 hikers called for help from a Montana mountain after running out of food and water, rescuers said.

The hikers called rescuers at 9:36 p.m. on Aug. 31 from near Baldy Mountain in the Bridger Range, according to the Gallatin County Sheriff Search and Rescue.

Initially, they started their trek at Fairy Lake until one hiker became extremely exhausted, deputies said.

With no food, water or daylight, deputies said the hikers called for help.

Rescuers reached the pair by foot and helped one of the hikers who was treated for exhaustion and cold exposure, deputies said.

A helicopter couldnt airlift them off the mountain that night because of the weather.

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Instead, rescuers helped the hikers down the mountain throughout the night until they could be airlifted when the sun rose, deputies said.

Having enough gear to spend the night if necessary, as well as appropriate gear for the conditions and a way to communicate can greatly increase your chances when things go bad, deputies said in the Sept. 1 Facebook post.

Fairy Lake is about is about 30 miles north of Bozeman.

How to be prepared while hiking

If youre planning to hike, the National Park Service says there are 10 essentials you should take:

Navigation: Pack a map, compass and a GPS system. Make sure you study your route beforehand and understand how to use the tools.

Sun protection: Sunglasses, sunscreen and a hat can help protect your skin and eyes from UV rays.

Insulation: A jacket, hat, gloves, raincoat and thermal underwear can help you be prepared for rapidly changing weather conditions.

Illumination: A flashlight, lantern and headlamp can create light if you get stuck in the dark  and dont forget to pack extra batteries.

First-aid supplies: Its a good idea to have a first-aid kit on hand while hiking. Check the expiration date on items before you pack them.

Fire: Matches and a lighter can help start fire to act as an emergency signal in times of need.

Repair kit and tools: Duct tape, a knife, screwdriver and scissors can be helpful if items break during your hike or you need assistance.

Nutrition: You should pack an extra days worth of food in case something goes wrong. Park officials recommend having salty and easy to digest snacks.

Hydration: You should drink water often and before you feel thirsty if youre hiking in hot weather. Keeping your body hydrated is of utmost importance, park officials said.

Emergency shelter: Packing a tent, space blanket, tarp and bivy can help you be prepared if severe weather breaks out or your plan takes a turn.

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(KTLA)  September 15th marks the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month, a 30-day period honoring the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture and achievements of the United States.

But why isnt the celebration contained in a calendar month? The answer isnt all that complicated.

The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on Sept. 15 and ending on Oct. 15. It was enacted into law on Aug. 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100-402, according to the Library of Congress.

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The 15th is a highly significant date, because it marks the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, according to a federal website devoted to the topic. Mexico and Chile also celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively. Extending into October allows the celebration to extend and cover Day or Dia de la Raza, a recognition of Christopher Columbus arrival in the hemisphere, which is marked on October 12.

Over time, the month has given rise to a number of celebrations and events across the country to recognize the cultures and contributions of Hispanic Americans.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
More than 100,000 local residents in east China's Fujian Province and over 780,000 in south China's Guangdong have been evacuated ahead of the likely landfall of the super typhoon Saola, according to the latest official figures.

From 6 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday, 92 townships in 18 county-level regions of Fujian each reported accumulated precipitation of over 50 mm, among which 17 townships saw the precipitation level exceeded 100 mm.

The maximum precipitation was registered in Yongning Township of Shishi City at up to 150.7 mm. The city's Jinshang Township saw a maximum hourly rainfall of 81.8 mm.

The provincial hydrography bureau of Guangdong has estimated that from Friday to Sunday, the Pearl River's estuary and some tide-gauge stations to its east are likely to see the water exceeding warning levels.

Meanwhile, there is a likelihood that some rivers in the central and southern regions of Guangdong may experience flooding due to the heavy rainfall brought about by the typhoon, the bureau added. The possibility of mountain torrents in the affected areas is also high.

According to the forecast of the meteorological, hydrological and marine departments, the super typhoon is expected to make landfall in or near the city of Shenzhen, Guangdong, on Friday night, causing severe rainstorms and gales from Friday afternoon.

The flood, drought and typhoon control headquarters in Shenzhen has ordered the suspension of construction, business operations and commercial activities from 4 p.m. and of public transportation from 7 p.m. Schools have been suspended since Thursday afternoon in Shenzhen.

Authorities in the affected coastal provinces have taken timely measures to ensure the safety of the locals.

As of Friday, primary schools, middle schools and kindergartens in 13 cities of Guangdong have been asked to push back the start of the new semester to Sept. 4 due to the approaching super typhoon Saola, according to the provincial flood, drought and typhoon control headquarters.

In the entire Guangdong Province, over 4,100 trains have come to a halt since 4 p.m. Thursday and 67 waterway passenger traffic routes have suspended their services as of 10 p.m. Thursday.

On Thursday, Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport canceled 60 flights, while another airport in Guangdong, Huizhou Pingtan Airport, plans to cancel 21 flights on Friday.

Nearly 85,000 fishery vessels in Guangdong have returned to their harbors, and 82 coastal resorts have been temporarily closed.

As of 9 p.m. Thursday, nearly 3,880 fishing boats had all returned to port for shelter in Fujian, with more than 25,000 people aboard having gone ashore. Over 27,000 workers in the coastal aquaculture sector of the province have been evacuated to the shore, said the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

A total of 115 scenic areas across Fujian have been temporarily shut down, 314 under-construction projects halted, and 67 port companies closed temporarily, according to the requirements of local authorities.

As of 7 p.m. Thursday, approximately 64,000 rescue and repair personnel were placed on standby in seven cities across Guangdong to mitigate potential dangers posed by the typhoon.

In Fujian, multiple road and waterway passenger traffic services, including ferry services between its coastal islands, have suspended operation. Currently, more than 60,000 rescue personnel are on standby across the province.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Thursday acknowledged that he took three trips aboard Republican megadonor Harlan Crow 's private plane last year as he rejected widespread criticism of his failure to report trips on his annual financial disclosures in previous years, the Associated Press reports.

One of Thomas' trips he was to Crow's lodge in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, while the others were to Dallas, where he spoke at conferences sponsored by the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

This year's disclosures mark the first time Thomas has reported receiving any gifts or hospitality from Crow. According to the filing, the justice said he was following new guidelines from the federal judiciary for reporting travel but omitted earlier travel Crow funded, including a 2019 trip to Indonesia on the GOP benefactor's yacht.

The financial report comes amid intensified focus on the ethics of the Supreme Court and fervent calls from legislators seeking to impose an ethics code on the justices. The mistrust of the highest court stems from a series of reports from ProPublica earlier this year revealing that Thomas has failed to disclose decades' worth of luxury travel from Crow.

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The billionaire also purchased the Georgia house where Thomas' mother resides and footed the bill for two years of private school tuition for the justice's great nephew, who he and his wife, Ginni Thomas , raised.

"After years of non reporting and an extension this year, Justice Thomas provides some basic information the public deserved to know long ago, adding a defense that he had 'adhered to the then existing judicial regulations,'" former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

After years of non reporting and an extension this year, Justice Thomas provides some basic information the public deserved to know long ago, adding a defense that he had adhered to the then existing judicial regulations."https://t.co/oJr6O9ZDAj  Harry Litman (@harrylitman) August 31, 2023

The annual financial reports for Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, who ProPublica also revealed failed to disclose a private trip he took to Alaska in 2008 that was funded by two Republican donors, were released nearly three months after those of the other seven justices. The two conservative justices were granted 90-day extensions.

In the newly released forms, Thomas also acknowledges that he "inadvertently omitted" financial information from previous reports, including a life insurance policy for his wife valued at less than $100,000 and combined bank account balances at the Federal Credit Union worth $100,000 to $250,000.

He amended the reports for 2017 through 2019 in the filing as a result, also recognizing that he "inadvertently failed to realize" that his 2014 real estate dealings with Crow  in which the billionaire purchased two other properties from the Thomas' in addition to his mother's home  constituted a new reportable transaction even though it resulted in a capital loss.

"By amending his prior reports, Justice Thomas is necessarily conceding that he made mistakesand that the press scrutiny mattered," Steve Vladeck, the Wright Chair in Federal Courts at University of Texas Law, tweeted. "Whether you think his mistakes were malicious or negligent may well depend on your priors, but let's not overlook that they're mistakes *either way.*"

By amending his prior reports, Justice Thomas is necessarily conceding that he made mistakesand that the press scrutiny mattered. Whether you think his mistakes were malicious or negligent may well depend on your priors, but lets not overlook that theyre mistakes *either way.*  Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) August 31, 2023

Thomas noted that he is considering whether to amend reports from years prior. A lawyer representing the justice, Elliot Berke, released a statement defending Thomas' conduct and blasting his critics.

"The attacks on Justice Thomas are nothing less than ridiculous and dangerous, and they set a terrible precedent for political blood sport through federal ethics filings," Berke said. "Justice Thomas's amended report answers  and utterly refutes the charges trumped up in this partisan feeding frenzy."

Though Supreme Court justices do not have a binding code of ethics and have rejected the notion that they need to adopt one or have one imposed, the Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee approved an ethics code for the high court on a party-line vote in July. The legislation, however, has a slim chance of passing the Senate as it would need at least nine GOP votes, and Republicans have strongly opposed it.

Legal experts, however, pushed back against Thomas' defense of his omissions in the filing, telling the AP that the expectation of reporting travel on private planes has been clear to them for years.

"You report the free trips on the jets, the private jets, if you take them. I don't get this idea that, 'Gee, the rules changed on us.' That's just a lot of hogwash," Richard Painter, the White House's chief ethics lawyer at the time Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts were nominated to the Supreme Court, told the outlet.

Eric Segall, the Ashe Professor of Law at Georgia State University, also pointed out on X that Thomas "made amends before for failing to report Ginny's income."

He made amends before for failing to report Ginnys income. This is the second time. https://t.co/HL9LHhxY1B  Eric Segall (@espinsegall) August 31, 2023

"I think that the Thomas report and the Alito report, even more so, are too little too late," former White House ethics Czar Norm Eisen told CNN Thursday afternoon, acknowledging Thomas' disclosures and the older amendments.

"But there are many more trips  luxury travel, yacht trips, visits to Crow's properties, payment of a family member's tuition  those are not disclosed in here," Eisen continued, echoing other experts assertions that it was clear Thomas was required to disclose the travel years ago and criticizing Alito's "much skimpier" disclosure form for not discussing a luxury fishing trip he took years ago that's been scrutinized.

"It does speak to the issue that Boris was asking Joan about: How is it possible that we do not have a code of ethics that is binding upon the highest court in the land?" he added, referring to anchor Boris Sanchez and legal analyst Joan Biskupic.

"Not only would I have required anything like this to be disclosed, I wouldn't have allowed it in the first place," Eisen concluded, evoking his time working on ethics in the White House. "Harlan Crow has had a case with interest before the court, and he has ideological interest as a prominent conservative. So there is an ethics crisis at the court."

Justices Thomas & Alito released add'l financial disclosures today



But it's too little too late& doesn't help the ethics crisis at SCOTUS



I explained @CNN @NewsCentralCNN w/ @Boris_Sanchez @RahelSolomonCNN @JoanBiskupic pic.twitter.com/gY3k71VMEb  Norm Eisen (norm.eisen on Threads) (@NormEisen) August 31, 2023
The Home Depot Foundation announced theyd be committing $250,000 to support disaster relief and recovery efforts for communities hit by Hurricane Idalia.

According to the foundation, it brings their overall disaster relief commitments to more than $6 million in 2023.

Working with their nonprofit partners, the Home Depot Foundation said theyd be supporting communities in counties from Georgia and Florida, distributing relief supplies, meals, and more.

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

The Home Depot Foundation said they were working with Convoy of Hope and Operation Blessing to ship truckloads of materials, including disaster relief kits, to multiple communities.

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Additionally, World Central Kitchen is working to provide meals to those in need, and the American Red Cross is helping shelter those who have homes damaged or destroyed by the storm.

Team Rubicon and Inspiritus are also assisting, working to clear trees and debris from roadways and neighborhoods while storm damage assessments are underway, according to the foundation.

TRENDING STORIES:

While multiple nonprofits are helping with activities for relief and recovery, the Home Depot Foundation and the company arent sitting it out.

Home Depot activated its Hurricane Command Center for the first time in the 2023 season to give support. The foundation said more than 150 Home Depot employees are working to provide goods and logistics to stores in Florida, including directly to Naval Air Station Pensacola.

The hurricane recovery effort with the command center has reportedly sent 200 trucks with emergency relief products, including generators, water bottles, tarps, plywood, batteries, and flashlights, to those in the path of the storm.

According to the foundation, the Home Depots associate volunteer force has donated thousands of dollars of supplies to local first responders and government agencies, and associates were brought in from areas outside of the affected communities to help in stores impacted by Idalia.

Our thoughts are with all the communities that have been impacted by Hurricane Idalia, Shannon Gerber, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation, said. The Foundation and Team Depot are working alongside our national disaster relief partners as well as local nonprofit organizations to determine immediate needs and assist the people and areas impacted by this storm.

The companys Home Fund is also providing financial assistance to employees affected by the storm, aimed at helping them find safe housing, food, and clothes while theyre displaced.

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The City of Beech Grove unveiled Indiana's 104th Safe Haven Baby Box at Beech Grove EMS, 1202 Albany St., which allows mothers to anonymously surrender a newborn infant without fear of arrest or prosecution thanks to the state's Safe Haven Law.

According to the law, healthy infants under 30 days of age can be surrendered to first responders. No information is required from the person who leaves the baby. The Indiana Department of Child Services will take the infant into custody after a medical examination and place the child with a caregiver.

"We're glad to have the box here," said Robert Cheshire, City of Beech Grove EMS Director. "This gives more options to people living on the southeast side of the city."

The nearest baby box outside of Beech Grove, Cheshire said, is more than 10 miles away in Decatur Township. Other baby boxes can be found at fire stations in Wayne Township and Carmel.

Baby boxes: What happens when a mother surrenders an infant?

At Beech Grove EMS, there are no cameras to record a mother who surrenders her infant, officials explained. The baby box has three silent alarms alerting first responders that an infant has been surrendered. The boxes are climate-controlled to ensure the child's safety.

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After a mother places an infant inside the baby box, the doors lock. Within five minutes, the baby will be attended to and taken to a hospital for evaluation.

A look inside Indiana's 104th "Baby Box" installed at Beech Grove EMS, 1202 Albany Street, which allows mothers in crisis to anonymously surrender a newborn infant without fear of arrest or prosecution thanks to the state's Safe Haven Law.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes was founded in 2016 by Monica Kelsey who learned in adulthood she was abandoned as an infant, a news release stated. The organization provides free confidential counseling to mothers at their hotline: 1-866-99BABY1.

Our home state of Indiana has proved that safe anonymous surrender can change lives and end abandonment," Kelsey said in a news release. "Welcome, Beech Grove, to the communities leading the charge at protecting vulnerable members of their community.

'Love, Mike Epps': Indianapolis students receive shoes, school supplies with actor's help

Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley said installing a Safe Haven Baby Box in the city has been in the works for years, but finally became a reality thanks to funds from the American Rescue Plan.

"I'm happy we have it," Buckley said. "I hope it's not used, but if it is used maybe it will give someone a second chance at life."

A news release stated that 14 surrenders have occurred at Safe Haven Baby Boxes so far in 2023.

Where are baby boxes located?

As of September 2023, Safe Haven Baby Boxes are available in Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri and Mississippi.

A full list of Indiana's Safe Haven baby boxes can be found online at shbb.org.

Indiana's 104th "Baby Box" was installed at Beech Grove EMS, 1202 Albany Street, which allows mothers in crisis to anonymously surrender a newborn infant without fear of arrest or prosecution thanks to the state's Safe Haven Law. Aug. 31, 2023

Safe haven baby boxes: What to know about surrendering infants in Indiana

John Tufts covers evening breaking and trending news for the Indianapolis Star. Send him a news tip at JTufts@Gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Beech Grove installs Safe Haven Baby Box for mothers in crisis
Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher said former President Donald Trump is too old to be the GOP's nominee. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; James Devaney/GC Images

Rep. Mike Gallagher said Trump is simply too old to be the GOP's presidential nominee.

Gallagher, who is 39, told a Milwaukee TV station that he has "a no-boomer policy right now."

Trump, 77, was previously the oldest person to become president until Biden surpassed him.

Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher made clear that he won't support former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary, arguing that his party's frontrunner is simply too old for the job.

"You know, obviously, I prefer someone younger to be the nominee," Gallagher, who represents Wisconsin, told WISN 12 NEWS, a local Milwaukee TV station.

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Gallagher, who leads the powerful select committee on China, added that he has a hard generational line that Trump doesn't pass.

"I have a no-boomer policy right now," Gallagher, 39, said. "No boomers for nominee."

Trump, who is 77, was born right at the beginning of the "Baby Boom" generation in June 1946. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis , Trump's currently best-positioned challenger, is 44. There's not an exact science to generational lines, but DeSantis would be considered part of Generation X.

As Insider previously reported, while there is some debate about former President Barack Obama's status, an argument could be made that the US has never had a Generation X president. At just 38 years old, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who was the focus of the first debate, would be the nation's first millennial president.

Gallagher said he "intend[s] to support the nominee" when repeatedly pressed on what he would do if Trump reclaims the title.

"So, we'll see where it goes with the nomination. I want to see that we have the strongest candidate, but I intend to support the nominee."

Gallagher has previously criticized Trump on multiple occasions, including after the January 6 Capitol riot. Viewed as a rising star, Gallagher flirted with running against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin as she seeks reelection in a closely-watched race next November. Gallagher ultimately decided to stay in the House, citing the need to focus on his China committee work.

When asked what he would do if Trump won the nomination, Gallagher would only say "I intend to support the nominee." He also made it clear he wouldn't vote for Biden. Interestingly, Gallagher's no-boomer policy would have a loophole if applied to the current president.

Biden, who at 80 is the oldest president in history, is actually a member of the Silent Generation.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Signage for Humana Inc. is pictured at a health facility in Queens, New York City

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) -Humana on Friday sued the U.S. government to block a Biden administration policy allowing Medicare to claw back billions of dollars from insurers for overcharges.

The lawsuit in federal court said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services "did not even try" to justify its more aggressive approach toward determining whether private Medicare Advantage plans for people aged 65 and older were overpaid.

Humana objected to a rule announced on Jan. 30 to let the government recoup payments when audits uncover charges for diagnoses that are not in patients' medical records.

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The insurer said the rule, which would apply retroactively, was "arbitrary and capricious," and threatened "unpredictable consequences for Medicare Advantage organizations and the millions of seniors who rely on the Medicare Advantage program for their healthcare."

Close to half of the approximately 65 million Medicare enrollees sign up for Medicare Advantage.

The Biden administration has said the crackdown could help the government collect as much as $4.7 billion over 10 years.

CMS, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email it does not discuss pending litigation.

Medicare Advantage plans differ from traditional Medicare because private companies offer them, and are reimbursed by the government for care.

Congress authorized the plans in 2003 as a means to encourage better healthcare at lower cost.

In announcing the rule, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra called it "long overdue," citing federal watchdogs and outside experts who for many years had lamented Medicare's failure to crack down on overcharging.

The rule relates to a system of "risk adjustment" in which, for example, payments would be lower for healthier patients who might be expected to incur lower medical bills.

But Humana said CMS had more than a decade ago rejected the documentation standards required under the rule, and its "about-face" was unfair to insurers that relied on its prior practices.

Though Humana is based in Louisville, Kentucky, it filed its lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas.

That court has in recent years been sympathetic toward some challenges to federal rulemaking.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, a Fort Worth judge who previously declared unconstitutional all or part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The case is Humana Inc et al v Becerra et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, No. 23-00909.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Chang)
This story has been edited to accurately reflect the details of Eliza Fletcher s abduction.

**

MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Hundreds of runners gathered Friday to Finish Lizas Run for the second year in honor of Eliza Fletcher, a teacher kidnapped and killed last September during her morning running routine.

The latest on the abduction and murder of Memphis jogger and teacher Eliza Fletcher

The wife and mother loved to run, and she left her home on September 2 like every day, to do what kept her happy. Unfortunately, she couldnt finish because Cleotha Abston-Henderson would allegedly take and kill her.

The community came together to finish what she started and honor her life and legacy.

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They also wanted to spotlight the importance of women being able to safely run no matter the time of day without the fear of being abducted.

The run began at 4:20 a.m., which is the same time Fletcher was reportedly taken.

Runners will do an 8.2-mile course starting at Central Avenue and South Belvedere Boulevard and running east on Central to Zach Curlin Street.

This years organizers are Charlie Hayden and Beth Garrison.

As runners, we dont like to leave things undone. And it just felt like this was something quiet and private that we could do, Garrison said. And it started out that way. Its just a few of us getting together and finishing this run and supporting each other and, you know, doing something in her memory. And it just kind of blossomed and grew from that.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
After the tumult of Hurricane Idalia had waned in Florida, meteorologist Craig Setzer decided to have a bit of fun on social media and depict Hurricane Franklin as a ravenous Pac-Man about to devour a hapless Tropical Storm Jose.

In a bit of meteorological curiosity, big Hurricane Franklin moving northeast in the Atlantic, and small newly formed Tropical Storm Jose are about to meet, Setzer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. In what is similar to atmospheric Pac-Man, Franklin will gobble up (absorb) Jose in a few days.

Does Setzers Pac-man depiction mean Franklin gains hurricane points and super-sizes into some sort of superstorm after digesting Jose? Not quite. Some of it depends on the geometry of their collision. For the Atlantic this is rare, Setzer said.

In its 11 a.m. Friday advisory, the National Hurricane Center said it expects the absorption to happen. Jose is expected to become absorbed by Franklin tonight or early Saturday, it said.

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There are three things that can happen.

If the storms are relatively equal in size, something called the Fujiwhara Effect can occur, meaning the storms dance around each other in a do-si-do. The second possibility is called the satellite effect where the smaller storm rotates around the larger storm. Setzer said that if Jose crosses in front of Franklin, it could get sling-shotted around and not absorbed.

But the more likely possibility, he said, is called absorption, where the bigger storm just overwhelms the small storm.

Given the geometry of Franklin and Joses eventual collision, the dirty side of Franklin will be spinning in direct opposition to the clean weaker side of Jose and obliterate it.

It may enhance the side of Franklin a little bit, but after about 12 hours you just dont see it anymore. Its like, wow, the big storm just ate it up.  Franklin is a big bully in the Atlantic.

If Franklin gobbles Jose up, it could get an injection of hot moist tropical air, which would actually thermodynamically strengthen Franklin.

As for what inspired the post, Setzer wrote on X, I figure we need a moment of levity. Hurricane season is serious stuff, find the rays of sunshine when you can.

Some Pac-Man fanatics quickly pointed out to Setzer that his ghost was the wrong color  when Pac-Man eats a power pellet, giving him the ability to eat the ghosts, the ghosts turn blue.

Some people said to me, youve got a red ghost, you need a blue ghost. Im like, you know what, all of you literal people, take a chill.
Huge trees and branches line the streets of Valdosta, 70 miles north of Apalachee Bay, Florida.

Homeowners assess damage 24 hours after the storm went through, gathering debris. Traffic lights are black and restaurants are closed without any power.

Chainsaws, generators, and heavy-moving equipment are like gold if you can get your hands on them.

Hurricane Idalia briefly became a Category 4 storm in Apalachee Bay before making landfall in the coastal towns of Floridas Big Bend. The hurricane intensified rapidly, becoming a larger storm with higher winds that spread damage deeper inland to unexpecting south Georgians.

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All we got was a hurricane advisory early that morning, Valdosta resident Daniel Shahan, who lives on Gornto Road near Baytree Road, told McClatchy.

When Shahan woke up on Wednesday morning at 5 to light rain, he did not foresee six hours later that hurricane-force winds would rip half a dozen trees in his front and back yards from the ground.

The Valdosta airport recorded gusts of 67 mph at 10 a.m., according to Lowndes County Emergency Management.

Three of the trees broke through the roof of Shahans house.

It was like boom, boom, boom! Shahan said. My wife screamed and I grabbed our two hound dogs and ran for cover.

The first tree fell when the eye of Idalia hit Apalachee Bay. He assumed the worst was over.

I look at my phone and the eye is here, he said. What the hell happened?

Idalias aftermath and the cost

Daniel Shahan stands in his front yard along Gornto Road in Valdosta Thursday after Hurricane Idalia left widespread damage in south Georgia.

Shahan was using his truck to power a fan to keep his dogs cool during the 90-degree Thursday afternoon, while balancing quotes from tree removal service companies.

This guy offered $10,000 for everything, he said and pointed to the man standing in his driveway. Thats the cheapest yet. The first guy that came by this morning wanted $40,000.

Shahan has no home insurance and is looking for work as a contracted garage door labor man.

With no home insurance Shahan is likely going to set up a GoFundMe to help with costs.

There are several trees in Shahans backyard that tore down transmission lines. His yard is a mess.

All of the power my neighbors need is going straight into my backyard, he told McClatchy, chuckling.

That was really scary because I thought the tree could catch on fire.

Looking down Gortro Road, the damage is the same: trees in roofs, transmission lines down, in the streets, and white trucks beginning repair. As of Thursday morning, 230,000 residents throughout Southern Georgia were without power, according to Georgia Power.

Downed power lines and trees lie at the corner of Hwy. 122 and Hagan Bridge Road in Hahira Thursday after Hurricane Idalia stormed through the area Wednesday.

Down in Apalachee Bay, where Idalias most severe winds and rain came through, some residents evacuated and some stayed. Rob Olin, 70, an oyster farmer who evacuated, returned to a largely undamaged house. He was lucky.

The storm ended up taking a hard right turn about 35 miles south of us, he said. The damage was far worse there.

Olin has lived in Apalachee Bay for 25 years. He grows oysters in his man-made aqua-culture field in the bay. Native oyster farming no longer exists in the bay due to a myriad of factors, including warmer ocean temperatures. The warmer ocean temperatures are brought on by absorbing heat from climate change.

Olin decided to evacuate a few hours after he heard murmurs of the hurricane reaching Category 2, 3 or even 4 on Tuesday morning.

At 10 a.m., we made the decision to evacuate once they said it was a Cat-2 or 3, Olin said. At noon we were gone.

Olin and his wife stayed at a motor lodge in Tallahassee, where there they lost power at one point. They returned Thursday morning to his oyster farm, Estuary Oysters, a tangled mess.

Our oyster cages are all entangled  it looks like a feral cat got into a ball of yarn, Olin said.

He estimates it could take weeks to reorganize the cages of oysters that are very heavy and all of the nylon string attached to them.

His oysters end up on plates in seafood restaurants all over the country. Olin suggests that the work he is doing is helping to restore the bay as oysters are the bees of the seas and the original eco-engineers that filter water and create oyster bars that help storm surges during hurricanes.

There have been a lot more storms like this in the past five yearsa lot more, he said. When I saw this system start to develop in the Yucatan my mind immediately went to Hurricane Michael from 2018.

Olin drew a good comparison. Like Idalia, Hurricane Michael also underwent rapid intensification. In fewer than 48-hours it went from Category 1 to Category 4 and headed straight for Olins home.

Warm ocean temperatures fueled Idalia

Rapid intensification used to be rare.

We have seen it more and more and its now becoming part of our common language in the science community, Professor Gabriel Vecchi of Geosciences at Princeton said. Its likelihood has doubled in the last 40 years.

There are a handful of factors that contribute to rapid intensification including wind shear, cold upper atmosphere, humidity and warmer ocean surface. The ocean temperatures are well above the average baseline of 1971-2000.

For Idalia, the ingredients were all there, Vecchi said.

From 1980-2021, 170 landfalling Atlantic tropical cyclones experienced rapid intensification above the 30 kt threshold, according to Climate Central.

Cary Mock teaches climatology and hurricane classes at the University of South Carolina in the geography department and suggests the very warm surfaces go well beyond 100 feet deep and help with rapid intensification.

The last six years have been very frequent with rapid intensification, he said. Major hurricanes are getting stronger and wetter. Places like Valdosta were not as prone to big flooding [previously].

In 2006, scientists examined tree rings in Valdsota, to understand when major hurricanes came through, using isotopes. The isotope data from the study suggests that hurricane water was high in 1846. Mock suggests Valdosta has not experienced anything like Idalia since the 19th century.

Technically what happened in Idalia isnt unprecedented because it happened before, he said.

The effect that rapid intensification means less time to prepare.

People usually need 2-3 days for a major hurricane, and this hurricane changed rapidly in 24 hours, that is too short to prepare, Mock said.

NOAA made a new model for analysis and forecasting hurricanes that includes rapid intensification analysis within the model. Mock suggests this is the first year of operation for the Hurricane Analysis Forecasting System (HAFS) model and it was used for Idalia.

The HAFS will be our future, he said. Its what I teach my students about in class now.

Of the 56 tropical cyclones that have caused at least $1 billion in damage in the U.S. from 1980-2021, 73% underwent rapid intensification, according to Climate Central.

Valdosta sees rapid recovery

Electrical crews work to restore power along Jerry Jones Drive in Valdosta Thursday. Thousands of city residents were still without power Friday.

Even with the new models and predictions, Valdosta residents are inexperienced to hurricanes coming this far inland. But, the Red Cross was prepared.

The Red Cross had makeshift shelters ready throughout Valdosta up to Columbus for evacuees from Florida and local residents.

We had over 5,000 people in 100 shelters in the community (including nonRed Cross affiliated shelters), Susan Everitt, executive director of the American Red Cross of East Central Georgia, said.They can come here and have a meal, have a cool place to stay, and spend the night if they need to.

The Park Methodist church in Valdosta received dozens of visitors and eventually switched to a baptist church 15 miles north in Hahire due to capacity needs. Thursday evening 60 people stayed in the Red Cross shelter there.

During the day, T-Mobile gave out smartphones with 4G internet, unlimited text and calls, for 30-days to people affected by the disaster. They were just outside of Bethany Baptist Church.

We started this program two years ago, Monika Thornton, T-Mobile Disaster deployment employee, said. We work with the Red Cross to find people impacted by the hurricane.

Thornton said they gave out 35 phones Thursday.

Red Cross volunteers estimate they will be hosting at the church until at least Sept. 11.

Georgia Power has been busy with now only 16,000 customers without power, restoring electricity to 93% of customers in the last 24 hours with the help of Alabama Power and Mississippi Power companies.

Were not even in the meat of hurricane season yet, Vecchi said. Hurricane core season is September and October and can extend into January.

Scores of homes near the core of Valdosta were damaged by large trees felled by Hurricane Idalia. That meant gridlock as residents, tree removal companies and utility workers jostled to all do the jobs they needed to do.
CEDAR KEY, Fla.  It was the hottest rental cottage at the Faraway Inn because it was right on the Gulf of Mexico and the sunsets were spectacular.

But when the owner returned to her little paradise on Cedar Key on Thursday, the cottage was gone.

"This is one of our cottages, Cottage 1, one of the most popular ones because it was closer to the water and people could see the water," Amy Firestine told NBC News, pointing at a handful of bricks scattered near the shoreline. "It is no longer there."

We didnt expect damage like this, Firestine said.

The Faraway Inn in Cedar Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Idalia. (Guad Venegas / NBC News)

Faraway Inn in Cedar Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Idalia. (Guad Venegas / NBC News)

Firestine and hundreds of other Cedar Key residents were forced to evacuate when Hurricane Idalia barreled ashore Wednesday morning in the sparsely populated Big Bend region of the Sunshine State, before continuing on through southern Georgia and the Carolinas.

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With now Idalia in the Atlantic Ocean, residents across those states spent Thursday picking up the pieces, but Florida bore the brunt of the damage.

The extent of Idalia's destruction was clearly visible in the communities that felt the storms wrath first, like the Florida fishing village of Steinhatchee, which is about 200 miles north of Tampa.

There, just about every building in town appeared to have suffered some damage and there were several empty lots where homes once stood.

Richard Carmichael, who is 79 and has lived in Steinhatchee his entire life, fled inland and stayed with friends until the storm passed. When he returned, there was 5 feet of water in his house and all his furniture was destroyed.

A brown line shows high the water rose in Richard Carmichael's house in Steinhatchee, Fla. (Minyvonne Burke / NBC News)

I thought I was prepared, but I didnt put the stuff up high enough, Carmichael said, surveying the wreckage. What I have to do is take all this stuff and dump it.

Still, Carmichael was counting his blessings and making plans to move back in.

Im going to leave this empty down here so I wont have to go through this again, he said. Im going to live on the second floor.

Richard Carmichael's house in Steinhatchee, Fla. (Minyvonne Burke / NBC News)

Jessup Evans, 18, who was born and raised in Steinhatchee, was more fortunate, returning home Thursday to a home that appeared to have suffered just minimal damage. The same could not be said for many of his neighbors.

Its sad, just very sad, Evans said before he set off to help them clean up what was left of their homes.

After Idalia barreled through Florida, it continued in a northeasterly direction through southern Georgia and the Carolinas before heading out into the Atlantic. So far, three deaths have been attributed to the storm  two in Florida and one in Georgia, officials have said.

By the time Idalia reached Charleston, South Carolina, it had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone. But it was still packing 40 mph winds when it barged into the historic city around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, right around high tide.

On Thursday morning, a major cleanup was underway in Charleston after Idalia churned up an epic storm surge  with high tide cresting at over 9 feet  that sent water cascading over the Battery seawall.

A runner avoids storm debris left from Tropical Storm Idalia in Charleston, S.C. on Aug. 31, 2023. (Michael Wiser for NBC News)

The floodwater, which had been shin-deep at some points Wednesday, was already starting to recede when the National Weather Service lifted the tropical storm and surge warnings around 2 a.m. for most of the South Carolina coastline, and city workers began clearing mud and debris.

Hours later, the downtown streets continued to be glazed with a coating of dark brown mud and sea shells, and littered with tree branches and other debris.

Tiny crabs that had been deposited downtown by the storm could be seen scuttling sideways across the slippery mess to get back to the safety of the seawall.

But all in all, Charleston residents said they were relieved that the damage wrought by Idalia wasnt as bad as they feared. Charleston really dodged the bullet again, Mayor John Tecklenburg said at a news conference. Were really blessed.

Many of his constituents agreed.

Truthfully, its impressive, everything thats left, 55-year-old Alex Garcia said in Spanish as he shoveled swamp grass and downed branches outside the antebellum mansions that pre-date the Civil War. Theres a lot of garbage to clean up. Lots of people are going to be busy today.

Alex Garcia, 55, shovels debris from Tropical Storm Idalia in Charleston, S.C. on Aug. 31, 2023. (Michael Wiser for NBC News)

As Garcia spoke, his co-worker Jesus Selvas cleared debris with a leaf blower near a downed metal construction fence.

Everything was flooded here, all the streets and boardwalk, Selvas, 47, said, also in Spanish. This is going to take days to clean. The dirt left behind is ugly.

When the storm blew, the tidewater spilled into downtown and turned roads into rivers, swamping cars and the lower floors of some houses.

We had 22 water rescues, predominantly removing people from vehicles in flooded areas, Dan Curia, the fire chief of the City of Charleston, said during the news conference. Most of the activity for the department was between the hours of 7 p.m. and midnight.

Kenny Wiggins works to clean city sidewalks around Waterfront Park in Charleston, S.C. following Tropical Storm Idalia on Aug. 31, 2023. (Michael Wiser for NBC News)

D.J. Hampton, president and CEO of Trident United Way in North Charleston, said his organization has already received nearly 490 calls throughout the state for help from residents in desperate need of food and shelter.

Were really grateful that we were spared the worst of the Idalia, he said.

Still, Hampton said, they are calculating the losses in their community. He said several staff members were severely impacted by the storm after losing power and being near flooded roads and are now relying on help from the United Way.

Today, locally, is about assessing and cleanup that we need to do to support our own community after the storm, Hampton said.

Minyvonne Burke reported from Steinhatchee, Florida, Guad Venegas reported from Cedar Key, Florida, Daniella Silva reported from Charleston, South Carolina, and Corky Siemaszko reported from New York City.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Ruby Franke, creator of the former YouTube channel 8 Passengers, was arrested Wednesday.

Franke built a following by posting about her life with her husband, Kevin, and six children.

Kevin Franke has largely remained out of the public eye since the channel shut down.

Kevin Franke, the husband of the 8 Passengers YouTube channel creator, Ruby Franke, will be taking care of his children after his wife's arrest Wednesday, his attorney told Page Six.

Franke's "urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his fatherly care," the attorney, Randy S. Kester, told the publication Thursday. When reached by Insider, Franke referred questions to his attorney, who didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ruby Franke was arrested Wednesday evening on suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse, according to booking records from the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Authorities in Ivins, Utah  a small suburb in Washington County  were alerted that day after a malnourished child sought help from a neighbor, the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department told Insider.

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Jodi Hildebrandt, Ruby's business partner and a therapist who had her license put on probation, was also arrested. Neither Ruby Franke nor Hildebrandt has responded to requests for comment from Insider.

Kevin Franke has largely stayed out of the public eye in recent months. It's unclear whether the couple are still together. The father was an associate professor at Brigham Young University in Utah, but a spokesperson told Insider his employment ended earlier this spring.

Ruby Franke garnered a large online following when she began vlogging her life as a wife and mom of six children on her YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, in about 2015. At its peak, the channel had 2.5 million subscribers. But posting on the channel became irregular before it was shut down altogether this year.

Ruby Franke moved her focus to a new channel, called ConneXions, with Hildebrandt in the summer of 2022.

Ruby Franke's arrest came after viewers had already accused the parents of child abuse about three years ago. Some clips people found concerning included threatening to withhold dinner from her son Russell when he and Chad were play-fighting; when she took away Christmas from her youngest children over what she called "selfishness" and "egregious choices" they made; not giving the children breakfast until they did their chores; and telling them they didn't deserve personal space .

The Frankes vehemently denied the accusations and also told Insider in a 2020 interview they gave their children "choices" and were just trying to teach them that actions have consequences.

"There are natural consequences to every choice we make, and if we communicate these when children make poor choices in behavior, the learning is profound," Ruby Franke said. "This way the child learns their choices have a direct impact."

Kevin Franke, at the time, told Insider "slanderous videos, depicting us as villains," were creating a false narrative about his family.

"When you cut and slice and put it together, you can make even the most saintly person to look villainous," he said. "They find any way, any justification, they can muster to criticize and attack us because they feel uncomfortable, ultimately seeing our family and our interactions. But the truth is our children are learning to become independent, self-sufficient, and are being taught how to pursue their own happiness through their own choices and their own relationships in life."

Read the original article on Insider
Tsinghua Global Youth Dialogue launched the United Youth Initiative at its closing ceremony in Beijing on Aug. 30, 2023. [Photo courtesy of Tsinghua University]

Tsinghua Global Youth Dialogue launched the United Youth Initiative at its closing ceremony in Beijing on August 30, calling for reimagining new approaches to governance, economics, social justice, and environmental stewardship to achieve true global prosperity and security.

The dialogue, themed "United Youth and Shared Future," aimed to "Empower the Youth of Tomorrow and Shaping the Future for Youth." It brought together government officials, esteemed scholars, entrepreneurs, international organization leaders, and young representatives. These participants shared views, exchanged experiences, and stressed the importance of global youth collaboration for building a harmonious global community and a promising planetary future.

Wang Xiqin, president of Tsinghua University, noted that young people are the most positive and vigorous group in the society. He underscored, as the future of the world belongs to youths, dialogues among youths are indispensable for human beings to address common challenges and move towards a better future.

The Tsinghua Global Youth Dialogue was initiated with the aim of offering a multilateral mechanism for exchanges and cooperation among youths around the world and encouraging youths to join hands to contribute to global development.

Dong Xia, deputy secretary-general of the All-China Youth Federation, spoke of the vast opportunities the digital age offers today's youth. However, she also pointed out the complex issues they confront, like economic stagnation, growing development disparities, and ecological decline. While young people are significantly affected by these challenges, Dong believed they're best positioned to seize opportunities and tackle these issues.

Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations resident coordinator in China, highlighted young people's distinctive qualities that prime them for leadership. According to Chatterjee, growing up in a digital age, young people are the generation that has witnessed the birth and evolution of social media, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy. They have the ability to harness the potential of these advancements and apply that to find creative solutions to global problems.

During the event, three thematic discussions took center stage, addressing AI technology and the digital economy, climate change and sustainability, and fostering mutual understanding through cultural exchange.

Students from Tsinghua and youth representatives performs a chorus of "Auld Lang Syne" at the end of the closing ceremony on Aug. 30, 2023. [Photo courtesy of Tsinghua University]

To conclude the ceremony on Aug. 30, 2023, Tsinghua students and youth delegates presented a rendition of "Auld Lang Syne," epitomizing the enduring connections uniting young individuals across diverse cultures and origins.
Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution (LGES) are investing another $2 billion in the planned Metaplant west of Savannah, already the largest economic development project in Georgia history.

The two companies announced an expansion of the original $5.5 billion electric vehicles and battery cell manufacturing joint venture Thursday, bringing the total investment to nearly $7.6 billion and adding 400 jobs on top of the 8,100 originally planned for the next eight years.

TThe massive project will go a long way toward making Georgia the e-mobility capital of the U.S., Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday.

These types of major investments ultimately go to hardworking Georgians in the form of paychecks, improved schools and infrastructure, and more, Kemp said. This incremental investment in Bryan County reflects our continued commitment to create a more sustainable future powered by American workers, added Jose Munoz, president and CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motor North America.

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When fully built out, the Metaplant will turn out 300,000 EVs per year. Hyundai Mobis will assemble battery packs using cells from the plant, then supply them to Hyundai Motor Groups U.S. manufacturing facilities for the production of Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis EV models.

The state Department of Economic Developments Global Commerce team worked on the project in partnership with the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority, the Georgia Ports Authority, Georgia Power and the Technical College System of Georgias Quick Start program.
A Central Kentucky landmark is changing hands again: The Kentucky Castle in Woodford County, just across the Fayette County line, has been sold to a former bourbon maker.

According to Woodford County PVA John Paul Coyle, on Aug. 28, Castle Ventures LLCs Matthew Dawson sold the 53-acre property for $19 million to TKC Hospitality Group, which is headed by Wes Henderson.

Henderson was co-founder of Angels Envy. The premium whiskey brand, which is made in Louisville, was sold to Bacardi for a reported $150 million in 2015.

Henderson, who is listed as president of TKC Hospitality, declined to talk yet on specific plans for the iconic property which is a hotel, restaurant and wedding venue on the corner of US 60/Versailles Road and Pisgah Pike.

The Kentucky Castle in Versailles has been sold for the sale price of $19 million.

Kentucky Castles new owner talks future

Like everyone else in the world, the Partners at TKC Hospitality have always loved the Kentucky Castle, TKC Hospitality said in a statement. As Kentucky natives, TKC has always been a part of our lives as an iconic local landmark, and we are thrilled to be part of the next chapter, building upon the world class experience created by our predecessors.

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Looking to the future, we will be collaborating with our neighbors in Pisgah, local businesses, schools, and the entire community, to maintain and grow the deep roots and legacy of this historic destination. The existing TKC team will continue in their roles to provide the same high standards of excellence to each guest and visitor.

History of the Kentucky Castle

Visitors to Central Kentucky have long marveled at the storybook property, which has turrets and crenelated walls and at times have been in ruins.

It was built by Rex Martin Sr., who began building it in 1969 after he was inspired by a trip to Europe. But the original building was never finished and in 1975 the Martins divorced and the property was abandoned.

The castle in Woodford County under construction in 1972. Sitting on the 50-acre property east of Versailles near the Fayette County line on U.S. 60, it has been a Central Kentucky icon for years. At the time of this picture, the inner building was still under construction, the foundation for the pool was poured and the four turrets had yet to be roofed.

The landmark castle on Versailles Rd. just outside of Lexington in Woodford County on fire, May 10, 2004. Lexington contractor Rex Martin Sr. started building the castle in 1969. But it was never finished and sat empty for more than 30 years. Tom Post spent millions of dollars and several years rebuilding the landmark into a bed and breakfast. Improvements started by Post were nearly complete when the fire destroyed the building. The state fire marshals office concluded there was a high probability that an arsonist set the fire, but nobody was ever charged.

In 2004, a fired caused major damage but owner Tom Post, who bought it in 2003 after Martins death, rebuilt the castle in sections and opened CastlePost in 2008 with 10 luxury state rooms, six luxury apartments in the turrets, a grand ballroom and much more.

In July 2017, a group of investors headed by Dawson, a University of Kentucky emergency room physician at the time, bought the property then known as CastlePost for $8.7 million. It has been extensively renovated and reopened as a restaurant, hotel and event venue.

Dawson is also co-founder and CEO of Wild Heath, which started as a precision medicine service providing personalized, genetics-based care. During the COVID pandemic, Wild Health became a major provider of testing and vaccination services for the commonwealth, winning a $57 million contract.

The Kentucky Castle offers five different venue spaces and offers in-house staff, catering and bar services in Versailles. It also has 18 guest accommodations, a restaurant and spa.

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Focus on the students first

I was disappointed to read the article about Tuesdays Fort Worth ISD board meeting, in which I am quoted. (Aug. 24, 1A, Man removed from Fort Worth ISD meeting amid book debate) By leading with the behavior of one attention-seeking speaker, who is a regular disrupter at meetings and not a district parent, rather than reporting on the substance of public comment, the reporter missed the mark.

Not only did several district parents speak against the removal of diverse books from libraries, but Eastern Hills High School faculty members spoke about their seriously overcrowded classrooms. And we learned about an elementary school out of compliance with federal disability law. The board then, incomprehensibly, voted for a no new revenue tax rate for next year.

These are the real issues facing our school district. Please stop focusing on the circus these extremists are putting on.

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- Layne Craig, Fort Worth

Moved on from Ron DeSantis

I once thought that to prevent Donald Trump from being the Republican presidential nominee, as he cannot likely prevail in the general election (all the more true now with his several pending criminal cases), Republicans should rally around Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Having now heard the candidates first debate and considered their platforms and credentials, however, I am going with my conscience. I accordingly now say: Dump Trump. Pick Mike Pence.

- Thomas F. Harkins Jr., Fort Worth

Those hands sealed candidates fates

As I watched the Republican debate last week, I saw six candidates raise their hands to say they would support Donald Trump if he is convicted and becomes the partys nominee. How disgusting is that? What other convict would you support in anything, much less a presidential race?

Nikki Haley was scoring some points with me until she raised her hand. After that, I could hear nothing else that was said, whether it was good or bad.

What happened to those law and order Republicans? They are as lawless as they come nowadays.

- Zelda L. Blalock, North Richland Hills

Dominoes in Jeffersons death

After reading the Aug. 24 story about former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Deans appeal of his manslaughter conviction in his killing of Atatiana Jefferson, (1A, Deans appeal cites 4 trial errors in manslaughter case) I was struck again by the absolutely critical decision by the police to approach her house without notifying the occupants of their presence. That paved the way for everything that followed.

That simple act could have saved Jeffersons life and Deans career, kept him out of prison and avoided the ongoing finger-pointing.

Thats a huge cost for a brief element of surprise. Im not saying its a slam dunk. But we all might benefit from a frank and public dialogue about the trade-off of keeping a police presence secret and having a resident respond to a possible threat, as Jefferson did.

- Bill Lanford, Haltom City

Quit complaining about Trump

I get tired of people complaining about Donald Trump and his brash personality. There is only one question to ask: Are we better off now than when he was in office?

Under Trump, we were closer to energy independence, had a plan to control the border and paid less for gas and food. All these charges against Trump right before the election means the left does not want him on the ballot.

You could go on and on about the raid on Mar-a-Lago and the case against Hunter Biden. Its time for a change.

- George Clark, Bedford
A cardboard cutout of a langur monkey placed in New Delhi ahead of the G20 summit. Hindustan Times/Getty Images

New Delhi officials want to keep mischevious macaques at bay during the G20 summit next week.

Officials are placing cardboard cutouts of larger langur monkeys around the city.

The macaques are scared of langurs and will likely steer clear if they see or hear them.

India does not want any monkeying around during the G20 summit in New Delhi next week.

So, officials are putting life-size cardboard cutouts of angry langur monkeys around the city and hiring men to make animal calls to scare off smaller rhesus macaque monkeys, which are notoriously mischievous.

The rhesus macaque monkeys are known for being a menace to society  they rampage through the city, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and even attacking pedestrians, CNN reported.

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But the one thing the macaques do not mess with is the larger langur monkey.

"(The monkeys) don't want to come near the large cutouts of the langurs as they get scared," said Satish Upadhyay, vice-chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Council, according to CNN. He added that they cannot be displaced or harmed, so threatening with cardboard cutouts is the humane alternative.

"We started placing these cutouts in the city over the last one week and are already seeing a positive impact. Monkeys have stopped going to the areas where these are present," Upadhyay said, according to The Guardian.

In addition to the cutouts, local authorities have hired 30 to 40 men to make langur sounds, which also keep the macaques at bay, CNN reported.

The annual G20 summit is a group of 20 world leaders that meet to discuss pressing global policy on topics like trade, health, and climate. US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are among those expected to attend, according to the Daily Globe and Mail.

Read the original article on Insider
This article was originally published in Stateline.

Bethany Fisher was raised in the Marshall Islands, the daughter of American missionaries who spoke English at home but who insisted that she and her siblings speak the Indigenous language of the island republic everywhere else.

The parental say-so proved smart when the family returned to the United States. With the fluency they gained as children, Fisher and her sister Anna followed their mother, Barb, into careers as interpreters serving Marshallese speakers who have migrated to America in recent decades. As many as half of the estimated 60,000 Marshallese speakers in the world live in the U.S., with large populations clustered in Arkansas, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington.

Although the Fishers have been able to build careers out of their specialized knowledge of an Indigenous language, many interpreters of such languages struggle to piece together good-paying work in the United States. Thats despite a desperate need for interpreters who speak what are often known as languages of lesser diffusion, especially those spoken in the United States by migrants from Mexico and Central and South America.

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But some states are beginning to pay more attention to access to interpreters for such languages, including at least one  Oregon  that is creating a program to certify interpreters. Across the nation, interpreters with skills in such languages are organizing in collectives to fill gaps in coverage, particularly in federal immigration courts or detention centers and in health care settings.

Fisher works for about 17 different companies that provide interpretation services for health care systems, businesses, schools, courts and government agencies. Most of her work is over the telephone, from her home in South Carolina. Many days are unremarkable, with a focus on interpreting insurance or tax matters, Fisher said, but some days she goes from zero to 60 with an emergency call.

Birth calls are really fun because youre just thrown into the room: All right, shes like 10 centimeters dilated and were going to tell her to push, and all this kind of stuff, Fisher said. And then youre there for maybe an hour or two or even less. And then you hear the baby cry, and then everybodys excited. So anytime that happens, I always get really emotional cause its like, Oh, this is really exciting.

In Oregon, where an estimated 35,000 people speak an Indigenous language from Mexico, Central America or South America as their primary language, lawmakers set aside money in this years budget for a program that would make it easier for interpreters of Indigenous languages to get certified for their work.

The legislation, which awaits the governors signature, includes $2 million to support the creation of language proficiency evaluations. The program would allow Indigenous interpreters to obtain formal credentialing and recognition as qualified, fluent interpreters, said Cam Coval, the co-founder of Pueblo Unido. The Portland-based nonprofit helps people seeking legal immigration status access legal, social and Indigenous-language interpretation services. Unlike more widely spoken languages, many Indigenous languages do not have formal certifications in proficiency, a barrier to professional recognition.

Lawmakers have budgeted another $500,000 for interpretation services, money that would go toward a fund that not only pays living wages to the interpreters of such languages but also helps the people who speak those languages access legal and medical help. The money would be administered via existing organizations that work with people who speak Indigenous languages, including a state-funded program that helps asylum-seekers avoid deportation by pairing them with lawyers in federal immigration court.

Indigenous languages are spoken by about 20% of the people Pueblo Unido helps with legal matters, Coval said.

It fits very clearly with the legal needs and health stability needs, Coval said of interpretation services. Its also, of course, a fundamental human right and essential for social inclusion and regular participation and experiencing the benefits of living in this country.

Puma Tzoc, whose first language is Kiche, a Mayan language indigenous to Guatemala, coordinates interpreters for Pueblo Unido through the Collective of Indigenous Interpreters of Oregon. Its members are from Mexico and Central America and speak Spanish, Kiche, Qanjobal, Akateko, Chuj, Mixteco Bajo, Purepecha, Qeqchi, Zapoteco, Ixil and Mam. They also work to establish standard pay rates and fair treatment of Indigenous interpreters.

Tzoc said he first witnessed the power of access to interpretation about a decade ago, when he was living in New York. There, he was asked by a friend to interpret for a man who had languished in jail for months because he was unable to communicate with authorities in his native language, Kiche. Shortly after Tzocs intervention, the man was released.

That was remarkable for me, Tzoc said. And thats when I started being more involved and searched for more information about being an interpreter.

In New York, Indigenous interpreters face many of the same issues around organization, credentialing and pay. Theyve begun work to form a collective, modeled on some of the West Coast initiatives, said Luis Gallegos, an administrator for the collective. They currently have about 25 interpreters representing nine Indigenous languages through Colibri Interpreters Collective, which is under the umbrella of Red de Pueblos Trasnacionales,an organization that works to advance the social, economic and cultural inclusion of Indigenous migrants in New York City life.

The Colibri Interpreters Collective in 2020 began working to make sure that speakers of Indigenous language had accurate information about the pandemic in their own languages.

Currently, the collective works with NYC Health, the Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs, the citys Department of Cultural Affairs as well as health care systems, the federal court system and the New York City Department of Education. The collective hopes to expand its reach and the languages covered in the coming years, Gallegos said.

In California, among those leading the way is CIELO, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit with a network of 350 Indigenous language interpreters available in California and remotely. The Indigenous-led nonprofit conducts twice-monthly virtual sessions to train new interpreters, many of whom dial in from states with less organized interpretation services for Indigenous languages. In 2021, CIELO set up 4,000 interpretation assignments for Indigenous speakers in need. The nonprofit connects social service providers, state and federal courts as well as hospitals with Indigenous language interpreters.

A spokesperson for CIELO said theyre also constantly studying the social and political climate of Mexico and Central America to better understand the root causes of immigration and to prepare for the arrival of Indigenous-language speakers from specific communities.

The lack of interpreters for such languages has grave consequences at the border, according to a report by the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C. Without adequate interpretation services, migrants who speak Indigenous languages may face increased challenges navigating the asylum system or exercising their rights. They are less likely to report abuse they may have experienced in detention, the report notes. It might also slow the immigration process and lead to family separation, extended detention and even wrongful deportation.

There just arent enough Indigenous language interpreters in general in the U.S, Zefitret Abera Molla, the author of the report, said in an interview.

Thats why organizations like Pueblo Unido, CIELO in California and the Colibri Interpreters Collective in New York are pushing for alternative pathways that make it less burdensome for Indigenous interpreters to prove their proficiency, Tzoc said.

Our Indigenous interpreters will be able to get into those entities that require those certificates or proof. So I think its a win for us, for the Indigenous interpreters and for the community we serve, he said.

Fisher, who this fall will begin pursuing a masters degree in translation and interpreting at New York University, describes interpreting as being a conduit of communication  and an art. When shes interpreting Marshallese, she speaks in the first person as though she is that person, including conveying their anger or irritation or even profanity.

I kind of feel like Im putting on different costumes or different hats, Fisher said. You are basically speaking as that person.

Tzoc, whose second language is Spanish, often uses relay interpretation when hes interpreting for Kiche speakers in court settings. He will listen to the Spanish interpretation of English proceedings, and then interpret the Spanish to Kiche.

Then, hell interpret the Kiche speakers response in Spanish to the original interpreter, who will render it from Spanish to English for the proceedings. Tzoc said that hearing the words in English and Spanish first before interpreting it for the Kiche speaker helps him convey the meaning of English phrases and words that have no direct equivalent in Kiche.

It can get a little complicated in his brain, Tzoc admits: Its a machine in my head.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter.
Oliver Anthony performs at Eagle Creek Golf Club and Grill in Moyock, N.C., on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. Anthonys song, Rich Men North of Richmond, has been the center of political controversy. | Kendall Warner, The Virginian-Pilot via AP

The ballad Rich Men North of Richmond has not budged from its No. 1 position on the Billboard chart. But its also the center of political controversy.

Belted out by Oliver Anthony, aka Christopher Anthony Lunsford, the song went viral after it was uploaded to YouTube. Since then, its become the first song to top the charts by an artist with no chart history, according to Taste of Country.

It also drove the first question at the GOP presidential debate, when the moderators asked the candidates about why the song strikes a nerve with the country.

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Thats just one of the ways the song has become a political flashpoint. After all, the phrase Rich Men North of Richmond is a reference to politicians in the countrys capitol.

Some think the ballad is an anthem that correctly diagnoses the plight of the working class. Others see it a song that punches down on welfare recipients and parrots right-wing talking points.

Some of the song lyrics include, These rich men north of Richmond / Lord knows they all just wanna have total control / Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do / And they dont think you know, but I know that you do / Cause your dollar aint (expletive) and its taxed to no end / Cause of rich men north of Richmond.

As for Anthony, he sees himself as an equal opportunity critic and said he didnt mean it as a partisan critique.

Rich Men North of Richmond is about corporate owned DC politicians on both sides, Anthony wrote on Facebook. Though Bidens most certainly a problem, the lyrics arent exclusively knocking Biden, its bigger and broader than that. Its knocking the system collectively.

Referencing the songs appearance in the GOP presidential debate, Anthony said the song is also about the corporate owned conservative politicians that were on stage that night.

Its aggravating seeing people on conservative news try to identify with me like Im one of them, Anthony said, per The New York Times. I see the right, trying to characterize me as one of their own. And I see the left trying to discredit me.

If anything, Anthony told The Free Press, his music is more about the right than the left.

Anthony also addressed the criticism around his language about welfare recipients. We live in a country where, like, food is ridiculously expensive. Commercial agriculture has encapsulated most of North Americas land, he said to The Free Press. Even the food that a middle-class American buys from the grocery store  a lot of it is just, its terrible for us, you know?

When the song debuted, it seemed like Anthony had become a conservative darling. Jamelle Bouie described him as the musical spokesman for conservative populism in the pages of The New York Times. And right-wing media personalities and politicians embraced the song, CNN reported.

But not all reception of the song fell neatly on partisan lines.

Democratic media consultant Dane Strother told the Washington Examiner that he doesnt agree with all the songs lyrics. What I do know is that he is speaking for a lot people, he said.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., also thought the folksy song fell flat on a few notes when it came to anti-welfare and anti-tax tropes, but was still struck by it. To just ridicule and dismiss the things that he is saying is a real lost opportunity. I worry that we are entering a world where we dont talk unless people are 110 percent in alignment with us, Murphy told Michael Powell for The Atlantic.

For Murphy, the anguish expressed in Anthonys song is worth listening to and its representative of a broader trend among the working class.

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A Deseret News/Harris X poll found that the working class is pessimistic about the direction of the country  much more so than the upper-middle class or the upper class. I think that its a failure (of Democrats) to take into account the extent to which people are pessimistic, and that pessimism does relate to real stuff, its not like theyre just being manipulated by Fox News. The economy really hasnt been that great for working class people, Ruy Teixeira, senior fellow at American Enterprise Institute, previously told the Deseret News.

Beyond concerns with the economy, the working class and working poor were the most likely to say they feel their personal financial situation is worsening with time, according to the Deseret News/Harris X poll. People who identified themselves as part of these classes were also more likely to say that politicians dont care about the working class.

Murphy thinks theres a realignment afoot out there in America that is not recognized by the elites. He told Powell, Tackling this metaphysical crisis for the working class may involve elements of the Bernie Sanders coalition and the Trump coalition.

Public intellectual Sohrab Ahmari told Powell that Murphy takes seriously the dealignment of the rural working class and the Democratic Party, and, Hes right to insist on more from his party than sneering.

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Some have compared Anthonys song to J.D. Vances Hillbilly Elegy in the sense that assuming the political identity of disgruntled working class people may not prove fruitful.

Hillbilly Elegy is Vances memoir about what it was like to grow up in a poor area and its an effort to make sense of whats gone wrong in the perpetually poor Appalachian region of the country and share what institutions like churches need to do differently to help, as Kelsey Dallas put it for the Deseret News.

They saw something was wrong and they werent political at all, Paul Sracic, a political science professor, told the Washington Examiner about Vance and John Edwards. They werent tied to it. So we want to put our template on everybody, but that template, I think, doesnt really fit. People are just trying to figure out how to fix whats wrong. And theyre screaming out that somethings wrong.

Its worth pointing out that before Vances political career took off, Hillbilly Elegy was described as a civilized reference guide for an uncivilized election that was written in a vocabulary intelligible to both Democrats and Republicans, according to The New York Times. But it, too, was later politicized.

Politicization of media about the working class aside, Deseret News/Harris X polling data indicates that the majority of Americans in nearly every economic class except for the upper class believe the working class is under threat due to many ongoing changes in the United States.

Anthony said he experienced anxiety and depression for years. It wasnt any one thing so much as an accumulation of things over many years of working dead-end jobs and feeling increasingly hopeless, The Free Press reported.

In his 20s, he started drinking and developed a feeling of being cut off from any community. He suffered a six-month injury in 2013 and had to take six months off of his job at a corrugated paper mill where he worked 12-hour days on the overnight shift, per The Free Press. Eventually, Anthony was able to buy some land, where he lives in a camper. He also developed his Christian faith after he battled with it.

Now, as music deals to the tune of $8 million roll in, Anthony is trying to keep his authenticity because its what launched him into fame. He prays before going on stage, recites a Bible verse or two and then sings his soulful music.

Im not important. Im just the vessel, Anthony told The Free Press. People are trying to put me on a pedestal and thats not in any way what I want. Im just the messenger.
SAN DIEGO (Border Report)  Some migrants looking to cross the border are now relying on phone applications that provide instructions on how to unlawfully trek into the U.S., immigration officials and advocates say.

Texas National Guard disbanded intelligence wing after members used WhatsApp to spy on migrants

David Perez Tejada, director of Mexicos Institute of Migration in Baja California, says it might sound strange, but migrants are essentially purchasing different travel packages.

They are sold complete packages for $10,000 to bring them from, say, Colombia all the way to Tijuana, he said. Then they are met with a guide who shows them where to cross and how to download further instructions.

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WATCH: Migrants undeterred by Rio Grande buoys, barbwire, soldiers

He says migrants get support through social networks such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

They are using these digital platforms showing them routes, which are then shared with fellow countrymen, said Perez Tejada. They also upload TikToks or Facebook (posts) detailing their crossings in real-time, so others know where to go.

This use of technology by migrants is widespread, said Enrique Lucero with Tijuanas Migrant Affairs Office.

He says it all comes with a steep price.

Migrant encounters in San Diego Sector up in all categories

When they are here in Tijuana, migrants find a smuggler who charges them $600 just to show them where the wall is, said Lucero. There are migrants from South or Central America who are paying anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 to get across the border and for further digital instructions.

When asked how the migrants can afford to pay for their journeys, Lucero said they often sell everything they own.

Visit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border

Smugglers convince them to sell all their properties and tell them someone will greet them when they get here, which oftentimes doesnt happen and they end up stranded in Tijuana.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
The drones that attacked a military airfield in Pskov on Aug. 30 were launched from within Russian territory, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) chief Kyrylo Budanov told the media outlet The War Zone on Aug. 31.

"We are working from the territory of Russia," Budanov said, without specifying how many drones were used.

Budanov did not reveal whether HUR operatives are working inside Russia or using the help of Russians who stand against their country's invasion of Ukraine.

The War Zone also obtained video material from the infrared camera of one of the drones used in the attack from a HUR source.

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The accuracy of the strike points to the likelihood of "bomblets dropped from a drone or drones under local man-in-the-loop control," meaning a pilot was operating the weapon remotely.

"This would fit Budanov's comments that this was a strike launched from inside Russia, likely very near the base, and not one using long-range autonomous drones," the War Zone article added.

Four Russian Il-76 aircraft were destroyed at the airfield, and two more were likely to be damaged, HUR spokesperson Andrii Yusov confirmed on Aug. 30.

Russian media outlet Meduza reported that the 334th military transport regiment, armed with Il-76 transport aircraft, is deployed at Pskov Airport.

The attack on Pskov was part of what Russian media reported as a massive wave of drone attacks on Russian territory and Russian-occupied Crimea overnight on Aug. 30.

The Russian authorities claimed drones were shot down over Bryansk, Oryol, Kaluga, Ryazan, and Moscow oblasts.

Read also: Budanov: Only 60-70% of deployed Ukrainian maritime kamikaze drones destroyed by Russia

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The mother of a 13-year-old boy who was murdered in Bostons Mattapan neighborhood earlier this year is decrying the recent violence in the city.

Tyler Lawrence was shot multiple times near Fremont and Babson Streets near his grandparents house just before noon on January 29th.

Csean Skerritt, 34, was later charged with first-degree murder after being arrested on fentanyl-related drug distribution charges.

Remy Lawrence told Boston 25 News that the senseless shootings and other violent acts unfolding in Boston over the last few weeks have reignited her anger.

Its inexplicable. Its intolerable, she said. I would like to see more people take an adamant stance.

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Lawrence said she still lives with the pain every day of losing her son, who would have been entering the 8th grade this fall.

I have work to do not only for Tyler but also for other children in the community who deserve to walk to the store and go play ball, she added.

Boston activists and clergy members addressed the recent violence during a news conference in Bostons South End on Thursday afternoon.

The shooting that wounded eight people near Saturdays Caribbean Carnival Parade remained a point of concern.

We call on the Mayor and Police Commissioner to lend all resources available to address the issue of disproportionate violence in certain parts of the city, said Rev. Kevin Peterson with the New Democracy Coalition.

The New Democracy Coalition released data pertaining to the violence thats occurred in whats known as Bostons Murder Triangle.

That area includes Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, Hyde Park and the South End.

The group said its gathered that information from media reports and confirmed the statistics through police records.

According to the New Democracy Coalition:

-93 percent of the citys murders from August 2022 to 2023 happened within Murder Triangle

-Of the 189 shootings that occurred from August 2022 to 2023, 179 happened within Murder Triangle

-Of the 46 murders in Boston from August 2022 to 2023, 39 happened within Murder Triangle

Those numbers are what they are and they are above all unacceptable, said Edwin Sumpter with the New Democracy Coalition.

Community, faith-based and civic leaders held a closed-door meeting later Thursday night to discuss solutions within the community.

That meeting was held at the Berkshire Partners Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club at 15 Talbot Avenue in Dorchester.

I think our young folks are reaching out. I think its a cry for help and support, said Robert Lewis Jr., Bostons Nicholas President and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club.

Lewis helped to unite different organizations following Sundays massive disturbances involving hundreds of juveniles and the mass shooting near the Caribbean Carnival Parade the previous day.

The shots were fired just steps from the Boys & Girls Club location, and one of the bullets shattered one of their van windows.

Our kids would have been entering our facilities two hours later, he said. What we cant do is close our eyes and act like it didnt happen.

Lewis said the responsibility shouldnt fall on one organization but rather should involve collectively coming together to galvanize the community.

He believes getting more outreach workers out into affected neighborhoods is a crucial component.

We are not babysitters: BPD Commissioner asks people to parent their children amid violence

Rival gangs: Boston festival near mass shooting plagued by gun violence, police report says

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

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DABUS Ex Machina

AI researcher Stephen Thaler is adamant that his AI, which he calls the Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience (DABUS), is indeed sentient. And because of that, he argues that the art DABUS creates  or anything else  should be copyrightable.

But to Thaler, the battle transcends mere human courts.

"DABUS and all of this intellectual property is not about setting precedents with the law," he told Wired in a recent interview. "It's about setting precedents in terms of human acceptance,"

"There is a new species here on Earth," he added, "and it's called DABUS."

So far, the copyright fight has been a losing one for Thaler.

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Last week, a US federal court struck down Thaler's attempt to copyright an image DABUS produced, reaffirming the Copyright's Office decision in March and the year before.

Those decisions upheld the doctrine that copyright requires human authorship, which disbars DABUS  or any "new species"  as much as it does as animals.

And besides, for obvious reasons, experts aren't convinced by Thaler's claims of the AI's consciousness.

"I don't even really know where to begin, other than to say, if there is a sentient AI on the planet currently, it's definitely not this," Matthew Sag, a professor of law and artificial intelligence at Emory University, told Wired.

Inventing Inventors

Not that that kind of talk has ever deterred Thaler. He has a powerful legal alley: Ryan Abbott, a law professor at the University of Surrey who heads an effort of IP lawyers called the Artificial Inventor Project, founded in 2018. Its goal, as the name suggests, is to allow IP protections for works created by or using an AI.

Abbott's core belief is that, in order to incentivize people to use AI to benefit humanity, its creations, like a disease-staving vaccine, should still be patentable. Under current patent laws, that's not possible, he argues. (Jonas Salk, the creator of the polio vaccine, would have something to say to that. When asked on a live broadcast why he didn't patent the polio vaccine, Salk famously rejoined: "Could you patent the Sun?")

"In the US, inventors are defined as individuals, and we argued there was no reason that was restricted to a natural person," Abbott told Wired.

But Abbott is less concerned about an AI's autonomy and more worried about how the use of a generative AI affects authorship  or rather, that it shouldn't.

For his part, Sag called this reasoning a "total nonstarter," saying the "bottom line is that we dont need AI inventors to patent the outcomes of emergent processes."

With their efforts falling flat in the US, Thaler and Abbott await the UK Supreme Court's ruling, set to release in September, on whether a pair of patents attributed to DABUS are valid.

More on AI: OpenAI Rages at Report That Google's New AI Crushes GPT-4
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Homicide detectives are investigating after an argument led to a fight that turned into a deadly shooting in Kansas City on Thursday night.

KCPD says officers responded to a call on E. 67th Street, just south of The Paseo and E. Meyer near Dunn Park at about 8:45 p.m.

Video: KC-area jogger survives random shooting, suspect at large

They found a man now identified as 55-year-old Neal Harris shot once and laying in the street. Officers gave aid before EMS took him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators say that while they believe many people were involved in the fight that preceded the shooting, they dont have anyone in custody right now.

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If you know something that will help lead to an arrest, call detectives directly at (816) 234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety sent 31 Iowa officers to the U.S.-Mexico border, beginning the second phase of Gov. Kim Reynolds ' effort to assist law enforcement in Texas.

"Iowa is located at the intersection of two major interstates, and it is a pathway for the Mexican cartels and for humans traffickers to take to go from Mexico to the Midwest," Reynolds said at a Texas news conference on Aug. 21.

Reynolds sent more than 100 Iowa National Guard soldiers to Texas in early August. For the past month, the soldiers were tasked with "deterring illegal border crossings and preventing the trafficking of illegal substances by cartels," according to a news release from Reynolds' office. Their deployment ended Friday.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, right, and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, left, listen as Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, center, speaks during a news conference along the Rio Grande, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety sent 31 Iowa State Patrol officers to Texas on Aug. 31. They will return to Iowa on Oct. 2.

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More: A Latino organization responds to Gov. Reynolds' aid to Texas border  with a billboard

Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs, will join the month-long deployment to help with Texas' "Operation Lone Star." Dawson is a leader on Iowa's tax law in the Legislature, and he works as a special agent for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

I am looking forward to working with my colleagues and Texas law enforcement to try and address this crisis at the border and help protect our nations security," Dawson said in a Friday news release.

The Iowa state troopers will "support Texas State Troopers with criminal interdiction, crime prevention, traffic enforcement and law enforcement assistance," according to an early August news release. Iowa is also sending an investigative team to assist with Texas' investigations of narcotics, weapons and human trafficking.

At the Aug. 21 news conference, Reynolds cited an increase of fentanyl, meth and cocaine seizures in Iowa. She said "the bulk" of those drugs were tied to cartels in Mexico.

Iowa used money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act  a COVID-19 relief package opposed by Republicans  to fund the deployments.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) of Iowa criticized Reynolds for sending troops to the border. Organizers of the group said Reynolds' deployment was "political grandstanding," and they launched a billboard campaign against her.

LULAC said in a news release that Texas has relied on "unlawful barriers" that slash into migrants. The U.S. Department of Justice told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that it intends to file suit over a floating barrier erected in the Rio Grande River.

This isn't the first time Reynolds sent Iowa personnel to the border.

In 2021, Reynolds deployed about 28 Iowa State Patrol troopers to the border for 14 days in the Del Rio area in southwest Texas, where they accompanied Texas law enforcement on patrols, assisted with humanitarian efforts, helped disrupt criminal networks and investigated human smuggling, officials said at the time.

That mission cost roughly $300,000, and was paid for by the state of Iowa.

Stephen Gruber-Miller and Amanda Tugade contributed reporting.

Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa sends 31 officers for second phase of deployment to U.S.-Mexico border
Five people on Thursday were sentenced to life in prison for the November 2022 murder of U.S. citizen Stephen Troell (L). Photo courtesy of Stephen Troell/Twitter

Aug. 31 (UPI) -- An Iraqi court sentenced an Iranian and four Iraqis to life imprisonment on Thursday for killing a U.S. citizen in Baghdad last year, officials said.

Iraq's interior ministry announced the convictions and sentences of the unmanned suspects in a statement, saying four others accused of being involved in the November murder of Stephen Edward Troell were being pursued with the aim of bringing them to justice.

"We welcome the Iraqi court's decision to convict and sentence multiple individuals on terrorism charges for their roles in the killing of U.S. citizen Stephen Troell," U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement late Thursday.

"It is critical that all those responsible for the brutal, premeditated assassination of Mr. Troell face justice and accountability. We once again extend our condolences to Mr. Troell's family and hope this verdict brings them some measure of justice."

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Troell, a 45-year-old Tennessee native who worked for the Global English Institute language school in Baghdad, was shot and killed in the Iraqi capital during a seemingly botched kidnapping attempt.

After announcing the court's ruling Thursday, the interior ministry affirmed that it is "the watchful eye" of security and stability, capable of protecting citizens and visitors alike.

"It will not allow attacks on them in all governorates of the country, and will continue security work with the utmost professionalism and craftsmanship," it said.
AQABAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank on Friday after clashes broke during a raid on a house of a suspected gunman, Palestinian officials said.

The Palestinian health ministry said a 36 year-old man died after being shot in the head by Israeli forces in the town of Aqabah in the Jordan Valley, while another man was wounded by gunfire.

The Israeli military said there was an exchange of fire with gunmen during the operation and its forces hit one of those who was firing. However, local witnesses said the dead man had not been involved in the clashes but was in a nearby field when he was hit by a bullet.

The military said soldiers and border police surrounded a house in Aqabah, using shoulder-fired rockets and grenades against the building and later finding two improvised explosive devices inside. It said they arrested two wanted suspects.

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Witnesses said the house was extensively damaged with a large hole blown into an external wall, parts of an interior wall blown away and debris strewn across a sitting room.

The West Bank has seen a wave of violence over the past 18 months, with a series of deadly attacks by Palestinians on Israelis, brazen attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian towns and villages and stepped up raids by the Israeli military.

On Thursday, a Palestinian truck driver killed an Israeli soldier in a ramming attack near a checkpoint on the boundary with the West Bank.

Thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and hundreds have been killed since last year, mainly gunmen or fighters involved in clashes with Israeli troops but also including several uninvolved civilians.

In the same period, dozens of Israelis and a number of foreigners have been killed in Israel and the West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future state but which has been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta; writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast and in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast and reportedly advanced in both sectors of the front, the Institute for the Study of War wrote in its Aug. 31 report.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar achieved success in the Bakhmut and Melitopol directions as well as in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Additionally, Ukrainian forces have reportedly reached parity in counterbattery capabilities with Russian forces.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is highlighting Ukraine's domestic production of long-range missiles as part of a coordinated Ukrainian campaign promoting increased Ukrainian strike capabilities

The ISW also emphasized that Russian occupation authorities continue to forcibly deport Ukrainian children to Russia and Russify Ukrainian youth.

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Finally, ISW stated that Russian forces continued offensive operations near Bakhmut and unsuccessfully counterattacked in the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhia Oblast border area.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia delivers tactical nukes to Belarus, says military intelligence chief





Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
I've been teaching kids for 23 years, and teaching is my passion.

I wish parents would talk to their kids about the foods they like to eat.

Parents need to label absolutely everything, the lost and found only grows as the year goes by.

I have a background in early education and reading intervention where I then taught kindergarten reading intervention for 13 years. Seven years ago, I was moved to English language learner Tutor support for many classroom teachers helping our students mostly in Portuguese and Spanish.

I had a heart attack last May and unfortunately, I had to retire this past July. I'm happy to say that I fully recovered and that I am still the supervisor for the early morning extended day program at our school and will likely be a substitute teacher. What can I say, teaching is my passion.

Here are four things I've learned in my 23 years of teaching that I wish every parent knew.

Hungry kids have a harder time learning

In preparing your children for school this fall, most parents don't realize how important their child's snack and lunch choices are. Many children end up throwing their snacks and lunch in the trash. Schools waste an incredible amount of food during breakfast, snacks, and lunch.

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My suggestion is to talk with your child about what they like. Look over the monthly lunch menu together and make a decision on what to order ahead of time. Whether your child is buying school lunch or bringing lunch from home, it really makes a difference. If your child is hungry, they aren't going to learn.

Visit the school ahead of classes starting

Another good idea for the upcoming school year is to visit your child's school during the summer. Make an appointment with the school principal for a quick meet and greet. You'll be able to take a walk around the school, and this should alleviate anxiety for the child and the parents. Check out the cafeteria, the gym, the library, and, of course, the playground.

I would recommend attending any event offered by the school or your teacher. Some schools offer social gatherings  where incoming students and parents can meet informally.

One of my best friends is a second-grade teacher. About eight years ago, we started taking the class list she receives during the summer, and we began our tradition of dropping off a welcome note to her class and a small goody bag. We walked from house to house, visiting each family. We leave the bag on their front step if no one is home. For the families that we get to see, the joy and appreciation from the parents or parent or grandparent is priceless. This is such a welcomed surprise for both the child and the parent. Now, on the child's first day of school, they already know their teacher's face, which helps relieve some nervousness for them.

Label absolutely everything

Please make sure to label all of your child's personal belongings. This includes their backpack, clothing items, water bottles, etc. Every school I have ever been in has a huge lost and found. It just gets bigger and bigger as the year goes on. Also, as the year goes on, have your child bring an extra sweater or sweatshirt to school, as sometimes there are spills, and the weather can get wet or cold.

Read with your child

Reading is crucial during the summer and the school year. It's never too late to begin if you haven't been able to make the time. Continue with your child to motivate them to read or read with them daily. Help them by going to your local library or bookstore. Any reading is positive.

Your child will spend time on the Chrome book in school for English language, arts and math so that's another reason I like forming a habit of reading with children.

Read the original article on Insider
Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson s nephew, will portray the King of Pop in the forthcoming biopic, Michael.

Jaafar Jackson, who is portraying his uncle Michael Jackson in his forthcoming biopic, apparently resembles his uncle, according to the films director, Antoine Fuqua .

Fuqua spoke about the biopic, Michael, during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. He stated that Jaafars embodiment of the late King of Pop is uncanny and not just when it comes to his likeness. Sounds like him, dances like him, sings. Its really uncanny, Fuqua said. Graham King, who is a fantastic producer, found him and introduced him to me, and I was blown away.

Jaafar Jackson is the son of Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jacksons brother and co-lead singer of the Jackson 5. Jaafar Jackson announced in January that he would portray his uncle in the film about his life and career. Im humbled and honored to bring my Uncle Michaels story to life, Jaafar Jackson posted on his Instagram page. To all the fans all over the world, Ill see you soon.

Michael Jackson is the subject of a biopic starring his nephew Jaafar Jackson. Above, the King of Pop is seen in March 2009, announcing plans for a summer residency at the O2 Arena in London. He died before it could happen. (Photo by Tim Whitby/Getty Images)

Michael marks Jaafar Jacksons first major film role.

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King, who also produced the hit Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, stated that Jaafar Jackson organically personifies Michaels personality. I am beyond thrilled that he has come on board to portray his uncle and cannot wait for the world to see him on the big screen as Michael Jackson, King said of Jaafar Jackson, who was selected for the role after a worldwide search.

Fuqua was announced as director of Michael in January, and he addressed whether controversies surrounding allegations of sexual abuse against the pop icon would be included in the film. He stated that the film would portray the good, bad, and ugly of Michael Jacksons complex life.

Just to tell the facts as we know it, about the artist, about the man, about the human being, is the goal, Fuqua said. Michael Jackson was accused of child molestation in the 1990s and stood trial for similar allegations in 2005. He denied all allegations and was acquitted of all counts in 2005. The King of Pop, one of the biggest-selling artists in music history, died at 50 in June 2009.

Production on Michael is currently on hold due to the ongoing writers and actors strikes. John Logan, writer of Skyfall, The Aviator, and Gladiator, contributed the screenplay.

Prince Jackson, Michael Jacksons oldest son, said hes impressed with Kings research and Logans script during an interview on the Hotboxin with Mike Tyson podcast. He explained that Kings process included in-depth interviews with Michael Jacksons family, friends and people he toured with. After I read the first draft of the script, I called [King] because I was crying afterward, Prince Jackson said. I told him he had the most authentic picture of my father.

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

The post Jaafar Jackson bears uncanny resemblance to uncle Michael Jackson in upcoming biopic, says director appeared first on TheGrio.
A Jackson County sheriffs deputy was arrested Thursday on charges of trespassing and violating his oath of office.

Zachary Billings, 35, of Jefferson was booked and released on the charges Thursday at the Jackson County Jail.

The arrest followed an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation after the sheriffs office requested the agency's help in the investigation due to a complaint filed by a citizen.

Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said Friday that Billings went to a home and entered without permission or legal authority. Billings was not dispatched to the location, nor did he generate an incident report on his visit to the property, according to the sheriff.

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The GBI reported the officer entered a home off Lakeview Terrace located in a subdivision west of the city of Jefferson. Billings was on duty at the time, the GBI reported.

The homeowner filed a complaint on Aug. 27 and Mangum said the office conducted an internal investigation. When the complaint appeared valid, Billings was suspended with pay pending the GBI investigation, according to Mangum.

Billings was fired after the GBI reported it had enough evidence to file charges, according to the sheriff.

As the sheriff, I am disappointed and saddened at this behavior by a deputy sheriff who is sworn to uphold the law. I will not tolerate these actions by anyone, Mangum posted on her Facebook.

Mystery shooting: Who shot and killed Eugene Scott of Athens remains unknown

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Jackson County deputy arrested on violating oath of office charge
The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office is continuing to investigate a reported Burglary that occurred at the 9700 block of Old Saint Augustine Road.

Surveillance video obtained captured the suspect while inside the business.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

JSOs previous efforts to identify the suspect have been unsuccessful, and JSO is now seeking assistance from the public.

Anyone having information on the identity of this suspect is asked to contact the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office at 904-630-0500 or via email at JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org.

To remain anonymous and potentially receive a cash reward please call Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS or text **8477

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[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

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.
Volunteers with the Community Emergency Response Team hand out water and meals ready to eat to residents of Jefferson County.

JEFFERSON COUNTY  Christy Jordan of Monticello celebrated her birthday at home in the dark Wednesday after Hurricane Idalia swept through the Big Bend, leaving most of Jefferson County paralyzed with downed power lines.

She walked in the rain Thursday evening with her two toddler grandchildren to Jefferson County's R. J. Bailar Public Library looking for assistance after hearing from a neighbor about a food and water distribution taking place.

"I think it's great that they help the community because sometimes people don't have a backup plan to be prepared," Jordan said. "A girlfriend was telling me how great it is here, and so we just moved here from Crawfordville, but I'm waiting to see all that."

Throughout Monticello Thursday, residents sat on porches and gathered in their yards, and businesses, including gas stations and grocery stores, were closed due to the power outages.

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Paula Carroll, director of the Jefferson County Emergency Management Office, told the Tallahassee Democrat that about 99% of the county was out of power on Thursday, most critically in Monticello.

As of Friday, Carroll said Duke Energy crews have been working steadily to restore power.

Duke Energy said 95% of its customers should see their power restored by 11:30 p.m. Friday.

Some of the city is also served by Tri-County Electric Cooperative which has been working on restoration as well. Company representatives could not be reached Thursday or Friday for comment.

OFF THE GRID: United States Power Outage Tracker

From Left to Right: County Property Appraiser Angela Gray, Jefferson County Sheriff Mac McNeil, State Representative Allison Tant, and County Manager Shannon Metty discuss a plan for distributing supplies to residents.

"There are still quite a few of residents that are out of power," Carroll said Friday morning, "We were able to get a few people with some power, but the majority of the county is still out."

With so many powerless, volunteers and elected officials pulled together to provide meals and water for residents.

"We haven't had a disaster like this before and we're learning a lot from it," Jefferson County Manager Shannon Metty told the Tallahassee Democrat. "I think we were prepared beforehand for some sort of disaster and its actually coming together pretty well. This community is good at taking care of each other so I'm proud of it."

In front of the library Thursday, six semitrucks loaded with water and packages of ready to eat meals provided by the American Red Cross and Anheuser Busch were unloaded by volunteers and county officials using forklifts.

"I can tell you, every elected official is out here from our property appraiser (Angela Gray) to our State Rep. Allison Tant," Scott Goodlin, a volunteer said, as he stood in front of the library.

Jefferson County Commissioner J.T. Surles operating his forklift to unload water and meals ready to eat.

Goodlin and other volunteers said they have gone without power at their homes but wanted to help their neighbors.

"The people of the county are pulling themselves up and doing what they can to help a neighbor. People helping people is what you're seeing out here," Goodlin said.

Tant told the Tallahassee Democrat more help is on the way for residents.

"We are bringing as many resources as we can to Jefferson County, and we are working with partners such as Second Harvest and the American Red Cross and the state and local emergency management," Tant said.

How to help: A Florida guide to giving, volunteering after Hurricane Idalia ravages Big Bend

Tant said Amazon will be delivering baby supplies, 24,000 hygiene kits, and 36,000 bottles of water to the Jefferson County Emergency Management office for residents in need.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's office announced on social media Friday afternoon that the county is "currently in the process of being designated as an Individual Assistance eligible county by FEMA."

Residents are urged to report all losses to the Emergency Management Office at (850)342-0211 as soon as possible.

Volunteers and elected officials unload semitrucks with supplies for residents without power.

The emergency management office said there is no certainty yet of any state funding or disaster relief.

"Jefferson County is not guaranteed any funding at this time, however if they are able to secure any mitigation costs, they will notify you as soon as possible," an emergency management spokesperson said in a statement released by the Monticello-Jefferson Chamber of Commerce.

Jefferson County K-12 School is closed Monday for Labor Day, and it was unknown Friday afternoon if the school will open Tuesday. Residents should monitor the school's Facebook page for updates.

The school remained without power on Friday afternoon, Tant said.

Powering up: When will power be restored to Taylor, Madison, Jefferson counties? Duke has estimates

How to help

Donate to the Red Cross by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) or texting the word IDALIA to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Sign up to volunteer at www.redcross.org/VolunteerToday.

Help feed those in the strike zone through Second Harvest of the Big Bend at FightingHunger.org/Idalia.

Donate to the United Way of the Big Bend at uwbb.org/disaster-relief-fund or text RELIEF2023 to 41444.

With Tallahassee escaping the brunt of Hurricane Idalia's wrath, this story is part of a continuing series profiling hard-hit communities. Alaijah Brown is with the Tallahassee Democrat and can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Jefferson County after Idalia: A power struggle as people pull together
A Jefferson man faces a murder charge stemming from the shooting death of a man on Aug. 18 in a residential neighborhood of the Jackson County city.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported Friday that Edwin Garcia Alonzo, 36, is charged with the murder of Mateo Gomez Lucas.

Jefferson police Chief Joe Wirthman said Friday that the two men knew each other and the case seems family related. However, Wirthman said the motive for the assault is still under investigation.

The shooting occurred outside a home and the victim came into a house to report to people inside that he had been shot, according to the GBI. When police arrived, Lucas was unconscious and was transported to a hospital in Gainesville, where he died.

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Alonzo was taken into custody on Aug. 27 at a location in Hall County and booked into Jackson County Jail on Tuesday, according to the GBI.

Alonzo, who has a Jefferson address, was also charged with possession of methamphetamine. A hold was also placed on him from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He does not have a bond.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Jefferson man jailed on murder charge stemming from shooting death
Jerry Herring stands before the historic Clonts Building in downtown Lakeland in 2008. Herring, a force in the redevelopment of the city's downtown, died recently at age 76.

Jerry Herring saw the potential in downtown Lakeland at a time when few others did.

His willingness to invest in the citys distressed core starting in the 1980s is a major reason the downtown area is thriving today, say those who knew him.

He took a lot of risk early on, said Jim Edwards, who served at the time as director of the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority and the Community Redevelopment Agency. I think it's safe to say it paid off for him. But nevertheless, it was quite a risk to be a pioneer in downtown in the late 80s and early 90s.

Herring, who acquired the moniker Mr. Downtown for his redevelopment efforts, died Aug. 27 at age 76. His daughter, Casey Herring Andrews, said he had been diagnosed with cancer nine months earlier.

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Herring spent his youth in Alabama and came to Lakeland as a young man in 1967. He soon met Janis Helminski, and couple married the next year. Janis, a Lakeland native, educated her husband about the city and especially the downtown area.

While attending the annual Margarita Ball in the early 1980s, the couple sauntered down Kentucky Avenue, and Janis regaled Jerry with histories of the buildings they passed, family members said in an obituary.

Herring soon formed Herring Financial Systems, an agency based in South Lakeland.

In the late 1980s, downtown Lakeland was in a distressed condition. Former businesses such as Kress and Co. and J.C. Penney had closed, and about 40% of first-floor properties were vacant, Edwards recalled.

So virtually every other storefront was vacant, said Edwards, now a senior adviser with SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler Real Estate. Buildings were in very poor condition. The park (Munn Park) was not at all an attractive place. All of the streets downtown were one-way pairs. No street trees. No pedestrian-scale lighting. It was just a pretty bleak and desperate place at that point.

In the 1980s, Herring became a tenant in a building on South Florida Avenue and Main Street, said Jim Studiale, then a developer and later the leader of Lakelands director of community development before retiring in 2018. Herring soon purchased the Bowyer Building, a 1902 structure on Kentucky Avenue, north of Pine Street.

Herring operated his business on the second floor and sought retail tenants for the first-floor spaces. One of the first tenants was a Southwestern-themed shop, but that lasted only seven months, even after Herring offered six months of free rent, The Ledger reported in 2006.

But Herring soon attracted Brooke Pottery, an established business in South Lakeland, to the spot at 223 N. Kentucky Ave. That beloved business lasted until 2018.

As retail gradually returned to downtown spaces, Lakeland revitalized Munn Park, restoring a fountain and installing benches.

Jerry Herring, President of Herring & Company, LLC, looks out the first floor of the Clonts Building in downtown Lakeland in 2002.He had recently purchased the building, built in 1903, with plans to renovate it for retail and office space. Herring, who bought and renovated many properties downtown, died recently at age 75.

Herring later teamed with John Rodda to purchase the Clonts Building, a 1903 structure at 228 E. Pine St. known for its round parapet topped by a conical, hat-like roof. By the early 2000s, Herring owned 17 properties in downtown Lakeland.

"Downtown is a very solid investment," Herring told a Ledger reporter. "The infrastructure is here and it will only get better and better."

Herring served on the board of the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority, a special taxing district formed in the 1970s. The CRA, originally a partner with the LDDA, later moved under the citys control.

Jerry came into that environment both as a board member and an investor, Edwards said. And he was always very positive, very supportive. He went beyond just participating in board meetings. He went beyond that and headed up fundraising events and other things to make downtown more attractive. He was always looking for a win-win situation.

Herring sold his company in 1992, and he and Janis moved to Georgia, where they grew pecans on a 1,000-acre farm, his daughter said. They kept a home in Lakeland and returned permanently in 2000.

'Feng Shui' Lakeland sculpture begins long-awaited repairs to make its return to Munn Park

Herring earned his real-estate license and spent a year with the Fearn Partnership in an apprenticeship program, working with David Fearn and Greg Mugg, before forming Herring and Co. Casey joined the company in the early 2000s and became a co-owner. Janis Herring served as a partner in the Casey Land Co., and teamed with the couples son, Brian, in Herring Construction, The Ledger reported.

Herring developed a building that bears his name on Pine Street west of Massachusetts Avenue. That structure, which now houses the Lakeland Escape Room, connected to the back of the Bowyer Building.

Along with his son, Brian, and Brian's wife, Elizabeth, Herring opened Go-Mini's of Central Florida, a portable storage container business.

In addition to the LDDA, Jerry Herring served volunteer roles with Leadership Lakeland, Barnett Bank, the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Paint Your Heart Out Lakeland, his family said.

In their later years, Jerry and Janis owned a series of recreational vehicles and traversed the country, twice venturing into Canada, their daughter said.

Herring is survived by his wife of 55 years, Janis; three grown children, Chris Herring, Brian Herring and Casey; and six grandchildren. The family plans to hold a private ceremony.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

CORRECTION

An earlier version of this included an incorrect age for Jerry Herring. He was 76.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Jerry Herring, Lakeland investor known as 'Mr. Downtown,' dies at 76
This is an audio version of The Reason Livestream, which takes place every Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern on Reason's YouTube channel.

The topic this week was a lawsuit challenging California Community Colleges' new diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibilityor DEIAteaching standards, which allegedly "mandate viewpoint conformity" and "compel professors to teach and preach the State's perspective," according to the lawsuit Palsgaard v. Christian, filed by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE.

Reason's Zach Weissmuller and Liz Wolfe welcomed FIRE attorney Jessie Appleby and Bill Blanken, a plaintiff in the case and a chemistry professor at Reedley College in California. Blanken says the standards advanced by the state's community college board amount to "compelled speech" in the classroom and that he will not comply with them.

We talked about the details of the case, dove into the substance of the proposed changes in the classroom, discussed the origins of the DEIA standards that now pervade academia and the corporate world, and examined FIRE's other case against Florida's Stop WOKE Act, which prohibits exactly the kind of classroom instruction that California's new standards compel.

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Why We Can't Have Nice Things. A six-part Reason magazine podcast series about the frustrating and foolish aspects of American trade policy that make everyday items more expensive. From last year's sudden shortages of baby formula to the Jones Act and President Lyndon Johnson's infamous "chicken war," host Eric Boehm sits down with industry experts and libertarian policy wonks to explore how these counterproductive rules got madeand explains why they can be so difficult to undo.

The post Jessie Appleby and Bill Blanken: Do California Community Colleges 'Mandate Viewpoint Conformity'? appeared first on Reason.com.
Joy Reid scorched Donald Trump with a Stranger Things-themed burn after he seemed to be more interested in posting to social media than in appearing for his own arraignment. (See her monologue below.)

The former president waived his right to appear for an arraignment in the Georgia election interference case on Thursday, instead pleading not guilty to all of the charges through a court filing. In the meantime, he was busy making videos for social media, including one where he hawks a T-shirt and another where he thanks people in predominantly Black neighborhoods of Atlanta for showering him with support.

On her MSNBC show Thursday, Reid said Trump doesnt seem to be living in reality.

As for Trumps avoidance of his arraignment, perhaps hes too busy preparing more of those bizarre and random social media video posts ... that show that he continues to live in the Upside Down, she said, referring to the mysterious dimension in the hit Netflix show.

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She took special aim at his post about Atlanta, a city that voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Of course, theres no evidence that there was even a sprinkle of support from the same city he repeatedly called horrible and crime infested, Reid noted.

Reid went on to address fact versus fiction and reality versus a reality show when it comes to Trump. She kicked off her program with a video compilation of the former president touting that hes rich.

Im smarter than they are, Im richer than they are, said Trump in remarks directed toward the elite at a 2018 rally.

Are you though, Donnie? Are you really that rich? asked Reid, citing a court filing from the New York attorney generals office that claimed Trump inflated his personal net worth by up to $2.2 billion.

When it comes to Donald Trump, you know what side he tends to come down on, the host said.

Trump seems convinced that he can make people believe the world is actually flat. His embrace of lies, conspiracy theories and alternative facts underscores most of his legal woes.

.@JoyAnnReid leads #TheReidOut tonight with Donald Trump requesting to sever his case from any of his 18 co-defendants who are demanding speedy trials in the Georgia election interference case. pic.twitter.com/RL2UaE6L4U  The ReidOut (@thereidout) August 31, 2023

Related...
After Jeffrey Epsteins death in 2019, the sex-traffickers former bank, JPMorgan, notified the Treasury Department of more than $1 billion in suspicious transactions from his accounts, according to lawyers for the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The revelation came Thursday in Manhattan federal court during oral arguments in the Caribbean territorys lawsuit against JPMorgan, which it argues enabled Epsteins trafficking of young women and girls for more than a decade.

Mimi Liu, an attorney for the USVI Attorney General, told the court that from 2003 to 2019, JPMorgan handled more than $1 billion in transactions related to Epsteins sex ring.

Epsteins entire business with JPMorgan and JPMorgans entire business with Epstein was human trafficking, Liu said during the hearing, adding that the bank was the full service financial arm for the late money-managers scheme.

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When U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff pointed out JPMorgans argument that convicted felons like Epstein can avail themselves of ordinary bank accounts, Liu answered that the evidence in the case shows that the banks relationship with Epstein went beyond ordinary banking.

Liu also highlighted other suspicious activities: Epsteins accounts transferred $4 million to women and girls and had $5 million in suspicious withdrawals. She roughly broke down the total $9 million and divided it by the couple hundred of dollars that Epstein was known to pay both victims and recruiters, saying it amounted to JPMorgan facilitating more than 20,000 sex acts.

A spokeswoman for JPMorgan declined to comment.

Jeffrey Epstein Held Meetings With Trump Allies Ahead of 2016 Election

Rakoff will soon decide whether to grant the Caribbean territory partial summary judgment on two counts in its second amended complaint: Participating in a sex-trafficking venture in violation of Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and obstruction of enforcement of the TVPA. Rakoff said his ruling would arrive by the end of September.

In a legal memorandum, the USVI requested relief including an injunction preventing JPMorgan from participating in trafficking ventures in the future and obstructing efforts to stop such ventures and at least $150 million in civil penalties. The territorys lawyers added that it defers its request for damages until trial, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 23.

In court on Thursday, JPMorgan lawyer Felicia Ellsworth told Rakoff the USVI presented not a scintilla of evidence that JPMorgan isnt following the law when it comes to sex trafficking and lacked standing to pursue an injunction against the bank.

As for the USVIs claim that JPMorgan obstructed a trafficking probe, Ellsworth said, They have not put forth any evidence that there was any investigation to obstruct.

Epstein was a client of JPMorgan from 1998 to 2013.

Since the lawsuit was filed last December, the litigation has exposed high-profile men in Epsteins orbit including Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who he introduced to JPMorgan in one of the banks most lucrative relationships.

Emails released as exhibits in the case reveal that Epstein connected bank executive Jes Staleywho exchanged creepy emails with the traffickerto Britains Prince Andrew, Dubai businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Staley is accused of sexually abusing at least one of his victims, an allegation he denies.)

Even after JPMorgan honchos cut Epstein off as a client, he continued to refer people to the financial giant, including former White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler. Epsteins executive assistant had emailed Mary Erdoes, the CEO of the banks Asset & Wealth Management arm, about Ruemmler just months before his 2019 arrest for child sex-trafficking.

Royal Family Fears Unexploded Bombs Around Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein

The bank handled millions of dollars in payments from Epstein to known co-conspirators, recruiters, victims, girls and women until 2019, including payments to women in years that coincided with their trips to the USVI, the territorys memorandum states.

Meanwhile, internal JPMorgan records revealed that bank compliance officials sounded the alarm about Epstein repeatedly, including when he faced criminal charges in Palm Beach, Florida in 2006. That year, Staley spoke with Epstein after police charged him with abusing minors; the trafficker told Staley he had sex with young women for money but denied they were underage. I went and saw him last night, Staley wrote in an email to Erdoes. Ive never seen him so shaken. He also adamantly denies the ages.

At that time, JPMorgan could have immediately exited Epsteinbut the Bank knew, from Douglas (Sandy) Warner, when he was head of JPMorgan, Epstein is one of the most connected people I know in New York, the USVI argued in its memorandum.

One JPMorgan memo from October 2006 noted that Epsteins cash withdrawals were routinely made in amounts for $40,000 to $80,000 several times a month.

Several newspaper articles were found that detail the indictment of Jeffrey Epstein in Florida on felony charges of soliciting underage prostitutes, the document continued.

We will not proactively solicit new investment business from him, the memo concluded.

Jane Doe, a survivor of Epsteins sex ring, had also sued JPMorgan for facilitating the financiers crimes. The class-action lawsuit settled for $290 million.

In its own legal papers, JPMorgan has argued that the USVI created a haven for Epsteins criminal activity and that the territory had a quid pro quo relationship with the trafficker, one that resulted in money, advice, influence, and favors for island officials.

Indeed, the government granted Epstein $300 million in tax incentives and waived his sex offender monitoring requirements, JPMorgan has argued.

Rather than account for its own failures to investigate and monitor this criminal under its jurisdiction and to protect its citizens and sovereign interests, JPMorgan lawyers said in a legal memorandum, USVI blames a third-party bank that did not have USVIs authority to enforce any law, nor USVIs knowledge of Epsteins crimes in USVIs territory, and seeks to pursue such claims at the expense of dragging Epsteins victims through yet more litigation.

The USVI, JPMorgan says, can only sue to vindicate the interests of its residents, and theres no proof that any victim was a resident  rather than a person trafficked to or from the Islands.

Even were USVI permitted to recover for itself damages suffered by othersit is notJPMC should not pay those damages twice: first to actual victims, then again to the territory that failed them and protected Epstein.

While arguing that the USVI had standing to pursue damages on Thursday, Liu said that not all of Epsteins victims came forward to file claims with the victims compensation program. Liu suggested that the USVI could keep any proceeds from the legal battle in a fund for victims to later recover.

Why shouldnt the victims benefit from the awards? she asked.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A federal judge has blocked an Arkansas law that requires children under 18 to get parental consent before accessing most social media websites  finding the law is likely unconstitutional.

Judge Timothy Brooks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas granted tech lobbying group NetChoices request to stop the law from going into effect on Sept. 1. NetChoice, whose members include Meta, Google and TikTok, sued the states attorney general in June saying the law violates the First Amendment.

Unconstitutional law: Brooks said in his 50-page ruling that NetChoice is likely to succeed in showing the law is unconstitutionally vague and fails to define which platforms are subject to it.

Brooks also said the law would burden minors and adults access to speech. Requiring adult users to comply with age-verification requirements by providing state-approved documents to the platforms imposes significant burdens on their ability to view constitutionally protected speech. While the states goal of ensuring internet safety for kids is admirable, Brooks said it doesnt justify suppressing speech addressed to adults. He also said the law isnt narrowly tailored to address the states claims of alleged online harms towards children.

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Ruling in techs favor: The ruling is a critical win for NetChoice given that the judge found it likely infringes on the publics First Amendment rights. Were pleased the court sided with the First Amendment and stopped Arkansas unconstitutional law from censoring free speech online and undermining the privacy of Arkansans, their families and their businesses as our case proceeds, NetChoices Chris Marchese, director of the groups litigation center, said in a statement. We look forward to seeing the law struck down permanently.



Trend of state laws: Arkansas is one of several states that have passed laws seeking to restrict access to social media for kids and teenagers. NetChoices success in Arkansas could signal trouble ahead for Utah and Louisiana, which have passed similar laws. A bipartisan federal bill has been introduced as well to ban kids under 13 from using social media, but it hasnt moved in committee or garnered wide support.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the bill into law in April that would have required social media platforms to use third-party companies to verify the age of users on their platforms. But after covert lobbying campaigns, certain major tech companies, including YouTube, LinkedIn and cloud service providers like Google and Amazon, were exempt. It also doesnt apply to social media platforms making less than $100 million in annual revenue.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement that he was disappointed in the ruling. I will continue to vigorously defend the law and protect our children, an important interest recognized in the federal judges order today, he said. Griffin can appeal the decision to the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, but his office declined to share his next steps.

NetChoice had asked for an expedited decision to pause the law from going into effect, given the short implementation timeframe to comply. The group claimed the law threatened Arkansans safety and privacy by requiring social media companies like Meta and TikTok to work with outside groups to collect users ages in order to verify their ages.

Additionally, civil liberties groups ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief supporting NetChoices injunction request, claiming the law would have infringed on the free speech protections granted to kids and adults on social media.
A Montgomery County Commons Pleas Court judge has issued a verdict in the trial of a man accused of killing a 19-year-old last year.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Bond set for man accused of killing Dayton teenager

On Friday, Judge Susan Solle found Quintin Clemons Sr., 40, of Trotwood, not guilty on all charges connected to the shooting death of Destiny Davis, according to Montgomery County Common Pleas court records.

Davis died after being found with a single gunshot wound in the first block of North Alder Street on Feb. 8, 2022.

A Dayton police investigation showed that Clemons and Davis knew each other. Clemons was accused of going to the first block of North Alder Street on Feb. 8, getting out of a vehicle, and shooting Davis.

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Clemons was arrested and charged with murder, felonious assault, and weapons charges.

>> Judge raises bond for driver accused in deadly Clark Co. bus crash

Earlier this week, on the day his trial was set to begin, Clemons waived his right to a jury trial and elected for a bench trial, according to court records.

News Center 7 checked at 3 p.m. and Clemons was still listed as an inmate in the Montgomery County Jail.
A Trump-era rule that allows for the logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest violates federal law, a judge found Thursday.

For decades, the Forest Service had banned the logging of trees larger than 21 inches in diameter in the forests of eastern Oregon and southeast Washington state. But in 2021, in the waning days of Donald Trump s presidency, the agency amended its policy to allow for the logging of old-growth woodlands in six national forests. The Forest Service determined that, by removing trees, logging would make forests more resistant and resilient to disturbances like wildfire.

In a lawsuit brought last year, a coalition of environmental groups questioned this conclusion, noting that the biggest and oldest trees are better able to withstand fire. These trees also play a vital role in storing carbon, supporting wildlife, and filtering fresh water, they said.

Judge Andrew Hallman sided with environmental groups, finding that the updated rule, which affects an area the size of Maryland, violates the National Forest Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act. He said the Forest Service should reassess the environmental impact of the policy change. The agency now has two weeks to object to the ruling, the Associated Press reported.

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We hope the Forest Service will take this decision to heart, said Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit. As they go back to the drawing board, we expect them to meaningfully involve all members of the public to create a durable solution.

ALSO ON YALE E360

Tree Keepers: Where Sustaining the Forest Is a Tribal Tradition
Kansas officials will no longer need to change transgender Kansans birth certificates to match their gender identity after a federal ruling Thursday that voids parts of a 2019 federal order.

Judge Daniel Crabtree of the U.S. District of Kansas ruled to uphold a legal challenge from Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach, revoking part of a federal court order made four years ago that required state officials to change the gender on a birth certificate when asked.

Kobach filed the motion after the Legislature passed a sweeping law in April defining man and woman in state law based upon sex assigned at birth, in effect restricting the kinds of public spaces and services transgender and nonbinary Kansans can access.

Crabtrees ruling did not consider whether the new law  which requires Kansas officials to issue IDs and other state documents based on an individuals sex at birth  violates the constitution. He instead focused on the technical argument of whether the consent decree could still be followed after the new rule.

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Deciding the issue presented by the current motion doesnt require the court to opine about SB 180s constitutionalitya question not framed by this cases pleadings or briefed fully by its parties, Crabtree wrote.

A separate case concerning gender markers and drivers licenses remains ongoing in state court.

Lambda Legal, a civil rights organization focused on LGBT issues, brought the federal case that permitted Kansans to change the gender on their birth certificate in October 2018 on behalf of four transgender Kansans. The settlement that followed the next year during Gov. Laura Kelly s first months in office required the state to change birth certificates of trans people who sought that remedy.

In the ruling Thursday, Crabtree concluded the circumstances under which the original judgment was made had changed since Kansas new gender law took effect. He wrote that the law clearly only allows the state to designate a persons gender on a birth certificate as male or female at birth.

The state legislature had not spoken on this issue earlier, Crabtree said in the order. Now, it has.

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan of Lambda Legal said the decision to reopen the matter and the ruling Thursday were disappointing. He added that the interpretation of Kansas law by Kobach and his ilk remains as unlawful as the policies we first challenged in our lawsuit in 2018.

Access to accurate identity documents is vital; without accurate identity documents, transgender people face even greater threats of discrimination, harassment, and even violence, Gonzalez-Pagan said in a statement. We will evaluate next steps to determine how best to continue to secure the right of transgender Kansans to have identity documents consistent with who they are.

Kobach celebrated the decision Thursday. In a statement, the attorney general said the opinion was well reasoned and thorough.

As long as I am attorney general, the laws of Kansas will be enforced as written, Kobach said. The Legislature decided that birth certificates must reflect biological reality, and they were quite clear in how they wrote the law.

Brianna Johnson, the communications director for Gov. Laura Kelly, said the Democratic governor will review the decision and her offices potential next steps, indicating that there could still be legal challenges to determine if the new law violates the constitution.

While todays decision is disappointing, its not the end of the road, Johnson said. The state should not discriminate or encroach into Kansans personal lives  its wrong, its bad for business, and its exactly why we entered this agreement with the court years ago.

In July, the presiding Shawnee County judge ordered that the Kansas Department of Revenue must temporarily stop processing gender marker change requests while the matter plays out in court. Earlier this month, the judge allowed for five transgender Kansans to intervene in the case despite objections of the attorney generals office.

The law at the center of these cases, SB 180, is one of the first of its kind in the country, amid a sweep of legislation affecting the lives of transgender residents. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the measure this spring over Kellys veto.
A federal judge temporarily blocked an Arkansas law that requires parental consent for children to create social media accounts.

District Judge Timothy L. Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas granted the preliminary injunction in response to a motion by NetChoice, a trade group for technology companies that boasts members including Facebook parent company Meta; TikTok; and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The law had been set to go into effect Friday.

Were pleased the court sided with the First Amendment and stopped Arkansas unconstitutional law from censoring free speech online and undermining the privacy of Arkansans, their families and their businesses as our case proceeds, Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, said in a statement. We look forward to seeing the law struck down permanently.

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Utah in March became the first state to require parental consent for minors to open a social media account in March. The Utah law wont go into effect until March 1, 2024.

Georgia Republicans also announced a legislative push for parental social media consent law earlier this month. Georgias lieutenant governor and Senate majority caucus chairman said they plan to introduce a law aimed to make platforms take concrete steps to verify the age of their users during the states 2024 legislative session.

The Hill has reached out to the Arkansas Attorney Generals office.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The companies that own Kansas Citys Country Club Plaza have defaulted on the nearly $300 million loan used to purchase the property, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

As of May 9, partners Macerich Co. and Taubman Centers reported they were in default of the $295.2 million loan provided by Chicago-based lender Nuveen, an investment company. It was made public in a quarterly report earlier this month.

In a statement Thursday evening, a Plaza spokesperson said there were active discussions with the lender toward a mutually acceptable outcome.

In the meantime, we remain committed to the success of the Plaza and will continue to hold the Plazas beloved events, including the Art Fair and the Plaza Lights, while actively engaging with potential tenants to ensure the success of the district, the statement says.

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It marks another sign of distress for the Plaza, an iconic shopping district that has suffered setbacks in recent years, including vacant storefronts and loss of tenants.

Last year, fashion retailer Nordstrom Inc. bailed on its plan to put a store anchoring the west side of the outdoor mall. City leaders, including Mayor Quinton Lucas, have lamented the gigantic dirt hole in the ground after construction crews laid groundwork for the development.

The loan default was first reported Thursday by The Kansas City Business Journal. The Journal, citing multiple unnamed sources, says the lender has begun pitching the idea of selling the debt to local and national groups.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Kansas City police say a July deadly shooting has been ruled a homicide.

Police were called to the area of 54th Street and Westridge Road on July 1 for a reported shooting. Officers found a man inside a home who was taken to the hospital and later declared deceased.

Photo released of suspect in Independence shooting, burglaries

On Friday, two months after the shooting, Kansas City police said the medical examiners office has ruled this death as a homicide.

Kansas City police identified the victim as 26-year-old Tyler D. Ashley.

Police have not provided further information about what led to the shooting or details on any potential suspects.

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Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477. All tips are anonymous.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
Theyre untagged

I have had occasions recently to drive throughout the Lees Summit/Kansas City area and have noticed a large number of expired temporary license plates on cars and motorcycles, some going back as long as two years. I want to know how these owners get away with it so I dont have to pay for plates in the future (just kidding).

Seriously, how do they pull this off? How shameful and derelict.

- Sandra L. Hay, Lees Summit

The following

Throughout history, nations have elected leaders who got into office by persuasion alone. They were experts in the use of powerful and emotional words that attracted large groups of the population and convinced the masses with promises of greatness and prosperity. Yet, their message was not factual. Thus, a following was created.

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Americans are no exception. For many years, voters have elected men and women without expertise or knowledge but who have convinced people to vote for them.

Millions of Americans today have been persuaded to support a man who represents the worst in human behavior and lacks any moral fiber. Yet many of his supporters say they value truth and justice.

I fear, as many Americans do, that our nation is on the brink of destruction and that our democracy and freedoms will die.

Do we realize the tragic path we are on if we continue to support a man who is leading us to that end?

My personal values will never allow me to follow such a man, nor anyone who would bring about the demise of our great country and democracy. Or will the following allow this tragedy to happen?

- Mark W. Johnson, Trimble, Missouri

Swiped away

As a hotel owner, I see the impact of credit card swipe fees every time a guest checks in. Thats because card giants such as Visa and Mastercard and card-issuing banks take 2% to 4% of the transaction whenever someone pays by card.

Swipe fees have doubled over the past decade and hit a record $160.7 billion last year. They are now most merchants highest cost after labor, and they drive up prices for the average family by more than $1,000 a year. At hotels, they can contribute $8 to the average $200 room, or $40 for a five-night stay.

Fortunately, Sen. Roger Marshall has co-sponsored the Credit Card Competition Act. This bill would require that Visa and Mastercard credit cards issued by the largest banks be able to be processed over an additional network such as Star, NYCE or Shazam. The resulting competition would save $15 billion a year, helping hold down prices at stores and hotels alike. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve says these networks, which process billions in debit card and ATM transactions, have one-fifth the fraud of Visa and Mastercard.

As a small business owner, I compete every day. Shouldnt Visa and Mastercard do the same?

- Pragnesh Naik, Owner and general manager, Quality Inn, Overland Park

Lobbyings danger

The reality of lobbying is that big business pays to get Congress to vote its way. I bet not one lobbyist is paid by the working person.

Lobbying is out of control. Many politicians appear to want to get elected to Congress to become rich and retire as millionaires.

It is time to clean house in Washington, D.C., and get rid of the lobbyists. We need to see the full tax records of all members of Congress and their spouses. Congress deserves the average working Americans health insurance and retirement plans. Its members need term limits.

We elect people to speak for us, not big business. The way our Congress is giving away money, it wont be long before more people are sitting on their rears doing nothing than are getting up every day and going to work. Our country cannot survive when this happens.

Wake up, America, and smell the coffee  if Congress says we can.

- Susan Hilliard, Lees Summit
A U.S. District Court judge recently accused the Kansas Highway Patrol of waging war against motorists in the Sunflower State. The judges opinion ruled the Kansas Two Step unconstitutional.

The Kansas Two Step is a technique the KHP trained their patrolmen to employ during traffic stops. After conducting a traffic stop, the trooper would take two steps toward their patrol vehicle, then return to the car they stopped and start a new conversation with the driver.

The KHP argued that drivers were no longer detained at that point and remained roadside voluntarily, despite being actively engaged by the officer. The goal of the prolonged traffic stops was to search the vehicle and seize any cash or drugs discovered therein. The court found this practice violated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The ruling is undoubtedly two steps forward for motorists in Kansas, but peoples rights to privacy, property and due process remain imperiled. The Kansas Two Step was just a symptom of an underlying problem and begs the question: What is driving these unconstitutional policing practices?

Jon Lueth

Thomas Kimbrell

The answer is the profit incentive civil asset forfeiture presents.

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Kansas civil asset forfeiture laws allow law enforcement to seize peoples money and property if they suspect it is connected to criminal activity, even if the owner is never charged with or convicted of a crime. Officers can confiscate drivers cash without even issuing a simple traffic citation.

Americans for Prosperity Foundations analysis of publicly available data finds that from 2019-2022, KHP seized over $6 million from hundreds of motorists. Less than one-fifth of them have been convicted of a crime.

Kansas law allows law enforcement to keep 100% of the proceeds from civil asset forfeiture, and virtually all the assets seized by Kansas law enforcement are forfeited. Americans for Prosperity Foundation finds Kansas law enforcement agencies have seized more than $16 million in cash, of which the state has returned only 3% to the owner, even though the vast majority of them are legally innocent.

This is because it is exceedingly easy for the state to take peoples property and extraordinarily difficult for owners to recover it. They must prove their propertys innocence in court to recoup it. In many cases, the cost is greater than the value of the property seized. The Institute for Justice estimates the average cost to hire an attorney to fight a simple state forfeiture case is $3,000.

Half of all seizures in Kansas have a value of $3,000 or less. Most people whose property has been seized are better off forfeiting what was taken.

In 2018, Kansas lawmakers passed a forfeiture transparency law because they suspected civil asset forfeiture was being abused. The Kansas Two Step is a prime example. Four years of forfeiture data provide further evidence of law enforcements misuse of civil asset forfeiture. While the courts have barred the Two Step, the motive for predatory policing practices remains.

Other states have abolished civil forfeiture and redirected criminal forfeiture proceeds from the seizing agency to the states general fund, effectively removing the profit incentive and restoring the original intent of forfeiture.

Last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas relieved a symptom ailing the rights of people residing in and traveling through the Sunflower State. Now it is time to remedy the root cause.

Jon Lueth is the deputy state director with Americans for Prosperity Foundation  Kansas. Thomas Kimbrell is an analyst with Americans for Prosperity Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas officers can still seize money and property from drivers
Kansas no longer has to change the gender on birth certificates for transgender residents who request this, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree vacated parts of an agreement the state had reached in 2019 with trans Kansans who had sued over the states refusal to issue birth certificates that reflect their gender identity. Crabtree had approved the agreement. Since then, they have been able to obtain the updated certificates.

But several state officials, represented by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach , a Republican, sought to have that agreement lifted in light of the states passage of a law that defines gender as binary and fixed at birth. Gov. Laura Kelly , a Democrat, vetoed that legislation, Senate Bill 180, but lawmakers overrode her veto.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Janet Stanek, State Registrar Kay Haug, and Director of Vital Statistics Jason Mathewson argued that they could not comply with both the agreement, known as a consent judgment, and SB 180. Kelly has contended that the two measures are not in conflict, as SB 180 does not explicitly prohibit the amending of birth certificates.

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Kobach praised Crabtrees decision. The trans activists in this case attempted to nullify state law, he said in a statement, as reported by The Topeka Capital-Journal. The Court held that SB 180 means what it says  birth certificates in Kansas must reflect biological sex. As long as I am attorney general, the laws of Kansas will be enforced as written.

The Legislature decided that birth certificates must reflect biological reality, and they were quite clear in how they wrote the law, Kobach added. Today's decision is a rejection of the activists and Governor Kellys attempt to twist the English language beyond recognition. The Court has told the Governor what the law clearly means. We now expect the Governor to follow the law and cease changing birth certificates to something other than biological sex at birth.

Crabtree did not rule on the validity of SB 180, however, and he noted that a case on this issue is pending in a state-level court as it relates to gender markers on drivers licenses. The court has genuine misgivings about inserting itself into the dispute about the meaning of the new Kansas law, SB 180, he wrote. Absent some issue arising under federal law, a dispute about the meaning of Kansas law belongs in a Kansas state courthouse. And in parallel litigation pending right now in Kansas state court, Kansas state officials are litigating their disputes about SB 180s meaning.

Both Kelly and lawyers for the trans Kansans expressed dismay at Crabtrees order and said they are considering what steps to take next. While todays decision is disappointing, its not the end of the road, Kelly spokesperson Brianna Johnson told the Capital-Journal. The state should not discriminate or encroach into Kansans personal lives  its wrong, its bad for business, and its exactly why we entered this agreement with the court years ago. We will review the decision, including how it impacts operations and potential next steps.

The lead lawyer for the trans plaintiffs, Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, counsel and health care strategist at Lambda Legal, issued this statement: We are disappointed that the court has saw fit to reopen the consent judgment, which has been in place for four years and operated without incident. Let us be clear, however, todays decision does not approve of SB 180, as interpreted by the Kansas Attorney General, but simply holds that the circumstances have changed. Indeed, the court went to great lengths to specify that it was not opining on SB 180s constitutionality. The interpretation of SB 180 advocated by Kris Kobach and his ilk is as unlawful as the policies we first challenged in our lawsuit in 2018. Access to accurate identity documents is vital; without accurate identity documents, transgender people face even greater threats of discrimination, harassment, and even violence. We will evaluate next steps to determine how best to continue to secure the right of transgender Kansans to have identity documents consistent with who they are.

Pictured: Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach
(This Sept.1 story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Almaty in paragraph 2)

ALMATY (Reuters) - Kazakhstan will hold a referendum to decide whether to build its first nuclear power plant, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday, adding that the date would be decided later.

The Central Asian nation's government has long discussed the idea, citing the need for new power generation capacity, and even identified a planned location for the facility in the southeastern Almaty region and mentioned Russia's Rosatom as a potential partner.

But some activists oppose the project because of safety concerns and Kazakhstan's history as home to the Soviet-operated Semei nuclear weapons testing ground.

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"On the one hand, Kazakhstan, as the world's biggest uranium producer, should have its own nuclear power capacity," Tokayev said. "On the other hand, many citizens and some experts have concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants."

(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Alex Richardson)
Trumps co-defendant, Ken Chesebro, does not, under any circumstances, want to be tried alongside Sidney Powell .

Both Chesebro and Powell were indicted earlier this month in a sweeping Georgia RICO case that charged Donald Trump and 18 of his allies with offenses related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.

Chesebro and Powell, both attorneys who assisted the former president in matters related to the 2020 election, demanded their cases be split off from their other co-defendants and quickly taken to trial. A judge granted Chesebros request last week and scheduled proceedings to begin on Oct. 23.

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On Monday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested that Powell and any other defendant wishing for a speedy trial be tried alongside Chesebro. In Willis view, the defendants should be tried jointly because they all, to varying degrees, participated in a racketeering scheme and, according to her indictment, knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.

Chesebro is less than enthused at the prospect.

In a Friday filing, Chesebros attorneys respectfully requested the court sever his trial from defendant Sidney Powell.

The filing, reviewed by Rolling Stone, argues that Powells actions are both separate and unrelated to the actions taken by Chesebro in the aftermath of the election. In an ordered list, attorneys attempted to detail how little contact the pair have had.

Mr. Chesebro has never physically met Sidney Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never sent an email to Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never received an email from Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never called Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never received a phone call from Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never texted Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never received a text message from Ms. Powell; and Mr. Chesebro has never communicated with Ms. Powell through any social media or telecommunications application.

The filing further argues that there is a danger that evidence incriminating one defendant will be considered against a co-defendant, or if the strength of the evidence against one defendant will engulf the co-defendant(s) with a spillover effect.

Simply put, if Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Powell are forced to be tried together, the State will attempt to lump them together in an attempt to convict Mr. Chesebro via a conspiracy or RICO theory based on the conduct of the co-defendant which has no relation to anything for which he stands accused, the filing adds.

The scramble among Trumps co-defendants to separate themselves from the fray points to a larger pattern of distrust amongst the alleged conspirators.

As previously reported by Rolling Stone, many of Trumps former attorneys, some of whom face possible indictments in a federal election interference case in which Trump has already been charged, have begun pointing the finger at one another behind the scenes.

Sources previously told Rolling Stone that Special Counsel Jack Smiths office is looking to pursue charges against some of the (as of now) unindicted co-conspirators mentioned in their federal case. Several of those names have already begun throwing dirt at Powell, seeing the woman whose election conspiracies Trump himself dubbed crazy as a convenient scapegoat.

Attorneys for Rudy Giuliani, an indicted co-defendant in Georgia and an unindicted co-conspirator in Smiths case, previously told CNN that one cant attach Rudy Giuliani to Sidney Powells crackpot idea.

With Powell already becoming a public punching bag for his co-defendants, its no wonder Chesebro wants her nowhere near his own case.

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Click here to read the full article.
A Western Kentucky woman shot and killed her ex-husband after he forced his way into the home he had agreed to give up just months ago, according to Kentucky State Police and court records.

The preliminary investigation into the shooting showed that Timothy S. Wright, 56, of Auburn, which is in Logan County, forcibly entered the home of Janice Wright, 68, early Friday morning, state police said.

Police said Janice Wright got a gun and a struggle ensued. During the struggle, the gun fired once and the bullet struck Timothy Wright, police said in the release.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Logan County Sheriffs Office called state police just before 2:30 a.m. to request assistance, according to a news release.

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Police did not immediately arrest Janice Wright.

Trooper Daniel Priddy, a spokesman for state police, said the commonwealths attorney will decide whether to present the case to a grand jury when the investigation is done.

Court records show Janice Wright filed for divorce Feb. 23. The couple married in 2006 but had been separated for some time, according to the petition.

The two signed a separation agreement in April that called for Timothy Wright to give up his interest in their house in return for a $10,000 payment from Janice Wright.

A judge finalized the divorce in June.

Janice Wright had filed a domestic violence petition against her ex-husband Aug. 16. Records available online did not include information on the allegations against him.

A protective order was issued the same day, along with an order for Wright to surrender any guns, court records indicate.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says Republicans in his chamber should launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden once representatives return in mid-September.

But some GOP members of McCarthys caucus say they have seen no evidence to justify impeachment proceedings against the Democratic president.

That doesnt mean McCarthy, the Bakersfield Republican who now represents Clovis in Congress, will pump the brakes. He may be leveraging the idea of impeachment against the looming government shutdown at the end of September if Congress does not pass spending bills, or at least a stop-gap measure, for the federal governments new fiscal year.

Its a strategy that carries risk. If there is little to no sufficient evidence of Bidens wrongdoing, McCarthys gamble will be rightly seen as foolish and will put the nation through a needless political firestorm.

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It would work like this: Far-right House members, whose support was critical to McCarthy winning the speakership by a razors edge of votes, also fervently want to bring impeachment proceedings. But they dont like the spending bills put forth and have threatened to stymie attempts to get a budget for the new fiscal year.

McCarthy can tell those members that if the government shuts down, there can be no start to an impeachment inquiry into Biden.

If we shut down, all the government shuts it down  investigation and everything else, he told Fox News. It hurts the American public.

Some members of the hard-right group, the so-called Freedom Caucus, balk at that scenario. They contend an impeachment inquiry can happen even with a shuttered federal government.

So McCarthy could be entering a game of chicken with members of his own party.

Impeachment evidence against Biden

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has for months been making a case that the presidents son Hunter Biden made money in foreign deals by trading on his name and proximity to the president. The committee has also accused Biden of profiting off his familys overseas business dealings with Americas adversaries when he was vice president.

But some GOP members dont see any evidence to warrant impeachment. One of those is Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. He told The Hill that there should be a direct link to the president in some evidence. We should have some clear evidence of a high crime or misdemeanor, not just assuming there may be one. I think we need to have more concrete evidence to go down that path.

Assuming House Republicans muster the votes to start impeachment proceedings, the risk for McCarthy is indeed in the evidence itself. What if it is not compelling? What if it is seen as manufactured  mere politics?

What about Trump ?

McCarthy played whataboutism when former President Trump was indicted. He turns the tables and says what about the supposed bad behavior of Democrats and Biden.

So heres a whatabout for McCarthy:

Trump, unlike the practice of presidents before him, did not divest from his business interests while in office. One of those interests was the Trump International Hotel, located less than one mile from the White House. USA Today reported that for just one year, in 2017, Trump earned $40.4 million from the hotel.

The hotels customers in 2017 also included officials or lobbyists for the governments of Malaysia, Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, according to public disclosures and event announcements, USA Today said.

Peter Baker of The New York Times noted in a recent story how foreign officials were good customers for Mr. Trump. While in office, 145 foreign officials from 75 governments visited Trump properties and foreign governments or affiliated groups hosted 13 events at his hotels and resorts.

Trump is also notable for how he had family members in his government, allowing them to make connections that would later prove valuable. After leaving White House service, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner started a private equity firm with $2 billion in funds from Saudi Arabia and hundreds of millions more from other Arab countries that stood to benefit from U.S. policies and have an interest in a possible second Trump administration, Baker reported.

Trading on the presidency for personal gain violates Ethics 101, yet Trump did it in spades.

Did McCarthy and GOP colleagues sound the alarms over Trumps dealings? Did they call them corrupt, as they have with Biden? Not a peep.

McCarthy has said he believes Americans dont like impeachment proceedings for strictly political purposes.

So if he brings the impeachment inquiry, Americans will judge that for themselves  and McCarthy and the GOP could be the potential losers.
[Source]

Kim Kardashian wore chopsticks in her hair while donning a kimono during a spontaneous photoshoot in Japan.

Impromptu shoot: On Tuesday, the 42-year-old reality TV personality posted images taken by her 10-year-old daughter, North West, on Instagram. Kardashian can be seen striking poses inside a hotel suite while wearing the traditional Japanese garment adorned with metallic silk detailing. She also styled her hair in an updo held together with what appear to be metal chopsticks.

Chopsticks for hair: It is worth noting that chopsticks are primarily intended for dining. An accessory called the kanzashi is typically used in traditional Japanese hairstyles.

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More from NextShark: Japanese man collects pebbles stuck to his shoes from a years worth of walks to convenience store

Collaborative affair: Alongside North West, Kourtney Kardashian 's 11-year-old daughter, Penelope, and Tracy Romulus' 9-year-old daughter, Ryan, contributed by holding up an iPhone and a ring light to capture the images. In the comment section of the Instagram post, several fans commended the collaborative atmosphere during the shoot.

Past controversies: Despite support from fans, the photo shoot reignited discussions of a 2019 controversy involving Kardashian in which she named her shapewear brand "Kimono." She faced backlash for cultural appropriation and later renamed the brand "Skims," emphasizing inclusivity and diversity.

"Has she learned nothing from the whole KIMONO drama?" one Instagram user wrote. "I dont think its offensive but its insensitive, doing a whole photoshoot in bed and stuff, this is a traditional clothing meant for festivities and events not a PJ party outfit."

More from NextShark: Japanese airline chooses Vulpix for new flight to spark tourism to Hokkaido

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Kingsville ISD is among several Texas school districts that have filed a lawsuit against Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath in response to changes to the school accountability rating system.

The Texas Education Agency is expected to release updated A-F performance ratings for every public school district in the state in September, reflecting school progress over the 2022-23 school year. After a redesign of the system, many districts are bracing for lower ratings.

We truly believe in accountability, Kingsville ISD Superintendent Cissy Reynolds-Perez said. All schools and all districts should be held accountable.

But, she said, school districts should be fully informed of increased rigor and changing standards ahead of time so that they can prepare and do everything possible to meet state expectations for student progress.

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According to a petition filed last week by KISD, along with Canutillo ISD, Crowley ISD, Del Valle ISD, Edinburg Consolidated ISD, Fort Stockton ISD and Pecos-Barstow ISD, the new measures and procedures the state is using to calculate the 2023-23 ratings were not provided to schools at the beginning of the school year.

Additionally, the petition cites an Aug. 15 deadline for the public release of performance ratings as outlined by the Texas Education Code. That deadline has passed.

The Commissioner cannot change the goalposts on school districts by creating new measures, methods, and procedures throughout the school year and then decide to apply them retroactively in a manner that will artificially and arbitrarily lower school districts performance ratings, the petition reads.

The Texas Education Agency declined to comment in response to an inquiry from the Caller-Times, citing ongoing legal matters.

Earlier this month during a back-to-school visit to Gregory-Portland ISD days before the petition was filed, Morath spoke briefly with the Caller-Times on the subject of accountability ratings.

For the last five years, ratings have been based on the same methodology, Morath said. This year, we are tweaking the methodology of the rating system, so when ratings come out at the end of September, a family comparing this years ratings to last years ratings is not going to be apples-to-apples.

Morath said that along with the 2022-23 ratings, the state will also release what-if ratings for the 2021-22 school year based on the new methodology. Morath said that schools have been aware that a refresh was coming this year since 2017 and that the TEA began conversations with educators across the state about the changes in the summer of 2022 and shared cut point criteria in January.

Reynolds-Perez said that her district was the first to initiate legal action, concerned about what impact a low rating might have on the community.

If people leave because they see a letter grade thats not an accurate narrative of what has occurred, you lose enrollment, Reynolds-Perez said.

School funding is based on the number of students a school serves.

Reynolds-Perez said that her concerns began growing this spring when she and other superintendents were told by the TEA during a webinar that a campus might improve between 2022 and 2023 but receive a lower rating, potentially dropping a letter grade.

This information was shared with us in the spring, Reynolds-Perez said. Thats after halfway through the year.

The ratings are based heavily on State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness results, but also take into account graduation rates and college, career and military readiness factors. The A-F system was established in 2017, but ratings were not released for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years due to the pandemic.

This year, the state is raising standards and cut points, including raising the threshold for an A rating so that schools must show 88% of graduates are career and college ready. Previously, the threshold for an A rating was 60%. These criteria will be used to assess 2022 graduates.

The state also introduced an updated STAAR test in 2023.

In March, 250 Texas school districts and education organizations signed onto an open letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, Morath, Senate Education Committee Chairman Brandon Creighton and House Public Education Committee Chairman Brad Buckley expressing concern about the college, career and military readiness changes.

Districts no longer have any influence over the performance of those students, and it is unreasonable to apply new standards retroactively, particularly because these students will not benefit from the improve(d) rigor, transparency, and fairness (of) the accountability system, the letter reads.

In May, 55 members of the Texas House of Representatives signed a letter to the commissioner expressing concern about dramatic, retroactive changes to the cut scores.

Were not getting any response from the superintendents sending a letter, Reynolds-Perez said. We didnt get a response from the legislators sending a letter. Our own legislator (J.M. Lozano) sent a letter  nothing.

Reynolds-Perez said KISD felt that the only recourse left was to file a petition asking for a hold harmless year so that the new measures are not applied retroactively to the 2022-23 school year.

Kingsville ISD is intimately familiar with the impact that a failing school accountability rating can have on a community. Before Reynolds-Perez joined the district, Kingsville ISD earned an F rating in 2017-18.

I saw how painful that can be for our community, Reynolds-Perez said. It lowers the students and teachers self-esteem. It lowers the possibility of businesses coming to your community.

The district was able to improve to a C in 2018-2019, progress it maintained in 2021-22, improving slightly from a 76 to a 78 over the course of several ungraded pandemic years.

Reynolds-Perez was concerned about how the community might react to a potentially lower grade that might not reflect the growth and progress the district has experienced.

Unless youre really entrenched in the work of public education, you really dont know because its so complicated, Reynolds-Perez said.

The Kingsville ISD Board of Trustees agreed to pursue a lawsuit and other districts reached out to join, Reynolds-Perez said.

My board and I happen to be at a point where weve seen what has occurred here in the past and we know all the hard work that everybody has been doing  all of students and all of our staff  to improve, Reynolds-Perez said. To know that our STAAR scores are improving, yet this new rating system would make changes to drop us  it's just something we felt like we needed to be able to speak up about on behalf of our students and our teachers and our community.

Gregory-Portland ISD staff share classroom insights with TEA commissioner

Texas A&M University-Kingsville program brings students back to campus to finish degrees

As state weighs four-day school weeks, Kingsville ISD prepares for shift

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Kingsville ISD, districts file lawsuit against TEA commissioner
BROCKTON  James Cobbs has officially taken over as acting superintendent of Brockton Public Schools.

The school committee voted to appoint him at an emergency meeting Friday afternoon at Brockton High School.

Cobbs' appointment comes one day after Mike Thomas - who is both superintendent and Brockton High School principal - informed the committee he will be taking medical leave after the district discovered an unaccounted for $14.4 million deficit in last school year's budget, which is fiscal year 2023.

The committee voted 7 to 1 to appoint Cobbs, with Jared Homer being the only committee member to oppose the appointment.

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"I support this wholeheartedly," said Mayor Robert Sullivan at the meeting.

"As mayor, I have every Wednesday department head meetings at City Hall. Dr. Cobbs comes to every single meeting on behalf of BPS. He's a deputy superintendent. He's a licensed superintendent. He also served our nation and is a veteran," Sullivan said.

Immediately following the vote, Cobbs shook hands with Sullivan and sat down in the empty superintendents seat next to him in the high schools Little Theater. The theater was filled with residents, and, at times, the brief meetings live stream had 700 viewers online.

Wheres the money? What we know about Brockton Public Schools financial issue on Friday

The Brockton School Committee named James Cobbs acting superintendent of schools at an emergency meeting on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023.

Who is James Cobbs?

Cobbs was named deputy superintendent of operations for the Brockton Public Schools in 2022, according to a biography provided by the school department. From 2019 to 2022, he served as executive director of operations. He also served as principal of Edison Academy from 2013 to 2021 and principal of Champion High School and the former BB Russell Alternative School from August 2014 to November 2015.

Cobbs began his career in education in 2001 as an assistant principal, summer school coordinator, and teacher at the Curley Middle School in Jamaica Plain.

Brockton School Committee member Tony Rodrigues motions to appoint James Cobbs as acting superintendent of schools at an emergency meeting of the school committee at Brockton High School on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023.

'$14 million deficit' Brockton Schools superintendent on 'extended medical leave'

He is a military veteran who has held multiple positions, including executive officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, major, commander of an electrical power line unit, combat engineering, transportation officer and electrician, the school district said. He also has experience as a nursing home executive director, "which equipped him with extensive operations experience," the school department biography said.

Switch to civilian flaggers imploded Here's why Brockton police details cost so much

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Brockton School Committee picks James Cobbs as acting superintendent
Will this be the September when we finally, really return to the office?

Every year since 2020, scores of employers have insisted that, after Labor Day, its time to go back to normal, back to working on the premises.

This year, just like Groundhog Day, companies are at it again. Goldman Sachs eliminated summer Fridays and ordered employees back to the office five days a week. Amazon recently told some remote staffers they are required to relocate to corporate hubs, prompting at least some to quit. JP Morgan Chase, Apple, Meta, BlackRock and Disney are among others mandating at least a few days a week in the office. Even some companies that previously offered work from anywhere remote options are backtracking, like Salesforce, which in June offered to donate $10 to charities for every day employees showed up in person.

Yet after three years of cajoling, enticing and demanding employees return, more than half of employees still arent in the office full time, according to The Flex Report, which tracks employment from 4,000 companies globally. A third are hybrid remote, the report found.

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Office vacancy rates hit an all-time high this year, topping 20% in some major cities. And a new Bankrate survey found that 81% of employees want a permanent four-day workweek.

'A breath of fresh air': How a 4-day workweek is helping us and our employees

There's no going back to a five-day work week in office

So lets face reality. Its time to acknowledge that there is no going back to the pre-pandemic era work schedule. If you were to invent our workplace from scratch today, there is no way it would look anything like five days a week in the office full time  a cadence that was outdated even before the pandemic began.

As someone who has managed teams for decades, I empathize with employers who want people back on the premises. Being together is essential to mentoring, collaboration, sharing a common culture and the serendipitous hallway conversations that spark new ideas. Whats more, research has shown that Zoom is a creativity killer, a terrible substitute for brainstorming new ideas in person.

Remote jobs are here to stay. But WFH's real enemy isn't the office: It's solicitors.

But employees are pushing back for good reason. It isnt just the undeniable appeal of working in sweatpants, walking the dog or doing laundry between Zoom calls. Research has found that employees are more productive at home, that eliminating the commute adds hours to their days and that back-to-office mandates seem arbitrary, suggesting employers dont trust them.

Whats more, the four-day workweek has been a proven success. Multiple studies  including one in Iceland, another in the United Kingdom and another globally  found productivity was the same or even better. Meanwhile, employees reported reduced stress and improvements in sleep, mental health and work/life balance.

Contrast that with the recent performance at Goldman, with its rigid insistence on in-person attendance: Earnings were down 58% in the most recent quarter, and it has faced multiple setbacks, including advising the now-collapsed Silicon Valley Bank.

For many workers, not having to commute on crowded trains, slow-moving buses or in their cars is one of the biggest perks of working from home.

Remote jobs mean more diverse workforces

Flexibility also leads to a more diverse workforce, giving employers a larger pool of potential hires. Women, especially those with kids at home, along with people of color, are more likely to prefer remote work.

A LinkedIn analysis found that job listings for remote positions attract proportionately more diverse candidates.

Indeed, women are participating in the workforce at unprecedented levels right now, with new records set in April, May and June. A major reason: the flexible or remote work options that started during the pandemic, combined with the end of COVID-19 restrictions, which means kids are back at school, camp or day care.

Theres also an additional, less understood, reason for the disconnect between employers and employees when it comes to returning to work, one that explains why the gulf is so stubborn. All of us have experienced a profound life change over the past few years of pandemic and other stresses. Employers are asking workers to bounce back to normal  but as psychologists have found, that simply isnt possible after an extreme trauma.

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To understand why, look to the relatively new field of post-traumatic growth. Weve all heard of PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. PTG holds that people can also grow from traumatic experiences.

Psychologists assess this growth by evaluating responses to 21 statements. Many involve a new outlook, including I changed my priorities about what is important in life, I am more likely to try to change things that need changing, and new opportunities are available that wouldnt have been otherwise.

Employers should lean into lessons from post-traumatic growth

Considering the workplace through the lens of post-traumatic growth suggests that employees may well be primed to apply that growth mindset  the openness to change and to new opportunities  to the workplace. In other words, employees cant simply bounce back to the pre-pandemic schedule, but perhaps they can bounce forward. It suggests employees can help reimagine what a new workplace should look like and to change things that need changing.

Remote work changed some peoples expectations about what work could be like and could do. It just educated some people about themselves and work/life and what they prefer, said psychologist Richard Tedeschi. Those are changes that you cant unlearn.

Psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun pioneered the concept of post-traumatic growth in the 1990s. Tedeschi is hesitant to suggest that there could be societywide post-traumatic growth, given how differently the pandemic impacted different people.

Trauma is something that changes your core beliefs and understanding of yourself and your life and your world, which not everyone has experienced, he noted.

That said, remote work changed some peoples expectations about what work could be like and could do. It just educated some people about themselves and work/life and what they prefer, Tedeschi told me. Those are changes that you cant unlearn.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

One of the key tenets of post-traumatic growth is that, to achieve it, individuals need what psychologists call an expert companion who can point out strengths and opportunities you may not be aware of yourself. For companies, the expert companion they need may just be their employees.

Along those lines, Tedeschi suggests employers treat employees as partners rather than subordinates, and supercharge communication: Get the employees involved in that discussion, hear from them, what do they think works best? ... Can the employer put themselves in the employee position? Empathy is really important.

There are signs that approach can work. Allstate insurance, for example, sold its massive Chicago headquarters last year. Tom Wilson, CEO, said the company identified positions that could potentially be done remotely, then polled employees on their preferences.

And of the people we gave a choice, 95% said they wanted to work remote permanently, Wilson said recently, "and were finding a way to make it work.

Joanne Lipman

Allstate has about 57,000 employees, and 82% of those in the United States work remotely. Since instituting its remote policy, Wilson said, diverse hires have increased by 30%.

The bottom line is: Lets use this moment to build a new way of working, rather than trying the impossible task of bouncing back. This doesnt necessarily mean doing away with the office altogether. But it does mean letting go of obsolete ideas and rethinking the structure of the workplace.

Only then can we figure out a workplace that truly works  for all of us.

Joanne Lipman, a journalism lecturer at Yale University, is author of "NEXT! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work and "Thats What She Said. A member of USA TODAYs Board of Contributors, she is a former editor-in-chief of USA TODAY. Learn more at www.joannelipman.com

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Employees don't want to return to offices. Companies must face reality
Vyacheslav Migitskiy used his 33-foot Sea Ray boat, named "Wayne's World," to tow another vessel in Lake Ontario on an August evening in 2022, federal prosecutors allege.

Then he capsized that ship, they claim.

A witness spotted the "partially submerged vessel with the bow out of the water about 200 yards off the shore in Lake Ontario" and near the Genesee River early the next morning, according to court papers. That report sparked a Coast Guard search in the water and a New York State Police helicopter from above; the costs of the search totaled almost $15,500, the court papers say.

Migitskiy, 33, is now charged with destruction of a vessel, making a false statement and sinking of a vessel in a navigable channel.

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But why? Court documents do not provide a theory yet.

"It was determined that no individuals were on vessel," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release about the discovery of the boat  a 25-foot 1987 Bayliner  and the subsequent search. "It was also determined that the propellers and boat plug were missing, and all electronics were removed from the vessel."

The Coast Guard Investigative Service traced the ownership of the Bayliner to Migitskiy, who claimed he advertised the boat on Facebook then gave the boat to individuals he could not identify.

Investigators then turned to surveillance videos from businesses and the West Irondequoit Central School District that allegedly showed "Wayne's World" being used by Migitskiy to tow and sink the Bayliner in the lake.

Migitskiy appeared in federal court Thursday and has been released on his own recognizance, awaiting trial.

 Gary Craig is a veteran reporter with the Democrat and Chronicle, covering courts and crime and more. You can reach Craig at gcraig@rocheste.gannett.com. He is the author of two books, including "Seven Million: A Cop, a Priest, a Soldier for the IRA, and the Still-Unsolved Rochester Brink's Heist." He has seen the classic movie "Wayne's World" at least twice but has been known to stop flipping channels for it on TV.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Vyacheslav Migitskiy accused of sinking boat in Lake Ontario NY
The United States Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against an Ohio landlord accused of sexually harassing his female tenants for almost two decades.

Joseph Lucas owned and operated over 70 residential rental properties in the Athens County area, the lawsuit says. Between 2004 and 2023, he allegedly harassed multiple women who lived in his properties or inquired about residing in them.

Lucas is accused of making sexual advances toward female tenants and offering to reduce rent in exchange for sexual acts, according to the lawsuit filed Aug. 31 with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

It also states he would offer to look past late payments in exchange for sex.

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In or around 2012, Lucas made unwanted sexual comments and frequently showed up unannounced at the home of a female tenant, the lawsuit says.

After commenting that her rent was late, Defendant (Lucas) said they could come up with some ideas on how to pay rent, or words to that effect. When the tenant asked him to clarify, Defendant said words to the effect that they could take it out in trade while looking at her in a suggestive manner. When she asked him if he meant sex, he responded or whatever, the lawsuit says.

In 2019, a woman says Lucas entered her home unannounced and peered into the bathroom while she was showering. She yelled at him to get out, the lawsuit says.

A month later, Lucas offered to forgive the woman the rent she owed in exchange for sex, but she refused., the lawsuit says. A few days later, an eviction action was filed, and the woman, her partner and her newborn baby were forced to move out, the lawsuit says.

Lucas is accused of engaging in unwanted sexual contact with another woman in exchange for reduced rent from 2016 to 2022. The lawsuit says Lucas would threaten the woman with eviction if she refused or ignored his requests, or if she was seen with other men.

No one should have to experience sexual harassment in their home or their community, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division said in an Aug. 31 news release from the DOJ. The Justice Department will vigorously enforce fair housing laws to hold accountable landlords who prey on vulnerable tenants and housing applicants.

The lawsuit says these are just a few examples of his longstanding pattern or practice of illegal sexual harassment of multiple actual and prospective female tenants from at least 2004 to the present.

No attorney was listed for Lucas in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is asking a judge to award monetary damages and civil penalties against Lucas along with any additional relief as the interest of justice may require.

This lawsuit sends a message that this deplorable behavior has no place in our communities and that the U.S. Attorneys Office will vigorously enforce federal civil rights laws to stop this conduct, U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker for the Southern District of Ohio said in the release.

The lawsuit came after a joint investigation between the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG), the release says.

Every person deserves to feel safe in housing without facing the threat of being sexually harassed or abused by a landlord, HUD Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis said in the release. Victims should not hesitate to report such harassment and abuse to law enforcement authorities. HUD-OIG will continue to work with its law enforcement partners to hold housing providers accountable for this type of horrible conduct.

Lucas will have to face a jury trial. A court date was not listed in the lawsuit.

Athens County is about 75 miles southeast of Columbus.

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The odd tale of an African tortoise living with dogs and cats at a Louisiana animal shelter took an even stranger turn when a man showed up to report the ottoman-sized creature was his lost pet.

Video of the joyous reunion shows Biscuit  yes, thats its name  walked out of the Ascension Parish animal shelter and headed straight to his owners pickup. The parish is outside Baton Rouge.

We are happy to report that Biscuit has reunited with his family, Caras House-Ascension Parish Animal Shelter wrote Aug. 30 on Facebook. This boy is 100 years old.

Details of how Biscuit got free were not released, but he clearly was not prepared for life in the wild.

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He ended up having to be rescued from a canal, the Parish of Ascension reports.

This morning, the Ascension Parish Sheriffs Office called (animal control) out for a land tortoise in distress in New River Canal, the parish reported.

Two animal control officers, Curt Trepagnier and Isreal Millet, then worked with APSO to retrieve the tortoise from the canal. The tortoise was humanely contained, loaded into the truck, and safely transported to Caras House-Ascension Parish Animal Shelter.

The shelter did not reveal the name of Biscuits family, but one social media commenter reports he was the owner and blamed a storm for setting the tortoise free.

The wind and rain from yesterday (Aug. 29) blew my back gate open and broke the latch, he wrote in a Facebook post.

I told my wife this morning that I would fix it Sunday, and it would be fine till then. Biscuit had other plans. For the first time in years he decided to take an adventure. Thanks to the good people involved and the post I was able to get him back before my daughter came home!

News of Biscuits rescue and family reunion has gotten more than 1,500 reactions and comments on social media, including some who suggested the tortoise needs his own Facebook page.

The African spurred tortoise can grow to 30 inches in length and some males even reach 200 pounds, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. They live 80 to 100 years, the alliance says.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A man accused in a series of home break-ins, which included an armed robbery, has been released from jail less than a week after his arrest, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned.

Shamar Swanson, 26, faces at least 10 charges, including robbery with the use a deadly weapon, three counts of burglary with a firearm deadly weapon, two counts of home invasion with a firearm or deadly weapon, three counts of conspiracy to commit burglary, and grand larceny of a firearm.

Swanson was arrested at his east Las Vegas home on Aug. 24, according to Las Vegas Metro police.

On Aug. 25, Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Daniel Westmeyer set Swansons bail at $50,000, court records show. The release order included medium-level electronic monitoring, Swanson is to have no weapons in his possession, and he is ordered to stay out of trouble.

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On Aug. 27, Swanson posted bond, according to court records. In Nevada, a bail bond can be purchased for 15% of the bail from a licensed bail agent.

On Aug. 29, Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Ann Zimmerman kept the same conditions. Swanson was formally identified as indigent and a public defender was appointed.

Swanson and Rondel Wilson, 24, are accused in a series of home break-ins, which took place over several days from Aug. 6-10 in Summerlin and the northwest Las Vegas valley.

During one break-in, an armed burglar pointed a gun at a womans head while her granddaughters watched, threatening to kill her if she didnt get the combination to a safe in her home in the northwest valley, according to an arrest report.

Surveillance images helped police identify Wilson as the man who threatened the woman during the Aug. 8 break-in. The woman wasnt harmed before the suspects left out the broken back door. They forced her to call her husband to get the combination, and he said he was around the corner and would be home shortly. The suspects took her phone and threw it into the backyard swimming pool as they left.

Wilson faces at least 17 charges including assault with the use a deadly weapon, robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, two counts of home invasion with the use of a firearm or deadly weapon, two counts of conspiracy to commit home invasion, conspiracy to commit robbery, three counts of conspiracy to commit burglary, three counts of burglary while in possession of a firearm or deadly weapon, grand larceny of a firearm, owning or possessing a gun as a prohibited person, carrying a gun without a permit, and buying, possessing, receiving or withholding stolen property valued at more than $25,000.

Police arrested Wilson as he left a North Las Vegas casino on Aug. 23, and police recovered the handgun that was stolen, tucked into Wilsons waistband, police said. While police were looking for a second subject who was with Wilson, he slipped his handcuffs and tried to run back into the casino, according to police.

Wilson initially appeared in court on Aug. 24, according to court records. Las Vegas Justice Court Pro Tem Judge Lauren Diefenbach set Wilsons bail at $100,000. She also ordered him to stay out of trouble.

On Aug. 29. Judge Diana Sullivan denied a motion from the Clark County District Attorneys office to put Swanson on electronic monitoring.

As of Aug. 31, Swanson had not posted bond and remained in custody at the Clark County Detention Center.

Wilson and Swanson were scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 6.

A third suspect present at the northwest valley burglary had not been arrested as of Thursday.

Items taken in the burglaries include a handgun and ammunition, jewelry, cameras and designer handbags.

Metro police asked for the publics help in identifying the suspects on Aug. 14, and photos from that request included images of the car used in the burglaries.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Messages from loved ones, written in chalk on the sidewalk, still surround a southwest Las Vegas valley memorial three weeks after the subject was shot and killed during a large party.

Its on the other side of a fence surrounding The Wyatt, an apartment complex where neighbors now walk past a stain near the pool. That stain is where they say two of the three gunshot victims bled out after the early August gathering.

Eric, as he asked to go by, lives directly across from the scene and remembers hearing the late-night gunshots before a swarm of people ran past his front door.

A gun gives people a lot of courage, Eric said, speaking inside the complex Thursday morning. Theres always kids there. Thats the one thing, its likeI have a granddaughter, and I dont want, you know, me taking my granddaughter to the pool and next thing you know they shoot it up.

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Its situations like this that prompt concerns about holiday weekend parties that could turn dangerous, especially ahead of the Labor Day weekend.

So far in 2023, there have been at least four reports of house party deaths across the valley, which took the lives of at least five people and injured several others. At least three of the deceased were teenagers.

Las Vegas Metro police say theyre taking proactive measures ahead of the weekend, like posting a warning on social media Thursday morning. Please note that house parties have resulted in violence, it reads, while indicating parties at short-term rentals also contribute to the problem amongst permanent residences.

A police department representative emphasized to 8 News Now that they are not deterring people from gathering, but typically receive more calls for service during tourism influxes and large gatherings.

Just like liquid courage, you get that pistol, and somebody says the wrong thing to you or looks at you the wrong way, people want to use it, Eric said. Metros got to keep us safe, you know, because, there is a lot of people dying here in Las Vegas.

Metro Police are asking the public to stay safe by:

Calling 911 for active emergencies

Calling 311 for suspicious activity

Submitting online service requests to be connected to community-oriented policing squads

Anonymously submitting tips to Crime Stoppers of Nevada online or at (702) 385-5555

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.  The state of Missouri is hoping to reduce the number of expired temporary license tags with a new state law.

It seems to be a problem in all parts of the state: expired or fake temporary license tags.

Its not just a St. Louis or Kansas City problem; its the entire state.

Some cities are taking unique approaches to deal with the issue. The focus of Missouris new law is to crack down on the issue, but it will be years before its implemented.

Five new Missouri laws to know that take effect Monday

I think we all (know) temp tags have, needless to say, been forged, been used, been doctored, been everything that possibly could happen, Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday.

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Temporary tags are given to drivers when they purchase a vehicle, but the consumer must make a trip to the DMV office within 30 days to pay the sales tax.

This should end about 90% of the temp tag abuse that we are seeing across the state, Rep. Michael ODonnell, R-St. Louis County, said. Its really become a problem.

The governor put pen to paper Thursday, signing off on bipartisan legislation expected to crack down on expired temp tags.

It will require car dealers to collect sales tax at the time a vehicle is purchased. Customers will either have to pay a lump sum or the tax can be rolled into monthly payments.

Many states, like Illinois, already combine the two payments.

Missouris new texting and driving law even bans holding your phone

The one thing, at the dealership, you can buy a car, they can wrap that up in the financing or whatever it might be, but at least you know when youre there, youre going to be legal, Parson said.

The new law  which also prohibits drivers from having their phone in their hand to text, call, scroll on social media or watch videos while behind the wheel  is estimated to eliminate roughly 90% of temp tag abuse.

The large number of illegal tags has some cities taking matters into their own hands. In St. Charles, the mayor is asking citizens to take pictures of expired tags and send them into the city, so it can pursue legal action.

In cities like Joplin and Springfield, police said they dont have the manpower to pull people over for illegal tags.

Only one state doesnt have a ban on texting and driving; heres why

I think what happens a lot of times is people buy cars, they probably overextended a little bit and then all of a sudden, you cant pay the taxes when you go get the license and then really good people get in trouble over it, Parson said.

Even though the law took effect earlier this week, the software that will allow dealers to connect with the Department of Revenue wont be online until 2025.

Until then, if you buy a car, youll have to go to a DMV office to pay the sales tax. Dealers have been paying an extra administrative fee to pay for the new computer.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
A federal appeals court on Friday heard oral arguments in two cases from Kentucky and Tennessee that will likely decide the future of access to gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.

Who decides whether certain medications to treat gender dysphoria in children are permitted in Kentuckys borders? Matthew Kuhn, state solicitor general, said to Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, Judge Amul Thapar and Judge Helene White. Is it Kentuckys General Assembly, or is it the courts?

Kentuckys ban on gender-affirming surgeries, hormone therapy and puberty blockers for youth living with gender dysphoria has been in effect since July. After that provision  part of the larger Senate Bill 150  became law over Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear s veto in March, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky sued the state on behalf of seven trans minors and their families.

The ACLU and National Center for Lesbian Rights argue that the prohibition on puberty blockers and hormones, specifically, violates their plaintiffs and their parents protected rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. They did not challenge the ban on gender-affirming surgeries.

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They claim the law violates the Equal Protection Clause under the Fourteenth Amendment because it expressly discriminates on the basis of sex, the ACLU wrote in a court filing. It targets transgender adolescents, denying them medically-necessary care because of their gender nonconformity.

This denial also violates parents rights under the same federal protections to seek and follow medical advice to safeguard their childrens health, the ACLU said.

Attorney Stephanie Schuster, arguing on behalf of the plaintiffs, reiterated this claim Friday, arguing Kentuckys law relies on express sex-based classifications. Because the statute expressly draws lines based on sex, it violates the Equal Protection clause, she said.

Though trans youth legally have access to gender-affirming care once they turn 18, Schuster said, the prohibition until then not only violates their constitutional right, but it deprives them of whats considered the evidence-based medical care in the U.S.  a standard no one disputed during Fridays arguments except Kuhn.

Withholding treatment, even up until the age of 18, and allowing puberty to occur consistent with the sex identified at birth is extraordinarily harmful to these children, Schuster said. What (SB150) regulates is not just procedures they can get, but its many aspects of these childrens lives while theyre at school that are medically indicated and medically necessary to live and develop into functioning, happy adults.

Senate Bill 150 also includes restrictions on public school curriculum gender and sexuality, prevents districts from requiring teachers to use a trans students correct name or pronouns, and requires districts to set policies barring trans students from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

In May, plaintiffs asked a federal judge to temporarily block that portion of the new law from taking effect while the merits of the larger suit, Jane Doe v. Thornbury, are decided in court. U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Kentucky David Hale granted their request in June, saying the treatments blocked by SB150 are medically appropriate and necessary for some transgender children under the evidence-based standard of care accepted by major medical organizations in the U.S.

Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is running for governor to unseat Beshear, has ardently defended the constitutionality of the new law and his ability to enforce it. After Hales order, Cameron, who is running for governor, promptly petitioned the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to allow him to enforce the new ban.

While this was happening, a similar lawsuit in Tennessee, L.W. v. Skrmetti, whose plaintiffs had also been granted temporary relief, made its way before the Sixth Circuit appellate court  a regional panel that covers Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Michigan. A panel of appellate judges stayed that lower courts order, reinstating the Volunteer States gender-affirming medical care ban. In doing so, a three-judge panel also consolidated Kentuckys and Tennessees cases into the same appeals process. A final ruling on a full appeal of both lower courts bans is expected by Sept. 30.

Oral arguments in that consolidated case are what took place Friday afternoon.

Referencing the initial questions raised by Kuhn, Schuster said, my colleague started his case by saying this is a case about who decides, the state or the courts? She agreed with that question, she said. But the who isnt the Legislature or the courts, its the parents or the state, she said. The state can usurp the authority of a fit parent who is acting in the best interest of their child.

Chief Judge Sutton interrupted, and said hes sympathetic to this scenario, but where is the line?

The idea that parents can require treatment thats otherwise been regulated strikes me as having some serious slippery slope problems, he said.

Kuhn said it was interesting how the state and the plaintiffs both believe theyre approaching the issue with compassion, but their positions at odds: the plaintiffs think Senate Bill 150 is going to cause harm to children, and the Kentucky General Assembly thinks its going to prohibit harm, he said.

Kuhn called the ban a compassion measure passed by our General Assembly, and one that 42 states, total, are discussing. More debate, rather than less debate, is preferred on this. Its a good thing the states are focused on this. We ask the court to reverse the preliminary injunction.

Amicus brief highlights

Cameron, in his pleas to the judicial system to let him enforce these bans, was joined by the conservative, religiously-affiliated Family Foundation, the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, the Family Research Council, and 21 GOP-led states that have enacted similar bans, all of whom filed amicus briefs supporting his argument.

Most label the type of medical care in question as experimental. In public statements related to the lawsuit and in court filings, Cameron has said the state must protect kids from unnecessary experimentation, and experimental procedures with long-term irreversible consequences.

The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, which bills itself as a nonprofit that uplifts and defends the biblical and traditional framework of the family, agreed that parents have a right to make medical decisions on behalf of their children. That said, parents rights to make health care decisions does not supersede states power to regulate experimental and dangerous drugs or medical treatments, the group said in a 43-page brief.

Siding with the plaintiffs were 21 other states, more than 20 major U.S. medical associations, a number of lawyers, professors of medicine and public health who teach about biomedical ethics and health-related rights and discrimination, as well as dozens of trans adults who shared personal stories.

In their 35-page brief, which delves into the clinical understanding of gender dysphoria and effective treatment for it, medical associations including American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry explained why both states bans will put trans youth at risk of significant harm.

The widely accepted recommendation of the medical community, including that of the respected professional organizations participating here . . . is that the standard of care for treating gender dysphoria is gender-affirming care, they wrote in an early August filing.

This type of care does not always include medical intervention, but for teenagers with persistent gender dysphoria that worsens with the onset of puberty, gender-affirming care may include medical interventions to align their physiology with their gender identity, the organizations said in their 35-page brief.

In these situations, when medical interventions are provided to carefully evaluated patients who meet diagnostic criteria, that treatment can lead to significant improvements in the mental health and overall well-being of that population.

In another brief supporting the plaintiffs, 57 trans adults, including the actor Elliot Page, emphasized the importance of allowing this type of health care to remain accessible to trans youth, and the meaningful role this care played in their own lives.

Like the overwhelming majority of people who receive this care, (they) benefited from it immensely, the brief reads. Some were fortunate enough to be able to begin receiving this care as minors. For the majority, however, the barriers to accessing this care  due, fundamentally, to discrimination  were insurmountable until adulthood. (Those) who received gender-affirming health care as minors describe it as crucial to their well-being and even survival. Many who started care after adolescence suffered as a result of this delay.
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  As U.S. businesses struggle to fill job vacancies, leaders across the country are calling on the White House to step in.

We need the national government to stand up, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.

Democrats and Republicans say the federal government must cut red tape to allow more immigrants into the workforce.

We have the jobs. We have the people. We just need authorization from Washington, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.

Rebecca Shi, founding executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, represents 1,400 employers nationwide.

Were at a crisis, she said.

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According to Shi, speeding up the work permit process is the answer to the nations labor shortage.

Were hearing that the application for asylum and work permits are taking up to a year to four years, Shi said.

Right now, there arent enough working Americans to fill all of the available jobs. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports there are nearly 10 million job openings but only about 6 million Americans looking for work.

Its driving up the cost of food and housing for every American, Shi said.

The Biden administration says it doesnt have the authority to speed permits up.

Its established under immigration law and can only be changed by Congress. Thats how this process works, said Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary.

But Shi said the White House went around Congress to help thousands of Ukrainian and Venezuelan refugees.

So if theres a will, theres a way, Shi said.

Without action from Congress, the White House is promising to find a way forward.

Following a meeting with New Yorks governor on Wednesday, the White House said it will launch a national campaign to get more eligible individuals signed up for work authorization.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
Rockcastle County Superintendent Carrie Ballinger was talking to some high school students this week when a student raised her hand.

She said my passion is music, Ballinger said. She asked why cant we have a music theory and music composition in our high school?

The simple answer is money. Rockcastle is in the lowest 20% of property tax wealth, unable to tax themselves into more school funding that would provide that kind of specialized instruction.

If she lived in Fayette or Jefferson, she would have that very opportunity that shes seeking, but because shes living in a rural district, shes not, Ballinger said.

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It came as no surprise to Ballinger that Kentucky, which once was a national pathfinder for school funding equity, has now slipped to even greater inequality between rich and poor districts than what triggered the Rose lawsuit that ended with the Kentucky Education Reform Act.

This week, the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy released a paper finding the difference in per-pupil funding between the states poorest and wealthiest districts now exceeds the level deemed unconstitutional by the Kentucky Supreme Court more than three decades ago.

In 1990, there was a $3,489 per-pupil funding gap, in 2022 dollars, between the wealthiest and poorest school districts. In 2022, the per-pupil gap reached $3,902.

Rose said the state has to provide equal opportunity for all kids, and that funding obligation cannot just be the responsibility of the local district, Ballinger said. But because state legislators have let the base funding slip so much, poorer rural school districts simply cant make up the difference. That funding inadequacy impacts our instructional offerings, it impacts our ability to recruit and retain high quality teachers, it impacts our facilities and our ability to maintain and build new ones.

Currently the district is $17 million short in its quest to replace a 50-year-old middle school with a leaking roof.

Rockcastle schools officials would like to offer all the same classes as bigger more urban districts, but their low tax base holds them back. (Credit: Rockcastle County Schools)

Lets just fund another school system

But instead of addressing people like Ballinger, Kentuckys legislative supermajority instead wants to start funding a new school system: a system of private schools.

They are openly planning to pass a ballot initiative that would rewrite the Constitution to allow tax dollars to pay for private schools. Kentuckys founders were quite explicit on this point: The interest and dividends of said fund, together with any sum which may be produced by taxation or otherwise for purposes of common school education, shall be appropriated to the common schools, and to no other purpose.

Thats why the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled against a school voucher program last year. School choice advocates vowed to keep going until they got what they wanted, which will mean changing the Constitution.

But education savings accounts, vouchers, tax credits and the like always start out small and then start draining tax dollars away from public schools, said Joshua Cowen, an education policy professor at Michigan State University who began his career at the University of Kentucky.

And they end up helping not the children who want to leave public schools, but the ones who are already in private ones.

What ends up happening is about three-quarters of the families are already in private school, he said. Its not about helping failing schools, its about setting up a new subsidy for private enrollees.

These efforts are supported by private schools who want new revenue streams from tax dollars, but its important to note that many of these efforts come from national groups, who generally want public schools to be privatized. For example, the School Freedom Fund is a PAC largely bankrolled by conservative megadonor Jeff Yass, a billionaire investment and trading executive who also supports Sen. Rand Paul. The School Freedom Fund has already put around $3 million into the Kentucky governors race.

But this is where national groups can get into trouble, Cowen said, because they dont recognize the politics on the ground.

How many private schools are there east of Lexington or in other rural areas? he said. If you cant get into private school, school choice does nothing for you.

And while rural legislators may be happy to attack books in a school library, they may be less likely to push measures that will hurt the biggest employers in their counties. Those school employees might just hold them accountable when money that should be going to their schools starts funding the little popup in the church basement instead.

Its impossible to pay for two school systems past about two or three budget cycles, Cowen said. If you need to raise teacher salaries or build infrastructure, you cant do it if youre paying for private schools.

Hurting public schools

Where will this money come from? Not the GOP economic miracle of getting rid of the income tax. On Thursday, the state budget office announced that one of the triggers for lowering it another point had not been met, so the tax would not be lowered another point next year.

Luckily, Kentucky voters dont seem to love changing our state Constitution, especially when it means it will hurt their local schools. But we will see many more millions of dollars flooding our state next year in an effort to change the democratic compact that our tax dollars should pay for public schools whether we choose them or not.

In Rockcastle County, Carrie Ballinger will be making the case that local schools should not be punished even more.

If we already have a funding inadequacy issue that results in our students not getting an equitable education, then what happens if we start funding private schools? she said. It will only compound the problems our public schools are having.

It makes no sense because public schools are the backbone of our rural communities, she added. You can look over what Kentucky has endured in the past few years from flooding to tornadoes  when tragedy strikes, its the school systems that step in. They are the community in rural Kentucky, and when we dont fund them, were not just hurting students, were hurting the very communities that we love.
Lenovo has introduced its new flagship gaming laptop at IFA 2023, and it's the first 16-inch model under the company's Legion brand. Called the Lenovo Legion 9i, it's powered by the 13th-gen Intel Core i9 processor and can be equipped with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, as well as a 64GB Overclocked 5600Mhz Dual Channel DDR5 RAM or a 32GB Overclocked 6400Mhz DDR5 Dual Channel RAM. Lenovo VP Jun Ouyang said the Legion 9i is the first Legion laptop with an integrated liquid-cooling system and hardware AI chip tuning.

The company describes its liquid cooling system as the first of its kind for a 16-inch laptop. It's positioned so that it runs over the GPU VRAM, allowing it to manage heat under extreme gaming sessions, and it switches on when the GPU hits a temperature of 183 degrees Fahrenheit (84 degrees Celsius). This works in tandem with an AI-tuned triple-fan air-cooling system. Speaking of AI, Lenovo's LA-2 AI chip syncs the RGB strips around the keyboard and on other parts of the laptop. As for the device's screen, it uses Lenovo's PureSight 3.2K Mini-LED with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 165Hz variable refresh rate. The laptop can also accommodate up to a 2TB SSD for storage.

One interesting thing to note is that the company didn't launch separate Pro and Slim variants like it does for lower-tier gaming laptops, because it says this model fulfills the purpose of both varieties. The Legion laptop will ship with Windows 11 and a 3-month free subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It will be available in October with prices starting at $4,399.

Lenovo Legion glasses product photo

In addition to the new flagship laptop, Lenovo has also announced a new version of its Legion Glasses, which are a wearable virtual monitor. They use the company's micro-OLED display technology and can deliver full HD resolution with a 60Hz refresh rate for each eye. These glasses provide a portable, large-screen viewing experience for users with Legion Go and other compatible devices, which include most newer Android phones, iPhones, Windows and Mac computers. They will also be available next month and will set buyers back at least $329.

Finally, Lenovo has unveiled a 27-inch ThinkVision 3D monitor that doesn't need glasses. It's 3D Explorer software gives users a way to access various 3D apps and provides them with a platform for 3D creation. When 3D isn't needed, though, users can switch to 2D mode instead. The ThinkVision 27 3D Monitor will be available in select markets in January 2024 with prices starting at $2,999.
The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride returns this spooky season to celebrate its 15th Anniversary with brand-new mazes and attractions.

The beloved Halloween event takes over Griffith Park and becomes the fictional town of Midnight Falls from Sept. 22 through Oct. 31.

Additions this year include brand-new wagons with various seating options, updated effects, new horror scenes, new add-on experiences, and new attractions.

A new maze, Hellbilly Halloween, invites visitors to venture into the backwoods where a long-rumored cannibalistic family has taken in the spirit of Halloween by dishing out diabolical tricks filled with horrifying treats.

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New activities include:

Midnight Falls Axe Throwing: With the curse of the witch plaguing Midnight Falls, learn to protect yourself from the less-than-friendly ghouls.

Zombie Splat  A GellyBall Experience: Keep the army of the undead at bay and protect Midnight Falls! Gellyball is smaller than traditional paintballs and uses a colored water balloon, allowing for a much lighter impact and no permanent mess. Guests will be aiming at live actor zombies in a zombie apocalypse simulator.

The 2023 L.A. Haunted Hayride takes over Griffith Park for Halloween haunts and scares. (Los Angeles Haunted Hayride)

The L.A. Haunted Hayride takes over Griffith Park for Halloween haunts and scares. (Los Angeles Haunted Hayride)

The L.A. Haunted Hayride takes over Griffith Park for Halloween haunts and scares. (Los Angeles Haunted Hayride)

The L.A. Haunted Hayride takes over Griffith Park for Halloween haunts and scares. (Los Angeles Haunted Hayride)

Six Flags Magic Mountain announces new mazes for Fright Fest 2023

Returning attractions include:

The Monte Revolta Show: Get ready for the ultimate Theatrical Macabre Experience from beyond the grave. Join Monte Revolta, Rotly and Ms. Muerte as they exhume an ultra-shocking musical comedy revue.

The Town Square of Midnight Falls: The central hub of festivities where guests walk between attractions or hang out to soak in the fear as townsfolk roam the streets and interact with outsiders.

Midnight Mortuary  Scorched Earth: Once a beacon of rest and peace, the mortuary has ignited its darkest chambers to show guests a different kind of afterlife. Step into the heat as youre invited for a rare open house experience, guiding you through the ashen halls where spirits are not set free but forever smoldering in the shadows.

Trick or Treat: Local homes inside Midnight Falls spring to life from the spirit of Halloween, but the ghoulish residents have far more tricks on their minds than treats. The wondrous magic of a traditional neighborhood Halloween celebration is turned upside down as terrors stalk the streets.

Tickets for the L.A. Haunted Hayride are on sale now at losangeleshauntedhayride.com. Prices start at $29.99 on select nights.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Chinese ambassador rebukes doom and gloom rhetoric about Chinese economy

Xinhua) 13:22, September 01, 2023

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng in an article published Tuesday on The Washington Post's website laid out several facts about the current state of the Chinese economy, rebuking recent voices claiming that China is heading toward an economic crash.

Xie said that China's economy continues to recover and grow this year; the economy is also significantly greener and more innovation-driven than in the past; China's trade with foreign economies remains resilient, and overseas businesses continue to invest in China despite a lackluster trend of transnational investment globally.

As China continues to upgrade consumption, ease market access, optimize the business environment and strengthen supply and industrial chains, the fundamentals sustaining its long-term growth remain unchanged, said Xie.

"With ample room in our policy tool kit, we are confident that we can forestall systemic risks," he added.

In a direct rebuke to those who claim that "China may collapse," Xie left it to the readers to ponder whether the assertion is fair when China is "undergoing temporary economic adjustments."

"More American friends have come to realize that the notion that China could economically collapse and America still thrive is utter fantasy," said Xie at the end of his article. "The United States needs to lift technology export controls, investment restrictions, economic sanctions and high tariffs against China."

He urged Washington to stop building parallel systems and seeking to decouple in the name of "de-risking," which he said would only further complicate an already arduous global recovery.

"Instead, China and the United States should respect each other, coexist in peace and pursue win-win cooperation. This is the only way forward. And the world expects no less," said the ambassador in conclusion.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
 Flash

A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said that there should be principles and bottom lines for communications and dialogues between the Chinese and U.S. militaries.

Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks in response to a media inquiry citing concerns that military-to-military exchanges between China and the United States are in a state of interruption.

Wu said that China-U.S. mil-to-mil engagement has not stopped. The two sides have been maintaining candid and effective communications through military diplomatic channels.

Nevertheless, there are indeed many difficulties and obstacles in the relationship, Wu said, adding that many of such difficulties and obstacles are caused by the U.S. side.

For some time, the United States has been sticking to a wrong perception of China and taking unreasonable measures to contain and suppress China. It has brutally interfered in China's internal affairs by selling arms to and strengthening military ties with China's Taiwan region. The U.S. military has sent naval and air troops to China's vicinity to conduct provocative and deterrent military operations, Wu said.

Therefore, the Chinese military has every reason to take countermeasures, Wu said.

When the U.S. side is undermining China's national interests, it should have no illusions that the Chinese military would communicate like nothing happened, Wu noted.

The U.S. side should show real sincerity and take concrete measures to create the conditions for the mil-to-mil relationship to return to the right track, Wu said.
A pair of tourists riding jet skis off the coast of Morocco were shot dead by the Algerian coast guard when they accidentally strayed across an international border on Tuesday, reports say.

The two victims were named as Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Mechouer, both French-Moroccan dual nationals, by Moroccos Le360 news site. They were reportedly part of a group of four who were targeted with gunfire after inadvertently setting off in the wrong direction from the Saidia resort in northeast Morocco.

Smail Snabe, another French-Moroccan, was arrested by the Algerian coast guard, accoridng to Le360. The only member of the group to make it safely back to Morocco was Mohamed Kissi, who spoke about the incident with local media.

We got lost but we kept going until we found ourselves in Algeria, Kissi said, according to the AFP news agency. We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian dinghy came towards us, Kissi said, and those in the boat then fired at us.

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Thank God I wasnt hit, but they killed my brother and my friend, he said. They arrested my other friend. He added that the group had got lost and we were out of fuel, and that he escaped the same fate as the others by being picked up by the Moroccan navy as he swam for his life.

Kissi also denied that the group had made an attempt to flee the Algerian coast guard, telling reporters that his brother had attempted to speak to the officials before they opened fire. A Moroccan fisherman later found one of the bodies in the water and shared online a video of the lifeless man floating in the waves.

Abdelkarim Kissi , an actor who is the cousin of both Mohamed and Bilal, expressed outrage at the incident and called for Moroccan authorities to take the case to international courts. They killed Bilal Kissi my little cousin, he wrote online. His only fault was crossing the Algerian territorial waters, he was on vacation with his friends.

Moroccan media reported that Snabe, the arrested tourist, appeared before an Algerian prosecutor on Wednesday, but any charges against him have not been disclosed. A spokesperson for the Moroccan government would not comment on the case to the AFP, saying it was a matter for the judiciary.

The killings come amid worsening relations between Algeria and Morocco. The North African countries have long disputed the status of the Western Sahara and the border between them has been closed since 1994. Two years ago, Algeria broke off diplomatic ties with Morocco altogether, accusing its neighbor of hostile acts. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune told Al Jazeera in March that relations with Morocco had practically reached the point of no return.

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Lilian Gutierrez Silva does not consider herself a lottery player. In fact, she doesnt even understand scratch-off games.

But when the Virginia Beach womans cousin recently bought a Funky Fortune ticket, Silva decided to test her luck, according to an Aug. 30 news release from the Virginia Lottery.

I never win! Silva told officials.

She scratched the ticket and asked for her cousins help, officials said.

I showed the ticket to my cousin and said, Tell me if I won or not,  Silva said, according to the release.

She had scored a $500,000 top prize, officials said.

Now, the college student said she plans to pay for her education using her big win.

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Silvas winning ticket came from Malbon Brothers Corner Mart in Virginia Beach, officials said.

The Florida Lottery offers instructions for playing a scratch-off game: Just scratch the scratch-off coating on your ticket with a coin to see if you have won. Game instructions are printed on the face of your ticket. Each of the Scratch-Off games will vary in price, prize structure, play style, and play instructions.

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.

Stepmom scratched her lottery ticket and went ghost white. Now she has big plans

Grandma reuses grandsons birthday on lottery ticket after big win  and wins again

Couple learns someone in NC town won big Powerball prize  but didnt know it was them
A 37-year-old woman was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison after admitting to causing the death of her 1-year-old son two years ago.

Quanisha Williams pleaded guilty to a count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury to family member. The offense is a first-degree felony that carries a punishment of five years to life in prison.

She will have to serve half of her sentence before she is eligible for parole.

Quanisha Williams

Williams admitted to intentionally, knowingly and recklessly causing serious bodily injury to her son by causing him to strike a hard object. She also admitted to using or exhibiting a deadly weapon, her hands and a hard object in the commission of the offense, according to her judicial confession.

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Williams entered her plea via video conference from the Lubbock County Detention Center where she has been held since her Sept. 30, 2021, arrest in the 800 block of South 1st Street in Slaton.

Her charge stems from a Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit investigation that began 5:19 p.m. Feb. 15, 2021, emergency responders were called to a home in the 1800 block of East Colgate Street in Lubbock for a child that was not breathing and unresponsive.

The child, 1-year-old Quayvon Williams, was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center where he died.

Williams told CPS workers that she was the primary caregiver for the boy. She said the baby was up all night and finally went to sleep at about 2 p.m. in his chair, where he usually sits and watches TV, court documents obtained by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal state.

Williams said she began cooking and would check on the boy periodically.

She said no one else went in the room while her son slept and she doesn't allow anyone near the baby.

At 4 p.m., she went to feed him but he wasn't responding.

She said she shook him out of the seat, laid him on the bed and checked his pulse. She began CPR on the boy after not sensing a pulse.

She told one of her nieces who lives at the home to call 911.She said while giving her son CPR, she blew into his mouth and blood flowed out of his nose.

Williams said EMS personnel arrived quickly and took over first aid.

Williams' niece told investigators her aunt was in the room with the toddler for most of the morning and didn't come out until 1 or 2 p.m. She aid she saw Williams go back in the room to feed the boy and heard her scream her name, telling her to call 911.

The doctors who treated the boy told investigators his injuries included a cracked skull, several broken ribs, petechial hemorrhaging in his left eye, which was swollen, and bruises on his abdomen and leg.

Investigators consulted with a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse injuries who believed the child's injuries were consistent with abuse.

Investigators asked Williams about the boy's injuries and she told them she accidentally struck the child with a wooden stick while she tried to move cats out of the way.

She also said her 7-year-old daughter dropped the boy.

A Lubbock County grand jury returned an indictment against Williams two days before her arrest.

"These situations are always very difficult," said Williams' attorney, Jeff Nicholson. "In fact, any time you have a situation where you have a death of a child involved it really weighs on everybody involved."

He said he and his co-counsel, Laurie Key, worked hard with the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office to work out a fair deal.

"If the state was comfortable in going forward on the end result being a homicide, I believe they would have done that," Nicholson said. "I believe [prosecutors] took the proper look at [the case] before they indicted it and I believe it was indicted in the correct manner."

Homicide cases involving the death of children younger than 10 years old can result in a charge of capital murder or murder.

However, both offenses would require prosecutors proving defendants acted with intent to kill.

Lubbock County District Attorney Sunshine Stanek said the investigation lacked the details that would have shed light on the exact nature of the boy's death in the home where court documents state three adults and 10 children lived.

"We just know that there was blunt-force trauma caused to the child," she said.

However, Texas law allows prosecutors to charge Williams with an enhanced aggravated assault charge, which is typically a second-degree felonies that carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison.

By adding elements of serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon involving a family member, aggravated assault becomes a first-degree felony that carries a punishment of five years to life in prison. Under Texas law, serious bodily injury includes death.

Aggravated assault charges also rely on defendants acting recklessly rather than knowingly or intentionally.

Manslaughter, a offense in which a reckless act causes a death, is a second-degree felony that also carries a 2-to 20-year prison sentence.

"In our office, we have in the past charged these types of cases in creative ways when we're dealing with situations where we're not exactly sure what happened," Stanek said. "We know there's a fatality, we know the mother, defendant was involved in that fatality, but we don't know a lot of the details for the reasons that I just listed."

Stabnek said the plea offer Willaims accepted satisfied the ends of justice for the boy's death.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Woman gets 40 years for child's violent death
(Bloomberg) -- President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva unveiled his 2024 budget proposal, promising to eliminate Brazils growing fiscal deficit through a number of new taxes that still require approval from lawmakers.

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The plan, sent to congress on Thursday, will face many hurdles. While congressional leaders are reluctant to support tax increases, Lula plans to boost public spending even more in 2024.

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The 2024 budget was the most complex in Brazils history, Planning Minister Simone Tebet told journalists as she outlined the proposal. She promised, however, that the government will reach a zero fiscal deficit next year.

Finance Minister Fernando Haddad , speaking alongside Tebet, added that the goal of a balanced budget was approved by Lula. If he hadnt agreed with the idea, he would have vetoed it, he said.

Brazils fiscal performance has been quickly deteriorating since Lula took office. The primary deficit, which excludes interest payments, widened to 0.8% of gross domestic product over the past 12 months through July, according to central bank data released earlier on Thursday. That compares with a 1.3% surplus at end-2022.

By the end of the year, the primary deficit for the central government only is expected to grow to 145 billion reais ($29.5 billion). Considering the increase in public spending expected for 2024, the government will require 168 billion reais in additional revenue in order to completely eliminate it, according to Tebet.

What Bloomberg Economics Says

Brazil promised a balanced budget in 2024 and offered reasonable assumptions for nominal GDP growth, but markets may not buy the governments estimates for the additional revenue meant to offset higher expenditures. We dont think Thursdays budget announcement will convince analysts and investors that the country will soon be done running primary deficits..

 Adriana Dupita, Brazil and Argentina economist

Click here for the full report.

More Taxes...

Part of that revenue is conditioned to the approval of several new taxes, mostly aimed at the countrys wealthiest individuals. Among them are levies on closed-end and offshore funds, as well as the elimination of a mechanism that reduces income tax paid by large companies.

Together, the measures can potentially bring in more than 30 billion reais to public coffers in 2024. Yet all of them need to be approved by lawmakers, which means they run the risk of being watered down or even completely rejected. Congressional leaders have already expressed skepticism about the tax rates outlined in the initial proposals.

Read More: Lula Seeks to Tax the Rich to Help Balance Brazils Budget

And More Spending

The economic team will also face challenges on the spending side.

The budget bill estimates a 129 billion-real increase to public spending, but Lula is likely to keep pressuring for more social outlays in 2024, when Brazil will have mayoral elections.

Brazils 2024 budget is the first to be drafted under new fiscal rules approved by congress and designed to shore up public finances. It sets a zero primary deficit target, with a tolerance range of minus 0.25% to plus 0.25% of gross domestic product. Economists expect Haddad to fail to deliver on that promise, possibly missing the range of tolerance as well.

--With assistance from Robert Jameson.

(Updates with bill sent to congress; adds detail on expected additional revenue in table.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
A neo-Nazi group has gone on an interstate recruiting tour, targeting LBTQ-friendly events in Ohio, and is threatening to hold a rally in Florida this month. But its in Maine, where the groups leader is trying to build a headquarters, that the organization is causing the most trouble.

The neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe has spent 2023 seeking attention from other members of the white supremacist movement. Wearing bright red shirts and black ski masks, the group has agitated at anti-LGBT rallies, and encouraged other far-right groups to more fully embrace Nazi symbols and militant tactics. The groups next anticipated stunt is a swastika flag march at an unannounced location and date in Florida this month, alongside another white supremacist group that previously harassed residents of Jacksonville, a city still reeling from a different white supremacists mass shooting at a Dollar General in August.

Despite their far-flung recruiting efforts, its in Maine that Blood Tribe and its leader Christopher Pohlhaus are trying to establish themselves. In the sparsely populated town of Springfield, Blood Tribe is buying up land, trying to establish a white supremacist huband getting its supporters banned from Airbnb in the process.

Neo-Nazis Repeatedly Targeted Jacksonville Before Mass Shooting

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We have a problem with Nazis coming to set up a military-style camp, Maine State Sen. Joe Baldacci told The Daily Beast of Mainers attitude toward the neo-Nazi encampment.

Baldacci is proposing legislation that would prohibit groups from setting up paramilitary training facilities in Maine. Already, 25 states have similar laws on the books, Baldacci said, pointing to a statute in Vermont that might prevent a group like Blood Tribe from setting up shop.

Reached by phone, Pohlhaus declined to comment immediately. He recently told Maines WVII that the proposed legislation is nothing to do with me. Nothing to do with me and nothing to do with what I'm doing. And its not going to stop me at all."

Pohlhauss project in Maine is a 120-acre site where he plans to construct a white supremacist camp site, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported in July. In social media statements, Pohlhaus has suggested that locals accept his presence there, and that Maines a white state.

On the contrary, residents have taken issue with Pohlhaus activities in their rural area north of Bangor. Complaints from members of a local gym led to the SPLC identifying Blood Tribes camp site. Pohlhaus was banned from the Planet Fitness in July over multiple member complaints about his racist T-shirts and swastika tattoos, journalist Crash Berry first reported.

Baldacci said hes also received complaints from residents, including an email from a Springfield-area official stating that we need help.

A local woman who attempted to rehabilitate Pohlhaus image was also kicked off Airbnb this week, with users on the r/Maine subreddit filing complaints about her bed and breakfast. Kathie Greear, who did not return requests for comment, has hosted Pohlhaus in the past. Last October, Greear used her B&Bs Facebook page to share a picture of Pohlhaus pressing apple cider. The Airbnb ban came after it was revealed that Pohlhaus had stayed and worked at Greears Loons Nest Lodge while guests were present, in violation of Airbnb policies, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Greear also came to Pohlhauss aid in a letter to the editor of the Lincoln News last month.

First of all I am not a Nazi sympathizer or supporter but I still thought this country allowed people to have different opinions without being accused or cancelled, Greear wrote. Let me share a couple of facts. Chris was thrown out of Planet Fitness because his tattoo of a swastika on his chest was showing through his white tee shirt while working out. In my world I would have spoken with Chris and asked him to either change his shirt or leave and when he returned we should not be able to see that symbol that causes such upset to other patrons.

Did you know that the swastika was actually used way before Hitler used it? Currently all over the world with what I would expect a different meaning than what we associate it with. Here in this country it was first used by the Native Americans.

Pohlhaus is a neo-Nazi and most people associate the swastika with Nazis.

Blood Tribe is currently advertising what it claims will be the biggest swastika march since the Third Reich, sometime in Florida this month. Although the group has not announced the date, Pohlhaus indicated to The Daily Beast that he would be traveling for the event on Sept. 6.

The event is advertised as a collaboration with a different white supremacist group with a reputation for harassing Jewish people in Florida.

Provocative group rallies are part of an effort to consolidate a white supremacist movement that has been largely decentralized since the disastrous Unite The Right rally in 2017, said Hannah Gais, a senior researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The movement hasnt really recovered from that, Gais told The Daily Beast. She noted that many current groups rely on tactics like vandalism, flier distribution, and small (but extensively photographed) rallies to give off the impression of a thriving movement.

Heres Why Ron DeSantis Was Booed After a Racist Mass Murder in Jacksonville

Its really about churning out material, getting attention, getting people to think theyre more active and bigger than they are, she said.

Blood Tribe has used recent high-profile hate rallies to recruit prospective neo-Nazis across the country. In March, the group joined with other far-right organizations to hold an anti-drag rally in Wadsworth, Ohio, where Blood Tribe members shouted Sieg Heil! and threw Nazi salutes at people entering the all-ages drag event.

Though the anti-LGBT crowd included less-explicitly neo-Nazi groups like the Proud Boys, Blood Tribe has pushed fellow travelers to adopt a more radical nationalism, occasionally feuding with chapters of the Proud Boys over outward adoption of Nazi symbols.

Soon after collaborating with Blood Tribe in Wadsworth, some members of another white supremacist group did adopt newly militant tactics. In a podcast episode after the event, Pohlhaus boasted of convincing members of the group White Lives Matter Ohio (WLM Ohio) to throw Nazi salutes at the event. Shortly after that, WLM Ohios Telegram (which rarely mentioned neo-Nazi ideology by name, and even the previous year called neo-Nazis LARPers who stand at the gateway of nationalism like bridge trolls to keep sane men from crossing over,) began posting more openly in support of the fascist ideology.

Two weeks after the Wadsworth rally, a member of WLM Ohio, whod been pictured standing alongside Blood Tribe members, was arrested for throwing a homemade explosive at an LGBT-friendly church that was planning to host a drag event. The man, 20-year-old Aimenn Penny, admitted to investigators that hed attempted to burn down the church to protect children and stop the drag show event, according to an FBI affidavit, which also noted that he expressed enthusiasm for a civil war between races in the U.S.

Pohlhaus has described the event as evidence that his group can expect little pushback from police, reasoning that police will keep counter-protesters away.

The cops being there definitely gives you the leeway to be as insufferable and obnoxious as possible. I can say whatever to encourage the most emotional response, Pohlhaus said. There was an ambulance that had to show up twice because a woman on the opposing side of the demonstration had an anxiety attack.

In Maine, however, Pohlhauss group is the unwelcome party, with locals brainstorming ways to prevent more Nazis from showing up in the woods. Some previously noted that Blood Tribe does not yet have the required permits for building cabins and burning brush on the Springfield property.

Baldacci, the state senator promoting an anti-paramilitary law, noted that the building code issue is unlikely to pose much of a barrier to the encampment. If he qualified for a building permit like everyone else, he said, they [the town] couldnt deny it just because hes a Nazi.

But Maine has dealt with white supremacists in the past.

Maine had a long history with the KKK, said Baldacci, a Catholic whose family remembers the groups intimidation tactics. My father remembered the KKK burning crosses near the Catholic church. Unfortunately this cycle of hate has existed before.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A 23-year-old man has been charged with murder in a shooting that killed one and left four others injured, the Dallas Police Department announced in a news release Thursday.

Laquest Sirls was arrested and charged Thursday in the July shooting on Al Lipscomb Way in Dallas.

At around 5 a.m. July 16, Dallas police responded to a call in the 3000 block of Al Lipscomb Way. When officers arrived at the scene, they found an adult female shot and lying on the ground. She died at the scene, according to the release.

Four other people were shot and injured.

An adult female who was injured was taken by Dallas Fire-Rescue to local hospital in stable condition.

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The three other victims, an adult female and two adult males, were taken by private vehicles to local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, the release said.

Sirls remains in the Dallas County Jail on a bond of $1.5 million, jail records show.

Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to contact Detective Andrea Isom at 214-671-3701 or by email at andrea.Isom@dallaspolice.gov.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office arrested a man suspected of committing Medicaid fraud by having an unlicensed sober living home and attempting to "broker" them to outpatient behavioral health facilities.

Court documents state 53-year-old Robert Kayongo met with an outpatient behavioral health facility on Aug. 10 and said he was the bishop of a church in California and Phoenix. He said he housed clients in Chandler and initially said his facility was licensed when asked.

Documents say Kayongo eventually admitted his home wasn't licensed but was in the process of being licensed. Kayongo then told the facility staff that he had five patients that he was willing to refer in exchange for "financials for the clients."

The facility's staff told Kayongo that this was illegal and ordered him out of the building after getting into an argument, documents state.

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An undercover Arizona Attorney General special agent called Kayongo on Aug. 28 posing as a someone opening a behavioral health outpatient facility and asked Kayongo if he could provide them patients to which Kayongo said he could provide between eight to ten but advised that he wanted compensation.

The two went back and forth before eventually agreeing to a price of $1,050 per patient per week, documents say. On Wednesday, Kayongo gave the agent the address of the sober living home along with the names and birthdays of the eight patients he would provide.

Documents say Kayongo was pleased to learn the agent would directly deposit the payment into his bank account as it would "not leave a paper trail."

The documents also note that Kayongo never asked the agent about their qualifications, their ability to provide care or the quality of the care.

The two agreed to meet at a Dunkin Donuts in Chandler on Wednesday where agents arrested Kayongo. After his arrest, Kayongo told agents he had been operating the home since October 2022 and had made $40,000 in two months thanks to payments from an outpatient facility, documents say.

Documents state agents executed a search warrant on Kayongo's home where they found eight patients in an unsanitary setting. The documents note that the home had a strong smell of sewage. The home also had a makeshift room in the garage containing just a bed, tv, microwave and an air-conditioning unit that didn't seem to work properly as the room was just as warm as the outside.

Kayongo was booked into jail and charged with two counts of patient referral fraud. He's being held on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Maricopa County Superior Court on Sept. 7.

His arrest comes on the heels of a massive multiagency fraud investigation that fleeced hundreds of millions of dollars from Arizona taxpayers as part of a scheme that preyed on Indigenous people.

Tribal leaders and state officials said Indigenous people were aggressively recruited and in some cases kidnapped from rural areas and taken to sham facilities in the Phoenix area where they often weren't allowed to leave or to contact their loved ones. At the same time, fake clinic leaders were getting paid government money for providing so-called mental health and substance abuse treatment, officials said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Man arrested on suspicion of committing Medicaid fraud in Chandler
The state Attorney Generals Office wants a man accused of killing a Scott County deputy to face the death penalty, according to a court document filed Wednesday.

Attorney General Daniel Camerons office filed a notice of aggravating circumstances against Steven Sheangshang, 45, indicating they want Sheangshang to be eligible for the death penalty if hes convicted of murdering sheriffs deputy Caleb Conley. Sheangshang is accused of killing Conley during a traffic stop in May, according to court records. He was indicted in July.

The filing says Sheangshang should be eligible for the death penalty because murdering a law enforcement officer is an aggravating circumstance under state law. While the court record doesnt indicate that prosecutors will outright ask jurors to sentence Sheangshang to death, it does say prosecutors will ask for the death penalty to be an option at sentencing.

The Attorney Generals Office does not prosecute most criminal cases in state court, but an attorney from the office was appointed as a special prosecutor in this case, court records show. Rewa Zakharia, director of the office of special prosecutions for the attorney general, is prosecuting Sheangshang.

Steven Sheangshang appeared in Fayette District Court Wednesday via Zoom.

Sheangshang faces several different court cases across multiple counties. Hes charged with murder, robbery, wanton endangerment, possessing a gun as a felon and being a persistent felony offender in Scott County. Hes also charged with assault, fraud, robbery, burglary, theft, evidence tampering, possessing a gun as a convicted felon and being a persistent felony offender in Fayette County, records show.

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He faces fraud and theft charges in Woodford County, and hes been charged with burglary and being a persistent felony offender in Kenton County, records show.

Sheangshang was being held at the Bourbon County Detention Center Friday, according to jail records.

Deputy Caleb Conley, of the Scott County Sheriffs Office, was shot and killed while on duty on May 21, 2023.
A Florida man was arrested and charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend after allegedly suggesting to police that she had killed herself.

Joel Bauza, 50, was taken into custody Thursday on one charge of first-degree homicide in the killing of 49-year-old Joysee Cartagena, Sanford police said in a statement.

A picture of Joysee Cartagena, via Collison-Gramkow Funeral Home & Crematory.

A picture of Joysee Cartagena, via Collison-Gramkow Funeral Home & Crematory.

According to the statement, police received a call on July 17 from a person reporting that theyd discovered Cartagena dead inside the home.

When Sanford Fire and Rescue personnel arrived, they found Cartagena with a large zip tie around her neck and attempted to lifesaving measures, but she was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

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Police Chief Cecil Smith said Bauza tried to push authorities toward a suicide investigation. But by July 31, they were already looking at the death as a possible homicide.

Through the great work of the Lake County Medical Examiners Office and our Major Crimes Investigators, it was clear that Joysee didnt take her own life, Smith said in the police statement.

An autopsy concluded that Cartagenas cause of death was manual strangulation.

She was a radiant woman who made a positive impact on so many lives in this community, Smith added. We are saddened that Bauzas actions took her from loved ones so prematurely.

Bauza appeared in court Friday, and it was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.

On Facebook, Bauzas account suggested that he was married to Cartagena, and it featured many photos of the two going back to 2016.

Those who were close to Cartagena reacted to the news of Bauzas arrest online, saying that they hoped she would finally receive justice.

Not only did you kill her with your own hands you desecrated her gorgeous body and put a disgusting thing around her to make it look like she did this to herself, one person wrote. You thought you was gonna get away with this but WE WERE ONTO TO YOU FROM THE START!

Cartagenas obituary described her as a shine of light who would be remembered for her kindness.

She was also an amazing mother who always put the needs of her son first, the obituary read. She protected him fiercely from the negative things in life and made sure he knew every single day how much she loved him.

The son, Steven Rivera Cartagena, previously told NBC affiliate WESH that his mom sought to help others in her work at Seminole County Public Schools and JetBlue.

My mother is my only immediate family thats here in Florida, so hearing the news that she passed away, I felt like an orphan, Rivera Cartagena told the outlet.

She was my world. I mean, thats all I knew, he added.

Cartagenas son told WESH that he will continue to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor in memory of his mother; a GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help with his college tuition following her death.

If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Related...
A Sacramento Superior Court jury on Thursday convicted a man who shot three people last year at a Sacramento nightclub after he threatened employees, was involved in a large fight and was kicked out of the business by security guards, prosecutors said.

The Sacramento County jury found 29-year-old Miguel Robles guilty of three counts of premeditated attempted murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of making criminal threats and one count of possessing a loaded firearm, the Sacramento County District Attorneys Office announced Friday in a news release.

His charges also include enhancements for firing a gun, using a firearm causing great bodily injury and personal use of a firearm.

The shooting occurred in the early hours of Jan. 22, 2022, at El Bukanas nightclub in the 7200 block of Franklin Boulevard, just south of Florin Road in Sacramentos Parkway neighborhood.

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Robles was with a group of people at the nightclub watching a live band perform. Prosecutors said Robles got on stage and offered alcohol to the band members. One of the nightclub employees asked Robles to get off the stage.

Prosecutors said Robles began making threats to the employee, saying he had an AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles in his truck and would shut this place down.

Security guards asked Robles and his group to leave the nightclub. Robles and his group then became involved in a large fight inside the nightclub, according to the District Attorneys Office.





The security guards forcefully removed Robles and his group from El Bukanas. Prosecutors said Robles then repeatedly threatened the employee who initially asked to get off the stage and the security guards, telling them he would kill all of them.

Prosecutors said Robles faces a maximum sentence of 141 years to life in prison. Deputy District Attorney Chelsea Givens prosecuted the case against Robles.

Gunshots fired

Robles returned to the nightclub with a gun and continued to say he was going to kill everyone, before he fired five gunshots at the nightclub employee, the security guards and a patron who had helped take Robles and his group out of the nightclub, prosecutors said.

The nightclub employee suffered a gunshot wound to his arm, a security guard suffered grazing wounds and the patron suffered a gunshot wound to his heel, according to the news release.

Prosecutors said Robles then threatened a man and his wife working at a taco stand in front of the nightclub, telling them he was going to kill them because they worked there. He pointed a gun at each of them and pulled the trigger, according to the District Attorneys Office. But the gun was out of ammunition.





Robles went back to his truck while yelling to the man and his wife that he would be back to kill them, prosecutors said. The husband and wife took photos of the shooting suspect leaving the scene.

Sacramento police said the nightclub shooting was reported about 1:20 a.m., and officers found the three wounded people. The officers provided first aid, and the shooting victims were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Shooting suspect arrested the following night

The following night, less than 24 hours after the shooting, Robles was spotted at another nightclub. Prosecutors said some of the security guards there recognized him as the shooting suspect at El Bukanas. They called 911.

About 11:30 that night, police were informed that the shooting suspect from the night before was at a nightclub in the 8400 block of Folsom Boulevard in the College/Glen neighborhood.

Police said patrol officers nearby spotted a vehicle leaving the area and pulled over the vehicle. One of the people inside the vehicle was Robles, who was identified as the shooting suspect and taken into custody.

Robles on Friday remained in custody at the Sacramento County Jail. He is scheduled to return Sept. 29 to Sacramento Superior Court for his sentencing hearing.
 Flash

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday told his South Korean counterpart Park Jin that the development of China-South Korean relations has an internal driving force and inevitable logic, and should not be influenced by any third party.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a phone conversation with Park, held at the South Korean foreign minister's request.

Wang stressed that China's policy toward South Korea has maintained continuity and stability.

China and South Korea should stick to the original intention of establishing diplomatic ties, stick to the right direction of friendly cooperation, continue to enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples, guard against interference from external factors, refrain from ideological confrontations, jointly push for steady and long-term bilateral relations, and open up the next 30 years of more sustainable, resilient and closer cooperation, Wang said.

Noting that mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation is the ballast of bilateral relations, Wang said that with enormous economic development potential and a large market, China is accelerating the construction of a new system for a higher-level open economy. Expanding China-South Korea cooperation will help South Korea achieve sustainable prosperity and development, he added.

He expressed hope that South Korea will strengthen its strategic autonomy, reject various anti-globalization manoeuvers and attempts to decouple or sever supply chains, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, so as to better serve the people of the two countries.

China supports South Korea in playing a positive role in promoting trilateral cooperation as the chair of the China-Japan-South Korea cooperation, the Chinese foreign minister added.

Park expressed sympathy over the recent floods in some parts of China and expressed hope that the 19th Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou is a complete success and a grand event of peace and unity.

Noting that South Korea and China are close neighbors and important partners, Park said that 2023 marks the beginning of the second 30 years of bilateral relations. He added that the government of President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks highly of the fruitful results achieved in bilateral relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties and will continue to value and promote bilateral ties.

The South Korean side looks forward to enhancing high-level exchanges with China, strengthening people-to-people exchanges, improving mutual understanding, and actively building a sound and mature South Korea-China relationship, Park said.

He said South Korea has no intention to engage in decoupling or targeting a specific country on the issue of production and supply chains, and noted that "de-sinicization" is neither possible nor desirable.

South Korea is willing to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with China, keep production and supply chains stable and unimpeded, and jointly promote regional economic growth, Park said.

The two sides also exchanged views on issues including Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater and the Korean Peninsula.
A man convicted this month of fatally stabbing his girlfriend escaped Thursday from a suburban Philadelphia prison and prosecutors say he is also wanted in his native Brazil in a separate slaying.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, eluded guards at the Chester County Prison in West Chester before 9 a.m., and was seen nearly an hour later walking on a road near the prison, authorities said.

A jury took just 15 minutes to convict Cavalcante of killing Deborah Brandao, his girlfriend of two years, in front of her children at her home in Schuylkill Township in April 2021. Prosecutors said he was angry that she planned to disclose the charges in Brazil. They stem from a 2017 slaying according to Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan.

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Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison Aug. 22 and was awaiting a transfer to state prison in Pennsylvania.

Authorities described him as 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall and 120 pounds (54 kilograms). He has curly black hair and a closely-cropped beard and mustache, according to a photo the county released.

Residents within a 6-mile (10-kilometer) radius of the prison have been notified, Ryan said.

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A fight between multiple people on a residential street near Kansas Citys Wilbur H. Dunn Park ended Thursday night with one man fatally shot, according to police.

Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a KCPD spokeswoman, said police were called around 8:45 p.m. to the 1800 block of East 67th Street, just off The Paseo, on what was initially reported as a disturbance where a verbal argument had turned physical. As the officers were responding, Gonzalez said, dispatchers informed them that a shooting had taken place.

Responding officers provided emergency medical aid to the lone victim of an apparent gunshot wound. He was found unresponsive in the street, taken by ambulance to the hospital and died there.

Gonzalez said there was a short window between the time the fight was reported and the shooting. It was not immediately known how many people were involved in the initial incident.

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No persons of interest were in police custody as of late Thursday, Gonzalez said.

Homicide detectives and crime scene personnel responded to the scene in search of witnesses and evidence. Detectives were speaking with a large number of people to figure out precisely what happened, Gonzalez said.

She added that police would pursue answers to deliver justice for this victims family.

Information gathered early on by detectives indicated some type of verbal argument was likely the catalyst for the killing, Gonzalez said. She said the police department has been working Kansas City communities as part of its violence prevention efforts to help conflicts be resolved peacefully.

I would really like to continue to see all of us really come together and work on this conflict resolution that we need so badly to develop, so that we can prevent these verbal arguments that dont need to turn violent from escalating to that point, she said.

The fatal shooting comes amid a staggering year of violence in Kansas City, which remains on pace with a homicide count in 2020 that set the record for the most in any year. As of Thursday, there have been 133 homicides in Kansas City so far in 2023, according to data maintained by The Star.

Kansas City police were asking anyone with information to contact detectives at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS.
A man has been found guilty of second-degree murder for the 2020 fentanyl-related death of a 26-year-old woman in Temecula, marking the first such jury conviction in California history.

According to a release from the Riverside County District Attorneys Office, Vicente David Romero, 34, split a pill containing fentanyl with Kelsey King on June 16, 2020.

During the five-day trial, the prosecution called ten witnesses to testify and showed body-worn camera footage in which Romero said he gave and split a pill known as a blue or M30 with King, which he knew to contain fentanyl, the Riverside County District Attorneys office said.

Romeros case is the first of 23 active homicide cases in Riverside County related to fentanyl poisonings to go to trial, the DAs office said.

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911 calls from Cooks Corner mass shooting released (warning)

Today, our office has successfully provided justice to a victims family by securing the first-ever guilty verdict by a jury in a fentanyl-related homicide trial in the state of California, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. This verdict is a testament to our unwavering commitment to protecting our communities, providing justice for victims and holding those accountable who engage in the distribution of illicit fentanyl resulting in death.

In addition, Romero, who remains in custody at the Southwest Detention Center, also admitted to five additional charges, including possession of drugs while armed and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Romeros sentencing is set for Oct. 6. If convicted of second-degree murder, he could face 15 years to life in prison. The additional charges carry a sentence of up to six years and eight months in prison.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is over 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It is often added to other, more expensive illicit drugs because of its extreme potency, the Riverside County DAs office said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Homicide investigators are asking for the publics help in locating the person or people responsible for the death of man in the Littlerock area of Los Angeles County earlier this year.

The body of Thomas Cedric Lyons was discovered on July 29 in the 36000 block of 116th Street, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department bulletin.

Authorities described Lyons as an unhoused transient who frequented the Llano and Littlerock communities and was often seen with a group of dogs.

Thomas Cedric Lyons

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner said that Lyons was found dead at the scene after suffering multiple stab wounds, City News Service reported.

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Anyone with information about this homicide is urged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or submit tips online at L.A. Crime Stoppers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
A vigil was held Thursday night to remember a 21-year-old man who was found stabbed to death at a Malibu beach.

Emmanuel Baltazar Silva was a new father to a 3-month-old son when his body was found near a lifeguard tower at Las Tunas Beach just before midnight on Aug. 22.

He later died at the hospital from multiple stab wounds. As his friends and family gathered at the beach Thursday night, the suspect still remains at large.

His mother, Patricia Silva, said Emmanuel worked as a security guard and was always a good son who never got into trouble. She recalls the last time she spoke with her son.

He said, Mom, Ill be back. He even told me, It wont take long, I promise. Ill be back, she said. But he never came back.

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Emmanuel Baltazar Silva, 21, in a family photo.

Emmanuel Baltazar Silva, 21, in a family photo.

A memorial set up by loved ones to remember Emmanuel Baltazar Silva at Las Tunas Beach on August 31, 2023. (KTLA)

Loved ones gathered for a vigil to honor Emmanuel Baltazar Silva at Las Tunas Beach on August 31, 2023. (KTLA)

Loved ones gathered for a vigil to honor Emmanuel Baltazar Silva at Las Tunas Beach on August 31, 2023. (KTLA)

Loved ones gathered for a vigil to honor Emmanuel Baltazar Silva at Las Tunas Beach on August 31, 2023. (KTLA)

Patricia said it was unusual for Emmanuel to go out and what he was doing that night still remains a mystery to his family.

I was surprised because he told me he was going to Hollywood, not Malibu, because I was going to give him a ride, Patricia said. He said, No I called Lyft already, Mama. That was the last conversation I had with him.

The L.A. County Sheriffs Department said Emmanuels body was found following a call over a domestic violence dispute.

Emmanuels family said he was going through a divorce and a child custody battle at the time of his death. He mostly spent his days working to provide for his son, they said.

Theyre the ones holding me through this, my kids, and thinking about my grandbaby, Patricia said tearfully. Because my son wanted to see his baby and Im holding to that.

Boy dies after collapsing during P.E. class in Lake Elsinore

Homicide investigators are still in the process of gathering surveillance video from the crime scene area and are contacting all potential witnesses.

Emmanuels loved ones are pleading for the publics help and for the suspect to come forward and do the right thing.

Whoever is watching me, please if you have any information on the person who did this to my son, all Im asking is for justice, Patricia said. My son is not with me anymore. I am trying to live without him but I cannot have peace until the person who did this is in jail.

Details remain limited and no suspect description has been released so far. Anyone with information can contact LASD at 818-878-1808.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Jurors convicted a 43-year-old man of murdering his parents and kidnapping his niece after a crime spree that ended in Washington D.C. in 2017.

According to the Mecklenburg County District Attorneys Office, Curtis Atkinson Jr. was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Channel 9 reported when the killings happened, and we learned that the 11-year-old girl was forced to watch.

RELATED: 11-year-old forced to watch grandparents shot, stabbed, prosecutors say

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According to prosecutors, Atkinson and his co-defendant, Nikkia Cooper, went to Atkinsons parents home on March 30 after they were evicted from their own home that day. After an argument, Atkinson and Cooper killed them.

Prosecutors said in court previously that Atkinson stabbed his father 69 times and made his niece watch. Atkinsons mother and father were also shot that night in the home on Glencannon Drive in east Charlotte.

The victims were identified as Curtis Atkinson Sr. and Ruby Atkinson.

PAST COVERAGE: Death penalty sought against man accused of killing parents

According to the DAs office, Atkinson and Cooper stayed in the house with the 11-year-old girl for several days. On April 2, they kidnapped the girl and fled to Washington, D.C. They were caught later that night.

Cooper has already been convicted in connection with the crimes.

The district attorneys office says Atkinson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder charges, along with up to 532 months in prison for the remaining charges.

(WATCH: 2-year-old dies after accidental shooting in Statesville, deputies say)
A man who killed two Kissimmee police officers in 2017 will get his case heard by the Florida Supreme Court, Channel 9 learned Friday.

Everett Miller fatally shot Kissimmee police Officer Matthew Baxter and Sgt. Sam Howard on Aug. 18, 2017.

Miller was sentenced to death in 2022 after a jury unanimously recommended the sentence.

Read: We finally have justice: Man convicted of killing 2 Kissimmee police officers sentenced to death

The Florida Supreme Court will hear his appeal directly Wednesday.

All capital punishment cases in Florida are automatically appealed directly to the court in Tallahassee.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




The person who went overboard on the largest cruise ship in the world is a teen traveling with his friends.

Sigmund Ropich, 19, went overboard off Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas this week, his sister said.

She said her family is worried that authorities will soon stop searching for him.

The passenger who this week went overboard from the largest cruise ship in the world  Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas  is a 19-year-old college student who was vacationing with his friends, his sister told Insider.

Savannah Ropich described her sibling, Sigmund Ropich, as a hard-working "really great kid" in an email to Insider on Friday and said that her family is worried that authorities will soon stop searching entirely for the teen.

Sigmund went overboard from the 230,000-ton cruise ship on Tuesday night as the vessel  which departed from Port Canaveral, Florida  was off the coast of Cuba.

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"The ship's crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities," a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean previously told Insider in a statement.

The rep said the cruise line had been working with the US Coast Guard, but the agency told Insider it was not involved in the case and said the Cuban Border Guard is responsible for coordinating the operation because the incident happened in Cuban territorial seas.

As of yet, there's been no sign of Sigmund, according to his family.

"We were told by the Cuban officials that they are done searching in the ocean. They are continuing only on the coast and land. I have a strong feeling they're going to end this search," Savannah told Insider.

Savannah said her family has been "praying hourly day and night" for Sigmund to be found.

"We are very hopeful if they open [the] search back in the ocean," Savannah said. "We need them to open it again."

Savannah said that Royal Caribbean didn't tell the family how long the ship's crew searched for her brother.

"I ask that they take matters like this seriously," Savannah said in an email. "Install man overboard systems, respond ASAP when someone is yelling 'Oscar, Oscar, Oscar' Be CLEAR when communicating WHO is searching for our boy."

Royal Caribbean did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Friday.

Savannah said Sigmund had been in college, got "good grades," never got in "trouble," and loved to hang out with his friends.

His pals aboard the Wonder of the Seas are "grieving," she said.

The ship was two days into its seven-day sail when the tragic incident occurred.

"He was on the ship for vacation," Savannah said of Sigmund, explaining that he's "known for being a kind, reserved, humble kid. Always cool, calm, and collected."

Read the original article on Insider
A Texas man pleaded guilty to threatening Georgia officials in the wake of the 2020 election, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Prosecutors say Chad Christopher Stark, 55, of Leander, Texas, wrote a message on Craigslist with the title of Georgia Patriots its time to kill [Official A] the Chinese agent  $10,000 around Jan. 5, 2021.

Its time to invoke our Second Amendment right its time to put a bullet in the treasonous Chinese [Official A]. Then we work our way down to [Official B] the local and federal corrupt judges, the message said, according to the Justice Department.

Its our duty as American Patriots to put an end to the lives of these traitors and take back our country by force. . . . If we want our country back we have to exterminate these people. One good loyal Patriot deer hunter in camo and a rifle can send a very clear message to these corrupt governors.. milita up Georgia its time to spill blood. we need to pay a visit to [Official C] and her family as well and put a bullet her behind the ears, the message continued.

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The Justice Department said Stark pleaded guilty to one count of a sending a threat using a telecommunications device Thursday and faces up to two years in prison.

Todays guilty plea plainly shows that anyone who threatens election officials online will be investigated by the FBI and held accountable for their words, said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBIs Criminal Investigative Division.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
 Flash

Firefighters work at the site of a building fire in Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug. 31, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

The death toll from a fire that engulfed a five-story apartment block in central Johannesburg on Thursday has risen to 75, local media outlet SABC reported.

At least 50 people are being treated for burn wounds and smoke inhalation at various hospitals. Emergency services personnel remain on the ground to assist those that are affected, SABC said.

The fire occurred at around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, according to Robert Mulaudzi, spokesperson for the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services.

The affected building had been turned into an informal settlement, with authorities estimating more than 80 "shacks" inside. Thursday's fire spread very quickly, affecting different levels of the building because of the combustible materials like boards used to partition the rooms, Mulaudzi said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday called the fire "a great tragedy" and said he hoped an investigation would help prevent a repeat of the incident.

No Chinese citizens were injured or killed in the fire, the Chinese Consulate-General in Johannesburg told China Media Group after verifying with the police.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Christopher Lee Pray, who escaped from Oregon State Hospital this week, was discovered stuck in mud near the Portland Expo Center on Friday, authorities said.

On Friday morning, Portland Fire and Rescue shared on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that a person had been stuck in mud in a Portland pond for over 12 hours and crews were attempting to rescue him.

Wanted man found passed out in stolen Subaru: Milwaukie PD

Fire crews spent the next hour pulling him from the mud, authorities said. After he was out, he was cleaned and taken to the hospital, authorities said.

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It was at the hospital that an employee recognized Pray, who police said had given a fake name.

Pray was taken back into custody, police said.

On Thursday, state authorities announced Pray, who they warned the public to be considered extremely dangerous, had escaped the custody of Oregon State Hospital and state police while shackled in a state van and was last seen heading south on Interstate 5.

September 1st marks the first day of meteorological fall: How much rain will we see?

Pray was originally in custody for attempted aggravated murder.

Oregon State Hospital said Pray, 39, had needed to be transferred to a local emergency department for medical care after an altercation with another state hospital patient. After returning to the state hospital around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Pray stole the van while fully restrained with leg shackles, a belly chain, handcuffs, and a restraint connecting it all together, according to authorities.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
This aerial photo shows Chester County Prison on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, in West Chester, Pa. Danelo Cavalcante, convicted this month of fatally stabbing his girlfriend escaped Aug. 31 from the suburban Philadelphia prison. Prosecutors say he is also wanted in his native Brazil in a separate slaying. | WPVI-TV/6ABC via Associated Press

A manhunt that involves police dogs, drones and helicopters, for a recently convicted murderer continues in Pennsylvania after he escaped from the prison Thursday morning.

If you see him do not approach him, Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said during a news conference, per NBC News. Were asking you please to contact 911.

He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers. He is 5 feet tall, weighs 120 pounds, has long black curly hair and brown eyes, The Washington Post reports.

This photo provided by the Chester County Prison shows Danelo Cavalcante. Cavalcante, convicted this month of fatally stabbing his girlfriend escaped Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, from the suburban Philadelphia prison and prosecutors say he is also wanted in his native Brazil in a separate slaying. | Chester County Prison via Associated Press

Who is the escaped convicted murderer in Pennsylvania?

Danelo Cavalcante is a 34-year-old man who was convicted on Aug. 16 of murdering his 33-year-old former girlfriend. He was sentenced to life in prison without chance for parole, according to NBC Philadelphia.

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Cavalcante was serving his sentence in Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township, Pennsylvania, per CBS News. Residents in the area were alerted about the search and Ryan warned that Cavalcante is considered an extremely dangerous man.

What happened to Deborah Brandao?

The murder Cavalcante was convicted of involved him fatally stabbing Deborah Brandao 38 times in front of her two children, who were only 4 and 7 at the time, according to a statement from the Chester County District Attorney. One of the children ran for help and neighbors attempted to assist.

During the investigation into the murder, detectives discovered that Cavalcante had assaulted and threatened to kill the victim during other incidents, per the statement. According to the investigation, Brandao found that Cavalcante was wanted in connection to an open murder case in Brazil and threatened to expose him to the police.

Police determined the threat was likely the motive for the murder.

The New York Times reported that Cavalcante was formerly in a gang in Brazil is wanted in connection to the 2017 murder of a man who owed him money in Brazil.

How did Cavalcante escape the Pennsylvania prison?

Howard Holland, acting warden for the prison, told the Post that an investigation into what happened that allowed Cavalcante to escape is ongoing.

Once we noticed we had an issue with an inmate not being there, we followed protocols, locked down the prison, did what we call a special count to confirm that there was only one person missing, he told the Post.

Cavalcante was being held in the prison waiting for a planned transfer into the state prison system, per the Times.

There is a $10,000 reward for Cavalcantes capture, and anyone with information about the suspect is advised to call 9-1-1 or the U.S. Marshal tipline at 1-877-WANTED2 (1-877-926-8332).
An extremely dangerous murder convict has escaped from a Pennsylvania prison prompting authorities to launch a manhunt.

Danelo Cavalcante, a 34-year-old man who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death, escaped from Chester County Prison in West Chester around 8.45am on Thursday, said the countys district attorney Deb Ryan.

She said the convict is considered an extremely dangerous man and urged for the publics help in locating him.

Cavalcante was convicted on 16 August for the murder of his 33-year-old former girlfriend Deborah Brandao in April 2021 in front of her children. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for stabbing the woman to death.

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He is also wanted for a homicide in 2017 in Brazil, the US Marshals Service for Philadelphia said.

A search of the prison and surrounding area is currently being conducted, the Chester Countys district attorney office said.

Notification of the escape has been communicated to all residents within a six-mile radius of the prison. Chester County Detectives and the Pennsylvania State Police are conducting a thorough county-wide search, and prison officials are conducting an internal investigation, it said.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, was sentenced to life in prison (Chester County District Attorneys Office)

Ms Ryan said Cavalcante was last seen walking on Wawaset Road in Pocopson Township around 9.40am after his escape.

He was wearing a white T-shirt, grey shorts and white sneakers.

Cavalcante was described as a Brazilian man with a 5-foot height and light complexion, shaggy black curly hair and brown eyes. He speaks Portuguese and Spanish.

Authorities urged people to not approach Cavalcante and released his pictures from when he was last seen.

The Marshals Service and the Chester County district attorneys office have offered a combined reward of $10,000 for information leading to an arrest.

Cavalcante killed his ex-girlfriend in Schuylkill Township in front of the victims seven-year-old daughter and a three-year-old before fleeing to Virginia.

Ms Ryan had called it a heartbreaking tragedy.

Two children are left without a mother. The pain these children and all of Deborahs loved ones are enduring as a result of this depravity is horrific, she said.
Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Chester County Prison. It is a county prison.

Pennsylvania officials continue to search for a murderer who escaped from prison on Thursday morning, just days after he was sentenced to life with no parole.

Authorities announced they are now offering a $10,000 reward in the second day of their manhunt for 34-year-old Danelo Cavalcante after officials said he escaped from Chester County Prison, located in the township of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Cavalcante was awaiting transfer to a state prison.

Law enforcement is doing everything now to continue to locate him, Dana Moore, a spokesperson for the Chester District Attorney's Office, told USA TODAY on Friday morning. Were pulling as many people as we possibly can to extend the search."

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U.S. Marshals have also joined the effort to find Cavalcante, who is also wanted in connection with a homicide in his native Brazil, the agency has previously said. A request for comment to the U.S. Marshals was not immediately returned Friday.

Maria Bivens, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, told USA TODAY, Cavalcante was set to be transported to a state prison on Sept. 8, almost a month after a jury convicted him in the April 2021 stabbing death of his then-girlfriend Deborah Brandao, 33. Cavalcante killed Brandao in front of her two children outside of her Schuylkill Township home, about 30 miles northwest from Philadelphia. He fled, with the help of others, but was eventually arrested in Virginia.

Officials have warned he is extremely dangerous, and that residents should not approach him.

At a press conference Friday afternoon, Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said officials dont believe anyone is helping him evade authorities, and that he is hiding alone in the area.

We have reason to believe that he is heading south, Ryan said. "And we will find him no matter how long it takes."

She later added that after Cavalcante killed Brandao and was captured in Virginia, he had been heading toward Brazil. His goal, Ryan said, was to go to Mexico first and then Brazil.

Robert Clark, a supervisory deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service, also said they dont believe Cavalcante left the area. Ahead of the Labor Day weekend, he warned residents to keep cars, bikes and other forms of transportation secured in case Cavalcante tried to use them to flee.

Manhunt ongoing: 'Extremely dangerous' man escapes Pa. prison after getting life for murdering ex-girlfriend

Rafael Pinto Alamy, a homicide prosecutor in the Brazilian state of Tocantins, told USA TODAY that Cavalcante is accused of fatally shooting a man on Nov. 5, 2017, in the rural municipality of Figueiropolis.

The case was suspended because Cavalcante fled to the U.S., Pinto Alamy said in a WhatsApp message.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, is seen in a photo provided by the Chester County District Attorney's Office. Officials said Cavalcante escaped from prison on Aug. 31, the week after being sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his former girlfriend.

Chester County Commissioners and the U.S. Marshals are each offering $5,000 for information leading to his capture.

Cavalcante most recently lived in Royersford, a small town 32 miles northwest of Philadelphia, court records showed. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Cavalcante worked in construction and other trades after fleeing Brazil following the alleged 2017 murder. Pinto Alamy told USA TODAY Cavalcante lived on a farm as an agricultural worker in his native country.

A spokesperson for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement told USA TODAY the agency became aware Cavalcante was in the country unlawfully after his arrest. The agency issued a detainer, but it's unknown how or when he entered the U.S., adding that ICE is also helping in the search, the spokesperson said.

On Thursday afternoon, Ryan told reporters Cavalcante stabbed Brandao 38 times after past domestic violence over the course of their relationship that lasted about a year-and-a-half. It took a jury 15 minutes to convict him.

Ryan said Cavalcante has nothing to lose, and he could be capable of more dangerous crimes. Moore said people who see him should not approach him but to call 911 immediately.

The wanted man was last seen just before 10 a.m. on Thursday in Pocopson Township walking on Wawaset Road. Standing 5 feet tall and weighing 120 pounds, he was last seen in a white T-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish.

Along with 911, anyone with information on his current location could also call U.S. Marshals at 1-877-WANTED2 or report the sighting online at usmarshals.gov/tips.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Danelo Cavalcante manhunt continues after Chester County Prison escape
Capt. Eleanor Ellie Cooke, formerly LeBeau, is shown with the dance team at Murray State University, left to right, as a U.S. Marine Corps pilot and at her wedding to fellow Marine Chase Cooke. (Provided)

The Belleville family of Capt. Eleanor Ellie Cooke, formerly LeBeau, one of three U.S. Marines killed in the crash of a hybrid military aircraft on Sunday in Australia, has published her obituary.

Arrangements are being handled by Renner Funeral Home in Belleville, although the time and date of the funeral service and burial, which will include military honors, are pending.

The obituary describes Cooke, 29, as the much-anticipated fifth child out of David and Victoria LeBeaus eight children and someone who brought joy, exuberance, and an abundance of love into the world.

The excitement and enthusiasm she lived every day was present from the first day of kindergarten at Blessed Sacrament to her time at Althoff Catholic High School and as a dancer at Murray State, according to the obituary, posted on the Renner website.

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Ellie, who called herself a bad ass, joined the U.S. Marine Corps as a pilot with the same zeal and commitment she gave to everything. It was in the Marines that she found her soulmate in Chase Cooke, who shared the same excitement for life as Ellie.

Cooke and LeBeau were married at St. Anthony Catholic Church in St. Louis. Both were Marine pilots.

Ellie will be loved and remembered with the same fervor and joy with which she loved us all, her obituary states. As people often commented, There was just something about Ellie.

An MV-22B Osprey crashed about 9:30 a.m. Sunday on Melville Island, north of Darwin, in Australias Northern Territory while transporting troops during a routine training exercise, according to a Marine Corps news release.

The area was later described in Associated Press reports as a tropical forest. There were a total of 23 people aboard the Osprey, which could take off and land like a helicopter but function like a turboprop airplane in flight. Twenty were taken to the hospital.

The Marines aboard the aircraft were flying in support of Exercise Predators Run, the news release stated. Recovery efforts are ongoing. The cause of the incident is under investigation.

Exercise Predators Run also includes the militaries of Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.

Marine Corps representatives visited the LeBeau home on Sunday morning to notify the family of Ellie Cookes death. She was one of the aircrafts two pilots, her mother told the BND on Monday.

Were very proud of her, and by giving her life, she saved 20 other people, Victoria LeBeau said.

Later Monday, the Marine Rotational Force in Darwin, Australia, identified the three Marines killed in the crash. Besides Cooke, the other two were Cpl. Spencer R. Collart, 21, of Arlington, Virginia, and Maj. Tobin J. Lewis, 37, of Jefferson, Colorado.

That news update stated that Eleanor LeBeau, who used her maiden name for military service, was commissioned in the Marine Corps on Aug. 11, 2018, and promoted to captain on March 1 of this year.

The update gave the following military bio of Cooke:

She served in Pensacola, FL, Corpus Christi, TX, and Jacksonville, NC, before arriving at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay, HI. Capt LeBeau, an MV-22B pilot, received the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Cooke, Collart and Lewis were declared dead at the crash site, and their bodies were returned to Darwin late Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Australian Broadcasting Corp reported Wednesday that they were flown back to the United States to be repatriated to their loved ones.

While the investigation continues, Australian media has reported that Cooke was being heralded for actions that minimized the loss of life.

We are so grateful for all the outpouring of love from Australia, the vigils, and the prayers and the kindness, Victoria LeBeau told The Sydney Morning Herald in a phone interview published Friday (Saturday in Australia).

All Ellie ever said when she was in Australia was how much she loved being there. Its so important for us that the Australian people know how much we appreciate the respect and (honor) that you have shown her through all this.

According to the U.S. Air Force, the bodies of fallen service members are typically flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

They are each given a dignified transfer from the aircraft, with members of his or her branch of service escorting a flag-draped container to the base mortuary, where the body is formally identified and prepared for burial.

In Cookes obituary, her family asks that people continue to lift Chase up in prayers, love and support in lieu of sending flowers.

Those who want to do more are encouraged to make memorial donations to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, 875 North Randolph Street, Suite 225, Arlington, VA 22203 or online at https://www.nmcrs.org/.

Condolences can be expressed to the family online at www.rennerfh.com.
A Marine pilot-turned-astronaut successfully led a crew into space, just months after another Marine pilot returned from a five-month stint at the International Space Station, the Marine Corps said Thursday.

Lt. Col. Jasmin Moghbeli made her first trip into space as a mission commander of SpaceX Crew-7, launching Aug. 26 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to a Marine Corps news release.

The crew  Moghbeli of NASA, Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency, Satoshi Furukawa of Japan and cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Russia  moved into the International Space Station on Sunday, according to a NASA news release.

The International Space Station is a spacecraft orbiting Earth that serves as a home base for astronauts conducting scientific research in space.

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Moghbeli started out as a AH-1 Super Cobra pilot and Marine Corps test pilot, and has accumulated over 2,000 flight hours, according to the Marine release.

Marine pilot, astronaut to lead NASAs next space station mission

She was born in Bad Nauheim, West Germany, though she considers Baldwin, New York, her hometown. Her parents experience leaving Iran was one of her inspirations to serve the United States, she previously told Marine Corps Times.

I was interested in joining the military from a pretty young age, she told Marine Corps Times. I was also interested in becoming an astronaut from a pretty young age. Thankfully, those two things worked out together very well.

The 40-year-old Moghbeli, who is the fourth female spacecraft commander in history, according to the Marine Corps, told CBS News she hopes her mission will inspire the next generation of girls, including her twin daughters.

Marine Col. Nicole Mann, originally an F/A-18 Hornet pilot, returned to Earth on March 11 after spending five months in space and conducting more than 14 hours of extravehicular activities outside of the International Space Station, according to the Marine release.

Gen. Eric Smith, the acting Marine commandant, said in the news release, Its inspiring to think how these Marines made a decision to serve their nation, and that decision gave them an opportunity to serve in space.

It gives new meaning to every clime and place, Smith added, referring to the oft-quoted lines from The Marines Hymn.

The next NASA mission to the International Space Station, SpaceX Crew-8, is set to launch no earlier than February 2024.

Editors note: This story was updated Oct. 18 to correct the spelling of Moghbelis first name. A Marine Corps news release misspelled the name.
Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene said she wouldnt vote to fund the government unless Congress complies with a number of outrageous demands  including voting on President Joe Biden s impeachment.

While speaking in Floyd Countypart of her districtMs Greene said, I will not vote to fund the government unless we can pass an impeachment inquiry on Joe Biden.

She continued: I will not fund the government because I will not fund the weaponised part of the government like the FBI and special counsel Jack Smith  whose probes have resulted in two federal indictments against former president Donald Trump.

She also called for the firing of special counsel David Weiss who is protecting Hunter Biden. Mr Weiss was named as special counsel to lead investigations into Hunter Biden. Ms Greene has been very vocal about the probe into the presidents son, and went so far as to display explicit photos of him at a congressional hearing in July.

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Ms Greene also told the crowd that she wont vote for a continuing resolution that funds Covid-19 vaccine mandates and mask mandates because that is over. She added that even Joe Biden declared that Covid is over. Rep Greene was perhaps referring to the president terminating the Covid-19 public health emergency in May.

She then shifted to another hot topic: the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. My red line in the sand has always been: I will not vote to fund a war in Ukraine. We have to have peace, she said.

I will be happy to work with all of my colleaguesbut I will not fund those things, the Georgia Republican said. She then told the crowd that it was important to tell the Georgia audience first about her decisions because I work for you.

Ms Greene has repeatedly called for an impeachment inquiry into Mr Bidenand has even filed articles of impeachment against the president multiple times.

Tonight, I made an announcement directly to my constituents at my Floyd County Town Hall.



I will not vote to fund the government if Congress doesnt do this:



- Impeachment Inquiry vote on Joe Biden

- Defund Bidens weaponization of government

- Eliminate all COVID vaccine and pic.twitter.com/2WXd4CrV7R  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 31, 2023

Colorado Rep Lauren Boebert also introduced articles of impeachment against the president earlier this year  a move that caused Ms Greene to say that Ms Boebert copied her.

The argument escalated, culminating in the Georgia representative calling Ms Boebert a a little b****. Ms Greene reportedly told the Colorado Republican, You copied my articles of impeachment after I asked you to cosponsor them.
Editors note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

Daytona Beach may see a new 11-story, 176-room Marriott-branded hotel right along the ocean in the near future.

Atlantic Beach Resort LLC, an entity related to Greenville South Carolina Contender Developer, filed plans with the city of Daytona Beach to build a new AC Hotel by Marriott on a 1.3-acre vacant property it owns at 2696 N. Atlantic Ave. on the beachfront. Plans show the property would be near the intersection of State Road A1A (Atlantic Avenue) and Plaza Boulevard.

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Photos: Clean up underway in Cedar Key after Hurricane Idalia damages buildings, floods homes

According to documents, the hotel would include conference space as well as restaurant and/or bar/lounge areas.

Click here to read the full story on the Orlando Business Journals website.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
All was well between GOP gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) at a Cameron campaign gathering in Massies native Lewis County Thursday.

Thats a contrast to two months ago, when Massie was publicly criticizing Camerons campaign for its plan to attend an event hosted by an outspoken opponent of his. But to a crowd gathered in the pew-style meeting hall on the third floor of the cavernous Lewis County Courthouse, Massie lavished praise on Cameron and scorn on Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear .

Massie, Kentuckys 4th Congressional District representative and a long-time defier of COVID-19 mitigation restrictions, called Cameron the cure for the Andy variant of the Beshear virus.

We need to get rid of Andy Beshear, Massie said. We had Steve Beshear for eight years, then we had Matt Bevin as a small reprieve for four years, and then we get Beshear again. I call him the Andy variant of the Beshear virus. Weve got long Beshear and we need to cure it, and Daniel Cameron is the cure for that.

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The enthusiastic tone comes after Massie had offered harsh words on Camerons previous decision to attend Freedom Fest, an event hosted by far right conservative figure and fourth-place GOP gubernatorial primary finisher Eric Deters in Northern Kentucky. Deters now claims hell give Massie a primary challenge in 2024.

Camerons campaign canceled his planned appearance there shortly after being asked about Deters past racist comments.

The campaign told the Herald-Leader Thursday that Cameron will instead attend the annual GOP dinner in Henderson County, where his lieutenant governor running mate Sen. Robby Mills (R-Henderson) is from.

Massie emphasized to the Herald-Leader that he would have supported Cameron regardless, but Cameron pulling out of Freedom Fest made going on a tour of counties in Massies district more fun.

I gave that advice to the campaign and they took the advice, and I think itll serve him well. I mean, that guy (Deters) is a crank and a crackpot, Massie said.

Cameron told the Herald-Leader the issue between Massies camp and his was less a public disagreement and more Massie stating his opinion.

I have the greatest respect for Thomas and am grateful for his friendship. Im certainly honored to have him here today to support this campaign, Cameron said.

Massie says Cameron fits the bill

Massie said in his speech to the crowd  while wearing his infamous debt clock lapel, tracking the countrys debt in real time  that Camerons version of Republicanism fits well with his own, given his emphasis on a 10th Amendment-centric federalism that leaves many powers to the states as opposed to the federal government.

What terrifies me is when Im in Washington, D.C., and I say leave it up to the states, and Im like wait, Andy Beshear is in charge of our state. Maybe we dont want to leave it up to the state If weve got somebody like Andy Beshear in that position. When I say leave it up to the states I mean leave it up to Daniel Cameron. This guy has what it takes, Massie said.

He also lauded Camerons challenges to Beshear on COVID-19 as well as his support to law enforcement. And he said Camerons brand of pro-public schools Republicanism could broaden his support as well.

In an interview, he noted Camerons pitch to raise base salaries for teachers and to invest more dollars into a learning loss-targeted catch-up plan was a smart one. It could bring public educators and their families into the fold  an area where former GOP Gov. Matt Bevin faltered. The strategy could also get the votes of Lewis County residents who rely on public schools, Massie argued.

I can say Daniel has a very good message for this area, Massie said. With Bevin, although I loved what he did ideologically and practically, his messaging was off especially for this region of Kentucky. Im a product of public school K-12, some of my teachers are here in this room, and the public school system is the biggest employer in Lewis County, His message was were going to fix public schools, and I saw teachers in here nodding their heads.

In 2019, Bevin underperformed in Lewis County  which, Massie boasted, has been Republican-aligned since the Civil War. In his 2019 loss, Bevin beat Beshear by 42.5 percentage points in Lewis County. In his 2015 win, he bested Democratic contender Jack Conway by 50 percentage points.

Votes from Republicans in conservative counties like Lewis County are often needed for Republicans to overcome Democratic margins in urban areas like Louisville and Lexington. Cameron called on those in attendance at the courthouse to get on board.

Lets leave it all on the field. Lets knock doors, lets make phone calls, lets walk neighborhoods. This is the moment, this is our opportunity in time to say that our values matter, that our kid and grandkids matter, and that were going to fight for them, Cameron said.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday offered condolences to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa over a deadly fire that took place in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Noting that a building fire in Johannesburg has caused heavy casualties, Xi expressed deep condolences over the victims and offered sincere sympathies to the bereaved families and the injured on behalf of the Chinese government and people.

Xi said that in the face of the disaster, the Chinese side stands firmly by the South African government and people.

Under the strong leadership of President Ramaphosa and the South African government, the South African people will surely be able to overcome the difficulties, he noted.
When a group of employees resigned in protest from conservative activist group CPAC last year, the organizations power coupleMatt Schlapp and his wife, Mercedesfelt it was time for a new beginning.

As part of the reset, the Schlapps turned to a priest to evict satanic spirits from the D.C.-area offices, according to multiple people with knowledge of the exorcisms.

And so, on an afternoon in spring 2022, CPAC employees at their offices in Alexandria, Virginiaabout eight miles from the fabled staircase featured in the 1973 horror classic The Exorcistfound themselves suddenly in the presence of a Catholic priest. The priest, sources said, sprinkled holy water around the CPAC premises and blessed all the staff, regardless of their faith. As part of the rite, according to these people, the priest placed a medallion above doors in the offices and explained that it would help ward off evil spirits.

Inside Matt Schlapps Offer to Settle the Sexual Battery Lawsuit Against Him

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The reason for the exorcism? A raft of junior employees had just walked away from their jobs en masse, after the organization denied their repeated requests for higher pay, according to multiple people with knowledge of the events.

But while the employees have been gone for over a year now, the talismans are still there. The Daily Beast obtained photos of one of them, which shows it is St. Benedicts Medal, with St. Benedict being the patron saint of exorcisms.

Photo of a religious medal above a door frame in CPAC offices. Obtained by The Daily Beast

Photo of religious medals that are in CPAC offices. Obtained by The Daily Beast

According to the St. Benedict Center, The medal is a prayer of exorcism against Satan, a prayer for strength in time of temptation, a prayer for peace among ourselves and among the nations of the world, and a prayer of firm rejection of all that is evil.

Its not just anonymous sources who make this claim. CPAC general counsel David Safavianalso a devout Catholicpublicly acknowledged an in-office exorcism earlier this year, under circumstances similar to the 2022 event described to The Daily Beast.

Now that weve performed an exorcism on a recently vacated office, Im enjoying my new private cigar lounge, Safavian posted on May 23, referring to a specific office of an employee who had just departed at the time. Beats the heck out of the corner of the garage where I could get cell service! (Tweet archived here.)

Now that we've performed an exorcism on a recently vacated office, I'm enjoying my new private cigar lounge. Beats the heck out of the corner of the garage where I could get cell service! pic.twitter.com/HP85CQJ5Li  David Safavian (@DSafavianEsq) May 11, 2023

Its a miracle he wasnt sued for defamation over that one, one source told The Daily Beast.

Another source described the 2022 event as the weirdest thing Id seen, and yet another said, I had no idea what was going on.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the event said the rite included a prayer circle in Schlapps office, which one person described as performative and inauthentic. Like a show, this source said.

As the priest made his way through the office, spritzing holy water room to room, employees nudged him towards Matts office, this person said. The way he had treated junior employees, it seemed to us like he was the one who needed it the most.

Schlappwho stands accused of making unwanted physical advances on three men in recent years, one of whom is suing him for sexual battery and, along with his wife, defamationis former co-chair for Catholics for Trump.

CPAC did not reply to a request for comment, but Schlapp provided a statement through his publicist, Mark Corallo.

CPAC is being terrorized by a demon self-described as The Daily Beast, the statement, attributed to Matt Schlapp, said. The good news is the leadership of CPAC knows how the epic battle against the Beast ends. Id short the stock.

Herschel Walker Staffer: Matt Schlapp Groped My Crotch

Mercedes Schlapp also tried to get ahead of the story, posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Satans publication is wasting its time among other crises.

Americans are dying of fentanyl, children are being sex trafficked, and violent crimes are happening in our cities while Satans publication is writing about exorcisms. Daily Beast is a joke, Mercedes Schlapp wrote.

On Tuesdayin response to The Daily Beasts reporting that Schlapp tried unsuccessfully to settle the lawsuit earlier this year, and now faced two new accusationsboth Schlapps alleged that The Daily Beast was run by the devil.

The Daily Beast is Satans publication to persecute Christians and their families, Mercedes Schlapp tweeted.

Soon to start a weekend edition: the Saturday Satan, her husband added, despite the publication already self-identifying as daily.

Four people with knowledge of the exorcism told The Daily Beast that just prior to the event, CPAC junior staff had resigned to Schlapp personally, after he repeatedly rejected their calls for higher compensation amid increasingly demanding work conditions.

Everyone disrespects what the Schlapps did to them. They left because they couldnt get money, one of the people told The Daily Beast. Matt has said, Everyone is disposable, and says that they can always find someone else to do the job for that much.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A Republican mayor from a GOP stronghold in the suburbs of Miami-Dade is taking on the countys Democratic mayor in 2024, handing Daniella Levine Cava her first challenge from a sitting elected official.

Manny Cid, the two-term mayor of Miami Lakes, filed papers Friday to run for county mayor. The 39-year-old restaurant owner joins two other challengers in the officially non-partisan race, 11 months before all candidates face each other in an August election for the countys most powerful post.

READ MORE: Which Republicans could challenge Mayor Daniella Levine Cava in Miami-Dade in 2024?

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the August vote, the contest would stretch to November, when the mayoral election would overlap with voters casting their ballots for president.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is running for a second term in 2024.

The county has never had a working-class mayor, Cid said Friday ahead of a planned formal launch early next week. Somebody who is just like everybody in the 305.

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He said he planned to rally working-class voters and small-business owners to a win against Levine Cava, a former lawyer and non-profit executive who became the countys first female mayor in 2020.

County candidates are not identified by party on ballots, but in 2020 Levine Cava ran an allied campaign with the Democratic Party to win a county that Joe Biden won by seven points. Republicans see the partisan trends shifting their way in Miami-Dade after Gov. Ron DeSantis won the county by 11 points in his reelection last year, the first Republican at the top of the ticket to win the county since 2002.

Carlos Gimenez, Levine Cavas Republican predecessor and a former Miami firefighter who became department chief and city manager, has teased the possibility of leaving his congressional seat to seek his old position next year.

Other officer holders on the Republican mention list for the 2024 mayoral race include Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez , county commissioners Rene Garcia and Raquel Regalado, and Esteban Bovo, the Hialeah mayor who lost to Levine Cava in 2020.

Miami Lakes is one of the most reliably Republican areas in Miami-Dade, with 65% of the towns voters backing Donald Trump in 2020, according to a McClatchy analysis precinct data.

One Republican is already challenging Levine Cava: Alexander Otaola, the host of the Hola Ota-Ola YouTube show that focuses on conservative politics, Cuba and claims of a communist menace facing Miami-Dade. Her other challenger, Miguel el Skipper Quintero, is a Democrat and a trapeze artist who is in a legal fight with the county over a zoning dispute for his home-based circus school.

Reelected to a second term without opposition in 2020, Cid must leave his part-time post as mayor in 2024 due to term limits. Hes the owner of the Mayors Cafe restaurant in Miami Lakes, where he works busing tables, cooking and running the business.

The Miami Lakes charter places administrative duties in a town manager, with the mayor serving as chair of the Town Council and ceremonial head of the government. With a population of about 30,000 people, Miami Lakes is a mid-size municipality in Miami-Dade, a county with roughly 2.7 million residents.

Miami Lakes has a median income of $85,000, according to Census statistics, compared to $58,000 countywide. Miami Lakes recently approved an 8% reduction in its property-tax rate, while Levine Cavas 2024 budget has a 1% reduction for the countywide property tax.

I think the Miami Lakes story will be a big part of the campaign, Cid said.

Asked to comment on Cids entry into the race, Levine Cava campaign manager Christian Ulvert released a statement that did not mention the challenger. The Mayors focus continues to be on the important work she was elected to do and delivering solutions for longtime community challenges that were previously ignored, he said.
A group of local college students made automotive show history when their car took second place in the world's most prestigious car show.

Students at McPherson College's automotive restoration program made the trip to Pebble Beach, California, this month to compete in the 72nd Concours d'Elegance, an annual automotive event that most car enthusiasts only dream of participating in.

It was the first time in history a car restored by students landed a podium spot, or ranked in the top three in any class of the competition. And it was a hit among those in attendance.

"You work with the car day in and day out ... and you get used to it," said Jeremy Porter, a McPherson senior. "I mean, we know the finish is really good on it, but then, for example, you get people saying that this is one of the best paint jobs they've ever seen. And it's from respected individuals in the industry. ... It really makes you realize 'oh, this is something we did really, really well.'"

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The college's fully restored 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet was among 216 vehicles from 18 countries and 30 states. Only a small percentage of entrants ever get special recognition.

Of course, McPherson's path to Pebble Beach is much like the car they restored. It was a journey defined by attention to small details. The details, Porter said, really matter.

McPherson College Seniors James Pawlak (left) and Jeremy Porter (right) stand next to a 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet that the two helped restore. The car secured second in class at the 72nd Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

McPherson College's journey to Pebble Beach

The restoration process took seven years and an estimated 17,000 to 18,000 working hours to complete.

"In simple terms, you take a car apart, you refinish everything and put it back together again," Porter said. "But it's not that simple."

The 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet is one of 203 in its body style, one of 560 built overall and it has more than 13,000 individual parts. And some of the methods of finishing the car are not methods commonly used in today's design.

In their work, students could tell the car had gone through a restoration in the late 1980s or early 1990s, but it wasn't done correctly, Porter said.

"Our focus for the restoration was the build made in 1953," Porter said. "So, it was using as many original components as possible, and then using correct hardware."

A 1953 Mercedes-Benz restored by McPherson College students earned second in class at the 72nd Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

The interior of a 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet restored by McPherson students.

"That time boils down to spending x number of hours making sure your tiniest details such as hardware is right," Porter said.

It's this attention to detail, in harmony with the body, engine and other mechanical work, which turned heads and spread lasting conversations among attendees at this year's Concours d'Elegance.

Concours d'Elegance Chairman Sandra Button said the student's efforts were well deserving of being showcased on this large of a stage.

"It was heartening to see McPherson students, many of whom were recipients of our Phil Hill Scholarships, competing on our show field with a car they had researched and restored themselves, Button said in a statement.

Button went on to say that the student's dedication to perfecting even the smallest details of a challenging restoration project provide her with hope for the future of classic cars.

"I think the shocking fact that I have to remind myself and people who don't know the project is this was twenty-something year olds  that this is the first major restoration they've ever done," said Abigayle Morgan, the assistant program director of automotive restoration at McPherson College. "And this was all while being a full-time college student."

The rear of the Mercedes-Benz restored by McPherson College students.

Scholarships help students participate in the prestigious show annually

McPherson College senior James Pawlak was one of this year's Phil Hill scholarship winners. The scholarships help support the students' trip to Pebble Beach to participate in various events.

"I try not to make myself excited for stuff like that, and if it works out, then it's cool," Pawlak said. "It was pretty surprising."

Pebble Beach has been awarding scholarships to McPherson students since 2009, when they first established the scholarship in memory of Formula One World Champion Phil Hill. The scholarships provide students the opportunity to participate in events as judges, panelists and prepare and present cars, among other events. This year, Pawlak worked as an apprentice judge for one of the classes.

"Just to get the perspective to what it used to be like to what it is now is a cool way to look at things," Pawlak said.

This year, there were five scholarship students from McPherson and around and a dozen alumni and current students who made the trip to Pebble Beach.

Along with competing, students were able to network with automotive aficionados, industry professionals, collectors, and other enthusiasts, bonding over the best in classic cars.

"It was a lot of really cool experiences that you can really only get there, during car week," Pawlak said.

Various vehicles in stages of restoration are found throughout the shop at McPherson College's Automotive Restoration program.

Garrick Green, a professor at McPherson College, explains vehicle woodworking concepts to his students.

Preparing for a career in automotive restoration

Porter and Pawlack said they aren't exactly certain what they want to do post-graduation, but they know they want to do something within automotive mechanics. They'll both be graduating with the nation's only bachelor's degree in automotive restoration.

The program is renowned, attracting people from across the nation and globe to the heartland of America. Porter is from Seneca Falls, New York, and Pawlak is from Chicago. The school has even gained support from notable car collectors like Jay Leno.

As the only automotive restoration program in the country, we are used to making history, but winning second place at the Concours is truly special, McPherson College Provost Amanda Gutierrez said in a statement.

Some graduates go on to work in the custom car business, others work in restoration shops or mechanical service shops. But wherever they go, Porter said, they are equipped with a foundation to be experts.

"(The program) has taught me so much about classic cars," Porter said. "It sets you up to do whatever you want to do in the car industry. It's been an incredible opportunity."

Kendrick Calfee has been a reporter with the Salina Journal since 2022, primarily covering government and education. You can reach him at kcalfee@gannett.com or on X @calfee_kc.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: McPherson students' restoration makes history at Concours d'Elegance
A former Mecklenburg County Health Department translator who was arrested for a sex crime against a patient is now charged with more crimes.

#BREAKING: The Mecklenburg County Health Dept. Translator who was arrested for a sex crime against a patient is now charged with more.



According to court docs, hes facing 6 new charges after it appears 6 new victims came forward.



Hes been arrested in Cumberland Co. @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/XTuZG16qFw  Hunter Saenz (@Hunt_Saenz) September 1, 2023

Channel 9s Hunter Saenz obtained court records Friday that show Daniel Pitti-Casazola, 41, is facing six new charges.

PREVIOUS: CMPD: Meck Co. translator posed as medical professional, assaulted woman at her home

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The documents show six new victims have apparently come forward alleging felony sex crimes against Pitti-Casazola.

Pitti-Casazola was arrested in Fayetteville on Thursday. The warrants were issued out of Mecklenburg County. He was given a $150,000 bond.

In July, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said they believe Pitti-Casazola posed a medical professional and sexually violated a woman. He had interpreted for the victim while working at the Mecklenburg County Health Department, police said, and allegedly sexually assaulted her during a fake medical exam at her home.

Pitti-Casazola was charged with a felony sex crime in that case.

In a news conference Friday afternoon, CMPD Lt. James Ivie said the department has taken out a search warrant for the county health department for Pitti-Casazolas work over the past nine years.

Ivie said all seven victims had contact with Pitti-Casazola as a translator. In each case, he called another visit with the victim for a medical exam, even though he is not a medical professional. Those visits resulted in each of the seven victims being sexually assaulted.

According to Ivie, all seven victims are Hispanic women ages 19 to 32 who speak only Spanish.

PREVIOUS: Meck County interpreter accused of sex assault while impersonating medical professional

They were all involved in a program with the health department where they were seeking care for themselves and or their very young children, Ivie said. They believed they were being helped, but instead, they were violated inside their own homes.

Ivie said the incidents that have been reported so far happened from February until July of this year. However, he believes there are other victims.

I would like to stress that we still strongly believe that there are other victims out there, Ivie said. Our survivors that have come forward are extremely brave to tell their story to us.

She has stopped this cycle of abuse and violence and assault, and in my mind, she is certainly a hero for what she did from her point in the community, he went on to say.

The department emphasized it does not ask for anyones immigration status, saying no one should fear coming forward.

Pitti-Casazola preyed on some of the most vulnerable members of our community, Ivie said.

Pitti-Casazola was suspended from the health department during this investigation. Police said he has worked for Mecklenburg County for nine years. Its why they say there could be more victims who may be scared to come forward.

The health department said starting about a week after he was arrested in July, Pitti-Casazola no longer worked for them.

Any additional victims, or anyone with information about this incident, is asked to call 704-336-8279 and speak directly to a Sex Assault Unit detective. Information can also be left anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or by clicking here.

(PREVIOUS: CMPD: Meck Co. translator posed as medical professional, assaulted woman at her home)
Mecklenburg County next week will consider appointing an acting manager while Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio takes temporary personal leave starting Sept. 13.

The countys agenda for Wednesdays meeting asks commissioners to appoint Anthony Trotman, the deputy county manager for health and human services, to the acting manager position. A reason for the leave isnt given with Wednesdays agenda item, but county commissioners Vice Chair Elaine Powell told The Charlotte Observer the leave is related to Diorios wedding this month.

Diorio and her groom will travel abroad for their honeymoon, Powell said. The commissioners vice chair said its normal for an acting manager to be appointed when someone in Diorios position is out of the country for an extended period in case of emergency.

Wednesdays agenda doesnt include a return date for Diorio or other information. Trotmans appointment is effective until Diorio returns or its otherwise revoked. Powell said she believes Diorio will return to work Oct. 9.

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This action is being requested to ensure County business is conducted seamlessly during the absence of the County Manager, Wednesdays agenda item states.

Trotman joined Mecklenburg County in 2015 as deputy county manager after previously working as director of job and family services for Franklin County, Ohio, and chief of staff for the state of Ohios Department of Job and Family Services.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys rested their cases Thursday afternoon, allowing the jury a few extra hours to deliberate before retiring for the night.

The day ended the presentation portion of the Baby Favi trial in which Lalo Anthony Castrillo, 28, is charged with intentional abuse of a child resulting in death.

Over four days, prosecutors argued that Castrillo killed 2-year-old Faviola Rodriguez in September 2018 and then lied to police about it. At that same time, Castrillo's defense argued that prosecutors had a weak case and couldn't prove that Favi's death resulted from homicide and not a medical episode.

Day 1: One juror excused, two more in question as Baby Favi trial begins in Las Cruces

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Day 2: Takeaways from day two of the Baby Favi trial and what to expect from day three

Day 3: Castrillo's internet history, Baby Favi's bruises among takeaways on day three of trial

There are no jury issues to speak of on day four

Thursday was another day without any juror issues rising to the court's attention. On Monday and again on Tuesday, Judge James Waylon Counts excused two jurors after one said he could not concentrate, and another revealed a connection to Baby Favi's family. Five other jurors were also questioned or discussed after issues with their schedules or possible connection to Baby Favi's family came out.

The mistrial that wasn't: Threat of mistrial looms as day two of Baby Favi's trial ends

Castrillo's attorney, Jose Coronado, called for a mistrial three times, citing the juror issues. He said he was concerned the jury could be tainted. Counts ultimately rejected all three calls for a mistrial, saying the standards for such a decision had not been reached.

Medical examiner discusses the corrections to her report, reaffirms the cause of death

Much of Coronado's cross-examination of Dr. Lindsay Taute, who now goes by the last name of Smith, focused on her experience when she examined Favi and the circumstances of the corrections. Smith performed Baby Favi's autopsy and authored the autopsy report.

At the time, Smith was a fellow under the Chief Medical Examiner at the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque. She started in June 2018 and ended in July 2019. When Favi came before her, Smith said she'd examined around 60 bodies at that point in her career. She said around four or five were infants who died under suspicious circumstances. All her autopsies were overseen by the then-Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Kurt Nolte.

Smith said Nolte's role was to oversee her during the autopsy before reviewing and verifying her reports. It was Nolte who amended Taute's report in 2021. The corrections cast doubt on whether the contusions (commonly called bruises) on Favi's body were inflicted via abuse.

Dr. Lindsay Taute describes her findings from her autopsy of Faviola Rodriguez during the trial of Lalo Anthony Castrillo IV on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, at the 3rd Judicial District Court. Castrillo is accused of killing two-year-old Faviola Rodriguez.

Instead, Nolte said many of the bruises "were more likely than not" caused by medical intervention. On redirect, prosecutor Salvador Gaurdillo asked questions that allowed Smith to point out that her finding about Favi's head bruises remained unchanged.

"The changes that he made were defensible and reasonable," Smith said, adding that she would have phrased the corrections differently but did not take the opportunity to challenge Nolte's revisions in 2021.

But Smith also noted that Notle did not amend the cause of death  blunt force trauma to the head  or the manner of death  homicide. In this context, "homicide" refers to an act by a person leading to the death of another, and the word casts no judgment on the legality of the action. The judge pointed out that definition to the jury at Coronado's request.

Smith also acknowledged other "errors" in the report made by another pathologist.

A homicide or an accident? Manner and cause of death were the focus of cross-examination.

The cause and manner of death continued to be a point of contention. Coronado asked several questions around the idea that Favi fell from her bed and sustained a head injury, the harm from which was compounded by another head injury she sustained at her grandfather's house weeks before.

"The simple fall from a bed doesn't explain the constellation of symptoms present on Faveoli's head," Smith said.

She added that Favi had both "organizing" injuries  wounds that had begun to heal, suggesting they happened sometime before her death  and "acute" injuries  wounds that happened at the time of her death that had not started healing. Both sets of injuries referred to were present on her head.

But, after questions from Coronado, Smith also said that medical research shows that some people can receive a sub-dermal hematoma (a life-threatening situation where blood pools and presses against the brain) from a relatively minor injury, such as a fall from a bed. In research that Smith provided the court, medical experts believe that sub-dermal hematomas are difficult to find in children and are sometimes symptomless until a test occurs.

A sub-dermal hematoma was present in Favi's autopsy, Smith confirmed. But she attributes it to repeated blunt force trauma to the head sustained around the time of Favi's death. Coronado's questions also suggested that Smith could've done more to disprove the hematoma sustained before her death, something Smith pushed back on.

Defense's medical examiner says Favi's death could have been caused by a fall but says determination is unknowable.

The defense's only witness was former Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner Dr. Kris Sperry. Sperry testified for about two hours about his perspective on Favi's cause of death.

Sperry said he disagreed with Taute's findings that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and the manner of death was homicide. He said he disagreed with the term "blunt force trauma," calling it vague, and said that, in his estimation, it was impossible to determine.

"There's just so much about this child we just don't know," Sperry said.

Sperry's credentials and honestly questioned after a Georgia news article. The jury was not allowed to hear about it.

Before the jury was allowed to return, the issues of past news articles about Sperry were debated. An investigation published by the Atlanta Courier-Journal in 2015 found that "Sperry had taken on more than 500 cases as a paid forensic expert and that his moonlighting had created conflicts of interest and undermined his scientific and medical judgment."

"In addition, the newspaper found, on 67 days since 2010, Sperry reported working at least eight hours for the state when he spent time out of the office giving depositions or testifying in court for private clients. For 13 of those days, Sperry signed time sheets claiming a full day at the GBI even though he was testifying as an expert witness in out-of-state trials," an ACJ article reads.

Sperry resigned a month after the article was published.

Because Sperry was never convicted of a crime and prosecutors produced no witness who could testify to Sperry's alleged actions in the article, the judge found that state rules governing trials prevented prosecutors from asking Sperry about the article.

Judge rejects calls for directed verdict

After the prosecutors rested their case, Coronado requested the judge direct a verdict of not guilty.

Directed verdicts of not guilty are delivered by a judge who finds that prosecutors failed to prove that a crime was more likely than not to have been committed. Where a jury's verdict is to the standard of "reasonable doubt," a judge's directed verdict is a lesser standard.

Coronado argued that the prosecutor failed to prove that Castrillo was responsible for inflicting Favi's injuries. Counts disagreed and allowed the trial to move on. Coronado requested a second directed verdict after Sperry's testimony, adding that Sperry's testimony further proved his point. Counts denied the request again.

Defense attorneys routinely request directed verdicts as a manner of best practice.

Cases rest, jury starts deliberations.

After hearing closing arguments from Coronado and Gaurdillo, the jury began deliberations at around 5:40 p.m. At about 7 p.m., they told the judge they wanted to go home for the night and return to deliberations on Friday morning.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Doctors duel, cases rest in Baby Favi trial. Here's the takeaways.
Liberty City native Erica Loewe pictured on the runway. A graduate of Immaculata-La Salle High School, Loewe was recently promoted to the White Houses new chief of staff of public engagement

A Black woman from Liberty City now helps lead how the White House engages with citizens.

As of Aug. 28, Miami native Erica Loewe serves as the White Houses new chief of staff of public engagement. Loewes role allows her to control how the nations leader engages with various community stakeholders as well as messaging in matters of civil rights and racial equity. The White Houses former director of African American media, she called the move a shift in portfolio which gives her the opportunity to engage the countrys diverse population to ensure an inclusive and transparent government.

The importance of civic engagement had been impressed upon Loewe since childhood. Her uncle worked for various mayoral campaigns, her aunt worked as general counsel for the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, and her mom worked at city hall, she said.

All I know is I used to be handing out fliers at the Youth Fair, helping my mom with whatever she was working on at the moment, doing stuff at church, Loewe recalled with a chuckle.

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Despite living in Washington D.C. for more than a decade, Loewe is a Miami girl through and through.

You can tell by her excitement when she mentions having recently met Trick Daddy. By the way she pauses mid conversation when she hears Take It To the House. And by the way her intonation changes when she talks about Supa Cindy and 99 Jamz.

But it was the Liberty City natives high school experience at Immaculata-La Salle in Coconut Grove  something she described as a cultural shock  that laid the groundwork for her new role in the White House.

I was probably one of three Black people at La Salle which I think it definitely came with challenges, the 2007 La Salle graduate said, explaining that most of her classmates were a lot more affluent than her. I also think that it was integral part of my upbringing and led to me doing the equity work that I do now.

An internship at the White House after she graduated from the University of Florida in 2011 ultimately ignited a thirst for public service.

I didnt know exactly what I was going to do next, Loewe recalled after she moved to Washington D.C. in the early 2010s. I just knew President Obama was in office and I was trying to figure out how to make that make sense. That was one of the few things I could do that would make my parents happy because they were obsessed with Obama.

After a short stint in the White House and on Obamas 2012 inaugural committee, Loewe left for the private sector. Something about public service kept calling her name and in 2017, she began working under Rep. Maxine Waters then Rep. Jim Clyburn until finally joining the Biden White House as the director of African American media. Loewes time with Clyburn gave her a better understanding of the importance of democracy: she and the highest-ranking Black lawmaker were hunkered down together during the January 6th insurrection.

You often see those pictures online of staffers pushing the table against the door and that was me and my colleagues in Mr. Clyburns office, she said. The experience, she recalled, was absolutely terrifying yet it highlighted the importance in protecting against threats to democracy.

As director of African American media, she pushed for more representation of Black-led or Black-serving outlets.

Erica has spearheaded our Black media engagement since the early days of the Biden-Harris Administration, Anita Dunn, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor, said in a statement. Shes smart, innovative, hardworking and has a passion that aligns with the Presidents mission of ensuring everyone has a seat at the table.

In her new role, Loewes purview will only expand. The office of public engagement, she describes, is essentially the front door to the White House. That means all outreach, official announcements and events will go through her. She will also be more involved in working more with advocacy groups and organizations than press and that front door will be open for everybody, she said.

The goal is to be helpful to and reach as many people as possible, Loewe said. In this role, I get to do that on behalf of the president.
The News

For Corky Messner, it started a few weeks ago, with an article in The Atlantic. For Larry Caplan, it started with a colleague suggesting that Donald Trump might not be eligible to serve as president. For Ron Fein, it was a cause hed pursued for years.

All three men are intrigued by the argument that the 14th Amendment, which bars anyone whos engaged in insurrection or rebellion from federal office, applies to the 45th president of the United States.

They dont know each other, they dont share the same politics, and theyre not alone. In the three weeks since the New York Times first reported on a law review article on the subject, people who believe that Trump might be disqualified have sought meetings and filed lawsuits across multiple states, drawing the attention of presidential candidates, governors, and state election officials along the way.

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Last year, Fein and his group Free Speech for People organized lawsuits against several members of Congress who supported Trumps effort to overturn the 2020 election, making the 14th Amendment case, but losing in district court.

In an interview, Fein said he was thrilled to see the idea picking up momentum. His group already has a two-track plan for success: Meetings with state election officials, which have been happening since 2021, and legal challenges on behalf of voters in key states, which will be coming once Trump begins filing in GOP primaries. On Wednesday, Fein sent fresh letters to election officials in Florida, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin, urging another look at the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause of the Constitution.

We would accept a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, Fein told Semafor. Were not sure that Trump would.

James Bopp, Jr., a Republican attorney who beat back some of the 2022 lawsuits, called the new effort dangerous beyond comprehension, a Democratic ploy that was being laundered by a handful of conservative lawyers. (Former Judge J. Michael Luttig co-authored The Atlantic piece with liberal academic Laurence H. Tribe; William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, who wrote the law review article, are members of the Federalist Society.)

This isnt voter fraud  this is overturning the election, said Bopp. Its not just anti-democratic, its actually revolutionary, in terms of overturning our system. I dont see how our constitution and system of government would survive.

When a (Trump-appointed) judge agreed sided with Bopps argument that the 14th Amendments third clause didnt prevent then-Rep. Madison Cawthorn from seeking another term, interest in this idea seemed to be fading. But while that high-profile case ended in defeat for Fein, a New Mexico court forced a county commissioner candidate off the ballot over his participation in the Jan. 6 riot, which helped keep it in circulation for its eventual revival.

Davids view

I was surprised by how two articles  one skimmable in a few minutes, one worth reading at length  got so many kinds of people interested in the 14th Amendment route. Its especially notable how much of the energy around the issue has come from the former presidents critics on the right, rather than his more traditional opponents on the left.

The day after the Times piece ran, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters in Iowa that there was a looming question of whether Trump would be disqualified from a constitutional standpoint. He reiterated that at last weeks debate in Milwaukee, though no other Republican hopeful followed up.

But even just mentioning this had an impact. Caplan, a Florida attorney, told Semafor that he started to research the relevant constitutional law after the debate, and  acting on his own, not consulting local Democrats  filed his brief. He did not want Trump back in office: If he were elected again, he said, I think it could be the end of what we know as American democracy.

That wasnt Messners take. In 2020, he was the GOPs nominee for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire; if Trump was qualified to run, and became the nominee, he said hed probably vote for him. But after he read the Atlantic piece, he got nervous, and scheduled a meeting with Secretary of State David Scanlan. He wants to get a test case before the courts well ahead of the election, so judges can settle the matter one way or another.

What Scanlan said to me was  gee, Im aware of this issue, but I certainly cannot make a decision without some legal guidance, Messner told Americana, who has retained counsel in Washington but has not filed anything yet. My reaction to that was: I agree with you! If I were you, Id want legal guidance. And thats why I want to get this into the legal system as soon as possible.

Messners meeting woke up the MAGA movement. On Monday, Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk urged listeners of his podcast to call Scanlan and denounce an idea that would be a death blow to the republic. Kirk suggested, without evidence, that the plan had been hatched up six to nine months ago, agog at what he thought was coordination between pundits and attorneys.

Luttig dismissed that, and stood by his piece. In my view, there is no question whatsoever that Sec. 3 of the 14th Amendment applies to the conduct of the former president in and around Jan. 6, 2021, he told Semafor.

Messner said that his own email and phone calls were split 60/40, for and against the idea, even after the Kirk podcast. By mid-week both New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and state GOP chairman Chris Ager had denounced the idea and promised that Trump would make the ballot. But on Wednesday, without consulting Messner or others, fringe presidential candidate John Anthony Castro filed a legal complaint in New Hampshire court, making the Trump eligibility argument.

Could denunciations by people like Sununu put the question to bed? No, not really. For one, every Democrat in an election management role was going to be asked about this. Two, according to Bopp, the idea that Trump had disqualified himself could travel to local election officials that nobody was bothering right now, people who could decide on their own that votes for the possible GOP nominee didnt count.

The people advancing the theory rejected that scenario completely.

We are reputable lawyers, said Fein. We are not Donald Trumps legal team. Were not going to engage in any illegal election activity.

Room for Disagreement

The Section 3 case, as its increasingly shorthanded, has picked up some support with anti-Trump pundits on the right, but also skepticism. New York Times columnist David French wrote that the Baude/Paulsen argument may well represent the single most rigorous and definitive explanation of Section 3 ever put to paper, though hes worried the Supreme Court would not uphold it and the likely timing of a case could cause chaos in the election. Former Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer, who shares much of Frenchs politics, wanted the madness to stop: I dont give a damn what your novel legal theory is, it will be far more corrosive to the body politic than whatever threat it is you think youre protecting the country from.

The View From The Trump Campaign

The ex-presidents campaign has raised tens of millions of dollars in the wake of criminal investigations and indictment announcements; the idea that Trumps enemies knew there was no way to beat him electorally was powerful.

The people who are pursuing this absurd conspiracy theory and political attack on President Trump are stretching the law beyond recognition much like the political prosecutors in New York, Georgia, and DC, said Trump spokesman Steven Cheung. There is no legal basis for this effort except in the deranged minds of those who are pushing it.

The View From Democrats

They arent pouncing on this. The Democratic National Committee declined to comment entirely on the lawsuits and theory; New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley told Semafor that it amounted to an internal conversation in the Republican Party. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, asked about it on Monday, said very carefully that it would be up to other people to fight this out.

The bottom line for me is, were going to follow the law, Benson told MIRS News. Were going to follow the Constitution. Were going to see how these constitutional and legal questions, which are not cut and dry, play out in the months ahead.

Notable

In the Associated Press, Nicholas Riccardi finds more liberal lawyers thinking about the theory, including Noah Bookbinder at D.C.-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

In Reason, Stanford Law School Prof. Michael McConnell frets that this approach could empower partisans to seek disqualification every time a politician supports or speaks in support of the objectives of a political riot.
In Poltava Oblast, they say goodbye to the crews of two Mi-8s that crashed near Kramatorsk

Ukraines Poltava Oblast is in mourning on Sept. 1 as it bids farewell to the crews of two Mi-8 helicopters that tragically crashed in the Kramatorsk region of Donetsk Oblast on Aug. 29, Ukrainian news outlets Ukrinform and Suspilne reported on Sept. 1.

Yevhen Rakyta, the spokesperson for the I. Sikorsky 18th Separate Army Aviation Brigade, shared the names of the fallen individuals. The casualties include four pilots and two onboard technicians:

Commander of the helicopter, Colonel Viktor Opanasiuk

Senior onboard technician, Captain Yurii Anisimov

Navigator-pilot, Senior Lieutenant Valentyn Vorobets

Onboard technician, Captain Yevhen Kysil

Formation navigator, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Yarovyi

Formation leader, Captain Vladyslav Rymar

Read also: Famous Ukrainian fighter pilot Juice dies in tragic crash

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All the fallen soldiers had significant combat experience and were decorated with combat awards.

The memorial service for these fallen heroes started around 10:00 a.m. at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the village of Horbanivka, Shcherbanivska community. Friends, relatives, and comrades-in-arms were in attendance. The coffins were adorned with Ukrainian flags.

Mi-8 Crash in Donetsk: What We Know

Read also: Poor maintenance, non-compliance, or Russian sabotage  UA to investigate Mi-8 helicopter disaster

Two Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopters crashed near Kramatorsk on Aug. 29. Rakyta reported the loss of six military personnel during a combat mission in the Bakhmut direction.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces disclosed that at the time, there were reports of a Russian Su-35 fighter jet taking off while the Ukrainian helicopters were attempting to landa standard safety procedure to avoid potential attacks.

The State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) has initiated an inquiry into the incident. They stated that they would investigate the technical condition of the helicopters, adherence to flight preparation protocols, and the possibility of sabotage or interference by Russian forces.

The preliminary qualification is a violation of flight rules or flight preparation, as stipulated in Article 416 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code.

Read also: Russian Mi-8 helicopter with crew reportedly surrender to Ukrainian military, says journalist

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 - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks at the National Palace in Mexico City, Jan. 10, 2023. The Mexican leader on Friday, Sept 1. 2023, delivered his second-to-last state of the union. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexicos president on Friday delivered his second-to-last state of the union, and perhaps what was most striking of his roughly 1 1/2 hour speech was what he didnt talk about: drugs, crime or drug cartels.

Experts and residents agree that wide swaths of Mexico are under the de-facto control of drug cartels, but President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador mentioned gangs  and drugs  exactly zero times.

Mexico also has over 111,000 missing people, who weren't mentioned in the speech.

Crime in general merited less than one minute of the president's speech, which focused almost entirely on what the president viewed as successes of his administration.

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For example, he cited a decline in the poverty rate in Mexico from 49.9% of the population in 2018 to 43.5% in 2022, though that was in some part due to the huge rise in remittances, the money sent home by Mexicans working abroad.

The only thing Lopez Obrador had to say about security policy was that his anti-crime strategy was working, even though homicides remain at historically high levels.

Our strategy of applying the principle that peace is the fruit of justice is working well, the president said, a reference to job-training and youth programs he says will reduce the ranks of recruits for drug gangs.

He claimed Mexico has seen a drop of 17% in homicides under his administration, but in fact homicides had already fallen about 7% from their mid-2018 peak when Lopez Obrador took office in December of that year. The president is essentially taking credit for a drop that started under his predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto.

The most reliable count released in July shows that homicides in Mexico declined by 9.7% in 2022 compared to 2021, the first significant drop during the current administration. Mexicos National Statistics Institute said there were 32,223 killings in 2022.

The countrys homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants dropped from about 28 in 2021 to 25 in 2022. By comparison, the U.S. homicide rate in 2021 was about 7.8 per 100,000 inhabitants.

However, the number of killings nationwide appears to have essentially flatlined in the first half of 2023, when there were 15,122 killings, compared to 15,381 in the same period of 2022. At the current rate, Lopez Obrador's administration will see far more homicides than any of his predecessors.

It is common for Mexican presidents to tout the successes of their administrations in state-of-the-union addresses and downplay problems, but Lopez Obrador has taken that to an extreme.

There was no mention of the fact that lime growers in southern Mexico say that drug cartel threats and demands for protection payments have reached levels not seen since 2013.

There was also no mention of the fact that seizures of methamphetamines rose from about 36 tons in all of 2022 to a whopping 230 tons in the first eight months of 2023. On Friday, prosecutors announced they seized 2.6 million fentanyl pills hidden in the frame of a freight truck on a highway in northern Mexico that leads to the U.S. border.

In July, Mexicos government statistics agency acknowledged it had to pay gangs to enter some towns to do census work last year.

And in recent months Mexico has seen instances of brutality and drug cartel control it hadn't seen since the darkest days of the 2006-2012 drug war.

Security officials have acknowledged that in recent months, law enforcement officers and soldiers have been targeted by roadside bombs, car bombs and bomb-dropping drones.

In the western state of Jalisco, videos surfaced in August showing a young man kidnapped by a drug cartel  one of a group of five friends  being forced to execute one of his fellow victims. Forcing victims to fight each other to death was a hallmark of the notorious Zetas cartel in 2011.
Jones installment comes after years of criticism of the police department in Miami Beach, formerly considered a sundown town Blacks should avoid after nightfall.

The first Black police chief in Miami Beach history is reporting for duty.

Wayne Jones, a 54-year-old Bahamian American, has ascended the departments ranks over the past 27 years. On Thursday, he took the oath of office as chief in front of a packed audience at the citys New World Center auditorium.

During the swearing-in ceremony, Jones said hes humbled to stand before you as the first Black police chief in one of Americas most iconic cities, according to the Miami Herald.

Wayne Jones, 54, was sworn in as the first Black police chief in Miami Beach on Thursday before a packed audience. (Photo: Screenshot/YouTube.com/CBS Miami)

Jones installment comes in the wake of years of scrutiny and criticism of the police departments handling of Black citizens in a community where, per U.S. Census figures, just 4.7 percent of its residents identify as Black.

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According to NBC News, the Miami-Dade branch of the NAACP demanded the firing of the Miami Beach police chief and city manager after racist footage of police contacts with Black people on spring break was made public in 2020.

In 2015, Miami Beach police officers reportedly sent hundreds of racist and pornographic emails, including ones against President Barack Obama, which may have compromised scores of criminal cases in which they were witnesses, CBS News reported. An internal inquiry revealed that two of the 16 officers were senior members of the Miami Beach Police Department and served as the primary organizers of the communications.

The Miami Herald reported that five Miami Beach police officers were arrested in 2021 for using excessive force on a Black man restrained in handcuffs and for assaulting the Black bystander videotaping the incident.

The city also received flak for enacting an ordinance unfairly targeting Black tourists who recorded videos of police, which came as part of a slew of tough-on-crime initiatives following a disorderly spring break.

While outlining his goal for the agency, Jones said data indicates crime has decreased in the tourist hotspot over the past decade. However, he said some Miami Beach residents continue to feel less safe, and its his responsibility to provide a sense of security.

He and other city officials noted the significance of his hiring, given Miami Beachs history of racism, which included its designation as a sundown town Black people should avoid after nightfall.

Departing Chief Richard Clements worked his final day on Thursday after 33 years with the police. A city official stated that Clements made roughly $259,000 annually, while Jones will receive about $262,000.

After Clements announced his retirement in May, Philip Levine, a former two-term mayor of Miami Beach and previous Democratic candidate for governor of Florida, penned an opinion piece advocating for a Black successor.

If Miami Beach found an African American chief who was the right fit for our police department, it would be a historic and positive moment, Levine wrote. It would give a voice to historically marginalized residents and visitors and help move us forward toward a day when the scales of justice are finally fully balanced.

Jones spoke on the citys high-profile effort in recent years to control spring break in its popular South Beach neighborhood, announcing he will soon start formalizing an action plan to curb criminal behavior from a very small number of people.

The new chief also covered Miami Beachs desire to end open-air drug dealing. He discussed how he views homelessness, a controversial subject as city leaders contemplate stricter rules prohibiting sleeping in public places. The number of unsheltered homeless people in Miami Beach has decreased from 235 in January to 152, as determined by an overnight census last week.

Although Jones promised to make every effort to provide resources to homeless residents, he also declared, We will not allow a criminal element to take advantage of our collective empathy, the Miami Herald reported.

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The post Miami Beach installs first Black police chief, Wayne Jones appeared first on TheGrio.
Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, feeds fawns in the fawn pen at her home in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Fawns are Carduccis favorite animal to take care of, and she said one day she hopes to cut back on rescuing animals and only take in fawns.

Im heading out back, Keirstie Carducci said to her husband, Lee Carducci.

That was the phrase that expanded into a full-time job of taking care of wildlife from her backyard. Out-Back Wildlife Rehab Center was officially founded in 2003, but Keirstie has taken on the role of wildlife rehabilitator for over 40 years.

Keirstie Carducci, 61, of Ottawa Lake, always had an affinity for animals.

I was the neighborhood kid that everyone brought them to, she said. She still is.

Bagel, the muskrat, eats a banana that Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake fed him in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Bagel was released over a year ago, but he keeps wandering back to the Carducci home because he knows Keirstie can't resist feeding him.

Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, opens the muskrat cage to feed them in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023.

Carducci officially started in the field by fostering a couple animals per year for Michigans Humane Society. Last year, her organization, Out-Back Wildlife Rehab Center, took in 719 animals. Online, the operating hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but most days Carducci receives calls as early as 5:30 a.m. and doesn't expect to eat dinner before 11 p.m.

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Out-Back takes in fawns, woodchucks, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, rats, moles, voles, shrews and bunnies. Her collection of animals is not limited to her rescues, but her 10-acre property in Ottawa Lake in Monroe County is also home to more than 150 domesticated animals. To name a few, two geese (Remmi and Gimpy), who are the babysitters of Carduccis animal kingdom, 45 cats and a 40-year-old donkey named Simon, whom she refers to as her little old man.

A fawn follows Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, as she makes her way to release a bunny that she brought back to health in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023.

Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, releases a bunny from her backyard in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023. This bunny came to Carducci's home with head trauma, and wouldn't stop going in circles. After treatment and care for five days, Carducci was able to release the bunny and it ran straight into the wild. "I just love this so stinkin' much," Carducci said when returning to the barn after releasing it.

Carducci speaks of the animals on her land like they are part of her family.

This is Delilah, Earnies girlfriend, Carducci says, while introducing one of her chickens. All chickens fight over her.

She treasures her Flemish Giant bunny, Clover, who was found in the dumpster at a dollar store.

Hes one of the best pets Ive ever had, she said. Lenny too, of course, referring to her turkey standing nearby. Lenny wandered into the Carduccis home a week after Thanksgiving last year and hasnt left.

You really never get lonely, Carducci said.

Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, carries Clover, her favorite Flemish giant bunny, back to his side of the yard after he escaped in her backyard in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Carducci refers to Clover, who was found in the dumpster of a dollar store, as "one of the best pets she's ever had."

Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, picks up weeds that can be fed to bunnies for days to come in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Carducci said this is her least favorite job, but the bunny greens are very expensive and Carducci doesn't have the time to run to her local grocery store, Ciolino's daily.

Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, directs Karen Malone, a Grosse Ile Animal Control animal transporter, back to her car after she dropped off an injured squirrel in Ottawa Lake on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. People roll up to Carducci's driveway all day, from Michigan residents to conservation officers. Carducci greets everyone with the same high energy and willingness to help each animal she receives.

Summertime brings an extra level of chaos in the Carducci home because it is squirrel and fawn birthing season.

Its 18 hours a day, seven days a week, Carducci said. Along with 200 phone calls every day.

Carducci works closely with the animal control officers and conservation officers that regulate her work, some of which attend her infamous Nacho Night at her home each year.

"It makes it more worth it because we have their respect," Carducci said. "We're all working together to try to save these animals."

Keirstie Carducci, 65, prepares bottles of goat milk for morning fawn feeding in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Carducci feeds the 15 rescue fawns that are being taken care of in her home twice a day.

The same can't be said with the state's involvement. Instead, it enforces regulations that are difficult to meet.

"The state should train rehabilitators, but they dump it on us," Carducci said. "If we got to have a say in some of the decisions from the state level it would make things run a lot better."

Carducci has had helpers in the past, but this year the state denied her helpers licensing, due to their distance from Ottawa Lake.

"Shouldn't it be their decision if they want to drive here to help," Carducci said.

Additionally, Carducci was told that if she wants helpers, she needs to train them herself, but she simply doesnt have the time.

The state is so far removed from what we do with these animals, Carducci said.

Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, feeds two rescue fawns in the morning in Ottawa Lake on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. These fawns aren't ready for Carducci's fawn pen, due to injuries, and require extra attention and care. Carducci keeps them close to the barn where she works most of the day and allows them to roam free in the front part of her yard.

LEFT: Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, feeds an injured squirrel an avocado in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023. RIGHT: Carducci cuts up apples and sweet potato to feed the squirrel rescues dinner in the evening in Ottawa Lake on Friday, July 28, 2023. Carducci prides herself on only feeding the animals high quality food and jokes that the rescue animals "eat a lot better than me."

Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, feeds an injured squirrel, who is in the intensive care unit in her barn in Ottawa Lake on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Carducci has an intensive care unit section of her barn for animals that need extra monitoring before they can be moved to larger cages.

Rehabilitators do not receive money from the state either, so the businesses are funded straight from owners pockets and donations.

Perhaps Carducci's biggest help comes from her husband, Lee. He supports Out-Back by funding the animals' care as well as helping with stall and horse duties.

He never complains, no matter what I get in here or how much it costs, Keirstie Carducci said. Hes even taken up cooking.

Lee first heard about Keirstie when she was still working as an economic analyst at Chrysler.

She was the crazy lady on the 12th floor that had kittens under her desk, Lee said.

Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, takes a moment to respond to messages by her pond after finishing most of her rehab duties in the evening in Ottawa Lake on Friday, July 28, 2023.

Lee Carducci laughs with his wife, Keirstie Carducci, as she replies to a text about a rescue animal past 10 p.m. while eating dinner in Ottawa Lake on Friday, July 28, 2023. The couple joked about putting the phone on silent for once, to which Lee playfully replied, "I wish I could put you on silent," causing them both to laugh. Jokes aside, Lee is a major support system for Keirstie, not only funding her animal care organization, but by helping in any way he can when he's not working himself. "He never complains no matter what I get in here or how much it costs," Keirstie said. Lee helps finish Keirstie's stall duties at the end of the day and waits for her to finish feeding before having dinner, which is past 11 p.m. on some nights.

Keirstie said she would like a little more freedom to visit her daughter in Florida or go on a date with her husband, but the constant influx of animals prevents any sense of normalcy in her personal life.

Its exhaustive, expensive and time-consuming, but nobody forced me to do this, Keirstie Carducci said. I do this cause I love it.

Carduccis love shines through as soon as she steps outside to see the animals. Her voice rings like a bell to the wildlife.

Hi, guys! she repeats while making her way through her vast backyard.

This is the best job in the world, she said.

Injured wild animals in Michigan: What to do when you find a hurt deer, bird, rabbit

Keirstie Carducci, 65, of Ottawa Lake, leads Malibu, 24, into the barn for the night at 9:30 p.m. in Ottawa Lake on Friday, July 28, 2023. Taking the horses and donkey into the barn for the night is one of the last activities before Carducci ends her rehab duties.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Out-Back Rehab Center in Michigan's Ottawa Lake rescues animals
WASHINGTON  Record numbers of migrant families were reportedly apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in August, according to preliminary data, raising questions about a new Biden administration policy that was meant to stem migration.

The U.S. Border Patrol arrested an estimated 91,000 migrants who entered the U.S. across the southern border in August in family groups, The Washington Post reported, citing preliminary figures, eclipsing the previous one-month record of 84,486 in May 2019 under the Trump administration.

The August figures, which the Post obtained exclusively, could change slightly when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection releases official numbers later this month. USA TODAY was unable to verify the figures independently.

A Biden administration rule that went in effect in May requires migrants heading to the U.S. border to first seek protection in Mexico before attempting to do so in the U.S.

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Under pressure to address surging migration, President Joe Biden adopted the rule following the expiration of Title 42, a COVID-19 pandemic policy that allowed the U.S. to cite fears of spreading the virus as a reason to expel migrants.

A family of five claiming to be from Guatemala and a man stating he was from Peru, in pink shirt, walk through the desert after crossing the border wall in the Tucson Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Lukeville, Ariz.

Total border apprehensions  which includes single adults and unaccompanied adults in addition to families  have now increased for two months after dropping sharply in May and June.

An estimated 177,000 migrants were arrested at the border in August, according to The Washington Post, up from 132,652 in July and 99,539 in June. The August figured topped the 171,387 migrants apprehended in May and is now only slightly fewer than the 183,919 arrested in April, before Biden's new rule started.

Based on the preliminary figures, August marked the first month since Biden entered the White House in which more migrants crossed illegally into the U.S. through Mexico as part of family groups rather than as undocumented single adults or unaccompanied minors.

The Department of Homeland Security would not confirm the preliminary figures.

Erin Heeter, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the federal government has removed or returned more than 200,000 migrants who crossed the border since May including 17,000 parents or children who arrived in family groups. She said the administration increased the number of flights in August to remove undocumented immigrants apprehended at the border.

This administration continues to lead the largest expansion of lawful pathways in decades, which has reduced irregular migration while facilitating safe, orderly, and humane management of our borders," Heeter said. "But as with every year, the U.S. is seeing ebbs and flows of migrants arriving fueled by seasonal trends and the efforts of smugglers to use disinformation to prey on vulnerable migrants and encourage migration."

She said the Biden administration remains "vigilant and continue to adjust our operational plans" to maximize enforcement against migrants who don't use lawful paths into the U.S.

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Record number of migrants arrested by border patrol in August: report
WASHINGTON  The Missile Defense Agency canceled a critical flight test of the Long-Range Discrimination Radar due to a target anomaly, according to a spokesman.

The Missile Defense Agency was unable to execute Flight Test Other-26 (FTX-26) on 17 August 2023 due to a target anomaly, which has necessitated the cancellation of this test event, Mark Wright, MDA spokesman, told Defense News Friday.

The test was intended to demonstrate LRDR capabilities against a live ballistic missile target in a non-intercept operational test.

The agency declared the Lockheed Martin-developed LRDRs initial fielding in December 2021 at Clear Space Force Station, Alaska, where it is located.

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MDA will conduct an extensive review and analysis to determine the root cause of the target malfunction that impacted our ability to accomplish the test, Wright said. A replacement operational test for the LRDR is being planned now although a test date has not yet been determined.

Once fully operational, LRDR will be able to simultaneously search and track multiple small objects, including all classes of ballistic missiles at long ranges under continuous operation and will be tied into the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system and the Command and Control, Battle Management and Communications system. The GMD is designed to protect the continental U.S. from potential intercontinental ballistic missile threats from North Korea and Iran.

Formal operational acceptance of the LRDR by the U.S. Space Force is planned to occur by the end of 2023.

The LRDR program experienced delays leading up to its initial fielding, which ultimately occurred a year later than planned, due to the coronavirus pandemic. MDA had to stop all construction and integration activities for LRDR when the coronavirus began spreading in the U.S. in March 2020. The program went into caretaker status, meaning just a small group sayed at the site to ensure the materials were protected from the elements.

Beyond missile defense, LRDR will also support space domain awareness by monitoring space activity like satellites orbiting the earth, spent rocket bodies and fragmentation debris. And while not an official requirement, a software upgrade could give LRDR hypersonic weapon detection and tracking capability.
Mississippi transportation officials want a tug boat company to pay up for allegedly causing more than a $500,000 in damage to the drawbridge on Cowan-Lorraine Road in Gulfport.

The state Transportation Commission filed a lawsuit last week against Alabama-based Cooper Marine and Timberlands Corp., which owns and operates a tugboat named Ashleigh.

The Ashleigh and its barges in tow struck the drawbridge on Oct. 7, 2021, causing some $584,911 in damages.

The commission claims the accident was caused by the fault, carelessness and negligence of Cooper Marine and the Ashleigh. Specifically, they say the Ashleigh was not seaworthy, that the vessel was a menace to navigation, and the company did not staff the vessel with a crew attentive to its duties, among other items.

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The state wants reimbursement for what it spent on repairs, and for the Ashleigh to condemned and sold to pay help pay the bill.

A lawsuit represents only one side of a legal argument. Cooper Marine has yet to file a response to the suit filed in federal court.
Critics say Republican silence over the 81-year-old senators health scare is hypocritical, given how vocal they have been about President Biden, who is 80.

As questions swirl around the health status of Senator Mitch McConnell after the GOP leader froze while taking questions from reporters for a second time, the topic of age and whether Republicans criticizing President Joe Biden are holding a double standard have reignited.

During a press conference on Wednesday in Kentucky, McConnell, 81, froze just before answering a question from a reporter about whether he will seek reelection in 2026. A similar incident happened last month during a press conference on Capitol Hill.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) arrives at a news conference after a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans at the U.S. Capitol on July 26, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Political experts say the longtime Kentucky senators apparent health issues are deeply concerning.

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Mitch McConnell isnt just a senator from anywhere. Hes the Senate minority leader, which means hes in charge of leading his party, not just in committees but in policy and ideas, said Christina M. Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University.

She told theGrio, It is apparent that hes not well, and theres been a decline in his communication skills with the American public in the past few months.

On Thursday, an attending physician on Capitol Hill confirmed that McConnell suffered from occasional lightheadedness due to a previous concussion he suffered after a fall in March. The physician said in a letter that he was medically clear to continue work. However, it is unlikely that the letter will quell chatter about McConnells physical or mental fitness.

Critics say Republican lawmakers have been noticeably silent about McConnells health concerns, despite many prominent GOP politicians hitting President Joe Biden for his age and suggesting that he is not cognitively equipped for the job and, subsequently, reelection.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley went as far as to say that if you vote for Joe Biden, you really are counting on a President [Kamala] Harris. She told Fox News Channel, The idea that he would make it until 86 years old is not something that I think is likely.

Antjuan Seawright, a political strategist who has advised several Democratic campaigns, told theGrio that Republicans have to look in the mirror within their own party and think before they speak. He continued, Especially considering Leader McConnells age and considering that Donald Trump, the leader of their party and leading presidential candidate, is certainly not a young political figure himself.

Suggestions by conservatives that a vote for Biden is a vote for Harris to be president in the event that he is not able to finish out a potential second term is not only a swipe at Bidens age but at Harris as a Black and South Asian daughter of immigrants, says Greer.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk back to the Oval Office after an event about gun violence in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 11, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

That will be an effective strategy because, for some voters, they will never vote for a Black Indian person, said the political scientist. She added, There are a lot of Americans, men and women, who will never vote for a woman.

However, Seawright predicted that using Harris to criticize Bidens age would backfire in the 2024 presidential election. I dont think they understand the more they double down, the moreBlack voters will come around and unite behind the first Black woman to ever serve in one of the highest offices in the world.

Whether legitimate or not, age is likely a prominent feature of the 2024 election cycle. A recent poll by AP-NORC found that 77% of adults think Biden is too old to effectively serve another four years as president. Fifty-five percent said the same about Trump.

A certain segment of the population will always consider age and change, said Seawright, who noted that Biden promised to be a transitional president. However, the former Democratic National Committee senior adviser argued that despite his age, Biden has been effective and productive as president.

Theres not a constituency in this country who have not benefited from the Biden-Harris administration, he said. Productivity means more so than anything else when it comes to the leader of the free world.

As for McConnell, Greer said if he were to retire from the Senate, where he served for nearly 40 years, politics in Washington could change drastically.

Even though his morals were, I would say, sometimes shaken dealing with Donald Trump, hes one of the last vestiges of a senator that sort of did think about working across the aisle, she said. Some of the younger and ambitious Republican senators are a bit more media-hungry and less concerned about bipartisanship, Greer explained.

She added, So with McConnell gone, I dont know what the Republican Senate looks like.

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 Mitch McConnells health reignites concerns of age and double standards appeared first on TheGrio.
Robbin Taylor, state director to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., joins McConnell while he speaks at the NKY Chamber of Commerce at the Madison Event Center, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, in Covington, Ky. McConnell appeared to briefly freeze up and was unable to answer a question from a reporter during the event on Wednesday, weeks after he had a similar episode in Washington. | WCPO via Associated Press

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been medically cleared to return to work in the senate. On Wednesday, McConnell appeared to freeze and seemed unable to respond to reporters questions at a press event in Covington, Kentucky, on Wednesday.

This was the second incident in the last five weeks where the 81-year-old Republican senator appeared to freeze for around 30 seconds, The Washington Post reported, causing concerns about his health and physical condition.

Earlier this year in March, McConnell was also hospitalized after a serious fall at a Washington, D.C., hotel. He suffered a concussion and a rib fracture from the fall but returned to work shortly after, the Deseret News reported.

How was McConnell cleared to work?

The attending physician of Congress signed a four-line letter releasing McConnell to go back to work, according to The New York Times, suggesting the recent incidents could be linked to concussion recovery.

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Dr. Brian P. Monahan said occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration, per the Times.

McConnell got on a phone call shortly after the frozen moment Wednesday, apparently seeking to minimize political fallout, CNN reported. He says he feels fine and has continued to strike down concerns about his health.

Related

What are McConnells colleagues saying?

McConnell was elected to his seventh six-year term in 2020. While most Republican leaders remain supportive publicly of McConnell staying in office, some have expressed concerns about his health issues.

If he wants to stay as leader, he needs to be transparent and open about his current condition, a House Republican, requesting anonymity, told NBC News.

Heres what other leaders are saying

Sen. John Cornyn (R, Texas)  I talked to Sen. McConnell yesterday and he seemed to be doing fine. We all wish him well, per the Post.

Bob Barney, Republican Party chair in Jessamine County, Kentucky  Were all very disappointed that he didnt let someone else take over as leader in 2022. That wouldve been a wise decision at the time, he told the Post.

Rep. Dean Phillips (D, Minn.)  For goodness sake, the family, friends, and staff of Sens. Feinstein and McConnell are doing them and our country a tremendous disservice. Its time for term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court, and some basic human decency, he tweeted.

President Joe Biden  He was his old self on the telephone, per WSJ.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R, Ga.)  Severe aging health issues and/or mental health incompetence in our nations leaders MUST be addressed, she tweeted Wednesday.

Severe aging health issues and/or mental health incompetence in our nations leaders MUST be addressed.



Biden, McConnell, Feinstein, and Fetterman are examples of people who are not fit for office and its time to be serious about it.



1/2



pic.twitter.com/AfvNv50BvA  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 30, 2023

What could happen if McConnell has a health scare again?

If concerns continue to rise, Senate Republicans could request a special meeting of the Senate GOP conference to discuss whether McConnell is physically fit to continue representing the people of Kentucky, as well as the needs of the American public, per the Post. It would require just a handful of signatures to prompt such a request.

Texts between members are being exchanged, one person familiar with the senators discussions told The Wall Street Journal. But my guess is therell be a wait-and-see attitude certainly until we get back to see whats happening.

The power to name a replacement senator in Kentucky if a senator dies in office, is expelled or retires before their term is up goes to a state executive committee composed of members from the same political party as the senator, per the Times. The committee can name three candidates that the governor can choose from to fill the vacancy on a temporary basis.

Related
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Robbin Taylor, his state director, at the Madison Event Center on Wednesday in Covington, Ky. (WCPO via AP)

After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell froze up at a press conference earlier this week, for the second time in recent months, the Capitols attending physician said the Kentucky Republican was medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned.

Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration, wrote Dr. Brian Monahan in a short statement, saying he consulted with McConnell and also conferred with his neurology team.

Monahan was referring to a concussion and fractured rib the 81-year-old senator suffered following a fall at a Washington, D.C., hotel earlier this year. McConnell returned to work in April after a six-week absence and inpatient physical therapy but froze during a press conference in July. A McConnell aide told Yahoo News that the senator felt light-headed and stepped away for a moment. A similar incident happened during an event in Kentucky on Wednesday.

While Monahan gave McConnells health his seal of approval, his assessment has no bearing on whether McConnell can continue to serve. Even if Monahan didnt grant his approval, there would be limited formal mechanisms to replace the GOP leader because the concept of being medically cleared is not written into the rules of the Senate.

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Dealing with ailing members is something that both parties have faced in recent years.

Read more from Yahoo News: Mitch McConnell: The 3 Republicans who are likeliest to succeed him

McConnells future

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., reaches out to help McConnell after McConnell froze at the microphones during a news conference on July 26. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The fall earlier this year and subsequent freezing at press conferences this summer are only the latest health issues for McConnell, who has served in the Senate since 1985 and has been the chambers Republican leader since 2007. McConnell recovered from polio as a child and suffered a fall in 2019 that fractured his shoulder. In 2020, the senator faced questions about his health when photos showed his hands appearing dark blue. McConnell said he was fine but did not explain the discoloration.

After the first incident earlier this summer, McConnells office said he planned to serve out the rest of his term as leader, but the latest health scare has raised further concerns among Republicans despite his immediate reassurances.

If were going to stick with him, he kinda owes it to us to tell us whats going on, an anonymous GOP aide from an office allied with McConnell told Politico.

McConnell could step down from his leadership role and allow a replacement to be selected, but he would retain his seat in the Senate unless he chose to resign. Any senator can be expelled with a two-thirds vote from their colleagues, but thats not a remote possibility for McConnell. His full term runs through 2026 and he has not said if he will seek reelection at this time.

Read more from Yahoo News: Why Republicans Are About to Throw Mitch McConnell to the Wolves, via the New Republic

Recent health issues in the Senate

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in April 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Prior to McConnells episodes, the highest-profile health issues in the Senate this year revolved around 90-year-old Dianne Feinstein, the Democrat from California. Feinstein was away from the Senate for months for what her office initially said was recovery from shingles, before saying her condition was more severe than initially stated.

After returning in May, Feinstein told reporters, I havent been gone. Ive been working. At a July hearing, she had to be prodded to vote aye after seeming confused about the proceedings.

While Feinstein had already said she wasnt running for reelection next year, there were numerous calls for her to resign and allow Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint a replacement. However, because Feinstein holds a position on the powerful Judiciary Committee and Republicans would have to help Democrats name a replacement, other Democrats  including Hillary Clinton  have argued that her staying on through the end of her term is most beneficial for the party.

In 2017, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., initially resisted calls to retire despite reports that the 79-year-old looked frail and disoriented while being confused on which way to vote. The following year, Cochran announced he would resign, and he died in 2019.

Earlier this year, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., stepped away to seek treatment for clinical depression. The freshman official returned to the job in April following a two-month absence that stemmed from a stroke he suffered in May 2022, just before the primary.

While Fetterman has faced criticism for seeking and holding office while recovering, many have lauded him for being open about issues that affect millions of Americans. Last year, Democratic Sens. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland also suffered strokes but have since returned to office.
Convicted criminal, Paul Edmunds stash of weapons and bullet-making materials. Image taken upon his arrest in the UK.

There are countless stories of bombs and grenades discovered in veterans belongings. Kids going through Grandpas things and uncovering an unexpectedly dangerous find. Then theres an apparent loophole that allows convicted criminals to purchase antique firearms, which are seen as collector items rather than modern weapons . But some of the stories go beyond the norm and a few steps furtherand ultimately, the perpetrators are caught.

Take a look at these unbelievably true tales of modern folks using antique weapons

1. A unique business plan

Being an arms dealer sounds like a risky job in and of itself. However, one man tried to further create a layer of safety for himself, not through legal means, but by selling his customers antique weapons. In 2017, a 66-year-old in the UK was linked to more than 100 crime scenes, including an attack on a police helicopter.

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The firearms supplier had been funneling 19th-century guns from the U.S., France and Russia, under the guise of selling to collectors. He then fashioned his own bullets to outfit the guns. In addition, he lied about the ages of certain guns, claiming they were more than 50 years older than their press date, to classify them as antiques. More than 100,000 rounds of ammo were found when he was arrested.

2. A bomb ahem, there

A WWI artillery shell after it was removed from a patient's rectum.

In 2022, a hospital in France had an emergency that almost sounded too crazy to be true. An 88-year-old showed up to the emergency room with an ailment doctors have yet to see repeated. There was a World War I artillery shell inside of his rectum. The Toulon, France , hospital was evacuated as artillery experts were called to the scene.

The shell was said to be about two inches wide and eight inches long. With the guidance of the explosive experts, doctors were able to remove the device and repair the patients injuries. The WWI weapon was then confiscated for safe disposal.

3. 17th-century cannons sold to the highest bidder

A bronze cannon from the 1600s.

Its no secret that weapons collectors will pay big bucks for rare items, and when a diver off the coast of Great Britain found a treasure trove, he was banking on it. Three 17th-century bronze cannons were obtained by Vincent Woolsgrove, a professional diver. While he returned two to the country, he claimed that the third was found in international waters.

Woolsgrove received around $83,000 (adjusted from 2013 dollars) when he sold to an American collector.

Investigators spent two years proving that the cannons came from the HMS London , a ship located near Southend in Essex since it went down in 1665. Woolsgrove was sentenced to two years in jail for failing to report the find. Experts say the cannons are one of few left in existence. The cannon was never confiscated.

Extensive Dutch records showed that the cannon was crafted in Amsterdam with the job of arming the town. Later, they were added to Dutch ships when they fought England

4. Antique guns, modern bullets

Antique guns that were adjusted to fit hollow-point bullets in the UK.

Finally, theres the duo who decided to alter antique guns in order to make them more dangerous. In the UK, two men were arrested in 2016 when a sting proved they had been adapting old guns to fire hollow-point bullets.

After gun violence had been growing in South Yorkshire, police sourced out a number of modified guns, which were traced back to Anthony McIntyre and Shaun May. The pair outfitted at least seven guns, three of which were never found. They were each sentenced to 14 years in jail.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  A 10-month long investigation has lead to the arrest of who authorities called a major drug trafficker.

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said the Murfreesboro Police Department originally began the investigation, which later involved the MNPD and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).

Police trying to ID pedestrian hit, killed by truck in Murfreesboro

Brandon Ostein, 36, was arrested Thursday after police searched his Broadway apartment and found 37 pounds of fentanyl-laced cocaine, guns, shoeboxes containing about $400,000 cash, plastic baggies, kilogram presses, and vacuum sealers, according to investigators.

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Police said Ostein is a convicted drug felon on parole who registered with Metro police as an ex-con in October 2022.

Ostein is charged with possession fentanyl-laced cocaine for resale, gun possession by a convicted felon, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is currently being held on a $1,026,000 bond.

CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime news from Middle Tennessee

According to police, the investigation continues and involves the MNPD, Murfreesboro Police Department, the TBI, and the Cheatham County Sheriffs Office.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
Whether it was extreme heat or dangerous flash flooding, residents across portions of the West were not able to catch a break over meteorological summer -- and as the unofficial end to summer unfolds, yet another potentially hazardous event is expected to unfold.

A slow-moving storm rolling into the West has arrived for the extended Labor Day weekend, bringing a major shift in the weather for millions of people across the region.

A surge of moisture originating from the Pacific Ocean is beginning to fuel widespread rain and thunderstorms from the deserts of Arizona and Southern California northward through the Great Basin and Rockies. This can result in a heightened flash flooding risk, which can be further elevated as many Americans head outdoors during a time often considered to be the unofficial end of the summer season.

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Vacationers who are planning a trip to one of the many national parks, including Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Zion, Bryce Canyon and many others, should keep an eye on the sky and the AccuWeather App as conditions can change rapidly during the afternoon and evening hours as thunderstorms build.

GET THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

As the weekend progresses, some cities across the West could end up experiencing a month's worth of rain in a matter of hours. September typically features dry conditions for many, so the historical average amount of rainfall throughout the month is typically low.

In Las Vegas, the historical average for rainfall in all of September is 0.32 of an inch. Sin City was slammed with 0.88 of an inch of rain on Friday, 275% of the historical average, with more than a dozen reports of flash flooding around the city. This broke the rainfall record for the date of 0.70 of an inch which had stood wind 1997. An additional 0.30 inches of rain fell Saturday afternoon with more flash flooding reported in the city. Near Fort Irwin, California, a nearby thunderstorm caused an 83-mph wind gust on Friday afternoon.

St. George, Utah; Redding and South Lake Tahoe, California; and Carson City, Nevada, were other locales that received between 1-3 times their historical average rainfall for all of September on the first day of the month.

The corridor of the heaviest rain and thunderstorms will gradually shift northward as the weekend progresses, and some locations, such as Salt Lake City, could face multiple days of flooding storms. In Salt Lake City, the historical average is 1.06 inches for September. This rainfall benchmark could also be exceeded over the Labor Day weekend.

By Sunday, the rain and thunderstorms are predicted to extend into parts of Idaho and Wyoming.

Many locales across the Southwest will dry out by Labor Day. Conversely, the central and northern Rockies can be in line for another round of drenching rainfall.

Looking beyond Labor Day weekend, dry conditions are expected across a majority of the West later next week.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Moscow and the wider region have come under sustained drone attack over the summer; Ukraine does not confirm or deny involvement

Tomilinsky Electronic Plant research and production enterprise in Lyubertsy, Moscow Oblast, is reportedly ablaze after a drone attack on Sep. 1, according to our sister publication, Ukrainska Pravda.

The Tomilinsky plant is under sanctions by the Ukrainian government as it manufactures electronics for Russian missile systems.

The plant was attacked in an operation directed by Ukraines Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), who believe they have achieved their aim, a well-informed source told Ukrainska Pravda.

The HUR has thus far refused to publicly confirm or deny its involvement. The agencys spokesman, Andriy Yusov, commented that Russian state media had issued "a mountain" of lies about the attack and said that "cotton has really blossomed" at the plant in Lyubertsy on Friday.

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Explosions in Russia or Russian-held territory far behind the frontlines are popularly referred to in Ukraine as bavovna, or cotton in English.

Drones tried to attack the Russian capital on Sept. 1, said Moscow mayor Serhiy Sobyanin, adding that one drone was allegedly shot down near Lyubertsy.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The mother of a Ph.D. student at Michigan State University, who was arrested by the national Bangladesh Police and charged with sabotage against the government, according to court documents, was released on bail after having been detained for over a week.

Anisa Siddika, 58, was arrested three days after her son, Tanzilur Rahman, posted his thoughts on Facebook about the governments role in the war crimes trials of a prominent preacher and controversial leader, Delwar Hossain Sayedee, who recently died, according to Al Jazeera.

Siddika is at home with her family in Bangladesh but is still shaken up by her arrest and detainment, Rahman said.

Im physically OK, but mentally, I am not well, Siddika said in an interview that her son translated.

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According to court documents, Siddika was accused of arranging secret meetings against the government in her parents home, which Rahman said was a baseless claim. He believes it was because of his Facebook post, which got traction in the Bangladeshi community in and outside the country.

After she was arrested on Aug. 20, Siddika was denied bail twice before she was released Monday.

They didnt even inform me what the charges against me were, she said.

Rahman said that while she was in police custody, Siddika, who is a practicing Muslim, was ordered to remove her hijab. The police department later took a photo of her without her hijab, which was posted online. Sunni Muslims are about 91% of the population. The forced removal of the traditional head covering and veil is considered degrading by practicing Muslims like Siddika.

One of the most upsetting parts is that she is an elderly religious woman, and they made her remove her hijab before transferring her to court. So many have seen that photo they forced her to take online, he said.

Rahman said Siddika wasnt provided food, space to sleep or the opportunity to pray for nearly 12 hours in police custody. She added that she shared a small cell with six other women once she was transferred after her court appearance the following day.

The Bangladeshi Embassy and the Bangladeshi Consulate General in the U.S. didnt respond to requests for comment. Neither did the police department.

Rahman hadnt heard the specific details of her mothers experience until they spoke with NBC News. This is very upsetting for me. I didnt ask her all the details, so this is all very difficult for me to hear, he said.

Nadia Rahman, the interim deputy director for South Asia for the human rights group Amnesty International, said that Siddikas release is a step in the right direction but that she shouldnt have been detained at all.

The unlawful punishment of a parent for her son merely expressing his opinion sends a chilling message to all Bangladeshis, including those in the diaspora, Rahman, who isnt related to Tanzilur Rahman, wrote in an email. The week-long imprisonment of Anisha Siddika is only another example of the clampdown on dissent and free expression  both inside and outside the country  in the lead-up to next years general election.

Ali Riaz, a politics and government professor at Illinois State University, has told NBC News that Siddikas arrest is part of a larger concern in Bangladesh and the diaspora.

For Riaz, the most pressing issue is the persecution of  families of the diaspora who speak out, he said. He believes the problem will only worsen as the country moves close to its election in January, which will have serious implications for the future of Bangladeshs democracy.

Innocent people are being harassed and persecuted. This single incident pretty much exemplified what is going on in Bangladesh and what is coming, as well, he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A mother from Utah who operated a YouTube channel that offered parenting advice has been arrested on charges related to child abuse.

Ruby Franke, who formerly operated the 8 Passengers family YouTube channel, was arrested on Wednesday after officials said they discovered a malnourished minor with visible injuries and duct tape on their limbs.

Ms Frankes business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, faces similar charges and was also arrested.

The two frequently collaborated on producing content, particularly videos offering guidance on relationships and parenting for Hildebrandts life counselling service known as ConneXions.

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ConneXions has previously come under scrutiny for its parenting philosophy, it was reported.

The Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department said in a statement on Thursday that they received a report about a juvenile requiring assistance at 10.50am on Wednesday morning.

The juvenile was described as emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities.

The condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Ivins EMS and transported to a local area hospital, the press release said.

The release explained that, based on the evidence gathered, officers proceeded to a nearby residence where they discovered another juvenile in a comparable condition. This second juvenile was subsequently transported to a local hospital to receive medical attention.

Following a search of the residence where the severely undernourished juveniles were located, four minors were entrusted to the custody of the Department of Child and Family Services.

Ruby Franke gained widespread recognition in 2015 via the YouTube channel 8 Passengers which showcased her husband Kevin and their six children.

The channel amassed a substantial following, with nearly 2.3 million subscribers, before it was unexpectedly removed from YouTube earlier this year. The exact reasons for the channels removal from the platform remain unclear.

The Frankes notably strict parenting approach had prompted certain viewers to report them to authorities.

In June 2020, concerned viewers contacted local child protective services after their 15-year-old son Chad disclosed in a video that he had been sleeping on a beanbag for seven months, as reported by Insider.

Ms Franke had told the outlet at the time that this sleeping arrangement was a result of Chads choice, made after he was relocated from sharing a room with his younger brother due to behavioural concerns.

She previously received criticism for her actions in videos where she declined to give lunch to her then-six-year-old child when they forgot to pack their own food as well as for threatening to discard her childrens cherished belongings.
SAN DIEGO  The victim in a deadly shooting that led to a standoff at an Encanto home earlier this week has been identified, as well as the San Diego police officers who traded gunfire with the suspect.

Rosario Morales, 74, was named as the deceased by the San Diego County Sheriffs Office. She was fatally shot on Monday, Aug. 28 by her son, Jesse Nelson.

Officers were dispatched to the scene around 8:45 p.m. after receiving reports of a shooting at a residence in the 500 block of Iona Drive near the intersection of Market Street and Akins Avenue.

Ex-SDSU football player pleads guilty to child porn possession

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Upon arrival, SDPD said the responding officers saw Morales and a dog down in the driveway in front of the home, each suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

As officers tried to approach the victim and the dog, Nelson began firing at the officers from inside the home. One officer returned fire at the suspect in response, SDPD said.

That officer has been identified by SDSO as Darwin Anderson, who has been employed with the Southeaster Division since 2021.

After the initial shooting with police, officers utilized a patrol vehicle to perform an emergency rescue operation of Morales in the driveaway so aid could be rendered. During the rescue, officers once again came under fire by the suspect inside the residence.

Once away from the driveway, life-saving measures were attempted on Morales, who was suffering from wounds to her upper body and leg. However, she was later pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.

Additional units were requested by SDPD due to the continued gunfire from Nelson, the agency said. By 10 p.m., a heavy police presence surrounded the house, including officers from SDPDs Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT) and a helicopter.

Law enforcement attempted to get the suspect to surrender, but he reportedly refused.

Minutes later, around 10:10 p.m., the suspect then appeared to set fire in the home. FOX 5 crews at the scene Monday night reported hearing gunshots erupt right before the flames became visible.

Nearly an hour after the fire was started, Nelson was shot by a SWAT officer, subsequently ending the standoff. He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead around 11 p.m.

Matthew Steinbach, an 11-year veteran of the Western Division and the SWAT unit, has been identified by SDSO as the second officer involved in the shooting.

San Diego Fire-Rescue was able to extinguish the house fire by 11 p.m. It is unknown how much of the home was impacted. Multiple firearms were recovered from the residence, however, including a rifle, a shotgun and a handgun.

While little is known about the homicide that initiated the standoff, SDPD said Nelson appeared to be the victims son. For unknown reasons, he shot and killed his mother, as well as two dogs. It was not disclosed where the second dog was found.

The suspects motivation for the shooting, however, remains unknown.

In a conversation with FOX 5, the brother of Nelson said he had spent Monday night playing pool and drinking beers with him at Gillys, a bar in North Park. The two had driven home separately, with Nelsons brother coming home to find his mother and the dog in the driveaway. Nelson then shot at him as well, his brother said.

Per the Countywide Memorandum of Understanding, the SDSO Homicide Unit was called to the scene to conduct an investigation into the shooting involving the SDPD officer.

Local food truck owner accused of arson will head to trial

When deputies conclude their investigation, it will be reviewed by the San Diego County District Attorneys office to determine if the officers bear any criminal liability for their actions. It will also be reviewed by the Commission on Police Practices.

SDPD will conduct a separate administrative investigation into the officers discharge of their weapon, the department said.

According to SDSO, the federal Department of Justice was also notified of the incident.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
SAN DIEGO  A motorcyclist was injured Thursday after colliding with a vehicle in Pacific Beach, authorities said.

According to the San Diego Police Department, a 24-year-old man was driving his 2022 Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle southbound on 4000 Lamont Street at a high rate of speed around 5:30 p.m.

Man run over by delivery truck dies

At that same time, authorities say a 26-year-old woman was driving her 2015 Subaru Crosstrek westbound on Fortuna Avenue. The Subaru reportedly stopped at the stop sign and proceeded straight across Lamont Street.

The motorcyclist then collided with the passenger side of the Subaru, SDPD explained. The rider was transported to a local hospital with injuries that are considered non-life threatening.

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Lamont Street has no traffic control at that intersection.

Police say DUI was not a factor in this incident. The San Diego Police Traffic Division is investigating.

Anyone with information related to the crash is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
After a month-long trial, a Charlotte man has been found guilty of killing his parents  just hours after they allowed him to move in after being evicted from his home.

A Mecklenburg County jury found 43-year-old Curtis Atkinson Jr. guilty of all charges in the grisly 2017 shooting and stabbing deaths of his parents, Ruby and Curtis Sr., prosecutors said Thursday.

Superior Court Judge Karen Eady-Williams sentenced Atkinson to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility for parole, according to a news release by the Mecklenburg County District Attorneys Office.

Curtis Atkinsons girlfriend, 32-year-old Nikkia Cooper, previously pleaded guilty in connection with the murders, prosecutors said.

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When the Atkinsons were found in their east Charlotte home, they had been dead for days, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Atkinson stabbed his father 69 times while forcing his 11-year-old niece to watch, the Observer reported. Prosecutors said Atkinson and Cooper fatally stabbed and shot the parents after an argument.

After killing the couple, Atkinson and Cooper covered the bodies with blankets and old rugs and stepped around them for days, prosecutors said previously.

When Cooper triggered a fire alarm inside the home, the couple drove away with the niece, prompting a nationwide manhunt. The child was found in Washington, D.C., after Atkinson crashed his car near the Washington Monument during a police chase.

Cooper also was in the vehicle and is believed to have called 911 as part of a plan to use the niece to barter food and gasoline, prosecutors said.

In a deal with prosecutors, Cooper pleaded guilty in 2019 to two counts of second-degree murder and is serving a 56-year sentence in Anson Correctional Institution.

In 2022, prosecutors dropped a capital murder charge against Curtis Atkinson, in what at the time was Mecklenburg Countys only death penalty case.

The jury this week found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and a count each of first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit first- degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Bay High School Principal Amy Yarborough Necaise agreed to resign Friday, one day after a Sun Herald report about how she had been arrested on two more misdemeanor charges of shoplifting.

Necaises resignation came after she failed to tell the Bay Waveland School District she had been arrested on the two additional misdemeanor charges Tuesday

Bay Waveland School Superintendent Sandra Reed said Necaise plans to retire.

Effective immediately, the BWSD Board of Trustees approved the resignation with intent to retire of Dr. Amy Necaise, Reed said after the meeting Friday. Her accomplishments at Bay High School speak for themselves. I wish her well in future endeavors.

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Necaise was first arrested for shoplifting a few days after her alleged Aug. 20 theft of $123 in items from the Waveland Walmart on U.S. 90.

Walmart filed additional affidavits against the longtime principal this week, Waveland Police Mike Prendergast said, and Necaise surrendered at the Police Department on Tuesday.

Necaise now stands accused of shoplifting nearly $200 in items from the Waveland Walmart while using the self-checkout line at the store on three separate occasions in August.

Necaise has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The Bay Waveland School District started advertising earlier this week for the position of Bay High School principal, a position Necaise had held since 2013.

The superintendent said the position was opening because Necaise had been offered a job in a newly created position as an academic strategist for the school district.

At the time of the interview early in the day Thursday, Reed did not know Necaise had been arrested on the two additional offenses Tuesday.

School district policy requires employees to report if they are arrested on any misdemeanor felony offense within 24 hours of the arrest.

Necaise failed to do so.

School Board president Casey Farve released a statement addressing why the Board had not yet acted in the matter.

The community has been quite insistent that the school board take action related to Dr. Necaises employment with Bay-Waveland Schools, and the authority to take such action does not lie with the school board,. Farve said. Licensed educators are afforded exceptional rights as it relates to their employment under Mississippis Education Employment Procedures Law.

To protect the rights afforded to educators, the school board must remain unbiased and ready to hear an employees case should a grievance be filed. Therefore, the school board is only in a position to provide comments on these matters after board action has been taken, as is the case today.

In addition, Farve said the School District was in a difficult situation because they could not conduct their own investigation into the criminal allegations against Necaise because the alleged crimes occurred of campus.

So, while community dissension was a consideration, we could not allow public pressure to interfere with the statutory rights of our employee, his statement said, as we believe that everyone is entitled to due process of law.
Trump biographer David Cay Johnston predicted that the former president may try to "shift responsibility" in New York Attorney General Letitia James' $250 million fraud lawsuit onto his adult sons, whom he has privately derided.

Trump in a lengthy deposition in the lawsuit denied that he was "the person with ultimate decision-making authority for the Trump Organization.

"My son Eric is much more involved with it than I am. I've been doing other things," he said, according to a transcript.

Johnston told MNSBC on Thursday that the exchange shows Trump "doing is what he always does. He's trying to shift responsibility onto other people."

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"And Donald won't have any problem shifting responsibility onto his sons, who he has told others he thinks are idiots," Johnston continued. "He doesn't say that in public, doesn't say that to audiences. But he said to many people that he doesn't have much regard for the judgment of his two older sons. Well, I'm talking about the adult sons here."

"I mean, the inverse is also true," host Nicolle Wallace said, turning to fellow panelist Donny Deutsch. "He says highly inappropriate, sexualized things about the physical attractiveness of his adult daughter, Ivanka. But let's stick with the boys. What do you make of their very real exposure here because of the kinds of things that Trump says about their role and to what David Cay is saying about their incompetence?"

"Look, just a little additional peek inside of Donald Trump's humanity, if we haven't had enough, I think anybody, any of us who are parents, at the end of the day, you throw yourself in front of a bus for your kids and Donald is the opposite," Deutsch said. "And anybody you talk to that knows Donald will say the same thing. He would throw his kids under the bus. The question is, Ivanka, does she live in a different space? She lives in an entirely weird, different space, as you've mentioned. But this is a guy that would not put his children in front of him."

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James' suit, which also seeks to bar Trump and his adult children from serving as an officer or director of a business registered in New York, accuses the family and their real estate company of routinely and "grossly" inflating their net worth by between $812 million to $2.2 billion depending on the year, and then subsequently using those funds to defraud banks and insurers on that basis of securing better loan or insurance terms. In a separate motion, Trump's legal team has claimed that the case should be dismissed, arguing that the allegations are barred by a statute of limitations.

A judge in June dismissed the allegations in the lawsuit against Ivanka Trump, stating that the statute of limitations had expired because she was no longer at the company by 2016, but the suit will move forward against the former president and his adult sons.

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about the NY AG lawsuit
Two sets of teenagers took out guns and fired at each other on the field of a school Thursday afternoon, according to the Des Moines Police Department.

At about 3:32 p.m., officers responded to the shooting at North Hill Elementary School.

According to police, all the teens - three boys and one girl - ran away, two running north and two running south.

Two juveniles attempted to carjack a woman just arriving home but were unsuccessful.

Police are searching for the suspects now with helicopters and K9 units.

Police - who saw security camera video and photos of the incident - believe they know who one of the teens is.

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They also think the teens knew each other and targeted each other.

I dont think there is anyone running around shooting at people at this point, but obviously call 911 if you see something, the PIO for the Des Moines Police Department said.
NASA discovered a huge new crater on the moon with a diameter of 33 feet.

The crater was likely caused by Russia's Luna-25 lander crashing into the moon last month, NASA said.

Had Luna-25 not crashed, it would've been the first craft to explore the lunar south pole region.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered a new crater on the moon that's 33 feet in diameter  as wide as a 3-story building is tall.

It could be the crash site of Russia's Luna-25 moon lander, NASA said in a statement Thursday.

"During its descent" on August 19, "Luna 25 experienced an anomaly that caused it to impact the surface of the moon," NASA said in the statement.

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The point of impact where the crater is located is about 250 miles short of where Luna-25 was intended to land, NASA said.

Luna-25 was supposed to touch down on the moon last month, but the probe lost communications during its descent and crashed.

Likely point of impact for Russia's Luna-25 lander. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

It was Russia's first mission to the moon in nearly 50 years. Had Luna-25 successfully landed, it would have been the first spacecraft in history to land on and explore the lunar south pole region.

Instead, India beat Russia to the punch and became the first country to successfully land a spacecraft on the lunar south pole region in late August with its dog-sized moon rover, Pragyaan. The country had previously tried to land a craft near the lunar south pole, but it failed the first time.

Pragyaan's findings could be critical for learning how to mine moon water  a goal every moon-minded nation is eyeing.

And though India's 57-pound rover may be small, it "definitely puts them on the international stage as an emerging space power," Robert Braun, head of space exploration at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, previously told Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The editors of the conservative magazine National Review are calling on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to step aside from leadership following his frozen episode at a Kentucky event earlier this week, just months after he experienced a similar moment on Capitol Hill.

McConnell, 81, was cleared to return to work by U.S. Capitol attending physician Brian Monahan, but questions remain about his ability to continue serving as GOP Senate leader.

McConnell on Wednesday appeared to pause and grow unresponsive following a reporters question about whether he intends to seek reelection in 2026.

In a similar incident earlier this year, McConnell was escorted away from a press conference in Capitol Hill after he stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence. He returned to the event a few minutes later and answered questions as normal.

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In a piece published Thursday, the National Review editors noted McConnells contributions to the upper chamber and the Republican Party, calling him a legend. But, they said, the two public episodes he suffered are not normal.

The time has come for the Kentucky senator, after his long, impressive run, to make the decision to step aside from leadership, the editorial reads.

The magazines editors said McConnell can do so on his own timeline, and that he could even remain a member of the Senate as other former congressional leaders have elected to do.

The details can be left to McConnell, who deserves a large measure of deference, the editorial reads. A leadership transition doesnt need to happen urgently, but the wheels should be turning.

Monahan on Thursday said McConnell is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned.

Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration, Monahan said in a statement shared by McConnells office.

The frozen episodes are not the only health challenges McConnell has had to confront this year.

In March, the Kentucky Republican was hospitalized after falling at a private dinner in Washington, suffering a concussion and a minor rib fracture. He returned to the Senate after about six weeks. McConnell has appeared to walk more slowly and to have had trouble hearing since his accident.

He has reportedly suffered two other falls this year, the first in February in Helsinki and the second in July at a Washington airport.

While most Republicans continue to stand by McConnell, 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley suggested that it could be time for him and other aging lawmakers to step aside.

What I will say is, right now, the Senate is the most privileged nursing home in the country, Haley told Fox News The Story this week. I mean, Mitch McConnell has done some great things, and he deserves credit. But you have to know when to leave.

Related...
Stakeholders discussed their hopes for the future of the Quindaro Ruins as the site, one Kansas City, Kansas, official said Thursday, gets closer to receiving a National Historic Landmark designation.

LaVert Murray, economic development adviser for Mayor Tyrone Garner, laid out a framework for the Unified Governments vision for the site of the Civil War era boomtown and outpost along the Underground Railroad, which moved enslaved people to freedom.

That renaissance of the historical area, Murray told Wyandotte Countys governing body, would include restoring and preserving the ruins structures, creating access to the site from Interstate 635, building a signage system with interactive holograms and talking features and building a Smithsonian-style museum and visitor center that would house artifacts.

We have got to move the Quindaro Ruins out of ruin, Garner said.

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Advocates for preserving the long-vanished town, an important part of Black and Indigenous Kansas history, have spent decades fighting for resources. Earlier this year, The Star interviewed nearly 20 advocates, descendants of Quindaros first residents, politicians and historians who pointed to missed opportunities and racism as playing a role in the lack of political will to provide funding.

At Thursdays meeting, stakeholders said they believed restoring and preserving the area would make the site a national and international tourist destination.

The Quindaro Ruins are not just a Kansas City, Kansas, or a Kansas treasure, said Lucinda Adams, executive director of Freedoms Frontier, a national heritage area in Kansas and Missouri, but a nationally significant site that must be preserved.

State Rep. Marvin Robinson, a Kansas City Democrat who has spent decades advocating for Quindaro, called the area the Pompeii of Kansas, comparing it to the archaeological site in Italy. Like other advocates, Robinson said the project would bring jobs to an area that is one of the most economically disadvantaged in Kansas.

Garner hopes it could function as a significant economic driver to the region.

It could be, if its done right, a positive economic driver for an area that has too long been disinvested, disenfranchised and redlined intentionally over decades, the mayor said.

Murray, the economic adviser, said the city is very close to getting the National Historic Landmark designation, which is determined by the U.S. Department of the Interior. That would help bring federal funding to the project.

That designation, Murray said, is one step below what should be everyones objective for the project: the designation of a national historic park or site. Near the top of the Unified Governments goals, he added, is to improve the Old Quindaro Cemetery.

Among those buried there are the relatives of Nakia Hope, of the Concerned Citizens For Old Quindaro Museum. Hope often reports illegal dumping at the site, which may occur because litterers do not believe the area is cared about.

We constantly see a general disrespect of the area by new community members, said Hope, who added that providing upkeep should be a priority.

County Administrator David Johnston said those who love the area must work together to come up with a common vision. Without one, state and federal officials with money dont know what to fund, he said.

This idea of using this forum as a start of collaboration for an important part of our history, our identity and our beacon to the future is imperative, Johnston said, but later adding: Theres not going to be any fundings until we have something to show.
Working to bring awareness to the rights of crime victims, the Navajo Nation Council has approved the Navajo Nation Victims Rights Act of 2023.

This bill, an amendment to the tribe's Title 17 criminal code, was a long time in the making. It offers more support for victims, and works to make victims aware of the support and rights available to them, particularly in crimes such as sexual assault and rape, domestic violence and other violent assaults. President Buu Nygren has 10 days to sign the bill into law.

Weve been trying collectively with a group of survivors, families and advocates working to enhance and strengthen victims rights here on the Navajo Nation, said council delegate Amber Crotty, who has been working on the measure since 2016 and is a member of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs' Task Force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, created in March.

When there is a victim of a crime, we want to provide the same services as they would receive at the state or other jurisdiction, she said. We are trying to merge that gap and enhance their rights in the court proceedings.

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The most common criminal offenses reported on the Navajo Nation are violent assaults involving weapons and/or serious bodily injury, including sexual assault and rape, according to one passage of the legislation.

Those violent crimes are often among those most often declined by the federal prosecutor, Crotty said, So we wanted to make sure we provide support to those victims of violence and encourage our Navajo Office of the Prosecutors to not only prosecute the cases but also build up the court system to hear those cases and provide justice or support.

Crotty said she is encouraging the Navajo Nation to prosecute the major crimes declined by federal partners like the Federal Bureau of Investigations or U.S. Attorneys Office. But that will mean other changes to the law.

We recognize there's an injustice in Indian Country that the major crimes only allows Navajo Nation the authority for the maximum sentence of one year, said Crotty. This is an outdated federal regulation. We will need the help from leadership to change the Major Crime Act.

And even if the Navajo Nation's criminal statutes reference "victim" within the description of offenses, the Navajo Nation does not include supporting the victim's rights. The new legislation will adopt specific provisions directly supporting and expanding victim's rights.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty introduces herself to the other 13 members of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Task Force, May 8, 2023, in Phoenix.

The new language will clearly define the meaning of a victim and advocate. The amended language will also clarify what without consent means in connection with sexual assault and rape crimes, helping remove barriers for many victims and families, according to the bill.

Crotty said they worked with well over 200 families because the crime comes in different forms from interpersonal violences, domestic violence, sexual assault, missing families, to pinpoint what is actually needed in enhancing victims' rights.

"They didn't have the support they needed when they entered the judicial system, the criminal justice aspect of it, said Crotty. We wanted to make sure they understood what was happening in the court proceeding and they would have an advocate there during this traumatic time.

Laurelle Shepherd is program director for Navajo Nation victim services for Northern Arizona, which has offices in Page, Lechee, Kayenta, Chinle, Tuba City and St. Michaels. She said victim advocacy on the Navajo Nation differs greatly from one community to another in regards to resources available.

On the Nation we have the challenge, and sometimes the silver lining, of having multiple jurisdictions with the state, tribal and federal partners, said Shepherd. So when it comes to victims' rights, and our work crosses all those jurisdictions, we quickly realized the rights of our people here on the Nation looked very different than what it did when we were in city court or in federal court.

Shepherd, along with other victim advocates, gave input on the creation of this measure based on what they were witnessing and working with in the communities they served. She said the measure includes a guarantee for a restraining order for victims if needed. The legislation also helps advocates expand their work and not worry about victim and advocate privileges

Up until this is signed, right now if someone is a victim of a violent crime, we have to quickly figure out how to get an order of protection signed and approved by the court systems in order to provide safety nets for our people and victims of crime, said Shepherd. This expands to all victims of crime, before it was specific to certain crimes of just domestic violence and sexual assault and it limited our work when it came to our people who were being victimized on the Navajo Nation.

What do Navajo enforcement agencies need to keep up?

Although tribal codes can be amended, that doesnt change the funding need to support the systems and people who are directly working with these types of crimes and working with victims and their families.

Crotty said as they listened to those who are either victims, families of victims, or advocates, it was evident that a systemic overhaul is needed. That includes trying to identify multi-year funding to provide relief for these entities and increase patrol officers, detectives, criminal investigators, detention centers, to support the Office of the Prosecutor, Office of Public Defender, and obtain more judges.

Crotty said that there are at least 10 vacancies for judges. Navajo Nation Chief of Police Daryl Noon said recently there are between 170-180 Navajo Nation Police officers who patrol the vastness of the entire Navajo Nation.

In 2021, a 174-page assessment that took 18 months to develop was made public. This assessment, a first of its kind for the Navajo Nation Police Department, reported that at least 775 officers were needed to meet community demands across Navajo. In 2020, according to the document, the department had 158 patrol officer positions.

The analysis was conducted using NPD calls-for-service data from 2016 to 2020. Average calls for service per year over the five-year period between 2016 and 2020 was 232,137. NPD made 25,314 arrests in 2019 and 27,342 arrests in 2018. The two-year average for annual arrests is 26,328.

An arrest can often take anywhere from four to eight hours to complete. Arrests alone, on average, account for anywhere from 105,312 to 210,624 hours annually. On the upper end of the range, a officer's hours would be consumed entirely by arrests.

Our advocacy program is federally funded so right now we are facing a dramatic decrease of over 50 percent, said Crotty. We are working on how to continue to support the advocacy program. Victims program of Northern Arizona reported that within the last year they had over 15,000 service areas they have responded to. The need is critical.

What's in this victims' bill of rights?

If Nygren signs this bill into law, the list of rights of victims of sexual assault and rape, domestic violence, and other violent assaults include:

To be protected from an accused perpetrator by requiring a separate waiting area or other safeguards to minimize the victims contact with a defendant, defendants relatives, and defense witness(es) during court proceedings.

To participate in the criminal justice system by being present and heard, which includes proceedings involving release, plea, sentencing, or any parole proceeding.

To confer with the prosecution after the crime against the victim(s) has been charged, before the trial or before any disposition of the case and to be informed of the disposition.

To be provided information about the sentencing and imprisonment of the accused perpetrator, and to read pre-sentence reports relating to the crime against the victims at the time such reports are available to the defendant(s).

To provide a victim impact statement to the court.

To be notified of a perpetrator's or the accuseds release no less than 24 hours prior to such release.

To be notified of court proceedings in a timely manner.

To be notified within less than 48 hours of the crime being reported of their rights and be provided information relating to how the case will move forward and the services that are available to the victim.

To receive prompt restitution from the person or persons convicted of the criminal conduct that caused the victims loss or injury, and have restitution orders enforced.

To be free of intimidation, harassment, abuse, and uninitiated contact from the accused or individuals in close relation to the accused.

To request and utilize the services of an interpreter or translator if needed.

To the presumption of the imposition of pre-trial release conditions in favor of protecting a victim, including but not limited to, a stay-away order.

Among the people and organizations working on the bill were victims advocates, victims of crimes, law enforcement officers, the Law and Order Committee, the Naabikiyati Committee Sexual Assault and Prevention Work Group, Navajo Nation Department of Justice and Chief Prosecutor, Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, Restoring Ancestral Winds, Southwest Indigenous Womens Coalition, Department of Social Services Family Harmony Program, Victim Services of Northern Arizona, and the Utah Navajo Health Systems victim advocates.

Arlyssa Becenti covers Indigenous affairs for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send ideas and tips to arlyssa.becenti@arizonarepublic.com.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Navajo Nation Council adopts victims' bill of rights
A search and rescue team from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, rescued two hikers  including a man suffering a head injury  from the Alpine Lakes Wilderness this month.

The first rescue involved a 25-year-old woman who became sick while hiking Waptus Lake at an elevation of approximately 3,200 feet on Aug. 21.

The SAR crew inserted two medical technicians about 100 yards from the hiking partys location then landed to conserve fuel, the Navy said in a news release. Upon reaching the patient, the rescue personnel assessed and prepared the ailing victim to receive fluids.

The team hoisted the woman from her location and transported her to Harborview Medical Center for additional treatment.

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The team also assisted in rescuing a 65-year-old man in the Alpine Lakes area who encountered a head injury on the same day.

Navy search and rescue team helps save injured hiker in Washington

After finding a suitable location to minimize any rotor downwash during the rescue, the SAR team inserted two rescue personnel about 200 yards away from the injured hiker, the Navy said in a release. The injured man and rescue team were hoisted aboard the SAR aircraft around 8:40 that evening and flew directly to Harborview where they landed about a half hour later.

Last month, Whidbey Islands search and rescue team helped save a hiker suffering from a broken ankle on the southern rim of Mount St. Helens.

Altogether, the team has completed 28 missions this year, including one medical evacuation, four searches and 23 rescues.

Naval Air Station Whidbey Islands search and rescue team operates three MH-60S helicopters.
Christies announced Friday it is canceling an upcoming auction of a late Austrian billionaires jewels after intense scrutiny over ties to Nazi Germany.

Heidi Horten s jewel collection was scheduled for its second auction this November after the initial May sale was also criticized over her late husbands membership in the Nazi party.

German billionaire Helmut Horten made his wealth in the department store industry and got his start when the Nazi government pressured the Jewish owners of successful stores to sell their companies in the 1930s. He later expanded his business, purchasing a major textile manufacturer from a Jewish owner fleeing persecution.

Heidi Horten died last year at 81, with a net worth estimated by Forbes to be near $3 billion. The May sale of the first portion of her estate netted more than $200 million, a record for a private collection.

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Multiple Jewish groups protested against the sale of Hortens collection.

The sale of the Heidi Horten jewelry collection has provoked intense scrutiny, Christies president Anthea Peers said in a statement to The New York Times. The reaction to it has deeply affected us and many others, and we will continue to reflect on it.

The first sales proceeds went to a foundation, set up by Horten, for medical research and a Vienna art museum. Following criticism of the sales, Christies said a portion of the proceeds would go towards Holocaust research and education.

The Jerusalem Post reported that multiple Jewish charities rejected offers of donations from the auction proceeds.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Though Charlotte will see some relief from temperatures near triple digits, residents can still expect plenty of heat over Labor Day weekend.

Temperatures are expected to reach the mid to upper 80s over the holiday weekend, with a high of 89 on Monday, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.

If youre having trouble paying your utility bills, it may mean your power could be shut off soon.

Luckily, there are protections in place to prevent companies from turning off your air conditioning.

Heres what to know about state laws regarding utility disconnections on weekends and holidays.

Can NC utility companies shut off your power on Labor Day?

The North Carolina Utilities Commission does not allow utility companies to shut off power on weekends, or state or federal holidays, including Labor Day, according to the N.C. Department of Justice.

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However, the utilities commission does not regulate towns or membership cooperatives that provide electric or gas services, which usually have their own set of service guidelines.

What has to happen before your utilities are shut off?

Though there are protections against your power being disconnected on holidays, nothing prevents them from doing so the following day.

However, according to the NCDOJ, there are rules utility companies must follow before shutting off your power:

You must be given a specific number of days to pay your bill.

If your payment is late, utility companies must give you a written notice at least 10 days before disconnecting your service.

Your power cannot be disconnected on Fridays, weekends, holidays, or the day before a holiday.

Utility companies must keep a list of households with residents with special needs, such as being on life support equipment, the NCDOJ says.

For those concerned about elderly relatives, many utility companies, like Duke Energy, offer third-party notification programs where customers can designate another person to receive a copy of utility termination notices.

RELATED: Where and how to get help paying your Charlotte utility bills this summer
In two months, North Carolina terminated 68,399 participants from Medicaid, according to a report from the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services; 35,099 participants were kicked off in June 2023 alone, and 33,300 in July.

Where has the legislature been? On vacation! The legislature tied Medicaid expansion to a budget that is now two months late. At this rate, its on track to miss the deadline to allow Medicaid expansion to begin Oct 1.

That means 8,637 of the terminated participants who were determined to be ineligible for Medicaid, at least without expansion, will remain uninsured. The other 59,762 of them, making up 87% of the terminations, had their benefits dropped for procedural reasons.

North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger, left, speaks alongside House Speaker Tim Moore at a news conference about a Medicaid expansion agreement, Thursday, March 2, 2023, at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

More people will lose coverage in August, September and continuing if Medicaid expansion is not decoupled from the state budget now. Medicaid expansion could go ahead with a sentence in another bill if the legislature would get back to work!

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More: Gambling? Marijuana? What laws did NC lawmakers pass? And what they are still working on?

More: Quaker House director: Medicaid expansion will help NC veterans

People say that the main hold-up for this budget is an unvetted expansion of gambling in our state. There are countless problems with this change, including the whole thing being done outside of proper process, without formal public input, and awarding the casinos to a single business.

But more than that, State Senate Leader Phil Berger has told the media that he is upset about North Carolina money going to casinos in Virginia.

Gailya Paliga is president of NC National Organization for Women.

However, what about the billions of dollars going from North Carolina to other states who have expanded Medicaid? North Carolina is losing out on billions and billions of dollars over the last 10 years of the legislature refusing to expand Medicaid. Medicaid expansion would have provided and still could provide tens of thousands of jobs around the state, including in rural areas. Martin General Hospital was forced to close on Aug 3, the 11th rural hospital to close in NC.

The biggest irony is that the legislature is willing to expand gambling outside of process for little gain but has refused to expand health care coverage for working people for a decade. The benefits of expanding Medicaid DWARF any possible gain from casinos.

Gailya Paliga is state president of the NC National Organization for Women.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: NC's delayed Medicaid expansion is ruining lives: NOW president
A view shows a bull riding in the passenger seat of a vehicle on a highway, in Norfolk, Nebraska, in this screen grab taken from a video. / Credit: News Channel Nebraska/Handout via REUTERS

A giant bull named Howdy Doody was spotted riding shotgun in a car down a highway in Nebraska this week in a viral incident that turned heads nationwide and prompted a written warning from police.

Lee Meyer was driving his modified Ford Crown Victoria sedan with his Watusi bull in the passenger seat early Wednesday, the Associated Press reported, when authorities got a call about the pair. Police in Norfolk, Nebraska, told News Channel Nebraska that they received a 911 report about a cow - thinking it would be a calf, "something small or something that would actually fit inside a vehicle." It wasn't until officers saw it in person that they realized how large it really was.

WATCH: Shocking video shows a giant bull riding shotgun down a highway in Nebraska, before the driver of the car was pulled over and given a warning by authorities. pic.twitter.com/0IbQMGrXsB  CBS News (@CBSNews) September 1, 2023

The news station captured video of the officers performing the traffic stop  and Meyer's enormous horned co-pilot.

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"The officer wrote him some warnings," Norfolk police captain Chad Reiman told the outlet. "There were some citable issues with that situation. The officer chose to write him a warning and ask him to take the animal back home and leave the city."

Meyer and Howdy Doody later returned to their hometown of Neligh, which is nearly 40 miles away from Norfolk. It wasn't clear why they made the drive.

Meyer's wife Rhonda told News Channel Nebraska that her husband got the bull eight or nine years ago and it has been his "friend and buddy" ever since. Despite getting pulled over, she said her husband has been fine and he thinks "he's a movie star."

It's not the first time Meyer traveled with his big bull. Howdy Doody was seen making a stop at a July 4th parade in 2019, Antelope County News reported.

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Ferit Hoxha , Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations, believes that any peace initiatives with respect to Ukrainian-Russian relations must be based on the restoration of Ukraines territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian troops.

Source: Hoxha in a commentary for Ukrinform

Hoxha was asked about how he views calls for peace talks with Putin's Russia

Quote: "If these are talks about surrendering territories, then does Ukraine want that? I know it doesn't, otherwise it wouldn't have fought.

So peace initiatives can only be based on a fair platform, a fair framework with fair results."

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Details: Hoxha clarified that the best result for Russia would be to end the war, withdraw its troops, and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders.

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!
Neighbours spoilers follow.

Neighbours will revisit Karl and Susan Kennedy's financial woes in the show's new season.

The popular couple hit the rocks early last year when Karl went behind Susan's back to invest in Montana Marcel's doomed business plans.

Karl sadly lost his investment when Montana was arrested and Susan was furious over his betrayal.

Unfortunately, the full consequences couldn't be explored on screen when Neighbours was cancelled by Channel 5 and the show's focus shifted to setting up the nostalgia-filled final episodes.

FremantleMedia Australia

Related: Neighbours teases show return and mystery wedding in 29 new spoiler pictures

Speaking to Digital Spy and other press about the Kennedys' next scenes, Alan Fletcher  who plays Karl  teased: "They're not actually in a remarkably different place. I mean, having lost $200,000 is not something that Karl's going to get away with lightly! But when we come back, the Kennedys are surrounded by drama  more so than causing it.

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"[Executive producer] Jason Herbison's brilliance  and the whole story department's brilliance  is that they never forget anything. So what they can do is they can bring back things from the past.

"In our case, the fact that Karl lost $200,000 is still not wasted on Susan. That's good, because you shouldn't go through those sorts of things and then suddenly everyone goes: 'Oh, let's pretend it didn't happen'. It's huge."

FremantleMedia Australia

Related: Neighbours releases first listen to the show's new theme tune

Jackie Woodburne, who plays Susan, continued: "Susan does start to act out in a way that is completely out of character. By spending an awful lot of money on tat, really! She doesn't know why she's doing it and doesn't really want it.

"But it's because she's still carrying anger about Karl losing that $200,000. It's an interesting story to tell about how we repress stuff. We think everything's okay and we've moved on, but sometimes we haven't. So that's an interesting story."

Another blast from the past for the Kennedys is the presence of Karl's daughter Holly Hoyland, who's now a regular character in the show.

Lucinda Armstrong Hall has reprised her role as Holly, as announced by the show in May.

FremantleMedia Australia

Related: Neighbours releases spoilers for first three weeks of new season

Alan continued: "That's genius again, because Holly is now around 20 and so she's very much the boss of herself. Karl has been the absent father. For Susan, she loves Holly, but she has grave concerns about the fact that Holly is not taking responsibility and Karl's not doing enough about it.

"She's a bit lost when we first find her. So she's got a really interesting journey to run. I know for me, it's going to be a very interesting journey as well, because Karl has to re-learn how to parent."

Jackie added: "Holly is not showing a lot of respect. She's using the house as a bit of a drop-in. Susan is saying to Karl: 'Be a parent, step up, don't just tell her what to do'. So that's good too.

"But what's interesting, too, is that in every house, there are these small domestic stories going on, against a much bigger backdrop of just amazing stories. There's a two-year time jump  and you might find out what happened during that time further on down the line.

"The stories are just phenomenal. It's fantastic."

Neighbours returns on September 18, with new episodes streaming on Mondays to Thursdays for free on Amazon Freevee in the UK and US. Network 10 will retain first-run rights in Australia for the new series.

Read more Neighbours coverage on our dedicated homepage.

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Netflix show Bodies, starring Stephen Graham, teases a time-shifting murder conspiracy in its first trailer.

Premiering Thursday, October 19 on the streaming platform, the eight-episode thriller comes from Torchwood writer Paul Tomalin and is based on the 2015 Si Spencer graphic novel Bodies. It sees four detectives from the years 1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053 investigate the exact same Whitechapel case.

Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The Queen's Gambit) plays DS Whiteman, Kyle Soller (Andor) is DI Hillinghead, Amaka Okafor (The Responder) is DS Hasan, and Shira Haas (Unorthodox) is DC Maplewood.

Netflix

Related: Line of Duty's Stephen Graham dedicates OBE to 'inspirational' mother following her death

"You're not the first detective to discover this body," reveals Graham's notably posh character Elias Mannix in the trailer, as flashes of the periodically recurring crime rush in and out of view.

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"I'm going to tell you everything," he adds. "It's going to blow your mind."

Netflix

Coincidentally, Netflix UK subscribers can already watch a series titled Bodies at the moment  created by Line of Duty's Jed Mercurio back in 2004 and taking place almost completely inside a hospital's obstetrics and gynaecology department.

It features Max Beesley (The Midwich Cuckoos) and Patrick Baladi (The Office) as two adversarial surgeons.

Netflix



Related: Venom 2's Stephen Graham addresses his future in the series

Elsewhere in Graham's near future is Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen's wartime drama Blitz, charting the plight of Londoners during World War II as Germany's constant bombing of Britain resulted in blackouts and the evacuation of children.

Little Women's Saoirse Ronan, See How They Run actor Harris Dickinson, Erin Kellyman of Willow, Kathy Burke of Absolutely Fabulous, and rockstar Paul Weller all feature in the cast too.

This Apple TV+ project does not yet have an official release date, but filming came to an end at the beginning of the year.

Bodies comes to Netflix on October 19.

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Twice now, the 81-year-old politician has frozen in place while taking questions, seemingly unable to speak. Back in July, he froze in place during a previous press conference. Then on Wednesday, McConnell froze again for more than 30 seconds after a reporter asked if he were to run for re-election at a conference in Covington, Kentucky.

Voters, for obvious reasons, are concerned. Like California Sena tor Dianne Feinstein, th e apparent infirmity  and perhaps even cognitive impairment  of elected officials who refuse to step down raises profound questions about democracy.

Brian Monahan, the attending physician for the US Capitol, released a letter claiming McConnell "is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned."

But the video evidence to the contrary has neurologists speculating what might really be going on.

"And I think to me, that was the most alarming piece  that putting this in context of other recent events where clearly Senator McConnell wasn't feeling like himself is the most concerning thing," Ann Murray, movement disorders division chief at the Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute at West Virginia University, told NPR.

Murray also agreed that previous comments made by other experts speculating that McConnell was possibly dehydrated or having a partial seizure were all still technically on the table.

Other experts said Monahan's extremely brief letter, medically clearing the politician for work, fell far short of providing an actual explanation, highlighting how little we actually know.

"If I gave that tape to a medical student and that was his explanation, Id fail him," Orrin Devinsky, a professor of neurology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told the New York Times, referring to Monahan's account of what happened. "Medically, these episodes need to be taken seriously."

Several other neurologists told the newspaper that McConnell's episodes are most in line with focal seizures, which are uncontrolled electrical surges in the brain that can affect muscle activity but do not cause the loss of consciousness.

McConnell also had a concussion back in March, which can be a risk factor for seizures.

And if there's one thing experts agree on, it's that having two episodes in a row is far more of a concern than just one.

"Two seizures you definitely would want to treat," Sami Khella, the chief of neurology at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, told the NYT. "You dont want them to happen  theyre not good for you."

Going forward, the situation may get worse.

"The more the brain seizes, the more it learns to seize," Khella added.

At the end of the day, given the lack of a thorough medical diagnosis of McConnell's current condition, we can only guess as to what the politician is suffering from.

Regardless, even some Republican politicians have come forward saying that they want more details on McConnell's condition if he wants to keep his position as the Senate minority leader.

More on seizures: Doctors Remove Woman's Brain Implant Against Her Will
Republican Party leaders in Nevada say theyre certain of one thing next year: They will hold a caucus on Feb. 8 to determine the states presidential primary winner.

The problem? Nevada officials have already scheduled a primary at the ballot box  two days earlier  to determine the state presidential primary winner.

The party plans to ban presidential candidates from taking part in its caucus if they appear on the state ballot, and will award delegates only to caucus participants.

But the possibility of a party-run caucus superseding the state primary is prompting clashes between the 2024 campaigns and party leaders.

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The campaigns of two candidates are already lodging accusations of election rigging to favor former President Donald Trump . Some Republicans warn it will disaffect potential voters who arent aware of the caucus.

Campaign activity overall from the GOP field has been light in Nevada. Out of the $100 million spent in ads in the GOP presidential nominating race so far, candidates and outside groups have spent about $1 million in Nevada, far less than in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

And finger-pointing has ensued between the state party chair and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis allies.

A super PAC aligned with DeSantis pointed to the process in its decision to end door-knocking efforts in Nevada this week, calling the state GOP chair a "Trump puppet." An official with another presidential campaign told NBC News it will probably write off the state entirely.

Irony is not lost on us that Trump and his cronies rail against elections that arent actually rigged, but then go rig an entire states election, the official with one of the GOP presidential campaigns charged. The official requested anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak on strategy.

A Trump campaign adviser responded that the caucus system is one dictated by the grassroots.

"To attack Republican leadership for picking a process that they believe should be done by Republicans in Nevada, theyre also essentially attacking Republicans in Iowa," the Trump adviser said. "You cant attack a party process without attacking the grassroots.

Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita said DeSantis' super PAC, Never Back Down, was "out-organized" in the state and now is lodging accusations because of sour grapes.

Nevada is a key early state in the presidential process  the first contest in the West, coming after New Hampshire. In theory, a win there should build momentum before heading to South Carolina, the final of the four early nominating states.

The state of Nevada scrapped its caucus primaries after Democrats pushed for change following partywide discontent over the process. In 2021, the Democratic-dominated Legislature passed a state law changing the election from a caucus to a primary. But some Republicans still want a caucus so they have control over how their election is run. The details of how it all will be executed are still being hashed out, including in a case pending before Nevadas Supreme Court where the GOP is trying to supplant the state primary. There is also a Sept. 23 meeting before the Republican state central committee.

Nevada Republican Party GOP Chair Michael McDonald said the intent of the caucus is to run an election the way Republicans want it run, without the possibility of early voting or ballot harvesting and, he contends, free of fraud.

A campaign spokesperson with Vivek Ramaswamy said he plans to take part in the caucus.

We will be going for delegates and under the current version of the rules, thats the caucus, Tricia McLaughlin said.

McDonald took issue with allegations that he was in the tank for Trump, saying that he has been in touch with several presidential campaigns.

We have to make sure we have a fair and transparent election, and thats what this is about, McDonald said. Asked if there was any scenario where a caucus would not be held, McDonald said, No. Were going to have a caucus, everything is set right now.

A caucus primary run by the party is considered advantageous to Trump, given that McDonald and the GOP party hierarchy acted as false electors for Trump in 2020, and the partys executive committee earlier this year traveled to Mar-a-Lago. But McDonald said if DeSantis invited them to the governors mansion, they would also attend.

This is about promoting Nevada, he said. McDonald on Thursday said that at a luncheon after the first presidential primary debate in Milwaukee, he personally invited DeSantis to Nevada and asked him to have his campaign call the party. McDonald also said that DeSantis allies were making efforts to quash the caucus.

A DeSantis spokesman said the campaign is in constant touch with state parties across the country and had spoken with Nevada's on Thursday.

Asked for a response on whether the campaign is organizing opposition to the caucus, DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said, Were exploring all options in Nevada to best position Ron DeSantis to be the next president.

David Gibbs, a former Clark County chair and a member of the state central committee, is opposing the caucus, saying, "the potential for confusion is significant.

"I like caucuses over primaries, Im just not a fan of doing both," Gibbs said. "Its very confusing for Joe public, who doesnt pay close attention to this stuff."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
As a major storm threatened the Florida coastline Monday morning, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference from the states emergency management headquarters, warning residents about the storms danger while flanked by state and national guard leaders.

Less than an hour earlier, Donald Trump had delivered a very different message to the public. The former president and GOP presidential front-runner, posting on social media, promoted an unsubstantiated rumor that DeSantis was dropping out of the presidential race to run against GOP Sen. Rick Scott, choosing to attack his rival even as Idalia began gaining strength over the Gulf of Mexico.

Now thats an interesting one, isnt it? Trump wrote, one of dozens of political attacks the Republican candidate launched from Truth Social even as the storm inundated Florida and other southeastern states with water.

For Floridas two most prominent politicians, the week was a study in contrasting leadership styles. While DeSantis responded to the natural disaster in ways the public has long expected its government officials to act  holding press conferences and offering apolitical directions about managing its impact  Trump ignored the storm for days, instead posting a litany of insults aimed at his political adversaries while highlighting positive poll numbers for his campaign.

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By the time Trump mentioned Hurricane Idalia in a Wednesday afternoon post, he had already posted more than 140 times on Truth Social since Monday on a multitude of subjects, even dredging up an old letter the late actor Kirk Douglas sent him in 1998. (The count of Trumps posts includes times in which he reposted messages from other accounts.)

Kirk was a real Movie Star, Trump wrote Wednesday, before mentioning the hurricane. Not many left today. They are mostly woke and weak!

RELATED CONTENT: Biden says hell travel to Florida Saturday to view Hurricane Idalias aftermath

A spokesperson for Trumps campaign attributed the presidents days-long silence to an abundance of caution, saying that he wanted to make sure everyone was safe and listening to local authorities.

Despite his mention of the hurricane on Wednesday, by Thursday Trump was back to DeSantis, hammering the governor over the cost of electricity and insurance in Florida.

The remarks put Trump in a league of his own among the field of GOP presidential contenders. None have attacked DeSantis in the days before or after the hurricane. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley postponed a campaign stop in South Carolina this week as forecasts showed the storm on track to pass through Georgia and the Carolinas after striking Florida. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott posted on his official X account directing South Carolinians to the states emergency management division before the hurricane made landfall in Florida.

They also underscore the degree to which Trump, in ways that often escape notice anymore, forgoes the traditional, sober-minded approach of nearly every other Republican and Democratic politician in times of crisis in favor of a style that keeps the focus on himself rather than imperiled communities.

The former president overcame that unorthodox approach to win a presidential race in 2016. But it does still carry some political risk for the candidate, including from some conservatives who bristle at his decision to stay on the attack against DeSantis even amid Floridas recovery efforts.

Even for a cheap-shot artist like Trump, this is really low, conservative media figure Ed Morrisey posted on X on Thursday, responding to Trumps criticism of the states electric rates. He sounds more like hes auditioning for MSNBC than the GOP ticket.

Federal and state officials have said the true extent of the storms damage is still unknown. As of Thursday afternoon, roughly 188,000 customers in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina were still without power. About 107,000 of those customers are in Florida, according to the tracking website Poweroutage.us.

Other images have shown some coastal communities in the state, like Cedar Key, inundated with water, prompting fears that residents there would be forced to rebuild their homes and businesses.

DeSantis has largely set politics aside in the face of the hurricane. His presidential campaign temporarily paused its fundraising pleas on Tuesday and Wednesday, and hes been hunkered down in Tallahassee meeting with state and federal emergency officials and giving regular briefings on the impacts of the storm.

READ MORE: High stakes for Gulf Coast, Ron DeSantis as Idalia approaches Florida

Since Monday, DeSantis has done 21 media interviews and press conferences, according to a person familiar with the governors schedule. Asked during one briefing for his thoughts on Trumps silence on the hurricane, DeSantis demurred.

Its not my concern, DeSantis said on Wednesday. My concern is protecting the people of Florida, being ready to go. And weve done that.

Hes also spoken more than once with one of his main political foes, President Joe Biden , who called the governor on Thursday morning to let him know that he had signed a major disaster declaration for Florida. Biden, in fact, lauded DeSantis on Wednesday for his cooperation in the hurricane response, saying that both men were focused solely on the recovery efforts.

I think he trusts my judgment and my desire to help, and I trust him to be able to suggest this is not about politics, this is about taking care of the people of his state, Biden said.

RELATED CONTENT: Biden lauds DeSantis as two leaders work to boost Idalia recovery efforts

Biden is slated to travel to Florida on Saturday, though it wasnt immediately clear whether he plans to meet with DeSantis while hes in the state. But Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall, speaking from the White House, told reporters Thursday that they have met every other time Biden has been in the state.

DeSantis and Biden toured the aftermath of the Surfside building collapse in 2021 and areas most affected by Hurricane Ian last year.

They are very collegial, Sherwood-Randall said.

For DeSantis allies, the hurricane response is a key moment for both his governorship and his presidential campaign, offering him an opportunity to showcase what they have long argued is his greatest political strength: his leadership style.

I think its important for the people of Florida that Gov. DeSantis get the response to the hurricane right, Dan Eberhart, a DeSantis donor, said. The governor is back in the state, taking care of the people he was elected to serve. If that takes him off the campaign trail for a bit, so be it. I dont think thats the first thing on the governors mind right now.

McClatchy Senior National Security and White House Correspondent contributed reporting.
Local, state and federal authorities are searching for a recently convicted murderer who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison Thursday morning.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, escaped from the Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township at 8:50 a.m., Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said. Cavalcante was convicted of murdering his former girlfriend on Aug. 16, just two weeks before he escaped.

Danelo Cavalcante in the clothes he wore during his escape. (Chester County District Attorney)

Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole, NBC Philadelphia reported.

Cavalcante is also wanted in connection with a 2017 murder in Brazil, where he is originally from, the district attorney's office said.

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An alert was issued to residents within 6 miles of the prison as U.S. marshals, Pennsylvania State Police and Chester County law enforcement officers search for Cavalcante.

"If you see him do not approach him. We're asking you please to contact 911," Ryan said at a news conference. "He is considered extremely dangerous. We are in the process of setting up a tip line and asking the community for their help."

Howard Holland, the acting warden, did not detail how Cavalcante is believed to have escaped. The escape is under investigation, he said.

"What I can do is assure the residents of everyone around us that immediately when we found out on this, we followed protocols," Holland said.

Authorities described Cavalcante as 5 feet tall and 120 pounds, with shaggy black curly hair and brown eyes. He was last known to be wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers.

He was last seen walking on Wawaset Road in Pocopson Township at 9:40 a.m., less than an hour after he escaped.

Cavalcante speaks fluent Portuguese and Spanish, with some proficiency in English, authorities said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Two South Carolina men were socializing at a neighbors Midlands home Tuesday when they got into an argument that turned deadly, the Sumter Police Department said.

Barry Lee Thompson, a 56-year-old Sumter resident, was shot and killed, police said Wednesday in a news release.

Thompsons Arnaud Street neighbor, 65-year-old Ronald Glenn Rodgers was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to the release.

The shooting happened on another neighbors Arnaud Street property, police said.

At about 7:15 p.m., officers responded to a call about a shooting and found Thompson in the backyard of the home, according to the release. Thompson was taken to Prisma Health Tuomey hospital where he died, police said.

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Both Thompson and Rodgers were at the mutual neighbors home and socializing before getting into an argument, according to the release. Information about why the men were arguing was not available.

Rodgers pulled a gun and shot Thompson, police said.

No other injuries were reported.

Rodgers drove away from the scene before officers found him in a vehicle on Miller Road, according to the release. Thats about 1.5 miles from Arnaud Street, and near the University of South Carolina-Sumter campus.

Rodgers pulled over and a gun was found during a search of the vehicle, police said.

He arrested without incident and taken to the Sumter County Sheriffs Office Detention Center, police said. No bond has been set for Rodgers, who is scheduled to appear in court again on Oct. 13, Sumter County judicial records show.

Despite the arrest, police said an investigation into the death is ongoing, and the coroners office has scheduled an autopsy.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back against reports that President Joe Biden is unhappy with plans for a debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis , saying he got a reassuring call from the White House.

Newsom mentioned the call Thursday in response to a Sacramento Bee question about a recent NBC News story, which said advisers to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were not thrilled with the idea of a debate.

I dont know of the opinions, Newsom said during an event in West Sacramento. I got a call from the White House saying, That does not reflect our point of view. So, well leave it at that.

Harriss team, in particular, seemed miffed by Newsoms desire to raise his national profile ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run, a contest the vice president may also join.

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Its disrespectful, an outside adviser to Harris told NBC News. Joe Biden is running with Kamala Harris. Thats the Democratic ticket.

Newsom and DeSantis both told Fox News host Sean Hannity this summer they were interested in debating each other on the cable news channel. The governors have publicly sparred over their states different approaches to everything from immigration to reproductive rights to education.

Newsom first proposed a debate last September. But it began to look like more of a reality once Hannity got involved and DeSantiss 2024 Republican presidential bid began to flounder.

Although both governors seem interested, their camps are said to disagree on the details.

Politico in mid-August reported negotiations had stalled over DeSantiss insistence on a live audience, which Newsom is staunchly against.

When asked on Thursday whether he still plans to debate DeSantis, Newsom seemed noncommittal, saying, well see, and mentioning the very public submission of debate parameters.

Well see if it lands, he said. If it doesnt, it doesnt. If it does, it does.
A kakapo sitting in its burrow. They can live up to 90 years and forage on the ground for food since they are flightless birds.

New Zealands quirky and critically endangered kakapo have begun to return to the countrys mainland for the first time in almost 40 years. Kakapos are the heaviest parrots in the world, with some exceeding six pounds, and they have a lifespan of up to 90 years. Like penguins and ostriches, they cant fly, so kakapos climb trees and forage on the ground for nuts and seeds to eat.

[Related: A flightless parrot is returning to mainland New Zealand after a 40-year absence.]

The big, green, nocturnal birds used to be widespread across New Zealand, but were hunted to near extinction and threatened by non native predators like cats and dogs. Popular Science magazine described these curious green birds as already being doomed to early extermination all the way back in April 1895.

The roughly 250 or so individual birds that are left are managed by New Zealands Department of Conservation (DOC) and the South Islands Ngai Tahu tribe on five islands that are free of predators. Now equipped with 21st Century genetic science, research platform Genomics Aotearoa is funding high-quality genetic sequencing of almost the entire kakapo population. The results of an early study of how these full genomic sequences will help manage the health of these iconic birds was published August 28 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

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Establishing genetic sequencing methods is not expected to only play a part in kakapo survival, but other endangered species throughout New Zealand and the rest of the world. Conservation genomics is part of a growing trend in the field. In 2019, a team from San Diego and the University of Hawaii used advanced DNA sequencing technology to create a nearly complete genome assembly for Hawaiis only remaining lineage of the crow family alala (Corvus hawaiiensis). The sequencing gave conservationists critical clues into the disease susceptibility, population-level diversity, and genetic load of the alala to better inform their policies.

Solstice is one of New Zealands largest female kakapos, often weighing 4.5 pounds, even without the help of supplementary feeding. CREDIT: DOC.

The same information could help the kakapo thrive. This work over the last year has produced two very significant outcomes. First, it has given the team an in-depth understanding of kakapo biology. It has also produced a high-quality code and reusable pipeline, which allows other researchers to rapidly use these methods in their own work and advanced New Zealands genomic capability.

Kakapo suffer from disease and low reproductive output, so by understanding the genetic reasons for these problems, we can now help mitigate them, Andrew Digby, the DOCs Science Advisor for Kakapo Recovery, said in a statement. It gives us the ability to predict things like kakapo chick growth and susceptibility to disease, which changes our on-the-ground management practices and will help improve survival rates.

[Related: Eavesdropping on pink river dolphins could help save them.]

Diby added that the Kakapo125+ project is another example of how genetic data can assist population growth. The 125 refers to the number of kakapo living when the project began in 2015. The novel genetic and machine learning tools developed can be applied to improve the productivity and survival of other taonga under conservation management, said Digby.

The sequencing technique was developed by University of Otago microbial scientist Joseph Guhlin and an international team of researchers and could have impacts outside of New Zealand.

Using technology created by Google, we have achieved what is likely the highest quality variant dataset for any endangered species in the world, said Guhlin. This dataset is made available, through DOC and Ngai Tahu, for future researchers working with kakapo.
A 24-year-old Urbana man faces attempted murder and aggravated vehicular hijacking charges after he allegedly zip-tied a womans neck and stole her car in Harwood Heights, authorities said.

Afterward, the attacker wrote a note that apologized for the attack, which left the 61-year-old victim on life support.

Im deeply sorry for hurting anyone at the moment, it seemed to be the only choice, Reese Miller allegedly wrote in a note left behind in the victims 2015 Toyota Scion, according to Cook County prosecutors.

I didnt want to hurt people. It was never something I ever thought possible until the realization of reality hit me.

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Prosecutors read the note during a bail hearing Friday in Rolling Meadows, where Judge Ellen Beth Mandeltort ordered Miller be held without bond.

Harwood Heights police found the woman lying on her back, her face turning blue with blood under her head, around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to prosecutors.

A neighbor of the woman saw a male struggling with the victim and appearing to choke her early Wednesday morning.

The woman was taken to an area hospital and remained in critical condition and on life support as of Friday afternoon, according to Harwood Heights police.

Police officers in south suburban Crete arrested Miller later that morning. Miller admitted to attacking the woman and moving her out of the way before driving away in her car, authorities said. Miller also claimed ownership of a knife later found in the car, prosecutors said.

Miller also admitted to tying a zip-tie around the womans neck, taking her Toyota and writing a note that law enforcement later found in the vehicle, according to court records.

Miller is originally from Mississippi and works at a bakery on the Northwest Side of Chicago. He will return to court on Sept. 22.
A Cook County judge on Friday denied bail to a South Side man who authorities said trapped two Chicago firefighters at knife point in a gasoline-drenched home.

Judge Maryam Ahmad ordered Melvin Jordan, 47, held during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Jordan faces several felonies, including attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and unlawful use of a weapon.

Jordans attorneys told the court their client suffers from mental health issues. The judge ordered Jordan to be evaluated by health care personnel, court records show.

The incident unfolded as firefighters responded to Jordans home at the 7700 block of South Marshfield Avenue in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, according to prosecutors.

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When firefighters arrived, the homes garage was engulfed in flames, prosecutors said.

Jordan asked to speak with a Chicago Fire Department battalion chief about a natural gas leak in the house. After the garage fire was extinguished, he led the chief and a lieutenant to his basement, prosecutors said.

The firefighters didnt smell a gas leak in the basement, but they saw Jordan run back upstairs. When they walked up, they found Jordan holding a knife that was 8- to 10-inches long, jabbing it toward him.

Youre not going anywhere, Jordan said, according to prosecutors.

Jordan ordered the firefighters to sit down while directing them from the homes kitchen to its living room at knife point, prosecutors said. The firefighters noticed that the homes rear and front doors were barricaded with deadbolts and wooden planks.

They radioed for backup and fellow firefighters tried to break through the front and rear doors, but they couldnt get in, prosecutors said.

Jordan told the firefighters stuck in the house he wanted to talk with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, prosecutors said.

Eventually, the trapped firefighters were able to escape through a front window when first responders broke the window and pulled them out, according to a police report.

Police and firefighters then got into the house and found Jordan hiding in a bathroom, prosecutors said. He threatened to harm himself if first responders entered, the report said. Officers got into the bathroom and placed him in custody. They found another knife and an empty gun holster on him, .

Police also found the knife used in the attack on the kitchen floor and a 9 mm handgun upstairs, prosecutors said.

Officers also observed what they believed to be gasoline spread throughout the first floor of the residence, prosecutors said.

Jordan was convicted of murder in 2006 and later sentenced to 35 years, but had been granted a new trial in 2019 and was released from custody after posting $45,000 bail.

He has previously been convicted of three separate armed robberies. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for each and served the sentences concurrently, court records show.

Prosecutors said Jordans past convictions for armed robbery included attacks on a Radio Shack employee, a hotel worker and another stores employee. In each case, he or a fellow attacker handcuffed their victim.

He is scheduled to return to court Tuesday.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
The claim: WHO declares mass vaccination is required to combat climate change

An Aug. 26 article from The Peoples Voice claims the World Health Organization has announced a new initiative to mitigate climate change.

WHO Declares Mass Vaccination Required To Combat Effects of Climate Change, reads the articles headline.

The article was shared more than 50 times in one week on Facebook, according to the social media analytics tool CrowdTangle.

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Our rating: False

A WHO spokesperson said the organization made no such declaration. The article was published by a website that regularly publishes fabricated stories.

WHO did not announce upcoming mass vaccination

The WHO is a United Nations agency created to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable, according to its website.

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The agency did not announce that mass vaccinations would soon be required for any reason, let alone to fight the effects of climate change, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told USA TODAY in an email.

There is no mention of "mass vaccinations" to combat the effects of climate change anywhere on the WHOs website.

The Peoples Voice article references an Aug. 9 media briefing as purported evidence for its claim.

Several experts and reporters in the briefing discuss the role of climate change in the spread of dengue and other mosquito-borne illnesses to places where such infections dont usually occur. However, there was no announcement or mention of any kind of vaccine requirement tied to global warming at any point during the press conference.

Fact check: WHO linked myocarditis in newborns to viral infection, not COVID-19 vaccine

The People's Voice, previously known as NewsPunch, has a lengthy history of publishing fabricated stories, many of which have been debunked by USA TODAY. Global organizations like the World Economic Forum and the WHO are frequent subjects of its baseless claims.

USA TODAY reached out to The People's Voice for comment but did not immediately receive a 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: No WHO statement linking vaccines to climate change | Fact check
The Nobel Foundation announced on Aug. 31 that it will invite all diplomats represented in Sweden to its Nobel Prize award ceremony, an expansion that includes representatives from Russia and Belarus.

It is clear that the world is increasingly divided into spheres, where dialogue between those with differing views is being reduced, said Vidar Helgesen, executive director of the Nobel Foundation.

This year's award ceremony and banquet will be held on Dec. 10.

Last year, the Nobel Foundation announced they would not invite representatives of Russia and Belarus to the Stockholm celebrations as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine.

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In 2022, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Belarusian Ales Bialiatski, a pro-democracy activist recently sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Belarusian court.

While the Aug. 31 announcement did not specifically address Bialiatski's imprisonment or Russia's full-scale invastion of Ukraine, the Foundation justified its decision by saying that "we are living in an increasingly polarised world, characterised by denial of science, resistance to knowledge and threats to freedom of expression, democracy and human rights."

The Nobel Foundation's decision comes a month after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced it would ban Russia and Belarus from the 2024 Games in Paris.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia delivers tactical nukes to Belarus, says military intelligence chief

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
FILE - Norfolk Southern locomotives are moved through the Conway Terminal in Conway, Pa., Saturday, June 17, 2023. Norfolk Southern said Friday, Sept. 1, it believes a software defect  not a hacker  was the cause of the widespread computer outage that forced the railroad to park all of its trains for most of Monday.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Norfolk Southern believes a software defect  not a hacker  was the cause of the widespread computer outage that forced the railroad to park all of its trains for most of a day earlier this week.

The railroad said Friday that it traced Monday's problem to a defect in the software one of its vendors was using to perform maintenance on its data storage systems.

Both the railroad's primary and backup systems became unresponsive at the same time. The update was made to one system and then automatically copied to the other system allowing the defect to spread. Norfolk Southern didn't identify the vendor except to call it "a leading global technology provider."

The railroad, based in Atlanta, reiterated that it has found no evidence that the outage was caused by an unauthorized cybersecurity incident.

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Norfolk Southern said it has been making progress in clearing up the backlog of trains that accumulated while its network of nearly 20,000 miles of track in the Eastern U.S. was shut down. The railroad has been working to keep its customers updated on their shipments, but it has said the effects of the outage could linger for a couple weeks.

Regulators have been scrutinizing Norfolk Southern's operations ever since a fiery February train derailment in Ohio forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes because of concerns about the toxic chemicals the train was carrying. The cleanup from that derailment is ongoing.

A package of railroad safety reforms members of Congress proposed after the Ohio derailment has stalled in the Senate and has yet to get a hearing in the Republican-controlled House.
(Bloomberg) -- North Korea fired several cruise missiles Saturday into the Yellow Sea, just days after it shot off a pair of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in a show of anger against US-South Korea joint military drills.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The missiles were fired from about 4 a.m. and the launch is being analyzed by US and South Korean intelligence agencies, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement to reporters. Pyongyang had threatened punishment for US and South Korean military drills, which ran for 11 days until the end of August.

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North Korea on Aug. 30 test-fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles for simulated nuclear strikes, saying it wouldnt bow down to threats after the US sent a B-1B strategic bomber to airspace off the peninsula for joint drills. After that missile launch, South Korea and US mobilized about 30 aircraft including F-35 stealth fighters for exercises that including air-to-ground live-fire training.

Read: North Korea Holds Scorched Earth Missile Test to Defy US

North Korea has bristled at joint military exercises for decades, calling them a prelude to an invasion and nuclear war. Although North Korea is barred by United Nations Security Council resolutions from testing ballistic missiles, it faces no such prohibitions on cruise missiles.

Ballistic missiles fly in an arched trajectory at supersonic speeds and are unpowered on descent. Cruise missiles travel at subsonic speeds and can fly at low altitudes. They are maneuverable, making them harder to detect and intercept.

Pyongyang had already fired 26 ballistic missiles and two space rockets so far this year. They included four intercontinental ballistic missiles that could hit the US mainland. Kim Jong Uns regime launched more than 70 ballistic missiles last year, a record for the state.

Kim has ignored US calls to return to long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks. But he has been busy modernizing his arsenal of missiles and conducting tests of systems to attack South Korea and Japan, which host the bulk of US military personnel in the region.

North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast on July 19 after the USS Kentucky stopped in Busan, in the first visit to a port in South Korea in about four decades by a submarine capable of firing nuclear ballistic missiles. Pyongyang fired two more a few days later when another nuclear-powered US sub arrived at a separate South Korean port to replenish supplies.

Those launches came after North Korea in July tested its Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM. It flew longer than any of its other ICBMs and appeared designed to carry a multiple nuclear weapons payload, which increases the chances that at least one bomb could slip past interceptors and make its way to a target.

A solid-fuel missile could be deployed quickly and fired with little warning. Liquid-fuel missiles in general take more time to prepare as propellant is added to their tanks, making them vulnerable to attack before taking off.

--With assistance from Sangmi Cha.

(Updates with details on launch.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Homes were ripped to shreds by storm surge and extreme winds in the hardest-hit areas of Florida's Gulf Coast when Hurricane Idalia crashed ashore as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday. Small coastal communities like Cedar Key and Horseshoe Beach took the brunt of the storm before it lost wind intensity as it plowed inland.

The aftermath was becoming clear in the three days after Idalia struck. Trucks were tossed around like toys by the destructive force of water driven inland by the hurricane. Metal was twisted and strewn about as boats were ripped from their mooring. Debris clogged canals and heaped up in piles over highways as trees were stripped and toppled over in many areas.

There was "not a building untouched by the storm surge," storm chaser Aaron Rigsby reflected on the small Florida towns devastated by Idalia's wrath in an interview on AccuWeather Prime with AccuWeather Senior On-Air Broadcaster Geoff Cornish.

By all accounts, the road to recovery will be lengthy after the Big Bend of Florida sustained one of the worst strikes from a hurricane that it has experienced in years -- or even in decades.

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"Hermine was the last big one that flooded in here 2016. There are parts of the island that absolutely got more surge this time around, and others that may be about the same," Cedar Key, Florida, resident Doug Lindhout told Trisha Gates, who was reporting for AccuWeather. "We're just a small island, and when we have surge that comes in, it's meaningful."

Cedar Key, home to just 800 full-time residents, touts itself as a "haven for artists, writers and adventure' tourists, who find the unspoiled environment their inspiration." The famous naturalist and writer John Muir even visited the port city in 1867 as he sauntered across the nation, where he remarked upon the beauty of the region. But, as CNN reported, it's no longer a haven, and the beach has been littered with storm debris and widespread devastation.

But the disaster could have been even worse. Idalia had undergone rapid intensification over bath-warm waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, growing into a Category 4 storm with peak maximum sustained winds of 130 mph by 5 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

In the final hours leading up to landfall, Idalia lost some wind intensity in a process called an eyewall replacement. During this process, which is common for long-lived tropical systems, the eyewall, home to the fiercest winds, collapses before being replaced by another larger, more intense eyewall. Idalia was a Category 3 storm with winds of 125 clocked by the time it struck near Keaten Beach, Florida, at 7:45 a.m. EDT Wednesday morning.

A satellite image of Hurricane Idalia as it made landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning. (NOAA/GOES-EAST)

Another factor behind Florida escaping the worst disaster: Idalia was a compact hurricane, with hurricane-force winds only extending out about 25 miles from its center.

Idalia's official death toll stands at one, although there were two men killed in separate weather-related crashes amid Idalia's rampage across the Southeast on Wednesday. The Florida Highway Patrol confirmed to AccuWeather that at least one of those fatalities was not linked to Idalia. Another man was killed by a fallen tree in southern Georgia, according to The Associated Press.

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Days after the storm ransacked areas from Florida's Big Bend to southern Georgia and the coastal Carolinas, residents and business owners returned in earnest on Thursday and Friday, where permitted by officials, beginning the arduous task of picking up the pieces.

However, even the clean-up process has come with added challenges.

Temperatures have topped out in the upper 80s to the lower 90s, each day since Idalia made landfall, and additional rain and thunderstorms have disrupted cleanup efforts and helped to boost humidity levels.

"It's hot, and the humidity," Tammy Wilkes, a Cedar Key resident, told Gates while cleaning up after the hurricane on Thursday. "We also have a supermoon, so our tide is coming up on the streets, and so we've got water everywhere. Plus, the heat is so bad."

All of that heat and humidity is a recipe for mildew and mold growth, another issue survivors will need to combat.

More than 60,000 electric customers in Florida remained without power on Saturday morning, three days after Idalia made landfall, according to PowerOutage.us. People who are relying on generators for electricity are facing not only the added expense of purchasing fuel but also long lines at gas stations. Outages may last several more days as utility workers scramble to repair broken lines and snapped power poles that were damaged during Idalia.

Before & after: This road in Englewood, Florida, was washed away by Hurricane Idalia. pic.twitter.com/ZyYO6nzNr4  AccuWeather (@accuweather) August 31, 2023

President Biden declared a major disaster in Florida on Thursday morning in Hurricane Idalia's wake.

"The President's action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Citrus, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee, and Taylor," the White House said in a statement.

Biden will travel to Florida on Saturday to visit some of the hardest-hit areas of the state.

Other officials and lawmakers commented on the weight of the disaster and the burden that recovery will place on "fiscally-constrained" areas that were affected, as US Rep. and former leader of Florida's Division of Emergency Management Jared Moskowitz put it to CNN.

"There are some communities that may never look the same and others that will get rebuilt that will look slightly different," Moskowitz told CNN. "This is a life-changing event for some of these counties."

Idalia unleashed a record storm surge in some parts of Florida's Big Bend. As Idalia marched across the Southeast and emerged back into the Atlantic, a historic storm surge was also triggered along portions of the Carolina coastline.

In Charleston, South Carolina, the blue moon made the storm surge worse, with a video showing feet of water inundating the downtown on Wednesday evening. A NOAA tidal gauge registered a storm surge of almost 2.5 feet at that location. The total water level was recorded as 3.47 feet, preliminarily ranking it number five, just below Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Matthew in 2016.

At Springmaid Pier in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the water reached 9.1 feet, ranking as the number six highest measurement since the 1980s, but falling short of levels recorded during Ian last year, which caused waters to rise to 10.5 feet.

The wind also picked up in the Carolinas by Wednesday afternoon. The stormy conditions forced Charleston Airport to shut down for a time, AccuWeather's Emmy Victor reported from South Carolina.

Most of the water had receded by Thursday, and residents and tourists ventured back out as crews got to work in cleaning up the mess that Idalia unleashed.

"We've noticed some damage around the battery and debris, but other than that it's been really great to walk around," Swati Kelley, a Texas resident, told Victor on Thursday.

Additional reporting by AccuWeather's Bill Wadell, Tony Laubach, Brian Lada, Jesse Ferrell, and Emmy Victor, with contributions from Aaron Rigsby and Trisha Gates.
A viral video shows an enraged woman screaming and taunting a Black postal worker.

The explosive exchange happened at a post office in Kirkwood, Missouri, when the woman started yelling at the employee who was recording the interaction, according to Riverfront Times. The video was posted on Aug. 24 by Instagram user @j5scar, who said the incident happened last month.

The unidentified woman ranted at a Black postal worker in Missouri. (Instagram/ @j5scar/Screenshot)

Get the hell away from me, the woman demanded while walking to her car. She then pulled out her iPhone and started recording the worker, who apparently had asked the woman to leave, and walked outside to ensure she did so.

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Related: Black Lawmaker Justin Pearson of the Tennessee Three Says He Is Considering Pressing Charges After House Speaker Shoved Him In Heated Exchange Caught on Video

Im sending it to Trump, she claimed. Maybe he can do something, and then Obama can sue him.

The woman storms off again before turning around to make another dig at the employee: Equal my a*s, she yelled. Youre not equal.

She enters her car and appears to leave when she insults the employee again. The woman hopped into the drivers seat and pulled out her parking spot. The woman stops again, exits her vehicle, and approaches the employee.

Ill tell you, Ive had it. Godd-mn, you have ruined my life, she said. I sit here all I want is my mail.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

You wont come in here, maam, the worker responded. And please step off of our lot.

According to the video, the woman said she hopes the employee gets terminated from her job. After a brief rant about her hair, she returns to her vehicle.

The woman rolled down her window and started chanting, Hey boy, boy, boy, at the employee. Per reports, the racist term has historically been used against Black men to belittle them. She then finally drove away.

This incident comes amid several recent viral videos involving women labeled as Karens. In one video, a woman went off on her neighbor over a dispute involving a dog, and in a separate incident, a woman called the police on a Black therapist who was locked out of her office.
In American culture, identity is inextricably tied to your job and career. According to a recent survey, about four-in-ten workers (who are not self-employed) say their job or career is extremely or very important to their overall identity.

Workers with a postgraduate degree are the most likely to see their job or career as central to their overall identity.

Whats more, many highly educated workers in the white-collar economy feel that their job cannot be just a job and that their career cannot be just a career.

Their job must be their calling and anything short of finding ones vocational soulmate amounts to a wasted life. In an era of diminishing attachments, career and work sometimes seem like the last truly universal virtues.

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In another survey, roughly half of Americans said that the most important part of a fulfilling life is work that provides joy and meaning. Less than a third said the same about being in a committed relationship or having children

Bombarded with messaging

The credo that work should be the centerpiece of ones identity quietly governs modern life. Its almost impossible not to be bombarded with this notion that paid work is necessary to succeed as a person, whether its coming from political messaging, popular culture, or your community.

Researchers and psychologists point to three pillars of messaging in American culture that hugely shape this thinking: a Protestant work ethic (that being a hard worker is a sign of ones value as a human), the emphasis on individualism (every person is a master of their fate), and what gives one status (money).

For those not born into wealth or connections, work is the way to get money  and, with it, status.

Obviously, theres nothing inherently wrong with working hard, being self-reliant, or striving to achieve status. And the intensity with which Americans are attached to work is not just about cultural messaging that says work is what makes you respectable and worthy.

So many people get their health insurance from their employers, as well as their retirement plan and many other crucial benefits. Also for people whose legal identities are tied to their workplaces, their job is literally everything to them.

Doing work you love is not a bad thing, nor is considering what you do for a living an important part of who you are. The problem with connecting work and worth is that it can turn a career hurdle into something considerably tougher to overcome.

Crafting meaning in your work

Inevitably something will happen  there will be lay-offs, a recession, your company will be acquired, and suddenly your job isnt what it used to be. It can become really existential for people. It can be a blow to your understanding of who you are in the world and why you matter.

Basing your lifes meaning on your work is not the same as crafting meaning in your work. You can enjoy purpose-fuelled work without losing yourself in the process.

To attain a healthy or well-rounded identity, you must establish balance in your work and in your personal life. By setting limits and looking after yourself, you can achieve the work-life balance thats best for you.

For some this will mean prioritizing flexibilityseeking out companies with hybrid-work models or remote-work arrangements. Or looking for employers who foster an environment of empathy and recognition, and offer access to wellness and health resources.

Even more valuable are those organizations who mandate paid time off and whose leaders model the culture they want to create in their companies.

A dream jobthat is, a job you loveis not necessary in order for you to have a dream life. A good job that is satisfying and meets your needs is a good thing, and can give you a great life.

If youre interested in finding a job that fits, its time to check out opportunities with companies who can demonstrate a committed dedication to work/life balance. Your first stop? Head for The Hill Jobs Board to browse hundreds of jobs right now. Here are three hiring this week

American Red Cross is seeking a Program Specialist, Disaster Services to support its Huntington WV region. The successful hire will provide functional support to Disaster Program Manager and Leadership at a regional level as well as develop, guide, and support teams of trained volunteers and implement and develop initiatives to increase Red Cross visibility. As a mission-based organization, the Red Cross believes its team needs great support to do great work, which is reflected in comprehensive benefits including health plans, PTO, retirement contributions, family leave and employee assistance.

Bread for the World is looking to recruit a Deputy Director of Government Relations to assist in providing departmental leadership and organizational leadership on domestic or international issues affecting people experiencing hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad, by developing and implementing policy and legislative strategy. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelors degree in public policy or related areas. Eight years of Hill or lobbying experience, as well as staff supervisory and management experience, is required. Worth noting is the stated mission is to provide an equitable work environment for everyone. The company also offers an attractive hybrid work model.

The Joint Commission has an open position for an Associate Director, Public Policy who will assist the DC Office leadership to advance The Joint Commissions government relations agenda. The ideal candidate will possess a Masters degree in public health, public policy, government, health care administration, or law degree or a related field. They must have at least seven years experience with increasing responsibility in a Congressional office, Federal Agency, and/or government relations experience. The Joint Commission offers a hybrid work option as standard.

For hundreds more opportunities and to find a role that fits, visit The Hill Jobs Board today

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FILE - Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Joe Biden (D-Del.), right, and the former chairman of the panel, Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), depart the West Wing of White House in Washington, Nov. 12, 1987, after meeting with President Reagan. On Sept. 1, 2023, The Associated Press reported on President Bidens inaccurate claim that he literally convinced Thurmond, a segregationist, to vote in favor of the Civil Rights Act. (AP Photo/Ira Schwarz, File)

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

___

The CDC didnt say vaccinated people are more at risk of a new COVID variant than the unvaccinated

CLAIM: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that a new COVID-19 variant is more contagious among vaccinated people than those who are unvaccinated.

THE FACTS: In a risk assessment summary published Aug. 23, the CDC wrote that the BA.2.86 variant may be more likely to infect people with existing immunity to COVID-19, either from vaccinations or prior infections, than previous variants. It did not say that vaccinated people are at a higher risk than the unvaccinated. BREAKING: CDC says new COVID variant is more contagious among vaccinated people than those unvaccinated, reads a post shared on Instagram and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. But the agency has not said that those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 are more likely than unvaccinated people by the new variant. Rather, it said those whove been vaccinated or previously infected may be more susceptible than they were to prior variants. Based on what CDC knows now, the large number of mutations in this new variant raises concern that BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received COVID-19 vaccines, the agency said in a statement, bolding the word or. Those making the false claim are misrepresenting the CDCs Aug. 23 risk assessment for the variant, which said: BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received COVID-19 vaccines. It elaborated near the end of the assessment that the large number of mutations in this variant raises concerns of greater escape from existing immunity from vaccines and previous infections compared with other recent variants. In its statement, the agency said that it is still closely monitoring the variant but that it is too soon to know the real-world impacts on immunity and encouraged people to stay up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccines.

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 Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report.

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Biden didnt get segregationist Thurmond to vote for the Civil Rights Act. White House says he misspoke

CLAIM: President Joe Biden literally convinced segregationist U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond to vote in favor of the Civil Rights Act.

THE FACTS: Biden had not yet been elected to the U.S. Senate when the landmark law was passed in 1964, and Thurmond was among the prominent southern Democrats to vote against the bill. A White House spokesperson confirmed the president misspoke in his remarks. Biden made the claim during a White House event Monday. In a clip widely shared on social media, Biden noted that a racist white gunman killed three Black people in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday, the same day the nation marked the 60th anniversary of the historic March on Washington. I thought things had changed. I was able  literally, not figuratively  to talk Strom Thurmond into voting for the Civil Rights Act before he died. And I thought, Well, maybe theres real progress, Biden said, according to the official White House transcript. But hate never dies. Many social media users quickly noted that Bidens timeline didnt add up. When Congress approved the Civil Rights Act in 1964, Biden was still nine years away from being sworn in as one of the youngest senators in U.S. history in 1973 at the age of 30. His time in the Senate certainly overlapped with Thurmond, who served as U.S. senator from South Carolina for nearly half a century, from 1954 to 2003. But the Democrat-turned-Republican was a staunch supporter of racial segregation and voted against the original Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, religion and gender. White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden had intended to tout his work in the 1980s to win passage of a bill reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act. The landmark 1965 law followed the Civil Rights Act and outlawed discriminatory voting practices such as literacy tests that were aimed at disenfranchising Black voters. He was highlighting his role in gaining Sen. Thurmonds support for reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act, which Thurmond had previously opposed, Bates explained in an email. The White House spokesman cited news coverage from the era in which Thurmond, the then-Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, threatened to eliminate parts of the 1965 law. Biden, as the ranking Democrat on the committee, promised at the time that he wouldnt back down. If Strom Thurmond is serious about eliminating the Voting Rights Act, Im going to fight it, he said, according to a Wilmington News Journal story from 1980. The legislation ultimately passed the Senate in 1982 by a wide margin. Thurmond, who died in 2003 at the age of 100, was among the Republicans who voted for it.

 Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

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No, a meat allergy caused by ticks is not tied to a Gates Foundation-funded program. Heres why

CLAIM: Increased incidence of a meat allergy linked to tick spit in the U.S. is connected to a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that involves genetically modifying cattle ticks.

THE FACTS: The program to create a modified cattle tick, with the goal of reducing their population and protecting livestock, has thus far been limited to lab work in the U.K. The ticks in question have been largely eradicated in the U.S. and do not bite humans, an expert said. But social media posts are baselessly tying that work to recently published government research estimating that hundreds of thousands of Americans may have an allergy to red meat because of a syndrome triggered by tick bites. The reaction, called alpha-gal syndrome, occurs when an infected person consumes beef, pork, venison or other mammal products. Its caused by a sugar in meat from mammals  and in tick spit  that, when transmitted through the skin via a tick bite, can lead to an allergic reaction. Bill Gates Funded Research Into Genetically Engineered Cattle TicksNow 450,000 Americans Have Red Meat Allergies From Alpha-Gal Syndrome Caused by Tick Bites, reads one widespread headline. However, a relationship between the two is scientifically impossible, said Neil Morrison, chief strategy officer at Oxitec, the firm doing the research that has indeed received support from the Gates Foundation. Oxitecs early R&D has been conducted in the UK, Morrison said in an email statement. He added that the research has been conducted in labs and that there has been no research in the field with a self-limiting (modified) tick. Oxitecs focus is on the Asian blue tick, or Rhipicephalus microplus, and using a self-limiting gene to reduce their population to better protect livestock and curb economic losses associated with tick bites and disease. Such ticks, while posing issues in other parts of the world, have been largely eradicated in most of the U.S. Moreover, cattle ticks dont bite humans, said Sam Telford, a Tufts University professor of infectious disease and global health who has worked on ticks and tickborne infections for more than 35 years. Ticks are adapted to feeding on certain animals, Telford explained, and cattle ticks feed on cattle and related animals, such as deer. They do not identify humans as their hosts. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson Kate Fowlie said in an email that the evidence strongly suggests that alpha-gal syndrome is primarily associated with the bite of the Lone Star tick, or Amblyomma americanum, in the U.S.  even if some other native species of ticks have not been ruled out. Researchers first published a paper tying alpha-gal syndrome to tick bites in 2011. That was a decade before the Gates Foundation funded Oxitecs program on self-limiting cattle ticks. The foundation first announced in 2021 that it was providing Oxitec nearly $1.5 million for an initial feasibility project. In April, the foundation announced it was granting the company another $4.8 million to further develop the program.

 Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in New Jersey contributed this report.

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Social media videos push baseless conspiracy theory that blue items were spared from Maui wildfires

CLAIM: Only blue items survived the Maui wildfires and lasers do not impact that color, suggesting the island was actually hit by a directed energy weapon attack.

THE FACTS: The wildfires didnt spare only blue things, with photos and videos clearly showing that buildings and objects of many colors both survived and perished. More importantly, there is ample evidence that Maui was ravaged by fires, while the notion that a weapon or laser was involved has been repeatedly debunked. Still, recent posts are cherry-picking images to falsely suggest that only blue items survived the blaze  and that this is somehow proof that the Hawaiian island was hit by a laser that either sparked the fire or did all the damage itself. The posts typically include a video from a TikTok account that shares clips of everyday items being burned by a handheld industrial laser in a workshop. The clip shows the laser burning yellow, red and green fabric, while a blue swatch is unscathed, with text saying it can be programmed for different wavelengths. They contrast this footage with imagery from Lahaina, the historic Maui town that was largely leveled by the wildfire, noting a blue car and some blue beach umbrellas were not destroyed in the inferno. One post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, also points to several blue t-shirts found under some rubble that were relatively unscathed. Unbelievable. Everything thats BLUE survived the Maui DEW attack, including T-SHIRTS, reads the post. DEW stands for directed energy weapons  which use technology like high-energy lasers instead of projectiles like bullets. But these videos are not evidence that they have anything to do with the wildfires. To start, they show just a handful of blue items in the fires aftermath, but other footage and photos show these were hardly the only things left standing. The blue car and umbrellas can both be seen in drone footage of the devastation  but the same video also shows red and green dumpsters and buildings painted various other colors that survived. Aerial footage taken by the AP shows similar scenes. Before-and-after satellite images also show that a number of buildings that were painted blue were still destroyed. Its not uncommon to see some items and structures still standing after wildfires because the fires often spread through flying embers that dont hit everything, experts previously told the AP. Images of the fires aftermath do not show anything abnormal, they said. Regardless, the wildfires were witnessed by survivors and documented extensively in videos and images. The video of the workshop laser sparing some blue fabric is not evidence to the contrary, according to Iain Boyd, director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado. While it is possible for high energy lasers to interact in different ways with objects made of different materials or even colors, a beam with enough power to start a large fire would just burn through material of any color, he explained in an email. Even more relevant, though, is that these images show areas through which a large fire has raged and the damage that has been caused no longer has anything to do with whatever caused the fire in the first place, Boyd added, noting that blue objects are not simply resistant to fire. Maui County has filed a lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric Company over the fires, saying it failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions. The company on Sunday acknowledged that its power line started the first wildfire, but said its power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for hours before a more serious second blaze, which tore through downtown Lahaina, killing at least 115 and destroying 2,000 structures.

 Associated Press writer Karena Phan in Los Angeles contributed this report.

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Despite receiving record amounts of federal aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, American schools still failed to prevent dramatic learning loss among students. This should be far from surprising.

Contrary to popular belief, increased educational funding doesn't correlate with higher-quality schools. In fact, some of the worst-performing public school districts are some of the ones most flush with cash.

Over the first year of the pandemic, Congress approved $190 billion in additional funding for American public schools, the majority of it coming from the American Rescue Plan, which specifically required that schools use at least 20 percent of the additional funding to "address the academic impact of lost instructional time through the implementation of evidence-based interventions."

However, all that funding failed to prevent disastrous educational declines. Following pandemic lockdowns, test scores among American schoolchildren plummeted. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, in 2022, math and reading scores among American fourth-graders reached their lowest points since 2005. For older students, ACT scores dropped to their lowest point in three decades in 2022.

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While the glut of spending was justified as necessary to "help schools safely reopen, stay open, and address the academic and mental health needs of students," flooding schools with federal dollars not only did little to get schools back open, but it was also always unlikely to actually improve educational outcomes.

School funding simply doesn't have an established relationship with school quality. According to one 2012 report from Harvard and Stanford researchers, each additional $1,000 of per-pupil funding a school had was, on average, "associated with an annual gain in achievement of one-tenth of 1 percent of a standard deviation," a gain so small it had no "statistical or substantive significance."

Why doesn't more money reliably improve results? While some interventions can improve school quality, it can often be difficult to overcome the preexisting disadvantages that many students face. For example, one report from the Brookings Institution found that almost half of all low-income children are not ready to start school at age 5. Thus, it's unlikely that schools with large low-income populations can improve student outcomesno matter how much federal money gets spent.

Another reason is that schools tend to not spend money in ways that actually help students. "More money can help schools succeed, but not if they fritter those extra resources in unproductive ways," Jay Greene, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Reason in February. "Wasteful schools tend to hire more non-instructional staff while raising the pay and benefit costs for all staff regardless of their contribution to student outcomes."

It's hard to draw conclusions about how well pandemic educational funding was spent, because it's unclear exactly what schools did with it. In fact, much of the additional funds seem to not have been spent at all, instead sitting in state coffers unused well into 2022.

Schools didn't need more federal funding during the pandemic; they needed to open their doors. School closures are now acknowledged as a disastrous policy that unnecessarily isolated schoolchildren for months on end. From the beginning, the way to prevent learning loss was to get American children back in classrooms.

The post It's Not Surprising That Federal Funding Didn't Stop Pandemic Learning Loss appeared first on Reason.com.
Parents in Brockton arrived for a school committee meeting Friday afternoon carrying questions after officials revealed there was $14 million missing from the schools 2022-2023 budget the day before. Questions that spilled out into the hallway after the meeting went behind closed doors after 15 minutes.

Im very disappointed. Once again we show up to this school committee meeting and they arent transparent. Theres a guise of secrecy and thats a sad commentary, said one frustrated Brockton resident. Theres too many things going on in our school system that were not able to find exactly what the truth is.

After an executive meeting, school committee members announced they had unanimously voted to hire an outside firm to perform an independent audit of the schools finances. The contracted firm has yet to be decided.

Although Brockton Schools Superintendent Michael Thomas was not in attendance at the meeting, he told Boston 25 News earlier in the day there was no criminal activity involved.

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A narrative that money is missing or embezzled is absolutely absurd, every dime can be accounted for and every dime went toward students, said Thomas. Its not gone. Its overspent in the areas of safety, security, transportation, over staff but theres nothing missing.

Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan and school committee members told reporters after a special meeting Thursday night they had discovered the $14 million shortfall and that Thomas did not attend the meeting because hes on medical leave.

Thomas, a graduate of Brockton High School, oversaw the physical education department and worked his way up to become superintendent in 2019.

Dr. James Cobbs was announced as the interim superintendent Friday while Thomas is on medical leave.

Sullivan, who serves as the chair of the Brockton School Committee, said Thursday he was dismayed but is committed to fixing the situation.

As a mayor and a BPS alum and a parent in the BPS system Im extremely dismayed. Collectively, we are all dismayed at the situation, and we are committed to ensuring that we will rectify the situation, appoint new leadership, and move forward, Sullivan said.

Back in May, the school district eliminated 130 staff positions after facing an $18 million deficit. The district attributed some of the shortfall to dwindling enrollment due to the pandemic.

The first day of school for all grades in the district is Wednesday, September 6.

Sullivan says more updates on the matter will be available next week.

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
By Lucy Raitano and Danilo Masoni

LONDON (Reuters) -Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk unseated LVMH as Europe's most valuable listed company on Friday, ending the French luxury group's 2-1/2 year-long reign at the top.

LVMH, the world's biggest luxury retailer, has been hurt by growing concerns about the outlook for the Chinese economy.

Novo is meanwhile riding a wave of demand for its highly effective diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which has sent its earnings and shares to record highs.

Its shares have risen around 17% since it announced on Aug. 8 that a large study had shown Wegovy also had a clear cardiovascular benefit, boosting the company's hopes of moving beyond its image as a lifestyle drug.

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As of Friday's close, Novo Nordisk had a market capitalisation of around $424.7 billion including unlisted stock, according to Refinitiv data and company disclosures of its share count.

French-listed LVMH had a market cap of $420.1 billion, having been Europe's biggest listed company since February 2021 when it knocked consumer goods group Nestle off the top spot.

Novo's share price has roughly tripled in the past three years while that of LVMH, home to fashion labels Louis Vuitton and Dior, has doubled.

"Novo closing in on LVMH as Europe's biggest market cap stock is a reflection of Novo's recent product success while LVMH's recent trends have been more mixed," said Marcel Stotzel, co-portfolio manager of Fidelity European Fund and Fidelity European Trust.

Stotzel said both stocks remain key holdings in its funds.

Novo shares are near record highs, highlighting investors' appreciation for a strategy that has given the company a first-mover advantage in a surging market for obesity drugs.

The weight loss drug market is expected to reach $100 bln in annual sales within a decade. Sales currently stand at around $6 billion, according to Barclays.

"The market share should be split relatively equally between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, the two main companies behind obesity treatments," said Axelle Pinon, a member of Carmignac's investment committee.

Eli Lilly and Co is expected to receive a U.S. weight loss approval for its similar drug, Mounjaro, later this year.

Novo said on Aug. 8 that study data showed Wegovy reduced the risk of a major cardiovascular event like a stroke by 20% in overweight or obese people with a history of heart disease, more than had been expected.

That result may help persuade insurers and health authorities to cover the cost of Wegovy, which is $1,300 a month in the United States, for a wider range of patients.

"These results are de-risking the forward adoption curve for these drugs, justifying such a market move," said Carmignac's Pinon.

The rally in Novo's share price is likely to boost its weighting in the region-wide STOXX 600 index, analysts said, which could attract more inflows from passive investors.

Concerns about China's weakening economy have hurt sentiment towards LVMH, which also owns Hennessy cognac and U.S. jeweller Tiffany.

European luxury stocks soared early in 2023 as investors pinned hopes on swift economic rebound after China lifted COVID-19 restrictions.

But recent data and a crisis in the property sector have soured the outlook for the world's No.2 economy, weighing on a luxury sector that is heavily reliant on Chinese consumers.

"There has been a series of weaker than expected data and the Chinese authorities' unwillingness to inject large amounts of stimulus is knocking the outlook for these luxury retailers, which have a large amount of revenue growth coming from China," said City Index market analyst Fiona Cincotta.

Novo Nordisk shares ended Friday up 2.14% while LVMH shares were down 0.8%. LVMH shares have fallen 14.2% from an all-time high hit in April, underperforming Europe's broader STOXX 600 which is down around 2.2% in the same time frame.

Rival Compagnie Financiere Richemont has shed 17.9% since then and Hermes is down about 6.4% since then.

(Additional reporting by Samuel Indyk and Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Catherine Evans)
Is Nzinga Amani a cop-hating troublemaker who called sheriff's deputies pigs, disobeyed repeated commands to walk with them after they were arrested and spit in the face of one deputy?

Or is Amani a dedicated and passionate community activist who committed an act of civil disobedience during an unjust arrest, and who was punched in the face repeatedly by a deputy who was at the center of a successful excessive force lawsuit in 2016?

Those were the two possible versions presented over the course of three days as Amani was tried in Knox County Court for resisting arrest and assault against a first responder during the Jan. 7 encounter at a public meeting called to solicit input about the hiring of a new Knoxville police chief.

In the end, a Knox County jury found a compromise between the extremes. Amani was found guilty of resisting arrest but the jury failed to reach a verdict on whether they assaulted an officer after they had been handcuffed and dragged from the lobby of the City-County Building.

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"This sets a dangerous precedent for first amendment rights and the rights for free speech and advocacy for citizens and activists to be able to advocate on our behalf. I'm just being targeted but this does not deter me going forward. We are going to continue to fight, Amani told Knox News after the Sept. 1 verdict.

The trial was the second connected to Amani's activism, particularly their participation in a series of demonstrations calling for police reform after Knoxville police shot and killed 17-year-old Anthony Thompson Jr. in a bathroom at Austin-East Magnet High School.

In March, a jury cleared Amani on a charge of blocking a lane of traffic during a demonstration in April 2021. That demonstration was at the center of this week's trial.

For months, Amani, who uses gender-neutral they/them pronouns, was unaware of a warrant Knoxville police took out against them over accusations they blocked a squad car outside police headquarters during the 2021 demonstration. It wasn't until months later that Knox County sheriff's deputies arrested Amani in front of a crowd outside the community meeting, even after Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon specifically had asked police to stay away from the event.

"This is part of the fight in advocating for justice and change. If you advocate for the rights of exploited people, the state will come after you, there will be repression. So this has not deterred me," Amani said.

Amani filed a federal lawsuit over the arrest, saying it was designed to maximize the chilling and humiliating effect. That lawsuit is ongoing.

What happened out of the sight of cameras was in dispute

Amani, 30, was arrested on a warrant on Jan. 7, 2022, by Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies. Kincannon's office specifically had asked police to stay away from the public meeting called to solicit input about what the public wanted to see in a new police chief.

At the trial in Knox County Court, deputies testified that a Knoxville Police Department lieutenant told them Amani would be at the meeting in the City-County Building and a warrant was pending against Amani. The deputies also testified that a city staff member came down from the mayor's office to ask them to wait until after Amani was done with the meeting to arrest them.

Amini used passive civil disobedience methods when officers attempted to arrest them, such as going prone and not walking with the deputies after they handcuffed them and tried to lead them to a holding room.

"'I'm going to make you work for it.' Those were the defendants words as officers attempted to arrest (them)," Assistant District Attorney Amelia Hamilton told the jury during opening statements. Hamilton worked as a Knox County Sheriff's Office deputy before she became a prosecutor.

Amani's attorneys described the arrest as an act of political retaliation.

Nzinga Amani was found guilty of resisting arrest but a Knox County jury failed to reach a verdict on whether they assaulted an officer.

"Protests, politics, payback," Holly Nehls said during her opening statement, noting Amani's record of pushing for police reform. "Pay attention to timing. Why here? Why now, right outside a public meeting about policing in Knoxville?"

Video shows Amani was prone on the floor of the lobby as three deputies handcuffed them and carried them face-down by the arms and legs into a holding room hidden from the public and not equipped with video cameras. The deputies were not wearing body cameras.

What happened next formed the basis of the competing arguments at the trial. Prosecutors say Amani deliberately spit into the arresting officer's face, while Amani contends they coughed involuntarily after being choked by a deputy.

"He hocked a loogie and spit in my face," Knox County Sheriff's Officer Ron Chaperon said, adding it hit his mustache and slid into his mouth. While the other officers in the room did not see the phlegm hit Chaperon's face, one testified she saw Amani spit, while the other testified he saw the phlegm on Chaperon's face.

Amani told the jury the officer punched them repeatedly in the face, while Chaperon testified he "directed" Amani's head toward the wall with his forearm to prevent more spitting. Amani's face was visibly bruised in photos and video taken by Knox News after they were released from jail.

Chaperon was suspended for using excessive force in 2014 for his role in the arrest of a University of Tennessee student at a Fort Sanders drinking party. One deputy was photographed choking the student while Chaperon and another deputy were adjusting his handcuffs and did not intervene. In 2016, Knox County paid $100,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the student.

Why did police issue a warrant for Amani's arrest in the first place?

Amani was with a group of demonstrators outside KPD headquarters in the days after an officer shot and killed Thompson in a high school bathroom. Police say Amani stood in front of an officer's police car, but police didn't issue a warrant until days later.

Amani has said they were never told the warrant had been issued. The activist made public appearances for months after the protest, notably as a candidate for the Knoxville City Council, and police made no effort to arrest them.

A jury found them not guilty of that charge after a trial in March 2023.

What is the status of Amani's civil suit?

Amani has filed a federal lawsuit that asserts police waited to make the arrest until it could become a public spectacle designed to "maximize the chilling and humiliating effect.

The suit filed in January names two KPD officers, Lt. Jeff Pappas and Christopher Starr, and three Knox County deputies, Ronald Chaperon Jr., Joseph Coffey and David Cunningham, as well as the city and county. The suit asserts all parties involved were part of an unlawful conspiracy to violate Amani's rights.

That lawsuit was stayed in June pending the outcome of Amani's criminal case.

Liz Kellar is a public safety reporter. Email lkellar@knoxnews.com.

Angela Dennis is the Knox News race, justice and equity reporter. Email angela.dennis@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter @AngeladWrites. Instagram @angeladenniswrites. Facebook at Angela Dennis.

Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Amani found guilty of resisting arrest, jury deadlocks on assault
Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials are continuing their investigation into an officer-involved shooting in the Home Depot parking lot several months ago.

With the probe ongoing, some new details have been released. Here's a look:

What happened?

Ocala Police were called to the Home Depot parking lot, 3300 SW 35th Terrace, off State Road 200 close to Interstate 75, on June 3 shortly before 9 a.m. because a woman was concerned about her son making suicidal threats.

The mother provided a description of her son and his vehicle to a dispatcher.

Police officers tried talking to the driver, but he started firing a gun and they returned fire. The officers hit the man, who was pronounced deceased on scene.

This was the scene after the June 3 fatal shooting in the Home Depot parking lot.

Witnesses told Star-Banner reporters that the man was acting strangely. One witness said the man fired first at the officers.

Who was involved in the shooting?

Authorities have identified the officers as Jesus Santiago, 46, Jason Santos, 27, and Ferdinand Collazo, 38. According to police, Santiago has been with the department for five years, Santos for three years and Collazo for eight years.

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The officers have been assigned to administrative duties and won't return to the road until FDLE agents and the State Attorney's Office conclude the investigation.

The man shot and killed has been identified as Robert Francisco Gonzalez, 41. Ocala police officials said the three officers have not been involved in any prior shootings.

Where's the investigation?

Prosecutors said they have not yet received a report from FDLE. Once they do, they will determine whether the use of deadly force was legally justified.

The scene of the June 3 officer-involved shooting.

Police officials also will conduct their own investigation. They will determine, for example, whether any policies or procedures were violated. Also, an internal shooting review board will carefully examine the case to see if any practices can be improved.

The next step: What's next? The latest on the June 3 officer-involved shooting at Home Depot in Ocala

The officers are represented by local defense lawyer Jimmie Sparrow. The attorney said he's waiting on the FDLE report and the SAO. Sparrow said his clients are doing as well as can be considering the circumstances.

Last police shooting?

Records show the last time an OPD officer was involved in a fatal shooting was in January 2017, when three officers fired on Kevin Tree when he pointed a gun at them inside a hotel off South Pine Avenue. The officers were not charged with any crime; prosecutors ruled they were lawfully defending themselves. The officers were called to the hotel because the 54-year-old man had threatened to commit suicide.

Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com or @almillerosb

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Police officers back to work as investigation into deadly shooting continues
State Rep. Bob Young, R-Green, was booked into the Tuscarawas County Jail Monday night on a Summit County charge of violating a protection order.

An Ohio state lawmaker was arrested this week for violating an order of protection. The debate over parental consent for abortions heated up, and we took a deep dive into property taxes.

We break down what it all means in this week's episode of Ohio Politics Explained. A podcast from the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau to catch you up on the state's political news in 15 minutes or less.

This week, host Anna Staver was joined by reporter Haley BeMiller.

How to read your property tax bill

Calculating your property taxes involves a complicated set of calculations complete with constitutional requirements and a myriad of state rules and exemptions. Not to mention the thousands of different taxing districts across Ohio that each have their own levies.

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But as postcards go out alerting homeowners to historic rises in property values, we wanted to explain why these increases will mean bigger tax increases for some but not for others.

Republican representative arrested again

Rep. Bob Young, R-Green, was arrested this week for violating an order of protection that stemmed from another arrest in July where he was accused of assaulting two relatives.

Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, called for Young to resign after that first arrest, and this week he stripped him of his chairmanship, a leadership position that comes with a $9,000 annual pay bump.

Young has pleaded not guilty to all his charges, which include two first-degree misdemeanors for domestic violence and assault.

Parental consent

Parental consent for abortions and whether there should be any exceptions is a hot topic as Ohioans prepare to vote on a reproductive rights amendment for the state's constitution this November.

The amendment would codify access to abortion, IVF and birth control, which means it would supersede state law.

Opponents say that means overturning the state's requirement that parents sign off before a minor has an abortion. Supporters say there are cases like incest or abuse where parents shouldn't have that authority.

Sen. J.D. Vance's first months in office

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance was sworn into office just a few weeks before the train derailment in East Palestine that dumped toxic chemicals into the environment.

It was a hit-the-ground-running moment for the political newcomer and his freshly hired staff. They had to read up on vinyl chloride, water testing, and rail safety all while working across the aisle with Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown on reforms and new regulations.

"If there's a silver lining here, it's that it forced the staff to actually do something, and to do it not in a hypothetical way or not in an abstract way, but in an actual real and substantive way," Vance said. "It sort of drove home that there's this great human tragedy here and if we want to do things the right way by our constituents, we actually have to do our job and do it well."

Listen to "Ohio Politics Explained" on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts and TuneIn Radio. The episode is also available by clicking the link in this article.

The USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau serves The Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio politics podcast: Tax bills, arrested lawmaker, parental consent
As the new academic year commences in Ukraine, overshadowed by Russias ongoing aggression on the country, Ukraines First Lady, Olena Zelenska , took the opportunity to shed light on a significant classroom event that occurred on Sept. 1.

Read also: How are you?  opinion

As is traditional, Ukrainian students returned to classes today, which is why Sept.1 is marked as Knowledge Day in Ukraine. To mark the occasion, the First Lady shared details of a novel Ukrainian communication initiative called How Are You? on her social media platforms.

The question How Are You? is one that merits asking each student and educator embarking on this new school year, which, to be candid, is unlikely to be any less challenging than the last one, Zelenska said.

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Learning becomes an immensely daunting task when the sound of an air raid siren replaces the customary school bell. Teaching becomes exceptionally demanding when ones responsibilities include not only sharing knowledge, but also ensuring the safety of children from rocket attacks  all while maintaining composure, she noted.

Read also: First Lady Zelenska breaks down in tears at unveiling of childrens memorial in Kharkiv

Zelenska underscored the significance of measures aimed at stabilizing emotional well-being to enable uninterrupted learning and teaching, which is why the first lesson of the year in Ukrainian schools was dedicated to mental health.

The weight that childrens minds bear due to the Russian invasion necessitates a sincere and yet compassionate dialogue, involving both students and parents. For students in grades 1-5, this conversation was conducted in video format by psychologist Svitlana Royz. For older students, psychologists Kateryna Timakina and Iliya Yelisey Kastornykh led the discussion, explained the First Lady.

The special lesson tackled questions such as How do emotions help and hurt us? How can we regain a sense of security and control over our situation?

The mental health lesson conducted in schools is also accessible on the Megogo streaming service platform.

If we educate children on self-care, self-awareness, and self-understanding, it will equip them with resilience for life. If we all acquire this knowledge, it will bolster the resilience of the entire nation. Because only an aware and well-balanced individual can safeguard themselves and others, added the First Lady.

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
An Ohio man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to leaving three threatening voicemails for then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs when she was the Democratic nominee for governor last year.

He is the third person to plead guilty or be sentenced this month for making threats to Arizona election officials  both Republicans and Democrats  since the 2020 election. On the heels of the latest courtroom development, federal officials gathered to send an unequivocal warning as the state gears up for another election cycle.

"Any phone call  any one phone call, any single solitary phone call, email, or other communication that threatens an election official or worker  can lead directly to prison," said U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino, whose office prosecutes federal crimes across Arizona. "These aren't innocent rants out of frustration. These are true threats and therefore federal crimes, and our partners at the FBI are really good at finding the subjects."

Nationwide, 14 cases bringing criminal charges for threatening election workers have been prosecuted by a special Department of Justice task force, Restaino said. Five of those involved election officials in Arizona, according to Restaino, who noted his office had no election-related threat cases before 2020. The task force looked at more than 2,000 referrals for harassment and threats, he said.

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"Election security is and will be one of the FBI's highest priorities," said FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Myron Byrd. "The work of election officials, their staff and volunteers, is essential to our democracy and any threat to these public servants is unacceptable."

Myron Byrd, Federal Bureau of Investigation Acting special agent in charge of the Phoenix Field Office, attends a press conference recapping election threat cases at the United States Attorney's Office District of Arizona in Phoenix on Aug. 31, 2023.

Both Restaino and Byrd foreshadowed the coordination ahead: Law enforcement officials establishing command posts around key election dates to monitor and investigate threats.

Some point to former President Donald Trump and like-minded Republicans for repeatedly and falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen as a cause of such threats. In Arizona and nationwide, former candidates continue to spread conspiracy theories about election workers.

Restaino called for civility and a de-escalation of political rhetoric. As to why Arizona makes up more than a third of the cases brought by federal prosecutors nationwide, Restaino cited the Grand Canyon State's high-profile politics. He said he expected Maricopa County would continue to be targeted.

"One thing to consider is Arizona has been in the news from an election context nearly continuously from November 3, 2020, to present," he said. "We went through extensive ballot reviews. We went through Cochise County deciding whether or not to certify an election. The election manual that the secretary of state does, which is a pretty cool thing, is the subject of intense media debate. We are out there more."

'You will pay with your life'

Restaino and Byrd spoke to reporters shortly after a 24-minute court hearing during which Joshua Russell, 45, of Ohio pleaded guilty to a felony count of making a threatening interstate communication.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Gary M. Restaino attends a press conference recapping election threat cases at the United States Attorney's Office District of Arizona in Phoenix on Aug. 31, 2023.

Russell, with two supporters seated behind him in the federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix, answered with "yes" or "no" as a judge asked a series of questions affirming he understood his rights to go to trial, that he was not forced into making his plea, and among other things that, as a result of his conviction, he would not be eligible to vote.

"We respect the process and expect a fair result," Russell's attorney, Jazmin Alagha of the Federal Public Defender's Office, said in an email.

The stoic court proceeding betrayed the gravity of the threats made. Federal Magistrate Judge Eileen Willett calmly read the following threats Russell left for Hobbs, expletives and all.

On Aug. 2, 2022, the day of the Arizona primary election, Russell left a phone message calling Hobbs a "traitor:"

"You've drug your feet, you've done nothing to protect our elections for 2020. You're committing election fraud. You're starting to do it again from day one. You are the enemy of the United States. ... America's coming for you and you will pay with your life, you communist f------ traitor b----."

Election challenges: Citing Trump chat, former House Speaker Bowers says election challenges aren't over

On Sept. 9, he left another voicemail: "The only reason you're still walking around on this planet is because we're waiting for the midterms to see you prosecuted for the crimes you have done to our nation. You are a terrorist. You are a derelict criminal and you have a few short months to see yourself behind bars. Or, we will see you to the grave."

And then, on Nov. 15, the day after Hobbs was declared the winner of the Arizona governor's race, he called again:

"We will not endure your crimes on America another day. You've been busted over and over again. ... A war is coming for you. The entire nation is coming for you. And we will stop, at no end, until you are in the ground. ... You're a f------ piece of s--- communist, and you just signed your own death warrant."

After Willett finished reading the threats, she asked Russell if the facts were true and how he wanted to plead to the charge: Guilty or not guilty?

"Guilty," he said.

As part of the plea agreement, five other counts will be dismissed. Russell is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 13 and faces up to 5 years in prison.

In the other cases, James Clark, 38, of Massachusetts pleaded guilty to making an online threat to the Arizona secretary of state's elections office in February 2021. He has not yet been sentenced.

Frederick Francis Goltz, 52, of Texas was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison after pleading guilty to making threats targeting Republican officials, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Attorney's Office Civil Division Chief Tom Liddy and poll workers.

For subscribers: Maricopa County Republicans want party to run its presidential preference election

Walter Lee Hoornstra, 50, of Missouri was indicted last year and accused of threatening Richer, apparently in response to the false claim that election officials deleted electronic databases, that "your ass will never make it to your next little board meeting." That case, which is being prosecuted in Missouri, appears headed toward trial.

And Monday, Mark Rissi of Iowa was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for threats to Republican County Supervisor Clint Hickman and former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, also a Republican. Rissi left a voicemail on Sept. 27, 2021, saying that he and others were going to "lynch" Hickman for "lying" about the 2020 election results, court documents show.

"Were going to hang you. Were going to hang you," Rissi threatened, according to prosecutors.

Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 5 DOJ election threat cases involved Arizona officials. What to know
When Jake Kleinmahon and his husband, Tom, decided to move back to New Orleans in 2018, they had plans to live there forever.

Kleinmahon, a pediatric cardiologist, earned his medical degree from Tulane University, and despite leaving the state to complete his fellowships, he said he felt drawn to Louisiana.

At the time there was only one heart transplant doctor in the state of Louisiana, he said, adding some children who needed heart transplants had to be transferred out of state. I believe the kids in Louisiana should have the same world class health care as any other part of the United States.

He accepted a job at a local childrens hospital as director of the pediatric heart transplant program.

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Kleinmahon and his family started building their lives in New Orleans  they made friends, peeled crawfish with their kids, attended Mardi Gras parades and Saints games, and got involved in community groups.

Dr. Jake Kleinmahon and his husband and two children. - courtesy Jake Kleinmahon

But this past spring the Republican-led state legislature passed a series of controversial bills that targeted the LGBTQ community.

Thats when Kleinmahon said he started having difficult conversations with his family about leaving the home they love. When he explained to his six-year-old daughter that their family had no choice but to leave New Orleans, she said, We do have a choice, just one of them isnt a good one.

The Kleinmahons join other LGBTQ families who are also facing the same choice. They say they no longer feel safe or welcomed in states that have passed laws targeting their community. Many have made the difficult decision to leave.

In 2023, more than 525 anti-LGBTQ bills were passed in 41 states, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that advocates for the LGBTQ community. Of those bills, more than 220 explicitly targeted transgender people. As of June, 77 anti-LGBTQ bills had been signed into law.

Many of the laws enacted have been met with legal challenges from advocacy groups and LGBTQ families. Some have been blocked by judges while the legal battles play out in court.

In Louisiana, Kleinmahon said he lobbied against the laws, calling state lawmakers and writing letters to the states senate education committee. But he reached a breaking point when Republican state lawmakers walked out of a senate education committee meeting as opponents of what critics call a Dont Say Gay bill were discussing why it was harmful.

It really showed that they just dont care, Kleinmahon told CNN. They are not going to support our children; they are not going to support our family. And although we love New Orleans and we love Louisiana with all of our hearts, we cant raise our children in this environment.

Kleinmahon said he was also receiving hate mail at his job from people condemning him for being gay and saying he needed to find Jesus.

Louisiana Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed three bills, including one that banned gender-affirming care for most transgender minors, and HB 466, the so-called Dont Say Gay bill that prohibited teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in class.

The state legislature overturned Edwards veto of the gender-affirming care ban and the new law will go into effect in January.

Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, a conservative advocacy group, said his organization backs these laws out of concern that families are being exploited by doctors and corporations that offer puberty blockers and other gender-affirming care.

Schilling said, as a parent, he also believes sexual orientation and gender identity are intimate and serious topics that should not be left to teachers.

We need to be careful with the content that we are putting in front of children, Schilling said. I just dont want sexuality being pushed in the classroom.

Tony Rothert, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, said laws targeting gender-affirming care are governmental overreach and encroach on families personal choices.

In Missouri, a law banning gender-affirming care for most transgender children took effect on August 28, unless they were already receiving these treatments prior to that date. The ACLU of Missouri had filed a request to block the law from taking effect as their legal battle played out in court, but a judge ruled against the group in August.

Rothert said if a judge had granted their request, it would have given families with transgender children more time to seek healthcare in other states or make plans to move.

Its unfortunate for Missouri that we are driving families away, Rothert told CNN.

Pushing people out of public life

The Human Rights Campaign has called this one of the worst years on record for states passing laws targeting the LGBTQ community.

Cathryn Oakley, senior director of legal policy for the group, said while the organization hasnt been able to track the number of families fleeing states nationwide, she has spoken with many who are planning to move or have already moved.

Oakley said it has been painful for a lot of families to decide whether to uproot their lives.

Its at this point that they are finding the place they live to be unlivable, Oakley said. This is truly about pushing people out of public life.

Katherine Sasser said Missouris ban on gender-affirming care for minors left her no choice but to move her family to Denver earlier this summer.

Sasser said that law meant her 12-year-old transgender daughter would not be able to get puberty blockers  which help delay unwanted physical changes that dont align with someones gender identity.

And with her daughter likely needing puberty blockers by next year, Sasser said she didnt have time to wait and see if the legal challenge against the law would succeed.

The broader state started to feel more hostile, Sasser said. We started having conversations as a family because we knew that my daughters healthcare could be taken away.

Katherine Sasser and her family. - courtesy Katherine Sasser

The challenge of moving

But relocating across the country hasnt been an easy decision, LGBTQ families told CNN.

Sasser, who identifies as queer, said she now feels at ease living in a state where her daughter can legally get the healthcare she needs. Still, Sasser said it was difficult leaving the Columbia community she had grown to love.

She graduated from the University of Missouri, taught for nine years in the school district, raised her three children there and served two years on the school board.

But when she finally decided to leave, Sasser said she was grateful that not only her partner but also her ex-husband and his wife agreed to move to Denver for the sake of their family.

Its hard, but we are going to be OK, Sasser said. But I worry for the families and kids who arent.

On his last night in New Orleans, Kleinmahon said he had mixed emotions as he laid on a mattress in an empty house.

It was a feeling of a little bit of anger, combined with sadness, combined with being overwhelmed, he said. But also, really excited for the future.

We feel like we can be ourselves in a state that supports our family, he added.

In August, Kleinmahon decided to move his family to Long Island, New York, where he took a job at another childrens hospital developing a heart transplant program.

Kleinmahon said he worries his departure will leave a void in the Louisiana healthcare system. There are now only two pediatric cardiologists who manage heart transplants in the state, and they will be expected to serve the same number of patients, he said.

That is going to affect care, Kleinmahon said, adding that the absolute hardest part is me saying goodbye to my patients.

I dont know how many families in the last couple weeks have just melted into my arms in tears when I tell them that Im leaving.

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One person died and two others were injured in a stabbing at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta Thursday.

In the past four years, the jail has seen at least 24 deaths in custody, Insider reported.

The Justice Department is also investigating the conditions inside the jail.

ATLANTA (AP)  One person died and at least two others were injured when they were stabbed Thursday at a violent and problem-plagued jail in Atlanta that is already under federal investigation, authorities said.

Fulton County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said in an email that the investigation into the stabbings at the county's main jail was "active." She did not release any other information.

Thursday's death at the jail brings to five the number of people who have died in Fulton County custody in just over a month.

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A previous Insider investigation found that at least 23 people died in custody at the jail in the past three-and-a-half years.

The Fulton County Jail is also where former President Donald Trump and 18 others indicted along with him surrendered last week for booking on charges related to a scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

The facility houses about 3,000 people, according to an American Civil Liberties Union study, and has faced allegations of inhumane conditions.

"We're just letting people literally rot away there," Sarah Flack, a defense attorney in Atlanta who has represented several people incarcerated at the jail, previously told Insider.

Photos of the jail cell where Lashawn Thompson was held show squalid conditions. Handout from Michael Harper

The U.S. Department of Justice in July opened a civil rights investigation into jail conditions in the county, citing violence, filthy conditions, and the death last year of a man whose body was found covered in insects.

Lashawn Thompson, 35, died last September in a bedbug-infested cell in the Fulton County Jail's psychiatric wing. An independent autopsy done at his family's request found he died from severe neglect. His family has since reached a settlement with the county.

Samuel Lawrence, 34, died Saturday at Grady Memorial Hospital after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the jail. The other three people who died in the last month include 66-year-old Alexander Hawkins, 34-year-old Christopher Smith and 40-year-old Montay Stinson.

Read the original article on Insider
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, which was devoted exclusively to the situation in the contact zone.

Source: Head of State on social media

Quote: "Today's meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is only about the contact zone.

[We talked] in detail about Kharkiv Oblast, Donbas.

In detail about the south: Zaporizhzhia, left bank of Kherson Oblast.

In detail about the evacuation of injured.

In detail about the enemy's plans.

We are doing everything possible to give more strength to our soldiers."

Details: As you can imagine, Zelenskyy listened to reports of military commanders and defence intelligence. The president does not give any examples of decisions made during the meeting.

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!
Kyrylo Budanov , Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, has stated that there are almost no people among Russia's decision makers who support the continuation of the war.

Source: Budanov in an interview with TSN

Quote: "In Russia, among those who actually make decisions, there are literally only a few who advocate war. Everyone understands that this is a collapse and that the sooner it is over, the better."

Details: Budanov also said that it is good for Ukraine when officials and soldiers in Russia who speak out about the real situation are removed from their positions.

Background:

In the interview, Budanov also said that Russia had delivered the first nuclear warheads to Belarus, but it would not be possible to use them.

Budanov believes that Russia will want revenge after losing the war against Ukraine and that this may happen in 10 years.

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!






Im Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.

If you own VinFast stock, Monday wouldve been a great day to sell.

On that day, the North Carolina-bound, Vietnamese company became the worlds third-most valuable automaker with a market capitalization of $200 billion. The list went: Tesla, Toyota and then a newly public company with a small track record of selling EVs and a bigger track record of posting mammoth losses.

Open Source

Some equated VinFast to meme stocks like AMC and GameStop. Experts cautioned its exploding share price should be taken with a grain of salt given that the company has made relatively few shares available to be traded.

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Since Monday, VinFast stock has retreated considerably  though it still entered Friday with the fifth-highest market cap of any car company  higher than Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Honda, Ford, General Motors and Hyundai.

A wild week on the market.

VinFast has been a fascinating company to follow  from its light speed site selection in Chatham County to its horrid initial reviews to its grand global ambitions. Ive been surprised by how wild the companys short time on the stock market has already proven.

But perhaps I shouldnt be.

A brief history of how NC became a biotech powerhouse

A few weeks ago, I sampled a gene-edited salad that didnt taste bad.

That was the point. Normally, raw mustard greens are extremely bitter, but by using gene editing CRISPR technology, the Durham startup Pairwise created palatable, non-pungent greens it hopes to get into grocery stores by early next year.

Gene modification is common on the local technology beat. Across the Research Triangle, scientists tinker with DNA to create new foods and medicines. North Carolina supports one of nations largest biotech economies, and its nipping at the heels of heavyweight markets in California and Massachusetts.

Cambridge and Boston better look out because North Carolina is coming, Gov. Roy Cooper declared in 2021 when he announced the California-based biopharma company Amgen was coming to Holly Springs.

Alyssa Stoner inoculates a tobacco plant at Pairwise in Research Triangle Park.

Today, the state has more than 800 life science companies which together employ 75,000 workers. There are science startups, gene therapy firms and manufacturing giants like Thermo Fisher Scientific, Grifols, Novo Nordisk and Fujifilm.

But it wasnt always like this.

(Life sciences) was very much a fledgling industry in our state, said Gerry Hancock, a two-term Democratic state senator in the early 1980s, in a recent phone interview.

Four decades ago, Hancock watched as outsourcing and automation attenuated North Carolinas core employers  tobacco, textiles and furniture manufacturing. Around the same time, a San Francisco gene-editing firm called Genentech was pioneering a lucrative new industry.

In 1983, Genentech brought synthetic human insulin to market, and in its success, Hancock saw a template for North Carolina to follow. That year, he lobbied General Assembly colleagues to make a landmark public investment in biotechnology.

The state legislature appropriated $6.5 million annually (about $19 million in todays dollar) to launch the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in 1984. Hancock, who went on to chair the centers board, saw the initiative as a natural progression from the late 1950s, when state leaders created a hub for informational technology called Research Triangle Park.

Gene edited blackberry plants grow inside a tissue culture vessel at Pairwise in Research Triangle Park.

Funded largely through the state budget, the N.C. Biotech Center provides grants and loans to early-stage life science startups and helps established businesses expand. It also recruits businesses, as the organization had an active role in attracting Pairwise to the state in 2018.

When N.C. Biotech released its first directory in 1988, it listed 83 businesses. Today, the directory features 812 companies. And there is room to grow says the centers CEO, Doug Edgeton.

This industry is still in its preteens, as far as life cycles go, he said.

Short Stuff: Pairwise keeps Bayer partnership going

Speaking of Pairwise, the Durham startup inked a five-year deal this week with Bayer to apply its CRISPR technology to corn. This will be the second agreement between the two companies, with the first deal ending earlier this year.

The state released its monthly unemployment rates by county. In July, the county with the lowest unemployment rate was Buncombe (home of Asheville) while rural Scotland County had the highest rate at 6.7%.

Downtown Asheville, N.C., is seen in this 2018 file photo.

National Tech Happenings

Apple is expected to introduce the iPhone 15 at a launch event later this month.

Metas oversight board recommended the Facebook parent company suspend the accounts of a former Cambodian prime minister. But Meta says it wont.

Nearsightedness is rising among children, and the cause might be too much screen time. But good luck keeping your kids away from reading the Open Source newsletter. Theyre hooked.

Thanks for reading!

Apple CEO Tim Cook leaves the stage at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference.

Open Source

Do you enjoy Triangle tech news? Subscribe to Open Source, The News & Observer's weekly technology newsletter and look for it in your inbox every Friday morning. Sign up here.
President Biden will go to the Group of 20 meeting in India on Sept. 7, then to Vietnam, but he's skipping the U.S.-ASEAN summit in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Patrick Semansky / Associated Press)

When President Biden visits Vietnam after his stop at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi this month, he is expected to upgrade our two nations bilateral relationship to a "strategic partnership." The shift will mark a significant turning for both countries. But it should not come at the cost of skipping the summit of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations around the same time in Indonesia. Biden's choice to go to Hanoi  and send Vice President Kamala Harris in his place to Jakarta  is exactly backward.

The administration may claim otherwise, but in prioritizing the Vietnam visit, it is doubling down on its efforts to build a nation-by-nation Cold War-style security bloc to counter China and avoiding working with regional groups  such as ASEAN  likely to decide the Indo-Pacific region's future. In an increasingly multipolar world, Washington needs to become more effective at navigating fluid and flexible coalitions, not rerun an old playbook.

Read more: Goldberg: China's faltering economy is a result of state-directed planning. Now comes the global fallout

The Biden administration insists its approach is not about forcing countries to choose between Washington and Beijing, but as we learned through interviews with former senior government officials and security experts in Southeast Asia, its actions often do not match its rhetoric. And the ASEAN countries  Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam  are noticing.

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According to our interviews, Washington has publicly and privately pressured ASEAN members to turn down Chinas global infrastructure projects, known as the Belt and Road Initiative, reduce their economic and technological dependence on Beijing and cancel their military partnerships with the Peoples Liberation Army. What the administration heralds as putting really big, important strategic points on the board  for example, gaining additional access to the Philippines military bases and holding the largest-ever military exercise with Indonesia  many in the region view as thinly disguised attempts to form a new U.S. security bloc. Upgrading the relationship with Vietnam is just the latest example.

Worse, U.S. efforts to build its network of security partnerships are harming, not improving, ASEAN security concerns. For example, a trilateral initiative (known as AUKUS), in which the U.S. and the United Kingdom plan to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, alarms some ASEAN states because it puts them geographically in the center of a dangerous U.S.-China tug of war.

Read more: After bitter warnings, the U.S. and China are trying to ease hostilities

Washington's limited approach to ASEAN as a collective has done little to allay those fears. Bidens hesitance is partly understandable. ASEAN can be vexingly slow and bureaucratic, but that does not make it any less central to the region. And unlike Beijing, Washington is on the outside of many of the organizations economic and political collaborations  for example, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership that unites ASEAN, China, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan. Whatever points Washington is putting on the board in the region, they are not the ones that count most among nations focused on consensus-based multilateralism.

In the end, Washingtons drive for exclusive partnerships could leave it isolated. No amount of U.S. effort will consolidate ASEAN members as an anti-China bloc because these countries depend on China economically and politically. That long-standing position is unlikely to change, a former Singaporean defense official told us. And were these countries to turn away from China, they would be more likely to lean into the overlapping partnerships they are building with their other neighbors, such as India, Australia and Japan  investments made to give themselves strategic options  than to decisively take the U.S. side.

Take Vietnam: Even as relations with the United States have advanced, Vietnam has pursued deeper defense ties with India, formalizing cooperation on military logistics and weapons development and moving toward arms purchases from New Delhi. Vietnam also continues to preserve high-level defense and government ties with China  a necessity given their shared border and contentious history. When Biden upgrades relations with Vietnam, it will not represent Hanoi's picking Washington over Beijing, although many will frame the move this way.

Read more: Regional threats push Japan, South Korea to Camp David trilateral summit with Biden

The region has moved beyond security blocs and binary choices. The United States needs to do the same. The best way to do this would be through robust economic engagement, for example by joining  rejoining really  the now-rebranded Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal President Obama negotiated and President Trump scuttled. Unfortunately, U.S. economic nationalism probably precludes this option.

Alternatively, the United States could formalize its participation in ASEANs subregional political and economic groups with investments of capital, materiel and technical expertise. Washington could also leverage its comparative advantages in green technology, industrial know-how or education to create new ASEAN subgroups, as it did with the five-nation U.S.-Mekong Partnership established in 2020 to promote stability and sustainable development with initiatives focused on energy, water and health security.

Above all, Washington needs to stop expecting countries to choose sides in its balancing act with China, or risk being shut out of Southeast Asia.

Kelly A. Grieco is a senior fellow with the Reimagining US Grand Strategy Program at the Stimson Center, an adjunct associate professor of security studies at Georgetown University and a nonresident fellow at the Brute Krulak Center of Marine Corps University. Jennifer Kavanagh is a senior fellow with the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an adjunct professor of security studies at Georgetown University.

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.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis greets Duke Energy electrical line technicians during a press conference at Duke Energys Operations Center in Wildwood, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Idalia strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday and barreled toward Floridas Gulf Coast as authorities warned residents of vulnerable areas to pack up and leave to escape the twin threats of high winds and devastating flooding. | Stephen M. Dowell, Orlando Sentinel via Associated Press

Our state has experienced an unusual combination of political debates for an off-election year  presidential and congressional. Although the events received intense media coverage, there wasnt enough explanation as to why these matches are important to Utahns. Therefore, your canny columnists cheerfully convey clarification.

Although one poll claims almost half of Utah Republicans prefer Donald Trump as the partys nominee in 2024, other surveys place the support between 20% and 28%. The presidential primary debate was panned for several reasons, but the individuals on that stage are the alternative to the former president. Thus, since a majority of Utahns want a choice, did this debate provide a good look at the options? Is there a Utah non-Trump favorite?

Pignanelli: This was basically a debate over whos going to be number two, because at some point, an asteroid hits. And thats the actual conversation.  Sarah Isgur, ABC News

Convinced the debate would be a snooze fest, I ensured my iPad and high-octane beverage were nearby to provide needed distractions. What an event! I never touched any of my electronic devices because I was entertained and intrigued from start to finish (I did consume my beverage, of course).

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The absence of Trump allowed a reveal of the various trends and undercurrents within the Republican Party. Some national pundits criticized the lack of harmony among participants, but the disagreements demonstrated a vibrancy needed in establishing an ideology. While polls indicate little movement in the approval needle, several candidates should be appealing to Utahns.

Nikki Haley received accolades for an honest assessment of government spending, abortion restrictions and the support of Ukraine  matters important to Utahns. Ron DeSantis held his own and Tim Scott referred to his personal story, which local citizens find compelling.

The surprising primary debate offered a menu to many Utah Republicans seeking a new flavor of politics to consume.

Related

Webb: With Trump as a no-show, viewers of the presidential debate were provided a needed opportunity to evaluate the other candidates. Ron DeSantis has the most endorsements among Utah Republican leaders, and he is likely the preferred non-Trump candidate in Utah. I also very much like Mike Pence, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott. In fact, most of the candidates on the debate stage would be better than Trump as president.

The one exception is Vivek Ramaswamy, who seems willing to allow Russia to conquer and subjugate Ukraine. If we abandon Ukraine, it gives a green light to China to invade Taiwan and then were in a severe international crisis. Ramaswamy seems naive on foreign affairs and he flirts with nutty conspiracy theories. Hes glib and charismatic, but is not prepared to be president.

Meanwhile, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson have no chance to win and should end their campaigns.

A recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll revealed almost half of voters remain undecided in the 2nd Congressional District. However, Becky Edwards claimed 32% of respondents in contrast 11% for Bruce Hough and 9% for Celeste Maloy. There were 11 debates in this special election, and Edwards attended none of them. What do these results imply about these matchups?

Pignanelli: If Edwards wins or comes close, she will have dramatically altered the strategies surrounding candidate debates. Incumbents have the privilege of limiting time with challengers. But in an open seat, contenders usually use every opportunity to wrestle with colleagues. Edwards may be providing irrefutable evidence that politics is evolving and eliminating the necessity of participating in these matches. This could further illustrate the obsolescence of precinct caucuses and possibly conventions.

Webb: This survey is old enough that it should not be viewed as a snapshot of where the campaign is today. The three candidates are all solid and attractive and running smart campaigns. Anyone can win at this point and citizens of the 2nd District will be well served by any of the three.

Im guessing voter participation will be low, and its very hard to determine who will vote. However, mail-in balloting makes voting easy, and it means more casual (low-information) voters may participate. Edwards TV ads have boosted her name recognition, which helps in polling. But Hough and Maloy are targeting their outreach more on reliable GOP voters, which I think is still the best strategy.

Second Congressional District voters will be sending in their ballots in the next few days, if they havent already. What are the tactics that will be used by the candidates in the final days preceding Sept. 5?

Pignanelli: With such a large undecided vote, there will be increased advertising documenting personal differences between the candidates (aka negative messaging) because most of their political beliefs are similar. The campaign that identifies individual supporters, and successfully urges them to mail their ballots, will prevail.

Webb: In a close race, a thousand little campaign activities add up to a win. As the campaign winds down, relentlessly calling every voter possible, sending out that last batch of postcards, delivering messages up to the last minute on social media, and obsessively executing a comprehensive get-out-the-vote plan will help produce a victory.

Republican LaVarr Webb is a former journalist and a semi-retired small farmer and political consultant. Email: lwebb@exoro.com. Frank Pignanelli is a Salt Lake attorney, lobbyist and political adviser who served as a Democrat in the Utah state Legislature. Email: frankp@xmission.com.
Why all the fuss over new Rogers

I don't understand why there's such a commotion among the Newport School Building Committee, the School Committee and the City Council about the construction of the new Rogers High School. I think the project has been handled marvelously. The Aug. 23 edition of The Newport Daily News said the original bond for the project was secured in 2019 and the completion date for the new school is April 2025. This is only 6 years to build a school! Compare this to the building of the Panama Canal which took 10 years to go 51 miles and the building of the Suez Canal which also took 10 years but had to go much further - 120 miles. Please. No complaints from anyone. Today we have smartphones and computers so 6 years to build a new school is a minor challenge in the modern history world.

George T. Menas, Newport

Middletown voters need more information on school plan

The Middletown Town Council passed an $84M budget (about a 5% tax increase), after a 50-day delay to answer for the school departments $1.3M surprise bill to taxpayers. The town's answer indicated that school department maladministration was the reason. The school administration failed to comply with its own accounting policy, exercised poor judgment in accounting, budgeting and procurement practices, for years in some cases, and the result was a RI law violation.

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Now the Middletown Council and school department are marching voters to another surprise and possibly catastrophic bill, just as Newport government is doing to its citizens. Middletown government is marketing a November 2023, $190M bond for school construction. The town is being driven by a costly and incomprehensible RI Education Department process, and is already spending a lot of money on public relations consultants and architects to convince voters that a $190M debt is a good thing. The town just finished a conceptual school building design with an unknown price. There are no construction bids; no detailed project schedules; no specific plans and there is not a clear statement of needs, benefits, or alternatives.

Middletown voters dont know exactly what the $190M bond will buy, how it affects property tax and if the bond is sufficient or even necessary; how can that be good for citizens?

Voters should reject Middletowns $190M government school bond. Goals, metrics, benefits, and total ownership costs for new school buildings must be clear and precise, and there should be indisputable objective evidence for the need for the amount to be financed.

Paul Mankofsky, Middletown

Biden shows troubling signs

Troubling signs continue to emerge showing that the American electorate is souring on a second term for President Biden. A recent Associated Press/NORC poll found that 77% of voters think he's too old to serve again, including 69% of Democrats. These concerns are driven largely by Mr. Biden's unsteady performance and increasing frailties.

As informed political observers know, in order to ward off criticism over Mr. Biden's advanced age and obvious decline, Team Biden and their coat holders in the liberal media like to publicly portray Mr. Biden as vigorous and engaged, and as being fit, trim and active. To drive this narrative home, Mr. Biden's handlers like to show him enthusiastically riding his beloved Trek FX hybrid bike, the very same one he embarrassingly fell off of during a transparently staged photo-op in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware last year.

If nothing else, one thing has become abundantly clear. Mr. Biden is far more adept at peddling influence than he is at pedaling bicycles.

Michael J. DiStefano, Jamestown

Add one more item to your back-to-school list

With September here and my daughter, Arianna, getting ready to enter preschool, the excitement of a new school year can be felt everywhere. Soon, school campuses will be bustling with activity and streets will be lined with yellow buses as kids return to the classroom. As a parent, I know this can be a stressful time. However, I urge you to add one more item to your back-to-school list this year: a savings plan for your childs education.

We all want whats best for our children. Thats why it is so important to plan now for their academic future. The cost of higher education has risen dramatically in recent decades. According to Forbes, the average cost of a college education increased by 180% from 1980 to 2020. September is College Savings Month and, regardless of your childs age, its never too early to start saving for their educational future.

Fortunately, Rhode Island offers the CollegeBound Saver program, a tax-advantaged savings plan (sometimes referred to as a 529 plan) that helps Rhode Islanders to save for college as well as trade and vocation schools affordably and comfortably. Regardless of your current financial situation, this program can make higher education more attainable for your child by the time they graduate high school.

As Treasurer, I am working to ensure Rhode Islanders have the tools they need to succeed. As a parent of two young children, the future cost of their higher education weighs heavily on me. As the cost of higher education continues to increase, todays savings will prove to be tomorrows returns. While investing always carries risk, participating in the CollegeBound Saver program over the course of your childs life can have a dramatic impact on your childs education future when the time comes for them to pursue their dreams.

James Diossa, R.I. state treasurer

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Letters: Middletown voters need more information on school plan
Russias ecocidal destruction of Ukraines Kahkovka Dam is proving to be a boon for the understanding of Ukrainian history.

Over one thousand artifacts have been discovered on the island of Khortytsia in Zaporizhzhia Oblast because of flooding after Russia caused an explosion at Ukraines Kakhovka Hydroelectric Dam, Anatoliy Volkov, a scientific researcher from the Department of Heritage Preservation, Archaeology, and Natural History at the Khortytsia Reserve, revealed during an interview with Hromadske Radio on Aug. 31.

Read also: How will the sabotage of the Kakhovka dam affect Russian forces in southern Ukraine and Crimea?

Examples of newly discovered artifacts include ceramic fragments of various sizes, coins, bullets, buckles, and buttons. While these items may not be considered treasures in the traditional sense, they hold valuable historical information connected to Ukrainian culture and history.

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Their findings encompass both small ceramic fragments and larger objects, said Volkov. The process of unearthing and analyzing these artifacts is crucial for understanding the cultural customs of ancient times and the military events that have left their mark on the island's history.

These archaeological excavations became possible due to the destructive impact of the explosion at Kakhovka Dam. The efforts open new horizons for scientific research and expand our understanding of the history of this unique territory. Any new information will be added to the scientific database, making it accessible for future research and understanding of our past, said Volkov.

NV

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, seen from the air, was once a lush, bustling city center. ( Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

After nearly a decade of planning and development, work finally began this week on a renovation of downtown L.A.s Pershing Square that will see the plaza transformed from an expanse of mostly concrete into a greener, more accessible park.

The groundbreaking represents the beginning of a three-phase overhaul for the park, which was once a lush, bustling city center but is now used mostly for occasional but popular events.

A design contest held in 2015  organized by disgraced former City Councilman Jose Huizar  was won by a concept that called for "radical flatness," which would have leveled out the sloped park. The plan, submitted by a team led by French landscape firm Agence Ter, envisioned opening the park up to the surrounding sidewalks and adding multiple grassy areas and trees.

The current project follows a design by Los Angeles-based Gruen Associates, but many of the elements championed by the French team have been preserved.

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Read more: Photos: Pershing Square through the years

In the years since the end of the contest in 2016, a number of logistical and financial details needed to be ironed out before renovation work could begin, leading to the seven-year wait, said John Anderson, project manager for Gruen Associates.

"You had the competition, then you have a 'What can we do to make that process happen' and then some basic pricing [discussions] and realizing the price is higher than the budgets," Anderson said.

But now the project, or at least a portion of it, is going ahead.

Phase 1A, which will cost around $15 million, according to Department of Recreation and Parks documents, will focus on the side of the square along Olive Street. Phase 1B will consist of renovations to edges along 5th and 6th streets.

Phases 2 and 3 will focus on the additional landscaping and the interior of the park.

Read more: Opinion: Pershing Square is an urban planning nightmare. Let's redesign and get it right this time

"The park is  currently a concrete jungle," Anderson said. "Part of [the plan] is to remove walls to make it more accessible visually and remove some hardscapes, put in some softscapes so we have more grass, more greenery.

"That will help make it much more amenable for the public to be in," Anderson said.

Pershing Square dates to the 1860s, and old photos of the site show a grassy, tree-filled plaza. In the 1950s, an underground garage was constructed, and many of the square's trees were uprooted and discarded.

A redesign in 1994 added concrete walls and towers.

Read more: Tech billionaires' secretive plan to build a California city from scratch

Now a long stretch of mostly concrete, which can swelter in the California heat, Pershing Square hosts events such as a winter ice rink and concerts. It is also a popular site for protests and demonstrations.

"The park does have a use in the sense that it does provide a space where they provide events," Anderson said. "Opening the park to be a larger space actually opens up more opportunities for bigger and greater events to the public. Right now they are limited in space."

Anderson noted that the redesign will have to grapple with the slopes of the park and with the parking garage underneath.

Plans for the square include adding glass elevators to the parking garage as well as an open staircase.

For parkgoers, that would mean "you're not walking down a tunnel," Anderson said.

"They feel like they can be safe and bring their families there," Anderson said.

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
In Independence schools, a childs parent or legal guardian can be barred from district property without recourse to appeal the banishment. Other Kansas City-area school districts operate in a similar manner, too.

How is that remotely fair? Well, it isnt.

Ashley Richey is the parent of a former student at Glendale Elementary School in Independence. In May, Richey, 35, was told to stay away from all Independence School District property for a year. She was never informed of why she was placed on the restricted list. Nor did she have the option to argue against the ruling issued by Superintendent Dale Herl.

Due process is the cornerstone of democracy. And the Independence School District Board of Education must act. We encourage the board to revise its adult code of conduct policy. First order of business: Implement an appeals process for parents to oppose such arbitrary decisions.

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Rules on restrictions vary from district to district and state to state, educators told us. But some metropolitan area school districts do allow visitors denied access to district property to communicate with the local school board in writing.

For example, In the Lees Summit district, banned individuals can regain their privilege to visit school but not without approval from the board of education first, according to board policy. Independence should enact a similar measure.

Parents of children in Center, North Kansas City and Park Hill schools also have the right to oppose a ban, officials told us.

District has no appeal process

We respect the role Herl sits in. When it comes to disciplining parents, the superintendent cannot be the sole judge, jury and executioner, though. Nothing keeps Herl or others in charge from silencing critics, such as banishing a protester from campus or the central office.

What better way to squash dissent? Checks and balances are good public policy, even for leaders such as Herl, who seemingly has rarely met a parental ban he didnt agree with. He has not returned our request for comment as of publication time.

By not allowing parents to appeal these rulings, we believe the Independence school board is doing a disservice to district residents and failing to meet the needs of school children affected by such action.

Under state law, a school has the power to restrict unruly adults from entering district property. We have no issue with the statute. Educational leaders must consider: How is a child supposed to learn to their full capabilities if Mom or Dad cant visit school to speak with a teacher or administrator about a students development?

In its welcome letter to families of elementary school students in the Independence School District, the stated goal is to provide a high-quality education for students and to nurture a lifelong love of learning for them.

Our students successes are directly related to positive parent and family involvement, officials wrote.

If parental involvement is paramount to student achievement  and it is  some parents in Independence are being left out of the equation. That cannot continue.

We get it: Rules are rules. And in a civilized society, we all have a duty to obey regulations put in place to keep the peace. Schools are no different. Campus grounds must remain safe. A structured environment is good for students, staff, parents and community stakeholders.

But shouldnt parents in Independence schools and other area districts have a right to contest harsh or unjust rulings such as a building ban? We believe they should.

Mother allowed on property to enroll child

A week before Richey was arrested Aug. 22 for trespassing on Independence School District property, she was at district headquarters enrolling her child in school, she said.

Why wasnt she placed in custody then? Was there a mix-up? Or did district officials in charge of admissions and enrollment simply not know of Richeys status?

Either way, district leaders cannot pick and choose when to enforce policy. Inconsistency could lead to confusion.

At the behest of a district enrollment specialist, Richey was summoned back to the central office the day she was cited to submit proof of residency, she said. Independence Police officers later placed Richey under arrest and escorted her from the building in handcuffs.

I was ready to give up on Missouri, said Richey, a Nebraska native now living here.

Instead, she enrolled her child in a private school here and plans to fight with what she called unfair treatment of her child, who is Muslim. Expect legal action, Richey told us.

Last spring, she raised concerns about her child being bullied by staff and other students, saying school officials ignored her. She supplied us with letters she wrote to district leaders, and a copy of a police report she filed with Independence police against a janitor at the school.

Neither school officials nor police did anything to curb the alleged mistreatment, so Richey started protesting on a public street near Glendale, an action she continued this week.

Was ban from school grounds retaliation?

In May, Richey, a frequent critic of Independence schools, was banned from district property for a year. She still doesnt know why. Herl signed a letter informing Richey to stay away for a year. We read that, too, and found it difficult to find evidence of wrongdoing.

Was Richeys ban and subsequent arrest retaliatory? Quite possible. We have real concerns of how Independence School District leaders react to criticism.

To question how district officials handled Richeys arrest is fair. On one hand, Richey should have known better than to set foot on school grounds. Other avenues to enroll children in the district exist, district officials and educators said. We could presume online registration would have kept Richey out of handcuffs.

But in this district, critics have routinely been silenced with threats of arrest.

We asked a spokesperson for the school district about its policy to ban parents or others from school grounds. We wanted to know: Does the district remind adults restricted from entering district property of their enrollment options at the start of the new academic year?

Were still waiting for an answer.

We did review the school boards policy on building bans, and nowhere in the document did we find an avenue to appeal the act.

In this country, placing dissenters under arrest for protesting their grievances is un-American. Independence school officials do it with ease.

Under the leadership of Herl, no one critiques how Independence schools operate. Or else they could face jail time and fines.

That is never OK.
Paterson police are asking for the public's help searching for a missing 15-year-old girl.

Leslie Padilla was reported missing from a youth facility in Paterson, and should be under medical care, police stated on Thursday.

Padilla is from the Hudson County area and frequents New York City. She was last seen wearing a black hoodie, black sweatpants and white Crocs.

She is 4 foot 10 inches tall, 120 pounds with brown eyes and black hair.

Anyone with information can contact the Paterson Police Department Juvenile Division at 973-321-1126.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ police searching for missing girl Leslie Padilla
A 25-year-old Miami woman is facing several charges after taking off in an unoccupied ambulance Wednesday in Port St. Lucie, on Floridas Treasure Coast.

According to a Facebook post from the Port. St. Lucie Police Department, the woman swiped the unoccupied vehicle from the parking lot of HCA Florida around 3 p.m.

READ MORE: Armed suspect leads Florida cops on chase

A news release says that the suspect, a patient, was sitting outside on a bench in her hospital gown when she decided to steal the ambulance as personnel were inside dropping off a patient.

What it comes down to really is a crime of opportunity, Port St. Lucie police chief Richard Del Toro told WPBF-25 News. Unfortunately, they left the keys inside the vehicle.

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READ MORE: Naked Florida man floods emergeny room

The woman got behind the wheel and fled the parking lot and hit the road. But unbeknownst to her, the ambulance had a GPS tracker that allowed officers to see its location, authorities say.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers soon found the suspect when the woman became stuck in midday traffic on Floridas Turnpike going southbound.

As troopers closed in, the driver jumped out of the ambulance and tried to run away. After a short foot pursuit, she was taken into custody. In police photos, she is seen sitting handcuffed on the side of the road.

The Miami woman was arrested and taken to the Martin County Jail, where she was charged with giving false information to police, driving with a suspended license and resisting without violence.

Police Chief Del Toro told WPBF-25 News that this was an unusual case.

Ive never heard of somebody stealing an ambulance other than outside a movie, he said. Maybe the Fugitive or something like that.
PAWTUCKET  A Pawtucket firefighter was arrested after he brought a pistol to a fire station on Newport Avenue, a city spokeswoman said Friday.

Pawtucket police received a tip on Wednesday that the employee was carrying a firearm without a permit, according to Grace Voll, a spokeswoman for Mayor Donald R. Grebien.

Police encountered the man later on Wednesday as he arrived at Station 6 for his shift, found him in possession of a gun and arrested him, Voll said.

The firefighter faces two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit and two counts of possessing a large capacity magazine, according to an online court record.

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Providence undercover drug operation in Kennedy Plaza results in 19 arrests. What we know.

He shot his ex-girlfriend 6 times and fled to Georgia. Now RI man will serve a life term

Under a law passed in 2022, it's illegal to possess a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds of ammunition in Rhode Island.

He was arraigned on Thursday before Judge Melissa DuBose in District Court, Providence.

DuBose set the suspect's bail at $10,000 surety, which requires a defendant to either post 10% of that amount in cash or post the full amount in property.

The mayor's spokesman noted that the firefighter has been placed on paid leave.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: A Pawtucket firefighter is accused of bringing gun to firehouse
It is becoming more clear that leaders of Kentucky's largest school system will be making massive changes to its policies regarding which students are transported and to where.

As Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio puts it, their hands are tied - the task of transporting 68,000 students to and from schools is simply not possible anymore, given the national bus driver shortage that has forced education leaders to alter their transportation systems.

"We have some tough decisions ahead of us, there's no doubt about it," Pollio told board members during their meeting this week. "We will have to make some decisions around who gets transportation and possibly who doesn't, or what type of transportation we do provide."

Changes to the district's transportation system this year were meant to remedy two issues: Students getting to and from school late and the lack of sleep middle and high school students were enduring with a 7:40 a.m. start time. But then on the first day of classes, students were stuck after school for hours and some didn't get home till nearly 10 p.m.

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Over the course of several days that school was canceled, district leaders made changes that have significantly improved efficiency - with the last students now regularly getting home about 7 p.m. - which is less than three hours after the last set of schools dismiss. Still, Pollio and board members are looking toward a long-term solution that will significantly reduce the number of students transported by school buses each day.

Pollio told board members whatever change is made, he wants it to be impactful.

"Any change we make is going to have to reduce the number of routes significantly," he said. "I don't want to make a major change and only reduce by 75 routes. We need to say, 'If we make this change, it is a sustainable change and it will be a sustainable change for the foreseeable future.'"

How could JCPS curb bus ridership?

JCPS has several options, including reducing its ridership solely to the students who are federally required to receive transportation to incentivizing families to carry more of the burden.

Pollio said he wants to "produce a menu of options to our board and community" at the board's next meeting in late September.

Paying families to transport their own children to schools is one remedy that large urban districts have turned to amid the driver shortage.

Philadelphia's school district began paying eligible parents $300 a month to take their kids to school this year following a pilot program launched in 2020. More than half of the he district's approximately 200,000 students are eligible for transportation, per its policies, and about 33,000 are transported. But, about 13,000 students' families have taken advantage of the monthly stipends, according to a report by an ABC affiliate.

The details of how those payments work if a student needs to switch back to busing is unclear - an issue Pollio brought up when asked if JCPS would consider a similar program.

"The logistics of it are a major concern for me  who exactly do you give it to and does it mean they can't get on a bus after," he said.

Chicago Public Schools has implemented a similar program, but the monthly stipend is only offered to the parents of children who are required to receive transportation.

Federal law requires districts to provide transportation for homeless students and those with a disability plan, known as an Individualized Education Plan, that includes transportation services.

Chicago's district is now only transporting those groups, which equates to about 7,100 students, according to a Chicago NBC affiliate.

The district offers those families $500 a month to transport their children. The district offers city transportation vouchers for other children.

In Louisville, community members have suggested such parent stipends as a solution to JCPS' busing woes. Some have also suggested that JCPS stop transporting students who don't qualify for free or reduced lunches or who choose to attend a school outside their neighborhood.

Which students does JCPS have to bus?

JCPS students are eligible for busing if they live more than one mile from their schools, but there are exceptions the district can make to pick up students within that range.

Meanwhile, district spokesman Mark Hebert said JCPS had about 3,300 homeless students and about 1,500 students with Individualized Education Plans that required transportation last year. If the district chose to limit riders to only these two groups  the only students it is required to transport  ridership would decrease by 91%.

However, such a move could eliminate students' opportunity to be taken to a magnet school that they otherwise could not attend. That would create another issue as the district seeks to diversify its magnet programs.

School board member James Craig echoed Pollio, stressing that today's system is simply unsustainable.

"Everyone in the district knows we are patching this system together on a daily basis depending on who is available to pitch in and I think the system needs more predictability than we are able to deliver right now," Craig told The Courier Journal. "It's wonderful we have offered transportation to any child who requested it, up until this time."

When asked who to exclude, though, Craig didn't have an answer.

He mentioned Chicago's move to solely follow federal law, the discontinuation of magnet student busing, limiting busing to economically disadvantaged students, and expanding the radius of how close students can live to a school and still get a bus.

Each of these, though, still create concerns. For example, he said economically disadvantaged students comprise nearly 70% of the district, so its unclear if this choice would significantly decrease ridership.

"Whatever the solution is," he said, "we just need to hear from the operations specialist as to what could deliver a functioning, sustainable and predictable system."

More: Some Kentucky lawmakers want to consider splitting up JCPS. Could that really happen?

Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS bus problems: School district seeks 'sustainable' solutions
Undated image of Danelo Cavalcante, who escaped from the Chester County Jail in Pennsylvania on Thursday. Photo courtesy of Chester County District Attorney's Office

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Pennsylvania authorities on Friday continued to search for a convicted murderer who escaped from the Chester County Prison in West Chester, Pa., on Thursday, authorities said.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, is wanted for a murder in Brazil and was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2021 stabbing murder of his ex-girlfriend. He was last seen walking in Pocopson Township, Pa., Thursday morning.

Considered "extremely dangerous," the Chester County district attorney's office said hundreds of police officers have been ordered to use any available means to bring in Cavalcante.

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District Attorney Deb Ryan said how Cavalcante escaped remained under investigation.

A Brazilian national, Cavalcante of 5-foot tall, weighs 120 pounds and speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese.

Cavalcante illegally entered the United States in 2017 after an arrest warrant was issued for him. He obtained fake identification in Puerto Rico and then to the U.S. mainland, where he settled in with friends in Chester County, Pa.

He worked construction locally, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Cavalcante dated his ex-girlfriend Deborah Brandao, 33, for two years, but she eventually filed restraining orders against him after charging that he was violent and abusive to her and her children.

Even though they remained in contact later after their relationship ended, she eventually told him to leave her alone or she would tell the police about his arrest warrant for murder in Brazil.

The next day, authorities said, Cavalcante stabbed Brandao to death in front of her 9-year-old daughter in the front yard of where Brandao was living.

Cavalcante was arrested and convicted in the murder on Aug. 16. He was awaiting his transfer to a state-run prison in Pennsylvania when he escaped.
Hundreds of active-duty U.S. troops will remain at the U.S.-Mexico border until at least the start of October, the Pentagon confirmed Friday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Aug. 24 approved an extension of up to 400 personnel providing support to Customs and Border Protection [CBP] on the Southwest border through September 30, 2023, Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Devin Robinson told The Hill in a statement.

NBC News first reported on the extension.

The Biden administration in May approved a 90-day deployment of 1,500 troops to the southern border to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The move was made ahead of an expected surge in migrant border crossings as the government prepared for the end of pandemic-related asylum restrictions known as Title 42.

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After Title 42 ended May 12, illegal southwest border crossings initially dropped from about 10,000 a day to less than 3,000, though they have climbed back up to about 5,000-6,000, according to data from CBP.

Roughly 1,100 troops finished the initial deployment Aug. 8 and were sent back to their home bases, but 400 troops were to remain through Aug. 31.

The troops that stay continue to assist CBP agents on ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry and warehouse support, but do not engage in front-line work.

A DHS spokesperson later told The Hill that the department appreciates the extension of 400 DoD personnel who are providing support at the Southwest Border. The support personnel are critical so that CBP agents and officers can get out in the field to securely, safely, and humanely manage the Southwest Border.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Pentagon has identified phishing sites created by Russians to collect personal data about Ukrainian military personnel and their families.

Source: Voice of America

Details: Two unnamed Pentagon officials have said that Russia's information warfare unit has set up at least two phishing sites, WarTears.org and ForeignCombatants.ru, posing as support sites for friends and family of missing, captured or killed Ukrainian soldiers.

Pentagon officials have suggested that Russia is using the names, phone numbers and addresses of Ukrainians obtained through these sites to determine whether any of these soldiers or their relatives are living in the Russian-occupied territories.

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It is reported that this is likely done in order to detain family members living in the occupied territories of Ukraine and deport them to Russia.

One of the websites, WarTears.org, stated that its database contains information on more than 170,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

"It's very disturbing, but it also shows Russia's thorough approach to data collection and its willingness to exploit these vulnerabilities," said retired US Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, who worked in intelligence for more than two decades.

In September last year, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that according to estimates from various sources, Russian authorities had interrogated and forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainians. Russia denies these claims.

A representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Petro Yatsenko, confirmed that the websites in question are fake. According to him, there are dozens of similar phishing sites that try to collect data about family members.

"They are playing on the feelings of extremely vulnerable relatives and friends of servicemen who went missing or were captured, using the fact that Russia does not provide Ukraine with information about the people they hold captive. The relatives hope that their loved ones are not dead but in captivity, and therefore provide their personal data," 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!
The US Department of Defense has ordered AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles for Ukraine from Raytheon company.

Source: Pentagons website

Details: The US company Raytheon Missiles and Defence (Arizona) will purchase advanced AMRAAM missiles from various sources to the tune of US$192 million.

The delivery timeframes and the number of missiles to be purchased are not disclosed.

This is scheduled to be done by 29 November 2024.

The funds to purchase missiles are allocated from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative fund.

For reference: The AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) is an American all-weather, medium-range air-to-air guided missile.

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The AMRAAM missile is the core air-to-air weapon for all modern US Army fighter jets. Fighter jets of NATO and other US allies also use these missiles.

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 Hill)  The Defense Department on Thursday released a new website that will provide official declassified information on UFOs, including pictures and videos, for the public to easily parse through.

The website is the official page for the public to interact with All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), a relatively new Pentagon office tasked with reviewing and analyzing UFOs.

The site appears to be still under construction, but it can be found here. The Hill has reached out to the Defense Department for more information about when the website will go live.

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The U.S. government, which now refers to UFOs by the name of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAPs), has taken the presence of unknown flying objects more seriously in the past few years, as has Congress.

In a Thursday release about the website, the Pentagon said it was committed to transparency with the American people on AAROs work on UAPs.

This website will serve as a one-stop shop for all publicly available information related to AARO and UAP, the release reads, and AARO will regularly update the website with its most recent activities and findings as new information is cleared for public release.

The AARO website will allow the public to review photos and videos of UAPs as they are declassified and will publish reports, press releases and a frequently asked questions section about the phenomenon.

Users can also find available aircraft, balloon and satellite tracking sites on the page.

In the fall, AARO intends to create a contact form for former U.S. government employees or others with knowledge of federal government programs to easily submit a report if they have relevant information related to UAPs.

Since its inception in 2022, AARO has investigated about 800 UAPs. Some of the phenomenon have innocuous explanations but many others remain mysterious and unexplained.

UAP interest grew this year after former intelligence official David Grusch claimed the Pentagon is covering up evidence related to extraterrestrial craft and lifeforms. Grusch was unable to provide evidence at a House hearing this summer.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
The Pentagon's office to investigate UFOs revealed on Thursday a new website where the public can access declassified information about reported sightings.

The site will be operated by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO,) a relatively new Pentagon program established to analyze reports of what the government officially refers to as unidentified anomalous (or aerial) phenomena. The Department of Defense announced the website in a press release, hailing it as a "one-stop shop" for photos and video of UAP approved for public release.

The site will also soon be a place where U.S. government and military personnel can report objects violating U.S. airspace or flying in ways believed to be beyond the capabilities of human technology.

"The department is committed to transparency with the American people on AARO's work on UAP," according to a statement from the defense department. "This website will serve as a one-stop shop for all publicly available information related to AARO and UAP, and AARO will regularly update the website with its most recent activities and findings as new information is cleared for public release."

A video of a UAP is paused for display during a hearing of the House Intelligence, Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee hearing on "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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AARO founded after report finds hundreds of UAP sightings

In a short message at the top of the website, AARO Director Sean Kirkpatrick said the site is intended to shed light on the work of an office Congress created in July 2022.

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AARO was launched after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence identified 144 military UAP encounters since 2004 in a preliminary assessment released in June 2021. That figured jumped this year to more than 500 military UAP reports, many of which cannot be explained as natural occurrences such as unmanned aircrafts or weather balloons.

Astrophysicists caution that otherworldly explanations aren't likely even in the absence of a natural explanation.

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What's on the site now?

The site now includes a handful of videos, some of which have been explained as commercial craft and some of which have been labeled as "unresolved." Each video contains a short description with an explanation by AARO of where it was captured and what characteristics the object is exhibiting.

The site also includes links to an assortment of laws, memos, congressional briefings and press releases related to UAP.

The Pentagon plans to update the website this fall to include a secure tool allowing current and former U.S. government employees, service members and contractors with direct knowledge of government programs or activities to contact AARO directly to make a report.

A mechanism for members of the general public to make reports will be announced in coming months, the defense department said.

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Website follows Congressional hearing on UAP

The website comes at a time of mounting bipartisan pressure on the military and executive branch to release more information about what is known of UAP.

In July, three former military members appeared before a House Oversight subcommittee, where they regaled members of Congress with claims of mystifying flying objects, government cover-ups and a covert spaceship crash retrieval program.

In his testimony, former U.S. intelligence official David Grusch testified that he had been informed about a multidecade Pentagon program to recover and study crafts of non-human origin and extraterrestrial lifeforms that have crashed on earth. Though he was unable to present evidence publicly, Grusch, a member of a previous Pentagon task force that investigated UAP, also accused the government of hiding the program from Congress and misappropriating funds to operate it.

The Pentagon has repeatedly denied that such a program exists.

Following the hearing, three Republicans and one Democrat on the House subcommittee sent a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., calling for the establishment of a select committee to investigate UAP further.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also this year introduced legislation that would require the Pentagon to release any information it has gathered about the objects. First introduced in July, the legislation would also require that the defense department release information it had about nonhuman intelligences to an established review board, which would have the authority to declassify the information.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pentagon UFO website with declassified info unveiled in AARO program
Recent events in Wisconsin have raised important questions about the enforcement of voter fraud laws and the sanctity of our electoral system. The concern at hand revolves around the individuals commonly referred to as fake electors who allegedly attempted to manipulate the outcome of the election in favor of former President Donald Trump.

The underlying issue here is not confined to a particular political party; rather, it pertains to the larger principles of democracy and the rule of law. The suggestion that if these alleged fake electors are not held accountable, it might imply a double standard in the application of voter fraud laws, is a matter that demands our attention.

Voter fraud, in any form, is a grave offense that strikes at the heart of our democratic process. Just as attempted actions such as murder, bank robbery and kidnapping are considered criminal, so too should any attempt to undermine the integrity of our elections. The essence of these laws lies not only in punishing successful acts, but also in deterring attempts that threaten the very fabric of our society.

It is essential that our legal system ensures fair and equal treatment for all, regardless of political affiliation. The principle that no one is above the law is a cornerstone of our democratic values, and we must hold those who seek to circumvent it accountable for their actions.

Andrew Guss, Menomonee Falls

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: People involved in Wisconsin fake elector scheme need accountability.
PepsiCo still has not left the Russian market

International soft drink giant PepsiCo and chocolate company Mars have been added to Ukraines list of international sponsors of war, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NACP) announced in a press release on Sept. 1.

Both companies continue to work in the Russian Federation and continue to pay taxes to the Russian state budget, said the NACP.

Read also: Danone retires Prostokvashino brand from Ukrainian market

Unlike its rival Coca-Cola, who didnt operate in Russia until the glasnost era of 1985, PepsiCo famously opened operations in Soviet Russia in 1974 and now has 19 plants, about 20,000 employees, and 40,000 agricultural workers in the country. It is Russias fourth-largest food and beverage company.

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PepsiCo has pumped about $2.59 billion a year into the aggressor states economy since the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Its net profit increased by 333% to $525 million compared to 2021, and the company paid $115 million in taxes.

In March 2022, the company announced the cessation of advertising and beverage production in Russia. However, the production of 7Up and Mirinda under the Evervess and Frustyle brands resumed in August 2022.

Read also: Work.ua stops working with another 200 companies operating in Russia, encourages employees to follow

PepsiCo also launched a new brand of lemonade in the country called Russian Gift. The company continues the production and distribution of other products, including chips, snacks, and dairy products.

Pepsi never intended to leave Russia, as evidenced by the fact that there are 580 vacancies on the companys website, the NACP said.

Mars has worked in Russia for over 30 years and has invested $2.5 billion in the country, created over 6,000 jobs, and operated 10 factories.

The company promised to reduce its business in the country after the full-scale Russian invasion and to transfer its profits from its operations in Russia to charity.

However, Marss factories continued to operate in the Russian Federation. Revenue increased to $2.45 billion, and net profit increased by 59%, to $377 million.

Read also: 90 companies that helped Russia evade restrictions to face EU sanctions

Mars paid more than $93 million in taxes to the Russian budget and currently has 100 open vacancies on its website.

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 Constitution calls us to unity. Latter-day Saints in particular have a unique role to play in carrying the nation toward unity. | Zoe Petersen, Deseret News

In early July 1787, the delegates who gathered in Philadelphia to create a written constitution for the new nation faced the real prospect of failure. Yet by mid-September, they had produced the charter that would be the basis for our enduring success as a nation.

In his letter transmitting the Constitution to Congress, George Washington attributed this surprising turn of events  what one popular account of the convention called the Miracle at Philadelphia  to the spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable.

Our current political situation  fraught with division and partisan politics  renders indispensable those same qualities.

Constitutional law scholar Derek Webb explored what Washington meant in a brilliant article that points out that the delegates to the Convention exhibited not only civility in their debates  a good first step  but more important still, they were willing to set aside parochial interests, come to a compromise, and in some instances even give up cherished liberties for the sake of unity.

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In other words, the miracle of Philadelphia was not a deus ex machina. It came about only because people made an effort to understand one another and were willing to give up some things they valued dearly for the sake of unity. This is the road map for overcoming division  for achieving the miracle.

This idea was captured in a major address delivered by President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, titled, Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution. In his remarks, President Oaks offered the most elegant explanation I have seen in my years of studying the Constitution of what is required for citizens in general  and Latter-day Saints in particular  to heal this divide. On contested issues, he taught, we should seek to moderate and to unify.

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In that straightforward and simple directive, President Oaks captured the animating spirit that created the United States Constitution in 1787. And, without it today, the Constitution will not long survive.

As the late Michael Gerson noted, Our political system is designed for vigorous disagreement. It is not designed for irreconcilable contempt. Such contempt loosens the ties of citizenship and undermines the idea of patriotism.

That is why it is so troubling that in our current political moment, contempt has replaced disagreement. And this contempt, Arthur Brooks observes, is ripping our country apart. ... Political scientists have found that our nation is more polarized than it has been at any time since the Civil War. NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt warns, There is a very good chance American democracy will fail, that ... we will have a catastrophic failure of our democracy. ... We just dont know what a democracy looks like when you drain all trust out of the system.

What does it mean to support and defend the Constitution in this environment?

At the very least, it means that we will support and defend the rights protected by the Constitution and the structure of government it creates. But it means much more than that. It means we will support and defend the values that gave life to the process by which the Constitution was created. Compromise for the sake of unity is the animating spirit of the Constitution, and it is every bit as vital to its preservation in this moment of toxic political polarization as it was in the summer of 1787.

President Oaks has given us a template for how to do that. His template may surprise some. We are not to be culture warriors. Rather, we are to be people who are building bridges of understanding across partisan divides. That is our standard. It brings to mind the scene from the television series The Chosen in which Peter, surprised by Jesus actions, remarks, This is different! To which Jesus responds, Get used to different!

Our national motto is E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. We are the United States of America. The Constitution calls us to unity. And Latter-day Saints in particular have a unique role to play. We are called to work for at-one-ment in all our relationships  not just between an individual and God or within families, but also between people whose political disagreements have turned into contempt for one another. That is hard work, to be sure, but as Susan W. Tanner, the former Young Women general president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, once taught: We can do hard things.

Thomas B. Griffith is a former judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He served as the nonpartisan legal counsel to the U.S. Senate. He is a fellow of the Wheatley Institute.

Editors note: For years the Deseret News editorial page carried the epigraph: We stand for the Constitution of the United States as having been divinely inspired. During the month of September, the Deseret News will publish a variety of articles examining the Constitutions continued importance. A modified version of this article appears in the fall 2023 BYU Humanities magazine.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the killing of a peacock in August.

According to a release from PETA, the Las Vegas Animal Protection Services is investigating the killing of Pete, a beloved neighborhood peacock.

PETA, which stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is asking for the publics help to identify a suspect and is offering a reward of up to $5000.

Pete the peacock was killed on Aug. 21 by a bow and arrow. (Felicity Carter)

Pete was struck twice with a bow and arrow near the intersection of West Charleston Boulevard and South Cimarron Road on Aug. 21. That afternoon, he was found by a Castlegate community neighbor who rushed him to an animal hospital.

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Who would do this to him, who would shoot him? Felicity Carter, the neighbor who found Pete, asked. He was up against the fence, with an arrow sticking out of him. I was totally shocked.

Lone Mountain Animal Hospital sent 8 News Now his x-rays with the arrow still lodged. Unfortunately, staff at the hospital were unable to save him due to the severity of his injuries.

Residents of Castlegate community said Pete the Peacock was killed Monday afternoon by a bow and arrow. (Lone Mountain Animal Hospital)

This beloved peacock was shot twice with arrows and left to suffer by a cruel person obviously lacking empathy for others, PETA Senior Vice President Colleen OBrien said. PETA urges anyone with information to come forward so this killer can be held accountable and prevented from harming anyone else.

Anyone with information should contact Las Vegas Animal Protection Services at 702-229-6444 or on its contact form.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
[Source]

The Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and India have rejected Chinas newly released map asserting sovereignty over the South China Sea.

About the new map: The map includes a U-shaped line covering most of the South China Sea, a region marked by disputes and significant trade traffic in which trillions of dollars in trade flow through each year. The new map also has 10 dashes that appear to the east of Taiwan. The line extends into the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

China's position on the South China Sea issue has always been clear, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, according to Reuters. The competent authorities of China regularly update and release various types of standard maps every year. We hope that relevant parties can view this in an objective and rational manner.

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Rejections: On Thursday, the Philippines called on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations, citing international law and a 2016 ruling in its rejection.

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This latest attempt to legitimize China's purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, the Philippine Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile, Malaysia filed a diplomatic protest, and Taiwan firmly stated that it is not part of China.

No matter how the Chinese government twists its position on Taiwan's sovereignty, it cannot change the objective fact of our country's existence, Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu said during a press briefing.

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Vietnam also rejected Chinas claims, while India lodged a strong protest with China over the map for encroaching on Indian territory.

We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question, the Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Dispute in films: Throughout the years, the dispute surrounding the South China Sea map has caused several films to be banned in Chinas neighboring countries. Movies with the maps that feature the nine-dash line, such as Warner Bros.s 2023 film Barbie, DreamWorks 2019 animated film Abominable and Sonys 2022 action-adventure film Uncharted, have been banned in countries like Vietnam and the Philippines.

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Michael Carlebach worked long hours with his students, laboring together over vats of chemicals in darkrooms. He taught them the entire process, from taking the photo to admiring the final print.

A former student and now award-winning photojournalist, Brenda Ann Kenneally, stayed in touch with Carlebach long after leaving the classroom. Kenneally, the author of Upstate Girls, a years-long project centered in her home region of upstate New York, remembers that Carlebach was there (with a camera) at her wedding and her sons christening, and he always kept on top of the awards she won for her work.

Carlebach  photographer, educator, mentor  died Aug. 22 at his home in Asheville, North Carolina. He was 78.

Carlebach as a scholar

Born March 3, 1945, Michael Carlebach died Aug. 22 at his home in Asheville, North Carolina.

Michael Carlebach began teaching photography at the University of Miami in 1978, and continued until 2005, mentoring hundreds of students until he retired and became professor emeritus.

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Carlebach led the program with friend and fellow photographer David Kent. The culture of the program under Carlebachs leadership was scrappy, communal, and driven by a real love for the art of photography.

Kenneally feels a sense of impossibility looking back on the program Carlebach ran at UM.

The photography classes were held in old, tucked-away Bahamian-style buildings, built during World War II and used as ROTC training grounds, Kenneally said. The program lovingly called the wooden buildings photo shacks. Though they werent in modern, airy buildings with ample space and resources, that didnt matter to Carlebach and his students.

We were the misfit nerds of photography, Kenneally said. We werent an art photography program. What we were going to do was not geared towards selling stuff. We saw truth. We were encouraged to go after it. This kind of program does not exist anymore.

Carlebachs educational philosophy stressed the importance of context in photojournalism. He taught his students not just how to take photographs, but also how to speak about them and share them responsibly.

We werent just getting photography, Kenneally said. We were learning integrity as people, which couldnt be separated from the work we were doing.

Carlebachs role as a scholar of photojournalism informed this contextual approach. He received his doctorate in American Civilization from Brown University in 1988, and authored nine books, including American Photojournalism Comes of Age, a historical account of the photographs and photojournalists who shaped American news in the early 20th century.

At UM, he directed the American Studies program and chaired the Department of Art History. During his time at the university, he won the Wilson Hicks Conference Award, the Freshman Teaching Award, Excellence in Teaching Award, and a Provosts Award for Scholarly Activity.

To Kenneally, Carlebach was more than a teacher. He was a bridge to a new way of life.

After being in and out of the juvenile justice system and hitchhiking to Miami, Kenneally began studying photography under Carlebach. His mentorship led her to a career as a photojournalist.

Michael, she wrote in a scrapbook that former students gave Carlebach when he retired, I can never thank the one who has allowed a commoner like me to walk among kings  photography has given me a life  you gave me photography.

A survivor of illness

Carlebach was a survivor of multiple illnesses against all odds. As a child, he lost four siblings to cystic fibrosis, a condition with which he himself was diagnosed as an adult.

That [loss] always hung over him and affected his worldview and his dark sense of humor, said his wife, Margot, an architectural writer and historic preservation planner.

With cystic fibrosis, lung problems were always a part of his life. He survived infections of pneumonia and COVID, a doctor who mistakenly punctured his stomach with a feeding tube, and a double lung transplant in 2005.

The transplant drastically improved his quality of life, said his wife, giving him many more good years.

His son Joshua said that although his father wasnt a big man, boy, he could take a punch and keep coming.

Alongside his freelance photography work, Carlebach made time each year to photograph the children at Nicklaus Childrens Hospitals Ventilation Assisted Childrens Center sleepaway camp.

The camp draws children with respiratory issues from around the world to South Florida for a week of activities such as swimming, camping and games. As a volunteer photographer for the camp, Carlebach spent time with children who, like him, dealt with respiratory illnesses, and gave each family a printed portrait of their child at the end of the week.

The man in the darkroom

Those who knew Carlebach knew that he could often be found in a darkroom, either by himself or with students, developing photos by hand well before the digital downloading of today.

Though he grew up in upstate New York, raised on fishing and hiking in the woods, his influence as a photographer is particularly strong in South Florida.

Throughout his career as a photojournalist, Carlebach was a staff photographer for the Miami Herald and The Village Post in Coconut Grove. As a freelancer, he contributed to the Heralds Tropic magazine, Time and the New York Times.

In 2010, Carlebach gathered a series of photos from his three decades in South Florida into a book, Sunny Land: Pictures From Paradise. The photos track the lives, culture and grittiness of a bygone South Florida: a woman diving into a Key West pool, Haitian refugees at the Krome detention center, demolition derby drivers in Hialeah.

In 2011, Carlebach donated images from his personal archives to the University of Miami Libraries Special Collections. Anyone can now view the 5,000 silver prints, color slides and publications of the Michael L. Carlebach Photography Collection. It includes images from George McGoverns 1972 presidential campaign and the flora and fauna of the Everglades.

I look for meaning at the edges of things, Carlebach said on his personal website about his work, avoiding the incendiary characters who bully their way into our lives whether we like it or not ... to see and appreciate what is subtle, funny or poignant right in front of us. Thats my job.

Survivors and services

Carlebach is survived by his wife, Margot Ammidown; sons Adam and Joshua; brother Stevenson; grandchildren Dominic and Leed; his dog Addie, and a vast network of former students and mentees.

The family encourages donations in Carlebachs memory to be made to the University of Miami Libraries Special Collections or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. His family hopes to hold services at UM at a later date to honor his life and work.
When students first told Kurt Heidinger they had found a human skull, he thought they were joking.

He soon realized they were being serious, so he went over to investigate. Thats when he saw a whole skeleton right there in the sand, he told McClatchy News in an email.

The executive director of Massachusetts Biocitizen Inc. was on the Connecticut River on Aug. 23 with students and staff, taking advantage of the low water levels.

Students of the Westhampton-based environmental education school read Robert Frosts The Road Not Taken, then set off to explore areas around the river. Heidinger said he and another student were walking around a small island they refer to as Treasure Island because of all the boat parts and animal bones they find there.

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The young boy yelled out that he had found bones, so Heidinger went over to look. A large leg bone was poking out of the ground, he said.

Heidinger didnt think much of it, assuming it belonged to a moose or a buck, and he told the student they could come back later.

When we returned we had lunch and the lad begged to go back to the bones, Heidinger told McClatchy News. I was busy with other students ... and sent him off with a teacher. ... A few minutes later we heard an uproar, screams and excited wahhs!

Heidinger said his first thought was the students had been stung by yellowjackets.

A lad ran up breathlessly, announcing a skull had been found, Heidinger recalled. Yay, I said. Thats very exciting! Another boy rushed up saying, its a human skull! Yeah right! You guys are pretty funny! Tell me when you find the pirates treasure!

It turns out the students had found an entire human skeleton.

Their first reaction was one of exultation, because we find bones all the time and to find human bones was, in some rational way, the most incredible discovery possible, Heidinger said. We had been channeling in an innocent way Pirates of Caribbean and now we were actually in the movie.

The mood shifted, Heidinger said, when they realized the gravity of what they had found. He called the police to tell them about the remains, then the group had a moment of silence.

He said he reminded students that the person had loved ones who might gain closure from knowing what had happened.

A much different feeling arose, solemn and serious, but also one of health mixed with a bit of pride that they had done something good for the person whose bones they found, and all the people who loved them, Heidinger said.

The Northwestern District Attorneys Office said an investigation is underway, according to an Aug. 28 news release shared with McClatchy News.

Local and state agencies are looking into the death, including police with the cities of Greenfield and Montague as well as the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit, according to the release.

The medical examiner will work to determine the identity of the person, the DAs office said.

The next day, Biocitizen staff and students sat in a circle to share their feelings about what had happened, Heidinger said. A parent suggested they create a shrine to the person who had died, so the students gathered jasper and created a dragonfly in tribute.

Our students, young as they are, were somewhat prepared by all the other walks weve taken and bones weve found to absorb this deeper humanistic and philosophical awareness, and to place the experience into an existential context that was not frightening, even though it was really weird and unsettling, Heidinger said.

He said investigators pulled a list of missing persons. He said they told him the person could have died by suicide, but they would prepare for a homicide investigation.

We all want to see a positive ending to this, Heindinger said. The reunion of the persons remains with their loved ones is exactly that.

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UPDATE 9/1/23: Jemauri Thompson was located and is safe, according to Pittsburgh police.

___________

ORIGINAL STORY: Pittsburgh police are asking for the publics help to find a missing girl.

Jemauri Thompson was last seen in the Oakland around at around 8 p.m. on Aug. 31.

Thompson is described as being 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing 100 pounds. She has brown eyes and should either be wearing a straight, shoulder length black with red wig or her natural short blonde and pink hair.

Police said Thompson was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, black shorts and sandals with rhinestones.

Thompson is known to frequent the Aliquippa and West Aliquippa areas.

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If you have information on Thompsons whereabouts, please call 911 or (412) 323-7141.

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Seattle police have arrested a man after he breached an apartment building with a shotgun.

Officers arrived in Fremont around 10 p.m. Saturday after getting reports of a man threatening people with a shotgun, according to Seattle Police.

After arriving in the 4400 block of Dayton Avenue North, officers found multiple people who said they were all threatened by the same man. One of the victims, who was a 44-year-old man, told police that he knew the suspect and that they had been fighting earlier that day.

After threatening several others, the suspect approached the victim again at his apartment. Police say that the 37-year-old man tried to enter the building with a code but then began trying to kick down the door when it did not work. After forcing open the door, the victim left his apartment along with three others as instructed by a 911 operator. The suspect then chose to barricade himself in the apartment building as police applied for a search warrant.

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The hostage negotiation team and SWAT arrived soon after to arrest the suspect. After police raided the apartment the shotgun was recovered and the man was arrested.

He is currently facing harassment charges and the unlawful possession of a firearm.




An investigation into a child's death in Waukee has become a homicide case.

The 1-year-old was found unresponsive when the Waukee police and fire departments responded around 10 a.m. Thursday to a call about an "unknown problem" in a townhome development in the 200 block of N.W. Greenwood Place.

Responders unsuccessfully attempted to revive the child, the Waukee Police Department said.

On Friday afternoon, police said that after consulting with the Dallas County Attorney's Office, they had determined the case was a homicide.

There was no indication in a police news release whether there was a suspect or suspects in the case. It said that "to maintain the integrity of the investigation, no additional information will be released until/unless formal criminal charges are filed."

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Phillip Sitter covers suburban growth and development for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on Twitter @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Investigation into 1-year-old's death in Waukee now a homicide case
Two young children who police say were abducted from North Texas by their biological mother on Thursday were found safe in Oklahoma on Friday morning, and the mother was arrested.

Albina Rudenko was taken into custody without incident about 8:30 a.m. in Wagoner, Oklahoma, Lewisville police said in a news release. A driver had noticed the suspects car broken down in a parking lot and called officers for a welfare check.

Rudenko faces charges of two counts of interference with child custody, which is state jail felony, punishable by 180 days to two years if convicted.

Rudenko had her parental rights terminated earlier this year in a court order. Police said she took her daughter and son, 8-year-old Chantelle Gwivaha and 6-year-old Jason Gwivaha, off a school bus in Lewisville on Thursday afternoon and left the state.

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Lewisville police said they are working with Texas Child Protective Services to bring the children back to Lewisville to be reunited with their father as soon as possible. Rudenko will be arraigned in Wagoner County before she can be returned to Texas.

An Amber Alert was initially issued for Chantelle and Jason, but police said later said they were investigating the abduction as a critical missing persons case.
Editor's note: This news item was updated at 7:50 p.m. local time on Sept. 1. The previous version said that the local authorities hadn't yet published information on the results of a police inspection of Kyiv secondary schools.

Police in Kyiv, Chernivtsi, and Poltava said they had received information on the possible mining of educational institutions on Sept. 1, the first day of the new school year.

According to Education Minister Oksen Lisovy, 500,000 Ukrainian children have been expected to return to offline schooling, starting a second academic year since Russias full-scale invasion.

The Kyiv Police started inspecting all secondary schools in the city after getting bomb threat reports, the city administration wrote in the morning. Later, the local authorities reported that the threat was not confirmed.

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Read also: Media: Education Minister says 76% of institutions in Ukraine have bomb shelters

The Chernivtsi Police received anonymous warnings that the Bukovinian State Medical University and Chernivtsi National University buildings were mined, which was refuted after inspection, Suspilne news outlet reported.

Around 400 people were evacuated from an educational institution in Poltava when law enforcement was examining the building after the institution received a bomb threat report via email, a spokesman of the Poltava district police department told Suspilne. No dangerous objects were found.

Meanwhile, in the western city of Lviv, children began learning to operate drones via an online simulator, Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said. Such lessons are part of the new school subject called Defense of Ukraine.

Read also: Thats it, its death, guys. What we know about Russias killing of 2 Ukrainian teenagers in occupied Berdiansk

I believe that today's schoolchildren will no longer have to fight with evil. But as experience shows, it is better to be prepared, added Sadovyi.

Russias full-scale invasion has destroyed or damaged thousands of schools and prevented over two million students from attending school as normal.

Only a third of children in Ukraine go to school in person, according to UNICEF, citing the latest school enrollment data. Continued Russian attacks mean that a third learn fully online, and another third learn in a hybrid approach.

Educational institutions in areas that are close to hostilities remain shut as schools are often a target for Russian forces.

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The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has announced that its consular office in the city of Smolensk, Russia, has ceased operations since 31 August.

Source: Polish Foreign Ministry, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The closing ceremony was attended by Krzysztof Krajewski, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Russian Federation. The Polish diplomatic mission in the city has been in operation since 10 April 2012.

From now on, the tasks performed by the Smolensk consulate, including the supervision of the Smolensk disaster site and the Polish military cemetery in Katyn, will be handled by the Polish Embassy in Moscow.

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The Polish MFA noted that the decision of the Russian authorities had caused a decisive protest on the part of the Polish Foreign Ministry.

Background:

Earlier, the Polish MFA reacted to the decision of the Russian authorities to close the Polish consulate in Smolensk.

"As the sites of the murder of almost 22,000 Polish citizens by the NKVD (the Soviet punitive agency  ed.) in 1940 and the plane crash in 2010, Katyn and Smolensk have a special, symbolic meaning for all Poles. The decision made by the Russian authorities is proof of increasingly audacious attempts to distort history and absolve the Russian state and specific, known by name, citizens of this country of responsibility for the crimes committed by the Russian state," the Polish Foreign Ministry stressed.

Earlier, Russia reportedly decided to close the Polish consulate in Smolensk.

The Russian Federation claims this was a response to Warsaw's "unfriendly anti-Russian actions, in particular, the seizure of the building housing the secondary school at the Russian Embassy in favour of the state".

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According to U.S. Defense Department sources, 10 out of 31 promised Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine in mid-September, Politico reported on Aug. 31.

The 10 U.S. M1 Abrams tanks are now in Germany, undergoing final refurbishments and awaiting shipment to Ukraine.

The U.S. is committed to expedite delivery of the 31 tanks to Ukraine by the fall, U.S. Col. Martin O'Donnell told Politico.

Meanwhile, a group of around 200 Ukrainian soldiers have completed training on operating the tanks in Germany, ODonnell said.

The Pentagon approved the shipment of Abrams tanks on Aug. 7.

The tanks, which offer greater mobility and firepower than Soviet battle tanks, are expected to support Ukraine's defensive and offensive efforts. The shipments may add momentum to the counteroffensive, which has begun to break through Russian lines of defense.

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An unnamed official told Politico that this was a "tangible success."

Read also: The origins of Slava Ukraini

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By Philip Pullella

ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - Pope Francis , who is sometimes received as a superstar on trips abroad, arrived in Mongolia on Friday to the joy of its tiny Catholic community but with his presence barely making a ripple in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country.

The plane carrying Francis and his entourage landed after a night flight of nearly 10 hours, and the pope, who is 86 and in need of a wheelchair, was resting for the remainder of the day.

His first engagement is on Saturday, when he attends an official welcoming ceremony and addresses government leaders and diplomats.

At the airport, a woman in traditional dress offered the pope solid yogurt, a customary Mongolian gesture of welcome, before he was wheeled past an honour guard wearing ornate blue and red uniforms and holding rifles.

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Apart from Mongolian and Vatican flags on poles on the highway, and traffic backed up by the passing of his motorcade, there were barely any signs that the pope was in town.

One of the few banners along his motorcade route into the modern capital surrounded by a mostly barren expanse was held up by Catholics from Vietnam, a country once hostile to Western religions but which recently upgraded its relations with the Vatican.

Well-wishers greeted the pope, some putting on a brief song and dance performance, when he arrived at his destination in the city centre.

"I'm so happy to see the pope," said 47-year-old Catholic devotee Otgon Zesenjav. "I'm very thankful for his visit. We have been waiting for this moment for such a long time. He shook my hand twice. I'm so excited."

There are only 1,450 Catholics in Mongolia, administered by Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, who started working in the country more than 20 years ago as a young priest.

'IMPROVING RELATIONS'

Visiting places where Catholics are a minority is part of Francis's policy of drawing attention to people and problems in what he has called the peripheries of society and of the world. He has not visited most of the capitals of Western Europe.

Talking to reporters on the plane from Rome, Francis said he was looking forward to visiting even just one part of the vast country, said it had a "a small population but with a great culture".

Francis, who had an intestinal operation in June, looked relatively fit as he walked through the reporters' section of the plane, leaning on his cane and stopping to chat.

As is customary, Francis, who besides being the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics is also a head of state, wired greetings to the leaders of each country he flew over, including China, with which the Vatican has had difficult relations.

The Holy See has full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the democratic island that Beijing claims as its own, while Chinas Catholics have long been split between a state-backed official church and an underground flock loyal to the Pope.

Francis, in his message to Chinese President Xi Jinping, said he had good wishes for all the people of China and assured the president of his prayers for the "wellbeing of the nation".

A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, said the pope's blessing reflected friendship and goodwill, noting that China and the Vatican had maintained communication in recent years.

"China is willing to continue to work with the opposite side to hold constructive dialogue, enhance understanding, build mutual trust and advance the process of improving relations between the two sides," Wang said.

Francis will preside over several religious events before he leaves on Monday, the centrepiece being a Mass in the Steppe Arena on Sunday.

He will also attend an inter-religious service and inaugurate a charity centre to help the needy, regardless of their religion.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella and Joseph Campbell; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Space for rent available in a small plaza on state Route. 44 south of Dunkin' Donuts and Key Bank in Rootstown. The township and Ravenna are moving forward with a Joint Economic Development District.

Portage County Commissioners signed off Thursday on the Joint Economic Development District between Ravenna and Rootstown.

Commissioners authorized property owner and business owner petitions for the JEDD between the two communities. The agreement will allow the township to collect income tax from businesses within the JEDD area, 90% of which will stay in the township.

Rootstown trustees previously approved a Joint Economic Development District with Ravenna. The unanimous approval means residents won't be able to kill the agreement at the ballot box.

Ravenna City Council is expected to vote on the JEDD on Sept. 5.

Details of the agreement

The new pact with Ravenna, trustees said, would keep 90% of the proceeds in Rootstown. Half of the proceeds are earmarked directly toward improvements in the JEDD area. Those improvements would be decided by a JEDD board, which, according to the Ohio Revised Code, would contain representatives from city and township governments, a business owner in the JEDD, a worker in the JEDD and a fifth person appointed by the panel to be chair of the panel.

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Another 40% would go to the township, and 10% would go to the city, whose only role would be collecting income tax. People who work at businesses in the JEDD area would pay a 2% income tax, lower than the city's tax rate of 2.5%.

What would the JEDD do for Rootstown?

"This JEDD for our township means a lot," Trustee Brett Housley said.

Funds from the JEDD would help the township "develop our downtown," referring to improvements in the center of the township, and help the township provide services that township residents and Northeast Ohio Medical University "need and want," he said.

"We're going to be able to develop our downtown and, hopefully, improve our services," Housley said

What property is included in the proposed Rootstown-Ravenna Joint Economic Development District?

The JEDD area includes the state Route 44 corridor, from Tallmadge Road to the Ravenna border.

So far, 17 property owners have signed JEDD agreements, including the city of Ravenna, which owns Muzzy Lake and Crystal Lake, two bodies of water that previously served as Ravenna's water supply.

Muzzy Lake residents, who turned out at Rootstown's public hearing on the JEDD, were told that there are no plans for business development near the lake.

NEOMED is a "big player" in the JEDD, Housley said, and other businesses also have signed on.

The proposed JEDD area runs along Tallmadge Road to the Ravenna border, and includes some other areas, such as Lynn Road. The hope, Housley said, is that businesses not part of the JEDD will sign up once they see the benefits.

Commissioner Mike Tinlin said Brimfield, where he lives, has been booming because of the township's JEDD with Tallmadge.

"I think it's a good thing for the city and the township," Tinlin said.

Ravenna mayor: 'We want this to work'

Commissioner Sabrina Christian-Bennett, who serves on both the Streetsboro-Shalersville and Brimfield-Kent JEDD boards, said Ravenna is being "generous" by taking only 10%.

Seman said a successful JEDD in Rootstown means Ravenna residents will be able to find jobs there.

"We want this to work, and we will benefit in other ways," he said.

The Rootstown JEDD is "lightyears" ahead of the city's JEDD with Ravenna Township, and is a "long range economic development plan" for the region, Seman said. The city's agreement with Ravenna Township also is being revised.

The township also is asking the county to enter the properties it owns into the JEDD.

Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Portage commissioners approve JEDD between Ravenna and Rootstown
President Joe Biden said Thursday he would travel to Florida this weekend to survey the damage from Hurricane Idalia, days after it caused major flooding and power outages before it weakened into a tropical storm.

Biden announced the trip during a visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's headquarters, where he met with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Anne Bink, the associate administrator of FEMA's Office of Response and Recovery.

I am going to Florida Saturday morning," he told reporters.

Earlier Thursday, Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Florida and ordered federal aid to supplement recovery efforts.

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Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning in Floridas Big Bend near Keaton Beach as a Category 3 hurricane. Heavy rain and fierce wind gusts topping 125 mph toppled trees and quickly flooded streets, submerging buildings and leaving hundreds of thousands without power Wednesday night. Roughly 180,000 customers were without power in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina as of Thursday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us.

On Wednesday, Biden directed FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell to fly to Florida and meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis to help with response efforts. Criswell said at a news conference that they would do assessments and see firsthand the storms impact.

Biden said he spoke with DeSantis on Thursday. He also talked with governors in nearby Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

At a storm briefing Thursday morning, DeSantis, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, said 40 rescues were reported Wednesday night.

Biden will visit Florida after his visit last week to Maui, Hawaii, to meet with residents who were affected by deadly wildfires this month.

Before the Maui visit, Republicans had criticized Biden for having gone days without talking about the devastating wildfires. He defended the timing of his trip to Hawaii, saying he hadnt wanted to get in the way of the initial response efforts.

Biden visited FEMAs headquarters Thursday to thank workers staffing its National Response Coordination Center, which monitors developing incidents and activates emergency response teams.

He arranged for pizza to be delivered to staff members who have been coordinating efforts to the hurricane and wildfires around the clock, the White House said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A proposed luxury condo project at the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside received a key approval Thursday, despite concerns from victims family members that a developer plans to use an adjacent street designated as a memorial as an access point for garbage pickup and a loading dock.

The towns Planning and Zoning Board voted, 4-1, to send the proposal by Dubai-based developer DAMAC International to the Town Commission with a favorable recommendation, based in part on statements by the developers that the Florida Department of Transportation had told them to keep their trash and loading facilities off of Collins Avenue.

They directed us to put our loading on 88th Street, DAMAC representative James Galvin said. We have to follow what theyre telling us to do.

The state agency said Friday that it never gave such an instruction.

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A spokesperson said the issue of where the new developments loading dock should go was not discussed during a meeting between FDOT and the developers representatives on Aug. 2.

The only request from FDOT was driveway access onto SR A1A/Collins Avenue, said FDOT spokesperson Tish Burgher. Galvins statements, Burgher said, do not accurately reflect our communications to date.

Burgher also rebuffed a claim by DAMAC at Thursdays meeting that FDOT officials had been aware of a January 2022 resolution by the Surfside Town Commission to designate 88th Street east of Collins Avenue as a memorial, and that state officials kind of dont care about the resolution.

Burgher said the agency only learned of the resolution via an email late Wednesday night.

While our goal with all permit applications is to ensure the safety and mobility of the traveling public, we are sensitive to the communitys concerns and will work with all parties to develop the best solution, she said.

In a statement Friday evening, DAMAC spokesperson Niall McLouglin said the firms consultants had relayed to us the details of FDOTs normal policy ahead of the meeting with FDOT. It wasnt immediately clear which policy he was referring to.

The meeting with FDOT focused largely on the location of curb cuts, McLoughlin said, as well as the need for sight lines and to optimize the correct landscaping at the intersection of Collins and 88th Street.

Subsequently, our consultants have reaffirmed the normal policy, and that is how weve proceeded in conjunction with the town, McLoughlin said.

Board members lean on supposed FDOT direction

The states version of its conversations with DAMAC did not seem clear to Surfside Planning and Zoning Board members ahead of their vote Thursday, a non-binding but crucial step before the project heads to the Town Commission for approval later this month.

Multiple board members cited FDOTs requirements, as represented by the developer, to conclude there would be no viable way to address concerns about the garbage and loading dock placement.

It sounds as if there was a communication or a meeting with FDOT on what they could or could not do, board chair Carolyn Baumel said. Regarding loading access from Collins, she added, FDOT already said, No, you cannot. 

My take on this is that whatever Surfside says regarding the location regulations doesnt supersede FDOT, board member Ruben Bravo said. Whatever they say is what you have to do.

The meeting was a quasi-judicial hearing, meaning speakers were testifying under oath.

Some family members of the 98 people who died in the June 2021 collapse  along with one board member, Lindsay Lecour  said the DAMAC proposal fails to honor last years resolution by the Town Commission calling for a permanent memorial to occupy the entire street-end directly north of the property.

Im outraged to see that the proposed plan for the new building is taking so much of 88th Street, said David Rodan, whose 28-year-old brother Moises and three cousins died in the collapse. Im here to ask you, please dont let that happen.

READ MORE: Remembering the victims of the Surfside tower collapse

The resolution called for the closure of 88th Street to vehicular traffic east of Collins Avenue, while still allowing access for emergency vehicles and any access required to reach property north and south of the street-end.

Opponents of the DAMAC proposal said it would sully an area meant to commemorate the tragedy, bringing sanitation trucks and moving vans to a loading dock around the midway point of the street-end, according to site plan documents.

The dock would open 20 feet wide along the southern edge of 88th Street and extend 38 feet into the property at 8777 Collins Ave., the plans show.

In a statement Friday after this story was published online, McLoughlin, the DAMAC spokesperson, said town officials told the firms representatives after Thursdays meeting that the town plans to collect garbage just east of the 88th and Collins intersection in the future, rather than sending trucks farther down the street to a loading dock on private property.

Accordingly, were working to remove the garbage area from the loading dock area and develop a system to deliver it from within our site to the designated location without running along 88th Street, McLoughlin said.

Town Manager Hector Gomez told the Herald on Friday that the town has moved away from sending sanitation trucks onto private property since the Champlain collapse, responding to some buildings concerns about the possible structural impacts of bringing heavy trucks into underground garages.

Instead, Gomez said, the trucks turn just enough to tuck away from Collins Ave. DAMAC representatives werent aware of that new practice until Gomez informed them yesterday, he said.

Judith Frankel, the town planner, said Thursday that town and state officials prefer to have loading and trash pickup occur away from Collins Avenue for traffic flow and safety, although other nearby buildings with no adjacent side streets do use Collins for those purposes.

An aerial view on June 3, 2022, shows the site where the Champlain Towers South building partially collapsed on June 24, 2021, killing 98 people.

An act of malice

Pablo Langesfeld, who lost his 26-year-old daughter Nicole in the collapse, called the proposal an act of malice and disrespect to all of us.

This is about doing the right thing, Langesfeld said. Eighty-eighth Street must be a memorial.

Town officials and representatives for DAMAC said the side street would still be closed to regular traffic and utilized for a memorial under the current plan. The town has issued a request for proposals to design it.

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Adrianna LaFont, Ivonne Lafont Villagra, and Mia LaFont, left to right, visit a temporary memorial wall at Veterans Park across from the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside on June 24, 2023. The three attended the Second Annual Remembrance Ceremony on the two-year anniversary of the collapse that killed their relative, Manny LaFont.

In a letter to current town officials earlier this week, three former elected officials and one current commissioner who voted last year to designate 88th Street as a memorial said they had agreed at the time that it was utterly inappropriate to put garbage facilities there. They urged current decision-makers to respect and honor their resolution and ensure that access is only for pedestrians and emergency vehicles.

Lecour, the dissenting Planning and Zoning Board member, asked her colleagues to defer a vote so that the developers could explore potential alternatives.

I know its possible to find a solution on this site that they can sign off on, she said.

When another board member noted that a deferral would cost the developer time, Lecour responded that the boards approval of DAMACs plan was costing our town the integrity of this memorial.

The project will ultimately need a green light from the towns building official, James McGuinness. On Thursday, McGuinness said the project as currently proposed would be hampered by the fact that its southwest corner sits in a FEMA flood zone, meaning it cant legally include underground parking. DAMACs proposal features two underground parking levels with 148 spaces.

McGuinness said a new proposed FEMA map would remove that complication by placing the entire property outside the flood zone, but the change has yet to be implemented. DAMAC has submitted a letter to FEMA asking the agency to amend its current map.

Dubai-based developer DAMAC International is proposing a 12-story, two-building project with 52 luxury condo units at the oceanfront property where Champlain Towers South collapsed in 2021.

Will memorial extend onto Champlain site?

DAMAC, led by billionaire developer Hussain Sajwani, is proposing to construct two adjacent 12-story buildings at the site, rising to the towns maximum allowed height of 120 feet. The project, designed by Londons Zaha Hadid Architects, would feature 52 condos averaging about 7,000 square feet apiece.

The Dubai firm was the lone bidder for the property in a court auction last summer, paying $120 million to buy it as Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman sought to squeeze maximum value out of the land to benefit victims and their families.

Some family members have continued to plead for at least part of a memorial to extend into the property, saying its important to acknowledge that their loved ones perished there.

Its going to always be on top of a graveyard tainted with blood, Pablo Langesfeld said of the development.

DAMAC has entertained the notion of putting a memorial partially on its property but hasnt made any commitments. A pair of proposals supported by Mayor Shlomo Danzinger to grant concessions to the developer in exchange for possible memorial space have been shot down by the commission amid heated political fights.

Meanwhile, some family members have said communication with the town has been lacking since the formation of a committee created last year to discuss the memorial.

Last October, Danzinger quietly traveled to Dubai to meet with Sajwani, a trip first reported by the Herald that upset some committee members who said they were unaware of it. Danzinger said he was there to advocate for a memorial on the site and that Sajwani seemed open to the idea, praising him as a family man who seems to care about the community he builds in.

Four Seasons photos ignite political feuds

Drama surrounding the project has continued in the months since.

On Wednesday, former Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett circulated an email featuring photos of current elected officials, including Danzinger, sitting over drinks with members of the Planning and Zoning Board at the local Four Seasons hotel after a recent Town Commission meeting.

Burkett suggested the officials had run afoul of state laws requiring government meetings to be held in public, though it wasnt clear what the group had discussed during the hotel gathering.

Then-Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett (center) joins families of Surfside collapse victims at a news conference on Sept. 23, 2021.

Board member David Forbes blasted Burkett at Thursdays meeting, saying the former mayor lied in an effort to frighten everyone up here. Forbes denied that any town business had been discussed, saying the officials did what friends do and chatted about their personal lives.

After every meeting, we shake hands, we hug, we have a drink ... because we have become friends, Forbes said. At no time was city, county or state business talked about.

A federal investigation into what caused the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South is ongoing. In June, the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a preliminary summary that identified weaknesses in the L-shaped buildings pool deck as the likely origin of the collapse, echoing Miami Herald reporting.

This story has been updated to include statements from DAMAC and the Florida Department of Transportation and comments from the Surfside town manager.
Arguing that a Northern California man who participated in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol came prepared for violence, prosecutors are asking a judge to impose one of the longer sentences handed down on Jan. 6 defendants.

The government is asking U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates to order former Auburn construction worker Sean Michael McHugh, 35, to serve 10 years and three months in prison, pay a $73,000 fine and pay $2,000 in restitution when he is sentenced next Thursday.

The request comes in a 44-page sentencing memorandum filed late Thursday in federal court in Washington, D.C., where prosecutors argued that McHugh armed himself with powerful bear spray and a bullhorn and traveled to the Capitol to urge fellow supporters of then-President Donald Trump to march on Congress.

During the riot, McHugh actively participated in at least four attempts to breach perimeters established by officers during the riot, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lynnett Wagner and Carolina Nevin wrote. First, he was one of the initial rioters to breach a police line and enter the West Plaza.

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Second, he wrestled with an officer for control of a barricade protecting access to the Capitol. Third, he assaulted officers on the West Plaza, hitting them with his bear spray, causing the officers to back away from the line, and preventing them from performing their official duties.

Fourth, he helped other rioters to push a large metal sign into officers. In between these acts of aggression, McHugh used his megaphone to spew vitriol towards officers and to encourage other rioters to act against the officers.

McHugh attorney seeks much shorter sentence

McHugh, 35, was convicted last April of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon and obstruction of an official proceeding and could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

His attorney argues that McHugh should receive a sentence of only two years, which should permit him to rejoin society in time for his sons high school graduation.

Attorney Joseph Allen contends in a 13-page sentencing memorandum that McHugh was exercising his First Amendment rights on Jan. 6, that McHugh was swept up in the moment as protesters moved toward the Capitol from the Ellipse, where Trump had spoken before Congress was scheduled to certify Joe Bidens victory in the 2020 election.

Mr. McHugh is not a rioter nor is he an insurrectionist, Allen wrote. He is an American citizen who, like any of us could, found himself caught up in the emotion of the events of a day which began lawfully and peacefully, then dominoed into the situation in which he finds himself now.

Mr. McHugh has maintained and continues to maintain that his actions for which he stands before this court were not planned, nor did he engage in the January 6 protest with any ill intent or malice.

McHugh, who has been in custody since his arrest May 2021, is the only one of four Sacramento-area defendants in the Jan. 6 riot to remain in jail, and faced the most serious charges among the four.

The governments proposed sentence of more than 10 years in prison would be one of the longer ones imposed on Jan. 6 defendants to date.

The longest imposed to date was 18 years for Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers group who was convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Two other members of the right-wing Proud Boys group, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl, were sentenced Thursday to 17 years and 15 years, respectively.

Sentence reflects gravity of McHughs conduct

Prosecutors in McHughs case argue that a sentence of 10 years and three months  which falls within federal sentencing guidelines calling for a term of 110 to 137 months  reflects the gravity of McHughs conduct and his extensive criminal history.

They also argue that he has shown no remorse for his actions, and that a fundraising site set up on his behalf contained a post from Thursday appearing to be from McHugh that stated, I did not hurt anyone.

Good Morning Everyone, that post reads. Let the countdown begin 7 more days and the fate of my life is in the hands of the DOJ...

Ive been anxious, and nervous with so many thoughts running through my head. Im having trouble sleeping and am consumed with thoughts of what the outcome will be. I did not hurt anyone and I did not enter the Capital yet they want to give me 11.5 years it hardly seem fair. I ask you all to continue to pray for me and my family along with extra prays for the Proud Boys who have their sentencing this week.

The fundraising effort says it was set up by McHughs fiancee and describes McHugh as just like most conservative American(s).

The Biden regime and DOJ has made it clear that if you are Republican, you can expect to have your civil, constitutional, and basic human rights stripped from you, it states.

As of early Friday, that site had raised $74,428 for what it described as help with funds for legal fees and bills.

Prosecutors contend that McHugh began planning his trip to Washington in December 2020, and actively planned to prevent Congress certification of the Electoral College vote.

In late December 2020, McHugh posted on Facebook Going to D.C. Jan 5 6 7 to fight. HMU if you wanna join. Reservations made!, prosecutors wrote.

He added, if this doesnt make you want to get up in storm Congress and rip people out of office then you need to move to China, according to prosecutors, and noted that McHugh updated his Facebook status early on Jan. 6 to write that 1776 will commence again January 6, 2021.

A federal response in opposition to a motion to dismiss charges against Sean Michael McHugh, 34, of Auburn a seen holding a megaphone in this video image provided by prosecutors a alleges that McHugh sprayed U.S. Capitol Police officers with a chemical substance and assaulted them with a metal sign during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. U.S. Attorney's Office

Two police officers want to speak at sentencing

Prosecutors also argue that when McHugh sprayed a line of police officers with bear spray  something he bragged about later on social media  he temporarily blinded one officer.

McHugh was one of the first rioters to break through the police line at the West Plaza, they wrote. McHugh assaulted officers on the West Plaza with bear spray at an early, critical juncture in the riot, causing officers pain and disrupting their ability to protect the Capitol.

McHugh encouraged other rioters to act against officers and advance on the Capitol at multiple times and places on the West Plaza. McHugh took other physical acts against officers that included wrestling with an officer for control of a barricade at the South Scaffolding, joining other rioters to use a large metal sign as a battering ram against officers, and crossing police lines on the West Plaza.

Two officers from the riot have asked for time to speak at McHughs sentencing hearing, and prosecutors say McHughs actions warrant the sentence they are recommending.

McHugh to this day continues to deny responsibility for his actions at the Capitol where he took part in a violent attack on officers and on the government, they wrote. McHughs denial and lack of remorse demonstrates that McHughs sentence must be sufficient to deter him from ever again engaging in violence in pursuit of his political goals.

Bear spraying police poor exercise of judgment

McHughs attorney describes his client in a different fashion, writing that McHugh was sleep-deprived from his flight to Washington and that he only used his bear spray after seeing his mother get hit with projectiles fired by police, an action Allen described as an exceedingly poor exercise of judgment.

He also argued that McHugh carried the bear spray to defend himself in the event Antifa counter-protesters appeared.

The facts of this case are simple, Allen wrote. Mr. McHugh traveled to Washington, D.C., to protest what he believed to be an unlawful and corrupt election result.

He did so fully within his rights under the First Amendment of the Constitution to petition for a redress of grievances and under the lawfully obtained permits for the protests which had been previously acquired. Mr. McHugh participated in the protest, moving with the crowd, which became more and more agitated.

Mr. McHugh, in an unfortunate cascade of events, found himself echoing the agitation of the crowd, expressing the growing sentiments directly to the police officers who were present to keep order. These sentiments did not come from a place of reason or from a clear and calculating mental state. Rather they were the product of that phenomenon commonly referred to as mob mentality.

Allen added that McHugh was not part of some sinister prior plot or conspiracy, and that he never entered the Capitol itself.

Were Mr. McHugh guilty of some other, more severe and serious action, such as breaching the Capitol Building or engaging in physical combat with law enforcement, then a more drastic example might be appropriate, he wrote. However, Mr. McHugh is but one of the many everyday citizens who made a regrettable decision on January 6, 2021.

Allen urged the judge to take into account the fact that McHugh has not seen his teenage son in two years and to show mercy.

This court has the opportunity to demonstrate that while the events of January 6 were unacceptable, these so-called January 6 defendants are not the enemy, he wrote. They are our fellow citizens, neighbors, and friends.

That ideology has so torn us apart is not the fault of Mr. McHugh, no that blame lies elsewhere.

One more Sacramento defendant faces sentencing

McHugh is the third of four Sacramento-area Jan. 6 defendants to face sentencing to date.

Valerie Elaine Ehrke of Arbuckle received probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor last year.

Tommy Frederick Allen of Rocklin, who entered the Senate chamber and stood on its dais, was sentenced to 21 months last December after apologizing for his actions.

Sacramento Republican activist Jorge Aaron Riley, who pleaded guilty to a felony count in March after allegedly entering then-Speaker Nancy Pelosis office during the riot, faces sentencing Sept. 8.
The Prosecutor General's Office said it had successfully demonstrated the illegality of a supplementary agreement to the Defense Ministry's contract for the purchase of military food kits from a commercial enterprise.

The supplementary agreement entailed buying ration packs that failed to meet nutrition standards for military personnel established by Ukrainian law, according to the prosecutors.

If the contract had entered into force, Ukraine's Armed Forces would have received a million low-quality food kits worth Hr 430 million ($11 million), reads the Sept. 1 report.

The court confirmed that the additional agreement was concluded "in violation of the requirements of the current legislation and contrary to the interests of the state," added the Prosecutor General's Office.

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Read also: Media: Defense Ministry purchased summer jackets instead of winter attire for military in 2022

Amidst another procurement scandal in the Defense Ministry, Ukrainska Pravda reported on Aug. 31, citing government sources, that Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov is likely to be dismissed soon.

Earlier in August, an investigation alleged that the ministry had signed a contract with a Turkish company in September 2022 to buy $33 million worth of "winter" clothing for the military. While the jackets were on their way to Ukraine, they reportedly tripled in price.

Reznikov denied the accusation, saying he is ready to resign if the reports that the military procured uniforms for an inflated price are confirmed.

The investigation has increased pressure on the Defense Ministry's leadership, already facing several corruption scandals, such as the procurement of food products for the military at inflated prices uncovered in January.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Russian troops shelled the town of Seredyna-Buda in Sumy Oblast on Sept. 1, wounding four residents, the Prosecutor Generals Office wrote on Telegram.

The attack reportedly damaged 16 apartment buildings, 12 private households, a critical infrastructure facility, five administrative buildings and institutions, three educational institutions, several shops, and vehicles.

In total, law enforcement officers received more than 100 reports of damage to citizens' property due to the shelling, the prosecutors added.

Russian attack against Sumy Oblasts village of Svarkove killed an 82-year-old woman on Aug. 30, according to the regional prosecutors office.

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Sumy Oblast lies in northeastern Ukraine, bordering Russias Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions.

Though Russian forces withdrew from the region last April, the shelling of settlements along the border, such as Seredyna-Buda, continues almost daily.

Read also: New brigade bears heavy brunt of Russias onslaught in Kharkiv Oblast

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola , who smashed a Capitol window with a police shield during the Jan. 6 riot, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

Pezzola was one of five members of the far-right extremist group to stand trial for seditious conspiracy over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The 46-year-old, who joined the Proud Boys shortly before the riot, was the only member acquitted on the seditious conspiracy charge.

However, Pezzola was convicted on several other serious charges, including assaulting, resisting or impeding a police officer, robbery of government property, and destruction of government property.

The reality is you were the one who did it, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said during Pezzolas sentencing hearing Friday, according to CNN. You were the one who smashed that window in and let people begin to stream into the Capitol building and threaten the lives of our lawmakers.

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You were really, in some ways, the tip of the spear, the judge added.

Pezzola offered his apologies Friday to the police officer he assaulted at the Capitol, as well as his own family, and he sobbed as his youngest daughter urged the judge to give him some mercy, according to CNN.

However, as he left the courtroom, Pezzola also raised his fist and yelled, Trump won.

His co-defendants Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl were sentenced Thursday to 17 years and 15 years in prison, respectively.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl, left, Ethan Nordean , centre, and Joseph Biggs stormed the US Capitol on January 6 2021 - Carolyn Kaster/AP

Two senior members of the Proud Boys militia have been handed hefty prison sentences for their role in the 2021 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump .

Joe Biggs, the Florida leader of the self-styled paramilitary group, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges, one year shy of the longest sentence given to a participant in the riots on Jan 6, 2021.

Zachary Rehl, leader of the Philadelphia Proud Boys arm, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on the same charges.

Prosecutors called them key figures in the attack by thousands seeking to forcibly overturn Joe Biden s November 2020 election victory, after Mr Trump repeatedly claimed without any basis that there was massive fraud in the vote.

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The attack broke our tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, which is one of the most precious things that we had as Americans, Judge Timothy Kelly said on Thursday.

A need for deterrence

Judge Kelly rejected prosecutors call for up to 33 years in prison, saying the attack was hardly a terrorist-like mass casualty event, and neither Biggs nor Rehl killed anybody.

Nevertheless, Judge Kelly said: There is a need for deterrence.

Joe Biggs expressed deep regret for what had happened

Biggs and Rehl were among five Proud Boys figures, including national chairman Enrique Tarrio, convicted on May 4 for taking a leading role in the military-style assault on the Capitol.

Rehl, Biggs, Tarrio and Ethan Nordean were convicted of seditious conspiracy, while the fifth, Dominic Pezzola, was found innocent on the sedition charge.

All five were also convicted for obstruction of a congressional proceeding, impeding law enforcement and destruction of government property.

Biggs, 39, is a US Army veteran who had worked closely with Tarrio to organise the group to storm the seat of Congress.

Two months before the attack, he posted that it was time for war, referring to Mr Trumps election loss to Mr Biden.

After January 6, he declared on social media that the attack was a warning for the government.

Im so sorry

Ahead of sentencing on Thursday, prosecutor Jason McCullough said what Biggs and his fellow rioters had done in shutting down the Congress that day was no different than the act of a spectacular bombing of a building.

They aimed to intimidate and terrify elected officials, he said, equating the January 6 attack to terrorism.

A tearful Biggs however expressed deep regret for what had happened.

Im so sorry, he told the federal court in Washington. I know that I messed up that day, but Im not a terrorist.

Norman Pattis, the attorney for both Biggs and Rehl, told the court that they followed the guidance of Mr Trump in undertaking the attack, and questioned why the former president had not been charged with sedition.

Earlier this month a Justice Department special prosecutor charged Mr Trump with separate conspiracy crimes for his role in advancing the false claim that the election had been stolen from him.

What they did is they listened to the president of the United States, Mr Pattis told the court.

They are guilty of believing the president who told them the country was being stolen from them, he said.

Rehl, 38, a former US Marine, broke out in tears as he asked the judge for a lighter sentence.

Zachary Rehl was sentenced to 15 years in prison - Carolyn Kaster/AP

I wasted all my time on politics for people who arent even here today, who never offered any support, and who carelessly watched as I sank further to the bottom, he said.

Biggss sentence was one year short of the 18-year sentence given in May to Stewart Rhodes, the founder of another far-right militia central to the Capitol siege, the Oath Keepers.

Mr Kellys rulings on Thursday suggested that Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who organised the group to go to Washington but was not at the Capitol himself, can expect a similar outcome when he is sentenced on September 5.

Prosecutors also recommended 33 years behind bars for him.

More than 1,100 people have been charged by the Justice Department in the Capitol attack.

Some 630 of them have pleaded guilty to various charges, and 110 have been found guilty at trial.

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Washington  Members of the far-right Proud Boys, Dominic Pezzola and Ethan Nordean , were sentenced Friday for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

Nordean, one of the leaders of the group, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he was convicted of seditious conspiracy  tying the Oath Keepers' Stewart Rhodes for the longest sentence so far in the Jan. 6 prosecutions.

"I think it's a tragedy how you got from A to B," U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly told Nordean during sentencing. "Maybe your upbringing was better  no criminal record."

FILE - Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, right, and Zachary Rehl, left, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. / Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

The Justice Department said in a release that Nordean and Pezzola "participated in every consequential breach at the Capitol," leading a group of Proud Boys onto the Capitol grounds, resulting in the dismantling of barricades, breaching of the Capitol building, assaults on police and destruction of property.

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Nordean apologized for his actions in court Friday, noting that "people were seriously hurt and some people lost their lives."

But he also maintained that he had the safety of others in mind on Jan. 6. "I had to face the sobering truth. I came as a leader," he said. "I came to keep people out of trouble and to keep people safe."

Nordean's wife and sister both spoke in court while crying.

"While we all miss Ethan, his daughter misses him the most," his wife Cory Dryden said.

Pezzola, who became one of the more recognizable faces of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack after video showed him smashing a Capitol window with a riot shield, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

"What happened that day didn't honor our founders," Judge Kelly said during Pezzola's sentencing.

Pezzola was convicted of numerous felony counts stemming from his involvement in the breach  including obstruction of an official proceeding and destruction of government property. Unlike his co-defendants, including Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, Pezzola was acquitted by a jury of the most severe charge of seditious conspiracy.

Despite his acquittal on this charge, prosecutors asked Judge Kelly to sentence Pezzola to 20 years in prison, a request the judge denied during Friday's hearing.

FILE: In this Jan. 6, 2021, photo, rioters, including Dominic Pezzola, center with police shield, are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. / Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

Unlike Pezzola's Proud Boys co-defendants Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Joseph Biggs, whom prosecutors characterized in a sentencing filing as leaders of the Jan. 6 mob, Pezzola was "an enthusiastic foot soldier" and one of the "most violent members on January 6, 2021."

He gathered with more than 100 members of the group including Nordean, Rehl and Biggs at the Washington Monument ahead of the Capitol attack and marched to the Capitol. According to evidence presented at trial, Pezzola then attacked law enforcement, stole a riot shield and used the shield to break a Capitol window before entering the building.

In a selfie video he took from inside the Capitol Crypt during the attack, Pezzola proclaimed, "I knew we could take this motherf***** over if we just tried hard enough."

Prosecutors said that "the image of Mr. Pezzola smashing the window will be one of the images that Americans think of" They also said that Pezzola had "prepared himself to be fighting a civil war," pointing out that he at one point "forcibly ripped the shield" from a police officer's hand.

Jan. 6 Proud Boys defendant Dominic Pezzola, yelled

Pezzola  one of only two of the five Proud Boys co-defendants to take the stand in his own defense  urged the court in his own sentencing memorandum to send him to prison for 5 years.

"I'm taking the stand today to take responsibility for my actions on January 6," he said from the stand during the month-long trial, but also looked to blame law enforcement for the violence that day. His attorneys argued during the trial that there had been no conspiracy among the group of Proud Boys.

But as Pezzola walked out of courtroom after sentencing, he lifted his fist and yelled, "Trump won!"

Minutes earlier, nearly in tears, Pezzola told the judge he'd given up politics. His wife, daughter and mother were in the courtroom at the time, and each addressed the judge during Pezzola's sentencing.

Pezzola's wife, Lisa Magee, said that her daughters "have become victims and harassment, bullying at school." His daughter said, "Take a look at my father, and then take a look at me. I am everything good  I'm a college student, a scientist I don't do drugs, I don't drink, and he contributed to that."

Magee also said that she's been "financially destroyed by this, adding that "it's a struggle for me to find out how I am going to feed them. I have had to rely on the generosity of strangers."

His mother called Pezzola "a wonderful child" and said he "never gave me any trouble."

Pezzola's sentence comes just a day after Judge Kelly sentenced Biggs and Rehl to 17 and 15 years in prison respectively. Both men were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.

Tarrio faces his sentencing Tuesday.

Scott MacFarlane contributed to this report.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will soon have a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Source: Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, quoting Putin

Quote: "Pretty soon we will have events, and the meeting will be held with the head of the People's Republic of China. He calls me his friend, I gladly call him my friend, because this is a person who personally does a lot to develop Russian-Chinese relations and ties, on top of that [he does it] in a variety of spheres."

Background:

Earlier, Bloomberg wrote that Putin agreed to visit China. This voyage will be his first trip abroad after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are set to meet for talks in Sochi, Russia, next week, amid efforts to bring Moscow back into an agreement allowing for the continued export of Ukrainian goods despite the war.

Putin and Erdogan will meet in the Black Sea resort town on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Ankara helped broker the initial grain deal, which allowed for the safe passage of ships carrying Ukrainian goods through the Black Sea, alongside the United Nations last July.

The deal was key to efforts to keep food costs down amid the war because Ukraine and Russia are both major global suppliers of food products like wheat, barley and sunflower oil.

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However, Moscow declined to renew the deal this summer, after repeatedly complaining that it was one-sided in favor of Ukraine and had failed to sufficiently get Russian food and fertilizer exports out to the world.

When the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal, Peskov said at the time.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov doubled down on Moscows demands following a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in the Russian capital on Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan on Monday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi as Ankara and the United Nations seek to revive a Ukraine grain export deal that helped ease a global food crisis.

Russia quit the deal in July - a year after it was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey - complaining that its own food and fertiliser exports faced obstacles and that not enough Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Erdogan, who previously played a significant role in convincing Putin to stick with the deal, would hold talks with the Kremlin chief in Sochi on Monday but gave no further details.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on Friday to discuss grain ahead of the Erdogan meeting.

Shoigu said it was not Russia's fault that the grain deal had failed and repeated the Russian position that Moscow would return to it if all the promises made to Russia were fulfilled.

"It's not our fault today, but it's stopped," Shoigu said in a statement released by the defence ministry. "Here we can say only one thing, that if everything that was promised to Russia is fulfilled, the deal will be extended."

"It turned out that it is more difficult to do this than to build new corridors, new ground routes," said Shoigu, who attended the signing ceremony for the Black Sea deal in Istanbul in 2022.

The Black Sea grain deal was intended to combat a global food crisis that the United Nations said had been worsened by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which Russia calls a "special military operation".

Moves are afoot to revive the deal.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that he had sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "a set of concrete proposals" aimed at reviving a deal that allowed the safe export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea.

Turkey's foreign minister said at a briefing in Moscow on Thursday that reviving the deal was important for the world.

U.S. wheat prices rose on Friday, though Lavrov said on Thursday that Russia saw no sign that it would receive the guarantees needed to revive the grain deal.

Lavrov said the West was hyping the talk of a global food crisis as prices remained around 2021 levels and had ignored Putin's pledge to supply Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea with up to 50,000 tonnes of grain each free of charge.

To convince Moscow to approve the original deal, known by diplomats as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a three-year accord was struck at the same time under which U.N. officials agreed to help Russia with its own food and fertiliser exports.

But Moscow said that memorandum had not been honoured due to the perfidy of the West.

Lavrov said he had discussed Putin's initiative to supply up to 1 million tonnes of Russian grain to Turkey at reduced prices for subsequent processing at Turkish plants and shipping to countries most in need. That proposal is also being discussed with Qatar.

One of Moscow's main demands is for the Russian Agricultural Bank to be reconnected to the SWIFT international payments system. The EU cut it off in June 2022.

While Russian exports of food and fertiliser are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion, Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have hindered shipments.

Two cargo vessels left a port near Odesa, Ukraine's deputy prime minister said on Friday - the third and fourth to transit from deep-water Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea since Russia withdrew from the safe-passage deal.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Conor Humphries and Alison Williams)
Three hospital staff were arrested after being accused of leaving a quadriplegic patient lying on the ground at a park, Arizona police said.

The incident occurred on June 14, according to an Aug. 30 news release by the police department.

The man had originally gone to the hospital after having issues with his catheter, FOX 10 reported.

The man was was rolled out in a wheelchair by hospital staff and was left lying on the ground of a park, police said. The hospital said the staff were security guards.

He was found covered in ants, police said.

Just pushed me all the way across the street on the wheelchair, threw me off the wheelchair on the floor at the park. They walked away, the man told FOX 10.

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The mans mother came to the park and called 911, the release said. The man was sent to another hospital for follow-up care.

Police were called on July 22 and responded to the vulnerable adult abuse call.

Valleywise Health takes all instances concerning patient safety very seriously. While these 3 security officers have been placed on administrative leave, it is important to remember that those charged with criminal offenses are presumed innocent. This incident is an opportunity to reevaluate all of our processes to ensure our health system is providing the highest level of care for each and every patient, even under the most difficult and challenging circumstances, Valley Wise Health said in a statement to McClatchy News.

The man spent six days in the hospital and underwent surgery for his original catheter issue, FOX 10 reported.

The three security guards, Luis Garcia, 53, Eric Espinoza, 39, and Kalen Powell, 37, were arrested and booked into the Maricopa County Jail on adult abuse charges, the release said.

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The royal familys event planner has revealed that the late Queen Elizabeth II had no idea what the vodka luge was at Prince Williams 21st birthday party.

The Prince of Wales celebrated his birthday in 2003 at Windsor Castle. The theme for the party was out of Africa, which included having a vodka luge in the shape of an elephant that left the former monarch confused.

In an interview during Channel 5s The Royal Borough: Kensington and Chelsea, event planner Johnny Roxburgh dove into the details of the event and the moment when Queen Elizabeth saw someone pouring vodka into the elephants ice head.

I remember when it was Williams 21st, [it] was a jungle theme, said Roxborough, according to The Daily Mail. And we have an enormous vodka luge, which was made in the shape of an elephants head. And she looked at me and said, What is that?

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And I said, Maam, its a vodka luge. I could have said it was a tin of Brasso, because she just looked at me confused and said, Hmmm.

The party also featured musicians flown in from Botswana, as well as 300 celebrity guests.

When speaking to Tatler in 2018, Roxburgh said the goal with the elephant-shaped vodka luge was to entertain everyone in attendance. The party planner has been responsible for many royal events that took place at Buckingham Palace, Holyrood Palace, and Highgrove.

As far as planning Prince Williams party, he explained that the royal was charming beyond belief and wonderful to work with.

We created an African jungle at Windsor Castle with full-size elephants made from palm husks, table centres that would shame a Lion King headdress, a giant ice vodka luge in the shape of an elephants head (which the Queen loved), Roxburgh said. I realised then that our future king is a very cool young man.

Picking an African theme was Prince Williams way to pay homage to his time on the continent and his charity work there, according to The Daily Mail. Speaking on his experience planning royal parties as a whole, Roxburgh said hes done it all.

Ive done parties that have cost tens of millions of pounds, he revealed. One minute were in Shanghai, the next were in Paris or in Russia. I did dinner with Putin. That was kind of extraordinary.

He continued: Ive done weddings. Ive buried them. Ive done birthday parties.

The party planner also revealed the specific steps he would take in order to plan something for the Queen at the time, who had to be constantly aware of what was going on.

We did dinner for 600 in the grounds of Balmoral, he recalled about a specific event that he planned. And the Queen was always asking for photographs to be sent to her so she could see what we were building in the grounds of her castle.

The one-year anniversary of Queen Elizabeth IIs death will take place on 8 September 2023. According to reports, the Prince and Princess of Wales will lead tributes to the late monarch on the anniversary of her death. Meanwhile, King Charles III is reportedly expected to spend his mothers death anniversary quietly and privately at Balmoral in Scotland, where she passed away.
A woman was found strangled to death with a zip tie in her Florida home in July, police say. Now, her live-in boyfriend is charged in her death.

Joysee Cartagena, 49, was a mother and former school employee whose employer called 911 for a welfare check in July, Inside Edition reported. Her employer said Cartagena worked remotely and had not checked in on July 17.

An unidentified caller went to her home and found Cartagena dead, according to a Sanford Police Department news release on July 31.

Around her neck was a large zip tie, police said.

An autopsy revealed her cause of death was manual strangulation, police said, and her death was ruled a homicide.

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Joel Bauza, Cartagenas 50-year-old live-in boyfriend, suggested to investigators that her death was a suicide, according to police.

Bauza made efforts during the initial investigation to push this case towards a suicide investigation. Through the great work of the Lake County Medical Examiners Office and our Major Crimes Investigators, it was clear that Joysee didnt take her own life, Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith said in the release.

On Aug. 31, police took Bauza into custody and charged him with one count of first-degree homicide, according to an updated release.

My mom was my world to me. Thats all I knew, and thats all I wanted to know, Cartagenas son, Steven Rivera Cartagena, told WOFL. Losing her, it just kind of made me feel like I was an orphan in a way. I was like, What do I do?

Cartagena served in various roles in area school districts, the outlet reported, including as a secretary for Spring Lake Elementary School in Altamonte Springs and a clerk at Lawton Elementary School in Oviedo.

She was a radiant woman who made a positive impact on so many lives in this community, Smith said in the release. We are saddened that Bauzas actions took her from loved ones so prematurely.

Sanford is about 20 miles northeast of Orlando.

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FILE - Supporters of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community attend a sit-in to protest the ongoing criminalization of homosexuality and arbitrary arrests in front of Hobeich police station, where protesters say four men are being held for homosexuality, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, May 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

BEIRUT (AP)  Rainbows, school books, movies and drag shows have all been targeted in Lebanon in recent weeks as politicians, religious leaders and vigilante groups step up a campaign against the LGBTQ+ community in a country that has long shown relative tolerance.

At a time when Lebanon is in the grips of one of the worlds worst economic meltdowns in more than a century, the country and its leaders have been deeply split on how to deal with the crisis. Political factions have been so divided they havent been able to choose a new president for 10 months.

But in recent weeks they united to fight the LGBTQ+ community. Politicians and religious leaders have intensified a campaign that in many ways mirrors the culture wars in the United States, raising alarm over symbols and trends that might normalize queerness as an existential threat to society.

It comes at a time when an escalating crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community is also underway elsewhere in the region.

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In some cases, the targeting comes after a spate of recent Quran burnings in Europe, which sparked angry protests in Iraq and other Muslim-majority countries. Local religious and political leaders have painted the LGBTQ+ community as part of Western attacks on Islamic values. In these demonstrations, many protesters burned rainbow flags.

In Iraq, some lawmakers are pushing a proposal that would expand a 1988 law on prostitution to include a paragraph imposing life in prison or the death penalty on those who have same-sex relations.

Lebanon was once seen as a place of relative tolerance in the region when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. That has changed in recent years, as crackdowns on free speech and expression have surged.

In recent months, both rhetoric by politicians and harassment by individuals have increased.

Last week, several dozen men from a Christian extremist group dubbing itself the Soldiers of God trashed a Beirut club hosting a drag show. They beat up several people, driving some patrons to hide in a bathroom.

This is the venue of Satan! one member yelled while filming on his mobile phone. Promoting homosexuality is not allowed! This is just the beginning!

The education minister also recently banned a game of Chutes and Ladders that was distributed to schools as part of a USAID project because it was decorated with a rainbow, Lebanese media reported. A video circulated online showing a man in the northern city of Tripoli using black paint to cross out a rainbow on the side of a van distributing books.

In early August, Culture Minister Mohammed Murtada requested for the General Security Directorate to ban the movie Barbie," saying it promotes homosexuality and transgenders. The Directorate, however, ruled that the movie is permitted, and it is reportedly expected to start showing in early September.

The Islamic Cultural Center submitted a request to the public prosecutors office to shut down Helem, the first LGBTQ+ rights organization in Lebanon and the Arab World, founded in 2004. The prosecutors office referred the case to the Interior Ministry, which has not yet acted on it.

Some shops have removed rainbow-decorated cakes or T-shirts from display. In June, the Interior Ministry restricted events connected to Pride month.

The anti-LGBTQ+ campaign is being spearheaded by religious figures from Lebanons multiple of Christian and Muslim sects, as well as political officials.

In a meeting earlier this month, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, several government ministers and the head of the Maronite Church Cardinal Beshara Rai discussed homosexuality. Afterward, the premier told reporters that there is unanimity to abide by moral Lebanese and family values.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, called in a recent speech for the death penalty on people engaged in same-sex acts, calling homosexuality a clear and present danger. He accused NGOs of circulating books for school children that promote homosexuality and called for the books to be banned.

The group Soldiers of God was formed in 2019 as a sort of Christian self-defense group. Its young men would tour Beiruts predominantly Christian eastern neighborhoods acting as guards against strangers coming in  at a time when frictions with rival supporters of Hezbollah often broke out.

Lebanon does not have a law that clearly bans same-sex acts. But Article 534 of the penal code prohibits sexual relations that contradict the laws of nature and has been used to penalize homosexuality, although some judges have held that consensual same-sex relations do not fall under the law.

In July, a handful of legislators called for abolishing Article 534. One of them, independent lawmaker Mark Daou, accused Hezbollah of using LGBTQ+ to create a diversion and to terrorize a group within society.

The attempt sparked a backlash. The spiritual leader of Lebanons minority Druze community, Sheikh Sami Abou el-Mouna, said eliminating the article would promote vice and permitting what is prohibited. Some lawmakers took back comments backing the abolishment.

The backlash made some strange political allies.

In response to the call to repeal Article 534, Ashraf Rifi, a staunchly anti-Hezbollah Sunni legislator, said he is working on a draft law that criminalizes any attempt to legalize homosexuality.

Meanwhile, the Union Center for Research and Development, a reportedly pro-Hezbollah think tank, put forward a study titled Resisting Homosexuality in Lebanon, which calls for criminalizing homosexuality.

Hussein Ayoub, an official at the center, said he hopes a parliament member will adopt the studys proposals to put into law. He denied that his center did the study on behalf of Hezbollah.

Khaldoun Oraymet, a senior Sunni cleric religious judge, called homosexuality satanic and a very dangerous phenomenon. He said mosques, churches, schools and families should fight it.

Many LGBTQ+ people are laying low, even in areas where they once could freely mingle and express themselves.

Tarek Zeidan, who heads Helem, told The Associated Press that political leaders are scapegoating a vulnerable group to distract from their failure to solve the countrys economic and political breakdown and infrastructure collapse.

Do any of these people have solutions for water, electricity, and health care? They have nothing, Zeidan said. And when they have nothing to offer, they create an enemy.
When the Fox News hosts asked the eight Republican presidential candidates on the debate stage last week who would not support continued funding for Ukraine, only Vivek Ramaswamy raised his hand.

The 38-year-old entrepreneur and political newcomer has laid out a radical stance on foreign policy, featuring what his critics see as a Putin-friendly proposal to end the Ukraine war.

Ramaswamy wants to cede territory taken by Russia in eastern Ukraine in return for Moscow exiting its military alliance with China. He would also block Ukraines candidacy to the Western security alliance NATO and end U.S. sanctions on Russia.

Its a position that has found little public support from fellow Republicans, but Americans are growing more tired of financing the war. And the two leading candidates for the GOP nomination, former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have shared Ramaswamys skepticism of U.S. support for Kyiv.

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Justin Logan, the director of defense and foreign policy studies at the conservative think tank Cato Institute, said Ramaswamy is echoing popular themes presented by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson about the Ukraine war pushing Russians into the arms of the Chinese.

I would suspect that you would see a continued erosion of Republican support for funding Ukraine, Logan said. And then independents, who are not as partisan on the issue one way or the other, kind of calling balls and strikes, [asking if this is] good money.

Logan, however, said ceding territory is a little bit less popular than these more abstract ideas of breaking apart Sino-Russian alliances.

Recent polling has shown that Americans are about evenly split on whether to continue sending Ukraine money, as some Republicans argue that tax dollars should be focused on domestic issues like disaster responses.

Meena Bose, the chairwoman of presidential studies at Hofstra University, said Ramaswamy is speaking to Americans frustrated with conditions at home and delivering them a very simplistic foreign policy message.

But extended scrutiny could break apart his policy platform, she said.

Its not clear that this will hold up, Bose said. This will be a topic that Ramaswamy will be pressed on in a lot more detail.

Hes already come under fire. On the debate stage last week in Milwaukee, Wis., Ramaswamys foreign policy stances came under attack from former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Haley called out Ramaswamys lack of foreign policy experience, saying his refusal to back Ukraine was playing into the hands of the murderer Russian President Vladimir Putin .

He wants to hand Ukraine to Russia, Haley said. You dont do that to friends  Ukraine is a front line of defense. Putin has said once Russia takes Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are next. Thats a world war. We are trying to prevent war.

Ramaswamy said the U.S. should refocus military strength at the U.S.-Mexico border.

I think this is disastrous, Ramaswamy said of Ukraine support, that we are protecting against an invasion across somebody elses border when we should use those same military resources to prevent the invasion of our own southern border.

Ramaswamy said in an email to The Hill that ceasing Russias growing military alliance with China should be the foremost priority after Moscow and Beijing signed a treaty in 2001 to establish closer relations and cemented the bond in 2022.

The Sino-Russia alliance presents the greatest military risk the U.S. has ever faced. Russia and China together outmatch the U.S. in every area of great power competition, Ramaswamy said in the statement. But in absence of Russias support, China would have to think twice before risking war with the U.S. over Taiwan.

As part of the deal, Russia would permanently suspend all military-technical cooperation and joint military exercises with China, unpause a major nuclear pact with the U.S. and pull back its nuclear weapons abroad, Ramaswamy said.

Along with reestablishing diplomatic ties, Ramaswamy says the plan would bring Russia into the security infrastructure of Europe, reducing future catalysts that Russia could use as pretexts to invade its neighbors.

Its unclear if Russia would even accept such a deal. Ukraine and NATO allies are also unlikely to back those terms, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly saying that Kyiv will not cede any Ukrainian territory in a peace deal.

Ramaswamys proposal echoes Trumps claim that he is the one person capable of ending the war within 24 hours. The former president, however, has stayed away from offering details.

Michael Genovese, the president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University, said Trump, as the de facto leader of the GOP, can afford to be nonspecific. It also has allowed him to avoid the blowback now facing Ramaswamy.

When Ramaswamy set out the plan, thats when his whole argument collapsed, because its basically conceding defeat in giving up Ukraine to the Russians, he said. Its everything that we would not as a country normally stand for.

Donald Trump can get away with that because he will be unspecific, Genovese continued. Ramaswamy being so specific, he has laid out a plan for disaster.

DeSantis faced backlash earlier this year when he said the Ukraine-Russia war was a territorial dispute. He declined to raise his hand on the debate stage last week, indicating he would support Ukraine, though he said Europe should be footing more of the bill.

The candidates appear to be tapping into a growing desire among Americans to end the war, or at least scale back U.S. spending on it, but the divide among GOP candidates points to a broader debate over how America can help that happen.

Trump has suggested withholding arms from Ukraine if it isnt moving toward peace, while President Biden insists that America should continue arming Ukraine until it ousts Russia or decides to negotiate an end to the war.

The partisan divide among voters is starting to show too. An Aug. 4 CNN poll found 62 percent of Democrats support continued funding for Ukraine, while 71 percent of Republicans oppose it.

In the coming months, the Ukraine question is likely to be influenced by Kyivs failures or successes on the battlefield. In its ongoing counteroffensive, Ukraine is struggling to achieve a breakthrough, as Ramaswamy pointed out.

Congress is also gearing up for a spending fight that could signal whether the strong support for Ukraine, which has so far held up on both sides of the aisle, will continue.

Ramaswamy, meanwhile, faces an uphill battle in the election. He saw an increase of unfavorability among Republicans in a poll after the debate and remains third in the race, behind DeSantis and Trump.

Bose, of Hofstra University, said it was unclear where primary voters will be in early 2024 on Ukraine. But she noted that working with Ukraine to end the war could potentially become part of the Republican Party platform.

Without a doubt, the desire to see an end to the war in Ukraine strikes a chord for many Americans, she said. How thats achieved is an entirely different story.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
GOP presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy talked about his policy differences with former President Trump in an interview Thursday.

I think were deeply aligned on policy, 90-plus percent of the way, Ramaswamy said on Fox News. There are some small differences. I would rescind affirmative action. I would militarize the southern border instead of just building the wall. I would shut down the U.S. Department of Education, not just put a good person, [former Education Secretary] Betsy DeVos, on top to reform it.

Ramaswamy has effusively praised Trump throughout his campaign, promising to pardon the former president of any potential convictions on his first day in the White House. Fox News hosts pressed Ramaswamy on whether there was any daylight between him and Trump.

We have some of our areas of differences, but they are small, Ramaswamy said, adding he and Trump were the two America-first candidates in the race.

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I think we have an opportunity to reunite this country around our shared ideals, and that will allow me to take the America First agenda even further than Donald Trump did, by building on what I think is a very good foundation that he laid, he added.

The Hill Elections 2024 coverage

And so the fact that Im not running against him, that doesnt mean anything. Im running for this country.

Trump has praised Ramaswamy as well, saying hed be a very good vice president. In an interview with Glenn Beck on his show on Blaze TV, Trump said he has good energy.

Hes a smart guy. Hes a young guy. Hes got a lot of talent. Hes a very, very, very intelligent person, Trump said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Taking off your shoes when you get into your home is common for cleanliness reasons. But just how necessary is it?

Taking off your shoes when you get into your home is common for cleanliness reasons. But just how necessary is it?

Its not rare to see a shoe rack or shoe mat at the entryway of someones home. Some people do it for comfort, some do it for cultural reasons, and others do it for cleanliness.

When it comes to cleanliness, its because were told from a young age that the bottom of our shoes are filthy  but just how filthy?

The first thing I would say is that the average person doesnt realize that we live in a very germy world. We do not put ourselves or our environment into a [sterilizer] every morning, said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

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In other words, your shoes may have bacteria on them, but so does the rest of you.

So, how worried do you need to be about the bottom of your shoes? Do you really need to take them off for cleanliness reasons before walking into your house? Heres what experts say:

Overall, the surface of the bottom of your shoes is small compared to other vessels for infection.

Everything is context-dependent, said Jack Gilbert, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and an expert in microbial ecology who co-authored Dirt Is Good. If you find yourself in a high-risk viral research lab laden with infectious diseases, you wont want to wear your shoes in your home. But, for the vast majority of people, the risk of infecting yourself or someone else in your home from bacteria on your shoes is very, very low, he said.

And its worth noting that there is risk associated with bringing another human being into your home, too. This is because every human releases about 30 million bacterial cells each hour just by standing in a room, Gilbert said.

Youre breathing them out; theyre being shed from your skin and your hair, Gilbert said. Youre literally releasing a microbial cloud into every environment you stand in.

While this doesnt sound pleasant, it is perfectly normal. Our homes are full of the bacteria that each person within the home sheds.

Whats more, a study Gilbert led found that the microorganisms on the bottoms of shoes were completely transformed with every new environment it went into. So, as soon as someone steps into your home  which is already full of your own microbes  the bottoms of their shoes will take on the microbes that make up your space.

The small surface area of the bottom of your shoe is just not a particular threat to the health and well-being of the people in your home, he added.

Some bacteria are even good for you.

According to Gilbert, younger siblings of school-going children often have a stronger immune system and are less likely to develop allergies because of the viruses, bacteria and fungi that older siblings bring home from school, including those we may carry on our shoes.

The microbes that they would bring into the home could have a beneficial impact on the immune system of the occupants, Gilbert said.

One study did find that the bottoms of shoes can be contaminated with bacteria like E. coli, which sounds alarming. But Gilbert said when it comes to the risk of actually consuming that E. coli, its low.

There is not a single recorded incident of anybody getting a pathogenic infection from residual dog poop that could have been walked into a home or even transmitted into a home from another person, he said.

And while hospital floors are known to be contaminated, Gilbert said its also not cause for concern even if someone in your home works in a hospital. Between walking from a hospital, to a parking lot, to a car, onto the grass and into a home, much of the bacteria on a shoe is being literally stomped away, he said. So the likelihood of getting sick from contaminated shoes is low.

Theres no such thing as zero, but the probability is so low its something that nobody should ever really be worried about, Gilbert said.

Bacteria from shoe bottoms arent the reason you get sick. Its dirty hands.

The reality is that there is bacteria all around us, whether its on shoes, mail, clothing or money  there is no getting rid of it. Schaffner said the way bacteria tends to spread is via our hands and fingers.

And so the great emphasis has been on hand-washing, hand hygiene, to try to interrupt picking up bacteria or viruses from some inanimate surface and then transferring those germs to our lips, nose, eyes and the like, Schaffner said.

He added that there just isnt research that shows people getting sick from viruses that are tracked inside from the bottoms of shoes.

If there were firm scientific data indicating that we could track [bacteria] into our homes, businesses, schools, religious venues, concerts ... that could be picked up by humans and subsequently make them sick, why is it that we dont have constant public health messages in that regard? Schaffner said.

If this were a way that sickness spread, youd be told time and time again to take off your shoes  just like youre told to wash your hands, stay home if youre sick and wear a mask in crowded indoor spaces to stop the spread of viruses like COVID-19.

The small surface area of the bottom of your shoe is just not a particular threat to the health and well-being of the people in your home, said Jack Gilbert, a professor of pediatrics and an expert in microbial ecology.

The small surface area of the bottom of your shoe is just not a particular threat to the health and well-being of the people in your home, said Jack Gilbert, a professor of pediatrics and an expert in microbial ecology.

There are some non-germ reasons to take off your shoes.

Some people take off their shoes for cultural reasons. Doing this is common in parts of Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Gilbert added that while it is a sign of respect, it may have also stemmed from germ transmission, too, in certain areas like Japan.

It appears to have originated with an understanding that it was inappropriate to bring dirt into ones house because controlling ones house and reducing the amount of germs is considered an honorable thing to do, Gilbert said.

Taking off your shoes is also a way to keep light-colored floors and carpets clean. You can bring things into your home and track it over your carpet and your floor and make a mess, Schaffner said.

To avoid this, you can take off your shoes  but both experts stressed it has nothing to do with bacteria spread. Its just humans wanting to make things look nice ... rather than anything else, Gilbert explained.

I can provide assurance that these respiratory viruses ... are not spread by having them picked up on the soles of the feet and transmitted into the households, Schaffner added.

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Two hours before Fridays hastily scheduled West Bonner School District meeting, a magistrate judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking any actions that would alter the structure of the board or obligate the school district contractually or financially.

First Judicial District Magistrate Judge Lori Meulenberg wrote that actions proposed in Fridays meeting agenda could have caused incomprehensible irreparable harm to the school district.

The order is in effect until the results of Tuesdays successful recall election targeting Chair Keith Rutledge and Vice Chair Susan Brown are official. That is expected to happen on Thursday.

Two West Bonner voters  Peggylee Smith and Dana Douglas  who were part of the recall effort filed the complaint with the court seeking the restraining order. Smith and Douglas alleged that the special meeting violated Idahos law on open meetings, and action items on the agenda threatened to subvert ... lawful election results.

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Activists who planned to attend the meeting in Priest River told the Idaho Statesman that it was canceled after the judges decision.

The North Idaho school board was scheduled to convene the meeting Friday at 6 p.m. Mountain time with a lengthy agenda, three days after school district voters overwhelmingly recalled the two trustees.

The agenda said there would be a reorganization of the board, led by controversial new Superintendent Branden Durst.

The agenda called for dissolving the current five-member board of trustees, turning the meeting over to Durst and electing a new board chair. It also included action on Dursts superintendent contract and right to legal counsel, as well as consideration of legal action against the Idaho State Board of Education.

Word of the special meeting caused a stir. One trustee said she was left in the dark about the plans, and activists who led the effort to recall Rutledge and Brown were outraged. The recalled trustees officially retain their positions until the election results are official, according to Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane.

Im seriously concerned that it is a concerted effort to tie the hands of the next board by the decisively-recalled two board members, Mr. Durst and others before the terms of Mr. Rutledge and Ms. Browns end with the official canvassing confirmation, West Bonner Trustee Margaret Hall told the Idaho Statesman by email.

Reached by phone, Durst declined to comment on what the board planned. Rutledge and Brown did not respond to emailed questions from the Statesman.

Durst said he instructed trustees not to communicate with the media.

The special meeting was set to take place at Priest River Lamanna High Schools cafeteria.

Emails: Durst sought election law clarity amid board power struggle

According to emails obtained by the Statesman, Durst this week asked secretary of state officials to confirm that the recalled trustees wouldnt be removed from office until the election was certified.

On Wednesday, Durst asked Sheryl Millard, assistant manager of the secretary of states elections division, to clarify how the statute governing recall elections is operationalized, according to the emails.

I have competing board members seeking to control the board at this point and I need to know who has the statutory authority to act, he said.

In another email, Durst shared an excerpt from the secretary of states election handbook that says recalled officers are removed following a canvass of votes, when an election is certified. After Millard told Durst that an office attorney was looking into the matter, Durst pressed that the handbook is clear.

I think deviating from that at this point could be seen as highly problematic, he said.

Deputy Secretary of State Rob McQuade later confirmed that the handbook was correct.

Timing of meeting highly inappropriate, trustee said

On Tuesday, roughly two out of three voters in the West Bonner School District recalled Rutledge and Brown.

Recall Replace Rebuild, a political action committee that led the effort, alleged that the trustees failed to uphold their oaths to improve public schools, were disrespectful of their constituents and fellow school board members, and lacked concern for students, The Spokesman-Review reported.

Douglas, chairwoman of Recall Replace Rebuild, told the Statesman that she was disgusted and discouraged as an Idaho citizen by the decision to call the meeting after the recall election.

We do the right thing and we go through the laws and we do exactly what were supposed to do, and it doesnt matter, Douglas said by phone. They can get away with anything and they can do whatever, because we have no one in the state to stand up and help us and enforce the laws.

The timing of Fridays meeting, the evening before a three-day weekend and shortly after a recall election, was highly inappropriate, Hall told the Statesman.

Since both recalled trustees can serve in their full capacity as board members until next Thursday, we should not be reorganizing the board, she said. There are no definitive vacancies until that time.

Hall said that she and Trustee Carlyn Barton werent aware of the meeting until an agenda notice appeared in their email inboxes Thursday afternoon. Barton and Hall voted for Dursts competitor in June when the board selected a new superintendent amid a contentious hiring process. Brown, Rutledge and Troy Reinbold supported the candidacy of Durst, who had no experience as a school administrator or teacher, and lacked the necessary certification to be a superintendent.

In the past, during annual organization meetings each January, the board had allowed the district superintendent to take over meetings and call for nominations of board leadership positions, Hall said. But she called that process incorrect and said it should be changed.

Secretary of state: Recall is official next week

McGrane said Friday that the recall of Rutledge and Brown will take effect on Thursday, Sept. 7, when votes from Tuesdays election become official.

In a news release, McGrane said his office received several inquiries about the recall election and worked closely with the Bonner County clerks office to ensure an accurate and secure election. The 63% voter turnout for Tuesdays election was unprecedented, McGrane said.

The results were clear in the affirmative to recall two school board members, McGrane said in the release. All public officials serve at the pleasure of the people. I encourage everyone to respect the election process and the will of the people of West Bonner who voted on Tuesday.
I'm a 28-year-old who struggled to lose weight. In recent years, I went from 254 to 184 pounds.

I found some picks from Costco helped me make the change in a healthy, sustainable way.

BelVita Breakfast Biscuits, Oikos Greek yogurt, and Kirkland egg whites remain go-to staples.

Costco holds a special place in my heart.

Growing up, it was my mom's regular weekend pit stop. Wandering the aisles was both a delight and a temptation, as with every food I sampled, I was reminded of my lifelong struggle to lose weight.

When the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown happened I saw an opportunity to really focus on my weight-loss goals and went from 254 to 184 pounds.

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Now, as a 28-year-old solo shopper, I use Costco to maintain a healthier weight and lifestyle. I've lost 70 pounds and kept it off for four years (and counting).

Although everyone's weight-loss journey is different and what works for me may not work for others, here are 12 Costco buys that helped me stick to my goals.

BelVita Breakfast Biscuits provide a nice boost in the morning.

I've found each pack of biscuits is pretty filling. David Silbert

BelVita biscuits quickly became my best friend during my weight-loss journey. Each individual pack has four biscuits that offer a mix of fat, fiber, and some vitamins and minerals like iron and B6.

Yes, they have quite a bit of added sugar, but at just 230 calories a package for many of the flavors, I think you get a lot of "bang for your buck."

Costco typically stocks 30-count boxes in two flavors: blueberry and cinnamon brown sugar. Boxes with 30 packs of biscuits retail for $15.

I like to enjoy some Oikos Triple Zero Greek yogurt.

I think Oikos yogurt is a decent source of protein. David Silbert

When belVita biscuits aren't enough to tide me over, I pair them with a cup of low-calorie Greek yogurt.

Although Costco sells plenty of yogurt varieties, Dannon's Oikos brand is one of my favorites. Each cup packs 15 grams of protein and is just 90 calories. In terms of taste, it holds its own against other yogurts despite not having added sugars.

Oikos Triple Zero yogurt comes in an 18-cup variety box. Boxes cost about $13.

Bananas are low-cost, filling, and packed with energy.

Bananas can be good before a midday run. David Silbert

Bananas are one of my all-time favorite fruits. A medium banana is about 105 calories and it has fiber (to help you feel full), potassium (to help get those muscles moving), and other helpful nutrients.

Costco sells Del Monte bananas in bundles of eight to 10. I've found prices hover between $1.00 and $1.50 per pound.

Sometimes I brew a cup or two of coffee to hold me over until lunch.

Costco has plenty of great coffee flavors available. David Silbert

For many, coffee is a zap of energy in the morning. For me, it's a helpful way to curb my appetite when I'm not feeling like having breakfast but don't want an early lunch.

Costco carries a variety of coffee brands including both Starbucks and Dunkin'. Despite my Boston roots, I opt for the Crafted Classics Coffee K-Cup pod variety pack.

The 72-count variety pack contains six different flavors from five brands  including Green Mountain and Newman's Own  and costs about $35.

Costco's organic roasted seaweed is a salty, low-calorie snack.

Kirkland seaweed snacks taste nice and salty. David Silbert

Each individual pack of Kirkland Signature seaweed snacks contains a stack of neatly packed crisps to munch on.

At just 100 calories per package, the seaweed is a nice go-to when I crave something savory but want to avoid higher-calorie snacks like potato chips.

A 10-count bundle of snacks sells for $10.

Try Del Destino organic sliced mangos for a sweet snack.

I eat the mango and then reuse the jars to store other items. David Silbert

If bananas aren't your thing, try Del Destino mango slices. Costco sells pairs of 42-ounce jars for about $12.

The slices are on the larger side, making them nice for individual snacks. Although they're seeped in a thick syrup, I think the syrup itself feels relatively light.

After I eat the sweet slices I use the glass jars they came in to store other foodstuffs.

I use Kirkland Signature chicken breasts for a lot of great meals.

Chicken breast can be cooked on the grill or in an air fryer. David Silbert

Because it's fairly lean, chicken is an all-star weight-loss protein for me. I choose skinless chicken breast over heavier cuts.

Costco sells its chicken breasts in family-sized packages, which are about $3.50 a pound and can last me a few meals.

I pick up a massive bag of Royal basmati rice whenever I run out.

I pair my rice with chicken. David Silbert

When on a tight budget, I've found one of the most cost-effective foods you can buy is rice. For just $20 I was able to find a 20-pound bag of basmati that will last me months, if not an entire year.

Tip: Use one of those Del Destino's mango jars to keep rice on the counter, and store the rest of the rice in your pantry.

Kirkland Signature egg whites help me add more protein to my life.

Sometimes I add a whole egg to egg whites for extra flavor. David Silbert

Eggs are a wonderful source of protein, but the yolks can quickly add up in terms of fat. Kirkland Signature egg whites act as a nice substitute.

Sometimes, if I'm not trying to have a low-calorie dish, I'll add a whole egg to the whites for added flavor.

A single box comes with six 16-ounce cartons, each with 10 25-calorie servings. Boxes retail for about $10.

I didn't give up Rice Krispies Treats during my weight-loss journey.

Rice Krispies Treats are one of my favorite snacks. David Silbert

Yes, I lost 70 pounds, but I did it while eating foods I love. Rice Krispies Treats may not be the healthiest snack on Earth, but they're only 90 calories per bar.

If you have a sweet tooth but want a lower-calorie snack, I think these treats are a great choice. You can get 60 bars for $14 at Costco.

I think Sargento Balanced Breaks are particularly well-portioned snacks.

To me, Balanced Breaks feel like Lunchables for adults. David Silbert

I've found Sargento Balanced Breaks supply a nice mix of fat, sugar, and fiber.

Costco sells two different variety packs: one contains cheese and crackers and the other contains cheese, nuts, and dried fruit.

A box of 12 Balanced Breaks retails for about $10.

Kirkland Signature smoked salmon is seriously delicious.

Pair smoked salmon with crackers for a scrumptious bite. David Silbert

I end my list with what's quite possibly my favorite Kirkland Signature item: smoked salmon. My dad loved bringing home this smoked salmon after work, and I've continued the tradition.

Be careful  it's so good it'll be gone before you know it.

You can buy Kirkland Signature smoked salmon for $24 per package.

Click to keep reading Costco diaries like this one.

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As many communities along Floridas west coast face oppressive heat Friday without air conditioning or electricity, crews are racing to restore power to tens of thousands in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia.

Idalia inflicted record storm surge and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands after making landfall Wednesday morning as a powerful Category 3 storm, the strongest to touch down in Floridas coastal Big Bend region in more than a century.

As of 10 a.m. Friday, more than 90,000 homes and businesses across several counties reported power outages, according to PowerOutages.us. But officials say turning the lights back on is the top priority after the hurricane damaged thousands of homes, and made many roads impassable due to severe flooding and debris as well as downed trees and power lines.

The bulk of the outages at this point are in that Big Bend region  a lot of the rural counties that bore the brunt of the storm, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday during a news conference. And so that is priority number one to start getting those reconnected.

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The pressing need for power restoration comes as temperatures across the Big Bend region  the area between the panhandle and peninsula  are expected to continue seeing heat that can feel as high as 95 degrees Friday. Some areas also dont have clean running water.

Additionally, parts of the Big Bend region could see up to 3 inches of rain Friday into Saturday, which could impede recovery efforts as those areas are already waterlogged from Idalia.

Shonteria Hills found herself with few options when she tried to cool off at her local library in Monticello  a small city roughly 30 miles east of Tallahassee  but couldnt because it was also in the dark.

A destroyed house is seen in Keaton Beach, Florida, on Wednesday after Hurricane Idalia hit. - Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

Thats going to be very tough. Thats going to be very tough living in an area where it is extremely hot as it is, Hills told CNN affiliate WCTV. Were already in the heat. No air. No food. We really dont know how to survive this. We really need answers about when the power is going to be back on.

Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Thursday the biggest concern currently is power restoration, noting that mutual aid resources have been deployed and the US Army Corps of Engineers is on standby to assist.

Making matters even more challenging is that the rain and humidity that arrived after Idalia barreled through caused temperatures to feel like they were well above 100 degrees Thursday.

The destruction Idalia left behind in Florida was not as severe as it could have been. Still, the ferocious storm flooded thousands of homes while ripping off roofs and dumping waist-deep water amounts onto many roads. As it weakened to a tropical storm, it also lashed the Carolinas with intense flooding and whipped up fierce winds in southern Georgia.

Residents express relief as cleanup begins

As of late Thursday, the exact death toll from Idalia and the full extent of damage in Florida were unclear.

After DeSantis and Criswell toured the hard-hit communities of Cedar Key, Horseshoe Beach and Steinhatchee along the west coast in the Big Bend region on Thursday, they said theyd witnessed significant flood damage.

Some residents told CNN they were relieved Idalias aftermath wasnt as bad as they anticipated.

Anthony Altman, the businesses owner of EXPLORIDA, an ecotourism company that offers manatee and scalloping tours, said the impact to his property could have been worse had he not prepared to evacuate ahead of the storm.

Aerial view of the charred remains of a house that burned down after a power transformer explosion Wednesday in Hudson, Florida. - Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images

Altman said he rented a truck and moved his merchandise out of his business in Crystal River before Idalia made landfall, which he said helped minimize damage. Altman and his employees have begun the cleanup, and theyre hoping to reopen soon.

We got about 22 employees that are with us and thats 22 families and all local, so we want to get open for them, Altman said.

Meanwhile in Cedar Key  which is about 55 miles north of Crystal River  several houses along the water were destroyed while homes that are located more inland appeared untouched. Heather Greenwood, who manages Cedar Key Bed & Breakfast on the island, told CNN she was relieved that her property suffered minimal damage.

Look at what is positive about it all. I mean, our house is still standing. Some are not, Greenwood said, noting there was no loss of life in her community.

But deaths have been reported elsewhere. Two men were killed in separate, weather-related crashes Wednesday morning as Idalia barreled across Florida, Sgt. Steve Gaskins of the states highway patrol said.

On Thursday, DeSantis said, So far, theres been one confirmed fatality and that was a traffic fatality in Alachua County. Its not clear why the governor and the highway patrol have different numbers for weather-related deaths. CNN has sought clarification.

Another death was reported in southern Georgias Lowndes County, where a man trying to cut a tree on a highway died after a tree fell on him, Sheriff Ashley Paulk told CNN.

Officials praise residents obeying evacuation warnings

The human impact could have been much worse, according to some experts who credited both the accurate forecast and peoples decisions to follow evacuation warnings.

It seems that people have heeded that call, and were grateful for that, said Kevin Guthrie, who heads the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

The governor echoed Guthries stance: I think those officials in those really hard-hit counties  did a good job. I think citizens responded very appropriately, DeSantis said Thursday.

DeSantis also credited the accuracy of Idalias forecast.

The National Hurricane Center issued its first Idalia forecast last Saturday  back when the storm was near Cozumel, Mexico  and projected a US landfall within 10 miles of where it actually struck five days later, near Keaton Beach, Florida. And by then, at least 28 Florida counties had issued evacuation orders.

These forecasts were pretty doggone accurate, particularly compared to what happened with Hurricane Ian  where we went in a matter of 48 hours to potentially having a Big Bend impact, then all of a sudden migrating all the way down to southwest Florida, DeSantis said Thursday.

The low death toll was probably something that most people would not have bet on, four or five days ago, knowing how strong the storm was going to get, DeSantis said. So, my hats off to the people on the ground there who did a good job.

CNNs Melissa Alonso, Betsy Klein, Mary Gilbert, Robert Shackelford, Carlos Suarez, Denise Royal, Gloria Pazmino and Ila Wilborn contributed to this report.

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Three months after Typhoon Mawar became the strongest storm to hit Guam since 2002, Andersen Air Force Base is getting back on its feet.

All base services, like stores and the daycare, are operational with regular hours, 36th Wing spokesperson 1st Lt. Ariana Wilkinson said Thursday.

Nearly $2M available for military families in Guam after typhoon

Airmen are again allowed to begin new jobs in Guam, following a 60-day order to stop troops from moving to the U.S. territory. Andersens displaced population, which totaled around 400 airmen and their dependents as of early June, has shrunk to zero.

And this weekend, staff at the on-base airport will begin checking in passengers for overseas flights from a cluster of portable trailers  their second temporary office space since the storm wrecked Andersens passenger terminal.

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Its the first steps of a process that could take one to two years, if not longer, to return the Air Forces westernmost outpost in the Pacific to its pre-storm state. The service declined to answer how much the effort may cost, citing a complex web of decisions across multiple branches of the military that have installations on Guam.

Restoring the base that bills itself as Americas forward edge of the Indo-Pacific is as critical to global security as it is for the well-being of troops living there, military officials argue.

The Pentagon views China as Americas top competitor in military strength, technology development and global influence. Defense leaders are also wary of Beijings growing aggression toward Taiwan, the democratically self-governed island that maintains military and trade ties with the United States but is claimed by China.

That makes Andersen, which sits about 1,900 miles from the Chinese mainland and within reach of U.S. allies in the Pacific, a strategic boon in future emergencies.

Guam is of enormous importance, Gen. Mike Minihan, the Air Forces top mobility officer, told Air Force Times during a trip to Andersen in July. If there were anything from crisis to conflict out here, its a place that we would fight from, and its a place that we would fight for.

This May 23 satellite image from NASA shows Typhoon Mawar approaching Guam. (NASA via AP)

Weathering the storm

Mawar made landfall at Andersen around 9 p.m. local time on May 24, pelting Guam with 140 mph winds and 28 inches of rain.

The base of more than 8,000 people is home to a unit of RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drones, but largely supports other military operations across the Pacific. It routinely welcomes bomber squadrons on routine deterrence missions, and is a major hub for training exercises around the region.

Aircraft that could be evacuated were sent away before the storm, and those that werent were parked in hangars. Families hunkered down to ride out the howling winds and pounding rain in the dark, without cell phone or radio service.

Its very traumatizing, said April Gerstner, a Key Spouse at Andersen whose husband works for the 734th Air Mobility Squadron. Youre hearing these full-force winds outside.  You keep hearing these loud thuds outside [of palm trees] hitting the ground.

Key Spouses are volunteers appointed by the unit commander to serve as conduits of information providing resources to Air Force families.

Its a lot of unknown and you have to mentally be OK with it, she said.

Outbound airmen and their families are transported to Hangar 1 on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, May 30. Typhoon Mawar caused significant damage to the 734th Air Mobility Squadron's passenger terminal. With the terminal out of commission, the 734th AMS teamed up with the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron and are now using their hangar as a temporary terminal until repairs to the main facility are complete. (Staff Sgt. Pedro Tenorio/Air Force)

In the weeks that followed, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center dispatched a team to assess the damage, estimate the cost of repairs and craft a way forward. About 500 facilities were damaged, the service said.

Overall, the structures fared really well. We didnt lose any buildings. Were able to continue with our mission, Col. Dustin Born, Andersens on-site cleanup director, told Air Force Times in a recent interview. But we obviously have a lot of facilities that have, now, water infiltration and water damage.

For multiple reasons, Andersen fared better against Typhoon Mawar than Tyndall AFB did against Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm that devastated the Florida base in 2018, said Col. Robert Bartlow, who oversees the Air Forces natural disaster recovery efforts as part of AFCEC.

Andersen saw slower winds and no storm surge because it sits at a higher elevation than Tyndall, Bartlow said. And the buildings on Guam were built to withstand Category 5 storms, which whip an area with winds in excess of 157 mph.

Unlike at Tyndall, none of Andersens facilities suffered structural damage that would require them to be demolished and rebuilt, Born said.

Theres a couple of facilities that were considering possibly doing some new construction on, just because  it would be cost-prohibitive to repair the building, he said. We might be better off just  getting new amenities and building it in a better fashion.

Gerstners outlook was less rosy.

Were slowly getting there, but its gonna take a really long time, because there are buildings that are just completely destroyed, she said.

An initial damage report is conducted May 26 after Typhoon Mawar, a Category 4 storm, hit the island of Guam and damaged Andersen Air Force Base. (Airman 1st Class Allison Martin/Air Force)

Gerstner added that while sandbags provided by the base helped keep her home from flooding, many at Andersen werent as lucky.

Theres a lot of people that dont have carpet in their house because their whole house flooded, she said. People have mold, especially around their vents.

Andersens on-base airport terminal, where airmen and their families catch rides to the U.S. mainland on contracted jets known as space-available flights, was among the worst-hit facilities.

The facilitys water damage and broken roof forced the 734th Air Mobility Squadron, which runs the passenger terminal, to move the jumble of luggage scales and waiting rooms into another squadrons building.

For several weeks, troops and their families arrived and departed through a massive hangar that typically housed Global Hawk drones, but sat empty while the unit temporarily operated from Japan.

Now, travelers will await their flights at a camp of trailers near the old passenger terminal until its extensive restoration is finished.

Itll need to be completely remodeled inside  taking out all the sheetrock, basically, gut it down to the studs, and if those are still good, then itll be rebuilt from there, Born said.

Cleanup is a multi-step process. First, the military works to restore basic utilities like water and power, and moves downed trees that are blocking major roadways and threatening homes. Contractors come in to seal the buildings to ensure that more rain cant get in during Guams frequent tropical showers and any other major storms that follow.

Then buildings get internal makeovers, with new flooring, paint and furniture. Borns team will look at ways to secure the facilities against stronger storms, like adding roofs that can withstand 200 mph winds and shatter-resistant windows.

The Air Force may add tile to the bottom foot or two of walls to prevent future water damage and mold, Born said.

Its an opportunity to make sure that were fixing things correctly, he said. Were going to try to find the newest technology that has the best capabilities to withstand another typhoon.

Large construction projects are made more complicated and expensive by Guams distance from the continental U.S. Materials can take up to two months to arrive by ship, Born said.

Whats more, the limited equipment and labor pool must be shared by the islands public and private sectors, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Pentagon. The 15-hour time difference between Guam and Bartlows office in Florida has created other hurdles for program management.

Juan Mercado, GS-11 duty officer with the 734th Air Mobility Squadron, loads a water tanker, to be distributed to local Guam communities, on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, June 6. Joint military service members from across U.S. Indo-Pacific Command supported FEMA and worked with Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands officials to recover from the devastating impacts of Typhoon Mawar. (Airman 1st Class Allison Martin/Air Force)

I think weve overcome that, Bartlow said. Theres been a great deal of coordination  but it is a challenge.

Building back better

How much the recovery effort may cost and how long it may take depend on how extensively the Pentagon uses the storm as a chance to build a better base.

Andersen was already in the midst of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of upgrades when Mawar struck. The typhoon has presented more opportunities to improve upon facilities built in the late 1940s.

The Air Forces fiscal 2024 budget asks Congress to fund a new area on the flight line to fit 14 B-52 Stratofortress bombers and additional tanker aircraft, plus the communications and electrical infrastructure to support those operations.

Without this apron and the supporting utilities, Andersen AFB will be unable to adequately support the bomber aircraft operations during contingencies, significantly impacting readiness and degrading operational capability, the service wrote.

Debris litters base housing on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, May 26. (Screen grab from video by Staff Sgt. Divine Cox/Air Force)

It cautioned that failing to build new parking may increase the potential for a serious mishap.

The Air Force in 2021 began work on a new weapons storage complex at Andersen that will house dozens of the long-range missiles seen as crucial in a potential war with China.

We can rapidly reload bomber aircraft. When they land here, they can get rapidly re-armed and take back off again, Maj. Timothy Wu, commander of the 36th Munitions Squadron, said last year. It increases the lethality for a second strike.

A slew of other air defense projects are poised to turn Guam into the most densely protected place anywhere on the planet, defense publication The Drive wrote Aug. 11.

During Minihans tour of mobility squadrons at the base, airmen pointed out that certain hangars were built to Navy standards rather than the Air Forces, making them too small to comfortably move equipment.

Damage to the appliance storage building on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, was extensive. (Screen grab from video by Staff Sgt. Pedro Tenorio/Air Force)

That issue and more could be wrapped into the Air Forces post-storm plan for Andersen.

To pay for it, a first tranche of money could come as part of a stopgap bill to fund the federal government in the early months of fiscal 2024, while Congress hashes out an appropriations package to last the rest of the year.

We were able to take money from our FY 23  appropriations to start some of the immediate emergency repairs, Born said. As we dwindle down to the end of FY 23  we are looking for special appropriations to make 24 flow through smoothly so we can continue our repairs.

Further funding would factor into the Pentagons annual budget request in fiscal 2025 and beyond.

Its complicated by the fact that weve got multiple services and installations, and a U.S. territory involved here, Bartlow said. I think theres differing approaches on how  you fund this, recognizing the fact that its got to be coordinated.

Guams status as a U.S. territory gives it a smaller congressional delegation than states  one nonvoting member in the House of Representatives  which can hamper its ability to advocate for more funds and attention.

But Guams strategic importance in the Pacific has made it a prime destination for federal investment and garnered more interest from U.S. politicians. It has welcomed a growing number of federal lawmakers and military leaders on official visits, and recently hosted its first congressional field hearing since 2007.

I think theyre able to see pretty clearly the level of impact, and the need for making sure that our strategic interests are repaired and aligned with what the nation needs, Born said.

Airmen assigned to the 734th Air Mobility Squadron assist with cargo of Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, 26 May. (Staff Sgt. Divine Cox/Air Force)

Just a normal day

While the Pentagon mounts its recovery effort, airmen are contending with the realities of daily life after a natural disaster.

Finding fresh, good-quality food has been difficult, Gerstner said, as have periodic power outages as the island repairs its electrical grid.

Typhoon Mawar exacerbated the longstanding difficulties that military spouses have with finding jobs on Guam, and stretched mental health services even thinner. And the order barring new airmen from arriving at Andersen also strained squadrons that are perennially short-staffed, Gerstner said.

Some airmen have taken to social media to complain about food prices, moldy dormitories and other housing problems.

An anonymous complaint posted Aug. 15 on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page appears to show nearly bare shelves at a military-run grocery store.

Just a normal day at the commissary here in Guam, the post read. Off to the grocery store out in town where Ill pay $15+ dollars for a gallon of milk alone.

Ahead of the storm, the Pentagon shrank its cost-of-living allowance for troops stationed overseas, arguing that the price of goods and services was on par with those in the continental U.S.

That left Andersen airmen with less in their wallets amid post-typhoon spikes in food and gas prices. Gerstner said it has forced her family to think twice about their purchases and buy lower-quality food than they might otherwise eat.

On Aug. 1, Joint Region Marianas announced the Pentagon had canceled another planned cut to the allowance of those stationed in Guam. The second decrease was scheduled for November.

Gerstner praised the responsiveness of base leaders and the Andersen community throughout the crisis, and wants to see more typhoon-preparation classes for airmen and their families to keep people safer in the future.

But healing emotional wounds from the storm will take time.

Some days I have good days, where its like, Oh, were getting back to normal. Things are looking great, Gerstner said. Then I see something  it could be a post, or it could be a part of the island that still looks really bad  and it feels like its the week after the typhoon again.

An initial damage report is conducted and cleanup gets underway May 26 after a typhoon hit the island of Guam and damaged Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. (Screen grab from video by Airman 1st Class Spencer Perkins)
SAN DIEGO  The red tide is back and its rolling what appears to be electric blue waves into parts of San Diegos coastline.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography captured aerial images this week of a red tide along Del Mars Pacific edge.

While speaking from Scripps Pier, Drew Lucas, an associate professor with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, explained the science behind this marvel.

New local bike park offers downhill riding for thrill seekers

Youll see a red tide if you come to the beach. You look out, youll notice that the water is extremely red-colored, rust-colored. And it has to do with an accumulation of millions and millions and billions of cells of an organism called Lingulodinium polyedra (L. poly), which is a dinoflagellate  a type of plankton, Lucas explained.

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Red tide is a general name for the discoloration that results from the algae bloom.

A red tide near a Del Mar mooring was spotted quickly moving landward during the last week of August. (Photo: Quinn Montgomery)

A red tide near a Del Mar mooring was spotted quickly moving landward during the last week of August. (Photo: Quinn Montgomery)

During that time, theres a chance to see bioluminescence at the beach. This is due to the L. poly, which is a bioluminescent organism.

Lucas explained that when these organisms are physically disturbed by a breaking wave, boats or even dolphins moving through the water, the physical disturbance induces the plankton to release a flash of light.

This week, there have been reported sightings of bioluminescent waves in several San Diego areas. This includes Scripps Pier north, Encinitas D Street, Moonlight State Beach, Terramar Point in Carlsbad and Oceansides south strand.

Thats according to San Diego photographer Vishwas Lokesh who captured some footage of this weeks bioluminescence near Scripps Pier.

Red tides typically last for several weeks, though major events can last for a couple months.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
The Australian airline Qantas is under fire from the country's competition regulator.

It's accusing Qantas of continuing to sell tickets for 8,000 flights that had been cancelled.

And it's seeking a record-breaking fine in the hundreds of millions of dollars, per Reuters.

Qantas could be fined hundreds of millions of dollars for selling tickets for thousands of flights that had already been cancelled if regulators get their way, Reuters reported.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced Thursday that it was taking the airline to court, accusing it of engaging in false, misleading, or deceptive conduct.

The ACCC alleges that the Australian flag-carrier kept selling tickets for more than 8,000 flights between May and July 2022, for an average of more than two weeks after they were cancelled.

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It also said that, for over 10,000 flights across the same period, Qantas didn't tell ticket holders their flights had been canceled for an average of 18 days. And in some cases, people weren't told about the cancellations until 48 days afterwards, according to the ACCC.

That amounts to 70% of cancelled Qantas flights where tickets were still sold or ticket holders weren't told for at least two days after the cancelation, the regulator said.

Gina Cass-Gottlieb, the ACCC chair, said this likely affected the travel plans of tens of thousands of people, and "left customers with less time to make alternative arrangements and may have led to them paying higher prices."

According to Reuters, Cass-Gottlieb said the ACCC would seek a fine that was "signficantly more" than the record $81 million Volkswagen was fined in 2019  in relation to its emissions scandal where it cheated tests that identified harmful exhaust fumes.

"We think the penalty should be in hundreds of millions, not tens of millions", she added, per Reuters. "We would want to get more than twice that figure."

Qantas did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside Australian working hours. It told Reuters that it would review the allegations made by the ACCC and respond to them in court.

Read the original article on Business Insider
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Each year, dozens of K-9s are killed in the line of dutysome while tracking suspects; others in tragic accidents; and many while protecting their handlers.

Mans best friend has long served alongside law enforcement, and on Sept. 1, which is recognized as National Police K-9 Day, time is set aside to recognize not only the dogs who continue to serve their communities but the fallen K-9s across the United States.

Person dead, police K-9 injured after officer-involved shooting at East TN home

Most police K-9s serve in the force for six to nine years, unless their lives are cut short, according to the National Police Dog Foundation. In Tennessee, the Officer Down Memorial Page has identified at least 10 K-9s that have been killed in the line of duty since 1966.

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However, the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks national line-of-duty deaths, noted that researchers are still working to ensure the list of fallen K-9s is complete.

The Humphreys County Sheriffs Office was one of the most recent agencies to lose one of its K-9 officers. K-9 Ciro had served with the sheriffs office for four years before he was killed in a tragic fire.

CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime news from Middle Tennessee

Below is a list of Tennessee K-9s who have died in the line of duty and their stories, based on the list compiled by the Officer Down Memorial Page.

Humphreys County Sheriffs Office

(Courtesy: Humphreys County Sheriffs Office)

K-9 Ciro

End of Watch: Thursday, March 3, 2022

K-9 Ciro, a 5-year-old German Shepherd, died after his handlers patrol car experienced an electrical failure that caused a fire to ignite in the dashboard. K-9 Ciros handler was attending court inside the Humphreys County Courthouse at the time.

SEE ALSO: Humphreys County K-9 dies in patrol car fire

A bystander spotted the fire and alerted nearby deputies, who reportedly broke out the windows and tried to pry the security bars off the window frames but could not get to K-9 Ciro in time. By the time they got to K-9 Ciro, he had succumbed to smoke inhalation.

The deputies suffered second-degree burns while trying to rescue K-9 Ciro. He served with the Humphreys County Sheriffs Office for four years and was certified as a patrol and narcotics canine.

La Vergne Police Department

(Courtesy: La Vergne Police Department/WKRN)

K-9 Sjaak

End of Watch: Wednesday, November 18, 2020

K-9 Sjaak, an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois, died a day after being injured when a person opened fire on his handlers patrol car with an AR-15 rifle. The patrol car had just pulled out of the police departments parking lot when another car pulled up next to it and began shooting.

K-9 Sjaak was struck multiple times by rounds that penetrated the patrol cars door and kennel. His handler chased the suspect into an apartment complex on Rutherford Point Circle where the man reportedly exited his car and opened fire again.

READ MORE: La Vergne K-9 officer dies from injuries suffered in shooting

Officers returned fire and wounded the man, who then got back into his vehicle and drove a short distance before crashing into a parked car. The man was found dead in his car. K-9 Sjaaks handler discovered hed been shot following the chase.

He was taken to a veterinary hospital where he died from his wounds after undergoing surgery. K-9 Sjaak served with the La Vergne Police Department for six years.

Crossville Police Department

(File photo)

K-9 Cain

End of Watch: Wednesday, August 2, 2017

K-9 Cain, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois, was stabbed to death by a person who had reportedly stolen a tractor-trailer. A Cumberland County deputy tried to stop the semi around 4 a.m. after it was involved in a hit-and-run near the intersection of Highway 68 and Highway 127.

RELATED: Crossville police K-9 dies after being stabbed by suspect

The driver led the deputy and other responding officers on a pursuit before crashing into a tree on Genesis Road at Obed River. K-9 Cain was released and went after the driver as he ran into the woods. He later returned to his handler after suffering numerous stab wounds to his chest.

K-9 Cain was rushed to UT Veterinary Medical Center but ultimately passed away. The suspect was taken into custody by other officers. K-9 Cain served with the Crossville Police Department for three years.

Monroe County Sheriffs Office

(File photo)

K-9 Vigor

End of Watch: Wednesday, March 9, 2016

K-9 Vigor, a 9-year-old Dutch Shepherd, drowned in the Tellico River while he and his handler were tracking a wanted suspect in the Cherokee National Forest. While trying to cross the river, Vigor and his handler were swept downstream by a strong current.

SEE ALSO: East Tennessee K-9 officer drowns chasing suspect

His handler was able to make it to shore, but K-9 Vigor was carried further downstream several hundred more yards. Another deputy swam into the river and grabbed K-9 Vigor, but efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

The person K-9 Vigor was tracking was later taken into custody. K-9 Vigor served with the Monroe County Sheriffs Office for five years and was previously deployed to Iraq while serving as a military working dog in the U.S. Army.

Metro Nashville Police Department

K-9 Aron

End of Watch: Thursday, May 14, 1998

K-9 Aron, a 3-year-old German Shepherd, was shot and killed while he and his handler were trying to apprehend a man who had just robbed a bank. K-9 Aron tracked the man, who was armed with two handguns, into the woods after he ran out of the bank.

Woman attempts to stab police K9 with scissors, MNPD says

While in the woods, the man reportedly fired at K-9 Aron and his handler, who was shot in the foot and wounded. K-9 Aron got in between his handler and the suspect but was critically wounded after the man continued shooting.

Unable to use his front legs, K-9 Aron was able to push himself back to his handler. He was then taken to an emergency animal hospital where he succumbed to his wounds. K-9 Aron served with the Metro Nashville Police Department for one year.

K-9 Ingo

End of Watch: Thursday, December 4, 1986

K-9 Ingo, a 5-year-old German Shepherd, was shot and killed while trying to apprehend a bank robbery suspect. He and his handler cornered the man behind a staircase inside of an apartment complex, where the suspect emerged and opened fire.

Memorial set up in La Vergne for slain police K-9

K-9 Ingo was struck while trying to protect his handler. His handler returned fire and wounded the suspect, who was taken into custody. K-9 Ingo served with the Metro Nashville Police Department for five years.

Bristol Police Department

K-9 Boris

End of Watch: Tuesday, February 13, 1996

K-9 Boris was shot and killed while tracking two suspects who had reportedly shot at a civilian and an officer during an attempted carjacking. Two of the four suspects involved were arrested after crashing their vehicle and fleeing on foot.

An officer chased the remaining suspects, but they managed to escape. K-9 Boris assisted officers in tracking the two suspects into Bristol, Virginia. As K-9 Boris moved in to apprehend the suspects, who were hiding under a tractor-trailer, they opened fire and killed him.

Clarksville Police Department

K-9 King

End of Watch: Monday, May 22, 1978

K-9 King, a 4-year-old German Shepherd, was shot and killed while he and his handler were responding to a burglary in progress call near Spring Street.

New police K-9 Turbo selected to serve La Vergne

As his handler approached the home, the suspect reportedly emerged from a doorway, raised a shotgun and fired. K-9 King sprang up in front of his handler to protect him and took the entire blast.

Dickson Police Department

K-9 Max

End of Watch: Tuesday, June 14, 1977

K-9 Max and Deputy Sheriff Robert Mayo of the Dickson County Sheriffs Office were shot and killed while trying to arrest two people who had escaped from the Dickson County Jail. One of the escapees was a man being held on an attempted murder charge.

After escaping from the Dickson County Jail, the man and a woman broke into a home and robbed the owner. A Dickson County constable found the couple driving the victims stolen car on Highway 49 the next day and initiated a pursuit.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

The couple ran off after crashing about four miles east of Charlotte, leading to a manhunt. K-9 Max found the man hiding in a tree and was fatally shot. Deputy Mayo heard the shots and was shot in the neck as he neared the area.

The man was able to escape but was later shot and killed during a shootout with members of the Connecticut State Police. K-9 Max served with the Dickson Police Department for seven months.

Chattanooga Police Department

K-9 Apache

End of Watch: Tuesday, March 29, 1966

K-9 Apache died from injuries he sustained in a car accident as his handler was responding to a burglary in progress call. The officer crashed his patrol car while trying to avoid a hazard in the roadway. K-9 Apaches injuries were so severe he had to be euthanized.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
When Lynn and Carrie were served eviction papers just a week before Christmas in 2022, they thought it was a mistake.

The couple  who declined to give their real names due to privacy concerns  had lived in their two-bedroom apartment in San Luis Obispo for more than two decades under the same landlord until late 2022.

Thats when the landlord sold the fourplex occupied by Lynn, Carrie and their neighbors to a new owner, whose name has also been withheld for privacy reasons.

As soon as they closed escrow, they immediately did the maximum 10% (rent) increase, Carrie said of the new landlord. A month later, they evicted us.

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Carrie and Lynn had lost their longtime home due to whats known as a no-fault, just cause eviction based on significant renovations to the property.

Such so-called renovictions have grown more common in California in recent years as COVID-19 pandemic-related protections for renters have lapsed.

Kevin Green, legal director of civil law services at the San Luis Obispo Legal Assistance Foundation, helps some tennants navagate eviction-related legal issues.

What is a renoviction?

Since the Tenant Protection Act of 2019  previously known as Assembly Bill 1482  went into effect Jan. 1, 2020, it has become far more difficult for landlords to evict tenants, according to Kevin Green, legal director of civil law services at the San Luis Obispo Legal Assistance Foundation.

Under the Tenant Protection Act, landlords must have a just cause to terminate a tenancy, Green said.

The law also limits annual rent increases to no more than 5% plus the local consumer price index, or 10%, whichever is lower, he said.

Just cause evictions can be fault based or non-fault based, Green said.

Fault-based evictions typically involve tenants who fail to pay rent, breach the terms of their lease, use the unit illegally or cause nuisances and make messes, according to the Office of the California Attorney General.

Non-fault-based evictions can happen when tenants are removed due to owners moving into the property, taking the unit off the rental market, complying a government order or demolishing or substantially remodeling the unit, the state Attorney Generals Office said.

Landlords will often just assert that a substantial remodel is the basis for the eviction, Green told The Tribune. However, upon inquiry, we often find that landlords are only doing cosmetic improvements, and cosmetic improvements alone do not qualify as a substantial remodel.

Rather, a substantial remodel entails the replacement or modification of structural, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical systems, and usually requires a permit from a governmental agency, Green said.

In some cases, such remodels deal with the abatement of hazardous materials, including lead-based paint, mold or asbestos that cannot be reasonably accomplished in a safe manner with the tenant in place, Green said.

Most importantly, a substantial remodel requires the tenant to vacate the residential property for at least 30 days, Green said.

Landlords eager to bring in new tenants on new, market-rate leases may turn to renovictions to kick out current renters, knowing that most will not push the issue and take their chances in court, Green said.

Such renovictions ... often involve situations where the landlord has a long-term tenant who has not, during the course of the tenancy, received rent increases, Green said.

In the years since the Tenant Protection Act went into effect, renovictions have increased in San Luis Obispo County and the rest of California, Green said, although SLOLAF doesnt have exact figures on how often they occur.

This San Luis Obispo couple was forced out of their their rental of 20 years when a new owner bought the property, renovated it and significantly raised the rent, seen here Aug. 25, 2023. Their identities are private because they dont want to make it more difficult to rent in the future.

Why was SLO couple evicted from apartment?

At the time they were evicted from their San Luis Obispo apartment, Carrie and Lynn were paying $1,500 a month in rent, Carrie said, and would have payed north of $2,000 to keep their place.

According to an online listing posted after the eviction, their former unit now rents for $3,500 a month, Carrie said.

When The Tribune reached out to the new owner via property management firm Haven Properties to confirm the current rental rate, they said it was market rent based on condition and location.

We actually didnt even get a chance to offer more rent, because they would not speak to us, Lynn said. Our intention was to work with them and negotiate, because we were going into the holiday season running our business.

The couples business is agriculture-related, and the eviction came during peak harvest season, they said.

Carrie and Lynn said they kept the property in good condition during the two decades they lived there, but the new owner told them it required more extensive renovations.

However, the property owner said via email the unit was in disrepair due to deferred maintenance by the previous owner and misuse by the existing tenants.

The tenants had proven to be poor stewards of the property for the previous owner, which automatically excluded them from selection upon completion, the new owner told The Tribune in an email response shared via Haven Properties owner Gavin Payne. His company manages the fourplex.

Carrie and Lynn denied being poor stewards of the property, and said that the unit, while possibly messy, was safe.

Though Carrie and Lynn asked San Luis Obispo city officials and the San Luis Obispo City Council for help, the eviction stood, and the couple was forced to downsize to a studio apartment.

Lynn said the propertys new owner gave the couple $1,600  their last month of rent  as assistance after the eviction in accordance with the Tenant Protection Act, though she said that wasnt enough for a security deposit in many rentals in San Luis Obispo County.

It did become more dicey because I lost my job in January, Carrie said. Then we couldnt get a lease anywhere because we didnt have W2 income, so we had to stay with friends for six months until I got a new job.

Our business is still getting off the ground and struggling, so we didnt really have much income to qualify for a $3,000 rent, she added.

The couples previous landlord said he had kept rents low in the San Luis Obispo apartments for several years to keep turnover low, and the apartment needed some repairs after 50 years of habitation.

I think the folks that bought (the unit) are really a decent people, the former owner said. Honestly, they didnt take advantage of anybody. They did what was necessary.

In his response, the propertys new owner said he purchased the fourplex with the intent of housing his parents in one apartment while renting out the rest of the units.

The new owner said he spent around $200,000 over five to six months removing asbestos from the ceiling of Carrie and Lynns former apartment as well as gutting the kitchen and bathrooms, changing out windows, removing an electric heat source and installing a new heating system and ducting.

The new owner said he also installed new flooring and tiling, along with new cabinetry, countertops, flooring, fixtures, toilets and window coverings.

Carrie and Lynn said the risk of asbestos exposure wasnt mentioned during their roughly more than? 20 years living at the property. While the unit may have been old, they said, it was still habitable.

Eviction has become a negative term, yet it is often the only legal remedy to protect the property owners rights, the new owner said. In this case, the right to improve my property to provide improved living conditions and a return on my investment. This eviction was a just cause eviction under the terms of the (California) Tenant Protection Act.

Gavin Payne is the owner of Haven Properties, a San Luis Obispo-based property management company.

Property manager: Owners need to work with tenants

Payne acknowledged that renovictions occur in SLO County and described them as a symptom of the Tenant Protection Acts limits on rent increases.

In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, eviction moratoriums massively impacted property owners who lost money from unpaid rents while continuing to make mortgage and insurance payments, Payne said.

The Tenant Protection Acts cap on rent increases left property owners with fewer options to recoup that lost income, Payne said, because the state government did not consider the needs of landlords and property managers.

The state is making the housing crisis a property owners problem, and its not. Its the states problem, Payne said. The haves  the property owners  end up carrying the burden, and the have nots tend to get a louder voice.

As a result, property owners have gotten worsening returns on their investments, creating the incentive to abuse loopholes such as renovictions, Payne said.

You show me an opportunity for somebody to make a buck by going through a loophole and two out of every 10 people are gonna go through there, Payne said. I think the vast majority (of property owners) are law-abiding and are conscious of their tenants rights, and theyre conscious of their own rights.

To prevent renovictions, he said, owners need to work with tenants so they can perform remodels and increase rents to offset the costs of renovations.

That would be fair, and that would incentivize the tenant to say, Yeah, Id love a new kitchen, and yes, I would happily pay 10% more of my rent to have a new kitchen,  Payne said. Thats the problem with the California Tenant Protection Act: its a tenant protection act. Theres nothing in there that says, Hey, listen tenants, you have to work with the landlord on this. 

Can renters fight renovictions?





Stanley Tzankov, an organizer with the Santa Barbara Tenants Union, said the group was formed three years ago to help tenants navigate the new regulations in the rental market. The union later shifted its focus to renovictions as coronavirus pandemic-related renter protections expired.

Tzankov said those newly-won protections are already playing an important role in a rental market where developers have put a bullseye on a lot of tenants.

Earlier this year, Chicago-based developer Core Spaces purchased a total of 254 units across four apartment buildings on six acres in Isla Vista collectively known as CBC & The Sweeps for $91 million, and served tenants a 60-day eviction notice the following day.

The move sparked protests by dozens of Isla Vista tenants, prompting local policymakers to take a look at reining in renovictions.

The Santa Barbara City Council voted 7-0 in March to tighten its rules surrounding just cause evictions, by adding a provision to its existing just cause eviction ordinance that requires owners obtain all permits necessary before demolishing or substantially remodeling a building.

Tzankov said the updates may make it easier for tenants of CBC & The Sweeps who want to stay in place.

However, that doesnt mean theyll be able to pay the higher rents that often follow renovictions, he said.

A way for these these investment companies to really squeeze out as much profit as they can and more profits for their shareholders, is really to try and deregulate the rent, Tzankov said.

Green said SLOLAF and other legal aid organizations can often provide free legal help to eligible individuals, including identifying a renoviction in progress.

However, fighting a renoviction in court doesnt guarantee a win for the tenant, Green said.

Green suggested San Luis Obispo County should pass an ordinance regulating the basis for evictions based on substantial remodels that would require proof of permits from a government agency.

Those permits would need to prove the work could not be accomplished in a safe manner, and than the work would require the tenant to vacate the property for at least 30 days before a landlord could file any unlawful detainer actions against a tenant, Green said.

Alternatively, a local rule of court for the courts of San Luis Obispo County could require such proof be attached to any complaint if the landlord seeks to evict a tenant based upon a claim of substantial remodel, Green said.

Though Carrie and Lynn managed to stay housed during their eviction and have since found a new place to live, others have likely not been as fortunate.

Its a thorny topic, Carrie acknowledged.

You should be able to renovate a unit, but not if youre just doing it to evict people so you can get market rates, she said. Theres something else screwy about the landscape of housing thats incentivizing this behavior, and its hurting our economy.
Ohio state Rep. Bob Young, on monitor, and attorney John Greven listen as visiting Judge Edward O'Farrell orders that Young wears a GPS monitor as a condition of his release from jail after he pleaded not guilty to violating a protection order Wednesday during his arraignment in Barberton.

State Rep. Bob Young allegedly left phone calls, voicemails and an envelope with family members protected by a no-contact order over a month after the Republican lawmaker of Green was accused of assaulting two family members.

A case report obtained by the Beacon Journal from the Summit County Sheriff's Office Friday morning details Young's alleged attempts to contact those protected family members.

Rep. Young won't resign: Police report says child witnessed him slap woman, throw phone

Young pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning to a first-degree misdemeanor charge of violating the terms of the protection order. A judge ordered him to wear a GPS monitor as a condition of his release.

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Following Young's court appearance, Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens ousted him from his Ohio House Pension Committee chairman role Thursday.

Later Thursday, a jury trial was set for Oct. 24 on first-degree misdemeanor charges of domestic violence, assault and violating a protection order against Young.

Three calls on Aug. 26

Officials said Young used his cellphone to call and try to leave three voicemails on a landline used by a family member who is protected by the no-contact order between 10:35 p.m. and 11:01 p.m. on Aug. 26.

The name of the family member is redacted. However, the records indicate his wife told police she pulled the telephone cable out of an answering machine before Young could leave a third voicemail at 11:01 p.m.

No information was provided in the report as to the details of the first voicemail.

During the second voice message at 10:47 p.m., Young asked a family member to call him back.

In the message he described his day "as if he was telling a story to a third party," police said. Young talked "about his past indiscretions in his relationship with (redacted)" and "how he would like to move on together."

Police reported that Young's wife identified the voice on the recordings as her husband's.

The case report also mentioned that the individual protected by the no-contact order told authorities that she had requested to have her mail forwarded to a post office box on Aug. 8, but she discovered on Aug. 17 that Young had separately filed a request for mail coming to the residence to be held.

Additionally, she said, an envelope was given to her on Aug. 21 with an unsigned, unaddressed letter and a check for $500 signed by Young. Details about how the envelope was delivered were redacted, and the report did not contain information about what the letter said.

Accusations of domestic violence and assault

Young pleaded not guilty earlier this month to two other first-degree misdemeanor charges of assault and domestic violence.

He is accused of slapping his wife at 1 a.m. July 7 during a private party held at his home after a GOP fundraiser earlier that night. A witness statement from another woman dated Aug. 8 alleges Young also "struck" her at the same July 7 event, according to records obtained by the newspaper.

In this image from body-worn camera, a Summit County Sheriff's deputy takes picture of a broken storm door and a flower pot that was knocked over July 7 during a domestic dispute at the home of a relative of Rep. Bob Young, R-Green. Young was indicted this week on two first-degree misdemeanors for domestic violence the night before and assault for this incident where a relative blocked him from entering his home. Blood is visible on the steps.

Later on July 7, Young allegedly charged a family member to gain entry into a home where his wife and child fled, according to police. The relative, defending himself, pushed the lawmaker back through the glass storm door.

He faces no felony charges now, though he was initially charged with a felony count of disrupting public service. A felony conviction would have prevented Young from serving as a state representative.

Judge Edward OFarrell ended Young's $5,000 bond in the case and released him on personal recognizance with the promise that Young would remain in touch with his attorney and show up for future court proceedings.

Both restraining orders were left in place.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Rep. Bob Young allegedly contacted family despite no-contact order
WASHINGTON, D.C. (NEXSTAR)  Republican lawmakers are fighting to stop the prosecutions of former President Donald Trump on both the federal and state level.

Altogether, Trump is accused of dozens of crimes across four different cases. His allies are threatening to defund those prosecutions.

Congressman Andrew Clyde wants to stop funding from the state and federal prosecutors going after the former president. He plans to use the annual budget process to do that by introducing amendments to prohibit the use of federal money in cases against major presidential candidates before the 2024 election.

X, formerly Twitter, to allow paid political advertising again

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Its wrong, what were seeing. And I think the only way to fix that is to defund it, Clyde said. Using the tremendous power of the federal government against a political opponent, I mean thats clearly election interference.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is also promising to defund prosecutors.

Im not going to continue to fund the Biden regimes weaponized government. So, there should be no funding for Jack Smiths special counsel, Greene said.

While Clyde says he believes Trump will ultimately be acquitted, he argues the legal fights still do damage.

The penalty is the process, so youre taking him away from being able to properly be able to campaign, youre putting him in a courtroom, youre forcing him to use his resources against a criminal prosecution, Clyde said.

But the defunding effort is facing pushback from those who want to see the legal process play out.

I dont know what else to do: Man at odds with custom auto shop over wheelchair modifications for truck

House Appropriations ranking Democrat Rosa DeLauro called out the Republican tactics.

It is shameful that the majoritys baseless attacks on federal law enforcement have made the leap from irresponsible rhetoric into appropriations language, DeLauro said. This is naked politicization of our criminal justice system, and we cannot allow political influence over law enforcement activity to become the norm.

Democrats add that even without Clydes amendments, Republicans havent been able to get their Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill out of committee. That means the controversial defunding provisions could only further complicate the heated budget process.

On a state level Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is taking on fellow Republicans. He criticized calls from Georgia lawmakers to impeach and defund Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting the former president.

As long as Im governor, were going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms politically, Kemp said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
(Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential candidates plan to gather at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa for their third debate, according to people familiar with the events planning.

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The showcase in the heart of the Deep South could prove decisive for some candidates, as the party looks to winnow the roster of those seeking the nomination.

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Former President Donald Trump, who skipped the first debate in Milwaukee and has indicated he will also avoid a contest late next month at the Reagan Presidential Library in California, has been less definitive on the possibility of attending the third encounter.

A Trump spokesman, Steven Cheung, referred to the former presidents earlier vow on Truth Social to stay out of the debates. I would take that as his position until he says otherwise, Cheung said.

The Republican National Committee has not finalized plans for the Alabama debate, and those familiar with the planning who described the effort on the condition of anonymity say that the party is weighing dates in late October or early November.

Trumps attendance would mark a turning point in a campaign that has seen him build an overwhelming lead over his second-place rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in polls of Republican primary voters.

Eight candidates took the stage at the first debate last week in Milwaukee. The second debate, to be held Sept. 27, will likely see a smaller field as the RNC incrementally increases the qualification requirements for each debate.

(Updates with Trump campaign statement, in the third paragraph)

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WASHINGTON  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a doctors note Thursday saying he is clear to return to work after he appeared to freeze up for the second time in two months.

But that isnt satisfying Republicans who are raising concerns that McConnell, R-Ky., the longest-serving leader in Senate history, isnt being fully transparent about his health issues.

If he wants to stay as leader, he needs to be transparent and open about his current condition, said a House Republican, who requested anonymity to discuss McConnells health.

A second House Republican, who is close to leadership, said McConnell, 81, has a greater obligation to be forthcoming about any medical issue because of his leadership post, which allows him to participate in classified Gang of Eight briefings about some of the most sensitive national security issues.

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McConnell should be more transparent by virtue of that position, and Im not sure thats inappropriate, the second GOP lawmaker said. I mean, the role that leaders are asked to play, its a very serious calling and position, and it has an impact on all the membership.

Hes obviously, you know, a proud man. Hes been a strong leader. He relishes the position, the second lawmaker said. And people in that position arent apt to give it up  until they wheel them out.

Tuesday, just a day before McConnells latest freeze, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., disclosed to the public that he had not been feeling well and had been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma," which he described as "a very treatable blood cancer. He will undergo treatment for the next several months, he said, which will take him away from Washington.

The explanation for McConnells staring spells has not been as straightforward, with his aides chalking it up to things like lightheadedness and dehydration; on Thursday his office acknowledged a connection between the incidents and the concussion he suffered after a fall this year. And his aides and close allies have been circling the wagons as they try to navigate what might be the most politically vulnerable moment of his nearly 40-year Senate career.

McConnell's office and allies are declining to talk in a detailed way about the two episodes, share any medical diagnosis from his doctors or engage about whether he will be able to lead Senate Republicans through the 2024 election, as he has pledged to do.

After having said McConnell would consult a physician Wednesday, his team did not answer whether he had, in fact, seen his doctor. And it did not say when or where McConnells next public appearances would be. Asked by NBC News whether McConnell recently saw his team of neurologists cited in his medical statement Thursday, his office did not respond.

Former aides still close to McConnell declined to comment for this article, even anonymously.

Potential successors to McConnell continue to voice support for him.

After Wednesdays freeze, Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and several other members of McConnells leadership team spoke by phone with him and issued statements with the same sunny message: The leader sounded just fine, and they look forward to seeing him next week when the Senate returns from its summer recess.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., said in a tweet Thursday evening that she'd spoken to McConnell earlier in the day and "to discuss the resumption of Senate business next week. He is fully prepared to continue leading our caucus when the Senate resumes session on Tuesday."

Amid the calls for more transparency, McConnells office on Thursday afternoon released a 51-word statement from Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician for the U.S. Capitol, who said he informed McConnell he is "medically clear to continue to work.

Monahan said he had consulted with McConnell and conferred with McConnells neurology team and determined that McConnell is medically cleared to continue with his schedule as planned.

Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration, Monahan said.

But the statement seemed to raise more questions than answers. It did not say whether Monahan had personally evaluated McConnell. Monahan also did not explain how he reached the conclusion that McConnell had been cleared and was able to work.

A vocal minority in the GOP is calling on McConnell to step aside. Right-wing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., no fan of the McConnell's, immediately demanded he resign after Wednesdays incident, saying he was not fit for office. On Thursday, a second Republican said it was time for McConnell to go.

Yes, I think his family and staff should agree its time, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told NBC News. I think too often, these folks are more concerned about their future and not our country.

Editors of the usually friendly National Review magazine, which called McConnell a legend of the U.S. Senate and "one of the most effective leaders," also said that they were concerned by his freezing episodes and that he needed to resign.

[T]he time has come for the Kentucky senator, after his long, impressive run, to make the decision to step aside from leadership, National Review editors wrote. McConnell has now frozen up during two recent press availabilities. His staff has said he was just suffering from bouts of lightheadedness, and a public note from his doctor suggested the same. To the layman, the incidents looked more concerning than that.

Regardless, this obviously is not normal and affects his ability to function as the leading representative of his caucus.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The global cannabis industry, regulators and activists are abuzz with what Politico is referring to as "potentially the biggest change in federal drug policy in decades:" Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has recommended to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that cannabis be recategorized as a Schedule III controlled substance.

It's a big deal and, indeed, a step in the right direction. But it's also not enough.

We should of course applaud the progress: President Joe Biden has taken a step no U.S. president ever has in ordering his administration to rethink the way the government treats the plant and its embarrassing, now 53-year-old federal status as a Schedule I drug. So it's far from hyperbolic to say that Secretary Becerra's recommendation is legitimately historic.

But this suggested move also falls short of what is truly needed: a complete descheduling, or removal, of cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, or CSA, where cannabis currently sits as a Schedule I drug, right next to heroin and hypnotics like Quaaludes.

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Don't get me wrong: Reclassifying cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III would certainly move the needle forward by placing cannabis in the same category as prescription-only drugs like ketamine, anabolic steroids and certain opioids. It would likely enable interstate cannabis trade and remove the cumbersome 280E tax burden that prevents legal cannabis companies from writing off standard business expenses.

But rescheduling cannabis under the CSA, rather than descheduling it completely, doesn't address the underlying issue: The cannabis plant shouldn't be a controlled substance under federal law. Period. Alcohol isn't a controlled substance. Tobacco isn't a controlled substance. Not even caffeine is a controlled substance. Cannabis shouldn't be a controlled substance either.

And by the way, Schedule III isn't even the least restrictive classification. That would be Schedule V, which includes cough medicines containing codeine like Robitussin AC.

Let's rewind for a moment, back to 1970, when the CSA was signed into law as part of a larger bill by the Drug War's chief architect, President Richard Nixon.The bill created five "schedules" under which regulated substances are categorized based on their supposed abuse potential and medical benefit (or lack thereof).

The notoriously racist Nixon and his administration intentionally miscategorized cannabis, according to his own adviser, as among the worst of the worst substances. Why, you might ask?

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"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people," Nixon's domestic affairs advisor John Ehrlichman told journalist and author Dan Baum in 1994. "We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings and vilify them night after night on the evening news."

Did they know they were lying? "Of course we did," said Ehrlichman, who served a year and a half in prison for his high-ranking role in the Watergate scandal.

The Nixon administration, indeed, chose to ignore advice from its own commission in 1972 that the U.S. decriminalize possession, use and "casual distribution" of the cannabis plant. The Shafer Commission's report rhymed with research done at the time by similar bodies in France and the U.K.

Today, many millions of arrests later, the high-inducing cannabis plant remains categorized as Schedule I, meaning the federal government treats it as a drug "with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Cannabis is currently deemed worse than illicit fentanyl and methamphetamine  chemicals that have taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans. (In fact, both meth and fentanyl are labeled Schedule II, meaning the DEA recognizes some medical value in these drugs when they are prescribed as pharmaceuticals. It does not extend the same grace to cannabis.)

Despite a growing body of scientific evidence, from health researchers in Australia to the New York State Department of Health and even the National Institutes of Health (NIH), showing that cannabis increases quality of life for those living with diseases like cancer and reduces reliance on opioids and helps aid chronic pain  and despite the fact that many states across the country have demonstrated that cannabis can be safely regulated like other adult-use substances such as alcohol and tobacco  the federal government is not recommending that cannabis be declassified.

It's encouraging that President Biden and HHS have taken the initiative to recommend reclassifying cannabis, but the U.S. deserves drug policy rooted in truth, reason and science. Reclassifying cannabis doesn't do that. It also doesn't address the conflict between state and federal cannabis laws, which means we will continue to see more people (primarily BIPOC) going to prison over this nontoxic plant.

This is a half step where a whole step is needed.

It should be mentioned that my background as a journalist and the first Cannabis Editor at a major U.S. newspaper informs my position that declassifying cannabis is legitimately the only logical decision here. Marijuana's inclusion on the CSA is out of touch with reality, over a decade after Colorado and Washington first legalized cannabis recreationally.

Far more dangerous, legal substances than cannabis are consumed every day with no oversight from the DEA and comparably little regulation. Tobacco and alcohol combined kill more than a half million Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NIH.

The evidence is growing and undeniable: Cannabis is a safe and effective plant used for both health and recreation. Zero deaths have been attributed to cannabis overdose, according to the above federal agencies. The history of prohibition is riddled with racism and authoritarianism, and this suggested rescheduling does nothing to right those historical wrongs.

The Biden administration should not cave to the allure of simply rescheduling. Cannabis does not belong in any of the five categories created at the beginnings of what is now America's longest, failing war.

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about cannabis and drug policy
The blue light special taking place Thursday night in a West Milton neighborhood wasnt to signal a store bargain but to call attention to an invaluable member of the community retired Miami County Sheriffs Deputy Frank Lockhart.

>>PHOTOS: Blue lights to honor retired Miami County Sheriffs Deputy

Residents installed blue light bulbs and burned them bright to show Lockhart that they were thinking of him and his contributions to the community and to law enforcement.

The blue lights are just incredible to see, April Horn said to News Center 7s Brandon Lewis.

Horn moved to this block about a decade ago.

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Instantly he was friendly, coming over, introducing himself saying hi and letting us know if there was anything he could do for us, she said. And ever since then a friendship has just bonded.

The light show has been going all week to honor the man neighbors say is battling a life-threatening illness.

This was my moms idea, Heather Ressler said. Frank is such a caring person. He cares for all of us. And she wanted to go out and basically just show that our neighborhood cares for him too

Lockharts career in law enforcement began with the West Milton Police Department.

The sheriffs office hired him in the 1980s. His career included a stint with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation in the early 2000s until he returned to the sheriffs office part-time as a court services deputy.

Great guy, great law enforcement officer, Sheriff Dave Duchak said in a statement to News Center 7. He and his family are in all of our prayers.

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff

Photo from: Brandon Lewis/Staff





Miami County Sheriff's Deputy Frank Lockhart, retired (Courtesy: Miami County Sheriff's Office)




Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis talks on the phone with President Joe Biden as he stands outside storm-damaged restaurant Shrimp Boat during a visit to Horseshoe Beach, Fla., one day after the passage of Hurricane Idalia, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. (AP)  The worst of Hurricane Idalia left residents of a region of tight-knit communities trying to find places to live as they rebuild  if they decide it's even worth it  and waiting potentially weeks for electricity to be restored after winds and water took out entire power grids.

Idalia came ashore Wednesday in Florida's sparsely populated Big Bend region, where places to fish and paddle are connected by swamps.

The scope of the disaster came into sharper focus Friday. A power cooperative warned its 28,000 customers it might take two weeks to restore electricity. Emergency officials promised trailers would arrive over the weekend to provide housing in an area that didn't have much to begin with.

Well build back. Well continue to fish and enjoy catching the redfish and trout and eating oysters and catching scallops and eating them," said real estate agent Jimmy Butler, who lives in Horseshoe Beach, which saw some of the worst damage.

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Idalia made landfall Wednesday near Keaton Beach with winds of 125 mph (200 kph) and a 6-foot (1.8-meter) storm surge. The fast-moving storm then tore through largely rural stretches of inland Florida and southern Georgia.

While the storm wreaked havoc on a slice of old Florida that has escaped massive coastal development, its path and forward speed spared the state's insurance industry a huge financial hit, said elected Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, whose agency oversees the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

Two days after the more powerful Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida last year around Fort Myers, for instance, the state reported more than 62,000 insurance claims. In the two days after Idalia, there have been about 3,000, Patronis said.

But some of the Big Bend's older homes may have been passed down for generations, owned outright and not insured. People who lost everything may decide they can't afford or it is not worth it to rebuild, leaving a bigger cultural impact than a financial one, Patronis said.

This is somebodys way of life. This is the way somebody took care of their families and their families took care of them and theyre hard working people, Patronis said. Mother Natures going to wipe them off the map and theyre going to say, You know what? Maybe this is a sign for us to cash out.

Theresa Rae Gay's neighborhood in St. Petersburg filled with a mix of ocean water, fresh water and sewage as the storm passed to the east. She lost many of her appliances and probably her furniture. It's expensive but part of the game, she said.

Still worth it to live in this neighborhood and were still happy to be here, Gay said.

More than 100,000 homes and businesses in Florida and Georgia remained without power Friday, according to PowerOutage.us. And even with high temperatures below normal, the high humidity meant sweltering late-summer days and nights, with no power to run air conditioners.

The Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative warned its 28,000 customers to prepare to be without power for two weeks after hundreds of poles snapped, with thousands of reports of damage and downed lines. The utility was bringing in hundreds more workers for repairs and setting up generators for some restaurants and others.

Its going to take a while to get everyones power back on, co-op CEO Mike McWaters wrote to customers.

It wasn't as grim to the west, where Tri-County Electric Cooperative initially warned its 14,500 customers of two-week outages, but later said all but the worst-damaged homes, a few hundred, would be back online by Tuesday.

The key has been adding workers and quickly restoring the main transmission lines that bring power generated elsewhere in the state, spokesperson Kaitlyn Culpepper said. The Florida National Guard and the state Forestry Department are helping clear trees, Culpepper said.

One Georgia resident died when a tree fell on him as he tried to clear another tree from a road. Officials said there appeared to be a storm-related death around Gainesville, Florida, but did not release details.

Democratic President Joe Biden planned to visit Florida on Saturday and survey the damage with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis  who is campaigning to unseat Biden  but details were still being worked out.

"What we want to do is make sure that power restoration continues, that the relief efforts continue, and we dont have any interruption to that, DeSantis said Friday. Im sure theyll be sensitive to that.

Recovery continued in other places, too. In hard-hit Valdosta, Georgia, where nearly half the surrounding county's 32,000 electric customers remained without power, the local university stuck with its plans to play football Saturday but moved the game from the evening to the afternoon because of power issues.

Not only was about half of south Georgia's pecan crop damaged  Idalia knocked over entire trees, ruining farms for many years, Georgia Agricultural Commissioner Tyler Harper said.

Georgia is the largest U.S. pecan producer, averaging about 88 million pounds of the nuts per year, about one-third of all of U.S. production, according to the University of Georgia Extension Service.

Idalia was a tropical storm by the time it reached South Carolina, but it brought a storm surge that  along with a periodic, unusually high tide  flooded Charleston and almost every beach community.

The storm eroded many of the dunes on the Isle of Palms, leaving crews scrambling to smooth out large drop-offs on beach access paths ahead of Labor Day weekend.

Beaches in Florida south of where Idalia's center struck also suffered serious erosion. Pinellas County closed off 14 of 28 beach access walkovers in Indian Rocks Beach alone. The wooden walkway to the beach is now 4 feet (1.2 meters) above the sand in some places.

Weve probably lost about a third of the beach, if not more, said Indian Rocks Beach City Manager Greg Mims.

The remnants of Idalia continued moving away from the U.S. on Friday. Forecasters warned it could become a tropical storm again Saturday and bring winds and rains to Bermuda, which also this week was lashed by winds and rain from the outer bands of Hurricane Franklin.

___

Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in Indian Rocks Beach; Daniel Kozin in Horseshoe Beach; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Jeff Amy in Atlanta; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
This article was originally published in Stateline.

Daniel Brinks, who chairs the government department at the University of Texas at Austin, doesnt usually have a tough time recruiting professors. After all, UT is one of the best research universities in the country, located in a high-tech boomtown with a thriving music scene, a warm climate and first-rate enchiladas.

But this year, in a pretty significant change, Brinks said, eight candidates turned down job offers. Several of them cited events transpiring a few blocks south of campus, at the Texas Capitol, where some Republican lawmakers were pushing to eliminate tenure at state colleges and universities.

Anti-tenure Republicans in Texas  and in other states including Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and South Carolina  have said they want to rein in unaccountable professors who are pushing a liberal agenda in the classroom.

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Supporters of tenure, which professors typically must earn after years of teaching and publishing original research, argue that it protects academic freedom. Without it, they say, professors might be wary of taking on controversial topics for fear of being fired.

American higher education is the envy of the world because of the current system, Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors, told Stateline. These bills that weaken tenure or limit tenure are bills that will undermine the quality of education in the state.

But defenders of tenure  a practice adopted in its current form in 1940  have deployed another argument that goes beyond academic freedom: Attacks on tenure are a threat to state economies. That argument, used by Brinks in Texas and others elsewhere, has figured prominently in debates over tenure in several states.

If you no longer can attract the top researchers, you no longer have people developing cutting-edge technologies, cutting-edge medical innovations, Brinks told Stateline, echoing testimony he delivered to Texas legislators.

The top teachers and researchers receive federal grants, Brinks noted, and if you dont have the top researchers in the various fields here, then that source of funds, which is millions and millions of dollars, it just goes away.

Despite such concerns, the Texas Senate in April approved legislation that would have prohibited public colleges and universities from granting tenure to faculty members, starting in 2024.

Tenured university professors are the only people in our society that have the guarantee of a job, Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, said upon passage of the bill. These professors claim academic freedom and hide behind their tenure to continue blatantly advancing their agenda of societal division.

But the Texas House last month approved a much milder version, allowing schools to fire tenured faculty for professional incompetence or conduct involving moral turpitude. That version is the one the legislature sent to the desk of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign it into law.

State Rep. John Kuempel, the Republican who authored the House version, said it would provide accountability while maintaining an environment that is conducive to recruiting and retaining the best faculty and researchers in the state and nation.

The economic argument also has surfaced in Ohio, where the state Senate last month approved a sweeping higher education bill that aims to promote intellectual diversity on campuses. The measure would mandate a yearly performance review for faculty, including those with tenure.

Shortly before the vote, state Sen. Jerry Cirino, the Republican sponsor of the bill, argued that the legislation would attract more students and faculty to Ohio. The bill is still pending in the House.

When all is said and done here, our universities are going to be better, Cirino said. We are going to attract more people who have been turned away because of the liberal bias that is incontrovertible in our institutions in Ohio.

But Democratic state Rep. Joe Miller argued the opposite, citing a study released last month which found that Ohios 14 public universities had a $68.9 billion impact on the states economy in fiscal year 2021-2022  8.8% of Ohios total gross state product. The study also found that the universities and their students supported nearly 867,000 jobs, 1 in 8 in Ohio.

The legislation would make it extremely difficult to attract students and faculty to Ohio, which will be extraordinarily damaging to our economy, financially impacting cities from Akron, to Athens, Kent and Columbus, Miller said in a statement.

Economic concerns over curbing tenure also have been raised in Iowa and Florida.

Were one of the few states, particularly of our size, to have two tier-one research institutions, so doing things to damage their reputation has broad implications, Dustin Miller, executive director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, told the Business Record in explaining his groups opposition to anti-tenure bills in his state.

There is little doubt that research universities are economic engines.

In a recent review of relevant research, the Brookings Institution think tank cited studies showing that higher state spending on universities leads to more patents and entrepreneurship; that each new patent creates 15 jobs outside the university in the local economy; and that regions that became home to a land grant university over a century ago have stronger economies than regions without one.

Joshua Drucker, a University of Illinois Chicago associate professor who has written about the economic impact of research institutions, said the millions of dollars that top researchers bring into their universities are pure addition to a region, and that curbing tenure could diminish that flow.

What I expect to happen if tenure is severely weakened, but only in some places, [is that] those places would then have to spend a lot more to get top talent or they will lose the top talent, he said.

Brinks, a top expert in his field who has secured funding from the National Science Foundation and worked with researchers around the world, said he always thought the University of Texas was the perfect place for me.

I really like the mission of a public university in a place like Texas. I think we do something thats really important to the state, he said. But to the extent that this atmosphere of questioning and even hostility to our mission and what we do continues, then it does occasionally raise questions about going to a private university or going out of state.

Its dispiriting to find that youre the object of suspicion when you think what youre doing is really important and valuable.

Related

Open Invitation to Florida and Texas Teachers: Come to Illinois. We Trust You

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Tony Hsieh became a near-billionaire after the online shoe sales company he chaired, Zappos, sold to Amazon in 2009. His vision of a nonhierarchical, decentralized company based on "holocracy" and "market-based dynamics" encouraged all employees to be entrepreneurs. His belief that companies could "deliver happiness" (as per the title of his bestselling book) made him an internet-age celebrity, feted by Oprah Winfrey and Ivanka Trump.

He also plunged into expensive schemes to turn downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, and Park City, Utah, into Burning Maninspired hubs for business and artistic creativity. He died in 2020 of smoke inhalation after a Connecticut storage shed where he was holed up after a fight with friends caught fire.

Hsieh's tale is handled with care and respect by Wall Street Journal reporter Angel Au-Yeung and Forbes reporter David Jeans in their new book Wonder Boy. Hsieh likely suffered from what a doctor might have called mania, exacerbated by abuse of ketamine and other drugs.

Wonder Boy does a service to Hsieh and his compatriots by not assuming his sort of experiential edge seeking must end in literal self-destruction, even as they chronicle his sad decline.

The post Review: <i>Wonder Boy</i> Chronicles the Life and Death of Former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh appeared first on Reason.com.
RICHMOND, Ind.  A Richmond man serving a 62-year prison term for his role in a 2017 slaying is seeking to have his convictions overturned.

In June 2021, Jacob Lee Rasner, now 28. was convicted of murder, robbery, criminal confinement and battery by a Wayne Superior Court 1 jury.

He had been described as a ringleader in the events leading to the September 2017 slaying of 27-year-old James Herbolt III, who was tied up and beaten before being fatally shot.

An Indiana Court of Appeals ruling in October 2022 said Rasner was "angry at (Herbolt), believing, incorrectly, that he was a confidential informant."

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"Even though I didn't shoot James, I have accepted that my actions led to his senseless and tragic murder," Rasner said at the August 2021 hearing that saw Judge Charles Todd Jr. impose the 62-year sentence.

He also apologized to his family for the drug abuse he said had turned him into a "monster."

The appeals court last year upheld the sentence, although it did rule that two of Rasner's six convictions, not impacting the length of the Richmond man's prison term, should be set aside.

In a petition for post-conviction relief filed in recent days, Rasner contended he was a victim of "ineffective assistance of (legal) counsel," both during his trial and in pursuing his appeal.

He also said prosecutors allowed witnesses at the trial to "testify falsely about material and relevant facts in the case."

Rasner, incarcerated at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, has a projected release date in February 2067, when he would be 72.

Donald L. Bailey Jr., 32, believed to have fired the gunshot that killed Herbolt, in 2021 pleaded guilty to murder and received a 50-year sentence.

Two other co-defendants also entered guilty pleas after striking deals with prosecutors.

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: Richmond man seeks to have murder conviction overturned
Criminal organizations have rites of initiation, membership, passage, and belonging.

For example, there are criminal organizations whose members cut off a finger as a way of asking for forgiveness and/or as an act of loyalty.

Other criminal organizations are rumored to have a ritual where a person pricks their finger, thus drawing blood, and then a prayer card is burned and an oath of secrecy and loyalty is taken.

Many criminal organizations require that its members dress a certain way, mark their bodies with tattoos, or speak in code. Violence is also an important type of ritualistic practice for criminal organizations.

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Today's Republican Party is a de facto criminal organization. The crime boss is Donald Trump. Like in other criminal organizations, Trump rules through an inner circle of his closest advisors and lieutenants. Trump the boss also uses threats of violence and intimidation to keep control and to punish his enemies.

Unlike other criminal organizations, the Republican Party administers its loyalty oath in public.

During last week's Republican presidential debate there was one such moment when moderator Brett Baier asked the 8 participants the following question: "If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party's choice? Please raise your hand if you would."

Six of the eight prospective Republican presidential candidates said they would support Trump.

Like other criminal organizations, there is to be no breaking of the ranks or criticizing the boss in public  or private.

Donald Trump is facing four criminal trials and potentially hundreds of years in prison. In Georgia, Trump and his co-defendants were charged under the RICO racketeering laws for engaging in a complex interstate crime operation by trying to rig the presidential vote in that state. The RICO statutes were created in the 1970s in order to combat the Mafia and other criminal organizations.

Donald Trump's crimes against democracy and the American people were committed in public. Moreover, Trump is unapologetic in his criminality and proud of his evil behavior  and promises to get revenge on he and his fascist MAGA movement's "enemies" when/if he takes back the White House in 2025. Like other professional criminals, Donald Trump has also shown himself to be a sociopath if not a full-on psychopath.

When the Republican candidates pledged loyalty to Trump last week during the debate (and on other occasions as well), they were also endorsing and supporting his crimes and promising to continue with them. As a practical matter, they are now his criminal co-conspirators.

The Trump-controlled Republican criminal organization is huge: it has tens of millions of members and supporters in the United States.

New public opinion polling shows the depth of their support and endorsement of Trump's criminal behavior.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll from early August shows that 35 percent of Republicans would still vote for Trump even if he was convicted of his crimes. The same poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Republicans believe that Trump is a "victim" who is being unfairly prosecuted and that he did actually commit any crimes on Jan. 6 and during the larger plot to end democracy.

A new Politico Magazine/Ipsos survey shows that despite overwhelming public evidence (including de facto admissions of guilt), more than 60 percent of Republicans believe that Donald Trump committed no crimes by attempting a coup.

The same survey also shows that 85 percent of Republicans believe that Donald Trump should not suffer any serious consequences if he is found guilty of trying to end American democracy on Jan. 6.

A recent New York Times/Sienna College poll shows even more support by Republican voters for Trump's criminality, where almost 80 percent of respondents believe that Trump is not guilty of any federal crimes and that the party should continue to support him.

A survey from the Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that "nearly two-thirds of Republicans  63%  now say they want the former president to run again":

That's up slightly from the 55% who said the same in April when Trump began facing a series of criminal charges. Seven in 10 Republicans now have a favorable opinion of Trump, an uptick from the 60% who said so two months ago.

These results are much more than the result of partisanship or polarization or how Republican and other right-wing voters exist in an echo chamber and closed episteme of disinformation and misinformation. Their support of Trump and belief that he is "innocent" despite all of the public and obvious evidence to the contrary is the result of decades of propaganda, socialization, and radicalization into a view of society where white conservatives and Republicans  and now neofascists and other authoritarians  believe that they are above and outside of the law.

By comparison, Democrats and other people who oppose the Republican Party and "conservative" movement are deemed to be guilty of crimes  both legal and moral  until proven otherwise.

Such a tribal, hierarchical, binary view of the world is a defining feature of fascism and authoritarianism and right-wing populism.

Another defining feature of fake right-wing populist and other authoritarian and fascist movements is that the followers want a leader, i.e. a strongman, who will break the law "to get things done". Donald Trump and his MAGA movement and Republican fascist Party fit that model.

In a 2022 conversation here at Salon, political scientist Shawn Rosenberg explained:

Donald Trump and other Republican leaders have weaponized the idea that the rule of law, democracy and democratic norms and institutions do not matter, because all that matters is the end result. Winning at any cost. You go for what you believe is right, and you get it in whatever way you can. It's one thing to have that percolating in the underbelly of America's political culture. It's another thing to have a president of the United States legitimating it, as we saw with Donald Trump on Jan. 6 and beyond. Trump's followers would not call him a tyrant. They would just say that he is a strong leader. That distinction is very important. I have done research which shows that almost 60% of Americans support a strong leader, and believe that you should be quiet and support him even if you disagree with what he is doing. It's not that large parts of the American public are inherently evil or bad. It's just that when they look around at the world, they don't understand what's going on. They don't understand why it's so hard to solve some of these problems we're facing, why it's so hard to govern and why they're supposed to respect people who they believe are obviously wrong. There is also a great anxiety about diversity, in its many forms. They truly believe that if you want a country and society that functions properly, it should be homogeneous. Diversity doesn't work. Diversity is a disaster. Right-wing populism offers simple answers and simple solutions and simple characterizations of what the world is like. Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and other such Republican leaders are offering that vision and those answers.

A new poll from the Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight provides more evidence of how a significant percentage of Republican voters support candidates who break the law if it helps them to win elections and get power.

Philip Bump explains:

On Wednesday, The Washington Post released data from a poll conducted by Ipsos in partnership with FiveThirtyEight. Included among the questions was one that teased out an aspect of the distinction drawn above: Would Republican primary voters rather have a party nominee who respected the rules and customs of elections  or one who would do whatever it takes to win? About 13 percent chose the latter, 1 in 8. Nearly all the rest chose a nominee who respects those customs. But that means, given Trump's position in the polls, that a significant portion of the group preferring a nominee who respects election rules also support Trump's candidacy. There are interesting patterns in the willingness of likely primary voters to endorse a candidate indifferent to the rules of running for office. Men say that they prefer a candidate who will do whatever it takes to win more than women. So do extremely conservative Republicans, a quarter of whom endorse a candidate who will set rules and customs to the side. As the news-consumption habits of respondents shift toward the fringe, their support for ignoring election rules climbs. More than a fifth of those who get news from Newsmax, One America News and other right-wing outlets prefer candidates indifferent to election rules. Among those who watch network news, the percentage is far lower.

These findings have potentially dire implications for the health of American democracy.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

As I explained in a previous essay here at Salon:

Neofascism and other forms of authoritarianism are exercises in corrupt power. The rule of law (and equality and fairness in its application) is one of the foundations of a healthy democracy. As the Republican Party and "conservative" movement have embraced fascism and other forms of illiberal politics they have, quite predictably, become increasingly criminal and corrupt. Beyond the specific criminal and quasi-legal actions of the Republican Party and its leaders, such behavior has encouraged a societal climate where antisocial behavior by members of the MAGA movement and "red state" America  including right-wing political violence and vigilantism  is increasingly encouraged and rewarded. In all, America's democracy crisis is much bigger than any one person or group of people. It is a cultural and societal problem where the legitimacy of democracy and its institutions, the country's democratic culture, and the rule of law, the common good and the general welfare are increasingly imperiled.

Fascism is at its heart a form of corrupt power, where crime is a central and defining attribute.

Donald Trump needs to be defeated at the polls and in court. If found guilty, he then needs to be sentenced to prison. The same is true of his confederates.

The Trump Republican Party crime family, like any other criminal organization, needs to be systematically taken apart from the top down. Once that happens, the larger neofascist movement will be without a leader. That will not last long as the movement is much bigger than any one person; American neofascism and the type of criminogenic politics it encouraged and was born of did not take come into being over the course of less than a decade, such elements where present long before the Age of Trump. But in that brief window of opportunity when Trump has been beaten, American's pro-democracy forces can begin to take some necessary first steps to heal the country and its institutions.

Read more

about the GOP's decline
A man accused of robbing a woman at a Miami-Dade County gas station died Thursday night after crashing his car into a tree following a brief police chase, police say.

The incident started around 6:15 p.m. when the man, who police have not named, stole an item from a womans car parked at a gas station in Northwest Miami-Dade, said Detective Angel Rodriguez, Miami-Dade police spokesman.

The man then got into a car and drove away. A witnessed flagged down arriving Miami-Dade officers and told them the direction he was heading, Rodriguez said.

The officers chased after him in their cars, but stopped the pursuit for safety reasons, according to police.

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The man kept going, though, hitting two cars before crashing into the tree at Northwest 58th Street and 15th Avenue, Rodriguez said.

City of Miami Fire Rescue firefighters had to cut the man out of the mangled car, Rodriguez said. Paramedics took him to Jackson Memorial Hospitals Ryder Trauma Center, where he died, according to police.
A Boone County employee has been arrested and accused of stealing from the government.

Julie Bliss, 53, of Belvidere, was arrested and charged Thursday afternoon with theft of government property and official misconduct.

Boone County Board Chairman Rodney Riley said in a news release the investigation into Bliss, the county's clerk and recorder, began in April 2023 after an employee with the county clerk's office reported irregularities that she had discovered in two of the County Clerks bank accounts.

More: Rockford 15th & Chris arson, drug cartel investigation going on 7 months

Illinois State Police was contacted and began investigating. The county also used Sikich, LLP, an accounting firm, to assist the Illinois State Police in the investigation.

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"The misuse of public funds is an abuse of power and a violation of the public trust that will not be tolerated," Riley said in a news release.

Riley said the county board and county administration are "fully committed" to cooperating with police during the investigation.

Theft of government property is a Class 2 felony while official misconduct is a Class 3 felony. Bliss faces up to 12 years in prison on the charges.

Riley said investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be filed.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Boone County Clerk Julie Bliss arrested, faces multiple charges
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his campaign have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid questions from a 15-year-old New Hampshire schoolboy after the governors dodging of a question from him went viral.

Do you believe that Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power, a key principle of American democracy that we must uphold? Quinn Mitchell asked Mr DeSantis during a town hall event in Hollis, New Hampshire, in June.

Are you in high school? the governor asked before he avoided answering the question, instead saying that Americans shouldnt obsess about the past.

Quinn, who has seen 35 presidential candidates since 2019, also told The Daily Beast that he was physically intimidated when allegedly grabbed by DeSantis campaign security at two events for the governor.

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The teen told the outlet that it was a horrifying experience that he felt was an attempt at intimidation.

Fellow 2024 candidate Chris Christie rips Gov. DeSantis over that January 6th answer above, via @kaitlancollins: https://t.co/OhWbjZ4C2W  The Recount (@therecount) June 29, 2023

Mr DeSantis attended a Fourth of July parade where Quinn was surrounded by security and physically restrained following a short interaction with the candidate. The security personnel demanded that Quinn remain until they gave him permission to leave.

Quinn said he was followed by two guards at an event on 19 August and an attendee told the outlet that they spotted a staffer from DeSantis Super PAC Never Back Down post a photo of him on Snapchat with the caption, Got our kid.

The Daily Beast reported that seven other sources confirmed Quinns version of events.

Quinn said the campaigns treatment of him was really stupid in a small state like New Hampshire.

I may be older now and know I can handle this a lot more, but if they had done that to me a few years back, I dont know if I could have handled that, he said. Its unfortunate because I just want to ask my question.

Other candidates have had enthusiastic responses to Quinns questioning. When she was running in the 2020 Democratic primary, Minnesotas Senator Amy Klobuchar met with Quinn and used his fascination with politics in her stump speech.

A rival of Mr DeSantis in the GOP primary, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, praised Quinn in a CNN interview, saying he goes to every town hall meeting  he asks really tough questions.

Quinn, remember me when you are president, he said in a profile of Quinn in USA Today.

The teenager said hadnt been intending to land a damaging blow to Mr DeSantis with his question about the insurrection, telling The Daily Beast he genuinely felt bad about it.

In fact, he said, he attended the Fourth of July parade to personally say so to Mr DeSantis. But once he arrived, Quinn told the outlet that Super PAC staff were nudging the security guys and pointing at me.

I actually had a reporter come up and just say, Theyre pointing at you and theyre watching you.

In addition, he said, guards would physically block him every time he came close to the governor during the parade.

Im so sorry that I got you in all that trouble, he said when finally within earshot and asked if he wanted to answer the question differently.

Mr DeSantis nodded, acknowledging the question, and they had a quick handshake before Quinn was pulled away by security.

Usually what they do is they dont push you or anything, but they put their hands out and kind of body you, so you just dont move, basically, he told The Daily Beast.

A guard cornered him and told him not to move for five minutes. Quinn then texted his mom, and they were able to reunite at the end of the parade, with his mother demanding an explanation from Mr DeSantis for why his guards had grabbed her son, a moment seen by a reporter for the Boston Globe.

Quinn said Casey DeSantis told his mother: Well, Im a mother, too. I know what youre experiencing, and were all very afraid for our children  even if theyre exaggerating.

Mr DeSantis himself told Quinn he would get to the bottom of what happened and that told him to attend his next event.

The campaign, they could have called and said, Were so sorry, this should have never happened, well get to the bottom of it, Quinn said. Never got a call like that. They never apologized to us for any of it.

The Independent has reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment.
Officers arrested a 15-year-old student responsible for online threats toward a Roseville high school in an alleged swatting incident that prompted a campus lockdown on Thursday, police said.

The campus lockdown occurred at West Park High School. The teen arrested was a student at the high school and was booked at Placer County Juvenile Hall, said Lt. Chris Ciampa, a Roseville Police Department spokesman.

Ciampa declined to say whether the student arrested was a boy or a girl. He said the student was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats.

The phony threats were made Thursday morning on social media, alleging violence would occur at the high school at 12:30 p.m. Authorities were informed of the social media threats. Police officers increased their presence on the campus, and the school was placed on a precautionary lockdown.

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About 1 p.m. Thursday, police announced that investigators had determined the threat was not credible, and the lockdown was lifted. Roseville Joint Union High School District officials said in a message Thursday they were reunifying students with their parents who wished to take their children home early.

The school district officials also said the threats toward the campus were likely a swatting situation with a few leads to investigate.

Swatting is a gaming and social media trend in which someone fraudulently reports a serious threat at a certain target in order to prompt a large law enforcement response, sometimes including a SWAT team.

Ciampa said investigators worked over the following 24 hours and identified the 15-year-old student as the suspect responsible for making the online threats. He said the investigators also determined it was indeed a swatting incident.

School resource officers arrested the student, who posed no immediate threat to the campus, the police spokesman said.

The Roseville Police Department takes every threat seriously, especially to our school campuses, and will remain vigilant in holding those responsible for causing fear and disruption in our community accountable, Ciampa said.
Roz Brewer announced on her LinkedIn that she will step down as Walgreens Boots Alliances (WBA) CEO. She will also no longer be a company board member.

Credit: Roz Brewer/LinkedIn

According to her post, the decision for her departure was mutual. Walgreens Alliance Boots wanted to lean more into its strategy to become a healthcare company. She shared that she will continue to advise the company as they search for a new CEO.

This is perhaps one of the most difficult notes I have ever written over the course of my career, but I wanted to share with you directly that the Board and I have mutually agreed that I will step down as the Companys CEO and a member of the Board, effective today. This decision did not come without great consideration for what is best for all of you, our shareholders, customers, patients, and my family, Brewer said. In the near-term, I will continue to advise the Board as they search for a permanent CEO with healthcare expertise.

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She continued:

The Board has appointed Ginger Graham, current Lead Independent Director of WBA, as the Companys interim CEO. Ginger has served as a member of our Board for 13 years, and Im confident that the organization will be in great hands under her leadership during this transition period.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to lead Walgreens Boots Alliance and to work alongside such talented and dedicated colleagues. When I joined WBA in March of 2021, I couldnt then imagine all that wed accomplish together, she said.

Since Brewer joined the company, WBA has reached multiple milestones, including raising the minimum wage for their employees and delivering 70 million vaccine shots.

WBAs Stock Value Drops

According to CNBC, Brewer and WBA faced challenges leading up to the announcement of her departure from the company. As of this week, Walgreens stock value has dropped over 32% this year. A decreased demand for COVID tests and vaccines was also a significant factor. Additionally, regular retail sales for every day have dwindled. Customers have shifted to competitors like Walmart and Amazon. These platforms offer the convenience of online ordering and swift delivery.

In June, Walgreens disclosed third-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street predictions, the first miss since July 2020. Consequently, the company lowered its annual profit forecast.

Yet, the surge in COVID cases might bring a silver lining for the pharmacys sales. The upcoming COVID boosters, scheduled for mid-September, might drive the demand. Even if some consumers arent keen on getting another booster, WBA remains a go-to for standard over-the-counter remedies for a cold and flu. A notable uptick in the demand for cold and flu medications in its first fiscal quarter helped balance the drop in vaccine demand.

Black Women CEO of Fortune 500 Companies

Brewers departure from WBA spotlights a pressing issue in corporate America  the scarcity of Black female CEOs in Fortune 500 companies. According to AboveBoard, with Brewer stepping down, Thasunda Duckett is the only Black woman leading a Fortune 500 firm.

Not only was Brewer one of the few Black women to head a major corporation, but her leadership also inspired countless aspiring executives of color. Now, Duckett, the CEO of TIAA, holds that unique position alone.

The limited representation at this leadership level accentuates Black womens challenges in climbing the corporate ladder. While many companies tout diversity and inclusion, the numbers in the boardrooms tell a different story. Its more than just a change in executive roles; it reflects the work that still needs to be done to break the corporate glass ceiling for Black women.

The post Roz Brewer Steps Down As Walgreens CEO appeared first on 21Ninety.
Some Republicans call for transparency about Mitch McConnells health. The woman behind a family YouTube account is arrested on child abuse charges. And a car with a bull sitting in the passenger seat turns heads.

Heres what to know today.

A doctor's note from McConnell 's office leaves more questions than answers

Its time for Mitch McConnell to get more candid about his health, some Republicans said, a day after the longest-serving leader in the Senate appeared to freeze for a second time in two months. A 51-word doctors note, released yesterday, said McConnell is clear to return to work  but it did little to ease concerns.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at the Capitol on Feb 14, 2023. (Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post via Getty Images file)

One House Republican said McConnells access to information about national security issues should be enough reason for him to be forthcoming about his health. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene demanded his resignation and said he was not fit for office. Other Republican lawmakers also chimed in with calls for more transparency.

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Aides have chalked up McConnells incidents to things like lightheadedness and dehydration. Yesterday, his office acknowledged a connection between the freezes and a concussion he suffered after a fall this year. But beyond that, McConnells office has not shared any medical diagnosis or whether he had seen his doctor.

It might be the most politically vulnerable moment of his nearly 40-year Senate career.

Idalia reinforces Floridas uncertain insurance industry

The damage done this week by Hurricane Idalia is another in a string of powerful storms to hit Florida communities in recent years, forcing many homeowners to turn to their insurance policies in hopes of repairing their homes and replacing their belongings. But its getting more expensive for insurance companies to operate in the state and, therefore, policies are skyrocketing in price (the average home premium in Florida is about $6,000 per year), leaving some homeowners to consider forgoing a policy altogether.

Family YouTuber arrested on abuse charges

Ruby Franke, a Utah mother whose strict parenting styles have led to backlash in the past, was arrested this week on child abuse charges after a malnourished child with open wounds and duct tape on their extremities was found. According to the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, four minors were taken into the care of the Department of Child and Family Services on Wednesday following a search of the home where two emaciated children were found. Frankes business partner, Jodie Hildebrandt, was also arrested on the same charges. Heres what else we know so far about the investigation.

Ruby Franke, right, and business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, speaks during an Instagram video posted to her @moms_of_truth account. (@moms_of_truth via Instagram)

Franke was the face of a defunct family YouTube channel called 8 Passengers, which chronicled the lives of Franke, her husband and their six children. The family became the subject of harsh criticism in recent years, including allegations of child abuse.

Ukraine touts gains on the wars front line

Kyivs forces have made gains on the front line in the southeast of the country, according to the Ukrainian military, showing a rare success as the slow-moving counteroffensive against Russian troops grinds on.

U.S. defense officials said that while its true the Ukrainians had breached Russian defenses, the advances are more of symbolic value than a big operational development. The breakthrough would be a vindication for Ukraine, which has endured criticism from some of its partners about the way its handling the war.

Potential clues about Lyme diseases long-lasting symptoms

A protective outer layer on certain strains of Lyme bacteria could be a possible reason some symptoms of Lyme disease persist for months, or even years, in some people. A new study published this week revealed that certain strains of the bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, have a layer that appears to function as armor against the human immune system, thus giving it a better chance to spread throughout the body. However, it might not be the only factor leading to long Lyme in some people.

Todays Talker: The number of people missing in the Maui wildfires

 is expected to drop into double digits, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said during a daily briefing. A list released last week of the missing listed 388 people, but Green said a big update is anticipated today. So how could the number have fallen so much? Many people have come forward saying theyve been reunited with loved ones or were never missing to begin with. But advocates for people experiencing homelessness said they believe the tally leaves out a portion of the population.

Politics in Brief

Impeachment inquiry: The Biden administration is ramping up its war room to fight a likely Republican impeachment inquiry into the president. Multiple people familiar with the plans spoke about the groups strategy.

Immigration: Hundreds of active-duty U.S. troops will stay at the southern border at least through the end of the month, the Defense Department said, more than a month after the troops mission was expected to end.

Georgia election case: Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia and will not appear in person during next weeks scheduled arraignment.

UFOs: The Defense Department unveiled a website billed as a one-stop shop for declassified, publicly available records about unidentified aerial phenomena.

Jan. 6 riot: Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison in connection to his role as an instigator and leader during the Capitol insurrection. And the No. 2 official in New Hampshire on Donald Trumps presidential campaign was identified by online sleuths in a video shot close to the Capitol on Jan. 6, in which he is heard telling police officers to kill themselves.

Nebraska police were in for a surprise after they got a call about a man driving through town with a cow in the passenger seat. Thinking it was a calf, they actually found a full sized bull, named Howdy Doody, riding shotgun with his owner who takes him to parades and fairs around the state. (News Channel Nebraska)

Staff Pick: Holy cow!

When police in a Nebraska city got a call about a car with a cow inside of it, they probably werent expecting to encounter Howdy Doody  a more than one-ton bull  sitting in the passengers seat of a sedan with half the roof missing. Reporter David K. Li spoke with the bulls owner about his efforts to beef up the retired police cruiser and how his granddaughters doubt motivated him to see the potentially bad idea through.  Claire Cardona, breaking news editor

In Case You Missed It

The number of overdose deaths from fake prescription pills has more than doubled in recent years, the CDC reported.

Forget Exorswift: The release date of the upcoming Exorcist was moved after Taylor Swift fans pointed out it coincided with the release of The Eras Tour film.

A judge ordered an 84-year-old white man to stand trial and face charges that he shot a Black teen who rang his doorbell after coming to the wrong address.

A Texas man was arrested after his 10-year-old daughter stabbed him during an alleged assault on the girls mother.

Chinas new national map lays claim to large amounts of internationally disputed territory, outraging its neighbors.

Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

A good pair of earbuds combines noise cancellation, a comfortable fit and a multi-hour battery life, but they can cost around $200, a pricey investment for some. Our Select team rounded up the best deals on earbuds to take advantage of now from brands like Apple and Sony.

Sign up to The Selection newsletter for exclusive reviews and shopping content from NBC Select.

Thanks for reading todays Morning Rundown. Todays newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If youre a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign-up here.

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8 passengers was a space where Ruby Franke would share her and her familys life in Utah on YouTube.

The channel was focused on sharing parental advice as well as family vlogs featuring the 41-year-old mother, her husband Kevin Franke and six children, Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russel and Eve.

The couple first founded their now-deleted channel back in 2015 and accumulated over two million subscribers before speculation began to mount in 2020 about their activities.

That June, concerned viewers contacted local child protective services after their 15-year-old son Chad claimed in a video that he had been sleeping on a beanbag for seven months.

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Ms Franke had told Business Insider at the time that this sleeping arrangement was Chads choice after he stopped sharing a room with his younger brother amid behavioural concerns.

Now, in the latest twist in the case, the mother-of-five has been arrested on child abuse charges.

Ms Frankes business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, was also arrested on similar charges.

The two frequently collaborated on producing content, particularly videos offering guidance on relationships and parenting for Ms Hildebrandts life counselling service ConneXions.

ConneXions  whose website says it offers mental fitness training videos, one-to-one sessions with Ms Hildebrand and an empowering joy membership  has also previously come under scrutiny over its parenting philosophy.

Children at risk

Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety said in a statement that it had received a report regarding a juvenile asking for help on the morning of 30 August.

The caller told officials that the child appeared to be emaciated and malnourished and had open wounds and duct tape around the extremities, according to the statement.

YouTube Mom Child Abuse (2023 Trent Nelson)

The child is said to have been asking for food and water and the condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Ivins EMS and transported to a local area hospital.

Following this encounter, police received information that other children may also be at risk at a nearby home.

Officers arrived at the home and carried out a search, where they found another child in a similar physical condition of malnourishment.

That child was also transported by EMS to hospital for treatment.

Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety said that the Department of Child and Family Services was contacted and four minor children were taken into the agencys care.

Ms Franke and Ms Hildebrandt were both arrested.

Due to the sensitive nature of this case, no additional information will be released at this time, officials said in the statement.

Justice is being served

Following her mothers arrest, Shari Franke, 20, has taken to Instagram to make several statements about the situation, notably posting a photo of a police car and an officer and writing: Finally.

Me and my family are so glad justice is being served, she wrote in another post. Weve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they decided to finally step up. Kids are safe, but theres a long road ahead.

Shari also created a document asking followers to share questionable or concerning information about Connexions or 8passengers.

I need your help! If you have links to any questionable or concerning Connexions or 8passengers videos, please DM them to me!! Its too much for me to sort through myself, she wrote in an Instagram story.

Jodi Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke in video on their Instagram (Instagram/Moms of Truth)

Ms Frankes sisters Ellie Mecham, Julie Deru and Bonnie Hoellein released a statement saying that, for the last three years, they have kept quiet on the subject of their sibling for the sake of her children.

They went on to say that they tried everything they could to ensure the children were safe.

The post said: For the last 3 years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children. Behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe.

We wouldnt feel right about moving forward with regular content without addressing the most recent events. Once we do, we will not be commenting on it further.

Ruby was arrested which needed to happen. Jodi was arrested which needed to happen. The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority.
The YouTuber Ruby Franke, known for the 8 Passengers channel, was arrested on August 30 in Utah.

She and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, face accusations of child abuse.

Two days before, they posted a video discussing hiding secrets and its consequences.

The YouTube mom who was arrested on suspicion of child abuse on Wednesday, discussed the ramifications of "dishonesty" and having "a dirty little secret" two days earlier on her channel.

Ruby Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were listed on the Washington County Sheriff's Office's website as "in custody" after being arrested at 9:33 p.m. on August 30 at Hildebrandt's home in Ivins, Utah. On Friday, the Washington County attorney announced that both women had been charged with six counts of child abuse.

Franke and Hildebrandt run a YouTube channel and mom "support group" called ConneXions, which aims to "help treat those lost and stranded in the darkness of distortion."

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Its last video was a 27-minute post uploaded on August 28, with the title "The Denigrating Victim."

In the post, Hildebrandt and Franke discuss the concept of victimhood, which they link with dishonesty. The discussion was hypothetical but takes on a new dimension in light of the arrest.

"Victim is a place where I live, a place where I have pity for myself because I don't want to be responsible for me," Franke said.

"I want to control everything around me so I can be comfortable but I refuse to take responsibility for me."

"I could be dishonest, and I think I'm getting away with it because nobody knows," Franke said at another point.

"It might be five years, 10 years, I might even take it to the grave with me. My dirty little secret. So it appears I don't have any outcomes and I get away with it."

Hildebrandt asserted that being dishonest always has consequences.

"Even though you may not sense them, even though you may not overtly experience them in the tangible world, you are having spiritual outcomes," she said. "Just like you're having an outcome of taking a step off of a tall building."

ConneXions became Franke's new focus after the closure of her previous YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, which made her famous.

It documented the lives of Franke, her husband Kevin, and their six children: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve, but closed around the middle of 2023.

Viewers of 8 Passengers had long speculated that something was amiss, including alleging that the children were being abused. It was an assertion Franke strongly rejected as long ago as 2020.

But on August 30, authorities in Utah acted. According to a statement from the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department that was shared with Insider, law enforcement received a call about a badly malnourished child.

The neighbors noticed that the kid had duct tape on their ankles and wrists and decided to call the police, Santa Clara-Ivins officials told Insider in a statement.

The call prompted her and Hildebrandt's arrest at Hildebrandt's house, according to the statement.

Franke and Hildebrandt have not yet made any public statements since their arrests. But Franke's sisters, who are estranged from her, posted an update, saying the arrest "needed to happen" and that "the kids are now safe."

Franke's eldest daughter Shari, who is a student at Brigham Young University, said in an Instagram story in September 2022 that she was no longer in contact with her mom. Since Franke's arrest, she has been crowdsourcing "concerning" video evidence against her mom and ConneXions to help her siblings.

Kevin Franke, who has largely stayed out of the public eye in recent months, also gave a statement through an attorney to Page Six, who said his "urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his fatherly care."

Correction: September 1, 2023  An earlier version of this story misstated the status of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt's case. Police said the two have been arrested; they have not yet been formally charged in court.

Read the original article on Insider
Mommy vlogger Ruby Franke was arrested on suspicion of two counts of child abuse Wednesday.

Her eldest daughter, who is estranged from her mom, said "justice is being served" after the arrest.

Shari Franke, 20, is asking for the public's help in collecting concerning video evidence against her mom.

Ruby Franke's eldest daughter is speaking out against her mom and asking for the public's help in collecting evidence against Ruby Franke after the former family YouTuber was arrested this week on suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse.

Shari Franke, 20, posted on Instagram Wednesday, saying, "justice is being served," amid news that Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested in Springville, Utah. The college junior also asked her followers' help in crowdsourcing "questionable or concerning" video clips of her mom's previous content, saying it was "too much" for her to try and sort through herself.

"Today has been a big day," Shari Franke wrote in an Instagram story Wednesday evening. "Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up."

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A statement from the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department shared with Insider said the arrests were made after a child climbed out of a window at a residence in Ivins and ran to a neighbor's house to get help, asking for food and water. The neighbors saw that the child appeared to have duct tape on their ankles and wrists and called the police, local outlet Fox 13 reported, adding that the Ivins residence belonged to Hildebrandt.

Authorities later found a second malnourished child in the same residence, according to officials; the kids were treated for "severe" wounds at the hospital, the public safety department statement said.

Ruby Franke was the face of the popular 8 Passengers YouTube channel, where she documented her life alongside her husband Kevin Franke, and their six children, including Shari. The channel once had approximately 2.5 million subscribers, but allegations of parental wrongdoing had long hung over the Franke family, and the channel was taken offline earlier this year.

The family pushed back against the allegations at the time, telling Insider's Lindsay Dodgson in 2020 that they gave their children "choices" and were trying to teach the kids about the consequences of their actions. An attorney for Kevin Franke did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In June 2022, Franke announced she was creating a new channel called ConneXions with Hildebrandt, a therapist whose license was put on probation in 2012 for 18 months after she discussed a patient's alleged "porn addiction" with elders at the Mormon church without the patient's permission, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The newer, more controversial ConneXions channel, fashions itself as a mom's "support group."

Shari Franke said in a September 2022 Instagram story that she was "not in contact" with her "immediate family" and did not support "the extreme beliefs" of ConneXions, Insider previously reported.

Following Ruby Franke's arrest, Shari Franke asked her Instagram followers on Thursday to help collect concerning content from past 8 Passengers and ConneXions videos, initially requesting people direct message her the links. She then created a Google Doc and shared the link, encouraging people to make submissions there.

As of 2:00 p.m. PT  about six hours after Shari Franke made her request  the Google Doc was full of more than 40 video clips people had flagged, including apparent 8 Passengers content in which Ruby Franke discussed taking her children's bedroom privileges away, withholding food as a punishment, and canceling Christmas for her youngest kids for being "selfish." The document also contained more recent ConneXions content in which Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt discussed their controversial opinions on such hot-button issues as the LGBT community, eating disorders, and rape.

More than 80 viewers were looking at the Google Doc when Insider accessed it on Thursday afternoon.

Shari Franke did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment or questions about how she intended to use the video evidence moving forward.

Ruby Franke's three sisters, who are also family content creators, all issued an Instagram statement Thursday saying the arrest of their sister "needed to happen."

"Ruby was arrested which needed to happen. Jodi was arrested which needed to happen," their statement said. "The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority."

Insider has reached out to the police department and the family's former management for more information.

Correction: September 1, 2023  An earlier version of this story misstated the status of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt's case. Police said the two have been arrested; they have not yet been formally charged in court.





Read the original article on Insider
Rudy Giuliani , a campaign lawyer for Donald Trump , pleaded not guilty in a court filing Friday to Georgia racketeering charges alleging he tried to help Trump steal the 2020 election.

Giuliani and 18 co-defendants were indicted Aug. 14 on a combined 41 charges. By entering a plea through a court filing, he avoided needing to appear Sept. 6 at a scheduled arraignment hearing. Giuliani is free on $150,000 bond pending trial.

Other co-defendants have already filed written pleas of not guilty and waived their rights to a hearing. Trump, Sidney Powell , Trevian Kutti, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis , Scott Hall and Ray Smith each filed written pleas.

Giuliani said that because of the breadth and complexity of the indictment, he requested at least 30 days after receiving a copy of all evidence in the case to file motions potentially challenging the evidence. Georgia law typically calls for motions to be filed within 10 days of arraignment.

Aug 23, 2023; Atlanta, GA, USA; Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani speaks with the media after being processed at the Fulton County Jail. A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia indicted Donald Trump. The indictment includes 41 charges against 19 defendants, from the former president to his former attorney Rudy Guiliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The legal case centers on the states RICO statute, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Besides the racketeering count, Giuliani was charged with three counts of soliciting lawmakers to violate their oath of office, three counts of making false statements, and six conspiracy counts dealing with forgery and false statements for the recruitment of fake electors.

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The indictment cites Giuliani, along with Trump lawyers Ellis and Powell, for falsely claiming election fraud in Georgia and other states during a news conference Nov. 19, 2020, at the Republican National Committee headquarters.

Giuliani made false claims about election fraud in a series of December 2020 meetings with Georgia lawmakers, according to the indictment. Giuliani claimed felons and dead people cast ballots. He also alleged election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were illegally counting ballots at State Farm Arena on election night.

A federal judge ruled Aug. 30 that Giuliani defamed Freeman and Moss and sanctioned him to pay their legal fees. Their civil trial for damages is still pending.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rudy Giuliani pleads not guilty in Georgia election case with Trump
The Scoop

CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y.  The investigation into last years near fatal attack on the Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie has expanded to examine potential international involvement in the crime, the district attorney overseeing the case in rural New York told Semafor.

Jason Schmidt said his office in Chautauqua County is in the final stages of preparing its case against Hadi Matar, a 25-year-old New Jersey man accused of stabbing Rushdie multiple times during the writers appearance at a summer cultural festival last August. The trial could start early next year, the DA said.

But Schmidt said the U.S. federal government, through the U.S. Attorneys Office, is now overseeing a separate investigation thats looking into Matars potential ties to foreign governments or terrorist organizations. Irans late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in 1989 calling for Rushdies death due to what he claimed were blasphemous passages against Islam in the writers book, . Iranian religious organizations have issued bounties on Rushdie as recently as last year.

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Matars alleged attack on Rushdie has largely been framed as the actions of a disgruntled, immigrant son acting alone. But Schmidt is a rare U.S. law enforcement official to shed light on the Department of Justices continued concern that the attempted assassination may have had foreign backing.

Matar spent time in Lebanon where U.S. government officials are trying to ascertain if he was trained or radicalized by the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. Matar was carrying a fake drivers license at the time of the attack that had the name of a senior Hezbollah military commander.

There are some areas that we have to sort of confine ourselves to the four corners of the charges that we've asserted, which is essentially an attempted murder in the second-degree charge. That's our top count, Schmidt said in an interview. That gets us away from some of the underlying motivations that went into the intent. Some of that have been sort of removed from us in our jurisdiction, and that's something that the U.S. Attorney's Office has been looking at and they are dealing with.

Schmidt, a Republican, said that the widening of the investigation to include potential foreign governments and actors involve serious national security and political considerations that shouldnt be handled by his local office.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, I know, they are engaged in their own investigation and, you know, potential prosecution, and they've been looking at this as well, said Schmidt. I do think it does have political considerations and recognizing, for instance, that the Biden government is trying to negotiate with Iran now to kind of bring them back into a nuclear treaty. I understand that there's a lot of considerations here that, you know, that are way outside my paygrade.

The Department of Justice and White House didnt respond to requests for comment from Semafor. Salman Rushdies agent, Andrew Wylie, also didnt answer an email.

Jays view

The question of whether Hadi Matar was a lone wolf, or an agent working on behalf of Tehran or Hezbollah, has been the primary question since Rushdie was attacked on the stage of the Chautauqua Institution on August 12, 2022. The profile of the alleged assailant points in both directions. Matar has pleaded innocent.

Court records and press reports portray Matar as a disgruntled youth who hated school, worked at a discount store, and failed in his efforts at becoming a professional boxer. He was also the product of a broken home with his Lebanese-American father returning to Lebanon while Matar was young. People who met Matar described him as a recluse who could simply have taken inspiration from the teachings of Khamenei and his fatwa against Rushdie.

But the portrait Matars mother painted of her son reads like the textbook case of radicalization. Silvana Fardos told the New York Times that Matar traveled to Lebanon in 2018  presumably to stay with his father in the southern town of Yaroun  and came back a totally changed person, deeply religious in the Shiite Muslim faith and a supporter of Irans Islamic revolution. I have nothing to say to him, Fardos told the paper.

Middle East experts told Semafor that Yaroun is a town on Lebanons border with Israel thats controlled by Hezbollah militants. Its highly conceivable, they said, that Matar could have received both religious and military training during his time in Lebanon five years ago.

Schmidt said in the interview that Matar didnt seem to just randomly choose to attack Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution, but that significant foresight was involved in his actions and preparations. Chautauqua Institution is a religious and cultural organization that wasnt known for extensive security at its events. The investigationwould lead me to believe that the venue, the Chautauqua Institution, because of what it represents, it was a good place to commit this type of act, Schmidt said. The security levels, I think, you know, certainly might have been a consideration because it is a fairly open environment.

Iran denied any role in the attack last year, but still formally justified it. "Regarding the attack against Salman Rushdie in America, we don't consider anyone deserving reproach, blame or even condemnation, except for (Rushdie) himself and his supporters," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said last August. Khameneis original fatwa against Rushdie was republished in Iranian state media just days before the attack in Chautauqua.

Investigating any potential links between Matar and Iran or Hezbollah wont be easy, according to U.S. and Middle East officials. Hezbollah controls most of Lebanons security, making efforts to gain information from the ground on Matars dealings there difficult. The U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Iran.

Room for Disagreement

Salman Rushdie, in his public appearances since last August, has refrained from blaming Iran or its proxies for the attack. The stabbings caused him to lose sight in one eye and the use of a hand. Asked by David Remnick of the New Yorker in February whom Rushdie blamed for the assault, he responded: I blame him  referring to Matar.

The Biden administration has also been restrained in pointing any fingers directly at Tehran or Hezbollah. The State Department sanctioned an Iranian organization, the 15 Khordad Foundation, shortly after the attack for issuing bounties on Rushdie, including one for $3.3 million in 2012. But the State Department referenced only incitement in announcing the action against Iran, rather than an overt role.

Current and U.S. officials have voiced skepticism that Iran or Hezbollah would conduct major terrorist attacks inside the U.S., citing the likelihood of an American reprisal. But tensions have escalated in recent years. The Trump administration in January 2020 assassinated Irans most powerful military figure, Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, using a drone strike in Iraq. Just days before the Rushdie attack, the Department of Justice indicted members of Irans elite Revolutionary Guard Corps for allegedly plotting to kill Trumps national security advisor, John Bolton, near his home in Washington D.C. It was described as retaliation for the Soleimani hit.

Notable

Salman Rushdie published a memoir in 2012, , which described his life under the Ayatollah Khomeinis fatwa. Joseph Anton is one of the aliases Rushdie used for security.

The Japanese translator of Hitoshi Igarashi was stabbed to death in Tokyo in 1991.
Ukraine intercepted one of two Russian Kalibr cruise missiles launched from the Black Sea in the early hours of Sept. 1, with the other destroying a private business in Vinnytsia Oblast, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a press release on Sep. 1.

"A property and private vehicles were damaged; assistance is being provided to those affected," the Air Force said. There are no reports of any casualties.

Read also: Russian kamikaze drone strike in Zhytomyr Oblast damages rail infrastructure, delaying 3 passenger trains

An air raid alert was announced in most regions of Ukraine early on Sep. 1. Explosions were heard in both Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr oblasts.

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The previous night's attack was on Aug. 30. Russia launched 44 aerial targets at Ukraine, including 28 cruise missiles and 16 kamikaze drones.

Ukrainian air defense forces successfully intercepted all 28 cruise missiles and 15 out of the 16 kamikaze drones. More than 20 enemy targets were destroyed over and around Kyiv in what was the heaviest attack on the capital for months.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The Pentagon has stressed that Russia is looking for rogue regimes in an attempt to source additional ammunition or weapons.

Source: Brigadier General Patrick S. Ryder, US Department of Defense (DoD) Press Secretary, during a briefing on Thursday; European Pravda

Details: Answering whether the arms deal between the Wagner Group and the DPRK has ended, since Russia and North Korea have agreed on this at an official level, the US DoD Press Secretary said that the Wagner Group has essentially ended its activities.

Quote: "So I think it's pretty safe to say there's not a lot of negotiating going on there. But again, the broader issue here is the Russian government, which Wagner was working for, in  in support of operations in Ukraine.

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[...] So the broader issue here is Russia seeking out rogue regimes, to include Iran, attempting to try to obtain additional ammunition or weapons. And so again, we  we call on North Korea to not negotiate with Russia or provide any type of ammunition which could kill innocent civilians in Ukraine."

Background:

Earlier, US intelligence said that Russia and North Korea were "actively moving" towards concluding an agreement on the supply of weapons to the Russian military from the DPRK, primarily ammunition for various types of weapons.

In August, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a network of companies created to negotiate arms trade between Russia and North Korea.

North Korea is seeking closer ties with the Kremlin and supported Moscow after it invaded Ukraine last year, blaming this on the "hegemonic policies" and "high-handedness" of the US and the West.

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Russian forces attacked Sumy Oblast 27 times on Aug. 31, resulting in 167 explosions, according to the Sumy Oblast Military Administration.

The communities of Bilopillia, Seredyna-Buda, Novoslobidske, Putyvl, Krasnopillia, Khotin, Esman, Velyka Pysarivka and Shalyhyne were targeted.

The shelling caused damage to a tractor and a truck in Novoslobidske and a power line in Krasnopillia.

The administration reported that Russian forces used mortar, artillery, grenade launchers, and drones to attack the border communities.

No casualties were reported following the attacks.

Even though the Russian army withdrew from Sumy Oblast in April last year, residents near the border continue to experience shellings nearly every day.

Read also: Zelensky: Ukrainian-made weapon has proven 700 km range

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Russia is sparing no expense in its pursuit of new disinformation tools, Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraines military intelligence or HUR, said on national television on Sept. 1.

Russia is actively searching for fresh voices willing to serve as newsmakers and is exploring new media platforms, whether knowingly or unknowingly, that could be used as forums for disseminating similar narratives, he said.

Read also: Peter Pomerantsev on trying to comprehend Russian war crimes  interview

Some of the Kremlins influence agents have either been exposed or have lost their effectiveness, driving Russia to seek new methods to discredit Ukraine, he added.

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Russia is unapologetic about allocating funds for this purpose, he said.

Read also: Russian propaganda chief Simonyan claims Ukrainian drone downed near her Moscow Oblast residence

No matter how much money is allocated for the information war  and we are talking tens of millions of dollars  it is always cheaper compared to the costs on the battlefield.

Despite their high cost, Information Psychological Operations (IPSO) are more cost-effective than investing in the battlefield, said Yusov. For example, one hundred computers are cheaper than a single tank.

Previously, the HUR reported a meeting of Russian dictator Vladimir Putins administration to discuss the next stage of the information war against Ukraine.

According to the HUR, it has been determined that the Russian disinformation system will soon focus on utilizing a range of new themes and narratives.

Read also: Can Ukraine's armed forces mobilize 300,000 in one go?  Interview with Danilov

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russian and German citizen Artur Petrov has been arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of illegally purchasing large quantities of sensitive US-made microelectronics for a Russian company that supplies it to manufacturers of military equipment.

Source: European Pravda with reference to the US Department of Justice

Details: Petrov, 33, who holds dual Russian-German citizenship and lives in Russia and Cyprus, was arrested on 26 August in the Republic of Cyprus at the request of the United States.

According to court documents, together with two other Russians, he fraudulently purchased large quantities of microelectronics for Electrocom VPK LLC, a supplier of critical electronic components for arms manufacturers and other equipment in Russia, from US distributors.

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Petrov was charged on several counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, export control violations, smuggling, fraud and money laundering. Each of these charges carries a maximum sentence of five to 20 years.

Background:

Prior to that, Swedish prosecutors accused a suspect of espionage against Sweden and the United States in favour of Russia. This suspect was supposedly involved in intelligence activities for nine years.

The Swedish investigation also believes that 60-year-old Sergei Skvortsov, who was detained on suspicion of espionage, organised the supply of sanctioned goods to Russia through Finnish companies.

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Xi extends congratulations to National University of Defense Technology on 70th anniversary

Xinhua) 14:56, September 01, 2023

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday extended congratulations to faculty, students, and alumni of National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) as the university marks its 70th anniversary.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), sent a congratulatory letter to the university.

In the letter, Xi acknowledged the great contribution made by the university over the past seven decades to the development of national defense and the armed forces, stressing that the university has nurtured excellent graduates, achieved cutting-edge scientific and technological breakthroughs and made progress in researching and developing weaponry and equipment.

Xi expressed the hope that the university will fully implement military education policies for the new era, cultivate high-caliber professional military personnel, step up innovation in defense sciences and technologies, and strive to play an important role in strengthening the military through science and technology and personnel training.

Zhang Youxia, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice chairman of the CMC, read out Xi's letter at a meeting marking the anniversary in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, on Friday.

It is imperative to study and put into practice the guiding principles of Xi's instructions, said Zhang, urging the NUDT to further improve the education quality and capacity for scientific and technological innovation, and strive to build the university into a world-class institution of higher education.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A 34-year-old man has been killed in Kherson after Russian forces shelled the city, the Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported on Sep. 1.

The attack hit residential buildings at 12:50 p.m. local time.

The Kherson Oblast Prosecutor's Office said that they have started a pre-trial investigation into the war crime and that law enforcement officers are on the scene to collect evidence.

The city is often the target of strikes by Russian forces, who are located on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River.

One woman was killed and one man was injured when shelled the city of Kherson on Aug. 27.

Read also: 10 injured, 2 killed in Russian attacks over past day

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The Ukrainian Air Force destroyed one Russian Kalibr cruise missile overnight, while another one hit a private facility in Vinnytsia Oblast.

Source: Ukrainian Air Force

Quote: "On the night of 31 August-1 September 2023, the enemy fired Kalibr cruise missiles. Two missiles were launched from the Black Sea (near Feodosiia).

One missile was destroyed, and the other hit a private facility in Vinnytsia Oblast."

Details: The missile strike damaged property and private cars. The wounded are being treated.

Updated: Andrii Raikovych, Head of the Kirovohrad Oblast Military Command, said a cruise missile was shot down in the sky over Kirovohrad Oblast during a morning air-raid warning. There was no damage, no deaths and no injuries.

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The Russian troops have killed at least two residents of Donetsk and Kherson oblasts over the past 24 hours.

Source: Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration; Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of the Donetsk Oblast Military Administration

Details: The deceased in Donetsk Oblast was killed in the village of Myrne. Another civilian was injured in the oblast.

A civilian was killed, and one more was injured in Kherson Oblast over the past 24 hours. The Russians carried out a total of 61 attacks, firing 290 projectiles from mortars, artillery, tanks, Grad multiple rocket launchers, UAVs and aircraft.

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The Russian forces fired 14 projectiles on the city of Kherson.

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The News

European countries are buying more liquified natural gas from Russia than they did before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, revealing a weak spot in the energy sanctions targeting Russia that is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.

In the first six months of 2023, EU countries bought 40% more Russian LNG than they did in 2021, amounting to $5.7 billion in revenue for Russia, according to an analysis this week by the advocacy group Global Witness. This makes Europe the biggest customer for Russian LNG; only the U.S. sells more LNG to the bloc.

Tims view

After the invasion, European countries quickly cut their dependence on natural gas delivered via pipeline from Russia, which until then had supplied about half of the continents principal fuel for electricity production and industrial facilities. But theyve effectively swapped one fossil fuel import dependency for another that will be harder to kick.

Many European countries are accelerating plans to expand their LNG import infrastructure, while also speeding construction of renewables. Last winter, Russian gas cuts caused record-breaking energy price spikes that the continent is still recovering from: In Germany, the blocs top industrial economy, manufacturing activity has contracted for 14 consecutive months largely because of energy costs. This week Germanys chancellor rejected a call from industry groups for greater energy subsidies, arguing that the governments plan to boost LNG imports, especially from the U.S., is a better long-term solution.

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But a greater reliance on LNG inevitably leads back to Russia, which is seeking to triple exports from its Yamal LNG facility in Siberia. Thats a problem for the blocs stated goal to completely eliminate its consumption of Russian fossil fuels by 2027. And it has made LNG a focal point for Ukrainian activists, who are calling for a ban on imports from Russia (and also bemoaning the EUs weak enforcement of existing sanctions on refined oil products).

These figures are really horrifying, said Svitlana Romanko, director of clean energy advocacy group Razom We Stand. These countries are spending a lot of resources to help Ukraine, so I cant explain why theyve become so addicted to Russian LNG.

That viewed is shared by Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera, who has called the volume of Russian LNG imports absurd even as her country has become the top importer, and EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, who has backed a plan, currently stalled in negotiations, to block EU companies from signing new deals with Novotek, Russias LNG export company.

But even though European countries are ahead of schedule in storing gas for the winter, there is still a pervasive fear among policymakers of a repeat energy crisis once temperatures begin to fall, dimming the prospects for an LNG ban anytime soon.

Im sure they want to cut LNG imports from Russia entirely, said Ben Cahill, a senior energy fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, but for now they dont have the luxury of doing so.

Room for Disagreement

One compelling argument against an LNG ban is that it could hurt the EU more than the Kremlin. Since the full-scale invasion, LNG has provided only about 8% of Russias fossil fuel export revenue, according to data from the Centre for Research on Energy Clean Air, a Finland-based think tank. Banning it would likely spark a bidding war between European and Asian countries for LNG shipments from the U.S., which would need to fill much of the gap.

A lot of European politicians were upset about perceived profiteering by U.S. oil and gas companies during the energy crisis, said Paddy Ryan, assistant director for European energy security at the Atlantic Council. So getting rid of a competitor to the U.S. is something theyd be loath to do.

The View From Beijing

Notwithstanding Europes rising LNG purchases, Russias overall fossil fuel revenue is down significantly since the full-scale invasion, which has provided an opening for China to snap up Russian products at a discount. China is now the top buyer of Russian coal and crude oil, and the number-two buyer of LNG.

Chinas LNG buying habits may also indicate that Beijing had advance knowledge of the invasion, something it has vehemently denied, Rice University energy researchers argued in a recent Foreign Policy article. In the months prior to the invasion, China went on an unusual LNG shopping spree, they reveal, drying up the global LNG market just before Europe would be desperately seeking alternatives to Russian pipeline gas. China bought all the LNG it could when [its] political and corporate leaders anticipated that natural gas and LNG prices for Europe were going to spike, contributing to an even worse supply-demand balance and almost certainly higher prices for Europeans, they wrote.

Notable

EU leaders are especially keen to avoid energy price spikes as they near a Dec. 31 deadline to phase out existing emergency energy subsidies implemented after the invasion. While European Commission leaders are keen to enforce that deadline, the French and German governments are pushing to extend them, Politico reported, setting up a showdown with big implications for Europes industrial economy.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region, claimed on Sept. 1 that two aerial targets were shot down in the Yakovlevo and Korocha districts.

According to preliminary data, cited by Gladkov, there were no casualties or damage.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that local air defenses destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod region at around 9 p.m. Moscow time.

These claims could not be independently verified. Kyiv hasnt commented on the accusation.

Read also: Budanov: Only 60-70% of deployed Ukrainian maritime kamikaze drones destroyed by Russia

Russias Belgorod region borders Ukraines Sumy, Kharkiv, and Luhansk oblasts.

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Overnight on Aug. 30, Russia and occupied Crimea reportedly came under the largest drone attack since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's Pskov, Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, Kaluga, and Ryazan regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula, were purportedly targeted.

Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told the media outlet The War Zone that the drones that attacked a military airfield in Pskov on Aug. 30 were launched from within Russian territory.

Read also: From Moscow to Novorossiysk: The list of attacks on Russian soil

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A Ukrainian serviceman works with a tablet as he takes a cover from bombing by Russian forces inside the building during patrol in Bakhmut, Ukraine, in February 2023. AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

Russian hackers breached devices Ukraine was using on the battlefield, Western intel agencies said.

The Five Eyes alliance, which includes the US, said information was stolen but not how much.

The hacking campaign targeted Android devices used by the Ukrainian military, they said.

Russian hackers used malware to get Ukrainians' battlefield data from their Android devices, a group of Western intelligence agencies said.

The information was published jointly on Thursday by the Five Eyes alliance, made up of the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), NSA, and FBI, announced the news in a Thursday statement alongside partner agencies.

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They said they discovered malware that can "steal sensitive information" was being used in a campaign targeting Android devices used by the Ukrainian military. It said Russia was to blame.

They did not say now much data was taken, or give much detail on what time type.

They said some of the data taken had "applications specific to the Ukrainian military."

It said the malware used is known as "Infamous Chisel." It said it's a "new mobile malware targeting Android devices that has capabilities to enable unauthorized access to compromised devices, scan files, monitor traffic, and periodically steal sensitive information."

The intelligence agencies attributed the malware to Sandworm, part of Russia's GRU military-intelligence agency.

Sandworm was previously blamed for attacks on Ukraine's power grid during Russia's invasion as well as earlier attacks on its grid, on South Korea's Olympic games in 2018, and on multiple US hospitals.

The UK's deputy prime minister said Russia was pursuing the hacking strategy to make up for failures on the battlefield.

The Five Eyes agencies' announcement backs up Ukraine's claim that Russia was hacking its battlefield tech.

Ukraine said in early August that it had blocked Russian efforts to hack into Ukraine's military networks and gather data.

Ukraine's security service, the SBU, said it was able to stop Russia "from gaining access to sensitive information, including the activity of the Armed Forces, deployment of the Defense Forces, their technical provision, etc."

It made claims about what Russia was not able to access, but did not detail what it was able to get.

Ukraine said Russia "captured" some of its tablets on the battlefield, and then put the malware on them.

Ukraine uses tablets for multiple uses on the battlefield, including their work with drones.

John Hultquist, chief analyst at security firm Mandiant, told CNN "mobile malware is particularly insidious because it can give intelligence services the physical locations of targets."

The SBU said last month that GRU spy software was trying to find out troop movements from Elon Musk's Starlink satellites by putting malware on the tablets. The Five Eyes agencies did not comment on this claim.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Russian military hackers have targeted Ukrainian soldiers' mobile devices in an attempt to steal important information from the battlefield, the United States and its allies warned on 31 August.

Source: CNN

Details: The new advisory by the US and its Five Eyes allies  Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK  confirms a report by Ukraine's Security Service that found Russian hackers had attempted to infiltrate Android tablets used by the Ukrainian military to "plan and execute combat missions".

The Security Service stated that the Russian hackers' malicious code was designed to steal data sent from soldiers' mobile devices to the Starlink satellite system, manufactured by billionaire Elon Musk's company.

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It is unclear how successful the hacking attack was.

The Security Service stated that it had "blocked" some of the hacking attempts but also acknowledged that the Russians had "seized" tablets on the battlefield and installed malware on them.

"Mobile malware is particularly insidious because it can give intelligence services the physical locations of targets," said John Hultquist, Chief Analyst at Google-owned security firm Mandiant.

Hultquist said this capability can be "extremely effective on the battlefield".

The US and its allies blame Russia's Military Intelligence hacking unit, known as Sandworm, for the cyberattacks. It is allegedly responsible for cyberattacks that led to power outages in Ukraine in 2015 and 2016.

Pro-Ukrainian hackers are also trying to leave their mark in this war. The Ukrainian government encouraged thousands of volunteer hackers to conduct attacks on Russian assets in Ukraine and Russia.

CNN noted that the true scale and aftermath of Russian cyber operations in Ukraine are difficult to assess in the "fog of war", as both sides are interested in exaggerating their successes.

Reference: The hacking campaign is taking place during the Ukrainian counteroffensive, where the Kremlin can use information from the battlefield for its purposes.

Russian intelligence services have been launching cyberattacks on Ukraine's infrastructure since the beginning of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. For example, Russian intelligence conducted hacker attacks aimed at destroying data in the Ukrainian energy and transport infrastructure.

Although some hacker attacks have forced Ukrainian government institutions and companies to turn into recovery mode, Kyiv's digital defences have proved resilient.

General Paul Nakasone, Commander of United States Cyber Command, stated that in 2022, the US Armed Forces hacker unit conducted offensive cyber operations in support of Ukraine, which is defending itself from Russia.

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Russian air defense shot down a drone flying towards Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported on Telegram on Sept. 1.

According to the post, the drone was intercepted near Lyubertsy and was bound for the city of Moscow. No casualties have been reported.

Claims of drones shot down in Moscow Oblast are becoming an increasingly frequent event.

Sobyanin previously claimed that Russian air defenses destroyed a drone headed to the city during the early hours of Aug. 31.

Drones have also reported in Bryansk, Oryol, Kaluga, and Ryazan oblasts. The Russian-installed head of Sevastopol alleged that there had also been an unsuccessful attack on Sevastopol with sea drones.

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Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia delivers tactical nukes to Belarus, says military intelligence chief

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Pskov Oblast Governor Mikhail Vedernikov claimed that an unknown aerial object was detected in the region on Aug. 31.

Vedernikov said that "a single unidentified object" was identified flying over the Kresti district of Pskov Oblast, Russia. He posted a video to Telegram claiming to show Russian air defense attempting "to neutralize" the possible threat.

No casualties or damage were reported.

On Aug. 30, an alleged drone attack destroyed four Russian military aircraft at Pskov International Airport.

Reports of drone attacks within the Russian Federation have increased in recent weeks, with 25 strikes in August alone.

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Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia delivers tactical nukes to Belarus, says military intelligence chief

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First graders take part in a ceremony marking the start of classes at a school as part of the traditional opening of the school year known as "Day of Knowledge" in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Sept. 1, 2023. Many schools across the country reopen on Sept. 1. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

TALLINN, Estonia (AP)  Clad in white shirts and carrying bouquets, children across Russia flocked back to school Friday, where the Kremlin's narratives about the war in Ukraine and its confrontation with the West were taking an even more prominent spot than before.

Students are expected each week to listen to Russia's national anthem and watch the country's tricolor flag being raised. There's a weekly subject loosely translated as Conversations about Important Things, which was introduced last year with the goal of boosting patriotism.

A new high school history textbook has a chapter on the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the special military operation  the Kremlins euphemism for the war, and some basic military training is included in a course on self-defense and first aid.

President Vladimir Putin even got involved, personally meeting Friday with 30 school students from different regions and describing Russians as an invincible nation. The Kremlin called it an open lesson as part of the Conversations About Important Things program of studies.

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School ... is a powerful mechanism for raising a person subordinate to the state," said Nikolay Petrov, visiting researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "For a while the school was outside the active attention of the state. Today, its all coming back.

The Kremlin became preoccupied with what was on the minds of young people several years ago, when teenagers and students flocked to unauthorized protests organized by now-imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The Kremlin suddenly began to pay a lot of attention to children and the youth, Petrov noted.

Putin started meeting with young people regularly, and authorities started investing in pushing its political narrative. The effort appeared to be driven by the realization that a whole generation of people who grew up with Putin as president can think differently than the Kremlin wants them to, the analyst said.

There have been frequent media reports in recent years about teachers dressing down, shouting at or calling police on students who express support for the opposition or anti-government views.

The crackdown intensified after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine, and teachers were fired or forced to quit after refusing to hold sessions of the Conversations About Important Things." Parents faced pressure from school administrators and authorities if their children skipped those lessons.

Earlier this year, authorities the town of Yefremov, south of Moscow, convicted and imprisoned a single father whose daughter drew an antiwar sketch at school.

The Education Ministry has unveiled an 11th grade history textbook, with a chapter covering Russia from 2014 to the present. It justifies the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine, and paints the West as hostile toward Moscow. Questions about the fighting were featured in a sample of the final history exam that authorities recently released.

The practical course on self-defense and first aid now includes some basic military training, with students being taught about various weapons and lectures on information warfare and the dangers of extremist groups.

Some parents say they are rattled by these mandatory lessons.

I've discovered that, to my horror, ideological lessons have become mandatory for my daughters and there is no chance of avoiding that, said Sergei, a Muscovite whose two daughters have just started high school. He and other parents spoke to The Associated Press on the condition that their last names not be revealed out of concerns for their safety.

I now have to explain and ask the girls to be more careful with what they say in school in order to not inflict harm on themselves, he said.

Sergei said his daughters, whose hobby is ballroom dancing, are all of a sudden asking questions about the flight range of missiles and drones.

The mind of school students becomes militarized, history textbooks are being rewritten, mandatory ideology is being imposed," he said. "Russian schools rapidly turn back to the worst Soviet examples, when two histories and two truths existed.

A parent now has fewer opportunities to protect kids from brainwashing, he added.

Other Muscovites told AP they were lucky to have their children attend schools where teachers weren't following the directives to the letter, trying to stay away from politics.

We got teachers who understand everything. They won't say out loud that they're against Conversations About Important Things," said Vladimir, whose daughter is in a Moscow school.

"We got a teacher who came up with her own content for the lesson and talked about, for example, theater, history of Moscow, other depoliticized topics without ideology, he said.

Anna, whose son attends middle school in Moscow, also said she is grateful to the school and its administrators for not taking an aggressive stance and not resorting to propaganda. She said the school has the weekly anthem ceremony and featured a lesson about Crimea last year, but little else, so I'm not worried about it.

Vladimir believes that teachers who are well-educated, critical thinkers will be able to circumvent the requirements. If they are crafty and flexible, he said, they will probably formally implement what they're being told, but in reality quietly sabotage it.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- China and Nicaragua officially signed a free trade agreement on Thursday, which is the most important achievement in the bilateral practical cooperation since the resumption of diplomatic relations, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Thursday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily news briefing that the milestone agreement will further stimulate the potential of investment and trade cooperation and open up broader prospects for practical cooperation between the two countries.

The two sides have efficiently completed the negotiations on the free trade agreement within one year since the launch in July 2022, fully demonstrating the high-level mutual trust between the two countries and a shared readiness to step up practical cooperation, Wang said.

"Since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, we have witnessed leapfrog development in bilateral relations, deepening political mutual trust and fruitful practical cooperation. The dividends of resuming diplomatic relations continue to be felt. These have fully proved that the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Nicaragua is in line with the trend of history and the times, and serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples," he said.

Wang added that China is ready to work with Nicaragua to promote bilateral relations to a new height and bring more benefits to the peoples. 
At about 12:00 on 1 September, Russian forces attacked the city of Seredyna-Buda in Shostka district, Sumy Oblast.

Source: Office of the Prosecutor General on Telegram

Details: As a result of the attack, four local residents received shrapnel wounds.

The Russians damaged 16 apartment buildings, 12 private houses, critical infrastructure facilities, 5 administrative buildings and institutions, 3 educational institutions and numerous shops and vehicles.

Quote: "In total, law enforcement officers received over 100 reports of damage to citizens' property."

"Under the procedural leadership of the Shostka District Prosecutor's Office, a pre-trial investigation was launched into the violation of laws and customs of war (Article 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)."

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Background:

On the night of 30 August, the Russian military struck a residential building in Sumy Oblast, killing a 82-year-old woman.

On 28 August, three people were injured as a result of a Russian attack in Sumy Oblast.

On Wednesday, a Russian Shahed drone attacked an educational institution in the settlement of Romny in Sumy Oblast. A schools principal, her deputy, a secretary and a librarian were killed in the strike.

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The Russians attacked a village in the Bilozerka hromada in Kherson Oblast on 1 September, likely from artillery, killing a tractor driver [a hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories  ed.].

Source: Prosecutor General's Office

Quote: "A tractor crew came under enemy fire on the territory of an agricultural business. The tractor driver received life-threatening injuries.

His colleague was seriously injured and taken to hospital. Vehicles and special equipment were damaged."

Background:

On 29 August, Russians injured a 75-year-old man in the village of Olhivka in Kherson Oblast. A tractor driver was also fatally injured by a Russian mine.

On Tuesday, soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine raised the flag over buildings in the settlement of Dachi, now a "grey zone", on the left bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast.

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Over the past day, the Russian army has launched 4 missile and 30 air strikes and launched 32 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems on the positions of Ukraines troops and populated areas.

Source: Evening report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook

Details: 31 combat clashes took place at the front during the day. The Russian military conducted unsuccessful offensive actions near Novoselivske in Luhansk Oblast, Kurdiumivka, Sieverne, Krasnohorivka and Velyka Novosilka in Donetsk Oblast.

The Defence Forces of Ukraine continue to conduct an offensive operation on the Melitopol front.

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Quote: "During the day, the Air Force carried out six strikes on the areas where Russian personnel, weapons and military equipment were concentrated, and four on Russian anti-aircraft missile systems.

During the day, units of Rocket Forces and Artillery hit 10 artillery pieces in firing positions, 1 ammunition storage point and 1 Russian radar station.

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Russia's extensive defenses are forcing Ukraine to clear a path 10 miles wide for full-scale attack.

Ukraine needs the space to protect its Western-made tanks and vehicles, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Troops appeared to have pushed into Russia's main defensive line southeast near Zaporizhzhia.

Ukraine faces a daunting challenge in its counteroffensive as it pushes through Russia's defenses and clears a path to get its troops behind the front.

But that route will need to be at least 10 miles wide to protect prized Western-made tanks and armored vehicles from powerful Russian artillery.

Combat veterans told The Wall Street Journal that Ukraine will need as much space as possible to keep assets such as its US-provided Bradley fighting vehicles and German-made Leopard tanks safe as they move deeper into Russian-occupied territory.

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Earlier this week, Ukraine appeared to make major progress in busting Russia's extensive defenses in the country's southeast near Zaporizhzhia, with Ukraine's defense minister Oleksii Reznikov saying that Ukraine's forces "broke the first line" and would be expanding their foothold.

Geolocated footage showed Ukrainian infantry advancing to the northwest of Verbove, a small village east of the newly liberated Robotyne and southeast of Zaporizhzhia on the Dnipro River.

While it's not clear exactly which areas Ukraine controls, the footage and movement seem to suggest that Russian control over the outskirts of the town is "degraded," according to an update from the Institute for the Study of War.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said troops had also advanced south of Robotyne.

Now, Ukraine will need to clear that 10-mile path in order to successfully breach past Russian defenses. If it can't, its armor and vital Western assets will be vulnerable to Russian counter-battery fire, missiles, and artillery.

Along the way, Ukrainian forces face Russia's formidable defenses: landmine fields that stretch for miles, deep trenches, "dragon's teeth" obstacles to block vehicles, and anti-tank ditches that render Western armor helpless.

Russian counterstrikes could wreak havoc on Ukraine's ability to cut through larger swaths of territory towards the Sea of Azov and pummel Russian forces that have been grouped up along the south near Mariupol.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping soon, following earlier reports that he planned to visit China in October.

Russia has turned increasingly to China as its most powerful ally since alienating the West last year with its decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, what it calls a "special military operation".

China has declined to blame Moscow for the war and condemned Western sanctions on Russia, even as it has profited by securing discounts for oil and gas that Russia can no longer sell to Europe.

Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov said in July that Putin planned to visit China in October at the time of its third "Belt and Road" forum, responding to an invitation issued by Xi during a high-profile state visit to Russia in March.

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Putin and Xi had already heralded an era of much closer ties, and a shared rejection of a Western-based world order, by signing a "no limits" partnership agreement in Beijing last year, weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.

But Putin, speaking in a televised meeting with selected schoolchildren on the first day of the school year, did not explicitly confirm that he would travel to China again.

Putin is not known to have travelled abroad since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March, just before Xi's visit, on suspicion of war crimes in Ukraine.

"Quite soon we will have events, and there will be a meeting with the president of the Peoples Republic of China," he said, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

"He (Xi) calls me his friend, and I am happy to call him my friend, because he is a person who does a lot for the development of Russian-Chinese relations."

Last week, Putin participated remotely in a summit of the BRICS countries, with Brazil, India, China and the host, South Africa.

He will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a Sept. 9-10 meeting of the Group of 20 leading industrialised and developing countries in India.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Conor Humphries)
Editor's note: This story was updated on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 2 to include a social media announcement late Friday night by Rutherford County Board of Education Chairman Tammy Sharp.

Rutherford County Board of Education chairman Tammy Sharp announced late Friday in a Facebook post that she "will not be seeking another term as chairman"  the leadership position that, as of Friday morning, she vowed to retain.

Earlier in the week of Aug. 28, two of the five board members who supported Tammy Sharp to be chairman in a 5-2 vote the year before voiced interest in new leadership to preside over meetings and work with the administration on preparing meeting agendas. Sharp would have needed four votes to remain as chairman, but the two wanting a change after backing Sharp last year are Frances Rosales and Claire Maxwell.

"Change is good, and new leadership is not a reprimand against the past," Rosales said earlier in the week. "Its just about moving forward." Rosales who won her seat in 2022.

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"I think it should be a one year thing," said Maxwell, who won her seat in 2020 "If you are going to be on the board and serve out your entire term, you should have the opportunity to be chair or vice chair."

The board will decide who will serve as chair at a 5:30 p.m. Tuesday meeting at the district's administration office, 2240 Southpark Drive, Murfreesboro.

Sharp's Friday announcement: 'It is with a heavy heart and great respect'

As of Friday morning, Sharp expressed her intention to keep the leadership position at the school board's vote on Tuesday. She described the loss of support from Rosales and Maxwell as being "self serving because they want the chair themselves."

Then late Friday evening, Sharp shared on social media that a recent diagnosis "requires my full attention and focus on my health and treatment."

"Serving as the Chairman of the Rutherford County School Board has been a privilege and an honor. I am grateful for the opportunity to work alongside dedicated educators, administrators, and board members who share my passion for providing quality education to our students," Sharp posted.

"It is with a heavy heart and great respect for my Rutherford County School family that I am announcing that I have received a recent diagnosis of breast cancer."

Leading the board: Majority of school board chooses Tammy Sharp to be chairwoman

Rutherford County School Board Member Claire Maxwell, right, talks with James Sullivan after the meeting, on Monday, May 23, 2022, where the Rutherford County School Board voted to appoint Sullivan to be the next Rutherford County Schools director.

Sharp touts her leadership

Sharp and her fellow elected board members oversee Schools Director James "Jimmy" Sullivan, and vote on budgets, contracts, campus zoning and policies. Sullivan manages a district with over 6,100 budgeted employees serving about 52,000 students attending 50 schools in fast-growing Rutherford.

"I think Dr. Sullivan and I have made a great leadership team, and we've had lot of successes this year," said Sharp, who touted the district earning a top Level 5 score from the Tennessee Department of Education for demonstrating academic growth on all standardized tests. "I would like to continue that. Why change something that is not broken."

Leading school district: School board votes 5-2 to hire James Sullivan as next Rutherford County Schools director

The incumbent chairman also touts leading a board that was able to do the following:

keep JazzFest going for school bands by relocating the event to the Fountains at Gateway development

win $156.3 million in funding approval from the Rutherford County Commission to expand and renovate Riverdale, Smyrna and Oakland high schools.

School district leadership: School board votes 5-2 to hire James "Jimmy" Sullivan as next Rutherford County Schools director

Former chairman Coy Young also wants change in leadership

Sharp also had the backing a year ago to serve as chairman from vice chairman Caleb Tidwell and Katie Darby. All three joined Rosales in winning their seats as Republican nominees August 2022.

Fellow board members Shelia Bratton and Coy Young opposed Sharp serving as chairman and wanted the leadership position for Bratton, who had previously been the vice chairman.

School Board Member Coy Young speaks against the American Classical Academy Charter School during a called school board meeting where a voted for approval or denial of the Charter School was held on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.

Earlier in the week, Young said he'd like a new chairman.

"I think its good to rotate people in and out of that position," said Young, who served as chairman for one year in 2020-21 and as the vice chairman for two years before becoming chairman. "I dont think its good to have someone in that position long term. We all bring different things to the table. I think it's good to give everybody the opportunity to perform at that level."

Partisan elections: Democrat fears new GOP majority county school board may mean book banning, teacher firing

Vice chairman Tidwell supports Sharp remaining as chairman

Sharp has the backing from Tidwell to remain as chairman while working with Director Sullivan in leading the district.

"I feel like having these two working together to steer the ship helped us to develop a strong strategic plan," Tidwell said. "I felt like we had a conservative and efficient budgeting process resulting in a balanced budget, increased transparency and a focus on long-term results."

Rutherford County School Board member Caleb Tidwell speaks during a called school board meeting on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, to accept or deny American Classical Academy Charter School, to enter the Rutherford County School System.

Sharp, Tidwell said, has been very supportive of Sullivan in returning focus back to results in the classroom with the Level 5 academic recognition from the state and promoting a positive staff culture.

In addition to supporting Sharp to remain as chairman, Tidwell said he's willing to accept the vice chairman role again but will not stand in the way of another board member wanting to serve in this position. The vice chairman fills in to preside over board meetings when the chairman is absent.

Funding schools: What does county school board's $518M balanced budget fund next year?

Board members question Sharp leadership on charter school approval

Sharp's leadership included a 5-2 decision in April that approved the application of the American Classical Academy charter school that can operate with tax dollars independent of the board.

Sharp upset board members, however, when she didn't permit a hearing on the charter school from both a staff-led committee that recommended denial and the applicant.

"That was wrong," said Rosales, who wanted a more transparent hearing. Rosales had planned to ask the applicant questions about addressing the staff-led committee's concerns before joining Sharp, Maxwell, Tidwell and Darby in approving the charter school.

The vote without a hearing from the staff-led committee and the applicant also upset the two board members who opposed the charter school: Bratton and Young.

"I find this very nefarious," Bratton said during the April meeting prior to the vote on the charter school.

Charter School issue: ACA charter school application wins approval by Rutherford County school board

Sharp said she chose against having a hearing because the board and public had written reports available on the district's website from the staff-led committee and the charter school application.

"I knew what the votes were," Sharp said. "I didnt want to put the central office staff through that."

The school board later responded by unanimously agreeing to a new policy to require hearings from staff-led committees and charter school applicants before voting on charter school proposals, confirmed Sharp, adding that she was fine with what the majority of the board wanted going forward.

Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. Follow his tweets on the X social media platform @ScottBroden. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.

Meeting time and location

The Rutherford County Board of Education will choose a chairman and vice chairman to serve in one-year terms during a 5:30 p.m. Tuesday meeting at the district's administration office, 2240 Southpark Drive, Murfreesboro.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Rutherford school board to vote on new leadership as Sharp steps aside
The News

Rwanda President Paul Kagame told me this week in Kigali that he sees American policy towards Rwanda and the region as enigmatic and hypocritical  and that American lip service toward democracy sometimes feels and sounds just like a joke.

Kagame, who has long had a complicated relationship with the United States, suggested that the scramble for key minerals has driven U.S. officials to favor Congo over his country  and brushed off U.S. criticism of Rwandan involvement in conflict there as merely a matter of U.S. interests.

To make sure that this situation does not deliver Congo to China you just say good things to them. It doesnt have to be right. It doesnt have to be wrong, he said.

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In an extensive discussion with a group of US journalists visiting as guests of the Rwanda government, Kagame said he thinks America deals with Rwanda, a nation that will mark the 30th anniversary since its tragic genocide next April, as an afterthought.

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I asked two sets of questions of President Kagame. First, I asked whether he believed the US was aligned with him on what his current existential threats were as well as whether America mattered at all to him as he set forward looking goals for the country. Secondly, I asked whether his expectations of better Rwanda-U.S. relations were met after the commutation of Hotel Rwanda famous Paul Rusesabaginas prison sentence and release and if the just announced Treasury Department sanctions against one of his top generals  who also happened to be Kagames former top policy advisor  had damaged relations again after the promise of a reset.

Kagame, who has led the nation since the defeat of the government that unleashed a nation-wide slaughter against its own citizens, said hes fed up with American proselytizing about values and human rights as it does little to punish or pressure the Democratic Republic of Congo for hosting, supporting and even collaborating with the remnant forces of the previous genocidal regime. He said that his general, Brig-Gen Andrew Nyamvumba, was sanctioned so as not to upset the DRC who might turn towards China and away from the US in the great race for its large rare mineral assets. He said today in the case of Gabon and Niger, the Americans and the French worry most about whether their access to needed mineral imports will remain in place and really dont care much about the true welfare of citizens in those countries.

Meanwhile, the situation on Rwandas border is extremely tense. As I write this, I am just 5 kilometers away from where Congolese troops killed more than 40 people amid a crackdown on a protest against United Nations peacekeepers.

Steves view

An important part of the picture here is taking stock of which players are exacerbating tensions, and which are trying to calm them. I saw first hand here that Kagames government invests heavily in trying to attract back to Rwanda former commanders in the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda, the force derived from Rwandas previous government that designed and enacted the genocide, and is now allegedly armed by the DRC military. Kagames government is offering them and their young indoctrinated soldiers the promise of a better life in their home country than what they have in the jungles of the DRC. They send these people through an official Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Program and essentially open themselves up to some who were active in the genocide three decades ago, as long as they undergo ideological deprogramming and become contributing members of Rwanda society. In the DRC, with more than 200 warring armed factions and militias, no program seems to be working on disarmament and some vision of a reintegrated society there.

In our discussion, Kagame brushed off criticism of his leadership and accusations that he is a dictator. He said he didnt care about praise, but he said many of the critics do not want to acknowledge how far Rwanda and its people have come and dont understand that the murderous forces connected to Rwandas nightmarish genocide have safe haven across the border and continue to threaten Rwandas security.

Rwandas success story is still fragile, that Americas engagement here often comes off as pretentious, preconceived philanthropy that doesnt work on the ground or address the practical needs of Rwandans. Kagame and his leadership team somehow turned a situation where the dark side of humanity was pushed to its very limits into what seems like a functioning, growing, ambitious nation working to erase what had been colonially contrived and imposed ethnic divisions.

The real story of the disaster here nearly 30 years ago is rooted in a malevolent government that drew up plans to murder its own citizens at massive scale, bad decisions by the United Nations and indifference from the worlds major powers, including the United States. Its hard not to see, as Kagame suggests, some of those same patterns from three decades ago still at play today when it comes to the inefficacy and inchoateness of the UN mission in the DRC, and the inconsistencies of a Biden White House on where it wants the Rwanda-US relationship to go.

Room for Disagreement

In June, a UN report accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group which has allegedly carried out human rights abuses in DRC including mass killings the rape of civilians. The report cited evidence of direct interventions by Rwandas armed forces in the neighboring country to support M23 fighters or conduct military operations against the FDLR.

The U.S. state department, responding to the UN report, called on Rwanda to immediately cease support for the UN- and U.S.-sanctioned M23 armed group. It also reiterated its call for Kigali to remove Rwandan troops from Congolese territory.

Rwanda has repeatedly denied backing the M23 rebel group.

The state department also denounced collaboration between DRCs armed forces and multiple armed groups, including the UN- and U.S.-sanctioned FDLR.
The August issue of Sacramento Magazine is its last. The monthly magazine has closed after 48 years of operation.

The parent company of Sactown Magazine, a competitor, has bought the remaining assets of Sacramento Magazine from Sacramento Media. This acquisition by Metropolis Publishing included Sacramento Magazines subscription list, according to a news release issued by both magazines.

As part of the purchase agreement, Sacramento Magazine subscribers will get copies of Sactown Magazine.

The reason for the demise of Sacramento Magazine was not explained in the news release.

As owners of Sacramento Magazine, we have taken a lot of pride in what this publication has accomplished, Sacramento Media CEO Stefan Wanczyk stated. We deeply appreciate the support of the community, our readers and the advertising partners over the last eight years.

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Sacramento Media is a subsidiary of Hour Media, the publisher of Hour Detroit Magazine and Cincinnati Magazine. The company bought Sacramento Magazine in 2015 from Sacramento businessman Mike OBrien who had owned it since 1993.

Prior to 1993, the magazine had been majority owned by Micromedia Affiliates of Morristown, New Jersey.

Last December, Hour Media sold its other California publications, Los Angeles, Orange Coast and Pasadena magazines for more than $6 million.

No purchase price was disclosed for Sacramento Magazines assets.

Sacramento Magazine Publisher Dennis Rainey said in an email that the shutdown of the Sacramento magazine came as a surprise. He said staff was informed on July 21 that there would be no future issues.

While national magazines have struggled for years in the changing media landscape that has also impacted newspapers and television stations, regional city magazines have been a bright spot, said Chicago-based magazine consultantJoe Berger.

If its niche and if its done well and its done by enthusiasts who really know their market, then the magazines can survive, said Berger.

Berger said one advantage niche magazines have is they rely heavily on freelancers for their stories instead of employing more costly staff writers.

Sacramento Magazine had no staff writers while Sactown Magazine has one.

Berger said its remarkable that Sactown Magazine, launched from scratch in 2006, was able to successfully take on its long established rival, Sacramento Magazine.

Sacramento Magazine, founded in 1975, had already been around for 31-years when Sactown Magazine came out with its first issue.

The new magazine was founded by Sacramento native Rob Turner and his wife Elyssa Lee. Both had spent a decade in New York City as magazine journalists and met at Money Magazine before moving to Sacramento to start the magazine.

Turner said that Sacramento Magazine made its mark on the city and on his own career.

We have nothing but respect for the team that has been producing Sacramento Magazine for decades. Very early in my career, I used to freelance for the magazine and have always been grateful for that opportunity. Theyve shined a spotlight on hundreds of worthy stories since 1975, and our city is certainly better for their efforts.

Path to success for upstart magazine

Sactown Magazines mix of stories resonated well with readers, and it surpassed Sacramento Magazines circulation. The magazine featured stories on hot new chefs and unique shops but also ran hard news stories and 5,000 to 8,000 word profiles on locals who made it big like Barbie Director Greta Gerwig and NBC newscaster Lester Holt.

I was born and raised in Sacramento and I always found that a magazine was a great way to tell a story of the regionthrough journalism, photography, design and illustration, Turner said.

Turner said Sactowns current subscriber circulation is 35,000. Sacramento Magazine had 30,000, circulation figures show.

Sactown Magazine was also getting more advertisements, a key producer of revenue for magazines, Berger said.

The August issue of Sacramento magazine was 122 pages and featured several dozen full-page advertisements.

In contrast, the July-August issue of Sactown Magazine was 208 pages. It was the magazines 100th anniversary edition and had more than twice the number of full-page ads than its competitor.

Turner said the summer issue is the biggest in the magazines history in terms of page count and revenue.

He said he has not had much time, given the recent deal with Sacramento Magazine, to focus on what the future will bring for Sactown Magazine.

But our goal, as always, is to just keep on improvingboth in terms of quality and improving the business, he said.

He also said Sactown is looking at areas of growth including improving the magazines digital presence and possibly holding public events.

Sacramento Magazine had held an annual Best of Sac Party, where select restaurants and bars offered samples of their food and drink.

The August issues back page advertises this years event that was scheduled for Nov. 9 at the Safe Credit Unit Convention Center.

The magazine and the ad were already printed when staff got a sudden word that Sacramento magazine was no longer.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall speaks at West High School on Thursday. The Utah Transit Authority and the Salt Lake City School District have expanded their partnership to give even more people access to public transportation. | Logan Stefanich, KSL.com

The Utah Transit Authority and the Salt Lake City School District last year struck a historic partnership that gave 25,000 free transit passes to all students, faculty and staff in the district.

One year later, that partnership has been expanded to give even more people access to public transportation  allowing a parent or guardian from each student household to receive a pass.

"This pass saves time, gas and money for both parents and employees. It's convenient transportation to and from school for both students and faculty, (and) the pass is a safe alternative to driving and walking," said Carlton Christensen, chairman of the UTA Board of Trustees.

Christensen said that UTA's On Demand service saw a big spike in usage when the school year started last year, an indication that many students utilize UTA to get to and from school. In the first year of the partnership, UTA saw a 645% increase in student ridership.

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Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall last year said that the partnership took at least a decade of planning and conversations to piece together. On Thursday, she reflected on the success of the program and its cumulative impacts from giving more students, faculty and staff a reliable means of transportation to taking cars off the road and cutting vehicular emissions.

She added that she believes public transit usage is "at the crux" of the quality of life and the future of the Salt Lake Valley and that the partnership will allow students who might have relied on other forms of transportation to take advantage of after-school opportunities, jobs and internships.

Recently appointed district superintendent Elizabeth Grant was also on hand to acknowledge the second year of the partnership, saying that education is a community affair.

"This is a sign of the support for education across our city," Grant said.

Grant also said that more than half of the students in the district come from low-income families. According to AAA data, the average price of gas in Utah is currently $4.32 per gallon, higher than the national average of $3.82.

"Every dollar saved in transportation makes a great deal of difference to our families," Grant said, also acknowledging its impact on emissions. "Sharing rides improves our air quality here in Salt Lake City. So having thousands of rides affecting thousands of our students, as well as their families, has an impact in Salt Lake."

Derek Wilhelm, a senior and student body president at West High School, joked that "you must be doing something right" getting picked up by a UTA vehicle worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Now that the district is providing passes for everyone, that means more opportunities for all sorts of families and access for all kinds of studying, adventure, work and more. For that, I'm grateful for the UTA and the district," Wilhelm said.

At the launch of the partnership last year, Mendenhall said the city mentioned the type of partnership during previous discussions with UTA. It came to fruition when the Salt Lake City Council set aside the final $100,000 needed to complete the funding for the passes with the approval of the city's 2023 fiscal year budget.

The remaining $279,000 came from the Salt Lake City Education Foundation and Salt Lake City School District, according to Kensey Kunkel, UTA's manager of business development and sales.

"This is an awesome partnership; but most of all, it's an example of how we work together and how we work together to solve what have been intractable problems and creating intergenerational cycles of thriving," Mendenhall said.
A Sarasota judge sentenced a 37-year-old man to 40 years in prison on Thursday for sexually abusing and impregnating a 13-year-old victim, according to a news release by the 12th Judicial State Attorney's Office.

Corey Duane Primus entered an open plea on Oct. 4, 2022, and was convicted of sexual battery on a child between the ages of 12 and 18 by a person in familial/custodial authority, using a computer to seduce a child to commit a sexual act, and impregnating a minor.

In addition to the 40-year sentence, Judge Rochelle Curley ordered Primus to have no contact with the victim or her family and designated him a sexual predator.

Sarasota court news: Osprey man sentenced to 15 years in prison for hit-and-run that killed Pine View student

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More court news: Final hearing on risk protection order for Sarasota student set for September

The Sarasota Police Department began investigating the crimes after the victim's parents learned about the abuse from one of the victim's siblings.

The news release stated the teen and her family were living in a home with Primus, then 34, in July 2021 and that Primus began constantly texting the victim late in the evening and in the early morning, asking her "to perform sex acts with him."

When the parents would leave the house, Primus would be left in charge and sexual activity would occur, according to the release. During the Sarasota police investigation, detectives learned the victim was pregnant, found numerous texts between Primus and the victim indicating it was Primus's child, and discovered Primus continued to ask the victim for sexual favors despite the pregnancy.

The pregnancy was ultimately terminated, and DNA testing confirmed Primus was the father, according to the release.

The state sought a life-in-prison sentence, while the defense asked the judge for a sentence of 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation, according to the release.

Curley not only reviewed the facts and text messages, but also heard prior allegations against Primus in Polk County in 2015 and 2016, and heard from the victim's parents.

From homicide prosecutor to chief judge: Charles Roberts reflects on 40-year legal career

The lead prosecutor in the case, Assistant State Attorney S. Ethan Dunn, praised Detective Angela Cox, the Sarasota Police Department, and Master Deputy Brett Socha with the Polk Sheriff's Office for working to get the victim justice in the case.

This defendant abused his position of trust in this home to prey upon children," Dunn said. "The victims courage to come forward about the abuse and the support of her family and law enforcement has ensured that the Defendant will not be able to harm any children in our community for a very long time."

Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota man sentenced to 40 years in prison for sex battery of minor
JAKARTA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed after an elevator at a resort hotel crashed on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali on Friday, local police said.

The accident took place in Ubud, a tourism village in the district of Gianyar, at around 1:00 p.m. local time.

According to the preliminary investigation report, the accident happened when five staff of the resort hotel entered the elevator to go up and its belt suddenly broke and it crashed on the ground, killing all passengers.

Ubud police chief I Made Uder told local media that the elevator fell from a height of around 100 meters.

All the people were immediately moved to the nearest hospital, he said, adding that officers have registered the case and ordered an investigation. 
A Midway Elementary School employee in the Lexington 1 school district has been arrested and placed on administrative leave after officials say the employee brought an unloaded gun to school.

The employee was arrested Friday by the Lexington County Sheriffs Department after another employee discovered the weapon before school began Friday morning, according to an email sent to parents Friday by Midway Principal Tim Carnahan.

It appears that the weapon was in a box of supplies the employee brought into the classroom on Thursday, Carnahan wrote, adding, We are taking precautions so that the arrest is not made in front of students.

The Lexington County Sheriffs Department identified the teacher as Seth Smith, 43. He is charged with possession of a firearm on school property.

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The school resource officer was notified after a district employee told school administrators they discovered a handgun in a classroom Friday morning before school started. Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a statement. The pistol was located in the classroom assigned to Smith.

Smith admitted to bringing the pistol to the school when he was storing boxes that he had brought from home Thursday, said Koon. He found the pistol inside one of the boxes and set it to the side to take back home but then forgot and left the firearm at the school overnight.

While the investigation continues, there is limited information that can be shared, but please know that school and district administrators are working with law enforcement to fully investigate and respond to the incident following state law, board policy and district procedures, Carnahans email to parents said.
One decision deals with porn, the other with social media platforms more broadly. Federal judges issued preliminary wins to free speech, sex workers, social media, and civil liberties and blows to censorship, nanny statism, and overreaching Arkansas and Texas authorities yesterday. Both rulings involve recently passed age verification lawsone barring minors from accessing a variety of social media platforms without parental permission and one requiring pornography websites to check IDs.

Both cases could have implications far beyond their respective states of origin, since proposals requiring parental consent before minors use social media and laws requiring porn platforms to check visitor IDs have become popular around the country.

In NetChoice v. Griffin, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas has halted enforcement of an Arkansas age verification law that was slated to take effect today.

Meanwhile, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas halted enforcement of a Texas law (H.B. 1181) requiring age verification and public health warnings on porn platforms. The Texas law was also slated to take effect today.

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Social Media Is Not Like 'a Bar'

In the Arkansas case, the tech trade group NetChoice sued over Arkansas' Social Media Safety Act (one of many recent attempts by state and federal lawmakers to childproof the internet). The measureAct 689bans minors from using social media platforms (with a number of confusing exceptions) unless they prove they have parental consent.

On Thursday, Judge Timothy L. Brooks blocked the state from enforcing the law as NetChoice's legal challenge plays out.

"We're pleased the court sided with the First Amendment and stopped Arkansas' unconstitutional law from censoring free speech online and undermining the privacy of Arkansans, their families and their businesses as our case proceeds," said Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice litigation center. "We look forward to seeing the law struck down permanently."

As with all such age verification laws, the Arkansas measure would invade the privacy of all social media usersincluding adultswho would be forced to turn over official IDs in order to speak or access information online. It would also infringe on the rights of minors to share and access constitutionally protected speech. Ultimately, Act 689 "puts the government in charge of how young people use the internet, rather than families and parents," warns NetChoice on its website. It also "risks the leaking of sensitive information, like photos of driving licenses, by forcing websites to collect and process this information."

In yesterday's order, Brooks deemed Act 689 "unconstitutionally vague because it fails to adequately define which entities are subject to its requirements." Brooks noted that during an evidentiary hearing, the state couldn't even say definitively whether Snapchat was subject to the law's requirements, saying at one point that it was and at another point that it was not. "Act 689 also fails to define what type of proof will be sufficient to demonstrate that a platform has obtained the 'express consent of a parent or legal guardian,'" noted the judge.

In an amusing/infuriating exchange in court (that was cited in Brooks' ruling), the state suggested that all of social media should be treated like "a bar" for purposes of excluding minors:

(from Brooks' ruling)

"This analogy is weak," wrote Brooks. "After all, minors have no constitutional right to consume alcohol, and the primary purpose of a bar is to serve alcohol. By contrast, the primary purpose of a social media platform is to engage in speech, and the State stipulated that social media platforms contain vast amounts of constitutionally protected speech for both adults and minors. Furthermore, Act 689 imposes much broader 'location restrictions' than a bar does."

The judge also noted that the ID requirements the Social Media Safety Act would impose could deter adult speech, since "it is likely that many adults who otherwise would be interested in becoming account holders on regulated social media platforms will be deterredand their speech chilledas a result of the age verification requirements, whichwill likely require them to upload official government documents and submit to biometric scans."

Texas Law Would Let the Government 'Peer Into the Most Intimate and Personal Aspects of People's Lives'

A judge in Texas was similarly skeptical about the constitutionality of a Texas law related to age verification and adult content. The case was brought by the adult industry association the Free Speech Coalition (FSC).

In a Thursday order, Judge David A. Ezra blocked the state from enforcing the law as the FSC's case moves forward.

"We're pleased that the Court agreed with our view that HB 1181's true purpose is not to protect young people, but to prevent Texans from enjoying First Amendment protected expression," said FSC Executive Director Alison Boden. "The state's defense of the law was not based in science or technology, but ideology and politics."

Under H.B. 1181, platforms offering adult content would be forced to ID all visitors and to display warnings about the health dangers of viewing pornography. The law was set to take effect September 1.

"Even if the Court were to adopt narrow constructions of the statute, it would overburden protected speech of both sexual websites and their visitors," wrote Ezra in yesterday's order. "Courts have routinely struck down restrictions on sexual content as improperly tailored when they impermissibly restrict adult's access to sexual materials in the name of protecting minors."

Ezra called out Texas for not attempting less invasive means to shield young people from viewing porn and pointed out how thoroughly the law invades adult privacy.

If permitted to take effect, the law would allow "the government to peer into the most intimate and personal aspects of people's lives," wrote Ezra. "It runs the risk that the state can monitor when an adult views sexually explicit materials and what kinds of websites they visit."

Mike Stabile, the FSC's director of public affairs, called the order "a barnburner" in which the "court ruled with FSC on every major argument." Stabile also pointed out that Ezra is not a liberal judge but a Reagan appointee.

Or here, where he's like "Guys, did you even try parental filters before you came up with the censorship scheme?" pic.twitter.com/6A5cuyoZm1  Mike Stabile (@mikestabile) August 31, 2023

Ezra's ruling may reverberate beyond Texas, notes Boden. It "rebuffs nearly every argument made by state legislatures," she said. "While Texas presented the most straightforward path to securing a ruling like this, the issues are the same whether in Utah, Louisiana or Virginia. Anyone who attempts to bring a case in those jurisdictions faces little hope of success."

"This is a template for fighting back [age verification] laws state-by-state," suggested Stabile. "The ruling may only enjoin Texas for now, but the constitutional issues it lays bare are almost exactly the same in those states. If an individual brings a suit in Utah, or a Attorney General in Louisiana, they're likely going to come up against these same basic facts."

Lawyer Gabriel Malor points out that the state in this case seems to be "teeing up an argument to reexamine precedent about how commercial speech can be regulated." State prosecutors argued that H.B. 1181 should be "subject to a lower standard of judicial scrutiny because it regulates only 'commercial entities, publication and distribution of material harmful to minors.'"

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Meta has overhauled its controversial "dangerous organizations and individuals" policy. "The policy had come under fire in the past for casting an overly wide net that ended up removing legitimate, nonviolent content," notes Sam Biddle at The Intercept. "The goal of the change is to remove less of this material."

More from The Intercept:

Meta's "Dangerous Organizations and Individuals," or DOI, policy is based around a secret blacklist of thousands of people and groups, spanning everything from terrorists and drug cartels to rebel armies and musical acts. For years, the policy prohibited the more than one billion people using Facebook and Instagram from engaging in "praise, support or representation" of anyone on the list. Now, Meta will provide a greater allowance for discussion of these banned people and groups  so long as it takes place in the context of "social and political discourse," according to the updated policy, which also replaces the blanket prohibition against "praise" of blacklisted entities with a new ban on "glorification" of them. The updated policy language has been distributed internally, but Meta has yet to disclose it publicly beyond a mention of the "social and political discourse" exception on the community standards page. Blacklisted people and organizations are still banned from having an official presence on Meta's platforms.

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The Institute for Justice scores a win against civil asset forfeiture in Detroit:

????CIVIL FORFEITURE WIN????@IJ challenged Detroit's car forfeiture scheme, whereby it seizes innocent people's cars for 8-10 months *before a hearing* (to squeeze them for money). Today in Ingram v. Wayne Cnty, the 6th Cir. holds that unconstitutional. 1/https://t.co/KiO2BX4dpw pic.twitter.com/ytfp5CElys  Patrick Jaicomo (@pjaicomo) August 31, 2023

QUICK HITS

 As the trial of former Backpage executives got underway yesterday in a federal courthouse in Phoenix, prosecutor Austin Berry reportedly objected to a defendant's desire to show the jury the language of the First Amendment:

Notably prosecutor, Austin Berry of the DOJ's obscenity squad, objected to a slide in the PowerPoint for one defendant, showing the language of the First Amendment. As it says in the Bible, by their fruits, ye shall know them . 3/  Stephen Lemons (@stephenlemons) August 31, 2023

 Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp rejected calls to interfere in former President Donald Trump's prosecution by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. "Up to this point, I have not seen any evidence that DA Willis's actions or lack thereof warrant action by the prosecuting attorney oversight commission," Kemp said on Thursday. "In my mind, a special session of the General Assembly to end run around this law is not feasible and may ultimately prove to be unconstitutional."

 The Washington Post fact checks some of President Joe Biden's personal stories, including a recently told tale about lightning striking a pond outside his home.

 New York City said it will use surveillance drones to spy on large Labor Day weekend parties.

 Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his activity related to January 6, 2021. "While 17 years constitutes a lengthy prison sentence, it is considerably shorter than what the government requested: Prosecutors wanted 33 years for Biggs," notes Reason's Robby Soave.

 The Institute for Justice is helping Indiana end-of-life consultant Lauren Richwine sue over the state's attempt to force her to get funeral director and funeral home licenses in order to legally continue counseling and assisting terminally ill patients and their families with end-of-life planning.

 A Texas town of 250 people has 50 full-time and reserve police officers. "The town collected more than $1 million in court fines last year," coming "from more than 5,100 citations officers wrote," reports Texas' CBS 19.

 In the latest episode of Reason's Why We Can't Have Nice Things podcast, host Eric Boehm looks at the "chicken tax" that makes pickup trucks more expensive.

The post In Scathing Rulings, Federal Courts Block Arkansas and Texas Age Verification Laws appeared first on Reason.com.
While most Ukrainian children are returning to school today (Sept. 1), that wont be the case for more than 500 who have died as a direct result of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the countrys prosecutor general reported, Andriy Kostin , on Sept. 1.

"Sept. 1 marks the first day of school in Ukraine. For tens of thousands of children living in temporarily occupied territories or forcibly relocated to Russia, this day is not a new beginning but another attempt at Russification," Kostin said.

Read also: Zaluzhnyi congratulates children as they head back to school on Ukraines Day of Knowledge

"The school bell will never ring again for hundreds of children whose lives were taken by Russian aggression."

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Another 1,117 children have been wounded, more than 19,500 have been forcibly displaced, and over 2,700 educational institutions have been destroyed, Kostin reported.

"Children in occupied territories or those deported to Russia have been subjected to "Russian state re-education. This is a clear and blatant violation of international law, which explicitly prohibits an occupying power from interfering with educational activities in occupied territory," Kostin said.

Read also: Over 380 children abducted by Russia have now been returned, says deputy PM

"The 'educational standards' imposed by Russia are aimed not at the comprehensive development of an individual but at erasing Ukrainian identity and instilling loyalty to the occupying state. Russia is doing everything to destroy our future and erase our past."

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
Hank Warner teaches a pre-advanced placement algebra course for ninth graders at Bowie High School in Austin on April 10, 2013. Credit: Tamir Kalifa for The Texas Tribune

The Texas Tribune wants to hear how new school safety laws are affecting Texas students and schools. Fill out the form at the bottom of this story to share your experience with us.

Public education debates during this years regular legislative session largely revolved around two topics: school vouchers and teacher raises.

But while the regular session ended with no new laws on either area  setting the stage for a special session focused on education to tie loose ends  legislators did approve some lesser-known measures. Most took effect before classes began this month.

Many of these new laws seek to strengthen school safety and security, improve academic achievement and address recent parental concerns, as well as establish some general rules for students.

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Families should check in with their local school districts for details on how theyll implement these new laws.

Here are some of the new laws you might have missed.

School safety

A year after 19 children and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, the Texas Legislature passed new safety laws and reinforced others.

[New school safety laws seek to add armed guards, chaplains and mental health training. Heres what you need to know.]

House Bill 3 requires every Texas public school to have an armed officer and offer mental health training for staff members that interact with children. The officer must be either from the districts own police department, a school resource officer from another law enforcement agency or a peace officer hired as a security officer. School districts that cant comply with this requirement can apply for a good cause exception  which would be defined by each local school board and must find an alternative plan.

The law also gives the Texas Education Agency more authority to require school districts to establish and follow robust active-shooter protocols. Those that fail to meet the agencys standards for these plans could be put under the states supervision.

HB 3 gives each school district $15,000 per campus and $10 per student for safety-related upgrades. Many school officials have complained this allotment is not enough to pay for improvements they will have to make. Lawmakers also set aside $1.1 billion for school safety grants that the states school districts can apply for.

A separate measure  Senate Bill 838  requires districts to use part of their school safety budget to place silent panic alert buttons in each classroom to alert law enforcement agencies during emergencies. The proposal follows the police radio failures inside Robb Elementary during the Uvalde shooting.

Finally, Senate Bill 763 allows schools to employ unlicensed chaplains to work in mental health roles. Policies for chaplains in schools will be up to local school boards, and parental consent will be required for school-related mental health services, including chaplains, the TEA said.

Parents of the Uvalde shooting victims have criticized the Legislature, saying it didnt go far enough to make schools safer. During the session they supported a bill that wouldve raised the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. That bill failed.

Academic achievement

Student test scores fell significantly after the pandemic hit and shut down schools in 2020. In response, lawmakers passed House Bill 4545 in 2021, which requires schools to offer students 30 hours of targeted tutoring based on how many subjects a student failed while taking the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test.

A provision in that bill required teachers to tutor students in groups of three. But teacher shortages across the state made it difficult for schools to comply and the requirement became an additional burden. To remedy this, lawmakers this year passed House Bill 1416, which cuts the targeted STAAR instruction to 15 hours and allows teachers to tutor students in groups of four.

Another law meant to provide relief and support for teachers is House Bill 1605, which comes with nearly $800 million for investments in high-quality instructional materials that are publicly available and free to use. The goal is to help instructors save time they otherwise would have used to prepare their own teaching materials. The law also includes provisions that give parents more access to review the materials teachers use to instruct their children.

Parents would be allowed to have their children repeat a grade if theyre in eighth grade or below under House Bill 3803. Before, parents could only have their children repeat a school year if they were in third grade or below.

For children wanting to pursue advanced mathematics, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 2124, which allows sixth graders to enter an accelerated math course if they meet certain scores on the state or local tests.

Parental involvement

This years regular session placed great emphasis on parents after complaints over the last three years over sexually explicit books and other instructional materials.

The Republican-led Legislature sent Gov. Greg Abbott House Bill 900 to keep sexually explicit content off school bookshelves. The bill came after two years of parents raising concerns and asking for local bans on books that schools found inappropriate. A federal judge said Thursday he will temporarily block the law, which was set to go into effect Friday. State attorneys said they would appeal the decision.

Between July 2021 and June 2022, Texas took more books off school library shelves than any other state. Most of those titles centered on race, racism, abortion and LGBTQ issues.

Lawmakers also passed House Bill 18, which requires digital service providers like social media platforms to obtain consent from parents before being able to provide services to minors. This comes after complaints that online school services were collecting data from minors without parental approval.

New rules

Lawmakers also passed several general rules regarding student appearance and behavior.

Most notably, they passed House Bill 567, which bans race-based hair discrimination. The movement against natural hair discrimination reached national headlines in 2020 after a series of prominent cases, including two students near Houston who were told to cut their hair or be disciplined.

House Bill 114 requires schools to place students found vaping or using marijuana on campus in alternative schooling or a disciplinary program for a time determined by the school district. The Austin Independent School District, for example, will place students in these types of programs for 20 days.

Finally, House Bill 1212 allows excused absences for children observing religious holidays.

The Texas Tribune is reporting on how new state laws about school safety are affecting Texans. To share your experience with us, you can fill out this form.

The full program is now LIVE for the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 21-23 in Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations coming to TribFest. Panel topics include the biggest 2024 races and whats ahead, how big cities in Texas and around the country are changing, the integrity of upcoming elections and so much more. See the full program.
The Tampa-based U.S. Attorney's Office shared a social media statement in late August 2023 from the FBI's Tampa office saying they are searching for Christopher Worrell, 52, of East Naples.

The search continues for an East Naples man in connection with the 2021 Capitol insurrection as one of the co-defendants learned he received the second longest sentence in the case.

Christopher Worrell, 52, was convicted of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection with his sentencing scheduled for Aug. 18, which was canceled that week, days prior to his court appearance.

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia officials on Aug. 17 unsealed the bench warrant, which was issued Aug. 15. It did not include details related to his disappearance.

Worrell had been on house arrest in East Naples since he was released from custody November 2021 in Washington, D.C.

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On Jan. 6, 2021, after President Donald Trump's reelection loss, a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building. The mob hoped to prevent Congress from counting electoral college votes and keep then-President-elect Joe Biden from power.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth found Worrell guilty of:

Obstruction of an official proceeding.

Entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

Disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

Engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

Act of physical violence in the U.S. Capitol grounds or buildings.

Civil disorder.

Assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon.

The FBI has issued a warrant for violated conditions of release pending sentencing. He's one of six people wanted by federal authorities related to the mob.

The Department of Justice has asked Lamberth to sentence Worrell to 14 years years in prison; three years of supervised release; $2,000 in restitution; a fine of up to $181,000; and $610 in mandatory special assessments, which are imposed on defendants convicted of federal crimes.

On Thursday, co-conspirator Joseph Biggs, 39, received the second-longest sentence in the Capitol riots and will spend 17 years behind bars.

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: Naples Proud Boy convicted in Jan. 6 Capitol riot still missing
A boat with a man and dog aboard has gone missing off North Carolinas Outer Banks, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Scott Johnson, 47, and his dog, Baxter, were reported missing Thursday, Aug. 31, officials said in a news release.

Johnsons vehicle and boat trailer were located Thursday night by local detectives at North Carolina Wildlife Access Boat Ramp in the vicinity of Pirates Cove Marina, Coast Guard officials said.

Johnson reportedly said he was planning to take his 23-foot sport fisher underway to trouble shoot a maintenance issue he was having with the vessel. It is not known where he was going or how long he planned to be gone for.

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Pirates Cove Marina is near Kill Devil Hills, which sits between the Atlantic and Kitty Hawk Bay.

Investigators say Johnson was last seen by a neighbor on Aug. 22.

The search began as remnants of two storms were impacting the Outer Banks: Tropical Storm Franklin in the Atlantic and Tropical Storm Idalia, which was rolling across the state from the west.

The storms caused elevated tides, rip currents, flooding and road overwash, the National Park Service reported.

SOS strobe light leads rescuers to divers who vanished in Atlantic off North Carolina

Boat flips, throwing 11 in water off Outer Banks. One found under boat, rescuers say

Man in flooded boat saw sharks circling while trapped 38 hours off Florida, reports say
Amid Russia's ongoing war, around 340,000 children in the country entered first grade on Sep. 1, the first official year of school for children in Ukraine, Deputy Education Minister Andrii Vitrenko said on Aug. 31.

The figure is a 4.6% increase from 2022 when 325,000 children started school. Ukraine begins the new school year on Sep. 1, known as Knowledge Day.

This is the second year students are starting school the school year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, which has destroyed or damaged thousands of schools and prevented over two million students from attending school as normal.

Only a third of children in Ukraine go to school in-person, according to UNICEF, citing the latest school enrollment data. Continued Russian attacks mean that a third learn fully online, and another third learn in a hybrid approach.

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Educational institutions in areas that are close to hostilities remain shut as schools are often a target for Russian forces.

In August, school buildings were hit in strikes on Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, and Kharkiv oblasts.

On Aug. 23, a Russian attack drone struck a school in Romny, Sumy Oblast, killing four people and injuring four others.

The bodies of the school principal, deputy principal, secretary, and librarian were retrieved from under the rubble. They were in the building to prepare for the start of the school year.

The government has allocated Hr 1.5 billion (about $40 million) to provide bomb shelters in schools. Currently, 76% of educational institutions have access to them.

Kyiv has shelters in 417 out of its 420 schools, with most educational institutions in the capital opting for in-person teaching this year, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Sep. 1.

According to the city council, 240,000 children will attend school in Kyiv in-person, a huge increase from 94,000 in September 2022. At that time, 26% of Kyiv's students were either abroad or living in other regions of Ukraine.

In Kyiv, 25,000 children will enter school on Sep. 1, a number close to pre-war levels, officials said.

Read also: Ukrainian schoolchildren to take mine safety courses

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Jackie Lynne Chester became the second defendant to plead guilty in the 2022 fentanyl poisoning death of Hunter Paul Crump, an 18-year-old college student from Coupland.

Chester pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of fentanyl causing death and bodily injury. That means that two defendants indicted in the death of Hunter have admitted to their roles in the case. Chester stood before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin M. Howell as he ran through the details of her plea agreement Friday morning inside Courtroom 3 at Austin's Federal Courthouse.

"You agree to be bound by its terms?" Howell asked.

"Yes," replied Chester, who occasionally turned to her criminal defense lawyer, Lisa Rasmussen Hoing, before answering the judge's questions.

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After Hunter's death, Chester proved crucial for investigators because she could lead them to the source of the deadly drugs, her supplier, David Lee Jr. In May, Lee agreed to plead guilty to distribution of fentanyl that caused a death before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower.

Kim and Adam Crump talk about their son Hunter as they go through photos of him at their home in Coupland. Hunter, 18, died of a fentanyl overdose in June 2022, a few weeks after graduating from Taylor High School.

More: Half a fentanyl-laced pill kills local teen, enough to bring its Austin seller to justice

In June, another co-defendant, Virginia Zepeda, stood before Howell and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute fentanyl. She had been on the radar of law enforcement and became part of the indictment after investigators made separate "controlled buys" from Lee and Zepeda, his other alleged distributor, prosecutors said.

Last December  slightly more than six months after Hunter's death on June 14  a federal grand jury in Austin indicted Lee, Chester and Zepeda. Prosecutors alleged that Lee and Zepeda, both of Austin, and Chester, of Taylor, "possessed and sold counterfeit oxycodone and other fake prescription pills containing traceable amounts of fentanyl, leading to the death of at least one person."

Lee and Zepeda are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 20 before U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, court records show. Lee faces from 20 years to life in prison. Zepeda could get a range of punishments from probation on up to 20 years in prison.

Chester also faces from 20 years to life in prison. No date has been set for her sentencing.

At issue Friday was whether to detain Chester because a key condition of her release was to remain drug free. She tested positive for cocaine on June 6, and she failed to report for random testing twice in April and missed a treatment session in May, court records show.

More: Austin woman pleads guilty in fentanyl case that led to death of 18-year-old Hunter Crump

In July, Magistrate Judge Hightower allowed Chester to remain free because she was employed, not violating her curfew, participated in counseling sessions and online higher education, and applied for sober living homes, court records show. Hightower admonished Chester that any violation could lead to the revocation of her release.

On Friday, Howell called Chester "marginally compliant" and noted that she had a positive drug test on Aug. 10. Howell explained to Chester that failure to abide by the rules could negatively affect her at sentencing.

"This is like strike four," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark H. Marshall, who asked the judge to revoke her release. Defense attorney Hoing said her client is on a prescription medication, not an illegal substance. Should the analysis of that drug test result be positive, Marshall will likely ask the court to revoke Chester's release.

Kim and Adam Crump hold their son Hunter's urn at their home in June.

Is Narcan nasal spray enough? Some say shot needed to fight fentanyl overdoses in Austin.

Howell allowed Chester to remain free for now, which caused Hunter's mother, Kim Crump, to shake and cry. She attended the plea hearing, carrying a portrait of Hunter, pressed tightly against her heart, her arms wrapped around the frame. At her side, a support network, including friends Stephanie and Destiny Jones, and Kathi West, the victim witness specialist for the U.S. attorney's office.

Chester left the courthouse and went into the midmorning heat. Hoing declined comment.

"She knowingly poisoned my son," Hunter's mother said after the guilty plea. "She keeps testing positive for drugs and remains free. There's no remorse. That just upsets me terribly."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Jackie Lynne Chester, of Taylor, pleads guilty in teen's fentanyl death
John Fonfara wants the toughest job of his life.

As a lifelong Hartford resident, Fonfara has spent the past 36 years representing his hometown at the state Capitol and now wants to shift gears to steer the ship more directly as the citys next mayor.

Despite securing millions of dollars for the capital city in his position as an influential Democratic legislator and co-chairman of the General Assemblys finance committee, Fonfara says that is not enough. He recognizes that Hartford is facing huge problems  shootings and murders, inadequate public education, high levels of poverty, and the lowest homeownership rate in the state as 76% of residents are renters.

This is the toughest job I will ever have, and I have a tough job, Fonfara said.

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After 36 years, Fonfara is seeking a career change.

So why have I decided after all that time to seek the job of mayor? Fonfara asked. I dont believe I can do what I believe needs to be done in the city from where I am as much as I believe I can from the mayors office. Were just too poor as a city. We have to raise incomes. We have to create more opportunities. I dont think city government has focused on that. We focused on the symptoms of poverty but not the underlying cause. I believe a mayor can do that better than anyone, and thats where I will focus.

Despite winning 18 elections previously, Fonfara failed to win the Democratic Partys hotly contested convention and was required to gather signatures in order to force the Sept. 12 primary. He is competing against the endorsed convention candidate, Arunan Arulampalam of Frog Hollow, and former state Sen. Eric Coleman, a Democrat who Fonfara describes as a dear friend from their days sitting next to each other in the state Senate. All three candidates are battling to replace Mayor Luke Bronin, who is not seeking re-election after eight years of running the city.

Gary Rose, a longtime political science professor and author at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, said he was not surprised that Fonfara lost the convention endorsement to Arulampalam, a relative newcomer who has never held public office. Fonfara has lived in the city for all 67 years of his life, while the 37-year-old Arulampalam has only lived in the city for about a decade.

Thats the character of American politics today, Rose said in an interview. The long resume is not what voters are impressed with.

Television commercials

Ahead of the other candidates, Fonfara began running an extensive television advertising campaign more than a month ago on major networks like CNN and MSNBC to capture interested voters who are watching the news. In addition to Spanish-language ads on Telemundo and Univision, he also targeted newscasts and CT Capitol Report on Channel 8, a highly watched Sunday morning program among political insiders. The commercials started running before the city Democratic convention in July and continued on CNN on Sunday night during a two-hour documentary called Giuliani: What Happened to Americas Mayor? that demonstrates the rise and fall of the once-popular mayor.

As senator, John has funded more opportunities for our children and created pipelines to employment for our residents, the narrator intones. As mayor, Johns number one priority will be investing in our greatest asset  our people. Transforming our education system. Skilling up our residents  connecting them with Hartford employers and investing in all of our neighborhoods. John Fonfara will be a different kind of mayor.

The problem, insiders said, is that many viewers watching the commercials live in the suburbs around Hartford and cannot vote for Fonfara. Only a narrow slice of the overall Hartford electorate, they said, might be watching CNN at any particular moment in a city with traditionally low voter turnout.

Rose, the political science professor, said he has been watching Fonfaras ads as far away as Cheshire, which is 28 miles from Hartford and in a different Congressional district.

I dont know if its overkill or not, Rose said. Fonfaras ads  and theyre good ads  I dont know how many votes hes going to get with those. Maybe. But if you want to win the mayoral race in Harford, youve got to have the troops on the ground. Thats the bottom line for winning a city contest here in Connecticut.

Fonfara disputed the notion that the TV commercials might be a waste of money because they reach voters in the suburbs who cannot vote in Hartford.

In neighborhoods I dont represent, they recognize me, Fonfara told The Courant in an interview. I hear from plenty of voters when door knocking. They say: I saw you on TV. This is a small city, but it is a big city to try to door-knock. Candidly, the no-home rate is surprisingly high, compared to what I am used to. I semi-joke and say the Ring Doorbell is a killer. They think its a solar salesman because the solar guys are very aggressive. Im introducing myself through the Ring doorbell in many cases.

Saying he has been reassured by his team on the TV strategy, Fonfara added, I want to know. I ask the questions regularly: Are we hitting the people who are going to be voting?

With TV ads that debuted Tuesday, Arulampalam is conducting a shorter, targeted period of the campaigns final two weeks to remind voters of the Sept. 12 primary and get them to the polls. The ads, which are scheduled for Channels 3, 8, 30, and 61 and cable stations, feature Arulampalam, his wife, and all five of their children as he says he has plans for improving education, crime, and housing.

Lobbyists

The money for Fonfaras TV commercials comes partly from about 100 lobbyists who represent clients at the state Capitol. The contributions are legal, but Fonfara raised eyebrows because state law prohibits legislators from accepting contributions from lobbyists during the legislative session when they are running for re-election  but allows it when they are running for a municipal office like mayor.

Among the key lobbyists who contributed to Fonfara was former state Senate Democratic leader William DiBella, who gave the maximum of $1,000 to his longtime Democratic colleague. DiBella remains a key player in Hartford politics as chairman of the powerful Metropolitan District Commission, as does his son, Marc, chairman of the Hartford Democratic Town Committee, who endorsed Arulampalam.

Besides DiBella, other prominent Capitol lobbyists contributed from both political parties, including Patrick Sullivan, Stephen Kinney, H. Craig LeRoy, Kevin Reynolds, Jay Malcynsky, Linda Kowalski, Eric George, and Michael Dugan. Many of the lobbyists gave the maximum $1,000 contribution  far beyond the small donations that are helping fuel Colemans campaign. With fewer contributions than Fonfara and Arulampalam, Coleman has loaned $80,000 of his own money to the campaign to cover expenses.

Stoic

During the first 10 debates in the race, Fonfara outlined his views for solving the citys deep problems. In a recent forum at The Lyceum off Capitol Avenue, Fonfara described his personality by saying candidates are supposed to have a pithy, sharp, smart answer to every question. I dont operate that way.

When he started his campaign, Fonfara did it quietly by filing the necessary paperwork in January but avoiding a traditional opening announcement with a gathering of supporters and a rousing speech from the podium.

A product of public schools and public housing in Hartfords Rice Heights development, Fonfara never seeks the headlines and performs much of his work at the state Capitol out of the spotlight. He is sometimes misunderstood by those who do not know him well and is sometimes seen as being hard to reach because he rarely stands in front of the TV cameras and largely avoids holding press conferences.

A lifelong Hartford resident, Fonfara has never strayed far from the city  attending the local public schools in his youth, graduating from Bulkeley High School, and still living in the citys South End that has become his political power base.

He is known for working behind the scenes at the Capitol on complicated issues like electricity prices, energy policy, and taxes. He said he developed his stoic personality from his mother, who turned 98 years old earlier this year. His father is 99.

While he also represents Wethersfield, Fonfara represents about 60% of Hartford that stretches from the citys southern border and goes north to the SAND Elementary School on Main Street above Albany Avenue. He also represents downtown, Frog Hollow, and the area around the Colt building off Interstate 91 along the citys eastern border that stretches along the Connecticut River.

The race is expected to be close in an increasingly diverse city with a high poverty rate that is 45% Hispanic or Latino, 34% Black and less than 20% white, according to U.S. Census records. The citys population peaked in 1950 at 177,000 and has declined for decades to about 121,000 now. The stakes are high as the city chooses its next leader at the end of the era of Bronin, who is not seeking re-election after eight years as mayor.

While supporting Arulampalam, Bronin has called for unity in the future.

Weve been through a lot over the last eight years, Bronin told Democrats during the nominating convention. No matter what happens in September or November, there is a place for politics. And in Hartford, we play politics hard. But when the politics ends, its time to move forward as one Hartford and keep this city moving forward.

The volatility cap

Fonfara has become known at the Capitol as the father of the volatility cap  a key provision in state law that prevents the legislature from spending excessive money from capital gains that are generated in boom years on Wall Street. The cap has been credited with helping create the largest surpluses in state history in recent years  allowing billions of dollars to be transferred to the long-underfunded pension plans for state employees and teachers.

But Fonfara, who was the lead senator to introduce the idea years ago, notes that others were involved in the budget deal of 2017 that was crafted by top legislators without the input of then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Since then, Republicans have also taken credit for the states surpluses that they say would not be possible without the caps.

All or nothing

For Fonfara, the Sept. 12 primary is an all-or-nothing proposition. By contrast, Coleman has already gathered the necessary signatures to gain a spot on the November ballot if he loses the contest. Fonfara has not done that.

Whoever wins this race, Fonfara said of the primary, will be the next mayor of Hartford. Period. With all due respect to the voters in November, here we are a hugely Democratic city, and a lot of unaffiliateds vote Democratic as well. The record is clear.

This is the second in a series of profiles on three candidates in the Hartford mayoral Democratic primary race. The first was on Arunan Arulampalam, and a future story will focus on candidate Eric Coleman.

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal prosecutor is seeking a 6-year prison term for a Haddonfield man convicted of taking part in the January 2021 Capitol riot.

Patrick Stedman, 35, deserves the sentence because he encouraged other rioters to break down the main door of the House Chamber and threatened police officers, says a prosecution sentencing memorandum.

It also says Stedman, a dating and relationship coach for men, used his sizable social media presence to spread misinformation about the 2020 presidential election and to recruit other rioters.

On the night before the Capitol siege, the memorandum says, Stedman told his more than 25,000 Twitter followers: This is the Second American Revolution. I love you all for being here with me. NOW WE FIGHT!

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Why did insurrection suspect weep? Trial underway for Patrick Stedman, Capitol riot suspect from Haddonfield

But a defense lawyer wants a much shorter sentence for the married father of two young children.

Stedman engaged in no violence or vandalism and exaggerated his actions during the riot, attorney Rocco Cipparone of Mullica Hill says in a rival memorandum.

Patrick Stedman of Haddonfield, shown inside the Capitol during the January 2021 insurrection, is to be sentenced on Sept. 8.

He asserts Stedman's punishment will include "a lasting stigma not only from his conviction, but the alienation from one-time friends and even family members."

And the defense filing points to "restrictions of his freedom, including potentially being on a no-fly list as have many persons charged based on conduct (during the riot)."

Cipparone is requesting a "substantial downward variance" from sentencing guidelines of eight to 14 months, a range proposed by the defense.

The prosecution contends Stedman's actions warrant more punitive guidelines of 70 to 84 months.

Stedman is to be sentenced Sept. 8 by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C.

Patrick Stedman letter to sentencing judge

In a letter to the judge, Stedman wrote, "Whatever fate you decide for me is appropriate, it matters a lot to me that my family and especially my children have fair warning before any departure."

He expressed particular concern for his daughter, noting she shares his bed "and it will be very jarring for her to have me next to her one night and gone the next without explanation."

Patrick Stedman wore Trump-themed Christmas sweater at riot

The prosecution's memorandum contains multiple photos of Stedman, who wore a red MAGA hat and a green-and-red Christmas sweater with then President Donald Trumps image and the words Make X-Mas Great Again.

It also shows images of rioters recorded on videos made by Stedman both inside and outside the Capitol

The filings gave conflicting views over Stedman's role in the riot by Trump supporters who occupied the Capitol in an effort to halt congressional certification of President Joe Biden's election.

In arguing for a stronger sentence, the prosecution memorandum notes Stedman yelled Let us in! and Break it down! as rioters banged on the main doorway to the House Chambers.

It also notes Stedman confronted police officers inside the Capitol after learning a rioter, Ashli Babitt, had been fatally shot while trying to crawl through a broken window in the door.

Youre going to shoot your own people, you f---ing scum! he allegedly shouted. You killed one of us? Youre done!

Defense offers a different view of Patrick Stedman's actions

But the defense memorandum claims "any property damage had already been done by the time Mr. Stedman shouted encouragement to rioters at the House Chambers doors.

It similarly asserts any interference with an official act of Congress  the most serious charge against Stedman  had occurred before the Haddonfield man entered the Capitol.

And the filing contends Stedman's angry comments to police were not a reference to or threats of physical harm.Instead, he intended his words as a reference to job loss and prosecution," the defense filing says.

Patrick Stedman of Haddonfield is shown in a video made during the January 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

In another contrast, the prosecution filing notes Stedman  a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Haddonfield Memorial High School  claimed at trial that he believed he had permission to "peacefully protest" inside the Capitol.

It says Stedman texted "we have stormed the capitol" during the riot and allegedly called out, "Hey Nancy!" as he entered the office suite of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It also cites the video made by Stedman after leaving the Capitol.

ln that video, the prosecution notes, "Stedman said he was in the 'first wave' that 'climbed up the back part of the Capitol building' and 'broke down the doors.'"

The defense filing, however, says Stedman's account "did not reflect the reality" recorded by surveillance cameras.

It says Stedman was not in the first wave, did not break down doors or windows, and entered the Capitol by walking through an open doorway.

The memorandum also describes Stedman's actions at the Capitol as "a mistake in his life based on poor judgment and the frenzy of the day involved."

Stedman was arrested on Jan. 21, 2021, making him the first of among some 17 South Jersey residents to be charged with Capitol-riot offenses. Thirteen of the defendants have admitted guilt or been sentenced.

The longest sentence so far was given to James Rahm Jr., identified by court records as a resident of Atlantic City and Philadelphia. He is free while appealing a one-year term.

Stedman is free pending his sentencing hearing.

In his letter to the judge, Stedman also said he's changed greatly since the riot.

"If I was then who I am now, I would not have gone to Washington, D.C., and I certainly would have gone nowhere near the Capitol," he wrote, citing a harmful reliance on social-media contacts instead of in-person conversations during the pandemic.

After his trial, Stedman tweeted, I feel completely at peace.

January 6th was a day of confusion, with high emotions and misunderstandings, he said. The question is simply who created that chaos. Who gave the orders to antagonize the crowd? How did it all start, and why?

But the prosecution filing says Stedman, in his video after leaving the Capitol, contended then Vice President Mike Pence and a majority of Congress would be betraying the country if they certified Biden's victory.

"Its f---ing treason, and if Trump doesnt take action, were taking action," he told his viewers, according to the memorandum.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: jwalsh@cpsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Patrick Stedman tells judge he's changed since Capitol riot
Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with President of the Republic of Benin Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon in Beijing on Friday.

Noting that Benin is an important partner to China in West Africa, Li said the two countries have always maintained sincere and friendly relations, which have become a model of mutual respect and equal treatment among developing countries.

Under the strategic guidance and promotion of the two heads of state, China-Benin relations will surely reach a new level, and the friendly cooperation in various fields will see more fruitful results, Li said.

He noted that China will, as always, firmly support Benin in following a development path that suits its national conditions, in safeguarding its national sovereignty, and in maintaining domestic stability and development.

To achieve mutual benefits and win-win cooperation, Li said that China will work with Benin to enhance the synergy of economic and social development strategies, and accelerate the implementation of key projects in light of the Belt and Road Initiative and the nine programs under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation framework. He said China will also work with Benin to steadily expand cooperation on infrastructure, oil and gas development, digital information and industrial parks, and to broaden people-to-people exchanges.

The premier said that China supports and encourages qualified Chinese enterprises to invest and operate businesses in Benin to promote local industrialization and agricultural modernization, and to help the country continue strengthening its domestic growth momentum.

China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Benin to practice genuine multilateralism, oppose unilateralism and bullying, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries, international fairness and international justice, Li added.

Noting that China is Benin's long-term friendly partner and the cooperation between the two countries has yielded fruitful results, Talon said China has set an example of development for Benin and other African countries.

He thanked China for the support and assistance it has provided to Benin and other African countries over the years.

Talon said Benin is willing to learn from China's development experience to deepen cooperation in such areas as industry, agriculture, investment and education, promote the continuous development of bilateral relations, and contribute to the construction of a community with a shared future. 
After a Friday of scattered showers with high temperatures around 80 degrees in and around Middle Georgia, the outlook for Saturday looks mostly clear with highs in the mid-to-lower 80s.

According to the National Weather Services statewide forecast, Saturdays highs will be about normal for this time of year, while the early part of the coming week will feel a bit more fall-like.

Conditions in and around Middle Georgia through most of next week were expected to begin with a reprieve from the oppressive heat ... as more September-like temperatures are forecast Sunday, forecasters at the weather services Peachtree City post said Friday.

High temperatures across the region will be in the 80s on Sunday with overnight lows in the 60s, with a feel like early fall across the area, forecasters said.

Just dont break out those sweaters just yet.

Daily high temperatures will climb back into the 90s as the week progresses, running 5 to 10 degrees above normal, the weather service noted.
A Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of leaking secret military papers will remain behind bars while he awaits trial after a federal judge on Friday denied his request to vacate an existing detention order that has been in place since May, court documents indicated.

Jack Teixeira , of Dighton, has repeatedly challenged a judges decision back in July that he remain behind bars after his legal team pointed to the pretrial release of former President Donald Trump, who was also indicted on charges in connection with a classified documents probe.

In denying the 21-year-olds motion to be freed, the judge ruled that Teixeira poses a serious risk of obstructing or attempting to obstruct justice.

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Teixeira is accused of sharing secret military documents about Russias war in Ukraine and other top national security issues in a chat room on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers.

Teixeira is charged under the Espionage Act with six counts of unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in May in Worcester federal court and was sent to jail.

In filings earlier this month, Teixeiras attorneys say prosecutors have resorted to semantic arguments when it comes to keeping him behind bars while he awaits trial.

Every espionage defendant, from the former President to Mr. Teixeira, poses a hypothetical risk to national security by virtue of what they know, Teixeiras defense said in the 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.

Federal prosecutors responded to Teixeiras attorneys in the new filing, arguing that the alleged leaker remains a risk to national security.

In a statement, prosecutors said, The circumstances of the offense leave open the possibility of further harm because some of the classified information at issue has not yet been recovered. The government has not found any of the physical documents Teixeira allegedly printed, nor has it located the hard drive from Teixeiras home computer or the digital copies of documents Teixeira may have stored electronically and then posted online. In the wrong hands, the information and documents that the government has not recovered could do great harm to the community by threatening national security.

Teixeira first enlisted as a member of the Massachusetts National Guard at the age of 17 when he was a senior in high school.

Teixeiras case returns to court in September for a pre-trial conference.

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The actor who plays a popular character on the Netflix series Sex Education has come out as queer.

Ncuti Gatwa , 30, who plays Eric, a teenager who is out and gay and whose storyline revolves around his love journey, disclosed for the first time publicly that, like his character, he is part of the LGBTQ+ community.

His portrayal of Eric, who is open and confident about his sexuality and can help others understand what it means to be part of the LGBTQ+ community, has been a key message conveyed on the show.

Although people have assumed he might not be straight, the actor made it official understatedly.

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During an interview with Elle UK, Gatwa recalled a time at Manchester Pride with friends when he spotted another Rwandan woman who looked like his aunt. As they held hands, she confided in him that she didnt know why she was there. He told her that it didnt matter and to be proud of who she was.

I had never met another queer Rwandan person before, he said. I thought I was the only one in the world.

Gatwa, who was in this years blockbuster hit Barbie, also talked about working with Ryan Gosling, who played Ken in the movie.

I was so nervous I hardly spoke for the first month [on set], he recalled. There was a time when I was talking to Greta [Gerwig], and I turned around, and Ryan Gosling was looking at me, and his eyes were so blue that I just fell over. I just drowned in his eyes.

As for his future, Gatwa will be making history this fall.

Gatwa is set to be the new Doctor on the cult hit show Doctor Who, where he will be the fourteenth Doctor  and the first Black and gay actor to play the character  to travel through time and space in the British sci-fi mainstay.

Sex Educations fourth and final season will hit Netflix on September 21.
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan has officially added new properties to his name.

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His investment group now owns Seahorse Oceanfront Inn and Lemon Bar in Neptune Beach. These moves are part of a larger, future development.

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So far, parking behind the hotel has some upgrades and instead of cash-only, people can now use a credit card to pay.

After months of discussion, Shad Khans Iguana Investments Florida LLC has sealed the purchase of the two iconic spots on Neptune Beach.

I think its exciting to bring new ownership to a business especially because it brings new ideas, Jacksonville resident Tanya Torres told Action News Jax.

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RELATED STORY: Jaguars owner Shad Khans investment group closes on sale of Lemon Bar, Seahorse Oceanfront Inn

While some are excited about the changes, others want to keep the old charm.

We want it to stay as it is, Neptune Beach resident Monette Reardon said. We are not opposed for Shad Khan to come in and spruce it up. But lets just keep it as it is.

Iguana said business at both locations will continue as is but under a new management group called Remington Hospitality.

Khan said in a statement, The Lemon Bar and Seahorse Oceanfront Inn are local treasures that represent the best of the beach lifestyle that is synonymous with visiting and living in Neptune Beach and Northeast Florida.

Executives of the Jaguars were seen at Lemon Bar celebrating the deal.

Neighbors hope the changes will modernize the popular spots.

I like that its close to the beach, but maybe a few more changes to the seating or anything that makes it a little more modern that reflects my generation, Torrest said.

READ: The Jacksonville Taco & Tequila Festival will be coming to downtown

However, not everyone is optimistic about the possibility of change.

Its just more about the culture and thats what we want to keep, Reardon said. The culture, the community. And we dont want to overdo anything.

The extent of the changes is still under development. Iguana said it plans to redevelop the property as a boutique resort hotel to potentially include amenities like a spa, beach club, fitness center and restaurant.

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Action News Jax reached out to the Jags about the details of this purchase, but say they wont make any additional comments at this time.

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.
Eugene Scott was shot in the head on the morning of Aug. 26 apparently as he was preparing breakfast and waiting on a friend to take him grocery shopping.

Athens-Clarke police have released those facts on the homicide. Now a week has passed since the friend found Scott's lifeless body on the kitchen floor.

So far police have been mum about a motive or if they have clues on the identity of the killer.

They are making some progress, but no new updates, said police Lt. Jody Thompson, who spoke with a detective in the homicide division on Friday.

Scott, who was 72, had moved in recent months into the house on Old Monroe Highway from a home in the metro Atlanta area. The house is located in a neighborhood off U.S. Highway 78 in west Athens.

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Police officer Charlie Krischer was dispatched to the house shortly after 8 a.m. He arrived to find medics and firefighters already on scene, according to the report.

A firefighter reported to the officer that they had turned the stove off.

Previously: Shooting death of Athens man in his home remains a mystery

Chickens saved: Man allegedly endangered 200,000 chickens at Madison County farm as an act of retribution

After checking through the house, the officer reported he found some green leafy substance in a bedroom.

The 59-year-old Athens man, who found Scotts body, told the officer that he normally takes Scott every Saturday around this time to buy groceries. Thats how he came to find the body, he told the officer.

The man said he didnt know of any issues that Scott may have had with anyone, adding Eugene did not bother anyone or had problems with anyone.

Athens-Clarke County Coroner Sonny Wilson also responded to the scene and ordered an autopsy.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. David Harrison at 762-400-7361.

Crime Stroppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of person or persons involved. Also, anonymous tips can be made to (706) 705-4775.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Police seek killer and motive of Athens man slain in home
Gathering officials in a single room to talk about how to combat Memphis' rising crime rates led to conversations with the "right level of tension," Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said after the meeting Thursday.

A number of city, county and state officials, and one federal official, gathered on the fourth floor of Crosstown Concourse for a closed-door crime summit. There were no cameras inside the room  no press, no recorders and no community members. Harris said it was the first time he had seen so many leaders in one place for a long time.

"It was a robust conversation," Harris said at a press conference after the meeting. "Lots of different voices were heard today. The right level of tension, but also the right spirit of collaboration was also present. I don't know if I've seen a convening like this in a while, and I think it's time for all of us to get out of our silos and start working together."

The crime summit was announced in late July by Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, and many officials from the local and state levels were invited to attend.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy speaks to the media surrounded by state and local officials and community organizers after holding a summit to talk about reducing crime in Memphis at the Urban Child Institute in Crosstown Concourse on Thursday, August 31, 2023.

Multiple members of the Memphis Police Department, Shelby County Sheriff's Office, state legislature, and city and county government attended. The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Kevin Ritz, was also present, alongside members of the Shelby County District Attorney's Office.

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The exact conversations that were had at the summit, which Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said they had "spent the whole day in," were not talked about with media. Mulroy said that was to ensure that the spirit of open expression was maintained.

"I think the consistent message from all of us and several others...is that we all recognize that we have a serious crime problem," Mulroy said. "We have a crime crisis right now, and it requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to tackle the problem... We are absolutely committed to continuing to vigorously prosecute repeat violent offenders who deserve serious prison time. At the same time, we are also committed to addressing the various due process problems that are present in our system, so that those defendants who are, in fact, guilty can, in fact, be held accountable."

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy speaks to the media after holding a summit with other state and local officials and community organizers to talk about reducing crime in Memphis at the Urban Child Institute in Crosstown Concourse on Thursday, August 31, 2023.

Although not delving into specifics, Mulroy said the group agreed that a larger emphasis on violence intervention could be part of the solution. He also said there will be an effort to curb crime by investing in infrastructure.

"[We] also hope to start preventing crime through something called 'crime prevention through environmental design,' where we're targeting high-crime hotspot areas in Memphis and trying to create environmental improvements so that it is not as hospitable for crime," he said. "We're talking about street lighting where it's needed, and vacant lot clearing where it's needed, and remediating blighted buildings so that crime can be prevented from happening in the first place."

Mulroy also said the summit included a discussion over meaningful supervision, and adding resources for defendants during and after their case has concluded to make sure they get adequate mental health counseling, substance abuse counseling, job training, earning their GED, job placement support and "doing everything that we can to make it less likely that they will repeat offend."

State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to the media after taking part in a summit with other state and local officials and community organizers to talk about reducing crime in Memphis at the Urban Child Institute in Crosstown Concourse on Thursday, August 31, 2023.

State Sen. Brent Taylor, State Rep. John Gillespie and State Rep. Jesse Chism were also present. Taylor said he plans to reintroduce his blended sentencing bill when the legislature reconvenes in January. The bill would allow juveniles who are convicted of a crime and later turn 19 would be able to serve the rest of their sentence in juvenile court until they turn 25.

Gillespie is also introducing legislation that would legally differentiate aggravated assault charges, so there can be harsher consequences for people who non-fatally shoot at people.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Local, state officials meet in Memphis for crime reduction summit
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A Silver Alert was issued by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for a 20-year-old man who has not been seen since Thursday.

Michael Daugherty was last seen near Mountain Terrace Street in Frayser wearing a white T-shirt and blue pajama pants, according to the TBI.

He is described as a 5-foot-6-inch, 125 pound male with black hair and brown eyes.

The TBI says that Daugherty has a medical condition that may impair his ability to return home safely without assistance. He is also non-verbal.

If you see Daugherty, call the Memphis Police Department at 901-636-4479 or the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam at Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre while awaiting the result of the 2023 Singapore Presidential Election. (PHOTO: Bruce Lim/Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE  Former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected as Singapore's ninth President on Saturday (2 September), following the city-state's first contested presidential election in 12 years.

The 66-year-old secured 1,746,427 votes, or 70.40 per cent of the total valid votes to emerge victorious over two other presidential candidates.

Former GIC investment chief Ng Kok Song, 75, garnered 390,041 votes, or 15.72 per cent of the total valid votes in his first election.

Ex-NTUC Income chief executive officer Tan Kin Lian, also 75, earned 344,292 votes, or 13.88 per cent of the valid votes, in his second presidential election. In his first election back in 2011, he won only 4.91 per cent of the total votes.

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The election results were officially announced by Returning Officer Tan Meng Dui on Saturday at 12.20am. A total of 2,480,760 Singapore citizens cast their votes on Friday, with 50,152 rejected votes..

Humbled by strong endorsement: Tharman

Hours before the official announcement, ELD released a sample count of the election, putting Tharman at receiving 70 per cent of the votes, Ng at 16 per cent and Tan at 14 per cent.

"I'm truly humbled for the strong endorsement that Singaporeans have given to me, and respect all Singaporeans for the views they've expressed, including those who did not vote for me," Tharman told the media at Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre, following the release of the sample count on Friday night.

"I believe that it's a vote of confidence in Singapore. It's a vote of optimism for a future in which we can progress together and support each other as Singaporeans.

"(Singapore) will have a future where we have deeper respect for one another. It'll have a future that ensures that every generation has the confidence of knowing that we have reserves and we have the backing that will help us. It has to be a future where Singapore is never treated as a small country, where we are treated seriously in the world as a partner of choice and where we can project our voice of reason internationally."

In conceding his election defeat, Ng told reporters he congratulated Tharman on a "magnificent victory".

"When I came forward to stand for the presidency, I said that my No.1 goal was to ensure that the people of Singapore have redeemed their right to vote in this presidential election," he added. "I think I have accomplished that goal because the presidential election did take place."

Likewise, Tan congratulated Tharman on his election victory, and said, "I wish him all the best in meeting the challenges ahead, and I hope he will be able to help bring a better life for the people."

Meet Singapore's 9th president

Tharman has been a familiar figure in Singapore politics, having served as its deputy prime minister, minister of finance and minister of education over his 22-year political career.

Formerly a deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, he entered politics in 2001, securing victory in the general election as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate in the Jurong Group Representation Constituency (GRC).

His four-time re-election shows his enduring popularity in his constituency. In the government, Tharman held key ministerial positions, including deputy prime minister (2011-2019) and minister for finance (2007-2015).

He last held the position of senior minister and coordinating minister for social policies until he stepped down in July to participate in the Presidential election.

Unifying presidency rooted in experience and independence

Tharman's presidential campaign had centred around the theme "Respect for All," reflecting his vision for a presidency suited to a new era.

Throughout his election campaign, he emphasised his commitment to utilising his 22 years of political experience to foster unity  a crucial responsibility of the President.

The 66-year-old expressed, "When we talk about being a unifying figure, I do not say this rhetorically or just as an aspiration, but I speak from a real track record," He pointed to his history of valuing diverse perspectives and consistently striving to find common ground.

Drawing inspiration from leaders like former president Ong Teng Cheong, who demonstrated independence within the context of prior party affiliations, Tharman stressed the importance of an independent mindset combined with extensive experience in policy-making.

Presidential powers

Singapore's constitution empowers the President to veto the utilisation of the country's reserves and make certain appointments to public offices. However, the role does not carry any executive authority.

In the election six years prior, Halimah Yacob, stood as the sole candidate, mainly due to stringent nomination criteria that no other individual managed to fulfil.

This year's election differed in that three contenders emerged, all of whom met the criteria of being independent to qualify as presidential candidates. A fourth aspirant, businessman George Goh, was deemed ineligible by the Presidential Elections Committee.

(Left) Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Ng Kok Song and Tan Kin Lian at the Nomination Centre in Singapore on 22 August 2023. (PHOTOS: Reuters)

Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the press outside the Security Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York, Aug. 31, 2023. Addressing the recent series of military coups predominantly in Africa, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday underscored the importance of establishing lasting democratic governance backed by the rule of law. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Addressing the recent series of military coups predominantly in Africa, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday underscored the importance of establishing lasting democratic governance backed by the rule of law.

Wednesday's military takeover in Gabon came on the heels of Niger last month, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Chad, Guinea, Sudan and Mali in the years prior to that.

The Gabonese military takeover was announced not long after the electoral authorities declared that President Ali Bongo had secured another term, even though there were allegations of electoral irregularities.

During a media briefing at the UN headquarters in New York, Guterres said, "Many countries face deep-seated governance challenges. But military governments are not the solution."

"They aggravate problems. They cannot resolve a crisis; they can only make it worse," he added.

The UN chief appealed to nations to act promptly in setting up trustworthy democratic systems and maintaining the rule of law.

Guterres pointed to the necessity of empowering international organizations like the African Union to play a pivotal role in the promotion of peace, democratic stability, and governance in Africa.

Moreover, he stressed that creating an environment that enables African populations to tackle the underlying reasons for political unrest is critical, with underdevelopment being a primary contributor.

"Development is a central objective if we want to create conditions for peace and stability in Africa," Guterres responded, when asked by a reporter.

Guterres also spoke of a series of high-profile upcoming trips, where he aims to drum up support for diplomacy and multilateralism, leading to the high-level opening of the UN General Assembly, in late September.

This weekend he will be going to the Africa Climate Summit in Kenya, and then travel to Indonesia to attend the 13th ASEAN-UN Summit. Next, he will head for India for the G20 Summit, and then go to Cuba for a Summit of the G-77 and China.

"I look forward to engaging with global leaders at these four very different summits before the world comes together for the opening of the General Assembly," he stated.

On the agenda for these summits are topics such as climate action in Africa, reformation of global financial systems, and refocusing on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

"Diplomacy is more important than ever to navigate the tensions of our emerging multipolar world," Guterres noted. "Dialogue remains the only way to find joint approaches and common solutions to the global threats and challenges that we face." 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the press outside the Security Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York, Aug. 31, 2023. Addressing the recent series of military coups predominantly in Africa, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday underscored the importance of establishing lasting democratic governance backed by the rule of law. (Xinhua/Xie E)
Sir Michael Parkinsons cause of death has been revealed.

The veteran chat show hosts family announced that he had died aged 88 on 17 August. His death followed an impressive career that saw him interview stars including Orson Welles, John Wayne, Sir Michael Caine, Madonna, John Lennon and Muhammed Ali.

A spokesperson said at the time that Parkinson passed away peacefully at home in the company of his family after a brief illness.

The cause of death on the death certificate, which has now been obtained by The Mirror, is listed as frailty of old age.

Parkinsons son, Mike, recently said that his late father suffered from imposter syndrome and carried with him a sense of working-class guilt throughout his career.

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He claimed the chat show host was constantly questioning himself after joining the mainstream media and didnt have as much self-confidence despite his success.

Mike said that if you compared the Parkinson of the 1970s to the person he was when he came back in 1998, theres a different man there.

Hes a much more confident man, much more, but then thats because hed earned his stripes, he said. But in the Seventies, it was a constant battle to fight against, you know, people that wouldnt really be bothered if you failed.

Parkinson, the presenters flagship talk show, ran for 11 years on the BBC starting in 1971. It was later revived in 1998, ending in 2007.

After retiring from presenting that year, Parkinson returned to the airwaves in 2012 for the Sky Arts series Parkinson: Masterclass.

He also hosted the BBCs famous radio series Desert Island Discs between 1986 and 1988, following the death of creator Roy Plomley.

Parkinsons career started in local journalism, where he had a job collating sports results. A two-year stint in the military beginning in 1955, around the time of the Suez crisis, saw him become the then-youngest captain in the British army.

Michael Parkinson photographed in 2011 (Getty Images)

This was followed by jobs at The Manchester Guardian and The Daily Express before he pivoted to TV, with roles at Granada and the BBC.

Across his career, Parkinson conducted a raft of memorable interviews. When boxer Ali appeared on Parkinson in 1971, he shared a powerful message about racism that still resonated with audiences decades later.

Some of his interviews became notorious for more unfortunate reasons, such as his infamous sit-down with Meg Ryan in 2003.

When Ryan went on the show to promote her divisive erotic thriller In the Cut, Parkinson appeared to criticise Ryans involvement in the film. The Hollywood actor then asked the host to wrap it up and cut the interview short.

Parkinson apologised to the When Harry Met Sally star in 2021, admitting: I wish I hadnt lost my temper with Meg Ryan. I wish Id dealt with it in a more courteous manner. I was quite obviously angry with her and its not my business to be angry towards the guests. I came across as kind of pompous and I could have done better.
A San Luis Obispo attorney was disbarred after receiving his fifth DUI, the State Bar of California said in a news release.

Mansour Sig Haddad was disbarred this month after he pleaded no contest to driving under the influence for the fifth time, the release said.

On April 18, 2019, Haddad drove into two parked vehicles, the release said. Haddad was unconscious and slumped over in the drivers seat when police arrived to the scene.

Haddad was subsequently arrested. His blood alcohol level was .35  more than four times the legal limit.

According the State Bar of Californias database, Haddad has had his law license suspended twice before his disbarment.

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The first was in 2011 following four convictions for misdemeanor DUIs. Haddad also was convicted of elder abuse in September 2012, prompting a second suspension.

Haddads law license was reactivated in 2015 but was suspended in 2021 pending his fifth DUI case.

He was disbarred Aug. 13.
A push to move a popular stretch of trail overlooking Avila Beach has once again been struck down.

The California Second District Court of Appeal issued a ruling Aug. 25 upholding a previous California Coastal Commission decision to deny applicant Rob McCarthy a permit to relocate a stretch of the Ontario Ridge Trail, which winds up his property overlooking Avila Beach.

The network of trails on Ontario Ridge offers sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and a path to Pirates Cove, making it a popular destination for local hikers for both its beauty and its difficulty. Hikers access the network via a steep trail on McCarthys property.

In 2013, the Coastal Commission denied McCarthys application to build a home on the same parcel. He then erected fences and signs on the property before being told to remove them by a Coastal Commission cease-and-desist order.

No trespassing signs and barbed-wire fences were put up in a popular hiking area on Ontario Ridge above Avila Beach in 2014.

Then in 2015, McCarthy applied for a county permit to move the portion of the trail to an adjacent parcel to the west and to fence off the steep trail. The San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission approved his application in 2017, but an appeal pushed it to the Coastal Commission, which denied the project in 2021.

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An appeal of the appeal  which claimed the County of San Luis Obispo had ultimate authority over such a decision, rather than the Coastal Commission  was unsuccessful. On Friday, the Appellate Court issued a ruling affirming the Coastal Commissions authority.

The Commission enforces the Coastal Act, the court wrote. Its authority overrides the County.

When reached for comment Thursday, Alicia Bartley, an attorney representing McCarthy, said they were disappointed by the judges ruling.

We are very disappointed in the Court of Appeals decision in the case and believe that it is yet another example of the California courts expanding the authority of the Coastal Commission far beyond what the Legislature intended, Bartley said. Because the opinion reflects an inherent misunderstanding of the issues, we are petitioning the Court of Appeal for a rehearing and will seek review by the California Supreme Court if rehearing is denied.

People are enjoying Ontario Ridge Trail on warm, beautiful Sunday, April 23, 2017. Looking toward the south from the mid-way point along the trail.

Property owner battles California Coastal Commission over permits

The relocation plan was the latest in a series of controversial proposals for the 37-acre parcel.

In 2013, the Coastal Commission denied McCarthys application to build a home on the same parcel.

He then erected fences and signs on the property, blocking hiking trails that had been used by the public since the 1960s  causing a public outcry.

McCarthy at the time said the fences were needed to protect public safety and lower his liability in the event of a hiking accident on the property.

He was ordered to remove the fences because they blocked the countys existing easement, but he came back in 2015 with an application to relocate the popular trail instead.

McCarthy told The Tribune at the time that he considered the existing trail unsafe because it goes straight down a hill from Ontario Ridge to Cave Landing Road at a 45-degree angle.

The new trail would be much safer, well-designed and about half as steep, he said.

McCarthys lawyer also later told the Coastal Commission the family was just wanting to find a way to build a home on a piece of property they own.

Though several commissioners commiserated with the McCarthys plight, the commission ultimately voted unanimously to not allow a permit for the project, saying that the current plan would move the trail onto a separate property, something not covered by its easement, and would also potentially endanger numerous archaeological and environmental resources.

According to the courts ruling, the McCarthys then petitioned for a writ of administrative mandate to order the commission to grant the coastal development permit.

The court denied that petition because the McCarthys have no legal right to move the easement to another parcel, read the ruling.

Underlying the McCarthys appeal is the unstated premise that the Commission is obligated to grant them a permit that exceeds their property rights, the court wrote. To state the premise is to refute it. The McCarthys have no right to move the easement from their parcel or to interfere with the public use of the trail on their land.

Hikers enjoy the Ontario Ridge Trail on a warm Sunday afternoon, April 23, 2017.

Hikers protest plan to relocate popular Pirates Cove trail

Hikers widely protested the relocation plan, saying moving the trail to the other side of the hill removed the sweeping panoramic views and the added exertion of a steep path.

Tarren Collins, who has long championed against relocating the trail and originally appealed the San Luis Obispo County decision to the California Coastal Commission, said on Friday that the ruling is a win for good government, the publics property rights and the rule of law.

This trail has been heavily used by members of the public for over 50 years, Collins said in a statement to The Tribune. In spite of Rob and Judy McCarthys illegal attempts to fence off the trail, it continues to be popular today.

She added that though she was grateful for the decision, she was also disappointed at the amount of local taxpayer money spent during the permitting process and the ensuing lengthy legal battles.

This win for the public has come at a huge cost to the public purse, compliments of the McCarthys, Collins said. I hope in the future, the County will stand up for the publics rights in these situations, instead of assisting politically well-connected developers in their attempts to undermine coastal access. The burden of protecting our access should not fall on members of the public. 

Ontario Ridge Trail appeal ruling, Aug. 25, 2023 by Kaytlyn Leslie on Scribd

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A lesbian couple in South Korea welcomed their first child this week, marking a significant milestone for the LGBTQ+ community in the country.

About the couple: Kim Kyu-jin and Kim Sae-yeon held their wedding in Seoul in 2019 and registered their marriage in New York City after city authorities declined to register her marriage.

On Aug. 30, Kyu-jin became the first openly gay Korean woman to give birth when the couple welcomed their daughter, Rani, a week earlier than scheduled. Since South Korea does not recognize same-sex unions, Kim Sae-yeon has no legal parental rights to their child.

Against all odds: While South Korea has invested heavily in pro-natal policies to address its declining birth rates, these efforts often exclude unmarried and same-sex couples. The couple faced legal and social challenges just to pursue their journey to parenthood. As sperm banks in South Korea are only accessible to heterosexual married couples, the couple had to seek IVF treatment in Belgium.

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Hoping for a more inclusive South Korea: As she anticipates her child's entry into elementary school, Kyu-jin hopes to pave the way for a more understanding and open-minded South Korea. The couple have been actively advocating for a more inclusive society and legal recognition of LGBTQ+ rights in the country.

Korea is such a fast-changing country, Kyu-jin told the Korea Herald. Just as my father told me, this will become something that is not so unusual to people by then. He said that 30 years ago, people the with same last name couldnt get married.

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FILE PHOTO: Protest against Japan's discharge of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean

By Hyunsu Yim

SEOUL (Reuters) - A majority of South Koreans are worried about Japan's discharge of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea despite efforts by their government to allay fears, a poll published on Friday showed.

Japan says the water from the wrecked nuclear power plant is safe and it began releasing it into the Pacific on Aug. 24 despite objections at home and abroad, particularly from China, Japan's biggest trade partner, which banned Japanese seafood.

The South Korean government, however, has said it sees no scientific problem with the water release, though stressing it does not approve of it, and banning the import of seafood from waters off Fukushima, north of Tokyo.

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President Yoon Suk Yeol has led a campaign to ease public concern and encourage consumption of seafood. On Thursday, he visited a major fisheries market to shop and have lunch.

Despite such efforts, South Korean environmental groups and many members of the public are alarmed and Yoon's disapproval rating has risen to the highest in months, a Gallup Korea poll of 1,002 people showed.

More than seven in 10 respondents said they were concerned about the impact on seafood and 60% said they were reluctant to eat seafood, according to Gallup Korea.

"Half of those who identify as conservative and supportive of the government ... also expressed concern," Gallup Korea said.

Yoon's disapproval ratings rose to 59%, up two percentage points from a week ago, to a 16-week high.

Yoon has pledged 80 billion won ($60.6 million) this year to promote seafood consumption and has vowed to tackle what he called "fake news" about the release.

The government has also launched a voucher programme offering up to 20,000 won ($15) to shoppers who buy seafood.

The Fukushima nuclear plant was wrecked by a tsunami triggered by an offshore earthquake in 2011.

($1 = 1,321.1500 won)

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Jack Kim, Robert Birsel)
The Rev. Juan Diaz points on Thursday to a cross that was damaged by vandals outside Iglesia Jesucristo Es Mi Fortaleza (Jesus Is My Strength Church), 8017 S Santa Fe, where he is pastor.

A south Oklahoma City preacher said he's heartbroken that vandals damaged the property where his small congregation has been blessed to call their new church home.

The Rev. Juan Diaz, pastor of Iglesia Jesucristo Es Mi Fortaleza (Jesus Is My Strength Church), said Oklahoma City Police called him to come to the church property at 8017 S Santa Fe early Wednesday. Police received a call about suspicious activity in the area near the church, according to a police report, and the caller particularly mentioned having seen machinery running near the roadway.

Diaz said he was shocked when he arrived at the newly constructed church building because vandals had hotwired an excavator left on the property and used the equipment to tear down part of the awning in front the church. The vandals also destroyed church signage and uprooted one of three crosses displayed outside the house of worship. He said the excavator had been used to create a detention pond on the property and was left there because the project had not been completed.

Vandals damaged an awning outside Iglesia Jesucristo Es Mi Fortaleza (Jesus Is My Strength Church), 8017 S Santa Fe.

"I'm trying to figure out why, why they destroyed the church," Diaz said.

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The minister said it took about a year and a half to build the church that he and his congregation moved into about two months ago. He said they had been planning a grand opening and still hope to have one, but now they must repair the vandalism. The pastor described the church as Pentecostal, with services offered mostly in Spanish.

Diaz said police recommended that the church install no trespassing signs, cameras and lighting around the property. The preacher said his congregation is currently made up of about 20 people and they don't have funds to purchase such items, so he is hoping that compassionate community members will come forward to help the church purchase them.

Vandals destroyed a sign Wednesday outside Iglesia Jesucristo Es Mi Fortaleza (Jesus Is My Strength Church) at 8017 S Santa Fe.

Diaz said he's convinced that whoever vandalized the church wanted to attack what the house of worship stands for  Christianity. He said the vandals damaged the tallest cross that is a widely recognized symbol of Jesus Christ in Christian imagery and displays symbolizing Christ's crucifixion.

"To me, this is very obvious  it's an attack on Christianity," Diaz said. "The community needs to know what's going on because it's obvious that someone tried to hurt us."

Police said they are investigating the incident.

"It's so sad to see this but I feel like something good is coming to our church," Diaz said.

"I have faith."

How to help

For more information about Iglesia Jesucristo Es Mi Fortaleza (Jesus Is My Strength Church), call Diaz at 405-686-0054 or go to https://jesucristoesmifortaleza.org/.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Vandals hotwired excavator, damaged south OKC church
Four astronauts bade farewell from space a few days before flying home.

The members of SpaceX 's Crew-6 mission, which has spent more than six months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), delivered their farewell remarks from orbit Thursday (Aug. 31), thanking everybody for supporting them ahead of their expected departure on Saturday (Sept. 2).

"When we showed up here six months ago, it was a new experience for all of us," NASA astronaut and Crew-6 commander Stephen Bowen said during the livestreamed remarks on NASA Television. "I'd been to space, but never been on a long-duration mission, and this has been an absolutely incredible experience."

Related: SpaceX's Crew-6 astronauts readying to wrap up their record-breaking flight

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The Crew-6 mission included cargo spacecraft visits, three spacewalks and the arrival of the Ax-2 private astronaut crew, on a mission organized by Houston company Axiom Space , NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg recalled. "Hopefully we're leaving the space station just a little bit better than we found it," he said.

You can watch the Crew-6 undocking and splashdown live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA Television. Coverage of the hatch closing and undocking begins at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) on Saturday, Sept. 2, while splashdown coverage begins later that evening at 11:45 p.m. EDT (0345 GMT Sunday, Sept. 3). Splashdown is expected off the coast of Florida on Sunday at 12:58 a.m. EDT (0458 GMT).

NASA officials said in a blog post that they are monitoring the possible impacts of Hurricane Idelia on these activities, but no changes have been made to the schedule as of yet. The hurricane made a destructive landfall in Florida on Wednesday (Aug. 30).

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Crew-6 launched to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on March 2 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their Crew Dragon spacecraft docked with the ISS on March 3. The full crew includes NASA's Bowen and Hoburg, along with cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, the first person from the UAE to do a long-duration mission and a spacewalk.

"I felt that I'm responsible, obligated, to show what's happening with the station," Al Neyadi said of his outreach focused especially on the UAE, which included hundreds of posts on social media with pictures and videos the documented his daily activities. "I think it's a small boost towards spreading the enthusiasm in our region. I can't be happier. With the time I was here, (I was) doing everything possible."
After enduring a soggy night on the Space Coast and delaying liftoff well into a four-hour launch window, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried more internet-beaming Starlink satellites to orbit Thursday night from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

At 10:21 p.m. EDT, the 230-foot rocket vaulted away from Launch Complex 40, boosting 22 more of the flat-pack satellites that provide high-speed internet services to more than one million subscribers around the globe.

Flying a southeasterly trajectory, the rocket skirted between Florida and the Bahamas, emitting a long-lasting rumble on the Space Coast. The first stage booster, landing on a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, completed its seventh flight to space and back.

Thursday's flight marked the 45th launch from Florida's Space Coast this year. It set the stage for the next Starlink mission to liftoff as early as this weekend.

What was the payload?

All told, SpaceX has sent more than 5,000 of its Starlink satellites to orbit since first beginning dedicated missions to fill out the globally spanning constellation in 2019.

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With no intention of slowing production or regular Starlink launch services for the foreseeable future, the company anticipates needing tens of thousands of the spacecraft to offer continual replacements of older units that decay and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. That means a lot more Starlink launches are on the horizon.

This photo shows a stack of SpaceX's Starlink V2 Mini satellites during payload processing before being encapsulated inside the protective nosecone fairing of a Falcon 9 rocket.

As it is now, the Starlink service provides in-motion connectivity to planes, boats, and recreational vehicles and supports residential and government customers on every continent. In the U.S., residential Starlink internet service starts at $120 for residential customers plus an initial $599 hardware fee.

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When is the next SpaceX launch?

If schedules hold, the next Falcon 9 slated for liftoff from Florida will send another batch of Starlink satellites to orbit, but this time from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Though the company has yet to confirm this flight, federal filings have liftoff of SpaceX's Starlink 6-12 mission from KSC's pad 39A targeted to happen during a launch window from 7:37 p.m. to 11:37 p.m. EDT on Sunday.

Shortly after liftoff, that mission will also feature another drone ship landing meaning Space Coast residents shouldn't have any sonic booms to worry about.

Meanwhile, in space, four members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission, which launched to the space station in March, wait for an opportunity to come home. NASA said Friday that the Crew-6 departure is slated for Sunday, Sept. 3, at the earliest.

If that schedule holds, they will splash down somewhere off the Florida coast early Monday. A landing location will be determined closer to undocking, which will be dependent on weather conditions.

Weather delay: @NASA and @SpaceX are standing down from the Sept. 2, departure of #Crew6 from the @Space_Station.



The next available undocking opportunity is no earlier than 7:05am ET on Sept. 3, with a splashdown no earlier than 12:07am ET on Sept. 4.https://t.co/wtlYbi9d7q pic.twitter.com/ioKq6XD4XZ  NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) September 1, 2023

For the latest schedule updates, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Jamie Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her on X at @AlteredJamie.

Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.

Launch Sunday, Sept. 3

Company / Agency: Internal SpaceX mission

Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9

Location: Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center

Launch Window: 7:07 p.m. to 11:37 p.m. EDT

Trajectory: Southeast

Weather: TBD

Landing: Drone ship

Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space

About: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the company's latest batch of Starlink internet satellites from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Thursday's SpaceX Starlink mission sets stage for another this weekend
SpaceX is planning to launch its Falcon 9 rocket containing Tranche 0 satellites from the Space Development Agency from a California base Saturday morning.

The space exploration company, founded by Elon Musk, plans to launch the rocket at 10:25 a.m. ET/7:25 a.m. PT from the Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, over 150 miles north of Los Angeles on California's central coast. It has been rescheduled twice, first from the initial planned Thursday morning launch, then from a Friday morning launch.

The livestream of the launch will begin about 15 minutes before liftoff. You can watch at the top of the page or on SpaceX's YouTube channel.

Once launched, the Falcon 9 rocket will send the satellites to low-Earth orbit. They will be used as part of the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space architecture, a layered network of satellites that will "provide global military communication and missile warning, indication, and tracking capabilities," according to SpaceX.

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After the first stage separation, the Falcon 9 is set to land on Landing Zone 4 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SpaceX launch today: Watch livestream of rocket launch from Vandenberg
ANKARA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkiye launched an air operation targeting "terrorists" in the Qandil and Asos regions of northern Iraq early on Friday, the country's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The operation was carried out in the early morning to "neutralize" the terrorist elements of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and other Kurdish armed groups, said the statement.

Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralized" in their statements to imply the "terrorists" in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

A total of 16 caves, four shelters, and two material warehouses used by Kurdish militants were destroyed, it added.

"Many terrorists were neutralized, and a heavy blow was dealt to the terrorist organization in the region," said the ministry, without detailing.

The Turkish security forces often conduct cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region holding hideouts and bases of PKK militants, from where they carry out attacks against Turkiye.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States, and the European Union, has rebelled against the Turkish government for more than three decades. 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Early headlines of special session gave way to tense moments between House and Senate Republicans, with disagreements lasting all the way to the end.

So the question now becomes, where do we go from here?

The Senates message to us most of the time was not, No, not, Those are bad ideas, House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) said. But they did not want to take those up in this special session and again, I respect that, that is their decision, even though we disagree with it.

Legislature remains more divided than ever after contentious Tennessee special session

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Its a safe bet to say the House and Senate Republican Caucuses will make up and reunify come regular session in January. A more complicated question is, how do House Republicans and Democrats move on from the drama in the last five months?

Everybodys voice deserves to be heard, Rep. Harold Love Jr. (D-Nashville) said. I think when you start silencing those voices, then youre going to see more frustration.

Tensions flared several times as silencing representatives and a physical scuffle took the spotlight away from the few pieces of legislation that actually passed.

We can handle issues in a passionate way without getting physical or up in each others face or yelling and screaming at each other, Lamberth said. Weve always done that in an orderly society and specifically within the legislature.

Special session ends in chaos, physical scuffle

The two parties feel as divided as ever, with seemingly no plans to make up or even an intention to do so.

If you come for one of us, you come for all of us, that were united against this extremism, this anti-democratic behavior, Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) said.

The behavior leaves Tennesseans hanging in between.

Do we have a lot of work to do going forward? We should never stop, Gov. Bill Lee (R-Tennessee) said. When I campaigned, I said, People want to live in a safe neighborhood, and until they do, we should never stop working on public safety.

Whether that work involves compromise remains to be seen.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
The special visa program to get Afghan citizens who assisted the American military into the U.S. faces lingering challenges despite years of reviews and oversight, according to a report from the State Department Inspector General.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) report said there is a significant and growing Afghan [Special Immigrant Visas] applicant backlog, despite improvements to staffing and some streamlining of the application process.

The final U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 caused a significant increase in the number of applicants as the Taliban took over governing the nation for the first time since U.S. military operations began 20 years before.

Tens of thousands of Afghans are waiting for the special U.S. visas, some of whom are on the run from the Taliban, The Associated Press reported this month.

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There are about 150,000 Afghan applicants for the visa program  not including their families  a tally that would take 31 years to process at current rates, a report from the Association of Wartime Allies (AWA) claims.

In a report last year, the State Department said it received more than 350,000 inquiries about the visa program in the two months after the final U.S. withdrawal from Kabul.

Advocacy groups such as the AWA claim that those left behind in Afghanistan are at serious risk of retribution from the Taliban government for their work associated with the U.S. military.

The Taliban have engaged in a systematic country wide effort to hunt down and murder the Afghans who previously worked with American forces, the AWA report reads. Their campaign has thus far been tragically successful.

A State Department review of the program in June found that a lack of leadership and poor direction from both the Trump and Biden administrations hindered the visa process.

The OIG report seconded that claim, saying that program leadership had frequent turnover and did not properly prepare for how to deal with the current applicant backlog.

Because there is no longer a U.S. government presence in the country, the visa program is also forced to work with the Taliban.

The Department relies on Taliban cooperation for SIV applicant relocation from the country because of a lack of a ground presence in Afghanistan, the report states.

When the U.S. left Kabul in August 2021, more than 85,000 Afghans came to the U.S. on dozens of cargo aircraft. The Biden administration quickly began an expedited humanitarian parole entry process, waiving many of the requirements to get a temporary, two-year U.S. visa. That expedited process ended last year.

Many of those initial 85,000 refugees faced difficult new lives in the U.S., while thousands more were forced to leave Afghanistan and still struggle to gain entry.

The OIG report specifically recommends that the State Department implement a strategic performance management system to better organize its response to concerns and improve the program more effectively. The report states that the department has begun the process of implementing such a system.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Lakeith Stanfield and Clark Backo anchor the fascinating genre series

Lakeith Stanfield and Clark Backo anchor the fascinating genre series "The Changeling."

You know youve landed on something pretty fascinating when almost immediately after finishing it, you gleefully jump down a Google rabbit hole trying to understand more. Thats what its like with The Changeling, a new Apple TV+ speculative horror series from showrunner Kelly Marcel thats more like something you experience than something you simply watch.

Thats not exactly a function of the shows quality, which isnt easy to determine. It has very high peaks and a few low valleys, and narrative threads that evolve so often and so dramatically, you might begin to wonder whether youre the one who isnt up to par.

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That is both the exercise and the beauty of The Changeling, which is a breathtakingly ambitious undertaking. Based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Victor LaValle , who serves as the narrator and an executive producer of the series, The Changeling is an extravagant genre offering about... well, many different things. Most profoundly, its about the natural horrors of life and death  as well as the stories we tell ourselves and those we love.

It begins rather sweetly. An antique bookseller in New York named Apollo (Lakeith Stanfield, another executive producer) encounters a love at first sight that shifts his entire world: a librarian named Emma (Clark Backo). She politely declines each time he asks her out on a date, until she finally says yes.

Some time elapses  time will be a central theme, here  while Emma has her own life-shifting experience on a monthslong trip to Brazil. When Emma returns to New York and Apollo, we learn in flashbacks that she encountered a woman (maybe a witch) at a lagoon who tied a string around her wrist. If that string falls off, the woman warned, Emmas three wishes will be granted.

Were not told what those wishes are, or how they could be ominous  or why the possibility of having ones wishes granted at all would be something to fear rather than hope for. The Changeling right away seems to bank on that sense of mystery, and has a confidence that viewers will continue to be invested even without having many answers. Thats probably true, because the setup is too spectacular to look away. (Eventually, of course, Emmas string does become untied, and we watch it tumble to the floor in dramatic slow motion.)

As that moment percolates in your mind, The Changeling glides through another layer of its increasingly busy narrative: Bringing us back to the 1970s in New York City, we meet Apollos mother, Lillian (Alexis Louder in the younger years, and Adina Porter later), on a date with her future husband, Brian (Jared Abrahamson), who becomes Apollos father.

Were then thrown further back to flashbacks of Lillians horrifying experience as a young person in her native East Africa. The Changeling uses on-screen text to establish the time and setting of certain sequences, but this one has neither, which is a bit disorienting  especially because specificity is so critical to each story as it rapidly unfolds.

We also get a glimpse of trauma in Brians childhood through flashbacks of his home life in Syracuse, New York. His and Lillians stories splinter out to bring us to those of a child Apollo and Emma, and their separate but similarly turbulent early lives that may or may not have brought them together as two young lovebirds when we meet them.

As Emma and Apollo get to know each other in the present day, and Lillian and Brian do so in the past, someone says the same thing in both instances: One sad story is enough for the first date. While the audience is privy to each characters upbringings, their partner doesnt have those fuller details. And thats another omission that raises the eyebrow.

It also marks the first significant indication of the connections between these four stories. The Changeling is a gargantuan undertaking propelled by gorgeous special effects and world-building, but figuring out the relationships between its knotty and knotted narratives is the crux of the show.

This might sound like a lot of plot detail for a review, and dangerously close to spoiler territory. But none of this is particularly revealing, or even begins to scratch the surface of the actual story. Its just necessary to understand as you begin to grapple with the series.

Apollo, who calls himself

Apollo, who calls himself "the god," sinks deeper and deeper into the winding mystery of his wife and son on "The Changeling."

These are also merely fragments of the first episode, directed by Melina Matsoukas (Insecure, Queen & Slim). But that should give you a sense of the extraordinarily loaded story youre in for.

Marriage and parenthood are essential demarcations in the story and affect each individual in wildly different ways, which is really when the series comes alive. These moments give way to a sprawling, beguiling narrative that uses fantasy elements like secret realms and emotionally catastrophic events like death, abandonment and violence to illuminate its thesis and challenge the characters and the audience alike.

Truthfully, the emotional Olympics of it all are a lot to handle. There are moments of joy intertwined with agony that fold into a series both arduous and fascinating to watch. We see literal and fantastical images of human ugliness investigated through Apollo, crystallized in Emmas eyes, and curdled in Lillians narrative.

This world has gods, angels and monsters drifting through the story, and The Changeling leaves much of it up to you to decide whos which and at what point. (Apollo constantly claims to be a god, but the series doesnt seem fully interested in exploring how or why that is, which is frustrating.)

Greek mythology (because thats in this series, too) describes Apollo as the god of prophecy and healing, one who can ward off evil yet bring on ill health. Here, Stanfields Apollo is our protagonist, a loving Black father and husband desperate to put the pieces of his life back together after devastation, and hoping to understand past traumas that begin to materialize in shocking ways.

We follow his horrific odyssey, one colored by broken and mangled faith, distortion of truth in each characters story  perhaps to protect others, or themselves?  and even the psychologically delicate nature of motherhood.

On

On "The Changeling," everything you see is potentially connected, and the series doesn't make it easy to put all the pieces together.

All of this fills the romantic dates early in the series with even more meaning, and helps simplify this otherwise challenging story. Getting to the end of The Changeling, though, requires acute attention to detail and maybe even a degree of mental aerobics that some viewers may decide isnt for them.

The show neither holds your hand nor equips you with all the answers, which creates further chaos. Its far from background TV that you can put on while doing laundry or any other menial task. This is a series that assumes your undivided attention.

It also inspires curiosity, something refreshing in todays culture of quick reactions and woefully little thought. Some people might be led down a Google search into an exploration of Greek mythology. Others might want to learn more about LaValles inspirations for the story.

LaValle, a Black father raised by a single Black mother, told the Los Angeles Times in 2017 that while he was conscious about making Apollo too like himself, he knew there were similarities. At one point, he says, He needs to be a great guy, and thats who I am, too, so theres a danger that Im going to be patting myself on the back a little bit too hard as Apollo.

Emma, meanwhile, is also a deeply complex and fascinating character as brought to life by Backo, who holds her own against Stanfield in just as difficult a role. Postpartum depression is one way to interpret what goes on in Emmas trajectory, which gives her character additional texture and encourages the audience to view her with a sense of inquisitiveness  as with all other parts of this story that engage with real-world issues. (In an interview with The New York Times earlier this year, LaValle mentioned Jamaica Kincaids The Autobiography of My Mother, which he said had a huge impact on him.)

This series, as with any great genre offering, confronts the harrowing and the beautiful in equal measure. Quiet when it needs to be and utterly mind-bending occasionally  sometimes to a fault  The Changeling doesnt bother with a happy ending, or indeed an ending at all. It pursues the truth, as jagged and frightening as that might be.

Visionary in so many ways, it deserves extra props for not going down easily.

Related...
Ralph Yarl faced the man accused of shooting him for the first time Thursday, the final witness in a preliminary hearing in a Clay County courtroom to determine if Andrew Lester will stand trial after the teen mistakenly went to the wrong house in a Kansas City Northland neighborhood earlier this year.

After evidence was presented and a dozen witnesses had testified, Judge Louis Angles ruled that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that Lester had committed a crime in the shooting of Yarl, who was 16 at the time.

Angles set Lesters arraignment for 9 a.m. on Sept. 20.

The 84-year-old Lester, who is white, has been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of Yarl, who is Black, on April 13.

Andrew Lester, center, appeared in Clay County court Wednesday where he made a plea of not guilty after being charged in the shooting of Ralph Yarl.

Shortly before 10 that night, Yarl rang Lesters doorbell in the 1100 block of Northeast 115th Street, where he believed he was picking up his younger twin brothers up early from a sleepover. Yarl had intended to go to a home one street over, on 115th Terrace.

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Yarl, when asked by the prosecutor how he is doing, said I feel I have a great support system which is helping me recover and become my true self again.

The teen recently started his senior year of high school and is planning college visits, where he hopes to study engineering.

His father, Paul Yarl, said hes proud of how his son handled himself on the stand.

His aunt, Faith Spoonmore, said of Yarls testimony: He spoke his truth.

Lesters attorney Stephen Salmon told media after the judges decision that the shooting was a mutual mistake.

He maintains Lester has a good chance of being acquitted at trial. In his closing remarks, Salmon said under the (self-defense) law, Mr. Lester didnt need to wait to be attacked by a stranger in the dark to shoot.

Clay Clay Prosecutor Zachary Thompson said that Lester didnt have the right to shoot a child through a closed door.

Lester opened the interior door and within a few brief seconds opened fire on Ralph, he said.

Activists, politicians and family of the teen have pointed to the case as one of ringing a doorbell while Black. It continues to spark conversations about racism, both explicit and implicit, and gun rights in the United States.

Civil rights attorneys hired by Yarls family have, along with others, called for Lester to be charged with a hate crime.

Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney representing the Yarl family, previously said the teenager was shot because he was armed with nothing other than his Black skin.

Lester wasnt charged until four days after the shooting.

Seated in the small courtroom Thursday were Yarls father, Spoonmore and other relatives.

Many wore blue shirts that read: Ringing a doorbell is not a crime.

Student Fallyn Kowalski photographed the crowd Tuesday at Staley High Schools Unity Walk, held in honor of classmate Ralph Yarl, 16, who was shot in the head while attempting to pick up his siblings.

The shooting

Lester called 911 after he shot Yarl. His call came in at 9:52 p.m., a minute after a neighbor called.

I just had somebody ring my damn doorbell ... he wasnt in my house but I shot him, he told the operator, describing the person as Black and 6 feet tall. Yarl is actually about two inches shorter.

He was at my door trying to get in, and I shot him ...  Lester said. Thats all I remember.

Larry Dunaway Jr. was one of the Kansas City police officers who responded to the shooting. He was directed to speak with Lester.

Lester told Dunaway that he heard a knock, saw a male on the porch and heard him yanking at the door handle. Lester said the person never said anything, so he didnt know what the stranger wanted.

To me he seemed like an elderly guy who was scared, said Dunaway, who took the initial statement from Lester.

Officer James Gale, also with KCPD, took Lester to police headquarters to make a statement that night. Lester, who had difficulty walking due to a knee replacement, was not handcuffed for his safety, Gale said.

At police headquarters, Lester made a comment about hoping he didnt kill anyone, Gale said.

In the initial interview, Det. Dennis Paquette testified that Lester told him he was worried about the size difference between himself and the person on his porch.

Kansas City teen Ralph Yarl was shot at this Northland home Thursday evening, police say, after going to the wrong address to pick up his siblings.

Yarl and his mother testify

Yarls mother, Cleo Nagbe, took the stand just before her son.

She told the court what shes said in interviews since the shooting: She sent her son to pick up his younger twin brothers a couple blocks away. He didnt have his phone because he left it at school. When he didnt come home by 10, she began to worry.

She heard the sirens. The wailing of emergency vehicles wasnt out of the ordinary. But the sheer amount of them was.

Still dressed in her pajamas, she got in the car and went to the house to pick the twins up. Yarl wasnt there. Assuming her oldest son got a flat tire somewhere nearby, she drove around the neighborhood looking for him. Thats when she got a call from an unknown number. Yarl had been shot. Nagbes twins burst into tears.

Ralph Yarl smiles for a photo with his aunt, Faith Spoonmore (left), and his mother, Cleo Nagbe (right).

Yarl was the last person to testify Thursday. The teenager entered the courtroom in a collared, button-up shirt. Just a few months into his recovery, Yarl spoke quietly but confidently.

He told the judge that he didnt have his phone, so he tried to commit the address to memory, relying on street signs during his short drive. He recalled pulling up to the front of the driveway, ringing the doorbell, and waiting longer than normal for someone to answer.

Yarl said he saw the main door open, so he started to pull at the storm door, assuming hed be welcomed in.

Then he said Lester told him, Dont come here ever again and held up a gun.

Yarl said he dropped his hand from the door and stepped backward. Then he said Lester shot him once in the head. Yarl said he fell to the ground, and then Lester shot him again in the arm.

Salmon in his questioning tried to pin some of the blame on Yarl, who maintained that he had no intentions of entering the home uninvited.

The defense attorney asked if he noticed the sign on the door that read no solicitation. Yarl said he hadnt.

He asked if Yarl found it odd that there were surveillance devices. Yarl said no, because hed seen many homes with security cameras.

Then the defense attorney asked Yarl if he knew it was unlawful to enter someones house without their permission. Yarl said he knew, but that he hadnt planned to enter the house until hed been greeted. He was just trying to open the storm door once the main door opened.

Salmon pointed out that Yarl did not speak to Lester in the brief moments between when he opened the door and when Lester shot Yarl.

Do you understand how that can be interpreted as threatening? Salmon asked Yarl.

Yarls response to the attorney was too quiet to make out.

Ralph Yarl

Please help

When the shooting first started gaining publicity, Yarls family said that he had attempted to get help from neighbors in those first frantic moments, but was initially denied assistance.

Three of Lesters neighbors testified Thursday morning, laying out a more complete picture of what happened when Yarl begged for help that night, and why neighbors didnt at first open their doors.

During her testimony, Carol Conard noted she saw a car pull into Lesters driveway about 9:30 that night.

It was highly unusual for somebody to be pulling in the driveway that late at night, she said.

She heard two bangs, then someone screaming at the top of their lungs, she said.

Her husband, Robert Conard, called 911 first, after he heard his wife yelling from the front of the house.

He ran to the front of the house and saw a person in the shadows off by the neighbors house yelling that hed been shot, Conard said. He turned his porch light on as Yarl started coming his way.

Get your ass back in the house and lock the door, he testified that his wife yelled to him.

So Conard closed the door and heard Yarl pulling at the door handle. Conard said he was startled, but didnt get out any of the guns that he owns.

My concern at that point is we still didnt know who else was involved, Conard said.

Carol Conard testified that she told her husband to close the door because she was scared of what else was outside. She knew someone had been shot and feared for her safety. She eventually spoke with Yarl through the window, still not opening the door. She advised him to get in the street, where he was visible, sit down and stay calm, and that help was on the way.

After Yarl tried to get help at the Conards home, he went across the street to the home of Jodi Dovel. She didnt hear the gunshots, but she heard the pounding at her door. Someone seemed to jiggle the door as they shouted for help.

Dovel said that, not knowing what was going on or if she was being robbed, she called 911.

In a recording of her 911 call that was played in court, Dovel was heard telling the operator that a Black male was on his knees outside her house near her mailbox pleading for someone to please help.

She told the operator that while shes a healthcare professional, she was not going to go outside because she didnt know what was happening and because it was dark.

I dont want you to go out there, the operator responded. Stay away from the windows and doors.

Dovel hung up the phone and kept watching out the window. Once she saw other neighbors, including Conard, go out to the street to stand by Yarl, she also ran out. As she left her home, she noticed the trail of blood leading up her porch, on her railing, on her stairs and in a pool under Yarls head on the street.

When she got to Yarls side, he was alert. His two gunshot wounds were obvious, Dovel said.

She tried to keep him calm as he told her that he had been trying to pick up his brothers. She asked what school he went to as her son grabbed towels for her to press against Yarls head wound.

Police later said Lester shot Yarl with a 19th century Smith & Wesson revolver.

The emergency room physician at Liberty Hospital and the pediatric neurosurgeon at Childrens Mercy who tended to Yarl immediately after the shooting both testified that the shooting left a bullet fragment embedded into Yarls skull above his left eye, causing a depressed skull fracture.

The prosecutor asked Dr. Jo Ling Goh, at Childrens Mercy, if Yarl would forever have a divot in his skull to remind him of that night. Yes, she replied.

Ralph Yarl, (front) the Staley High School teen shot in the head in April after ringing the wrong doorbell, and family members participated in the 1.5K walk at the Going the Distance for Brain Injury Annual run, Memorial Day, May 29, 2023 at Loose Park.

Who is Andrew Lester?

Lester is a Vietnam veteran, former airline mechanic, avid hunter and longtime gun owner.

The prosecution at one point displayed crime scene photos taken by Marena Draskovich, a forensic scientist with KCPD. They showed views from inside and outside Lesters home, including images of the front door ajar and the glass blasted out of the center of the storm door.

The photos also showed Lesters three-camera security system, which were pointed at the driveway, the walkway to the porch and the front porch. Another photo showed where the small screen was mounted on his bedroom wall  below a cross  displaying rotating images from his three cameras.

Ann Mallot, a forensic video analyst for KCPD, said she was not able to recover any recordings from the night Lester shot Yarl. She said the last recording was from nearly a year earlier.

His grandson Klint Ludwig told The Star in April that his grandfather had been immersed in a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia.

Ludwig said he and Lester used to be very close.

But in the last five or six years or so, I feel like weve lost touch, he said. Ive gotten older and gained my own political views, and hes become staunchly right-wing, further down the right-wing rabbit hole as far as doing the election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies and disinformation, fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line. I feel like its really further radicalized him in a lot of ways.

And then the NRA pushing the stand your ground stuff and that you have to defend your home, he said. When I heard what happened, I was appalled and shocked that it transpired, but I didnt disbelieve that it was true. The second I heard it, I was like, Yeah, I could see him doing that.

Two other relatives who previously spoke with The Star said they didnt believe Lester was a racist and thought he likely was scared when he shot Yarl.

Daniel Ludwig, of Kansas City  who is Klints older brother  said he did not believe race played a role in the shooting.

Its just sad and I wish it didnt happen, Daniel Ludwig told The Star. It seems like a bunch of mistakes in a row that resulted in a tragedy. I mean, a lot of mistakes all the way around, unfortunately.

Lesters nephew, Dean Smith, of Jewell Ridge, Virginia, said it would be hard for me to believe that Lester is racist.

Hes worked with so many people, he said. Hes been a supervisor and all, over different races. Hes just a really straightforward, everyday person. He was just retired military, trying to get on with life.

A community member holds up a sign depicting a fist while attending a rally for Ralph Yarl in front of the Charles E. Whittaker U.S. Courthouse on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in Kansas City.

Stand Your Ground defense

In closing statements, Thompson, the prosecutor, maintained that no matter how threatened Lester may have felt, Missouri law is clear: He has the right to a firearm and he has the right to defend himself from criminals. But Thompson said Missouri law does not give Lester the right to shoot an unarmed child through a door.

Salmon in his closing statements said that from Lesters perspective, he was unable to defend himself due to his age and physical condition.

He had a split second to make a decision. ... He did what he thought was reasonable under the circumstances at the time, Salmon said, saying that state statute allows people to defend themselves if someone is trying to make an unlawful entry into a dwelling.

Mr. Yarl made the mistake of going to the wrong house and Mr. Lester, who believed there was an intruder coming in on him, he made a mistake too. It was a mutual mistake, is what this amounts to, Salmon said.

Salmon said he didnt know why Lester chose to open his door when the other neighbors did not. And why he brought a gun to the door while other neighbors did not.

What was he supposed to do? Salmon asked. Wait another few seconds and have the guy on top of him? I think thats what he was thinking.

Thompson held a press conference following the decision but, unlike Salmon, declined to answer most questions, saying he wasnt going to try the case in the media.

There was no mention of race as part of Thursdays testimony. Thompson said there is no legal racial aspect in the case to discuss. Salmon said the case is not a Black and white thing.

When asked if she still believes theres a racial component, Yarls aunt, Spoonmore, standing outside the courthouse, said in response: Is it sunny outside?

It was.
A 24-year-old Springfield man was killed in an early morning shooting Friday, according to Springfield police.

Cole M. Marcinek succumbed to gunshot wounds after reports of a 12:30 a.m. shooting at 1632 W. Berkeley St., where another man was also injured.

Marcinek apparently left the scene of the shooting before he was found in his vehicle parked in the roadway near Sunset Street and Grant Avenue. He was discovered with multiple gunshot wounds and died.

Springfield Police's homicide unit has identified all involved parties, but no arrests have been made amid SPD's investigation.

This was Springfield's second fatal shooting death in three days.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield man dies in Friday morning shooting
An Alabama teen lived in filth and suffered abuse at a for-profit youth residential facility described as a house of horrors, a new lawsuit charges.

Brighter Path Tuskegee faces a negligence suit related to its treatment of a 15-year-old resident, a year after another resident died at the facility.

No child should endure what our client experienced in this facility, Tommy James, a lawyer representing the teen, said in a news release provided to McClatchy News. He and other residents were treated worse than animals. It is sickening.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 31 in Macon County, says the teen constantly feared for his safety during his time at the facility. He was placed in the facility beginning Jan. 18, James said. He was at Brighter Path until March 24.

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He left the facility when his guardian ad litem, an Alabama attorney appointed to represent his interests, found out about the conditions of the facility. She requested an emergency hearing so he could be removed.

The facility was formerly known as Sequel TSI. Sequel operates other youth behavioral facilities in Alabama, but it briefly shut down and rebranded as Brighter Path following a string of abuse allegations, WAFF reported. The company was also the subject of a nearly 70-page report by the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program detailing deplorable living conditions.

Over and over, boys told us I dont feel safe here, the report says.

The 2020 report from the ADAP shows photos of residents rooms covered with feces and testimonials from residents who said they were physically and verbally abused by staff.

The state can place adolescents deemed delinquent by a court in a facility for young people with behavioral difficulties, according to the facilitys website.

Even when staff was present, (the plaintiff) was frequently assaulted by other residents, the suit says. This was because staff frequently instigated fights among the residents.

The lawsuit says the teen, who was brutalized by staff and other residents, did not receive an education and was bitten by bed bugs.

The suit names the facility and its parent corporations as well as the director of the center as defendants. It also will name other defendants yet to be identified.

Lawyers are seeking compensatory and punitive damages on their clients behalf.

It is heartbreaking to see yet another child being abused under the very roof that promises safety and care, James said in the release. The pattern of abuse in these facilities is alarming. The stories we hear are the stuff of nightmares.

The plaintiffs legal team has filed other suits on the behalf of the facilitys residents, including a pending wrongful death lawsuit for the family of Connor Bennett, who died by suicide at the facility in April 2022.

Tommy James, Jeremy Knowles, Walter McGowan and Caleb Cunningham are representing the 15-year-old in the latest lawsuit.

The facilitys website says the treatment staff provides comprehensive, challenging, and therapeutic services for adolescent males ages 12 to 18.

Brighter Path Tuskegee is licensed by the Alabama Department of Youth Services and the Alabama Department of Human Resources, according to the facilitys website. McClatchy News could not immediately reach either department or Brighter Path.

The state continues to place young people in these facilities, James says, despite a pattern of abuse.

The stories we hear are the stuff of nightmares, he said.

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A dip in the pool before the Fall interrupts the warm weather is the ideal way to end the summer. However, this Black boys swim time was interrupted by a 14-year-old white teen who had other plans. Cape & Islands District Attorney Robert J. Galibois said the teen met a Black boy and another white kid at the Goose Pond in Chatham, Mass, per WCVB. He said the teen picked up a stone and threatened to hit the Black boy with it while spewing racial slurs.



Right before the three boys entered the pond, the Black boy put on his life vest, informing the others who couldnt swim. However, when everyone jumped in the water, the teen grabbed the Black boys vest and dunked him under the water up to five times, causing the boy to struggle breathing. The other white boy yelled George Floyd while laughing at the two, the DA said. The teen then continued the attack by swimming underneath the Black boy and pulling his feet down.

Read more

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The defendant was found dangerous by Judge Silvia Gomes during a dangerousness hearing in Barnstable Juvenile Court on Thursday, according to the district attorney. The teen is being held without bail and due back in court on Sept. 13 for a pretrial conference.

Galibois said that unlike most states, Massachusetts law allows the records of a juveniles legal proceedings to be open to the public just as adult court records.

Back in July, four juveniles in Washington were charged with a hate crime after threatening a group of Black men part of the LGBTQ+ community right ahead of a Pride parade.

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A Thurston County judge ruled Friday that a ban on the sale of assault weapons in Washington state should remain in place as a lawsuit challenging the ban works its way through the court system.

Petitioners in Guardian Arms v. Inslee requested a preliminary injunction to block the implementation of HB 1240, the assault weapon ban passed during this years legislative session. Judge Allyson Zipp denied the request.

The case was initially filed in Grant County, but moved to Thurston County at the request of the state Attorney Generals Office.

The latest denial from Judge Zipp comes just three months after she denied a temporary restraining order to block the sale of assault weapons in the same lawsuit.

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That same month, a federal judge in Seattle denied a request for a preliminary injunction in a U.S. District Court case aimed at blocking the new law.

Another case is pending in federal district court in Eastern Washington, the Attorney Generals Office noted in a press release Friday. Attorney General Bob Fergusons office is representing the state in the lawsuit.

My legal team remains undefeated against the gun lobby in court, Ferguson said in the press statement. This common-sense gun reform will save lives by restricting access to the preferred weapon of mass shooters.

Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee requested the legislation to ban assault weapons during the 2023 legislative session. The law immediately went into effect when Inslee signed the bill on April 25, making Washington the 10th state to have bans on assault weapons in place. Guardian Arms v Inslee was filed that same day.

HB 1240 prohibits the manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, or offer for sale of any assault weapon in Washington state. Some exceptions for licensed firearm manufacturers and dealers are baked into the legislation, allowing law enforcement agencies to continue to purchase from firearms dealers and manufacturers, for instance.

Exceptions are included for those who inherit an assault weapon, and the law does not regulate possession for Washingtonians who owned assault weapons before the bill was signed.

Violations of the law are a gross misdemeanor, which can include jail time for up to 364 days and/or a fine of no more than $5,000.
A boil water advisory issued for parts of State College on Monday  which has since been lifted  has some residents concerned about how the notification system for the State College Borough Water Authority works.

Residences along more than 150 streets in Patton and Ferguson townships were placed under a boil water advisory Monday after two water main breaks occurred at North Oak Lane and Patton Lane, and another at Carnegie Drive and Driftwood Drive. The State College Borough Water Authority wrote in a notice that many streets may be at an increased risk from microbial contamination. The advisory was lifted Wednesday morning.

While the water main breaks happened before noon Monday, Brian Heiser, executive director of the State College Borough Water Authority, said the issue that led to the boil water notice happened around 2:45 p.m. that day.

The notice was issued as soon (as) the extent of the situation was determined, he wrote in an email.

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In a Facebook post, Patton Township wrote the water authority pushed out 1,700 calls on Monday through its notify system; door tags were left at any properties where a call wasnt answered on Monday night.

Still, some residents who live in the impacted area say they never received a phone call or door tag informing them of the boil water advisory. Comments from residents who werent notified  or, in their opinion, were notified too late  flooded Patton Townships social media posts about the advisory.

Stephanie Kirsch lives in a rented apartment in Patton Township on a street within the boil water advisory. She only learned of the advisory though a group chat she is in with her neighbors; she said she was never notified by the SCBWA.

If I had not known about it, I think that it could have been pretty catastrophic. Im a single parent of four kids and one with a disability whos prone to getting sick and ... medically, financially, that could have been a really bad thing, Kirsch told the CDT. State College is definitely one of those towns where people come and go, and there needs to be a better system put in place to notify new renters or new people who have purchased their home. Because really, its a huge communication issue and a safety issue.

Kirsch rents her apartment from a large rental company, so the water bill isnt in her name. She said she didnt receive any notifications from the rental company, either. She did receive a message from the State College Area School District that afternoon, as three district school buildings were impacted by the boil water advisory.

Another Patton Township resident and small business owner had a similar situation. She learned about the advisory from a friend who lives across town. She said she didnt receive a phone call or door tag at her home from the SCBWA.

I am a stay at home mom and we have three very young children. I have a baby who drank tap water with his formula bottles all day. I have two toddlers that drank it all day. And then myself, who is pregnant, I drank it all day. So yeah, I was very upset to say the least, said Ashlee, who declined to use her last name for safety reasons.

She and her family feel fine and havent experienced any symptoms since consuming the water.

Heiser said the notification call system that was used on Monday is dependent upon good information from our customers. He said customers can call the SCBWA at 814-238-6766 to update their contact information in the billing system. Patton Township encouraged residents to do the same. There is also now an update information form on its website.

What is required?

Requirements related to notices such as boil water advisories are set by federal and state regulations. A spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection said boil water notices are issued by water suppliers when unexpected conditions create the potential for biological contamination.

In SCBWAs case earlier this week, a loss of positive press in the distribution system required a Tier 1 public notice, the spokesperson said. According to the DEP website, within 24 hours, public water systems must provide direct delivery of a public notice to each of its service connections using at least one of the following methods: hand delivery, electronic mail, automatic telephone dialing systems, or another form of direct delivery approved in writing by the department.

Water suppliers must also provide public notice to transient and nontransient service connections, if applicable, via radio or television, according to the website.

The DEP also notes that if the water supplier sends a public notice and its bounced back, they then need to send the public notice by mail or another approved alternative within the required time frame.

The SCBWA website includes some information about public notifications as well. For Tier 1 notifications, it outlines that impacted customers will be notified within 24 hours.

Depending on the nature of the situation, you will receive either a phone call or a formal paper notice, the site states. It also says the website and its Facebook page will also be updated as needed, although the last post on its Facebook page is from September 2022.
The state paid out $67,000 to the former communications director for the 2021 Washington State Redistricting Commission in a wrongful termination lawsuit settled late last month.

The case was filed in Thurston County Superior Court by plaintiff Jamie Nixon against Lisa McLean, the former executive director for the 2021 commission, Lisa Biscay, the former human resources director for the commission, and Sarah Augustine, the 2021 commissions chair. The state was also named as a defendant in the case.

The funds came out of the Self Insurance Liability Account, according to Brionna Aho, communications director for the Office of the Attorney General.

Nixon told McClatchy that the lawsuit was in response to his early termination from the Redistricting Commission. While he was told that he would have employment with the commission from 2021 until June 2022, he was suddenly let go in January 2022, just two months after the commissions redistricting maps were turned in.

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Nixon said he had been looking forward to the job as a way to pay for him and his family to move to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He believed the work for the Redistricting Commission was important and interesting, and noted that he was excited to participate in the commission that only convenes every 10 years when legislative and congressional maps need to be redrawn based on new U.S. Census data.

What a unique and neat thing to work on, right? Nixon told McClatchy. And I was really looking forward to the idea of being able to do some real educational outreach in the position and kind of teach people about what it is and why its important.

But then Nixon asked for time off to take his daughter to college, and he felt the dynamic between him and McLean, his direct supervisor, change. She admitted during deposition for his case that she decided then to modify Nixons job without any type of notice or agreement.

Other issues then came up.

Nixon said he needed advice for public records matters from the Assistant Attorney General while McLean was on vacation during the time the maps were being redrawn in November 2021. McLean said during her deposition that she was upset Nixon had gone over her head for advice, leading her to further lean in to terminating him.

The two also butted heads when commissioners failed to provide maps on time, and public records requests from multiple media outlets began pouring in. Nixon said he wanted to be open and transparent with the public about what happened, but that McLean and others pushed back on that idea.

Depositions also shed light on how Nixons termination followed him to other possible jobs.

Nixon told McClatchy that he believed someone at the commission had prevented him from getting hired at the Housing Authority in St. Croix where he now lives. In Biscays deposition, that suspicion was confirmed when she said she had told the Housing Authority that the commission would not rehire Nixon.

The Redistricting Commission has been rife with controversy since it convened.

While the Redistricting Commission is supposed to be nonpartisan, McClean admitted in deposition for Nixons case that partisan staff was used to draft job announcements and descriptions for the commission, as well as other duties for the commission.

The commission admitted in 2022 that it broke the law by negotiating the drawing of the congressional and legislative maps in secret, according to reporting from Crosscut. Commission members also admitted that they had violated Washingtons Open Public Meeting Act when they approved the maps without public deliberation.

Two lawsuits were filed against the Redistricting Commission for those violations.

Additionally, McLean later admitted to Crosscut that text messages had been withheld and deleted by commissioners, a violation of the states Public Records Act. That admittance led to other lawsuits.

In December, plaintiff Arthur West was awarded $40,000 after he sued the commission for violating the Public Records Act by withholding and deleting text messages.

In February, Sean Murray, the former digital media and communications coordinator for the 2021 commission, accepted $50,000 from the state to resolve a lawsuit against the Redistricting Commission for withholding and destroying public records.

Despite being the Public Records Officer for the commission, McLean admitted in depositions for Nixons case that she did not have any specific training on how to handle public records requests. She also admitted that the staff was not well-trained on how to manage public records.

McLean also noted that she did not understand the need for redaction logs, leading her to push back on producing them to media and the public.

Most recently, in a lawsuit over Yakimas 15th Legislative District, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the commission violated the Voting Rights Act when it redrew Washingtons maps. The judge also ordered the map for the 15th District redrawn, either by reconvening the commission or letting the Court decide on a new map.

McClatchy was unable to reach McLean for comment. Biscay told McClatchy in an email that she was unable to respond to ongoing litigation.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva here Friday. The two sides pledged to further strengthen cooperation.

Noting that the Chinese economy has maintained a sustained recovery trend this year, Li said China will further strengthen policy coordination and promote economic growth while sticking to reform and opening-up.

China will optimize the development environment for private enterprises, improve the scale and structure of foreign trade, and make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign capital, according to the premier.

The country is confident and capable of promoting sustained and sound economic development, he said.

Li said China is willing to deepen cooperation with the IMF and support the IMF in continuing to play a significant role in global governance. He voiced hope that the IMF's 16th general quota review will achieve meaningful outcomes.

He expressed the hope that the IMF will stand against protectionism and any form of decoupling and chain-breaking, protect economic globalization and free trade, maintain the stable and smooth flow of global industrial and supply chains, and improve the representation, voice and influence of emerging markets and developing countries in international affairs.

China will continue to support the IMF in playing its role in debt issues, and hopes that all parties will meet each other halfway and support developing countries with concrete actions, said Li.

With China contributing one third of the world's economic growth, Georgieva said the IMF appreciates the solid efforts taken by China to promote economic growth, and values China's leading role in helping the vulnerable as well as low- and middle-income countries develop and realizing global economic growth.

The IMF is willing to further cooperate with China, said Georgieva. She called on all parties to keep global supply chains steady and smooth to prevent fragmentation risks, saying that the IMF will work to achieve positive outcomes in the general quota review.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng also met with Georgieva Friday. The two exchanged views on current international economic and financial situation as well as major issues related with IMF. 
FILE- Transgender-rights advocates gather near the Kentucky House chamber, Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Frankfort, Ky. Questions over which side was being more compassionate emerged as a key tension as federal appellate judges heard arguments Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, on whether to block transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care in Kentucky and Tennessee. (AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner, File)

Questions over which side was being more compassionate emerged as a key fault line in a federal appeals court Friday, as judges heard arguments on whether to block transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Supporters of trans kids being able to get puberty blockers and hormone therapy argued that it is safe, necessary health care that's backed by every major medical group. Advocates of state-level bans on children seeking the care countered that these are experimental and life-altering procedures that young people shouldn't be exposed to.

U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar said concern over the child's well-being is the nut of the case.

I feel like theres compassion in both directions, Thapar said. Its not crazy to say that theres a compassionate component to the other side of this  that maybe this is the kind of thing people might regret if they do it at age 14, 15.

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Earlier this year, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reversed lower court decisions and allowed both Kentucky and Tennessee to move ahead with preventing transgender minors from accessing the care. The move sparked alarm among advocates, who countered that doing so would immediately harm transgender young people currently receiving gender-affirming care, as well as those who may need to access it in the future.

Yet attorneys representing Kentucky and Tennessee argued that since the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled states can prohibit abortion, states are free to regulate gender-affirming care procedures as they see fit.

Fridays hearing, which was held over video, comes amid a flurry of rulings this week stemming from disputes over limits on transgender and LGBTQ+ rights across the country over new laws in Republican-led states.

The states play a front line in the indispensable role in regulating the practice of medicine, said Solicitor General Matthew Kuhn, representing the Kentucky attorney generals office.

But lawyers for transgender youth and their families said the teenage years are exactly when gender-affirming care should be administered.

The evidence in this record shows that withholding treatment of even up to until the age of 18, and allowing puberty to occur consistent with the sex identified at birth, is extraordinarily harmful to these children, said Stephanie Schuster, an attorney for Kentucky families.

Elsewhere in the U.S., the Texas Supreme Court allowed a law against gender-affirming care for youth to take effect Friday, while a federal court on Thursday blocked enforcement of a Texas anti-drag law that performers fear could shut them down or put them in jail. A federal judge in Kansas on Thursday told the state to stop letting transgender people change their birth certificates so the documents reflect their gender identities. Canada this week updated its travel advisory to the U.S., warning members of the LGBTQ+ community that they could face barriers and risks in American states that have enacted laws that may affect them.

And in Florida, a federal judge on Friday rejected requests to make it easier for transgender adults and children in the state to access gender-affirming care, at least for now.

Tallahassee-based U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said he would not immediately block enforcement of provisions of a new state law that is resulting in transgender adults continuing to receive hormone treatments. He might reconsider, he said, if he is given more medical evidence about the harm of halting treatments.

Florida is one of 22 states to adopt a law in the last few years banning gender-affirming care for children, including Texas, where enforcement began on Friday. But unlike others, the one signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in May also has provisions aimed at care for transgender adults.

The law requires that they give consent to treatment in person and with a physician present. Advocates say thats a problem because much of the care is prescribed by nurse practitioners and/or through telehealth  and that its too hard for many patients to get or get to in-person appointments with physicians.

Hinkle also heard arguments Friday on whether to certify a group of transgender people as a class that rulings in the case would cover. He said he was willing to do that, but only with a clear definition of the class. But he said the hold on enforcement of the law for the plaintiffs in the case would not extend to other minors in the class.

Hinkle noted that he has a trial scheduled to start Nov. 13 to determine whether the law is constitutional.

He told lawyers for Florida that there are some problems with the law. It is fairly remarkable that the state of Florida would tell a 40-year-old trans woman who has a doctor who says You can take estrogen and it will improve your life, and the state of Florida says, No you cant take that.

___

Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
(WAVY/NEXSTAR)  How angry is your state behind the wheel?

A new Forbes Advisor study found road rage incidences are on the rise  and some states have higher shares of confrontational drivers than others. Forbes Advisor surveyed 10,000 licensed drivers and compared all 50 states across nine metrics. States were then ranked out of 100.

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Overall, Arizona ranked no. 1 for the worst road rage while Delaware was home to the most polite drivers in the U.S. Arizona received a full 100 score, the only state to do so.

See the top 10 most confrontational drivers by state below.

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As Forbes explains, five of the top 10 most confrontational-driver states are in the south, while many of the most polite are located in the Pacific and Western U.S.

See an interactive map of states ranked by how confrontational their drivers are below.

Top reasons for road rage, according to Forbes Advisor are:

Heavy traffic (39.35%)

Already feeling stressed (38.06%)

Running late (33.89%)

Already feeling angry (32.49%)

Feeling tired (26.86%)

Places where drivers experience the most road rage are: freeways or highways (26.59%), parking lots (14.9%), intersections (12.36%) and rural roads (6.99%).

In 2022, 413 people were injured in road rage shootings  a 135% increase from 2018, according to a 2023 report by Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group. The report explains that in 2022 someone in the U.S. was shot (injured or killed) in a road rage incident about every 16 hours.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
LAREDO, Texas (Border Report)  A table full of seized rifles, pistols and other firearms on display for media on Thursday shows off the spoils of a federal joint operation that officials say is proving successful in stopping weapons from going from the United States to Mexico.

Packed shelters prompt migrants to cross into US

Our No. 1 priority is national security and this includes the stem of firearms going into Mexico from the United States and I can tell you that Laredo and other offices are leading the charge against firearms going into Mexico, said Michael Makens, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

The federal agencies involved in Operation Without a Trace include Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); U.S. Border Patrol; the Department of Justice; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and even the U.S. Postal Service.

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By coming together with a common mission we are pooling our resources, said Craig Larrabee, HSI special agent in charge from San Antonio.

Officials from Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Border Patrol; the Justice Department; and Postal Service assembled Aug. 31, 2023, to explain their joint Operation Without a Trace in Laredo, Texas. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)

This fiscal year, CBPs Laredo Sector has seized at ports of entry 620 weapons and over 75,000 rounds of ammunition that were bound for Mexico.

On Aug. 23, CBP officers in Del Rio, Texas confiscated 13,400 rounds of ammo that were hidden in trash cans inside a cargo van headed for Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, CBP officials said.

A weapon confiscated by U.S. officials is seen Aug. 31, 2023, in Laredo, Texas. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)

CBPs Laredo Office of Field Operations spans hundreds of miles to Brownsville. Eugene Crawford, acting deputy field officer for the sector, said 31% of all travelers nearly 60% of all trade coming from Mexico into the United States enter through this area.

That includes the World Trade Bridge, the largest land port for commercial vehicles in the United States.

Crawford said drugs and human smugglers typically try to come north across the border; weapons and cash tend to head south into Mexico to fund drug cartels and to arm them against Mexican authorities and other rival cartels.

Migrant woman in Border Patrol custody dies in Rio Grande Valley hospital

The impetus has always been to screen northbound travelers but now screening those heading south for weapons is a priority, officials said.

All these weapons were headed to different organizations in Mexico. And if they get a hold of these weapons that is the battle that you see on TV. Those are the fights with Mexican authorities. Those are the weapons used to terrorize the communities in Mexico. They are weapons used to control areas, to control the drug trade, Larrabee told Border Report.

At the JuarezLincoln International Bridge, known by Laredoans as Bridge 2, a mobile X-ray vehicle scans vehicles that have been pulled for further inspections.

The vehicle looks like an ambulance. Its boxy with lights and beeps as it moves up and back.

Drivers and vehicle occupants wait in a grassy area nearby as their cars and trucks are scanned. Sometimes theyre asked to open the trunk or other compartments. And despite the triple-digit heat, there were no complaints heard on Thursday when Border Report watched the process occur again and again.

Once the vehicles are cleared, they head south over the bridge to Nuevo Laredo.

Residents trying to head south into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, from Laredo, Texas, were detained as their vehicles were scanned for contraband on Aug. 31, 2023, at Bridge 2. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)

Firearms have been hidden in gas tanks, luggage, air compressors, engines, and under truck plates.

Any way they can, they try, Crawford said.

The U.S. Postal Service is also involved with Operation Without a Trace, helping to identify suspicious packages and parcels that could contain either firearms, weapon parts or ammunition headed to drug cartels in Mexico.

When they are prevented from getting their weapons, they lose strength and influence. And that makes our communities safer, said Robert Topper, of ATF.

Officials said many weapons also are stolen from vehicles in the United States and sent to Mexico. Authorities urge those who carry weapons to keep track of them.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
DOVER  Chief Deputy Joseph McGivern, who is taking over the Strafford County sheriff's office on an interim basis at a time of great strife, is vowing to rebuild morale and trust.

McGivern, the acting sheriff, and Maj. Steven Bourque, now second in command, sat down for a conversation with Foster's Daily Democrat about the current state of the department and their hopes to keep it on track.

McGivern said he believes changes in the department happened in the nick of time last week, when elected Sheriff Mark Brave agreed to take paid administrative leave. He said the department would have "imploded" if change had not happened.

McGivern assumed the leadership role of the department after Brave agreed under pressure to step away. Brave is facing eight felony charges from the New Hampshire attorney general alleging he misused county money to fund trips, airfare, hotels and restaurants in connection with numerous extramarital affairs. This included travel with a woman who working for the sheriff's office.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Joseph McGivern is now Strafford County's acting sheriff. Sheriff Mark Brave is on paid leave while facing eight felony charges.

"When he (Brave) decided to accept taking paid leave, there were some changes I cannot really be more specific about, but changes he planned, that would have caused problems across the board," McGivern said. "I was afraid we would have lost most of this department. They would have resigned, and that was not an idle threat. He had plans that Friday that would have taken effect the following Monday, and if they did, most of the office would have been gone by Wednesday. We have no relationship with Mark Brave right now, as we are prohibited by court order from talking about the specifics, but people here were aware of what was going on, that there was an investigation and tension was very high."

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More: Investigation details Sheriff Mark Brave's alleged lies about affairs, hotels and trips

Bourque said morale in the department was extremely low. Both he and McGivern said Brave needed to step down, and they are grateful for the dedicated staff who stuck with the department.

"Had (Brave) stayed, there is no way he could have been effective here," Bourque said. "He has no-contact orders, and they go both ways. I sense a change already. People knew about this, and as law enforcement they understand it is a lengthy process. But I sense a change already. I feel we have now crossed a threshold."

Brave turned himself in to New Hampshire State Police Aug. 17. He was charged with eight felonies: theft by deception for using about $19,000 in county funds by seeking reimbursement for personal expenses with false justifications, two counts of falsifying physical evidence and five counts of perjury for lying to a Stafford County grand jury, according to state Attorney General John Formella. Brave could face 31 to 64 years in prison and fines of up to $32,000 if convicted on all counts, according to Formella. Brave has denied the allegations.

McGivern, Bourque believe morale is improving

Chief Deputy Sheriff Joseph McGivern, left, now acting sheriff in Strafford County, and Maj. Steven Bourque say morale has improved in the department since Sheriff Mark Brave agreed to take leave.

McGivern said his goals are to make sure the department returns to the efficiency it has always had. He said they are meeting daily with staff to keep morale up and to return to normalcy.

"I believe communication is the key here," he said. "I believe our biggest need now is to restore trust, and for that, communication is the most important thing. We are all working together and supporting each other."

More local news: Suspect in murder outside Somersworth Walmart evaluated for competency to stand trial

Asked if any of the sheriff's office staff are expressing support for Brave, McGivern said he doesn't know, and he has not heard anything outright. He said he has not asked, either.

"Things are going incredibly well, considering what is going on," he said. "Any allegations against the sheriff are not associated with a high percentage of our department. We have a dedicated, honest staff who do their job on a daily basis. We have a lot of good people here who are choosing to stick it out. We will continue to do our jobs. The retention of personnel is really important to me right now. This is a problem for law enforcement across the country. I am aware that they could get jobs anywhere else, and that some have been offered jobs because of their certifications, so I want work to make sure they want to stay here. Considering the situation, I feel our retention is pretty high. We had a couple of resignations, which I cannot detail because of personnel policy, but even they may stay on a per diem basis."

Bourque said they have seen a huge rise in morale. He said people are feeling comfortable again, or at least starting to feel that way.

"We have a lot of responsibilities here," McGivern said. "We have a civil side and an investigative side, both with supervisors who are watching very closely. We work closely with the jail for transports of people in custody (medical and to court dates here and out of state). We have federal partnerships with the U.S. marshals and with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). People in many areas of law enforcement rely on us."

McGivern said the sheriff's office staff has received a lot of support from their partners and from other local law enforcement. He said they are hearing from rank and file, straight through to chief executive officers in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine, all offering support.

"They have gone out of their way to reach out to us," Bourque said.

McGivern sees himself as short-term leader of sheriff's office

Chief Deputy Sheriff Joseph McGivern, left, Strafford County's acting sheriff, and Maj. Steven Bourque, interviewed Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, say the department has received much support since Sheriff Mark Brave took leave while facing eight felony charges.

McGivern has a long career in law enforcement. He retired as a lieutenant from the Dover Police Department after serving for 22 years.

"I came to the sheriff's office and did some per diem work," he said. "I did a little construction work. Then, in 2010, Sheriff Wayne Estes offered me a 32-hour position, which was the maximum I could do as a retired law enforcement officer. When Estes was done here, Sheriff David Dubois was here for eight years. In 2015, I was a captain and when the Barrington police chief retired, I served for a time as interim chief, returning here after the town hired a permanent chief. Sheriff Dubois promoted me to chief deputy."

Asked if he is considering running for sheriff in the 2024 election, McGivern, 68, laughed.

"I will have aged out of the office," he said. "The position caps out at age 70, so no. That was an easy answer."

For now, McGivern said he is not planning any sweeping changes. He wants to assure the public the staff will continue to be there, doing the job at a high level.

"I just want to support all the fine people who work here," he said. "Morale is getting better again, and we will continue to strive to keep improving our department. I have seen a lot of challenges in my time in law enforcement, like what we faced during the pandemic, the possibility of losing deputies to layoffs because courts didn't want us in there. Cases were very backed up. But this, this situation, was a rapid-fire event, things hitting one after the other. But I believe in the process. I know it will take time, but we are going to be OK."

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Strafford County sheriff's office rebuilds after Mark Brave exits
The defeat of the Russian Il-76 at the airfield in Pskov

Ukraine has operatives that can strike the enemy from deep within Russian territory, according to Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) head, Kyrylo Budanov , speaking in an interview with the War Zone.

His comments come after two Russian Il-76 transport planes were destroyed and two more were damaged at an airbase in Pskov, nearly 1,000km away from Ukraines capital of Kyiv.

"We are working from the territory of Russia," Budanov said, without clarifying whether the strike on Pskov airbase was directly carried out by his operatives.

HUR/The War Zone

The War Zone has claimed that it had received video from an infrared camera of one of the drones used in the attack on Pskov, showcasing one of the planes getting hit.

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Read also: First photos of damaged Russian jets seen after Ukraines brazen drone attack on Russias Pskov airbase

The War Zone concluded that its footage was taken from drones that were directly involved in the attack, "unless the source of the image was acting as a surveillance drone to record the strike, which seems unlikely."

This would be consistent with Budanov's statement that the air base was attacked from Russian territory and not with the help of long-range autonomous drones, the War Zone said.

The 334th Military Transport Aviation Regiment is stationed at Pskov Air Base, a unit that is believed to consist of 20 Il-76 aircraft. The loss of 25% of its inventory would represent a significant blow to its combat viability.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
New victims have come forward with accusations against a former Mecklenburg County Public Health employee already charged in a sexual assault case, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officials say.

Seven women say Daniel Pitti-Casazola came to their homes and had sexual contact with them under the guise of providing medical care, CMPD officials said at a press conference on Friday.

Pitti-Casazola worked as a Spanish language interpreter for the department for the past nine years, according to personnel records obtained by The Charlotte Observer. He was suspended on July 18, the same day he was arrested and charged in the case of the first victim.

Mr. Pitti-Casazola preyed on some of the most vulnerable members of our community, CMPD Lt. James Ivie said Friday. He did this while portraying himself as a representative of the very institutions that are supposed to protect these people.

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Pitti-Casazola was assigned to the Care Management for At Risk Children department, according to the personnel records. CMPD said each of the women who have come forward were seeking medical care either for themselves, or their young children.

The six victims all had a similar story to tell as the first woman who came forward, Ivie said.

They initially had contact with Mr. Pitti-Casazola as an interpreter for the Mecklenburg County Health Department, Ivie said. He then scheduled a separate visit and came to their residence in order to perform what they believed was a legitimate medical exam.

Pitti-Casazola is not a medical professional of any kind, Ivie said.

His visits consisted of a sexual assault of these victims, Ivie said. To be clear, in none of these sexual assaults was there an actual rape. But they were each other forms of inappropriate sexual contact.

Pitti-Casazola was arrested again on Thursday, this time near Fayetteville where he had been staying. He was charged with six additional counts of sexual contact under pretext of medical treatment.

In each instance, Pitti-Casazola worked as a translator for the women and later arranged to come to their house under the pretense of performing a medical examination, according to CMPD.

Pitti-Casazola was in custody at the Cumberland County jail on a $150,000 bond as of Friday, CMPD officials said.

The sexual assaults occurred between February and July, according to CMPD. All of the victims are Hispanic women between the ages of 19 and 32, who only speak Spanish.

The crimes occurred across three CMPD divisions in Charlotte including Steele Creek, Eastway, and North Tryon.

CMPD officials said there may be more victims in the community and encouraged anyone who has questions or believes they may be a victim to come forward.

We want to stress that CMPD does not inquire into the immigration status of any survivors, CMPD said in a statement.

CMPD this week presented a search warrant to Mecklenburg County Public Health to obtain protected information regarding the medical treatment the victims received and to receive more information on the work Pitti-Casazola did for the department, Ivie said.

Anyone with information is asked to call 704-336-8279 and speak directly to a Sex Assault Unit detective. Spanish-only speakers may instead call 704-336-7922.
The number of young people with food allergies has been surging in the past few decades. This fall, many of them are heading to college.

Living with a food allergy at home is challenging under the best of circumstances. But college students say navigating food allergies on campus is particularly fraught.

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Nearly a dozen current and recent college students with food allergies shared stories of encountering allergens in campus dining halls, during dorm-life shenanigans and at off-campus events.

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Alyssa Bauder, 25, a doctoral candidate in Chicago with a severe nut allergy, recalls waking up one day in her sophomore year at Ohio State University to find peanut butter splattered across her dorm hallway, including on the carpet and the doors to her bedroom and the communal bathroom. No one living on her floor knew at the time that she and her roommate were severely allergic to peanuts, so they chalked up the incident to "drunk students coming home from the bar."

Bauder said dorm workers "put minimal effort" into finding out who had vandalized the hallway and in cleaning up the mess, residues of which lingered in carpet fibers before a proper cleaning was finally done.

"Even after the physical allergens were removed from the hallway, the traumatic experience lived on with me," said Bauder, who launched a blog, All Things Allergies, about food allergy-related mental health struggles. She said the incident reignited feelings of post-traumatic stress related to food allergies that she's had since childhood.

"I never felt comfortable in that space again," she said. "I was constantly worried my shoes were tracking the peanut butter into the safety of my room."

The university offered Bauder and her roommate a vacant dorm to live in during the cleaning, but she chose to stay at a family home nearby instead.

An Ohio State spokesman said that he could not discuss specific students but that the health and safety of students, faculty and staff "is a top priority."

- - -

A new landscape for food allergies

The prevalence and severity of food allergies among children increased 50 percent between 1997 and 2011, according to the nonprofit organization Food Allergy Research & Education. Now, at least 1 in 10 adults in the United States have food allergies, according to data published in JAMA Network in 2019. Some researchers have described the surge as a "food allergy epidemic."

"They're all growing up and taking their food allergies into college," said Ruchi Gupta, a physician and the founding director of the Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research (CFAAR) at Northwestern Medicine. "We're talking about 10 percent of a college population learning how to be independent for the first time, making food choices on their own, and that coinciding with wanting to be accepted, make friends, eat out and go to parties."

The true scope of the problem is unknown, Gupta said, partly because college students are not required to declare their food allergies on applications. It is even harder to quantify how many of them experience anaphylaxis - a life-threatening allergic reaction - while on campus.

A 2016 study described a nearly threefold increase in emergency department visits related to food-induced anaphylaxis among 5- to 17-year-olds from 2005 to 2014.

"What we do know is that about one in five kids and one in 10 adults end up in the emergency room every year for a food allergic reaction," Gupta said. "And we definitely think it's higher for college students and young adults at that age."

Many aspects of the college experience involve food, including welcome buffets during orientation week and dorm gatherings. Parties are among the riskiest environments, Gupta said.

"It's like kindergarten all over again," said Caroline Moassessi, the vice president for community relations with the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team (FAACT), and a mother of two college students. "You have to let go and pass the food allergy baton as you hold your breath because you hope they make good decisions."

- - -

Campus dining halls are food-allergy minefields

Some college dining halls have dedicated stations that are free of nine common allergenic foods: peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, wheat, soy, fish, shellfish and sesame. (These foods are responsible for 90 percent of all food allergy reactions, according to FAACT.)

But despite precautions, mistakes do occur, a number of anecdotal reports indicate. In one study, students told researchers that they had eaten food that was mislabeled or that they had received the wrong meals in dining rooms.

Some say that campus dining room workers are inadequately trained to understand food allergies.

At the beginning of her freshman year at the University of Toronto in 2016, Jenna Tso struggled to find safe meal options at her dining hall.

One day, Tso, who is severely allergic to milk, eggs, beef and pork, picked a bowl of vegan lentil dal, only to have the dining hall employee top it off with a piece of bread that contained dairy.

"I had to give my meal away to someone else," said Tso, 24, now a social worker in Los Angeles. "I didn't feel comfortable going back and ordering the supposedly vegan meal again without the bread, because of the worker's lack of awareness."

Cate Weiser, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Chicago who is allergic to eggs, peanuts, tree nuts and fish, said she was fortunate to have access to an allergen-free dining station.

A University of Chicago spokesman said "menus follow a 5-week cycle where different meals are introduced each day." But Weiser said the hardest part about her first year on campus, she said, was the repetitive and limited meal options.

"It's hard to eat the same thing every day," Weiser said. "Plus, it's dining hall food, so it's not good in the first place."

- - -

The challenges of socializing with food allergies

For those with food allergies, social events and other outings introduce myriad other risks.

Alcohol is one factor. The labels on many alcoholic beverages do not disclose ingredients or potential allergens, setting up exposure risks for those who are allergic to rye, wheat, barley and even peanuts. Not only can alcohol increase the severity of an allergic reaction, but its intoxicating effect also can reduce a person's ability to notice what is happening, leading to delayed treatment.

But many people with allergies say the biggest challenge is a general lack of support and understanding among peers.

Tso said she avoided talking about her allergies out of fear of "being labeled as difficult or annoying." She recalled a sorority event at an Italian restaurant during her freshman year when she began having an allergic reaction after taking a bite of a spaghetti dish that she thought was safe.

Tso felt a tingling in her throat and began to have trouble breathing. She said she was too embarrassed to use her EpiPen in front of her companions and instead excused herself to call an Uber to go to a hospital.

She administered her EpiPen in the car but was too late to prevent a severe reaction. She began to vomit. When she arrived at the hospital her airways were nearly closed and her hands and fingers were turning blue because of a lack of oxygen.

"I really downplayed my allergies, which I regret," said Tso, who now offers food allergy and mental health consulting for students and parents. "I went most of my childhood without having an allergic reaction, but then I went to college and had three in the span of three years because I didn't have the skills to advocate for myself."

- - -

Finding support on campus

Katelyn Chu, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Virginia, developed an allergy to soy at 10 years old. As a Korean American, she grew up having to avoid traditional foods like tofu, soybeans and miso.

She joined an Asian students group on campus, but traditional Asian foods are often served at the group's events. "For some events, they'll serve sushi or other traditional Asian foods that I can't eat," she said. "It's stressful."

Two juniors at Northwestern University, Kethan Bajaj and Julia Auerbach, organized College Advocates for Food Allergy Awareness & Education (CAFAE), to support students who have food allergies and other food-related conditions.

Bajaj said he started advocating for students with food allergies after watching his older brother cope with his own during his time as a college student. Auerbach said she has had celiac disease since she was 12 and wanted to help others navigate the transition from high school to college.

CAFAE holds EpiPen training sessions on campus and provides opportunities for students to discuss their food-allergy experiences. The group also plans to extend its work to nearby high schools.

Students at Tulane University in Louisiana are starting their own CAFAE chapter this upcoming school year, and Bajaj and Auerbach are chatting with several universities about new chapters.

Bajaj and Auerbach said they were motivated to start the club after they used an online survey to gain insights into campus allergy experiences. They found that students who did not have allergies were interested in EpiPen training and in learning how to help someone who is having an allergic reaction.

Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) and FAACT have launched programs to raise allergy awareness among university staffers and in resource centers. They also provide college students with checklists, legal help and other food allergy information.

An app called Spokin recently released a "Top 100" allergy-friendly college ranking based on over 300 student reviews so far. Next month, the app will offer more detailed information about the food allergy policies and practices at various colleges. Participating schools will pay a fee to be included.

"The goal is to make the already daunting school research process far easier," said Spokin founder and chief executive Susie Hultquist, who also is the mother of a college student with food allergies.

Michael and Rebecca Suhy started the Allison Rose Foundation after their daughter, Allison Rose, a freshman at Ohio University, died in 2017 of complications of an anaphylactic reaction while spending time off-campus with friends.

The foundation offers food allergy awareness and education to more than 60 high schools, colleges, restaurants and other organizations. It also provides schools with epinephrine stock at no cost. Ohio University recently installed yellow allergy emergency kits in every dining hall in Allison's honor.

"We feel like we have to be pioneers for those parents that are coming behind us so they never experience what we had to," Rebecca Suhy said.

Sami Sanders, a 17-year-old high school senior in Georgia with multiple severe food allergies, has already started her college application journey.

Sanders's mother has taught her to call restaurants and companies and send them emails to request information about certain foods, and to talk to friends and family members about her allergies.

"The older I got, I realized my mom isn't going to be able to talk and do the research for me. I need to do it myself," Sanders said. "I'm definitely nervous for college, but I'm staying positive. I know I'm going to end up where I am supposed to be."

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For Suella Braverman , the two officers she met in Greater Manchester this week symbolise the approach to policing she is planning to roll out nationwide. Local intelligence from the officers contacts in the neighbourhood had identified a suspected drug dealer operating out of a community centre in the heart of the city. Through some concerted work over a series of months, they focused on that person, they monitored him and they were able to arrest and charge him with quite serious offences, she says, leaning forward in an armchair in her neat Whitehall office.

Thats the kind of neighbourhood policing we need: being smart, being serious and being focused on who the criminals are and how we get them.

It is what she describes as neighbourhood policing with teeth overseen by the citys no-nonsense chief constable Stephen Watson, who in the space of 18 months has rescued its failing police force.

Hes turned around what was a failing force because hes adopted a back-to-basics approach whereby they respond swiftly to 999 and 101 calls, where theyre visible in the community, and following every reasonable line of inquiry.

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The adoption of Watsons principle by all 43 police forces in England and Wales that all crimes  no matter how minor  will be investigated if there are reasonable lines of inquiry was the first announcement in Rishi Sunak s privately branded crime week of policy initiatives. It is perhaps then not surprising that a declaration of war on woke policing by Braverman also has its roots in Manchester.

In June 2021 Stephen Watson began his formidable task of overturning the culture in Manchester police. At the time it was renowned as one of the most progressive and liberal forces but was also failing to record the true level of crime let alone solve it. He told The Telegraph that the public were fed up with police officers focusing on virtue-signalling rather than locking up burglars, and that police officers traditional impartiality was being put at risk by making common cause with campaign groups by, for example, taking the knee or wearing rainbow shoelaces. When asked if he would take the knee in uniform, he replied: No, I absolutely would not. I would probably kneel before the Queen, God, and Mrs Watson, thats it

Suella with Manchesters no-nonsense chief constable Stephen Watson, who she says has the right approach to common sense policing - Peter Byrne/PA Wire

Wind forward two years and Braverman has now ordered an inquiry by Her Majestys Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke into the drift by some police leaders into politically contested areas such as gender politics, critical race theory and blasphemy.

The Home Secretary traces her concerns back to 2020 when she saw officers taking the knee during the Black Lives Matter protests. I was bewildered and angry that the police were siding with a political movement and subscribing to a contested idea of critical race theory and undermining their legitimacy in their public order function that was totally unacceptable, she says.

Her determination to tackle the issue has been reinforced by her conversations with frontline officers. Whats crystallised it in my mind is meeting hundreds of rank-and-file cops who have said theyre fed up with the virtue signalling that some police leaders have been spending their time on, instead of focusing on back-to-basics crime, she explains.

They are fed up with apologies by chiefs for being institutionally racist, because theyre not racist, and they dont feel that theyve been properly represented. Theyre uncomfortable with the takeover by gender ideologues and trans ideology.

Instead, she argues the police must make sure at all times they adopt a position of strict neutrality, even if that may mean offending some parts of society. It is a line taken by Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, who this week said he would not tolerate officers wearing little other than Remembrance poppies on their uniforms as opposed to other political or environmental causes.

Rowley was the originator (when chief constable of Surrey) of the modern concept of neighbourhood policing, and, Braverman says that he and Watson are two chiefs I would single out as having the right approach to common sense policing. Indeed, as part of crime week, she announced law changes that will enact Rowleys calls for chief constables to be given greater powers to sack rogue or corrupt officers.

I want the police to be the best that they can be. I want the police to be respected, not discredited - Danny Lawson/PA Wire

With positive headlines from their new law-and-order policies, the Government will take heart in what will be a key election battleground. Next week, however, when Parliament returns from summer recess, its focus will be to get back on track its policy of transferring migrants from hotels to more basic mass accommodation sites.

The Governments immigration week of announcements ended disastrously last month after 39 asylum seekers were evacuated from the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset and returned to hotels after the discovery of legionella bacteria in its water supply. Braverman admits she was angry and frustrated with the contractors and civil servants after being left in the dark for at least three days about the finding.

Even more significantly, next month will see the Supreme Court hearing to determine whether the Court of Appeals block on deportation flights to Rwanda should be overturned on the basis that the country is safe. Rwanda is the linchpin in the Governments strategy of deterring Channel migrants from crossing in small boats by detaining and removing them swiftly to the central African state to claim asylum there.

Without Rwanda, the Home Office will struggle to operationalise the policy of deterrence which has shown some success with the Albanians, who were the biggest contingent of Channel migrants last year. A fast-track deportation deal with Albania has contributed to an overall 20 per cent drop in crossings this year and 40 per cent fall in the crucial summer month of August.

The Albanian government has been a very constructive partner in dealing with this joint challenge, says Braverman. The numbers are down. But ultimately the numbers are still too high and Im not going to rest until we get that number far, far lower,

With stop the boats one of the Prime Ministers five pledges, Braverman knows that failure could cost the next election. Weve made that promise, she says. This is not about simply trying and failing and shrugging our shoulders. This is about succeeding. As I have said, as the Prime Minister himself has said, we will do whatever it takes.

Im here to make a difference and help people and fight crime and keep the British people safe - Eddie Mulholland

The Braverman household in Hampshire is run on spreadsheets. With two children, George, four, and Gabriella, two, and a seven-day-a-week job which can mean 3am calls about national security, family life has to be meticulously organised. My husband [Rael] is a fan of spreadsheets, so we always have spreadsheets on every day of the week: whos doing the various nursery drops, the pickups, the school runs, the childcare, whos doing bedtime, whos doing dinners.

She says she could not do her job without businessman Raels help, backed up by her parents and her in-laws. We have a village of people, as they say, helping us raise our children, she says. We have quite a complex arrangement of various people slotting in and out. Theres a lot of planning that goes on. That includes organising her sons Batman-themed fourth birthday party, with a real-life Batman. Im very good at organising childrens parties, she says.

Her mother, Uma, and father, Christie, are, she says, pretty much full-time grandparents. It is a family where politics was omnipresent. Her mother represented the Conservatives as a councillor and twice as a parliamentary candidate in 2001 and 2003. Campaigning and elections and local community service was very much part and parcel of my childhood, she says.

Two experiences inspired her to enter politics. Living in the US and France gave me a great appreciation of our parliamentary system, our democratic and our legal system, our social and cultural life, she says. That did encourage me to think I do want to get involved in public life in the UK.

Polarised views, she says, come with the territory the Home Office covers of migration, law and order and security - Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Braverman read law at Cambridge, and spent 10 years working as a barrister seeing that the English legal system was not absolutely supreme and we were always at the time subjugated by a foreign court, the European Court of Justice, she says. I always found that very ill fitting and difficult to reconcile with our concept of Parliamentary democracy.

Underlying her political ambition, however, was a very profound desire to give back to this great country thats given my family and myself so many plentiful opportunities and allowed and afforded us great security and support, she adds. Her parents, Uma, and Christie, both of Indian origin, emigrated in the 1960s from Mauritius and Kenya respectively.

Although she says she has been called the P word in the streets in the past over the years to which she turned the other cheek, she says she has not really experienced racism. I think, actually, we have got a very good approach to race relations and integration in our country, she adds.

That has not, however, stopped her making trenchant critiques of the authorities when she believes they have allowed political correctness and cultural sensitivities to get in the way of protecting vulnerable people such as the girls exploited by the grooming gangs in Rochdale and Rotherham.

[The victims] felt that a blind eye had been turned for years by social workers, by teachers, by the police, by councillors, who didnt want to take up very obvious concerns out of a fear of offending community groups, namely the Pakistani community in those towns, she says. There was a cover-up, there was institutional failure, there was negligence, there was reckless behaviour because of political correctness, because of fear of offence, because of maintaining community cohesion as they euphemistically put it.

Those scandals were, she says, an incredibly powerful motivation for her belief in being searingly honest for the British people If it offends some people, if it makes some people uncomfortable, so be it. It is my role to tell the truth in this job, she adds.

Being so outspoken whether on race or immigration has sparked personalised attacks. How does she feel about labels such as Cruella? Im not here to complain. Im here to make a difference and help people and fight crime and keep the British people safe. Thats my overriding focus, she says.

On the Conservative leadership race: It is a very gruelling process not just for us, but for the rest of the country. - JESSICA TAYLOR/UK PARLIAMENT/AFP via Getty Images

Polarised views, she says, come with the territory the Home Office covers of migration, law and order and security. We live in an open democracy, we need to exchange views and Im up for the debate and Im not shy about prosecuting my viewpoint energetically. She declares that she is a law and order politician who believes in the Peelian principles of policing by consent. She is in awe of their bravery, as evidenced by the ultimate sacrifice of Sergeant Graham Saville, who died this week trying to save a man on rail tracks.

Her reforms aim, she says, to empower the police. I want the police to be the best that they can be. I want the police to be respected, not discredited, she says. That has meant giving police the tools to focus on the basics of crime fighting with an extra 20,000 officers, by stripping down bureaucratic crime recording rules and a new deal with the NHS to reduce the time officers spend sitting in A&E on mental health call-outs.

As a victim of two crimes herself, albeit more than a decade ago when her phone was snatched out of her hand and, before that, when her car was broken into by a thief to steal its radio,she has experienced at first hand being given a reference number by police with no further action taken.

Since Ive become Home Secretary, Ive become very concerned about the number of accounts Ive personally come across of victims of phone theft, car theft, watch theft, feeling let down by the police, feeling that theyve reported a crime and theyve merely been handed out a crime reference number, she says.

She welcomes the positive response by all 43 police chiefs agreeing to investigate all crimes where there is a reasonable line of inquiry. It is now over to them to actually follow up on leads in every case, she says.

Her support for a no-nonsense approach also extends to anti-social behaviour including drug use, from cannabis being smoked on the street to middle class cocaine use, and she backs the police use of their stop and search powers to crack down on it.

So called middle class users are killing people, and they are fuelling a violent and brutal trade, possibly not very far from where they may live. It is not only damaging to their own lives and their own wellbeing, but also to the lives of many others.

She adheres to the broken windows theory of tackling crime, where police should take action on behaviour that has too easily been dismissed as minor and insignificant but actually can make people terrified in their own homes. It ranges from vandalism of bus stops, to the local park, to graffiti to criminal damage to shop fronts and nuisance bikers. Nuisance boy racers. Aggressive off road bikes. Nitrous oxide usage. Aggressive, noisy, intimidating behaviour.

Crime is set to figure prominently in the Kings Speech this autumn, with tougher sentences to be unveiled for anti-social behaviour, automatic jail for repeat multiple offenders, a ban on the illegitimate use of nitrous oxide, a ban on machetes and zombie knives and powers for judges to compel offenders to attend sentencing hearings.

It is seen as part of an attempt by Sunak to woo the Right and exploit the dividing lines between the Tories tough approach on migration and Labours opposition to the Rwanda policy, even if it is knocked out by the Supreme Court.

Suella Braverman shaking hands with Rwandan minister for foreign affairs and international co-operation, Vincent Biruta - Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

It is one reason why Bravermans position is seen as safe. She is from the right of the party  and famously took a tilt at the leadership as their standard bearer after Boris Johnson resigned in 2022.I felt that, from a Brexit point of view, it was important to have someone who was very passionate and credible on the issue of standing up for our sovereignty from the European Union, she says.

In that leadership race, she said the only way the UK could solve its immigration problem and ensure Brexit was delivered was to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. This week she echoed her criticism back then that Strasbourg was an interventionist and politicised court when she refused to rule out the prospect of quitting the ECHR if the Rwanda flights continue to be blocked.

But, she says, no one in Government is talking about leaving the ECHR right now. We are working to deliver our plan, she says. Nor is there any talk of leadership. Asked if she would ever stand again, she laughs and replies: I am hoping that we dont have to go through anything like that for a very long time. It is a very gruelling process not just for us, but for the rest of the country.

Im very, very happy to be enthusiastically supporting Rishi Sunak. Hes doing a very, very hard job very well. I am working with him very closely, since Ive been Home Secretary, on the particular issue of small boats, and I have been incredibly impressed by his commitment to fixing this problem.

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LHASA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- At the foot of a hill by the Lhasa River, Tibetan-style tents stand out against the backdrop of the remote Potala Palace, creating an idyllic setting where Konchock Tenzin is picnicking with his family.

Pointing to the verdant hills, Konchock Tenzin, who hails from Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, said, "The once bare mountains are now cloaked in lush greenery, and the overall appearance of Lhasa has improved a lot."

Green development in Tibet has brought tangible benefits to the locals, not just in terms of an improved environment but also through increased employment opportunities.

Furthermore, with the law on ecological conservation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau coming into effect on Friday, efforts to protect Tibet's pristine environment will be both guided and guarded by legal measures.

At an afforestation site in the Palding Mountain of Lhasa, located at an altitude of about 4,200 meters, Dorje, hailing from Namling County in Xigaze City, is pausing to rest beside the sea buckthorn plants he has recently planted.

The 39-year-old Dorje finds himself employed in Lhasa, thanks to the enduring collaborations forged by Namling County in 2022 with around a dozen research institutes and businesses in Tibet. Through these partnerships, over 600 farmers and herders from the county have gained access to paid employment opportunities, broadening their income streams beyond traditional activities such as cultivating highland barley and raising livestock.

"At first, it didn't occur to me that planting trees could also generate income, but now I find many people like me are holding the 'rice bowl of ecological conservation,'" said Dorje, adding that the afforestation efforts in the mountains of Lhasa have created job opportunities for them, yielding a monthly income of more than 6,000 yuan (about 836 U.S. dollars).

The concrete benefits stemming from green development have motivated local residents to become more self-driven in their commitment to environmental protection, with the new ecological conservation law providing a framework of legal support.

The law, with 63 articles in seven chapters, was passed in April. It outlines the overall layout of plateau ecology security, specifying measures for protection and restoration, risk prevention and management, as well as provisions for oversight and supervision.

It is the first state-level legislation specialized in regulating ecological conservation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as "the roof of the world," with an area of around 2.58 million square kilometers, spans six provincial-level regions in western China. It is the source of several major rivers of Asia, such as the Yangtze, Yellow, and Mekong rivers. It is also one of the regions most sensitive to global climate change.

With the law coming into force, the concept of ecological civilization will be carried forward in Tibet, and local wildlife will enjoy better protection, said Zhang Xiuyu, director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization and Green Development of the Guangdong Academy of Environmental Science, who frequented Tibet as a researcher.

"Apart from afforestation projects, river cleansing initiatives across Tibet have led to continuous improvement of the water environment," Zhang added.

Since 2018, Tibet has successfully implemented the system of river chiefs and lake chiefs, where each river and lake is assigned an individual in charge.

The new law also includes provisions for dealing with unruly travelers. It prescribes penalties for those who litter on the plateau, stipulating that individuals with serious violations shall be fined between 500 yuan and 10,000 yuan.

It provides support to personnel working at tourist attractions in Tibet, alleviating the challenges they previously faced, such as the accumulation of garbage in scenic areas, especially during the bustling summer season.

"The implementation of the law will raise public awareness of environmental protection and discourage misbehavior by tourists," said Lhapa Tsering, a staffer of the Qomolangma National Nature Reserve Administration. 
Suella Braverman said there had been an unacceptable rise in police taking a side on controversial issues - Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph

Public confidence in the police is being eroded and needlessly damaged because of officers who are politicised and partisan, the Home Secretary has warned.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Suella Braverman revealed that she had instructed Andy Cooke, His Majestys Chief Inspector of Constabulary, to investigate the unacceptable rise in police taking a side on controversial issues and report back to her.

She said she feared that pandering to politically correct causes was distracting police from fighting crime, and has written to chief constables in England and Wales expressing her concerns.

It comes in the wake of rows over woke policing, including a hate incident recorded by officers after an autistic boy accidentally damaged a copy of the Koran, and police investigating tweets by feminists voicing gender-critical views.

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Mrs Braverman said: In recent years, weve seen an unacceptable rise in police partisanship and the police straying into politically-contested areas.

Highlighting issues such as police referring to self-identifying trans rapists as she or her and officers taking the knee at Black Lives Matter demonstrations or dancing with protesters, she said: Some of these examples that Ive mentioned are having an insidious effect on public confidence.

Police deserve respect, they deserve public confidence  but in too many instances that confidence has been eroded and needlessly damaged.

Mrs Braverman also revealed that she was very concerned about the level of violence at Notting Hill Carnival this year, saying she wanted police to assess what more could be done to make the event safer.

She said victims of theft were being let down, told middle-class cocaine users that they were killing people, and said she supported the idea of every community having a named police officer.

The Home Secretary revealed she had been called the p-word in the street in the past, but said she did not believe that Britain was a racist country and warned police forces against declaring themselves institutionally racist.

When I see police chiefs at some forces declaring that they are institutionally racist, I think they should be more concerned about tackling knife crime, catching burglars and stopping antisocial behaviour, she said. Its not a helpful term and doesnt do anything for the public who the police are there to serve.

Her comments come at the end of a week in which the Government has sought to highlight its efforts to fight crime.

It announced an agreement by police forces to investigate all crimes where there is a reasonable line of inquiry, new laws to make it easier for police chiefs to sack officers found guilty of gross misconduct, and legislation to force criminals to appear at their sentencing hearings.

Mrs Braverman said she was at pains to stress her gratitude, admiration and thanks to the vast majority of officers for their bravery and hard work, but added that it was her duty to ensure taxpayers money was not being wasted on initiatives that are not meeting the priorities that the public expect of the police.

Ive instructed the chief inspector to look more closely at this issue and to see what effect its having on public confidence on perceptions with the police and effectiveness, she told The Telegraph.

Mrs Braverman added that police should not appease politically-contested views, adding: So, for example, when a child accidentally scuffs a Koran, the police should not be investigating that as a crime in an attempt to engage with communities. We dont have blasphemy laws in England and Wales, and its not the polices job to enforce non-existent religious blasphemy laws.

She insisted that in no instance was it biologically or legally right for a rapist to be described as she, as police forces have done in some cases.

Not only is that wrong because a woman cannot legally be a rapist, but also its grossly insensitive and insulting to the victims of rape who are biological women, she said.

Mrs Braverman said forces should not be policing tweets which express gender-critical views, or turning up to arrest someone who says a man cant be a woman. Those with gender-critical views believe biological sex cannot be changed.

She said officers waving the Pride rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBT+ community, police cars in Pride colours, or police taking the knee at Black Lives Matter events were unacceptable expressions of partisanship.

Instead, she said police should adopt strict neutrality even if that may mean offending some parts of society.

Mrs Braverman also disclosed that the Home Office had axed all contracts with Stonewall, which campaigns on LGBT issues.

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This column is written by Barbara Rogers Scollin, grand-niece of Major General Kenneth D. Nichols. She visited Oak Ridge and found it difficult to identify artifacts associated with her uncle. She donated funds to the Friends of the Oak Ridge Public Library to create an organized effort among historians and archivists in Oak Ridge to better document and preserve artifacts that might otherwise be lost. She also participated with Dave Nichols, Nichols son, on a video cast with Keith McDaniel and myself. You can watch that video cast here: https://youtu.be/EBH7dhtasUc.

Now enjoy a look at the Sunday Punch from the perspective of someone who became fascinated by just a photograph and then dug into the facts behind that photograph.

***

Whats the significance of this plane and why is it called "Sunday Punch"? Thats how it all started.

Col. Kenneth D. Nichols, District Engineer of the Manhattan Project, delivers the principal speech at the presentation of Sunday Punch, a B-25 Billy Mitchell bomber, to the AAF, on March 1945.

Sandy Fye, registrar at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico, gave me this photo because my uncle, Kenneth D. Nichols, is standing at the podium. I recognized my uncle, but had no idea about the details. At the time, he was a colonel in the U.S. Army and later promoted to major general. Following is a short summary of my discoveries.

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First used in 1915, the term Sunday punch is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as:

A powerful or devastating blow, especially: a knockout punch

Something capable of delivering a powerful or devastating blow to the opposition; saving his "Sunday punch" for the end of the campaign.

In Oak Ridge, Tennessee, work on the atomic bomb continued when Frances Smith Gates, editor of The Oak Ridge Journal, first used the phrase "Sunday Punch" on Sept. 14, 1944: Right Now, the most important thing you can remember in your daily work is this: our part of this war will not end with the defeat of Germany. As the District Engineer [Colonel Kenneth D. Nichols] pointed out in his message to the workers of this project last week, Japan is our final objective  We can defeat the Jap, decisively and more quickly, by remembering that every work-hour registered here is a Sunday punch aimed straight at Tojos button. Remember this when we defeat Germany. Stay on the job and finish the Japs!

Wanting to literally deliver a Sunday punch to the Japanese, workers of the J.A. Jones Company decided to donate overtime pay from two Sundays in February 1945 toward purchasing a bomber. The momentum grew to include all workers at the K-25 Area (J.A. Jones, Comstock-Bryant Electric Co., Midwest Piping, William A. Pope Co., Schulman Electric, Poe Piping, Lambert Brothers, Birmingham Slag Co., Reilly-Benton Co., and Happy Valley Enterprises). The K-25 Bomber Committee and the companies represented by the workers cooperated with the efforts.

The K-25 workers donated $150,000 toward the purchase of a B-25 Billy Mitchell bomber they named Sunday Punch. On March 18, 1945, after Miss Belle Greer, the only woman member of the K-25 Bomber Committee, christened the plane, A.L. Davis, chairman of the committee, formally presented the plane to Lt. Col. Sanford Chester of the Army Air Forces at the Knoxville Airport while a "huge crowd looked on." Music was furnished by the 693rd Air Force Band, of the ATC base at Nashville and Colonel Kenneth D. Nichols was the principal speaker.

The K-25 Committee at the dedication ceremony of the Sunday Punch bomber.

You have contributed two things, Col. Nichols told workers in his address. You have bought something tangible to deal a blow to the enemy . . . and by working two Sundays extra, you have advanced the completion date of a great plant. Youll be proud you work at that plant, the District Engineer continued. Its completion will mean the saving of the lives of our fighting men.

The Sunday Punch being dedicated formally with Col. Kenneth Nichols officiating.

Immediately following the dedication ceremony, Sunday Punch was ready for war and sent to the China-Burma-India theatre as a member of the Earthquakers medium bomber unit. Upon landing in India, the plane was amazingly assigned to pilot Lt. Thomas Evans of Knoxville who was interviewed for the Oak Ridge Journals July 19, 1945 edition. I was in my glory. I had my own airplane, a brand-new one  and bought by the home-town folk! I knew you folks would get a great kick out of it, too. Lt. Paul DuQuette was co-pilot; Lt Lee Fong, navigator; Staff Sgt Harlan Mize, radio/gunner; Staff Sgt. Vern Rife, Jr, engineer/gunner and Staff Sgt. Fred Williams armorer/gunner.

According to the Sept. 27, 1945 Oak Ridge Journal edition, Sunday Punch was never hit by enemy fire and no mechanical trouble was reported during the combat missions. The B-25 took part in the final allied drive into Rangoon  bombing .. to prepare the way for Allied ground troops. Later Sunday Punch flew 1600 miles from its base to bomb Ban Takli airfield in Thailand, in one of the longest medium bomber missions on record.

Sunday Punch is lettered by K-25 painters during dedication ceremonies held at the Knoxville Airport.

After the war, Sunday Punch was given to the Nationalist Chinese and was never seen or heard from again.

Grateful acknowledgements to K. David Nichols Jr., Sandy Fye, Ray Smith, and Mike Stallo for their assistance with this article.

***

Thanks Barbara! I appreciate your excellent research and documentation of a very good story of Oak Ridge. The Sunday Punch was a proud accomplishment of workers at K-25.

Readers, there is an exceptionally good display of the history surrounding the Sunday Punch in The Oak Ridge History Museum at 102 Robertsville Road. Much is said about Tom Evans who flew Sunday Punch and his photograph is displayed there as well. Several photographs are there and the story is told in great detail about the workers who donated their overtime pay to purchase the B-29 bomber affectionally named, Sunday Punch. I dare say this is the most extensive display of the Sunday Punch that exists. It is something all Oak Ridgers can take pride in and enjoy.

There is much more to see at the Oak Ridge History Museum, including the replica of a hutment and a small statue of Robert Oppenheimer, as well as an enlarged image of the famous Ed Westcott photograph of Oppenheimer at the Guest House. I have printed a small version of that photo showing the mantle included in the photo and placed it on that same mantle. The museum even has a chair from the Guest House that Oppenheimer may well have been sitting in when the photo was made.

With the current interest in the "Oppenheimer" movie, a significant increase in Oak Ridge tourism is underway. If you have not seen the movie, I encourage you to go see it. Oak Ridge is only mentioned a couple of times, but the connection is there.

A clipping from the Oak Ridge Journal dated Sept. 20, 1945.

Kenneth Nichols

D. Ray Smith, writer for the Historically Speaking column.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Sunday Punch: K-25 workers go above the line of duty
The man who shot teenager Ralph Yarl will stand trial, a Missouri judge ordered Thursday.

Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old white man who shot Yarl, a Black teenager, previously pleaded not guilty to felony charges. Lester shot Yarl, who was 16 years old at the time, in April after Yarl mistakenly went to the wrong house when picking up his younger brothers.

Lester later turned himself in to authorities, posted bail and was released on the condition that he turn over any weapons and concealed carry permits, among other requirements. Yarl was hospitalized due to the injuries to his head and arm he received from the shooting.

Yarl has since spoken out about the incident and said he is just living his life the best he can. He has dealt with headaches, trouble sleeping and difficulty concentrating after the shooting, he told Good Morning America in an interview in June.

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Some have noted the racial dynamics of the case, including Clay County, Mo., Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Lee Merritt, the Yarl familys attorney.

This defendant, in the probable cause statement, is indicated to have said that he was afraid of Ralph because he is a tall, Black man, Lucas told CNN This Morning in the wake of the shooting.

I think that this has everything to do with race  the defendants fear of Black people, Black men, Black boys  I think if the young man wasnt Black, we wouldnt be here today, he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A man was arrested after officials say he attempted to rob someone.

Hall County deputies told Channel 2 Action News around 2 a.m., deputies received reports of an armed robbery near a coin laundromat on Atlanta Highway.

When deputies arrived, they found two men holding down another man, identified as 23-year-old Saqueo Hernandez-Cota.

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

The victim told deputies that he was sitting in his vehicle outside the laundromat when Hernandez-Cota approached him, pulled out a box cutter and demanded his property.

According to the victim, he gave Hernandez-Cota his wallet and cell phone, but the suspect pulled out a machete and tried to get into his car.

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The victim jumped out of his vehicle from the passenger side to escape, calling for help while Hernandez-Cota followed him, but he fell as he chased the victim.

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While waiting for deputies to arrive, the victim and another man held Hernandez-Cota down.

Deputies located a box cutter and machete from the scene.

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Hernandez-Cota was injured while being held down and was taken to the hospital for treatment before being transported to the jail.

Officials charged Hernandez-Cota with armed robbery.

IN OTHER NEWS:
Suspected cocaine, marijuana and THC products, being transported from Barstow to Ohio, were seized by a Texas Highway Patrol Trooper.

Cocaine, cannabis, and THC products, being transported from Barstow to Ohio, were seized by a Texas Highway Patrol Trooper, according to authorities.

The Texas trooper discovered the illegal items during a traffic stop on Monday at westbound Interstate 40, the Amarillo Globe-News reported.

During the stop, the trooper discovered multiple plastic-wrapped packages of cocaine inside luggage in the suspects 2022 Cadillac CTS. Additionally, suspected cannabis and THC were found in the back seat area and glove box.

Police said the drugs were discovered in Oldham County as they were transported from Barstow to Fairlawn, Ohio.

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The driver, Brian Davis, 51, of Doylestown, Ohio, was arrested and booked into the Oldham County Jail on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance, FOX29 reported.

Special agents with the Texas Department of Public Safety assisted with the investigation.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Cocaine, marijuana bound from Barstow to Ohio seized by Texas trooper
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -The Swedish foreign minister said on Friday he remained hopeful that Turkey will ratify Sweden's planned NATO membership when the Turkish parliament reconvenes in October, as agreed with President Tayyip Erdogan at a summit of the alliance in July.

"The Swedish government has not had any signals during the summer other than that the cards that were put down then are ones that are valid now in this question and that the statement given at Vilnius is still valid," Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told reporters after meeting visiting members of the U.S. Congress.

Sweden applied for NATO membership last year in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and most alliance members quickly ratified its bid.

But Turkey has held out citing worries over security cooperation.

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After months of pressure, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said after a NATO summit in Vilnius in July he would forward the ratification of Sweden's NATO bid to parliament in October when it reconvenes after the summer break.

But there is no guarantee that Sweden will get the green light even then.

Billstrom said that parliament was a sovereign institution but that the Turkish government had promised in Vilnius to ensure "the swift ratification" of Sweden's accession by parliament.

"This, I think, speaks for itself," Billstrom said. "It means that the government of Turkiye is committed to the ratification."

Turkey has said wants more action over what it sees as militants living in Sweden, mainly members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and a group Ankara accuses of orchestrating a 2016 failed coup.

Tensions with Turkey have also been heightened by demonstrations in Sweden where protesters have burned copies of the Koran, enraging many Muslims.

(Reporting by Simon Johnson, editing by Terje Solsvik)
The body of a missing swimmer was pulled from the ocean in North Myrtle Beach Thursday evening, according to North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue.

The male swimmer was located just before 10 p.m. about 4 blocks south of where he was last seen about 2  hours prior.

Antwan Jones, 44, was recovered from the ocean near 6th Avenue South, according to the Horry County Coroners Office.

Jones had just arrived for vacation from Indianapolis, Indiana, a release from the coroners office said. The family called 911 when Jones appeared to be in distress and was unable to get to shore, the release said.

The cause of death was ruled asphyxiation due to drowning.

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A female swimmer had been pulled from the water earlier, according to a fire rescue Facebook post.

North Myrtle Beach Fire and Police were dispatched to the area of 405 S. Ocean Blvd. for a swimmer in distress just before 7:30 p.m., the post said.

Upon arrival, fire crews were told a female swimmer had been pulled from the water by others and was semi-responsive and breathing. However, crews were informed a male swimmer was still in the water and missing, the post said.

The female patient, who was was transported by Horry County Fire Rescue to the hospital for further evaluation as a precautionary measure.

Crews began an active search of the immediate area, utilizing rescue swimmers and watercraft. Drones with search lights and thermal imaging capabilities were also utilized as part of the search.

Crews contended with rough surf conditions as the high tide continued to come in, the post said.

Several other agencies also responded to the search, including North Myrtle Beach Ocean Rescue and Rescue Squad, Horry County Fire Rescue, Horry County Police Beach Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard and South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Myrtle Beach Fire Department also had rescue swimmers to assist.

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FILE - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network 'Glamos', Matthias Huss, work at the Rhone glacier with his team near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. A top glacier watcher has warned that a warm early summer and a heat wave could have caused severe glacier melt across Switzerland, threatening to make 2023 the second-worst year for ice loss after a record thaw last year. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

GENEVA (AP)  A top glacier watcher has warned that a warm early summer combined with a heat wave last week may have caused severe glacier melt in Switzerland, threatening to make 2023 its second-worst year for ice loss after a record thaw last year.

Matthias Huss of the GLAMOS glacier monitoring center said full data won't be in until late September and a precipitous drop in temperatures and high-altitude snowfall in recent days could help stem any more damage.

But early signs based on readings from five sites and modeling results across Switzerland suggest considerable damage may already be done.

We can definitely say that we had very high melting in Switzerland and in Europe in general because the temperatures, they were extremely high for a long time  a more than one week heat wave, Huss said in an interview this week.

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Swiss meteorologists reported last week that the zero-degree Celsius level had risen to its highest altitude since recordings on it in Switzerland began nearly 70 years ago  meaning that all of the Alpine country's mountains faced temperatures above freezing.

The late-summer heat wave was particularly harmful to glaciers this year because high temperatures earlier in the summer had already melted nearly all of the protective snow cover, which meant that "almost all glacier ice was kind of naked," Huss said.

A blanket of white snow cover has a crucial effect in protecting glaciers by reflecting energy from sunlight back upward, a process known as the albedo effect.

Last year marked a historically punishing year for Switzerland's estimated 1,400 glaciers  the largest count of any country in Europe, and a bellwether for the impacts of climate change.

Were definitely not going to beat the records of last year ... but right now, it seems that were on track to be maybe the second-most negative year, Huss said.

A combination of factors made for a near-perfect storm in 2022 including low wintertime snow cover, warm temperatures in early summer, greater heat later that season, and weather patterns that carried orange-colored dust from the Sahara Desert up to Switzerland  coloring the snow and ice.

A staggering 6% of glacier volume in Switzerland was lost in that single year.

For comparison, we lost, on average, about 2% in the last decade, and already 2% is very high," said Huss. "If you extrapolate that, that would tell you that in 50 years we have nothing left. If we lose 6% in one year, it's even much more extreme.

Strong melting and glacier disappearance in recent years has already caused Huss' team to halt three of its 20 monitoring programs where detailed measurements are taken. This year, one was ended at the Saint Annafirn glacier, south of the central village of Andermatt, because measurements there were no longer meaningful, he said.

The glacier is so small by now, and dangerous, because it has receded so much that there is a lot of rock fall, he said.

With areas like the town of Zermatt, at the foot of the Matterhorn, hitting 31 degrees Celsius (88 Fahrenheit) last week, the impacts will continue to be felt.

We can say its climate change that makes these years with very strong melting much more likely," said Huss. "In the last decades, I would say that almost every year is kind of an extreme year.
A self-made, septuagenarian billionaire with limited political experience has thrown his hat into one of the most consequential presidential elections of 2024, shaking up a race that could have huge ramifications far beyond its borders.

Terry Gou , the founder of the worlds largest iPhone maker Foxconn, announced Monday his second presidential campaign in Taiwan, joining an already crowded China-friendly camp to challenge the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Under incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen, who cannot run due to term limits, the DPP has already held power for eight years. If the party wins a third term, it would be unprecedented in the islands 27-year of democratic history.

The election, due in January, comes at a particularly fraught moment between the island of 24 million people and its superpower neighbor, China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory to be taken by force if necessary.

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Tensions have risen to their highest level in decades, as Chinas assertive leader Xi Jinping ramps up military pressure on the island, sending warships and fighter jets across the strait with increasing frequency and scale.

Fears of a Chinese attack have only intensified since Russias invasion of Ukraine, which Beijing has persistently refused to condemn, whilst deepening its close relationship with Moscow.

The specter of conflict has not loomed as large over a Taiwan election since 1996, when Beijing fired missiles toward the island to intimidate voters not to support a candidate championing Taiwans separate identity from China. (That move backfired spectacularly and the candidate won.)

Amid rising threats of invasion, Taiwans foreign policy  especially its relations with China  has become a central issue in the presidential race, alongside more bread and butter subjects like the economy and the rising cost of living.

Opposition candidates, including Gou, blame the DPP for provoking Beijing and stoking tensions, labeling the vote as a choice between war and peace.

Meanwhile, the DPPs candidate, Vice President Lai Ching-te, has framed the election as a choice between democracy and authoritarianism.

Dont be afraid and turn back because of the increased threat from authoritarianism. We must be brave and strong to continue to grow Taiwan on the road of democracy, he said during a transit through the United States last month, defying Beijings condemnation of the trip.

Lai, a Harvard-educated doctor-turned-politician, hails from the so-called deep green faction of the DPP  known for its more openly pro-independence leanings.

That has made him a thorn in the side for Beijing, which regularly decried him as a separatist and troublemaker. In 2017, Lai enraged Chinese officials by calling himself a pragmatic worker for Taiwanese independence.

Since winning the DPP nomination, Lai has moderated his stance, saying he supports keeping the cross-strait status quo  a choice that has consistently won the majority of public backing in opinion polls, though the islands younger generation has shown increasing support for formal independence.

Lai Ching-te, Taiwan's Vice President and presidential hopeful, meets the foreign press in Taipei on August 25. - Taijing Wu/AP

50 years of peace

As an independent, Gou must collect about 290,000 signatures by November to get his name on the ballot. He has already held campaign-like rallies around Taiwan in recent months to build support for his candidacy.

His campaign centers on a single message: the only way to avoid a war with China is to get the DPP out of office.

Priding himself on his decades-long experience in handling relations with Chinese officials, Gou advocates for Taiwan to return to a one-China framework and start talks with Beijing immediately.

His own business success has stemmed from a thaw in cross-strait relations.

Foxconn set up its first offshore factory in Shenzhen in 1988, and has since played a crucial role in Chinas reform and opening by bringing entrepreneurship, capital and technology to the fledgling Chinese economy. The electronics manufacturing giant now has sprawling factories that employ hundreds of thousands of people across China.

The business empire has made Gou one of Taiwans richest people with a net worth around US$7 billion  and given him the confidence to make big promises.

Announcing his candidacy Monday, Gou pledged to double Taiwans economic growth rate and ensure the island never becomes the next Ukraine.

Give me four years and I promise that Ill bring 50 years of peace to the Taiwan Strait, he said.

That is a bold claim to make, even for a businessman historically in the good books of Chinas ruling Communist Party. Gou is the only candidate who has met and shaken hands with Xi. In 2014, he was greeted by the Chinese leader at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse during a trip to Beijing.

But Foxconns huge investments in China have also raised suggestions that Gou would be susceptible to Chinese pressure  a notion he has fiercely rejected.

If the Chinese Communist Party were to say that if you dont listen to me, Ill confiscate your assets from Foxconn, I would say: yes, please do it, Gou said.

He resigned as chairman from Foxconn in 2019 to focus on his first presidential bid, but dropped out of the race after failing to win a nomination from the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwans main opposition party.

Shake up the race

After being rejected by the KMT for a second time earlier this year, Gou is entering the fray as an independent runner, roiling an opposition camp that already has two candidates favoring closer and more stable ties with Beijing.

Hou Yu-ih, the mayor of New Taipei City, is the chosen candidate of the KMT, while Ko Wen-je, a charismatic former mayor of Taipei, is running for the smaller Taiwan Peoples Party.

The KMT has expressed extreme regret over Gous bid and urged him to support Hou, for fear of splitting the Beijing-friendly vote.

But Gou has defended his decision, casting himself as the only one who can unite the fractured opposition against Lai, whos currently leading in the polls.

My candidacy is to promote the integration of the opposition camp, he said on Monday, urging Hou and Ko to come to the table and discuss the best strategy to defeat DPP.

Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist with the Australia National Universitys Taiwan Studies Program, said in the short term, Gou is likely to further divide opposition votes and thereby giving Lai an easier time.

But the long-term implications are harder to predict, Sung warned.

Gous dream scenario would be to force the other two opposition figures to either drop out or get behind him, so that he could become the sole challenge to Lai, though few analyst in Taiwan believe thats a realistic vision.

Following Gous announcement, Hou, the KMT candidate, told reporters his attitude towards standing for president has never changed and that he was concentrating on pressing forward with the mission given by the party.

Kos party said it respected Gous right to run but was working hard on Kos own campaign, Reuters reported.

In addition to securing 290,000 votes before November, Gou also needs to announce his running mate before September 17, as required by Taiwans Central Election Commission.

Gou is really having a race against time, and time is really not in his favor, Sung said.

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Chinese artists perform during the Silk Road Chinese music concert in Kathmandu, Nepal, Aug. 31, 2023. A Silk Road Chinese music concert was held in the Nepali capital Kathmandu Thursday evening, resonating with hundreds of audiences including officials and Nepali students. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)

KATHMANDU, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A Silk Road Chinese music concert was held in the Nepali capital Kathmandu Thursday evening, resonating with hundreds of audience including officials and Nepali students.

The concert program covered a number of traditional Chinese musical masterpieces including "Flowers Blooming Under the Full Moon," "The Silk Road," "Tunes of Qin Mulberry," "Ambush from All Sides," the Kunqu opera "The Peony Pavilion," among others.

Resham Firiri, a Nepali piece, and Csardas, rearranged from a violin piece composed by Vittorio Monti, were also performed on the occasion by players from the China "Golden Bell Stars" Ensemble.

The performances drew a frequent burst of applause from the packed hall, where Nepal's Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav was present.

Yadav, chair of the Nepal-China Friendship Forum, said he enjoyed the performance immensely, lauding the Chinese musicians for making the old traditional musical pieces as models and helping Nepalis know more about the Chinese culture.

The concert was sponsored by the Chinese Embassy in Nepal and the Chinese Musicians' Association, and organized by Suzhou Chinese Orchestra in Jiangsu Province in eastern China. It was held first on Wednesday in Kathmandu.

Speaking on the occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song noted that the national-level "Golden Bell Stars" Ensemble was sent to perform in Nepal to celebrate the long-lasting China-Nepal friendship on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as the two peoples have jointly written "an epic of exchanges among civilizations" along the ancient Silk Road for thousands of years.

In the past decade, the Chinese Musicians' Association has sent musician groups many times to hold concerts in countries along the BRI route, and the current Asian tour has taken the Chinese musicians to Indonesia and Bangladesh. 

Chinese artists perform during the Silk Road Chinese music concert in Kathmandu, Nepal, Aug. 31, 2023. A Silk Road Chinese music concert was held in the Nepali capital Kathmandu Thursday evening, resonating with hundreds of audiences including officials and Nepali students. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)

Chinese artists perform during the Silk Road Chinese music concert in Kathmandu, Nepal, Aug. 31, 2023. A Silk Road Chinese music concert was held in the Nepali capital Kathmandu Thursday evening, resonating with hundreds of audiences including officials and Nepali students. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)
Peace, Greenpeace

Young climate activist Ia Anstoot believes that the old guard at Greenpeace, one of the world's most prominent environmental groups, should stop its anti-nuclear vendetta, The Guardian reports. And to plead her case, she's willing to go to court.

"I'm an 18 year old school striker from Sweden," Anstoot states on her cause's website, "and I'm taking legal action to challenge Greenpeace over their opposition to climate-saving nuclear energy in Europe."

Greenpeace, no strangers to controversy, challenged the European Union's decision to classify nuclear power as a form of green energy this year, filing a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice in April. Under this taxonomy, nuclear is considered on par with solar and wind in being a sustainable  and thereby incentivized  investment.

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In the eyes of the environmental group  which got its start protesting nuclear testing in the 70s and has zealously crusaded against nuclear power ever since  the EU's classification is just glorified "greenwashing," or a pernicious measure to divert funds from renewable energy.

Climate Toolbox

Anstoot sees it differently.

"Over a third of the clean energy in the EU is nuclear power, so Greenpeace's motion to get rid of it is really harmful, I think," she told The Guardian.

"Greenpeace is stuck in the past fighting clean, carbon-free nuclear energy while the world is literally burning," she added. "We need to be using all the tools available to address climate change and nuclear is one of them."

In response, Anstoot, along with a small team of other young activists, have formed a campaign called Dear Greenpeace.

Its first move? Vying to enter Greenpeace's court case as an "interested party." If Anstoot's application to the EU Court is accepted, she, with the support of climate scientists, will be able to testify in nuclear power's favor.

Lesser Evil

Public opinion on nuclear power seems to be shifting, especially as the grim reality of climate change becomes more obvious by the day. Anstoot boils the seeming schism down to a generational change.

"It nearly feels like being anti-nuclear is a question of identity for these older environmentalists," she said.

"These old issues are ones that nuclear has mostly moved past, and also the global situation has changed," she added. "In the 60s and 70s during the anti-nuclear protests, the climate crisis was not as much of a concern as it is today."

And indeed, Anstoot is far from alone in her generation. The biggest face in young activism, fellow Swede Greta Thunberg  whose school protests Anstoot attended  cooled her stance on nuclear power last year, arguing that nuclear plants in Germany should be kept running  at least in place of coal.

More on nuclear energy: Nuclear Fusion Startup Gets Funding for Twisty-Looking Reactor
A 10-year-old girl stabbed her father during an alleged assault on her mother, according to authorities in Harris County, Texas (Facebook/HCSO)

A 10-year-old girl stabbed her father as he allegedly assaulted her mother, according to authorities.

Police in Texas arrested the 27-year-old man after the incident at an apartment north of Houston, said Harris County officials.

The suspect, who was not identified by police, was charged with assault on a family member, a misdemeanour, according to a complaint filed in Harris County Criminal Court.

A protection order banning the suspect from contacting the victim was also filed.

The suspect was identified by a Harris County sheriffs spokesperson as the victims husband and the girls father, reported NBC News.

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Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said that the suspect was stabbed in the leg and taken to hospital in fair condition.

Officials said that the woman and her daughter were in good condition after the 30 August incident.

Awful situation for a 10-yr-old little girl to have to witness and experience, Sheriff Gonzalez said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Children who witness the abuse of their mothers, fathers, or other family members, are impacted.
ROCKWOOD, Tenn. (AP)  A Tennessee woman has been charged with fatally shooting a 4-year-old girl, authorities said.

Breanna Gayle Runions, 25, was arrested Sunday in Rockwood and charged with felony murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Evangeline Gunter, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

Runions told investigators she was trying to demonstrate gun safety when she pulled the trigger, news outlets reported, citing an arrest warrant.

Runions' girlfriend and another child in the home said the children were being punished that day for not following rules, according to warrant. Runions brought out the gun, removed the magazine, called the 4-year-old over to her and then shot her in the chest, the warrant said. The girlfriend and other child were in the same room but didn't witness the shooting, officials said.

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Although they sought medical help immediately, the girl was pronounced dead at Roane Medical Center, officials said.

The girl's mother, Josie Gunter, told WBIR-TV that her daughter lived at the house because of a court decision.District Attorney General Russell Johnson told news outlets that he directed police to contact the Department of Children's Services about the other child in the home.

Runions waived her right to a bond hearing on Tuesday and a status hearing was set for Sept. 19, Johnson said.Johnson said Runions' case was appointed to the public defender's office, which didn't immediately respond to a Wednesday message seeking comment.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee woman charged in fatal shooting of 4-year-old girl
Burger fans and Texas expats in North Carolina could be rejoicing soon with a new Whataburger proposed for east Charlotte.

According to development filings in the city of Charlotte obtained by Channel 9, a franchisee wants to bring Whataburger to the Clear Creek Crossing development on Albemarle Road.

This is the second potential spot for Whataburgers first expansion into Charlotte. Channel 9 reported last year when planning documents were filed for a Whataburger location off South Boulevard near Tyvola Road.

RELATED: Could Texas-based Whataburger be coming to Charlotte?

Theres no timeline for either project yet.

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Until then, youll have to go to Georgia or Tennessee to get your honey butter chicken biscuits and double-meat cheeseburgers.

Confirming our partners at the Observer. City filings show a Whataburger is proposed for the Clear Creek Crossing development in east Charlotte. 12809 Albemarle Road. The Texas burger chain, not the local one @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/kmeFDkILBm  Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) September 1, 2023

(WATCH: Unique Blog Reveals Best Burgers In Charlotte)
Representatives of Texas cities are girding themselves for a wave of legal battles as a new blanket preemption law takes effect in the state.

Under the measure, which officially went into effect Friday, vast swaths of law that cities have traditionally handled  from employment to water rights  were replaced by the state code.

But Wednesday, a Travis County judge ruled that the law was unconstitutional  a violation of the home rule protections that guarantee broad latitude to the states cities.

Both the law itself and the ongoing court battle surrounding it have left cities uncertain what local rules will be impacted, and for how long  ambiguity that will likely have to be sorted out in court.

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Its very confusing what happens next, Austin City Council member Vanessa Fuentes told The Hill.

Legislative Republicans passage of House Bill 2127 on largely partisan lines last summer sparked a vicious and protracted legislative battle this summer that pitted cities against the state, and workers organizations against business.

That is because the law gives blanket authority to any person in Texas to sue a municipality if they feel that its laws are stricter than the states  as long as they can prove it harmed them.

H.B. 2127 replaces local ordinances covered by eight broad sections of the municipal code with state law  from business and commerce to labor to agriculture.

Potential causes of such suits include passing new laws, restricting payday lending or pet breeding, imposing mandatory rest breaks for construction workers and mandating that employers guarantee sick time.

Conservatives argue that this still gives cities a lot of authority. They can do zoning, said Rod Bordelon of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a right-wing advocacy group that supported the bill.

Or, he said, cities can regulate police and public safety, how to engage in fire and police protection, fireworks displays, any issues dealing with how to run their particular city and codes relating to their city.

The laws supporters  largely legislative Republicans and business trade groups  hold that it is essential to protect against what they see as a creeping progressive campaign to dominate state political life. They also argue that the patchwork of local regulations across the sprawling geography of Texass cities makes it impossible for small businesses to do their jobs.

But cities and workers rights groups argue that claim isnt necessarily true: Because the law is so sweeping  think how many issues of municipal life touch on the category of business and commerce  no one actually knows how far the potential lawsuits can go.

And they argue that the state Legislature  which meets only briefly every other year, where most bills do not pass and which is largely controlled by conservative Republicans  is an inappropriate forum for addressing the everyday issues that mostly concern city governance.

Both supporters and detractors of the law told The Hill that Wednesdays ruling had little effect on whether it would take effect Friday  or whether suits would begin rolling in..

Thats because the legislation doesnt technically do anything  it only provides that license to sue. Whether those suits are valid will get worked out in court, just as the constitutionality of the larger law will.

Though the laws opponents have been portrayed by its supporters as being exclusively liberal, and do include many legislative Democrats, they also comprise bipartisan representatives of dozens of Texas cities. A number of small metropolitan cities filed comments supporting the lawsuit against the measure that was at the center of Wednesdays ruling, including many that are quite conservative.

Were hearing from a lot of our city leaders who  regardless of what side of the aisle theyre on  theyre struggling with this preemption, because its really going to limit what they can do, said Christine Baker-Smith, research director at the National League of Cities (NLC), an advocacy group that represents Americas cities and towns.

Under the measure, cities have 90 days after lawsuits challenging local ordinances are filed to amend or repeal the allegedly offending law  which means that it will likely be 2024 before any of these cases end up in court, Bordelon of the TPPF said.

Once they do, it will be up to the courts to sort out the question of whether H.B. 2127 applies in a given area as the broader legal challenge to the measure works its way through the state judicial system.

Municipalities could soon be confronted with many such cases. State Rep. Dustin Burrows (R), the bills House sponsor and principal architect, called open season on lawsuits against them Wednesday.

The ruling that day, Burrows wrote, should deter no Texan from availing themselves of their rights when HB2127 becomes law on September 1, 2023.

Fuentes, of the Austin City Council, said that the city was bracing itself. We anticipate that lawsuits will start coming in, Fuentes said, but from my conversations with the city attorney and our legal team, our city is ready to defend.

As the cities mount their defenses to those cases, they will also be playing offense in the broader legal battle over the law.

The state attorney generals office has already filed an appeal of the county judges Wednesday ruling, which will likely take the question of the laws constitutionality to a local state appellate court. Fuentes said the judges there would probably be more sympathetic to the cities than to the state.

But from there, the challenge will likely head to the Texass conservative Supreme Court, which is much more closely in line with the states Republican leadership.

And Bordelon predicts cities will lose in that court, which is a major supporter of the law.

Cities have argued  and Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of the Travis County District Court ruled  that the law represents an unconstitutionally vague takeover of municipal authority.

Texas voters have endowed Houston and all constitutional home rule cities with sovereign power to create a brilliant patchwork of local regulations if they choose to do so, city of Houston lawyers wrote in the suit Gamble decided in their favor.

That is the whole point of constitutional home rule.

The suit also argued that the measure was overruled by an even bigger principle of preemption: the ones that apply to federal law.

The U.S. Supreme Court, plaintiffs argued, has held for federal preemption of state laws that [t]he concern with uniformity does not justify the displacement of local laws that serves the ends of particular state laws.

The laws supporters, on the other hand, argue that a plain reading of the Texas Constitution justifies it. The TPFF, for instance, has written that the Texas Supreme Court has consistently ruled that the state gets to decide whether uniform statewide regulation or nonregulation is preferable to a patchwork of local regulations.

And Bordelon predicts the same will happen in this case.

What the [state] Supreme Court should find  and what they will find  is that any questions of what is applicable will be case-by-case and ordinance-by-ordinance, Bordelon said.

Depending how the ongoing legal battles play out, Texass foray into blanket preemption may only be the first of many nationwide.

Representatives of the NLC, the advocacy group advocating urban rights, said that H.B. 2127 represents the most extreme example of a broad and largely bipartisan phenomenon: a push by states nationwide to curtail the authority of cities on issues ranging from housing to gun control.

That is part of a broader shift in national politics as state legislatures of all stripes try to assert more authority over Americas growing and increasingly powerful cities, Baker-Smith of the NLC told The Hill.

While often portrayed as a phenomenon of red states, Baker-Smith said that preemption bills are on the rise around the country, and that more of them tend to be passed in blue states than red ones.

But when it came to the more narrow category of what she called abusive preemption, which she loosely defined as states overruling cities on local issues that did not concern the state as a whole, Baker-Smith said that red state legislatures were the primary offenders, overruling local control on issues ranging from LGBT rights to  in the case of Jackson, Miss.  police authority.

Even within this broader movement, however, Baker-Smith said the Texas bill was unprecedented  the nearest equivalent, a strikingly similar Florida bill that would have also been enforced by lawsuit, was vetoed by notably conservative Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in 2022 because of the risk of unintended and unforeseen consequences and costly litigation.

Since states tend to copy preemption bills from each other and from advocacy groups  another reason why preemption drives have increased  Baker-Smith said she expects other states to follow Texass lead.

Bordelson said that while it was early, he also expected other states to follow suit.

There will be a lot of states and other interest groups keeping an eye on how it plays out in Texas, particularly after a lot of individual challenges, he said. Im sure some states would be interested in modeling laws over what works here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Universities in Florida and Texas were excluded from a national list of LGBTQ-friendly schools put together annually by Campus Pride. In presenting the 2023-2024 list this week, the nonprofit group said the exclusions were a result of new state laws that endanger and harm LGBTQ people.

Every year, Campus Pride, a nonprofit group that advocates for safer and more LGBTQ-friendly colleges, issues a compilation of the Best of the Best LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges and Universities and the Absolute Worst Campuses for LGBTQ Youth. The organization announced it had omitted the University of North Florida, the University of Central Florida, the University of Texas at Dallas and Texas Tech University from its 2023 Best of the Best list because they must abide by new state laws that effectively ban LGBTQ+ inclusion programs and services.

These laws are being weaponized against LGBTQ+ people, needlessly endangering the safety and well-being of students on campuses across the states of Florida and Texas. Already we are hearing from prospective students and families that they are choosing colleges elsewhere, Shane Mendez Windmeyer, Campus Prides founder and CEO, said in a statement.

This year, 17 states have enacted over 30 new LGBTQ-related education laws that are slated to take effect in the 2023-24 school year, unless they are faced with legal challenges, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

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In May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed into law a bill restricting how race and gender can be taught in the states public higher education institutions, which were also banned from using state or federal funding for diversity programs. A month later, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, also a Republican, enacted two bills that directly affect higher education institutions: One imposes restrictions on transgender athletes participating in college sports, and the other restricts diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Campus Prides 2023 Best of the Best list is made up of 30 four-year public and private institutions from across the country that offer exceptional LGBTQ+ programs and services. The Campus Pride Index features a database of more than 240 additional schools that are LGBTQ-friendly.

Pride at UTD, an LGBTQ student group at the University of Texas at Dallas, issued a statement saying Campus Pride made the right decision in removing UT Dallas from its list.

With these regressive new laws, our representatives have committed themselves to making Texas unsafe for the LGBTQ+ community, and we are deeply disappointed that UT Dallas will no longer be able to serve as a gold standard for LGBTQ+ inclusion. Despite the Legislatures best efforts, we remain resilient, we remain committed to diversity, and we remain here, the statement continued.

When asked about Campus Prides decision, Amanda Ennis, a spokesperson for the University of North Florida, said in an email to NBC News that the school is committed to ensuring that all of our students, faculty and staff have the support and resources they need to be successful personally, academically and professionally, and she added that the LGBTQ Center on campus remains open as the school awaits regulatory guidance from the Florida Board of Governors on implementation of the new legislation, as required by law.

Representatives from the University of Central Florida, the University of Texas at Dallas and Texas Tech University did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Imagine this: Young parents welcome their newborn boy into the world, full of hope and promise. Through t-ball practices and first days of school, they cant wait to see who their little boy will become.

Finally, he reaches high school. During his freshman year one day, he drops dead while sitting on your back porch. The reason? Someone laced a pill, not just any pill, but one that could look like any painkiller, with fentanyl.

Just a pinch is enough to be deadly. Now, the heartbroken parents have only memories and grief, questions and anger. Who will do their boy justice?

Andrea McCutcheon holds a shirt made in memory of her daughter Valerie Vineyard, who died from a fentanyl overdose on May 27, 2021, at the age of 19. Vineyard and her boyfriend were both found unconscious the morning after they took a pill laced with fentanyl. Vineyards boyfriend survived, but she did not.

That anecdote is representative of almost 672 people in Fort Worth as young as 14 who have accidentally died from fentanyl since 2019. In Tarrant County, drug deaths make up almost half of accidental deaths now, such is the sudden surge. Its devastating and heartbreaking to realize fentanyl-related deaths are happening in our backyard to susceptible teens.

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In 2019, only 15 people died from fentanyl intoxication in Tarrant and nearby counties. By 2022, that number had grown nearly 1,400% to 224 deaths.

The statistics have caught the attention of lawmakers, many of whom have taken the fentanyl fight where it really needs to be  at the border, where these counterfeit drugs are coming into Texas.

State and federal officials have said that taking on Mexican cartels is the ultimate solution, but in the meantime, its important to educate users, especially young people, about the unique danger of a fentanyl overdose. In Washington, Texas Reps. Dan Crenshaw and Chip Roy have spoken out about the need to secure the border to stop the amount of fentanyl-laced drugs from entering Texas.

Roy did so as recently as Thursday during a round table discussion with law enforcement in Dripping Springs. We must engage our communities and spread awareness, his office said about the event, while he described efforts to maintain law and order at the border.

In an editorial last year, we said wed back a state law that would make drug-induced homicide a crime because its already federal law. The Texas legislature passed four laws this year in an effort to curb this unique and deadly drug crisis. The drug-induced homicide law going into effect Sept. 1 makes it so that a person who purposely gives fentanyl to someone else causing their death can be charged with murder. Gov. Greg Abbott also signed another bill that creates harsher penalties for fentanyl distribution and possession.

Governor Abbott signs one of four bills aimed at curbing the growing fentanyl crisis during the Fighting the Fentanyl Crisis Bill Signing at the Texas Capitol, June 14, 2023. The laws designate October as Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month, require schools to provide education on fentanyl abuse prevention, allow HHSC to partner with Texas college campuses to distribute Narcan and make it clear that people who cause death by distributing fentanyl can be prosecuted for murder.

Criminalizing bad behavior is of course the intent of criminal justice laws, but its not clear yet how much a fentanyl murder law will decrease the amount of fentanyl-laced pill distribution simply because its often so difficult to track down who created the fake painkillers, who distributed them, and any other hands exchanged in between.

For the law to be most effective, law enforcement must ensure that its used against serious traffickers and doesnt deter teenagers who give a friend a pill from calling for help in an emergency. However, the fact that it is now there could incentivize law enforcement and others to track down distributors and bring justice to the many families whove lost loved ones, particularly teens.

The heart of the issue is the distribution of the fentanyl-laced drugs, and that is intertwined with what has now become a complex state, national and international problem: the border. For this, we must better enforce laws that penalize the distribution of fraudulent or illicit drugs. Easier said than done.

Laws are not the answer to every cultural ill or new, deadly phenomenon such as this. But they can slowly influence teens to be more careful, for law enforcement to investigate more, and for some with evil intent to be deterred because they dont want to be charged with murder. Implementing these will take some time.

For now, we must continue to raise awareness with the One Pill Kills campaign that Texas law enforcement agencies are encouraging in schools statewide. Tell your kids to be careful what they take. Make Naloxone, a medication that can reverse the effects of fentanyl and other drug overdoses, available at every school.

Most of all, continue to spread the word about this harmful drug that can hide so easily as an innocent high.
As of Friday, Texas became the most populous state to ban gender-affirming health care for minors with gender dysphoria.

The Texas Supreme Court denied a request for a temporary halt to the states new law prohibiting care for transgender young people on Thursday, allowing it to take effect Friday, CNN reports.

Significant U.S. medical associations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, support and recommend gender-affirming care, including counseling, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy. Critics say Republicans in Texas decided to limit the treatment available to those suffering by stepping into the private affairs of families and doctors.

Exceptions apply to intersex patients and minors receiving gender-affirming care before June 1. However, these patients will be required to stop taking their medications. Providers of such care who violate the law may lose their licenses.

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In recent legislative sessions, several Republican-led states passed laws prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender minors, which have been challenged nationwide.

A district court judge had imposed a stay on the law, and the court decided not to reinstate it and not to address any of the arguments raised by advocacy groups seeking temporary injunctions.

Which states have bans on trans health care for kids?

Texans join 21 other states restricting gender-affirming care, including Missouri, which just banned it.

Five Texas families, three medical professionals and two LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit challenging S.B. 14 in the middle of July with the help of Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, and the Transgender Law Center.

[The] cruel ruling places Texas transgender youth, and the families and medical professionals who love and care for them, directly in harms way, a statement from Lambda Legal on behalf of the legal advisers read. The district court heard two days of testimony, weighed the evidence, and made a reasoned and thoughtful determination that the ban likely violated the Texas Constitution and thus should be delayed while the full case plays out in court. Inexplicably, the Texas Supreme Court disagreed, and transgender Texas youth and their families are forced to confront the start of the school year fearful of what awaits them.

After the ruling, the group committed to continuing its advocacy.

The district court clearly articulated the ways in which S.B. 14 likely violates the Texas Constitution by infringing upon the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children, infringing upon Texas physicians right of occupational freedom, and discriminating against transgender adolescents with gender dysphoria because of their sex, sex stereotypes, and transgender status. We couldnt agree more and look forward to continuing this fight, the statement concluded.

Additional bans on gender-affirming care have been passed in North Carolina, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Iowa, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, Indiana, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida.
The state of Texas has filed to condemn the former Fairfield Lake State Park property, taking the next formal step in seizing the property from a private developer from Dallas.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on Friday filed to condemn the 5,000-acre property in Freestone County.

The fate of the property has been a public saga for months now, after an energy company that formerly owned the land  and leased part of that land to the state  sold the tract to a developer for over $100 million. The developer, Dallas-based Todd Interests, made clear from the beginning that it would not continue the states lease on the 1,800-acre park. Instead, Todd Interests has plans to transform the former park land and the surrounding acreage into a high-end gated community.

After failing to obtain the property through other means, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission made a highly unusual move and voted unanimously to authorize the use of eminent domain to seize the property.

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Both before and after that June vote, Todd Interests founder Shawn Todd decried the idea that the state could seize his recently purchased land. Hes blasted state officials for their vote, calling the move a display of the commissions arrogance and pointing to Texas reputation as a pro-private property rights state.

Todds firm has also flouted the commissions request that he pause construction, so as not to cause any permanent change to the property. But, at the end of July, a public relations firm working with Todd Interests sent out a video showing construction updates on the land. When asked for comment at the time, Todd noted that the ongoing construction was within his firms legal rights, as the firm was the legal owner of the property.

Shawn Todd, of Dallas-based developer Todd Interests, says his firm is moving forward with plans to construct a gated community on the former Fairfield Lake State Park property.

Throughout this summer, Todd has continued to lambaste the state for its Gestapo-like tactics, and has held numerous press briefings regarding the property. In addition, the Freestone County commissioners  who represent the residents of the area, but do not have a say in whether the state seizes the property  have also come out in opposition to the eminent domain action.

But the state, supported on its side by outdoors enthusiasts and residents who dont want to see a public offering turned private, has continued its march toward eminent domain. As a precursor to formal legal action, the state sent voluntary purchase offers to Todd Interests. The development firm announced in mid-August, though, that it had rejected the states final offer.

At the time, Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson Cory Chandler said in a statement that the department remains hopeful the landowner will agree to a voluntary sale prior to TPWD initiating court proceedings.

Now, though, the state has moved on to formal eminent domain proceedings.

Fairfield Lake State Park rightfully belongs to the people of Texas who have expressed overwhelming support for saving the property for future generations of public use, the department wrote in a Friday statement.

With formal proceedings initiated, Chandler said the Freestone County judge will have 30 days to select a special board of local landowners to hear the case and decide on the fair value of the land.

Todd has indicated that he believes the state will have to reimburse him for the costs hes incurred at the property  which, on a radio appearance, he said were around $1 million per month  and for the opportunity cost should his firm not be able to build its high-end development. However, eminent domain experts have told the Star-Telegram that this isnt accurate; Instead, the state is only responsible for paying fair market value for the land, as decided by the special board.

Those experts have also said that the situation, while politically contentious, is legally straightforward: The case, they said, is a classic example of eminent domain because there is a clear public benefit to seizing the land.

Its unclear exactly how long the eminent domain process will take from here, or how long it may be until the park could reopen. However, once the valuation of the land is settled and the state pays that valuation, the state can then take immediate possession of the property.

Representatives of Todd Interests were not immediately available for comment Friday afternoon.
NIAMEY, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- UN agencies and non-governmental organizations have been barred from working in military "operation zones," Niger's Interior Ministry said Thursday.

This is "due to the current security situation and the ongoing operational engagement of the Nigerien Armed Forces," the ministry said in a statement.

Niger has been, in some of its border areas, suffering atrocities of terrorist organizations including armed groups and criminals who have controlled the southern region of Libya since the overthrow of the Muammar Gaddafi regime in 2011. There are also terrorist groups based in northern Mali.

In recent years, a new center of insecurity has emerged in the extreme southwest of Niger, a region known as the "three borders" (Niger-Mali-Burkina Faso) where terrorist groups often carry out deadly attacks targeting both military and civilian population. 
Residents of the Lone Star State will say goodbye to sales taxes on menstrual products when a new law goes into effect Friday.

Texas is the latest state to eliminate the so-called "pink tax," the name for sales tax rates placed on menstrual and other gender-based products. This summer, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation axing taxes on those products and other items like breastfeeding devices, baby bottles, and maternity clothes.

Texas joins 23 other states and the District of Columbia that specifically ban a tax on period products and 17 other states that ban a tax on diapers (in addition to the five states without any sales tax).

"Families who are struggling to afford diapers and other necessities each month will see relief every time they go to the store. This law is a major step toward a healthier Texas," said Holly McDaniel, executive director of the Austin Diaper Bank.

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Other state governors have signed similar bills over the last several years. In 2022, Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, and Virginia enacted laws to remove the taxes and financial barriers on state citizens who buy those products, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies, an organization sponsored by U by Kotex.

The group says that "period products are essential and should be recognized as material basic needs rather than luxury goods," according to its website. Their message aligns with several other advocacy organizations in the U.S. that have pushed for economic relief for consumers.

A box of Tampax Pearl tampons are seen on a shelf at a store in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2022. - Tampons have reportedly been in short supply in stores across the United States due to global supply chain issues, according to US media. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

What is the state of the 'pink tax' in the nation?

The "pink tax," according to a 2021 report from the Federal Trade Commission, "refers to an alleged empirical regularity: that products targeted toward women are more expensive than similar products targeted toward men."

The taxes are commonly known for increasing the prices of period products, including tampons and pads. But several pieces of national research show that razors, deodorant, baby products and other items marketed to women are often more expensive.

"Common products and services marketed to women, ranging from razors and soaps to dry cleaning, often cost more than similar products marketed to men," a report from the U.S. Congress's Joint Economic Committee reads.

"Manufacturers and retailers may claim that the price difference is due to higher costs for producing womens products or providing services for women, but there is a great deal of evidence that there are significant price differences for practically identical products," it continues. "In some cases, the only difference is the color. This markup has become known as the pink tax.

Several states have removed taxes on menstrual and period products, including pads and tampons. Those states include California, New York, and Virginia.

Other states, including Florida, have enacted separate laws banning sales taxes on baby diapers. Legislation is pending in Nevada and Maine.

See what other states have done the same Texas repeals tax on diapers, period products

'Meaningful acknowledgment by Texas leaders'

A 2021 study from U by Kotex showed that two in five people have struggled to purchase period products in their lifetime due to lack of income  a 35% increase from the menstrual hygiene brand's 2018 research. Advocates have recently argued that women and other people who buy menstrual products shouldn't be taxed on essential healthcare items and that the costs of those items are often inflated.

Many consider the latest move in Texas a win.

"Not only does the end of the tampon tax provide economic relief for half the population, its a meaningfulacknowledgment by Texas leaders of the reality of menstruation and the necessity of menstrual products,"said Laura Strausfeld, an executive director of Period Law, which advocates for states to axe the tax.

But opponents in Texas and elsewhere are worried about potential financial losses if the taxes are removed. The Senate Bill, also known as SB 379, is expected to cost Texas about $227 million in general revenue funds over the next two years, according to the Legislative Budget Board.

Still, advocates are continuing to push for more states in the nation to follow suit and repeal the taxes.

Texas victory serves as an example for the remaining 21 states that repealing the tax on period products isneither daunting nor expensive, said Ameer Abdulrahman, the national campaign manager at PERIOD, a national nonprofit organization that works to combat stigmas around menstruation.

Here are the 21 states that currently tax the sale of period products, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies:

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Indiana

Kansas

Kentucky

Missouri

Mississippi

North Carolina

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Utah

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Advocates push for accessibility to menstrual products as period poverty persists in the U.S. In Topeka, MB Piland Advertising and Marketing is taking up the challenge.

Contributing: Wyatte Grantham-Philips, USA TODAY; Hogan Gore, Austin American-Statesman

Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @kaylajjimenez.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas joins slim majority of states that nixed tax on period products
"I hadnt even considered that maybe shed never gotten out of the car," the author writes.

My first memory is of hearing myself scream. I can still feel the warm, soft apple core in my hand  I squeezed it as hard as I could, brown mush squashing out of my small, balled fist.

This memory is preverbal. I dont remember thoughts, only physical sensations. Im strapped into my car seat. I cant move. Im hot and crying, sweat mixing with tears and snot. I scream as loud as I can, but nobody comes. All I can do is kick the drivers seat in front of me and throw my head back, smashing it into the headrest.

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Decades later, I step out of the house into the driveway and see a face like mine behind the smudged glass of our green van. It is my 5-year-old baby girl, screaming like I had screamed. When we lock eyes, guilt and love rush through me. She looks so tiny, her small, pale face contorted in fear, dark hair curling around the edges. For a second, I dont understand why shes in the car. Ive been looking for her, but I didnt think Id find her here.

As I cross the distance between us in a few steps and rip open the sliding door, all I can think of is to get to her. She lunges into my arms, sweaty and crying, clinging to me. Her wiry body clamps shut on me, legs wrapped around my waist, arms so tight around my neck its hard to breathe.

Im so sorry, I didnt know you were in there, I tell her. Im sorry. I love you. Im so sorry.

With her wet face pressed into my neck and her little heart beating against my chest, her sobs turn to a whimper as I carry her inside. I sit down on the couch with her, holding her like a baby on my lap, rocking her, and kissing her face. She sighs and buries herself into me.

We remain entangled for a long time. I stroke her hair and face, whispering apologies over and over. She finally falls asleep in my arms; her body turns slack as her breathing deepens. I stare at my sleeping child, relief and love mixing with gratitude, shame and horror.

Every summer brings headlines of horrifying deaths of babies and toddlers left in hot cars. Stories about moms and dads who absent-mindedly drove to work, forgot to drop off their children at day care, and left their sleeping babies to die in a boiling-hot car while they sat in air-conditioned offices. I remember hearing about scratch marks on the inside of one vehicle where a little toddler had desperately tried to escape. The image of a panicked child clawing at doors and windows will never leave me.

I was disgusted with these reckless parents. Who forgets their own child? I hoped theyd be sentenced to life in prison. I hoped theyd live every day with the knowledge of being murderers. They should pay until the day they die, I thought. They didnt deserve to be parents.

Now I directed this disgust and judgment at myself. I didnt deserve to be a mom. I was unworthy. It felt like getting punched in the gut repeatedly, gasping for air, as my brain replayed what could have happened if it was a hot summer day. We could have been a gruesome headline. I could have killed my baby, been charged with murder and sent to prison, leaving my other children behind. I was an unfit mother. How could I have done this? Why hadnt I paid more attention? I hated myself. I felt like a monster.

We could have been a gruesome headline. I could have killed my baby, been charged with murder and sent to prison, leaving my other children behind.

According to noheatstroke.org, every year since 1998, when the site began analyzing media reports, an average of 38 kids per year die from heatstroke after being left in hot cars. The website, run by meteorologist Jan Null  who coauthored an often-cited study about how quickly internal car temperatures rise to dangerous levels even in moderate outside temperatures  also surveyed media reports for the reasons these children were left in vehicles. Among the about 940 children who died in hot vehicles from 1998 through 2022, 20% had been left knowingly by a caregiver. This number is horrendous and sickening. However, most of the deaths were accidental, with a caregiver forgetting children (53%), or children gaining access to vehicles on their own (25%). A small number of cases had undetermined causes.

And yet, we judge that 78% of cases almost as harshly as the parents who purposely left their children. We so desperately want to believe that it could never happen to us.

Its impossible to know how many of these accidental deaths were caused by truly neglectful parents and how many were regular parents who made one tragic mistake. I read about a mom in Florida who accidentally left her 11-month son in the car one day and went to work. He died, and she was charged with aggravated manslaughter. The painful truth about being parents is that we are human and flawed, capable of making grave mistakes, and committing errors with tragic outcomes for the ones we love most. That mother could have been me.

One of the reasons my daughter is still alive, and Im not charged with manslaughter, is pure luck. Luck that it wasnt summer. Luck that I found her in time. I estimate my daughter was in the car for 30 minutes before I found her, long enough for temperatures to reach dangerous levels if it had been a summer day.

On that night, we had come home from an outing, and instead of climbing out of the van with her siblings, my daughter had stayed behind. I was probably carrying stuff into the house, probably thinking about getting them ready for bed, probably checking off items on my mental to-do list. I hadnt counted the heads coming in behind me like I normally did. One, two, three, four, five, six. The shame swirls like a riptide in my gut, pulling me under. Knowing how scared she must have been  screaming for me while I was a few steps away  makes my stomach turn. Id lain in bed with her sisters and read them a story while she desperately tried to get my attention.

When I went into her room for tuck-in and she wasnt there, I thought she was hiding as usual. I had to look for her almost every day. Shed hide under beds or piles of blankets and couch pillows, in closets and kitchen cabinets. Sometimes she wouldnt come out even when I called, which worried me and delighted her. So when I first looked for her, I thought she was just trying to delay bedtime. I called her name in that universal annoyed parent voice, but when she didnt come out of her hiding place after several minutes, I got scared. My calls for her turned shrill, my voice shaky with a tinge of dread. She wasnt in the house or the backyard, and she knew not to go out in the front.

I hadnt even considered that maybe shed never gotten out of the car. That maybe shed had a hard time undoing her seat belt. That maybe she was taking her sweet time or had fallen asleep.

I didnt talk to my daughter about the incident for seven long years. I was afraid to bring it up. I didnt want to retraumatize her. And also, I didnt want to retraumatize myself. I was too scared to see it on her face  the pain I had caused her. I didnt want to relive the realization that as hard as I try not to, I will hurt the people I love most  even my own children, whom I try to protect at all costs.

It all seemed too much to bear: the harsh reminder that I cannot protect my kids from everything and everyone, not even my own mistakes; the overwhelming sense of gratitude that the worst didnt happen; and the compulsive thoughts of fear that the worst always could and may yet happen.

When I finally decided to talk to my daughter about it, she was in middle school. She wore scrunchies as bracelets, regularly consumed an irrational number of green olives, and was obsessed with the musical Hamilton. I couldnt shake the thought that the memory might be seared into her cells.

I remembered myself screaming so many years before in another car, another country, another life. I wondered if she would grow up with the faint, inexplicable unease that I would leave her and never come back, without the ability to pinpoint why. I cant quite grasp my own experience, only through a haze, the edges blurry, the colors muted. I never spoke to my parents about it. I dont know if they remembered, and I never will. But I could talk to my own child.

I couldnt shake the thought that the memory might be seared into her cells.

When I nervously sat her down, she was confused, but as soon as I asked if she remembered being left in the green van, recognition and pain flashed across her face.

Yeah, actually, I do remember, she said quietly. I stayed in the car to play and climbed over the benches into the front seat. But when I was ready to get out of the car, I couldnt open the door. I was so frustrated, I kicked the windshield with my feet. I was scared you werent coming back.

Hearing this was hard, her face and my face melting together in my memories. We are different people, but hearing my daughter express the same panic I had felt when I was a kid, first confirmed my fears about how damaging that situation was, and then somehow normalized my own response.

The guilt and shame shot up through my insides and into my throat, sour and acidic. Yes, of course, I thought. This is a normal response from a child who believes her mother has abandoned her.

I asked her what she remembered the most from when I found her.

You apologized, she said. Like, a lot.

I tend to apologize too much. But in this situation, Im glad my own shame didnt lead me to reject my responsibility or minimize her experience. Im glad I leaned into the pain and told my daughter how sorry I was. Im glad she remembers that part. I wish I could have protected her from the knowledge that even though I love her so much, I may make terrible mistakes that can cause real and lasting damage.

It keeps me up at night, the knowledge that as a parent, Im only one misstep away from disaster. Not being able to control the millions of variables of parenting scares the shit out of me. No matter how much I try, I could inadvertently hurt my children. Its one of the deepest horrors of parenting  one that no one told me about. Its easier to pretend that accidents are not really accidents. That parents are bad parents. That we would never make the same mistakes with our own children.

I had just turned 23 when I had my first baby. Already an anxious person, parenting, like nothing else, intensified my hypervigilance to the point of living in a low-grade panic much of the time.

I was afraid of whether I could keep my kids alive. I read all the horrible pregnancy books that tell you everything that can go wrong. I stress-Googled every tiny symptom during pregnancy. Once my babies were born, Id stand in front of their cribs holding my finger to their noses and mouths to feel their breath. Sometimes I feared I was imagining the breath, and poked them to make sure they would stir or their eyelids would flutter, and I would retreat, relieved they were still alive. I was terrified of SIDS. Id wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and check on them over and over again. I didnt sleep through the night for years, even after they finally started to.

I know a lot of this is normal. Evolution obviously selected for anxious, hypervigilant mothers who keep their babies alive. On the outside, I may look like a free-range parent. Our older kids have part-time jobs, theyve gone on international trips, and they ride public transportation. Outwardly, I do my best to let them experience life, but internally, I imagine gory traffic accidents and children with dead cellphones lost in seedy places.

I act casual when they walk through the door after a shift or after hanging out with their friends, but I breathe a deep sigh of relief that Ive been holding the entire time theyve been gone. These are the times I feel most like an animal, gathering babies in her den, curling around them. Safe for another night.

Being hypervigilant and loving my kids more than anyone else on the face of the earth did not keep me from making a terrible mistake.

The memory of leaving my own daughter in the car still hurts. I know that only random coincidence kept the situation from turning tragic. And yet, I dont have the feeling that it irrevocably damaged our relationship. When my daughter asked why I brought it up, I told her I wanted her to know that I remembered. I wanted her to know I was still so sorry I had made that terrible mistake.

The memory of leaving my own daughter in the car still hurts. I know that only random coincidence kept the situation from turning tragic. And yet, I dont have the feeling that it irrevocably damaged our relationship.

I told her there are some hard conversations I wish I could have had with my own parents, and I no longer have the opportunity. I wanted her to know she could always bring things to me, without the fear of being dismissed or getting into trouble. I already know that, she said nonchalantly. Because of the kind of mom you are.

My eyes welled with tears.

What kind of mother? I asked.

A good one, she said, grabbing my hand.

We just sat quietly for a few minutes, holding hands  she texting her friends, me reveling for a moment in the realization that what I wished for as a child, I have created for my daughter: a life in which she is cared for and protected, while knowing there are no guarantees.

Good parents make terrible mistakes sometimes. Im grateful to live in a universe where this one situation has registered simply as an unfortunate blip, not a signpost of her life. And yet, I know Im that mother from Florida, and she is me. Were all just one mistake away from catastrophe, and thats such a hard truth to hold about our children  so hard that we resort to mercilessly judging ourselves and each other.

Im a good mother, and Ive made not one but multiple mistakes that could have resulted in terrible, even deadly, outcomes. The time I almost carried my baby down icy stairs while pregnant. The time I pulled into the intersection in a rush without seeing an oncoming truck. The frenzied, late-night phone call to the doctor when I worried that Id given my child too much pain medication after surgery. The time my toddler started choking on a small hair clip Id dropped.

The close calls haunt me, but they never became moments that set my entire familys lives on a different path. Each time, I got to pull my children close again, heart racing. Breathing in their milky baby smell, pressing my lips to their sweaty toddler foreheads with the one rogue curl, or squeezing their awkward middle school selves too tight in public.

My oldest is almost ready to go off on her own. Im thrilled, and Im terrified. And if any of my children ever decide to have their own babies, the cycle of beauty and terror will start all over again.

We have a hard time talking about the lives of children being ruined by abusive and cruel caretakers. But it seems we have an even harder time talking about entire families being destroyed because a good parent made a terrible mistake. We want so badly for these incidents to not be true, to not be real, to not be a part of our lives. I have kept my own mistakes secret because I, too, believed that good parents dont make bad judgments like me. Good parents dont forget or err. Good parents dont have accidents.

The shame has kept me quiet, but the reality is: Im not better, just luckier. For now.

Juliane Bergmann was raised by a German hippie mom and U.S. Army soldier dad in a tiny village in Bavaria. Shes a book coach, ghostwriter, and editor helping entrepreneurs, Navy SEALs, Ironman athletes, and CEOs tell their stories. Juliane writes about psychology, parenting, relationships, and recovery for HuffPost, Insider, Scary Mommy, and The Rumpus. Come hang out on her internet porch or read an excerpt from her forthcoming memoir Collateral Damage here.

Do you have a compelling personal story youd like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what were looking for here and send us a pitch.

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Springfield Public Schools became part of the Alliance for Healthcare Education this week but the school board vote to take that step was split.

The board voted 4-3 during a closed-door meeting Aug. 22.

The alliance is a partnership between CoxHealth, Missouri State University, Ozarks Technical Community College and SPS to create a pipeline that produces more health care professionals in southwest Missouri.

To address pressing workforce shortages, the governing boards for MSU, OTC and CoxHealth voted unanimously to create the partnership.

"It was an incredible experience to see the leaders come together and the passion they had," said Rob Fulp, chair of the CoxHealth Board of Directors, who confirmed the unanimous vote. "This will create hope for young people who want to pursue careers in the medical field."

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The SPS board members in favor of joining the alliance were Judy Brunner, Scott Crise, Danielle Kincaid and Shurita Thomas-Tate.

Kincaid, the board president, said supporting the effort was a "no-brainer" for her. She acknowledged there are still details to be worked out.

"When you look at our strategic plan to produce success-ready students, part of this is making sure they have a plan for after graduation," she said.

"Our health care industry is vibrant in southwest Missouri, they are in need of additional employees and I think this is an excellent opportunity for students who are interested in the health care industry to get a leg up before they graduate."

The members who voted against the proposal were Kelly Byrne, Steve Makoski and Maryam Mohammadkhani.

Under board policy, members must "publicly abide by and uphold the majority decisions of the board, individually and collectively."

Asked what message the split vote sends to the alliance, Kincaid said she does not know. "We were the only board that was not unanimous. That is unfortunate."

"All seven of us have an equal vote," she said. "The majority voted to proceed forward with this sowe are going to move forward united."

Byrne, Makoski and Mohammadkhani said they will adhere to board policy and support the majority vote. They also agreed to explain why they voted against joining the alliance.

Kelly Byrne

Byrne said he does not support expanding "choice" programs in the district at this juncture, noting they only serve part of the students.

"We need to be focusing on the basics and doing a better job at them, just the basics being a thorough and diverse education experience for each student. We need to be focusing our resources in that capacity," he said.

"Some of these choice programs, they may be exciting and they may be valuable for the students who are able to take advantage of them but they do take district resources and they are specialized."

Mohammadkhani said SPS has been creative and successful at forging partnerships in the community and creating "choice" programs.

She said as a medical doctor, the goal of the alliance  to train health care workers  is "near and dear to my heart."

"I like it, in concept," she said. "We were aware this was in the works but we did not have a hand or were not part of drafting the agreement."

Mohammadkhani said there were parts of the agreement that left her "uncomfortable and concerned" and she wanted the SPS board to have the power to make revisions.

Maryam Mohammadkhani

"I have some concerns because of the longevity of the contract and the way it is structured," she said, noting the pact included cost projections.

She said the district has limited resources and will face tough spending decisions as federal pandemic aid from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER, dries up.

"I'm worried that down the line we could get into potentially a situation where we have to distribute our resources in an inequitable way."

More: Here's how 4 southwest Missouri institutions plan to revolutionize health care training

Citing the strategic plan, Makoski said he questioned entering the alliance while there are needs elsewhere in the district.

"SPS has been on a downward trend in academic performance for quite some time," Makoski said, noting he ran for the board to reverse that trend. "I view this alliance to be an effort contrary to what our Board of Education should be focused on."

Makoski said the alliance will take time, money and effort and only serve "a very small number of students." He said the overwhelming majority will not be able to participate. "Where is the equity?"

Steve Makoski

"I'd rather have a pure, traditional education that will provide our students with the academic skill sets necessary to become whatever they want after they graduate high school," he said. "This alliance is not moving in the right direction."

Makoski said high school should be focused on getting students the skills they need to succeed in whatever field they want to enter and not place them on a track for a specific occupation.

More: 'Brand of Cox College going away' as new alliance expands healthcare education in area

He questioned whether the district should be part of a "pipeline" that provides employees to CoxHealth, saying it is "almost like a monopoly" for the health system.

"Why does Springfield Public Schools have to get involved with supplying CoxHealth, actually provide them with employees?" he said.

Claudette Riley covers education for the News-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Three SPS board members were against alliance with MSU, OTC, CoxHealth
A second suspect injured at a Saturday shooting outside a Dairy Queen on the city's Northeast Side has been arrested in relation to the death of 19-year-old Nathaniel Joe-Summerall during the incident.

On Thursday, police arrested a second suspect, 19-year-old Kiyaire Blow, under one charge of murder. He was arraigned Friday morning and will have a preliminary hearing on Sept. 8. He's being held on a $1 million bond.

Columbus Police identified Mehki Lewis, 18, of the Independence Village area on the city's Southeast Side, as the first suspect in the shooting on Tuesday. Following his arraignment in Franklin County Municipal Court on Wednesday, Lewis was ordered held on $3 million bond for a murder charge by Judge Jim OGrady. His case was bound over to Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Court records indicate that soon after units arrived to the shooting scene, Blow was transported to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital suffering gunshot wounds.

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On Wednesday, police also brought forth charges against a third juvenile suspect. The 14-year-old, who the Dispatch is not naming at this time due to his age, has been charged with a delinquency count of murder. Prosecutors have also filed a motion seeking to have the boy tried as an adult.

The department's Homicide Detective Jeremy Niederkohr indicated in court documents that Joe-Summerall was fatally shot during a "planned meeting" between the suspects, victim and others in the Dairy Queen parking lot at 1519 Schrock Road.

According to police, units responded around 2:20 p.m. on reports of a shooting and found Joe-Summerall with a gunshot wound. Joe-Summerall was pronounced dead at the scene by Columbus Division of Fire medics at 2:32 p.m.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Columbus police homicide detectives at 614-645-4730 or call anonymously to the Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS.

gtucker@dispatch.com

@tucker0527

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Three teens charged with murder in shooting death outside Dairy Queen
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina has shown promise as a Republican candidate for president who could break through in the party primary.

But the 57-year old Scott has never married, and thats a concern for some Republican donors, Axios reported Thursday.

How long has it been since the U.S. elected an unmarried president?

Americans have elected only two bachelors to the presidency in 234 years: James Buchanan in 1856 and Grover Cleveland in 1884.

Cleveland subsequently became the only president to get married while in office. At age 59, he wed 21-year old Frances Folsom.

However, its now more common than its ever been in U.S. history for people to remain unmarried. Marriage rates have steadily declined over the past half-century.

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To suggest that somehow being married or not married is going to be the determining factor of whether you're a good president or not  it sounds like we're living in 1963 and not 2023," Scott said in May.

So why does it matter to some in the GOP whether he's a bachelor?

Keeps his private life very private

Scott has said he regrets the way a political career has crowded out space for relationships, but he has never publicly dated during his time in office.

I think in the right time, I will meet Mrs. Right, and shell want to have a couple kids, he said in 2018.

A 2019 Pew Research Center survey of 9,834 respondents showed that about half of Americans think marriage is important but not essential for living a fulfilling life, and that only about 1 in 6 people think marriage is essential.

Read more from Yahoo News: Does Tim Scott have a path to the presidency?

But the same survey also showed that greater numbers of Americans place value on being in a committed romantic relationship. One in four adults said a committed romantic relationship was essential to living a fulfilled life.

In addition, older Americans  who vote in much greater numbers than younger people  placed more value on marriage and committed romantic relationships.

In May, Scott told Axios he had a girlfriend, and this week a Scott adviser said the candidate would say more about this. A spokesman for the senator did not respond when asked for more details.

Potential primary voters listen to Scott at a town hall in Concord, N.H., on Aug. 25. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

Ive seen that hes mentioned a girlfriend who remains unidentified, which signals his heterosexuality to anyone who might care, said Kristin Kobes Du Mez , author of the book Jesus and John Wayne, a bestselling study of masculinity in the evangelical subculture.

There are expectations for politicians to be married (good) with children (best), Du Mez told Yahoo News in an email. For African American men  especially those trying to appeal to a conservative white base  this may be even more important.

GOP primary voters place big emphasis on marriage

Scott is an evangelical Christian, and in the Republican presidential primary, evangelical Christians are a dominant voting bloc.

Marriage is generally emphasized in religious cultures. Authors who have written about evangelical culture have noted that this is certainly the case among Christians in America and around the world.

The integrity of conservative family values was badly undermined by former President Donald Trump, who has spent his life reveling in discarding wives and mistresses. But Trump was still married  demonstrating that conservative attitudes about marriage may be more about signaling who is normal and who is not.

Former President Donald Trump holds up a 1990 issue of Playboy magazine with his photo on it at an event in Manchester, N.H., on June 27. (Reba Saldanha/Reuters)

Indeed, singleness has been discounted and devalued by many Christians, according to author Anna Broadway, whose forthcoming book Solo Planet argues against the view that if youre not married something must be wrong with you.

Broadway wrote last year for Christianity Today magazine that Christians often have a binary (and nonbiblical) approach to partnership, which deems marriage good and singleness mostly bad.

Christians impute to marriage and children a sense of maturity and worth. This often makes singles feel like what the Chinese call bare branches, Broadway wrote for the Wall Street Journal in 2021. Intentionally or not, churches regularly reinforce this attitude through marriage-centric sermons or religious classes for singles that focus on marriage as a goal, overlooking many older or celibate worshippers.

Broadway argues for what she calls an empowered singleness.

For now, however, Scotts singleness is a challenge for Republican primary voters, who tend to view marriage as a key ingredient in a fulfilling and healthy life.

Read more coverage of the 2024 Republican primaries on Yahoo News
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WKRN)  A Vietnam veteran and Chattanooga hero will be going to the White House next week, where President Joe Biden will present him with the Medal of Honor.

Capt. Larry Taylor will be the 33rd Tennessean to receive the Medal of Honor, which is the highest military decoration a person can receive for their valor in combat, according to the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga.

Biden to award Medal of Honor to Vietnam-era Army officer

Taylor distinguished himself while serving as one of the first Cobra helicopter pilots during the Vietnam War. While Taylor was a part of many harrowing operations, the Heritage Center said one operation rises above all others.

(Photo: WKRN)

On the night of June 18, 1968, a four-man Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) team was surveilling a village occupied by around 80 North Vietnamese. A fight ensued and the soldiers quickly realized they were surrounded.

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After the soldiers radioed for air support, Taylor and his co-pilot J.O. Ratliff, along with one other Cobra helicopter, flew over the area and provided support until they were out of rockets and ammunition.

Realizing the LRRP team was surrounded with little, if any, options, Taylor radioed the team leader and made an unusual request, according to the Heritage Center. He asked the soldiers to create a diversion, run 100 yards and lie down in the grass.

Medal of Honor recipients remains IDd 73 years after Korea

The soldiers followed his orders and were surprised as they realized Taylor was landing his Cobra in the middle of the battlefield. The Cobra helicopter had no place to transport troops, so Taylor ordered the soldiers to jump onto the helicopter skids and rocket pods and hold on tight.

Taylor then lifted the four men, David Hill of Visalia, Cali.; Robert Elsner of New York City; Gerald Patty of Maryville, Tenn.; and William P. Cohn of Norwich, Conn. out of the fight and to a safer location miles away.

(Photo: WKRN)

For his actions that night, Taylor was awarded the Silver Star, which President Biden has now upgraded to a Medal of Honor. The president will present Taylor with the Medal of Honor on Tuesday, Sept. 5 at the White House in Washington D.C.

Not only will he be the 33rd Tennessean to receive the decoration, but Taylor will be the sixth soldier with ties to the Chattanooga area to have received the Medal of Honor. He also was awarded 61 combat decorations, including 44 Air Medals, for his service.

Last World War II Medal of Honor recipient, Hershel Woody Williams, dies at 98

After being engaged by enemy fire 340 times and forced down five times, Taylor concluded his four years of military service with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in West Germany. He operated a roofing company in Chattanooga before retiring with his wife in Signal Mountain.

In a news release announcing the Medal of Honor Ceremony, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said, I am proud to congratulate Captain Larry Taylor on becoming the 33rd Tennessean to receive the Medal of Honor and extend my deepest gratitude for his remarkable acts of valor. We are forever indebted to Captain Taylor and all Tennessee heroes who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to defend our nation and her people.

(Photo: WKRN)

After receiving the Medal of Honor, Taylor will return to Chattanooga where the Heritage Center, Hamilton County, City of Chattanooga and Chattanooga Area Veterans Council have planned a Welcome Home parade, set to begin at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 11.

Operation Stand Down celebrates 30 years of serving veterans

The parade, which will start at the intersection of MLK Boulevard and Market Street, will kick off with a flyover of multiple Vietnam-era Cobra and other modern-day helicopters along the parade route in downtown Chattanooga.

The public is invited to line Market Street and continue down to West Aquarium Way, where the parade will make a turn toward the Heritage Center. Taylor will lead the parade as the grand marshal with the US Armys 1st Infantry Division Mounted Color Guard and Band from Fort Riley, Kansas.

What a privilege to have in our midst one of Americas living heroes worthy of the Medal of Honor, our countrys highest award for military valor in action, said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. Lets come together to celebrate and recognize one of our own and put Chattanoogas famous spirit of patriotism on full display as we honor Medal of Honor recipient Captain Larry Taylor on September 11.

The parade will also feature a variety of high school bands and JROTC units from schools located throughout Chattanooga and the surrounding community. It will conclude around 1 p.m. with an official ceremony in front of the Heritage Center, where officials will make remarks.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

To find out more about Taylor and various events planned to honor him, or watch the Medal of Honor Ceremony on Sept. 5, click here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
People with mental illnesses face significant risk of dying in police encounters. Across the U.S., one in five people shot to death by officers since 2015 had mental conditions, according to a database from the Washington Post.

Anecdotally, that appears to be the case in Stockton, too. At least two of the three people fatally shot by police since last summer  or who died of their injuries after encounters with officers  had clear symptoms of mental health crises when law enforcement arrived at the scene.

Now, Stockton Police Department officials say its officers will treat 911 calls involving people with mental disabilities and illnesses with added caution under a new program announced Thursday.

Called the "Your Way Registry," the program will allow residents and frequent visitors to Stockton to share information about their or their loved ones mental or neurological disabilities  and about accommodations they might need in police encounters or emergencies  with the department.

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Participants may share information about their or a family members autism, for example  or cerebral palsy, dementia, schizophrenia, or any other condition.

Theres not a community member it cant relate to, police Chief Stanley McFadden said.

Once the department has a record of the person's circumstances, dispatchers will pass the information to any officers who respond to calls involving that person, McFadden said.

'Be happy and smile'

Officers have received 40 hours of additional training on understanding people with disabilities, possible communication challenges, and de-escalation techniques to minimize any potential distress, McFadden said.

Attending Thursday's announcement at police headquarters was 18-year-old Jordan Page, who has autism. Page told reporters he hoped people would be be happy and smile toward autistic people rather than fighting or getting mad at us.

Page was there with his mother Tami Munoz Marsh, who said she approached McFadden about a year ago about Stockton officers interactions with her son.

When we call (the police), as a parent, were already in panic mode  were frustrated, Munoz Marsh said.

'Case by case'

The "Your Way" program comes about two months after McFadden ordered officers to stop responding to certain calls due to a dire shortage of officers.

Among the incidents officers were ordered to stop responding to were 601 calls regarding out-of-control juveniles  one type of call parents or others might place about a young person experiencing a mental crisis, a department order obtained by The Record showed.

Officers may still respond to 601 calls if the young person commits a violent crime or is an active threat, the order stated.

Beyond 601 calls, the department plans to draw on information provided to "Your Way" in a variety of situations, including family disturbances, Officer David Scott said.

It will be decided on a case-by-case basis, depending on what information is given, he said.

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers public safety. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record athttps://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: 'Your Way' may help those with mental illness avoid police violence
S. Korean lawmakers hold rally against Japan's nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping

Xinhua) 15:00, September 01, 2023

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Lawmakers of South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party held an overnight rally against Japan's dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean.

The legislators gathered in the National Assembly building on Thursday night to participate in the protest rally that continued until Friday morning.

The participants shouted slogans of "The Japanese government must immediately stop dumping Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean" and "The ocean of life and the ocean of everyone, let's protect it," urging the South Korean government to take actions against it.

Against the backdrop of a placard that read "Stop marine dumping of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater," Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, denounced Tokyo for causing troubles to innocent people.

"Nuclear-contaminated wastewater is spreading in the Pacific Ocean. Something unprecedented in human history is happening. None of our fishermen and people have done anything wrong and been responsible, but the damage is ours," Lee said during the rally.

The Democratic Party has pushed for a set of bills to ban the import of all aquatic products feared to be exposed to the radioactive wastewater, including seafood from Fukushima and other regions.

Under the bills, the country-of-origin regulation would be strengthened to prevent processed food, made of seafood from Fukushima and other dangerous regions, from being distributed here, while recognizing radioactive wastewater damage as a fishing disaster to support the fishing industry.

The bills also sought to legislate the right to indemnity claims against the Japanese government by creating a fund first to support the affected, such as fishermen, merchants and those processing and distributing fishery products, and demanding reimbursement from the Japanese government later.

Struck by a massive earthquake and an ensuing tsunami in March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered core meltdowns and generated a massive amount of water tainted with radioactive substances from cooling down the nuclear fuel.

Japan started discharging the first batch of radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 24.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
DAMASCUS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Factional infighting continued on Friday between two U.S.-backed militias in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour, with the Arab tribes stripping the Kurdish-led militia of several villages, state news agency SANA reported.

According to the report, fierce clashes continued in most areas in the countryside of Deir al-Zour between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Deir al-Zour Military Council, an Arab-majority militia that used to operate under the umbrella of the SDF.

Citing local sources, SANA reported the falling of causalities and hostages, but without placing a number.

The council comprising Arab tribes managed to expel the SDF out of several villages on Friday, the report said, adding tribe leaders are calling for general mobilization to continue fighting the SDF and dislodge it out of their areas.

It also reported that the locals in some areas cut off the roads to prevent the SDF from bringing reinforcements from areas under its control in the northwestern province of Raqqa.

The tension between the two sides escalated after the SDF detained Ahmad Abu Khawla, the leader of the military council, in the northeastern province of Hasakah on Sunday over his alleged ties with the Syrian government and Turkiye, a stand against the SDF.

Notably, the SDF has emerged as the main allied militia to the U.S. forces in northeastern Syria, controlling much of Hasakah and parts of Deir al-Zour's countryside.

Due to its de-facto rule in Hasakah and some other areas in Deir al-Zour and Aleppo, the Syrian government has branded the SDF as a separatist group.

For Turkiye, the SDF is part of the Kurdish People Protection Units, which Ankara designates as a terrorist group due to its ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party. 
(Bloomberg) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his South Korean counterpart that he supports Seouls efforts to resume three-way summits that include Japan, a sign Beijing is trying to counter a US push to forge closer ties with its two Asian allies.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Wang told Park Jin that China backs South Korea  the current chair of the stalled trilateral summit  in playing an active role to push forward cooperation with Japan, according to a statement late Thursday from Beijing.

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Park said in the call with Wang that he would like to see a return to shuttle diplomacy between the two, according to a statement from South Koreas Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

South Koreas Presidential Office has said in recent days it is working to resume the summit with China and Japan. Meetings among the leaders of the three economic powerhouses havent taken place since 2019 due initially to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, Japan and South Korea have been encouraged by the US, a mutual ally, to curb high-tech exports to China, their biggest trade partner.

China has been the most vocal critic of Japans release of treated wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, souring the often fraught ties between the neighbors.

Nothing is currently decided about high-level meetings with China, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Friday. But we continue to seek constructive and stable ties, he added.

Read: Five Takeaways From the US, Japan and South Korea Summit

Cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo and Washington grew stronger when Yoon Suk Yeol became South Koreas president in May 2022, backing hawkish security policies that were in line with those of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

This resulted in boosting joint military drills and a landmark summit last month hosted by President Joe Biden that led to measures to reduce global supply chain exposure to China and moves to bind the trilateral relationship so tightly that it would be hard to unravel.

Also: Bidens Summit With Asian Allies Further Isolates China

Chinas Foreign Ministry has criticized the summit, saying it would only start division and confrontation.

--With assistance from Isabel Reynolds.

(Updates with comments from Japan foreign minister in sixth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
ELYRIA, Ohio (WJW)  An Ohio woman says she was devastated when her dog disappeared during severe storms in the area last week. She said she needed a miracle to bring her beloved pet back home.

The miracle began to unfold as Elyria resident Jim Warren was on his back patio watching the rain-swollen Black River rising on the ravine below. That is when he noticed something moving in the mud near the edge of the rapids.

$20M stolen ancient Roman statue seized from Cleveland Museum of Art

Warren told Fox 8, The more I looked, I saw it was a dog that was trapped in between the raging river and a fallen tree down there, and I thought, Oh man, that dog is in trouble.'

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The dog that Warren spotted was a 14-year-old boxer-pit bull mix named Sienna, who had gotten out of her owners backyard during a break in the severe storms two days earlier, leaving 60-year-old Renee Morton, of Elyria, heartbroken.

I recently lost my husband to ALS in April, and to lose her too would have been so hard, Morton said. I worried that she might not come back, but in the back of my head, I still believed that God could bring her back if he wanted to.

Meanwhile, Warren decided to call the Lorain County Dog Warden. When Chief Deputy Nelson Delgado arrived, he immediately suspected the dog trapped in the mud in the ravine, was the same pet that Morton reported missing two days earlier.

Kia recalls 300k cars over safety concern

Delgado told us, I had never seen the river that high before, this is really crazy water running through it, saw the dog not moving, I call her, Sienna, and then she kind of woke up.

Delgado said he knew he had to hurry because if Sienna was swept away in the currents of the river, she would have faced a certain death once she reached the nearby waterfalls at Cascade Park in Elyria.

Delgado used a fallen tree to edge his way down into the ravine. He says he fell a couple of times but kept going until he reached Sienna.

He then led the dog back up to the top of the bluff and safety.

It made me feel good. Its alive and its going back to the original owner, who I know loves that dog so much. So it was nice, it was a good feeling, Delgado said.

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Delgado then drove to Mortons home and told her that he had something to return to her  her beloved Sienna.

Morton beamed as she told us, It was just a miracle, just a total miracle.

Sienna is the third dog that Nelson Delgado has rescued along the Black River.

He said, It was just the joy of doing my job, but at the same time, helping somebody, making them feel really happy about it.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
ELYRIA, Ohio (WJW)  An Ohio woman said she was devastated when her dog disappeared during severe storms in the area last week, adding that she needed a miracle to bring her beloved pet back home.

The miracle began to unfold as Elyria resident Jim Warren was on his back patio watching the rain-swollen Black River rising on the ravine below. That is when he noticed something moving in the mud near the edge of the rapids.

Warren told News 2s sister station, WJW, The more I looked, I saw it was a dog that was trapped in between the raging river and a fallen tree down there, and I thought, Oh man, that dog is in trouble.'

Residents find homes gone, towns devastated after Idalia

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The dog that Warren spotted was a 14-year-old boxer-pit bull mix named Sienna, who had gotten out of her owners backyard during a break in the severe storms two days earlier, leaving 60-year-old Renee Morton of Elyria, heartbroken.

I recently lost my husband to ALS in April, and to lose her too would have been so hard, Morton said. I worried that she might not come back, but in the back of my head, I still believed that God could bring her back if he wanted to.

Meanwhile, Warren decided to call the Lorain County dog warden. When Chief Deputy Nelson Delgado arrived, he immediately suspected the dog trapped in the mud in the ravine, was the same pet that Morton reported missing two days earlier.

I had never seen the river that high before, this is really crazy water running through it, saw the dog not moving, I call her, Sienna, and then she kind of woke up, Delgado told WJW.

South Carolina woman recalls moment a tornado flipped her car during Idalia

Delgado said he knew he had to hurry because if Sienna was swept away in the currents of the river, she would have faced a certain death once she reached the nearby waterfalls at Cascade Park in Elyria.

The chief deputy used a fallen tree to edge his way down into the ravine. He said he fell a couple of times but kept going until he reached Sienna. He then led the dog back up to the top of the bluff and safety.

It made me feel good. Its alive and its going back to the original owner, who I know loves that dog so much. So it was nice, it was a good feeling, Delgado said.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Delgado then drove to Mortons home and told her that he had something to return to her  her beloved Sienna.

Morton beamed as she told News 2s sister station, It was just a miracle, just a total miracle.

Sienna is the third dog that Delgado has rescued along the Black River. He said, It was just the joy of doing my job, but at the same time, helping somebody, making them feel really happy about it.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
(KARK/NEXSTAR)  Trader Joes is recalling some Texas Tamale Company Gourmet Black Bean Tamales products due to the potential presence of an undeclared milk allergen. The products were sold exclusively at Trader Joes stores.

The recall is for Gourmet Black Bean Tamales products with a Best Before date of 06/19/2025 and Lot code 17023 printed on the vacuum-sealed packaging. The products also contain UPC number 717725000580.

5 recalls in 4 weeks: All the things from Trader Joes you should toss

Texas Tamale Company, which makes the products, said some milk-containing products were mistakenly packaged in Gourmet Black Bean Tamales bags. Texas Tamale Company says affected products will be filled with white cheese and hatch green chiles instead of black beans.

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The affected items were only sold in the following states:

Alabama

Arkansas

Colorado

Kansas

Louisiana

New Mexico

Oklahoma

Tennessee

Texas

People with an allergy or heightened sensitivity to milk could be at risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reactions if consumed. Customers who have the affected products are advised to throw them away immediately or return them to Trader Joes for a refund.

Trader Joes crackers product recalled, may contain metal

There have been no injuries reported to date, Trader Joes said. All potentially affected products have been removed from the shelves.

For more information or assistance, you can call Trader Joes at (626) 599-3817 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT Mondays through Fridays. Alternatively, customers can also call Texas Tamale Company at (800) T-TAMALE from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST Mondays through Fridays.

This is the sixth recall Trader Joes has issued in recent weeks.

In a statement Wednesday, a spokesperson for Trader Joes called the timing of the recalls coincidental, saying that the company errs on the side of caution and are proactive in addressing issues, as reported by the New York Times. The representative said Trader Joes takes action voluntarily, without prompting from regulatory agencies, once any doubt arises regarding an items safety.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
A State Highway Patrol trooper shot and killed a 20-year-old man during an exchange of gunfire in a South Raleigh neighborhood on Friday, the agency said.

Jaylen Latrelle Routt, of Fayetteville, was allegedly speeding and didnt pull over for officers in Johnston County. He then engaged in a high-speed chase with troopers at around 1:08 a.m.

Routt was clocked at 101 mph in a 70 mph zone, according to a news release. Routt was wanted for crimes in Cumberland County, including murder, authorities said.

Routt allegedly fled from troopers on Interstate 40 westbound and exited onto Hammond Road at exit 299, where he crashed into a grassy lot at the intersection of East and Branch streets near downtown Raleigh.

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Officers engaged in a shootout with Routt after he allegedly pulled out a firearm and shot at them.

Master Trooper Harrison Nazal of Johnston County returned to fire and struck Routt, who died in a WakeMed hospital from his injuries.

The State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the incident.
Author James Renner will deliver a talk Sept. 11 at Rodman Public LIbrary as part of the 2023 Fogle Author Series.

His last name is a palindrome.

Hes a founding member of Last Call Cleveland, a sketch comedy troupe.

He directed a film based on the Stephen King story All That You Love Will Be Carried Away that the famed author sold him for $1, as well as a documentary that explored the influence of J.D. Salingers Catcher in the Ryethat led to a short meeting with the reclusive writer  all in 2004.

A year later, he was named by Cleveland Magazine as one of the citys 30 most interesting people.

However, James Renner is best known for his work as a true crime writer.

Renner started making a name for himself as a journalist with Clevelands Scene Magazine when he uncovered new clues and suspects in the cold-case murder of Amy Mihaljevic, a 10-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a Bay Village shopping center in October 1989. Her remains were found in February 1990 in Ashland County.

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His work led to the successful closure of the Tina Harmon case in 2009. Harmon was a 12-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in October 1981.

Renner spent months researching the Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus abductions when the girls were still missing and said he is haunted by the fact that he had Castros name in his notes.

He also wrote the critically acclaimed True Crime Addict, which examines how he became obsessed with the case of Maura Murray, a 21-year-old woman who disappeared Feb. 9, 2004, after a car crash on Route 112 near Woodsville, New Hampshire, and whose whereabouts remain unknown.

When the Kent State graduate appears at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at Rodman Public Library as part of the Fogle Author Series, he will discuss his latest book  Little, Crazy Children  which was released earlier this year.

Registration is required to attend Renners visit at rodmanlibrary.evanced.info/signup.

In Little, Crazy Children, Renner explores the unsolved murder of 16-year-old Lisa Pruett, who was on her way to a midnight tryst with her boyfriend in Shaker Heights when she was stabbed to death only 30 feet from the boys home in September 1990.

The murder cast a gloom over the community and a high school outcast was arrested, charged and tried for the crime. But without a shred of evidence against him, the teen was acquitted and that sparked anger and outrage among those who believed that he got away with murder.

The host of two podcasts, including The Philosophy of Crime and True Crime This Week, Renner has also penned two novels, including The Man from Primrose Lane, which blends mystery with sci-fi in a very unique structure, and The Great Forgetting, described as a love letter to conspiracy thrillers.

An Akron resident, Renner is the founder of The Porchlight Project, a nonprofit that raises money for new DNA testing of cold cases in Ohio. In 2020, an arrest was made in its first case  the murder of Barbara Blatnik  thanks to its funding of genetic genealogy.

Ahead of his visit, here are some questions and answers with James Renner:

Q: You began your writing career as a journalist. Did you always want to be a reporter/writer covering crime?

A: When I was younger, I wanted to be an FBI agent, like Fox Mulder. But when I got to Kent State, I started writing for the student newspaper and fell in love with journalism. Back then, the free alt-weekly from Cleveland, Scene Magazine, could be found all over town and I would spend afternoons reading the long-form stories of crime and local politics. That's the kind of stuff I wanted to do. So after graduation, I began submitting stories to Scene and eventually they started to publish them. I worked there for several years and had a blast. It opened the doors to the bigger world of book publishing for me.

Q: How do you decide what to write about?

A: I'm constantly reading about unsolved mysteries online and every so often one of those stories gets its hooks in me and I have to dive deeper. If I find one that has plenty of sources and documentation, I begin to structure a new book around it. That gives me permission to travel to the locations and meet the people involved. Like getting a front-row seat to history.

Q: Is there any story that haunts you? Is there any case that you would really like to research that you haven't yet?

A: The Amy Mihaljevic story will always haunt me. We were the same age, both born in 1978. So her abduction and murder had a profound effect on me and how I saw the world. I still think about that case all the time. One case I'd love to look into further is the disappearance of MH370. I find it fascinating that a jumbo jet can just disappear in this day of satellites and data tracking.

Q: What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

A: I always tell aspiring writers to pick up two books: Stephen King's On Writing, and the Writers Market manual. Those two books will explain everything you need to know. You should also be reading and writing every day. It should feel like a compulsion. Schedule your day around writing.

Q: If you weren't a writer, what do you think you would be doing?

A: I think if I weren't a writer, I'd enjoy being a short order cook at a diner. As long as you're adequate, you're making everyone happy and you can lose yourself in the routine of the work.

Q: What can people expect when they come see you at Rodman Library?

A: You're going to learn more about the unsolved mystery of Lisa Pruett than anyone other than the police.

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: True crime author Renner to speak at Rodman Library


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One of the most celebrated and acclaimed composers of the 20th century, Leonard Bernstein was a larger than life figure. Best known for composing the Broadway musical West Side Story, Bernstein was one of the first American-born conductors to receive global fame and lead world-class orchestras.

His wife, Felicia Montealegre , was less prominent but was an impressive artist in her own right. A successful actor who performed on Broadway and television, she also played piano, sang, and was an amateur painter and sculptor. Bernstein and Montealegre were a power couple in the public eye, and she was a source of strength and inspiration for her husband.

But their relationship was not an easy one. Bernstein had affairs with both women and men throughout his life, as Montealegre well knew. They broke off their engagement once before marrying, and Bernstein left her for a man at one point in their marriage, after which Montealegre angrily declared that Bernstein was going to die a bitter and lonely old man.

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Their love, marriage, estrangement, and ultimate reconciliation is the subject of the upcoming biopic Maestro, which features Bradley Cooper as Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as Montealegre. The first trailer for the movie, directed by Cooper, released Wednesday ahead of the films release in theaters on November 22. Here is the true story of the romance at the heart of Maestro.

Thats Where We Fell in Love

Although born in Costa Rica, Montealegres family moved to Chile when she was 1 year old. There, her musical talent was recognized by the famed Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau, who tutored her on the instrument before she moved to New York in 1944 to study acting, according to Leonard Bernstein: The Infinite Variety of a Musician by Peter Gradenwitz.



Before they actually met, Montealegre had seen Bernstein conducting at the New York City Center and was said to have expressed her intention of marrying him even then, according to the biography Leonard Bernstein by Humphrey Burton.

Getty Images

The two finally met at a party on February 5, 1947, one day before Montealegres 24th birthday. Bernstein, then 28, had just played the Brahms D minor concerto with Arrau, the partys host, during a New York City concert. Arrau introduced Bernstein and Montealegre and thats where we fell in love, Bernstein said, according to Gradenwitz.

A few months after this encounter, the two were engaged, but they subsequently decided they werent ready for marriage and broke it off within less than a year. Montealegre began a romantic relationship with actor Richad Hart, with whom she had performed in several plays, but he died of a coronary occlusion in January 1951, at age 35, according to Burton.

After Harts death, Montealegre and Bernstein rekindled their romance. However, as Burton wrote: Over the next few months, she would learn the hard way, through his absence, about his peripatetic lifestyle, with its pattern of incessant travel and hotel meals, new orchestras to conquer and other relationships to pursue.

Living an Imaginary Life

Bernstein and Montealegre announced their second engagement in August 1951, and they were married less than a month later. According to Burton, Bernsteins parents didnt like Montealegre at firsthis mother told Bernstein I dont think she is the girl for you; you deserve someone betterbut they both eventually came around.



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The couple went on to have three children named Jamie, Alexander, and Nina. In the public eye, Bernstein seemed like a devoted husband and father, but in reality, he was engaged with multiple affairs with both men and women while married, Burton said.

Montealegre, who knew of Bernsteins reputation for affairs before marrying him, maintained a positive demeanor to the outside world, but his behavior put intense pressure on her. According to Burton, Montealegre knew he had male sexual partners but believed she could change him because he didnt exclusively sleep with men.

You are a homosexual and may never change, she wrote in a letter to Bernstein. Lets try and see what happens if you are free to do as you like, but without guilt and confession Our marriage is not based on passion but on tenderness and mutual respect.

Bernstein, himself, was torn about his bisexuality and engaged in years of therapy with the apparent hope of being cured, according to The New York Times. In describing his sexual attractiveness toward men, Bernstein wrote to his sister, I have been engaged in an imaginary life with Felicia.

Estranged then Reunited

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In 1971, Bernstein met and fell in love with Tom Cothran, the music director of a San Francisco classical radio station. After bonding over their love of music, the two began an affair and repeatedly took vacations together. After five years, Bernstein left Montealegre to live with Cothran in California, according to Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician by Allen Shawn.

Montealegre felt destroyed, not only by Bernstein leaving her, but also by his claim that Cothranrather than shewas his best friend and the only person who truly understood his music, according to Burton. Infuriated, she told Bernstein that he was going to die a bitter and lonely old man.

Shortly after their separation, Montealegre was diagnosed with lung cancer. Upon learning this, Bernstein returned to Montealegre and cared for her until her death on June 16, 1978, at age 56. Bernstein never fully recovered from the loss. He was heartbroken, his friend Yehudi Menuhin said, according to Gradenwitz. He is a man who feels so very deeply.

Bernstein didnt resume his romance with Cothran, though the two remained friends until Cothran died from AIDS in 1987, according to Burton. Bernstein died of a heart attack three years later on October 14, 1990. He was buried at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, alongside Montealegre.

See Maestro in Theaters on November 22

Carey Mulligan stars as Felicia Montealegre opposite Bradley Coopers Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. The Netflix movie will be in select theaters on November 22 ahead of its streaming release on December 20.

See More on Netflix

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WASHINGTON  The No. 2 official in New Hampshire on Donald Trump 's presidential campaign told police to kill themselves in an expletive-ridden Jan. 6 video shot close to the U.S. Capitol, according to a recording posted this month by an X account associated with the "Sedition Hunters," a group of online sleuths who have helped authorities identify hundreds of people present that day.

"If you are a police officer and are going to abide by unconstitutional bulls---, I want you to do me a favor right now and go hang yourself, because youre a piece of s---," Dylan Quattrucci, the deputy state director of Trump's campaign in New Hampshire, says in the video. "Go f--- yourself."

Four officers who responded to the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, later died by suicide. The Justice Department determined this month that one of the officers, Jeffrey Smith, died in the line of duty as part of a process that awards survivor benefits to his widow.

Two people who are familiar with Quattrucci confirmed to NBC News that the man in the video is him. The video shows him wearing the same outfit he was wearing in tweets he posted that day that were first surfaced by WMUR-TV of Manchester.

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While the Capitol is in the background behind him, there is no evidence that he entered the building.

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who testified in October at the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial, praised his former colleagues on Thursday night and called Quattrucci "a failure."

I hope Dylan Quattrucci will take the time to comprehend that 4 members of Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Dept did die via suicide and that the efforts to stop the certification of duly elected President Biden failed in part because of their brave heroics, U.S. Dunn told NBC News in a text message. You are a failure. Those men will be remembered for service to their country. And youll be remembered as the guy in the cheap suit during the failed insurrection.

Trump has made defense of law enforcement a central tenet of his political identity, despite his supporters' attack on police after the 2020 election. He has also portrayed the mob at the Capitol as patriots and said he would pardon a "large portion" of those convicted of crimes related to the riot.

Polls show he has a wide lead in the race for New Hampshire's delegates to the Republican National Convention, as he does across the country.

Quattrucci did not respond to a phone call and a text message seeking comment. Steven Cheung, the Trump campaigns spokesman, did not provide a comment about the video and whether Quattrucci still works for the campaign.

In a separate YouTube video, Quattrucci talks about members of Congress who were locked down because of the riot.

This is nuts, this is history, this is America, we love our president, lets gooooo! he says in the video.

The photo pinned at the top of Quattrucci's account on X, the social media platform long known as Twitter, is one of him with Trump at a New Hampshire campaign office on June 27.

Campaign finance records show that he began working for the Trump campaign in May and made $6,500 in June, the last month for which spending disclosures have been made available.

Quattrucci was an aide on the unsuccessful 2022 congressional campaign of Karoline Leavitt, who now works for a Trump-aligned political action committee. Leavitt did not respond to a text message seeking an interview about Quattrucci.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Kenneth Chesebro, the attorney accused of concocting the fake electors strategy deployed by former President Donald Trump in 2020, has pleaded not guilty on seven criminal charges.

Chesebros plea in the case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was filed Thursday and also waives his right to a formal arraignment on multiple state charges, including counts of racketeering and conspiracy to commit forgery. His trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 23.

Chesebro also asked the court to sever his trial from co-defendant Sidney Powell, a former Trump campaign lawyer who has also pleaded not guilty, arguing that they worked separately with Trump and had no direct contact with each other.

In that request, Chesebros lawyers slammed attempts by the State to incorrectly paint Mr. Chesebro as the alleged architect of the Trump elector scheme.

In this handout provided by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro poses for his booking photo on Aug. 23 in Atlanta, Georgia.

In this handout provided by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro poses for his booking photo on Aug. 23 in Atlanta, Georgia.

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But investigations, including the lengthy probe by the Houses Jan. 6 committee, have found Chesebro to be the main driver behind the Trumps campaigns fake electors idea, which attempted to swap out legitimate electoral certificates in seven states, including Georgia, that President Joe Biden won in favor of fraudulent ones declaring Trump the winner. The scheme fell apart when former Vice President Mike Pence refused to comply with the plan.

In a Dec. 6, 2020, memo Chesebro wrote, revealed by The New York Times earlier this month, the lawyer pitched the plan in writing.

I recognize that what I suggest is a bold, controversial strategy, and that there are many reasons why it might not end up being executed on January 6, Chesebro wrote in the document. But as long as it is one possible option, to preserve it as a possibility it is important that the Trump-Pence electors cast their electoral votes on December 14.

Even if the U.S. Supreme court ultimately ruled that Pence couldnt certify fake electors, Chesebro wrote, letting matters play out this way would guarantee that public attention would be riveted on the evidence of electoral abuses by the Democrats, and would also buy the Trump campaign more time to win litigation.

Chesebro and Trump are two of 19 defendants charged for their involvement in the effort to overturn Georgias 2020 presidential election results. Trump has also pleaded not guilty.

Related...
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Beninese counterpart, Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon, announced the establishment of a China-Benin strategic partnership on Friday.

The announcement was made when Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China on a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

During their talks, Xi noted that China-Benin relations have enjoyed a sound development momentum in recent years, with solid progress achieved in practical cooperation.

The two countries have provided support for issues related to each other's core interests and major concerns, and maintained sound communication and coordination during multilateral events, Xi said.

"China attaches great importance to developing relations with Benin, and is willing to maintain closer exchanges at all levels, deepen friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and push bilateral relations to a new level," Xi said.

Expounding on the essential connotations of Chinese modernization, Xi said that China has embarked on a modernization path different from that of the West. He noted that the key is always adhering to China's national conditions and the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

China supports Benin in independently exploring a development path suited to its actual conditions, and stands ready to strengthen exchanges of governance experience with Benin, share experience in reform and development, firmly support each other, and achieve common development, Xi said.

He said China encourages its enterprises to invest in and cooperate with Benin, and welcomes Benin to promote the entry of its high-quality products with unique features into the Chinese market, by making full use of such large-scale events as the Global Trade in Services Summit and the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.

Xi also underlined bilateral cooperation in education, health care, and the construction of the Luban Workshop, a project named after the ancient Chinese craftsman Lu Ban to provide vocational skills training for local people.

He called on the two sides to strengthen counterterrorism and security cooperation, work closely to coordinate in international affairs, safeguard the common interests of developing countries and international fairness and justice, and safeguard regional and global peace and development.

Xi said 2023 marks 10 years since he proposed China's Africa policy with the principles of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith. Over the past decade, China has treated its African friends with sincerity and provided sincere support for Africa's development. China-Africa cooperation has become a model for South-South cooperation and international cooperation with Africa.

He said China supports Africa in becoming an important pole in the world's political, economic and civilization development, and stands ready to provide new opportunities for Africa alongside China's development. China will work with African countries, including Benin, to implement the outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and facilitate the further alignment of initiatives put forward by the Chinese side, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, with the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 and the development strategies of African countries.

"We will support Africa in achieving economic recovery and sustainable development, and will work together to build a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era," Xi said.

Talon said China is a great friend of Benin and the two peoples share a profound and sincere friendship. High-quality, mutually beneficial cooperation between Benin and China will strongly promote Benin's industrialization process and help it better achieve national development.

There should be more than one model of democracy, and genuine democracy should benefit all people. In this regard, China has set a good example for other countries, Talon said.

Benin has benefited significantly from China's experience in governance, and is willing to build a true strategic partnership with China, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and realize national development and prosperity as China has done, Talon said.

Benin firmly adheres to the one-China policy, and is willing to work closely with China to actively advance the Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of a community with a shared future for humanity, Talon said.

After the talks, the two heads of state witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation documents on deepening Belt and Road cooperation, green development, the digital economy, agricultural food, health and other fields.

Yu Jia, a senior researcher at the Institute of New Structural Economics of Peking University, said that although China and Benin are different in size, they are both equal members of and participants in the international community, and the most important thing is to expand the development of common interests.

"The establishment of this strategic partnership is bound to raise the levels of exchanges and cooperation between the two sides," Yu said.

Yu said that Talon's visit shows that China and African countries have broad willingness to cooperate in many fields, and that their cooperation is lasting and comprehensive. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon at the square outside the east entrance of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon at the square outside the east entrance of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon at the square outside the east entrance of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon at the square outside the east entrance of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)
ATLANTA  Rudy Giuliani , who championed former President Donald Trump 's false claims of a stolen election, pleaded not guilty Friday in the Georgia interference case.

Giuliani "waives formal arraignment, pleads NOT GUILTY to all pending charges" in the indictment, attorneys for the former New York City mayor said in a court filing signed by Giuliani late Friday.

Both Giuliani and Trump, who pleaded not guilty Thursday, face 13 criminal counts  the most among the 19 defendants in the sprawling case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis .

Giuliani is charged with racketeering and conspiracy charges that include allegedly pressuring state officials to act on his bogus election claims. He is also accused of making false claims in sworn legal filings.

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Speaking to reporters last week after he was booked at Fulton County Jail, Giuliani maintained his innocence and said the only thing he's guilty of was advocating for then-President Trump, who was his client at the time. I am being indicted because Im a lawyer, Giuliani said after he was released on a $150,000 bond.

Most of the defendants in the case have now pleaded not guilty.

Kenneth Chesebro, the attorney who helped concoct the legal theory behind the so-called fake electors scheme used by Trump and his allies, pleaded not guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges in the case late Thursday.

In a filing to the judge overseeing the criminal case, Chesebro said he was not guilty of the charges against him and waived his arraignment in the case, which, like Giuliani's, had been scheduled for Sept. 6.

Trump similarly on Thursday submitted a written not guilty plea and waived arraignment, which is allowed under Georgia law. Others who have done so include former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell , Jenna Ellis and Ray Smith, and Trevian Kutti, a publicist who's represented Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West.

Earlier Friday, Michael Roman, a former Trump White House official who worked on his 2016 and 2020 campaigns and is accused of taking part in the electors scheme, pleaded not guilty and waived his arraignment. Others who have pleaded not guilty include Stephen Lee and Harrison Floyd, who are charged with trying to get an election worker to make false statements, and Scott Hall, accused of taking part in a scheme to tamper with voting machines.

Also pleading not guilty was Robert Cheeley, an attorney who prosecutors said was involved in the electors' scheme and then lied about his involvement when he testified before the special grand jury in Fulton County that heard evidence in the case.

Those who have yet to enter a written plea and are still scheduled to be arraigned next week.

Chesebro previously agreed to a $100,000 bond in the case.

The indictment charges that Chesebro authored a memo outlining a plan to have "alternate" presidential electors cast their votes for Trump in states that were won by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and helped organize the effort in those states, including Georgia.

He also sent a co-defendant an email on Jan. 1, 2021, that "outlined strategy for disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021," the filing said.

Chesebro maintains he was merely sharing legal advice and did not do anything criminal. He has requested a speedy trial in the case, which Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has signed off on and scheduled for Oct. 23.

Chesebro has also asked the judge to sever his case from the other co-defendants, a request which is still pending.

Willis' office had asked the judge to clarify whether the Oct. 23 trial date applies to other defendants as well. In a ruling Friday, McAfee said he would sort out those issues after all defendants are arraigned and he's considered their various severance motions.

Willis had asked the judge to elaborate because of a line in his order granting Chesebro's request for a speedy trial, where he wrote that [a]t this time, these deadlines do not apply to any co-defendant.

The district attorney's office said in a court filing that it "maintains its position that severance is improper at this juncture and that all Defendants should be tried together."

Powell has also filed a request for a speedy trial. In a filing Friday, Chesebro contended they should be tried separately because the charges against them are "entirely separate, and completely unrelated."

"The fact that Mr. Chesebro is implicated with Ms. Powell will inextricably link them together and has the potential to cause a tremendous prejudice, the filing says.

In a court filing Thursday, Trump's lawyer Steven Sadow said the former president opposes going to trial in October because they would "not have sufficient time to prepare President Trumps case for trial." Trump has said the Georgia case and the three other criminal trials hes facing should be delayed until after the 2024 presidential election. Those three cases have been scheduled to start before next year's general election.

Charlie Gile reported from Atlanta, Dareh Gregorian reported from New York.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Former President Donald Trump 's trial in Georgia is sure to be watched by a large television audience, and a Fox News interview given Wednesday by one of his co-defendants may not have had the desired reception. Across the country, meanwhile, Democratic activists are pushing legal action to keep Trump off presidential ballots.

Georgia election interference

Trumps Fulton County trial will be televised

Key players: Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis

McAfee confirmed Thursday that Trumps trial in Fulton County, Ga., will be livestreamed on YouTube, all but guaranteeing that it will also be broadcast nationwide on television screens, CBS News reported.

Trump is charged with 13 felony counts in connection with his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state. He is one of 19 people charged with crimes by Willis. On Wednesday he pleaded not guilty, NBC News reported, through a waiver that spared him from making a court appearance on Sept. 6 for his scheduled arraignment.

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Why it matters: Trump is a master at using social media to try to control the narrative regarding the 91 felony counts he has been charged with this year. With cameras covering the proceedings in the Georgia case, Americans will be able to judge for themselves whether he receives a fair trial.

Eastman interview raises eyebrows

Key players: Former Trump lawyer John Eastman, Fox News host Laura Ingraham

One of the alleged architects of the plan for Vice President Mike Pence to send the Electoral College votes in key battlegrounds back to the states and potentially overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, Eastman sat for a Wednesday night interview with Fox News Ingraham, the Independent reported.

What I recommended, and Ive said this repeatedly, is that he accede to requests from more than 100 state legislators in the swing states, to give them a week to try and sort out the impact of what everybody acknowledged was illegality in the conduct of the election, Eastman told Ingraham about his advice to Pence.

For many legal experts, Eastmans remarks were an extraordinary miscalculation. He literally just confessed to the crime, attorney Bradley P. Moss wrote on X.

Eastman has been charged with nine felony counts in Fulton County.

Why it matters: Last week, legal expert Matthew Seligman testified at Eastmans California disbarment hearing that there was no legal justification for Pence to delay the certification of the election results, ABC News reported.

Jan. 6 election interference

Activists pressure state election officials to keep Trump off ballot using 14th Amendment

Key players: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, special counsel Jack Smith

Legal scholars and a growing number of Democratic activists contend that Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election  for which he has been criminally charged by Smith  disqualify him from running for reelection.

Via ABC News : Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment ... states that an elected official is not eligible to assume public office if that person "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against" the United States, or had "given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof," unless they are granted amnesty by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

Activists have filed lawsuits in Michigan, New Hampshire and Arizona to block Trumps name from appearing on the ballot, and secretaries of state in Maine, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada have begun having discussions in preparation for legal challenges there.

Why it matters: Trump likes to portray the 91 felony charges against him as ELECTION INTERFERENCE, given his substantial polling lead in the Republican presidential primary. The 14th Amendment argument, which Tribe laid out in a recent piece in the Atlantic, is poised to further that debate and play out in the courts in the months to come.

Read more:

Military Times: Two ex-Proud Boys leaders get among longest sentences in Jan. 6 attack

CNN: 'Trump isn't funding any of us': Co-defendants in Georgia case are struggling with mounting legal bills

USA Today: Pennsylvania judge rules Trump had immunity only in civil case  Fact check
The deputy director for former President Trumps 2024 campaign in New Hampshire was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and told police officers to kill themselves, newly revealed video from NBC News shows.

If you are a police officer and are going to abide by unconstitutional bullshit, I want you to do me a favor right now and go hang yourself, because youre a piece of shit, Dylan Quattrucci said in the video. Go f yourself.

Local New Hampshire media reported in August that Quattrucci attended the Jan. 6 protests, disclosing since-deleted tweets that proved he attended the event. In the tweets, Quattrucci claims that he was tear-gassed while protesting.

Mike Pence is a traitor to America, one tweet read.

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There is no evidence Quattrucci entered the Capitol.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

Four police officers committed suicide in the wake of the Jan. 6 riots, some specifically citing the trauma of the events. The Justice Department last month acknowledged one of the deaths as in the line of duty, allowing the officers family to receive benefits.

Quattrucci was named as Trumps New Hampshire deputy director in May, according to campaign finance records and his LinkedIn page.

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Trump holds a significant lead in the GOP presidential primary, including in New Hampshire. An Emerson College poll released mid-August showed him receiving about 49 percent support among polled Republicans in the state.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Donald Trump on Thursday proudly showed off a new T-shirt he hopes his fans will buy to help fund his campaign and legal defenses.

You can go out and get it, have fun with it, but people do like it, I must say, the former president said in a video posted on his Truth Social website where he held up the $34 shirt.

It features his mug shot, which was taken after his most recent arrest, and the words NEVER SURRENDER!

Donald Trump holds up a T-shirt for sale in a video on his Truth Social website.

Donald Trump holds up a T-shirt for sale in a video on his Truth Social website.

But theres one problem: The image on the shirt shows him literally in the act of surrendering.

The mug shot was snapped when Trump surrendered to authorities in Georgia to be booked on charges related to alleged election interference.

They make me look like a criminal, Trump complained in his video, but insisted that the mug shot totally backfired because its allowed him to raise $10 million.

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Proceeds from the shirt will go to Donald J. Trump for President 2024 Inc. and Save America. The latter is the PAC he has been using to pay legal fees, among other expenses, and which USA Today reported this week was almost broke after burning through roughly $150 million.

The people get it! he said in the video as he hawked the mug shirt.

Trumps critics on X  formerly known as Twitter  disagreed:

Buy your Never Surrender t-shirt of me literally surrendering.

ACT NOW!! https://t.co/VJPlAG5Rwt  Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) September 1, 2023

He's like one of those guys outside of a concert selling the knockoff tour shirts.  Devin Duke (@sirDukeDevin) September 1, 2023

Remember, that picture was only taken *because* he literally surrendered to law enforcement. https://t.co/a64ZUYQgmB  Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 1, 2023

From the guy who surrendered  Diane Steenstra (@dsdianern) August 31, 2023

He does a VERY good job of impersonating @AlecBaldwin impersonating Donald Trump. https://t.co/Zz8PDIzXd8  David Corn (@DavidCornDC) September 1, 2023

Whos going to sell the photo of him in his jumpsuit coming  ,it wont be him  debbie earley (@doxiedebbie) August 31, 2023

You know, next time somebody tells me

I just need to listen to Trump voters and try to understand them Im going to politely boop that person on the nose, walk away and continue living in reality here on good ol planet Earth. https://t.co/djhXzv9nDH  Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) September 1, 2023

Rock bottom: A former President of the United States hawking tee shirts online. Wow. Just Wow. https://t.co/zXWSoeBPzS  Little Crow  I am AntiFa. (@therealltlkrow) September 1, 2023

What billionaire sells T-shirts and begs for money from poor people? https://t.co/mEGKsmQzG2  Tracey Taylor London (@traytaymakeup) September 1, 2023

Not The Onion. Not SNL.



This is a real-life American major party presidential candidate promoting T-shirts with his actual criminal mug shot on the front.



Lord help us all. https://t.co/nONQ4KnuP5  John Corbett (@ErnestScribblr) September 1, 2023
Trump pushes back on allegations he inflated net worth, claims he was defamed

Former President Trump denied allegations from the New York attorney general that he significantly inflated his net worth, saying he was defamed by the state and claiming election interference.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) accused Trump of inflating his worth by $2.2 billion in court documents Wednesday. The claim is part of the states business fraud suit against Trump, the Trump Organization and two of his children.

In a Truth Social post Thursday, Trump said he was targeted and given no constitutional rights in the investigation.

THE THING I HAVE IS A GREAT CASE BASED ON PHENOMENAL NUMBERS THAT SHOW A NET WORTH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS MORE THAN SHE VICIOUSLY & FALSELY CLAIMED, VERY LITTLE DEBT, BIG CASH, A POWERFUL DISCLAIMER CLAUSE, PAID OFF LOANS, NO DEFAULTS, HAPPY BANKS, GREAT ASSETS, Trump said.

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I WAS DEFAMED BY NYS  ELECTION INTERFERENCE!

The lawsuit seeks a $250 million fine and to bar Trump and his children from running businesses in New York in the future.

Specifically, James said Trumps company changed the value of its assets in order to pay a lower tax rate and receive better insurance rates.

The civil suit is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 8.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departure from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Atlanta. Trump has pleaded not guilty and waived arraignment in the case accusing him and others of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. | Alex Brandon, Associated Press

A new court filing details that former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday in the Fulton County election interference case.

Here are the details you need to know:

Trump will skip arraignment in Georgia, according to Axios.

According to the court document Trump said, Understanding my rights, I do hereby freely and voluntarily waive my right to be present at my arraignment on the indictment and my right to have it read to me in open court.

The New York Times reported that the details are unclear as to where or when Trump will go to trial for this case.

CNN reported this is the fourth time that Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges since leaving the presidency.

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How did Trump waive his arraignment appearance? The Associated Press reported that the arraignment hearings set to take place on Sept. 6 for Trump and the 18 others charged in the case, by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, were waived when Trump entered a not guilty plea.

Trump reportedly requested that the judge separate his case from those of defendants who have asked for an expedited trial to which attorney Steve Sadow responded in a court filing that this would, violate President Trumps federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law.

What does it mean to waive an arraignment? Because of the plea, Trump doesnt need to come to court to answer for a criminal charge.

Diario AS reported that, this occurs early in the legal process, following an arrest and booking. During the arraignment, the defendant is brought before a court, informed of the charges against them, and asked to enter a plea.

Due to the public interest of this case, the plea was filed earlier than in a typical case with less public interest.

Whats next in the Georgia election case? CBS News reported that Fani T. Willis, the prosecutor who brought the case. proposed that the trial for the 19 defendants should take place on March 4, 2024.

Fulton County Superior Court judge, Scott McAfee reportedly approved the date of Oct. 23 this year for one of the charged defendants, Kenneth Chesebro only, saying that the accelerated timeline for the trial and pretrial proceedings do(es) not apply to any co-defendant.

Related

Can Kemp pardon Trump? The Times reported that the plea was given right as Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia dismissed demands from the former president and some of his supporters to start impeachment proceedings against Fani T. Willis, the prosecutor who brought the case.

As for why Kemp is staying out of the trial he said, In Georgia, we will not be engaging in political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment.

Kemp continued his statement in a conference at the state Capitol when he said, We will do what is right, we will uphold our oath as public servants, and its my belief that our state will be better off for it.
In a letter to The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, former President Donald Trump argues that more tariffs are needed to reduce America's trade deficit, which has grown to a record high under the watch of President Joe Biden.

"Under Joe Biden, our trade deficits, also known as losses, have hit record highs," Trump wrote, in response to the Journal's criticism of his plans for higher tariffs. "Since 2000 the U.S. has racked up $17 trillion in cumulative trade deficits with the world. Only a fool or a fanatic would dismiss these facts as irrelevant."

But only a fool or a fanatic could ignore the fact that we've already witnessed how raising tariffs doesn't reduce the trade deficit, which is the gap between the total value of a country's exports and imports. Trump's latest protectionist proposal is undermined by the reality of Trump's previous trade policiesand the fact that Biden has largely left them untouched since taking office. If America's trade deficits are determined by the policies of the current presidenta very iffy claim, but the one Trump is makingthen the former president is equally responsible.

The numbers don't lie. America's trade deficit was $49 billion in March 2018, the month Trump announced his trade war and started hiking tariffs. By August 2020, the trade deficit had hit a 14-year high of $67 billion. The deficit has hovered around that same level ever since: It rang in at $65 billion in June, the most recent month for which data are available.

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That increase in the trade deficit occurred alongside climbing tariff rates. The average tariff rate on imports was about 1.5 percent when Trump took office. Today, it's over 3 percent. That's due to Trump's tariff increases, and Biden's unwillingness to reverse them.

Those figures ought to raise an obvious question: If tariff rates have increased and the trade deficit has grown, why would yet higher tariffs work to reduce the gap?

Trump's fixation on the trade deficit is not new. He spent much of the 2016 campaign and a significant amount of time during his four years in the White House complaining about the deficit, which he argues is evidence that foreign countries are somehow ripping off American businesses. (That's wrong, but let's not worry about that for now.)

In fact, there's significant evidence that Trump's tariffs actually added to America's trade deficit. That's because one of the consequences of higher tariffs is a reduction in exports, and fewer exports will make a trade deficit grow.

But the main reason why the trade deficit has grown in recent years is that Americans are choosing to buy more stuff from abroad. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Trump's tariff plan amounts to a massive tax increase on Americans whose decisions the former president doesn't like.

The size of the country's trade deficitlike many other economic indicatorsis largely beyond the power of a president to control. But if Trump wants to judge the current chief executive by the size of the trade deficit, he should have to answer for the same critique.

The post Trump's Tariffs Didn't Reduce the Trade Deficit. Why Would They Work Now? appeared first on Reason.com.
Tucker Carlson , the far-right media personality who was fired by Fox News earlier this year, claimed without evidence this week that the United States is speeding towards the assassination of former President Donald Trump  a comment that has started to gain traction with prominent voices on the conservative fringe.

In an interview with the comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla, Carlson was asked to comment on what the future holds for Trump, who is leading the field for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Carlson proceeded to rail against the fact that the former president was twice impeached and faces four indictments.

If you begin with criticism, then you go to protest, then you go to impeachment, now you go to indictment and none of them work. Whats next? Graph it out, man. Were speeding towards assassination, obviously.  They have decided  permanent Washington, both parties have decided  that theres something about Trump thats so threatening to them, they just cant have him, Carlson said in the interview, which was posted online Wednesday.

Carlson's lawyer did not provide comment for this article.

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The comments have been picked up by other media personalities on the far right, including conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and former Fox News host Dan Bongino, who now posts content on Rumble, an online video platform known for hosting far-right personalities. The comments also circulated on the pro-Trump internet forum Patriots.win, also known as TheDonald.

Jones, who made similar comments about a hypothetical assassination earlier this year, discussed Carlsons remarks on his show, Infowars.

The most recent episode of Bonginos podcast is titled Speeding Towards Assassination? In the episode description published on the Apple Podcasts platform, he asserts without evidence that the plot to take out Trump is metastasizing. Bonginos show is among the most popular on podcasts in Apples rankings, according to Chartable, a podcast analytics company.

In far-right and conspiratorial circles, Trump has long been presented as the target of a vast plot orchestrated in part by Washingtons deep state as well as the Democratic establishment and the news media. The former president has embraced this worldview, referring to himself as a victim and the center of a witch hunt.

Daniel Jones, the president of the nonpartisan research organization Advance Democracy, said Carlsons comments are an example of the kind of rhetoric that can incite real-world violence.

Those of us who follow and track extremism have seen that the rhetoric around the indictments of Trump is very similar to the rhetoric we saw prior to the Capitol insurrection, Jones said. I think everyone in this space is concerned about what the next 12 to 18 months look like.

Carlsons remarks came a week after he hosted an interview with Trump that was uploaded to X, the social media service formerly known as Twitter. In that interview, which was posted during the first debate of the Republican presidential primary, Carlson asked Trump whether he was worried that theyre going to try and kill you.

Why wouldnt they try and kill you? Honestly, Carlson asked. In response, Trump said: Theyre savage animals. Theyre people that are sick.

Carlson was fired by Fox News in April days after the network and its parent company agreed to pay almost $800 million to Dominion Voting Systems to avert a high-stakes defamation trial. The network did not provide a public explanation for why he was ousted. He was one of the networks biggest stars and widely seen as one of the leading figures in a conservative movement reshaped by the rise of Trump. In the wake of his departure, Carlson started posting episodes of a new political commentary show on X.

Trump faced an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Las Vegas in June 2016, a month before he formally secured the GOP presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Michael Sandford, a 20-year-old British man, tried to grab a police officers gun at the campaign event and told authorities he wanted to kill Trump.

Four presidents have been assassinated while in office, and two were wounded in assassination attempts. Trump's immediate predecessors faced various violent threats on their lives.

Carlson faced intense scrutiny last year when extremism experts drew a link between his on-air statements and the "great replacement" white nationalist views espoused by a gunman who killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York.

He also attracted fierce criticism for spreading political misinformation, supporting conspiracy theories about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, minimizing the severity of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and attacking journalists at other outlets.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
This Labor Day, we have the opportunity to reflect on one of the great triumphs of the Illinois labor movement. This month marks the 40th anniversary of collective bargaining for teachers and education support staff in Illinois. It is a momentous occasion, and we must take the time to acknowledge the transformative power of collective voice in education.

Four decades ago, under the direction of Republican Gov. Jim Thompson and through the intense lobbying efforts of the Illinois Education Association (IEA), the state of Illinois took a significant step toward recognizing the rights of its teachers and education support staff to negotiate fair wages, benefits, working and learning conditions by passing the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (IELRA).

The IELRA is the Illinois law that requires school districts to recognize and bargain with education labor unions. This landmark event not only revolutionized the landscape of public education, but it also empowered teachers and education support staff, like paraprofessionals, bus drivers, nurses and secretaries, to play an active role in shaping the future of education.

Together, we continue to advocate for our students, their education and our communities.

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More: 61% of Rockford students are chronically absent, more than double state average

Prior to the introduction of collective bargaining, Illinois was home to 25 strikes a year on average and more than 200 illegal strikes over the course of a decade.

Hundreds of teachers were fired for going on strike and others were arrested for refusing to agree to the contracts their school districts imposed. Educators faced innumerable challenges.

There were no limits on class sizes, far fewer supports and, sometimes, not enough textbooks and other supplies for students. There were segregated schools and inequitable learning conditions. Wages were often subpar, working conditions were inconsistent and educator voices were often ignored in policy discussions. Women were not allowed to wear pants and often earned less than their male counterparts.

The dawn of collective bargaining in 1983 marked a turning point, giving teachers and education support staff a collective voice and requiring school districts to listen. This shift gave way to public education as we know it today.

The IEA, the largest union in Illinois and the union Rockford teachers and education support staff locals are affiliated with, fought for more than a decade to win the right to collectively bargain in Illinois. The law written by the IEA, under the leadership of former IEA President Reg Weaver, and signed into law on Sept. 23, 1983, now helps improve students learning conditions and educators working conditions across the state.

Collective bargaining fosters collaboration between teachers, education support professionals, administrators, parents and community members, allowing everyone to work together for the betterment of all students. By engaging in meaningful negotiations, educators can advocate for smaller class sizes, access to resources and equitable learning conditions.

As Illinois celebrates four decades of collective bargaining, it is also celebrating four decades of improved educational outcomes and an enhanced public education experience for all students.

On this Labor Day, let us honor this milestone and remember that change is possible when we unite for a common cause.

To learn more about the passage of the IELRA go to ieacollectivebargining.org.

President of the Rockford Education Association IEA/NEA, Claudia Marshall; president of the Rockford Building Maintenance Association IEA/NEA, Scott Phelps; president of the Educational Office Personnel Association IEA/NEA, Charity Whitacre; president of the Educational Interpreters Association IEA/NEA, Cara Hoffman; and pPresident of the Illinois Education Association/NEA, Al Llorens

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Your turn: Celebrating 40 years of bargaining for Illinois education
Two people were killed in a shooting at the Arboretum in Northwest Austin, including the suspected shooter, interim police Chief Robin Henderson said at a news conference Thursday night.

She said one person with critical injuries was taken to a hospital. Two people were evaluated for minor injuries, officials said.

Henderson said there was no information about a motive and that the relationship between the shooter and the victims was unknown. "There are limited details tonight," she said.

She declined to say whether the shooting happened inside or outside a business at the shopping mall.

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The interim chief said police were first alerted at 5 p.m. about an active shooter, which meant that multiple agencies responded, including constables and Austin school district police. Officers arrived at 5:07 p.m., she said.

Austin Interim Police Chief Robin Henderson briefs media at the Great Hills Baptist Church on Thursday Aug. 31, 2023 in Austin. Police are investigating a shooting at The Arboretum shopping center that resulted in two deaths and multiple injuries on the afternoon of Aug. 31, 2023.

At 5:11 p.m., she said, police, firefighters and medics began treating a victim, who was taken to a hospital at 5:17 p.m. At 5:20, police pronounced two people dead.

Henderson said other agencies, including the FBI and ATF also arrived because there had been reports of an explosion at the scene. She said investigators found no explosives.

I would like to offer condolences to the families of the victims, in addition to the multiple witnesses that witnessed the tragedy here today," Henderson said.

Police and emergency medical personnel, some 30 vehicles, responded to the shooting at the 1000 block of Research Boulevard.

Austin police and EMS meet at the Great Hills Baptist Church for a media briefing on Thursday Aug. 31, 2023 in Austin. Police are investigating a shooting at The Arboretum shopping center that resulted in two deaths and multiple injuries on the afternoon of Aug. 31, 2023.

Multiple other businesses in the Arboretum were placed on lockdown for a short period of time.

Police are asking that anyone who has photographs or videos from the shooting to submit them to Evidence Request from Austin TX PD.

A chef at Hanara Sushi and Grill in the Arboretum said he could not hear any gunshots.

Security came to us and said close the door, theres a gun shooting, said Daniel Kwak. It was pretty scary, he said. I didnt expect that there was a shooting going on around me. 

The American-Statesman will update the story as more information becomes available.

An Austin Police vehicle blocks an entrance to The Arboretum shopping center after a shooting that resulted in two deaths and multiple injuries on Thursday Aug. 31, 2023 in Austin.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin police: 2 dead, including gunman, in shooting at Arboretum
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's northern Borneo state of Sarawak expects that the upcoming China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will help improve Sarawak's reputation among Chinese travelers, said a Malaysian official.

The Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak Ministry will be participating in the upcoming 2023 CIFTIS, with its minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah saying, "This CIFTIS platform is very timely as we actively promote Sarawak to attract more visitors from China to Sarawak."

Abdul Karim told Xinhua in a recent interview that the ministry's delegation will meet Chinese tourism players to promote its tourism products and strengthen mutual cooperation in order to promote Sarawak as a preferred destination.

"Since before the pandemic, Sarawak tourism has focused on creating greater awareness of Sarawak as a destination for China's outbound tourists, with 39,933 visitor arrivals recorded in 2019. As of July 2023, Sarawak has reported 23,149 in visitor arrivals, despite having no direct flights into Sarawak from China," he added.

Abdul Karim noted that Sarawak has had a longstanding history with China, and this presented another advantage for the state in seeking to draw visitors from China.

Abdul Karim noted the state has much to offer for travelers, particularly its lush biodiverse forests including sites recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Speaking of cooperation with China, Abdul Karim mentioned, "From sharing each other's music at the Rainforest World Music Festival to commercial cooperation, research opportunities in education to agrotourism and health tourism, among others, we are always working with China to further develop and strengthen our relationship and tourism opportunities with each other."

"We are also looking at re-establishing and improving connectivity with China. Direct flights between the state and China are being explored in the hopes that this will further attract more tourists from China," he added.

This year's edition of CIFTIS is scheduled to take place in Beijing from Sept. 2 to 6. 
PHILADELPHIA - Two Gloucester County men are accused of taking part in schemes that defrauded a housing agency of about $620,000.

Norman D. Wise, 57, of Mullica Hill, and Leonard F. Coleman, 53, of Paulsboro, allegedly bilked the Chester Housing Authority, in separate frauds, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia.

A third man  Douglas E. Daniel, 65, of Philadelphia  also was charged, the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Criminal charge for Ventnor official City employee collected resident's payments, accused of pocketing $91K

It alleged Wise and Daniel, who were Authority employees, created a contracting firm that fraudulently billed the agency for about $545,000 between January 2019 and January 2013.

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Separately, Coleman allegedly paid bribes worth about $76,000 to Wise and Daniel in exchange for contracting work worth about $2.5 million, the statement claimed.

The Authority operates 12 public-housing sites with about 800 homes in Chester, according to a court record.

Wise, an agency employee for about 35 years, was public housing director at the time of the alleged schemes. Daniel, an employee for about 25 years, was housing program manager and Wise's chief assistant.

The Authority employees used a firm called Trinity Management Group to submit fraudulent bills for landscaping, painting and other services between January 2019 and January 2023, the statement alleged.

While the firm performed some services, it also billed for work done by the Authority's employees during regular work hours and by other contractors who were paid separately by the agency.

Some of the fraudulent contracts were for work that wasn't done at all, the statement alleged.

In the second scheme, Wise and Daniel submitted inflated invoices to the Authority to cover the cost of Coleman's bribes, the statement alleged

The fraud began in July 2014, it claimed.

Wise took part in the scheme until April 2017, and Daniel continued accepting bribes until March 2022, says a charging document in Philadelphia federal court.

All three men are charged with bribery and fraud offenses.

The charges are only allegations. No one has been convicted in the case.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: jwalsh@cpsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Chester Housing Authority employees and contractor face fraud charges
Deputy Ethan Rogers and "Turbo" are law enforcement partners for the Richland County Sheriff's Office.

The Richland County Sheriff's Office has two new K-9s from Belgium on the force  Turbo and Jax.

Both have been trained to apprehend suspects and detect of narcotics and are already working with deputies on the streets.

Wednesday, Sheriff J. Steve Sheldon held a meet-and-greet with the media to introduce the dogs, one a German Shepherd and the other a Shepherd/Malinois mix.

Deputies Ethan Rogers and Alec Mills shared information about their new partners from the parking lot of the Richland County Sheriff's Office, 597 Park Avenue East.

K-9 Turbo turned 1 year old in June

Rogers, 24, an Ashland High School graduate, said Turbo, a Shepherd, turned one year old in June.

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Mills' new K-9 Jax is 2 years old. Mills is originally from Columbus.

Both dogs and their handlers completed a five-week training program in Warren, Sheldon said. Ohio requires law enforcement dogs to be certified through the Ohio Police Officer Training Academy. Both dogs are certified, the sheriff said.

Sheldon said the department's previous K-9s were all retired.

This was something Sheldon said he wanted to do and with COVID-19 and lack of manpower, the K-9 program was postponed until recently. He started getting the ball rolling on this project two years ago, he said.

These two K-9s were purchased with a donation from the Gorman Foundation, he added.

Department purchased 2 SUVs for K-9s

"We've been wanting to send a couple deputies to K-9 school but because of the manpower we hadn't been able to do it," Sheldon said.

Alec Mills walks his partner "Jax" on Wednesday afternoon before introducing to the media.

The department also has purchased two new SUV K-9 vehicles.

Rogers and Mills have been with the sheriff's office two and three years, respectively.

Being a K-9 handler is something Rogers said he wanted to do since he was a kid. Mills said he knew in college he wanted to be a K-9 handler in law enforcement.

Each K-9 also will be used to search for drugs at the Richland County Jail.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

X (formerly Twitter): @lwhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: New Richland County Sheriff's Office K-9s presented to media Wednesday
Two ships have left the Pivdennyi Port in Odesa Oblast through a corridor organized by the Ukrainian Navy, the Infrastructure Ministry announced on Sep. 1.

The bulk carriers, which have 56,000 tons of pig iron and 172,000 tons of iron ore on board, are operated by a Singapore-based company, the Infrastructure Ministry said.

On Aug. 10, Ukraine's navy announced a new temporary corridor to allow passage for ships that have been docked in Ukrainian Black Sea ports since the start of the full-scale invasion.

The navy nevertheless warned that the military threat posed by Russian forces toward merchant vessels persists.

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Ukraine proposed this route to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which has appealed to Russia to cease all threats and adhere to international conventions.

The last merchant ship left Odesa's port on July 16 as Russia unilaterally terminated the Black Sea Grain Initiative the day later. The deal, brokered in July 2022 by Turkey and the U.N., allowed Ukraine to export its grain even amid the ongoing full-scale invasion.

The Ocean Courtesy is now en route to Constanta in Romania, and the Anna-Theresa is sailing to Varna in Bulgaria, according to maritime analytics website MarineTraffic.

On Aug. 16, the container ship Joseph Schulte was the first to travel through the temporary corridor, followed by the bulk carrier Primus on Aug. 26.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
SAN DIEGO (Border Report)  The U.S. State Department is honoring the memory of Edgar S. Flores Santos, an employee of the U.S. Department of Agricultures Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service assigned to the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana.

Flores conducted pest control and disease eradication programs in northern Mexico.

He was killed three years ago while inspecting traps for invasive pests in Valle Redondo, Baja California along the U.S.-Mexico border east of Tijuana.

UPDATE: US Consulate employee in Tijuana shot nine times; one in custody for the murder

Baja Californias Attorney General said Flores was murdered by members of a cartel after he was mistaken for a rival.

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His killer was arrested, convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

During a Thursday morning ceremony at the Department of State headquarters in Washington, D.C., a memorial plaque with his name was unveiled at the buildings entrance.

Consul General Tom Reott commemorated Flores contributions to the community.

Performing his job diligently in the field, protecting agriculture produced in Mexico and the United States that feeds the world, Edgar gave his life in service to our community and to the interests of our nations, said Reott.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
Work.ua calls on employees from these companies to write resignations and

Work.ua has terminated its partnership with another 200 companies that continue to work in the Russian market, the portal announced on Aug. 31.

The company had already ceased working with several companies due to their ties with Russia.

Read also: Ukraine adds Unilever to list of sponsors of Russian war

Several well-known brands were included on Work.ua second sanctions list as they continue to support the military potential of the aggressor country, including Coca-Cola HBC, Samsung, Xiaomi Corporation, L'Oreal, Claas Group, Caparol, Lacoste, Colin's, New Yorker Group Services, Intimissimi, Calzedonia, Bacardi, Lactalis, Gorenje, Zepter, Dahua Technology, Tezenis, Haier, B. Braun, and Egger.

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Work.ua removed these brands from its list of clients and states it "rejects their job offers and money because dignity is not for sale."

"We will continue to verify and block companies that continue to sit on two chairs"

Work.ua also urges employees of these companies to submit resignation letters and "find work with companies that genuinely support Ukraine."

Read also: Ukraine declares Mondelez international  makers of Milka and Oreo  sponsor of war

"Currently, employers are actively seeking qualified personnel, with 100,000 job vacancies posted on Work.ua. So, you will certainly find your place in a reputable company that does not trade in humanity, the company said.

There is no need to defend or justify the above-mentioned brands, citing complex procedures and decisions made in European offices. Some have succeeded! After all, we know examples of responsible businesses for which working with a killer country (Russia  ed.) is unacceptable, (such as) McDonalds, Henkel, EPAM, Airbnb, Apple, Booking, H&M, IKEA, Netflix, to name a few" said the portal.

Earlier, Work.ua had ceased its cooperation with Unilever, Leroy Merlin, Raiffeisen Bank, Metro, LC Waikiki, KRKA, Berlin-Chemie, Nestle, OTP Bank, Mondelez, PepsiCo, Philip Morris, Syngenta, Procter & Gamble, FM Logistic, Yves Rocher, Beko, Auchan, JTI (Japan Tobacco International), and Dr. Reddys Laboratories.

Transportation and expedition company Prime Group also refused to cooperate with all companies that have not exited the Russian market.

Read also: Optimistic job market trends sweep across southern Ukraine

A number of marketing and PR agencies have also suspended their cooperation with companies and brands that continue to operate in Russia.

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
UC Merced and Merced College are teaming up to build a new $100 million housing facility for community college and transfer students.

UC Merced and Merced College leaders believe the 488-student bed housing project will address a housing shortage that affects low-income residents in the area.

The California Legislature gave approval for funding of the project Wednesday.

Our institutions are deeply committed to improving lives for our students and our community, and this is another manifestation of that mission, said UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sanchez Munoz.

The Promise Housing facility will be available to income-qualified community college students on UC Merceds campus. These are students who have met the qualifications of the Merced Promise transfer agreement, which was signed in November of 2020.

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The Merced Promise was intended to launch a transfer pipeline between Merced College and UC Merced to make it easier for local students to go through the community college then transfer and earn a bachelors degree at the local four-year university.

This project will offer students affordable housing.

The current plan is for both two-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments to be constructed in an area south of UC Merceds 2020 Project expansion, which is currently a parking area.

The housing project also will include a shaded area and an outdoor meeting and assembly space.

This joint affordable housing project will be a game-changer for our historically underserved region, removing barriers for our students seeking to transfer to UC Merced, Merced College president Chris Vitelli said, and providing them with an opportunity to complete their transfer degree at Merced College while fulling engaging in campus life at UC Merced,

A start date for construction of the housing project has yet to be determined, but the project is a priority for the university, according to UC Merced spokesperson Sam Yniguez.
(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine will challenge any extension of a grain-import ban by five European Union nations as it seeks an end to restrictions imposed by some of its closest allies in the bloc, a senior official said.

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The import ban introduced by Poland and four other EU member states has emerged as a rare point of friction between Ukraine and some of its strongest backers against Russias invasion. Kyiv says the restrictions, introduced in response to protests over plummeting grain prices, jeopardize a crucial lifeline for exports.

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Ihor Zhovkva, President Volodymyr Zelenskiys deputy chief of staff focused on foreign affairs, said the government will seek to appeal restrictions with an arbitration panel if the EU extends the measures beyond a Sept. 15 deadline. The rules are connected to a 2014 trade agreement between Ukraine and the 27-member bloc.

If the European Commission extends its decision on Ukraines grain imports, we will complain to the arbitration panel under our agreement, Zhovkva said in an interview in Kyiv.

The Zelenskiy aide singled out Poland, which along with Hungary has warned it will impose unilateral restrictions if EU measures arent extended. A staunch ally of Ukraine, Poland was the first to issue a ban in the face of demonstrations by farmers complaining about a grain glut weighing on prices  a central political issue ahead of an October election.

If Warsaw moves on its own this month, the commission must proceed with legal measures against violations of the EUs single market, the aide said.

The commission must react, Zhovkva said.

Ukraine has come to rely on export channels directly to EU neighbors, especially after President Vladimir Putin pulled out of a grain deal that allowed exports via its Black Sea ports at the onset of harvest season. Polands ban in April was followed by measures in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.

The European Commission sought to allay the spat by introducing domestic restrictions on grain to replace the unilateral measures. Zelenskiy and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed in May to set up a platform to coordinate and monitor export disruptions.

The restrictions apply to domestic grain, allowing for transit through the five EU states into the bloc. But concerning Poland, Zhovkva complained that the measures slow down movement.

Poland doesnt block the transit de jure, but de facto  there were protests, they increase time of our foodstuffs checks on the border, Zhovkva said. De facto, it is a blockade.

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The Ukraine Defense Ministry asked for ammunition, not advice in a new video Thursday, following recent criticism from U.S. officials over Kyivs strategy amid a slow-moving counteroffensive.

It seems like everyone is now an expert on Ukrainian warfare, the Defense Ministry wrote in a video posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

While we appreciate all the attention, wed like to humbly remind you that if we listened to what non-Ukrainians said in February 2022, we would no longer exist, it added. Thanks all the same. But we need ammunition, not advice.

U.S. officials have argued recently that Ukrainian troops and resources are misallocated, spread thin between fronts in both the east and the south. They have instead urged Kyiv to focus on driving south toward Melitopol, according to The New York Times.

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The American push to shift strategies and see substantial results from the latest counteroffensive comes as political support for aid to Ukraine is waning, and the Biden administration is nearing the limit of available Congress-approved funds for the effort.

The White House announced another $250 million security package for Kyiv on Tuesday, bringing total U.S. assistance since the beginning of the war to more than $43 billion.

However, retired Army Gen. Jack Keane suggested in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed that American advice to focus on a drive toward Melitopol amounts to military malpractice and urged U.S. officials to concentrate on assisting Ukraine instead.

The U.S. should be focused on helping Ukraine fight the war the way it wants to fight, not chirping from the sidelines, Keane wrote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukraine's National Corruption Prevention Agency added major food corporations PepsiCo and Mars to the "international sponsors of war" list on Sept. 1.

Despite pledging to reduce their businesses, suspend advertising activities and production in Russia, the companies continue to work in the country, "paying significant taxes to its state budget, thereby supporting the aggressor's economy," the Agency wrote.

PepsiCo is an American multinational producer of food, snacks, and beverages sold in over 200 countries. The company's brand portfolio includes Lay's Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, SodaStream, and others. Lay's chips were reportedly found in Russian soldiers' food rations.

In terms of net profit, PepsiCo is the fourth largest company in the given industry in Russia, with 19 factories and around 20,000 employees.

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Over the first year of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian division of PepsiCo increased its net profit by 333% compared to 2021, reaching $525 million, and paid over $115 million to the state budget, according to the report.

Read also: Ukraine designates Bacardi as international sponsor of war

PepsiCo has more than 500 vacancies in Russia advertised on its website. "By creating jobs, foreign companies free the Kremlin from the burden of unemployment benefits and related social problems," the Agency argued.

Meanwhile, Mars reportedly received $377 million in net profit from its Russian business in 2022, which was 59% more than the previous year. The company has over 100 jobs available in Russia.

Read also: Investigative Stories from Ukraine: Massive leak reveals how Putins oligarchs evaded Western sanctions imposed due to Ukraine invasion

These numbers contradict Mars' pledge to scale down its Russian market after the all-out war against Ukraine started. "Any profit from Russian business will be used for humanitarian purposes. The company will not import or export products," the corporation wrote in a statement cited by the Agency.

Mars is the U.S.'s fourth-largest privately owned company, with its most well-known brands being Mars, Snickers, Milky Way, Twix, Bounty, M&M's, Whiskas, etc.

The Ukrainian authority added that Mars had worked in Russia for over 30 years, invested $2.5 billion in the country's economy, and opened 10 factories on Russian territory.

Read also: A year into full-scale invasion, West struggles to seize Russian assets for Ukraine

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Thursday that his country has developed a long-range weapon that can hit targets up to 400 miles away, signaling potential responsibility for a strike on a Russian airport near Estonia on Wednesday.

The Wednesday strikes hit targets in four regions all over southern Russia, as well as Moscow and the airport in Pskov.

Pskov is about 400 miles from the Ukrainian border. Russia says that Ukraine is responsible for the attacks, while the country has not claimed responsibility.

Four military transport planes were destroyed in the Pskov strike, Russian media said. There was no damage or casualties reported by Russian media in the other strikes Wednesday.

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The strikes come as the Ukrainian military has reportedly broken through Russian lines in the countrys southwest, some of the first major progress in its late-summer counteroffensive.

Russian military bloggers said a breakthrough could lead to the Ukrainian military cutting off Russian supply lines in the region, if the advance continues.

The counteroffensives slow progress has concerned Western allies, who had higher expectations for a Ukrainian military laden with equipment from allies.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nine Pakistani soldiers were killed and five others injured in a suicide attack in the country's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, an army statement said.

The army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Thursday night that a motorcycle-borne suicide bomber exploded himself near a military convoy in the Jani Khel area of Bannu district of the province.

The area has been cordoned off by security forces and an operation is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the area, the statement added.

The Pakistani army said that the security forces are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of soldiers would further strengthen the resolve.

Earlier last week, six soldiers and four terrorists were killed in a clash in South Waziristan district of KP province, according to the military. 
Ukraine has a key bridge in its sights, and Russia is throwing whatever it can, from sunken ships to smoke screens, into trying to defend it

A view taken on October 14, 2022 shows the Kerch Bridge that links Crimea to Russia, near Kerch, which was hit by a blast on October 8, 2022. - The symbolic bridge inaugurated by Russia's President Vladimir Putin in 2018, is logistically crucial for Moscow, a vital transport link for carrying military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images

Russia has set up a number of defenses to protect the Kerch Bridge from Ukrainian drone boat attacks.

The protective measures include using smoke screens, sunken ships, and containment booms, intelligence indicates.

The Kerch Bridge is a key supply and logistics line and a symbol of its influence over Crimea.

Ukraine has twice targeted a key bridge connecting the Russian mainland to occupied Crimea, damaging the important structure both times, and now Russian forces are scrambling to up their defenses, seemingly throwing whatever they can at the problem.

The new defensive strategies for protecting the Kerch Bridge include purposefully sunken ships, smoke generators, and containment booms, among other things, according to Western intelligence. The random assortment of efforts are apparently there to prevent unmanned surface vessels (USVs) from reaching the bridge, a key target for Ukrainian forces that was most recently damaged by a USV in late July.

This video grab taken from a Crimea24TV footage on July 17, 2023, shows the damaged Kerch bridge  linking Crimea to Russia  which was heavily damaged following a drone attack. Crimea24TV/AFP via Getty Images

But it's unclear how effective the defenses will be or how they'll work together as a network to protect the vulnerable 12-mile-long bridge.

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Earlier this week, satellite imagery surfaced showing a peculiar Russian attempt to defend the Kerch Bridge: a barrier of sunken ferries intended to make it harder for drone boats to navigate in the water.

The six sunken ships are separated by what Western intelligence said is about 160 meters, or around 525 feet. The ships only guard a fraction of the bridge, and the distance between them leaves plenty of space for smaller waterborne drones around the size of jet-skis to pass through.

In addition to the sunken ships, Russia has also employed defenses like smoke generators, presumably to make targeting more difficult, though the effectiveness of this as a defense is questionable. Wind and weather can limit the effects of any kind of smoke screen, and the Kerch Bridge is also a stationary target with a known location.

Other Russian defensive measures include air defenses, possibly to combat aerial drones or cruise missiles, and containment booms  floating barriers typically used to contain oil spills that could potentially hinder USV operations but might, as experts have said previously, be vulnerable to multiple drone strikes in rapid succession.

The spread of defenses being used speaks to both the importance of the Kerch Bridge and Kerch Strait to Russia, as well as the difficulty countering the threat posed by Ukraine's drone boats.

Ukraine has prioritized the development and deployment of a naval fleet of drones. United 24/Ukrainian government

Russia relies on the bridge  which was completed in 2018  for convenient access to Crimea. It's been used as a supply and logistics line for the military, and it gives Russia improved cultural and economic control of the peninsula.

The bridge is also a symbol of what is seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin's crowning achievement  his illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. That has made the Kerch Bridge a symbol of Russian oppression of Ukraine and a key target for Ukrainian forces.

Outside of the Kerch Straight, Ukraine's USVs have carried out many recent attacks across the Black Sea, wreaking havoc on Russia's naval forces. In one case, a drone boat was able to approach a warship seemingly undetected and cause what appeared to be severe damage and flooding.

The drone may not have been spotted  the sleek, black USVs are difficult to see in the water  but Ukraine's ability to hit larger Russian military assets with its comparatively cheaper drone beats and the lack of a Russian response hints at a Russian force protection issue, long a problem for the Russian military.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A M142 HIMARS launches a rocket on the Bakhmut direction on May 18, 2023 in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Photo by Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Ukraine celebrated its forces taking the small but important village of Robotyne on Monday . Most eyes now face the fortified Tokmak Air Base nearby , and Ukraine promised further advances south and east. With Ukraine reportedly past the worst of the Russian defensive belts, the potential exists for Ukraine to advance more rapidly.

But as Russia attempts to force Ukraine back and Ukraine digs in, there's an important element of Robotyne that is worth celebrating: The village is just 50 miles from the M14, the southernmost major road that Russia can use to resupply and reinforce its forces in and west of Melitopol.

This means that, as of right now, the potential technically exists for Ukraine to sever the land bridge using HIMARS strikes, even if it would much rather actually get its troops to the Sea of Azov.

Ukrainian strategy

Ukraine openly stated that it seeks to sever the land bridge Russia uses to supply and rotate troops in Melitpol, Crimea, and near Kherson. Ukraine successfully struck most of the bridges that connect Crimea to Russia, meaning that the land bridge is the last major supply artery or route of escape for those forces.

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If Ukraine fully severs the land bridge before winter and Russia doesn't pull its troops out, there's a decent chance of mass surrenders during the winter as undersupplied Russians just give in.

The ideal way to sever the land bridge is for the Ukrainians to reach the Sea of Azov. Russia reportedly sent the 76th Guard Air Assault Division to try to plug the gap after Ukraine breached a major defensive belt . Ukraine thinks that belt was the hardest and, from here, its advance will likely accelerate.

If so, that's ideal. But technically, Ukraine can sever the land bridge from where it's at. But another seven to 10 miles would be much better, as well as achieving a wider front, per Jan Kallberg speaking to Insider .

Control by fires

That's because Ukraine doesn't really need to hold a section of every supply route Russia uses. It only needs to be able to block Russia's use of each route. Since HIMARS has a 50-mile range , Ukraine can technically sever the M14 as a supply route from Robotyne, cutting off Russian forces.

A M142 HIMARS launcher with armored cab. (Photo by Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

So why hasn't it?

Well, Ukraine could just barely reach the M14 right now from its most forward position. That would leave a HIMARS extremely susceptible to counter-battery fire or even Russian small arms. And if the HIMARS is destroyed or forced to withdraw, then the M14 would be back open.

To really cut traffic on the M14, Ukraine needs to be able to shoot and scoot HIMARs between multiple firing positions. If it reaches its stated next two targets on that axis of advance, Novopokrovka and Ocheretuvate, then HIMARS could threaten over 100 miles of the M14 and all entrances and exits from Melitopol from multiple firing positions. This "deep supporting fire" would hinder Russian supply to many thousands of troops.

Any further that Ukraine can penetrate increases the number of positions that artillery can fire. It also increases the number of systems that could hit each road. Getting past Rozivka would allow heavy howitzers to fire alongside HIMARS to control the M14.

(Of course, if the U.S. sent Army Tactical Missile Systems to Ukraine , then it could sever the M14 right now. The ATACMS 185-mile range allows for strikes from Dnipro to hit Crimea.)

The road ahead after Robotyne

Despite the slow pace of the current offensive and the seeming frustration of many in the West, Ukraine is doing a solid job of advancing through some of the most heavily fortified land that has ever existed. And, as David Petraeus and Frederick Kagan pointed out in an op-ed August 24 , defenders often hold firm right up until the moment they don't.

If Russian forces already facing low morale see the escape hatch closing as Ukraine pushes further and further toward the Sea of Azov, the Russians could suddenly break and run for the exits. Already, HIMARS can threaten the last route out.
(Bloomberg) -- The Kremlin confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet in Sochi, southern Russia, on Monday. The pair are expected to discuss reviving the Black Sea grain deal after Moscow abandoned the agreement - brokered a year earlier by Turkey and the UN - in July. Russian officials have said repeatedly that not enoughs been done to address their demands, and Moscow has bombarded Ukrainian grain infrastructure in the past month. Erdogans visit comes days before he heads to India for the G-20 summit.

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Russia has placed its nuclear-capable Sarmat ICBM on combat alert for the first time. Putin has called the missiles, which weigh an estimated 208 tons and have a range of up to 18,000 kilometers (11,184 miles) a guarantee of Russias security. On a smaller scale, Kremlin-led forces are holding military exercises in Belarus near the border with Poland, weeks after President Vladimir Putin warned Warsaw that he would treat any aggression toward Minsk as an attack on his own country.

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Some 10,500 schools across Ukraine opened for the new year - down from almost 14,000 before Russias invasion - with 84% having bomb shelters available, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a Cabinet meeting. Preparations are underway for Russian-run elections in the four regions of Ukraine illegally annexed by Moscow last year. The ballots are being held as part of municipal elections across Russia that end on Sept. 10. The EU in June condemned Russias plan for elections in occupied territory, saying the move seriously violates the UN Charter and Ukraines independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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Putin, Erdogan meet in Sochi on Monday

Markets

Wheat traders are watching for movement on Black Sea grain exports when Putin and Erdogan meet on Monday. Ukraine, meanwhile, hopes to boost grain exports via the Danube and is pushing back on an effort by Poland and four other EU countries to extend a ban on its grain.

Oil is headed for the biggest weekly gain since April after Russia signaled it would extend export curbs and China fired another salvo of state support to bolster the economy in the worlds largest crude importer. US oil futures climbed above $85 a barrel for the first time since November. Read more: Russian Urals at $74 in August, Above Price Cap for Second Month

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The 10 US-made Abrams tanks are expected to arrive in Ukraine in mid-September.

Source: Politico with reference to sources

Details: Politico noted that Ukraine will receive the first ten Abrams tanks out of the 31 promised in mid-September.

Western officials hope that the arrival of the tanks will give Kyiv's forces the advantage they need to break through Russia's fierce defences in an exhausting counter-offensive.

As Martin O'Donnell, a Pentagon spokesperson said, ten 70-tonne tanks are currently in Germany undergoing final remodelling. After that, they will be sent to Ukraine.

"The US is committed to expedite delivery of the 31 tanks to Ukraine by the fall," Martin O'Donnell added. However, he declined to give a specific timeline.

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US officials hope that the Abrams tanks will help give Ukraine an advantage in the fight to regain territory.

Politico writes that a group of Ukrainian soldiers has completed a training program on US M1 Abrams tanks.

About 200 Ukrainians trained on the tanks at US Army training ranges in Germany, O'Donnell said.

Background:

In January, US President Joe Biden confirmed his intention to transfer 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

The US is removing some sensitive technologies from the Abrams tanks it plans to send to Ukraine, as it fears they could fall into the hands of the Russian army on the battlefield.

Ukraine will receive an older modification, i.e. M1A1 tanks, not the A2s.

In May, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said that Ukraine would receive the Abrams tanks in early autumn, and that training programs for the Ukrainian military to operate them should be completed by then.

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By Olena Harmash and Tom Balmforth

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine said on Friday its troops had broken through Russia's first line of defences in several places, though they then encountered even more heavily fortified Russian positions.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Kyiv's troops, in a much-vaunted counteroffensive against Russian forces, were advancing in the Zaporizhzhia region. Washington also said on Friday that Kyiv had made notable progress on the southern front in the last 72 hours.

"There is an offensive in several directions and in certain areas. And in some places, in certain areas, this first line was broken through," Maliar told Ukrainian television.

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She added, however, that Kyiv's troops who have been battling to advance through heavily mined areas for almost three months had now run into major defensive Russian fortifications.

"Our armed forces have to overcome a lot of obstacles in order to move forward," she said.

Heavy fighting swept the villages around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, captured in May by Russian forces after months of battles, Maliar said but added it was difficult to determine whether any advances had been made.

"In the course of a single day, positions between the two sides can change several times."

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces in its evening report on Facebook said that Russian forces had made no headway in attempts to advance in five different sectors of the front -- from Kupiansk in the northeast to different parts of Donetsk region.

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States had "noted over the last 72 hours or so some notable progress by Ukrainian armed forces ...in that southern line of advance coming out of the Zaporizhzhia area".

"They have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defences", Kirby said, adding it was up to Ukraine how to capitalize on that success.

Ukraine's counteroffensive has not yet recaptured any major settlements, though it has retaken more than a dozen small villages. Last week it captured the village of Robotyne, beyond which lies Russian-occupied high ground, huge anti-tank ditches and lines of concrete fortifications visible from space.

Russia already calls the Ukrainian push a failure; Kyiv says it has been advancing slowly on purpose to minimise losses, and that its task is more difficult because it lacks the air power that its Western allies take for granted.

Kyiv bristled this week over news reports quoting unidentified U.S. officials complaining about its slow progress. Some fear the West's staunch support could begin to falter as colder and wetter weather further hampers progress on the battlefield later this year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York this month and take part in a U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine, Albania's U.N. Ambassador Ferit Hoxha told reporters on Friday.

In an interview in Kyiv on Friday, senior presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters that for now any negotiations with Russia would amount to a "capitulation" for both Ukraine and the democracies that support it.

He said Ukraine's Western allies, who have poured in billions of dollars of weaponry to help the counteroffensive, understood there could be no kind of "compromise" with Moscow in the war.

"At the moment, the partners understand that this war will no longer end in a compromise solution - that is, either we destroy Russia's capabilities by military means, and to do this we need the appropriate tools, or this war with such level of aggression will continue for some time."

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Olena Harmash in Kyiv, Trevor Hunnicutt, Humeyra Pamuk and Susan Heavey in Washington, Ron Popeski in WinnipegEditing by Peter Graff and Cynthia Osterman)
Ukrainian forces penetrated an initial line of Russian defenses on the wars southeastern front this week, raising hopes of a major breakthrough in its counteroffensive campaign as troops push toward the Sea of Azov to cut off Russian supply lines.

Ukraine still has a long way to go  but the first line of defense is widely seen as the toughest, and the going could get easier from this point on.

Military analysts say the more rapid progress made in the last two weeks is also a good sign, slightly raising their hopes of a decisive victory two months into the counteroffensive.

The chances of it happening are growing, John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Councils Eurasia Center, said of a major breakthrough. If [we] are right about the second defensive line the farther east you go, then what were seeing today means a bigger chance of a big breakthrough.

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Though he is more optimistic now, Herbst does not expect an immediate breakthrough, foreseeing only modest gains unless the West ramps up the delivery of more weapons.

I dont rule out a larger success, even if our weapons supplies remain what they are, he said, but we cannot count on it.

Kyiv has publicly expressed annoyance with the criticism around its counteroffensive, with veiled references to news reports citing anonymous U.S. officials. But Ukrainian officials admit the campaign that launched in June has been relatively slow-going compared to fast operations last year that took Moscow completely by surprise.

Still, Ukraine has taken back dozens of more square miles of territory than Russia did in its offensive this year. Moscow only captured the city of Bakhmut over the spring in a costly campaign.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba further pushed back against criticism on Friday, telling CNN that Ukraine is not failing.

We are moving forward, Kuleba said. Weve liberated dozens of square miles of land through minefields with no air coverage.

Ukraine last week captured the town of Robotyne in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, entrenching itself much deeper into Russian-occupied territory. Russian sources claim it is holding onto some territory in the southern outskirts of the city.

Kyiv is now attacking on either side of Robotyne, toward the towns of Verbove and Novoprokopivka. If successful, that could give them a leg up in another advance toward the regional hub of Tokmak.

Taking back Tokmak would enable Ukraines forces to advance toward Melitopol near the Sea of Azov and achieve a major success in the counteroffensive operation. However, capturing Tokmak is far from certain, as satellite images show extensive defenses bulwarked around the town.

Andriy Kovaliov, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on television Friday that Ukraine is moving toward Novoprokopivka and putting pressure on Russian defenses.

Russian military bloggers are reporting advances toward both Verbove and Novopokrovka but stress that Ukraine is largely failing in its efforts to further pierce Russian lines.

Even without a major victory in Tokmak, the deeper Ukraine gets into Russian-held territory, the more danger it poses to crucial supply lines running east to west, from Russias mainland to Crimea. Ukrainian troops are moving into artillery range of those supply lines, a major threat to Moscow.

Analysts say Ukraine breaking through the first line of the dreaded Surovikin line of defense is significant in and of itself.

The defenses are named for the Russian Gen. Sergei Surovikin, who ordered three layers of trenches, minefields and anti-tank obstacles patterned like dragons teeth ahead of the counteroffensive.

Usually when you get through the first line, every next line is easier, said Tomasz Blusiewicz, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. But the question is  do they have enough manpower and do they have enough material to fill in that breach with defenses to make sure the Russians dont counterattack?

Blusiewicz said Ukraines progress is impressing him, but he does not expect a major breakthrough anytime soon. However, he said Ukraine can keep the pressure on Russian forces, make them increasingly remain on the defensive, and break morale.

They largely have this army that doesnt really want to fight, he said of Russia. An army with low morale, you can still kind of wage a defensive war, but its so much harder to counterattack.

Another plus for Ukraine is that it likely has several more months for the operation, so long as western support keeps pace  which will depend on Congress passing a $13 billion funding request from the Pentagon.

As winter approaches, analysts say the colder weather does not necessarily mean Ukraine has to grind operations to a halt.

Jan Kallberg, a non-resident senior fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security program at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said by the winter, Ukraine may be able to hinder supply lines with artillery and create a catastrophe for Russia in Crimea.

The supply line for the land bridge and the Kerch [Strait] bridge also have to feed the Crimean population, where the Russians want to maintain some sort of normality, he said. If their logistics chain starts to crumble  you will see a massive exodus.

Kallberg explained that could turn Crimea into a competition between military needs and civilian resources.

And Russia doesnt want that, because its very much saying that theyre losing, he said. Thats going to be a really tricky equation for the Russian leadership.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A long-range weapon developed by Ukraine has successfully hit a target in Russia from a distance of 700 kilometers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Aug. 31.

Zelenskyy did not provide any further details, but 700 kilometers is the distance from Ukraine to Russias Pskov. Explosions were reported in the area of Pskov airbase in the early hours of Aug. 30. Four Il-76 military transport aircraft were damaged in the attack, according to Ukraines Defense Intelligence.

Read also: Zelenskyy ready to run in 2024, open to amending legislation if it is safe enough to hold elections

On Aug. 28, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is ramping up its own production capacity of weapons and plans to manufacture artillery, ammunition, drones, missiles, and armored vehicles.

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Read also: Russian agent nabbed in Zaporizhzhya caught hiding weapons under his daughter's bed

Ukraine has successfully deployed a domestically-produced strike drone with a range of 1,000 kilometers, according to Nataliya Sad, the press secretary of the Ukroboronprom defense conglomerate, on June 20. On Aug. 1, Newsweek reported that Ukrainian Bober (Beaver) kamikaze drones could potentially reach targets as far as Moscow.

Read also: Drone strike damages four Il-76 aircraft deep in Russian territory

Ukraine has repeatedly assured its partners that Western-supplied weaponry would be used solely within Ukrainian territory. However, there are no restrictions on using domestically produced arms for attacks on Russia, according to Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Key developments on Sept. 1:

White House: Ukraine's forces make 'notable progress' in Zaporizhzhia Oblast

Ukrainian students face challenges during start of new school year during wartime

Prosecutors say they prevented supply of 1 million low-quality food kits to Ukrainian military

Ukraine designates PepsiCo, Mars as 'international sponsors of war'

Intelligence chief says drone strike on Pskov launched from inside Russia

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Sept. 1 that the White House has observed "notable progress" in Ukraine's counteroffensive along the southern front line in Zaporizhzhia Oblast over the past 72 hours.

According to Reuters, Kirby emphasized that it's up to Kyiv to decide how to take advantage of its success.

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"That is not to say that they aren't mindful that they've still got some tough fighting ahead of them as they try to push further south" or that Russia could launch a counterattack, Kirby added.

On the same day, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN that Ukrainian forces are "not failing" but "moving forward" in their counteroffensive.

Speaking with CNN, Kuleba advised critics of the pace of Ukraine's summer counteroffensive to consider what Ukrainian forces are going through.

"How does it feel when you come back from your mission, and you take back your phone, open it, and start reading all the smart people saying how slow you are and that you're not doing well enough?" Kuleba said.

"You just lost two of your buddies. You were almost killed. You crawled one kilometer on your belly, demining the field. You sacrificed yourself, taking the damn Russian trench in a fierce fight. And then you read someone saying, 'Oh guys, you're too slow'?"

"Our partners who are helping us, including the United States, understand that things are moving in the right direction. And they understand that there's no tragedy or no kind of slow down. It's just happening because it's tough. It's a tough fight," Kuleba added.

Read also: This Week in Ukraine Ep. 21  Counteroffensive progress: Expectations vs. reality

Ukrainian students face challenges during start of new school year during wartime

Police in Kyiv, Chernivtsi, and Poltava reported they had received information on possible bomb threats in educational institutions on Sept. 1, the first day of the new school year.

The city administration wrote earlier on Sept. 1 that Kyiv Police started inspecting all secondary schools in the city after receiving bomb threat reports. Later, the local authorities reported that the threats proved to be unsubstantiated.

According to Suspilne news outlet, the Chernivtsi Police also received anonymous bomb threats for Bukovinian State Medical University and Chernivtsi National University buildings.

Around 400 people were evacuated from an educational institution in Poltava after a bomb threat was received via email, a spokesperson for the Poltava district police department told Suspilne.

No explosives were found in Chernivtsi or Poltava, either.

Meanwhile, Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said that children began learning to operate drones via an online simulator as part of a new school subject called Defense of Ukraine.

I believe that today's schoolchildren will no longer have to fight with evil. But as experience shows, it is better to be prepared, added Sadovyi.

The start of this academic year marks the second for Ukrainian children since the start of the full-scale invasion.

According to UNICEF, recent school enrollment data indicates that only one-third of children in Ukraine can attend school in person. Due to ongoing Russian attacks, another third are engaged in full-time online learning, while the remaining third follow a hybrid approach.

Russia's all-out war against Ukraine has destroyed or damaged thousands of schools and prevented over two million students from returning to school.

The government has allocated Hr 1.5 billion (about $40 million) to provide bomb shelters in schools. Currently, 76% of educational institutions have access to them.

Read also: As their kids find refuge abroad, Ukrainian fathers struggle with separation

Prosecutors say they prevented supply of 1 million low-quality food kits to Ukrainian military

The Prosecutor General's Office reported on Sept. 1 that it had successfully demonstrated in court how the Defense Ministry's supplementary agreement with a commercial enterprise for the purchase of military food kits was illegal.

According to prosecutors, the supplementary agreements entailed the purchase of ration kits that wouldn't have met the nutritional standards established by Ukrainian law for military personnel.

If the contract had entered into force, Ukraine's Armed Forces would have received one million low-quality food kits worth Hr 430 million ($11 million).

Read also: This Week in Ukraine Ep. 23  Ministry of Defense is under fire for corruption, again

Ukraine designates PepsiCo, Mars as 'international sponsors of war'

Ukraine's National Corruption Prevention Agency added major food corporations PepsiCo and Mars to its "international sponsors of war" list on Sept. 1.

Despite their pledges to reduce operations, suspend advertising activities, and halt production in Russia, these companies have continued to do business in the country, "paying significant taxes to its state budget, thereby supporting the aggressor's economy," the agency wrote.

PepsiCo is an American multinational producer of food, snacks, and beverages sold in over 200 countries. The company's brand portfolio includes Lay's Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. Lay's chips were reportedly found in Russian soldiers' food rations.

Regarding net profit, PepsiCo is the fourth largest company in its industry in Russia, with 19 factories and around 20,000 employees.

In the first year since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, PepsiCo's Russian division reportedly saw its net profit soar by 333% compared to 2021, reaching $525 million. According to the report, the company also contributed over $115 million to the state budget.

PepsiCo has more than 500 vacancies in Russia advertised on its website.

"By creating jobs, foreign companies free the Kremlin from the burden of unemployment benefits and related social problems," Ukraine's National Corruption Prevention Agency said.

Meanwhile, Mars reportedly received $377 million in net profit from its Russian business in 2022, 59% more than the previous year. The company has over 100 open jobs listings in Russia.

Mars is the U.S.'s fourth-largest privately owned company, with its most well-known brands including Mars, Snickers, Milky Way, Twix, Bounty, M&M's, and Whiskas.

These numbers contradict Mars' pledge to scale down its operations in the Russian market after the start of the full-scale invasion. "Any profit from Russian business will be used for humanitarian purposes. The company will not import or export products," the corporation wrote in a statement cited by Ukraine's National Corruption Prevention Agency.

Read also: A year into full-scale invasion, West struggles to seize Russian assets for Ukraine

Intelligence Chief says drone strike on Pskov launched from inside Russia

Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) chief, told the media outlet The War Zone on Aug. 31. the drones that attacked a military airfield in Pskov on Aug. 30 were launched from within Russian territory.

"We are working from within the territory of Russia," Budanov said without specifying how many drones were used.

Budanov also did not reveal whether military intelligence operatives are working inside Russia or enlisting the aid of Russians who stand against their country's invasion of Ukraine.

The War Zone also obtained video material from a HUR source of the infrared camera of one of the drones used in the attack.

The accuracy of the strike points to the likelihood of "bomblets dropped from a drone or drones under local man-in-the-loop control," meaning a pilot was operating the weapon remotely.

"This would fit Budanov's comments that this was a strike launched from inside Russia, likely very near the base, and not one using long-range autonomous drones," the War Zone article added.

Four Russian Il-76 aircraft were destroyed at the airfield, and two more were likely damaged, HUR spokesperson Andrii Yusov confirmed on Aug. 30.

Read also: New brigade bears heavy brunt of Russias onslaught in Kharkiv Oblast

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Texas Supreme Court Lets Medical Mutilation Ban Take Effect

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Sept. 1, 2023



AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 1, 2023 / Christian Newswire / -- Yesterday, the Texas Supreme Court allowed the state's new law banning harmful puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and mutilating surgeries for children to take effect during continued litigation.

The law, known as SB 14, was set to take effect today after it was enacted June 2, 2023, but a district court judge temporarily blocked it last month granting opponents of the law an emergency stay citing potential violations of the state constitution. However, state officials appealed the decision prompting the state's High Court to deny the emergency stay and let the law take effect while the Court fully considers the appeal.

The Texas Supreme Court only stated, "...emergency motion for temporary relief denied."

In addition to banning irreversible procedures, such as sterilization or removing health body parts, Texas' law also bans the use of taxpayer dollars for these procedures and prevents health insurance plans from covering these costs as well. Under the law, doctors who commit violations can have their medical licenses revoked.

Yesterday's ruling made Texas the largest state to have an effective ban in place for these procedures on minors. This ruling also follows a succession of decisions in recent months regarding these types of laws. The U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled on August 21, 2023 that Alabama can fully enforce its 2022 law after a lower court temporarily blocked the state from enforcing portions of the law pertaining to puberty blockers and hormones. In July 2023, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on two different occasions that the "Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act" in Tennessee and Kentucky could go into effect.

At least 22 states have enacted legislation protecting children from harmful and often irreversible medical mutilation.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "There is no constitutional right to mutilate children. Puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and mutilating surgeries are harmful and often irreversible. The Texas Supreme Court has rightly decided to let the state of Texas protect children from these horrible procedures that devastate many lives."

For more information about state laws protecting against gender ideology, visit Liberty Counsel's website here.

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Over the past day, the Ukrainian Air Force carried out 14 strikes on areas where Russian military personnel were concentrated.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 06:00 on 1 September

Details: Russian forces launched a total of one missile strike and 44 air strikes over the past day, and carried out 70 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems on the positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements.

The Russian terrorist attacks unfortunately resulted in casualties among the civilian population, both dead and wounded. Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged.

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Over 25 combat engagements took place over the past day.

On the Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna fronts, Russian forces conducted an airstrike near Kozacha Lopan in Kharkiv Oblast. They carried out mortar and artillery attacks on over 20 settlements.

On the Kupiansk front, Russian forces conducted airstrikes near Kotliarivka in Kharkiv Oblast. The settlements of Borova, Kupiansk and Kyslivka in Kharkiv Oblast came under Russian artillery and mortar attacks.

On the Lyman front, Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensives in the areas of Novoiehorivka in Luhansk Oblast. They also launched airstrikes near Cherneshchyna in Kharkiv Oblast; Novoiehorivka and Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast; and Rai-Oleksandrivka in Donetsk Oblast. More than 15 settlements came under Russian artillery and mortar fire.

On the Bakhmut front, Russian forces carried out airstrikes near Bila Hora and New-York in Donetsk Oblast. Over 15 settlements were affected by Russian artillery attacks.

On the Avdiivka front, Russian forces launched artillery and mortar attacks on the settlements of Oleksandropil, Novokalynove, Avdiivka, Sieverne, Orlivka and Pervomaiske in Donetsk Oblast.

On the Marinka front, Ukraine's Defence Forces continue to hold back the Russian offensive actions near Marinka in Donetsk Oblast. The Russians conducted unsuccessful offensives near Novomykhailivka. They carried out an airstrike in the area of Krasnohorivka. The settlements of Krasnohorivka, Pobieda, Marinka, Kurakhove, Novomykhailivka, Katerynivka, Kostiantynivka and Antonivka in Donetsk Oblast were hit by artillery fire.

On the Shakhtarsk front, Russian forces carried out airstrikes near Vuhledar and Staromaiorske in Donetsk Oblast. The Russians shelled the settlements of Vodiane, Vuhledar, Bohoiavlenka, Prechystivka, Zolota Nyva, Blahodatne and Urozhaine in Donetsk Oblast.

On the Zaporizhzhia front, Russian forces carried out airstrikes near Novodanylivka, Robotyne, Mala Tokmachka and Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Over 20 settlements were affected by Russian artillery fire.

On the Kherson front, the Russians carried out airstrikes near Mykolaivka and Olhivka in Kherson Oblast. They also attacked the settlements of Stanislav, Olhivka, Poniativka, Veletenske and Antonivka in Kherson Oblast with artillery and mortars.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian defence forces continue to conduct an offensive operation on the Melitopol front, consolidating their positions and conducting counter-battery operations.

During the past day, the Ukrainian Air Force launched 14 strikes on areas where Russian military personnel were concentrated, and 4 strikes on Russian anti-aircraft missile systems.

Units of Rocket Forces and Artillery hit an artillery unit at a firing position and two radar stations.

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Ihor Kirianenko, a civilian being illegally held hostage by the Russian Federation, is in poor health and needs immediate medical care.

This was reported by the Office of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman), Dmytro Lubinets.

The 61-year-old doctor and businessman from temporarily occupied Donetsk was detained by separatists five years ago.

"During the illegal detention, he suffered a myocardial infarction and a stroke and lost all his teeth. He was later transferred to the sixth department in the basement of the Donetsk pre-trial detention centre, where tuberculosis patients were kept for many years," the Ombudsman's Office stated.

Photo from the Ombudsman's page

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Three years ago, Ihor Kirianenko was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment by the occupation authorities for his pro-Ukrainian views. He is currently being held in Makiivka maximum-security penal colony No. 32.

After his heart attack, Kirianenko's health deteriorated significantly. He suffered cyanosis of the limbs and swelling, and his jaw is deformed due to the loss of his teeth.

"Ihor Kirianenko's state of health is critical because his chronic diseases (a pancreatic tumour, diabetes mellitus and Oddi's sphincter deficiency, among others) have worsened," the Office of the Commissioner reports.

Kirianenko was injured during shelling in 2022 and began to experience severe pain in his heart and leg.

According to Dmytro Lubinets, Ihor Kirianenko currently needs heart surgery. The operation can only be carried out in a cardiac surgery department, otherwise there is a risk of death.

"It's clear that the Russians are concealing the Ukrainians critical condition from international organisations and not allowing any representatives to see him. And they are not providing him with the medical care he needs themselves either," the Ombudsman says.

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Russia's Pskov airbase was hit by drones this week, leaving several aircraft damaged and destroyed.

The attack was launched from within Russia, Ukraine's military intelligence chief revealed.

"We are working from the territory of Russia," Kyrylo Budanov told The War Zone publication.

An attack on a Russian airbase this week that damaged and destroyed a handful of military transport aircraft was carried out from within Russia's own territory, Ukraine's military intelligence chief has revealed.

Officials in Kyiv have said that Ukraine was responsible for the nighttime drone attack on the Pskov airbase, which is located in northeastern Russia more than 400 miles from the border with Ukraine. The damaging attack on the base inside Russia's internationally recognized territory was one of the most significant so far in the 18-month-long war and comes as Ukraine continues to launch attacks on Moscow and its surrounding regions on a regular basis.

Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, which is an arm of the country's defense ministry, said in an exclusive interview with The War Zone that two Ilyushin Il-76s  Soviet-era airlift planes that can transport military cargo and personnel  were destroyed. Another two were "seriously damaged" as a result of the incident.

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"We are working from the territory of Russia," Budanov said. He did not specify the type or number of drones used in the attack, nor did he say if it was carried out by members of the Ukrainian military or Russian partisans. Budanov did, however, note that the drones specifically targeted the fuel tanks on the aircraft and critical sections of their wings.

Infrared drone footage appears to capture the moment one of the Il-76s is attacked, and satellite imagery from before and after the strikes shows the extensive damage to one aircraft.

Russian state-run media outlet TASS reported that there were no casualties as a result of the attack, and a spokesperson from Moscow's foreign ministry said the incident would "not go unpunished."

The Pskov airbase was one of at least five separate areas that were targeted by one-way attack drones overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, marking the largest collective attack on Russia since the war began in February 2022, Britain's defense ministry said in a Thursday intelligence update.

The attack on the base is the latest in a string of attacks specifically targeting Russian airbases  many of which have left a trail of destroyed military planes in their wake.

It remains to be seen how Russia responds, but "previous strikes against Russian military airbases have led to the dispersal of Russian aircraft to locations across Russia," the UK defense ministry said.

The past month has featured a significant uptick in Ukrainian drone strikes, the UK said, with at least 25 attacks likely all carried out by one-way attack drones  on Russian territory. Moscow has been routinely targeted by unmanned aerial vehicles. Unlike some of the other attacks, these are more likely to cause psychological harm than actual physical damage.

A Russian Il-76 MD airlifter is seen during the 2021 International Army Games at the Alabino training ground on August 23, 2021 in Moscow Region, Russia. Photo by Wang Xiujun/China News Service via Getty Images

The frequent strikes highlight a problem for Russia's air defenses, the British defense ministry noted.

"Many of these UAVs have reached their targets, which likely means that Russian air defense is having difficulty detecting and destroying them," the UK said in its intelligence update. "Russia is likely rethinking its air defense posture in the area between Ukraine and Moscow to better deal with these attacks."

The UK said the Pskov attack indicated that Ukraine's drones have a far reach, given that the base is situated hundreds of miles from Ukrainian territory, but considering Budanov's comments about the job having been carried out from within Russia, it's unclear how far these specific drones traveled before they reached the base.

Still, the assessment matches recent comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said in a Thursday address to the nation that Kyiv had a new weapon capable of traveling 700 kilometers, or over 430 miles. This could have theoretically put the Pskov base within Ukrainian reach even if the new weapon was launched from Ukraine's sovereign territory.

Regardless, the incident is expected to force Moscow to reconsider its air defenses. "It is likely that Russia will have to consider the addition of further air defence systems to airfields that it considers to be at risk from UAV attacks," the UK said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The intelligence centre of the Estonian Defence Forces notes that the most important contact-line events are currently unfolding on the outskirts of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, south of which the Russian military is barely holding its position.

Source: Estonian intelligence report quoted by ERR, as European Pravda reported

Details: The Estonian military assumes that the Ukrainian Defence Forces were able to break through the positions of the Russian army on the contact line; fighting continues with the troops of the first defence line near Novoprokopivka and Verbove.

As Estonian intelligence reports, the Russians are barely holding their ground.

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In an attempt to stabilise the situation, the Russian Armed Forces transferred parts of the 76th Guards Airborne Assault Division from Lyman, Donetsk Oblast, and an assault brigade from the Bakhmut front to this area. These circumstances probably indicate that the Russians do not have operational reserves.

In addition, as the intelligence agency emphasised, the Ukrainian Armed Forces could sufficiently exhaust the Russian units holding the defence in Zaporizhzhia Oblast to break through their positions.

Ukrainian troops have created the prerequisites for tactical success - a breakthrough in the first defence line of the Russian Armed Forces.

However, Estonian intelligence believes that it will be very difficult for Ukraines Armed Forces to achieve results at the operational level by cutting the land corridor to Crimea.

Russian occupiers continue to attack on the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out attacks near Bakhmut with minimal success, Estonian intelligence added.

Background:

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told French diplomats that a group of 31 soldiers made the liberation of Robotyne possible by crawling through minefields on their bellies and knocking the Russians out of their positions.

Dmytro Kuleba criticised the statements about the allegedly slow pace of the Ukrainian counteroffensive and advised such commentators to "shut up".

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged not to rush to conclusions about Ukraine's counteroffensive operations in the summer of 2023, recalling how Ukraine has already exceeded expectations more than once.

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A ceremony to mark the start of the new school year in Kyiv

A ceremony to mark the start of the new school year in Kyiv

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian children began their second straight school year in wartime on Friday, some heading to new classrooms underground, others bracing to run to bomb shelters to take cover from Russian missiles and drones.

Many, at home and abroad, stayed online for a fourth year, their education ravaged by Russia's invasion and COVID-19.

Russian air attacks have totally destroyed 1,300 schools since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to data by the U.N. Children's Fund, which recorded damage to many other schools.

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Education Minister Oksen Lisovyi reported this week that 84% of schools were now equipped with operational shelters.

"When he was studying online, there was not always an opportunity to get to a bomb shelter," said Mariia Doloban, 32, whose 8-year-old son Oleksii starts the year at a new school in the capital Kyiv with a proper bomb shelter.

"But at school, he will take cover every time the air raid siren goes off."

Doloban was one of millions of refugees who fled Ukraine, but like many others has since returned, saying she feels better back home than abroad, where children either study remotely or struggle in local schools.

They fled the southern city of Kherson for Thessaloniki in April 2022, but her son Oleksii felt lost in a Greek school.

"Whenever I asked what he was doing at school, he often said that he was sleeping during classes because he was bored and could not understand anything," said Doloban, who found herself bouncing around Ukrainian cities for a year after leaving Greece and is now living out the outskirts of the capital.

Oleksii told his father, a doctor on the front line, in a video call that he was worried about starting school, but joined in with the other children dancing in a welcome ceremony on their first day.

At another Kyiv school, 6-year-old Ulas Kyrychenko, kitted out with new stationary and a smart suit and tie, was looking forward to learning how the sea creates waves and making friends after spending time as a refugee in Germany during the early part of the war.

His mother Klarysa Kyrychenko said she knew when she returned to the Kyiv-area suburb that shelling and bombing would continue, so she chose a school in the city in an old building with a basement bomb shelter.

She protested when her son said he wanted to join the Ukrainian military like his father, who is fighting in the east.

"Russia is very big, the biggest country on Earth," he told Reuters, pointing it out, along with the much smaller Ukraine, on his toy globe at home. "I want us to win."

CLASSES UNDERGROUND

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, it can take less than a minute for a missile from Russia to arrive - so authorities there have had to improvise a way to get kids back into school.

Classrooms have been created in the city's ornate Soviet-era metro stations, some with views of chandeliers hanging over colonnaded platforms below.

More than 1,000 children will be able study in person in the 60 schoolrooms that have been built, Mayor Ihor Terekhov has said, a development welcomed by many parents.

"They will be able to socialise with each other there, find a common language, communicate," Iryna Loboda said on a Kharkiv street where she was out with her school-aged son.

Not everyone is on board with the plan.

"Children's safety comes first," another mother, Tetiana Bondar, said. "My children will attend online classes, although our school offered a bus to transfer children to the subway."

(Additional reporting by Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey; Writing by Dan Peleschuk and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Conor Humphries)
Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have confirmed that the Ukrainian Defence Forces advanced in a counteroffensive on 31 August near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast and in the western part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Source: the ISW

Details: The analysts noted that Ukrainian forces further carried out counteroffensive operations near Bakhmut and in western part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast on 31 August, reportedly advancing on both fronts.

Furthermore, the report says, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed on 31 August that Ukraine is producing long-range missiles, likely as part of a coordinated Ukrainian campaign to expand Ukraine's strike capabilities against Russia's deep rear areas.

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Zelenskyy stated that a Ukrainian-made long-range missile had successfully hit a target 700 kilometres away but provided no details of the strike or the weapon.

To quote the ISW's Key Takeaways on 1 September:

Russian authorities arrested a notable fringe ultranationalist Russian milblogger on accusations of discrediting the Russian military, likely as part of centralized efforts to silence some critical milblogger voices without prompting a general backlash.

Russian military authorities allegedly ordered the detention of three Russian milbloggers who have recently criticized the Russian MoD  a move that sparked a backlash in only a small corner of the Russian information space.

Imprisoned Russian ultranationalist Igor Girkin and his associates conducted likely futile political maneuvers intended to coalesce into a coherent and meaningful political opposition group. Girkin announced on August 31 that he intends to run for president in the 2024 Russian presidential elections, but primarily used the announcement to reiterate his longstanding critiques of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian forces continued offensive operations along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line, near Bakhmut, along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line and unsuccessfully counterattacked in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area and in western Zaporizhia Oblast on August 31.

Russian occupation authorities continue to forcibly deport Ukrainian children to Russia and Russify Ukrainian youth.

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The recently unveiled Ukrainian missile, featured in a recent test video release, is already in active deployment, with its development efforts dating back to 2020, Oleksiy Danilov , National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) secretary, said on national television on Sept. 1.

Read also: Each modern air defense unit Russia loses represents a serious loss, says HUR

The first presidential directive regarding this program was issued on March 1, 2020. Its important to note that we were already preparing the necessary NSDC decision on this matter in February-March 2020, said Danilov.

Highlighting the intricate nature of the missiles development, Danilov emphasized that creating such a sophisticated weapon capable of covering thousands of kilometers requires the collaborative efforts of substantial teams.

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He assured that there are already tangible results today.

Believe me, in the near future, someone will feel the heat, and there will be repercussions in every sense of the word, he said.

Read also: Russian S-400 Triumf in Crimea destroyed by Ukrainian missile  Danilov

Danilov clarified that the missiles capacity to target Russian objects at a distance of 700 kilometers, as mentioned by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is not its ultimate range.

He also pointed out Ukraines commitment to adhering to international legal norms and regulations, unlike the aggressor country, by exclusively using the weaponry against military targets and not engaging in attacks on civilian infrastructure.

We do not target kindergartens, hospitals, or other civilian facilities. This sets us apart significantly from the terrorists located near us, he added.

Read also: First photos of damaged Russian jets seen after Ukraines brazen drone attack on Russias Pskov airbase

Previously, Danilov released video footage showcasing successful tests of the new Ukrainian missile, highlighting its effectiveness.

President Zelenskyy announced on Aug. 31 that long-range Ukrainian-made weaponry had successfully struck Russian occupant targets from a distance of 700 kilometers. The specific target remains undisclosed.

To provide context, 700 kilometers is approximately the distance from Ukraine to Pskov, where explosions occurred at an airfield overnight on Aug. 30.

Ukraines Ministry of Defenses Main Intelligence Directorate confirmed the destruction of four Russian Il-76 aircraft, while Russian Telegram channels reported a large-scale drone attack.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The Armed Forces of Ukraine captured a group of the battalion of the Russian Armed Forces of Major Tomov

A video showing the capture of a Russian group of soldiers, led by Major Yuri Tomov, has emerged online. It shows Ukrainian soldiers removing a patch with the letter Z from one of the captured soldiers.

Read also: Ukrainian soldiers capture three Russians near Bakhmut using bizarre tactics  video

An earlier video featuring Tomov voluntarily surrendering the positions of his comrades was released on Aug. 9. His group went missing near the Kozachi Laheri settlement during a Ukrainian Armed Forces operation on the left bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast. It became evident that the Russian officer had fallen into Ukrainian custody during the operation.

The Russians claimed to have sent additional forces to Kozachi Laheri and to have regained control of the area. They released a video with Tomov reporting the "successful" completion of the mission.

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It was later revealed that the video had been fabricated using outdated footage.

Read also: Ukrainian soldier rescued after spending 12 hours stranded in the Black Sea  video

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Near Lyman, Ukraine  At a secret hide-out deep in a forest near the eastern city of Lyman, Ukrainian forces were caught in the crosshairs of a new line of Russian attack. Our CBS News team huddled in the dugout with the troops, not far from the eastern front line, where Russia was putting them under intense pressure with a barrage of artillery in a bid to stretch Ukraine's resources.

Moscow wants to force the Ukrainians to bolster their defenses in the area by pulling soldiers away from their counteroffensive in the south.

"We've got a couple of weeks now of very huge combats," U.S.-trained Commander Simon Solatenko told us. He and his elite troops from the Bogun Brigade had been up all night, fending off another Russian assault.

They're outmanned and outgunned. The Russian forces have almost 10 times more ammunition.

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"They outnumber us with drones. It's a huge problem," Solatenko told us. "But we are fighting We have no other choice."

He's lost a friend in the battle, and he's exhausted.

"We're holding our line," he told us with a deep sigh. "It is difficult. I can't say our morale is on the top, but we are holding our line and we are standing."

The fighting was so close you could smell the gunpowder, Solatenko told us, but they managed yet again to send the Russian soldiers running back in the opposite direction.

One thing that has made a difference further along the front line in the region are the U.S. supplied, and controversial, cluster munitions. The Biden administration agreed to send the weapons earlier this summer, as Ukraine's ammunition shortages threatened its counteroffensive.

North Korea-Russia arms negotiations "actively advancing," White House says

Critics of that decision worry about a weapon that releases dozens of smaller "bomblets," which sometimes fail to explode  posing a deadly threat to civilians as they can linger on the ground long after a conflict ends. That risk has seen more than 120 countries ban the use of the weapons, but not Russia, Ukraine or the United States.

Commander Musikant of the Bogun Brigade's artillery unit told CBS News they give his forces a crucial advantage: In the absence of air power, cluster munitions enable Ukrainian troops to clear an area quickly, as they can strike a large section of ground using a single shell.

We watched as he directed a strike from their control room. With Russian positions in the firing line, Musikant gave the order to unleash one cluster bomb. The gunner out in the field received the order and let it fly, and then he and his men hotfooted it out of there  firing a shell can reveal their position, and they too can become targets.

Ukrainian forces fire a U.S.-supplied cluster munition at a Russian position near the front line outside the eastern city of Lyman, amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, August 31, 2023. / Credit: CBS News

The hit was successful.

The moral dilemma of using a weapon banned by most countries is not up for debate on the battlefields of Ukraine. The men trying to fend off Russia's invasion believe the cluster bombs are crucial to helping them hold the line, at least for now.

The Ukrainian soldiers who spoke to CBS News said the "dud rate"  the number of bomblets that fail to explode  on the American cluster munitions has been very low, claiming they've been almost 100% efficient.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in July that Ukraine was putting the weapons to use "appropriately."

Russia, too, has relied on the controversial bombs during its invasion, and U.S. officials say Moscow has used older versions, with higher dud rates.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1) --- Money will always be part of our daily lives and managing it wisely is a must, a registered financial planner said.

Money is present in all our life. From the moment that you were born up until you die, you will use money," said Wealth Arki Consultancy founder Fitz Gerard Villafuerte in an interview with CNN Philippines The Exchange.

"So it makes sense to learn how to properly use or manage our money as early as we can, he added.

Villafuerte noted that financial success is all about developing good money habits.

He said saving money should be a normal habit regardless of the amount.

Making saving a habit is not really about the amount you save, but making it part of your life that it becomes automatic for you, the financial expert explained.

He noted, however, that saving does not need to compromise spending.

Dont focus too much on saving a large amount of money, that you are already compromising your spending, said Villafuerte. What we tell people is how much can you comfortably save and write down all expected expenses for the holidays.

He also stressed that one must stop worrying about debt as long as it is properly handled.

I compare it to a knife," he said. "If you don't know how to use a knife, you'll cut yourself.

Meanwhile, Villafuerte said everyone should learn how to make their hard-earned money grow.

Because of course, we cannot just work all our lives," he said. "We have to put our money where it can grow on its own."

When investing, Villafuerte said financial goals must always be put into consideration.

What do you want to do in the future?" he said. "What are your dreams? What do you want to buy? What do you want to do with your family? You have to align your investment along your financial goals."

Villafuerte's advise to the public is to always have financial protection first before you even grow your money.

Financial protection includes having an emergency fund or insurance, he added.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the country's weapons production.

He said Ukrainian weapons can hit Russian targets more than 430 miles away.

It means Ukraine has extended the range of its attacks and can strike deep within Russia's borders.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed his country has produced new weapons capable of striking targets 430 miles away.

In a Telegram post, Zelenskyy said the weapons were produced by the Ministry of Strategic Industries, but did not provide further details on the weapons or the targets they struck.

Some speculated that Zelenskyy was likely referencing an August 30 attack on an airport in the Pskov region, western Russia, which is about 435 miles from the Ukrainian border.

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Reports citing Russian authorities say the airport was attacked by waves of drones, and four Russian military transport aircraft were damaged.

The US and other Western allies have handed Ukraine missiles and other weapons capable of hitting targets well within Russia's borders, but have placed strict bans on them being used to strike Russia out of concern it could escalate the conflict. There are no such limits on Ukraine's use of weapons it produces itself.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, DC, think tank, highlighted other recent statements by Ukrainian officials about Ukrainian-made weapons capable of striking deep behind enemy lines.

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov, on August 26, said a Ukrainian-made missile had hit a Russian anti-aircraft battery in Crimea, which is several hundred miles from Ukrainian positions, though the exact location the strike was launched from is unknown.

"The missile was new, absolutely modern, and state-of-the-art," he said, reported Ukrainian media. "Yes, this is our latest product, which performed impeccably."

In a Facebook post Thursday, he posted a video apparently showing a long-range Ukrainian missile test.

Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate Head Major General Kyrylo Budanov said that Ukraine has the capacity to strike targets anywhere in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula occupied by Russia since 2014.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive aimed at driving back Russian forces from the territory they occupy in east and south Ukraine. As part of that drive, Ukraine has launched attacks on cities and military targets in Russia apparently aimed at sapping Russian morale.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Chris Desautels, Ultium Cells plant manager, speaks about the plants hallway system and timetables for construction in Spring Hill, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.

The Ultium Cells car battery plant in Spring Hill, under construction for almost two years, is close to completion and will soon anchor the electric battery manufacturer as a prime industry in Southern Middle Tennessee.

With 1,700 open jobs, the company is recruiting a "talent pipeline" at area educational institutions, creating the next generation of workers in the Middle Tennessee manufacturing market for years to come.

Plant manager Chris Desautels says the company is strategizing to attract skilled workers in the company's own backyard.

Desautels, who has recently visited a slew of local colleges and universities promoting the opportunities at Ultium, says the company seeks to serve the region by staffing a local workforce and being involved in the community for decades.

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"Many ask what's going to go on in that big white building," said Desautels, who hails from the first Ultium plant in Ohio.

A construction worker drives a vehicle past the Ultium Cells sign at the plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.

The white rectangle building, spanning the size of 30 football fields, will produce batteries for electric vehicles in the $2 billion-plus, 2.8 million square foot facility, which is projected to be fully operational by 2025.

Using anode and cathode technology, the plant will produce the batteries at each stage from raw material (nickel, cobalt, manganese, and aluminum) to end product, or a fully charged battery ready to insert into the General Motors electric Lyriq SUV. The technology requires 70% less cobalt than other formats.

Tennessee 'proactive' in building training programs

The company is casting its recruiting net to institutions like the Tennessee College of Applied Technology campuses in the region, Columbia State Community College, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Tennessee campuses, Tennessee Tech, University of Memphis and Vanderbilt University to name a few.

"There is a career waiting for those interested in manufacturing," Desautels said. "Some young people don't realize that manufacturing is out there as a career. They might find a path that they never knew they could take."

He said manufacturing is not like the old assembly line model once associated with the industry.

"It's flexible and hands-on, requiring problem solving and analyzation skills as well as interfacing with machinery. Everyday is not the same," Desautels said.

Construction workers install equipment at Ultium Cells in Spring Hill, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.

Regional institutions such as Tennessee College of Applied Technology at Pulaski have bolstered their programs to accommodate the demand for manufacturing workers in the region with the advent of such companies like Ultium, JC Ford tortilla machine maker, Mersen graphite production, Documotion print company and of course long-standing General Motors. Meanwhile, BlueOval City Ford auto giant will soon offer another opportunity to enter the auto manufacturing industry in West Tennessee.

Fortunately, Tennessee has been proactive in developing the educational infrastructure and talent Ultium Cells needs to operate, Desautels said.

Maury County has already experienced its share of watershed moments over the past few years, establishing itself as the fastest growing county in Tennessee, according to the 2020 U.S Census and ranking No. 1 in incoming investments in the state in 2021 by think-tank SmartAsset, which stems from major manufacturers expanding to Southern Middle Tennessee. Over the past few years, Maury has exceeded past markers for growth in manufacturing, real estate, population growth and small business.

Most students who take the Advance Manufacturing Education course at Tennessee College of Applied Technology pursue a career in the automotive industry, according to instructor Dalton Pelfrey.

With a growing economy, investments and job opportunities, companies are looking to the region to provide a robust workforce.

Dalton Pelfrey, TCAT-Pulaski Advanced Manufacturing Education instructor, says the Advanced Manufacturing class was created several years ago as a response to the booming manufacturing industry in Middle and Southern Middle Tennessee.

"Almost all of my students go into the automotive sector because there is such a large opportunity here," Pelfrey said. "Many industries such as plastics, batteries and mechatronics all end up supporting the automotive industry."

A construction worker checks in on equipment installation at Ultium Cells in Spring Hill, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.

Demand for workers unrelenting in foreseeable future

However, Pelfrey said it's difficult for the institution to keep up with the industry's demand for workers.

"I need more students," he said.

Tonja Garrett, TCAT-Pulsaki Workforce and Community Engagement Coordinator, says the college plans to keep partnerships strong with area high schools in order to attract a steady stream of manufacturing students.

"TCAT-Pulaski understands this critical issue, and we are working to expand our program offerings on campus to meet the needs of businesses and industry along with adding more dual enrollment opportunities onsite at high schools in the region," Garrett said.

By 2026, she said the college plans to add more courses and programs to keep up with the demand for trained manufacturing and technical workers.

"Ongoing collaboration between educational institutions and employers can further support workforce needs," Garrett said.

High schools contribute to the 'pipeline'

Maury County Public Schools and Williamson County Schools, for example, offer robust mechatronics programs that include tours and internships with manufacturers in the region as well as other manufacturing-focused programs.

Amy Roberts, Maury County Public Schools Supervisor of Careers in Technology and Engineering programs, said the school district has an early role in creating the future employees for companies like Ultium.

"We recognize the rich opportunities for our students in the automotive industry in our district, especially in automotive manufacturing and technology," Roberts said. "The advanced manufacturing and STEM Engineering programs offered in many of our county schools are a great way for our students to acclimate to the work being done in our local industries.

"The skills attained in these courses will recreate an employee pipeline to not only allow our students to find work that is high skill and high wage, but also remain here in Maury County."

A meeting takes place in a conference room at Ultium Cells in Spring Hill, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.

Reaching economically disadvantaged students

The opportunities available could be lifechanging for some students who are the first in their family to earn a higher degree in surrounding "transitional" or "distressed" counties in Southern Middle Tennessee.

According to 2022 data from the Economic Innovation Group, the Ultium Cells facility is within a 45-minute drive of seven At Risk zip codes and under one hour from two Distressed zip codes, as stated in a recent Ultium Cells talent acquisition strategy release. The data rates counties from "prosperous" to "distressed" based on poverty rate, income level, education and unemployment rates.

"Ultium Cells will emphasize building long-term relationships with rural and often economically disadvantaged communities to the south, east and west of its factory," the Ultium recruitment strategy summary states.

"For communities like Centerville, Mt. Pleasant, Summertown and Lewisburg, where nearby economic and career opportunities have been scarce, the relatively short commute is a welcome development."

Pelfrey said the current career opportunities available can be a game-changer for economically disadvantaged students.

"A lot of my students' parents didn't go to college," he said. "They might be the first in their family to obtain a higher degree. Learning in-demand skills and getting a technical diploma can be life-changing."

Desautels believes Ultium Cells can help spread the opportunity of the state's thriving electric vehicle economy to economically disadvantaged parts of the state.

We hope to employ team members wherever they are in their educational journey, Desautels said.

He also highlighted the company's tuition reimbursement program that allows employees to pursue higher education while working at the plant.

'Big white building' to be fully operational by 2025

Spring Hill is the second site of three Ultium Cells factories in the U.S. The first is located in Warren, Ohio, which started production in November 2022 and just celebrated the production of its 10 millionth battery cell. The third plant will be in Lansing, Michigan.

GM has a goal of producing all electric vehicles by 2035, according to company reports.

Ceiling panels and beams are installed in a coder room at Ultium Cells in Spring Hill, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.

The Ultium Cells plants are all of similar size and structure, reflected at the $2 billion-plus Spring Hill plant.

Desautels calls the Spring Hill plant a "start-up" since the company is new to the industry being the second of three Ultium plants in a joint venture between South Korea-based LG Energy Solutions (a division of LG) and General Motors.

"The start-up nature of the company allows workers to start at the beginning and work their way up as they learn the industry," Desautels said.

And he says the future of the industry is bright.

"In manufacturing and the auto industry, I've never seen change like this. It's changing so quickly in EV v. gas vehicles.

Desautels says that partnering with the community has been a priority for the company, giving back to such nonprofits and organizations as the Boys and Girls Clubs, Keep Maury Beautiful, Maury County Fair and others. The company has also participated in First Fridays and will continue to recruit and collaborate with educational institutions.

"We want to make long-term relationships and have a long-term vision," he said. "We are excited about the future and opportunities to partner with the community."

For more information about Ultium Cells, please visit www.ultiumcell.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Ultium Cells seeks local workers to build generational footprint in Middle TN
A Russian military blogger who has written critically of Russias conduct in Ukraine was arrested in Moscow Thursday, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

The blogger, Andrey Kurshin, runs the Moscow Calling Telegram channel, which has some 87,000 subscribers.

A criminal case was opened against the administrator of the Moscow Calling telegram channel Andrey Kurshin for fake news about the Russian army, RIA Novosti said Thursday.

While he is being held as a suspect, the case is being investigated by Moscow investigators, the agency said, citing law enforcement agencies.

The Institute for the Study of War notes that Kurshin is not a mainstream blogger but an ultra nationalist who commonly attacks many aspects of Russias military conduct of the war in Ukraine while supporting the ultranationalist goals underpinning the war itself.

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ISW said that the wider Russian ultranationalist information space welcomed Kurshins arrest and noted that he routinely discredited the Russian military.

It follows the arrest of prominent Russian pro-war blogger Igor Girkin in July. Girkin had been critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his militarys mishaps in Ukraine.

In April, Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in an explosion at a cafe in the center of St. Petersbug, where he was appearing as a guest of a pro-war group.

Anti-war protester Daria Trepova, 26, was arrested and charged with terrorism offenses over the incident. Investigators allege that Trepova, acting at the behest of Ukraine, brought a statuette filled with explosives to the venue and handed it to Tatarsky.

Russias pro-invasion military bloggers have filled some of the information vacuum left behind by the closure of independent media outlets in Russia. Foreign media is also blocked and most opposition journalists are in jail or out of the country.

Most of the bloggers have unparalleled access to information due to deep sources within the states armed forces.

Unlike Russian state media, many have not shied away from criticizing Moscow for its battlefield defeats, although the recent arrests suggest the Kremlins patience with dissent has grown thinner in the wake of the Wagner mercenary rebellion.

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy , President of Ukraine, is likely to personally participate in a meeting of the UN Security Council dedicated to Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine in September 2023.

Source: Ferit Hoxha, Permanent Representative of Albania, the chair of the Security Council in September, to the United Nations, at a briefing on Friday

Quote: "I can almost confirm, although it is not up to me, that President Zelenskyy will be present in New York. This will be his first visit to the city, to the UN [after the beginning of Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine  ed.], and his first participation in the UN Security Council here," Hoxha said.

Details: The diplomat said that the Security Council meeting dedicated to the war in Ukraine is scheduled for 20 September. Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania, will chair it.

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The consequences of the war in Ukraine for the world, international peace, the UN itself, and food security, are to be discussed at the meeting, Hoxha added.

Background:

Bloomberg reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may visit New York in September to attend the UN General Assembly High-Level Week.

Bloomberg's sources say Zelenskyy may personally present his peace formula, a 10-point plan to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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In a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov , United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered "a set of concrete proposals" to resume the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Source: CNN with reference to Guterres' letter to Lavrov

Quote: "We have some concrete solutions for the concerns allowing for a more effective access of Russian food and fertilizers to global markets at adequate prices."

"We cannot have a Black Sea Initiative that moves from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension. We need to have something that works, and that works to the benefit of everybody."

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Details: Guterres said that it is "extremely important to renew" the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

After all, it is an important contribution to making "the food markets more adequate to the UN objectives of food security". These include lowering prices and creating "conditions for access to the global markets of many countries, namely the developing world".

Guterres added that the UN "took into concern the Russian requests".

In his opinion, the UN "presented a proposal that could be the basis for a renewal [of the Grain Initiative  ed.], but a renewal that must be stable".

Background:

On 17 July, the Russian Federation announced the suspension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and threatened "risks" to parties who decide to continue the initiative without Russia's participation.

On 19 July, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that it would consider all ships approaching Ukraine to be potential weapons carriers.

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A FedEx delivery driver was caught completely off guard recently when a man stole a package directly from her hands in broad daylight.

The incident happened in Chesterfield, Virginia, on Aug. 30, leaving the FedEx driver in a state of panic. She was walking up to the door when an unidentified man was stalking right behind her. According to the FedEx driver, the man had claimed that the package was his before he moved in, snatched it out of her hands, and fled to a white BMW.

Porch pirate stealing from FedEx worker. (Photo: GMA/YouTube screenshot)

I looked at the camera, and the lady, she couldnt even speak, and she was shaking, Jessica Saenz said in an interview with Good Morning America. I couldnt believe what I was seeing. Like this guy, right in front of my door, grabbing the package and just running away.

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Related: It Was Very Brutal: Shirtless Boy Repeatedly Kicks Girl In Head at Michigan High School In Shocking Video

The FedEx driver quickly made her way to the door to alert Saenz that the $1,600 iPad meant for her husband had been stolen.

It was unbelievable because it was right outside of my house, and I could have, I could have  this guy could have broken into my house and taken it from me, Saenz said in another interview with WBBT.

Saenz claimed later in the interview that she believes that the thief somehow knew what was being delivered that day, and thats why he stole the package.

Middle Tennessee State University criminal justice administration professor Ben Stickle advises those who may be worried about porch pirates to consider taking some precautions.

So anytime you can, you should have a package delivered to a trusted neighbor, perhaps to a storefront, somewhere where you frequent, or even a parcel locker system, he told GMA. So that way, the only thing that comes between you and your package is you and not anyone else.

The FedEx delivery driver managed to get the number on the cars license plate, and it was later discovered that the car was associated with a prior robbery.

If caught, the suspect could be facing a robbery charge, according to Michigan attorney Steve Lehto.

Most people want to think, Well, I take something that doesnt belong to me, thats theft, Lehto said in his YouTube video about the situation. When you grab it from someones possession, it is robbery. Usually, thats what theyd call that in most states: robbery, which is stealing from another person.

FedEx has released a statement regarding the incident.

The safe and secure delivery of our customers shipment is our top priority. We are working with local authorities as they investigate the incident, the company said.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.
Astronomers studying a famous supernova located 168,000 light-years from Earth have made new observations inside the structure that may help unlock the mysteries of exploding stars.

The supernova, known as SN 1987A and first discovered in 1987, has been studied by scientists for decades. A supernova is the powerful explosion of a star, which occurs when a star has reached the end of its lifespan.

The recent observations revealed a central structure, shaped like a keyhole, "packed with clumpy gas and dust ejected by the supernova explosion," according to NASA. Researchers said the dust is so dense that even the highly advanced James Webb Space Telescope cannot see through it, causing the "hole" shape in the keyhole structure.

The shape is also formed by a bright surrounding ring and two hourglass-shaped outer rings. The surrounding, equatorial ring is made up of material ejected millennia before the supernova exploded. The ring also has bright hot spots, formed by the supernova's shock wave hitting it.

Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured this detailed image of SN 1987A, which has been annotated to highlight key structures. At the center, material ejected from the supernova forms a keyhole shape. Just to its left and right are faint crescents newly discovered by Webb. / Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Matsuura (Cardiff University), R. Arendt (NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center & University of Maryland, Baltimore County), C. Fransson (Stockholm University), and J. Larsson (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

These structures have been observed in the past with technology like NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope. But "the unparalleled sensitivity and spatial resolution of Webb revealed a new feature in this supernova remnant  small crescent-like structures" that astronomers believe to be part of the "outer layers of gas shot out" by the explosion. The crescent shapes are bright, which may be "limb brightening," which NASA described as an optical phenomenon caused by "viewing the expanding material in three dimensions."

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The supernova will continue to be observed by the Webb telescope. Instruments on the telescope will continue to allow astronomers to capture new data and learn more about the crescent structures.

The new observations "provide a crucial clue to our understanding of how a supernova develops over time to shape its remnant," NASA said.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the "world's premier space science observatory," according to NASA, and works with other observatories to study space. The telescope is an international program led by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

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California has increasingly seen extreme weather in recent years  the state has experienced destructive wildfires as well as both severe droughts and floods.

However, there could be some good news from the wildly fluctuating weather in the Golden State. As a result of record levels of rain and snowpack this winter, some drought-stricken zombie lakes appear to have come back to life.

Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville, two of the largest reservoirs in the state, are 86% full, according to data compiled by the Los Angeles Times. Thats a drastic increase from late last year when they were only 35% full.

Photos show dramatic difference in water levels at California's Lake Oroville from 2021 to today, now at 100% capacity. https://t.co/Hy8BLm4RrK pic.twitter.com/lyaXvrD4Iv  ABC News (@ABC) June 20, 2023

And if those numbers arent shocking enough, the pictures tell the story even better. Photos of Lake Shasta taken in September 2021 show what appears to be a bone-dry valley.

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Pictures taken from the exact same spot in April 2023 show a vast landscape. The difference between the two images is so stark that you might not even realize they were the same location if it werent for the bridge running through the middle of both photos.

Similar images exist of Lake Oroville, with the difference between them being just as stark.

Its been a wild year, Fresno County farmer David Mas Masumoto told The Washington Post. We forget, November and December, it looked like another drought. We all braced for that and planned for that.

Instead, farmers have actually been able to rely on canals and irrigation ditches for water instead of being forced to pump groundwater, further depleting resources.

Scientists predict, according to the Post, that this is simply the future of Californias climate  years of drought interspersed with extremely wet years like 2023. One of the states main challenges now is figuring out how to capture the maximum amount of rainwater when the wet seasons do come.

The weather changes in California align with the climate science maxim of dry gets drier, wet gets wetter that describes the phenomenon where all types of weather become more extreme as changes to our planets climates occur.

It is probably not the best plan to hope that climate change simply evens itself out, but at least for now, California has been given a reprieve from its years of devastating drought.

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A huge group of sea creatures was spotted close to shore in Iceland  for the fourth year in a row.

Long-finned pilot whales made their return to the Akureyri harbor as of Aug. 31, according to a Facebook post from Whale Watching Akureyri.

This is another year that we are observing this species coming so close to our town and its incredible news for a lot of reasons  we can confirm now that there is at least one newborn in the pod and this is the third time weve been observing this species staying in the fjord with the juveniles, the post said.

The creatures have visited the harbor accompanied by newborn calves every summer since 2019, Ania Wojcik, the head of Whale Watching Akureyris research team, told McClatchy News in an email. This years pod is unusually large, she said.

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Whats interesting is also that it is a much bigger pod than we usually see, last year we saw two pods of about 9-12 and 12-15 individuals, Wojcik said. This pod is surely over 50 individuals but we are still gathering footage to make a better estimation.

Experts have also noted how the pods bring their young calves into the harbor, according to Wojcik.

The calves weve seen must have been either born inside the fjord or on the way here which could explain why the pod would stay in the area with not much boat traffic, calmer seas (fjord), and no predators, she said. It is a fascinating insight for us to follow as at least I am not aware of a record of that species returning to the same area to give birth anywhere else in Iceland.

Long-finned pilot whales are found in the North Atlantic and Southern Hemisphere, and they prefer deep temperate to subpolar waters, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Researchers are unsure why the creatures abandon their preference for deep seas to spend time in the shallow waters near shore in Akureyri, but Wojcik said they have some ideas.

One theory is that they can get lost if they are exposed to strong sonar signals (they are very sound sensitive), or they might be avoiding predators or other threats, she told McClatchy News. Another theory is that they might be simply seeking calm & sheltered waters and we think this is most likely the case in our area as we spotted very young individuals among the pod.

As of Sept. 1, the huge pod of pilot whales was still in the harbor, according to a Facebook post from Whale Watching Akureyri.

We are excited to see how long they will stay, the post said. It is a fascinating insight for us to follow, as this species is not typically seen staying in shallow waters. If you happen to be in Akureyri  be on the lookout!

Akureyri is northern Iceland, about 150 miles northeast of Reykjavik.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)  Witness the next evolution of haute couture, as internationally-renowned Filipino fashion designer Michael Cinco brings his acclaimed designs to Philippine Blockchain Week (PBW) in the countrys first-ever Metaverse Fashion Gala! Taking place on September 18 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom, Newport World Resorts Manila, the event will redefine how audiences see digital fashion.

For Cinco, whose designs have been worn by royalty of multiple countries, as well as celebrities like Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Nick Jonas, James McAvoy, Jason Derulo, Steve Aoki, Carrie Underwood, Sofia Vergara, Mila Kunis, Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ellie Goulding, to name a few, the opportunity to break ground in a new medium was irresistible.

Fashion has always been about redefining barriers, and right now, theres no bigger barrier than taking whats physical into the digital, says Cinco. Im excited to be partnering with PBW, and even more excited for everyone to see what we have planned.

At the Gala, collectors will be treated to a showcase of signature Cinco pieces, while the runway models avatars will be shown wearing the same outfits in the Metaverse. Finally, fashion collectors will be invited to take home their favorite pieces, which will be made available for purchase through an exclusive pre-sale, which -in addition to the actual gowns- will come with special edition digital collectibles.

To drive further hype, PBW delegates will be treated to an exhibit of Michael Cinco gowns which will be exhibited throughout the PBW venue, allowing fashion-forward fans to get up close and personal with Cincos iconic style.

According to PBW convener Chezka Gonzales, the partnership with Michael Cinco is indicative of how Blockchain technology is changing every aspect of how the world lives, works, and plays. Philippine Blockchain Week isnt just about technology - its about showcasing how the Blockchain can complement creative professionals at the top of their field.

Part of the proceeds from the Michael Cinco Metaverse Fashion Gala will benefit the World Wildlife Fund for the conservation of endangered species, and the Global Reskilling Movement, an international initiative devoted to providing better opportunities for the youth.

Tickets to the Michael Cinco Metaverse Fashion Gala are on sale now, granting holders VIP access to a once-in-a-lifetime experience while indulging in pre-show cocktails and a 5-course epicurean dinner. For reservations or more information, visit pbw.ph/mc or email info@pbw.ph.
When you talk about heroism, dedication and the might of the American military, one battle that instantly commands respect is the Battle of Sadr City. This conflict was a defining moment during the Iraq War . It highlighted the courage of our troops and the strategic importance of urban warfare.

The blockade of Sadr City was a joint effort by American and Iraqi forces. Its goal was simple. Neutralize the stronghold of the Mahdi Army in northeastern Baghdad. The operation kicked off on April 4, 2004. Later, the day would become called "Black Sunday." That's because of a bloody revolt against the Coalition after a newspaper from Muqtada Al-Sadr's Sadrist Movement was banned. Intense combat in Sadr City spanned multiple phases. These include the initial clashes in April 2004 and a second round in August the same year. Additionally, further fighting occurred amidst the sectarian tensions of late 2006 and then again during the troop surge of 2007. Finally, the worst of it came during the pivotal spring battles of 2008.

Operation Charge of the Knights

Operation Charge of the Knights was a critical military operation in Iraq in 2008. Its main goal was to diminish the influence and operational capacity of the Mahdi Army. The Mahdi were a powerful militia led by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The operation aimed to secure and stabilize key areas in Iraq. In particular, efforts focused on Sadr City, a suburb of Baghdad, and the southern city of Basra.

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The unique aspect of this operation was that it was primarily led by the Iraqi Security Forces, under the direction of Iraq's Prime Minister at the time, Nouri al-Maliki. The American military played a crucial supporting role, providing vital capabilities like air support, armored vehicles, and intelligence services. The operation marked a significant milestone in the Iraq War. It demonstrated the growing capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces and the strengthening partnership between the U.S. and Iraqi governments.

This joint operation served to weaken the Mahdi Army significantly. Additionally, it disrupted its operations and helped Coalition forces regain weapons caches and strategic locations under their control. The success of the op set the stage for improved security and governance in the affected regions. In turn, this showcased the effective collaboration between American and Iraqi forces.

American backbone and expertise

While Iraqi forces led the charge, American troops played an indispensable role in both Basra and in Sadr City. Americans provided invaluable air support, armored vehicles, and intelligence gathering. Sniper teams from the U.S. military set up strategic positions. Once in position, they offered precise fire support that protected Iraqi soldiers advancing through the streets. Artillery units used state-of-the-art GPS-guided munitions to target enemy hideouts with pinpoint accuracy.

Both American and Iraqi forces displayed an impressive capacity to adapt during the operation. They adjusted to complex urban fighting conditions, changed tactics when necessary, and made swift decisions that saved lives. This showed a remarkable level of trust and coordination between the two allied forces.

High-stakes urban warfare

As American and Iraqi forces entered Sadr City, they met stiff resistance. Urban warfare is complex and demanding. Buildings can turn into fortresses, and narrow streets into ambush points. The American military had to employ its cutting-edge technology and tactics. They used drones, precision artillery, and highly skilled marksmen to neutralize threats, often within yards of civilian homes.

During the battle, American troops demonstrated exceptional levels of coordination . Infantry units cleared buildings while engineers built barriers. Medical teams saved lives, all under the cover of tanks and aerial support. It was an awe-inspiring display of what our men and women in uniform are trained to do.

Some of the key U.S. military units that participated included elements of the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment , 4th Infantry Division, and Special Forces units. These units were trained for high-intensity urban combat and brought a versatile range of skills to the operation.

An Iraqi army soldier from the 42nd Iraqi Army Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division takes cover and points to where his men need to go during a firefight against armed militiamen in the Sadr City district of Baghdad April 17. (U.S. Air Force photo /Tech. Sgt. Adrian Cadiz)

Artillery, tanks and aerial support

The American Abrams M1A2 tanks were pivotal in providing heavy firepower and acting as formidable armored shields for advancing infantry. Artillery units often used the M777 Howitzer, which provided precise indirect fire. GPS-guided Excalibur artillery rounds allowed for strikes with an accuracy of up to 10 meters.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) played a crucial role in intelligence gathering. The MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper drones provided real-time aerial surveillance. They were also equipped with Hellfire missiles for targeted strikes. AH-64 Apache helicopters provided close air support, effectively taking out enemy combatants while minimizing collateral damage.

Snipers, engineers and medical teams

Precision shooting was often required, given the close quarters and the need to minimize civilian casualties. Snipers from specialized units utilized high-caliber rifles such as the M107 Barrett .50 Cal and the M24 Sniper Weapon System, which have an effective range of up to 2,000 meters.

Engineer units were tasked with constructing barriers, often under enemy fire. Using equipment like the High Mobility Engineer Excavator (HMEE), they built concrete barriers that became the famous 'Wall,' dividing Sadr City and isolating hostile elements. Medical teams, meanwhile, were on standby to provide immediate care, often utilizing Forward Surgical Teams (FST) to save lives right at the frontlines.

The infantry units were the backbone of the operation. Armed with M4 carbines, M249 light machine guns, and various types of grenades, these troops cleared buildings, secured areas and engaged in close-quarters combat. Their intense training in urban warfare tactics was evident in their effectiveness.

Operation Salaam

Before the break of day on May 20, Operation Salaam, which translates to "Peace," saw six battalions of Iraqi troops move into the northern sections of Sadr City. Encountering no resistance, they filled the spaces that the Mahdi Army had vacated and received a generally warm welcome from local residents. In a display of goodwill, Mahdi Army fighters handed out Korans to the Iraqi soldiers. Key locations like Imam Ali and Sadr hospitals were secured by the Iraqi forces. A checkpoint helped keep the calm, and tanks were placed near al-Sadr's political headquarters. General Qassem Atta reported in a media briefing that 100 bombs had been safely disarmed since the operation started.

The toll of the Sadr City siege was heavy. A total of 941 people lost their lives, including 22 American soldiers , 17 Iraqi troops, 331 militants, and 591 civilians. In addition, 100 U.S. soldiers and over 1,700 civilians were injured. Most of the civilian deaths occurred in Sadr City, while 42 were killed in other parts of Baghdad due to errant mortar fire originating from Sadr City and aimed at the Green Zone.

Lasting impact

The Battle of Sadr City was a masterclass in joint operations, urban warfare, and counter-insurgency tactics. The implications of the battle are far-reaching and have been examined from several angles, including an eight-part National Geographic series and countless academic papers . It also underlined the importance of understanding the local cultural and political landscape. It's a testament to the adaptability and bravery of American troops, proving that when the stakes are high, our military stands tall.
Migrants seeking asylum in the United States wait at a makeshift encampment, in Matamoros

WASHINGTON/PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - The United States will continue deporting Haitian migrants back to their country, a spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday, amid worsening gang warfare that prompted it a day earlier to urge its own citizens to evacuate.

"Removals of Haitian nationals encountered at our southern border and repatriation of Haitian nationals encountered at sea continue," the spokesperson said, noting the Biden administration had expanded parole processes for Haitian migrants.

"Those interdicted at sea are subject to immediate repatriation, and those encountered in the United States without a legal basis to remain are subject to removal," they said.

The United Nations and human rights group have called on the United States and other countries to stop this practice.

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U.S. border authorities encountered more than 125,000 Haitians between last October and July, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Early on Thursday, a flight carrying 66 Haitian migrants landed at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in the capital Port-au-Prince, according to a Homeland Security document seen by Reuters.

The same morning, a small group, including people who arrived in cars from the U.S. diplomatic mission, gathered on a runway of the same airport to board a Boeing 767 plane operated by U.S. charter airline Omni Air International headed to the U.S.

"The humanitarian situation has considerably deteriorated in Haiti in 2023," U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) said in a statement on Thursday, estimating that over 2,500 have been killed and 970 kidnapped since January.

This includes at least 71 people killed in a recent escalation over the last two weeks of August.

"The latest wave of violence has resulted in the forced displacement of over ten thousand people, who have taken refuge in more than twenty makeshift sites and host families," it said.

(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington, Ralph Tedy Erol in Port-au-Prince and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Editing by Stephen Coates)
The United States' cutting-edge nuclear-capable fighter jets will be deployed in the United Kingdom this year.

Source: The Telegraph citing sources

Details: The UK media reports that two F-35A squadrons have already been deployed and will soon arrive at the US-leased Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath in England.

These are low-visibility aircraft designed to deliver tactical nuclear strikes; they are also capable of conducting air-to-air combat tasks and gathering intelligence.

Military sources stress that deploying 54 F-35 fighter jets, which will replace the F-15s currently at the air base, is a "significant step" because the F-15s are also capable of carrying nuclear weapons but are less advanced.

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Quote from the Telegraph: "Its a newer, more capable aircraft, which has a longer range and stealth, which is crucial if you are going to use them to accurately drop nuclear bombs."

Details: The Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister's Office declined to comment on whether US nuclear warheads have been or will be stationed in the United Kingdom.

Background: The Rheinmetall company decided to build a state-of-the-art plant to produce fuselage sections for the F-35A multirole combat aircraft in Germany's west, in the city of Wetz.

Denmark will receive the first four F-35 fighters by 1 October 2023  they will be located at the Skrydstrup air base in South Jutland, where the F-16s are currently located.

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Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, background, listens, during a press briefing together with US congressmen Michael McCaul, foreground and Gregory Meeks, in Stockholm, Friday, Sept. 1, 2023. The United States House Foreign Affairs chair says that a partnership of the Russian and Chinese leaders worries him, saying: We have never seen a threat this large-scale to Europe and the Pacific, I would argue, since World War II. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said Friday during a trip to Sweden with a U.S. Congressional Delegation that an alliance of Beijing and Moscow poses a big challenges to the free world. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP)

STOCKHOLM (AP)  The chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee said Friday that a partnership between the Russian and Chinese leaders worried him, adding, We have never seen a threat this large scale to Europe and the Pacific, I would argue, since World War II.

An alliance between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin "provides a very big challenge I think for the free world in this great power competition that we find ourselves in," Rep. Michael McCaul , a Texas Republican, said during a visit to Sweden.

The Biden administration has warned Xis government of unspecified consequences if it supports the Kremlins war effort in Ukraine. A United States intelligence report said Beijing possibly provided equipment used in Ukraine that might have military applications. The report cited Russian customs data that showed Chinese state-owned military contractors supplied navigation equipment, fighter jet parts, drones and other goods, but didnt say whether that might trigger U.S. retaliation.

China has stepped up purchases of Russian oil and gas, which helps Putins government offset lost sales after the United States, Europe and Japan cut off most purchases of Russian energy. Beijing can do that without triggering Western sanctions on its own companies, but Washington and its allies are frustrated that it undercuts economic pressure on Moscow.

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China rejects Western trade and financial sanctions on Russia because they werent authorized by the United Nations Security Council, where Beijing and Moscow have veto power. However, China has appeared to avoid directly defying those sanctions.

McCaul, who was part of a U.S. congressional delegation visiting Sweden and met with Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, said he expects the Nordic country to join NATO by October.

Long-neutral Sweden applied for NATO membership together with neighboring Finland in 2022. New entries must be approved by all existing members, and as NATO leaders met for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sweden was missing the green light from two: Turkey and Hungary.

Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with Russia  more than doubling the length of NATOs border with Russia  became the 31st member of the worlds biggest military alliance in April. But it wasnt until a NATO summit in July that Turkeys president agreed to send the accession documents to the Turkish Parliament for approval, something he had refused to do for more than a year.

By having Finland and Sweden in NATO, I think it will achieve the exact opposite effect that Mr. Putin wanted to achieve, and that was to weaken and divide NATO, McCaul said. With the two Nordic neighbors in NATO, the alliance has never been stronger and more united, he said.

The visiting congressional delegation also included Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.; Ann Wagner, R-Mo.; Gerry Connolly, D-Va.; Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.; Thomas Kean, R-N.J.; and Bill Huizenga, R-Mich. After Stockholm they were to travel to the Netherlands for meetings with Dutch government officials and members of parliament, among others.

The delegation's Europe visit aims to bolster ties with U.S. strategic allies, as well as discuss support for NATO and Ukraine, ways to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine; and how to confront shared threats from China. The Netherlands and Denmark recently said they will donate fighter jets to Ukraine.
By Makini Brice and Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A leader of the far-right Proud Boys was sentenced on Friday to 18 years in prison over the U.S. Capitol attack, equaling the longest punishment in the case so far, while another member sentenced to 10 years yelled " Trump won" as he left court.

The pair were the latest members of far-right groups sentenced for taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on Congress, an attempt to overturn Donald Trump's election defeat.

The 18-year sentence for Ethan Nordean , a leader of the Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy, fell short of the 27 years prosecutors had sought and tied the sentence handed down to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in May.

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"If we don't have a peaceful transfer of power in this country, we don't have anything," said U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly.

In a statement to the judge, Nordean called Jan. 6 a "complete and utter tragedy" and said he had gone to the Capitol to be a leader and to keep people out of trouble. His wife and sister pleaded for mercy.

Nordean's attorney, Nick Smith, had argued for a sentence of 15 to 21 months.

Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys, did not play a leadership role but was convicted of felonies including obstructing an official proceeding and assaulting police. He yelled, "Trump won!" as he left the courtroom after being sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Pezzola's assault on former Capitol Police Officer Mark Ode, in which he stole Ode's riot shield and used it to smash at a window at the Capitol, helped to justify a lengthy prison term.

Pezzola's attorneys had asked for their client to be sentenced to around five years in prison. Steven Metcalf, one of Pezzola's attorneys, told the judge that Pezzola was caught in the "heat of the moment."

"I stand before you with a heart full of regret," Pezzola said in an emotional speech to the court before his outburst. "I never should've crossed the barrier at the Capitol that day."

Prosecutors had sought a 20-year prison term for Pezzola.

Thousands of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol following a speech in which the Republican then-president falsely claimed that his November 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread fraud. Trump has continued to make those false claims even as he leads the Republican race for the 2024 nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden.

Five people including a police officer died during or shortly after the riot and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested on charges related to the Capitol assault. Of those, more than 630 have pleaded guilty and at least 110 have been convicted at trial.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Makini Brice in Washington; editing by Scott Malone, Grant McCool, Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)
The US Department of Defense announced on Aug. 31 a contract for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) from the American company Raytheon for Ukraine.

Raytheon Missiles and Defense, based in Arizona, was awarded a contract worth $192 million for the purchase of AMRAAM missiles from various sources. A portion of these funds are set aside for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

The exact dates and number of missiles to be purchased have not yet been disclosed.

AMRAAM are guided air-to-air missiles, used by fighter jets in the U.S. military and by Washington's international partners.

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Earlier this summer, the Pentagon announced a similar contract for the purchase of AMRAAM missiles worth around $1 billion.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia delivers tactical nukes to Belarus, says military intelligence chief

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Signage is seen at the headquarters of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, D.C., U.S.

By Carolina Mandl

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six private equity and hedge fund trade groups on Friday sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing the agency overstepped its statutory authority when adopting sweeping new expense and disclosure rules last week.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler said the rules will increase transparency and competition in the private funds industry, which oversees around $20 trillion in assets and has been accused by advocacy groups of opacity and conflicts of interest.

An agency spokesperson said the SEC "undertakes rulemaking consistent with its authorities and laws governing the administrative process." It added it will defend the new rules in court.

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The changes require private funds to issue quarterly fee and performance reports and to perform annual audits. They also require that funds disclose certain fee structures, and bar them from offering some investors preferential treatment when it comes to their portfolio exposures and ability to cash out.

"The rules exceed the Commission's statutory authority, were adopted without compliance with notice-and-comment requirements, and are otherwise arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law, all in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act," the associations wrote in the lawsuit.

They asked the court to vacate the rules, according to the document.

Bryan Corbett, chief executive officer of the Managed Funds Association (MFA), said the rules will increase costs for investors and curb competition, he added.

The suit was filed in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The other petitioners are the National Venture Capital Association, American Investment Council, Alternative Investment Management Association, National Association of Private Fund Managers and the Loan Syndications & Trading Association.

The suit is one of a growing number brought against Gensler's SEC. In a recent blow to the SEC, a judge panel ruled that the SEC was wrong to reject Grayscale Investments' proposed bitcoin ETF without explaining its reasoning.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl, in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Peter Graff and Cynthia Osterman)
FILE PHOTO: NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has seen notable progress by Ukrainian forces in southern Zaporizhzhia in the last 72 hours, the White House said on Friday, adding separately that it could not confirm reports that Russian missiles were put on combat duty.

"We have noted over the last 72 hours or so some notable progress by Ukrainian armed forces ...in that southern line of advance coming out of the Zaporizhzhia area, and they have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kirby said it was up to Ukraine on how to capitalize on their success.

"That is not to say ...that they aren't mindful that they've still got some tough fighting ahead of them as they try to push further south" or that Russia could launch a counter effort, he added.

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Kirby also said he was not in a position to confirm reports on Friday that Russia's nuclear capable Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles had been put on combat duty.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicitt and Susan Heavey; Editing by Peter Graff)
Armour-piercing ammunition containing depleted uranium is to be sent to Ukraine for the first time in a new package of military assistance from the United States. It will be accompanied by Abrams tanks, which are expected to be delivered in the next few weeks.

Source: Reuters

Details: This information was confirmed to reporters by two US officials. The news agency has also seen a relevant document.

The munitions, which could assist in the destruction of Russian tanks, are part of a new military aid package for Ukraine that will be announced next week.

According to a source familiar with the matter, US Abrams tanks that can fire the ammunition are due to be supplied to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

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One of the sources said the upcoming aid package could range in value from US$240 million to US$375 million, depending on what is included.

The officials emphasised that the cost and content of the package have not yet been finalised.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Although the UK sent depleted-uranium ammunition to Ukraine earlier this year, this will be the first US supply of such shells and is likely to cause controversy in the United States in the year before the presidential elections.

Background:

In mid-June, the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States was considering sending depleted-uranium shells to Ukraine.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  An office of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has joined the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to present social concerns and issues of the Church that need to be addressed by the government, CBCP head Bishop Pablo David of Caloocan City confirmed on Friday.

The said Commission [on Public Affairs] clarifies that they are engaging with the NTF-ELCAC precisely to address some Church issues vis-a-vis government, including the issue about the red-tagging of some cause-oriented groups and Church organizations by the said body, David said in a statement.

The said Commission also has the intention of providing moral-ethical approaches to dealing with the problem of insurgency, David added.

The NTF-ELCAC earlier announced that the CBCP Commission on Public Affairs, headed by Imus Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista as chairman and Fr. Jerome Secillano as executive secretary, will take part as one of the private-sector representatives in the group.

Aside from CBCP membership, we are working on a business sector representative to fill the other slot for a private representative in the NTF organization, NTF-ELCAC Usec. Ernesto Torres Jr. told reporters Thursday.

Meanwhile, some social groups expressed alarm over the participation of CBCP in the anti-insurgency task force.

The news comes heavy to us, as we have known a great deal of persons of faith within the CBCP who have spoken out against the measures so gleefully pushed by the NTF-ELCAC such as the Anti-Terrorism Act, womens group Gabriela said Friday in a statement.

We are talking about a task force that has openly committed pernicious acts of red-tagging, vilification, defamation, harassment, justification of murder, and the perpetuation of countless lies against human rights advocatesincluding churchpersons, it added.

In a separate statement, youth group Kabataan Party-list shared the same sentiment.

Mismong simbahan, kahit may separation of Church and State dapat, ay gusto nilang makontrol para pabanguhin ang kanilang imahe at magamit pa ang relihiyon at ang mga Catholic community para sa surveillance, redtagging at iba pang atake laban sa ordinaryong mamamayan, it said.

[Translate: The NTF-ELCAC, although there is supposedly a separation of Church and State, wants to control the Church itself to clear up its image and to use religion and the Catholic community for surveillance, red-tagging and other attacks against ordinary citizens.]

In June, activists from the Cordillera Peoples Alliance appealed to the Supreme Court to issue a writ of amparo against government agencies, including the NTF-ELCAC, and the police who allegedly engage in red-tagging.

Under EO 70, the NTF-ELCAC was formed to raise awareness and respond to the communist armed conflict in the country.
The University of Kentucky has been cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after an incident earlier this year led to the death of an animal used in a university research project.

On May 15, an adult male alpaca named Bunny was found dead at a UK Agriculture facility, thought to be killed by coyotes overnight. There were three alpacas housed in a fenced paddock at the facility, and alpacas had lived in that location for five years without incident, UK said in a statement Thursday. The other two alpacas at the location were not injured, a report from the USDA said.

Although there was no prior indication of coyote activity in the area, coyotes are found throughout Kentucky, including in Lexington, UK said. The alpacas were immediately moved to an indoor facility to mitigate risk to the remaining animals.

The alpacas had been evaluated the night before, had not yet been used for research, and were all healthy and normal in that evaluation, UK said.

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Alpacas make a unique antibody called nanobodies, which has been used in a variety of medical treatments and research from COVID to cancer, according to previous news releases from UK. Nanobodies are rare because of their small size, and are produced in the immune systems of camelids, including camels, llamas and alpacas.

These animals were there for a noninvasive research project which would collect small blood samples to provide antibodies that aid in development of diagnostic tools and medical treatments for people, UK said.

The university notified the USDA of the incident, and an inspection was done of the facility on June 26.

The pasture is enclosed on three sides with livestock metal fencing, the USDA report said. The fourth side is made up of metal fencing and board rail fencing, which has gaps between the boards and between the boards and the ground that are large enough to allow for predators to easily enter the pasture, the report said.

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is the agency of the USDA responsible for overseeing animal and plant welfare, and conducted the June inspection at UK. The correction to the fencing is listed as critical by the USDA.

UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said no alpacas are currently housed in the pasture area. They have been moved to an offsite location while UK modifies the alpaca enclosure before returning them to the university property, Blanton said.

In many cases, advancements in medicine are only possible through research that requires the use of animals, UKs statement said. The University of Kentucky believes that excellence in animal care and science mutually reinforce each other, and, for that reason, we are committed to a high standard of care, one that meets and exceeds regulatory requirements.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.  American Legion members are headed back to military bases next month, but not to don their old service uniforms.

Instead, organization leaders are hoping to serve as military family advocates in a new way, discussing and amplifying concerns about quality-of-life shortfalls that could be hurting morale and creating distractions that could hurt readiness.

The organization earlier this year launched a new Base Assessment and Servicemember Experience (BASE) initiative designed to better understand problems such as housing shortfalls, medical service gaps and insufficient family support programs.

Military quality-of-life issues have been in the news a lot, but its always in a negative or derogatory way, said Mario Marquez, director of the Legions National Security Division. And that can have a negative impact on recruitment. We dont want it to be that way.

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This is designed to be similar to a commanding general going to a base and having a town hall. But we come in as a third-party that both sides know and trust.

Gaps in military housing improvements lead to frustration, confusion

The group has tracked the family issues in the past, but the new program formalizes the work and will include new base visits starting next month. The goal is to provide an outlet for rank-and-file personnel to voice complaints before they build into crises that could discourage recruiting and re-enlistment or harm families.

Defense Department leaders have already offered support and access to the program. The move comes as Congress has increased its focus on military family assistance in recent years, in the wake of a series of housing scandals and daycare complaints.

Advocates say those kinds of stories could make military recruiting and retention even more difficult than it already is.

Legion officials formally unveiled the program at their annual convention this week in North Carolina, kicking off the work with a roundtable of senior military leaders outlining their hopes for base improvements in coming years.

At that event, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass called child care a readiness issue and noted plans for a military-wide summit on the topic later this month. Army Sgt. Major Michael Perry III, who serves as senior enlisted leader to the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, told Legion members that his service plans $1 billion in spending over the next decade to improve soldiers housing options.

But the leaders also acknowledged that tracking all of the headaches and frustrations of military families is difficult, and praised the new Legion initiative as helping facilitate those conversations.

Marquez, who served 31 years in the Marine Corps, said staff carrying out the base visits will be veterans with first-hand understanding of military base life and the challenges that come with it. The research will include not just stateside bases but also overseas installations.

The American Legion plans to issue periodic reports on their findings, but will also rush potential problem points  and solutions from other bases  to local commanders in an effort to get fixes implemented as soon as possible.

Lets break any perceived tension or divide here, he said. Its time for kneecap to kneecap conversations between commanders and folks on active duty, and the veterans community can do so much to help with that.
[Source]

Miss Fitness Vietnam 2022 runner-up Le Phuong Thao has spoken out after stirring controversy by expressing support for "sugar dating."

How it started: Le, 29, drew backlash on Wednesday for a video she posted on social media where she reportedly said she supports women being 'sugar babies,' as long as you don't interfere in any marriage. She reasoned that older men have already established their finances and careers, while younger men are still building theirs.

About the lifestyle: Sugar dating involves an intimate relationship between an older, wealthier person and a younger individual in exchange for money, gifts, trips and other material objects.

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Social media reacts: Several people have criticized Thao for promoting an unhealthy lifestyle to women, with one Vietnamese social media user calling the mindset lazy.

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Addressing the criticism: Speaking to NgoiSao on Thursday, Le explained that her comments were misunderstood, saying, I said I supported dating older men as they had the ability to take care of women thanks to their financial and career accomplishments. ... Many are distorting the definition of the term 'sugar dating' to criticize me."

Le pointed out that she does not support being a non-consensual third-party in a relationship. She also said that women should choose a partner who has good ethics and better financial stability, explaining that womens careers are often derailed after they give birth.

If you choose to get married to men who don't possess the ability to take care of your family, then you will have to do two things at the same time: give birth and make money, Le explained.

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Ever since last weeks Republican presidential primary debate, Vivek Ramaswamy has found himself with more money, more name recognition and dramatically negative focus from his rivals.

The first-time candidates performance was a breakout moment for him. His very appearance on the debate stage was a coup for his campaign, given that Ramaswamy has no prior experience as an elected official and had never before appeared at such an event. Ramaswamy, though, stood out in demonstrating his ability to jab at better-known and more experienced candidates, all while figuring out a way to praise Donald Trump as he competes to beat the former president in the 2024 Republican primary.

In short, the knives are out for Ramaswamy.

Everyone is out there picking on poor Vivek, said Michael Dennehy, a longtime Republican strategist who advised presidential candidates Rick Perry and John McCain and also served as a strategist for former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour .

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Vivek has an unlimited amount of resources, which obviously frustrates the candidates who have to raise money every single day. Secondly, he has a delivery and air about him that frustrates politicians  for lack of a better term. He is running very much like Donald Trump did in 2016. Hes running against the political status quo. So the other candidates take great afront to it. And finally, I will say because hes worked hard, because hes spent so much money, hes gone up in the polls. Hes attracted a decent amount of grassroots support and, again, I believe it drives the other candidates crazy as a guy that has never entered the political arena in any form before, Dennehy said.

Since Ramaswamys debate performance, his adversaries have begun to direct some of their public and private attacks away from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis  second in polling only to Trump and further ahead than his rivals  and toward the tech entrepreneur.

Donors for other candidates have griped about the supercilious manner of the 38-year-olds debate performance and oftentimes counterintuitive policy proposals and political arguments. An opposition research book on Ramaswamy has begun to circulate among rival campaigns and super PACs. Campaign staffs have begun digging into his business dealings. Candidates have been fundraising off the contrasts they made against Ramaswamy during the debate and have tried to use his own domestic or foreign policy positions against him.

My view is that there was some design to take him on, but the way he started the debate attacking everyone else exacerbated the other candidates desire to take him on, Barry Wynn, a former South Carolina Republican Party chairman, said in an email to CNN.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haleys presidential campaign, for instance, looked to continue her debate critiques of Ramaswamy as a political lightweight after he told Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom on Monday that he would not order the US to intervene in military fighting between Israel and Iran.

Vivek must have missed that the fanatical terrorist regime in Iran regularly calls for Death to America, Haley said in a statement issued by her campaign. If he doesnt see a nuclear Iran as a threat to American security, then he should take his place beside (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) and the Squad and get nowhere near the White House.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie similarly cited Ramaswamys position on Israel to frame him as a severe flip-flopper.

He says something, he gets roundly criticized and practically laughed at over some of the stuff he said, and then he says, I didnt say that, I meant this, Christie said in a Tuesday interview with Fox News.

Meanwhile, over multiple campaign stops in Iowa on Wednesday, former Vice President Mike Pence said Ramaswamy is just wrong. Hes wrong on foreign policy. Hes wrong on American leadership in the world. Hes wrong on how to get this economy moving again.

In response to questions about these attacks, Ramaswamy told CNN, I clearly am posing a threat to candidates that feel threatened enough to make a 360-degree amphitheater of attacks around me and Im OK with that. My view is this is part of the process of becoming the next US president. Im debunking a lot of the lies that are coming.

That candidates like Christie, Pence, and Haley  all longtime, experienced politicians  have begun attacking Ramaswamy instead of Trump and DeSantis illustrates how the entrepreneur has managed to elbow his way into contention in the early months of the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Hes carved out a position as an ardent Trump supporter who wants to represent a new era of Republicanism without rebuking Trumps time as the official and de facto leader of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.

And hes deferred more to Trumpism than any other kind of conservative identity. During a campaign stop Thursday in Iowa, he said, Im not a party man. Actually, Im using the Republican Party as a vehicle for advancing an America First agenda.

The presence of a candidate like Ramaswamy isnt wholly unusual within a GOP primary contest. Every once in a while, a newcomer or out-of-nowhere candidate with raw oratory or state aptitude makes an outsize splash  and rubs his opponents the wrong way in the process. In this Republican primary, that candidate seems to be Ramaswamy, and the shift by his rivals to a more full-throated barrage of attacks is an indication that the entrepreneur might have staying power.

Every cycle, we have candidates that come and go early in the process, and well see if thats the case with Vivek, said David Tamasi, a longtime Christie donor.

Its more than that, though. Ramaswamys critics are irked with the way the entrepreneur carries himself. Its his swagger and slickness, they say.

He has a back-and-forth with himself on policy and on issues. One day, it seems to be one thing, and the next day, hes misquoted on a direct quote, Tamasi said.

And its not just the campaigns that are worked up over Ramaswamy. The larger political ecosystem has begun warning about him. Republican political strategist Karl Rove devoted his most recent column in The Wall Street Journal to a scorching criticism of Ramaswamy, bashing him as a performance artist who says outrageous things, smears his opponents and appeals to the dark parts of the American psyche.

Similarly, Mike Murphy, another GOP consulting guru, panned Ramaswamy in an interview for The Bulwark Podcast for being in the oddity lane, harking back to the Herman Cains, the Ben Carsons.

So hes doing MAGA unfiltered, Murphy said. Ultimately, hell wind up as a MAGA profiteer somewhere down the line. Hes real as a curiosity, and my view is that he peaked at the debate and will start a slow decline because hes an irritating pipsqueak.

CNNs Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.

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Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is supposed to be anti-war, right?

He certainly talks that way when the subject is Ukraine or the Middle East. On Tuesday, in response to criticism from GOP strategist Karl Rove, Ramaswamy quipped, Karl, Im sorry we wont be invading Iraq again. Get over it.

Like numerous figures on the opposite end of the political spectrum, Ramaswamy has advocated de-escalation and peace talks in Ukraine. Slamming him for this position at last weeks Republican debate, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Ramaswamy was choosing a murdererRussian President Vladimir Putinover an American ally. Ramaswamy shot back, I wish you success on your future career on the boards of Lockheed and Raytheon.

Its Nuts to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine

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That response almost made Ramaswamy sound like a Code Pink activist. And as little as I think of most of the rest of what he stands for, my own views on Ukraine put me far closer to Ramaswamy than to Haley.

But when the subject changes from Eastern Europe to East Asia, Ramaswamy undergoes a Jekyll-to-Hyde transformation. Suddenly, this anti-war candidate seems eager to start World War III.

Ukraine and Taiwan

Ramaswamy has advocated a Korean War-style armistice in Ukraine. When he says things like that, I nod along. Theres already been a staggering loss of life since the war started last February, neither Russia nor Ukraine seems likely to win a total victory on the battlefield any time soon, and the worst-case scenario for a longer war is much worse than whats already happened.

Last year, a Russian fighter jet in Crimea nearly shot down a British surveillance plane. In another incident, a stray missile hit NATO member-state Poland. Initial reports blamed Russia and a number of politicians and media personalities called for NATO to activate Article V of the alliances charter, which states that an armed attack on any member shall be considered an attack against them all and commits every member-state to come to the assistance of the attacked country.

It turned out that the stray missile was fired by Ukrainian forces, but it was an unsettling reminder of the possibility for U.S. involvement in the war to escalate to direct confrontation with nuclear powers.

Even so, it could be worse.

Imagine if the United States response to Russias invasion last February hadnt just been military aid to Ukraine, economic sanctions on Russia, and diplomatic opposition to peace talks. Imagine if Joe Biden had instead ordered the U.S. military to march into Ukraine to fight side by side with Ukrainian forces.

Why Pramila Jayapal Was Right to Call Israel a Racist State

Even if Bidens Ukraine policy has been far more hawkish than Ramaswamy and I would like, we can all be grateful that he didnt do that. No one can know for sure, but its entirely possible that if he had, the war would have gone nuclear and you wouldnt be reading this or any other online article. Even if you were among the survivors, the infrastructure needed to have things like an internet would be gone.

Bizarrely enough, though, what Biden didnt do in Ukraine is exactly what Vivek Ramaswamy is promising to do if hes president, and the exact equivalent to the war in Ukraine breaks out in Asia. Taiwan, like Ukraine, is an American ally but not a member of NATO or any similar alliance. The U.S. has long given military aid to Taiwan but maintained a posture of strategic ambiguity about what the U.S. itself would do if China ever tried to retake its breakaway province by force.

Ramaswamy wants to abandon that ambiguity and commit the United States to directly entering any such war.

I am the only Presidential candidate willing to state what is necessary: we WILL defend Taiwan. The U.S. currently doesnt even recognize Taiwan as a nation. Democrats and Republicans both unquestioningly endorse the one China policy and embrace strategic ambiguity toward the  Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 29, 2023

As he notes, hes the only candidate to advocate this policy. Its not hard to see why.

While the exact number is a state secret, the Pentagon estimates China has more than 400 nuclear warheads. Thats a tiny fraction of the American stockpile, but more than enough for a nuclear exchange between the two nations to have civilization-shattering consequences. Theres a reason why, since the dawn of the Cold War, the idea of nuclear powers going to war has terrified every minimally rational person.

Getting Serious About World War III

Albert Einstein is supposed to have quipped that, whatever weapons World War III ends up being fought with, the result would be that World War IV would be fought with sticks and stones. Lets make the optimistic assumption that he was wrong.

Pretend that we could somehow be sure that a war between China and the United States stayed conventional like World War I and World War II.

Id advise anyone inclined to be cavalier about what that would look like to visit the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. It chronologically lists the 58,000 names of the U.S. servicemen who gave their lives in that conflict from 1957 to 1975. As you look over all those names, remember that this was a war fought against poor peasants in a tiny and underdeveloped nationand think hard about the differences between Vietnam in the 1970s and the Peoples Republic of China today.

Just to start with, the Chinese and American economies are systematically linked. An abrupt disentanglement would be devastating for ordinary Americans.

But even that could be the least of the consequences of a U.S./China war. Even in the most optimistic scenario for how such a war would play out, how many names do you suppose would end up on a future China Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.?

Roger Waters Is Not Helping to Bring Peace to Ukraine

Chinas Peoples Liberation Army is the single largest armed force on the planet, with more than 2 million active personnel. The U.S. military has about 1.4 million. Take a beat and really think about those two forces directly colliding, using conventional military technology unfathomably more advanced than anything that existed the last time there was a direct war between great powers.

Vivek Ramaswamy is willing to trigger that apocalypse to save the U.S. economy from relying on China for the cutting-edge semiconductors currently manufactured in Taiwan. Thats dangerously insane. However bad you think it is that Joe Biden is willing to risk a war with a major nuclear-armed power, you can multiply that by a thousand when describing a candidate who explicitly promises that he would start such a war.

In his clash with Nikki Haley, Ramaswamy talked like a critic of the military-industrial complex. But if you listen carefully even to his pronouncements about Ukraine, the main reason he wants peace in Eastern Europe is so the United States can focus on the real threat in East Asia.

One of the slogans promulgated by the ruling party in George Orwells dystopian novel 1984 was War is peace. Its in this sense, and only in this sense, that Vivek Ramaswamy is on the side of peace.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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On the debate stage in Milwaukee last week, the eight Republican candidates in attendance got a surprising question from the moderators: Do you believe in human-caused climate change? Only Vivek Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old former pharmaceutical executive who has seen a surprising spike in polling over the summer, seemed to have a sound bite ready.

The climate change agenda is a hoax, he said. The reality is more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change.

Ramaswamys answer didnt come out of left field. Demonizing climate policy has been central to his campaign from the start. Ramaswamy represents a new, and worrying, evolution of Republican campaigning in an age of increasingly hot summers, boiling oceans, and devastating wildfires: Rather than ignoring climate change or dismissing its science as unsettled, hes weaponizing it as an issue, turning climate policy into a culture-war villain. Given his recent rise in popularity, its past time for those concerned about the future of the planet to start scrutinizing what hes doing.

The GOPs response to climate change has been historically shaped by one of its favorite donors: the fossil fuel industry. Before the late 2000s, major party figures like George W. Bush and John McCain professed concern about climate change. The GOPs commitment to climate denial really took off after 2008, when oil interests began to marshal opposition to a proposed cap-and-trade tax on carbon emissionsthe first, and one of the only, major efforts to pass climate legislation in the United States. Accordingly, opposition to climate action from GOP politicians in subsequent years has mimicked the pattern set by decades of fossil fuel denial from these same oil companies: Question the validity and certainty of climate science to delay meaningful action, and distract voters with other tactics and issues.

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For the next 15 years, it was this oil-inspired anti-science rhetoriccoupled with accusations that Democrats favored climate policies would destroy fossil fuel jobsthat dominated Republicans rhetoric about climate change. As a result, climate change was rarely the focus of a Republican candidacy or presidency but a sideshow to be dealt with quietly: something that a Democratic opponent or a TV anchor might bring up that could be hand-waved with a claim that the science was not yet settled. Even Donald Trump, who made various (muddled) statements about climate change being a hoax and pandered heavily to coal miners on the campaign trail, never really made it a major talking point. He left the real work to be done by cronies like EPA chief Scott Pruitt, who used his scant media appearances to consistently (and falsely) cast doubt on climate science.

A few things have changed in recent years that have set the stage for a new kind of GOP candidate like Ramaswamy, who deliberately puts climate at the center of his campaign. Thanks in large part to the Inflation Reduction Act and other Biden administration policies, climate policy is now baked into federal legislation in ways it wasnt before, giving the GOP much more fodder to push back on. Republicans also have been hard at work fanning the flames of various culture wars in recent yearsincluding antienvironmental, social, and governance, or ESG, investment sentiment, which has rapidly become a top Republican bugaboo. The rise of QAnon-fueled conspiracy theories and candidates have made pinning various issues on a conspiracy of elitesas Ramaswamy does with climatemuch more acceptable in mainstream political discourse. Last, climate change has simply become much harder to ignore and is shaping up to possibly become a wedge issue with future generations: The only audience question posed at the Republican debate came from a student who noted polling that shows climate change is one of young peoples top concerns.

These conditions are ripe for a candidate like Ramaswamy. Before he decided to run for president, Ramaswamy had created a name for himself as an anti-ESG campaigner, authoring a book railing against the modern woke-industrial complex. The evils of diversity, equity, and inclusion, in his rhetoric, are inseparable from climate action. End the climate cult has been a consistent talking point from the beginning of his campaign. The Lefts commandments: Race, Gender, Sexuality, Climate, Ramaswamy posted on X earlier this month. We cant just be against their vision. We must offer our own: God. Nation. Family. Individual. Its a nonsense statementhes just naming universal concepts, not actual commandments like, say, Thou shalt not destroy our only planet. But if Ramaswamys polling numbers are any indication, this kind of nonsense seems to be working.

Good News, Bad News

Tiny foreststrees and foliage planted on little lotsare increasing in popularity in the U.S., and can sequester a surprising amount of carbon while being extremely easy to maintain.

Scientists estimate that more than 9,000 emperor penguin chicks died last year in Antarctica thanks to unprecedentedly low levels of sea icea worrying number for an endangered species facing consistent habitat loss.

Stat of the Week

91.2F

Thats the temperature taken in the ocean off the Florida Keys on Mondayan unusually warm reading. Warm oceans helped strengthen Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the Ecosystem

A book could literally kill you. Thats what mycologists are warning the public about as booksellers like Amazon offer mushroom-foraging books likely written by artificial intelligence, not humans, 404 Media reports:



Amazon has an AI-generated books problem thats been documented by journalists for months. Many of these books are obviously gibberish designed to make money. But experts say that AI-generated foraging books, specifically, could actually kill people if they eat the wrong mushroom because a guidebook written by an AI prompt said it was safe. There are hundreds of poisonous fungi in North America and several that are deadly, Sigrid Jakob, president of the New York Mycological Society, told me in an email. They can look similar to popular edible species. A poor description in a book can mislead someone to eat a poisonous mushroom.

Read Samantha Coles full piece at 404 Media.

This article first appeared in Life in a Warming World, a weekly TNR newsletter authored by contributing deputy editor Molly Taft. Sign up here.
The death of a former hot dog tycoon whose private army has waged some of the bloodiest fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to have a major influence on the course of the war.

That's the consensus of many experts on Russia's war in Ukraine who point out that before his death, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin's mercenary group already had withdrawn most of its forces from Ukraine after he led a daylong failed rebellion against Russia's military leadership in June.

According to Ukrainian and British defense ministry estimates, only about 2,000 or 3,000 Wagner fighters remain in Ukraine, down from a high of 50,000 earlier in the 18-month-old war.

Many of them, including Prigozhin, were exiled to neighboring Belarus in the wake of the failed coup.

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Maps and graphics: Russia officially confirms Prigozhin died in plane crash

Face masks depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and the late owner of private military company Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, are displayed among others for sale at a souvenir shop in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Aug. 27, 2023.

But experts on the battle-hardened paramilitary force such as Kevin Limonier, whose research focuses on Wagner and who teaches at the University of Paris, say the "essence of the group will not fully collapse" with Prigozhin's demise.

Wagner, he said, is far more than a single man.

It has a diversified "galaxy of interests," and Russia needs the skills of its personnel, "especially in Africa, which Moscow views as a kind of second front in what it sees as a global war against the West."

Yevgeny Prigozhin's funeral

Russia's Investigative Committee has confirmed that Prigozhin, 62, was among the 10 people on board a private jet that crashed in a fireball north of Moscow on Aug. 23.

Wagners top commander, Dmitri Utkin, and Valery Chekalov, Prigozhin's deputy, also were on the plane. Prigozhin was buried in a private funeral Tuesday in St. Petersburg. Putin did not attend.

Russia says it is still investigating the reason for the crash. Was it a bomb? A surface-to-air missile?

It certainly looks suspicious.

The hot-dog-seller-turned-warlord's untimely death came exactly two months after his collapsed mutiny, and those who cross Putin tend to end up dead: poisoned, murdered, thrown out of windows.

"If you oppose Putin, you will die  Prigozhin is hardly the first," David Smith, a former U.S. diplomat and now a cybersecurity professor at George Washington University, said in emailed comments.

The Kremlin has denied it had a hand in the crash.

Wagner stays in Africa

In Africa, Wagner mercenaries protect leaders, fight rebel groups and control access to vast mineral resources. It has clients ranging from the military junta governing Mali to  in the Middle East  Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Prigozhin also controlled Concord, a lucrative catering company that had contracts with Russia's military.

His Internet Research Company, which formally dissolved in July, was a troll farm that has been indicted in the U.S. for allegedly intervening in the 2016 presidential race that elected Donald Trump.

'Putin chef' turned Russian mutineer: What will happen to Prigozhin's US election-hacking operation?

Limonier said that Prigozhin's death leaves questions about who will lead the mercenary group going forward.

He said that one person possibly being considered for the role is Maj. Gen. Andrei V. Averyanov, a Russian intelligence chief whose unit is specifically tasked with carrying out sensitive and risky special operations on foreign soil on Putin's orders. British officials believe, for example, that Averyano was responsible for the poisoning of a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury, England, in March 2018.

A fighting force, but not in Ukraine

Experts appear to agree that ever since Wagner fighters helped capture large parts of the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in May, it has played a largely negligible role on Ukraine's battlefields.

"Wagner was so devastated by the fighting in Bakhmut. They fought better than the Russian army. They took more risks to push forward and more were intelligent than it at times, but they lost so many fighters I don't think Wagner would have been able to make much of a difference in Ukraine going forward (even without Prigozhin's death)," said Phillips O'Brien, a strategic security expert at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

O'Brien said he expected that Wagner without Prigozhin would ultimately lose most of its independence and "come much more under the watchful eye of the Putin state." He pointed out that contrary to comments from some quarters in Washington that Ukraine's much-telegraphed counteroffensive against Russia was not working, "Ukraine is slowly ramping it up and they are slowly having success at it."

'It's hard, but they're holding on': On the ground in Ukraine, the war depends on U.S. weapons

Still, even before Prigozhin's death, Wagner was disintegrating or at least reinventing itself.

Limonier said that since the failed coup, many of its personnel have been hired by other "structures" with close ties to the Kremlin, including rival Russian private armies with names such as Redut and Convoy.

Others have been absorbed into various government disinformation networks that spread Russian propaganda.

"The future of Wagner carries a sense of intrigue and uncertainty. Wagner is not one man and it is not a mere organization. Wagner is a living organism that was created to provide plausible deniability and to operate discreetly without an official link to Russia," noted Joana de Deus Pereira, a researcher at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, in a paper published a week after Prigozhin's failed mutiny.

Like many of the coup's observers, De Deus Pereira did not expect Prigozhin to survive Putin's wrath. She also believes Wagner's impact on the war in Ukraine has been overstated from the outset, partly because of the images that for months poured out from its involvement in the bloody battle for Bakhmut.

And she pointed out that the "first face of Wagner" was not, in fact, Prigozhin but Utkin, who died alongside Prigozhin in the private jet crash on Aug 23. Utkin led Wagner for about eight years.

Prigozhin has been its figurehead only for the past two years.

In an interview, De Deus Pereira said Wagner has many players, is good at adapting and will rebrand itself.

"It would be a big mistake and a dangerous assumption to think that by killing a man you kill the organization."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's death means for war in Ukraine
FILE- In this June 25, 2018, file photo shows a Walgreens store in Peoria, Ariz. The CEO of Walgreens Boots has stepped down less than three years at the helm of the drug store chain. Walgreens Boots Alliance confirmed Rosalind Brewer's exit Friday, Sept. 1, 2023.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NEW YORK (AP)  The CEO of Walgreens Boots has stepped down after less than three years at the helm of the drug store chain that is undergoing a sizeable transformation, one that has come at a cost.

Walgreens Boots Alliance confirmed Rosalind Brewer's exit Friday. According to the Illinois company, the board of directors and Brewer mutually agreed to her resignation effective Thursday.

Ginger Graham, who currently serves as Walgreen Boots Alliance's lead independent director, has been named interim CEO.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to lead Walgreens Boots Alliance and to work alongside such talented and dedicated colleagues," Brewer said in a written statement. "I am confident that WBA is on track to be a leading consumer-centric healthcare company, serving thousands of communities across the country.

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Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. is the parent company of Walgreens and other consumer brands around the world  including Boots, Duane Reade, No7 Beauty Company, Benavides and Ahumada.

The company over the past several years has shifted its focus from providing medicines to get people through illnesses, to helping its customers avoid them.

That has included a major series of acquisitions aimed to put the company at the forefront of preventative care.

Walgreens acquired VillageMD for nearly $9-billion in November, an urgent and primary care chain. Two months earlier, it spent nearly $1.4 billion to buy the remaining stake in Shields Health Solutions it doesnt already own and continue pushing into the fast-growing area of specialty pharmacy.

Company shares have been under heavy pressure as Walgreens attempts to transform itself. The stock has tumbled nearly 54% since the start of 2022.

Brewer has more experience in the retail side of the business, which is simply not an area that Walgreens wants to pursue as a major growth opportunity, said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData.

Healthcare is a lucrative sector and Walgreens is not wrong to see it as a major part of its future playbook," Saunders said. "However, the new permanent CEO will need to remember that it is possible to invest in both healthcare and retail. It should not be an either/or decision.

Newly appointed acting CEO Ginger Graham, Saunders noted, has a much deeper background in the healthcare and pharma industries.

Shares for Walgreens Boots Alliance slipped about 1% at the opening bell Friday.
GIBSONBURG - The Wall That Heals was assembled and placed on display Wednesday in Williams Park and will remain open 24 hours a day through 2 p.m. Sunday.

The wall, a three-quarters sized traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., is 375 feet in length and 7.5 feet high.

It includes the names of 58,281 men and women who died during the Vietnam War.

A group of volunteers including veterans, community members and youths from Vanguard Career Center's building and electrical trades programs worked throughout the day Wednesday to assemble the traveling display.

Daniel Frost, from left, and his wife, Melissa Frost, and daughter Larissa stand in front of the Wall That Heals on Wednesday evening in Gibsonburg. The wall will be on display at Williams Park in Gibsonburg, Aug. 30 to Sept. 3.

One Vietnam War veteran had a personal connection to the memorial wall. Paul Picciuto, of Gibsonburg, was aided by Cathy Krotzer, Bill Burns, and Dick Burns in carrying one section of the wall to be added to the display in Williams Park.

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Picciuto said that the section contained the name of Lynn Krotzer, who was one of 10 local Vietnam veterans killed in action during the Vietnam War.

Krotzer, a Marine, died days after his 19th birthday and Picciuto, who was serving in the Army, was in Vietnam at the time and accompanied Krotzer's remains back home at the request of the Marine's mother, Lynn. Cathy Krotzer, another volunteer helping with the assembly, was Lynn's sister-in-law.

The Wall that Heals is open at Williams Park through 2 p.m. Sunday. Parking is free; no pets are allowed except for service animals. There are no concessions or souvenirs for sale at the site.

Paul Picciuto, Gibsonburg, right, is followed by Cathy Krotzer, Bill Burns, and Dick Burns, rear, as they carry a section of the wall, to be added to the Wall That Heals display, at Williams Park in Gibsonburg. That section contains the name of Lynn Krotzer, who was one of 10 locals Vietnam veterans Killed in Action, during the Vietnam War. Krotzer, a Marine, died days after his 19th birthday. Picciuto, an Army Veteran, was in Vietnam and accompanied Krotzer's remains back home, at the request of Marine's mother. Cathy Krotzer was Lynn's sister-in-law.

Gibsonburg Village Administrator Marc Glotzbecker speaks to the crowd before leaving Rossford, for the Wall That Heals parade, to Williams Park in Gibsonburg.

The Wall That Heals will be on display at Williams Park in Gibsonburg, Aug. 30 to Sept. 3.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Wall That Heals is a replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  Senate Committee on Basic Education chairman Sherwin Gatchalian said expanding the voucher program to allow more public school students to attend private institutions where facilities are available is one solution to address the country's classroom shortage.

Our private schools are offering their classrooms at cost so that they can just use the classroomthats why I suggested lets expand the voucher system because it makes sense, Gatchalian told CNN Philippines The Source on Friday.

RELATED: Lawmaker pushes for blended learning, better implementation of voucher program to address classroom backlog

He pointed out it will be cheaper for the government to just allow more public school students to attend private institutions through the voucher program instead of building classrooms that will take time.

The lawmaker said the government has allocated around 52 billion to the program.

This amount is far from the almost 400 billion needed to address the 159,000 classroom backlog according to the Department of Education. This required allocation is also far from the department's proposed 10 billion funding that will only be able to build around 7,100 classrooms.

Aside from addressing the problem of classroom shortage and congestion, allowing more students to transfer to private schools will also provide such institutions additional revenue, Gatchalian said.

The senator noted that private schools recorded a 16% decline in enrollment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Aug. 29, over 19 million public students returned to their classrooms to welcome the new school year. This is amid the perennial problem of classroom shortage and the pilot implementation of the new MATATAG K-10 curriculum.
A cohort of trade associations has thrown the first punch in a brawl over new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations governing how investors are protected when putting their money with private fund advisers.

The group said in a lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that they were challenging the Private Fund Adviser rule adopted by the SEC last month because the agency has exceeded its mandate and introduced rules that will stymy investment.

The SEC has overstepped its statutory authority and core legislative mandate, leaving us no choice but to litigate, said MFA President and CEO Bryan Corbett statement. The Private Fund Adviser rule will harm investors, fund managers, and markets by increasing costs, undermining competition, and reducing investment opportunities for pensions, foundations, and endowments.

Lobbyists for the lucrative industry sparred with the SEC in the run up to the final vote on a 660-page package last month, and even modifications seen as industry wins remain flashpoints.

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Via that vote, the SEC adopted a slate of rules that apply only to SEC-registered funds, including the obligation to provide investors quarterly statements regarding performance, fees and expenses; undertake an annual audit of each private fund; and obtain either a fairness or valuation opinion through an adviser-led secondary transaction.

Under the new rule, all private fund advisers would also be subject to restrictions on certain sales practices, conflicts of interest and compensation schemes unless accompanied by appropriate disclosures and, in some cases, investor consent.

The original proposal prohibited these activities outright, with no exception for disclosures or consent. The SEC also pulled back language that would have made it easier for investors to sue fund managers.

The failure to include standard of care language in the final rule really leaves investors with no greater protection than if the new rules had not been adopted, Michael P. Calabrese, a partner at the law firm Foley & Lardner, told The Hill.

In some ways, this runs counter to one of the principles that seemed to underlie the Commissions efforts  discouraging preferential treatment. Larger investors, and those with statutory or policy mandates on this issue, will continue to get better results here than others.

The Managed Funds Association (MFA), National Association of Private Fund Managers (NAPFM), National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), American Investment Council (AIC), Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and Loan Syndications & Trading Association (LSTA) are all parties to the suit.

The SEC responded to the lawsuit Friday in a statement.

The Commission undertakes rulemaking consistent with its authorities and laws governing the administrative process, and we will vigorously defend the challenged rule in court, an SEC spokesperson told The Hill.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Thursday, May 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

What does Wall Street want from the SEC?

In the lawsuit, the associations argue the rules limit the rights of advisers to tailor investor relations and interactions, enact overreaching prohibitions on certain activities and impose onerous, costly disclosure and consent requirements.

AIMA CEO Jack Inglis said the adoption of the rules is both harmful and unlawful and lacks proper economic analysis of the effect on the private funds industry and the essential source of capital it provides.

Gene Scalia and Helgi Walker of the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP jointly represent the associations in their case against the SEC.

The new rules are the latest move by the SEC, led by Chair Gary Gensler, to put in place some transparency into the booming trillion-dollar industry.

More than 47,000 SEC-registered funds topped $14 trillion in combined net assets at the end of last year, according to the SECs most recent private fund statistics.

Thats up from 37,398 funds with more than $11.7 trillion in net assets at the start of 2021, and 20,573 funds totaling $5.3 trillion at the start of 2013.

Hedge funds and private equity chafe at new rules

Private funds have enjoyed looser regulation and disclosure requirements than their banking counterparts, and several years of low borrowing costs have contributed to the industrys boom.

Weve had a long statutory framework which provided funds with specific exemptions from certain federal securities laws. And what this rulemaking is trying to do is pull those private funds back into sort of the public funds space, Michael Piwowar, executive vice president of finance at the Milken Institute, told The Hill.

Piwowar, a former SEC commissioner and acting chairman and Republican chief economist for the Senate Banking Committee, called the private funds rule unprecedented.

Wall Street and trade associations including MFA, AIMA and AIC extensively lobbied the SEC and lawmakers in the leadup to the vote, according to federal lobbying disclosures and SEC meeting logs.

High-profile Republicans have also voiced concerns over the authority of the agency to enact these regulations.

Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) wrote to the SEC in December 2022 to express concerns with the agencys legal authority, the economic analysis of the regulation and the potential impact on small, minority- and women-owned funds in the original proposal.

A spokesperson for Scott pointed The Hill to an excerpt from the 2022 letter criticizing the agencys attempt to impose stringent regulation on private funds that encroaches on a major question that remains the domain of Congress.

Congress has repeatedly and deliberately applied different regulatory regimes and requirements to private funds and their investors than those applicable to registered investment companies, retail investors and their brokers. This conscious choice exempts private funds from the more extensively regulated regime applicable to retail products, Scott reasoned.

The Great Recession created a new climate for regulators

The SEC rests its case to expand oversight authority over private fund advisers on provisions in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act to adopt rules reasonably designed to prevent, such acts, practices, and courses of business as are fraudulent, deceptive or manipulative.

I feel very confident about the analysis, about the authorities, Gensler told reporters after the open meeting last month.

The SEC has long exempted private funds from the disclosures their investors need, so of course has the authority to amend that here in response to how much this industry has changed in the last decades. Arguing otherwise is like saying the SEC has the power to de-regulate, but not to re-regulate, Americans for Financial Reforms private equity guy, Senior Policy Analyst Andrew Park, told The Hill.

Labor unions and Wall Street watchdogs are among the rules supporters.

The labor movement welcomes the SECs private funds rule that levels the playing field between the general partners of private equity firms and their investors including pension plans, Brandon Rees, deputy director of corporations and capital markets at AFL-CIO, one of the signatories, told The Hill in a written statement.

The transparency provided by the SECs new rule will help lower pension plan investment expenses, and thereby enhance the retirement security of working people.

Park said the transparency and reporting standardization would enable pension funds to negotiate better fees and terms on behalf of those saving for retirement.

Wall Streets political power reaches across the aisle

The growing power of private equity in the economy has attracted scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers who welcomed the new regulations.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) applauded the SEC vote last month, saying the rules will help protect workers pensions and create a more transparent and accountable private funds market.

Brown was one of eight senators who penned a letter to Gensler in May urging him to finalize the rules.

The new rules for private equity and hedge fund advisers fall squarely within the SECs legal authority and directly target the rampant abuses within the industry, said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a statement to The Hill.

Increasing transparency in an infamously opaque market will help protect and empower investors, but reining in the abuses by Wall Street firms will take much more significant reforms that I will keep fighting to enact.

Representatives for Warren, Brown and Scott did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit Friday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
Do you want to sue President Joe Biden ? Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has the job for you.

The attorney general's office is hiring a deputy attorney general for special litigation who will lead a team of two to four lawyers tasked primarily with suing the federal government. The new unit will make good on Kobach's campaign promise, emblazoned on his election signs, to "SUE JOE BIDEN!"

"The Office of the Kansas Attorney General's is establishing a Special Litigation & Constitutional Issues Division to, essentially, do public-interest litigation from inside the office," the job posting states. "Mostly, this will involve bringing cases against the federal government. But we want aggressive and thoughtful litigators who take an entrepreneurial and opportunistic approach to protecting constitutional rights across the board."

The pay range is $105,000 to $120,000 a year.

Attorney General Kris Kobach is hiring a deputy attorney general to lead a new special litigation division, which will be tasked with fulfilling his campaign promise to sue President Joe Biden.

Minimum qualifications include five years experience as an attorney in criminal, civil or administrative litigation and "prior experience or demonstrated interest in federalism and constitutional rights." Preferred qualifications include eight years experience, including in a judicial clerkship.

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"Strategic vision, political savvy, and compatibility with the administration's legal philosophy and goals are all important," the posting states. "We expect to file suits with a good chance of landing in the U.S. or Kansas Supreme Court, and need a Deputy AG who can litigate and choose cases with that end in mind."

Kansas Attorney General's Office is short-staffed

The job posting comes as Kobach's administration has struggled with understaffing, and the office's attorneys have had to turn some cases over to local prosecutors while asking judges for deadline extensions in other cases.

The attorney general's office has at least 10 job openings for lawyers, along with five non-attorney positions.

"We've been working hard to try to fill positions," Solicitor General Anthony Powell told reporters after a Monday court hearing where he cited staffing shortages as part of the reason to ask for a delay. "It's been hard in this economy.  It's a struggle to find lawyers, and we have a particular need for litigators. So that's a constant battle that we're fighting and unfortunately we're still fighting that, so we're not up to strength."

The Legislature did approve a budget increase so the office could pay attorneys more in an attempt to alleviate staffing challenges.

"We're hiring at a fairly rapid pace," Kobach said in May, "and it's only because we have the resources to do that."

Federal lawsuits are a bigger role of Kansas AG

The attorney general's office took on a bigger role in suing the federal government over the past decade under Derek Schmidt, who vowed during his first campaign to get Kansas involved in challenges against the Affordable Care Act.

"Now we've done so much in challenging federal actions, but at that point it was a fairly new role," he said in December.

Since taking office in January, Kobach has already gotten Kansas involved in at least five cases against the federal government.

"There have been a number of them," Kobach said in May. "I wish there were fewer of them, but this is where we are right now with the current administration in Washington."

At that May news conference on accomplishments during his first 100 days in office, Kobach touted lawsuits against the Biden administration over protections for lesser prairie chickens, immigration policy, water regulation, pistol stabilizing braces and environmental social governance considerations in investments.

"We're taking important steps to ensure that the federal government stays within the Constitution and stays within federal law," he said. "That is something that all Americans regardless of party should be in favor of, and we are hopeful that the courts will agree with us."

Kris Kobach campaigned on suing Joe Biden

Kobach said in a GOP primary debate last year that establishing the special litigation division was his No. 1 priority.

"I decided to run for attorney general the day that President Biden was sworn into office," Kobach said. "On that first day, he issued a dozen executive orders that were either unconstitutional, in violation of federal law, or both."

Kobach's main rival during last year's GOP primary doubted his abilities to successfully challenge the Biden administration.

"You know, Joe Biden hasn't had a lot of good news lately," said Sen. Kellie Warren, R-Leawood. "But him hearing that Kris Kobach wants to litigate against him, that might be the best news he's had in a long time."

Former federal prosecutor Tony Mattivi, whom Kobach later hired to run the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, was more skeptical of creating a new division.

"The special litigation division is something that is advocated by both of my opponents  it is a phenomenally bad idea," Mattivi said. "We don't need it. I will file the lawsuits that need to be filed. And in four years when a Republican gets elected, we won't have to dismantle the infrastructure that we built to get us through the next two years."

Jason Alatidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Want to sue Joe Biden? Kansas AG Kris Kobach has a job opening for you
In this photo taken in 1906, provided by the Quaker and Special Collections at Haverford College, teachers and students gather for a portrait at Tunesassa School in Tunesassa, New York. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition says it will digitize 20,000 archival pages related to Quaker-operated Indian boarding schools. The records will provide a better understanding of the conditions that children received at these schools. | Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College via AP

They went after our language, our culture, our family ties, our land. They succeeded on almost every level, Ben Sherman told The New York Times. Dont try to tell me this isnt genocide.

Sherman, now 83 and a retired aerospace engineer, is also a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who spent four years in a Native American boarding school in South Dakota. Sherman believes that after the shooting wars by the United States government against Native Americans had subsided, the government was not done with war, so the next phase involved war against the children.

Enter Native American boarding schools.

Vast and entrenched

From small shacks in remote Alaskan outposts to refurbished military barracks in the Deep South to large institutions up and down both the West and East coasts, Native American boarding schools took in children from across the country.

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Incomplete records and scant government attention let the stories of these schools largely fade into oblivion. For many students of those schools and their families, the trauma never went away.

Recently, however, more concerted efforts are being made to identify the schools and the children who went there, as well as those who never left. Last year, the Department of the Interior, under the leadership of Deb Haaland, released a report identifying 408 schools in 37 states, including 21 schools in Alaska and seven in Hawaii, from 1819 to 1969.

On Wednesday, the nonprofit National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition announced that they had identified another 115 schools, bringing the total to 523 in 38 states. They identified one additional school in Utah, bringing this states total to 8. They found 22 more in Hawaii, bringing that states total to 29. They found even more in Oklahoma, the state with the most schools identified, now standing at 95.

Most of the additional schools did not receive federal funds, but were run by religious groups and churches, reports The Washington Post. Many were Catholic, Presbyterian or Episcopalian, but also included small congregations of Quakers, Congregationalists and others.

Scattering the children

Richard Henry Pratt, a military officer who fought in the 1870s to forcibly remove multiple tribes from the Southern Plains, dreamt of abolishing all Native American reservations and scattering the entire population of Native children across the country, with some 70,000 white families each taking in one Native American child, reports The New York Times.

While he was not successful in bringing that vision to fruition, he started down that road by creating the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1879. The school took in Native American children from as far away as Alaska and tried to civilize them. In 1892, Pratt delivered a speech at a convention, where he said,

A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.

Pratt then praised the benefits of slavery for Black people and said it was now the responsibility of the United States to civilize Native Americans.

The civilizing process, or assimilation was, as Pratt described by wanting to Kill the Indian in him, a brutal one. Childrens hair was cut off, their native apparel burned. They were dressed in Western apparel, their names changed and their religion changed. They were hired out to do menial jobs, with the schools retaining any fees received.

Moderating a panel at the Leonardo in Salt Lake City last year, Utah State University student Taylor Cheii Begay said, This assimilation process, the boarding school era, it was a war tactic.

They tried to kill us

For noncompliant students, punishment could border on torture. Being whipped with a cat-o-nine tails, being paraded naked for other students to beat with belts, being thrown into walls, doused with fire hoses, having food withheld, being publicly humiliated and more. Sexual abuse was rampant, report both The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The New York Times reports that in 1891, the Grand Junction News printed an exchange between the superintendent of the Grand Junction Indian School in Colorado and the secretary of the Interior. The superintendent informed the secretary that one of the boys at the school could not fit his foot into the government-issued shoe because he had six toes. What shall I do? asked the superintendent? Off with his toe! came the reply. So, off came the toe.

Not every student counts their time at Native American boarding schools as traumatic. For some, it was not, including Cris Polk, from the Yakama Tribe of Washington, who told KSL earlier this year that those were the best four years of her life, and where she met her lifelong best friend.

Andy Merrick, chairman of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, met his wife at Intermountain Indian School. They celebrated their 43rd anniversary this year.

I love this place. I love the mountains and the memories I have here, Merrick said to KSL. One of the best times of my life was out here in Utah.

Truth and healing

Those with fond memories are the exception. By 1928, the Meriam report detailed how children were malnourished, overworked and harshly disciplined. Forty-one years later, in 1969, a U.S. Senate report reported on the failures of the system. That report spurred support for the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act in 1975 and then the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a challenge to ICWA in a decision praised by tribes and Utahs elected officials, including Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch summed up the importance of ICWA, stating that it secure(s) the right of Indian parents to raise their families as they please; the right of Indian Children to grow in their culture; and the right of Indian communities to resist fading into the twilight of history.

When Deb Haaland was appointed the first Native American to head the Department of the Interior, she brought with her boarding school legacies. Her grandparents were stolen from their families as children and she grew up hearing their stories. Her great-grandfather was taken to the infamous Carlisle Indian School. She cried with her grandmother as her grandmother shared her loneliness and sadness at being separated from her family.

Acknowledging these painful truths and gaining a full understanding of their impacts will help heal painful threads of trauma and injustice, she wrote in 2021. Over the past year, she has been around the country on a Road to Healing Tour.

Last years report was one of two. The second report will focus on the number of children who died at the boarding schools. Investigators expect that number to be in the thousands or tens of thousands. With sparse records of the children, or even where the cemeteries are located, the final number is likely to remain unknown. At least one excavation in the United States this summer found no remains.

Holly Richardson is the editor of Utah Policy
Kateryna Pylypenko prepared two backpacks for her youngest sons first day of school on Friday. One with school supplies, and one for the bomb shelter.

The bag (for the shelter) will be kept in the classroom. We were told it should contain water, a toy and something to eat while they wait in the shelter for the air raid alarm to end, Pylypenko told CNN.

As Russias brutal and unprovoked assault on Ukraine enters its third academic year, almost 4 million children went back to primary and secondary schools on Friday, according to the countrys education ministry.

According to UNICEF, only about a third of children enrolled in Ukraine will be attending in-person classes this year, with the rest studying at least partially online.

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Pylypenkos two sons, who are 6 and 14, will be going back in person. Their school in Kyiv decided to bring the pupils back in after surveying parents a few weeks ago.

In-person classes involve some risk  Ukraines capital has been struck by Russian missiles and drones a number of times in recent months. But Pylypenko said she was keen for her sons to have a school experience that is as close to normal as is possible, even though their father, her husband, is currently away fighting in the war.

The first day of school is usually a special occasion in Ukraine. Crowds of parents gather outside the gates, children dress up in their best clothes and present their teachers with flowers.

We were told that we shouldnt buy flowers this year, but instead donate to the Ukrainian army, Pylypenko said. But I bought a small bouquet for my first-grader anyway. Its all about the mood.

Im glad that we are in Ukraine and my son is going to the first grade here. It was important for me that we are not in Poland or somewhere else in a foreign country when he starts school, she said.

The school is nearby, so I can always get there fast if needed. I am worried though about what its going to be like. Whether there will be attacks, whether there will be electricity, she added.

Kateryna Pylypenko pictured with her son on his first day of school on Friday. - Kateryna Pylypenko

Hundreds of miles away in Zaporizhzhia, 9-year-old Dmytro Ukrainsky is one of the kids not allowed to return to class. Frequent attacks on the city, near the front lines in southern Ukraine, make in-person education far too dangerous.

I used to love gym classes and computer science the most. But now theyre my two least favorite classes. Physical education is not the same now, because what kind of physical education is there in an apartment? he told CNN.

Dmytros mom, Viktoriia Ukrainska, told CNN she would not send him to school even if the option was available to her. No one would risk that. Weve had four air raid alarms this morning only. There may be a strike at any moment, she said.

Students sing Ukraine's national anthem as they attend a ceremony of the first day in school in Bucha, on Friday. - Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Lost childhood

The war has had a horrific impact on millions of children across Ukraine.

According to official data from Ukrainian authorities, 503 children have been killed and 1,117 wounded since Russias full-scale invasion began in February 2022. More than 1,100 remain missing, almost 20,000 have been forcibly displaced or deported, and hundreds of thousands are living abroad as refugees.

On Thursday, Ukrainian prosecutors said the country has opened more than 3,000 criminal cases over Russias alleged crimes against children in Ukraine, including dozens of torture cases. Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations of torture and human rights abuses.

UNICEF has warned that even children who are physically safe are hurting due to the conflict, struggling with mental health problems and falling behind in their schooling. A UNICEF survey found that a majority of teachers in Ukraine reported deterioration in their students skills.

This school building in the city of Chernihiv was damaged in a Russian strike. - Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images

Ukrainian educational ombudsman Sergii Gorbachov told CNN that the real impact of the war on learning in the country is hard to estimate, because Ukrainian authorities have no information about a large number of children who are living in areas under Russian occupation.

And it is precisely these children to whom we have no or almost no access who suffer the greatest educational losses, he said.

Yulia Dolzhanska, who teaches Ukrainian language and literature at a secondary school in Kharkiv, said that it is clear that online learning cannot replace face-to-face interaction. But for many in Ukraine, there simply isnt another option right now.

Dolzhanskas school decided to offer both online classes and the opportunity for kids to come in for meetings. The difficult thing here is that if there is an air raid alarm or, god forbid, explosions, how will the children react to it? Do we go to the shelter with children who are offline? How do we calm down and support the children who are online? she said.

Gorbachov said that since the beginning of the full-scale conflict last year, Ukraine has invested heavily in making schools safer, building shelters and focusing on improving distance learning. According to the government, 84% of schools are now equipped with bunkers, a requirement for any educational institution that wants to bring students back in.

For Dmytro Ukrainsky, going back in person is still a distant dream. He told CNN he last saw most of his classmates before Russias invasion in February 2022. Only three of his school friends remain in Zaporizhzhia, although he still cant see them very often because going outside is too dangerous and many of the citys parks and playgrounds have been completely destroyed.

It sounds strange, but I really miss school, Dmytro told CNN. If they said tomorrow that the war was over and I could go to school, I would stay up all night and run there I miss our cafeteria, especially our chocolate chip buns. They were most delicious.

CNNs Olga Voitovych reported from Kyiv and Ivana Kottasova reported and wrote from London.

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Hundreds who were sold authentic Native art in Alaska over a five-and-a-half-year period from April 2016 to December 2021, were duped by a man from Washington state.

It turns out the art was produced overseas. Each piece was sold for upwards of $1,000 dollars, likely grossing millions. He even involved Alaskan Natives in his scheme, adding a bit of theater to make the fraud more convincing.

This week in Alaskan District Court in Juneau, 59-year-old Cristobal Cris Magno Rodrigo was sentenced to two years in federal prison for selling overseas-produced items as authentic Alaska Native artwork. After his sentence, he will be required to serve three years of supervised release.

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He is also required to make a $60,000 donation to the Tlingit and Haida Central Counsel Vocational Program and write a letter of apology to be published in the Ketchikan Daily Newspaper.

From April 2016 to December 2021, while residing in Washington State, Rodrigo and his family owned and operated Alaska Stone Arts LLC. and Rail Creek LLC. in Ketchikan, Alaska. Alaska Stone Arts LLC. primarily sold stone carvings, and Rail Creek LLC. primarily sold wooden totem poles.

The art was all made in the Philippines, by a company owned by Rodrigos wife.

Rodrigos deception went even further. Prosecutors say he hired Alaska Natives in both of his stores to misrepresent the products as art they and their families had made themselves.

This deceptive business practice cheated customers and undermined the economic livelihood of Alaska Native artists, said Edward Grace, Assistant Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement.

Rodrigo violated the Indian Arts and Crafts Act. His sentence is by far the longest ever handed down on that charge.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Act makes it unlawful to offer, display for sale, or sell any good in a manner that falsely suggests that it was Indian-produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian tribe, resident in the United States.

Fakes and counterfeits, such as those marketed for huge sums of money by the Rodrigos, tear at the very fabric of Alaska Native culture, Native livelihoods, and Native communities, said Indian Arts and Crafts Board Director Meridith Stanton.

Co-conspirators in this case include Glenda Tiglao Rodrigo, 46, and Christian Ryan Tiglao Rodrigo, 24. Their cases are ongoing.

If you suspect potential Indian Arts and Crafts Act violations are being committed, a complaint may be submitted through the Indian Arts and Crafts Boards online complaint form, www.doi.gov/iacb/should-i-report-potential-violation, by emailing iacb@ios.doi.gov, or by calling 888-278-3253.
The geochemistry of barnacle shells provides clues as to where the barnacles have traveled.

The barnacles attached to the already-recovered Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 debris offer up partial clues.

Scientists hope that the largest barnacles from the debris become available for research to determine a complete debris path.

Just check the barnacles. Thats how University of South Florida geoscientists say we can reconstruct the drift path of debris from the downed Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, which vanished in 2014 with 239 passengers onboard.

They have the science to back up their faith in the barnacles, too.

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When the flaperon piece of MH370 washed ashore on Reunion Island in July of 2015, it was covered with the barnacle Lepas anatifera. That got Gregory Herbert, an associate professor in the School of Geosciences at USF, thinking.

The debris was covered in barnacles, and as soon as I saw that, I immediately began sending emails to the search investigators because I knew the geochemistry of their shells could provide clues to the crash location, Herbert said in a statement.

Now hes published a study in AGU Advances that shows how the internal layers of barnacles offer a chemistry that is determined by the temperature of the water at the time the layer was formed.

He also led an international research team to find a partial drift path of the MH370 debris, thanks to researching small barnacles on the flaperon.

The team has tracked live barnacles for the first time, unlocking temperature records from the shells. It worked well enough that the team gained access to small barnacles from MH370 and combined the barnacles water temperature records with oceanographic modeling and successfully generated a partial drift reconstruction. Now they just need access to the largest barnacles found on the debris to take it a step further.

This type of research is nothing new for Herbert, whos determined the ages and extinction risks of the giant horse conchs and investigated the environmental circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the Jamestown colony.

French scientist Joseph Poupin, who was one of the first biologists to examine the debris, Herbert said, concluded that the largest barnacles attached were possibly old enough to have colonized on the wreckage very shortly after the crash and very close to the actual crash location where the plane is now.

The drift path they discovered is farther south than some previous reconstructions, but matched others showing that the MH370 flaperon had a southward trajectory into cooler waters while drifting across the Indian Ocean. The piece started in warmer waters before shifting to the cooler waters for a significant part of the latter drift.

To do a complete reconstruction, the team needs access to those larger, older barnacles. Sadly, they have not yet been made available for research, Herbert said, but with this study, weve proven this method can be applied to a barnacle that colonized on the debris shortly after the crash to reconstruct a complete drift path back to the crash origin.

The lost flight MH370 disappeared in March of 2014, and the search was fraught with issues from the start. It was suspended in January of 2017. With a search area thousands of miles in size, there is one thing going for any renewed effort, at least from a barnacle point of view. The ocean temperatures in the Indian Ocean can change rapidly in the area, really giving the barnacle research some added heft.

The plane disappeared more than nine years ago, Nassar Al-Qattan, a USF geochemistry doctoral graduate who helped analyze the barnacles, said in a statement, and we all worked aiming to introduce a new approach to help resume the search.

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Editors note: A magistrate judge late Friday afternoon issued a temporary restraining order blocking any actions at the West Bonner meeting that would alter the boards structure or obligate the school district contractually or financially. The judges order was in response to a complaint filed by two voters who were part of the recall effort.

Original editorial:

Whatever is going on with the West Bonner school board Friday night shouldnt even be happening.

To recap: On Tuesday, voters in the West Bonner school district overwhelmingly voted to recall two school board members responsible for hiring Branden Durst as superintendent.

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On Thursday, the school board called a special meeting for Friday night. Among the agenda items is an action item to dissolve current board of trustees.

You dont dissolve a board. Elections dont mean you have a new board; its the same board governing your district, per Idaho code. You just have new members on that board.

Some have suggested that this is merely procedural, that this is what you do after an election. Others suggest that something more nefarious is going on.

The second item is to Turn meeting over to the Superintendent. Who knows what Durst would do then.

Next, the board is scheduled to Appoint signatories, including the superintendent.

The notion that recalled board members could meet and make any decision after theyve been recalled is preposterous.

About two-thirds of the voters Tuesday voted to recall board chair Keith Rutledge and vice chair Susan Brown. Tuesdays voter count of 2,162 far outpaced the previous election, when 844 people went to the polls in 2021, according to Idaho Education News.

The message was pretty loud and clear: Pack up your stuff and get out.

It shows a tremendous lack of respect for the democratic process when voters overwhelmingly vote to fire two board members, yet those board members attempt an end run around voters wishes by taking advantage of a 10-day window thats a big gaping hole in state law.

Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane issued a statement Friday saying the recall election isnt official until the county commissioners canvass the results, which is supposed to happen within 10 days of the election. In this case, the Bonner County commissioners are scheduled to canvass the results on Thursday.

That leaves plenty of time for shenanigans.

Its a big, gaping hole in state code that needs to be plugged.

When legislators meet in the next session, they should pass a bill that remedies this problem, such as a cooling-off period, during which recalled members are prohibited from meeting or making any decisions until election results are canvassed. It would be a simple, one-sentence addition to state law.

In the meantime, West Bonner school board members shouldnt even be meeting Friday night, let alone making any decisions.

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.
Against a long-standing absence of interstate conflicts, South American armed forces largely focus on domestic operations, including fighting organized crime. However, the regions defense and security capabilities are undermined by aging equipment amid reduced fiscal space.

Despite having rejected the pleas of the U.S. and its allies to supply ammunition and military equipment to Ukraine in early 2023, major armed forces in the region  namely Argentina, Brazil and Colombia  remain significantly tied to the U.S. and European countries through military procurement and cooperation.

But the increasing economic and political inroads of emerging geopolitical powers, especially China, challenge the long-lasting Western influence in the regions defense sphere.

Land-based systems

Although developments to upgrade aging capabilities have taken place over the last year, significant regional operational improvements are expected to materialize in the midterm to long term.

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The Brazilian Army  the most capable in South America with the most important developments  keeps advancing toward the incorporation of a new fleet of six-wheel and eight-wheel drive armored vehicles.

The former vehicles are part of the Guarani program, which is jointly developed with Iveco Defence Vehicles and, in September 2022, reached the 600-vehicle delivery of the long-term target of 1,580 units until 2035. Although it is lower than the 2,044-vehicle initial order, and is reportedly being reconsidered further down to around 900.

As for the latter type of armored vehicle, in January 2023 the Brazilian Army received the first two Centauro II prototypes for evaluation as part of a 98-vehicle order from the Iveco-Oto Melara Consortium. The delivery of the new fleet will gradually take place until 2038, while the operation of 50-year-old EE-9 Cascavel armored vehicles will be phased out. Until the process is completed, a local consortium was awarded the modernization of an initial batch of nine EE-9s and delivered the first prototype in July 2023.

The Centauro II was offered to Brazil by a consortium made up of Iveco Defence Vehicles and Oto Melara. (CIO)

Furthermore, the visit of a high-level Brazilian Army delegation to Chinas NORINCO  or the North Industries Group Corp. Ltd.  factory in June 2023 suggests Brazils growing interest in recapitalizing its artillery and air defense capability with Chinese equipment.

Other regional developments include Argentinas letter of intent to acquire 156 Brazilian Iveco six-wheel drive Guarani vehicles in January 2023, discarding options for General Dynamics Land Systems M1126 Stryker and NORINCOs VN-1.

In December 2022, Colombia awarded the acquisition of General Dynamics Land Systems-Canadas 55 new LAV III light armored vehicles to replace the current fleet, which includes units with nearly 60 years in operation. The contract covers the next six years and comprises manufacturing, delivery and support.

Chile signed a contract with Turkeys Aselsan to maintain its more than 40-year-old Leopard 2 A4 tank fleet in July 2023.

Maritime priorities

Besides traditional naval operations, South American navies focus on seaborne illegal trafficking  especially in Colombia. Against the record-high depreciation of the local currency and the need to support domestic industries while increasing anti-narcotic operations, the Colombian Navy awarded state-owned shipbuilder Cotecmar key strategic procurement projects, such as the production of the first Colombian-designed OPV 93C offshore patrol ship, which started production in March 2023.

It also chose Cotecmar, in partnership with Dutch shipbuilder Damen, to manufacture the first Colombian-made frigate based on Damens Sigma 10514 design in September 2022.

The Sigma 10514 frigate was designed by Damon. (Courtesy of Damon)

Brazils capabilities are being boosted by the ambitious Prosub program, which in September 2022 delivered the first of four conventionally powered attack submarines, with the second boat expected to be delivered by the end of 2023.

In contrast, the Argentine Navy continues to be unable to operate any of its two submarines amid a deteriorating economic crisis. Although, reportedly Argentina issued a request for final proposals for three new conventionally powered submarines to Germanys ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and Frances Naval Group.

Aircraft fleets

Major air defense procurement in the region remains active, despite a strained budget.

In December 2022, the Brazilian Air Force incorporated the first four of 36 Swedish Saab Gripen E/F fighter ground-attack aircraft. In June 2023, the service received the sixth Embraer KC-390 medium transport aircraft out of 28 initially planned, but then cut to 19 amid budgetary restrictions.

Furthermore, amid a renegotiation process prompted by budgetary constraints since 2015, Brazils Air Force and Navy signed a contract to acquire 27 Airbus H125 light transport helicopters in September 2022.

Colombias plan to update its aging fleet of 22 Kfir fighters remains active after the government stalled the purchase of French Rafales in December 2022. In March 2023, it announced it was reopening the bid with interests in Saabs Gripen E/F, Lockheed Martins F-16 Block 70 and the previously shortlisted Dassault Rafale. However, the order will likely go from 24 to 16 jets, given fiscal constraints. As a temporary measure, in January 2023 the Colombian Air Force renewed a maintenance agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries to extend the service lives of its Kfir fleet until 2025.

A Kfir combat aircraft lands at Combat Air Command Base in Puerto Salgar, Colombia, on July 20, 2020. (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)

A debt arrangement with the International Monetary Fund will likely clear the way for Argentina to acquire 24 fighter jets and replace its obsolescent A-4 Skyhawk fleet with two probable options: the JF-17 Thunder jointly made by Pakistan and China, or secondhand Danish F-16s made by the U.S. company Lockheed Martin.

Despite the lower cost and flexible financing options provided by the Chinese government for the Thunders, in July 2023 the F-16 became a strong option after the U.S. State Department expressed interest in providing financial and operational assistance to Argentina, and upon Congress move to speed up the sale approval.

However, Argentinas precarious economic situation means modernization efforts will likely be limited.

Space technology

South American space capabilities significantly lag behind other regions, with the partial exception of Brazil and Chile.

In October 2022, the Brazilian Space Agency launched into orbit the first Brazilian-made sounding rocket from its Alcantara Launch Center in Maranhao.

In June 2023, the Chilean National Satellite System, co-owned by the Chilean Air Force, successfully started the gradual replacement of the FASat-Charlie satellite by launching into orbit the FASat-Delta, the first out of 13 new satellites.

Overall, South Americas military capabilities remain limited amid fiscal constraints. Despite successful efforts to boost local procurement, major acquisitions are largely contracted to Western countries. Regional political realignment in an increasingly multipolar global order will likely expand procurement opportunities for non-Western bidders in the midterm to longer term.

Juan Pablo Bickel is a research associate with the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank, where he focuses on conflict, security and development, particularly in relation to Latin America.
As the fallout continues from yet another attack on Black Americans motivated by racism, some people are calling for an anti-Black hate crime bill to address racist criminal actions that specifically target Black people.

This follows news about an armed white man, police identified as Jeffrey Harris, who attempted to enter a predominantly Black church in Pennsylvania but was turned away the day after the deadly shooting at a Jacksonville Dollar Tree where three Black people were shot.

Its believed that had Harris been welcomed inside, another racially motivated attack might have happened. Police found an explosive, crystal meth, several weapons and a handwritten note scribbled with notes and plans about a mass shooting.

The families of the three Black victims of the racist Jacksonville shooting, Anolt Joseph A.J. Laguerre Jr. (left), Angela Michelle Carr (center), and Jerrald DeShaun Gallion (right) are speaking out about the shooting and their lost loved ones. (Photos: Twitter)

In response to the news, some people on social media have called for an anti-Black crime bill and suggested that churches need armed security measures to help prevent possible attacks.

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Where is our anti-Black crime bill? two Instagram users asked.

Related: She Wasnt Even Supposed to be There: Two of Victims of the Racist Jacksonville Shooter Were Simply Working When They Were Gunned Down; Families Grapple with Pain

This is why churches need fully armed guards, and rover patrols, another user wrote.

I pray our institutions and organizations continue to take proper caution, vetting these vile vermin who attempt to enter safe spaces to do harm, another person commented.

Pass a Anti-Black Crime Bill already!!  IG:BADDIEEEY (@baddieeey) August 29, 2023

While there is a federal hate crimes statute, there is no law on the books that addresses hate crimes exclusively against Black people. The current statute passed in 1968, is a broader measure that makes it a crime to use force or threaten to use force against any person because of their race, color, faith or national origin.

In May 2021, President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law, which condemns racial harassment and violence committed against Asian Americans after they were blamed and targeted for the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the George Floyd Justice in Policing bill that was introduced that same year still sits in waiting. That measure aims to reduce racial profiling and police violence against minority communities. It passed the House but has yet to pass the Senate.

Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters made it glaringly clear that the shooter in the Jacksonville attack, Ryan Palmeter, hated Black people and detailed a disgusting ideology of hate in journals he left behind.

He targeted a certain group of people, and thats Black people. Thats what he said he wanted to kill, Waters said. Any member of that race, at that time, was in danger.

As racial tensions continue to mount and escalate into all-out threats and attacks, many Black people are in fear of whats next, including the possibility that more racially motivated attacks could occur at a higher frequency.

A Pew Research study from April 2022 revealed that approximately a third of Black American adults worry daily or almost daily that they might be threatened or attacked because of their racial identity. Only about 21 percent of Asian Americans, 14 percent of Hispanic adults, and 4 percent of white adults said they felt the same.

It makes you think about the state were in. I mean, just to think I could be sitting in a car, and someone can shoot me just based on my race, theres definitely a heightened level of concern, Desmond Meade, president and executive director of the Orlando-based Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, told USA Today. There has to be a courageous stand taken against this.

As more of these incidents come to pass, people really have to be prepared in their communities, Renee Watson, director of the Bexar County small business and entrepreneurship program in San Antonio, also told USA Today. Its not just in one place. Its not just in the supermarket. Its everywhere.

Arthur Reed, the founder of the Houston-based organization Stop the Killing, remarked that the rise of white supremacy ideology drastically impacts the lives of Black Americans everywhere.

There are people in America that have a mindset that is so sick that they believe civil war is coming, Reed said. Blacks could care less about that. People are paying attention to their daily lives, holding down employment and keeping a roof over their head. Theyre too busy trying to survive than to plot a civil war.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday officially declared the island of Palawan as insurgency-free  a move he said would help boost investment in the world-renowned tourist destination.

Marcos made the declaration during a program in Puerto Princesa, as the country celebrates the first day of the National Peace Consciousness Month.

I cannot think of a better way to open the celebration, the commemoration of the National Peace Consciousness Month than to also at the same time be able to declare Palawan Island as insurgency-free, he said in a speech.

Speaking to reporters after the event, the president said such a declaration would help the economy of the island by bringing in more tourists and investments.

Because unless you have a peaceful community, unless you have security in the area, ang hirap talaga maka-attract ng [its very hard to attract] investment. And so now that we are able to wave that flag, sabihin natin [well say], No, Palawan is free, then Palawan is already a very large part of all our plans for transformation of the economy, Marcos said.

In 2022, the Palawan Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) and the Provincial Peace and Order Committee (PPOC) first issued a joint resolution declaring Palawan Island as insurgency-free.

According to the Presidential Communications Office, the PTF-ELCAC and PPOC said communist rebels in the area have been decimated and strategically defeated with the neutralization of [their] leaders and members which led to the dismantling of guerrilla formations.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  September 2 marks a tragic anniversary. Its been one year since Eliza Fletcher was kidnapped on her morning jog.

The latest on the abduction and murder of Memphis jogger and teacher Eliza Fletcher

A massive search for Fletcher followed. Police quickly retraced her steps and found critical surveillance video of the moment she was approached on her run by a man who forced her into his SUV.

The next day, law enforcement announced they found the car seen in the security footage, and the man driving it. Cleotha Abston Henderson was taken into custody. Police say he refused to cooperate.

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While the outcome of this investigation is not what we hoped for, Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis said at a podium days later and delivered the terrible news.

They found Fletchers body near an abandoned home a few miles from where she was abducted.

The victim was a beloved member of the community, and I cant tell you how many different people came up and mentioned some sort of connection, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said.

Mulroy had just been sworn in. He was only on the job for a couple of days as this unfolded.

It was a real baptism-by-fire experience for a new DA on the job in the first week. Im just really grateful I had a supportive and experienced staff that could help me through, he said.

That experienced staff quickly learned what we now know about Abston Henderson.

He had only been a free man since 2020. He had spent two decades behind bars for abducting a Memphis attorney at gunpoint in May 2001. Abston Hendersons criminal record, however, began when he was just 11 years old.

In July, prosecutors announced they would be seeking the death penalty. Weeks later, his attorney withdrew from the case due to a conflict of interest, but the motion didnt state what that conflict was.

Memphis prosecutors seek death penalty against man charged with kidnapping and killing teacher

Because Abston Henderson could face the death penalty, he was appointed two new attorneys in August. They will now have to pour through the states discovery and that will take time.

Cases as complicated as this, it isnt unusual that it takes several years before they go to trial, Mulroy said.

Especially now that the new attorneys are just getting started on this case. As of now, a trial date has yet to be set. We asked DA Mulroy if a plea deal could happen.

Theres always that possibility. Certainly, yeah, he said.

Its a possibility, but there is no indication it will happen at this point. Its also unclear if Abston Henderson is still not cooperating.

Through the Tennessee Public Records Act, WREG Investigators learned he has no disciplinary record while hes been at 201, and no one other than his attorney and attorneys staff has visited him.

Since his arrest, Abston Henderson was also charged with another rape that occurred in September 2021. Investigators say he wasnt charged in that crime until after Fletcher was killed. The rape kit was not expedited, so the state lab says it didnt finish processing it until after Fletchers body was found.

A year after Eliza Fletcher, TBI making progress on reviewing crime scene evidence more quickly

Now a year later, many gathered to finish Elizas run. People across the city and country are still outraged and still heartbroken.

Fletcher was just 34 years old. She was a loving wife, a devoted mother, and a junior kindergarten teacher. Her friends tell us she was giving, loving, and always smiling. She had a pure heart.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
(NEXSTAR)  After months of collecting applications, the window to file a claim in the $725 million Facebook privacy settlement has closed. The deadline passed a week ago, but no one has received a dime yet.

Thats because payments cant be sent out until the settlement is given final approval by a judge. The hearing is slated for Thursday, Sept. 7 at 1 p.m. in San Francisco.

Who doesnt qualify for a Facebook settlement payment?

At the final approval hearing, the judge will decide whether the settlement agreement is fair, reasonable, and adequate, according to the settlement administrator. The court will then decide whether or not to approve the attorneys fees and other payments laid out in the settlement, as well as hear any objections.

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Finally, the court will have the opportunity to grant final approval  but there may be even more roadblocks. Once a settlement is approved, there could still be appeals.

An appeal could put payments on hold for months or even years. It is always uncertain whether appeals will be filed and, if so, how long it will take to resolve them, says the settlement administrator.

But the legal process needs to be fully wrapped up before any money hits peoples bank accounts. After that happens, payments will be distributed as soon as possible, the administrator says.

Who doesnt qualify for a Facebook settlement payment?

If youve already filed a claim, you dont need to attend the settlement hearing  online or in person. Youll be paid as long as you meet the qualifications.

Meta agreed to the payment to settle a lawsuit claiming Facebook allowed users personal data to be shared with third parties, the most famous being Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm that supported Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. The firm harvested the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users, the Associated Press reported.

While Meta agreed to the payout, the company denies any wrongdoing.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
A whistleblower lawsuit made public Monday alleged Penn State has not adequately protected sensitive government information, potentially calling into question dozens of projects where the university has not complied with its contracts.

Allegations include intentionally falsifying government compliance reports and moving from an approved and secured cloud service to an unapproved commercial version of Microsoft Office 365.

The allegations were brought by Matthew Decker, who served as the chief information officer for Penn States Applied Research Laboratory as early as 2015. The lawsuit was filed in October.

A Penn State spokesperson did not respond Friday to a question that asked if Decker was still employed by the university. He is not listed in the universitys directory and his LinkedIn indicates he left the university in March.

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Sensitive government research and national security information is at the very least at risk, Deckers attorney Darth M. Newman wrote in the 24-page lawsuit.

The universitys Applied Research Laboratory was founded in 1945 at the request of the U.S. Navy and the Defense Department designated Penn State a University Affiliated Research Center. The Navy in 2018 awarded a 10-year contract worth as much as $2.1 billion to the ARL to conduct research and development to improve U.S. national security.

The university, which typically does not offer public statements about pending litigation, said it would address these allegations at the appropriate time in the context of the litigation.

Penn State is dedicated to compliance and takes its compliance obligations, including, its cybersecurity obligations, under federal government contracts very seriously, university spokesman Wyatt DuBois wrote in a statement. The university has allocated significant resources to maintain compliance with these and other federal requirements. Penn State has worked and continues to work cooperatively and collaboratively with the government to address any questions.

Contractors like Penn State are required to self-attest to compliance with 110 security requirements spelled out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology; there is no oversight, Newman wrote.

The self-reported scores must be submitted before a defense contract is renewed or awarded. At least 20 records submitted to the government were falsified, the lawsuit alleged.

Some of the submitted reports were template documents entered to merely check the box, the lawsuit alleged.

Deckers lawsuit alleged more sensitive information was put at risk when the university migrated some of its data from certified cloud-storage service Box to Microsofts cloud-storage service OneDrive.

Penn State uses the commercial version of the product, which is not certified or compliant, the lawsuit alleged. The university, in an August 2020 statement, said it planned to stop using Box in part because of increasing costs.

Penn State has, at best, inconsistently sprinkled in some small levels of cyber security best practices, but these half measures are not systemic, Newman wrote. ... There is no chance that comprehensive protection or compliance can be truthfully attested.

He added: It seems there is virtually no chance that Penn State could respond effectively and quickly enough to maintain the contract if a sponsor should investigate the false attestations.

The lawsuit is seeking, in part, to award the United States government triple the amount of compensatory damages for each alleged false claim and the maximum civil penalty for each false claim, record and statement. Decker is seeking litigation costs and proceeds from a potential settlement.

Federal Judge Paul S. Diamond unsealed the case Monday, finding the government presented no exigent circumstances to warrant keeping the lawsuit shielded from the public. Investigators have evaluated Deckers allegations for more than seven months.

The Justice Department must notify a federal judge by Sept. 29 if it plans to intervene.

CDT reporter Josh Moyer contributed to this report
The lawyer for an IRS whistleblower is raising questions about the Justice Department's claims that its investigation of Hunter Biden has been independent of political interference, pointing to a series of events in April that he says cast doubt on the department's assertion.

The events transpired just after Mark Lytle's client came forward to Congress with allegations of preferential treatment in the Hunter Biden probe. A Justice Department spokesperson described the communications and meetings as "routine."

On April 19, Lytle, who represents IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, wrote to the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees to say that his client wished to come forward.

Lytle said in the letter that the disclosures his client would make included allegations of "preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances." The letter did not mention Hunter Biden, referring to the case only as a "sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject."

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Emails reviewed by CBS news say that a senior Justice Department official in the deputy attorney general's office, Associate Deputy Attorney General Brad Weinsheimer, set up a phone call with Lytle six days later, on April 25. The internal emails were first reported by the Daily Mail.

"I was initially encouraged at the outreach from Brad Weinsheimer, in the office of the Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, that they were interested in learning about any allegations of wrongdoing at the department (in the Hunter Biden probe) and that they wanted to create a safe environment for whistleblowers," Lytle told CBS News. "But that all went out the window when the IRS agents were kicked off the case."

On April 26, Weinsheimer met with U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who had been appointed to oversee the investigation into Hunter Biden  and who has since been named special counsel in the case  and then-Hunter Biden attorney Chris Clark. This meeting was first reported by Politico and confirmed by CBS News by two sources familiar with the events.

While it is not publicly known what happened in the April 26 meeting, it occurred during a pivotal moment in the five-year investigation, as negotiations to reach a plea agreement appeared to accelerate.

Weinsheimer, a career Justice Department official, has served 32 years under Republican and Democratic administrations. He has a broad portfolio, including the areas of professional responsibility, special counsel affairs and whistleblowers. Weinsheimer has also served as a department point of contact in the Hunter Biden investigation and other politically sensitive cases.

In response to CBS News' questions about Weinsheimer's role in the Hunter Biden case and that meeting, a Justice Department spokesperson said, "Although the department does not publicly discuss meetings and communications relating to ongoing matters, the department is committed to ensuring that its work is conducted according to the highest standards of professional conduct. Lines of communication with the Department's senior career official is a routine process entirely in keeping with that commitment."

Lytle, however, said he finds the timing significant. "The fact that the office of the deputy attorney general reached out to whistleblowers, then we learned that the same senior DOJ official was apparently meeting with Weiss and counsel for Hunter Biden, indicate Weiss did not have complete authority to make decisions on the case  contrary to what Weiss and the attorney general have told the public," he said.

But a person familiar with the discussions sought to dispel the idea that there was anything suspect about the timing of the April 26 meeting with Hunter Biden's attorney and said that it had been scheduled weeks earlier  before the IRS whistleblower had notified Congress. In describing the meeting, the source also suggested it was in keeping with meetings that would take place with attorneys of those who are high-level targets of an investigation and compared it to those that took place between department officials and lawyers representing former President Donald Trump before special counsel Jack Smith filed charges against him over the handling of classified documents after his presidency.

In June, Attorney General Merrick Garland had said that Weiss would be able "to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to."

In letters to Congress, Weiss insisted he had the "ultimate authority."

In August, Garland said Weiss had informed him that his investigation had reached a stage where he believed his work should continue as special counsel, and he then asked for the designation. Garland said he concluded it was "in the public interest" to appoint Weiss special counsel, giving him expanded powers to continue the probe, in light of the "extraordinary circumstances" of the case.

In their transcribed interviews with congressional investigators, Shapley and the lead case agent on the Hunter Biden probe, IRS whistleblower Joe Ziegler, said they were removed from the probe and that "DOJ had requested that change."

Shapely testified that he pressed his IRS manager for an explanation.

"I specifically asked, and he said, 'No, didn't give a reason.' To which I said, 'How could you possibly make a decision like that in a case like this without being given a reason?'"

Ziegler told congressional investigators, "I can tell you in my normal course of investigations I work, why an agent would be removed is for conduct. So if they did something wrong. But I've never seen it to where they would remove from a supervisor down -- anything like that ever."

After their removal, Lytle told CBS News he went back to the same senior Justice Department official, Weinsheimer, for assistance.

"When the IRS agents were kicked off the case, we called to complain to the very same person, Weinsheimer, who made those earlier promises and assurances, and he seemed no longer interested, and directed our team to U.S. Attorney Weiss."

It is not clear who made the decision to remove the team, and Lytle said the timeline requires further explanation.

CBS News asked Hunter Biden's legal team whether the IRS whistleblowers' allegations came up during their April meeting with the senior Justice Department official, and whether the disclosure alleging preferential treatment added new urgency to their plea negotiations. There was no immediate response.

The plea agreement between federal prosecutors and Hunter Biden fell apart in late July after Federal Judge Maryellen Noreika refused to sign off on a deal that would have seen the president's son enter guilty pleas to two misdemeanor tax charges and enter a diversion program in lieu of pleading guilty to a felony gun possession count. She expressed concern that attorneys were asking her to simply "rubber stamp" the deal, which she refused to do, citing several irregularities as well as confusion between prosecutors and the defense as to whether the plea concluded the investigation. The parties were ultimately unable to reach a new agreement.

After the deal collapsed, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty. Soon afterward, in mid-August, Judge Noreika granted the government's motion to dismiss, so that tax charges against him could be brought in another venue.

The federal judge has ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys on Thursday to provide an update next week.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she will not fund the government without an impeachment inquiry on Biden .

The White House released a statement criticizing her for risking a government shutdown.

Lawmakers have until the end of September to reach an agreement on government funding.

Congress isn't back in session just yet, but fights to fund the government are already brewing.

On Thursday, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told her constituents at a town hall in Georgia that a number of conditions need to be met before she will vote to fund the government, including an impeachment inquiry on President Joe Biden, taking away funding for Ukraine, and pulling back on the fight against COVID-19. Lawmakers have until the end of September to agree on a spending bill that would keep the government funded, and if not, the government will shut down  jeopardizing federal programs millions of Americans rely on.

"I've already decided I will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry on Joe Biden," Greene said during her town hall.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 31, 2023

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The White House was not thrilled to hear those remarks from Greene. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates released a statement Thursday night saying that "the last thing the American people deserve is for extreme House members to trigger a government shutdown that hurts our economy, undermines our disaster preparedness, and forces our troops to work without guaranteed pay."

"The House Republicans responsible for keeping the government open already made a promise to the American public about government funding, and it would be a shame for them to break their word and fail the country because they caved to the hardcore fringe of their party in prioritizing a baseless impeachment stunt over high stakes needs Americans care about deeply  like fighting fentanyl trafficking, protecting our national security, and funding FEMA," he continued.

On Thursday, the Office of Management and Budget sent out a memo to Congress  reviewed by Insider  that outlined the White House's requests for a short-term continuing resolution that would boost funding for all federal agencies. The OMB noted that if lawmakers do not boost funding, programs like Social Security and SNAP could face delays in processing, along with poor customer service. For example, the OMB noted that without the $390 million the administration is requesting for food aid, around 20,000 out of 76,000 low-income seniors receiving that assistance would be slashed from the program.

While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told MSNBC earlier this month that he and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy agree that a short-term resolution would be a viable option to avoid a government shutdown, he added that "our Republican colleagues in the House need to follow the lead of their Republican colleagues in the Senate and work in a bipartisan way."

Read the original article on Business Insider
WASHINGTON  The White House slammed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene , R-Ga., for saying she's willing to stop funding the government if Congress doesn't hold a vote to open an impeachment inquiry on President Joe Biden, warning Republicans not to let the "hardcore fringe of their party" force a shutdown.

Greene, a hardline conservative from Georgia, said Thursday during a town hall in her district, "I've already decided I will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry on Joe Biden."

Congress is set to return from recess after Labor Day weekend, when Biden wants Congress to adopt a short-term funding measure to avert a government shutdown when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

"The last thing the American people deserve is for extreme House members to trigger a government shutdown that hurts our economy, undermines our disaster preparedness, and forces our troops to work without guaranteed pay," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

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Greene, a favorite target of the White House for her polarizing statements, also said she will not vote to fund the government unless Congress defunds "the Biden regime's weaponized government," including ending funding for special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading two criminal cases against former President Donald Trump.

She added that she won't vote for a funding resolution that supports COVID-19 vaccine mandates "because that is over" or increases aid to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks during a joint Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill on July 18, 2023 in Washington, DC. Members of the subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement and Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has started framing a potential impeachment inquiry of Biden and the House Oversight Committee's ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden 's overseas businesses dealings as incentives for the far-right flank of his party to support funding the government past September.

If we shut down, all of government shuts down  investigations and everything else, McCarthy said last Sunday on Fox News, calling an impeachment inquiry "a natural next step" following the committee's work.

Republicans have failed to produce evidence that then-Vice President Joe Biden benefitted financially from Hunter Biden's role as a board member for Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.

Bates said it "would be a shame" if House Republicans "fail the country because they caved to the hardcore fringe of their party in prioritizing a baseless impeachment stunt over high stakes needs Americans care about deeply  like fighting fentanyl trafficking, protecting our national security, and funding FEMA.

President Joe Biden walks with FEMA Associate Administrator of the Office of Response and Recovery Anne Bink as he visits FEMA headquarters, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, in Washington, to thank the team staffing the FEMA National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) throughout Hurricane Idalia and the ongoing federal response efforts to the fires on Maui, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: White House blasts Marjorie Taylor Greene's government shutdown threat
The White House on Thursday took issue with what they described as the hardcore fringe of the Republican Party following comments by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) threatening she wont vote to keep the government open unless the GOP-controlled House of Representatives launches an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden .

The last thing the American people deserve is for extreme House members to trigger a government shutdown that hurts our economy, undermines our disaster preparedness, and forces our troops to work without guaranteed pay, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.

Bates added that House Republicans promised Americans they would not hold the government hostage, alluding to the bipartisan debt ceiling deal House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) helped negotiate. Biden signed the legislation in June.

The White House said a shutdown would undermine American priorities, including funding the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has been on the forefront of the response to extreme weather events, including Hurricane Idalia that devastated Florida earlier this week.

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It would be a shame for them to break their word and fail the country because they caved to the hardcore fringe of their party in prioritizing a baseless impeachment stunt over high stakes needs Americans care about deeply  like fighting fentanyl trafficking, protecting our national security, and funding FEMA, Bates said.

WHs Andrew Bates on MTGs no gov $$ w/o impeachment inquiry: Last thing the American people deserve is for extreme House members to trigger a government shutdown that hurts our economy, undermines our disaster preparedness, and forces our troops to work without guaranteed pay. https://t.co/0nTOpjhy5wpic.twitter.com/8CCX9vS9EP  Laura Barron-Lopez (@lbarronlopez) September 1, 2023

But McCarthy now seems to be using the prospect of Biden impeachment inquiry to lure far-right members of his caucus to vote to keep the government open past the end of the 2023 fiscal year on Sept. 30, warning that a shutdown could hinder the GOPs ability to investigate the president.

I dont believe well have enough time to pass all the appropriation bills by September 30. So I would actually like to have a short-term [continuing resolution] only to make our arguments stronger, McCarthy told Fox News Maria Bartiromo Sunday.

If we shut down, all the government shuts it down, investigation and everything else, he added.

Biden on Thursday requested that congressional lawmakers approve a continuing resolution while the two sides continue to negotiate on a larger spending bill, according to The Washington Post.

During his Fox News interview, McCarthy described the impeachment inquiry as a natural step forward.

Despite failing to present evidence to back up claims of Bidens alleged wrongdoing, Republicans had already teased opening an inquiry into the president following their return from summer recess. The White House has also reportedly been preparing on how to respond to it.

The prospect of an investigation, though, isnt enough for Greene. She told her constituents at the Floyd County Town Hall Thursday that her vote would also be conditional on eliminating all COVID vaccines and mandates, withdrawing funding for Ukraine as it continues to fight a war against Russia, and ending what she described as Bidens weaponization of government.
The White House condemned the extreme and hardcore fringe of the Republican party after one high-profile, hardcore extremist, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, said she would not vote to fund the government this month without an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden .

Related: Republican senators seek new path to unseating Georgia DA Fani Willis

Without a new spending measure, government funding will run out on 30 September, with federal workers furloughed and agencies shuttered.

In a statement on Thursday night, the White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said: The last thing the American people deserve is for extreme House members to trigger a government shutdown that hurts our economy, undermines our disaster preparedness, and forces our troops to work without guaranteed pay.

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Nodding to the May deal to raise the debt ceiling, Bates said House Republicans already made a promise to the American public about government funding, and it would be a shame for them to break their word and fail the country because they caved to the hardcore fringe of their party.

Greene is a conspiracy theorist and controversialist who has said she is on a list to become running mate to Donald Trump if he is the Republican presidential nominee.

Speaking in Georgia, she said she wanted funding withheld from Jack Smith, the special counsel who has brought 44 of 91 criminal charges against Trump. She also said she wanted to fire David Weiss, the special counsel appointed under the Trump administration investigating Hunter Biden , the presidents son and the nexus of unproven corruption allegations fueling the march to impeachment.

We have to rein in the FBI, Greene told constituents. I will not vote for money to go towards those things.

I will be happy to work with all my colleagues. I will work with the speaker of the House. I will work with everyone. But I will not fund those things.

Other hard-right Republicans have threatened to vote against government funding. Kevin McCarthy, the speaker who has only a five-seat majority, has indicated he will approve an impeachment inquiry when the House comes back this month.

If we shut down, all the government shuts down  investigation and everything else, McCarthy told Fox News last weekend, calling impeachment a natural step forward from current investigations.

Trump was impeached twice by House Democrats, first for seeking political dirt in Ukraine, then for inciting the January 6 attack on Congress. Senate Republicans acquitted him both times.

As defined by the Brookings Institution, a government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to enact the 12 annual appropriation bills [and] federal agencies must cease all non-essential functions until Congress acts.

Two shutdowns occurred under Trump, the first in January 2018, the second a year later, both resulting from fights over immigration. The first was brief but the second lasted 35 days, the longest in US history. The Congressional Budget Office said it cost about $5bn.

Now, the White House wants a stopgap measure. On Thursday, a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said: It is clear that a short-term continuing resolution will be needed next month.

The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said: This is something that Congress can do. They can prevent a government shutdown. They need to prevent a government shutdown.

Also on Thursday, as Florida and other southern states assessed damage caused by Hurricane Idalia, the White House requested an extra $4bn to help pay for relief efforts after a number of climate-related disasters.

Related: I wouldnt give him a nickel: one-time Giuliani donors rule out legal aid

In early August, Biden asked Congress to approve about $40bn in additional spending, including $24bn to support Ukraine in its war with Russia and other international needs and $12bn for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) disaster relief fund.

On Thursday, citing wildfire disasters in Hawaii and Louisiana as well as hurricane-related damage in Florida, an OMB spokesperson said the White House now needed $16bn for disaster relief.

The president has been clear that were going to stand with communities across the nation as they recover from disasters for as long as it takes, and the administration is committed to working with Congress to ensure funding for the [disaster relief fund] is sufficient for recovery needs, the spokesperson said.

In his statement rebuking Greene, Bates, the White House spokesperson, cited the need to fund high-stakes needs Americans care about deeply  like fighting fentanyl trafficking, protecting our national security, and funding Fema.

Reuters contributed reporting
The White House on Friday argued that if Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) moves forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would be to throw red meat to the ring wing of the GOP.

The comments come after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) warned Thursday that she would not vote to fund the government if the House doesnt vote to open the impeachment inquiry. She also put other conditions on her vote, including ending funding for the war in Ukraine and eliminating coronavirus-related mandates.

One of the Houses most powerful members, Marjorie Taylor Greene, just admitted that the House Republican impeachment is only a partisan stunt driven by the most extreme, far-right members, said Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations.

If Speaker McCarthy proceeds to an impeachment simply to throw red meat to the right wing, as a condition for or distraction from far-right GOP efforts to shut down the government, it will prove once and for all this is a baseless, politically motivated exercise not rooted in evidence and not about getting to the truth, he said.

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McCarthy said in an interview with Breitbart News on Friday that any impeachment inquiry would begin through a formal vote on the House floor, and not through a declaration by one person.

McCarthy has been increasingly signaling his intent to launch an impeachment inquiry when the House returns in September.

The White House pointed to comments from other Republican lawmakers saying they dont support moving forward with impeachment, citing Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who has said impeachment is a shiny object, and an anonymous lawmaker who told Fox News that McCarthy was using impeachment to distract from the issues that he has with the appropriations bills.

Sams said the House Republicans have wasted time and millions of taxpayer dollars into investigations into Biden and his familys business dealings, which he called a wild goose chase that is turning up zero evidence to support their outlandish and false allegations.

Instead of doubling down on an even more costly and fruitless political revenge tour, House Republicans should join the President to work on the issues that really matter to Americans lives  and stop this threat of a government shutdown that would hurt our economy, cost people their jobs, and endanger FEMA and disaster response, efforts to combat fentanyl, and military pay, Sams said.

On Thursday night, the White House bashed Greene for her warning that tied funding the government to impeachment, calling her the hardcore fringe of the Republican Party. The White House has been warning House Republicans impeachment inquiry would only backfire on a fractured conference.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Washington has seen "notable progress" in Ukraine's counteroffensive on the southern front line in Zaporizhzhia Oblast over the past 72 hours, the White House said on Sept. 1, Reuters reported.

"And they have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses," U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

According to Reuters, Kirby emphasized that it's up to Kyiv to decide how to take advantage of its success.

"That is not to say that they aren't mindful that they've still got some tough fighting ahead of them as they try to push further south" or that Russia could launch a counterattack, the official said on a conference call.

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Read also: As counteroffensive presses forward in southeast, every meter costs a life

On the same day, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN that Ukrainian forces are "not failing" but "moving forward" in their counteroffensive.

Speaking with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Kuleba advised critics of the pace of Ukraine's summer counteroffensive to consider soldiers who make the push happen.

"How does it feel when you come back from your mission, and you take back your phone, open it, and start reading all the smart people saying how slow you are and that you're not doing well enough?" Kuleba said, as cited by CNN.

Read also: Zaluzhnyi: Counteroffensive underequipped but advances daily

"You just lost two of your buddies. You were almost killed. You crawled one kilometer on your belly, demining the field. You sacrificed yourself, taking the damn Russian trench in a fierce fight. And then you read someone saying, 'Oh guys, you're too slow'?"

"Our partners who are helping us, including the United States, understand that things are moving in the right direction. And they understand that there's no tragedy or no kind of slow down," the foreign minister added. "It's just happening because it's tough. It's a tough fight."

Earlier, the Institute for the Study of War wrote that Ukrainian troops continued counteroffensive operations near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast and western Zaporizhzhia Oblast and had advanced in both sectors of the front.

On Aug. 4, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that the Ukrainian military had penetrated Russia's first line of defense, moving to the "intermediate one" in some areas on the southern front line.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  Following Beijings release of a new map showing its expanded claims in the South China Sea, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday underscored the importance of other nations backing the Philippines in the territorial dispute.

Marcos said global support is a very big help to Manila, as it continues to defend its sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea. He made the statement when asked by the media if the government plans to upscale its strategies in the area.

We have stayed true to the rules-based international law, especially the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), Marcos said after an event in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

That, I think, puts us on very solid ground in terms of our claims for territorial sovereignty, for maritime territory. And this has been validated and supported by many, many countries around the world, and we should take strength in that, he continued.

The president also briefly addressed Chinas new version of its national map, which the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) described as the East Asian powers latest attempt to legitimize [its] purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones.

We received the news that now the nine-dash line has been extended to the 10-dash line, Marcos said. We have to respond to all of these, and we will. But again, these are operational details that I would prefer not to talk about.

DFA Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu on Thursday said Manila has already filed a diplomatic protest over the issue.

Meanwhile, Marcos added that his administration will continue to assert the countrys claims in the contested waters.

Of course, we'll continue to defend our territorial sovereignty, our territorial rights. We have not changed our approach. It is other countries around us that have changed their approach, he said.

During the Thursday media briefing on the president's attendance to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Indonesia next week, Espiritu said Manila will push for a statement on Beijing's behavior in the West Philippine Sea, including the recent incidents on Ayungin Shoal, such as the latter's use of water cannons on Philippine boats.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  A judge Thursday ordered a white man to stand trial and face charges in the shooting of a Black teenager who rang his doorbell after having gone to the wrong address.

Andrew Lester, 84, is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting April 13 in Kansas City. His arraignment is set for Sept. 20.

"In Clay County, justice happens inside the courtroom," Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson told reporters after county Judge Louis Angles sent the case to trial.

Lester, who is free on bail, wore a white shirt under a dark sports coat in court Thursday and showed virtually no emotion during testimony.

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A prosecutor asked the victim, Ralph Yarl, how he was doing when he testified Thursday.

Better than, say, four months ago, said Yarl, who wore a long- sleeve blue shirt and black pants.

Yarl recalled ringing the doorbell without any response for an extended amount of time.

Lester eventually came to the entrance, opened the interior wooden door, showed a gun and said, "Don't come here ever again," Yarl said.

Yarl also testified that at that moment, he took his hand off the exterior glass storm door before he was shot in the head. He fell to the ground and was shot again, this time in the arm, he said.

Prosecutors asked Yarl whether he yanked violently or actually opened the glass storm door, and he said no both times.

Under cross-examination, Yarl said he had touched the mans door  which conflicted with earlier police interviews, in which he said he hadnt.

Its important for the judge, when theyre making a determination on probable cause, to hear the evidence. Part of the evidence was Ralphs testimony," Thompson said. Any time someone has to talk about a traumatic experience, it's not easy. So we respect all those who undergo that decision and make that decision to testify."

After court, defense lawyer Steven Salmon refused to second-guess his client's actions.

"Once again, I think there's a judgment call. You're talking about an 84-year-old man who startled from sleep, and he just went to the door," he told reporters. "I can't substitute my judgment for his. He's an 84-year-old man, and maybe his judgment is different than mine."

The shooting sparked another national conversation about the use of force, by police and others, against Black people.

Several of Yarls relatives were in court to support him, some wearing T-shirts that read, Ringing a doorbell is not a crime.

Yarl was 16 when he went out to pick up his younger brothers from a friend's house.

His mom had asked him to go to an address in Kansas Citys Nashua neighborhood, a little more than 15 miles north of downtown. But he went to a similarly named "street" instead of the right address, which was a terrace," a short distance away.

Yarl said Thursday he didnt have his cellphone that night, having lost it at school several days earlier, the implication being he couldnt have called his mother to confirm the address after he rang the doorbell with no initial response.

Faith Spoonmore, Yarls aunt, praised him for answering questions so calmly under oath.

He did amazing. He did so good, she told reporters. He did a lot better than I would have done, because I was sitting back there throwing punches in the air, and he was there so well-composed, answering those questions like he should have. And he spoke his truth, so Im very proud of Ralph.

Lester, who lives alone, told police he had gone to bed before he heard his doorbell and believed Yarl was trying to break in.

The court also heard a 911 call in which Lester told a dispatcher that a Black man had come to his door: He was at my door trying to get in, and I shot him.

Before Yarl took the stand, three neighbors testified they heard the shots and Yarl banging on their doors, frantically asking for assistance.

Two of the neighbors testified they told Yarl to sit outside while they called for help. The prosecutor asked the neighbors whether they had thought about shooting Yarl, and they said no.

Selina Guevara reported from Kansas City, Halle Lukasiewicz from Chicago and David K. Li from New York City.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Nearly a month after a school bus carrying nearly 30 people crashed on Idaho 55 near Banks, investigators determined the bus veered off the roadway, overcorrected and rolled over.

The Treasure Valley YMCA summer camp bus was one of four heading back to Boise on Aug. 4 from the YMCA Camp at Horsethief Reservoir. The driver, a 64-year-old Caldwell woman, sustained injuries, according to a Friday news release from Idaho State Police. Eight passengers sustained serious injuries, ISP said, but no details were provided.

The driver isnt employed by the YMCA, Idaho YMCA President and CEO David Duro previously told the Idaho Statesman.

This is the first confirmation that no other vehicles were directly involved in the collision. There was another crash involving multiple vehicles that occurred substantially behind the bus after drivers tried to brake where traffic had backed up, Idaho State Police spokesperson Aaron Snell told the Statesman previously, but no one was seriously injured.

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A total of 28 people  which included campers ages 13 to 18 along with camp counselors and the bus driver  were on the bus, according to the news release.

The other three camp buses were not involved in the crash, though one of the buses was behind the bus that crashed causing it to be delayed, Duro previously told the Statesman.

The Boise County Prosecuting Office is expected to review the case now that state police have concluded their investigation, according to the news release.

The crash, which occurred near milepost 84, shut down a portion of the road for nearly four hours.

Nearly two dozen passengers were sent to various Treasure Valley hospitals, including Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and St. Lukes Boise Medical Center, following the crash. Several patients were quickly discharged after they were checked out by medical staff, according to prior Statesman reporting. The remaining patients had been discharged less than a week after the collision.

This was a tragic ending to what was otherwise a great week-long summer camp, Duro previously told the Statesman.
HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla.  Hurricane Idalia ravaged the isolated fishing village of Horseshoe Beach, leaving it a community of contrasts: Dozens of modest homes along the Big Bend coast were heavily damaged in the floodwaters, but interspersed among the debris were residences left relatively unscathed, all because they were built elevated on stilts.

"This home is a survivor," Sparky Abrandt, 78, said Thursday as he surveyed the wrecked landscape from his teal-trimmed house, which remained perched 13 feet off the ground.

But he could see other homeowners were not so fortunate after a 10-foot wall of water roared through the neighborhood.

"To me, it's luck my house is here," said Abrandt, a former New Yorker who moved to the area five years ago. "Right now, I'm happy that the house was saved."

Sparky Abrandt's house on Horseshoe Beach, Fla. after the passage of Hurricane Idalia. (Minyvonne Burke / NBC News)

State officials and home building experts contend it's not so much luck as regularly revised state building codes that allow certain homeowners to dodge total destruction. As the frequency and severity of catastrophic weather events linked to rising global temperatures underscore the urgency, a delicate balance must be struck between building stronger and considering income disparities and the preservation of local culture.

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"You'll have people who argue, 'If you make new codes, I can't afford to upgrade and I can't afford to live here, so just let me put it back the way it was,'" said Craig Fugate, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator during the Obama administration.

"But then maybe you'll have developers coming in, willing to buy distressed properties," said Fugate, who lives in north Florida. "Those people might sell out, and then what becomes of the community? This will be a debate."

It's one that could crop up in places such as the Hawaiian island of Maui, where deadly wildfires last month ripped through the historic seaside town of Lahaina and leveled homes, and in Horseshoe Beach, a community of roughly 170 people that has lured curious visitors as "Florida's Last Frontier."

Idalia, which made landfall early Wednesday about 30 miles north of Horseshoe Beach with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, toppled trees and flooded homes across the Gulf Coast region. At least three people were killed in Florida. It also brought heavy rains and winds to Georgia and other East Coast states before moving out to sea Friday as a post-tropical cyclone.

Debris from homes swept off their lots is scattered amid homes on stilts which survived, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., on Aug. 31, 2023, one day after the passage of Hurricane Idalia. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

But as cleanup continues, builders in Florida surveying the damage said the fact that not every home was wiped out, even in places hit as hard as Horseshoe Beach, is significant.

"No question that the codes work," said Don Brown, a member of the Florida Building Commission and a former legislator from the Panhandle. "They provide both life safety and reduce destruction of property. Having said that, there's always room for improvement."

After Hurricane Andrew clobbered South Florida in 1992, the state moved to tighten its building codes away from a patchwork of local rules and into a universal standard.

The codes are revised every three years, with the eighth edition to go into effect Dec. 31.

Knowledge gained from each hurricane can be incorporated in the next round of changes, and Idalia may offer its own lessons for reinforcing the rules, said Mike Silvers, director of technical services at the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association.

"The code in Florida is pretty stringent," he said. "You don't have to immediately go back and do things because the law changed, but there are triggers within the law that do create things that should be done."

After Hurricane Michael struck the Florida Panhandle in 2018 as a Category 5 storm, Silvers said, he looked at the damage in the Panama City area and noticed how even older homes fared better if they had been reroofed with another layer to protect against water.

The aftermath of Idalia also made it clear that homes elevated on pilings were protected from the storm surge.

"Even from the aerial shots, you can see if you look at a particular road or along a canal, you might see homes that have been beat up and others that have survived very well," Silvers said. "So when you pull the building permits to see why, seldom are we surprised that it's the newer ones built to higher standards that are standing out from the others."

A woman walks amidst debris strewn across the yard where her mother's home had stood, as she searches for anything salvageable in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., after the passage of Hurricane Idalia, on Aug. 30, 2023. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP)

But elevating an already existing home can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, a daunting expense for homeowners with older residences.

"If youve got a home in Cedar Key and it was built in the '50s and it's on the ground, to raise that home is a big deal," Brown said. "And if it's built on a slab foundation, you can't even raise it."

Homeowners may grow complacent if they live in areas not normally prone to major storms or flooding, Brown said, but hurricanes like Idalia, which was the strongest to make landfall in the Big Bend region in more than 125 years, should be a wakeup call.

For those whose homes were destroyed, grants to rebuild may be available through FEMA and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, but depending on where applicants live, they could be faced with upgrades that include adhering to the stricter building codes and insurance requirements.

Fugate said the idea of people in communities like Horseshoe Beach being able to rebuild and maintain their way of life  untouched by strip malls and high-rise developments  is an idyllic prospect.

It happened before, when the "storm of the century," according to the National Weather Service, slammed into the Big Bend region in 1993.

But Idalia may prove to be a turning point.

"Thinking we're going to put it back the way it was and not change it, that's a really optimistic viewpoint," Fugate said. "The challenges are real, especially for those who didn't have insurance."

Sparky Abrandt's house on Horseshoe Beach, Fla. after the passage of Hurricane Idalia. (Minyvonne Burke / NBC News)

Abrandt, whose home happened to be constructed on stilts when he bought it, is counting his blessings. He lost an area below his home that he had remodeled to include an outdoor bar and a television mounted on the wall.

He had hosted gatherings there for his friends and neighbors with drinks flowing and bands playing as the sun dipped below the horizon.

"We don't need all the tourists," Abrandt said, adding, "This is a simple life."

Minyvonne Burke reported from Horseshoe Beach, and Erik Ortiz from New York.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
On Wednesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell froze up during a routine public event in his home state of Kentucky. As a reporter asked the 81-year-old his thoughts on running for reelection in 2026, McConnell stood stock-still, unblinking and seemingly unable to answer, while holding tightly to his lectern. An aide escorted the senator away and he did not return to the event. It was the second time something like this has happened to him in public in the past several weeks.

But the next day, the U.S. Capitol doctor said the senator was cleared to continue with his work as planned. The doctors statement was light on details about what might have happened but stated: Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration.

The statement is perfectly accurate and could still be happening several months later, said Lee Schwamm, a neurologist and stroke specialist at Yale School of Medicine. However, they do not go on to state that they believe medically that this is the cause of his symptoms witnessed on camera, nor do I.

McConnells health has been in the spotlight for a while now. In 2020, his hands and mouth area appeared deeply bruised, but he remained adamant that nothing was wrong and provided no explanation. Then in March 2023, McConnell suffered a fall at a D.C. hotel. He hit his head and fractured a rib, his office confirming he suffered a concussion. The incident sidelined him for six weeks before he was able to return to the Senate. (Its widely speculated this is not the only fall McConnell has had over the past year.)

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Then, in July, McConnell abruptly froze midsentence while answering a reporters question during a weekly news conference. He had to be escorted away but did come back shortly after to finish the presser.

Throughout all of these incidents, McConnells office has remained incredibly tight-lipped about the state of his health. But medical professionals who spoke to Slate speculated on what could be causing the senators behavior and what they thought of the U.S. Capitol doctors explanation for it.

Doctors rarely get the chance to see a patients spells on camera, and, in McConnells case, two of his freeze-up moments were caught on tape. Schwamm observed that McConnells gaze deviated to the right, and he was able to grip his lectern without falling over or losing consciousness but was also unable to speak. Those are really strongly suggestive of a partial seizure.

Especially when considering McConnells first public spell in the Capitol, because he was able to come back a few minutes later to continue on as normal, Schwamm said, theres near complete recovery, [which] also strongly suggests that this is a partial seizure. But McConnells office has not said anything about a seizure, attributing both incidents to lightheadedness.

The videos that Ive seen look like hes having focal seizures, said Peyman Golshani, professor of neurology at University of California Los Angeles. He noted the same characteristics as Schwamm: eyes deviating to one side and speech arrest, then seemingly going back to normal within 20 to 30 seconds. I know people are saying hes just lightheaded. But it doesnt look like that to me, said Golshani.

Because McConnell suffered a concussion earlier this year, Golshani said, its possible hes having post-traumatic seizures following head trauma, especially if theres any kind of bruising on the brain or blood on the surface of the brain. But both Golshani and Schwamm stressed that its impossible to definitively say what may be happening to McConnell and why, since they are not on his treatment team and havent viewed his medical records.

Doctors who spoke to other news outlets also agreed that McConnells behavior was indicative of a seizure and felt attributing it to lightheadedness was flat-out wrong. If I gave that tape to a medical student and that was his explanation, Id fail him, Orrin Devinsky, a neurology professor at New York University, told the New York Times.

Schwamm warned that just because someone experiences a seizure, it doesnt instantly make them unfit for office. Many people, unfortunately, view neurological illnesses as a sign of frailty, said Schwamm. The Senate race with Sen. Fetterman was an example of that where many people felt he was unfit to serve because hed had a stroke. The Pennsylvania senators stroke raised doubts about his ability to do his job, despite his doctors repeatedly saying he is capable of taking on a full workload. He ultimately prevailed, winning one of the most contentious Senate races in the country, and is currently serving in Congress.

As for McConnell, its unclear whether or not hes receiving treatment for his freezing spells. Its quite possible that hes already on medication and its just being adjusted and trying to find that sweet spot of controlling his seizures without impairing his cognitive abilities, Schwamm said.

Schwamms biggest concern was McConnells office potentially minimizing the seriousness of his condition. Its nothing to hide from, and magical thinkinghoping a spell like that just isnt there, its just dehydration, and it will go awaymay prevent some patients from seeking medical attention if they have similar spells, he said.
It was hard to watch that Mitch McConnell video. Thats the second time hes gone blanko in recent weeks in front of the cameras. We have no idea how often its happened when he wasnt in front of the cameras. But odds are pretty good those arent the only two times.



Word is that some senators are considering a meeting to try to figure out what to do about this. There does exist a rump anti-McConnell faction of a sort: Florida GOP Senator Rick Scott, the old Medicare fraudster, mounted a challenge to McConnell last year. It failed badly, but Scott did get 10 votes. One Republican senator told Politico that any attempt to dethrone McConnell will be a rerun of last time.

Im sure thats true today. But I wonder how long it will hold. The reason is pretty simple: The McConnell video is really about Joe Biden .

Why? Age, obviously. McConnell is 81. Biden is 80. Trump and the GOP (and Fox News and One America and Sinclair and so on) are going to be making Bidens age a major issue in the presidential campaign. And I have to say you cant blame them. Polls show that Bidens age is obviously his greatest vulnerability.

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This seems to set up a situation where his fellow Republicans are going to throw McConnell to the wolves. Think about it. If they keep McConnell and defend him and say everythings fine, theyre saying that an octogenarian who is clearly losing his connection to terra firma is just fine, everythings hunky dory, and hes totally up to the job. That is implicitly saying that Biden too is up to the job of president. And that is something they cannot do.

They cant do it for plain political reasons because they would be taking an untenably hypocritical position (not that that ever stops them, but this is a high-profile matter). But its even more than that: They cant do it because it would offend Dear Leader, and that, above all, they cannot do.

Donald Trump wants to talk, and talk, about Bidens age. But he cant do that effectively if his own party is keeping an 81-year-old man in his rigorous job. Especially when that 81-year-old man has had episodes like these last two.

And besides that, Trump hates McConnell, as we know. The aspersions are numerous. Earlier this month at a South Carolina dinner, where Lindsey Graham was once again sitting at the top of Mount Genuflection, Trump said: These guys, what theyre doing with the election interference and the Senate has to step up and do something. The House is doing a lot of things. The Senate, under perhaps the worst leader in the history of the country running the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has to stand up and do something. He also speculated that the Democrats must have something on McConnell. Thats Trumps way of saying that he has something on McConnell, which he wants McConnell to believe, whether its true or not.

McConnell may be safe for now as his colleagues rally around him. But if he has one more episode, thatll be three, and three is (for no particularly good reason, but it is) a magic number when it comes to these sorts of things. People will start asking then, if not before, how the GOP can stand behind McConnell yet call Biden too old. Trump will make his party choose: Its Mitch or me. And theyll throw McConnell to the wolves.

Mind you, Im not suggesting we throw a pity party here. McConnell has set a pretty high bar of Trump capitulation himself over the years. In 2016, he offered Trump high praise right before the election. In 2020, The New Yorkers Jane Mayer wrote a long profile that called McConnell Trumps enabler-in-chief. True, McConnell has criticized Trump here and there, most memorably in that speech after the second impeachment. But rememberthat speech came after McConnell voted to acquit.

That was the key moment right there, the moment that history will remember. McConnell reportedly told an aide at the time, The Democrats will take care of the son of a bitch for us. But this wasnt true and couldnt be true, and he knew it. The Democrats had 50 Senate votes, and 67 are needed to convict. Seven Senate Republicans voted with the Democrats. But McConnell had it in his power to direct 10 more votes toward conviction. He chickened out.

So did Kevin McCarthy, who on January 6 itself was outraged at Trumps actions. But both men pulled back. In their book This Will Not Pass, New York Times reporters Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin wrote: The leaders swift retreat in January 2021 represented a capitulation at a moment of extraordinary political weakness for Mr. Trumpperhaps the last and best chance for mainstream Republicans to reclaim control of their party from a leader who had stoked an insurrection against American democracy itself.

That was the one chance Republicans had to seize their party back from Trump (and just return to the normal, pre-Trump, run-of-the-mill racist dog-whistling, xenophobia, and warmongering). And it was all in McConnells hands, much more than McCarthys. The votes of 10 more Senate GOP heavyweights, including McConnells own vote, might not have sealed Trumps fate; his following would still have been rabid. But a conviction would have emboldened many in the party to speak out against Trump and start to move past him.

McConnell couldnt do it. His stated reasonthat there were constitutional issues raised by convicting a president who was no longer in officewas a thin rationale. He was afraid. He needed to hold on to his power. And now hes held on too long. I dont wish the man ill health. But if Im right, and this ends up being his downfall, all because of a man he once had the power to neutralize but did not, it will be the kind of ignoble end that a man who turned the U.S. Senate into an ideological gutter deserves.
A witness at De'ondre White's murder trial said Friday she knew White had dyed his hair because of a shooting he was involved in that left a bystander dead in downtown Austin in 2021.

Assiah Howard, a friend of White's, said she was on Sixth Street when the shooting happened and later was involved in a group chat about White changing his hair color. She also testified that White fired his gun in self-defense, perhaps saving her life and others.

White, a Killeen resident, is accused of killing 25-year-old Douglas Kantor and injuring 13 others on June 12, 2021. Kantor, 25, was a tourist from New York who was in Austin visiting friends. He was struck by two bullets and died a day later in a hospital.

White's attorneys said during opening statements Tuesday that White fired his gun in self-defense in retaliation against another group of people who had pulled a weapon first.

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More: Witnesses give conflicting testimony on how many guns fired in Sixth Street shooting

DeOndre White talks to his lawyer William Browning during his murder trial Friday. White is charged in the death of 25-year-old Douglas Kantor in a downtown Austin shooting that also injured 13 people on June 12, 2021.

Howard testified Friday that she saw some of the shots fired in the early morning hours on Sixth Street but did not see who fired weapons.

Prosecutor Jean Sullivan asked her why she kept texting White after the shooting to see if he was OK. Howard said she was worried about White but did not think he was involved in the shooting.

Sullivan then told Howard she had talked with prosecutors before the trial about a group chat she was involved in discussing White changing his hair color after the shooting.

"You felt it was understood that this conversation about him changing his hair was as a result of the shooting he had been involved in?" asked Sullivan. "Yes," Howard said.

When defense attorney Russ Hunt cross-examined Howard on Friday, she said White fired his gun to protect himself and his friends, including her.

"If he wouldnt have shot, we would have been shot, and I really wholeheartedly believe that," Howard testified. She said another person, whom she didn't know, had approached her group and flashed a gun right before the shooting.

Douglas Kantor, a tourist from New York, died after being shot on Sixth Street in June 2021.

Howard, who had come to Sixth Street from Killeen with some friends, said the incident began when she was standing on the street and saw someone in her group named Jeremiah Tabb make a motion to some other people passing by. She said she was not friends with Tabb, but that Tabb idolized White and had wanted to come to Sixth Street because White was going to be there.

More: Detectives: Glock casings found at downtown shooting scene, Glock found at White's home

Tabb said something that sounded challenging to some people when he made a motion with his hand toward them, Howard said. She said she didn't hear what Tabb said. The guys that he motioned approached him and one of them, later identified as Tyshawn Degrate, was wearing a ski mask, she told jurors.

Degrate lifted his shirt and put his hand on a gun in his pants, Howard said. "I thought he was going to start shooting because he was reaching for his gun, and I was right behind (Jeremiah Tabb), so I'm gonna get shot too," Howard said.

Judge Brad Urrutia presides Friday over the murder trial of DeOndre White.

She said she didn't see if Degrate ever pulled his gun because she then heard shots and saw three flashes to her left. Howard said she ran from the scene and rode back to Killeen with friends. Most of her friends were mad at Tabb about the shooting because they felt like he had started it by calling Degrate to come to him, she testified.

Tabb has been charged with tampering with physical evidence with intent to impair in connection with trying to alter or sell a firearm used in an aggravated assault, according to an indictment. A witness previously had testified that Tabb was trying to sell White's gun on Instagram.

Tabb initially was charged with aggravated assault in the shooting, but the charge was dropped when evidence showed he never fired a gun he was carrying, police have said.

Degrate previously testified in the trial that Tabb had said something aggressive to one of his friends. Degrate said he threw up his hands, causing his pants to slide down and expose a gun he was carrying in his underwear. He said he then pulled up his pants and tucked his shirt but did not pull out his gun.

Prosecutors say that DeOndre White was the sole shooter in the 2021 incident. A witness testified Friday that she believed he had fired in self-defense.

Degrate was charged with deadly conduct in the shooting, but the charge was dropped after evidence showed he didn't fire it, a police detective has said.

The shooting was the worst mass casualty event Austin had seen in nearly a decade. It happened about 1:25 a.m. in the 400 block of East Sixth Street, which was particularly busy because of the Republic of Texas motorcycle rally.

Police said during the trial that they found eight bullet casings all in the same area. Investigators also said they found a Glock handgun under a mattress where White was staying. Police arrested White on June 24, 2021, after a SWAT standoff at a Killeen house.

White, 20, has been charged with murder, a first-degree felony, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony. He faces up to 99 years on the murder charge and up to 20 years on the assault charge.

Prosecutors have said they had evidence to show that White was the sole shooter and that he fired eight times at a group of people with whom he and his friends had an ongoing dispute.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Witness: De'ondre White dyed hair after fatal Sixth Street shooting
A Bloomington woman faces an intimidation charge after reportedly displaying a handgun at an MCCSC bus stop while children were waiting for their ride to school.

When questioned by police, she admitted owning a gun like the one witnesses desribed, but denied having it with her during the bus stop confrontation.

The incident happened about 7 a.m. Friday, Aug. 25, at the Limestone Crossing bus stop in the 500 block of South Basswood Drive. Police say it resulted from an ongoing verbal dispute between two Tri-North Middle School students that had escalated to threats of physical harm.

Inside the failed launch: On opening day at this Bloomington pizza shop, the whole staff quit

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A police report says one of the girls called her mother at 7:04 am., after boarding the school bus, and said the other girl's stepmother had approached the bus stop and yelled at her.

A Bloomington High School North senior who intervened, asking the woman to calm down, said the 34-year-old then displayed a gun but didn't point it at anyone. Others at the bus stop reported seeing the gun as well.

Downtown: Man arrested after women report he chased them with a knife near IU campus

According to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case, the suspect "pulled out a small, black handgun from her sweatpants pocket, displaying it as she said that if they put their hands on her daughter, they will see what happens. When the bus arrived, she put the gun back into her pocket and left the complex in a white or silver vehicle."

Thursday night, police arrested Taleah Joe Vaught, 34, whose address is in the 500 block of Basswood Drive, on a warrant charging her with felony intimidation. Her bond was set at $5,500.

Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington woman accused of showing gun at MCCSC school bus stop gun
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN)  A woman was reportedly found dead after a house exploded in Williamson County early Friday morning.

Chief Brad Kessler told News 2 the Arrington Fire Department were dispatched at 2:37 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 1 to a report of a home explosion with a risk of exposure to other structures and damaged vehicles in the 5000 block of Wilson Pike following a 911 call from a neighbor.

 Have breaking come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts 

When Arrington crews arrived at the scene, they found a fully-involved structure fire. While battling the blaze and searching the house, Kessler said first responders discovered one occupant who had died.

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According to Kessler, members of Williamson Fire-Rescue and Williamson County Fire/Rescue also responded to the scene, but personnel didnt leave until about 8 a.m.

(Courtesy: Arrington Fire Chief Brad Kessler)

(Courtesy: Arrington Fire Chief Brad Kessler)

No other buildings were damaged in the blaze, Kessler said.

Everything is indicating a leak in the propane tank but it is still early in the investigation, Williamson County Sheriff Dusty Rhoades told News 2 when asked about the cause of the explosion.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

No additional details have been released about this incident.

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 Find todays top stories on WKRN.com for Nashville, TN and all of Middle Tennessee.

This is a developing story. WKRN News 2 will continue to update this article as new information becomes available.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  One grandmother in the Soulsville neighborhood is hoping to turn a badly burned house into a home by rebuilding everything one step at a time  she just needs help.

The resident of the South Memphis home says it may not look like much now, but she hopes one day this will be somewhere her family can call home.

Carol Monagan is living in a home with a 3-year-old grandchild, three other family members and a pet. After a recent fire, the house is missing large portions of its roof, and doesnt have utilities.







Monagan is originally from New York, where she used to do construction. She moved to Memphis four years ago to be closer to her fiances family after being told by doctors she was sick.

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I have mild degenerative arthritis on my spine. I had to have surgery on my knees, said Monagan.

After living with family members for a few years and getting her health better, they tried living on their own but were soon evicted.

Confrontation at restaurant ends in stabbing, arrest

However she did not let that discourage her. She took all she had and says she bought the house last month. Its unclear from county records whether she owns the property.

The house that was under fire a little over a year ago. But I thought maybe, with what checks we get, we can slowly get the house done. But its not working the way I was hoping, said Monagan.

Carol and five other people, including one child and pets, are currently living in this condition, leaning on a neighbor for help and trying to do as much as she can to make this house her dream home.

We do have water. Neighbors do let us have water when we need it. They do try to make sure we have food if we need it. We do make sure the kids eat every night, said Monagan. But Im trying. Im working on the inside to clean it out slowly because I have to sit down to do it so I dont fall.

Records show at least two complaints have been made to the citys 311 system concerning the property since May  one for a derelict structure complaint.

Carol said she has tried reaching out for help from 311 to get the trash, but without a phone and electricity it has been a challenge. On top of that, most of her neighbors have not been welcoming of her plans.

Im constantly getting the cops called on me because they are doing child welfare checks on me. I am getting super tired of it. I dont know what else to do, I am trying to make this house a home, said Monagan.

However, she is not giving up. She believes her dream home is just one paint job and nail hammered away.

The outside of the house would be not brown. The outside the house would be like a teal. The inside, I havent really decided, not white. Im tired of whites. Something Bright, happy colors on the inside, said Monagan. Its a five-bedroom, three-bath house. And we want to make it into a six, or seven bedroom with four bathrooms.

She says she is not sure if it will happen anytime soon, but she will keep doing her best, not only for herself but also for her grandchildren.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  After missing his show-cause order (SCO) hearing, the Land Transportation Office's (LTO) said the possible maximum penalty for the viral ex-policeman who hit and drew a gun on a cyclist in Quezon City is permanent revocation of his license.

The LTO said the driver, Wilfredo Gonzales, "did not appear in the hearing" and instead sent his son to surrender his license for the 90-day preventive suspension issued against him earlier this week.

"The maximum penalty for cases leveled against Gonzales by the agency is permanent revocation of his driver's license," the LTO said Friday.

According to the SCO received by Gonzales, failure to submit a notarized affidavit would mean waiving his right to contradict allegations against him.

"Mr. Gonzales did not submit an affidavit so we take it as a waiver on his part for us to decide on the matter based on the pieces of evidence we have," said LTO-NCR Acting Assistant Regional Director Hanzley Lim.

The order covers a demand from Gonzales to explain why he should not be penalized for his violations under the Republic Act 4136, which include reckless driving, obstruction of traffic, and improper person to operate a motor vehicle.

"With the absence of the notarized affidavit, these cases were already submitted for resolution and whatever the results, they will be submitted to the office of our LTO Chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II, for approval," said Lim.

The LTO chief earlier directed the LTO-NCR to expedite the resolution of the case but without compromising the right of Gonzales to due process.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa said the Senate might issue a subpoena against the former police officer if he would also not attend the upper chamber's inquiry into the incident on Sept. 5.

READ: Senate eyes hearing on QC road rage incident next week

"Ipa-subpoena natin siya, hindi siya magsipot. Kung hindi siya sumipot pa rin sa subpoena, pwede natin siyang ipa-aresto sa seargeant at arms natin," he noted.

[Translation: We will issue a subpoena if he does not show up. If he is still a no-show after the subpoena order, our sergeant at arms can arrest him.]

The Philippine National Police (PNP) earlier confiscated three more guns from Gonzales, who was confirmed to have worked for Supreme Court Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario.

Gonzales was also previously dismissed by the PNP on two different occasions due to grave misconduct.
Worcester Police Chief Steven Sargent addresses a gathering at the Boys and Girls Club of Worcester in July.

WORCESTER - Police Chief Steven M. Sargent announced his retirement Friday, capping 37 years in law enforcement.

He became the head of the Police Department May 12, 2016.

It has been an honor and privilege to serve the City that I grew up in and raised a family in, Sargent said in a statement released by the city at 1 p.m. To the residents of Worcester, I appreciate all of your support over the years and enjoyed working in partnership as we improved public safety and addressed quality of life issues together.

The retirement is effective immediately. In a press release issued later Friday afternoon, the city announced the appointment of Worcester Police Department Deputy Chief Paul B. Saucier as interim police chief, effective immediately.

In this photo from Oct. 2, 2003, Steve Sargent, then a lieutenant, at a suspect search on Pleasant Street.

Sargent, 62, the son of retired Lt. Richard Sargent and father of current officer Steven T. Sargent, assumed the position of chief from Gary J. Gemme, who held the job for 11 years.

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His appointment by City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. in 2016 followed promotions to sergeant in 1995, lieutenant in 1999, captain in 2004 and deputy chief in 2007.

Sargents retirement coincides with a city-commissioned investigation into allegations the chief drove his vehicle aggressively toward the cruiser of an officer in the departments court liaison unit.

As the Telegram & Gazette reported Aug. 18, a separate investigation the city conducted in 2021 found Sargent had engaged in a pattern of inappropriate behavior toward the same officer, Robert Belsito, years ago.

A lawyer for the officer, Timothy M. Burke, alleged in a letter he wrote the city in July that Sargent had been warned that failure to "improve could result in disciplinary action, including termination.

City Manager Eric D. Batista told the T&G Thursday he had been unaware of the 2021 investigation, which happened under prior city manager Augustus until a public records request for it was filed this spring.

Worcester Police Chief Steven M. Sargent speaks during the police academy graduation ceremony at Worcester Technical High School March 10.

Batista said the city is in the process of submitting the investigation to the states new police oversight agency, the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission.

The POST Commission last month released the names of 46 Worcester police officers with sustained misconduct complaints. The chiefs name was not on the list.

Augustus, now the states secretary for housing and living communities, declined an interview request Friday.

Nearly 40-year career with Worcester Police Department

Sargent joined the department in the spring of 1986 after serving as a member of the military police in the U.S. Army and working as a security guard for the T&G.

When he selected Sargent as chief seven years ago, Augustus praised him for his passion for police work, love for his city and understanding of the challenges facing police in the 21st century.

Augustus told the T&G at the time that he was committed to working with Sargent on implementing body cameras. In February of this year, Worcester became the last of the most eight populous cities in New England to implement body cameras.

The department under Sargents tenure has seen success and challenges.

In this photo from May 6, 2013, Steven Sargent, then a deputy police chief, with Police Chief Gary Gemme, center, and funeral home director Peter Stefan outside Graham Putnam and Mahoney Funeral Parlors on Main Street. Stefan had agreed to handle funeral arrangements of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the men who bombed the Boston Marathon.

Worcester ranked as one of nation's safest cities

The city went an entire year in 2017 without a homicide by firearm, and is currently ranked as the eighth-safest city in which to live by U.S. News & World Report.

During calls to defund police departments in 2020, city leaders noted that youth arrests had declined about 45% since 2015, the year a spate of gang violence led to a comprehensive youth violence reduction plan.

In 2021, a Clark University researcher noted that the city had, since 2015, seen a 39% decrease in gun and knife incidents involving young people under the age of 25 and a 45% decrease in the number of young people involved in those incidents.

Sargent explained his policing philosophy to MassLive last year as largely focusing on getting guns and drugs off the streets, with a stress on neighborhoods.

I dont care about big scores. I care about getting it off the street, Sargent, who formerly led the department's gang unit, told the outlet.

Sargent has frequently talked of a proactive policing style that includes intelligence gathering to stop violence, particularly gang violence, from spiraling out of control.

In this photo from Dec. 10, 2018, Police Chief Steven M. Sargent testifies during murder trial of Ralph DeMasi, acused of killing an armored car guard 27 years earlier.

Department has faced allegations, and federal investigation

Such a style, in Worcester and other cities, is often accompanied by allegations of unconstitutional policing.

Sargent and other city officials have largely declined to discuss such allegations in Worcester, which is under a federal civil rights investigation after the Department of Justice in November said it found significant justification to investigate whether (it) engages in a pattern or practice of racially discriminatory and gender-biased policing, and uses excessive force.

The investigation is ongoing. Former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael S. Rollins  who announced the probe before resigning after a scathing report about her own misconduct  praised Sargent for his cooperation in January.

Sargent has been quick to issue statements following egregious police killings around the country, such as the cases of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Tyre Nichols in Memphis, and made headlines in 2020 when he kneeled with protesters following Floyds death.

He received criticism and clashed with the Board of Health in the months after Floyds death when he maintained that he had not seen racism in the department, a statement that appeared to contradict internal department records.

Sargent has led the department through the line-of-duty death of Officer Enmanuel Manny Familia while trying to save three drowning teenagers in 2021, the death of Ignacio "Iggy" Garcia in 2021 as well as the death of the citys diversity officer, Sgt. Derrick Leto, in March.

He has often been publicly visible at events supporting officers, including leading officers in a 400-plus-mile relay run to Washington, D.C., in Familias honor.

Police officials union offers praise

The union that represents police officials, IBPO Local 504, hailed the chief in a statement Friday for his leadership following their deaths, saying he "(ensured) family, friends and police officers had the needed care and resources during these difficult times.

"Chief Sargent was fair, measured, and thoughtful during all dealings with this Union, creating an atmosphere of cooperation and collaboration," it wrote. "He was and is a Cop at heart who defended our Police Department, the Officers, and Officials from the constant and ongoing attacks on our credibility, integrity, and commitment to the citizens of our great city.

The union said it knew of "no other Chief that had to deal with the myriad and complexity of issues" facing the department during their tenure.

"His community and recruiting efforts increased the diversity of our department, reflecting our great city, now having officers who speak eight different languages," it wrote. "He led our department through COVID Response, Protests and the Civil Unrest that followed, always being out front."

"Due to his efforts, Worcester is one of the safest cities in Massachusetts and the nation. We wish him well in this next chapter of his life."

The president of the patrolman's union, Daniel J. Gilbert, did not immediately respond Friday to an emailed offer of comment.

City touts crime reduction, award

In its press release announcing Sargent's departure, the city said Sargent formed a foundation for "community policing" during a three-year assignment at Great Brook Valley early in his career.

He was "instrumental in the creation" of the city's Gang Unit in 1992, the city wrote, and, recognizing the need for youth violence prevention, helped establish numerous athletic programs for kids, as well as outreach programs with the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester.

The city noted that as Chief, Sargent created several new units, including the Neighborhood Response Team, Mounted Patrol and Crisis Intervention Team, and reinstated the K9 Unit and Traffic Division.

The city said crime decreased "significantly" under Sargent, writing that, from 2016 to 2022, "reportable offenses ... declined each consecutive year with a gross reduction of 29%."

The city also touted Sargent's expanded use of ShotSpotter technology, implementation of a drone program, and implementation of body cameras, writing he "embraced new technology to assist with policing strategies."

It further noted that Sargent is the recipient of the Secretary of Defense Freedom Award, "the highest recognition given by the U.S. Government to employers for their support of their employees who serve in the Guard and Reserve."

In a lengthy statement Friday afternoon, Mayor Joseph M. Petty thanked Sargent for his service.

"Through Chief Sargent's diligent efforts, the Worcester Police Department has been rejuvenated with a younger, more educated, and culturally diverse workforce, a transformation that stands as a testament to his guidance," Petty wrote.

"In the contemporary landscape dominated by ceaseless social media engagement and an unceasing 24-hour news cycle, the challenges inherent in his role have been considerable. Chief Sargent has admirably navigated these complexities."

In this photo from June 24, 1999, Steven M. Sargent is shown after his promotion to the rank of lieutenant. He is with his niece Brianna M. Sargent, 6, and, left, his son Steven T. Sargent.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester Police Chief Steve Sargent retires
A workshop for the production of electronics for missiles in Liubertsy near Moscow is on fire after an attack by a Ukrainian drone.

Source: a Ukrainska Pravda source in Ukraine's Ministry of Defence

Details: On the morning of 1 September, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobianin announced on his Telegram channel that Russian air defence had stopped another attempt to fly a drone to Moscow.

"Near Liubertsy, another attempt to fly a drone to Moscow was stopped. There were no casualties or damage. Emergency services are working at the scene. A shout-out to the military for not letting us spoil the Day of Knowledge!", he posted.

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At the same time, the UP source refutes Sobianin's words, noting that the drone had reached its destination and a fire is currently raging in the workshop of the Tomilinsky Electronic Plant in Liubertsy.

Quote: "[It's an] operation of the Defence Intelligence, it's succeeding, there will be more."

      " "...

    pic.twitter.com/ubJYHTSaiG     (@ukrpravda_news) September 1, 2023

Details: Defence Intelligence is currently not officially commenting on these events. At the same time, Andrii Yusov, the representative of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, in a comment to UP, noted that Russian propaganda had issued another lie about the downed drone and confirmed that an explosion indeed took place in Liubertsy on Friday.

Background: Ukrainian military intelligence is conducting a number of activities within the framework of a special operation in occupied Crimea and beyond it.

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Army special operations leaders presented a Special Forces tab and the iconic green beret Friday morning to a man believed to be the last living member of their World War II Office of Strategic Services Operations Group predecessors, known as OGs.

Technician 4th Grade Ellsworth Al Johnson, now 100, was a medic who parachuted into France and China with the OGs. The ceremony took place in Zeeland, Michigan, where Johnson resides today in a nursing home. Army Special Operations Commands deputy commander, Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, and 1st Special Forces Command leader Brig. Gen. Gil Ferguson presented the tab and beret.

He laid the groundwork for what we are today, Roberson said during the ceremony, which the veterans family attended. Everything that he did in 1944  we model ourselves on in our training and the operations that we conduct. [Its our] origin story.

Each OSS OG was roughly 34 soldiers  a four-man command element and two 15-soldier sections that could operate independently. These groups provided a blueprint for future units, according to historical research by Army special operations officials, who noted that todays Special Forces A-teams resemble the WWII-era OG sections.

Then-Pfc. Ellsworth Johnson (top right), a medic assigned to the Office of Strategic Services' Operational Groups, poses for a photo with fellow unit members in an undated 1944 photo taken in Brockhall, Northamptonshire, England during their training. (Courtesy of 1st Special Forces Command)

According to a personal memoir, Johnson was drafted into the Army as a medic. That disappointed him, although he received valuable surgical training, so he volunteered for the OSS to avoid being a bed-pan jockey, he said.

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On Johnsons first mission, his unit, OG Patrick, successfully captured a dam in Central France after jumping behind German lines in August 1944, according to historical reports. They achieved this by linking up with the French Resistance and successfully convincing the dams German garrison to abandon its post.

After his units success in France, Johnson and many of his peers volunteered to jump into China in July 1945 with Chinese paratroopers of the 2nd Chinese Commando that theyd trained. They led an assault on a Japanese garrison that inflicted significant casualties on the enemy but failed to take the town. A medical history report said Johnson successfully stabilized and evacuated wounded troops, including two Americans, while waiting for a doctor to arrive.

After the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Johnson and his fellow OSS troops made their way out of Asia and back to America, where he was discharged from the service. He went on to have a successful career in the cosmetics industry, according to an Army report.
Suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell confirmed the existence of an investigation into the Osceola County Sheriffs Offices handling of several cases, sparked by discrepancies in reports filed after a 2022 shooting that killed a 19-year-old at a Target store parking lot.

In remarks published by The Daily Beast on Monday, Worrell said that her investigation was in its final stages. She said she now fears it will be covered up by her successor Andrew Bain, a former Orange County judge picked to replace her as Orange-Osceola state attorney by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

It was the first time the ousted state attorney mentioned the investigations existence, which her office neither confirmed nor denied when it was first revealed by Mark NeJame, whose law firm is representing Jayden Baezs family along with three survivors who were in Baezs car at the time of the shooting.

A spokesperson for Bain didnt deny Worrells claims about an existing investigation but said his office is reviewing cases that can still be filed. The Sheriffs Offices media team didnt respond to a request seeking comment.

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The State Attorneys Office does not comment on pending or open investigations  that has been a longstanding standard, as well as the standard under the suspended State Attorneys administration, said an unsigned statement to the Orlando Sentinel. Protecting the integrity of ongoing investigations is critical to ensuring justice can be sought in every case.

It has been more than a year since Baez was killed in April 2022, after unmarked vehicles surrounded his car in the parking lot of a Target store in Kissimmee after a report of stolen pizza and Pokemon cards worth about $46.

Though the Florida Department of Law Enforcement turned over its report on the shooting months later, it was unclear why prosecutors had yet to announce a charging decision prior to May 16, when NeJame publicly announced the existence of an investigation into the Sheriffs Office.

State Attorney Monique Worrell and her team have quietly been acting on this, NeJame told reporters at the time. We have learned through our sources and investigation that her office has issued subpoenas to various deputies of the department.

Weeks after Baez was killed, NeJame had sounded the alarm about alleged corruption at the Sheriffs Office, saying in a letter to state and federal officials, The total extent of the protectionism, cover-ups, and favoritism within the department have begun to surface but are still not fully known.

Lawyers for Baezs relatives and use-of-force experts long suspected foul play in the shooting, pointing to reports attributed to different deputies that were signed with the same signature at the same time nine days after the shooting. They also questionedthe sheriffs claimthat the deputies, who werent wearing body cameras, were taking part in a training exercise nearby at the time.

NeJame and legal partner Albert Yonfa publicly denounced the deputies tactics in response to a reported shoplifting, referring to Baez and his companions as guinea pigs of the Sheriffs Office.

Sheriff Marcos Lopez has repeatedly defended the shooting by deputies Scott Koffinas and Ramy Yacoub as justified and said he would not change the agencys tactics.

The lawyers also represent Jean Barreto, who survived being burned alive after Osceola Deputy David Crawford ignited a blaze by using his Taser on Barreto as he lay in a pool of gasoline during an arrest at a Wawa in Orange County. Crawford was later charged with culpable negligence, but Worrell also named that case as part of her investigation into the Sheriffs Office.

From there, she added, there were several other cases being reviewed as part of a corruption probe.

As we were investigating, there was all sorts of illegal activity that started coming up: officers signing each others reports, getting them notarized in someone elses name when they signed them themselves, fraudulent documents, Worrell told the Beast, adding she feared Bain would abandon the investigation.

In a statement the State Attorneys Office sent to the Beast after its story was published, which a spokesperson provided to the Sentinel in response to questions, the agency argued there was no evidence of a cover-up.

NeJame said he has not officially met with Bain about the cases, but hopes the recently appointed state attorney continues Worrells investigation. His legal team filed a lawsuit against Target on behalf of Baezs family in May, while legal complaints against the Sheriffs Office are expected to be filed soon.

I believe that Monique Worrell was being extremely diligent in her investigation into the allegations and I hope that Andrew Bain will carry that baton forward while hes in office and that the hard work of those investigating is maintained with the same degree of commitment, NeJame told the Sentinel. Justice should not be defined by who is in office but must be carried out, regardless of politics.

Worrells concerns come after she was removed by DeSantis, who cited what he and her critics in law enforcement said was negligence in her duties as a prosecutor. DeSantis cited her handling of high-profile shootings, including the deaths of three people in Pine Hills earlier this year, as well as dropped drug trafficking cases among the reasons for her dismissal.

In the weeks leading up to her suspension, Worrell accused the sheriffs in Orange and Osceola counties of conspiring to remove her from office, telling the Beast it was because, I was prosecuting their cops, the ones who used to do things and get away with them.

Both Lopez and Orange County Sheriff John Mina have denied the claims.
New York City will be using drones to monitor large outdoor gatherings over the Labor Day weekend, police said Thursday.

If a caller states theres a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, were going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party, Assistant New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said at a press conference.

The NYPD discussed security measures ahead of the holiday weekend, which includes the citys JOuvert celebrations and the West Indian American Day Carnival in Brooklyn.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) expressed interest in using drone technology in his citys policing during a visit to Israel last week.

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Ive been leaning into how we could appropriately use drones, and they had great technology on using drones for early detection, Adams said, according to the Times of Israel.

The mayor announced new rules for drone usage in the city last month, including a permitting process and guidelines for the takeoff and landing of unpiloted aircraft.

Today, New York City is flying into the future, using drones to make city services faster and safer, and likely saving taxpayer dollars as well, Adams said at the time.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
NEW YORK  After Jeremy Rivera was awarded a cannabis dispensary license in April, he depleted his entire savings account and invested more than $150,000 into opening a shop in Queens.

The opportunity appeared too good to pass up: New York is poised to become one of the largest cannabis markets in the world after the state legalized the drug in 2021. New York City alone is expected to generate nearly a billion dollars in legal cannabis sales by 2027.

And entrepreneurs like Rivera  who has three felony drug convictions  were offered first dibs on the fledgling market. But that seemingly extraordinary opportunity has since turned into a nightmare for Rivera and more than 450 other people awarded dispensary licenses.

Thanks to a lawsuit over the states botched implementation of its cannabis law, the dispensary Rivera poured his life savings into, Terp Bros, is sitting empty  and its impossible to say when it might be able to open.

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I went through more of an emotional roller coaster in these last couple of weeks than I did going in and out of prison, Rivera said on Wednesday afternoon in his empty dispensary. I didnt cut any corners. I didnt miss any commas. Everything was done the way [the state] asked.

New York launched a program last year that reserves the first dispensary licenses for people with a past cannabis conviction or an immediate family member with a past conviction.

The lawsuit thats ground New Yorks fledgling weed market to a halt is just the latest misstep. Thousands of unlicensed dispensaries have proliferated across the state, with an estimated 2,000 in New York City alone. A state program that was supposed to help fledgling weed entrepreneurs find and renovate properties for their dispensaries ran into repeated delays in raising funds and securing locations. And the state has been sued multiple times for allegedly failing to follow the law.

The end result is that fewer than 20 dispensaries are open statewide and cannabis farmers are still sitting on last year's harvest with limited places to sell it.

The lawsuit that has derailed the program was filed in August by four service-disabled veterans over the licensing program that prioritizes entrepreneurs like Rivera. The plaintiffs argued that the program was unconstitutional, and that the 2021 legalization law allowed other social and economic equity groups like themselves to also enjoy a first-mover advantage.

The judge was swayed by those arguments, ordering the state to halt the entire dispensary licensing program.

During a hearing last Friday, however, the judge indicated that he would grant exemptions for about two dozen licensees, including Terp Bros.

But after a flurry of documents filed on both sides of the litigation, the judge decided this week not to grant any exemptions for the time being.

In his decision, New York Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant took the states Office of Cannabis Management to task for fail[ing] to comply with this Courts Order, and giving contradictory and confusing assertions in an affidavit.

Thats left entrepreneurs like Rivera in limbo.

The 36-year-old could be the poster child for the type of individuals New York officials were looking to help when they created the priority licensing program for people impacted by cannabis convictions.

He grew up in low-income communities in Brooklyn and Queens that were disproportionately targeted by drug enforcement efforts for decades. Rivera says he ended up getting into the drug trade out of a desire to make more money than his circumstances could otherwise provide.

When Rivera got out of prison in 2018 after serving two years for a cannabis-related conviction, he vowed to get out of the illicit drug trade.

He found gainful employment in the construction industry, launched his own business and started saving up money to buy his family a home in Long Island.

But he put those plans on hold after receiving one of New Yorks first dispensary licenses, believing it was a potentially transformative economic opportunity.

Rivera and his business partner Alessandro Cottone, who also has a past cannabis conviction, nearly got their business off the ground in a mere four and a half months. After getting awarded a license in April, they found a location in May, signed a lease in June, and built out the space to comply with the states regulations.

Every dollar Ive ever made that I saved legally through working hard, I put in this buildout, Rivera said of his dispensary. I have nothing right now to show for it but an empty floor, empty cases.

They were poised to become the first legal dispensary in their Queens neighborhood of Astoria, and planned to open up shop Aug. 15.



Rivera conservatively estimates that he has lost out on about $225,000 in revenue by not launching sales as originally planned. Hes also been forced to hold off on hiring two dozen employees who have twice been given start dates, only to be told that they will be unable to begin their jobs.

These are people who have families and bills and responsibilities, he said.

As his dispensary sits empty, three unlicensed dispensaries within a two-block radius are doing brisk sales, peddling untaxed, untested weed.

Despite his struggles, Rivera is still optimistic that he will be able to open up soon. He was among OCM's original list of 30 licensees that the agency submitted to the court to be exempt from the injunction.

The [legal] pathway is still open, he said.

But for the rest of the more than 400 licensees, the path forward is even more uncertain.

The agency will have to submit more documentation and make a case for why each licensee should be exempt. Its unclear how long that process will take.

A spokesperson for the OCM declined to comment on the most recent court order.

On Wednesday, a man bounded into Riveras dispensary, asking whether they had pre-rolls.

Were not open yet, Rivera told the would-be customer, who asked when the store would be open.

Soon, Rivera said, unable to offer any more specifics.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Ukrainian defenders shared a video congratulating students as they head back to school today.

Known as the Day of Knowledge in Ukraine, Sept. 1 is traditionally the first day of school for students across the country.

The first of September. Day of Knowledge. The beginning of another academic year in the conditions of a full-scale Russian invasion, Zaluzhnyi said in a Telegram message.

While schoolchildren and teachers are forced to adapt to these realities, the main priority is that Ukrainian children learn and that educators, teachers, and lecturers teach, said Zaluzhnyi.

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Read also: Educational Front. How Ukraine Is Saving Its Future From Dusk

Because knowledge and culture are what distinguish us from the enemy. These are the pillars on which todays front rest and the future of our country will be built, he said.

Ukraines school year lasts from Sept. 1, 2023 to June 28, 2024, said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

Ukraines wartime education process is organized in three formats: face-to-face, distance, and mixed.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
On 1 September, Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented Mriia (Dream), an innovative educational project, to Ukrainian students and their parents and teachers.

Source: The President's Office

Details: The President's Office noted that the aim of the project is to give children their own personal educational space and a unique development algorithm.

The app will help children, parents and teachers navigate the educational process and beyond more effectively.

The app has content for students, a timetable, a daily plan, Mriia ID (digital content for the child), information on the child's school achievements, communication between the teacher and parents, learning resources, air-raid warning notifications, and notifications that will be sent to parents when their child is in a shelter.

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Zelenskyy also noted that almost a million Ukrainian children will be studying online. Nearly a million more, most of them in Ukraine, will be studying in a mixed format. The app will make the learning process easier for everyone.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "Crucially, the Mriia app will finally make teachers' lives easier. We are eliminating as much paperwork as possible. At the moment there are all kinds of forms they need to fill out. Most of a teachers attention should be on teaching, not wasting time."

Details: Developers plan to integrate the entire educational system and kindergartens into the Mriia app and add more help for parents. The project is to be rolled out across other educational institutions in Ukraine.

Background:

Zelenskyy alluded to the new innovation for schoolchildren during his evening video address on 31 August.

Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science have developed recommendations in conjunction with UNICEF for the organisation of learning loss compensation programmes for educational institutions, public organisations, education management bodies and so on.

The academic year 2023/2024 in Kyiv will run from 1 September to 31 May.

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After a meeting with law enforcement officers, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a "fruitful autumn" associated with clearing the state of those trying to weaken it from within.

Source: Zelenskyy's video message

Quote: "There was a meeting with law enforcement officers  they continue cleansing the state of those who are still trying to weaken Ukraine from the inside. Autumn should be fruitful in this matter  especially for Ukraine."

Details: Zelenskyy also reported on the meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Staff on 1 September.

The Supreme Commander-in-Chief heard the Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and other commanders. A separate closed report by Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian Defence Intelligence, was also held.

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The Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief meeting discussed the situation in the east and south of Ukraine, as well as the left bank of Kherson Oblast. Supply of ammunition. Air defence missiles. Equipment. Ukrainian production of weapons.

Quote: "Many different nuances, many different details. The key is to give our soldiers even more necessary things for offensive operations, for demining, for the evacuation of wounded soldiers. Each member of the Staff clearly understands what they must do."

Separately, Zelenskyy added that on 1 September, more than 3,700,000 Ukrainian children started the new school year: "Most of them are in Ukraine. Most of them are in an offline or mixed format, where social interaction between children is still preserved."

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BEDFORD  The Bedford County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution Monday that executes a contract with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development for Verizons Wheats Valley and Big Island Broadband Project.

In March, the county contracted with Verizon to extend broadband fiber to unserved homes in the Wheats Valley and Big Island areas remaining from a 2019 VATI broadband project, county engineer Erik Smedley said.

This project fulfills outstanding VATI [Virginia Telecommunication Initiative] grant obligations from back in 2019 and would allow Bedford County to seek reimbursement for approximately $883,000 in state funds, he said.

Smedley said the grant money was not disbursed four years ago due to these remaining service gaps. The current Verizon project fulfills the original 2019 grant obligations and entitles Bedford County to receive the withheld money, he said.

The county is required to enter into a new contract with VDHCD to process grant reimbursements. The contract includes reporting and administration requirements consistent with Bedford Countys 2022 VATI projects. The total project cost is $2.4 million with $720,358 contributed by Bedford County and the remaining $1.68 million paid for by Verizon, according to county documents.

In August 2022, the county advertised a request for proposals to address service gaps from the 2019 VATI broadband project. Proposals were received in September 2022 and two months later, the board authorized the award of a contract to Verizon for the Wheats Valley and Big Island areas.

The Verizon broadband project is well underway, Smedley said. An update on the work is expected to come before the board of supervisors this fall, he said.

Also Monday, the board voted to approve a resolution that re-advertises a request for proposals to redevelop the former Body Camp Elementary School building. The school, which closed in 2015, was a community anchor for decades and is currently vacant.

The one-story structure with a gymnasium totals 31,142 square feet, according to county documents. The original 16,648-square-foot-building opened in 1953 and included eight classrooms, a library, cafeteria and administrative offices.

Two additions were completed, an additional 6,512 square feet of classroom space in 1965 and a roughly 8,000-square-foot gym and music room in 1992.

In late 2021, the county advertised a Request for Proposal to purchase or lease the former school, proposals were received, and the board agreed to allow one group to perform due diligence on redeveloping the site, according to county documents. During this period, several additional parties have expressed interest in the site  the original group continues to explore its redevelopment plans but is open to a potential partnership or shared use of facilities.

By advertising the RFP again, all interested parties have an opportunity to submit as a proposal and the original group has an opportunity to submit an updated plan, according to the county.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  The rider involved in a recent road rage in Makati City has voluntarily surrendered, the Southern Police District (SPD) announced Friday.

PBGen Roderick Mariano, director of SPD, said in a statement that Angelito Rencio, an alleged member of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), surrendered Thursday evening at the Makati City Police Station.

"Upon awareness of the complaints filed against him, Rencio voluntarily surrendered himself to the SPD," Mariano said. "He sought to shed light on the complaint filed against him and to ensure his safety."

Rencio is currently under the custody of the Makati City Police Station, he added.

In a separate statement, SPD found that Rencio presented fake identification cards (IDs) of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines all under his name.

Additional set of charges were filed against him. Investigator-On-Case (IOC) took him into custody for violating R.A. 493 (An Act to prohibit the use or conferring of military or naval grades or titles by or upon persons not in the service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the Philippine Constabulary, to regulate the wearing, use, manufacture and sale of insignias, decorations and medals, badges, patches and identification cards prescribed for the said Armed Forces or Constabulary, and for other purposes) and Art. 172 of RPC (Falsification of Public Documents).

He also faced complaints on Wednesday for violating R.A 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act), Art. 177 (Usurpation of Authority), and Art. 151 (Resistance and Disobedience to a Person in Authority) of the Revised Penal Code.

The complaints were filed at the Makati City Prosecutor's Office. He was issued a Warrant of Arrest for Qualified Theft.

The road rage happened along Osmena Highway in Brgy. Pio Del Pilar, Makati City on Aug. 25.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) confirmed Wednesday the involvement of Rencio and SSgt. Marsan Dolipas, a police officer from Pasay City.

READ: NCRPO confirms another road rage incident involving cop, alleged AFP intelligence personnel

In a statement on Wednesday, Mariano said the SPD and Makati City Police are already conducting an investigation pending the filing of administrative cases against SSgt. Dolipas.
Liberty University President Dondi Costin said one of the first things he did before he arrived on campus was send a list of about a dozen questions to all of the key leadership.

During that process, Costin learned the most prominent elements to the staff were their love for the university; commitment to the mission, vision and to who Liberty has always been; commitment to training Champions for Christ and looking forward to what comes next.

Ive learned so much about the university, just from reading those materials as well as conversations with them, and so that sort of allowed me to see what were the immediate challenges that we needed to confront, Costin said.

Costin most recently served as president of Charleston Southern University for five years, where he oversaw the construction of several facilities and expansion of academic programs.

Prior to his tenure at Charleston Southern University, Costin received the rank of major general with the U.S. Air Force during 32 years of commissioned service, where he also represented Liberty Baptist Fellowship as an endorsed chaplain.

Costin said his first couple of months will be largely listening to people, getting the lay of the land, figuring out what needs to be improved and whats going well.

Completing the universitys strategic plan is high on his list. Costin said the process will be comprehensive, involving conversations with faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, community leaders and politicians; a task hes looking forward to.

When that comes to a conclusion, itll just be the starting line, because then well know what our marching orders are, he said. That strategic plan will outline for us what the hill is that were going to take and then the presidents job is just to rally the troops to get the job done, and I really cant wait to see what that looks like.

Costin said a successful first year is having a good sense of where we are by the end of the year; and after finalizing the strategic plan, he will have an idea of where the university is striving to go.

I should have a sense of who are our friends, who are our customers, who are those that we need to do a little better job persuading that Liberty University really is everything that we have said that we are; and that we have every intent to be not just the largest Christian university on the planet, but also the most Christ-like, the most God-honoring, the most student-focused Christian university on the planet, he said.

LU announced the Wilmington, North Carolina, native as the universitys sixth president during a news conference in late March.

The Liberty Board of Trustees Chairman Tim Lee, on that Friday afternoon, described it as a historic day in the history of Liberty University.

Costin takes over leadership from former interim president Jerry Prevo, who assumed the role immediately after Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the universitys founder, resigned in August 2020 following a string of personal scandals.

At the March news conference, Prevo said it was an honor and a great joy serving as president.

Costin said he thanked Prevo on a couple of occasions and will continue to do so, explaining the former interim president allowed us to see that Liberty University is about the Lord Jesus Christ, during the schools transition from Jerry Falwell Jr.

He demonstrated that this university was always about God and not a single person, and the university in the last three years has continued to thrive, Costin said.

In terms of Jerry Falwell Jr.s resignation in 2020 along with the schools transition, Costin referred back to getting the news of Jerry Falwell Sr.s death.

Costin told The News & Advance on Tuesday afternoon that his first reaction was, oh, no.

In many peoples minds, I suspect they thought like I thought, Liberty University is Jerry Falwell and I think all of us thought, whats going to happen now? he added.

Costin said Jerry Falwell Sr. wouldve been thrilled to see one son lead the university and the other lead the church, which he explained both entities thrived.

When the events of 2020 happened, I think everybody said, oh, no, whats going to happen, and it just showed again, that all of us are imperfect, we are flawed human beings, Costin said. And the good news is that God is bigger than any one of us.

Costin said his job is to take the baton and run my lap as strongly and faithfully as I can.

I hope they say, man, look what God has done and thats my job. My job is to make God look as big as he really is, and I hope that happens, he added. I hope hes glorified by the things that Liberty University does, and I hope students are blessed as they become successful and genuinely become champions for Christ.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services awarded Bellevue Medical Center a five-star rating in its recently updated Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings for 2023.

The Nebraska Medicine hospital located at 2500 Bellevue Medical Center Drive was one of 483 hospitals nationally with a five-star rating as of July 28, according to a news release. The CMS star ratings are based on performance across five quality categories.

CHI Health Midlands in Papillion didn't receive a star rating. A CMS website says the hospital did not have enough data to calculate a score.

Seven other Nebraska hospitals received five star ratings: Bryan Medical Center (Lincoln), CHI Health Good Samaritan (Kearney), Nebraska Methodist (Omaha), VA Medical Center (Omaha), Faith Regional Health Services (Norfolk), CHI Health Lakeside (Omaha) and Boone County Health Center (Albion).

Nebraska was one of only 13 states with no hospitals earning 1-star ratings, according to a news release from Nebraska Hospital Association.

The NHA and our member hospitals work every day to improve the quality of care and patient safety, said Jeremy Nordquist, the association's president. When Nebraskans visit our hospitals, they deserve the best care possible, and we will continue to strive to make that happen.
The Council Bluffs Police Department is seeking the publics help in locating a 71-year-old man.

The family of Geoffrey Arnold Jennings has been unable to contact him since early August. He was last seen around Lake Manawa.

Jennings family filed a missing person report with area police on Aug. 25. Jennings has a history of health issues.

Jennings is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. He is a white man with black hair and brown eyes.

The most up-to-date photo of Jennings, seen here, is from 2012.

Anyone with information on Jordans current location is asked to call Sgt. Roberts at 712-890-5212.
Dozens of boys are waiting to be paired with a Big Brother to help them navigate the difficulties of growing up.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands recently launched its 60 MENtors in 60 Days recruitment campaign to raise awareness about the urgent need for male mentors, including Black and Latino mentors, according to a news release.

The nonprofit's goal is to recruit more men across the metro area to become Big Brothers to the boys currently waiting to be matched with a mentor.

We carefully make our matches based on numerous factors to ensure each Big and Little have a strong foundation to stand on," BBBSM CEO Nichole Turgeon said in the release. "Our one-to-one matches positively impact our Littles and their families."

About 7 out of 10 youth waiting to be matched are male, according to BBBSM. The mentoring relationship supports social and emotional development so the youth can realize their potential, and BBBSM screens, trains, matches, monitors and supports adult volunteers helping youth ages 7 to 14.

Were not just matchmakers," Turgeon said. "We are your biggest supporters. BBBSM is here every step of the way through ongoing support, training and supervision.

Volunteers are accepted from across the metro area, including Pottawattamie and Mills counties in Iowa as well as Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, Saunders and Washington counties in Nebraska. Mentors agree to meet in the community twice a month for activities they enjoy.

The campaign is seeking to recruit 60 men by Oct. 30. Learn more at mentoromaha.org.
The Office of Consumer Advocate is attempting to bar a former state attorney from representing other people in Summit Carbon Solutions permit process, claiming it is unethical.

That office has for weeks argued that one of its former attorneys, Anna Ryon, should not be allowed to continue acting as an attorney for landowners and elected officials in the proceedings.

Ryon said she left the office in May after new legislation and a new state attorney general rendered the office more of an observer and less of an advocate.

The consumer advocate cites state rules that prohibit such work unless state justice officials give written permission. Those rules are meant to prevent former state attorneys from using information they gleaned during their work with a state office to benefit others who have a stake in the same matter, especially if it will be used against the state office.

Ryon said she is not privy to any consequential, confidential information from her time as a consumer advocate attorney that could be used by her new clients, and she argues that there is no conflict between them and the office, which, as its name indicates, advocates for the public in utility cases such as Summits.

There really shouldnt be a conflict of interest, Ryon told Iowa Capital Dispatch. The OCA, because it represents the public generally, does not represent any individual.

Summit seeks to build a pipeline in five states to transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to North Dakota for underground sequestration. Its more than 680 miles of proposed pipe in Iowa would be mostly in the western and northern parts of the state.

The companys final evidentiary hearing with the Iowa Utilities Board started last week and is expected to continue for weeks or months. It resumes on Tuesday in Fort Dodge.

State reorganization

Ryon had actively participated in Summits permit process with the IUB while she worked as a consumer advocate. She was a longtime attorney with the Office of Consumer Advocate until May, when she quit.

Her departure coincided with an upheaval in state government after lawmakers approved a massive reorganization of state agencies. As part of that change, the attorney general gained more authority over the OCA and can now replace its attorneys without a justifiable reason.

This year, Attorney General Brenna Bird started her first term after defeating her longtime predecessor Tom Miller in the November election. Miller is a Democrat, and Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, advocated last year for the election of Bird, also a Republican.

I want my own (attorney general), please, Reynolds said in May 2022.

The subsequent governmental reorganization affected the OCA because it subjects the office to political persuasions and whims, Ryon said. Its incredibly important when a small agency like the OCA goes up against large corporations that have money and influence in the state government, the OCA really needs to be able to be independent.

Reynolds also appointed a new chairperson this year of the utilities board, after which the board decided to start Summits hearing two months earlier than it had indicated under its previous leadership.

Ryon first sought to represent former Congressman Steve King for Summits permit process. King has become a vocal opponent of using eminent domain to obtain land easements to build the pipeline system. About a quarter of Summits route in Iowa is subject to eminent domain requests with the IUB.

However, the IUB denied Kings request to participate as an intervenor because he is not directly affected by the process. Intervenors have broader opportunities to participate than the general public  such as presenting witnesses and cross-examining during the hearing.

Ryons primary client now is Kerry Hirth, the daughter of an affected landowner who is participating as an intervenor. Hirth had attempted to testify in her fathers stead last week but was denied because of that status  intervenors are set to testify toward the end of the hearing.

Hirth had earlier sought to delay the start of the hearing over concerns that landowners were confused about how to they could participate and that several might have withdrawn their intervention requests.

Ryon has also represented a group of Republican state lawmakers intermittently, along with two landowners last week on a temporary basis during their testimonies. She is not charging for the work because her previous employment with the OCA prohibits it under state rules.

No decision yet

The IUB has not made an official ruling on whether Ryon can participate.

OCA repeated its objection to her presence at the hearing last week, but the board allowed her to remain and didnt explain why.

That led Consumer Advocate Lanny Zieman on Friday to renew a motion to prohibit Ryon from making motions or other filings in Summits IUB docket and to disqualify her from participating at the hearing.

Anna Ryon represented the Office of Consumer Advocate in this very case, participating in strategy meetings with OCA personnel and working directly with OCAs expert witness, Zieman said. Ms. Ryon voluntarily terminated her employment at OCA and began representing other parties in this case, violating her professional duties related to conflicts of interest.

Zieman has declined to give written permission to Ryon to represent clients in the Summit case.

Ryon said she faces a pending investigation by the state Attorney Disciplinary Board, which has the power to punish her for misconduct. She does not know who might have filed a complaint against her, but that she received notice of the investigation about two weeks ago.

I think I have a good reason for not complying with the rule, and I think that any dispute about it belongs in front of the disciplinary board, she said.

The attorney generals office did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

Close Lainey DeVries, from Montgomery County, shows off a white steer during the Iowa State Fair show. Miller Concessions, Inc. was awarded the Best of Show for their mini doughnut stand at the Iowa State Fair. Some fairgoers took a birds eye view of the State Fair, riding the gondola-style Sky Glider. Crowds gather at Iowa State Fair Lainey DeVries, from Montgomery County, shows off a white steer during the Iowa State Fair show. Miller Concessions, Inc. was awarded the Best of Show for their mini doughnut stand at the Iowa State Fair. Some fairgoers took a birds eye view of the State Fair, riding the gondola-style Sky Glider.
There is something in asylum law called the material support to terrorist bar, which essentially states that if you have given significant assistance to a terrorist organization, you cannot obtain refuge in the United States.
The citizen survey for the City of Norfolks parks and recreation master plan is now available to the public. The city is collaborating with PROS Consulting on the project, and the survey will help determine priorities for the citys park system.
Ground was broken Thursday at Northeast Community Colleges extended campus in South Sioux City for a commercial drivers license (CDL) truck driving training facility and an adjacent truck driving range, along with an addition to the colleges existing industrial training building to increase capacity of the welding program. Shown are (from left) Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly, South Sioux City Mayor Rod Koch, Pat Wojcik of South Sioux City, Lee Will, budget director for the State of Nebraska; Gov. Jim Pillen, Northeast president Leah Barrett and Brian Kumm, district supervisor for Norfolk Iron & Metal.
(CNN)  The military junta in Niger has canceled the visa of the French ambassador and instructed police to expel him, after ordering the diplomat last week to leave the country.

In the letter shared by local media on Thursday and attributed to the Nigerien Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the junta said, The diplomatic cards and the visas of the concerned person and the members of his family are canceled. The police services have been instructed therefore to proceed with his expulsion.

The decision taken on August 25 regarding the ambassadors accreditation is irrevocable, the junta added in the letter.

French envoy Sylvain Itte was told to leave by the junta for refusing to attend a meeting scheduled with Nigers foreign minister, including other actions by the French government that are against Nigers interest, the Nigerien foreign ministry said last week.

The junta also warned on Thursday that the ambassador no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic personnel of the Embassy.

A spokesperson for the French presidency told journalists Thursday that the ambassador remains in place despite the juntas demands.

CNN reached out to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment, who reiterated their statement from August 25 stressing that the putschists do not have the authority to make this demand.

The ambassadors accreditation comes solely from the legitimately elected authorities in Niger, the statement added.

France does not recognize Nigers military authorities and insists that deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, who was toppled in a coup last month remains the countrys only legitimate authority.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Itte will not leave Niger, despite the expiration of the juntas deadline for his departure.

Up to 1,500 French soldiers are stationed in Niger, which has been a major partner of the French in the Sahel region.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Niger junta order police to expel French ambassador"
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Climate change that is already disproportionately affecting war-torn countries threatens to exacerbate conflict in fragile nations across the globe, but most of all in Africa, and lead to increased deaths, according to a new report published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

While climate shocks alone may not trigger new unrest, the Washington-based global lender said, they significantly worsen conflict, compounding fragility such as hunger, poverty, and displacement. By 2060, conflict deaths could increase by between 8.5% and 14% as a share of the population in so-called fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS), the report warns. 39 countries that are home to nearly one billion people and 43% of the worlds poor are classified as FCS by the World Bank, with more than half of these nations, which are disproportionately affected by climate change, are in Africa.

Fragile  owing to their location and dependence on agriculture  and conflict-affected countries, which are already being unevenly hit by the effects of climate change, are less able than other countries to mitigate those impacts, says the report.

One prime example of an FCS is Iraq, a nation that has suffered decades of conflict and weak governance and thus has only very limited options to alleviate droughts and high temperatures. The situation is only expected to get worse and temperatures continue to rise, the Washington-based IMF warns.

The majority of the FCS states are in Africa but these are some of the countries least responsible for man-made climate change, with European countries, North America and China being the largest carbon emitters. Over 50 million more people in these countries could be driven into hunger over the next 30 years due to lower food production combined with higher prices, the report says. In a separate blog, the IMF also appealed to leaders who will gather next week in Kenya for the first African Climate Summit to come up with solutions for vulnerable nations.
The depreciation of all domestic currencies in the East African region over the past year has not led  in a defiance of conventional economic theory and expectations of regional economists  to the improvement in trade balances, putting more pressure on foreign exchange rates.

The depreciation of a countrys currency is supposed to make its exports cheaper and thus more competitive in foreign markets, and in turn narrow its trade deficit  not so in the East African case. All East African economies are running on an export-led strategy, says Ugandan economist Bernard Musekese, which is to export as much as possible so that revenues from exports can offset the import bill. But the relentless devaluation of all domestic currencies at different rates has defied expectations, as the trade deficit in nearly all the countries has continued to widen  signaling increased importation or a drop in exports.

In both Tanzania and Uganda, for example, although their national currencies have depreciated  by 0.5% and 5% respectively  both countries have seen a rise in their trade deficit  by whooping 50% and 12% respectively. It is only in Kenya and Burundi, where the international trade balances have adjusted to reflect the change in currency value over the last year, but it is also their currencies that have depreciated the most in that period  by 19% and 13% respectively.

However, economists point out that the falling value of East African currencies, in itself, may not be sufficient to deliver a meaningful improvement in the countries trade balances. As Musekese argues, the demand for imports, which is curbed by the depreciating value of the currencies, should be complemented by the deliberate efforts by the governments towards export promotion to reduce the trade deficit.
The U.S. administration has underscored its strong support for the principled stand taken by ECOWAS in defense of democracy and constitutional order in Niger.

Washington voiced its firm stand in a telephone conversation U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Molly Phee had Thursday with Algerian Foreign Minister Attaf as the ruling junta started maneuvering against ECOWAS military action in Niger by proposing a six-month transition as a solution to the crisis rocking this African country.

Phees talks with Attaf come only few days after the Algerian foreign minister was summoned to Washington by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to explain his presidents remarks made in Moscow against U.S. dollar and the West.

According to a State Department press release, Mr. Attaf and Assistant Secretary Phee affirmed their respect for the African Unions rejection of unconstitutional changes of government and shared their expectation that the Nigerien military should immediately release President Bazoum, his family, and those members of his government unjustly detained.

They also discussed the important role that democracy and development play in contributing to stability and security in the Sahel.

West African army chiefs from the regional ECOWAS bloc met in Ghana last week to discuss military intervention in Niger after members of its presidential guard seized power last month and established a junta.

Algeria has repeatedly said it was against military intervention as ECOWAS says it has chosen an undisclosed D-Day for a possible military intervention to restore Nigers democratically elected president following the coup.

Abdel-Fatau Musah, the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace & Security of the ECOWAS bloc, said that military forces are ready to go anytime the order is given for military intervention in Niger.

Last week, ECOWAS ordered the activation of a regional standby force to prepare itself to enter Niger, which was taken over by a military junta on July 26.
As many as eight candidates including two former Presidents have demanded Madagascars top court to reject the candidacy of incumbent leader Andry Rajoelina for November elections in connection to his dual citizenship.

Marc Ravalomanana, Hery Rajaonarimampianina, Andry Raobelina, Auguste Paraina, Hajo Andrianainarivelo, Tahina Razafinjoelina, Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko and Masy Goulamaly, Madagascar Tribune reports, signed Wednesday August 30 a declaration for Rajoelinas bid to be nullified, arguing that it is against the Constitution.

In June 2023, Rajoelina who is seeking another term in office, faced a storm of criticism after it emerged that he also owns French citizenship.

His critics and the opposition questioned his integrity in claiming Madagascars ownership of Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean, still controlled by former colonial power, France.

In July, he defended himself arguing that he acquired the French nationality in the interest of his children and doubled down that he will always defend the African country.

Dual nationality should not be a sin, Rajoelina had said in an interview to state-run television.

I was no longer in power at the time, and I accepted this step in the interests of my children, who were to pursue university studies in France. What parent wouldnt do anything for their children? he had added.

The leaders of the nationalist movement during the struggle against colonization, such as Jean Ralaimongo, Raseta and Ravoahangy, all had French nationality, but this did not prevent them from fighting and dying for the nation, Rajoelina had stressed.

The 49-year old leader brushed aside expectations to see him abandoning the French nationality as he seeks another term in office.

8 centimeters of paper in my pocket in no way diminishes my love for my country. Im a patriot and Im ready to die for Madagascar, he had concluded.

The Indian Ocean African country will hold presidential elections on November 09.
The National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), a junta in power in Niger, has prohibited activities of international organizations, including the UN agencies in military zones, reports say.

Due to the current security situation and the ongoing implementation of the tasks set by the armed forces of Niger, the Ministry of Internal Affairs informs international organizations, national and international NGOs and UN agencies present in Niger that their activities and movements in the areas of [military] operations are temporarily suspended, the Nigerien Ministry of the Interior said in a statement on Thursday August 31.

The CNSP, in power since July 26 after toppling west-backed elected President Mohamed Bazoum, is gearing up against a possible military intervention by the regional organization ECOWAS in view of restoring Bazoum, should diplomatic efforts fail.

The CNSP last week authorized troops from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso to intercede on their side in the event of aggression. The government of Burkina Faso Wednesday August 30 heeded the call and green-lighted plans to send military troops. The West African country did not provide details on the size of troops to be sent.
Moroccans mourned two of their nationals who have been killed by the Algerian coastal guard after having mistakenly trespassed into Algerias waters.

The killing took place on Tuesday after a group of five Moroccan tourists, including three who also had French nationality, lost their way off Saidia resort and ended in Algerian waters where they have been ruthlessly killed.

Speaking to different Moroccan media outlets, Mohamed Qissi a brother of one of the victims said the Algerian coastal guard knew they were unarmed civilians on Jet skis but they nonetheless shot at them without warning.

Another dead tourist was still in Algeria where authorities have also arrested a man who was with the group.

French foreign ministry also confirmed the death of a binational and the arrest of another in Algiers.

Spokesman for the Moroccan government did not offer details when asked by journalists saying this is a case for the judiciary.

Actually, the Oujda public prosecutors office initiated, on August 29, an investigation on the fatal incident at sea. The Public Prosecutors Office directed the Royal Gendarmerie in Oujda to collect information on the incidents circumstances.

On social media, Moroccans expressed anger at the lethal intervention by Algerian guard against unarmed tourists.

Algeria has taken hostile stands in recent years after decades of backing militarily and diplomatically the polisario separatists.

It unilaterally cut ties, the flow of gas through a pipeline and banned all Moroccan flights over its skies.
The strategic military partnership binding Morocco and the USA and the Roadmap for Defense Cooperation signed by the two countries were at the focus of a meeting that gathered Friday in Rabat Abdeltif Loudyi, Minister Delegate in charge of the National Defense Administration, and a visiting delegation of U.S. Congressmen.

In compliance with royal instructions, Abdeltif Loudyi received a delegation of U.S. Congressmen at the headquarters of the Administration on Friday, in the presence of representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, a statement by the National Defense Administration said.

The congressmen emphasized the strong and productive friendship and cooperation between the United States and Morocco. This relationship is further strengthened by a strategic military partnership, reinforced by important legal agreements such as the Roadmap for Defense Cooperation signed in October 2020 during the visit of the U.S. Secretary of Defense to Morocco, the statement said.

The congressmen highlighted the strengthening of military cooperation through the Defense Consultative Committee and exchanges of visits by senior officials from both countries. They also commended the Kingdoms vital role in promoting peace and stability in Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East under the leadership of King Mohammed VI.

For his part, Loudyi mentioned the tripartite declaration signed in December 2020 between Morocco, the United States, and Israel before King Mohammed VI and recalled the United States decision to recognize the Kingdoms full sovereignty over the Sahara.

The minister welcomed the decisions of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for cooperation with the Kingdom. They reiterated the importance of bilateral military cooperation through the exchange of experience and expertise. In this regard, the African Lion multilateral military exercise regularly strengthens the interoperability of forces.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at their cooperative partnership and shared interest in exploring new opportunities for collaboration. Specifically, they expressed interest in working together on cyber defense, space, and defense industry initiatives, the statement said.
(CNN)  Ambassadors from Russia and Belarus have been invited back to the Nobel Prize banquet after being excluded last year because of the invasion of Ukraine, the Nobel Foundation said.

Iran has also been invited to the December event in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, after being left out last year.

The foundation said it wanted to involve even those who do not share the values of the Nobel Prize.

It is clear that the world is increasingly divided into spheres, where dialogue between those with differing views is being reduced, said Vidar Helgesen, executive director of the Nobel Foundation, in a statement Thursday.

To counter this tendency, we are now broadening our invitations to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free, peaceful societies, Helgesen said.

Russians and Belarusians have been excluded from countless events since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has been heavily assisted by Minsk, in February 2022.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been banned from competing in numerous sporting events, and diplomats are regularly excluded from summits.

But the foundation said its decision was made to prevent further polarisation.

The achievements recognised by the Nobel Prize require openness, exchange and dialogue between people and nations. The Nobel Foundation would like to reach out with this message to everyone, it said in a statement.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he had not expected the foundation to invite Russia to this years event.

The Nobel Foundation naturally decides themselves who they want to invite. But I, like many others, reacted with great surprise that Russia was invited, Kristersson said in a statement sent to CNN on Friday.

I would not have done it if I was issuing invites to an award ceremony and I understand that it upsets many people in both Sweden and Ukraine, he added.

A Swedish member of the European Parliament called the decision extremely inappropriate.

The Nobel Committee contributes to set a precedent, a very dangerous precedent, giving a green light to invite Russia to a glamorous party while the missiles fall over Ukrainian cultural centers and murder children, Swedish Liberal MEP Karin Karlsbro told Swedish national radio.

Karlsbro questioned why the foundation invited three rogue states that suppress their citizens, wage war and terror both in their own and neighboring countries, and in no way subscribe to democratic values.

Its an incredibly naive view, and it undermines the cohesion we need throughout society globally, in Europe, to support Ukraine to win this war and stop Putin, she said.

The Nobel Foundation also reversed its longstanding policy of excluding the leader of the Sweden Democrats, a far-right party which forms a part of the countrys coalition government.

However, despite being invited for the first time, Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson snubbed the invitation.

Sorry, Im busy that day, he wrote on Facebook.

The Nobel Banquet takes place annually in Stockholm on December 10, where five out of six Nobel Prizes are awarded. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway.
UPDATED, Sept. 2, 2023, 2:20 pm: Corrects railroad involved in East Palestine derailment, other minor editing.

***

The story of organized labor in North Platte certainly isnt limited to the unionized people of Bailey Yard.

But like so much else in this 157-year-old Union Pacific town, it has long centered on railroaders.

Twelve units of national craft unions, each representing one or more categories of railroad jobs, account for most of todays 2,000-some North Platte-area union members under the umbrella of the AFL-CIOs Midwest Nebraska Central Labor Council.

Theyve found new unity over five years of dramatic change on the largest U.S. railroad and a national near-strike last fall, five of their leaders said.

When waves of layoffs rolled through Bailey Yard in 2019, survivors attitude was well, at least we didnt get hit, said U.P. conductor Jeff Cooley, president of the 5,000-member council and Local 200 of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers transportation division (SMART-TD).

Now, its like we all take it as theyre going after all of us.

An injury to one is an injury to all, said Mike Gage, labor council secretary-treasurer and chairman of Local 1920 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Origins of a movement

North Plattes rail labor story begins with the transcontinental railroads 1866 arrival and the workers who built U.P.s division point roundhouse and shops after the track gangs moved on.

A Sept. 3, 1874, item in the North Platte Western Nebraskian said Division 88 of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (now the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen) has been removed from Grand Island to North Platte.

Elkhorn Lodge No. 28 of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was first noted in the Western Nebraskian of Dec. 22, 1875. Ira L. Bare, 35-year Semi-Weekly Tribune editor, listed both locals among the first lodges in North Platte in his 1920 two-volume history of Lincoln County.

The citys union movement remained strong for more than a century. The North Platte Central Labor Council, predecessor to the Midwest Nebraska council, organized in 1970 to advance common labor issues in the area.

But enthusiasm gradually ebbed over the decades after a three-day national rail strike in July 1992.

By 2020, the labor councils membership had plummeted. Nebraska State AFL-CIO leaders were getting ready to disband it at the request of the local members, Gage said.

Cooley was elected labor council president that year. After he was elected SMART-TD local president in 2019, he had called old friend and state AFL-CIO chief Sue Martin.

I said, Sue, I am now local president of 200. What do you want me to do?

Veteran organizer

Cooley isnt a lifelong railroader. He joined Union Pacific at Bailey Yard in 2006 from Lincoln, where he joined Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in 1986 and finished his college degree in business administration and industrial management in 1990.

He brought a passion for union organizing west with him. While at Goodyear, Cooley belonged to the United Rubber Workers and then the United Steelworkers. When the latter struck Goodyear in 1997 and 2006, he was a strike captain at the Lincoln plant.

Cooley pulled back from leadership after his daughter, Jessica, was killed in a 2005 car wreck. I just wanted to dedicate everything to my family.

Then came Union Pacifics Unified Plan 2020 and the precision scheduled railroading it entailed.

PSR, adopted by U.P. in 2018 after other major railroads did so, emphasizes longer trains needing fewer locomotives  and workers to maintain them  to improve profits.

Hundreds of engines and thousands of rail cars were idled across U.P.s 23-state system. Several rounds of furloughs and layoffs cut some 200 jobs at Bailey and greatly increased strains on remaining workers.

When they were chipping away with the furloughs at the crafts, they would hit one, six months would go by, another craft would get hit and another craft would get hit, Cooley said.

He had lost his grit for union politics after his daughters death. But when PSR came along, I knew the union membership was not ready for the labor war that was arriving.

Learning to talk together

COVID-19s 2020 arrival delayed progress in building cooperation between crafts that the union leaders agreed was lacking.

The chairmen would deal with each other and reach out about issues, but there wasnt any organization about it, said Amanda Snide, SMART-TD local chair and assistant state legislative director.

Gage agreed, saying the crafts would bicker back and forth rather than seek common ground.

I kept sitting in locomotives, and all these people were bitching, Cooley added. And I finally said, You know, actions the only way to do anything.

The tide turned in 2022, as COVID-slowed talks on the next nationwide rail union contracts reached an impasse.

Class I railroads, which had cut typical train crews from five to two people since the 1980s, sought to reduce them to one by having conductors drive from central locations to deal with train or track problems.

Conductors and engineers complained that PSR keeps them on call 24 hours a day with too little time to rest between trips. Railroaders across the crafts were aroused over a general lack of sick leave and railroad policies that disciplined them if they took time off to see doctors.

As President Joe Biden appointed an emergency board in July 2022 to recommend a national rail settlement, Cooley and leaders of other Bailey Yard locals were coming together at last.

National SMART-TD leaders had asked delegates from other crafts at the national AFL-CIO convention to help them push to keep two-person crews.

When the convention agreed, I think it carried a better message than just us carrying it, Cooley said.

Gage built bridges on the two-person crew issue with other local crafts, added Travis Kuenning, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Local 388 chair, state BLET legislative representative and Central Labor Council co-legislative chair with Snide.

BLET members were unanimous that we felt that there was definitely a benefit for labor for us to join in, he said.

The workings of PSR itself aided their unity movement, the group added. As layoffs struck craft after craft, remaining employees were having to take on jobs done by other crafts.

Railroaders typically would bristle at that, Gage said. The engineers might have said, Well, that mechanical guy is too lazy to do this.

But under PSRs demands, we were meeting regularly to discuss these issues, Cooley added.

We had mass texts, Zoom meetings, Gage said. Now, if our (electrical) folks are doing something the engineers dont like, they let us know.

Setbacks and success

The presidential boards package, including substantial pay raises, won tentative agreement from most national crafts. But conductors, engineers and signalmen werent satisfied on sick leave, scheduling and two-person crews.

Federal law allowed the unions to strike Sept. 16 without an industry-wide master deal. For the first time in 30 years, Bailey Yard workers  even those whose national crafts favored the deal  prepared to post picket lines.

When I had my meetings, I asked them if they had ever been on strike, Cooley said at the time. I may have had one hand out of 200.

With less than 24 hours before the deadline, national negotiators reached a tentative deal. The railroads had taken one-person crews off the table. But they still hadnt agreed to sick leave.

Eight national crafts ratified the accord. SMART-TD, BLET and two others did not. As a new Dec. 9 strike deadline loomed, pressure grew on Biden and Congress to impose the presidential boards terms by law.

Bailey Yard union leaders reached a decision: Theyd lobby Congress for a separate bill guaranteeing seven days sick leave. Many calls were placed to Capitol Hill delegations nationwide.

The House of Representatives voted both to impose the national deal and mandate sick leave. But the latter bill went nowhere in the Senate, and Biden Dec. 2 signed the bill imposing the national agreement.

Baileys union leaders were bitterly disappointed  but time would prove their push for sick leave had an effect.

Though the imposed deal runs through 2024, railroads returned to the bargaining table on sick leave. It was the negative perception from the public that they didnt like, Kuenning said.

In Nebraska, state Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte introduced a bill to keep two-person crews on trains in Nebraska.

A rail disaster also intervened. On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, spewing hazardous materials and forcing mass evacuations. Norfolk Southern adopted PSR around the time U.P. did.

Union Pacific and SMART-TD agreed March 24 to maintain two-person crews on tracks from Omaha to the Pacific Northwest. Meanwhile, U.P. and other railroads were gradually reaching sick-leave deals with their crafts.

The last was SMART-TD, which concluded a deal with Union Pacific July 6 providing five sick days and the right to convert three vacation days into sick leave at any time without denial. Talks on scheduled rest issues would continue, a U.P. press release said.

Fresh worries

Rail unions cant rest on their laurels, the North Platte group said. The Central Labor Councils rail caucus has adopted a regulated safety production resolution calling on crafts to follow each and every safety rule that governs their specific tasks or operation.

Theyll also push for adoption of Jacobsons two-person crew bill, another Unicameral bill requiring Nebraska railroads to report blocked-crossing data and a federal safety bill introduced after the Ohio derailment.

Nobody wants another East Palestine, said Brad Halligan, chairman of International Association of Machinists Local 180.

Local railroaders were dismayed July 26 when Union Pacific hired Jim Vena, who had implemented PSR as chief operating officer in 2019 and 2020, to succeed CEO Lance Fritz.

Eleven North Platte employees were among 94 across U.P.s system to be furloughed Aug. 23. The next day, the five labor leaders met with a Telegraph reporter for a prescheduled interview.

They said their unions responded to the latest job cuts in a way they cant remember seeing before.

We had these furloughs in mechanical, including IBEW members, Gage said. And next thing you know, were getting phone calls from Amanda saying, Hey, we want to place your furloughed people in jobs under SMART-TD.

Union members have the right to transfer between crafts, they said, but that kind of outreach wouldnt have happened five years ago.

I think yesterday was pretty damn cool, Snide said.
UPDATED, Sept. 8, 2023, 1:20 pm: Corrects length of period in which North Platte's school tax rate fell.

***

Few people attended and no one offered public comments during Thursdays public hearing on North Platte Public Schools proposed 2023-24 budget.

Executive Director of Finance Stuart Simpson spent the hour-long hearing answering school board members questions about various aspects of the $80.33 million budget for all funds.

The board will decide at its next regular meeting Sept. 11 whether to approve the budget, which would raise the school districts property tax request by 9.7% but slightly cut its tax rate for the fifth straight year.

Approval of the budget as presented Thursday would require a tax rate of $1.084 per $100 of taxable value, down from $1.088 per $100 for the fiscal year that ended Thursday.

The districts total 2023 taxable value leapt just over 10%, making the small tax-rate cut possible. But Simpson said a 6.8% loss in North Plattes state school aid helped make a $2.8 million increase in the tax request necessary.

A net loss of 65 students for the 2022-23 school year reduced the districts needs in the state-aid formula, he said. So did the previous years 5.4% valuation increase, which the formula takes as showing that the district can raise more funds from property taxes.

Simpson elaborated further on the third factor in North Plattes net $708,352 cut in state aid: the lack of updated information on how many students fall under the federal poverty level.

That information comes from the information parents routinely fill out if their children qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, he said. But parents didnt have to do that for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the government funded free meals for every student.

Parents seeking free or reduced-price lunches now must fill out the forms again. But the information gap meant the Nebraska Department of Education couldnt get fresh federal poverty figures, Simpson told the board.

They got us that information now, but they did it after we had to certify state aid, he said. Any extra money North Platte would have gotten would be added to 2024-25 state aid.

Board member Skip Altig asked Simpson whether the district can expect to get a projected $1.9 million boost in special education reimbursements  meant in part to make up for any regular state-aid losses  that was part of the 2023 Legislatures major aid overhaul.

At this time, I assume so, Simpson replied. But he wont know whether that will prove true until those funds start arriving in December, he added.

Emily Garrick, one of two first-year board members, asked Simpson to go through the one-fifth of the districts $61.15 million general fund that doesnt go to salaries and benefits.

Its probably not a secret in this room that Im not necessarily in favor of a large budget increase, she said. Fifteen to 20% of a large budget is still $10 million of other stuff.

Simpson pointed out that local governments have to give themselves spending authority for any money they might need to spend during the year, even if it isnt likely theyll use it.

The districts utility costs are expected to go up 13%, largely due to sharply higher natural gas costs, Simpson said. Health insurance premiums will be 7.5% higher, he added.

North Plattes proposed school budget would rise 6.3% for all funds if the board approves it Sept. 11.
Old Mitch has another bad moment. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

After a second on-camera episode in which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell seemed unable to answer questions or even speak, its obviously time to contemplate the approaching end of the 81-year-old Kentuckians long reign as his partys leader in the upper chamber and consider what will happen next.

You dont have to get all maudlin about McConnells supposed representation of bygone Senate traditions (I personally think hes an amoral pursuer of power for its own sake) to marvel at his longevity at the helm of his party conference. When McConnell became leader in 2007, the party of Ronald Reagan was still in place; it had not yet been shaken by the tea-party movement or shattered by Donald Trumps triumph over a Republican Establishment of which McConnell was an integral part. Republicans of that era were still fiercely defending George W. Bushs forever wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and (by and large) supporting amnesty for many millions of undocumented immigrants.

McConnell not only survived the MAGA revolution but negotiated an uneasy peace with Donald Trump, successfully convincing the mercurial president to give his kind of Republicans the tax-cut legislation they valued above all things. And most remarkably, McConnell managed two successful wins for Trump in impeachment trials, even as his own relationship with the 45th president deteriorated into chronic exchanges of insults.

Now McConnells hold on the Senate GOP is the fulcrum on which a divided government depends for its rare but essential legislative viability. Hes the often silent partner with the White House and Senate Democrats in figuring out how to cut deals with or overcome a House Republican conference in the firm grip of MAGA fanatics.

If McConnells health forces him from his position, will that change?

Lets say McConnell gives up the gig in the current Congress. He would be succeeded as minority leader by one of the three Johns: Cornyn, Thune, or Barrasso. All of them have been loyal McConnell allies who have had to make their own peace with the MAGA majority of the Republican Party at large. All of them understand their conferences role in keeping the federal government open and the Senate itself functioning. And presumably, all of them are capable of keeping the money machine McConnell helped build for Republican Senate candidates humming through another election cycle (one in which Republicans expect to win back the majority they lost in 2021).

But its unclear that any likely McConnell successor will have the influence and authority to keep Senate Republicans together if the 2024 presidential election devolves into another contested result surrounded by threats of violence. And if Donald Trump does return to the White House, its even more unlikely that anyone other than the McConnell himself can resist or even temper Trumps destructive plans for a second term. After all, in that scenario, the old Republican Party would be as dead as McConnells own career, and its surviving elements will have surely surrendered to the inevitable demands of a radical populist agenda. Perhaps MAGA-adjacent rebel senators like Rick Scott, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and J.D. Vance will move to formally take over the hollow shell of leadership left by McConnells retirement, or perhaps the Johns and their allies will simply do as they are told with even less complaining than McConnell offered.

Its possible, of course, that even as McConnell shuffles off into the sunset, Trump will be thoroughly humiliated by voters, making another effort to overturn the results impractical, or even incarcerated by jurors and judges. In that case, the GOP will face an entirely uncertain future, with its congressional wing at sea as much as its frustrated base.

The one thing we know for sure is that the Republican Party that lifted Mitch McConnell to power is gone for good, and with it, more likely than not, the prospect of any Senate leader who can square so many circles and embody so many contradictions as this self-described heir to the great Kentucky schemer Henry Clay. In his absence, the odds are high that the Senate GOP will become as fractious and irresponsible as its counterparts in the House. And no matter who holds the balance of power, thats not good for democracy and stable governance. McConnell may be an inveterate scoundrel, but hes been the scoundrel who helped make Washington minimally functional.
Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

In November 2021, top Biden-administration officials gathered in the residence of the White House as the House was about to finally vote on the Build Back Better legislation that had been their objective since taking office. The only person missing was Vice-President Kamala Harris, who had already left the White House for the day. Eventually, a staffer caught wind of the gathering and she had to leave home and go back to work.

This revelation is one of many in Franklin Foers new book, The Last Politician: Inside Joe Bidens White House and the Struggle for Americas Future, which is the result of two years of reporting inside the Biden administration. It is the deepest dive so far into a White House that has been far more guarded with the press and averse to leaks than past administrations. The book, which has been eagerly anticipated by officials in Washington, comes out on Tuesday.

The new book depicts Harris as having rabbit ears  acutely sensitive to any hint of criticism and instantly aware of the slightest bit of discontent. The result, Foer reports, is that Harris lets the criticism guide her and thus fails to rack up meaningful achievements.

Foer, an author and staff writer at The Atlantic, describes an administration where Harris is a comparatively minor player and seemingly manages to always put the wrong foot forward despite her best efforts. In one meeting with Republican senators intended to entice them to support bipartisan infrastructure legislation, she ended up chiding Roger Wicker of Mississippi about the state of the economy under Donald Trump, leading to Cabinet secretaries wanting to alternately pump their fists and cover their eyes. In another Oval Office meeting, this time with Joe Manchin shortly after Harris did a television interview with a West Virginia station that Manchin interpreted as a power play, she seemingly snubbed Manchin, not offering a handshake or acknowledgment as she left the room so the West Virginia senator could meet privately with Biden.

Harriss lack of achievements was not the result of her not having the capacity for the job, according to the book. Foer takes pains to note that her contributions to meetings were often incisive, and she asked questions about equity that tended to be neglected. Instead, it was a result of a personality that prized preparation for every possible aspect of an issue, as she constantly read books and her briefing materials while pressing those assigned to brief her. As Foer put it, in her disciplined desire to prepare, she would become undisciplined about her own calendar.

She also is characterized as having a deep insecurity about her historic place as the first Black woman to serve in her position, which helps drive her relentless preparation. Harris initially insisted that she did not want her portfolio to include womens issues or anything to do with race. At the same time, she wanted her staff to be majority female and her office run by a Black female chief of staff. The result was that Bidens thenchief of staff Ron Klein concluded the vice-president was making life excessively difficult for herself. Since then, Harris has gone on to become a top surrogate for the Biden administration both on voting rights and abortion rights in the aftermath of the 2022 Dobbs decision.

There is also a sense, throughout the book, of Harris being a neglected figure in the administration. Unelected Biden aides like Klain, Mike Donilon, and Steve Ricchetti are depicted as far more central to the White Houses functioning than the vice-president. She is a minor character who has little role in the administrations domestic and foreign policy. The one moment that she intrudes on the latter is when she speaks at the Munich Security Conference in 2022 on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in what Foer describes as Biden giving her a public vote of confidence. There, Harris followed in the footsteps of other administration officials attempting to convince Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelenskyy to seriously prepare for Russias upcoming onslaught.

Harriss minimized role is a sharp departure for modern vice-presidents, whose office was infamously described by Franklin Roosevelts first vice-president, John Nance Garner, as not worth a bucket of warm piss. It only became a more powerful position in the past few decades  no vice-president even had a West Wing office until Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter.

Although Dick Cheney was infamously considered the power behind the throne in the George W. Bush administration, other modern vice-presidents too have had important roles. For all of the tensions between Biden and Barack Obama, it would be difficult to write a history of the first two years of the Obama administration without mentioning Bidens influence as a key congressional negotiator and behind-the-scenes figure. And even though Donald Trump ended his presidency by egging on a mob that chanted Hang Mike Pence, it would be hard to chronicle his administration without mentioning Pences influence in trying to manage the volatile Trump.

Thats not the case in this administration, according to Foer. Then again, Biden did promise to return American politics to normal, and that may not just have meant ending a pandemic and being restrained on social media. Perhaps it also meant restoring the vice-presidency to its more traditional, less critical role in the U.S. government.
This feels like the kid who sat at the adult table at Thanksgiving for the first year and has decided to tell his peers at the kids table how to properly set their plate.

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So he is open to just going overseas if the strikes don't end. That just feels like crossing the line to me IDK, even if he's not subject to it  wait, is he in the WGA? LOL. He remains overrated.

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He's so overrated it's not even funny. He was awarded way to early and now will never challenge himself again tbh.

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It's made him too self-indulgent.

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Chazelle said he understood the anxiety around AI -- which many fear could lead to computer-generated actors and scripts replacing humans -- but he said some of the fears may be overblown.











He's clearly not good at making predictions - actor Diego Calva received some advice from the films director, Damien Chazelle. Go travel the world. Walk in your town with no problem. Your life is really about to change. I know you love movies, but sometimes I feel guilty because I am literally going to make it so you wont be able to walk down the street,



Edited at 2023-09-01 03:32 am (UTC) He's clearly not good at making predictions - actor Diego Calva received some advice from the films director, Damien Chazelle. Go travel the world. Walk in your town with no problem. Your life is really about to change. I know you love movies, but sometimes I feel guilty because I am literally going to make it so you wont be able to walk down the street,

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Omg yes I totally get this! As a person from Diego Calvas hometown not a day goes by that Im not like screaming and running after him on the main street

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I feel bad for Diego. Damien set him up. Like why would you ever say something like that?

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I can never remember the original director who said this to his then-unknown actor, but unlike Damien's it actually came true. The movie blew up and the actor became super famous.

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negl every time I read his name, I even read this title and immediately filled in "Damien Chazelle hopes people will finally be able to recognize Diego Calva if he walks down the street after the strikes" like I'm sure Diego is a talented, lovely person, but Chazelle stuck a target on him

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I probably wouldn't have said "overblown" but I don't think he's totally off either because this part:

"It's important that we know exactly what we're going to do with AI. It's hard to predict at the moment," he said.



"I don't think it will really change the art of cinema. People have some apocalyptic ideas about it. I agree it's a major technological change like the internet or radio, and it will overturn a lot of things, but the art will survive."



I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood later incorporates AI (and other emerging tech) in some way~ later but obviously under in a more controlled way instead of straight up replacing actuals creatives.

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I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood later incorporates AI (and other emerging tech) in some way~ later but obviously under in a more controlled way instead of straight up replacing actuals creatives.



This is more than likely going to happen, but only if the it is hard set in the demands now. Studios have proven they will abuse a loophole at any small chance it gets. This does remind me of the discourse around CGI and it replacing real sets, but there's a balance of the two in most good movies.

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Yeah obvs the hard demands need to set in place which part of the reason for the strikes among other things.



In general it just reminds me of the old guards fear of change. Obvs not the same thing but I was thinking of the argument about film vs digital while reading his quote.

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i mean, what they proposed about taking the likeness of extras and using them in perpetuity means that we have a pretty idea how far the studios are willing to go

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Fear about AI is overblown considering it has been used for a couple of decades in all facets of our lives, but what the actors and workers are striking about is not hyperbole; it is a very real threat of their livlinhoods and their future. So this guy can stfu because La La Land was fucking trash.

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oh def sounds like hes part of the DGA that pushed to immediately accept a deal rather than trying to get better and standing in solidarity with the other unions

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lol mte i was about to say the dga jumped out 

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I was thinking in another post that Michael Mann probably voted to strike re how he was talking about the strikes.

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This plagiarist bitch needs to give his Oscar to Barry Jenkins. I can't believe he won for a piss poor copy of a Demy musical. He had more sincerity in his baby toe than this bitch does in his entire body.









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Other than Whiplash, his movies have such a book report quality. References don't automatically make a movie good

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Prominent Directors Guild of America member Linda Montanti openly advocated against the election of 10 writer-directors to the guilds board earlier this month, including Boots Riley, Justine Bateman, and Craig Mazin. https://t.co/zIVWeUT9qF  Variety (@Variety) August 31, 2023 This came out about the DGA today.

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DGA is a bunch of rats

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"a prominent Directors Guild of America member openly advocated against the election of 10 writer-directors to the guilds board earlier this month on the grounds that they were primarily writers and hailed from fringe groups."



I have no idea why directors are so clique-y. The Director's branch at the Oscars is tiny af too  like its legit the smallest branch. This shit is as petty as Spielberg and his anti-streaming tirade. Wouldn't be surprised if it was Spielberg, tbh.







Edited at 2023-09-01 06:22 am (UTC)

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She's just an Assistant Director, how did she get so prominent?

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some of the worst people ive met on sets were assistant directors (and second a.ds), which is saying something lol.



completely self important and dehumanizing to any crew they see as below them while phenomenal at being two-faced and sucking up to the real directors / suits / big name talent etc. it doesnt shock me to see one with a cushy gig in the dga, their sycophancy is usually top notch lol

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I don't know whether I should laugh or be outraged that the majority of her list includes women, and that her main target is a Black man. Marginalized creators have often talked about how being a multi-hyphenate is the only way they can get work as a director, because Hollywood is so insular and hostile. But this is some classic eating your own for a seat at the table.

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If production companies can make content by not paying for actors, writers, costume designers, etc then they will.

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For me personally it would be Damien Chazelle never making another movie again



Edited at 2023-09-01 04:03 am (UTC)

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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but do the foreign markets have such an attachment to jazz that he could continue putting soapboax monologues about jazz in all his movies?

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Truly awe-inspiring case study of a director whose projects became exponentially more terrible with each release (when I think of the phenomenal waste of talent in The Eddy)...I shudder to think what will come after Babylon.



Edited at 2023-09-01 05:15 am (UTC)

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Is this strike likely to push working actors out of the business? I feel like surely a lot of actors are struggling right now because of no income right but I havent seen any narrative around this yet or posts on social media.

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A lot of those same struggling actors already have other jobs. It's probably the actors who were barely full time actors that are feeling it the worst, unless they have gotten side gigs.

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Remember when people were creaming themselves over this dude?

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A white man does the bare minimum and panties drop

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I don't even remember his face and some people creamed themselves over him?

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Elon Musk blames elite LA school for brainwashing communist trans daughter into hating him for being rich https://t.co/kesWL2xHE5 pic.twitter.com/8AYxfdzQpV  New York Post (@nypost) August 31, 2023

believes his 'communist' transgender daughter was brainwashed by, a school that she attended and that has A-List alumni like Jack Black and others, into believing that anyone who was rich was evil. He states that they infected her with the 'woke mind virus' and that his daugher's transition was also part of the reason why he bought Twitter, so that he could stomp out 'wokeness'.He also says that he was "generally sanguine" with his daughter's decision to transition until she "became a fervent Marxist and broke off all relations with him." He also goes on to say: "She went beyond socialism to being a full communist and thinking that anyone rich is evil."He says the rift between them hurts more than when his firstborn child, Nevada, died. And that he's also made numerous attempts to reconnect with his daughter, but that she wants nothing to do with him.In regards to Twitter, the fascist says it had become infected with a similar mindset that suppressed the voices of right wing and anti-establishment people.
Saudi crude oil exports plummeted in August to the lowest in two and a half years as the Kingdom continued to slash production by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) to keep markets tight and push oil prices higher.

Shipments out of the worlds top crude exporter fell in August to the lowest levels since March 2021to around 5.6 million bpd, with exports to China and the U.S. slumping to multiyear lows, preliminary data compiled by Bloomberg showed on Friday.

The export volume estimated in August compares with crude oil exports of some 6.3 million bpd in July.

According to the shipments observed by Bloomberg, Saudi crude oil exports to China fell to the lowest since June 2020, those to Japan and South Korea fell to the lowest level since Bloomberg began monitoring them in 2017, and Saudi exports to the United States were the lowest in at least six years at just 81,000 bpd.

Since July, Saudi Arabia has been cutting an additional 1 million bpd off its oil production, on top of its share in the cuts by several major OPEC+ members including top Middle Eastern exporters.

The Saudi cut means that the Kingdom is now pumping around 9 million bpd and will continue to do so until at least the end of September.

The Saudi cuts have tightened the market and started to draw down inventories, analysts say, with many expecting the Saudis to announce next week another extension of the cuts into October.

OPEC+ cuts, and in particular additional voluntary cuts from Saudi Arabia, mean that the market is drawing down inventories, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy at ING, said on Thursday.

We expect this trend will continue until the end of the year, which suggests that oil prices still have room to move higher from current levels.

As of Friday morning ET, Brent prices were up at $87.70 and WTI Crude had risen to $84.50 as oil prices were on track for a weekly gain.

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By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The coup in Niger has now spread to Gabon, with military leaders on Wednesday overthrowing the long-time president (the Bongo family, which has ruled since the 60s) and placing him under house arrest. Gabon is a mineral-rich country and a member of OPEC (though the smallest), producing around 200,000 bpd. The countrys oil production is not likely to be negatively impacted unless external forces attempt to intervene or unless the coup loses strength and the situation descends into civil war. For the time being, the oil is safe.

The opposition to the Bongo family and its elite circle has been mounting since before 2016 when Ali Bongo Ondimba only narrowly won elections. It fomented further over the following years, with a failed coup attempt in 2019. Patience has run out for a family that has run Gabon like a clan kingdom, with too many left out of the oil and mineral riches.

Gabons oil export revenue was $6 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

However, despite cries of endemic corruption and a circle of wealth around the elite Bongo family, the military officers who launched the coup have now announced that the countrys transitional junta leader is General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, who happens to be a cousin of President Bongos.

That the Bongo family has fleeced Gabon of its natural resources wealth is no secret and the subject of international investigations. However, it is fair to
Europes inventories for middle distillates and heavier products have dropped sharply leading to refining margins skyrocketing with diesel now at $125 per barrel thanks to Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ maintaining their strict production cuts. A cross-section of analysts has predicted that Saudi Arabia is likely to extend its voluntary 1 million-barrel oil supply cut for the third consecutive month into October amid uncertainty about supplies, five Wall Street analysts have predicted. The initial cuts appear to have worked, with oil prices climbing about 15% in the past month to mid-80s level.

OPEC+ production has declined by 2.7 m b/d from Sep-2022 to Aug-2023 with the lions share having come since February this year. Global demand, on the other hand, has increased by 2.4 m b/d from Q3-2022 to Q3-2023 although the deficit has been partially offset by a 1.4 m b/d increase in supply by OECD producers, mostly U.S. shale oil (light sweet crude). Last month, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast that total U.S. output will hit 12.61M bbl/day in the current year, eclipsing the previous record of 12.32M bbl/day set in 2019's and easily beating last year's 11.89M bbl/day. U.S. crude oil output is up 9% Y/Y blunting OPECs efforts to keep supplies low in a bid to goose prices. There is little doubt the U.S. Shale Patch is largely responsible for keeping oil markets well supplied and oil prices low: Rystad Energy has estimated that whereas OPEC and its allies have announced cuts amounting to ~6% of 2022's production, non-OPEC supply has made up for two-thirds of those cuts, with the U.S. accounting for half of that.

Still, record shale output by U.S. producers has done little to ease tightness in medium sour crude and diesel products, sending refinery margins skyrocketing. Although the current price of diesel in Europe is considerably lower than last years $180/b peak, its on par with the price of diesel from 2011 to 2014 when Brent crude averaged $110/b, meaning refiners are enjoying a field day. Indeed, the diesel refining premium in ARA is near $40/b while the premium for jet fuel has jumped to $45/b. Refineries usually make a profit on diesel, jet and gasoline but lose money on bunker oil leaving them with total refining margin ~$5/b before factoring in operating and capital cost, meaning net margins are sometimes in negative territory. The unusually high margins are encouraging them to buy large volumes of crude to turn it into the needed products. Its the reason why demand for medium sour crudes is so high since they have rich contents of middle distillates. Throw in cuts by Saudi Arabia and even Russia, and the situation is not looking good for the consumer.

Extremely Volatile Gas Markets

Europes gas markets are the polar opposite of oil markets thanks to the continent being flush with the commodity. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data, EU inventories were 107.66 billion cubic meters (bcm) on 27 August, a mere 8.7 bcm below the GIE estimate of full capacity. However, the pace of increase in EU inventories has slowed quite dramatically, with spare capacity becoming limited in some areas. Inventory build for the past week clocked in at just 1.4 bcm, or 58.3% of the five-year average, thanks in large part to strong cooling demand and relatively poor wind power availability. Inventories are now 92.5% full, with most countries already above the EUs 90% target fill-rate well ahead of the 1 November deadline. Indeed, of the 10 EU countries with the largest natural gas storage capacity, only France (at 88.4%) is below the target though, of course, it still has ample time to meet and exceed it.

Meanwhile,European gas prices have continued to be driven by developments in labor disputes in Australian LNG facilities, with strike action avoided in half the affected capacity but moving ahead in the other half, transating to potential disruptions of 5% of global LNG flows.

Last week, front-month Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) natural gas prices fluctuated wildly in the EUR 28.985-44.8 per megawatt hour (MWh) range, before settling 5.8% lower w/w at EUR 38.414/MWh on 28 August. Still, Europes gas markets remain extremely volatile, with the 30-

day realized annualized measure rising 14.6ppt w/w to 145.2% on 28 August, just 2.2ppt below a 16-month high according to commodity analysis by Standard Chartered.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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China has issued a larger-than-expected fuel export quota in the third batch of allocations this year as authorities look to incentivize refiners to sustain economic growth and sell more product abroad at a time when Chinas 2023 fuel demand may have peaked.

Chinese refiners and traders are now allowed to export a total of 12 million tons of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel in the third batch of quotas, industry consultants JLC and OilChem told Bloomberg.

Adding export allowances for marine fuel, the total product export quota rises to 15 million tons, trading sources and consultancies told Reuters on Friday.

Chinese state oil giants Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC, and Sinochem Group, as well as China Aviation Oil Co, Zhejiang Petrochemical Co, and Norinco, were allocated quotas to export fuels, consultants at Longzhong and JLC told Reuters. The state-held majors were given 91.6% of the quota across all products including marine fuel, per Reuters estimates.

The latest batch of export quotas for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel brings the total 2023 quota volumes above the allowances awarded in 2022, according to Bloombergs estimates.

In May, China issued 9 million tons of export quotas for refined products, mostly to state-held giant refiners, cutting the allocations in the second batch this year compared to nearly 19 million tons worth of quotas in the first batch granted in early 2023. The reduction of the quotas in the batch in May compared to the first batch in January was widely expected, amid rising domestic demand and weakening margins outside China, a Reuters survey of state refiners and consultancies showed in April.

With a higher third batch of quotas issued this week, China signals it looks to support refinery operations and sales overseas amid a faltering economic recovery domestically that weighs on fuel demand and economic growth.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Crude oil production from the OPEC alliance actually climbed in August by 40,000 bpd, according to a new survey published by Bloomberg on Friday.

Saudi Arabias output may have fallen in August by 170,000 bpd, according to the survey, but Nigeria and Irans production increased, largely offsetting Saudi Arabias cuts.

Overall, the group produced 27.82 million barrels per day in August, the survey said.

Analysts largely expect Saudi Arabia to extend its 1 million bpd supply cut into October, even though crude oil prices rose to 2023 highs on Friday, with WTI reaching $85 per barrel. Saudi Arabias extra cut began in July.

Saudi Arabia produced 8.98 million bpd in August, according to the survey, while Iran boosted production to more than 3 million bpd, and Nigerias reached 1.34 million bpdan increase of 80,000 bpd according to Bloombergs survey data, which is based on ship-tracking data, information from officials, and estimates from firms like Kpler and Rystad.

Russia said earlier this week that it had reached another deal with OPEC regarding crude oil supply volumes, promising to provide details of the deal next week.

Earlier this week, a Reuters survey had estimated that OPECs total production rose in August by 220,000 bpd over July figuresthe first rise since February. According to that survey, OPECs production reached 27.56 million bpd in August. Production for the 10 members that are part of the supply cut agreements fell by 10,000 bpd in August, the Reuters survey said.

The OPEC+ group is set to hold a meeting on October 4, although a full ministerial meeting isnt scheduled until late in November.

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The production increase for August comes as a group of 37 economists raised their 2023 oil price forecasts for the first time in four months on the notion that the OPEC+ cuts would offset weak economic growth in China.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Trans Mountain Corporation (TMC) warned this week in a filing to the Canada Energy Regulator that the oil pipeline expansion project could be delayed by several months and incur additional costs if the regulator doesnt approve a last-minute change in a small section of the route.

The company has asked the regulator to approve a change from its approved route on a 1.3-kilometer (0.8 mile) section south of Kamloops, British Columbia, Reuters reports. The current construction method of micro-tunneling through the section is not technically or economically feasible, Trans Mountain has said. If a route change is not approved, the project could face months of delays and hundreds of millions of dollars of cost overruns, it added.

The Trans Mountain Expansion project has been dragging on for years and faces environmental opposition and rising construction costs.

Initially, the pipeline expansion was set to help Canada export its heavy crude oil to Asia via tankers from the Canadian West Coast. But as the expansion project took years to clear permitting, financial, and construction hurdles, the global crude oil flows changed with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Fierce opposition in British Columbia has forced Kinder Morgan to reconsider its commitment to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline, which would increase the daily capacity of the pipeline to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 300,000 bpd. So the Government of Canada reached an agreement with Kinder Morgan back in 2018 to buy the Trans Mountain Expansion Project and related pipeline and terminal assets.

Construction on the Trans Mountain Expansion Project was 94% mechanically complete with around 42 kilometers of pipe left to install as of the middle of August 2023, the company said in its Q2 results release earlier this week.

We are currently planning and targeting the commencement of service on the expanded pipeline system near the end of the first quarter of 2024, Trans Mountain said.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Omaha police suspect homicide in the death of a 43-year-old man whose body was found outside a west Omaha apartment complex.

Officers were called at 3:08 a.m. Thursday to the Bel Apartments, 12107 Arbor St., to respond to a report of a person down. The officers found Juan Carlos Tobar-Abarca deceased, police said.

Police are investigating the death as a homicide. Police spokespeople declined to release any further details Thursday morning.

On Thursday afternoon, two vans with the Douglas County Forensics Division and an Omaha police vehicle could be seen parked on the west side of the building. Investigators were going into and out of the building.

Police asked that anyone with information contact the Omaha Police Department homicide unit at 402-444-5656, or anonymously contact Omaha Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP or www.omahacrimestoppers.org.

Omaha has now had 17 homicides in 2023.

World-Herald staff writers Dan Crisler and Luna Stephens contributed to this report.
Multiple areas across Nebraska reported 911 outages Thursday night  including the Omaha area  and people having an emergency were asked to call alternate numbers until service is restored.

The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency said late Thursday that emergency officials were working to address the issue.

NEMA encouraged Nebraskans to monitor local media and their cellphones for alerts and instructions on alternative methods for reaching 911.

Douglas County emergency dispatch officials said they were made aware of the outage at 7:35 p.m. Thursday. Until service is restored, those reporting an emergency in Douglas County should call 402-444-5802.

Those reporting an emergency in Sarpy County should call 402-593-4111. In Washington County, call 402-426-6866, and in Dodge County, call 402-727-2700.

Among other counties impacted were Buffalo County, which includes the city of Kearney, and Lincoln County, which includes North Platte. As of late Thursday, Lincoln and Lancaster County were not affected.

Motorists also can call *55 to report emergencies to the Nebraska State Patrol.

World-Herald staff writers Shelley Larsen and Chris Nigrin contributed to this report.
ROME  The slaying of an endangered brown bear near an Italian national park left her two young cubs motherless and sparked outrage in Italy on Friday.

Italy's environment minister and animal rights advocates voiced anger and dismay over the killing of the bear in the mountainous Abruzzo region. Residents, including families with small children, often stopped to watch the bear and her cubs during the animal family's frequent evening excursions through streets near the park.

The National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise described the slain animal, nicknamed Amarena  or Black Cherry in Italian  as one of its most prolific brown bears. Residents coined the name because cherries and black cherries were among the bear's favorite foods, the Corriere della Sera newspaper said.

The man who shot the bear with a rifle Thursday night in the town of San Benedetto dei Marsi told police the animal was on his property and he felt in danger, the Italian news agency ANSA said.

Prosecutors were looking into a possible charge of animal killing, and police took the rifle, which was legally owned by the 56-year-old man, as part of their investigation, the LaPresse news agency said.

The marsican brown bear, endemic to central Italy, is considered at an elevated risk of extinction. The park says about 60 bears live within the park or its surrounding areas.

"The killing of a marsican female bear is a grave episode, on which it's dutiful to shed light as quickly as possible," Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto said.

"Our commitment is aimed also at the protection of the bear's cubs, doing everything possible so that they can remain free," he said.

Drones were being used in the search for the cubs, LaPresse said.

The head of World Wildlife Fund's Italy office, Luciano Di Tizio, called the bear's slaying a "very grave, unjustifiable crime of nature" and the result of a "constant campaign against wildlife."

The motherless cubs aren't yet self-sufficient and thus are at high risk, triggering the search for them in the parklands, he added.

"A self-assured, but completely peaceful bear, Amarena was part of the collective imagination and was the subject of pride in a land that has, in the bear, a symbol" of nature, Di Tizio said.

The theme of bear vs. humans took on political connotations in Italy and landed in the courts. Earlier this year, an administrative court's ruling spared, for now, the life of a brown bear that fatally attacked a runner on a mountain trail in Italy's Alpine region.

Political authorities issued an order to have the 17-year-old female bear, known as Jj4, euthanized. A court hearing on the bear's fate is expected in December. Animal rights groups challenged the order to put down the bear.

The brown marsican bear that was killed Thursday is a subspecies that is genetically different from alpine bears.

Italian state TV said Friday that Amarena was the mother of another one of the park's bears that met a violent end. That bear, fatally struck by a car earlier this year, earned national fame when it broke into a bakery and munched on cookies.
BARABOO, Wis.  Arianna Barajas never thought of herself as the outdoors type. The daughter of Mexican immigrants who grew up in Chicago's suburbs, her forays into nature usually amounted to a bike ride to a community park.

She was interested in wild animals but had no idea she could make a living working with them until her older brother enrolled in veterinarian school. She took a leap of faith and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and became a wildlife ecology major.

This summer Barajas landed an internship designed for people of color at the International Crane Foundation's headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and stepped into a new world.

I always knew growing up I had an interest in wildlife and animals but didn't know the options I had," Barajas, 21, said. I really just have a passion for the outdoors. I can't just be in an office all day. I need to be outside and doing things I think are valuable.

Environmental groups across the country have worked for the past two decades to introduce members of underrepresented populations like Barajas to the overwhelmingly white conservation world. The effort has gained momentum since George Floyd's death forced a national reckoning on race relations and challenged a variety of industries to focus on diversity and inclusion efforts.

As climate change reshapes the planet, leaders need to hear every perspective when determining conservation policies, minority advocates say. Multiple studies since the early 1980s have found communities of color feel the impact of pollution and climate change more acutely than wealthy areas.

All the environmental issues were facing are really big and we simply cant face them all unless we have a lot of ideas at the table, said Soumi Gaddameedi, a 22-year-old Indian American who works as a donor coordinator for the nonprofit group Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin. No one solution fits all. People of color are in the communities facing the worst impact. Its important that they have a voice.

White men have largely controlled American conservation policy for more than a century. The modern conservation movement in the United States began around the turn of the 20th century, led by figures such as Sierra Club co-founder John Muir, who openly derided American Indians as savages, and President Theodore Roosevelt, who doubled the number of sites in the National Park System. Conservationists such as Aldo Leopold and Wisconsin Gov. Gaylord Nelson, who founded Earth Day, followed them.

More than 80% of National Park Service employees are white, according to service data. A 2022 survey of the 40 largest non-government environmental organizations and foundations by Green 2.0, an organization advocating for minority inclusion in the environmental sector, found 60% of staff and almost 70% of organization heads identified as white.

Sociologists offer a number of explanations for the lack of diversity in conservation ranks. For instance, people of color tend to live in urban settings with less exposure to the outdoors and may consider outdoor recreation a white man's domain, said Kristy Drutman, the Filipino and Jewish founder of the Green Jobs Board, an online listing of environmental jobs with companies promoting diversity. She also runs the Brown Girl Green podcast.

I don't think BIPOC are choosing not to be in the outdoors, they're just not given the same opportunity, Drutman said, using an acronym for Black people, Indigenous people and people of color.

Urbanization, racial segregation, all these histories have separated BIPOC from neighbors with more green spaces," Drutman said. "It's become a white people's thing because of that.

Relatively few people of color study biology and natural resources in college. Hispanic people made up only about 13.6% of graduate students and 12.8% of doctoral students in those fields in 2021, according to a National Science Foundation study. Black people made up about 9.5% of graduate students and only 6% of doctoral students. Native Americans made up less than 1% of graduate and doctoral students in both fields.

National environmental organization Conservation Legacy has been recruiting young people from underrepresented populations for teams across the country, including Arizona, New Mexico, North Carolina and the Appalachian region.

Northwest Youth Corps, based in Eugene, Oregon, has recruited LGBTQ students between 16 and 18 and LGBTQ adults to its so-called Rainbow Crews since 2017. The crews work on reforestation projects and are designed to provide hands-on training and experience for those interested in environmental jobs or other other outdoor careers. The program won the Corps Network's 2020 Project of the Year award.

The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin launched a paid internship program for BIPOC students in 2021. The program places interns with other conservation groups like the International Crane Foundation where Barajas is one of 10 interns.

After spending the summer tagging and tracking whooping cranes across south-central Wisconsin, Barajas has become even more aware of how minority perspectives are rarely considered in the conservation world.

Sometimes Ill hear about childrens programming on different natural things. Im thinking, what opportunities do you have for people who dont speak English? she said. Are you reaching out to diverse communities?

These animal climate heroes restore habitats and revive ecosystems Nation & World These animal climate heroes restore habitats and revive ecosystems Stacker compiled a list of 10 animals from diverse environments, outlining how each helps sustain its ecosystem.
LINCOLN  Gov. Jim Pillen is leading a delegation to South Korea and Japan aimed at growing trade opportunities in Nebraska.

The weeklong trip will begin Monday and include various state representatives, Nebraska Department of Agriculture Director Sherry Vinton and other agriculture business officials, according to a state press release. The trade mission will include visits to hydrogen facilities and engineering corporations and meetings with South Korean and Japanese officials.

South Korea and Japan are tremendous consumers of Nebraska agriculture products, Pillen said in the press release. This visit will strengthen our already well-established partnerships.

This is Pillens second international trade mission of his administration. The first happened earlier this summer, when a delegation of Nebraska businesses leaders and officials went to Vietnam to discuss agriculture, manufacturing and increasing educational exchanges between Nebraska and Vietnam.

We found a lot of potential for growing trade opportunities in Vietnam, Pillen said. As we head to South Korea and Japan, it is vital to continue to strengthen our established partnerships and understand how we can better meet the demands of their countries needs with Nebraska products.
NEW YORK (AP)  A scientist who collected DNA from Scotland's Loch Ness suggests the lake's fabled monster might be a giant eel.

Neil Gemmell from the University of Otago in New Zealand says the project found a surprisingly high amount of eel DNA in the water. He cautioned that it's not clear whether that indicates a gigantic eel or just a lot of little ones.

But he said at a news conference in Scotland on Thursday that the idea of a giant eel is at least plausible.

The DNA project found no evidence to support the notion that the monster is a long-necked ancient reptile called a plesiosaur (PLEE'-see-uh-sawr).

Loch Ness is the largest and second deepest body of freshwater in the British Isles.

By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer
CHICAGO  Workers at 11 Chicago-area nursing homes owned by Infinity Healthcare Management will go on strike on Labor Day.

The strike is currently planned to last one day. Infinity nursing homes in Niles, Oak Lawn, Cicero, Bloomingdale, Itasca, Momence and Streator, as well as four within Chicago city limits, will be affected.

The striking facilities collectively have the capacity for 2,380 patients, according to their websites and U.S. Health News.

Infinity nursing home employees entered negotiations for a new contract on May 23. The workers, who are represented by SEIU Healthcare, are seeking a new wage scale with higher planned raises, as well as higher staffing levels and new paid holidays including Juneteenth.

Contracts at Infinity Nursing Homes were last renegotiated in 2020. Workers went without a contract from May to December of that year, embarking on a 12-day strike in December.

At the end of the 2020 strike, workers and management settled an agreement for a new contract including raises of at least $1 per hour for all workers, $2.50 hourly pandemic pay, five sick days a year and personal protective equipment.

This time, workers have dubbed Mondays action Strike for Our Lives, alleging unfair labor practices at nursing homes operated by Infinity.

Employees on the bargaining committee allege that bargaining has taken place in bad faith, according to the union, and that they have been threatened with retaliation while on the job. The union also said that some employees have been barred from attending bargaining sessions.

(Workers) tried to reason with the managers and owners of Infinity to say no, were not getting paid right, no were not getting respected on the job, and were short-staffed, Jaquie Algee, director of external relations at SEIU Healthcare, said at a Thursday news conference.

Short staffing has also been an issue at all 11 Infinity nursing homes planning to strike, the union said last week.

Ambassador Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, located in Albany Park, will be among the striking facilities. As workers prepare for Monday, supporters gathered outside early Thursday afternoon.

Ambassador declined to comment on the upcoming strike. Infinity Healthcare Management was not immediately available for further comment.

Many preparing to strike at Ambassador and other Infinity facilities were front line workers during the early COVID-19 pandemic. April Hudson, a certified nursing assistant who has worked at Ambassador for four years, remembers going to work during polar vortex blizzards, walking through unshoveled streets to check on patients. During winter spikes in infection rates, staff members often got sick while working with residents, Hudson said.

I treat them like theyre my aunties, my uncles, my grandma, my grandpa, Hudson said.

Ambassadors website advertises 140 staff members to the facilitys 190 beds. However, Hudson said that on the overnight shift, patients outnumber CNAs at Ambassador at a ratio of 15 to 1.

The facility saw a 93% turnover rate this year, state Sen. Natalie Toro, D- Chicago, said at the news conference.

That is overkill, overkill, and it is making my body old before my time, Hudson said.

Hudson told the Chicago Tribune that high turnover has created a more contentious work culture since the last contract negotiation period. Along with asking for more respect from leadership, she hopes ongoing negotiations will affirm seniority among nurses who have worked at Infinity homes for a long time.

The work culture needs to be better for their workers, to make them feel like theyre at home, because were basically risking our lives to take care of patients, Hudson said. We run the facility, if you wanna be technical about it. We make sure the residents are clean, the residents eat, they get their clothes together.

Infinity employees reactions to the strike vary, Hudson said. Some of her co-workers arent in favor of a strike at all, while others feel management are trying to intimidate them into coming to work on Labor Day.

As of August, two Infinity nursing homes in Illinois  City View Multicare Center, as well as West Suburban Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Bloomingdale  are on a federal watchlist for nursing homes with a history of serious quality issues.

A third, Continental Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Budlong Woods, was fined in 2016 after five residents overdosed on heroin.

Mondays action will be the third health care strike in Chicago this summer. About 200 workers at Loretto Hospital in Austin went on an 11-day strike on July 31.

The employees, also represented by SEIU Healthcare, reached a new contract agreement as a result of the strike, including wage increases for all employees and paid time off on Juneteenth.

On Aug. 22, 530 nurses at Ascension St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet were locked out by Ascension during a four-day strike. The nurses, represented by Illinois Nurses Association, protested short staffing, low wages and poor working conditions, amid ongoing contract negotiations.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
An August 29 letter to the Pantagraph editor states that the United States is not systematically racist in part because of the 1968 Fair Housing Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The writer overlooks the fact that the Fair Housing Act never has applied to homeowners' sales of their houses if they do not use a real estate agent. So today its provisions do not apply to about 20% of real estate transactions.

In addition, systematic racism was given a boost by the current Republican-dominated Supreme Court when it recently gutted the Voting Rights Act. States now are free to create barriers to voting for members of minority groups.

The effect of early-20th century racial barriers continue as minority group members fail to enjoy the family wealth that came to white families before red lining was outlawed.

Barriers to the ballot box are alive and well in many American counties. In short, systematic racism and the battle for racial equality continue in America.

Gary Davis, Lincoln
After deposing Gabonese President Ali Bongo, Gen Brice Oligui Nguema was carried through the streets by his triumphant troops, who chanted "Oligui, president! Oligui, president!".



The 48-year-old general certainly appears to be a man of the people as he's held aloft by his soldiers, but to many, he's an unexpected leader.



Just five years ago, he barely existed in Gabon's public consciousness, having spent 10 years outside the country after being dismissed from the inner circle of the Bongo family, who until Wednesday had ruled Gabon for almost 56 years.



On Gen Nguema's return, he quietly rose to the army's highest position. Here he dedicated his days to maintaining President Ali Bongo's regime.



Gabon's new strongman was born in Gabon's province of Haut-Ogooue. The area is a stronghold of the Bongo family and some even say that Gen Nguema is Ali Bongo's cousin.



Gen Nguema took after his father and pursued a career in the military. At a very young age, he joined Gabon's powerful Republican Guard unit, having first trained at Morocco's prestigious military academy.



The ambitious young officer quickly attracted the attention of the military top brass and became an assistant to then-president Omar Bongo, who was Ali Bongo's father.



It is said Gen Nguema was extremely close to Omar Bongo - he served the autocrat until his death in 2009.



"He's someone who wasn't expected [to lead Gabon] at this time," Edwige Sorgho-Depagne, an analyst of African politics who works for Amber Advisers, told BBC's Newsday programme.



"In the 2000s, he was far from the country for some time... he was almost forgotten."



When Ali Bongo took over from his father in 2009, Gen Nguema was dismissed from his job. He began what local media portrays as an "exile", serving almost 10 years as an attache to the Gabonese embassies in Morocco and Senegal.



The industrious military man reappeared on Gabon's political scene in 2018, when he replaced the president's step-brother as the Republican Guard's intelligence chief.



After just six months on the job, Gen Nguema was promoted to head of the Republican Guard. He initiated reforms to make the unit more effective in its fundamental mission: maintaining the regime.



A former close collaborator told French news agency AFP that the general was "a man of consensus, who never raises his voice, who listens to everyone and systematically seeks compromise".



Shortly after he took on the new role, Gen Nguema launched the "clean hands" operation, which set out to tackle alleged state-led embezzlement.



However, Gen Nguema was himself accused of hoarding public money.



In a 2020 investigation, US anti-corruption organisation OCCRP alleged that Gen Nguema and the Bongo family had purchased expensive property in the United States with stashes of cash. The general was said to have spent $1m (790,000) on three properties.



Nguema's response to the report? "I think whether in France or in the United States, a private life is a private life that [should be] respected".

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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One of Africas longest-serving presidents has appointed new military leaders on the same day a junta seized power in neighbouring Gabon.



President Paul Biya of Cameroon carried out a wide-ranging reshuffle of his countrys defence ministry and armed forces on Wednesday.



No reason was given for the shake-up.



Colonel Cyrille Guemo, the director of communications at Cameroons ministry of defence, told a Turkish news agency that the new appointments had been on the presidents table for many days.



But with the tsunami of military coups that is sweeping across former French colonies... leaders that have been in power for a very long time should be concerned, says David Otto, a security expert.



The younger generation which is made up of military leaders is no longer tolerant of regimes that operate in some kind of dynasty, Mr Otto said.



Although Mr Biyas presidency initially came under threat when soldiers tried to seize power soon after his first election, he has since succeeded in maintaining the militarys loyalty.



While Wednesdays new military appointments are wide-ranging, observers say the roles involved lack the power and capacity to stage a coup.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) disagrees with the High Courts order to return Cecilia Dapaahs seized money.



The High Court in Accra has dismissed the Office of Special Prosecutor's application to freeze the bank accounts and assets of former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.



In a ruling today (August 31, 2023), Justice Edward Twum's court held that the Office of the Special Prosecutor violated the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 Act 959 by filing the application out of time.



Justice Twum questioned the conclusion made by the OSP regarding the ownership and tainting of the property. He stated that ownership and possession are not the same, and therefore the OSP's reasoning was unclear. Additionally, the Justice noted that the application was premature as the OSP failed to provide sufficient evidence to support their suspicion.



The court has ordered the OSP to return the confiscated assets to the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources within seven days from August 31.



OSP response



In response to the court's order, the OSP issued a press statement stating that it respects the directive but disagrees with it on the grounds that it is erroneous.



According to the OSP, "the freezing order was effected to aid the investigation, as required by law, not on the basis of the investigation, as indicated by the Court. Therefore, it cannot be said that the OSP did not carry out proper investigations to warrant the freezing order. The investigation has only commenced, and it is ongoing.



The OSP assures the public that it will take all necessary legal steps to ensure that the seized amounts and the balances in Ms. Dapaah's bank accounts and investments are neither concealed, lost, or otherwise dissipated"





Read full details below



The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) commenced investigation in the third week of July 2023 in respect of suspected corruption and corruption-related offences regarding large amounts of money and other valuable items involving Ms. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, a former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources.



On 31 August 2023, the High Court, Accra refused to grant the application of the seizure and freezing orders on the grounds that the confirmation of seizure application was filed out of time; that the OSP did not provide any basis for the seizure and the freezing since it did not disclose the details of the transactions in the accounts. And further that the freezing order was based on public sentiments and without proper investigations.



While the OSP respects the Court's decision, it disagrees with the decision of the Court. First, the OSP believes that the Court's computation of the time limitation is, with respect, erroneous. The OSP searched three (3) private residences associated with Ms. Dapaah over the course of two (2) weeks. The searches and discovery were ongoing during that period.



There is little doubt that the OSP filed its application within the statutory window once the search and discovery window is considered.



Second, the seizure by the OSP and the Special Prosecutor's freezing order were effectuated on the very firm basis of reasonable suspicion that the amounts and bank balances were tainted property as Ms. Dapath prevaricated as to the source(s) of the amounts she reported stolen from her residence, the amounts discovered by the OSP in her residence, and the volume of transactions in her bank accounts and investments.



Third, the freezing order was not based on public sentiments. Rather, it was based on court processes filed in a criminal matter before the Circuit Court, Accra involving Ms. Dapash as the complainant.



Further, the freezing order was effected to aid the investigation, as required by law, not on the basis of the investigation, as indicated by the Court. Therefore, it cannot be said that the OSP did not carry out proper investigations to warrant the freezing order. The investigation has only commenced, and it is ongoing.



The OSP assures the public that it will take all necessary legal steps to ensure that the seized amounts and the balances in Ms. Dapaah's bank accounts and investments are neither concealed, lost, or otherwise dissipated.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Commissioner of Police (COP) George Alex Mensah has denied plotting to remove the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare.



COP Alex Mensah, who is a former Director-General of Technical at the Ghana Police Service, also told the parliamentary committee probing a viral leaked tape that the IGP is mismanaging the Police Service.



COP Mensah made these comments on Thursday, August 31, while appearing before a parliamentary committee probing a viral leaked tape in which he is heard in a conversation with the former Northern regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu, about the possible removal of the IGP.



Dampare is not managing the Police Service well and the majority of police officers are not happy. You can call the police officers underground and they will tell you, he said.



COP Mensah said the tape had been doctored and did not accurately reflect the content of the original conversation. He also said he had no plan to remove the IGP and that he did not have the power to do so.



...This tape that was played today, to me was an edited tape, I have not heard any unedited tape for me to talk about as I sit here, COP Mensah said



He added The tape that I heard today, there are so many things in that tape that I dont remember and there are so many things that we discussed that are not on the tape. Ive met Bugri Naabu four times and we have discussed many things some of them private things that I am not ready to discuss in public



I had a meeting with Bugri Naabu but I dont remember having any plan to remove the IGP because I dont remove IGPs.



Bugri Naabu, however, has confirmed the authenticity of the tape and said that COP Mensah wanted him to discuss the possible removal of Dampare because he was not likely to help the NPP win the 2024 elections.



COP Mensah said that he has met with Bugri Naabu four times, but that they have discussed many different things, some of which are private and he is not ready to discuss in public.



He also said that he is a politician and works in the interest of a political party, but he did not disclose which party he supports.



Bugri Naabu had earlier stated that he recorded the conversation with COP Mensah in his private office in Osu.



The parliamentary committee is expected to submit its report on the matter to Parliament in the coming weeks.

Source: Graphiconline.com









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Nigerias President Bola Tinubu has suggested a nine-month transitional period for the Niger junta to return the country to civilian rule.



Mr Tinubu said Niger could emulate the example of former Nigerian military ruler Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, who returned the country to democratic rule in 1999 after a nine-month stint as a junta leader.



Mr Tinubu, who is also the current chairman of the West African bloc Ecowas, said the Nigerian example had "proved very successful, leading the country into a new era of democratic governance".



The president sees no reason why such cannot be replicated in Niger, if Nigers military authorities are sincere, the statement from the presidency said.



The Niger junta had announced a three-year transition period which has been rejected by Ecowas.



Mr Tinubu spoke as he hosted Islamic leaders who have been on two tours to Niger for talks with the junta.



"I must thank you for your several visits to Niger Republic but you will still have to go back. My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copycats will start doing the same thing until it is stopped," he said.



He said Ecowas would not lift sanctions imposed on Niger until the junta made positive adjustments.

Source: BBC









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The opposition coalition in Gabon has accused the military of showing no indication that having overthrown the former President Ali Bongo they plan to hand back power to a civilian government.



A coalition spokeswoman, Alexandra Pangha, told BBCs Newsday programme it would be absurd for the putschists to swear in a president on Monday before institutions they had themselves dissolved.



She criticised their reluctance to hold talks with the party she said had won last Saturday's presidential election.



"Up to today we have been waiting for an invitation from the military so that they can talk to us and tell us exactly what's the plan," Ms Pangha said, adding that she did not believe that the Bongo dynasty had left power.



She alleged, without providing evidence, that the coup leader, General Brice Oligui Nguema, was being supported by other members of the family.

Source: BBC









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In a remarkable achievement that has set a new milestone for both himself and the urban gospel music genre, Jonn Winner emerged victorious in the Urban Gospel Artiste of the Year category at the highly anticipated Ghana Music Awards USA 2023.



The event, which took place at a glamorous venue on Saturday night, witnessed an assembly of music industry luminaries, stakeholders, and avid fans.



Overflowing with gratitude, Jonn Winner took to the stage to share his heartfelt appreciation. "I am humbled and elated by this incredible victory," he exclaimed, visibly moved. "First and foremost, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to God for making this momentous achievement possible. This victory is a testament to His grace and guidance."



The accolade wasn't just a personal triumph for Jonn Winner; he was quick to acknowledge the efforts of the organizers, stakeholders, and his fans. "I also want to express my sincere appreciation to the CEO of Ghana Music Awards USA and the entire team for bestowing this honour upon me. This recognition means the world to me," he declared.



Jonn Winner's success was not a solitary endeavour. He dedicated his victory to a united effort from a multitude of supporters.



"This triumph doesn't just shine on meit illuminates us all. We achieved this together," he stated with a sense of unity.



He also extended his gratitude to fellow artists, industry gatekeepers, media outlets, bloggers, DJs, and his fan base, emphasizing their unwavering support and enthusiasm.





View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jonn Winner (@jonnwinner)



The journey to success for Jonn Winner began in his early years, singing within the context of his strong Christian upbringing. His musical prowess and devotion have led him to explore a range of genres, all with the common thread of praising and exalting God.



His latest project, "Bless Me," resonates with themes of divine blessings and wisdom unfolding in due time.



Jonn Winner's versatility has been a hallmark of his career, with his fans eagerly anticipating each new chapter he unveils.



He secured the Best Gospel Video award at the MTN MVA 4SYTE Music Video Awards in 2019, showcasing his ability to deliver visually compelling content.



His international acclaim was also recognized when he was crowned International Act of the Year at the Ghana Urban Gospel Awards in the same year.



As the curtains draw to a close on the Ghana Music Awards USA 2023, Jonn Winner's triumph lingers in the hearts of his supporters, symbolizing not just an individual win, but a collective victory for the urban gospel music community.



With a promising future ahead, Jonn Winner's message to his followers resonates strongly saying "This is just the beginning of the journey. Let's continue to rally behind the JESUS AGENDA. I am deeply grateful for your unwavering support. Together, we are a WINNING NATION, and the music can only get better."





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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A group of tertiary students is currently at the center of a controversy that has raised eyebrows within their educational institution, Accra Technical Training Centre.



These students, known for their impressive dance moves that previously went viral within their school premises, are now facing suspension for their participation in a music video produced by Ghanaian Afrobeatz sensation, OliveTheBoy.



What has sparked outrage is the fact that they appeared in the video wearing their school uniforms.



The students, who gained fame for their dance talents following a dance routine on Ghanaian dancehall artist, Stonebwoy's "Apotheke" song within the confines of their school, took their performance skills outside the campus this time.



They featured in OliveTheBoy's latest music video "Goodsin" that includes "explicit" themes, particularly focusing on sexual affairs, a far cry from the wholesome image they had previously portrayed.



School authorities were quick to respond, expressing their displeasure over the students' participation in the controversial video.



They have launched an investigation into why the students left the school premises to participate in the production while wearing their uniforms, an action that goes against the school's rules and regulations.



The video, which quickly gained attention on various social media platforms, has left the school community divided.



Some argue that the students have the right to pursue their interests outside of school while others believe that their actions have tarnished the school's reputation.



The controversy has also ignited discussions about the responsibilities of educators and parents in monitoring and guiding students' activities beyond the classroom.



Many are questioning whether the students received proper guidance and supervision regarding their participation in such a video.



The school's administration is currently reviewing the matter and considering disciplinary action including possible suspension for the students involved.



This incident serves as a reminder of the challenges educators face in maintaining a balance between nurturing students' creativity and upholding the institution's values and standards.



As the investigation unfolds, the students find themselves in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons with their futures hanging in the balance as the school decides on the appropriate course of action.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Disadvantaged teenagers are at greater risk of email scams and need better protection, according to an international study published in the British Journal of Educational Studies.

Findings based on more than 170,000 students aged 15 show that one in five from low-income families or deprived areas could fall victim to phishing. This is much higher than the probability for the age group overall. Email scams leave people vulnerable to identity theft, putting young people at risk of financial fraud and having their savings stripped.

The most vulnerable are those who also have poor learning skills according to the data from 38 countries including the UK, US and Japan.

Furthermore, the study highlights that students who are taught about the dangers of digital fraud are just as likely to respond inappropriately to these emails as pupils who have received no specific education on the topic.

Author Professor John Jerrim says this highlights a gap in education provision. He is now urging schools to provide more and better-quality teaching on how to recognize online harms including phishing emails.

"Socio-economically disadvantaged groups are, at least in some countries, at greater risk from phishing attacks than their more advantaged peers," says Professor Jerrim from University College London in England. "This is largely driven by socio-economic differences in cognitive abilities. Unfortunately, current attempts by schools to address this issue do not seem to be particularly effective.

"Teenagers taught in the classroom about the risks appear to be just as likely to take inappropriate action. More needs to be done to help young people navigate what is becoming an increasingly complex and dangerous online world. This is particularly true for some of the most vulnerable groups, who are most at risk of falling for attempts at digital fraud."

More than 3 billion spam emails are sent every day, and phishing is one of the most common attempts at cyber fraud. Current research into who is most susceptible to this crime tends to focus on older people, not school-age children. Little is known about the efficacy of schools' attempts to teach young people how to recognize and react appropriately.

Data for this study was based on 176,186 children who took part in the 2018 Programme for International Assessment (PISA), a triennial survey run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). PISA examines what students in OECD countries know in reading, science, and mathematics. Pupils must complete a two-hour ability test, then a questionnaire.

The 2018 PISA asked pupils how they would respond to a made-up scenario where a mobile-phone company told them via email they had won a smartphone. The sender asked them to click a link and fill out their data to claim the phone.

Possible responses included answering the email to request more details, checking the sender's email address, clicking on the link, and filling out the form as soon as possible. Professor Jerrim's study focused on answers to the third response and asked pupils if they had been taught how to detect phishing or spam emails.

Results showed that Japanese teens were least likely to respond (4%) to the email; lower than anywhere else in the world. The proportion in Denmark, Sweden and Finland who responded was significantly lower (6-7%) than in other developed countries. Teenagers in Mexico (30%) and Chile (27%) were most at riskalmost a quarter were likely to respond. The figure for the UK was 9%.

No gender difference was foundboys were just as likely to respond as girls. However, teenagers from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds were markedly more likely to click the link.

The biggest gap was based on cognitive skill with a quarter of low achieving students saying they believed clicking was the appropriate response. This compared with only 5% of those in the top reading scores.

The study also investigated whether students who receive instruction from their school about the dangers of phishing emails are at lower risk of being fooled, but results showed "no clear evidence" that students who received instruction from their school on phishing email dangers were at less risk.

Limitations of the study included the fact it is based on responses to survey questions. Professor Jerrim said this meant the research did not necessarily capture how teenagers would respond in real life.

More information: Who responds to phishing emails? An international investigation of 15-year-olds using PISA data, British Journal of Educational Studies (2023). DOI: 10.1080/00071005.2023.2234456
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The research vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov sails in the Arctic Ocean on a 2021 science cruise in the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System program. A science cruise aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy began in August 2023 to research in the same area. Credit: Igor Polyakov

New research by an international team of scientists explains what's behind a stalled trend in Arctic Ocean sea ice loss since 2007. The findings indicate that stronger declines in sea ice will occur when an atmospheric feature known as the Arctic dipole reverses itself in its recurring cycle.

The many environmental responses to the Arctic dipole are described in a paper published online today in the journal Science. This analysis helps explain how North Atlantic water influences Arctic Ocean climate. Scientists call it Atlantification.

The research is led by professor Igor Polyakov of the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Natural Science and Mathematics. He is also affiliated with the International Arctic Research Center at UAF.

Co-authors include Andrey V. Pnyushkov, research assistant professor at the International Arctic Research Center; Uma S. Bhatt, atmospheric sciences professor at the UAF Geophysical Institute and UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics; and researchers from Massachusetts, Washington state, Norway, and Germany.

"This is a multidisciplinary view on what's going on in the Arctic and beyond," Polyakov said of the new research. "Our analysis covered the atmosphere, ocean, ice, changing continents and changing biology in response to climate change."

A wealth of data, including direct instrumental observations, reanalysis products and satellite information going back several decades, shows that the Arctic dipole alternates in an approximately 15-year cycle and that the system is probably at the end of the present regime.

In the Arctic dipole's present "positive" regime, which scientists say has been in place since 2007, high pressure is centered over the Canadian sector of the Arctic and produces clockwise winds. Low pressure is centered over the Siberian Arctic and features counterclockwise winds.

This wind pattern drives upper ocean currents, with year-round effects on regional air temperatures, atmosphere-ice-ocean heat exchanges, sea-ice drift and exports, and ecological consequences.

The authors write that, "Water exchanges between the Nordic seas and the Arctic Ocean are critically important for the state of the Arctic climate system" and that sea ice decline is "a true indicator of climate change."

In analyzing oceanic responses to the wind pattern since 2007, the researchers found decreased flow from the Atlantic Ocean into the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait east of Greenland, along with increased Atlantic flow into the Barents Sea, located north of Norway and western Russia.

The new research refers to these alternating changes in the Fram Strait and the Barents Sea as a "switchgear mechanism" caused by the Arctic dipole regimes.

The researchers also found that counterclockwise winds from the low-pressure region under the current positive Arctic dipole regime drive freshwater from Siberian rivers into the Canadian sector of the Arctic Ocean.

This westward movement of freshwater from 2007 to 2021 helped slow the overall loss of sea ice in the Arctic compared to 1992 through 2006. The freshwater layer's depth increased, making it too thick and stable to mix with the heavier saltwater below. The thick layer of freshwater prevents the warmer saltwater from melting sea ice from the bottom.

The authors write that the switchgear mechanism regulating inflows of sub-Arctic waters has "profound" impacts on marine life. It can lead to potentially more suitable living conditions for sub-Arctic boreal species near the eastern part of the Eurasian Basin, relative to its western part.

"We are beyond the peak of the currently positive Arctic dipole regime, and at any moment it could switch back again," Polyakov said. "This could have significant climatological repercussions, including a potentially faster pace of sea-ice loss across the entire Arctic and sub-Arctic climate systems."

More information: Igor V. Polyakov et al, Fluctuating Atlantic inflows modulate Arctic atlantification, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adh5158 Journal information: Science
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The phenomenon of decentralization has been one of the hottest topics in public policy and public administration for decades.

For the purposes of this article, we define decentralization as a transfer of responsibility for planning and management, and the acquisition and allocation of resources at lower levels of government. The theory is that decentralization can contribute to democracy, it also means more efficiency, more accountability of politicians, more involvement of citizens, and less corruption.

Critics argue that decentralization can be inefficient, that it reduces the capacity of the public sector to deliver, that it involves high coordination costs, and that in some places it can increase corruption. We are now seeing a wave of empirical studies, but they are producing highly contradictory results. We know even less about how decentralization works in migration policy.

The experience of the Czech Republic can serve as a lesson. The Czech Republic has been described as a champion of decentralization. I

n fact, there are 6,254 municipalities, most of which have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants. By the way of comparison, neighboring (and similarly sized) Austria has 2,103 municipalities and Spain, which is many times larger, has 8,112.

This state of affairs is the subject of major debates about the effectiveness of government and is often criticized by international organizations (e.g. OECD). The decentralized administrative structure has been put to the test in the context of the Ukrainian crisis. The Czech Republic has received nearly 500,000 migrants from Ukraine.

On a per capita basis, this was the highest number in the world. Local governments played a key role in managing the whole situation. In our research published in published in Public Money & Management, we focused on how they managed the situation.

Research results

The arrival of Ukrainian refugees put Czech municipalities in a situation where they did not have a well-developed integration infrastructure. Based on the data collected, we can define several typologies of municipalities according to their approach to dealing with the first phase of the Ukrainian crisis. These are "municipal activism" and "municipal passivism."

Active municipalities in emergency situations activate their own resources and create their own public policies to help manage the situation at the local level. On the other hand, they necessarily take some risk that their policies will be costly and unsustainable in the long run. Passive municipalities do not develop independent activities, do not allocate resources and do not create their own policies. They are afraid to take risks and wait for decisions and support from the central government.

Failure to deal with emergencies can lead to even greater problems such as distrust of the public sector and the strengthening of extremist sentiments in society. But even in the long run, in an environment of limited statehood (a situation where the public sector lacks sufficient capacity to design and implement public policies), this strategy may seem rational in terms of risk elimination. Local governments save their own resources and capacity in the early stages of a crisis, which they can use in the event of a prolonged crisis.

Limited financial resources, both in terms of staffing and unexpected expenses, were the most important determinants of municipal action. Another problem was the lack of support from the central government. However, the role of the national level was seen as ambivalent, in the sense that while government action was important, municipalities still felt largely alone in the issue.

Housing, psychosocial support for refugees, and access to pre-school care were also identified as problematic in the research. Although municipalities rated the provision of accommodation for refugees as a well-managed urgent task, this did not detract from the urgency of the issue of refugee accommodation at the municipal level.

The arrival of Ukrainian refugees exacerbated the generally problematic availability of housing in the Czech Republic. A similar situation applies to psychosocial care, which is also less accessible in the Czech Republic. The provision of such care for refugees was a challenging (or unmanageable) issue, especially in cases where there were larger numbers (more than ten) of Ukrainian refugees in municipalities. Next, significant challenges appeared in ensuring sufficient capacity in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools.

What are the main lessons learned?

Decentralized systems are able to manage the first phases of migration crises quite effectively. Local political leadership is a crucial factor. The commitment and competence of local politicians make all the difference. In the later stages of the crisis, the administrative and financial capacity of local governments is crucial, as more investment can be expected to meet the basic needs of migrants. Even if we talk about decentralization, we cannot ignore central government.

The central government must act as a coordinator and a "bridgebuilder." The coordinator means that that central government must ensure the effective transfer of information and resources between key actors.

Bridgebuilding means that central government must not only be able to organize partnerships at the horizontal and vertical levels of the public sector, but also must often have the courage to create unexpected partnerships between the private, non-profit, and public sectors.

In order to overcome the crisis in decentralized systems, the ability to achieve synergies is crucial, i.e., the performance of the whole system is greater than the sum of the performance of the 6,254 individual municipalities.

More information: Marie Jelinkova et al, Human-made disasters in a decentralized context: How Czech municipalities are dealing with the Ukrainian crisis, Public Money & Management (2022). DOI: 10.1080/09540962.2022.2154950
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The atmospheric concentration of nitrous oxide primarily increases due to the agricultural use of commercial fertilizers and livestock manure. A recent study has determined the emission levels of nitrous oxide from various sources such as commercial fertilizers, slurry, and biogas slurry under Danish conditions. Credit: Jens Bonderup Kjeldsen

In a collaboration led by Aarhus University, researchers have measured nitrous oxide emissions during two years at four different locations in Denmark, where representative crop rotations had been established to provide a realistic context for the measurements.

The experiment included a crop rotation with milk production in Western Denmark, a crop rotation with milk production in Southwest Denmark, a crop rotation with pig production in Southwest Denmark, and a crop rotation with crop production in Eastern Denmark.

The four locations all have a low soil clay content typical for Northern Europe, while precipitation varied significantly from location to location and between the two years, 2020 and 2021.

Synthetic and organic fertilizers applied to spring barley

Spring barley was part of all crop rotations, and here three commercial fertilizers (NS, NPK and UAN) and eight organic fertilizers (three cattle slurries, three pig slurries and two digestates) were applied in 1 m2 subplots at either two or four locations. The exact same fertilizer materials were applied at the different sites to study the interactive effects of local conditions in terms of soil properties and precipitation. The same methods for fertilizer application, measurement and data analysis were used at all sites to ensure comparability.

"Our side-by-side measurements of nitrous oxide emission from a range of fertilizer materials in spring barley focused on the spring period. In the crop rotation, however, nitrous oxide emission was measured throughout the year in both experimental years, and these measurements confirm that most of the nitrous oxide emissions induced by spring fertilization occur before the crop has 'emptied' the soil of nitrogen," says Professor Sren O. Petersen from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University.

More attention to liquid manure

In the two experimental years, nitrous oxide emissions from commercial fertilizer were significantly lower than is currently assumed, while emissions from pig and cattle slurry and digestates were on average at level with or higher than previously assumed. This indicates that in Denmark, where 90% is handled as liquid manure, efforts to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from livestock manure will have the greatest effect on the climate.

"The level varied between sites and years, but we found that nitrous oxide emissions were on average higher from livestock manure than from commercial fertilizer at each of the four sites," says Sren O. Petersen.

Results differ from IPCC recommendations

Interestingly, the Danish results differ from the latest recommendations on nitrous oxide emission factors for wet temperate climate from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). In the most recent guidelines, higher nitrous oxide emissions are expected from synthetic fertilizers than from organic fertilizers including livestock manure and digestates. This is based on a global analysis of experimental results.

"Both results may well be correct, because they are based on different data sets. It shows the importance of studies that represent local conditions," Sren O. Petersen explains.

Denmark is dominated by soils with low clay content, and almost all livestock manure is in liquid form with or without treatment in biogas plants. This combination provides favorable conditions for nitrification and denitrification, the two microbial processes that together cause the formation of nitrous oxide in the soil.

"The soil type is important because a well-aerated soil ensures good conditions for nitrification, but also provides good conditions for nitrous oxide produced in and around the liquid organic fertilizer to reach the atmosphere," says Sren O. Petersen.

In comparison, he explains, almost half of the studies included in the global analysis were done with solid manure, where the risk of nitrous oxide formation is lower because a significant part of the nitrogen may be lost during storage, and net release of nitrogen to the soil is low. More clayey soils will also have a greater tendency for poor air exchange, and thus less risk of nitrous oxide escaping from the soil.

The paper is published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment.

More information: Sren O. Petersen et al, Higher N2O emissions from organic compared to synthetic N fertilisers on sandy soils in a cool temperate climate, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2023.108718
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Zealandian Tropicbird skull. Credit: University of Canterbury

A team of paleontologists from the University of Canterbury has discovered a remarkably intact fossil of one of the earliest ancestors of a group of birds now restricted to the tropics. Tropicbirds, now represented by only three living species, have a long fossil record spanning at least 62.5 million years, with the oldest described species being Clymenoptilon novaezealandicum, or Zealandian Tropicbird.

The specimen, boasting a nearly complete skull, wing, and pelvis among other elements, was collected from the Waipara Greensand, North Canterbury, and is estimated to be around 62 million years old. It is the second tropicbird found in the Waipara Greensand (the first one was a smaller, unnamed specimen described in 2016).

The Zealandian Tropicbird has features that distinguish it from all other known fossil tropicbirds and suggest it was, evolutionarily speaking, an ancestral form of tropicbird. Features of the skull, wing, and pelvis suggest it had different feeding/foraging habits from living and other extinct tropicbirds, but because the specimen has no legs, it is not possible to get a complete picture of its mode of life.

The find has been published as an article, "Partial skeleton from the Paleocene of New Zealand illuminates the early evolutionary history of the Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds)," in Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology.

The age (ca. 62 million years) and ancestral characteristics of this newly described species suggest that tropicbirds may have originated in the Southern Hemisphereup until now all other fossil species had been known from the Northern Hemisphere only.

The presence of a second, smaller, species of tropicbird in the Waipara Greensand, together with that of a primitive bony-toothed bird, and multiple species of penguin, indicate that Zealandian shores were a hub for seabird diversification following the mass extinction event that famously caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Leigh Love, who first only found its skull but fortunately, a month later, also the rest of the specimen, discovered the Zealandian Tropicbird. His then 10-year-old son David helped him retrieve it.

"He was 10 years old at the time and very keen to join me on some of my fossil hunting trips into the Waipara," said Love.

"On this occasion when we found the bones, he said he was both surprised and amazed that we had found a flying bird. For me it has been great watching a child's face light up as a result of finding rare creatures preserved from our distant past."

More information: Gerald Mayr et al, Partial skeleton from the Paleocene of New Zealand illuminates the early evolutionary history of the Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds), Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology (2023). DOI: 10.1080/03115518.2023.2246528
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Newly identified fossil raven wing and leg bones from the UNESCO World Heritage Zhoukoudian "Peking Man" site. Credit: IVPP

While ravens do not occur in China's capital Beijing today, a new study analyzing fossil bird bones from the UNESCO World Heritage Zhoukoudian "Peking Man" site demonstrates that ravens lived in western Beijing at the same time as some of its famous ancient human inhabitants.

The study of raven fossils by Dr. Thomas A. Stidham and Dr. LI Zhiheng from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. Jingmai O'Connor from the Field Museum of Natural History in the U.S. was published in the Journal of Ornithology on Aug. 27.

The fossil raven bones were excavated many years ago from the cave site known as Locality 3 on Dragon Bone Hill in western Beijing. Those excavated ancient caves from the Pleistocene Epoch distributed across the hill contained thousands of fossils of birds and mammals, including the first fossils of early humans in China, particularly those of "Peking Man" (Homo erectus) and of our species, Homo sapiens.

Ravens have been closely associated with humans for much of our history. These remarkable black birds have been incorporated into our art, literature, and lives. The identification of Pleistocene age raven fossils at one of the classic cave sites on Dragon Bone Hill in Beijing where the original "Peking Man" cave site is located, helps to show that the relationship between ravens and people may have extended far back into prehistory in eastern Asia.

The Northern Raven, also called the Common Raven, is the largest species of songbird (Order Passeriformes) in the world, with a weight of nearly 1.5 kilograms and a wingspan over one meter. It is mostly a scavenger of carrion but also consumes fruits, seeds, and a wide variety of small animals. It is a nonmigratory bird residing across the northern parts of Europe, North America, and Asia.

Nearly 30 years ago, these bird fossils from Beijing, including an upper arm bone (humerus) and a shinbone (tibiotarsus), were placed in their own extinct species under the scientific name Corvus fangshannus. However, they were not compared at that time to the living raven.

In the current analysis, the research team compared the fossils to skeletons of many living species of raven and crow relatives, as well as to extinct fossil species from across Eurasia. Using data from all of those skeletons and bones, the paleontologists identified features of the fossils that are common to some groups of crow and raven relatives as well as other specific anatomical traits that showed these fossils are from Northern Ravens.

Dr. Stidham and Dr. LI reported a large raven skull from a similar cave site in Liaoning Province in northeastern China two years ago. The fossils excavated from cave Locality 3 on Dragon Bone Hill of Zhoukoudian are more than 100,000 years old, whereas the skull from Liaoning Province is nearly 500,000 years old.

Since the fossilized animals from the Beijing cave typically lived in warmer areas of China, the mammal fossils from Locality 3 show that Beijing had a warm climate at the time they lived. On the other hand, the Pleistocene cave in Liaoning Province with the raven skull contains fossils showing it had a cold, dry climate.

"Since the Northern Raven is not a migratory species, its presence as fossils outside of its current and historic geographic range across a large part of northeastern China in Beijing and Liaoning Province, during both colder and warmer parts of the Pleistocene Epoch, shows that the raven likely was resilient against climate change," said Dr. O'Connor.

While the Northern Raven appears to have been at least somewhat resistant to climate change in the deep past, its absence during warmer times today leads to a question: Why is it not found in Beijing today?

Lead author Dr. Stidham noted that climate and environmental change are not the only factors impacting where a bird lives. "The fossils from the cave sites on Dragon Bone Hill show us that ancient Beijing was full of large animals like elephants, rhinos, and extinct horses that would have provided carrion to be eaten by local scavengers like hyenas, bears, people, and ravens. With the loss of those large animals at the end of the Pleistocene, we also see the loss of the scavengers in Beijing who ate their meat, including the raven."

The implications of this study extend far beyond Beijing and China. Global researchers continue to analyze and document the diverse responses of birds to climate change in recent decades in order to better conserve them and their ecological relationships. However, those studies largely do not give us data over the longer time intervals needed to clearly prepare for what may happen to birds over the next century of warming climates.

"If we want to better protect birds and other organisms on our changing planet, we need studies like ours that examine the deep past during different global climates using museum fossil collections to identify key factors affecting birds and their responses over the long term," added Dr. Li.

More information: Thomas A. Stidham et al, The Pleistocene Zhoukoudian 'Peking Man' site records the first Beijing (China) evidence of the Northern Raven (Corvus corax), Journal of Ornithology (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s10336-023-02103-6
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Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Social media has radically changed the way we do things, from communicating to purchasing to learning to voting. But according to a new article, it's also transformed the way we define religionparticularly among women.

"Religious studies scholars are interested in how fluid religion is and how it's really bound up with social processes and power struggles," said Jacquelene Brinton, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas. "Whereas outside of religious studies, people think of religion as something static and easily defined. Social media is showing us how that process of transformation happens."

Her new article, "Media and the Formation of Secular/Religious Networks," examines the rise of so-called "Instavangelists." These are women (primarily) who have replaced traditional faiths with their own gospel through Instagram and other online platforms. They preach to other women about "how to be their best selves," even though both the media and the message further blur the lines between religion and the secular. It appears in the Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture.

Brinton first came across the term Instavangelist while reading Leigh Stein's 2021 New York Times article titled "The Empty Religions of Instagram: How did influencers become our moral authorities?" It notes how media personalities such as Gabrielle Bernstein (1.3 million followers on Instagram), Glennon Doyle (2.1 million followers), Brene Brown (5 million followers) and Gwyneth Paltrow (8.3 million followers) have become the "neo-religious leaders of our era."

"What's fascinating to me is when authors like those at the New York Times write about Instavangelists, they don't realize what they're doing is putting forth a new definition of religion without any self-consciousness about it," said Brinton, who also chairs KU's Department of Religious Studies.

"It is a little bit weird that we're discussing people who are not affiliated with what we generally define as religion in a typical way: a church, institution or belief. This has just entered our common understanding of what religion is," she said.

While her piece focuses specifically on social media, Brinton said she believed this process was started by earlier media such as print and television.

"But what social media does is give us the sense we know the individuals we're following  when it's really just marketing. It enables that 'hiddenness of the secular,' and it enables that secular thing to appear to be religious. And that all comes together through this notion of self-help and reinventing yourself," she said.

Media has often given viewers/users the illusion of having a deep connection to the source. For instance, CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite was considered "the most trusted man in America," even though few of his admirers had ever met him.

"Yet you didn't see pictures of Walter Cronkite at home eating dinner with his family. Whereas Instagram gives you the sense that you are in people's homes and involved in their livesand you can actually get involved in their lives. You can comment on what they're cooking and tell them how beautiful their children are," she said.

Also, she noted, that when people were watching network news, the commercials came on in the middle.

"You're not exactly sure where they are now. What part is a commercial? Back then, you knew who was paying Walter Cronkite," she said.

When researching Instavangelists, Brinton was most surprised by their ties to marketing.

"Evangelical female preachers such as Sarah Jakes Roberts are brands. They have agents and publicists. It was surprising to me how much they were able to mix in this branding message through social media when they are preaching about Christ."

Was there a reason she exclusively focused on women?

"I think self-help messages tend to be geared toward women, and the messages of these Instavangelists are primarily geared toward women. But it would be interesting to try to find some male ones to see how their messages are formed," she said.

Now in her 13th year at KU, the Philadelphia native specializes in Islamic studies but also maintains a strong research interest in media and theory. She is also a member of KU's Center for Global & International Studies.

Brinton hopes her article will give those outside of academia generally and religious studies specifically a sense of the fluidity of religion, so that people writing about the topic from a digital media perspective can think of ways in which using religion as a static term is not entirely accurate.

"How did we get to this point where a person like Gwyneth Paltrow could be considered a religious personality by a newspaper? It doesn't seem logical to me," Brinton said. "I think this topic needs more excavating."

More information: Jacquelene Brinton, Media and the Formation of Secular/Religious Networks, Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture (2023). DOI: 10.1163/21659214-bja10089
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Final orbital structure after evolving the primordial scattering population over 4.5 Gyr under the gravitational influence of the four giant planets and a KBP with m = 1.5 M  , a = 250 au, q = 195 au, and i = 30. The results obtained for the control model and this model are represented by black and red symbols, respectively. Blue asterisks represent the extreme TNOs. The KBP's orbit is indicated by the green square. Credit: The Astronomical Journal (2023). DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aceaf0

A pair of astrophysicists, one with Kindai University, the other the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, both in Japan, have found possible evidence of an Earth-like planet residing in the Kuiper Belt. In their paper published in The Astronomical Journal, Patryk Sofia Lykawka and Takashi Ito describe properties of the Kuiper Belt that they believe are consistent with the existence of a planet not much bigger than Earth.

Over the past decade, several studies have led credence to theories regarding the possible existence of a planet in the far outer edges of the solar system, which has come to be known theoretically as Planet Nine. In this new effort, the researchers suggest it is possible that there is a planet much closerin the Kuiper Belt.

The Kuiper Belt is a circumstellar disk composed of objects in the outer solar system, beginning just past the orbit of Neptune. Like the planets, material in the Kuiper belt orbits the sun. Prior research has suggested that the objects in the disk are asteroids, space rocks, comets and other small chunks of material, likely made of ice. In their work, the researchers found that some of the objects in the Kuiper Belt behave in a way that suggests that there is a small planet among themone that is approximately 500 AU from the sun. For comparison, Neptune is approximately 30 AU from the sun.

In studying trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), the researchers found that some had orbits that behaved oddly, which suggests that they are being influenced by the gravitational pull of an object larger than typical TNOs. They also found a large number of high-inclination objects (those with a high-tilt orbit). Intrigued by their findings, they ran a number of computer simulations configured to explain the behavior they observed.

The simulations showed that the most likely explanation for their observations was a Kuiper Belt planet. The simulations also showed that such a planet, if it exists, would have a mass 1.5 to 3 times that of Earth, an inclination of approximately 30 degrees and an orbit that would take the planet to between 250 and 500 AU from the sun.

More information: Patryk Sofia Lykawka et al, Is There an Earth-like Planet in the Distant Kuiper Belt?, The Astronomical Journal (2023). DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aceaf0 Journal information: Astronomical Journal

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The sun, where nuclear fusion of hydrogen proceeds in a dense plasma. New research uses machine learning to look for the right mix of hydrogen isotopes for technology that replicates this process on Earth. Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO

The process that powers the starsnuclear fusionis proposed as a future power source for humanity and could provide clean and renewable energy free of the radioactive waste associated with current nuclear fission plants.

Just like the fusion process that sends energy spilling out from the sun, future nuclear fusion facilities will slam together isotopes of the universe's lightest element, hydrogen, in an ultra-hot gas or "plasma" contained by a powerful magnetic field to create helium with the difference in mass harvested as energy.

One thing that scientists must know before the true advent of fusion power here on Earth is what mix of hydrogen isotopes to use primarily "standard" hydrogen, with one proton in its atomic nucleus, deuterium with one proton and one neutron in its nucleus, and tritium with a nucleus of one proton and two neutrons. This is currently done with spectroscopy for prototype fusion devices called tokamaks, but this analysis can be time-consuming.

In a new paper published in The European Physical Journal D, author Mohammed Koubiti, associate professor at the Aix-Marseille Universite, France, assesses the use of machine learning in connection with plasma spectroscopy to determine the ratios of hydrogen isotopes for nuclear fusion plasma performance.

"In terms of performances, fusion power plants will be operated with a mixture of deuterium and tritium since their nuclear fusion is optimal, but the content of tritium must be controlled and strictly managed to respect the limits imposed by the regulation authorities," Koubiti says. "Also, it may be necessary to know on a real-time scale the content of tritium to optimize the performances of the nuclear power plant."

Koubiti explains that to develop a way of doing this he turned to a combination of machine learning and spectroscopy.

"The ultimate aim is to avoid using spectroscopy, whose analysis is time-consuming, and replace it  or at least combine it  with deep learning to predict tritium contents in fusion plasmas," Koubiti explains. "This study is only a step towards that. I am still using spectroscopy as a means of allowing me to find other features that can be used by deep learning algorithms to predict as a function of time the tritium content in fusion plasmas."

Koubiti adds that the next step is to go to the end of this project by identifying the non-spectroscopic features that must be provided to any deep-learning algorithm. He then aims to test the findings on several magnetic fusion devices, tokamaks like JET, ASDEX-Upgrade or WEST, DIII-D, and stellarators  plasma devices that rely on external magnets to confine plasma.

"I also plan to extend the use of deep-learning technique beyond plasma spectroscopy," concludes Koubiti.

More information: M. Koubiti, Application of machine learning to spectroscopic line emission by hydrogen isotopes in fusion devices for isotopic ratio determination and prediction, The European Physical Journal D (2023). DOI: 10.1140/epjd/s10053-023-00719-0 Journal information: European Physical Journal D

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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The average critical load for nitrogen deposition in the Netherlands is lower than previously assumed, according to new research by Wageningen Environmental Research, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and Research Centre B-WARE. The value that indicates how much nitrogen nature can tolerate without decline has decreased by an average of 1.3 kilograms per hectare per year. This means that nitrogen emissions need to be reduced even further to protect nature.

The revision of the critical loads (CL), commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture Nature and Food (LNV), resulted in an average reduction from 19.0 kilograms of nitrogen deposition per hectare per year to 17.7 kilograms over all nitrogen sensitive nature types. While the critical load remains unchanged for some nature types it has significantly decreased for others.

The effects of nitrogen deposition vary by nature type. In the Netherlands, there are 84 different nature types, of which 67 are sensitive to nitrogen deposition. Each of these nature types has a critical load, as do 14 habitats of species protected under European law. For 64 nature types, the critical load remains unchanged, while it has been lowered for 32 and raised for 2.

A decrease in the critical load means that nature is already experiencing damage at lower levels of nitrogen than previously thought, potentially causing the disappearance of plant species that are characteristic of their environments, such as orchid species in wet grasslands.

Critical load becoming increasingly accurate

Last year, it became clear that some deposition values should be adjusted downward. New international research led to a partial lower critical loads at the European level. This research, commissioned by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), is based on long-term field experiments.

These experiments provide a minimum and maximum value for nitrogen deposition, known as the empirical range. This range provides deposition values for all of Europe, accounting for differences in conditions such as soil and climate. These values also serve as the basis for the Dutch critical load. The international research with new empirical values led to the update of the CLs for the Netherlands, yielding the same result: some nature is more sensitive to nitrogen than previously thought.

Wieger Wamelink, ecologist at Wageningen University & Research, explains why the critical load has been lowered.

"Nitrogen that precipitates in nature remains in the soil and plants for years and accumulates. At the same time, the soil continues to become more acidic. Field experiments, such as the UNECE research, increasingly show the effect this has on nature. The longer the measurements continue, the clearer it becomes what the negative consequences are of excessive nitrogen on nature. As a result, the critical load is becoming increasingly accurate and generally lower."

Nitrogen goals further out of reach

In addition to empirical values from field experiments, models have also been used to calculate the critical loads for Dutch nature. The same model outcomes as in the last update eleven years ago have been used for this purpose. "But scientific developments for new model calculations are progressing rapidly," says Wamelink. "An alternative method is under development. This method still has uncertainties in some of the results, which we are refining in another study. This method could yield even lower critical loads."

For almost all nature types where something has changed, the values for nitrogen deposition have decreased. According to Wamelink, this means that achieving the nitrogen goals will be more challenging.

"Deposition needs to be reduced more than previously assumed to meet the goals. However, the current exceedance in many places is still so high that we first need to see if we can reduce current deposition by half. That's already a significant task, but if we succeed, it will lead to a substantial improvement for nature. After that, we can assess what is needed to reach the critical value for the most sensitive nature types."

How were the CLs calculated?

For each nature type, it was examined whether empirical values and model calculations were available. Empirical values have a certain range (e.g., 10-15 kilograms per hectare per year), while the model yields unique numbers.

If both an empirical value and a model outcome are available, the Dutch CL is based on both. There are three possibilities:

The modeled CL falls within the empirical range, then the Dutch CL is equal to the modeled value. For example, for Inland dunes, the range is 5-15 kg/ha/yr., and the modeling is 10.4 kg/ha/yr. The Dutch CL is then rounded to 10 kg/ha/yr. The modeled CL is lower than the range of the empirical CL. The Dutch CL then becomes the lower limit of the empirical range. For example, for Moist, Calcium-poor variant of Species-rich Nardus grassland, the range is 10-20 kg/ha/yr., and the modeled value is 9.6 kg/ha/yr., the Dutch CL becomes 10 kg/ha/yr. The modeled value is higher than the range of the empirical range. The Dutch CL then becomes the upper limit of the empirical range. For example, for Calcium rich Seminatural dry grasslands, the range is 10-20 kg/ha/yr., and the model outcome is 21.1 kg/ha/yr. The Dutch CL becomes 20 kg/ha/yr.

If no empirical range is available, the CL is equal to the model outcome (sometimes adjusted based on expert judgment).

If no model outcome is available, the CL is equal to the midpoint of the empirical range (sometimes adjusted based on expert judgment).

If no empirical range, model outcome, and expert judgment are available, no CL is given, which means that the type is considered (temporarily) insensitive to nitrogen deposition.

The research is published (in the original Dutch) by Wageningen Environmental Research.

More information: Wieger Wamelink et al, Overzicht van kritische depositiewaarden voor stikstof, toegepast op habitattypen en leefgebieden van Natura 2000 : Herziening 2023, Wageningen Environmental Research (2023). DOI: 10.18174/633179
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Oases are centers of biological and cultural diversity in the Sahara Desert (Mides, Tunesia). Credit: Antonio Santoro

A research team led by Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner, Director General of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft fur Naturforschung and Professor of Ecosystem Sciences at the Goethe University Frankfurt, has investigated the relationship between cultural and biological diversity for selected oases in the Sahara.

In their study, now published in the journal PLOS ONE, the researchers show that oases are centers of biocultural diversity, using Algeria as a concrete example. Since culture and biodiversity are particularly closely linked in these unique desert habitats, they should be considered together when it comes to measures for sustainable use and protection, postulate the researchers.

Arid regions are home to diverse nomadic cultures, a unique diversity of fauna and flora, and a quarter of the world's languages. While species richness in arid areas is lower than in humid habitats such as tropical forests, deserts are home to a variety of particularly well-adapted and unique animals and plants. At the same time, diversity within species is especially pronounced due to the varying features and the isolation of individual ecosystems. Oasesgreen, fertile islands within desert areasplay a central role in this.

"Foroases in the Sahara, the diversity of agriculturally used plant and animal species is particularly important," explains the study's corresponding author, Dr. Juan Antonio Hernandez-Aguero, a former scientific assistant at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt who now works at the VrijeUniversiteit Amsterdam.

"Date palm oases are a typical example. In addition to the economic importance of the fruits, they exhibit high genetic diversity and provide habitats and refuges for a variety of animals. Here, the close link between the evolution of human culture and biodiversity is particularly evident."

To better understand the potential mechanisms of biocultural diversity in the Sahara, the scientists took a closer look at Algeria's oases and analyzed the interrelationships among various factors of biological and cultural diversitysuch as the number of animal and plant species and the number of ethnic groups and languages.

"We studied 77 very different oases and 18 oasis groups. Collectively, the oases harbor 552 plant species, 14 amphibian species, 328 bird species, 98 mammal species, and 72 reptile species, although the diversity can be much higher. In addition, the Algerian oases are home to twelve ethnic populations, each speaking their own language, including five endangered languages," says Hernandez-Aguero.

"Thus, of the total of 22 languages found in Algeriaa country with only moderate diversity from a global perspectiveover half are spoken in oases. Eight out of 10 endangered large vertebrate species in the Sahara-Sahel region find refugia here. Oases are obviously of immense importance for the biocultural diversity of the entire country. Moreover, at the level of individual oases, we found a strong correlation between the number of species and languages."

Over many generations, traditional local cultivation practices have ensured the protection of biodiversity  for the sustainable use of oases, culture and nature should be considered together. Pictured here: Marrakech, Morocco. Credit: Muriel Gros-Balthazard

Globalization processes, the industrialization of agriculture, and tourism increasingly contribute to changes in the Sahara's oases as well. Besides traditional produce such as dates and olives, tomatoes and other vegetables are increasingly being grown there for hotels and restaurants. This is exacerbated by activities such as oil drilling and uranium mining.

"Over countless generations, traditional local cultivation practices have ensured the protection of biodiversity," explains Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner. "It is therefore crucial to consider biological and cultural diversity together in order to sustainably use as well as protect oases in the Saharaand also globallyin terms of their diversity and importance for humans. After all, around 450 million people in North Africa and Asia live in or near oases. Because of their natural resources, oases are among the most densely populated habitats in the world. And they are more severely threatened than ever before."

"The concept of biocultural diversity supports a holistic and interconnected view of nature and humans," adds Hernandez- Aguero. "Our study is intended as an impetus for a more profound analysis of the mechanisms of biocultural diversity in oases in order to develop the best possible sustainable use and protection concepts for these unique habitats," he concludes.

More information: Laura Tydecks et al, Oases in the Sahara DesertLinking biological and cultural diversity, PLOS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290304 Journal information: PLoS ONE
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Sand bags are placed to stop flooding by the waterfront at Tseung Kwan O in Hong Kong as Super Typhoon Saola barrelled towards China's southern coast.

Tens of millions of people in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other southern Chinese megacities sheltered indoors Friday as Super Typhoon Saola threatened to become the strongest storm to hit the region in decades.

Hundreds of flights were canceled across the region, the start of the school year was delayed in Hong Kong, and the rain-drenched finance hub's streets were deserted.

With a direct hit on Hong Kong possible, authorities warned they may raise the warning level to T10the city's highest alert, which has only been issued 16 times since World War II.

China's national weather office said Friday that Saola "may become the strongest typhoon to make landfall in the Pearl River Delta since 1949", referring to a low-lying region that includes Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong provincehome to tech hub Shenzhen.

By 3 pm (0700 GMT), Saola was 140 kilometers (around 85 miles) east-southeast of Hong Kong, packing sustained winds of 210 km per hour.

Neighboring Shenzhenhome to 17.7 million peopleopened shelters for people to take refuge, and planned to halt public transportation.

Trains in and out of Guangdong will also be suspended from 8 pm to 6 pm Saturday.

"It's going to affect our life," said Wu Wenlai, 43, who runs a restaurant in a Shenzhen suburb which he had to close.

Super Typhoon Saola packed sustained wind speeds at at 210 kilometres per hour as it moved towards Hong Kong.

"My eldest son was planning to fly to Chengdu today for university and his flight has been canceled now," Wu added.

Despite government orders to stop businesses by late afternoon, trade was brisk at Shenzhen's wet markets.

"People are still rushing in to stock up on food last minute," said shop owner Lu Yiming.

Dozens of delivery drivers braved strong winds and rain to reach residents hunkering down indoors.

"I will work until I feel it's too dangerous," delivery driver Chai Jijie, 22, told AFP.

"People don't want to go out but want to stock up on snacks and other goods. There are lots of delivery orders."

Across the mainland border in Hong Kong, the stock market suspended trading, and authorities warned that Saola could skirt within 50 km of the territory from the night to the following morning, causing a storm surge that could lead to "serious flooding".

Map showing the track of Typhoon Saola over the South China Sea, as of September 1.

"The maximum sea level may be similar to that when Mangkhut hit Hong Kong in 2018," the city's weather observatory said.

That was the last time Hong Kong issued a T10 warning. Typhoon Mangkhut left more than 300 people injured in the city, shredding trees and unleashing floods.

In mainland China, it affected more than three million people in the southern provinces, killing six.

More intense typhoons

Southern China is frequently hit in summer and autumn by typhoons that form in the warm oceans east of the Philippines and then travel west.

Climate change has increased the intensity of tropical storms, with more rain and stronger gusts leading to flash floods and coastal damage, experts say.

In Hong Kong, businesses duct-taped glass displays and windows, while shoppers reported that frozen foods and vegetables in supermarkets were cleared out.

Surfers took advantage of the high winds and tackled huge waves generated by the coming typhoon at Hong Kong's beaches.

Surfers took advantage of the high winds and caught the huge waves generated by the coming typhoon at a Hong Kong beach.

In a low-lying fishing village in Lei Yue Mun districtwhich is prone to floodingwater levels rose and seeped into shops, prompting residents to set up sandbags and board up doors.

"I hope we can save the tools needed for our business, like the fridge. We elevated them so the water wouldn't damage the (electronics)," a restaurant operator surnamed Lee told a local TV station.

Experts raised the alarm of climate change upping the intensity of tropical storms, increasing rainfall and generating stronger wind gusts.

Hong Kong's airport authority said more than 300 flights were canceled Friday, though 600 were still scheduled.

Neighboring casino hub Macau also issued its third-highest typhoon warning by mid-afternoon.

Saola displaced thousands earlier this week as it passed the northern Philippines, but no direct casualties have been reported so far.

 2023 AFP
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Local officials from both of the major political parties gathered Friday in Atlantic City to voice their opposition to a proposal that calls for housing migrants at Atlantic City International Airport.
ATLANTIC CITY  The region is not equipped to handle housing migrants at Atlantic City International Airport, local leaders told the federal government Friday.

Officials from both of the major political parties gathered at the Firemans Memorial Plaza in the resort to assail a proposal to move migrants housed in New York City to the airport in Egg Harbor Township.

They said the area does not have enough social services to house migrants, and that doing so at the airport could pose a security risk.

About 20 officials from across Atlantic County stood at the memorial in unison, some taking turns in front of a lectern to offer statements criticizing the proposal.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, said allowing migrants at the airport will impact national security.

This is not a surprise to me, Van Drew said. Those 60,000 people that they talk about, I guarantee you  I will put my name upon it  that there will be individuals who are criminals.

Immigration remains a frontline political issue among Democrats and Republicans. Officials from both parties said while they have compassion for asylum seekers, Atlantic Countys resources arent adequate to handle a large migrant population.

Egg Harbor Township does not have the capacity to handle this, said township Mayor Laura Pfrommer, a Republican. We do not have the social service programs to handle this. Our residents are scared of this.

Atlantic County officials of both parties oppose airport migrant proposal The Atlantic County Mayors Association was planning to meet Thursday to condemn a proposal that calls for housing migrants at Atlantic City International Airport.

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. said he stood in solidarity with the other local officials.

What you see here is people crossing party lines and putting the greater good above the party, said Small, a Democrat.

The condemnation comes in response to a report Wednesday that President Joe Bidens administration recommended the airport as a housing site for about 60,000 asylum seekers in New York City.

We immediately said hell no, said state Sen. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic. From our standpoint, someone in Washington, D.C., was not following this too closely and taking a look at where theyre recommending that this be done.

Van Drew said he was expecting to hold a phone call with the White House in the next few days regarding the proposal. Multiple attempts to reach the White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment were unsuccessful.

Throughout the gathering, officials urged Gov. Phil Murphy to take action to thwart the proposal. Murphy said during a television appearance Thursday that New Jersey being a landing site for New York City migrants wouldnt be feasible.

I dont see any scenario where were going to be able to take in a program in Atlantic City or frankly elsewhere in the state, Murphy said on News 12 New Jerseys Ask Governor Murphy program. You need scale, enormous amounts of federal support, resources that go beyond anything that we can afford. Putting everything else aside, I just dont see it. I would suspect that that will continue to be the case.

Atlantic City International was one of 11 federally owned properties recommended by the Department of Homeland Security to help New York City officials transport migrants amid a plea for more assistance by Mayor Eric Adams, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Officials on Thursday said they had not seen a copy of the letter. Van Drew said he had also not been informed of the specifics of the plan.

The airport property was likely placed on the list because of its size, Van Drew said.

Since the spring of 2022, nearly 100,000 migrants have arrived in New York City seeking shelter. In early August, officials said New York City was sheltering more than 82,000 people, including nearly 30,000 children.

The Atlantic County Mayors Association called a meeting Thursday, drafting a letter and a resolution opposing the plan.

Association President and Absecon Mayor Kim Horton, a Democrat, called on Washington lawmakers to pass immigration reform to handle the surge in migrants during Fridays news conference.

Lawmakers need to work together to make comprehensive immigration policies that protect our towns and communities, Horton said. Im happy that we are collectively up here, Democrats, Republicans, independents. We are a united front.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GALLERY: Atlantic County officials speak out against sheltering migrants
ATLANTIC CITY  Marty Small Sr. first met Sheila Oliver when she was working in the state Legislature.

Oliver, born in Newark, shared a love for Atlantic City. Small, who was a City Council member at the time, recalls Olivers support for the city, which was trying to prevent a state takeover in 2016.

It was this church, both downstairs where we were fighting the MUA and we were fighting the state takeover, and upstairs, here, where the New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus took a stand for the great city of Atlantic City and opposed the takeover, Mayor Small said Thursday in front of about 150 people at Second Baptist Church on Rev. Dr. Isaac Cole Plaza.

Small and then-Mayor Don Guardian went up and down the state looking for allies in their fight.

One of those staunch, strong, unapologetic allies was a saintly woman, Sheila Oliver. And I could never forget when they called the vote on the floor that day, and she stood up and spoke out against the state takeover and really championed Atlantic City, Small said.

She loved this city.

Oliver was remembered Thursday evening as a champion for the city to which she hoped to one day retire. More tributes from the city are forthcoming, officials said.

About 20 speakers got up for a few minutes each to say some words about Oliver. After the 90-minute memorial, refreshments were served downstairs.

Atlantic City memorial service planned for Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver Atlantic City residents will be able to remember the late Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver for her work stabilizing city finances and improving its culture during a memorial service Aug. 31.

Oliver died Aug. 1 at age 71. Her family has not released a cause of death.

She was the first woman of color to be elected to statewide office in New Jersey.

In addition to serving as Gov. Phil 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 was in the Assembly, serving as speaker from 2010 to 2014, before becoming Murphys running mate in 2017.

As commissioner of the DCA, Oliver oversaw the state takeover of Atlantic City under the 2016 Municipal Stabilization and Recovery Act.

Her impact

Councilman Kaleem Shabazz knew Oliver for more than 30 years, working on several projects together across the state. He considered her a colleague, a friend, a sister and always admired her.

Her fight for the city was why Shabazz wanted to hold a memorial service for her at Second Baptist Church, where she helped fight the state takeover.

Olivers impact in the area went beyond the state takeover fight.

Murphy signs $100 million boardwalk bill in Atlantic City Gov. Phil Murphy signed the bipartisan $100 million Boardwalk Preservation Fund Act into law Tuesday at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and said applications for the money are now open.

Brian Jackson, chief operating officer of Stockton Universitys Atlantic City campus, was grateful for Olivers support of the school, which included her role as a legislator in residence for the William J. Hughes Center For Public Policy in 2012 and a speaker at many major university events and groundbreakings over the years.

Atlantic Cape Community College President Barbara Gaba spoke of Olivers role as an inspiration to many Black girls and women in the state.

Although she will be terribly missed, her presence will continue to be felt through her everlasting work, Jackson said.

Hamilton Township Committeewoman Thelma Witherspoon remembered a moment in her life when she was going through some struggles and reached out to Oliver for advice.

She didnt ask me, Are you a Democrat? Are you a Republican? Witherspoon said. She listened to my issue and she made a phone call, and I was forever thankful for that.

State Sen. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, echoed a similar sentiment. He remembered about 2008 in the Assembly, there was a debate about funding for a school in Newark that Republican officials were opposing, and Oliver challenged that opposition.

We live in an era thats divisive, partisan. But things should not be about that, Polistina said. And you need to understand what you are talking about, other peoples experiences, what theyve dealt with on a daily basis. She knew it. And I think that speaks to her being not about party, not about political affiliation, not any of that stuff. Sheila Oliver, at the end of the day, was about people.

Oliver was an advocate for social justice and stood up for immigrant rights, said Bert Lopez, president of the Hispanic Association of Atlantic County.

He recalled when Oliver wanted to hold a Latino town hall in the city several years ago. Lopez could tell Oliver was all in, and that the town hall wasnt a press-grabbing moment.

She especially valued the diversity, and she really embraced all cultures, Lopez said. She did walk the talk, and to her, everyone did matter.

A permanent home

Oliver had said several times in interviews that she had hoped to retire to Atlantic City.

Though she never got that chance, her memory will continue to live on in the resort. Toward the end of Thursdays memorial service, Shabazz and city officials guaranteed that.

Shabazz, Small and Council President Aaron Sporty Randolph announced that a mural in Olivers honor will be painted somewhere in the city. Small also has an announcement scheduled for Sept. 29 for another tribute to Oliver.

She had a tremendous impact on Atlantic City on a whole lot of levels, Shabazz said prior to the memorial. On a governmental level, she was our partner and colleague, a trusted advocate for the city of Atlantic City. On a community level, she touched every community. She fought for adversity, inclusion and equity. On an inspirational level, she inspired many young women of color.

Charles Oliver, nephew of the late lieutenant governor, expressed gratitude toward the city and state officials.

Oftentimes when you heard her speak about the city of Atlantic City, she would say we, Charles Oliver said. She felt a part of the city, and I really appreciate you guys for embracing her. We still, as a family, are processing this, and it will take some time.

GALLERY: Atlantic City holds memorial for late Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver
Tomato Festival on Saturday: The West Cape May Tomato Festival will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in Backyard Park, 732 Broadway, behind the volunteer firehouse. The event is free to attend. There will be live music, games, farm-fresh produce, food vendors and craft vendors. It also will be pet-friendly. For more information, visit westcapemay.us or email festivals@westcapemay.us.

Holgate wildlife area reopens: The Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge will reopen part of the Holgate Wilderness Area beginning Friday. The southern tip of the Holgate peninsula on Long Beach Island will remain closed until nesting shorebirds have completely fledged, according to a news release from the refuge. Signage and markers will be placed to identify the closure.

The refuge Clamming Trail will open Friday, which allows foot access to bayside shellfishing grounds in state-owned waters along the western edge of the peninsula. Beach driving requires a permit, obtainable by calling Long Beach Township at 609-494-3322. Pets and campfires are not permitted.

Cape May to send off summer: Cape May will kick off Labor Day weekend with the Rich Reinhart Junior Clamshell Pitching Tournament on Friday at Windsor Beach across from Congress Hall. Registration begins at 11 a.m., and the tournament starts at noon. The tournament is free and open to boys and girls in two age groups: 6 to 11 and 12 to 17.

The citys annual Summer Send Off concert will happen Sunday on the deck of Convention Hall. This years lineup features Gordon Vincent at 5:30 p.m. and The Wet Bandits from 7 to 9 p.m. Brendan Schaffer will demonstrate his sand sculpture skills at 4 p.m. The movie Jaws will be screened on the beach immediately following the Summer Send Off concert Sunday.

Additionally, free concerts will be held in Rotary Park at 400 Lafayette St. Bring a blanket or chair, as seating is limited. Shows begin at 7 p.m. The weekend lineup is as follows: Friday, Cheezy & The Crackers; Saturday, Devin Lyn & Whiskey Tango Foxtrot; Sunday, John Walter Cape Community Band; Monday, Originaire.

For more information, visit capemaycity.com or call 609-884-9565.

Boys & Girls Club names artist in residence: Students ages 13-18 will work with film composer, concert pianist and professional musician Jerry Compere as the first artist in residence for the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City. Classes in music composition, production, singing and more will start the week of Sept. 11.

The Boys & Girls Club is seeking donations to fund the instruments and equipment needed for the program. Email Sharon DAngio at sdangios@acbgc.org for more information.

Compere brings more than 25 years of performing and producing experience to the club. At 14, he won first place in the European International Piano Competition, where he competed against 384 other pianists. He is an alumnus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where he earned his bachelors degree in music education with a principal study in piano performance/pedagogy. Compere has served as a professors assistant to Richard Alston at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He also won a 2021 Peabody Award for his film score to Cops and Robbers, currently on Netflix. He also has played for artists such as Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Ginuwine.

At this stage of my career of over 25 years of performing, producing, orchestrating and teaching music education, my focus is to continue to help the next generation discover, develop and maximize their musical talents in ways they never imagined, Compere said in a news release. I want to equip them to take up space and take advantage of opportunities using their creative skills and abilities.

Margate 9/11 ceremony: The Margate Fire Department will host a 9/11 remembrance ceremony at 9 a.m. Sept. 11 at the Fire Department at Washington and Ventnor avenues.

Upper Township 9/11 ceremony: A Patriot Day service will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 at Sgt. William R. Godfrey Memorial Park, 1731 Route 9 at Osprey Point in Upper Township.

James Joyce, an Osprey Point resident and U.S. Army veteran, will serve as host. A flag honoring Robert Hilly, an Osprey Point resident and U.S. Army veteran, will be presented to the community. The Upper Township Rescue Squad and fire companies will fly a huge American flag from an aerial ladder truck. Members of American Legion Post 239 of Tuckahoe will place a wreath honoring the fallen victims followed by the playing of taps. Cape May resident Jim Offner will be the guest vocalist. Mayor Jay Newman will speak.

If case of inclement weather, the service will be held in the Osprey Point Clubhouse.

Stockton to host writing getaway: Murphy Writing of Stockton University will host the 30th annual Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway from Jan. 12 to 15 at Seaview, a Dolce Hotel in Galloway Township. Beginning and experienced writers will receive craft discussion, writing prompts, writing time, feedback, motivation and inspiration. The program is accepting registrations from those who are interested in writing novels and short stories, plays, nonfiction, memoir, songwriting or poetry. Writers of all levels are welcome.

The sliding scale tuition between $535 and $735 includes a 15-hour writing workshop and several meals. More than 20 scholarship seats will be awarded to first-time participants. A room package to stay on site for the weekend can be added at an additional cost. Attendees also can participate in open mics, tutorials, networking, sunrise yoga, a red carpet event and dancing at the Getaway Disco.

South Jersey teachers whose schools are part of Stocktons Educational Technology Training Center may be able to attend the Winter Getaway using their schools ETTC credits.

For more information, visit stockton.edu/wintergetaway or call 609-626-3594.
China's top legislator meets President of Benin

Xinhua) 15:37, September 01, 2023

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, met with President of the Republic of Benin, Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon, in Beijing on Friday.

Zhao said that China and Benin enjoy long-standing and profound friendship. In recent years, under the leadership of two heads of state, China-Benin relations have maintained a good momentum of development.

Noting that President Talon is invited to attend the Global Trade in Services Summit on Saturday, Zhao said the two countries attach great importance to practical cooperation and their bilateral relations will surely reach a new level.

Zhao introduced the concept and practice of whole-process people's democracy in China, saying that democracy comes in many forms, and it is impossible for it to be the same everywhere.

The NPC of China is willing to strengthen exchanges with the National Assembly of Benin, share experience in democracy-building and the rule of law, and provide sound legal guarantees for bilateral practical cooperation, said Zhao.

Talon said China's achievements have attracted worldwide attention and set an example for developing countries around the world. Benin is willing to learn from China's successful experience, explore a democratic system and development model suited to its own reality, deepen cooperation with China comprehensively, and push for deeper and more solid bilateral relations.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
It was decided to develop additional infrastructure at the Chandani Chowk flyover in a joint meeting of various government agencies at the roundabout on Friday.

Civic and NHAI officials, former corporators and local citizens took part in the meeting held between 9:30 am and 12 noon. Mirror has been consistently highlighting the progress of the project. In its exclusive report 'Death lurking on crazy roundabout'(Aug 19, 2023), Mirror brought to the notice of the agencies concerned the laxities such as the absence of foot-overbridges (FOBs), zebra crossings, rainwater drains and confusing signages, which put pedestrians and commuters at risk at the roundabout.

The flyover project, built at a cost of Rs 865 crore, comprises eight branches of around 16.9 km length, four bridges and two underpasses. It was inaugurated by Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on August 12, 2023.

A PMPML bus met with an accident recently at the junction, though no one was injured (FILE PHOTO)

As per the instructions issued by district guardian minister Chandrakant Patil, former corporator Dilip Vede Patil, city engineer Prashant Waghmare, along with officials of NHAI, NCC and the PMC building department, made a statement after a spot inspection.

Speaking to Mirror, former corporator Dilip Vede Patil said, Various pending issues and action to be taken were discussed in the meeting. The primary concern is foot-overbridges at a couple of spots; other issues are regarding parking, ladies toilets, PMPML bus stop locations, etc.

He added, For two-and-a-half hours, officials scrutinised the plan for the new amenities and conducted a site inspection of the entire area. A statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj will also be built at the roundabout. Responsibilities will be divided between the PMC and the NHAI.

FILE PHOTOS

NHAI engineer Bharat Todkari told Mirror, City engineer Prashant Waghmare, NHAI Pune project director Sanjay Kadam and other officials were present in the meeting. Issues faced by pedestrians, provisions for service roads, street lights, parking space for buses and city bus stops were discussed. The PMC and the NHAI will work in cooperation to resolve the issues.

He added, The proposal for a foot-overbridge has been submitted to the Central government. A few bus stops are already there, one on the Mumbai lane and another on the Pune-Satara lane.

Also, ladies toilets will be constructed near the bus stops. One is there on the Mumbai side and one will come up on the Satara side. Encroachments obstructing the traffic flow and pedestrians along the highway will be removed. Street lights have been installed all along the ramps. Missing sign boards have been replaced too, he said.

PMC transport and road department planner Nikhil Mijar told Mirror, The new amenities are at the planning stage. Estimates will have to be prepared and expenditures of the PMC and NHAI will be ascertained. The streamlining will take 2-3 months.

He added, A theme-based park and memorial on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is in the pipeline. The landscape of open spaces, foot-overbridges, footpaths, signages and CCTV cameras will be installed. There is an amenity space adjacent to the service road, where the CNG station will be replaced with a bus reservation centre.

Following demands were accepted in the meeting.

 A foot-overbridge from Chandani Chowk to Bavdhan and a footpath will be built. There is currently no facility to cross the highway

 Six bus stops, along with all amenities will be developed at Chandani Chowk

 Widening of road along Bavdhan and NDA circles

 Development of parking lots on reserved spaces owned by PMC

 A tourist spot will be built on a site adjacent to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial

 Construction of accessible toilets for women and senior citizens
Reaching the age of 90, 95 or 100, known as exceptional longevity, was more likely for women who maintained their body weight after age 60, according to a study.

Older women who sustained a stable weight were 1.2 to 2 times more likely to achieve longevity compared to those who experienced a weight loss of 5 per cent or more, said researchers from the University of California, San Diego.

In the study, published online in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, researchers investigated the associations of weight changes later in life with exceptional longevity among 54,437 postmenopausal women.

Throughout the follow up period, 30,647, or 56 per cent of the participants, survived to the age of 90 or beyond.

Women who lost at least 5 per cent weight were less likely to achieve longevity compared to those who achieved stable weight.

For example, women who unintentionally lost weight were 51 per cent less likely to survive to the age of 90.

However, gaining 5 per cent or more weight, compared to stable weight, was not associated with exceptional longevity.

Our findings support stable weight as a goal for longevity in older women, said first author Aladdin H. Shadyab, Associate Professor at UC San Diego.

If ageing women find themselves losing weight when they are not trying to lose weight, this could be a warning sign of ill health and a predictor of decreased longevity.

The findings suggest that general recommendations for weight loss in older women may not help them live longer. Nevertheless, the authors caution that women should heed medical advice if moderate weight loss is recommended to improve their health or quality of life.
Local school districts are receiving thousands of dollars in funds through Illinois' evidence-based funding formula.

State Sen. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, announced that 23 schools across western Illinois received thousands in funds, totaling over $4 million. The funding comes from the evidence-based funding formula which was an overhaul of the way the state funds K-12 education.

Moline-Coal Valley School District 40 received a little over $1.1 million  the most funds out of the 23 schools.

East Moline School district 37 received $171,819; Rock Island-Milan School District 41 $558,724; Silvis School District 34 $96,356; and United Township High School District 30 $128,930.

The funding calculates the needs of individual school districts and bases its state revenue on those needs. It takes into account a district's total enrollment, poverty rate, and the number of special education of English language learners, among other factors.

The Illinois State Board of Educations evidence-based funding formula received an increase of $350 million for the states K-12 public schools in Illinois' fiscal year 2024 budget.
Rock Island is restoring abandoned houses to address the affordable housing demand.

An open house was held at 1830 32nd St. on Thursday as part of the city's Homestead Program. The newly renovated home was the second house the city's community and economic development department has renovated and put back on the market. The Homestead Program aims to renovate abandoned or dilapidated houses and put them back on the market for an individual or family.

Community Economic Development Miles Brainard said it is the pilot of a program that staff from the community development team proposed to the city council. The program uses federal money to purchase and fix up dilapidated houses before reselling them.

"The rough idea for the proposed program is that you take a house that's been abandoned, you do a full gut rehab, and you sell it to a low to moderate-income family or individual and you, in that way, create an affordable unit," Brainard said.

The other part of the program is to inspire the revitalization of the whole neighborhood even if it is someone just redoing their porch, putting in new windows or fixing the yard. The idea, Brainard said, is to show that there is hope a positive change can be made in old houses that need a little extra love and care.

The house was evaluated to see if anything could have been saved but it needed to be fully rehabbed.

"In this case, it made sense to just cut the whole thing down to the studs and redo everything," Brainard said.

An initial inspection was done to help create a game plan for the house as they moved forward with the renovation, Brainard said. Once the plan was figured out, the next step was to put together the scope of work with cost estimates and take it to the council for approval. Once it was approved by the council, the department went out to bid for companies to help with renovating it.

Renovations included repainting the walls a pristine white, new hardwood flooring, shower, sinks, toilet and cabinets. It also included fixing the outside, such as trimming or removing any trees or plants that needed to go.

Brainard said it took about six months to gut and rehab the home. The city is working with a realtor to list the home before the weekend. The house was appraised at about $140,000 but the city is listing it for about $130,000.

They landed on $130,000 based on the amount of grant money the city put into the house and the appraisal.

The project was funded through two different grants  $40,000 came from the Illinois Housing Development Authority through a grant called Strong Communities that is used for house renovation projects and $120,000 came from the Community Development Block Grant, Brainard said.

This is the second home within the past year that the city has purchased, renovated, and sold. The first pilot project was at 1435 15th Ave., which was sold about a year ago.

Brainard said they hope to do one to two houses a year.

"These houses have good bones  they just need a facelift," Brainard said. "We hope that projects like this one really go to show that, you know, it's not a bad idea to buy a house in Rock Island."

Those interested in the property and wanting to put in an offer at the newly renovated home can contact the Community and Economic Development Department's Community Development Manager Nichole Mata at mata.nichole@rigov.org or at 309-732-2907.

Moline Community Development Manager K.J. Whitley said staff at Moline is hoping to have a similar program to address Moline's housing needs. Staff is currently working on a proposal to bring to city council in September, Whitley said, but it still needs to go through citizen participation and the Citizen's Advisory Council on Urban Policy before it heads to council members.

Whitley said Moline's proposal also is looking to rehab at least two homes a year and funds are more than likely to come from grants through the Illinois Housing Development Authority and the city's Community Development Block Grant.

"Creating more affordable housing is the goal for the city of Moline," said Whitley.

Moline's program also would be geared toward moderate and low-income families or individuals looking to purchase a home.

Close Looking over the new furnace and water heater Nicole Mata, Community Development Manager, left, Ashley Smith, Tara Osborne and K.J. Whitley in the basement at 1830 32nd street in Rock Island. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom house, built in 1923, was purchased by the City at tax auction for $909. Using funds from the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) and Illinois Housing Development Authority (IDHA), the Citys Community and Economic Development Department spent $148,000 to gut and completely renovate the interior, install a new roof, new siding, lead-free pipes, high efficiency air system, water heater and landscaping. The kitchen of the renovated house at 1830 32nd street in Rock Island. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house Thursday showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The one bathroom home that the City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom house, built in 1923, was purchased by the City at tax auction for $909. Using funds from the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) and Illinois Housing Development Authority (IDHA), the Citys Community and Economic Development Department spent $148,000 to gut and completely renovate the interior, install a new roof, new siding, lead-free pipes, high efficiency air system, water heater and landscaping. Rock Island City Manager Todd Thompson, left, Miles Brainard, Community Economic Development Director City of Rock Island and Nichole Mata Community Development Manager in side the dining room area at the newly renovated home at 1830 32nd street in Rock Island. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom house, built in 1923, was purchased by the City at tax auction for $909. Using funds from the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) and Illinois Housing Development Authority (IDHA), the Citys Community and Economic Development Department spent $148,000 to gut and completely renovate the interior, install a new roof, new siding, lead-free pipes, high efficiency air system, water heater and landscaping. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. One of the two bedrooms at the renovated house at 1830 32nd street in Rock Island. City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. Rock Island renovates home through Homestead Program Looking over the new furnace and water heater Nicole Mata, Community Development Manager, left, Ashley Smith, Tara Osborne and K.J. Whitley in the basement at 1830 32nd street in Rock Island. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom house, built in 1923, was purchased by the City at tax auction for $909. Using funds from the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) and Illinois Housing Development Authority (IDHA), the Citys Community and Economic Development Department spent $148,000 to gut and completely renovate the interior, install a new roof, new siding, lead-free pipes, high efficiency air system, water heater and landscaping. The kitchen of the renovated house at 1830 32nd street in Rock Island. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house Thursday showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The one bathroom home that the City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom house, built in 1923, was purchased by the City at tax auction for $909. Using funds from the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) and Illinois Housing Development Authority (IDHA), the Citys Community and Economic Development Department spent $148,000 to gut and completely renovate the interior, install a new roof, new siding, lead-free pipes, high efficiency air system, water heater and landscaping. Rock Island City Manager Todd Thompson, left, Miles Brainard, Community Economic Development Director City of Rock Island and Nichole Mata Community Development Manager in side the dining room area at the newly renovated home at 1830 32nd street in Rock Island. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom house, built in 1923, was purchased by the City at tax auction for $909. Using funds from the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) and Illinois Housing Development Authority (IDHA), the Citys Community and Economic Development Department spent $148,000 to gut and completely renovate the interior, install a new roof, new siding, lead-free pipes, high efficiency air system, water heater and landscaping. The City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31. One of the two bedrooms at the renovated house at 1830 32nd street in Rock Island. City of Rock Island hosted an open house showing the renovation of an abandoned property as part of the Citys Homestead Program. The public was able to view the house at 1830 32nd St., on Thursday, Aug. 31.
Linn County and city of Davenport officials say they have no plans to repeal or amend bans on conversion therapy  the discredited attempt to change an individuals sexual orientation or gender identity  in the face of potential threatened litigation.

The Waterloo City Council early last week repealed that city's ban under threat of a lawsuit by a group advancing religious freedom. That leaves only two bans in place in Iowa  Linn County, which applies to rural areas in the county, and Davenport.

The Waterloo City Council voted Aug. 21 to remove its restrictions after Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian ministry and law firm, warned in a letter June 30 that it would take further action if the city did not repeal the ordinance, which was enacted in May.

The group argued the ordinance infringes on the constitutional rights of counselors and patients under the First Amendment to choose the counsel of their choice, free of political censorship. It said it was acting on behalf of a therapist in Waterloo who was concerned about the impact of the ordinance on the counseling practice and clients, said Mat Staver, founder and chair of Liberty Counsel.

Neither Linn County nor Davenport have received letters or emails from Liberty Counsel regarding their conversion therapy ordinances.

There has not been any discussion about repealing, amending or reviewing Linn Countys ordinance, county Communications Director Joi Alexander said in an email to The Gazette. At this time, there are no plans for it to become a discussion item at a Board of Supervisors meeting.

Staver said Liberty Counsel is in process of reviewing both ordinances. We may be in the process of doing something, he said. I cant say definitively that we are, but I wouldnt rule it out.

Such therapy  also called reparative therapy  has been discredited and is opposed by major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, citing research that shows the practice leads to increased risk of suicide and depression.

So-called conversion therapy refers to any form of interventions which attempt to change an individuals sexual orientation, sexual behaviors or gender identity. Underlying these therapies is the assumption that homosexuality and gender nonconformity are mental disorders and that sexual orientation and gender identity can be changed, according to the AMA. This assumption is not based on medical or scientific evidence. Professional consensus rejects pathologizing homosexuality and gender nonconformity and evidence does not support the efficacy of changing sexual orientation.

Staver contends peer-reviewed studies demonstrating the harms of conversion therapy with gender minority youth is lacking  and that no ethical standards exist preventing the type of counseling, absent condemnations from medical organizations.

A September 2019 study of 27,000 transgender individuals published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that those who were exposed to gender identity conversion efforts before age 10 were four times more likely to report a suicide attempt in their lifetime versus trans people who were never subjected to such efforts.

According to the UCLA Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, as of 2019, almost 700,000 LGBTQ adults in the United States had received conversion therapy, and an estimated 57,000 youths will receive change efforts from religious or health-care clinicians before they turn 18 years old.

Advocates worry of deteriorating rights

Laws prohibiting mental health professionals from attempting to change a minors sexual orientation or gender identity have been passed in 22 states and Washington, D.C., according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ rights think tank. In 13 states, some municipalities have adopted their own provisions.

Davenport passed an ordinance in 2020 barring licensed medical or mental health professionals in that city from providing or advertising conversion therapies to minors.

The Linn County supervisors passed a similar ban in June 2022. The measure does not apply to cities in the county. It prohibits any efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity with minors, including conversion and reparative therapy. Officials said they are unaware of anyone practicing the therapy in unincorporated Linn County.

Iowa Safe Schools, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, said the issue of conversion therapy was brought to its attention by students, including LGBTQ groups in the Linn-Mar school district in Marion.

In Waterloo, city council member Jonathan Grieder proposed the ban after he said he had heard concerns about conversion therapy happening in the area, and worked with Iowa Safe Schools to draft an ordinance after watching statewide efforts fail.

Republican Rep. Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton joined Democrats in 2020 to introduce a bill that would have banned health-care providers from administering conversion therapy to minors. It provided an exemption for religious groups, parents and grandparents. But some Christian conservatives said it still would discriminate against particular viewpoints about sexual orientation. The bill failed to make it out of subcommittee.

Meanwhile, Iowa lawmakers have passed and Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed bills into law to prohibit teachers from raising gender identity and sexual orientation issues with students through grade six, to restrict the restrooms transgender students can use and to ban gender-affirming care like puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors.

Damian Thompson, public policy director at Iowa Safe Schools, condemned conservative politicians, both in Iowa and at the national level, who he said have turned LGTBQ rights into a political hot-button issue that jeopardizes the safety of transgender and gender-fluid youth in schools and communities.

In every municipality we have worked with to pass ordinances, we have credible allegations of (conversion therapy being practiced) or victims of conversion therapy that come forward, Thompson said.

Despite the legal threat by Liberty Counsel, Thompson argues the bans have been extensively vetted by city and county attorneys, as well as those retained by Iowa Safe Schools, to align with state or federal law and Iowa home rule. The latter allows local governments authority over local matters unless specifically prohibited by state law.

Courts strike down bans in Florida

Staver contends local governments are preempted from regulating counseling practices by the state, which oversees the licensing and discipline of mental health professionals.

Doctors and counselors are regulated uniformly across the state. These are unenforceable laws, Staver said. He pointed to a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invoked free speech protections to block a California law that required anti-abortion centers to provide information about abortion to patients.

In 2020, a panel of three federal judges in Florida relied in part on that 2018 ruling and became the first federal appeals court to block ordinances in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County that banned conversion therapy. Liberty Counsel represents the two therapists who won that case.

And the city of Tampa in April said it planned to pay Liberty Counsel $950,000 to settle a lawsuit over its failed attempt to ban conversion therapy on minors.

A federal appeals court in February affirmed a 2019 lower court ruling that struck down Tampa's ordinance. The U.S. District Court ruled the ban interferes with the First Amendment rights of the counselors and patients, and was invalid because only the state legislature has the authority to regulate mental health professionals.

Linn County Supervisor Louis Zumbach, a Republican, voted against the ban last year. Zumbach said he continues to believe the issue is one best left to the Iowa Legislature.

Despite that, Zumbach said he does not intend to call to a repeal unless theres litigation, anticipating the political makeup of the board will only lead to the same outcome  a 2-1 vote  that led to the bans passage.

The Associated Press and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier contributed to this report
Another heat wave is headed for Iowa, this time occurring over Labor Day Weekend. High temperature records could be tied or broken in spots. Find out how hot it will get each day and how bad the humidity will be in our latest forecast video.
Whats your favorite Lady A song? The award-winning country band might play it just for you at their concert in Deadwood.

Rocksino by Hard Rock will present Lady A at Outlaw Square at 8 p.m. Saturday. The concert in Deadwood is part of Lady As Request Line Tour, and each show is spontaneous and interactive. Described as a celebration between the band and their fans, the Request Line Tour invites fans to let Lady A know what they want to hear performed live.

Over the past year, planning this tour has kept me awake countless nights dreaming up how we could show the fans that weve been profoundly impacted by them, said band member Hillary Scott. This tour is about our fans connection to these lyrics and melodies. Its about how we all love and want to be loved. I believe live music communicates that better than most anything else. I hope every person who steps foot in one of our shows feels seen, feels part of this moment that well never forget and knows they are welcome.

The tour and each concert along the way are unique. Lady A has been performing at theaters and smaller outdoor venues instead of larger arenas, and theyve set up ways for fans to communicate with the band.

We started [this tour] in April. Weve been talking about this idea for a number of years. Some of those big stages you get up there and do your thing, said band member Dave Haywood.

In contrast, the set list for the Deadwood concert  and each show on the 21-stop tour  is crafted specifically to incorporate song requests that fans submit via Instagram or by calling the bands voicemail number on their Instagram account.

Its just like calling your moms voicemail, Haywood said. Leave a message with what show youre coming to and what song you want to hear. Some people share stories like we walked down the aisle to this song or this song helped me get through a rough patch.

I get up every morning and go to the Instagram messages, and people leave us voicemail, and we craft our songs based on what we hear from fans, Haywood said. If we know theyre coming to that show, well try to call them out and say hi to them. Each night is different, so for us as performers its really fulfilling.

Scott, Haywood and Charles Kelley formed Lady A 17 year ago, and the trio enjoys hearing the requests from fans that span the bands history. Haywood said fans often request ballads about relationships, and songs such as Hello World that are inspirational.

Its fun for us to reach back in our catalog when fans request older songs, Haywood said. The stories weve heard and read through the requests are the reason we do what we do. Weve been deeply touched.

Theres a song When Youve Got a Good Thing and a lot of people played it at their wedding. Thats been a common thing weve heard, he said. Its kind of all over the board. We played one [last month] we havent played since 2007. Its organic, its spontaneous and it keeps us on our toes as artists, which is a lot of fun.

We have a lot of fun, high-energy moments and those moments I feel are inspiring and impactful. The spontaneity of what were cultivating for this tour is unique, Haywood said. Theres definitely moments that happen. We even take requests from the audience. Somebody will yell Johnny Cash and we played Jackson the other night.

Its fun songs and serious songs and everything in between. We try to check all the boxes, he said.

Fans can expect some new music in the mix. As Lady A prepares to release new songs, the band recently gave listeners a sneak peek at some of it, sharing clips on Instagram for fan feedback.

We have some new music were getting ready to put out in the next few months. Its fun to test [those songs] out live, Haywood said. Weve been doing two or three new ones in a show just to get a feel for them and for us to get them practiced, as well.

We never stop writing. We write music in perpetuity. Its always ongoing. Theres song ideas I have in my phone right now, he said.

Some of the bands biggest hits will be part of the show, too, such as its nine-time platinum hit Need You Now. The Recording Industry Association of America recently surprised Lady A with Diamond certification for Need You Now, marking only the fifth time a country song has reached the benchmark and is the highest certified single by a country group.

Lady A also has won CMA Awards Vocal Group of the Year trophies three consecutive years, as well as five Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Peoples Choice Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and a Tony Award.

Were in a season of gratitude as a band. We feel lucky to say weve been a band for 17 years and we feel grateful to have a catalogue of music that impacted people, and we dont take that for granted, Haywood said. Its been a wild journey for 17 years to still be doing this. Were still rocking and rolling.

Lady As concert this weekend is the bands first time performing in Deadwood, though the band has played in Rapid City and Sioux Falls before. Another first is that the band members plan to visit Mount Rushmore before their concert, Haywood said.

Were looking forward to it. Itll be awesome. I love that area. Its a beautiful area, Haywood said. Its fun to actually enjoy parts of the area [where were touring.] Thats a unique advantage to being in South Dakota. For us as a band, thats really fun.

Go to rocksino.hardrock.com/deadwood/events/lady-a for tickets to Lady As Deadwood concert.
Between a school board work session in the press box at Howard Wood Field, to a regular school board meeting at the Instructional Planning Center, Sioux Falls School Districts top administrators and school board members had a busy day on Monday.

Both meetings were chock full of newsworthy nuggets for students, parents, teachers and taxpayers alike in the district.

Here are some of the things you should know.

Chronic absenteeism grant

The district announced it was awarded a $1.5 million, three-year grant from the South Dakota Department of Education to address chronic absenteeism. The Argus Leader last reported on the districts grant application two months ago.

Research has shown the six most effective methods for improving student attendance include one-to-one family and student relationships, transportation provisions, course work recovery, access to mental health support, student involvement and personal communication.

Focus will be put on Garfield, Hawthorne, Hayward and Terry Redlin elementary schools, as well as George McGovern and Whittier middle schools, with this grant. The district has hired six attendance liaisons at those schools: Reginald Burkette, Brandi Everette, Jessica Walton, Rochelle Holloway, Kristal Shoffeitt and Suzannah Reaves, respectively.

Home visits, routine texts, connections to community resources, transportation and advertising and communications strategies are also being implemented to work on this issue.

Its really hard to learn if youre not in school, board president Carly Reiter said. Its not the same as getting a worksheet to take home. Teachers are so important in that role.

School safety update

District safety coordinator Dave Osterquist presented the board with the districts safe and secure schools plan for the year, including updates on the districts use of new programs like Safe2Say, comprehensive school threat assessment guidelines, an application for a grant to upgrade security at Howard Wood Field, and more.

Ongoing safety measures include drills, exercises, radio network, school resource officers, visitor management, secured facilities, video cameras and notification systems.

Some school administrators are also piloting a new field-testing app on their phones that they can use to pull up each schools safety plan as needed.

As a result of an October 2022 swatting call at Lincoln High School, Osterquist and other district stakeholders came up with a secure classroom protocol that will allow learning to continue in classrooms even if theres a distraction in the hallway, he explained.

Gymnastics equipment to be sold

The school districts old gymnastics equipment will be sold next month as its no longer necessary, useful or suitable for school purposes, according to a resolution adopted by the school board Monday night.

Pending sale of the equipment follows the boards decision in July to officially adopt the districts recommendation of cutting the gymnastics program from the budget.

The equipment has been appraised by 12 different people. Notice of sale of the property will be prepared by district business manager Todd Vik, and sealed bids for the property are due to the district by 11 a.m. Sept. 11.

Lunch update

All students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch will get free school lunch this school year, district business manager Todd Vik explained during a school board work session on Monday afternoon.

Vik said this is the first year the district has tried this new approach to feeding students and will serve as a kind of pilot program to see how its received.

This story originally appeared in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
A 46-year-old Rapid City man appeared in Pennington County Court Friday afternoon for his arraignment on allegations he threatened, beat and raped woman to whom he was a stranger.

Damon Mesteth appeared before Circuit Court Judge Matt Brown on charges of second-degree rape, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and interference with emergency communication.

Brown entered not guilty pleas on Mesteth's behalf.

The alleged rape occurred on July 22 in Rapid City. Deputy Pennington County States Attorney Brandy Rhead told a magistrate judge at Mesteth's initial appearance and bond hearing that he held a screwdriver to the woman's throat, raped her and punched her in the face until she "saw black."

The state also alleged Mesteth stopped the woman from calling for help.

Second-degree rape  which involves the use of force  is the most severe form of rape against an adult in South Dakota. It is class 1 felony with a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison and up to a $50,000 fine.

Aggravated assault is a class 3 felony with a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison and up to a $30,000 fine.

Interference with emergency communication is a class 1 misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of one year in the county jail and up to a $2,000 fine.

The state filed a document showing a felony DUI conviction against Mesteth from 2010.

If he is convicted on the new charges and the states proves he was in fact convicted of a past felony, the rape count penalty would increase to a maximum of life in prison and up to a $50,000 fine. The aggravated assault penalty would increase to a maximum of 20 years in prison and up to a $20,000 fine.

Brown read Mesteth his rights at the hearing and informed him of the potential penalties upon conviction. Mesteth acknowledged he understood his rights and the charges.

The court set a status hearing for 3 p.m. on Oct. 6. Mesteth's bond is currently set at $100,000 cash only.
One year and one day since 61-year-old Shirley Bartolotta was found dead in her home in Valley Village Mobile Home Park in Box Elder, a 48-year-old man admitted to beating her to death.

Jamie Prince entered a guilty but mentally ill plea to first-degree manslaughter Friday morning before Pennington County Circuit Court Judge Matt Brown. He admitted to killing Bartolotta on Aug. 31, 2022 with his bare hands in the heat of passion and in a cruel and unusual manner.

Prince was originally charged with first-degree murder after his arrest in September 2022, according to previous reports.

As part of the plea agreement, the state agreed to recommend not more than 40 years in prison. First-degree manslaughter has a statutory maximum of life in prison.

The judge is not required by law to stay within the limits on sentencing agreed upon in a plea agreement, but in this case, Brown agreed to bound himself to the agreement and stated he would not sentence Prince to more than 40 years.

Prince's defense still has the opportunity to ask for a sentence less than the state's recommendation. His defense attorney, Matt Laidlaw, said he plans to do so.

In order for Prince to enter a guilty but mentally ill plea, he underwent an evaluation by a doctor who determined he was mentally ill at the time he killed Bartolotta.

Prince is still subject to the same potential punishment as someone who is not mentally ill. However, the Department of Corrections could transfer him to a Department of Social Services facility if it's needed for treatment.

Deputy Pennington County State's Attorney Jason Thomas read the factual basis for Prince's plea, which provides the essential facts Prince admitted to.

The document stated Prince used his fists and hands to beat Bartolotta, and the assault killed her. Afterwards, Prince called his father and an ex-girlfriend. He admitted to killing Bartolotta and expressed remorse.

Prince fidgeted with his hands and looked down as he heard Thomas read the document aloud.

Bartolotta's brother, Paul Fiddler, spoke after Prince entered his plea. He read from a document he wrote the day before the hearing  the one-year anniversary of his sister's death.

"Today is the last day I got to hear my sister's voice," he read, adding that the day of the hearing is the day he showed up to her residence hoping it wasn't his sister who was dead.

He described her as "a caretaker" with a "soul-healing laugh."

Fiddler said he lost his father and a brother early in life, and another brother later on. He said he would "never understand" why Prince thought it was his place to take another sibling from the family.

He said he understood the agreement the state made to not recommend more than 40 years, but he said Prince doesn't deserve to live a healthy life when he "stripped that of an individual who deserved that and so much more."

Prince's sentencing is scheduled before Judge Brown at 9 a.m. on Dec. 12.

Thomas said he anticipates five people will speak at the hearing on behalf of Bartolotta.
As political apprehension over the U.S.-China relationship rises, South Dakota farmers find themselves forced to think more globally and find a way to support American national security interests while protecting their own need to make a living.

On the one hand, South Dakota farmers want to maintain their industrys existing relationship with China, which represents the states largest international importer of South Dakota agricultural products.

In 2022, China spent roughly $1.4 billion a year to purchase soybeans, dairy products and meat raised in the Rushmore State.

Pork is their main protein source, and theyre very large consumers of pork, so were very concerned about the trade relationship we have with them, said Glenn Muller, director of the South Dakota Pork Producers Council. China is one of our major markets we look to, along with Japan and Mexico, so were very concerned about maintaining those markets.

At the same time, farmers are aware of the increasingly strong rhetoric among U.S. government officials to keep America safe from Chinese interventions, be it from spy balloons floating across the skies, by social media platforms like TikTok, through threat of cyber attacks and even potential military aggression.

Farmers who want to keep a strong trade relationship with China also support efforts by national and state politicians to talk tough and increase restrictions on the ability of the communist country to buy land, run businesses or make other inroads into American life, commerce and security.

We realize our governments are having issues, real national security issues, and we totally understand that those need to be addressed, said Jerry Schmitz, director of the South Dakota Soybean Association.

Soybean growers, whose product is the top commodity shipped from South Dakota to China each year with a value of $1.2 billion, are trying to toe a fine line in supporting their government while also feeding the world  and their own families at home, he said.

We certainly need to protect our country first. However, were also selling a product to feed Chinas people, and we see that people are different from their government, Schmitz said.

Billions of dollars in play

Overall, South Dakota exports about $6.7 billion worth of goods and services to foreign countries each year, about $5 billion of which is from agricultural products.

China remains a critical market for numerous South Dakota goods and services, serving as the top export destination for goods produced in the state and as the third-largest importer of services originating in the state, according to the U.S.-China Business Council.

In 2022, about 28% of goods produced in South Dakota were sold to China, and 5% of global services exports headed there that year, the council reported. South Dakota saw a 14% increase in goods sold to China from 2020 to 2022, the council said.

The top exported goods to China that year were soybean oils, seeds and grains, with $1.2 billion in sales, followed by dairy products ($30 million), medical equipment ($24 million), paper products ($16 million) and meats ($13 million.) The top services provided by South Dakota to China were credit-related services with $28 million in annual sales, followed by other financial services ($25 million.)

Volatility evident in pork market

South Dakota pork producers were provided an example in the volatility of international markets over the past few years.

Hog farmers in South Dakota and across the U.S. saw a boost in export levels to China over the past three years or so as the Asian country battled a devastating outbreak of African swine fever in its own hog farms, Muller said.

But of late, China has rebuilt its internal pork production, which has reduced the need for foreign imports, including pork from South Dakota, he said.

They had to import more products to supply the protein needs for their consumers because they lost most of their herd, Muller said. But since theyve rebuilt their herd, theres less reliance on imports.

The U.S. pork industry exports about 27% of its total production of pork, with top markets in China, Japan and Mexico among others, Muller said. South Dakota is home to about 800 pork farms that produce about 3.1 million hogs a year, he said.

The South Dakota agriculture industry is aware of and concerned about the growing anti-China political rhetoric that has arisen in the U.S. in recent years, including by Gov. Kristi Noem, he said.

The governor included China on her list of evil foreign governments that the state should not contract with and also banned state use of Chinese-owned Tiktok. Noem and U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds have also sought to limit Chinese ownership of land in the U.S.

The largest risk to Americas security is posed by the Chinese Communist Party  including to our financial security, Noem wrote in August to the investment firm Vanguard, urging the company to divest from China in one of its largest international funds.

One example of the complicated relationship with China is that while Noem and others are working to limit Chinese influence, the country is home to the meat producing conglomerate that owns Smithfield Foods. It operates a large pork processing plant in Sioux Falls that serves producers across the region and employs about 3,700 people.

Chinese investors seek stability

The challenge of balancing those competing concerns with China is readily apparent when Chinese buyers visit and speak with South Dakota producers, Schmitz said. Those buyers want to know that if they begin trade with South Dakota that they can rely on the relationship to remain stable and provide a consistent flow of food products.

This is a way to have a toe in the door, and while we do get questions from Chinese folks about why the rhetoric is so harsh, we feel its against their government and not their common people, he said. So, in terms of our relationships with customers, it is a concern, but also, we want to make sure we maintain the communication back and forth so we can curry favor with that nation.

China concerns may prompt trade changes

The national security concerns over the U.S.-China relationship are bipartisan in nature and partly originate within concerns that the trade relationship between the two nations has not been as positive for the U.S. as it has for China, said Luke Lindberg, CEO of South Dakota Trade, an organization formed this year to bolster state trading options.

The continued concerns make it likely that some type of shift in Americas trade relationship is imminent, he said.

The U.S.-China relationship is undoubtedly the most frequently talked about or discussed trade matter at this time, Lindberg said. Theres a largely bipartisan consensus in Washington that the existing U.S.-China relationship over the past several decades hasnt yielded the results that the U.S. would consider to be positive, so there needs to be a change in that relationship to level things out or a full reset.

South Dakota Trade hosted an event in Sioux Falls on Aug. 23 called the Midwest Agricultural Export Summit, which included a session on U.S.-China trade relations.

The world beyond China

Lindberg said volatility in the ongoing trade relationship with China was shown in a 25% decrease in U.S. imports from China in the first half of 2023, which could also result in a decrease in U.S. exports to China.

China is looking elsewhere to procure their commodities, he said. Theyre actively looking for alternative suppliers, and we at the same time need to be looking at alternative buyers.

Those target markets for expanding South Dakota trade goods are likely to include Mexico, already a strong trade partner, as well as newer markets in Africa and East Asia, Lindberg said.

As our relationship (with China) frays, there is a need for us to have other market opportunities to sell our goods around the world, he said. We need to be able to help build and foster new relationships around the world that build resilience in our export markets.

South Dakota Trade has planned its first international visit with a planned trip to Mexico by Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden, state Agriculture and Natural Resources secretary Hunter Roberts and representatives of the soybean industry, Lindberg said.

Trade wars painful for producers

Previous attempts to gain political advantage over a country by restricting trade with that nation have historically been bad news for American farmers, agricultural group leaders said.

The grain embargo with the former Soviet Union in 1980 was damaging to the U.S. agricultural industry as was former President Donald Trumps trade war with China, which in 2018 cut South Dakota imports to China by more than half, they said. Schmitz noted that the Trump administration enacted a program to provide financial help to farmers with losses.

China is a bonafide concern for the U.S., as the communist country remains the holder of huge levels of American debt and has a terrible record on human rights, said Michelle Bekkering, a director with the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition who spoke at the recent export summit in Sioux Falls.

Midwest farmers should not expect an easing of tensions with China anytime soon and must be prepared for any change and further tensions that may come, said Bekkering, an Iowa native who grew up on a soybean farm.

Theres always going to be this friction between what we see going on in China and how we get ahead of it and be wary, Bekkering said. But how do you rectify that with your soy producers who say, Dont cut off our markets. I would call that an uneasy balance.

China security concerns valid

Bekkering said U.S. leaders should be wary of China because in her 25 years of experience in international development, she has seen that China may be a financially valuable partner but requires caution.

This is not a country with our same values, she said. Chinese investments and relationships are never symbiotic or a two-way street. China is always looking out for No. 1.

And yet, Bekkering also does not believe that the U.S. trade relationship will be cut off in dramatic fashion anytime soon.

Back in the heartland, you have to have these frank and honest discussions, but our economy here is really dependent on them, she said. We need to work for balance and fair trade. But at the same time, we cant pretend that were going to just decouple from China because its just not practical at the end of the day.

American farmers, meanwhile, should continue to protect their Chinese interests and also begin to look elsewhere to diversify their trading options, Bekkering said. She was pleased to see groups like South Dakota Trade taking a lead role in expanding market opportunities.

You will not see a cessation in trade with China, and we need to continue to work diplomatic angles to make sure our producers and our manufacturers are getting their fair share, she said. But meanwhile, lets make sure we are on the ball and really investing and building up those new markets.

New markets, new products

Enhancing trade opportunities for South Dakota farmers is likely to not only include new trade markets but also new ways to sell goods produced in the state, Schmitz said. Soybeans and byproducts long used as human food and animal feed can also be used to replace rubber in tires or be part of a move to alternative fuels, he said.

Building new trade relationships must be an ongoing process, and it takes patience and diligence to establish a stable partnership, Schmitz said.

The U.S. soybean organizations were in China 20 years before we sold our first soybean, he said. To diversify in other countries, it takes time, building trust, relationships and facilities. Its not an overnight thing. Its a slow build upwards.

And when it comes to China specifically, Schmitz said soybean producers in South Dakota hope that commerce centered around food can overcome any political battles and be seen instead as a way to build bridges through shared humanity.

We know buyers are asking the question, Are you a reliable supplier because we see people in your country saying you shouldnt be trading with China, so are we next? Schmitz said. But we have our own lives to live and they do as well in China, and we actually believe that these goods can be used as a tool of peace.

This article was produced by South Dakota News Watch, a non-profit journalism organization located online at sdnewswatch.org.
LEASES

Commonwealth Commercial Partners, LLC reports the following transactions:

The Nature Conservancy leased 5,603 square feet at 919 E. Main St. in Richmond.

Gannett Fleming Inc. leased 6,161 square feet at 919 E. Main St. in Richmond.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. renewed its lease of 20,049 square feet at 200 Westgate Parkway in Henrico.

Wellspring of Hope LLC DBA Wellspring of Hope leased 5,838 square feet at 4121 Cox Road in Henrico.

Cushman & Wakefield  Thalhimer reports the following transactions:

DBG Fitness LLC renewed its lease of 7,066 square feet of industrial space at Gaskins Centre, 3801-3827 Gaskins Road, in Henrico.

Lucks Lane Veterinary leased 4,480 square feet of retail space at The Shops at Lucks Lane, 1100-1108 Courthouse Road, in Chesterfield.

Campbell & Co. PLLC leased 2,400 square feet of office space at 11038 Lakeridge Parkway in Ashland.

Lakeside Barbeque leased 2,000 square feet of retail space at Lakeside Towne Center, 6110-6920 Lakeside Ave., in Henrico.

Like New 2 U leased 1,600 square feet of retail space at Ashland Junction, 101-169 Junction Drive, in Ashland.

Joyner Commercial Real Estate reports the following transaction:

Mainsail Wealth Advisors leased 2,066 square feet of office space at 4510 Cox Road in Henrico.

Porter Realty Co. Inc. reports the following transactions:

804 Auto Repair leased 10,225 square feet of office-warehouse space at 10910 Southlake Court, Suites D, E & F, in Chesterfield.

KEC Associates leased 4,650 square feet of office-warehouse space at 467 Southlake Blvd., in Chesterfield.

Schutt Capital Management LLC leased 1,459 square feet of office space at 121 Shockoe Slip in Richmond.

SALES

Cushman & Wakefield  Thalhimer reports the following transactions:

Thalhimer Realty Partners purchased a 1.05-acre outparcel in Rutland Crossing, Route 301 at Rutlandshire Drive, in Hanover from TI Hunt for $600,000 and plans to develop a free-standing Starbucks with drive-thru on the site. David M. Smith handled the negotiations on behalf of the seller.

ARLS Properties LLC purchased 2.7 acres of retail-zoned land on Route 1 and Moores Lake Road in Chester from Trollingwood Land for $1,100,000 with plans to develop the site as a Royal Farms gas and convenience store. David M. Smith handled the negotiations on behalf of the seller.

Joyner Commercial Real Estate reports the following transaction:

Waffle House Inc. purchased 7109 W. Broad St. for $540,000. Kenecko Robinson represented the seller in this transaction.

Porter Realty Co. Inc. reports the following transactions:

Pace Brothers LLC sold 14247 Mountain Road, 16,773 square feet in Hanover County, to David Gay for $925,000. Cliff Porter represented the seller.

Matthews Family II LLC sold 9015 Brook Road, 7,157 square feet in Henrico County, to Imperial Investments Group LLC for $1,600,000. Byron Holmes represented the seller, and Kevin Cox represented the buyer.
When Beth Louisell picked up her horse from Byrd Rareshides farm in 2015, she went ballistic.

Louisell had left her show horse, Charisma, with Rareshide a year prior. His nickname was Fatboy, she said, because of how easily he held on to extra pounds.

Charisma looked fine going into the winter, but when she next visited, approximately 80 days later, Louisell estimated Charisma had lost between 125 and 150 pounds, and dropped several body condition score points, a metric used by veterinarians to gauge the health of horses.

Louisell removed her horse from the Rareshide farm, published pictures of the concerning weight loss on Facebook and left several calls with animal control officials at the Goochland County Animal Care, Adoption and Protection office.

This weekend, Rareshide was charged with 10 counts of animal cruelty, and county officials said it was the first time that they had been called out to Rareshides property. But several owners say they made efforts to call the department with similar allegations as long as eight years ago.

Rareshides farm, a type of nursing home for older horses, became the subject of much fervor at the beginning of February, when an owner removed an alarmingly underweight horse and posted photos, alleging mistreatment of the equine on Facebook.

More than 15 horses were removed in short order, with as many as nine going to a rehabilitation facility in Gordonsville. One, suffering chronic lameness and malnutrition, was euthanized, according to a local vet.

Animal control officials, who visited the farm several times in the wake of the allegations, did not remove any of the horses.

On Feb. 11, Byrd was charged and arrested, 24 days after the allegations caused an uproar on social media. Animal control officials maintained that they received their first complaint on Feb. 3.

The allegations against Rareshide were prepared in conjunction with the county commonwealth attorney.

A Rareshide neighbor and horse owner, Sarah Hatfield, also said she alerted animal control, saying she placed at least two calls in 2018 but she never heard back from anyone.

Hatfield said Byrds property abuts a stretch of road where drivers can see the horses condition as they pass. The photos are bad, but when youre there, its a lot worse, said Hatfield.

Lara Craddock, who lives near Rareshides farm, also said she called the county in the summer of 2022. I called and told them that there are horses there that always look awful and like they arent being fed, said Craddock.

Craddock said she left the voicemail anonymously, but provided her phone number. She said no one returned her calls.

Other horse owners were disturbed by the countys response time given the deluge of outcry around Byrds farm, including concern from veterinarians.

Thats what really confuses me, how animal control could ignore a call from a vet, said Lori Custer, whose horses were removed from Byrds farm over a week ago.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed last week for complaints regarding Byrds farm, the department chose to use a clause in Virginias legal code that allows agencies to withhold records pertaining to ongoing criminal investigations.

Jessica Kronberg, a spokesperson for Goochland County, said that county is undertaking an exhaustive review of our records to confirm the assertion of no previous records of complaints.

Goochland County Animal Care, Adoption, and Protection investigates all animal welfare complaints and takes allegations of animal cruelty seriously, said Kronberg.

Rareshide said animal control visited her farm at least twice since the beginning of February, and gave the stable a clean bill of health.

Two gentlemen showed up. They told me everything looked in order. They told me: These horses look like theyre retired horses. I dont know why were here, said Rareshide.

Rareshide added that one officer said, We are on the cusp of spring and I dont know why Im here. I drive by this farm all the time and everything seems in order.

But veterinarian Rebecca Kramer of Keswick Equine Clinic said that a number of horses had been diagnosed with heart murmurs, a symptom that can be consistent with starvation.

Rareshide has said that many of the horses came to her farm sick, lame or with dental issues, and that she single-handedly has bent over backwards to care for around 25 animals at her farm.

Louisell, Charismas owner, said she was also confused as to why Byrds longtime veterinarian had not been concerned enough to flag Charismas weight loss in 2015.

At the time, Rareshide said that she was using a veterinary clinic called Old Dominion Equine, in Albemarle County. Melissa Robertson, a manager at Old Dominion Equine, said they could not share information because of confidentiality rules, and did not comment on whether they had called animal control.

Photos provided by Lisa Murphy
A trial date has been set for Byrd Rareshide, the former horse show judge who authorities said starved retired horses on her Goochland County farm.

Judge Timothy Sanner set the three-day trial for April 3. Sanner apologized for the delay, stating that it was the only three-day window he had available.

Rareshide faces 13 charges of animal cruelty that stem from underfeeding some of the horses under her care, according to authorities. One horse owner, Kimberly St. John, on Facebook shared photos of her horse, Loki, in which he appears emaciated. The post quickly went viral.

Veterinarians who recovered Rareshides horses said that several, including Loki, had heart murmurs consistent with starvation. One has already been euthanized since its removal from Rareshides farm, said Rebecca Kramer, a veterinarian at Keswick Equine Clinic in Gordonsville.

The trial will likely last three days because of the need to bring in expert witnesses like Kramer.

Sanner, Goochland Commonwealths Attorney Mike Caudill and Rareshides lawyer, Craig Cooley, agreed to a bench trial. A bench trial is a trial without a jury, heard by the judge alone.

Outside of the courthouse, Rareshide declined to speak about the trial date. She has previously said she looks forward to proving her innocence.

Rareshide has owned the 100-acre Byrds Nest Equine Retirement since 1998. Prosecutors have said Goochland County received a complaint about the facility on Feb. 3.

Rareshide has denied intentionally starving the animals and argued the horses she sees are typically older, have issues with teeth, or have disease. She said those reasons explain why it was harder for some to keep weight on during the winter.

In Virginia, horses are technically classified as livestock animals, not companion animals. Caudill, the prosecutor, said the distinction presents hurdles when animal control actually needs to remove animals.

The case also raised scrutiny of Goochlands Department of Animal Care and Protection, whose officials visited the farm several times in the wake of the allegations, but did not remove any horses.

Several horse owners said they made efforts to call the department with similar allegations in 2014. Beth Louisell said she left several voicemails with Goochland animal control officials in 2014 regarding the treatment of her horse, Fatboy, which she had left with Rareshide two months earlier. Contrary to his name, Fatboy lost between 125 and 150 pounds, Louisell said.

Another owner, Sarah Hatfield, said she placed two calls to the department in 2018.

Jessica Kronberg, a spokesperson for Goochland County, said officials were conducting an exhaustive review to confirm the assertion of no previous records of complaints.

The April trial could also take place with a different prosecutor. Caudill is on the ballot in November. He is running against John L. Lumpkins Jr.

Recognize this? 1950s photos from The Times-Dispatch archives Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Robinson and Newcombe Richmond in the 50s (236).jpg Richmond in the 50s (235).jpg Richmond in the 50s (233).jpg Richmond in the 50s (234).jpg Richmond in the 50s (231).jpg Richmond in the 50s (232).jpg Richmond in the 50s (229).jpg Richmond in the 50s (230).jpg 1954 Branch House 1956 Richmond Virginians Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in 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If you live in metro Richmond, Hampton Roads or Fredericksburg, brace yourself for lots of ads and sharply partisan attacks, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin battles with Virginia Democrats to secure majorities in the state Senate and House of Delegates.

The money that already had gone into legislative races as of June 30 matches the grand total raised in the 2021 House races and the 2019 Senate campaigns  and theres more to come. Labor Day marks the shift into high gear for campaigning, with such traditional kickoff events as the big Democratic get-together at Rep. Bobby Scotts annual picnic by the bay and whats now the largely Republican parade in Buena Vista.

There will be an outrageous amount of money spent on the most competitive races, said John McGlennon, professor of political science at the College of William & Mary. But money only goes so far, and if a Senate or House race is a multimillion-dollar affair, after a while there is declining return on investment, he said.

Currently, Republicans control the House, and Democrats control the Senate. Changing control of either body could be a stretch.

With a very thin majority for both parties in both houses, anything is possible, said Olusoji Akomolafe, head of the political science department at Norfolk State University.

In the 40-seat Senate, where Democrats have a 22-18 edge, six districts  three held by the GOP, three by Democrats  are uncontested. In the 100-seat House, where Republicans held 52 of the 100 seats during this years session, 34 districts are uncontested.

On the other hand, theres one Democratic leaning-Senate district, in Henrico County, now represented by a Republican, Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant. She faces Del. Schuyler Van Valkenburg, D-Henrico, in November in Senate District 16.

There are also three Senate districts and three House districts that swung from voting for Youngkin in 2021 to voting for Democrats in the 2022 congressional races. One has a Democratic senator, two Senate districts are open with no incumbent running, while two of the House districts are represented by Republicans, and one had been represented by a Democrat.

These are the places where Democrats generally have an advantage, if small, and the Republicans really need to appeal to women, McGlennon said.

I tend to think that they will try to do that with a focus on crime and the economy if they dont get traction on the abortion compromise or parents rights, he said. In the battle for the suburbs, the question will be what matters most to voters, and so far this year, it has been reproductive rights.

But changing voters opinions, one way or the other, isnt on the agenda.

There is not much persuasion going on out there, McGlennon said. It is mostly a battle over motivating your supporters.

Youngkin active in statehouse races

A big part of whats unusual this year, and an edge for the GOP, is Youngkins active role in the legislative elections  not just the huge war chest his Spirit of Virginia political action committee is starting to deploy for a campaign to boost GOP early voting and for a statewide vote Republican message, but also his intervention in GOP primary races that was aimed at weeding out some of the more extreme candidates.

Given how much money the Spirit of Virginia has raised thus far, Gov. Youngkin may have more say in the composition of the General Assembly come November, Akomolafe said.

He said he expects to see that money come heavily into play in Senate District 17, the Hampton Roads district that Del. Emily Brewer, R-Suffolk, hopes to win for the GOP in a contest with Del. Clinton Jenkins, D-Suffolk.

He also expects it to be a big factor in Senate District 27, the Fredericksburg-area Senate seat where Del. Tara Durant, R-Stafford, wants to fend off Democrat Joel Griffin and independent Monica Gary.

Democrats, on the other hand, have an advantage in that the 2021 redistricting created more of the suburban districts where they have been having success in recent years, in large part because of the abortion issue, said University of Mary Washington political scientist Steve Farnsworth.

While Republicans will tie themselves to Gov. Youngkin, his 2021 victory was powered by huge turnouts in rural areas which dont have hot races and by marginally reducing the Democrats recent advantage in suburbs, McGlennon said.

Youngkin is relatively popular, but the abortion issue is really energizing Democrats, he added.

Youngkin has argued that his official position on abortion  a ban after 15 weeks except in cases of rape, incest or the health of the mother, instead of Virginias current unrestricted access up to 26 weeks  represents a view most Virginians could accept.

But abortion is where GOP candidates are most vulnerable, Akomolafe said.

Virginia is currently the only state in the South that has not restricted abortion rights following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, he said.

Democrats who are quick to remind Virginians that this is because they have the majority in the Senate, Akomolafe said.

But there are other issues, too.

How will the Supreme Court (Dobbs abortion) decision impact voter turnout? How will Donald Trumps popularity be affected by the indictments? Glenn Youngkins ability to pour more money, what impact will that have and how will redistricting impact the election? Farnsworth said. If you can answer those questions, my hats off to you.

Another big question, Farnsworth said, is whether Youngkins parents matter push will resonate with voters in the same way it did in his 2021 gubernatorial campaign.

Talk of book bannings and an exodus of teachers in Spotsylvania County, for instance, are unsettling voters in nearby Fredericksburgs hotly contested state Senate and House races, Farnsworth said.

A lot is going to be what people dont want to talk about, Farnsworth said. Republicans dont want to talk about abortion; Democrats dont want to talk about the economy.

In the battle to swing the Senate, Youngkin and the GOP need to flip two seats to gain a 20-20 split that means power-sharing and a deciding vote for Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. They would need three for a majority.

But they also need to hold two districts where Democrats are on the attack.

Republicans hope to flip Senate District 24, the swingy, Newport News-anchored Virginia Peninsula district where state Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, is challenged by former York County Sheriff Danny Diggs. The district voted 50% to 49% for Democratic candidates for Congress in 2022, but 51% for Youngkin in 2021.

Key to Republicans bid to win control of the Senate will be the race where Brewer is facing Jenkins in a district that includes much of the sprawling Portsmouth to Emporia district that state Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, dominated before the 2021 redistricting. This district also voted 50% to 49% for Democratic congressional candidates in 2022, but went 52% for Youngkin in 2021.

Democrats, meanwhile, are pressing hard in the Democratic-leaning Henrico County Senate district where Dunnavant faces VanValkenburg.

Senate District 27, the Fredericksburg-area seat carved mainly from districts represented by GOP stalwarts Richard Stuart, R-King George, and Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, is another Democratic target. There, Democrat Joel Griffin is facing off against Del. Tara Durant, R-Stafford, and independent Monica Gary. This district went 51% for Democratic candidates in 2021 and 52% for Youngkin in 2021. Between them, Durant and Griffin have raised more than $1 million so far.

And as a sign of whats to come in terms of money and outreach, Federal Communications Commission reports show that Dunnavants seat is one of the most critical must-hold Senate districts for the GOP. Spending on August through November ads backing Dunnavant already exceeds $907,000.

On the Virginia Peninsula, Mason and supporters have booked $492,000 of broadcast ads for July through September, while Diggs has signed up for an additional $210,000.

House contests

In the House, Democrats are hoping to flip District 82, the Petersburg-area district now represented by Del. Kim Taylor, R-Dinwiddie; an open Fredericksburg-area seat; District 97, the Virginia Beach district represented by Del. Karen Greenhalgh, R-Virginia Beach; and the Suffolk and Isle of Wight County-anchored district Brewer has represented.

As of June 30  before the real fundraising pushes usually get going  House candidates have raised nearly $32 million, while Senate hopefuls have raised $55 million.

So far, Democrats are outraising Republicans  but that does not count the $16.3 million Youngkins Spirit of America political action committee has already amassed for his push to flip the Senate and expand the GOP hold on the House.

The PAC has already spent $6.1 million on campaigning, including $611,000 for automated calls and text messaging and $463,000 for ads.

In 2021, House candidates raised $31.9 million for the entire election cycle; Senate candidates raised $55 million.

Then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe, famed for his fundraising muscle, donated $2.6 million to legislative candidates and $1.7 million to party committees, while a gun control group backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg kicked in an additional $2 million in what turned out to be a vain hope to gain control of the General Assembly. Voters returned a 21-19 Republican Senate and a two-thirds GOP House.

When all is said and done, McGlennon said, there will be armies of paid and volunteer canvassers descending on the electorate, money will flow to candidates or directly to advertising by billionaires and interest groups, and we will smash previous spending records for legislative contests.

And he added: A voter might be smart to vote early this year just so that they wont continue to get the phone calls, visits to the doorstep, texts and emails asking them to vote.

Top five weekend events: Labor Day weekend events Free entry to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden 'Napoleon Dynamite' Live Sounds of 17th Street Market 'POTUS' First Fridays for the Whole Family
FREDERICKSBURG  On Sunday mornings, Bobby Orrock, poised to become the most senior member of the Virginia legislature, doesnt talk politics, but he does talk  about gospel music. For four hours, starting before dawn, Orrock is on the radio, playing old-timey tunes and new ones for listeners perhaps thinking more about God than the General Assembly.

Theres a familial relationship thats developed between me and my listeners, said Orrock, a Republican and retired agriculture teacher from rural Caroline County, south of Fredericksburg, who was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1989. Im there with them while theyre drinking their coffee, getting ready to go to church.

With the bitter, multimillion-dollar campaign for control of the legislature commencing in earnest this Labor Day weekend, that Orrock will briefly put it aside, getting up in the wee hours to provide a musical interlude that  while it irrefutably elevates his name  is a calming respite from the rough and tumble of politics.

Orrock has that longer tenure and a biography that is less all-politics than a lot of people, said Stephen Farnsworth, a politics professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, where a closely watched House contest and another for Senate could decide control of both chambers. Its who he is. And its an asset.

Orrock, 67, has been a part-time announcer on WFLS-FM for 35 years  longer than hes been a lawmaker, though hell surpass that if reelected in November over Democrat Mark Lux, a special education teacher, to an 18th two-year term, pushing his run at the state Capitol to 36 years. Orrocks gospel music show has been on the air for 22 years.

Orrock, who would lead the House and Virginia Senate in seniority, is required by the station that he make no mention during the broadcast of his elective post, politics or policy. There have been campaign seasons in which his show went dark for the duration. During another election cycle, Orrock was instructed not to mention his name.

Still, in a deep-red district rattled by the culture wars and encroaching suburbs, Orrock has become a fixture as a voice in Richmond and a voice on the radio. One role clearly complements the other, affixing to Orrock a friend-and-neighbor image that keeps people voting for him and listening to him.

Hes an institution with that program, said former House Speaker Bill Howell, a fellow Republican from Stafford County, just north of Orrocks district, who usually catches the last half-hour of the show while driving to church with his wife, Cessie.

Its a nice advantage in politics  being a radio personality, said Del. Don Scott of Portsmouth, the House Democratic minority leader. Noting Orrocks approachable style that  at the legislature  can make for agreeable encounters on disagreeable issues, Scott said, Its part of the brand. Im sure he doesnt talk about reproductive health care.

Indeed, the radio gig  whether hes playing Elvis cover of Peace in the Valley and Alabamas version of The Old Rugged Cross or taking a request from the president of a local NAACP chapter for Lee Greenwoods God Bless the U.S.A.  may help Orrock separate somewhat from the often-belligerent MAGA-ism of a Trump-dominated Republican Party.

But in showcasing gospel music, much of it performed by white artists, Orrock, who dashes after his 10 a.m. signoff to services at the 252-year-old Bethany Baptist Church in nearby Woodford, telegraphs to an audience he describes as predominately right of center that he shares their values.

What you see is what you get, said Orrock, a conservative known for sometimes breaking with GOP orthodoxy, having sided with Democratic governors Mark Warner and Ralph Northam on, respectively, a $1.4 billion tax increase in 2004 for schools, police and human services and expanding Medicaid in 2018 to provide health care for 400,000 Virginians.

This year, Orrock  chairman of the House committee that oversees health and welfare services  joined with one of the chambers senior Democrats, Del. Vivian Watts of Fairfax, to win strengthened standards for nursing homes and senior residents.

Not that Orrock ignored the hot-button issues that arouse the GOP base, including books that public schoolchildren should  or shouldnt  read. In Spotsylvania County, next door to Orrocks home base in Caroline, officials ordered the removal of 14 titles, among them works by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, because of sexual content.

However, Orrocks legislation that would create standards for determining which books, films and videos should be available in school libraries was shelved, so to speak, dying in committee.

Theres a long history of Virginia pols speaking to the masses through the media  beyond paid advertising.

The Byrds of Winchester, whose conservative segregationist organization ruled the state for more than a half-century, published two daily newspapers. Ditto the Glass family of Lynchburg, whose most prominent member, Carter Glass, led the push in the early 1900s to strip Black Virginians of the vote through the poll tax and literacy tests.

Howard Carwile, a colorful, populist Richmond city councilor and, briefly, delegate, was a fixture on the radio in the 1960s and 1970s. A state senator from the city, Doug Wilder  later the nations first elective Black governor  regularly appeared on city radio stations. Wilder still occasionally fills in as a talk-show host.

Chris Hurst, a Roanoke television reporter whose fiancee was fatally shot on-air, was elected to the House in 2017, vowing to press for firearms controls. Hurst, a Democrat, was defeated for his Blacksburg-area seat in 2021, a casualty of the huge rural vote that lifted Republican Glenn Youngkin to the governorship.

Lux, the Caroline Democrat opposing Orrock, concedes that the incumbent  in part because of his profile as a disc jockey  has amassed a reservoir of good will. The problem is not his personality, but his policies, said Lux, a former U.S. Army Airborne officer and a reservist in Israels military during the 12 years he lived there.

That said, the districts disposition and demographics appear to indicate that for Orrocks listeners each Sunday  and for Orrock this November  the hits will keep on coming.

Photos: Pioneer of gospel music rediscovered in archives
Nearly 3 tons of cocaine bound for Mexico seized in Colombia

Port of Cartagena, Colombia  Nearly three tons of cocaine bound for Mexico has been seized in Colombia. The cocaine was found inside 20 sacks used to store large merchandise. The sacks were located in Port of Cartagena ready to set sail for Mexico.

In total, 2.8 tons of cocaine, which was mixed with a petroleum derivative, was seized by Colombian authorities in an operation carried out in the Port of Cartagena, police reported.

The operation took place August 26. Anti-Narcotics Director of the Colombian Police, Brigadier General Nicolas Zapata Restrepo, told reporters that the operation is part of the fight against powerful multi-crime gangs.

The senior official explained that the cocaine was mixed with coal-asphaltite, a solid hydrocarbon derived from petroleum, generally used for highway construction and repairs.

A cargo content alert was issued in Bogota because when verifying the documentation, it was with anomalies with respect to the 20 tons of asphaltite that was listed to be shipped.

When reviewing the containers in Cartagena the presence of cocaine hydrochloride was found in the coal that was inside 20 sacks used to store large amounts of merchandise and that were ready to sail to Mexico, the Colombian police explained in a statement.

So far this year, Colombian Police have seized more than 218 tons of cocaine. Colombian authorities have reported that 671 tons of cocaine was seized last year, a record number for the country since 2010, the year the registry began.
Suspect in custody for Cancun murder and dismemberment

Cancun, Q.R.  Police in Cancun have arrested and formally charged a man for the murder and dismemberment of a body. On Thursday, Valerio Jesus N was charged for the August 10th murder.

According to an FGE statement, Valerio Jesus N and a second person subdued and dismembered the body of a man. His remains were placed in two suitcases then left in a residential dumpster. The remains were found the next morning by a resident tossing their morning garbage.

The first acts of investigation indicate that on August 10 of this year, the defendant, together with another person, possibly subdued the victim at an address in the Villas del Mar neighborhood in SM 248 of Cancun, authorities reported in a statement.

He was subdued until he lost consciousness where they later dismembered him and placed his remains in two suitcases, depositing them in a garbage container.

An investigation, including a search of the property where the events occurred, allowed authorities to find the necessary evidence to request and obtain the arrest warrant against Valerio Jesus N, which was executed by the Investigation Police.
Despite a push to draw young talent back to the city, Hong Kong is suffering grievously as the Chinese Communist Party crushes civil rights, pursuing dissidents even beyond its borders.

At the end of August, the Hong Kong government charged a Cantonese language group with threatening national security. The latter had posted online an essay, cast in the form of fiction, that emphasized the citys loss of liberty.

Andrew (Lok-hang) Chan, who headed Societas Linguistica HongKongensis, explained that the group, which published the essay, was only related to arts and literature but nevertheless was targeted by the national security police. He closed the association in response.

Hong Kongs brutal assault on human rights has disappeared from newspaper front pages, which is a victory for Chinese president Xi Jinping and Hong Kong chief executive John (Ka-chui) Lee, Beijings local gauleiter. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has effectively extinguished Hong Kongs inherited British liberties.

After the territorys return to the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) in 1997, the Special Administrative Region enjoyed political autonomy that was supposed to last a half century. However, in June 2020, after years of increasing popular unrest, China imposed the expansive National Security Law (NSL), effectively outlawing criticism of the PRC. Since then, the Hong Kong government, now headed by Lee, has arrested more than 260 people under the NSL and prosecuted more than 3,000 people on charges under other statutes, most long after the targeted conduct.

The conclusion of the European Commissions latest report on Hong Kong is grim:

2022 saw the continuing erosion of Hong Kongs high degree of autonomy and of rights and freedoms that were meant to be protected until at least 2047. The year was also marked by the far-reaching implementation of the NSL. Trials of pro-democracy activists and politicians continued to intensify. Many people were awaiting trial, including 47 pro-democracy activists who participated in a primary election, members of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, media tycoon Jimmy Lai and many others. Many of them have been held in custody since January 2021, in some cases in solitary confinement. The colonial-era sedition law was repeatedly used in national security cases. In July, the United Nations Human Rights Committee in its fourth periodic review under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in Hong Kong called for the repealing of both the NSL and the sedition law.

The low point this year has been the mass trial of the 47, a Whos Who of city democrats. Their alleged crime was to organize a popular vote to choose candidates for the upcoming Legislative Council election. The PRCs local enforcers retrospectively declared the defendants action to be subversive and a threat to national security. The proceedings began in February, a dramatic example of how the law is used to punish even the mildest dissent, with any opposition to Chinese rule considered to constitute a threat. The outcome of the case seems preordained.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam, whose maladroit administration triggered mass demonstrations, enjoyed watching her pro-democracy tormentors suffer but appeared to be more cheerleader than persecutor. John Lee, who took over earlier this year, is playing a more active role as chief executive than did his predecessor and is apparently determined to wreak vengeance on anyone who ever criticized Beijing. Among his targets are booksellers and journalists. In April, his government even arrested a Hong Kong student who condemned the CCP on social media while studying in Japan. Such are the national security threats that cause the mighty Chinese state to tremble.

Passage of the NSL encouraged what one official described as an alarming exodus from Hong Kong. Tens of thousands of people relocated, many young professionals. Among them were parents determined to protect their children from communist indoctrination. Previous reeducation plans were derided as brainwashing and thwarted by popular protests, which have become impossible today.

Despite a recent population uptick, Hong Kongs rulers are concerned about the prospects of the city-states global pretensions. Government propagandists downplay the role of the NSL, instead emphasizing high housing prices and long working hours as the reasons for the failure to attract more young workers. Lee has launched a campaign to convince the world that despite Covid-19 and a brutal security crackdown, the Chinese territory is not only open for business but remains Asias premier financial center.

That will be difficult given the ongoing assault on civil and political liberty. Particularly noteworthy is Lees campaign against people who sought asylum abroad. For instance, the pro-democracy party Demosisto, co-founded by Nathan Law, disbanded when the NSL was enacted. Law and seven other Demosisto activists fled Hong Kong before it became an open-air prison. In July, Lees government arrested four people, former Demosisto members all, suspected of using companies, social media and mobile applications to receive funds that they then provided to the people overseas, as well as making seditious social media posts.

Yet Lees main target remains those beyond his geographic reach. The authorities have offered a bounty of $128,000 for information leading to their prosecution, an award available to family and friends, Lee emphasized. As in Les Miserables, the prosecutors promise to be unrelenting: The only way to end their destiny of being an abscondee who will be pursued for life is to surrender.

Lees enforcers are also targeting family members, most recently detaining Laws sister-in-law: She is suspected of assisting persons wanted by police to continue to commit acts and engage in activities that endanger national security, said one local official. In this way, Hong Kong is openly mimicking the PRCs unrelenting persecution of other dissidents, such as Uyghurs fleeing Xinjiang, pursuing them even when granted sanctuary abroad.

In fact, Cantonese promoter Andrew Chan, noted above, is also living abroad. Five policemen raided his fathers home, warning that Chan would become the ninth wanted person if he does not take down the [fictional essay] article. Nor are foreigners exempt. At least one American citizen has been charged under the NSL. In August, Danish artist Jens Galschit, creator of the Pillar of Shame sculpture at the University of Hong Kong, previously seized by the police, inquired whether an arrest warrant had been prepared against him, as reported in China. Hong Kongs security head, Chris Tang, refused to answer but complained that it is a common modus operandi of those seeking to endanger national security to engage in such acts and activities under the pretexts of peaceful advocacy, artistic creations and so forth.

At least Liberty appeared to win a modest victory last month when a court refused the citys request to order internet platforms such as Google to ban the song Glory to Hong Kong, the oppositions unofficial anthem. However, the government has appealed, urging the court to treat Lees dictates as binding: 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.

In mid-August, another court overturned the conviction of seven activists for having organized an illegal protest. Although also welcome, the ruling was technical, regarding the elements of the offense, and had no practical effect. The defendants already had served their sentences and been convicted of participating in the same event.

In any case, such modest victories will be overwhelmed by new prosecutions under the NSL. Hong Kong now looks like any other Chinese city, in which civil and political liberties have become unknown ideals. Unfortunately, Hong Kongs absence from the headlines reflects lack of attention, not of repression.
ABOVE: Samantha Livesay, center, of Onward NRV sands bed frame parts with other volunteers Friday in the parking lot next to the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce on Laurel Street in Christiansburg. BELOW: The bed frames were branded with a Sleep in Heavenly Peace logo as a final step.

ABOVE: Samantha Livesay, center, of Onward NRV sands bed frame parts with other volunteers Friday in the parking lot next to the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce on Laurel Street in Christiansburg. BELOW: The bed frames were branded with a Sleep in Heavenly Peace logo as a final step.
Two Roanoke men have been charged with joining a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, as federal authorities continue to make arrests in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Ethan Mauck, 31, and Peter Willey, 37, appeared in Roanokes federal court late Thursday afternoon following their arrests earlier in the day.

Both men attended a rally  where then-President Donald Trump falsely claimed that the election had been stolen from him and urged his supporters to fight like hell  and then entered the restricted grounds of the Capitol, according to charges filed by federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C.

Photographic and video footage show Mauck and Willey on the Lower West Terrace, where they entered a tunnel leading the Capitol that was the scene of a violent and chaotic struggle between the rioters and police officers trying to hold them back, a 22-page complaint alleges.

Mauck picked up an overturned bike rack and shoved it toward an officer dressed in riot gear, the complaint charges.

Willey is charged with helping other rioters use a large sign as a battering ram as the horde tried to force its way through the tunnel.

As the struggle continued, Mauck and Willey advanced further into the tunnel, actively pushing against the police line in unison, known as a heave-ho,  an FBI special agent wrote in an affidavit. The complaint does not charge either man with assaulting police or actually entering the Capitol, where Congress was meeting to certify an election won by President Joe Biden.

Lawmakers were forced to flee for their safety, but returned later in the day to complete the joint session after order was restored.

After they were arrested Thursday, Mauck and Willey appeared in shackles before U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou.

Both are charged with obstruction of law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, a felony, and three misdemeanors: entering and remaining on restricted grounds and two counts of disorderly conduct.

Although both men have a history of previous misdemeanor convictions, prosecutors did seek their detention. Ballou set unsecured bonds of $10,000 and told the duo to report to Washington, D.C.s federal court for additional proceedings.

Mauck and Willey have been known to federal authorities investigating the breach of the Capitol for more than two years, but were not charged until this week as police and prosecutors work their way through what has been called the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history.

More than 1,100 people from across the country have been charged so far, including seven others from Western Virginia.

Just this week, the U.S. Attorneys Office in Washington D.C. announced the arrests of defendants in Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. A summary posted to the offices website states that the Department of Justices resolve to hold accountable those who committed crimes on January 6, 2021, has not, and will not, wane.
The Virginia State Police is asking the public for information concerning the destruction of construction equipment early Thursday morning at a Mountain Valley Pipeline project site in Boones Mill.

Two pieces of heavy machinery used to excavate at the site near the 800 block of Leaning Oak Road in Boones Mill were set ablaze around 5 a.m. The Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations Salem Field Office responded to the scene to investigate the fires, according to a news release from the Virginia State Police.

At the scene, investigators recovered evidence consistent with homemade incendiary devices, which will be examined forensically by the FBI Laboratory, the new release said.

A hazmat team also responded to the scene to mitigate environmental damage caused by the burnt vehicles and the proximity of a nearby stream.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting with the ongoing criminal investigation.

Anyone with information related to the incident is asked to contact the Virginia State Police at 540-375-9500 or by email at questions@vsp.virginia.gov.
During a seven-week Arctic transit aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB 20), Dr. Nita Shattuck from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) will study the impact of the extreme environment on crew performance and potential mitigations. Additional research includes assessment of an Amos01 3D printer installed by David Dausen from NPS' Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE), and specially instrumented to measure the impact of adverse Arctic sea conditions on print quality. Credit: U.S. Navy

During a seven-week Arctic transit aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB 20), researchers from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) will study the impact of the extreme environment on crew performance and potential mitigations, as well as advanced Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies in adverse sea conditions.

The studies, which commenced with Healy's departure from Kodiak, Alaska on Aug. 26, will be led by principal investigator Dr. Nita Shattuck, a professor in the NPS Operations Research (OR) department. Shattuck's research leverages her years of studying crew performance for the U.S. Navywork that has led to significant changes in policy for shipboard watch bills to maximize cognitive and physical readiness and safety at sea.

"Operations at extreme latitudes are incredibly challenging for crewmembers of both Coast Guard and U.S. Navy ships," said Shattuck. "The conditions faced by Coast Guardsmen on the Healy make it especially difficult to achieve healthy sleep. Icebreaking and isolation pose additional risks."

The journey will be north of the Arctic Circle for much of the scheduled voyage, and will conclude in Troms, Norway later this fall. Shattuck will be accompanied by the Defense Innovation Unit's (DIU) Chief Medical Officer, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Niels Olson. DIU supplied much of the technology being used in the study, and Olson is the lead medical advisor for the project, also helping with data collection, analysis, and reporting. In addition, NPS's Consortium for Additive Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) installed an Amos01 3D printer instrumented with a data acquisition system to measure at sea conditions for analyzing print quality and ship movement, which also supports Shattuck's research.

According to Shattuck, conditions expected during the Healy's transit through the Arctic include near-constant daylight, numerous time zone changes, extreme cold, and a punishing physical environment. As operations in the Arctic increase, U.S. Navy ships will experience similar challenges, and the lessons learned from this research are expected to translate to naval applications in future ship designs and concepts of operation.

Homeported in Seattle, Wash., Healy is the largest vessel in the Coast Guard and the United States' most technologically-advanced icebreaker. Healy also serves as a research platform, and several other researchers will be on the trans-polar voyage. Shalane Regan is the Chief Research Engineer for USCG Research and Development Center (RDC) and aboard the Healy as Chief Scientist, overseeing several research efforts while underway.

"We have nearly 20 research projects on board ranging from Arctic environmental studies to tests of novel international search and rescue technologies, supported by researchers with equally diverse backgrounds and expertise," said Regan. "It's great to have NPS aboard, and Dr. Shattuck's research is unique in that it is the only project working with the Healy's crew to understand the direct impacts of the Arctic environment on crew performance, and how changes to daily routines and technologies can enhance overall effectiveness and safety. This research is deeply relevant to the U.S. Coast Guard as we work to ensure our crews can operate at their peak performance and sharpen our competitive edge."

To study the effects of these conditions on a ship's crew at sea, Shattuck and her team will collect physiological data from the Healy's crew members. Using innovative wearable technology, they will continuously monitor physiological processes such as sleep, heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration, oxygen saturation, and skin temperature. Study participants indicate that the rings are an improvement over wrist-worn wearables. The team will also use other sensors to monitor ambient light, noise levels, motion, and vibration aboard the ship.

"These technologies are invaluable and give us the ability to continually monitor sleep and other physiological indicators of health for prolonged periods," Shattuck said. "The results will allow us to provide recommendations for improving shipboard habitability and enhance warfighter readiness."

The Crew Endurance Teampart of NPS's Operations Research (OR) department and the Human Systems Integration programplans to use the data to better understand the sleep and circadian patterns of crewmembers in austere environments and their effects on mood, morale, and overall health. While NPS students were not able to make the seven-week voyage, the data will be used by NPS students in their thesis and capstone projects to provide recommendations for improving overall shipboard habitability, designing better berthing compartments, and enhancing ship designs.

Similarly, NPS Research Associate David Dausen from the CAMRE team, based in NPS's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, has students engaged with the Amos01 3D printer on board, including preparations for the system to go aboard, analyzing the performance data, and collaborating with CAMRE partners to send part designs to the ship for real-world verification.

Shattuck and her team have been conducting human performance research around the world for more than 20 years. Under ongoing research efforts, the team is currently monitoring more than 300 sailors and Marines worldwide using wearable technologies. The research findings from Shattuck and her team have set the foundation for changes to the U.S. Navy's "Comprehensive Crew Endurance Management Policy," signed off by Commanders of Naval Surface Force Pacific and Atlantic. This policy fundamentally changes crew watch standing practices and mandates circadian-based watch bills with crew rest requirements similar to those for aircrews. The submarine community has also applied the lessons learned to have circadian-based watch bills.

"Better sleep is linked to improvements in memory, alertness, concentration, performance, and positive emotions," Shattuck says. "Chronic poor sleep practices can lead to an inability to sleep normally, also called circadian scarring. While we can train our service members in procedures, tactics, and even how to cope with stress, our warfighters require quality sleep to maintain peak effectiveness for various tasks."

One of the new tasks envisioned is the 3D printing of parts at sea, especially in austere or contested environments where supply chains are limited. The Amos01 3D printer aboard the Healy was developed by the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific; its data acquisition system is being tested aboard other U.S. Navy ships, but this is the first Arctic voyage to test the system aboard an icebreaker. The accelerometers installed on the 3D printer record roll, pitch and yaw and other environmental factors to determine how these conditions affect not just the printer's overall component quality, but the operator's performance.

"We are using the CAMRE 3D printer data to correlate with our physiological data. Ship's motion and vibration are recorded by the system, which is crucial for our research," said Shattuck. "It's a good example of how NPS researchers from completely different fields collaborate in complementary and innovative ways on solutions for the sea services."

The NPS research aboard the Healy leverages a long-standing partnership with USCG RDC and is a collaborative effort between NPS, the Coast Guard, DIU, and CAMREenabled in part by the U.S. Tri-Service Maritime Strategy, which encourages greater integration among the sea services (Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard) in training, capabilities, and capacity.

Provided by Naval Postgraduate School
FLORENCE, S.C.  Although Idalia made landfall in Floridas Big Bend as a Category 3 major hurricane, its effects were minimal on Florence County.

The city saw an average of four inches of rain throughout Wednesday night and minimal road flooding by Thursday morning, according to Utilities Operations Director Jerry Dudley. He said crews were out during the storm clearing drains, and by the morning even areas known to flood were mostly clear.

We were very lucky compared to some points to the east of us that got upwards of 10 or 12 inches, Dudley said.

The city of Florence just missed the heaviest rain from all directions, as an observer just six miles west of Florence measured 7.6 inches of rain, an observer at Lynches River in Lake City received roughly 7.3 inches and Marion saw around 8.5 inches of rain. Just a bit further east, Mullins saw around 11 inches.

Rainfall numbers were provided by the National Weather Services local office in Wilmington, North Carolina. According to that office, Florence saw average wind speeds of around 20 to 25 miles per hour with a peak gust speed of 43 miles per hour.

Hurricane Idalia A tree crew Thursday sits on Cherokee Road as it clears a large tree that fell near the Garland Drive intersection.

Public Works Director Adam Swindler said his department responded to a number of downed trees starting at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday up until noon on Thursday, but it was not more than workers could handle.

Due to relatively fair conditions, we were able to respond through the overnight hours and work them as they came in, he said.

Areas beyond the city of Florence also emerged mostly unscathed. Kelly Moore with the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles said there were no significant road or bridge issues within the Florence area.

Hurricane Idalia An Asplundh tree crew Thursday works to remove a tree that fell as the remnants of Hurricane Idalia blew through Florence Wednesday night into

Florence County Emergency Management Division also saw no major damage or significant issues throughout the night, according to Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Megan Driggers.

Besides the length of the storm and the wind gusts, it was not any worse than some of the thunderstorms we have had lately. We were not expecting any more damage than what we experienced, she said.

The main damage in the county was downed trees and power lines, but Driggers said it was not much worse than the average summer thunderstorm.

Our first responders and the power companies responded quickly to provide all necessary assistance, she said.

Hurricane Idalia An Asplundh tree crew Thursday works to remove a tree that fell as the remnants of Hurricane Idalia blew through Florence Wednesday night into

When power outages peaked at around 6 a.m. on Thursday, over 4,000 Duke Energy customers in Florence were without power, according to spokesperson Patrick Flynn. He said below 1,000 customers were still without power by noon, and by 2 p.m. that number had fallen to around 350.

Crews have been able to (make) great progress today, Flynn said.

Around 9,000 people lost power across the South Carolina Duke Energy Progress territory, which makes up the northeastern corner of the state.

Another utility, the sewer system, also took a hit during the storm. A combination of rain and power outages caused two sewage overflows, one along Highway 301 and one near Jeffreys Creek, according to Dudley.

Like Florence, Darlington fared well throughout the storm, according to a city news release. Downed trees and occasional power outages were the citys most common reported problems.

The main streets, which normally flood during heavy rains, remained open and drivable. This is due to the storm water maintenance efforts of the Water and Sewer Department, the release said.

A sewer line collapsed at 213 East Broad Street, causing a 10 foot wide and 25 foot deep sinkhole that closed off the road from Colombian Street to Russell Street until it can be repaired, according to the news release. The good news is that the city already had plans to do work in the area.

IMG_2264.JPG In Darlington, East Broad Street will be closed off from Colombian Street to Russell Street until a 10 feet wide and 25 feet deep sinkhole can

We have known that this area needed sewer line replacement. We advertised for bids approximately a month ago and they will be opened on September 7. We then anticipate awarding a contract within 30 days, said Charles Shugart, the citys water, sewer and stormwater director.

Florence and the surrounding area may see further effects of Idalia even after it has moved away. Rivers are expected to continue to rise into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

We will be monitoring the rivers and Black Creek in the coming days for flooding, Driggers said.

IMG_2182.JPG A city of Florence work crew clears out a stormwater pipes of debris on Wednesday ahead of the storm.

The Little Pee Dee River at Galivants Ferry is forecasted to have a major flood on Sunday and Monday, with waters up to 12 feet deep. Before the storm on Wednesday, the river was around 3.5 feet deep.

This is expected to impact around 30 to 40 homes in the Fork Retch community near Nichols, according to the National Weather Services local office in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Black Creek near Quinby is forecasted to moderately flood on Friday with up to 15 feet of water. Before the storm, waters were around 4 feet deep.

The Pee Dee River at Pee Dee is projected to have a minor flood on Friday and Saturday, with waters up to 19 feet deep. On Monday night, the rivers water was only six feet deep.

When it made landfall on Wednesday morning, Hurricane Idalia brought sustained winds of around 125 miles per hour and up to 15 feet of storm surge to the Big Bend region of Florida.

A combination of rain and storm surge caused flood waters to reach the top of houses, and some coastal buildings collapsed, according to AP reporting.

The storm also knocked out power for nearly 280,000 Florida residents and 170,000 Georgia residents, the AP reported on their live blog of the storm.

IMG_2113.JPG The Florence County Emergency Management Division gave away sandbags on Wednesday morning, which residents filled themselves using the picture

In South Carolina, coastal cities and towns like Charleston saw water come up over sand dunes and seawalls and into streets.

While no tornadoes were reported in the Pee Dee region, one set down outside of Charleston and another might have set down in Horry County, according to the National Weather Service.

The Wilmington local office said the first draft of their post-storm report should be ready by the middle of next week.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam at Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre while awaiting the result of the 2023 Singapore Presidential Election. (PHOTO: Bruce Lim/Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE  Former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected as Singapore's ninth President on Saturday (2 September), following the city-state's first contested presidential election in 12 years.

The 66-year-old secured 1,746,427 votes, or 70.40 per cent of the total valid votes to emerge victorious over two other presidential candidates.

Former GIC investment chief Ng Kok Song, 75, garnered 390,041 votes, or 15.72 per cent of the total valid votes in his first election.

Ex-NTUC Income chief executive officer Tan Kin Lian, also 75, earned 344,292 votes, or 13.88 per cent of the valid votes, in his second presidential election. In his first election back in 2011, he won only 4.91 per cent of the total votes.

The election results were officially announced by Returning Officer Tan Meng Dui on Saturday at 12.20am. A total of 2,480,760 Singapore citizens cast their votes on Friday, with 50,152 rejected votes..

Humbled by strong endorsement: Tharman

Hours before the official announcement, ELD released a sample count of the election, putting Tharman at receiving 70 per cent of the votes, Ng at 16 per cent and Tan at 14 per cent.

"I'm truly humbled for the strong endorsement that Singaporeans have given to me, and respect all Singaporeans for the views they've expressed, including those who did not vote for me," Tharman told the media at Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre, following the release of the sample count on Friday night.

"I believe that it's a vote of confidence in Singapore. It's a vote of optimism for a future in which we can progress together and support each other as Singaporeans.

"(Singapore) will have a future where we have deeper respect for one another. It'll have a future that ensures that every generation has the confidence of knowing that we have reserves and we have the backing that will help us. It has to be a future where Singapore is never treated as a small country, where we are treated seriously in the world as a partner of choice and where we can project our voice of reason internationally."

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In conceding his election defeat, Ng told reporters he congratulated Tharman on a "magnificent victory".

"When I came forward to stand for the presidency, I said that my No.1 goal was to ensure that the people of Singapore have redeemed their right to vote in this presidential election," he added. "I think I have accomplished that goal because the presidential election did take place."

Likewise, Tan congratulated Tharman on his election victory, and said, "I wish him all the best in meeting the challenges ahead, and I hope he will be able to help bring a better life for the people."

Meet Singapore's 9th president

Tharman has been a familiar figure in Singapore politics, having served as its deputy prime minister, minister of finance and minister of education over his 22-year political career.

Formerly a deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, he entered politics in 2001, securing victory in the general election as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate in the Jurong Group Representation Constituency (GRC).

His four-time re-election shows his enduring popularity in his constituency. In the government, Tharman held key ministerial positions, including deputy prime minister (2011-2019) and minister for finance (2007-2015).

He last held the position of senior minister and coordinating minister for social policies until he stepped down in July to participate in the Presidential election.

Unifying presidency rooted in experience and independence

Tharman's presidential campaign had centred around the theme "Respect for All," reflecting his vision for a presidency suited to a new era.

Throughout his election campaign, he emphasised his commitment to utilising his 22 years of political experience to foster unity  a crucial responsibility of the President.

The 66-year-old expressed, "When we talk about being a unifying figure, I do not say this rhetorically or just as an aspiration, but I speak from a real track record," He pointed to his history of valuing diverse perspectives and consistently striving to find common ground.

Drawing inspiration from leaders like former president Ong Teng Cheong, who demonstrated independence within the context of prior party affiliations, Tharman stressed the importance of an independent mindset combined with extensive experience in policy-making.

Presidential powers

Singapore's constitution empowers the President to veto the utilisation of the country's reserves and make certain appointments to public offices. However, the role does not carry any executive authority.

In the election six years prior, Halimah Yacob, stood as the sole candidate, mainly due to stringent nomination criteria that no other individual managed to fulfil.

This year's election differed in that three contenders emerged, all of whom met the criteria of being independent to qualify as presidential candidates. A fourth aspirant, businessman George Goh, was deemed ineligible by the Presidential Elections Committee.

(Left) Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Ng Kok Song and Tan Kin Lian at the Nomination Centre in Singapore on 22 August 2023. (PHOTOS: Reuters)

Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.
AdGuard VPN on a PC screen

AdGuard has made waves in the world of cybersecurity for a while now thanks to its ad-blocking software, but its integrated AdGuard VPN shouldn't fly under the radar.

Both products are provided by AdGuard Software Limited. The company has its headquarters in Cyprus  a country that complies with GDPR and is a member of the EU. The good news is that Cyprus isn't a part of any intelligence-sharing pacts (like the 14 Eyes) as far as we're aware.

However, things get more complicated when you consider that AdGuard VPN was initially created in 2009 by a team of Russian developers in Moscow. There are some lingering surveillance concerns, but AdGuard has allayed the majority by stating that most of its team works out of the Cyrpus offices these days, and that the company doesn't host data in Russia or on Russian-owned servers. AdGuard VPN is upfront and honest about its origins; this transparency is refreshing and ultimately helps potential users reach their own conclusions.

On a more practical level, AdGuard has some handy privacy-enhancing features, a generous network of servers, and easy-to-use apps for just about all devices and browsers. The service isn't without its quirks and concerns, however, and I'll dig into them later in this hands-on AdGuard VPN review.

I'll also take a deeper dive into AdGuard VPN's security, pricing, and whether it stacks up when compared to the very best VPN services of 2023  and its ad-blocking counterpart.

AdGuard VPN on paper

AdGuard VPN 1-minute review

AdGuard VPN is available for $11.99 a month, and that's not a budget price by any means. It is typical of a rolling monthly VPN subscription, however, and you can save some cash by committing for longer. The one-year plan averages out to $3.99 per month while the two-year plan clocks in at a pretty decent $2.99 per month.

Alternatively, you can check out AdGuard's free plan. You'll get 3 GB of data that'll come in handy in a pinch, although it's better to treat this free subscription as a temporary solution when you really need access to the internet via a VPN. Plus, the 20 Mbps connection cap can be frustrating if you're trying to jump onto video calls or stream your favorite shows.

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On that note, AdGuard VPN didn't blow me away with its unblocking ability. The VPN can access Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+ from the US, but it couldn't stream Peacock or Amazon Prime. When I switched to UK servers, I couldn't access ITV or 4OD, either. I'd ultimately recommend checking out another top streaming VPN, but when AdGuard did unblock a service, it provided a buffer-free, high-quality streaming experience.

AdGuard's privacy measures are slightly concerning, too. The service doesn't use tried-and-tested protocols like OpenVPN and WireGuard, and instead uses its own custom proprietary protocol. If this has you raising an eyebrow, you're not alone  and a lack of a third-party audit, and closed-source apps, are just as worrying.

AdGuard VPN's server network spans an impressive 65 locations in 53 countries

Unfortunately, I also noticed DNS leaks during testing, which means AdGuard isn't a viable torrenting VPN. Some users will also want a clearer picture of the service's connection to Russia. I couldn't find evidence of it connecting to Russian addresses during my testing, but that doesn't mean the links aren't there.

When it comes to speed, AdGuard VPN performed fairly well. Tested on my 100 Mbps connection, it delivered an average download speed of 58.73 Mbps and upload speed of 23.18 Mbps. This is slower than the likes of ExpressVPN and NordVPN, but you'll still have no trouble streaming HD content across multiple devices, which is good news if you plan to share the ten simultaneous connections across your household.

AdGuard VPN's server coverage is pretty generous, too. You'll be able to connect to over 65 locations in 53 countries, ranging across Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. For anyone looking to access content from overseas (or catch up on what's happening at home when traveling abroad), this global network is a big win.

AdGuard VPN has all the necessary building blocks to be a sturdy, reliable option, but there's still plenty of room for improvement. If the service introduced secure, vetted protocols, improved its unblocking power, and addressed the DNS leaks, it'd make a world of difference. For now, AdGuard VPN is a middling provider that's probably best suited to users already making use of AdGuard Ad Blocker to round out their privacy package.

AdGuard VPN price and payment

Boost your digital security, access 53 international servers, and try AdGuard VPN for yourself today!

For $11.99 a month, you can enjoy all of AdGuard's premium featuresincluding a kill switch and access to US Netflixas well as a 30-day money-back guarantee.

A 1-year plan is also available at $3.99 a month, and a 2-year plan at$2.99 a month. Both long-term plans bag you up to 24 months of protection and major savings.View Deal

There are two AdGuard VPN subscriptions available: a free plan and a more feature-rich paid alternative. The free plan bags you 3 Gb of data per month and a 20 Mbps connection cap. That's not unusual for a free subscription, although other providers tend to be more generous. Even so, AdGuard VPN's free plan is useful if you need inexpensive and temporary access to a VPN. What really impressed me is that free users can connect to ten server locations. ProtonVPN, in comparison, offers an unlimited free VPN but only three server locations.

At $11.99 per month, AdGuard VPN's monthly paid plan is on the pricey side. Some of the industry's biggest names, like ExpressVPN, charge a similar amount, but you'll get a lot more in returnlike more handy features, access to a wider variety of streaming platforms, and reassurance in the form of a third-party audit.

As is usually the case with VPNs, discounts begin to stack up the longer the subscription is. So, if you're on the hunt for a bargain and don't mind a bit of commitment, you can save some money by choosing a long-term plan.

The one-year subscription is particularly reasonable at $3.99 a month, and the price gets even better, at $2.99, when you opt for the two-year plan. All of AdGuard VPN's paid plans support ten simultaneous connections, too, which should be more than enough to keep all of your devices secure, but it might be a stretch if you're hoping to cover an entire household of internet-enabled gadgets.

Once you decide to take the plunge, you can pay for your subscription with any major credit or debit card, via PayPal, or even with cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tether). This blend of accepted payment methods means that you can roll with whatever's most convenient or opt for more anonymitythe choice is yours.

Finally, it's worth noting that both of AdGuard's paid plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. So, you'll be able to reclaim your money if you're not totally impressed with the service, get a full month to put it to the test, and get a much better sense of AdGuard's apps and values this way than by using its free plan.

 Sign up now on the AdGuard website

How private and secure is AdGuard?

Check out any of the major players across the VPN landscape and you'll see that their clients are built on top of reliable VPN protocols. OpenVPN, WireGuard, IPSec, and morethey're well-known and, more importantly, thoroughly audited. AdGuard bucks this trend by using a custom-built proprietary protocol with some important differences.

The AdGuard VPN protocol doesn't use a traditional VPN tunnel, and instead secures your data within an encrypted HTTPS connection. This is similar to how Shadowsocks does things, although the difference is that while Shadowsocks prioritizes obfuscation, AdGuard VPN's protocol uses HTTPS to improve its overall speed as it cuts down on the essential overhead it takes to run a VPN connection.

As you might expect, this has some less-than-stellar security implications. AdGuard VPN isn't open source, which makes it difficult to check whether its protocol is implemented correctly without vulnerabilities and backdoors. These are concerns you just don't get with OpenVPN and WireGuard, seeing as they've been carefully vetted for weaknesses that could compromise your digital privacy.

On that note, AdGuard VPN also hasn't undergone a third-party audit. Audits are a great way to see which providers take their commitment to security seriously. Without one, it's almost impossible to place your trust in a provider entirelyand just as difficult to see whether AdGuard VPN's protocol and no-logs promise are legitimate.

AdGuard VPN isn't open source, which makes it difficult to check whether its proprietary protocol is implemented correctly.

There is some good news, however. The service uses sturdy AES-256 encryption to keep your browsing sessions secure, which is just what I like to see. So, while AdGuard VPN isn't the most secure VPN out there, its encryption will certainly come in handy if you're using public Wi-Fi hotspots and want to avoid falling prey to snoopers and opportunistic cybercriminals. Additionally, the kill-switch will cut your internet access to prevent leaks if your VPN connection drops for any reason.

I was also glad to see that AdGuard VPN has its own split tunneling functionality. The feature allows users to dictate which websites use the VPN tunnel and which don'tfor example, you could tell AdGuard VPN to activate whenever you access Netflix in order to view a particular international library of content.

How fast is AdGuard VPN?

AdGuard VPN's speeds are nothing to write home about, though you can expect a decent performance if you're subscribed to a paid plan. I used a 100 Mbps connection and Ookla's speedtest suite to get a clearer picture of just how quick the service is. Currently, AdGuard VPN records an average 58.73 Mbps download speed and 23.18 Mbps upload speed.

It's a different story for free users, however. I discovered that AdGuard really does stick to its advertised 20 Mbps cap  so don't expect any wiggle room.

All in all, AdGuard VPN's performance is below par. For less money a month, you could check out a service like Surfshark that's far faster (with WireGuard), is stuffed with features, and boasts fully audited servers.

AdGuard VPN just doesn't have the speed you need for data-intensive tasks like online gaming or streaming across multiple devices simultaneously without hiccups. AdGuard is a less-than-ideal torrenting VPN, too, thanks to DNS leaks on mobile devices that allow your ISP to keep tabs on your activity.

How good is AdGuard VPN for streaming?

AdGuard VPN is no slouch when it comes to streaming, and I was pleasantly surprised by how many big-name services it was able to unblock. Even the top providers can struggle to access the likes of Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+, but AdGuard VPN had no trouble with these services when I was connected to a US server. What's more, the VPN also accessed HBO Max and Hulu.

Things weren't as rosy when I tried streaming Peacock, however. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't access anything under the Peacock umbrella (including WWE programming) or Amazon Prime. This was a surprise, especially after AdGuard VPN's performance as a Netflix VPN, and most VPN providers work with Amazon Prime easily enough.

Switching to UK servers was another mixed bag. BBC iPlayer VPN performance was great, but I had no luck accessing ITV and 4OD.

These hit-and-miss results had me wondering why AdGuard puts so much stock in its proprietary protocol if a long list of major streaming services still block the VPN. It is worth mentioning, however, that when I did access a stream with AdGuard VPN, the connection was always fantastic. I didn't have to wait ages for shows to buffer, the quality was perfect (even when I tried 4K shows on Netflix), and I sometimes forgot that the VPN was switched on.

If you're on the hunt for a VPN to use primarily while streaming, AdGuard VPN might not be your match made in heaven. Too many streaming services recognize it, although it works well when this isn't an issue. For reliable access to a much broader selection of shows and apps, whether you're abroad or at home, I'd suggest checking out ExpressVPN, instead.

How good are AdGuard VPN's apps?

AdGuard VPN currently offers Windows VPN, Mac VPN, Android VPN, and iOS VPN apps. Currently, there's no Linux VPN support, and no OpenVPN config, which means you won't be able to load the service onto a router, SmartTV, or IoT device. The VPN makes up for this, somewhat, with a range of browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera.

I was also glad to see that the AdGuard Ad Blocker is compatible with AdGuard VPN. It's a well-regarded solution that keeps malicious ads, malware, and trackers at bay, and compliments the VPN nicely. That being said, industry-leading VPNs usually have their own ad-blockers built into their apps, working at the DNS level to prevent all sorts of nasties, like ads and malware, from being downloaded onto your device. AdGuard Ad Blocker doesn't have this same DNS-level blocking which, unfortunately, means it's not quite as efficient.

At first glance, the Windows and Mac clients are secure, but digging deeper revealed a number of DNS leaks when I ran them in integrated mode alongside the ad-blocking AdGuard solution. Simply put, this means that your ISP will see the requests you make when you use AdGuard  and that's a major breach of your digital privacy.

Finally, let's address the elephant in the room: AdGuard VPN potentially hosting data in Russia or on Russian servers. I couldn't find any evidence of the VPN connecting to Russian addresses during my testing, although it's entirely possible that AdGuard does this internally when it captures data from its servers. For now, there are no blatant data trails from your machine, but privacy purists will no doubt be put off by the mere thought of any connection with Russia.

AdGuard VPN ad blocker interface

How good is AdGuard VPN's support?

You can reach out to AdGuard VPN by email, ticketing system, or via Telegram for more direct support. I sent the team an email and received a reply the very same day that helped tackle my technical query about the proprietary protocol. What's more, the response was easy to follow and clearly written by knowledgeable staff  so full marks there. The Telegram channel also provides speedy responses on issues ranging from setup to billing. If you have a more complex conundrum, your best bet is the ticketing system.

In addition to direct support channels, AdGuard VPN's active community is made up of users that more than happy to help troubleshoot technical issues. In fact, you're often better off reaching out to these users than combing through the official FAQ. It's pretty hard to navigate and can lead you to an answer that doesn't address your question. The knowledgebase is more thorough and useful, but still falls short of advice from the AdGuard VPN team and its users.

AdGuard VPN support center

Should you buy AdGuard VPN?

AdGuard VPN is mid-pack at best  it's not our number one pick but it's not totally unusable. If you already have AdGuard Ad Blocker, it could be worth picking up the VPN to flesh out your digital security with solid encryption, a kill switch, and split tunneling. Bear in mind that some VPNs, like NordVPN and Surfshark, can block ads even more effectively than AdGuard VPN thanks to DNS-level blocking and blacklists. These providers (and plenty of others) also offer more in terms of features, streaming capability, and protocols  and also don't suffer the same DNS leaks I noticed.

There are more comprehensive free VPNs out there, too  like Proton VPN and Windscribe  that give users more monthly bandwidth. Linux users will have to look elsewhere for a VPN with a compatible client (and you can't go wrong with Private Internet Access ).

Ultimately, if you want a service that combines all of the features listed above, in addition to some of the best security measures and tools available, then you'll want to try a VPN that's been leading the industry for years  like ExpressVPN .

Tom's Guide rating: 

Subscribe if:

 You want a fairly priced long-term subscription. AdGuard VPN's 1-year and 2-year subscriptions only cost a few dollars a month, so you can grab a bargain and enjoy access to some solid security features.

 You need free access to a VPN. Whether you're putting the service to the test or need a quick, cost-effective, and secure connection to ten international locations, AdGuard has you covered.

Don't subscribe if:

 You want to use OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols. AdGuard VPNs proprietary protocol is something of a mystery, and the lack of an audit makes it difficult to say whether it's totally secure.

 You need rock-solid privacy. While AdGuard VPN mostly covers the basics, the DNS leaks I found are worrisome to say the least.

 You need the fastest VPN on the market. Simply put, there are quicker (and cheaper) providers out there that are better suited to torrenting, gaming, and multi-device streaming.

How we test VPNs

Understanding how our team of experts tests VPNs is important. It lets you know that we really have got hands-on with these products, and that weve considered every feature, no matter how small. Some sites just give a rundown of specs found on a providers website  we endeavor to do quite a bit more than that.

First of all, we do check the provider websites, and note useful information like the number of servers and locations, whether youre allowed to use every server for P2P, which encryption protocols are supported, the variety of operating systems it runs on, and tons more. We also check the pricing at this stage.

This initial scan gives us a baseline understanding of the service, and if there are any bold claims on-site we note them to make sure the customer isnt being misled.

Well then dig into privacy policies. This is a very important piece of literature for any company, but for VPNs they need to be absolutely watertight. Well also go through the logging or zero-logging policy to look for gaps, and read any information available on independent audits.

Then it comes to testing the applications themselves. We test how easy it is to download and install, noting if any data collection options are clearly outlined to the user. We then inspect the default configuration to see what you have to opt in for, and what features are available overall. We then play around with any additional features, such as ExpressVPNs server speed test or NordVPNs Double VPN. After weve gone through everything on the surface, the fun bit starts  trying to break things.

We throw all sorts of curveballs at these VPNs, like connecting to oddly configured networks, and killing processes to see if we can get the VPN to stop without activating the kill switch.

After weve had our fun, we check in with the support team to see if theyre helpful. Then, well check a wide range of streaming sites to see if the VPN is able to access geo-blocked content, and well run a series of speed tests over a few days and nights to get an accurate picture of what sort of connection speeds you can expect.
A Rock Island boy's death was the result of an accidental gunshot wound, investigators believe.

John Shappard, of the Rock Island Police Department, testified on Thursday that investigators think Zion Staples was playing with a handgun that went off. The cause of death is believed to be accidental.

Investigators think the 10-year-old died in December. Police found his body on July 26 in a garbage can in the garage at his home in the 1700 block of 20  Avenue.

As a result of the investigation, Sushi Staples, Zions mother, faces charges of obstructing justice, concealment of a death and failure to report the death of a child under 13, according to court records.

There were four other children living at the residence when police began their investigation, Shappard said.

During interviews with authorities, some of the children said the 10-year-old was playing with a handgun and that he accidentally shot himself, Shappard testified. Those other children said Sushi Staples was not home when Zion died.

Initial autopsy results indicate that the 10-year-olds death resulted from a gunshot wound to the head, Shappard said. As of Thursday, authorities do believe the shooting was accidental.

The gun was not described in detail during Shappards testimony, nor was any information presented about whether it was recovered or who owned it.

Shappard was testifying during Staples' preliminary hearing in the case on Thursday. A preliminary hearing is an initial test of the case against a defendant. A prosecutor presents the outline of the case in court through a law enforcement witness, and a judge decides whether the case has enough merit for the prosecution to continue.

Shappard was questioned by both Rock Island County State's Attorney Dora Villarreal and Staples' attorney, William Wolf.

Family denied Zion's existence

The account of the accidental shooting was not the first thing Staples or the other children told the officers who were looking for Zion Staples, Shappard testified. At first, they denied the boy existed at all.

Sushi Staples first told police she did not have a son on July 25, after a tip about the boy's death brought officers to her door, Shappard said. He testified Staples said she thought the tip was the result of her ex-husband trying to harass her.

The police department received records from the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services that indicated Zion existed, Shappard told the court. Officers obtained a search warrant and executed it on July 26.

They also found a birth certificate and social security card for the boy, the detective said. Presented with these, Staples again said she had no son and told police that shed had them forged so she could collect benefits.

The children also at first told police they did not have a brother named Zion Staples.

The body

An officer found the body in the garbage bin in the garage, Shappard said. There were Spiderman pants on the body, but nothing else.

There appeared to be efforts to control the smell of decomposition, including air fresheners in the garage, Shappard said. Police also learned the boys room used to have carpet, but when officers began the investigation, it had a hardwood floor.

Staples, as her interviews with detectives continued, told investigators she moved the body, initially in the basement, some time during the two months prior to police beginning the investigation.

She did not describe that effort in detail but said she did so because she did not want the other children to find him.

Defense attorney asks questions

Defense counsel has the opportunity to question the officer providing the testimony during a preliminary hearing. On Thursday, Wolf did so.

Shappard, under Wolfs questioning, said he was not in the garage at the time the body was found because he was interviewing the remaining children elsewhere. He did not examine the garbage can directly, but did see at least one photo of it.

It was about 5 feet high, Shappard said.

The detective also said he did not know how tall Zion Staples was or how much he weighed.

Judge Frank Fuhr, who presided over Thursdays hearing, asked Wolf why he was pursuing this information.

The attorney said it was because authorities have accused Staples of putting Zions body in the trash can.

The height and weight of the child is extremely relevant, Wolf said.

Court records state Sushi Staples is 54 and 140 pounds.

Wolf also asked Shappard where investigators think Staples ex-husband, Lattez Owens, was when Zions body was moved.

During her interviews with police, Staples said Owens had come back a few times from the Chicago area, but that it was she who had moved the body.

Shappard said on the stand Thursday that he did not recall whether Staples said Owens was present when she did so.

Investigators did find and interview Owens, Shappard said. Further details about that interview were not provided during Thursdays hearing.

Whats next

Fuhr ruled that the case could continue.

After Thursdays hearing, Staples was returned to the Rock Island County Jail. Her bail has been set at $500,000. To be released, she would have to post $50,000.

Her next hearing has been set for Oct. 27, court records state.

States with the highest rate of gun-related fatalities States with the highest rate of gun-related fatalities #50. Massachusetts #49. Hawaii #48. Rhode Island #47. New York #46. New Jersey #45. Connecticut #44. California #43. Minnesota #42. Nebraska #41. Iowa #40. New Hampshire #39. Washington #38. Wisconsin #37. Vermont #36. Maine #35. Delaware #34. Illinois #33. Virginia #32. Maryland #31. Utah #30. South Dakota #29. Pennsylvania #28. Michigan #27. North Dakota #26. Texas #25. Oregon #24. Florida #23. Ohio #22. North Carolina #21. Colorado #20. Kansas #19. Indiana #18. Idaho #17. Arizona #16. Georgia #15. Nevada #14. Kentucky #13. West Virginia #12. Oklahoma #11. South Carolina #10. Tennessee #9. Arkansas #8. Montana #7. Missouri #6. New Mexico #5. Alabama #4. Wyoming #3. Louisiana #2. Alaska #1. Mississippi
SIOUX CITY  A fired anesthesiologist says in a lawsuit he was blacklisted by Sioux City hospital administrators to keep him from getting another job.

Dr. Dale Klein wasnt hired for a job in Clinton, Iowa, he said in the suit, because he had been placed on a no-hire list after he was fired at MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center in December 2021. He said in the lawsuit, filed against Mercy Medical Services Inc., doing business as MercyOne Medical Group  Siouxland, that Mercy has acted with the predominant purpose of preventing (Klein) from obtaining future employment.

Because of Mercys actions, Klein said he has not been able to get a permanent job in Iowa and his past and future damages for lost wages, bonuses and benefits exceed $500,000. Hes seeking a judgment of triple his damages.

A MercyOne spokeswoman said the hospital can not comment on the lawsuit.

MercyOne is committed to the well-being of our patients and our colleagues. We are unable to provide further comment on an ongoing legal matter, Michelle Kuester, MercyOne western Iowa communications lead, said in an emailed statement.

Klein had entered into an employment agreement with Mercy Medical Services in March 2021 and began working as an anesthesiologist at MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center the following month.

Soon after his hiring, Klein said, he began voicing concerns to then-president Beth Hughes about what he said were instances of unsafe and substandard care of surgical patients.

In one example, he walked into an operating room in September 2021 and found a nurse anesthetist texting on her phone with her feet propped up on an anesthesia machine while the patient had a bent endotracheal tube causing high airway pressure and incorrect ventilator settings causing decreased blood oxygen levels, Klein said in the lawsuit, filed Aug. 23 in Woodbury County District Court.

Hughes fired Klein on Dec. 17, 2021, telling him it was for convenience.

In February 2022, Klein applied for an anesthesiologist position at Mercy Medical Center in Clinton, Iowa, and Mercy-Clinton Anesthesia Group. Doctors who interviewed Klein told him they were short-staffed and impressed with his experience and credentials and wanted to hire him.

The hiring process then came to an abrupt end, and Klein said one of the doctors told him they could not hire him because he was on a no-hire list for any company within the Trinity Health network because he had been a bad employee when he worked at MercyOne in Sioux City.

In addition to blacklisting, Klein is suing Mercy for intentional interference with a prospective business advantage, saying Mercy intentionally and improperly interfered with his job prospect in Clinton and acted with intent to injure him by placing him on the no-hire list.
SIOUX CITY -- A Council Bluffs man has pleaded not guilty of writing fake checks and gaining more than $7,700 in cash from Sioux City banks.

Nicholas Rounds, 25, entered his written plea Thursday in Woodbury County District Court to two counts each of forgery and second-degree theft.

He is suspected of presenting a check for $3,770.55 from Weinrich Truck Line Inc. to Primebank at 5680 Sunnybrook Drive on July 12 and receiving cash. He then went to Primebank's Hamilton Boulevard location, presented a similar check and received $3,970.55 in cash.

In both instances, the checks had not been issued by Weinrich Truck Line, but had been forged with the company's account information and the bookkeeper's signature.

According to court documents, Rounds is suspected of passing fake checks and receiving a total of $9,340.55 from banks in Le Mars, Iowa, and Sioux Center, Iowa. A search of online court records showed no charges have been filed against Rounds in Plymouth or Sioux counties.
SIOUX CITY  The fall election schedule for Sioux City municipal elections is now set as the candidate filing deadline has come and gone.

Residents looking to run had until 5 p.m. Thursday to file for either the mayoral race or the city council election. In total, four candidates filed. One for the mayoral election and three for city council. The city council election will have a primary on Tuesday, October 10 as there is only one open seat. The general election day for both is set for Tuesday, November 7.

In the mayoral election, incumbent Bob Scott is running unopposed.

Scott, the owner of the R.E. Scott Company, a tax preparation service, has served four stretches as the mayor of Sioux City. He was first elected to the council in 1985 and served his first stint as mayor from 1990 to 1997, when the mayor was chosen to serve two-year terms by the five council members. Fourteen years later, Scott was elected mayor in 2011. He won re-election to four-year terms in 2015 and 2019. In 2019, he defeated Maria Rundquist. Scott received 68 percent of the vote. Rundquist, a former ESL instructor, got 31 percent. In 2015, Scott ran unopposed.

The council race will feature incumbent Julie Schoenherr and challengers Tricia Frederick and Tom Murphy.

Schoenherr's in her first term on the Sioux City Council after she defeated two-term incumbent Sioux City Councilwoman Rhonda Capron, a business owner, in 2019. Schoenherr edged past Capron with 51 percent to 48 percent. A businesswoman, Schoenherr previously owned and operated SoHo American Kitchen & Bar on Fourth Street. She was a former operations manager at 1st Financial Bank USA as well.

Frederick's LinkedIn page lists her as a "Vice President of Mortgage Lending at Guaranteed Rate." On August 23 she posted to Facebook: "Just a test question...what if I ran for City Council in Sioux City? How many of you will support me?"

Murphy did not return a call or message from the Journal by press time.

Neither Murphy nor Frederick have served on the council before.

In July, Jessica Lopez-Walker declared her candidacy but did not file by the 5 p.m. deadline, according to the city clerk's office. She's an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska who has degrees in psychology and art and has worked at FedEx for the past four years. She is also an instructor at Winnebago for Ho-Chunk Renaissance and Little Priest Tribal College.
SIOUX CITY -- The Western Iowa Labor Federation will hold its annual Labor Day picnic from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday at shelter #5 in Riverside Park.

Ryan Melton, a Democratic candidate for Iowa's 4th congressional district, Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott and Iowa House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst are expected to attend, along with potential candidates for City Council and the Sioux City school board, the Western Iowa Labor Federation said in a press release.

The Labor Day picnic has been held in Riverside Park annually since 1904. Free hamburgers, hot dogs and chips will be served. Organizers also will be collecting donations for the Siouxland Soup Kitchen. Those who can are encouraged to donate money or non-perishable food items.

Attendees who are able to bring chairs for extra seating are encouraged to do so.

The picnic will also feature games, including a bags tournament beginning at 11:30 a.m.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.  Children in many states are being wrongly cut off from Medicaid because of a glitch in the automated systems being used in a massive eligibility review for the government-run health care program, a top Medicaid official said Wednesday.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is asking all states to review their computer-automated processes to make sure that children are evaluated separately from their parents  and aren't losing coverage merely because of their parents' ineligibility or inaction.

Though federal officials remained vague about the scope of the problem, it likely involves at least half the states and potentially affects millions of children, said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

I think its a very significant problem, said Alker, whose center is tracking the Medicaid renewal process in each state.

In most states, children can qualify for Medicaid at household incomes that are several times higher than allowed for adults.

Yet in many states, eligible kids are not being successfully renewed, and that is a violation of federal requirements, said Daniel Tsai, director of the CMS Center for Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Services.

All states are in the midst of an enormous eligibility review for Medicaid. A pandemic-era prohibition on removing people from Medicaid ended in the spring, triggering the resumption of annual eligibility determinations. While the freeze was in effect, Medicaid enrollment swelled by nearly one-third, from 71 million people in February 2020 to 94 million in April 2023.

About 5 million people already have lost coverage as part of the eligibility reviews, according to an Associated Press tally from state reports.

States are encouraged to automatically renew people for Medicaid by using computer programs to review income and household information submitted for other social services, such as food aid or unemployment benefits. When that doesn't work, states are to send notices to homes asking people to verify their eligibility information. When people fail to respond, they are dropped from Medicaid  a move described as a procedural termination by Medicaid officials.

Tsai said a systems glitch in some states is flagging entire households for further information  and dropping all family members when there's no response  instead of reviewing each individual separately and automatically renewing children who remain eligible.

A top Medicaid official in Maryland confirmed it's one of the states with that problem.

"Maryland has responded immediately and is working closely with CMS to resolve this issue in a way that helps keep eligible individuals, particularly children, covered on Medicaid, said Ryan Moran, the state's Medicaid director and deputy secretary of health care financing.

He said Maryland is pausing all procedural terminations in August, retroactively reinstating coverage for children who weren't renewed in the automated process and working to fix its system as quickly as possible.

Moran said the state has identified 3,153 children who were potentially affected  a little less than 5% of the state's total procedural terminations to date. Some of those children still could eventually be determined to be ineligible.

CMS sent letters Wednesday to states giving them until Sept. 13 to report whether their automated renewal systems have similar problems. Those that do are instructed to pause procedural terminations for affected individuals, reinstate coverage for those already dropped and devise a way to prevent further wrongful cutoffs until their automated systems can be fixed.

Some states already have taken steps to prevent such situations. Missouri's computer system cannot automatically renew coverage when a child is eligible but a parent's eligibility is in question. So staff are handling those cases manually, often causing the process to extend into another month, said Caitlin Whaley, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Social Services.

Best and worst states for health care Best and worst states for health care The 10 states with the best health care The 10 states with the lowest rank for health care Additional findings: Outcome, cost and access data rankings Depending on state, Americans' cost for care can vary significantly Methodology
Episode 105: We talk a lot about diversity in this country, and while many Americans seem to like the idea of having a country that is welcoming, most of us still choose to spend most our time with people who are a lot like ourselves.

And this is especially apparent when it comes to class.

Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada talk about why far too many people are comfortable in discriminating in people who are different from us economically.

Links to stories discussed during the podcast:

Where do socioeconomic classes mix? Not church, but Chilis, by Catherine Rampell, The Washington Post

Barbara Kingsolver thinks urban liberals have it all wrong on Appalachia, The Ezra Klein Show podcast

About the hosts: Scott Rada is social media manager with Lee Enterprises, and Richard Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Republican Party of Iowa announced the dates for its 2024 county, district and state conventions on Thursday, laying out the timeline between the January caucuses and the Republican National Convention.

The partys county conventions will be held Feb. 17, the district conventions will be held April 6 and the state convention will be held May 4. The Republican National Convention, where the national party will formally nominate its candidate for president, will begin July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee.

The Iowa GOP previously scheduled its presidential precinct caucuses for Jan. 15, which falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Iowas Republican caucuses will be the first presidential nominating contest in the nation, kicking off the 2024 primary process. Republican presidential candidates have been campaigning heavily in Iowa to win the support of the states Republican voters.

Delegates to county conventions will be elected at the caucuses based on the proportion of votes for each presidential candidate. Throughout the convention process, the party will select delegates to the national convention that will cast their votes based on the results of the caucuses.

The Republican Party of Iowa remains steadfastly committed to preserving our half-century-old First-in-the-Nation Caucus and building on our traditions of grassroots democracy in action across all 99 counties, Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement. We are excited for the Republican presidential primary process to play out, and look forward to rallying behind our eventual nominee to put an end to the nightmare that is the Biden presidency come November 2024.

According to its proposed delegate selection plan, the Iowa Democratic Partys county conventions will be held March 23, the district conventions will be held May 4, and the state convention will be held June 15. The Democratic National Convention will begin Aug. 19 in Chicago.

Iowa Democrats have not yet settled on holding their caucuses on the same date as Republicans.

Legislative Republicans passed a law in May aimed at preventing Democrats plan to hold a mail-in presidential selection process. Republicans argued the process would be too similar to a primary and risk Iowas first-in-the-nation status.

Then in June, the Democratic National Committee found the state partys delegate selection plan non-compliant because it did not include the dates the party would hold its caucus or end its mail-in presidential preference window.

Im not going to commit today, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said about the caucus date on Iowa Press in August. I think that is a consensus kind of decision. But, were certainly having those conversations and hoping that  weve said from the very beginning that we would have the caucuses on the same day as the Republicans. I certainly would like to see that we are able to do that.

Photos: Republicans Caucus in Bettendorf 020116-iowa-caucus-jc7 020116-iowa-caucus-jc13 020116-iowa-caucus-jc8 020116-iowa-caucus-jc9 020116-iowa-caucus-jc10 020116-iowa-caucus-jc11 020116-iowa-caucus-jc12 020116-iowa-caucus-jc4 020116-iowa-caucus-jc6 020116-iowa-caucus-jc5 020116-iowa-caucus-jc1 020116-iowa-caucus-jc2 020116-iowa-caucus-jc3
Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said she will not reinstate COVID-19 restrictions as hospitalizations across the state increase and cases of a new coronavirus variant prompt masking requirements and other restrictions to reemerge at some colleges and businesses in other parts of the country.

In a statement issued by her office Wednesday, Reynolds said "concerned Iowans have been calling my office asking whether the same could happen here. My answer  not on my watch."

In recent weeks, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been on the rise across the United States. This comes as the omicron variant EG. 5, recently designated as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization, became the newly dominant variant in the country.

This has led some public health experts to suggest that some people  especially those at higher risk of severe COVID-19  wear masks when in public, and to be a bit more cautious about ways to avoid contracting the coronavirus.

In a few limited instances, colleges and companies elsewhere have announced they will be requiring masks for the time being.

Iowa saw a 51.4 percent increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations through Aug. 19 compared with the prior week, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. It classifies that number as a "substantial increase." In Linn County, there was a 11.5 percent increase over same period, which the CDC considers "moderate." It was the same in Johnson County.

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services no longer require labs to report COVID-19 test results to the state. The state ended mandatory COVID-19 reporting April 1. Since rapid at-home tests have grown in popularity and arent required to be reported, the department said the weekly case and positive test counts in the state are no longer as meaningful as they once were.

At the same time, the department also ended its public COVID-19 reporting dashboard. It now incorporates COVID-19 data in its weekly respiratory virus surveillance reports.

According to the latest report, overall COVID-19 activity in Iowa was low for the week of Aug. 13 to Aug. 19. About 14 percent of lab tests reported as positive, according to the Iowa respiratory virus survey.

A total of 67 individuals were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state during that period, and Iowa emergency departments saw 362 visits involving patients with COVID-19 symptoms. Iowa saw 831 COVID-19 related deaths for 2022-23, according to the survey.

New variants

In recent weeks, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have risen across the United States. That comes as health authorities say they're closely tracking the spread of three new variants.

The World Health Organization said it has not seen evidence of an increase in the severity of illness under omicron variant EG.5  which CDC data indicates has become the dominant strain in the United States.

But the appearance of a new "highly mutated" variant dubbed BA.2.86  which the Washington Post reports threatens to be the most adept yet at evading the body's immune response  has raised questions among virologists and health officials about what the coming months could hold.

That has led some public health experts to suggest that some people  particularly those at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19  wear masks in public, and to be more cautious.

Levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths still remain far below peaks seen during the past summer and winter waves of the virus, but have been climbing steadily.

Local public health officials told The Gazette the latest seasonal uptick in the virus is not yet cause for concern, but a reminder to be cautious and to continue to take precautions, including wearing a mask in public, practicing good hygiene and staying home if sick.

Sam Jarvis, community health manager with Johnson County Public Health, said public health officials have tools to protect Iowans for a seasonal uptick in cases of COVID-19 and other respiratory virus, including forthcoming COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots specifically targeted to protect against the family of variants on the rise.

Weve seen different mutations throughout the pandemic  and its really important that folks continue to be mindful of that, Jarvis said. The severity (of illness from new coronavirus strains) is not yet known, but what we continue to iterate to folks  is all the things we can do to stay safe. Those who are immune compromised should continue to take precautions that theyre comfortable with to protect themselves and others.

Dr. Pramod Dwivedi, health director of Linn County Public Health, echoed that message.

We continue to recommend the basic precautions of the getting the COVID-19 vaccine, staying home if sick, covering coughs and sneezes, and washing hands, Dwivedi said, adding COVID-19 vaccines are available at health care providers and at Linn County Public Health.

A little more than 60 percent of all Iowans  about 1.9 million  are fully vaccinated.

UnityPoint Health-St. Lukes Hospital in Cedar Rapids had four hospitalized patients with COVID-19 as of Wednesday afternoon, and the hospitals emergency room has seen a small uptick in individuals with COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. A hospital spokesperson said its lab has seen the positivity rate increase over the last few weeks from about 10 to 17 percent. The hospital monitors all respiratory and communicable illnesses.

Reynolds was one of the first governors to lift pandemic restrictions she had implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor signed a law in 2021 that prohibited mask mandates by schools, cities and counties that was blocked in federal district court but later lifted by a federal appeals court.

Eleven Iowa families from 10 school districts argued that, by prohibiting schools from enacting face mask requirements that could help protect a medically vulnerable students health, the state law violates federal laws that provide protections for individuals with disabilities.

A federal judge later ruled Iowa schools must consider the requests of families with medically vulnerable students who wish to have teachers and classmates near the students wear face masks. Reynolds at the time said she planned to appeal

In Iowa, government respects the people it serves and fights to protect their rights, Reynolds said in her statement Wednesday. I rejected the mandates and lockdowns of 2020, and my position has not changed.
A Cherokee County landowner claims that a carbon dioxide pipeline companys agent pressured him explicitly with the threat of eminent domain during easement negotiations for the project.

Richard Davis ultimately declined the agreements and is now subject to eminent domain requests by Summit Carbon Solutions, which told the Iowa Capital Dispatch the agents alleged tactics were improper.

The allegation was made during the second week of the companys evidentiary hearing for its hazardous liquid pipeline permit application with the Iowa Utilities Board.

Davis was among five landowners who testified Tuesday. He has four land parcels in the proposed pipelines path where his sons tend corn, soybeans and cattle.

He said a Summit land agent attempted to persuade him to sign voluntary easements by noting that if the company sought forced easements through eminent domain, it was likely his compensation would only be a fraction of what the company had offered. He said the agent also told him the company was certain to succeed with its eminent domain requests.

If the IUB approves Summits pipeline permit and its eminent domain requests, county compensation commissions will determine how much the company will pay for the forced easements.

Those easements give perpetual permission to the company to construct and operate its pipeline on land it doesnt own.

Any Summit team member who is found to have pressured landowners around the possibility of eminent domain being used will be disciplined and, if such behavior continues, terminated by the company, said Sabrina Zenor, a spokesperson for the company.

Wright County landowner Verle Tate also testified on Tuesday that agents told him: If you dont take this, then well probably go to eminent domain, and you probably wont get much for your land.

That negotiation tactic has not been universal, according to landowner testimony. Elizabeth Ellis, a Wright County landowner who also testified on Tuesday, said the land agents she negotiated with did not make explicit threats about eminent domain, although she was aware her land would likely be subject to it.

The company wants to build a pipeline system in five states that would span more than 2,000 miles and would connect to ethanol plants. The system would transport captured carbon dioxide to North Dakota for underground sequestration.

More than 680 miles of that system would be built in Iowa, and the company said it has obtained voluntary easements for about 72% of the route.

The remaining part of the route that is subject to eminent domain amounts to about 950 land parcels, the IUB has said.

A total of about 40 landowners of some of those parcels were expected to testify at the start of Summits evidentiary hearing, which began Aug. 22 in Fort Dodge. Those landowners testimonies are expected to continue into next week, said Don Tormey, a spokesperson for the IUB.

After the initial landowners, Summit will present its witnesses. The remaining landowners subject to eminent domain will testify in the later part of the hearing, which could go for weeks or months.

Landowners who have testified so far have objected to the project for various reasons, including potential damage to their land and the underground tiling that drains it; the threat to public safety posed by a pipeline leak, and the use of eminent domain for a project they dont view as a public utility.

Photos: Missing children in Iowa Alexandra Storm Hailey Coleman Jamira Debose Osbourne Breasia Terrell Julian Murray Daniela Salinas-mejia Jade Colvin Fredrick Workman Benjamin Roseland Erin Pospisil Marc Allen Eugene Martin John Gosch Kimberly Doss Colleen Simpson Caleb Williams Xavior Harrelson Alyssa Dluzak Fatima Conteh Daniela Vera-Ortega Xerxes Blaesing Jorge Peneda Castillo Anya Pritchard Desirae Gifford Daquan Nelson Diomarix Crespo Alivia Beeding Caydence Roberts x2x
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has appealed a recent district court decision that would allow certain voting materials to be printed in languages other than English.

In a statement, Bird, a Republican, said the move is an effort to protect election integrity and defend state law.

The appeal follows a June court decision in which a district court judge ruled that county election officials could provide voters with non-English voter materials, like registration forms.

The Iowa English Language Reaffirmation Act is clear; all official documents are to be written in English  including voter registration forms, Bird said in a statement. We look forward to arguing our case in court to uphold the Act and secure the integrity of our elections.

The June decision overruled a longstanding interpretation of Iowa law that barred the state and counties from providing voter registration forms and other materials in languages other than English. The lawsuit was brought by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) of Iowa against Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, the Iowa Voter Registration Commission and four county auditors.

The Supreme Court will either take up the appeal or send it to the state Court of Appeals to decide.

The law at question, the English Language Reaffirmation Act, was signed in 2002 by Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack. It states that all official government documents in Iowa must be printed in English, with a handful of exceptions. One exception is if any language is required by or necessary to secure the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America or the Constitution of the State of Iowa.

After then-U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Republican, brought a lawsuit in 2008, a district court ruled that the law barred the secretary of state from providing voting materials in languages other than English. That lawsuit did not center on the constitutional rights exception, and the judges ruling noted that exception may justify non-English language voter forms.

LULAC of Iowa brought their lawsuit in 2021, arguing voting materials should be an exception from the English language mandate because they serve a constitutional right.

The state argued LULAC of Iowas interpretation of the law was wrong.

Of course, voting is a fundamental right protected by both constitutions, the state argued in a brief. ... But that doesnt mean that either constitution requires non-English voting materials be provided to all voters or those with limited English-language proficiency.

In a June decision that dissolved the 2008 ruling, Judge Scott Rosenberg of Iowas Fifth Judicial District sided with LULAC. He said non-English voting materials can be necessary to secure the right to vote.

"One would be hard-pressed to find a right that has been more frequently and unwaveringly praised in this nation than the right to vote, Rosenberg wrote. More to the point, American courts have consistently held that the right to vote is unquestionably protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Secretary of state seeking clarity

In a statement on Wednesday, Pates spokesperson Ashley Hunt said the secretary of states office has followed the federal Voting Rights Acts provisions around providing materials in other languages to voters. Those rules require materials to be provided in a non-English language if a certain percentage of a locality belong to a language minority group.

She said the June ruling has added confusion about the rules for voting materials.

The ruling from the Iowa Court has called into question the bright line we have followed and potentially the intent of the legislature, Hunt said. We disagree with the courts ruling and are appealing to seek clarity now that this decision has added confusion to what was a bright line and clear legislative intent. We will be consulting both our attorneys and legislative leadership about possible next steps.

LULAC prepares for court fight

Joe Henry, the political director for LULAC, said Wednesday he is disappointed the state has appealed the ruling, but he believes the group has a solid legal argument. He pointed to the 1965 Voting Rights Act that outlawed literacy tests, and said requiring someone to read English to vote violates their constitutional right.

The constitutional right to vote should never be hampered by anything like this, its just so wrong to do this, he said. So were very concerned. And we feel that we have a good argument. The judge clearly felt that way.

A little over 5% of Iowas population is made up of immigrants, according to 2021 data. Henry said LULAC estimates between 30,000 and 50,000 Iowa voters speak a primary language other than English and would benefit from non-English voter materials.

While the Supreme Court weighs whether to take up the case, county auditors may still print non-English voting materials in line with the June ruling, including in the upcoming city and school election in November. Henry said auditors in Linn and Polk counties are considering providing those materials in the November election.

In the meantime, it appears that were still moving forward on having voting material translated in this upcoming election period, he said.
Linn County and city of Davenport officials say they have no plans to repeal or amend bans on conversion therapy  the discredited attempt to change an individuals sexual orientation or gender identity  in the face of potential threatened litigation.

The Waterloo City Council early last week repealed that citys ban under threat of a lawsuit by a group advancing religious freedom. That leaves only two bans in place in Iowa  Linn County, which applies to rural areas in the county, and Davenport.

The Waterloo City Council voted Aug. 21 to remove its restrictions after Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian ministry and law firm, warned in a letter June 30 that it would take further action if the city did not repeal the ordinance, which was enacted in May.

The group argued the ordinance infringes on the constitutional rights of counselors and patients under the First Amendment to choose the counsel of their choice, free of political censorship. It said it was acting on behalf of a therapist in Waterloo who was concerned about the impact of the ordinance on the counseling practice and clients, said Mat Staver, founder and chair of Liberty Counsel.

Neither Linn County nor Davenport have received letters or emails from Liberty Counsel regarding their conversion therapy ordinances.

There has not been any discussion about repealing, amending or reviewing Linn Countys ordinance, county Communications Director Joi Alexander said in an email to The Gazette. At this time, there are no plans for it to become a discussion item at a Board of Supervisors meeting.

Staver said Liberty Counsel is in process of reviewing both ordinances. We may be in the process of doing something, he said. I cant say definitively that we are, but I wouldnt rule it out.

Such therapy  also called reparative therapy  has been discredited and is opposed by major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, citing research that shows the practice leads to increased risk of suicide and depression.

So-called conversion therapy refers to any form of interventions which attempt to change an individuals sexual orientation, sexual behaviors or gender identity. Underlying these therapies is the assumption that homosexuality and gender nonconformity are mental disorders and that sexual orientation and gender identity can be changed, according to the AMA. This assumption is not based on medical or scientific evidence. Professional consensus rejects pathologizing homosexuality and gender nonconformity and evidence does not support the efficacy of changing sexual orientation.

Staver contends peer-reviewed studies demonstrating the harms of conversion therapy with gender minority youth is lacking  and that no ethical standards exist preventing the type of counseling, absent condemnations from medical organizations.

A September 2019 study of 27,000 transgender individuals published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that those who were exposed to gender identity conversion efforts before age 10 were four times more likely to report a suicide attempt in their lifetime versus trans people who were never subjected to such efforts.

According to the UCLA Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, as of 2019, almost 700,000 LGBTQ adults in the United States had received conversion therapy, and an estimated 57,000 youths will receive change efforts from religious or health care clinicians before they turn 18 years old.

Advocates worry of deteriorating rightsLaws prohibiting mental health professionals from attempting to change a minors sexual orientation or gender identity have been passed in 22 states and Washington, D.C., according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ rights think tank. In 13 states, some municipalities have adopted their own provisions.

Davenport passed an ordinance in 2020 barring licensed medical or mental health professionals in that city from providing or advertising conversion therapies to minors.

The Linn County supervisors passed a similar ban in June 2022. The measure does not apply to cities in the county. It prohibits any efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity with minors, including conversion and reparative therapy. Officials said they are unaware of anyone practicing the therapy in unincorporated Linn County.

Iowa Safe Schools, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, said the issue of conversion therapy was brought to its attention by students, including LGBTQ groups in the Linn-Mar school district in Marion.

In Waterloo, City Council member Jonathan Grieder proposed the ban after he said he had heard concerns about conversion therapy happening in the area, and worked with Iowa Safe Schools to draft an ordinance after watching statewide efforts fail.

Republican Rep. Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton joined Democrats in 2020 to introduce a bill that would have banned health care providers from administering conversion therapy to minors. It provided an exemption for religious groups, parents and grandparents. But some Christian conservatives said it still would discriminates against particular viewpoints about sexual orientation. The bill failed to make it out of subcommittee.

Meanwhile, Iowa lawmakers have passed and Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed bills into law to prohibit teachers from raising gender identity and sexual orientation issues with students through grade six, to restrict the restrooms transgender students can use and to ban gender-affirming care like puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors.

Damian Thompson, public policy director at Iowa Safe Schools, condemned conservative politicians, both in Iowa and at the national level, who he said have turned LGTBQ rights into a political hot-button issue that jeopardizes the safety of transgender and gender-fluid youth in schools and communities.

In every municipality we have worked with to pass ordinances, we have credible allegations of (conversion therapy being practiced) or victims of conversion therapy that come forward, Thompson said.

Despite the legal threat by Liberty Counsel, Thompson argues the bans have been extensively vetted by city and county attorneys, as well as those retained by Iowa Safe Schools, to align with state or federal law and Iowa home rule. The latter allows local governments authority over local matters unless specifically prohibited by state law.

Courts strike down bans in FloridaStaver contends local governments are preempted from regulating counseling practices by the state, which oversees the licensing and discipline of mental health professionals.

Doctors and counselors are regulated uniformly across the state. These are unenforceable laws, Staver said. He pointed to a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invoked free speech protections to block a California law that required anti-abortion centers to provide information about abortion to patients.

In 2020, a panel of three federal judges in Florida relied in part on that 2018 ruling and became the first federal appeals court to block ordinances in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County that banned conversion therapy. Liberty Counsel represents the two therapists who won that case.

And the city of Tampa in April said it planned to pay Liberty Counsel $950,000 to settle a lawsuit over its failed attempt to ban conversion therapy on minors.

A federal appeals court in February affirmed a 2019 lower court ruling that struck down Tampas ordinance. The U.S. District Court ruled the ban interferes with the First Amendment rights of the counselors and patients, and was invalid because only the state legislature has the authority to regulate mental health professionals.

Linn County Supervisor Louis Zumbach, a Republican, voted against the ban last year. Zumbach said he continues to believe the issue is one best left to the Iowa Legislature.

Despite that, Zumbach said he does not intend to call to a repeal unless theres litigation, anticipating the political makeup of the board will only lead to the same outcome  a 2-1 vote  that led to the bans passage.

The Associated Press and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier contributed to this report.
A volunteer army of moms has been poring through records from the 1800s in an attempt to prove Clarence Thomas wrong. And theyve had some success in poking holes in the shaky research that Thomas and other judges have used to strike down gun laws. Mark Joseph Stern tells their story. At a bare minimum, he writes, setting the record straight helps the public understand that Justice Thomas is endangering peoples lives on the basis of a lie.

The student debt machine returns

After a three-and-a-half-year hiatus, student loan interest and repayments are resuming. Shirin Ali explains what is going to happen next, and what other paths toward debt relief are still available.

The war on woke

In the wake of a racist mass shooting in Florida, many cant help but see the overlap between the views of the gunman and Gov. Ron DeSantis vehement crusades against wokeness and the teaching of African American history in public schools. Aymann Ismail spoke to a high school teacher about the current climate in the state.

The year was 1955

Slates history podcast, One Year, is back to tell five stories from 1955. The first episode follows a team of Black Little Leaguers who battled the white establishment in the Deep South.

Hot dam!

Ethan Freedman has a radical proposal for making New York a better place to live. It starts, surprisingly, with beavers.

Running broke

If not even Jonathan Taylor can get paid, who can? Alex Kirshner explains why many of the NFLs biggest stars are now seeing their paychecks plummet.

Today, Slate is  * A SORT OF META-PROCRASTINATION

 much like the act of reading books, articles, and studies about how to overcome procrastination! Franklin Schneider explains whats wrong with our assumptions about why people put things off.

Thanks so much for reading! Well see you tomorrow.
On Wednesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell froze up during a routine public event in his home state of Kentucky. As a reporter asked the 81-year-old his thoughts on running for reelection in 2026, McConnell stood stock-still, unblinking and seemingly unable to answer, while holding tightly to his lectern. An aide escorted the senator away and he did not return to the event. It was the second time something like this has happened to him in public in the past several weeks.

But the next day, the U.S. Capitol doctor said the senator was cleared to continue with his work as planned. The doctors statement was light on details about what might have happened but stated: Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration.

The statement is perfectly accurate and could still be happening several months later, said Lee Schwamm, a neurologist and stroke specialist at Yale School of Medicine. However, they do not go on to state that they believe medically that this is the cause of his symptoms witnessed on camera, nor do I.

McConnells health has been in the spotlight for a while now. In 2020, his hands and mouth area appeared deeply bruised, but he remained adamant that nothing was wrong and provided no explanation. Then in March 2023, McConnell suffered a fall at a D.C. hotel. He hit his head and fractured a rib, his office confirming he suffered a concussion. The incident sidelined him for six weeks before he was able to return to the Senate. (Its widely speculated this is not the only fall McConnell has had over the past year.)

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Then, in July, McConnell abruptly froze midsentence while answering a reporters question during a weekly news conference. He had to be escorted away but did come back shortly after to finish the presser.

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Throughout all of these incidents, McConnells office has remained incredibly tight-lipped about the state of his health. But medical professionals who spoke to Slate speculated on what could be causing the senators behavior and what they thought of the U.S. Capitol doctors explanation for it.

Doctors rarely get the chance to see a patients spells on camera, and, in McConnells case, two of his freeze-up moments were caught on tape. Schwamm observed that McConnells gaze deviated to the right, and he was able to grip his lectern without falling over or losing consciousness but was also unable to speak. Those are really strongly suggestive of a partial seizure.

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Especially when considering McConnells first public spell in the Capitol, because he was able to come back a few minutes later to continue on as normal, Schwamm said, theres near complete recovery, [which] also strongly suggests that this is a partial seizure. But McConnells office has not said anything about a seizure, attributing both incidents to lightheadedness.

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The videos that Ive seen look like hes having focal seizures, said Peyman Golshani, professor of neurology at University of California Los Angeles. He noted the same characteristics as Schwamm: eyes deviating to one side and speech arrest, then seemingly going back to normal within 20 to 30 seconds. I know people are saying hes just lightheaded. But it doesnt look like that to me, said Golshani.

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Because McConnell suffered a concussion earlier this year, Golshani said, its possible hes having post-traumatic seizures following head trauma, especially if theres any kind of bruising on the brain or blood on the surface of the brain. But both Golshani and Schwamm stressed that its impossible to definitively say what may be happening to McConnell and why, since they are not on his treatment team and havent viewed his medical records.

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Related From Slate What Just Happened to Mitch McConnell? Read More

Doctors who spoke to other news outlets also agreed that McConnells behavior was indicative of a seizure and felt attributing it to lightheadedness was flat-out wrong. If I gave that tape to a medical student and that was his explanation, Id fail him, Orrin Devinsky, a neurology professor at New York University, told the New York Times.

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Schwamm warned that just because someone experiences a seizure, it doesnt instantly make them unfit for office. Many people, unfortunately, view neurological illnesses as a sign of frailty, said Schwamm. The Senate race with Sen. Fetterman was an example of that where many people felt he was unfit to serve because hed had a stroke. The Pennsylvania senators stroke raised doubts about his ability to do his job, despite his doctors repeatedly saying he is capable of taking on a full workload. He ultimately prevailed, winning one of the most contentious Senate races in the country, and is currently serving in Congress.

As for McConnell, its unclear whether or not hes receiving treatment for his freezing spells. Its quite possible that hes already on medication and its just being adjusted and trying to find that sweet spot of controlling his seizures without impairing his cognitive abilities, Schwamm said.

Schwamms biggest concern was McConnells office potentially minimizing the seriousness of his condition. Its nothing to hide from, and magical thinkinghoping a spell like that just isnt there, its just dehydration, and it will go awaymay prevent some patients from seeking medical attention if they have similar spells, he said.
Adam Driver was allowed to come to the famous Lido despite the strike of Hollywood actors and screenwriters. Photo: EPA



Adam Driver is one of the Hollywood actors who, with the permission of SAG, attended this years film festival in Venice during the strike. Despite the celebrity and joy, however, did not leave without commenting on the present the situation in Hollywood:

Why can smaller distribution houses like Neon, as it is STX International, meet the dream demands of what SAG (Screen Actors Guild) wants,  big companies like Netflix and Amazon, but they cant do that? stated the actor.

Every time the folks at SAG endorse a film that meets the terms of the interim of the agreementit only becomes more obvious that these people are willing to support those they work with, and the rest are not, he added.

Driver has also collaborated with Netflix in the past, and has already presented two of their films at previous Venice festivals, and otherwise White noise in 2022 and A marriage story in 2019.

Producers worked for free

Michael Mannthe 80-year-old director of film classics such as Last of the Mohicans and The heatsupported Drivers sentiments, while also paying tribute to the screenwriters who have been on strike for more than 100 days.

The movie Ferrariwhich is Manns last film and whose producers are Neon and STXhas a temporary contract from SAG because it was made independently of the Motion Picture Association and television producers (AMPTP) and respects the rules and SAG regulations.

Mann told reporters that he was able to complete the film because of the sacrifices of some actors, producers and himself.

People who worked at Ferrari managed to do so by giving up large percentages of their wages, in the case of Adam and me. The producers essentially worked without pay, he also said.

A strike with exceptions

While there is a players strike and screenwriters under union guidelines prevented Hollywood stars from promoting major studio films at this years Venice Film Festival, but stars of small indie films like Ferrari were given permission to walk the red carpet.

Players and the writers are striking simultaneously for the first time in 63 years, and their demands are primarily for limiting the use of artificial intelligence and higher wages at a time when movie theaters are dominated by streaming platforms.

The writers have been on strike since May, while the actors joined them in July. The dual strike has curtailed both television and film production in Hollywood, but some projects not affiliated with the major studios are being given the chance to resume work if they meet the latest union demands.
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If your business could benefit from small business grants this fall, there are several funding opportunities that are currently accepting applications. The following grant programs have deadlines throughout September. Read on for a list of small business grants due in September.

Start Small Campbell Grant Program

Campbell County, Virginia is offering small business grants for new businesses in the area. The Start Small Campbell Grant Program is open to businesses that are just starting or those that have been in business for less than three years. Each may be worth $5,000. September 1 is the deadline to apply.

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Nextdoor Kind Foundation Keep It Local Business Fund

The Nextdoor Kind Foundation is bringing back its small business microgrant program, the Keep It Local Business Fund. The foundation is partnering with the NAACP and Hello Alice to fund and facilitate the program, which will provide $5,000 microgrants to entrepreneurs of color. The online application portal is open now through September 4.

Benton County Small Business Grants

In Oregon, the Corvallis-Benton Economic Development Office is partnering with Central Willamette Credit Union to offer a new round of small business grants. This is the second round of funding through the program, with about $70,000 available to help businesses that were adversely impacted by the pandemic. Eligible businesses can apply for grants of $10,000. September 13 is the application deadline.

Dubuque Small Business Support Grant

Dubuque, Iowa is currently running its Small Business Support Grant program. Eligible small business owners can apply for up to $5,000 to cover various operating costs. In addition to available grant funds, businesses will also be matched with mentors to support their operations. Eligible businesses can apply for the program through September 15.

North Omaha Turnback Tax Grant

North Omaha, Nebraska is offering a second round of its Turnback Tax Grant program for local businesses and nonprofits. Recipients can use funds for any new initiatives designed to enhance the local community. Currently, about $198,000 is available. And the application deadline is September 25.

Small Business Deals

Connecticut Womens Business Development Council Equity Match Grant Program

The Womens Business Development Council in Connecticut is offering a new application round for its Equity Match Grant Program. Women-owned small businesses in Connecticut can apply for between $2,500 and $10,000 to help with clearly defined projects. A 25 percent match is required, except for businesses in distressed economic communities. Businesses must apply by September 27 to be considered.

Reading ARPA Grants

Reading, Pennsylvania is currently accepting grant applications from small businesses that were negatively impacted by the pandemic. Eligible businesses can apply for up to $25,000. And businesses located on Penn Street may receive up to $50,000. September 29 is the deadline to apply.

Purple Line Construction Grants

Montgomery County, Maryland is supporting small businesses that have been adversely affected by Purple Line construction through a new round of grant funding. Phase III of the grant program is currently accepting applications. And the online portal will be open until September 30.
Are you looking to start or grow your business but need financing? SBA loans might be a great option for you. An SBA loan is government-backed and can help any qualified business owner get the funding they need. This article will discuss what you need to know about getting an SBA loan. Lets get started

What Are SBA Loans?

SBA loans are an important resource for small businesses. Small Business Administration loans are provided to help small businesses get started, grow, and expand.

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However, the SBA doesnt lend money to small businesses directly. Instead, the SBA guarantees loans, which reduces the risks for lenders. SBA loans can be used for a variety of purposes, including start-up costs, working capital, equipment purchases, and real estate investments.

Can You Get an SBA Loan to Start a Business?

Yes, you can get SBA loans to start a business, for working capital, and for other business purposes. The SBA offers a number of different business financing programs tailored to fit the needs of small businesses. To be eligible for SBA loans, you must be a small business owner with a strong credit history and a viable business plan.

How Do Small Business Owners Qualify for SBA Business Loans?

According to the SBA, there are seven factors that they take into account when considering small business owners for SBA loans. They include:

The character of the applicant. This is based on their personal and business history. While strong credit history is important, the SBA will also consider factors such as the applicants integrity and business experience.

Collateral. The SBA will consider the value of the collateral being offered as security for the loan. This can include real estate, equipment, inventory, or other business assets.

The capacity of the applicant. The SBA will consider the applicants financial resources, management experience, and ability to repay the loan.

Managements ability to run the business. The SBA will consider the management teams experience, skills, and ability to make the business successful.

The financial history of the business. The SBA will review the financial statements of the business to determine its ability to repay the loan.

Conditions of the market. The SBA will consider the current economic conditions and how they may impact the ability of the business to repay the loan.

The business plan. The SBA will consider the viability of the business plan and its ability to generate enough revenue to repay the loan.

All of these factors are important considerations for anyone looking to secure an SBA loan. For California finance lender loans specifically, the SBA will also look at the businesss ability to create jobs and support the local economy.

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However, meeting all of these requirements does not guarantee that business owners will be approved for a loan. Ultimately, it is up to the discretion of the SBA lending institution to decide whether or not to approve a loan.

What Are the SBA Loan Requirements?

Lets take a look at some of the SBA requirements for small business loans:

Credit History

You must have a strong credit history. Not everyone will qualify for SBA loans, but those with a strong credit history will have a better chance of getting approved.

Business Plan

A solid business plan is essential for any small business owner who wants to get an SBA loan. Your business plan should include an executive summary, business description, market analysis, financial projections, and management team.

Financial Statements

You will need to provide financial statements for your business in order to get an SBA loan. This includes balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements.

Having a strong financial history will increase your chances of getting approved for a loan. Youll also need to provide a personal financial statement for most loans offered by the SBA.

Personal Guarantee

You will be required to personally guarantee the loan, which means that you will be responsible for repaying the loan even if your business is unable to do so. Putting up collateral like your home or another asset can help reduce the risk to the lender and increase your chances of getting approved for a loan.

Experience

You must have the financial resources and management experience to make the business successful. The SBA will consider your experience, skills, and ability to repay the loan when deciding whether or not to approve your loan.

Navigating the SBA Loan Journey: From Application to Approval

Applying for SBA Loans: A Comprehensive Guide

SBA loans offer small business owners a government-backed avenue for securing financing. To embark on this journey successfully, follow these steps:

Understanding SBA Loans SBA loans are designed to support small businesses, aiding in their establishment, growth, and expansion. The SBA doesnt directly lend money; instead, it guarantees loans to reduce lender risk. SBA loans cover diverse purposes, from start-up costs to real estate investments.

Eligibility for Starting a Business SBA loans cater to startups, working capital needs, and other business requirements. SBA provides various financing programs catering to different business needs. Qualification requires a strong credit history, a viable business plan, and adherence to program-specific criteria.

Deciphering SBA Loan Qualification Factors The SBA evaluates seven factors when considering small business owners for loans: Character of the applicant, including integrity and business experience. Collateral value offered as loan security. Capacity of the applicant to repay, considering resources and management experience. Management teams ability to run the business successfully. Businesss financial history and repayment ability. Market conditions impacting businesss repayment potential. Viability of the business plan and revenue generation potential.

Essential SBA Loan Requirements Credit History: A strong credit history enhances approval chances. Business Plan: A robust business plan should encompass key aspects. Financial Statements: Balance sheets, income, and cash flow statements are mandatory. Personal Guarantee: Personal liability for repayment is required. Experience: Demonstrated management experience and resources are crucial.

Choosing the Right SBA Loan Program Different SBA loan programs cater to distinct business needs. Community Advantage Loans target underserved areas. Express Loans provide swift funding for smaller businesses. Disaster Loans aid businesses affected by natural calamities. SBA 7(a) Loans serve businesses with strong financials.

Identifying the Ideal SBA Lender Locate SBA-approved lenders, which might not include all banks. Research lender qualifications and application procedures. Begin with local banks or credit unions for SBA expertise.

The SBA Loan Application Process Ensure eligibility and understand prerequisites. Identify participating lenders, focusing on local institutions. Prepare necessary financial documents in advance. Submit the application to the lender for assessment. Patience is essential as approval timelines can vary.

Waiting for Loan Approval SBA Express loans promise a 36-hour turnaround time. Standard SBA loans can take up to 90 days or more. Express loan approval doesnt imply immediate funding.



How Do You Choose the Best SBA Loan Program?

When looking at SBA loan programs, it is important to understand the different programs that are available. Each loan program offered by the SBA varies. The SBA community advantage loans are designed for businesses located in underserved areas, while the SBA express loans are for smaller businesses that need fast funding.

There there are SBA disaster loans for businesses that have been impacted by a natural disaster, and SBA 7(a) loans for businesses with strong credit history and financials. For the SBA 7(a) loan program, your average net income must be under $5 million to qualify.

Finding the Right SBA Lender

When looking for an SBA-approved lender, its important to know that not all banks offer these services. You can find a list of participating lenders on the SBA website, and each will have its own set of qualifications and application process.

Its best to start your search by looking at local banks or credit unions, as they are likely to have the most experience with the SBA program.

How Do You Apply for Getting an SBA Loan?

If youre looking to get small business financing through the SBA, here are the basic steps to applying:

Check your eligibility: Before you begin the application process, make sure you understand the requirements and qualifications for an SBA loan.

Find the right lender: Not all banks offer SBA-backed loans, so youll need to find a participating lender. The best place to start is with local banks or credit unions.

Gather your documents: The SBA loan application process is paperwork-intensive, so youll need to get your financial documents in order before you begin.

Submit your application: Once youve gathered all the required information, you can submit your application to the lender for approval.

Wait for approval: The SBA loan approval process can take a couple of months at least, so be patient while you wait to hear back from the lender.

Steps to Apply for an SBA Loan Description Check Eligibility Understand loan requirements and qualifications before proceeding. Find the Right Lender Locate SBA-approved lenders, with local banks and credit unions being recommended starting points. Gather Documents Organize essential financial documents before initiating the application process. Submit Application Provide all necessary information to the lender for assessment and approval. Wait for Approval Exercise patience as the SBA loan approval process may span several months.

How Long Does It Take to Get an SBA Loan?

The SBA promises a 36-hour turnaround time for their express small business loan, but their other loans can take up to 90 days or longer. However, even with their express loan, it can take the lender another few weeks to actually approve the loan.

Conclusion

The path to securing an SBA loan is laden with vital steps and considerations. Small business owners seeking financial support must meticulously navigate eligibility, document preparation, and application submission. Understanding different SBA loan programs, selecting the right lender, and embracing patience during the approval process are pivotal. Ultimately, the journey culminates in acquiring funds that can catalyze business growth and expansion.
National days can provide fun and unique content opportunities for businesses throughout the year. There are several exciting September holidays that small businesses may want to add to their marketing calendars this year. Check the list below for a full list of national days in September 2023, along with weekly and monthly celebrations.

National Days in September

If you want to use national days in September to boost sales or increase engagement, you need to understand what holidays are coming up. Heres a list of daily celebrations throughout the entire month.

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September 1st  National Food Bank Day

Food Bank Day is a perfect opportunity for businesses to give back to their communities and encourage others to do the same.

September 2nd  National Tailgating Day

Businesses can offer sales on tailgating gear or even host special outdoor events.

September 3rd  National Cinema Day

Movie theaters may host promotions or events, and other local businesses can team up with theaters for gift card or bundle promotions.

September 4th  Labor Day

A huge array of businesses may offer Labor Day sales or wish followers a happy holiday weekend.

Small Business Deals

September 5th  National Cheese Pizza Day

Pizzerias and restaurants can offer promotions or create unique social media content around this fun holiday.

September 6th  National Read a Book Day

Libraries, bookstores, and educational businesses can all encourage reading or host special events for readers of all ages.

September 7th  National Salami Day

Restaurants, grocery stores, and delis can offer specials or post fun facts about this food item online.

September 8th  Star Trek Day

Star Trek Day is a fun holiday that businesses can use to show off their personality by posting fun facts or engaging in discussions with other fans.

September 9th  National Teddy Bear Day

Toy stores or gift shops may offer fun promotions like free gifts with purchase or events where kids can bring their favorite teddy bears.

September 10th  National Pet Memorial Day and World Suicide Prevention Day

Businesses can show a caring side by raising awareness and sharing resources for anyone struggling or mourning.

September 11th  Patriot Day

Patriot Day marks the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Many businesses post messages of solidarity and/or patriotism on this day.

September 12th  National Video Games Day

Video game stores or streaming platforms may host events or promotions.

September 13th  Day of the Programmer

Businesses that utilize programmers can recognize team members and celebrate their accomplishments on this day.

September 14th  National Parents Day Off

Childcare businesses can offer events or promotions to give parents some time off.

September 15th  National Online Learning Day

Online learning platforms can use this day to call attention to their offerings by posting online or offering special sign-up rates.

September 16th  National Guacamole Day

Restaurants may offer free guacamole with purchases or create a fun event around this silly holiday.

September 17th  National Dance Day

Dance studios and similar businesses can host events or create fun content to educate people about various dance methods.

September 18th  Wife Appreciation Day

Gift shops, florists, and card shops can offer sales on products that may be gifted on this day.

September 19th  Talk Like a Pirate Day

Talk Like a Pirate Day is a favorite on social media; nearly any business can create silly content around this idea.

September 20th  National IT Professionals Day

If your business employs IT professionals, consider offering a small token or sending your thanks for their hard work.

September 21st  World Gratitude Day

Post messages of gratitude online and encourage the same from your followers to spur engagement.

September 22nd  American Business Womens Day

This holiday celebrates American businesswomen. So, post messages thanking your female employees and recognizing their accomplishments.

September 23rd  Autumnal Equinox

Celebrating the first day of fall, offer specials or create content around any products that may be popular during this season.

September 24th  National Hunting and Fishing Day

Any businesses that offer outdoor gear or experiences may create social media posts or email newsletters surrounding this holiday.

September 25th  National Comic Book Day

Comic bookstores often host promotions and special events on this day to increase sales and foot traffic.

September 26th  National Family Day

National Family Day encourages families to spend time together and enjoy meals around the table. So, businesses may offer sales or promotions on experiences or products that encourage togetherness.

September 27th  National Scarf Day

Gift shops and boutiques can offer free scarves with purchase or discount certain products on this day.

September 28th  National Drink Beer Day

Bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and liquor stores can all encourage beer purchases with fun and engaging content or sales.

September 29th  VFW Day

VFW Day celebrates Veterans of Foreign Wars. Businesses owned by VFW members may take this opportunity to call attention to their service to the country.

September 30th  National Chewing Gum Day

Post fun facts or content surrounding this check-out aisle staple.

National Weeks in September

Some celebrations in September expand beyond a single day. Heres a short list of weekly observances that may be relevant to your marketing campaigns this month.

September 3-9  National Waffle Week

Breakfast restaurants, recipe bloggers, and markets can all celebrate waffles by offering specials or limited-time products.

September 5-10  National Payroll Week

Payroll services and software providers can use this week to educate potential customers about the importance of their products and services.

September 10-16  National Assisted Living Week

Senior care providers may offer open houses or post educational content online for families.

September 10-16  National Truck Driver Appreciation Week

Businesses that utilize truck drivers can thank them for their contributions and educate the public about the importance of this part of the supply chain.

September 18-24  National Keep Kids Creative Week

Art shops, educational businesses, and toy stores may create special displays or promotions that call attention to creativity-based products or services.

September Monthly Holidays

There are also monthly observances that extend throughout the entire month of September. Businesses may post about these regularly or create ongoing campaigns to market or connect with customers. Here are a few to consider.

National Suicide Prevention Month

All types of businesses can post resources and supportive content designed to help anyone struggling.

National Preparedness Month

Offer tips and resources to help families increase their preparedness for various disasters or situations.

Self Improvement Month

Businesses that offer products or services that can be used for self-improvement may use this month to call attention to their benefits.

FAQs: National Days in September

What special days does September have?

September includes national days on each day throughout the month. See a full list above. Labor Day and Patriot Day are the most widely recognized holidays of the month.

What national awareness month is in September?

There are several monthly observances throughout September, including Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

What is September 22 National day?

September 22 is National American Business Womens Day, celebrating working women and their contributions to the U.S.

What national day is on September 15?

September 15 is National Online Learning Day, a holiday designed to celebrate and raise awareness for various online learning methods and platforms.

What are some significant September holidays that small businesses should be aware of for their operations and promotional activities?

September holidays include Labor Day, National Video Game, Parents Day Off, Patriot Day, National Guacamole Day, and more. Read the list above for a full calendar of events throughout September.

How can small businesses optimize their strategies around Labor Day, a well-known holiday in September?

Businesses offering Labor Day sales or promotions should start marketing these offerings prior to September, since the holiday takes place early in the month. Post about campaigns on social media, in email newsletters, or in print and online advertisements leading up to the holiday.
Federal grants are available to help small businesses in rural areas start and grow. Beyond federal grants, there are also local communities and private grants that provide similar assistance. From renewable energy to broadband, many grants target specific issues affecting these communities. These grants can be used for a variety of reasons, such as:

Acquiring land or buildings.

Purchasing equipment or inventory.

Providing training or technical assistance.

Marketing or advertising.

Making repayable loans.

To be eligible for a rural federal grant, a small business must be located in a rural area and meet certain other requirements.

From federal grant initiatives that exist to assist small businesses in implementing energy upgrades to cities that are providing help to improve the storefront of businesses, find out all the grant options available to you now.

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Small Business News September 1, 2023

In the news round up this week the SBA announced it is dedicating a week to celebrate Veteran entrepreneurs. It also extended the moratorium on the 8(a) Business Development Bona Fide Place of Business (BFPOB) Requirement through September 30, 2024. Other news includes the increased AI adoption by many companies to improve their products, so read on for more small business-related news.

SeamlessM4T, a comprehensive multilingual and multimodal AI translation model, was just released. SeamlessM4T is not just another AI tool; it stands as the first all-inclusive AI model adept at speech and text translations, making cross-language business communications smoother.

A recent survey conducted by SMB Group for Zohos Bigin CRM reveals that small businesses are ready to embrace customer relationship management (CRM) systems, despite some hesitancy. The 2023 State of Customer Operations for U.S. Small Businesses report surveyed over 1,500 small companies and found using a CRM significantly boosts satisfaction with business operations.

The innovative genius and co-founder of Adobe Systems, Dr. John Warnock, passed away at 82. His indomitable spirit and revolutionary work have left a profound impact on the world of technology, particularly within the domain of desktop publishing. In 1982, after meeting as colleagues at Xerox, Dr. Warnock teamed up with Dr. Charles Geschke to launch Adobe Systems.

Small Business Deals

GoDaddy Inc. has launched an AI-powered Instant Video tool in its GoDaddy Studio app. This new feature is specifically designed to aid entrepreneurs in creating captivating video content effortlessly, responding to the mounting demand for video-centric digital marketing. GoDaddys newest addition comes at no extra cost and addresses one of the key challenges small businesses face  time.

In the heart of the Pacific Northwest, a burgeoning tech community is marrying the age-old farming profession with cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI). The aim? To revolutionize farming, making it more efficient, sustainable, and responsive to climate issues.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced today the results of an exhaustive enforcement operation. This comes in the wake of trillions of dollars in pandemic relief designated to assist Americans and businesses during this unparalleled public health crisis. The Justice Department has highlighted an alarming trend. As billions flowed in aid, unscrupulous individuals both within the U.S.

Under Congressman Roger Williamss (R-TX) leadership, the House Committee on Small Business has raised concerns about a recent proposal from the Department of Energy (DOE) to modify energy conservation standards for ceiling fans.

America is confronted with an unexpected hurdle: an acute worker shortage. Small business owners, who form the backbone of the nations economy, need to be especially alert to the intricacies of this labor situation. While every state grapples with this issue, some are hit harder than others.

Small businesses that rely on social media giants like Facebook and Instagram for customer engagement and growth are at risk of cyberattacks by hackers leveraging phishing scams and cyber extortion techniques. Entrepreneurs such as Pat Bennett, who drove half of her granola businesss sales through Instagram, found herself ensnared in a cyberattack.

Adobe has taken another giant leap in simplifying content creation for businesses with the all-new Adobe Express with Firefly, a generative AI tool now globally available for desktop web users. Whats New? Adobe Expresss latest edition is pioneering with its AI-first approach.

It was bound to happen. Just as home builders began to feel more confident about attracting potential buyers, rising mortgage rates are proving too much for those customers.

Amazon has unveiled the next iteration of its top-selling camera rangethe Blink Outdoor 4. This innovative device seems poised to provide small business owners with increased efficiency in monitoring, coupled with affordability, without compromising on quality.

Recent data suggests a slight improvement in employment rates for disabled Americans. However, despite these positive strides, there remains a vast disparity in the workforce. Amy and Ben Wright, founders of Bitty & Beaus Coffee, stand at the forefront of a movement challenging this status quo, proving the potential of a business model centered on hiring individuals with disabilities.

Instagram has rolled out new features that allow users to integrate music with photo carousels and foster collaborations with friends and fellow creators on their posts. This is to promote creativity and enhance engagement with its users, including small businesses.

Code Llama, an advanced large language model (LLM) tailored for coding tasks, was just released. With the potential to drastically revamp the work routines of developers and simplify the journey for coding aspirants, this state-of-the-art tool is poised to be a game-changer for small businesses.

Amazon has unveiled generative AI technology to synthesize product reviews.

A newly expanded concession program has seen a surge in small businesses like food trucks, mobile bike repair shops, and other unique offerings, serving the preserves visitors at the Forest Preserves of Cook County. In an age where brick-and-mortar expenses challenge many small business owners, this open-air alternative provides an exciting, cost-effective opportunity.

Marketplaces are notoriously hard to get started because they face the notorious chicken and egg problem. Do you need to attract the buyers or the sellers first in order to be successful? But once they get started and have some critical mass, they can be a goldmine by making a small amount on memberships or on each transaction with little effort.

The National Technology Alliance (NTA) has been unveiled to streamline the collaboration between technological innovators, funding platforms, and the federal government. Hailed as a first of its kind, this organization strives to equip tech visionaries with vital resources, paving the way for seamless interaction with the Department of Defense (DoD) and various governmental bodies.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing retail, with new findings revealing its growing influence on consumers purchase decisions. Salesforces latest Connected Shoppers Report offers insights into this shifting retail environment and provides a glimpse into the future of consumer behavior and industry responses.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has extended the moratorium on the 8(a) Business Development Bona Fide Place of Business (BFPOB) Requirement through September 30, 2024.

Amazon has integrated generative AI for product reviews so sellers can understand customer sentiment. Understanding customer sentiment has always been important for small businesses selling products on Amazon. This announcement has the potential to enhance this understanding further, and heres why small businesses should pay attention.

Constant Contact announced results from their newest Small Business Now study looking into small businesses perceptions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and marketing automation and pinpoints where they foresee the most significant benefits from these technologies.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is set to host its 10th annual National Veterans Small Business Week (NVSBW) from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3, 2023.

Guava has unveiled its latest innovation  Huddle. This is not just a community hub but a much-needed beacon of hope and connectivity in the business world. Guava is known as the premier banking and networking platform catering to Black creators and small business proprietors.

A joint report by LinkedIn and Duolingo has looked at the enigmatic world of workplace jargon, revealing its global prevalence and the challenges it poses. And as workplaces evolve and company cultures adapt to a new generation of employees, language and its nuances play a pivotal role in maintaining harmony and productivity.
Using the crowdfunding platform called GoFundMe is a way for small business owners to get money without getting a business loan. Its one of the best resources available to a business owner trying to raise money for a company.

Its an option you should consider. Most people are familiar with GoFundMe as a way to raise money for personal causes, such as a medical challenge or similar hardship. It can also be used by a business and by nonprofits. GoFundMe can also be used for business needs such as startups, expansions, or new projects.

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What Is GoFundMe?

GoFundMe is a service that supports crowdfunding campaigns. The business owner sets up an account, describes the need for a fundraising campaign, sets a funding goal and asks for financial support via the internet  using emails and social media platforms. GoFundMe will collect money from donations and deposit it to the business owners bank account.

How Can Businesses Raise Money with a Crowdfunding Platform?

There are 3 ways crowdfunding campaigns are used to raise funds:

Donations  For a cause, and donors get no return. The donors send money to the GoFundMe page, and in exchange get nothing, except good will. Hopefully, they will also receive a thank you.

Equity-based  Donors become investors and get a small piece of the business. Usually, it is a very small piece and the size of the piece is related to the amount of the donation.

Small Business Deals

Rewards-based  Donors get a product or service in exchange for their financial support. For example, a small business that manufactures a product such as candles or hops sends a sample to each donor. Or if the small business is service-based, a discount can be applied for the next service appointment made by the donor.

GoFundMe only allows donation-based campaigns for small businesses. In other words, GoFundMe donations cannot be equity or rewards-based for a small business. Other sites allow equity or rewards-based donations.

What are the Benefits of Using GoFundMe for Business Funding?

First of all, youll never know what type of response youd get unless you try. Truly, you have nothing to lose. If you set a fundraising goal of $10,000 and you only fundraise $4,000, well, thats $4,000 you didnt have.

Here are other reasons why you should consider using GoFundMe to raise money for your business?

Shorter time frame, compared with getting business loans. A typical campaign runs for less than a month. You might wait at least a month, and most often two months, to find out if youve been accepted for a business loan.

Not impersonal  friends, family, and contacts can become involved. And via social media, you can reach out to them all over the country.

Youll pay a platform fee, but only against the money that is raised. You dont need to provide money upfront.

GoFundMes customer support is easily accessible and responsive. The website is chockful of information to answer any question you might have about the process.

No application process. No providing lots of documents, no meetings at the bank, no financial reports required.

Not taxable. Although it should be reported on 1099 as other income in general GoFundMe monies arent taxable. The donations are considered just that  gifts. As such, you dont pay taxes on gifts.

Benefits of Using GoFundMe for Business Funding Opportunity to Test Response and Gain Funds GoFundMe provides a risk-free way to gauge public interest and potentially secure funds for your business idea. Shorter Time Frame Compared to Loans Campaigns on GoFundMe typically run for less than a month, offering a quicker funding solution compared to waiting for loan approvals that can take weeks or months. Personal Involvement of Friends, Family, and Contacts Engage your personal network and expand your reach through social media, involving friends, family, and contacts in supporting your business venture. Minimal Platform Fee Against Raised Funds While GoFundMe charges a platform fee, it is deducted only from the funds you raise, ensuring that you don't need to invest upfront. Accessible and Responsive Customer Support GoFundMe offers easily accessible customer support and a wealth of information to assist you throughout the crowdfunding process. Streamlined Process without Application or Documentation Unlike loan applications, GoFundMe campaigns require no complex paperwork, meetings, or financial reports, streamlining the funding process. Non-Taxable Donations Considered as Gifts Donations received through GoFundMe are generally considered gifts and are not taxable income, alleviating potential tax burdens.

GoFundMe Versus Kickstarter

GoFundMe and Kickstarter are both crowdfunding sites  thats how theyre similar.

Using the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, small business owners can run fundraising campaigns that are equity-based or rewards-based. GoFundMe only allows donation-based crowdfunding campaigns. Small business owners cant ask for donations in exchange for equity in their business, and they cant provide a product or service in exchange for a donation.

READ MORE: GoFundMe.

How to Create a GoFundMe Campaign for Business

A GoFundMe campaign is easy to start. Small business owners are often pleasantly surprised by their success when they venture into crowdfunding platforms.

Here are some basic steps to take for GoFundMe campaigns:

Sign up for a GoFundMe account. Create your campaign page, where youll describe your reasons for the fundraiser. You can use pictures and videos to appeal to crowdfunding donors. Set your fundraising goal. Youll get frequent updates from GoFundMe on the status of your fundraising efforts. If you go over your funding goal, thats okay. Blast the information on the personal network on your social media channels. Also, share the link using emails and texts. Collect donations, which will be deposited to the business bank account youve specified. Thats how businesses receive funds. Send thank-you notes to all GoFundMe donors who used your crowdfunding website and helped with funding your business. Withdraw the funds and use them for your business needs.

How Much Does It Cost to Run a GoFundMe Campaign?

It doesnt cost you anything upfront to run the campaign.

Youll have the investment of your time, as you make your campaign page letter-perfect, eye-catching, and appealing. Make your campaign page read like a compelling story.

For your investment, youll have the time it takes to select the appropriate images to use, and if you develop a video to run on your GoFundMe campaign page, that will also require your time.

GoFundMe charges a .30% payment processing fee. In other words, when you start raising money with donations, you wont get every dollar.

Here are some numbers, as an example. Lets say that youve reached your funding goals to raise $5,000. After the .30% processing fee, youll get $4,853.50. Thats how crowdfunding platforms and campaigns work. Other platforms also charge a fee for fundraisers. Still, with business loan options youd be charged interest, applied to the amount of your business loan. It doesnt cost you anything to try a campaign.

How Do You Get the Money From GoFundMe?

The campaign donations that you receive through the GoFundMe site will be set up to be transferred to your business bank account. Before the funds go from the site to your company business account, the processing fee will be charged.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GoFundMe and how does it benefit small business owners?

GoFundMe is a crowdfunding platform that enables business owners to raise funds without resorting to traditional business loans. Its an effective resource for businesses seeking financial support for various needs, such as startups, expansions, or new projects.

Can businesses raise money through GoFundMe?

Absolutely. GoFundMe is not limited to personal causes; businesses and nonprofits can also leverage the platform to raise funds for their initiatives.

How does GoFundMe work for businesses?

Business owners create campaigns on GoFundMe, describing their fundraising needs and setting a funding goal. They then promote their campaigns via email and social media. Donors contribute money, and GoFundMe collects and deposits the funds into the business owners bank account.

What are the different ways businesses can raise money through crowdfunding on GoFundMe?

GoFundMe offers donation-based campaigns for small businesses. Donors provide money without expecting equity or specific rewards in return.

What are the benefits of using GoFundMe for business funding?

Using GoFundMe offers advantages such as shorter time frames compared to business loans, personalized involvement from friends and family, and accessibility to a responsive customer support team. Moreover, the platform fee is only applied to raised funds, not upfront.

How does GoFundMe differ from other crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter?

While both GoFundMe and Kickstarter are crowdfunding platforms, GoFundMe focuses on donation-based campaigns, whereas Kickstarter allows equity-based or rewards-based campaigns. GoFundMe donations are not taxable and are considered gifts.

How can businesses create a successful GoFundMe campaign?

To create a compelling campaign, businesses can follow these steps:

Sign up for a GoFundMe account.

Craft an appealing campaign page with visuals and videos.

Set a realistic fundraising goal.

Share the campaign across personal networks and social media.

Collect donations, which GoFundMe will transfer to the business account.

Express gratitude to donors and utilize the funds for business needs.

How much does it cost to run a GoFundMe campaign?

Running a GoFundMe campaign doesnt have upfront costs. However, GoFundMe charges a 0.30% payment processing fee, which is deducted from the donations received. The example provided demonstrates how the fee affects the final amount received.

How do businesses receive the funds raised through GoFundMe?

The funds collected through a GoFundMe campaign are transferred to the business owners designated bank account. Before the transfer, the payment processing fee is subtracted from the total funds raised.

In summary, GoFundMe presents an excellent opportunity for small businesses to secure financial support through crowdfunding efforts. By understanding its workings, benefits, and best practices, businesses can create impactful campaigns and tap into a wider network of supporters to achieve their funding goals.

Conclusion

In the dynamic landscape of modern business financing, the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform emerges as a strategic asset for small business owners navigating the complex terrain of funding avenues. Beyond the realm of personal causes, GoFundMe offers businesses and nonprofits a distinctive opportunity to mobilize financial support for diverse objectives, ranging from ambitious startups to critical expansions and innovative projects.

The intrinsic value of GoFundMe resides in its capacity to forge connections between visionary entrepreneurs and individuals who share their passion. By crafting meticulously designed campaigns, setting tangible funding milestones, and harnessing the power of targeted email and social media outreach, businesses can galvanize their existing networks and extend their influence to broader audiences. Through this orchestrated collaboration, GoFundMe seamlessly facilitates the direct flow of financial contributions to the designated business accounts.

The essence of crowdfunding on GoFundMe predominantly revolves around donation-based campaigns. Despite this constraint, the platform offers an array of compelling advantages that render it an attractive financing route. Its intuitive interface, responsive customer support, and streamlined processes echo the ethos of contemporary entrepreneurial pursuits. Additionally, the absence of upfront expenses and the transparent structure of the 0.30% payment processing fee reinforce GoFundMes reputation as a viable, low-risk fundraising avenue.

In the crowdfunding arena, GoFundMe radiates as a symbol of inclusive finance, forging an alternative path to catalyze business growth and catalyze innovation. By capitalizing on the opportunity to curate immersive campaign narratives, foster meaningful engagement with supporters, and leverage the amplification potential of social media platforms, small business owners are poised to unlock the latent resources required to transform their visions into concrete achievements. Within the ever-evolving tapestry of business, GoFundMe embodies the potential of collective action and community-driven initiatives.

In summation, the significance of GoFundMe transcends its identity as a mere transactional platformit embodies a conduit for partnership and conviction, empowering small business proprietors to surmount financial hurdles, extend their ventures, and contribute to the ongoing narrative of entrepreneurial triumph. As the landscape of business continues its metamorphosis, GoFundMe resonates as a resounding testament to the transformative prowess of collaborative support and the indomitable spirit of enterprise.
Kickstarter is a way to fund a creative project. Its mission is to bring these types of campaigns to life, and create a project with a funding goal and project deadline. Then Kickstarter backers can pledge cash.

Basically, this is a crowdfunding platform for entrepreneurs looking for alternative funding. Youll need to follow some steps and there are some payment processing fees for the raised money.

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What Is Kickstarter?

There are lots of different sites that raise funds. Kickstarter is different from other crowdfunding platforms. This one is dedicated to supporting the creative ecosystem. They are a community of people like poets, painters musicians, and writers as well as gamers and others. It started out in 2009 and has become a Public Benefit Corporation since then. Kickstarter is an independent company with around 80 people that work together.

The most winning Kickstarter projects that have been funded have won Grammys and Oscars. They are transparent about how their cookies collect information. Here are some cookies settings that reject info from Google.

How Does Kickstarter Work?

This is different from other crowdfunding campaign sites. A successful campaign will raise money for an individual project. Heres how. A campaign creator sets both the deadline and the funding goals. These campaigns look for donors. The platform has been called crowdfunding because each project or idea looks for donations from a large number of people. Kickstarter funds come from people who enjoy creative efforts.

Kickstarter creators who miss their deadline dont get any of the money raised. A projects success depends on a community effort. Thats the ingredient for most successful projects.

Small Business Deals

What Creative Projects Can Be Launched with Kickstarter?

Kickstarter-funded projects number in the hundreds of thousands. Project creators work in a variety of different fields from tech and design to illustration and comics. Here are some of the better projects.

Slow Rise Bakehouse Expansion

This is a bakery in Forest Grove, Oregon thats looking to expand. They use different types of whole grains in their products and partner with farms nearby.

The Smart Belt

This Kickstarter project comes from Wilmington, DE. This is another one of the Kickstarter campaigns that has surpassed its funding goal. The product page contains a link designed to drive in more backers.

Domestic Duffel // Your Roadtrip Companion

The travel bag comes from a business owner with specific funding goals. This is one of the small businesses that offer several pledge options. Potential backers can go through a list of Add ons. Scroll down on the project page.

Black Coffins #2

A projects success depends on creativity. This business idea is a good example. This is the second part of a supernatural western horror story. Some successful campaigns use the Kickstarter platform for comic books. Like this one. It has an interesting project page.

Capsule Gravity: Your Futuristic Efficiency Booster

This is a multifunctional timer with an excellent success rate on the site. It has reached and exceeded its fundraising goals. Its one of the most successful campaigns on Kickstarter and a testament to their creative services.

READ MORE: Kickstarted Launches Designed by Artist

Can You Use Kickstarter for Business?

Raising money for a business is one of the options. This is an excellent platform for businesses and startups. Its a great platform because you dont give up equity or go into debt. If youre a new business consider this crowdfunding site. It has helped over 224,973 projects with 82,311,041 pledges.

Kickstarter works without the need for a business loan. There are even some experts you can draw on for paid advertising. You can even use the default settings to change the currency you view your campaign in.

Does It Cost Money to Start a Kickstarter?

This funding platform charges 5% for the funds that are collected on any project. Your small business will also need to pay 3-5% as a payment processing fee. The platform fee and other transactions are processed through Stripe.

Kickstarter funding is based on the all-or-nothing funding model. That includes a set number of days to reach your goal.

How to Start a Successful Kickstarter Campaign

You will need many donors to reach the fundraising goal. Here is some advice on how to put together a winning project.

You need to set a realistic starting point. Based on the amount of money that youre going to need. The idea is to cover costs

Decide on the channels that youre going to use for your campaign. Social media sites work well.

Decide on the type of backer rewards youre going to give out. Kickstarter has things they prohibit like financial returns. You cant offer revenue-sharing. And you cant offer equity. Or solicit business loans.

Its a good idea to create a buzz with the landing page before your product launch. Here are a few tips on getting that right.

Take advantage of what the platform offers. Kickstarter offers some tools to get you started. Theres a Projects We Love badge, A Recommended section, and others. There are a number of different factors that influence how these work. However, one of the big ones is how much momentum you gain by putting together visitors and backers.

Aspect Description Setting Realistic Starting Point Begin with a funding goal that realistically covers your project costs. Calculate the minimum funds needed to execute your idea successfully. Choosing Campaign Channels Select effective channels to promote your campaign. Leverage social media platforms to reach a wider audience. Designing Backer Rewards Offer enticing rewards to backers, keeping in mind Kickstarter's restrictions. Avoid financial returns, equity offers, or business loan solicitations. Creating Pre-launch Buzz Build anticipation with a well-designed landing page before your campaign launch. Use captivating visuals, engaging content, and a clear call to action. Utilizing Kickstarter Tools Take advantage of Kickstarter's built-in tools. Aim for a "Projects We Love" badge and inclusion in the "Recommended" section. Build momentum by attracting visitors and backers to your campaign.

The Unique Value of Kickstarter for Creative Ventures

Kickstarters Distinct Focus on Creativity

Unlike other crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter is specifically designed to support creative projects, fostering a vibrant ecosystem of artists, writers, musicians, and innovators.

Established in 2009, Kickstarters mission is to empower creators to transform their ideas into reality by connecting them with a community of backers who share their passion.

Diverse Creative Fields

Kickstarter accommodates a wide array of creative endeavors, from tech innovations and design projects to illustration, comics, and more.

This diversity is reflected in the hundreds of thousands of successfully funded projects spanning various domains.

Community-Centric Approach

The platform operates on a community-driven model, where individuals contribute to projects they believe in, enabling creators to bring their artistic visions to life.

Kickstarters success stories include projects that have earned prestigious awards like Grammys and Oscars, showcasing its impact on the creative landscape.

Crafting a Successful Kickstarter Campaign: Key Steps and Considerations

Setting the Stage for Success

A compelling campaign begins with setting realistic funding goals and deadlines, ensuring that the projects financial needs are covered.

Creators must determine the channels they will leverage for campaign promotion, with social media platforms proving effective in reaching a wider audience.

Creative Backer Rewards

Backer rewards play a pivotal role in enticing support. Kickstarter prohibits offering financial returns, equity, or business loans, but allows for creative rewards such as exclusive merchandise, early access, or personalized experiences.

Creating Pre-Launch Buzz

Building anticipation is crucial. Creators can create a landing page and generate excitement through teasers and updates before the official campaign launch.

Kickstarters built-in tools, such as the Projects We Love badge and the Recommended section, can provide additional visibility and momentum.

Harnessing Kickstarters Tools

Utilizing Kickstarters tools like badges and recommendations can boost a projects visibility and engagement, driving more visitors and backers to the campaign.

Kickstarters Financial Framework: Costs, Benefits, and Accountability

Fees and Financial Structure

Kickstarter charges a 5% platform fee on funds collected from successful campaigns, supporting the platforms operations.

Additionally, payment processing fees ranging from 3% to 5% are applied to contributions, with Stripe handling transactions securely.

All-or-Nothing Funding Model

Kickstarter employs an all-or-nothing funding model, where campaigns must reach their set funding goal within a specified timeframe to receive any funds.

This model encourages accountability and motivates creators to rally their communities in support.

Navigating Success and Challenges on Kickstarter

Project Success and Ownership

Successfully funded projects grant creators full ownership of their work, allowing them to retain creative control and independence.

While financial gains cannot be directly solicited, Kickstarter serves as a platform to fund artistic endeavors without relinquishing equity or incurring debt.

Addressing Project Failures

In cases where a project falls short of its funding goal, backers are not charged, and the project does not proceed. Unfulfilled pledges are dropped after seven days, ensuring transparency and accountability.

Kickstarters Legal Landscape

Any legal matters arising from Kickstarter campaigns are governed by New York State law, providing a clear framework for resolving disputes and ensuring accountability.

Assessing Suitability: Is Kickstarter Right for You?

Ideal for Small Businesses and Startups

Small businesses and startups can benefit from Kickstarters platform, leveraging it as an alternative source of funding without giving up equity or taking on debt.

Over 224,973 projects have been helped by 82,311,041 pledges, showcasing the positive impact on entrepreneurial ventures.

Considerations for Nonprofits

Nonprofit organizations seeking to overcome fundraising challenges can explore Kickstarters potential, adhering to specific guidelines and rules tailored to their missions.

Bank Account Requirement

Creators need a bank account to effectively utilize Kickstarters features and facilitate fund disbursement, ensuring a seamless experience for both creators and backers.

What Happens If a Kickstarter Project Fails?

A project can fall below its funding goal when it ends. Sometimes, a Kickstarter campaign has pledges you cant collect on. Those get dropped after seven days. Youre Kickstarter account still gets the balance less fees when the campaign ends.

Can You Make Money on Kickstarter?

When youre a project creator, 100% of the ownership of your work stays with you. However, you cant use the platform for financial returns, to solicit loans or equity offers.

If youre wondering about any possible legal action from using Kickstarter, follow this link. Any disputes are covered by New York State law.

Is It a Good Idea to Start a Kickstarter Campaign?

A successfully funded campaign works wonders for small businesses and startups. Nonprofit organizations that have issues raising enough money should consider the platform. But there are specific rules to follow.

Remember youll need a bank account to make the site work for you. Kickstarter is reliable and credible. Its even funded by venture capitalists.

If youve still got questions about this platform, check out their recent articles.
The first shop in Tatranska Lomnica opened in this old hotel more than 100 years ago.

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The building in which the first shop in Tatranska Lomnica in the High Tatras, which opened more than a hundred years ago, has a new look.

Reviving its spirit, the renovated Kuszmanns Bazaar houses a bakery, restaurant, and 12 apartments today.

Its renovation cost 5.5 million.

From shop to hotel

Julius Kuszmann was the one who built the first shop in the settlement. Its beginnings date back to 1896. The shop stood near Hotel Lomnica, the oldest hotel in the Tatras. After a fire in 1903, the shop was replaced with a new and big bazaar a year later. It began to offer accommodation.

Later, the department store was turned into a recreational facility and a hotel.

The Mores Resort company, which also owns Hotel Lomnica, paid for the latest makeover of the bazaar. The firm is part of the ZAR family investment company. It also owns the Palffy Manor House in Svaty Jur near Bratislava.

The Bazar department store in the past. (Source: ZAR archives)

The first shop in Tatranska Lomnica was housed in the Bazar department store. (Source: ZAR archives)

Photo with emperor

In the restaurant at Kuszmanns Bazaar, visitors can find the figure of former Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, though it is unknown whether the emperor visited Tatranska Lomnica back in the day.

The emperors wife Elisabeth, who went by the name Sissi, is only known to have visited the town of Bardejov and the nearby spa in eastern Slovakia. Her trip took place in the late 19th century.

The Habsburgs are a great inspiration to us, said Hotel Lomnica and Kuszmanns Bazaar Director Miriam Vojcikova. Thats why we toyed with the idea of what would happen if Franz Joseph I couldnt have resisted a good beer and stopped by at the restaurant.

The director is hoping that the figure will grow into a popular photo point.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1rD8L9j9OcZTtjCqhJySgXWS6SOze-1k&ehbc=2E312F

Spectacular Slovakia travel guides
Vaculikovo Square is another relaxation zone for residents and visitors of the Slovak capital.

The current look of the space in front of the garages. (Source: Jana Liptakova)

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A few years ago during on a journalists tour of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG), just undergoing refurbishment, its director general Alexandra Kusa, with a joking sparkle in her eye, said that if the old garages at the new main entrance are not demolished, they will put a label reading that it is an art exhibit. Then mayor of the Bratislavas Old Town, Radoslav Stevcik, who attended the tour himself, assured that this would not be necessary as they are working on demolishing the garages.

Today the situation is diametrically different. The garages are still standing and their demolition is no longer even being considered. The Old Town borough, in cooperation with the SNG, has restored and is planning another use for them.

We see demolition as the first solution as a relic of the times - we believe that it has already passed, Veronika Gubkova, spokesperson for the Old Town, told The Slovak Spectator.

Gubkova noted that many buildings belonging to the city or city boroughs have been demolished - for example, the legendary PKO on the Danube embarkment or just recently Istropolis on Trnavske Myto and that it is time for different thinking, searching for new uses and functions, preserving its distinctive atmosphere. This is why the Old Town is no longer planning to demolish the garages.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/christies-cancels-jewelry-auction-from-heiress-fortune-made-by-nazi-anti-jewish-laws-1113062047.html

Christies Cancels Jewelry Auction From Heiress Fortune Made by Nazi Anti-Jewish Laws

Christies Cancels Jewelry Auction From Heiress Fortune Made by Nazi Anti-Jewish Laws

Christies auction house in the United Kingdom has announced it is canceling a forthcoming auction of jewels from the fortune of an Austrian heiress whose wealth was made as a result of anti-Jewish laws passed by the Nazis.

2023-09-01T20:07+0000

2023-09-01T20:07+0000

2023-09-01T20:05+0000

world

nazis

christie's

auction

antisemitism

jewish

jewels

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The auction house said on Friday that it would not go ahead with the auctioning off of jewels from the estate of Heidi Horten, which was scheduled to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, in November, due to international pressure.Anthea Peers, the president of Christies Europe, Middle East and Africa, told a US newspaper that the sale of the Heidi Horten jewelry collection has provoked intense scrutiny, and the reaction to it has deeply affected us and many others, and we will continue to reflect on it.Horten, who died last year, was the widow and heiress of Helmut Horten, a German industrialist who started the Horten AG brand of department stores. When the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933, Helmut Horten worked for the Alsberg Brothers department store in Duisburg, which he was able to acquire from the Jewish owners after they fled to the United States.The Hortens ill-gotten wealth survived the war intact, and Helmut continued to expand his business after the war until selling his majority stake in 1972. Helmut married Heidi in 1966 and died in 1987. When Heidi Horten died in 2022, at age 81, Forbes estimated her wealth to be valued at $3 billion.After Heidis death, her estate began auctioning off her assets, which according to Christies will go toward maintaining a Vienna museum of the art she collected, as well as medical research, child welfare, and other philanthropic activities that she supported for many decades.Three auctions by Christies earlier this year brought in some $200 million in sales, even though the auctions were strongly protested by Jewish groups. After Christies offered to make a large donation to Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, the museum spurned the offer, which was mirrored by many other Jewish philanthropic groups.We are glad that they recognized the great pain additional sales of Horten art and jewelry would cause Holocaust survivors, added Schaecter, who survived deportation to both Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230818/unredacted-records-reveal-credit-suisse-failed-to-fully-probe-nazi-linked-accounts-1112694367.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230716/netanyahu-ousts-his-partys-activist-over-offensive-holocaust-remarks-1111926058.html

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Fantine Gardinier

christie's auction house; heidi horten; jewish wealth; nazis
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/cia-vet-us-aiding-ukrainian-drone-attack-on-russian-nuclear-power-plants-1113058316.html

CIA Vet: US Aiding Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Nuclear Power Plants

CIA Vet: US Aiding Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Nuclear Power Plants

A Ukrainian drone attacked the town of Kurchatov, home to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, on September 1. Kiev is using the Pentagon's intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems to conduct the strikes, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson told Sputnik.

2023-09-01T18:29+0000

2023-09-01T18:29+0000

2023-09-01T18:29+0000

us

analysis

ukraine

russia

drone

ukrainian drone attacks on russia

larry johnson

joe biden

maria zakharova

pentagon

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Ukraine's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was confirmed to have hit a non-residential building in Kurchatov, causing minor damage to the facade. There were no casualties. Commenting on the attacks, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated: "The Ukrainian forces' drones that attacked objects on Russian territory would not have been able to fly such a distance without information from Western satellites.""It's highly likely that," Larry Johnson, a veteran of the CIA and former analyst at the State Departments Office of Counterterrorism, told Sputnik.The Department of Defense's (DOD) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems typically include manned and unmanned airborne, space-borne, maritime, and terrestrial systems. These Pentagon platforms play a critical role in supporting military operations.Prior to launching a drone attack on Russia's facilities the Ukrainian military need geo-coordinates and other extensive data of the targets. Who could provide them with such details? Most certainly their NATO backers: the US and the UK, according to Johnson.This is not the first time Ukraine has threatened the safety of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. There were three previous attacks on the facility.An aircraft-type drone crashed and detonated in the Russian town of Kurchatov on July 14 just a few kilometers from the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. Earlier, in April, another drone attack on the plant was repelled by Russia's air defenses.As per the Federal Security Service (FSB), in August 2022, Ukrainian saboteurs carried out at least three terrorist attacks against the Kursk nuclear power plant and blew up six towers of high-voltage power lines (110, 330 and 750 kV), through which the plant supplies energy to industrial, transport, life support, and social infrastructure of the region.The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is not the only Russian atomic facility targeted by Ukraine: in May, the FSB prevented a terrorist plot by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine to blast more than 30 power transmission towers of high-voltage power lines of the Leningrad and Kalinin Nuclear Power Plants.In addition, the Kiev military has been continuing to shell at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant after the formerly Ukrainian region re-unified with Russia in the aftermath of the 2022 referendum.Per Johnson, the Kiev regime and its backers in the Biden administration are acting "incomprehensible and irrational."Similarly, the CIA veteran condemned the decision of Team Biden to arm the Ukrainian military with cluster shells and incendiary rockets even though the Kiev regime is known for using these types of munitions against civilians.According to the former CIA analyst, the Kiev regime and its US backers apparently believe that by killing civilians they would instigate anger against the Russian leadership. This perverted logic is not viable and Russia is likely to retaliate roughly, as per Johnson.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230714/scientist-ukraine-attacking-russian-nuclear-plants-is-height-of-lunacy-and-moral-irresponsibility-1111877770.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230613/mad-max-reality-kievs-blast-of-kakhovka-dam-has-new-hidden-nuclear-risks-1111115298.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230711/why-team-biden-is-shrugging-off-moral-concerns-and-nato-divisions-over-cluster-bombs-1111817163.html

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kursk nuclear power plant, kurchatov, ukrainian drone attack, ukrainian uav attack, us intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (isr) systems, pentagon intelligence aid kiev, pentagon intelligence aid ukraine, ukraine conflict, ukraine war, war in ukraine, ukraine war map, zaporozhye nuclear power plant
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/constraints-on-us-military-aid-to-kiev-could-be-decisive-factor-in-ukraine-conflict-1113033158.html

Constraints on US Military Aid to Kiev Could Be Decisive Factor in Ukraine Conflict

Constraints on US Military Aid to Kiev Could Be Decisive Factor in Ukraine Conflict

Resistance in Congress, depleted stockpiles, among other constraints on US military aid could be decisive factors in the Ukraine conflict, with both sides committed to winning and no diplomatic path in sight, experts said.

2023-09-01T01:34+0000

2023-09-01T01:34+0000

2023-09-01T01:33+0000

analysis

russia

joe biden

ivan eland

gordon sondland

ukraine

army tactical missile system (atacms)

nato

us military aid

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US President Joe Biden is asking Congress for an additional $24 billion in security, economic, and humanitarian assistance to get Ukraine through next year, although Republicans in the House are opposing sending more aid to Kiev. Earlier Tuesday, the US unveiled a $250-million security assistance package for Ukraine that includes High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), AIM-9M and Javelin missiles, TOW anti-tank and Hydra-70 air-to-ground missiles in addition to other weapons and munitions. No Path to PeaceMeanwhile, although Russia has repeatedly said it is willing to engage in negotiations, the White House and Kiev have clearly stated they are opposed to talks until Ukraine makes gains on the battlefield. "I don't see it [conflict ending] happening soon because I think that Ukraine still thinks they can win, and I think Russia wants to wait till after the US election to see if [former US President] Donald Trump comes back in," former US defense analyst Ivan Eland told Sputnik. "There's really not going to be a solution." Eland said the conflict is probably going to "lock up" with neither side able to muster the resources to sustain the fighting. Former US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, whose memoir "The Envoy: Mastering the Art of Diplomacy with Trump and the World" was published, said he does not see any path to peace talks. "I don't think there is any interest [within the Biden administration] in beginning any serious discussions until the Russian military has been severely weakened beyond the point of where they are today," Sondland told Sputnik.Winslow Wheeler, who served as a national security adviser for the US Senate and Government Accountability Office between 1971 and 2002, predicts that internal issues will stifle progress given reaching a deal will require comprise. Potential Game-Changing LimitationsThe US has already provided Ukraine with more than $43 billion in military assistance since Russia's military operation started, but Kiev's requirements continue to grow. Meanwhile, Moscow continues to report that Russian forces have destroyed significant amounts of heavy weaponry and equipment the US has supplied Ukraine. Eland indicated that eroding supplies, in addition to Republican resistance, are also a major constraint that could undermine the Biden administrations ambitious spending plans to support Kiev. Sondland, in fact, believes that the US failing to meet Kievs requirements could determine the outcome of the conflict. "What the Ukrainians need to make this decisive, is they need the US to literally push all of our chips on the table," the former envoy said.For example, Sondland said Ukraine needs to include more long-range weapons, like Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), and more Patriot missile defense systems. Eland, however, pointed out that providing aid to Ukraine through the presidential drawdown authority is depleting US stockpiles. "Theyre using ammunition at such a rate against Russia, that the defense industry is having trouble keeping up - they're depleting US stock [and] US stocks have to be replaced," the analyst said. As a result, Eland added, US readiness to defend NATO and East Asian countries is reduced since there may not be enough ammunition. Moreover, he said Ukraine is a European issue, and as such the United States does not have a genuine national security interest in Ukraine."It should be more of a European effort. The United States is trying to pivot to Asia, and the Biden administration has done that, but there's a cost. We don't have unlimited resources, and the Europeans are all very rich," Eland said.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230826/two-republican-lawmakers-draft-letter-opposing-more-us-funding-to-assist-ukraine-1112902562.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230828/pentagon-says-us-has-given-ukraine-more-than-31mln-artillery-rocket-rounds-1112949412.html

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ukraine

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/drone-flying-to-moscow-destroyed-near-russian-capital---mayor-sobyanin-1113036081.html

Drone Flying to Moscow Destroyed Near Russian Capital - Mayor Sobyanin

Drone Flying to Moscow Destroyed Near Russian Capital - Mayor Sobyanin

A drone flying toward Moscow was destroyed in the Moscow Region, no casualties or damage were reported, the Russian capital's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Telegram.

2023-09-01T05:13+0000

2023-09-01T05:13+0000

2023-09-01T05:35+0000

russia

ukrainian drone attacks on russia

sergei sobyanin

moscow

russia

lyubertsy

russian defense ministry

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"Today, air defense forces near Lyubertsy thwarted another attempt by a drone to fly to Moscow. Preliminarily, there were no casualties or damage. Emergency services are working at the scene of the incident," Sobyanin said.The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that air defenses have thwarted Ukraine's attempt to carry out a terrorist attack by destroying an aircraft-type drone over the city of Lyubertsy, east of Moscow.Russian air defense systems have destroyed an aircraft-type UAV over the territory of the Belgorod Region, the Russian Defense Ministry added."This morning, at about 07:30 Moscow time [04:30 GMT], another attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by an aircraft-type UAV on objects on the territory of Russia was thwarted," the ministry said in a statement, adding that it was "destroyed by on-duty air defense systems over the territory of the Belgorod Region."Ukrainian troops resorted to drone warfare in last several months after loss of several strategic locations and growing number of casualties. Military experts stress that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia pursue no meaningful military goal apart from boosting morale among Ukrainians.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/russia-to-determine-whether-drone-attack-on-pskov-perpetrated-from-latvia-or-estonia--kremlin-1112986441.html

moscow

russia

lyubertsy

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moscow region, drone flying to moscow, mayor sergey sobyanin, ukrainian drone
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/how-much-do-mercenaries-earn-in-ukraine-1113054978.html

How Much Do Mercenaries Make in Ukraine?

How Much Do Mercenaries Make in Ukraine?

The Russian military has reported a major uptick in Ukraines recruitment of foreign mercenaries. Estimates on just how much these soldiers of fortune get paid vary wildly, from less than $1,000 a month to $2,000 per day. Sputnik did a little digging and spoke to a pair of veteran military experts to get to try to get to the bottom of things.

2023-09-01T15:39+0000

2023-09-01T15:39+0000

2023-09-02T10:58+0000

analysis

earl rasmussen

karen kwiatkowski

george soros

ukraine

russia

nato

investigative committee

mercenaries

volunteers

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A Bundeswehr vet who volunteered to fight alongside the Ukrainian Army gave a tell-all interview to German media recently, revealing the surprisingly low going rate of foreigners taking part in NATOs proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.The mercs testimony seems to match up with figures put out in February by Russias Investigative Committee, which has been collecting information on potential war crimes in Ukraine. According to investigators figures, foreigners in Ukraine receive between 30,000 and 100,000 hryvnia (about $815-$2,710). The Investigative Committee launched criminal cases against 160 mercs from 33 different countries, including Georgia, the US, Latvia, Israel and Sweden related to suspected crimes against Russian troops and civilians.The ballpark figures have also been separately confirmed in an investigation by French media this summer, which uncovered that mercs attached to Ukraines infamous International Legion receive a base salary of 500 euros, and up to 3,000 a month when theyre on the front lines. Volunteers also complained about having to pay out of pocket for vehicles, supplies and even small arms, notwithstanding the nearly $100 billion in aid doled out by the West to date for weapons.The monthly figures are a far cry from the smattering of information reported during the early stages of the crisis last year, including reporting by British media in March 2022 on payments of up to $2,000 per day plus bonuses for multilingual former soldiers willing to head to Ukraine to engage in extraction operations.It also challenges the traditional range of security contractor job postings, which similarly cite a pay rate of $500-$1,000 per day, equivalent to a six-figure salary when annualized (assuming that the fighter lives that long).Where Has the Money Gone?Ive seen some discussions saying mercenaries got between $30,000 and $50,000 a year for a job and squad commanders  up to $100,000. That would be more in the realm that I would be thinking of. And then senior commanders, probably, maybe $200,000-$250,000 for the year. Maybe even more, the observer added, stressing that $1,000-$2,000 a month to him seemed on the low side.Unless [it was] for a cause I firmly believe in, I wouldnt put my life on the line for that kind of money, Rasmussen said, referring to the dangers foreign nationals subject themselves to, all for the average salary equivalent to or even less than someone working a blue collar job in retail or manufacturing in the US.In the case of the German merc, matters beyond the monetary may have played a role, with media reporting that a woman the merc met on Tinder was waiting for him in Kiev. In other cases, as French media discovered, at least a third of the estimated 100 French volunteers fighting in Ukraine were driven by neo-Nazi views.It seems as if the Ukrainian military has been dwindling to those who will fight for the sake of fighting, or those who are forced to fight, Kwiatkowski said.Ukraine is sending 70+ year old men for NATO training in Germany, and when this kind of extreme is combined with reports that very few Ukrainian refugees in Europe intend to return home after the war, that says a lot about the present state of its ability to defend its remaining border, and its future as a productive nation, the observer lamented.He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune?Asked about the sources of the funding for the mercs, Rasmussen emphasized that while the checks may be signed by the Ukrainian government, the money obviously comes from Kievs Western backers.From my understanding, the US government is paying the salaries of senior government people in Ukraine to include retirements and medical coverage. I wouldnt be surprised if their military is being paid out of the US, the observer said, adding that hes heard rumors that Washington was providing an extra billion dollars a month in cash for payments to the Ukrainian government.Along with the cash coming from Western donor countries, Rasmussen pointed to a massive slush fund of monies contributed by private donors.Merc Recruitment as a Means to Plug GapsRussias Defense Ministry has reported that the disruption of mobilization plans and efforts to conceal staggering losses amid Kievs ongoing attempted counteroffensive have led to the intensified recruitment of mercenaries, with US intelligence assisting in recruitment, including from areas of Syria occupied by the United States. Russian officials have indicated that recruitment efforts have included asocial elements that are prepared to fight for much less money.The Russian military has estimated that nearly 5,000 foreign mercs have been killed, with roughly 4,900 more said to have fled the country over the past year-and-a-half. In May, the MoD estimated that an estimated 2,500 mercenaries remain on the battlefield fighting for Ukraine.Many of the foreign mercs who managed to escape alive have since recounted horror stories of their experience, with some who came to the country with bright-eyed idealism later expressing regret after discovering the harsh realities of service, including corruption, lack of professionalism, poor treatment and poor pay. Others have complained that the Ukrainian proxy war is nothing like the traditional US and NATO wars in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where their side enjoyed overwhelming artillery and air support. The worst day in Afghanistan and Iraq is a great day in Ukraine, one US soldier-told merc told US media in July.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230808/two-us-army-vets-killed-while-fighting-in-wests-proxy-war-in-ukraine-1112459773.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230731/how-many-americans-were-killed-in-ukrainian-conflict-1112246583.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230824/untold-story-of-george-soros-worldwide-soft-power-empire-1112859657.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230720/my-mates-have-died-and-are-dying-in-ukraine---australian-mercenary--1112004538.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/internet-quips-no-more-as-biden-seeks-a-lot-more-money-from-congress-1113049763.html

Internet Quips 'No More' as Biden Seeks 'A Lot More Money' From Congress

Internet Quips 'No More' as Biden Seeks 'A Lot More Money' From Congress

The Biden administration intends to seek "a lot more money from Congress for natural disaster relief.

2023-09-01T14:51+0000

2023-09-01T14:51+0000

2023-09-01T14:51+0000

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The Biden administration intends to seek "a lot more money from Congress. On this occasion, it is seeking an additional $4 billion for natural disaster relief as part of its supplemental funding request, which will hike up the total ask to $16 billion.The US President was speaking at offices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington, pushing the case for more supplemental funds in response to the Hawaii wildfires and Hurricane Idalia hitting Florida, saying that, "We're going to need a whole hell of a lot more money" to deal with the issues. Biden also hit out at those he dubbed "climate deniers out there," in terms of "whether or not climate change had anything to do with" the disastrous events.Footage from the event was posted online by the Republican National Committee (RNC).Previously, the Biden administration had requested $12 billion in extra funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell had acknowledged that $12 billion would be a bridge to get us through the end of the fiscal year.Coming against the backdrop of the $40 billion in additional spending - with more than half of that earmarked for the Kiev regime - that POTUS revealed he was banking upon Congress to greenlight, the response on social media was swift and sardonic. As polls reveal that a growing number of Americans are loth to continue funding the Ukraine conflagration, with many Republicans sharing these sentiments, commments on X (formerly Twitter) ranged from, "No. Full STOP!," to "All I heard was we need more money for Ukraine."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/biden-asks-congress-for-13-billion-in-new-ukraine-military-aid-as-opposition-grows-1112520195.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/latvias-planned-eviction-of-russians-violates-human-rights---president-of-brics-intl-forum-1113053021.html

Latvia's Planned Eviction of Russians Violates Human Rights - President of BRICS Int'l Forum

Latvia's Planned Eviction of Russians Violates Human Rights - President of BRICS Int'l Forum

The Russian Presidential Human Rights Council has called on the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to take note of the situation regarding the rights of Russians in Latvia, who may be evicted from the country for failing to pass the Latvian language exam.

2023-09-01T15:40+0000

2023-09-01T15:40+0000

2023-09-01T15:40+0000

world

kirill vyshinsky

dunja mijatovic

kairat abdrakhmanov

latvia

russia

moscow

osce

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the united nations (un)

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More than 30 prominent figures from around the world, including intellectuals, politicians, and representatives of various fields, have signed an appeal facilitated by the Russian Cooperation Agency (Rossotrudnichestvo), Kirill Vyshinsky, head of the Human Rights Council Commission on International Cooperation and executive director of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, the parent company of the Sputnik News Agency, told Sputnik.Starting from September 2023, Russian citizens residing in Latvia who have not passed a Latvian language exam will receive letters from the Latvian Ministry of the Interior (MIA) ordering them to leave the country. Along with losing their residence permits, individuals will also be denied access to many services in Latvia, including the cessation of pension payments.The Russian HRC's appeal, obtained by the agency, is addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, commissioner for the Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatovic, and OSCE high commissioner on national minorities, Kairat Abdrakhmanov."We have adopted this appeal, and with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo we addressed various opinion leaders, famous people, intellectuals, representatives of scientific circles, politicians, leaders of public organizations in various countries," Vyshinsky stressed."We have received more than 30 letters supporting our appeal today. These letters come from various countries, including India, Serbia, Cyprus, Belgium, quite a big list, and many others. Moreover, letters of support continue to arrive from many countries, including Israel, Jordan, Belarus, and so on," Vyshinsky added.In their appeal, Russian human rights advocates note that those most at risk of forced eviction are elderly individuals who have been living in Latvia since the time of the Soviet Union.The authors note that these citizens have lived in Latvia for many years, which demonstrates that their knowledge of the Russian language and the Latvian language skills they possess are sufficient for leading their own lives and daily routines."What appears particularly cynical towards these individuals is the fact that the authorities require them not only to pass an exam, but also to fill in questionnaires about their position on the Russian Federations policy in the international arena. In essence, individuals are being asked not only to take language tests, but also to give an account of their political views and to document their condemnation of the actions of the Russian Federation," the appeal says.The Russian Human Rights Council emphasizes that such actions by the Latvian authorities are in flagrant violation of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of and the European Convention on Human Rights.In August 2022, the Latvian government decided to extend temporary residence permits in Latvia to Russian citizens only in exceptional cases and to grant permanent residence permits to them solely if they pass a state language exam at a level no lower than A2 by September 2023.Earlier, the Latvian Saeima passed a bill to transition the entire education system to the Latvian language within three years, allowing the study of Russian only as a "minority language." Latvia has a population of around 1.8 million people, with approximately 40% being Russian speakers. Latvian is the sole official language in Latvia, while Russian is classified as a foreign language.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230829/latvias-planned-expulsion-of-russian-nationals-grossly-contradicts-un-eu-norms-1112957222.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230726/sputnik-lithuania-editor-kasem-leaves-latvia-fearing-criminal-proceedings-1112157241.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220919/moscow-committed-to-open-borders-principle-for-latvia-despite-rigas-racist-anti-russian-policies-1100974682.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221210/man-detained-in-latvia-for-setting-up-broadcasting-of-russian-tv-channels-reports-say-1105298168.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/mitch-mcconnell-freezes-again-russia-vetoes-un-sanctions-on-mali-orban-pushes-for-peace-process-1113032035.html

Mitch McConnell Freezes Again; Russia Vetoes UN Sanctions on Mali; Orban Pushes for Peace Process

Mitch McConnell Freezes Again; Russia Vetoes UN Sanctions on Mali; Orban Pushes for Peace Process

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had a momentary lapse during a press conference in Kentucky raising questions about his mental acuity.

2023-09-01T05:26+0000

2023-09-01T05:26+0000

2023-09-01T12:36+0000

the critical hour

radio

taiwan

israel

haiti

kenya

beirut

hunter biden

mitt romney

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Mitch McConnell Freezes Again; Russia Vetoes Un Sanctions on Mali; Orban Pushes for Peace Process Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had a momentary lapse during a press conference in Kentucky raising questions about his mental acuity.

Mark Sleboda, Moscow based international relations security analyst joins us to discuss Ukraine. Senator Blumenthal says that the US is getting its money's worth in Ukraine. Mark Sleboda reminds us that this comment is reminiscent of Mitt Romney's recent referral to the Ukrainians as cannon fodder used to poke the Russian bear. Also, the geopolitical shift in the world is leaning in favor of Russia and its allies.Steve Poikonen, host of AM Wakeup and Slow News Day on Rokfin.com joins us to discuss domestic politics. The New York Post claims that President Biden absolutely benefited from Hunter Biden's foreign business. Steve says that Joe Biden is a crook, he is getting caught, and there is no way for the media to hide it anymore. He says that Biden will be removed and replaced with Gavin Newsome.Prof. Nicolai Petro, Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, specializing in Ukraine and Russia joins us to discuss peace in Ukraine. Top Zelensky aids have ruled out peace talks with Russia. Dr. Nicolai Petro says that the Ukrainian side is claiming that reality has to set in in Russia before negotiations can begin as the Russians are making the same claim. The official rhetoric says that the defeat of Russia is the objective but an endless number of military leaks admit that the Ukranians are having problems. Dan Kovalik, writer, Author, lawyer joins us to discuss Haiti. In Haiti, Kenya has chosen imperialist servitude over Pan African solidarity. The Black Alliance for Peace calls their actions a military occupation of Haiti by another name. Dan Kovalik says that Haiti has been under various forms of occupation for many years including UN troops from Brazil which perpetrated rape and extra judicial killings. He says that this is "Black washing" the imperial abuse of Haiti. Dr. Gerald Horne, Professor of History at the University of Houston, TX, author, historian, researcher joins us to discuss Africa. Gabons President Ali Bongo Ondimba and his son have ruled the West African nation as their private kingdom for 56 years. Dr. Gerald Horne says that the plot in Gabon is still unfolding. The leader of the Gabon coup holds properties in the Washington DC area. The new leader may be genuine or he may be a puppet for the US empire.Dr. Ken Hammond, writer and professor of East Asian and global history at New Mexico State University joins us to discuss Asia. The US has ok'd the first ever foreign military financing arms package for Taiwan. Dr. Ken Hammond says that this is a further provocation. The US sends the secretary of commerce to China in the appearance of rapprochement and immediately backtracks with this provocation. The act reeks of desperation and it is part of another money laundering military industrial complex operation. Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon joins us to discuss The Middle East. Iran is reporting that it thwarted a Mossad plot to cripple its missile industry. Laith Marouf says that the Israelis are desperate to achieve any kind of win over Iran, that this was a widespread operation, and multiple missile facilities were targeted. It also shows the Iranians' advancement in information technology.Dan Lazare, Investigative Journalist, Author of America's Undeclared War joins us to discuss politics and policy. Cornel West slams the democratic party as beyond redemption. Dan Lazare says that Bernie Sanders has reversed his position after decades of arguing that the party was incorrigible. He says that the Biden administration is pursuing a reckless imperial foreign policy and the left flank of the party is doing nothing to stop it.The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comCatch us at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/moscow-considers-denmarks-demands-to-reduce-number-of-diplomats-as-hostile-position-1113060526.html

Moscow Considers Denmark's Demands to Reduce Number of Diplomats as Hostile Position

Moscow Considers Denmark's Demands to Reduce Number of Diplomats as Hostile Position

Moscow considers Denmark's demands that Russia reduces the number of its diplomatic staff as another manifestation of the country's hostile position, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

2023-09-01T18:11+0000

2023-09-01T18:11+0000

2023-09-01T18:11+0000

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Earlier in the day, the Danish Foreign Ministry said that the number of Russian embassy staff in Copenhagen should be reduced to the same level as the Danish embassy in Moscow and Russia's diplomatic mission should have maximum of five diplomats and 20 staffers.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230710/danish-deminers-denounce-deeply-problematic-cluster-bomb-transfer-to-ukraine-1111781329.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/over-72-of-south-koreans-oppose-japans-fukushima-water-release---poll-1113040173.html

Over 72% of South Koreans Oppose Japan's Fukushima Water Release - Poll

Over 72% of South Koreans Oppose Japan's Fukushima Water Release - Poll

As many as 72.4% of South Koreans oppose Japan's discharge of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP), versus just 20.4% who support it, the Yonhap news agency reported on Friday, citing results of a survey conducted by the Research View pollster.

2023-09-01T09:27+0000

2023-09-01T09:27+0000

2023-09-01T09:27+0000

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The survey requested by South Korean civic groups Asian Citizen's Center for Environment and Health and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements, showed that in terms of sex, 74.1% of women and 70.7% of men consider the discharge dangerous. Meanwhile, in terms of age, the highest (80.9%) opposition rate is recorded among people in their 40s. By place of residence, the strongest opposition (81.8%) is registered among residents of the northern province of Gangwon bordering North Korea and those living on Jeju Island, the report said, citing the poll results. In terms of political beliefs, over 61% of people identifying as conservative oppose the Fukushima water release. The position is shared by 83.8% of progressives and 73.8% of people without distinctive political views, the survey reportedly found. The poll also showed that 78.3% of the respondents consider banning all seafood imports from Japan to be a good idea, media reported. The survey was conducted among 1,000 South Koreans aged 18 and over from August 29-30. The margin of error is not specified. On August 24, Japan began dumping treated wastewater from the Fukushima NPP into the Pacific Ocean, despite strong opposition from other countries in the region. The IAEA has said the treated water would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230825/beijing-calls-japans-release-of-treated-water-from-fukushima-npp-irresponsible-behavior-1112880771.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/polish-military-helicopter-violates-belarusian-border---belarusian-border-service-1113058473.html

Polish Military Helicopter Violates Belarusian Border

Polish Military Helicopter Violates Belarusian Border

The Belarusian border service stated on Friday that a Polish military helicopter violated the state border.

2023-09-01T17:48+0000

2023-09-01T17:48+0000

2023-09-01T18:25+0000

military

poland

belarus

grodno

mi-24

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"On September 1, Belarusian border guards recorded a violation of the Belarusian airspace by Poland in the Berastavitsa district of the Grodno Region. A Polish Mi-24 military helicopter crossed the state border at an extremely low altitude, entered a total of 1200 meters [3,900 feet] into the territory of Belarus and then turned back," the Belarusian border service said on Telegram.In addition, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry stated that it had summoned the Polish charge d'affaires following the state border violation incident by a Polish helicopter.Poland must provide an explanation of the incident and conduct an investigation, the ministry added.The Polish Foreign Ministry said that Warsaw treats with "caution" the information about the violation of the Belarusian border by a helicopter and will analyze it.Tensions on the Belarus-Poland border have been rising since the beginning of the Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and had a particular upsurge after Russia deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, causing a backlash from Eastern European NATO countries.NATO has been circling Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union, incorporating more and more countries, coming closer to Russian borders. Among other NATO allies, Poland demonstrates particularly blatant anti-Russian prejudice, which drives uts officials to make provocative statements against both Russia and Belarus (which is a Russian ally). Thus, Poland has been actively participating in all NATO military exercises in close vicinity of Russia and Belarus borders.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230528/why-nato-has-no-right-to-complain-about-russian-nukes-in-belarus-1110654526.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/putin-erdogan-to-hold-talks-in-sochi-on-september-4---kremlin-1113040850.html

Putin, Erdogan to Hold Talks in Sochi on September 4 - Kremlin

Putin, Erdogan to Hold Talks in Sochi on September 4 - Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold negotiations in Sochi on September 4 in the middle of the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

2023-09-01T10:02+0000

2023-09-01T10:02+0000

2023-09-01T12:11+0000

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vladimir putin

recep tayyip erdogan

sochi

black sea grain deal

grain

turkiye

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"Indeed, the negotiations will take place on Monday, they will be held in Sochi. It will be the middle of the day," Peskov told reporters. Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan will discuss the development of mutually beneficial cooperation, as well as international agenda, during the meeting in Sochi, the Kremlin said.This will be the first meeting between the two leaders since the grain deal expired. The last time they met in person was on October 13 last year in Astana. The last telephone conversation between Putin and Erdogan took place on August 2. The last time the Turkish leader visited Russia was just over a year ago. The meeting took place in Sochi on August 5.On July 18, the Turkiye- and UN-mediated Black Sea Grain Initiative, which provided for a humanitarian corridor to allow exports of Ukrainian grain over the past year, expired, as Russia did not renew its participation in the deal. Moscow emphasized that the deal's component on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports had not been fulfilled, specifically with regard to reconnecting Russian banks to SWIFT and unblocking the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230828/putin-erdogan-talks-to-determine-future-of-grain-deal---source-1112937533.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/putin-says-he-will-soon-meet-with-xi-1113053182.html

Putin Says He Will Soon Meet With Xi

Putin Says He Will Soon Meet With Xi

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he will soon meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss, among other things, the development of humanitarian ties.

2023-09-01T14:32+0000

2023-09-01T14:32+0000

2023-09-01T15:43+0000

world

russia

china

vladimir putin

xi jinping

russia-china cooperation

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"In the near future we will have events and a meeting with the Chinese Chairman. He calls me his friend, and I am happy to call him my friend, because he is a person who personally does a lot for the development of Russia-China relations and ties and in various fields. And we will definitely discuss with him what else can be done on this issue, and for the development of humanitarian contacts," Putin stated at a meeting with students "Important Conversations."As relations between the two countries grow stronger, the leaders meet increasingly often. In fact, the announced meeting is going to be the 41st one in the affluent list of the leaders meetings.Last time, the Chinese leader visited Moscow on March 20-22 - days after being reelected for a third term on March 10. Once again, Russia was chosen the first foreign state to visit by Xi after his reelection.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230320/10-years-40-meetings-what-to-expect-from-xi-jinpings-visit-to-russia-for-talks-with-putin-1108575480.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/russia-to-allocate-207bln-for-development-of-new-regions-in-coming-years---putin-1113060784.html

Russia to Allocate $20.7Bln for Development of New Regions in Coming Years - Putin

Russia to Allocate $20.7Bln for Development of New Regions in Coming Years - Putin

The Russian authorities will allocate almost 2 trillion rubles ($20.7 billion) in the coming years for the development of Russia's new regions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

2023-09-01T18:46+0000

2023-09-01T18:46+0000

2023-09-01T18:46+0000

russia

russia

vladimir putin

kherson

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donetsk people's republic

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"In the coming 2.5 years, I think, I it is planned to allocate almost 2 trillion rubles from federal sources alone for the development of these territories [Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions]  1.9 trillion rubles. This is decent money," Putin stated at a meeting with students. The money is to be spent in accordance with the government's program for the socioeconomic development of Russia's new regions, adopted on April 27. The first stage, according to the president, is to bring the four new regions up to all-Russian levels in terms of social issues, including medical care, education and infrastructure development. The government's program is already being implemented. For example, the Russian government's Territorial Development Fund will repair more than 3,600 infrastructure facilities in Russia's new regions, according to the fund's statement released on Wednesday. The fund plans to carry out 1,633 restoration works, including reconstruction of 1,145 residential buildings, 227 social facilities, 173 utilities, 41 transport infrastructure facilities and 47 other projects are to be completed in the four new Russian regions by the end of 2023, the statement read. In late September 2022, Putin and the heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, signed agreements on the accession of these territories to Russia, following referendums that showed an overwhelming majority of the local population being supportive of this idea.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230727/dpr-head-unveils-shocking-death-toll-9-years-of-ukraines-shelling-killed-228-children-1112180884.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220830/cluster-bombs-butterfly-mines-phosphorus-munitions-prohibited-weapons-used-by-ukraine-1100038913.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/turkiye-warned-west-on-risks-of-surging-food-costs-if-black-sea-conflict-breaks-out---source-1113034825.html

Turkiye Warned West on Risks of Surging Food Costs if Black Sea Conflict Breaks Out - Source

Turkiye Warned West on Risks of Surging Food Costs if Black Sea Conflict Breaks Out - Source

Ankara has warned its Western partners in discussions of the risks of a sharp increase in prices of agricultural products in the event of escalation in the Black Sea region, a source tied to negotiations has told Sputnik.

2023-09-01T04:19+0000

2023-09-01T04:19+0000

2023-09-01T04:19+0000

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"Yes, we have warned our Western partners about it. And the United Nations has repeatedly warned about this in its statements. The risks are very high now when we see an escalation of tensions in the region through which agricultural products are shipped," the source said when asked about ongoing discussions on risks of an increase in prices of agricultural products.The source's comments came in addition to assurances in understanding that the new package of proposals on the Black Sea Grain Initiative, made by Turkiye and the United Nations, does not guarantee Russia's return to the grain deal.When asked about Russia's position in the negotiations on the resumption of the grain deal, the source said it is very principled."The Russian side requires guarantees," he said, not providing any details about the negotiation process.Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Thursday, after his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, that Ankara, in cooperation with the UN, has prepared new proposals regarding the Black Sea Grain Initiative for its resumption.US Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that he had sent concrete solutions to Lavrov about more effective access of Russian products to global markets as part of his efforts to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230717/what-is-the-ukraine-grain-deal-everything-you-need-to-know-1111913789.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/us-to-reportedly-give-ukraine-depleted-uranium-munitions-in-pending-arms-package-1113063293.html

US to Reportedly Give Ukraine Depleted Uranium Munitions in Pending Arms Package

US to Reportedly Give Ukraine Depleted Uranium Munitions in Pending Arms Package

The United States will reportedly provide Ukraine with depleted uranium munitions in a new military aid package set to be announced within the next week.

2023-09-01T21:32+0000

2023-09-01T21:32+0000

2023-09-02T04:44+0000

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The US will provide Ukraine with the armor-piercing munitions shot from Abrams tanks, US media reported, citing a document and two American officials. The United Kingdom has provided Ukraine with depleted uranium munitions, although the package will mark the first US commitment of the arms. The US is providing the munitions despite controversy over the use of depleted uranium, which critics argue may impact the health of civilians and create an environmental disaster that will affect the region for years. Among the many world leaders urging the US against its shipment, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier told Sputnik that the US simply doesn't consider the munitions use an issue "because they believe that, since they are on another continent, the supply of radioactive substances ... will not affect them."The pending military aid package will reportedly utilize the presidential drawdown authority, allowing the US to pull the munitions directly from its own stockpiles.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230816/ukrainians-should-not-allow-use-of-uranium-shells-on-their-soil---serbian-health-minister-1112630844.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/us-to-train-taiwan-under-sovereign-state-program-amid-row-with-china-1113030382.html

US to Train Taiwan Under Sovereign State Program Amid Row With China

US to Train Taiwan Under Sovereign State Program Amid Row With China

On this episode of Fault Lines, host Melik Abdul discussed a number of topics from around the globe, including the US' controversial decision to fund Taiwan through the sovereign state program.

2023-09-01T04:38+0000

2023-09-01T04:38+0000

2023-09-01T11:27+0000

fault lines

radio

baltimore

grades

students

covid-19

china

taiwan

niger

gabon

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U.S. to Train Taiwan Under Sovereign State Program Amid Row With China On this episode of Fault Lines, host Melik Abdul discussed a number of topics from around the globe, including the U.S.' controversial decision to fund Taiwan through the sovereign state program.

Elijah Magnier - Veteran War CorrespondentDesiree K. Robinson - Professor and JournalistSteve Gill - Attorney and CEO of Gill MediaKJ Noh - Journalist, Political Analyst and WriterIn the first hour, Fault Lines host spoke with veteran war correspondent Elijah Magnier about the latest coup in Gabon and how the removal of the newly elected president will affect the country going forward. Elijah also touched on the recent anti-French sentiment among several African nations, including Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.In the second hour, Fault Liness show spoke to Desiree K. Robisnon about how Covid-19 impacted student achievement in a negative way in cities like Baltimore with declining test scores in mathematics and English. Later in the second hour, Attorney Steve Gill joined the conversation to discuss congressman Mitch McConnell's recent public appearance and the Hunter Biden saga.In the last hour, Fault Lines discussed the US announcement to train Taiwan under the sovereign state program, which is a controversial move that is expected to anger China. Journalist KJ Noh joins the show to analyze if this move by the Biden administration will gain popularity in Congress and counter the Republican argument that Biden has been weak on China.The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comCatch us at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/watch-russian-forces-wipe-out-ukrainian-tank-1113040666.html

Watch Russian Forces Wipe Out Ukrainian Tank

Watch Russian Forces Wipe Out Ukrainian Tank

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing the destruction of a Ukrainian Armed Forces tank by an anti-tank missile system.

2023-09-01T12:05+0000

2023-09-01T12:05+0000

2023-09-01T12:05+0000

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The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing the destruction of a Ukrainian Armed Forces tank by an anti-tank missile system.The Ukrainian military has lost more than 400 soldiers in the Kupyansk and Donetsk directions in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday. The ministry mentioned that the Russian forces have repelled six Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk direction. According to the ministry, five attacks have been repelled in the Kupyansk direction, where Russian soldiers have managed to improve positions on the frontline.In the midst of the Kiev regime's much-touted failed counteroffensive, Ukrainian troops are suffering heavy losses and are unable to regain the initiative. NATO-supplied military equipment is of little help to the Ukrainian forces, who are struggling to attack and are unwilling to sacrifice themselves for the corrupt Kiev regime.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230901/what-are-csto-combat-brotherhood-2023-drills-1113037539.html

What Are CSTO 'Combat Brotherhood-2023' Drills?

What Are CSTO 'Combat Brotherhood-2023' Drills?

Six-day CSTO Combat Brotherhood-2023 drills begin in Belarus.

2023-09-01T11:00+0000

2023-09-01T11:00+0000

2023-09-01T11:00+0000

belarus

collective security treaty organization (csto)

csto

kazakhstan

kyrgyzstan

russia

tajikistan

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sergey lavrov

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The military exercise Combat Brotherhood 2023 is being hosted by Belarus from September 1 to 6 with the participation of military contingents from Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states. The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a military alliance consisting of six former Soviet republics: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. The organization aims to promote regional security and stability, as well as to coordinate joint military efforts. The organization has participated in several peacekeeping missions and joint military exercises.Sputnik takes a closer look at the itinerary of the drills, their aims, and tasks.Who Takes Part in 'Combat Brotherhood 2023'?Military contingents from the Collective Security Treaty Organization member states began deploying to Belarus on August 25 to take part in the drills, according to the Belarusian Defense Ministrys press service. The exercises focus on the training of various combat parts of the CSTO.National contingents from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan will participate in the drills.Over 2,500 military personnel and more than 500 units of weapons, troops, and special equipment are expected to be involved, as per the official announcement of the CSTO. Taking part in the drills will be the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Force, reconnaissance units of the armed forces of the CSTO member states, the logistics support forces of the CSTO troops, as well as the CSTO Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection and Medical Support Unit.Where Will Combat Brotherhood 2023 Take Place?Belarus is currently holding the rotating presidency of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Accordingly, it is hosting Combat Brotherhood 2023. The drills will take place in Brest Oblast, Grodno Oblast, and Minsk Oblast, at the Brestsky, Gozhsky, Domanovsky, Obuz-Lesnovsky, Chepelevo, and Lesishche training ranges.Several special exercises are planned under the aegis of the Combat Brotherhood 2023 drills:Who Has Been Invited to Combat Brotherhood 2023?Representatives of states that are not CSTO members - Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, and Mongolia - were extended invitations to observe the Combat Brotherhood 2023 exercise, according to Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov.Belarus' neighbour Poland has also been offered a chance to observe the drills, but has not yet responded, according to Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin.We've sent the invitation. There is no response so far. The exercise begins on 1 September. There is still time until 6 September... Feel free to come over. We are ready to show our openness, Viktor Khrenin was cited by the BelTA agency as saying, in a nod at Polish officials.What is the Purpose of Combat Brotherhood 2023?The main purpose of the Combat Brotherhood 2023 exercise is to boost coordination and coherence in the work of command and control bodies while preparing and conducting a joint operation.Furthermore, the drills aim to hone the practical skills and abilities of commanders in leading military units and subunits during combat and special operations. A particularly important task of the drills is to develop high moral and combat qualities, psychological resilience, and physical endurance among military personnel, as per the CSTO.Combat Brotherhood 2023 are "planned" training exercises, Secretary of State of the Belarus Security Council Alexander Volfovich stated earlier, adding that both Minsk and Belarus' partners in the CSTO, unlike Western countries, have always conducted such exercises in an open format, adhering to a defensive military doctrine.Russia does not see the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as an adversary of NATO and wants the Eurasian bloc to focus on protecting its member states, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in June after a CSTO foreign ministers meeting in Minsk. On the eve of the drills the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, slammed NATO countries for indulging in provocative exercises near his country's borders, which they justify with alleged "threats" emanating from Belarus.Lukashenko said that, "leaders of Poland and the Baltic states accuse Belarus of some mythical aggressive intentions," while in actual fact it is they themselves who are "increasing military budgets, pulling large military formations to our borders." The leader of Belarus emphasized that, "neither in Poland, nor in Lithuania, nor in other Baltic countries should there be a single foreign serviceman." Only In that case, he added, could those states make claims about the presence of military personnel from other countries on Belarus soil. Nevertheless, Alexander Lukashenko declared Belarus' readiness to restore good relations with its neighbors, while noting at the same time that, to date, the response has amounted to only "accusations and threats."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230824/belarus-to-host-csto-combat-brotherhood-2023-drills-from-september-1-6---defense-ministry-1112842036.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230828/csto-invited-saudi-arabia-iran-china-mongolia-as-observers-to-exercises-in-belarus-1112942333.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230620/natos-reluctance-to-freeze-ukraine-conflict-signifies-desire-to-fight---lavrov-1111331980.html

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Although she was bred in Massachusetts, Raised By Lindy has never raced in the state due to her Grand Circuit engagements throughout her career; however, on Thursday (Aug. 31), she made her homecoming one to remember as she completely handled her six competitors while winning the $25,000 Open Handicap Trot at Plainridge Park and broke the track record for four-year-old trotting mares in the process.

Bruce Ranger sent Raised By Lindy to the front and led the entire race by open lengths. While clicking off quarters of :27.1, :55.4 and 1:23.3, she trotted alone without even one challenge from behind. By the top of the stretch, Raised By Lindy had opened up five lengths on the group and just cruised home on her own to win in 1:51.4, which set a new track record for four-year-old trotting mares replacing the 1:52 mark set by P L Notsonice in 2021.

Bred and owned by Lindy Farms of Connecticut and trained by Domenico Cecere, Raised By Lindy ($2.80) is the all-time fastest two-year-old and three-year-old trotting filly and now the fastest older trotting mare ever bred in the state of Massachusetts, and this win puts her lifetime earnings at $871,638.

In the co-featured $25,000 Open Handicap Pace for fillies and mares, Milieu Hanover (Luke Hanners) sat third while Westbeach (Bruce Ranger) got to the quarter in :27. But she was soon out and moving, second on the outside to the half in :55.3 and three-quarters in 1:23 where she finally took the lead. Milieu Hanover opened up two lengths at the head of the stretch and won easily in 1:51.3.

It was the seventh win of the year for Milieu Hanover ($2.60), who is owned by David Hamm, Christopher Giaccio and Devita Racing Stable, and is trained by Nick Devita.

Bruce Ranger had a driving triple while Kevin Switzer Jr. and Nick Graffam each nabbed two wins. Trainer Bob Marston also had two wins.

Live racing will resume at Plainridge Park on Monday (Sept. 4) at a new earlier 2 p.m. post time and there will be a $1,426 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta wager in race six.

(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)
New Culpeper County Public Schools teacher Isabella Cassano said she is lucky to be working alongside the experienced teacher who first inspired her to the profession.

On the first day of this school year, Cassano started her teaching career at Farmington Elementary  17 years after she started kindergarten there. Her inspiration to become a teacher began with her kindergarten teacher, Christin Smith, according to a release from school division spokeswoman Laura Hoover.

Cassanos kindergarten class was Smith's first class as a new teacher and she is still teaching at Farmington. Cassano started both her journeys, as student and as a teacher, with Smith by her side, Hoover said.

CCPS Division Superintendent Tony Brads visited Farmington on Aug. 23 to present Smith with the first Spotlight Award for the 2023-24 school year.

She was recognized for being an inspiration.

Brads explained at the faculty meeting that teachers make a difference in the lives of children every day.

To inspire a former student not only to become a teacher, but to come back and teach in the school where she started her education  that is truly special, the superintendent said.

Brads told his own kindergarten teacher story, sharing he also had the opportunity to work alongside her when he became a principal at her school.

Brads asked Smith and Cassano to share what they remembered from that special kindergarten year, 17 years ago.

Cassano said that she had just moved to Culpeper from Pennsylvania. She recalled when she saw Smith wearing a Steelers jersey one day, she knew they had a special connection.

Smith remembered Cassanos pigtails and walking her to the bus at the end of each day because she was the first one in the bus line.

Hoover said it is really exciting to have former students come back and teach for Culpeper County Public Schools.

To have the opportunity to teach at the same school that you attended with the teacher that inspired you to follow her path is extraordinary, she said.

At the end of the first day on Aug. 9, also the new teachers birthday, Cassano posted on social media: 14 years of wishing on candles to be a teacher at Farmington paid off today. And I got to spend off the day with the woman who planted the teaching seed!
Multiple areas across Nebraska reported 911 outages Thursday night  including the Omaha area  and people having an emergency were asked to call alternate numbers until service is restored.

The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency said late Thursday that emergency officials were working to address the issue.

NEMA encouraged Nebraskans to monitor local media and their cellphones for alerts and instructions on alternative methods for reaching 911.

In Scotts Bluff County, those reporting an emergency were asked to call the Scotts Bluff County Communications Center, 308-436-6666. Residents were notified with an alert that went out shortly after 8 p.m.

Among other counties impacted were Buffalo County, which includes the city of Kearney, and Lincoln County, which includes North Platte. As of late Thursday, Lincoln and Lancaster County were not affected.

Motorists also can call *55 to report emergencies to the Nebraska State Patrol.

World-Herald staff writers Shelley Larsen and Chris Nigrin contributed to this report.
Piedmont HealthCare welcomes the newest member of the OB/GYN team in Statesville, Dr. Mariana Ellington. Ellington will be joining tenured physicians, Dr. Margot Wacks, Dr. Jennifer Parker, Dr. Jamila Wade and Dr. Brandi Kennedy.

Ellingtons journey into womens health began during a transformative initiative in Peru, where she empowered local women with knowledge about their bodies. Understanding the incredible resilience of womens bodies through various life stages from, puberty to childbirth and menopause, said Ellington. My goal is to help women live their best healthy lives through all of these stages.

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Mariana Ellington to the Piedmont HealthCare OB/GYN team in Statesville. With a deep commitment to womens health and a passion for cutting-edge procedures, Dr. Ellington brings invaluable expertise to the group said Wacks.

Ellington is certified in daVinci robot-assisted procedure, specializing in hysterectomy, pelvic organ prolapse surgery, myomectomy and endometriosis resection. This certification enables her to use cutting edge technology, resulting in shorter hospital stays, minimal scarring, and faster recovery times for women.

Its a physicians job to provide the best care and the best options. I believe in two-way communication with my patients said Ellington. Their role is to let me know what works best for them

When Ellington is out of the office she enjoys spending time with her husband, her high school sweetheart of 10 years. Together they have a 1-year-old son and one beloved dog. The four of them love to go hiking, travel, and read books.

Ellington will begin seeing patients on Sept, 4 at Piedmont OB/GYN at 1446 Fern Creek Drive in Statesville. For information on Ellington visit https://piedmonthealthcare.com/provider/ellington-mariana-md/. To schedule an appointment, contact Piedmont HealthCare OB/GYN at 704-873-7250.
Abby Whitt  Editor

A woman who was pulled over on the Blue Ridge Parkway in 2021 has filed a federal lawsuit against a National Park Ranger for acting in a wrongful and unlawful manner.

The lawsuit, which was filed this month in the Western District of Virginia District Court, accuses Floyd County Park Ranger James Lyon of assault, battery, false arrest and abuse of process.

The document started as a Claim for Damage, Injury or Death with the National Park Service, then was transferred to the U.S. Department of Interior, which denied the claim on March 22.

The appeal was required to be submitted to the District Court within six months.

Plaintiff Elizabeth Spillman, who is being represented by attorney Alan Graf, formerly of Floyd, is requesting $261,970 in damages, which includes $10,000 in legal fees and $250,000 for damages to her mental health.

A number of events related to this incident are recorded on dash camera/body cam footage, which is not being released.

The lawsuit states that Spillman was pulled over at about 8:30 p.m. on July 23, 2021, for what Lyon reported to be swerving and traveling in the wrong lane. His reason to stop was later found not credible in Floyd General Court by Judge Randall Duncan, the lawsuit says.

Spillman, then-68 years old, voluntarily exited her car upon Lyons request and was asked to perform a heel-to-toe sobriety test, according to the lawsuit, ... in the middle of the Blue Ridge Parkway at night during FloydFest.

There was no legitimate reason to use the middle of the parkway during a busy time to conduct such a test, the suit says. Cars and buses passed close to Spillman putting her in danger of getting hit by a vehicle.

The Park Ranger did not account for Spillmans age, and the lawsuit states, the need of the use of her arms to balance.

After those tests, Lyon started to rapidly read the advisory statement to the preliminary breath test.

He read it so fast, it was mostly unintelligible, according to the lawsuit. Spillman was confused by this and did not understand what Lyon was saying to her, so she refused to take the test.

At this point in the encounter, the lawsuit states that Lyon grabbed Spillmans arms behind her, and kept asking her if she wanted to take a breath test, implying he would let her go if she took one.

Lyon used a bump technique to handcuff Spillman, who said he was rough.

The lawsuit says that while instructing Spillman to blow into the breath test mechanism, he ...pulled the mechanism away from her and ... berated her when she stopped after she blew all the air out of her lungs.

Lyon told Spillman she was under arrest for DUI because she blew a .11.

Instead of calling a female officer to search Spillman, the lawsuit states, Lyon touched Spillmans blouse loosening it and searching through [it] while it was on her and covering her.

A number of times, he came close to directly touching the front of Spillmans breasts as he searched the clothing on her, according to the lawsuit.

By the time she was placed in Lyons patrol car, Spillmans blouse was hanging down lower than before on her torso.

There is no record of the drive from the parkway to the Floyd Sheriffs Office, which is a standard to prevent sexual abuse by an officer, the lawsuit says.

According to the filing, Lyon said nothing to Spillman about what he expected her to do once they arrived at the sheriffs office.

After repeating lets go, lets go, Lyon grabbed Spillman by the handcuffs and her jean jacket, ...and started to drag her across the parking lot, the lawsuit says. Spillman called out to bystanders and told Lyon to stop dragging her.

At that point, Lyon did not like the attention of the passing civilians, and in reaction, he grabbed Spillmans arm and Levis jacket in a violent vise-like grip with the intention to cause severe pain to punish [her] for speaking out, according to the lawsuit.

In the process, the suit says Spillmans arm was bruised, her jacket was ripped, she lost a shoe, and her blouse was stripped from covering her.

Spillman was taken into the sheriffs office, where a female dispatcher enters the body cam footage, and Lyon does not ask her to help Spillman cover herself from the waist up. The suit notes that the dispatcher stays nearby during most of Spillmans time at FCSO.

Lyon then took Spillman to the second floor of the sheriffs office, according to the lawsuit, through areas where sheriffs deputies normally congregate.

Parading Spillman naked through such a facility showed Lyons intent to continue to humiliate and belittle his prisoner the lawsuit states. ... At this point, Spillman was afraid that she was about to be raped by Lyon with the dispatcher looking on.

The lawsuit alleges that for more than an hour, Spillman was in the sheriffs office at least partially uncovered from the waist up before being covered by the dispatcher.

A vast majority of Lyons testimony to a magistrate in Floyd General District Court was false or fabricated, based on videos of the encounter, the lawsuit says. The District Court agreed and dismissed the DUI charges against Spillman.
On Monday, my virtual assistant warned me of a heat advisory in effect in metro Atlanta.

On Tuesday, the thermostat in my car registered 108 degrees.

On Wednesday, I took the dog out at 7 a.m. and got a breath of fresh, hot air, thanks to a record high morning temperature.

With heat indexes in the 100-to-109-degree range, Atlanta and much of Georgia experienced what some news outlets have called the hottest week of the year.

I had the luxury of spending most of my time working in air-conditioned buildings, but I thought a lot about all the people who had no choice but to work in blistering heat: the UPS drivers, the garbage collectors, the farm workers, the construction crews and the landscapers.

An average of 40 workers each year die from heat, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But that figure doesnt measure all the deaths in which heat may have been a factor.

Public Citizen, an advocacy group based in Washington, estimates annual fatalities from heat exposure are closer to 2,000 workers, while about 170,000 heat stress-related injuries occur in the U.S.

Yet no federal regulations protect workers who are toiling in extreme heat.

Research on federal standards for heat safety was completed back in 1972. But it wasnt until nearly 50 years later, in 2021, that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced its intent to develop heat-specific regulations. Thats a process that can take years more.

If you trust climate change models, or just your own sense that something is amiss, you know that our coolest years are behind us. Workers need enforceable protections now.

Some states  California, Minnesota and Washington  have developed their own OSHA-approved standards for protecting workers from scorching heat. Georgia, routinely ranked among the hottest states in the country, has not. Texas recently went in the opposite direction, with laws that limit municipalities from intervening on workers behalf.

With no state or federal protections, people working in conditions of extreme heat are left to rely on the benevolence of their employers. Or to file a complaint with OSHA.

Recently, UPS and the Teamsters Union signed a five-year contract that includes protections for employees working in high temperatures. But it took the looming threat of a strike. New trucks will be equipped with air conditioning while old trucks will get fans. In the past, UPS resisted outfitting trucks with air conditioning, deeming it unfeasible because workers make frequent stops. Temperatures in the trucks have been recorded at well over 100 degrees.

Other industries are fine-tuning their arguments against possible federal regulations. Groups representing farming, forestry and other outdoor industries have emphasized the need for employee training rather than OSHA regulations.

In a letter sent from the National Cotton Council of America to OSHA during the public comment period, a representative said many heat-related issues are not the result of the agricultural work or employer mismanagement, but our 21st century lifestyle: Present day luxuries such as air conditioning is present in most all American households and public facilities making it more difficult to face the severe change in temperatures to move from a cool dwelling or vehicle to the heat of a field. While age certainly plays a part, you can find many farmers that have discovered that younger workers, who are used to a more sedentary lifestyle, cannot last a day working outside.

With with recent heat wave in Georgia, OSHA sent out a press release reminding employers to help prevent heat illness.

By law employers are responsible for providing workplaces free of known safety hazards, including extreme heat, it read. The document also detailed responsibilities of employers, such as providing workers with water, rest and shade and allowing returning or new workers to gradually acclimate to working in the heat. Employers should also have a plan for emergencies, train workers on prevention and monitor workers for signs of illness.

The agency said it is planning enhanced enforcement -- more inspections, more enforcement tools -- particularly in areas where workers are clearly in danger.

Employers should immediately take all steps to protect workers from extreme heat, the release read.

OSHA should do the same.
Recalling the Syrian revolution's early days, one can hardly find a year without a massacre etched into its memory, Mohammad Berro writes in Syria TV.

The list of massacres orchestrated by the Assad regime, spanning generations and bloodlines, continues its gruesome march. Since 1980 in Aleppo, through the horrors of Hama and the Palmyra tragedy, this regime has adhered to an unbroken thread of brutality. And as these massacres unfolded, the international community, a supposed beacon of justice, veiled its eyes and shrouded their aftermath. Even social media platforms, led by YouTube, play their part in this macabre dance by erasing countless videos that painstakingly capture the reality of these atrocities.

The echoes of past red lines still resonate, reminding us of the United States hollow threats to the Bashar al-Assad regime. The rain washed away those lines, as Assads government callously ignored the warnings, confident in its shieldthe most influential regional power, Israel. This isnt mere analysis, but the stark reality affirmed openly by Israeli intelligence leaders and prime ministers. Even their American counterparts instructed Russia to intervene, salvaging the regime when it teetered on collapse. Back then, an Indiana University professor witnessed a meeting attended by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a general from the Iraq war. A report was presented to President Obama detailing the use of chemical weapons by Assads regime in Ghouta, Damascus. The report proposed enforcing a no-fly zone, akin to Libyas situation. Despite Secretary Clintons support, President Obamas rejection was a baffling twist.

Recollections resurface of the dramatics in the UKs House of Commons, orchestrated by Prime Minister David Macron. The demand to strike the Syrian regime for a chemical massacre was diluted by the Labor Party representatives. They cited the publics disapproval of the kingdoms involvement in foreign warsan argument conveniently absent during the Iraq war, where the UK aligned with Bush Jr. to attack Iraq, causing immense suffering based on fabricated intelligence.

Upon reflection, the past decade paints a picture of a criminal regime sheltered by international support. Even yesterday, Switzerlands Public Prosecutor called on Rifaat al-Assad, the former presidents brother and the current presidents uncle, to answer for his involvement in the Hama massacres four decades ago. Oddly, his summoning today requires more than a mere subpoenadespite the evidence having been in the prosecutors possession for a decade.

Recalling the Syrian revolutions early days, one can hardly find a year without a massacre etched into its memory. Over three hundred massacres have stained the Syrian revolutionary timeline, now entering its second decade. Documenting these atrocities is the Syrian Memory Foundation, led by Dr. Abdel Rahman al-Hajj and a team dedicated to preserving this tragic legacy.

Today, a new wave of revolution sweeps through Syria, as its people rise against the malignancy that external powers breathe life into. One fears the regime will once again resort to its modus operandi: murdering opponents and desecrating the land with mass graves and blood. The world orders silence remains deafening, even as Syrias youth, active energies, and dignity disappear. Survivors, dead, forcibly disappeared, and displacedthe remaining fragments of a peoples existenceseem trapped in a hopeless cycle.

As this revolution gathers momentum, theres a glimmer of hope that it might puncture the regimes armour. International decision-makers must comprehend that shielding this regime ushers in an era of darkness akin to the Middle Ages, a time we believed was behind us. The interests of the global order should dictate a halt to the continuous massacres and the revival of a chance at life for a people robbed of it for decades.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Your daily-brief of the English-speaking press on Syria.

Tensions between armed local groups and the Syrian Democratic Forces, supported by the US, are jeopardizing the stability of eastern Syria. These clashes have erupted in villages located close to the Euphrates river. Concurrently, reports indicate that an airstrike targeted a purported drug facility in southern Syria near the Jordanian border on Thursday. Although the strike resulted in damage, there is no information available regarding casualties, as reported by activists from the Syrian opposition.

Clashes in Syria between tribes, US-backed SDF grow

Clashes between armed locals and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces threaten stability in eastern Syria. The clashes have occurred in villages near the Euphrates river. This area is near Deir-ez-zor, but it is controlled by the US-backed SDF since ISIS was defeated in 2019, Jerusalem Post reported.

ISIS used to control both sides of the river valley but now the eastern side is controlled by the SDF and the western side by the Syrian regime and Iranian-backed proxies.

This creates a complex situation, any instability can lead to a revival of ISIS or the insertion of Iranian elements or other elements.

The complex story behind the clashes is the arrest of a member of the Deir Ezzor Military Council (DMC) by the SDF. The is itself backed by the SDF, but the composition of the local councils is rooted in Arab tribes in the area, whereas the SDFs roots are in Kurdish fighters linked to the YPG. The US backed the formation of the SDF in 2015 in order to have an umbrella group that would mobilize anti-ISIS fighters. That meant recruiting beyond the Kurdish region of northeast Syria.

When the SDF liberated Raqqa and other areas it came to control many areas that are a majority Arab and made up of tribes. Some tribes were anti-ISIS and some have connections down the Middle Euphrates River Valley all the way to Iraq. This is an interesting and unique area, far from government control historically.

As such the people here are independent and have complex alliances and allegiances. The imposition of what they may see as outside control or arrests of members of powerful clans or tribes can lead to tensions.

Damascus, Iran, Russia and Turkey all want to fan flames against the US and remove US forces from Syria. Irans foreign minister met with Syrian regime officials on Wednesday and said the US should leave Syria. In addition Turkey and Russias president are meeting soon.

An airstrike on southern Syria hits an alleged drug factory, causing damage but no casualties

An airstrike early Thursday hit an alleged drug factory in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, causing damage but there was not word on casualties, Syrian opposition activists said. They said the attack was believed to have been carried out by Jordans air force, AP reported.

Jordans state media reported over the past weeks that several drones carrying drugs were shot down after crossing from Syria.

The Captagon industry has been a huge concern for Jordan, as well as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, as hundreds of millions of pills have been smuggled over the years, where the drug is used recreationally and by people with physically demanding jobs to keep them alert.

Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist who covers developments in southern Syria said the target was also used as a narcotics warehouse where smugglers would prepare and package illegal drugs before smuggling them across the southern border into Jordan.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor, also reported the strike, saying the factory was destroyed. Meanwhile, the pro-government Sham FM radio station said the strike hit a farm, causing material damage. Neither immediately reported any injuries or deaths.

The strike was over the village of Um Rumman, a stones throw from the Jordanian border, in the Druze-majority southern Sweida province where anti-government protests have stretched for a second week.

In May, an airstrike over a village in the southern Sweida province killed a well-known Syrian drug kingpin and his family, which activists believe was conducted by the Jordanians. Amman has been concerned by militias drug smuggling across the Syrian border into the kingdom, most notably highly addictive Captagon amphetamines, which have turned into an estimated multi-billion-dollar industry in war-torn Syria.

Jordan has never confirmed nor denied conducting Mays airstrike but has said on several occasions that it would use force in its ongoing efforts to combat smuggling across the border. Neither Jordanian officials nor Jordanian state media have yet commented on Thursdays strike.

The strike also comes as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab countries continue to work to rekindle ties with Damascus, after relegating Syria to a pariah state because of President Bashar Assads brutal crackdown on protesters in 2011. The uprising later turned into an all-out war, now in its 13th year, that splintered the country and killed over 300,000 civilians in the first decade, according to the United Nations.

The United States, United Kingdom, and Western governments have accused Assad and associates in Syrias cash-strapped government of taking the lead in Captagon production, and have sanctioned relatives of Assad, Lebanese drug lynchpins, businessmen and other associates in Syria for their involvement in the industry.

AANES official discusses Syrias challenges with EU Parliament Member

The representative of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in Europe discussed on Wednesday the political challenges they are facing with a member of the European Parliament, North Press reported.

This was during a meeting held inside the Parliament building, where Abdulkarim Omar, the representative of the AANES in Europe, and Javier Nart, the European Parliament member, convened to discuss the matter.

Omar highlighted the urgent need to expedite efforts towards a political solution that would end the Syrian crisis and alleviate the significant humanitarian suffering endured by Syrians inside and outside the country, according to the Foreign Relations Department of the AANES.

The AANES official discussed how international interest in the Syrian crisis has diminished, along with the reduction in international financial support for Syrians, while they continue to face daily challenges and threats, particularly from the Islamic State (ISIS) threat.

The European Parliament member expressed strong support for accelerating the political process to achieve a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis. They emphasized the significance of engaging all relevant Syrian parties, including the AANES, in determining the course of the political solution and the future of the country.

Furthermore, they underscored the crucial role of the international community in fulfilling its responsibilities by offering various forms of support and assistance to AANES. This support is particularly important as the AANES intends to conduct fair trials for ISIS militants involved in war crimes, as outlined by the Foreign Relations Department.
The ongoing situation in Deir ez-Zor represents a significant challenge for the SDF, according to al-Souria Net.

Clashes have persisted for three consecutive days in several rural areas of Deir ez-Zor, involving the Deir ez-Zor Military Council, Arab tribesmen, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Local sources report that the SDF conducted a raid in the village of Daman in the northern countryside, which resulted in indiscriminate gunfire, tragically claiming the lives of four civilians. Additionally, the SDF declared its control over the town of al-Ezba in the northern countryside and conducted a search operation in the vicinity.

Notably, clashes unfolded in the town of Abu Hamam within the Shaitat region, as well as the town of al-Shuhail in the eastern countryside, where the SDF engaged in combat against tribal fighters for several hours. Sporadic clashes were also documented in Dhiban, where tribal fighters confronted the SDF on Thursday morning.

Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil al-Havel, a prominent figure of the Akidat tribe, issued an audio statement urging unity against the SDF due to what he described as its systematic policies. Sheikh Havel proposed the establishment of a military command council, comprising seasoned officers and non-commissioned officers from the region, in direct coordination with the international coalition.

Sources indicate that over 100 members have defected from the SDF in Deir ez-Zor following Sheikh Havels appeal. The Euphrates Post disclosedd that tribal leaders are considering forming a tribal army in Deir ez-Zor. This prospective entity would oversee local civil, economic, and political affairs, contingent on the SDFs response  which includes withdrawal of its forces and the release of detainees. The situation remains fluid as tensions continue to escalate.

A real test for SDF

The ongoing situation in Deir ez-Zor represents a significant challenge for the SDF, according to Charles Lister, a researcher at the Middle East Institute. In an article recently published by the institute, Lister highlights that the unity of the SDF has faced consistent trials, particularly in the eastern governorate of Deir ez-Zor, where various Sunni Arab tribal factions hold sway on the ground on behalf of an SDF leadership that they have frequently criticized instead of praised.

He says:

Nowhere has that SDF unity been more consistently tested than in Syrias eastern governorate of Deir ez-Zor, where an array of Sunni Arab tribal factions exert control on the ground on behalf of an SDF leadership that they have more often criticized than praised.

Much of the antagonism that has defined the SDFs presence in Deir ez-Zor has been rooted in widespread local perceptions that the SDFs leadership is dominated by Kurds, predisposed not to invest in Arab regions, and has favored corrupt and often brutal Arab figures to be its representatives there, Lister adds.

Only a major and concerted U.S. effort will stop the current fighting and prevent it from spiralling out of control. U.S. troops in the Conoco and Omar bases have sought to engage tribal leadership, but that may not be enough. Meanwhile, as the situation continues to escalate, only one actor stands well-positioned to benefit: ISIS, Lister concludes.

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 regime promised a significant government role to Safwan Abu Saada, a move contingent on thwarting the Suweida movement, according to al-Modon.

Amidst the ongoing protests in Suweida, the Syrian regime has refrained from employing violent measures, given the citys unique status as a stronghold of the Druze minority. The regimes avoidance of forceful suppression aligns with its portrayal of itself as a safeguard for minorities.

As the regimes initial attempts to quell the protests proved unsuccessful, it began to focus on influencing the Druze religious leadership, notably by engaging Sheikh Yusuf Jarbou, a prominent Druze figure. This move sparked concern among the protestors due to Jarbous criticisms of some protest demands, including those calling for the regimes overthrow. This seemed to suggest that the regime had achieved partial success in its strategy.

Despite a clear reaction from the Suweida populace during a recent protest, Sheikh Jarbous stance created confusion in the streets. However, local writer Nawras Aziz downplayed the regimes potential to subdue the protests by relying on Sheikh Jarbou. Aziz emphasized that the regime chose Jarbou specifically for his reluctance to endorse the call for regime change, while supporting other demands and advocating for a border crossing with Jordan. Aziz also noted that Jarbous demands throughout the protests had been relatively moderate.

Aziz brought attention to information from a reliable Damascus source, suggesting that the regime promised a significant government role to Safwan Abu Saada, a move contingent on thwarting the Suweida movement. Theres speculation that Abu Saada could replace Hussein Arnous as head of the government, with the process commencing after a meeting between Abu Saada and Sheikh Jarbou, accompanied by a video clip of the latter urging adherence to national constants, the army, and the president.

This information coincides with circulating reports proposing the appointment of high-ranking positions to the Druze community as a resolution to the protests, potentially part of a larger cabinet reshuffle driven by the deepening economic crisis and deteriorating living conditions. Such a shift in leadership could potentially help redirect blame for unfavourable economic decisions from the current government, led by Hussein Arnous.
The area that came under attack had reportedly been utilized by groups involved in drug trafficking between Syria and Jordan, according to Damas Post.

Warplanes conducted two airstrikes on a farm located to the south of the town of al-Ghariya in the southern countryside of Suweida. The strikes resulted in the destruction of the farm and significant material damage.

According to the Suwayda 24 Network, plumes of smoke were observed rising from the targeted area in the aftermath of the aerial bombardment, which took place at approximately three oclock in the middle of the night.

The farm bore the brunt of two separate airstrikes and included repair hangars housing three harvesters and an agricultural tractor. The shelling caused the obliteration of equipment and the unfortunate loss of several heads of cattle. Fortunately, all personnel who were present in a structure adjacent to the hangars survived the bombing.

As per the Suwayda 24 report, the area that came under attack had reportedly been utilized by groups involved in drug trafficking between Syria and Jordan.

Mansour Safadi, the proprietor of the farm, vehemently asserted that the premises were exclusively dedicated to agricultural purposes. He confirmed that the hangars were used for repairing and maintaining tractors and harvesters, as well as for poultry and sheep farming. Safadi further stated that the farm had employed numerous local residents over the years. He emphasized that the community attested to the farms innocence of any suspicious or illicit activities that might warrant aggressive actions.

Safadi expressed readiness to collaborate with any party actively engaged in combating smuggling operations. He underscored, however, that neither the farm nor its workers were in any way involved in smuggling activities.

Al-Raseds report indicated that the shelling did not result in any casualties, with the damage confined to material losses, including the destruction of agricultural machinery within the farm.

The network additionally verified that the bombed area had been exploited as a conduit for smuggling operations. Local inhabitants staunchly refuted any links between the farm owner, his workers, and smuggling operations.

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.
ICAI Presidents Message  September 2023

Dear Professional Colleagues,

Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.

 Ban Ki Moon,

Former UN Secretary General

As we celebrate Indias G20 Presidency, the ascent of India as a global leader has been inspiring. As India hosts the G-20 Summit this month it is a very proud moment for all of us to showcase our potential not only as a Youth Nation with innovative and entrepreneurial mindset, but also as a voice for Oneness, Inclusivity Equality and Sustainable growth, as envisaged in our G-20 theme One Earth, One Family, One Future or Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. The future of global economy lies on the path of sustainable development, as it is paramount to bring Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) consideration as the focal point of financial reporting to counter climate change and make earth a better place for all.

The drive towards Sustainable development, is a long road, and we should be mindful and realistic of our short-term, mid-term and long-term priorities; align our resources optimally in creating a more prosperous and sustainable world steadily. On a global scale, organizations are increasingly shifting towards adopting a responsible, growth-oriented economic framework for Sustainable Development. In India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has revised its Business Responsibility & Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) format, integrating BRSR Core consisting of a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) / metrics under 9 ESG attributes. From the financial year 2023-24, the updated BRSR format is to be used for BRSR disclosure adherence as a part of their Annual Reports which is already mandatory for the leading 1,000 listed entities based on market capitalization. Notably, SEBI has now outlined that commencing from the financial year 2023-24 foremost 150 listed entities shall mandatorily undertake reasonable assurance of the BRSR Core, which will gradually to be adopted by all 1000 companies by the FY 2026-27. Furthermore, disclosure of ESG aspects within the value chain will be obligatory for the foremost 250 listed entities commencing from the financial year 2024-25, on a comply-or-explain basis. These disclosures of value chain will also require limited assurance from FY 2025-26. These steps would mandate the industry to make committed transition towards sustainability reporting.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has been at the forefront of leading this movement by setting up the Sustainability Reporting Standards Board in 2020, to formulate standards which are in sync with Indian economy while being benchmarked to International practices. Since inception, the Board has made long strides in building a multi-stakeholder ecosystem to drive the movement of sustainability by creating awareness, competence and standards for compliance. The Institute is working with the regulators and institutions in a proactive manner and taking all necessary steps to develop Sustainability Reporting framework in India. Certificate Course on BRSR and formation of Institute of Social Auditors of India (ISAI) are the landmark step in this regard. This special edition of the journal is on Sustainability reporting to provide a forum to comprehend this evolving field and get acquainted with the recent developments.

In the last 74 years we have phenomenally grown to be the largest accounting body in the world. It inspires me to see the growth of the members and institution since 1st April 1950, when there were just 1,689 members569 Fellows and 1,120 Associates and today we are more than 3,90,000 members. Further, today our members, the institute and profession are making impact across India by expanding its presence since formation of six branches in April 1962 namely, Ahmedabad, Pune, Coimbatore, Madurai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad to 171 branches (3 branches approved by the Council and under notification). Today we are contributing to the development of Bharat at grass root level with our presence in all States and 7 UTs.

Lets have a look at some of the significant developments that took place since our last communication:

International Initiatives

ICAI Global Professional Accountants Convention (GloPAC)

We are fully geared up to welcome you all to the GloPAC- a congregation of brilliant minds from across the globe, converging to forge strong bonds and move ahead into a future of new emerging possibilities. This innovative and futuristic forum will provide you a transformative experience and will galvanise your professional growth through networking and learning new global experiences and knowledge.

Over an engaging three-day span, luminous plenary sessions and resounding keynote addresses will provide a comprehensive outlook on the ever-changing finance landscape, while navigating the emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities that will define and shape the present and future of our profession.

Further, the GloPAC will feature parallel tracks on Technology & Start-up, Emerging Avenues, Global Connect and Professional Excellence, designed to cater to distinct interests and professional aspirations of the delegates which will enable one to explore new avenues and build global connections.

I urge you to register and be a part of the most prestigious global event for professional accountants and lets join hands to commemorate 75 years of trust, as we progress together on the path of growth and development.

MoU between ICAI & CA Maldives

I am elated to share with you all that the ICAI and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Maldives (CA Maldives) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their bilateral ties during the SAFA IFRS and ISAs Forum 2023 hosted by CA Maldives on August 20, 2023.

The objective of MoU is to establish mutual cooperation for the advancement of Accounting Knowledge, Professional and Intellectual Development, advancing the interests of their respective members and positively contributing to the development of the accounting profession in the Maldives and India.

SAFA events in Maldives

Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Maldives hosted the SAFA IFRS and ISAs Forum on August 19 and 20, 2023 and SAFA committee meetings and the SAFA Board meeting on August 21, 2023. I along with CA. Nihar N. Jambusaria, Past President, ICAI and President, SAFA attended the SAFA Board meeting on August 21, 2023, and respective ICAI representatives attended the other SAFA Committee meetings.

Convention on Insolvency Resolution  Resolve 2023

ICAI through its Committee on Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code has successfully organized a two-day International Convention on Insolvency Resolution RESOLVE- 2023 on the theme Enabling Resolution Maximizing Value on 4th- 5th August, 2023 at Singapore in association with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) and Indian Institute of Insolvency Professionals of ICAI (IIIPI) sharing and facilitating knowledge about best practices and emerging developments in the insolvency globally. RESOLVE-2023, which was held for the first time, attended by over three hundred professionals and other key stakeholders in person.

The Convention was graced by the presence of Guest of Honour Mr. Vikram Nair, Member of Parliament, Republic of Singapore and Special Guests to the Convention, Honble Justice Ashok Bhushan, Chairperson, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal and Mr. Sudhaker Shukla, Whole Time Member, IBBI. This Convention shall go long way in establishing brand CA on global landscape as part of our going global strategy.

Honble Finance Minister graced ICAI National Conference

Recently I alongwith ICAI Vice President CA. Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal attended the National Conference at Bhubaneswar on the theme Possibilities for CA Profession in Digital Era which witnessed the benign presence of Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Honble Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs as Chief Guest and Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Honble Union Minister for Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship as Guest of Honour. The Honble Chief Guest impressed upon the Chartered Accountants to develop expertise and competence in new areas like ESG and Carbon Accounting. Further, she lauded the role of ICAI in spreading financial literacy amongst masses and urged to take it to all corners with the help technology and use regional languages to enhance its outreach amongst the masses.

Confluence on ICAI Vision 2049

A Confluence on ICAI Vision 2049 (VI-CON) with an objective to outline the institutes strategic path for the future was organized by Strategy Perspective Planning & Monitoring Committee on 1st and 2nd August, 2023, in Kevadia, Gujarat, wherein the Government Nominees on the Disciplinary Committee of ICAI, Appellate Authority and Members on Board of five Section 8 Companies constituted under the aegis of ICAI namely ISAI, XBRL, ICAI ARF, IIIPI and ICAI RVO were participated.

The Confluence delved upon building a cohesive approach that sets the stage for developing broad contours of ICAIs path toward defining its Vision 2049 to continue to be pillars for economic development. During the Confluence, the significant points identified for further working are actively engaging with stakeholders to address the perception and expectation, embracing technology and upskilling members. Notably, sustainability emerged as a central theme, with members stressing the need for strategic focus on this vital aspect.

Pillars of Growth and Development  Collaborating with Stakeholders

As a Partner in Nation Building, it is our conscious and conscientious endeavor to engage, collaborate and work with Government, Ministries and its various constituents providing support in the required areas such as research, capacity building & training or support in policy development, with the spirit that together everyone achieves more. The following initiatives were taken in this regard:

Inspiring Life with Education  MoU with Government of Goa

A significant stride taken by ICAI towards fostering excellence, disseminating knowledge, and nurturing collaborations that enrich both academia and industry. The Institute through Board of Studies (Academic) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Goa State Higher Education Council (GSHEC) and the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE), Government of Goa. The MoU Exchange ceremony took place in the esteemed presence of Honble Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Pramod Sawant, and Secretary of Ministry of Education & Director, DHE, Shri Prasad Lolayekar during the Council Meeting on 14th August in Panaji, Goa.

I am pleased to share that over the past two months, ICAI, through the Board of Studies (Academic), has entered into 12 more MoUs with other educational institutions from all over the country. The objective of these MoUs is to stimulate and facilitate the development of collaborative and mutually beneficial programmes, which will serve to enhance the intellectual life and cultural development within both ICAI and the respective Institutions.

MoU signed with the Comptroller & Auditor General Office

The ICAI (through its Committee on Public and Government Financial Management) signed a MoU with the O/o C&AG on 9thAugust, 2023 to collaborate on accounting & auditing issues and to strengthen accountability mechanism for good governance in local self-government bodies including all three tiers of Panchayat and Municipal Bodies. From ICAI, the MoU was signed by CA. (Dr.) Jai Kumar Batra, Secretary, ICAI and Ms. Yashodhara Ray Chaudhuri, Additional Deputy C&AG (Local Bodies) signed on behalf of the C&AG.

Commemoration of Indian Cost Accounts Services Day

Recently I had the privilege to interact and address the past and present officers of Indian Cost Accounts Services (ICoAS) on the occasion of Indian Cost Accounts Services Day on 9th August 2023 wherein Chief Guest was Finance Secretary and Secretary, Department of Expenditure Shri T. V. Somanathan. The event had also the presence of Shri Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, DIPAM. The role of ICoAS officers has been paramount in the economic development of the nation with their support and suggestions in bringing efficiency and cost reduction in government functioning.

Capacity Building Initiatives for ICLS Officials

The ICAI is being recognised for its knowledge prowess and it is matter of pride that the institute, as per request of ICLS Academy, provided training to the Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS) officials wherein knowledge has been imparted about the functioning of the institute, standard setting boards and also about disciplinary process.

I am sure that all these developments reflect the continuous trust and faith bestowed by the government and its constituents in the contribution being made by the ICAI and further strengthen our position as Partner in Nation Building and Pillars of Economic Development.

Conclusion

Teachers are the backbone of any country, the pillar upon which all aspirations are converted into realities

 Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Today our nation and the profession has leapfrogged into the bigger league on the global canvas. As we enjoy the admiration and respect of the world, earned over more than last seven decades with dedication, determination and discipline, we must remember our guiding lighthouses, our beacons of strength, architect shaping our dreams, moulding our characters, showing conviction on us, our parents, teachers, gurus, mentors who have steered us on the path of glory and success. On this Teachers Day lets bow to our revered pillars of strength, who with their knowledge, experience and teaching are transforming India, our lives and our profession.

On this Independence Day, our Honble Prime Minister emphasised that Indias greatest strength is Trust, and it is the cornerstone for the nations progress towards a brighter future. Moving ahead sustainable development will be the central theme of Indias growth story, and its imperative to foster a culture of conscientious choices and ethical practices to make positive impact not only on profit, but also on people and planet.

As a profession, we continue to illuminate the path towards sustainable practices by working towards integrating environmental, social, and governance considerations into financial reporting; the profession is empowering decision-makers to drive growth that is both economically rewarding and environmentally responsible.

As I am finalising this message, my heart filled with sense of immense pride on Indias historic achievement in mission Chandrayaan  3 and I take this opportunity to join hands with nation to congratulate the team ISRO for their untiring efforts and relentless pursuit in making history. What a great achievement to become the first Country to reach South pole of moon. Mission Chandrayaan -3 is an important scientific milestone and ignites our passion to think that everything is possible, as it signifies the importance of dreaming big, being different & persistent, never say never spirit, long range planning and execution, risk mitigation and ability to think & innovate at critical movements are truly inspirational. These qualities are important for professional success too. Once again congratulations to the entire nation on this historic achievement.

Jai Hind, Jai ICAI !

CA. Aniket Sunil Talati

President, ICAI

29th August, 2023

Presidents Message  Archives
A slice of downtown Portland where persistent drug use and petty crime continues to rattle workers and out-of-town visitors is poised to see a public safety surge in the coming weeks.

Multiple government agencies have committed $800,000 to help bankroll an effort to beef up unarmed private security patrols throughout an area crammed with struggling hotels. The push is spearheaded by the central citys business district Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, which says it has also drummed up private funding for the plan.

Separately, Mayor Ted Wheelers office is crafting an agreement with the homeless services nonprofit Urban Alchemy to provide outreach and de-escalation to people who congregate around known drug hotspots in the area.

More Portland police officers, meanwhile, are volunteering to work unfilled patrol shifts in the Central Precinct after city leaders approved a temporary increase in overtime pay for cops, according to the bureau.

The trio of initiatives signals the latest efforts by political and business leaders to stabilize the longtime economic and hospitality hub following the pandemic and amid a more recent explosion of fentanyl use and dealing and the illicit ills that often accompany both.

While local officials vow to address chronic safety and livability concerns experienced across Portland, downtowns recovery remains a primary focus for resources and attention. The city cores uncertain future has even prompted Gov. Tina Kotek to convene a task force that hopes to ultimately revive it.

The intervening months, officials say, are no less crucial.

Were figuring out things we can do  even if its short-term  while we wait for longer systemic changes to come online, said Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt.

Schmidts office is among four public entities putting money toward increased patrols through whats being called the Hotel Security District, a nearly 60-block section of downtown bounded by Southwest Ankeny and Taylor streets and Southwest First and 12th avenues.

The area is home to more than a dozen of Portlands most prominent hotel properties, including The Nines, The Benson Hotel and the soon-to-open Ritz-Carlton Portland. It also largely empties out after business hours, save for those staying and working in them and the people who flock to downtowns roving, open air drug markets at night.

A shooting outside The Nines on the night of Aug. 22 injured one; police found methamphetamine and fentanyl on the man arrested in the incident.

Its not a pleasant experience after 10 oclock, said Clean & Safe manager Mark Wells. Its overwhelming.

Adding to the strain are economic headwinds for downtowns hospitality industry.

Hotel bookings in Portlands central business district remain 22% below pre-pandemic levels, according to recent data from commercial real estate firm CoStar. The rest of the Portland metro area is down just 3%.

And despite a bustling summer filled with festivals and concert series, downtowns foot traffic is still only 65% of what it was four years ago, data from the Portland Metro Chamber  formerly the Portland Business Alliance  shows.

Under current plans, the money will cover a pair of shifts for three new unarmed security officers and one armed lead officer to patrol the hotel district every day of the week between 3 p.m. and 2:30 a.m., according to Wells. Those officers would be in addition to Clean & Safes existing private security staff of seven during swing shift hours and four at night who cover a total of 213 blocks of downtown.

Schmidt said he agreed to sign on after a tour of the prospective hotel district during a late evening in early August.

I saw plenty of people walking around who clearly werent feeling safe, Schmidt said. The concerns about downtown at night are absolutely real.

Last week the district attorney lobbied and secured a $400,000 grant from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission to help fund the Clean & Safe effort, he said. Schmidt served as the commissions director prior to entering elected office in 2020.

Multnomah County has said it will provide $200,000 while the city of Portland and TriMet have each agreed to contribute $100,000, according to all three.

The Portland Metro Chamber, which operates Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association and downtown businesses are expected to raise an additional $200,000 in private funds.

Im committed to improving community safety and revitalizing our downtown core, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said. Added security around our hotels and other destinations sends an important message that we are welcoming people back.

Two other public safety pushes for the area are also afoot, both led by Portlands mayor.

Earlier this month, the City Council unanimously approved Wheelers plan to temporarily double the pay for cops working extra shifts, up from the standard time-and-a-half.

The program, which is authorized to spend up to $1 million over a 60-day period, aims to help the citys three police precincts with chronic staffing shortages and get more officers on the streets. Thus far, it appears to be working downtown and elsewhere.

We have definitely seen an increase in filled shifts at Central and across the Bureau, said Lt. Nathan Sheppard, a police spokesperson. We are seeing fewer shifts being short officers to work, and when shifts are short, they are short by fewer officers.

Additionally, the city is attempting to provide an additional public safety presence in downtown through its existing contract with service provider Urban Alchemy.

Portland recently tapped the California-based nonprofit to operate some of the citys outdoor shelters, including its first large-scale one located in the Central Eastside. But in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, the organization also sends unarmed teams of people to interact with people on the streets.

The mayors office is exploring a launch of that program within the blocks surrounding the historic Three Kings Building on the corner of Southwest Sixth Avenue and Harvey Milk Street, which has become a hotbed of fentanyl dealing and using.

They are not police. They are not security, Dakotah Thompson, Wheelers deputy director of community safety, told a group of business and property owners at a recent meeting. The intent is a pro-social presence.

Cody Bowman, the mayors spokesperson, said Thursday that conversations with Urban Alchemy remain ongoing.

We are actively discussing this option and this is something that we want to see happen, Bowman said. The scope of work for this initiative is currently under review.

In a statement, Wheeler said he will continue to seek creative ways and partnerships to enhance the sense of safety felt in downtown and across Portland.

The safety and wellbeing of our community remains a top priority for my office, the mayor said, as we work with our public safety partners to best deploy the resources we have available while also exploring additional ways we can address crime.
The last day of August came with some major updates on generative artificial intelligence as big tech firms made significant advancements. Google expanded its AI-powered Search Generative Experience, also known as SGE, to India and made it available through Google's Search Labs. In other news, Baidu, China's Search giant, launched its AI chatbot Ernie to the public. Right after launch, it became the most downloaded free app on Apple's App Store in China. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a look.

Google brings AI-powered Search to India

Today, Google expanded its AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) to two more countries, India and Japan. These two countries have also become the first outside the US to get the SGE feature. The feature is available through Google Search Labs and users can register for it. The feature is being added as an opt-in service, meaning people will have to turn on the feature for their Google Search engine.

Baidu launches Ernie chatbot

On the same day when Google brought its SGE to India and Japan, China's largest search platform Baidu also launched its own generative AI chatbot, Ernie. Just like other popular chatbots, it can also respond to users and answer in both text and image formats, according to a report by Times of India. Interestingly, soon after the launch, the official app for Ernie chatbot became the most downloaded free app on China's App Store.

AI-powered world map of renewable energy projects

Allen Institute for AI has introduced an AI tool called Satlas which has now launched AI-powered renewable energy projects and tree coverage around the world. This map is being called first-of-its-kind, reports The Verge. The source of the map was the satellite imagery from the European Space Station's Sentinel-2 satellites. The images captured were blurry, however. This is where Satlas comes in. Using AI capabilities, it uses a feature called super-resolution to generate a detailed and high-resolution image of the world.

Israel AI startup AI21 raises $155 mn in funding

AI21, an Israel-based Natural Language Processing (NLP) startup, has raised $155 million in its Series C round funding, pushing its valuation to $1.4 billion, as per a report by the Times of Israel. The funding round was led by Walden Catalyst, Pitango, SCB10X, b2venture, Samsung Next, and more.

AI21 Labs is a pure play in AI as it develops and owns foundation models which are served as a platform to developers and enterprises, while developing derivatives, such as Wordtune, directly to end users, said AI21's co-founder Prof. Amnon Shashua.

BeFake, an AI app, raises $3 mn in funding

An AI-powered social networking app called BeFake has raised $3 million in its seed round funding, a report by TechCrunch stated. The platform, as its name suggests, is inspired by BeReal, an app that asks users to click an authentic picture of themselves every day. It has the same concept but instead of taking authentic images, the app asks users to mix it up with the AI to create cool and unique art.
Microsoft will stop packaging its Teams videoconferencing app with its Office software in Europe in an effort to head off antitrust penalties by regulators.

The tech giant also said Thursday that it would take steps to make it easier for competing products to work alongside its software.

The announcement comes a month after the European Union's executive Commission, the 27-nation bloc's top competition enforcer, opened a formal investigation over concerns that bundling Teams with Office gives the company an unfair edge over competitors.

The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed in 2020 by Slack Technologies, maker of popular workplace messaging software.

Slack, owned by business software maker Salesforce, alleged that Microsoft was abusing its market dominance to eliminate competition  in violation of EU laws  by illegally combining Teams with its Office suite, which includes Word, Excel and Outlook.

"Today we are announcing proactive changes that we hope will start to address these concerns in a meaningful way, even while the European Commission's investigation continues and we cooperate with it," Microsoft's vice president of European government affairs, Nanna-Louise Linde, said in a blog post.

It's not clear if the concessions will be enough to address the Commission's concerns.

We take note of Microsoft's announcement, a Commission spokesperson said. We have no further comment to make.

Linde said the changes were made to address EU concerns that customers should be able to buy Office without Teams for a cheaper price and that we should do more to make interoperability easier with rival communications and collaboration software.

The changes will take effect on Oct. 1 in the 30-nation European Economic Area and Switzerland. For its core enterprise customers, which represent most of its business in the region, Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, will cut the price by 2 euros ($2.17) per month for the Office package without Teams. Existing customers can stick with their current plan or switch to the version without Teams.

New business customers will be able to buy a separate standalone version of Teams for 5 euros a month.

Linde said Microsoft would give software developers more support, including by providing more information on how data can be removed from Teams and used in other software. The company will also make it easier for competitors to use Microsoft's functionality instead of building their own.

Microsoft and other U.S. tech giants have been facing pressure from Brussels over worries about their market dominance. The commission has investigated Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook and Instagram owner Meta.

Microsoft, which last faced an EU antitrust investigation more than a decade ago, is also trying to save its $69 billion purchase of video game maker Activision. That deal was cleared by the Commission, but has been bogged down in Britain.
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 flight path of UAVs at varying altitudes is depicted by the red line, while the uniform square segments represent the detection zones as captured by the camera at higher altitude (left) and lower altitude (right). An increased altitude corresponds to an expanded field of view, consequently leading to a reduced detection path length. Credit: Suo et al.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, are already used in countless settings to tackle real-world problems. These flying robotic systems can, among other things, help to monitor natural environments, detect fires or other environmental hazards, monitor cities and find survivors of natural disasters.

To tackle all of these missions effectively, UAVs should be able to reliably detect targets and objects of interest in their surroundings. Computer scientists have thus been trying to devise new computational techniques that could enable these capabilities, using deep learning or other approaches.

Researchers at Yunnan University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently introduced a new object-detection system based on edge computing. Their proposed system, introduced in the IEEE Internet of Things Journal, could provide UAVs with the ability to spot relevant objects and targets in their surroundings without significantly increasing their power-consumption.

"While most existing research studies only focus on a subset of the challenges inherent to UAV-based object detection, there are few studies that balance various aspects to design a practical system for energy consumption reduction," Jiashun Suo, Xingzhou Zhang, Weisong Shi and Wei Zhou wrote in their paper.

"We present the E3-UAV, an edge-based energy-efficient object detection system for UAVs. The system is designed to dynamically support various UAV devices, edge devices, and detection algorithms, with the aim of minimizing energy consumption by deciding the most energy-efficient flight parameters (including flight altitude, flight speed, detection algorithm, and sampling rate) required to fulfill the detection requirements of the task."

The object detection system devised by this team of researchers, dubbed E3-UAV, is based on an increasingly popular approach known as edge computing. Edge computing leverages multiple networks or nearby devices to perform computations faster and consuming less energy. In the case of the team's system, these networks are leveraged to determine parameters (i.e., the UAVs altitude, speed of flight, etc.) that would enable the system to detect objects in the surroundings while consuming the least possible amount of energy.

"We first present an effective evaluation metric for actual tasks and construct a transparent energy consumption model based on hundreds of actual flight data to formalize the relationship between energy consumption and flight parameters," Suo, Zhang and his colleagues wrote in their paper. "Then we present a lightweight energy-efficient priority decision algorithm based on a large quantity of actual flight data to assist the system in deciding flight parameters."

Suo, Zhang and their colleagues trained and evaluated their system in a series of simulations ran on an NVIDIA GPU. They specifically applied it to the Mavic Air 2, a drone created by DJI and often used to take aerial shots and videos.

"We evaluate the performance of the system, and our experimental results demonstrate that it can significantly decrease energy consumption in real-world scenarios," Suo, Zhang and his colleagues wrote. "Additionally, we provide four insights that can assist researchers and engineers in their efforts to study UAV-based object detection further."

In the future, E3-UAV could be implemented and tested on other UAVs, to further assess its potential and generalizability. In addition, this work could inform the development of similar object detection techniques based on edge computing for robotics applications.

More information: J. Suo et al, E3-UAV: An Edge-Based Energy-Efficient Object Detection System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. IEEE Internet of Things Journal(2023). DOI: 10.1109/JIOT.2023.3301623. Journal information: IEEE Internet of Things Journal

 2023 Science X Network
Learning, teaching of Chinese language mirrors vigorous cultural exchanges along Belt and Road

People's Daily Online) 10:02, September 01, 2023

Although its August and the summer vacation hasnt ended yet, Luh Nadya Harum Bunga, an Indonesian student at Hainan Normal University in south China's Hainan Province, has already returned to school to get ready for the new semester. In Madagascar, Wu Yi, a graduate from the same university with a bachelor's degree in teaching Chinese to speakers of foreign languages, is preparing for the next day's classes.

Since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was proposed, cultural exchanges between China and other countries have been strengthened, cementing friendships between China and countries along the Belt and Road.

"I've been learning the Chinese language for 17 years," said Bunga in fluent Chinese. "More and more people in Indonesia just like me are learning the Chinese language," she said.

Photo shows Luh Nadya Harum Bunga, an Indonesian student studying at Hainan Normal University in south China's Hainan Province. (People's Daily Online/Li Dong)

Bunga first visited China in 2016 during a winter camp activity in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. "I was impressed by the advanced technologies and convenient transportation in the city. A smartphone can make life more convenient," said Bunga. It was at that point that the thought of studying in China started to take root in her mind.

"This year marks the 10th anniversary of joint construction of the BRI. The past decade has witnessed increasingly close cultural exchanges between China and countries and regions along the route," said Zhang Heng, deputy dean of the College of International Education at Hainan Normal University.

According to Zhang, more than 1,000 foreign students from 47 countries are studying at the university.

Wu has been teaching the Chinese language in Madagascar for four years after graduating from Hainan Normal University.

Photo shows a group photo of Wu Yi and her students in Madagascar. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Wu said her first class was attended by learners with different education backgrounds, including middle school students, college students and working people. This, together with her limited language proficiency, posed challenges for Wu.

Aided by her colleagues, Wu started to explore a targeted teaching method, and her ability to guide the students through the learning process gradually improved. One semester later, both Wu and her students found that they were performing better in classes. "I started to feel a sense of accomplishment from this improvement," said Wu.

In addition to teaching, Wu has had other jobs, including organizing the "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competitions. Wu said one of her students won first place at the 21st "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competition in Madagascar. "This student has been admitted to Beijing Language and Culture University to pursue a master's degree in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages, and granted a scholarship," said Wu.

"For her students, Wu is not just their Chinese teacher, but also a window through which they get to know about China," said Zhang.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
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Printed samples by high-viscosity elastomeric UV-curable resin. Credit: Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39913-4

Compared with other three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques, vat photopolymerization (VPP) is a widely adopted technique for its advantages of high-efficiency, large build envelope, economic, and versatile material options.

However, high fluidity of the ultraviolet (UV)-curable resin is required due to the current printing mechanism of the bottom-up vat photopolymerization 3D printing technique. This viscosity requirement limits the properties of the UV-curable which is usually required to be diluted before usage (up to 5,000 cps of viscosity). The original mechanical properties of the oligomers are sacrificed by the introduction of reactive diluent. The key technical difficulty of 3D printing high-viscosity resins lies in the leveling of the resin and deformation of the cured parts from the film.

In a study published in Nature Communications, the research group led by Prof. Wu Lixin from Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed linear scan-based vat photopolymerization (LSVP) for 3D printing ultra-high viscosity resin.

The researchers employed four rollers to create an isolated printing area on the resin tank, which enables the simultaneous curing of the resin and the detachment of cured part from the resin tank. The prototyping of this LSVP system is capable of printing high viscosity UV-curable resin at a maximum viscosity of 600,000 cps.

The unique deformation approach of printed parts and the film also makes the printing of 100% solid parts available without orientation. This fabrication approach greatly widens the processing windows of vat photopolymerization.

Illustration of LSVP. Credit: Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39913-4

Additionally, the researchers evaluated the LSVP system to study how the viscosity affects the mechanical properties. They compared UV-curable resins with different proportion of 4-acryloylmorpholine (ACMO) and CN8888NS. The UV-curable resin comprising high content of CN8888NS exhibited excellent mechanical properties, particularly when the content of ACMO reached 10 wt%. The strain of the specimen is higher than 400%, and the strength is higher than 20 MPa.

Moreover, the researchers revealed that besides elastomers, 3D printed materials with high toughness are also of interest for industrial applications.

This study proposes a facile and time-saving UV-curable 3D printing method called LSVP. It is expected that with this LSVP system, various oligomers could be applied to prepare 3D printable UV-curable resins without the aid of reactive diluents.

More information: Zixiang Weng et al, 3D printing of ultra-high viscosity resin by a linear scan-based vat photopolymerization system, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39913-4 Journal information: Nature Communications
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Paris feels the floating scooters are too much of a nuisance.

Parisians woke up on Friday to a world without free-floating rented electric scooters, loathed as a pedestrian-bothering nuisance by some but mourned by others.

The French capital is the first in Europe to completely ban the hire scooters from its streets, after voters overwhelmingly elected to remove them in an April referendumalbeit on a tiny turnout of 7.5 percent.

Friday puts an end to five years of seeing users zip through crowds of pedestrians or park awkwardly on pavements and at intersections, as well as a string of accidents.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo had herself campaigned against scooters, saying removing them would reduce "nuisance".

"It makes me sad, because I liked so much to be able to get around like that, go wherever without the stress of using a car, getting stuck in traffic jams," scooter user Valerie Rinckel said a few days before the ban came into force.

'Quite unbearable'

But another customer, Anass Eloula, said that "it's safer to stop now and get back to bikes, or for people to take the bus or public transport".

David Belliard, deputy Paris mayor in charge of urban mobility, told reporters on Thursday that the case against the rental scooters was overwhelming despite efforts by operators to address problems.

"There was some progress, but the bottom line is still negative," he said. "The anarchy was quite unbearable."

Operators Lime, Tier and Dott have been gradually removing their 15,000 machines from public streets, planning to send them off to other cities in Europe and beyond after repair and maintenance work.

Some will even remain in the wider Ile-de-France region around Paris, with Tier offering service in suburbs like Marne-la-Vallee and Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

'Anarchy' on the pavement.

"We've turned the page on scooters" for the whole Paris region, said Xavier Mirailles, Lime's public affairs director.

The Californian firm will send its scooters to Lille in northern France, London, Copenhagen and several German cities, while Dott's will go to Belgium and Tel Aviv.

Alternatives

Instead of scooters, the firms hope customers will switch to floating hire bicycles, which all of them already have on offer.

"Rather than giving in to nostalgia, we prefer to look to the future," said Tier's France chief Clement Pette, pointing to 5,000 bikes in his Paris stable.

Lime's Mirailles said that "bicycle development is showing strong growth", with a "very exciting outlook" for their 10,000 machines.

But bikes "are different, those bikes are big and heavy... not as agile", said Amanda Rollins, a Paris-based American influencer with 740,000 TikTok subscribers who has posted about her love of scooters.

Some regular users have already bought their own scooter or opted for daily, half-day or weekly rentals offered by firms like electric mobility retailer Volt.

"This isn't free-floating," Volt founder Gregory Coillot told AFP, saying he wants to tempt over heavy users of the now-banned scooters as well as tourists and visitors at next year's Olympic Games.

"The end of free-floating will increase demand for hire massively," he added, saying he planned to expand his fleet up to 2,000 scooters to serve areas where the former operators did most business.

Nationwide, France's government on Friday hiked the minimum age for riding electric scooters from 12 to 14 and introduced heavier fines for traffic violations, after an increase in accidents involving the vehicles.

 2023 AFP
Texas A&M will conduct a Silver Taps ceremony at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday to honor eight Aggies who died last spring or over the summer.

The students who will be honored are:

Lorena Maria Casares, a senior studying molecular and cell biology from Round Rock, Texas; Madison Taylor Dovie Hall, a senior studying animal science Channelview; William Harrison Hall, a senior studying political science from Dallas; Andrew Thomas Henges, a freshman studying biology from Beaumont; Samuel Hartsfield Raines Jackson, a junior studying petroleum engineering from Dallas; Gregory Angus McFarlane Jr., a junior studying nuclear engineering from The Woodlands; Orion James-Padric Mitchell, a senior studying psychology from New Braunfels; and Luke Anthony Morse, a freshman studying engineering from San Antonio.

The Silver Taps ceremony, which will be in the university's Academic Plaza, will be broadcast on YouTube.

Silver Taps is an A&M tradition held on the first Tuesday of each month from September through April, if necessary, to honor current students who have died.

The first Silver Taps was in 1898 after the death of the universitys president, Lawrence Sullivan Ross, and it has changed little from that time. All campus flags are flown at half-staff on the day of Silver Taps, while a list of the names of those to be remembered is posted at the base of the flagpole in the Academic Plaza.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service office in Bastrop County will host a Managing Your Piece of Texas landowners conference on Sept. 12 in Bastrop.

The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the American Legion Post 533, 3003 Loop 150. Registration is $10 before the Sept. 5 deadline and $20 after Sept. 5.

People can register in person at the AgriLife Extension office in Bastrop County, 901 Pecan St., or by mailing their name and contact information to the office at P.O. Box 650, Bastrop, TX 78602.

The conference is designed to provide both new and established landowners with useful information on owning and managing land in Central Texas, said Dakota Kempken, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agent in Bastrop County.

Speakers and topics

The conference will cover topics including making landowners land more productive, understanding the agriculture and wildlife tax valuation, and wildlife habitat management on small acreage.

Additionally, there will be a presentation and discussion on property rights laws and lease agreements.

Speakers include Liz Tidwell, AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist, Uvalde, and Corina Rodriguez and Natalie Cavellier, attorneys, Braun and Gresham PLLC, Dripping Springs.

For more information, contact the AgriLife Extension office in Bastrop County at 512-581-7186.
The YMCA of Central Texas approved the establishment of a location in the Bryan-College Station area during its Wednesday meeting.

Approval came after over a decade of work by former College Station Mayor Karl Mooney, who helped establish the local founder group needed to advocate for the new location. Before a physical location is opened, the local founding group must still raise funds that will be used to establish a storefront location, Mooney said.

The next step will be that, along with representatives from Central Texas Y, members of our founders group will do whats called a niche study, he said. Our goal is to as quickly as possible raise $300,000, which will be matched by Central Texas Y, at which point we will find or sign a lease for a storefront.  That will be determined in part by the programs that we feel we can immediately begin.

So far, Mooney said that they have raised over $50,000 and that, once established, it will be the first time since the 1950s that a YMCA will be open in the community. The first one having been located at the YMCA building still standing on Texas A&M Universitys campus.

So, the YMCA was in operation in the YMCA building from 1914 to 1950, he said. The YMCA was never restored for its original purpose on campus. Instead, the building was renovated and now its used for classrooms, and its used for offices for the faculty senate.  The Y had a presence here for many years, at least 36 years, but then as the university got larger, that building could no longer meet the demand for the number of students who were here.

Once established, a new location would offer a wide variety of services for residents both young and old, Mooney said.

The YMCA isnt the Y that your grandparents might remember, he said. Its not just pools. Its not just gyms. The Y provides after-school care. It provides day care. It does things with regards to senior citizens, 55 and older, who may need physical therapy or just physical activity.  The idea is that the Y is going to be there for you and so thats one of the reasons why were trying to bring it back.

Mooney said the current lack of a physical location is not going to slow the founding group down.

Were going to utilize some facilities that already exist, some buildings that already exist, he said. Were looking at, for example, where the Childrens Museum is located by the Stella Hotel right now.  Those rooms are going to become available, and we very well may end up starting our day care there.

A former St. Josephs Hospital senior citizens center located nearby may also be used, Mooney said.

Were working right now with St. Josephs and the folks who own that building to be able to come in there and utilize that same area that St. Josephs was using and restore those services to that particular group.  Im having conversations with HOAs right now about providing swim lessons at their pools and other activities during the summers and even late into early fall and late spring.

While there is no strict deadline for when the $300,000 funds are needed, YMCA of Central Texas Marketing Officer Laura Arredondo said they and the local founding group are aiming to have the funds by March.

Its not that were not going to if they dont do it by then, she said. Its just that were setting a goal for ourselves to try to do it by then. They feel very confident that theyre going to have it way earlier than that.

Arredondo said that the YMCA of Central Texas has been discussing a Brazos Valley location for years and is glad to see it finally come to fruition.

Its been a while, a few things happened, you know, COVID happened, a few things got in the way, but weve never not wanted this opportunity, she said. We feel theres a lot that we can bring to the community.  Weve been very excited about this opportunity and really look forward to creating a really big partnership and doing more for not just Bryan-College Station, but from Central Texas across to you guys.

Mooney said serving his community has always been the driving force behind advocating for a local YMCA.

I benefited from the YMCA growing up and I know what that can mean for my community, he said. I served our community as mayor and that same dedication to wanting my city to benefit from good things, to have a great quality of life, this is part of it. I believe a YMCA will enhance the quality of life that we have here.

YMCA of Central Texas is based in Round Rock and operates YMCAs in Waco and Arlington in addition to Round Rock.
Embraer S.A. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aircraft and systems in North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Brazil, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Commercial Aviation; Defense & Security; Executive Aviation; Services & Support; and Other segments. The Commercial Aviation segment designs, develops, manufactures, and sells commercial jets, as well as leases aircraft. The Defense & Security segment engages in the research, development, production, modification, and support for military defense and security aircraft; and offers a range of products and integrated solutions that include radars, special space systems, and cyber security solutions, as well as information and communications systems comprising command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. The Executive Aviation segment develops, produces, and sells executive jets. This segment also leases Phenom family executive jets in the entry jet and light jet categories; and Praetor 500 and Praetor 600, disruptive executive jets in the midsize and super midsize categories. The Service & Support segment provides after-service solutions and support services; maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for commercial, executive, and defense aircraft; and aircraft components and engines. This segment also supplies steel and composite aviation structures to various aircraft manufacturers. The Other segment engages in the supply of fuel systems, structural parts, and mechanical and hydraulic systems; and production of agricultural crop-spraying aircraft. The company was formerly known as Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica S.A. and changed its name to Embraer S.A. in November 2010. Embraer S.A. was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Suncor Energy Inc. was formed in 1979 but its history is much deeper than that. The company was first formed in 1919 as a subsidiary of Sun Oil and was later merged with another of Sun Oils (now Sunocos) subsidiaries to form the entity traded today. The merger combined Sunocos refinery, oil sands, and refinery businesses into a single unit as part of its exit from Canada and repositioning as a pure play on fuel distribution.

Today, Suncor Energy operates as an integrated energy company in Canada and the U.S. After several major acquisitions and mergers, it is also the 2nd largest energy company in Canada and the 11th largest publicly traded company. Suncor Energy went public in 1992 and has seen its shares rise meteorically in that time.

The companys primary focus is developing petroleum resource basins in Canada's Athabasca oil sands. Notably, Suncor Energy Inc.s predecessor was the 1st company to extract oil from the Athabasca oil sands where it is the largest operator. The company is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta where the bulk of its operations lay. The company has diversified into International and Offshore production of natural gas, liquids, and crude oil but the oil sands make up 7.37 billion barrels of the companys 7.79 billion barrels of proveable reserves (as of November 2022).

Suncor Energys downstream operations include more than 1800 retail locations that market petroleum and petrochemical products under the Petro-Canada name. The company owns 4 refineries as well, with a daily capacity of 460,000 barrels, and Canadas largest ethanol plant as well. That plant, located in St. Clair, is capable of producing 400 million liters of ethanol annually.

The Oil Sands segment recovers bitumen which is a combination of clay, sand, and crude by mining and other operations. The company upgrades the bitumen into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel or prepares it for direct sale to the market. The company has 3 surface mining operations but 80% of the oil sands are too deep to reach so are mined using other methods including Steam-Assisted-Gravity-Drainage.

The company is also focused on reducing its impact on the environment by investing in wind farms and cogeneration technology. The companys wind farms are capable of generating 111 megawatts of electricity which is enough to sustain about 53,000 homes. The cogeneration technology uses natural gas to generate steam and electricity and is the most efficient use of carbon-sourced energy for industrial purposes. The company is also working toward building out a solar power generation system.
Stepping Stone Mission recently got a major lift in its ongoing effort to feed people in need in the Rocky Mount community. The Smith Mountain Lake Lions Club donated a new van to aid volunteers in picking up the supplies needed to keep the soup kitchen going.

A dedication for the new van was held at Stepping Stone Mission on Monday. SML Lions Club President Bob Smith presented the keys to the van.

We really, really, truly, from the bottom of our heart, appreciate this van, said Joanne Patterson, Stepping Stones founder and director, as she accepted the keys.

For the past 17 years, Stepping Stone Mission has provided hot meals seven days a week like clockwork from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. The nonprofit serves food even on holidays to those in need.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when other nonprofits were closing, Stepping Stone Mission never stopped serving.

We dont ask any questions. All they have to do is sign in, Patterson said.

On average, around 50 people visit Stepping Stone at 1105 North Main St. each day for a meal. Loaves of bread and other food are also available for people to take home if they may need additional food later.

Patterson said volunteers travel to area stores daily to collect donated food used to cook hot meals each day. Some of the local Rocky Mount stores that provide food include Food Lion, Kroger, Sheetz and Little Caesars.

With volunteers traveling daily between locations to collect large amounts of food, Patterson said Stepping Stone saw the need for a van large enough to carry the items. The need was discussed at the nonprofits board meetings and caught the ear of board member Rick Carroll who is also a member of the Smith Mountain Lake Lions Club.

Where there is a need, there is a Lion, Carroll said of clubs work to purchase a van for Stepping Stone.

In addition to serving on the board, Carroll said Lions Club members serve food at Stepping Stone on the fourth Monday of every month. They serve on the fifth Monday as well if there is one in any given month, he said.

Earlier this year, the SML Lions Club obtained a grant from Lions Club International totaling more than $25,000 as well as two smaller grants from Lions Clubs District 24C and the Lions of Virginia. The grant funding allowed them to purchase a 2022 Dodge Ram ProMaster City with less than 4,000 miles.

The van arrived just a week ago. Also included were decals with Stepping Stone Missions logo on the side as well a Bible passage often used by the nonprofit from Matthew 25:35 that reads For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

Members of the Rocky Mount Town Council attended Mondays dedication. Town Manager Robert Wood praised the work of Stepping Stone serving the community and the SML Lions Club for stepping up to fulfill a need.

Its great to see these organizations work together for the betterment of the community, Wood said.
Last year, William Kip Thompson and his wife, Beni, began planning the vacation of a lifetime. It would be for themselves and their five offspring, the youngest of whom is 15.

Soon, the south Roanoke, Va., couple will have four in college at the same time, yikes. They figured summer 2023 would be their last chance in years to have an all-in-the-family vacation.

So they splurged. They booked a seven-day Alaska cruise package, in a luxurious three-bedroom suite, aboard the Norwegian Jewel. The package included five days of post-cruise land travel in Alaska, as well as air travel for all seven Thompsons.

They booked it through Norwegian Cruise Line, a well known Florida-based cruise operator. The trips cost was $60,619.17. Kip Thompson, a local eye surgeon, paid that fully five months in advance.

Some weeks before they were to leave, NCL sent the Thompsons their itinerary, including flights. Beni Thompson noticed a potential hitch almost immediately. They were flying on the same day they were supposed to board the Jewel. That made her nervous.

She said she contacted Norwegian Cruise Line twice by phone about that specific concern.

Everything Ive ever seen about cruises said, never travel on the same day youre boarding a ship, because of the potential for airline delays, Beni Thompson told me. She mentioned that to the NCL representatives as well.

Both reps assured her the family would make it to Vancouver in time, because we were leaving on the first flight of the day and hardly anything ever goes wrong with those, Beni told me. As a result, the family stuck with the original flights booked by Norwegian.

The big travel day was June 28. Early that morning, the Thompsons were to board a Delta flight in Greensboro that would fly them to Atlanta. There, theyd catch a connecting Delta flight to Vancouver, British Columbia, where the Norwegian Jewel would leave its dock at 4 p.m PDT.

The Thompsons first flight was scheduled to leave Greensboro at 5:41 a.m. The Thompsons were at the airport, but that airliner didnt take off. The fight was canceled because its crew, which had been delayed flying into Greensboro the night before, lacked the minimum number of required rest hours to fly early that morning to Atlanta, Kip Thompson told me.

The Thompsons called NCL. A rep informed them the cruise line could not rebook them on flights that would get them to Vancouver on time. The family should work with Delta, to see if there was another way to get them to Canada, NCL told them.

Another flight delay in Charlotte

According to Delta, there was a possibility.

Delta booked the family on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte that was supposed to arrive in Seattle shortly after noon. Then they could catch a short Delta flight to Vancouver, and make it to the Jewel on time. But it would be tight.

So the Thompsons hurriedly drove 90 minutes from the Greensboro airport to Charlotte, where they caught the American flight to Seattle. Unfortunately, it was delayed by more than an hour.

The American flight landed in Seattle around 1:30 p.m. PDT. By then, their Delta flight to Vancouver had left its gate. (The two cities are roughly 140 miles apart.)

In desperation, the family tried to hire an Uber to Vancouver. But none of the three Uber drivers they contacted had passports  which the driver would need to get the family across the Canadian border.

Kip Thompson contacted NCL again. Was it possible they could board the Jewel at its first stop in Ketchikan, Alaska? Kip said NCL told him a rule prevented the family from boarding at any port other than Vancouver.

The land package portion of their vacation would not begin until the cruise ended seven days later. Thompson inquired whether there was any way his family could do that part of the trip.

NCL replied no. Thompson said hes never gotten a decent explanation as to why.

2-day summer-travel nightmare

So on June 30 around 5:30 a.m., the Thompson clan landed home in Roanoke after a 48 very frustrating hours. They never took their planned Alaska trip-ofa-lifetime.

Shortly thereafter, Kip Thompson began asking Norwegian Cruise Line for a refund. He did that via email. Initially, an NCL guest experience coordinator sent Thompson a denial letter addressed to a different unhappy NCL customer, Monica DeGraff of Golden, Colorado. (This becomes noteworthy later in the narrative.)

Next, NCL sent Thompson a correctly addressed denial that was identical to DeGraffs  in other words, it was a form refund denial letter. Ultimately NCL offered Thompson $2,500 back. That constituted some taxes and service charges for dining and beverages that Thompson had paid as part of his $61,000 prepaid travel package.

Dissatisfied, Thompson escalated his refund request with the cruise operator. But that didnt do any good. The latest communication he received was Aug. 7 from Roger Farinas, the cruise operators guest experience supervisor.

After a review of your case at length, we have determined that your concerns have been addressed in accordance with our policies, Farinias wrote Thompson. While we are sorry to learn of your continued disappointment with our previous responses, our position in this matter remains firm.

I learned details about the botched vacation from the Thompsons last week. Tuesday, I wrote Katty Byrd, Norwegian Cruise Lines vice president of guest services, about the Thompsons issues with NCL.

It appears to me that Norwegian Cruise Lines policies have cost Dr. Thompson $58,300, because of canceled flights that Norwegian booked and for which the Thompson family was on-time. It wasnt their fault the flight NCL arranged for them was canceled, I wrote Byrd.

From that perspective, it seems less than fair that Dr. Thompson should have to eat that $58,300. Am I looking at this the wrong way? If so, please tell me how and why.

Norwegian Cruise Line responds

Byrd never replied. But Friday morning I received an unsigned email message from NCLs public relations department.

Although Norwegian Cruise Line offers flight arrangements as part of our cruise package, we do not have direct control over the operations of the airlines and are not responsible for their cancelations,[sic] the message said.

Per our air policy terms and conditions, If there are delays, cancelations, [sic] or any schedule changes within 72 hours of your departure time, you will need to work directly with your airline for re-accommodations. These changes are beyond the control of NCL.

Additionally, as a convenience to our guests we offer the option to deviate flights up to two days pre cruise, which the guest did not elect to do.

(Weeks before their travel, Beni Thompson tried to persuade NCL to book her family on earlier flights. But the NCL reps pooh-poohed her concerns, and assured her flying a day earlier was unnecessary.)

NCLs response continued: The guest is ineligible for a full refund as they did not purchase travel insurance. It is because of unexpected situations, such as this, that we strongly recommend guests obtain travel protection insurance. Without travel protection, we are unable to provide an exception to our cancelation [sic] fee policy.

Kip Thompson says he was offered travel insurance, by NCL, at the time he booked the cruise package. But he turned it down without inquiring as to the price.

That brings us back to Monica DeGraff, the other unhappy Norwegian Cruise Line traveler. Recall that when Thompson first asked NCL for a refund, the cruise operator replied to him with a letter addressed to DeGraff in Colorado.

NCLs letter also denied her a refund for a different Norwegian cruise. So I called DeGraff and asked for her travel story. Turns out it was very similar to the Thompsons nightmare.

She had trip-protection insurance

DeGraff bought a 10-day cruise in Italy and Greece for herself, her teenage daughter and her mom aboard Norwegians Breakaway Voyage. That ship departed May 26 from Rome. Norwegian arranged their flights for the same day as the cruises departure.

The DeGraffs missed the cruise because a flight NCL booked them on from Toronto  the second leg of their air travel to Rome  was delayed. That plane didnt arrive in Rome until the Breakaway Voyage already had left. The airliner was so late leaving Toronto that DeGraff and her family never got on it, because they knew they would miss the ships departure.

DeGraff had purchased trip-protection insurance offered by NCL as part of her vacation package. She told me it cost about $200 per person. Though she later made a claim for $11,000 (the amount she advance-paid for the missed cruise package) the insurance company denied it.

Instead, the insurer paid DeGraff, her mom and daughter $500 each, the maximum coverage in the insurance policy for airline flight delays, DeGraff said. That paid for their flights back to Colorado, but not much else.

DeGraff told me shes invested more than 50 hours trying to get an $11,000 refund, or a credit for future travel, but shes been stymied by NCL and the insurer that wrote the policy.

Collectively, the two families are out $72,000 because they could not take cruise vacations with Norwegian Cruise Line because of delays with flights booked by the cruise operator.

Everyone reading this will draw their own conclusions from these sad stories. Here are a few:

First, Ill never book anything on Norwegian Cruise Line because its refund policies seem unfavorably skewed against its customers. (It would seem less frustrating to flush the money down a toilet. At least with that, thered be no expectation of a vacation.)

Second, Ill never buy trip-protection insurance for a vacation unless Im absolutely certain itll fully cover my losses if the vacation doesnt happen because of airline delays. Those occur at every single airport, every single day. (In that respect, the policy Norwegian sold Monica DeGraff was almost worthless.)

Third, is the old saw about arriving at least a day early at the port of departure for any planned cruise. Its solid advice. Ill take that if I ever book a cruise.

Well wrap this up with the last sentence from the final, four-paragraph form letters Kip Thompson and Monica DeGraff each received from Roger Farinas, Norwegian Cruise Lines guest operations supervisor. Here it is:

It is our hope that over the course of time, you will consider Norwegian Cruise Line in your future travel plans, Farinas wrote to each.

Was he kidding?
Roanokes historic Fire Station No. 1 is one of the states 2023 outstanding projects, selected by Preservation Virginia.

Fire Station No. 1 served the Roanoke community for more than 100 years. Closed and vacant for a decade, Old School Partners  working with Hill Studio  purchased the building in 2019 and undertook a renovation to return the building to public use. Fire Station No. 1 is now home to a boutique hotel, Stock Cafe & Bar, the Txtur furniture store and event space. It was awarded as an outstanding preservation project.

The Preservation Virginia award categories include outstanding preservation, outstanding community preservation, outstanding research efforts, outstanding preservation achievement and the trustees excellence in achievement.

Preservation Virginia is a nonprofit that describes itself as the first statewide organization of its kind in the country.

The preservation awards are an opportunity to thank the individuals and organizations actively working to preserve historic sites in Virginia for future generations, said Elizabeth S. Kostelny, Preservation Virginia CEO, in a news release. Virginia has incredibly rich history, and its important to honor and spotlight those efforts that preserve historic places, build stronger communities and support the economic vitality of the Commonwealth.

Some other winners include:

Cabin renovations at Virginia state parks received an outstanding preservation project award. Significant renovations of camping cabins were undertaken in historic Douthat State Park and Fairy Stone State Park. The completed project revealed original primitive and historic features while offering modern amenities to families vacationing in the parks. PMA Architecture, Stemann/Pease Architecture and Timmons Group and Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation were involved.

The restoration of the Warm Springs Pools in Bath County also received an outstanding preservation project award and those involved included 3North, Lionberger Construction, 1200 Architectural Engineers and The Omni Homestead Resort. The Warm Springs Pools have attracted a devoted following for more than 250 years.

The Green Cove Station Train Depot is an outstanding community reservation winner. In the early 1910s, the Virginia Creeper railroad linked communities in far Southwest Virginia and North Carolina. Today, the Green Cove Station near Damascus is the last remaining depot along the trail. Its successful rehabilitation included the U.S. Forestry Service George Washington & Jefferson National Forests, Virginia Creeper Trail Conservancy and HistoriCorps.

Rick and Susan Humphreys are recognized for an outstanding preservation achievement for several projects in Southwest Virginia. They helped save the Hiram Dooley House from demolition and encouraged a partnership between the town of Abingdon and the National Park Service to preserve the Abingdon Muster Grounds. They utilized historic tax credits to save the 1834 Austin Bronaugh House, which needed considerable restoration, and also preserved the 1840s Sandoe House, now known as A Tailors Lodging.

Thomas Jeffersons Poplar Forest is a trustees excellence in achievement winner. In 1983, the Corporation of Thomas Jeffersons Poplar Forest was established with the ambitious goal of owning and restoring Jeffersons Retreat. The result: Jefferson-era buildings were restored, more than 600 acres of the original property were acquired and a new entrance and trail system were completed. Archaeological excavations revealed new insights into experiences of enslaved individuals, and findings are shared with the public through educational programs.

Awardees will be honored at this years awards ceremony at the Hotel John Marshall in Richmond on Sept. 29, according to the release.
Cybersecurity and intelligence agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. on Thursday disclosed details of a mobile malware strain targeting Android devices used by the Ukrainian military.

The malicious software, dubbed Infamous Chisel and attributed to a Russian state-sponsored actor called Sandworm, has capabilities to "enable unauthorized access to compromised devices, scan files, monitor traffic, and periodically steal sensitive information."

Some aspects of the malware were uncovered by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) earlier in August, highlighting unsuccessful attempts on part of the adversary to penetrate Ukrainian military networks and gather valuable intelligence.

It's said that Russian forces captured tablets used by Ukraine on the battlefield, using them as a foothold to remotely disseminate the malware to other devices by using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) command-line tool.

Sandworm, also known by the names FROZENBARENTS, Iron Viking, Seashell Blizzard, and Voodoo Bear, refers to the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate's (GRU) Main Centre for Special Technologies (GTsST).

Active since at least 2014, the hacking crew is best known for its string of disruptive and destructive cyber campaigns using malware such as Industroyer, BlackEnergy, and NotPetya.

In July 2023, Google-owned Mandiant said that the malicious cyber operations of GRU adhere to a playbook that offers tactical and strategic benefits, enabling the threat actors to adapt swiftly to a "fast-paced and highly contested operating environment" and at the same time maximize their speed, scale, and intensity without getting detected.

Infamous Chisel is described as a collection of multiple components that's designed with the intent to enable remote access and exfiltrate information from Android phones.

Besides scanning the devices for information and files matching a predefined set of file extensions, the malware also contains functionality to periodically scan the local network and offer SSH access.

"Infamous Chisel also provides remote access by configuring and executing TOR with a hidden service which forwards to a modified Dropbear binary providing a SSH connection," the Five Eyes (FVEY) intelligence alliance said.

A brief description of each of the modules is as follows -

netd - Collate and exfiltrate information from the compromised device at set intervals, including from app-specific directories and web browsers

- Collate and exfiltrate information from the compromised device at set intervals, including from app-specific directories and web browsers td - Provide TOR services

- Provide TOR services blob - Configure Tor services and check network connectivity (executed by netd)

- Configure Tor services and check network connectivity (executed by netd) tcpdump - Legitimate tcpdump utility with no modifications

- Legitimate tcpdump utility with no modifications killer - Terminate the netd process

- Terminate the netd process db - Contains several tools to copy files and provide secure shell access to the device via the TOR hidden service using a modified version of Dropbear

- Contains several tools to copy files and provide secure shell access to the device via the TOR hidden service using a modified version of Dropbear NDBR - A multi-call binary similar to db that comes in two flavors to be able to run on Arm (ndbr_armv7l) and Intel (ndbr_i686) CPU architectures

Persistence on the device is achieved by replacing the legitimate netd daemon, which is responsible for network configuration on Android, with a rogue version, enabling it to execute commands as the root user.

As far as the exfiltration frequency is concerned, compilation of file and device data takes place every day, while sensitive military information is siphoned every 10 minutes. The local area network is scanned once in two days.

"The Infamous Chisel components are low to medium sophistication and appear to have been developed with little regard to defense evasion or concealment of malicious activity," the agencies said.

"The searching of specific files and directory paths that relate to military applications and exfiltration of this data reinforces the intention to gain access to these networks. Although the components lack basic obfuscation or stealth techniques to disguise activity, the actor may have deemed this not necessary, since many Android devices do not have a host-based detection system."

The development comes as the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center of Ukraine (NCSCC) shed light on the phishing endeavors of another Kremlin-backed hacking outfit known as Gamaredon (aka Aqua Blizzard, Shuckworm, or UAC-0010) to siphon classified information.

The government agency said the threat actor, which has repeatedly targeted Ukraine since 2013, is ramping up attacks on military and government entities with the goal of harvesting sensitive data relating to its counteroffensive operations against Russian troops.

"Gamaredon uses stolen legitimate documents of compromised organizations to infect victims," NCSCC said. "Gamaredon uses stolen legitimate documents of compromised organizations to infect victims."

The group has a track record of abusing Telegram and Telegraph as dead drop resolvers to retrieve information pertaining to its command-and-control (C2) infrastructure, while leveraging a "well-rounded" arsenal of malware tools to meet its strategic goals.

This comprises GammaDrop, GammaLoad, GammaSteel, LakeFlash, and Pterodo, the last of which is a multipurpose tool honed for espionage and data exfiltration.

"Its versatility in deploying various modules makes it a potent threat, capable of infiltrating and compromising targeted systems with precision," NCSCC said.

"While Gamaredon may not be the most technically advanced threat group targeting Ukraine, their tactics exhibit a calculated evolution. The growing frequency of attacks suggests an expansion in their operational capacity and resources."
No nutria is good news  at least in Southern Illinois.

The nutria is a large South American rodent, ranging in size from 8.8-20 points. The nutria was introduced to the United States in the 1940s to augment the trapping industry. The orange-toothed critter was released throughout different portions of the United States, including Louisiana, Ohio, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah and Washington.

The invasive rodent has established large populations in some areas, including Louisiana. For the past decade or so, nutria have been expanding their range northward.

There have been confirmed sightings, said Derek Whipkey, a graduate student in zoology at Southern Illinois University. The most recent verified report was in 2022. There have been credible reports, just anecdotal with no supporting evidence.

There are reports of Ballard County, Kentucky populations. Theyve just slowly been creeping up the Mississippi. Theyre in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas as well.

Whipkey recently conducted a study through SIUs Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory that found no evidence of nutria in Southern Illinois at this time. However, nutria have been found as close as Ballard County, Kentucky.

Its most analogous to muskrat or beaver, Whipkey said. Nutria has more of a rat tail, pretty much right in the middle of a muskrat and a beaver. They average about 12 pounds and can get up to about 20 pounds.

Theyre invasive and they are causing harm, he said. Muskrats and beavers already fill this ecological niche. They are herbivores foraging for plant matter. Nutria have a voracious appetite. They consume about 25% of their body weight daily. Theyll dig up the roots, which exposes the topsoil and erosion follows that. That leads to complete degradation of that habitat.

There is potential to destroy levees, potential damage to crops. Theyre just another species that is here that arent supposed to be, Whipkey said.

Whipkeys study was conducted at sites in Pope, Massac, Alexander and Pulaski counties. Nutria are classified as semi-aquatic mammals.

Theyre very opportunistic, he said. You can find them everywhere in the smallest bodies of water. The largest populations are found in coastal areas.

They dont really burrow. They will create burrows (if needed), instead they just sleep on these feeding platforms they make. Theyve been generally limited to warmer climates. We might be just at the edge of their range where they cant establish a population.

Searchers used four techniques. The first was walking the edges of the nutrias preferred habitat. The scientists also employed trail cameras, using scents to lure them into the sight lines of the cameras. They also used dogs to help search for scat as well as the critters themselves. Finally, they took water samples from likely nutria habitat to have it analyzed for DNA.

Five-liter samples were taken from 67 sites, ranging from streams and creeks to small and large impoundments. The samples are still being tested for DNA evidence. The study began in February and was wrapped up in July.

Pending the results of the DNA testing, this study showed no evidence of nutria populations. However, Whipkey said there has been some discussion about continuing the search.

Right now nothing is set in stone, Whipkey said. Now, I think there is interest in targeting specific areas of habitat, the swampy areas. I dont think anything is official.

With all these anecdotal reports, were starting to look at that question, How can we get ahead of this? Once they are established, its a long road to eradication. Mostly it would probably be just active trapping. If they got established the populations could explode quickly. Just one nutria can cause a lot of impact to an area.

The nutria has no natural predators in Southern Illinois.
The fall class of 2023 for the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame will be honored during the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame Weekend from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 in Atlanta.

Locals are among the inductees: Voorhees affiliates Dr. Cleveland Sellers, Dr. Herman "Skip" Mason and James Bowden. Also, Henry Allen, South Carolina State University, industry; and Dr. Melissa Green Parker, Claflin University, science.

Sellers is being recognized in the civil rights category. His recognition stems from his significant contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. A renowned educator and civil rights activist, he attended Voorhees High School (now Voorhees University) during his early years and later earned a bachelor's degree from Shaw University in North Carolina. Throughout the Civil Rights Movement, Sellers played a prominent role in leading the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Notably, he was the sole individual convicted and incarcerated in connection with the Orangeburg Massacre, a tragic 1968 civil rights protest in which three students lost their lives due to state trooper actions. Returning to his hometown, Sellers served as the eighth president of Voorhees from 2008 to 2015.

Mason, a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, is being honored for his exceptional lifelong contributions to both his community and profession. Originally from Atlanta, he currently holds positions as the dean of library and museum, as well as an assistant professor of African American history and religions at Voorhees. His induction is conducted on behalf of his undergraduate alma mater, Morris Brown College. Under Mason's guidance, Voorhees established a museum dedicated to preserving and showcasing the institution's rich history.

Also a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is James Bowden, a former senior vice president at Duke Energy. A graduate of Denmark Technical College, Bowden is currently a student at Voorhees. His induction recognizes his accomplishments on behalf of Duke Energy, where he became the first African American vice president. In this role, he supervised field operations and maintenance, leading a team of over 300 employees.

I cant think of a more deserving individual to be inducted into the NBCA Hall of Fame. James W. Bowden Sr. has spent over 50 years as a champion of Denmark Technical College and HBCU education. His professional achievements and outstanding character serve as an inspiration to our students and community for what can be achieved with determination, grit and an education from Denmark Technical College, said Willie L. Todd Jr., Ph.D., president and CEO of Denmark Technical College.

Bowden currently serves as a Denmark Tech area commissioner and as the president of the Denmark Technical College National Alumni Association. He has also served on the board of directors for the Denmark Technical College Foundation.

He most recently championed the development of the Denmark Technical College Electrical Lineworker Program, the first of its kind at a South Carolina HBCU, which aims to increase diversity in the energy industry and provide economic opportunity for the citizens of rural South Carolina.

Dr. Ronnie Hopkins, president of Voorhees, expressed his pride in the achievements of these three individuals: "We are proud to have three Voorhees affiliates join the prestigious National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame. Each inductee has made significant contributions to his respective area of expertise, and we congratulate them on receiving this honor."
Orangeburg City Council candidates recently participated in a virtual forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Orangeburg Area.

During the forum, candidates shared their plans, concerns and goals for the city.

The Sept. 10 election will decide the city council representatives for District 2, District 4 and District 6.

Councilman Dr. Kalu Kalu is running unopposed for his District 2 seat.

Annette Dees Grevious, Connie L. Johnson and Deidra R. Sharrow, are running for Councilman Bernard Haires District 4 seat, as he is not seeking re-election. Councilwoman Sandra Knotts is being challenged by Jack M. Grayton for the District 6 seat.

Here are the candidates thoughts on select issues:

 Crime: Grevious said, Reducing our crime rate would be truly a critical concern of the city and I would like to work with our law enforcement agencies to find ways to reduce that.

Johnson mentioned creating a community task force on gun violence once shes elected.

As someone who lives in the center of the city and experiences hearing gunshots from my home on a biweekly basis, I am a person that wants to create solutions. My idea of some solutions would be to create coalitions, she said.

 Economy: Several candidates seek livable wages, affordable housing and an increase in the number of businesses in the city.

One of the major things that we need to work on is our downtown. Some years ago, downtown used to be filled with a lot of businesses and people, but now it looks like a ghost town, Kalu said.

He believes that Orangeburg has the resources for change.

Theres no reason why Orangeburg cannot look like Five Points in Columbia, he said.

Knotts said incoming businesses need, an educated workforce.

Ive been hearing the trend, not just here in Orangeburg, where folks go to work and dont try to advance themselves while theyre working. That is problematic, she said.

Knotts also addressed the issue of affordable housing.

One of the things that council is currently working on and has talked about is affordable housing. We also have to keep in mind that it is not solely based on the city, it encompasses the entire county, she said.

According to Sharrow, livable wages are needed in Orangeburg.

Also, I wont say affordable housing is obsolete in Orangeburg, but its few and far between. There isnt an accessible in-between. Theres either low-income housing or high-income housing, but for the working-class citizens, it is extremely hard to find somewhere to live, she said.

 Education: Graytons platform is focused on the advancement of youth.

My major concern is children and the dropout rate in this neighborhood. No teacher has come and try to get the kids back or any counselors. We need to change that. If you have a child that drops out of school, you need to try your best to get them back in. Come talk to them, let them know what their chances are without a high school education, Grayton said.

Grayton says parents, teachers and city leaders are responsible for ensuring students are receiving an education.

City council needs to get from behind the desk and go out and see what the school is needing. We need leadership and we need more African American males to participate in programs like this, he said.

 Resources: Candidates say that more resources should be available to citizens.

Grevious says in order for citizens to be viable applicants for jobs that are coming into Orangeburg, the city must provide training where our citizens can be trained and equipped with essential skills.

It also means providing resources so that they can improve and enhance their skillsets, she said.

Sharrow says the citys current resources have poor marketing.

We would have to start by pushing more information out to the community and bridging that gap and making the community feel welcomed to reach out to us for these things, she said.

Improving the quality of life would first start with not blaming the citizens for the shortcomings of the city. Yes, people have to motivate themselves, but there is a lack of resources, she added.

 Community: Grayton says a sense of community starts neighborhood by neighborhood, child by child.

We need to get our neighbors to come together as neighbors and reach out to all parts of Orangeburg and not just the district youre in. The districts are supposed to come together and work for the good of Orangeburg, he said.

Johnson believes incorporating more activities would benefit the community.

As I reflect on my childhood, there were a plethora of activities available that engaged us and fueled our creativity. It wasnt so much about keeping us out of trouble, it was about developing our minds and our hearts and making sure that we were a part of community outside of school. Thats something that Id like to see, in Orangeburg, happen again, she said.

Kalu says it is important that the community and city council work together.

The city council does not work in isolation. We need to partner with the county council, our school district and also our colleges and other stakeholders. We are elected to represent the people. We need to listen to the peoples voice and know what the problem is in order to tackle that problem. We need to know the needs of the people and that means working together, he said.

According to Knotts, city council is working on projects that will not only change the scope and face of Orangeburg, but will also instill pride in the city.

What I see now is Orangeburg becoming. Moving forward to me is more than just lip-service. It is a posture that says in order to continue the positive track that were on, we need to come together as a community, she said.

It was said earlier that Orangeburg used to be a thriving community and I still wholeheartedly believe that we can still do that.
Dr. Thelma Ford Sojourner, has been appointed community relations liaison for Voorhees University, the school announced Friday.

In the newly established role, Sojourner, an alumna, will spearhead efforts to enhance the university's visibility within rural communities locally and statewide. This will involve forging novel rural partnerships, creating recruitment pathways, and serving as the university's ambassador to external rural entities and stakeholders.

Sojourner brings a wealth of experience from her previous role as project director for a LIFE-2 federal grant at Voorhees.

Reflecting on her new role, Sojourner said, "Having been a proud Voorhees alumna and former administrator in the Denmark school system, I am truly honored to contribute to a position where my primary focus is nurturing community relationships within an area that has been my home and commitment for the past five decades."

Her education journey began in the Denmark Schools, culminating in her graduation from Voorhees College, now known as Voorhees University. She earned a doctorate at South Carolina State University in 2004.

Her career in education included roles as a teacher, principal, administrator and superintendent of the Denmark-Olar School District in Denmark.

As superintendent, she successfully led initiatives to secure a $38 million bond referendum, facilitating the construction of a pre-K through 5th grade school and the renovation of existing middle and high schools.

With a 50-year tenure in the Denmark-Olar School District, she retired in 2021, and began her new journey with Voorhees University.
Looking for an adventure? If youre a fan of hiking and car camping, backpacking could be a logical next step.

Its a bit of a change from driving into a campsite  for starters, youll have to be able to carry all the gear you need to stay for the night. Packing lighter can mean leaving some creature comforts behind, but backpacking also is a chance for a unique, often isolated experience in the Idaho wilderness.

Before you head out on an overnight trip, be sure to check for trail closures or other restrictions, such as campfire bans, at your destination. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management discourage building new fire rings at dispersed camping sites. Instead, look for existing fire rings, use a fire pan or camp stove and go without a fire.

If youre interested in backpacking but arent sure where to start, here are some less challenging routes for a single-night stay within a few hours of the Boise, Idaho, area.

Jennie Lake

This 8.8-mile round trip hike is nestled in the Boise National Forest northeast of Idaho City. Like all our recommendations, Jennie Lake has ample access to water via Bear Creek and the trails namesake lake (though you should plan to bring a water filtration system or other means of purifying any water you plan to consume).

The trail has moments of fairly steep elevation gain as it follows the creek, winds through a burn scar and meadow and finally rises to the view of teal water and Wolf Mountain.

Its 4.4 miles to the lake, where primitive campsites dot the perimeter. This hike can be popular on weekends, so it may make for a better weekday trip if you hope to use one of the existing sites.

Blue Lake

Blue Lake is a short, steep hike in the Boise National Forest near Cascade. Its around 1.5 miles round trip, so an overnight trek to the lake is less than half a mile.

Blue Lake is described as an all-ages trail  just be prepared for a fairly steep elevation gain on your way back to the trailhead.

The Forest Service notes that Blue Lake is a very popular trail, so this may not be your best option for solitude. However, its a scenic route with abundant wildflowers, stream crossings and a waterfall.

Loon Lake

This Payette National Forest trail near McCall starts at Chinook Campground and offers two routes to the lake, one 4.6 miles long and the other 5.7 miles long.

The real appeal is off-trail, though. A World War II-era B-23 Dragon bomber crashed in the forest near the lake in 1943, and its wreckage remains nearby with interpretive signs that tell the story of the eight survivors. The wreckage is accessible via an unmaintained trail, so plan to bushwhack to the site.

Another route to the plane is bushwhacking from Duck Lake Trail. The Idaho Trails Association suggested Duck Lake as a good option for beginning backpackers in a blog post earlier this year. The Forest Service notes online that there are dispersed camping sites along the shores of Duck Lake.

Rapid Lake

Another McCall-area hike, Rapid Lake is one of the longer options on the list. The trail is just under 8 miles round trip, and Forest Service documents say its a popular day hike.

Youll pass Boulder Lake on the way in. Both lakes are good options for fishing and swimming, and youll have plenty of time for both if you plan to stay the night.

Hikers have described this trail as family-friendly and say its 1,400 feet of elevation gain is spread evenly through the trek so it doesnt feel too steep.

Rainbow Basin

The Rainbow Basin Trail is 8 miles round trip with a steep elevation gain early on, followed by a dramatic descent into a glacial cirque dotted with shallow alpine lakes.

The trail begins near Big Trinity Lake Campground northeast of Mountain Home. It winds past Green Island, Fiddle, Heart and Big Lookout lakes before getting to the trio of Big, Middle and Little Rainbow lakes. You can detour at any of the lakes, and several have existing primitive sites if you dont want to follow the trail all the way to Hideaway Lake.
A joint police operation involving the Rapid Response Unit (RRU), the Narcotics Unit and the Special Services Unit (SSU) in Pauls Avenue at about 12:30 p.m. on Friday 25 August 2023, resulted in the arrest of eight (8) persons and the seizure of one hundred and eighty-two (182) rocks of cocaine, which is equivalent to thirty-six (36) grammes, a quantity of cannabis, and cash in the amounts of $448.00 USD, $2270.00 ECC and $20.00 BBD.





During the operation, the police searched several persons, houses and businesses.





As a result of the seizures, two (2) suspects were charged. Lemar "Chak Isaacs, a 21-year-old unemployed man of Mc Kies Hill, was charged with possession of eight (8) grammes of cocaine with intent to supply it to another. Dimron Mc Donald, 33 years self-employed of New Montrose, was charged with possession of eighteen (18) grammes of cocaine with intent to supply it to another. The other six (6) persons were discharged pending further investigations.





Both men appeared before the Magistrate Court on Monday 28 August 2023 and pleaded guilty to the respective charges. McDonald was fined $636.00 ECC forthwith or two (2) months in prison, while Isaacs was fined $273.00 forthwith or one (1) month in prison.





The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has opened an investigation into the monies that were confiscated.




Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister and national Security Mintser went about dispelling the news that the Commissioner of Police had resigned.

Whether or not Commissioner of Police (CoP) Colin John had indicated he was about to demit office and had requested early retirement was, as of Thursday, still a matter of speculation among the public at large.





And the speculation surrounding the news which broke last week that John expressed in one way or the other an intention to demit office, only heightened on the return to the state of Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.





Dr. Gonsalves sought to clear the air on the issue of Johns resignation after being pressed into doing so during a press conference he hosted last Tuesday.





The Prime Minister told those gathered that he can confirm that the Commissioner of Police had not resigned.

And in stating categorically that the CoP had not resigned, as some people had said and as one newspaper here purported, the Prime Minister proceeded to question the reasonableness of John resigning by asking, "If you are in the Public Service all your life, would you resign and lose your pension?





Dr. Gonsalves drove home the point further by reiterating that he could say "emphatically, Colin John has not resigned because it is not within his interest.





While acknowledging that the CoP is eligible to request early retirement, Dr. Gonsalves told the media that he was not going to comment on whether John had requested early retirement.





He went on to explain that it is the Police Service Commission which will have to sign off on the request for early retire and he, Dr. Gonslaves, was not aware as of Tuesday that this process had been pursued.





As an aside, Dr. Gonsalves affirmed that he has been involved in the appointment of five CoPs since he came to office in 2001.





John was appointed in 2016. He was, immediately prior to that appointment, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions.





The reference to his involvement in the appointment of Commissioners of Police preempted his explanation of the process involved in the appointment of the nations top cop.





According to Dr. Gonsalves, the law provides for the Governor General to appoint a Commissioner of Police, upon the advice of the Police Service Commission.





In arriving at a recommendation, the Police Service Commission is obligated to consult the Prime Minister and if the Prime Minister fault with the person the Police Service Commission would want to recommend to the Governor General, that named cannot be advanced.





"So, the name which goes to the Governor General has to have the approval of the Prime Minister, Dr. Gonsalves said.





And in closing his attention for the matter of Johns resignation, the Prime Minister reiterated ".whether the Commissioner of Police has intimated orally or in writing his request for early retirement, I say to you that I am not either going to confirm or deny that.





There has been no public response by Commissioner John to any of what the Prime Minister had to say and what continues to abound in public discussion here and abroad.
A 42-year-old Vermont woman was remanded on Tuesday when she appeared in Court charged in connection with inflicting serious burns to the body of her 12-year-old daughter.





The accused, Josette Garraway, a domestic worker, has been charged with unlawfully and maliciously causing grievous bodily harm to the child, with intent. She was unrepresented.





Garraway was not allowed to plead to the charge as it is an indictable offence, when she appeared before Magistrate John Ballah at the Kingstown Magistrates Court on Wednesday.





Prosecutor Corlene Samuel told the Court that, at this point, the Prosecution was objecting to bail. She highlighted that the victim was a 12-year-old and warded at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, with serious burns to her body.





Samuel asked that Garraway be remanded for two weeks pending an update from the medical authorities on the victims condition.





The Prosecutor noted that Garraway is also the mother of two other children who are now in the custody of the state.





Garraway is alleged to have used an electric (clothes) iron to inflict burn between the legs of her daughter and to have struck her with a hammer on her leg, at Vermont, on August 29.





The matter has been adjourned and transferred to the Serious Offences Court to September 11 for bail review.




Donald De Riggs, Director of the YRM, commissioning the use of a portable HF operation from the Tobago Cays for the first time.

Submitted by: Donald De Riggs

Photo Credit: Omoro De Riggs J88NFG





In an effort to keep its members active during the 2023 storm season, the Youlou Radio Movement  YRM, with support from regional radio amateurs (Hams) conducted a field operation from Mayreau and the Tobago Cays on August 26th and 27th, 2023 respectively.





And according to the Director of the YRM, Don De Riggs J88CD, the field testing was a great success with the basic equipment used.





Using battery power only, recharged by solar panels, the rugged Barrett field radios were deployed using three types of antenna with the results being, in most cases, better than anticipated.





The focus of this exercise was to establish reliable regional contacts via Ham radio, as during a natural disaster, our neighbours would be the first to respond. The radio testing was conducted at several times of the day to test propagation on the different HF (High Frequency) bands allocated for Ham radio operations.





Reliable contacts were made with St. Vincent, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, Montserrat, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana, St. Maarten, Tobago and another portable station in Mayreau.





During the commissioning of the Barrett equipment in Mayreau (on the day), several persons from the community were given a brief introduction to ham radio, how the system functions and its usefulness during times of national emergency when cell phone service is not available.





On Sunday, August 27, the 2-man visiting team comprising YRM Director Don De Riggs J88CD and his son Omoro De Riggs J88NFG, joined Mayreau residents for a day at the Tobago Cays as that island was celebrating "Mayreau Day. The YRM team took the opportunity to conduct another field exercise using portable equipment to establish and maintain contact with several Caribbean and US stations. This was the first time that the YRM has operated an HF radio communications activity from the Tobago Cays.





Also conducting a portable operation on Sunday 27th, using a car battery for power from the end of the runway of the decommissioned airport at Arnos Vale, was YRM Director IT, Sean Patterson J88CU, who set up and successfully operated a field station with equally satisfactory results, making reliable contacts with all Caribbean and US stations heard at that time.





The YRM/RRL is currently fine tuning a communications outing for the Independence weekend from several national parks. The public will also be invited to witness and be part of the communications experience, where knowledge can be shared and lasting friendships created. The dates and locations will be made public shortly.





The YRM is also looking for a suitable spot on Mayreau to install and house the radio and meteorological equipment on a permanent basis. A few years ago, permission was granted to use an emergency shelter to house the equipment, but that location is no longer amenable for that type of operation.





The Director of the YRM is publicly thanking the owners of the "MV Gem Star and "Jaden Sun for providing complimentary transportation for the YRM team to and from Mayreau.





Thanks also to both local and regional radio operators who provided propagation reports during the entire exercise.
BEIRUT: The United Nations Security Security Council voted on Thursday to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another year, until Aug. 31, 2024.

Lebanon and Hezbollah had pushed to make changes to Article 16 in the mandate to limit UNIFILs ability to move around without the permission of the Lebanese Army  but no amendment was made in the final text. This years renewal of the UN's peacekeeping force comes amid rising tensions along the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Here are 5 key things you need to know about the mandate renewal:

1. The votes

13 countries voted in favor of resolution 2695, with Russia and China abstaining.

This differs from last year's renewal, when members of the UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate.

The vote comes after recent pressure from the Lebanese government and Hezbollah to remove Article 16, regarding the free movement of UNIFIL.

UNIFIL, which currently numbers just over 10,000 peacekeepers, was established in 1978 by the Security Council to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon. Its mandate is renewed each year, after approval by Lebanese authorities and a vote by the Security Council.

2. What does the text say?

The key takeaway is that Lebanon's demands to limit the freedom of movement of UNIFIL were not met in the final resolution. UNIFIL can continue to "conduct its operation independently," according to the approved Resolution 2695, published by the UN.

However, the text does state that UNIFIL should "coordinate with the Government of Lebanon."

In response to this point, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement published shortly after the vote: "The extension decision includes a fundamental clause that Lebanon had requested, which concerns UNIFIL carrying out its duties in coordination with the Lebanese government, in accordance with the headquarters agreement. This in itself constitutes a factor of satisfaction."

The text also demands that all parties should allow peacekeepers to conduct "announced and unannounced patrols" without "any restrictions and hindrances to the movement of UNIFIL personnel and guarantee the freedom of movement of UNIFIL."

3. Abstentions by China and Russia

For the first time, two members of the Security Council abstained from voting  China and Russia.

A representative for Russia said the text did not "take into consideration the opinion of Lebanon and its leadership who have repeatedly said there needs to be coordination between UNIFIL, and the armed forces."

China said that the resolution failed to address the Lebanese point of view. "China regrets the lack of respect to sovereignty that the resolution shows," its representative said.

"Lebanon has on many occasions sent letters to the Security Council on breaches of sovereignty along the border and the Security Council should take those letters seriously," the representative added.



4. Reaction of the United Arab Emirates

The UAE voted for the renewal, but said it was not entirely happy with the final wording of the text.

"Hezbollah has made a mockery of resolution 1701 and has not allowed freedom of movement for UNIFIL which obstructs stability on the blue line," stated Lana Nusseibeh, ambassador and permanent representative for the UAE during the council meeting.



In the final version, the UAE's request to change the wording of a sentence regarding the border-straddling town of Ghajar was not taken into account.

The UAE reportedly proposed that part of the text be amended to say the UN condemns the occupation of Ghajar. But the preamble of the agreed text states that the UN is concerned about "the continued Israeli presence in northern Ghajar and an adjacent area north of the Blue Line," and emphasizes "that the continuation of construction work in the area goes against the necessary withdrawal of Israeli defense forces.

"We are disappointed with the needless compromise to remove the unqualified reference to the Israeli occupation of Al-Ghajar, which was in previous drafts and, we think, enjoyed widespread support in this Council," added Nusseibeh.

5. Reaction from Hezbollah and Israel

A Hezbollah spokesperson told LOrient Today that the passing of this resolution portrays the failure of the Lebanese diplomacy that should have prepared early on to face this resolution.

This also shows that the world did not listen to Lebanons needs. When the US and Israel want something from the Security Council, they get it, simply because they have hegemony over the Security Council.

We ask UNIFIL to remain in complete coordination with the Lebanese armed forces before carrying out any mission or else this resolution will remain, as Hezbollahs leader [Hassan Nasrallah] says, 'ink on paper' [meaning ineffective].

Israel had been pushing to maintain Article 16 on the freedom of movement of UNIFIL without prior permission from the Lebanese Army.

In reaction to the vote Israel Defense Forces tweeted "UNIFIL is fundamental in helping maintain stability in the region."

It comes after Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday and stressed the need for UNIFIL to be able to "act independently in South Lebanon" and to be able to move freely near the borders in order to decrease tension.




01/09/2023

As it enters its second year, Everton's Fan Advisory Board held their first Twitter Space online open meeting on Thursday night.

The background of the FAB, how it was set up and established in Year 1 as an outcome of the much-vaunted Fan-led Review was summarised. The FAB questioning owner Farhad Moshiri was perhaps the highlight of their accomplishments last season along with lots of advocacy on behalf of the fans.

Many of the misconceptions about the FAB and their remit were addressed, especially through the increasingly strained relationship with the Everton Board of Directors, where agreed attendance at FAB meetings was spurned by Board members.

The independence of the FAB was emphasised in comparison with examples at other clubs, all of whom are required to set up their own fan advisory boards.

Article continues below video content

A recording of the FAB Twitter Space open meeting is available online:

The FAB also has its own Everton's Fan Advisory Board website in addition to their presence on Twitter. The FAB meets monthly with meeting summaries posted on line.

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01/09/2023





Neal Maupay has made a deadline-day return to Brentford, signing for the Bees on a season-long loan.

The striker, who joined Everton a year ago from Brighton in a 12m deal has had a miserable time on Merseyside so far with just one goal to his name in 28 Premier League appearances.

A move to Salernitana collapsed in January and with no concrete interest in him over the summer, it looked as though he would be staying with Everton this season.

However, Brentford, the club in England where he had his best spell, came in for him today with a late approach to take him on loan and submitted an offer for the Frenchman.

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According to reports, the deal taking him back to London, which was confirmed 15 minutes after the transfer window closed, would include a buy option.

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The number of new business filings in Wyoming surged dramatically this year compared to last, bringing in a whopping 25% increase in revenue from filings.

The Secretary of States Office has processed roughly 590,000 business filings for fiscal year 2023  more than a 27% increase compared to last year, Colin Crossman, business division director for the Secretary of States Office, told lawmakers last week.

Thats massive, Crossman said. That eclipses all of the other years that I tracked here.

As a result of these filings, the Secretary of States Office has also seen an almost 25% boost in revenue from filings this fiscal year compared to last, from roughly $34 million to more than $42 million.

Pretty much all of this growth comes from Limited Liability Companies, or LLCs, Crossman said. LLCs are a popular business structure for small and medium-sized businesses. Crossman estimated that 70-80% of these businesses are filing the minimum $60 fee, which means they have under $300,000 of assets in Wyoming.

There are a number of possible explanations for this growth in Wyomings business filings, Crossman explained.

Wyomings chief competitor  Nevada  recently raised its filing fees for establishing a business. New startups also surged to record numbers not just in Wyoming but across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Crossman said he believes these two factors contributed the lions share of Wyomings business growth.

Whats more, Wyoming ranks among the top states with the friendliest business climates in the country, according to a recent Forbes article that Crossman cited. That ranking is based on state LLC filing and operating fees, state tax climates and the prevalence of small businesses, among other things.

Assuming that Wyoming continues to have a favorable business climate, I dont see that growth going away, Crossman said.

Crossman said business division staff have handled this growth so far. But he added that the seemingly exponential growth has him concerned about what will happen down the road.

Will that mean that we need more staff? Potentially, if that growth continues or we dont have any other options such as technology or other things that mitigate that growth, Crossman said.

(Secretary of State Chuck Gray said his office isnt currently asking for funding to cover more positions. The office is looking at a new program for business filings that he believes would be more efficient and decrease the need for more staff in the future, he said.)

Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, told Crossman that this growth sounds really great, but that he was also kind of suspicious.

With recent world upheaval and money moving around the globe, Case questioned how many of these new filings are for shell corporations  companies set up to move money around rather than to sell goods or services. Although not always the case, these shell companies are sometimes used for nefarious purposes, and it can be hard to figure out who owns them.

Its good to be business friendly, Case said. I think theres a dark side to being too business friendly, and Im trying to figure out where we are on that continuum.

Crossman conceded that this does happen in Wyoming and across the country and said he believes that some of this growth stems from shell corporations. But determining how much this happens  and how much such activities account for business growth in Wyoming  is very, very hard, he said.

Crossman added that the office is trying to keep harmful shell corporations in check by stepping up enforcement and audits of commercial registered agents  people who represent more than 10 businesses in Wyoming  to make sure theyre keeping the records theyre required to keep under state statute.

Secretary of State Chuck Gray elaborated in an email to the Star-Tribune that enforcement includes checking proper disclosure of certain contact and ownership information of entities registered with the state to ensure deterrence of such abuses.

Gray said during the meeting that there have been a couple audits that have identified some problems. He added in the email that he remains concerned and troubled with abuses of corporate filings in Wyoming, and that audits so far this year have resulted in an ongoing investigation of one commercial registered agent.

I take this issue extremely seriously, and our office will continue to audit commercial registered agents to ensure compliance with Wyoming law, he said.

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.
toast to T&T: Kerwyn Garcia, from left, husband of President Christine Kangaloo, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Mrs Sharon Rowley, United States Ambassador Candace Bond, along with invited guests and dignitaries, offer a toast to the nation during a cocktail reception at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port of Spain, in celebration of Trinidad and Tobagos 61st anniversary of Independence, yesterday. Photo: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK
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Peter Piper Pizza is approaching its 50th anniversary this year and is offering new menu items and a limited-time "pizza and play" deal to celebrate.

The first Peter Piper location opened in Glendale, Arizona in 1973, and to pay homage to the date, the company is offering a deal for $19.73 that includes a large one-topping pizza and a 20-point "fun pass," which roughly equates to ten arcade game plays.

Peter Piper has also added the "Double Pepperoni Parmesan Pizza" back onto its menu through Sept. 24 and is permanently adding lemon pepper wings to its list of chicken offerings, the company announced in a news release.

Tucson became home to Peter Piper's first restaurant opened outside of the Phoenix area in 1980 and the company now has 120 locations in the U.S. and Mexico, according to the company's website.

To find the Peter Piper Pizza restaurant closest to you, use the company's online location map.
A $100,000 investment has been made to support at least 10 Southern Arizona small business entrepreneurs who are Black, Indigenous or people of color.

The investment from the Tucson-based Growth Partners Arizona will be available through the Community Investment Corporations BIPOC Community Managed Loan Fund.

The no-interest microloans of up to $10,000 are awarded under a character-based lending model, in which a borrowers personal qualities, community reputation and other factors that go beyond credit scores and collateral are given greater emphasis, a news release said.

The loan fund is two years old, and its volunteer committee of community leaders has the decision-making authority for the loan funding, defining the application process and the criteria used.

Obstacles to capital access for communities of color include distrust of traditional financial institutions, overly complicated application processes, and bankings over-reliance on collateral and credit scores to make loan approval determinations, the committee found.

Instead, a low-barrier application allows business owners to apply via video, audio or in writing. Only after being approved for a loan are entrepreneurs required to provide financial and business documentation, the news release said.

Over the past two years, the committee has approved more than 50 no-interest microloans in Southern Arizona, totaling nearly $400,000 in funding.

I think some traditional lenders might be skeptical of our underwriting process, said CIC Executive Director Danny Knee, but the performance of our loan portfolio shows that we are on to something with our trust-based approach.

Growth Partners Arizona, a Community Development Financial Institution, is planning to expand the funds community-managed approach statewide, the news release said.

Investing in the fund is not only important to the community but resonates with me personally, said Growth Partners Arizona CEO Andre Whittington. I have witnessed family members and friends lose their businesses due to limited or nonexistent funding opportunities. Through this partnership we are providing real solutions and establishing inclusive financial pathways for BIPOC business owners to secure the capital needed to scale their businesses.

For more information about the BIPOC Community Managed Loan Fund, visit tucne.ws/1kzm.
A woman whose vehicle was struck Monday morning by a driver Tucson police say was impaired has died, officials say.

Arlethia Rosine King, 66, died Thursday, three days after the wreck along East Ajo Way near South Third Ave., Tucson police said in a news release Friday.

Just before 9 a.m., King was driving a 2001 Toyota Sequoia west on Ajo when the driver of a 2010 Ford Edge going east veered into oncoming traffic and smashed into King's vehicle, the release said.

Both King and the other driver were taken to the hospital.

Charges against the other driver, who was not identified, are pending, police said in the release.

King's death marks the 59th traffic fatality in Tucson this year, two less than at the same time in 2022.
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

While cigarette smoking among young Americans has been declining, theres a troubling increase in the popularity of these illegal flavored vapes, especially among underage users. Some disposable e-cigarettes are sold with flavors like Rainbow Cotton Candy and in packaging that resembles school supplies or even such cartoon characters as SpongeBob SquarePants or Super Mario.

These products are clearly marketed to individuals seeking a discreet vaping experience and they are blatantly targeting Arizonas youth. This targeted marketing makes it imperative for us to hold the manufacturers accountable and remove these products from the marketplace.

Just last week, the Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to 15 retailers in other states to provide them 15 working days to rectify the governments complaint of selling illegal e-cigarettes that target Americas youth.

The Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association represents the fuel and convenience industry all across the state. Our members are responsible retailers of age-restricted products including tobacco and vapor products. The convenience store industry in Arizona represents over 30,000 jobs at more than 1,500 stores throughout the state.

Retailers need transparency from the FDA to know what specific products have been approved through the Premarket Tobacco Product Application (commonly called PMTA) process.

The FDA must publish a publicly available list of which e-cigarettes and vape products are legal to market. Retailer organizations including the Energy Marketers of America and the National Association of Convenience stores have been requesting such a list for over 18 months.

Though we acknowledge the FDAs warning letters to some retailers and distributors, we believe that more action is needed. Two months ago, two illegal disposable e-cigarette distributors Breeze Smoke and Esco Bar received warning letters from the FDA yet little has changed as they both remain on the market and their illegal products are available online.

In Arizona, a focused effort is underway to combat the surge of illegal disposable vapes (particularly those with flavors enticing to children) that have been flooding across the southern border  and even through our legal ports of entry  from China. The aim is to prevent the growth of an illicit market driven by unscrupulous merchants and criminals seeking to exploit the situation. Additionally, as a significant number of these products are manufactured in Shenzhen, China, heightened cooperation between federal, state, and local authorities is vital to intercept and address the influx of these illegal disposable e-cigarettes crossing borders, some even laced with adulterated substances like fentanyl, posing a serious threat to public health and safety.

To tackle the issue effectively, the FDA must ensure retailers have a clear list of lawful products and an opportunity to remove unlawful products from store shelves. The next step is for law enforcement officials to be fully informed about specific red-listed products and retail code enforcement officers to take action to remove illegal brands promptly.

Having such a registry and enforcement measures in Arizona would be invaluable, but state level regulations for tobacco retailers are also needed.

For five years, APMA has been working towards comprehensive statewide legislation to ban vapor products on school grounds as well as to address youth access to tobacco and vapor products and effective enforcement at retail to prohibit underage sales. Retailers need one statewide set of regulations for tobacco and vapor products, like alcohol and other age-gated products.

The inaction by the FDA has led to an illicit market of illegal disposable e-cigarettes. But it is not too late for the Biden-Harris administration and the FDA to act to safeguard the well-being of Arizonas young population.
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

The current administration continues to ban fossil fuels and natural gas, wherever they can. After attacking the appliance industry to ban gas stoves, A/C, gas furnaces oil furnaces, they are now going after transportation and agriculture. Yellow Freight, one of the largest trucking firms, delivering essential goods that all of us need, has filed bankruptcy. That will create a 30,000-job loss, not to mention the breakdown in produce deliveries in this country. Now your favorite government wants to go after farmers and put them out of business like Yellow Freight. Soon you will wonder why grocery-store shelves are without produce. Its not COVID, its Bidenomics.

Overall, in 2021, about 60% of all New York households relied on natural gas for heating while another 20% used heating oil, according to the Energy Information Administration. Additionally, just 14% of households in the state were heated with electricity, the vast majority of which was generated by natural gas power plants.

New York state leaders led by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul reached an agreement on the states 2024 budget which includes a future ban on natural gas hookups in new building construction.

The Democrats have successfully destroyed most, if not all of our great American cities. Now they want to destroy this country. Dont put up with this hypocrisy. Give John Kerry a one-way ticket out of here.

Climate changeAccording to data from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, which is made available by the Environmental Protection Agency, the annual heat wave index for the contiguous 48 states was substantially higher in the 1930s than at any point in recent years. In some years in the 1930s, it was four times greater or even more.

Meteorologist Anthony Watts, who works with me as a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute, analyzed NOAAs data in detail and found that 81% of the weather stations used in NOAAs database reported that since 1948 there has been either a decrease or no change in the number of unusually hot days.

Can someone let John Kerry know that there are scientists that actually track the weather data? He should try to refer to scientific data, since his Commander in Chief frequently stated Follow the science. I guess thats only true when it supports your agenda.
As former President Donald Trump dominates the Republican presidential primary, some liberal groups and legal experts contend that a rarely used clause of the Constitution prevents him from being president after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The 14th Amendment bars from office anyone who once took an oath to uphold the Constitution but then "engaged" in "insurrection or rebellion" against it. A growing number of legal scholars say the post-Civil War clause applies to Trump after his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and encouraging his backers to storm the U.S. Capitol.

Two liberal nonprofits pledge court challenges should states' election officers place Trump on the ballot despite those objections.

The effort is likely to trigger a chain of lawsuits and appeals across several states that ultimately would lead to the U.S. Supreme Court, possibly in the midst of the 2024 primary season. The matter adds even more potential legal chaos to a nomination process already roiled by the front-runner facing four criminal trials.

Now Trump's very ability to run could be litigated as Republicans are scheduled to start choosing their nominee, starting with the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15.

"There's a very real prospect these cases will be active during the primaries," said Gerard Magliocca, a law professor at Indiana University, warning that there could be different outcomes in different states before the Supreme Court makes a final decision. "Imagine you have an opinion that says he's not eligible and then there's another primary where he's on the ballot."

Though most litigation is unlikely to begin until October, when states begin to set their ballots for the upcoming primary, the issue has gotten a boost from a recently released law review article written by two prominent conservative law professors, William Baude and Michael Paulsen. They concluded that Trump must be barred from the ballot due to the clause in the third section of the 14th Amendment.

That section bars anyone from Congress, the military, and federal and state offices if they previously took an oath to support the Constitution and "have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof." In their article, scheduled to be published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Baude and Paulsen said they believe the meaning is clear.

"Taking Section Three seriously means excluding from present or future office those who sought to subvert lawful government authority under the Constitution in the aftermath of the 2020 election," they write.

The issue came up during last week's Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, when former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson warned that "this is something that could disqualify him under our rules and under the Constitution."

In 2021, the nonprofit Free Speech For People sent letters to the top election official in all 50 states requesting Trump's removal if he were to run again for the presidency. The group's legal director, Ron Fein, noted that after years of silence, officials are beginning to discuss the matter.

"The framers of the 14th Amendment learned the bloody lesson that, once an oath-breaking insurrectionist engages in insurrection, they can't be trusted to return to power," Fein said.

Ahead of the 2022 midterms, the group sued to remove U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene and then-Rep. Madison Cawthorn, both Republicans, from the ballot over their support for the Jan. 6 protest. The judge overseeing Greene's case ruled in her favor, while Cawthorn's case became moot after he was defeated in his primary.

The complex legal issues were highlighted on Wednesday when the Arizona Republic reported that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said his hands are tied because of a ruling by that state's high court that only Congress can disqualify someone on Arizona's presidential ballot. Fontes, a Democrat, called the ruling "dead, flat wrong" in an interview with the Republic but said he would abide by it.

If Trump appears on the Arizona ballot, those who believe he's not qualified can still sue in federal court to remove him.

Other secretaries of state are warily navigating the legal minefield.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said "there are valid legal arguments being made" for keeping Trump off the ballot and that it's something she is discussing with other secretaries of state, including those in presidential battlegrounds.

Trump argues that any effort to prevent him from appearing on a state's ballot amounts to "election interference"  the same way he is characterizing the criminal charges filed against him in New York and Atlanta and by federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and Florida.

"And I think what's happening is there's really been a backlash against it," Trump told the conservative channel Newsmax.

If any state bars Trump from running, his reelection campaign is expected to sue, possibly taking the case directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. If no state bans him, Free Speech For People and another nonprofit, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, would likely challenge his presence on the ballot.
WASHINGTON  As John Eastman prepared to surrender to Georgia authorities last week for an indictment related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, he issued a statement denouncing the criminal case as targeting attorneys "for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients."

Another defendant, Rudy Giuliani, struck a similar note, saying he was being indicted for his work as Donald Trump's attorney. "I never thought I'd get indicted for being a lawyer," he lamented.

The 18 defendants charged alongside Trump in this month's racketeering indictment in Fulton County include more than a half-dozen lawyers, and the statements from Eastman and Giuliani provide early foreshadowing of at least one of the defenses they seem poised to raise: that they were merely doing their jobs as attorneys when they maneuvered on Trump's behalf to undo the results of that election.

The argument suggests a desire to turn at least part of the sprawling prosecution into a referendum on the boundaries of ethical lawyering in a case that highlights anew how Trump's own attorneys have become entangled over the years in his own legal problems.

But while attorneys do have wide berth to advance untested or unconventional positions, experts say a "lawyers being lawyers" defense will be challenging to pull off to the extent prosecutors can directly link the indicted lawyers to criminal schemes alleged in the indictment. That includes efforts to line up fake electors in Georgia and other states who would falsely assert that Trump, not Democrat Joe Biden, had won their respective contests.

"The law books are replete with examples of lawyers who were disciplined for claiming they were representing their clients," said Barry Richard, who represented George W. Bush's winning presidential campaign in 2000 in a dispute ultimately decided by the Supreme Court. "Lawyers are required to follow very stringent rules of propriety. And there are certain things you can't do for your clients. You cannot tell the court facts you have reason to know are not true."

A more complicated question, though, is how far lawyers can go in advancing legal theories  even poorly supported ones  to achieve a desired outcome for a client, said Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and former Justice Department official.

"Bad lawyering" is in and of itself not a crime, nor is "testing the waters" of legal arguments, he said.

"The real question is, at what point does a lawyer who knows that the legal theory that that lawyer is espousing has never been accepted anywhere  when does the lawyer cross the line if the lawyer suggests sort of that it is OK, that it's clearly OK?"

Saltzburg said. "And that's a fuzzy line."

Of course, attorneys are expected, as Eastman noted in his statement, to zealously represent clients  though he did privately acknowledge that he anticipated the Supreme Court might unanimously dismiss a legal theory he advanced that then-Vice President Mike Pence was entitled to reject the counting of electoral votes.

There's also a long history of election-related lawsuits, none more famous than the 2000 Florida fight between Democrat Al Gore and the Bush campaign. Justice Department counsel Jack Smith acknowledged as much in his own federal indictment against Trump, saying he was entitled like any candidate to file lawsuits challenging ballots and procedures and contest the results through other legal means.

But the Georgia indictment lists numerous acts in which prosecutors allege that lawyers went beyond conventional legal advocacy and engaged themselves in criminal activities.

It alleges, for instance, that former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark  who has denied wrongdoing  drafted a memo he wanted to send to Georgia officials falsely claiming that fraud had been identified that could have affected the election outcome in that state. It also accuses another lawyer, Sidney Powell, of plotting to illegally access voting equipment in a rural county in Georgia in an attempt to prove voting fraud claims.

And the indictment says multiple other lawyers  including Kenneth Chesebro, Giuliani and Eastman  were involved in discussions about enlisting fake electors in battleground states won by Biden in place of the legitimate ones. A lawyer for Chesebro has said that each allegation against him related to his work as an attorney; lawyers for Powell declined to comment.

"The difference here is between recommending to the client that it may be possible to appoint electors other than those identified by the secretary of state, and then the client does it or doesn't do it," said Stephen Gillers, a legal expert at New York University. "It's different when the lawyer himself or herself proceeds to follow that advice."

He added: "The lawyer as actor, as opposed to the lawyer as advocate, gets less freedom to trespass on legal principles."

The Georgia case continues a pattern of Trump lawyers becoming sucked into his legal woes. His former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty in 2018 to arranging at Trump's direction a hush money payment to a porn actress who said she had an extramarital affair with Trump years earlier.

More recently, some of Trump's lawyers testified before a federal grand jury investigating his alleged mishandling of classified documents, with statements from one of those attorneys, M. Evan Corcoran, helping form the backbone of an indictment against Trump filed in June.
Wanda Jefferson Armstrong, known to Tulsa soul food aficionados as Wanda J, had not planned on moving out of the Greenwood district.

Armstrong and her family currently own and operate two north Tulsa restaurants: Evelyns Soul Food Restaurant at 3014 N. 74th East Ave., and Wanda Js Next Generation Restaurant, at 111 N. Greenwood Ave.

The Wanda Js restaurant is set to close on Saturday, Sept. 16, with the operation moving to the Evelyns location, which will resume business on Monday, Sept. 18.

Both restaurants are known for traditional, Southern-style comfort foods, including fried chicken, meatloaf, beans and cornbread, collard greens, candied yams and peach cobbler.

In 2020, Wanda Js Next Generation restaurant was named as one of 25 historic and culturally significant restaurants, earning a $40,000 grant from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Armstrong herself was a semi-finalist for Best Chef Southwest in the 2022 James Beard Awards, the most prestigious award in the American culinary world.

We really had just outgrown that space (on Greenwood), Armstrong said. We were getting so busy that we were having to turn customers away, and those who wanted to wait for a table really didnt have any place where they could sit.

We just made it work as best we could, she said. But it got to the point where we just needed a lot more room.

Armstrong said she had wanted to relocate to another spot on Greenwood  a space that formerly housed Fat Guys Burger Bar, which closed last year.

That was where I had my first restaurant in Greenwood, back in 1992, Armstrong said. I was excited about being able to move there, because it would be like coming home. But we could never get a workable lease agreement.

Armstrong has owned and operated restaurants in Tulsa for almost 50 years, beginning with the first Wanda Js that opened in 1974 at 1307 E. Apache St. For a time, she tried operating a catering truck but found that it was too hard to make a living. Fortunately, one of her food trucks top customers, Sparks Aviation Center, mentioned there was a restaurant space in a nearby building.

That became Evelyns Soul Food, named for Jeffersons mother, which opened in 2005. Wanda Js Next Generation, which opened on Greenwood in 2016, is overseen by Armstrongs son, Ty Walker and his family.

Armstrong said the restaurant will be renamed Wanda Js Next Generation when it opens on Sept. 18, and that it will be open for breakfast and lunch, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

And I may try to move back into Greenwood at some point, she said. I have a few options Im considering. I just really want to be an asset to the community.

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Lydia Fletcher Tulsa World Scene Writer Follow Lydia Fletcher 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

Take two deep breaths, and then well begin, Austin Parker says to the leader of the Cherokee Baptist Choir.

Parker, a video production manager, adjusts the cameras as pastor DJ McCarter introduces the audience to what he and the Cherokee Baptist Choir will be performing. Once the choir begins singing Dedication to the Children, cameras pan out to feature the entire chorale.

Bright lights surround them as they sing in Cherokee. The studio is silent other than their voices, making sure few takes are needed for the July episode of the tribe's : Wherever We Are monthly series.

As the choir finishes, Parker holds up his hand, guaranteeing the studio stays silent until he loudly announces And cut!

Onlookers in the studio burst into applause, and workers quickly move to change the set for the next segment of the show.

The monthly series is produced at Cherokee Film Studios in Owasso, one of four studios with soundstages in Oklahoma.

As Oklahomas film industry grows, there are more opportunities for infrastructure to be built, and the Cherokee Nation is leading the way in this part of the state.

Last week, Cherokee Nation announced an expansion and reorganization of its filmmaking hub. Cherokee Films portfolio includes four branches  Cherokee Film Productions, Cherokee Film Studios, Cherokee Film Commission and Cherokee Film Institute  and represents more than 30 full-time employees.

And on Wednesday, the tribe celebrated the groundbreaking of its second soundstage at Cherokee Film Studios in Owasso.

It's an opportunity to be part of what is a forever industry, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. I mean film, TV, and creative content  it's going to be with us forever. The avenues for producing it and avenues for consuming it by viewers and listeners are growing and growing.

The goal is to get more Native American representation in all levels of the film industry.

It gives us an opportunity to tell our story, Hoskin said. Because we have the technology, we have the resources to do that today in a way we haven't for a long, long time. For generations, other people have told our story. They've sometimes told it right; more often they told it wrong or incomplete.

Supporting representation

The first soundstage opened in 2021 to help support the emerging film industry.

Senior director of Cherokee Film Jennifer Loren hosts multiple television shows for the Cherokee Nation, including : Wherever We Are, which was created to connect Cherokee people with their culture regardless of their location.

The more that we can educate people about what it really means to be Cherokee the better, because theres lots of misconceptions about who Cherokee people are, said Loren. A lot of times Native Americans just get lumped into one group when we all have very specific cultures.

According to the 2021 Hollywood Diversity Report conducted by the University of California Los Angeles, Native Americans only had 0.6 percent of all film roles in 2020. There were no Native American directors or writers that year, according to the study.

Loren said representation for Native Americans and Cherokee people has always been important to her. This mission inspired the founding of the Cherokee Nation Film Office in 2019 and the opening of the Cherokee Film Studios in Owasso three years later.

The 27,000-square-foot facility opened in 2021 and its 14,000-square-foot stage has been home to more than 30 productions. Along with a soundstage, the facility is home to editing suites, hair and makeup facilities, lounges and control rooms. This studio is not exclusively for tribal citizens, but Native American representation is encouraged and incentivized.

In 2022, the Cherokee Nation created a film incentive to support productions made within the 14 counties of the Cherokee Nation. Applicants are incentivized to hire citizens of any federally recognized tribe by receiving increased rebates for having them in both above and below the line roles.

In film industry terms, above the line roles include directors, writers, producers and principal cast. Below the line roles are all of the various roles required for filmmaking. This ranges from supporting cast, electricians and lighting directors, to caterers and other support services needed.

The CNFO website also includes a native talent directory, so productions interested in filming within the Cherokee Nation have a database for hireable cast and crew.

The rebate has a $1 million annual cap but is stackable with the Oklahoma Film Incentive. It requires a minimum spend of $50,000 in Oklahoma, and $25,000 of that must be within the Cherokee Nation.

Unique technology

The first movie filmed at Cherokee Film Studios was Land of Gold. Directed by Nardeep Khurmi, the film follows the story of a Punjabi-American truckers last route before he becomes a father. During this route he finds a 10-year-old stowaway in need of safe passage. The drama explores the experiences of first-generation Americans and themes of race, identity and found family.

CNFO was also a cultural consultant for the film, as they added a Native American character to the movie.

It was the first film that used Cherokee Film Studios Extended Reality (xR) technology. The studio is equipped with a 77-foot-long curved LED screen and 52-foot ceiling panels, which help create dimensional scenes.

The xR technology was first used in the popular Disney+ Series The Mandalorian, and this same technology was used in Land of Gold'' to provide more immersive road trip scenes.

Micheal Lister is the virtual productions manager for CNFO and oversees the use of xR technology at the soundstage. He said Land of Gold was by far one of the most fun productions hes worked on, as he helped filmmakers re-create a 3,000-mile road trip from California to Maine.

What really sets us apart, I think, from other soundstages in the region, or even other xR studios, is (were) incredibly modular and agile, Lister said. So, we can be set up to handle a lot of different types of productions.

These types of productions include external feature films, fully virtual motion capture productions, animated productions and internal productions such as Voices of the People and Wherever We Are."

Lister said he hopes to use his experience to encourage Native Americans to join the film industry.

I think for a lot of us, especially guys like me, who grew up in a small town in rural Oklahoma, film and animation production and stuff like that, almost seemed like a mythical thing  like some far-off thing that lived in Hollywood, said Lister. To have this type of technology here to be able to stay in the areas and the regions that you care about and contribute to that so directly makes it so special.

Tava Maloy Sofsky became director of the Cherokee Film Commission in 2022 after leaving her position as director of the Oklahoma Film + Music Office. Before moving to Oklahoma to begin that job, she worked in the film industry in Los Angeles for 15 years.

She said she believes everyone can have a place in the film industry and wants to ensure Cherokee people dont have to leave the Nation to achieve their dreams.

People think its all glitz and glamor, Sofsky said about working in film. Its a lot of hard work, but it's really rewarding, as well.

Sofsky said she thinks behind the scenes is where all the magic happens and hopes to educate Cherokee people about all the different jobs available to them within the industry.

The Cherokee Nation partnered with Oklahoma State University-Tulsa in 2021 to create educational opportunities for Native Americans who are interested in joining the film industry. There are public, non-credit workshops available, which CNFO has helped provide 100 scholarships for. Workshops lessons have ranged from special effects makeup training, how to get cast as an extra in film productions, and even on-set film etiquette.

That means that a Cherokee who wants to be in production, wants to be a writer, wants to be on a crew, in front of the camera, or behind the camera can get skills here in the region, Hoskin said. Then, if we do our jobs right, they can stay here in the region and work.

More Soundstages in Oklahoma Green Pastures Studio Located around 20 minutes from Oklahoma City, Green Pastures Film Studio provides two soundstages, as well as multiple pre-built sets which can be changed to fit any production that uses the studio. These sets include a police station, hospital, bar and even a school, which makes sense as that was the building's original purpose. The studio is also home to The Oklahoma Film & TV Academy, a program founders Richard Janes and Melodie Garneau created to help people pivot from their current jobs into the film industry. Prairie Surf Media Rachel Cannon and Matt Payne co-founded Prairie Surf Media to bring large-scale productions to Oklahoma. The 1.3 million square foot facility in Oklahoma City is home to 5 soundstages with a variety of square-footage and ceiling height, which have been used for productions like Stephen Spielberg's sequel to the 1996 blockbuster, Twister. Cannon said she wanted to help bring opportunities for Oklahomans wanting to pursue the film industry after having to move to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams, and that workforce development and a state incentive increase are her biggest goals. OKC Community College According to its website Oklahoma City Community College is home to a 6,000 square foot soundstage as well as scene shop facilities to build sets on-site. The school was recently named one of the 25 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada by MovieMaker magazine for its Digital Cinema Production program.

Cities, tribes offer incentives to lure filmmaking industry to Oklahoma Oklahoma is known for its oil and gas industries, but another industry is paving the way to provide Oklahomans with a renewable resource: film.
RESTAURANT NEWS

Natv, the Broken Arrow Nrestaurant where chef and owner Jacque Siegfried uses ingredients and techniques from Indigenous cuisines to craft her fine-dining dishes, was recently chosen by Southern Living magazine as one of its Best New Restaurants of 2023.

Natv, located at 1611 S. Main St. in Broken Arrow, is the only Oklahoma restaurant featured in the article, which uses an extremely inclusive idea of "Southern restaurants," as it highlights eateries from Kansas City, Missouri, to Wilmington, Delaware, as well as Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The Southern Living article states: "A descendant of the Shawnee Tribe and a member of the Cherokee Nation, veteran chef Jacque Siegfried learned how to cook from her father well before attending culinary school. Curious about her roots, she dug into Indigenous histories and recipes. In 2022, she opened a restaurant in Broken Arrow to bring 'Native American cuisine to the modern forefront.' Natv serves as a partner to other Native-owned businesses, highlighting their produce and meats as often as possible. Blue corn tortillas are stuffed with shredded bison, and the gnocchi is prepared with pecan flour and sunchokes  new takes on Indigenous ingredients that have been true to the region for thousands of years."

Siegfried began her culinary training at Tulsa's Nathan Hale High School and studied at Platt College. Her career has included working at such places as Montereau, Cedar Ridge Country Club, the Mayo Hotel and the Tulsa Club Hotel.

She began seriously to pursue the idea of Natv during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown; the Tulsa World got its first taste of her food when Siegfried operated a food stall at the 2021 Tulsa State Fair.

Natv earned a four-star review from the Tulsa World in 2022, and it made the list of the World's Best New Restaurants for 2022. Singled out for praise were such dishes as the panseared trout with wild onion chimichurri sauce; the bison poyha, a dish similar to meatloaf, but raised to a higher level; and the relish board, with a unique array of cured meats and pickled fruits.

"In everything we do," Siegfried told the Tulsa World, "we're just trying to show off the true, natural flavors of the food we serve."

Earlier this year, Natv was featured on a Hulu series titled "Searching for Soul Food," which featured Los Angeles-based celebrity chef Alisa Reynolds on an international quest to discover what soul food looks like around the world.

For more information on Natv, including its current menu: natvba.com.

918 Food Festival Saturday in SoBo

The second annual 918 Food Festival will take place 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2, in the South Boston neighborhood at 18th Street and Boston Avenue.

The festival will feature a number of local food vendors from food trucks to brick-and-mortar restaurants, activities that include a hot wing-eating challenge and a children's play area, and a full slate of live music performances by area artists.

Select food vendors will be offering signature dishes that can be sampled only by those who purchase The 918 Plate, which is a $25 charge.

Among the food vendors for this year's festival are Alpha Grill, Tunley BBQ, Stuff that Turkey, Mang Kitchen, Bobby Ray's Southern BBQ, 918 Munchies, Anything Doggs, Primo's Chicken, The Noodle Truck, The Red Tacos, MASA Food Truck, Calaveras Food Truck, Bondi Bowl, Frios Gourmet Pops, El Ranchero and Nothing Bundt Cakes.

Performers include Casii Stevens, Charlie Redd, Ausha LaCole, LT y Su Clave MX, A-Slade and the Vibe, Bobby Moffett Jr., Lincka and Ramal Brown.

For more information: 918foodfestival.com.

Fleming's Labor Day special

As part of Labor Day weekend, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 1976 Utica Square, will offer that most typical of holiday fare  the burger  for a limited-time special.

Three variations of Fleming's Signature Burger are available only at the restaurant's bar for a special price. Choices include the Prime Burger ($15), the California ($17), topped with avocado and bacon; the vegetarian Crispy Chickpea and Eggplant Burger ($14); and a Filet Mignon sandwich ($27), with caramelized onions, Gruyere cheese, fresh arugula and a smoked jalapeno aioli on toasted potato baguette. All sandwiches are accompanied by an order of fries.

For more information go to flemingssteakhouse.com

Marco's offers free pizza for a year

Marco's Pizza is conducting a special sweepstakes for free pizza and more to encourage new diners to sample the company's wares at its most recent Tulsa area location, at 8103 S. Sheridan Road.

Every order placed at the new location will be entered in a sweepstakes, with prizes that include free pizza from Marco's for three months, six months or one year.

In addition, the new location is offering pizzas for half-price when ordered online restaurant for more details. Marco's Pizza Tulsa is also offering certain pizzas at 50% off menu-price, when ordered online from the Hot Deals section of the online menu.

The offers will be available through Sept. 10.

For more information go to marcos.com.
Sharon Bishop-Baldwin Sand Springs Leader Staff Writer Follow Sharon Bishop-Baldwin 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

Three Sand Springs firefighters are part of a 16-member task force from eastern Oklahoma that traveled this week to southwest Louisiana to assist fire crews there battling a massive wildfire.

Driver Chad Lytle and firefighters Hunter Sistrunk and Sam Mosier were part of the Oklahoma Wildland Strike Team that deployed Sunday.

Lytle said organizers from the Tulsa Fire Department reached out to Sand Springs Fire Chief Jeremy Wade about supplying some personnel and that he, Sistrunk and Mosier were chosen only because they were lucky enough to jump up first.

The three joined task force leaders from Tulsa and firefighters from Berryhill, Verdigris, Fort Gibson and Muskogee.

In many ways, the firefighting is much like what the crews are accustomed to doing at home.

We do so much of it and we train on it, Lytle said. The difference is the topography.

He pointed to the really tall pine trees that dot much of the southwestern Louisiana landscape, noting at the brushy tops of the trees, the flames can be 50, 60, 75 feet tall. At home, cedar tree patches are 10 to 15 feet tall.

The weather is a lot like home, actually, he said, adding that the temperatures have ranged from about 92 to about 98.

But he added that the humidity has been low, and thats what dries out vegetation and allows it to burn more quickly. The fires then can grow exponentially with nearly unlimited fuel.

Lytle said local authorities told them when they arrived that it had been 42 days since any kind of moisture had fallen here where we were. It has just been extremely, extremely dry for them.

More than 450 wildfires have scorched thousands of acres in southwest Louisiana in recent weeks during record-breaking temperatures and severe drought conditions.

Two people have been killed in fires in the state, authorities said.

Wildfires this many and of this intensity are unprecedented, Mike Strain, commissioner of the Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Department, told the Washington Post this week.

According to the US Drought Monitor, nearly 77 percent of Louisiana is experiencing severe drought conditions.

The crews are working 12-hour days that see them rise before sunup and return to their cots around sunset.

Fortunately, they havent had to sleep outside yet, Lytle said, because local churches and other entities have allowed them to set up makeshift base stations in their facilities.

While at base station, the firefighters continue to be on call, just like they would be if they were on duty in Sand Springs. In fact, Lytle said, they were called out Wednesday night to serve as structure protection while another crew got things under control at a nearby fire line. They returned to the base station about 1 a.m. and got just a few hours of sleep before heading out early Thursday.

The Oklahoma task force is expected to return to the Sooner State on Sunday.

Lytle, who joined the Sand Springs Fire Department 18 years ago after serving as a volunteer firefighter for several years, said the firefighters miss being at home but that nowadays technology makes it a little easier.

Were just proud to be down here and helping everybody out, he said, adding that the parishes have been amazing in providing food, snacks, bedding and other necessities and comforts. Its been incredible.

Were glad to be down here. Were glad to be able to help.
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The Sand Springs United Methodist Church voted this week to disaffiliate from the larger United Methodist denomination.

Similar action is under way in nearly four dozen other United Methodist congregations across Oklahoma in advance of an October meeting of the board of the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference at which those congregational votes could be ratified.

The crux of the issue is homosexuality  whether the church should ordain gay or lesbian ministers or solemnize same-sex marriages. Although the larger denomination moved in 2019 to soften its liturgical stance on homosexuality-related matters, many individual congregations bristled at the change.

As a result, the denomination amended its Book of Discipline that same year to allow congregations to take what Oklahoma United Methodist Conference spokesman Alan Herzberger called a gracious exit based on reasons of conscience tied to the homosexuality-related changes.

Most Methodists now in favor of disaffiliation cite the denominations alleged inconsistency in following the Book of Disciplines teachings on those issues.

In the United Methodist Church, one of Oklahomas largest faith groups, the rift came to a head in the past few years, prompting a number of churches  more than 80 in Oklahoma  to sever ties with the denomination.

This weeks vote in Sand Springs only United Methodist congregation passed by an overwhelming majority of 83%, according to a source in the church and confirmed by Herzberger, who said the vote was 65-13 in favor of disaffiliation.

A minimum of a two-thirds majority vote was required.

Congregants at the First United Methodist Church of Owasso also voted this week to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church by a vote of 233-37.

The Sand Springs churchs minister, the Rev. Stephen Cagle, said when reached by telephone Tuesday that he did not wish to make any comment.

Asked to confirm the facts of the disaffiliation vote, he again asserted that he did not want to comment.

Congregations wishing to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church under the so-called Paragraph 2553 provisions of the Book of Discipline must take action in sufficient time for the process for exiting the denomination to be complete prior to December 31, 2023, the document states.

The congregational votes currently under way will be considered for ratification when the board of the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference meets Oct. 13-14.

But perhaps the bigger stumbling block for the Sand Springs church is whether it can afford to disaffiliate.

Under terms set forth by the United Methodist Church, congregations wishing to disaffiliate must pay all costs associated with buying the church property from the denomination as well as apportionment and pension liabilities.

In the case of Sand Springs United Methodist Church, the real estate at issue is the main church property at 319 N. Main St. as well as the satellite campus known as The Well at 101 W. 38th St., south of the Arkansas River.

Combined with any owed apportionments, pension liabilities and other debts, loans or liabilities, the congregation reportedly would have to pay upwards of $400,000 to leave the denomination, according to a source in the church, who asked not to be identified.

The source said it was doubtful that the congregation would be able to raise the funds by the end of the calendar year, as required by the denomination.

Herzberger said he could not confirm the specifics of the Sand Springs United Methodist Churchs financial indebtedness.

The Cabinet of the conference is really focused on the process and making sure everything is done correctly, he said, and is really looking forward to this year being over so we can focus on the future.
Over 30 enterprises in Switzerland and several other European nations, such as Austria, Germany and Italy, along with many Swiss trade associations and universities participated in a trade and investment promotion program recently co-held in Switzerland by the Bac Ninh Province Peoples Committee and some Swiss units.

A representative of the Swiss-Vienam Business Gateway, one of the co-organizer of the event, said that the program was part of a series of trade and investment promotion activities taking place on the final days of August in Zurich, known as Switzerlands largest financial and economic hub.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Switzerland Phung The Long said that the program was aimed at discussing some opportunities and challenges of doing business in Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam between the provincial officials and Swiss firms, and European investors to boost trade and investment cooperation, reported Phap Luat (Law) newspaper.

Some firms shared their success in their business operations in Vietnam, mainly in the northern region, thanks to favorable waterway traffic systems.

Among them are Belgiums DEEP C Industrial Zone Vietnam, which operates in the industrial infrastructure field, and Denmarks DSV Air & Sea active in logistics.

Jamil Ahmad Mayo, CEO at Hitech Networks, Pakistans telecommunications and energy service provider, said that his firm is keen on Bac Ninh Provinces investment attraction model.

Mayo expected to learn more about the provinces investment attraction programs and its incentives for foreign investors.

Some other firms showed their interest in green investment, and anti-climate change infrastructure projects in Bac Ninh and Vietnam.

Bac Ninh Vice Chairman Dao Quang Khai affirmed that the province boasts the proximity to the capital city of Hanoi, thereby tapping an abundance of human resources.

Furthermore, Bac Ninh Province is home to six universities, and 58 colleges and vocational training centers. The province turns out a huge number of skilled workers each year.

The province is working to bolster training, and establish a university village to meet soaring demand for employees.

The official from Bac Ninh Province also introduced industrial infrastructure and the provinces investment attraction plans to foreign investors.

The province plans to attract investors in green investment, supporting industries, clean agriculture, and hi-tech-based projects, said the representative.

Besides, the province expects to attract investment in high-end commercial-service complexes of shopping malls, amusement parks, training centers, and healthcare facilities.

Bac Ninh Province is home to four operational projects invested by three famed Swiss groups, with a total registered capital of US$109.34 million.

These groups include ABB Ltd., an electrical equipment manufacturer; Sika AG, a Swiss multinational specialty chemical company that supplies to the building sector and motor vehicle industry, and Oerlikon Group.

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Polar bears have long symbolized the dangers posed by climate change, as rising temperatures melt away the Arctic sea ice they depend upon for survival.

But quantifying the impact of a single oil well or coal power plant on the tundra predators had eluded scientists, until now.

A new report published in the journal Science on Thursday shows it is possible to calculate how much new greenhouse gas emissions will increase the number of ice-free days in the bears' habitats, and how that in turn will affect the percentage of cubs that reach adulthood.

By achieving this level of granularity, the paper's two authors hope to close a loophole in US law.

Although the apex carnivores have had endangered species protections since 2008, a long-standing legal opinion prevents climate considerations from affecting decisions on whether to grant permits to new fossil fuel projects.

"We have presented the information necessary to rescind the Bernhardt Memo," first co-author Steven Amstrup, a zoologist with Polar Bears International and the University of Wyoming, told AFP, referring to the legal caveat which was named after an attorney in former president George W. Bush's administration.

The memo stated it was beyond the scope of existing science to distinguish the impacts of a specific source of carbon emissions from the impacts of all greenhouse gasses since the beginning of the industrial age.

Although polar bears have had endangered species protections since 2008, a long-standing legal opinion prevents climate considerations from affecting decisions on whether to grant permits to new fossil fuel projects. Photo: AFP

Cub survival imperiled

Polar bears rely heavily on the sea ice environment for hunting seals, traveling, mating and more.

When sea ice melts in summer, they retreat onto land or unproductive ice far from the shore, where they endure long stretches of fasting. These periods are growing longer as global temperatures rise.

A landmark paper published in Nature in 2020 was the first to calculate links between changes in the sea ice caused by climate and polar bear demographics.

Building on this work, Amstrup and Bitz established the mathematical relationships between greenhouse emissions and fasting days as well as cub survival, in 15 out of 19 of the polar bears' subpopulations, between 1979 and 2020.

For example, the world currently emits 50 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide or equivalent gases into the atmosphere annually, and that is reducing the rate of cub survival by over three percentage points per year in the South Beaufort Sea subpopulation.

In healthy populations, cub survival during the first year of life is around 65 percent.

"You don't have to knock that down very far before you don't have enough cubs entering the next generation," said Amstrup.

In addition, the paper provides US policy makers with the tools they need to quantify the impact of new fossil fuel projects slated to occur on public lands in the coming decades.

It can also be applied retrospectively to understand the emissions from specific projects, companies or even countries in the past, to inform global negotiations about climate and biodiversity.

A polar bear sleeps at the end of the night along the shoreline of the Hudson Bay near Churchill, Canada. Photo: AFP

Implications for other species

While the pair are confident in their calculations, they say their work can be further refined by more ground research, for example better estimates of the mass of polar bears at the time they enter their fasting period.

Joel Berger, university chair of wildlife conservation at Colorado State University, praised the paper.

"Amstrup and Bitz render an incontrovertible quantitative link among greenhouse gas emissions, sea ice decline, fasting duration -- a physiological response to lost hunting opportunities for seals -- and subsequent polar bear demographics," said Berger, who was not involved in the research.

Beyond providing a potential policy solution to the legal loophole, the new research could have implications that reach far beyond polar bears, second co-author Cecilia Bitz, a climatologist at the University of Washington, told AFP.

Methods laid out in the paper can be adapted for other species and habitats, such as coral reefs, or Florida's Key deer.

"I really hope this stimulates a lot of research," Bitz said, adding she was already reaching out to new collaborators.
Chinas 2023 standard map that shows the dash line covering Vietnams Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos is invalid and violates Vietnams sovereignty in the East Vietnam Sea, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday.

The ministrys spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang made the opposition in response to reporters questions regarding Vietnams reaction to the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources' (MNR) release of the illegal national map.

Hang emphasized that the issuance of the map including Chinas dash line shows a violation of Vietnams sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, as well as Vietnams sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its waters as stipulated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Therefore, all sovereignty and maritime claims by China based on the dash line as shown in the map are void and violate international law, particularly the UNCLOS, the spokeswoman said.

The dash line was previously drawn up by China to illegally claim its sovereignty over most of the East Vietnam Sea, so the line has been internationally condemned and rejected.

Vietnam strongly reiterates its consistent stance on its sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, and resolutely rejects any claims by China based on the unlawful dash line in the East Vietnam Sea, Hang stated.

Previously, the foreign ministry has repeatedly proclaimed that Vietnam has enough historical evidence and legal foundation to prove its sovereignty over the two archipelagoes in accordance with international law.

After being released by MNR on Monday, the 2023 edition of the standard national map of China has triggered reactions across Asia. In addition to Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and India have expressed strong opposition to the map.

The Malaysian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Malaysia does not recognize Chinas claims in the East Vietnam Sea as outlined in the map that covers Malaysias maritime area, according to Nikkei Asia.

The map has no binding effect on Malaysia, the statement read.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has also rejected the 2023 version of Chinas map, saying it includes the Philippines exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea, the Manila Times reported.

Meanwhile, the Indian External Affairs Ministry has lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on its 2023 standard map that covers Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, which New Delhi said belong to India, the Times of India said.

We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question, spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stressed.

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Police in Ca Mau Province, southern Vietnam have busted a ring of gold thieves, detaining five men who stole gold jewelry worth some VND10 billion (US$417,360) from a gold shop in Tran Van Thoi District in the province four months ago.

A police officer from the provincial Department of Public Security said on Thursday night that the thieves were identified as fishermen.

At 11:00 pm on May 20, the group of men, including Le Van Chau, Le Van Lo, Le Minh Hoang, Le Chi Linh and Pham Van Gioi, aged between 33 and 48, broke into Minh Duc Gold Shop in Khanh Hai Commune in the district, and stole cash and gold jewelry.

Through footage from the security cameras installed at the shop, the police identified the robbers as locals.

During the investigation process, police found that Le Van Chau had tried to sell a large amount of gold at a gold shop in Song Doc Town in the district last Thursday.

He was later directed to a police station for questioning.

Chau admitted to the police that he stole gold jewelry from Minh Duc Gold Shop. He also named his accomplices in the robbery.

Six kilograms of gold items and cash were confiscated after the investigation.

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A fire swept through a house in Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province, south-central Vietnam on Thursday, injuring two children and claiming the lives of their mother and a man who attempted to save them.

The blaze broke out at about 7:00 pm at the house on Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street in Phong Nam Commune, Phan Thiet City when Pham Bao Tram, 32, and her two children were trapped inside the house.

Nguyen Huu Don, 34, died while trying to save the three, the Phan Thiet authorities informed.

Other neighbors smashed walls and doors to save Tram and her children, but their efforts were in vain.

The scene of the house fire. Photo: Duc Trong / Tuoi Tre

Nguyen Thien Nho, who tried to save the three, recalled that when the house burst into flames, Trams husband shouted for help.

As the house has only one entrance, neighbors tried to break down walls but failed.

Nho and some others got an electric shock during the rescue process.

Firefighters are on duty at the scene of the incident. Photo: Duc Trong / Tuoi Tre

Firefighters put out the fire at 8:00 pm on the same day and rushed the three to hospital.

At present, the two children are still in hospital.

Colonel Huynh Ngoc Liem, deputy director of the Binh Thuan Police, and Pham Van Nam, secretary of the Phan Thiet City Party Committee, also reached the scene to direct the handling of the incident.

The house collapses after the fire. Photo: Duc Trong / Tuoi Tre

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Tuoi Tre [Youth] is a leading newspaper. We pay a lot of attention to [Tuoi Tre] and it also hosts diverse activities associated with Japan, Consul General of Japan to Ho Chi Minh City Ono Masuo remarked on Wednesday.

The diplomat shares his appreciation during a visit to Tuoi Tre headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City, where he and the newspapers leaders held a meeting focused on promoting cooperation between the two countries.

Consul General Masuo told Tuoi Tre about plans to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which will fall on September 21.

The Japanese government attaches great importance to strengthening its relationship with Vietnam and wants to further increase the number of Japanese businesses interested in investment in the Southeast Asian nation, Ono affirmed, adding that the anniversary will be a good opportunity for the two countries and peoples to deepen their friendship and expand their cooperation in all fields, the official stated.

Leaders of Tuoi Tre newspaper (L) host a meeting with visiting Japanese Consul General Ono Masuo on August 30, 2023. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre

Tuoi Tres Editor-in-Chief Le The Chu told Masuo that the newspaper hasplans to launch a special the Vietnam Pho Festival 2023 in Tokyo in early October with the aim to celebrate the anniversary.

Through this event, we will promote pho, the national dish of Vietnam, to the world, Chu emphasized.

The consul general also shared that he highly valued this meaningful event and said he will support it as much as possible.

During its 49 years of operation, Tuoi Tre, in addition to providing domestic and international readers with attractive news, has also paid great attention to activities that help develop Vietnamese culture and create connections between similar cultures in the world, Chu told the guest.

Tuoi Tre has a very special interest in Japan as the Japanese and Vietnamese peoples have cultural similarities, he added.

Over the past several years, the newspaper has organized a series of cultural, gastronomic, and educational events to further promote Vietnam-Japan ties, including those featuring likenesses between Vietnamese and Japanese cuisines, providing information on studying in Japan, and promoting cooperation in other fields.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Japans Mainichi newspaper coordinated with Tuoi Tre to organize the annual Kizuna Ekiden Run - a form of collective jogging created by the Japanese - in Hanoi, drawing interest from locals in this type of sport.

A poster of the 2023 Vietnam Pho Festival that will be launched in Tokyo, Japan, in early October 2023. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In addition, Tuoi Tre often publishes information related to mutual visits by senior leaders from the two countries, as well as bilateral economic, cultural, educational exchanges, always attracting the attention of a great deal of readers.

Chu also told the consul general that the newspaper is ready to act as a bridge to provide information about Japan's plans and activities to mark 50 years of diplomatic ties with Vietnam.

Vietnam and Japan established diplomatic relations on September 21, 1973 and the bilateral ties have fruitfully developed ever since.

The Northeast Asian country is Vietnams fourth-largest trade partner, with two-way trade reaching nearly U$50 billion in 2022, according to official sources.

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A ferry service linking An Giang Province with Dong Thap Province in southern Vietnam will be restored starting from 7:00 am this Friday, leaving local household businesses in buoyant mood as their sales are expected to be revived.

The Vam Cong ferry service had been offering rides across the Hau River for a century, before being suspended as a bridge of the same name, some four kilometers away from the ferry terminal, was opened to traffic in 2019.

The four-year suspension has taken a toll on their sales.

The resumption of service delights us, Nguyen Huynh Van, owner of a grocery store near the ferry terminal located in An Giangs Long Xuyen City, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday.

This grocery store owner also recalled her good old days during which she enjoyed strong sales thanks to a high number of ferry passengers.

The presence of the Vam Cong Bridge will definitely make the ferry terminal less crowded than before, but local household businesses are still happy because they can at least earn some money, according to Van.

Tran Minh Toan, who worked as a street vendor at the ferry terminal, told the newspaper that he will go back to this job which can earn him several hundreds of Vietnamese dongs (US$1 = VND23,944).

After the ferry service was suspended, Toan had to do various jobs to make ends meet, including working as a taxi motorbike rider and bricklayer.

Tran Minh Toan, who worked as a street vendor at the Vam Cong ferry terminal, said he was delighted at the restoration of the ferry service. Photo: Chi Hanh / Tuoi Tre

The service restoration also cheered up commuters from Dong Thaps Lap Vo District to An Giang, as using the ferry service helps them save more time than using the Vam Cong Bridge.

Tran Quoc Long, general director of An Giang Ferry JSC, said that staff members and infrastructure facilities are ready for the resumption.

An Giang and Dong Thap Ferry Companies will take charge of operating the service from 4:00 am to 10:00 pm every day, using three 40- and 60-metric-ton ferries.

A 100-metric-ton ferry will be put into use during periods of high demand, Long said.

Cars with over 30 seats and trucks with more than seven metric tons in capacity are not allowed to use the ferry service, he added.

The fare for a single-ride on the ferry route is VND6,000 (US$0.25) for motorcycles, VND25,000 ($1.06) for cars with no more than seven seats, VND35,000 ($1.45) for cars with 12 seats or below and pick-up trucks, VND45,000 ($1.87) for 16-seater autos and buses, and VND60,000 ($2.54) for commercial cars with 16-30 seats.

The Vam Cong Bridge was put into use on May 19, 2019, spanning over the Hau River and linking Can Tho Citys Thot Not District with Dong Thaps Lap Vo District, with a total investment of VND5.7 trillion ($241.6 million).

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The annual Screen Forever conference will return to the Gold Coast in March 2024.

The Screen Producers Australias event, will be held from 19-21 March at The Star Event Centre, followed by an Online Global Market from 26-27 March.

The SPA Awards will take place on the final evening of the conference, 21st March.

SPA CEO Matthew Deaner said, We are delighted to announce the return of Screen Forever and the SPA Awards today. The SPA Awards are an important opportunity to stop and take stock of the immense talent and dedication of screen practitioners here in Australia.

We continue to edge closer to critical policy reforms, and we trust that at next years Screen Forever we will be gathering to celebrate a new era of Australian creativity that promises so much for the growth and sustainability of our sector and for audiences near and far.

The SPA Awards categories include Childrens Production of the Year, Feature Documentary Production of the Year, Feature Film Production of the Year, Commissioner of the Year, the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Production Business of the Year Award.
By Katherine Masters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Roughly 27% of tests performed on shoes and garments collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in May showed links to cotton from Chinas Xinjiang region, which has been banned because of concerns over forced labor, according to documents obtained by Reuters under the Freedom of Information Act.

The results, which have not been previously reported, highlight the challenges of complying with the U.S. law aimed at blocking imports of cotton linked to forced labor in China. It requires cutting out the far western region from apparel supply chains.

To help enforce the law, customs officials have turned to isotopic testing, which can link cotton to specific geographic areas by analyzing the concentration of stable elements like carbon and hydrogen present in both the crop and the environment in which it has been grown, experts say.

Ten of the 37 garments collected by Customs and Border Protection in May returned as consistent with Xinjiang, the documents show. So far, officials have collected at least three batches of footwear and apparel as part of their enforcement efforts, on Dec. 22, 2022, April 11, 2023, and on May 23, 2023, according to government documents released to Reuters.

Overall, 13 of 86 total tests, or 15%, were deemed to be consistent with Xinjiang.

Much of the other information on the documents was redacted, including brands of the garments that were tested. Descriptions of the items detail a range of apparel, from boxers, jeans and tee-shirts to baby onesies and dresses. All contained cotton, in some cases mixed with other textiles such as spandex and rayon.

One item collected in May that returned as consistent with Xinjiang was described as a Mickey T-shirt made from a blend of cotton and polyester. Laura Murphy, a professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam University in England, said the range of products and high rate of positive samples underscored the difficulty of enforcing the ban.

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"The amount of Xinjiang cotton entering the U.S. should be zero," she said. "So, anything above zero percent should be a real warning."

Customs officials did not immediately respond to questions about the test results, including how they selected garments for the analysis.

In June, the agency told Reuters in June it prioritizes action against the highest-risk goods based on current data and intelligence, but said sharing more details publicly would compromise the success of our work and therefore U.S. economic and national security.

Isotopic testing is not yet a routine process for U.S. Customs, Eric Choy, the agencys executive director for trade remedy and law enforcement, told Reuters in June. He added that officials at individual U.S. ports can request testing if they receive allegations about specific shipments or suspect the goods have links to Xinjiang.

Many retailers have also turned to isotopic testing in a bid to keep their supply chain free of cotton with links to forced labor. Goods produced partially or entirely in Xinjiang are banned in the U.S.

A federal report published last year estimated that cotton from Xinjiang accounted for roughly 87% of Chinas production and 23% of the global supply in 2020 and 2021. Countries including Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh -- some of the worlds largest producers of cotton clothing and consumer goods -- still import large quantities of finished fabric from China. It then often makes its way to the U.S. in the form of apparel made by suppliers in those countries, according to the report.

Retail executives and testing companies told Reuters that isotopic analysis is often used to verify that suppliers are only using cotton sourced from approved locations, such as the U.S. or India. Victorias Secret, Ralph Lauren, and ecommerce giant Shein are among the companies that contract with Oritain, an isotopic testing company headquartered in New Zealand, to verify the origin of cotton in their supply chains.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not perform its own testing and has paid Oritain more than $1.3 million since 2020 for cotton goods analysis, according to records from the agency obtained by Reuters under the Freedom of Information Act. However, the agency redacted the name of the provider that analyzed the three batches of footwear and apparel collected in December, April and May, and did not immediately confirm whether Oritain had performed the testing.

Officials said isotopic testing alone is not enough to clear shipments detained at U.S. ports for suspected links to Xinjiang. More retailers and manufacturers are spot checking materials from yarns to finished fabrics at various points in their supply chains using the analysis. Still, there is no guarantee those same materials were used in the finished products being investigated, according to Choy.

Its not a silver bullet, he said. Testing thats done at the spinning level or the yarn level of the supply chain doesn't necessarily represent the actual shipment.

(Reporting by Katherine Masters; Editing by David Gregorio)
An employee works on the automobile assembly line of Bluecar electric city cars at Renault car maker factory in Dieppe, western France

PARIS (Reuters) - France's manufacturing sector contracted for the seventh month in a row and at a slightly sharper pace than initially forecast in August, a business survey showed on Friday.

HCOB's final Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the French manufacturing sector in August - compiled by S&P Global - came in at 46.0 points, slightly lower than the 46.4 points seen in an initial flash estimate.

"The intermediate goods sector is the main drag on the industry, comfortably offsetting the marginal growth seen in the consumer goods segment", said HCOB economist Norman Liebke in a press release.

Any figure below 50 points marks a contraction in activity, while a figure above 50 shows an expansion.

In a sign that French industry could be headed for a full-fledged recession, a subindex for new orders fell at an accelerated pace in August to 42.5 from 42.9 points in July.

The pessimistic outlook is increasingly affecting the mood in the job market as well, the survey showed, as a subindex measuring the recruitment mood came in at its lowest value since August 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"There are not many signs that suggest an improvement in manufacturing lies ahead in the coming months," Liebke said.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
The government has extended the free contraception scheme to include people between 27 to 30. The image shows a package of small white pills marked with days in a green blister pack. Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/psgqUnk8zvM

The state-funded free contraception scheme has been extended to include people between the ages of 27 to 30.

The programme, which is open to women, girls, non-binary, and trans people who qualify for prescription contraception, was first introduced in September 2022. It originally catered for people between the ages of 17 to 25, but in January of this year, it was expanded to include 25-year-olds.

In announcing the expansion, Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly said, Ireland today is a very different country to the one of 1971 when groups of courageous women smuggled contraceptives on the condom train from Belfast.

Ireland has come a long way in terms of the supports it offers for sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equity and family planning.

He continued, Increasing access to free contraception through the free contraception scheme and the National Condom Distribution Service (NCDS) is therefore a key priority for this Government, supporting positive sexual health and choice in family planning.

The minister was also keen to emphasise the financial importance of the programme, saying, In the context of the current cost-of-living crisis, given that the higher costs of prescription contraception are typically faced by women, the scheme impacts positively on gender equity, reducing costs for women, their partners and families.

He added, The most suitable contraception isnt always the cheapest, so this scheme empowers women to choose the method most suited to their needs and lifestyle, with the assistance of free consultations with their GP or other medical professional.

Todays expansion is part of what Donnelly described as a growing suite of sexual health services included in the Womens Health Action Plan that the government launched last year.

The minister said the aim of the programme was to respond to population needs, reducing crisis pregnancy and termination of pregnancy rates, and supporting STI prevention.

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The free contraception scheme provides for the cost of prescription contraception, including the cost of consultations with medical professionals.

It also accommodates the cost of fitting, removing or providing various types of contraceptives, such as long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs) like injections, implants and hormonal and copper intra-uterine devices and systems.

The scheme will also cover oral contraceptive pills and emergency contraception.

So far, almost 2,400 GPs and 1,950 pharmacies have signed up to provide services and products covered by the programme, which has been allocated close to 31.5 million for this year alone.

The post Governments free contraception scheme expanded to include 27 to 30-year-olds appeared first on GCN.
Thousands of jobs could be saved at collapsed retailer Wilko as the owner of HMV finalises a deal to buy hundreds of stores.

A bid to buy the entirety of the business fell through on Thursday, leading to the first wave of redundancies affecting support centre and warehouse staff.

But administrator PwC said that discussions have continued with parties interesting in buying parts of the business.

It is understood that Doug Putman, a 39-year-old Canadian businessman who owns music retailer HMV in the UK and Toys R Us in Canada, has emerged as the front-runner for a last-minute rescue deal.

Doug Putmans retail group Sunrise Records acquired 100 HMV stores in 2019, preserving nearly 1,500 jobs (Paul Faith/PA)

He is understood to be considering acquiring around 300 of Wilkos 400 stores, which would mean that 8,000 to 9,000 of the current 12,500 staff could have their jobs protected if the deal goes through.

Mr Putmans retail group Sunrise Records swooped in to buy HMV in 2019, safeguarding nearly 1,500 staff after acquiring 100 stores across the UK.

However, many jobs are still at risk as the future of Wilko hangs in the balance.

PwC confirmed that 269 support centre workers in Worksop and Newport will have their last day with the business on Monday.

And there will be further redundancies across the companys two warehouses from early next week.

Exact numbers have yet to be confirmed but it is thought that around 1,600 people work across the warehouses and support centres.

The GMB union, which has about 3,000 members who work for Wilko, said that a bidder, reported to be M2 Capital, had not submitted the evidence needed by a Wednesday evening deadline to show it could viably buy the business.

It meant there were no remaining suitable offers to buy the group in its entirety.

The trade union said it was leaving no stone unturned when it comes to saving jobs, but that it simply could not reverse the years of mismanagement under the recent regime.

Wilko collapsed into administration earlier in August after managers failed to revive the business through cost savings and a turnaround plan over the past year.

Stores have remained open while the retailer searches for a buyer.

Mr Putman could not be reached for comment, and PwC declined to comment.
Laganside court complex. Picture: Diane Magill

Mr Justice Humphreys rejected opponents claims that Edwin Poots unlawfully approved the facility at Larne Lough without obtaining consent from Executive Committee colleagues.

Dismissing their challenge to the granting of a marine licence to build seven underground units, he said: There is no evidence in this case that the minister embarked on the kind of solo run which was the mischief aimed at by the legislation.

In 2021 Mr Poots, then Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, gave consent for the proposed development by Islandmagee Energy Ltd. It is estimated that the units could provide more than 25% of the UKs natural gas storage capacity.

The plans involve carving caverns at a depth 1,350m below sea level by a process known as solution mining. Located within special protection and conservation areas, the project is expected to last for 40 years. The units would then require to be decommissioned at the end of their lifespan.

Campaign group No Gas Caverns and Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland took legal action in a bid to have the marine licence permit quashed. They claimed it will keep Northern Ireland locked into using fossil fuel for decades beyond a target set to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The excavation process will also allegedly lead to hypersaline salt and chemical solution being discharged into the sea near Islandmagee, creating a dead zone threat to marine life. Eleven protected priority species, including harbour porpoise and skate, are found within 100 metres of the discharge point.

Environmental Implications

It was contended that Mr Poots failed to properly consider the environmental implications of a development proposal so significant, strategic, cross-cutting and controversial that he was required to refer it to the Executive Committee before granting permission.

However, counsel for the Department argued amendments in the Executive Committee (Functions) Act (Northern Ireland) 2020 provided more scope to approve without seeking consent from the wider power-sharing cabinet.

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Backing those submissions, Mr Justice Humphreys held that Mr Poots had correctly recognised the importance of the project, the scope of the opposition to it and then reached an evaluative determination on which the courts should be wary about making any intervention.

The minister was entitled to hold that, measured against the full gamut of Departmental responsibilities, the project was not significant and in light of the nature and extent of the opposition, it was not properly to be regarded as controversial, he said.

All decisions around infrastructure will have implications for finance, the economy, the environment and communities and some will impact on health and education. That cannot mean that all such decisions require Executive approval.

Read More Six photos of Larne Area Community Cluster groups as new defibrillator guardians

He also rejected a series of other grounds of challenge, including alleged failures to comply with the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, properly take into account the impact on scallops and skate, and breaches of habitats regulations.

Mr Justice Humphreys confirmed: None of the grounds are made out and the application for judicial review is dismissed.

In a statement, Friends of the Earth Northern Irelands director, James Orr described the ruling as incredibly disappointing and confirmed the groups lawyers will study the judgment before deciding their next steps.
Manchester Airport (Photo: unknown)

Luxair has announced a new UK route between Manchester Airport and Luxembourg Airport.

As of April 1, 2024, there will be three flights per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Luxair, who already serve London, say this new route reflects Luxair's commitment to providing travellers with convenient and high-quality connections to popular destinations across Europe and beyond its borders.

London is currently the only UK destination to which passengers in Luxembourg can fly directly, following the closure of several routes to other British cities in recent years.

The new route will further enhance the connectivity between Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, Luxair said in a statement and will suit both business travellers and passengers seeking short breaks.

Sales have been open since Wednesday, 30 August and special launch offers are available until mid-September.

Bookings can be made on www.luxair.lu, in the Luxair Travel Stores and in travel agencies.
FILE PHOTO: The logos of Swiss bank Credit Suisse and UBS are seen in Geneva, Switzerland

By Noele Illien, Elisa Martinuzzi and John O'Donnell

BERN (Reuters) -Switzerland was urged to prepare properly for the failure of a big bank on Friday by a group of experts in the wake of the collapse of Credit Suisse, but their report to government skirted radical reform some say is needed.

UBS Group emerged as Switzerlands single largest bank earlier this year after the government hastily arranged and partly bankrolled its takeover of stricken Credit Suisse to prevent that bank's collapse.

The failure of one of the world's biggest banks and a one-time symbol of Swiss financial strength blindsided the country's officials and regulators, who had long grappled with the lender as it lurched from one scandal to the next.

On Friday, a group of Swiss experts, including bankers and academics, urged the government to improve its readiness should UBS, which is now far larger, run into trouble.

They called for the country's regulator FINMA to be given more clout with the power to impose fines. They said FINMA should be given more authority to intervene and that there should be improved coordination amongst Swiss authorities.

The experts also recommended that FINMA get closer to banks' executives before there is a crisis.

The experts also suggested that it should be made easier for banks to tap central bank funding, by loosening the rules on what security can be offered in return.

The recommendations are not binding and may not make it further than their report. The powerful central bank, Swiss National Bank (SNB), said it disagreed with some of the suggestions, including on liquidity and on how the authorities work.

The Credit Suisse takeover  the first rescue of a global bank since the financial crisis of 2008  grants enormous clout to UBS, ridding it of its main rival.

It will change the landscape of banking in Switzerland, where branches of Credit Suisse and UBS are dotted everywhere, sometimes just metres apart.

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The banks, two of the most systemically relevant in global finance, hold combined assets of up to 140% of Swiss gross domestic product in a country heavily dependent on finance for its economy.

The collapse of Credit Suisse has prompted an international debate about reforms introduced after the last financial crash to prevent banks becoming too outsized to wind down - a drive that has since faltered.

Although Switzerland imposed losses on shareholders and some bond investors - one pillar of those crisis reforms - they balked at the prospect of winding up Credit Suisse, opting to sell to UBS instead.

The deal was criticised by some in Switzerland. "UBS got the deal of the century," said a spokesperson for the Social Democrat party, which is a member of the ruling coalition. "At the same time, the costs of massive job cuts are foisted on the public. We need bank rules with teeth."

Others also see grave failings.

"Swiss policymakers failed to adequately supervise Credit Suisse throughout the past decade leading to its demise," said Beat Wittmann, chairman of Porta Advisors, a Swiss boutique advisory firm.

"Unfortunately there is so far no political willingness to learn any lessons," he said.

Nicolas Veron of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, cautioned that Switzerland could be stumped if UBS were to run into trouble.

"(The) rescue of Credit Suisse isn't a perfect success but it's not a story of policy failure either.

"The Swiss had two options - the merger, plan A, or resolution, plan B, and the judgement call was that a deal was better," he said, adding that there is no such fallback if UBS runs into trouble.

During the global financial crash of 2008, it was UBS, not Credit Suisse, that needed a state rescue.

At that time, the Swiss central bank lent more than $54 billion to a vehicle that UBS used to offload problem debt, including subprime loans.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Hirt in Zurich; Writing By John O'Donnell; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Extinction Rebellion marched to Wytch Farm on May 1. (Image: Newsquest)

EXTINCTION Rebellion activists from Dorset have travelled to London to protest outside the headquarters of Perenco.

Protesters, accompanied by the Grim Reaper, are demanding the oil and gas company do not expand further in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia.

Activists took to the streets in London, Moanda, DRC, and La Morena, Colombia in solidarity.

Members of XR BCP trekked to London after three protests in Dorset calling for its operating permits and licence be revoked from the Perenco site at Wytch Farm.

As reported, a major incident occurred at the site where around 200 barrels of reservoir fluid spewed into Poole Harbour in March.

Daniel Glennon, a customer service trainer from Bournemouth, said: Ive come to Perencos London HQ today to demand they give us the full truth about the leak in Poole Harbour in March.

We observed oil on the water 24 hours before Perenco admitted to there being a leak.

Why did they hire private security to keep local people away from parts of the harbour and stop them filming during the clean-up? What was Perenco trying to hide?

Ralph Doe, a retired bookshop owner from France, said: I was shocked when 200 barrels of reservoir fluid from Perencos oil drilling site at Wytch Farm leaked into environmentally sensitive Poole Harbour, and even more shocked when I found Perenco is harming indigenous people and causing environmental damage in 14 countries.

Its time for them to pay for the loss and damage.

Read more: Perenco responds to protesters over Poole Harbour oil spill

The protestors were demonstrating with large banners against expansion plans into Nganzi or Matamba-Makanzi in the DRC and La Morena, Colombia.

In a statement read outside Perencos HQ in Moanda, activists said: We ask the Congolese State to abandon the sale of other oil fields in the Moanda area and not to allow Perenco to expand its activities on the Nganzi2 and Matamba Makanzi 2 oil blocks.

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The supposed windfall from oil is doing nothing to lift the people of Moanda out of poverty.

In June, a spokesperson for Perenco confirmed an investigation into the spill in Dorset is ongoing.

It said when the spill occurred, production was shut down immediately and there has been no further loss of containment to Poole Harbour.

It added the pipeline will be kept offline until the investigation is complete, and that the clean-up has made very good progress since the leak.
Then-Fulham owner Mohamed Al-Fayed waves to the crowd before a Premier League match against Tottenham at Craven Cottage stadium, London, in 2008 (AP)

Former Harrods and Fulham FC owner Mohammed Al-Fayed has died aged 94.

The Egyptian-born businessmans family said he passed away peacefully of old age, in a statement released on Friday.

A funeral was held for Mr Al-Fayed after Friday prayers at London Central Mosque in Regents Park, Sky News reported.

Mr Al-Fayed, whose son Dodi died in a car crash alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, in Paris in 1997, was the owner and chairman of Fulham between 1997 and 2013 when he sold it to current owner Shahid Khan.

In a statement issued by the club on Friday, his family said: Mrs Mohamed Al-Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohamed, has passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.

He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones. The family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this time.

Fulham FC paid tribute to Mr Al-Fayed, who turned the club from a third-tier outfit to an established Barclays Premier League side during 16 years at its helm.

The late Queen Elizabeth II accompanied by the then-owner of Harrods, Mohamed Al-Fayed, at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 1997 (PA)

We owe Mohamed a debt of gratitude for what he did for our Club, and our thoughts now are with his family and friends at this sombre time, wrote the club on Twitter.

Mr Al-Fayed was born in Alexandria, Egypt, the son of a school inspector.

He came to London in the 1960s and set about building a business empire.

Once in the capital, the flamboyant and extrovert character was rarely out of the newspapers.

In the 1980s, he hit the headlines as he battled for control of the House of Fraser group, including its flagship store Harrods, with rival tycoon Tiny Rowland.

Mr Al-Fayed and his brother bought a 30 per cent stake in House Of Fraser from Mr Rowland in 1984, and took control of Harrods for 615 million the following year.

Mr Rowlands London and Rhodesian Mining Company (Lonrho) had attempted to buy Harrods but was beaten to it by the Egyptian family.

Mohammed Al-Fayed stands in front of the east stand of Craven Cottage, home of Fulham FC, in 1997 (REUTERS)

Mr Rowland later accused Mr Al-Fayed of breaking into his safety deposit box at the department store.

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Mr Al-Fayed was arrested in March 1998 along with Harrods security director John Macnamara and four other store staff, but was never charged.

Mr Al-Fayed sold world-famous department store for a reported 1.5 billion in 2010 to Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority, which trades on behalf of the state.

Mr Al-Fayed later expanded his business interests to include the Ritz hotel in Paris in 1979, and Fulham Football Club.

As well as the worlds of business and royalty, he became embroiled in politics in 1994 when he was at the centre of the cash-for-questions scandal that rocked Westminster.

Mr Al-Fayed claimed via the Guardian he had paid then Tory MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith thousands of pounds to illegally table questions in the Commons on his behalf.

Mr Smith apologised and stepped down at the 1997 election but Mr Hamilton sued Mr Al-Fayed for libel, landing himself a seven-figure legal bill and eventual bankruptcy after losing to the businessman.

Mr Hamilton, who was later heavily criticised in a Commons report into the affair, was voted out at the 1997 election and is now the leader of Ukip.

Mr Al-Fayeds time as the Cottagers chairman was suitably tumultuous.

Fulham were languishing in Division Two when he took over in 1997 but spending on players and high-profile managers including Kevin Keegan and Roy Hodgson saw them rise to the top-half of the Premier League in the early Noughties, peaking in qualification for the Europa League.

Everyone at Fulham was incredibly saddened to learn of the death of our former Owner and Chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed.



We owe Mohamed a debt of gratitude for what he did for our Club, and our thoughts now are with his family and friends at this sombre time.  Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) September 1, 2023

Off the pitch, fans were treated to some bizarre spectacles, including a 1999 visit from Mr Al-Fayeds friend Michael Jackson.

The Harrods boss and the club faced some ridicule when, in 2011, two years after Jacksons death, a statue of the King Of Pop was erected at its Craven Cottage ground.

Fulham supporters were quick to share their grief at Mr Al-Fayeds death on Friday night.

We owe him everything, wrote one fan. RIP Legend.

The billionaires relationship with the British royal family was recently depicted in season five of The Crown, where Mr Al-Fayed, played by Salim Daw, was seen getting to know Diana.

The Sunday Times Rich List from 2021 reported that Mohamed Al-Fayed and family were worth around 1.7 billion.

He was married twice, and had five children.
Russia, Belarus and Iran have all been readmitted to the Nobel Foundation, after the organisation reversed its previous policy of banning them.

As well as the previously-exiled nations, the organisation will also allow Jimmie Akesson, the leader of a far-right Swedish party to rejoin, after he had also been banned.

Vidar Helgesen, the foundation's leader, said there had been a global trend in which "dialogue between those with differing views is being reduced".

Follow the Ukraine war live as a bomb threat is made to Kyiv schools

He added: "We are now broadening our invitations to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free, peaceful societies."

The Nobel Foundation has extended an invitation to its 2023 events to all countries with diplomatic missions in Sweden and Norway, as well as parties "that have parliamentary representation via democratic elections".

It added that "this common approach promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone, and in future this practice will be common to the entire organisation".

Russian and Belarusian envoys were banned from attending the 2022 ceremonies and banquets, which take place annually on 10 December, due to the war in Ukraine.

Iran was also barred as a result of what the foundation called "the serious and escalating situation" in the country.

Nobel prizes are given out in Stockholm, while the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo.

Mr Akesson, the leader of the Sweden Democrats, has also been invited to the event, but he declined, writing on Facebook: "Unfortunately I'm busy that day".

Read more:

Human rights champions in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine honoured

Key areas where drones have given Ukraine the initiative over Russia

Party leaders in Sweden are usually invited to the banquet but Mr Akesson has been snubbed in the past, with his organisation rooted in what some might consider to be far-right ideology.

His party, which opposes current immigration policies in Sweden and has been seen by some as racist, came second in last year's general elections.

This year's Nobel winners will be announced next month.
The leaders of the Loyal Orders came together in County Tyrone on Friday, 1st of September, 2023, to mark the sixth annual Orange Victims Day. Orange Order Grand Master Edward Stevenson lays a wreath after the religious service in memory of the 342 members of the order murdered during the Troubles.(Photo by Graham Baalham-Curry)

The inaugural Orange Victims Day has been held on the same date in 2018. The majority of the 342 victims were murdered whilst serving as members of the security forces.

Other events are being organised by the order locally around Northern Ireland to mark the occasion, which was also intended to highlight the ongoing plight of the injured and bereaved.

The date, 1 September, has been chosen for the annual event as it is the anniversary of the largest loss of life inflicted on the Orange family from a single terrorist attack; The IRA murdered four Orangemen, with a fifth later dying from his injuries, in an attack on Tullyvallen Orange Hall in south Armagh on the same date in 1975.

Representatives of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, the Royal Black Institution, The Apprentice Boys of Derry, The Junior Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, The Royal Arch Purple Chapter and the Independent Loyal Orange Institution took part in the service at St. Annes Parish Church, Dungannon, hosted by The Association of Loyal Orangewomen of Ireland.

After the service, conducted by the Rev Bryan Martin, a wreath-laying ceremony, was held at the 8th Bn. UDR Memorial in the church grounds.

Speaking afterward, Orange Order Grand Master Edward Stevenson said Victims Day continued to be one of remembrance and reflection for the Orange family, while aspiring to give hope for the future for those left bereaved and injured.

He also took the opportunity to emphasise the commitment of the Orange Institution to continuing to lobby at every available opportunity on behalf of innocent victims.

Orange Victims Day is of great importance to our Institution as it gives us the opportunity to remember the sacrifice of the 341 Orangemen and one Orangewomen who had their lives taken during the Troubles," he said. And while we remember and mourn those lost, we also remember and give our support to the bereaved families.

The Orange Institution is constant in its commitment to giving our full support to the innocent victims and, over the past 12 months, we have continued to engage and work with those in the victims sector to ensure their voice is heard.

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We are steadfastly committed to ensuring that the history of the needless and unjustified campaign of terror waged on our Country is not re-written by those who wrought so much pain and destruction on our community.

He added In the coming days, Brethren, Sisters, Juniors and our many friends will come together in Orange Halls and churches across Northern Ireland as they take part in events to remember those who lost their lives in their areas, he said.

There will be events both big and small, from simple wreath-laying ceremonies to larger parades to church services. Each in its own right a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives.
(Photo : Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Brooklyn Academy of Music )

New York City leaders are urging the Biden administration for more federal assistance as the migrant crisis in the region continues to worsen.

New York City's leaders are pressuring Joe Biden's administration for more assistance as the migrant crisis in the region continues to worsen as more asylum seekers arrive.

After months of primarily working behind the scenes, several municipal, business, and labor leaders in New York have started a public campaign to highlight how they believe the administration has failed to address the migrant crisis sufficiently.

New York City Migrant Crisis

On Thursday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams staged a rally just outside the Thurgood Marshall US Courthouse, where he called on federal officials to hasten work authorization for migrants. The Democrat was joined by union leaders, state lawmakers, and asylum seekers. They stood beneath a red, white, and blue flag banner with the slogan, "The American Dream Works."

Adams said during the event that they are united on the same concept and belief that the precursor to sleep that allows one to experience the American dream is the right to work, prevail, and provide for your family, as per the New York Times.

A day before the rally, New York City Gov. Kathy Hochul met with several White House officials to urge the Biden administration for more support amid the migrant crisis. It came days after she changed tactics and publicly called on the president to hasten work authorizations for asylum seekers.

Hochul came out of the meeting in Washington hopeful. However, she was still dissatisfied that the help offered was "insufficient to address this crisis fully." More than 120 of the city's top business executives co-signed a letter earlier this week that was sent to President Joe Biden and congressional leaders, urging them to provide more federal assistance.

The situation comes as signs suggest the surge of migrants into New York has still not reached its peak. More than 2,900 asylum seekers arrived in the region from Aug. 21 to Aug. 27. The numbers were announced by the deputy mayor for health and human services, Anne Williams-Isom.

Read Also: Texas District Court Judge Rejects 'Death Star' Bill Law

Need for Additional Federal Assistance

Following the meeting with Hochul, the White House pledged to provide "personnel, data, and resources" to identify thousands of migrants in New York City who are eligible for work permits. She said that while this is a critical first step, New Yorkers deserve and need more support, according to the New York Daily News.

The governor's office said Hochul spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients for roughly 150 minutes. Her statement described the talks as "frank and productive.

In early June, traditional shelters for asylum seekers reached near-capacity levels, prompting the city to create 206 emergency shelters. These include respite centers in school gymnasiums and parking lots.

The facilities were created to house migrants only for a few days, so they do not face the same kind of regulation as other shelters. The Time says many of these are bare-bones spaces that provide little more than a place to sleep and a few meals.

Related Article: Biden Cancels $72 Million Student Loans; Who Are Eligible This Time?

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Pope Francis arrived in Mongolia on Friday morning to encourage one of the world's smallest and newest Catholic communities.

It's the first time a pope has visited the landlocked Asian country and comes at a time when the Vatican's relations with Mongolia's two powerful neighbours, Russia and China, are once again strained.

Francis arrived in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar after an overnight flight passing through Chinese airspace, affording the pontiff a rare opportunity to send a note of greetings to President Xi Jinping. Vatican protocol calls for the pope to send such greetings whenever he flies over a foreign country.

The Pope's plane lands in Mongolia, September 1, 2023 - Ng Han Guan/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved

In his message to Xi, Francis expressed "greetings of good wishes to your excellency and the people of China."

"Assuring you of my prayers for the wellbeing of the nation, I invoke upon all of you the divine blessings of unity and peace," Francis said.

Goodwill gesture

Despite strains in the relationship, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the greeting showed "friendliness and goodwill."

"China is willing to continue to walk in the same direction with the Vatican, conduct constructive dialogues, enhance understanding, accumulate mutual trust, and promote the process of improving the relationship of the two sides," Wang said at a daily briefing.

Upon arrival, Francis, who uses a wheelchair, was met on the tarmac by helmeted honour guards along with Mongolia's foreign minister and was offered a taste of dried yoghurt from a woman in traditional dress, as a sign of welcome. He made no public comments. Along with priests and others gathered on the tarmac, several dozen watched his arrival from the airport terminal.

Speaking to reporters en route to Mongolia late Thursday, Francis said he was looking forward to visiting a country that has just a few people, but with a culture that you need your senses to understand.

Pope Francis, left, is flanked by his spokeperson Matteo Bruni as he talks with journalist on their flight to Mongolia, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. - Alberto Pizzoli/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved

"There are only a few inhabitants  a small people, but a big culture," he said aboard the ITA charter plane. "I think it will do us good to try to understand this long, big silence, understand what it means but not intellectually, but with senses." He added: "Mongolia, you understand with your senses."

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On tap are official meetings with the Mongolian president and prime minister and a speech before Mongolian government, cultural and business leaders, followed by Francis' first encounter with the bishops, priests and nuns who form the backbone of a tiny Catholic community of 1,450 that has only been in existence for a generation.

While Christianity has been present in the region for hundreds of years, the Catholic Church has only had a sanctioned presence in Mongolia since 1992, after the country shrugged off its Soviet-allied communist government and enshrined religious freedom in its constitution.

The Holy See and Mongolia have had diplomatic relations ever since, and a handful of missionary religious orders including Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity have nurtured the tiny community through its first three decades of life.

Four Missionaries of Charity sisters  Jeanne Francoise from Rwanda; Chanmi from South Korea; Viera from Slovakia and Suder from India  run a nursing home on the northern outskirts of Ulaanbaatar with a capacity of 30 beds. There, they provide care for elderly people with mental or physical disabilities, or who are homeless, undocumented, or otherwise ostracised by their families.

Sister Jeanne Francoise said it was an honour that Francis was coming to Mongolia, saying she had seen him once before when she was living in Rome but that it was never as "close" as it would be in Mongolia.

Children run past a mural featuring Pope Francis outside Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cathedral in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. - Louise Delmotte/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved

Francis has long praised the work of missionaries and has tried to reinvigorate the missionary focus of the church at large by visiting them and encouraging their work. One of his first events in Mongolia is to preside over an encounter with missionaries Saturday afternoon at the capital's St. Peter and Paul cathedral, and he ends his visit by inaugurating a new church-run charity house to tend to Mongolia's poorest.

"I want people to know that the Catholic religion, the Catholic Church, and Catholic believers also exist in Mongolia," the Rev. Sanjaajav Tserenkhand, a Mongolian priest, said outside the cathedral. He said he hoped that Francis' visit would also show Mongolians that Christianity isn't a "foreign religion," but is also rooted in the country.

Cardinal Giorgio Marengo

The Argentine pontiff has long prioritised visiting Catholic communities in what he calls the peripheries, staying away from the global centres of Catholicism to minister instead to small churches where Catholics are often a minority. He has made cardinals out of their leaders to show the universal reach of the 1.3-billion-strong Catholic Church, including the head of the Mongolian church, Cardinal Giorgio Marengo.

"His heart burns with love for the universal church, and especially the church where she lives in a minority context," Marengo told journalists during a recent visit to Rome. "And that is the wonderful meaning of his coming all the way to Mongolia."

The other main focus of Francis' four-day visit is to highlight Mongolia's long tradition of interfaith coexistence. The Mongol Empire under its famed founder Genghis Khan was known for tolerating people of different faiths among those it conquered, and Francis will likely emphasise that tradition when he presides over an interfaith meeting Sunday.

Invited are Mongolian Buddhists, who are the majority in the nation of 3.3 million, as well as Jewish, Muslim and Shinto representatives and members of Christian churches that have established a presence in Mongolia in the last 30 years, including the Russian Orthodox Church.

Diplomatic tightrope

That encounter could enable Francis to once again offer greetings to the Moscow patriarchate, which has strongly supported the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. Francis has tried to steer a diplomatic tightrope in not antagonising Moscow, consistent with the Vatican's tradition of diplomatic neutrality in conflicts.

Days before his visit, he sparked outrage in Ukraine over his praise of Russia's imperial past, comments that the Vatican insisted were by no means an endorsement of Moscow's current war of aggression in Ukraine.

While the Vatican has insisted Francis is going to Mongolia  not China or Russia  the China question will be ever-present: A group of Chinese Catholics, as well as Russian Catholics, are expected to attend Francis' Mass on Sunday in the Steppe Arena, but Beijing's crackdown on religious minorities remains the backdrop to the trip.

In addition, China's opposition to the Dalai Lama could come to the fore as Mongolian Buddhism is closely tied to Tibet's strain and traditionally reveres the Dalai Lama. Francis has made a hallmark of meeting with religious leaders from around the world, but he has so far refrained from meeting the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, for fear of antagonising Beijing.
A peace mural is seen in a loyalist area on April 4, 2023 in Belfast. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

In presenting the need for unionist politicians to engage more decisively and collaboratively with areas where poverty, underinvestment, educational underachievement and social deprivation blight communities the paper calls for an infrastructure of support that works at a number of levels with those in need.

As areas that experience higher rates of poverty and below average incomes for NI, Derry and Strabane (along with areas in Belfast) should be at the forefront of efforts to address the damaging impact of deprivation and isolation.

In conversations with a wide range of people the NIDG conclude that unionist indifference and lack of concern for those who need help points towards a serious political and social deficit that reinforces underlying problems of anxiety, fear and depression.

The effects of poverty and isolation in Derry/Strabane are not republican problems just as in Coleraine or Portadown they are not unionist problems, Professor Graham Spencer argues. (Photo: gelmold - stock.adobe.com)

It also undermines perceptions about the benefits of peace and the possibilities of change.

The need for unionism to advocate a strong inclusive ethos that is reflected in progressive policy development and closer working relations with those from poorer parts of NI that is proposed in the paper should not be seen as mere aspiration, but as a political and social imperative.

A deeper reading of the document will also indicate a much needed bottom-up, top-down convergence of political activity is being suggested that stresses a better NI is made more likely when there is a collective commitment and will to bring it about.

Although we must recognise and praise the many groups across NI striving to alleviate or neutralise the impact of poverty and disadvantage we should be less enthusiastic about the party political apathy that exists when it comes to dealing with the urgency of such problems.

The NIDG has sought to avoid the quagmire of data often used to prove or disprove particular positions by seeking to encourage a new debate about social responsibility and the development of much-needed change.

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Yet, the fractured nature of unionism further inhibits a consensus about how to proceed. The emphasis on resistance and defence does little to instil confidence or help advance a solution to problems.

In turn, there is no comprehensive sense of how emerging expectations and circumstances should be addressed or how the future might be envisioned and shaped.

Interestingly, a number from unionist and loyalist communities admitted seeking help from Sinn Fein offices for social problems in the absence of interest and help from their own political representatives.

Most would praise the work of one or two individuals from the parties that they voted for but overall the picture of unionist politics is one of disinterest and lacking any enthusiasm for enabling those from poorer backgrounds to be involved building a more inclusive and optimistic society.

This is one of the reasons why the NIDG propose that contact groups from within poorer areas should feed directly into the development and implementation of new initiatives and strategic planning at a party political level.

Unless political accountability and engagement with all disadvantaged communities is improved it is unlikely the message of a better NI will gain traction and the appeal of a new common good take hold.

Loyalists being mainly of working class areas believe unionist political indifference to their circumstances comes from a class bias where they are looked down upon or seen as supportive of paramilitary activity.

In some cases this may be so since, as the Independent Reporting Commission has noted, an inclination to join paramilitary groups cannot be disassociated from the underlying systemic socio-economic deprivation prevailing in communities in which paramilitaries operate.

Yet this should not be separated, as the IRC also observe, from the political inability to tackle what are exceptionally deep-rooted, intractable issues in a sufficiently targeted way which takes account of the very particular circumstances prevailing in each of them.

From this perspective the continuation of paramilitarism does rely on social deprivation but a lack of political will to deal with this connection enables its durability.

Paramilitarism benefits from the social deficit of poverty by providing a sense of meaning and purpose that resonates strongly in the absence of clear economic and social improvements that people feel motivated to protect and own.

Without the confidence of believing in a better future the past inevitably dominates expectations.

However an inclusive society is conceived such a society depends on respect, dialogue and collaboration.

For too long there have been unionist politicians whose message has not altered: to prevent them vote for us.

There has been no sense of progression, positivity or change. The effects of poverty and isolation in Derry/Strabane are not republican problems just as in Coleraine or Portadown they are not unionist problems.

They are social problems for NI as a whole that require attention and a collective commitment to overcome.

The paper has been released to encourage debate about what a new inclusive politics that cuts across class might look like and suggests working more deliberately and strategically to reinforce the perception that all are integral to progress and building confidence.

Unless unionist politicians wake up to the urgent need for a more inclusive society it is likely that they will become increasingly powerless to influence change, in the process becoming less and less effective not just within the communities they pertain to represent, but for NI itself.

There is now a real and urgent need for unionism to recognise this failure whatever the polls tell us. Numbers encourage us to read situations in numerical terms but individuals, communities and societies look to values and stories to make sense of the world in which they live.

It is time for unionism to start talking about what values and stories are needed to make NI a better place and demonstrate the benefits of both through a new inclusive politics of collaboration and respect.

The new paper can be accessed at www.nidg.co.uk
Saint Cecilias Managing Director Mike Padgham cuts a celebration cake during the get-together. (Photo: st cecilias)

Saint Cecilias Care Group has employed 28 staff from India, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Nigeria since September.

And at a special evening event to celebrate their contribution, the companys managing director said a huge thank you for their efforts.

During a party at the Groups Normanby House care home in Scarborough, the overseas staff brought in food that was native to their home country to share as part of the celebrations.

Saint Cecilias Managing Director Mike Padgham said: We cannot thank our overseas staff enough for the amazing contribution they have made to Saint Cecilias Care Group over the past 11 months.

Theyve made a fantastic difference by strengthening our care and nursing team and helping us to look after our residents and we couldnt have got through the past year without them.

But more than that they have brought so much in terms of adding cultural diversity and bringing in new personalities and fresh energy to our care centres.

Their contribution has been amazing and the event at Normanby House was a celebration to mark what a huge difference they have made to us.

Saint Cecilias overseas nursing recruitment was helped by a ground-breaking partnership with York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Drawing on the previous experience the Trust had in recruiting via these channels has saved the care group countless hours and streamlined the process enormously.

A pilot scheme  to enable social care providers to access health trust facilities for staff to study for and take their Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)  was a lifeline for Saint Cecilias and for the nurses it has recruited.
HA NOI  The Viet Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has been a milestone during the 30-year relationship between the Southeast Asian country and the European Union, ushering in a new era of bilateral cooperation and development.

The trade agreement, which went into effect on August 1, 2020, has brought Viet Nam-EU economic partnership to the next level while establishing a solid foundation for future economic and investment collaboration.

The EVFTA was the first and among the most influential, of many new-generation free trade agreements signed by Viet Nam in recent decades, which has connected Viet Nam's economy to those of the EUs 27 member states.

Defined by high-standards and encompassing commitment in various fields, and a strong focus on the liberalisation of trade and investment, the EVFTA has delivered significantly positive impacts on Viet Nam's economy, both economically and institutionally.

Three years after the implementation of the EVFTA, Viet Nam has made it clear the country has been and will continue to stay committed to full implementation of the trade agreements regarding tariffs, market access for services, investment, public procurement, and deregulation.

According to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the EVFTA has played a major role in improving trade, the pace and quality of foreign investment, business awareness and economic development in the country.

Trade and investment

Total export turnover from Viet Nam to the EU during the period of August 2020 to July 2022 reached a total of US$83.4 billion, averaging $41.7 billion annually, according to the VCCI.

This represented an increase of 24 per cent of turnover per year compared to the period of 2016-19, largely thanks to an increase in EVFTA tariff preferences.

The trade agreement has provided a significant boost to many of Viet Nams major exports thanks to its tariff preferences, including rice, footwear, aquatic products, plastic and plastic products.

However, export growth from the country to the EU has remained modest at just 14.1 per cent in 2021, trailing behind its economys growth to other FTA markets at 18.2 per cent and all worldwide markets at 23 per cent in the same year, showing there was still untapped potential for bilateral trade in the future.

On the investment front, the EUs foreign direct investment (FDI) into Viet Nam reached $1.37 billion in registered capital in 2020, ranking eighth and accounting for 4.8 per cent of the total FDI in the country.

Following the EVFTA, the EUs FDI into Viet Nam was up 2.2 per cent in 2021, bringing the union to the fifth rank and 4.5 per cent of all FDI investment in Viet Nam.

VCCIs data indicated that the trade agreement has played a significant role in attracting investment from the EU to Viet Nam, recording the average investment capital during the period of 2017-21 (after EVFTA negotiations were completed) increased by 86 per cent compared to the 2015-16 period.

Awareness and benefits

According to the VCCI, 94 per cent of Vietnamese businesses surveyed said they heard or studied the EVFTA to varying degrees, the highest rate among the Southeast Asian economys numerous FTAs.

Three out of ten businesses when asked confirmed they possessed an understanding of the commitments related to their business activities within the EVFTA. Among different groups of businesses, the FDI group had the highest rate of fairly clear/clear understanding of the EVFTA (43 per cent), followed by domestic private enterprises (37 per cent), and lastly, state-owned enterprises (13 per cent).

The survey showed a clear indication of the trade agreements appeal among the business community and the success of a coordinated effort on the part of Vietnamese state agencies and the media in promoting the EVFTA.

In addition, 41 per cent of participating businesses in the survey reported having benefited from the EVFTA with the most common incentives of the trade agreement being tariff preferences for exported and imported goods; followed by effects such as increased orders, increased revenue, and profit from supplying goods/services for export-import activities with the EU, or opportunities for cooperation and partnerships to leverage the EVFTA; and other longer-term benefits such as investment opportunities or protection of intellectual property in the EU (9-12 per cent of businesses).

On the other hand, among the 59 per cent of businesses that did not benefit from the EVFTA in the past two years the most common reasons included not having any transactions with EU partners during that time (69 per cent); not knowing the specific benefits of the trade agreement (24 per cent); and other reasons stemming from subjective limitations of businesses or objective challenges in implementation (4-7 per cent).

Additionally, around 4.2 per cent of participating businesses said they experienced difficulties and suffered financial setbacks from the EVFTA, mainly in the form of increased compliance costs and increased competition from imported EU goods.

Regarding the utilisation of tariff preferences, 17 per cent of businesses said they benefited from EVFTA tariff preferences with at least one export shipment, and 16 per cent benefited from cheaper imported goods.

Most participating businesses said they became aware of these benefits through proactive commitment exploration (73 per cent) and/or partner suggestions and support (36 per cent).

In terms of what measures have been taken by said businesses to secure these benefits, 34 per cent said that their current supply chain and production cycle were in compliance with the EVFTA rules of origin; 13 per cent said they changed or adjusted.

For businesses who failed to exploit the benefits from the trade agreements tariff preferences, the most common reasons included not meeting the rules of origin requirements (20-33 per cent of businesses) or having already benefited from other tariff preferences like GSP or low MFN tariffs (18-31 per cent).

In addition, there were a minority of businesses who said they had not managed to meet document and procedural requirements (10-11 per cent) or were aware of these benefits (15 per cent).

When asked about the effect of the EVFTA and other FTAs in the near future, 76 per cent of businesses said they believed these FTAs would have an impact on their business prospects over the next three years. Among these, the majority (85 per cent) said they expected the impact to be positive, while only one per cent said negative.

Most business expectations were centred around improvements in supply sources, order volumes, revenue, profits, value chain participation, and collaboration opportunities (88-92 per cent).

According to the VCCI, this high percentage could serve as both a motivator for businesses to further explore and take action to realise their expectations and a risk factor due to overly optimistic outlooks.

Regarding potential obstacles that could hinder businesses from benefiting from the EVFTA, the most commonly said included market volatility and uncertainty (47 per cent of participating businesses), limited competitive capabilities (46 per cent), and lack of information about commitments and application procedures (40 per cent).

Global integration

The EVFTA and other free trade agreements including the VietnamEurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement in 2016, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2018, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in 2022, among others, have played a key role in the Vietnamese Governments efforts for greater and deeper economic integration into the global economy, in line with 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam.

By providing a connection at both regional and global levels, leveraging the advantages of numerous global free trade agreements, Viet Nam is striving to become an important link in the global supply chain and economy while pushing for faster and stronger socioeconomic development of the country.

In addition, Viet Nam has been engaging and participating in a number of international forums and organisations as an active, reliable, and responsible member of the global community, to help address some of the most pressing issues and challenges including maritime security, climate change, food security, and water resources.

In cooperation with the international community, Viet Nam has been taking part in multilateral activities on the ground, notably in the realm of maintaining UN peace with Vietnamese delegations deployed on numerous UN peacekeeping missions around the world.

Viet Nam will continue to pursuit high-level diplomacy in deepening relations with global partners, promoting multilateral diplomacy and steadfastly following an independent, self-reliant, peaceful, cooperative development-oriented foreign policy, diversifying and internationalising international relations while actively and deeply integrating into the global community, prioritising national interests above all else," said the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, Nguyen Phu Trong, at the 13th National Party Congress.  VNS
HA NOI Paintings by Vietnamese Emperor Ham Nghi (1871 - 1944), who was exiled to Algeria for his patriotism, are among Indochinese artworks that will go under the hammer at French auction house Lynda Trouve on September 22.

A total of 19 paintings by Ham Nghi will be sold together with works by other acclaimed Indochina painters such as Vu Cao am, Tran Phuc Duyen, Le Pho, as well as French artists associated with the Indochina School of Fine Arts, like professors Alix Ayme and Headmaster Evariste Jonchere.

One painting of interest is Soleil Couchant Sur La Campagne (Sunset Over the Countryside), painted in 1911, had the Emperor's handwriting of the date, signature, and his regal title.

This is the first time that such a large number of paintings by former Emperor and Prince of Annam is offered for sale. They belonged to Henri Aube, a French military officer who was stationed in Ha Noi between 1907 and 1909, and were discovered in the attic at his home.

Ham Nghi was the eighth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty, but reigned for only one year (1884-85).

After the failure of the Can Vuong (Save the King) movement against French colonial rule, Emperor Ham Nghi was captured and exiled to Algeria, then a colony of France, on December 12, 1888.

While exiled in Algiers, he learned painting and sculpture techniques from the artist Marius Reynaud and dedicated his entire life to intense artistic activities as a painter, pastelist and sculptor.

He made several trips to France under close surveillance, where he met artists such as Foujita, Rodin, and the writer Judith Gautier.

According to Drouot.com, his artworks are extremely rare to go on the market, and these particular pieces have never been presented for sale before. During his lifetime, the artist's works were exhibited at the Guimet Museum in 1926.

It is highly likely that Henri Aube stayed at the military thermal hospital in Vichy for treatments, as many officers stationed in the colonies did during that time," said the auction house on its website.

"Between 1909 and 1913, Ham Nghi also frequented this establishment regularly. If the two men met, it most likely happened in Vichy. It is assumed that Ham Nghi and Henri Aube formed a friendship through their mutual friend, Henri de Gondrecourt. The paintings inherited by Henri Aube's family remained in their private collection, and they are now being offered for sale by his descendants.

According to art critic Ngo Kim Khoi, the paintings are highly praised for their historical value rather than artistic elements, despite the Emperors excellent technique.

Khoi said; Ham Nghi was one of the first painter adopting the Western style, which was then followed by other acclaimed painters like Le Van Mien, Nguyen Nam Son or Thang Tran Phenh, so his paintings are highly historically valued.

He said, the starting bid of each painting ranges from 3,000 - 5,000 which is totally feasible, guaranteeing a fiercely competitive bidding war among collectors.

Khoi added" Like a fairy tale, the former king's gifts, forgotten and left in the attic of a French officer's family, will be awakened in an auction on September 22. I hope that Hue Provincial Museum could afford at least one to two paintings so that those royal artefacts could return to the Emperors homeland and the rest would be purchased by Vietnamese collectors, he added.

During a visit to Viet Nam, grandchild of Emperor Ham Nghi, Dr Amandine Dabat, revealed that there are about 100 of his paintings that are still preserved to this day.

One of those paintings is Lac des Alpes (Lake in the Alps), which is currently housed at the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue. It was gifted to the museum by an anonymous collector. VNS
Financial Secretary and Secretary for Health wishing the meeting success

(From the left) Dr. Ngai-yin Chan, Co-Chair, Organizing Committee, APHRS 2023; Prof. Chu-pak Lau, Honorary President, Organizing Committee, APHRS 2023; Dr. Godwin T.C. Leung, President-Elect of Hong Kong College of Cardiology; Prof. Wataru Shimizu, President of Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society; Prof. Hua Wei, President of Chinese Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology; Prof. Hung-fat Tse, Co-Chair, Organizing Committee, APHRS 2023; Dr. Kathy KF Lee, Secretary General, APHRS 2023

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 1 September 2023- A decade later, the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS) and the Hong Kong College of Cardiology (HKCC) co-organize the largest scientific conference of heart rhythm in the Asia-Pacific region in Hong Kong again. The "16th APHRS Scientific Session in conjunction with CardioRhythm 2023 (APHRS 2023)" gather the global cardiologists to exchange latest knowledge and ideas, aiming to drive the world development of managing heart rhythm disorders. Regardless of the bad weather, the opening ceremony held today, with the honor to receive congratulatory video recordings from the HKSAR Financial Secretary and Secretary for Health. Cardiologists from the Asia Pacific and Hong Kong also addressed on the stage.The APHRS is the first and only society organized in the Asia-Pacific region to promote excellence and advancement in diagnosis and treatment of patients with heart rhythm disease. The annual scientific session is the highlight of its activities. In 2023, it is the second time for the APHRS and the HKCC to co-organize the joint meeting of the APHRS and the CardioRhythm in Hong Kong, and the last joint meeting is exactly 10 years ago.With the theme "Embracing the Breakthroughs", more than 2,300 participants from 48 countries or regions will explore and deliberate on the advancement and innovation in the science and management of heart rhythm disorders in the meeting. The latest development in cardiac pacing, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachyarrhythmia will be presented. Innovation in mapping and ablation of cardiac arrhythmia will be shown both as lectures and case demonstrations.The opening ceremony was held at the first day of the meeting, and honorably receiving congratulatory videos from Mr. Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR, and Professor Chung-Mau Lo, Secretary for Health. They wished that the meeting would be held smoothly and successfully under the unstable weather. Cardiologists also addressed at the ceremony, including Professor Wataru Shimizu, President of Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society, Dr Godwin T.C. Leung, President elect of Hong Kong College of Cardiology, and Dr. Ngai-yin Chan, Co-Chair of the APHRS 2023 Organizing Committee.Hong Kong's unique advantages were acknowledged that it has always had a high standard of medical care and an efficient healthcare system, with many world-leading medical indicators. The budget increasement on medical care shows that the government is valuing the importance of the sector.It was also emphasized that the meeting not only proves Hong Kong's international status in exhibitions and medical care, but also demonstrates its irreplaceable unique advantages under "One Country, Two Systems". With the solid support of the country, Hong Kong can fully play the role of a "super-connector" between the mainland China and the international community in different fields.Hashtag: #APHRS #AsiaPacificHeartRhythmSociety #HKCC #HongKongCollegeofCardiology

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS)

The Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS) has grown very rapidly and efficiently after its founding in 2008. The success of the organization and rapid growth was due to the enthusiastic support by pioneer electrophysiologists and efforts by many physicians to cure heart rhythm disorders. With the experience of preceding arrhythmia symposia of intercities or international basis in the region, the organization could quickly grow to become APHRS. The mission of APHRS is to promote basic research and improve clinical practice, optimize care of patients with heart rhythm disorders, and to train and encourage young physicians to actively participate and promote the activity of our society.



Hong Kong College of Cardiology (HKCC)

The Hong Kong College of Cardiology (HKCC) is a charitable organization founded in 1992. It aims at upkeeping the highest standard of cardiovascular practice and working towards the improvement of heart health amongst people of Hong Kong. There are now 310 fellows and 117 members.


HA NOI  President Vo Van Thuong and his spouse hosted a ceremony in Ha Noi on Thursday marking the 78th National Day of Viet Nam (September 2,1945-2023).

The event was attended by high-ranking officials, scientists, intellectuals, businesspeople, young people, along with foreign diplomats and heads of international organisations in Ha Noi.

In his speech, the President noted that in August 1945, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and President Ho Chi Minh, millions of Vietnamese people rallied as one to carry out the General Uprising, overthrowing the yoke of feudal and colonial reigns and reclaiming leadership for the people.

The victory of the 1945 August Revolution is one of the most glorious chapters in the history of Viet Nam. It underscores the remarkable strength of the great national unity, and ushered in a quantum leap for the Vietnamese nation - an era of national independence aligned with socialism. The people of Viet Nam were able to escape subjugation and retake mastery over their country and their own fate, he said.

President Thuong also recalled the day of September 2, 1945 when President Ho Chi Minh solemnly read the Declaration of Independence at Ba inh Square, proclaiming the birth of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, now the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

President Ho Chi Minh announced to the world that: Viet Nam has the right to enjoy its freedom and independence, and it has, in fact, become a free and independent country. The entire people of Viet Nam are determined to mobilise all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and properties to safeguard the said freedom and independence.

According to President Thuong, since the Revolutionary Autumn of 1945, in the spirit of Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom, the Vietnamese nation fought valiantly through countless arduous wars, with millions of this lands outstanding individuals having laid down their lives for national liberation and unification, and for the building and protection of their Fatherland.

The leader stressed that upon the launch of oi Moi, with the goals of wealthy people, a strong country of democracy, equality and civilisation, the people of Viet Nam once again entered a fierce struggle to eradicate hunger, poverty, and outdatedness, and recorded historic accomplishments. Socio-political stability has been maintained. Defense and security have been firmly safeguarded. Social security has been ensured. Peoples living standards have constantly improved.

From a country that has yet to make itself known on the global stage, Viet Nam has now established diplomatic ties with 192 countries, he said, adding that it has emerged as one of the most dynamic economies in the Asia-Pacific, and affirmed its role as an important part of numerous economic linkages, free trade agreements, and production chains in the region and the world.

Viet Nam is indeed a country of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development, and a beautiful, safe, friendly, and hospitable destination, the President affirmed.

He emphasised that an invaluable asset and significant source of strength for Viet Nam to overcome all challenges and losses have long stemmed from the peoples patriotism, great national unity, unwavering resolve and bravery, relentless pursuit of self-reliance and resilience, and burning aspiration for independence, freedom, peace, and happiness.

Such noble values are tempered, preserved, and harnessed over the nations national construction and protection efforts spanning thousands of years, he continued.

Viet Nam always strives to mobilise the strength of the entire nation, and perseveringly pursues the philosophy of national independence aligned with socialism that the Party, President Ho Chi Minh, and the Vietnamese people have chosen, he stated.

Viet Nam is striving to fulfill the aspiration to become a developed, high-income country by 2045. To this end, we remain steadfast in promoting the holistic and comprehensive implementation of oi Moi and engaging in extensive and comprehensive international integration. Viet Nam also continues to improve as a socialist law-governed state and a socialist-oriented market economy.

At the same time, the country is making efforts to firmly safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and preserve and build upon the invaluable legacies cultivated by generations of Vietnamese people, President Thuong went on.

Throughout this process, the people have always been placed at the heart of Viet Nams endeavours, he said, noting they are the actor, the driver, and the consistent goal of all development policies.

President Thuong also cited President Ho Chi Minhs saying that Viet Nam is a component of the world and anything that happens in the world is truly relevant to Viet Nam.

Following his teachings, over the past years, Viet Nam has always conducted a consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification and multilateralisation of external relations. Viet Nam is a friend, a reliable partner, and a responsible member of the international community for peace, stability, cooperation and development worldwide.

Viet Nam has successfully assumed numerous positions at multilateral forums, and joined hands in realising the goals of promoting development, protecting human rights, and contributing to the maintenance of global peace. Viet Nams efforts have earned the recognition and affection from international friends.

The countrys various stages of development all bore witness to the warm sentiment, kind support, effective and substantive cooperation, and assistance in good faith by numerous friends around the world, President Thuong said.

On the occasion of Viet Nams momentous celebration, on behalf of the Party, State and people of Viet Nam, I would like to once again extend my sincere gratitude to friends, partners, and the progressive people worldwide for having stood with Vietnam and offered us your affection, trust, and invaluable support and friendship over the past 78 years.

You have indeed helped Viet Nam possess a grand fortune, potential, prestige and international profile as never before. This also serves as a strong foundation to further nurture this enduring bond of friendship and cooperation in the years to come, he affirmed.

The leader pointed to a world of uncertainties and complexities, wherein countries are facing greater risks and challenges, saying global, traditional, and non-traditional security issues continue to evolve in a complicated manner, and threaten stability and sustainable development.

Conflicts and divisions are still occurring in many regions. Geo-political tensions continue to escalate. Multilateralism and international law are confronted with various challenges.

For common peace and prosperity for all countries to be maintained, Viet Nam is of the view that, we need to stand united, bolster cooperation, uphold multilateralism, and observe the UN Charter and international law, he suggested.

Viet Nam stands ready to serve as a bridge to facilitate cooperation and dialogue, reinforce multilateralism, and promote peaceful settlement of disputes based on the UN Charter and international law, he pledged.

Viet Nam shall always remain a close and loyal friend, a reliable partner, and a responsible member of the international community, the President continued.

The leader expressed his hope that ambassadors, charges daffaires and chief representatives of international organisations will continue to represent good faith, sincerity, trust, and close bond, and make meaningful contributions to further enhancing the ties between Vietnam and other partners worldwide.

On behalf of the guests, Palestinian Ambassador to Viet Nam Saadi Salama, head of the diplomatic corps, extended the best wishes to the Party and State leaders and the people of Viet Nam on this important event.

He expressed his impression of Viet Nam's comprehensive achievements in the recent past as the Vietnamese economy has maintained its growth momentum and has consistently been included in the list of countries with the highest growth rates in the region and the world by various economic, financial, and international ranking organisations.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recognised Viet Nam as a bright spot in the "grey picture" of the global economy. The development achievements have also propelled Viet Nam to the 32nd position among the top 100 strong national brand values worldwide. In 2023, Viet Nam's "World Happiness Index" climbed 12 places in the United Nations rankings, he said.

The diplomat expressed his belief that the Government and people of Viet Nam would stay consistent and united, uphold the internal strength, and continue reaping new successes on the path of building a prosperous and progressive nation.

He thanked the Vietnamese Government and relevant agencies for accompanying and supporting diplomats in both their work and life.

The diplomats are always willing and determined to continue with their efforts to strengthen and expand further friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Viet Nam and other countries and international organisations for a world of peace, equality, prosperity, cooperation and development, Salama said.

Participants at the event were later treated to outstanding music performances by Vietnamese artists, which praised President Ho Chi Minh and introduced Viet Nam and its people.  VNS
The U.S. Army wants to weaponize robot dogs by integrating machine guns, as well as giving them AI capabilities. This was confirmed by a spokesperson for the U.S. Army, saying that the defense branch wants to experiment with its next-generation guns by mounting them on unmanned robotic dogs.

US Army to Weaponize Robot Dogs by Mounting Rifles, LMGs

According to The First Post's latest report, the U.S. Army wants to weaponize robot dogs so that they can be used in areas with heavy gunfires.

The military branch added that these war machines will be remotely controlled by operators; helping them navigate and find their targets.

But, the machines will still be the ones to decide the action they'll take against these targets. The latest effort of the U.S. Army is quite simple.

All it wants is to mount advanced gunsspecifically assault rifles and LMGsonto its robot dogs and make them autonomous using artificial intelligence so that these machines can conduct military tasks in unspecified battlefield scenarios.

"The unique capability of the dog is the ability to traverse different types of terrain that wheeled vehicles may not be able to go," said Bhavanjot Singh, the U.S. Army DEVCOM's senior scientific technical manager via Interesting Engineering.

Read Also: Ground Drones May Revolutionize Military Technology in Ukraine

Autonomous Robot Dogs are Just the Start

The mentioned AI-powered weaponized robotic dogs mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg.

Aside from these war machines, The Conversation reported that the U.S. military plans to use thousands of autonomous war robots in the upcoming years.

The United States will use these unmanned weapons systems and machines to counter China's growing military power.

This was explained by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. The autonomous warfare machines that the military will try to acquire are a part of the Replicator Initiative.

Experts said that this new defense program will help the United States develop and build thousands of autonomous war systems.

They added that the Replicator Initiative will help the U.S. military win major wars in the future. If you want to learn more about the autonomous robot buildup in the United States, you can click this link.

Related Article: US Air Force to Build Thousands of AI-Powered Valkyrie Jets! Multibillion-Dollar Budget Now Requested

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
CAIRO  The relations between Viet Nam and Egypt have made continuous great strides over the past 60 years, affirmed Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt Nguyen Huy Dung.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries (September 1, 1963-2023), the diplomat said that the bilateral relationship has been built on the foundation of a common desire for national independence and freedom, and reinforced by generations of leaders and people of the two countries.

Over the past six decades, the two sides have regularly exchanged high-level delegations, while coordinating with and supporting each other at regional and international forums such as the United Nations (UN), the Non-Aligned Movement, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the African Union (AU), Ambassador Dung said.

Egypt is currently the leading trade partner of Viet Nam in North Africa, he noted, underlining that bilateral cooperation in culture and education has also been fruitful, with many Vietnamese students and officials receiving Arabic training in Egypt.

In recent years, senior leaders of the two countries have made mutual visits, during which many cooperation agreements were signed among ministries, sectors and localities of the two sides, he said.

The long-standing sound political relations and warm sentiments towards each other have paved the way for the growth of bilateral ties in the future, while the expanding economic, trade and investment partnership will help facilitate the political-diplomatic relations and people-to-people exchange between the two sides, he affirmed.

The ambassador said cooperation between the two countries will contribute to promoting peace, stability and development in the region, and help to respond to traditional and non-traditional challenges.

In terms of economy, Ambassador Dung held that Viet Nam and Egypt, as two large markets with over 100 million people each, can supplement each other. With their strategic positions, the two countries can help each other to enter larger markets in their respective regions.

He said that Viet Nam and Egypt signed their first trade deal in 1994, and the first meeting of the Joint Committee was held in 1997. Since then, the two sides have maintained cooperation through the Joint Committee mechanism. The sixth meeting of the committee will be organised in the near future.

Regarding activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Viet Nam-Egypt diplomatic relations, the diplomat said that the activities have been held in parallel in both countries with their close coordination, with a ceremony marking the special occasion held in Hanoi on July 22 and a similar event in Cairo on July 26.

A series of activities will also be held until the end of this year, including the introduction of Vietnamese cuisine and the promotion of economic, trade and tourism in Cairo and other Egyptian localities, he said.

In order to further promote the bilateral ties, the ambassador noted that in their recent meetings, leaders of the two countries had affirmed their high political determination to lift up the bilateral relations to a new height in all fields.

Ambassador Dung said that in the future, the two countries will focus on cooperating in economy, trade, investment, and tourism, optimising their economies' strengths, increasing people-to-people exchange, promoting parliamentary collaboration and partnership among political parties, and sharing development experience.  VNS
ONG NAI  Over the years, ong Nai Province has carried out various activities to promote local products to boost the movement of "Vietnamese use Vietnamese goods".

The province is now implementing a photo contest titled "I believe in using Vietnamese goods" to spread the spirit of using Vietnamese goods in the community.

Active involvement in the "Vietnamese people use Vietnamese goods" campaign is essential for businesses to develop the domestic market and win consumer trust.

Chairman of the provincial Standards and Consumers' Association Pham Gia Hai said that in recent years, many communication activities about Vietnamese goods have been strongly implemented by local departments, associations and units, focusing on such topics as green consumption trends, consumer tastes in the digital age, to encourage and spread green and sustainable production models in the province.

According to Ngo Thanh Long, a representative of Anna Dragon Fruit Wine Production Facility in Thong Nhat District, the establishment has regularly promoted product introduction on online platforms, social media and websites. Those activities contribute to bringing local products closer to consumers inside and outside the province.

In addition to the usual forms of promotion on the media, the the photo contest about Vietnamese goods has brought resonance by spreading images that bring Vietnamese goods closer to consumers, the provincial People Committee said.

ong Nai Trade Promotion Centre (under the Department of Industry and Trade) is also coordinating with relevant localities to open two more sales points under the name of "Proud Vietnamese Goods" in Long Khanh City and Nhon Trach District.

Deputy Director of ong Nai Trade Promotion Centre Nguyen Van Linh affirmed that these sales points contributed to bringing Vietnamese goods closer to consumers, especially in remote areas in the province.

Up to now, the province has developed 34 "Proud Vietnamese Goods" sales points.  VNS
The Texas Attorney Generals Office is continuing to pursue the prosecution of Waco attorney Seth Sutton in a murder-for-hire case that resulted in a hung jury and mistrial Aug. 15.

A hearing on the Sutton case is set for 1:30 p.m. Sept. 29 in Wacos 19th State District Court, a court administrator confirmed.

Officials appointed Patrick Sloane, a prosecutor in the Texas Attorney Generals Office, to lead the prosecution of Sutton after former McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson recused his office because he had briefly hired Suttons law partner as first assistant district attorney. Current DA Josh Tetens also recused his office because of past association with Sutton.

Prosecutors say Sutton solicited an undercover Waco Police Department detective on May 14, 2020, to kill Waco attorney Marcus Beaudin. Beaudin has been indicted on an attempted indecency with a child charge involving a family member of Sutton.

In the trial last month before a visiting judge in 19th District Court, prosecutors presented audio recordings the detective made of Sutton and Beaudins ex-wife, Chelsea Tijerina, discussing ways to kill Beaudin and frame others for the murder. The detective had infiltrated Suttons motorcycle club and accepted cash for a gun, ammunition and gas money to carry out the hit, according to testimony.

Suttons attorney, Clint Broden, argued that the detective was a rogue officer who encouraged Sutton to take revenge on Beaudin.

Jurors deliberated until 10 p.m. Aug. 15, when the judge declared a mistrial because of a deadlocked jury.

In a statement Friday, Broden said he is disappointment the AGs office is still pursuing the case, and called it a waste of tax dollars.

This comes after a week long trial in which a rogue police officer, after taking an undercover course called Lust for the Bust, admitted that he instigated each and every encounter with Mr. Sutton including calling Mr. Sutton multiple times a day.  Apparently, rather than undertake an investigation into this disgraced officer who repeatedly disobeyed orders from his superiors, the State has decided to double down in its pursuit of Mr. Sutton, Broden wrote.

The Tribune-Herald is seeking comment on the case from the Office of the Attorney General.
Back in April, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (NMUSAF) announced that they would resume the restoration of Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress 40-3097, nicknamed The Swoose, one of the most storied survivors of its breed. Being the oldest intact Flying Fortress extant, this is both a restoration and conservation project. Scott Thompson of AeroVintage stopped by the museum and produced the following report.

By Scott Thompson of Aero Vintage

The sole remaining early shark fin B-17, B-17D 40-3097, is in the initial stages of a restoration or, probably better put, reassembly and preservation at the shops of the National Museum of The United States Air Force (NMUSAF) at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. This is exciting for anyone familiar with the history of this B-17D, best known as The Swoose, as it will finally be reassembled and put on display after nearly seventy years of storage by the National Air Museum, later the National Air and Space Museum, and finally by the NMUSAF. I had the opportunity to visit the airplane and spent some time looking at it in detail. There is much to look at.

First off, though, it is the announced intention of the NMUSAF to restore the B-17D to its last wartime configurationthat of a VIP transport for Gen. George Brett who was the commander of the Caribbean Defense Command and Panama Canal Department from November 1942 until April 1945. When this intention was first announced back in April 2023, it was received with some disappointment among many B-17 enthusiasts.

There are really three points of this aircrafts history that represent important historical milestones: a factory-fresh natural metal finish B-17D off the assembly line, the B-17D as it served as a combat bomber in the first month of World War II in the Pacific, or as the VIP transport. Given the trend of many museums to preserve rather than destroy historical artifacts, the decision was made to return 40-3097 to its last configuration as a transport.

Indeed, much of the airplane changed from its delivery at Boeing Field in April 1941 (one of only 42 B-17Ds built) until its retirement to Kingman Field in December 1945. To undo those modifications made through the years would have destroyed some basic history of this B-17. So, I for one, am content with the decision by the NMUSAF. Among other things, it will make the reassembly much easier to accomplish. Most of the components are on hand, and the documented transport interior will be restored or recreated as needed.

The finish will return to the natural metal finish of 1945 prior to it going on display as a war memorial at Los Angeles in 1946. A major challenge of the NMUSAF team will be what to do with the distinctive markings on the airplane, many of which it wore in the last months of its service, some of which were added prior to it going on public display in 1946.

Especially notable among these are the flags and markings on the right side of the nose. When initial work was done on the B-17D by the NMUSAF back in 2009-2010 (before work was sidelined by the restoration of B-17F 41-24485 Memphis Belle, the mindset at that time was to restore the bomber and the nose skin was removed with the flags and markings intact. The nose was going to be reskinned and, in fact, the skin on the left side of the nose was replaced. However, with the change of direction to preserve instead of restore The Swoose, that removed skin with the flags and markings has been reattached back in positionnot yet riveted but held in place by clecoes.

The notable history of this particular B-17 wont be recounted in detail here. It is covered elsewhere, one good source being Final Cut: The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress and Survivors. Suffice it to say that, briefly, it was on hand at Del Monte Field in the Philippines on the first day of the war, avoiding destruction by not being at Clark Field near Manila. It fought with the meager remainders of U.S. air power through the first month of the war, being badly damaged several times. Known then as Ole Betsy, the worn-out B-17 was withdrawn from service after January 11, 1942, barely five weeks into the Pacific war. It was rebuilt as a transport and served General Brett from then on until the war ended. In December 1945 it was sent to Kingman for scrapping, but was saved as it was claimed by the city of Los Angeles for use as a war memorial, helped along by its wartime pilot, Frank Kurtz, who pretty much arranged the whole thing. It was in excellent VIP transport condition at Kingman and was put back into flying condition. However, Kurtz and team did not want The Swoose displayed as a transport, so it was first flown to March Field near Riverside, California, and quickly repainted with olive drab upper surfaces and black (?) lower surfaces (perhaps no neutral gray paint available?) with early Air Corps insignia.

It was then delivered by Kurtz to the city of the Angels in early April 1946. It was nominally displayed in Los Angeles for three years and then, with a sense of relief, turned over to the National Air Museum. It was put back into flying condition, again by Kurtz, and flown first to what is now OHare Airport in Chicago and stored, and then on to Pyote, Texas, in 1950 and stored, and finally on to Andrews AFB in Maryland, in 1953. It was then disassembled and stored, once again, and not seen by the general public since. The NMUSAF got it in a trade with the NASM in 2008, and now, fifteen years later, it is receiving some much-deserved attention.

The NMUSAF is expecting a seven-year restorationer, preservationproject, so it might go on display circa 2031 at the museum. That seems a bit long given that most of the airframe components are on-hand and available. The transport interior will be challenging, no doubt, but it is presumed all the available wiring, cabling, and other systems will only be preserved and not replaced. The engines will require at least a cosmetic cleaning and completion for a static display. The narrow chord broomstick propellers of the early B-17s will also be fitted.

Seven years is a bit down the road before it might be on display, and lots can change in seven years. Nonetheless, the NMUSAF now has a firm plan for B-17D 40-3097 and we all will watch with much anticipation as it comes back together.

I need to thank the gracious staff of the NMUSAF for arranging this visit to see the airplane. For more information on the project, visit this dedicated page at the NMUSAF website.

*And, Ill recommend two other fine sources that address B-17D 40-3097 in some detail (besides Final Cut, of course): The first is the 1993 book The Swoose: Odyssey of a B-17 by Herbert S. Brownstein which is devoted to the history of this airplane. The second is Fortress Against the Sun: The B-17 Flying Fortress in the Pacific by Gene Eric Salecker. Both are excellent in telling the story of the airplane in the first case and the times in the second case.

Many thanks indeed to Scott A. Thompson for allowing us to reproduce this article describing The Swooses present condition his book, Final Cut: The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress and Survivors as well as other titles is the gold standard when it comes to the airframe history it describes!
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man has been arraigned on charges in connection with a 2021 carjacking.

Authorities allege Dante Lee Leavy Martin, 37, was masked and armed with a long gun when he approached a woman who had just stepped out of her 2020 Dodge Charger at Prime Mart on Broadway Street on Aug. 8, 2021.

He ordered her back into her vehicle, but she refused and took off running. Her passenger also fled the vehicle.

Leavy Martin jumped in the vehicle and drove off. The vehicle was later found on Longfellow Avenue with Leavy Martins phone inside, according to court records.

Two weeks after taking the Charger  on Aug. 16, 2021  Leavy Martin was in Cedar Rapids where he used a sawed-off shotgun to rob the Family Dollar store on First Avenue Southwest. He then used the shotgun to order a man out of his Dodge Avenger outside the Hawkeye Convenience Store on First Avenue Southeest, according to court records. He then threatened two women in the store when they tried to call police.

Officers found him hiding on the roof of a nearby restaurant, and he injured himself when he jumped off and attempted to run, according to court records.

Detectives determined Leavy Martin was involved in the Broadway Street incident through DNA, cellphone data and other evidence, records state.

Waterloo authorities obtained an arrest warrant in January 2022, and on Thursday he was arraigned on charges first-degree robbery and felon in possession of a firearm in Black Hawk County District Court.

He was also detained on probation violation warrants from previous cases. In fact, court records indicate he took the Dodge Charger only four days after he was sentenced to probation for taking other vehicles.

July 19, 2017  Leavy Martin was allegedly driving a stolen Ford Super Duty truck when he hit a Waterloo convenience store on Lafayette Street and then drove to Cedar Falls.

Jan. 2, 2019  Leavy Martin allegedly took an acquaintances Toyota Yaris and became involved in a hit-and-run accident in Waterloo.

Sept. 2, 2020  Waterloo police found Leavy Martin in a Dodge Caravan that had been reported stolen from Rockford, Illinois. The vehicle was parked on Broadway Street.

Aug. 24, 2020  Waterloo police investigating a firearm report found Leavy Martin on West Seventh Street with a Ford F-150 Super Crew pickup truck that had been reported stolen days earlier from Morehead Motors.
Thailand's monarch, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, commuted the prison sentence of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from eight years to a single year Friday (September 1) after his return from a 15-year self-imposed exile.

As Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, the king has the prerogative of pardoning prisoners or reducing their sentences. The king's decision was published in the Royal Gazette, making it effective immediately.

"[Thaksin] was a prime minister, has done good for the country and people, and is loyal to the monarchy," the decree wrote."When he was charged and convicted by the court to the mentioned imprisonment sentence, with his respect in the justice system, he confessed and regretted to his acts. He was willing to serve the sentence while being elderly and having health issues and sickness that must be treated by specialist doctors."

The decree granted to the 74-year-old former prime minister, signed by outgoing prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, said the action was taken in order for him to be able to contribute to Thai society.

Outgoing deputy prime minister and acting attorney-general Wissanu Krea-ngam said Thursday (August 31) that he received Thaksin's letter requesting for royal pardon on medical grounds.

Read Also: Thailand's Pita Limjaroenrat's Final Attempt to Form Government Fails

Thaksin's Rise and Fall

Thaksin was ousted as prime minister in a military coup in 2006 and was accused of corruption, abuse of power, and disrespecting the monarchy, prompting him to flee from Thailand in 2008 when he was threatened with imprisonment on charges he described were politically motivated.

Prior to this, he was a media mogul and used his fortune and influence to build his own party, which is now morphed into the name Pheu Thai and won as the populist ticket in both 2001 and 2005.

Because of his populist stance, many traditional royalists were threatened by his popularity, which sparked protests and riots. Political parties with his backing continued to win elections but were forced from power several times by the courts and the military, which solidly backed traditional monarchist ideologies.

Upon Thaksin's return, he was immediately sent to prison but was quickly transferred to a state hospital for health complications, such as high blood pressure and low oxygen.

It was widely believed Thaksin was hoping his return to Thailand would prompt a government friendly to him and would reduce his sentence in exchange for a deal with authorities. Hours after Thaksin's return, Pheu Thai's Srettha Thavisin was selected by parliament as the new prime minister after three months of political uncertainty following May's general election.

Related Article: Thailand: Ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra Gets Jail Time After Returning Home From Exile

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
WATERLOO  Waterloo Community Schools is beginning to grapple with a new Iowa law that requires guardians to consent to a gender, pronoun or name change for their students.

Senate File 496 is a sweeping education reform bill signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May. The bill includes prohibitions on instruction regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, prohibits sexually explicit books in libraries and classrooms and dictates staff must notify a parent or guardian if a student asks to use a new name or pronoun.

There already has been one change request by a parent, according to the district.

The school and its licensed employees also cannot knowingly give false or misleading information to a guardian about a students gender identity or intent to transition. Violating the law two or more times can cost employees their teaching license.

In a policy review meeting Wednesday, administrators got a first look at the districts take on the law. The proposed policies are similar to guidance provided by the Iowa Association of School Boards. No formal guidance has been given by the state Department of Education.

Waterloo is attempting to be very proactive, Sheena Canady, director of student and at-risk services, said during the virtual meeting. Theres a lot of gray area and a lot of unknown in terms of what language of the laws is suggesting or mandating.

She believes the law is vague intentionally.

The district plans to send a letter to parents  called a report of student disclosure of identity  when a student asks a licensed employee to either make an accommodation that is intended to affirm the students identity or to use a name, pronoun or gender identity different than that listed on the school registration form. The form would list the students stated preference.

If a guardian wants to amend the students registration paperwork to allow the requested change, they must file a form with the district. The forms language matches the Iowa Association of School Boards reference manual.

A guardian who permits the students request must send a letter to the district approving the change.

That doesnt apply only to transgender or nonbinary students. If Michael wants to be called Mike or Samantha wants to be called Sam, paperwork must be filled out.

School board member Stacie Mills requested the term identity be changed to identification so LGBTQ+ students dont feel targeted. She also asked what will happen if a child threatens suicide when a teacher intends to notify parents.

If a district knows, we have to continuously find a way to take care of our kids but also abide by the law, Canady said. Were asking these tough questions to what extent can we also protect our kids in this, and hopefully well get some good answers.

Clarity is what everyone wished for in the meeting. The district and the Iowa State Education Association say theyve sought guidance from their lawyers, but even their lawyers have more questions than answers.

One major gray area is what happens if a child confides to unlicensed staff about their gender, pronouns or name. The law only applies to licensed employees such as teachers or administrators.

Board secretary Pam Arndorfer said the district is seeking legal clarification on this issue and how licensed staff could use that information. She wondered if a licensed professional can advise a student to have that conversation with someone at the health office or contracted services, such as Success Street.

The law does say that there are consequences, for a lack of a better term, for school districts that knowingly do not relay that information, she said. Where is that line?

Canady said the district is working with its director of equity, inclusion and belonging  Gina Weekley  to develop a list of resources that can support students without breaking the law.

Another aspect of SF496 discussed in the meeting is instructional materials used in the classroom, as opposed to books that can be checked out of school libraries.

A major area of discussion was guidelines materials, which must follow rules about religion, racism, sexism, age, ideology, profanity and sex, and controversial issues.

Material regarding religion must be unbiased. Material on racism must present a diversity of race, custom, culture and belief as a positive aspect of a nations heritage. Material on sexism must reflect sensitivity to individuals without preference or bias and must comply with all laws.

Material on age must include various age groups. Material on ideology must not be selected with the intention to sway reader judgment. Materials that include profanity and sex must comply with laws and will be subjected to a test of literary merit and reality by librarians and licensed staff. Materials containing controversial issues must include a balanced collection representing various views.

Questions were raised about age-appropriate material for advanced classes such as International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement programs. If material is deemed provocative, teachers must have backup reading ready.

Mills questioned why there wasnt guidance on accurate portrayal of history.

Were in the middle of that fight, said Sara Kavalier, a teacher and member of the Waterloo Education Association. She teaches AP and advanced literature classes at West High School. It will probably be updated, but were still in that war.

The review committee is the first step before the proposed policies come to the Board of Education. Arndorfer said it will probably be on the Sept. 11 school board agenda.
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In our "What's in your Bay" series, 7x7 asks local chefs, artists, designers, and entrepreneurs what restaurants, venues, and getaways form the landmarks of their Bay Area (and beyond).

Pastry chef Serena Chow Fisher made waves when she and husband David Fisher somehow turned their pandemic-born restaurant Marlena into a Michelin-starred darling in a year filled with COVID uncertainty. But after splitting ways with the restaurant this summer, Chow Fisher has shifted her attention to two new projects that are likely to catapult her back into spotlight.

Jack & Remi, a new craft ice cream company, is named after her two pups and currently popping up with flavors like sourdough toast and jam and 4XChocolate made with Valrhona devils food cake; and 7 Adams, an upcoming Japantown restaurant.

When not hard at work, Chow Fisher, David, and Remi call San Mateo homethe same city where Chow grew up. We caught up with her to ask what she loves most about the Bay, from her go-to neighborhood spot to her favorite places to shop local.

"I love the springy texture of the hand-pulled belt noodles [at Ox 9 Lanzhou Handpulled Noodles], and their wontons in chili oil are my number one comfort food," says Chow Fisher. (Courtesy of @ox9_lanzhou_handpulled_noodles)

What is your go-to neighborhood spot?

Downtown San Mateo is home to a lot of Asian food choices. My favorite of them all is Ox 9 Lanzhou Handpulled Noodles (11 S. B St.). I love the springy texture of the hand-pulled belt noodles, and their wontons in chili oil are my number one comfort food. Noodles travel well, so your take-out at home will be just as satisfying as when you eat in the restaurant.

Wheres your favorite place in the Bay to take out of town visitors?

Some of my go-to places are the Ferry Building (1 Ferry Bldg., Embarcadero) and, if time allows, over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. I like that the Ferry Building houses all your SF food staples, and its a quick way to enjoy a condensed SF experience along the water. As a bonus, if your visitors have kids, its a short skip away to Pier 15 and the Exploratorium. Even though the Exploratorium is mostly targeted to a younger age group, Im always fascinated how it stays relevant and interesting, even when you are older!

Whats your favorite Northern California day trip?

Carmel-by-the-Sea! Its a short trip away and we love to be by the water. I love walking around the beach and seeing all the names of the beach housesand the shopping is always so fun. One of my top three favorite meals was at Aubergine at the LAuberge Carmel (Monte Verde & 7th St.), and Im dreaming about when well go back.

"[Therapy Stores] carry all kinds of great gifts for children and adults, a section that features the Bay Area city that each outlet is located in, and super cute clothing," says Chow Fisher. (Courtesy of @therapystores)

What Bay Area shop do you love to visit?

Therapy Stores! Theyre all over the Bay Area and each one curates a different stock of goods. They carry all kinds of great gifts for children and adults, a section that features the Bay Area city that each outlet is located in, and super cute clothing.

What Bay Areamade item can you not live without?

I love Marshalls Farm Natural Honey because they separate their honey by county so its a great way to combat allergies naturally. All the teas from Song Tea (2120 Sutter St., Pac Heights): they are curated so thoughtfully and the shop is beautiful. And finally, Cocofloss. I didnt know I could love a dental floss, but I do, and this one is it. They also make a great toothbrush.

Whats your favorite Bay Area park for hiking or biking?

My favorite hike is at Pulgas Ridge (Edmonds Rd., Redwood City) because there are so many trails that you can really choose your own adventure. Not only are you able to spend two-plus hours getting a good workout in, but there are also shorter trails that can have you in and out in 45 minutes flat. There are also heavily shaded redwood areas and sunny hilltopsthe best of all worlds!

"[Tenaya Lodge] is spacious and well-maintained, and the location makes it a great home base to visit all the smaller towns surrounding Yosemite ," says Chow Fisher. (Courtesy of @tenayaatyosemite)

What is your favorite Northern California location for a weekend getaway?



Lake Tahoe is always our first choice. We love the variety of different activities offered on the lake and in the mountains, and that the vacation can be so different based on whether you are in North or South Lake, and whether you are visiting in the summer or the winter. I also get peace of mind knowing our dogs can play in the lake without ingesting a ton of salt water, and I always enjoy a fun night in the casino.

What California hotel or resort have you visited more than once or would you love to go back to?

Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite (1122 CA-41, Fish Camp). Dave and I love going to Yosemite every winter to hike and spend some time in the snow. The resort itself is spacious and well-maintained, and the location makes it a great home base to visit all the smaller towns surrounding Yosemite as well. Tenaya is also dog friendly!
Chinese, South Korean FMs hold phone talks on promoting bilateral cooperation

Xinhua) 08:37, September 01, 2023

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday spoke by phone with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin at the latter's request.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China's policy toward South Korea has maintained continuity and stability, adding that the development of bilateral relations has an internal driving force and inevitable logic, and should not be influenced by a third party.

China and South Korea should stick to the original intention of establishing diplomatic ties, stick to the right direction of friendly cooperation, continue to enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples, guard against interference from external factors, refrain from ideological confrontations, jointly push for steady and long-term bilateral relations, and open up the next 30 years of more sustainable, resilient and closer cooperation, Wang said.

Noting that mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation is the ballast of bilateral relations, Wang said that with enormous economic development potentials and a large market, China is accelerating the construction of a new system for higher-level open economy and expanding China-South Korea cooperation will help South Korea achieve sustainable prosperity and development.

He expressed hope that South Korea will strengthen its strategic autonomy, reject various anti-globalization manoeuvers and attempts to decouple or sever supply chains, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, so as to better serve the people of the two countries.

China supports South Korea in playing a positive role in promoting trilateral cooperation as the chair of the China-Japan-South Korea cooperation, Wang added.

For his part, Park expressed sympathy over the recent floods in some parts of China and wished the 19th Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou a complete success and a grand event of peace and unity.

Noting that South Korea and China are close neighbors and important partners, Park said that this year marks the beginning of the second 30 years of bilateral relations and the government of President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks highly of the fruitful results achieved in bilateral relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties and will continue to value and promote bilateral ties.

The South Korean side looks forward to enhancing high-level exchanges with China, strengthening people-to-people exchanges, improving mutual understanding and actively building a sound and mature South Korea-China relationship, Park said.

He said that South Korea has no intention to engage in decoupling targeting a specific country on the issue of production and supply chain, and "de-sinicization" is neither possible nor desirable.

South Korea is willing to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with China, keep the production and supply chain stable and unimpeded, and jointly promote regional economic growth, Park said.

The two sides also exchanged views on issues including Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater and the Korean Peninsula.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A resident of Indiana, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on charges of violating federal narcotics laws, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced.

The two-count Indictment named James Emmanuel Emerson, a/k/a "Manny," age 52, as the sole defendant.

READ ALSO: FBI Norfolk Highlights Summer Internet Safety Tips for Parents

According to the Indictment presented to the court, on or about February 15, 2022, and on or about March 3, 2022, Emerson knowingly, intentionally, and unlawfully possessed with the intent to distribute and distributed 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine.

United States District Court Judge Arthur J. Schwab sentenced Emerson to 90 months in prison, followed by a four-year term of supervised release.

Assistant United States Attorney Carl J. Spindler prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Laurel Highlands Resident Agency conducted the investigation leading to the Indictment in this case.

An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

READ MORE: FBI El Paso Launches an Official Facebook Page (FBI-El Paso)

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
EXTENSION AND VARIATION APPLICATIONS FOR PEP-11 PERMIT TO ENABLE DRILLING OF SEABLUE 1 GAS WELL AT BALEEN



PEP11 UPDATE

Perth, Sep 1, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - BPH Energy Limited ( ASX:BPH ) and Bounty Oil & Gas NL ( ASX:BUY ) refer to the ASX announcement dated 21 July 2023 regarding PEP-11.



Asset Energy Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Advent Energy Limited, an investee of BPH Energy Limited) continues to progress the Joint Venture's applications for the variation and suspension of work program conditions and related extension of PEP-11.



Asset has provided additional information to NOPTA (National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator) in response to NOPTA's recent requests for further information.



While the applications for the variation and suspension of work program conditions and related extension of PEP-11 are being considered, Asset is continuing to investigate the availability of a mobile offshore drilling unit to drill the proposed Seablue-1 well on the Baleen prospect and is in communication with drilling contractors and other operators who have recently contracted rigs for work in the Australian offshore beginning in the first half of 2024. Further updates will be provided in the BPH Quarterly report to ASX.



PEP-11 continues in force and the Joint Venture is in compliance with the contractual terms of PEP11 with respect to such matters as reporting, payment of rents and the various provisions of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cth).



THE IMPORTANCE OF NEW GAS PROJECTS AND GAS SUPPLY



Asset and its Joint Venture partner Bounty Oil & Gas NL ( ASX:BUY ) have continued to monitor gas market demand. The analysis contained in the AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator) report 'Gas Statement of Opportunities' (GSOO) has made a number of key findings.



- Despite increased production commitments from the gas industry since the 2022 GSOO, gas supply in southern Australia is declining faster than projected demand.



- As Australia transforms to meet a net zero emissions future, gas will continue to complement zero emissions and renewable forms of energy, and to provide a reliable and dispatchable form of electricity generation.



- The 2023 GSOO highlights continued risks of short-term gas supply shortfalls and long-term gas supply gaps arising from reducing production from southern Australia. In particular, the risk of peak day shortfalls continues to be forecast under very high demand conditions in the southern states from winter 2023.



- Short-term critical gas adequacy conditions include:



- Extreme weather conditions across southern regions that drive high coincident peak demand for gas consumption may lead to gas shortfalls, particularly if combined with high gas generation (if alternative electricity generation resources are unavailable).



- Peak day gas shortfall risks would increase if committed infrastructure developments to reduce transmission constraints were not delivered to schedule.



The GSOO report confirms:



- Production (from existing sources) is projected to decline significantly with much of the decline occurring in the Gippsland Basin (Victoria).



- New sources of gas supply will be needed.



*To view tables and figures, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/8X1L64UL





About BPH Energy Limited





BPH Energy Limited (ASX:BPH) is an Australian Securities Exchange listed company developing biomedical research and technologies within Australian Universities and Hospital Institutes.

The company provides early stage funding, project management and commercialisation strategies for a direct collaboration, a spin out company or to secure a license.

BPH provides funding for commercial strategies for proof of concept, research and product development, whilst the institutional partner provides infrastructure and the core scientific expertise.

BPH currently partners with several academic institutions including The Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research and Swinburne University of Technology (SUT).

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The 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' actor has become the latest addition to a new untitled movie set in director Paolo Sorrentino's hometown of Naples.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Gary Oldman has been tapped in Paolo Sorrentino's new film. The 65-year-old actor has nabbed a role in the untitled Italian-language drama that is currently filming in Naples. Sorrentino's film is about a woman named Partenope "who bears the name of her city but is neither siren nor myth" but details about Oldman's part have not been revealed.

In Greek mythology, Parthenope - as she is known in English - is the name of a siren who, after failing to lure Odysseus with her songs, cast herself into the sea and drowned. Her body washed up on a symbolic foundational rock where Naples lies.

Sorrentino said, "Her long life embodies the full repertoire of human existence, youth's lightheartedness and its demise, classical beauty and its inexorable permutations, pointless and impossible loves, stale flirtations and dizzying passion, night-time kisses on Capri, flashes of joy and persistent suffering, real and invented fathers, endings and new beginnings."

Previously announced cast members include the Italian stars Luisa Ranieri, Silvio Orlando, Stefania Sandrelli, Isabella Ferrari, Peppe Lanzetta, Alfonso Santagata, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Silvia Degrandi, and newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta.

The movie is being shot between Naples and Capri with Sorrentino producing with Lorenzo Mieli, Anthony Vaccarello, and Ardavan Safaee.

Meanwhile, Gary previously suggested that streaming services were a good thing for the film industry as they take "a lot of pressure" off directors to have instant success with their projects.

The Oscar-winning actor said, "With the streaming systems it takes a lot of pressure of the opening weekend because they don't have to open in the same way. Films are now dropped rather than released and two, three or four minutes counts as a view. It's a whole different thing."

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After the 'Yellowstone' actor was seen traveling on a private plane, Christine Baumgartner wants their children to enjoy the same treatment when they go on vacations.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Kevin Costner's estranged wife demands their children fly in private jets on lavish holidays. "The Bodyguard" actor, 68, recently triumphed in his battle to have his handbag designer ex-partner Christine Baumgartner, 49, move out of their $145 million estate in California after she filed for divorce, but she has now stressed via her legal team her demand that their three kids continue to be able to live in the lifestyle to which they became accustomed when they were living as a family.

In order for their children to maintain the same standard of living when they're in her care, the handbag designer has asked a court to order "Yellowstone" star Kevin to pay her nearly $200,000 in monthly child support.

Her legal team said in a brief filed ahead of a hearing set for Thursday, August 31 about the terms of their split, which was obtained by Us Weekly, "The Court is required to set child support at a level that, when the children are with Christine, they live a lifestyle relatively comparable to the one they enjoy when they are with their father."

It added, "The Court order must allow the children to be supported at a level commensurate with Kevin's considerable wealth, even if that level of support also improves the standard of living of Christine."

Christine's lawyers added her and Kevin's kids - Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and 13-year-old Grace - should live in a "comparable house" to Kevin's when they are in her custody. Her three attorneys also demanded the children should be able to go on "comparable vacations" when they're with her, which includes flying private.

They said in the latest filing in her and Kevin's increasingly bitter divorce battle, "Because the children fly on private aircraft to go on luxury vacations when they are with their father, the Family Code dictates that Kevin should pay sufficient child support to Christine so that the children can go on comparable vacations when they are with her."

"In this case, the guideline child support requested by Christine of $175,057 per month will not be sufficient to replicate Kevin's lifestyle, but it will be sufficient to allow her to provide a lifestyle for the children which is relatively comparable."

Kevin was seen last week getting off a G5 aircraft, which costs up to $11,500 an hour to charter. Christine has claimed the actor's net worth has quadrupled to $400 million over the course of their 18-year marriage. She filed for divorce from him in May, citing "irreconcilable differences," and they have since been locked in disputes over her accommodation and child support.

In July, a judge ordered the dad of seven to pay his estranged wife $129,755 per month in child support for their three kids, although she originally asked the court for $248,000 a month. The "Bodyguard" actor was also ordered to cover $200,000 in attorneys' fees and $100,000 in forensic accounting fees.

Christine has had to adhere to their 2004 prenup and move out of their $145 million mansion compound in Colorado by the end of July.

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The Good Charlotte member takes his time to return to social media amid his internet break to wish his partner a happy 51st birthday in a glowing tribute post.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Cameron Diaz's husband has finally returned to a social media to wish the actress a happy 51st birthday. Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden, 44, who began dating Cameron in 2014 before they married the following year, paid tribute to "The Mask" star by returning to his Instagram feed on Wednesday, August 30 to write his first post on the platform in six months.

"I'm off line mostly these days, just working, painting, making things and doing family life, but I have grown to like my little tradition of coming back on special occasions to show love to my Queen," he told fans in a caption alongside a picture of Cameron clutching a cat.

"So today, it's a very Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife, best friend, best partner in everything, ride or die, greatest Mom to our little girl, @Avaline wine boss, family chef, advisor, collaborator and everything else," Madden continued. "You do it all."

He went on to call himself "one lucky man," adding, "I know that seems obvious but it really is nice to say it out loud now and then when you're feeling it. I love you forever, always, yours, true love. Happy Birthday Cameron."

Benji's brothers Joel Madden and Josh Madden commented on his post by sharing heart emojis while the latter called Cameron the "best best best."

The actress, who had daughter Raddix, now three, via surrogate in 2019, is still to respond online to Benji's tribute.

Benji last gushed over Cameron in January 2022 when celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary, saying online, "Always dreamed of having a family like this. Happy, peaceful, consistent, loyal and unconditional equally filled with passion and depth. Calling it a Honeymoon doesn't cover it. Real life."

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Met while marching in Burbank, California, the estranged husband of Britney Spears dodges questions about their divorce, insisting that he's there in solidarity with striking actors.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Sam Asghari has now found at least one thing in common with Leonardo DiCaprio. The personal trainer-turned-actor has compared himself to the Oscar-winning actor, albeit not for the most flattering reason, as he joined the SAG-AFTRA picket line.

The Tehran, Iran-born star was spotted marching up to Disney Studios in Burbank, California on Thursday, August 31 in a clip published by TMZ. Responding to claims that he's currently "jobless," he admitted, "That's the point of this strike - I have the same amount of jobs as Leonardo DiCaprio does."

The 29-year-old hunk alluded to the fact that all actors in Hollywood are currently out of work due to the strike. "I hope everything gets resolved very fast," he added, "so we can all go back to what we love doing the most, which is making art and inspiring people."

In reference to the writers strike, which is happening in tandem with the SAG-AFTRA protests, Sam said, "Writers are the heart and soul of every project we do, so SAG strong."

Sam Asghari joined SAG-AFTRA picket line.

The model, however, refused to answer questions about Britney Spears. "We're not here to talk about my personal life," he responded to the question. He insisted, "We're here to raise awareness on my brothers and sisters working hard and striking for my future."

Sam, who filed for divorce from Britney on August 16 after 14 months of marriage, had his last acting gig in Paul Feig-directed comedy flick "Grand Death Lotto", which is currently in post-production, before the strike.

Dishing on his next plan after his split from the pop star, a source tells Us Weekly, "Sam is focused on moving forward with his life and although he shared a lot of happy memories with Britney, he's excited to see what's next. Sam is continuing to work on his fitness brand, but his main focus is pursuing his acting career. That's where his passion lies and what makes him the happiest."

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In a new episode of his 'The Kyle and Jackie O Show', Kyle Sandilands criticizes the Duke of Sussex after the royal recounted his time joining the fight in Afghanistan.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Prince Harry has been told to "get over it" by an Australian radio host after opening up about his trauma over his Afghanistan tours of duty. In his latest Netflix show "Heart of Invictus", the Duke of Sussex revealed he was left curled in the "foetal position" and "bouncing off walls" after he left the war-torn country during his 10 years as a soldier.

However, broadcaster Kyle Sandilands has slammed the prince by ranting, "I'm sick and tired of hearing about this little b****h prince whining... he wants everyone to feel sorry for him all the time." He added, "We all struggle, (but) surely he's struggled less than the rest of us."

The host, who was homeless as a teen, hit out while discussing Harry's latest series on "The Kyle and Jackie O Show" on Thursday, August 30. Referring to the death of the prince's mom Princess Diana age 36 in a Paris car crash in 1997, he added, "A lot of people have lost a parent and have not had the means to try and get some help. They just can't afford it."

He also questioned the truth of Harry's claim in his memoir "Spare" he killed 25 Taliban while fighting in Afghanistan, adding he was convinced the royal was protected from harm during his army service "because he was the prince." Harry served in combat for over 10 weeks in Helmand Province, Afghanistan between 2007 and 2008, before returning to the country for a 20-week tour from 2012 to 2013 with the Army Air Corps, during which he was a helicopter pilot.

"You fought in a helicopter for a couple of weeks and you had to come back," he said. "You haven't got PTSD  nothing  you saw no action. Where's the action? When I was not much older than him, I was homeless on the street, not living in a palace. I had no support either, but I've just dusted myself off and powered through and look at me. I have no issues."

Referring to Harry's wife Meghan Markle, with whom he has son Archie, four, and daughter Lilibet, two, Kyle went on, "These people are making money off your, off your sadness for them. I don't even believe they're that sad. They cause most of their own problems. She hates her family, he now hates his family since they've been together. And all they do is b***h about everybody."

"Heart of Invictus" explores the life of injured and ill military veterans who take part in the Paralympic-style Invictus Games, which Harry founded. The 38-year-old prince says on the show about the death of his mom, "I had that moment in my life where I didn't know about it but because of the trauma of losing my mom when I was 12 - for all those years, I had no emotion, I was unable to cry, I was unable to feel. I didn't know it at the time."

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The Duchess of York admits she didn't like herself because she 'was always compared' to the late Princess of Wales, before having a 'waking up' moment, thanks to her mastectomy.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Sarah Ferguson's mastectomy led to her finding self-love after years of being harshly compared to Princess Diana. The Duchess of York, 63, has been recovering from her recent gruelling operation after a breast cancer diagnosis and has now described it as a "waking up" moment to end her "self-hatred" and "stop not liking yourself."

She said on the latest episode of her "Tea Talks" podcast, "When I look back, you know, I was OK I got good legs and look good, and I didn't like myself, and that was because, I think, you know, I was always compared to Diana." She admitted, "I think at the end, I sort of believed my own press, which is, you know, not too good."

Sarah, who was married to Prince Andrew, 63, from 1986 to 1996, was close to Diana before the Princess of Wales was killed in a Paris car smash aged 36 in 1997. The duchess identified with the princess due to their fraught relationships with the royal family, which saw Sarah frozen out by the late Queen's husband Prince Philip after she was photographed having her toes sucked on holiday by Texan financier John Bryan months after her split from Andrew.

She also revealed on her podcast how it took getting "a body part to be cut off" in order for her "wake up and stop worrying, stop self-hatred, stop self-doubt" and "stop not liking yourself."

Sarah added she considered herself lucky her sister Jane Ferguson urged her to get a mammogram and that her doctors found her breast cancer before it was too late. She said, "The greatest luck of my life is to have a wonderful sister who asked me to go have a mammogram because that is something that has saved my life."

The new podcast host also recalled the last advice the late Queen, who died aged 96 in September 2022, gave her, which was "be yourself." She added, "(The Queen) saw it. She just got so annoyed when I wasn't being myself, and that's probably when I got into more pickles. But now I am myself, and I'm just so lucky to be able to be myself. It's so hard  what a journey."

Sarah, who has daughters Princess Beatrice, 35, and Princess Eugenie, 33, with Andrew, revealed in June she had to undergo surgery. She is currently recovering at home at Royal Lodge in Windsor, where she still lives with her ex-husband despite their divorce nearly three decades ago.

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Hundreds of active-duty US military personnel would continue their deployment to the country's southern border with Mexico through the end of September.

The US Defense Department told NBC News Thursday (August 31) that it has approved an extension of up to 400 troops providing support to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on the southwestern border through September 30.

Read Also: More HNGN US News Stories

Boots on the Border

In early May, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the deployment of around 1,500 military personnel to the border for 90 days to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during the 10,000-per-day surge of illegal border crossings leading up to the lifting of the COVID-19 border restrictions, known as Title 42.

The deployment was supposed to end on August 8, but the Pentagon extended the stay of 400 of the troops until Thursday, while the other 1,100 were sent back to their units.

Prior to the announcement, officials said there was a debate within the Biden administration about whether to extend their tour anew, with some military officials recommending the troops be sent home.

Aftermath of Ending Title 42

In a statement, the DHS said they appreciated the extension of the military personnel providing support at the southwest border, which is composed of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

"The support personnel are critical so that CBP agents and officers can get out in the field to securely, safely, and humanely manage the southwest border," the department's statement added.

The department predicted the numbers of migrant crossings would increase after the abolition of Title 42 on May 12, but have surprisingly dropped to fewer than 3,000 per day.

Since then, they have slowly climbed back up to about 5,000 illegal southwest border crossings a day, according to CBP.

Related Article: New York City Leaders are Pressuring Joe Biden's Administration To Do More as the Migrant Crisis Worsens

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The 'A Wrinkle in Time' star and the 'Black Adam' actor work together with community leaders of Maui to create People's Fund of Maui with an initial $10 million donation from them.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson are joining forces to help the victims of wildfire in Maui. After the incident impacted many people, the media mogul and the wrestler-turned-actor donated $10 million to the victims of the disaster.

On Thursday, August 31, Oprah and Dwayne announced that they created a fund called People's Fund of Maui with an initial $10 million donation from both of them. According to the official website, it was made to provide "direct financial assistance to Maui community members experiencing devastating losses from the fires in Lahaina and Kula. Adults (+18) who lost their primary residence in the recent fires are eligible to receive $1,200 per month."

Oprah explained about the fund in a released statement, "I have been meeting with people throughout the community that were impacted by the fires over the last few weeks, asking what they most needed and how I could be of service." She elaborated, "The main thing I've been hearing is their concern about how to move forward under the immense financial burden. The community has come together in so many wonderful ways, and my intention is to support those impacted as they determine what rebuilding looks like for them."

In the meantime, Dwayne stated, "To all who have already offered your help, thank you for your support and for those wanting to help now, your prayers and resources are a welcome assistance for those displaced within the Maui community." He continued, "I also want to offer my profound gratitude to all the first responders, local organizations and every individual who has worked tirelessly on the ground responding to this crisis."

Oprah and Dwayne also encouraged others to donate. In a joint post uploaded on August 31 via Instagram, they wrote in the caption, "We're honored to announce the People's Fund of Maui, a fund putting money directly in the pockets of those who were affected by the recent wildfires. As we have seen firsthand, the impacts of these wildfires have been devastating, and we're here to ensure with 100% guarantee that your donations will go directly into the hands of Lahaina residents."

"Every adult resident who lives in the affected area and was displaced by the wildfires in Lahaina and Kula is eligible to receive $1200 per month to help them through this period of recovery. All you have to do is go to PeoplesFundofMaui.org to apply," they added. "We are honored to start this campaign with $10 million dollars and ask for your help in donating to those who have lost their homes. We thank you in advance for your contribution. Link in bio to learn more and give to the @peoplesfundofmaui."

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The Jay-Z-owned agency, which represents the 'You Was Right' rapper, is fuming after he was wrongly accused of dognapping an adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from a pet store.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Roc Nation has spoken out after one of its artists has been unwarrantedly dragged in a crime. The company is left enraged after Lil Uzi Vert was wrongly identified as a puppy thief in a police bulletin.

The baffling mistake occurred on the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department's Facebook post on Thursday, August 31. The post alerted the public to a puppy that had been taken from a pet store.

According to the post, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was stolen from the Brookside Pups pet store in Pine Mall, Northeastern Pennsylvania on Thursday. It featured a picture of the floppy-eared, short-legged pooch, an image of a black car in which the dognapper was believed to be fleeing, and a photo of Uzi.

The problem was the 28-year-old star is not the dognapper. Roc Nation claimed that he was nowhere near Philly at the time of the incident. Slamming the authorities for the mix-up, they said in a statement to TMZ, "The Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department should be embarrassed and ashamed for disparaging [Uzi's] character. This grave error could've had significant repercussions on Uzi's career and epitomizes how black men can be wrongfully charged and arrested by police departments across the country."

They further stressed, "Uzi loves all animals and this serious mistake has deterred the apprehension of the kidnapper. Our collective hope is that the puppy is safely and promptly rescued."

Brookside Pups claimed the confusion occurred because the guy who allegedly took the puppy and fled Thursday afternoon has the "XO Tour Llif3" emcee's face as his profile picture on a social media account, which they sent to cops.

Police blamed the pet store for providing them with the wrong picture of the suspect. They have since taken down the photo of Uzi after realizing the face tattoos on Uzi did not match the suspect's and the store has sent a new photo for cops to share.

In a strange twist, the alleged dognapper is believed to have been last seen driving toward Uzi's hometown of Philadelphia.

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In newly-surfacing snippet of a never-before-heard song possibly from his 'For All the Dogs' album, the Canadian rap star sings about belonging in jail with the incarcerated Atlanta rapper.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Drake has shown his support for Young Thug, who has been arrested since May last year, but it is not well appreciated by his fans. The Canadian superstar has been dragged online for suggesting that he wants to join the incarcerated rapper in jail in a new snippet.

On Wednesday, August 30, Toronto rapper TVGucci posted on his Instagram Story a brief clip of himself with a snippet of a Drake song possibly from his upcoming "For All the Dogs" album. In it, the "In My Feelings" hitmaker raps, "I should probably be in there with Thug and them."

After the snippet made its rounds online, people were not feeling it, as one social user accused Drizzy of "acting gangsta." The said person wrote in the comments section of DJ Akademiks' post, "Bro he far from this life why lately he, been acting gangsta."

"Why bruh wanna be gangsta the past few years," another similarly noted. A third didn't believe a single word Drake says in the snippet as claiming, "Drake you ain't did nun shut up." A fourth person echoed the sentiment and wrote, "He ain't about that life and we all know that."

Other similar comments read, "Was a fan until the love songs turned in gangster.. just feels fabricated" and "that n***a lying he be the first one to tell and cry."

Drake is currently co-headlining "It's All a Blur" tour with 21 Savage. He recently postponed his concert in Vancouver, Canada at the last minute. According to CBC News, the announcement of the postponement came two hours before the show was supposed to start at 8 P.M. PT on Monday, August 28. At that time, his devotees already lined up at Rogers Arena.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances with the newly-installed videoboard at Rogers Arena, tonight's Drake performance will now take place on Wednesday, August 30," the gig's venue Rogers Arena announced in a statement via Instagram and X simultaneously. "All tickets will be honored."

Seemingly to make up for the postponement, Drake later gave away free tickets with a scavenger hunt on his website. Those who were able to find certain codes on the platform would be able to earn the free tickets to his concert.

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In a resurfaced clip, the 41-year-old momfluencer, who was arrested for aggravated child abuse on Wednesday, August 30, shares that she refused to bring her six-year-old daughter lunch to school.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - YouTube star Ruby Franke once proudly revealed to her followers that she let her six-year-old daughter starve to teach her a lesson. In a resurfaced clip from her now-defunct YouTube channel, the vlogger, who was arrested for aggravated child abuse on Wednesday, August 30, shared that she refused to bring her daughter lunch to school.

"I just got a text message from Eve's teacher and she said that Eve did not pack a lunch today," the mom told the camera. Ruby said that the teacher had asked if she would bring her daughter food because the little girl had forgotten to pack it.

Instead of bringing Eve some food, Franke said that she wanted to teach her daughter a lesson. "This happens quite often," she elaborated. "Her teacher is uncomfortable with her being hungry and not having lunch, and it would ease her discomfort if I was to come to school with a lunch."

Ruby said she told the teacher that she wouldn't go to the school to bring her daughter lunch because it was Eve's responsibility to pack her own lunch. "So the natural outcome is she is just going to have to go hungry," she explained. "My hope is she will be hungry and come home and be like 'that was really painful being hungry all day, I'll make sure to always have a lunch with me.' "

In other news, Ruby's husband Kevin spoke out, via his attorney, following his wife child abuse arrest. Randy S. Kester told Page Six on Thursday, August 31 that his client's "urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his fatherly care." In addition to Eve, the couple shares Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie and Russell.

Ruby, who is known for her YouTube channel "8 Passengers", was taken into custody Wednesday under suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse. Her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, was also arrested that day under the same suspicions.

The arrest record claimed that a child fled through a window of Jodi's house in Ivins and asked a neighbor for food and water. According to the Good Samaritan, who called the police, the child "appeared to be emaciated and malnourished" and had duct tape around their ankles and wrists. The child's condition was so "severe" that the child was taken to Saint George Regional Hospital.

The child was placed on a medical hold "due to deep lacerations from being tied up with rope." Shortly after, another allegedly malnourished child was discovered and was also taken to the hospital.

The police report claimed that Ruby filmed a video in Jodi's home just days before the incident, indicating that the former had "knowledge of the abuse, malnourishment and neglect." Ruby, who was held without bail at Washington County Jail, declined to speak to authorities and requested a lawyer instead. Meanwhile, four of her children are in the temporary care of the Department of Child and Family Services.

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The 26-year-old, who will embark on the tour alongside rapper-producers Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely as well as Homixide Gang, was supposed to open the tour on September 6 in Denver, Colorado.

Sep 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Playboi Carti was supposed to kick off his "Antagonist Tour" this week. However, the "Magnolia" hitmaker announced that he has pushed back the dates for the U.S. leg.



The 26-year-old, who will embark on the tour alongside rapper-producers Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely as well as Homixide Gang, was supposed to open the tour on September 6 in Denver, Colorado.

However, in the new dates, Carti would start hitting the road in Dublin, Ireland on November 11. He will then bring his disruptive energy to several European cities like Manchester, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Milan, Cologne, Berlin, Paris and Copenhagen.

The trek will follow Carti's 2021's "Narcissist Tour", which was held to support his first No. 1 album, "Whole Lotta Red". The project itself was dropped on December 25, 2020, and features guest appearances from the likes of Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Future.

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In the fiercely competitive and ever-evolving world of aviation, where perceptions can take off or crash with a single glance, Air Indias bold rebranding journey has been making waves. Undergoing a significant transformation, the airline seeks to rise above its troubled history and soar into a brighter future. The rebranding effort is a delicate dance between preserving the legacy and embracing modernity, a balance that has caught the attention of passengers and industry experts alike.

The new look reimagines the iconic Indian window shape, historically used by Air India, into a gold window frame that becomes central to the new brand design system  symbolising a Window of Possibilities, said the airline in a press note.

In this two-part series, Adgully weighs in on the airlines makeover, sharing their insights on its strategic choices and potential impacts.

My initial impression of the new brand identity of Air India is that it tries to communicate too many things and ends up communicating nothing, opines Piali Dasgupta, Senior Vice President - Marketing, Columbia Pacific Communities. She feels that it doesnt express the brand proposition clearly, and most importantly, it doesnt evoke a strong emotion.

The logo mark looks like a boomerang at first glance. The livery does look off, without cohesion, and the purple is completely forced. The red and white identity of the brand, thats etched in peoples minds for decades, could have been retained, contemporising it with modern design tweaks. The font, which is a Sans Serif font, developed by the brand, does look deceptively similar to the Air Arabia font  something a lot of social media users have been pointing out as well. It doesnt create the magic of the old font. The airline is struggling to stay relevant, gain back market share, and be a preferred choice for young India. More than 65% of our population is below the age of 35. And the one thing that brand owners must understand about the under-35 audience is that this generation immediately discards anything that is too forced or trying too hard to be something they are not. They prefer authenticity and genuineness over anything else. And the brand identity doesnt seem to be either of that. It tries very hard to be a whole lot of things and ends up owning nothing, says Dasgupta.

On the other hand, Vejay Anand, CEO, Ironhill India and a branding expert, opines that Air India is undergoing a massive overhaul as it tries to shed its troubled history. Its only logical, given this perspective, that some of the past is hidden away. The most obvious is to alter the logo and overall brand image, he adds. According to him, this redesign successfully balances a comprehensive revamp and a brand refresh.

The iconic red of Air India is preserved, albeit in a different shade. The arches and chakra are used subtly to emphasise the brands past. Using gold gives the logo a more luxurious feel and pairs well with the red. The entire design language, including the choice of font and the position of brand elements on various aircraft parts, is modern and respectful of the airlines history. While the marketing films depiction of Air India as a window to new opportunities is appealing, the logos lack of an actual vista leaves much to be desired. I liked the logotype, but perhaps the font could have been slightly slimmer to give it a sleeker look  a young at heart, nimble airline, he said.

Since the brand name is Air India and practically represents the country, it was possible to bring in the Tricolor, though it is optional, feels Vejay Anand.

The Maharaja is very endearing and has lent himself very well to various guest touchpoints and has been the most positive aspect of Air India. As the company mulls its future route, The Maharaja should remain a beloved companion, representing the rich tapestry of legacy and the promise of a voyage into the future. I would expect a modern Maharaja to continue domestically and internationally  an amalgamation of the past, but more into the future, he adds.

Rohit Varma, Founder, Narrative, however, has a different take. He thinks that Air Indias new brand look and livery is a bold and modern update that reflects the airlines new ambitions.

The new logo, called The Vista, is inspired by the peak of the gold window frame, which is a classic design element of Air Indias aircraft. The new colour palette of deep red, aubergine, and gold is also more sophisticated and stylish than the previous red and orange livery. I think the new brand look and livery align well with Air Indias efforts to change audience perception. The airline is trying to position itself as a premium global airline, and the new branding helps to achieve this. The new logo is more distinctive and memorable, and the new colour palette is more luxurious and elegant. Overall, I think Air Indias new brand look and livery is a successful update that will help the airline attract new customers and improve its reputation, says Verma.

Trust and credibility

Air India has faced a series of issues recently. An effective rebranding strategy can go a long way in rebuilding trust and credibility.

Trust and credibility of a brand is built primarily by great product offering and customer experience, points out Piali Dasgupta. Its what happens up in the air for Air India that matters the most. The pee-gate controversy at the beginning of this year is still fresh on peoples minds. Creators are still creating memes about it, in fact. Of course, the company took several disciplinary actions against the pilot, the Director of In-flight services, etc., post the incident, and was even fined Rs 10 lakh for the incident, but it did lose a tremendous amount of credibility owing to the crisis, she points out.

Dasgupta feels that this rebranding exercise could be seen as a fresh start for the flag carrier. She notes, The takeover by Tata and Sons, the merger with Vistara and an overall focus on making the airline better and more profitable could be signalled by the rebranding exercise. Air India has lost significant amount of market share in the past few decades to newer, smarter and better alternatives such as Indigo and Spice Jet. The rebranding exercise was an opportunity to gain market share back by positioning the airlines as an airlines of today. Unfortunately, the new identity of the brand didnt garner the kind of audience love it could have.

Vejay Anand feels that a rebranding strategy can significantly rebuild trust and credibility for an organisation that has faced a series of scandals, such as Air India. However, he adds, its important to note that rebranding alone is not a magic solution; it must be accompanied by genuine changes in the organisations behaviour, transparency, and overall operations.

A rebranding strategy can be an important part of rebuilding trust and credibility in the wake of a scandal, points out Rohit Varma, but it is not a quick fix. He further adds, When a company is involved in a scandal, it can damage its reputation and erode customer trust. A well-executed rebranding strategy can help to repair the damage and restore the companys image. Rebranding is not a quick fix. It takes time and effort to rebuild trust and credibility. However, a well-executed rebranding strategy can be an important part of this process. In the case of Air India, the airline has faced a number of scandals in recent years, including allegations of financial mismanagement, safety lapses, and poor customer service. The new brand look and livery are a good start, but it is just one part of a broader rebranding strategy that will need to address the underlying problems at Air India.

Varma feels that the airline will also need to improve its customer service, safety record, and financial performance. It will need to be transparent about its operations and communicate effectively with its stakeholders. Only then will Air India be able to rebuild trust and credibility with the public, he adds.

The Challenges

Rebranding a well-established airline like Air India is a significant undertaking. What could be the challenges they might have faced during this process?

This is the ninth logo change and rebranding of Air India. So, its not a process that is alien to the airlines, points out Piali Dasgupta. Having been a part of a rebranding exercise earlier in my career, what I can say is that the biggest challenge in a rebranding exercise is to communicate a fresh new positioning thought in an effective manner, while ensuring that the new identity doesnt alienate brand loyals in case of a legacy brand such as Air India. Often, a rebranding exercise is also met with a lot of resistance internally, and getting everyones buy-in on it is also a challenge, she explains.

Rohit Varma lists out some of the challenges that Air India might have faced during the rebranding process:

Changing the public perception of the airline: Air India has been around for over 70 years and has a long history. This can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to rebranding. On the one hand, the airline has a strong brand identity that is instantly recognizable. On the other hand, the airline also has a baggage of negative associations, such as poor customer service and financial problems. The rebranding process will need to address these negative associations and change the public perception of the airline.

Air India has been around for over 70 years and has a long history. This can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to rebranding. On the one hand, the airline has a strong brand identity that is instantly recognizable. On the other hand, the airline also has a baggage of negative associations, such as poor customer service and financial problems. The rebranding process will need to address these negative associations and change the public perception of the airline. Managing stakeholder expectations: Rebranding an airline is a complex and expensive undertaking. It is important to manage the expectations of all stakeholders, including employees, customers, and investors. Employees may be worried about losing their jobs or having to change their work routines.

Rebranding an airline is a complex and expensive undertaking. It is important to manage the expectations of all stakeholders, including employees, customers, and investors. Employees may be worried about losing their jobs or having to change their work routines. Implementing the rebranding across all touchpoints: A rebranding is not just about changing the logo and livery. It is about changing the entire brand experience, from the way the airline looks and feels to the way it interacts with customers. This requires a significant investment in new marketing materials, training for employees, and changes to the airline's operating procedures.

According to Varma, rebranding an established airline is complex and challenging, but worthwhile undertaking. If done correctly, it can help the airline to improve its image, attract new customers, and boost its financial performance. Such a process involves many considerations and potential challenges due to the airlines history, public perception, operational intricacies, and regulatory factors. He lists out some insights into the obstacles Air India might have faced during the rebranding process:

Legacy and History: Air India has a long history and legacy. Rebranding means severing ties with this history, which can be met with resistance from employees, loyal customers, and even the broader public who have emotional connections to the brand.

Air India has a long history and legacy. Rebranding means severing ties with this history, which can be met with resistance from employees, loyal customers, and even the broader public who have emotional connections to the brand. Employee Involvement: Employees are crucial to an airlines operations. Convincing employees to embrace the new brand identity and changes in company culture can take time and effort. Resistance to change might arise due to concerns about job security, shifts in company values, and alterations in work practices.

Employees are crucial to an airlines operations. Convincing employees to embrace the new brand identity and changes in company culture can take time and effort. Resistance to change might arise due to concerns about job security, shifts in company values, and alterations in work practices. How Customers See It: Rebranding may only sometimes be positively received by consumers, especially if the new brand identity is perceived as superficial or an attempt to cover up past issues. Convincing customers that the changes are genuine and significant can take time and effort.

Rebranding may only sometimes be positively received by consumers, especially if the new brand identity is perceived as superficial or an attempt to cover up past issues. Convincing customers that the changes are genuine and significant can take time and effort. Consistency & Integrity Across Touchpoints: Ensuring a consistent rebranding across all customer touchpoints, from website and advertising to airport terminals and aircraft interiors, requires careful coordination and execution. Inconsistencies can dilute the impact of the rebranding and confuse customers.

Ensuring a consistent rebranding across all customer touchpoints, from website and advertising to airport terminals and aircraft interiors, requires careful coordination and execution. Inconsistencies can dilute the impact of the rebranding and confuse customers. Market Rivalry: The aviation industry is highly competitive. Rebranding must set the airline apart from its competitors while aligning with evolving customer preferences and industry trends.

The aviation industry is highly competitive. Rebranding must set the airline apart from its competitors while aligning with evolving customer preferences and industry trends. Difficulties in Communication: Communicating the reasons behind the rebranding, the desired changes, and the benefits to customers, employees, and stakeholders is crucial. A well-managed communication strategy can lead to clarity and scepticism.

Communicating the reasons behind the rebranding, the desired changes, and the benefits to customers, employees, and stakeholders is crucial. A well-managed communication strategy can lead to clarity and scepticism. Incorporation of alterations:The rebranding should be integrated into broader efforts to address operational, customer service, and organizational culture issues. A disjointed approach might lead to a disconnect between the new brand image and the reality of the airlines services.

Rebranding an established airline like Air India has many challenges that require careful planning, strategic communication, financial investment, and a commitment to real change. Overcoming these challenges can lead to a renewed brand image, improved customer perception, and enhanced trust in the airline, he adds.

(Tomorrow, Part 2 of this special report will delve into public reactions to the rebranding, change in Air Indias overall brand narrative, etc.)
MG Motor India along with Cheil launched an exciting new campaign EVing is Living to redefine an era of conscious living by switching to EVs. The campaign focuses on the myths about EVs, reassuring those who are indecisive about transitioning to EVs, while also alleviating any uncertainties they may hold regarding EV cars. The campaign addresses the concerns about range anxiety and performance to reservations about charging infrastructure associated with upgrading to an EV. It is a comprehensive 360-degree campaign created by Cheil India, comprising of a series with a set of seven films that are set to roll out across diverse platforms encompassing television, and digital platforms.

Talking about the campaign, Udit Malhotra, Head of Marketing, MG Motor India said, "This campaign demonstrates MG's dedication to offer peace of mind to customers through India's beloved EV ZSEV. It promotes EV awareness, debunking myths, and embraces the 'EVing is Living' movement. This campaign celebrates the EV-driven future marked by sustainability, convenience, and enhanced experiences. It showcases EVs' seamless integration into our lives, shaping a sustainable and enriching lifestyle, blending eco-consciousness, technology, and luxury."

Amit Nandwani, National Creative Director, Cheil India said, We wanted to create a campaign wherein each film addresses a different barrier to the adoption of EVs in India. So, we came up with a series of fun, light-hearted stories with MG ZS EV at the heart of it. The films are simple, endearingly relatable and visually refreshing. We hope the campaign will connect strongly with the viewers and bring about the desired change in their mindset.

Neeraj Bassi, Chief Growth officer, Cheil India said, Through this series of films, we are adding a new dimension to EV communication. EV films are often viewed through the lens of environment but there are so many other reasons that advocate the switch to EV. In this series, we have highlighted the real, everyday benefits to the consumers once they choose to go ahead with their EV purchase.
In December last year, Google demonstrated AI being used to make the Search experience more natural and intuitive with India-first and India-focused innovations that focus on bilingual users needs, new ways to search using a phone camera, and a new speech recognition model for Hinglish users. Building further on these Search innovations, starting today, Google is rolling out the Search Generative Experience (SGE) in India as an opt-in experiment in Search Labs. This AI-powered experience is available in English and Hindi.

With new breakthroughs in generative AI, Google is again reimagining what a search engine can do and is bringing these powerful new capabilities to Search in a bold and responsible way. This powerful new technology can unlock entirely new types of questions one never thought Search could answer and transform the way information is organized to help people sort through and make sense of whats out there.

Puneesh Kumar, General Manager - Google Search, India, said, With new generative AI capabilities in Search, were now taking more of the work out of searching. Were envisioning a supercharged Search that does the heavy lifting for you so youll be able to understand a topic faster, uncover new viewpoints and insights, and get things done more easily. The Search Generative Experience is the first step were taking in this journey, and part of our vision to make Search radically more helpful. Were excited to bring this to India and look forward to receiving feedback and iterating on the experience alongside our users over the next few months.

Improving Search with generative AI

With new generative AI capabilities in Search, people will see an AI-powered overview of key information to consider, with links to dig deeper. Especially for new internet users, who may often get overwhelmed with the amount of information online, finding an answer more quickly can help ease their journey of discovery.

For instance, a question like Which is a good beginner trek in Himachal and how to prepare for it? Normally, one might break this one question down into smaller ones, sort through the vast information available, and start to piece things together themself. With generative AI, Search can do some of that heavy lifting.

Below this overview, theyll see suggested next steps where they can simply tap a query like How to take great photos on a trek?, or type in a specific follow-up question. This conversational mode enables people to intuitively learn more about the topic theyre exploring. Context will be carried over from question to question, to help people more naturally continue their exploration.

India-focused features in the Search Generative Experience

Google has also introduced features that are unique to SGE in India. A person can switch from an English result to Hindi by tapping the language toggle button, listen to the response with Text-To-Speech by tapping the Listen button, and  rolling out soon  people will be able to tap the microphone icon in conversational mode to ask follow-up questions instead of typing them. Google has built these India-focused features in the Search Generative Experience to make it more intuitive and easier for people to access the information they need while searching.

Featuring a wide range of voices and sources

Hearing insights from others is always useful when making decisions, so Google has designed these new experiences to highlight and drive attention to content on the web, making it easy for people to dive deeper on the topic theyre learning about. As generative AI makes its way into Search, Google is committed to continue sending valuable traffic to sites across the web.

Ads are a vital piece of how the web works, and help people find relevant products and services. In this new generative experience, Search ads will continue to appear in dedicated ad slots throughout the page. Google will continue to uphold its commitment to ads transparency and making sure ads are distinguishable from organic search results. When Search ads do appear, they will continue to feature their industry-leading clear and transparent ad labels with the Sponsored label in bold black text.

Get help with your coding queries

Generative AI can be a helpful tool for both new or experienced programmers to get acquainted with the nuances of coding. Now use Search to understand and debug generated code more easily.

SGE currently provides AI-generated overviews to help with tasks across a number of programming languages and tools. For example, programmers can find answers to how-to questions, and see suggested code snippets for common tasks. Segments of code in overviews are even color-coded with syntax highlighting, so its faster and easier to identify elements like keywords, comments and strings, making it easier to digest code at a glance.

Taking a responsible approach

Google is taking a responsible and deliberate approach to bringing new generative AI capabilities to Search. They have trained these models to uphold Searchs high bar for quality, which will continue to improve over time. Their hallmark systems have been fine-tuned for decades, and have additional guardrails, like limiting the types of queries where these capabilities will appear.

To evaluate the information, people can also expand their view to see how the response is corroborated and click to go deeper.

Sign up in Search Labs and experiment today

Google is bringing SGE as an experiment in Search Labs, available on Chrome desktop and the latest version of the Google App on Android and iOS. Access begins today  people can opt in to try it out and share feedback directly with the teams working on it. Simply tap the Labs icon in the Google app or Chrome desktop and visit labs.google.com/search to learn more.

The SGE experiment will be available to opted-in users on Chrome desktop today, and is rolling out to the Google App on Android and iOS from today over the coming week.
Republic Media Network is proud to formally announce Republic Kannada. Republics aggressive entry into the Kannada news market comes on the back of the strategic asset purchase agreement through which Republic Media Network has acquired the entire broadcast news division of respected media conglomerate VRL News Media. Republic Kannada will be a fully-owned channel of the Republic Media Network and will be on-air very soon.

The acquisition comes alongside a complete asset purchase of the broadcast news section of VRL Media, the figure of which remains undisclosed.

This major asset acquisition of the broadcast business of VRL News Media brings with it significantly large properties and assets. Republic Kannada will have 300 professionals, including over 100 on-ground journalists, who are deployed across all 31 districts of Karnataka, an additional stringer base of over 500 journalists, 73 cutting-edge in-house news production tools, an expansive newsroom, multiple studio spaces that span over a buzzing 28,000-square-foot facility in the heart of Bengaluru.

With the announcement of Republic Kannada, Republic Media Network becomes the largest news network of India. Republic Kannada will be the 4th channel added to Republic Media Networks quickly growing bouquet of broadcast operations over the last 6 years. Republic is now among the top distributed news brands across India, reaching one in every four Indians with a cumulative TV reach of more than 438 million across India. In addition, even before its digital launch, Republic Media Network on YouTube alone records 6 billion impressions per month, and a reach of over 130 million on Meta, which makes the Networks pure reach on the digital-social-video medium among the most expansive.

Sounding the entry of Republic into Kannada news, the rapid expansion of his Network into its 4th TV channel and the foray into its 2nd vernacular operation, Founder & Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, "Republic Media Network is young and restless. We want to break through all language barriers and reach the people of India as widely and as quickly as we can. So, for the very first time, this Network has chosen to grow inorganically. Anand and Vijay Sankeshwar of the iconic VRL Group are people who we deeply respect and admire. We share the same Core values of Nationalism and Integrity. It is a privilege for us to welcome this valued channel they created with so much love in the Republic Media Network.

Goswami said, I have great respect for the Sankeshwar family and, for me, this is not just a business acquisition by the Republic Media Network but also a culmination of a great friendship with Anand Sankeshwar and respect for his father Vijay Sankeshwar Sir.

On the rapid and landmark expansion of his Network in just 6 years, Goswami said, Republic Media Network is making history in every project it undertakes. We are destined to be the largest media organisation in India and by reaching approximately 438 million Indians on television alone we have achieved our target. However, we have a long way to go and our teams are working relentlessly to get there. The most important aspect of our growth is that it makes us the largest journalist owned and run news organisation in the world today. This is the most significant part of who we are and why the Republic Media Network is a household name across the country today.

Republic Media Networks entry into the market of Kannada news comes alongside the expansive acquisition of all the television assets of one of the largest news players in Karnataka which runs the popular news channel Digvijaya News.

Anand Sankeshwar, MD, VRL Media Pvt Ltd said, Arnab is a visionary and hes taking the Republic Media Network in the right direction. I am confident and 100% sure he will take our channel in the right direction. Arnab started the Republic journey in 2017. And in a short span of 6 years, has grown the network to an unassailable height. As Dighvijay 24x7 News channel becomes Republic Kannada, I am happy to hand it over to him and the Republic Media Network.

On the association with Arnab Goswamis Republic, Sankeshwar said, Arnab is an out-of-the-box thinker. Hes very innovative in thinking and hes even setting up a massive state-of-the-art studio in Noida. The Republic Media Network is building next age studios and its mighty impressive. Arnab is a friend to me from many years. Hes a friend first. He even promoted a film on my fathers journey when I visited his studios in Mumbai. Hes like an elder brother and we share a special relationship. We hope takes the Dighvijay News channel to the next level via Republic Kannada. The Debate show hosted by Arnab is one of the most watched shows. He garners over 50% of the viewership in the English News genre. Theres something special about Arnab, the journalist, the debater that I admire. Hes extremely popular.

Republic Kannada will burst into the Kannada news market with its tagline   (Nimma Dhwani or Your Voice), putting the people of Karnataka at the forefront in the channels pledge to fight for peoples causes. Republic Kannada is set to disrupt the Kannada news genre with the Republic Media Networks iconic news values. Republic Kannada will be accountability-driven. Republic Kannada will be investigation-focused. Republic Kannada will be citizen-oriented. Overall, Republic Kannada will reflect the impact-chasing DNA of the Republic Media Network..

On the tagline of Republic Kannada, Goswami said,  Republic Kannada will change the news media landscape in Karnataka. We will be as always the voice of the people, Nimma Dhwani and work to represent the aspirations of the people of this great state.

Republic Kannadas launch slogan      ('Nera Maathu, Kannalli Kannittu' or Straight-Talk, Eye-to-Eye) thunders an unequivocal message that it will be the platform of the people, for the people and by the people to look the powers that be IN THE EYE and do the STRAIGHT TALK.

Republic Media Networks announcement comes at a time when each of the Network channels have recorded stellar and historic viewership language by language. All 3 existing channels of Republic Media Network are on top of the charts vis-a-vis ratings, irrespective of language and genre. Republic TV continues its uninterrupted run of 329 weeks at the No. 1 spot of English news ratings, Republic Bharat has toppled all legacy competitors to be the solid No. 1 in the Hindi news genre and Republic Bangla has stormed the Bengali news genre by steamrolling the existing players through primetime and day slots.

With the announcement of Republic Kannada, Republic Media Network also becomes home to Indias largest journalistic assets. Republics cutting-edge broadcast and digital technology will now have newsrooms headquartered in 4 cities, and beam in 4 languages including 2 vernacular languages in the Eastern and Southern belts of India. This comes in addition to the Networks deep investment into ground reportage which has grown to the scale of having an intricate network of reporters across all of Indias 28 states and 8 Union Territories, as well as its ever-growing global reporter base.

After recording the fastest news television launch with Republic Bangla, Republic Media Network assures its audiences across the world and especially in Karnataka that Republic Kannada will be live very soon. Niranjan Narayanaswamy, Executive Editor - News, will head the editorial operations of Republic Kannada in addition to his other responsibilities at the Network.
UniScholars, Indias fastest-growing integrated study-abroad platform, is set to make waves with its first brand campaign, aptly titled The Right Door. Selection of Suryakumar Yadav as the brand ambassador is a significant move that blends perfectly with the campaign's essence. By enlisting Surya, renowned for his wide-ranging appeal and determined commitment, UniScholars aims to strengthen its mission of guiding students through its three comprehensive verticals at every step of their study-abroad journey.

The Right Door aims to inspire the crucial need for providing students with clarity and confidence in an increasingly unsteady global educational landscape with plenty of options. The campaign highlights the critical importance of identifying the ideal study-abroad partner to empower students in making informed decisions. Since its inception, UniScholars has evolved into a comprehensive 360-degree service platform, bringing together essential services seamlessly.

The study abroad journey for a student commences with UniScholars, a one-stop solution providing help with test prep, university and course shortlisting and VISA assistance. Followed by UniCreds, which has partnered with over 15+ lenders to provide the best abroad education loans. Finally, the journey concludes with UniAcco, the largest global student accommodation platform that helps students find accommodation with 10K+ properties across the globe.

Sharing his views, Abhishek Sharma, CMO at UniScholars said, We are thrilled to introduce our first brand campaign featuring Suryakumar Yadav as our esteemed brand ambassador. The path of studying abroad can come with uncertainties. Through this campaign, we aspire to commit our unwavering support at every point of this remarkable journey, ensuring that students feel secure and well-guided. Surya Kumar's outstanding accomplishments and unparalleled work ethic align seamlessly with the core values we hold dear at UniScholars. We are glad to be associated with him.

Suryakumar Yadav said, I am pleased to be associated with Unischolars. Education is a great equalizer and plays a very vital role in a persons overall growth as an individual. I believe it is imperative that everyone gets the best possible opportunity to pursue an educational programme of their choice. It is great to see Unischolars helping out aspiring students who wish to study abroad and work towards their dream

Surya's appointment as the brand ambassador represents the 360-degree approach which comes in perfect harmony with UniScholars dedication to assisting students at every step of their study abroad journey. With his immense popularity among the youth of India, Surya will contribute to fostering a stronger sense of trust and reliability in UniScholars' services, further solidifying its position as the go-to platform for students aspiring to study abroad.
According to emails from Hunter Biden's laptop dated 2014, the then-vice president Biden discussed a potential White House recruit under a pseudonym.

On June 23, 2014, Hunter sent an email to "Robin Ware" from his official Rosemont Seneca Partners email address, as reported by Fox News.

Hunter wrote, "Before you fill position pls talk to me----- J. McGrail very much wants to serve as detail fr treasury."

Within a few minutes, the email robinware456@gmail.com responded with the message "Re Johnny call me right away Dad."

According to House Republicans looking into the Biden family, one of the aliases Biden used to communicate with his son about political issues during his vice presidency was Robin Ware.

Senior Counsel John McGrail worked for the U.S. Treasury when the emails were sent. Two months later, he started working for the White House as Biden's deputy counsel, according to his LinkedIn profile. McGrail is currently working again at the Treasury as the undersecretary for domestic finance's counselor.

The email's revelations follow this week's news that the Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) had filed a lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), demanding all communications and records pertaining to three email accounts used by Biden, including robinware456@gmail.com, JRBWare@gmail.com, and Robert.L.Peters@pci.gov.

The SLF claimed it requested the information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in June 2022 but has yet to receive a single document.

In an email from June 2022 that was made public as part of the litigation, NARA appeared to affirm the availability of more than 5,000 possibly relevant documents to the foundation's FOIA request.

Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, also wrote to NARA this month asking for the release of all emails between Biden and his son related to Ukraine, Burisma, and any papers pertaining to the pseudonyms.

Read also: Biden Family Drama: Joe Biden Slammed for Excluding Son Hunter's Estranged Daughter

Is Biden Really Involved In Hunter's International Business Dealings?

House Republicans now want the National Archives to believe those messages may reveal new information after months of trying and failing to demonstrate that Joe Biden was involved in his son Hunter Biden's international business dealings.

(Photo: by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden hugs his wife Dr. Jill Biden, son Hunter Biden and daughter Ashley Biden after being sworn in as U.S. president during his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today's inauguration ceremony, Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States.

Comer wrote to Colleen Shogan, the director of the National Archives, on August 17 to request access to any correspondence between Joe Biden and Robert Peters, Robin Ware, or JRB Ware. According to Comer's statement in that letter, the committee needs the data to "craft legislative solutions aimed at deficiencies it has identified in the current legal framework regarding ethics laws and disclosure of financial interests related to the immediate family members of Vice Presidents and Presidents."

The Reason Behind Biden's Aliases

In order to prevent hackers and spammers from simply guessing the vice president's email address, a White House official claimed that Biden utilized these other identities for his email accounts. A White House official, Ian Sams, posted on Aug. 29 on X, the social networking website that replaced Twitter, "Newsflash: government leaders for decades have used aliases to avoid spam & hacking."

Related article: President Joe Biden Lied About Hunter Biden's Business Dealings, Devon Archer Confirms

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Amazon miniTV, Amazon's free video streaming service, recently premiered Rakshak: Indias Braves - Chapter 1 which is the narrative of Lt. Triveni Singh of the Indian Army, a young soldier who gave his life to protect more than 300 civilians trapped in the crossfire at Jammu Tawi Railway Station. The terror attack at Jammu Railway Station was foiled thanks to the young soldier's unbridled bravery who fought for his country, completed the mission, and sacrificed his life for the nation. Varun Mitra and Kanika Mann play significant roles in Rakshak: India's Braves Chapter One. The lead actors of the film get candid in a conversation where Varun Mitra shares his favorite scene from the film wherein Kanika Mann shares a special message for the viewers.

While talking about his favorite scene from the film, Varun says, I enjoyed the phone call between Me and Mala (played by Kanika Mann) when I was at the Patiala Station, there is a moment when I am running behind the thief, he was stealing some tube light or something to sell, he is not one of the militants and the next scene was supposed to be my call with Mala so my director Akshay said that why dont we let the call start coming while we interact with the thief and it will break it really nicely. I believe it works so well we know from a performance standpoint of view because I dont know how to express it, but it just worked really well because he is just getting the call in between the heated moment and sort of switches gears and goes back into that family mode. I tried to not play him as a stereotypical army guy. I also imagined Triveni Sir, who shaped himself according to the circumstances.

On the other hand, Kanika Mann shares a message for the viewers, she adds, Rakshak is an inspiring and heroic tale from the Indian Army. I am sure you will be moved by this incredible story of bravery and courage. Such stories need to be shown to the world. I am hoping you will like it.

Rakshak: Indias Braves essays passion, heroism, and ultimate sacrifice. Rakshak: Indias Braves is streaming exclusively free on Amazon miniTV on the Amazon shopping app.
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

Bern, 01.09.2023 - On 31 August the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research announced the selection of two research and innovation projects as part of national activities in the space sector. Selected through a call launched by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) in 2022, these MARVIS (Multidisciplinary Advanced Research Ventures in Space) projects stand out for their multidisciplinary nature and their potential for developing specialist skills in the field of space, as well as their potential to generate results that can be incorporated into the activities of the European Space Agency (ESA).

The MARVIS project selection procedure includes in-depth scientific and technological assessment by the SNSF. ESA experts were also involved in the assessment. In addition to this technical evaluation, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation conducted a review of the projects' relevance to space, research and innovation policy in Switzerland. The EAER selected two projects to receive funding for their implementation.

The SUBICE project by the University of Bern in collaboration with the HES-SO and Thales-Alenia Space Schweiz AG aims to develop a new method to determine how water ice and refractory materials are physically connected within the sub-surfaces of planetary targets at centimetre scales. Switzerland's contribution for the period 2023-2025 stood at CHF 1.3 million.

The openSPACE project from the Paul Scherrer Institute in collaboration with ETH Zurich and Almatech SA intends to create a European nuclear simulation platform for space applications and concept evaluations. Switzerland's contribution for the period 2023-2026 stood at CHF 1 million.

In addition to their scientific and technological quality, these two consortia projects are also characterised by their potential to generate results that can be incorporated into ESA activities. Moreover, they support the strategic objectives to develop specialist skills for the space sector within higher education research centres. They strengthen Switzerland's position in the space sector, promote national and international collaboration and contribute to the implementation of Swiss space policy.

Support for these initiatives demonstrates Switzerland's ongoing commitment to space research and innovation, strengthening its position as a key partner in the international space community.

Address for enquiries

EAER Communications

info@gs-wbf.admin.ch

+41 58 462 20 07

Publisher

Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

http://www.wbf.admin.ch




A suicide attack by the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on a security forces convoy has killed nine soldiers and injured five others in Pakistans restive northwest, the military said.

A bike-ridden bomber hit the convoy on Thursday in the Bannu district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Inter-Services Public Relations, the militarys media wing, said.

The bomber rammed his bike into a vehicle in the convoy, killing nine soldiers and injuring five others, the statement said.

The banned TTP has accepted responsibility for the attack.

Following the incident, law enforcers rushed to the blast site and cordoned off the entire area. A massive search operation was launched to arrest the perpetrators of the blast, it said.

Taking to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar condemned the attack. He called such acts utterly reprehensible and said his thoughts were with the families of those killed and injured.

Recently, Pakistan has been hit by a wave of terrorist activities orchestrated by the outlawed terror outfit.

The TTP was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007.

Last month, two policemen were killed and as many injured when TTP militants attacked a police checkpoint in the countrys restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

On January 30, a Pakistan Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up during the afternoon prayers in a mosque in Peshawar, killing 101 people and injuring more than 200 others.

In February, TTP militants stormed the Karachi Police chiefs office in Pakistans most populous city, sparking gunfire that killed three rebels and four others, including two police constables.

The outfit, which is believed to be close to Al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

The TTP also orchestrated the heinous Army Public School attack in Peshawar in 2014, in which over 130 students were killed.
A Mobile jury has found a Georgia man guilty of paying two others $2,000 to kill a Satsuma man in December 2020.

Jason Christopher Hill, 47, was found guilty of capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Mobile County District Attorneys Office announced Friday afternoon.

We are thankful the jury carefully listened to the evidence that was presented this week, said district attorney Keith Blackwood, and at the end of 45 minutes of deliberations found the defendant guilty.

According to Satsuma police, 49-year-old Brent Allen was shot six times outside his home on Bayou Avenue East on Dec. 6, 2020, and later died at University Hospital.

Initially, two other Georgia residents -- Wayne Alex Beasley and Jennifer Hudson -- were arrested shortly after the shooting and charged with Allens murder. According to court records, the two drove from Crisp County, Ga., to Mobile County with Hudsons two children in the vehicle to murder Allen, although investigators said Hudson and her children were not at the scene when Allen was shot.

Allen was still conscious when first responders arrived at his home and was able to give investigators a description of the suspect and the vehicle before being taken to the hospital.

Court testimony revealed the two were paid $2,000 to kill Allen and used a burner phone, with Hudson posing as a 20-year-old woman, to set up a meeting at Allens home.

Ultimately, investigators tabbed Hill as the mastermind behind the murder-for-hire plot. He was arrested in Guyton, Ga., in January 2022.
Nearly two years after the agency responsible for Jefferson Countys Head Start programs dissolved in scandal, a new organization is slated to take over and scores of Alabama employees face an uncertain future.

Community Development Institute, a Colorado-based nonprofit, is finishing up its time operating Head Start and Early Head Start sites around Birmingham. The organization temporarily took over the head start program after the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity dissolved. That group had to give up its grant after a financial misuse scandal in late 2021.

The federal Office of Head Start is expected to announce soon its plans for the countys next head start provider. But for now they wont say who  a spokesperson declined to comment for this article.

In the wake of the transition, 126 employees at local childcare sites are slated for layoffs at the end of September, per an Aug. 2 WARN notice, which major employers are legally required to file to notify the state that it plans to cut a lot of jobs ahead of time. Its not guaranteed that theyll get to find new jobs with the new service provider.

For now, Community Development Institute runs five sites, per the Office of Head Start. Only four are listed on the nonprofits website: Festival Head Start Center in Irondale, Kingston Head Start Center at Kingston Elementary School, Elyton Head Start/Early Head Start near the Legion Field Stadium, and Dr. Craig Pouncey Head Start Center in Center Point.

Spokespeople for Community Development Institute did not respond to requests for comment.

Head Start and Early Head Start programs are federally funded and overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. The programs provide free preschool for children between the ages of six weeks and five years old who qualify based on family income.

The history leading up to Jefferson Countys need for a new Head Start operator is one dotted with financial controversy. Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity, which in 2021 was Alabamas largest community action agency, previously ran Head Start programs as well as utility and rental assistance and home weatherization projects for 56 years to support low-income families with critical needs.

The former headquarters for the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity in Birmingham.

In November 2021, the JCCEOs board of directors fired executive director Sharon Myles and terminated five contracts. Several weeks later, JCCEO announced a $2 million financial deficit because its board said it learned of Myles overspending after the agency missed payroll, which Myles later denied. After that, JCCEOs board said they were pressured to let go of the federal Head Start grant that covered 90% of its budget.

One day before Thanksgiving, JCCEO laid off all its 258 employees, 75 percent of whom were Head Start staff. Those layoffs became the subject of a federal class action lawsuit thats still active with a trial expected next May.

JCCEOs abrupt shutdown resulted in a temporary closure of its head start and early head start centers  six that were operable at the time, and one more that had already closed  that served more than 700 Jefferson County families. Since then, another facility needed repairs and hasnt reopened, per the Office of Head Start.

Office of Head Start then appointed Community Development Institute to temporarily take over the countys head start programs that JCCEO operated. At the time, CDI offered jobs to 160 employees, but several people told AL.com that they turned down the jobs because of pay cuts.

At the start of this year, the Office of Head Start launched a grant competition to find a new permanent operator of Jefferson Countys Head Start services.

The Office of Head Start plans to award more than $10 million in Head Start grants to the new permanent service provider in early September. That provider will make staffing decisions.

Kingston Head Start Center is currently housed at Kingston Elementary School in Birmingham.

In 2020, the Office of Head Start also selected Childcare Resources for a five-year grant for the countys head start and early head start services. Childcare Resources programs wont be impacted by the changes, said executive director Joan Wright.

Childcare Resources has four of its own sites and eight childcare programs it partners with between Bessemer and Leeds, as well as in downtown Birmingham, Tarrant and Roebuck. The service provider is currently hiring for open positions in teaching, education and family advocates, and is prioritizing bilingual candidates, Wright said.
A Madison County man has been arrested in connection with a bank robbery last week.

James Kevin McQueen, 57, of Madison County, was booked into the Madison County Jail at 3:18 p.m. Thursday, according to jail records.

He is being held in the Madison County Jail without bond on charges of first degree robbery.

According to Madison police, McQueen is being charged in connection with the Aug. 25 robbery of PNC Bank at 3735 Sullivan St.

The robbery suspect had already fled the scene when officers arrived. Police released an image from security cameras of the robber as he fled.

Police are continuing to investigate.
Ever had another driver honk at you? Make an obscene gesture? Yell at or even threaten you?

If so, youre not alone, because a recent study found that Alabama drivers are among the most confrontational in the nation, ranking in the top five in multiple categories, including road rage incidents.

In compiling the study, Forbes noted violent road rage incidents are rising nationally, with 413 people shot in such incidents in 2022, a 135% increase over a four-year period.

To find the most confrontational drivers, Forbes surveyed 10,000 licensed drivers over the age of 18 and who own at least one car (minimum of 200 in each state) and compared the 50 states across a slate of nine metrics.

The data was collected between July 7 and Aug. 3 of this year, with a margin of error of +/- 2.2 points.

Once all the data was analyzed and the points assigned, Alabama ranked sixth overall among the 50 states for having the most confrontational drivers. Among the highlights for the Yellowhammer State:

Alabama drivers tied with drivers from Rhode Island and Illinois for being most likely in the nation to report that another driver has tried to block their car from changing lanes (63.5%).

Alabama ranked fourth worst for both the percentage of drivers who experience road rage very frequently in their home state (34%) and the percentage of drivers who have been on the receiving end of rude or offensive gestures while driving (70.5%).

87% of Alabama drivers said another driver has yelled at them, insulted them, cursed at them or made threats, the fifth highest amount in the nation.

Drivers from the Yellowhammer State also tied with drivers from Maryland for being fifth most likely to say that another driver has honked at them in frustration (71%).

A recent study by Forbes found that Alabama drivers were among the most confrontational in the nation.

Alabama was the highest-ranked southern state, ranking behind only Arizona, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Virginia, and Oklahoma. Connecticut, Illinois, Texas and Ohio ranked behind Alabama to round out the top 10.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, neighboring states Florida (17th), Mississippi (38th) and Louisiana (47th) were ranked well below Alabama.

Other findings from the study included the leading causes for road rage:

Heavy traffic (39.35%)

Already feeling stressed (38.06%)

Running late (33.89%)

Already feeling angry (32.49%)

Feeling tired (26.86%)

The study also shows where road rage incidents most commonly occur:
A young Hoover man has been charged in the shooting death of a Birmingham business owner during a robbery attempt.

Sebastian Deonta Ross, 23, is charged with capital murder in the slaying of 44-year-old Snir Lalum, a co-owner of Insta-Movers.

Court records made public this week say Lalum, an Israeli citizen affectionately known by his friends in the U.S. as Sonny, was killed while Ross and another suspect were committing the theft of an undetermined amount of money.

Lalum, co-owner of Insta-Movers, was opening the business for the day on Thursday, Aug. 24, when investigators believe he was targeted for robbery and followed to the warehouse from a nearby convenience store.

When they arrived, they found Lalum suffering from a gunshot wound inside a warehouse bay. They attempted life-saving measures on him until Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service arrived to take him to UAB Hospital.

Lalum was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5:50 a.m.

Ross is being held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail. A second suspect remains at large.

Ross in January pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a pistol without a license and marijuana possession. He received a 12-month suspended sentence.

Snir Lalum, 44, was shot to death Aug. 24, 2023, during a robbery at his company, Insta-Movers, in Birmingham. (Contributed)

Lalum, who lived in Vestavia Hills with his wife and 6-year-old son, was loved by many.

This tragedy is so shocking, Brianna Lee, who worked for Lalum and became a close friend, said in a previous interview with AL.com.

If you knew him, he was a happy-go-lucky character who would dance around the office and sing, Lee said. He took me under his wing, and I became family.

Lalum each morning would take the workers up to the gas station to buy them drinks and snacks before the long workday started.

It was in that routine moment, police believe, that Lalum became a target.

Lee said Lalum was generous beyond belief.

I know everybody says this after somebody passes but if youre walking around without a shirt on, he would give you his, she said. Hed done that with some of our workers before.

South Precinct officers were dispatched at 5:15 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, to Insta Movers at 115 Walter Davis Drive. (Carol Robinson)

I you needed money, or just wanted money, he gave it to you, Lee said. He wanted you to succeed as much as he wanted to succeed.

I thanked God for him, she said. My life completely changed for the better since he came into my life.

A GoFundMe has been started to help Lalums wife, Karin, and son, Yarin, and has raised more than $24,000.

Friends said Lalum doted on his young son.

His son was his world, Lee said.

Insta-Movers reopened on Monday.

Today is difficult but we all know what Sonny would want and that is for us to move on, Lee said. He had a passion about working and for the moving industry so we all keep reminding each other with lots of tears and hugs that this is what he would want us to do  continue.

Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
Nick Carter, a member of the Backstreet Boys, has been granted a favorable decision in one of the two civil cases that have been brought against him in Nevada.

Meanwhile, another Clark County lawsuit based on these accusations was filed earlier this week.

First Two Lawsuits

The first of these lawsuits was filed by a woman who claims that Carter sexually attacked her on his tour bus in Washington state in 2001. The second case was filed by a woman who claims that Carter sexually assaulted her on his boat off the coast of Florida in 2003.

A Nevada woman, now 40 years old, filed a lawsuit against Carter and his legal team in state court in December 2022. She said that Carter attacked her on his tour bus following a show in Tacoma, Washington when she was only 17 years old.

"He [Carter] told the plaintiff she would go to jail if she told anyone what happened between them. He said that he was Nick Carter and that he had the power to do that," according to the woman's complaint.

Earlier this week, another lawsuit based on the same claims from Florida was filed in Clark County, as reported by AP News.

Carter, at 43 years old, resides in Las Vegas. His accusers, two women, say he sexually battered them and caused them mental pain, both of which he has denied. Both women are requesting an amount in excess of $30,000 in damages.

On Wednesday, Clark County District Court Judge Nancy Allf refused to dismiss Carter's counterclaim alleging three persons, including a third woman who said he raped her in 2003, of defamation, conspiracy, and abuse of process. Carter was present in court with his counsel.

Because of the judge's ruling, Melissa Schuman and her father, Jerome Schuman, will have to answer Carter's claims that they have been trying to make money off of his fame. Carter wants damages of almost $2.3 million.

See Also: Lizzo Ended Payment Dispute With 14 Dancers Months Before Lawsuit Scandal: Report

Latest Accusations

After alleging that Carter forced her to have sex in his Los Angeles-area residence, Melissa failed in her 2018 attempt to have prosecutors file a criminal complaint against Carter.

Despite Melissa's claims, Carter has said he did not molest her.

The Schumans' attorney, Alan Greenberg, said in court that Melissa had told two friends and a therapist in 2003 that Carter had sexually abused her and that the claims against Carter had validity.

Attorneys for Carter say the Schumans waited until late 2017 to go public with their charges, long after the #MeToo movement had already begun to bring attention to many previously unreported instances of sexual abuse. Furthermore, they claim the Schumans "recruited" the Florida lady who accused Carter of sexual assault.

See Also: Japan's Talent Agency Mogul Johny Kitagawa Sexually Assaulted Hundreds of Teens That Spanned for Decaodes, Probe Reveals

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A Birmingham man has been acquitted in the shooting death of his brother-in-law during an argument at the family home.

A Jefferson County jury found Raymond Edward Akins, 43, not guilty in the shooting death of 38-year-old Howard Johnson.

Akins trial began Monday before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Alaric May. The jury returned its acquittal on Thursday afternoon.

Akins was represented by attorneys Rolando Rankin and Arnold Bush. The case was prosecuted by Jefferson County deputy district attorneys Foster Marshall and Zander Carrie.

The shooting happened April 7, 2021, at the home Akins shared with his mother.

Birmingham police were dispatched to the residence on Avenue G about 10:15 p.m. that Wednesday on a report of a shooting.

They arrived to find Johnson dead in the hallway of the home from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Testimony showed that Akins and his mother were arguing that night. Akins sister and her husband  Johnson  came to the home to intervene.

Akins fended them off and Johnson made mention of having a gun.

Akins went to his bedroom to get away and as he was entering the room, he was struck in the back of the head by Johnson. Akins then turned around and shot Johnson.

Though Johnson was not armed with a gun at the time he was shot, the jury found that Akins had reason to believe he was and determined he shot his brother-in-law in self-defense.

Hes been vindicated, Rankin said.
Mississippi transportation officials want a tug boat company to pay up for allegedly causing more than a $500,000 in damage to the drawbridge on Cowan-Lorraine Road in Gulfport.

The state Transportation Commission filed a lawsuit last week against Alabama-based Cooper Marine and Timberlands Corp., which owns and operates a tugboat named Ashleigh.

The Ashleigh and its barges in tow struck the drawbridge on Oct. 7, 2021, causing some $584,911 in damages.

The commission claims the accident was caused by the fault, carelessness and negligence of Cooper Marine and the Ashleigh. Specifically, they say the Ashleigh was not seaworthy, that the vessel was a menace to navigation, and the company did not staff the vessel with a crew attentive to its duties, among other items.

The state wants reimbursement for what it spent on repairs, and for the Ashleigh to condemned and sold to pay help pay the bill.

A lawsuit represents only one side of a legal argument. Cooper Marine has yet to file a response to the suit filed in federal court.

___

(c)2023 The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)

Visit The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.) at www.sunherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The worlds largest military says its serious about investigating unexplained objects in Americas skies and will ask service members  and eventually ordinary people  to submit what they think might be alien sightings.

That reporting feature will be included on a new a website  www.aaro.mil  that the Pentagon is launching as part of efforts to detail its work to get to the bottom of a slew of incidents in recent years. Those encounters have confounded the national security establishment and provoked accusations that the government is covering up what it knows.

The website will document the Defense Departments unclassified work on what it describes as unidentified anomalous phenomena and will offer links to reports, frequently asked questions and other data for alien hunters.

It will include a secure way to submit sightings for consideration and review, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday. That feature is aimed at dispelling what some fighter pilots have said was a stigma against reporting what they believe could be encounters with extraterrestrial life.

Initially, only service members and civilian Pentagon employees will be able to submit reports. As for regular Americans? That is something that we will look to do in the future but I dont have an estimate right now in terms of when the public will be able to submit reports, Ryder said.

Interest in the alien sightings exploded into the mainstream in 2020 when the Pentagon released videos taken by naval aviators that showed unexplained objects flying at high speed and moving in ways that defied explanations. During congressional hearings in July, three former military officers described encounters with what they called high-tech, unexplained flying objects. One accused the U.S. of secretly holding onto extraterrestrial wreckage.

At those hearings, retired Navy commander David Fravor described an encounter with a white Tic Tac shaped object during one flight. There were no rotors, no rotor wash, or any visible flight control surfaces like wings, he testified. He said the device maneuvered abruptly, changed direction rapidly and defied material science.

Another witness, David Grusch, who has claimed whistleblower status, said he knows of the exact locations of some recoveries, which included what he called non-human biological matter.

The U.S. military says it has no evidence that interstellar travelers have visited Earth. But in a further sign of the Pentagons seriousness, Ryder said Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks has been appointed to lead the team that oversees the tracking and reporting of such unexplained encounters, known as the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office.

_____

(With assistance from Tony Capaccio.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Republican presidential candidates plan to gather at the University of Alabama for their third debate, according to people familiar with the events planning.

The showcase in the heart of the Deep South could prove decisive for some candidates, as the party looks to winnow the roster of those seeking the nomination.

Former President Donald Trump, who skipped the first debate in Milwaukee and has indicated he will also avoid a contest late next month at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, has been less definitive on the possibility of attending the third encounter.

A Trump spokesman, Steven Cheung, referred to the former presidents earlier vow on Truth Social to stay out of the debates. I would take that as his position until he says otherwise, Cheung said.

The Republican National Committee has not finalized plans for the Alabama debate, and those familiar with the planning who described the effort on the condition of anonymity say that the party is weighing dates in late October or early November.

Trumps attendance would mark a turning point in a campaign that has seen him build an overwhelming lead over his second-place rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in polls of Republican primary voters.

Eight candidates took the stage at the first debate last week in Milwaukee. The second debate, to be held Sept. 27, will likely see a smaller field as the RNC incrementally increases the qualification requirements for each debate.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
This story is republished with permission from The Birmingham Times

When Erik Henderson purchased a throne chair from Indonesia for a photoshoot about four years ago for his birthday, he didnt know that would lead to the start of a business. After posting the photos to social media, he received more than 1,000 likes and hundreds of shares.

People were reaching out to me asking how they could find chairs or rent mine, and thats how the business started, he said of Royal Exchange, where customers can rent or purchase custom thrones for any occasion.

Noticing the high demand for the chairs, he found a vendor, purchased more than 20 chairs, and started his business in 2019. Since the launch, Henderson, 40, has garnered the nickname Throne Kang.

Thats what people call me, and thats what I answer to. Ive had this name for years, he said.

Royal Exchange is located at 9433 Parkway East, Suites A and B, on Birminghams east side. Hendersons customers learn of his business solely via social media and word of mouth, and his ultimate goal is to grow a celebrity-based clientele.

All of my chairs are costumed and centered around customer needs, when you talk about matching the colors of their events, he said. I also offer double-seated throne sofas. I specialize in kids thrones, as well.

Without giving a price, Henderson said his thrones cost from inexpensive to expensive. I try to make them affordable to fit the clients needs, he added.

Always a Showman

Henderson grew up on the west side of Birmingham near the Elyton community. He and his older brother were raised in a single-parent household by their mother, Maxine Castleberry. His most memorable moment growing up was seeing how hard my mom worked for the city of Birmingham for 30 years, mostly as a secretary for the [Birmingham Police Department (BPD)], he said.

I learned I had to work hard if I wanted something, he added. Henderson attended West End High School from 1999 to 2001 and was a member of the schools choir.

I went all state three years in a row, he said of his experience with the group and of being named one of the best altos and sopranos hand-picked to participate in a yearly program at the Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham.

Even in high school, Henderson was a showman. He often hosted pep rallies, class days, talent shows and other events. I also used to host talent shows with [WBHJ 95.7-FM, 95.7 Jamz], back then, he said.

When Henderson graduated from high school in 2001, his daughter ICys was born the day before his birthday. I had to choose to either go to school or work, and I chose to work, he said.

Henderson moved to Georgia and began with an engineering company, where he worked on underground sewer pipes. After three years in that position, his mother told him about a correctional officer (CO) position with the Birmingham City Jail.

Asked what made him transition into law enforcement as a CO and stay in the field for almost 20 years in the city, Henderson said, Ive been able to be a people person and lend a helping hand to strangers.

After working as a CO for four years, Henderson joined the police academy in 2011. One of his favorite parts about becoming a BPD officer is being able to build a relationship between the police and the community.

A lot of people have one perspective about police officers, and they really dont trust them. I want to be that one percent to build their trust, he said. A lot of people know me, and they respect me and my position, whether its family or friends.

In 2022, Henderson was named officer of the year and earned the Civic Leadership Award from the Jefferson County Millennial Democrats. In 2014, he was named an Outstanding African American by the NAACP Metro Birmingham Branch.

Best Advice

The best advice Henderson ever received was from his grandfather, who told him, When you do right, wrong wont follow you, and that advice has guided him for the 16 years hes served as a patrol officer in the West Precinct.

Besides patrolling, Henderson works as an on-duty police officer when celebrities come to Birmingham.

Im responsible for making sure the artist is safe from the time they arrive at the venue until they leave, he said, adding that he plans to start a private security business for celebrities when he retiresin addition to focusing on Royal Exchange.

Even before launching Royal Exchange, Henderson had a business mindset. Almost 20 years ago, he enrolled at Lawson State Community College (LSCC) to pursue a degree in business management.

I took a class here and there, but working was my top priority. When I became overwhelmed, I would withdraw to maintain my GPA, said the BPD officer, who earned an associate degree in business management from LSCC in May.

I graduated in the honor society and magna cum laude, he said. I didnt want to lose that, so thats why I would withdraw instead of failing.

As a police officer and businessman, Henderson offers the following advice to young people, Stay focused and keep pushing toward your goals in life.

To decompress from working and delivering thrones all over the city, Henderson loves to travel. His most memorable vacation was to the Dominican Republic three years ago. It was so peaceful, he said.

This month, Henderson is heading to Dubai, the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Im looking forward to seeing their culture and embracing how they live, he said. The pictures [Ive seen] are beautiful.

To learn more about Royal Exchange, visit the Royal Exchange Virtual Showroom, or rent a throne, visit thronekang.com.
A north Alabama man was killed late Thursday morning in a two-vehicle wreck that injured three other people in Etowah County, authorities said.

Andy D. McSpadden, 50, of Fort Payne, was pronounced dead at the scene of the 11:15 a.m. Thursday crash on U.S. 11 near Walker Lane, about four miles north of Reece City, said Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Senior Trooper Brandon Bailey.

McSpadden was driving a 2009 Nissan Rogue that struck a 2020 Mercedes GLC300, said Bailey.

The driver of the Mercedes was injured and taken to UAB. A passenger in the Rogue was taken to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee while a passenger in the Mercedes was also taken to UAB.

Further information was unavailable as state troopers continued to investigate the wreck.
Indiana authorities captured a man suspected in the fatal shooting and robbery of another man Monday in Huntsville, police said Thursday night.

Damon Andrew Blinks, 28, of Greencastle, Indiana, was apprehended by Carmel, Indiana police on Wednesday.

He was charged Thursday with capital murder, said Huntsville police spokeswoman Sydney Martin.

Blinks is suspected of fatally shooting 23-year-old Devin Tyler McDonald around 10:40 p.m. Monday in the 300 block of Quality Circle.

McDonald was found unresponsive around 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Huntsville investigators believed Blinks fled to Indiana in McDonalds vehicle after the shooting.

Indiana authorities took him into custody Wednesday. At the time, McDonalds vehicle was recovered in Blinks possession.

Huntsville investigators went to Indiana on Thursday to speak to Blinks about the incident, leading to the suspect being charged with capital murder.

Blinks is expected to be extradited back to Huntsville and booked in the Madison County Jail on the capital murder charge.

Police did not say when they expect Blinks to be in Alabama.

The case remained under investigation as of Thursday. Further information was unavailable.

The Huntsville Police Department (HPD) has charged Damon Andrew Blinks, 28, of Greencastle, Indiana, with capital murder for the robbery and deadly shooting that happened in the 300 block of Quality Circle around 10:40 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 28.

HPD officers responded to the area on Tuesday, Aug. 29, around 7 a.m. for an unresponsive subject laying in the parking lot and identified him as Devin Tyler McDonald, 23. McDonald was pronounced dead at the scene.

Major Crimes Unit investigators believe Blinks fled to Indiana in the victims vehicle following the shooting. He was taken into custody by authorities in Indiana on Wednesday, Aug. 30, and McDonalds vehicle was recovered in Blinks possession.

HPD Major Crimes Unit Investigators traveled to Indiana on Thursday, Aug. 31, to speak with Blinks about the incident, and he was formally charged with capital murder.

HPD would like to thank the Carmel Police Department in Indiana for their assistance with safely apprehending Blinks. He is facing additional charges from their department.

Blinks will be extradited back to Huntsville at a later date and booked in the Madison County Jail on the capital murder charge.

The case remains under investigation. At this time, no further information is available.
An Alabama community college went into lockdown Thursday night after a homeowner fired warning shots into the ground when they found an intruder on their property.

The homeowner lives in Boaz near Snead State Community College, Boaz Police Chief Michael Abercrombie told the Sand Mountain Reporter.

There were reports of shots fired near campus. Snead State issued a lockdown as a precaution, Shelley Smith, a spokeswoman for the college, told AL.com. No injuries have been reported. The Boaz Police Department continues to investigate. For more information, contact Boaz Police Department.

Boaz police could not be reached for comment.

Social media users shared text messages purportedly from Snead State sent around 8:40 p.m. that read: EMERGENCY! This is a LOCKDOWN for the Snead State Community College main campus in Boaz. This is a LOCKDOWN for a report of shots fired on campus. Remain indoors, away from lines of sight. LOCKDOWN.

Boaz officers are searching for the suspect.
Authorities in central Alabama broke up a suspected dog fighting and breeding operation Friday morning where emaciated dogs were kept under cruel conditions.

The operation near Plantersville investigated by the Autauga County Sheriffs Office included dogs attached by large chains to iron bars in the ground; many of the more than 30 canines at the operation were extremely thin and appeared to have no access to food or water, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

Its hard to see dogs in these conditions, Autauga County Sheriff Mark Harrell told the Advertiser. Its not going to be tolerated in Autauga County.

One person was taken into custody; charges against them are pending.

The investigation remained ongoing, and it is possible more people will be charged in connection with the operation.

The dogs, mainly pit bulls or pit bull mixes, had plastic barrels for shelter.

Animal bones, which authorities suspect were bones belonging to dogs, were found on the property off Autauga County Road 22.

Chickens and rabbits were also housed in cages. Authorities believed the animals were used to prepare the dogs to fight each other.

Two by Two Rescue of Helena took possession of the rescued dogs. The organization reached out to shelters and veterinarians to connect the dogs with caretakers and medical treatment if needed.
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Dr. Kevin Dawson was about five years old when he first experienced racism in the water.

He was playing around with a group of kids at Cabrillo Beach located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of San Pedro during the 1970s. After spending some time in the sun and sand, Dawson suggested to his friends that they go swimming together. It was then a white kid turned to Dawson and said, Colored people dont swim.

Dawson didnt know what to make of the racist comment. Even as a child, he knew he was a strong swimmer. He would later become an avid surfer. He recognized the comment as an insult, but not a racial one. He didnt process that context until he became older, when he started to realize how peoples distorted view of the Black experience with water affected communities across the country. While visiting his grandmother in Harlem, Dawson noticed an empty, large public swimming pool sitting in a park in an under-resourced community.

It was an instance that obviously stuck with me and kept me thinking about Black peoples relationships with water, Dawson said. It was helping me to understand the differences between swimming and race.

Dawsons curiosity turned into an academic career, he researched slave resistance during the Civil War period for a senior thesis in college. He found multiple accounts of enslaved people in Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina using waterways as passages to freedom. These accounts pushed him to look deeper into African records.

They were stealing boats and swimming out to Union ships, Dawson said. All of these things were cutting against my normal grain of thought, and it really caused me to realize that if you have all these Black people swimming a half of a mile or a mile out to a Union ship, they must be pretty good swimmers.

A history professor at the University of California, Merced, Dawson explored the aquatic prowess of Africans pre- and post-enslavement in his book Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora. His findings earned him the 2019 Harriet Tubman Prize and added on to the legacy of Black people who are helping their community reclaim swimming as their ancestral birthright.

Heres four ways Dawsons book dismantles the myth claiming Black people cant swim:

Our swimming ability reigned supreme to white people

The irony of the Black people cant swim stereotype is the fact that it was actually white people who didnt know how to swim. From the fifteenth to the late-eighteenth century, Africans swimming ability far surpassed those of European descent. As neighbors of lakes, rivers and oceans, the water contributed to the well being of Africans.

Many Africans were fishing-farmers and farming-fishermen who wove terrestrial and aquatic experiences into amphibious lives, interlacing spiritual and secular beliefs, economies, social structures, and political institutionstheir very way of lifearound relationships with water, Dawson wrote.

Dawson said religion skewed Europeans understanding of the oceans depths. The Bible illustrated water as a tool of punishment. Water swept away Pharaohs army and engulfed the world during the Great Flood. At the beginning of time, the Bible described the world as an empty void.

Water was something that human beings could not civilize, Dawson said. You could civilize the land by clearing space, planting crops, and building towns. So for Europeans, they end up seeing water as this kind of dangerous place that threatens to take away civilization.

This mindset made white people vulnerable to drownings. Swimming wasnt encouraged amongst white people until the nineteenth century, when it was advertised as a skill for survival. Dawson read multiple accounts of white people drowning due to their lack of swimming ability.

Whether they were Africans or enslaved people in the Americas, if there was a maritime accident - like a boat overturned, or sank - Black people swam and saved themselves. White people drowned unless black people saved them.

We were some of the first surfers

The waterways of Africa were often transformed into playgrounds of joy after a hard days work. Children were taught how to swim at the same time they learned how to walk or after they were weaned.

After teaching children the fundamentals, parents promoted expertise through play, Dawson wrote. Safeguarded by prowess, amulets, and buddy systems, parents encouraged children to explore their liquid worlds.

Historians typically point to Hawaii as the birthplace of surfing in 1778. Dawson believes thats incorrect. The first written record of surfing was documented 140 years prior in current-day Ghana. Dawson said Africans had the environment and the endurance to thrive in this activity.

Atlantic Africa shares traits that inspired surfing in Oceania, including thousands of miles of warm, surf-filled waters and seagoing water people who knew ocean rhythms and surf patterns and were powerful swimmers, he wrote.

They are only four early written accounts of surfing, nearly all of them involving children. In 1834, a Scottish traveler sighted young boys thrusting themselves into the sea with light boards under their stomachs. They waited for a surf; and came rolling like a cloud on top of it.

We were expert divers - sometimes paying for our freedom because of our skills

Many Africans used breathing techniques to expand their lung capacities, giving them the ability to freedive for economic reasons. Dawson cited the writings of Scottish adventure Mungo Park, who witnessed an African fisherman dive to set traps. The fisherman was submerged for so long, Park believed the man had drowned. Freediving gave ivory merchants a clever way to secure their bounty from thieves. They hid their haul in underwater cellars. Adventurers were impressed with Africans ability to haul 100-pound tusks through the water.

Dawson said Europeans took advantage of Africans freediving skills during the rapid expansion of oversea shipping in the 1500s. Setting sail for longer distances increased the risk of ships capsizing. African divers were assembled to fetch sunken goods and to haul cargo beneath the ships. While some of these divers were enslaved, Africans kept a sense of autonomy over their knowledge on freediving.

Cloistering this wisdom so that only a few knew the secrets, they seemingly created semi-fraternal orders that prevented slaveholders from appropriating and propagating their wisdom, Dawson wrote.

Dawson said that oftentimes divers were paid a portion of whatever goods they recovered, which increased Africans autonomy over their own lives. Some Africans were paid as much as ship captains. In some cases, Dawson said these funds benefited their families for generations.

They earn enough money to buy their own freedom and still have money left over to buy their sisters, their nephews, their wives, their kids and houses, Dawson said. In the Caribbean and the Bahamas, there are family members who still own the homes that some of these divers had purchased back in the 1700s. These homes have stayed in the family up to the present.

Our ancestors live in these waters

While Europeans illustrated monsters in their maps of the seas, Africans acknowledge the water as a sanctuary of spirituality. Merchants and fishermen traveled to ocean shores to give sacrifices to water deities for good fortune  and sometimes misfortune. But not towards their tribes.

Some Africans used spiritual beliefs to explain the high rates of white drowning, concluding that deities drowned Europeans for their transgressions, Dawson wrote. In 1887, Alfred Ellis learned that peoples along the Gold Coast believed in Akum-brohfo, slayer of white men, whom he destroys by upsetting their boats.

Dawson stresses that African spirituality didnt see death as the end of ones life, but the extension of it. So water became part of the realm of the afterlife where their ancestors dwelled. This understanding became the foundation of Africans connection to water and why their joy thrived in it. It also hints at how Black people today can deepen their own relationship with the lakes, rivers and oceans that surround us now.

With all these positive beliefs, swimming wasnt just a secular thing that they were just taking pleasure in. It was a way of connecting with ones ancestral spirits, he said.
The Japanese and British governments will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding the development of a high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR) prototype.

Given that they can both manufacture hydrogen and generate power, HTGRs are anticipated to help with carbon neutrality. The technology is being developed by the United States, China, and other countries. Britain and Japan will exchange information with the intention of running the reactors commercially soon, as reported by Nikkei.

The use of chemically stable helium instead of water as a coolant for extracting heat makes the reactors extremely safe. As a result, there is no longer a chance of hydrogen explosions or meltdowns in the event of an accident.

The MOU should be completed soon, according to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and the National Nuclear Laboratory of the United Kingdom. Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister of economy, trade, and industry, and other ministries have plans to meet with British colleagues to confirm collaboration on the development and use of a prototype.

The majority of nuclear power facilities use light-water reactors, which cool with water instead of helium gas. One benefit of HTGRs is that they can generate power by thermally decomposing water at temperatures up to 900 C as well as hydrogen.

It has not been fully determined how to produce hydrogen on a massive scale economically, but HTGRs might hold the answer.

China Takes the Lead in HTGR Prototypes

Since 2021, China has been creating HTGR prototypes. The U.K. aims to construct one in the early 2030s, while Japan intends to do it later in the decade.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has been chosen as one of the project's key contractors. Japan, on the other hand, currently lacks a timetable for its potential commercial introduction, while Europe is looking for a commercial rollout in the 2030s.

Read also: Rishi Sunak Arrives in Tokyo to Launch UK's New Defense Accord With Japan

Japan's Long Development of Nuclear Technology

Since the 1990s, Japan has been developing the technology at a JAEA facility in the Ibaraki Prefecture, producing greater temperatures than those produced by prototypes in other nations. The U.K. believes that the high-temperature technology developed in Japan will make it simpler to produce hydrogen utilizing HTGRs.

(Photo: by Richard Pohle - Pool/Getty Images))

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 11: Prime Minister, Rishi Sunk (R) with the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida sign a UK-Japan defense agreement at the Tower of London on January 11, 2023, in London, England.

The U.K.'s development plan consists of three phases-the original inquiry comes first, followed by preliminary design has received assistance from the JAEA.

The agency will confirm the reactor prototype's cooperation for the third phase. The MOU also covers issues with supply chains and human resources.

Fossil fuel costs have increased significantly since the Ukrainian crisis, which has fueled the global effort to develop clean energy sources like HTGRs and, in the future, nuclear fusion reactors.

Related article: China Slams UK, Japan Defense Pact; US Strengthens Cooperation with Tokyo

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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On the morning of Mar. 21, Mayor of Ozark, Ala. Mark Blankenship sent a private text that would jeopardize the presence of queer books on library shelves at the Ozark Dale County Library. Now, the fate of LGBTQ books is in turmoil.

Blankenships message was directed to Karen Speck, the Library Director and the Board of Trustee member Monica Carroll. His message to the two included a photo and a text that read: What do I need to do to have these 61 books removed from our library? The photo attached was a series of Young Adult (YA) books from the library, labeled with LGBTQ stickers on the spine.

Carroll joined in on Blankenships sentiment over wanting to remove LGBTQ books, adding in the group chat, Ill bring a match, implying that she would burn the books herself.

Of the 1,600 books being banned in the U.S., 4 in 10 are LGBTQ-related, according to a 2022 study by PEN America. In an interview with the 19th, CEO of LGBTQ+ political advocacy organization Equality Texas noted that Book bans internalize a sense of shame and isolation within young LGBTQ+ people, especially as many struggle to find self-acceptance and self-love.

Mayor Blankenship wants to remove queer books he himself has never read

Last Friday, a motion was raised for the LGBTQ books from the YA section to be moved to the adult section of the library. Because it did not get a second, the motion failed to pass.

In an interview with Alabama Political Reporter, Blankenship admitted to not having studied the books he seeks to ban but has looked through the general nature of the books, adding that I think theyre inappropriate based on what I know about them just from looking at them, he said.

When asked what made the LGBTQ book inappropriate, he said, I dont want children exposed to it in our library. Any kind of sexual content at the young age of 12. Although he admits that not all the LGBTQ-labeled books are sexual and that even the non-LGBTQ ones might be sexual, he feels strongly about the removal regardless.

In another text message to Speck and Carroll, Mayor Blankenship implied that it would be best to remove LGBTQ books for the sake of his city council. He said, In Ozark, Alabama the large majority of the people dont want to see this in our library. 100% of my city council will agree. I hate to see the library lose funding over this mess!

Adam Kamerer tells Reckon that he had an issue with Blankenships usage of the phrase 100% of my city council because it was used as leverage to try to force the library board to comply with his requests, he said. Kamerer is a resident of Dale County, in which Ozark is located. He is also the person who filed a FOIA request for Mayor Blankenships texts to be shared publicly.

Kamerer adds that the library has been in operation since the 1950s. This year, the library moved into a new facility after being located on James Street for four decades, where the building was in such bad repair that it was not able to be renovated.

There was a lot of public appreciation and a lot of really good sentiment in the community [over the fact that] we had just opened this brand new library earlier this year, said Kamerer, who recently started a Facebook group as a way to organize with other residents of Ozark and the Dale County at large.

Kamerer, who is a straight white male and has voted Republican in the past has been having a change of heart. He tells Reckon that he hopes at the end of this battle, young, marginalized people will know that they have allies in Dale County.

Theres been a lot of times in my life when I havent spoken up and I should have, he said. I wouldnt want people to marginalize me for some aspect of my life in the way that they marginalize others.

Special Board Meeting reeled in 130 comments from the public

On Wednesday, the Ozark Dale County Library Board called for a Special Board Meeting regarding Mayor Blankenships request for the removal of the librarys LGBTQ Books. Prior to the meeting, 130 comments had been submitted by the public. The Ozark Dale County Librarys Facebook page livestreamed the meeting, where people who submitted comments were able to speak on the mic directly to the committee. Because each reader was limited to three minutes, not everyone got to speak.

However, one teenager took the comment section by storm with her powerful speech. Mishayla Boben opened up about relying on the library as a young queer child who moved to Ozark County when she was 12 years old. She went on to share that realizing she liked women at age 13 brought upon shame, and that reading books at the Ozark Dale County Library widened her perspective as a person coming to terms with herself.

One of these books is just a girl talking to her mom about maybe liking a girl, she said. Maybe if I would have been able to find things like that when I was younger, I wouldnt have tried to kill myself at 15.

At the end of her speech, she said, Dont say youre protecting the kids unless youre willing to protect all of us, including the next 16-year-old who felt like I did.

Another attendee of the special meeting was Jubal Mathis, who has been living in Ozark for five years. Mathis tells Reckon that Alabama it was disturbing to see even members of the board at the library speak up in favor of Blankenships efforts. Aside from Carroll, whom the mayor was privately messaging, Mathis names the Board of Trustees Secretary Christina Faulkner.

I think there should be a process in those regards to get people removed from the board, Mathis said. They shouldnt be in charge of overseeing what happens at the library if their view of books is [aligns with] right wing fascism.

Mathis adds that he feels saddened by the mayors dishonesty in working behind the scenes to push his agenda forward regarding the book bans and the private texts, despite there being a formal process to book removals.

Thats what everybody in Alabama is fighting against right now for their librariesthe ones that are under attack, and the ones that arent under attack will be.

An unlikely victory for Mayor Blankenship

There is a City Council meeting on Sept. 5, which Kamerer says will be crucial for citizens to turn out at the meeting. Just this Monday, three Ozark City Council members spoke up against Mayor Blankenships efforts.

The Council President Brenda Simechak was the first of the three councilmembers to speak up. When the mayor urged residents to contact their council members to defund the Ozark Dale County Library, Simechak visited the library the next day. In a statement following her visit, she made her message to Blankenship clear: I will not be seeking to, nor will I ever vote to defund our Ozark-Dale County public library. The government has no business censoring content in a public library.

Following Simechaks statements were council members Leah Harlow and Les Perault. In his statement, Councilman Perault denounced Blankenships idea to defund the library.

The library serves people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, yet the people who would be hurt by this defunding of the librarys budget will be children, the elderly, and individuals who are experiencing poverty, said Perault. Upon my election to the City Council, I pledged to uphold the constitution. That is why It is crucial the library provides literature representing diverse experiences in our community.

Winston Jackson, a fourth City Council member, also spoke at the meeting and said he would not defund the library.

Similar efforts of book bans have been in motion in other parts of Alabama, such as the city of Prattville and Autauga County at large.

Nevertheless, Mathis feels buoyed by the community response. For him, seeing his community galvanize around this has sparked his desire to continue activist efforts in the city.

Some of the best speeches were from people of color who are older, and they can remember when the library had no books that represented their race, said Mathis, who added that on the other hand, having a mayor and a couple of supporting council members behind him who definitely are not in favor of LGBTQ being in the childrens or young adult section is more reason to act up. Having them at the wheels behind the mechanization of power within the city, it can prove to be very dangerous. Its a very dicey time right now. And I think the battle has really just begun.
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.

In the two years since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 8 banning abortion across the state after about six weeks, vulnerable pregnant people have struggled to access reproductive healthcare even in dire situations.

Five women sued the state after being refused abortions even when, in some cases, their lives were in danger. Under the law, an abortion may be performed to save the life of a pregnant person. Others have told stories of being denied care after miscarrying.

In at least one instance, a woman had to carry a pregnancy to term despite a fatal anomaly.

Signed in 2021, S.B. 8 became the benchmark for the anti-abortion movement across the country. Governors in other states passed restrictions modeled after it. The law prohibits physicians from performing the procedure if a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks.

It does not allow an abortion to be performed in cases of rape or incest.

If violated, providers and those who assist pregnant people in obtaining an abortion can be sued for at least $10,000.

In June, Abbott quietly signed another law allowing for more exceptions if the pregnant person is experiencing an ectopic pregnancy or when water breaks too early for the fetus to survive. The move was widely criticized by advocates.

Regardless of the limited exceptions now in effect, the end result has been pregnant people traveling across state lines or relying on abortion pills obtained through telehealth medicine to terminate a pregnancy.

The costs to travel can be overwhelming. There are expenses relating to transportation, accommodation and childcare, among others. For people who cannot afford to miss work, the financial toll can be excruciating.

Undocumented immigrant women, of which there are about 800,000 in Texas, have been disproportionately harmed by the ban, explained Lupe M. Rodriguez, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice.

If you dont have documentation, you cant very easily get on an airplane, she said, illustrating just one of the many difficulties.

Accessing reproductive healthcare was difficult for immigrant women long before Abbott signed S.B. 8.

Across the country, at least 2.1 million undocumented immigrant women live in states with an abortion ban. Depending on where they live, some might choose to avoid accessing health care altogether out of fear of being detained or deported, Rodriguez said.

Even if a pregnant person decides to seek prenatal or gynecological care during a pregnancy, access to state or federal programs can be difficult to obtain. Its not uncommon for legal residents to wait up to five years to enroll in public health insurance programs.

Though its not possible to make a direct link between immigration policies and health outcomes, maternal mortality rates among Hispanic women significantly began increasing in 2020.

In 2021  the year S.B. 8 became law  27.5 per 100,000 pregnant Hispanic women died from complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The issue is further compounded for pregnant people in detention centers, Rodriguez said. As a general rule, President Joe Bidens administration has decided against holding pregnant people in detention facilities. Still, some might be kept in custody due to strict mandatory detention laws.

For unaccompanied minors needing abortion care, authorities might opt to transfer them out of state if theyre being held in a state where services are not available. However, Rodriguez said her organization is not aware of an instance where that has happened.

These policies have led to people in Latinx communities just having unwanted pregnancies, Rodriguez said.

Shes concerned about the negative health consequences the legislation will have on immigrant communities. Because data surrounding the issue is so scarce, its difficult to determine how populations she works with are coping.

She believes there are some people who cant self manage in a safe way and might be doing things that could be harmful to them, and of course, the fetus, she said.
Assume, if you will, that every Anglo-Saxon on the planet, even those who are now of mixed ancestry, decided that he had a natural and God-given right to return to his ancient homeland, which the Anglo-Saxons left 1,600 years ago: Denmark (and adjacent North Germany). The present natives  who are distant cousins of the ancient Anglo-Saxons  would probably be upset. There might be a degree of resistance.

True, some of those present natives might prefer the returning Anglo-Saxons to the immigration of Muslims, but that aside, the present-day Danes and Germans would not appreciate it if the Anglo-Saxons returned to take over and impose the English language as the norm, refusing to intermarry.

If that is far-fetched, imagine if every Gael on the planet decided to return to his ancient homeland: Galicia, in Northwest Spain.

If the above two examples seem preposterous, then you might begin to understand how the Arabs must have felt when the Jews started coming back en masse after 1,800 years, which is even longer ago than the Anglo-Saxon diaspora.

And these Jews would restore a religion altogether different from Islam or the older versions of Christianity.

Now, I am sympathetic to Israel. However, that is because I am Christian and Western. Many of the Christian and semi-Westernized Maronites of Lebanon were also pro-Israel.

The key was a Christian and Western outlook. Without it, Zionism seemed like a hokey excuse for Western imperialism, which is why Gandhi opposed Zionism. Apart from a biblical worldview, there was, and is, very little to justify Zionism. No one returns to a homeland he left after almost two millennia.

The Turks are not going back to Central Asia, and the Greeks are not going back to Anatolia, though they would like a return to Constantinople (which was stolen from them 600 years ago). The Croats are not going back to Iran, and while the Gaels (Irish) may get Ulster back, they have long since given up any hope of a claim on Gaelic portions of Northwest Scotland.

To fully understand the endurance of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, we have to understand just how preposterous Zionism must seem to the Muslim Arab. The only Zionist who attempted to do this was Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who wrote:

Culturally [the Arabs] are five hundred years behind us ... but they are just as good psychologists as we are. ... We may tell them whatever we like about the innocence of our aims ... but they know what we want, as well as we know what they do not want. They feel at least the same instinctive jealous love of Palestine, as the old Aztecs felt for ancient Mexico, and the Sioux for their rolling Prairies.

The Arabs work from a completely different worldview from ours, and so logic that appeals to us will not work with them.

We could tell the Arabs that Jews are native to the land, and the Arabs will reply that the average Ashkenazic (European) Jew is more European than Mideastern.

Jewish men had started moving to Europe long before the first-century Jewish war. And these Jewish men often married European women. We Westerners see these Ashkenazic Jews as Jews, but the Arabs see them as European invaders.

Ironically, because women were kept at home in those days, many Palestinians (especially the Christians) might have a quantum of Jewish DNA in their bloodline, which is doubly ironic as the rabbis trace Jewish identity through the female line, which many Ashkenazic Jews seem to lack.

Ah, but you say: what about Sephardic Jews, who are half or more of Israel today? True! But not in 1947, when the vast majority of Israelis were Ashkenazic. The Jews were seen as invaders.

But what about those Sephardic, Yemenic, Mizrahic Jews today? The Arabs would probably see them as Arabs who changed religion.

Again, the Arab does not interpret the world as the Westerner does.

We might refer to the Palestinians as Arab invaders  as some pro-Israeli advocates do  but the problem is that we misinterpret Islamic invasions as if they operated similar to the settlement of America, where the English settlers rarely intermarried with the natives.

A better example would be the Spanish settlers, who intermarried all the time, producing a large mestizo race, where large sections of the population can trace their ancestry back to the indigenous population, even if they identify as Latin or Spanish. Though part-Spanish, these mestizos are also partly indigenous.

The Muslims acted like the Spanish. The first generation of invading men took local women, producing half-Arabs, so to speak, who were raised Muslim. These newly minted Muslims married more local women, until you had a population that over time became Muslim but remained largely genetically local. Their Y-chromosome DNA might trace back to Arabia, but their majority autosomal DNA was local. Egypt is an example. It took centuries of this process to convert the ancient Copts, but it eventually did, and the Egyptians now wrongly consider themselves an Arabic nation.

So it is with many Palestinians, who see themselves as a national subset of Arabs. Ironically, neither Jew nor Palestinian is of pure stock.

Critics will point out that the Palestinians did not have a concept of a nation-state, but were rather tribal. Neither did the original Hebrews, who were also tribal. It was centuries before David united them, but they still knew they were Jewish. And the Palestinians know who they are.

This conflict will not yield so easily because it goes back to the dawn of human history...literally back to the time that Jacob cheated Esau of his blessing (Gen. 27:34-36). The local Arabs are partly descended from Esau (also called Edom), and though the Muslims have forgotten the accurate details of the story, they have kept a sense that a distant injustice was done to them, which filters through the distortions of Islam.

While Jacob is clearly favored in Scripture, the Bible does admit that Jacob did defraud his brother of the blessing. Jacob took matters into his own hands, rather than wait on God to settle it out. And that is what is playing out down to this very day. (This Jewish video delicately relates the story.)

Jacob versus Esau is a Hatfield-McCoy feud on steroids.

If nothing else, the Mideast conflict confronts the world  a hyper-secular world  with the uncomfortable truth that God still orders history, not men. Man could not have imagined a return after 1,800 years, and certainly not in this fashion...to finally settle an old feud, because of a divine promise. Who keeps a promise after 1,800 years? Not man.

In the meantime, though we disagree with Islam and Palestinian terrorism, we have to take into account that the Palestinians see themselves as the aggrieved party, and they do have a point, though they muddle up their own history.

The only one who came close to understanding this was Ze'ev Jabotinsky, and even he underestimated the depth of the conflict.

Because this runs so deep, only God may be able to settle it.

Image via Pxfuel.
Eschewing his usual bombastic rhetoric, Sen. Bernie Sanders took to the written word: "The day must come ... when we [federal government] guarantee health care for every man, woman, and child ... through a Medicare for All single payer system." The appropriate response to Sanders's ill-conceived article is President Ronald Reagan's warning: "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."

Volumes of medical evidence exist proving that government-controlled healthcare, viz., a single-payer system, fails to provide adequate medical care for the people it claims to serve.

For more than fifty years, Washington has been increasing government control over healthcare using solutions such as Medicare, Medicaid, the Emergency Medical Transport and Labor Act (EMTALA), the Unfunded Mandate Reform Act (UMRA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Yet Medicare will be insolvent in less than five years. Medicaid enrollees die waiting for care that never comes. EMTALA created the unfunded mandate that forces rural hospitals to close. The unfunded mandate persists despite UMRA. HIPAA failed to make insurance portable or affordable and hampers communication between care providers. The ACA reduced patients' access to medical care.

In 2022, the U.S. spent $4.3 trillion on healthcare, 18.3 percent of GDP. The combined GDP of all nations on Earth is $88 trillion. Sanders admits his plan would cost up to $40 trillion, a third to half of which produces no patient care! It pays for BARRCOME (bureaucracy, administration, rules, regulations, compliance, oversight, mandates, and enforcement), not doctors, nurses, therapists, hospitals, and pharmacies.

Sanders proudly calls Medicare for All what it is: single payer. Outcomes data from Great Britain's National Health Service (NHS) and Canadian healthcare prove that single-payer systems fail to provide adequate patient care.

Like the U.S., the NHS has a critical doctor shortage, made worse by an increasing "exodus" of senior physicians. This is ominous for today's patients, and then who will train tomorrow's doctors? In January 2018, the NHS had to cancel 50,000 scheduled surgeries. Wait times for care in the U.S. can exceed four months, but in both the NHS and Canada, the wait can be even longer. Death-by-queue  dying waiting in line for care  is a phrase coined for patients' experience in the NHS. It is now happening here. According to an internal V.A. audit, "47,000 veterans may have died" waiting for care. Hundreds of Medicaid patients died in line for care.

Wielding its regulatory authority, federal bureaucrats now make most medical as well as financial healthcare decisions. Which drugs a doctor can prescribe; what surgery, by whom, and when; who will be your doctor; and how much providers are paid  these are all choices determined by federal rules, not physicians' judgment or patients' preference.

The single-payer systems of Great Britain and Canada allow government to override a patient's wishes, contravening medical autonomy. Sanders's single payer will take away Americans' medical freedom, giving Washington ultimate authority over Americans' life and death, reminiscent of Sarah Palin's "death panels."

When federal politicos practice medicine, they do so badly. For proof, Americans need only recall Washington's COVID scam.

The federal government ginned up a flu-like respiratory virus, dangerous only to a small segment of the population, and pronounced it an existential threat to the entire nation. Using this exaggerated health hazard as justification, through mandates and aggressive censorship, Washington politicians and bureaucrat-M.D.s like Anthony Fauci and Rochelle Walensky did grave harm to the U.S.

Useless, unnecessary lockdowns stopped education of children and destroyed the livelihoods of millions. To pay the millions who were prevented from working, Washington spent 2.3 trillion taxpayer dollars, money it didn't have. Religious and other gatherings were prohibited in direct violation of the First Amendment. Medical data contradicting the official narrative was suppressed. Doctors were punished for using their own best judgment treating patients.

President Biden first shamed, then mandated 330 million Americans to accept injections of an inadequately tested mRNA gene therapy made with poor quality control, falsely touting it as "safe, effective, and doctor-approved." Such gene therapy had never been used for mass treatment. There are no long-term or even moderate-term outcome data. Reports of adverse health impacts of mRNA injections are finally now escaping the censors of Washington and the complicit media. The public is learning how Washington's gross negligence, malpractice, and power-grab have injured millions of Americans.

As a "doctor" for sick "patient" Healthcare System, Bernie Sanders is urging a treatment  single payer  that has been proven not to work. A competent physician would establish the cause of the patient's illness and only then recommend treatment.

The U.S. healthcare system suffers from the following symptoms: "unsustainable" (Obama) national overspending; individual unaffordability of medical care; and inadequate access to care, causing death-by-queue.

The root cause is Washington's control of healthcare.

The federal regulatory apparatus empowers a third-party payment structure that disconnects patient from physician, or buyer from seller in economic terms. The result is centrally controlled healthcare rather than free-market health care.

Frightening examples abound of centrally controlled ("federal") healthcare: totalitarian regimes in the USSR, Venezuela, and North Korea, as well as democracies in Great Britain and Canada. Their healthcare systems suffer from shortages, rising prices, poor quality, and lack of personal medical freedom.

The U.S. should learn from others' mistakes and our own fifty-year disastrous foray into federal healthcare. Single payer is precisely the wrong way to go. Instead, we need to decouple Washington from healthcare. Tear down massively expensive federal BARRCOME that diverts trillions from patient care to pay for bureaucracy and denies Americans their personal independence. Taking control from bureaucrats and restoring it to patients will make health care affordable and readily accessible.

Washington will never voluntarily get out of healthcare, as it is not in politicians' and bureaucrats' best interest. We the People must elect people who will do what is our best interests: patient-controlled healthcare.

Deane Waldman, M.D., MBA is professor emeritus of pediatrics, pathology, and decision science; former director of the Center for Healthcare Policy at Texas Public Policy Foundation; and author of the multi-award-winning book Curing the Cancer in U.S. Healthcare: StatesCare and Market-Based Medicine.

Image: Pkd2016 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped).
As vice president, Al Gore led the negotiations to establish the U.N. Kyoto Protocol in 1998. The Kyoto Protocol was a "climate treaty" ostensibly designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the signatories during the period 20052012 to a level equivalent to 95% of each country's 1990 emissions. While it did not introduce any new scientific means to reduce CO2 emissions (worldwide CO2 emissions grew by 32% during the period), the Kyoto Protocol introduced a novel economic concept: the trading of carbon credits and offsets.

At first, the concept of trading carbon credits was straightforward; it was known as "cap and trade." Each country was allocated a level of carbon emissions each year by the signatories to the agreement based on an annual targeted reduction in carbon emissions to reach the goal. If a country or emitter expected to exceed its cap, it could "trade" or buy unused carbon credits from other countries that expected to emit less than their cap. However, if a country failed to meet its emissions target and did not purchase carbon credits, the protocol required it to make up the difference in the second commitment period, with an additional 30% penalty.

On December 15, 2011, Canada withdrew from the treaty to avoid paying $14 billion in fines for emissions greater than its cap. Shortly thereafter, the treaty fell apart. However, a star was born: a new commodities market with huge growth potential.

At first, only developing countries that were signatories to climate treaties stood to profit by selling unused carbon credits to developed countries that exceeded their cap. This fact limited the developed countries from profiting in the trading of carbon credits. Therefore, a new concept was developed: the funding of alternative energy investments (wind and solar generation) in developing countries. The rationale used to sell the concept was simple: get developed nations to reduce carbon emissions and keep developing nations from growing them. The result should be an overall reduction in CO2 emissions.

Then, at the climate conference in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, in November 2022, the secretary general of the U.N., Antonio Guterres, came up with an even more radical idea. Pay climate reparations to the developing nations on the order of $46 trillion per year. China immediately reasserted its status as a developing nation. In November 2022, U.S. president Joe Biden, Indonesian president Joko Widodo, and other world leaders announced an initial $20-billion deal to help Indonesia get off coal power in exchange for a commitment to cap power sector emissions at 290 million tonnes by 2030. Indonesia had 18.8 gigawatts of coal power under construction by the end of 2022. This amount exceeds all other countries except China and India. It's also nearly half of Indonesia's current coal capacity, which stands at 40.6 GW.

The race was officially on to get to "net zero" by 2050 to reduce worldwide carbon emissions and create carbon sinks so that the amount of man-made CO2 emissions would equal what nature absorbs. The race was also officially on to establish a new worldwide industry. Global investment firms created new organizations and funds to trade carbon credits and offsets, as well as arrange financing for alternative energy projects. Carbon offsetting began in 1989, when Applied Energy Services, a coal power plant producer in the U.S., planted 52 million trees in an agroforest in Guatemala to offset coal power emission in Connecticut. Owners of land with trees could sell carbon credits to market makers for sale to emitters. There was something for everyone! The carbon sink market gained momentum. Companies evolved to certify carbon sink credits. How would the carbon dioxide molecules emitted in Connecticut find their new home in the trees in Guatemala?

Al Gore and his partner from Goldman Sachs were among the first to see the profit potential and established their firm in London in 2004, a year before the Kyoto Protocol became effective. In 2011, BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, entered the fray, offering a "renewables-only" equity fund. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and others soon followed. The worldwide market for trading carbon was estimated to be $10 billion in 2004, it grew to $800 billion by 2018, and it was estimated to be $1 trillion by the end of 2021.

The carbon trading market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18.6% and have a value of $2.68 trillion by the end of 2028. According to the International Energy Agency, $20 trillion will be invested in "clean energy" projects like wind and solar generation during the years 20262030 to achieve "net zero." Around 60% will be funded by private investment and 40% by public investment.

It would be expected that global investment firms will manage the sourcing of the capital, package the loans, and syndicate their sales to countries that qualify for such financial assistance. Normally, investment banks get a percentage of the loan value to put the deal together and manage the process, in addition to any fees that clients might pay for the firms to invest their money in the deal.

By 2018, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street dominated the passive index fund industry. Together they managed over 90 percent of all assets under management in passive equity funds, estimated to be $810 trillion, and they were the largest shareholder in 88% of the U.S. S&P 500 firms.

To say that these firms can influence the decisions of the management and directors of these corporations would be an understatement. The chairman of BlackRock is on record as stating that companies in their portfolio must take the necessary steps to decarbonize.

For those companies in industries like steel manufacturers, automakers, machinery manufacturers, aviation, foundries, and others who can't change their carbon footprint, there is good news: BlackRock can sell you carbon credits to offset your emissions to get to net zero. You don't emit less carbon; you emit less profit. However, your shareholders, while poorer, just feel better.

Guy K. Mitchell, Jr. is the author of a book titled Global Warming: The Great Deception  The Triumph of Dollars and Politics Over Science and Why You Should Care. It placed #3 on the Wall Street Journal's Top Ten Best Selling Book list in April 2023. www.globalwarmingdeception.com

Image: 358611 via Pixabay, Pixabay License.
Singapore elected former Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam as its ninth president Friday (September 1) after gaining 70.4% of the vote.

The remaining percentages were shared by Tharman's two opponents for the top job, former sovereign wealth fund GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song (15.72%) and former NTUC Income chief Tan Kin Lian (13.88%).

According to the Singaporean Elections Department, this year's presidential election was the city-state's first contested one in 12 years, with more than 2.48 million votes cast and over 50,000 rejected votes.

Concessions and Congratulations

Before the official decision, a sample count was released, the first time Singapore has ever done so in an election. The sample count was consistent with the final and official results released later.

With the results out, both Ng and Tan conceded early and congratulated Tharman for winning the election.

Ng said his role of allowing Singaporeans to exercise their right to vote for a president and not have a walkover candidate was enough of an achievement for him. Experts on the Singaporean political system call this concept a "protest vote."

As for Tan, whose election campaign is already his second and has also gained the support of several opposition parties, he expressed disbelief at how baffling the results were but still congratulated Tharman for his win and thanked his supporters for their hard work as he would now heed his family's advice of living a normal life.

Meanwhile, Tharman was greeted by supporters at a food center in his constituency of Taman Jurong, some of them holding pineapples, his signature campaign gimmick. Shouts of "ong lai" (pineapple) were changed to the national motto, "Majulah Singapura" (Onward, Singapore), as they waited to cheer on Tharman.

In a subsequent ambush interview, he said he was "truly humbled" with the initial result of the vote. The president-elect also thanked his opponents for a fair and worthy contest.

After the official announcement, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he called Tharman to congratulate him personally. He also stated his full confidence in the president-elect that he would carry out his duties with distinction.

Tharman would be replacing Halimah Yacob, the island nation's first female president, whose term of office would end on September 13.

Read Also: Singapore Police Officials Give Tips on How to Avoid Presidential Election Scams

Who is Tharman Shanmugaratnam?

Tharman was born in 1957 and obtained his education at the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard University.

He was married to Jane Yumiko Ittogi, a Singaporean lawyer of mixed Chinese-Japanese ancestry three years his senior, and they have four children together.

Tharman had long been a member of the People's Action Party (PAP) when he was a member of the Singaporean Parliament. He was a former deputy prime minister under Lee and also held several cabinet portfolios during his time in office.

He resigned both his seat in Parliament and from the party on July 7 this year to contest in the election as an independent candidate, as required by Singaporean law.

Related Article: Singapore's Nomination Day Features 3 Candidates Expected To File Their Intent to be Nation's 9th President

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Global warming is turning out to be a national security risk and a health hazard to boot, but not the way the greenie environmentalists have advertised.

Here's a disturbing report from the Daily Wire:

In the midst of the Biden administrations disastrous military withdrawal from Afghanistan, top Pentagon officials were working to get the Secretary of Defense to sign a major climate change initiative, according to emails obtained by The Daily Wire. In the two weeks between the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on August 15, 2021, and the final U.S. military flight out of Afghanistan on August 30, Pentagon officials were scrambling with the White House to finalize the Department of Defense Climate Adaptation Plan, a document that declares climate change a major national security risk. The emails indicate frustration from climate change-focused Pentagon officials at the difficulty of getting the plan signed  but that ultimately their determination to focus on climate change even during the Afghanistan withdrawal paid off. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin signed the climate initiative on September 1, just six days after 13 Americans were killed by a Taliban suicide bomber. James Fitzpatrick, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve who obtained the emails through his organization, the Center to Advance Security in America, says the emails show military leadership was being hounded by climate activists within the government as it was trying to navigate withdrawal.

So when they should have been focusing on the Afghanistan withdrawal, they were locked up in committee meetings and reading bureaucratic paperwork about the importance of inserting the green agenda climate considerations into every decision the military made.

This sounds like bad satire. The Pentagon has one job: To win wars. The only "war" they were paying attention to for vast stretches of time as the world looked on in horror at the shambles of the U.S. military pullout was the green agenda.

Anybody over there notice the junk priorities?

Of course not -- nobody was punished after that monstrous military failure which raised questions worldwide about the value of a U.S. alliance as well as whether the U.S. knew what it was doing on a basic, orderly pullout. We've since seen the impact of that -- in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's menacing moves against Taiwan, the abandonment of the Abraham Accords, and the formation of the BRICS alliance as an alternative to any U.S. alliance.

How very, very ugly.

Will these clowns have more global warming meetings to go to when a predator state such as North Korea, China or Russia launches an attack on the U.S? That seems pretty natural to wonder.

This is far from the first time this skewed global warming junk-science priority has come up at a time when it counted.

On Maui, FEMA officials reportedly made time from their busy schedule on the north shore resorts and spas to skip Lahaina's rescue and recovery for awhile and attend a week's worth of greenie climate change "training."

Yes, this is a national security risk -- because any time something matters, greenie superstition comes first.

What's wrong with this picture?

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License
Under President Trump, the U.S. economy thrived. In 2023, that same economytogether with those of most European countriesis being destroyed by a campaign of climate lies. One of the biggest attempts at disinformation ever perpetrated is that man-made global warming is an existential threat.

We can thank opportunists like Al Gore, Barack Obama, John Kerry, and Greta Thunberg for spreading the hysteria that the ice will melt, the oceans will rise, and we will all die from heat exhaustion. Contrary to their frightening warnings, the glaciers have not melted, and the world has not ended.

The global warming hoax is the result of faulty science, endorsed by inept bureaucrats at the UN, the WEF, the EU, and the Biden administration. Government policy in the U.S., and most of Europe, is based on the delusion that human beings can control the climate. This is pure nonsense that is contradicted by the facts.

Seven years ago, I attempted to expose the hoax. Instead of relying upon the lies that predominated, I decided to conduct some independent research. What I found was summarized in my 2016 book, In Lies We Trust: How Politicians and the Media Are Deceiving the American Public, It cannot be claimed beyond a reasonable doubt that (a) global warming exists, or that (b) climate change is caused by human activities, or that (c) climate change is dangerous.

My conclusions were supported by the Global Warming Petition Project, in which 31,000 scientists concluded that, there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earths atmosphere and disruption of the Earths climate.

The GWPP was backed up by the World Climate Declaration, a document signed by 300 climate professors who denied the existence of a climate emergency. The lead signatory is Nobel laureate Professor Ivar Giaever. Climate changes all the time, said Professor Giaever, and its nothing to do with global warming. Climate models, the Declaration states, exaggerate the effect of greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide but ignore any beneficial effect. Climate science has degenerated into a discussion based on beliefs, not on sound self-critical science.

This month, a coalition of 1,609 scientists of the Global Climate Intelligence Group (CLINTEL) announced a new declaration in which they strongly oppose the harmful and unrealistic net-zero CO2 policy being pushed across the globe. These scientists challenge the hysteria brought about by the narrative of imminent doom.

One of the signatories is Dr. John F. Clauser, winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics. Misguided climate science has metastasized into massive shock-journalistic pseudoscience, said Clauser, that has become a scapegoat for a wide variety of other unrelated ills. It has been promoted and extended by misguided business marketing agents, politicians, journalists, government agencies, and environmentalists.

Scientists like Dr. Clauser have refuted the claim made by the mainstream media, including the New York Times, that the earth is facing catastrophic environmental damage, including dangerous sea level rise, entire species going extinct, and even greater suffering in many nations, especially the poorest.

Dr. Clauser calls the climate emergency scare a dangerous corruption of science that threatens the worlds economy and the well-being of billions of people. Leading nuclear physicist Dr. Wallace Manheimer warned that climate hysteria could end modern civilization. He observed that the new wind and solar infrastructure is likely to fail, cost trillions, trash large portions of the environment, and be entirely unnecessary.

As Biden and other world leaders push heavily for net-zero carbon emissions, the scientists assert that this is not only unrealistic, but harmful to world economies. Bidens attempt to eliminate fossil fuels is sending the U.S. into economic collapse. People in Western Europe were freezing last winter thanks to the rejection of fossil fuels; we may be next.

Our economy is dependent upon fossil fuels. A practical alternative does not exist and will not exist in the foreseeable future. Requiring the replacement of gas-powered vehicles with electric ones will further disrupt the economy as the impracticality of electric cars becomes obvious.

Climate Change Business Journal quantified the cost to the U.S. of proposed anti-global warming measures at a whopping $1.5 trillion per year. Thats $1.5 trillion subtracted from our economy to solve a non-existent problem. Danish environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg calculates that in the unlikely event that every nation in the world adheres to its climate change commitments by 2030, by the end of this century it will reduce the worlds temperatures by a mere 0.048C or 1/20th of a degree Celsius. In other words, the whole thing is a bad joke.

MIT Professor Richard Lindzen referred to the global warming crowd as a cult. As with any cult, Lindzen said, once the mythology begins falling apart, instead of saying, oh, we were wrong, they get more and more fanatical. That pretty much describes the Biden administrations efforts to wreck our standard of living. The antidote: electing a Republican in 2024.

Ed Brodow (www.edbrodowpolitics.com) is a conservative political commentator and author of two No. 1 Amazon Best Sellers, AMERICA ON ITS KNEES: The Cost of Replacing Trump with Biden, and THE WAR ON WHITES: How Hating White People Became the New National Sport.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
We're being held hostage by "green" megalomaniacs with man boobs and CIA-linked eco-terrorists.

As reported by Joshua Philipp, investigative reporter and host of the Epoch TV's Crossroads program, Bill Gates's company Breakthrough Energy Ventures is a main player behind a new deforestation scheme. Per Philipp, Gates and "other investors" have contributed $6.6 million in a "stealth effort" to a California startup called Kodama Systems, which is offering a "novel" approach to the net zero agenda.

Wondering who those "other investors" might be? Well, for one, a woman named Jackie Kossman. Kossman is a partner at Congruent Ventures, a San Franciscobased investment firm, and according to her company bio, she previously worked for In-Q-Tel (the venture capital firm of U.S. government intelligence agencies, notably the CIA).

So what does Kodama Systems have in mind? Well, the company is launching efforts to deforest about seventy million acres, or around 110,000 square miles of trees, and then bury the biomass, all with the help of the U.S. Forest Service. (For reference, the entire state of Nevada is also 110,000 square miles.) Yes, really, they're going to waste the wood instead of turning it into lumber, despite there apparently being a "housing crisis" with not enough homes on the market, and despite sky-high lumber prices, allegedly due to supply and demand and supply chain issues. Watch a clip from Philipp below:

Scientists say, "burying trees can reduce global warming as well." I don't know where they're finding these scientists - Watch more on Josh's analysis of Bill Gates' agenda to chop down forests.



WATCH  https://t.co/74jZAUXtTt pic.twitter.com/ULpaVyGiet  Crossroads with Joshua Philipp (@crossroads_josh) August 30, 2023

As Philipp states, the initiative would remove "1 billion tons of bone-dried biomass," but I have to wonder if they intend to ax live trees, too. From the MIT Technology Review, another CIA-linked institution, reporting on the deforestations plans:

Forest experts have long warned that decades of overly aggressive fire suppression policies in the US have produced dense, overgrown forests that significantly increase the risk of major conflagrations when wildfires inevitably occur.

Of course, my initial reaction is one of supreme annoyance at the admission that "overly aggressive fire suppression policies" were actually destructive to the environment, rather than helpful. Anyone with a functioning brain could have told you, with complete confidence, that when a bureaucracy, or twiddling-their-thumbs unconstitutionally minded legislators, develops policy, the "solution" is going to be worse than the "problem." The government has a "Midas Touch" of sorts, although everything it touches turns to dung instead of gold  not such a good deal for us, the citizenry.

The obvious reality is that at some point, "scientists" and "experts" promised there was a problem, and the solution was "fire suppression" policies. Things went from copacetic to imbalanced  they created a problem where one didn't exist! Now "scientists" and "experts" are saying we need to chop down trees and bury them? These ideas are becoming more and more ludicrous by the minute. It took me all of 0.41 seconds to find a litany of proclimate change sources highlighting the importance of "deadwood" in the health of forests and the ecosystem as a whole...so we should strip it all away? Start the clock, because it's only a matter of time before MIT publishes another article touting some "novel" idea to fix the "overly aggressive carbon reduction policies" of 2023.

I also have to ask, how do these geniuses plan to chop down 110,000 square miles of trees, and move enough dirt required to entomb trees that, for comparison, would blanket the entire state of Nevada? Here's another reference: the Empire State Building weighs 365,000 tons (and remember that the initiative plans to remove 1 billion tons), so this is roughly the equivalent is 2,740 Empire State Buildings.

Obviously, they'll need heavy machinery, and a lot of it. How much diesel will they burn to complete the project? (Now, I personally don't believe that humanity's use of petroleum products is creating an existential threat, but these clowns do, so how do they justify it?)

If the "need" to "offset" carbon were actually a real problem, this would be the exact wrong way to do it. Remove the carbon consumers to fight "too much" carbon. Make it make sense.

Just like how socialism is still socialism even when "democratic" comes before it, green tyranny is still...tyranny.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
Last week, California attorney general Rob Bonta sued a Southern California school district for requiring parental notification when a child experiences gender confusion by requesting to be called a name or a pronoun that does not match his biological sex.

"For far too many transgender and gender nonconforming youth, school serves as their only safe haven," Rob Bonta wrote on X (formerly Twitter). According to the California attorney general, parental authority is life-threatening to "far too many children," and he sees "protecting" children from their parents as one of the missions a school should serve. Democrats now consider parents "intruders" and schools "the refuge" where your children should seek safety from you. Liberals encourage young and impressionable children to turn away from the safest place available to most kids  their home  and put their trust in people who could not care less.

How do we know that the schools don't care? Because for many months, California kept its schools closed for the virus that posed no danger to children. Teachers' unions were the main driver behind school closures, insisting that kids were "endangering teachers' lives." For many months, teachers' unions cared very little about "the trauma" that "gender-nonconforming" students faced from "abusers," also known as loving parents who put their lives on hold because of school closures. Teachers' unions also didn't care about learning loss and emotional distress that school closures had on children  especially the most vulnerable ones who did not have an involved parent in the home. It is these parents, who dutifully guided their kids through brutal COVID lockdowns, who, the liberals tell us, are "dangerous" to their own kids. According to A.G. Bonta, that pink-haired "gender-nonconforming" teacher who just emerged from his basement after a years-long vacation is now "the brave hero" who has your child's best interest at heart. He is the only thing standing between you and your kid's impending suicide.

Decades of research confirm that having caring and involved parents is fundamental to a child's success. Parental involvement is also vital to a child's mental and emotional well-being. There is absolutely no evidence of any long-term damage from a parent "not affirming" child's fantasies or cowering to the child's demands, no matter what they are. But the state of California will have none of it. Those running California want to take authority over your children away from you. Your duties are relegated to those of a teenage nanny  feeding, cleaning up, and a bedtime story. As far as emotional support and moral guidance are concerned, you are not remotely qualified. The State will take care of it.

California Bill SB 145, just signed into law by Gavin Newsom, treats child rape as a minor offense punishable by four years (or less!) in jail and a fine. Registering as a sex offender also becomes optional for a child rapist, according to this law. California does not want to punish people who rape kids, likely because misgendering is a far more serious problem.

Gavin Newsom often rants about "oppressive" red states where young girls are "forced into motherhood" because of abortion restrictions. Governor Newsom is not concerned how a young girl got pregnant in the first place  and most of the time, it's because a grown man raped her, and then a liberal state like California let him go so he can rape another girl. Governor Newsom conceals his terrible policies that lead to horrific child abuse by faking outrage about lack of "abortion access."

The only time Gavin Newsom finds children useful is when they are victims of a random school shooting. Whenever a deranged guy with a gun enters school grounds, Gavin's Twitter account manager is there with his phone, tweeting in all caps, putting a period after every word so the gravity of the situation doesn't escape anyone. But Gavin's X account goes silent when another child dies from overdose of fentanyl coming through the open border. Gavin does not tweet about children suffering from abuse and neglect because California encourages homelessness, dereliction, and drug addiction. Gavin does not post a tweet every time a toddler in Oakland is caught in the crossfire, because that child is not a victim of "permissive gun laws." That child is a victim of drug gangs that Gavin allows to roam free  so her death is not useful to the liberal cause.

California does not care about children. It cares about advancing progressive causes. If your child is not benefiting from California's permissive governance, California hates your child.

Tanya Berlaga is a freelance writer, a translator, and a publisher. She is a former contributor to Right Wire Report, The Liberty Loft, and The Free Speech Movement.

Image: Gavin Newsom. Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
A school district in Oklahoma is standing by its decision to hire a drag queen as one of its elementary school principals. The story of Shane Brent Murnan is more shocking than that sentence indicates.

In 2001, when Murnan was teaching fifth graders in Stillwater, Oklahoma, he was arrested and charged with having images of children under 18 on his computer. There was no doubt, as a state appellate court judge said, that the pictures do represent child pornography. However, Murnan offered in his defense the fact that the pictures, which he had deleted, came to him by accident. The appellate court therefore ordered that his conviction should be reversed. One cant help wondering what led to the raid on his computer in the first place, of course

With his conviction on child porn reversed, Murnan pled guilty to a misdemeanor for pot possession, while keeping his teaching certificate. In October 2003, even that charge was expunged.

By 2004, with a clean record, Murnan launched his new career as a drag queen named Shantel Mandalay and entered the world of drag pageants. Judging by the photos, he was a hideous, grotesque parody of a real woman.

Image: Shantel Mandalay, aka Shane Murnan, an elementary school principal. Facebook video screen grab.

In 2018, Murnan jumped on the drag queen story hour phenomenon and got the chance to bring his creepiness to children across Oklahoma Citys library system. As always, one must ask (rhetorically, of course) why these people whose lives revolve around sexual perversion feel compelled to share their fetishes with children.

Murnans drag persona didnt keep him out of the classroom. According to V1SUT, he spent the next eight years teaching in various Oklahoma elementary schools. V1SUT points out that the schools were poor rural and urban schools. At the urban schools, many of the students were not English speakers. In other words, writes V1SUT, These are vulnerable kids. Additionally, these are not premium schools where the best teachers go. In terms of staff, schools like this take when they can get.

V1SUIT has lots of information about how Murnan linked his drag persona to his teaching. Indeed, he linked it so much that he posted pictures of school childrens activities on his drag Facebook page. Gay and drag publications made a big deal about his role as a teacher.

Murnan also hates Christianity. Thats the big secret of the whole transgender enterprise, of which drag performing is a subset: Its a big F U at the Judeo-Christian worldview, which has as its foundation Gods creation of the gender binary, along with a moral system predicated on the nuclear family headed by a man and a woman.

Something bad involving Murnan happened in 2020:

In late 2020, during Murnans time at Prairie Queen ES, the state entered a new Criminal Probable Cause Initial Filing with Murnan as the defendant. It is unknown at this time what crime is or was being investigated but the case was assigned to Judge Kevin C. McCray.

Despite that mysterious little run-in with the law, the badly mismanaged John Glenn Elementary School in Oklahoma Citys Western Heights district hired Murnan, perhaps because, like Mrs. Joe Biden, he puts the word doctor before his name. Hes now the principal at John Glenn Elementary School. As with Murnans previous places of employment, this is a school filled with poor, vulnerable children.

When it hired Murnan, the school board knew about his alter ego, although V1SUT says that its unknown whether the board knew about his 2000 arrest (and given the expungement, the board couldnt act on that knowledge even if it did know). Its also unknown whether the board knew about the apparently ongoing criminal investigation.

But again, the core point is that the board knew about Murnans obsessively sexualized double life and his fetishistic behavioryet it still handed him an elementary school filled with vulnerable children. You can find here many more details about that school board and the school system, and I urge that you read them. Suffice it to say that, having had its hiring practices exposed, the district is unrepentant:

You cant make this up. The district @wh_isd is DEFENDING hiring a drag queen elementary school principal who was previously arrested on child porn charges. https://t.co/jCH4QJCZCh https://t.co/qFEvQvOMIx pic.twitter.com/92Yww6Ojmo  Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 1, 2023

I really dont have anything to add to these facts, other than to make an important point that few of us think about when we consider how schools work: The schools have 30 hours per week (or so) of unfettered access to our children. They also control all communications with parents. That is complete narrative control.

Whats missing is a way for parents to communicate with each other. In a school district made up of poor, working parents, many of whom dont speak English, their inability to communicate with each other makes it difficult for them to know whats happening in classrooms and to share that knowledge with others. Im sure that more would protest if they had the same communication abilities schools do.
Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer's administration is at it again, the latest shenanigans a worthy addition to Whitmer's stellar performance on COVID (brutal lockdowns except for herself and family and sending infected seniors back to nursing homes with deadly consequences) and her kidnapping plot concocted by the FBI and announced just in time to help her win re-election. Read this message:

   .         .               .

I know what you're thinking: it looks Greek to me. Well, that's because it is  at least the letters. As reported by the Washington Free Beacon:

Michigan energy department consultant Andy Leavitt in September 2021 emailed a top adviser to Whitmer to express "some major red flags" with the administration's response to a lead water crisis in southwestern Michigan, which Leavitt compared to a similar crisis in Flint, Michigan. But Leavitt's initial message was not written in English  the consultant used letters in the Greek alphabet in place of English ones, a move that "appears to be calculated to conceal the statements," a June court filing in a class action suit against Whitmer's government argues. Leavitt's use of Greek letters means his email would have been excluded from any public records request for government communications that contain the word "Flint."

Now look again at the Greek message above. If you've taken a few math or physics courses where traditional Greek symbols are used for variables, that may be enough for you to decipher it. The message is not in Greek, but rather English transliterated into Greek. It reads:

"Hot off the presses. As I warned there are some major red flags. It feels like we are back at square one having not learned much from Flint."

(The transliteration as appears in the court filing and copied by the WFB is a bit off, substituting "seems" for "feels" and missing the word "much.")

The message uses  for j (which has no comparable letter in Greek),  for q, and  for h (since its capital form is H). If it wasn't obvious before, it should be now that Leavitt had to have discussed the specifics of the encryption method in advance with Whitmer's aide.

Leavitt's 2021 coded message discusses the lead water crisis in Benton Harbor, a small town in southwestern Michigan. The town's water system for years exceeded federal standards for lead contamination, prompting a group of residents in November 2021 to sue Whitmer over her government's "deliberate indifference" to addressing the crisis... While the lawsuit eventually led to the discovery of Leavitt's message, the email likely would have remained hidden from the public if Whitmer's administration had not faced legal action. That's because Michigan's public records department is unable to electronically search for records that use Greek letters, government correspondence obtained by the Washington Free Beacon shows.

Then this, of course:

In Michigan, the governor's office is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, a policy that Whitmer promised to reverse during her 2018 campaign. "Michiganders should know when and what their governor is working on," the Democrat said at the time. But Whitmer has not reversed the policy. Her office is still exempt from public records requests years after she promised to issue an executive order that would subject her office to such requests.

The article finishes with this:

A veteran public records researcher told the Free Beacon he had never seen government officials use foreign alphabets to convey sensitive messages.

I'm sure there's software out there that can do FOIA searches for buzz words transliterated into foreign languages. Maybe try it out on "  ."

W.A. Eliot is a pseudonym.

Image: Simonjenkin's Photos.
Leftist judges, who are notoriously soft on violent crime, are surprisingly game to 'cruel and unusual punishment' when the defendant is a low-class right winger.

Which brings us to this judicial travesty from one of the D.C. ruling elites:

Proud Boy Joe Biggs on Thursday was sentenced to 17 years in prison, the second-highest sentence handed down to anyone convicted in connection with the Capitol attack. Biggs was convicted of sedition and other serious felonies earlier this year after being accused of leading members of the right-wing extremist group to the Capitol and talking with the first rioter to breach police barricades just minutes before he acted. The Florida Army veteran appeared in court Thursday wearing an orange prison-issued jumpsuit with a white undershirt and black thick-frame glasses, his white hair styled into a mohawk and beard outgrown.

No one was killed, no property was significantly damaged, nothing was set on fire, nobody whipped out a gun, nobody got taken hostage, no mass casualties were strewn through the streets, but here we are.

Apparently this guy knocked over a fence on January 6 and communicated with his like-minded buddies about "real men" and that was enough to trigger the effete judge, who slapped terrorism enhancements onto the man's crime, putting it in the same league as what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed did to the Pentagon and World Trade Center on 9/11.

The judge's reasoning was this:

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ultimately applied a terrorism enhancement to Biggss sentencing guidelines, wherein a defendant must have committed an offense that was calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct. Kelly cited Biggss efforts to tear down a fence separating rioters from the Capitol and bringing them one step closer to their objective of halting the 2020 election certification as reason for applying the enhancement . I really dont think this is a close call, he said of the decision.

Which is laughable. All the rioters, aided by a nest of still opaquely known FBI informants, did was manage to disrupt and delay the electoral certification of 2020. Was there any congressional Democrat at the Capitol that day who was so intimidated by the January 6 rioters that he planned to change his vote to Republican?

Of course not.

That vote was going to go through whether it was on January 6 or the next day. There was a minor delay, brought on by bad Capitol policing, a failure by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to permit the National Guard protection that was pro-offered by President Trump, and plenty of FBI provocateurs, in addition to pathetic Proud Boys rabble-rousers like Biggs. Whatever the disruption was it was not an insurrection or coup attempt -- we are watching real insurrections and coups these days in places like Niger and Gabon -- with guns, blood, dead bodies, flights out, and flung suitcases of stolen cash. Those are the real thing.

This wasn't even terrorism -- and comfortable as the judge was about locking up and throwing away the key on this low-class Trump supporter, the New York Times indicated that Kelly actually seemed to know that he was off base, but it didn't matter to him:

While Judge Kelly said the provision was technically applicable, he was less certain  given what Mr. Biggs had actually done  that it fit in a more colloquial sense. He noted that he had reviewed several cases involving terrorism, most concerning situations where defendants were training to fight American troops or planning an act like blowing up a large building. And he expressed skepticism that the Proud Boys had engaged in that kind of behavior on Jan. 6.

Say what?

That the defendant, unlike the 9/11 mastermind, or for that matter, the assorted antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters and vandals who've gotten off with low or no charges, was contrite also counted for nothing with the D.C. judge.

I know I messed up that day, but Im not a terrorist, [defendant Biggs] said through tears.

You don't see that in real terrorists, whether domestic Black Panther types, or crazed Islamist fanatics. Imagine one of them ever saying something like that.

It doesn't look like or quack like a duck...

Nor did the fact that Biggs served the U.S. in a combat capacity, obtaining two purple hearts, mean anything to the zero-service-history judge.

But no matter. Biggs got 17 years and his co-defendant, Zachary Rehl, got 15 years, and the big Proud Boy ranking above both of them, Enrique Tarrio, can pretty well predict what he's going to get from Kelly when he gets sentenced next month. He wasn't in town on that day because he was complying with another court order but that won't count for anything with the judge. He'll get the max and since he has a Latino name, he can count on a slyly applied darked-skinned enhancement to his sentence such as leftists always give to any minority claiming fealty to President Trump.

It's all a textbook definition of a draconian punishment, which draws its definition from the classical era when the Emperor Draco imposed the same death penalty on petty thieves as he did on full blown murderers. It was so loathesome to the ancient Greeks it lasted less than 30 years. The human sense of fairness throughout the ages has always required that a punishment fit a crime.

But not to Kelly.

The sentence may have made the judge feel better, but the problem with draconian sentences are that they reduce public respect for the law, which he obviously doesn't possess much of, either. It's little different from blue-city governments which impose massive taxes on legal marijuana businesses to fill city coffers and then wonder why the black market has taken over the pot market same as if they had never legalized drugs.

Kelly made this ridiculous claim at the sentencing:

What happened on Jan. 6 harmed an important American custom, Judge Kelly said. That day broke our tradition of peacefully transferring power, which is among the most precious things we had as Americans. Notice I said had  we dont have it anymore.

Custom? Tradition? That's the same as "law"?

Not to normal people.

What we have really lost in this judicial travesty is fair and equal justice, which he's done his part to destroy.

The draconian sentence violates the whole Constitutional prohibition on cruel and unual punishment as well as equal treatment under the law. The problematic aspects are cited by this publication from the Federal Bar Association:

Equal treatment under the law and prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishments are two time-tested legal principles that retain their importance down to modern times. Nowhere are those precepts more important than in the enactment, the promulgation, and the administration of criminal law. Moreover, the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial also have been, and remain, of paramount importance.

After all, in that second category, we've seen crap like this:

A man in NY pled guilty to planning to kill me and only got 3 months.



95% of Violent BLM/Antifa rioters had their charges dropped after causing $2 billion in damages to communities.



Its time to try to change this. https://t.co/sjCU464Fl8  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 31, 2023

But rest assured: In Kelly's ace judicial reasoning, Biggs is the bad guy, the bigger danger to the republic, not these mere would-be assassins of actual congressmembers. Tell that to the people of Ecuador.

I truly hope this sentence will be thrown out on appeal and be replaced with something more proportionate to the crime. I especially want to see this judge's bad legal reasoning rebuked as incompetent. If it's not, then this is going to be standard and precedent -- unequal justice in sentencing, and one set of rules for conservative miscreants and another set for leftists. Wishing that is a tall order in these days, but it does highlight Mark Levin's call to clean out the Washington judiciary. The lunatic sentencing in this case is Exhibit A.

Image: Twitter screen shot
Cedric Richmond, the co-chair of President Biden's re-election campaign recently said Biden is not looking to make former president Donald Trump's legal troubles central to his 2024 message.

In an interview with ABC This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz, Richmond stated: "The president has said from the beginning that he wanted an independent Justice Department ... so we're not going to comment. We're not going to focus on Donald Trump's legal problems. We will let the justice system take care of what the justice system should take care of."

An "independent Justice Department"?

Biden's "Justice Department" is as independent from his administration as the Waffen-SS was from Hitler's Nazi Party.

On the evening of August 24, as former president Trump's motorcade was arriving at the Fulton County, Georgia, jail for his surrender on trumped up charges related to his alleged attempt to overturn his alleged 2020 election loss in that state, Biden (or more likely his handlers) put out this online and social media appeal for monetary donations: "Apropos of nothing, I think today's a great day to give to my campaign."

That appeal  snarky, vile, mocking, and vaguely threatening  is apropos of everything pertaining to the Biden administration.

Of course the Biden administration isn't "going to focus on Donald Trump's legal problems." It created them. Of course Biden will leave it to his Department of Injustice (DOI?) to take care of what he and his administration want to "take care of."

Biden is not looking to make former President Donald Trump's legal troubles central to his 2024 message because his message has already been sent: he wants Trump indicted and in jail.

To Biden, it's simple: no Trump, no issue...and no further message required.

Image: Ethnocentrism via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
If you act quickly, you can enter the joint Modern War Institute and US Army Training and Doctrine Command writing contest. The contest wants ideas to solve the militarys recruiting problems. If you can offer a winning solution in no more than 1,500 words, along with abiding with other stylistic guidelines, youll get public recognition, and maybe the powers that be will act on what you have to say. The deadline for submissions is at 11:50 p.m. Eastern Time, on September 3.

In a post announcing the contest, the Modern War Institute, which operates at West Point, explains the problem:

Credible defense begins with our ability to steadily attract and retain the men and women who would assume the initial burden of a fast breaking war. More than forty years ago, Vice Admiral Robert B. Pirie, Jr. eloquently described why recruiting was a national security issue. This year, the Army will again fail to meet recruiting goals after falling fifteen thousand short last year. Likewise, the Navy anticipates falling six thousand sailors short of its target. The Air Force has issues too, with Secretary Frank Kendall acknowledging in March that his service would fall 10 percent short this year. Except for the two smallest servicesthe Marine Corps and Space Forcethe United States armed forces continue to face recruiting woes.

Do you find it as distressing as I do that the brightest minds within the military cant seem to figure this one out on their own? It seems to me that the solutions are obvious:

Image: Naval Weapons Station Yorktown celebrates Pride Month. Twitter screen grab (and public domain).

1. Get rid of social justice concerns about race. Our military works superbly when its a colorblind institution in which everyone bleeds red, white, and blue. And because its a life-or-death institution by its very nature, merit must be the primary focus for responsibility and advancement. Nobody wants to enlist in the military (or encourage a child to enlist) knowing that merit is a low-level consideration. That kind of thinking kills people.

2. Go back to dont ask, dont tell, which was a reasonable compromise. Those people most likely to go into the military are straight males. More than that, theyre straight Christian males. They have no interest in serving in an institution that makes a fetish of homosexuality. After all, being honest means acknowledging that homosexuality makes straight men uncomfortable. The focus on homosexuality also challenges core religious beliefs. After all, the Bibles first chapter has God create a gender binary of complementary sexes, and the Bibles moral teachings are about the male-female nuclear family. Offend those teachings, and you offend those potential enlistees. Im also willing to bet that homosexual relationships (the loving and the fighting) are damaging to unit cohesion.

3. Get rid of transgenderism in the military. Either so-called transgender people are mentally ill with a form of body dysphoria, which means they have no place in the military, or they are sexually perverse autogynephiles who are sexually aroused by their own presentation as someone of the opposite sex, which means that they have even less place in the military. Get rid of the crazy and creepy people, and youll get lots more normal people knocking on the door.

4. Remove climate change as a military consideration. The militarys job is not to defend against climate change. Its to defend America by defeating foreign enemies. Our troops and the American people deserve the best weapons and transportation systems regardless of their effect on the climate. Id say that even if I gave the slightest credence to climate change madness. I definitely say it given that the whole anthropogenic climate change theory is hogwash, intended to destroy Western economic dominance and transfer wealth and military power to the third world and China. No sane person should enlist in a military thats essentially fighting human existence.

5. Get women out of combat units. Women have fought in combat units over the millennia, but theyve done so only when the war has landed on their doorstep, creating a fight or die situation. Otherwise, women, who are physically weaker, have no business in a combat unit. More than that, at the most fundamental level, women should be life-givers, not life-takers. The men in a mixed-sex unit instinctively understand that, and it impairs their fighting efficiency if theyre trying to defend their female comrades rather than focus on destroying the enemy. I also suspect that heterosexual relationships damage unit cohesion.

6. Every person in the military needs to be reminded daily that the military does not exist to make people feel good about themselves. It exists to defend America. Anything that weakens that primary function (race over merit, efforts at impossible-to-achieve gender parity, sexual obsessions, climate change nonsense) means that the military is failing in its duty. Those in the Pentagon who back this failure should be summarily discharged, and some should be court-martialed.

One more thing, although its not something the military can do: If the American people would get rid of presidents and Deep Staters who believe that the militarys job is to protect other countries rather than America (that is, abandon the Wilson Doctrine), that would go a long way to making the military a more enticing institution.

Fundamentally, if the military is returned to a sensible organization that focuses on keeping its troops alive and making its enemies dead, recruitment should be fine.
There is a near universal appeal among Belgians to build their own house, which is reflected in the popular sayingevery Belgian is born with a brick in his stomach. The result of this becomes obvious when you drive through any Flemish suburb. Every house is different from its neighbor. Worse still, every house is a hotchpotch of different architectural styles.

Its like a nightmarish architectural Legoland, says Hannes Coudenys, who has been photographing these architectural shambles for the past several years and documenting them in his blog Ugly Belgian Houses.

In Belgium theres an overwhelming sense of clutter, Coudenys wrote in The Architectural Review. Its as if we first crammed every square metre with buildings before deciding to put in some streets here and there as an afterthought. In Belgium you can easily find a neighbourhood featuring a dozen different styles within a 100-metre radius. Yet the country is so small that it cannot possibly do them justice. Houses are inevitably bunched up, which means that differences are exaggerated and any individual quality lost in a distracted haze. No one can look at a house objectively when another dwelling in a different style is frantically trying to catch their attention.

Hannes Coudenys lived in an ugly house himself, before he and his wife was forced to move when the land was sold to a new developer. Coudenys started his blog in 2011, at a time when he was still living in his ugly housea semi-detached house from the 1960s, which he and his wife renovated. It was ugly, but a practical house, he says.

Coudenys blog struck a chord with his followers, and he realized that he was not the only one to find Belgium an architecturally ugly country. Encouraged by visitor comments and likes, Coudenys started posting pictures of ugly Belgian houses with enthusiasm until someone hired a lawyer and sent him a threatening letter accusing Coudenys of invading their privacy and breaking copyright regulations and causing damage to their reputation.

Fearing legal retribution, Coudenys took down the entire blog and stopped posting. One year later, when Coudenys found himself in yet another hideous housing estate, it rekindled the fire of the idea that never completely went out.

Coudenys restarted the blog and a few years later, published a coffee table book by the same name.

Coudenys now allow home owners to take down their photos, and about ten percent of owners make that request.

I understand though, says Coudenys. People sometimes take it personally when their house is publicly ridiculed, or they are hounded by the press and feel picked on. That's not nice.

One architect told me that someday I would end up with a suicide on my conscience because of my bullying. Another accused me of drastically changing his children's future by making him redundant as an architect. For all these reasons it's important to be able to communicate in the open, he adds.
Some Middle Eastern countries won't get AI chips from NVIDIA and AMD anytime soon.

The US reportedly expanded the restriction of exports of sophisticated NVIDIA and AMD AI chips to include some Middle Eastern countries for an unknown reason.

The restrictions usually involve China, as the US wants to curb its access to advanced tech and chips for it to augment its own.

No More AI Chips For The Middle East

The US government decided to restrict the export of NVIDIA's A100 and H100 chips to certain Middle Eastern countries, per a Reuters report. Unfortunately, neither the country nor the US Commerce Department didn't specify which Middle countries are a part of its restrictions.

However, these countries will no longer receive NVIDIA's A100 and H100 chips, which the company designed to speed up machine-learning tasks. NVIDIA seems to take the restriction lightly - a regulatory filing from the company stated that the restrictions wouldn't have an "immediate material impact" on its results.

The same is true about AMD, according to Reuters' source - a person familiar with the matter. They also mentioned that the restriction has no material impact on its revenue.

Without the AI chips from NVIDIA and AMD, Chinese organizations can't carry out advanced computing used for image and speech recognition, among many other tasks, in a cost-efficient manner. The Chinese military could use such technological features to search satellite imagery for weapons or bases and clear digital communications for intelligence-gathering purposes.

Read More: YouTube Community Guideline Violators Can Take Classes To Avoid Strikes

Curbing China's Tech Ambitions

Unfortunately, both NVIDIA and AMD didn't reveal why the Commerce Department is preventing them from exporting AI chips to the involved Middle Eastern countries. The Commerce Department usually imposes such restrictions due to national security concerns, as is the case with China.

You may recall that the US has been preventing the trade of high-tech equipment and semiconductors to China as it may use them to threaten US national security. As a result, Google's Android OS is no longer available for China-based smartphone developers, while chip manufacturers like NVIDIA and AMD have to sell less advanced chips to China instead of the ones the US doesn't want China to get.

The US is also encouraging other countries to deny China similar technology to prevent it from threatening their national security. Japan and the Netherlands have joined the US in limiting China's access to advanced semiconductor machinery to hinder its technological ambitions earlier in 2023.

It is hard to tell whether these restrictions on China are working. However, China is probably feeling its intended effect. A May 2023 report from The South China Morning Post stated that China's Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. saw its profits fall by 53.1% year on year.

However, Chinese companies could learn how to develop advanced semiconductors without the machines the US and its allies are denying China, per ASML president and CEO Peter Wennick. He revealed that while it will take time for China's semiconductor companies to figure out how to create the advanced semiconductors themselves, they will eventually get there.

Related Article: Japan, Netherlands Join US in Restricting Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment
The first television broadcast in Israel was black and white, but unlike most nations, it wasnt due to the lack of technology to broadcast in color. As a matter of fact, when television first came to Israel in 1968, the world was already switching to color broadcast. But Israeli authorities were not sure. They thought color broadcast was a frivolous expense that should best be avoided. So despite having the capability to broadcast in color, Israels only national channel deliberately erased color from all their programs for more than twenty years, even from those they purchased or received from abroad.

Photo: Stephen Monterroso/Unsplash

Television came to Israel under a shroud of doubts and apprehension. The state founding fathers perceived television as a threat; they feared it would change the political, social and cultural characteristics of the young state. They felt that television broadcasts would put unnecessary economic pressure upon the state, and the mass buying of television sets would be an economic burden upon the population as well. Television, they argued, was a luxury that suited only wealthy and economically settled states.

The government also feared that television and western shows would dilute Hebrew culture and change peoples political views. Furthermore, television would reduce the amount of time people spent reading, going to the theater, and participating in social activities, thereby threatening traditional norms and family life.

Politicians delayed introducing television for as long as possible, until their need was widely felt during the 1967 conflict with Arab. The absence of a central broadcasting system meant that news about the war could not be quickly disseminated among the eager citizens. Secondly, the government realized they needed a tool to combat Arab propaganda. Many Palestinians living in the occupied territories owned television sets through which they received programs from the Arab countries, and Jordan was beginning to broadcast news in Hebrew for an Israeli audience. Israeli authorities decided that they could not afford to leave its public exposed exclusively to broadcasts from hostile neighbors. Only a state-controlled Israeli television channel could offer a counterattack in this psychological warfare. Thus, on May 2 1968, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority launched its first public broadcastthat years Independence Day march.

Related: Letters Q, W, And X Were Once Illegal in Turkey

Israels first television channel, called Channel One, broadcasted in black and white, even though color broadcast was already a world-wide technological convention. In the US, all the three major broadcast networks, NBC, ABC and CBS, were airing full color prime time schedules, and public broadcasting networks like NET used color for a majority of their programming. In 1955, twenty thousand color sets were purchased in the US, and in 1966, this figure had passed the 5 million mark. By 1972, the number of color television sets sold in the US exceeded black-and-white sales, and more than fifty percent of television households in the US had a color set.

In the UK, the first regular color broadcast began in 1967 by the BBC. Color broadcasting began in Japan in 1960, and in the Soviet Union in 1967. As broadcasting convention shifted towards color, networks realized that it was uneconomical to upgrade black and white broadcasting systems into color as it cost more than the initial investment in black and white equipment. As a result, the Commonwealth Broadcasting Conference of 1972 recommended that all new television services should be equipped with color facilities.

Although the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) did invest in color equipment, political pressure forced them to broadcast in back and white. When Israeli television started buying the rights to many American and British TV series and movies that were filmed in color, the government ordered the broadcasting authority to erase the color information from the signal so that receivers displayed back and white images.

A NTSC TV signal with different parts of the waveform labelled. Image credit: ohmbrew.net

The government suggested that the broadcasting network should remove the color synchronization component called the Colorburst, in the absence of which the receiver is unable to decide how to superimpose the colors over the images. As a result, the television set discards the color information and displays only black and white images. The instrument the IBA used to erase color was branded the eraser or mechikon.

Soon after its introduction, special television sets with anti-mekhikon device became available on the market. This device reinstalled the Colorburst phase signal allowing the receiver display color pictures. The only trouble was the viewer had to turn a knob to adjust the colors every 15 minutes or less. According to some estimates, nine out of every ten buyers bought a color television set fitted with the anti-mekhikon device.

The Israeli government sought to dissuade people from flocking into electronic stores. An activist opposing color television wrote in Israels leading newspaper Maariv that abandoning their regular sets in favor of color sets would be an economic disaster that a poor country as theirs could not afford. To this, the vice minister of finance added that a color picture tube consumed five times more electricity than a regular black and white tube, which would increase electricity consumption by many folds.

Professor Shelomo Avineri issued a cautionary warning against the pursuance of accessories of convenience:

If you bring colour television to the country, it will mean that so and so thousands of families, which might have purchased a bed for each child at home  or bought a book for the children from time to time  will be under strong pressure to spend this money  a lot of money, thousands of liras, to purchase a colour set.

The Vice Prime Minister also echoed these sentiments:

I have no doubt that many families, which have no money for necessities will sell their properties, will take loans and will become entangled in order to buy a colour set and not lag behind those that have the ability to purchase such a set.

Some warned of even more dire consequence:

Who will guarantee us that the pursuit of colour sets  as a status symbol  will not bring greater expansion of violent crime? Those who cannot afford to spend from their salary  or from their welfare income  10,000 liras, some of them might take part in looting and robbery or mere stealing.

Advocates of color television argued that the claim that color broadcasting would deepen social inequality didnt held water since it could be applied on all fields of consumption, such as luxury cars. Would the government ban luxury cars then?

One columnist was critical of the governments stand on suppressing technological progress:

It is known that Israeli television was always required to erase the colour so that the public will see only a black and white picture, like those that the government sees. This government serves some affluent people, who see themselves as the guardians of the poor. These guardians have decided that it is forbidden to oppress the little the poor have. It is forbidden to seduce the poor with goods that cost a lot of money. Since he is poor, he doesnt have the money to be entertained  he must sit at home, watch television, and think that the world is as gray as sackcloth.

Although the governments primary argument behind the erasure of color was to reduce inequality and cost, all it did was to increase expense on both ends. An average color television cost 50,000 liras, and another 4,000 for

the anti-eraser device so that viewers could enjoy color programs. This arrangement of first removing color and then adding it back was ridiculous, as one writer noted:

Israeli television buys colour films at full price. The technicians erase the colour and this probably also costs something. The Israeli consumer buys a colour set and anti-eraser  and receives the broadcasts in colour. It costs more both to the state and to the consumer  only the companies earn easy money.

The Israeli government allowed color transmissions from time to time, such as the November 1977 live color coverage of the Egyptian President Anwar El Sadats visit to Israel, and again in March 1979 during the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

By the late 1970s, public pressure on the issue of color transmissions mounted, and in 1981, the government allowed the Israel Broadcasting Authority and the Israeli Educational Television to film their own regular productions in color. It would take another two years before color broadcast became a regularity. By then, Israelis had spent more than 400 million liras on anti-eraser devices which became useless when the IBA stopped erasing color and moved to a full color schedule.

References:

# Oren Soffer, The eraser and the anti-eraser: the battle over colour television in Israel, Sage Journals

# Abraham Rabinovich, Israel lifts its ban on color TV, The Christian Science Monitor

# Wikipedia
Fans are not at the edge of their seat after images of the soon-to-launch Galaxy A05 device hit the internet. This device will make an entry as another very affordable Samsung smartphone for those not looking to break the bank. Despite this device being a low-budget entry, it still comes with a clean design that adds to its styling.

The leaks of this device show off its design from the front and the rear end. Looking at the design, you might not notice any change from the current entry that is available for purchase. However, at a closer look, this coming smartphones glossy back finish sets it apart from the already existing Galaxy A04.

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Aside from the glossy rear finish, this device might not launch with any other design changes. This is no news as over the past two years, Samsung has been trying to embrace a particular design language. The coming A05 entry stays true to the brands new design language, as can be seen on the already existing devices.

Details on the design of the coming Galaxy A05 device that will soon launch

The leaks of this device show in-depth details on its design on the front and rear sides. While things stay similar to the Galaxy A04, it is still important to have a look at this coming device. At the moment, the only information on the coming A05 is its design, and this article will look into that.

On the front of this device, prospective buyers will get a water drop (Infinity-U) screen display housing a selfie camera. The bezels are quite thick at its chin, and this is okay for a device of this price. As for the display type, fans can expect an IPS panel that is standard for this devices price point.

Turning to the rear, the leaks show off a design change here that has to do with the finish. On the Galaxy A04, Samsung made use of a dull finish for all color options. But with the coming Galaxy A05 device, the company is making things glossy.

Just like with the current A04, the coming A05 will launch with dual rear cameras. Beside these cameras would be a flashlight, prospective buyers should not expect jaw-dropping picture quality from this device. Considering the devices price point, there is not much in terms of performance that users should look out for.

According to sources, the coming Galaxy A05 device will launch with a MediaTek Helio G85 processor. This is an upgrade from the already existing Galaxy A04 that uses a MediaTek Helio P35 processor. More details on this coming device will be available towards its launch, which is still a mystery.
Samsung has released the second One UI 6.0 beta update for the Galaxy S23 series. It fixes several bugs present in the first build, allowing for a more stable experience. The company has also expanded the beta program to more markets.

One UI 6.0 beta is now available more widely

Samsung opened a public beta program for One UI 6.0, which is its Android 14-based custom software experience for Galaxy devices, in the second week of August. The beta update was initially available for the Galaxy S23 series in Germany, South Korea, and the US. The company later announced that it would expand the program to India, China, Poland, and the UK. Its now live in India and the UK, with the other two markets expected to follow soon.

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As usual, the first One UI 6.0 beta update released in these markets isnt the same build that Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 ultra users in Germany, South Korea, and the US got a few weeks back. Samsung has fixed several known bugs and is pushing a fresh build to them. The new build is essentially rolling out as the second beta update in the original three markets, though there may be a few differences.

The new beta update fixes several bugs

The second One UI 6.0 beta update for the Galaxy 23 series is rolling out with build version ZWHO. It fixes several bugs to improve the functional stability of the devices. The September 2023 Android security patch is also part of the package.

The official changelog supplied by Samsung mentions fixes or improvements for keyboard shortcuts, Netflix playback issues, Home app crash problems, Multi-Window stability issues in Secure Folder, Music Share, instability of S Pen actions, failed execution of Repair Mode, intermittent Reset issues, call sound issues with the Galaxy Buds, Samsung Health, and more.

The OTA (over-the-air) package for users in Germany, South Korea, and the US weighs about 1.7GB, though it varies according to the model and market. The download size is much bigger for Galaxy S23 users in India and the UK (almost 3GB), though. Thats because its the first One UI 6.0 beta for them.

If youre using a Galaxy S23 phone in any of these countries, you can enroll in Samsungs One UI 6.0 beta program through the Samsung Members app. You will find a banner about the enrollment process on the apps home page. Tap on the banner and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the registration. The beta update will arrive as a regular OTA update shortly.
The Lenovo Legion Go will be the best handheld for first-person shooters

This week, Lenovo officially revealed the Legion Go, its handheld gaming PC, and wow is this going to be one of the best handhelds on the market when it launches. First of all, its packed with features. A high-performance CPU and GPU option, three different storage configurations, a large 8.8-inch display with a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution and up to a 144Hz refresh rate. And thats just the tip of the iceberg.

Where it really gets cool is with the FPS mode. This is a special dedicated mode you can enable when you want to play first-person shooter titles. Like Overwatch, Destiny 2, Valorant, Counter Strike 2 and more. And this is what sets it apart. Lenovo designed the Legion Go to have detachable controllers. And when you detach them, you can pop out the Legion Gos kickstand and prop up the handheld.

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Now, you can play games like this and go no further. But if youre playing a first-person shooter, you can flip a switch on the bottom of the right controller that says FPS and this will turn on FPS mode. But theres one more cool feature to this.

The Legion Go comes with a tiny base you can slot the right controller into. This turns the right controller into a sort of vertical mouse for higher precision aiming. And this is all thanks to the optical eye on the bottom next to that toggle. The left controller meanwhile continues to be for your movement. The whole thing is a game changer. And if youre a fan of first-person shooters, this is absolutely the handheld for you.

Lenovo promises extended gaming sessions without frequent recharges

One of the biggest issues with handheld PC gaming is battery life. Lenovo is promising that players will have less of an issue with this thanks to its 49.2Whr battery capacity. Whats more, youll be able to get extended play without compromising too much on performance or visuals, and if you do need to juice it back up, the Legion Go supports a Super Rapid Charge Express feature. So it charges the battery up lightning fast. Specifically, up to 70% in just an hour.

It also features thermal throttling and a power bypass mode that lessens battery degradation while its plugged in. Plus, the Legion Gos multiple modes of play make this a pretty versatile little PC. Youre going to want one. And so will we. And thats precisely why we gave the Lenovo Legion Go the Best of IFA 2023 award this year. Lenovo earned it.
(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 1 - WWF Italia on Friday said it will stand as a civil plaintiff in any case brought against an Abruzzo man who shot dead a well-loved national park bear Thursday night saying she had scared him after straying onto his property.

WWF Italian President Luciano Di Tizio said "the killing of the bear Amarena is a crime of an extremely serious and unjustifiable nature, the fruit of a constant campaign of hatred against wild life.

"We will stand as civil plaintiff, but the man responsible risks getting off lightly. WE need a strong response on everyone's part." Di Tizio said Amarena's latest batch of two young cubs were now at risk. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 1 - Tolkien fans in Italy were on Friday gearing up to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of the famed British fantasy author also considered a foundational writer by the Italian political right.

The commemorations for the anniversary on September 2 include the release of new editions of Tolkien's works, a programme of events, and an exhibition in Rome, announced to applause by Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano at an event organised by the youth wing of Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party in July.

Indeed, as a young militant in the post-Fascist Italian Social Movement, Meloni is said to have revered 'The Lord of the Rings', its prequel 'The Hobbit' and other works by the South Africa-born British writer whose views on race, nationalism, globalization and modernity have been the subject of much scholarly debate.

However, Tolkien is also adored by many on the left, including the outspoken novelist, playwright and journalist Michela Murgia who died in Rome last month aged 51.

Events on Saturday, organised by the Italian association of Tolkien studies, include a reading from his works in Dozza and an event titled 'A journey through the landscapes in the life of J.R.R. Tolkien in Lucca.

However, the real wait is on for the exhibition 'J.R.R. Tolkien 1973-2023 Man-Professor-Author', curated by Alessandro Nicosia and Oronzo Cilli, a member of the British Tolkien Society and president of the equivalent association in Italy, which opens on November 14 at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome.

Sponsored by the culture ministry, the exhibit brings together over 150 works, including photographs, documents, films, virtual reconstructions, first editions of Tolkien's books, comics, cartoon animations and games dedicated to the prolific author.

Bompiani, Tolkien's publisher in Italy, has also released a new translation of 'the Lord of The Rings' in a single volume for the anniversary. (ANSA).


Clothing giant Forever 21 suffered from a data breach early this year with an estimated of 500,000 individuals affected.

Read Also: [UPDATE] Norway Fines Meta $98,500 a Day for Privacy Data Breach Starting August 14

What Happened to Forever 21?

The company was reportedly hacked for three months starting from early January. The hackers were able to gather files from the system which includes personal information of current and former employees, as per TechCrunch's report.

Forever 21 already notified the 539, 207 individuals whose personal information was compromised. Among the details obtained were names, date of birth, bank account number, Social Security number, Forever 21 health plan of employees, and premiums paid.

The data breach marked as the second incident to the company within a few years. In 2017, the company suffered from a massive theft of credit numbers from its store point-of-sale machines.

Forever 21 Explains

Forever 21 reported that they have already taken the necessary measures and ensured that the hackers have deleted the stolen data. However, not much of it was further explained by the company.

The company then assured that the incident did not escalate further than the breach of systems. Forever 21 also clarified that the "unauthorized third party no longer has access to the data."

Related Article: Estee Lauder Data Breach Caused by Two Ransomware Gangs
(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 1 - Premier Giorgia Meloni is reaping what she sowed on the 0.4% GDP fall in the second quarter, populist leftwing opposition 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader and ex premier Giuseppe Conte said Friday.

"Today Meloni reaps what she sowed in all these months at Palazzo Chigi with hat in hand in front of the austerity hawks", Conte wrote on Facebook, commenting on the worse-than-expected GDP data from Istat.

"Two unsolicited pieces of advice to Giorgia Meloni," he adds in the post, "stop always blaming someone else and, rather, roll up your sleeves to remedy your own mistakes.

"Until now she has boasted about GDP growth, which in reality has literally collapsed due to the inertia and inability of the government, which is squandering the legacy of growth of almost 11% in the 2021-2022 biennium, (when Conte was in charge)," said the ex PM. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 1 - Veneto Governor Luca Zaia said Friday there were too many migrants in the northeastern region around Venice, saying it had reached its limit.

"Migrants are an emergency, to say that 9,000 migrants represent ordinary management is a no-no for me," he said.

He added: "Don't tell people that Veneto is not hospitable when it is internationally recognised for its integration model".

Local officials across Italy have been warning that their migrant reception facilities are buckling under a constant flow, mainly from North Africa but also through the Balkans. (ANSA).


A motion of no confidence in the PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has been submitted to the Policing Board in Northern Ireland, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said.

Sir Jeffrey said a change of leadership was required in the force after the embattled Chief Constable insisted he would not resign following a marathon meeting with the Policing Board on Thursday.

Mr Byrne has been facing growing pressure, with both rank and file officers and civilian staff considering confidence votes in his leadership.

The latest controversy to hit the PSNI erupted earlier this week when High Court judge Mr Justice Scoffield ruled that two junior officers were unlawfully disciplined for an arrest made at a Troubles commemoration event in 2021.

The judge said they had been disciplined to allay a threat that Sinn Fein could withdraw its support for policing. Sinn Fein has insisted there was no such threat.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said a motion of no confidence in Simon Byrne had been submitted (Liam McBurney/PA)

In a statement on Friday, the DUP leader said his party had submitted a no confidence motion to the Policing Board which would be debated at the earliest opportunity.

The board is made up of 10 political and nine independent members.

Sir Jeffrey said: It is disappointing and perplexing that the Chief Constable cancelled our planned meeting which was due to take place this afternoon.

Had the meeting gone ahead, we would have had the opportunity to inform him of our desire for change and intention to submit to the Policing Board a motion to be debated at the earliest opportunity.

Confidence in the Chief Constable has been eroded, both amongst the wider public but, significantly, also amongst serving PSNI officers and staff.

In light of that, we believe that a change of leadership is required.

Allowing the issue to drift will only cause greater problems for public confidence and for the PSNI as an organisation.

Liam Kelly, chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland (Liam McBurney/PA)

Mr Byrne initially said he accepted the High Court judgment, but on Thursday indicated that an appeal was being considered and said it was inappropriate to make any further comment.

The chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland Liam Kelly expressed disbelief and anger at the statement.

Mr Kelly said: This has infuriated and antagonised the rank and file further and once again the two officers at the centre of the case are being treated disdainfully.

It is hugely damaging to officer morale and confidence and has to be condemned.

He added: In short I am disgusted, disillusioned and extremely angry.

The Police Federation has called an extraordinary meeting of its executive central committee next Wednesday when it said a confidence vote may take place into the PSNI leadership.

We stand with our colleagues in @PoliceFedNI & the senior executive team must listen to our collective concerns. We have the best interests of the service at heart. @PoliceServiceNI  SANI (@SupersAssocNI) September 1, 2023

The Superintendents Association of Northern Ireland, which represents more senior officers, said it was standing with the federation.

In a social media post, it said the senior executive team must listen to our collective concerns.

It added: In this current crisis facing policing, we must have strong leadership with clear-sighted objectives.

The rebuilding of trust and morale is essential.

Nipsa, which represents a number of civilian police staff, is also set to hold an extraordinary departmental committee meeting of police staff representatives next week, during which it will be assessed if there is a demand for a confidence vote in Mr Byrne.

Unionist leaders had been expected to hold talks with Mr Byrne later on Friday, although those meetings were postponed.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has also called for Simon Byrne to resign (Liam McBurney/PA)

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has also called for Mr Byrne and his deputy Mark Hamilton to resign.

The incident which the High Court ruled on occurred on the Ormeau Road in Belfast in February 2021 during a service marking the anniversary of the February 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers attack, in which five people were murdered.

The two officers faced action in 2021 after the arrest of Mark Sykes, a survivor of a loyalist gun attack on the bookmakers in south Belfast.

The incident unfolded when police challenged people attending a memorial event amid suspicions that the size of the public gathering breached coronavirus regulations.

Mr Sykes was handcuffed and arrested in chaotic exchanges captured on social media.

The incident triggered a major controversy at the time and sparked criticism of Mr Byrne.

Mr Byrne apologised for the PSNIs handling of the event at the time, and it was announced that one officer was to be suspended and one repositioned.

The court ruling this week has heaped further pressure on Mr Byrne, who was already facing questions about his future after a major data blunder led to personal details of officers entering the public domain and getting into the hands of dissident republicans.
The co-founder of a British East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) advocacy group said she has dreams of ESEA Heritage Month becoming a household name as it reaches its third year.

Mai-Anh Vu Peterson, 34, based in Edinburgh, is one of six co-founders of the British East and Southeast Asian Network, also known as besean, the organisation that started a heritage month to showcase and celebrate the ESEA community in the UK.

She said she wants to see posters everywhere about the month-long celebration and hopes raising the profile of the ESEA community in the UK will enable ESEA Heritage Month, which runs throughout September, to become a regular part of TV, film and popular culture.

ESEA Heritage Month began in September 2020 amidst the rise of hate crimes against the ESEA community during the Covid pandemic.

Members of the British East and Southeast Asian Network core team  the organisation behind ESEA Heritage Month (Tim Chung/PA)

The heritage month will see members of the ESEA community host food festivals, summer parties, walking tours of Londons Chinatown and panels with writers and academics such as Angela Hui, author of Takeaway: Stories From A Childhood Behind The Counter.

Ms Peterson, who is British-Vietnamese, told the PA news agency: My dream is I want to turn on my TV and see that Disney+ is organising the September offering of films and TVs into an ESEA heritage month gallery; I want to walk into a bookshop and see posters everywhere.

We want this to be a household name.

The advocate for ESEA communities said heritage month is a chance for people with similar backgrounds to come together and recognise their contribution to British society.

She said: Its an opportunity to celebrate the numerous ways in which our different, multitude of communities have contributed to the Britain that we know today.

On a personal level, I would say that it creates a space for me to just hang out with other people who share similar heritage to me and to learn from those people to all come together.

She hopes the heritage month, which focuses on joyful advocacy, will help future generations find a sense of identity as an ESEA person in the UK after grappling with her own struggles with identity growing up in London.

Workshops, walking tours, food stalls and panel talks are among the activities on offer throughout September (Tim Chung/PA)

I think a lot of us almost wanted to reject this part of our heritage and now were really making up for lost time and being quite loud and joyful in our renovation of our heritage, she said.

My hope is that by (organising ESEA heritage month), very unapologetically and very joyfully, means something for future generations or other people who maybe are still in that place of discomfort or not knowing who they are, or not knowing how to be proud of who they are, to see the example and grow from it.

Ms Peterson described spreading joy as infectious and hopes to inspire others to become involved in highlighting ESEA culture.

She said: Bottom line is that joy is infectious. We see people thriving and loving who they are and what they do.

Its inspiring. It makes you feel like you want that too.

The besean co-founder said the heritage month will be a big community party which will observe the theme of roots/routes exploring cultural identity and belonging.

She explained: I had this dream of having a big community party with lots of different stalls and activities and a nice space for lots of different people to come together.

She admits the heritage month started as a throwaway comment before it came to fruition and hopes to create a nationwide space celebrating ESEA heritage.

We have this joke (at besean) that we tend to make throwaway comments that actually turn into action something that we are really striving for is recognition, Ms Peterson said.

Artists, chefs, academics and authors are among those involved in East and Southeast Heritage Month, which marks its third year (Tim Chung/PA)

I want to be clear that I dont think that we started ESEA community organising.

Lots of people have been doing lots of really cool things  weve just never really had a nationwide space for it

While besean is the current organiser, Ms Peterson hopes other community organisations will take part in the heritage month and ensure the celebration remains a sustainable, long-lasting venture.

She explained: At the moment were the organisers of the (heritage month) itself, but by and large the shape of the programme really depends on the people who put on the events.

It may be that one day, were not the organisers of this space and somebody else is, and thats totally OK  its about creating long-term, sustainable community efforts.

To find out more about ESEA Heritage Month and the events on offer in September, visit the website: https://www.eseaheritagemonth.co.uk/
The fugitive stepmother of a 10-year-old girl who was found dead at her home in Woking, Surrey, should come back to the UK and tell the police exactly what happened, her relative has said.

The body of Sara Sharif was found at a property on Hammond Road after police were called from Pakistan by her father Urfan Sharif on August 10.

Mr Sharif, 41, his partner, Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother, Faisal Malik, 28, are thought to have travelled to Islamabad on August 9 and are wanted for questioning.

They travelled with five children aged between one and 13 years old, police said.

Beinash Batool should come back to the UK and hand herself in, her relative has said (Surrey Police/PA)

A cousin of Ms Batool has now urged her to hand herself in to the police.

The relative, who asked not to be named, told Sky News: Beinash should come back to the UK.

I dont know where she is. But Im worried about her. Im worried about her kids.

She should come back to the UK, go to the police and tell them exactly what happened.

She added: I dont know  my family dont know  what happened. It could have been an accident; a misunderstanding.

Ms Batools cousin, who is originally from Gujrat in Pakistan, also told the broadcaster Ms Batool was estranged from her parents, having run away to marry Mr Sharif.

The relative told Sky News: The relationship (with her family) is finished.

She married secretly, and her father said, She is not my daughter.

She hasnt spoken to her parents since.

Saras grandfather, Muhammad Sharif, 68, has also urged his son Urfan Sharif to hand himself over to the police.

Muhammad Sharif said his son had briefly visited the family home in the city of Jhelum, Punjab province, earlier this month before he disappeared again.

He said Urfan did not tell him about Saras death.

He told The Sunday Times: We want them to present themselves.

We want them to resolve the matter as the privacy of our house is affected due to frequent police raids.

Urfan Sharifs father has urged his son to hand himself in (Surrey Police/PA)

Surrey Police are continuing to appeal for information to help them piece together a picture of Saras lifestyle prior to her death.

They widened the timescale of their investigation after the post-mortem examination revealed that Sara had suffered multiple and extensive injuries, likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time.

Saras mother, Olga Sharif, is being supported by specialist officers.

Surrey County Council previously told the PA news agency Sara was known to the local authority.

Detective Superintendent Mark Chapman, from the Surrey Police and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, previously said: We know that there will be lots of people in the Woking community and beyond who will have had contact with Sara who may not already have come forward, and we would encourage them to do so.

Any information is better than no information  although you might think its insignificant, it might be vital to the investigation and in helping us to bring justice for Sara.

Lawyers in the UK have said Pakistans government is unlikely to block an extradition request in connection to Saras death.

There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Pakistan but people have been returned from the Asian country before.
The Government is being urged to provide clarity on the impact of a lightweight concrete prone to collapse on hospitals and other public buildings after schools were told to shut affected classrooms.

Experts have warned that the crisis over reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) could extend beyond the education sector, with healthcare settings, courts and offices also potentially at risk.

Opposition parties are demanding information about the scale of Raac in other buildings, with Labour calling for an urgent audit.

It comes after 104 schools and colleges were told by the Department for Education to partially or fully close buildings just as pupils prepare to return after the summer holidays.

Damage inside Parks Primary School in Leicester, which has been affected with Raac (Jacob King/PA)

Though not confirmed, it is estimated that around 24 schools in England have been told to close entirely because of the presence of Raac, the PA news agency understands, and schools minister Nick Gibb has admitted more could be asked to shut classrooms.

Mr Gibb said that a collapse of a beam that had been considered safe over the summer sparked an urgent rethink on whether buildings with the aerated concrete could remain open.

Former home secretary and Tory MP Dame Priti Patel told the BBC the issue was deeply concerning and would make the start of term quite difficult.

But the problem could be far wider, with other buildings at risk of sudden and catastrophic collapse if Raac is not removed, specialists said.

Matt Byatt, president of the Institution of Structural Engineers, said that any high-rise buildings with flat roofs constructed between the late 1960s and early 1990s may contain Raac.

He said expert bodies had warned Government departments about the dangers of the material in 2018  adding that everyone was aware of the problem.

Luckily it is being dealt with now. You cant wait for people to get hurt before making these kinds of decision, he said.

Daniel Kebede, the General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said that the decision to close schools so close to the start of term is absolutely disgraceful (James Manning/PA)

Professor Chris Goodier, professor of construction engineering and materials at Loughborough University, said: The scale of problem is much bigger than schools.

It also covers much of the building stock in the country. This also includes health, defence, justice, local government, national government, and also a lot of the private sector.

The Government is facing questions over why it did not act sooner over schools, and opposition parties are demanding information about the extent to which Raac affects other buildings.

Labour called for an urgent audit to identify the risk of the concrete across the public sector estate, while the Liberal Democrats said the public and NHS staff need urgent clarity over whether hospital wards and buildings could be forced to close.

Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, told BBC Radio 4s PM that hospitals affected by Raac use props to reinforce structures containing Raac, meaning there is mitigation in place.

Raac planks are thought to be present in 34 hospitals buildings in England and the Government has pledged seven of the worst affected will be replaced by 2030.

Raac is a lightweight building material used from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s, but is now assessed to be at risk of collapse.

Many have criticised the governments decision to not take action sooner, deciding to close schools just days before the start of the new term (Jacob King/PA)

The DfE has been considering Raac as a potential issue since late 2018 but the timing of the decision to issue guidance just days before the start of term has angered unions.

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said: It is absolutely disgraceful, and a sign of gross Government incompetence, that a few days before the start of term 104 schools are finding out that some or all of their buildings are unsafe and cannot be used.

Education minister Lady Diana Barran told the BBC all parents of pupils at affected schools have been told, and anyone who has not been contacted can just go ahead as normal next week.

The possible presence of the concrete was being assessed in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, where education is devolved.

The Welsh Government said councils and colleges have not reported any presence of Raac.
Installation view of Nam June Paik's outdoor laser installation, "Transmission Tower" (2002), which was unveiled in Korea for the first time at Nam June Paik Art Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 30 / Yonhap



By Park Han-sol



On the occasion of the return of two leading art fairs  Frieze and Kiaf Seoul  at COEX in southern Seoul, Sept. 6, Korea will see a flurry of exhibition openings and late-night soirees at museums and galleries strewn across its capital city.



Art enthusiasts are encouraged to journey beyond the fair venues and immerse themselves in the creative fabric of Seoul.



Here are selected shows that could be the cherry on top of your art-filled excursion.





Visitors take photos of British street artist Banksy's "Girl without Balloon," formerly known as "Love is in the Bin," during a preview at Paradise City, a resort complex in Incheon, Thursday. Yonhap



Multimillion-dollar masterpieces brought forth by major auction houses



It isn't just the galleries who are joining the festivity on the occasion of Frieze and Kiaf Seoul's return.



The three leading global auction houses are all hosting a free pop-up exhibition within the greater Seoul area, ready to dazzle audiences with multimillion-dollar Basquiats, Warhols and Banksys.



Sotheby's is bringing Banksy's "Love is in the Bin"  the painting, originally titled "Girl with Balloon" that made international headlines when it self-destructed the moment it was sold at a 2018 auction  along with 31 other masterpieces by the British street artist and Pop Art legend Keith Haring to Paradise City in Incheon. The piece was renamed "Girl without Balloon," during a preview, Thursday. "Love in Paradise: Banksy and Keith Haring" is set to run from Sept. 5 to Nov. 5 at the resort complex.





Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Warrior" (1982) / Courtesy of Christie's



Christie's show at the Storage by Hyundai Card from Sept. 5 to 7 will be a 150 million dollar spectacle that unites two American art titans: Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. "Heads On: Basquiat & Warhol" will place a selection of Basquiat's 1980s pieces  including his landmark "Warrior" (1982), the most expensive Western artwork ever sold at auction in Asia for 41.9 million dollar  side by side with Warhol's self-portraits.



Meanwhile, Phillips has taken a slightly different approach to its presentation, putting the works of 20th-century masters like Alexander Calder and David Hockney in dialogue with those of the emerging creatives. Lee Yoo-ra, Oh Se and Kim Ho-jae are some of the Korean-born artists featured in the roster of over 30 creators in "Briefly Gorgeous," which is scheduled to run until Sept. 9 at Songwon Art Center.





Installation view of "Anish Kapoor" at Kukje Gallery / Courtesy of Kukje Gallery



Instant eye-catchers: Anish Kapoor, Nam June Paik



British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor's sculptures and paintings are as disturbingly grotesque as mesmerizing.





Anish Kapoor has brought sculptural pieces coated in "blacker-than-black" paint, Vantablack, to Kukje Gallery. Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol

Internationally renowned for sculptures like the reflective Cloud Gate in Chicago's Millennium Park, the artist has long dedicated himself to push both the material and conceptual limits of visual art.



For his latest solo show at Kukje Gallery, he has filled the space with his heaps and globs of blood-red silicone, which almost seem to spew out of canvas or the wall. Overflowing with such fleshy, organlike mass, the entire exhibition hums with the sublime intensity of life itself.



Kapoor has also brought sculptural pieces coated in the instantly recognizable "blacker-than-black" paint, Vantablack. Also dubbed "Kapoor black," the substance, made up of carbon nanotubes, absorbs 99.96 percent of visible light and therefore could be likened to a black hole.



These works produce a bizarre viewing experience. They look flat and two-dimensional when observed head on. Only when the spectators walk to the side can they discover the pieces are in fact, bulging or sunken.



Another eye-catcher can be found at Nam June Paik Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, which has unveiled Nam June Paik's "Transmission Tower"  the video art pioneer's rare outdoor laser installation  for the first time in Korea.



Originally installed at Rockefeller Center in New York in 2002, its centerpiece is an 8-meter-tall tower equipped with red, blue, yellow and green neon lights on its side and laser beams on top. The tower is placed alongside a row of silver-painted vintage cars  part of his "32 Cars for the 20th Century: Play Mozart's Requiem Quietly" (1997) that have piles of obsolete devices inside indicating the early television age.









"Cars are a symbol of 20th-century machine culture. And the laser is a symbol of 21st-century information technology," the artist said of the installation. By juxtaposing the two, Paik bids farewell to the technological strides made during the 20th century and looks forward into the future, into the next century ahead.



"Transmission Tower," which has been brought to life with artist Yun Je-ho's laser and sound design, will shoot colorful laser beams from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. every day in the center's courtyard until Dec. 3.





Kim Whanki's "5-IV-71 #200" (1971), nicknamed "Universe" / Courtesy of Whanki Foundation, Whanki Museum



Blockbuster exhibitions at Leeum, Hoam Museum of Art



The Samsung Foundation of Culture has filled its two venues  Leeum Museum of Art in central Seoul and Hoam Museum of Art in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province  with blockbuster exhibitions of Korea's modern and contemporary masters.



The Leeum Museum of Art hosts the largest museum show ever on Suki Seokyeong Kang, whose minimalist amalgamation of paintings, installations and videos draw on cultural traditions and aesthetic languages of Korea. Kang, the winner of the 2018 Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel, was invited to the prestigious Venice Biennale's flagship International Art Exhibition the next year.



At "Willow Drum Oriole," her latest pieces "transform the museum space into a three-dimensional, multi-sensory landscape painting," the Leeum said in a statement.



The Hoam Museum of Art is readying to wrap up its successful retrospective of renowned abstractionist Kim Whanki.



"a dot a sky_kim whanki," which runs until Sept. 10, offers a rare, comprehensive view of the artist's 40-year journey toward abstraction  from his early works featuring classical East Asian motifs like moon jars and plum blossoms to his signature mosaic-like dot paintings. One of its highlights is Kim's 1971 diptych "Universe 5-IV-71 #200," which fetched 13.2 billion won (HK$88 million) at Christie's Hong Kong in 2019, making history as the most expensive Korean artwork ever auctioned.





David Salle's "Tree of Life, Rival" (2023) / Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong, Seoul and London



Blue-chip global dealers with star artists



Powerhouse international galleries with outposts in Seoul are staging presentations of big-name creatives.



Pace Gallery will mount Yoshitomo Nara's "Ceramic Works," the Japanese neo-Pop artist's first solo show in Korea since 2005. It brings together more than 140 expressionist ceramics and 30 paper and cardboard drawings produced by the creator, who is widely known for his trademark sweet-yet-prickly, childlike characters.



Perrotin is poised to showcase Tavares Strachan's latest body of ceramic works that take cues from the African continent's historical relationship with ancient civilizations and his fascination with technological advancement. "Do and Be" will be the New York-based artist's debut solo show in Asia.



Gladstone Gallery is filling its space with the latest flower paintings of 96-year-old Alex Katz, while Lehmann Maupin is introducing the final iteration of David Salle's "Tree of Life" series, populated by breezy caricatures and gestural abstraction.





Alex Katz's "Orange Lily" (2022) / Courtesy of the artist, Gladstone Gallery



And Thaddaeus Ropac, which has newly expanded its space in Yongsan District in time for Frieze, spotlights two icons of 20th-century art: American Minimalist Donald Judd and German conceptualist Joseph Beuys. Judd's solo exhibition centers on his three-dimensional works, including woodcut prints conceptualized during his time in Korea in 1991, while Beuy's show, "Reservoirs of impulse," will be dedicated to his paper drawings.



White Cube and Whitestone Gallery, two newcomers to the Korean art scene, are each hosting an inaugural group exhibition to mark the opening of their new space in Seoul.



White Cube's "The Embodied Spirit," unfolded on the first floor of the ceramic-cloaked building in Gangnam District that also houses the Horim Art Center, will group paintings and sculptures of seven creatives  including British artist Tracey Emin and Seoul-based Lee Jin-ju  who all delve into the mysteries of human existence. Whitestone, the first Japanese art dealer to establish an outpost in Korea, will mount "We Love Korea" to highlight postmodern and avant-garde art of East Asia in its building, designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, in Yongsan District.



Meanwhile, Lisson Gallery, which does not yet have a space in Korea, is presenting a pop-up group exhibition from Sept. 2 to 10 at "hanok"-styled EUM The Place as a mini-showcase of its represented artists. "Time Curve" features 15 creators, including Ai Weiwei, Ryan Gander and Kapoor.




Thousands of Harry Potter fans have braved the rail strikes on Friday to gather at Kings Cross station in London for the annual Back to Hogwarts Day.

Donning wizard robes and carrying wands, fans of the franchise travelled to the station to hear the magical loudspeaker call for the Hogwarts Express at 11am, inviting witches and wizards to board the train to Hogsmeade on platform nine and three quarters.

While a host of fans gathered online, thousands crowded in front of the live departure board at the station to see the written display for the fictional platform call, which prompted a cheer from fans of all ages upon its appearance.

The live event was hosted for the second year in a row by TV star, radio presenter and fellow fan, Sam Thompson  who, at one point, invited one fan Manish Pindoria to the stage where he proposed to his girlfriend, Panveet Kaur Bason.

Host and celebrity fan Sam Thompson with 10-year-old Arnav Partukar, who led the live countdown this year (Lucy North/PA)

Celebrity fan Thompson, who has named his two cats Albus and Cedric, encouraged fans to join in with the live countdown for the trains departure, which was led this year by 10-year-old Arnav Partukar from Chelmsford.

Arnav, who won a competition held by the Wizarding World to find the most enthusiastic fan in the UK, said it was a day he will never, ever forget.

All my friends and family know that I am the biggest Harry Potter fan around, so when my parents told me about a competition to lead the live countdown at Back to Hogwarts, as a proud Gryffindor I just knew I had to give it a go, Arnav said.

I have had so much fun, and it has been amazing meeting lots of other Harry Potter fans, just like me.

Manish Pindoria (right) proposes to his girlfriend Pavneet Kaur Bason during the annual festivities (Lucy North/PA)

Made In Chelseas Thompson said hosting the event was a dream come true and getting to do so alongside 10-year-old Arnav was an absolute honour.

As my cats, Albus and Cedric can attest to, I love Harry Potter, he said.

Being able to come back to Kings Cross to host such a brilliant event, in front of so many like-minded fans is literally my dream come true.

What I loved about Back to Hogwarts is that you get to see the shared love that this community has for Harry Potter and the magical wizarding world, and hosting alongside Arnav has been an absolute honour.

Harry Potter fans during the annual Back to Hogwarts Day at Kings Cross station in London (Lucy North/PA)

Speaking about the festivities, one fan in attendance, Eliya Williams, nine, said: Back to Hogwarts is something I look forward to every time September rolls around, its a time I feel really connected to other fans and they havent disappointed this year.

Im so excited to be here to celebrate with my fellow Muggles, witches and wizards and it means so much that they involved fans in the countdown too.

The new cast members and creative team behind Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play were also in attendance, joining fans in the annual festivities.
A watchdog has called for a high-security jail holding notorious criminals like Charles Bronson to be put into emergency measures amid the high rate of attacks on prison officers and chronic staff shortages.

Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor wrote to Justice Secretary Alex Chalk to issue an urgent notification for improvement at HMP Woodhill after an inspection found the Milton Keynes jail was fundamentally unsafe.

Staff at Woodhill  which has dangerous category A offenders among its inmates  were subject to the highest rate of serious assaults in England and Wales and inspectors found bullying and intimidation by prisoners to be commonplace.

Low morale meant many staff had voted with their feet, with more officers leaving than joining and with no indication that the situation would improve, the watchdog said.

Mr Taylor said: This was a very concerning inspection.

Woodhill is a complex, high-risk prison, holding prisoners convicted of serious offences. It simply cannot operate effectively with such chronic staff shortages.

Urgent support is needed from HMPPS (His Majestys Prison and Probation Service) to help Woodhill and other establishments to develop credible, long-term plans that improve staff recruitment, and, crucially, staff retention.

It should be of considerable concern to us all that only a third of the prisoners at Woodhill said that their experience would make them less likely to reoffend in the future, a far lower proportion than at similar prisons.

As I have repeatedly warned, simply warehousing prisoners and failing to get them into work and/or education does little to protect the public when these men are ultimately released.

Long-term prisoner Charles Bronson is behind bars at HMP Woodhill (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

Inspectors found high levels of violence and drug use at the jail when they visited between August 14 and August 25.

There has been a worrying decline in conditions at Woodhill in five inspections carried out since 2014, Mr Taylor said in his letter to Mr Chalk.

Reported incidents of violence at the prison had risen sharply, with 298 attacks recorded in the 12 months leading up to the inspection, compared with 182 assaults prior to the previous inspection.

The use of force against inmates was also amongst the highest in the adult male estate but leaders had yet to take effective action to make the prison safer.

Drug use was a serious problem, with the jail having the sixth highest rate of positive mandatory test results among all prisons.

At least 26 prisoners were found self-isolating in their cells in fear for their safety and the rate of self-harm was the highest in the country for mens prisons.

Staff shortages meant education classes and work were often cancelled for inmates, while the library had been shut since 2020.

Prisoners spent far too long locked in often damaged cells and were frustrated at the lack of access to basic amenities and limited opportunities for progression.

Without significantly improved staffing levels it was not clear how the jail will improve, the watchdog said.

Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, branded the report shocking, adding: After repeated warnings, it is extremely disappointing that the prison now finds itself in this position.

Ministers urgently need to get a grip on what has gone wrong.

Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said: The findings of this report demonstrate the urgent need for improvement at HMP Woodhill and we will be working closely and quickly with the prison to set out how it can address these issues.

The findings come just over a month after Mr Taylor condemned HMP Bristol as one of the most unsafe prisons in England and Wales as he issued an urgent notification for improvement.

Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures published in July showed the number of prisons rated outstanding had fallen to its lowest point in six years.

Among the 119 prisons assessed, only 13 (10.9%) were awarded the highest rating, a significant drop compared with the performance in 2019/20, where 19 prisons (16.0%) achieved the top-tier recognition.

Bronsons latest parole hearing took place in March at HMP Woodhill and was broadcast to members of the public and press via a live stream.

Parole papers published later that month which detailed the decision to keep him behind bars said officials hoped to move Bronson  one of the UKs longest-serving prisoners who changed his surname to Salvador in 2014  to another prison where he can show how he manages himself in a more open unit with less restrictions on his behaviour.

But it is understood this transfer is yet to take place.
Hundreds of families and well-wishers have waved off the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales as it set sail for exercises off the US  a year after it broke down a few miles into a similar trip across the Atlantic.

The 3 billion warship suffered a broken propeller shaft after it sailed from Portsmouth Naval Base in August 2022 for a diplomatic mission to carry out exercises with the US Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy and the US Marine Corps.

Families and well-wishers wave off HMS Prince of Wales as it leaves Portsmouth Naval Base for exercises off the coast of the US (Ben Mitchell/PA)

The carrier came to a halt off the Isle of Wight and was brought under tow back into harbour for the problem to be identified.

It was then taken to the Babcock shipyard where it was built in Rosyth, Scotland, to undergo the repairs to a propeller shaft, which have taken nine months to complete.

Fears had been raised that the 65,000-tonne vessel was being cannibalised for parts to be used on sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth but then-defence secretary Ben Wallace said this was perfectly normal and the ship would return to service by the autumn.

The carrier moved out of dry dock at Rosyth and into the River Forth on July 21 before returning to Portsmouth Naval Base on August 4.

Members of the ships company aboard Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (Ben Mitchell/PA)

During the three-month deployment, the carrier will carry out exercises with drones for delivering supplies without the use of helicopters, landing and launching F-35B Lightning stealth fighters and operating with Osprey tilt rotor aircraft from the US Marine Corps.

Commanding officer Captain Richard Hewitt said: We are all excited for the longest deployment of HMS Prince of Wales.

Being the first to operate with this level of drones will be a huge achievement and keep us on the front foot as we prepare for the next major Carrier Strike Group deployment in 2025.

Store Ship  8 trucks of SCRAN  700 pallets of stores Final preps complete for deployment The squadrons are on their way pic.twitter.com/NnsspQamPy  HMS Prince of Wales (@HMSPWLS) August 31, 2023

The ships company will conduct trials in the English Channel with UK firm W Autonomous Systems to assess the feasibility of drones delivering supplies to Royal Navy vessels at sea  initially flying in up to 100kg of stores.

A navy spokesman said: Both the Royal Navy and its supporting flotilla from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary are experimenting with drone technology  saving launching large, expensive naval helicopters to perform the missions.

Families and well-wishers wave off HMS Prince of Wales (Ben Mitchell/PA)

And while in the US, the ship will embark F-35B stealth fighters.

Commander Martin Russell, in charge of the ships air group and flight deck operations, said: My team are really excited to tackle the final phase of testing which will expand the F-35s awesome capabilities even more  and to be the first to land and launch new types of drones on our deck.

The deck team are ready and raring to go.

Members of the ships company aboard HMS Prince of Wales as it leaves Portsmouth Naval Base (Ben Mitchell/PA)

The carrier and its 750-strong crew are set to return to the UK by Christmas.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Simon Byrne is facing growing pressure, with both rank and file officers and civilian staff considering confidence votes in his leadership.

The embattled Chief Constable insisted he would not resign following a marathon session of his oversight body, the Policing Board, on Thursday.

The latest controversy to hit the force erupted earlier this week when High Court judge Mr Justice Scoffield ruled that two junior officers were unlawfully disciplined for an arrest made at a Troubles commemoration event in 2021.

The judge said they had been disciplined to allay a threat that Sinn Fein could withdraw its support for policing.

Liam Kelly, chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland (Liam McBurney/PA)

Sinn Fein has insisted there was no such threat.

Mr Byrne initially said he accepted the judgment, but on Thursday indicated that an appeal was being considered and said it was inappropriate to make any further comment.

The chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland Liam Kelly expressed disbelief and anger at the statement.

Mr Kelly said: This has infuriated and antagonised the rank and file further and once again the two officers at the centre of the case are being treated disdainfully.

It is hugely damaging to officer morale and confidence and has to be condemned.

He added: In short I am disgusted, disillusioned and extremely angry.

The Police Federation has called an extraordinary meeting of its executive central committee next Wednesday when it said a confidence vote may take place into the PSNI leadership.

We stand with our colleagues in @PoliceFedNI & the senior executive team must listen to our collective concerns. We have the best interests of the service at heart. @PoliceServiceNI  SANI (@SupersAssocNI) September 1, 2023

The Superintendents Association of Northern Ireland, which represents more senior officers, said it was standing with the federation.

In a social media post it said the senior executive team must listen to our collective concerns.

It added: In this current crisis facing policing, we must have strong leadership with clear-sighted objectives.

The rebuilding of trust and morale is essential.

Nipsa, which represents a number of civilian police staff, is also set to hold an extraordinary departmental committee meeting of police staff representatives next week, during which it will be assessed if there is a demand for a confidence vote in Mr Byrne.

Nipsa official Tracy Godfrey said she feels it is likely that police staff colleagues will want to have such a vote.

She told BBC Radio Ulsters Nolan Show: I think people have just come to the end of the road with how the organisation is being treated, they have just had enough.

Its been one disaster after another, the data breach after being told for many years by DoJ (the Department of Justice) that police staff arent under the same kind of threat as police officers when we clearly are and always have been.

The data breach comes out and our names are on it, we are not weaponised like police officers so we have no way of defending ourselves if someone comes knocking on our door.

Unionist leaders had been expected to hold talks with Mr Byrne later on Friday although those meetings have now been postponed.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has called for Mr Byrne and his deputy Mark Hamilton to resign.

He told the BBCs Good Morning Ulster programme: None of it looks good and you just need to look at the reaction of the Police Federation and the rank and file officers of the PSNI just to see how bad this actually is.

What is absolutely clear is that it seems to me that all confidence in the leadership of the Police Service in Northern Ireland has been lost or eroded to such a stage that it cant be regained.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said public confidence in the leadership of the PSNI had been eroded (Liam McBurney/PA)

Referencing the potential appeal over the court judgment, Mr Beattie said: It is absolutely ludicrous and it further undermines his position and it undermines the leadership of the police service.

And it further alienates the rank and file officers and confidence by the public in what is going on at the very top of a service which is supposed to give us that sense of strong policing.

The incident which the High Court ruled on occurred on the Ormeau Road in Belfast in February 2021 during a service marking the anniversary of the February 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers attack, in which five people were murdered.

The two officers faced action in 2021 after the arrest of Mark Sykes, a survivor of a loyalist gun attack on the bookmakers in south Belfast.

The incident unfolded when police challenged people attending a memorial event amid suspicions that the size of the public gathering breached coronavirus regulations.

Mr Sykes was handcuffed and arrested in chaotic exchanges captured on social media.

The incident triggered a major controversy at the time and sparked criticism of Mr Byrne.

Mr Byrne apologised for the PSNIs handling of the event at the time, and it was announced that one officer was to be suspended and one repositioned.

The court ruling this week has heaped further pressure on Mr Byrne, who was already facing questions about his future after a major data blunder led to personal details of officers entering the public domain and getting into the hands of dissident republicans.
Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody has announced that drummer Jonny Quinn and bassist Paul Wilson have decided to quit the band and said that the rest of the members are heartbroken.

Lightbody, 47, explained that he and the other band members, Nathan Connolly and John McDaid would remain in Snow Patrol and said that there will be a new album next year.

In an Instagram post, signed gL.X, Lightbody wrote: Hi everyone, sorry to be the bearer of such sad news but both Jonny Quinn and Paul Wilson have decided to leave Snow Patrol.

We are heartbroken they have decided to leave us but we wish them nothing but happiness, success, joy, compassion and everything they want in all their future endeavours.

This first post is purely to let you all know whats happening. The next two posts will be dedicated to Jonny and Pablo separately as they deserve to each have a proper and individual send off.

Nate (Connolly), JMD (McDaid), and myself will continue with SP (Snow Patrol) and there will be a new album next year but more news of that will come at an appropriate time, for now we want to pay homage and give gratitude for all Jonny and Pablo (Paul) have given us and shared with us these past decades. Love to Jonny and Pabs, and love to you all.

A further two Instagram posts were uploaded to Snow Patrols Instagram, one dedicated to Quinn and one to Wilson.

Writing about drummer Quinn, 51, Lightbody said: Jonny joined the band in 1997 and therefore, other than myself, has been in the band longer than anyone.

26 years is a hell of a long time to do anything and we are so glad he decided to spend all that time with us.

Early on it was clear he was more than a drummer.

His background, as well as drumming, was in band management and gig promotion in Belfast and he has taken on the role of manager for us many times during the last quarter century.

From driving his car with all our gear in it, to our first gig forays outside of Dundee where it all started for us (including saving all our lives with some quick thinking/great driving when we nearly span out of control off an icy bridge in Perth), to having to be the grown-up in the room many times in the early days when we were green and cutting our teeth, he was a steady hand when we needed one, and a ferocious defender many times too.

He added: To be continuing without him after all this time is very strange and sad as he has been a constant presence in our lives.

Lightbody also wrote about bassist Wilson, 44, and said: Paul officially joined the band as a bassist in 2005 just before the making of Eyes Open but he had been a live member of the band on guitar for years before that.

The band he was in previous to SP was Terra Diablo and they toured with us many times and Pablo would play their set and then jump on with us and play ours too.

I remember those early Terra Diablo shows, him climbing on speakers and jumping off things that were way too high to jump off.

One very memorable night in King Tuts, Glasgow he hung upside down from the rafters and played a guitar solo. He had no fear. It was thrilling to watch.

He added: Thank you for all the awesome times youve given us and shared with us Pabs.

He also said that the band could not wait to hear his new music with Above As Below.
Some of next seasons storms will be named after those working to protect people from severe weather around the UK, the Met Office has said.

Along with Met Eireann in Ireland and KNMI, the Dutch weather service, meteorologists name storms when they are expected to have a medium or high impact on people in the UK, Ireland or the Netherlands.

This helps communicate the seriousness of a storm to the public and helps people recognise what steps to take, the Met Office said.

(PA Graphics)

The three organisations work together to compile the list of names before the following season, which runs from September to August.

Will Lang, head of situational awareness at the Met Office, said: This is the ninth year of us naming storms and we do it because it works.

Naming storms helps to ease communication of severe weather and provides clarity when people could be impacted by the weather.

The public in all three countries submit suggestions for storm names, with the Met Office saying it wanted to include people working to protect the public.

Met Eireann wanted to include names of famous scientists, such as Jocelyn, named after astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell.

Ciaran Fearon monitors river levels and flooding in Northern Ireland (Met Office/PA)

KNMIs suggestions are submitted by the Dutch public during visits to the forecaster throughout the year.

Ciaran Fearon, who works for the Department of Infrastructure in Northern Ireland sharing information on river levels and coastal flooding, was one of those named by the Met Office.

He said: With the effects of climate change, we are more aware than ever of how weather can affect us all in every aspect of our daily lives.

We need to respect each weather event and this work, particularly during periods of severe weather and storms, helps to ensure that we are all as well prepared as possible to help reduce the impact of such events.

Debi Garft, who recently retired as senior policy officer in the Scottish Government flooding team, is in the list of names after helping to form the Scottish Flood Forum and the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service.

Regina Simmons uses Met Office data to predict river and coastal flooding (Met Office/PA)

She said: It is important that we all take steps to protect ourselves, our family and property by preparing for extreme weather events.

Checking the Sepa (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) flood maps to see if your property or business is at flood risk, signing up for free Sepa Floodline local flood warnings and regional flood alerts, and using the daily Scottish Flood Forecast are great first steps.

One name on the list, Minnie, was inspired by Minnie the Minx from the Beano comic, after the inclusion of Storm Dennis in 2020.

A special feature on storms is expected to appear in a Beano issue this month.

Regina Simmons, who works for the Natural Resources Wales Warning and Informing team, is on the list after working to predict river and coastal flooding.

Stuart Sampson has managed water supplies during droughts for nearly 20 years (Met Office/PA)

She said: So many people think that flooding wont happen to them. The first thing we can all do is check if our area is at risk of flooding before the rain starts to fall.

This is the first year to break with the traditional male/female ordering of names so some of the more popular submitted names can be included, the Met Office said.

Stuart Sampson has worked for nearly 20 years managing water supplies in times of drought for the Environment Agency.

After being included in the list, he said: Our weather is a great conversation starter. Giving a storm a name means we can all talk about an event with a clear and common understanding.

Everyone knows what you mean by Hurricane Katrina, for example, you know the magnitude and impacts that had on America. But if you said the low-pressure cyclone it would not resonate as much.

By naming storms, this will help everyone be better prepared and in the conversation.
The UK and Irish governments must work in lock step to ensure stability in Northern Ireland in the ongoing absence of devolution, Irelands deputy premier has said.

Addressing the annual British Irish Association (BIA) conference in Oxford, Micheal Martin said it was important to make every use of existing East-West political mechanisms to provide the direction Northern Ireland required during the current political impasse.

In particular, he said the two governments should look creatively at how to maximise the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference  a body that brings UK and Irish ministers together to examine issues related to Northern Ireland.

Mr Martin also raised the prospect of the civil services in Whitehall, Stormont and Dublin working more closely and sharing experiences.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin at Pembroke College in Oxford where he addressed the British-Irish Association Conference (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

He said a closer working relationship between the UK and Irish governments could generate the momentum needed to secure a return to devolution in Belfast.

Mr Martin told the conference he wanted Northern Ireland to be a better, happier, healthier and more prosperous place.

The first, essential, building block to achieving this is the two governments working in lock-step. When that falters, peace and progress falter, he said.

The bilateral relationship, and our partnership on Northern Ireland, is, frankly, stronger than it was this time last year. But much more remains to be done.

We must work together with common purpose, impartially, for everyone in Northern Ireland, and be seen to do so.

There may be tough days ahead of us, but there are much, much tougher days behind us.

The BIA brings together politicians, business leaders and civic society representatives who share an interest in UK/Irish relations.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris was in the audience for Mr Martins speech at Pembroke College in Oxford on Friday evening.

The Tanaiste said there was a duty on the two governments to work closely together to support a return of the institutions.

If there is no positive resolution, then we must make every use of the East-West mechanisms to provide the direction and stability that Northern Ireland and its people urgently need, he added.

The DUP has been blocking powersharing for more than a year in protest at the internal UK trade barriers created by the Brexits contentious Northern Ireland Protocol.

The party says the recent deal struck by the EU and UK to reform the protocol  the Windsor Framework  does not go far enough to address its concerns and has made clear that it will not countenance a return to devolution until the UK government provides further assurances, by way of legislation, over Northern Irelands place within the UK internal market.

Other parties have urged the DUP to return to Stormont as the region is beset by significant challenges, including around finances and public services.

Senior civil servants are continuing to run government departments in the absence of elected ministers.

Mr Martin said relations between the two governments had improved significantly since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak came to power, but he said there was scope for further cooperation.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris (centre) listens to Tanaiste Micheal Martin address the conference (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The Tanaiste reiterated his concerns about the UKs contentious plans to deal with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles  planned legislation that includes a controversial form of limited immunity for some perpetrators of crimes committed during the conflict.

Mr Martin said the Legacy Bill risked damaging the process of reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Some may be tempted to see the Bills enactment as drawing a line under the legacy issue, he said.

Sadly, it will not  instead, I fear it will ensure legacy remains a source of contention, suspicion and mistrust, with little truth, no apologies and hurt layered upon hurt. And while no approach would be perfect, it is a matter of great sadness that the agreed way forward was never given its chance.

In the absence of an agreed way forward on this most difficult of issues, I worry that the past will infect the politics of the future.

Mr Martin stressed the need for the UK and Irish governments to put particular focus on securing reconciliation.

The hard politics comes from reconciling the differing perspectives, in walking the hard yards of leadership to find the highest common denominator, to make Northern Ireland the best home possible for everyone, he said.

I worry that if we cannot achieve this, young people will ask why do I stay? I take hope from the fact that this was done before, twenty-five years ago, with the two governments at the helm.

Thats where, in my view, London and Dublin can and should help, bringing our experience and knowhow to work on the day-to-day issues that can make lives better. For example, I want to share our experiences in dealing with areas of multiple deprivation, with those left behind by education systems.

Imagine how much more we can each do for those most in need by being open to sharing experiences, by investing in each other. The three Civil Services working together. Using the North South bodies to deliver better healthcare, better food, better jobs to the benefit of all.

Speaking to reporters ahead of his speech to the conference, Mr Martin said the restoration of powersharing was also critical to securing fresh economic investment in Northern Ireland.

The UK government has organised an investment conference in Belfast later this month that will showcase the region to more than 100 international companies.

Of course, the backdrop is not perfect to this conference, because what most investors require is political stability and political certainty and I think the restoration of the executive and the assembly, I think is critical for the future economic development in Northern Ireland and in particular in terms of inward investment, said Mr Martin.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Martin visited the London Irish Centre where he met staff and representatives of Irish community organisations in the UK capital.
The Government and businesses must act urgently on the UKs soil crisis, campaigners have warned.

Environmental activists from several organisations said farmers and land managers need more resources to restore the land amid increasingly severe soil degradation across the country.

It comes as the UK marks Organic September, a campaign focusing on how the sector supports sustainable agriculture, nature and wildlife.

Catherine Jadav, research manager at Compassion in World Farming, said: Good soil health is essential for sustainable farming and plays a major role in providing vital nutrients to plants.

But intensive agriculture  excessive application of fertiliser and ploughing  is damaging soil health.

Ms Jadav said it is high time the UK Government followed the European Unions target for 25% of agricultural areas to be under organic farming by 2030.

She called on ministers to set ambitious targets for regenerative farming methods (of which organic is one), as well as providing support and incentives to encourage this move.

A swift move from intensive agriculture that is destructive to soil, environmental, human and animal health and to regenerative or organic forms of farming, is needed to achieve climate change targets and sustainable food production, she added.

Praveena Sridhar, chief technical officer at Save Soil, also said the UK needs to collectively recognise the severity of the crisis.

She said: Soil degradation puts our food security, our health, peace in society, climate and (the) future of our children at risk.

We must work together to implement regenerative and protective soil techniques, such as cover crops, to preserve and rejuvenate our soil.

From there we will be able to start turning the tide on this problem. There is no choice in this.

Meanwhile, Ellen Fay, founder and executive director of the Sustainable Soils Alliance, said recognition alone is not adequate and that urgent action is now needed.

She said: With each new drought, wildfire and flood, the impact of food production on the climate crisis and what this increasingly means for our food security becomes clearer to both politicians and the public.

Such awareness is accompanied by the understanding that safeguarding the worlds soils holds many of the critical answers needed to address natures decline.

But this recognition of itself is inadequate; scientists and campaigners have had the signal at red for a generation.

Urgent action is now needed to transition knowledge into leadership  meaning governments and industries must resource, enable and support farmers and land managers to protect, restore and regenerate soils everywhere.

Gareth Morgan, head of farming policy at the Soil Association, said soils are degrading at an alarming rate.

We have taken soil for granted and now one third of the worlds arable soils are degraded, he added.

The over-reliance on artificial fertilisers has contributed to the depletion of our soil but there is a way to farm that works with nature, for the benefit of people, wildlife, and the planet.

This Organic September we are asking the public to sign our Theres No Net Zero Without Fixing Fertiliser petition calling for the Government to urgently set a target for reducing fossil fuel-based fertiliser use in UK farming and to support farmers to transition away from their reliance on them and support nature-friendly farming approaches like organic, that dont rely on artificial fertilisers.

Almost four million hectares of soil are at risk of compaction across England and Wales and 2 million hectares of soil are at risk of erosion, according to the Environment Agency.

Meanwhile, over intensive agriculture has caused arable soils to lose about 40 to 60% of their organic carbon, the agency said.

But it added that there is insufficient data on the health of soils and investment in monitoring is needed.

The agency said soil has been overlooked in environment policy in recent decades although the Governments 25-Year Environment Plan states that Englands soils must be managed sustainably by 2030.

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson said: Healthy and resilient soil is central to delivering our targets on the environment and improving farm profitability.

Encouraging sustainably managed soils is vital for food security, increased biodiversity, improved water quality and carbon storage.

Were delivering on this through the Sustainable Farming Incentive which is already paying farmers to protect their soil from erosion and increase soil organic matter, including through the use of herbal leys and cover crops.
A Texas man was arrested after his 10-year-old daughter stabbed him during an alleged assault on her mother, authorities said Thursday.

The 27-year-old suspect was charged with assault on a family member, a misdemeanor, according to a complaint filed in Harris County Criminal Court.

A protection order banning the suspect from contacting the victim was also filed Thursday.

A Harris County sheriff's spokesperson identified the suspect as the victim's husband and the girl's father.

The girl intervened during the alleged assault at an apartment complex north of downtown Houston, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Wednesday in a statement on Facebook.

He was stabbed in the leg and hospitalized in fair condition, Gonzalez said. The woman and her daughter were in good condition, a sheriff's spokesperson said.

"Awful situation for a 10-yr-old little girl to have to witness and experience," Gonzalez said on Facebook. "Children who witness the abuse of their mothers, fathers, or other family members, are impacted."

He added that the scene had been cleared and a follow-up investigation was continuing.
George Clooney and wife Amal Clooney gave Us a stylish show at the 2023 DVF Awards in Venice, Italy.

The couple had all eyes on them as they arrived at the soiree on Thursday, August 31. George, 62, looked dapper in a black suit, which he teamed with a navy blue dress shirt that he wore unbuttoned. Amal, 45, however, was the belle of the ball in a vintage Christian Dior dress.

The dainty baby pink frock featured a lace construction with a sheer overlay. The dress was completed with a lace ribbon at Amals waist. She complemented the eye-catching number with glowing, sun-kissed skin and glam that featured a golden highlight, rosy cheeks, smokey eyes and a soft pink lip. Amal wore her dark brown hair, which appeared to feature new highlights, in a chic half-up, half-down do. She accessorized with dangling earrings and a chocolate-colored clutch.

Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

The Thursday outing marked a special occasion for Amal, who was honored with the DVF Leadership Award. Each year, the organization  founded by iconic fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg  honors women who have demonstrated leadership, strength and courage in their commitment to womens causes.

A Look at George Clooney and Amal Clooneys Glamorous Couple Style Moments Through the Years

Since tying the knot in 2014, George Clooney and Amal Clooney have made the world their own personal runway. The lovebirds make red carpet style look easy, stepping out in coordinated looks that serve up timeless fashion inspiration. The couple first proved that they are a stylish duo when they said I do in a []

Amal is an award-winning human rights lawyer, having spent most of career defending victims of injustice. She is currently on the Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine, which aims to support victims of war crimes. She and George are also the cofounders of the Clooney Foundation for Justice with the mission of removing legal barriers to girls education and overturn laws that perpetuate economic discrimination against women.

Other honorees at the 2023 DVF Awards included deputy secretary-general of the United Nations Amina J. Mohammed, producer and writer Lily Singh, activist Dr. Joy Boulamwini and environmentalist Helena Gualinga.

Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

The Clooneys were first spotted in Venice earlier this week when they stepped out on the town ahead of the 80th annual Venice Film Festival, which kicked off on Wednesday, August 30.

George Clooney Recalls Disaster Proposal to Amal: 'I Could Lose a Hip'

Fairy tale romance! George Clooney finally met his match in the stunning, accomplished human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin. The two got married in a fantasy Italian wedding and are living a charmed life together -- see photos of the happy couple!

The couple were seen on a boat ride, with George wearing a polo shirt and pinstripe pants. Amal, meanwhile, looked chic in a floral mini dress and slingback sandal heels.

A source exclusively told Us Weekly that George and Amal  who wed in September 2014 and share 6-year-old twins Ella and Alexander  are more in love than ever.

They cant picture their lives with anyone else, the insider added.
Seo Min-jae, left, and the former WINNER member Nam Tae-hyun / Captured from Instagram



By Pyo Kyung-min



Nam Tae-hyun, a former member of K-pop boy band WINNER, was indicted without detention for allegedly using illicit drugs, according to prosecutors, Thursday.



The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office revealed that they have indicted Nam and reality show star Seo Min-jae, without detention for violating the Narcotics Control Act. They are accused of purchasing and using methamphetamine together last August 2022. Nam is also suspected of using the drug alone in December.



"They admitted that they had administered the drug after purchasing it on a social media platform," the prosecution said. "Nam showed his strong determination to quit drugs by entering a rehabilitation center and informing audiences of the danger of drugs on a TV program. In Seo's case, she is a first-time offender and she has actively cooperated with the investigation. Considering these points, we decided to send them to trial without detention."



Initial suspicions of their drug use arose when Seo shared several Instagram posts last August, with one of them claiming Nam's use of methamphetamine. She added that a syringe used for it could be found in her room or in a company cabinet. Seo removed the post one day later, saying her judgment was impaired by psychiatric medications she had taken. However, some internet users reported it to the police, leading them to launch an investigation. The police sought arrest warrants for Nam and Seo in May, but the court rejected the request.



Nam debuted as a WINNER member in 2014 but left the group two years later. Seo made a name for herself on the reality show, "Heart Signal 3" (2020).


The 14-year-old boy who died is pictured, left, along with Rebecca Vance, Trevala Jara, Christine Vance and Ms Jaras husband days before the trio left for the Colorado wilderness (The Gazette / Trevala Jara)

A 14-year-old boy who was found dead at a remote Colorado campsite in July along with his mother and aunt weighed only 40 pounds at the time of his death, according to an autopsy report.

Rebecca Vance, Christine Vance and Rebeccas son, whose name has not been released due to his age, all died from malnutrition and hypothermia, autopsy reports obtained by the Colorado Sun revealed.

According to the CDC, the average weight for a 14-year-old boy is 112 pounds, meaning he weighed just over a third of the average weight for males of his age.

None of the three suffered from injuries, the reports also said, but they were all very thin.

Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes previously said the trio had been surviving on soup and other prepackaged items and had cited malnourishment as a possible cause of death. Mr Barnes also hypothesised that the harsh winter conditions could have led to their deaths.

The three were found wearing several layers of clothes and necklaces with crosses, the autopsies noted, adding that Christine Vances necklace included a whistle as well as a wooden cross.

The trio had set out to live an off the grid lifestyle in a mission that was led by Rebecca Vance, according to her stepsister Trevala Jara in an interview with the New York Times.

None of the three had outdoor survival experience, according to the The Colorado Springs Gazette.

Rebecca, however, was so discouraged with the state of the world that she was set on living in a remote destination away from modern stressors, according to Ms Jara.

She explained that Rebecca thought she was protecting her son and our sister, Christine, because she didnt want them to get wrapped up in what the world was coming to in her eyes. The Covid-19 pandemic only intensified her uneasiness with the state of the world, Ms Jara said.

Christine ended up joining the mother-son duo because she thought that if she was with them, they had a better chance of surviving, Ms Jara added.

Gunnison County officials came across three heavily decomposed bodies at the Rocky Mountain campsite after a hiker noticed one of the corpses. One body was in a wooded area that hikers dont usually explore, Sheriff Adam Murdie previously told CBS News, adding that the other two bodies were found in a zipped-up tent. The authorities thought they may have been there for a year, since the bodies were fairly mummified.

Ms Jara told the Times that the trio had left last July to permanently live in a tent near Gold Creek Campground, which is an hours drive from Gunnison, Colorado.
Irina Shayk is never one to shy away from revealing fashion looks, and she proved this one again with a couple of dresses she wore while in Italy recently.

The Russian supermodel posted a bunch of photos from the trip on her Instagram account, with quite a few snaps featuring her in different fashion looks. The eighth photo, in particular, was a bit more risque than the others, as it was a fully sheer white dress that she paired with thigh-high tights and dark-colored underwear, deciding to go without a bra. The dress ended at the top of her thighs and featured ruffled flowers on opposite corners of the garment.

But Shayk's first look in the update was also fully sheer, with the model stunning in a maroon-colored thin dress with a high split up one side and a flowy neckline. She wore high-waisted black underwear and a matching bra beneath this dress, paired with black boots that hit right below her knee and a black studded purse.

>>> Sign up for Parade's Trending News newsletter and we'll keep you in the know on the viral pop culture moments and celebrity news everyone is talking about <<<

Throughout the trip, Shayk also donned a leather mini dress, a beautiful flowing white gown, and a more casual black dress, while also sharing a look at the architecture and great food in Italy in a few other photos.

Her caption perfectly summed up her feelings: "I ."

Emily Ratajkowski commented, "," while fellow Russian model Natasha Poly said, "."

One fan proclaimed in the comments, " you always look amazing Irina."

"Beauty ," said another, while the rest of the comments were filled with flame and heart eyes emojis along with more notes hyping up Shayk.

Recently, the 37-year-old has been gaining a lot of attention for her rumored romance with Tom Brady. But she is also still close with her ex, Bradley Cooper, whom she shares daughter Lea with, as she was spotted on her trip to Italy with the 48-year-old actor by her side.

Next: Irina Shayk Stuns in Black String Bikini Shots From Morocco
At least 74 people have died in a devastating blaze that broke out inside a five-storey building in central Johannesburg on Thursday morning.

Some of the people living in a maze of shacks and other makeshift structures inside the building threw themselves out of windows to escape the fire  one of the worst in South Africas history. Officials say that 12 children are among the dead.

Up to 200 families have been affected by the blaze, which was called an informal settlement by officials. They said some of the victims may have been renting rooms in the building from criminal gangs.

Seven of the victims were children, including a one-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.

Around 60 people have been injured in the fire in Marshalltown as videos captured at the scene show raging flames consuming the lower level of the building.

A search-and-recovery operation is underway as authorities said they were expecting the death toll to rise.

Key Points

Footage shows deadly fire raging at Johannesburg multi-storey building

Fire-hit building was homeless shelter housing more than 200

Trauma for families as they search for their relatives

Social housing

10:06 , Chris Stevenson

Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said officials would relocate people living "hijacked" buildings in the city, like the one consumed by the fire.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, a housing crisis in Johannesburg has grown worse, as big businesses moved out of the inner city into affluent suburbs. Criminal syndicates in the 1990s and 2000s started "hijacking" buildings that were left empty and renting them out illegally.

The city will turn those buildings into social housing.

"We are not going there with brute force," he said, "we are trying to apply a sensitive strategy."

Searching for relatives

09:35 , Chris Stevenson

One woman told journalists she was outside the building searching for her 24-year-old daughter.

"As soon as I heard the building was burning down, I knew I had to run here to come and look for her," she said.

"Now that I'm here, I'm kept in suspense because I really don't know what is happening. I don't get any direction - so I'm actually very anxious, I don't know if my daughter is alive."

Fire took three hours to contain

08:03 , Namita Singh

The fire took three hours to contain and firefighters then needed a long time to work through all five floors, said Johannesburg Emergency Services Management spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi.

He said there were obstructions everywhere that would have made it very difficult for residents to escape the deadly blaze and which hindered emergency crews trying to search the site.

The chance of anyone else being found alive hours after the fire broke out was very slim, Mr Mulaudzi said.

Cyril Ramaphosa offers condolences over the accident

07:35 , Namita Singh

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has condoled the deaths in the Johannesburg fire. This is a great tragedy felt by families whose loved ones perished in this awful manner, and our hearts go out to every person affected by this event, she said.

A spokesperson for Mr Ramaphosa said he had offered the assistance of the national disaster management agency if needed, and the president later visited the scene having canceled last evenings television address on the Brics economic summit held in Johannesburg last week.

Mr Ramaphosa called the fire devastating and a wake-up call for South Africas economic hub to address its inner-city housing crisis.We are not here to blame anyone, Mr Ramaphosa said outside the burned building. This is a difficult lesson for all of us.

In pictures: Search and rescue operation after blaze that killed 74

07:15 , Namita Singh

A group of private security guards gather near the entrance of a burned apartment block in Johannesburg on 31 August 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Private security guards patrol the scene of a fire in Johannesburg on 31 August 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

A private security guard stands at the scene of a fire in Johannesburg on 31 August 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

An officer of the South African Police Service (SAPS) climbs on an armoured personnel carrier as a private security guard stands near the entrance of a burned apartment block in Johannesburg on 31 August 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

More than 140 families affected, say authorities

07:00 , Namita Singh

More than 200 people were living in the building that was ripped through a nighttime fire.

Families were also living in the basement, which should have been used as a parking garage, said witnesses.

Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said 141 families were affected by the tragedy but could not say exactly how many people were in the building when the fire started. Many of the people inside were foreign nationals, he said. That could make identifying victims and tracing the missing hard as many were likely in South Africa illegally, other officials said.

A firefighter climbs a ladder as they extinguish a fire in an apartment block in Johannesburg on 31 August 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

A woman who asked not to be identified said she lived in the building and escaped with her grown son and a two-year-old child. She stood outside holding the toddler for hours and said she didnt know what happened to two other children from her family.I just saw smoke everywhere and I just ran out with this baby only, the woman said. I dont have any home, and I dont know what to do anymore.

Footage shows deadly fire raging at Johannesburg multi-storey building

06:30 , Namita Singh

Footage shows deadly fire raging at Johannesburg multi-storey building

Johannesburg: An unequal city with widespread housing crisis

06:00 , Namita Singh

Johannesburg remains one of the worlds most unequal cities with widespread poverty, joblessness and a housing crisis. It has about 15,000 homeless people, according to the Gauteng government.

Household fires are common in Johannesburg, especially in poor areas. One of the poorest townships, Alexandra, has seen hundreds of homes razed in several fires over the past five years.

A man looks on at a burned apartment block in Johannesburg on 31 August 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

The city suffers from chronic power shortages during which many resort to candles for light and wood fires for heat. Authorities said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.

Lebogang Isaac Maile, the head of the Human Settlements department for Gauteng province said it demonstrates a chronic problem of housing in the province as weve previously said that theres at least 1.2 million people who need housing.

Apartheid heritage building

05:30 , Namita Singh

Johannesburg officials initially suggested the building had been occupied by squatters, but Lebogang Isaac Maile, the head of the Human Settlements department for Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, said some of those who died may have been renting from, or were being extorted by, criminal gangs.

There are cartels who prey on who are vulnerable people. Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rental from the people, he told reporters.

City mayor Kabelo Gwamanda told reporters the municipality had leased it to a charity for displaced women but that it had ended up serving a different purpose. He did not give details.

A sign at the entrance to the block identified it as a heritage building from South Africas apartheid past, where Black South Africans came to collect their dompas - documents that would enable them to work in white-owned areas of the city.

Watch: South African president visit site of Johannesburg fire which killed more than 70

05:00 , Namita Singh

Watch: South African president visits site of Johannesburg fire which killed 73

At least 60 injured in a blaze sweeping derelict building

04:30 , Namita Singh

More than 60 people were being treated for injuries after a fire ripped through a building in Johannesburg  one of the deadliest blazes in South Africas history.

Emergency services officials had earlier warned that the death toll could rise as they continued to search the scene.

Dozens of bodies recovered by firefighters were laid out on a side road outside the apartment block, some in body bags.

Over 20 years in the service, Ive never come across something like this, Johannesburg Emergency Services Management spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said.

Report:

A great tragedy: Fire kills at least 74 in Johannesburg building

Blaze in run-down Johannesburg apartment block kills scores

04:00 , Namita Singh

More than 70 people were killed overnight when a fire raged through a run-down, five-storey Johannesburg apartment block, one of the worst such disasters in a city where poverty, household fires and homelessness are widespread.

The building was gutted, blackened by soot and still smouldering on Thursday as emergency services gathered around it and bodies lay covered in blankets on a nearby street.

The block is owned by municipal authorities who, more than 12 hours after the blaze broke out, were still unable to provide a clear picture of who had lived there. One official said some rooms may have been rented out by criminal gangs in a so-called hijacked building.

A South African firefighter walks past fire engines at the scene of a fire in Johannesburg on 31 August 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

I saw a guy jumping from the fourth floor and he lost his life on the spot, student Thando le Nkosi Manzini told Reuters.

Survivor Omar Arafat used his T-shirt to wipe away tears as he recounted losing his 21-year-old sister in the fire that he managed to escape.

I broke the window ... and when I fell down, I was like I am dead, he told Reuters, adding that another sister was in hospital and the family had lost all their possessions.

Thembalethu Mpahlaza, a provincial official for Forensic Pathology Services, said 74 bodies had been retrieved, 12 of whom were children and 24 of them women.

Johannesburg fire kills at least 74, including 12 children, as blaze sweeps derelict building

02:00 , Eleanor Noyce

At least 74 people have been killed and dozens more injured after a fire ripped through a building in Johannesburg  one of the deadliest blazes in South Africas history.

At least 12 of those killed were children, the youngest, a one-year-old, according to city and medical officials. They said an undetermined number of people were still missing and many bodies recovered were burned beyond recognition. The building had been abandoned but was being occupied by homeless people.

Some people threw babies out of third-floor windows to others waiting below in the desperate scramble to evacuate, witnesses said.

Gerald Imray and Mogomotsi Magome report from Johannesburg:

A great tragedy: Fire kills at least 74 in Johannesburg building

74 bodies retrieved, including 12 children and 24 women

01:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Thembalethu Mpahlaza, a provincial official for Forensic Pathology Services, said 74 bodies had been retrieved, 12 of whom were children and 24 of them women.

Authorities earlier said more than 50 people were being treated for injuries.

This is a great tragedy felt by families whose loved ones perished in this terrible manner, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in televised remarks. I do hope that the investigations into the fire will ... prevent a repeat of such a tragedy.

As Ramaphosa visited the site in the evening, cries of despair from relatives of the victims filled the air.

Its a wake-up call for us to begin to address the situation of housing in the inner city, he said.

ICYMI: Footage shows deadly fire raging at Johannesburg multi-storey building

Friday 1 September 2023 00:01 , Eleanor Noyce

A fire burning at a multi-storey building in Johannesburg on Thursday (31 August) has killed more than 50 people, city officials have said.

Emergency Management Services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said 58 bodies had been recovered and 43 people had been injured, with search and recovery operations continuing on Thursday morning at the block on the corner of Delvers and Alberts street in Marshalltown.

The buildings occupants were evacuated when firefighters arrived on scene, according to officials.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.

Footage shows deadly fire raging at Johannesburg multi-storey building

Watch: South African president visits site of Johannesburg fire which killed more than 70

Thursday 31 August 2023 23:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Watch as Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, is expected to visit the site of the Johannesburg fire that killed more than 70 people on Thursday 31 August.

An emergency services spokesperson said another 52 people were injured in the fire that broke out at about 1am.

Some of the people living in a maze of shacks and other makeshift structures inside the building threw themselves out of windows in an attempt to escape the blaze.

Watch: South African president visits site of Johannesburg fire which killed 73

Victims identified from Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa

Thursday 31 August 2023 22:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Authorities identified two of the victims of South Africas worst fire in history as being from Malawi, two from Tanzania and at least two more from South Africa, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, a local health official, told The New York Times.

Some of the victims were so badly burned that officials will need to use DNA analysis to confirm their identities.

Johannesburg fire demonstrates a chronic problem of housing, says Human Settlements department head

Thursday 31 August 2023 21:00 , Eleanor Noyce

City Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda told reporters the municipality had leased the building to a charity for displaced women but that it had ended up serving a different purpose, without giving further details.

Lebogang Isaac Maile, the head of the Human Settlements department for Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, said some of those burned to death may have been renting from criminal gangs illegally collecting rent.

There are cartels who prey on who are vulnerable people. Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rental from the people, he told reporters.

A sign at the entrance to the block identified it as a heritage building from South Africas apartheid past, where Black South Africans came to collect their dompass - documents that would enable them to work in white-owned areas of the city. Johannesburg remains one of the worlds most unequal cities with widespread poverty, joblessness and a housing crisis. It has about 15,000 homeless people, according to the Gauteng government.

Household fires are common in Johannesburg, especially in poor areas. One of the poorest townships, Alexandra, has seen hundreds of homes razed in several fires over the past five years.

The city suffers from chronic power shortages during which many resort to candles for light and wood fires for heat.

Authorities said the cause of the fire was still under investigation. Maile said it demonstrates a chronic problem of housing in our province, as weve previously said that theres at least 1.2 million people who need housing.

It was dark and there was smoke, says survivor

Thursday 31 August 2023 20:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Leo, a 25-year-old who survived the blaze, had been living on the buildings second floor. He escaped along with his mother via the stairs.

People were just running away. It was dark and there was smoke. You couldnt see anything, he said.

At least one person jumped to their death, said Thando le Nkosi Manzini, a student who saw the fire from the street. I saw a guy jumping from the fourth floor, he told Reuters.

(REUTERS)

In pictures: Johannesburg responds to worst fire in South Africas history

Thursday 31 August 2023 19:00 , Eleanor Noyce

More than 70 people were killed overnight when fire raged through a five-storey Johannesburg apartment block, one of the worst such disasters in a city where poverty, household fires and homelessness are widespread.

Gutted, blackened by soot and still smouldering on Thursday as emergency services gathered around it and bodies lay covered in blankets on a nearby street, the building stood in a rundown area.

It was owned by municipal authorities who, 12 hours after the blaze broke out, were still unable to provide a clear picture of who had lived there. One official said some rooms may have been rented out by criminal gangs.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said he hoped an ongoing investigation into the causes of the fire would help prevent a similar tragedy from occurring in the future.

(X/@ODIRILERAM via REUTERS)

(X/@ODIRILERAM via REUTERS)

(EPA)

(AFP via Getty Images)

(AFP via Getty Images)

Large number of building fires unfortunate, Johannesburg mayor says after deadly blaze

Thursday 31 August 2023 18:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

I know that people will be upset and fearful, South Africas president says

Thursday 31 August 2023 17:33 , Eleanor Noyce

Once again, condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives, Cyril Ramaphosa told SkyNews.

I know that people will be upset and fearful and those are issues that weve got to deal with, and we will deal with them.

Residents stand next to their belongings at the scene of a fire in Johannesburg (AFP via Getty Images)

Accommodation for 72 hours'

Thursday 31 August 2023 17:23 , Chris Stevenson

Johannesburgs city manager, Floyd Brink, said 200 families had been affected, and "all efforts" were being taken to provide them with accommodation and social and psychological support.

Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda has said temporary accommodation is being provided to survivors of the deadly fire  but this will end after 72 hours.

"After 72 hours the Human Settlements department will advise on where they will be taken," Mr Gwamanda said in a statement, adding that there were logistical and verification issues at play.

Tears for relatives

Thursday 31 August 2023 17:08 , Chris Stevenson

Fire survivor Omar Arafat used his T-shirt to wipe away tears as he recounted losing his 21-year-old sister in the fire that he managed to escape.

"I broke the window ... and when I fell down, I was like 'I am dead'," he told Reuters, adding that another sister was in hospital and the family had lost all their possessions.

Witnesses recall people throwing their babies out of burning building

Thursday 31 August 2023 17:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

Some of the have survivors described how they jumped out of windows to escape the blaze, but only after tossing their children to others below.Everything happened so fast and I only had time to throw the baby out, said Adam Taiwo, who managed to save his one-year-old son and himself.

I also followed him after they caught him downstairs.

Taiwo said he did not know where his wife, Joyce, was.A witness who lives in a building across the road said he saw others also throw babies out of the burning building and that at least one man died when he jumped from a window on the third floor and hit the concrete sidewalk head first.As the fire raged, some occupants got trapped behind locked gates at the exits and it was clear there were no proper fire escape routes, local official Tshwaku said.People couldnt get out, he said, adding that some of the victims may have died after jumping out of the building.

Scores killed as fire guts run-down Johannesburg apartment block

Thursday 31 August 2023 16:45 , Chris Stevenson

More than 70 people were killed overnight when fire raged through a five-storey Johannesburg apartment block, one of the worst such disasters in a city where poverty, household fires and homelessness are widespread.

A member of the emergency services stands next to belongings of people evacuated out of the building (AFP via Getty Images)

Gutted, blackened by soot and still smouldering on Thursday as emergency services gathered around it and bodies lay covered in blankets on a nearby street, the building stood in a rundown area.

South African firefighters and South African Police Service officers work at the sceen of a fire in Johannesburg on 31 August (AFP via Getty Images)

It was owned by municipal authorities. One official said some rooms were likely rented out by criminal gangs.

A member of the Johannesburg Emergency Services cleans a stretcher at the scene (AFP via Getty Images)

74 dead in building fire

Thursday 31 August 2023 16:31 , Chris Stevenson

A representative from the countrys health department says that 74 bodies  24 women, 40 men, and 10 that they are unable to gender.

Among the 74 are 12 children, he says.

One of the victims died in hospital. So, 73 died on site, 74 have died in total.

Building raided in 2019

Thursday 31 August 2023 16:16 , Chris Stevenson

Johannesburgs city manager Floyd Brink, says that city officials raided the building which is the scene for the fire in October 2019. Around 140 foreign nationals were arrested for illegally collecting rent from tenants in the building, he said.

This happened just months after illegal occupants took over the building, which had been a shelter for women and children.

What are hijacked buildings?

Thursday 31 August 2023 16:12 , Chris Stevenson

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, a housing crisis in South Africa's largest city of Johannesburg, in Gauteng province, has grown worse, as big businesses moved out of the inner city into affluent suburbs. Criminal syndicates in the 1990s and 2000s started "hijacking" buildings that were left empty and renting them out illegally.

In some instances, the syndicates occupied buildings with fraudulent title deeds, said Angela Rivers, general manager at Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association.

At least 1.2 million people in the province are homeless, a provincial official said on Thursday. Rivers said she was aware of 57 known hijacked buildings in the Central Business District alone, mostly owned by the city or the provincial government.

Experts say such buildings are prone to hijacking as they are badly managed with little access to amenities such as running water and electricity.

Diligent investigation

Thursday 31 August 2023 16:09 , Chris Stevenson

Johannesburgs city manager Floyd Brink says the city will gladly accept help from the private sector  including NGOs and other private buildings  to deal with the disaster.

He says officials "will do our best to act diligently" in investigating the fire, and to regain control of illegally occupied buildings in the city.

Firefighters on site within 10 minutes'

Thursday 31 August 2023 16:04 , Chris Stevenson

Johannesburgs city manager Floyd Brink says that firefighters were first alerted to the fire at 1:19am, and the first responders were on site 10 minutes later.

As of 2pm today, he said, 61 people have been treated in hospitals around Johannesburg.

Major says disasters in city end today'

Thursday 31 August 2023 16:01 , Chris Stevenson

Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda says that the government must take measures to "ensure that we do not experience the same situation again".

He says that the series of tragedies and disasters Johannesburg has suffered "ends today"

Officials express sorrow at fire

Thursday 31 August 2023 15:57 , Chris Stevenson

In a press conference about the fire, Johannesburg's mayor Kabelo Gwamanda begins by extending his condolences to the families of those who died, and said that "we share the pain of those that have suffered grave injury".

He says local officials "truly understand the gravity of the situation that has befallen our city".

Footage shows deadly fire raging at Johannesburg multi-storey building

Thursday 31 August 2023 15:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

A fire burning at a multi-storey building in Johannesburg on Thursday (31 August) has killed more than 73 people, city officials have said.

The buildings occupants were evacuated when firefighters arrived on scene, according to officials.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, as president Cyril Ramaphosa said he hoped an investigation would help prevent a great tragedy like this from happening again.

Footage shows the deadly fire raging at the apartment building:

Survivors recall escaping the blaze that killed 73: You couldnt see anything

Thursday 31 August 2023 14:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

Leo, a 25-year-old who survived the blaze, had been living on the second floor.

He escaped along with his mother via the stairs.

People were just running away. It was dark and there was smoke. You couldnt see anything, he said.

At least one person jumped to their death, said Thando le Nkosi Manzini, a student who saw the blaze from the street. I saw a guy jumping from the fourth floor, he told Reuters.

The blaze, which started at around 1.30 am on Thursday, killed at least 73 people and injured 43, the municipal government said, in one of South Africas worst such tragedies in living memory.

South African president Ramaphosa says Johannesburg fire deaths a great tragedy

Thursday 31 August 2023 13:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday called the more than 70 deaths in an apartment fire in Johannesburg a great tragedy and said he hoped an investigation would help prevent a repeat of the incident.

Ramaphosa called the building fire deaths a great traged (AFP via Getty Images)

Thursday 31 August 2023 13:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda has reportedly said more than 300 families displaced by the apartment fire, that killed 73 people, will be allocated accommodation irrespective of nationality.

According to a report by South African newspaper TimesLIVE, Mr Gwamanda said: There will be social relief. We have already identified three buildings that the surviving victims will be allocated to.

We have agreed that we are not going to deal with people on the basis of nationality. At this point, everyone who is affected will be given humanitarian assistance.

This is a tragedy that affects people, irrespective of nationality.

Vulnerable fire victims may have rented building rooms from criminal gangs

Thursday 31 August 2023 12:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda told reporters the building that was devastated by a huge fire on Thursday was owned by the municipal authorities and had been leased to charity for displaced women but had ended up serving a different purpose, without giving further details.

Lebogang Isaac Maile, the head of the Human Settlements department for Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, later said some of the victims may have been renting from criminal gangs illegally collecting fees.

There are cartels who prey on who are vulnerable people. Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rental from the people, he told reporters at the scene.

At least 73 people were killed in the fire and officials said the death toll could rise, as the search for more bodies continues.

I dont know what happened to my brother

Thursday 31 August 2023 11:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

A young girl, who is still searching for her brother in the aftermath of the Johannesburg building fire, told a local newspaper shes scared because she doesnt know what happened to him.

Jiya Mcreen told South African newspaperTimesLIVE her brother lived in the building with three other friends but her brothers phone has been switched off since this morning and she cant reach him.

I am scared, Im feeling fear. I dont know what happened to my brother.

What we know so far about the devastating fire that killed 73

Thursday 31 August 2023 10:58 , Maanya Sachdeva

If youre just joining our coverage of the devastating building fire that erupted in Johannesburg early Thursday morning, heres everything we know so far:

At least 73 dead in fire at multi-storey building in Johannesburg

Photos show firefighters working to extinguish deadly building blaze

Thursday 31 August 2023 10:41 , Maanya Sachdeva

Photographs coming in from the scene of the deadly building fire that killed at least 73 people in Johannesburg show people gathering to watch rescue efforts as firefighters tried to bring the blaze under control.

People gather to watch rescue efforts at a multi-story building used by homeless people that caught fire, in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa, (AP)

People standing at a bonfire look on as unseen firefighters work at the scene of a fire in a building in Johannesburg on 31 August. (AFP via Getty Images)

Aftermath of the deadly blaze that broke out in a Johannesburg building around 1.30am on Thursday (REUTERS)

Seven of 73 known victims are children

Thursday 31 August 2023 10:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

Some of the people may have died after they threw themselves out of windows to escape the deadly blaze, a local government official said.

Seven of the 73 known victims were children, the youngest a one-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.

Another 52 people were injured in the blaze in Johannesburg, which broke out in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, Emergency Management Services said.

As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said.

Were dying in here'

Thursday 31 August 2023 10:19 , Maanya Sachdeva

A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg that was occupied by homeless people and squatters, killing at least 73 people early Thursday.

A witness who didnt give his name told television news channel eNCA that he lived in a building next door and heard people screaming for help and shouting Were dying in here when the fire started.

Mgcini Tshwaku, a local government official, said there were indications that people lit fires inside the building to keep warm in the winter cold.

Officials are looking into the cause of the blaze.

Watch: Mother searches for daughter as multiple fatalities in Johannesburg fire

Thursday 31 August 2023 10:09 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A video captures a mother searching for her daughter after a devastating fire broke out in a building in Johannesburg this morning.

Watch live: Aftermath of deadly Johannesburg fire as at least 73 people killed

Thursday 31 August 2023 09:57 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Watch live as firefighters gather in the aftermath of deadly fire in Johannesburg that killed at least 73 people on Thursday 31 August.

The blaze broke out inside a five-storey building in central Johannesburg on Thursday morning.

Watch live: Aftermath of deadly Johannesburg fire as at least 60 people killed

At least 73 dead in Johannesburg fire

Thursday 31 August 2023 09:32 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The death toll from the Johannesburg building fire has now risen to 73, state broadcaster SABC has reported.

The search and recovery operation continues.

Death toll rises to 64, state broadcaster reports

Thursday 31 August 2023 08:56 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The death toll in the Johannesburg building fire has risen to 64, according to the citys emergency services.

More bodies are expected to be discovered as the search and rescue operation continues to progress, according to state broadcaster SABC.
A man accused of murder in a nearly 30-year-old case tied to an ex-Chicago police detective who has been accused of torture was found not guilty Thursday evening after a jury trial, freeing him after hed spent years fighting his original convictions and 60-year sentence in appellate courts.

The case is among a number of post-conviction matters involving allegations of misconduct on behalf of former Detective Kriston Kato that are being handled by special prosecutors because of Katos marriage to a Cook County judge. It was the first of those to go to trial, a test of whether evidence in decades-old cases tied to the disgraced detective can withstand scrutiny by a jury in 2023.

Bernard Williams, 44, was 17 when he was accused of shooting and killing a man and injuring other bystanders near a West Garfield Park tavern in 1996 following an investigation by Kato and other detectives.

In the years since, Illinois appellate courts have returned Williams case back to the trial courts multiple times, and Kato has been accused of torturing and intimidating confessions out of defendants over his long career with the department.

Special prosecutors Fabio Valentini and Maria McCarthy, who are handling a number of Cook County post-conviction cases related to Kato, brought the case to trial after an appeals court overturned the conviction in 2019, finding then that new evidence aired in evidentiary hearings undermines the courts confidence in the factual correctness of the original guilty finding.

Attorneys delivered closing arguments in the case on Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building after jurors earlier this week began hearing testimony, which included Katos.

Williams was accused of murder in the shooting and killing of Gary Thomas and of injuring other bystanders in August 1996. He has maintained his innocence, though, since his arrest that year, and alleged that Kato fabricated a confession.

The special prosecutors case hinged on that confession, as well as an identification from an eyewitness who later recanted his story. Williams alleged confession was not recorded, and the eyewitness who changed his story in 2015 has since died.

When you go back to that jury room, McCarthy said, you might want to just throw up your arms and say, What am I doing here? This case is 27 years old. Witnesses are dead. One witness changes his story later. This case is so complicated I give up. That would be an easy way out.

McCarthy argued to the jury that the witness likely later recanted because he grew bitter about the system and was angry at police for some recent charges.

Williams attorney, Ron Safer, said it is indisputable that the witness has lied.

We all agree he is a liar, Safer said. They think he lied in one regard, we think he lied in another. We all agree he has committed perjury. ... How could you possibly base a finding of guilty beyond reasonable doubt?

Safer also accused Kato of lying about Williams confessing, which he said was not documented.

If he werent making it up, he would have taken notes, Safer said.

Cook County prosecutors and judges stepped aside because the former detective is married to Judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan, who currently works in the criminal division. The case was heard by an outside judge.

But the special prosecutors who stepped in to handle a number of cases connected to Kato have drawn scrutiny of their own for challenging a statute that has allowed recourse for defendants who say they have been tortured by Chicago police officers.

In those cases, a commission created to evaluate allegations of torture by ex-CPD Cmdr. Jon Burge and other police officers, found that Kato had tortured defendants. The commission sent the cases back to the trial courts for evidentiary hearings.

McCarthy and Valentini argued that the commissions role in reopening the cases violated the Illinois Constitution, a move condemned by advocates working to address harm caused by police torture in the Chicago Police Department.

Williams was 17 when he was arrested and accused of killing Thomas, who authorities said was not the intended target of the shooting. He was later convicted in a bench trial. His case has been pitched back and forth between the trial and appellate courts throughout the years.

In 2019, the appeals court ordered a new trial, finding that the trial court judge should have granted his motion for post-conviction relief and ordered a new trial.

The court found that attorneys had presented new and compelling evidence, including that the original eyewitness recanted his initial statement and said Williams was not a shooter. The intended target of the shooting, Eric Smith, also testified at an evidentiary hearing that he saw the shooters and that Williams was not one of them.

mabuckley@chicagotribune.com
Now that summers coming to an end, that means its time to pull out your scarves, grab a pumpkin spice latte, and reassess your tech stocks. This Yahoo Finance series helps you decode what's happening among the biggest names in tech  Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla  known as the Magnificent Seven. Next up is Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and a money-burning metaverse operation.

Meta (META) is an ad company.

It's a fact worth restating because while the digital ad market is also rebounding after a tough couple of years, it's also in transition amid the AI boom.

This means that Meta's rhetoric and efforts around AI aren't just posturing  they're existentially important to the company's future. If not from AI, it's not entirely clear where the next phase of growth for Meta comes from.

"The argument I've made is that there's an AI product cycle that's taking place for Meta," JMP Securities analyst Andrew Boone told Yahoo Finance. If you're Meta, "you have a better understanding of contracts, and you do a better job of recommending engaging content to users."

Meta faces tough AI, regulatory landscape

Meta stock has had a tremendous run so far in 2023, rising over 145% year to date. But at $295.89 it's still well below its all-time high of $382.12 on Sept. 7, 2021.

Optimizing AI in its advertising offerings may be the next catalyst that gets Meta back to its highs.

"What will help Meta stay ahead is AI," Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, told Yahoo Finance. "It's critical for the company to emerge as a leader in the next generation of digital advertising: AI-enhanced advertising. ... Meta has a growing array of competitors in the fast-moving AI landscape and it must work quickly to stay ahead."

However, there are regulatory concerns for Meta, especially from European regulators.

The last thing Meta needs is anything new that will shake up Meta's business model the way Apple's (AAPL) App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework did in 2021. When it was first launched, ATT was devastating to social media businesses, including Meta's, as it allowed users to opt out of identifiers for advertisers, or IDFAs, which are the device IDs underlying Apple's framework.

"The concern is not the FTC, but the DSA [Europe's Digital Services Act]," said Boone, adding that "the nightmare scenario is another version of the IDFA."

Facebook employees take a photo with the company's new name, Meta, and logo outside its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. (Tony Avelar/AP Photo)

Williamson agreed, citing concerns around Meta's ability to operate under increasingly active European regulation.

"The DSA will fundamentally change Facebook, Instagram, and other popular platforms," she said. "They must alter their business practices to comply with the restrictions; if they dont, they will face fines or bans in the region."

What should you do with Meta stock?

The consensus seems to be that Meta still has a lot of room to run and has the ability to get back to those highs.

Currently, Wall Street analyst recommendations for Meta shake out to 59 Buys, seven Holds, and two Sells.

"We believe the stock could see renewed enthusiasm on 2024 upside potential once Street has greater certainty on 2024 spending targets (usually provided with 3Q earnings)," Justin Post and Nitin Bansal, analysts at Bank of America, recently wrote.

Even though it's not the AI company everyone's talking about, Meta seems positioned for some upside  barring regulatory nightmares.

Allie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @agarfinks and on LinkedIn.

Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks

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Human rights advocates are pushing the Biden administration to end deportations to Mauritania, a country in the northwest of Africa where they say the practice of slavery is still prevalent.

In a letter Wednesday to President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, more than 100 groups asked the administration to immediately halt deportation flights to the country, secure the return of Mauritanians who were wrongly deported, and implement measures to protect other Mauritanians from deportation.

It has been a longstanding bipartisan agreement to not deport Mauritanians from the U.S. due to the prevalence of horrific race and ethnicity-based human rights violations in the country including enslavement, forced statelessness, and ethnic cleansing, wrote the advocates, led by the UndocuBlack Network, an advocacy group run by currently and formerly undocumented Black immigrants.

As immigrants rights and human rights advocates, the recent uptick in the detention and deportation of Mauritanian asylum seekers is alarming to us. The recent deportation of eight asylum seekers, some of whom narrowly escaped slavery is unconscionable.

Though there are only around 8,000 Mauritanians in the United States, the human rights community is especially sensitive to the groups plight, given Mauritanias history of ongoing slavery.

Mauritania has historically been ruled by an Arab minority with cultural links to Saharan nations like Algeria, while other ethnic groups in the south have more connections to other West African countries like Senegal.

Slavery in Mauritania largely follows ethnic lines with certain ethnicities of Black Mauritanians targeted for the practice.

Though the country abolished slavery in 1981 and passed laws criminalizing the practice in 2007 and 2015, human rights observers say the practice is ongoing.

Mauritania has a history of deeply entrenched racial discrimination and systemic human rights abuses, particularly against its Black population, wrote the advocates.

When Mauritanians are deported from the United States, they face imminent danger and harm upon their arrival. Those deported have reported that they are arrested and jailed upon arrival in Mauritania. They are also put at risk of enslavement.

Mauritanias government claims it has taken important steps to do away with slavery, an issue thats become central to the countrys politics.

In a January email to The Hill, Mauritanian Human Rights Commissioner Cheikh Ahmedou Ould Sidi said the country had been recognized in 2022 by its neighbors in the Sahel as a reference model in the fight against slavery.

Yet advocates say between 90,000 and 680,000 people remain enslaved in the country.

The best way to avoid the United States sending people into slavery and other human rights violations, they say, is to avoid deportations to the country altogether.

Despite international disapproval and efforts to address these issues, Black Mauritanians continue to endure severe hardships and injustices. The Mauritanian authorities continue to severely restrict freedom of expression and assembly, especially when Black activists protest against racism and ethnic discrimination, the advocates wrote.

Apart from a deportation ban, advocacy groups have long called for the Biden administration to designate Mauritania in the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, a move that would grant temporary respite from deportation to nearly all Mauritanians in the United States.

The groups also criticized alleged human rights violations against Mauritanians in the U.S. immigration system.

The allegations include lack of access to language services during detention, deportation and asylum proceedings, and disparate treatment for Mauritanian asylum seekers.

Advocates have also raised concerns around the detention of over one hundred Mauritanian asylum seekers in an annexed section of the Adelanto detention facility, separated from other detained individuals, they wrote, noting the facility in California.

These discriminatory and anti-Black practices harm the overall well-being of asylum seekers navigating a foreign and daunting environment after escaping slavery and other very traumatic conditions.

Department of Homeland Security officials declined to comment on this story.

The issue of Mauritanian deportations has gained some resonance in political circles  Vice President Harris, while serving as Californias junior senator, called on the Trump administration to amp up protections for Mauritanians.

And in January, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) teamed up with Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) to call on the Biden administration to designate Mauritania for TPS. About 3,000 of the 8,000 Mauritanians in the United States have settled in Ohio.

The Biden administration has yet to publicly address the issue, and deportations to Mauritania have continued despite advocates ongoing pleas.

A strong U.S. condemnation of human rights conditions in Mauritania could threaten the countrys relative stability in an explosive region.

President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, who is up for reelection in 2024, first took office in 2019 in Mauritanias first peaceful transfer of power since its independence. Ghazouanis party came out on top in parliamentary elections in May, according to Radio France Internationale.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(Reuters) - Belarus, Russia's closest ally, summoned a Polish diplomat to protest what it said was a Polish military helicopter's violation of its border on Friday, but a military official in Warsaw denied any incursion had occurred.

The Belarusian State Border Commission said the Polish Mi-24 military helicopter crossed the border "at an extremely low altitude, flew to a depth of up to 1,200 metres into the territory of Belarus, and then turned back".

Belarus' Foreign Ministry, in a statement quoted by the official BelTA news agency, said it had summoned the Polish charge d'affaires and demanded an investigation.

"Appropriate explanations were demanded from the Polish side and the conduct of a thorough investigation into the incident," the ministry statement said.

In Warsaw, Lieutenant Colonel Jacek Goryszewski, a Polish military operational command spokesman, flatly denied the Belarusian allegation.

"I do not confirm this information. None of the Polish helicopters crossed the border into Belarus. Such a border crossing could not have happened and it did not happen. Our radar systems are unambiguous," Goryszewski said.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski had earlier called for "great caution" in considering statements by the Belarus military, led by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994.

"These services are a direct extension of Lukashenko's regime," Jablonski told private broadcaster Polsat.

Poland's longstanding poor relations with Belarus have deteriorated further in recent weeks, and Warsaw, along with the Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania, has suggested Poland could close its borders if ties worsen further.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in July accused NATO member Poland of harbouring territorial ambitions in Belarus.

(Reporting by Reuters, Alan Charlish, Marek Strzelecki and Ron Popeski; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)
This photo, provided by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, shows the wreckage of North Korea's "Chollima-1" rocket, which South Korea retrieved from the West Sea on the night of June 14. Joint Press Corps



The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions Thursday on two individuals including a North Korean national and one entity in Russia for helping to finance North Korea's illegal weapons development program.



The move comes in response to North Korea's failed attempt to launch a reconnaissance satellite last week, according to the office.



"In coordination with the Republic of Korea and Japan, the United States sanctioned two individuals and one entity  Jon Jin-yong, Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov, and Intellekt LLC  involved in generating revenue for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) unlawful development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missiles," it said in a press release, referring to South and North Korea by their official names.



"Today's action by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is being taken in response to the DPRK's Aug. 23 attempted launch of a reconnaissance satellite into orbit, marking its second failed attempt to do so in three months," it added.



North Korea's first failed attempt to launch a satellite took place in late May. The U.S. has condemned both launches, stressing that space rockets use ballistic missile technology the North is prohibited from using or developing under multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.






The Fort Worth Zoo announced Thursday a remarkably rare birth of four gharial crocodiles, a critically endangered species that the zoo has tried to breed for more than a decade.

This is only the second time in U.S. history that gharial crocodiles have reproduced in captivity. Only about 200 adults able to breed remain in the wild in South Asia. Some 35 individuals are living among nine institutions in North America.

A Fort Worth Zoo ectotherm zoo keeper holds one of four recently hatched gharial crocodiles on Thursday, August 31, 2023, in Fort Worth. Gharial crocodiles are a critically endangered species with only about 200 reproducing adults remain alive in the wild, native to south Asia.

Vicky Poole, the associate curator of ectotherms at the Fort Worth Zoo, said gharials are a keystone species, meaning that they have a direct impact on the other species in their ecosystem. Unfortunately, they are the most endangered crocodilian species in the world, according to Poole.

The Fort Worth Zoos success of hatching four individuals is a major milestone for the conservation of this species, quadrupling the number of gharials ever born in the United States, Poole said.

Gharials came close to extinction in the 1970s, according to the Smithsonians National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. The biggest threat is habitat loss, unsustainable fishing practices and hunting.

Historically, the gharials range spanned rivers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan, according to the Smithsonian. The species remains only in Nepal and northern India.

A Fort Worth Zoo ectotherm zoo keeper holds one of four recently hatched gharial crocodiles on Thursday, August 31, 2023, in Fort Worth. Gharial crocodiles are a critically endangered species with only about 200 reproducing adults remain alive in the wild, native to south Asia.

Gharials are one of the largest croc species, growing to 20 feet with a distinctive long, thin snout filled with razor-sharp teeth. Zoo officials proudly showed off the four tiny hatchlings, born in June and July, at a press conference Thursday morning. They believe two are male and two are female, but Poole said they wont know for a while.

Gharials arrived at the zoo in 1995. When the zoos herpetarium, known as the Museum of Living Art, opened in 2010, the gharial exhibit was built for the specific purpose of reproducing the species. Since then, the zoo staff have constantly manipulated conditions to facilitate successful breeding.

[PHOTOS: See what Fort Worth Zoo looked like in 1940s-50s]

Poole said the females initially dumped their eggs in the water instead of building a nest in the sand. Heat coils were added to the sand to keep it the right temperature for nesting. Then the staff realized the eggs werent being properly fertilized, so they started modifying water temperature to help with that.

Poole likened the process to cracking a code.

Adult gharial crocodiles swim in their habitat at the Fort Worth Zoo on Thursday, August 31, 2023. The zoo announced the rare birth of four gharial crocodiles.

Its usually trying to solve one little piece at a time, she said. So incubation is one thing, nesting is another thing. So weve got all these different layers weve got to provide to them.

The new gharials are not on exhibit yet. Zac Foster, a supervisor of ectotherms at the zoo, said they are spending a lot of time in the water and have already started catching their own fish.

They dont have names yet, but Foster said the staff will name them when the gharials get a little older and get further into the training process.

Foster said they can tell the hatchlings apart by their varying sizes and the bands on their backs.

Theyre all individual, just like our fingerprints, Foster said. No two gharial has the same kind of banding patterns, so we can identify them that way.

The Fort Worth Zoo is currently home to three adult female gharials and one male. The four hatchlings came from two mothers, Raani and Snaggle, and father Big Boy.

Poole said the other female, Wally, laid eggs that didnt hatch, but they are optimistic about better results next year.

We are ecstatic she nested this year, Poole said. Because the other girls are so much bigger than her, they can push her off the nest, the nesting beach. So its kind of exciting to know that she figured out a way to nest and were actually going to continue to do some improvements on the beach as always, and try to see what will help that better survivorship next year.

A Fort Worth Zoo ectotherm zoo keeper holds one of four recently hatched gharial crocodiles on Thursday, August 31, 2023, in Fort Worth. Gharial crocodiles are a critically endangered species with only about 200 reproducing adults remain alive in the wild, native to south Asia.

Poole said now that they are learning what works, they can pass it along to other institutions.

The big thing were really excited about with these guys is that we have a potential to add to the information knowledge about gharials, she said. Rearing gharials in captivity, the breeding cycles, how we can all refine it, the medical care for these individuals.

The herpetarium is involved in several other conservation projects, including Texas horned lizards, Chiricahua leopard frogs, Puerto Rican crested toads and Panamanian golden frogs.

Some of it is captive reproduction, some of it is ... in the wild, some of it is working with partners in range countries, some of it is financial support, Poole said. So, you know, conservation has so many different layers to it.

The herpetarium houses a lab where researchers successfully produced the first Houston toads via in-vitro fertilization in 2021.

Fort Worth Zoo ectotherm zoo keepers hold four recently hatched gharial crocodiles on Thursday, August 31, 2023, in Fort Worth. Gharial crocodiles are a critically endangered species with only about 200 reproducing adults remain alive in the wild, native to south Asia.

The historic news Thursday comes on the heels of the zoos grand opening of its latest habitat, Predators of Asia and Africa, this summer. The habitat features a pride of lions along with two species that have never been on display in Fort Worth  the clouded leopard and the African leopard.

Other predators in the new habitat include cheetahs, African painted dogs and two Sumatran tigers. A pair of striped hyenas returned to the Fort Worth Zoo from Abilene.

[PHOTOS: Fort Worth Zoo's new habitat: Predators of Asia & Africa]

The new habitat is the third phase of A Wilder Vision, a $130 million four-phase project to create more naturalistic and enriching habitats for animals, along with new ways for visitors to interact with them.

Phase one, the African Savanna, opened in 2018 with reticulated giraffes, ostriches, pink-backed pelicans and two species of African antelope. Phase two, Elephant Springs, opened in 2021.

The fourth phase, Forests and Jungles, is projected to open in 2025.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP)  Guatemalas largest military veteran organization endorsed presidential candidate Sandra Torres Tuesday after battling her during her first two bids for the presidency, showing just how far her progressive opponents surprise place in the runoff has shaken the countrys politics.

Torres and her hosts at the Guatemalan Military Veterans Association painted her opponent Bernardo Arevalo as a threat to the countrys democracy and families.

As she did during their first debate the previous night, Torres criticized Arevalo for not really knowing his country because he was born in Uruguay when his father, former President Juan Jose Arevalo, was in exile after the CIA-backed overthrow of his successor Jacobo Arbenz.

Today more than ever Guatemala is in danger, Torres said, warning that Arevalo would dissolve the army, legalize same-sex marriage and expropriate private property. We dont want communism in Guatemala.

Arevalo, a lawmaker, academic and former diplomat, has not said he would do any of those things, but the threat played well with the veterans in the crowd, who cheered and chanted in response. Arevalo shocked observers when he won the second spot in the runoff during a first round of voting June 25, because his Seed Movement party had been polling at less than 3%.

Guatemalans will vote Sunday for Torres, who lost in runoffs twice already, or for the newcomer Arevalo.

Retired Col. Edwin Gonzalez said the association represents some 380,000 veterans across Guatemala. Were talking about an important electoral force, he said.

When asked why the association was now praising Torres after working against her during two previous campaigns, Gonzalez said she was the better option. Torres has drifted rightward since her days as first lady in the center-left government of her then-husband Alvaro Colom.

Today were at the point where we have two candidates and one is a threat, Gonzalez said referring to Arevalos Seed Movement.

The top threat, he said, was the possibility of same-sex marriage. Another its that a number of Guatemalan veterans have been prosecuted for war crimes during the country's 36-year civil war and they are concerned an Arevalo administration could push more.

Once again the veterans are coming out to save our country and if we have to go back to what we were before (active duty) to defend Guatemala were going to do it, Gonzalez said.

But not everyone listening was convinced.

Seated at the back of the open patio where Torres spoke, Antonio Hernandez Lopez said he liked Torres proposals to do more for veterans and protect Guatemalas conservative values, but said he would spend more time thinking about it and discussing it with his family before deciding who he will vote for Sunday.

The retired 57-year-old army nurse said he liked that Torres appeared to be the opposite of Arevalo, but he didnt believe everything she was saying about her opponent, recognizing it as politics. He also doubted whether Torres would really help veterans even if she wanted to, because such aid would have to pass congress.

The about-face by the veterans' association also wasn't lost on him.

It's ugly, Hernandez said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back against reports that President Joe Biden is unhappy with plans for a debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying he got a reassuring call from the White House.

Newsom mentioned the call Thursday in response to a Sacramento Bee question about a recent NBC News story, which said advisers to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were not thrilled with the idea of a debate.

I dont know of the opinions, Newsom said during an event in West Sacramento. I got a call from the White House saying, That does not reflect our point of view. So, well leave it at that.

Harriss team, in particular, seemed miffed by Newsoms desire to raise his national profile ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run, a contest the vice president may also join.

Its disrespectful, an outside adviser to Harris told NBC News. Joe Biden is running with Kamala Harris. Thats the Democratic ticket.

Newsom and DeSantis both told Fox News host Sean Hannity this summer they were interested in debating each other on the cable news channel. The governors have publicly sparred over their states different approaches to everything from immigration to reproductive rights to education.

Newsom first proposed a debate last September. But it began to look like more of a reality once Hannity got involved and DeSantiss 2024 Republican presidential bid began to flounder.

Although both governors seem interested, their camps are said to disagree on the details.

Politico in mid-August reported negotiations had stalled over DeSantiss insistence on a live audience, which Newsom is staunchly against.

When asked on Thursday whether he still plans to debate DeSantis, Newsom seemed noncommittal, saying, well see, and mentioning the very public submission of debate parameters.

Well see if it lands, he said. If it doesnt, it doesnt. If it does, it does.
The Sacramento Police Department is in possession of an estimated more than 300 untested rape kits, and has not told Californias Department of Justice  an apparent violation of state law, according to a new city audit.

The Police Department does not know how many untested kits it has in its possession because, according to the audit, it has not counted them. As part of an investigation, the auditor estimated the department likely has about 340 untested kits collected prior to 2016.

Testing previously untested kits can lead to arrests, as it did in January when Sacramento police used DNA to arrest a man linked to at least five prowling incidents. Nationally, testing untested kits has led to at least 1,554 convictions, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Police officials told the auditors that the department lacked staffing to perform the time-intensive testing.

SPD officials stated that (kit) testing is expensive, and in some instances, the cases connected to the (kit) carried a low probability of investigative or prosecutorial success. In these instances, rather than testing, the decision was made to store the kit to support the investigation if new evidence was discovered, the report stated.

The department has done a better job of testing kits collected in recent years. All 25 kits collected after 2016 have been tested, the audit found.

Other California cities have hundreds of untested kits collected prior to 2016 as well, prompting a slate of new state laws. Los Angeles had 374, Anaheim had 239 and Santa Ana had 505, the audit stated. But unlike Sacramento, all those departments followed the law by submitting the information to the Attorney Generals Office.

In addition to Sacramento, about 500 other local law enforcement agencies did not submit the information, according to a 2020 report from the Attorney Generals Office. Among them is the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office.

A spokesman for the Sheriffs Office said the information was due to the A.G.s Office in 2019 during a previous administration. He declined to comment further on the matter.

The Police Departments own internal audit is underway, according to a response letter from Deputy Chief Steve Oliveira attached to the citys audit. Oliveria wrote that the agencys investigation was expected to be finished by Friday and sent to the state Department of Justice. The department is also working to find grant opportunities to work through the backlog.

The City Councils Budget and Audit Committee will discuss the audit during Tuesdays meeting at 3 p.m.
Thailands King Maha Vajiralongkorn has reduced the prison sentence of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from eight years to one, in a remarkable turn of events that caps an extraordinary decades-long political saga.

Thaksin, the head of a famed political dynasty who had dramatically returned to Thailand from a 15-year self-imposed exile last week, submitted a request for a royal pardon, the countrys outgoing justice minister confirmed Thursday.

A statement published by Thailands Royal Gazette Friday said the King had acknowledged Thaksins piea and, with His Majestys graciousness, he has reduced the sentence of the male inmate Thaksin Shinawatra to one year.

The statement added that Thaksins service to the country, loyalty to the monarchy and that he had confessed and regretted his past actions was taken into account.

He used to hold a position as the prime minister of Thailand who served the country and his works benefited the people and the country. He holds his loyalty to the monarchy. And when he was charged and convicted by the court to the mentioned imprisonment sentence, with his respect in the justice system, he confessed and regretted to his acts, the statement said.

He was willing to serve the sentence while being elderly and having health issues and sickness that must be treated by specialist doctors.

The statement did not say when exactly Thaksin had submitted his plea for a royal pardon. The kings command was dated August 31 and undersigned by outgoing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, a former army chief who toppled an elected government once run by Thaksins sister.

Thaksin, 74, was prime minister from 2001 until he was ousted in a military coup in 2006. He returned to Thailand briefly in 2008 before fleeing the country over a corruption conviction.

For the first time since he fled, Thaksin flew back to Thailand in a private jet on August 22, where he was met in Bangkok by his family and supporters.

He was taken into custody and sentenced by the Supreme Court to eight years in prison for conflict of interest, abuse of power and corruption during his time in power. Thaksin was found guilty of the charges in absentia during his exile.

Outgoing Justice Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam confirmed to reporters Thursday that he had received Thaksins letter requesting a royal pardon from King Vajiralongkorn.

Wissanu, a veteran survivor of Thailands febrile politics who has served in government both under Thaksin and with subsequent military juntas, said the royal pardon request will proceed accordingly and will be processed in accordance with the rules.

It is all up to His Majestys kindness, he said.

After his return to Thailand, Thaksin was taken to prison but the following day was transferred to hospital due to chest tightness, high blood pressure and low oxygen levels, according to the Thai Corrections Department, which said his underlying heart disease could not be treated at a prison hospital and that he would need specialist care.

Hours after his arrival in Thailand, parliament chose Srettha Thavisin of the populist Pheu Thai party to be the countrys 30th prime minister.

To secure the needed parliamentary votes, Pheu Thai had entered into a coalition with two military-backed parties linked to the military junta that toppled Pheu Thais democratically elected government, led by Thaksins sister Yingluck Shinawatra, nearly a decade ago.

Pheu Thai is the latest party of the powerful Shinawatra political dynasty founded by Thaksin that has been a dominating force in Thai politics for 20 years.

Some analysts believe Thaksin may have struck a deal with the countrys powerful conservative and royalist establishment for his return  given his court convictions and the charges against him  in exchange for a reduced jail term, lenient treatment, or a possible pardon.

Thaksin has reportedly denied making such an arrangement.

However, the apparent speediness of the kings decision is noteworthy.

The expeditious period appears to be part of a deal. Pheu Thai leads a coalition government including pro-military parties to keep the Move Forward Party in the opposition and away, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University.

Move Forward won the most votes and the most seats in Thailands May election on a platform of radical change, including to the kingdoms monarchy, a hugely taboo subject. It was later sidelined and prevented from forming a government.

With Move Forward being the new threat  calling for reforms of the military and monarchy  we would not have this pardon so speedily and the formation of the government as we see under Srettha and Pheu Thai, Thitinan said.

The fix is in, its a done deal and Thailand moves forward from here but under an uneasy circumstances.

In Thailand, prisoners can request a royal pardon through the justice minister, who passes the application to the prime minister and then on the the King for final approval.

The caretaker government, led by outgoing prime minister and 2014 coup leader Prayut, only has a few weeks left in power before the new government  and new prime minister and Thaksin ally Srettha  is sworn in.

A divisive figure, Thaksin is a billionaire telecommunications mogul who built his political power on policies popular with Thailands rural poor, who made up the majority of the countrys population. But his policies were anathema to the countrys rich elites and conservatives who accused Thaksin of being a dangerous and corrupt populist.

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Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, left, shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 15. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs



The top diplomats of Korea and China held a phone conversation Thursday to discuss regular visits between them as part of "shuttle diplomacy," Seoul's foreign ministry said.



The talks between Foreign Minister Park Jin and Wang Yi, head of the foreign affairs commission of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee, come as bilateral relations appear to be thawing following tensions in recent months over the Chinese ambassador to Seoul's thinly veiled warning against Korea's alignment with the United States.



The last bilateral meeting between Park and Wang was held in Qingdao, China, in August, 2022.



The two diplomats also discussed pending bilateral issues, the ministry said.



Earlier this month, China lifted a ban on group tours to Korea. The ban had been in place for more than six years amid tension over Korea's hosting of the THAAD U.S. missile defense system.



The two sides agreed to push forward more regular conversation between high-ranking officials between the two countries in various sectors, the ministry said.



The two diplomats also said progress was made at high-level bilateral economic talks held Tuesday, where the two sides discussed ways to ensure stable supply chains and the strengthening of bilateral economic cooperation



The 27th meeting of the bilateral joint economic committee, led by Korea's Second Vice Foreign Minister Oh Young-ju and Li Fei, China's assistant minister of commerce, was held in Beijing.



The two diplomats also shared the view on the need to cooperate for the resumption of a trilateral consultative body between Korea, China and Japan, the ministry said. (Yonhap)




Long before "Twilight" put Jacob on the map, werewolves have been the subject of countless movies, books and monster tales.

In fact, much like ghosts, witches and vampires, the werewolf has been woven throughout mythology for centuries.

Dating as far back as the ancient Greeks, werewolves and other shapeshifters have been used in storytelling to not only help explain the unexplainable, but also to serve as a warning about what can happen when humans allow their dark side to take over.

"Monsters allow us to explore those categories that we're afraid to mix and match, or those fears that we're afraid to face directly," Josh Woods, author, English professor and host of the podcast The Monster Professor," tells TODAY.com.

Like other monster-inspired legends, werewolves have appeared in folklore for thousands of years and, according to Woods, there are some people who believe that the supernatural beasts really exist.

It begs the question: Are werewolves real?

Even if by some small chance they were, Woods says they'd likely be quite a bit different than what we get from the movies like "An American Werewolf in London" and certainly nothing like the yellow-eyed beast that Michael Jackson memorably turns into during the "Thriller" video.

To better understand the origin of these mythological creatures and why they continue to flourish in mainstream pop culture, TODAY asked a trio of experts to break down the history, facts, folklore and fiction surrounding the werewolf  and what we learned might surprise you.

Are Werewolves Real (Alamy Stock Photo)

The history of werewolves

Although the concept of werewolves has been around for thousands of years, nearly all our modern-day ideas of the creature come from the 1941 movie "The Wolf Man," according to Scott Poole, Ph.D, history professor at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

Its from this film that we know that werewolves must be killed with silver, that one becomes a werewolf by being bitten by another werewolf or that they transform by the light of the full moon, Poole tells TODAY.com.

According to Poole, nearly every werewolf film since "The Wolf Man" has used those basic concepts in one form or another. He says: "It's 1941 and Universal Studios that gives us the werewolf with which we are most familiar."

The classic horror film is also responsible for many of our other common werewolf notions, including the image of a hairy half-man, half-beast howling at the moon and hunting prey before turning back into a human at dawn.

"In truth, myth and folklore does not put the emphasis on transformation into the wolf thats so common in American pop cultures fascination with the werewolf, says Poole.

Across American and global cultures, one finds tales of shapeshifting into bears, hyenas, jaguars, foxes and even racoons. In India, the Rakshasa has the power to transform into any animal. So, in hunting down the werewolf, we have to look to Hollywood and to a small little rivulet of folklore that pop culture transformed into a tsunami," explains Poole.

Are Werewolves Real (Alamy Stock Photo)

Beyond the landmark monster movie, societies the world over have told tales of shapeshifters throughout much of history.

"If you go into ancient literature, werewolves have been with us since the beginning," says Woods.

In fact, Greek mythology tells the story of a confrontation between Lycaon, a cruel king, and the Greek god, Zeus, in which Zeus ultimately punishes Lycaon by turning him into a wolf.

If it sounds familiar, it's where the term "lycanthropy" comes from, which stands for the supernatural transformation from human to werewolf.

History aside, Woods says that our fascination with the werewolf might just be innate. "I think there's just a real ancient connection somewhere in the back of our brains. We feel connected with these things."

Are Werewolves Real (Alamy Stock Photo)

The werewolf trials

While most people know of the witch trials that took place in Europe and in the American colonies (including Salem, Massachusetts) during the 1500's and 1600's, few are aware that presumed werewolves faced a similar fate in Europe.

"(In) the era of the witch hunts, French authorities, seeing witches everywhere, believed their satanic powers included the ability to transform into a wolf," says Poole.

As a result, he says countless people were burned at the stake for the crime of being a 'loup-garou' or man-wolf.

In fact, according to Woods, the practice of burning and executing werewolves lasted well into the 1700's. "There were a lot of places and times where that was way more popular than witch trials," Woods says. "They were convicting, torturing and executing people on charges of being werewolves."

In one of the most notorious werewolf trials in history, Peter Stumpp, a German farmer widely known as the "Werewolf of Bedburg," was accused of sadistically murdering and eating the flesh of dozens of children and adults back in the 1500's.

According to the 2016 book "Supernatural Serial Killers," Stumpp was convicted of being a werewolf, among many other heinous crimes. After reportedly confessing to the gruesome acts, Stumpp was tortured, then executed, in a horrific public display on Halloween, 1589.

Why do people believe in werewolves?

It's easy to see how, hundreds of years ago, people might have attributed unexplained acts of violence and murder to mythical monsters.

In the absence of technology or the internet, it was easier to blame the supernatural than entertain the idea that your fellow parishioner was capable of dismembering your neighbor.

"Vampires and werewolves are very much paired together when we look at legends," Meg Hafdahl, co-author of the book The Science of Monsters, tells TODAY.com.

"Oftentimes, the things that made people believe that vampires were real, back in the day, they also attributed to werewolves. And that was often before they understood science," Hafdahl tells TODAY.com.

For example, someone with a skin condition triggered by sunlight might easily be categorized as a "vampire." And a person suffering from hypertrichosis, or excessive hair growth, a werewolf.

"It's hard to believe now, but back in Europe thousands of years ago, people believed that they themselves were monsters, which is awful to think about. But they didn't know how to square it up with what they understood of the world," Hafdahl says.

"That is what pervades all of these different cultures. The human nature to try to make sense of something that is not sensible, that we cant grasp," she says.

Are Werewolves Real (Alamy Stock Photo)

So, are werewolves real?

As far as werewolves actually being real and living among us, Hafdahl says that while it's a intriguing idea, it's pretty unlikely.

"I'd love the answer to be, 'Maybe there's a werewolf, or maybe they were real at one point.' That would be really cool," she says. "But I don't think we're going to find that's true."

Even if it was, Woods wonders how we'd even know.

"If our regular notion of a werewolf is it's a normal person during the day, and then at certain nights of the year they turn into a complete wolf, how would you know if you've ever seen one or not?"

Perhaps like accused murderer, Peter Stumpp, the real monsters might just be the ones lurking inside of us.

"(Serial killers) have always been with us. And were they possessed? Were they werewolves?" Woods asks. "I don't know how much of a difference there is between some of these human monsters and some of the real ones, other than the way they look."

According to Hafdahl, that's probably why the werewolf myth endures.

"It's sort of that Jekyll and Hyde story," she explains. "This idea that you become a werewolf, then go back to being a human again, that says a lot about humanity and the fear of not having control over ourselves or getting into that part of us that goes eating and running in the wild, that part of us that is not proper."

Real or imaginary, one thing's for sure, werewolves are likely here to stay.

"Were never gonna stop telling werewolf tales," Wood says. "Its just a part of us. And, so, we all have a little bit of werewolf in us, I guess."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand farmers will have until the end of 2025 before they have to pay for methane produced by sheep and cattle, after the Labour government on Friday pushed back its plans to price agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases.

New Zealand, home to 5 million people, has about 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep and nearly half its total greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, mainly methane.

It is one of the first countries to announce it will price agricultural emissions, but the government has faced criticism from parts of the farming community which is concerned about the cost. It has moved to address some of these concerns ahead of an October election, where it is trailing in the polls.

Agriculture Minister Damien OConnor said pricing of such emissions would start in the fourth-quarter of 2025, back from a previously planned start in the first quarter to give farmers more time to adjust.

Its important the system to manage and price agricultural emissions is workable, effective, fiscally responsible and set up to last. Thats why were taking a measured approach," he said in a statement.

Scientifically validated carbon sequestration such as tree planting around waterways and indigenous forestry would be recognised in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, he added.

New Zealand's red-meat lobby groups said they were "dismayed" by the plan.

There is no sound rationale for pricing when the sector is making good progress towards meeting emissions reduction targets, Kate Acland, chair of Beef + Lamb New Zealand, said in a statement.

The government says that along with meeting commitments to cut emissions, demand was growing from foreign buyers for agricultural products that have sustainability credentials.

National, the largest opposition party, says it will only look to price farm emissions by 2030.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Family and friends of 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young gathered on Aug. 25 outside the home of Young's grandmother. Young was killed by Blendon Township police in a Aug. 24 shooting.

Blendon Township has released body camera footage Friday morning from the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young.

The footage is from both of the body cameras of the officers who were involved in the shooting, which happened around 6:20 p.m. Aug. 24 in the parking lot of the Kroger at 5991 S. Sunbury Road.

Young, who was pregnant at the time of her death, was shot once and died at Mount Carmel St. Ann's a short time later from her injuries. The child she was carrying, which her family has said was a daughter due in November, did not survive.

Blendon Township previously said Young and several other people shoplifted items from the store, including liquor, after which a store employee flagged down officers who were in the parking lot on an unrelated call.

Ta'Kiya Young shooting: Pregnant woman suspected of shoplifting alcohol shot dead by police in Ohio

In the video, a store employee can be heard telling an officer that Young, who got into a car parked caddy-corner to where the officer was trying to help someone locked out of their vehicle, had shoplifted. The officer goes to Young's driver's side window, which is rolled up, and tells her to stop and get out of the car, while gesturing with his hand to get out of the vehicle.

Young partially rolls down the window and says "For what?" as she has a bag over her left shoulder, which blocks her stomach from view of the officer. The second officer approaches the front of Young's vehicle as the first officer continues to tell her to get out of the car.

The video shows Young driving forward, hitting the second officer, whose feet are seen off the ground when he fires a single shot through the windshield. Young's vehicle continues moving forward until it hit the building.

Officers are seen on the video immediately breaking Young's driver side window to get her out of the vehicle.

Blendon Township Chief John Belford said in a statement Friday that within 10 seconds of getting Young out of her vehicle, officers called for paramedics. Within 70 seconds, a chest seal was being applied to Young's wound and within 90 seconds, an emergency room doctor who was in the parking lot at the time began helping police in treating Young.

The Franklin County Coroner's office declined to disclose where Young was hit, although in a statement Friday, Chief John Belford said officers applied a chest seal to Young's wound, indicating she was shot in the chest.

Blendon Township has not named either officer, citing Marsy's Law, which aims to protect crime victims but has been cited by police agencies as the reason they can't release the names of officers involved in such situations.

In a statement on Friday, the department said the first officer, who was not involved in the shooting itself, had his arm and hand inside the driver's window when Young accelerated, making him a victim of misdemeanor assault. The second officer, who fired his weapon, was struck by the vehicle and a victim of attempted vehicular assault, the statement said.

The department declined to tell The Dispatch how many years either officer has worked there, saying that doing so would effectively identify them, due to the size of the department. Of the department's 15 officers, the one with the least amount of experience has worked there for three years.

On Friday, Belford said the officer who was not involved in the shooting has returned from administrative leave and is back on patrol duty.

Police said Young was already in the vehicle when officers approached, and they were not aware she was pregnant.

Young's family, through their attorney, have expressed that the body camera footage would not be released sooner than Friday. The family will have the opportunity to view the video before it is released to the public. Young's family has also called for the officers involved in the shooting to be named, saying the use of Marsy's Law to not release the names is an overreach and abuse of the law.

After viewing the video Friday morning at Blendon Township government offices, Young's family had no comment.

Chanda Brown, one of the attorneys representing the family, said the video speaks for itself.

She said she didnt see any justification for the shooting.

"I saw a young woman get killed," Brown said.

Asked if the family would like to see charges brought against the officer, Brown said they wanted to see all the justice they could fight for.

"Theyre obviously upset and devastated," Brown said.

Belford said in a statement Friday that redacting the video was "extremely complex."

"Due to the fact that there were two body cameras that were constantly in motion and there were numerous reflective surfaces showing the faces of the two officers, redaction was extremely complex," he said. "This, combined with the legal review, took a great deal of time for our small department."

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Police release Ta'Kiya Young shooting bodycam video near Columbus Ohio
Russia will announce more oil production cuts next week, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday. Maxim Blinov/TASS/Getty Images

Oil prices have climbed 6% this week, putting the commodity on pace for its best five-day stretch since April.

Those gains have come with top producers pumping out less crude in a bid to drive up prices.

Russia will announce further output cuts next week, according to its Deputy Prime Minister.

Oil benchmarks are on pace for its best week since April, with hints around the timing of long-expected supply cuts squeezing prices higher.

West Texas Intermediate has jumped 6% to nearly $85 a barrel over the past five days, while Brent is up 4% to just below $88 a barrel over the same period.

The gains have come with the world's top producers electing to pump out less crude in a bid to drive up prices.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister said Thursday that the Moscow had agreed with its partners from the OPEC+ cartel that it would bring in further output cuts soon.

"We have agreed, but we'll announce main parameters next week," Alexander Novak told President Vladimir Putin in a televised government meeting.

Russia had said it would export 500,000 fewer barrels of crude a day in August and 300,000 less in September  and it could now extend those cuts into October, Novak added.

Meanwhile, the world's other top oil producer Saudi Arabia slashed its output by 1 million barrels a day back in July  and those cuts will likely last until the end of October, according to a recent survey of commodities traders and analysts.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Two former Proud Boys leaders who had been convicted of seditious conspiracy for their actions during the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol were sentenced on Thursday, with the judge handing down one of the longest sentences yet for someone charged in the Jan. 6 attacks.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Joseph Biggs, the former leader of the group's Florida chapter, to 17 years in prison. He sentenced Zachary Rehl, the former leader of the Proud Boys' Philadelphia chapter, to 15 years in prison.

Biggs, a U.S. army veteran, was a close ally of the former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio. Biggs was convicted of seditious conspiracy in May alongside two other Proud Boys leaders following a more than four-month-long trial.

In handing down his sentence, Judge Kelly accepted the government's recommendation to apply an enhancement that effectively labeled Biggs' crimes as acts of terrorism in seeking to influence the actions of government through threats and use of force.

Prosecutors had sought 33 years in prison for Biggs, their longest recommended prison sentence yet for any participant convicted of joining the Jan. 6 assault -- their same recommendation for Tarrio. They had previously sought 25 years in prison for Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted for leading his far-right militia members in a separate seditious conspiracy and sentenced earlier this year to 18 years in prison.

Biggs' sentence is the second longest for any defendant charged in connection with the Capitol attack; Rehls sentence is the third longest. Tarrio is set to be sentenced next Tuesday.

PHOTO: Rioters loyal to President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

MORE: Sentencing postponed for former Proud Boys leader convicted for role in Jan. 6 attack

Prosecutors characterized Biggs as the "tip of the spear" for the mob throughout the Capitol attack in his role as co-leader of the so-called "Ministry of Self Defense," a planning team that later evolved into the Proud Boys' Jan. 6 ground operation.

"The evidence at trial demonstrated that Biggs was a vocal leader and influential proponent of the group's shift toward political violence," prosecutors said in their sentencing memo for Biggs. "More than perhaps any other, Biggs appreciated the tactical advantage that his force had that day, and he understood the significance of his actions against his own government."

They pointed to increasingly threatening and violent rhetoric espoused by Biggs in the days after the November 2020 election leading up to the Jan. 6 attack -- and noted that he had encouraged Tarrio to "get radical and get real men" only hours after former President Donald Trump first announced plans for his supporters to rally in Washington on the day of the certification.

PHOTO: Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs addresses the crowd in Portland, Ore., as they gather in Delta Park, Sept. 26, 2020. (Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA via AP)

MORE: Nearly two-thirds of Americans think Jan. 6 charges against Trump are serious: POLL

During the assault on the Capitol, prosecutors said Biggs played a role in four separate breaches of law enforcement lines, and after entering the building made his way to the Senate chamber.

After Jan. 6, Biggs recorded a podcast-style interview where he celebrated the attack as a "warning shot to the government" that showed them "how weak they truly are."

In Thursday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason McCullough sought to make the case to Judge Kelly that a significant sentence was warranted for Biggs and the other Proud Boys for deterrence purposes -- setting an example to other extremists that carrying out similar attacks against the government would be punished severely.

"There is a reason why we will hold our collective breaths as we approach future elections," McCullough said during the hearing. "That's what they aimed to do. They aimed to intimidate and terrify elected officials, law enforcement and the rest of the country that they didn't agree with and make them heel to their political point of view."

He added, "The repercussions here must be known."

PHOTO: Rioters loyal to President Donald Trump breach security and enter the Capitol building, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Biggs' attorney Norm Pattis argued for leniency, claiming that much of the statements pointed to by the government should be protected under his rights to free speech and, despite his guilt as determined by the jury, "we think that the crimes are overstated in this case and that the case was overproven."

"To treat these men as terrorists would be the functional equivalent of the destruction of Waco," Pattis said, referencing the 1993 siege by the U.S. government and Texas law enforcement of the Branch Davidians' compound.

Addressing the court himself, Biggs became emotional as he sought to dispute the characterization of him as a "terrorist" and begged for leniency so he could one day be released to care for his daughter.

"On Jan. 6 I was seduced by the crowd and I just moved forward," Biggs said. "My curiosity got the better of me and I have to live with that for the rest of my life, and I'm so sorry."

Zachary Rehl

Rehl helped lead the charge on Jan. 6 and was among the first wave of rioters to breach the Capitol. Also, he helped overwhelm officers, spraying one in the face with an irritant spray, according to the sentencing memo.

Rehl later made posts on social media calling Jan. 6 a "historical day," and told his mother how proud he was of the Proud Boys' Capitol attack, according to the sentencing memo.

PHOTO: Proud Boys member Zachary Rehl walks toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Prosecutors had requested 30 years behind bars for Rehl, who they argued served a "key logistical role" for the Proud Boys during the Capitol assault and helped relay information to co-conspirators that weren't even in the city that day about what was happening on the ground.

Rehl was also accused of perjuring himself 14 times when testifying at trial after he was confronted with video evidence showing him spraying police officers with a chemical irritant.

"Rehls words and actions reveal his intent on January 6 -- he was there to use force and violence to influence his government and lead a civil war," prosecutors wrote in their sentencing recommendation.

After detailing his conduct at the hearing and determining he did indeed perjure himself during trial, Judge Kelly said he calculated his sentencing guideline range as between 30 years to life in prison -- higher than the guidelines set for Biggs earlier in the day. But similar to Biggs, Kelly delivered a sentenced significantly below the guidelines because he said he believed the terrorism enhancement applied to his sentence actually overstated the seriousness of his conduct.

Before he was sentenced, Rehl broke down into tears as he pleaded for leniency from Kelly and asked for forgiveness from his family.

"I'm done with politics," he said. "I'm done peddling lies for people that don't care about me... Jan. 6 was a despicable day."

Judge Kelly singled out Rehl's conduct spraying police officers and later lying about it as unique from his other Proud Boys co-defendants, and said his statements after the riot celebrating what had happened were "chilling."

-ABC News' Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.

Former Proud Boys leaders Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl sentenced for Jan. 6 sedition originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A fashion show takes place in front of the stage during the Love Your Labels presents Queer AF: Art + Fashion Fundraiser at the Palladium, Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. The event was part of Pride Worcester's annual Pride Week festivities.

WORCESTER  Queer AF XXIII  nicknamed "The Queer Met Gala of Mass"  is one of the most highly anticipated events of Worcester Pride. The fashion show features local and international designers, artists and models who will show off their work on the runway to raise money in support of LGBTQ+ youth. Hosts this year are Mariah Balenciaga and Jackie Cox of the popular reality television series RuPauls Drag Race.

This year's theme for the fashion show is, "I am a galaxy," which according to the website of Love Your Labels, which organizes the event, "represents a celebration of the multifaceted nature of identity, where each individual is a unique constellation of experiences, emotions, and dreams. Just like galaxies, we are composed of countless stars, each representing a different aspect of who we are. Together, we form a breathtaking tapestry of diverse stories."

The show is a fundraiser for Love Your Labels, which is a nonprofit that serves LGBT youth in Central Massachusetts.

At Queer AF, we work toward building a world where each person is celebrated for being their authentic selves through expressive arts; fashion, drag and music, said Love Your Labels president Joshua Croke.

The event take place this year at Sept. 8 at Mechanics Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the show beginning at 7:30 p.m. During that time, Washburn Hall will host a number of local vendors selling fashion, jewelry and art, along with live music and an art installation.

Lights and a fan are what drag performer Miss M Lancaster needs moments before the Queer AF Art + Fashion Fundraiser last year at the Palladium.

Anyone can be a model

Since its inception in 2019, one of Queer AFs standout features has been the community modeling  drawing a diverse cast of models from the local community to challenge conventional beauty standards, for both the audience and the models.

That first year we realized the impact it had on those who modeled, said Croke. Some had never been told that they were deserving of modeling or could be in a fashion show because of the beauty standards depicted by the media.

Since then, community modeling became a core focus of programming for the event, he said. This year there will be between 50 and 60 models, gathered at a modeling call held at the White Room this past June. In preparation, participants have done two runway workshops organized in partnership with Mass Talent and Development.

I cant wait to walk down the runway and see the audiences reaction to all the different looks, said Charlie ODonnell, co-chair of the committee, event logistics director, as well as a model for the show. Im so excited to see the audience members faces when they see what weve created.

The dance troupe WTF: We The Females! perform on stage during last year's Queer AF fashion show.

Fun for the whole family

This will be the first year that general admission will be open to all ages. There will be special family seating but also a youth section called Mercury, for children ages 13 to 17, free of charge with a permission slip from a parent or guardian. This is a fundraiser for our youth, and we realized they should not only be able to participate but be involved in and at the show, said Croke.

More: Queer community pushes back against treatment of LGBTQ+ students by Worcester Diocese

More: 'It's bringing us back into the Dark Ages': Rally protests diocese school policy

The change is only logical, especially considering some of the designers being featured would not have been able to attend the event in its original 21+ incarnation, being graduates of Love Your Labels Threads Youth Fashion and Identity program, which provides high school age youth with fashion design education.

WORCESTER - The audience applauds, including state Senate Democratic candidate Robyn Kennedy, center, during the Love Your Labels presents Queer AF: Art + Fashion Fundraiser at the Palladium, Friday, Sept. 9, 2022.

Almost a year in the works

As the event has grown in scope, more than doubling every year since the first at Electric Haze with (100 people) then Bull Mansion (250), and last year at Worcester Palladium, (more than 500), so too has the associated planning and preparation.

Its a part-time job, said ODonnell, though with the planning committee also growing proportionally, its been easier to get things done. Despite this, planning has been underway since November, he said, starting with meeting once a month until this summer, then twice a month, and now once a week for the past month, with this last week before the show being the most hectic.

Between 500 and 700 people are expected at Mechanics Hall.

Queer AF XXIII

When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8

Where: Mechanics Hall, 321 Main St., Worcester

How much: $25 to $75, with youth tickets and runway tables available. Visit https://mechanicshall.org/queer-af-xxiii/ for more information to purchase tickets.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Drag and fashion on display at this year's Queer AF fashion show
CINCINNATI (AP)  Reds right-handed pitcher Hunter Greene will miss at least a week after he was among three pitchers placed on the COVID-19 injured list, the team said Friday.

Hunter will be on the COVID list for seven days," Reds manager David Bell said. "He could pitch any time after that as long as he gets better each day. He could start on Friday. That would be the earliest.

After the first game of the Friday doubleheader, won by the Cubs 6-2, the Reds announced they also put right-handed starter Ben Lively and reliever Fernando Cruz on the COVID-19 list.

Greene (3-6), a 24-year-old fireballer, had three starts after returning Aug. 20 from nearly two months on the injured list with a sore hip.

His first two starts after that were rocky  13 earned runs in a total of 6 2/3 innings  but he rebounded in his last outing on Wednesday, allowing one run and three hits through 5 1/3 as the Reds beat the Giants 4-1.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
By Hannah Lang

(Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed a decision on whether to approve applications for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) from Invesco, WisdomTree and Valkyrie, a filing by the regulator showed on Thursday.

The SEC has pushed back the decision dates for the three proposals by several weeks to mid-October, but could potentially delay further. It was previously due to make a decision by next week.

The delay comes just two days after a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the SEC was wrong to reject an application from Grayscale Investments to create a spot bitcoin ETF. A three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in Washington said the regulator failed to fully explain its reasoning when denying Grayscale's product.

The ruling requires the SEC to review Grayscale's application, meaning there is no certainty it will reach a different conclusion and green-light the product. The regulatory agency, which on Tuesday said it was studying the ruling, could appeal.

The SEC has in recent years rejected dozens of applications for spot bitcoin ETFs, publicly traded investment vehicles that directly track bitcoin prices, citing inadequate levels of trading surveillance that could leave the underlying spot market subject to fraud and manipulation.

In June, BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, also filed for a spot bitcoin ETF, a move that many viewed as a game-changer for the industry which and boosted the price of bitcoin.

(Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
The family of a 17-year-old girl who was critically injured in a hit-and-run in Wicker Park earlier this month is suing the alleged owner of the vehicle, alleging that he negligently allowed an unknown driver to operate his vehicle, and calling on Chicago police to take a more active role in the investigation.

The lack of investigation for this young Black teen  weve seen this so many times. It truly showcases that our taxpayer dollars are going toward an entity who gets to pick and choose who gets justice and who doesnt, the familys attorney, Cierra Norris, said at a Thursday news conference outside Police Department headquarters.

The cars alleged owner, a Belmont Cragin resident, has not been charged. In a statement, Chicago Police Department spokesperson Kellie Bartoli said no one is in custody and that detectives are still investigating the hit-and-run that left Nakari Campbell with fractured ribs, head trauma, facial fractures and a broken bone in her neck.

Bartoli declined to disclose any specific steps the police have taken to investigate, and referred to an Aug. 6 community alert asking people to submit tips on the incident. The owner of the car could not be reached for comment.

According to a crash report, the driver of a bright red 2008 Mercedes-Benz hit Campbell at about 10:25 p.m. on Aug. 4 while she was crossing Division Street at Ashland Avenue. Police said the driver fled westbound on Division Street at a high speed after hitting Campbell. The car has dark-colored rims, a sunroof, tinted windows and an Illinois license plate. Police said they expect damage at or near the cars grille.

Campbells lawyers shared a graphic video on Thursday, showing the moment she was hit by the car. It shows her being dragged on the street and a few people running out to stop the flow of traffic and check on her.

Following the hit-and-run, Campbell was transported to Stroger Hospital in critical condition. Since then, the teens uncle Anthony Hargrove said, Campbell is at home recovering from her injuries. He called her a bright girl who is entering her senior year of high school and hopes to become a lawyer. Her nickname is Sunshine, he added.

Shes sad and upset, again this is her senior year. Were talking about a high school young lady entering her senior year with fractures and injuries to her head, loss of her hair, Hargrove said. Senior high school girls, theyre looking forward to their senior pictures, theyre looking forward to senior events. However, shes trying to remember things again and learn how to read and walk, and recognize faces.

Hargrove said he wants transparency from the police, saying they should use their resources and finances to get justice for Campbell. He said the family and their lawyers have already done their due diligence to seek answers, including filing the lawsuit, protesting and going door to door to pass out flyers of the community alert.

We work every day to figure out answers, he said. Were on the ground every single day trying to get answers for her, trying to get justice for Nakari.

According to the crash report, officers tried to contact the owner of the vehicle. The report said when they went to his home, his mother answered the door and stated that her son refused to speak with the police.

Norris said the police havent tried hard enough to get a confession from the driver, saying their inaction is a slap in the face to this family. She said, for example, the police could run the license plate through red-light cameras to track the car.

Thats how they find out whether youre speeding. Thats how they find out whether you owe them money for a red light ticket, she said.

Norris said she doesnt know for sure if the owner of the car is the same person driving it when Campbell was hit, but that they have absolutely no information that would give us any reason to believe that that vehicle was stolen. She said the police have reached out to her associates about the incident, but that they havent scheduled a meeting.

Im not sure if its to move forward the investigation so much as to explain why theyre not able to have one, she said. Id like them to take those efforts instead of sitting down with me to get out in the streets.

About five minutes after Campbell was hit, 26-year-old Chloe Engel was struck by a car nearby in the 1400 block of West Augusta Avenue while exiting from a Toyota Siennas driver-side rear door, according to the crash report. Engels father told police that they were passengers in a ride-share vehicle and were parked and pulled over to the right side of the road at their destination in West Town when they were sideswiped, the report said. He told police that the driver fled the scene.

A video taken from a camera across the street that Engels attorney, Robert Walsh, shared with the Tribune shows a red car with tinted windows hitting her and then speeding away. The cars license plate isnt visible.

The report said Engel was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, but she suffered multiple lacerations on the right side of her face and broken ribs. In a lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County last week, Engel accused the driver of negligent driving and is seeking damages for an amount in excess of $50,000.

The defendants name in this case matches the car owner who is named in Campbells lawsuit. Police declined to comment on whether the two incidents are linked, but attorneys representing the victims in both hit-and-runs think theyre related.

At the news conference, Campbells mother asked people to imagine if it was their family member who was injured.

Anybody just imagine their daughter, their son being dragged half a mile, Imari Bibbs said. How can any one of us be OK with that? Were not, and we wont be.

Chicago Tribunes Madeline Buckley contributed.

rjohnson@chicagotribune.com
New York City will be using drones to monitor large outdoor gatherings over the Labor Day weekend, police said Thursday.

If a caller states theres a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, were going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party, Assistant New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said at a press conference.

The NYPD discussed security measures ahead of the holiday weekend, which includes the citys JOuvert celebrations and the West Indian American Day Carnival in Brooklyn.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) expressed interest in using drone technology in his citys policing during a visit to Israel last week.

Ive been leaning into how we could appropriately use drones, and they had great technology on using drones for early detection, Adams said, according to the Times of Israel.

The mayor announced new rules for drone usage in the city last month, including a permitting process and guidelines for the takeoff and landing of unpiloted aircraft.

Today, New York City is flying into the future, using drones to make city services faster and safer, and likely saving taxpayer dollars as well, Adams said at the time.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A customer shops for locally caught seafood at the Hamanoeki Fish Market and Food Court in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Thursday. Reuters-Yonhap



By Lee Hyo-jin



Korea's decade-long import ban on seafood originating from Fukushima, Japan could face hurdles, as Tokyo continues efforts to reassure neighboring countries that the radiation level of wastewater, released starting last week from a crippled nuclear plant, is within safe levels.



The Korean government has been reassuring its citizens that the import restrictions would remain in place regardless of the wastewater discharge, but speculation is rising that Tokyo will increase pressure on Seoul to lift the curbs.



Yang Ki-ho, a professor of Japanese studies at Sungkonghoe University, noted a potential inconsistency in Korea's position. He viewed that Japan is likely to use the fact that Korea's soft-pedaling stance on the release of wastewater appears contradictory to its import curb.



"Korea has accepted Japan's decision on the water release saying that it meets global safety standards, but is not buying its seafood citing concerns about radioactive contamination. This sounds contradictory," said Yang. "The government should come up with better reasons and scientific data to maintain the import curb."



The professor also pointed out that Korea remains one of the few countries  alongside China and Hong Kong  imposing the regulation, putting the nation in a more difficult position.



China has implemented a blanket ban on all Japanese seafood products soon after Japan began releasing the water, while Hong Kong has prohibited seafood imports from Tokyo, Fukushima and eight other prefectures.



But the European Union lifted its ban on agriculture and fish products from Fukushima in July, which had been in place for 12 years following the nuclear plant meltdown in 2011.





Noryangjin's seafood merchants struggle amid Fukushima wastewater concerns 7 out of 10 Koreans oppose Fukushima water release Korea to file complaint with IMO on Fukushima issue if Japan reneges on original release plan Japan is considering taking China to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reverse Beijing's decision on the import ban, a move that could impact Korea as well, according to Yang.



"Also, now that Japan has won the support of the U.S., it is likely to begin making official requests to Korea to resume fisheries imports," he said.



U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel gestures with a thumbs up after eating a piece of raw fish at Restaurant Takohachi during his visit to show his support for the water discharge from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Thursday. Reuters-Yonhap

Yang was referring to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel's visit to Fukushima Prefecture on Thursday where he said the U.S. will "stand by Japan if it decides to take China's import ban to the WTO."



Amid ongoing concerns, Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo reiterated the government's stance of upholding the import curb until public safety concerns are fully addressed.



"We will not import (the seafood) until we can be assured about it, because whether to import it or not is a matter of our sovereignty," he said during a National Assembly session, Thursday.



In response to an opposition lawmaker's question whether the government would be able to stick to its current policy despite Japan's strong protest, Han replied, "We have our own internal strategies, but these cannot be disclosed to the public."



He also said that Japan has not requested the Korean government to resume seafood imports, and denied that the agenda was brought up during a recent summit between the leaders of Korea, the U.S. and Japan.



Since 2013, Korea has maintained a comprehensive import ban on fisheries products from Fukushima Prefecture and seven other neighboring regions due to worries over radioactive contamination.



Japan began releasing some 1.3 million tons of treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 24. The Korean government has not raised scientific or technical issues on the water discharge, which it said meets global safety standards in accordance with the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) reviews.




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This photo, carried by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 31, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un, left, visiting the training command post of the General Staff of the North Korean army on Aug. 29 as the country conducted military command drills involving the entire army in response to the ongoing South Korea-U.S. joint military drill, the Ulchi Freedom Shield. Yonhap



South Korea on Friday imposed unilateral sanctions on a North Korean company and five individuals involved in illicit financing for weapons of mass destruction programs, Seoul's foreign ministry said.



The North's Ryukyong Program Development and its chief, Ryu Kyong-chol, were among those newly added to Seoul's sanctions list against Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs, according to the ministry.



The other individuals are Kim Hak-chol, Jang Won-chol, Ri Chol-min and Kim Ju-won, all of whom are connected to the company.



South Korea was the first in the world to sanction the named individuals and company among other nations that have in place independent blacklists connected to North Korea's weapons program, according to the ministry.



The announcement came after Pyongyang's failed launch of a purported space rocket, carrying what it claimed to be was a military reconnaissance satellite, last Thursday, which marked its second botched attempt this year.






YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has called on Azerbaijan to ensure freedom and safety of movement along Lachin Corridor.

The humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh caused by the Azeri blockade was discussed, among other issues, during the EU foreign ministerial meeting in Spain.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Borrell called on Baku to open the road.

We call on the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure safe and free movement along Lachin Corridor, he said.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani authorities have once again falsely accused the Armenian Armed Forces of firing at Azeri outposts across the border, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said Thursday.

The statement disseminated by the MoD of Azerbaijan that allegedly on August 31, at around 19:30 p.m., units of the Armenian Armed Forces discharged fire against the Azerbaijani combat positions located in the eastern part of the border, does not correspond to reality, the defense ministry said.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The United States has reiterated its call to immediately re-open the Lachin corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic.

We are deeply concerned about deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from the continued blockage of food, medicine, and other goods essential to a dignified existence, the US State Department said in a statement. The United States has worked continuously with the sides over the past several weeks to allow humanitarian assistance to reach the population of Nagorno-Karabakh. We reiterate our call to immediately re-open the Lachin corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic. Further, officials from Baku and representatives from Stepanakert should convene without delay to agree on the means of transporting critical provisions to the men, women, and children of Nagorno-Karabakh  including additional supply routes  and resume discussions on all outstanding issues. Basic humanitarian assistance should never be held hostage to political disagreements, it added.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The EU strongly believes the Lachin corridor must be unblocked, the spokesperson of Charles Michel, President of the European Council, said in a statement on September 1.

The current humanitarian situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly and it is imperative to take steps to address the needs of the local population, Michels spokesperson Ecaterina Casinge said in the statement.

Below is the full statement.

President Michel has continued to be intensely engaged in advancing the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process. His efforts over the past weeks, supported by Toivo Klaar, EUSR for the South Caucasus, have focused as a priority on addressing the humanitarian situation of Karabakh Armenians.

EUSR Klaar and President Michels team have been in frequent contact with Baku, Yerevan and representatives of Karabakh Armenians to work out a solution for unblocking access.

The current humanitarian situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly; it is imperative to take steps to address the needs of the local population.

European Council President Charles Michel has proposed a step-by-step approach which would reflect a sequencing in the full-fledged operation of the Lachin corridor and the opening of the Agdam route.

Sequencing of these steps and the type of cargo that would be delivered by each of these roads, as well as attendant procedures, have been the core of the recent discussions.

The EU strongly believes the Lachin corridor must be unblocked, in line with past agreements and the ICJ Order, and notes that the use of the Agdam road to provide supplies can also be part of a concrete and sustainable solution to the provision of urgent and daily basic needs. Discussions on these elements had started following the last meeting of the leaders in Brussels on 15 July 2023.

The EU side has also stressed the need for Baku to provide clarity to Karabakh Armenians in terms of procedures for their movements through Lachin corridor to and from Armenia.

In parallel, exchanges have also focused on restoring electricity and gas supplies to Karabakh Armenians as soon as possible.

Beyond the immediate situation, the EU side has stressed the need to address legacies of the conflict to facilitate a long-term sustainable resolution.

Dialogue between Baku and representatives of Armenians living in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast will be essential in this regard. The rights and security of Karabakh Armenians must be guaranteed and discussions on specific modalities should start as soon as possible.

The dialogue between Baku and the Karabakh Armenians needs to strengthen confidence and trust. To this end the EU has provided various suggestions for international support to this process, as well as for engagement on the ground to underpin the implementation of agreements reached.

All the above efforts have only one goal: ensure irreversible normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan for the benefit of all populations on the ground. It is now time for courageous compromise solutions, also in light of today's escalation.

The EU has been engaged with other international actors in these efforts, through regular personal contacts and exchanges of views on how best address the current unsustainable situation.
In his words: "I am just a professional writer, which means I don't do blogs and try and get money for whatever I write."

Controversy Erupts Over UK's Asylum Seeker Tagging Plan Amid Family Ties

Britains Home Office says asylum seekers arriving undocumented to the United Kingdom could be monitored with electronic and GPS tags. (AFP File Photo)

The Gods were born to keep us straight

--They say theres one, but Ive counted eight

However many, they speak with one voice

Telling us-down-here that we have a choice:

We can either embrace the Truth or the Lie

The former ensures a place in the sky.

Has Bachchoo embraced sex, drugs, rock and roll

And are these The Lie -- damning his soul?

From The Second Bungle Book, by Bachchoo

Hedgie Sunak (or Sunoch Powell?), Britains PM, and his home secretary Cruella Braverman have made stopping the boats, or preventing asylum-seeking immigrants coming to Britain, one of their main political pranks (sorry planks -- wretched predictive text!). Cruellas latest wheeze was to house asylum-seekers on a large barge. Some refused to board the boat but, after some argy-bargy, about 50 were persuaded to take up residence of-shore. But only until it was discovered that the water supply on the barge was contaminated with lethal legionella bacteria.

Housing asylum seekers is, Cruella and Sunoch say, a huge burden on the taxpayer. What they dont want is for these asylum seekers to disappear into the country and be untraceable so that they cant be legalised or deported. Cruellas latest scheme is to tag all asylum- seekers with a fixed electronic device around their ankles which can identify their location at any time.

The latest statistic, quoted in the Daily Express -- a paper which supported Brexit on the grounds of keeping Johnny foreigner out, and an equally determined opponent of stop the boats -- is that Britain in the last year had 79,000 asylum seekers.

Predictions say this number will rise before 2024. This will mean that the home office will have to spend taxpayers money on 100,000 or so electronic tags.

The order for the manufacture and delivery of these tags has already gone out. And this should be something of a dilemma if not a scandal for PM Sunoch because the contract for the tags has gone to a company in India called Infosys. And surprise, surprise, the company is owned by Sunochs father-in-law. His wife Akshata Murthy is a shareholder in Infosys, which shares bring her 12 million a year. (Err She doesnt do shift work in the factory which makes the tags. She  um lives in London and in a mansion in Yorkshire). Until recently, as a non-dom in the UK, she didnt pay any income tax on this bonanza.

Gentle reader, I am not saying that that there is anything illegal in this whole transaction. I wonder what the British newspapers, the Daily Express and other right-wingers, would make of the fact that an African Presidents wife was the massive beneficiary of contracts that his government handed out. Let me count the ways:

A database of Sunochs own government, called Contract Finder, tells us that Infosys has been involved in 172 million worth of UK public sector contracts. In all fairness, I have to add that none of these contracts is for the Treasury or the Cabinet Office. Various other state-owned organisations have used Infosys services and deemed them necessary and cost-effective. The electronic tag contract is not something that Hedgie himself has handed out.

Its Cruella and her home office, but the tagging policy must certainly have the approval and endorsement of PM Sunoch, and it may be the closest he has got to being implicated in such a contract.

Again, though all is above board, what would the Daily Express or indeed other head-banging news outlets of the UK make of an African, or in fact any other, head of state being in a parallel situation?

Now, gentle reader, I reluctantly confess that the tagging proposal possibly has a positive aspect.

In the UK today there is a direct connection between illegal immigration and modern slavery. Foreigners who are illegally trafficked into the country have their passports confiscated by the racketeers who traffick them and force them into menial or degrading jobs paying them a bare subsistence wage.

Prostitution is one of the practices into which trafficked women are forced. Some desperate women are also forced into performing in sleazy bars and clubs. And then there is constantly commentary about beauty salons and nail-bars using women who have been trafficked as virtual slaves. The threat that keeps them from attempting escape is exposure of their illegal status to the States authorities, which would lead to imprisonment or deportation to the countries from which they have fled.

The electronic tags will certainly inhibit this underground slave industry as the State will be able to trace the disappeared asylum seeker. I have no idea whether the tags can be removed or fiddled with. If indeed a sex worker or an unfortunate individual in a beauty salon is a trafficked slave, the State should be able to trace them. The reason for tracing them is that, at present, asylum seekers are not allowed to work in this country and if a nail salon manager has such a tagged person working for him or her, it is presumably illegal and the trafficker(s) can be traced, arrested and prosecuted.

So, there you have it -- one reason for approving of the otherwise intrusive and inhuman device. And if Infosys is the most efficient with these devices, good luck with UK taxpayers cash hunh!  But I still dont approve of Cruella.
by Chiara Zappa

Pope Francis will deliver a much-awaited speech tomorrow before Mongolias authorities and the diplomatic corps in the State Palace in the Mongolian capital. Russia is the country's main energy supplier but 90 per cent of its exports go to China. Meanwhile, new partners are lining up, eager for access to its mineral riches, starting with strategic rare earths. During his visit, the pontiff hopes to encourage steps towards peace.

Ulaanbaatar (AsiaNews)  Franciss trip to this corner of Asia where no pontiff has ever set foot is spiritually significant, an invitation to dialogue, but also carries great geopolitical importance.

Indeed, Why does Pope Francis come here, to meet a Church made up of 1,500 people? wonder some Catholics outside Ulaanbaatar cathedral. Their answer: Well, we are the perfect expression of the peripheries to which he often refers, not to mention that we are right in between Russia and China...

Such observations are shared by many in Mongolia; especially now. What is more, Sino-Vatican Vatican relations are a sensitive issue, while Pope Francis continues to seek ways towards peace after Putin's aggression against Ukraine.

Mongolia has always had close relations with its two big neighbours. The conflict with China along its southern border goes back to the empire founded by Genghis Khan (whose capital was moved to Beijing by Kublai Khan in 1264), while the Mongol khanate of the Golden Horde ruled in the north in what is now Russian territory.

Later, the Russians backed Mongolias breakaway from Qing China in the early 20th century, followed by 70 years of a close relationship with the Soviet Union.

Today, with Mongolia a democracy open to the world, Russia and China remain indispensable strategic partners. Russia in fact is Mongolias main energy supplier, while almost 90 per cent of its exports are destined for the Chinese market.

For Dondovdorj Batmunkh, former economic adviser to the prime minister (and now aide to Ulaanbaatars mayor), coal is particularly crucial to us because most developed countries are moving towards renewable energy.

Given the countrys reliance on Chinese roads and ports, for a landlocked country, "it is clear that we are completely dependent on the two states bordering us, Batmunkh notes. Yet, Mongolias Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene is determined to pursue a Third Neighbour Policy.

The latter refers to the need to create alternative economic and political relations, which is what the prime minister is doing, for example with Japan and South Korea. With Seoul, the (Mongolian) government has recently signed a cooperation agreement to mine and sell copper and rare earths.

Many in the West are also interested in Mongolias mineral riches: gold, copper, iron ore, zinc, and uranium. When President French Macron visited Ulaanbaatar last May on his way back from the G7 in Hiroshima, he and his Mongolian hosts focused their talks on uranium.

In a recent visit to Washington, Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene signed a deal with the United States to boost cooperation in rare earth mining and inked an Open Skies aviation agreement, allowing Mongolian Airlines to fly directly to the United States.

Despite this, "Ulaanbaatar's political approach must always remain cautious," Batmunkh warned. Last year for example, during the UN General Assembly vote condemning Russias aggression against Ukraine, Mongolia abstained.

Against this backdrop, Pope Francis will try to send some signals to the region, starting with his flight over China during which, as he usually does during his travels, he sent a telegram to Chinas President Xi Jinping.

The pontiff will have many other opportunities to do so, like his first speech tomorrow morning, at the State Palace, addressing not only local officials but also the diplomatic corps, which includes Russian, Chinese and North Korean diplomats.

South of the border, in China, new restrictions on religion  Rules on the management of sites of religious activities  came into effect today. Coincidentally, a 30-member delegation has arrived in Mongolia from Hong Kong, led by cardinal-designate Stephen Chow, for the papal trip.

The land of the eternal blue sky thus plays a key role in regional politics, and beyond. It is no accident that Mongolia has been proposed as a venue for potential peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

Francis will undoubtedly be receptive to this idea; for his part, Card Matteo Zuppi continues his peace mission on behalf of the Vatican.

Photo: Flickr / Ricardo Cabral
Judges had initially sentenced the 35-year-old to death for rioting and apostasy, but the Supreme Court overturned the sentence. Official version of death speaks of epileptic seizure. Activist groups denounce flogging, torture and lack of treatment. The wave of arrests continues nearly a year after the 22-year-old Kurdish woman was killed because of her hijab.

Tehran (AsiaNews) - An Iranian protester, who was imprisoned and sentenced to death for participating in the street protests following the killing of 22-year-old Kurdish Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police about a year ago, died in prison for the violence suffered under mysterious circumstances.

The judges during the trial had imposed the death penalty against Javad Rouhi, but last May the Supreme Court annulled the sentence, postponing the trial to other judges for a new hearing in the courtroom.

According to the official version, the 35-year-old died due to inadequate medical care, following hospitalization for an epileptic attack that occurred in his cell.

A version disavowed by pro-rights groups and people close to the man, for whom the death is to be attributed to the prison authorities. The Mizan website, close to the Iranian judiciary, states that "unfortunately [Rouhi] died despite the actions of the medical staff" and an investigation "has been filed to shed light on the causes".

However, an hour before the official announcement made yesterday, several activists had anticipated his death on social networks, pointing the finger at the judicial authorities and security officials who allegedly "killed" him.

Rouhi was arrested a few days after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was killed in the custody of the morality police who had previously arrested her on the streets of Tehran, in mid-September last year, for not wearing the hijab correctly, the obligatory veil.

During the trial, reports the BBC, the man was found guilty of having "led" the revolt, of having "destroyed property" and of "apostasy" because - again according to the indictment - he allegedly burned a Koran during a demonstration . In reality, videos released on the net show him dancing and there are no references to alleged acts of violence.

Amnesty International reports that the 35-year-old was allegedly subjected to floggings, freezing temperatures, electric shocks and a gun was pointed at his head to force him to speak during interrogation.

Initially a court in Nowshahr, in the north of the Islamic Republic, handed down a triple death sentence for blasphemy, destruction of public property and revolt against national security.

Evidence uncovered during the review confirmed that he was participating in the protests in a personal capacity and his actions did not fall within the legal definition of moharebeh (war against God) and corruption on earth, crimes which can carry the death penalty according to the Islamic jurisprudence.

Meanwhile, the wave of arrests and repression launched by the Iranian authorities in anticipation of the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini continues, a sensitive date that could trigger new street protests for freedom and rights.

The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has announced the arrest of 14 people in various provinces on charges of having carried out acts aimed at "instigating chaos and disorder". The official note defines the detainees as "terrorists" affiliated with a "Zionist-extremist network" and refers to the seizure of "43 explosive devices".

Finally, still with regard to the 22-year-old Kurdish woman, a court of revolution in Tehran has opened the trial against the lawyer who follows the story. Saleh Nikbakht, on bail after being arrested last March, must answer for the charge of "propaganda against the system", most likely linked to interviews with foreign media. In the past, the lawyer has also represented director Jafar Panahi and other political activists and cultural figures critical of the Iranian authorities.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Rosa Otunbaeva, former president of Kyrgyzstan and current UN special representative for relations with Afghanistan, took stock of the situation in an interview. Acknowledging the Taliban even some successes, but recalling that in rural areas living standards "seem to remain in the Stone Age." "We have to learn about each other's limitations, and think about the future of Afghans and all peoples."

Bishkek (AsiaNews) - In an interview with Azattyk Rosa Otunbaeva, president of the Kyrgyzstan in 2010-2011 (first woman in an ex-Soviet state), and for a year UN special representative for relations with Kabul reflected on the situation in Afghanistan, two years after the return of the Taliban to power at the end of August 2021 and withdrawal of the last American soldiers.

While the news from Afghanistan continues to raise concerns throughout the Central Asian region about possible new fronts of conflict, Otunbaeva believes that "for the Afghan population the situation has actually changed for the better, and this is attested by the fact that people from every corner of the country arrive in Kabul without fear, to receive treatment in the excellent modern clinics located there .

Previously it was very dangerous to cross the peripheral roads. Nor is it the case to believe that Afghanistan has been reduced to a pile of ruins, says the UN representative: "in the time I spent there, I saw 6-7 airports that can be considered first class, 'Kandahar', 'Mazari-Sharif', 'Herat', 'Jelalabad', are all excellent, and they had been well preserved due to their importance even during the war.

Kabul is a city of 5 million inhabitants, on a very large territory. In the last 20 years, during the permanence of the Americans, a major work of building renovation has been carried out, with the construction of many multi-story buildings, even if there remains a stark contrast between the conditions of the rich and the poor. C

ertainly in the rural part the standards of living remain very backward, "like heaven and earth", assures Otunbaeva: "I was in the province of Khowst, where there was also an earthquake two years ago, and it seems to have remained of the stone".

From the point of view of international trade, Afghanistan has access to the markets of Iran, Pakistan and Central Asia, and Afghans are distinguished by a remarkable entrepreneurial vivacity.

The country's economy is reaching a certain degree of stability, even if not all countries may like this, and the confirmation also comes from the indicators of the World Bank. From the point of view of social freedoms, the conditions are obviously very problematic, due to the continuous series of bans imposed by the Taliban on the life of its citizens, and even on the UN mission.

The management of the country is in the hands of the Kabul government, with its precarious ministers, which is not recognized by any of the 190 countries in the world. There is also the emirate of Kandahar, whose emir has never shown himself in public and does not communicate with the outside world.

Yet Otunbaeva acknowledges that "we can't say anything bad about their work, they try to do everything possible", at least economically. However, the difficulties are enormous, and most of the population lives in very poor conditions; the UN mission distributes foodstuffs to more than 20 million inhabitants as humanitarian aid, in addition to medical assistance, and infant and childbirth mortality remains very high.

However, public education remains of concern, with about 50% of the population illiterate. It is also difficult to statistically detect this data, given that the last population census dates back to 1977. Literate women are around 30%, and today they have been excluded from the training process for "national traditions", which "are present in many Countries, recalls the ex-president of Bishkek.

Moreover, Afghanistan is a mass of ethnic groups, including Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Khazars and others, even if the government remains under the control of the Pashtuns, the most backward and conservative people of all, especially towards women , who is not even allowed to show his face.

These "tribal" traditions are religiously justified with the slogan "Islam first, then Afghanistan", which is also raised on the tops of the mountains. Yet humanitarian aid comes predominantly in part from the West; Muslim Arab countries give something only on Islamic holidays. Otunbaeva concludes that "these contrasts must be a lesson for all of us: we must learn to know each other's limits, and think about the future of the Afghans and of all peoples, of Asia and of the whole world".
On 1 September 1923, a devastating earthquake followed by fires fuelled by a typhoon killed more than 100,000 people. Thousands of Koreans and Chinese were slaughtered following false accusations. Separate ceremonies were held in Japan today to mark the events. A hundred years later, the call for justice and the demand for an apology still fall on deaf ears.

Tokyo (AsiaNews)  This morning Japan commemorated the victims of the Great Kanto earthquake, which struck the Kanto Plain, Honshu Island, on the morning of 1 September 1923, with a magnitude of 7.9 deep beneath Sagami Bay, lasting between four and 10 minutes.

The tremors devastated Tokyo, the port of Yokohama and the prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka, with the number of victims set at between 100,000 and 142,000, plus some 37,000 missing, presumed dead.

In addition to the memorial ceremonies for the dead, separate commemorations were held for the Koreans and Chinese killed following the disaster because they were held responsible for the event or accused of exploiting the tragedy to steal and rob.

In order to mark the tragedy, the Japanese government designated 1 September as Disaster Prevention Day, during which exercises and emergency simulations are carried out to boost citizens' awareness and preparedness.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took part in one such exercise in Tokyo, while Yokoamicho Park in the Japanese capital hosted a commemoration to honour the memory of the 39,000 confirmed victims in the city.

In addition to large-scale loss of life, the quake caused economic damages estimated at 5.5 billion yen (US$ 37.8 million), equal to about 37 per cent of Japan's gross national product at the time.

To make matters worse, the quake sparked fires as many families were gathered for the noon meal. A typhoon that brought high winds Noto Peninsula, north of Tokyo, fed the flames.

Panic and confusion fuelled uncontrolled rumours across the country, with false reports of the destruction of the capital, the collapse of Parliament, the sinking of the same region hit by the tremors and others covered by the eruption of volcanoes.

The Home Ministry imposed martial law, which proved ineffective, especially for the Korean community accused of looting, stealing, and setting fires, and, according to some reports at the time, poisoning the wells.

Koreans were hunted down, resulting in summary executions, killings, beatings even of some Japanese mistaken for foreigners.

The number of victims is still unknown. Japanese authorities put the toll at 231 deaths among Koreans, while independent studies suggest at least 2,500 deaths from the xenophobic wave unleashed by the disaster.

Over 360 Japanese ended up on trial for murder, but none of them were convicted and the few who ended up in prison were pardoned for the wedding of the then Crown Prince Hirohito.

Alongside the ceremonies for earthquake victims, parallel memorial services were held in Tokyo and other places for those killed in the massacres, a story that is still controversial today and never fully acknowledged by Japanese leaders.

This anniversary is a further element of tensions between Japan and South Korea, at a time when both Tokyo and Seoul have started a difficult rapprochement (against Beijing and Pyongyang), compounded by the recent controversy over the release of radioactive waters from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Reports from 1923 note that for several days, mobs with swords, iron bars and bamboo sticks went "hunting" for Koreans to kill. According to some historians, soldiers in Japans imperial army with ordinance machine guns also participated in the expeditions.

Yet, Japan has not engaged so far in any serious historical review of the controversial affair, which remains an open wound.

Kim Do-im, 86, believes her uncle was among those murdered in the burning ruins of Tokyo after the quake. His body was never found.

His tomb is in Korea but it doesnt contain his ashes, she told Agence France Presse. He was 33 when he died. He had three children, she explained. I first heard the story when I was around five years old It hurts my heart.

For Lin Boyao, co-chair of the executive committee for the 100th anniversary of the massacres, "In order for us to ensure that such things never happen again, we must know the facts, receive apologies for those facts, and people must be informed.

Speaking during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, he noted that the Japanese government has not yet apologised for the massacres that followed the great earthquake and has not compensated any of the victims.
by Steve Suwannarat

The Malaysian government says it has no plans to scarp controversial security legislation adopted to fight terrorism but used to repress all forms of dissent. Disappointed, ASEAN parliamentarians for human rights call for a stop [to] the use of draconian measures that curtail fundamental freedoms.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews)  Malaysia does not plan to repeal the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA), the deputy minister in the Prime Ministers Department (Law and Institutional Reform) said last week.

This has disappointed plenty of people in the country as well as among its neighbours in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), reigniting the debate on a law introduced to fight terrorism that allows detention without trial.

Noting that Malaysia is seemingly open to reforms, many had called for the law to be changed to meet international standards, guarantee basic human rights, and prevent any abuse against individuals and groups critical of the authorities or laws considered obsolete or arbitrary.

The latter represent a constant threat even though they are viewed as a way to ostensibly protect the authorities and the populations sensibilities.

Last month, police detained activist Arun Dorasamy, who criticised the prime minister for officiating the conversion of a Hindu man to Islam, under Section 504 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act (Internet abuse).

Unfortunately, this is just one among the many recent developments that heightens our concern, writes Indonesias Mercy Chriesty Barends, chairperson of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).

We reiterate our call earlier this year: for the Malaysian government to demonstrate unwavering commitment to human rights, stop the use of draconian measures that curtail fundamental freedoms, and repeal repressive laws that are used to criminalize government critics.

Another law that is increasingly criticised for its arbitrary and repressive use is the Printing Presses Publication Act, invoked to censor books and mass media, raid bookstores and cancel permits to publish or sell books deemed inappropriate.

The latest book seizures took place in August. Before that, in May police raided 16 shops selling Swatch 172 watches with a rainbow theme. Some observers believe the authorities saw the watches as promoting the LGBT community, which is against the law.

This is a further sign that the administration led by Anwar Ibrahim, whose political career was marred by serious legal troubles, seems unable to proceed with reforms to improve freedom and rights, perhaps to avoid pressure from conservative Muslims.




The defense chiefs of Korea and Poland held talks in Warsaw during which they discussed ways to expand security and arms cooperation, Seoul's defense ministry said Friday.







During the talks Thursday (local time), Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and his Polish counterpart, Mariusz Blaszczak, assessed major deals between the two countries last year to supply South Korean weapons systems, including K2 battle tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers and FA-50 light attack aircraft, according to the ministry.







They also agreed to strengthen defense cooperation through ministerial talks on arms industry cooperation, the ministry said.







Lee has been on a four-day visit to Poland ahead of the International Defence Industry Exhibition MSPO, set to kick off next week in the Polish city of Kielce. (Yonhap)


by Fady Noun

U.S. diplomat Hochstein visiting the Middle East region to unblock impasse. The demarcation of maritime borders between the two countries and land borders at stake, with the knot tied to the so-called "B1 Point." In the background are Tehran's aims, the energy issue and the exploitation of resources that fuel global conflicts.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - A delicate game is underway in the eastern Mediterranean region, in which the supply of natural gas for Europe and the economic security of the Old Continent are at stake, which is weighed down by the prospect of an indefinite extension of the war in Ukraine.

According to various observers, this is precisely the main reason for the visit to Lebanon - and subsequently to Israel - by US diplomat Amos Hochstein, special envoy for international energy affairs.

In total, there are four meetings on the agenda of the US diplomat's visit to Lebanon, which began yesterday and ends today: with the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berry; with outgoing Prime Minister Nagib Mikati; with Energy Minister Walid Fayad; with the army commander Joseph Aoun, the latter among the candidates for the presidency of the Republic a figure that has been vacant for some time and linked to the political, institutional and economic crisis that is affecting the country of cedars. Also on the agenda is a visit to the southern border, before traveling to Israel.

Hochstein's arrival coincides with the start of drilling operations in block 9 of the Lebanese Exclusive Economic Zone, the so-called Cana field, which borders Israel's territorial waters. It is one of the most promising fields in terms of potential exploitation and on which Total Energies, leader of the consortium which also includes the Italian Eni and QatarEnergy, is aiming to supply Europe.

According to the vice-president of the Chamber Elias Bou Saab, Total Energies will also follow, at a later stage, the process of assigning exploration and exploitation licenses for blocks 8 and 10, further north of Cana, in the eastern Mediterranean.

In recent days, the Speaker of the Chamber Berry and Prime Minister Mikati personally witnessed the start of drilling work from the platform. In private, according to people close to him, the Speaker of the House would have thanked Hochstein "for keeping his word and bringing the 2022 border delimitation process between Lebanon and Israel to its executive phase, with the start of the drilling process .

The architect of this agreement, Hochstein, will therefore complete his work on the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel by delimiting the land border as well; in the latter case it must be kept in mind that the latter are already defined by the Paulet-Newcomb agreement of 1923 (between Lebanon and Palestine, then under British mandate), and that they only need to be "marked" on the ground. The central issue here concerns Lebanon's last point of land, on the sea side. During the delimitation of the maritime border this point, known as "Point B1", remained unresolved, as well as a sea zone dependent on it. If the Israelis recognize Lebanon's right on this point, the entire issue could be resolved, assures the senior Lebanese official quoted above.

Hochstein must then ease the tension between Hezbollah and Israel, which also involves the role of the United Nations international peacekeeping force in the land of cedars, Unifil. The pro-Iranian Shiite party is trying to limit the freedom of movement of the UN military and to bind it to the constant accompaniment of the Lebanese army in all its inspection missions. The diplomatic battle is being played out in the United Nations General Assembly, with today's vote on the annual renewal of the force's mandate.

Present in Lebanon since 1978, the Unifil force, made up of almost 10,000 soldiers, acts as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon. Hassan Nasrallah accuses the United States of wanting to turn UN soldiers into "spies" on behalf of Israel.

The Hezbollah leader is doing everything to intimidate this force, which Nabih Berry, however, considers essential. For his part, Unifil is responsible for compliance with United Nations Resolution 1701. This specifies that only the Lebanese army must be present south of the Litani River, the area of operation of the United Nations military.

In political circles it is believed that Hezbollah is "playing" the Unifil card to gain advantages in other sectors. In particular, he is seeking approval - in exchange for silence - for the construction of a power plant in southern Lebanon, as well as other benefits directly linked to the production of gas from the Cana field.

As can be seen, stability in this economically strategic region has a political, indeed geopolitical, price that goes beyond the occasional crises that arise. President Emmanuel Macron spoke to the French ambassadors gathered at the Elysee for the annual meeting of Iranian "interference" - meaning blockades by this term - in the presidential elections in Lebanon. A position that has been vacant in the country of cedars since October 2022, when it expired
Reception at Genghis Khan airport, official meetings begin tomorrow. On the plane to journalists, "The silence of this great country will do us good." During the flight the telegram to Xi Jinping: "I assure my prayers for the well-being of China and invoke unity and peace." But despite the Agreement with the Holy See, bishops from Inner Mongolia and other provinces in mainland China will not be allowed to attend the historic event.

Ulan Bator (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis arrived this morning at 10 (when it was still 4 in Italy) at Genghis Khan airport in Ulan Bator for his apostolic journey which will keep him in the country of the steppes until Monday 4.

Welcoming him - together with the guard of honor - was the foreign minister of Mongolia, Mrs. Batmunkh Battsetseg, together with the apostolic prefect - Card. Giorgio Marengo  and the bishop of Almaty, Msgr. Jose Luis Mumbiela Sierra, president of the Bishops' Conference of Central Asia.

As expected, it was a simple ceremony, without official speeches but with a significant gesture for the local culture: a woman dressed in the deel, the traditional Mongolian dress, offered the pontiff a cup of dry yak yogurt, a food of the local tradition.

Pope Francis then travelled to the seat of the apostolic prefecture where he will rest for the whole day after the long journey: the official welcome ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow morning in the central Sukhbaatar square, dominated by the great monument to Genghis Khan. This will be followed by the meeting with the authorities and the diplomatic corps and - later - with the local Church in the cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

Pope Francis dwelt on the meaning of this visit, briefly greeting journalists during the flight from Rome late yesterday afternoon.

To go to Mongolia is to go to a [numerically] small people in a vast land," he said. "Mongolia seems to have no end, and its inhabitants are few, a people few in number of a great culture. I think it will do us good to understand this silence, so vast, so big. It will help us understand what it means: not intellectually but with the senses. Mongolia is to be understood with the senses. Let me say that it would do us good perhaps to listen a to a little of Borodin's music, which was able to express what this breadth and greatness of Mongolia means."

As usual, during the flight, the Holy See sent congratulatory telegrams to the heads of state of the countries overflown (in this case ten). These also included the People's Republic of China, where the plane passed through the troubled Xinjang province just before arriving in Mongolian airspace.

II send greetings of good wishes to your excellency and the people of China as I pass through your countrys airspace en route to Mongolia,  wrote Francis in a text almost identical to that of all the other countries . Assuring you of my prayers for the well-being of the nation, I invoke upon all of you the divine blessings of unity and peace."

To this message, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, speaking in the daily briefing, replied that "China is ready to continue working with the Vatican to engage in constructive dialogue, improve understanding, strengthen mutual trust".

Meanwhile, the American Jesuit magazine America, citing Vatican sources, has reported that - despite the invitation addressed to them by Card. Marengo, as with all the Bishops' Conferences of Asia - no bishop of mainland China has received permission from the Beijing authorities to travel to Ulan Bator for this historic event.

It is worth remembering that a lively Catholic community resides in the nearby Chinese province of Inner Mongolia and that one of its bishops - Msgr. Antonio Yo Shun, bishop of Jining - in 2019 was indicated as the first of the six appointments fruit of the provisional agreement between Rome and Beijing on the appointment of bishops (although in reality it had already been approved by the Holy See in 2010).

On the other hand, the cardinal designate Stephen Chow will be present in Ulan Bator with a delegation of 30 Catholics from Hong Kong as will the bishop of Macao Msgr. Stephen Lee Bun-sang.
Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, sixth from left in front row, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Lee Bo-hyung, seventh from left in front row, commander of the drone operations command, pose during an inauguration ceremony held in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of Joint Chiefs of Staffs



By Lee Hyo-jin



The South Korean military established a new drone operations command, Friday, to bolster its defense capabilities against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the wake of North Korea's drone infiltration last year.



An inauguration ceremony for the new command was held in Pocheon, northeastern Gyeonggi Province, where the unit is based, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The event was attended by key military and political figures, including JCS Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, lawmakers and local government officials.



"The drone operations command is a unit based directly under the Ministry of National Defense, and will be under the supervision of the JCS chairman. It is the first joint combat unit to be composed of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps," the JCS said in a statement.



In a congratulatory letter, President Yoon Suk Yeol said the command "must be equipped with the capability and posture to deter North Korea's drone provocations and various asymmetric threats."



Gen. Lee Bo-hyung of the Army Aviation Command, who has been appointed as the commander of the drone unit, said, "Should the enemy launch another provocation against our country, we will show a prompt and overwhelming response to make it clear that their actions will lead to a devastating result."



Lee was referring to an intrusion across the inter-Korean border by five North Korean drones on Dec. 26, 2022. One of them briefly entered a no-fly zone near the presidential office in Seoul.



The South Korean military failed to intercept the drones, laying bare its insufficient readiness to detect, track and shoot down the drones.



Against this backdrop, Yoon ordered the establishment of a drone operations command in January this year.



However, the decision to station the new command in Pocheon was met by fierce backlash from residents of the region.



Hours before the establishment ceremony, Yeon Je-chang, a member of the city council, announced a statement criticizing the military for its "unilateral decision to build the drone command in the area without sounding out the opinions of the residents."



"Establishing the drone operations command in Pocheon is just another unilateral move by the military, which disregards the opposition of many residents. We can no longer ignore such an approach that ignores the sacrifices made by our residents over the past 70 years under the pretext of national security," he said.



The northeastern city of Pocheon, located just 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border, has been home to several military bases and live-fire training facilities, triggering outcries from residents who have complained about noise, unexploded ordinance and other dangers.


The eighth generation of the 5er is the most ambitious 5 Series yet. Codenamed G60 for the sedan and G61 for the wagon, this generation is underpinned by the CLAR vehicle platform of the preceding G30 and G31. In addition to revised styling and a techier interior, the G60 and G61 further mark the arrival of the first-ever i5.

SUV

kWh

WLTP

The i5 sedan has a direct competitor in the form of the Mercedes-Benz EQE, whereas the i5 wagon doesnt have any competition in the mid-size premium station wagon segment. For the time being, that is, because Merc is believed to be working on a shooting brake-like EQE that would slot between the sedan and BMW pulled the veils off the i5 back in May 2023 for the 2024 model year, albeit only in four-door configuration. The i5 Touring is likely due in late 2023 with at least two of the sedan's powertrains, but more on them later.Spied testing at the Nurburgring with camouflage from the rear doors back, the i5 Touring features the front-end styling of the M Performance variant known as M60. Lower down the spectrum, the online configurator for the German market lists the rear-driven i5 eDrive40. Come 2024, the i5 sedan will welcome the xDrive40.Another giveaway of the prototype's go-faster character comes in the form of M badges on the front fenders. Both of them are covered with black tape, of course! However, said prototype may not be a full-on M60. Lest we forget, the eDrive40 with the M Sport appearance package also flaunts two M badges on the front fenders.Pictured in a rather boring shade of black, the i5 Touring prototype doesn't feature the blue-painted brake calipers you'd expect from an M Performance vehicle or an eDrive40 with the M Sport appearance package. The 20-inch wheels aren't standard either, but rather Style 937 two-tone aerodynamic wheels. Over in Germany, a set of 937s for the i5 eDrive40 retails at 2,840 ($3,080).More spacious than its four-door sibling, the wagon is certainly getting at least two of the three powertrains mentioned earlier. The rear-mounted electric motor of the eDrive40 belts out 335 horsepower and 317 pound-feet (430 Nm) at full chatter, which means 5.7 seconds to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour). Top speed? 193 kilometers per hour (120 miles per hour), thank you!Specifications for the xDrive40 aren't yet available, but we do know the M60 is rated at 593 horsepower. 605 pound-feet (820 Nm) shame internal combustion-engined M vehicles like the F90-generation M5 CS, but not plug-in hybrids like the XM Label Red. Capable of hitting 100 clicks in 3.8 seconds, the M60 maxes out at 230 kilometers per hour (around 143 miles per hour).All three powertrains rely on a high-voltage battery with a gross capacity of 84.3. Over in Europe,estimates range between 582 and 516 kilometers (362 and 321 miles). As for the US market, where the i5 Touring isn't likely to come, the sedan is rated at 300 and 256 miles (483 and 412 kilometers).
Much like in the case of a doctor preaching about the negative impact of smoking while puffing on a cigarette, there's a certain sense of glee and "right back atcha!" whenever an eco-activist celebrity is caught on the wrong footing. This is one of those times.

Photo: Lurssen

Photo: Lurssen

Photo: SuperyachtFan

Self-proclaimed eco-activist Dame Emma Thompson spotted wearing a 225 animal print coat and enjoying a seafood dinner on Fox TV founder's 200m yacht https://t.co/knEG5Dt9su pic.twitter.com/IY2ulfADQF  Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) August 31, 2023

Emma Thompson is an established A-lister. With a couple of Oscars and more awards than we could count on her mantelpiece, she's what youd call a "serious" actress of the old guard. She breathes life into interesting characters onscreen, and she does traditional promotion for her work  none of that social media silliness. When she's not working, she's using her platform to raise awareness on a wide series of issues ranging from climate change and pollution to education and women's rights.What's not to love about her, right? Well, for one, her hypocrisy on the same issues that she claims to be so passionate about.Emma Thompson is a name that comes up often whenever there's a larger discussion about eco-hypocrites among A-list celebrities . Just like that doctor who can't be bothered to put out his own cigarette while he's scolding you for not being able to kick the habit, some celebrities who get very passionate in their discourse on climate issues fail to live up to the expectations their discourse gives way to. Thompson is one of them.Examples abound. She once flew private out of Los Angeles and into London just so she could attend an Extinction Rebellion march in the capital. Just to put this in the right light, she flew private to London to join a march on the dangers of climate change and urging us, regular folk, to ditch commercial flights to save our planet  no ifs and buts about it.Thompson often speaks at rallies of this kind, yet she owns homes in three different countries and often jetsets from one to the other  not flying commercial, but private. She is just one of the many examples of holier-than-thou-type of stars who preach extreme measures only for show while they continue living their life as before.This is necessary context in order to understand the fresh wave of criticism directed at her: Emma Thompson is now in Venice, where she owns a home and is an honorary citizen, vacationing onboard the Eos superyacht. Eos is an older build from luxury shipyard Lurssen that previously held the record as the world's largest sail-assisted superyacht before Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had Koru delivered. Eos is exclusively a leisure craft, and even if it has sails that allow it to sail with zero emissions occasionally, it still relies on a pair of MTU diesel engines, uses generators for hotel functions, and has diesel tenders. After the cruise industry, the sector of private superyacht ownership is one of the largest pollutants in the world, so you understand why people are upset with Thompson for what they see as yet another example of her hypocrisy.Cruising on a superyacht comes with a huge carbon footprint, and perhaps the worst part of it all is that it's done for pleasure only. It's a wasteful vacation, with the kind of carbon footprint no vacation Average Joe could ever afford would have, even if Joe flew to and from his destination. It's eco-hypocrisy.From a more superficial perspective, though, Thompson made an excellent choice with Eos  and perhaps a less damaging one than if she'd chosen a traditional superyacht. The 2006 Eos, owned by Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, is a three-mast Bermuda-rigged schooner measuring 93 meters (305 feet) in total length and 61 meters (200 feet) in height.It's a beautiful vessel with a traditional and memorable silhouette and an iconic Anh Duong 2.7-meter (9-foot) tall sculpture of von Furstenberg as the figurehead. The exterior is by Bill Langan, while Francois Catroux penned the interiors that were never shown in detail to the public. The owning couple are very private and have never offered Eos for charter, though it has been used to host celebrities like Bezos himself, Harry Styles, or Andy Cohen  and now, Emma Thompson.Propulsion is hybrid, with a pair of MTU 4000-series engines helping Eos achieve 16 knots (18 mph/29.5 kph) with ease. While the exterior and interior have gone through a couple of refits  and one particularly challenging rebuild after a devastating fire to the superstructure in 2012  performance has remained steady.With an interior volume of 1,500 GT, Eos can accommodate 14 guests in seven suites and a crew of 21 in separate quarters. Unconfirmed reports say that it's the epitome of luxury inside, though the overall styling is understated and elegant.Whatever Eos is like inside, it's definitely pleasant enough to get Dame Thompson to reconsider her personal stance on the need to reduce one's carbon footprint.
Ford received the OK from Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) to turn on its Level 2 advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) on the European country's high-speed roads known as Autobahns. The Blue Oval may need to catch up to Tesla in the US, but it's trying its best to win over the pond. Here's what you need to know.

Full Self-Driving

FSD

ADAS



Photo: Ford



Sadly,



For now, Ford's BlueCruise works only on the Mustang Mach-E in Germany. Next time you visit the Old Continent country, rent the all-electric crossover SUV and enjoy some well-deserved hands-free driving!



Just like in the US, European drivers aren't typically allowed to take their hands off the steering wheel. But with BlueCruise turned on, they will be able to do it. Other competitors like Audi or Mercedes-Benz have similar systems enabled. BMW also created its own Level 2 ADAS, but it doesn't permit drivers to go hands-free while behind the wheel just yet.



Finally, Tesla hasn't received similar approval for its FSD Beta ADAS in Europe or the US.



But in the official press release (in German), the automaker didn't specify that Blue Zones would include the famous no-speed limit highways known as Autobahns. That was confirmed by the CEO of Ford Werke GmbH, Martin Sander, who is also the General Manager of Ford Model e Europe, the Blue Oval's division handling EVs and possibly even direct sales.Sadly, Ford doesn't say what portions of the Autobahns are covered, nor does it share the maximum speed at which the system can operate. In the US, the limit is set at 80 mph, but users said they could put it at 90 mph on some highways.For now, Ford's BlueCruise works only on the Mustang Mach-E in Germany. Next time you visit the Old Continent country, rent the all-electric crossoverand enjoy some well-deserved hands-free driving!Just like in the US, European drivers aren't typically allowed to take their hands off the steering wheel. But with BlueCruise turned on, they will be able to do it. Other competitors like Audi or Mercedes-Benz have similar systems enabled. BMW also created its own Level 2 ADAS, but it doesn't permit drivers to go hands-free while behind the wheel just yet.Finally, Tesla hasn't received similar approval for its FSD Beta ADAS in Europe or the US.

Tesla'sBeta (Beta) is cheaper in Europe for one good reason  it can't do what it promises just yet. Therefore, theis priced at nearly half the cost Americans and Canadians see when configuring their new EVs or looking through the menu to add it after the acquisition.But just like Tesla, Ford has its own SAE J3016 Level 2 advanced driver-assistance system that intends to relieve the driver of their duties. But instead of giving it a cheeky name like Tesla did, the Blue Oval didn't want to get into legal trouble with the authorities. Thus, it named its system BlueCruise, while Lincoln units come with Active Glide.A SAE J3016 Level 2 ADAS means the driver is always responsible for what happens and must continue paying attention to their surroundings even when the suite is turned on. There's no going around it, and regulators know what's happening. If they don't, they'll just ask, precisely like the NHTSA recently did by ordering Tesla to share specifics about "Elon Mode."In the US, Ford's hands-free eyes on BlueCruise works on vetted highway portions known as Blue Zones. These are pre-mapped roads that the system learned what they look like with the help of testers. In North America, there are over 130,000 miles of such Blue Zones available.The automaker claims that over 194,000 of its vehicles sold to North American customers are equipped with this system, and nearly 109 million miles have been covered with BlueCruise turned on.After debuting the system on qualified roads in the UK's England, Scotland, and Wales in early April, it's time for Germany to become a BlueCruise country.
The war still waging over in Ukraine has made a lot of new things clear for military commanders around the world, but it also confirmed long-known facts about warfare. Like how much of a difference the ability to strike from afar can make on the battlefield.

The role of hitting targets far away fell until recently on the shoulders of the artillery, or more specifically on guns capable of throwing projectiles to enemy lines and beyond. Artillery is still used today, but now more than ever that is done with missiles and rockets, thrown at the enemy from any platform imaginable.One of America's favorite platforms, and heavily used today in Ukraine, is the HIMARS. Short for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, it can fire a wide assortment of rockets, missiles, and bombs. Among them is the Lockheed Martin-made Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS).The family of munitions presently comprises two variants, the Unitary and Alternative Warhead, each capable of hitting targets located some 43 miles (70 km) away. A third variant, called Extended-Range (ER GMLRS) is at the moment in the process of being tested for field use.We've talked about this rocket before, as tests conducted so far, including with the weapon fired from a HIMARS, revealed it can easily reach a distance of 50 miles (80 km). And it did so while meeting all requirements when it comes to flight trajectory, range, accuracy from launch to impact, and warhead lethality.This week's update on the ER GMLRS talks about yet another test having been conducted at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. A HIMARS was used once more to fire the rocket, and this time, for the first time in a test for flight trajectory this long, the rocket flew to its maximum range, 93 miles (150 km).We're told the test proved the improved GMLRS can maintain flight trajectory for this long and, more importantly, that it can hit the target with "the precision GMLRS is known for."Separately, something called Stockpile to Target Sequence (STS) testing was performed, meaning the rocket was subjected to simulated "cumulative effects ER GMLRS will meet in the field between factory and launch for the life of the system." The reason behind this test was to see if the missile itself and launch pod container were durable enough.It's not clear yet when the ER GMLRS will be deployed in service of the American military or its allies, but Lockheed Martin says it expects a "rapid timeline."Since the rockets of this kind were first used in 2005 in Iraq, Lockheed Martin says it made 60,000 of them. Both existing versions will continue to be made for the foreseeable future. The estimated cost of such a munition in 2022 was between $160,000 and $500,000 depending on the variant.
Long story short: a young man wanted a Ford Bronco Raptor, went online, found one on Craiglist, paid $75,000, got it delivered at home, and then found out it had been stolen right from the factory. Now the man is $75,000 short.

You think youre good to go and buy that car that you double-checked in all the right places. Dealership, Carfax report, tax office, everywhere. But sometimes, scams are so good that no matter what you do, you will still be one step behind the scammer.A story of the kind happened in Arizona. That is where dozens of brand-new vehicles stolen from the factory lot in Detroit, Michigan, ended up. They were eventually sold to buyers who took everything for granted. And they were entitled to do it. All the paperwork seemed in order to Nick, the one who was fooled by the seller he contacted on Craiglist.The so-called owner even proved that the car was driven all the way from Alaska, with an Alaska license plate, adding a few thousand miles on the odometer. The story seemed legit, so Nick bought every word.Nick, whose last name remains undisclosed by the investigation team, got his eyes on the Bronco in spring, while browsing through the offers on Craiglist. He liked it and decided to bring it home to Arizona in March. He did not pay a single dime before running a Carfax check.The report was clean, as confirmed by a local dealer in Phoenix. Nick expected the VIN to flag an eventual issue with the almost-new Bronco Raptor . But it didn't. So he went on and paid $75,000.The investigation eventually revealed that the seller had provided a fake vehicle identification number, one that belonged to a car that was indeed clean in the Arizona auto-title computer system.Three weeks after getting the delivery of the off-roader, Nick wanted to trade it for a larger pickup truck. But a dealership employee realized that something was wrong with the VIN and called the police. The dealership general manager called Nick and yelled at him, without knowing that he was actually a victim.The police impounded the vehicle, but there are minimal chances for him to recover the $75,000 he paid for the Bronco Raptor. And he is not the only one scammed. There are buyers from Arizona, New Mexico, California, Alaska, and Tennessee who went through the exact same thing, as reported by AZfamily.The investigation shows that the Bronco with Alaskan plates and registration also spent some time in California. Seven people have been arrested in connection to the theft of Broncos from the factory lot, according to the police in Canton, Michigan. The authorities managed to track down some of the stolen vehicles
1 September 2023 11:58 (UTC+04:00)

In the morning of September 1, the Armenian armed forces units in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar region launched attack UAVs against the Azerbaijani Army positions stationed in the territory of the Kalbajar district, Azernews reports, citing the Ministry.

The serviceman of the Azerbaijan Army, Taghiyev Mahammad Ramiz, was wounded as a result of a fire opened by the Armenian armed forces units in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar district.

The wounded serviceman of the Azerbaijan Army was immediately provided with first aid and evacuated to a military medical facility.

Currently, the positions of the Azerbaijan Army in the mentioned direction are being subjected to fire. The Azerbaijan Army Units are taking retaliatory measures.

"We declare that the entire responsibility for the consequences of the provocation committed by the Armenian side falls on the military-political leadership of this country," the Ministry said.

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1 September 2023 16:23 (UTC+04:00)

On August 31 - September 1, Armenia once again resorted to military provocation, Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijani Defence Ministry.

The Ministry said that the units of the Armenian Armed Forces from the direction of the Zod settlement subjected to fire the Azerbaijan Armys opposing positions stationed in the direction of the Kalbajar district using drone warfare and small arms.

As a result of this provocation, which was purposefully committed against the positions of Azerbaijan, overall three servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army were injured.

These actions of Armenia for distracting from the tense political and social situation in the country, as well as to mislead the international community must be rejected and condemned in a serious manner.

Responsibility for the provocations committed by Armenia falls entirely on this country.

In order to prevent such provocations of Armenia, Azerbaijan will continue to take all necessary measures.

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1 September 2023 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

On August 29, the U.S. Charge d'Affaires William (Chip) Laitinen, and the Defense Attache, Colonel Kevin Steele in Armenia met with the Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan in Yerevan. Armenian media outlets claim that the meeting discussed the military cooperation between Armenia and the USA, its development prospects, and regional security.

Given that Armenia is the only strategic ally of Russia in the South Caucasus, and Armenia has a tight relationship with Iran, the military cooperation and its development prospects pose questions. What kind of cooperation did the sides speak? How deep the cooperation can develop?

On the issue, Azernews learned the opinion of military expert Ramil Mammadli. The expert noted that despite being a member of the Collective Security Council (analogue of NATO), Armenia has been cooperating with the USA for a long time.

It is somewhat surprising that Armenia, which is a member of the Collective Security Council, has a high level of cooperation in the military field with the United States, that is, the locomotive and main leading state of NATO. However, the reality is completely different. The point is that for almost 30 years, the USA has been continuously allocating a certain amount of funds to the Armenian Defense Ministry. Of course, these funds are called humanitarian for the military structure, and it is reported that these funds are related to the provision of non-weapon ammunition, training, and the purchase of certain equipment. However, we know very well that, the Armenians have opportunities to manipulate in this direction, Ramil Mammadli said.

Quoting the former Armenian Defense Minister, Ramil Mammadli pointed out that the root of the cooperation is very deep and it is constantly getting more elaborating. He added that Armenia also cooperates with other NATO members.

At the beginning of 2000, in a meeting with the deputy of the US defense ministry, the then defense minister of Armenia Mikael Harutyunyan stated that the level of cooperation and joint projects with the US is very high and it is impossible to list them one by one. After 2014, this cooperation expanded further and Armenia signed an agreement with the United States, that is, with NATO, on a number of joint projects. I believe that this is one of the main reasons for the deterioration of Armenia's relations with Russia. It should also be noted that Armenia does not deal with many issues directly with the US defense minister, but indirectly with NATO and US-allied countries, for example, France. Of course, France-Armenia military cooperation or cooperation with other US allies within NATO means cooperation with America itself. From this point of view, the cooperation between the two countries can be analyzed in several directions. After 2018, relations in this direction moved to a more open level. Today, in fact, NATO specialists act as consultants in certain military structures in Armenia, and this is not a secret. In fact, certain opinions are openly voiced about it, he said.

Ramil Mammadli also touched on the Russian reaction against this cooperation and opined that it played a major role in Russias neutrality in the 44-day War.

As for Russia's attitude to the issue, of course, it is strict. That is why Russia actually supported Azerbaijan's position during the war in 2020. One of the main reasons why Russia takes such a position is the integration of Armenia into the West, the process of becoming an ally of the United States. We should approach the issues from this aspect as well, Ramil Mammadli concluded.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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1 September 2023 16:45 (UTC+04:00)

Elnur Enveroglu Read more

Armenian provocations regarding the Lachin State Border checkpoint still continue. It should be recalled that the border crossing point on the Lachin road was established by the Republic of Azerbaijan on April 23 with the aim of preventing Armenian provocations and illegal transportation of weapons and ammunition. Until that time, the Armenian armed forces have repeatedly carried out various types of military equipment, especially weapons and mines, to the territory of Azerbaijan illegally, and carried out armed provocations against the Azerbaijani army. In recent days, in order to eliminate the border, Armenia has carried out various provocations under the name of the European Union mission group, as well as humanitarian aid.

However, all efforts could not sway Azerbaijan from its determined policy. Later, Azerbaijan put forward a joint proposal that could satisfy both sides, that is, the delivery of humanitarian aid to Garabagh economic region via the Aghdam-Khankendi road, which is the most relevant one from technical perspective. However, separatists operating illegally in Garabagh rejected the proposal as well as manipulating the given situation.

Finally, Azerbaijan still stands by its proposal. Thus, the Azerbaijani side once again notes that the full functionality of the Lachin road in connection with the operation of the Lachin border crossing point can take place after the start of a direct dialogue with the Armenians minority living in the Garabagh economic region of Azerbaijan and the implementation of the necessary technical measures. In addition, the conditions state that the operation of the road should be carried out in accordance with the rules of Azerbaijan's border security and border control, as well as the customs regime.

It is known that Armenia has violated Azerbaijan's customs regulations for 30 years, imposed customs duties on goods brought to Garabagh, and caused huge damage to Azerbaijan's budget. Today, Lachin border crossing point, in addition to playing the role of a security guarantor of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, also prevented Armenia from obtaining illegal income by bringing the desired goods to Garabaghh through the Lachin road. Armenia should understand that that era is over.

Lachin customs checkpoint will operate according to the same rules as all other customs checkpoints operating in Azerbaijan. Thus, customs documentation should be prepared in accordance with the laws of Azerbaijan.

- For example, if "Stepanakert" or the so-called "Republic of Artsakh" is written in the documents, those goods should not be released until appropriate corrections are made in the documents.

- The names of residential areas should be written in accordance with the legislation of Azerbaijan.

- Which legal entity will accept the goods? (appropriate answer should be provided)

- Is there a corresponding number in the register of the State Tax Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan of the legal entities receiving the goods?

- Where is the company that stamped the seal registered?

- In addition, thousands of other questions related to customs transit and control may arise.

If they are not answered, it is impossible to organize customs control. If there is no customs control, the Lachin road will remain closed for commercial cargo from Armenia.

In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to start substantive and result-oriented negotiations between the central government of Azerbaijan and the Armenians living in Garabagh. As a result of these negotiations, a road map for the commercial use of Lachin road can be prepared.

Thus, first of all, the central government of Azerbaijan and the Armenian minority in Garabagh should start a dialogue, secondly, the first steps should be taken in the direction of reintegration, thirdly, the Aghdam-Khankendi road should be opened and operational, fourthly, the opening of a customs control point on the Lachin road and finally commercial cargo transportation on the Lachin road should be fully operational.

Azerbaijan has always been based on the principles of humanism, but also guided by international laws. At the same time, Azerbaijan calls on other parties to respect the laws of Azerbaijan and the territorial integrity governed by those laws. Any national minority living on the territory of Azerbaijan is subject to the laws of Azerbaijan, and the opposite cannot be considered possible.

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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews deputy editor-in-chief, follow him on @ElnurMammadli1

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1 September 2023 14:29 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

Another Festival of Agrarian Innovations, organised by the Centre for Agrarian Innovations of the Ministry of Agriculture, was held in Qusar, Azernews reports, citing the Ministry of Agriculture.

According to the information, the 4th exhibition and sale of seeds was organised within the festival. Farmers and seed producers from Guba, Qusar, Khachmaz, Siyazan, Shabran and Khizi districts took part in the festival.

Agrarian Innovation Centre, Agrarian Services Agency, State Seed Fund, and Seed Growers Association of Azerbaijan jointly organised a seed exhibition-fair with presentations on the correct choice of seeds taking into account local conditions and soil peculiarities, the importance of agro-technical care in increasing yields and the importance of giving preference to certified seeds as planting material. As part of the festival, farmers involved in seed production were trained by specialists from the Research Institute of Vegetable Production.

Anar Jafarov, director of the Centre for Agrarian Innovations, said that the main objective of regularly held Agrarian Innovation Festivals in the regions is to provide access to agricultural products and technologies for farmers living in the regions. A. Jafarov added that about 30 seed producers and more than 60 companies are presenting their products at today's festival. According to the tradition of the Festival of Agrarian Innovations, the event included a demonstration of machinery and technologies with the participation of more than 60 domestic and foreign companies specialising in the agrarian sphere.

During the festival, the participants were provided with detailed information about the activities and services of the Ministry of Agriculture and other state enterprises, as well as information materials. The next festival will be held on 8 September in Aghjabadi.

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Busan to keep up efforts for Expo bid until final moment
1 September 2023 13:23 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan has sent 3,000 school kits to the area of Turkiye affected by the devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.7 that occurred on February 6. The humanitarian aid campaign was carried out by the Azerbaijani Diaspora Support Fund at the request of the House of Azerbaijan within the Turkish province of Hatay, Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijani Diaspora.

The school kits were distributed to students who will go to the first grade. In addition to the school kits, the Azerbaijani Diaspora Support Fund, along with the Federation of Turkish-Azerbaijani Associations, delivered food aid to more than 2,600 households affected by the earthquake in Kahramanmaras in April this year.

The earthquake caused severe damage in the provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Osmaniye, Malatya, Adiyaman, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, and Kahramanmaras. In addition, several more powerful earthquakes occurred on the territory of the nation.

The United Nations announced that it is releasing a $25 million grant from its central emergency funds for relief operations in Turkiye and Syria. The United States Agency for International Development has also deployed two specialized search and rescue teams as part of the official American response to the deadly earthquake.

There are several ways to help the rescue and recovery efforts in Turkiye and Syria and the people affected by the earthquake. Organizations are accepting donations, and people can give blood, let people know where to find safety, and raise awareness on social media.

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1 September 2023 15:59 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

The Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan and the National Development and Reform Commission of China signed a framework agreement on strengthening production capacities and investment cooperation, Azernews reports.

Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov wrote about this on his page on the social network X.

The head of the department noted that the agreement was signed at a meeting with the chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, Zhong Shanjie. According to him, the implementation of the agreement will help strengthen bilateral economic ties and deepen cooperation in the investment field.

At a meeting with Shanjie, we shared our views on the initiatives being implemented in the direction of developing Azerbaijani-Chinese economic relations, our country's participation in the One Belt, One Road project, encouraging mutual investment and strengthening cooperation, M. Jabbarov said.

Recall that the delegation headed by Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov is on an official visit to China. Within the framework of the visit, the opening ceremony of the Trade House of Azerbaijan in Beijing and other events are planned.

During the meeting with Zheng Shanjie, the Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of the Peoples Republic of #China, we exchanged views on the initiatives implemented to develop Azerbaijani-Chinese economic relations, our countrys participation in the One pic.twitter.com/edAEqEM8uA  Mikayil Jabbarov (@MikayilJabbarov) September 1, 2023

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Rena Murshud is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @RenaTagiyeva

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1 September 2023 10:47 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

A food convoy sent from Baku for the Armenian residents of Garabagh has been on the Aghdam-Khankendi road for the fourth day, Azernews reports, citing Trend.

Two trucks with 40 tonnes of flour are waiting in front of the Russian peacekeepers' post on the Aghdam-Khankendi road. Employees and volunteers of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society spent the night in tents set up on the territory.

It should be noted that on 29 August the Azerbaijani Red Crescent Society organized the delivery of food to meet the needs of people of Armenian origin living in the Garabagh economic region of Azerbaijan.

Armenia and the criminal separatist regime it created are preventing the opening of the Aghdam-Khankendi road for the delivery of the cargo.

Accompanied by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Strasbourg Mayor Zhanna Barseghyan, 10 vehicles with humanitarian cargo arrived from Yerevan at the border with Azerbaijan. The State Border Service servicemen of Azerbaijan blocked at the Lachin border checkpoint on August 30 the entry of the aid convoy sent by Paris for the Armenian-origin residents of Garabagh.

Bakus decision suits the fact that there is no humanitarian crisis in any of the Azerbaijan regions; in this regard, there were no appeals to any country to send a kind of aid.

To prevent the illegal transfer of manpower, ammunition, mines, as well as other military equipment from Armenia to the Armenian armed formations on the territory of Azerbaijan, Baku established on April 23 a border checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin road on the border with Armenia.

The move helped Baku prevent violation of the November 10 trilateral statement by Armenia, as well as take its entire frontlines under complete control.

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1 September 2023 12:46 (UTC+04:00)

According to Head of Foreign Policy Affairs, Armenia, without agreeing with Azerbaijan, brought various trucks to the Lachin border checkpoint for the purpose of populism: "Yesterday, some corrupt European politicians under the influence of the Armenian lobby also came to the border of Azerbaijan as part of this theatrical drama. Such steps do not make any sense. It is necessary to solve real issues on the spot instead of taking such showy steps.

Azerbaijan will not accept the presence of any gray zone in its territory. Some people think that they will continue the status quo, live in this separatist status, and ensure the existence of this illegitimate regime, but this will not happen, Azernews reports.

On August 15, we together with the representatives of the diplomatic corps got acquainted with the technical capabilities and delivery capacity of the Aghdam-Khankendi road on the ground. At the time, the representatives of the diplomatic corps once again witnessed that the Aghdam-Khankendi road is a road with higher capacity and efficiency. Unfortunately, Armenia and the fictitious criminal regime established by it in the Garabagh region, which it continues to support to this day, are not allowing this road to be opened due to political manipulations and speculations, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev told journalists.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that the Aghdam-Khankendi road is functioning and any cargo can be delivered to Khankendi and adjacent territories through it in a very short time. We can only regard the refusal to use this road as racism and discrimination. As part of the reintegration process, Azerbaijan is ready to ensure the rights and security of Armenian residents living in Garabagh, as well as their obligations based on the Constitution of Azerbaijan and international documents the country is party to. However, we see that they have deliberately turned the road issue into a topic of political speculation and political manipulation. This policy is deliberately supported by Armenia," he added.

Assistant to Azerbaijani President: The main goal of their pseudo-humanitarian show is to hide their true nature and intentions

Armenia has deployed various cargo vehicles at the state border with Azerbaijan, the Lachin border checkpoint without agreement with the Azerbaijani side for demonstration and populism. Yesterday, some corrupt European politicians, who are supported and influenced by the Armenian lobby, as an integral part of this theatrical drama, arrived at the Azerbaijani border. There is no need to take such steps. Instead of taking such demonstrative steps, there is a need to resolve real issues on the ground. Azerbaijan will not allow the existence of any grey zone on its territory, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev told journalists.

If anyone thinks that they will continue to maintain the current situation and ensure the existence of an illegitimate regime, living in this separatist status, this will not happen. Azerbaijan will not tolerate this at any cost. The main goal of their pseudo-humanitarian show is to hide their true nature and intentions. Their true intention, however, is to ensure the existence of the fictitious illegal regime they established in the Azerbaijani territories, which remained under the occupation at the time, and they use various excuses for this, Hajiyev emphasized.

Puppet regime and Armenia responsible for non-acceptance of food cargo

The responsibility for non-acceptance and rejection of food cargo falls entirely on the puppet regime and Armenia, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev told journalists.

Hajiyev recalled that discussions between the Azerbaijani side and the Russian peacekeeping contingent took place yesterday.

The issue of food cargo being delivered via Russian peacekeepers' vehicles was also discussed. However, the information that appeared in the mass media and social networks yesterday indicates that they are trying to prevent this through some organized protests. The delivery of food cargo here once again clearly demonstrates Azerbaijans goodwill. The responsibility for non-acceptance and rejection of food cargo falls entirely on the puppet regime and Armenia, which continues to play its role in this manipulative process, the presidential aide underlined.

Hikmat Hajiyev expressed confidence that the representatives of the diplomatic corps will convey these facts they saw with their own eyes to the relevant authorities of their countries. This is the fact that an atmosphere of a lie, which Armenians and some of their patrons created and try to create, has once again been destroyed, Hikmat Hajiyev added.

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1 September 2023 11:30 (UTC+04:00)

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the occasion of the Independence Day of this country, Azernews reports.

The letter reads:

"Dear Mr. President,

On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my most sincere congratulations and good wishes to you and all your people on the occasion of the national holiday of the fraternal Republic of Uzbekistan - Independence Day.

Today, as a result of your leadership and visionary policy, Uzbekistan is confidently advancing along the path of socio-economic development, adhering to the traditions and principles of statehood. We are particularly pleased with the important achievements of your country, the reputation it has gained in the international world and its growing successes year after year. Your active role and position in the processes taking place in the region enables Uzbekistan to host meetings and summits of the most prestigious international organizations at a high level.

Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan share true bonds of friendship and brotherhood. We are pleased that our bilateral relations and strategic partnership, built on such solid foundations, are developing year after year and becoming enriched with concrete content.

The open and active political dialogue between us, our high-level reciprocal visits, regular meetings, numerous signed documents, and successful joint projects, including the activities of the Intergovernmental Commission, play an important role in determining the positive dynamics of our cooperation and identifying new partnership directions.

A few days ago, your state visit to Azerbaijan opened a new page in the history of Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan relations and gave a strong impetus to the comprehensive development of our strategic partnership.

I am sure that we will make efforts to further strengthen our intergovernmental relations, develop the priority areas of our cooperation, continue and expand our successful joint activities within international organizations, especially the Organization of Turkic States.

On this remarkable day, I wish you good health, happiness, success in your activities, and the brotherly people of Uzbekistan everlasting peace and prosperity.

Sincerely,

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 29 August 2023 "

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1 September 2023 11:40 (UTC+04:00)

Ilgar Akif oghlu Mahmudov, who was appointed as the head of the Guba District Executive Power by the Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, was presented to the team today by the Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan - Head of the Territorial-Organization Affairs Department Zeynal Nagdaliyev with the participation of representatives of the district community, Azernews reports.

Zeynal Nagdaliyev delivered a speech at the presentation and conveyed the tasks and recommendations of the head of the country. Ilgar Mahmudov expressed gratitude for the trust shown to him.

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1 September 2023 15:12 (UTC+04:00)

The Minister of Defense, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov's working visit to the fraternal country aimed at participating in the series of events held on the occasion of the 101st anniversary of Turkiye's Victory Day continues, Azernews reports, citing the Ministry.

On August 31, Colonel General Z.Hasanov attended the graduation ceremony of the Naval Academy and Air Force Academy of the Republic of Turkiye.

The President of the Republic of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a speech in the graduation ceremonies and congratulated the graduates.

Then the graduates were awarded diplomas.

It should be noted that Colonel General Z.Hasanov presented diplomas to Azerbaijani graduates who successfully graduated from military academies.

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1 September 2023 15:37 (UTC+04:00)

A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on September 1.

The new edition includes several interesting articles, such as

"President: April 23 means complete restoration of our territorial integrity"; "Adopting resolution against Azerbaijan is surreal"; "France-Armenia proximity cannot rivet Paris in S.Caucasus"; "Expert slams Duma officials support for separatism against Azerbaijan" etc.

AZERNEWS is an associate member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

The online newspaper is available at www.azernews.az.
1 September 2023 17:10 (UTC+04:00)

A regular field meeting of the working group on clearing mines and unexploded ordnance from liberated territories operating under the Interdepartmental Center of the Coordination Headquarters established for centralized solution of issues in the lands of Azerbaijan liberated from occupation was held in Kalbajar district, Azernews reports, citing the Azerbaijani Mine Action Agency.

Chairman of the Agency's Board, head of the working group Vugar Suleymanov, authorized representatives of relevant state institutions represented in the working group, took part in the event.

Suleymanov, who made an opening speech at the meeting, informed about the progress of works carried out by demining institutions in the liberated territories in accordance with the annual work plan.

The representative of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry in the working group noted that 4719 hectares, including residential infrastructure, were cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance in Kalbajar district this year.

The meeting heard reports on mine and unexploded ordnance clearance activities, as well as on the implementation of projects identified by the government in the liberated territories, discussed the issues reflected in the reports, and provided information on the equipment and machinery involved in demining operations.

The importance of implementation of information support in interagency joint projects to ensure action to combat mine threats was emphasized, and an exchange of views was held on the prospects for cooperation in this area.

Members of the working group were informed about the mine clearance project of "Yanshak Residential Plot" implemented by the Ministry of Defense and the completed project of "Kalbajar-1" a small hydroelectric power plant within the framework of their visit to Kalbajar district.

During the mine clearance operations conducted from August 1 through August 31 in Tartar, Aghdam, Khojavand, Fuzuli, Shusha, Gubadli, Jabrail, and Zangilan, 972 antipersonnel, 1,020 anti-tank mines, and 1,121 unexploded ordnance were discovered and neutralized.

An area of 5,264.14 hectares was cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance.

In addition, during the mine clearance operations conducted from August 21 through August 27, 2023, in Tartar, Aghdam, Khojavend, Fuzuli, Shusha, Gubadli, Jabrayil, and Zangilan, 256 anti-personnel, 92 anti-tank mines, and 71 unexploded ordnance were discovered and neutralized.

An area of 528.1 hectares was cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance.

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1 September 2023 08:00 (UTC+04:00)

Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Vakhtan Tsintsadze on Thursday said the Governments reasonable macroeconomic policy was ensuring Georgia's resilience to external shocks and positive trends of economic growth would be maintained in the coming months, Azernews reports, citing Agenda.

The National Statistics Office of Georgia on Thursday released the latest gross domestic product data, which said the domestic economy grew 5.5 percent in July year-on-year and 7.2 percent in the first seven months of 2023.

Tsintsadze said growth of investment activities, as well as the positive trends observed in the trade of goods and tourism, were contributing factors to the growth.

Statistics show GDP growth was mainly driven by estimated real growth in financial and insurance activities, construction, trade, professional, and scientific and technical sectors.

Tsintsadze also noted exports grew by 15.9 percent y/y in January-July and reached $3.58 billion.

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UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific Debora Comini, second from right, poses with students in China's Qinghai province in August. Courtesy of UNICEF



Director for East Asia, Pacific finds hope in Korean gov't's outreach policies



By Ko Dong-hwan



Debora Comini, UNICEF's regional chief for East Asia and the Pacific, conveyed a sense of optimism after meeting key Korean legislators at the National Assembly last Wednesday.



The purpose of her visit to Seoul was to garner Korea's support for initiatives focused on helping vulnerable children in the region fight the climate crisis, become more climate-resilient and thrive under the protection of adults and community leaders. The discussions were marked by encouragingly positive responses.



Comini, who arrived in Seoul on Aug. 28, met with officials at Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) before her Wednesday meetings at the National Assembly.



Her regional office has requested a minimum of $500 million to roll out climate-smart social services across East Asia and the Pacific, including the five-year water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and climate change program.



She expressed satisfaction with the results of her meetings.



"They pledged support for our organization's cause at a level more than I had anticipated," Comini told The Korea Times Wednesday after her meetings with Rep. Do Jong-hwan and Rep. Lee In-young, both from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.





UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific Debora Comini, second from right, watches students in Papua, Indonesia, in 2019 when she was the representative of UNICEF Indonesia. Courtesy of UNICEF



Both lawmakers are strong supporters of UNICEF. Do heads a group of lawmakers called the Korean Parliamentary Friends of UNICEF and Lee leads the Korean Parliamentary League on Children, Population and Environment.



"They were very responsive and supportive of the UNICEF agenda, recognizing how the Korean agenda for climate change and our agenda for children under the climate risks complimented each other," she said. "We discussed very explicitly how to team up and make our collaboration more strategic."



Comini was hopeful of bringing Korean technical expertise in both academic and private sectors to realize UNICEF's campaigns.



She spoke highly of Korea's potential contributions in areas such as technology, noting that they could significantly benefit climate and child welfare programs.



Since joining UNICEF in 1991, Comini has been advocating support to address the urgent needs of millions of children in the East Asia and Pacific regions. These children face threats from water scarcity, extreme weather, and inadequate public services, with the impact more serious in economically disadvantaged areas.





UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific Debora Comini, second from right, and Head of UNICEF Seoul Liaison Office Oren Schlein, third from right, meet Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Vice President Hong Seok-hwa, second from left, in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of UNICEF
1 September 2023 18:55 (UTC+04:00)

A senior US diplomat will travel to Turkiye next week to meet with officials from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry to discuss arms control and security matters, the State Department said Thursday, Azernews reports, citing Anadolu Agency.

The State Department said in a statement that Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Mallory Stewart will travel to Jerusalem and Ankara between Sept. 4-9.

"In Ankara, Assistant Secretary Stewart will meet with MFA and Ministry of National Defense officials on strategic stability, risk reduction and current arms control and security matters," the statement said.

Stewart will also travel to Jerusalem, where she will meet with officials from the Israeli Foreign Ministry for discussions on "strategic stability, multilateral arms control, responsible uses of artificial intelligence and space security," said the statement.

Relations between Ankara and Washington have been strained in recent years due to a number of issues, including US support for the YPG/PKK in Syria and disagreements over Turkiyes purchase of Russias S-400 air defense system and Washington's sanctions on Ankara.

In 2019 under then-President Donald Trump, the US removed Turkiye from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program over Ankara's purchase of the S-400 system.

Ankara requested F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits from Washington in October 2021, which is awaiting approval from the US Congress. The $6 billion deal would include the sale of 40 jets as well as modernization kits for 79 warplanes already in the Turkish Air Forces inventory.

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1 September 2023 19:30 (UTC+04:00)

Turkiye's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) "neutralized" a PKK terrorist in a cross-border operation in northern Iraq, security sources said Friday, Azernews reports, citing Anadolu Agency.

The operation in the Sulaymaniyah district targeted Rezan Gungen, who was trained by the terrorist organization to carry out assassination and sabotage attacks against Turkish security forces, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Rezan Gungen, codenamed Rezan Botan, was actively participating in terrorist acts in Makhmour camp in Iraq.

He was also part of the youth structure of PKK.

Close relatives of Rezan Gungen: Behlul Gungen, codenamed Murat Botan; and Guler Gungen, codenamed Ruken Botan; were also neutralized by the MIT.

Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

PKK terrorists often hide out across the border, in northern Iraq, to plot attacks.

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK  listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, UK, and EU  has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

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1 September 2023 20:00 (UTC+04:00)

Peter Fischer, the German Ambassador to Georgia, on Friday said the main task now was to ensure Georgia received the European Union membership candidate status in December, Azernews reports, citing Agenda.

The German diplomat noted the outcome would be a historic opportunity for the country.

In the second half of 2023, the main task is to ensure that in December Georgia receives the status of an EU candidate country. This is a historic opportunity that we must work on together - right now, Fischer said.

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday expressed his wish to see a clearer, time-bound plan for accession of countries to the European Union, but added for Georgia the most important thing was to consistently move forward towards Europe.

Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on Wednesday said he hoped the decision of European Union member states on Georgias membership candidate status would be positive and the country would get closer to the blocs membership.

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1 September 2023 22:45 (UTC+04:00)

The French military said on Friday that it is ready to respond if any renewed tensions in Niger target its military and diplomatic facilities in the conflict-hit West African country, Azernews reports, citing Yeni Safak.

"The French army is ready to respond to any renewed tension that would target French military and diplomatic facilities in Niger," the French General Staff told Anadolu in a written statement.

Amid tensions that have risen in the weeks following the ouster of Nigers democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, the military administration's Foreign Ministry last week gave French Ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to "leave Nigerien territory."

Ambassador Itte refused to comply and remained at his post, a move that was hailed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Niger's military authority ordered the expulsion of the French ambassador Thursday in a letter addressed to the French Foreign Ministry.

Itte "no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the embassy's diplomatic staff," the military administration said.

Niger was plunged into uncertainty on July 26 when Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, a former commander of the presidential guard, led a military intervention that ousted President Bazoum.

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A shopkeeper measures radiation levels of scallops from Japan at a fishery market in Daegu, Aug. 28, as Japan has been releasing radioactive water from the crippled nuclear reactors in Fukushima into the ocean. Yonhap



More than 7 out of every 10 Koreans are opposed to Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, a public opinion poll showed Friday.



The survey conducted on 1,000 Korean adults on Tuesday and Wednesday by Research View showed 72.4 percent objecting to the discharge, while 20.4 percent were in support.



Two civic groups, the Asian Citizen's Center for Environment and Health and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, commissioned and released the poll.



On Aug. 24, Japan began discharging the radioactive water, which has been stored at the nuclear power plant since three nuclear reactors melted down in the wake of a powerful earthquake in March 2011, into the ocean.






N. Oregon Coast's Seaside Gets Mobi-Mats for Wheelchair Access

Published 08/29/23 at 4:07 p.m.

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Seaside, Oregon)  A giant blue formation has settled itself on the beaches of Seaside, echoing the ocean's color but also heralding something special for those with mobility issues. Mobi-mats have come to the north Oregon coast town, installed at the 12th Avenue access to increase access for everyone.

As the Seaside Visitor Center put it: from wheelchair users to wagon pullers and anyone who would benefit from a 'highway' through the dunes and sand toward the water line.

850 feet of mobi-mats are out there now, installed as of August 25. Seaside joins Lincoln City as the second Oregon coast town to host this, making what is likely the longest stretch of such accessibility. Seaside does, in general, have the widest beach on the coastline, however.

Like the Prom before it, this resource is intended for our community and visitors alike to enjoy for years to come, the center said.

Joshua Heineman, Seaside's Director of Tourism Marketing, said this has been in the works for awhile.

Ive been working for more than a year to get that mobi-mat out there, Heineman told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER VIDEO

Mobi Mats in Seaside Oregon Mobi-Mats have been installed on Seaside's beach at 12th Avenue to increase access for everyone, from wheelchair users to wagon pullers and anyone who would benefit from a "highway" through the dunes and sand toward the water line. With 850 feet of Mobi-Mats in place, Seaside is proud to host the longest accessible beach access of its kind on the Oregon Coast. Like the Prom before it, this resource is intended for our community and visitors alike to enjoy for years to come. The Mobi-Mats were purchased by Visit Seaside, Oregon and installed this morning by City of Seaside Public Works. The mats will remain in place seasonally, while conditions allow. Posted by City of Seaside, Oregon on Friday, August 25, 2023

They were purchased by Visit Seaside, Oregon and installed on the morning of the 25th. They will remain in place seasonally as conditions allow.

According to the Mobi-Mat company that makes them:

They are ADA compliant, portable, non-slip and roll-up, which create temporary pathways that make beach access better. They are 100 percent recycled polyester and are salt-water resistant. The ocean blue mobility mats are 450 feet long and six-and-a-half feet wide.

Seaside recently acquired a track chair to lend  an all-terrain beach wheelchair that is capable of getting over the varied landscape of Oregon coast beaches. There are also several of those in various Tillamook County towns, part of the David's Chairs program. For the David's Chairs in Seaside and Manzanita, make reservations at Davids Chair or call 503-812-5510.

In 2018, Seaside also brought on two beach wheelchairs. Outfitted with large, wide tires, the wheel chairs make it much easier for mobility-impaired persons to go on the sand.

Reservations are encouraged and can be made by calling the Bob Chisholm Community Center staff at 503-738-7393. Reservations are completely free and will be made on a first-come, first-served basis for a maximum of four hours. MORE PHOTOS BELOW

Hotels in Seaside - Where to eat - Seaside Maps and Virtual Tours







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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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Amid growing discontent among physicians on noncompete agreements, which prohibit clinicians from joining a competing practice or setting up their own within a particular distance from their previous practice for a certain period of time, many states have amended their regulations.

Here is a rundown of noncompete rules across the U.S., as laid out by attorneys from the law firm Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete on Aug. 29 in JDSupra:

Alabama: Noncompetes are enforceable only against key employees, such as those with access to trade secrets or confidential information, and are limited to two years.

California: Noncompetes are not enforceable and violate public policy.

Colorado: Noncompete agreements entered into on or after Aug. 10, 2022, cannot be used against workers who earn less than $112,500 in 2023.

District of Columbia: The wage threshold for noncompetes is $150,000 per year, or $250,000 per year for "medical specialists." Written notice of the noncompete must be provided within 30 days of an employees acceptance of employment as well as anytime the policy changes.

Georgia: Restrictions on solicitation of employees to have a geographic limitation.

Illinois: Employees who earn less than $75,000 for 2023 cannot be restricted by noncompetes. These thresholds will increase yearly through 2037. The state requires written notice to be given before entering into noncompetes: New employees must be given 14 days notice and existing employees must be given at least 14 days to review the agreement before it goes into effect.

Indiana: Noncompetes are enforceable only against key employees.

Louisiana: Noncompetes must identify the parishes/counties encompassed by the agreement by name.

Maine: Noncompetes cannot be enforced against employees who earn less than or equal to 400 percent of the federal income poverty level, which in 2023 is $14,580.

Maryland: Noncompetes can be enforced only on employees earning more than $15 per hour, or $31,000 annually  the lowest wage threshold of any state with wage requirements. Effective Oct. 1, the threshold will increase to $19.88 per hour ($19.20 for small employers).

Massachusetts: Noncompetes are not enforceable against workers who are nonexempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, 18 or younger, or undergraduate or graduate students in an internship or other short-term employment relationship while enrolled in college or graduate school.

Minnesota: The state prohibits post-employment noncompetes. However, agreements signed on or before July 1, 2023, remain enforceable.

Nebraska: The state's courts will not under any circumstances modify a noncompete to make it enforceable.

Nevada: Noncompetes are not permitted if the employee is paid only on an hourly basis. They cannot preclude an employee from providing services to any former client or customer if the employee did not solicit the former client or customer or if they chose to leave the employer and seek services from the employee. Employees can recover attorneys' fees in civil actions for noncompete violations.

New Hampshire: Noncompetes cannot be enforced against employees who earn less than or equal to two times the federal minimum wage or the state tipped minimum wage, whichever applies. Employers must provide notice of the noncompete agreements to new candidates before they accept the position.

New York: A bill passed by both chambers of the state Legislature provides for a complete ban on noncompetes. It is awaiting the signature of Gov. Kathy Hochul. The bill will not be retroactive.

North Dakota: Noncompetes are banned.

Oklahoma: Noncompetes are banned.

Oregon: For agreements entered into before Jan. 1, 2022, an employees annual gross salary and commissions must exceed the median family income for a four-person family.

For agreements entered on or after Jan. 1, 2022, the employee's annual salary and commissions must exceed $108,576 for 2023.

Rhode Island: Noncompetes are not enforceable against workers who are nonexempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, 18 or younger, or undergraduate or graduate students in an internship or other short-term employment relationship while enrolled in college or graduate school, or earn less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level ($36,450 in 2023).

Virginia: Employees must earn a minimum of $70,000 to be eligible for noncompete agreements. This threshold does not apply to workers who earn based on commissions, incentives or bonuses.

Washington: Noncompetes are not enforceable against employees earning less than or equal to $116,593.18 per year, or $291,482.95 for independent contractors, for 2023.

Wisconsin: Noncompetes are enforceable only against key employees with access to trade secrets or confidential or proprietary information.
Lynch Carpenter, a national class action law firm, is investigating claims against Cumming, Ga.-based Milan Eye Center related to a data breach.

A third-party vendor of Milan Eye Center experienced a data breach that compromised certain patient information after an unauthorized party gained access to information that was maintained by the vendor.

The data, which includes names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth, was accessed between May 18 and July 23, 2020.

The law firm claims that patients who received care from Milan Eye Center before July 23, 2020, may be eligible for compensation, the release said.
A swath of anti-LGBTQ bills that have moved through the Louisiana legislature throughout 2023 prompted Jake Kleinmahon, MD  one of only a few pediatric cardiologists in the state who handle heart transplants  to depart the state with his husband, CNN reported Sept. 1.

Four bills in the Louisiana legislature 2023 have targeted LGBTQ rights in some manner, according to the ACLU's tracker. The environment became one that Dr. Kelinmahon decided was no longer suitable for him as a practicing physician or in which to raise his family, he told CNN.

Dr. Kleinmahon was the medical director of pediatric heart transplant, heart failure and ventricular assist device programs at Ochsner Hospital for Children in New Orleans, according to NBC News.

He said he knows his departure "is going to affect care," he told CNN. The absolute hardest part is me saying goodbye to my patients. I dont know how many families in the last couple [of] weeks have just melted into my arms in tears when I tell them that Im leaving."
While generative artificial intelligence will "completely" reshape primary care, there's still a "huge gap between hype and reality" for healthcare AI, a Mount Sinai Health System leader told Becker's.

For instance, most primary care visits will one day be transcribed by AI, which will know who's talking and put it into context via the patient's EHR before automatically creating a summary, said Thomas Fuchs, chair of AI and human health at the New York City-based health system.

"All conversations will be AI-supported in the future. Primary care will change completely," he said. "But I think that's clear to see for everyone already."

Mount Sinai is piloting generative AI for chatting with patients, triaging messaging for physicians, and creating safe chat environments for providers, he said. The health system uses a HIPAA-compliant GPT model from Microsoft.

It is also employing large language models to extract patient phenotypes from deidentified EHR data for research in areas such as genomics and pathology, as well as teaching medical students about their optimal usage.

But while healthcare AI has "enormous potential," there is also a significant amount of noise to sort through, Dr. Fuchs said. He gave the example of pathology, which has only one AI solution that's been approved by the FDA.

"So if you contrast that with the hype and the 12,000 health tech startups and so forth, there's a huge gap between hype and reality," he said. "There's, of course, a long way to go. We're just scratching the surface with what's possible with generative AI and large language models. But we are, as an institution, committed to use it where it makes sense."
Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic's partnerships with YouTube have helped the health systems spread reliable information as the video platform looks to crack down on medical misinformation.

"In partnership with YouTube, we created video content with a focus on credible health information around some of the most popular conditions on its channel," Amanda Todorovich, Cleveland Clinic's executive director of digital marketing, told Becker's.

The health system's channel has nearly 450,000 subscribers and more than 4,500 uploaded videos. The channel's popular content includes a mix of patient stories, such as an account of the health system's third face transplant and informative videos outlining warning signs of certain health conditions.

In 2021, YouTube partnered with Cleveland Clinic as part of an initiative to create credible healthcare content on the platform. The video content platform has recently begun to take a stricter stance on medical misinformation after a 2021 study found that 71 percent of COVID-19 misinformation was recommended by its algorithm.

YouTube stepped up its efforts to crack down on vaccine information in September 2021. At the beginning of August 2023, YouTube renewed efforts to remove cancer misinformation through a partnership with the Mayo Clinic.

"We recently developed a series of condition-based videos working to dispel some of the inaccuracies our physicians are hearing from consumers  these videos were on a variety of serious and complex conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and kidney cancer," said Alexander White, senior marketing director at Mayo Clinic.

"Our next initiative with YouTube is going to focus solely on cancer and we are excited to create new content to help further provide a trusted resource for consumers seeking information on serious or complex cancer conditions," said Alexander White, senior marketing director at Mayo Clinic.

The Rochester, Minn.-based health system's YouTube channel currently stands at 1 million subscribers. Mayo Clinic officials said that its reach has been boosted through its partnership with YouTube and its authority as a source of legitimate health information.

"Mayo Clinic's YouTube channel has been accredited by the National Academy of Medicine," said Mr. White. "This designation appears below all of our videos, helping consumers to recognize trusted sources."

"We have doubled our channel subscribers in the past two years since starting the collaboration with YouTube in 2021, and it's a strong indicator of consumers who are continuously seeking content from our channel. These consumers are most likely trusting our content and repeatedly visiting our channel for information on a variety of serious and complex conditions."
Inglewood, Calif.-based Centinela Hospital Medical Center is ending maternal child health services on Oct. 25 amid continued fallout over the death of a patient earlier this year.

The Prime Healthcare facility wrote on its website in July that demand for maternal health has decreased, leading the hospital "to focus on growing other essential services based on community needs."

The hospital has recently faced scrutiny over the death of April Valentine, a 31-year-old Black woman who died shortly after giving birth via C-section at the facility in January. Following her death, investigators from the California Department of Public Health found several patient safety concerns at the hospital.

"State investigators found that for several patients in the labor and delivery unit, medical records did not show appropriate steps being taken to address the risk of blood clots. " The Los Angeles Times reported, and "faulted for nurses failing to tell a doctor when a patient in labor had concerning readings for their own vital signs or that of the fetus, as well as not following up when the patient complained of leg heaviness."

In August, California fined the hospital $75,000 for "deficient practices" that led to a patient's death, the Times reported.

On Aug. 29, NBC News reported that the family of Ms. Valentine has filed a lawsuit against the hospital, alleging wrongful death and professional negligence, along with demanding a jury trial.

A spokesperson for Prime Healthcare told NBC it "disputes the allegations made against the hospital and is dedicated to delivering compassionate, quality care to all patients."

"Our healthcare team reflects the varied ethnic and racial makeup of the community," the spokesperson said. "Of note, every physician that currently provides labor and delivery services at Centinela is African American and the majority of the nurses and other team members are people of color."

Centinela told Becker's in a previous statement that it had "taken numerous steps in response to this isolated and tragic incident, including conducting an internal review and fully cooperating with all investigations such as the California Department of Public Health's (CDPH), where Centinela immediately addressed and resolved findings appropriate to the satisfaction of CDPH."

The hospital spokesperson also said the facility was previously designated as a "Baby-friendly hospital" and is "committed to ending preventable morbidity, mortality and racial disparities in California maternity care."






Estes Park (Colo.) Health CIO Gary Hall plans to retire after 18 years with the health system.

During his tenure, Mr. Hall oversaw the migration to an Epic EHR in 2019 via a Community Connect partnership with Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth; converted the radiology suite to digital; and created redundancy of IT systems to prevent downtime. At one time, Estes Park Health relied on a single fiber link into town.

"We had six megabits of internet access when I arrived," Mr. Hall said in an Aug. 30 news release. "Now, with Trailblazer (the town's community-owned and -operated internet service), for which we were strong advocates, and other steps forward, we enjoy internet line redundancy and many gigabits of critical broadband service."

Mr. Hall also dealt with a 2013 flood that cut off internet and cell service, helped ensure a 2019 ransomware attack didn't affect patient care, and set up an IT hub in a friend's basement in nearby Loveland during a 2020 wildfire evacuation. He previously worked as an IT director for Experian.
An explosion at a public bathhouse in the southeastern city of Busan injured 23 people, including firefighters and local public officials, who were nearby to extinguish a fire that erupted earlier, Sept. 1. Yonhap



A fire and an explosion struck a bathhouse in the southeastern city of Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Friday, injuring 23 people, including the ward's chief and firefighters, according to police the same day.



The blaze erupted at 1:40 p.m., and firefighters brought the main flames under control before an unidentified explosion occurred.





An explosion at a public bathhouse in the southeastern city of Busan injured 23 people, including firefighters and local public officials, who were nearby to extinguish a fire that erupted earlier, Sept. 1. Yonhap



The sudden explosion left 23 people injured, including firefighters and civil servants nearby, with two sustaining serious injuries after they were hit by debris from the blast, according to the fire authorities.



No customers were in the bathhouse as it was closed for the day, officials said.





An explosion at a public bathhouse in the southeastern city of Busan injured 23 people, including firefighters and local public officials, who were nearby to extinguish a fire that erupted earlier, Sept. 1. Yonhap



Kim Jin-hong, the chief of Busan's Dong Ward who was inspecting the site at the time, was also being treated at a hospital.



A witness said he heard a big bang two times and saw the building shake.





A public bathhouse is seen (red circle) damaged after unidentified explosions during a fire in Busan, Sept. 1. Yonhap
Rosalind "Roz" Brewer  a former Starbucks and Sam's Club executive  has stepped down as CEO of Walgreens Boot Alliance after taking on the position in March 2021, the retail chain said Sept. 1.

In a statement, Walgreens said Ms. Brewer and the board of directors "mutually agreed" she would step down from the helm and as a board member, effective Aug. 31. Ms. Brewer became CEO at the start of the nation's COVID-19 vaccine rollout and led a team that put technology in place for the vaccine scheduling system.

Ginger Graham, the lead independent director of Walgreens, will serve as interim CEO while the company searches for a permanent CEO with "deep healthcare experience." Ms. Graham is the former CEO of Amylin pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, Ms. Brewer will continue to advise Walgreens throughout the search process.

Her departure comes as Walgreens pursues a strategy to position itself more as a healthcare company rather than a pharmacy chain.

"The retail side of the business, where Ms. Brewer has much more experience, is simply not an area that Walgreens wants to pursue as a major growth opportunity," retail analyst and GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders told CNBC. Ms. Brewer is the former COO and group president at Starbucks. Before that, she was president and CEO of Sam's Club.

"On behalf of the entire board, I would like to thank Roz for her contributions to WBA," Walgreens' executive chairman, Stefano Pessina, said in a statement. "She furthered our consumer-facing capabilities while supporting the culture of community and team-member engagement in difficult times. We appreciate her hard work and commitment to the company during this period of unprecedented change."

The company's stock has fallen over the past two years alongside a drop in COVID-19 vaccine demand and retail sales. Over the same time period, the company has invested heavily in primary care and home health. In January, VillageMD, which is majority owned by Walgreens, completed its acquisition of SummitHealth, adding more than 2,800 providers to its ranks. The deal was worth $8.9 billion. Walgreens also completed its acquisition of home healthcare company CareCentrix in March. And earlier this summer, the company said it is seeking a CFO with healthcare experience.

"I am grateful to have had the opportunity to lead Walgreens Boots Alliance and to work alongside such talented and dedicated colleagues," Ms. Brewer said in a company statement. "I am confident that WBA is on track to be a leading consumer-centric healthcare company, serving thousands of communities across the country, especially those that need access to healthcare the most."






Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas, said it canceled a recent bargaining session after members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, held a "walk-in" to hand deliver their staffing proposal to leaders.

The cancellation and walk-in took place Aug. 31 as union members and the hospital are negotiating a new labor contract. The union represents 900 nurses at Ascension Seton, which is part of St. Louis-based Ascension. Union members at Ascension Seton were among nurses at three Ascension hospitals in Texas and Kansas who went on strike in June.

Since the strike, hospital management has not provided adequate solutions to fix unsafe working conditions, nurses said, according to ABC affiliate KVUE. This resulted in the walk-in to hand the director of the intensive care unit and the director of med-surg for Ascension Seton their staffing proposal.

"They've had many opportunities to settle this contract and to make the changes that need to happen for our patients, and they've chosen not to," said Lindsay Spinney, BSN, RN, a neonatal ICU nurse at Ascension Seton, according to KVUE.

Ms. Spinney also told the TV station that "at any point in time, a nurse could be responsible for up to possibly six patients, which is very unsafe in a critical care setting."

Ascension Seton condemned the union's actions Aug. 31 as "unprofessional, disrespectful and in blatant violation of the decorum by which negotiations are managed" and said they canceled the day's bargaining session to protect the well-being of the bargaining team.

The hospital also emphasized its commitment to negotiating with the union in good faith.

"It is unfortunate that NNU chooses to conduct themselves in this manner and continues to focus on publicity stunts as opposed to what is important  reaching agreement at the bargaining table and doing what is right for our nurses, patients, hospital and community. Unfortunately, such antics only slow the process," Ascension Seton said in a statement shared with Becker's.
Lompoc (Calif.) Valley Medical Center has agreed to pay $5 million to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to Medi-Cal related to Medicaid Adult Expansion under the ACA.

Medi-Cal was expanded in 2014 to cover the previously uninsured "adult expansion" population  those ages 19 to 64 without dependent children with annual incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, according to an Aug. 30 Justice Department news release. The federal government funded the expansion coverage for the first three years of the program.

The settlement resolves allegations that Lompoc Valley Medical Center knowingly submitted false claims to Medi-Cal pursuant to agreement executed by the health system with CenCal, according to the release. CenCal Health is a county organized health system that contracts to arrange for the provision of services under Medi-Cal.

Prosecutors alleged that the payments were not "allowed medical expenses'' permissible under the contract between California's Department of Health Care Services and CenCal; were predetermined amounts that did not reflect the fair market value of services provided; and the enhanced services were duplicative of services already required to be rendered. They also alleged that the payments were unlawful gifts of public funds in violation of the California Constitution.

The settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Julio Bordas, MD, CenCal's former medical director.

The settlement brings the Justice Department's total recovery in the matter to $95.5 million, according to the release. CenCal, Cottage Health System, Sansum Clinic and Community Health Centers of the Central Coast previously paid $68 million, and San Francisco-based Dignity Health and two Tenet Healthcare-affiliated facilities in California previously paid $22.5 million to settle similar False Claims Act allegations.
A former patient filed a lawsuit against Milwaukee-based Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin claiming clinicians left part of a surgical drain in his leg after an operation, WISN reported Aug. 31.

Nestor Vega received the operation in September 2020 after a car accident. The broken-off surgical drain was not removed until Dec. 15, 2020. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Vega's condition continued to worsen.

The lawsuit does not specify the exact amount Mr. Vega is seeking but his attorney said it would be in the "millions."

"We are empathetic to any patient whose expectations have not been met during their course of care," a Froedtert Health spokesperson told Becker's. "Due to patient privacy laws and ongoing litigation, we are not commenting further."
The Biden administration shared details about its new program as part of the Cancer Moonshot project, which will aim to build robust mRNA platforms that can "to train the immune system to more effectively fight cancer and other diseases," according to an Aug. 23 news release.

Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta will lead the effort  known as project "CureIt"  using $24 million in new funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

CureIt's primary goal is to "create a toolbox of mRNA and related technologies that could be used to "turn on" helpful immune responses, like prompting immune cells to target and attack tumors" the release states. "A toolbox of mRNA platforms offers the potential to transform the fight against cancer and other difficult diseases."
Health officials in Virginia are warning clinicians about an outbreak of meningococcal disease, according to an Aug. 30 news release from the state's department of health.

Since June 2022, the state has seen three times as many cases than what is typical in one year's time. So far, five individuals have died in that time.

"VDH has not identified a common risk factor; however, genetic sequencing of available specimens has confirmed that the cases are highly genetically related," the release states.

So far, cases have been most common among Black adults between 30 and 60 years old. Other cases have also been identified by state health officials in individuals who were not vaccinated against the disease.
Sterilization Services plans to close its flagship site in Memphis, Tenn., which sterilizes medical equipment, by April 30, 2024, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The legal advocacy organization said the 45,000-square-foot processing and warehouse facility has been emitting toxic levels of ethylene oxide for more than four decades. Sterilization Services plans to open a new location outside Memphis after closing the site, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

High exposure to ethylene oxide, or EtO, has been associated with the risk of cancer, reproductive health issues and neurotoxicity. The Environmental Protection Agency has been cracking down on EtO emissions, and in August 2022, it listed 23 medical sterilizer facilities producing dangerous levels of EtO  including Sterilization Service's Memphis location.

The EPA proposed new emission standards in April, but the American Hospital Association pushed back because EtO is used to sterilize about half of all medical supplies in the U.S. The AHA requested an explanation for its proposed requirement that sterilization facilities reduce their EtO emissions to 10 parts per billion.
A group of lawmakers wrote a letter to Robert Califf, MD, the U.S. FDA commissioner, pushing for stricter guidance for bone grafts in light of a recent spate of tuberculosis linked to orthopedic products.

The Aug. 29 letter from Debbie Stabenow D-Mich., Gary Peters D-Mich., John Moolenaar R-Mich. and Debbie Dingell D-Mich. homes in on Azyio Biologics, which was involved in 2021 and 2023 recalls of its bone graft products. In both instances, bone graft products were found to be tainted by tuberculosis, and the infected lots came from a single donor.

The lawmakers recommend the FDA consider guidelines from the American Association of Tissue Banks' bulletin, which outlines donor ineligibility criteria including TB exposure, infection, travel history and age.

"While Azyio took proactive testing precautions after the 2021 incident, these precautions were not sufficient to prevent an outbreak two years later," the letter said. "Under the Public Health Service Act, the FDA has authority to determine the parameters of tested communicable diseases . As TB incidence is lower compared to the aforementioned diseases, the prevalence and devastating impacts of these outbreaks calls for prompt action from the FDA."




By Kang Hyun-kyung







U.S. lawmakers Christopher Smith and Jeff Merkley, co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), released an open letter calling for a meeting with two U.N. high commissioners to discuss ways to prevent Beijing from repatriating North Korean defectors held in China.







Their open letter was unveiled on Thursday (Seoul time) as North Korea opened its border with China on Sunday to allow its workers to return home.







The reopening of the North Korea-China border, after being closed since January 2020 in the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, has become a source of concern as a massive humanitarian crisis looms. As many as 2,000 North Korean defectors are currently detained in China and are feared to be repatriated back to the North against their will.







, Rep. Smith and Sen. Merkley requested U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and the High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi to set up a meeting to discuss ways to prevent China from sending the North Koreans back to the North.







"We would like to request either an on-line or in-person meeting with both of you, either jointly or separately, to discuss the further steps that the U.N. can take to prevent forced repatriation and avert a potential mass human rights crisis," the letter reads.


Michael Hewitt of NIs DoubleBand Films discusses an upcoming programme, documenting events that took place during WW2

I have often felt that making a documentary film is like being given a passport. One that grants you privileged access to peoples lives and stories.

But rarely  if ever  have I felt as privileged as I did one Sunday afternoon last September, when I sat opposite Janine Webber in her beautiful north London home.

Just weeks earlier my colleague at DoubleBand Films and the producer of our documentary, Mary Johnston, had located Janine and asked her to share her story with us. Now she was doing so, on camera.

Janine was born in the city of Lviv  then part of Poland but now in western Ukraine  in 1932. Her family belonged to the citys sizeable Jewish community and she enjoyed a normal and happy childhood, along with friends from neighbouring Ukrainian and Polish households.

Then, in July 1941, everything changed. When the Nazis arrived.

Ukraine Holocaust Ground Zero. Credt: Hamburger Institut fur Sozialforschung

As she showed us evocative family photographs  images that should have been the source of happy memories  Janine pointed out her many relatives who would soon lose their lives. Aunts, uncles, cousins, a grandmother - smiling faces, captured in black and white - that spoke of an appalling campaign of murder.

Among them were Janines father, who was shot shortly after the occupation of Lviv, her mother, who died of typhus in the Lviv ghetto - and her younger brother, who was just seven years old when the Nazis buried him alive.

When we talk of the Holocaust, Im sure most of us think of the concentration camps and gas chambers. The very names of places such as Auschwitz, Treblinka and Dachau are seared into our collective consciousness.

But what do we know about the terrible events at Babyn Yar, a ravine just outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv? Or those at the town of Kamianets-Podolskyi in south-western Ukraine?

Read more New series about the Magdalene Laundry scandal shows producers' lack of knowledge of Ireland

And what do we know about the war crimes trials held in the Soviet Union, including in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Kyiv, footage of which features in our documentary?

When Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa  his invasion of the Soviet Union  at the end of June 1941, the Wehrmacht made rapid progress eastwards, not least across Ukraine. Behind it came the Einsatzgruppen, killing squads which targeted, amongst others, Soviet officials and Jewish men of military age.

Within weeks, however, the Einsatzgruppen were ordered to expand their range of victims  to include all Jews. And so, in August 1941 the Nazis, with support from local collaborators, shot 23,600 Jewish men, women and children at Kamianets-Podolsky, before burying them in a mass grave. And they did all of this in just two days.

Jews assembled at Lubny, Urkaine prior to the massacre. Credit: Hamburger Institut fur Sozialforschung

This was seven months before the Nazis deportation of Jews to Auschwitz would get underway. As Vadim Altskan, an historian and archivist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, says in our documentary, the massacre at Kamianets-Podolskyi was the Nazis first organised mass killing of Jews, regardless of age or sex. It was, he says, Holocaust Ground Zero.

What took place at Kamianets-Podolskyi was repeated in towns and villages across Ukraine, as the Nazis embarked on their Final Solution. And in September 1941 they reached the capital, Kyiv. There, at a ravine called Babyn Yar, they shot almost 34,000 Jewish men, women and children  in one weekend.

The scale of such massacres was such that, contrary to what many of us might have believed, more people were shot during the Holocaust than were gassed  and many of those who perished in this way were Ukrainian Jews. As the historian Alex J Kay points out in our documentary: You have to address the Holocaust in Ukraine if you are looking at the genocide of Europes Jews. Its a centre of Jewish suffering.

Babyn Yar following the massacre. Credit: Hamburger Institut fur Sozialforschung

But can we even begin to imagine the scenes that unfolded at such mass shootings? How do we comprehend the mindset of the killers as they set about their days work? How can we imagine the sheer terror of their victims, as they witnessed the killings of others and knew their own lives, and those of their loved ones, would soon end?

In fact, it was concern over the impact of the mass shootings on their own men  not their victims - that led the Nazis to look for other ways to carry out their campaign of genocide. And while mass shootings continued, in Ukraine and elsewhere in the Soviet Union, the Nazis began to experiment with the use of gas vans. It was the beginning of the path that led, ultimately, to the gas chambers.

As we researched the documentary and discussed it with Channel 4 - a process that began several months before the outbreak of the current war in Ukraine  much of this was a history that we were only learning about ourselves.

Our research also resulted in the surreal and disturbing experience of exploring events that took place in Ukraine during the Second World War, while reports of war crimes - perpetrated on the same soil by Vladimirs Putins troops  were beginning to emerge.

As she speaks movingly in the documentary about the murder of her young brother and of so many other members of her family during the Second World War, Janine asks: Can you understand how it is possible? How can one do this?

It feels like a question that continues to hang in the air.

Janine Webber with her mother and brother

Ukraine: Holocaust Ground Zero will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 10pm on Monday, September 4. It is a DoubleBand Films production for Channel 4, made with support from Northern Ireland Screen. Michael Hewitt is co-founder of the award-winning Belfast based production company DoubleBand Films.
Lonely Planet at 50: Meet the Belfast woman who co-founded a guidebook empire and showed us the world

Maureen and Tony Wheeler revolutionised independent global travel with their Lonely Planet guidebooks. As the first one nears its 50th birthday, Belfast-born Maureen reflects on her adventures

Maureen with baby elephant, northern Thailand, 1974

Aine Toner Fri 1 Sep 2023 at 17:35

As a newly married couple, Maureen and Tony Wheeler travelled the hippy trail backpacking route from England to Australia. Six months after leaving Essex, they arrived in Sydney with 27 cents between them.
A Co Armagh man who murdered his neighbour shot him twice in the chest at close range in an incident which bore all the hallmarks of an execution, a court heard today.

Stephen Barriskill (63) was killed in the bedroom of his home on the Whitesides Hill area of Portadown on the evening of October 26, 2021.

His neighbour Connor Lawrence McNeill pleaded guilty earlier this year to his murder and was handed a life sentence.

Read more Co Armagh man jailed for life after pleading guilty to murder of neighbour Stephen Barriskill

The 55-year-old father-of-three appeared at Belfast Crown Court today where a defence barrister revealed McNeill shot his neighbour after a series of threats were issued against him and his family.

McNeill was told by Judge Patricia Smyth that the minimum term he will spend in prison before being considered eligible for release will be imposed at a later date.

Prior to this, the Belfast Recorder heard submissions from both the Crown and defence regarding the murder.

Crown barrister Neil Connor KC said that, prior to the murder, Mr Barriskill and McNeill lived in the same rural area and had been friends for many years, but that in the spring of 2021 there was a breakdown in that relationship.

Stephen Barriskill

The court heard the falling-out occurred after McNeill told Mr Barriskill he should have been taking better care of his frail and elderly father.

Mr Connor said that around 10.50pm on October 26, 2021, McNeill loaded his legally held shotgun with two cartridges then left his Whitesides Hill home.

He then walked the half-mile to Mr Barriskills home and entered via an unlocked door.

After hearing snoring coming from the bedroom, he entered that room and shot Mr Barriskill twice in the chest from close range.

Following this, he left the property and arrived back at his own home around 11.15pm. McNeill then got into his car and travelled to a friends house where he consumed Buckfast wine and cocaine.

He returned home around 3am, got into bed and told his wife: Ive just shot Stephen Barriskill.

McNeills wife, who was not fully awake, told her husband to go to sleep. When they both woke up later that morning, she asked what he had meant, to which he told her: I wish I could turn back the clock but I cant. I done [sic] it to protect youse.

Mrs McNeill then drove her husband to Lurgan police station, where he told officers he had shot Mr Barriskill the night before.

Over the course of five interviews, McNeill said Mr Barriskill had been threatening him and his family.

McNeill said his wife had helped look after Mr Barriskills father before he passed away in June 2021 and that he and Mr Barriskill fell out when he had words with his neighbour about shortcomings in the care of his elderly father.

Claiming that Mr Barriskill issued multiple threats against him and his family over the following months, McNeill said he flipped, went to Mr Barriskills house and shot him twice in the chest.

He told police that when he arrived at Mr Barriskills home, he only intended to scare him with the shotgun, but that, after entering the bedroom, Mr Barriskill woke up and turned on the light.

McNeill added that, after telling Mr Barriskill that the threats had to stop, Mr Barriskill acknowledged the shotgun and said: If you are going to use that, youd better use it now or else Im going to send some boys down to kill your whole family.

He also claimed that Mr Barriskill then reached for the gun and that a shot was discharged, followed by a second shot.

Mr Connor told Judge Smyth the murder bore all the hallmarks of an execution and that, when police went to Mr Barriskills home, they found his remains in the bedroom.

McNeill subsequently pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Barraskill on October 26, 2021, and to possessing a shotgun and two cartridges with intent to endanger life on the same date

Defence barrister Niall Hunt KC said that, prior to the shooting, his client was regarded as an honest, hard-working family man.

Saying McNeill has expressed genuine and total remorse to the deceaseds family, Mr Hunt also spoke of the devastation the incident has had on the McNeill family.

The barrister spoke of the impact the threats had on his client, which he said were made via text messages, telephone calls and face-to-face conversations.

He also spoke of a threat made to McNeills daughter ten days before the gun attack.

Saying his client believed Mr Barriskill was capable of carrying out the threats, Mr Hunt said that, on the night in question, McNeill only intended on scaring the deceased, but he fully accepted his actions.

Following the lengthy plea hearing, Judge Smyth said: The issues in this case are unusual and particularly complex and I will take some time to reflect on everything that has been said.

I cant give a date for sentencing now, but I will prioritise this so the family [of the deceased] can begin to get some closure.
Granting an appeal by Sharyar Ali at Newry County Appeal Court, Judge Gordon Kerr KC ruled out a confession by the 35-year-old because he was not properly cautioned by the police.

It is absolutely clear from the tenor and tone of the questioning throughout the interview, taken as a whole, that this was an offence which was suspected by the police from the outset and one which, in those circumstances, he should have been cautioned for.

Not only should he have been cautioned for it, but upon admission he should have been cautioned again and asked to repeat the admission concerned.

These cases can be a fine line between whether cases should proceed or not proceed. In this case, I consider it falls in line of exclusion Its accepted by the prosecution that the appeal must be successful because the evidence is not sufficient to justify the conviction in this case and, accordingly, I allow the appeal.

Appearing on behalf of Ali, defence counsel Michael Halleron had argued that the Crown couldnt prove when the Pakistani national had entered the UK, a vital ingredient of the offence against him.

He also argued that any confession should be ruled out, as Ali, who at the time was being questioned by murder detectives about the shocking killing of infant Hunter McGlennon, had not been properly cautioned.

A Public Prosecution Service lawyer had argued, however, that on November 26 Ali had the care of little Hunter and, highlighting that Ali is serving a life sentence for the murder, she told the court that during police interviews, under caution, he admits that he came here on November 26 with the baby and the baby was murdered on November 26 when the baby had been in his care.

Ali told police he had crossed the border to a casino in Monaghan, and the lawyer argued that, on the day Hunter died, he came back north and took the baby back to Keady, so he had to enter NI illegally.

Hunter McGleenon with his mother Nicole

Read more PSNI searching for 21 long-term missing persons

Last October, Ali, now with an address as HMP Maghaberry but previously from Westerna Terrace in Monaghan, was sentenced to a minimum of 13 years behind bars for the shocking murder of 11-month-old Hunter McGleenon on November 26, 2019.

Ali had been in a relationship with Hunters mother, Nicole, and had been caring for the baby while she visited a sick relative.

He was about to go on trial at Newry Crown Court in April last year when, with Hunters grieving mum and relatives sitting just a few feet from him, he confessed that he was guilty of murder.

Sentencing Ali last October, Mr Justice McFarland outlined how Hunters death was caused by blunt trauma to the head and that it was crystal clear the injuries were not due to the baby falling off the sofa, as Ali had originally claimed.

He told the court that medical evidence confirmed there were 19 areas of head and neck injury to Hunter that may not relate to 19 separate episodes of trauma, but it does reflect multiple injuries to this area nonetheless.

The judge also said it was the opinion of the assistant state pathologist that those injuries had been caused by either direct trauma, or blows or kicks and/or by shaking Hunter.

Initially, Ali was ordered to serve a minimum of 13 years behind bars, but the PPS appealed that, deeming it unduly lenient given the vulnerabilities of his victim, and, accordingly, the Court of Appeal increased the killers minimum tariff to 16 years.
A north Belfast man today narrowly avoided going to prison after he was caught dealing drugs and having an illegal firearm.

Hugh Martin (33), of Antigua Street in the Ardoyne area, was handed a combination order of 18 months on probation and 75 hours of unpaid work.

The defendant had previously pleaded guilty to possessing herbal cannabis with intent to supply and possessing a firearm without a certificate, namely an airgun.

Belfast Crown Court heard police carried out a search at Martins home on December 9, 2021, under a drugs warrant.

It was the prosecutions case that Martin co-operated with the search and told officers he had an airgun and cannabis in the house.

He produced several airguns from a bedroom wardrobe, along with four plastic tubs of herbal cannabis, said prosecution barrister James Johnston.

During the search, a total of 13 plastic tubs with a combined weight of 261 grams of herbal cannabis were found.

Various drug-dealing paraphernalia, including empty deal bags, scales and dealer lists were recovered.

An analysis of his mobile phone revealed text conversations in which people were contacting him about buying drugs who appeared to be regular customers.

One of the the airguns was capable of discharging a projectile with the energy of 3.56 joules, which was greater than the one-joule limit and so required a firearms licence.

A bag containing ball bearings, airsoft bullets and a gas canister was also recovered from his home.

Read more Father jailed for assaulting young sons over five-year-period and slapping baby daughter

After initially responding no comment to police questions, Martin later admitted that the drugs were for his own personal use.

The court heard that, in an agreed basis of plea between the prosecution and defence, it was now accepted that Martin was dealing drugs to friends and regular customers and was supplying a better quality of herbal cannabis than a street dealer.

Martin told the Probation Service that he had been smoking cannabis since the age of 15 and had been a daily user.

When his father died, the defendant inherited 2,500 and decided to use the money to buy cannabis in bulk and sell it on to friends.

He said that two months before his arrest, he had noticed his daily use of cannabis was having an impact on his mental health and had asked his GP for a referral over his addiction issue.

He added that some of the guns belonged to friends and family and were used at airsoft venues but when the Covid pandemic hit, the weapons remained at his home.

Defence barrister Martin Morgan said there was no evidence to suggest that Martin was using the guns in conjunction with his drug-dealing activities.

Judge Mark Reel said that, although the custody threshold had been passed, he had decided a community-based order would benefit Martin in his rehabilitation away from drugs and would protect the public from further harm.

The court ordered the destruction of the drugs, the airgun and drug-related paraphernalia.
Police have commenced an investigation into the matter.

Police say details of serving police officers posted publicly in Co Londonderry were incorrect.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd previously said that a poster containing details of three serving officers was placed in a bus shelter on Chapel Road in Dungiven on Thursday night.

However a re-issued statement says a banner claiming to contain details of three serving officers was erected in the town.

The senior officer previously said those affected were made aware of the incident and insisted the force recognises the impact it may have on them and their families.

This was a clear attempt to intimidate police officers, staff and their families but police can confirm that the information contained on the poster is incorrect," the senior officer clarified on Friday night.

It comes after a councillor revealed that a serving police officer is distraught after the poster connecting three people to the PSNI was put up.

Sean McGlinchey said another of those named had no links at all to the PSNI, while the third had left some time ago.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd. Pic: Rebecca Black/PA Wire

The Sinn Fein representative, who has spoken to the three families involved, said he had been told by one of those named that they had no connection to the PSNI, while another had left it earlier this year.

He told the Belfast Telegraph: One of them was absolutely never in the PSNI; no connection to the PSNI and nothing to do with them. They are really distraught over this.

The second family I met, the person was a serving PSNI officer and had resigned six months ago because she was disillusioned with the type of support police got in the community. She left the PSNI and is now pursuing a different career.

The third family, the person is a serving PSNI officer. I met with them to show that the community support is there for them.

I left them there and their mother especially is distraught. They are distraught. Theres a bigger family connection here, its not just the individual affected, and its caused a lot of distress and concern within the village.

I would like to stress that Dungiven is a thriving, cross-community group. This list does not represent this community. An investigation has been launched into the incident which comes after details of 10,000 police officers and staff were mistakenly released to the public by the PSNI and published online last month in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.

Mr Todd has insisted the safety and welfare of all officers and staff remains our priority and confirmed additional security and reassurance patrols have already been implemented across Northern Ireland as part of our organisational response.

We have commenced an investigation into this matter and I appeal to anyone with any information relating to this incident to contact police on 101.

"We are particularly keen to hear from anyone who was travelling through Dungiven last night and who has any dash cam footage.

City of London Police Assistant Commissioner Peter ODoherty has been appointed to lead an independent review into the data breach on August 8.

The incident sparked anger among many police officers and staff who felt their safety had been compromised by the publication of the data online.

One man  Christopher Paul OKane  has been charged in relation to the breach.

The 50-year-old from Main Street, Feeny appeared in court on August 21 facing charges of possessing documents or records likely to be useful to terrorists and possession of two mobile phones for use in terrorism.

The publication of the details  as well as two further data breaches in Newtownabbey and the M2 motorway  came just weeks before a High Court ruled two junior officers had been unlawfully disciplined for their actions during an arrest at a Troubles commemoration.

The ruling has heaped further pressure on PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne, who said following a lengthy Police Board meeting on Thursday night that he would be appealing the judgement.

A number of politicians have called for his resignation this week, while Mr Byrne could also be set to face a number of no confidence motions from various police trade unions next week.
PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne leaves James House in Belfast after a special meeting of the Policing Board (Liam McBurney/PA Wire)

The DUP has submitted a motion of no confidence in the PSNI Chief Constable to the Policing Board.

It comes after Simon Byrne refused to resign following an emergency meeting of the board on Thursday.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said it is disappointing and perplexing that the most senior officer cancelled a planned meeting on Friday afternoon.

"Had the meeting gone ahead we would have had the opportunity to inform him of our desire for change and intention to submit to the Policing Board a motion to be debated at the earliest opportunity, he added.

"Confidence in the Chief Constable has been eroded, both amongst the wider public but significantly, also amongst serving PSNI officers and staff.

"In light of that, we believe that a change of leadership is required.

"Allowing the issue to drift will only cause greater problems for public confidence and for the PSNI as an organisation.

Pressure is mounting on Mr Byrne, with both rank and file officers and civilian staff considering confidence votes in his leadership.

This week a High Court judge ruled that two junior officers were unlawfully disciplined for an arrest made at a Troubles commemoration event in 2021.

Mr Justice Scoffield said they had been disciplined to allay a threat that Sinn Fein could withdraw its support for policing  the political party has insisted there was no such threat.

Mr Byrne initially said he accepted the judgment, but on Thursday indicated that an appeal was being considered and said it was inappropriate to make any further comment.

The chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland Liam Kelly expressed disbelief and anger at the statement.

The organisation has called an extraordinary meeting of its executive central committee next Wednesday when it said a confidence vote may take place into the PSNI leadership.

The Superintendents Association of Northern Ireland, which represents more senior officers, said it was standing with the federation.

Trade union Nipsa, which represents a number of civilian police staff, is also set to hold an unprecedented departmental committee meeting of police staff representatives next week, during which it will be assessed if there is a demand for a confidence vote in Mr Byrne.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has already called for Mr Byrne and his deputy Mark Hamilton to resign.

The incident which the High Court ruled on occurred on the Ormeau Road in Belfast in February 2021 during a service marking the anniversary of the February 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers attack, in which five people were murdered.

The two officers faced action in 2021 after the arrest of Mark Sykes, a survivor of a loyalist gun attack on the bookmakers in south Belfast.

The incident unfolded when police challenged people attending a memorial event amid suspicions that the size of the public gathering breached coronavirus regulations.

Mr Sykes was handcuffed and arrested in chaotic exchanges captured on social media.

Mr Byrne apologised for the PSNIs handling of the event at the time, and it was announced that one officer was to be suspended and one repositioned.

Read more Details of three serving PSNI officers posted on bus shelter were incorrect

The DUPs lead member on the Policing Board Trevor Clarke MLA said the ruling by Mr Justice Schofield laid bare that political considerations were influencing operational decisions.

"That goes against a fundamental principle within policing and ultimately it rests with the Chief Constable not only as the head of the organisation, but as someone who was central to the decision-making process at that time, he added.

We want to see effective, efficient and impartial policing in Northern Ireland.

"The question is whether we sit back and watch confidence both inside and outside the PSNI continue to diminish, or whether it is time for change.

"This motion will allow the Policing Board to give its view.
An Assembly member has said people would be well within their rights to protest at controversial Canadian author Jordan Petersons event in Belfast.

The psychologist and media commentator will bring his Beyond Order tour to Belfast in October.

The event will see Peterson take to the stage at the SSE Arena on October 15 to promote his book Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life.

Peterson came to prominence throughout the 2010s partly due to his controversial views on so-called "culture war" issues such as white privilege, gender-neutral pronouns and gender roles.

In 2016, he released a series of YouTube videos criticising plans by the Canadian government to introduce gender identity and expression as prohibited grounds for discrimination.

He published his self-help book  12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos  in 2018, before releasing Beyond Order in 2021.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll has slammed Peterson ahead of his visit to Belfast next month.

Jordan Peterson has largely shot to fame for his obscene and polarising attacks on repressed sections of our society, he said.

His sexist views on women, his attacks on LGBTQ+ community, and his downplaying of real and structural racism should be condemned and rejected.

Peterson preys on the fears and unfulfilled aspirations of a mainly young, male audience, who have been let down by a broken economic system.

People would be well within their rights to take a stand against Jordan Peterson in Belfast.

On August 15, prominent writers criticised how their negative reviews had been misquoted or misrepresented on the back cover of a paperback edition of Petersons book to give the impression they had praised it.

Peterson has also established a podcast  The Jordan B Peterson Podcast  and in June 2022 found his personal Twitter account was suspended under the sites hateful conduct policy.

The author also had two YouTube videos demonetised, including one where he said gender-affirming care was Nazi medical experiment-level wrong.

Following Elon Musks takeover of Twitter  which he later rebranded to X  in November 2022, Petersons account was restored.

His work has divided opinion worldwide and has sparked protests and rallies on both sides at a number of his previous lectures.
Lee Jong-chan, president of the non-profit organization, Heritage of Korean Independence, speaks in this 2019 file photo. He is the father of President Yoon Suk Yeol's old friend and one of Yoon's go-to people when he mulled a presidential bid two years ago. Korea Times file



President's ties with ex-spy chief tested by relocation of independence fighter's bust



By Kang Hyun-kyung



The defense ministry's decision to relocate the bust of independence fighter Hong Beom-do has pitted President Yoon Suk Yeol against his adviser and old friend.



Yoon reportedly calls Lee Jong-chan, 87, president of the non-profit organization, Heritage of Korean Independence (HKI), "father" when they meet privately. Lee is the father of Yoon's long-time friend, Lee Chul-woo, a professor of law at Yonsei University.



The older Lee, a former five-term lawmaker and ex-director of the National Intelligence Service during the Kim Dae-jung government, was one of Yoon's go-to people when he mulled a presidential bid in 2021 after resigning as prosecutor-general.



Yoon's relationship with the two Lees is being tested as they have become unwittingly entangled in an ideological dispute over the relocation of the bust of the independence fighter.



The older Lee is an outspoken opponent of the plan.



In a strongly-worded letter disclosed on HKI's website on Aug. 27, Lee warned of the consequences if Defense Minister Lee Jong-sub proceeded with the plan to relocate the bust of the independence fighter from the Korea Military Academy (KMA) to an "unidentified but appropriate place."



"If the defense ministry removes it as announced and if it has any plan to replace it with the bust of figures like Gen. Paik Sun-yeop, I won't sit back," he said in the letter.



Lee claimed that Gen. Paik is a self-serving military general and his contribution to the country is not comparable to what the independence fighter had done for the nation.



"I agree with others who believe that Gen. Paik achieved a remarkable feat during the Korean War," the letter read. "But I understand that the driving force behind his career choice in the military was not patriotism. He became a soldier for personal success. That being said, he didn't care about being a loyal member of imperial Japan as long as he could succeed."



Lee claimed that independence fighters like Hong, however are self-less people.



"They fought for the country because they had a single-minded goal of bringing the nation back from the colonizer," the letter read.



Lee is the descendant of an independence fighter. His grandfather is Lee Hoe-young, a co-founder of Shinheung Military Academy, which trained independence fighters in the northeastern region of China to fight Japanese occupiers. His grandfather is one of the five independence fighters whose busts were set up at the KMA.





President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, is welcomed by members of the Peace Unification Advisory Council as he enters Cheong Wa Dae's sate guest house for a meeting on Tuesday. Yonhap
Healthcare workers at a Co Antrim nursing home have avoided a sudden pay cut after being told they had been wrongly paid for breaks during shifts.

Staff at Rose Court Nursing Home in Ballymena expressed serious concerns after being told by HR that their pay will be adjusted from September 17.

The letter, which has been seen by the Belfast Telegraph, stated that the changes are in line with our sister homes.

"It is imperative that we maintain fairness and consistency across all of our care homes while also adhering to Northern Ireland employment legislation, it adds.

The residential facility is owned by Kathryn Homes NI which operates a total of 12 businesses across the region.

The proposed changes would have affected workers at a number of sites.

The correspondence was sent to all day staff following a thorough review of payroll processes which found that employees have inadvertently been receiving payment for breaks contrary to the terms stipulated in their employment contracts.

We deeply regret any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused and assure you that steps are being taken to rectify this situation, it explains.

As per your signed contract of employment, breaks are not eligible for payment for day staff.

"Our commitment to upholding employment laws and standards is unwavering, and it is our responsibility to ensure that every employee is treated fairly and equitably.

"Therefore, we will be aligning our break payment policy with that of our sister homes, in accordance with Northern Ireland employment legislation.

The letter conceded the error has been ongoing for some time and urged workers with concerns to contact management.

Additional hours may be available to increase your working hours if this is preferable, it added.

However the move provoked widespread anger among the workforce resulting in a large number of employees reaching out to trade unions.

One worker at the Ballymena facility told this newspaper that paid breaks has been standard practice since the home first opened its doors.

They said workers often arrive 15 minutes early to engage in important handover meetings and are only happy to do so because of paid breaks.

A spokesperson for Kathryn Homes initially defended the proposal telling the Belfast Telegraph its commitment to transparency and fairness is of utmost importance as it confirmed the plan was at consultation stage.

This approach is intended to create a fair and level playing field for all our dedicated staff members, they added.

It's important to note that this change aligns with the standard practice in the broader health and social care sector in Northern Ireland, where breaks are typically unpaid for healthcare staff."

However a follow up statement confirmed the consultation on paid breaks has concluded and no changes are being recommended to existing staff.

"This is warmly welcomed by our employees," a spokesperson said.

As an organisation we listen to our valued employees and have worked with them on this consultation process.

The company has also advised staff that 25 will be deducted from their pay if they miss training courses which staff claim is often scheduled for when they are not on shift.

Employees are also required to pay 15 to re-book.

In addition, workers have also been instructed that if they are caught not wearing their name badge they will be required to pay 5 for an immediate replacement.

If they dont have the cash, the amount will be deducted from their pay.

The company told this newspaper that the training fees are not punitive but intended to ensure staff are equipped with the skills to provide the best care for residents.

A spokesperson said the pay deductions are intended to cover administrative costs for rescheduling pre-agreed training sessions which are freely provided.

However an employee, too afraid to be identified, said staff who do heavy work for minimum wage are cynical about the changes.

"Care assistants and nurses are working 12-hour shifts, have kept going throughout Covid and this is the treatment they received, they continued.

We all feel that this is a business recruitment strategy.

"Our hours will be cut and we are losing money which we have relied on to survive on for years.

"So now the company expect us to want to work more hours.

In its initial statement, Kathryn Homes acknowledged that changes may have implications for staff and promised to work closely with employees during this transition.

We want to assure our staff that our intentions are rooted in the betterment of our care services and the well-being of our residents, a spokesperson previously said.

"We are actively listening to our employees' concerns and feedback during this consultation process and are committed to finding balanced solutions that address these concerns."
EasyJet said they do not tolerate threatening behaviour on board.

EasyJet has said it does not tolerate threatening behaviour on board

Two passengers have been removed from a London-bound easyJet flight from Belfast following an altercation, the airline has confirmed.

Both were taken from the plane prior to departure at Belfast City Airport on Thursday evening.

The PSNI confirmed they attended the incident.

"Police attended Belfast City Airport after receiving a report of an assault shortly before 9pm yesterday, Thursday August, said a spokesperson.

"A 36-year-old man was issued with a Community Resolution Notice for common assault.

EasyJet has said the safety of all passengers is their priority.

We can confirm that two passengers on flight EZY804 from Belfast City to London Gatwick yesterday evening were offloaded prior to departure as a result of disruptive behaviour, said a spokesperson.

EasyJets cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.

Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard.

The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always easyJet's priority.
An Egyptian man who posed for selfies as he piloted a flimsy inflatable dinghy with 50 migrants on board has been jailed.

Reda Hamoud Abdurabou, 25, took charge of the small boat while trying to cross the English Channel in July 2022.

Abdurabou was sentenced to three years and two months in jail at Salisbury Crown Court on Friday after being found guilty of assisting unlawful immigration to the UK and attempting to enter the country illegally.

He was arrested when he arrived in the UK and his mobile phone was seized.

Reda Hamoud Abdurabou posed for selfies as he piloted the small boat (Home Office/PA)

Abdurabou took pictures of himself moments before the dinghy was intercepted by Border Force.

The pictures show the 25-year-old posing with his hand on the tiller as he steered the boat towards the UK.

Messages were also found on Abdurabous phone about attempting to reach the UK illegally.

Migrants were seen balancing on the edge of the inflatable dinghy while others sat on the floor of the boat, the Home Office said.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: This pilot brazenly tried to flout our laws, and has rightly been brought to justice today.

Reda Hamoud Abdurabou (left in yellow hoodie) was arrested when he arrived in the UK (Home Office/PA)

Putting lives at risk by steering men, women and children across the Channel in flimsy dinghies will not be tolerated and we will continue to work relentlessly to stop these completely unnecessary crossings and ensure those responsible are put behind bars.

Chris Foster, deputy director of criminal and financial investigations at the Home Office, said: This defendant gloated as he risked dozens of lives by crossing the Channel illegally.

Anyone willing to take the helm of these small boats can expect to be arrested and prosecuted.

I want to praise the quick work of my officers who have brought this criminal to justice.

His sentence shows that our teams are working relentlessly to clamp down on this illegal trade.
Prisoners stand on the roof of the Turi jail where dozens of prison guards and police officers have been kidnapped by the inmates (AP)

Ecuadors fragile security situation has been underlined by a series of car bombings and the hostage-taking of more than 50 law enforcement officers inside various prisons.

The unrest comes just weeks after the country was shaken by the assassination of a presidential candidate.

Ecuadors National Police reported no injuries resulting from the four explosions in Quito, the capital, and in a province that borders Peru, while interior minister Juan Zapata said none of the law enforcement officers taken hostage in six different prisons had been injured.

Authorities said the brazen actions were the response of criminal groups to the relocation of various inmates and other measures taken by the countrys corrections system.

The crimes happened three weeks after the killing of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

Several vehicles exploded during the unrest (AP)

The corrections system, known as the National Service for Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty, in recent years lost control of large prisons, which have been the site of violent riots resulting in dozens of deaths.

It has taken to transferring inmates to manage gang-related disputes.

In Quito, the first bomb went off on Wednesday night in an area where an office of the countrys corrections system was previously located. The second explosion in the capital happened early on Thursday outside the agencys current location.

Ecuador National Police General Pablo Ramirez, the national director of anti-drug investigations, told reporters on Thursday that police found gas cylinders, fuel, fuses and blocks of dynamite among the debris of the crime scenes in Quito, where the first vehicle to explode was a small car and the second was a pick-up truck.

Authorities said gas tanks were used in the explosions in the El Oro communities of Casacay and Bella India.

The fire department in the city of Cuenca, where one of the prisons in which law enforcement officers are being held hostage is located, reported that an explosive device went off on Thursday night.

The department did not provide additional details beyond saying the explosion damaged a car.

Officials said seven of prison hostages are police officers and the rest are prison guards.

A vehicle that blew up outside the Womens and Human Rights Ministry building in Quito (AP)

In a video shared on social media, a police officer who identifies himself as Lt Alonso Quintana asks authorities not to make decisions that violate the rights of persons deprived of their liberty.

He can be seen surrounded by a group of police and corrections officers and says that about 30 people are being held by the inmates.

Ecuadorian authorities attribute the countrys spike in violence over the past three years to a power vacuum triggered by the killing in 2020 of Jorge Zambrano, alias Rasquina or JL, the leader of the local Los Choneros gang. Members carry out contract killings, run extortion operations, move and sell drugs, and rule prisons.

Los Choneros and similar groups linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels are fighting over drug-trafficking routes and control of territory, including within detention facilities, where at least 400 inmates have died since 2021.

Mr Villavicencio, the presidential candidate, had a famously tough stance on organized crime and corruption. He was killed August 9 at the end of a political rally in Quito despite having a security detail that included police and bodyguards.

He had accused Los Choneros and its imprisoned current leader Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, whom he linked to Mexicos Sinaloa cartel, of threatening him and his campaign team days before the assassination.

Ecuadors security secretary, Wagner Bravo, told FMundo radio station that six prisoners who were relocated may have been involved in Mr Villavicencios killing.
An American company has launched a legal bid to recover communication equipment from the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

RMS Titanic Inc wants to retrieve the Marconi telegraph machine that was used to send the SOS messages saying the Belfast-built liner was sinking.

The room where the messages were received remains intact in Belfasts Titanic Hotel, which was formerly the Harland and Wolff office building.

RMS Titanic Inc holds the right to salvage artefacts from the shipwreck.

It hopes to send a remotely operated vehicle into the hull in the hope of recovering objects from the Marconi radio room.

The messages sent from there helped to save the lives of more than 700 people on the night the Titanic sank.

The Times said the company had promised to provide a thorough plan to the court in Virginia which oversees the wreck.

RMS Titanic Inc hopes to proceed with the proposal in the face of opposition from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a US government agency which has moved to block the project.

The company, owned by the Experimental Media Group, was granted the right to recover objects from the wreck in 1994.

It sought to salvage the ships radio equipment in 2020, but the NOAA argued the business must acquire permission from the US government first. The plan was then abandoned during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Titanic Hotel's Telephone Exchange

It said any research, exploration, salvage or other activity that would physically alter or disturb the wreck or wreck site was unauthorised unless sanctioned by the administration.

The last message sent by Jack Phillips from the Titanic on April 14, 1912, read Come quick.

His colleague, operator Harold Bride, survived the catastrophic iceberg strike.

He later explained how Phillips stayed in the Marconi suite, sending the last messages to a nearby ship, the Carpathia, and the Harland & Wolff communications hub in Belfast.

Read more Titanic Distillers: Whiskey production gets underway in Belfast for first time in 90 years

This equipment remains aboard the shipwreck, possessing the recordings of the last calls for help as the ship sank two hours and 20 minutes later.

Bride sent a message saying send SOS a short time after the Titanic struck an iceberg.

He continued: Its a new call and it may be your last chance to send it.

RMS Titanic Inc said in a court filing earlier this year that it planned to conduct a research and recovery expedition, probably in May next year.

The company plans to devote a week to taking images including inside the wreck, where deterioration has opened chasms sufficient to permit a remotely operated vehicle to penetrate the hull without interfering with the current structure.

The NOAA said in new court filings: It may recover free-standing objects inside the wreck, including for example objects from inside the Marconi room, but only if such objects are not affixed to the wreck itself.

The Titanic Hotels Telephone Exchange room, where the messages announcing the iceberg collision were received, is open to members of the public. For more information about the liner and to book a room at the hotel, visit www.titanichotelbelfast.com
UPDATED at 10:43 a.m. EDT on 2023-09-02

After three months of post-polls uncertainty, Thailand finally has a government.

As expected, its a conservative coalition led by Pheu Thai that includes Bhumjaithai and the two military-backed parties, Palang Pracharath and United Thai Nation. As such, Thailand foreign and defense policies under new Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin will represent continuity with the military-linked government that ran Thailand from 2014 until 2023.

Srettha is in a political bind.

He betrayed his supporters by breaking Pheu Thais pledge to not to invite military-backed parties into his ruling coalition after they were thoroughly repudiated in the May 14 general election.

Srettha hopes he can win the electorate back following his partys Faustian bargain by implementing a host of populist economic policies to benefit rural constituents in particular.

Pheu Thai promised a lot, and there are real questions about whether his government can afford the programs that include a monthly digital wallet, a three-year debt holiday for agricultural loans and other rural infrastructure investments.

At the same time, the former real estate tycoon needs to restart the stuttering Thai economy. Gross Domestic Product growth was just downgraded by Fitch Ratings to 2.8% from 3% for 2023. Exports have fallen for 10 consecutive months.

Because of this, control over the economic portfolios are far more important to Pheu Thai. Srettha plans to serve as finance minister, while Pheu Thai will hold the ministries of commerce and transportation.

Even as Pheu Thai will maintain the defense and foreign affairs ministries, neither Suthin Klangsaeng nor Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara or his deputy, Jakkapong Sangmanee, are entering with experience or a progressive agenda. And inexperienced ministers will be at the mercy of the career permanent secretaries who are expected to promote the interests of the military and monarchy-backed state institutions.

Prawit Wongsuwan (center), then Thailands deputy prime minister and the prime ministerial candidate of the Palang Pracharath Party, arrives for the drawing of a number as part of the election process for candidates, in Bangkok, April 4, 2023. [Sakchai Lalit/AP]

For internal security, power is expected to rest in the hands of conservative members of the coalition. The interior ministry will be controlled by Bhumjaithai and the justice ministry is expected to be led by police Col. Tawee Sodsong, from Prachachat.

Even though outgoing Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and his deputy, Prawit Wongsuwan, have resigned from Parliament and will not serve as cabinet ministers, as some had feared, their influence through their parties and patronage networks is deep. Indeed, Prawits brother, police Gen. Patcharawat Wongsuwan will serve as a deputy prime minister.

In the hours before Srettha met with the king to receive a royal endorsement for his government, Prayuth finalized the annual military reshuffle of 762 officers, ensuring that key allies and proteges were in place while denying his successor any influence over the military.

To achieve his economic goals, Srettha will need to be careful not to take on the military or its core interests. He will be using enough political capital with them to secure Thaksins request for a royal pardon.

Prime Minister Srettha and his defense minister will have little say over the militarys annual promotions and appointments, continuing the militarys autonomy. The Pheu Thai government will maintain, or even seek, to increase the militarys U.S. $5.7 billion (nearly 200 billion baht) budget.

It is unclear whether his government will push the military to implement the proposal to cut bloated senior ranks. Thailand has well over 1,000 generals. In 2022, Prayuths government claimed it cut that figure by 10% through retirements, with a stated goal of a 50% reduction by 2027.

Would a civilian government push the military leadership too hard on this? Its more likely that Srettha and Suthin, the expected defense minister, will push for a smaller military and a decrease in the annual intake of draftees.

Foreign policy

While the Move Forward Partys Pita Limjaroenrat was more critical of China, this government is expected to be much more welcoming of Chinese trade and investment. One of Sretthas first meetings with a foreign diplomat was with the Chinese ambassador and his government is proposing visa-free entry for Chinese in order to boost tourism and investment.

The government is unlikely to put pressure on the Royal Thai Armed Forces to end their extensive military exercises with the Peoples Liberation Army. Likewise, this government is likely to be unwilling to press the military to stop buying Chinese weapons, in particular the current submarine deal.

Myanmar nationals living in Thailand hold pictures of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they protest outside Myanmars embassy in Bangkok, July 26, 2022. [Sakchai Lalit/AP]

Elsewhere, Srettha is likely to maintain Thailands current Myanmar policy, broadly speaking. He is unlikely to confront the military or security services, which have made the kingdom a far less welcoming place for Myanmars exiled opposition groups and refugees, nor will he end the practice of forcibly repatriating combatants seeking medical attention.

Indeed, Thailand is likely to continue to be a hostile environment for Lao, Khmer, and Vietnamese activists who continue to be abducted, forcibly returned home or killed, either with Thailands blind eye or active support.

Srettha is expected to continue backing corporate Thailand, whose investments in Myanmar have grown since the February 2021 coup, according to Myanmar government data.

While Pita sought a more principled and pro-active ASEAN, Thailand under Srettha will continue allowing ASEAN to use the cloak of non-interference. Under Lao leadership in 2024, the Southeast Asian bloc is unlikely to confront the Burmese junta.

It is unclear if Srettha will continue the controversial Track 1.5 dialogue between the junta and its neighbors that was started by former Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai  something seen by many as an end-run around ASEAN.

A firefighter sprays water following a deadly explosion at a warehouse where fireworks were kept in Narathiwat province southern Thailand, July 29, 2023. [Kriya Tehtani/AP]

Down south

In Thailands restive Deep South, Srettha was immediately confronted with an ambush that killed four members of the security services and injured four others in late August. He is almost certainly going to defer to the militarys stance.

The Malaysia-facilitated peace process is expected to continue, but Sretthas government likely will not offer meaningful concessions or go beyond the contours of what the military agreed to under Prayuth, which was very little.

And in House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, he will have an ally in Parliament. Although a Muslim from the Deep South, Wan Noor is a longtime adversary of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional  the border regions biggest insurgent group.

This is in sharp contrast to Move Forwards platform of searching for a more durable political solution and addressing the core grievances of the ethnic Malay community, including the lack of accountability among members of the Thai security forces.

In short, the results of the May polls reflected a pent-up demand for reform of the two conservative institutions that have held back progressive reforms.

Sretthas government will continue to protect the prerogatives of the military and monarchy, leading to continuity in the countrys foreign and security policies.

This story has been updated to include a sentence inadvertently left out of the earlier version.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and an adjunct at Georgetown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or BenarNews.
New Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Friday submitted a list for royal approval of his cabinet, which is expected to include members of pro-military parties with whom his partys leader had sworn never to share power.

Cholnan Srikaew, the leader of Sretthas Pheu Thai party, earlier this week announced he was resigning from his post in protest against the power-sharing deal with parties headed by former leaders of a junta that seized power from Pheu Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in a coup nine years ago. However, he is expected to be given a ministerial post in Sretthas cabinet.

Srettha has not revealed the names of his cabinet appointees but he referred the names of 36 candidates to King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) for his endorsement, according to Thai media. The king can sign the list at any time.

Focusing on the economy, Srettha on Friday traveled with his expected agriculture minister, Thammanat Prompao, to observe the fishing industry in Samut Songkham, southwest of Bangkok.

It is normal for me to jointly work with ministers. I want you to see the government as the multi-party, one-for-all and not Pheu Thais government, Srettha told reporters as he visited a fishing pier crowded with migrant workers.

I believe the much-mentioned would-be ministers have concerns about the peoples and the countrys economy, said the 61-year-old former property tycoon who entered politics less than a year ago and was not serving as an MP.

Thammanat held a similar post in the government of Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the outgoing prime minister and former junta chief, despite reports that he had spent eight months in an Australian prison on drug-related charges. He has denied being convicted of any drug offense.

Finishing second in the mid-May general election, the Pheu Thai party abandoned the top vote-getting and progressive party, Move Forward, and joined former rivals Palang Pracharath and United Thai Nation Party (UTNP) after Move Forwards leader Pita Limjaroenrat was twice rebuffed by pro-military MPs in his effort to be elected prime minister.

Then-Thai Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan (left) and then-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha attend a parliament session in Bangkok, July 25, 2019. [Sakchai Lalit/AP]

Prayuth, who led UTNP before leaving politics, and his former deputy prime minister, Prawit Wongsuwan, who led Palang Pracharath, were in charge of the 2014 coup that overthrew the government of Yingluck. Another new ally, the Bhumjaithai party, had not been friendly with Pheu Thai either.

An analyst likened the Srettha 1 cabinet as the old wine in a new bottle.

In comparison to the outgoing government, there is not much difference. There are a lot of ministers from the previous ruling parties, Thannapat Jarernpanit, a professor at Pibulsongkram Rajabhat University, told BenarNews. It is the heritage from the previous oligarchy regardless of their qualifications. It was an obvious effort to fairly share the cake.

Who gets what

Pheu Thai is to take key economic portfolios in the unconfirmed cabinet list  finance for Srettha, commerce for Poomtham Vejjayachai, transportation for Suriya Juangroongruangkit, and foreign affairs for Panpree Pahitanukorn.

Notably, Pheu Thai member Sutin Klangsang, is expected to take the defense portfolio to ensure that the military could not launch a coup like the ones that forced Yingluck out in 2014 and her older brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, eight years earlier.

Sutin apparently was selected over retired Gen. Nattapol Nakpanich, who served on the National Security Council under Prayuth in reaction to resistance from red shirts  a pro-Shinawatra fan base  against the former junta.

It is bizarre for Sutin to oversee the security-related ministry which normally belongs to veteran politicians or former officers, said Thannapat, the analyst. It looks like a deal was cut with Prayuth that his men were promoted, but let Pheu Thai take care of them.

Before his term ended Prayuth appointed new military chiefs, including the supreme commander of the Armed Forces, commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army and commander-in-chief of the Air Force.

Meanwhile, Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul is expected to serve as interior minister, where he will oversee nearly 80 provincial governors nationwide.

The United Thai Nation is to oversee energy and industry ministries.

Prawit  who served as deputy prime minister under Prayuth  apparently secured a portfolio for his younger brother, retired police Gen. Patcharawat Wongsuwan, to serve as minister of natural resources.

No deal with Uncle Pom

Days after Srettha was voted in as prime minister, Cholnan announced that he was stepping down as the chief of Pheu Thai.

I, Cholnan Srikaew, would like to honor my promise that I would resign as the party leader if I ever shake hands and deal with Uncle Pom, Cholnan told a press conference on Wednesday, referring to the Prawit. I declare I am quitting now.

Ahead of the May election, Cholnan promised that Pheu Thai would not partner with Gen. Prawit and anticipated his partys victory in a landslide.

Then-Pheu Thai party leader Cholnan Srikaew (left) gestures with the leader of Move Forward Party, Pita Limjaroenrat, in Bangkok, May 17, 2023. [Sakchai Lalit/AP]

For Pheu Thai supporters, popularly known as the red shirts for the color of their uniforms, Sretthas decision to align with pro-military parties is beyond betrayal, the former party leader said.

Despite his pronouncements, Cholnan is expected to take the public health portfolio.

It has a challenging mission to recover its popularity in the economic prowess to make up for loss of base if it ever wants to win the next election, observers said.

The former red shirts leader, Jatuporn Prompan, said he expected the new government to fall in the foreseeable future over allegations that Srettha had cheated in property deals and other irregularities when he served as CEO of Sansiri, one of Thailands leading property companies.

Political experts know that its hard to get away with ethical issues, said Jatuporn, who led the defunct United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship.

Samak Sundaravej lasted only seven months and Somchai Wongsawat lasted only two months, he told BenarNews.

Jatuporn was referring to two cases where the Constitutional Court disqualified two prime ministers under the Peoples Power Party  the precursor of Pheu Thai.

In 2008, the court, viewed by pro-democracy activists as the establishments tool to eradicate Thaksin, disqualified Samak for hosting a cooking show and Somchai for vote purchasing.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra offers a garland before a portrait of the king and queen as his daughter, Paetongtarn, looks on after he disembarked from a private jet at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Aug. 22, 2023.

Thailands king reduced former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatras prison term to one year from eight years, the Royal Gazette said on Friday, a day after the tycoon applied for a pardon.

The announcement did not say whether King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) was granting Thaksin an outright pardon through his decision.

[D]ue to his past history as a prime minister ... the King acknowledged the matter, [and] therefore reduced the sentence to one year in jail so that he can use his expertise and experience to contribute to the nation, society and people, the announcement read.

Thaksin, 74, a billionaire telecoms tycoon and patriarch of the Pheu Thai party, which returned to power last week, came home 10 days ago after 15 years of self-exile. He fled Thailand in 2008 to avoid serving eight years in prison for corruption and abuse of power, in a case he claims was politically motivated.

Following his return last week, the former PM was hospitalized after his first night in prison. He had been taken into custody shortly after arriving in Bangkok from Singapore aboard an executive jet on Aug. 22.

Thaksin was ousted as prime minister in a military coup in 2006. In May 2014, the military also toppled a government headed by his sister, Yingluck.

He was jailed for approving a low-interest loan from the Export-Import Bank of Thailand to Myanmars government to buy telecommunications equipment from a company he controlled.

His sentence is also tied to his involvement in a state lottery scheme and efforts to conceal shares in his family business, SHIN Corp., from 2001 to 2006 when the company benefited from government concessions.

Amnesty way too rapidly

The former PMs party Pheu Thai heads a ruling coalition established through a power-sharing deal struck with parties aligned with the very military that overthrew him and Yingluck.

Pheu Thai was the runner-up in the May 14 general election, placing second to the progressive Move Forward Party.

Pheu Thai jettisoned Move Forward from a prospective ruling bloc to strike a bargain with pro-military parties and elect Srettha Thavisin prime minister just hours after Thaksins return.

I congratulate Thaksins family on the news, Srettha told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse news agency.

His family must be happy. I heard he suffers from high blood pressure. They must be at ease.

Thaksins daughter, Paetongtarn, an MP who was a potential Pheu Thai prime ministerial candidate, issued a social media statement for the family saying they humbly appreciated the kings gesture.

Thaksin Shinawatra will use his lifelong experience, knowledge and talent to serve the public and the monarch, henceforth. Long live the King, she wrote.

Angkhana Neelapaijit, a human rights activist, said the king had the right to take such action, but she questioned if Thaksin received special treatment.

It is worth noting that the department of corrections proceeded with amnesty way too rapidly, compared with other cases. Is it discrimination against other inmates because he has not had to sleep in the jail but in a [Very Important Person] hospital room, she told BenarNews.

A group called Free Youth, which had been involved in protests that began in July 2020 and have demanded that the monarchy be reformed, called for amnesty for more people.

King Rama X reduced the sentence for Thaksin to one year, while many others are serving jail terms on charges of lese-majeste, the group said on its Facebook page. Some go on hunger strikes to demand bail. Justice must prevail for all.

Lese-majeste is the nations strict anti-royal defamation law which carries a prison term of up to 15 years. As of March 2023, at least 238 people, including a 15-year-old girl, had been charged with violating lese-majeste, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights had said.

Two political analysts said Thaksin may spend little time in custody.

Pheu Thai is the government, so imprisonment is going to be convenient and short, Thanaporn Sriyakul, political science department chairman at Kasetsart University, told BenarNews.

There likely had been a plan leading up to Thaksin ending his self-exile, said another analyst, Nattakorn Withitanon, a political scientist at Chiang Mai University.

It is believed that talks have been held to ensure a smooth return and that he would not have a long sentence, Nattakorn told BenarNews.

It is believed that Thaksin had the power to determine the direction, including the negotiations with various parties.

Kunnawut Boonreak, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, contributed to this report.
President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers congratulatory remarks at a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy at the academy in southern Seoul, Sept. 1. Yonhap



President Yoon Suk Yeol said Friday the nation's freedom is under constant threat from "communist totalitarian forces" that seek to arouse anti-Japanese sentiment and paint recent cooperation between Korea, the United States and Japan as a risk.



Yoon made the remark during a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, an institution under the foreign ministry tasked with conducting research on foreign policy and training diplomats.



"Liberal democracy and the market economy are the driving forces that have supported the peace and prosperity of the Republic of Korea," he said during the ceremony at the academy in southern Seoul, referring to Korea by its formal name.



"However, our freedom is now under constant threat. Still, communist totalitarian forces and their opportunist followers, as well as anti-state forces, are inciting anti-Japanese sentiment and misleading as if the Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation mechanisms produced at Camp David will put the Republic of Korea and the people in danger," he said.



Yoon was referring to a series of cooperative mechanisms he adopted with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their trilateral summit at the Camp David presidential retreat near Washington last month.



Yoon called for building a solid cooperation network with nations sharing the universal values of freedom, human rights and the rule of law in areas including national security, the economy, information and cutting-edge technologies.



"An ambiguous foreign policy line signifies an absence of values and philosophy," he said. "A foreign policy that fails to give predictability to others will never be able to win trust or the national interest." (Yonhap)


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Rhee In-soo, the adopted son of Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee (1875-1965), apologized to the victims of the April 19 Revolution, a 1960 pro-democracy civil uprising that occurred during his father's rule, on his rare visit to their memorial grounds Friday.







The junior Rhee visited the April 19th National Cemetery in northern Seoul, which holds the remains of 186 people killed in the uprising, marking the first such trip by the late president's family since it took place 63 years ago.







The 92-year-old son offered an apology to the uprising victims and their families, expressing hope that his visit would be an opportunity to promote national unity and reconciliation.







The April 19 Revolution began as hundreds of thousands of people, mostly students, took to the streets nationwide in protest of election fraud and government corruption. Authorities used force to suppress the demonstrations, but Rhee was eventually forced out of office on April 26, 1960.







The junior Rhee attempted to visit the cemetery and issue a statement of apology in 2011 but was blocked by a group representing the revolution victims' bereaved families.







"As the son of President Rhee, I paid respects to the victims of the April 19 Revolution and prayed for them for the first time in 63 years. I want to offer my sincere apology and condolences to the victims and their bereaved families," he said, adding his father would also be delighted at his visit. (Yonhap)


PITTSFIELD  Two Hinsdale police officers were injured Thursday after the unmarked cruiser they were driving struck an SUV that had run through a stop sign, police said.

The crash caused the SUV to roll over onto its roof, injuring the two people inside.

Sgt. Elizabeth Zipp, 29, and her passenger, Officer Mathieu Mercier, were heading east on East Housatonic Street about 2:49 p.m. Thursday when their cruiser struck a Mercedes Benz SUV that was heading south on Bartlett Avenue, according to Pittsfield police.

Both airbags deployed in the cruiser, a Ford Interceptor, shattering the windshield of the vehicle, which had heavy front-end damage.

The driver of the SUV, Dr. Jeffrey Leitman, and his wife, Louise Leitman, 73, both of New York City and Lenox, as well as the two officers, were transported to Berkshire Medical Center, where they were treated for their injuries.

No information was available on the condition of the Leitmans.

Zipp sustained an abrasion on her right arm and Mercier complained of neck and shoulder pain, according to Hinsdale Police Chief Susan Rathbun.

Im just glad that everybodys fine, she said of her officers, who were were on their way back from court after having secured a warrant when the crash occurred.

Zipp had a regular day off Friday; Mercier was expected to work his regular shift beginning at 3 p.m.

Rathbun said the crash was the first involving a Hinsdale police vehicle in her nine-year tenure.

The 2015 Ford Interceptor is known in the department as an admin car. It didnt have a cage or other features used to respond to criminal calls. Rathbun said she did not know what sort of car might replace that sedan, which was likely totaled.

Fingers crossed, well get a new one, Rathbun told The Eagle. She wasnt sure whose insurance would pay for the replacement.

Unfortunately, we cant get sedans anymore; sedans are very hard to come by, Rathbun said. So I do believe that well be getting an SUV, whether its a Tahoe or a[n] Explorer.

Jeffrey Leitman was cited for a stop sign violation, according to Pittsfield Police Lt. Marc Maddalena. Speed was not a factor in the crash.

Maddalena said the angle of impact caused the rollover, with the Ford hitting the SUV toward the rear, putting it into a spin and a lean.

"It's not uncommon to have a rollover crash where the injuries aren't necessarily significant," he said.
This Story in History is selected from the archives by Jeannie Maschino, The Berkshire Eagle.
Scott Turner, second from left, was sworn in Friday as Great Barrington's new fire chief. He is shown in this photo with members of the Three Rivers Fire Department, where he was a member for nearly 30 years, and was chief there for more than a decade.
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Industry veteran Prashant Krishnan recently joined Bengaluru-based Healthium Medtech as Global Business Head for Advanced Wound Care and Surgery at a time when Healthium plans to expand its presence in India and beyond. The strategic appointment is also critical to reinforcing Healthiums market leadership, corporate governance and deep domain expertise, as the company strives to achieve its strategic goals and vision of facilitating precision medtech for every patient globally. In an interaction with BioSpectrum India, Krishnan reveals more about his goals to create a global company with a strong portfolio, impressive global footprint and an exceptional clinical and quality manufacturing team.

Recently the government has approved the Medical Devices Policy to promote local manufacturing. How will this policy impact your business?

The government is on the right path in promoting Make in India initiatives in the medical devices domain. India is a large country with a significant healthcare burden and as the country swiftly progresses on a lot of development indices, healthcare innovation specific to India must become a priority. Products and solutions that are developed and made for patients in India will significantly improve the quality of life for our patients while reducing the economic burden for the country.

We at Healthium Medtech develop, design and manufacture medical devices in India both for domestic and 80+ markets across the globe and a policy that helps promote the same is welcome. It gives us the much-needed incentive to invest further in creating cutting-edge solutions through our R&D team (We already have 68+ patents granted and pending), create economies of scale in manufacturing and deliver quality products which meet the Indian market requirements. We will need the government to also help create policy frameworks to support import substitution opportunities in government hospitals especially when good quality medical devices can be developed and made in India.

What is the future of the advanced wound care and surgery market in India?

Three factors will contribute to the accelerated growth of this market in India:

First, the government through significant universal healthcare insurance coverage and new healthcare facilities is making sure that the common man today can get treatment for their diseases early so that we can treat patients through surgical interventions. In the area of wound care, there is a need to upgrade and build awareness, however, we are seeing greater acceptance of new solutions and products.

Secondly, the growing middle class in India is aspirational and wants the best treatment, which can be offered across the world. The Indian surgeon community is the best trained and well respected across the world for treating very complex disease states. This is helping us improve surgical outcomes, use advanced techniques and thereby improve the quality of life for patients. You see it every day, with growing infrastructure (Hospitals, Dx labs, Operating Rooms, Trained Doctors) now available even in Tier II/III/IV cities, thus we will see the Indian patient getting quality surgical and wound care treatment even in the smaller cities.

Thirdly, the Indian patient today is more aware of healthcare and the need to identify concerns and not let the status quo continue  that is helping with early detection and better results. COVID-19, though a serious pandemic helped in making Indians aware of the risks of ignoring serious symptoms, which ensures that we will start seeing patients early on where surgical treatments are a very good option to restoring quality of lives.

With so many global players having a presence in India, what's your strategy to become numero uno?

The global players have made significant contributions in making Indian doctors aware of the need for quality products and focus on delivering outcomes for patients. However, they struggle to meet the customisation, coverage and economic requirements, which are specific to Indian patients and markets.

We at Healthium are an Indian company with global aspirations that focus on quality; we are the first company in our sector to receive EU-MDR approval for Class III products. We have also invested in a large design and development team to develop India-specific solutions, which can be then taken to global markets. Our large manufacturing capability with seven integrated manufacturing facilities allows us to commercialise products better suited to the Indian market.

We aim to accelerate coverage across large metros to the smallest cities, support training to many more surgeons from large corporate and government hospitals to the smallest nursing homes and scale up distribution reach across India so that a world-class product is available to every patient in India. If we stay true to our core values, we have an opportunity to significantly scale up and be the leader in our sector.





With a new appointment in place, what are your plans for the Indian market?

My plans are for Healthium to recommit itself to serving patients in India with products that are made to the best quality standards that exist across the world and yet be suited to the needs of the India Market. India today is in a unique position with its engineering knowledge and skill base to create cutting-edge medical devices that meet its growing need based on superior manufacturing and design capabilities that have been developed over the last decade.

We have to engage deeper with Indian doctors and surgeons who are world-renowned due to their skill levels, to work on identifying what challenges they face in treating Indian patients, what works specifically for India and be able to develop and manufacture these solutions suited to our growing demand. Our sales and distribution team has to follow the highest ethical norms to ensure that we can bring solutions to patients across India with minimal waiting time and support the doctors in their efforts to deliver superior outcomes.





Do you plan to open new facilities in India?

We at Healthium today have seven integrated manufacturing facilities across India and we have invested in significant capacity creation using global experts in the field so that we can support the growing global demands for our quality products. We are growing rapidly and are constantly evaluating opportunities to scale up our manufacturing since the opportunities for us are quite exciting in adjacencies to our current portfolio.





Are there any new products in the pipeline?

We have a large portfolio of products in sutures, wound closure, suture needles and advanced wound care both post-operative and chronic wound care for diabetic foot wounds. We have already launched several new products in the last few years including ligation and skin stapling solutions. This year we will be scaling up our sutures portfolio with new products for cardiovascular, oncology and gynaecological surgery; add products in our advanced wound care portfolio with new solutions for post-op dressing and in our minimally invasive surgical portfolio we expect to have six new products which will offer a complete solution in laparoscopic surgery.

Sanjiv Das

sanjiv.das@mmactiv.com
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, stages an indefinite hunger strike against the government in a tent in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, Aug. 31. Yonhap



Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung will appear before prosecutors for questioning next week in compliance with a summons over allegations of his involvement in a company's illegal money transfers to North Korea, his party said Friday.



Lee, who has been on a hunger sit-in against the government, plans to show up at a prosecutors' office Monday, Rep. Kang Sun-woo, a spokesperson of Lee's main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, told reporters.



The Suwon District Prosecutors Office earlier served him a summons requesting his appearance Monday.



Lee, however, plans to attend the questioning only in the morning hours on Monday due to an unavoidable schedule conflict, Kang said, adding the party will consult with the prosecution to continue additional questioning sometime next week.



The prosecution office immediately hit back at Lee's plan, saying the questioning cannot be cut short. It also said Lee's lawyer has been informed that the questioning will be conducted to the fullest extent as originally planned.



It will mark the fifth time that Lee has appeared for prosecution questioning. He has been under investigation over a series of corruption allegations that he claims were fabricated, and was last questioned on Aug. 17.



The upcoming questioning will be about allegations that Ssangbangwool Group, an underwear manufacturer, unlawfully remitted $8 million to North Korea between January 2019 and January 2020 on behalf of Gyeonggi Province when Lee was governor.



Prosecutors suspect that $3 million was intended to facilitate Lee's planned visit to Pyongyang, while the remainder was meant for Gyeonggi's smart farm support program in North Korea.



Lee launched the hunger sit-in in front of the main National Assembly building on Thursday, saying he will fight for the people against what he called the "incompetent and violent" government of President Yoon Suk Yeol.



Lee also claimed his innocence, likening the prosecution's repeated summons to "stalking." (Yonhap)


Vaccine therapy has emerged as a promising alternative to antibiotics for the treatment and prevention of UTIs

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect men and women of varied ages but they occur more in women than men because of the female anatomy. In fact, a few studies have pointed out that the incidence of UTIs in adult males aged under 50 years is low, with adult women being 30 times more likely than men to develop a UTI.

UTIs can occur in the urethra (urethritis), bladder (cystitis), or kidneys (pyelonephritis) and are one of the worlds most common infectious diseases, affecting 150 million people each year, with significant morbidity and high medical costs.

With clinical symptoms of UTIs ranging from uncomplicated to complicated, these infections are among the most common bacterial infections worldwide, occurring in both community and healthcare settings. Gram-negative bacteria, specifically Enterobacteriaceae, are common causes of both community-acquired and hospital-acquired UTIs which require antibiotics-based treatment, for a shorter or longer term.

As a result, over the years, UTIs have become responsible for a large number of antibiotic prescriptions, which are known to be a major cause of the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, finding new drugs to combat antimicrobial resistance and expanding the field of research to find new treatment options have become top priorities.

According to recent data, elders have an increased risk of contracting uncomplicated urinary infections that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. Thus, the use of empirical antibiotics should be limited to cases where symptoms are unbearable or a more serious infection is feared.

Since overuse of antibiotics is a major factor in the development of multidrug resistance (MDR) bacteria and about 25 per cent of all antibiotic prescriptions are for UTIs, researchers recommend that antibiotic administration should be used once all non-antibiotic treatment options have been exhausted.

The most recommended non-antibiotic prevention and treatment options for recurrent UTIs include cranberries, intravaginal probiotics, D-mannose, oestrogen-releasing vaginal ring in postmenopausal women, and immunostimulants, to name a few.

Vaccine therapy has also emerged as a promising alternative to antibiotics for the treatment and prevention of UTIs. A sublingual vaccine consisting of inactivated whole bacteria has been shown to be effective in reducing UTI recurrences months after starting treatment with the vaccine. Although the exact protective mechanism by which this vaccine reduces UTI recurrences is still not entirely clear, several authors suggest that the reduction in UTI recurrences is due to an enhancement of local innate immune mechanisms.

Further, recent studies have shown the potential of bacteriophage therapy for the treatment of UTIs caused by MDR bacteria, such as E. coli and K. pneumoniae. Again, the preliminary data obtained from this therapy are very promising, but there is still much preclinical and clinical work to be done before bacteriophages can be an alternative to antibiotics in the future.

On the other hand, a decision tool has been developed for health professionals, by a team of international scientists, that has proved capable of halving the use of antibiotics against UTIs while maintaining patient safety.

Additionally, Chinese herbal medicine is also used to treat UTI as a non-antibiotic method. This also opens broader avenues for the Indian ayurvedic system of medicine which offers numerous herbal components that can be introduced as one of the main strategies of antibiotic alternatives for treating UTIs in India and globally.

Moreover, the field of nanotechnology has great promise for the treatment of MDR infections as well as other diseases. There are several reports from all around the world that demonstrate its use to treat different conditions, including UTIs.

Thus, by reducing the large amount of antibiotics that are presently used for the treatment and management of UTIs, recurrent UTIs, and complicated UTIs, and replacing them with non-antibiotic methods, the growing problem of antibiotic resistance can be brought down to a large extent. But of course, thorough clinical validation of the alternative methods needs equal attention.

Dr Manbeena Chawla

(manbeena.chawla@mmactiv.com)
Entravision in Africa has become the exclusive sales partner in Africa of Match Media Group, the group that powers advertising for brands including Tinder, OkCupid and Match.

Entravision (NYSE: EVC), a leading global advertising solutions, media and technology company, announced today that its African based digital business unit has become the exclusive sales partner in Africa of Match Media Group, the group that powers advertising for brands including Tinder, OkCupid and Match.

Match Group is on a mission to spark meaningful connections for every single person in the world. Founded 25 years ago, Match pioneered the concept of online dating and continues to foster innovation in the online dating industry. With more than 20 offices around the world, the company operates several iconic brands under its portfolio including Match, OkCupid, Tinder, and The League. Today, hundreds of millions of singles have found a meaningful connection using Match Group services.

"This partnership with Match Media Group reinforces our commitment to advertisers to connect brands to consumers through local strategic support, creative expertise and a suite of innovative advertising opportunities on the platform," said Julian Jordaan, president of Entravision Africa. "Globally, we're seeing a dating renaissance, with online dating now being the most common way that singles are making new connections. We're thrilled to be partnered with Match Media Group in Africa to connect consumers to brands in an authentic and relevant way."

As the exclusive sales partner to Match Media Group across the African continent, Entravision has created a dedicated local team of experts based in South Africa to provide businesses with the tools crucial to sales growth, while also assisting customers in deploying their advertising investments more efficiently across their digital technologies.




After nine years as ECOM Africa, to ensure it accurately represent the entire digital commerce economy, the conference has transformed into Converge Africa.

Image supplied. ECOM Africa has transformed into Converge Africa

As the industry has evolved beyond traditional e-commerce, the conference has recognised the need to embrace a broader spectrum of sectors and players within the digital commerce ecosystem.

Terry Southam, co-founder kinetic and retail portfolio director at Vuka Group states that it was important for the transition to take place.

The rebrand to Converge Africa stems from a practical need. The digital commerce landscape has expanded beyond traditional e-commerce. Our aim is to now embrace a wider range of industries and players in this ecosystem. This change reflects our commitment to promoting collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity among all stakeholders in the business.

Sponsors returning to the event have shown support for the evolution of the event and have agreed that the industry has indeed shifted.

As Insider, we have been sponsoring Ecom Africa for the last two years. The show notoriously brings industry leaders and key people from the e-commerce world together. However, we are looking forward to this expanding in 2024, says Firuzan Akici, marketing manager, MENA, Insider.

To be part of the show is significant for us to share our insights with the attending organisations and also grow our network in South Africa. We are so excited to share new marketing technologies with industry leaders in South Africa in 2024 and speak to a broader, more digitally-tuned audience, adds Akici.

Rationale for the rebrand

There are a number of reasons for the rebrand.

Acknowledging the expansive landscape While ECOM Africa successfully highlighted e-commerce, the term inadvertently left out other crucial aspects of the digital commerce economy. Converge Africa embraces the dynamic and interconnected nature of our industry, encompassing digital marketplaces, fintech, payments, logistics, digital advertising, cybersecurity, banking, insurance, travel, hospitality, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, gaming and esports, energy and utilities, among others. This rebrand ensures that all relevant sectors and players find a welcoming platform within our event.

Encouraging collaboration and cross-sector engagement Converge Africa is committed to being the meeting ground for professionals across the digital commerce landscape. The world is moving into a digital area where non-online businesses are now doing business online and in a digital capacity. Through its comprehensive and inclusive platform, its aims to promote knowledge-sharing, encourage partnerships, and facilitate meaningful exchanges among diverse industry segments that have shifted into this digital environment. 2024 brings five events into one. Whether it's delivering a seamless retail experience, ensuring secure and convenient payment options, safeguarding against cyber threats, simplifying fulfilment, or crafting effective marketing campaigns, the focus is always on delighting and meeting the needs of your customers.

Reflecting the industry's dynamic nature The digital commerce industry is in a constant state of transformation. By embracing the name Converge Africa, we demonstrate our dedication to staying ahead of trends, technologies, and emerging opportunities. As technology has become available and evolved, it has changed the way customers and companies behave. It has changed needs and requirements and the ability of companies to fulfil these needs. The event will continue to provide cutting-edge insights and ensure that all stakeholders remain well-informed and empowered in this rapidly evolving landscape.

Format of the event

The event will follow a similar format to ECOM Africa, with the five key tracks remaining in place for the event.

These include:

Retail and e-commerce



Fintech and payments



Cybersecurity



The future of marketing



Fulfilment and logistics

The event will also maintain its conference/expo offering. Keynotes and panel discussions will take place on the plenary floor, the expo stands will offer solution-focussed discussions and smaller stages will offer intimate discussions with industry peers.
Asset Bank is designed to help brands save time, resources, and money while streamlining their operations and improving collaboration. Some of the most essential benefits of digital asset management are the ability to conveniently store all digital assets, distribute and share them effectively, and interact with employees, franchisees, agencies and external stakeholders..

Ryan Haworth, the CEO of Social Places, said: "We are very excited to introduce our upgraded Asset Bank, there are a host of innovative features that will revolutionize the way businesses manage their digital assets. Asset Bank is the result of our continuous pursuit of listening to our customers' feedback. We believe that Asset Bank will help our clients achieve their goals more efficiently by providing them with a centralised home for their brand."

Social Places is offering a free trial or demo of Asset Bank for interested franchise or multi-location businesses. To learn more about Asset Bank and the Social Suite, visit https://socialplaces.io/asset-bank/ or contact moc.secalplaicos@selas.

About Social Places

Social Places is a leading martech company that helps businesses with multiple locations manage their online presence and reputation. Social Places was founded in 2015 and has since grown to serve over 400 clients across 40 countries and various industries. Social Places offers a holistic dashboard for listings, reputation, and social management. Social Places is reimagining the way businesses manage digital assets. Join the future today.

Contact your account manager or our sales team at oi.secalplaicos@selas for more info.
Concerns about maladministration, assassination attempts, academic malpractice, and the state of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme were raised.

On Wednesday, the University of Cape Town, the University of Fort Hare, and the University of South Africa briefed Parliament on independent investigations into their governance. Photo: Marecia Damons

Three universities briefed Parliament on independent investigations into their governance on Wednesday.

The University of Fort Hare told MPs it has established a protection programme after two assassination attempts on staff members.

The University of South Africa criticised Minister Blade Ndzimandes decision to place the institution under administration without consulting it.

Maladministration, assassination attempts, academic malpractice, and concerns about the operations of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) were some of the main issues raised by universities at a parliamentary briefing on Wednesday.

The University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of Fort Hare (UFH), and the University of South Africa (Unisa) briefed the portfolio committee on higher education about governance, administration and related matters following several investigations into the institutions.''

University of Fort Hare

UFH vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu told Parliament that the safety of students and staff was one of the main issues raised in council meetings.

Earlier this year, Buhlungu was allegedly a target of an assassination attempt. His bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, was shot dead outside Buhlungus residence in Dikeni.

Buhlungu said the first assassination attempt on a staff member was made in 2012 and the second in 2022. He said the university established a protection programme based on risk assessments, and at least 80 staff members have been identified for priority.

We are working with Raymond Mhlaba Municipality and getting a policing forum on campus, he told MPs.

Last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation authorising the SIU to investigate maladministration in the universitys faculty of public administration in relation to the awarding of honours degrees, the management of funds, and sourcing of public servants for study in various faculty programmes.

Buhlungu said the SIU is expected to complete its interim report by the end of October and finish its investigation by April next year.

He said the institution has its own investigation. What I can say with certainty is that we as Senate have deregistered 17 students over the last while. They were deregistered because they were irregularly registered, meaning they did not meet the requirements for what they were admitted.

University of South Africa

In May, an independent assessor advised Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande that the management and council of Unisa be relieved of their duties and the institution placed under administration

An independent assessor, Professor Themba Mosia, was appointed by Nzimande in September last year. In his 316-page report, Mosia said his assessment revealed a cauldron of instability characterised by a culture of fear, intimidation, bullying, maladministration, financial irregularities, poor student services, academic malpractices, leakage of confidential records, and questionable management and council decisions.

Mashukudu James Maboa, chair of Unisa's council, said the report should be taken for legal review because we dont agree with everything in there.

We never got a chance after the assessor did his work to respond after the report was finalised. We were not given a right of reply There are clear misunderstandings and contextual interpretations and inaccuracies in the report, he said.

Earlier this month, Nzimande announced the department would be placing UNISA under review. He said the decision followed the independent assessors report.

Maboa said UFHs council responded to Nzimande, requesting to allow the court to make its ruling on the IA (Mosias) report before he made his final decision.

Unisa is a top ten institution. If you look at the top ten universities, how many of them have been put under administration? Placing UNISA under administration causes irreparable harm to the reputation and stature of UNISA and will negatively affect its rankings, said Maboa.

University of Cape Town

Dr Daya Reddy, UCTs interim vice-chancellor, said that changes to the NSFAS funding model have raised concerns.

Accommodation costs capped at R45K by NSFAS, and funding alterations have implications for our financial aid commitments, particularly regarding residence fees. The impact of this in the 2023 budget is R177m additional allocation by the university to financial aid, said Reddy.

UCTs Council told Parliament that it has given the Independent Panel until the end of September to complete its probe into a governance crisis at the institution.

The panel, established by the council in October 2022, released an interim report on 17 May 2023, recommending the removal of the former Chair of Council.

At the heart of the probe was whether then vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng and former chair of council Babalwa Ngonyama misled the universitys executive and Senate about the reasons for the departure of the deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning, Associate Professor Lis Lange.

They claimed Lange had resigned for personal reasons. Lange claimed she had been pushed out.

In February, the council approved a settlement agreement terminating Phakengs appointment and she had since severed her relationship with the university, the panel noted. Ngonyama resigned with immediate effect after recommendations made by the independent panels report.

Council chairperson Norman Arendse told the committee the panel had asked for an extension to complete the full report by mid-October. We said we would like the report no later than 30 September, he said.

Arendse said the delay in getting the report has also affected sign-off on the universitys annual financial statement and annual report.

He said there is an attempt to interdict and prevent the distribution of the panels final report. I have called for a special council meeting [Thursday] night to discuss this demand and find a resolution. It is most likely that we wont accept [the demand] and its important for everyone concerned that the report be publicised as soon as possible.

Published originally on GroundUp.
As technology evolves, so does the way we communicate and conduct business. In today's digital age, emojis have become integral to our daily conversations. These little pictographs have played a significant role in modern communication, from expressing emotions to conveying complex messages. Surprisingly, emojis have even found their way into legal matters, with some jurisdictions recognising them as a form of contractual agreement.

Image source: Miranda Gioacchino  123RF.com

The construct of the contract

On a high level, a contract is typically established when there is an offer and acceptance, the meeting of the minds, capacity (ability to contract), the possibility of performance of what was agreed, lawfulness and compliance with the prescribed formalities.

A contract must demonstrate the parties' intention to create reciprocal obligations to be legally binding. Traditionally, this intent is communicated through written or verbal means. However, as communication habits shift, courts increasingly acknowledge that emojis can also express intent, and that is where the concept of emojis being a contract finds its roots.

Emojis and the contractual construct

To illustrate, if a party sends an emoji in response to an offer and the context suggests that the emoji was intended to signify acceptance, it may be considered valid. Similarly, an emoji can express a request, such as using a money bag emoji to indicate a proposed sale price.

A fundamental principle of contract formation is the "meeting of the minds", which refers to both parties' mutual understanding and agreement on the terms of the contract. As emojis can sometimes clarify the emotional tone behind a message, they can contribute to ensuring that both parties have a shared understanding of the terms.

In a recent Canadian legal case, South West Terminal Ltd v Achter Land, emojis as electronic signatures took centre stage, presenting a unique and intriguing aspect of contract formation. South West Terminal Ltd (SWT), a Canadian grain and crop inputs company, has a longstanding history of purchasing grain from Achter Land & Cattle Ltd (Achter), a farming corporation owned by Chris Achter.

During March 2021, a SWT representative texted several producers an offering at specific prices for delivery in October, November, or December. After receiving the text, Achter drafted a contract for the sale to SWT, which was confirmed through a "thumbs-up" emoji response from Achter. However, Achter failed to deliver the agreed-upon product by November 2021, leading to a court battle where the "thumbs-up" emoji's legal significance as an electronic signature was deliberated.

Ultimately, the court ruled in favour of SWT, accepting the "thumbs-up" emoji as Achter's acceptance of the contract, making it a valid electronic signature under Canadian law, and awarding SWT the requested damages.

Signatures in South Africa

In the past, the conventional method to signify consent and commitment to an agreement or document was through a wet ink or manuscript signature, representing the signatory's mark of endorsement or understanding of a contract or contents of an agreement. However, since the introduction of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (ECTA), the definition of a signature in South African law has widened.

In the case of Spring Forest Trading 599 CC v Wilberry (Pty) Ltd t/a Ecowash [2015] (SCA), the court addressed a situation where the parties had imposed formalities of writing and signature for a subsequent agreement cancelling the original contract. The court held that the parties' names typed at the bottom of their emails met the requirements for an electronic signature under Section 13(3) of the ECTA.

If the Canadian case were to apply in South Africa, the court would likely analyse the use of the "thumbs-up" emoji in the context of Section 13(3) of the ECTA. If the "thumbs-up" emoji can be construed as an electronic signature intended to identify the sender and indicate approval of the contract, and if it is considered sufficiently reliable under the circumstances, the court may conclude that the self-imposed formalities of writing and signature have been met.

Until we have a decisive precedent in SA, it remains to be seen, as with any form of communication, emojis can be subject to interpretation, leading to potential disputes. The use of certain emojis, such as a wink or a thumbs-up, might be perceived differently depending on the context and the relationship between the parties. Courts would need to carefully analyse the context and the parties' intentions to determine the true meaning of an emoji in a contract.

Conclusion

While emojis can enhance communication, using them as a form of contract still poses challenges. Proving that an emoji represents a legally binding agreement can be complex, and the burden of evidence falls on the party asserting its validity. Moreover, certain emojis may be ambiguous and open to different interpretations, potentially leading to disputes.

In conclusion, the Canadian case involving emojis as electronic signatures highlights the evolving nature of communication and its intersection with the legal realm. Emojis have undoubtedly become a ubiquitous form of expression, transcending language barriers and bringing a new dimension of meaning to digital interactions. While the case demonstrates the court's acceptance of the "thumbs-up" emoji as a valid electronic signature, the situation in South Africa would likely be subject to scrutiny under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA).

South African courts would analyse the intent and context behind the emoji's use, considering whether it meets the requirements for an advanced electronic signature under statutory formalities or an electronic signature under self-imposed formalities. Ultimately, the outcome would depend on the facts and circumstances surrounding using the emoji and its adherence to the ECTA's criteria for electronic signatures. As technology continues to shape communication and transactions, the legal system must adapt to address these novel challenges and ensure the effectiveness and validity of electronic signatures in a digital world.

As our world becomes increasingly digital, emojis as a form of communication will likely persist and evolve. Thus, it is essential to be cautious in using emojis to express contractual agreements and, where necessary, seek professional legal advice to ensure clarity and enforceability.
In a strategic move to combat the adverse effects of load shedding on the digital out of home (DOOH) advertising industry, Outdoor Network - part of the Provantage family of companies and a leader in digital and static billboard advertising - has successfully completed its installation of 20 backup power generators at key sites throughout South Africa. This national initiative is the culmination of Outdoor Network's full-scale alternative power programme, ensuring uninterrupted visibility and impactful advertising campaigns even during power outages.

The 20 generators will keep Outdoor Networks digital rotator billboards running at high-traffic sites nationwide. The digital rotator format provides brands with the ongoing capacity to deliver messaging in different directions  during morning and afternoon peaks and throughout the day, ensuring 360-degree brand visibility. Following the original 12 sites in KZN (Ballito, Pietermaritzburg and Durban), Johannesburg (Cresta), Bloemfontein, East London and Cape Town, Outdoor Network has now added Rustenburg, Johannesburg  Rivonia and Fourways, Polokwane, Emalahleni (Witbank), Nelspruit, Tshwane and Potchefstroom N12 to its Always On digital rotator network. This expansive power contingency was created to safeguard advertisers' investments and maintain consistent brand exposure when the lights go out.

The alternative power supply network distinguishes itself with its ability to monitor fuel consumption and diagnostics remotely. Unlike other power sources, this ensures that digital billboards remain operational even during higher stages of load shedding or power outages.

Shamy Naidu, director at Provantage acknowledges the unique challenges faced by the outdoor advertising industry, and by opting for remote monitoring and centralised power solutions, Outdoor Network has minimised the risk of theft without resorting to additions such as inverters, batteries and solar panels, which do not provide the same level of reliability and assurance.

Naidu emphasises Outdoor Networks commitment to maintaining constant visibility: "We are challenging the status quo, where under normal circumstances, DOOH would suffer during loadshedding. In implementing this solution, that will no longer be the case. Innovative and forward-thinking solutions must continue to drive better service and a more resilient industry, providing ongoing engagement and reach at all times."

"We are continually surveying the DOOH landscape, making adjustments and investing in innovations that deliver even better, more creative solutions for our clients. To keep our clients brands top-of-mind in this high-recall environment, our dedication to overcoming challenges and staying at the forefront of the industry is unwavering."

As the industry continues to mitigate the impact of power outages, Outdoor Network urges advertisers not to miss out on the opportunities provided by digital out of home advertising. By utilising the Always On digital rotator network, brands can maintain high-recall engagement and consistent brand visibility every day, making meaningful connections with consumers in the most relevant, high-traffic areas.

Naidu concludes, "With the challenges our industry is facing due to power outages, we will continue to bring innovations to market that solidify our commitment to our clients, our adaptability and our focus on providing the best possible service."

Advertisers seeking to leverage the power of Outdoor Network's reliable and impactful advertising campaigns during load shedding can find out more by contacting az.oc.no@ofni.

Follow Outdoor Network on LinkedIn or visit www.outdoornetwork.co.za.




We all know the old saying, "Where there's a will, I want to be in it". Well, this couldn't be closer to the truth, especially when it comes to family.

As South Africas leading provider of wills, we have helped over 600,000 South Africans draft their wills and have helped thousands of grieving families wind up the estates of a passed loved one. We have seen the best and worst of people in getting their hands on what they believe they should have inherited.

Grandpas tool collection. Grannys jewellery and crystalware. Uncle Joes bakkie. Aunty Esmes furniture. Weve all heard the stories or even witnessed greedy family members lobbying for stuff  often even before the beloved family member has passed. I kid you not.

The sad reality is that at some point in our lives, what we leave behind becomes increasingly more important to certain members of our family. And without a last will and testament in place, you leave the door wide open for arguments and chaos as your family might fight over what they thought was theirs.

Our first award-winning TV advert released earlier this year got the will conversation going. The ad depicts a scenario where a family finds out the protagonist didnt have a will in place and dramatises the family feud that ensues.

So, off the back of our first advert, we teamed up again with Halo, one of SAs brightest boutique agencies, who, together with esteemed local director, Dean Blumberg from Massif Media, helped us produce what we think is an ad that will not only entertain you but make you think long and hard about making sure your will is in place  and that the people you want to inherit your assets are in it and not greedy extended family members.

Look out for our new ad on most popular TV channels or click here to see how Bill Esterdown has his final say, despite his familys audacious efforts to lay claim to his prized possessions. Click here to view the extended version of the ad our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/FinalSayAdvert

Ultimately, our mission is to help more South Africans get their wills in order and to ensure there is less drama and chaos for your family when they are grieving your loss.

If you have a financial advisor, ask them about getting your Capital Legacy will sorted, or visit our website to request your complimentary will consultation today: www.capitallegacy.co.za
The Competition Commission's Fresh Produce Market Inquiry (FPMI) was launched in March this year to drive more inclusivity in the fresh produce value chain. With findings due in 12 months, the FPMI is engaging with stakeholders across the country.

The fresh produce value chain is coming under scrutiny. Source: Scott Warman/Unsplash

The food and agro-processing sector has been a priority for the Commission since 2008 due to its significant contribution to the economy broadly and its potential to serve as a driver of inclusive growth in the South African economy," said Commissioner Doris Tshepe in a media statement to launch FPMI..

"It is for these reasons that the Commission, through the FPMI, intends to conduct an inquiry into the fresh produce value chain, in order to understand its functioning and the features, or combination of features, which may be impeding competition and participation.

FPMI is hosting a series of workshops for small and emerging farmers from September to October 2023 across the country.

These workshops aim to engage farmers on various aspects of their experiences in the fresh produce sector, including challenges related to market access, input procurement, unfair treatment in sales, access to finance, and water access.

The insights gathered will help FPMI assess whether there are factors in the fresh produce value chain that hinder competition. Small and emerging farmers are encouraged to participate and share their experiences.

After the workshops, public hearings will take place in October 2023. The FPMI's goal is to examine competition-related issues in the fresh produce value chain and publish its final report by October 2024.

The workshops will be in these four provinces:

 Limpopo: Vhembe district from 5-6 September 2023

 Limpopo: Mopani/Tzaneen district from 12-13 September 2023

 Eastern Cape: Keiskammahoek region from 18-20 September 2023

 Kwazulu-Natal: Tugela region from 27-28 September

 Western Cape: Vredendal-Clanwilliam region between 2-6 October 2023
Capitec Bank, one of South Africa's largest retail banks, recently experienced an outage that left many customers frustrated and unable to access their money. According to reports on downdetector , at least 62% of users reported problems with the mobile app, while 37% said they were experiencing problems with internet banking. This incident raises concerns about the reliability of digital banking services and the impact it can have on customers.

Capitec has over 20 million users.

The bank announced that it has hit a key milestone of over 20 million clients in March this year with CEO Gerrie Fourie saying that this cements the group as the largest retail bank in South Africa by customer numbers, with a client base larger than the populations of Malawi, Zambia and the Netherlands.

This milestone compounds the effect of the latest outage that has left many customers frustrated and some even threatened to boycott the bank. Capitec Bank is working to resolve the issue and restore services as soon as possible.

Downdetector outage report as of 7am.

Another bad August

In August 2022 Capitec faced a 40-hour outage that also took its bank branch systems offline. The bank recovered quickly and even celebrated an award two months later when it was named SA's best digital bank in the InSites Consulting South Africa annual SITEisfaction survey.

Capitec has not responded to questions about this latest outage, but users are reporting that the app is working again.
Rhee In-soo, second from right, adopted son of Korea's first President Syngman Rhee, pays tribute to the victims of the April 19 Revolution, a pro-democracy civil uprising that occurred in 1960, leading to his father's resignation, at the April 19th National Cemetery in Gangbuk District, Seoul, Friday. The younger Rhee apologized to the victims and their families, expressing hopes that his message would contribute to national unity and reconciliation. Yonhap
In response to legal action initiated by the Health Justice Initiative (HJI), the South African National Department of Health has provided the HJI's legal team with an initial set of Covid-19 vaccine procurement agreements.

This follows a landmark ruling, in which the North Gauteng High Court ordered the disclosure of these ostensibly 'confidential' Covid-19 vaccine contracts and other documents, and placed a 10-day deadline on the National Department of Health to release them to the public.

Furthermore, the SA Health Department has committed to sharing the remaining set of documents, which they were instructed to disclose, in accordance with this agreement, no later than 29 September, 2023.

This move not only sets a precedent within Africa but also highlights South Africa's potential to become the first African nation to share crucial information that has largely remained inaccessible to most countries, as revealed by a report from Transparency International.

The HJI welcomed the Health Ministry's decision to not appeal the Judgment.

"This is a massive victory for transparency and accountability. The contracts concern substantial public funds, and the contracting process has been marred by allegations that the government procured vaccines at differential, comparatively inflated prices, and that the agreements may contain onerous and inequitable terms including broad indemnification clauses, export restrictions and non-refundability clauses," the HJI said in a media statement.

Fatima Hassan, director of HJI added, We are encouraged that the Minister and the Department of Health will not be appealing this ground-breaking judgment and that it has undertaken to release all meeting minutes, agreements and contracts relating to its procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.

This is an important day for our democracy and for opening up the process of health procurement. It sends a strong signal to powerful pharmaceutical companies and others that in South Africa, transparency cannot be bartered and is not up for sale - there really is no room for this much secrecy in the health or any other sector.

Assessing compliance

The HJI and a collaborative civil society group are slated to scrutinise the contracts that have been recently provided to them in the days ahead.

Hassan conveyed that the analysis of part 1, alongside all the pertinent documents (contracts) furnished to the HJI, will be presented during a joint Zoom press conference scheduled for Tuesday, September 5, 2023, at 14:00 SAST.

Furthermore, she mentioned that this analysis will be made accessible here on the HJI website at the conclusion of the press briefing.

Part 2 will be released in a similar way and will be available in early October 2023.
Launching today, local online retailer, Takealot.com's, Heritage Day Challenge, will print one million Takealot boxes during the December festive season with the winner's unique design.

Source: My Broadband My Broadband The 2022 Takealot Heritage Day Design Challenge, winner, Tshepo Masilo's design

The winner also gets a R100,000 Takealot voucher and a R10,000 voucher for a charity of their choice. Plus, for students entering the challenge, an additional voucher valued at R20,000 will be awarded to their school.

The Takealot Heritage Day Challenge is an open call to all South Africans to redesign the iconic Takealot box by drawing on their unique heritage.

By using the colours of the South African flag, entrants can express their culture, history and heritage.

To help bolster South Africas sense of cultural pride, we are again encouraging South Africans to embrace and express their unique cultural perspectives through art. This challenge is a platform to showcase the incredible talent of South African artists, and even more importantly, to create an opportunity of economic empowerment for artists," says Frederik Zietsman, chief executive officer of takealot.com.

Enabler for SA art

In our previous challenge, we saw incredible South African talent come to light, and it helped us realise that we can be a powerful enabler for South African art. With that said, this challenge is not only for artists, but all design enthusiasts who want to show their creative insight into South African heritage, adds Zietsman.

The winner of the 2022 Takealot Heritage Day Design Challenge, Tshepo Masilo, saw his career as an artist take a new dimension after the challenge.

The challenge really impacted my outlook on art creation, he says. It reaffirmed that authentic storytelling of our roots can resonate deeply with people, and the validation received from the competition gave me the courage to embrace my unique style and cultural heritage even more.

Masilo is a guest judge in this year;s competition joining Bontle Moloi, Emo Adams, Kwesta, Takealot Group CEO Mamongae Mahlare and takealot.com CEO Frederik Zietsman in choosing the winner.
The ROKS Hong Beom-do cruises in this Jan. 19, 2018, file photo. Courtesy of Defense Acquisition Program Administration



Controversy surrounding freedom fighter Hong Beom-do becomes source of naming dispute



By Nam Hyun-woo



Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the defense ministry and the military are clashing over the name of a 1,800-ton Navy submarine which was named after an independence fighter.



The prime minister seeks to rename the ROKS Hong Beom-do citing the freedom fighter's involvement with the Soviet Communist Party. The Navy and the Ministry of National Defense have stated that they have no plans to rename the submarine, citing naval tradition and the absence of a precedent on the international stage.



However, Han is pushing for the name change, apparently in line with President Yoon Suk Yeol's campaign of consolidating a right-wing ideology as the norm in the country.



During a press briefing, Friday, an official at the Ministry of National Defense clarified that the Navy is not considering another name for the submarine following the prime minister's remarks on Thursday.



"The prime minister was responding to a lawmaker's question, and it seems that he was referring to the necessity of a new name," the official said. "However, the Navy is not considering it. As far as I know, the prime minister's remarks are in line with the defense ministry's earlier position that it will review the possibility if necessary. But there seems to be no order from the prime minister's office."



During a National Assembly session, Thursday, Han said, "I believe we should consider renaming the submarine, as it is named after Hong, who had a record of joining the Soviet Communist Party."



The ROKS Hong Beom-do was launched in 2016 as the seventh Sohn Won-yil class submarine. The Navy named the vessel after the independence fighter to "honor his patriotic spirit and promote public awareness of national security."



Along with the vessel, other Sohn Won-yil class submarines are named after those who fought for the country's independence from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial annexation, including Kim Jwa-jin, Yun Bong-gil and Lee Beom-seok.



Hong became the subject of heated debate after the defense ministry's revealed a plan to remove his bust from the military academy. The academy announced, Thursday, that it decided to relocate the bust "to a place outside the academy where his contribution to independence can be visible."





This file photo taken March 1, 2018, shows the busts of independence fighters, including General Hong Beom-do, left, at the Korea Military Academy in northern Seoul. Korea Times file


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Vice Fisheries Minister Park Sung-hoon, right, speaks during a daily government briefing on Japan's contaminated water discharge at the government complex in Seoul, Sept. 1. Yonhap



Korea will "strongly" file a complaint against Japan with the U.N. maritime safety agency if Tokyo does not follow its original plan regarding the release of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, Seoul's oceans ministry said Friday.



Last week, Japan began discharging radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was crippled by a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami, into the sea.



All eyes are on whether the issue will be discussed during next month's meeting on the London Convention and Protocol framework under the International Maritime Organization (IMO).



Korea has called for discussions on the potential impacts of the release on the marine environment under the framework, while Japan has refuted the call, claiming that such a discharge should not be seen as an act of marine dumping.






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Postal Code
The Department of Education has said it is not aware of any potentially dangerous concrete material used in schools in the Republic.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) has been found in over 100 schools in England and has led to the closure of several classrooms across the country.

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Raac is a lightweight concrete material and was used to build two-storey public sector buildings across Britain from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s. Due to its 30-year lifespan, there are fears of buildings collapsing and structural damage, as it is susceptible to structural failure when exposed to moisture.

Since 2018, the material is being assessed after it was linked to the collapse of the roof at Singlewell Primary School in Kent.

However, fears in Ireland have been eased over its possible use in schools.

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A spokesperson from the Department of Education said: "The Department of Education is aware of the concerns in relation to schools in England that have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) materials.

"The Department is not aware of these materials being used in schools in Ireland.

"The Irish Concrete Society has indicated to the Department that it has no knowledge of the use of this material in Ireland."

In Britain, it is feared the material could have been used for other buildings, such as courts and hospitals.

In Northern Ireland, schools are to be contacted about structural surveys to determine the extent of the presence of Raac.
Tented accommodation is expected be used for Ukrainian refugees starting from next week.

The Department of Integration said there are more than 24,600 temporary protection beneficiaries in Ireland at the moment.

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Since May 1st, there has been a notable increase in the number of Ukrainian nationals arriving in the country.

Over 10,000 people have fled to Ireland during the summer months, with an average of 650 people per week seeking asylum.

While the Government has contracted almost 7,000 extra beds to accommodate these arrivals, there is still a significant shortage of housing for those seeking refuge in the coming weeks.

According to a spokesperson from the Department of Integration, as a result of this shortage, tented accommodation will soon be utilised to house new arrivals from Ukraine.

At the moment, there are 24,689 Ukrainians staying in hotels throughout the country, with the highest concentration being in Dublin (4,212), followed by Kerry (3,063) and Clare (2,944).

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Monaghan has the lowest number of Ukrainians in hotels, with only 20 individuals seeking asylum there.
Vera Pauw's criticism of the FAI after her contract was not renewed and fuel price hikes are among the stories that feature on Friday's front pages.

Pauw's criticism of the FAI's "flawed" review is the main story in The Irish Times.

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The Irish Examiner leads with a story on fuel price hikes.

The Irish Independent leads with a story on convicted fraudster Catriona Carey's court battle over her home.

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The Echo leads with a story on the hospitality VAT rate returning to 13.5 per cent.

There are 500,000 adults living at home with their parents, the Irish Daily Mail reports.

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Friday's front page pic.twitter.com/bIoFGSleCp  The Irish Daily Mail (@irishdailymail) August 31, 2023

The Herald leads with a story on gardai searching for a man who crashed a moped into a car, causing an explosion in Dublin city centre.

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In the North, the Belfast Telegraph and The Irish News leads with stories on pressure on PSNI chief Simon Byrne to resign.

Safety fears for schools across the UK dominate the British front pages on Friday.

The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, and i all lead with a warning to parents that thousands of children may need to be home-schooled as thousands of pupils could be turned away this term over building collapse fears.

The Times: Schools to turn pupils away over collapse risk #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Cg4BsDcDse  George Mann (@sgfmann) August 31, 2023

Telegraph: Lockdown returns as schools shut over fears of collapse #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/PN3gkfPo4E  George Mann (@sgfmann) August 31, 2023

The Guardian: School chaos as buildings are shut over collapse fears #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/tUpDrxHa14  George Mann (@sgfmann) August 31, 2023

The i: Thousands of children face home schooling for weeks #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/x1gzMYIHFn  George Mann (@sgfmann) August 31, 2023

Meanwhile, the Daily Express has asked why it has taken so long to shutter unsafe buildings when schools have been aware of the dangerous problems for more than five years.

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This week NHS waiting lists have dominated headlines, with the Daily Mail now dubbing junior doctors and consultants callous as they prepare for their first co-ordinated strike, which is set to last four days and will undoubtedly cause more issues for those affected.

The Daily Mirror has focused on the march to protest the shuttering of railway ticketing booths, telling readers there are only hours left to protect the elderly, disabled, and other vulnerable passengers from being cut off from in-person services as offices look set to close across Britain.

In The Sun, marine Ben McBean has told Prince Harry he is wrong in his latest criticisms.

The Financial Times runs with a story on Adani after the mining titan saw more than 4 billion dollars wiped from its value as politicians demand answers and action over the companys murky hidden investors.

FT UK: #Adani shares lose $4bn as politicians

demand action over hidden investors #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/kxr57xvy04 Advertisement  George Mann (@sgfmann) August 31, 2023

Metro reports a British fighter killed in Ukraine has been hailed a hero by his brother.

And, according to the Daily Star, people named David, Andrew, Sarah and a few other common names are Britains moaners.
A young man has died after being hit by a bus in Dublin.

Ciaran Briody, aged in his 20s, was struck by the vehicle outside Busaras at approximately 11.30pm on Thursday.

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The collision happened at the junction of Amiens Street and Store Street in Dublin 1.

Mr Briody was pronounced dead at the scene and no other injuries were reported.

His remains have been removed to the city morgue at Whitehall.

Amiens Street, Store Street and Beresford Place have reopened to traffic and pedestrians.

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The incident took place outside Busaras in Dublin city centre. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Investigators are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the collision to contact them.

Any road users or pedestrians who may have camera footage and who were in the Amiens Street/Store Street area on Thursday night between 11.15pm and 11.45pm is asked to make this footage available to gardai.

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Anyone with any information is asked to contact Store Street Garda Station on 01 666 8000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.

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Week of tragedy

A week of tragedy on Irelands roads has also seen seven people die in two separate road crashes in Co Tipperary. As of Friday morning, 126 people have died on Irish roads so far this year.

The funeral for Nicole Murphy (18), took place on Thursday. She died along with Zoey Coffey and Grace McSweeney, both also 18, and Ms McSweeneys 24-year-old brother Luke.

Mr McSweeney was driving the teenagers to a bus on Friday when the car overturned and crashed into a wall in Clonmel.

Then on Tuesday evening, a young boy and his grandparents died in a single-vehicle collision in Cashel.

Thomas OReilly (45), his wife Bridget OReilly (46), and their three-year-old grandson Tom OReilly were killed.

The childs parents, both aged 22, were injured in the crash.

Meanwhile, two male motorcyclists aged in their 40s were killed in separate road crashes on Sunday evening in Dublin and in Belmont, Co Offaly.

On Tuesday morning a man in his 40s died in a single-car crash at Bridgend in Co Donegal.
Scientists in Korea and Britain have designed a solar-powered energy system for a smart farm in Naju, South Jeolla Province, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to almost 90 percent compared to conventional fossil-based energy systems. Courtesy of?Korea Institute of Industrial Technology





By Holly Chik







In a greenhouse in the southwestern Korean city of Naju, bell peppers, tomatoes, apples and mangos are being grown at their ideal temperatures. As the farm runs, scientists remotely monitor real-time data such as electricity consumption from regulating the indoor atmosphere.







Unlike conventional systems that rely on fossil fuels, the smart farm is powered mainly by solar energy to maintain stable temperatures all year round, cutting up to almost 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a group of international scientists.







The self-sufficient energy system design sheds light on how the farming sector could transition to renewable energy solutions, the researchers from the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), the University of Sheffield and the University of Hull in Britain said.







"This study presents a new hybrid renewable decentralized energy system that is designed to satisfy the requirements for heating, cooling, and electricity of a smart farm in South Korea," the researchers wrote in an article published in the peer-reviewed journal International Journal of Energy Research in July.







South Korea, the world's 8th largest energy consumer, is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. It aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from the 2018 peak levels by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.







The government plans to transition the agriculture industry into low-carbon and sustainable by expanding smart farms and developing low-carbon production technologies and machinery, according to the Ministry of Environment.







On food security, the government aims to boost its self-sufficiency rate to 55.5 percent by 2027 from 44.4 percent in 2021, according to the agriculture ministry.







The new energy system makes it greener to maintain stable temperatures inside a greenhouse in Naju, South Jeolla Province. Courtesy of?Korea Institute of Industrial Technology





In the study of the proposed system, solar panels are used to power a heat pump, which works as both coolers and heaters under different seasons to control the temperature in the greenhouse. The heat pump is connected to a water tank that stores and provides the energy of hot or cold water.







The scientists also introduced a wood pellet boiler to use the low carbon-emitting fuel as a backup heat source, according to the study.







Co-author Yang Won, a principal researcher of the carbon neutral technology R&D department at KITECH, told The Korea Times that the greenhouse serves as a test bed of the new energy model.







"This smart farm is an example of the approach to energy system optimization targeted at reducing carbon emission in an economical way," Yang said.?







He said the solar panels remain the most costly part of the system, and its economic feasibility could be improved with the support of government policy that encourages the use of renewable energy.







The team continued to improve the system, including redirecting the low amount of carbon dioxide generated from the wood pellet boiler to the greenhouse to fertilize plants, which would see its photosynthesis rate sped up, according to Yang.







"In Korea, smart farms will be a kind of next-generation agriculture, along with city farms - agriculture in a building," he said.







He added that the team is working on expanding the energy system optimization strategy into factories and industrial processes, such as manufacturing and iron and steel making, to contribute to overall greenhouse gas emissions reduction.







Holly Chik is a science reporter with the South China Morning Post. She is currently based in Seoul, reporting for both The Korea Times and the South China Morning Post under an exchange program.
The viral trend of "Barbie Botox" that has young women rushing for toxin-based procedures to mimic the looks of the film's lead actress Margot Robbie may lead to resistance among them and hinder medical use in future, doctors cautioned.

The procedure, also known as "Trap Tox", has been widely used by doctors to inject a class of drugs known as botulinum toxins, such as Botox, into the trapezius muscles of the upper back to treat migraines and shoulder pain.

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But since the Barbie movie was released in July, there has been an uptick in demand for use as a cosmetic procedure. The hashtag BarbieBotox had 11.2 million views on TikTok.

The procedure "supposedly slims the neck and somehow that got attributed to the actress that's playing Barbie," Revance Therapeutics president Dustin Sjuts told Reuters in an interview.

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"They're not treating wrinkles or lax skin. They want less girth to their neck, a slimmer, more contoured neck," said Scot Glasberg, president-elect of the Plastic Surgery Foundation, who practices in New York.

The approval of such injections for cosmetic purposes is only limited to procedures involving the face, making the use of the injection in the trapezius "off-label".

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The US Food and Drug Administration places the responsibility of "off-label" use on health professionals to judge such procedures as "medically appropriate".

Since the Barbie movie was released in July, there has been an uptick in demand for botox procedures to slim the neck. Photo: Joe Maher/Getty

Meanwhile, Revance and Evolus, which make similar toxins under the Daxxify and Jeuveau brands, respectively, told Reuters that though Barbie Botox has picked up in recent months, they do not see the trend significantly boosting sales.

Botox maker AbbVie declined to comment.

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Historically, people above 40 years would opt for toxin-based injections  a market estimated to be worth over $3 billion in annual sales in the US.

However, the doctors said they were concerned about a rise in use among younger women  and six doctors warned that procedures by underqualified staff at some medispas raised the risk of complications.

Resistance risk

The jump in use among younger women with typically stronger immune systems also raises the risk that the products could become less effective for them over time, said Shilpi Kheterpal, a dermatologist at Cleveland Clinic.

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"If they're doing high amounts of Botox very frequently... they may lose its effect over time, not just with Botox, but with the other products in the market too, because they all have some similar molecule," Kheterpal said.

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Doctors also stressed the risk from administration by people who may not be properly qualified, especially at medispas where there is little oversight.

"There are no regulations on the type of doctor that can run a medispa," said Melissa Levoska, assistant professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

Entertainment Behind-the-scenes Barbie clip shows creation of Ry... Read More

"So, a family medicine physician or OB-GYN [obstetrician-gynecologist] physician can technically open up a medispa, and now increasingly there are also physician assistants and nurse practitioners who are doing injections."

The toxins are generally safe, but a potential risk, if not injected properly, could be the impact on neighboring muscles which might weaken them for months.

"The science isn't quite there yet, in order to support the clinical profile of it," said Evolus chief executive David Moatazedi.

"However, we do know neurotoxins have been used at doses significantly higher for therapeutic purposes than the level of being used for aesthetic purposes and we know the products are safe."
A murderer who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death remains at large a day after escaping from a county jail.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, who was convicted in Pennsylvania recently, is also wanted in his native Brazil over a separate killing and considered extremely dangerous, Chester County prosecutors say.

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The hunt for him continues, with authorities widening the search area and following up on leads, said Dana Moore, a spokeswoman for the Chester County district attorneys office.

Cavalcante escaped on Thursday morning and was seen walking on a road near the prison shortly afterwards, authorities said.



Cavalcantes mugshot (Chester County Prison/AP)

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Officials did not disclose the circumstances of his escape but said the matter is subject of an internal investigation.

A jury convicted Cavalcante last month of killing Deborah Brandao in front of her children in April 2021.

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Prosecutors said he killed Ms Brandao to stop her telling police about the charges against him in Brazil in connection with a 2017 killing.

Cavalcante was sentenced to life behind bars and awaiting a transfer to state prison.

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Chester County Prison (WPVI-TV/6ABC/AP)

Authorities described him as five feet tall and 8st 8lbs in weight.

He has curly black hair and a closely cropped beard and moustache, according to a photograph the county released.
Pope Francis arrived in Mongolia on Friday on a visit designed to encourage one of the worlds smallest and newest Catholic communities.

It is the first time a pope has visited the landlocked Asian country and comes at a time when the Vaticans relations with Mongolias powerful neighbours, Russia and China, are again strained.

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The Pope arrived in the capital Ulaanbaatar after an overnight flight which passed through Chinese airspace, affording a rare opportunity to send a note of greetings to President Xi Jinping. Vatican protocol calls for the pope to send such greetings whenever he flies over a foreign country.

In his message to Mr Xi, he expressed greetings of good wishes to your excellency and the people of China.



People wave Vietnamese flags as they wait for Pope Francis at the Ulaanbaatars International airport Chinggis Khaan, (Ng Han Guan, AP)

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Assuring you of my prayers for the wellbeing of the nation, I invoke upon all of you the divine blessings of unity and peace, he said.

Upon arrival Pope Francis, who uses a wheelchair, was met on the tarmac by helmeted honour guards along with Mongolias foreign minister and was offered a taste of dried yoghurt from a woman in traditional dress, in a sign of welcome.

He made no public comments. Along with priests and others gathered on the tarmac, several dozen watched his arrival from the airport terminal.

Speaking to reporters en route to Mongolia late on Thursday, Pope Francis said he was looking forward to visiting the country.

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There are only a few inhabitants  a small people, but a big culture, he said aboard the ITA charter plane.

I think it will do us good to try to understand this long, big silence, understand what it means but not intellectually, but with senses.

He added: Mongolia, you understand with your senses.



Pope Francis is received by the Foreign Minister of Mongolia, Batmunkh Battsetseg, right, as he arrives in Ulaanbaatars (Andrew Medichini, AP)

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The visit will include official meetings with the Mongolian president and prime minister, as well as a speech before Mongolian government, cultural and business leaders, followed by Pope Francis first encounter with the bishops, priests and nuns who form the backbone of a tiny Catholic community of 1,450 which has only been in existence for a generation.

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While Christianity has been present in the region for hundreds of years, the Catholic Church has only had a sanctioned presence in Mongolia since 1992 after the country shrugged off its Soviet-allied communist government and enshrined religious freedom in its constitution.

The Holy See and Mongolia have had diplomatic relations since and a handful of missionary religious orders, including Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity, have nurtured the tiny community through its first three decades of life.

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Catholic sisters attend a mass at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cathedral in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (Louise Delmotte, AP)

Four Missionaries of Charity sisters run a nursing home on the northern outskirts of Ulaanbaatar with a capacity of 30 beds.

There, they provide care for elderly people with mental or physical disabilities, or who are homeless, undocumented, or otherwise ostracized by their families.

Sister Jeanne Francoise said it was an honour Pope Francis was coming to Mongolia, saying she had seen him once before when she was living in Rome but that it was never as close as it would be in Mongolia.

The Pope has long praised the work of missionaries and has tried to reinvigorate the missionary focus of the church at large by visiting them and encouraging their work.
The chairman of the US house foreign affairs committee has said that a partnership between the Russian and Chinese leaders worries him, adding: We have never seen a threat this large scale to Europe and the Pacific, I would argue, since World War Two.

Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said during a visit to Sweden that an alliance between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin provides a very big challenge, I think, for the free world in this great power competition that we find ourselves in.

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Joe Bidens administration has warned Mr Xis government of unspecified consequences if it supports the Kremlins war effort in Ukraine.

A United States intelligence report said Beijing possibly provided equipment used in Ukraine that might have military applications.

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The report cited Russian customs data that showed Chinese state-owned military contractors supplied navigation equipment, fighter jet parts, drones and other goods, but did not say whether that might trigger US retaliation.



Gregory Meeks joined Mr McCaul in Stockholm (TT News Agency via AP)

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China has stepped up purchases of Russian oil and gas, which helps Mr Putins government offset lost sales after the United States, Europe and Japan cut off most purchases of Russian energy.

Beijing can do that without triggering Western sanctions on its own companies, but Washington and its allies are frustrated that it undercuts economic pressure on Moscow.

China rejects Western trade and financial sanctions on Russia because they were not authorised by the United Nations Security Council, where Beijing and Moscow have veto power. However, China has appeared to avoid directly defying those sanctions.

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Mr McCaul, who was part of a US congressional delegation visiting Sweden and met with foreign minister Tobias Billstrom, said he expects the Nordic country to join Nato by October.

Long-neutral Sweden applied for Nato membership together with neighbouring Finland in 2022. New entries must be approved by all existing members, and as Nato leaders met for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sweden was missing the green light from two: Turkey and Hungary.

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Finland, which shares an 832-mile border with Russia  more than doubling the length of Natos border with Russia  became the 31st member of the worlds biggest military alliance in April.

But it was not until a Nato summit in July that Turkeys president agreed to send the accession documents to the Turkish Parliament for approval, something he had refused to do for more than a year.

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By having Finland and Sweden in Nato, I think it will achieve the exact opposite effect that Mr Putin wanted to achieve, and that was to weaken and divide Nato, Mr McCaul said. With the two Nordic neighbours in Nato, the alliance has never been stronger and more united, he said.

After Stockholm, the US delegation will travel to the Netherlands for meetings with Dutch government officials and members of parliament, among others.

The delegation visit to Europe aims to bolster ties with US strategic allies, as well as discuss support for Nato and Ukraine, ways to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine; and how to confront shared threats from China.

The Netherlands and Denmark recently said they will donate fighter jets to Ukraine.
The landmark former Presbyterian church in Castlemaine is for sale with an asking price of more than $2.7 million.

The historic church is likely to find a new purpose, with zoning allowing numerous uses, including conversion to residential, short-stay accommodation, childcare, commercial, a community centre or a place of assembly or worship.

The landmark gothic church in Castlemaine is expected to sell for more than $2.7 million.

The highly decorative gothic building at 11-13 Lyttleton Street is not the typically austere place of worship, so it comes as no surprise to find it was originally built for the independent and autonomous Congregational Church.

The 2023 square metre land parcel has three buildings on two titles  the 1861 church; a manse, dating from 1857, and an older hall built during the gold rush days in 1855. They are all heritage listed.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Is retail billionaire Solomon Lew taking a leaf out of Frank Lowys playbook? In late August, Lew announced that Premier Investments, a company he founded and floated on the stock exchange in 1987 only a few months after the Black Monday financial markets crash, was exploring the possibility of a demerger. Premier owns retail brands, among them Smiggle, Peter Alexander, Just Jeans, Jay Jays, and also has stakes in appliance maker Breville and department store Myer. The argument for a demerger is that Premiers conglomerate structure meant that its shares werent reflecting the true value of its different businesses, which could be unlocked by spinning off assets from its retail portfolio. It recruited investment bank UBS to explore a possible demerger, which is no surprise since ex-UBS banker Tim Antoine sits on Premiers board. It would also seem to answer the question about whether any of Lews progeny would step up to run or have future involvement in Premier. Lew, 78, whos worth $4 billion, and chairs Premier, has three adult children, Jacqueline, Peter and Steven, who are all running successful private retail businesses that include well-known brands such as Nine West, Seed and House. They are a tight-knit family but none of Lews offspring are currently involved with Premier. There are parallels between Westfield and Premiers stories. Frank Lowy was 87 when in 2017 he sold the listed shopping centre giant Westfield, which hed co-founded, to European property giant Unibail-Rodamco in a deal worth $33 billion. It solved the problem that had plagued Westfields shares for several years: they were undervalued. Westfield shares traded at a discount to net asset value, which is when the value of the companys assets are higher than the market value of the company itself.

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Moreover, Lowy, who chaired Westfield, used the deal to resolve the succession question. Two of his three sons, Peter and Steven, were co-chief executives at the time of the deal. Not long after selling Westfield, Lowy moved to Israel, where he cared for his ill wife, and continued to dabble in some investments but for all intents and purposes he was retired. Is Solly Lew ready to retire? For years, Lews been described as one of Australias most talented retailers. In 2016, he was inducted into the World Retail Hall of Fame. Lew might even contend hes the countrys best retailer, a view likely disputed by fellow retail billionaire Brett Blundy. What isnt in doubt is Lews passion for retail. Last year, Lew joined many other rich and high-profile Australians who were invited to Lindsay Foxs 85th birthday on a private 12-day cruise from New York to Montreal. While some guests were making demands for port side rooms - Lew was considering how to use the trip to visit retail and department stores in North America. By some accounts, Lew visited many stores, harassing shop assistants about what clothes and brands were selling, the trends they noticed, and returned from that trip with more than a dozen duffle bags of clothing and inspiration for the forthcoming season. Its what any good retailer like Lew and Blundy would do. But there are some who wonder if a more accurate description of Lew isnt that hes the countrys best retailer but that hes a terrific asset trader operating mostly in a retail world.

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Common to many of Lews deals over the decades has been his position of taking minority stakes in businesses, enough to have a seat at the table or exert control, and then waiting patiently, often for years or decades, before exiting at a hefty premium. This has been demonstrated throughout his career, where he has extracted a top price by selling down minority stakes from Coles Myer in 1999 and in 2007; in Country Road to South African group Woolworths in 2014; in Zara Australia to Inditex in 2015 and 2018. In the 1980s, there were examples where Lew forced Abe Goldberg to buy him out at a handsome profit from Entrad Corporation, and later in 1981 when Lew offloaded his stake in department store David Jones to John Spalvins Adelaide Steamship. Smiggle is one of the divisions of Premier Investments, which could be demerged as the group undergoes a six-month strategic review. Credit: Edwina Pickles To be sure, Lew has had controversial and dud deals too, but his $4 billion in wealth means more wins than losses. What is also common to many of Lews deals is his love for a nagging battle with the person or company on the other side of it. The current management and board of department store Myer knows this only too well. Premier recently increased its stake in Myer to 29 per cent. Premier has a director on the Myer board in Terry McCartney, a former managing director of Myer Grace Bros. Lew, who controls 42 per cent of Premier, was a chair of Coles Myer in the 1990s. Would he desire to become Myers chair again? A breakup of Premier, and a return to its roots as a holding company with stakes in listed companies, property and cash, may pave the way for it. The mercurial Lew will keep everyone guessing.

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Theres a lot of nostalgia and angst in Lews history with Myer. The company and its fate have been a lifetimes ambition of his. For now, the strategic review of Premiers business is expected to take six months. Premiers shares are trading near $26. Goldman Sachs analysts have a sell on the stock and a target of $20.90, while Morgan Stanley and Blue Ocean Equities, the latter is Lews preferred broker, have targets of $31 and $32 respectively. The difference in stockbrokers forecasts partly reflects a focus on slowing retail sales in a tougher economic environment, where customers are closing their wallets, and the growing capital expenditure required for each of Premiers businesses. It also reflects the mixed set of results that have been witnessed in recent decades from demergers. And there is a long list. Loading More recently there was Woolworths spin-off of Endeavour in 2021, and Illukas demerger of Deterra in 2020. In both instances, the share prices of those stand-alone businesses are below what they were at listing. There are also older examples of underperformers such as Paperlinx that was demerged from Amcor in 2000 and Onesteel spun off from BHP in 2000, and Asciano demerged from Toll in 2007. Some examples of demerged entities that have performed well over a longer period were Henderson, spun out of AMP in 2003, Australian Wealth Management demerged from Tower in 2006, Dulux spun out of Orica in 2010, Treasury Wine demerged from Fosters in 2011, Orora demerged from Amcor in 2014, and United Malt spun out from Graincorp in 2020.

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Our economy faces a $216 billion dilemma that is getting harder and harder and to ignore.

That huge figure is what Australia is estimated to have made last financial year from exporting coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) during a period of booming prices. But heres the thing: it is a trade bonanza with a finite lifespan.

Sure, our economy makes a motza selling fossil fuels to the world today, and even though prices are expected to dip significantly this year, it will continue to be a lucrative trade for a while yet. But it looks inevitable that overseas demand for fossil fuels will decline in the decades ahead as the world attempts to limit the effects of climate change.

Declining export revenue from fossil fuels will result in slower growth and less of an increase in our material standards  unless we replace the dwindling exports with something else. Credit: Jonathan Carroll

And therein lies a dilemma thats getting some attention from governments and the business world, but deserves even more thought. How can Australia gradually wean itself off the fossil fuels trade and find new exports to fill the gap?
Why do people leave jobs? The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Job Mobility report sheds some light on what is happening in the careers world.

Did you know that of the 13.8 million people employed as of February 2023, 2.9 million (about 28 per cent) had started their job in the previous 12 months?

A tad over half of those were new to the world of work, or had not worked in the previous year. And just under 10 per cent changed from one job to another in the year. This is the highest in a decade.

Wanting a better job, or even just a change, was the most common reason given for why people looked for new jobs.

By far the most popular reason for the change was a desire to do something different, or find a better job, the ABS stats released at the end of June show. That desire accounts for over a quarter of job changers and is almost twice as prevalent as the next couple of reasons - a temporary job coming to an end, or being retrenched, which was experienced by around 13 per cent of job changers.
Guliana knows full well the frustration of being a refugee and unable to get that all important first local job. It all changes once you find a placement.

By being able to say I have a job, it changes peoples perception of not only me, but other refugees as well - we are working hard and contributing, she says.

The money has not only helped Guliana and her family, but is buying her further opportunities.

Not having to look for a job all the time and worry about getting a job and money also helped me to be able to focus on getting back to being a student. Im now studying at university to hopefully become a high school teacher, she says.

Professor Betina Szkudlarek from the University of Sydney says research shows employers dont know what support is available if theyd like to hire refugees, or even where to find refugee candidates.
The former school principal sacked by NSW Education for a sexual relationship with a year 12 student was Annabel Doust, a former head teacher at Narrabri and Wee Waa high schools whose leadership was once praised in parliament.

Doust has been put on the not-to-be-employed list after a 12-month inquiry by the departments Professional and Ethical Standards Directorate, which employs investigators to look into allegations against teachers.

Annabel Doust in 2021 during a ministerial visit to Wee Waa. Credit: ABC New England North West: Lani Oataway

The student, Dean Gray, died while camping along the Namoi River with friends in 2021. After he died, his mother discovered thousands of text messages showing he had been groomed in 2013 by a female teacher.

This is not just about a young boy having a fling with a teacher, his mother, Cherina Gray, said. This is definite grooming and abuse  abuse of power that someone has done in the most disgusting way.
Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks, second from left, takes a look the company's product with Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, at the U.S. company plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Friday. Courtesy of Corning Korea



By Baek Byung-yeul



Corning, a U.S.-based multinational tech company, is investing $1.5 billion in Korea over the next five years, according to the company and the provincial office, Friday. The money is planned for developing advanced materials including ultra-thin bendable glass and expanding manufacturing capabilities at Corning's Asan factory in South Chungcheong Province to meet the growing global demand for next-generation displays.



The company, which specializes in glass and ceramic materials, held an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its investment in Korea and the establishment of its manufacturing line for ultra-thin bendable glass at its Asan factory. The ceremony was attended by prominent figures including Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks, Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and South Chungcheong Province Governor Kim Tae-heum.



The provincial government said Corning's $1.5 billion investment is aimed to boost its presence in displays, mobile devices and other applications such as vehicles. Previously, Corning pledged to invest in Korea when President Yoon Suk Yeol made his visit to the U.S. in April.



Corning produces bendable glass in Asan which it supplies to Samsung Electronics for use in the latest foldable smartphones. According to Corning, no other company has created such an integrated supply chain for bendable glass.



"Corning's latest innovations will enable advanced mobile device designs and automotive displays, and Korea will become a manufacturing hub for ultra-thin bendable glasses," Weeks said according to a statement issued by Corning's Korea office.



The chairman also credited partners such as Samsung and the Korean government for helping to establish this supply chain. "The country's commitment to technology-led growth policy, talented workforce and supportive government have enabled us to work with valued customers and partners here, such as Samsung," he said.





Corning holds a ceremony to mark its 50th anniversary of investing in Korea at the U.S. company's Asan factory in South Chungcheong Province, Friday. The event was attended by Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks, front row center, Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, front row third from right, and South Chungcheong Province Governor Kim Tae-heum, front row third from left. Courtesy of South Chungcheong Provincial Office



The partnership with Samsung has continued since the two companies jointly established a television production facility in 1973.



Lee said that the collaboration with Corning helped Samsung become a global company, adding the Korean tech giant looks forward to continuing to work together.



"Corning's friendship and cooperation has been a reliable stepping stone for Samsung to become a global company. Samsung and Corning will work together to create technologies that the world doesn't have yet and no one has ever imagined, and technologies that can benefit humanity based on trust and cooperation," Lee said.





Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks, right, and Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong share a hug at the U.S. company's plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Friday. Courtesy of Corning Korea
An expert review of western Sydneys transport infrastructure needs, which was kept secret by the federal government, recommended $200 million of urgent investment to kick-start a dozen major projects but was ignored in the May budget.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a self-described infrastructure nerd, announced the review at a western Sydney conference in October, saying it would guide future decision-making and take the politics out of planning.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the review at a Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue event in October. Credit: Peter Rae

You need better planning to avoid ongoing debates which then dont result in actual investment and action, he said at the time.

The final report, dated April 2023, has never been released by the government. A copy of the report, obtained by the Herald, contains frank assessments about the state of transport in Sydneys west and the challenges of connecting low-density communities over large distances.
I do think we should be open to name-changing, but in some ways that is the easy option, Mayes said. We need to wrestle with this history and do the hard work collectively to articulate why and how we should respond to it. Loading Universities, and Im not just talking about Deakin University, purportedly pride themselves on courageous inquiry that changes lives, institutions and societies for the better, but refuse to critically reflect on their own past. Deakin Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin said the university had consulted Indigenous leaders, staff and members of Alfred Deakins family to properly acknowledge the past, and a statement of truth-telling would be finalised this year. He said there was no appetite in the working group to change the universitys name.

That is not something that we are looking at and is absolutely not something that those Indigenous leaders ... are asking us to do. In fact, quite the contrary. They dont want it changed, he said. Martin said some of Alfred Deakins views were absolutely not acceptable in modern society, but if we simply expunge things from the record, what hope is there learning from the mistakes of the past? He said the former prime ministers legacy was very different to that of the university, which had been a leader in Indigenous education for 40 years. Deakin is not the first Victorian university to be forced to reconsider its historical links. Monash renamed the John Medley Library in 2016 due to his links to eugenics. The University of Melbourne changed the name of the Richard Berry Building for the same reason.

Overseas, Dixie State University became Utah Tech University last year, Ryerson University became Toronto Metropolitan University and many others changed the names of buildings to remove links to slavery, segregation and past racist beliefs. First Peoples Assembly of Victoria co-chair Ngarra Murray, a Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, Dhudhuroa and Dja Dja Wurrung woman, said the names chosen for places mattered. Peter Sharp (left), the great-grandson of Alfred Deakin, with Gunditjmara man Reg Abrahams and First Nations women Erin Fahy and Nikki Whitfield. Credit: Justin McManus Its good to see that this conversation about Deakin is happening, she said. It shows as a nation, Australia is maturing enough to reflect on what has happened and how things might be done better.

As our communitys values and priorities change and our shared understanding of our collective history grows, we should be open to revisiting names. Professor Mark Rose, Deakins Pro Vice-Chancellor of Indigenous Strategy and Innovation, was the universitys first Aboriginal student in 1978. Rose said Deakin had long been a leader in Indigenous education and those who were consulted on the name saw no sense in placating people who were value calling around the issue. They didnt want the university to lose momentum in the real business, which is educating blackfellas and closing the gap through education, he said.

Roses father was a member of the stolen generations. While he understood Alfred Deakins links to White Australia policy were confronting, he said the university had completed a considered and rigorous process that dealt with Deakins legacy. My ancestral mandate is to get as many blackfellas through uni with a degree as I can, and thats the core business, he said. A sign at Deakin Universitys Burwood campus acknowledges the Wurundjeri people as traditional custodians of the land. Credit: Penny Stephens Xavier Dupe from the National Student Union backed a name change. Alfred Deakin was a racist, ruling class politician who shouldnt be celebrated in our universities or our society, Dupe said. The university should be renamed, just like other institutions named after right-wingers such as those named after Robert Menzies.

Professor Judith Brett, who wrote the biography The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, said the former prime minister was not a racist. Loading He saw people in terms of their race, as did pretty well everyone before World War II, and he thought of nations in racial terms, she said. In terms of the White Australia policy ... these were supported by all political parties as well as by most of the population, so why would one signal him out as a racist from this, as if he caused these policies? The legislation he drew up on the franchise did not exclude Aborigines from voting, but it couldnt get through the parliament and so had to be amended. In his thinking about race, he was a man of his time  and better than most.
Chris Minns and Daniel Andrews run the states that could get the national vote in the Voice referendum over the line  so where are the premiers?

Almost 60 per cent of the nations population lives in either NSW or Victoria. But neither Andrews nor Minns  who can help secure two of the four states needed to pass the referendum, along with a national majority  had much to say about the referendum campaign on Thursday.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and NSW Premier Chris Minns. Credit: Jason South, Chris Minns

Minns said his NSW government would be talking with the Yes 23 campaign about what we can do to lend our support for what we regard as the next iteration for social progress in Australia  without committing to any campaign events.

Victorian premier Andrews backed the Voice during question time on Thursday because the old way is not working and noted the billions of dollars being spent every year to see our closing the gap matrix get worse, not better.
A fresh round of factional fighting has broken out in the Victorian Liberal Party, triggered by the expulsion of a leading conservative powerbroker and John Pesuttos decision to quickly fill a vacancy in the leadership team.

Conservative forces are threatening to retaliate in state and federal preselection battles and in upcoming ballots for party positions, which will take place at the Liberal Partys state council meeting later this month.

Evan Mulholland (second from right) speaks on Friday, alongside the Liberal leadership team of John Pesutto (left), Georgie Crozier and David Southwick. Credit: AAP

The latest factional battle began on Thursday night when the partys decision-making body voted to expel conservative powerbroker Ivan Stratov, who was an active recruiter of religious conservatives since joining the party.

Before signing up to the Liberal Party, Stratov ran as a Family First candidate, meaning he needed a two-thirds majority vote of the partys state assembly before he could become a member. But a report by the partys constitutional committee found that vote did not occur, and he should never have been a Liberal member despite paying years of membership fees. The fees will be refunded.
To ensure success of this itinerary, come prepared with a reliable map  whether digital or traditional  as well as an umbrella, waterproof shoes or a jacket if the weather seems threatening. Opt for a Navigo pass (Paris transport card) for seamless transportation throughout the city and, Allez-y! Were off.

The following itinerary is not a race against the clock, but rather a celebration of the art of wandering a la Francais, inspired by the French term, flaner. Indeed, Parisians have perfected the art de vivre, (the art of living) placing a premium on leisurely and hedonistic pursuits.

The recipe for a Parisian degustation  discovering the city in a series of small portions  is a recipe most could master: eat, explore, and repeat. In 72 hours, a newcomer to the city can experience its full essence with just a little forward planning.

Morning

Begin where the city itself was born, on the Ile de la Cite, surrounded by the Seine. Start with breakfast at the picturesque Au Vieux Paris dArcole. Then walk through the oldest-running bird and flower market in the world, Marche Aux Fleurs et Oiseaux to arrive at the foot of Notre Dame Cathedral. Dont miss Paris Point Zero, the true centre point of the city, depicted by a discreet star within a circle on the forecourt in front of the Notre Dame (most do miss it).

Head to the tip of the island to Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf, youll pass the medieval-looking Conciergerie, a former prison that once housed Marie Antoinette. Walk down from Pont Neuf to Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf to pick up one of Paris iconic Bateaux Mouches river boats (pre-booking is necessary). A one-hour cruise will take you up the Seine and face to face with some of the citys most beautiful monuments including the Louvre, the Musee dOrsay and the Eiffel Tour as well as some of the most picturesque of the Seines 37 bridges, returning you back to where you boarded below Pont Neuf. A sightseeing tour offers an observational toe-dip into the city along with a sense of how the city is laid out.

A cruise along the Seine from Pont Neuf is a great way to get a lay of the land. Credit: Britus

Once back at Pont Neuf, if you fancy a coffee or a fresh juice, head over the bridge to the historic Shakespeare & Co bookshop, Paris left bank literary institution (established in 1919) that housed leading writers of the Lost Generation including Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein and browse the handwritten notes left by patrons in the upstairs annex.

Afternoon

Walk up Rue Saint Severin to explore the Latin Quartier. Ensure you look to your left whenever passing a big boulevard for a glimpse of the Pantheon in the distance. Continue along Rue Saint-Andres des Arts to arrive at the heart of the left bank, Saint Germain. Stop around here for a seafood lunch at Huguette, grab a quick sandwich at Smiths Bakery or a blowout meal at the Cafe de Flore. My personal favourite, neighbourhood bistro Comptoir des Saints-Peres, offers delicious, lighter French fare and people-watching that is just as good. If its oyster season, continue west and go to Les Antiquaires. Walk it off with an art injection at the Musee dOrsay.
Kyiv: As questions mount about the pace of Ukraines counter-offensive against Russia, Kyiv is reminding allies that no one understands the war better than the Ukrainians.

Everyone is now an expert on how we should fight, a message reader on a tweet posted by the Ukrainian Defence Ministry. A gentle reminder that no one understands this war better than we do.

Ukrainian soldiers fire a mortar towards Russian positions at the front line, near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine. Credit: AP

The words are followed by a montage of scenes of fighting, interspersed with more uplifting images of soldiers and liberated civilians.

In the same statement, the post on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter), reads: If we listened to what non-Ukrainians said in February 2022, we would no longer exist.
UB researcher receives ASHA award

This award is monumental for demonstrating not just the importance of my research program in the field, but the importance of transdisciplinary work more broadly with the goal to improve peoples quality of life. 

Nichol Castro, assistant professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, and director of the Adult Language Network Lab, will receive the Award for Early Career Contributions in Research from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

According to ASHA, the award is designed to recognize and acknowledge significant scientific accomplishments to individuals within five years of completing their doctoral degree, other terminal degrees, or post-doctoral training.

Castros research focuses on word retrieval in aging adults and adults with language impairments  like aphasia and dementia  with a particular focus on how words are organized in memory. Her research uses both behavioral studies and computational modeling.

In addition to her numerous peer-reviewed publications and grant submissions, Castros mentor and nominator, Diane L. Kendall, professor emerita in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington, cited her creative and innovative nature of work that is unique to the field of aphasia research that, through the course of her career, will continue to propel clinical aphasiology science forward in significant ways.

As cognitive scientist and gerontologist by training, Im someone who comes from outside the field of communication sciences and disorders, Castro explains. So this award is monumental for demonstrating not just the importance of my research program in the field, but the importance of transdisciplinary work more broadly with the goal to improve peoples quality of life.

Castro will receive the award at a ceremony in November during the 2023 Annual Convention in Boston.

This esteemed accolade recognizes individuals who have made remarkable scientific achievements, says Bo-Hua Hu, chair and associate professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences. Nichols dedication and significant contributions to the field of speech-language pathology have led her to be recognized with this honor.

Castro joined the UB faculty in 2020. Prior to that, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive aging at the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical aphasiology at the University of Washington. She earned a BA in psychology, with honors, from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and completed a dual-title PhD in psychology and gerontology from the University of Kansas.
Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail Ventures is in advanced talks with global investors to raise around $2.5 billion by the end of September, ahead of a potential stock market listing, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Three sources said the target fund raise of $2.5 billion is part of a combined $3.5 billion target the firm has set for itself, a part of which - $1 billion - came from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and was announced last month.

In an emailed statement, Reliance said "As a policy, we do not comment on media speculation and rumours.", but added "Our company evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis."

Reliance last month said it raised $1 billion from QIA at a $100 billion valuation for India's biggest retailer whose operations stretch from selling groceries to electronics, and include foreign partnerships with brands like Burberry and Pret A Manger.

Morgan Stanley is advising Reliance on the process, said two sources with direct knowledge. Morgan Stanley did not respond to a request for comment.

All the three sources declined to name potential investors. But the first source said Reliance was talking to at least two U.S.-based investors, while the other two sources said there was growing interest from existing foreign investors of Reliance, including some sovereign wealth funds.

The investment, if it materializes, will bolster India's status as a rare bright spot for Western private investors who are shying away from new investments in China due to the country's worsening economic outlook and geopolitical tensions.

In 2020, Reliance Retail raised $5.71 billion by selling a 10.09% stake to investors including KKR, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, General Atlantic and the United Arab Emirates' Mubadala.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi, Scott Murdoch in Sydney, and M. Sriram in Mumbai; Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Dhwani Pandya; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Incoming IKEA Korea CEO Isabel Puig / Courtesy of IKEA Korea



By Kim Jae-heun



Home furnishing retailer IKEA Korea appointed Isabel Puig as new chief executive officer and chief sustainability officer, a company official said Thursday. Puig will take office starting on Sept. 1.



"I am excited to take on this new role in Korea, one of the most dynamic markets demonstrating new possibilities of home furnishing," said Puig. "I am committed to ensuring that inspiring IKEA home furnishing products and solutions, developed over eight decades, with our strong focus on people and the planet, will firmly take root in the homes and lives of many Koreans."



Puig joined Ingka Group in 2014, which operates IKEA retail in 31 markets, as a global co-worker relations leader, following her career as a lawyer and legal advisor in Spain and the US.



She later served as an area manager and country people & culture manager at IKEA Belgium for three years, where she gained an extensive understanding of the home furnishing market and management experience.



Over the past year and a half, Puig has held the position of deputy retail manager at IKEA France, overseeing retail operations and all business areas. In this role, she has proven her ability to address key management issues, such as business steering and development, process and governance development and advancing cross-organizational collaboration.



Under her leadership, IKEA Korea will focus on offering home furnishing products and solutions that help to create better homes, based on its passion and deep knowledge of life at home.



The company plans to strengthen its omnichannel approach through digital transformation, providing a range of new service options for customers to conveniently meet IKEA whenever, wherever and however they want.



In addition, IKEA Korea will continue to drive its initiatives for people and the planet to become climate-positive by 2030, such as expanding the use of renewable energy and increasing electric vehicle deliveries.



As a people-centered organization, the company is committed to practicing equality, diversity and inclusion, embedded in IKEA's vision and values, fostering sustainable growth.



The current CEO of IKEA Korea, Fredrik Johansson, will transition into a new role as the global business operation manager at Ingka Group, delivering service experiences and operational excellence to Ingka Group Companies.


Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), the retail arm of Reliance Industries, is said to be in advanced talks with global investors to raise $2.5 billion by the end of this month. This latest fundraising plan follows RRVL bagging $1 billion investment in August from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) for a 0.99 per cent stake. QIA valued the countrys largest retailer at a pre-money equity valuation of nearly Rs 8.28 trillion.

According to a Reuters report, based on three sources, the plan to raise $2.5 billion is part of a combined $3.5 billion target the firm has set for itself. The QIA investment was part of this exercise.



RRVL was yet to respond to Business Standards e-mail query in this connection at the time of going to press.



At Reliance Industries annual general meeting held earlier this week, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of the conglomerate, told investors that several marquee global strategic and financial investors have shown strong interest in Reliance Retail.

In less than three years, the valuation of Retail has almost doubled, notwithstanding the intervening Covid-19 pandemic. Based on this valuation, Reliance Retail, had it been listed, would have ranked among the top 4 companies in India and the top 10 retailers globally, he told shareholders at the AGM.



He also said that as India grows from a $2,500 per capita economy to a $10,000 per capita economy, Reliance Retail will be its fastest-growing business in terms of revenue and Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).



In its previous fundraising round in 2020, the company raised a total of Rs 47,265 crore at a pre-equity valuation of Rs 4.21 trillion. It raised funds from investors, such as Silver Lake, Mubadala, General Atlantic, and KKR.



RRVL through its subsidiaries and affiliates operates an integrated omnichannel network of over 18,500 stores across various formats of retailing and digital commerce platforms across grocery, consumer, electronics, fashion & lifestyle, and pharma. It has also partnered with over 3 million merchants through its new-commerce initiative.



Also Read FMCG sales slow on lower stocking; home care only category to report growth Reliance Retail Ventures may sell another 8-10% stake to prepare for IPO RIL readies $2.4-3 bn Infra Investment Trust for retail warehousing assets Reliance Retail ropes in former Amul chief RS Sodhi to drive grocery biz RIL 46th AGM: Brokerages insipid but keep positive ratings on stock intact Mahindra Logistics signs pact with Flipkart for heavy commercial vehicles Royal Enfield reports increase in sales by 11% to 77,583 units in August VE Commercial Vehicles total sales up 29.4% to 6,476 units in August Renault Nissan Automotive India marks 15 yrs of operations at TN plant 'Amazon excited about India, sees huge headroom for e-comm market growth'

RRVL reported a consolidated turnover of Rs 260,364 crore ($ 31.7 billion) and a net profit of Rs 9,181 crore ($1.1 billion) in FY23.

At Reliance Industries AGM, Isha Ambani, director at RRVL, said: We have invested over $10 billion in the past two years, focusing on building integration, growing in-house brands, and improving supply chain networks.
The State Bank of India (SBI) has delivered a recruitment notice, welcoming applicants to apply for commitment as apprentices under the Apprentice Act 1961. Only one state allows engagement applications. Under this engagement project, applicants can only take the exam once.

Candidates are required to apply online through the link provided on the websites like https://bank.sbi/careers, https://nsdcindia.org/apprenticeship or https://apprenticeshipindia.org or http://bfsissc.com or https://www.sbi.co.in/ careers.

The registration cycle will start today, September 1, 2023. The last date to submit the SBI apprentice application form is September 21, 2023.

SBI Apprentice Recruitment 2023: Dates

 Opening date of application: September 1, 2023

 Closing date of application: September 21, 2023

 Written exam: October/ November 2023.

SBI Apprentice Recruitment: Eligibility Criteria





Also Read: Ex-ISRO chief Dr K Sivan is now chairman of IIT Indore's board of governors Applicants who need to apply must have a graduation degree from a recognised College/University.

SBI Apprentice job recruitment: Selection procedure

The Selection cycle will contain a local language test and online written test. The written test will have 100 questions and the most maximum marks is 100. The test duration is for an hour.

With the exception of the trial of General English, Test questions for Written might be set in 13 Regional Languages viz. In addition to English and Hindi, there are Assamese, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, Manipuri, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu languages.

Apprentice Recruitment 2023: Fee Structure

 The application charges for General/OBC/EWS class is Rs 300.





Also Read: GMAT 2023 registrations begin today at gmac.com, all you need to know  For SC/ST/PwBD category applicants are exempted from payment of fees.
Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam said on Friday that 'One Nation, One Election' is against the concept of the diversity of the country, and if someone tries to impose it, then it will be against the values of the country.

"One Nation, One Election is against the concept of the diversity of the country. India is a country of diversity. Diversity is the strength of its unity; if someone tries to impose one nation, one election, then it will be against the national values, the national concept, and the strength of the country," he said.

The Union government has constituted a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of 'One Nation, One Election' which envisages the holding of general election and state Assembly elections simultaneously.

Sources said that the committee will explore the possibility of bringing legislation regarding it. A parliamentary standing committee, the Law Commission and Niti Ayog had earlier examined the 'One Nation, One Election' proposal and submitted reports on the subject.

The government has decided to call a Special Session of Parliament from September 18-22 where it is speculated that the government could bring a bill for this proposal to take effect.

While speaking to ANI, the CPI leader questioned the PM Modi-led central government for its inaction over the fresh allegations made against the Adani group by two international papers and said the BJP is a party of deceit and is only committed to supporting the looters of the country like Adni.

Binoy Viswam, Secretary, of CPI National Council, says, "BJP is a party of deceit, a party of cheating the people, and a party that is committed only to supporting the looters of the country like Adani, and it is now known to the people. That's why the people want a change.

Also Read It's drama: CPI MP Binoy Viswam on new Parliament building inauguration Oppn MPs give adjournment notices, wants Manipur discussion in Rajya Sabha RS adjourned till 2.30 pm amid uproar by ruling, opposition members SC gets 2 new judges: CJI administers oath of office to Mishra, Viswanathan Left MPs to raise Manipur issue in Parliament, oppose US envoy's remarks INDIA bloc lauds Isro for successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 mission One nation, one election: All you need to know about simultaneous elections Opposition leaders question Centre's 'one nation, one election' move ED conducts raids in Rajasthan to probe 'Jal Jeevan Mission' irregularities Delhi MCD councillors' allowance hiked from Rs 300 to Rs 25k per meeting

On Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's demands for a JPC probe on the allegations against the Adani Group Binoy Viswam said JPC was the demand of the country.

"JPC is a demand of the country, and the CAG reports are before the nation, and based on that report, the whole country is looking forward to what the government will do. Is this the government of Adani, or is this the government of the people? If this is the government of the people, it has to go for JPC. If it's a government run by Adani, then the BJP can do whatever they like, but the country will not allow it," he said.

On being asked what decision will be taken and will be announced this (Friday) evening after the third meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA the MP said, "You will get to hear something very positive this (Friday) evening. Something very positive for the country and the people will come out.
The Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday calling him childish over the latter's tirade against industrialist Gautam Adani and his conglomerate, and linking them to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP said Gandhi should explain why the Congress-led government in office before 2014 at the Centre had given land parcels to the Adani group. In a long post on X (formerly Twitter), the state BJP said, Rahul Gandhi who has a childish brain should tell why the Congress government before 2014 had given key land parcels to the Adani group. The earlier Congress government had given several awards to the Adani group, it should be communicated to the people. Why did (NCP founder) Sharad Pawar oppose the Congress demand for JPC (probe in Adani group affairs) which was based on Hindenberg report? Why did Congress government in Maharashtra in 2013 awarded 660 MW Tiroda power plant to the Adani group? the party asked. Earlier in the day, Gandhi said asked PM Modi to come clean on fresh allegations against the Adani Group and said he must order a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into them as India's reputation is at stake ahead of the G20 summit in the country.

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre, Gandhi said at a press conference in Mumbai this is a "national issue" and all opposition parties are together on the matter.

Referring to the fresh set of allegations made by some top global financial dailies that there is a "relationship" between Adani and the PM, Gandhi said this is affecting the country's global image and its reputation is at stake just before the G20 summit.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday slammed the INDIA bloc meetings and asserted that the alliance has no vision for the development of India, and their recurrent theme was to abuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "In the third meeting of the so-called alliance, there was no vision for the development of India, no roadmap for the upliftment of the poor, no strategy to address concerns of farmers or women and children. The most important is that there was not even an acknowledgement of the threat to India from terrorism, radicalisation and successionist forces...Their only recurrent theme is to abuse Shri Narendra Modi ji..."

Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi Ravi Shankar Prasad asked if he had become the spokesperson of the Chinese establishment.

"Mr Rahul Gandhi, have you become the spokesperson of the Chinese establishment? The Indian Armed forces have clearly said about what happened in Galwan Valley, but you don't even believe them. What can we expect?...."

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the Ladakh locals informed him that the Chinese have taken over the Indian land accusing the Central government of "betraying" the people of Ladakh.

"I spent a week in Ladakh. I went to Pangong Lake right in front of where the Chinese are. I had detailed discussions, probably the most detailed discussions that any politician outside Ladakh has had with the people of Ladakh," Rahul Gandhi had said.

Also Read Veteran Samajwadi Party leader Hari Shankar Tiwari passes away at 90 VIRAL VIDEO: MS Dhoni stuns Venkatesh Prasad with his bike collection BJP getting rattled by series of lectures: Tharoor, Gogoi defend Rahul Asian Games: Olympic medalist Ravi Dahiya loses in trials to Atish Todakr Rahul Gandhi's chronic habit to abuse, defame others: Ravi Shankar Prasad INDIA bloc resolves to contest 2024 LS polls together 'as far as possible' 'One Nation, One Election': Govt sets up panel under ex-President Kovind INDIA will rout BJP; Cong to repeat Karnataka win in other states: RaGa Simultaneous polls: 10 state assemblies to end before or near LS polls Rajasthan elections: Lawyers stage strikes, file PIL against CM Gehlot
Opposition bloc INDIA on Thursday decided to get into poll mode and speed up its plans to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with some leaders stressing on the urgency to finalise seat sharing and come out with a joint agenda in a few weeks' time.

Top opposition leaders, who met here for a few hours in an informal setting on the first day of the third round of talks of their alliance, emphasised that they must get their act together at the earliest and vowed to finalise a coordination committee along with four sub-groups to chalk out their election plans.

Sources said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told the leaders to give one name from their respective parties for being part of the coordination committee.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would also unveil its logo on Friday, even though there were no discussions on it on Thursday.

The sources added that the opposition grouping should have a team of spokespersons who would speak on behalf of the alliance, as leaders of various parties have their own respective spokespersons.

They said the leaders discussed the agenda of Friday's meeting which will begin at 11 am, after which they would issue a joint statement and address a press conference jointly.

It was decided that a coordination committee will be formed after discussions, along with at least four sub-groups which include one to plan the joint programme of the alliance, another on preparing the action plan and handling social media, and one on research and data analysis to take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

Besides, a sub-committees would also be set up for chalking out the joint campaign and rallies.

A source said, there could also be a discussion on Friday on having a convenor for the alliance.

While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is learnt to have told the meeting that the bloc should come out with its manifesto by October 2, her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal called for finalising seat sharing among parties for the Lok Sabha polls by the end of next month.

Also Read GATE 2024 application process begins, view these details before applying All-party Opposition meet ahead of 2024 elections today; all you must know Opposition, NDA expected to set tone for 2024 Lok Sabha elections today As Nitish tries to bring Opposition together, here's a look at his journey Sonia Gandhi extends dinner invite to united Opposition, including AAP Maharashtra BJP unit poses questions to Rahul Gandhi over Adani group Amit Shah to inaugurate call centers nationwide on Friday to engage voters AAP demands seat-sharing discussion for all states at INDIA bloc meet Indicates panic over Adani row: Congress on special session of Parliament BJP boycotts MCD House, Cong councillor objects it being on Raksha Bandhan

Samajwadi Party's (SP) Ram Gopal Yadav is also learnt to have called for finalising seat sharing between parties in states early, saying there is no time left for the opposition alliance.

In view of the convening of the special session of Parliament from September 18, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the opposition should be ready for all contingency plans to take on the NDA's surprise element strategy and gimmicks.

Most leaders agreed for early finalisation of poll plans for 2024 considering that there could be early elections, while stressing that there was no time left with them and mere meetings would not help.

Congress president Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee, AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, among others, participated in the informal talks.

National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, CPI(ML) Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, and RLD's Jayant Chaudhary, were also present at the meeting.

Thackeray hosted dinner for the INDIA leaders after the meeting.

The run-up to the meeting saw the Adani issue take centre stage with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi holding a press conference on the premises of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in suburban Santacruz where the INDIA bloc leaders had gathered.

Before the start of the meeting in the evening, Rahul Gandhi was seen chatting with Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Aaditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut, and Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Supriya Sule and Jayant Patil.

Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar were also seen sharing light moments ahead of the meeting.

Earlier in the day, several leaders of the alliance said they have come together to save the Constitution and democracy in the country.

Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad said the need of the hour is to strengthen the unity and sovereignty of the country, and to protect the Constitution and democracy.

"The Modi government has failed to address the issues of poverty, unemployment and welfare of farmers. At the INDIA alliance meet, we will work on evolving a common programme. We have to contest elections one-on-one (put up common candidates against the BJP)," the RJD leader said.

Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav said the 'Maha Gathbandhan' (grand alliance) came to power in Bihar last August and Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar decided to work on getting all like-minded parties on board for a larger opposition alliance.

"A year later, we are meeting in Mumbai for the third time as an INDIA alliance," he said.

People wanted a proper alternative and the INDIA alliance is offering it, Tejashwi Yadav said, adding that people will give a befitting reply to "those who divide society."



Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti said the youth were the strength of the country.

"Leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh worked to give direction to the youth and set up institutions like JNU, IIMs, ISRO," she said.

RJD leader Jha said the alliance is working to unite the country. It is not just a coalition of parties but that of ideas, he said.

Yechury claimed that people's response to INDIA has "unnerved" the prime minister and the BJP. PTI ASK/SKC MR



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Australias consumer watchdog on Friday called for Qantas Airways to be punished with a record fine for allegedly selling tickets on thousands of flights that had already been cancelled.



Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said Qantas' penalty for allegedly breaching consumer law should be more than double the Australian record 125 million Australian dollar ($81 million) fine imposed on the Volkswagen Group in 2019 for misleading customers about the level of exhaust emissions from its diesel engines.



We consider that this should be a record penalty for this conduct, Cass-Gottieb told Australian Broadcasting We are going to seek a penalty that will underline that this is not just to be a cost of doing business. We consider these penalties to have been too low. We think the penalties should be in hundreds of million, not tens of million, she added.



The commission filed a lawsuit against Qantas in the Federal Court Thursday alleging Australia's flagship airline engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights from May through July last year that had already been cancelled but not removed from sale.



Qantas cancelled 1-in-4 flights during the three-month period.



Qantas kept selling tickets on average for more than two weeks after flights were canceled and in some cases up to 47 days, the commission said. Customers who bought tickets before flights were canceled were informed on average 18 days after the cancellations and in some cases 48 days later.



The result was that customers were left with less time to make alternative bookings and may have paid higher prices to fly at a particular time.



In one case, Qantas sold 21 tickets for a July 29, 2022, service from Sydney to San Francisco up to 40 days after that flight was canceled, the commission said.



Qantas said it would respond in full to the commission's allegations in court. We have a longstanding approach to managing cancellations for flights, with a focus on providing customers with rebooking options or refunds. It's a process that is consistent with common practice at many other airlines, a Qantas statement said.
An Indian American has been arrested in New Jersey on charge of being part of a technical support scam that targeted more than 7,000 victims defrauding them of more than USD 13 million, a US Attorney announced Thursday.

Charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Manoj Yadav appeared before US Magistrate Judge Jos R. Almonte in Newark federal court.

"The defendant and his conspirators are alleged to have misled their numerous victims into thinking that they were a legitimate technology support company affiliated with a major software company," US Attorney Philip R Sellinger said.

After claiming to provide technical support for issues involving the software company's popular accounting software, they allegedly charged the victims exorbitant fees for purported support services that were not authorized by the software company, he alleged.

"We allege Yadav lied to software users and forced them to pay for services that would usually come free with their initial purchase," FBI Special Agent in Charge James E Dennehy said.

The count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of USD 2,50,000 or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offense, whichever is greatest.

"The amount he's accused of stealing from his victims and the number of victims seem shocking; however, we are seeing an incredible increase in all types of tech support scams. The fraudsters are pretty savvy in how they con money out of people, even those of us who think we're smart enough to not fall for it. If you think you're a victim, please reach out to the FBI, Dennehy said.

According to federal prosecutors, from 2017 through 2023, Yadav and his conspirators, many of whom were in India, fraudulently held themselves out as a technology support company affiliated with a major US business and accounting software company that developed and sold a widely used accounting software product.

They operated under multiple fraudulent business names, including Phebs Software Services, LLC, Phebs Software Services, PN Bookkeeping Services, Phebbs Consulting, Quickbooks Tech Assist, Quickbook US, Quickbooks Accounting, and Quickbooks Support Team.

According to court documents, the conspirators would contact victims under the guise of fixing technical issues they faced with the accounting software. After receiving tech support from the conspirators under these fraudulent pretenses, the victims would either be charged exorbitant fees or additional subscription fees.

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These services were all fraudulent: They would not cost any additional money for customers who contacted the actual software company, and the software company never authorized Yadav or his conspirators to act on its behalf or charge any fees.

Yadav personally participated in the scheme by charging the victims for the fraudulent technology support services and funnelling millions of dollars from these victims to his conspirators, it alleged, adding that he fraudulently obtained these funds through the Phebs Software Services, LLC, which he himself formed.

That entity did business as both Phebs Software Services and Quickbooks Accounting.

Yadav also used these entity names to falsely hold himself out to banks and victim customers as an accounting company legitimately affiliated with the software company. He did this to prevent charge backs, Better Business Bureau complaints, and the closure of bank accounts. Yadav sent his conspirators over USD 13 million in funds obtained from victims and would routinely keep approximately 17 per cent when he wired funds to the conspirators, it said.
The Nobel Foundation that administers the prestigious awards, has reversed its invitation policy and invited Russia, Belarus and Iran, as well as the leader of a far-right Swedish party, who had previously been banned.



Vidar Helgesen (pictured), the executive director of the private foundation said in a statement that there was a global trend in which dialogue between those with differing views is being reduced. To counter that, he said, we are now broadening our invitations to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free, peaceful societies. The foundation said that invitation for the 2023 events was extended to all countries with diplomatic missions in Sweden and Norway and parties "that have parliamentary representation via democratic elections," adding that "this common approach promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone, and in future this practice will be common to the entire organisation. Last year, the diplomatic envoys of Russia and Belarus were barred from attending the glittery prize ceremonies and banquets, which always take place on
Laying emphasis on reviving the Black Sea grain deal, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has sent a new proposal to Russia, The Washington Post reported.

The proposal aimed at getting its grain and fertilizer to global markets in hopes of reviving the deal that allowed Ukraine to ship almost 33,000 tons of grain at a time of growing global hunger.

However, Moscow wasn't satisfied with the letter that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week.

Speaking at a press conference Thursday after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Lavrov said he had given Ankara "a list of actions" that the West would have to take in order to resume Ukrainian shipments, The Post reported.

Guterres told UN reporters on Thursday that he had written a letter to Lavrov with "a set of concrete proposals, allowing to create the conditions for the renewal of the Black Sea initiative."

"We have some concrete solutions for the concerns allowing for an effective, or more effective access of Russian food and fertilizers to global markets at adequate prices," The Post quoted Guterres as saying.

The UN chief further stated that a renewed Black Sea initiative must be "stable" - and not move "from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension." The original agreement for 120 days was extended once for 120 days and twice for 60 days.

"I believe that working seriously we can have a positive solution for everybody -for Ukraine, for the Russian Federation, but more important than everything else for the world in a moment in which so many countries are facing enormous difficulties in relation to guaranteeing the food security of their populations," The Post quoted Guterres as saying to the reporters.

Guterres said that he saw little prospect of peace in Ukraine before the General Assembly's annual meeting of world leaders starting September 18. He said that's why he stressed the need to "take measures to reduce the dramatically negative impacts of this war in relation to the world."

Also Read EU ministers meet to discuss Ukraine grain exports after Russia nixes deal UN protests US spying on Guterres, calls it 'interference' by Washington UN 'doing everything possible' for extension of Black Sea grain deal What is the Black Sea grain deal that is at risk of falling apart? Russia threat to exit Ukraine grain deal adds risk to global food security Pak caretaker FM rules out relief in power bills, says no space for subsidy Felipe Massa ready to go to court as he claims was robbed of 2008 F1 title Japan's Defence Ministry seeks record 7.7 trn yen budget for FY 2024 'Ferrari' movie gets 7.5 min standing ovation at Venice Film Festival Will continue to support allies, proud to have welcomed 115,000 Afghans: US

Meanwhile, Turkey's Foreign Minister said that his meeting with Lavrov, that Moscow was in "preparation" for an upcoming meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

Describing the grain deal as "quite a complicated and laborious job," Fidan said when Erdogan and Putin get together they "will take a more strategic and political view."

Fidan is also due to meet with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was involved in the deal's negotiations, on September 1.

After the meeting, Lavrov had told reporters, "As soon as talks turn into concrete decisions, we'll be ready to resume the Ukrainian part of the grain package that same day," The Post reported.

Notably, the UN and Turkey brokered the deal in July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports. A separate memorandum between the UN and Russia pledged to overcome obstacles to Moscow's shipment of food and fertilizer to world markets, according to The Post.

The deal followed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict which sent global food prices skyrocketing because the two countries are major "breadbaskets" for the world.

Earlier in July, Russia suspended the Black Sea grain initiative alleging that the Ukraine deal largely benefitted richer nations and that Russia still had difficulties obtaining financing, insurance and shipping for its fertilizer and grain shipments.

Data from the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which organized the Ukraine shipments, shows that 57 per cent of the grain from Ukraine went to developing nations, with the top destination being China, which received nearly a quarter of the food, The Washington Post reported.
This Aug. 3, 2018 file photo shows former lawmaker Kim Dong-cheol speaking during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul. Yonhap



A former lawmaker is likely to be appointed as the new CEO of the troubled state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. later this month, company officials said Friday.



The company held a special meeting of its board of directors and approved the agenda for the shareholders' meeting later this month, which aims to select Kim Dong-cheol, a four-term lawmaker, as its new CEO, officials said.



On Thursday, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy recommended Kim as the sole candidate for the next CEO of KEPCO.



His appointment is subject to approval by President Yoon Suk Yeol. If appointed, Kim will be the first politician-turned-CEO of the utility firm since its establishment in 1961.



KEPCO's top post has been vacant since May as then KEPCO CEO Cheong Seung-il quit, holding himself responsible for the company's snowballing losses and financial woes.



Last year, KEPCO suffered a record-high operating loss of 32.59 trillion won ($24.74 billion), more than quadruple from a year earlier, due mainly to high global energy prices and limited hikes in electricity rates.



Kim, 67, worked for the Korea Development Bank for about seven years before joining the political circle as an aide to a lawmaker in 1989.



He won his first parliamentary seat in 2004 and served as a lawmaker until 2020.



Kim had mostly been affiliated with liberal parties and served as a floor leader of the now-defunct People's Party and the minor Bareunmirae Party.



In 2021, Kim worked for Yoon to support his presidential election bid and joined his transition team last year. (Yonhap)


Belkin, a leading consumer electronics brand for over 40 years, today announced the SoundForm Inspire Over-Ear Headset for Kids, a premium over-ear headset with built-in boom mic and 35 hours of battery life, designed just for kids.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230831308540/en/

SoundForm Inspire Kids Headphones (Photo: Business Wire)

The SoundForm Inspire is creatively engineered for children to listen safely and comfortably while learning and playing. The headset is built with 40mm drivers to deliver Belkin Signature Sound, and a volume cap of 85 decibels to protect young ears. The soft, adjustable headband folds up for portability, and smaller ear cups provide an excellent fit for kids ears. RockStar Mode features an additional 3.5mm output port that lets kids share audio content with a classmate or friend. A quality boom mic keeps the sound clear during distance learning, with an indicator light to tell when the headset is on mute. It is available in black and lavender colors.

Product features:

Belkin Signature Sound with 40mm drivers for clean and clear audio, tuned specifically for kids

35 hours of battery life for extended playtime

85dB volume limiter to protect hearing

3.5mm input port to connect to laptops, tablets, infotainment systems, phones, and other devices

RockStar Mode allows audio sharing with additional 3.5mm output port

High-quality flip-up boom microphone to be heard on calls and games

Mute button and LED mute indicator for easily monitoring kids activity

Bluetooth 5.2 connects easily to devices within 30 feet for wireless connection

USB-C port for fast charging and wired audio input

Foldable, extendable, and comfortable over-ear design for comfort and convenience

Product housing is made with minimum of 23% post-consumer recycled plastics

100% plastic-free packaging



Belkin Kids collection includes the new SoundForm Inspire Over-Ear Headset, SoundForm Nano Wireless Earbuds and SoundForm Mini On-Ear Headphones.

The SoundForm Inspire is available to order now for $39.99 USD at Belkin.com and coming soon to Amazon.com and select major retailers worldwide.

Media kit is available for download HERE.

About Belkin

Belkin is an accessories market leader delivering power, protection, productivity, connectivity, audio, security, and home automation solutions for a broad range of consumer electronics and enterprise environments over the last 40 years. Designed in Southern California and sold in more than 100 countries around the world, Belkin creates products that empower people to get more life out of every single day whether at home, at work, or on a new adventure. In 2018 Belkin International merged with Foxconn Interconnect Technology to bolster its global influence while maintaining its steadfast focus on research and development, community, education and sustainability. Belkin remains forever inspired by people and the planet we live on.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230831308540/en/
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President of L'Oreal North Asia Fabrice Megarbane speaks during a press conference at the company headquarters in Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of L'Oreal Korea



By Kim Jae-heun



L'Oreal Korea has revealed its plan to share the vision of diverse and sustainable beauty with Korea while promoting the country's innovative products to the world through the "KO-creation" strategy during the company's celebration 30th anniversary in Seoul, Friday.



"We are extremely grateful to all our customers, partners, suppliers and our employees, for their incredible support and contribution to L'Oreal Korea's thirty-year journey. We look forward to working even more closely with the entire Korean innovation ecosystem, to create the beauty that moves Korea and the world," President of L'Oreal Korea Samuel du Retail said.



The French cosmetics firm set KO-creation as a key initiative, which will leverage Korea's unique beauty environment and a rich innovation ecosystem, to achieve next-level growth. KO-creation in three strategic areas are continuing Korea-inspired product innovation, expanding partnerships for research and innovation and collaborating with the government for open innovation.



"We recognize the strategic role L'Oreal Korea plays in the North Asia beauty triangle ecosystem both from the consumer insight and the research and innovation perspective. Korea offers the latest insights on consumer trends, digital innovations and biotechnology, and we are ready to work closely with our partners in Korea to capitalize on future opportunities for growth and innovation," President of L'Oreal North Asia Fabrice Megarbane said.



Since the mid-2010s, L'Oreal Korea played a key role in bringing K-trends to global consumers, by launching K-beauty-inspired "BB cream" and cushion products globally. More recently, the K-inspired YSL pink cushion, YSL candy glaze and Lancome Clarifique pro-solution serum, have been received very well in Korea and across North Asia.



L'Oreal set Korea as a strategic hub for research and innovation, where the company is exploring new partnerships. L'Oreal recently signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) with GS Caltex on bio-based cosmetic ingredients, with Cosmax on microbiome technology and Kakao Healthcare on precision beauty solutions powered by bioinformatics.



The company has also been partnering closely with Seoul city and the Ministry of SMEs and startups on open innovation, to discover and nurture startups and small- and medium-sized companies and help them scale up globally.



L'Oreal signed an MOU at Viva Technology 2023 with MSS to support startups and will be launching the Big Bang program shortly, to explore new startups in beauty tech and devices, powered by digital and artificial intelligence.


SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won wearing an olive-colored suit coat poses with employees during the group's in-house Icheon Forum at Icheon SKMS Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 24. Courtesy of SK Group



By Baek Byung-yeul



Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, marked his 25th anniversary as chief on Sept. 1. The chairman has led the group from being the fifth-largest conglomerate to the second-largest conglomerate. He has emphasized the need for deep change to ensure the group's continued growth, according to industry officials, Friday.



Chey became chairman of SK Inc. on Sept. 1, 1998, at the age of 38, just days after his father and Chairman Chey Jong-hyun passed away on Aug. 26 and the economic crisis doomed many companies here.



At the time of his inauguration, Chey said "If today is the same as yesterday, it means stagnation, and if tomorrow is the same as today, it means regression," emphasizing a "deep change" strategy that requires the group to pursue constant change to achieve growth.



As a result, SK Group's business portfolio, which was centered on energy and information technology at the time of his inauguration, has expanded to include semiconductors, batteries and biotechnology.



Under his leadership, SK achieved a nearly 10-fold growth in 25 years as the group's revenue rose to 224 trillion won ($170 billion) as of 2022, from 37 trillion won in 1998. The number of affiliated companies grew from 41 in 1998 to 198 in 2022, and the number of employees grew from around 23,000 to more than 125,000 last year.





SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won delivers a speech at the publication of the biography of the late SK founder Chey Jong-gun at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul hotel, Nov. 10, 2003. Yonhap
Mergepoint mobile application/ Yonhap



A Seoul court ruled Friday in favor of users of Mergepoint, a once-popular online discount app, in a collective compensation suit they filed over the app's abrupt withdrawal of most of its services.



Mergepoint gained huge popularity in Korea for its discount service, in which consumers could buy items or eat out with Mergepoints at a 20 percent discount off the regular price and use them at about 60,000 places nationwide, like retail chains, convenience stores and coffee shops.



Its operator abruptly announced in August 2021 that sales of Mergemoney, the service's currency, would be halted, while the number of retail stores accepting the currency would be reduced, a decision that immediately led to users' rush for refunds.



A total of 148 users have since lodged a lawsuit against Mergeplus, the operator of Mergepoint, and others, demanding 200 million won ($151,885) in compensation.



The Seoul Central District Court on Friday ruled against Mergeplus, its CEO Kwon Nam-hee and an affiliate. Kwon and the two companies are expected to pay the compensation together to the plaintiffs.



The court, however, found that Lotte Shopping Co. and five other online shopping malls accused of selling the virtual currency were not liable.



Previously, Kwon and her younger brother Bo-gun, who served as the firm's chief strategy officer, were given prison terms of four years and eight years, respectively, on charges that included fraud. (Yonhap)




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Lets recap what these two vehicles are again. The smaller of these two is the CX-60, while the bigger one is the CX-90. Both represent Mazd...
Head of Gabon's elite Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, right, is decorated by Gabon Prime Minister Alain Claude Bilie Bie Nze in Libreville on Aug. 16, during celebrations ahead of Gabon Independence day celebrated on Aug. 17. The leaders of the coup in Gabon on Aug. 30 named Republican Guard chief General Brice Oligui Nguema transitional president, according to a TV statement, after the military seized control in the wake of elections. AFP-Yonhap



The general who overthrew Gabon's 55-year Bongo dynasty will be sworn in on Monday as transitional president, the army said, as the opposition called for its candidate to be recognised as the winner of weekend elections.



The military sought to reassure donors they would "respect all commitments" at home and abroad and "phase in" transitional institutions, Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi Manfoumbi, spokesman for the new regime, said on state television.



The swearing in of General Brice Oligui Nguema will take place at the constitutional court, said the spokesman, providing the first indication of how the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) would operate following Wednesday's putsch.



But the African Union's Peace and Security Council strongly condemned the coup and said it decided to "immediately suspend" Gabon until the restoration of constitutional order in the country.



Gabon's opposition Alternance 2023 alliance had remained silent since the coup, but on Thursday called on the military leaders to acknowledge its victory in the election.



The alliance "invited the defence and security forces to the discussion so as to work out... the best solution," following the vote.



Led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, Alternance had earlier accused President Ali Bongo Ondimba of "fraud" and demanded he hand over power "without bloodshed".



Ondo Ossa on Thursday claimed the Bongo clan remained in control and there had not been a coup but a "palace revolution".



"Oligui Nguema is Ali Bongo's cousin," he told France's TV5 Monde.



"The Bongos found that Ali Bongo had to be put aside to be able to properly pursue the Bongo system."



"Oligui Nguema is an underling. Behind him, it's the Bongo clan keeping hold of power," he said, urging international help to restore order.



Bongo 'retired'



Ali Bongo, whose father Omar held power for more than four decades, was toppled moments after being declared outright winner in bitterly disputed weekend elections.



Amid scenes of joy in the oil-rich state, the coup leaders had named the head of the elite Republican Guard, General Oligui Nguema, as transitional president.



But they imposed a night-time curfew "to maintain calm and serenity" and Gabon's borders remained closed.



"The transition must happen quickly," said Jasmine Assala Biyogo, 35, who owns a small central Libreville bar.



There were few outward signs of the political turmoil on the capital's streets on Thursday.



Bongo's fate remains unclear but the CTRI, which includes the heads of all army corps, said he had been put under house arrest and "placed in retirement".



After decades with a playboy image, Bongo was elected in 2009 following the death of his father, who reputedly amassed a fortune from Gabon's oil wealth.



In 2016 he was re-elected  again in fiercely disputed conditions  before suffering a stroke in 2018 that weakened his grip on power.





Taxis are seen under a torn campaign billboard of ousted Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba in Libreville on Aug. 31. AFP-Yonhap
ATLANTA  The Carter Center today issued its preliminary statement (PDF) on the Aug. 23 elections in Zimbabwe, finding that they took place in a restricted political environment with an unlevel playing field and that the election administration lacked independence and transparency in key areas, undermining the credibility of the process.

Overall, the Center concluded that the 2023 electoral process did not adequately respect Zimbabwes regional and international commitments for democratic and inclusive elections, which made it difficult for contestants to compete on an equal basis and prevented the genuine expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people.

The Centers statement noted that Carter Center observers found that while voting day was largely peaceful and well implemented by polling staff, there were delayed openings caused by ballot shortages in several areas. Some delays lasted as long as12 hours, which likely depressed voter turnout. The Center also found that critical election information  including the final voter list and the list of polling stations  was not readily available to stakeholders. Observers reported numerous instances of assisted voting in rural areas, raising concerns that the secrecy of the vote may have been compromised.

The Center further reported that agents from the two main political parties were present in most polling stations and tally centers that observers visited. There also was a widespread presence of citizen observers. However, Zimbabwean authorities conducted a raid on election night and shut down the nonpartisan citizen observation efforts of two respected civil society groups, the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network and the Election Resource Center. The Center continues to urge the government of Zimbabwe to drop all charges against the civil society leaders and respect their rights of political participation.

On Aug. 26, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced presidential election results indicating that incumbent President Emmerson D. Mnangagwa received 2,350.711 votes (52.6%) and that leading opposition candidate Nelson Chamisa received 1,967.343 (44%), with voter turnout reported as 69 percent. Chamisa has announced his intention to challenge the results.

Results for the National Assembly and local authority elections were announced at the constituency and the ward level, respectively. The electoral published the results on its webpage; however, technical problems made the site difficult to access and led to limited public access to information.

Given the highly polarized post-election environment and lack of trust among political stakeholders, the Center stressed that it is critical that the electoral commission publish detailed results at the polling-station level on a timely basis so that political parties and observers can cross-verify the results, in accordance with international best practice, to help ensure the transparency and credibility of the election process.

Background:

Following an invitation from the government of Zimbabwe to observe the Aug. 23 elections, The Carter Center launched an observation mission in late July with a 10-person core team. Fifteen long-term observers joined them in early August, and in mid-August, 48 additional short-term observers arrived in Zimbabwe. The delegation was led by the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, Attahiru Muhammadu Jega.

For unexplained reasons, Zimbabwean authorities would not approve accreditation for 30 of the Centers short-term observers, even though they had been provided visas and were in the country. On Aug. 22, the Center issued a public statement asking the government of Zimbabwe to approve the accreditations, calling the failure to do so a severe and unwarranted obstruction to the Centers mission that was inconsistent with commonly recognized and respected norms and practices and unprecedented in the Centers 30-plus years of observing elections.

The Carter Center has observed more than 110 elections in over 40 different countries since 1989. It conducts its missions in accordance with the 2005 Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation, and its assessments and analyses of elections are based on regional and international human rights obligations and standards for democratic elections, including the SADC Principles and Guidelines and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.

###

Contact: In Atlanta, Maria Cartaya, maria.cartaya@cartercenter.org

The Carter Center

Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope.

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
Artificial intelligence is upending many industries at the moment, and in the filmmaking world, a key area that is currently under threat of automation is storyboarding.

Numerous AI tools have been released this year with the aim of replacing storyboard artists, and among the most advanced-looking Ive run across is Storyboarder.ai, which claims to offer a solution to the laborious and time-consuming process of storyboarding. The company proposes that it can create professional storyboards quickly and effortlessly.

The video below describes how it works. Users upload a PDF of their screenplay to the cloud-based platform. The software then analyzes the script to create a shotlist. The user then reviews the shot descriptions, and selects some general settings for each shot. The program then generates the images, which can be further refined for style and content.

The product is developed by Germanys Fynal, a film production company based in Dortmund and Essen that bills itself as the largest film production [company] in the Ruhr area.

A competing product is Storyboardhero from Singaporean tech company Ilathys. This product requires the user to create their script within the software, which doesnt seem as useful as Storyboarders automated analysis of a script written in an industry-standard format.

Jean-Christophe Bougle, co-founder of StoryboardHero, says, We have been creating videos for clients for more than 10 years through our video agency called Fewstones. It used to take us days to create scripts and storyboards. Thats why we created StoryboardHero, an AI storyboard generator. We have been able to drastically reduce the time needed to create full storyboards for our clients and prospects.

One curious feature of Storyboardhero is the company also offers an option for its in-house artists to redraw the storyboards, which seems to defeat the purpose of using their software in the first place.

While these are storyboard-specific AI programs, its becoming clear that people are also using more generic AI tools for the purpose of boarding. In this Youtube video, the creators explain how theyre using the generative AI program Runway to create a primitive version of storyboards:

Amids Take: In the near-term, these AI storyboard tools appear to have greater applicability to live-action filmmakers than animation, because production storyboards in animation have to convey much more information than just shot composition and framing. However, its not difficult to envision a near-future where animation producers begin incorporating these technologies into productions, which would allow them to hire fewer storyboard artists whose role would be to refine pre-existing AI-generated boards.

What cannot be denied is that these technologies are progressing faster than the animation industrys response to the tech. AI will soon be a competitor for industry jobs that have existed for the last century in animation production. Artists (and their representative unions) need to develop a response to this new threat and make clear to producers why human board artists should not, and more importantly cannot, be replaced by AI technologies.
Photo: The Canadian Press A pride flag is raised at Toronto City Hall in Toronto on Tuesday, May 31, 2016. A total of four youths are now facing charges after a disturbance at Pride event in Fort Macleod, Alta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima

A total of four youths are now facing charges after a disturbance at Pride event in Fort Macleod, Alta.

RCMP say they have made two more arrests after four suspects threw fisher and marten lure oil in the historic Empress Theatre last Saturday, causing a foul smell in the building.

The oil was thrown while a Pride event was occurring.

The four young men have each been charged with one count of mischief under $5,000.

All four accused are youth and can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

They have been released and are due in youth court at the Alberta Court of Justice on Dec. 15.

Fort Macleod RCMP are still investigating a second incident targeting Pride events in the community that night.

Just before midnight, police were notified five male suspects were burning the Pride flag in a community park.
This photo taken on June 21 shows Masao Nishizaki, director of the Housenka foundation  a civic group working on the events following the 1923 earthquake when many Korean residents were massacred  standing near the exact location believed where the bodies were buried 100 years ago along the Arakawa River, during a meeting with AFP in Sumida Ward in Tokyo. AFP-Yonhap



This week Japan marks 100 years since the Great Kanto Earthquake that killed 105,000 people. Less well known is the subsequent massacre of thousands of ethnic Koreans that haunts the community to this day.



Over several days of horror after the quake of Sept. 1, 1923, mobs armed with swords, iron bars and bamboo sticks went on a killing spree of Koreans living in the Tokyo region, after malicious rumours spread about the community.



Historians say that soldiers with machine guns from the imperial military actively participated  something Japan is yet to fully face up to.



Kim Do-im, 86, believes her uncle was among those murdered in the flaming ruins of Tokyo after the quake. His body was never found.



"His tomb is in Korea but it doesn't contain his ashes," Kim, who was born and grew up in Japan, told AFP.



"My uncle was 33 when he died. He had three children," she said. "I first heard the story when I was around five years old... It hurts my heart."



Deadly inferno



The death toll from the 7.9-magnitude quake, one of the deadliest of the 20th century, was made much worse by huge blazes that ripped through the mostly wooden houses that made up Tokyo back then.



With a news blackout, rumours then started that Korean students and workers wanted to take advantage of the chaos to loot, kill Japanese citizens, and even stage a coup.



Nobody knows precisely how many Korean, and also Chinese, immigrants the bloodthirsty mobs butchered.



But the consensus among historians is that "several thousand" perished, said Tessa Morris-Suzuki, professor emerita of Japanese history at the Australian National University.



And it wasn't just ordinary people who were the perpetrators.



"There is a considerable amount of testimony collected immediately after the event showing that members of the police and army participated in the killings," she told AFP.





This photo taken on June 21 shows Masao Nishizaki, director of the Housenka foundation  a civic group working on the events following the 1923 earthquake when many Korean residents were massacred  showing an image of prosecutors, left, visiting the site believed to be where the bodies were buried along the Arakawa River and another of family members visiting the area, during a meeting with AFP in Sumida Ward in Tokyo. AFP-Yonhap



Rumours



Historian Kenji Hasegawa from Yokohama National University, who has conducted extensive research into what happened, agrees.



"It was not just vigilantes with their bamboo poles out there. The military used machine guns and that's where the largest massacres took place," Hasegawa told AFP.



Xenophobia towards Korean immigrants was rife in 1920s Japan, which at the time occupied the Korean peninsula and was about to become the military dictatorship that would drag the country into World War II.



The government, under pressure to deal with the aftermath of the quake, used Koreans as a convenient, imagined enemy within to avoid angry Japanese people rioting.



"We don't have enough evidence to pinpoint the blame for the first rumours on the state," Hasegawa said, but since the 1960s there has "pretty much been a consensus" among scholars that it had a "central role" in spreading them.



For the authorities, the Korean massacre "was a means of crowd control, of controlling the Japanese crowd, which was much larger," he suspects.



'Killed on the spot'



Masao Nishizaki heads Housenka, a small association based in eastern Tokyo devoted to keeping memories of the atrocity alive.



Walking along the grassy banks of the Arakawa River in his working-class neighbourhood, he stopped abruptly to say: "It's here."



Citing eyewitness accounts from the time, he told AFP that armed men stood near a bridge, screening terrified people desperate to escape the fires.



Those identified as Koreans were "killed on the spot" and their bodies "piled up like wood", said Nishizaki.



Later the Japanese army also "lined up Koreans on the river bank and executed them with machine guns," he added.





This photo taken on June 21 shows Masao Nishizaki, director of the Housenka foundation  a civic group working on the events following the 1923 earthquake when many Korean residents were massacred  speaking about the memorial for the victims outside his home in Sumida Ward in Tokyo. AFP-Yonhap
MPA voices concerns over UK government housebuilding plans

01 September 2023

The Mineral Products Association (MPA) has written to the UK government voicing concerns over the governments recent announcements regarding housebuilding. Two differing policy proposals designed to boost housebuilding, put forward by the current government and the Labour opposition, support plans to deliver new homes but, according to the MPA, fail to recognise the importance of the construction supply chains in realising their housing ambitions.

Robert McIlveen, director of public affairs at the MPA, has written to Matthew Pennycook MP, the shadow planning minister, to stress the key issues faced by producers of mineral products such as aggregates, concrete and asphalt. Mr McIlveen points out that materials products literally form the foundations for all new building work.

Infrastructure, housing, and the new workplaces, schools and hospitals your plan implies will be delivered, all rely on mineral products for construction, including concrete  and its ingredients aggregates and cement  mortar, stone, and asphalt for roads, pavements and cycle paths. This supply chain is often taken for granted, despite being the largest material flow in the economy, and faces a longstanding challenge in replenishment rates for permitted reserves, particularly for sand and gravel. Since 2010 there has been much less strategic planning which has led to this situation, stated Mr McIlveen.

He went on to highlight the findings of two recent MPA publications. Firstly, the Annual Mineral Planning Survey, the most recent of which found that for every 100t of sand and gravel extracted, only 63t are permitted for future extraction, and the recent paper setting out scenarios to 2035 for aggregates demand, which shows a significant increase in the need for aggregates and the options to meet that need.





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Institut Semen dan Beton Indonesia becomes an Affiliate Member of WCA

01 September 2023

The World Cement Association (WCA) announced it is welcoming the Jakarta-based engineering specialist and industrial research consultancy firm, Institut Semen dan Beton Indonesia (ISBI), as an Affiliate Member.

Institut Semen dan Beton Indonesia, also known as the Indonesian Cement and Concrete Institute, has provided engineering training and consulting within the cement industry as well as the nickel, steel, power generation and mining sectors, for over 20 years.

ISBIs team includes industrial researchers, engineering consultant specialists, mechanical and electrical service implementation contractors to repair mechanical and construction equipment, as well as technology instructors and educators.

The company offers training on operations, maintenance, and industrial processes, as well as human resource development. Since 2009, it has also expanded its offering to accommodate the oil industrys growing demand for safety training.

"WCA is further expanding its involvement with industry players operating in emerging economies, particularly in Indonesia which is one of the worlds largest cement markets. We are therefore looking forward to welcoming ISBI to our network as an Affiliate Member, and the valuable contributions that theyll bring," states WCA's CEO, Ian Riley.

"We are thrilled to become a part of the World Cement Association. We have a mutual goal of improving the sectors profitability and especially look forward to sharing our own insights among the associations forums on innovative technologies and strategies which will help achieve these outcomes," said Irianto Oetomo Maruwi, director of ISBI.

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TITAN Group supports "The Ellinikon project"

01 September 2023

TITAN Group's state-of-the-art ready-mix concrete unit has contributed to the realisation of "The Ellinikon project" in Greece, optimising its cement and aggregates supply chain for one of Europes most iconic infrastructure projects.

TITAN Group is offering on-site innovative, low-carbon products and tailored solutions for the Ellinikon, along with expert advice on the use of innovative materials and circular solutions. One notable aspect of TITANs contribution to the project is its commitment to a sustainable supply chain. The company aims to increase the use of recycled materials, sourcing aggregates from nearby quarries, reducing transportation distances and minimising the environmental impact associated with long-haul deliveries. This emphasis on a local and sustainable supply chain enhances the project's overall sustainability goals.

The Ellinikon in Athens, Greece, represents a groundbreaking urban and coastal redevelopment effort, the largest in Europe, led by LAMDA Development. Spanning a massive 6Mm2, the project repurposes a disused airport into a new city, creating an international multifaceted hub that revamps the coastline and builds modern infrastructure, new residential units, and hospitality developments.

The new city at Ellinikon introduces the region's first skyscraper, the tallest "green" seaside skyscraper in the Mediterranean, as well as other landmarks, designed by renowned Greek and international architectural firms. At the heart of this iconic urban regeneration project lies the 2Mm2 Metropolitan Park, a world-class green oasis within the Ellinikon development, which will contribute to a reduced CO 2 footprint for the wider area.

Angelos Kalogerakos, general manager Greece, TITAN, stated: We have invested fast and early to accompany this large city infrastructure project. I am certain our partners will be delighted with the outstanding concrete solutions delivered by our Group specialists thanks to this digital, state-of-the-art unit and our portfolio of green and value-added products. We take pride in contributing to the transformation of The Ellinikon as this iconic project is reshaping the coastline.

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Pope Francis picks up a piece of Aaruul or Mongolian curd cheese as he arrives at Ulaanbaatar's International airport Chinggis Khaan, Sept. 1. AP-Yonhap



Pope Francis, who is sometimes received as a superstar on trips abroad, arrived in Mongolia on Friday to the joy of its tiny Catholic community but with his presence barely making a ripple in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country.



The plane carrying Francis and his entourage landed after a night flight of nearly 10 hours, and the pope, who is 86 and in need of a wheelchair, was resting for the remainder of the day.



His first engagement is on Saturday, when he attends an official welcoming ceremony and addresses government leaders and diplomats.



At the airport, a woman in traditional dress offered the pope solid yogurt, a customary Mongolian gesture of welcome, before he was wheeled past an honor guard wearing ornate blue and red uniforms and holding rifles.



Apart from Mongolian and Vatican flags on poles on the highway, and traffic backed up by the passing of his motorcade, there were barely any signs that the pope was in town.



One of the few banners along his motorcade route into the modern capital surrounded by a mostly barren expanse was held up by Catholics from Vietnam, a country once hostile to Western religions but which recently upgraded its relations with the Vatican.



There are only 1,450 Catholics in Mongolia, administered by Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, who started working in the country more than 20 years ago as a young priest.





Pope Francis is greeted by children in traditional Mongolian costumes outside the Apostolic Prefecture in Ulaanbaatar's Kahn Uul district, Friday, Sept. 1. AP-Yonhap
Sarah Fergusons mastectomy led to her finding self-love after years of being harshly compared to Princess Diana.

The Duchess of York, 63, has been recovering from her recent gruelling operation after a breast cancer diagnosis and has now described it as a waking up moment to end her self-hatred and stop not liking yourself.

She said on the latest episode of her Tea Talks podcast: When I look back, you know, I was OK I got good legs and look good, and I didnt like myself, and that was because, I think, you know, I was always compared to Diana.

I think at the end, I sort of believed my own press, which is, you know, not too good.

Sarah, who was married to Prince Andrew, 63, from 1986 to 1996, was close to Diana before the Princess of Wales was killed in a Paris car smash aged 36 in 1997.

The duchess identified with the princess due to their fraught relationships with the royal family, which saw Sarah frozen out by the late Queens husband Prince Philip after she was photographed having her toes sucked on holiday by Texan financier John Bryan months after her split from Andrew.

She also told on her podcast how it took getting a body part to be cut off in order for her wake up and stop worrying, stop self-hatred, stop self-doubt and stop not liking yourself.

Sarah added she considered herself lucky her sister Jane Ferguson urged her to get a mammogram and that her doctors found her breast cancer before it was too late.

She said: The greatest luck of my life is to have a wonderful sister who asked me to go have a mammogram because that is something that has saved my life.

The new podcast host also recalled the last advice the late Queen, who died aged 96 in September 2022, gave her  which was be yourself.

She added: (The Queen) saw it. She just got so annoyed when I wasnt being myself, and thats probably when I got into more pickles.

But now I am myself, and Im just so lucky to be able to be myself. Its so hard  what a journey.

Sarah, who has daughters Princess Beatrice, 35, and Princess Eugenie, 33, with Andrew, revealed in June she had to undergo surgery.

She is currently recovering at home at Royal Lodge in Windsor, where she still lives with her ex-husband despite their divorce nearly three decades ago.
The Tennessee Supreme Court today rejected a Memphis nursing homes argument that the trial court could not consider whether a resident with Down syndrome was competent to authorize his brother to act as his agent. The nursing home sought to enforce an arbitration agreement signed on the residents behalf by the brother. The Supreme Court held the trial court correctly considered evidence that the resident did not have the mental capacity to understand the document that authorized his brother to sign the agreement.



David Welch was diagnosed with Down syndrome shortly after birth. David had no formal education; he could not read and had difficulty understanding and following instructions. In 2012, James filled out a healthcare power-of-attorney form for David, giving James authority to act as Davids health care agent. David scratched his name on the form, and James used it for several years to help David obtain health care.



In 2016, James brought David to Christian Care Center of Memphis, a nursing home, to admit David as a resident. James showed Christian Care his signed power-of-attorney and signed all of the admission paperwork, including an optional arbitration agreement. The agreement waived Davids right to a jury trial and agreed to arbitrate any disputes with Christian Care. At the time, the nursing home understood that David had Down syndrome.



David lived at Christian Care for a number of months. He died in 2017, at the age of 62.



In 2018, James, as administrator of Davids estate, filed this health care liability lawsuit against Christian Care, arising out of its care while David was a resident. Christian Care filed a motion to compel arbitration under the agreement James signed on Davids behalf. The trial court found that David did not have the mental capacity to sign the power-of-attorney naming James as his agent, so it denied Christian Cares motion to compel arbitration.



Christian Care appealed to the Court of Appeals, which reversed. The Court of Appeals held that, under a Tennessee law, Christian Care could rely on the power-of-attorney form David signed. It held that the trial court should not have considered evidence on whether David was mentally competent to sign it, and therefore should have granted Christian Cares motion to compel arbitration. The Tennessee Supreme Court then granted Jamess request for permission to appeal.



The Tennessee Supreme Court noted that the Tennessee statute Christian Care cited protects health care providers from liability if they rely in good faith on an agents health care decision for a patient. In this case, the arbitration agreement James signed was optional; Christian Care would have admitted David to the facility even if James had refused to sign it. As a result, the Court said, Christian Care could not show it relied on Jamess decision to sign the arbitration agreement Christian Care did not do anything different based on the arbitration agreement. The Court held that the Tennessee law cited by Christian Care did not prevent the trial court from considering evidence on whether David had the mental capacity to designate James as his lawful agent.



The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and affirmed the trial courts decision to deny Christian Cares motion to compel arbitration.



To read the Courts opinion in James A. Welch et al. v. Oaktree Health and Rehabilitation Center LLC D/B/A Christian Care Centers of Memphis et al., authored by Justice Holly Kirby, go to the opinions section of TNCourts.gov.






The Tennessee Supreme Court has elected Justice Holly Kirby to be the next Chief Justice of the Court. Justice Kirby was unanimously elected by the Court for a two-year term, effective September 1, 2023. She becomes only the fourth woman to serve as the Courts Chief Justice.

Justice Kirby was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2014 by former Governor Bill Haslam. Before her appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Kirby served for almost 19 years on the Tennessee Court of Appeals. She was a gender milestone on the intermediate appellate court, the first woman in Tennessee history to serve on the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

"I am honored to have been chosen chief justice by my colleagues on the Court, Justice Kirby said. I have the highest respect for Justice Page, my predecessor as Chief Justice, Justice Bivins, also a former Chief Justice, Justice Campbell, and now Justice Tarwater. Tennessee has the finest judiciary in the country; our judges are dedicated public servants who serve with integrity. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with all of them to strengthen public confidence in our courts, access to justice for vulnerable citizens, and the rule of law in Tennessee.

Over the next several years, the Supreme Court will oversee the largest investment in the technology infrastructure of the judiciary in the states history. Going forward, Justice Kirby said, smart technology for the judicial system will be crucial for our judges to do their jobs, to extract needed data for our States decision-makers, and for all Tennesseans to be able to access our courts.

A lifelong Tennessean, Justice Kirby was born in Memphis and graduated from high school in Columbia. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Memphis with high honors in mechanical engineering and then graduated from the University of Memphis School of Law with high honors. Justice Kirby is the first graduate of the University of Memphis to sit on Tennessees High Court.

After law school, Justice Kirby served as a judicial law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She then joined the Memphis law firm of Burch, Porter & Johnson, where she was active in politics and community service. She served for several years as a member of Tennessees Appellate Court Nominating Commission and served as its Chair in 1994. She became Burch, Porter and Johnsons first female partner in 1990.

Justice Kirby was employed by the law firm until 1995 when Governor Don Sundquist appointed her to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. She was only 38 years old at the time, the mother of two young children, and remained the only woman on that court for several years.

When Justice Kirby began her legal career and her career as a jurist, she was often the first or the only woman. That situation has changed. In the wake of the August 2022 statewide elections, Tennessee now has a record number of female lawyers and judges.

The Tennessee Constitution states that the members of the Supreme Court shall designate one of their own members who shall preside as Chief Justice. Justice Kirby succeeds Justice Roger A. Page, who has served as Chief Justice since 2021. The chief justice is responsible for administrative functions of the court, such as setting dockets, making designations, and ensuring the efficient and orderly administration of justice throughout the state courts.

Governor Bill Lee will perform Justice Kirbys ceremonial investiture at 9 a.m. on October 4th in the Old Supreme Court Chamber on the first floor of the Tennessee State Capitol. A reception will be scheduled in Memphis for this fall.
Attorney Lee Davis talked about a precedent-setting case, The State vs. Paul Ware - the rape and murder of a four-year old girl. He discussed courtroom processes, testimonies, trips to FBI headquarters, pressure to get it right when using new technology, and more. They also covered a few other cases that impacted the use of DNA cases moving forward. Mr. Davis also discussed his move from the prosecution side to the criminal defense side.

Click here to listen.



In September 1996, a new evidence tool was used for the first time in a United States courtroom.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) evidence was introduced in a Tennessee murder prosecution against twenty-seven-year-old Paul Ware. Without the mtDNA results there was only circumstantial evidence pointing to Ware as the suspect in the rape and murder of a four-year old girl. The defense claimed that another man in the home, the babysitter, had framed Ware, who was found drunk and asleep next to the body of the child.
Here is the upcoming City Council agenda for Tuesday:

I. Call to Order by Chair Dotley.



II. Pledge of Allegiance/Invocation (Councilwoman Hill).



III. Special Presentation.



IV. Minute Approval.

Form-Based Code Appeal Hearing FBC-23-15, 418 Manufacturers Road

Order of Business for City Council



V. Ordinances  Final Reading:



PUBLIC WORKS



Transportation



a. MR-2022-0257 Bean Bowl, LLC c/o Tiffany Farley (Abandonment).

An ordinance relocating a twenty (20) foot wide Riverwalk pedestrian easement located in the 1200 block of Judd Road, as detailed on the attached maps, subject to certain conditions. (District 8) (Recommended for approval by Public Works and Planning Commission)VI. Ordinances  First Reading:PLANNINGa. 2023-0116 David Fidalti c/o Wise Construction (R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone properties located at 1133 and 1137 Old Pineville Road, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone. (District 1) (Applicant Version) (Recommended for denial by Planning Commission and recommended for approval by Staff)b. 2023-0127 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC c/o Allen Jones (R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone and C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 3111 Kellys Ferry Road, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone and C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 1) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and recommended for denial by Staff)2023-0127 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC c/o Allen Jones (R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone and C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 3111 Kellys Ferry Road, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone and C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone. (Applicant Version)c. 2023-0114 Sam Koebley and Will Haisten (R-3 Residential Zone to E-RM-3 Urban Edge Multi-Unit Residential Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 217 Tremont Street, from R-3 Residential Zone to E-RM-3 Urban Edge Multi-Unit Residential Zone. (District 2) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and Staff)d. 2023-0111 Jay Simpson (R-1 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience CommercialZone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 5026 Old Godsey Lane, from R-1 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 3) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and Staff)2023-0111 Jay Simpson (R-1 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 5026 Old Godsey Lane, from R-1 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone. (Applicant Version)e. 2023-0121 Lyons Group Acquisitions (Lift Conditions). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to lift Condition Nos. 2, 3, and 4; and amending Condition No. 1 from Ordinance No. 9135 of previous Case No. 1989-0046 for part of a property located at 5431 Hixson Pike. (District 3) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and Staff)f. 2023-0122 Lyons Group Acquisitions (R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone properties located at 5138, 5144, 5150, and 5157 Strickland Drive, 5422 Old Hixson Pike, and an unaddressed parcel in the 5400 block of Old Hixson Pike, from R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 3) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and recommended for denial by Staff)2023-0122 Lyons Group Acquisitions (R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone properties located at 5138, 5144, 5150, and 5157 Strickland Drive, 5422 Old Hixson Pike, and an unaddressed parcel in the 5400 block of Old Hixson Pike, from R-2 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone. (Applicant Version)g. 2023-0134 David Fidati c/o Wise Construction (C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 6011 Lee Highway, from C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 5) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and Staff)2023-0134 David Fidati c/o Wise Construction (C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 6011 Lee Highway, from C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone. (Applicant Version)h. 2023-0133 Pointe Holdings (R-4 Special Zone with conditions and R-1 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 7283 Bonny Oaks Drive, from R-4 Special Zone with conditions and R-1 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District6) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and recommended for denial by Staff)2023-0133 Pointe Holdings (R-4 Special Zone with conditions and R-1 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 7283 Bonny Oaks Drive, from R-4 Special Zone with conditions and R-1 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone. (Applicant Version)i. 2023-0085 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC c/o Allen Jones (M-1 Manufacturing Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone an unaddressed property located in the 2800 block of Dodds Avenue, from M-1 Manufacturing Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 7) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and denial by Staff) (Deferred from 07-11-2023 & 08-01-2023)2023-0085 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC c/o Allen Jones (M-1 Manufacturing Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone an unaddressed property located in the 2800 block of Dodds Avenue, from M-1 Manufacturing Zone to R-3 Residential Zone. (Staff Version)2023-0085 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC c/o Allen Jones (M-1 Manufacturing Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone an unaddressed property located in the 2800 block of Dodds Avenue, from M-1 Manufacturing Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone. (Applicant Version)j. 2023-0112 Nathan Brown (R-3 Residential Zone and R-T/Z Residential Townhouse/Zero Lot Line Zone with conditions to R-T/Z Residential Townhouse/Zero Lot Line Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone properties located at 1115 and 1117 East 14th Street and an unaddressed property in the 1100 block of East 4th Street, from R-3 Residential Zone and R-T/Z Residential Townhouse/Zero Lot Line Zone with conditions to R-T/Z Residential Townhouse/Zero Lot Line Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 8) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and Staff)2023-0112 Nathan Brown (R-3 Residential Zone and R-T/Z Residential Townhouse/Zero Lot Line Zone with conditions to R-T/Z Residential Townhouse/Zero Lot Line Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone properties located at 1115 and 1117 East 14th Street and an unaddressed property in the 1100 block of East 4th Street, from R-3 Residential Zone and R-T/Z Residential Townhouse/Zero Lot Line Zone with conditions to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (Applicant Version) (Recommended for denial by Planning Commission and Staff)k. 2023-0118 Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel (R-2 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone part of a property located at 1710 South Holtzclaw Avenue, from R-2 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 8) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and Staff)2023-0118 Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel (R-2 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone part of a property located at 1710 South Holtzclaw Avenue, from R-2 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone. (Applicant Version) (Recommended for denial by Planning Commission and Staff)l. 2023-0126 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC (R-2 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 2910 Calhoun Avenue, from R-2 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 8) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and Staff)2023-0126 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC (R-2 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 2910 Calhoun Avenue, from R-2 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone. (Applicant Version)m. 2023-0137 Stephen Brady (Lift Condition). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to lift Condition No. 2 from Ordinance No. 13624 of previous Case No. MR-2020-0132 after the abandonment of parts of several streets and alleys located near 901 South Holtzclaw Avenue. (Districts 8 & 9) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and recommended for deferral by Staff)n. 2023-0138 Stephen Brady (Lift Condition). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to lift Condition No. 2 from Ordinance No. 13625 from the original abandonment of previous Case No. MR-2020-0134 from property located in the 1300 block of Vance Avenue. (Districts 8 & 9) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and recommended for deferral by Staff)o. 2023-0119 Melissa Graveline (R-4 Special Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 510 South Willow Street, from R-4 Special Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 9) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and recommended for denial by Staff)2023-0119 Melissa Graveline (R-4 Special Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 510 South Willow Street, from R-4 Special Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone. (Applicant Version)p. 2023-0125 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC (R-1 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone an unaddressed tract of land located in the 3100 block of East 26th Street, from R-1 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 9) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission)2023-0125 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC (R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone an unaddressed tract of land located in the 3100 block of East 26th Street, from R-1 Residential Zone to R-3 Residential Zone, subject to certain conditions. (Staff Version)2023-0125 Stone Creek Consulting, LLC (R-1 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone an unaddressed tract of land located in the 3100 block of East 26th Street, from R-1 Residential Zone to UGC Urban General Commercial Zone. (Applicant Version)q. 2023-0129 Raun Swafford (M-2 Light Industrial Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 2000 Dodson Avenue, from M-2 Light Industrial Zone to R-3 Residential Zone, subject to certain conditions. (District 9) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission and Staff)2023-0129 Raun Swafford (M-2 Light Industrial Zone to R-3 Residential Zone). An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance, so as to rezone property located at 2000 Dodson Avenue, from M-2 Light Industrial Zone to R-3 Residential Zone. (Applicant Version)VII. Resolutions:ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTa. A resolution authorizing the Mayor to enter into a Brownfield Voluntary Agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), in substantially the form attached, for the property at 159 Hamm Road, further identified as Tax Map No. 135-027.03 for the payment of fees as outlined in the agreement, for an amount not to exceed $3,000.00. (District 1)b. A resolution authorizing the Mayor or his designee to award up to $40,000.00 to Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Chattanooga Area, to construct a house at 223 Canary Circle for affordable homeownership. (District 7)c. A resolution authorizing the Mayor or his designee to award up to $40,000.00 to Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Chattanooga Area, to construct a house at 231 Canary Circle for affordable homeownership. (District 7)d. A resolution authorizing the Mayor to enter into a License Agreement with the State of Tennessee, in substantially the form attached, for a ten (10) year renewable license, at no cost to use and maintain a portion of the premises adjacent to SR-58, further identified as Tax Map No. 145K-B-001 at 1931 Reggie White Boulevard for Finley Stadium volunteer and event staff parking. (District 7)e. A resolution authorizing the Mayor or his designee to enter into an Interlocal Agreement with Hamilton County, on behalf of the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, to provide safe and stable housing by establishing and operating a housing navigation source to serve individuals with complex needs experiencing homelessness.HUMAN RESOURCESf. A resolution authorizing revisions to the Employee Information Guide (EIG) to be effective upon approval, revisions include: Policy 1  Purpose and Objective; Policy 2  General Policies; Policy 4  Personnel-Human Resources Records; Policy 6  Outside Employment; Policy 8  Separation of Employment; and Policy 10  Classification, and authorizing formatting and Table of Contents updates. (Deferred from 08-29-2023)A resolution authorizing revisions to the Employee Information Guide (EIG) to be effective upon approval, revisions include: Policy 1  Purpose and Objective; Policy 2  General Policies; Policy 4  Personnel-Human Resources Records; Policy 6  Outside Employment; and Policy 8  Separation of Employment, and authorizing formatting and Table of Contents updates. (Alternate Version)PLANNINGg. Palm Group, LLC (Special Exceptions Permit). A resolution approving a new Special Exceptions Permit for an existing liquor store located at 6032 Hwy. 153, Chattanooga, TN 37343. (District 1)h. 2023-0117 G.T. Issa c/o Premier Homes (Special Exceptions Permit for a ResidentialPUD). A resolution approving a Special Exceptions Permit for a Residential Planned Unit Development for property located at 1619 Gray Road, subject to certain conditions. (District 4) (Recommended for approval by Planning Commission)2023-0117 G.T. Issa c/o Premier Homes (Special Exceptions Permit for a Residential PUD). A resolution approving a Special Exceptions Permit for a Residential Planned Unit Development for property located at 1619 Gray Road, subject to certain conditions. (Staff Version)i. A resolution authorizing the City of Chattanooga to apply for, and if awarded, accept a Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhood Program Planning Grant from the United States Department of Transportation for feasibility studies for implementing the transportation project recommendations included in the Westside Evolves Plan, if awarded, acceptance of the grant will be dependent upon inclusion in the capital budget and approval by City Council, for an amount not to exceed $2 million, with the Citys contribution not to exceed $500,000.00.POLICEj. A resolution authorizing the Chief of the Chattanooga Police Department to collaborate and accept a portion of the State of Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Program FY2023 Violent Crime Intervention Fund Grant (VCIF) from the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office along with other local municipalities partnered with the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, with Chattanooga receiving thirty-five (35) license plate readers (LPRS), valued at no more than $400,000.00, which equipment will be used with the other LPRS already in place and utilized within the City limits, each LPR location is on a state route and has been approved by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT).k. A resolution authorizing the Chattanooga Police Department, along with the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, to apply for, and if awarded, accept FY2023 Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, also known as the JAG grant, from the Department of Justice, to award the Chattanooga Police Department $134,571.00 for purchasing equipment and training, and where the Hamilton County Sheriffs Department will receive $57,673.00, for a grant period of October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2027, for a total amount not to exceed $192,244.00.PUBLIC WORKSl. A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Public Works to award Contract No. Y-23-002-201 to Tri-State Roofing Contractors, LLC, of Chattanooga, TN, Washington Hills Community Center wall repair, in the amount of $67,000.00, with a contingency in the amount of $6,700.00, for a total amount of $73,700.00. (District 5)m. A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Public Works to award Contract No. F-23-002-201 to Complete Demolition Services, LLC of Carrollton, GA, demolition services of fire department training tower, in the amount of $151,280.00, with a contingency in the amount of $15,250.00, for a total amount of $166,530.00. (District 8)n. A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Public Works to renew professional services On-Call blanket contract for Resident Project Representative (RPR) services, Contract No. E-20-011-401, for year four (4) of five (5) to the twelve (12) consultant firms listed that submitted qualifications in five (5) different categories per their qualification package: (1) ASA Engineering and Consulting, Inc.; (2) Barge Design Solutions, Inc.; (3) Consor Engineering, LLC; (4) CTI Engineering, Inc.; (5) D. Martin & Partners, LLC; (6) Franklin Associates Architects, Inc.; (7) Ragan Smith Associates, Inc.; (8) S&ME, Inc.; (9) Southern Environmental Technologies, Inc.; (10) Thompson Engineering; (11) Volkert, Inc.; and (12) WSP USA Environment and Infrastructure, Inc. (formerly Woods Environment and Infrastructure, Inc. (formerly Woods Environment and Infrastructure), for a total amount of $2 million.o. A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Public Works to execute an agreement with CSX Transportation, Inc. to provide preliminary engineering services for the T-15-024 Shallowford Road (Airport Road to Jersey Pike) widening project, for an amount not to exceed $35,010.00.p. A resolution authorizing the Administrator for the Department of Public Works to authorize Change Order No. 2 for design services provided by Volkert, Inc. for the Lakeside Safe Routes to School Project (T-14-034-201, PIN 120861.00), in the amount of $18,270.00.WASTEWATERq. A resolution authorizing the City Finance Officer to execute any documents necessary related to a Loan Agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (SRF 2023-478) for financing of a Capital Construction Project No. W-19-007 Wet Weather Storage Phase 6, supported by the Consent Decree for the Interceptor Sewer System (ISS), in the amount of $20 million. (Consent Decree)VIII. Purchases.IX. Committee Reports.X. Other Business. (Item Listed Below):? Certificate of Compliance - Hilltop Bottle, Inc. d/b/a Hilltop Bottle Shop, 6032 Hwy. 153, Chattanooga, TN 37343. (District 1)XI. Recognition of Persons Wishing to Address the Council.XII. Adjournment.
This is how the late Princess Diana proved to everyone that she was "fearless" and "resilient," according to a body language expert.

Princess Diana was one of the most famous and influential women in the world who had so many memorable and iconic moments before her death. Now, a body language expert is looking back on some of those and revealing what messages the princess was likely trying to send through her actions not only to the public but also to the royal family.

Then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana at an expo in Seville, Spain | Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

Princess Diana sent plenty of messages to the royals without saying a word

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.

Over the years Stanton has analyzed the body language of several members of the royal family as well and is now discussing some of the messages the late princess appeared to send when she was alive.

On June 29, 1994, Dianas message to then-Prince Charles was loud and clear when she wore the famous revenge dress. The princess attended a function wearing the number a few hours after Charles publicly admitted that he had an extramarital affair with Camilla Parker Bowles (now Queen Camilla).

Princess Diana wearing her famous revenge dress to a Vanity Fair party (circa 1994) | Anwar Hussein/WireImage

Speaking on behalf of Betfair Bingo, Stanton talked about the unforgettable moment saying: Diana wowed the nation in her revenge dress as she attended the Vanity Fair party at the Serpentine Gallery. Everyone knows this picture so clearly and its arguably the best Diana has ever looked. It was her way of saying, This is what you lost. Its saying, I look and feel fantastic and the world knows that too.

Expert says this is how Diana showed she was fearless, strong, and resilient

Stanton recalled another time Diana sent a message to the royals and analyzed what she was trying to convey through a photo while in the Republic of Angola. He noted: In January 1997, Diana traveled to Angola to work with the Halo Trust as part of her work campaigning against deadly land mines.

Princess Diana walking through a landmine minefield cleared by the charity Halo in Huambo, Angola | Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

According to the expert: [Dianas] posture and body language were strong here and showed that she wanted people to know she was a strong, resilient, and fearless woman doing her job. It was a message for the royal family more than anything. She wanted to prove who she was and challenge them. Diana wanted to show them she was prepared to walk into danger to defend everything she believed. This is very representative of how she lived her life.

Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds.
Find out what the atmosphere in the palace was like for one of Princess Diana's employees after he learned about her death.

Many people who were alive when Princess Diana died more than two decades ago can still remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard about her death.

Princes William and Harry were staying at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with the rest of the royal family when she died and their father gave them the tragic news the morning it happened. The princesss brother, Charles Spencer, revealed that he was in Cape Town, South Africa with his family when he phoned his siblings and the grim news was confirmed. Some members of Princess Dianas staff also recalled when and how they found out including her personal chef, Darren McGrady, who shared what it was like going to work at the palace after learning that doctors could not save his bosss life.

Princess Diana attends the Armistice Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France | Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images

Princess Dianas chef recalls the shock of learning she had died

McGrady worked in Buckingham Palace and cooked for Queen Elizabeth for 11 years before he became Princess Dianas personal chef. Over the years, he has spoken about working for the late royal and shared some of his fondest memories from that time. He also opened up about the day he learned she died.

Id got up in the morning, turned on the TV, and saw the news, McGrady told Hello! Magazine. They were saying the princess had died. I couldnt believe it. It was a real shock. I flicked through all the channels  I called the palace and I couldnt get through  all the lines were engaged.

And so I went into work and took the food with me that I was going to do for dinner the next day because I couldnt accept that she was gone. It was a real shock.

Chef Darren McGrady attends BritWeeks 10th Anniversary VIP Reception & Gala in Los Angeles | Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Britweek

McGrady continued: Her apartments eight and nine were on lockdown so no one was allowed in. I went into the office next door and thats when the girls were all in tears. The next week I was in the palace but there was no cooking. It was just tidying up things and throwing out food because we werent going to be using the palace again. It was just awful.

Right until the funeral Id go in every day just to be there. Seeing the flowers out the front getting higher and higher and seeing all the people. It was a horrible memory. I got to go and spend time alone with the princess in the Chapel Royal. Each of the staff members got a chance to do that  that was nice. Come the funeral we all went to the Abbey. Her personal staff actually lined up outside the front door to say goodbye to her for the very last time as she left Kensington Palace.

Diana was behind McGradys decision to move to America

Following the princesss death, McGrady moved to America and explained that was something his former boss always talked about doing.

Darren McGrady, former personal chef of Princess Diana, posing for a photo during his cookbook promotion in Toronto | Aaron Lynett/Toronto Star via Getty Images

I never believe in going backwards, he said. I just felt, there I was, the head chef to Princess Diana  the most photographed woman in the world. I loved what I was doing, the interactions every day with her when shed come into the kitchen and the guests shed have over, whether it was Elton John or George Michael. Just to go back to being one of 20 chefs at Buckingham Palace, I thought, No I dont want to do that.

McGrady did receive an offer to move to then-Prince Charles household and cook for him, but he declined and moved to the States instead.

Princess Diana always used to say  I dont know if she was joking or not  shed say, Darren we need to move to move to America. I put out my resume and got offered a job in Dallas as a private chef and so I took that and spent the next 18 years as a private chef, and then I started my own catering company.
Priscilla Presley's parents grew to accept her relationship with Elvis. She couldn't accept their curiosity about her famous boyfriend, though.

While Priscilla Presleys parents didnt always approve of her relationship with Elvis, they grew to accept it. Priscilla moved in with Elvis while she was still in high school, so she went for a long stretch of time without seeing her parents. When she did see them, they were naturally curious about her famous boyfriend. Priscilla felt she couldnt be honest with her parents about her relationship.

Priscilla Presley tried to dodge her parents questions about Elvis

After Priscilla had been living with Elvis for two years, her parents moved back from the United States after a stint in Germany. Now that they were closer, Priscilla had an increased ability to visit them. While she missed her family, the prospect of being in a room with them was daunting. She felt that any time apart from Elvis would strain her relationship. She also didnt think she could answer any of her parents questions honestly.

I wasnt being honest about my relationship and style of life, she wrote in her book Elvis and Me. Anticipating uncomfortable questions about my future, I spent most of the time in my room. However, the questions came.

Elvis and Priscilla Presley | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Most of her parents questions were innocent, asking her about what Graceland was like or if innocuous rumors about Elvis were true. Priscilla wanted to dodge all of them.

I felt their probing was an invasion of my privacy, my personal life, and I gave them guarded answers, she wrote. My parents didnt appreciate my attitude or my defensiveness. They were just showing a natural interest in me, and a concern for my well-being, when they asked how Id done in school, what kind of grades Id gotten, and if Id brought my report card.

At this point in her life, Priscilla valued her relationship with Elvis above all else and perceived her parents curiosity as a threat.

Priscilla Presley wanted to avoid her parents because of her relationship with Elvis

After Priscilla visited her parents at their temporary residence in Connecticut, they moved to Sacramento. As she frequently traveled to California with Elvis, she had more opportunities to see them. She didnt want to, though.

After that weekend, I tried to avoid my parents, she wrote. But they knew I joined Elvis in Los Angeles while he was filming, and they wanted me to spend weekends with them in Sacramento. This created a problem.

Priscilla didnt want to give up any second with Elvis. At the same time, though, she didnt want her parents visiting her. She wanted to keep them apart from Elvis.

I couldnt think of sharing my time with anyone but Elvis, especially weekends when he wasnt working, she wrote. Still, Id make occasional trips to Sacramento, because if I didnt visit my parents, theyd visit us. I knew Elvis was very touchy, and I was never sure what might set him off.

She had to hide her living situation when they visited her home

A visit from her parents posed another problem for Priscilla. They believed that she and Elvis had separate bedrooms, so Priscilla had to stage someone elses room as her own.

Priscilla Presley at Graceland | Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

I ran into the house in a panic because I knew Id have to show them around, she wrote. I certainly couldnt tell my parents that I slept with Elvis, and I decided to try to fool them into believing that I had my own room.

She dragged as many of her clothes as she could carry into an employees bedroom. When her parents toured the home, they didnt question the living situation. Still, Priscilla didnt think they fully believed she slept in her own bedroom.
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In the Midwest, milk sickness was rampant, claiming the lives of thousands of Americans until one woman named Dr. Anna Bixby was able to determine the cause.

As settlers traveled into new territory with their livestock in the early 1800s, that was when the disease first made an appearance. People afflicted with the sickness experienced vomiting and weakness. It was often followed by delirium and a coma, eventually leading to death in many cases.

It usually struck in the summertime when the weather had been hot and dry. It was well-known that milk sickness came from drinking milk, but no one knew exactly why.

Nothing like this had ever been heard of in other parts of the world. The settlers were terrified. Some of them blamed witches or toxic vapors that rose from the ground. People even left certain areas in Indiana and Illinois, believing them to be cursed.

During that time, most families owned a milk cow that grazed in the fields surrounding their homes. By the 1820s, doctors and settlers came to the conclusion that the cows mustve been ingesting some type of poison, which contaminated their milk and the humans who drank it.

Calves who consumed the milk also died, and so did some adult cows, although that was more of a rarity. But Dr. Anna was the one who was able to piece the puzzle together.

Dr. Anna was born in Philadelphia as Anna Pierce in the early 1800s. When she was a young girl, her family headed west and settled down in southern Illinois. Growing up, she was moved by the neighboring settlers poor health conditions and decided to study medicine.

Once she became a midwife, she traveled around the region, assisting with births, broken bones, and various illnesses. When milk sickness reached her area, her family was heavily affected by it. Annas mother and sister-in-law ended up dying from the disease. Her father was left in a debilitated state.

Anna took it upon herself to decipher this medical mystery. After charting the times that the sickness tended to flare up, she realized it was seasonal. It peaked in June, then dipped when the first frost arrived. So, she advised her neighbors to refrain from consuming milk and butter during the warmer months.

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This article appears here as the result of a partnership between Christianity Today and Campus Magazine, a Taiwanese Christian publication.

Since ChatGPT became publicly accessible last year, weve heard reports that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace jobs and disrupt other aspects of our lives. Such changes may not currently be apparent to individual local churches in Taiwan. But in recent months, a number of Christian thinkers have been discussing how AI might either aid or possibly replace humans when it comes to pastoral care and preaching.

Several pastors point out that AI lacks physical, emotional, or empathetic abilities, though I personally believe that these limitations may one day be overcome technologically. In addition, they note that AIs social bias, monopolization, and lack of spirituality when it comes to data labeling. But these are the same dilemmas humans are facing.

Many have cautioned that AI will have an ideological bias, but we can actually use the intelligence of ChatGPT to examine whether our words could unintentionally offend congregants with different political identities and positions.

As a young pastor who is optimistic about what role AI can play in my work, I recently spent six months exploring whether ChatGPT could be beneficial to my own ministry. After using this tool for half a year, I believe AI offers ways for pastors to more efficiently work and balance their many responsibilities.

Working smarter, not harder

For many pastors, there is never enough time for sermon preparation. When I was in seminary, one of my classes required students to draw up a schedule of a typical week in a pastors life. The professor critiqued the schedule I submitted as having too much time for sermon preparation. Indeed, after researching and writing a sermon and dealing with all the administrative work, leading additional ministries, serving as an official of our presbytery, and continuing my education, I find my time for actual pastoral care is very limited.

Consequently, pastors often rely on liturgical manuals or official sermon templates, or they recycle their own past sermons for recurring events like invocations, fundraising activities, weddings, and funerals. Yet these tools require additional personalization and human touches too. Thus, it might be helpful to think about what recurring tasks or events might be automated.

If we use ChatGPT to assist in creating pastoral notes, personal biographies, prayer letters, news reports, etc. (making sure to protect personal information and privacy), we can effectively generate customized templates. ChatGPT can generate scripts for newer ministers to follow, aiding us in our ministry and leaving more time for one-on-one pastoral care and visitation.

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Further, ChatGPT can instantly generate a paraphrase of a Scripture passage or write discussion questions for a college student fellowship or a community small group. I could ask ChatGPT to summarize and synthesize various Bible commentaries and content from reference books that I feed it to create a rough research report on a certain theme.

When I need examples or applications for a sermon, I go to ChatGPT for ideas. For example, I can ask ChatGPT to write a story of Jesus riding a motorcycle into town based on Scripture and then can add more context and continue to adjust the plot to make my point.

In seminary, I wrote first-person sermon assignments with a golden calf as the main character and found the process difficult. When I asked ChatGPT to write a similar type of sermon, the result was actually no worse than what I personally wrote.

One habit I implemented when I began my AI experiment was noting reflections and thoughts that occurred to me while having my daily quiet time. Later I input them in ChatGPT to synthesize these thoughts and help build out my sermon.

Some of us may have already experienced entering a text into ChatGPT and asking it to generate a short sermon or sermon outline of 500800 words. (One option is the AI Sermon Outline Generator available on the OpenBible website.) If necessary, users can expand from the outline option to a full sermon that is at least moderately accurate and free of errors. Obviously, however, a 100 percent AI-generated sermon would miss the context of the speaker and the congregation.

Not a one-person show

Many see sermon writing as one of the most important components of a pastors work. Personally, I dont believe sermon preparation or preaching is a one-person job. A sermon is a representation of Gods revelation. In addition to interpreting the Scriptures, in order for a particular congregation to receive it effectively, the homily must be close to the life and situation of each church member.

For the novice pastor, a sermons foundation is built not only on ones own devotions but also on the writings of other pastors and spiritual predecessors. To understand and acknowledge the congregations context, apart from weekly interactions with church members, one also may rely on the translation of veteran local guides. After the sermon has taken shape, the pastors family members or peers may play a role in correcting and giving feedback.

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In addition, sermon delivery is not a one-person affair either. We know that a congregations reception is affected not only by the speakers appearance but also by the sound control, the slide show, the music, and so on. Because of the pandemic, online services, audiovisual colleagues, and social media editors have become particularly important to online preaching; recent studies have even identified them as co-preachers. Though it is unethical to plagiarize others, it is difficult for a pastor to achieve the purpose of preachingthat is bringing people to God, making the truth clear, encouraging other believersby relying on his or her own single-person sermon writing.

What, then, is the role of the preacher? According to Danish bishop Marianne Gaarden, preachers merely provide their own voices as vehicles for the Holy Spirit to move their congregations to receive the Word individually. In her qualitative research, Gaarden found that when a sermon is given, the church enters a Third Room  where the listeners own experiences are met with the words of the preacher.

Preachingbe it preparing a sermon or delivering the words to a congregationis a process that currently involves a speaker, the influence of numerous people living and dead, and the Holy Spirit. I believe that within these actions, there is room for the work of AI too.

Yi-Li Lin is the pastor of Chung Po Presbyterian Church, Taiwan.

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On June 3, 1973, Billy Graham preached before 1.1 million people at his largest crusade. This event did not occur in Americas heartland or a major American metropolitan center like Los Angeles or New York. Instead, it took place in the South Korean capital of Seoul.

Next to Graham on the platform, acting as his translator, was Billy Kim, a South Korean evangelist who, like the revivalist, had ties to Bob Jones University. By the end of the message, 73,000 people would walk the aisle and make public decisions for Christ.

Grahams Seoul crusade was but one point of connection in the postwar era between white American evangelicals and their counterparts in South Korea. Two decades prior in 1950, World Visioncurrently a multi-billion-dollar evangelical philanthropic organizationwas founded in South Korea. A year later, Campus Crusade for Christ would launch its first international chapter by looking across the Pacific to a country establishing itself as a bastion of evangelical theology.

The relationship between these two groupswhite evangelicals in America and South Korean evangelicalsis the focus of Helen Jin Kims book Race for Revival: How Cold War South Korea Shaped the American Evangelical Empire. Kim, a religious history professor at Emory University, presents a largely unknown history of how postwar American evangelicals cultivated relationships in South Korea and used them to win acceptance within the religious mainstream back home. For evangelicals, it is also a convicting story that illustrates the corrupting influences of militarism, ethnic identity, and religious ideology.

The transpacific highway

It is impossible to tell the story of early evangelicalism in America, particularly in the period surrounding the Great Awakenings, without attention to transatlantic connections. However, historians have not paid similar attention to connections made across the Pacific. In this regard, Kims history of the modern evangelical movement is a helpful corrective, illuminating how American religion has been shaped by its interaction with faith outside of the Western European context.

The benefit of this new framing is that American religionand evangelicalism especiallyare placed into a global context. The rise and success of figures like Billy Graham and institutions like Campus Crusade for Christ was owed not only to domestic realities but also to the interconnected web of relationships that existed along what Kim calls the transpacific highway, particularly as it ran through South Korea.

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Highways are different from one-way streets, and Race for Revival does not see either party in this evolution as a pawn of the other. Both South Korean and American evangelicals were comfortable using the other as a means of achieving respect and legitimacy at home and abroad, but sometimes the relationship came at a cost to South Koreans. The story of the World Vision Korean Orphan Choir serves as a useful example. The choirwhich included children who werent orphanshelped the organization and the American evangelical movement to distance themselves from associations of racism in the American South.

The South Korean children became a shining example of American evangelicalisms colorblind approach to evangelism and faithan advertisement for its rightful place within the American mainstream. And for their own part, the children benefited from the choir, with many expressing excitement about trips to Disneyland and the chance to sing before foreign dignitaries like the king of Norway.

There was, however, a darker underside tragically captured in the suicide of one of the choirs former members, Kim Sang Yong (nicknamed Peanuts) at the age of 19. According to letters from the World Vision staff, Peanuts was one of several children in crisis who were part of the choir. Some worried that the tours were exacerbating the situation by placing these young, impressionable children in the limelight, where they were adored, before dropping them from tours once they were no longer children.

This is not to delegitimize the very real help that flowed to many South Korean families and children because of donations generated by the choir. But the episode does reveal the unequal relationship between the parties, and the disparity in the benefits flowing to each. Both sides stood to gain, but American evangelicals, in Kims telling, reaped far greater rewards from the opportunity to repair a reputation bound up with Jim Crow segregation.

And such reputational enhancements tended to obscure one reason there were so many South Korean orphans and widows needing aid in the first place: the Cold War, which turned hot on the Korean peninsula. Like historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez in Jesus and John Wayne, Kim portrays strong links that existed between militarism and the rise of modern evangelicalism. And like Jonathan Herzog in his study of the early Cold War years, The Spiritual-Industrial Complex, Kim describes conscious efforts to spur on revival in America and create spiritual ballast for the foreign policy of containment.

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Looking at Grahams 1973 crusade, Kim notes that it served to strengthen diplomatic ties between the US and South Korea (the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association had to work with the ruling authoritarian regime to hold the meeting), while also strengthening ties between the domestic evangelical movements in both nations. The church and state were not separate spheres, but intimately connected pieces of a larger American apparatus engaged in combating the spread of communism.

The revivals of this era set the context for the most interesting shift that Kims book depicts. While American evangelicals were looking to demonstrate that evangelicalism was national in scope rather than concentrated in the South, South Koreans were arguing for a pivot away from America and toward their own country.

Two major events, considered side by side, offer a snapshot of these dynamics. In 1972, Campus Crusade leader Bill Bright was able to bring some 80,000 people to Texas for a gathering that became known as Explo 72, where college students committed to evangelizing the world. Two years later, Joon Gon Kim, the leader of the South Korean chapter of Campus Crusade, organized Explo 74 in Seoul, which gathered 1.3 million people (even Grahams crusade hadnt attracted that many). In announcing the event, he boldly called for attendees to pray for the total conversion of the nation as a symbolic sample Christian nation  uniquely used of God for Christ.

American evangelicals were not the only ones capable of achieving legitimacy through bold displays of Christian commitment. South Korean evangelicals pushed against a message that placed revival within a framework of American exceptionalism, arguing that their country was the new center of heartfelt faith.

An essential corrective

Race for Revival excels in bringing forward the story of South Koreas place in the revitalization of American evangelicalism. Kims work unearthing the role played by South Korean evangelicals in creating, sustaining, and empowering some of the most influential American parachurch organizations makes this an essential corrective to histories that place undue focus on white American figures.

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Readers may disagree with some of Kims conclusions, in particular her belief that American evangelicals were consciously trying to distance themselves from Southern racism rather than simply living out their commitment to evangelism and care for orphans. However, even those who disagree should reckon with how her narrative highlights an overly individualistic approach to race, one that stressed personal heart renewal while downplaying the importance of broader social and political reform. Like other scholars, Kim has done a helpful service in showing the danger of isolating theological commitments from other concerns, a mindset that can lead to overlooking the human rights abuses of authoritarian governments just because they will allow a large-scale Christian gathering to take place in their country.

In any event, differences with Kims conclusions shouldnt detract from the value of her larger argument about the interconnected web of relationships between evangelicals in America and South Korea, and how those relationships bolstered the status of both groups in different ways. Seouls status as host of the Lausanne Movements 2024 Fourth Congress on World Evangelization vindicates her theme of South Koreas emergence as a new center of evangelical power. So, too, does the fact that South Korea has, for some time, been among the top missionary-sending nations, with some missionaries even ending up in America. Clearly, those transpacific highways are still very much in use.

Alex Ward is research associate and project manager for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. He is pursuing a PhD in history from the University of Mississippi.

[ This article is also available in . ]
This week on The Bulletin, Nicole Martin talks with Emmy award-winning journalist and author Janus Adams who attended the March on Washington in 1963. They discuss the events of that day and the reason progress is the wrong word to use when we talk about movement toward greater racial justice. Next, Nicole and Russell Moore tackle the declassification of marijuana, and Russell quotes Merle Haggard. (Do we need a Bulletin-themed weekly playlist?) Finally, Russell and Nicole talk with author and Bulletin producer Clarissa Moll about Jimmy Carter, hospice, and how we talk about the end of life.

Visit us on YouTube for Dr. Janus Adams full list of life lessons from the 1963 March on Washington!

Joining us this week:

Janus Adams is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, historian, entrepreneur, and bestselling author of eleven books, Dr. Janus Adams is the host of public radios The Janus Adams Show and podcast. She has appeared on ABC, BET, CBS, CNN, Fox News, NBCs The Today Show, and NPRs All Things Considered. With more than 500 articles, essays and columns to her credit, her work has been featured in Essence and Ms. Magazines, The New York Times, Newsday, USA Today, and The Washington Post. Her syndicated column ran in the Hearst Newspapers for sixteen years. Her commentary has been broadcast on CBS and NPR, and published in the Huffington Post.

Clarissa Moll is an award-winning writer and podcaster who helps bereaved people find flourishing after loss. She co-hosted Christianity Todays Surprised by Grief podcast and her debut book, Beyond the Darkness: A Gentle Guide for Living with Grief and Thriving After Loss, was a best-selling new release in 2022. She is the producer of The Bulletin and widow of former CT editor Rob Moll.

Resources Referenced:

An oral history of the March on Washington, 60 years after MLKs dream

From Marijuana to Magic Mushrooms: Weighing Drugs Benefits and Detriments | Christianity Today

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Phillip Yancey and Dr. Paul Brand

Finishing Our Course with Joy by J.I. Packer

Read More from Christianity Today about Todays Topics:

Reclaiming MLK Jr.s Dream 60 Years Later | Christianity Today

MLKs Epistle to the White Church Still Preaches | Christianity Today

Getting High Is (Increasingly) Lawful. Is It Ever Beneficial? | Christianity Today

Parenting in the Haze of Legalized Marijuana | Christianity Today

Q & A: Jimmy Carter on his Faith-Filled Presidency | Christianity Today

Jimmy Carter: My Personal Faith in God | Christianity Today

The Bulletin is a production of Christianity Today

Executive Producer: Erik Petrik

Producer: Clarissa Moll and Matt Stevens

Associate Producer: Azurae Phelps

Editing and Mix: TJ Hester

Music: Dan Phelps

Show Design: Bryan Todd

Graphic Design: Amy Jones

Social Media: Kate Lucky
Vijonet Demero had little patience for the Haitian pastor who led his congregation into what proved to be a deadly confrontation with local gangs last week.

Foolishly foolish action, said Demero, a Protestant leader and secretary general at Universite INUFOCAD in Port-au-Prince, referencing Jesus words about the blind leading the blind. For me, the pastor forgot his role as pastor. He is not the police.

The pastor at the center of the controversy is Marcorel Zidor, also known as Pastor Marco, who leads the Evangelical Piscine de Bethesda church, in the northern suburb of Canaan.

On August 26, gang members opened fire, killing at least seven people with machine guns, as Zidor and members of his congregation approached the group, marching in armed protest.

Despite criticism from human rights groups and Christian leaders, and even acknowledging personal injury himself, Zidor has defended his actions.

Ninety-five percent of my faithful followers were not hurt by bullets even though they were hit by them, he said in an interview earlier this week. Those who died are those who ran to take shelter at some houses. If they didnt lose their faith, and if they had run in the same direction with the main crowd [the faithful ones], they wouldnt be dead.

Haitis department of foreign affairs and worship has since suspended the churchs license, noting that many of the victims relatives had showed up to Evangelical Piscine de Bethesda demanding answers and reparations. (The department also noted its commitment to religious freedom.)

Zidors protest comes at a time when churches in Western Haiti have struggled to keep their doors open. Congregations have cut back on Sunday services and Bible studies and canceled evening events.

Some are drawn closer to God because they believe it is God only who can do something to take the pain away, Samson Doreliens, a pastor of a 600-person church, recently told Baptist Press about his congregation. Others are discouraged, questioning why God is letting all kinds of things happen to the country: violence, natural disasters, etc.

The circumstances in Haiti are dire enough that even though Haitian theologian Andrikson Descolines considers Zidor a religious zealot, he empathizes with the pastors desire to take action when the authorities who are supposed to cant or wont.

Hopeless people make hopeless decisions, said Descolines, a professor at the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Port-au-Prince (STEP). The pastor is a victim of the current situation that is prevalent in Haiti.  The members of his church are every day exposed as the prey and victims of gang members, and the government is doing nothing. He took the matter into his own hands and was trying to address it, based on his understanding of Scriptures.

Descolines said he sees Zidor and his churchs confrontation as neither brave nor foolish, though the pastor didnt think his action through.

Neither Demero nor Descolines describe Zidors congregation as evangelical, but instead see it as syncretistic, combining Christian teaching and voodoo practices.

I have been in Haiti for 49 years, and this is the first time I saw what just happened in the country, said Descolines. I never saw something like this, where a bunch of people armed with their faith and machetes tried to overpower gangs with automatic weapons.

Days after the incident, the Haitian National Police announced it will open an investigation into those responsible for the massacre.

In a statement, Frantz Elbe, the director general of police, described how hundreds of people had amassed at the scene, many wearing uniforms and clothes bearing Zidors name. Elbe stated that the police created a security perimeter but failed to dissuade the crowd.

The pastors followers really believed what he told them, Francois Vicner told The New York Times. He said they were bulletproof, that those who were wounded had no faith.

In one video currently circulating among Haitian social media users, the gangs leader, Jeff, interviews one of the kidnapped church members. She explains that she had been waiting for an update from the Biden parole program and had gone to church to pray and fast for a response when she ended up going out and joining the march to confront the gang.

As the police have struggled to push back against the strongholds that many gangs have in the country, some Haitians have joined civilian self-defense groups known as Bwa Kale.

The church does not have the responsibility to attack the gang, said Demero. It is the responsibility of the police to do so. In addition, the way they protest does not sound like protest. It sounds like an offensive attack on the gangs.

Haitis security situation crumbled when UN peacekeepers left in 2019, David Shedd, a former CIA agent and executive adviser of VDI, a regional security consulting firm respected by American missionaries, told CT in 2021. Soon after, large numbers of Haitian National Police (HNP) officers defected, and wealthy Haitians colluded with gangs, hiring members for protection.

By November 2021, CT reported that gangs in the Port-au-Prince area informally work together to delineate turf so as to avoid committing fratricide. They also help members avoid HNP checkpoints and seamlessly move around the city of about a million people. Gangs often keep kidnapping victims inside ungoverned parts of the city.

I dont think theres sufficient awareness of the vicious and enormous power that these gangs wield, Shedd said then.

In the days since Zidor and his churchs confrontation with the gang, Descolines noted that there were a lot of shootings in my area. Yet he believes the church should continue to eschew violence.

I cannot encourage people to behave the same way as gang members do, he said. The Bible encourages us to pray for our enemy and especially for their salvation. So prayer is the first proper answer we can give to what is happening right now in Haiti. We need to keep our eyes on God and promote his love through our country, until those who are getting paid to manage the country properly do their job.

Demero, who formerly served as a Haiti representative for Bethany Christian Services, echoed this.

Me, as a Christian, I pray. I raise the awareness of the prime minister and his ministers. I educate my people to make the difference, to act and serve differently; to understand that God is in control of the situation, he said, referencing Exodus 14:14. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

[ This article is also available in Francais. ]
ACLU wants taxpayers to fund sex-change surgery for male inmate convicted of killing baby

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a male inmate convicted of murdering an 11-month-old who wants to undergo sex-change surgery, arguing that an Indiana law barring the corrections department from using taxpayer money to fund sexual reassignment surgeries violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The plaintiff, Jonathan Richardson, is an adult man who identifies as a woman named Autumn Cordellione. He is serving time in a male institution within the Indiana Department of Correction.

Richardson was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2020 and takes puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

On Monday, the ACLU's Indiana branch filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 1569.

The statute states that the state DOC "may not authorize the payment of any money, the use of any state resources, or the payment of any federal money administered by the state to provide or facilitate the provision of sexual reassignment surgery to an offender patient."

According to the lawsuit, Richardson continued to suffer from depression and anxiety while taking cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers, and doctors believed that through sex-change surgery, his gender dysphoria could be "ameliorated."

The inmate was placed on a waitlist within the DOC to be evaluated for surgery, but as of July 1, the new statute barred the surgery from happening.

"For some persons, including Plaintiff, the surgery is a medical necessity," the complaint reads. "By prohibiting the surgery, regardless of medical need, the statute mandates deliberate indifference to a serious medical need and therefore violates the Eighth Amendment."

"Additionally, the statute discriminates against Plaintiff and other transgender prisoners in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," the lawsuit continues. "Accordingly, injunctive and declaratory relief should be granted so that Plaintiff may receive gender-affirming surgery."

The ACLU of Indiana believes that the Indiana law is causing Richardson "severe distress that cannot be alleviated" and that the statute "targets transgender prisoners and makes it impossible for them to receive necessary medical care for no proper legislative end or purpose."

The Indiana Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.

According to Indiana DOC records, Richardson is serving time for murder, and his earliest possible release date is December 2027.

An appeal from 2003 describes how Richardson was charged in 2002 with the murder of his 11-month-old stepdaughter, who, according to an autopsy, "died of asphyxiation by manual strangulation."

The topic of male inmates identifying as women has also led to discussions about whether the state should allow them to be held in female prisons. Many female inmates have voiced concerns about serving their time alongside biological men.

In an episode of CP's podcast series, "Generation Indoctrination: Inside The Transgender Battle," former inmate Amie Ichikawa recalled telling her disbelieving family that she had been locked up at the Central California Women's Facility along with men.

"It's the most helpless feeling I've had to date," Ichikawa said.

"Just to know that you have absolutely no control of your environment, your own physical wellbeing, your mental health, nothing. And there's really no one you can talk to about it. It's so unbelievable that I would call home every day crying for weeks, trying to explain to my family that there was a serial rapist housed here. And that this is legal, that the state really did it," she continued.

"[My family] thought I was delusional," Ichikawa added. "And that just adds to the helplessness, the feeling of utter vulnerability. It's just like you're emotionally naked. And it creates this cloud of hopelessness that sits over the entire prison. The whole population is on pins and needles, and it creates more tension."
Atheist group urges Ohio school districts to reject off-campus Bible class program

A prominent atheist advocacy organization is calling on school districts in Ohio to reject an off-campus Bible class program that public school students can participate in during regular school hours.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent letters to Ohio's approximately 600 school districts on Tuesday objecting to the approval of released-time Bible classes organized by the Ohio-based ministry LifeWise Academy.

In a statement Wednesday announcing the letter's distribution, FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor asserted that "participating students are being punished by losing hundreds of hours of academic instruction to LifeWise's released time bible study classes."

"If parents want their children to learn about the bible, there are so many ways to do it without cutting into valuable school hours," she added. "The released time program involves a public school allowing students to attend religious instruction during school hours, provided that it is off-campus and not directly endorsed by the school itself."

FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence wrote in the letter that "Ohio law does not require allowing this disruption to the school day" and asked that any school district that has already approved the program "reconsider" their decision.

"At a minimum, school districts allowing released time must ensure that district staff members are aware of their obligations under the Constitution," wrote Lawrence. "A public school district cannot constitutionally encourage student attendance at released time bible classes, nor may it expend district resources to promote, organize, or otherwise facilitate released time bible classes."

Lawrence claimed the goal of LifeWise Academy is "to indoctrinate and convert public school students to evangelical Christianity by convincing public school districts to partner with them in bringing LifeWise released time bible classes to public school communities."

"FFRF has received several complaints from families in different school districts alleging that non-attending students were given busy work, or no work at all, as a consequence of staying behind during released time classes," Lawrence continued.

"Additionally, we have received at least one complaint reporting that a school assigned non-attending students additional homework seemingly as punishment for refusing to participate in a released time program."

A spokesperson for LifeWise Academy told The Christian Post in a statement Thursday that they welcome the attention.

"Our greatest obstacle is not enough people know about the amazing opportunity LifeWise offers students so we appreciate the FFRF investing their resources to help spread the word," stated the spokesperson.

"They did a wonderful job pointing out released time religious instruction as an entirely legal option for schools and families. We trust school officials and parents to make good educational decisions for their communities without being bullied by the efforts of outside activists."

Launched in 2019 to provide released-time religious instruction for public school students, LifeWise recently announced that over 300 schools across 11 states are participating in the programming.

In an earlier interview with CP, LifeWise founder and CEO Joel Penton said that the released-time Bible course has "received far less resistance than we anticipated."

"Most schools and parents are very open to the idea. Schools know there is a great need in the lives of students. And seeing as it's an entirely optional program, there simply aren't many people who see it as a problem," Penton said.

In 1952, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Zorach v. Clauson that released-time programs did not violate the U.S. Constitution, with the majority concluding that there is "no constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence."

"When the state encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events to sectarian needs, it follows the best of our traditions," the majority continued.

"To hold that it may not would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe."
Sarah Young, Jesus Calling author and missionary, dies at 77

Sarah Young, the Presbyterian missionary and bestselling author of the popular devotional Jesus Calling and other works, has died at the age of 77.

According to a tweet posted by Mission to the World, an organization that Young had served in when a missionary, Young passed away peacefully on Thursday afternoon.

We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Sarah Young, MTW missionary and author of Jesus Calling and numerous other devotionals, Mission to the World tweeted.

A memorial service is planned for Sept. 9 at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mark Schoenwald, president and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, said in a press release that it was a joy and an honor to have Sarah Young as part of our publishing family.

Sarah was a remarkable woman who deeply loved God. Her words have resonated with people from all walks of life, and the global impact of her work is unparalleled, Schoenwald stated.

Laura Minchew, senior vice president of the Childrens and Gift Book Group at HarperCollins, was quoted as saying that Young was a dear friend who will be deeply missed.

Through nearly 20 years of publishing with Sarah, I had a firsthand seat at seeing millions of lives changed through the Jesus Calling books, Minchew said.

Her books have met people in their darkest hours, taught children about Jesus, and changed lives for eternity. Knowing Sarah professionally and personally has been the privilege of a lifetime.

Young leaves behind her husband and fellow missionary Stephen Young, two children and two grandchildren.

Born in 1946, Young graduated from Wellesley College in 1968 and earned a masters degree in biblical studies and counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

She formerly served alongside her husband as a missionary in Japan and Australia through Mission to the World, which is the official mission board for the Presbyterian Church in America.

Youngs most famous work was Jesus Calling, a 365-day devotional originally released in 2004 that has sold tens of millions of copies and was named "Christian Book of the Year" in 2013 and 2018.

The devotionals success led to other works under the Jesus Calling brand, including the 2021 prayer devotional Jesus Listens, childrens devotionals, Bible storybooks and journals.

Young was not without her critics in evangelicalism, as prominent blogger Tim Challies warned in a 2015 post that Jesus Calling was a deeply troubling book that mimics occult practices.

Challies quoted Youngs book in which she wrote: I decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever I believe He was saying. I felt awkward the first time I tried this, but I received a message. It was short, biblical, and appropriate. It addressed topics that were current in my life: trust, fear, and closeness to God. I responded by writing in my prayer journal.

This is not a far cry from a practice known as automatic writing which Wikipedia describes as an alleged psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. The words are claimed to arise from a subconscious, spiritual or supernatural source, wrote Challies at the time. This practice is very different from the giving of biblical revelation where God worked through the thoughts, personalities, and even research of the authors.

Last week, Thomas Nelson Publishers announced that Youngs physical health had deteriorated rapidly and called upon supporters to pray for the author.

We received the hard news that Sarahs health is rapidly failing, stated Thomas Nelson. We know that Sarah really believes in the power of prayer and prays for her readers every morning. Now, we have the precious privilege to lift up Sarah and her family. Please join us in prayer.
Afghanistan: How chaos led to the ultimate opportunity

Two years have passed since the United States harrowing withdrawal from Afghanistan. While the world witnessed the Talibans shocking insurgency against Kabul, The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as we once knew it, was no more.

In August 2021, many of us couldnt comprehend what we saw on our TVs. Masses of men and women frantically swarmed Hamid Karzai Airport to escape the encroaching Taliban. Some, desperate to leave, clung onto the wings of C-17 aircrafts and fell from the sky as the planes left the tarmac. Others threw their own babies over razor wire fences to U.S. Marines for a chance at lives away from violent extremists. These scenes of Afghans, desperate to flee the Taliban, were symbolic of the uncertainty and fear that gripped the nation.

The fall of Kabul marked a pivotal moment in modern history, with far-reaching implications for the region and the world. It was during this upheaval that our organization, Biglife, catapulted into a role that we never expected. Since Biglifes initial start in Afghanistan in 2010, our work has focused on reaching Afghans with the Gospel and training indigenous leaders to become disciple-makers.

Many vulnerable Afghan communities, including Afghan Christians, faced an uncertain and perilous future. The risks to these groups escalated overnight under the Taliban's new rule. Biglife began receiving details about Afghans who were under death threat by the Taliban. With a network of over 10,000 people on the ground, we knew that we were in a position to help in a massive way. Quickly, Biglife shifted its work to spreading the Gospel to Afghans while also providing humanitarian assistance and means for relocation away from the Taliban.

We established coalitions with organizations like Task Force Pineapple, a volunteer group of U.S. veterans, to extract at-risk targets safely and swiftly. These individuals were evacuated to safer areas of Afghanistan or outside of the country and later, connected with refugee organizations such as The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for food, temporary housing, medical assistance, and immigration paperwork.

Chaos led to an opportunity that we could have never fathomed.

Routine global work for Biglife quickly transformed into a substantial operation that has helped thousands of Afghans flee from the Talibans hold. Over 55,000 men, women, and children who were under Taliban death threats because of their faith or ethnicity have successfully been evacuated by Biglife since August 30th, 2021. As a result, those who had never heard of Jesus before, have come to know Him, and His unconditional love. As more persecuted communities come to us, we expect to see the Lord continue to move His sovereign hand.

The call to this mission has not been without its cost. In the last week, the Taliban martyred 5 men who were a part of the Biglife network because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Regardless of the opposition members of Biglife face in Afghanistan, it has not hindered their spirit to share Gods Word. Instead, it has empowered them to bring communities closer to Jesus, despite the dangers and challenges faced.

The chaos of the fall of Kabul has led to an unimaginable opportunity for Biglife not only to minister to the people in Afghanistan but also to rescue and put them in a place of hope. Two years later, as international headlines have grown silent on Afghanistan, we are committed to continue ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of the persecuted.
Author of Digital Liturgies on how Christians can live wisely in an online age

Cultural commentator Samuel D. James discussed the influential and formative power of the internet in a recent interview. James newest book, Digital Liturgies, explores the hidden ideology and worldview-shaping nature of internet technology, as well as how Christians can rightly navigate through the digital world in faithfulness to Christ.

James is the associate acquisitions editor at Crossway. His Substack newsletter, also entitled Digital Liturgies, has thousands of regular subscribers, and he has written for several other publications, including The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Time, First Things and The Gospel Coalition.

The following is an edited transcript of my interview with Samuel D. James.

Cap Stewart: Many Christians tend to think the internet is like any other amoral tool: you can use it wisely or poorly. What do you think is wrong with that perspective?

Samuel D. James: I think something can be used for good or ill and still not be neutral. And what that means is that even our desire to use this technology well is shaped by the logic of the technology itself.

For example, the internet presents us with certain powers and abilities  the ability to broadcast ourselves, the ability to turn something that would otherwise be a private moment into what other people can watch or consume. Technology allows us to turn life into a broadcastable moment, and because this technology exists and can do that, it says to us that we should do this, that this is a good thing.

Even as we are purposing to use these technologies for good  and I think we can  we need to ask, How is this changing our emotions? How is it changing our expectations? How is it changing our view of ourselves, of other people, of God? Those questions are central to the book.

Really, what Im trying to do is invite Christians to consider the ways in which these intellectual technologies  the web and social media in particular  make plausibility structures that themselves tend to lead us toward thought patterns and feelings and behaviors that are contrary to Christian wisdom.

Stewart: That actually leads directly into our second question. The subtitle of your book is Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age. What is it about being online that you think causes us to lose our grip on wisdom?

James: In the Scriptures, wisdom is connected to this sense of what the world is really like. Some have said that the essence of wisdom in Scripture is to live along the grain of reality rather than against the grain.

In contrast, the web presents us with a vision of ourselves and of other people that is untrue because it is disembodied. God created you and me with physical bodies  not just with minds, but with hands and feet and eyes. As part of that embodiment, he created us in particular places. He gave us to particular parents that live in particular cities. These are realities you dont have control over: they exist whether or not you want them to.

This reality is something the internet obscures: the internet is this kind of language, educational, relational  and even worshipful  habitat that presents to us as something that is completely in our control. If we want to stop seeing something that makes us uncomfortable, we can simply click away. If we see somebody who is saying something we dont like, we can mute or block them. The internet offers this entirely controlled way of experiencing the world. And as such, it presents us with a vision of reality that is fundamentally untrue.

Christian wisdom starts with this baseline of reality, and the internet starts with this baseline of unreality. And the question is, what happens when our attention, our emotional energy, and our labor are concentrated in this sphere of reality, when in fact the Scriptures are calling us to live emotionally and attentively in objective reality.

Stewart: You mentioned this idea of control  of muting and blocking others. Is there a relationship between internet culture and cancel culture?

James: Absolutely. And it actually goes back to what I was saying just a second ago. Many have learned to engage the world through these digital controls. They spend more time online, they have likely learned how to work online. The internet has become this package deal for doing life, for experiencing the world.

When you experience reality  and particularly when you come of age  online, its near impossible to imagine not being able to control what you see. What happens for a lot of folks is that they simply dont understand why someone should be allowed to do something that makes them uncomfortable. Theres a sense of disempowerment that comes when youve learned to engage the world through the computer logic, and then you encounter something in the offline world and you realize you have no power over it. That cognitive dissonance is deeply traumatic (for lack of a better word). You just dont know how to comprehend it.

This doesnt explain the whole of cancel culture, but it is, I think, a part of it.

Stewart: How else does digital technology encourage us to be upset or offended by disagreement?

James: In his book The Shallows, Nicholas Carr uses cognitive research to show that reading online engages our cognitive function at a much shallower  and more superficial  level than reading a book. Partly, thats because the internet is designed to be a kind of multitasking interface. Even if we dont think were being distracted, we really are because this is simply the way the technology works.

I recently wrote two articles on singleness in the church, and last night I got a comment that accused me of believing all these things that are explicitly disowned in the article. Before I read Nicholas Carr, I would have thought, People just dont know how to read. But now I realize its not an issue of education; its literally a cognitive deficiency with the way were communicating on this medium.

Its not necessarily all the readers fault (although it can be). But to be carefully reflective on the internet is basically to cease to exist, because the algorithm wont allow you to rise to the top of the internets ecosystem.

Stewart: You have said elsewhere that the internet does not just contain pornography, but that it is pornographically-shaped. What do you mean by that?

James: Essentially, pornography takes what is fundamentally a personal experience between two people (in the Christian understanding) and turns it into a product that can be consumed by a third party, who then instrumentalizes that experience. Similarly, the internet is this infrastructure that takes every human experience and turns it into a consumable product.

And if you go into the weeds of social media, you find that the word porn has now become suffixed to certain genres to indicate when a lot of images are being created of something. So earth porn is beautiful landscapes from all over the world. Food porn is delicious looking dishes. People have this pornographic lingo to describe what its like to experience these things third-hand  through the screen. The logic of pornographic consumption is hardwired into many of these technologies.

Stewart: If the internet is inherently pornographically-shaped, should we even be using it at all?

James: I understand where that question comes from, but we need to understand a distinction: theres a difference between the internet being pornographically-shaped and the internet being exclusively pornographic. Im saying the former, not the latter. And so, it might be better to ask, If the internet is pornographically shaped, what does it mean to order our lives so that were not going to YouTube for friendship, or that were not going to Instagram to experience life? Have we retreated from other people? Have we retreated from healthy practices? Have we retreated from the things that make life difficult but also rewarding  and that push us toward faithfulness to Jesus?

One challenge a lot of pastors are facing right now is that people are saying, Why cant I just watch church? Why cant I stay home and do livestream? I actually believe pastors should think about responding more in the language were using right now: Well, you are experiencing church as something that only happens to you, something that you are consuming as a product. Thats not what church is. Livestreaming is to church what porn is to sex.

Stewart: What are some benefits for Christian involvement in the online world?

James: Theres no question that the internet has revolutionized how we share information. The access we have to sermons and music and millions of pages of books  its astounding. The relational significance is not to be dismissed either: through texts and emails and video calls we keep up with friends who may be living in the furthest reaches of the world.

And this is an incredible time for the dissemination of the Gospel. There are Gospel messages going into restricted countries  all over the world  and getting into the hands of people who would otherwise never receive it.

Its not a question of whether theres any good reason to use the internet. Its a question of how do we put the internet in its proper place? How do we let it be a blessing instead of letting it turn into something else?

Stewart: Who is a good example of a Christian engaging with internet culture in wisdom and prudence? How can we learn from their example?

James: One of my really good friends, Nate, is a pastor in North Carolina. On Facebook, he posts encouraging quotes and things hes studying in Scripture. But he consciously chooses to make the people that God has actually put around him foremost in his attention. Theres an intentional design for him to say, Whether its my wife, my kids, my church, the people in my community  those people are entitled to the lions share of my emotional energy, of my affection. And hes living life accordingly.

Thats what I would tell readers: dont look to a guru, a Christian celebrity, for examples of how to do this. Find people in your life who just seem to be very present, to be devoted to the things that matter, and follow them as they follow Christ.

Stewart: How does the Gospel contradict and/or fulfill the digital liturgies of our day?

James: If we think were looking for friendship, the Gospel promises Christ our brother, our friend, who is with us, but who also puts us in a family of other Christians. If were looking for significance, the Gospel gives us a kingdom to belong to, and gives us people to serve, with the promise that even if the world doesnt see us, our Father (who sees in secret) will see and reward us. If were looking for intimacy (in obvious or not obvious ways), the Bible presents us with a vision of sexual intimacy, but also of friendship intimacy that is grounded in the Gospel.

So the question is, if all the major web companies were to disappear tomorrow in some cataclysmic cyberattack and we couldnt be online, would we be OK? Would we still have friends? In the Gospel, the answer is yes.

But there may be some who would say, If that happened to me, I would cease to have an identity. I would not know who I was. To them in particular, I would say go back to the Scriptures. Learn who you are from your Creator  not from your audience  and embrace that. Embrace the promises of the Gospel that will sustain you long after your internet self has ceased to win the algorithm.

Digital Liturgies is now available at Crossway and everywhere books are sold.
Americans want big pharma, doctors held liable for harm to kids from sex-change drugs, surgeries: poll

A majority of voters believe pharmaceutical companies and doctors who push puberty blockers and body-mutilating sex-change surgeries on children and teens should be held liable for the longterm effects on people who were once confused about their sex.

Summit Ministries released the results of a poll conducted in conjunction with McLaughlin & Associates on Monday, measuring voter sentiment on LGBT-related issues. The poll, conducted from Feb. 17-22, surveyed 1,000 likely general election voters.

Get tickets to CPs event 'Unmasking Gender Ideology: Protecting Children, Confronting Transgenderism' here. Get your free book 'Exposing the Gender Lie' here.

When asked for their reaction to efforts to expose children to the transgender movement using things like drag shows, school curriculum, and social media, 65% of respondents described themselves as concerned. Thirty-seven percent maintained that efforts to introduce children to LGBT ideology made them very concerned or angry, while an additional 27% said it made them somewhat concerned or upset.

On the other hand, 29% of those surveyed insisted that they were not concerned or upset about the push to introduce children to LGBT ideology. The remaining 8% did not give an opinion.

Broken down by partisan affiliation, a majority of Republicans (63%) cited the efforts to introduce the transgender movement to children as something that made them very concerned or angry. Independents were much more split, with a plurality feeling very concerned or angry about the exposure of children to LGBT ideology (34%), followed by 28% who were not concerned or upset and 26% who were somewhat concerned or upset.

The poll also asked whether respondents believed pharmaceutical companies and doctors who promote puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for underage children seeking gender transition should be legally liable for any harmful side effects that arise. Fifty-nine percent of respondents answered in the affirmative, including majorities of conservatives (79%), voters who supported President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election (77%), Republicans (72%), independents (59%) and moderates (53%).

The only demographic subgroups where holding pharmaceutical companies and doctors who promote puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones liable for longterm side effects did not receive majority support were Hispanics (49%), voters who supported President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election (45%), Democrats (45%), those who supported Democrats on a generic congressional ballot (45%), voters who approve of President Joe Biden (44%), African Americans (43%) and liberals (42%).

With the exception of liberals, where an additional 42% did not approve of holding pharmaceutical companies and doctors who push puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones liable, all other demographic subgroups had a higher share of respondents who supported doing so than those opposed.

"From TV to TikTok to drag shows and trans curriculum in schools, our children and grandchildren are being bombarded daily with the transgender ideology," said Summit President Jeff Myers. It doesnt stop there  doctors are now routinely prescribing powerful drugs to kids as puberty blockers without [Food and Drug Administration] approval for such use. This polling shows that the American public is rightfully concerned, angry and want accountability for the targeting of kids.

The poll from Summit Ministries coincides with the release of the free e-book, Exposing the Gender Lie: How to Protect Children and Teens from the Transgender Industrys False Ideology, which Myers co-wrote with The Christian Posts Brandon Showalter. In our new book, we show that the intentional targeting of children with transgender messaging results in serious psychological and physical harm, Myers added.

Children are being subjected to dangerous risks and lifelong side-effects, all to promote a radical ideology and reap massive profits for the transgender medical industry. Thankfully well-reasoned Americans are starting to push back, and this book is designed to equip them with the resources they need to protect their children from this medical and social scandal.

The American College of Pediatricians has highlighted the side effects of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. The longterm impacts of puberty blockers, as identified by the national organization of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals dedicated to the health and well-being of children, include osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility.

As explained by the American College of Pediatricians, cross-sex hormones can put youth at an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots and cancers across their lifespan.

Concerns about the longterm impact of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have influenced public policy in the U.S., with eight states banning the use of such risky and experimental drugs and procedures on minors in some or all cases as well as prohibiting sex-change surgery: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah.

In one case, a detransitioner who once experienced gender dysphoria and previously identified as a member of the opposite sex before her gender dysphoria subsided, has already signaled an intention to sue the doctors who advised her to undergo life-altering sex-change surgeries that included cutting off her breasts. Last year, 18-year-old Chloe Cole announced her plans to sue these doctors, citing the double mastectomy she received at age 15 as a strain on her mental health.

Specifically, Cole recalled that despite promises from healthcare professionals advising her that the distress she experienced because of her gender dysphoria would resolve as she transitioned, she found that her distress always came back worse following an initial relief that occurred after each phase of transition. She listed suicidal tendencies as one of the adverse effects of her double mastectomy.
60 years since MLK's 'I have a dream speech': Good and bad changes since

Is it possible that it has been 60 years since the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently called his fellow Americans to live up to the promises of our founding documents and acknowledge the full citizenship of our fellow black citizens? Incredibly, the answer is, yes. Sixty years is three generations of Americans.

And yet, anyone who heard Dr. Kings incandescent oration from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial remembers how it electrified the nation. I watched it on television as a 16-year-old boy who had just acknowledged the call to full-time Gospel ministry as a Baptist minister.

For me, someone raised in the segregated South (Houston, Texas), having attended segregated schools, a segregated church, and living in a segregated neighborhood, his sermon to America was a clarion call to commitment and action in support of a cause that was demanded both by our founding documents and, more importantly, by the Gospel proclaimed in the New Testament.

It is often overlooked by the secular media that the driving force informing and motivating Dr. Kings ministry was the paramount fact that he was first and foremost an ordained Baptist minister and his ministry to America was driven by his commitment to a biblically based belief in the fundamental dignity and equal value of every human life  what he often summarized as somebodiness.

To understand Dr. King and his message it is critically important to understand that he was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a divinely called, seminary-trained, and fully ordained Baptist minister and pastor who believed in both the sacredness and the equality of every human soul.

In 1967, in what tragically turned out to be his last book (Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?) written before his assassination, he wrote:

Let us be dissatisfied until men will recognize that out of ONE BLOOD God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth. Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout white power when nobody will shout black power, but everybody will talk about Gods power and human power.

Based on these words, one can only imagine how saddened Dr. King would be by the degeneration into the ethnic rivalries and hostilities that plague present-day American society.

I firmly agree with American commentator and Wall Street Journal editorial board member Jason Riley that if Dr. King were alive today he would be disappointed that black-white gaps persist in income, employment, incarceration, schooling and other areas. Yet its hard to believe that he wouldnt be pleased with the gains  in recent elections, black voter registration, and turnout rates have hit record highs and in some cases exceeded white rates. ... Black median incomes still trail those of whites, but as economist Thomas Sowell writes in his new book, Social Justice Fallacies, 2020 census data show more than 9 million black Americans with higher incomes than the median incomes of white Americans.

For those of us old enough to have made the journey through the civil rights revolution of the last six decades, the progress between then and now has been extremely encouraging and should inspire America to continue her journey to complete fruition.

Riley had the courage to write that one reason blacks continue to lag behind whites is that many government efforts to help the black underclass have backfired. Welfare-state expansions have increased dependency and subsidized counterproductive behavior. In the early 1960s, two-thirds of black children lived with a mother and a father. By the mid-1990s, it was down to one-third. That would disappoint King as well. Perhaps, unlike a lot of black leaders today, he would be willing to talk about it.

I have no doubt that the Rev. King would indeed talk about the breakdown of the black family. Dr. Kings niece, Alveda King, explains that her uncles dream is not something set apart from the American Dream but a vision for all people deeply rooted in the promises that make up America.

Dr. Kings dream was rooted in his biblical understanding of the equality of all humanity and the fact that Americas founding documents are based on similar principles: All men are created equal  they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

Dr. Kings vision of an America where people were judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character is not a vision driven by moral relativism, but by a biblically grounded Judeo-Christian morality.

Frankly, I suspect I speak for many Americans in expressing my grief and disappointment that we, as a nation, have not made more progress toward the realization of Dr. Kings vision. I suspect one major reason for that lack of progress is the fact that too many Americans mistook desegregation as a synonym for integration. It is not. Desegregation means the demise of formal de jure segregation.

With the passage of the Civil Rights laws we desegregated America, but we did not integrate it. As I have pointed out before, Jesus commands Christians to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt. 5:13-16).

The salt of the law can change actions, only the light of the Gospel can truly change attitudes. The salt of the law can change behavior, it is only the light of the Gospel that can truly change beliefs. The salt of the law can change habits, but only the light of the Gospel can truly change hearts. The salt of the law can end segregation, but only the light of the Gospel can generate true integration.

The law has done about all it can do in desegregating America. True integration will depend on American Christians of all ethnicities practicing the reconciliation made possible through the life-changing Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (II Cor. 5:15-20). We must always remember that among the redeemed, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28).

Progress toward the fulfillment of Dr. Kings dream is inextricably intertwined with the health of the Christian faith in America.

Church membership in America, as a percentage of the population, is now at a record low  down more than 20 points in the 21st century.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to perceive of an America successfully renewing her commitment to Dr. Kings dream as we become less religious. Religious renewal and revival of Dr. Kings dream will rise or fall together.
Have we forgotten about the holiness of God?

In looking over the landscape of the Church today, many people have noticed that the holiness of God has largely been forgotten, overlooked and ignored.

The late J.I. Packer claimed that the contemporary Christian finds holiness to be outdated and irrelevant. Kevin DeYoung wrote, Shouldnt those most passionate about the Gospel and Gods glory also be those most dedicated to the pursuit of godliness? I worry that there is an enthusiasm gap and no one seems to mind. John MacArthur put it like this: The doctrine of sanctification has become unpopular in our time. There has been much talk about the doctrine of election, of justification, of glorification  But the doctrine that has fallen into the greatest disuse is this doctrine of sanctification.

MacArthur, Packer, and DeYoung all rightly point out that too few Christians seem to care about sanctification or about pursuing holiness in their personal lives; and too few churches seem to preach anything that resembles a call for believers to be holy.

The failure of the church and the Christian to pursue holiness has everything to do with the holiness of God because the chief reason why the Church today fails to pursue holiness is because the Church has forgotten that our God is a holy God. Many churches fail to recognize that we serve a God who is absolutely, unchangeably, and eternally holy. Churches have trivialized God and ignored certain attributes of God that we dont like or that seem out of step with the times. The evangelical church, in its never-ending quest to be cool, relevant, accessible, unoffensive, relatable, and thought well of by the world, has jettisoned the holiness of God because it has no place in a church that wants a seat at the worlds table or a church that wants to be attractive to ungodly, unholy people.

Calling attention to this problem is vital because the failure to appreciate, love, and proclaim the holiness of God has disastrous consequences.

It results in worship that is frivolous and trivial.

When we walk into church, we should almost feel like we are leaving this present world and stepping into the presence of God in Heaven. Heaven is a holy place, where God dwells and where His holiness is worshipped and adored. Heaven is not a place for trifles, for silliness, for trivialities. There should be a reverence and a fear and awe of God in worship.

Many churches have abandoned any sense of the holiness of God or any element of reverence or awe before God. These churches seem to have an overwhelming desire to minimize the holiness of God to ensure the comfort of the sinner. Attendees are left with the impression that it doesnt really matter how they live, or maybe even what they believe  because God loves them and so do we, and God accepts us all and isnt really that concerned about holiness.

This kind of worship service presents a god that is totally foreign to the God of the Bible. It takes what should be a transcendent, awe-inspiring encounter with a holy God who transforms us, turning it into something trivial and meaningless. It also centers worship on the felt needs of sinners instead of something that is supposed to be about the glory of God. This is the greatest crime in neglecting the holiness of God because such an approach robs God of the worship He rightly deserves from His people.

When we forget about the holiness of God, serious consequences result, and trivializing the worship of God is at the top of the list.

Another consequence of forgetting the holiness of God is having churches that have lost the Great Commission.

The goal of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 is the holiness of Gods people. We cannot fulfill the Great Commission unless Jesus disciples are being taught to obey all that He commanded us.

One of the key marks of a spiritually mature church is its obedience to Christ. In Romans 1:8, Paul highlights the faith of the Roman church and the fact they had turned from idols to trust in the living and holy God. Paul bookends that commendation in Romans 16:19, noting the Romans obedience and holiness due to their sincere faith in Christ. The Romans did not have a faith in name only, a nominal faith, a worldly faith, or a faith that made little difference. Their faith was so strong and sincere that, when people talked about the faith of the Romans, the report about their obedience and holiness accompanied it.

If we are not worshipping, serving, and trusting in the true God, who is the holy God, we will not be a Great Commission church because we will not lead people to holiness. And if holiness is distasteful, irrelevant, or offensive, we cannot fulfill the Great Commission.

A third consequence of forgetting the holiness of God is exhibiting lives that are worldly and ungodly.

In 1 Peter 1:15-16, Peter writes that what sets the standard of holiness in the life of the believer is his view of God and Gods holiness. We are to be holy as God is holy. However, if we have forgotten or neglected the holiness of God, what will our standard be? If we serve a god who accepts everyone, who is unconcerned about holiness, who is devoid of wrath and judgment against sin because his holiness is not offended by sin, we will become just like that unholy god.

This neglect of Gods holiness results in believers who have no real pursuit of holiness at all or who are unconcerned about being holy because they dont understand the holiness of God; or in believers who think they are pursuing holiness but who are defining it by the worlds definition of holiness rather than by conforming themselves to God and His holiness. Both paths lead to ungodly living.

If we would live godly lives, if we would seek to be obedient to Christ, if we would put to death the deeds of the flesh and seek to walk in the Spirit, we must first understand the holiness of God.

One final consequence of forgetting the holiness of God is this: countless false believers who think they know God, but who serve an idol.

In Luke 6:46, Jesus asked this powerful question: Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?

To put Jesus words another way, all true believers and followers of Christ will pursue holiness and seek to obey Jesus commands. The reason why people call Jesus Lord but do not do what He commands is because they dont know Him. They miss that He is holy. They have trivialized Jesus; they have created a Jesus in their own image; they have invented their own savior and rejected the Jesus who is the Holy One of God.

This is a tragedy of monumental proportions because it results in eternal destruction. Many people on the final day will call Jesus Lord, Lord, and yet they will be condemned because they did not do the will of the Father, but instead practiced wickedness. They had no regard for holiness, and that manifested the reality that they did not know God.

These are the disastrous consequences of forgetting the holiness of God.

There is a remedy, however, for us who live in a time when the holiness of God has been so neglected and forgotten. We will unpack that remedy over the course of this series as we uncover the holiness of God and discover what our response to that holiness should be in our lives and in our churches.
The modern Jesus fishes-and-loaves model for feeding the hungry en masse

As the new school year approaches, moms and dads are pivoting from picnics to school meal plans for their kids. When my children were younger, I remember my wife going into overdrive to shop for lunchboxes and nutritious food options. We were blessed to have healthy choices for our kids.

But in many communities around the world, parents dont have the same options for their children. In fact, theyre struggling to put food on the table at all. Right now, more than 800 million people dont know where their next meal will come from. And children are bearing the brunt of this growing hunger crisis. Over 45 million children suffer from wastingthe most visible, severe, and potentially life-threatening form of malnutrition.

Thats why I want you to know about a way our government helps global organizations like the one I lead, World Vision, to provide school meals for kids who would otherwise go hungry. Our elected officials are working on the Farm Bill, which contains international food aid programs like McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Food for Peace Title II. These Farm Bill programs push back against hunger by ensuring students have at least one daily meal and families have the tools they need to grow their own food and create a livelihood.

Last year in Turkana, Kenya, I saw what its like for kids without such a safety net. The region was gripped in the worst drought in 40 years, and many families lost their livestock  their livelihood and food source. Without milk or meat, they subsisted on wild fruit. Visiting a family during a time when school was not in session, I was dismayed to see their elementary-age kids sprawled listlessly on the ground  as any child would do if they hadnt eaten all day.

I believe that God wants more for these kids  and all His children. And we can be His instruments, enabling girls and boys to flourish and explore their God-given potential.

Just as Jesus fought hunger for thousands of people with a few loaves and fish, we can use a simple but powerful tool: school lunches. This program not only helps combat child hunger, but also empowers girls, transforms communities, and breaks cycles of poverty. How?

The value of a nutritious meal motivates students parents to keep sending their kids back to school. This is particularly important for young girls, who are much more likely to be kept home to assist with chores or forced into child marriage. In addition, these programs create a healthy learning environment through the construction of clean water points and new classrooms, benefiting all the kids in the community. For the price of a lunch, we not only ensure children are fed but also on track to finish their education.

Solving world hunger requires more than just feeding people  it also requires empowering communities to feed themselves. When World Vision partners with the U.S. government through an international food aid program, we work to graduate whole communities out of extreme poverty and into self-sufficiency. By investing in farmers and buying local produce, these food programs empower communities to feed their own students. Thats how these Farm Bill programs plant the seeds that continue to grow into self-reliant and sustainable food systems.

With just a few small tweaks in the Farm Bill  shifts in commodity requirements and local food procurement  Congress can make the McGovern-Dole and Food for Peace programs even stronger. As global hunger rates continue to climb, it has never been more critical to strengthen these programs that address food insecurity and support self-reliance. More than just a handout, they are a critical investment to save lives, create peace, and build a safer world for all of us.

The decisions Congress makes on the Farm Bill have a real impact on millions of kids around the globe. I encourage parents and people of faith to raise their voices for hungry children by calling on their elected representatives to strengthen international food programs. All kids everywhere deserve the same support our children have to grow up healthy and well-nourished.

Learn more about the Farm Bill and World Visions faith-rooted work to end child hunger
Pakistan's Christians live in fear of mob justice

Over the past couple of months, since the Quran burning incident in Sweden, Pakistan has witnessed an increasing number of allegations of blasphemy cases against Christians.

In one specific case, the allegations in the first information report (FIR) filed with police included claims that the blasphemous content praised the Quran burning in Sweden. While police have managed to quell the anger in certain areas, they were not able to prevent the mob violence that targeted localities where Christian families lived.

The first case of blasphemy was filed on 30 June 2023. On 28 June 2023, Haroon Shahzad created a Facebook account in his name where he posted verses from the Bible regarding sacrifice. It also happened to be the day when Muslims around the world were celebrating Eid-ul-Ada with religious zeal and passion.

Hassan, Tuasik and Muhammad Imran read this post and filed an FIR stating that Haroon had hurt the feelings of Muslims on the occasion of Eid. Therefore, Haroon now stands accused of blasphemy. The FIR against Haroon Shahzad  who lives in Shumali District of Sargodha  was filed on 30 June 2023 at police station Cantt Sargodha under sections 295A and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code. He initially managed to get bail, but this was later cancelled and the case is still pending in court.

Another case against a Christian was filed in Sargodha Punjab on 8 July 2023. The case was registered by a Muslim man named Muhammad Awais from Sargodha who filed an FIR at police station Sadder Sargodha, under sections 298 and 295A. In the FIR, he named a Christian man, Zaki Masih, who had allegedly posted derogatory words against Muslims through his Facebook account. It also stated that he along with two others tried to persuade Zaki Masih to delete his post, but he refused and supposedly threatened to share it with more people. This was cited as sufficient grounds for their sentiments and religious beliefs to be offended and to file an FIR, heightening tensions in the area.

The third blasphemy case in Sargodha was registered against an unknown person under sections 295A, 295B, 295C and 298A. It was filed by a resident of Green Town, Muhammad Abdulghafar, who retired from the Pakistan Air Force. He claimed that on 16 July 2023, at around 5am when he was coming back from the mosque after his prayers along with his companions, he found a small pamphlet stuck in front of his boundary wall containing blasphemous content. The pamphlet was alleged to have contain disrespectful content against respected figures, and derogatory comments about the Quran. He went on to add that the pamphlet also praised the recent Quran-burning incident in Sweden. The complainant claimed that the pamphlet badly hurt the feelings of Muslims and demanded that the police severely punish the culprits. Nevertheless, in this case, the timely intervention of the police helped restore calm and control the situation.

On 25 August 2023, a fourth FIR was registered at the police station in Kadana, Sargodha, against unidentified persons under section 295 B. In this FIR, the applicant - an imam - claimed that when he reached the mosque at 4:10am that morning, he saw burnt pages of the Quran.

On 16 August 2023, at least 25 churches and 120 houses were burnt to ashes by Muslim mobs in the Christian areas of Jaranwala city, Faisalabad. Most Christian residents of the area fled their homes in fear as a mob of about 3,000 Muslims flooded their streets and started wreaking havoc. Police sources said that the Assistant Commissioner of the Police in the area - a member of the Christian community - was also evacuated after people turned against him. This mob attack followed the arrest of two Christian brothers Raja Amir and Rocky in Jaranwala over blasphemy charges.

So far, the police have arrested about 200 people and they are investigating the matter. The Punjab government has started undertaking the task of renovating some churches. The Pakistani Prime Minister has intervened in the matter and assured compensation for those affected. Some affected families have received cheques of 2 million rupees each (around 5,100 or $6,500). Furthermore, churches, NGOs and even members from the Muslim community have stepped in to assist in the swift rehabilitation of the affected Christian families.

However, on 20 August 2023, a mere four days after the burning and ransacking in Jaranwala, a similar outrage over blasphemy allegations was narrowly averted in Sahiwal. Tensions arose in 186/9-L village when a 27-year-old Christian, Ehsaan Shan Masih, allegedly uploaded a video on social media containing blasphemous images that had triggered the attacks in Jaranwala on August 16. An FIR under sections 295A and B of the Pakistan Penal Code and provisions under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 was registered at Dera Rahim Sahiwal.

The next day, a dispute arose in Madina Town Faisalabad. Some pages of the Quran were found around a Christian house, which the neighboring Muslim family later admitted were wet pages from the Quran that they had left to dry, and which had then fallen from their roof onto the Christian family's house. This averted an instance of an FIR being registered. Nevertheless, the Christian families in the neighbourhood spent the night in fear, and some even fled their homes fearing mob violence.

More recently, on 24 August 2023, a family dispute in Rawalpindi Dhook Saidan turned into a blasphemy case, when one of the uncles of the accused converted to Islam and accused his nephew of blasphemy in order to take his share of the property. Police astutely dealt with this case, but this did not stop the rumours from spreading and threatening the well-being of Christians in the neighborhood.

On Friday 25 August 2023, another incident involving a false blasphemy case occurred in the Mochipura area of Kasur city. Just five days prior, a Christian sanitation worker's family had rented a house in Mochipura. Allegations arose that they had desecrated some papers of the Quran while cleaning a Muslim family's home. As a result, the Christian sanitation worker and their family promptly left their home and fled.

The situation escalated when Islamic clerics broadcast messages via mosque loudspeakers, urging Muslims in the area to come out of their houses and attack Christian homes. The local Christian community immediately contacted the police, who arrived and managed to defuse the situation. The mob was eventually dispersed without causing any harm.

Despite the police intervention, a sense of fear still lingers in the area. The incident in Jaranwala has left its impact, causing sleepless nights for many residents. In light of these events, the Christians of Mochipura have appealed to higher authorities for protection of their lives and households.

The spate of blasphemy accusations in Pakistan that has followed the recent Quran burning in Sweden has also been accompanied by increased fears of mob violence.

The state's efforts following the violent attacks in Jaranwala are acknowledged, yet they have arrived too late to alleviate the suffering of those already affected by the mob violence. Christians across Pakistan now live under a constant shadow of fear, apprehensive that they could become targets of revenge-driven attacks fuelled by baseless blasphemy allegations within their community. Overcoming the trauma inflicted will require years of effort and support, making it imperative for the government to promptly address this issue and enact necessary reforms.

Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws stand in contrast to the human rights conventions ratified by the country. The international community has been consistently voicing its concerns about these laws for many years. Civil society, once subdued, has regained its voice, demanding attention to this long-standing issue. The government cannot afford to overlook this matter any longer.

The present moment necessitates serious efforts by the Pakistani government to curb the ongoing misuse of blasphemy laws against Christians and other minorities. It is imperative that proactive measures are taken to prevent the harassment of the Christian community through such means. By addressing these concerns, Pakistan can demonstrate its commitment to ensuring the rights and safety of its minority populations.

The misuse of blasphemy laws has revealed to the world the treatment of minorities in Pakistan. Urgent action is required to rectify this situation and to prevent further deterioration of religious harmony within the country. Blasphemy laws demand immediate attention, and their reform is a crucial step toward fostering inclusivity and respect for all religious communities.

Nasir Saeed is the director of CLAAS-UK, a non-denominational Christian organisation based in the UK and Pakistan that provides financial, legal and practical support.
OPPOSITION Labour, Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) leader, Linda Masarira, says a power-sharing agreement may help de-escalate political tension in the country following last weeks disputed elections.

Zimbabwe had a unity government from 2009 to 2013 following the disputed 2008 elections which was marred by widespread violence targeted at opposition supporters.

The 2008 election was flagged as not credible, forcing the late former President Robert Mugabes Zanu PF to form a coalition government with the opposition.

The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has refused to accept defeat after Emmerson Mnangagwa was announced winner of last weeks presidential race.

As a political party that was involved in the elections, LEAD proposed that since the elections stand disputed the only way forward is an all-inclusive power-sharing arrangement, said Masarira whose bid to contest the presidential election was frustrated by the exorbitant nomination fees charged by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

The LEAD proposed power-sharing arrangement aims to reduce the risk of continued political polarisation and possibility of civil conflict by guaranteeing all political parties and civil societies a role in the Zimbabwean government, directly or indirectly, thus lessening the stakes of political contestation.

In this way, the proposed power-sharing will reduce the risk that spoilers will resort to violence if they do not succeed in the process of democratic electoral contestation.

Zanu PF has indicated its readiness to work with the opposition, although CCC leader Nelson Chamisa insists on a re-run.

The signing of the power-sharing agreement and its subsequent approval by the countrys Legislature and implementation has to contribute in reducing the violence that may engulf the country after the elections, Masarira said.

Power-sharing governments as a post-election conflict management mechanism serve as a viable alternative to violence following electoral disputes. Newsday
SAP has appointed a new global head of artificial intelligence, Walter Sun, after the previous post-holder quit to found her own AI startup.

For the past 18 years, Sun worked at Microsoft, most recently as VP of AI for its business and applications platform group. Sun has a PhD from MIT and continued to publish academic research papers during his time at Microsoft, in addition to teaching at Seattle and Washington universities.

As part of Microsofts development team, Sun created Bing Predicts, the inference engine that provides the favored to win forecasts beneath search results for sporting fixtures and attempted to predict the 2016 US presidential election winner. (Spoiler alert: it failed.)

More usefully for enterprises, he also helped develop Dynamics 365 AI for Market Insights, a feature for Microsofts ERP and CRM platform that scans search data to provide enterprises with information about emerging trends in social interest and sentiment around their brands. Most recently, he was involved in the introduction of Dynamics 365 Copilot, which draws on OpenAIs GPT-4 generative AI model to, among other things, help marketers write engaging sales pitches. In a recent blog post, Sun described how Microsoft researchers conducted experiments to compare the performance of different AI models for use in Dynamics 365. His colleagues also studied how to write the most effective prompts for soliciting useful responses from generative AI systems.

Sun replaces Feiyu Xu as SAPs global head of AI. She joined the company in 2020, after a three-year stint in a similar role at Lenovo. Prior to that, she had worked for two decades at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, DFKI.

In the three years Xu led SAPs AI initiatives, the company introduced AI technologies to many of its products, including tools for supply chain planning, expense management, customer experience, and online commerce. In May 2023, around the time Xu announced her intention to leave the company, SAP said it would embed IBMs Watson AI technology into its products.
You are dealing with human beings, whether they be landlords or tenants. Each will have differing needs, and often you can be caught in the middle; dealing with conflict and trying to troubleshoot with relative parties to find resolutions is a daily occurrence within our industry. Then you have the vast amount of data that we are collecting which is too often under-utilised.

How we differ from our real estate compatriots is that they are dealing with a few transactions, but the amounts of money involved can be significant. Property management, on the other hand, typically deals with small transactions. The main difference is that we are dealing with thousands and, in some cases, millions of transactions yearly. This can provide us with an enormous amount of data. The next challenge is using the data to help landlords make better decisions, particularly around maintenance and capital expenditure. It can also teach tenants how to live in the property with greater efficiency and improve the property's performance. This leads to better outcomes for tenants who have warmer, safer, and healthier properties to live in.

Like many countries worldwide, New Zealand has a housing crisis with insufficient stock to meet demand. As well as this, much of the housing and rental stock is second-hand and dated. A lack of investment within our current housing portfolio has led to substandard properties being rented, and this has wider costs on society through poor health outcomes.



There is also a potential lack of understanding that many landlords may have regarding their rights and responsibilities. This can lead to unintentional breaches of legislation

Proptech can measure property performance and provide real-time data to property managers and owners. Devices created by Kiwi Proptech start-up Tether can measure the CO2 readings within a property. It can also measure a property's temperature and power consumption and track how a property can be managed more effectively. Increases in CO2 emissions can lead to mould issues, which have a detrimental impact on the health of the occupants of the property. This means we can provide better education to tenants on how to look after their homes but also to landlords on preventative maintenance.

Other Proptech companies ahead of the curve in this space are Wellington-based Proptech start-up Tapi. This company makes it easy for tenants to report maintenance but also uses Artificial Intelligence or AI to help troubleshoot with the tenant to resolve issues. Using historical data that it has collected, it can then advise property managers and landlords on the best outcome to resolving maintenance issues. It can calculate whether a repair or replacement is the best option and the approximate cost of either option. This also leads to a faster response time in resolving maintenance issues, which leads to a better consumer experience for the tenant who does not get frustrated in waiting for ongoing maintenance.

Looking into the future, Proptech will play a significant role in reducing the Carbon footprint of the property management industry. As mentioned earlier, the quality of much of the rental stock in New Zealand is not where it should be. With a stronger focus on the environment, I do not doubt that we will see more legislation coming into play that demands greater energy efficiency for our rental stock. Companies like Tether and Tapi are constantly innovating, and I do not doubt that they will have a significant role to play in not just providing better outcomes for tenants and landlords. They will also contribute to our industry by reducing its carbon footprint.
BOTSWANA President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has joined other Heads of State and Government in congratulating President Mnangagwa on his re-election and leading Zanu-PF to a resounding victory in last weeks harmonised elections.

In a statement, President Masisi said President Mnangagwas victory is a clear demonstration of the trust and confidence that the people of Zimbabwe have in him.

It gives me great pleasure to extend to you, on behalf of the Government and the people of the Republic of Botswana, our sincere congratulations on your electoral victory, said President Masisi.

Your resounding victory is a clear demonstration of the trust and confidence that the people of Zimbabwe have in your visionary leadership.

I wish to commend you, the Government and the people of Zimbabwe for adhering to the message of peace during the elections, a clear reflection of your countrys commitment to the democratic ideals that are a distinguishing factor of the Sadc Region.

Your Excellency, as you once again take the responsibilities of your high Office, I wish to assure you and the people of Zimbabwe of our commitment to work closely with you and your Government in further deepening the bonds of friendship that exist between our two countries and peoples.

I wish you a successful second term of Office, personal good health, as well as peace and prosperity for the people of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, the Dean of Zimbabwes Ambassadors, Kufa Chinoza, has also congratulated the President on his victory.

On behalf of all Zimbabwe Ambassadors, and indeed on my own behalf, I would like to congratulate you, Your Excellency, Dr ED Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and First Secretary of Zanu-PF Party, for winning the Presidential Elections on 26 August 2023, said Ambassador Chinoza.

As your Ambassadors, we have trust and confidence that you, Your Excellency, will once again ably serve as the President of our great country, Zimbabwe, as we further consolidate the growth trajectory witnessed over the last five years, through implementation of the National Development Strategy (NDS1). Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo.

We remain committed to further implement the countrys Foreign Policy on re-affirmation, engagement and re-engagement in order to grow our economy and attain the vision of an upper-middle income economy by 2030.

Your election is an endorsement by the Zimbabwean people of your good leadership and vision of the country.

The National Judicial Council of Vapostori (NJCV) also congratulated President Mnangagwa on his victory.

In their message, they said there was peace before, during and after the elections, and that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) made sure that every voter did get a chance to exercise his or her constitutional right to vote.

The National Judicial Council of Vapostori believes that the mandate of Election Observer Missions is not to question and interrogate the institution and Legislative Laws of a sovereign country. Herald
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Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is unable to fund as many projects as it would like because of rising costs, its chief executive has said.

The charity today announced changes to its branding, including a new logo, strapline and advertising campaign in an effort to boost its fundraising.

Michelle Mitchell told Civil Society the charity is investing for growth in mass fundraising events and retail in what is a hard economic climate.

Partly because of Covid and the long tail effect that thats had on all research funding, but also an environment in which costs of running organisations and charities is going up substantially  the cost of doing research is going up substantially, she said.

Were turning down far too much world class science and world class people with world class ideas. So, I want to make that connection to the more money we can invest in research, I believe, the quicker progress well make.

Mitchell said the government was also responsible for supporting cancer research funding and reducing waiting times for testing treatments.

Weve much more to do to get cancer survival rates to some of the best  to be world leading rather than world lacking, she said.

According to CRUKs financial accounts for March 2023 , the charity spent 45m less on research than the year prior at 398m.

The charity received 261m of legacy income last year and Mitchell said she expected to see an incremental growth in legacies over the next seven to 10 years due to changing demographics and an ageing population.

We can only fund research according to our income

Mitchell said the charity intends to maximise the potential across its mass fundraising and retail to fund its work.

The reality is we can only fund research according to our income, she said.

She went on to say that the cost-of-living crisis and high inflation is increasing the charity's costs and its ability to raise money while eroding the value of money it spends on research.

Despite these challenges we remain on track to spend 1.5bn on research over a five-year period. That were able to do so is down to being adaptable  seeking out new opportunities to grow our impact and income, she said.

This includes investing in areas we think have potential for growth such as mass fundraising and retail.

Brand refresh for the first time in 11 years

Today, CRUK has refreshed its brand for the first time since 2012 to fit more with its strategy and to emphasis progress such as survival rates for cancer in the UK doubling in the last 50 years.

CRUK worked with Design Bridge and Partners to simplify its logo so it features fewer dots.

This is to bring it up to date and ensure it works better in a digital world, Mitchell said, and to fit into CRUKs strategy to inspire more people to engage with its work.

Each of the dots represents a progress or an outcome in cancer that weve contributed to and so it makes it more visually compelling, but also works digitally more effectively, she said.

The strapline of CRUK has also changed from Together we will beat cancer to Together we are beating cancer to emphasise the progress made by scientists and researchers.

Its new advertising campaign, We Are, also launched today and was developed with agency Anomaly.

The advert features people affected by cancer celebrating milestones like birthdays since being cured of the disease.

Making sure we had authentic voices at the heart of the campaign has been really critical to its development and execution, Mitchell said.

The campaign will run from September on TV, radio, video-on-demand, digital, social media and outdoor.

CRUK would not say how much it spent on its brand refresh.

Perception of our brand is crucial

Mitchell said in a statement announcing the refresh: We rely on the generosity of the public to continue the pace of our vital work and the perception of our brand is crucial to whether people decide to support us.

In a competitive fundraising environment, we must stand out with a compelling message of who we are and the impact were having. We have an incredible story to tell, and we need to be better at telling it.

Our refreshed brand will do this. Were shining a brighter light on our science and research and the impact its having, so people see and feel that our progress is their progress.
Imagine how Chris Licht must have felt reading the coverage of Mark Thompsons arrival as the new head of CNN. When Licht stepped into the networks top job last year, he was met with deep media skepticism. (Coverage often dismissed him as a late-night producer.) That sense of doubt was ultimately vindicated by a series of blunders. Early on, Licht made the notoriously bad decision to work out of an office away from the newsroom; this year, he decided to pack a Trump town hall with leering partisans. He also participated in disastrous interviews with The Atlantics Tim Alberta. In June, he was fired.

Thompson, by comparison, is being welcomed as a hero. (A piece in the New York Times characterized him as an ideal hire, not to mention a big fan of classical music, opera, and television.) Perhaps the most telling contrast between the press treatment of Thompson and Licht arrived in my inbox on Thursday morning, in the form of CNNs media newsletter, written by Oliver Darcy. In the Licht era, Darcy fashioned himself a de facto network ombudsman, channeling staff frustrations with Licht, his management style, and his strategy. This week, reading the mood of his colleagues, Darcy wrote that CNNers are excited about what Thompson might be able to do as their next leader. Theyve seen his track record of reshaping pre-eminent news organizations for the future. Theyve heard the praise his former colleagues have offered up for him. And so, like Thompson, theyre ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

The commendations of Thompson seem largely warranted. At the BBC, over a quarter-century career, he worked his way up from trainee to director general, modernizing an outmoded institution while retaining public trust. (He also once bit a colleague. He later called it horseplay.) In 2012, he joined the Times at what seemed a perilous moment. As my colleague Emily Bell wrote back then, it wasnt at all clear that he would be able to find a digital strategy that worked, as profits and readership fell industry-wide. The paper needs more than just a continuation of strategy and regime; it has no future as a local newspaper and its ultimate ambition must lie with global presence and development, Bell wrote. If Thompson manages more than failure, it will, in some ways, be an astonishing achievement.

In the end, the Times not only found its footing but thrived, remaking itself as a nimble digital giant (in part by gobbling up competitors and talent) and taking advantage of a polarizing political moment under Donald Trump to entice subscribers who saw themselves as aligned with the Times brand. Thompson, who left the paper in 2020, deserves major credit for that turnaround.

The scale of the challenge he now faces at CNN is even more daunting, however. The network ranks third in cable news viewership, behind both Fox and MSNBC, and the drop-off is hurting profits. CNNs digital strategy is foundering. Even some of Thompsons former colleagues see saving CNN as an altogether different proposition than turning around the BBC or the Times.

In an initial note to the troops at CNN, Thompson focused more on the problems than on his solutions. We face pressure from every directionstructural, political, cultural, you name it, he wrote. Theres no magic wand I or anyone else can wield to make this disruption go away. But what I can say is that where others see threat, I see opportunity.

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At the Times, Thompson only ran the business side of the operation. (Although, as Margaret Sullivan, who was the papers public editor, has noted, the traditional strict separations between newsroom and business side were dissolving at the time.) At CNN, as at the BBC, hell also oversee the news division. In that sense, I see his arrival as yet another sign that David Zaslavthe chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, CNNs ownerbacks a traditional approach to covering politics. As the 2024 election nears, a debate has intensified over how to address threats to democracy, and whether news outlets need to adopt a more robust, aggressive style. Advocates have received some pushbacknot least from the industrys most senior leaders, who argue that old-school objectivity is still the most effective way to counter declining public trust in the press. (This spring, A.G. Sulzberger, who was appointed publisher of the Times toward the end of Thompsons tenure as CEO, set out his vision of journalism in an essay for CJR.)

When Licht was at the helm of CNN, he tried to yank coverage back to what he saw as the middle of the road, but his tactics and personal style proved to be too polarizing. Thompson is an entirely different leader, adept at institutional politics. Hell likely align CNNs coverage with the kind of independence championed by Sulzberger, while importing some of the digital and strategic innovations that have revitalized both outlets.

Success will require more than an appealing personal manner; many observers had more of a problem with the vision for news that Licht articulated to The Atlantic than the way in which he articulated it. But for now, Thompson is in a honeymoon phaseone that Licht never got, and may well have never deserved.



Other notable stories:

Finally, a programming note: this newsletter will be off on Monday for Labor Day. Well see you on Tuesday. Have a great long weekend.

ICYMI: In Europe, a regulatory vise tightens around big tech

Kyle Pope was the editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review. He is now executive director of strategic initiatives at Covering Climate Now.
Toyota Motor was ramping back production at its Japan-based factories on Wednesday after a computer system processing orders for vehicle parts broke down on Tuesday, forcing the closure of 14 assembly plants.

The disruption shut down a system that is at the core of Toyotas lean manufacturing, a way of reducing inventory and maximizing production efficiency that the Japanese automaker pioneered and its rivals have widely adopted.

WHAT HAPPENED TO SHUT DOWN TOYOTAS PRODUCTION IN JAPAN?

Its not clear what caused the system outage, and Toyota has not provided details on what went wrong. The company said the cause was not a cyberattack.

In February last year, Toyota also had to shut down the same 14 factories in Japan when one of its suppliers, Kojima Industries, which supplies plastic parts and electronic components to Toyota, said one of its file servers had been infected with a virus that carried an undisclosed threatening message.

That attack raised questions about the cybersecurity of Japans supply chain.

WHATS THE IMPACT OF THE ONE-DAY LOSS OF PRODUCTION?

Toyotas production has been recovering this year, so the outage could be potentially more costly than the 2022 shutdown.

Toyotas domestic output was up 29% in the first half of this year, the first such increase in two years. Toyota makes a full range of vehicles in Japan from the budget Yaris to its most expensive models, including luxury Lexus brand cars.

Toyotas production in Japan  about a third of its global output  averaged about 13,500 vehicles a day in the first half of the year, Reuters calculations showed. That excludes vehicles from group automakers Daihatsu and Hino.

Its average global vehicle sale price in the most recent quarter was equivalent to $26,384, based on its financial reporting. Using that as a proxy would mean a full-day of production at the 14 plants would be equivalent to $356 million in revenue.

Toyota has not said how or whether it will look to recoup the lost output.

WHAT IS TOYOTAS PRODUCTION AND SUPPLIER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM?

Toyota essentially invented modern auto assembly with its kanban system for notifying suppliers of what parts are needed where and when to minimize inventory.

Kanban means signboard in Japanese, and the Toyota engineer and later executive, Taichi Ono, who developed the system drew inspiration from watching an American supermarket chain, Piggly Wiggly, manage its shelve stock on a trip to the United States in the 1950s.

Toyotas system of lean production and just-in-time parts delivery has been adopted across the auto industry and widely studied. It shifted from a system of printed cards that managed supplier workflow to an internet-based e-kanban system more than 20 years ago.

Toyotas kanban system, which relies on simple visual cues to organize workflow, has been adopted for other industries, including software development.

WHAT OTHER PROBLEMS HAS TOYOTA FACED SINCE ITS LEADERSHIP TRANSITION?

Koji Sato took over from Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda as CEO in April.

In the months since, even as the company looks to overhaul its approach to electric vehicles and related manufacturing challenges with an eye on U.S. EV leader Tesla TSLA.O, it has also reported some embarrassing missteps.

In April, Toyota said affiliate Daihatsu had rigged part of the door in side-collision safety tests for some 88,000 small cars, most of which were sold under the Toyota brand.

In May, Toyota said it had inadvertently exposed customer data on the internet for more than 2 million Toyota owners because of an error in how it had configured a cloud-based system it uses to track service.

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Satoshi Sugiyama; Writing by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

Photograph: This aerial photo shows Toyotas Takaoka plant Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Toyota, central Japan. All 28 vehicle assembly lines at Toyotas 14 auto plants in Japan shut down on Tuesday as a result of a problem in its computer system that deals with incoming auto parts.(Kyodo News via AP)

Related:
The worlds corporations produce so much climate change pollution, it could eat up about 44% of their profits if they had to pay damages for it, according to a study by economists of nearly 15,000 public companies.

The corporate carbon damages from those publicly owned companies analyzed  a fraction of all the corporations  probably runs in the trillions of dollars globally and in the hundreds of billions for American firms, one of the study authors estimated in figures that were not part of the published research. That`s based on the cost of carbon dioxide pollution that the United States government has proposed.

Nearly 90% of that calculated damage comes from four industries: energy, utilities, transportation and manufacturing of materials such as steel. The study in last Thursdays journal Science by a team of economists and finance professors looks at what new government efforts to get companies to report their emissions of heat-trapping gases would mean, both to the firms bottom lines and the worlds ecological health.

Earlier this year, the European Union enacted rules that would eventually require firms to disclose carbon emissions and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the state of California are looking at similar regulations.

Study co-author Christian Leuz, a finance and accounting professor at the University of Chicago, said the idea of shining the light on corporate activities that have costs to society is very powerful, but it is not enough to save the planet. An earlier study of his found that after fracking firms disclosed their pollution rates, those contamination levels dropped 10% to 15%, he said.

The idea is consumers and stockholders would see the damage and pressure firms to be cleaner, Leuz said.

Outside economists agreed.

Leuz and his colleagues used a private analysis firm that finds or estimates carbon emissions of some publicly owned companies and analyzed the carbon pollution from 14,879 firms. Then they compared them to company revenues and profits.

That calculation shows which activities are particularly costly to society from a climate perspective, Leuz said. Still, he cautioned that it would not be correct to just blame the companies. It is not possible to divide responsibility for these damages between the firms that make the products and consumers who buy them.

The calculations are for only a fraction of the worlds corporations, with many public companies not included and private firms not listed at all, Leuz said.

The economists didnt identify or tease out single companies but instead grouped firms by industry and by country. And they only used direct emissions, not what happens downstream. So the gas in a person`s car does not count toward an oil company`s emissions or corporate carbon damages.

The calculations use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys $190 cost per ton for carbon dioxide emissions and the study doesn`t give a bottom line number in dollars, just in percent of profit and revenues. Only when asked by The Associated Press did Leuz estimate it in the trillions of dollars.

At $190 a ton, the utility industry averaged damages more than twice its profits. Materials manufacturing, energy and transportation industries all had average damages that exceeded their profits.

On the opposite end, the banking and insurance industries averaged climate damages that were less than 1% of their profits.

When looking at companies based on countries, Russia and Indonesia were the top for corporate climate damages, while the United Kingdom and the United States were the lowest. Leuz said that reflects the age and efficiency of the companies and which type of industries were based in countries.

Several outside experts said the study made sense within certain limits, while a few found faults with some of the choices of what to count, saying not counting downstream emissions is a problem. Because it doesnt count those it does not provide an incentive to reduce these to the level needed, said Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, which studies global emissions and reduction efforts.

The results are important but perhaps not that surprising, said Stanford University economist Marshall Burke. The bigger take-home is the number of caveats that are needed to do this analysis, indicating what a mess our emissions accounting systems currently are.

Appalachian State Universitys Gregg Marland, who helps track global emissions by country, said good numbers do allow us to know who is producing the products that consumers want with the least contribution to climate change.

Nobel prize winning economist Paul Romer, formerly of the World Bank and now at Boston College, said the damage estimates are useful but need to be interpreted accurately, without the moralistic framing and induced urge to punish.

Romer used the example of his move from New York to Boston. The initial move would go under the moving companys corporate carbon damage, but when he took some books from his home they would not. Misusing corporate carbon damage figures could put the moving company out of business and hed drive his stuff instead, so total carbon emissions would not be changed. Shifting to zero carbon fuel makes more sense, he said.

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.

Photo: Emissions rise from the smokestacks at the Jeffrey Energy Center coal power plant as the suns sets, near Emmett, Kan., Sept. 18, 2021. A federal appeals court has revived a Biden administration effort to put greater emphasis on potential damage from greenhouse gas emissions when creating rules for polluting industries. A Louisiana-based federal judge had blocked the so-called social cost of carbon policy last month, saying it would bring costly regulatory burdens and drive up energy costs. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
U.S. officials said Tuesday that the FBI and its European partners infiltrated and seized control of a major global malware network used for more than 15 years to commit a gamut of online crimes including crippling ransomware attacks.

They then remotely removed the malicious software agent  known as Qakbot  from thousands of infected computers.

Cybersecurity experts said they were impressed by the deft dismantling of the network but cautioned that any setback to cybercrime would likely be temporary.

Nearly ever sector of the economy has been victimized by Qakbot, Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said Tuesday in announcing the takedown. He said the criminal network had facilitated about 40 ransomware attacks alone over 18 months that investigators said netted Qakbot administrators about $58 million.

Qakbot`s ransomware victims included an Illinois-based engineering firm, financial services organizations in Alabama and Kansas, along with a Maryland defense manufacturer and a Southern California food distribution company, Estrada said.

Officials said $8.6 million in cybercurrency was seized or frozen but no arrests were announced.

Estrada said the investigation is ongoing. He would not say where administrators of the malware, which marshaled infected machines into a botnet of zombie computers, were located. Cybersecurity researchers say they are believed to be in Russia and/or other former Soviet states.

Officials estimated the so-called malware loader, a digital Swiss knife for cybercrooks also known as Pinkslipbot and Qbot, was leveraged to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage since first appearing in 2008 as an information- stealing bank trojan. They said millions of people in nearly every country in the world have been affected.

Typically delivered via phishing email infections, Qakbot gave criminal hackers initial access to violated computers. They could then deploy additional payloads including ransomware, steal sensitive information or gather intelligence on victims to facilitate financial fraud and crimes such as tech support and romance scams.

The Qakbot network was literally feeding the global cybercrime supply chain, said Donald Alway, assistant director in charge of the FBI`s Los Angeles office, calling it one of the most devastating cybercriminal tools in history. The most commonly detected malware in the first half of 2023, Qakbot impacted one in 10 corporate networks and accounted for about 30% of attacks globally, a pair of cybersecurity firms found. Such initial access tools allow extortionist ransomware gangs to skip the initial step of penetrating computer networks, making them major facilitators for the far-flung, mostly Russian-speaking criminals who have wreaked havoc by stealing data and disrupting schools, hospitals, local governments and businesses worldwide.

Beginning Friday in an operation officials dubbed Duck Hunt, the FBI along with Europol and law enforcement and justice partners in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Latvia seized more than 50 Qakbot servers and identified more than 700,000 infected computers, more than 200,000 of them in the U.S.  effectively cutting off criminals from their quarry.

The FBI then used the seized Qakbot infrastructure to remotely dispatch updates that deleted the malware from thousands of infected computers. A senior FBI official, briefing reporters on condition he not be further identified, called that number fluid and cautioned that other malware may have remained on machines liberated from Qakbot.

It was the FBI`s biggest success against cybercrooks since it hacked the hackers with the January takedown of the prolific Hive ransomware gang.

It is an impressive takedown. Qakbot was the largest botnet in number of victims, said Alex Holden, founder of Milwaukee-based Hold Security. But he said it may have been a casualty of its own success in its staggering growth over the past few years. Large botnets today tend to implode as too many threat actors are mining this data for various types of abuse.

Cybersecurity expert Chester Wisniewski at Sophos agreed that while there could be a temporary drop in ransomware attacks, the criminals can be expected to either revive infrastructure elsewhere or move to other botnets.

This will cause a lot of disruption to some gangs in the short term, but it will do nothing from it being rebooted, he said. Albeit it takes a long time to recruit 700,000 PCs.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Dear Abby: I had my daughter later in life. I was almost 41. I am no beauty queen, but now, 12 years later, I have been asked by two different people if I am my daughters grandmother. It was so upsetting, I cried for weeks. I have always been self-conscious about my looks.

My daughter is now going to be a teenager. I dont want her future high school friends thinking I am her grandma, so Ive been contemplating plastic surgery. My family insists I dont need it. Theyre calling me vain, foolish, selfish, etc. My husband is discouraging me because of the cost. (Hes pretty frugal.)

Would it be selfish if it makes me feel better about myself? In the meantime, how do I handle any more grandma comments without punching someone in the nose?

-- Not That Old in Florida

Previously

Dear Abby: My dad remarried after mom died and now I feel like Im losing him, too

Dear Abby: Why does society stupidly assume we all want expensive smart phones?

See all Dear Abby columns

Dear Not That Old: In case you havent noticed, an increasing number of women are having children in their 40s (and a few even older). If you are contemplating cosmetic surgery only because you have a young child, a cheaper and more effective way to deal with it would be to simply tell the truth, which is that shes your daughter.

While cosmetic surgery can make someone more confident about their looks, it is not the case for everyone. Your family should not be ridiculing you for wanting to explore the option. A licensed mental health professional can help you decide whether you need a surgical procedure or an attitude adjustment. If its the former, schedule an appointment with a qualified surgeon to discuss your options.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. Copyright 2023, Andrews McMeel Syndication.
BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- City Council President Alec Isaacson said council will vote Sept. 5 on an ordinance to amend its zoning code pertaining to institutional uses, which entails the use of homes as neighborhood shuls.

While the exact number of home-based shuls in the city is not quite known, some members of the Jewish community are concerned by the proposed changes. Such concerns were put forth by residents at a May public hearing to discuss the amendments.

The proposed changes have been under consideration following a case in University Heights at which a home-based shul was at odds with the city.

Regulation of that home-based shul in University Heights, the Aleksander Shul on University Parkway, led the shuls leaders to bring a federal lawsuit against that city in fall, 2021. That suit came after the city had sued the shul in June, 2021, for failing to adhere to its housing code.

The city of University Heights expressed concerns over how many people were in the house during services, the ability for people to exit in case of an emergency, and faulty electrical wiring.

The shuls suit, meanwhile, claimed that the city of University Heights housing code effectively excluded houses of worship and treat(s) religious institutions on less-than-equal terms than secular institutions.

In December, 2022, the federal case was settled, with the city agreeing to permit a new, two-story building to be built in the residential neighborhood that more resembles a temple.

Beachwood City Planner George Smerigan said Wednesday (Aug. 30) that the Beachwood code revisions are meant to bring clarity and order to institutional zoning and noted that the amendments do not only pertain to shuls.

Its for any institutional use, said Smerigan, who wrote the amendments. It could be a shul, but it could be a charter school.

Some of the key amendments to the current code include:

-- Reducing the required square footage for a U-5 (institutional) property from three acres, or 130,680 square feet, to 18,000 square feet, and the minimum frontage of such a property from 250 feet, to 100 feet.

-- When a building is converted for shul use, its current setback can remain as is, but if a new building is constructed, the setback from the street must be no less than 50 feet. For all buildings, side yards must be at least 20 feet from a neighboring residential property lines, while the rear setback must be 30 feet from a residential neighboring property.

-- Removal of a section of the code that prohibited rezoning from a residential property use to a U-5 institutional use where such rezoning involves the consolidation of existing single-family lots and/or the demolition of existing single-family residences.

-- An institution must provide one parking space for each 300 square feet of gross floor space of the structure on the property.

Speaking about the 18,000 square feet requirement, Smerigan said, There are two minimum lot sizes in Beachwood, 18,000 square feet and 9,000 square feet (depending on zoning classification). We thought 9,000 would be too small (for an institutional use), so we chose 18,000.

Its less than the three acres that is now required. Forty-five percent of the lots in Beachwood are bigger than 18,000 square feet. We just didnt come up with 18,000 out of thin air.

During a City Council special meeting held Aug. 21, Hahn, Loeser & Parks lawyer Aaron Evenchik, who represents some of Beachwoods home shuls, spoke during the meetings public portion and stated, The thing I still think is a problem is the 18,000-square-foot minimum size.

Evenchik noted that because some Beachwood lots dont measure 18,000 square feet and would require two lots to be combined to reach the minimum square footage, the amendment should merely call for the size of two connecting lots on streets with less than 18,000 square-foot lots so it would be a flexible standard.

Also, speaking about the larger setbacks for new buildings, Evenchik said that building further away from the street than other homes would disrupt the linear appearance of the street.

He additionally requested some flexibility be considered for the parking requirement. Some residents have stated that during some home-shul services, there are too many cars parked on their streets.

Smerigan said the code also includes safety requirements, such as ensuring that institutional doors open outward, instead of inward as in most homes, so that people can more easily escape in case of fire; requiring well-lit exits and exit signs; and making sure floors at homes used as shuls are enforced so they can accommodate larger groups of people.

Im sure everyone can agree that we want a code that ensures that everyone is safe and that is what we have, he said.

Matthew Hildebrand, who is a candidate this fall for City Council, was critical of the amendments when speaking at the Aug. 21 meeting. Hildebrand asked council what actions the city might take against home shuls that are unable to convert and meet the new standards set by the amendments.

Some of these house shuls have existed over five years, he said. They cant just pick up and move. Im deeply concerned there isnt a plan for what happens next.

Hildebrand, who said the Jewish Orthodox community in Beachwood is growing, urged council to reject the amendments proposed and to allow the lawyer the city has hired, Dale Markowitz, help devise a better plan than what is being considered to allow the shuls to operate legally in Beachwood.

The citys Planning Commission, has approved the code amendments.

City Council held a special meeting Thursday (Aug. 31) morning, during which it immediately went into executive session to, perhaps among other things, determine if it would be ready to vote on the issue Sept. 5.

When asked for a comment about the proposed amendments Thursday evening, Isaacson, in an email, responded, by stating, Since last January, City Council and the Mayor have been working to update Beachwoods zoning code in response to concerns weve heard from our residents about places of worship in residential neighborhoods.

We had to carefully balance many issues here and I think weve done a good job at that. I believe these changes will fortify the protection of our single-family residential neighborhoods and bring our code up to date with state and federal regulations, so we can avoid the long and expensive litigation some of our neighboring cities have endured.

See more Sun Press news here.
WASHINGTON, D.C.  An Ohio man pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal criminal charge after prosecutors say he left threatening messages for Katie Hobbs, the Arizona governor who was then the secretary of state, accusing her of committing election fraud and telling her that her days are extremely numbered.

Joshua Russell, 44, of Bucyrus, could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison on one count of making a threatening interstate communication, according to a news release from the U.S. Justice Department. Russells sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 13.

Prosecutors say Russell left three voicemails for Hobbs, a Democrat, when she was secretary of state, the first on Aug. 2, 2022. In the first message, Russell calls Hobbs a traitor, accuses her of committing election fraud and says Hobbs will pay with your life.

Youre the enemy of the United States, youre a traitor to this country and you better put your [inaudible], your [expletive] affairs in order, cause your days [inaudible] are extremely numbered, the message says. Americas coming for you and you will pay with your life, you communist [expletive] traitor [expletive].

On Sept. 9, Russell left another message for Hobbs, prosecutors say, this time calling her a terrorist and saying she will suffer the consequences.

The only reason youre still walking around on this planet is because were waiting for the midterms to see you prosecuted for the crimes you have done to our nation, the message says. You are a terrorist. You are a derelict criminal. And you have a few short months to see yourself behind bars or we will see you to the grave.

The final message was left on Nov. 15, after Hobbs had been elected as governor, prosecutors say. Prosecutors say Russell again threatened Hobbs and told her that her days are very short.

A war is coming for you. The entire nation is coming for you. And we will stop, at no end, until you are in the ground, the message says. Youre a traitor to this nation. Youre a [expletive] piece of [expletive] communist and you just signed your own death warrant.

Hobbs was the target of hundreds of threatening messages since 2020 after Donald Trump lost the state in the presidential election. Hobbs opponent in the governors race, Republican Kari Lake, also claimed fraud but her claims were rejected in an Arizona appeals court.

The Mansfield officer of the FBIs Cleveland Division assisted the FBIs office in Phoenix in the investigation into Russell.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  The Ohio Arts Council has awarded nearly $700,000 in grants for the 2023-24 school year to 17 schools in Northeast Ohio to fund the Compassionate Arts Remaking Education (CARE) program through Cleveland Playhouse.

Launched in 2018 in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD), the program is designed to allow children from the citys most violent and impoverished neighborhoods to explore the difficult feelings -- stemming from traumatic situations in their lives -- using theater games, skits and monologues.

The program was expanded in 2022 to include districts in Western New York and Las Vegas, NV.

The grants, ranging from $37,000 - $42,000, were made to 17 individual schools, 15 of them in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, one charter school in Lorain County, and one parochial school in Cuyahoga County.

The program was originally developed by the Playhouses education team working with professional playwrights, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Classes are taught by professional theater personnel, many of whom hold degrees in child psychology or social work. Games, monologues and skits are used to get children to think - if not talk - about the stress in their lives.

CARE also offers teachers some instruction in trauma-informed care - how to work with students who have been traumatized and how to respond when traumatic revelations surface.

But the real win, according to Jarred Small, Arts Learning Coordinator for the Ohio Arts Council, is the exposure to the arts.

Think about it this way, if a child has never had an experience in the theater, or gotten to go and see a symphony, or never had a chamber ensemble appear in their school, they might never have that chance, explained Small, when asked why such a significant investment was made here in Cleveland. Those experiences can totally set a child on a path for success for the rest of their life. It allows them to dream, to try new things, to get their hands dirty, perhaps  and they couldnt have done that, otherwise.

These investments in artists residencies, in collaboration with the Cleveland Playhouse have been transformative for students in the CMSD  and for the region at large.

The grants through the Ohio Arts Council are structured so that every single individual school building in the state is eligible to apply for funding to support traditional arts education programs, or more unique collaboratives, like the one between CMSD and the Playhouse.

Prior to the Ohio Arts Councils funding, the CARE program received multi-year grants to CMSD from the U.S. Department of Education to fund the programs in the schools here.

Small said other school districts  like Akron, Youngstown, and Cincinnati -- are taking real notice of CARE for their districts.

Larger school districts have more ready access to those cultural organizations in their neighborhoods that smaller districts dont have. No one is trying to supplant the traditional arts education  or the role of a certified arts educator  but if a trusted arts non-profit is willing to create a reasonable collaboration with a school district, that is a big win for the kids. If you have people  like the Play House, like the educators in CMSD, like the private funders who really believe in this sort of thing, incredible things can happen and change a childs life for the better.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Ice cream flavors just keep getting crazier, eh?

Idaho Potato Malted Milkshake and Fries ice cream, created in partnership with Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, is one of eight fall flavors being sold exclusively at 3,500 Walmart locations, the Idaho Potato Commission said in a press release.

Van Leeuwen launched the flavor in Los Angeles and New York back in February to celebrate Potato Lovers Month. Now they are taking the flavor nationally.

Its billed as tasting like salty, crispy French fries dipped in a creamy malted shake. To emulate the taste of fresh fries, Van Leeuwen created French-fry inserts using Idaho potato flakes.

Walmarts other fall flavors (* indicates new flavors):

 Honey Cornbread With Strawberry Jam

 Sweet Potato Casserole

 Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll

 Cranberry Crumble*

 Apple Pie*

 Purple Velvet*

 Sticky Toffee Pudding*

Pints will be $4.98 and available through Tuesday, Oct. 31.

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream started in New York City in 2008.

I am on cleveland.coms life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. For my recent stories, heres a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursdays. Twitter: @mbona30. My latest book, co-authored with Dan Murphy, is Joe Thomas: Not Your Average Joe by Gray & Co.

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HOUSTON, Texas  A 10-year-old girl reportedly stabbed a man in the leg in an attempt to stop him from attacking her mother.

Awful situation for a 10-year-old little girl to have to witness and experience, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a news release. Children who witness the abuse of their mothers, fathers or other family members are impacted.

Deputies were called to an apartment complex on Wednesday on reports the man had been stabbed. The man was taken to a hospital in fair condition, the sheriffs office says.

The department did not say what might have led to the man attacking the woman. It also did not say if any charges have been filed.

The incident remains under investigation.
COLUMBUS, OhioIncarcerated ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is back in Ohio after federal prison officials briefly sent him to Oklahoma, according to a federal prisons spokeswoman.

Householder, who in June was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for overseeing the largest bribery scandal in state history, is now residing at Federal Correctional Institution Elkton, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Randilee Giamusso. Elkton is a low-security prison for male inmates located in Columbiana County, about 14 miles southwest of East Palestine, Ohio and about 160 miles from his home in Perry County.
Rotunda Rumblings

Inside job: While experts say most of Ohios massive unemployment fraud problem is due to overseas scammers, fraud committed from within the states unemployment office itself may be a bigger problem than previously thought. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, Ohio Inspector General Randall Meyer says there are at least 12 open investigations into unemployment fraud by Ohio Department of Job and Family Services workers or contractors, as well as a possibility of 50 to 70 more cases on the horizon.

Charged: Meyers comments came after two former workers for the state unemployment office were charged, in separate cases, with altering state computer records so that millions of dollars were paid out to bogus claims. As Pelzer reports, several non-state workers also were indicted for helping with the schemes and/or committing fraud on their own, including a Columbus-area daycare owner who had $3 million -- including more than $900,000 in cash -- seized by authorities.

Out with the Young: State Rep. Bob Young, who was arrested earlier this week for the second time this summer, was ousted by House Speaker Jason Stephens as a committee chairman, Jake Zuckerman reports. Youngs legal troubles, which have now officially become political troubles, stem from allegations of domestic violence for which he was charged in July.

Defamation suit ends: U.S. Rep. Max Miller, a Rocky River Republican, has voluntarily dismissed a defamation suit he filed against a former girlfriend, ex-White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, for publicly claiming he abused her when they dated, Sabrina Eaton writes. A journal entry filed Wednesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court said the case has been dismissed with prejudice with each side paying their own court costs.

First ladies for parks: Former First Ladies Hope Taft and Frances Strickland, whose husbands served as Republican and Democratic governors of Ohio respectively, issued a joint statement via Save Our Parks urging the state to reject requests to frack beneath Salt Fork and Wolf Ridge state parks and two other protected lands. Fracking and oil wells will disturb the superb balance nature has developed and make us all poorer for it, Taft wrote. The financial gain of a few should not override the pleasure of the majority and the system of renewal that has been provided us by nature.

Aging docket: The Hamilton County Common Pleas Court has had one of the highest average percentages of civil cases that havent been resolved within standards set by the Ohio Supreme Court among Ohios 10 most populus counties, thanks to the pandemic, when jury trials were halted, reports Bloomberg Laws Eric Heisig. The county has since brought it down. But since jury trial dates were in flux during the pandemic, there was no deadline pressure on litigants to settle cases, which contributed to the backlog.

Fact check: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio has engaged in a pattern of falsehoods, from denying past statements he made criticizing ex-President Donald Trump and saying he was open to pardoning Hunter Biden, to spreading lies and exaggerations on subjects including the 2020 election results, the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol and climate change. Thats according to three reporters from the New York Times, who note that his denials have repeatedly been refuted by recordings and transcripts from Mr. Ramaswamys interviews  or, in some cases, excerpts from his own book.

Press pause: Capitol Letter will be taking a break for the Labor Day holiday weekend. Well be back in your inbox on Wednesday.

Buckeye Brain Tease

Question: Which Ohio city was the setting for a movie that featured the Callahan Auto car-parts company? And what was the movie?

Thanks to everyone who answered last weeks question:

This water delivery company, with offices in Columbus and Cleveland, is named after a once-popular tourist destination with mineral waters believed to heal various ailments. What is the company?

Last weeks answer: Magnetic Springs Bottled Water Company is named after the Magnetic Springs in Union County, where tourists flocked in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The company purchased the Ballard Hotel and Spa in Magnetic Springs and produced water there before opening a production facility in Columbus, to which the water was trucked from Union County. Due to its high mineral content, the company now sources water from a protected spring in Southern Ohio, according to the companys website.

Capitol Letter reader Michael Farley, a Worthington resident and vice-president of government affairs/general counsel for the Ohio Insurance Institute, was the first to provide the correct answer

On The Move

Julie DiRossi-King has been named president and CEO of the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers. DiRossi-King, who succeeds Randy Runyon in the job, previously served as the associations chief operating officer.

Andy Bowers and Will Hinman have formed a new lobbying and consulting firm called Bowers Hinman Capitol Affairs. Hinman was an aide for ex-House Speaker Bob Cupp, who previously had his own consulting firms, while Bowers is a former top staffer to ex-Attorney General Betty Montgomery, who serves on the Franklin County Republican Partys central committee.

Birthdays

Friday, 9/1: Lilah Foley, legislative aide to state Rep. Rachel Baker; Dwayne Siekman, co-founder and president of the lobbying firm Siekman, Siekman and Associates

Saturday, 9/2: Ex-state Rep. Randi Clites, state Rep. Phil Plummer

Sunday, 9/3: Greg Cunningham, Ohio House assistant sergeant-at-arms; Pamela Siekman, co-founder and CEO of Siekman, Siekman and Associates

Monday, 9/4: Jaclyn Mulvain, legislative aide to state Rep. Richard Brown; state Sen. Kent Smith

Tuesday, 9/5: Judge Kristin Boggs of the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals; Giulia Cambieri, former Ohio Senate Democrats communications director; Laura Hancock, politics reporter for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer; Carly McCain, public policy officer at the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs; John W. Bricker, Ohios 54th governor, U.S. senator, and 1944 GOP vice-presidential nominee

Straight From The Source

The Ballot Boards decision to adopt the ballot language was lawful and this Court should deny all requested relief.

Julie Pfeiffer, section chief of the constitutional offices section in Attorney General Dave Yosts Office, in a Thursday court filing made on behalf of the Republican-controlled Ohio Ballot Board. The filing, a boilerplate, required response to a Monday lawsuit challenging the ballot language for the State Issue 1 abortion-rights amendment in November, otherwise doesnt make any detailed legal arguments.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. Subscribe to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Karrie Howard, Clevelands public safety director, was stopped by an Orange village police officer at 12:38 a.m. Wednesday in a city car, according to interviews and court records.

The city, in a statement, said Howard was working, as he embraces a hands-on approach to public safety. He was cited with failure to yield while driving on Lander Road, according to court documents. He faces a fine of $165.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  The years never-ending violence began early in Cleveland.

Martin Muniz killed four people in a rage-filled shooting Jan. 13 in the citys Brooklyn Centre neighborhood on the West Side, according to police and prosecutors.

The attack began a year of tragedy. Cleveland could reach homicide figures this year that it hasnt recorded since the 1980s, when the citys population was much greater.

An analysis by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer of the more than 100 slayings so far this year shows that many of the killings took place in East Side neighborhoods, away from downtown. Far fewer happened on the West Side.

Most of those slain were men in their 20s and 30s, though women were victims in about one in 10 slayings.

Those killed spanned the ages: The youngest, SayGe Ross, was a year old when he died in March. Officials attributed the death to blunt force trauma. The incident took place at a home in Mount Pleasant. One of the oldest, Clinton Davis, was 65 when he was shot in February at the Crestview Estates in Old Brooklyn.

Some city officials attribute the jump in violence to lax gun legislation passed by state lawmakers. Others cite an unmatched brazenness by youths with weapons.

Councilman Michael Polensek, the chairman of Cleveland City Councils Public Safety Committee, said he hasnt seen this level of violence in the 44 years he has served on council. He said his constituents have demanded a greater police visibility, a nighttime curfew and the enforcement of nuisance laws.

This didnt happen yesterday; this has been building for over a year, Polensek said.

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, crime was on the rise in Cleveland, and the city ended the year with 192 homicides. It hasnt seen that number of violent deaths since 1982, when there were 195.

In the 1970s, homicides reached as high as 333, data shows. That came at a time when the city had more than 500,000 residents.

The homicide total dropped to 171 in 2021, then to 168 last year. The citys population, however, hovered at about 372,000 in 2020.

By the end of June this year, the city had recorded more than 90 homicides. The pace picked up in July, as at least 20 slayings were reported.

Through mid-August, Cleveland police have investigated at least 117 homicides. The number is likely to change, pending further investigation from the Cuyahoga County medical examiners office.

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and other city leaders have called on state and federal officials to assist the city.

Any life lost to violence is unacceptable, and the trends we are currently experiencing are tragic, a Bibb spokesman said in an email to cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

Homicides were up throughout the city nearly 30% through July, compared to the same time last year, city records show. Many homicides took place on the East Side, where a high number of slayings are clustered in the neighborhoods of Glenville, Hough and Buckeye, which are also some of the poorest in the city.

While city leaders have long been concerned about safety in downtown, the analysis by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer found that three slayings have taken place there through mid-August. Security, however, remains a major concern, as nine people were shot at a West Sixth Street nightclub last month, and the area is among the worst neighborhoods in the city when it comes to car thefts.

Mass shootings have also jumped.

Police and prosecutors said Muniz, 41, shot and killed his father, Miguel Gonzalez, 68; his sister, Angelic Gonzalez, 34; his nephew, Jayden Baez, 16; and Anthony Boothe, 48, Angelics husband. Boothes 8-year-old daughter also was shot, but she survived the attack.

Muniz has denied the allegations. One of his attorneys, Thomas Shaughnessy, declined to comment.

A second mass shooting took place on May 31 in Clevelands Forest Hills neighborhood. Shameka Lundy, 31, was fatally shot in the chest in the 400 block of East 123rd Street. She died the next day.

Women were killed in at least a dozen slayings, and nearly all of them resulted from gun violence, according to the analysis.

Jovon Lynch, 34, of Cleveland was fatally shot Feb. 8 while inside a vehicle on Huntmere Avenue, near East 161st Street. Police later identified the shooter, saying it was her childs father, Joshua Lynch. He has been accused of kidnapping their 7-year-old daughter and dropping her off at Elyrias police station. He has denied the allegations.

Three months later, Ataiya Gordon, 23, and Bianca Mason, 31, died in a shooting on East 76th Street and Korman Avenue in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. Another woman was shot in the leg.

More guns, more violence?

Daniel Flannery, a professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, said more gun violence has emerged because guns are so much more accessible.

Guns have been used in numerous carjackings, which have doubled this year over the same period last year.

You have to go through a whole gamut of things like whos purchasing guns used in crimes, whether legally or illegally, Flannery said. You have to look at who is converting weapons illegally and who is using them, and not just in fatal homicides, but we need to pay closer attention to the non-fatal gun violence incidents.

Cleveland officials blamed the states permitless carry law that was passed last year as a catalyst for more gun crime. But officials have fought back. Gov. Mike DeWine said the state has funneled millions of dollars into Cleveland to help curtail crime. He has also ordered troopers of the Ohio State Highway Patrol into the city to help Cleveland police with the enforcement of traffic and crime.

Last month, Bibb unveiled a city initiative, Raising Investment in Safety for Everyone, RISE, to reduce crime by pushing new technologies and partnerships with state and federal agents to solve crime faster.

Cuyahoga County sheriffs deputies and U.S. marshals have joined state troopers in helping Cleveland police patrol city streets.

These partnerships are critical to deter, solve and hopefully curtail violent crime  whether thats through additional traffic enforcement, extra patrols, warrant sweeps or hotspot targeting, the spokesman for Bibb said.

The city has expanded its ShotSpotter program  audio detection software that picks up gun sounds and alerts law enforcement to their location. City officials said its use has saved six lives, as officers have been able to respond faster and render aid more quickly to those who have been shot.

The program has helped police recover 25 guns and make 23 arrests this year, according to a city spokesman.

Flannery said he expects to see a drop in crime stemming from the partnerships, but he also warned that crimes could be spread to other areas.

Theres a lot of evidence that if you pay particular attention to a targeted area, then you will decrease the level of violent crime while youre doing that interdiction; in some ways, you then need to be careful about whether youre just dispersing the crime to the surrounding areas, Flannery said.

The youngest victims

The analysis by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer found that about one in 10 who died violently were 18 or younger. Many more youths have been arrested and charged with carjackings or slayings that involve firearms.

On Jan. 10, just days after students returned to classes after the holiday break, Pierre McCoy, 18, was shot at a bus stop in front of several students at John Adams College and Career Academy.

Accidents with guns, unfortunately, also hit the young.

In May, a 7-year-old girl was in critical condition after she was shot by her younger brother in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. And on July 30, Brandon Cleveland, 13 was fatally shot by an 11-year-old on East 98th Street and Union Avenue in Clevelands Union Miles neighborhood.

These younger and younger kids, theyre just growing up around guns, and theyre told that they need to have a gun for protection at all times, Flannery said.
LANCASTER, Ohio -- Nothing better illustrates the danger to democracy posed by the far right and its media allies than U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan echoing Donald Trumps response to his most recent federal indictment. Jordans claim that President Trump did nothing wrong by trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election reflects a loyalty similar to the fealty other authoritarian leaders enjoy.

Meanwhile, Greg Gutfeld shared his outrage with Fox News viewers on the networks most-watched show by saying the indictment is criminalizing thoughts and its criminalizing speech.

The misleading rhetoric from both Jordan and Gutfeld emboldens anti-democratic extremists who see Trump as a role model for Americas future leaders, at a time in history when politically motivated violence has emerged as a major threat in the United States.

Note that Donald Trump isnt being prosecuted for what he said, but for what he did. He is charged with pressuring other government officials to commit criminal acts of election fraud. Soliciting another individual to commit a crime is not protected by the First Amendment. The indictment also claims Trump knew he was spreading lies -- and the Supreme Court previously found in a 2012 case that where false claims are made to effect a fraud ... the Government may restrict speech without affronting the First Amendment.

Regarding the earlier federal indictment against Trump unsealed Aug. 1, Special Counsel Jack Smith maintains that the attack on our nations capital on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the US government, the nations process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.

The New York Times chief White House correspondent, Peter Baker, writes that, At the core of the United States of America v. Donald J. Trump is no less than the viability of the system constructed during that summer in Philadelphia. Can a sitting president spread lies about an election and try to employ the authority of the government to overturn the will of the voters without consequence? The question would have been unimaginable just a few years ago, but the Trump case raises the kind of specter more familiar in countries with histories of coups and juntas and dictators.

Therefore, Trump must face the consequences for his conspiracies: to obstruct the business of government in conducting the election; to obstruct the official proceeding of Congress in counting and certifying the Electoral College results; and to violate the rights of all Americans to have their votes counted -- as alleged in the indictment -- if we are to remain a government of laws, not men.

The framers considered the peaceful transfer of power fundamental to the new form of government they were devising, Baker reminds us. It was a fairly radical innovation in its day, an era when kings and emperors generally gave up power only upon natural death or at the point of a weapon. In the newborn republic, by contrast, the framers set limits on power through four-year presidential terms renewable only by the voters through the Electoral College.

Donald Trump has tested the framers vision and will do so again. A quote often attributed to Aristotle warns that, A democracy, when put to the strain, grows weak.

But straining our democracy with his soft-on-crime view of Trumps attempt to overturn the results of the election doesnt seem to worry Jim Jordan. The Ohio congressmans lack of commitment to the peaceful transfer of power should worry us all.

Chuck Ardo is a retired political consultant in Lancaster, Ohio. He previously served as press secretary to former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

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A lot is at stake in Ohios efforts to reduce the phosphorus runoff that, year after year, feeds the sickly green scum of toxic algal blooms coating Lake Eries western basin. The toxic blooms threaten the future of a freshwater lake that, increasingly in a water-starved nation and world, is a hugely valuable resource.

These harmful algal blooms dont just mar the landscape or threaten liver damage and possible death to pets or livestock (mostly from the microcystins that are a toxic product of the blooms). They also have enormous economic, recreational and public health implications for the millions of Ohioans who rely on Lake Erie for jobs, drinking water, and recreation.

Thats why its so mystifying that a palpably inadequate plan Ohio recently submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for how it proposes to tackle Maumee River basin phosphorus runoff has elicited not a peep of discernible protest or action from Ohios representatives in Washington. That includes both of Ohios senators and others like U.S. Reps. Dave Joyce and Marcy Kaptur who pride themselves on their efforts to win federal money and protections for Lake Erie.

Environmental watchdogs have spoken up, loudly, about the many flaws in Ohios plan. Now, Ohios congressional delegation needs to add its collective and individual voices, too.

Nothing less than the future health and safety of Lake Erie is on the line.

One reason: Ohios Maumee Watershed Nutrient Total Maximum Daily Load (TDML) plan lists 10 water treatment systems in western Lake Erie, including Toledos, that have found toxic microcystin at concentrations above the state drinking water threshold in at least three raw water samples in a single year -- in multiple years.

Following the three-day August 2014 drinking-water crisis in western Lake Erie when microcystin was detected at Toledos water treatment plant and public water supplies were cut for more than half a million people, Ohio revised protocols for treating such water and offered $150 million in interest-free loans along with the technical assistance needed to upgrade the plants.

But that doesnt mean its OK for Ohio to do virtually nothing to tackle the Maumee River basins hard-to-track liquified phosphorus runoff thats coming mainly from agriculture, including the large livestock operations that have proliferated in the Maumee basin in recent years.

Yet doing almost nothing meaningful to cut back on whats known as dissolved reactive phosphorus is effectively what Ohio EPA proposes in the TDML plan its submitted to the U.S. EPA pursuant to a federal consent decree.

The federal EPA has until Sept. 30 to accept or revise the plan -- and revise the plan is what a host of concerned voices urges the U.S. EPA to do.

That includes the Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) that filed the original lawsuit that resulted in the consent decree, and Jeff Reutter, the Ohio scientist who co-chaired a binational effort with Canadian scientists that, in 2015, came up with the 40% phosphorus-reduction targets.

Reutter wrote in a recent cleveland.com guest column that the states TDML plan is fatally flawed by its decision to exclude dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) from its quantified reductions. The plan does not target DRP, does not attempt to identify problem fields with high concentrations of phosphorus, and does nothing to prevent manure application on fields that already have too much phosphorus, he wrote.

The Ohio EPA argues in the plan that its best to just focus on cutting phosphorus overall, since DRP is too hard to quantify as a nonpoint source, meaning it has many sources -- including fertilizer and manure runoff, field drainage ditches, underground drainage tile systems, rain events, etc.

But that is a recipe for failure, senior ELPC attorney Rob Michaels told cleveland.coms Peter Krouse. Michaels argued that not only is DRP the far more dangerous type of runoff, much more efficient at feeding toxic algal blooms, but also that a 40% reduction target in more easily measurable types of sedimentary phosphorus would, by definition, fail to result in meaningful DRP reductions.

Where are your voices, Sens. Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance, U.S. Reps. Joyce and Kaptur, and others in the Ohio delegation? The U.S. EPA needs to hear from you. And Ohios leaders and voters need to hear from you, too.

Ohio can no longer delay tackling the key types of agricultural runoff scientists have determined are most harmful in feeding toxic algal blooms in Lake Erie. The stakes are too high.

About our editorials: Editorials express the view of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer -- the senior leadership and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the news organization.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio  The best Lake Erie walleye fishing has shifted to eastern Ohio, with anglers running to deep water off Fairport Harbor to put some trophy walleye and a few steelhead trout in their coolers.

What is a bit odd is that the big walleye are being caught from deeper water, about 60 feet deep in 72 to 77 feet of water, while the steelhead trout are cruising much higher in about 40 feet of water, said Don Moore at Harbor Bait & Tackle in Painesville.

Only a few anglers have been willing to run to the Canadian line, which is about 23 miles to the north, to chase walleye and trout.

Moore had been checking limits of fish that included some nice walleye lately, and this week a charter boat returned with a trio of 10-pounders in the boat limit. Some smaller walleye have been caught closer to shore, but it has been taking longer to corral limits of walleye.

Moore has been able to stock emerald shiner minnows for perch fishermen, and most have been working the usual areas with some success. A good catch is about 20 to 30 perch. Some channel catfish are being caught from the Grand River.

Low water, storm debris a boating problem: Boaters should always be cautious while on the water, keeping an eye out for floating debris, especially after heavy rains like the ones last week that flooded local communities along the Lake Erie shoreline, as well as the Lake Erie islands area.

As the fall fishing arrives, boaters and anglers should also be aware that lake levels on inland waters will be fluctuating, as well. Low water can be a major problem for both experienced and novice boaters.

The Ohio Division of Watercraft is warning boaters that precipitation and evaporation together create seasonal cycles in lake levels. Indicators of low water include:

 Caution signs posted at the lake.

 Visible sand bars in the water.

 Exposed logs or other hazards.

In northeast Ohio, West Branch Reservoir in the Ravenna area is well below the lakes normal levels for this season. The Knapp Road boat ramp is closed due to low water. Warnings are posted on the parks web page. Be sure to continue checking the site for updates.

Dry weather has caused water levels on Berlin Reservoir near Alliance to be about down about seven feet. Winter drawdown water levels will also begin on a variety of Northeast Ohio lakes during the fall season. Early arrivals of steelhead trout: Stream fishermen casting for smallmouth bass have discovered that steelhead trout  but only a few  are also starting cruise the Ohio shoreline and run the Northeast Ohio rivers from Lake Erie to feed, reports Chagrin River Outfitters.

Yellow perch are biting again: Western Lake Erie yellow perch fishermen were worried that last weeks storms would shut down the perch fishing around the Lake Erie Islands and the other perch hot spots off Port Clinton and Catawba Island.

That did happen, but only for a couple of days. The fishing guides are reporting some good catches again, and a few bait and tackle shops still have emerald shiner minnows for sale. While the imported golden shiners are often more available, and hardier, the shiny emerald shiners are favorites of yellow perch.

Some reports from west of Green and Rattlesnake islands revealed that perch are shifting to feed on spiny water fleas, and invasive forage that often disappears in August. Some perch had bellies filled with the fleas, but were still being caught on perch spreaders tipped with minnows.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  After a brief hiatus this fall, Frontier Airlines new nonstop route between Cleveland and San Juan, Puerto Rico, will increase to daily service in January.

The new Frontier route started in May with four-times per week service to San Juan. It was the first nonstop flight between Cleveland and San Juan since 2017, when United Airlines flew the route.

The flight is being paused for two months this fall, starting Tuesday, Sept. 5. It will resume Nov. 17 with four-times per week service (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday). And then, on Jan. 3, it will be offered daily.

Frontier is also restarting service to two popular Florida destinations, Sarasota and Miami.

* Nonstop flights between Cleveland and Sarasota resume Dec. 21 and will run daily.

* Flights to Miami will start Nov. 16 and will run three times per week, on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

The Florida additions will bring Frontiers total destinations from Cleveland Hopkins to 18, more than any other carrier.

Meanwhile, Cleveland Hopkins welcomed 950,103 passengers in July, up 20% over a year ago, but just shy of the 1 million passengers airport officials were predicting. Year-to-date figures show just over 5 million passengers traveled through the airport through July, up 11.5% over 2022 figures.

Read more:

Nonstop to Puerto Rico: New Frontier flight reconnects Cleveland and San Juan

Frontier Airlines announces expansion at Cleveland Hopkins, with new flights to San Diego, San Francisco, Dallas and Charlotte

Cleveland on short list for new Frontier Airlines crew base

A primer on the airlines we love to hate (but fly them anyway)

How to make that cheap Spirit or Frontier airfare even cheaper (hint: step away from your computer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Twelve tornadoes hit northern Ohio last week, but some Cleveland suburbs did not sound the alarm about the severe storms.

That prompted one resident of Seven Hills to question why the city didnt do more for residents.

Tim Fraundorf, a former city council member, said he woke up Aug. 24 to an alert from the National Weather Service on his cellphone, a message that said he should take cover. But he did not hear any warning sirens from the city.

Jamie Meklemburg, Seven Hills fire chief, said thats because the sirens were never activated. He said the devices are turned on by the citys central dispatch only if a tornado appears headed to the city.

Also, the sirens are intended to be heard by people outdoors to warn them to seek shelter, according to fire officials, emergency officials and the weather service.

The whole thing is ludicrous, Fraundorf said. The sirens are turned on from somewhere in Brecksville. And how do they know if a tornado is heading toward Seven Hills, or going to bypass and hit Brecksville, or going to go north and hit Bedford?

Meklemburg said in an interview that he plans to discuss the protocol for tornadoes at a meeting later this month with other suburban fire chiefs.

I dont want it to seem like it was our dispatchers fault or dispatch centers fault. This protocol is in place by us as the fire chiefs, Meklemburg said.

He also said he did not want the siren to be set off every time there is severe weather because people will not take it seriously.

I see the thought behind the protocol now. I dont want us setting it off every single time theres a severe thunderstorm possibility, Meklemburg said.

Parma Fire Chief Mike Lasky, who has been with the department for decades, said the city does not use sirens warning of tornadoes because forecasts are not always accurate.

Its like the boy who cried wolf, he said. They can create a false sense of panic. And, in this age with weather, it changes so quickly around here.

Lasky said the city experienced flooding. People in 10 cars had to be rescued in high water, and several residents faced downed telephone wires. But overall, he considered Parma lucky compared to eastern Cleveland suburbs hit by the storms.

Fraundorf said he was frustrated by the protocol and the fact that the sirens were only meant to alert people outdoors.

Well, OK, then why didnt you set it off for the people that might be outdoors? he said.

Lasky said he was confident the sirens could be heard inside, too.

They rotate and are a piercing high decibel, but when they are used in cities its to let people outside know it is time to seek shelter. Get indoors, Lasky said.

The issues in Seven Hills continue to anger Fraundorf.

They probably should have sounded the sirens, but they didnt, Fraundorf said. They make up all these reasons why they didnt. Its what I find disingenuous. Im sorry, but you know, I dont think Im the brightest guy in the world. But I do have common sense. The sirens should have been turned on.

Christina Fozio, the director of the Medina County Emergency Management Agency, said sirens work best in recreational areas, such as soccer fields and baseball diamonds.

They just arent the best tool in non-recreational areas, she said. There are so many better technologies that are more appropriate. Sirens are somewhat antiquated. Apps on cellphones or weather radios are much better. Thats what we want residents to have.

Valley View and Independence also did not turn their sirens on last week.

Ken Papesh, Valley Views fire chief, said the tornado siren system is also initiated by the villages dispatch center after receiving notifications through the Ohio Law Enforcement Automated Data System.

During the recent storms, the LEADS weather system did not list the village of Valley View as being in the radar specific tornado warning area. Per a conversation with the (National Weather Service), it did have Valley View as the southernmost edge of the warning area, though the main body of the storms were north and east of the village, Papesh said in an email.

In Valley View, residents who signed up for the County Ready Notify System, or CodeRed, received alerts on their phones about the severe weather.

CodeRed uses the National Weather Service for its notifications, which is the reason that the telephone system was activated in Valley View, Papesh said.

Meklemburg and Lasky urged residents to sign up for the emergency notification system used by Cuyahoga County and participating municipalities to issue warnings.

The system can send alerts to cell phones and call landlines. It can also reach out to users of home phones for people who do not have cell service.

Seven Hills residents needing assistance setting up CodeRed can reach the fire department at 216-524-3321. Parma residents can call their fire department at 440-885-1217. The county office emergency management can be contacted at 216-443-5700 or by emailing ema@cuyahogacounty.us.

Seven Hills tests its tornado sirens the first Saturday every month.

I know I havent been paying attention. They may have been sounding them off each month. I dont recall, Fraundorf said. But I certainly will be listening for them tomorrow.
The film industry might be on pause amid the Hollywood strike, but Venice Film Festival is full steam ahead, drawing A-list stars such as George Clooney and Adam Driver.

But dont be fooled, this doesnt mean these Hollywood elites are breaking any strike rules. In fact, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) are actually on board with their recent appearances at the Italian festival.

After SAG-AFTRA members like Clooney and Driver started catching heat for attending red carpets and similar festivals, the union released a statement explaining.

Adam Driver attends a red carpet for the movie Ferrari at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2023 in Venice, Italy.

Some of our fellow members have been subject to negative comments for participating in projects with an Interim Agreement, particularly when it comes time for them to promote their work, including at festivals, the statement read. Whether from within or without our organization, not only are remarks of this nature unhelpful to performers, but by dividing us, they do the AMPTPs (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) work for them.

To be crystal clear, the statement continued. Once an agreement is in place, we fully encourage all of our SAG-AFTRA members to work under that agreement AND to promote work made under that agreement. The more projects that get made with the Interim Agreement, the weaker the AMPTP becomes. So, lets lift up our fellow performers who are out there working.

So basically, celebrities such as Driver were given the green light through their SAG interim agreements to promote such projects because they are indie films that werent produced by AMPTP members.

George Clooney is seen arriving ahead of the 80th Venice International Film Festival 2023 on August 29, 2023 in Venice, Italy.

In actuality, their presence at the festival is facilitating a platform for SAG-AFTRA actors to promote the strikes message. Driver, star of Ferrari, hasnt been shy about using the festival as an opportunity to speak out.

Im very happy to be here to support this movie  the truncated schedule that we had to shoot it, and the efforts of all the incredible actors working on it, and the crew  but also, Im very proud to be here to be a visual representation of a movie thats not part of the AMPTP, and to promote the SAG leadership directive, which is an effective tactic, which is the interim agreement, a teary-eyed Driver said during the films press conference.

He also used the moment to call out streaming giants Netflix and Amazon.

The other objective is to obviously say, why is it that a smaller distribution company like Neon and STX International can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for but a big company like Netflix and Amazon cant?'

And hes not the only A-list celebrity standing in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA at the Italian festival. Among the stars in attendance are George Clooney, Patrick Dempsey, and Jessica Chastain.
 
Don't get him wrong, CNBC's Jim Cramer said he likes to get excited about companies he thinks have potential. He also said most investors can't afford to fall in love with stocks, and he stressed that it's important to be flexible. Let go of investments if the tide changes, he advised.

"When you buy shares in a publicly traded company, you're not joining that stock in holy matrimony," Cramer said. "You don't swear to stick with it in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer. You don't need to go to a judge to get a divorce. It's just a piece of paper."

Cramer urged investors to follow closely what they own and do their homework. Investors should be able to explain their stock portfolio to another person, he said.

Cramer added that flexibility is necessary with the changeable nature of the market. New competitors emerge, previously well-run companies start to perform badly and customers cancel orders. The unforeseen will occur that can hurt businesses or change the economy, he said.

According to Cramer, investors must be willing to acknowledge when they are wrong, or when a company's story changes and their thesis for why they own shares no longer holds weight.

"Before you buy a stock, please do some homework and come up with a thesis, a reason why you think that stock is headed higher," Cramer said. "If your thesis doesn't play out the way you expected it to, sell the darned stock as we do for the club. Don't keep bashing your head against the wall  just recognize that things don't always go your way and then move on."
Ahead of the 25th anniversary of Matthew Shepards tragic death, a new documentary has been announced to honor the posthumous impact made by the gay college student, who died after being abducted, beaten and left for dead in Laramie, Wyoming.

Investigation Discovery announced Thursday that The Matthew Shepard Story: An American Hate Crime will premiere Oct. 9 at 9 p.m.

Featuring interviews with friends and allies, local journalists and community members, and even celebrities who were deeply affected by Shephards story  including Rosie ODonnell, Andrew Rannells and Adam Lambert  the film will shine a light on the worst anti-gay hate crimes in American history as well as a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, according to its description.

Matthews story remains just as heart-wrenching and relevant today as it was 25 years ago, ID chief Jason Sarlanis said in a statement. This tragedy ignited an incredibly emotional and influential chapter in the fight against LGBTQ+ discrimination that brought great progress. By revisiting Matthews story, we hope to educate a whole new generation and underscore the power love and acceptance play in continuing the fight against violence and discrimination in all its forms.

Shephard, who died on Oct. 12, 1998, was just 21 when he was brutally beaten to death in a remote area east of Laramie. Five days before, his attackers pretended to be gay in order to gain the University of Wyoming students confidence and then rob and kill him.

Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson are both serving life sentences after pleading guilty to the hate crime.

After much lobbying, the Matthew Shepard James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act  the first federal law to criminalize violence against members of the LGBTQ community  was passed and signed by Congress on Oct. 29, 2009.

Byrd Jr., who also died in 1998, was a Black victim of a racially motivated hate crime in East Texas.
CNBC's Jim Cramer told investors they should pay close attention to what CEOs say about their companies. If CEOs say something negative, Cramer said its best to take their word for it instead of searching for justifications to keep owning the stock.

Chief executives rarely admit when something is wrong, so when one actually preannounces a shortfall, Cramer suggests waiting at least 30 days before thinking about buying stock.

"Sometimes it can seem like we live in a post-truth world where it's impossible to know who to believe on any particular issue," Cramer said. "But even the most skeptical among you should believe executives when they preannounce an earnings shortfall or cut their forecast to well below what the analysts are looking for during their regularly scheduled earnings report."

At the same time, Cramer said he knows investors need to scrutinize everything CEOs say and take their commentary with a grain of salt. Although most will not flat out lie about their company, they are prone to giving misleading information. When listening to C-suite leaders, Cramer said, it's also important to note whether that person has a track record of being honest or deceptive.

"Don't get me wrong, you can't just take everything that comes out of a CEO's mouth as gospel," Cramer said. "There are plenty of executives who're excessively promotional or who talk like they've had rose-colored glasses welded directly to their face."

Cramer quoted poet Maya Angelou's famous line: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

"So, in the wake of a shortfall, you have to presume that the stock won't be bouncing back any time soon  for the next 30 days you should treat the darned thing as a falling knife," he said. "In short, even if you're not a huge fan of Maya Angelou's poetry, you should trust her investment advice!"
DETROIT  United Auto Workers has filed unfair labor practice charges against automakers General Motors and Stellantis to the National Labor Relations Board for not bargaining with the union in good faith or a timely manner, UAW President Shawn Fain said Thursday night.

The Thursday filings followed the companies not responding to the union's demands in a timely matter, Fain said. The union did not file a complaint against Ford Motor , as Fain said the company responded to the UAW's demands with a counterproposal he heavily criticized.

"GM and Stellantis' willful refusal to bargain in good faith is not only insulting and counterproductive, it's also illegal," Fain said during a Facebook Live. "That's why today, our union filed unfair labor practice charges, or ULPs, against both GM and Stellantis with the National Labor Relations Board."

Stellantis said it has not yet received the NLRB complaint, "but is shocked by Mr. Fain's claims that we have not bargained in good faith."

"This is a claim with no basis in fact, and we are disappointed to learn that Mr. Fain is more focused on filing frivolous legal charges than on actual bargaining," the company said in an emailed statement. "We will vigorously defend this charge when the time comes, but right now we are more focused on continuing to bargain in good faith for a new agreement. We will not allow Mr. Fain's tactics to distract us from that important work to secure the future for our employees."
The U.S. Capitol Building is seen in Washington, D.C., Aug. 16, 2023.

WASHINGTON  The White House on Thursday asked Congress to pass a short-term measure to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown at the end of September.

A spokesperson with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget said a short-term continuing resolution will be needed in the next month, keeping government funding at its current levels while negotiations continue over longer-term appropriations bills.

Funding for the federal government is set to run out on Sept. 30 unless action is taken by Congress. With a month to go until the deadline, the Republican-led House of Representatives has only managed to pass one of the 12 bills needed to fund the government, according to Reuters.

Deep divisions remain between the parties with Republicans looking to implement large spending cuts unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
WASHINGTON  Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he will soon meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the Kremlin's war in Ukraine drags on.

"Soon enough we will have some events and there will be a meeting with the Chinese President [Xi Jinping]," Putin said during a conference with students in Russia.

"He [Xi] calls me his friend, and I am happy to call him my friend, because this is a man who personally does a lot for the development of Russian-Chinese relations and cooperation in different areas," Putin said.

Since Russia's invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor, Washington and its allies have imposed rounds of coordinated sanctions vaulting Russia past Iran and North Korea as the world's most-sanctioned country.

White House officials have previously expressed deep concerns about China's alignment with Russia and the possibility that the world's second-largest economy may aid Moscow as the Kremlin's war heads into its 600th day.
It didn't take Miracle Workman long to realize that college wasn't for her. By the end of her first semester at Mat-Su College, a small school in Palmer, Alaska, Workman decided she couldn't stomach the time, or loans, it would take to get her associate's degree. So, in December 2013, as Workman, then 18, waited for a sign from the universe to help her choose a career, she returned to her high school job as a hostess at a pizzeria in her hometown of Wasilla. Inspiration struck just a few months later in an unlikely place: a plastic surgeon's office 3,000 miles from home. Workman and her now-husband, Tim Workman, were visiting his mom in Scottsdale, Arizona and his mom surprised him with a laser treatment to help with his acne. "This esthetician walked into the room, and she was so calm and confident explaining the procedure, and then handling the equipment, I just remember thinking, 'Whatever this is, I love it, I want to do this,'" Workman, now 28, tells CNBC Make It. Fast-forward almost a decade later, and Workman has spun her interest in skin care into a six-figure career: She owns Studio Sol, a hair salon and esthetic studio in Wasilla, and is on track to earn $180,000 this year from her work as an esthetician. Here's how she did it:

Becoming an esthetician

As soon as she returned home, Workman googled esthetician schools near Palmer and Wasilla. The requirements to become an esthetician are rigorous: In Alaska, you have to complete at least 350 hours in a government-approved course of study and pass two exams to obtain an esthetician license. Other states, like New York, require upwards of 600 hours. In March 2015, Workman started taking classes at the MetrOasis Training Center in Anchorage, about an hour's drive from her apartment. For 10 weeks, she went to classes Monday through Friday and worked weekends at the pizzeria. "It was gritty, but I loved all of my classes, so it never felt like work," she says. Workman took courses in makeup, hair removal, brow artistry, chemical peels and more. She estimates that she spent about $7,000 on tuition, supplies, exams and license fees. Workman graduated from esthetics school in May 2015. Though she eventually wanted to establish her own esthetician business, she prioritized building her clientele and experience first. She worked at a waxing salon, then a med spa  a hybrid of the traditional day spa and a medical clinic  and in 2018 started a job at a day spa. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and Alaska issued a statewide lockdown in March 2020. Workman saw the pandemic as an interruption to her career at first, when the day spa she worked at temporarily shut down, then decided it was another sign from the universe  she could use her newfound free time to draft her business plan.

Building a six-figure business

Workman quit her job at the day spa once they re-opened in May 2020 and rented the back room of a hair salon in Wasilla for $500 per month. "I wanted to start working with clients right away, so I decided I was just going to hustle and do whatever I needed to do to open shop," she recalls. She got a business credit card to help cover her startup costs, including a website domain, wax, brushes and other supplies, which totaled about $10,000  a bill Workman says she was able to pay off within two months of opening. At that point, Instagram was her greatest marketing tool. "Many of my clients follow my page and will message me directly for appointments, so as soon as I opened my business, I shared daily behind-the-scenes photos and videos of the space as well as the types of services I had, just to get on people's radars," she says. Some of Workman's most popular services are brow shaping, mild chemical peels and Hydrafacial, which combines a hydradermabrasion treatment with an infusion of serums. Prices range from $25 to $329, depending on how many products are used and how long the treatment takes. Within 12 months of opening, Workman earned a net profit of $115,000, according to tax and financial documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. Much of her clientele, she says, has come from repeat customers at her old job, who will also recommend her to their friends. Other customers are walk-ins or find Workman from her Instagram. 2022 was a big year for Workman: In January, she bought the hair salon in the front of the building, Studio Sol, and in August, she hired her first commission-only employee, another esthetician. Two months later, she went on maternity leave  she and Tim (who she married in 2019) welcomed their first daughter, Navy, in November. She returned to work in January 2023.

'Sometimes, I only work 3 hours a day'
Craig Walker has sold startups to Yahoo and Google, and his current business, cloud communications company Dialpad, is valued at $2.2 billion. Still, the CEO says he learned his most important business lesson watching a "goofy" 1970s racing comedy, called "The Gumball Rally." "What's behind you is not important," Walker says, paraphrasing a line uttered in the film by actor Raul Julia's Italian racecar driver character. To Walker, 58, that sentiment reflects his belief in the importance of not getting distracted or unnerved by what his competitors are doing. "As a CEO, it's like... Knock yourselves out. I don't care what you do," Walker tells CNBC Make It. "I'm not going to worry about your product [or] your innovations. I'll worry about mine. It makes it a lot easier not to get panicked by what other people do." That's easier said than done, especially considering that Walker's Dialpad makes business communication software, including voice messaging and video conferencing tools, that are competing for customers with other multibillion-dollar startups like Zoom and RingCentral, as well as tech giants like Microsoft's Teams software. But, Walker has been running internet communications companies for more than two decades, and he says he's seen "a lot of entrepreneurs" make the mistake of reacting to their competition: "They'll change their roadmap. They'll try to copy [their rivals], and it's just a bad way to build a big business."

Learning CEO lessons on the job

Of course, it helps that Walker has a strong track record in the tech industry, having steered multiple businesses to successful results. The Dialpad founder and CEO is actually a former securities attorney who never planned on becoming an entrepreneur, even though he got a thrill helping early internet companies in the 1990s line up financing deals and plan their IPOs. "I always thought, 'Man, [this] is awesome to be this close to it. But it would be even more awesome to be on the other side of the table,'" Walker says. He got his chance in 2001. Walker had stopped practicing law and become a venture capital investor. When the internet bubble burst, an internet communications company he'd backed was floundering and in need of a steady hand. Investors in the company  which was called Dialpad Communications, but is separate from Walker's current startup  installed Walker as CEO and he managed to turn things around within a few years, eventually reaching 14 million customers and selling the business to Yahoo in 2005 for an undisclosed sum. "It's awesome to [take] on almost an impossible challenge and then actually [turn] the ship around," he says. "Once you've done that, and once you realize you're pretty good at it, going back to a law firm and being on the other side of the table again, it was impossible." Later that year, Walker jumped right back into the fray by launching GrandCentral Communications, a startup whose software allowed users to make phone calls and manage their voicemail messages over the web. In 2007, that company sold to Google, also for an undisclosed amount. This time, Walker stayed on at Google for nearly four years, leading the transition of his former business into the Google Voice platform. Working at an established tech giant like Google came with perks, like a cushy salary and shorter hours, especially compared with the life of a startup founder. Still, the entrepreneurial itch eventually got the better of Walker again. Launching a startup can be "back-breaking work," Walker says, but he's found running his own business is ultimately far more fulfilling than feeling like just a cog in a larger machine. "I was getting out of bed and [it was] the first time since I graduated from law school that I was kind of dreading going to work," he says. In 2010, Walker launched Dialpad, partnering with Google's cloud technology to create a suite of AI-powered business communications software tools, including messaging and virtual meetings, that are now used by more than 30,000 businesses and millions of their employees, according to the company. The company has raised a total of $450 million in funding to date, including a $170 million funding round led by private investment firm ICONIQ Capital in 2021 that gave Dialpad its current $2.2 billion valuation. The main difference between Dialpad and his previous ventures, Walker says, is that he has no plans to sell this time around. "This is very likely my magnum opus," he says. Without providing an exact timeline, Walker added that his goal is to eventually take Dialpad public, "build it into a big, important public company" and run it himself until it's time to retire. It's an outcome that he views as allowing him to "be in control  I mean, as much as you can be  of your destiny, versus when you get acquired, [and] you lose that control," he says.

'You have to be an eternal optimist'
Michael Nason, 29, left, and Donna Nason, 25, right, both of Bakersfield are wearing a face mask in Union Station on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, in Los Angeles, CA. COVID-19 making a comeback in California.

An uptick in Covid cases and hospitalizations in the U.S., and the emergence of new variants of the virus, are prompting questions about whether Americans should start masking up again.

One thing's for sure: People infected with Covid should wear masks around others to prevent the spread of the virus.

For those not infected, the decision to mask depends on a few things. That includes your personal risk level, Covid rates in your region and who you might make contact with, public health experts said.

First and foremost, people at high risk of serious illness or death from Covid should consider wearing masks in crowded and public spaces, especially in poorly ventilated areas.

That applies to elderly adults and people with diabetes, cancer, HIV, a history of heart disease or stroke or other immunocompromising conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Anytime we're seeing an uptick in cases, we should start with telling highly vulnerable populations that they should prepare for this and be a little bit more cognizant of the things they can do to protect themselves. And I think masking is one of them," Andrew Pekosz, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNBC.

That's because Covid infections in people 65 and above and other high-risk groups are driving the increase in hospitalizations and deaths right now, according to Pekosz.

The CDC said weekly new Covid hospitalizations in the U.S. jumped nearly 19% last week, a sixth straight week of increasing admissions. Newer Covid variants like the now-dominant EG.5, or "Eris," and a handful of XBB strains have fueled the rise. All of those strains are descendants of the omicron variant.

New Covid shots from Pfizer , Moderna and Novavax are slated to roll out in mid-September, and will likely provide robust protection against those variants. But until then, experts say masking is an important tool people can use to protect themselves as Covid starts to spread at a higher level nationwide.

That also applies to Americans with normal risk levels, who should also consider masking depending on where they are or who they make contact with.

"If we have learned something from the pandemic it's that masking works to protect from transmission," said Dr. Francesca Torriani, professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

And implementing institution-level mask mandates in certain health-care settings and businesses can "really reduce the risk of running into large outbreaks," according to Pavitra Roychoudhury, a professor of laboratory medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

However, it's unclear how many Americans will choose to mask up.

Many people don't appear to be worried enough about the recent rise in cases to change their behavior: Covid was at the bottom of respondents' list of key public health threats, according to a poll released last month by Axios and Ipsos.

The percentage of people who wear a mask some or all of the time has dropped to 15%, the poll added.
Dividend stocks aren't evergreen, but investing in them over several years can pay off, according to one portfolio manager. Their underperformance this year presents an opportunity, said Ben Kirby, who is also co-head of investments at Thornburg Investment Management. "Dividend investing goes in and out of favor from one year to the next, but over the course of a multi-year period, it's a very robust strategy," he told CNBC this week. "Whenever you have a year like this, where a bunch of high-quality dividend-paying stocks have underperformed, it's a fat pitch and an opportunity to add that exposure to your portfolio," he added. The SPDR S & P Dividend ETF (SPYD) has a total return of -3.5% so far this year, according to FactSet. The SPDR S & P 500 ETF (SPY) has a total return of over 18%. He isn't the only one to appreciate dividend stocks right now. Neuberger Berman senior portfolio manager Sandy Pomeroy told CNBC earlier in August that dividend stocks haven't been this cheap since the tech boom of the 1990s. "They went on to have a great decade. They were the outperformers for the next 10 years and that could happen again, in our mind," she said. Stock picks Kirby urged investors to focus on stocks with "diverse and durable" income in their portfolios, instead of Big Tech. He named five such stocks. TSMC : The Taiwanese chipmaker is trading at 14 or 15 times earnings, and is "one of the best businesses in the world," Kirby said, adding that they grow their dividend over time. "They are essential in the global supply chain." He said although Taiwan will remain a hot spot of geopolitical tensions, he likes it as a long-term holding. TSMC pays out a yield of around 2%. CME : Kirby expects the derivatives exchange will "benefit" from volatility in September, a traditionally weak month for stocks. "Whenever volatility goes higher, as it often does in September ... people want to hedge more," he said. "And the more that they hedge that drives volumes," he said of CME. Investors can trade futures and options at CME in order to manage risk. The need to hedge will be greater when rates are high, Kirby added. "So we think this is going to be a mid-teens earnings grower paying about a 4% dividend that's going to be really hard to beat." Charles Schwab : Kirby said the bank is a "contrarian pick"  it tumbled this year because of high rates  but its core business remains strong. The stock used to trade at a 25% premium to the market, but today it's at about a 20% discount to the market, Kirby said. He predicts the stock will jump to $100 in the next 12 months  representing potential upside of about 67%. TotalEnergies : The stock has a 5.5% dividend yield, 12% free cash yield, and a "great balance sheet," Kirby said. Orange : Kirby said the French telecommunications giant has "strong pricing power." It's yielding over 6.7%.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, right, shakes hands with Judge Thomas Rose of the U.S. District Court Southern District of Ohio after taking his oath of office, Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, in Cedarville, Ohio.

A federal judge on Friday withdrew from a case that could block Medicare from negotiating over drug prices, just hours after a watchdog group revealed his ownership of stock in two pharmaceutical companies that would be directly impacted by the new program.

Judge Thomas M. Rose of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio withdrew from the case on the same day that the Revolving Door Project, a nonprofit, sent him a letter raising questions about his ownership of stock in Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca .

"Given the ethics concerns that your apparent conflict of financial interests in the pharmaceutical industry raise, we call on you to recuse yourself," wrote the group.

J&J's blood thinner Xarelto and AstraZeneca's Type 2 diabetes drug Farxiga are among the 10 drugs that will be subject to price negotiations this year, according to a list unveiled Tuesday by the Biden administration.

Rose, who was appointed by Republican president George W. Bush, owns between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of J&J stock, and shares in AstraZeneca worth up to $15,000, according to his 2022 financial disclosure form. He also owns Moderna stock worth between $15,000 and $50,000, the filing shows.

Until he withdrew on Friday, Rose was the presiding judge in a lawsuit brought in June by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS). The suit asked the court to rule that for Medicare to negotiate drug prices would be unconstitutional.

The pharmaceutical industry has unleashed a torrent of lawsuits this summer in an effort to strip Medicare of its new powers. Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca and the drugmaker lobby PhRMA have all filed complaints in different districts courts.

Legal experts say the drugmakers are scattering their complaints across the country to increase the odds that the litigation will ultimately end up before the Supreme Court.

Merck CEO Robert Davis confirmed on an earnings call earlier this month that the company plans to take its lawsuit all the way to the high court.

"As we look forward, we're going to take this to the fullest, which means we'll take it through District Court and, if need be, into Circuit Court and ultimately to the Supreme Court," Davis said. "So, really that's the strategy."

The Chamber had asked Rose to block the program by Oct. 1, the deadline set for drugmakers to sign agreements to participate in the negotiations.
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It's been almost a decade since Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg shocked the tech world, announcing his company's agreement to spend $19 billion on WhatsApp, a popular messaging app with a tiny business. Since then, WhatsApp has remained somewhat of an anachronism. Usage has continued to grow, with more than 2 billion people now counting on the app to chat with friends and family, up from 450 million at the time of the acquisition. But it's still not much of a moneymaker. Unlike Instagram, which Facebook bought in 2012 for the much tidier sum of roughly $1 billion, WhatsApp doesn't show ads, which is Zuckerberg's core business. It's also unrelated to his company's hugely expensive pivot to the metaverse or its effort to catch up to TikTok with its short video product, Reels. But the company now known as Meta has no intention of sidelining WhatsApp. Rather, Zuckerberg regularly touts the value of the asset and its potential to expand, boasting on Meta's latest earnings call about the 200 million people who use the WhatsApp Business app, which helps companies communicate with clients. He told CNBC's Jim Cramer in June 2022 that WhatsApp represents the "next chapter" for Meta. To parlay its massive user base into a product that contributes in a big way to the bottom line, WhatsApp needs more large businesses across the globe to rely on the service as a main way to converse with customers. For each conversation, companies pay in the range of a half-cent to 15 cents, depending on the kind of chat and the country in which the exchange takes place.

"It's been clear for many years that people are trying to connect with businesses on WhatsApp," said Alice Newton-Rex, the unit's product director, in an interview with CNBC. "If you go to India or Brazil and you look around, you'll see WhatsApp numbers posted up in shop windows everywhere. This is how businesses want to engage with their customers." Consumers in India, for example, use WhatsApp to book Uber rides and get movie recommendations on their Netflix accounts. Newton-Rex joined WhatsApp four years ago, leaving her high-level position at London-based financial firm WorldRemit for the new gig. At the time, WhatsApp only had 15 product managers, a number that's since ballooned to 90. The product group is now tasked with building features that can unlock WhatsApp's business in a substantial way and in helping WhatsApp fulfill the potential that Zuckerberg has long seen in the app. Newton-Rex said Zuckerberg has been "a big part of the team," adding that he regularly speaks with Will Cathcart, the current head of WhatsApp. "He's a big part of our strategy," she said about Zuckerberg's support of WhatsApp and its road map. WhatsApp's popularity around the world is undeniable. In countries like Brazil, India and Indonesia, people use it to chat with family and friends and stay updated on current affairs. There's particular appeal in countries that historically lacked robust telecommunications infrastructure, as WhatsApp has made it feasible for people in those regions to affordably communicate via smartphone. "Back in 2009, it was extremely expensive to send a text message, and if you wanted to make a call or particularly an international call, that might set you back hundreds of dollars," Newton-Rex said. "WhatsApp changed all that." Newton-Rex recalled the time a member of the app's research group compared WhatsApp to oxygen. "I think the idea that it's sort of everywhere and it's effortless to use, you maybe don't think too deeply about using it, but you would be in real trouble if someone took it away," she said.

What's up with WhatsApp's business?

But for analysts and investors, WhatsApp's true value to Meta has long been unclear. The company doesn't reveal the size of the business. Nick Lane, founder of research firm Mobilesquared, estimates its revenue to be between about $500 million and $1 billion, equaling less than 1% of Meta's total sales. Instagram, by contrast, will bring in a projected $40 billion in revenue this year, according to Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at Insider Intelligence. "Facebook bought WhatsApp nearly nine years ago  It's a long time to have an app that has enormous usage, but where's the revenue?" Williamson said with a chuckle. "We've kind of been watching it for years and years going, 'OK, guys.'" The business challenge for WhatsApp dates back to its origins. Co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton publicly lambasted the advertising industry in a 2012 blog post, writing that "no one wakes up excited to see more advertising, no one goes to sleep thinking about the ads they'll see tomorrow."

Former WhatsApp CEO and co-founder Jan Koum David Ramos | Getty Images

In the years after the Facebook deal, Koum and Acton reportedly clashed with executives over issues related to data privacy and monetizing WhatsApp. Acton left in 2017, and Koum followed him out the door a year later. It's not just an issue of privacy and morals. As Williamson noted, WhatsApp's core function as an encrypted platform for people to send each other private messages isn't particularly "conducive to advertising." Does a user really want a McDonald's promotion to pop up alongside private messages with family members? Yet throughout its almost two decades, Facebook has never had much of a business outside of ads, even as it's expanded into consumer gadgets and the metaverse and, in the case of WhatsApp, getting companies to pay for messaging. The plan is five years in the making. Meta kick-started its WhatsApp Business app in 2018, pitching it as a way for companies to more easily communicate with users through verified commercial accounts and a suite of in-app tools. In June, Meta said the WhatsApp Business app had quadrupled in the past three years to 200 million monthly active users. Small companies can use the app for free or, depending on the country, pay a monthly subscription for added features like the ability to build a WhatsApp website, and to access a corporate account on up to 10 devices. Larger companies can pay for more expansive messaging campaigns and features to help them provide more customer service and support to big audiences via the WhatsApp Business platform. With the upper-tier service, Meta charges per conversation, and the fee varies. In Brazil, for instance, a brief authentication conversation in which users are prompted to enter one-time passcodes for verification could cost a company 3.15 cents, while more complicated and extended marketing conversations detailing new promotions or special deals may cost 6.25 cents. Meta said in its most recent annual report that sales in the company's "Family of Apps-other revenue" segment, which houses the WhatsApp Business platform and other revenue sources like the net fees Meta receives from developers using its payment infrastructure, grew 12% year over year to $808 million in 2022. While companies can't run online ads on WhatsApp, they can buy a special kind of ad that's now core to WhatsApp's business strategy called "click-to-message," which essentially redirects Instagram and Facebook users to WhatsApp to initiate an immediate conversation, Newton-Rex said.

Mark Zuckerberg told the world in October 2021 that he was rebranding Facebook to Meta as the company pushes toward the metaverse. Facebook | via Reuters

It's a strategy Meta is deploying more broadly. Zuckerberg said last year that the company's click-to-message ad products running across WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram are generating about $9 billion in annualized revenue. Most of those sales stem from the company's Messenger app, which was first to offer that type of ad, but Zuckerberg said that the WhatsApp-specific click-to-message ads "just passed a $1.5 billion run rate, growing more than 80% year over year." Meta says that all rolls up to total ad revenue and is not housed within WhatsApp. More recently, Zuckerberg said during Meta's first-quarter 2023 earnings call that the company's click-to-message ads reached $10 billion in annualized revenue and added that "paid messaging on WhatsApp  has grown by 40% quarter over quarter," without giving a revenue figure. In addition to the newer ad products, Newton-Rex also highlighted WhatsApp's Channels feature, which Meta debuted in June. The new tool, which is akin to a similar feature available in the Telegram messaging app, is intended to function like a "private broadcast service," separate from the core WhatsApp messaging that takes place between friends and family members. It lets organizations and power users create their own channels to send messages or post updates and polls to large groups of people. Although Channels is currently only available in a few countries, including Colombia and Singapore, Newton-Rex said Meta has bigger plans in store for the product and is considering ways to make money from it. "Maybe you'll be able to subscribe to a channel and you'd pay a small fee to hear from a news outlet or some celebrity who you cared about," Newton-Rex said. "That could include also allowing channel owners to promote their own channel in our directory." As a broadcast tool, Channels isn't an encrypted service. In the future, WhatsApp may allow groups like nonprofits or health organizations to ensure communications are encrypted for user or patient protection, the company said. In looking for other ways to make money from Channels, ads could be an option, as there's now a way for companies to run promotions without forcing them into a stream of confidential messages. "We're looking at a whole range of different monetization opportunities," Newton-Rex said. "We haven't fixed on any one thing yet."

Cracking the U.S.

For all of Meta's focus on WhatsApp expansion, the U.S. remains an elusive market, even though it's a huge part of the parent company's business. In the latest quarter, the U.S. and Canada combined accounted for 45% of Meta's revenue. According to Insider Intelligence data released in May, WhatsApp user penetration around the world was the highest in Spain, Italy and Argentina. In each country, at least 80% of internet users accessed WhatsApp once a month or more. In the U.S., that number was just 21.8%. Still, Newton-Rex called North America WhatsApp's "fastest-growing region," without elaborating. Researchers have found that the people in the U.S. most likely to use WhatsApp come from immigrant communities with extended family in other countries. The Pew Research Center has previously detailed that WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app used by Hispanic Americans. For "a lot of people around the world who don't use so many different internet services, WhatsApp is their gateway into having interactions on the internet," Newton-Rex said. Because WhatsApp uses encryption technology, it's also attractive for people in countries with more repressive government regimes, while consumers in the U.S. are generally comfortable using Apple's iMessage as well as direct messages on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter. Newton-Rex said part of WhatsApp's marketing strategy in the U.S. focuses on the app's encryption technology, because data privacy often "comes up as an absolute top concern" for users. Last year, the company debuted a major promotional campaign highlighting WhatsApp's encryption features. Meta has been hammered in recent years by a number of data privacy blunders, such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, scarring the company's reputation. "People really do know how important end-to-end encryption is," Newton-Rex said. "They know that they don't want their messages to be vulnerable to hackers, criminals, oppressive governments or anyone else who's trying to listen in." Meanwhile, as Meta and other tech giants pour billions of dollars into generative artificial intelligence, Zuckerberg recently said his company plans to include more advanced chatbots into WhatsApp and other messaging tools. Newton-Rex said Meta's push into generative AI could assist in the development of more kinds of "business applications." "I think that messaging is going to be the main way that people interact with generative AI in future," she said. "Imagine being able to have a really easy, instant, real-time conversation whenever you wanted to get customer service or to buy something with a business who you wanted to transact with. But it's not just business applications." The global business messaging space is currently worth about $32 billion and is dominated by SMS, or short message service, technology that's used to send things like status updates on airplane flight changes, Mobilesquared's Lane said. Lane said WhatsApp has the opportunity to offer more compelling ways for businesses to communicate with customers beyond short, simple text messages. "For example, if you're a restaurant, you can put your whole menu, different pages of your menu on WhatsApp," Lane said. "The experience that you can have on a website or on an app, you can now have that within the messaging experience." That looks like a far-off promise, at least in the North American market. Williamson from Insider Intelligence said she does "not see any leap in usage of WhatsApp in the U.S." in the near future. WATCH: How Amazon is racing to catch up in generative AI with custom AWS chips
BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has encouraged 20 newly-enrolled cadets from a school in east China's Anhui Province to strive to become high-quality, professional military personnel.

Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in a letter replying to 20 students of the Anhui Province Qianshan Yezhai Middle School, who have been accepted into military academies.

In the letter, Xi congratulated the students on their admissions to military academies and expressed the expectation that they can contribute to the modernization of national defense and the armed forces.

The school is located in the old revolutionary base areas in the Dabie Mountains. More than 100 graduates from this school applied to military academies this year, and a total of 20 of them were admitted to nine academies.
The Adams administration outlined strategies Friday to keep school students safe when classes resume next week, from expanding signature programs to getting ahead of conflicts that could erupt into violence.

A string of tragic  and sometimes deadly  incidents last year involved school-aged children, prompting Schools Chancellor David Banks to convene local organizations and city employees to brainstorm preventative measures and other means of keeping students protected from harm.

Were not trying to militarize our schools, and were not doing that, Banks said during a briefing at City Hall on Friday. Were not trying to over-police our schools, and were not doing that.

Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks during public safety briefing on Friday.

But what we are doing, at the behest of our mayor, was to enhance a level of communication, he said.

Vowing that technology is key for everything we do, Police Commissioner Edward Caban said the NYPD is working to create a tip-line that the public can call into with information that we should be aware of regarding schools and the kids.

Caban did not share many more details about how that tip-line will work, but said it should be up and running this fall.

Mayor Eric Adams at public safety briefing with DOE Chancellor David Banks.

The tip-line could allow for chances to intervene before situations get out of hand, as students reacclimate to being with one another after an extended period away from school during the pandemic.

Banks, the chancellor, said the administration is bringing together borough commanders and school district superintendents this year, after a similar initiative was rolled out last term between principals and precinct commanders, who discuss local public safety issues each week on Zoom.

Banks noted that every commanding officer in the city has between 25 and 35 schools in their command precincts.

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban

Those folks want to be talking to each other, Banks said. The principals, when they are seeing things that are happening in their schools, theyre seeing other kids come to their school trying to create problems after school, who will they alert, so we can alert the commanding officer at the precinct, give them the heads up and they can help to connect those dots.

The idea for the weekly discussions stemmed from a Zoom call Mayor Adams convened last semester, attended by all commanding NYPD officers and every principal in the New York City public school system, Banks said.

Were enhancing a deeper level of communication, he said.

Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks at the public safety briefing.

The Adams administration is also continuing to roll out previously announced initiatives, from growing the numbers of school safety agents and schools participating in his signature anti-violence program, to new door-locking technology.

After the number of officers in local schools dwindled by roughly 2,000 agents during the pandemic, Banks said the city is closing that gap. There are currently 4,100 school safety agents on payroll, or about 8 in 10 officers as there were beforehand  with another 250 going into the next class in October.

We continue to boost the ranks, he said.

Apart from officers, the city is also putting more violence interrupters in schools and safety personnel stationed between buildings and subways through Project Pivot. This year, 250 schools will participate, compared to 144 schools at the end of last year, Banks said.

The new door-locking system, which allows schools to secure their front entrances and see who is trying to get inside the building before letting them through, is being installed across the five boroughs. Banks estimated that 744 elementary schools will have access to the new technology this school year.
SmartAsset, a financial advisory website, compared data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to rank the average cost of a domestic flight departing from 72 major U.S. airports with more than 100,000 passengers.

The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska took the top spot on the list of most expensive airport to fly out of in the U.S.

According to SmartAsset, the Alaska airport saw an 11.61% change in airfare from the first quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023.

The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport serves over five million passengers annually. According to the airport's website, Ted Stevens Anchorage International is responsible for approximately 15,577 airport & community jobs, which equals one in 10 jobs in Anchorage, Alaska.
The Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have rejected as baseless a map released by China that denotes its claims to sovereignty including in the South China Sea.

The Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have rejected as baseless a map released by China that denotes its claims to sovereignty including in the South China Sea and which Beijing said on Thursday should be viewed rationally and objectively.

China released the map on Monday of its famous U-shaped line covering about 90% of the South China Sea, a source of many of the disputes in one of the world's most contested waterways, where more than $3 trillion of trade passes each year.

The Philippines called on China on Thursday "to act responsibly and abide by its obligations" under international law and a 2016 arbitral ruling that had declared the line had no legal grounds.

Malaysia said it had filed a diplomatic protest over the map.

China says the line is based on its historic maps. It was not immediately clear whether the latest map denotes any new claim to territory.

China's U-shaped line loops as far as 1,500 km (932 miles) south of its Hainan island and cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.
Dominic Pezzola, also known as "Spaz," who was indicted after prosecutors said they have evidence to suggest that he and another alleged Proud Boy, William Pepe, conspired to impede police from defending the U.S. Capitol.

WASHINGTON  Dominic Pezzola, a Proud Boy who smashed a Capitol window with a stolen police riot shield, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Friday.

Pezzola was the only one of the five defendants in the Proud Boys trial who was not convicted of the top charge of seditious conspiracy. Prosecutors had sought 20 years for him.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly who handed down Pezzola's sentence gave two other Proud Boys prison terms of roughly half of what prosecutors sought on Thursday. Joe Biggs, a former InfoWars correspondent, was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison Thursday, and Zach Rehl, a Philadelphia Proud Boy who was found to have pepper-sprayed officers, was sentenced to 15 years.

Pezzola took the stand in his own defense at trial in April, calling the charges against him "fake" and bringing up conspiracy theories about Ray Epps, a Jan. 6 participant who has not yet been charged.

Extensive video evidence documented Pezzola's actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, including a video he filmed inside after leading the breach. He was found guilty of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, as well as stealing the police shield and other charges in May.

"Knew we could take this motherf----- over if we just tried hard enough," he said in his own Jan. 6 video.

Prosecutors said he "acted as a soldier in the civil war he had envisioned" on Jan. 6.

"Pezzola's actions showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had intended to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct," prosecutors wrote. "While sparring with police who were trying to quell the mob's advance, Pezzola robbed an officer of his riot shield. Rather than taking actions consistent with his self-professed motive of self-defense, Pezzola celebrated, posing with the shield while flashing the Proud Boys hand gesture, and chanting 'USA! USA!' While holding the shield above his head triumphantly."

"It boggles my mind," Kelly said of Pezzola's actions during the riot, including smashing the window and filming a video of himself taking a "victory smoke" in the Capitol crypt.

During Friday's hearing, Pezzola's longtime partner, Lisa Magee, reiterated what she said on the stand at trial: that Pezzola was "a f---ing idiot." She said her daughters have had to suffer, and have been bullied at home due to their father's actions.

Magee, who testified that Pezzola was getting drunk and watching Fox News before Jan. 6, said that she'd already canceled cable news at their home. "I truly believe if he could go back and change ... that day that he would," she said.

Magee and Pezzola's mother both spoke before the court through tears and Pezzola could be seen holding his head in his hands and wiping away tears with a tissue while they spoke. His 19-year-old daughter remained stoic during her statement, telling Kelly about the positive impact her father has had on her life.

"I am everything good that my father has done that you have not seen," she said.

Prior to his sentencing, Pezzola told the judge, "I stand before you today as a changed and humble man. I have never denied what I did on J6."

"This was the worst, most regrettable decision in my life and I'm truly sorry," he said, promising that he would never again do anything that would land him in a courtroom.

While being led out of the courtroom after Kelly had departed, Pezzola turned towards the audience, raised one fist and shouted, "Trump won!"

Another Jan. 6 participant, Danny Rodriguez, also yelled "Trump won!" after he was sentenced to 12.5 years in June for driving a stun gun into former Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone's neck.
Regional elections began in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine Thursday as authorities seek to cement Moscow's control of what it calls its "new territories."

The voting, which runs until Sept. 10, is being held in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia since its full-scale invasion. A Ukrainian official described the polling as a "sham."

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying by Russian state media Tass.

British defense company BAE Systems said it is establishing a local entity in Ukraine and has penned deals with its government to help ramp up supplies of weapons and equipment.

Meantime, a Ukrainian drone attacked a town in western Russia, close to one of the country's biggest nuclear power stations, a Russian official said Friday.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting in Athens, Greece, July 26, 2022. Louiza Vradi | Reuters

Anticipation and rumors are growing about the potential normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel  two of America's most important allies in the Middle East whose ties have never formally existed. Saudi Arabia doesn't recognize Israel as a state and has refused to do so since the latter's independence in 1948. But after decades of tension, recent years saw discrete but growing cooperation between the two. The shared threat perception of Iran, a longtime common adversary, has brought the two closer together in terms of coordination and intelligence sharing, according to numerous reports and admissions by Israeli officials. Saudi Arabia has also allowed Israeli airlines to fly over its territory in recent years, and Israel officials reported that Saudi Arabia received help from Israeli cybersecurity firms to fend off certain cyberattacks. The rise of non-state actors and the perceived threat of political Islamists, particularly in the wake of the Arab Spring, also contributed to a sense of shared interests among Gulf states and Israel. And just on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Riyadh is offering to restart its funding of the Palestinian Authority in order to gain its leader Mahmoud Abbas' support for open relations with Israel. A deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia could dramatically reshape the geopolitics of the Middle East. But major barriers remain in the way of official normalization, which is a major goal of the Biden administration's foreign policy and one his team is trying to achieve during the president's current term.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement at the Palmachim Air Force Base near the city of Rishon Lezion, Israel July 5, 2023. Amir Cohen | Reuters

One is the issue of Palestinian statehood, and another is the raft of demands that Saudi Arabia has of the U.S., including demands for U.S. security guarantees and support for its own civilian nuclear program. And Israel, currently led by the most right-wing government in its history, is very unlikely to want to meet Saudi demands for concessions to the Palestinians.

Momentum  and divides

"I think there is finally a lot of momentum from the Biden administration to push normalization forward, but there are very clear challenges that won't be easily bridged," Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, told CNBC. "If something is going to develop, it would most likely require broader discussions on Palestine, and in the current climate in Israel, I think that is impossible to achieve," she said. Saudi Arabia is home to Islam's holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, giving it a crucial role in the Muslim world where Palestinian statehood is deeply cared about. Israel's current government led by Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention of giving major concessions to the Palestinians; Netanyahu in early August told Bloomberg TV that any minor gestures on his part toward Palestinians would essentially be "just a box you have to check to say that you're doing it."

Palestinians gather on the Israeli border to the east of Gaza City, protesting the killing of 10 Palestinians in the raid carried out by the Israeli army in West Bank city of Nablus, on February 22, 2023 in Gaza City, Gaza. Mustafa Hassona | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

"It's questionable that there is any potential governing coalition in the Knesset that would be ready, able, and willing to do that, even to secure one of the most significant diplomatic achievements in the country's history," Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, wrote in an article for the think tank. The United Nations classifies Israel as an occupier state over the Palestinian territories, whose occupations and annexations following the 1967 Six-Day War remain in violation of international law. Whether or not Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman feels a personal conviction to keep making demands of Israel on behalf of the Palestinians, the perception of his efforts on the Arab street are important for his leadership, Vakil said.

People gather around the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2023. Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

"Concessions on Palestine will also be important to Mohammed bin Salman, whose leadership is not just predicated on the transformation of Saudi Arabia, but having broader regional and international influence," she said. "Abandoning the Palestinian cause completely would not go well in the region, and he does have a broader constituency to think about."

Saudi Arabia wants military promises

Another big challenge is what Saudi Arabia is demanding of Washington. Riyadh wants a security guarantee from the U.S. in the face of potential threats or attacks, and it also wants more access to advanced U.S. weapons as well as help with a civilian nuclear program. Such demands will likely face resistance from many members of Congress, particularly progressive left-wing Democrats and hard-right Republicans who both want less American involvement in foreign affairs. But even if a security guarantee and more advanced weapons access demands are met, U.S. backing for a Saudi nuclear program is likely more challenging.

US military personnel stand by a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during Saudi Arabias first World Defense Show, north of the capital Riyadh, on March 6, 2022. Fayez Nureldine | Afp | Getty Images

The Saudis don't want to have to abide by the U.S. government's Section 123 agreement, often dubbed the "gold standard" of civilian nuclear partnerships. Washington already has such an agreement with the United Arab Emirates, which launched the Arab world's first nuclear energy program in 2020. The 123 agreement prevents countries from developing dual-use technology by barring uranium enrichment and fuel reprocessing. The Saudis have made clear that this is not the agreement they want. And that worries many lawmakers and non-proliferation experts, particularly given Saudi Arabia's role in the Yemen war, now in its eighth year. Any deal on this is also complicated by the fact that Saudi Arabia has its own natural supplies of uranium and intends to mine them itself. "If we see Riyadh climb down from those demands, then I think normalization becomes significantly more likely," said Ryan Bohl, senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at Rane.

A question of timing?
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight Morgan Stanley is standing by its overweight rating on Apple but is cautious on the company's China exposure. "For the companies where China exposure is disclosed or can be estimated, AAPL, LOGI, HPQ, and DELL have the highest percentage of sales coming from China, at 10-20% of total revenue, whereas CDW, SMRT, and SNPO have the lowest exposure to China." Morgan Stanley names Dell a top pick Morgan Stanley said Dell is its new top pick in place of Apple after the company's earnings report Thursday. " DELL is now our Top IT HW [hardware] Pick given several catalysts plus better execution/cost mgmt and most importantly, DELL emerging as our 1st Gen AI winner." Read more about this call here . Bank of America reiterates Amazon as buy Bank of America is bullish on the company's partnership with Shopify. "While economics of the deal are not disclosed, and the deal could support merchants signing more deals with Shopify versus using some of Amazon's marketplace functionality, we see this deal as Amazon executing on our Logistics-as-a-Service (LaaS) thesis, in conjunction with Amazon Shipping recently re-launching." Citi initiates Camping World as buy Citi said in its initiation of the stock that it's a "long-term macro-independent market share story." "However, our top pick in the RV space is Camping World Holdings, Inc. (CWH), which we initiated coverage on earlier today with a Buy rating and $32 price target, due to its long-term macro-independent market share story." JPMorgan upgrades Vale to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said shares of the metals and mining company are cheap. " Vale has de-rated and we believe it is now cheap. Vales shares have had a poor YTD performance." Read more about this call here. Bank of America reiterates Tesla as neutral Bank of America is positive on the debut of Tesla's Model 3 in China on Friday. "In our view, considering the higher starting price, TSLA's new sedan's (Model 3) initial sales volume in China may not be as high as we had previously expected; nevertheless, we are still positive on TSLA China's Model 3 sales as some consumers have been waiting for the upgraded products." UBS reiterates Broadcom as buy UBS said in a note Friday that Broadcom is a "prime" AI beneficiary. "With revenue for the base business remaining relatively stable despite the challenging demand environment (essentially a soft landing playing out for AVGO) , incremental growth in the near term is being driven almost entirely by the uplift in the AI business." Evercore ISI adds a tactical outperform on Illumina Evercore ISI said a new CEO hire is a positive catalyst for the biotech company. "We are adding ILMN to our TAP (tactical, actionable, positioning) Outperform list as we see the next catalyst as being a new CEO hire." Needham reiterates Veeco Instruments as buy Needham said a turnaround is on for the capital equipment supplier. "We rate the stock a Buy and encourage investors to take a fresh look at VECO as we believe the company will look very different as the strategic turnaround progresses." Goldman Sachs reiterates Chevron as buy Goldman Sachs said shares of Chevron are attractive. "Our positive view on the stock is predicated on (1) leading capital returns prole, (2) inecting Upstream operations and FCF generation driven by improving Tengiz and Permian volumes." Loop downgrades Dollar General to hold from buy Loop downgraded the stock after its disappointing earnings report Thursday. "While Dollar General has historically been a 'Steady Eddie' in the retail industry, we note the inconsistent results appear to coincide with a change in senior leadership, with the new management team now squarely in the proverbial 'penalty box.'" Baird downgrades PagerDuty to neutral from outperform Baird said shares are in the penalty box after Thursday's disappointing earnings report. "Heading into the quarter we noted PD could remain in the penalty box after surprisingly disappointing Q1'24 results." Canaccord initiates Confluent as buy Canaccord said shares of the software company are attractively priced. " Confluent stands out in a rapidly growing, highly fragmented data streaming landscape." Citi upgrades Aramark to buy from neutral Citi said shares of the food and uniform company are attractive. "After a long period of focus on margin improvements, Aramark has a new CEO and CFO and is offering the prospects of improved topline performance, with 2025 targets of > $20bn at 7-7.5% margins, supported by a sharp acceleration in new business wins." Raymond James initiates Ferguson as outperform Raymond James is bullish on shares of the plumbing supply company. " Ferguson is a well-positioned 'high-touch/high-service' wholesale/industrial distributor, with leading market share positioning and related scale advantages across generally fragmented, complementary, and growing industries." UBS reiterates FedEx as buy UBS raised its price target on FedEx to $312 per share from $272 and is bullish heading into earnings later this month. "We expect upside 1Q EPS boosted by positive developments since June." Wedbush upgrades Papa John's to outperform from neutral Wedbush, in an upgrade of Papa John's , called the stock cheap. "Given our expectation for an improved near- to medium term SSS growth trajectory, the potential for margin expansion from recent lows, and annualized system sales growth over the medium- to longer-term that compares favorably with peers, we believe an in-line multiple is appropriate."
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C., Aug. 31, 2023.

WASHINGTON  The White House is requesting an additional $4 billion from Congress to bolster funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is down to its last $3.4 billion after a string of major disasters.

Friday's request is in addition to a $12 billion ask last month for FEMA's disaster relief fund, part of an overall $40 billion stopgap funding ask. It also comes a day after the White House asked Congress to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government as budget negotiations continue.

The White House said the additional funds are needed in the wake of fires in Hawaii and Louisiana, flooding in Florida due to Hurricane Idalia, plus flooding in Vermont in July.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said this week that the disaster relief fund would be exhausted in the first half of September if it is not replenished.

Criswell told reporters Tuesday that FEMA is prioritizing the immediate needs of people affected by the Maui fires, Idalia and disasters still to come, which means recovery efforts from past disasters are on the back burner.

"I want to stress that while immediate needs funding will ensure we can continue to respond to disasters, it is not a permanent solution," Criswell said. "Congress must work with us on the supplemental request that the administration has made on behalf of FEMA."
Shares of ITD Cementation are trading at a record high on Friday after surging as much as 14 percent in trade. This is the biggest single-day jump that the stock has seen in three years.

Share Market Live NSE

The company informed the exchanges on Thursday that it won a marine contract worth Rs 3,290 crore (excluding GST). Further details were not disclosed by the company.

Last month, ITD Cementations joint venture secured a $205 million contract in Bangladesh.

ITD Cementation, in a joint venture with Transrail Lighting Ltd, had won a contract from Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd (PGCB) to provide turnkey services for a 400 kV double circuit transmission line.

For the June quarter, ITD Cementation's consolidated net profit rose to Rs 52.33 crore from Rs 30.18 crore in the same period last year. It also reported its highest ever quarterly revenue of Rs 1,833 crore, a growth of 67 percent from last year.

Shares of ITD Cementation are currently trading 14 percent higher at Rs 247.30. The stock has nearly doubled in 2023 so far, rising 95 percent. Today's gains are on the back of volumes that are 12 times higher than their 20-day average at this point of the day.
Just before the 18th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Group of 20 (G20) which will take place in September 2023 in New Delhi, a geopolitical storm has intensified around China owing to multiple reasons. India, the host of the gathering, will have to brace up to navigate through the troubled geopolitical waters.

On August 29, China released the 2023 edition of its standard map which incorporated Arunachal Pradesh, the Aksai Chin region, Taiwan and the disputed part of South China Sea in it. Map is compiled based on the drawing method of the national boundaries of China and various countries in the world, stated the Global Times, Chinese Communist Party 's mouthpiece.

In response, India lodged a strong protest and both countries' diplomatic forces locked horns. Philippines and Malaysia too jumped into the fray and rejected the dragon's move.

While Beijing was smirking over its provoking move, a news popped up from Northwestern Europe that led the country to breath fire. For the first time ever, the British parliament referred to Taiwan as an independent country in an official document. This was just ahead of Foreign Secretary James Cleverlys visit to China later this week.

"Taiwan is already an independent country, under the name Republic of China, said the report. It further added that Taiwan possesses all the qualifications for statehood, including a permanent population, a defined territory, government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states  it is only lacking greater international recognition.

The Committee Chairperson Alicia Kearns, from the ruling Conservative Party went further and told POLITICO, We acknowledge Chinas position, but we (the foreign affairs committee) do not accept it. Cleverly mentioned that he believed China genuinely cared about the UK's views on human rights, following his meetings with Chinas vice-president, Han Zheng, and foreign minister, Wang Yi.

We are clear-eyed about the areas where we have fundamental disagreements with China and we raise those issues when we meet  But I think its important to also recognise that we have to have a pragmatic, sensible working relationship with China because of the issues that affect us all around the globe, The Guardian quoted him.

While adding to the dragons woes, on August 30th, the Biden administration approved military aid to Taiwan under Foreign Military Financing (FMF), a program normally used for sovereign states.

According to the Reuters, the notification sent to Congress informs congressional committees of the State Department's intention to obligate up to $80 million in FMF funds in support of Taiwan.

"These weapons will not only help Taiwan and protect other democracies in the region, but also strengthen the United States deterrence posture and ensure our national security from an increasingly aggressive CCP (Chinese Communist Party) ," said Representative Michael McCaul, Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, quoted Reuters.

In spite of the fact that such developments are not new in international politics, they can have significant implications at the G20 summit, which needs to be assessed beforehand by New Delhi.

Considering Chinas current economic posture, it is not in a condition to go beyond protesting about the UKs comments and the US decision, believes Dr Rajiv Gupte, Distinguished Fellow, Forum for Integrated National Security ( FINS ). He added that Beijing might try to create pressure but nothing more than that.

Whereas regarding the provocation about Arunachal Pradesh ahead of G20, he thinks that irrespective of the summits dates China would have done these changes in the map. But such decisions just 10 days before a major international gathering create a stronger impact than usual. They will routinely keep doing it, he says.

Reuters reported that amidst this contention, Chinese President Xi Jinping is anticipated to skip the G20 meeting in New Delhi. Chinese Premier Li Qiang might be a fill-in on the president's behalf.

Dr Gupte mentions that this is measurely to avoid engagement and also due to the internal problems. Financial Times in its  Xi Jinping to skip G20 summit in India, western officials say wrote that Xis absence would be seen as a setback for India and also kill hopes of meeting with its American counterpart.

After taking office in 2013, Beijings President has attended all the G20 conferences.

China doesnt want India to have a successful G20  its that simple, Indrani Bagchi, chief executive of the Ananta Aspen Centre, an Indian think-tank, told Financial Times. It took India a while to realise that its rise would be opposed tooth and nail by Beijing, he added.
Voting in Singapores first contested presidential election since 2011 closed on Friday, a closely-watched three-way race in which former minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam is seeking to become the next Singapore-born Indian-origin head of the state.

The polls closed at 8 pm (local time). Ballot boxes are being sealed and transported to counting centres, where a sample count will be done to get an early indication of the possible outcome.

The country will wait for the returning officers announcement to know the election result, which could be different from the sample count.

Anish Patel, a 33-year-old Indian-origin sales engineer, said he voted for the first time in a presidential election and the voting process was "very fast".

He said he decided to cast his ballot at a late hour after hearing that his friends encountered queues in the morning.

The polls ended with over 2.7 million voters casting their ballots. This was Singapores first presidential election in 12 years as the last one in 2017  which was reserved for Malay candidates  was uncontested.

Incumbent President Madam Halimah Yacob was the only eligible candidate and she was sworn in after the Nomination Day on September 13, 2017. Halimah decided not to seek a second term.

The three candidates for the 2023 presidential election are former senior minister Tharman, former chief investment officer with the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), and former chief of the NTUC Income, a state-owned union-based insurance group, Tan Kin Lian.

Eligible voters started casting their ballots at 8 am when polling stations opened. Voting is compulsory for which the government has declared Friday a public holiday.

Singaporeans will get an early indication of the outcome of the presidential election at around 10 pm to 11 pm, before the final count is in.

The Elections Department (ELD) website will publish the results of a sample count, which is expected to be completed two to three hours after polling closes at 8 pm, according to a report by The Straits Times newspaper.

Apart from Tharman, two other candidates in the race for the countrys ninth President are Ng Kok Song, and Tan Kin Lian.

President Halimahs six-year term will end on September 13. She is the countrys eighth and first female president.

After a shaky start, plagued by issues with the voter registration system and subsequent long queues, lines at polling centres eased by around 10 am.

Among those who turned up at the polling stations early in the morning were President Halimah and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

A total of 31 special polling stations have been set up in nursing homes for the Presidential Election.

This is the first contested presidential election since 2011.

Tharman, 66, an Indian-origin Singapore-born economist, formally launched his presidential campaign in July with a pledge to evolve the countrys culture to keep it a "shining spot" in the world.

The three candidates have been chosen under strict criteria. Singapore has a stringent qualification process for candidates vying for the presidency.

Tharman, who joined politics in 2001, has served in the public sector and ministerial positions with the ruling Peoples Action Party (PAP) for over two decades.

Tharman supports his qualification to be the next president of the prosperous state by citing his international experience across various fields including pandemic preparedness and human development.

He also has experience in the government and with the city states foreign reserves, estimated to be over Singapore dollars 2 trillion.

Tan pointed to his 30-year experience as chief executive of NTUC Income.

While Ng and Tan have maintained their "no-political affiliation", Tharman, who served as Singapores Deputy prime minister between 2011-2019, resigned in July from public and political posts to run for the presidency.

Singapore in the past has had two Indian-origin presidents.

Sellapan Ramanathan, popularly known as S R Nathan, a Singaporean politician and civil servant of Tamil descent served as the president of Singapore. In 2009, Nathan defeated Benjamin Sheares to become Singapores longest-serving president.

Chengara Veetil Devan Nair, better known as Devan Nair, served as the third president of Singapore from 1981 until his resignation in 1985. Born in 1923 in Malacca, Malaysia, Nair was the son of a rubber plantation clerk, who was originally from Thalassery, Kerala.

There were several new features introduced this year to improve the voting process.

Voters can present their digital National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) and ePoll card via the Singpass app instead of bringing the physical cards to their polling stations.

A self-inking X-stamp to be used on the ballot paper was also introduced.

Indian-origin retiree Kathirithamby Ramakrishnan, 74, who was the first person in the queue with his wife and son at Chung Cheng High School (Main) in Goodman Road, said he had no problem with the new X-stamp because the ink was still fresh.

The marks made by the X-stamp are permanent, said the ELD.

The statement on Thursday was issued in response to false news resurfacing online that the new X-stamp provided for voting has been "treated with disappearing ink".

"The ELD would like to state categorically that this is not true," said the department.

The ink used in the X-stamp is oil-based and water- and temperature-resistant.

The stamp was introduced last month as a replacement for the X-pen, which was used in general elections 2020. The ELD had said some voters mistook the X-pen to be an actual pen and tried to write a cross with it.

First-time voter Aroni Sarkar, a student who voted at Katong Community Centre, said the process went smoothly. Staff at the polling station verified her NRIC and polling card manually after a lag in the digital system.

Sarkar, 23, and her parents arrived at 8.10 a.m. and queued for about 30 minutes. She said, "It was streamlined, focused, and smooth." The president has a mainly ceremonial role in the city-state with few powers and little say in public affairs.

However, the presidential election is being seen as a referendum on the party that has ruled the island nation for more than six decades. The next general election is due in Singapore by 2025.

Chinese people account for about 75 percent of Singapores multi-racial population. An estimated 13.5 percent are Malays and about nine per cent are Indians, with others making up the remainder.

This year, the election was opened to all ethnicities.

Singapore, with no resources, sits in the midst of resource-rich Asia and has grown into an Asian financial hub with links to the worlds two largest markets  China and India.

The first presidential election in Singapore was held on August 28, 1993.
Amid fears of a looming school bus strike, a top union official assured parents Friday that there will be no disruption in getting to and from school when classes resume at the end of next week, the Daily News has learned.

During a parent Zoom meeting, a statement was read by the parent-led advocacy group Parents to Improve School Transportation from Carolyn Rinaldi, chief of staff at Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 with an update on a potential school bus strike.

For now, there will be no disruption of busing for the start of the school year, read the memo. You have the Presidents word, it is business as usual next week. Thats the best I can tell you for now.

Reached by the Daily News after the meeting, the official clarified that it could not say what the status would be after next week, when students are only in classes on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 7 through 8. There were no guarantees offered for week 2 of the school year.

Until now, read the statement, the remaining companies have not taken our members needs or the needs of the public remotely seriously. The companies absence of a sense of urgency and fairness has brought us to this situation.

Efforts to divert a school bus strike had yet to result in a deal as of early Friday afternoon.

A potential strike could affect approximately 4,400 routes across all five boroughs and have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable students, according to city officials.

Roughly 25,000 students assigned to those routes have disabilities, data show. Families without a permanent address  including many migrant children  also qualify for busing to and from shelters and other locations.

City-contracted school bus companies and the ATU, which represents some members who voted to authorize a strike with a handful of businesses, are still negotiating  while upwards of 90,000 students remain in limbo ahead of the first day classes on Thursday.

Earlier Friday, Schools Chancellor David Banks, while saying he is hopeful about heading off a strike, stressed to reporters the situation could quickly become dire if negotiations fall short.

It is going to be a challenge. Any time you have a strike, it will be a challenge, Banks said at a public safety briefing. It will be a major, major inconvenience for all of our kids and their families, so were doing everything we can to avert it.

Schools Chancellor David Banks is pictured during a press conference at City Hall on June 26, 2023,

As of mid-day, the union had only reached a tentative agreement with one school bus company, though members have not yet voted to ratify the contract, according to the ATU. But union officials remained optimistic about getting a deal done.

Sara Catalinotto, founder of the advocacy group Parents to Improve School Transportation, said even if all contracts are ironed out, the usual preparations for the start of the school year fell by the wayside last week while bus companies were tied up in negotiations.

Its probably going to be somewhat more messy because they are doing last-minute organization, Catalinotto said.

City officials have outlined fallbacks in case students cannot get to school, including emergency MetroCards, reimbursements for other modes of transportation, and, in some cases, free rideshare.

We want to do whats right by our bus operators. They are moving our children to and from, said Mayor Adams. This is another day in the city, another issue that will come to a resolution. The resiliency of the city always amazes me.

Elaborating, Chancellor Banks noted that the Adams administration is not a direct party to the negotiations, as the drivers union is bargaining with vending companies contracted by the city.

Were trying to be as helpful as we can possibly be, said Banks. Im still hopeful that we will be able to avert a strike.

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said the department always steps up its presence in the subways around the start of the school year, which could play an outsized role in protecting students if they are off the school buses and on public transportation.

We have a big dedicated team looking out for our kids, he said. We will  have increased presence in our transit system, keeping watch over our students as they travel to and from school.

Without a solidified deal, parents were organizing a rally on Tuesday morning outside of the Department of Education headquarters in Lower Manhattan. But the advocates continued to sympathize with the school bus drivers and other staff.

Of course, a strike of any length will cause suffering for our children and families, Catalinotto said. But there must be something serious going on for people to consider going without a paycheck to make a point.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  Senate Committee on Basic Education chairman Sherwin Gatchalian said the new MATATAG K-10 program of the Department of Education (DepEd) should be immediately implemented to prevent students from dropping out.

Speaking to CNN Philippines The Source on Friday, Gatchalian explained that the dropout rate among Grades 1-3 students is around 30% to 40%.

Because our curriculum is so congested, a lot of our children get frustrated and they dont enter school anymore, he said, noting that what may happen is that the child only resumes schooling by the age of 12-14 through the Alternative Learning System (ALS).

Gatchalian pointed out that ALS is not the complete approach, so students still need to go through the basic education for a holistic development.

"I do agree with Congressman Roman (Romulo) na sana ginawa na kaagad (that this should have been implemented immediately] because of that [congestion], we are seeing dropouts," he said, referring to the new curriculum We can only arrest that dropouts if we decongest and launch the new curriculum, he said.

RELATED: Solon wants immediate full implementation of 'MATATAG' curriculum

Launched on a pilot basis in early August, the MATATAG program is a decongested curriculum for K-10 learners. Learning competencies were reduced to around 3,600 from over 11,000 in the latest curriculum to give more time for foundational skills for a better learning outcome.

The DepEd said it will undergo pilot implementation during school year 2023-2024 in 30 participating schools across six regions.

READ: Public school students welcome new school year as gov't pilot tests decongested curriculum

Phased rollout will start by SY 2024-2025 with Kinder, and Grade levels 1, 4, and 7. This will be followed by Grades 2, 5, and 8 by SY 2025-2026; Grades 3, 6, and 9 by SY 2026-2027; and Grade 10 by SY 2027-2028.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  Senate Committee on Basic Education chairman Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday said the Department of Education (DepEd) should streamline its process of hiring to immediately fill around 15,000 vacancies among teaching positions.

Speaking to CNN Philippines The Source, Gatchalian said the hiring of public teachers goes through a long process as it still has to pass through DepEds regional and central units, then to agencies not under it like the Civil Service Commission. This entire hiring process takes around 7 months, the senator noted.

So our simple suggestion is why dont you talk to the other agencies and shorten it because we need the teachers tomorrow, Gatchalian said. In terms of budget, the money is allocated, but were not hiring fast enoughtherefore were not fulfilling all the required teachers in our schools.

The senator said there are efforts from DepEd to improve the process, but lawmakers will still look into it through the budget deliberations for the department next week.

Gatchalian is also pushing to increase the salary of teachers to at least make it competitive in the ASEAN region.

He noted that the entry-level salary of public school teachers in the country ranges from 27,000 to 28,000, one of the lowest in the region and far from Vietnams 35,000 to 45,000.

The lawmaker hopes to increase the range to 32,000 to 35,000, but it is also important to make sure that private institutions are able to catch up.

Increasing the salary will also prevent Filipino teachers from getting poached to work overseas, he added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  The per kilogram cost of tomatoes in Metro Manila has spiked by up to 81 more compared to its price last week, Aug. 25, according to the latest monitoring of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The 210 per kilogram cost of tomatoes is based on the price movement in 12 wet markets in Metro Manila: Commonwealth, Guadalupe, Las Pinas, Malabon, Marikina, Mega Q-Mart, Muntinlupa, Munoz, Pasay, Pasig, Pritil, Quinta, and San Andres.

The price of tomatoes has gone up gradually since April, when it was at 60  its lowest recorded cost in 2023.

During that month, tomatoes could not be sold in markets and were instead thrown away due to oversupply.

However, the price jumped to 120 per kilogram in July  45 more compared to June.

The increase was attributed to the agricultural damage caused by Typhoon Egay, which hit several parts of the country, particularly northern Luzon, in late July.

In its latest bulletin, the DA said Super Typhoon Goring logged 375 million worth of agriculture damage.

Goring left the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Thursday.
Baguio City (CNN Philippines, September 1)  United States Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson reaffirmed on Friday her countrys commitment to strengthen and improve its military alliance with the Philippines to address emerging and new challenges.

During a post-independence day celebration in Baguio City, the U.S. envoy said that the partnership between Manila and Washington is evolving.

She also cited the gains of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the U.S. as the two countries recently marked 72 years since it was signed.

What can we expect? Certainly another 72 years, at least, Carlson told reporters on Thursday.

We are very honored to reiterate our commitment to that ironclad alliance. The fact that its evolving, our challenges are evolving and we see that after 72 years, the Mutual Defense Treaty really stood the test of time, the envoy added.

Carlson said that Washington remains committed to helping the Philippines modernize its armed forces.

With the goal of modernizing the Philippine armed forces, improving our interoperability and defending the alliance, defending the territory of the Philippines to preserving lives and livelihood, she said.

The envoy said that in this year alone, around 500 military activities were lined up for the two countries.

Carlson said that Philippine and US officials will meet this month to discuss and plan the next lineup of activities for next year.

The Mutual Defense Board and Security Engagement Board convenes yearly to discuss and plan the two countries' activities for defense and security cooperation. The activities include joint military exercises and capability building in counterterrorism, maritime security, cyber security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and other national security interests.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 1)  Five members of the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) were killed in Quezon province on Friday after a gunfight with alleged members of the New Peoples Army (NPA), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said, citing initial reports.

According AFP Southern Luzon Command spokesperson Dennis Cana, the clash occurred at around 7 a.m. in Sitio Pagasa, Barangay Mapulot in the town of Tagkawayan, as government forces were conducting patrol operations.

The armed encounter also left three others wounded, including two CAGFU members and one soldier, Cana said.

The spokesman noted that the AFP has yet to receive a formal report on the incident, including information on whether or not there were also rebels killed or wounded.

He added that pursuit operations against the alleged NPA members continue.
A former NBC intern claims that Bill Cosby drugged, groped and may have raped her while she was unconscious after a cast party of his highly successful family sitcom, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Jennifer Watling said in her suit that when she was an NBC intern in 1984  and Cosby was known as the Greatest Television Dad whose show became No. 1 in ratings five years in a row  the disgraced comic befriended her.

Cosby fostered a mentoring and fatherly relationship with Ms. Watling at the studio where The Cosby Show was filmed, according to the suit.

He included her in cast meetings on the set and was generally warm and welcoming, Watling said.

After the recording of one episode, the comedian invited her to a cast party at the studio where she said she was struck by a severe headache.

Cosby offered her two pills that he said were aspirin and she took them.

The pills that Cosby gave to Ms. Watling were not aspirin, but rather were an unknown intoxicant that had the ability to (and did) incapacitate Ms. Watling, she claimed in court papers.

She said that she blacked out during the party and when she woke up, Cosby was groping her.

When Ms. Watling awoke, [she] was lying on the couch in Cosbys dressing room at the studio where The Cosby Show was filmed, with Cosby next to her, fondling her breasts under her shirt, according to the suit.

Watling blacked out again and when she came to she was lying naked in the bed of a man whom she believes was with Cosby at the party, she said.

She physically felt as though she had been vaginally penetrated while incapacitated, she charged in the suit.

A spokesman for Cosby did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Watling, who is suing under the Adult Survivors Act, left NBC in September 1984, the same month that the show premiered. The New York law gives victims until Nov. 24 this year to file a claim for past sexual abuse.

The network did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 85-year-old Cosby, who was a pioneering black comic and actor, was sued by nine women in Arizona in June who claimed the same behavior as Watling.

He has been accused by no fewer than 60 women of similar behavior and served three years in a Pennsylvania prison after he was convicted in 2018 for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman.

The conviction was overturned in 2021 by the states highest court, which found that the prosecutor had violated Cosbys civil rights by trying him after promising not to bring a criminal case against him in exchange for testimony in a civil case.

Watlings lawyer Jordan Merson has set up a web page reaching out to Cosbys sexual assault victims.

The attorney did not return a call for comment.
Remember the old riddle that asks how far you can run into a forest? The answer is halfway, because after that, you're running out of the woods.

That's where Colorado's political juggernaut is poised.

Marking the precise midpoint between last year's general election and next year's state primary, Sept. 1 is the day when the next major election begins to draw ever closer than the last, receding one.

Of course, politics is a nonstop, year-round affair now. Colorado's calendar is crowded with elections, none of which can be considered minor or inconsequential.

From the Nov. 8, 2022, general election  when voters elected a governor, U.S. senator and a full slate of federal, state and county officials  to the state-level primary on June 24, 2024, Coloradans will have had a chance to cast ballots in numerous municipal elections, November's upcoming statewide off-year election and the presidential primary in March.

This spring, Denver and Colorado Springs elected new mayors, and in a couple of months on Nov. 7 Aurora voters will decide that city's direction, as will voters in cities, towns and school boards across the state. Statewide, voters will get to weigh in at the same time on Proposition HH, a controversial ballot question involving property taxes and the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Fast forward to March 5, and Colorado and at least 14 other states and territories voting for the major parties' presidential nominees on Super Tuesday.

The next main event, however, looms a few months later on the last Tuesday in June, when voters will pick the Republicans and Democrats bound for the November election for the U.S. House, the state legislature, county officers and district attorneys.

While it's still early  a lot can happen in the nearly 10 months until Colorado's 2024 primary  the contours of next year's statewide and congressional contests are already beginning to emerge.

Colorado's sparse 2024 election lineup only features a handful of races that can be considered competitive at this point, with a pair of U.S. House races topping the list.

It only happens every 12 years that state voters are faced with as few top-ticket choices as they'll have next year, when neither a U.S. Senate seat nor Colorado's executive offices  governor, attorney general, secretary of state and state treasurer  are up for election.

The state's 10 electoral votes will be on the ballot in the race for the White House, but barring the wildly unforeseen, they won't be up for grabs. Colorado has voted for the Democratic nominee in each of the last four presidential elections  including handing President Joe Biden a 13-point win over former President Donald Trump in 2020. There's no sign that might change next year.

Other than the presidential race, Colorado voters will only find a single statewide competition on their ballots next November, for the open University of Colorado Board of Regent's at-large seat.

The part-time, unpaid position rarely attracts the kind of attention it might next year when there won't be many other races vying for the spotlight  political news abhors a vacuum  but so far it isn't shaping up to be a barnburner.

In its current configuration, the nine-member CU board elects one regent from each of the state's eight congressional districts and a single regent at-large to six-year terms.

The race could hold at least symbolic importance for Colorado's beleaguered Republicans, since an at-large regent seat is the last statewide office won by a Republican nominee and the last statewide office held by the party.

Douglas County entrepreneur Heidi Ganahl, who lost last year's race for governor to Democrat Jared Polis, was the only Colorado Republican to come out on top on the statewide ballot in 2016 when she won the at-large regent's race. She held the office until after last year's election, when the at-large seat she occupied disappeared, a casualty of redistricting after Colorado gained an additional U.S. House seat and the number of at-large seats dropped from two to one.

Until a couple of weeks ago, Democrat Elliott Hood, a Boulder attorney who specializes in education law, was the only declared candidate for the remaining at-large seat. The seat is currently held by Democrat Lesley Smith, who is running for a state House seat rather than seek a second term.

A Republican named Dennis Smith, who lists a Denver address, filed paperwork to run for the seat in late August, but neither the state GOP nor other Republican regents were aware of his candidacy this week, so it remains to be seen whether he'll give Hood a run for his money.

Leading Republicans have recently told Colorado Politics that they're working to recruit a regent candidate, so it's possible Smith could face a primary. While Hood has raised big bucks for the regent's race, it isn't too late for another Democrat to get in.

There's no doubt, however, that Colorado's two battleground congressional districts will take up any slack if the state's presidential and at-large regent's races turn out to be snoozers.

Ranked among the closest congressional races in the country last year, Colorado's 3rd and 8th districts  the former represented by Silt Republican Lauren Boebert and the latter represented by Thornton Democrat Yadira Caraveo  promise to be home to some of next year's most expensive and hard-fought U.S. House races. Both are considered key to determining which party controls the chamber after the election.

The two seats are considered toss-ups by national election forecasters and House Democrats' and Republicans' congressional campaign arms, and both look like they'll feature high-profile primaries.

In the 3rd CD, which spans most of the Western Slope and parts of Southern Colorado, Boebert, the state's most prominent Republican, is seeking a third term after winning her second by a mere 546 votes  the closest scrape nationwide in a House district  over Democrat Adam Frisch, the wealthy former Aspen city councilor who announced in February that he's seeking a rematch.

Boebert's and Frisch's fundraising has so far lapped the state's other congressional incumbents' and challengers'  Frisch has raised nearly $4.4 million and had almost $2.5 million on hand at the end of the last reporting period, while Boebert brought in a little over $1.5 million and had almost that much on hand  both are facing primaries so won't be able to bank everything for the home stretch next summer and fall.

Neither are strangers to primaries. Boebert first won the seat in 2020 after ousting five-term incumbent Scott Tipton in the GOP primary, and last year she prevailed by roughly two-to-one over then-state Sen. Don Coram, a moderate Republican from Montrose. Frisch won the 2022 nomination by the skin of his teeth in a three-way primary, defeating Pueblo community organizer Sol Sandoval by just 289 votes.

Frisch, who calls himself a conservative alternative to Boebert, drew a primary challenge a month ago from Grand Junction Mayor Anna Stout. She told Colorado Politics that she doesn't expect to match her rival's jaw-dropping fundraising, but instead plans to contrast her roots in the community and record in the district's second-largest city, behind Pueblo.

Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd jumped in the GOP primary in mid-August, backed by some of the old-fashioned Republicans who ruled Colorado a generation ago, including his campaign co-chairs, former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown and former state House Majority Leader Tim Foster, a former president of Colorado Mesa University.

Although the 3rd CD leans Republican, with GOP candidates historically running an average of 9 points ahead of Democrats among its voters in benchmark races, the Cook Political Report this summer moved the district to toss-up territory, citing Boebert's continued combative approach to politics, her close call in the last go-around and Frisch's massive fundraising lead.

Colorado's other sure-fire competitive congressional seat is also its newest, gained last year during redistricting due to the state's growing population. Covering parts of Adams, Weld and Larimer counties north of the Denver metro area, the 8th CD is nearly evenly divided between Democratic and Republican voters and has a history of going its own way, having favored Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.

Democrat Caraveo, a former state lawmaker, narrowly won her first term last year by a slim 1,632-vote margin over state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican.

It's nearly certain that Caraveo won't face a primary next year, but it's a different story on the Republican side.

The day after Kirkmeyer announced in mid-July that she wasn't going to run again in the district, Weld County Commissioner Scott James, a veteran radio host and then-chairman of the Weld County GOP, threw his hat in the ring, but he isn't expected to have the field to himself for long.

State Rep. Gabe Evans, a first-term Republican from Fort Lupton, is widely expected to launch his candidacy right after Labor Day.

Republicans tell Colorado Politics there's a good chance the former police officer and Army combat veteran will soon be joined in the primary by Steve Moreno, a former two-term Weld County commissioner and three-term county clerk and recorder, making for an competitive there-way race for the nomination.

Ernest Luning has covered politics for Colorado Politics and its predecessor publication, The Colorado Statesman, since 2009. He's analyzed the exploits, foibles and history of state campaigns and politicians since 2018 in the weekly Trail Mix column.

Dave Williams reveals the Colorado GOP's 'Most Wanted Democrats' | TRAIL MIX The head of Colorado's Republican Party did something earlier this month that political bosses rarely do when he publicly unveiled the state p
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An off-duty NYPD officer who clashed with two brothers during a caught-on-camera road-rage incident in Queens accidentally shot himself during the struggle, according to court papers.

During the middle-of-the-street scuffle for his gun with one of the brothers, Officer Christopher Campos, 27, fired a shot that wounded himself in the leg and struck one of his assailants, Edwin Rivera, 32, in the hand.

Officer Christopher Campos is discharged from Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens on Friday.

According to a criminal complaint, the wounded suspects brother, Shawn Rivera, 27, was on the ground choking Campos before the outnumbered officer fired the shot.

All three combatants were hospitalized with various injuries. Campos was released Friday from Elmhurst Hospital.

Edwin Rivera, left, and Shawn Rivera are walked from the 108th Precinct station house in Queens on Thursday.

The brothers were charged at their arraignment Friday with first-degree assault, assault on a police officer, strangulation and criminal possession of a weapon. Both men were jailed pending court hearings on Tuesday, records show.

We will not allow our streets to devolve into the Wild West. said Queens DA Melinda Katz. The rule of law and the officers who enforce it must be respected.

After clearly identifying himself as a police officer, this off-duty cop was attacked while trying to make an arrest, and the charges reflect the seriousness of the assault against him, Katz said.

The fracas began around 12:50 p.m. Wednesday in Maspeth when Campos, who is assigned to the 81st Precinct, was driving eastbound on the Queens Blvd. service road in his personal vehicle.

Campos came upon a white minivan blocking the roadway, officials said.

The cop got around the car and continued on to Queens Blvd. and 70th St., where the minivan and the cops car met up again and words were exchanged again. At the same time, one of the brothers came up behind Campos car and smashed its back window with his hand, according to the complaint.

Campos told authorities he was trying to arrest Shawn Rivera for breaking the window of his Kia, and that Edwin Rivera intervened.

Cell phone video of the dispute shows the officer with his gun drawn, identifying himself as a police officer.

But the two brothers apparently didnt believe him, the video shows. Youre a cop? Edwin Rivera shouted at Campos. Wheres your badge? Wheres your badge?

You got no badge or nothing, Shawn Rivera said in the video.

Campos badge is not visible in the video.

NYPD officers are pictured at Queens Blvd. and 70th St. in Maspeth on Wednesday.

After the gunshot went off, Edwin Rivera cried out in pain.

Edwin Rivera was struck in the hand by the bullet. He jumped off the pile and hobbled away to the closest hospital, said police. Shawn Rivera had cuts on his hand from where he punched the officers window.

A lawyer for the brothers, Lance Lazzaro, said Campos should be arrested, and that he should have shown his badge.

I think he could have diffused that situation if he had just acted properly, Lazzaro said. Instead, he takes out a gun and brings it to another level on two people who have never been in trouble before in their lives.

Instead the cops protect their own, the DA protects the cops, and the judge gets nervous when he sees all of that in the audience, the lawyer said. And its just plain wrong. The cops do anything to protect their own.

A special prosecutor should be appointed because its a police-involved shooting, the defense lawyer said.

Lazzaro said he was also disappointed that his clients were remanded without bail.

You dont single this case out for two people with no criminal record whatsoever, Lazzaro said. They didnt have a weapon on them. They didnt look to fight with this cop. This cop created this situation.

Police sources have said both brothers have criminal records for assault, menacing, drunken driving, reckless endangerment and driving without a license.
Reports claim Apple is about to cease offering human tech support via X, the service formerly known as Twitter, its own online forum, and YouTube beginning Oct. 1. Users will still be able to access automated systems, but those replies will send you elsewhere to access human support.

Apple support staff who have been providing human assistance via those two channels will be transitioned to phone-based support roles, the reports claim.

Was this an ill-fated love affair?

On the surface, this is a weird decision given Apples visible commitment to omnichannel customer services. The company has offered customer support via X/Twitter since 2016, when most customer-facing entities began doing so. At that time, customer service teams everywhere flocked to the platform to open up direct and immediate communications with customers.

Customers became engaged and these days around 79% of people posting a query on social media expect a response within 24 hours. At least one survey showed 75% of consumers have already used Twitter/X to interact with a brand.

The social media service even had an @TwitterBusiness channel through which it evangelized such use and explained why it had become an essential part of the omnichannel marketing mix. That channels Twitter handle no longer exists, which is unlikely to reassure brands using the service.

Chaos isn't good for business

There has been no end to controversy since Elon Musk, the new owner of X, took over the company last year. Decision-making has at times seemed erratic or unfair, and the commitment to securing the platform and protecting people from various forms of online harm appears weak.

These and other changes at the company mean many major enterprises have changed their mind concerning customer engagement via the service. Big names such as NPR have stopped using the service at all in protest over decisions made by the service.

Many industry observers now question the transparency and trust commitment X shows, causing them to revaluate customer support through that channel.

No fly zone

In May, Air France and KLM stopped handling customer service requests there, pointing to recent changes that meant requests made via the service were no longer accessible via their own internal customer care systems. That was probably as a result of the decision to cut off API access, which broke a multitude of third-party apps.

While the focus was on apps such as Tweetbot, those apps also extended to internal enterprise social media tools, such as customer care. Its plausible to imagine Apples own systems were similarly affected.

If that is the case, its clear why Apple is abandoning the platform. This doesnt explain the decision to quit YouTube or its own support forums, but perhaps the demand doesnt exist once Twitter contacts are removed.

Ultimately, however, decisions made by the big social networks have seemed controversial in recent years. From the furor around misuse of data on Facebook to influencing democratic votes to the constant friction emanating from Twitter/X, it's arguable these powerful networks failed to build an atmosphere of trust.

Manufacturing consent

That lack of trust is visible each time a troll account makes an ad hominem attack. This environmental toxicity is not the kind of space within which companies can easily do business, and it is doubly hard to secure customer-facing communications when little is done to police against unauthorized use of brand identity.

Were all aware by now of the many different approaches used to defraud people online, and the use of a fake brand support page seems a viable way to extract payment information from people in crisis who may not be thinking straight.

It is perhaps with these constraints in mind Apple has chosen to abandon customer service contact via Twitter; if that is indeed the case, its a shame.

The end of the omnichannel?

It means social media has failed in its purpose to become a talking shop for the world and has instead become a place more reflective of the destructive side of the human planet.

Who wants to do business there? Not Apple, by the looks of it.

Will its decision to end such support spark an avalanche of social media customer support quitters? Given the status of the company as a corporate thought leader, it might. And no, it won't end the use of the omnichannel, just erode one or two of the channels that once formed part of it.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolics bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
US state of Georgia officially declares October as Hindu Heritage Month

The US state of Georgia has officially declared October as Hindu Heritage Month to acknowledge the contributions of the vibrant Hindu American community in the state.

The sprawling Swamynarayan temple complex in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, is a major centre of Hindu culture in America. Photo courtesy: Instagram/aniketmalhotra

In a proclamation, Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp designated October as Hindu Heritage Month. His statement said that Hindu heritage would be celebrated in the state of Georgia by focusing on the Hindu culture and the diverse spiritual traditions rooted in India.

The vibrant Hindu American community has contributed tremendously to the vitality of the State of Georgia by enriching the lives of its citizens, the proclamation, dated August 23, read.

CoHNA (Coalition of Hindus of North America), a Hindu advocacy group in the United States of America, also welcomed the move and thanked Governor Kemp for recognising the Hindu community, which, it said, was a significant contributor to diverse sectors.

In a proclamation, Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp designated October as Hindu Heritage Month. Photo courtesy: X/@GovKemp

This was made possible by the untiring dedication of our friends at the Hindus of Georgia PAC. Hinduism has contributed greatly to the cultural milieu of America, said the Hindu group on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Earlier this year, the Georgia Assembly passed a resolution condemning Hinduphobia, making it the first American state to take such a legislative measure.

Condemning Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu bigotry, the resolution noted the Hindu communitys contributions of Yoga, ayurveda, meditation, food, music, and arts in enriching the cultural fabric of American society and enhancing the lives of millions.

While CoHNA acknowledged the recognition by Georgia, it expressed dissatisfaction over the anti-caste discrimination bill passed by the California State Assembly this week. It is gratifying to see Georgia recognise the contribution of Hindu-Americans and Hinduism at the same time that California is targeting us with #SB403, CoHNA wrote on X.

The bill passed by the California Assembly seeks to combat caste discrimination and strengthen protections for marginalised communities across the state.

According to the Hindu American Foundation, Hindu Heritage Month (HHM) is a global movement highlighting Hinduism as a tradition and its contributions to human society.

October is significant because it is generally the month of Hindu festivities such as Navaratri (also celebrated as Durga Puja) and Diwali, though the dates differ from year to year.

While Hinduism is the third-largest religion in the world, with one billion people across the globe identifying as Hindus, approximately three million reside in the United States of America.
Installing residential solar panels can cost from $10,000 to $30,000 or more, although individual costs vary significantly.

Are solar panels worth it in Texas?

The majority of Texas solar customers weve talked to over the past two years would recommend it to a friend.

Its worth its weight in gold, according to Cesar in Pflugerville, whose electric bill went down by $60 or $70.

Lynda in Austin told us her electric bill has been around $3 and added that it's been great. It worked out exactly what we expected. Becca in Fort Worth has saved like over $7,000 since going solar.

Others highlight the environmental benefits: It seems that the effects of global warming are accelerated and extreme, Ed in Flower Mound told us. Everyone should do their part to reduce greenhouse gasses. Rooftop solar panels are our contribution to this effort.

In Texas, we get plenty of sun, so there's no reason not to take advantage of it.  Anthony in Center, TX

Of course, not every Texan who goes solar is completely satisfied. Some told us about sales reps making false promises or frustrations with their electricity companies. Billing issues and poor buyback rates are the primary pain points.

Theres an overarching positive sentiment in the state about the potential of solar energy, however.

In Texas, we get plenty of sun, so there's no reason not to take advantage of it, Anthony in Center said.

The only thing I don't like is the battery is so expensive, Haojun in Houston said. Back in 2019, the backup battery was cheap. Right now, if I want to install two batteries, it will cost like $30,000 up. That's a lot.

 MORE: Is it really worth it?

Do I need a solar backup battery in Texas?

A solar battery backup gives you an extra layer of insurance against grid vulnerabilities. It also gives you more energy independence and potential cost savings. It has many advantages, particularly in Texas, thanks to the states unique energy infrastructure.

The states grid has faced challenges (like in early 2021, when winter storms caused widespread power outages). Solar panels with battery storage offer Texans a level of energy independence and resilience against such grid failures.

I've been very satisfied going solar, Ted in San Antonio told us. But if you don't go with the battery pack, it's a waste.

Keith in Baird also recommends getting a battery: Today, a truck ran through the power line and it knocked all the electricity out. Ours just barely clicked, he said. The battery gives five hours, which is more than plenty. The techs fixed the power line before we ran out of electricity.

If you don't go with the battery pack, it's a waste.  Ted in San Antonio

There are two reasons I'm going for solar, Paul in Rowlett told us. One is to reduce my energy cost. Second is to have a battery backup. Essentially, I'm not building any system without a battery backup.

The only downside is that they're expensive and not automatically included in your quote. I assumed the battery would come with it because I kept telling them that's what I wanted it for, Bill in San Marcos said. But after I sent the paperwork, I didn't get the battery.

 COMPARE: Best solar batteries
Bronx bassist Max Santos, who co-founded the wildly popular bachata group Aventura, was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend in her apartment, officials said Thursday.

Santos, known by his stage name Max Agende, launched into a violent, drunken tirade Wednesday morning after he came to the Bronx home and attacked his girlfriend in front of her children, threatening to kill her, court papers stated.

You better leave because Im going to kill you, Santos told her, according to a criminal complaint filed in Bronx Criminal Court.

He allegedly raged, Youre lucky to be alive. I was going to kill you Saturday.

Santos, 41, was arraigned and released on his own recognizance.

According to the complaint, Santos grabbed the victim by both arms and pushed her before striking her twice in the face with an open fist.

The attack left her with substantial pain and swelling in her face, the document stated.

Santos also broke a television, glass table lamps and dishes during the meltdown, according to the complaint. The court document said he threw cups and glass at his girlfriend.

Santos was charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal mischief and endangering the welfare of a child. He could not be reached for comment.

Santos group brought the sound behind bachata, a blend of European, Indigenous and African music native to the Dominican Republic, to the U.S. with chart-topping hits like 2005s Ella y Yo, according to Allmusic.

By 2007, Aventura was among the biggest and best-selling Latin groups in the music industry.

Santos has since teamed with artists such as Bad Bunny, Ludacris, Akon and Wyclef Jean.
- Up to 16% increase in performance for Starfield @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 on the Radeon RX 7900XTX GPU, versus the previous software driver version 23.8.1

- Up to 16% increase in performance for Starfield @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 on the Radeon RX 7900XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 23.8.1

- Application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Baldur's Gate 3 with DirectX 11 API set on certain systems with Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs.

- Performance Metrics Overlay may report N/A for FPS on various games.

- Audio may intermittently become out of sync with video when recording from AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition with AV1 codec.

- Display may not reach correct brightness with certain games on select SAMSUNG FreeSync Premium Pro monitors or TVs with local dimming setting enabled.

propose de nouveaux drivers, les. Sans surprise, ils ont pour vocation de vous offrir des performances optimales dans le jeu Starfield !Pour les telecharger, c'est ici
Some time ago, we here at Cracked published a scathing sociological study into the state of Americas pee-pee and poo-poo bowls. And while, like the last sliver of toilet paper hanging from a roll, what we saw was disturbingly lacking, its not like the US is the only nation in the world that is waddling towards an uncertain sanitary future. Other countries have their own toilet cultures to cope with, and the only thing they seem to have in common is how weird everyone else thinks they are. For example...

4 In Germany, Toilets Arent Just For Pooping, But Inspection Of The Self If inspecting these esoteric, traditionalistic, foreign and domestic sanitary habits tells us anything its good to take a good look at your toilet routines every once and a while. But theres no need to make a habit out of it -- lest you end up with an overly rigid poop-inspection culture. The Germanic peoples have a long history of being slightly obsessed with poop. That hasnt just influenced how they look at medicine or money or music or God but even how they look at toilets themselves. Enter the Flachspuler or shallow flusher, a type of German toilet that for centuries has caused upset for its tourists, ex-pats, and dialectic materialist philosophers. As opposed to the bullseye basins of Western European toilets or the above-ground swimming pools Americans insist on filling their toilets with, inside the Flachspuler toilet bowl is just more toilet bowl, with only a slight drainage opening at the front. So unless you can curve your turds like youre in a deleted bathroom scene from the movie Wanted, your business will lounge around on the poop deck instead of immediately sailing down to the sewer. Thats the point. In and after the Middle Ages, central Europe had serious intestinal parasite problems. This encouraged Germans to get real casual real fast about handling and inspecting their poop. And since stool inspection is all about quantity over quality, it made sense to create a toilet that lets you do a quick doublecheck your Wurst to see if its time for a visit to the doctor. Advertisement After you send off your thoroughly inspected turd by pressing the Big Flush button (WHICH IS ONLY FOR NUMBER TWOS AND POSSIBLY NUMBER FIVES IF IN POSSESSION OF THE CORRECT PAPERS) the ritual still isnt done. Unlike in every single guys bathroom, that alien personal massager-looking toilet brush next to the bowl isnt just there for show. Keenly aware that skidmarks are the one (one) downside of the toilet shelf, German toilet etiquette insists that users clean the toilet after every single use, leaving it in the same sterile lab conditions as befits the next amateur scatologist. Flammingo, Wikimedia Commons You peek for the glory of the colon, you clean for the glory of Koln. Luckily, German Flachspulers are on the way out and becoming rarer and rarer to spot in modern buildings. Not that you should be spotting anything anyway. Another strict toilet rule thats on the rise is that anyone entering a German toilet should immediately face away from the toilet and sit down on it. This has been a decade-long grassroots campaign to condition people with pee-pees to sit on the toilet even if they just have to go number one. This ruthlessly efficient attempt to eliminate loud peeing, inaccurate aiming, and splash back had even led to the creation of pressure-sensitive toilet seat alarms or toilet ghosts which very loudly haunt those who refuse to bend the knee. Ebay Youd be sick of splash back too if all your toilets were all rim and no net. Advertisement

3 Some Local Toilets Arent Equipped To Handle Toilet Paper America and other sensitively bottomed industrialized nations are in a losing battle against fatbergs, the subterranean sludge titans borne of flushed wet wipes that are slowly scuttling their sophisticated sewer systems. But it turns out that dealing with subterranean sludge titans because peoples bum-bums are too sensitive for toilet paper is still a first-world problem. Advertisement As opposed to most toilet paper-heavy cultures, many parts of Mexico have a strict no flushing TP rule. Instead, used scraps of toilet paper are to be discarded in a trash can like all the other scraps. The reason for this is obvious. Mexico isnt exactly flush with sanitation funds -- and that public project money has an easier time finding its way into someones pocket than in their pipes. As a result, public sewer systems have such old and frail poop chutes they easily strain under the weight of a few wadded-up balls of paper. Whats less obvious is why Mexico, but also many other places like Greece, Beijing, Ukraine, and Egypt, have nevertheless clung to toilet paper like a shoe that knows its wearer is on the way to an important job interview. Lou Stejskal, Flickr Or why they haven't intentionally burned down their bathrooms and started over. Advertisement But all of these countries have something else in common aside from having to handle their wastebaskets wearing Medieval plague beaks; theyre all victims of sanitary imperialism. As former colonies or poor neighbors of the U.S. and the UK, they were prime targets of these world powers push to make their pooping habits the world standard in the early twentieth century. Through world fairs, model homes and, most importantly, the moving pictures, the West threw its flush toilets ticker tape parades and touted them as one of the benchmarks of a civilized society. Unfortunately for those nations on the periphery of this influence sphere, America forgot to mention that their old sewer systems were in no way compatible with the new model -- thereby creating a double system far too expensive to adapt in either direction-- a unique kind of frustration felt only by the people of Mexico and anyone who has ever upgraded to a new Macbook. Advertisement

2 Italys Public Bathrooms Are A Mess (Of Different Ideas) While the state of American public toilets is nothing to brag about, at least you know what youre going to get: An unflushed toilet, one strip of single-ply and so many gloryholes honeycombed into the stalls it no longer counts as anonymous sex. That reassuring consistency cannot be found in Italy, where public toilets are like a box of chocolates -- you never know what youre going to get. Advertisement Stepping into an Italian public toilet is a bit of a crapshoot. Firstly, the chance of you walking into the correct one is about 50-50 since almost no bathrooms are furnished with signs. And in an act of language trolling, those who do will either read Signore or Signori so you better did some intense Duolingoing on the flight over. Once youve stepped through the door, the confusion doesnt end. Locking an Italian stall is a challenge in itself with many still using old-fashioned keys or very oddly placed padlocks. And thats if they close at all, as many tourist sites warn that theres a good chance youll find the stall door with a busted lock or even with the door kicked in. Advertisement But for most Western tourists, the real horror kicks in when they turn to look at the toilet -- or lack thereof. A not-insignificant amount Italian restrooms will be un bagno alla turca which sounds like a nice day at a spa but is in fact their word for a squat toilet, the slightly decorated holes in the ground. Manage to find a flush toilet (one of the 44-ish different sized ones as the country has no standardization) and youll still not get to rest your bones. There's also a good chance the actual toilet seat will be missing meaning its time to hover like an Italian mother over her daughter-in-laws subpar ragu. Marco Chiesa, Flickr If at this point youre wondering about the TP situation youre not asking the right questions. This game of restroom roulette defies the expectations many people have of Italy. Not only does the European nation live on tourism, but its households are known for their elaborate personal bathrooms with bidets as glorious as the trumpets atop the Trevi fountain. Its also a country that, lest we forget, has a long and proud history of pioneering public bathrooms that stretches back to when Ancient Italians vied for communal turd sponges and did some bathroom stretching of their own in front of friends, Romans and countrymen. Stefano Bolognini, Wikimedia Commons I said ears, not rears. -- Mark Anthony, 44 BCE. Advertisement Advertisement But its exactly this long, intermingling history that has caused Italys dump-diversity. The Mediterranean region couldnt be more culturally and religiously diverse if they brought back Zoroastrianism (which had its own song and dance when it came to toilet regulations). As a result, like nearly two-thirds of humanity, the idea of rubbing your bare ass on a wood plank before dabbing your dirty cheeks with a thin napkin isnt as ingrained into South Europeans as the rest of the continent. So while many tourists sites will endlessly speculate why Italian bathrooms are so crap, often taking the lazy route by blaming it on laziness or corruption or even blaming the lack of toilet seats on tourists breaking them by squatting on bowls like guano gargoyles, the real reason is much simpler: Italians, and most of their visitors, dont see anything broken toilets; they simply see toilets that dont cater to the sensibilities of a very loud farting minority. Luckily, those insistent on sticking to their own tastes abroad can still find American-style toilets in either McDonalds or the Vatican -- whichever they feel more comfortable riding out a grosso logjam. Advertisement
Since the inception of cinema, comedy has been used as an escape from the horrors of the world: the senseless violence, the endless wars, the rapidly depleting ozone layer. But black comedies get a kick out of these darker subjects, and employ gallows humor to deal with such taboo topics. One of the most popular taboos to be hammed up for comedic effect? Murder.

While it cant be overstated that murder is no laughing matter, for these five films it actually is

5 April Fools Day A slasher-comedy set around April Fools Day sounds far-fetched until you remember that just about every holiday has a similar movie in the same vein. The 1986 film chronicles a group of horny college students as they take to an island estate during April Fools Day weekend just to be plucked off one by one. The fun comes courtesy of a very polarizing ending that you have to see to believe.

4 Clue Advertisement Advertisement Inspired by the board game of the same name, the 1980s cult classic brought six colorfully named guests to an isolated mansion for a dinner that quickly devolves into a murder mystery with a heaping side of blackmail. While everyone clearly has a deliriously good time in their roles, nobody holds a candlestick in the billiard room to Tim Currys delightfully nefarious portrayal of Wadsworth the Butler.

3 Happy Death Day Advertisement Advertisement Existing somewhere between Groundhog Day and Scream, Christopher Landons slasher-comedy may not have reinvented the time-loop-film wheel, but he and writer Scott Lobdell did take a stab at it  and boy was there a lot of stabbing. The film follows a college student who is murdered on her birthday and winds up trapped in the aforementioned time-loop until she can unmask the killer and stop her death. Thanks to a committed performance from final girl Jessica Rothe, the films success spawned a sequel in 2019 with a third installment in active development.

2 Serial Mom Advertisement Advertisement Moms do a lot for us  they pack our school lunches, they teach us valuable life lessons and they fight ruthlessly to defend our honor. But sometimes moms are so passionate about protecting us that they accidentally murder someone and, in turn, develop an insatiable bloodlust. Thats at least the case in John Waters black comedy about the lengths a mother will go to for her teenage sons.
A Bronx man found shot in the head in his apartment two weeks ago has died, according to police who apprehended the shooter after he fled to Pennsylvania.

Cops responding to a report of an assault inside a first-floor apartment on East Mosholu Parkway South near E. 204th St. in Jerome Park on Aug. 20 found Phillip Martinez, 36, sprawled out on the ground, shot in the head, cops said.

EMS rushed him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died of his injuries three days later.

A man who had been shot in the head on Aug. 20 in an apartment building along East Mosholu Parkway South in the Bronx has died, officials said.

Investigators quickly identified Jason Soto, 44, as the man who shot Martinez, but Soto had already fled the city, cops said.

A day after the shooting, Soto was apprehended in Ben Salem, P.A., some 90 miles outside the Bronx, after being pulled over for a traffic violation, cops said.

Knowing he had fled the city, cops put out an alert about Soto to neighboring states, a police source with knowledge of the case said.

A man who had been shot in the head on Aug. 20 in an apartment building along East Mosholu Parkway South in the Bronx has died, officials said.

Cops in Ben Salem held Soto until Thursday when NYPD Bronx Warrants detectives extradited him back to New York and charged him with murder and manslaughter.

His arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court was pending Friday.

Neither man lived in the apartment Martinez was shot in, police said.

Martinez lived on the other side of the Mosholu Parkway, about four blocks from where he was shot, cops said. Soto lives in Camden, N.J. and has no arrest history in New York City, cops said.

It was not immediately disclosed if Soto and Martinez knew each other or what the pair were arguing over.
A hotheaded parolee was nabbed for fatally stabbing a Bronx couple after he groped the woman in an apartment building stairwell, sparking a fight, police said Friday.

Derrick Williams, 55, is facing two counts of murder for the double homicide inside the Norwood apartment building on Aug. 25.

Hes also facing attempted murder charges for wounding a 33-year-old woman who was with victims Gina Cooks, 29, and Roberto Jimenez, 45, during the fatal clash, cops said.

Police investigate a double-murder in an apartment on Rochambeau Ave. in the Bronx on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023.

Williams is a convicted robber and burglar whos done five stints in prison stretching back to 1985. Hes on parole until 2026.

When he was arrested for a string of burglaries in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, back in 1997, then Police Commissioner Howard Safier called him a classic example of a life-long recidivist and parole violator who has constantly abused the parole system to commit additional crimes, according to the New York Times.

The ex-con was most recently arrested on Aug. 16  just nine days before the murder  for attacking his girlfriend inside the same apartment building where the killing took place, and slashing her tires with a silver pocket knife that he threatened her with, prosecutors said.

I am going to slash your tires, he said as he threatened his girlfriend of 13 years, according to a criminal complaint. Cops charged him with misdemeanor assault, weapons possession and criminal mischief.

During his arraignment the next day, a Bronx Criminal Court judge ordered him held on $1 bail and recommended that be sent to a problem-solving/alternative court program, according to court documents.

Cooks, Jimenez and the other woman were walking up the stairs of the Rochambeau Ave. building near E. 206th St. about 10:15 p.m. when Williams inappropriately grabbed Cooks, sparking a fight with Jimenez.

The three chased Williams back to his fourth-floor apartment, where the suspect grabbed a knife and attacked, cops were told.

During the fight, Williams stabbed the 29-year-old woman in the chest and slashed the older woman in the wrist.

As the two women ran out of the apartment and sought help, Williams and Jimenez began fighting, with Williams stabbing his victim in the chest.

Police investigate a double-murder in an apartment on Rochambeau Ave. in the Bronx on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023.

Cops responding to the scene found Cooks and her friend outside bleeding from vicious knife strikes. The panicked women told police Jimenez was still on the fourth floor.

The officers raced up to the apartment and found Jimenez dead from multiple stab wounds. Williams had run off, cops said.

EMS rushed Cooks to St. Barnabas Hospital, but she couldnt be saved. Her friend was treated for a minor wound.

Jimenez lived in the Norwood building, but in a different apartment from Williams. Tenants told police that Williams wasnt a listed tenant, but had often stayed at the fourth-floor apartment.

Building tenants tell a slightly different story than police. Williams and his three victims were hanging out with each other that night and got into a fight over their living situation, one resident told the Daily News. Williams lived with at least one of the victims, the tenant, who wished not to be named, said.

Williams was a fixture in the building and was often seen riding his white moped in the area, resident Richard Mendoza said.

He used to park it to the light pole in front of the building, properly cover it and chain it, Mendoza said. But then he was charged a ticket of $380 and then he started parking it in different spots.

Rose, a 53-year-old building tenant who moved into the building in 2018, called Williams a nice guy.

I didnt know his name, said Rose. I mostly call everyone neighbor, but Im shocked by this.

Cops spotted Williams in the neighborhood a day after the killings and apprehended after a brief chase police said.

He was also taken to St. Barnabas Hospital with a minor injury and was hit with criminal charges when he was discharged from the hosptial on Thursday.

His arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court was pending Friday.

Building residents said they were oblivious to the violence as it erupted.

I just heard screaming, I thought it was coming from outside, said a tenant who didnt wish to be named.

Police got here and they blocked off the building, the tenant told the Daily News. Its really crazy because nothing like that happens over here. Its a quiet block.

Williams extensive criminal past dates back to 1985 when he was convicted of robbery and grand larceny in Manhattan under the alias Dezo Williams, according to court documents.

He was released in 1989, but convicted twice more of grand larceny in Manhattan in both 1991 and 1994. He served a year in prison after the 1991 conviction and two years after the 1994 conviction, authorities said.

In 1997, a year after he was released from prison for the third time, he was arrested for burglarizing eight brownstones in Crown Heights, cops said. He was nabbed after a child heard him rummaging through the apartment and alerted his father, who chased him away.

Williams was convicted of burglary in 1998 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to court documents. He was paroled in 2008.

His last stint in prison began in 2010 when he was again convicted on burglary and criminal possession of stolen property charges in Brooklyn.

He was sentenced to another decade in prison and was paroled in 2020, according to state prison records.
As that Gothic haunt the Palace of Westminster cranks back into action next week, there is only one question in British politics: can Rishi Sunak turn things round? His Conservatives are badly adrift in opinion polls.

Last weekend, Nadine Dorries became the latest Tory MP to try to scuttle the boat, causing another tricky by-election. The health service continues to be plagued by politically motivated Left-wing strikes. People-smugglers, protected by a judiciary that seems blind to the drowning of immigrants, ply their wicked trade across a calm English Channel. The air-traffic control farce only accentuated a sense of bungling officialdom.

Now the Westminster horror factory is about to restart, pushing such clouds of hot, black gas into the atmosphere, it's a wonder Greta Thunberg hasn't had a fit of conniptions.

Poor Rishi. Like a cartoon character tied to the railway tracks he may look doomed. The director's camera keeps focusing on the pistons of the on-rushing electoral express.

Sunak foes, not least the demure Dorries  close-up on camera one, Nadine  cackle in anticipation of a Tory drubbing. Chief Stoker Starmer toots his whistle and (don't tell Sadiq) shovels raw coal into his boiler as the engine accelerates towards his apparently helpless prey.

Chief Stoker Keir Starmer toots his whistle and (don't tell Sadiq) shovels raw coal into his boiler as the engine accelerates towards his apparently helpless prey, writes QUENTIN LETTS

Will Rishi be squashed? Will those infamously half-mast trousers be left with narrow-gauge tread marks on them as he is smashed to atoms by the Labour locomotive? Or might, just might, our skinny hero live to fight another day?

Elections tend to swing on three factors: context, character and philosophy. On the first of these, the context of next year's general election, Sunak is at a severe disadvantage. Labour has not won since 2005 and Buggins' turn will suggest a change of government. Voters may feel the Tories are tired and, in certain cases, unhygienic.

With the Scots Nats in a pickle, Labour should recover some of its Scottish seats. Nor need Sir Keir Starmer lose much sleep over the Liberal Democrats, whose leader is... er, someone please remind me.

Such factors are sometimes described as 'electoral gravity', as if subject to the laws of physics. Electoral politics is better compared to chemistry, not least in the fusion of personality and policy.

In these two areas Sunak is better placed. He is younger and zippier than his main opponent. He explains policies more cogently than Sir Keir, with none of his bunged-up hesitation. Furthermore, Left-wing doctrines are in retreat around the world. There has never been a worse time to be a big-spending, internationalist ideologue.

QUENTIN LETTS has returned to the Mail

Getting into a winning position is going to be devilishly hard for Sunak but his position is not (yet) hopeless.

By tradition the Tower of London is circled by ravens. Two miles upstream, Sir Charles Barry's curlicued Victorian parliament is infested by fluttering bats and clucking geese. I refer to our MPs and peers.

Welcome to Chateau Hyperbole, where panic is routine, sanity is rationed and the open-mouthed gargoyles outside the St Stephen's Entrance seem to be telling newcomers 'you'll never believe what the idiots have gone and done now'.

One of the consequences of the magnificent working-class victory of Brexit has been that 'taking back control' has emboldened and buttressed our parliamentary establishment, not least that chamber of living corpses the House of Lords.

Many peers wailed about our leaving the European Union but it has made them more important. In a way that is a good thing. Parliamentary sovereignty was, after all, rather the point of it.

What no one realised was quite how loopy Brexit would initially send our political elite. First came derangement. Now, with Conservative defeat looking a distinct possibility, they have reached the stage of breezy confidence. Backbenchers stride the Westminster cloisters with a self-possession not seen for 40 years. They matter a bit more because they are the ultimate parliament, free of Nanny Brussels.

Commons select committees increasingly behave like jury-less Diplock courts, bawling at witnesses and asking scurvier specimens to give evidence on oath. Westminster pre-Brexit was never this assured.

As that Gothic haunt the Palace of Westminster cranks back into action next week, there is only one question in British politics: can Rishi Sunak turn things round?

Will Rishi be squashed? Will those infamously half-mast trousers be left with narrow-gauge tread marks on them as he is smashed to atoms by the Labour locomotive?. Above: The Mail's cartoons of Mr Starmer and Mr Sunak

The one thing the public has clocked about the Labour leader is that he keeps changing his mind. On tuition fees, universal credit, nationalisation, child benefit, rent controls and other issues he has swivelled like the wheel of a wonky supermarket trolley

Senior civil servants, diplomatists, cultural commissars and other liberal illuminati  not least the Archbishop of Canterbury, who appears to have made politics his god  are already behaving as if Starmer has the election in the bag.

Politicians can spend so much time being flattered by lobbyists and special-interest groups that they forget the most important of all interest groups, the British electorate, has yet to speak. Is there not a danger of the establishment taking the voters for granted?

Trans rights and net zero were just two areas where the obsession of a minority created a stampede among politicians to embrace causes that the public regarded with scepticism. This coming Monday will be the first day the Commons has gathered since the Tories somehow failed to lose the Uxbridge by-election. That result did not reflect any great enthusiasm for the Government.

It was down to voters' anger at the expansion of London's Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (Ulez) by the city's Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan. Ulez has seen John Betjeman's Metroland measle-pocked by traffic cameras and is so hated that residents have taken to snipping the cameras' cables, as if castrating bullocks.

Public opinion on this and other faddish policies is combustive. Rishi Sunak can capitalise on that. If he can edge away from the net-zero bossiness and if the economy continues to outperform those of leading European Union countries, his poll ratings may start to lift.

A proper parliament would be better at reflecting public sentiment, but Westminster's connection to the electorate became arthritic during our fealty to Brussels. Today's Commons is certainly not short of prize items. Since last it was my privilege to be your sketch writer four years ago there have been some peachy additions to the gallery of grotesques.

The foreign affairs select committee is now chaired by a meaty-forearmed Brunhilde called Alicia Kearns, who has all the subtlety of a dray horse in a hurry. The defence committee lies in the chimp-like grip of Tobias Ellwood, a fading Bournemouth matinee idol of uncertain intellectualism.

Meetings of the culture select committee are seldom complete until the SNP's John Nicolson, formerly a television newsreader, has thrown a rehearsed tantrum. The trade committee is run with tetchy briskness by Labour's Darren Jones, an egghead who may not rest until every British industry is controlled by a version of Peter Sellers' shop steward Fred Kite.

The examination of Boris Johnson by the Commons privileges committee could almost have been the trial of China's Gang of Four in 1980. The one difference was that Madame Mao, in the form of Harriet Harman, was this time leading the prosecution rather than standing in the dock. The whole thing was presented as an exercise of lofty justice, but the politicisation was naked.

The examination of Boris Johnson by the Commons privileges committee could almost have been the trial of China's Gang of Four in 1980

The Widow Harman has become an operatic piece of work, peering at the world through narrowed eyes, clapped and cooed over by her claque when she enters the Commons. In a republican Britain they'd no doubt try to make her president.

Parliamentary debate attracts a pantomime cast: Labour's Sir Chris 'Buttons' Bryant, pop-eyed as he explains plot developments to the kiddywinks; the despatch-box brawls of ugly sisters Suella Braverman (Home Secretary) and Yvette Cooper (her scowling shadow); the Snow White purity of Labour's health spokesman Wes Streeting; Michael Gove's impersonations of an oiled Alibaba, complete with glistening belly button.

Over it all presides Speaker Hoyle, the Mother Goose of Chorley. Westminster's Portcullis House, where MPs mingle, seethes with show-boaters, snoots, plotters and putschers. Parliament has become so pitchy it should be included in Radio 4's shipping forecasts.

Amid these gibbering exotics stands the slim, unswaying figure of Sunak. Their very garishness defines him. The more grottily the Johnsonians behave, and the more some populist Tories eff and blind, the more likeable and sane the PM looks.

It is a wonder he manages to stay so calm, but maybe this was something he learned as a young man when working in an Indian restaurant in Southampton. Anyone who has done shifts in a curry house on Friday nights learns self-control.

Although he habitually outperforms Sir Keir at PMQs, Sunak is not a natural 'House of Commons man'. He gives the impression of being in but not of Westminster, more technocrat than tub-thumper. The lack of earthiness is held to be a disadvantage. He does not drink beer, does not swear or cheat on his wife.

He does not look as if he has ever grappled with the dirty end of a packet of fig rolls. 'He's not Boris,' is a regular complaint and he certainly lacks Johnson's connection with the public. But his opponent is even stiffer and wonkier. Sir Keir comes across as a steaming dullard, a juddering bore, constipated as a camel.

The one thing the public has clocked about the Labour leader is that he keeps changing his mind. On tuition fees, universal credit, nationalisation, child benefit, rent controls and other issues he has swivelled like the wheel of a wonky supermarket trolley.

There has been a global philosophical shift to the Right. Traditional Left-wing arguments have collapsed. Labour's latest U-turn on taxes came last weekend when the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, promised not to impose a wealth tax. Believe that if you like but her gambit was evidence that Labour knows it must at least pretend there is no future in ever-higher taxes. The economic calamity of lockdown has torpedoed Keynesianism for a generation.

After decades of delusion, there is little denying now that the facts of life are conservative. You cannot spend money you have not earned. During August, faster than you could say Ulez, net zero has gone from swan to an ugly duckling. Voters want cars and cheap air fares and no amount of finger wagging from Ed Miliband will stop that.

Labour party conferences normally see attacks on defence companies, but after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine they will sound naive. If it was not apparent before the Lucy Letby trial, the case for de-canonising the NHS is now irrefutable. After recent strikes, does anyone really think it would be wise for trade unions to be in the cockpit at No 10?

Last weekend, Nadine Dorries became the latest Tory MP to try to scuttle the boat, causing another tricky by-election

The rate of public dissent on the BBC licence fee is approaching critical mass. Sunak has a heck of a problem with the small boats, but only because the public is well to the Right of him on the issue. In a cost-of-living crisis, with job vacancies plentiful, voters will hardly tolerate higher benefit payments.

The invasion of Ukraine means Nato has never looked more essential. And next time Alastair Campbell claims Brexit was a mistake, ask him why Germany is in an economic mess, why Paris looks like a refugee camp and why unemployment in Spain, Greece and Sweden is so high.

An election will only sharpen these policy lines but the campaign will primarily become a Wimbledon singles finals  ie, a contest between the two main players. Starmer v Sunak on Centre Court.

Sober, quick-hipped Rishi limbers up with a few super-fit press-ups. Now, ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on the chap facing him across the net: the Nasal Knight, he of the loo-brush hairdo and the look of boggled surprise, the man who changes his mind more often than Dory the dingbat blue tang in Finding Nemo.

Hmmm. Maybe the election is not such a foregone conclusion, after all.
The NYPDs plan to roll out surveillance drones in the skies above Brooklyns annual JOuvert festival was blasted Friday by civil rights proponents.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, in a statement condemning dystopian technologies, ripped the police plan to use about a dozen drones during the upcoming celebration of West Indian culture  citing the departments history of surveilling and policing Black and Brown communities.

Deploying surveillance drones over New Yorkers gathering with their friends and families to celebrate JOuvert is racialized discrimination and it doesnt make us feel safer, said Daniel Schwartz, NYCLU senior privacy and technology strategist.

The NYPD is playing fast and loose with our First and Fourth Amendment rights  Pervasive drone surveillance can be easily misused to exploit and discriminate against New Yorkers, putting all of our privacy at risk.

The West Indian-American Day Carnival Parade in Brooklyn, New York, Monday, September 5, 2022.

The JOuvert festival takes place early Monday morning.

Mayor Adams, joined by several of his top public safety advisors, pushed back against the civil rights issues raised by the NYCLU and presented a more benign version of drone use.

What were doing over this weekend  there are a number of calls of loud music, disruptive behavior, said Adams. Instead of the police having to respond and look at those, theyre going to utilize drones from a safe distance, not flying down in someones backyard to see what they have on the grill.

The mayor described the drones as a smart, excellent tool capable of reaching locations in 30 to 40 seconds.

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban echoed Adams praise for the technology. A wonderful thing, Caban said. Everybody, like the mayor said, is worried about sci-fi. No, were using these drones as an extra resource, a force multiplier.

NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry, who traveled around the country to learn about drone usage, said Thursday that police will use the devices to assess complaint calls to 311 and assist officers with an aerial view when responding to serious crimes.

The drones can also deliver computer-generated voice messages to revelers.

The mayor had also attended a presentation on law enforcement drone use on a recent trip to Israel and hailed their potential use by the NYPD. Adams said the city was now going to become the leader in how to properly use drones.

Unfortunately, we are not leading, Adams added about the current citys drone capacity.

While JOuvert and the West Indian-American Carnival Day Parade were plagued by widespread violence in years past, the 2022 celebration ended with only three shootings in the area as police seized 27 guns.

On Thursday, NYPD Assistant Chief Charles McEvoy said cops hand-delivered letters to 40 gang members advising them to be on their best behavior at the event. The missives, vetted by the departments Legal Bureau, are a component of the NYC Ceasefire initiative.
The epitome of British trade union muscle used to be Arthur Scargills National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), whose Marxist leadership was prepared to bring down governments, Conservative or Labour, if it didnt get its way.

It took Margaret Thatcher to put a stop to its shenanigans in the mid-1980s by refusing to back down in one of the countrys most brutal industrial conflicts.

Todays equivalent of the NUM is the British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors union.

It doesnt quite have the power to destroy governments  though its top militants wish it had  but it is prepared to cause chaos in an NHS still struggling to recover from the pandemic in pursuit of ludicrous pay demands. Even if it means misery for patients and endangers life.

Just who will play the Thatcher role this time is far from clear.

NHS consultants demonstrate at a British Medical Association (BMA) picket line outside University College Hospital

Arthur Scargill, then president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), waving to miners and their supporters as he walks with Tony Benn during a protest against pit closures in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in 1984

For the first time ever, the BMA has arranged it so that consultants and junior doctors down stethoscopes on the same days: first later this month (September 20) and then three days early next month (October 2, 3 and 4).

The aim is to put maximum pressure on the Government to cave in, whatever the cost.

Even Matthew Taylor, the Blairite boss of the NHS Confederation, who is usually more comfortable criticising the Government than telling home truths to the BMA, says it is a step too far, and even though Christmas Day levels of cover have been promised, it is inevitable that patient safety is at risk.

The junior doctors, led by a cabal of Corbynistas, have already done enough damage.

Theyve walked out five times since last December, totting up no fewer than 19 days of industrial action, which has resulted in one million appointments and operations being cancelled, often hitting patients who had waited months or, in some cases, more than a year, to be treated.

The callous strikers are well aware that their autumn walk-outs will hinder NHS preparations for what could be a tough winter, with Covid hospital admissions at their highest for three months and worries that a virulent flu strain is on its way.

The NHS could hardly be in worse shape to cope with this unprecedented wave of strikes.

There is already a record waiting list of 7.6 million people  more than one in ten of the population  and strike action is impeding Government efforts to reduce it.

Practicing physicians belonging to the British Medical Association (BMA) walk through Downing Street on August 11

For some, the waiting list is a death sentence. This week it was revealed that over 60 per cent of those who died in England last year were on an NHS waiting list  a total of 340,000 deaths, up more than 40 per cent on five years ago.

Who knows how many lives could have been saved if a strike-free NHS had been allowed to get on with the herculean task of tackling the huge post-pandemic backlog? But we can be sure more will now die.

The upcoming industrial action will mean the cancellation of even more appointments and procedures, lengthening waiting lists when they should be falling and condemning even more to unnecessary, premature death.

In addition, hundreds of thousands will be needlessly subjected to the stress and fear of not knowing when they will be admitted for that vital operation.

And for what? To sate the cynical greed and grandstanding of the new breed of Generation Z militants who are now in control of the BMA.

The junior doctors are refusing to budge from a demand for a 35 per cent pay rise, something to which no government could acquiesce  even Labour has said it would reject it.

The BMA is every bit as political (i.e. anti-Tory) as the coalmining leadership of old. It even agreed a deal with the SNP government in Edinburgh similar to the one being offered in Westminster largely because the doctors find it more congenial than the Tory administration in London.

Instead, the BMA and its members will inflict more pain and misery on patients considerably less well off, on average, than them.

Much nonsense has been allowed to spread unchallenged about junior doctors earning less than Starbucks baristas.

BMA consultant members on the picket line outside King's College University Hospital, London

In fact, a junior doctor earns on average 37,000 in their first year, rising to 43,000 in year two and more than 71,000 by year four.

Not a kings ransom to be sure given all the training and hard work required. But its almost twice the average earnings of their patients and thats before the governments recent 9 per cent pay offer.

They have guaranteed job security unless found responsible for gross misconduct (and even then they dont always get fired).

Plus, the Government (i.e. the taxpayer) pays an additional 20 per cent of salary into their pension pots. The average equivalent for most workers is 5 per cent.

Consultants fare even better. Their average pay is 134,000, placing them in the top 2 per cent of earners, according to the Nuffield Trust.

And many consultants top up their NHS pay with substantial extra earnings from lucrative private practice.

Then, of course, there are the generous pension payments on top of that, which allow them to retire at 65 on a 78,000 pension for life. Many do. Many others can afford to retire even earlier, sometimes as young as 50.

Yet their union leader claims consultants are undervalued and undermined by the Government. Its difficult to know what planet hes on.

Would he say the same of GPs? They are not on strike (at least not yet), and why would they be? The average GP partner (and most GPs are partners) now earns more than 153,000 a year  up 20 per cent on pre-pandemic levels.

Its only right that doctors should earn well, given the arduous training required to become one and the responsibilities the role involves.

Doctors operate in a global labour market and Britain needs to become more competitive. But the junior doctors pay demand is absurd and the consultants have no business being on strike

Its also right that their pay should rise regularly to reflect their growing experience and increased responsibilities.

Doctors operate in a global labour market and Britain needs to become more competitive. But the junior doctors pay demand is absurd and the consultants have no business being on strike.

Of course, you will hear the strike leaders claim that huge pay rises could be afforded if only the stingy Tories would properly fund the health service, as they do in more enlightened nations. That is another canard that needs to be exposed.

The latest OECD figures on health spending for 2022 were published earlier this year and they show that we devoted 11.3 per cent of our GDP to the health sector.

Among the worlds advanced nations, only four spend a higher share than us and only two spend considerably more: Germany and the U.S.

Germany, which spends 12.7 per cent of its GDP on health, has compulsory social insurance, which  though it results in raising more money for healthcare  is universally opposed by the BMA and every other UK health union.

In America, where health spending takes 17 per cent of GDP, it still leaves tens of millions of people without healthcare and so remains a system which nobody in their right mind would ever want to emulate.

The proper criticism of the Conservatives is not that they are spending too little on health but that theyve given up any ambition to reform the NHS to get more bang for our bucks.

Tory policy these past four years has simply been to throw more money at the NHS to keep its unions quiet. Indeed, even Labour has been talking more about reform these days.

But it hasnt worked and theres not enough money around to satisfy the unreasonable demands of the doctors.

inisters will simply have to hold the fort, much as theyve done with the train drivers, until the consultants realise they havent a leg to stand on and the inexperienced Gen Z amateurs now calling the shots at the BMA make mistakes.

Public opinion will turn  and when it does, it wont be against the Government, lame duck that it is. But this transition would happen more quickly if ministers were capable of selling their side of the story with rather more conviction and authority.

Their case is stronger than they make out. But then, just like the BMA, this Government has too many inexperienced amateurs of its own.
Grant Shapps was not the figure that many expected to see marching from 10 Downing Street to the Ministry of Defence yesterday morning.

Some were aghast at the selection. For me, the jury is out. Whether he ever aspired to be Secretary of State for Defence, or indeed expected the appointment, is irrelevant. He has got the job  his fifth different ministerial role in the past year.

Among the many questions that his appointment poses is how quickly can he master the Defence portfolio and with what degree of commitment? Will his priority be to support the Prime Minister in Cabinet and on the airwaves, or to really understand the needs of Defence and argue the case with the Chancellor for increased spending?

In his resignation letter, Ben Wallace made it quite clear that spending on defence is not discretionary, but a clear obligation placed on a responsible government.

On his successor's behalf, he threw down the gauntlet to the Prime Minister when he wrote: 'I genuinely believe that over the next decade the world will get more insecure and more unstable. We both share the belief that now is the time to invest.'

LORD DANNATT: Grant Shapps was not the figure that many expected to see marching from 10 Downing Street to the Ministry of Defence yesterday morning.

LORD DANNATT: In his resignation letter, Ben Wallace made it quite clear that spending on defence is not discretionary, but a clear obligation placed on a responsible government.

Grant Shapps must decide whether to play to the Prime Minister's whim, or continue with the joust initiated by Ben Wallace. Much of the answer lies in whether Wallace's assertion about the insecurity of the next ten years is valid.

In Europe, there is no doubt that our security is challenged by Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine. Support to President Zelensky's government is vital not only to help Ukraine restore its sovereign territory, but also to ensure that armed aggression is not rewarded.

The implications for all states bordering Russia, for the future of NATO and for the United Kingdom are huge, and expensive. The return of a brutal land war to Europe has put the spending on our land forces under the microscope. By any reasonable measure, the British Army is not as capable as it was when the present Government came to power. The quality of our fighting men and women remains second to none but there has been a 25 per cent reduction in the size of the Army since 2010 and a glaring lack of investment in equipment and training.

Some of the facts are stark. One of the close support artillery regiments in Britain's only deployable fighting division has no guns. They have all been gifted to Ukraine. That is admirable if there is a sound and speedy replacement programme, but there is not. The same applies to ammunition stocks and our holdings of anti-tank and air defence weapons.

Plans exist to upgrade only 148 of our Challenger 2 tanks to Challenger 3 capability, enough to equip little more that two regiments.

The upgrade of the tracked Warrior armoured infantry fighting vehicle was cancelled because there was no money. Instead, a wheeled, less capable, vehicle is being procured. And so the litany of underfunding goes on.

Optimists point to more money in the defence budget for the Army later in the decade. But the threat to our security in Europe is a reality of today, not something that can be postponed until it is more convenient or affordable.

LORD DANNATT: Grant Shapps must decide whether to play to the Prime Minister's whim, or continue with the joust initiated by Ben Wallace

LORD DANNATT: Grant Shapps's expertise lies in the domestic fields of transport, energy and the drive to Net Zero, and in his loyal support of Rishi Sunak

Meanwhile, the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, published in 2021 but refreshed earlier this year, confirms a tilt towards the Indo-Pacific. In the context of the expansion of Chinese ambition in that region and more globally, it is not unreasonable that the United Kingdom, as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plays its part in supporting our friends and allies in the region, not the least being the United States and Australia. But again, this comes at a cost.

We have procured two large aircraft carriers but only a small fraction of the very expensive F-35B aircraft to fly off them. The Royal Navy has never had fewer frigates and destroyers to either escort the aircraft carriers or otherwise patrol the sea lanes of the world along which a very large proportion of our exports and imports transit.

And while the debate about the effectiveness of a permanent at-sea presence by our nuclear ballistic missile submarines is a never-ending roundabout, the fact remains that our Trident SSBNs (Strategic Submarine Ballistic Nuclear) and their weapon systems need renewing.

In times past, this expenditure was paid directly by the Treasury, now the cost falls to the defence budget. The list of threats to our wider security could go on  the extremist Islamist challenge to our way of life continues in the Middle East and now increasingly in Africa, and we cannot forget the migration issue.

Against this multi-faceted and dangerous security background, Grant Shapps has got to decide very quickly how he will react. He will always be held up against Ben Wallace, whose successes were most impressive. He lists them in his resignation letter; the Covid response by the Armed Forces, the evacuation of Kabul, our steadfast support of Ukraine and, more recently, our relief operation in Sudan.

These are predominantly international events to which the UK has had to respond. Grant Shapps's expertise lies in the domestic fields of transport, energy and the drive to Net Zero, and in his loyal support of Rishi Sunak.

LORD DANNATT: So, my personal jury is out on the wisdom of Grant Shapps's appointment. If he continues to press the case for increased spending on defence, I will find in his favour

But he is conflicted. During his own bid to become Prime Minister, he pledged to boost defence spending. Does he stand by that pledge now or does he clap the lid on the Service Chiefs' aspirations to lift our overall defence capability to where it should be in the current security environment?

These are difficult political times for a Government that would seem to have run its course. But is putting the defence needs of the nation on the back burner a responsible course of action for any government?

Self-evidently that cannot be right. Although there is a long-held mantra that there are no votes in defence, the electorate may take a different view this time.

The Shadow Defence Secretary, John Healey, refused to be pressed on Radio 4 yesterday as to whether Labour would commit to 2.5 per cent of GDP spent on defence, should they come to power. But many commentators now think 3 per cent should be the new minimum.

If Grant Shapps is to be taken seriously in his new appointment, the very least he could do is commit to the 2.5 per cent figure. If nothing else, Labour would have to match it.

So, my personal jury is out on the wisdom of Grant Shapps's appointment. If he continues to press the case for increased spending on defence, I will find in his favour. But I am just one voice in this debate and, as a member of the House of Lords, I do not even have a vote at the next General Election.

The men and women of our Armed Forces will look at Grant Shapps and make their own judgments. They are willing to risk their lives for the security of our nation, but is Grant Shapps willing to risk his political reputation or his relationship with the Prime Minister? Time, and his actions, will tell us the answer.
The space boasts sweeping views of New York Harbor - a panorama that includes the Statue of Liberty

It's housed in a former industrial building overlooking the waterfront of Red Hook, Brooklyn

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The largest apartments across New York City often come in the form of renovated loft spaces - minimal and spacious gems converted from factories, warehouses and other defunct industrial buildings.

YouTuber Cash Jordan embarked on a tour of one such space in Red Hook, situated in a former warehouse overlooking Brooklyn's waterfront, and posted a 13-minute video documenting his walkthrough.

The sprawling apartment in unit #6D2 spans just under 2,800 square feet and boasts sweeping views of New York Harbor - a panorama also offering an unobstructed glimpse at the Statue of Liberty, not to mention of Lower Manhattan and west Brooklyn.

The slick Brooklyn pad, at 160 Imlay Street, is currently on the market with an asking price of $3,200,000 and listed by real estate agent Kelly Rogers.

The loft at 160 Imlay Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, spans just under 2,800 square feet

The apartment was converted from a warehouse space on Brooklyn's waterfront once owned by New York Dock Company

Inside, the entryway leads into a cavernous living and dining area

Three columns dotting the main living space are part of the building's original supporting framework

The kitchen is equipped with state-of-the-art appliances, complete with an island and breakfast table

Countertops in the kitchen are opal white quartzite with a leather finish

Both of the bedrooms are nestled in the opposite end of the apartment

The master bedroom stretches 340 square feet and has a modern feel to it

Connected to the master bedroom is a spacious walk-in closet, with the YouTuber and real estate agent Kelly Rogers

Through the walk-in closet lies the master bed's en suite bathroom

But while Cash's proclaims in his YouTube video that this is the 'biggest apartment' in NYC, other units at the same address are larger than 3,000 square feet; while plenty more lofts in formerly industrial neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Bushwick and SoHo rival and surpass its size.

That's not to imply that the airy, minimalist expanse of unit #6D2 is any less stunning than comparably large, loft-style residences in Red Hook and beyond.

Heading inside, the entrance opens into a cavernous living and dining area, flooded with natural light from floor-to-ceiling windows on the far wall.

Three cement columns visible across this room are essential structural supports dating back to the building's origins.

The kitchen, which is also incorporated in the the open plan of the main space and equipped with state-of-the-art appliances, touts opal white quartzite countertops with a leather finish.

To the right of the entrance, a hallway leads to the unit's two bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Situated against the opposite side of the greater building, both bedrooms also come with floor-to-ceiling windows.

The 340-square-foot master bedroom connects to a massive, 112-square-foot walk-in closet, which further leads to a nearly 150-square-foot, en suite bath.

Outdoor terraces run alongside both the front and back of the apartment

The sweeping panorama of New York Harbor includes an unobstructed view of the Statue of Liberty

The vista also encompasses a glimpse of Lower Manhattan - beyond the waterfront infrastructure of Red Hook

The building dates back to 1910 and was originally designed by Maynicke & Franke

The structure was originally commissioned by turn-of-the-century shipping giant New York Dock Company

The loft building at 160 Imlay has a counterpart across the street at 60 Imlay - which now operates as art storage for Christie's

A glimpse of the as-yet-unfinished penthouse at 160 Imlay illustrates the stark contrast between the 'before' and 'after' of the many renovated loft apartments across NYC

The apartment extends from the front to the back of the building, and on either end two separate outdoor terraces can be found: one unfolding next to the living room, with the other running alongside both bedrooms.

What's more, the whole thing boasts 15-foot ceilings - yet another now-covetable layover from the space's days as storage for bulk goods, from tobacco to cotton.

The building dates back to 1910, designed by the firm Maynicke & Franke on commission for turn-of-the-century shipping giant New York Dock Company. The structures are thought to be among the first reinforced steel-and-concrete buildings in the United States, according to City Realty

A look of the as-yet-unfinished penthouse in 160 Imlay, as seen in Cash's video, puts in stark contrast the before-and-afters of the renovated lofts.

The still-under-construction space consists of little more than rough-hewn cement surfaces, with the wayward building materials strewn about, further harkening back to its original usage.

In total, the building houses 70 lofts, most priced between $2 million and $3 million. According to StreetEasy, the asking for unit #6D2 makes it the priciest of the bunch.

Across the facades are still visible Beaux-Arts-style details: arches cut out of the barricades circling the roof, understated pilasters fanning out from the still-intact New York Dock Co. signage, and a smattering of decorative geometric elements.
Tucked away on the south-west coast of Western Australia lies one of the country's most beautiful 'hidden gem' sights - and it has to be seen to be believed.

Elephant Rocks, a four to five-hour drive south of Perth in Denmark, boasts what many have dubbed 'nature's most inviting natural swimming pools' and they're not wrong.

Elephant Rocks is one of the many beautiful natural attractions in William Bay National Park which was named after British Arctic explorer Sir William Edward Parry.

Its name comes from the massive rounded boulders which resemble a herd of elephants playing in the sparkling water; the granite domes are dotted along the Great Southern Ocean and surrounded by emerald waters.

Once there, travellers follow a narrow trail from William Bay Road before they reach a fork in the road directing them one of two ways to reach Elephant Rocks.

Tucked away on the south-west coast of Western Australia lies one of the country's most beautiful ' hidden gem ' sights - and it has to be seen to be believed

Elephant Rocks, a four to five-hour drive south of Perth in Denmark, boasts what many have dubbed 'nature's most inviting natural swimming pools ' and they're not wrong

The first leads to a scenic view from above. The left leads to a short set of stairs that lead to Elephant Cove.

Visitors can then descend the staircase and move between two towering rocks onto the beach, which looks straight out of a postcard.

Travellers are then encouraged to climb and wander through the ancient rocks and 'bathe in the pristine waters'.

They can then take a walk over to the breathtaking Greens Pool, a picturesque spot that offers excellent swimming and snorkelling.

Elephant Rocks is one of the many beautiful natural attractions in William Bay National Park which was named after British Arctic explorer, Sir William Edward Parry

The gorgeous walk along the stunning coastline rewards visitors with views of Madfish Bay, Waterfall Beach and wildflowers in spring and summer.

The pool was recently voted 4th place in the Top 10 Beaches in the South Pacific in Tripadvisor's Traveller's Choice Awards.

'Such a stunning place. I could definitely see the resemblance to the elephants in the rocks. It is a beautiful walk down then you come across the loveliest views and you can also climb down and walk between the huge boulders for a swim in these amazing waters,' a traveller raved.

'This is nature at it best, beautiful and the walk was worth it. The rocks are big, and the sea blue and beautiful. Not even the wind could dampen the beauty. The nearby Green Pool is just as amazing.'

Its name comes from the massive rounded boulders which resemble a herd of elephants playing in the sparkling water

The nearby town of Denmark is known for its awe-inspiring beauty and offers a mild climate all year round.

Australia's South West Chief Executive Officer, Catrin Allsop, said travellers' increasing desire to experience something from the 'every day or easily accessible' has seen more visitors head to the region in recent months.

'Being a small town tucked away in a corner of the Great Southern, the appeal to explore has driven strong visitation to places like Denmark that promises spectacular views, endless coastlines and heritage listed national parks,' she told FEMAIL.

'While fantastic to visit year round, the region bursts into colour in spring with the blooming of wildflowers you won't find anywhere else in the world.'

The granite domes are dotted along the Great Southern Ocean and surrounded by emerald waters

Along the Denmark River visitors can take a heritage trail towards the river mouth, passing by the historic rail bridge and offering a serene view of the river merging with the Wilson Inlet.

The inlet is a sanctuary for black swans with Denmark known to the aboriginal community as 'Koorabup' which means 'place of the black swan'.

It's also renowned as one of the top nine 'terrestrial' habitats in the world - a term referring to an ecosytem (like a rainforest) found on land.

The pool was recently voted 4th place in the Top 10 Beaches in the South Pacific in Tripadvisor's Traveller's Choice Awards

The nearby town of Denmark is known for its awe-inspiring beauty and offers a mild climate all year round

It's teeming with wildlife and flowers so the area has become a mecca for nature lovers seeking to immerse themselves in the wonders of the natural world.

For those who wish to stay, popular options are the nearby Denmark Hotel, 31 on the Terrace, the adults-only Chimes Spa Retreat and The Floating Forest.

Dining hot spots include The Dam - a gorgeous restaurant and distillery famous for its Mediterranean influence, The Lake House, which boasts a picturesque vineyard and the family-run Marron Farm.

'There are also new businesses opening up like Flame Trees Denmark, a hot little tapas-style cocktail bar in town, as well as local hidden gems like Singlefile Wines with their premium wines and cellar wine tastings,' Ms Allsop said.
A therapist has revealed how to stop yourself from being unfaithful when you are tempted to cheat and save your marriage.

Lauren LaRusso, 38, from Connecticut, is an infidelity specialist who offers 'solution-focused consultation' to individuals and couples who are struggling with cheating in their relationships.

Known as 'The Affair Consultant,' she has more than 21,000 followers on Instagram, where she breaks down the causes and effects of infidelity.

LaRusso went viral after sharing her list of 'three things to do instead of having an affair'  and many found the advice to be surprising.

Lauren LaRusso, 38, a therapist from Connecticut, went viral after sharing her list of 'three things to do instead of having an affair'

Known as 'The Affair Consultant,' the infidelity specialist offers 'solution-focused consultation' to individuals and couples who are struggling with cheating in their relationships

'Being attracted to other people, even when you're married or in a committed relationship, is normal. After all, we're not dead yet,' she began.

THREE THINGS TO DO INSTEAD OF CHEATING Treat the temptation as a wakeup call and talk to your partner about your feelings Ask your partner to go to couples counseling, so you have a neutral space to explore your issues Look inward and ask you yourself what needs and wants of yours aren't being met Advertisement

'But if you feel yourself tempted to step out of your marriage and have an affair or be unfaithful, take that as a serious warning sign for your marriage.'

Instead of acting on the impulse, she suggested preventative measures to help you get to the root of your desire to cheat and make your relationship stronger.

'You can go to your spouse and use it as a wakeup call,' she explained. 'Say something like, "I think our marriage is at risk. Let's talk about how I'm feeling."'

'Ask to talk together openly and explore why you might feel that way, and what vulnerabilities are happening in your marriage,' she added in the caption.

The therapist also advised asking your spouse or partner to go to couples counseling, saying a 'third can provide a safe and neutral space to explore any issues, needs, or wants.'

'Ask yourself what is it that you're needing and wanting that you're finding yourself drawn to look for outside of the marriage,' she said.

'All three of these options are a lot healthier and definitely be more productive and less destructive than having an affair,' she concluded.

LaRusso advised talking to your spouse or partner about your feelings and consider seeing a couples counselor

'Ask yourself what is it that you're needing and wanting that you're finding yourself drawn to look for outside of the marriage,' she concluded

LaRusso's video has been viewed more than 1.1 million times, but she was met with backlash from critics who thought it was the 'dumbest advice ever'

LaRusso's video has been viewed more than 1.1 million times and has received hundreds of comments, but not everyone was impressed with the tips.

'As soon as you say any of those three things in a relationship, it's doomed,' one person insisted.

'You forgot about number 4 which is to bury your feelings about being attracted to someone else with a shovel and then bury the shovel,' someone else responded.

'Or you can be an adult and control your urges. Wtf is wrong with people?' another added.

There were also a number of men who insisted their wives would be furious if they admitted they were thinking of cheating.

'Great advice, but how do husbands do 1 and 2 without their wives stabbing us in the face?' one man asked.

'My marriage wouldn't have lasted a month if I told my wife every time I wanted to sleep with a new girl at work,' someone else commented.

'All steps lead to death of husband,' another claimed.
The Spencer sisters looked elegant as ever in colour-coordinated pink ensembles as they attended a fashion show in Germany last night.

Princess Diana's nieces Lady Eliza and her twin Lady Amelia, both 30, were at the event to mark the 50th anniversary of designer Marc Cain GmbH at the event in Bodelshausen.

The socialites showed off their stylish flair as they posed for pictures at the glamorous venue, and enjoyed a catwalk show where they watched from the front row.

Their appearance came as their family marked the anniversary of their aunt Princess Diana's passing.

The twins previously said their aunt, who died in a car crash in Paris when they were five, was 'loving' and had a 'talent for reading children's hearts'.

Lady Amelia (left) and her twin Lady Eliza (right), both 30, celebrated the 50th anniversary of designer Marc Cain GmbH at the event in Bodelshausen

The nieces of the late Princess Diana showed off their stylish flair as they posed for pictures at the glamorous venue, and enjoyed a catwalk show

Amelia lit up the room in bright pink culotte trousers and a matching blue and magenta silk blouse which was tucked in at the waist.

To accessorise, she held onto a bag which popped against her pearly white manicure.

Elsewhere, Eliza was the picture of sophistication in a pastel pink dress, which featured cape-like detailing along the shoulders.

Adding a touch of glitz, she teamed the simple yet elegant frock with a silver clutch and heels.

Both sisters swept their blonde tresses back into a chic updo, and kept their make-up clean and minimal.

They sat in the front row at the fashion show, and were joined by Diane Kruger, whom they could be seen sharing a smile with at the event.

Their appearance came as the Spencer family marked the 26th anniversary of Princess Diana's passing yesterday.

Lady Eliza previously admitted neither of the twins had any idea of Diana's impact on the world until years after her death.

'We always just knew her as our aunt,' she told Tatler in 2021, adding that she remembers her as 'incredibly warm, maternal and loving'.

'Growing up in South Africa, I really had very little idea of how significant she was in the world until I was much older... She always made an effort to connect with us as children and had a talent for reading children's hearts.'

Amelia lit up the room in bright pink culotte trousers and a matching blue and magenta silk blouse which was tucked in at the waist

Elsewhere, Eliza was the picture of sophistication in a pastel pink dress, which featured cape-like detailing along the shoulders

The Spencer sisters looked elegant as ever in colour-coordinated pink ensembles as they attended a fashion show in Germany last night

Amelia (left) and Eliza (right) showed off their summer tans, having recently spent time vacationing across Europe with their family

Elsewhere, Eliza was the picture of sophistication in a pastel pink dress, which featured cape-like detailing along the shoulders. Pictured with her sister

Eliza recalled how on one occasion, the twins went with their aunt to Noordhoek, a beach known for its freezing water, and were approached by a photographer.

'Obviously it could have been quite terrifying for us, being so young and not understanding what was happening,' she said.

'But she turned it into a game of who could get back to the car first. It was amazing how she protected us in a way that made us feel safe and not frightened.

'We had no idea what she was doing at the time. As a child, I realised the enormity of the loss for my father and family. It was only later that I came to understand the significance of the loss of her as a figure in the world.'

Both sisters swept their blonde tresses back into a chic updo, and kept their make-up clean and minimal. Pictured with Leonie Hanne

The sisters enjoyed a catwalk show as they attended the glitzy fashion event in Germany last night

The Spencer sisters appeared in high spirts as they attended the fashion show event in Germany

The twins posed for pictures as they enjoyed an evening of style and fashion in Germany last night

The sisters pictured with Helmut Schlotterer during the Marc Cain Fashion Show to celebrate their 50th anniversary

Yesterday their father Charles Spencer shared a heartwarming tribute to his late sister Princess Diana.

Earl Spencer, 59, who lives in Althorp House, Northampton, took to Twitter to share a childhood picture with the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

To mark the occasion, Charles Spencer has shared a childhood photograph with his sister, and viewers have flocked to the comments to provide support.

The photograph showed a summertime throwback of the siblings as children.

Diana wore an adorable pink dress while putting her arm around her younger brother's shoulder and looking towards the camera.

While Charles sported an all-blue look with a striped, polo t-shirt and matching royal blue shorts.

The post, which was shared in the early hours of the morning, has since amassed more than 20 thousand views.

Charles chose not to caption the sentimental post, but racked up hundreds of comments from others who have fond memories of the late Princess.

Touched by the Earl's tribute, one person wrote: 'Adorable photo. Diana was so lovely and Im sure the best big sister, too. I grew up loving Diana like most of this world did. You help keep her goodness and spirit alive by being the person you are. Thank you for that.'
Joining a company as an apprentice can be daunting, especially if it's your first time in a professional workplace.

But for some unlucky employees, their rookie errors have now been immortalised online after bosses from around the UK taken to Reddit to share the silliest things their apprentices have ever done.

Posting in the AskUK Reddit thread, a worker asked people to share their experiences with apprentices where things went wrong.

Kicking off the thread, the original poster shared their own example: 'Our apprentice wasn't happy this morning when we made him aware that booking off eight hours as holiday was the same as booking a day.

'He thought he could cheat the system and use one day in eight hour blocks, giving him three times the holidays.'

However, from pushing it too far with holiday requests to refusing to wash up after themselves, some apprentices messed up enough to lose their chance

With over 1,000 upvotes, the hilarious top comment read: 'Now I've left the company I feel I can share: when he was new he accidentally got his bits stuck in his trouser zipper, proceeded to ask our manager if it needed to be reported in the accidents book...'

Someone replied jokingly: 'I hope he said yes', to which the commenter answered: 'As funny as it would have been for future reference, she just looked at him bewildered and said no, while I got a good giggle behind my computer.'

Another boss told a story about an apprentice who lasted just six months - although the person admitted they were surprised it was so long.

They wrote: 'They complained when they got their first pay cheque because they were only getting apprenticeship rates and not their 'proper' wage they were supposed to get upon finishing training.

'Theyd finished their two week induction to the workplace and thought that was what was needed for the wage shift.'

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One boss who used to manage a graduate scheme said the young staff members made him 'tear his hair out constantly'.

He said: 'One memorable one was a girl who emailed me, copying in the CEO, to report her manager for favouritism for rejecting her annual leave request.

'She'd, in July, requested a week in August that clashed with two existing team members' already approved leave (in a team of four).

'The internal policy was that no more than two in the team could have annual leave at the same time, and they had a shared document that showed everyone's approved leave in order to help them all plan.

'The two who already had holiday booked had been in the calendar for months.

'She'd already paid for her holiday before requesting the leave, and the chunky deposit was non-refundable.

'She went on to cite human rights violations after both me and HR pointed out that her manager was correct, and she threatened to take legal action.

He added that the conflict 'led to her being removed from the graduate scheme.'

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Another boss said his apprentice didn't quite get the hang of office talk, having bragged to his colleagues that, for several generations, no one in his family had married anyone outside of the family - adding he intended to keep up the tradition.

He wrote: 'Kid had very obviously been sheltered in his own culture and didn't realise talking about your family inbreeding isn't a work appropriate topic. You could cut the awkwardness with a knife.'

One commenter said they'd worked with a 17-year-old office junior who 'had a meltdown' because he was expected to take his turn washing the cups.'

They continued: 'He actually tried in the 21st century to say he didn't have to do it because men in his religion don't do housework.

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'We got him to follow the network manager round the office, putting cable ties around cables so they weren't kicked under desks.

'A couple of computers developed intermittent faults and it was found that he'd tightened the ties so much he'd gone right through the sheathing on many wires and cables'.

Another said they once found their apprentice 'stripped to the waist and up to his armpits in a 50 gallon drum of LM grease "To see what it feels like".'

One reply joked: 'Im honestly glad someone has done this in the name of science, we need the results asap,' while another said 'When the intrusive thoughts win!'
A Brooklyn weed dealer was found dead in an East New York apartment days after he had been shot in the legs, police said Friday.

A customer looking to make a marijuana purchase called police at about 10 p.m. Thursday after the unidentified victim didnt answer the door to the New Jersey Ave. home, but could be seen sprawled out on the ground through the first-floor apartment window, police sources with knowledge of the case.

The victim had been dead inside the apartment near Sutter Ave. for several days, apparently from gunshot wounds to the legs, police sources said.

A man was pronounced dead on scene after he was found with gunshot wounds inside of 418 New Jersey Avenue in Brooklyn on Thursday.

An autopsy was pending, but police believe one of the bullets tore an artery in his leg, causing him to bleed out, sources said.

Cops were trying to identify the victim Friday. His customer didnt know his real name, sources said.

No arrests have been made.
A Nessie hunter felt it was 'his duty' to put recent viral photos of the legendary monster in the public domain as he 'realised it's not just something he can keep to himself and not share with the outside world'.

The snaps from Loch Ness in Scotland were originally taken by Chie Kelly in 2018, who initially didn't want to show them as she feared public ridicule.

Speaking to This Morning, fellow Nessie enthusiast Steve Feltham revealed that he saw the pictures for the first time last weekend - and was in 'total surprise'.

'She said "I'm just showing you these for your own personal interest",' he explained.

But the eerie image, which features two humps in the water, was too convincing for Steve not to share with fellow enthusiasts.

Speaking to This Morning, fellow Nessie enthusiast Steve Feltham revealed that he saw the pictures for the first time last weekend - and was in 'total surprise'

'I'm used to people bringing me photographs and saying "ooh I think I've caught Nessie",' he explained.

'Generally I can look at it and 90 per cent of the time I'll say, well, that's a boat or that's wind or that's waves on the water.'

But he had 'no idea' what the two humps in the picture could be.

'This is absolutely as good as it gets, as exciting as it gets around the world for Nessie hunters,' he added.

Steve explained that he doesn't think that the two small hill-like structures are rocks - as he would have noticed them after living by the lake for more than three decades.

'It's in about 80 ft of water so in 32 years if there was a little atoll sticking out of the water I'd have probably known about it my now - water skiers and swimmers would've sat on it,' he said.

'There's definitely no rocks.'

The Nessie hunter also expressed his shock at not having spotted the humps in 2018, joking that he 'must've been at the supermarket the day she came out and took those pictures'.

The eerie image, which features two humps in the water, was too convincing for Steve not to share with fellow enthusiasts

However, biologist professor Ben Garrod told the programme that the thinks the humps are something far less exciting - such as debris from a boat or a lump of wood.

He added that he doesn't believe that Nessie would be a prehistoric monster - as these were huge and sometimes violent, quick creatures, which would have made their presence known by now.

'As a biologist I would say if we're looking for an animal and we haven't seen it in approximately 50 years or we haven't got conclusive proof it's there, it's extinct.'

However, he thought it might well be 'a massive fish'.

He also praised the work of Steve and other Nessie Hunters as important 'citizen science'.

'It's really important people like Steve are dedicating their lives to further understand the things that could be there,' he said.

It comes as Nessie hunters claim to have made three separate sightings of the illusive creature including the 'most exciting' glimpse of the legendary animal yet.

Volunteers turned up to the Scottish Highlands in droves over the weekend to join the biggest hunt for the Loch Ness Monster in more than 50 years.

The search expedition led to three reported sightings including the 'first ever video' of Nessie, taken by a film crew using a thermal imaging drone.

Meanwhile, another searcher claimed she has taken the 'most exciting' photos of Nessie ever.

The images, taken by translator Chie, show an eel-like creature slowly spinning on the surface of Loch Ness, shortly before it disappeared underwater.

A civil servant, 58, also reported spotting Nessie swimming in Loch Ness, before sketching a picture of the world famous monster.

The search of the Loch Ness Monster started on August 26, with hundreds of intrepid Nessie hunters getting out on the lake in the biggest search of its kind in decades.

Among the volunteers included a film crew from British production company Dragonfly Films, who used a thermal imaging drone to search for the creature.

What IS the Loch Ness Monster? Rumours of a strange creature living in the waters of Loch Ness have abounded over the decades, yet scant evidence has been found to back up these claims. One of the first sightings, believed to have fuelled modern Nessie fever, came in May 2, 1933. On this date the Inverness Courier carried a story about a local couple who claim to have seen 'an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface'. Another famous claimed sighting is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson. It was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged. Other sightings James Gray's picture from 2001 when he and friend Peter Levings were out fishing on the Loch, while namesake Hugh Gray's blurred photo of what appears to be a large sea creature was published in the Daily Express in 1933. Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London physician, captured arguably the most famous image of the Loch Ness Monster. The surgeons photograph was published in the Daily Mail on April 21, 1934 - however it was later proven to be a fake The first reported sighting of the monster is said to have been made in AD565 by the Irish missionary St Columba when he came across a giant beast in the River Ness. But no one has ever come up with a satisfactory explanation for the sightings - although in 2019, 'Nessie expert' Steve Feltham, who has spent 24 years watching the Loch, said he thought it was actually a giant Wels Catfish, native to waters near the Baltic and Caspian seas in Europe. An online register lists more than 1,000 total Nessie sightings, created by Mr Campbell, the man behind the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club and is available at www.lochnesssightings.com. So what could explain these mysterious sightings? Many Nessie witnesses have mentioned large, crocodile-like scutes sitting atop the spine of the creature, leading some to believe an escaped amphibian may be to blame. Native fish sturgeons can also weigh several hundred pounds and have ridged backs, which make them look almost reptilian. Some believe Nessie is a long-necked plesiosaur - like an elasmosaur - that survived somehow when all the other dinosaurs were wiped out. Others say the sightings are down to Scottish pines dying and flopping into the loch, before quickly becoming water-logged and sinking. While submerged, botanical chemicals start trapping tiny bubbles of air. Eventually, enough of these are gathered to propel the log upward as deep pressures begin altering its shape, giving the appearance of an animal coming up for air. Advertisement

Their search in turn led to them capturing footage they believe could show the elusive Loch Ness Monster near the Scottish lake's shore.

Chie, 51, later caught what she believes are photos of the Loch Ness Monster, while taking pictures of her husband Scott, 68.

She quickly started taking pictures after seeing a strange animal move across a distance of around 100m at a 'steady speed' from right to left about 200m from the shore.

'We had lunch in the Dores Inn and then started walking around. I was just taking pictures with my Cannon camera of Scott and our daughter Alisa, who was then five, when about 200 metres from the shore, moving right to left at a steady speed was this creature,' she said.

'It was spinning and rolling at times. We never saw a head or neck. After a couple of minutes it just disappeared and we never saw it again,' the Japanese born translator added.

'At first I wondered if it was an otter or a pair of otters or a seal, but we never saw a head and it never came up again for air.

'It was making this strange movement on the surface. We did not hear any sound. There were these strange shapes below the surface. I could not make out any colours - the water was dark.'

'I could not accurately assess its length, but the two parts that were visible were less then two metres long together.

'I don't know what it was but it was definitely a creature - an animal. At the time I did not want to face public ridicule by making the photographs public.'
Fans waiting to see the '11am to Hogsmeade' train at Kings Cross station

Hundreds of Harry Potter fans descended on King's Cross station in London today to mark what would be the first day back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

While train strikes have severely affected services, with 13 operators shut down all day, the Hogwarts Express was running on time.

Fans gathered in the station to look at the signs for the 11am train to Hogsmeade - leaving of course from Platform 9 3/4.

And one couple of wizarding fans seemed very excited as they got engaged in front of huge crowds.

Adorable photos show Manish proposing to his girlfriend Pavneet, before slipping the ring on her finger.

One couple of wizarding fans seemed very excited as they got engaged in front of huge crowds

Adorable photos show Manish proposing to his girlfriend Pavneet, before slipping the ring on her finger

Hundreds of Harry Potter fans descended on King's Cross station in London today to mark what would be the first day back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

While train strikes have severely affected services, with 13 operators shut down all day, the Hogwarts Express was running on time. A fan is pictured at Platform 9 3/4

Hogwarts traditionally opens its doors every year on September 1 and is celebrated with a Back To Hogwarts Day

Hogwarts traditionally opens its doors every year on September 1 and is celebrated with a Back To Hogwarts Day.

Fans gather at the busy London transport hub to recreate the scene of students pushing through the wall to the hidden Platform 9 and 3/4 where the Hogwarts Express train waits.

Harry Potter superfans arrived at the station for the communal countdown to the famous train's 11am journey.

Fans young and old put on their Hogwarts uniform and capes - with many wearing Harry Potter style glasses.

Others opted for scarves from their favourite Hogwarts houses, while some even dressed up as Dobby and other creatures from the seven-book series.

Fans gather at the busy London transport hub to recreate the scene of students pushing through the wall to the hidden Platform 9 and 3/4 where the Hogwarts Express train waits

One fan opted for individualised crocs with a snitch and 93/4 on

Others opted for scarves from their favourite Hogwarts houses, while some even dressed up as Dobby and other creatures from the seven-book series

Celebrity super fans, including Sam Thompson, were also in attendance

Made in Chelsea's Sam Thompson opted for a Hufflepuff T-shirt

Young fans opted for Harry Potter style glasses

Celebrity super fans, including Sam Thompson, were also in attendance.

It comes as today's 24-hour walkout by Aslef train drivers is severely affecting services, with 13 operators such as Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Thameslink and TransPennine Express shut down all day.

Many of the companies that are running trains have reduced timetables, starting later and finishing earlier than usual. Meanwhile, the Circle Line is shut due to a shortage of drivers resulting from the strike.

While many trains were cancelled, the Hogsmeade express was running on time

Some fans opted for the Harry Potter scar drawn onto their face

In January, members of Aslef's executive committee rejected a 4 per cent increase to train drivers' base pay backdated to the start of 2022 and a 4pc rise in 2023. This would have represented an average increase of 5,000.

The average train driver's salary is now 60,055  up from 44,985 ten years ago  with a fifth of train drivers on 70,000 or more. These amounts do not include overtime, rest-day working and other allowances for doing unsociable hours. The average UK salary is 31,876.

This morning, photos showed usually bustling stations have been left almost totally deserted. Meanwhile, the Circle Line in London has been suspended all day - with Transport for London blaming a shortage of drivers due to the rail strikes.

Dobby - the beloved House Elf - was a popular costume choice

Fans young and old gathered to watch the the Hogwarts Express sign arrive

Fans were keen to take pictures of the sign

Speaking at Euston station, commuter Rohan Shukla, 26, from Watford, said: 'I am travelling to Watford Junction so if there's a direct train then it would take me about 20 minutes from here, whereas today it takes just less than an hour, which on a working day I think that's completely appalling.

'We all want to be paid more, we are all humans after all but I think there are better ways of going about it than such frequency of strikes. My problem isn't against strikes but the frequency.

'I understand where they are coming from but think it has gone too far now, every other week you are not sure if you are going to reach work on time because of a potential strike date.

'I think my message (to the striking unions) would be to have some sympathy towards the public, you've made your point.'
A cash-strapped student has revealed how she managed to enjoy a long summer holiday in various destinations across Europe - by looking after other people's pets.

American student Soriah Abraham, 19, saved 3,000 living rent-free by volunteering to pet sit for people going on holiday - and says she ended up spending just 400 in two months.

The student, who's originally from Salem, Oregon but moved to London in October 2022 to study fashion design at the University for the Creative Arts in Epsom, got the idea for pet-sitting travel after seeing others doing it online.

After joining a dedicated website, she started doing home sits around London to build up her reviews - meaning she would be able to easily secure sits abroad over her summer break.

Soriah Abraham, pictured in Bern, Switzerland: The enterprising teenager has spent the summer looking after other people's pets at destinations across Europe

The cat's out of the bag on free travel: Soriah, who's a student in Epsom, Surrey, says she only spent 400 in two months thanks to the pet-sitting jobs

When she finished in June, she celebrated ending her first year of university with a two-month adventure in Germany, Switzerland and Amsterdam.

Not only did she experience three countries in one trip, she also only spent just 400 over the duration of it - on food, travel and the occasional hotel, estimating it would have cost her around 3,400 without her pet sitting jobs.

Soriah said: 'I have two cats back home and I missed them. I wanted to build up my reviews before I went for the crucial ones in the summer. I spent about 400 for food, and the occasional hotel.'

Soriah did her first house sit in November 2022 and built up her reviews looking after people's pets while they were away. She even got to fly to Dublin to look after bunnies.

In Amsterdam, Soriah looked after a dog called Sidney - and explored the Dutch city

Oh boy! One of the pets that the student took care of during her adventure

I don't speak French...a brace of cats at a chic apartment that used Soriah's services

Cat's one way to travel! Where pet-sitting took Soriah The 19-year-old on her rent-free travels Stuttgart, Germany: looked after two cats called Tequila and Vodka for two weeks London: looked after a cat called Mimi Bern, Switzerland: looked after a cat called Claire Amsterdam, Netherlands: looked after a dog called Sidney Advertisement

From June 2023 she started using the app to hop around Europe - without spending very much.

She said: 'I went to Stuttgart, Germany, first and got to bike around the city.'

She looked after two cats there before coming back to a house sit in London for a breather and then heading to Bern, Switzerland, to look after another feline.

Soriah said: 'I could eat their perishable food and use their bikes. It was gorgeous, and the cat was super independent.'

Soriah came back to London again before staying in a house sit in Amsterdam with her mum to look after a dog.

She said: 'I really enjoyed being independent.I hadn't been to Europe before I moved. It's really nice to meet people. I'd definitely recommend it to people.'

Places Soriah has travelled while pet sitting include Stuttgart in Germany - where she looked after two cats called Tequila and Vodka for two weeks.

In London, she became temporary carer for a cat called Mimi and in Bern, Switzerland, she moved in with a feline called Claire.

Elsewhere, a dog called Sidney awaited her in Amsterdam.
More than half of children lose their 'sense of wonder' about the world around them before turning age six, according to a new Disney survey.

A poll of 1,000 British parents with children aged three to six, found that 51 per cent believed their child's curiosity began to decline way before the age of 10.

As such a staggering 94 per cent of parents believed the onus was on them to guide their little ones as they discovered the world.

A further 83 per cent of guardians admitted to needing help with keeping their excitement alive.

In response to these new findings, Disney UK has launched a brand new project called 'Find Your Wonder', a 'Wonder List' of 12 downloadable kids activities inspired by the studio's princess characters.

According to Disney UK, more than half of children lose their 'sense of wonder' about the world around them before turning age six (Pictured: Stock image of a mother and son exploring nature

Alongside the activities are a series of 'Wonder Webisodes' featuring celebrities Helen Skelton, Alice Dearing, and Jessica Gadirova.

Child Psychologist, Laverne Antrobus, who consulted on the making of Find Your Wonder, said: 'Young children have a natural sense of curiosity, which helps them begin to navigate the world around them.

'At this age, children develop their sense of adventure and wonder as they learn to use creativity through play and to discover what is possible.

'As someone who has observed children playing at this age, it is evident that imaginative play - whether that be sock puppets, dress up, or interacting with toys and dolls  is a journey of self-discovery and a great way for them to find their own wonder'.

The study also identified what parents consider to be the most effective ways of preserving their child's sense of wonder and imagination as they grow older.

In response to new findings, Disney has launched a brand new project called 'Find Your Wonder', a 'Wonder List' of 12 downloadable kids activities inspired by the studio's princess characters

TOP 10 ACTIVITIES PARENTS THINK HELP PRESERVE THEIR CHILD'S SENSE OF WONDER 1. Exploring nature 2. Exploring new places 3. Trying a new sport 4. Riding a bike 5. Going stargazing 6. Throwing a tea party 7. Learning tips about caring for pets 8. Learning a new dance 9. Designing a journal 10. Making a sock puppet Advertisement

Exploring nature came up on top, followed by exploring new places, while 23 per cent suggested trying new sports.

And while these are considered the most effective, 70 per cent of parents agree that playing with toys helps keep a child's imagination alive.

Carried out through OnePoll, the study also revealed what people regarded as the most important aspects of parenting.

While 33 per cent said supporting their child's hobbies and interests were paramount, another 26 per cent focused on being a good role model.

Laverne added: 'By encouraging children to be brave and try out new skills - such as throwing a tea party like Cinderella or swimming like Ariel - parents are ensuring their child's creativity and passion for new discovery continues - which is an invaluable tool for life'.

Meanwhile Claire Terry, Senior Vice President of Disney Consumer Products said Disney 'hoped to empower young children'.

She explained: 'It is clear from the research that parents truly believe in the power of imaginative storytelling and the element of play when it comes to keeping a child's wonder alive.

'We know that families value and love Disney princesses for their inspiring stories of courage, kindness and adventure.

'Parents trust Disney Princess characters to be good role models for their children as they reflect such positive attributes. We hope to empower young children to develop their confidence, and also try their hand at something new to keep that magical sense of wonder alive'.
For many, a proposal still remains one of life's key milestones - and it seems some people are so determined to ensure it's a magical moment, they're prepared to invest thousands of pounds in getting it just right.

Hopeful grooms keen to woo their brides-to-be (or not) in style are turning to professionals to help with everything from location to lighting, gifts, flowers, photographers and more, the Telegraph reports.

And according to the outlet, those hoping for a hand in marriage are willing to dish out between 2,000 to 2,500 for the life-changing event, with some splashing out more than 160,000 for exclusive hire of swanky private venues.

The trend is understood to have kicked off during the coronavirus lockdown, when partners had more time to plan ambitious proposals. Add in the Instagram age, where show-stopping engagements are seemingly everywhere you turn, and it feels like being on bended knee is no longer quite enough.

Danielle Kendall, founder of hen party specialist Team Hen, says: 'Having lost so many opportunities for celebration during lockdown, we're celebrating more lavishly, simply because we can.'

Hopeful grooms are turning to professionals to help with location, lighting, gifts, flowers, photographers and more, the Telegraph reports. Stock image used

Getting your big moment on social media is also a priority for many, she adds: 'There are few celebrations in life these days that are not curated with the gram in mind. Social media platforms have created a culture of showcasing our significant life events, including proposals.'

Dedicated agencies just for proposal planning have started to spring up too. Shivani Kattri, founder of The Proposal Planners, organises around 50 proposals a month, and some even include helicopters and private jets.

And men are seemingly the largest audience. Another agency, The Proposers, told the Telegraph that while they do have women in same-sex couples coming to them for their services, it has mostly been men.

Team Hen's Kendall told MailOnline that there's a new audience for a different kind of proposal too. 'Popping the question to your bridesmaid has been popular for a few years, but its certainly true that these proposals get bigger and more lavish each year.

'Asking your best friends to be bridesmaids is hugely personal and is the perfect moment to reflect on that friendship and thank your girls for being who they are.'

The trend is understood to have kicked off during the coronavirus lockdown, and expanded over the years. Stock image used

Should you be wary of a man who whisks you away in a helicopter to be proposed to on a private beach? Or plans a flashmob to pop the question on your way home from work?

Romance doesn't always have to be about overblown gestures, says Kendall.

'Everyone is different - I hate to be the centre of attention so to be asked in public, or in a lavish way that is posted on social media - I would hate that. My husband knows that about me, so did not ask in public.

'For some people, their perfect proposal would involve friends, or an audiences of some kinds. If you are in the public eye it can also be a show of affection or wealth.

'Asking someone to marry you is absolutely huge - its a question of lifelong commitment. So whether that is done simply, in an understated way or with flocks of doves and acres of white roses - as long as the sentiment is there, and asked for the right reasons - it doesnt really matter.'

The rise of proposal planners comes following reports earlier this year that the average wedding guest is set to spend more than 1,000 this year.

Those attending a wedding in 2023 anticipate spending 1,045 on average per wedding, according to American Express.

This is an 18 per cent jump compared with the average spend people were anticipating when similar research was carried out in 2022.

Wedding guests were expecting to spend 883 on average last year.

Just over half (52 per cent) of guests said they are attending a wedding in 2023 that had been postponed since the start of the pandemic.

Gifts for the newlywed couple will be the biggest expense for wedding guests in 2023, the survey suggests, with attendees expecting to spend an average of 217.90 on the happy couple.

Cash, couples' experiences and kitchen appliances are among the popular gifts that guests are planning to make this year.

Accommodation is the second biggest anticipated cost for guests, at 203.90 on average.

Wedding guests expect to spend around a third (32 per cent) more on accommodation this year than they did in 2022, the research found.

In addition to increasing guest spend this year, the average number of guests per wedding is expected to rise in 2023.

The research found that the average guest count for weddings in 2023 is 74, increasing from 66 in 2022.

Many couples are taking the opportunity to get married abroad in 2023, with Spain and Ireland being among the popular destinations, American Express found.

Some 2,000 people were surveyed across the UK by Opinium in March 2023.

A similar survey of 2,000 people across the UK was previously carried out in April 2022.
At least a third of dementia patients would not benefit from breakthrough drugs as they are never officially diagnosed with the disease, a report warns.

NHS figures show just 64 per cent of people in England with dementia have a formal diagnosis, lagging behind the government's target of 67 per cent.

The lack of diagnosis means thousands of people would never be in contention for drugs like lecanemab and donanemab, hailed as momentous in the fight to treat the disease.

Alzheimers Research UK said proven diagnosis techniques, such as lumbar punctures, were scarcely used with just 2 per cent of people suspected of having the disease given one.

Limited availability of diagnostic tests and the reluctance of some doctors to even offer people a diagnosis at all, has resulted in a postcode lottery, Alzheimers Research UK has warned

Its Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia report is calling for numbers to be increased from 2,000 to 20,000 per year.

This would need an investment of 16m to fund the diagnostic infrastructure, equipment, and workforce training, including 50 new band 6/7 nurses across the UK.

This should be followed by sustained annual investment of 10m until new diagnostic tools, like blood tests, are ready to replace lumbar punctures, it states.

Samantha Benham-Hermetz, of Alzheimers Research UK, said: For people living with dementia to receive proper treatment  including the new drugs currently being looked at by regulators - they need to receive a formal diagnosis.

But in England, we know that more than a third of over-65s living with dementia never get a diagnosis at all. This is completely unacceptable, as is the underlying diagnosis target of 67 per cent.

We wouldn't accept this for any other condition, so we shouldnt for dementia. In other UK nations, this information isnt even available, as data on dementia diagnosis rates arent routinely published.

It warned limited availability of diagnostic tests and the reluctance of some doctors to even offer people a diagnosis at all, has resulted in a postcode lottery.

Just 53 per cent of people living with dementia in Herefordshire and Worcestershire will be diagnosed, compared to 73 per cent in South Yorkshire, it found.

It comes as a second report predicts there will be a further 1.5 million cases of dementia in the UK by 2050.

Alzheimers Disease International (ADI) said more than 636,000 of these cases would be preventable of people and governments took more action.

The charity said cutting down on alcohol consumption, stopping smoking, doing more exercise and keeping frequent social contact could all lower a persons risk of Alzheimers.

Dementia remains the biggest killer in the UK and is on track to be the nations most expensive health condition by 2030.

If nothing changes, one in two people will be directly affected by the disease, either caring for someone with the condition, developing it themselves, or both.

Officials need to take more action to address known risk factors, such as obesity, air pollution and restricted access to early education, it said.

Paola Barbarino, chief executive of ADI, said: This is a critical step, in the absence of treatment or a cure, to prevent as many cases as possible.

We must ensure populations are aware of dementia risk-reduction strategies, at all ages, and have access to necessary information, advice, and support services.
A US ban on menthol cigarettes that has been in the works for years will be finalized in the next few months.

The Food and Drug Administration will release its official plan to phase out minty tobacco products 'in the coming months', setting the policy up to be implemented in 2024.

The ban is a long time coming in the eyes of anti-tobacco activists who argue that menthol cigarettes are a gateway into addiction for young people.

A similar argument has been made against fruity-flavored vape devices, which studies increasingly show carry many of the same health risks as normal cigarettes.

Menthol cigarettes make up a fraction of total cigarette sales in the US, but they have hooked a disproportately high rate - 85 percent - of black smokers

The FDA has been considering regulations for menthol cigarettes - which make up a 40 percent share of all sales in the country - for more than a decade.

The flavoring masks the taste of tobacco that might not be appealing to all users, especially children, and enhances the effects of nicotine on the brain, making them want to smoke more.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, an FDA spokesperson said: Consistent with the administrations commitment to advancing the final tobacco product standard on menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes, the FDA aims to complete work on this rule in the coming months.

The FDA had initially intended to work out the details of the ban first announced last April by the end of this month.

It first announced that it would ban menthol cigarettes in April 2022 in what would be its most consequential regulatory move against Big Tobacco since 2009 when Congress banned all flavors in cigarettes  save for menthol.

But its self-imposed end-of-August deadline has come and gone and public health groups are frustrated.

Dr Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, American Medical Association President, said: We are disappointed that the FDA has yet to implement a rule banning menthol-flavored cigarettes... We implore the FDA to move swiftly to remove these harmful products from the market once and for all and keep them out of the hands of our nations youththeir health and well-being must be the first priority.

Meanwhile, Dr Phillip Gardiner, co-founder of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council said: The FDA is dragging their feet again. They should become part of the solution and not continue to be part of the problem; Black Lives Matter, Black Lives are at Stake!

This is not the first time that FDA tobacco regulators have been slammed for delays.

In 2018, the agency was sued by a cadre of public health groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and more, for its failure to crack down on flavored e-cigarette makers whose advertising targeted children.

The following year, a federal judge sided with the public health field in ruling that the agency had shirked its responibilities by delaying the reviews of thousands of applications from vape manufacturers looking to sell their products.

It was not until this spring that the FDA showed signs of catching up by issuing over 6,000 product marketing denials.

Flavored e-cigarettes can hook children, especially children who are naive to traditional cigarettes and how they taste, with just a few days of regular puffing.

Just as fruity and sweet flavors like creme brulee and strawberry lemonade mask the less appealing tobacco taste, menthol flavoring has a similar effect.

And while menthol cigarette sales account for a minority of the total number of packs sold in the US, a disproportionately large portion of users  85 percent  are black, compared with 30 percent of white smokers.

Moreover, half of adult smokers in the US got hooked on nicotine thanks to smoking menthols as teenagers.

Tobacco use among 11 to 18-year-olds has risen by almost a quarter compared to last year, estimates suggest. The CDC warns, however, against the comparison because in 2021 the surveys had to be done from home due to the pandemic. This may have affected the results

Bans in individual states including Calfornia and Massachusetts may serve as a litmus test for how the federal government could institute a broader one.

In 2019, Massachusetts became the first state to implement an all-out ban on flavored tobacco products including flavors in menthols and e-cigarettes which led to an overall decrease in cigarette sales.

Researchers from the American Cancer Society also concluded that the ban led to the state smoking rate to fall by one percentage point more compared to states without a ban.

Still, Massachusetts law enforcement has seen an illicit market emerge for the banned products. The states Multi-Agency Illegal Tobacco Task Force for Massachusetts said in its annual report out in February that high taxes coupled with the flavor ban has encouraged smuggling of tobacco products across states.

The report said: the Task Forces enforcement actions had revealed a disproportionate amount of smuggling activity involving [other tobacco products (OTP)], especially smokeless tobacco, relative to OTPs share of the overall Massachusetts tobacco market.

The Commonwealths high tax rates on OTP relative to other states provide smugglers an incentive to import such products from low-tax states and sell them to in-state buyers willing to illegally evade payment of the applicable Massachusetts tobacco excise.

The rise of a new black market was not the only concern. Civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union the Drug Policy Alliance, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers have warned that a menthol ban could lead to greater arrests and incarceration rates in the black community.

The groups said in a joint letter to the federal government in 2021: 'A menthol cigarette ban would disproportionately impact communities of color, result in criminalization of the market, and exacerbate mass incarceration.

'In the end, tobacco policy will no longer be the responsibility of regulators regulating, but police policing. Our experience with alcohol, opioid, and cannabis prohibition teaches us that that is a policy disaster waiting to happen, with Black and other communities of color bearing the brunt.'
Forty gangbangers got unexpected knocks on their doors this week from police officers handing them a letter telling them to behave themselves as the NYPD prepares for Brooklyns JOuvert and the West Indian Day Parade.

Weve been doing it for years, Assistant Chief Charles McEvoy said. We do it for gang violence across the city and then for special occasions like this.

NYPD Assistant Chief Charles McEvoy, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, at a news conference about prepartions for JOuvert and the West Indian Day Parade.

The letters, a component of the NYC Ceasefire initiative, were handed out in recent days, police said at a press conference.

Theyre quiet  they listen, said Chief of Patrol John Chell. Its not a big deal.

But Alex Vitale, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College, said the letters can be seen as threatening and are counterproductive, given that the NYPD leans on violence interrupters and community leaders to keep the peace and work with troubled youth to straighten themselves out.

These kids already know the NYPD knows about them and is watching them, Vitale said. More threats and coercion from the Police Department doesnt seem like the strongest strategy. Why not hand the list of 40 names over to someone from the community?

And have them say, Were trying to do something positive for the community  put those beefs aside for three days, and lets go out and have a good weekend.'

The JOuvert on Flatbush and Empire Blvd in Brooklyn.

A police official said the letters are vetted by the departments Legal Bureau.

The letter basically says, This is the NYPD and youre getting this letter because youre connected to violence and youre a crew member, the official said. You need to stop or this will be held against you, for instance at a plea hearing.

The letter also notes that there is help available  such as job training and relocation services  for those who call the Ceasefire hotline.

For years, violence scarred the JOuvert and parade celebrations, but Chell noted that during 2022s festivities there were only three shootings in the area, in Flatbush and Crown Heights. Police also seized 27 guns.

FILE  In this Sept 5, 2016, file photo, crime scene investigators with the New York Police Department at the scene where multiple people were killed and injured in a shooting during JOuvert in Brooklyn.

Chell said the NYPDs goal is for people to enjoy themselves with as little enforcement presence as possible  particularly for quality-of-life issues, such as excessively loud music.

Were going to be firm but fair, he said. Well give people a break. Well be compassionate. [But for] anyone who thinks theyre going to come into this community this weekend with bad intentions, we are here stand together and we say, Not this weekend  or any other weekend.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell at a news conference Thursday in Brooklyn about NYPD preparations for JOuvert and the West Indian Day Parade.

Our police officers will be  firm but fair, to make sure everyone has an enjoyable weekend.

Police plan to deploy around a dozen drones to assess 311 complaints, and to give officers an aerial view if they must respond to serious crimes, said NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry.

The drones can broadcast to the crowds computer-generated voice messages, or live messages from an NYPD commander.

Daughtry said a message from a drone was broadcast to 4,000 people gathered in Washington Square Park hours after the end of the Gay Pride parade.

Believe it or not, people actually turned down their radios, looked up, heard the announcement, and the park cleared in about 10 minutes, Daughtry said.
Paper said the share had now eclipsed the previous record set in 2018

University of Chicago researchers said surge was driven by abortion access

A record number of American men are getting vasectomies every year, a study suggests.

University of Chicago researchers looked at annual insurance claims from 57million people and found that the number of procedures carried out annually between 2014 to 2021 rose by 26 percent.

A vasectomy is a surgical procedure to sterilize a man, in which the tubes that carry sperm from the testicles are either cut or sealed off.

With abortion access now being eroded since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, some doctors say vasectomies are likely now even more popular.

Planned Parenthood has started offering free vasectomies to young uninsured men.

Erika Haas holds her boyfriend Brad Bashor's hand as Dr Esgar Guarin performs a vasectomy on Mr Bashor in his mobile vasectomy on Friday, November 4, 2022

The above graph shows how a record number of men are now going for a vasectomy

Scientists found the share of men aged 18 to 64 getting vasectomies rose to 0.54 percent in 2021, a new record.

This eclipsed the previous high of 0.52 percent set in 2018.

Men who had two or more children or a wife older than 34 years were most likely to go for the procedure, they said.

By geography, those in the North Central area  including Iowa, the Dakotas and Missouri  were most likely to get the op.

Dr Monica Dragoman, an obstetrician at Mount Sinai in New York who was not involved in the study, told UPI: 'The reasons [for the uptick] are deeply personal and multifactorial.

'But motivations can include concerns for their partner and fear about having kids they don't want.'

Abortion access may be further driving up rates since Roe v Wade, with 22 states now restricting the procedure and 15 having banned it entirely.

For the study, researchers looked at vasectomies reported in the insurance claims database Merative MarketScan Commercial Databse  which covers up to 57million Americans across the country.

They only looked at men aged 18 to 64 years old who had the procedure between 2014 and 2021.

Men who were married to other men, whose marital status could not be determined or who had two or more spouses were excluded.

Analysis was then carried out to calculate a share based on the number of men in the database divided by the number who had a vasectomy, which the researchers said reflected the national share of men getting vasectomies.

A total of 325,910 vasectomies were recorded over this seven-year period.

The vasectomy share was 0.42 percent in 2014, results showed, but by 2021 it had risen to 0.54 percent  an increase of 26 percent and the highest share ever.

By age group, those in the 35 to 44 years age bracket were also most likely to get the operation.

Doctors said this may be driven by men at this age feeling they had already completed their families and do not wish to have any more children.

The sharpest rise was seen among men who had no children, with the share rising by 61 percent over the study period.

It was followed by those who had a wife older than 34 years (up 41 percent), were single (up 40 percent) and aged 18 to 24 years (up 37 percent).

Doctors suggested the rise was also possibly being driven by the procedure becoming more accessible.

It only takes around 10 minutes and can be done under local anesthetic, they said, with minimal pain to patients.

Doctors are also more likely to offer the procedure after the American Urological Association urged them to make it more accessible in December 2012.

Over time in the US, births have decreased while deaths have increased, leading to a decline in population

Fertility rates have dropped the most since 2005 in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and California

Organizations such as Planned Parenthood  which aims to stop unwanted pregnancies  are also offering free vasectomies, which can drive up the rates.

In October, the organization's branch in St Louis and Southwest Missouri said it would perform 100 free vasectomies for uninsured and underinsured patients. It marked the third year they were offering the procedure.

The uptick may also be driven by a perception that the procedure can be reversed.

Doctors say this is possible, but becomes less likely the longer someone leaves it after having the procedure.

A vasectomy is a rapid and normally painless procedure where doctors block small tubes in the scrotum to stop sperm from leaving a man's body and causing a pregnancy.

There is also another type of vasectomy in which a doctor numbs the scrotum before making two small cuts in the skin on each side of the scrotum to reach and then cut the tubes that carry sperm out of the testicles.

A small section is removed and both ends of the tubes are then closed, either by tying or sealing using heat.

A man who has a vasectomy can still ejaculate, but this ejaculate will no longer contain sperm.

Nils Seubold underwent a vasectomy last year on The Nutcracker. He had been considering the procedure for a while but decided to take the plunge when Roe v Wade was overturned.

He said: 'I would definitely have to say it's a really good choice for people that have their minds made up about where they're headed in life... it's definitely not as scary as one would think it would be.'

After the US Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections when it reversed Roe v Wade in June 2022, demand for vasectomies, a male form of birth control, in the US surged.

In October 2022, clinics in parts of the country said they saw up to four times as many patients coming in for the operation compared to before the ruling in June.

Planned Parenthood said it saw a 53 percent increase in traffic nationally to vasectomy information on its website after the Roe v Wade reversal.

Lawmakers responded to the growing demand. A California law will take effect in 2024 to make vasectomies cheaper by allowing patients with private insurance plans to get the procedure at no cost other than monthly premiums.

Many men use the procedure to delay having children and some seek to reverse the procedure when they are ready to start a family.

While the procedure can be reversed, experts consider it to be a permanent form of birth control.
New Yorkers are being told to consider masking up this Labor Day weekend due to concerns about rising Covid cases and two new variants.

A spokesman for NYC's health department told DailyMail.com that wearing a mask may be a 'good idea' in crowded indoor areas this weekend when people are expected to congregate in large groups for the holidays.

But they also expressed that 'nothing about the guidance has changed' and that the city currently had no plans to make masks compulsory.

A spokesman for the city's health department told DailyMail.com that wearing the coverings in crowded places like subway stations may be a 'good idea' (People wearing face masks on a subway in New York in May 2021)

The above graph shows positive tests reported in New York City as of August 29. This is likely a vast underestimate, however, because so few people are testing themselves for the virus

The above shows Covid hospitalizations in New York City. These are also rising but remain far below levels recorded even earlier this year

New York City is currently recording a rise in Covid cases and hospital admissions caused by the virus.

The latest data suggests the city's infection rate is about 18 cases per 100,000 people on August 29  although this is likely to be an underestimate because so few people are now testing themselves for the virus.

Hospitalizations are also rising, with 502 patients who had Covid admitted to the city's hospitals on August 31.

That marks a five percent rise compared to the previous week. However, it is still well below the peak this year of almost 2,000 patients in hospital.

A new ultra-transmissible Covid variant called EG.5, also known as Eris, is thought to be behind the rise in cases. There are also concerns over another variant called 'Pirola'  or BA.2.86  which was spotted in the city's wastewater this week, suggesting it is spreading too.

In an updated advisory Wednesday, Dr Ashwin Vasan, commissioner of NYC's health department, said: 'As cases rise, precautions become increasingly important, especially for our most vulnerable New Yorkers who are older, disabled, or have underlying health conditions.

'Staying up to date with Covid vaccines, along with other proven prevention tools  like masking, testing, and staying home when sick  continues to be our best defense against Covid and other respiratory viruses.

'Antibodies from vaccination and prior infection will continue to provide some protection, as will available antiviral treatments like Paxlovid, which is still effective against all circulating strains of Covid.'

When approached by DailyMail.com today and asked whether everyone should wear face masks, a spokesman said it would 'be a good idea.'

Concerns have been raised over rising Covid cases in recent weeks.

The BA.2.86 strain is causing the most concern because it is from an earlier lineage of the virus.

The variant has been detected in New York and four other states  Michigan, Ohio, Texas and Virginia.

It has more than 30 mutations that scientists say make it better able to dodge immunity and vaccines, although there is nothing at present to suggest that it is more likely to cause severe disease or death.

In New York, the variant was picked up in wastewater  suggesting it is circulating in the community.

The city is also currently reporting about two deaths every day.

Face mask mandates in crowded indoor areas were relaxed in most areas late last year, with final restrictions  such as masks in hospitals  eased by this year.

There is no sign that any cities in the US are looking to bring back the mandates.

A man pictured wearing a face mask as he gets onto the New York subway in August 2021

Two people wearing face masks are pictured riding on the New York subway in April 2020

Covid hospitalizations are rising nationally, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows

There has also been a slight uptick in Covid fatalities, national data shows

Besides New York City, Los Angeles is currently facing a rise in Covid, where cases have doubled in a month.

Asked whether a face mask mandate would ever return in the city earlier this week, Barbara Ferrer, the director of LA county's Department of Health, said: '"Ever" is not a word I'm comfortable with.

'There's not that level of certainty with this pandemic. I'm never going to say there's not going to be a time when we all need to put our masks back on.

'[But] I am going to say we certainly don't all need to put our masks back on now.

'We are at a place where people make their own assessment.'

Several hospitals in New York state have brought back masks to their wards and are now testing patients before they are admitted.

Colleges are also asking students and staff to mask up again. Rutgers University in New Jersey and a college in Georgia have both said they are bringing back the requirements.

Nationally, surveillance suggests that Covid cases are starting to tick up across the country.

There were 15,067 Covid hospital admissions registered in the week ending August 19  up 19 percent from the 12,679 registered in the previous seven-day spell.

This level is, however, still well below the peak of 44,000 recorded earlier this year, when next to no restrictions were in place.

There is also a sign that fatalities are creeping up, with 616 reported in the week ending August 5 compared to 512 in the previous seven-day period.
An article published on 4 July 2023 said that Rais Kayani was a fraudster who conned taxpayers out of 195,000 in Covid loans by making fake applications on behalf of businesses including Greggs from which he dishonestly benefitted by pocketing cash.

In fact, the prosecution accepted that Mr Kayani did not make any such applications and that he did not impersonate Greggs or any other business. A statement issued by the Crown Prosecution Service, on which the article was based, confirms that the identity of those who did make the applications is unknown.

Mr Kayani also did not pocket the proceeds of the applications. MailOnline is happy to clarify that Mr Kayanis guilty plea was on the basis that he did not receive any money personally from the applications at any stage. Mr Kayani accepted that he did not report his suspicions to the authorities, and it was on this basis that he pleaded guilty to an offence. A representative for Mr Kayani has provided the following statement: In Mr Kayanis case, it was accepted by the prosecution that he did not make the applications for Covid-19 funds, and he received no money personally. The applications were made by others and Mr Kayani had no knowledge of or involvement in them. Mr Kayani accepted that he was suspicious over funds that he was instructed by others to transfer. He did not report his suspicions to the authorities, and it was on this basis that he pleaded guilty to an offence.

To report an inaccuracy, please email corrections@mailonline.co.uk. To make a formal complaint under IPSO rules please go to www.mailonline.co.uk/readerseditor where you will find an easy-to-use complaints form. You can also write to Readers' Editor, MailOnline, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or contact IPSO directly at ipso.co.uk
The Hidden Years

Simon & Schuster 16.99, 496pp

by Rachel Hore

(Simon & Schuster 16.99, 496pp)

This complex, thoughtful novel features two interlocking stories in different timeframes.

In the 1960s, student Belle runs off with her boyfriend to a hippie commune in Cornwall. In the 1940s, wartime nurse Imogen must choose between two very different men.

Hore is brilliant on detail and atmosphere, and these contrasting worlds are superbly (and, in the case of the commune, funnily) evoked. Her heroines are always so decent too; you dont just root for Imogen and Belle, you feel like a better person just reading about them. But how are they connected? Themes of family, self-determination and passionate love make for a dramatic, warm-hearted, wonderfully written read.

Everybody Knows

Faber 8.99, 416pp

by Jordan Harper

(Faber 8.99, 416pp)

Think of your worst suspicions about Hollywood, then triple them. Teen actor deaths, perverted producers, bent politicians, sex, drugs, murder.

Theyre all in a days work for heroine Mae. Shes in Hollywoods black bag PR industry  not so much putting out good celebrity stories as clearing up bad ones. Its an amoral world in which the client comes first but Mae never judges. Until her beloved boss is killed, and right and wrong becomes an issue after all.

With a damaged ex-cop as a sidekick, Mae sets out to find out who did it and why. Cue a heart-racing journey of danger and redemption that had me ripping breathlessly through the pages.

Love in a Lost Land

Whitefox 10.99, 336pp

by James MacManus

(Whitefox 10.99, 336pp)

Ive always loved stories about foreign correspondents and so I lapped up this one. Journalist Richard, arriving in Africa to cover a developing civil war, tries to glean information for his stories.

His efforts take him from whisky-swilling wise-crackers in faded hotel bars to paranoid colonials on remote farms.

But then he meets prickly Patience, a glamorous young black teacher, and things get romantic  and tricky.

Written with verve and economy, this fast-paced, atmospheric story pits true love against professional integrity amid surroundings of breathtaking grandeur.
Homeowners swapping their gas or oil-powered boilers for heat pumps could get higher Government grants for the work under new plans.

Heat pumps gather heat from either the air or ground and can replace traditional ways of heating homes using fossil fuels such as oil and gas.

But the devices cost between 8,000 to 30,000 to buy and fit, with the big price range reflecting which type you buy and what sort of home you have.

To encourage homeowners to switch, the Government has Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants of up to 5,000 for air source heat pumps and 6,000 for ground source pumps, as well as 5,000 to fit a biomass boiler.

But even if homeowners can get a heat pump grant they still face bills of up to 25,000 they have to foot themselves.

Heating up: Heat pumps are touted as a greener alternative to traditional gas boilers

This led the the Energy and Utilities Alliance trade body to criticise the Boiler Upgrade Scheme as a 'cash bung for the rich'.

Now the Government is consulting on changing how it hands these grants out - and they could become more generous.

The Government said heat pumps are expensive, and the current grant system is perhaps too simple.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not take into account what sort of house a heat pump is being fitted to, or the circumstances of the property owner.

Now the Government is consulting on changing the scheme to improve how it works.

A consultation published today said: 'There is currently no difference in the grant value available to different property types, or property owners.

'We recognise that even with the grant, the upfront capital costs of low carbon heat remain a barrier to uptake for certain properties and property owners.'

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy added that the grants 'could potentially increase' but it would depend on how energy suppliers, manufacturers and consumers respond.

How do heat pumps work? There are two kinds of heat pump. Air source heat pumps convert air from outside to water which heats your home via radiators or underfloor heating. Ground source heat pumps transfer heat from the ground outside to heat your home. Of the two, ground source air pumps are the most expensive to install and require more outside space.

Another barrier to getting a heat pump grant is that homes need to have loft or cavity wall insulation fitted first.

The Government also plans to scrap this requirement, lowering the overall cost of fitting a heat pump.

Minister for energy efficiency and green finance Lord Callanan said: 'While a heat pump can be installed for a similar price to installing a gas boiler, the support we've put in place means it is an option for more and more households.

'Today's changes go even further and will mean even more people could benefit from making the switch, offering them the option for a low-emission, low-cost form of heating their homes.'

The consultation closes on October 12.

Energy firms are also competing to offer cheaper heat pumps.

The two cheapest options are from Octopus Energy and British Gas.

Octopus Energy's air source heat pump can be fitted for as little as 2,500, while British Gas heat pumps start at 2,999.

However, both schemes rely on the homeowner getting the maximum Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants available, then topping that up.

What are the advantages of a heat pump?

Experts say they can cut up to 25 per cent off your energy bills as the devices require less power to run, which also makes them more environmentally friendly than boilers.

They can also last longer than boilers - up to 20 years.

Are there hidden costs to heat pumps?

Getting the most out of a heat pump can involve extra costs. Poorly insulated properties may not get the maximum benefit from a heat pump, as the devices work at lower temperatures than boilers.

This means homeowners fitting a heat pump should consider sorting out decent wall and loft insulation, as well as double glazing, first.

Getting loft and wall insulation is currently a requirement to access Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants, unless the Government scraps this.

The cost of these home improvements can run into the thousands of pounds - but will help keep energy bills down from that point onwards.

You may also need bigger radiators to get the most warmth out of a heat pump.

That is because the devices do not heat water to as hot a temperature as boilers can, so radiators with larger surface areas may be needed to maximise heat.

Your property must also be suitable to get a heat pump fitted.

A ground source heat pump also requires space outside to bury the pipes needed to generate heat.

Both ground source and air source heat pumps require a hot water cylinder to be fitted, which may not suit smaller flats.
Octopus is set to become the UK's second biggest energy supplier after it announced plans to buy Shell's household gas and electricity business.

The company, which started as a challenger to traditional suppliers, has climbed the rankings of the energy firms and now only Centrica-owned British Gas lies ahead of it.

Founded in 2015 by businessman Greg Jackson, Octopus will supply energy to almost 6.5m customers following the deal.

The acquisition, which also includes Shell Energy's German business, comes less than a year after Octopus took on 1.5m customers from Bulb after its collapse into administration.

The deal needs regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of the year.

The Competition and Markets Authority declined to comment on whether it will investigate.

Chief executive Jackson said: 'Octopus has proven that it delivers game-changing service while innovating and investing relentlessly towards a cheaper cleaner energy system.'

Consolidation in the energy sector has ramped up over the last few years with Octopus emerging as one of the major players.

Many smaller suppliers collapsed in the autumn and winter of 2021 under the pressure of soaring wholesale gas prices, with millions of customers snapped up by surviving businesses. The biggest casualty of the crisis was Bulb, which had been Britain's seventh biggest energy supplier.

E.On bought N Power in 2019 and Ovo Energy, founded by Northern Irish businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick in 2009, purchased SSE in January 2020.

Ovo Energy's and Octopus's trajectories are similar.

Both were founded by British entrepreneurs as challengers to the established suppliers and have gone on to become two of the major players in the UK's energy market.

Shell Energy entered the UK domestic energy market when it bought First Utility in 2018. The oil giant announced in June that it had put its British and German domestic energy business up for sale, exiting the household energy supply sector after just five years.

It followed a strategic review of the division under chief executive Wael Sawan, who was appointed in January this year.

In May, it was reported that Ovo and Centrica were among those also interested in bidding for the company.

Spreading its tentacles: Octopus was founded in 2015 by Greg Jackson

Shell Energy customers in the UK will be transferred to Octopus following the deal's completion and will not face any disruption to energy supply.

Shell is also winding down its home energy retail business in the Netherlands but said it does not plan to exit the home energy markets in Australia or the USA. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said that the 'deal suits the strategic objectives of both firms'.

'Shell exits a market that has seen low returns for energy providers, thanks to soaring wholesale energy costs and increased regulatory and political pressure in the form of caps on the prices that suppliers can charge their customers,' Mould said.

He added: 'Providing the transaction gets regulatory approval, this is another step for Octopus to cementing its position as a leading supplier in the UK energy supply market, following the failure or withdrawal of many rivals and its purchase of Bulb in 2022.'

The deal also includes 500,000 UK broadband customers.

Octopus does not currently have a broadband division and said it could not comment on plans for those customers until after the deal receives regulatory approval.

James Mabey, an analyst at analysis provider Cornwall Insight, said: 'This marks the second major customer book acquisition by Octopus Energy in the last year, after the transfer of Bulb's customers.

'The transfer of Shell's customers will represent an increase in customer numbers on a similar scale. The acquisition will see concentration in the domestic supply market taken to its highest level since early 2016.'

What to do if you're a Shell Energy customer

The deal is expected to complete in the final three months of 2023 following regulatory approval so Shell customers have been advised to sit tight.

In time they will be transferred to their new account with Octopus, together with their existing direct debits and all customer credit balances are protected.

Natalie Mathie, energy expert at Uswitch, said: 'Until any takeover is done and dusted, the business will operate as normal.

'Customers can be reassured that whatever happens, their credit balances will be protected and no action is required from them.

'Shell Energy's decision to exit the market is disappointing, as it has been a well-backed challenger to the larger energy suppliers.

'It is important that there is strong competition between firms in the longer term, so suppliers cannot rest on their laurels when it comes to service quality and price.'

What about broadband customers?

Peter Ames, broadband expert at Broadband Genie, said: 'While many eyes will be on how the Shell Energy takeover by Octopus will affect its energy customers, around half a million people also get their broadband through the company.

'A question mark remains over the future of Shell Energy Broadband and whether Octopus will use this acquisition to venture into telecoms.

'For the time being at least, we are being told that customers won't see a drop in service or an increase to their bills.'
The London stock market is past its best and needs urgent reform to return to its former glory, a City veteran has warned.

Richard Buxton, who retired this week after a decades-long career, including stints at Jupiter Fund Management and Schroders, said yesterday that the decline of the London Stock Exchange has been 'the tragedy of his career'.

He said pension funds and insurers have had to invest in 'seemingly safe fixed income investments' over the stock market due to a belief that equities are risky because they're volatile. But he added that to 'a long-term saver, daily volatility, and indeed daily liquidity, is completely irrelevant'.

Buxton blamed this regulation for making the City of London a less attractive place for businesses looking to go public and backed attempts by the government to reignite the stock exchange.

Chip designer Arm has announced that it will list in New York this year in a bid to secure a higher valuation, in a blow to London.

Warning: Richard Buxton said that the decline of the London Stock Exchange has been 'the tragedy of his career'

The latest data from auditor EY showed that the number of London initial public offerings fell sharply in the first months of 2023 compared to the previous two years.

Between January and March this year, there were two floats on the main market, raising a total of 63m. However, in the same period of both 2022 and 2021 there were 12 new London main market listings.

'Clearly at the moment, companies are choosing to list in New York because they have got liquid equity-oriented savings culture, which we've now abandoned,' Buxton told the BBC.

'If you can resuscitate that then of course companies will come back and be interested in listing in London, if there is the appetite.'

He pointed to some industries he believes will be big growth areas in the UK, including those related to the energy transition, as well as IT, healthcare and life sciences.
Britain needs more than 30,000 extra bricklayers in order to meet the Government's ambitious home building target, industry groups have warned.

Construction has been affected by tens of thousands of migrant workers returning home during the pandemic and deciding not to return.

In efforts to plug the gap, the Home Office in July extended the Shortage Occupation List  which lists roles deemed to be in short supply  to allow more bricklayers, tilers and roofers to get UK work visas.

But it hasn't solved the problem. The Home Builders Federation estimates 2,500 brickies are needed for every 10,000 homes built.

That means around 75,000 are needed to hit the Government's target of building 300,000 new homes every year by 2025.

Shortage: The Home Builders Federation estimates 2,500 brickies are needed for every 10,000 homes built

But there are only 42,000 bricklayers in home building, meaning an extra 33,000 are now needed.

The average salary of bricklayers in the UK is 37,500, according to the Construction Industry Training Board.

While Home Office measures have been welcomed by the industry, it also sparked fears that Britain is failing to address the wider problems when it comes to recruiting and training bricklayers.

Paul Westhead, development director at One Heritage Group, a London-listed residential property developer focused on the North of England, said: 'If the Government is ever going to meet its annual 300,000 new homes target something radical needs to happen to reverse the trend.

'Even with this, it could take over a decade to establish suitable levels of home-grown tradesmen to get close to meeting demand.

'Policies making it easier for foreign tradespeople to work in the UK would certainly help to elevate the lack of bricklayers in the short term, but it will not fix the bigger problem.' An ageing workforce has added more pressure on recruiting in the industry.

One in five builders are over 50, according to the National Federation of Builders (NFB).

Rico Wojtulewicz, head of housing and planning policy at the NFB, said the UK would benefit from having a 'one for one' visa system where a firm taking on a foreign worker must train a British apprentice in that role.

Julian Walden, a former president of the Guild of Bricklayers, said: 'Large construction sites do not have a single trainee and are flooded with sub-contractors.'

Keith Aldis, chief executive of the Brick Development Association, warned of a 'potential ticking time bomb if investment in skills and new labour does not appear'.

Darryl Stewart, head of commercial services at the National House Building Council, said the key to helping solve the skills gap is ensuring there is greater national investment in training for anyone interested in bricklaying.
I've just killed Jill Dando because of Serbia - and you're next, mystery caller told BBC news chief

Claim: Jill Dando was killed because of Nato operations in the former Yugoslavia, the anonymous caller said

An anonymous caller phoned the BBC after the murder of Jill Dando claiming he had killed her over Nato action in the former Yugoslavia - and warning the head of news that he would be next.

The details were revealed today for the first time in confidential BBC papers from the aftermath of the still-unsolved murder on April 26, 1999.

The minutes are from a board of governors' meeting held days after the 37-year-old Crimewatch presenter was shot dead in the doorway of her West London home.

The revelation comes less than a year after local loner Barry George, jailed for life in 2001 over the murder, was sensationally acquitted at a retrial because of doubts over the scientific evidence against him.

Head of news Tony Hall told the governors how he had been phoned with news of the attack while attending a Broadcasting House meeting with then Director-General John Birt and other BBC chiefs.

He immediately rushed to Television Centre in White City, West London, where he called Mr Birt to say Ms Dando had died.

At some point that day or later the mystery caller phoned Mr Hall claiming responsibility for the shooting.

'A call has been received from someone with a mid-European accent, claiming that Jill Dando's death was linked to Nato action in Serbia and that Tony Hall would be next,' say the minutes of the governors' meeting, released under the Freedom of Information Act.



Death threat: Tony Hall, then BBC head of news, was told he was next on the hit-list

The Corporation immediately introduced tough new security measures.

All staff were ordered to wear name badges, bags were searched as staff arrived for work and all visitors had to be closely chaperoned.

Tight safety measures were imposed for outside broadcasts, while individual members of staff and presenters were offered advice on security and how to cope with the new regime of watchfulness.

Mr Hall and his family were moved from their home into a hotel in response to the death threat against him.

However, police expressed doubts about how much danger they might be in.

Haunting: A CCTV image of Jill Dando shopping just 40 minutes before she gunned down outside her home

The minutes went on: 'The police were sceptical about the claim, but had advised that care needed to be exercised.'

Rumours have flourished throughout the past ten years that a contract killer, hired because of Britain's role in the Serbian conflict, could have been behind the ruthless killing.

But police focussed their attention instead on Mr George, who lived a short distance from Miss Dando's home in Fulham and seemed obsessed with guns.

He was charged with Ms Dando's murder in 2000 and convicted and sentenced to life in prison in the following year.

The BBC minutes also reveal the emotional impact on staff of learning a much-loved colleague had been murdered.

Barry George is driven away from the Old Bailey with his clinical psychologist Dr Susan Young after being acquitted last August of murdering Jill Dando

The governors at the Broadcasting House being chaired by Mr Birt held a moment's silence as soon as Mr Hall phoned to announce her death.

Meanwhile shocked and grieving staff were facing the unprecedented challenge of presenting news reports about the murder of one of their own colleagues.

All the staff on the Six O'Clock News had worked with Ms Dando personally, yet had to try and maintain a professional detachment as they prepared and presented the news of her death.

Mr Hall - now head of the Royal Opera House - told the governors in the meeting a few days after her killing that he could not recall any other event that had affected BBC staff so greatly.

He said at the time: 'Jill Dando had been a wonderful, warm person and very professional.'

Sir Christopher Bland, chairman of the board of governors, wrote on their behalf to Ms Dando's family and her fiance Dr Alan Farthing.

'She had touched many people in the BBC and her murder was a particularly awful event,' said Sir Christopher in the minutes.
Man cleared of murdering Jill Dando claims police monitoring 'breaches his human rights'

The man acquitted of the murder of BBC television presenter Jill Dando, will make a legal challenge within days to stop his movements being supervised.

Barry George, who has been described a loner and the 'local nutter', claims his human rights are being breached by an order designed to protect the public from violent offenders.

The 49-year-old is taking the Metropolitan Police to the High Court to argue that his previous convictions are spent.

But police fear hundreds of offenders supervised under a multi-agency public protection arrangement (Mappa) could also make legal challenges.



Appeal: Barry George leaves court a free man after being cleared of the murder of Jill Dando in August last year

The Met says George is a risk on the grounds of convictions for indecent assault and attempted rape.



The Met also says two women have complained about him since his release.

An Old Bailey jury acquitted George in 2008 nine years after the shooting of the TV presenter on her own doorstep, and seven years after he was convicted of the crime.

Legal sources said George's challenge was unprecedented. The Mappa monitoring means he has to tell the local authority where he lives and the police are kept informed of his movements.

Harry Fletcher of Napo, the probation staff trade union, said: "If people are referred to Mappa on the basis of suspicions or because their case is high profile, it does open up worrying aspects around intrusion."

Dando, who was 37 at the time, was shot in the head on April 26, 1999 as she arrived at her home in Fulham, West London.

Golden girl: Jill Dando presenting the BBC's Holiday programme



In the year before George was arrested many theories emerged. George endured two trials and two appeals in the battle to prove his innocence.

At the first trial in 2001, the case against George - who lived 500 yards from Miss Dando's home in Gowan Avenue - was regarded by some as 'thin'. Yet the jury voted 10-1 that George was guilty of murder.

Barry George's police photo



A year after he was jailed, the Appeal Court comprehensively dismissed his appeal.

In a 58-page ruling, judges said the trial had been fair and there remained a compelling case against George.

But doubts about his guilt continued, and his sister Michelle Diskin mounted a campaign for justice.

In November 2008 three other Appeal Court judges questioned the value of the forensic evidence which helped convict him.

The judges, led by Lord Phillips, said the jury might have reached a different verdict had they known of doubts about crucial gunshot evidence.

In 2001, the Old Bailey had been told that a microscopic speck of firearms discharge residue, found in a pocket of George's coat, was linked to particles found in Miss Dando's hair and clothes.

But scientists said the particle was worthless as evidence.
BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday replied to a letter from John Easterbrook, grandson of former U.S. General Joseph Stilwell. In his reply, Xi thanked Easterbrook for the letter sharing the story about the friendly exchanges between General Stilwell and several generations of the Stilwell family and China. Xi said that from the Stilwell family, he felt the goodwill of the American people towards the Chinese people, adding that General Stilwell was an old friend of the Chinese people, who gave active support to China's cause of liberation and progress and made positive contributions to the friendship between the two peoples, which the Chinese people will never forget. Not long ago, Xi mentioned, a series of commemorative events were organized in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to mark the 140th birth anniversary of General Stilwell, during which Easterbrook delivered a video message, while his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren attended the events in person. He is glad to see that General Stilwell's dedication to friendship between China and the United States has been passed down to the fifth generation of his family, Xi noted. Looking back, Xi stressed, China and the United States fought side by side against Japanese fascists and for world peace; looking into the future, the two countries have every reason to help each other achieve success and common prosperity. The foundation of China-U.S. relations lies in the people and the source of strength lies in the friendship between their peoples, he added. The two peoples should strengthen exchanges, enhance understanding and expand cooperation to continuously inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations, Xi said, expressing his hope and belief that Easterbrook and other members of the Stilwell family would continue to contribute to the development of friendship between the two peoples. Xi also invited the Stilwell family to often visit China in the future. Recently, Easterbrook wrote a letter to Xi, recalling Stilwell's exchanges with China and the Chinese people, introducing the efforts by the Stilwell family and his descendants to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the United States and China, paying tribute to Xi's long-term support in this regard, extending gratitude to the Chinese government and people for not forgetting old friends, and expressing the Stilwell family's wish and determination to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
JPMorgan Chase saw a billion dollars pass through its coffers by retaining disgraced sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein as a client and should be held accountable for empowering his prolific abuse, lawyers for the U.S. Virgin Islands alleged at a court hearing Thursday.

Epsteins entire business with JPMorgan and JPMorgans entire business with Jeffrey Epstein was sex trafficking, Mimi Liu, a lawyer for the U.S. Attorney General of the Virgin Islands, charged in Manhattan federal court.

JPMorgan was a full-service bank for Jeffrey Epsteins sex trafficking.

FILE  This July 9, 2019 photo shows Jeffery Epsteins estate on Little Saint James Island in the U. S. Virgin Islands.

The U.S. territory  where Epstein, now deceased, is believed to have committed much of his abuse on his two private islands  is suing the biggest U.S. bank for allegedly providing indispensable services that allowed him to operate a staggering human trafficking network.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff heard arguments from both sides seeking summary judgment at Thursdays court hearing.

Lawyers for the bank vehemently disputed the Virgin Islands allegations, arguing the U.S. territory didnt have authority to bring some of its claims. It contended the territory could seek civil relief for harmed residents of the Caribbean island, but had not identified any.

Liu alleged that the bank, where Epstein was a client from 1998 to 2013, handled over $1 billion in transactions related to Epsteins human trafficking from 2003 to 2019 when, she argued, no reasonable juror could determine it was unaware he was involved in sex crimes targeting children.

The attorney said undisputed evidence in related litigation showed JPMorgan execs knew of allegations two years before Epsteins 2008 conviction for soliciting a teenager for sex and that the wealthy Brooklyn-born financier purchased massages with cash  yet the bank continued to look the other way as he shelled out at least $4 million to girls and women, many with Eastern European names, and withdrew $5 million in cash.

If you take that $9 million and you divide it by the hundreds of dollars Epstein was known to pay victims, it would amount to JPMorgan facilitating around 20,000 unlawful sex acts, Liu alleged.

She said the bank only addressed its problematic client after Epsteins high-profile arrest on sex trafficking charges and suicide in custody.

This was a [cover your a], Liu said, arguing there was nothing to suggest JPMorgan had meaningfully reckoned with its role and responsibilities to combat human trafficking.

FILE  JPMorgan Chase & Company Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon testifies at a Senate Banking Committee annual Wall Street oversight hearing, Sept. 22, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

On top of compensatory damages, which the Virgin Islands lawyers said could assist victims in the future who havent come forward yet, the territory is seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief that would force the bank to comply with sex trafficking laws.

JPMorgan lawyer Felicia Ellsworth forcefully pushed back on Lius arguments, contending there wasnt a scintilla of evidence the bank doesnt comply with sex trafficking prevention laws. She argued the territory had no authority to enforce the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Scores of women have alleged Epstein abused them at his lavish properties worldwide, transporting them on the same planes he used to host former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. Many of those who have come forward were from disadvantaged backgrounds and were as young as 14 when the abuse began.

Epstein killed himself at age 66 in August 2019 inside the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center, about a month after his arrest on charges carrying life in prison.

The only person held criminally accountable for Epsteins staggering abuse is Ghislaine Maxwell, his one-time accomplice who a jury found guilty in late 2021 of procuring and grooming his victims for at least a decade starting in the 1990s. She is serving a 20-year sentence.

In a separate case in June, JPMorgan agreed to shell out $290 million to at least 100 women victimized by Epstein in a settlement awaiting approval. A tentative $75 million settlement was reached in a similar lawsuit in June against Deutsche Bank. The banks are not expected to admit wrongdoing as part of the settlements, sources previously told the Daily News.

Rakoff said he would issue decisions on outstanding motions from both sides by Septembers end.

Depending on how he rules, the case is set for trial on Oct. 23, which the judge described as unmovable.
Calls are coming from Cornwall and Scotland for artefacts to be returned to their homeland, after a Welsh MP demanded the British Museum give back Wales' treasures.

The Celts' demands follow revelations the British Museum may have lost 2,000 treasures and a curator being sacked. The scandal that has already seen director Hartwig Fischer resign.

Artefacts including the Lewis Chessmen - one of the museums most treasured possessions - should also be returned, says Member of Scottish Parliament Alasdair Allan.

He told MailOnline: 'More artefacts should be distributed out to where they originated.'

Meanwhile the leader of the Party for Cornwall said he sees no reason that Cornish treasures can't be displayed within Cornwall.

Earlier this week MP Liz Saville-Roberts said security was no longer a good enough argument for keeping the the nearly 4,000-year-Mold Gold Cape or the Moel Hebog Shield in London.

The Lewis Chessmen date back to the late 12 to early 13 century, currently, 11 of 93 are on display at the National Museum of Scotland but the rest are kept in storage at the British Museum

Leader of the Party for Cornwall said he sees no reason that Cornish treasures such as the gold lunula (pictured) can't be displayed within Cornwall

Gold twisted bar torc is one of the artefacts that would be returned to the Celts if their demands are met

MSP Allan, who represents the Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency, was part of the campaign to bring the Lewis Chessmen back to the Isle of Lewis.

What are the Lewis Chessmen? The Lewis Chessmen date back to the late 12 to early 13 century. Found in 1831, on a beach at Uig, Lewis, Scotland. Made from Walrus ivory and sperm whale tooth. Around four chess pieces were carved from one walrus tusk. They measure between 6cm and 10cm. A small number are currently on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Advertisement

Currently, 11 of the 93 gaming pieces found in 1831 are on display at the National Museum of Scotland. The remainder are kept at the British Museum, but are not on display according to its website.

Mr Allan said 'some artefacts mean more in their context, for example the Lewis Chessmen' and added that he was strongly in favour of these being brought back to Scotland.

'The National Museum of Scotland is currently in the process of sending native American art work back to America, so it works both ways,' he added.

Councillor Dick Cole, leader of the Party for Cornwall, has argued Cornish artefacts such as the Gold Lunula should be returned to Cornwall from the scandal-hit museum - and other treasures such as the Rillaton Cup, which is currently held in the Royal Collection Trust in London and ancient Cornish manuscripts, should go home too.

He said: 'It is important that we have a meaningful debate about where important treasures or documents, of great significance to Celtic nations, are housed and displayed.

'Here in Cornwall, there is a need to build institutions, which properly reflect our nationhood. I can see no reason why Cornish treasures such as the Rillaton Cup should not be located within Cornwall in a national museum, that is properly funded by the state.

'Given the intrinsic importance of Cornish to the identity of Cornwall, it would also be good to also see the historic copies of the Cornish language miracle plays permanently residing back in Cornwall  where they would really be appreciated by future generations of Cornish speakers.'

Member of Scottish Parliament Alasdair Allan (pictured) said artefacts such as the Lewis Chessmen are better observed in their context

Cllr Dick Cole also called for the Rillaton cup currently in the Royal Collection Trust to be returned to Cornwall as well

Plaid Cymru Leader Liz Saville-Roberts said the argument that treasures are safer at the British Museum has been 'severely undermined' by the recent saga.

READ MORE: Now Welsh nationalists demand return of ancient treasures as they say theft-hit British Museum cannot be trusted to look after them Advertisement

A spokesperson for Yes Cymru, a group campaigning for Welsh Independence, said: 'Let's not forget that this is the British Museum. Nominally Wales has shared ownership of every part of its collection, as do Scotland and Cornwall.

'Of course Wales has no power or rights when it comes to influencing the fate of that collection - the curse of a country contained by the dominance and authority of its much bigger neighbour.

'If Wales and England were independent nations then I am sure that we would quickly reach a fair and equitable agreement for Welsh antiquities to live in Wales and English ones in England.

'I have no doubt that we could lend pieces to each other as close friends, neighbours and allies too. It's way past time for this to become reality, for the tail of Empire to evolve into a new and fruitful relationship between vibrant and thriving independent British nations - England, Scotland, Cornwall and Wales.

'Let's make it happen and then we can talk antiquities as equals.'

MP Saville Roberts added: 'The argument that the Parthenon Marbles, the Mold Gold Cape or the Moel Hebog Shield are more secure in London no longer holds water.

'The Moel Hebog Shield is not even on display, despite the treasure being over three thousand years old.'

Museum director Hartwig Fischer has resigned conceding that responsibility for failing to act on earlier alerts by whistleblowers rests with him

A member of staff observes the Mold Gold Cape dating from 1900-1600 BC which Welsh nationalists want returned

Welsh nationalists have also demanded the return of the Moel Hebog shield which dates back to 1300-1000BC

Plaid Cymru leader Liz Saville-Roberts said security is no longer a good enough argument for keeping the treasures in London

The British Museum has been rocked by scandal in recent weeks following the theft of objects

She added: 'It is high-time we faced that the British Museum does not hold the right to these treasures and a grown up discussion is required about their repatriation.'

Greece asked for the return of the Elgin Marbles and the Chinese government's mouthpiece tabloid demanding the 'immediate return of all Chinese cultural relics.'

Greece's culture minister Dr Lina Mendoni said on record that the scandal engulfing the museum 'reinforces the permanent and just demand of our country for the definitive return' of the Elgin Marbles.

Meanwhile Chinese tabloid Global Times, which is a mouthpiece of the communist government of the country, published an editorial blasting the UK's 'ugly, shameful colonial history.'

A British Museum spokesperson said: 'The British Museum understands the significance these objects have in different areas of the UK, which is why we work directly with museums across the country to share the collection as widely as possible.

'Objects like the Mold Gold Cape and Lewis Chessmen are regularly on loan. For example, eleven chess pieces are currently on display in the National Museum of Scotland, while the Mold Cape has been to both Cardiff and Wrexham in recent years. Loans like this help ensure that the widest number of people have the chance to see and engage with objects.'
Locals in a Cornish seaside village dubbed 'Hollywood-on-Sea' after several A-Listers snapped up properties there have fumed they are being overrun with newcomers who are unable to cope with the smell of cow dung.

Boasting stunning beaches and breathtaking scenery, the untouched bay of Mawgan Porth recently became home to Aquaman star Jason Momoa who followed in the footsteps of Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett.

The unassuming bay, which is just four miles north of Newquay, is the perfect hidden enclave for celebrities wanting LA luxury in the West Country as they can fly their private jets into Newquay airport and make the short trip to Mawgan Porth.

However, locals are now claiming 'Cornwall's best kept secret' is on the brink of being overrun by second homeowners who are knocking down 1930s bungalows to build 'James Bond-esque Lego blocks' which are 'out of touch' and unaffordable.

Susan Schofield, 65, who has farmed land in the area since 1973, says she is exasperated dealing with complaints from new arrivals who are oblivious to rural life.

'They don't seem to have any idea that this is the countryside. I have had complaints when I put cows in my field because people don't like the smell or they expect to be able to walk across my land whenever they want,' she said.

'People treat it like Disneyland sometimes, like it's only here for the tourists but it's not, people live and work here.'

A look at what locals in Mawgan Porth say are multi-million pound brash 'James Bond-esque black clad Lego blocks'

Pictured: The beach at the picturesque Cornish seaside village which has been dubbed 'Hollywood-on-Sea'

Local resident Susan Schofield (pictured) said tourists treat the village like 'Disneyland' sometimes and as if 'it's only here for the tourists but it's not, people live and work here'

Local resident Margaret Behr (pictured) claims the village is only made up of 18 to 20 per cent of locals and 'four in five houses are dark in the winter which can make it a lonely place'

Mrs Schofield added that she now avoids the beach altogether during the summer months as it's too busy.

Margaret Behr, 64, fell in love with Mawgan Porth and moved to an attractive bungalow overlooking the beach 14 years ago.

READ MORE: Inside the British seaside village dubbed Hollywood-on-Sea Advertisement

But since then, many traditional 1930s pebbledashed homes which once characterised the village have been ripped down and replaced with holiday homes for the wealthy, which some locals say look like a 'Jaguar showroom' or 'Tesco'.

Ms Behr said: 'We are turning into Rock or Padstow where it is dominated by second homes. I'd say it's only about 18 to 20 per cent are locals now, four in five houses are dark in the winter which can make it a lonely place.

'As soon as there is a hint of anybody selling a property developers swoop in and offer more than any local can afford - they don't care about the house, the land below it is worth millions.

'I completely understand why people want to live here. It's a stunning place but it's still quite basic and unpretentious and that's what we need to protect.'

Despite there being some excitement among locals that they could bump into the likes of Statham or Blanchett in a supermarket - many have argued that on top of the housing crisis, the influx of holiday rentals, second home owners and celebs moving into the area is making it even harder for younger generations to stay.

According to census data, Cornwall is the most popular destination in the UK for a second home, with 6,080 holiday homes used by 14,230 people.

Retiree Diane Fuller, 84, said: 'I wish the people who designed these new properties would design something that fits in with the area, the new homes look so out of place'

Neighbours: Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett, 54, has a holiday home in the same village as Coldplay's Chris Martin

Many traditional 1930s seaside homes which once characterised the village have been replaced with holiday homes for the wealthy

Moving in? Aquaman star Jason Momoa, 44, is the latest A-lister to snap up a swanky mansion in the picturesque Cornish village of Mawgan Porth, near Newquay

A new development underway atop the cliffs in Mawgan Porth - ideal for a Bond villain

Until recently, Mawgan Porth remained a popular family holiday spot for those in the know while others visited neighboring towns such as Newquay, Rock and Padstow instead

Retirees Anthony and Diane Fuller, who have lived in the village for 35 years, also discussed how Mawgan Porth, which was a popular family holiday spot for those in the know while others visited Newquay, Rock and Padstow, has changed.

Anthony, 93, said: 'The look of the area has completely changed, most of the locals have died or moved on and people with lots of money have taken their place.

'Those that are still here are a friendly and caring community but what we are seeing is bungalows being replaced with square houses that are not appropriate for the area.'

Diane, 84, added: 'I wish the people who designed these new properties would design something that fits in with the area, the new homes look so out of place.'

Estate agent listings for Mawgan Porth appear to back up locals' concerns as the top two properties - one not even built - have been listed for sale for 2.9million and 2.25million.

Adding to this, many locals have complained it is unfair these homes are only being sold privately and the public are unable to see floor plans, which attracts famous buyers.

Clare Coode, a buying agent with Stacks Property Search in Cornwall, told The Times celebs are 'obsessed' with privacy here and insist on direct access to the water from their home.

'One famous buyer insisted that the agents walk up every hill for miles around to ensure the house he wanted couldn't be snapped by the paparazzi,' she said.

'He rejected the house in the end for that reason, even though it was perfect in every other way.'

And with a number of flights daily between Newquay airport and Heathrow and designated landing areas for helicopters - international travel is easier than ever for the rich and famous travelling from afar to their Cornish bolthole.

Andrew Adams, a buying agent specialising in Somerset, Bristol and Bath, told The Times: 'Each of these airports has seen a significant increase in private aircraft usage in the past few years as the region has become more popular with high net worth purchasers.'

This 12 bedroom, 10 en-suite detached property is on the market for 2,900,000

What their movie millions could buy: This six-bed mansion overlooking the beach is on the market for 2,250,000

With a number of flights daily between Newquay airport and Heathrow, international travel is easier than ever for the rich and famous travelling from afar to their Cornish bolthole

On the market: Jason Momoa has been spotted by locals eyeing-up a clifftop home which the locals have dubbed Hollywood-on-Sea

Pictured: Mawgan Porth In Cornwall, which locals have dubbed 'Hollywood-on-Sea'

Pictured: Fan Mel Floyd couldn't believe it when she saw Jamie Dornan at a petrol station in Torpoint, south east Cornwall

A look at where Mawgan Porth is located just four miles away from Newquay

The West Country's long-standing food reputation is also a factor in pushing celebs to the West Country as high-profile chefs such as Rick Stein, Nathan Outlaw and Jamie Oliver have a number of restaurants in the area.

Its perfect surfing conditions may, too, have been a factor in luring A-listers familiar with the beaches of California.

Other celebrities who have been reported to have bought properties in the village include actress Imogen Stubbs and Fifty Shades of Grey actor Jamie Dornan.

Cate Blanchett was the first to buy her 2million property here in 2021. A source told MailOnline: 'The talk of Mawgan Porth is that Cate has bought a home here!'

Cate's PR rep simply said 'yes' when asked if she was about to become Mawgan Porth's first star resident.

Just a few months after it was revealed that Blanchett was living there, a fan couldn't believe it when they spotted Dornan at a local petrol station.

Alongside a selfie of herself and Jamie, Mel Floyd wrote on Instagram: 'I went to get fuel and thought no way it can't be but it was Mr grey himself!'(sic)

Actor Stanley Tucci - a self-confessed foodie who would no doubt love Cornwall's culinary delights - is also said to have purchased a home in Mawgan Porth with his wife Felicity Blunt - sister of his The Devil Wears Prada co-star, Emily Blunt.

In 2021, the American star revealed he had been on a 'road trip to Cornwall'. He told Instagram followers he was enjoying his 'Tucci eggplant parmagiana' while enjoying the sights of the West Country.

Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels star Jason Statham and supermodel wife Rosie Huntington Whiteley - who hails from nearby Devon - have been reported to have snapped up a home here, too.

Hollywood actors Stanley Tucci (left) and Jason Statham (right) are both said to live in the picturesque Cornish village

A look at Betty's surf shop - which has stood opposite the famous beach since 1969

Local resident & surf shop supervisor Jayson Clarke told how 'people don't want big developments'

Action hero Momoa, 44, is believed to have 'fallen in love' with the scenic area after filming his blockbuster DC movie in nearby Devon. He reportedly had been eyeing-up a dramatic clifftop home.

Along the coast of Dorset, neighbours include Harry Redknapp, Julian Fellowes and Jonathan Ross. Sean Bean and Deborah Meaden of Dragons' Den live in Somerset while Peter Andre also has a home in Taunton.

At Betty's surf shop - which has stood opposite the famous beach since 1969 - staff member Jayson Clarke, 43, counts Blanchett and Statham among his customers as well as Kris Marshall and Zahra Ahmadi who star in BBC drama Beyond Paradise which is filmed in Cornwall.

He added: 'Certainly there are celebs living here but it doesn't really affect us, it definitely affects the area though with more people wanting to live here.

'The thing that's always brought people here is that the beaches haven't really changed. It's family friendly and dog friendly.

'It is still really popular with families. I call it a generational beach because families have been coming down here every year for generations.

'People don't want big developments down here, we get a lot of locals coming into the shop and one of the biggest problems we all have is the road system - the council seems to concentrate on road works in the summer and don't seem to plan for people coming down.'
identity theft allegations provided by the department in unreleased documents were an excuse for the search and cops tried to censor the paper

A small Kansas newspaper raided by local cops this month has reportedly been inundated with several year-long subscriptions.

It comes shortly after the paper filed a federal lawsuit against the town's police chief for snatching a reporter's cellphone out of her hands.

The raid, carried out the Marion County Record on August 11, was personally led by Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody.

Another raid was enacted on the home of the publisher' 98-year-old mother, who died the next day.

Cody, 54, alleged in unreleased court documents that the reporter, identified as Deb Gruver, either impersonated someone else or lied about her intentions when she obtained the driving records of a local liquor store owner, The AP reported.

Only sworn in May, Cody is facing allegations he violated the woman's constitutional rights by seizing her phone - a move the paper's publisher says was motivated by the reporter's investigating into his background with a different police department.

It's believed the identity theft allegations were a convenient excuse for the search - which cops have yet to explain, according to the outlet.

Hours earlier, a reporter from another outlet shared footage of a Record staffer receiving an order for a year's subscription - under the unique condition that instead of the caller, it be sent to the police department.

Scroll down for video:

The Marion County Record, a small Kansas newspaper raided by local cops this month, has reportedly been inundated with year-long subscriptions - with footage showing one caller insist that his issues be sent to the police department, which has been accused of censorship

The raid, carried out on August 11, was personally led by Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody ( at center). Only sworn in May, he is facing allegations he violated a reporter's constitutional rights by seizing her phone during the raid - a move the paper's publisher says was motivated by the woman's investigating into his background with another police department

WATCH: Someone called to buy a year-long subscription to Marion County Record. This has happened a lot since the raid. But, the special request this person made is a first! You  percent want to watch.  pic.twitter.com/H8a8wF5cPs  Jessica McMaster (@JessMcMasterKC) August 31, 2023

'Someone called to buy a year-long subscription to Marion County Record,' wrote KSHB 41 News' Jessica McMaster, in a tweet sharing the video, where the staffer is seen asking a superior if they could uphold the caller's request.

A supervisor quickly responds: 'Yeah, we'll give it to them.'

Aside from inciting local outrage, the raid brought international attention to the small central town of 1,900 - now at the center of a debate over press freedoms.

Reporting on the fallout, McMaster wrote: 'This has happened a lot since the raid. But, the special request this person made is a first.'

As the record worker jots down the callers' information for the order, the newspaper's issue after the raid - whose front-page was devoted to a surveillance snap of officers mid-raid - could be seen strewn along his desk.

Police seized computers, personal cellphones, and a router during the filmed ordeal, all of which were released Wednesday after the county prosecutor concluded there was not enough evidence to justify the action.

Video released by the newspaper two days earlier showed just how upsetting the simultaneous raid a few miles away was to the mother of publisher Eric Meyer, who died the next day.

'Get out of my house... I dont want you in my house!' Joan Meyer, who was also the paper's coowner, is heard shouting at six officers who were in the home she shared with her son.

The surveillance video shows the elderly woman using a walker and dressed in slippers and a long robe or gown as she approaches the officers, swearing and demanding to know what the officers are doing.

Video released by the newspaper two days earlier showed just how upsetting the simultaneous raid a few miles away was to the mother of publisher Eric Meyer, 98-year-old Bonnie, who died the next day. Her son said he is also planning to file suit

Police seized computers, personal cellphones, and a router during the filmed ordeal, all of which were released Wednesday after the county prosecutor concluded there was not enough evidence to justify the action

Footage from the newsroom raid shows officers entering with cameras on Friday

Meyer was distraught at the police raid on her newspaper, died 'mid-sentence' half a day after the still-shrouded operation

Cody, 54, alleged in unreleased court documents that the search was enacted after another reporter either impersonated someone else or lied about her intentions when she obtained the driving records of a local liquor store owner

Cody, seen here in plain clothes, became chief of the Marion County Police Department in May, after retiring from Kansas City police department in Missouri. He is being sued by the reporter whose phone he ripped away

Eric Meyer, publisher of The Marion County Record, claims the search was motivated by the reporter' s investigating into the chief's background with the police department

Meyer seen outside the Record office two weeks ago, claims the paper had received an calls claiming Cody had retired from his last post to avoid demotion over alleged sex misconduct

He said the reporter who had her phone taken, Deb Gruver, was investigating those allegations, and was specifically targeted

The Marion County Record serves a community of 1,900 people in rural Kansas

Her son said he believes that the stress contributed to her death, and claimed the paper has received an 'outpouring of calls' claiming Cody had retired from his last police post to avoid demotion over sexual misconduct allegations.

He said the reporter who had her phone taken, 30-year vet Gruver, was investigating those allegations, and was specifically targeted.

'I may be paranoid that this has anything to do with it, but when people come and seize your computer, you tend to be a little paranoid,' Meyer told The Handbasket.

He told The Kansas City Star they had not yet published the story, because they had not completed their investigation.

'We didn't publish it because we couldn't nail it down to the point that we thought it was ready for publication,' said Meyer.

'[Cody] didn't know who our sources were. He does now.'

And Meyer told AP: 'This is the type of stuff that, you know, Vladimir Putin does, that Third World dictators do.

'This is Gestapo tactics from World War II.'

Meyer added this week that he soon plans to soon file his own lawsuit, in addition to Gruver's.

Gruver - a veteran reporter with more than three decades of experience - said in a statement of her federal First Amendment filing: 'I'm standing up for journalists across the country.'

'It is our constitutional right to do this job without fear of harassment or retribution, and our constitutional rights are always worth fighting for,' said Gruver, who had the words 'Freedom of the press' tattooed on her right forearm the same day it was filed.

She has previously worked at other newspapers in Kansas, Wyoming and Indiana and has won awards for her reporting.

CCTV footage shows Marion County record offices raided

The next day, the paper's front-page was sported a surveillance snap of officers mid-raid

Bundles of copies of this week's edition of the paper are stacked up on the floor behind the front desk in the newspaper's office

The small-town paper said it has been bombarded with subscribtion orders since the controversy took off

A handmade sign on a door of the Marion County Record announces that the newspaper's latest weekly edition will be late on August 16, five days after the raid

A tribute to the late Marion County Record co-owner Joan Meyer sits outside the newspaper's office, Monday

The raids of the newspaper and the homes of the Meyers came after a local business owner accused the newspaper of illegally accessing information about her.

The liquor store operator, Kari Newell, accused the newspaper of illegally accessing information about her, and could have got seen her liquor license revoked.

Among Ruver's reporting, she claimed was personal information to access details about the status of her suspended drivers license and her record that included a DUI arrest.

A spokesman for the agency that maintains those records has said the reporter's search on a public website was likely legal.

Meyer didn't publish the story about Newell because he questioned the source - and instead he told the cops about the information.

Newell then accused the weekly newspaper of illegally getting her personal data, prompting the search.

She also allegedly was unhappy with the newspaper had reported reporting on how Newell kicked out reporters from an event at her restaurant, Kari's Restaurant.

Meyer told the Kansas City Star: 'We sent them a note saying that a source had given us a file that we thought had suspicious origins.

'We checked it out to verify that it was accurate, but were not planning to do anything with it. Their response was the typical fashion of a bully.

'Instead of asking a question or getting material, they came with an atomic flyswatter to seize our equipment and apparently tried to put us out of business.'

The search warrant for the raid

Kari Newell accused the weekly newspaper of illegally getting her personal data, prompting the search. She also allegedly was unhappy with the newspaper had reported reporting on how Newell kicked out reporters from an event at her restaurant, Kari's Restaurant (event pictured)

Kari Newell and her estranged husband Ryan Newell. Ryan (right) send information about Kari's 2008 DUI to a woman named Pam Maag, who then contacted the Marion County Record reporter

But after Cody handed Gruver a copy of the warrant and she told him that she needed to call the publisher, he quickly grabbed her personal phone and took it.

'In seizing Ms. Gruvers personal cellular phone despite the seizure exceeding the scope of the unreasonable and unlawful search warrant, Chief Cody acted in unreasonable and unnecessarily violent fashion, causing injury to plaintiffs Gruvers rights and her person,' the lawsuit said.

One of the officers even read Gruver, another reporter and an office administrator their Miranda rights even though they were never arrested before forcing them outside in the heat to watch the three-hour search.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is looking into the newspaper's actions, but it hasn't provided any updates on its investigation.

As for the Marion County PD, they have said little publicly since the raids other than posting a defense of them on the police department's Facebook page.

Penned by Cody personally on August 12, it reads: 'The Marion Kansas Police Department has has several inquiries regarding an ongoing investigation.

'As much as I would like to give everyone details on a criminal investigation I cannot. I believe when the rest of the story is available to the public, the judicial system that is being questioned will be vindicated.

'I appreciate all the assistance from all the State and Local investigators along with the entire judicial process thus far.

Speaking in generalities, the federal Privacy Protection Act, does protect journalists from most searches of newsrooms by federal and state law enforcement officials.

'It is true that in most cases, it requires police to use subpoenas, rather than search warrants, to search the premises of journalists unless they themselves are suspects in the offense that is the subject of the search.

'The Act requires criminal investigators to get a subpoena instead of a search warrant when seeking 'work product materials' and 'documentary materials' from the press, except in circumstances, including: (1) when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.

'The Marion Kansas Police Department believes it is the fundamental duty of the police is to ensure the safety, security, and well-being of all members of the public.

'This commitment must remain steadfast and unbiased, unaffected by political or media influences, in order to uphold the principles of justice, equal protection, and the rule of law for everyone in the community.

'The victim asks that we do all the law allows to ensure justice is served,' he went on to vow. 'The Marion Kansas Police Department will nothing less.'
The CEO of software giant Salesforce has warned that the company could reconsider holding its massive annual gathering in San Francisco if participants in this year's conference fall victim to the city's crime wave.

Salesforce, founded in 1999 in San Francisco by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff, has every year brought together its staff to the city for a conference named Dreamforce.

This year's Dreamforce - the largest tech gathering in the city this year - will be held from September 12-14 at the Moscone Center, in the heart of downtown San Francisco.

The 40,000 expected in-person attendees will pump $57 million into the local economy, but Benioff said he was watching carefully to make sure no one is affected by the rising crime in the city.

Robbery is up 16 percent year-on-year, and motor vehicle theft has increased by 11.3 percent.

'If this Dreamforce is impacted by the current situation with homelessness and drug use it may be the last Dreamforce' in the city, said Benioff, speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday.

Marc Benioff is pictured on September 22, 2022, speaking at the annual Dreamforce conference. He said on Tuesday he would consider relocating the event if there were problems this year

Benioff is pictured at the 2017 Dreamforce gathering

The Dreamforce conference is pictured in 2018. This year's event will bring 40,000 people to San Francisco

Hillary Clinton is pictured attending the 2014 Dreamforce conference

Benioff pointed out that Dreamforce is serving as a trial run for the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) conference which Joe Biden will host in the city in November, bringing 21 world leaders to the city.

'We're working hand in hand with the city as we always do,' he said. 'So it's in all of our interests for it to go well, and for APEC to go well.

'This should be the focus of the city.'

London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco - who is battling to save the battered city's reputation - told KRON4 that they were working hard to ensure every delegate enjoyed their time in the Bay Area.

'San Francisco is committed to making Dreamforce a world-class event, as we do year after year,' she said.

'The city works closely with Salesforce and our hospitality partners to welcome all the attendees and ensure the resources are in place to make it safe, welcoming, and vibrant for all.'

Salesforce's fortunes are inextricably linked to those of the city.

Downtown San Francisco is blighted by vacant stores, homeless encampments and drug users

Homeless camps are pictured in San Francisco - one of the worst-affected cities in the U.S.

Dreamforce will be held in an area which many major retailers have abandoned

The company in 2018 completed the Salesforce Tower, a 61-story skyscraper which serves as their headquarters, and has been closely monitored as an indicator of the city's health.

Salesforce, the city's largest private employer, embraced remote work and has seen much of its office space sit empty since 2020.

In May, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the company has listed offices for lease inside Salesforce Tower, as well as at its other offices at 350 Mission Street and 50 Fremont Street, where 90 percent of space is vacant.

Salesforce's subsidiary Slack also left its former headquarters at 500 Howard Street, which is 95.4 percent vacant, and listed sublease space at 45 Fremont Street, which is 60 percent vacant.

Previous Dreamforce conferences have passed without significant problems, although in 2018 Benioff said attendees had emailed him to complain about the homelessness problem and filthy streets.

Benioff and his team have hyped this year's gathering at 'the nation's premiere generative-artificial-intelligence show.'

It will be headlined by a fireside chat between Benioff and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

Guest invitees include Matthew McConaughey and Stanford AI professor Fei Fei Li.

The Foo Fighters have been booked to perform for those attending.
Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes winner Edwin Walker was nowhere to be found when the contests Prize Patrol showed up at his Alabama home with a bottle of champagne, flowers and the direct-marketing companys signature $1 million prop check.

So presenter Howie Guja, who flew in from New York City to hand over the prize money, tracked the newly minted millionaire down at work and waited for him, according to local reports.

Neighbors told the Prize Patrol that Walker worked down the street from his home. Guja and his entourage then headed there, only to learn the winner had stepped out, but he soon returned.

He was super happy, Guja told AL.com. It was a nice moment.

Guja said this isnt the first time in nearly a decade of surprising sweepstakes winners that he has been kept waiting. He estimates nearly half of the people hes attempted to surprise have been away when he knocked on their door.

I always had hopes but I never really expected it, a surprised Walker told Huntsville, Ala. station WAFF. Yeah, I was floored.

Walker said he plans to use his winnings to pay for improvements on his Albertville home and give some of the windfall to his church. He also said hed try to help out members of his family  some of whom showed up at his workplace to greet him when they learned of his good fortune.
His mother, Amanda Barnes, said the pit bulls were loose and appeared hungry

Bishop has since undergone four surgeries and is expected to need one more

Hunter Bishop, 12, was attacked by 10 pit bulls on August 26 while riding his bike

A North Carolina boy who was riding his bike through his neighborhood was viciously attacked by a pack of 10 hungry pit bulls.

Hunter Bishop, 12, was savaged by the animals while riding his bike to a friend's house on Saturday, August 26 in Rutherford County, mom Amber Barnes said.

'They looked like they were starving,' Barnes said, adding that she went out to find her son and located him in a ditch. 'The way I looked at it, they were eating my son.'

Two people managed to pull the dogs off Hunter and he was rushed to the hospital where he was placed in critical condition, a Nextdoor post stated.

Since the brutal attack took place, the boy has undergone at least four surgeries and is expected to need a fifth that will occur on September 2.

A North Carolina boy who was riding his bike through his neighborhood was viciously attacked by a pack of 10 hungry pit bulls

Hunter Bishop (pictured) was savaged by the animals while riding his bike to a friend's house on Saturday, August 26 in Rutherford County, mom Amber Barnes said

Hunter's legs are seen bruised and heavily bandaged following the attack

Barnes told local outlets that Hunter had been riding to a friend's house when the dogs came out of nowhere and surrounded him on Grassy Knob Road.

She eventually went out looking for him and found him in a ditch, seriously injured from the mauling.

The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office confirmed the attack happened along a road roughly 35 miles southeast of Asheville.

Amber, horrified by the attack, loaded her son into the car and drove him to Greenville Memorial Children's hospital where doctors treated a range of injuries.

'It's unreal that he's still alive,' she told WLOS.

Photos shared by the outlet show significant bruising and bandaging of his wounds.

The Digital Courier reported that doctors struggled to find enough undamaged skin to graft in order to fully close and heal his wounds.

The local sheriff's office has spoken with the owners of the dogs but the individuals have not been publicly identified.

The sheriff's office plans to meet with the district attorney to decide whether or not charges against the owners are appropriate.

It's unknown what happened to the dogs following the attack.

The matter remains under investigation by the sheriff's office.

'It's unreal that he's still alive,' she told WLOS. Pictured: One of Hunter's wounds

Photos shared by the outlet show significant bruising and bandaging of his wounds

'They looked like they were starving,' Barnes said, adding that she went out to find her son and located him in a ditch. 'The way I looked at it, they were eating my son'

In a heartbreaking post on Facebook, Hunter's father shared a photo of his bed-bound son after asking for prayers from his friends

Barnes said they expect Hunter to be in the hospital for several weeks.

'Hunter barely survived, thankfully he did. My son is a fighter,' the mother said in the description of a GoFundMe launched for Hunter.

Barnes wrote that she has been unable to work since the ordeal and that the GoFundMe will help to cover all expenses related to the incident.

The fundraiser has brought in just over $1,600 as of August 31.

In a heartbreaking post on Facebook, Hunter's father shared a photo of his bed-bound son after asking for prayers from his friends.

'I'm sorry you're having to deal with this but you keep that head up and keep strong. Everything's going to be okay. I just thank the good Lord thay he was looking after my son that day. I love you Hunter Ray,' wrote Derek Bishop.
Chicago's plan to turn a hotel in the Hyde Park district into a shelter for 300 migrants has angered locals, who pointed out at a contentious meeting on Wednesday that many local homeless people were left to sleep on the streets.

Chicago has seen 11,000 migrants arrive in the city since August 2022, the mayor's deputy chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas said at the end of June.

Many of them have been bussed from the U.S.-Mexico border by the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott.

He has sent 30,000 to Democrat-run cities including Chicago, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles in a protest he says will end when President Joe Biden 'secures the border.'

Chicago, like the other cities, has struggled to cope with the influx.

Migrants in Chicago have been housed since April in the city's police stations, as well as other city-owned buildings.

A meeting was held in the Hyde Park district on Wednesday night to discuss the hotel in their neighborhood for migrants

Migrants will be housed at the Chicago Lake Shore Hotel in the Hyde Park district

Migrants are pictured leaving El Paso, Texas on a bus at Border Patrol headquarters

A migrant child strikes a pose on Wednesday outside the 18th District Police Station on the North Side of Chicago

On Wednesday, Desmon Yancy, the alderman representing the Hyde Park district, called a meeting to discuss the plans to turn the Chicago Lake Shore Hotel into a shelter, and told the agitated crowd he had only just learnt of the plan.

'I was absolutely livid, and you guys are so hypocritical,' one woman told the gathered aldermen, according to CBS News.

Another woman complained at the meeting that the local homeless people - the overwhelming majority of whom are black - were not being given help.

'You've got 73 percent of the people homeless in this city are black people,' she said. 'What have you done for them?'

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless said in their 2023 report that 68,440 people were homeless - a 4.5 percent increase on last year.

The city says that at present 6,500 migrants are being housed in the 16 city-run shelters.

Andre Vasquez, chair of the City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told the meeting that he sympathized with their concerns

The goal is to get the migrants out of the police stations with overflowing lobbies, CBS reported.

Andre Vasquez, chair of the City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told the meeting that he sympathized, and understood their frustrations.

'I understand exactly the sentiment,' he said.

'What I am saying to you is we're all in the same city, so we all know that the black community hasn't had that level of investment; hasn't had that support.'

City officials at the meeting informed the community that some migrants have been housed at the hotel since the spring.

Now, the entire property will be taken over by migrants.

Emmanuel Jackson told CBS that he was angry his community had not been told.

'I think it's a basic issue of notification and respect,' he said.

'If these types of wide changes are being made in the community in which we live, we should know about them.'

Emmanuel Jackson (pictured) told CBS that he was angry his community had not been told about the proposal for the hotel

The Chicago meeting came the day before New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, held a rally demanding the Biden administration allow refugees and asylum seekers to work and pay taxes.

'Let them work! Give them the opportunity to contribute to our society,' said Adams, addressing a gathering in Foley Square in lower Manhattan.

He said allowing them to work would enable them to support themselves and fill vacant positions.

'We're saying we must expedite work visas. It's just common sense. Thousands of jobs are available to be filled,' he said.

'Our resources are not endless.

'The solution is not just New York City. The solution is New York state and the United States.'

Of the 107,000 migrants who have arrived since last year, almost 60,000 are still in the city's care.

The new arrivals have pushed the number living in city-run shelters to a record-breaking 115,000.

Eric Adams on Wednesday led a rally calling on the Biden Administration to help the city deal with the migrant crisis

The New York City mayor called on the White House to expedite work visas for asylum seekers and to 'give them the opportunity to contribute to our society'

New York City now runs over 200 sites and humanitarian relief centers, at a cost of $5 billion this year - as much as the budgets for the parks, fire and sanitation departments combined.

Adams earlier this week said New York City should be allowed to move migrants to other parts of the state - something the state's governor refuses to consider.

'We don't have an option. New York City has run out of room,' said Adams.

'We are going to use any space that's available to take the pressure off New York City residents.'

Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, met with senior members of the Biden administration at the White House on Wednesday to lobby for migrants to be allowed to work and discuss federal support for health, education and housing migrants.

She called the two-hour meeting 'productive,' but 'not enough to fully address this crisis.'
In a moment of crisis in international relations, with Russia threatening nuclear war as its occupation of Ukraine crumbles, and with the UK's defence budget appearing dangerously insufficient, the Prime Minister chose a military novice.

Not unexpectedly, the response to Rishi Sunak's selection of Grant Shapps has been mixed. Most of the controversy has centred on his complete lack of experience in defence, foreign affairs and security.

By favouring Mr Shapps, over alternative candidates such as the Armed Forces Minister James Heappey, Mr Sunak appears to have concluded that such experience counts for nothing.

Ben Wallace was a former Army officer and a former security minister when he was appointed defence secretary in 2019.

Yesterday he was lauded as one of the most accomplished ministers of his time. Critical to his effectiveness was his understanding of defence and his genuine care for soldiers, sailors and aviators.

MARK NICOL: Not unexpectedly, the response to Rishi Sunak's selection of Grant Shapps has been mixed

MARK NICOL: Ben Wallace was a former Army officer and a former security minister when he was appointed defence secretary in 2019

'The last thing Downing Street wanted was another ex-soldier defending the military,' a Conservative grandee said in response to Mr Shapps appointment as Defence Secretary.

Mr Shapps has neither personal experience of the armed forces as a serving officer, or of the internal machinations of the Ministry of Defence, having never served as a minister in the department. So in this regard, is he uniquely unqualified to succeed Mr Wallace?

Can he ever lead with similar authority in what is his fifth Cabinet role in the past year? Is he not more likely to be seen as a Sunak loyalist who won't rock the boat?

Former Royal Navy commander Rear Admiral Chris Parry called the appointment 'placeholding, rather than game-changing', while former Army intelligence officer Philip Ingram said Mr Shapps' selection was 'all that was wrong with defence'.

Conservatives who rallied to support Mr Shapps, such as Tobias Ellwood, referred to his recent visit to Ukraine as Energy Secretary and suggested that, as a qualified pilot, he will appreciate the importance of aviation in military planning. They sounded desperate.

It remains to be seen whether as Defence Secretary Mr Shapps will call for UK defence spending to rise to 3 per cent of GDP  a pledge he made as part of his pitch to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative leader last year, and which Rishi Sunak has repeatedly rejected.

MARK NICOL: By favouring Mr Shapps, over alternative candidates such as the Armed Forces Minister James Heappey, Mr Sunak appears to have concluded that such experience counts for nothing

However, with a General Election on the horizon is Mr Shapps going to hold the PM's feet to the fire? Will he fight for more soldiers in the Army? Address the Navy's chronic shortage of destroyers and frigates? And ensure the RAF calls a halt to recruitment policies which discriminated against white applicants?

Mr Shapps has serious questions to deal with and a complex brief to learn. The storerooms are bare as so much British hardware has been donated to Ukraine. And billions of pounds have been squandered on appallingly managed equipment procurement projects.

Nato partners, notably the US, are concerned the UK can no longer meet its obligations to the alliance

Mr Shapps must be more than the 'Minister for the Today Programme', as he is often characterised.
The Department of Defense has unveiled a new website that will provide official declassified information on UFOs - about a month after a prominent UFO whistleblower delivered bombshell testimony before Congress.

Still under construction, the web page will offer pictures and videos for the public to easily peruse once completed, with several already online just hours after its release.

Its existence was announced Thursday during a briefing from Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, weeks after former intelligence official David Grusch claimed the Pentagon is covering up evidence related to extraterrestrials.

Other information the will soon be available, the general said, includes reports and frequently asked questions about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), as well as links to reports, transcripts, and other resources that's been declassified.

In a Thursday statement about the website, federal officials said the release shows how 'committed' the Defense Department is to 'transparency with the American people' about their work on UAPs - the government's term for UFOs.

Scroll down for video:

The Department of Defense has unveiled a new website that will provide official declassified information on UFOs. A video from the site showing an unidentified flying pbject (circled) at an undisclosed location in South Asia in January of this year is seen here

Its release comes come roughly a month after David Grusch claimed the Pentagon is covering up evidence related to extraterrestrials, in a bombshell testimony before Congress

'This website will serve as a one-stop shop for all publicly available information related to the Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and UAP,' the release reads,

Defense officials said the 'AARO will regularly update the website with its most recent activities and findings as new information is cleared for public release.'

The new site can be accessed via the domain aaro.mil - where users will be able to also find links to other available government aircraft, balloon, and satellite tracking sites

The new site can be accessed via the domain aaro.mil, the department added - where users will be able to also find links to other available government aircraft, balloon, and satellite tracking sites.

Its release comes as the government has been forced to take the presence of unknown flying objects more seriously in recent months, especially after Grusch in July testified under oath that the Pentagon had firsthand encounters or knowledge about secret government programs involving technology that is 'non-human.'

'My testimony is based on information I've been given by individuals with a long-standing track record of legitimacy... whom have shared compelling evidence in the form of photography, official documentation and classified oral testimony to myself and many various colleagues,' Grusch said, adding that he was driven to share by a 'commitment to truth and transparency.'

'I am asking Congress to hold our government to this standard and thoroughly investigate these claims,' he told lawmakers at the time. 'But as I stand here under oath now, I am speaking to the facts as I have been told them.'

He told the committee that he and more than 30 aircrew members and veterans have experienced UAPs, unidentified aerial phenomena, along with members of Congress who have confided in him.

He also claimed the government currently has in their possession, 'intact and partially intact' extraterrestrial vehicles, though provided no evidence to support that or any of his other assertions.

Still under construction, the web page will offer pictures and videos for the public to easily peruse through once completed, with several like this one from the Navy in 2021 already online just hours after its release

This July 2022 clip was taken by an MQ-9 at an unspecified location in the Middle East, and while AARO assesses the object in the clip is not exhibiting anomalous behavior, the object, seen slightly below and to the left from the UAV's crosshairs, remains unidentified

In a caption for the South Asia clip, officials said that the object on the right likely is a commercial jet, and 'the trailing cavitation is a sensor artifact resultant of video compression'

Grusch - a former high-ranking intelligence official - in July testified under oath that they know firsthand about secret programs involving technology far surpassing the US' capabilities

Suggesting the American people for nearly a century have been left in the dark, he claimed the first recovery of a UFO was in Magenta, Italy, in 1933.

He said Mussolini's Italian government held it until 1944 through 1945 when Pope Pius XII tipped America off about it.

When asked if he firmly believes the government has possession of UAPs, Grusch responded, 'absolutely.'

He said that is based on interviews with at least 40 witnesses.

Asked where the craft are, he said: 'I know the exact locations and those locations were provided to the inspector general ... I actually had the people with the firsthand knowledge provide a protected disclosure to the Inspector General.'

He further claimed he has faced brutal retaliation after coming forward about his firsthand accounts of UFOs.

'I do have knowledge of active planned reprisal activity against myself and other colleagues,' Grusch said.

'There were certain colleagues of mine that were brutally administratively attacked. It makes me very upset as a leader to see that happen to other co-workers and superiors of mine in the last three years.'

Grusch claimed the US had records of an alien spacecraft crash in Northern Italy in 1933, after he said it was secreted away by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Pictured is a handwritten memo claiming to describe the crash

An artist's impression of the alleged 1933 UFO crash outside Magenta in northern Italy shows a craft shaped like a saucer

Ryan Graves - a former F-18 pilot in the Red Rippers- told the committee last month that he and more than 30 aircrew members and veterans have experienced UAPs, unidentified aerial phenomena, along with members of Congress who have confided in him

Retired Navy Cmdr. Fravor, meanwhile, recalled his experience seeing what he described as a 'Tic Tac-looking object' while on a flight in 2004, during a routine mission with aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off the California coast. He said he told superiors but it was never investigated

He was among three military whistleblowers who testified under oath in July that they had firsthand encounters or knowledge about secret government programs involving technology that is 'non-human.'

His remarks, however, were condemned, by the head of the Pentagon's UFO office, Sean Kirkpatrick, who slammed Grusch's claims about alleged secret programs that retrieve crashed UFOs and reverse engineer the technology as 'insulting'.

Grusch alluded to both programs in his statements, which were there bolstered by testimonies Navy Commander and veteran fighter pilot David Fravor and Ryan Graves, also a former pilot.

Graves said, as an F-18 pilot in the Red Rippers, their squadron was 'split by UAP' during a training mission near Virginia Beach in 2014.

He described the object as 'dark gray or black inside a transparent sphere.' It was about 15 feet in diameter and came within 50 feet of the lead aircraft.

Retired Navy Cmdr. Fravor, meanwhile recalled his experience seeing what he described as a 'Tic Tac-looking object' while on a flight back in 2004, during a routine training mission with the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off the California coast.

The object was 'far superior to anything we had at the time, have today or are looking to develop in the next 10-plus years,' Fravor said in his statement.

When asked whether the U.S. has been concealing evidence of non-human aircraft. The commander of the F/A-18F squadron on the USS Nimitz said he spotted the object and later told his superiors, but that there was never any official investigation

When asked if any reporting took place after the incident, Fravor said there was just a standard debrief, but no more.

All three men were sworn in and made their assertions under oath, with Grusch openly testifying that he knows colleagues who were injured while reverse-engineering UFO tech.

He further accused the government of 'absolutely' hording UFO tech and 'biologics' of 'non-human origins' since the 30s, and claimed to known the exact locations where they're being held.

He added that he would be willing provide specifics in a classified setting.

The testimonies the way for six members of Congress - Reps. Tim Burchett, (R-Tenn.), Jared Moskowitz, (D-Fla.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn) - to pen a letter to Inspector General Thomas Monheim this past week demanding details about alleged secret programs.

Within six days, the DoD unveiled its new website, which, while unfinished, already has several videos showing UFO-involved cases over the years, with real-time UAP reporting soon to come.

The site can be accessed here.
One inmate was killed and two others were injured in a stabbing at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, a week after former President Donald Trump was booked at the facility and slammed its conditions.

The Fulton County Sheriffs Office said incident was was under control but still active after an ambulance was spotted leaving the jail around 3:20 p.m. Its unclear how serious the other injuries are.

The stabbings were reportedly gang-related, investigators said.

The identity of the deceased inmate was not released.

A total of nine inmates have died at Fulton County Jail this year, including five in the last month alone. In July, the Department of Justice announced a civil rights probe into living conditions, improper use of force and other problems at the facility.

Earlier this month, the family of LaShawn Thompson, a Georgia man who died in a bed bug-infested cell at the jail in 2022, was awarded a $4 million settlement.

Ex-President Trump and 18 co-defendants in the election interference case were booked at the lockup last week, but only former Trump campaign worker Harrison Floyd was held there. He was released Wednesday.

After leaving the jail last week, Trump blasted its poor and disgraceful conditions in a fundraising email.

Its violent. The building is falling apart. Inmates have dug their fingers into the crumbling walls and ripped out chunks to fashion over 1,000 shanks, the email read. Its worse than you could even imagine.

Seeing the third-world state of that jail made me even more determined to run for president and save our country from permanent decline, Trump added.
The family of a single mum who was run down and killed by a truck in front of her L-plater son are 'upset' and 'outraged' after the driver was released without charge.

Leonia Picone, 55, was teaching her son, 17, to drive in Wetherill Park, in Sydney's west, at about 6.30am on Wednesday when a truck allegedly bumped her Ford Mondeo.

Video footage showed the moment Ms Picone got out of her car and stood in front of the 2015 Kenworth Prime Mover truck to get the driver's attention.

Moments later, he accelerated and hit her - in front of her teenage son. Ms Picone could not be saved.

The truck driver, 51, was taken to hospital for testing but was released without charge, pending further police investigation.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, a source close to the family said her loved ones are 'in shock'.

Ms Picone (pictured) had been teaching her son, 17, how to drive in her Ford Mondeo at Wetherill Park on Wednesday morning

'And now [there are] no charges, they are even more outraged and upset at how this is possible,' they said.

Veteran truckie Aaron Farquhar, who has been driving semi-trailers for 13 years, told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that Ms Picone had unknowingly stood in the driver's forward-facing blind spot.

'I can tell you now that he would not have seen her,' he said.

'You have to understand that we are very high up and we sit back away from the dash.

'Someone standing in front of the truck will not be seen and if we hit them, due to all the vibrations and weight of the truck, you wouldn't even feel it.'

Mr Farquhar said he had small cars pull up in front of him at traffic lights, but they only reason he knew they were there was due to sensors on the front of his truck - alerting him about potential collisions.

Leonia Picone, 55, is pictured standing in front of a truck, moments before she was hit and killed

Friends and family went to the scene on Wednesday to pay tribute to the single mother following the tragedy

Without such sensors, drivers would have to take their seatbelt off, stand up and push their faces against the glass to see what is directly in front of the truck.

'This was an absolute freak accident and the driver will be suffering immensely due to what has happened,' he said.

'The woman was not educated on what and how trucks work and our line of sight and due to that, she made a very fatal decision on this.

'Being a driver of heavy vehicles and knowing exactly what it's like behind the wheel of one of these, I can confidently say that this driver was not at fault.'

Following Ms Picone's death on Wednesday, a crime scene was established which will be examined by specialist officers from the Crash Investigation Unit.

A report will be prepared for the Coroner.
The revolution will not be televised - but Donald Trump's Georgia racketeering trial will, a judge has ruled.

In a court hearing Thursday, Superior Court of Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee said he would make all the presidential candidate's hearings and possible trials available to be broadcast on the court's YouTube and several news networks.

Hours before, Trump - also facing cases New York, Florida, and Washington, DC - pleaded not guilty to trying to subvert the 2020 election results in the state, waiving a court appearance that would have seen him put on TV in the process.

The move comes a week after he posed for his historic mugshot, which became a global media event - and one he is trying to turn to his advantage.

Meanwhile, he and 18 other codefendants - including his ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows - face 13 felony counts including racketeering for allegedly pressuring officials to meddle in the election before losing to Joe Biden.

Trump and 18 allies were faced earlier this month with a flurry of charges regarding the conspiracy to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. A judge has now ruled that all proceedings pertaining to the 19 in the Peach State will be televised

In a court hearing Thursday, Superior Court of Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee said he would make all the presidential candidate's hearings and possible trials available to be broadcast on the court's YouTube and several news networks

As part of his ruling, McAfee, previously the state's inspector general, said that he will allow broadcast news outlets to station 'pool' cameras in the court, where stations will be able to combine their resources and share camera access.

Citing the actions of a fellow Fulton County Superior Court judge who livestreamed key parts of the Georgia probe against Trump in 2020, Judge Robert McBurney, McAfee on Thursday said the new case will be no different.

'In line with the spirit of transparency here, McAfee said. 'We have followed Judge McBurney's model, and we have been livestreaming all of our major proceedings on a Fulton County-provided YouTube channel.

'And our plan was to do that with this case as well,' he continued. 'So there's going to be a YouTube feed the entire time.'

As for actual media outlets, McAfee said he was also potentially open to what some of the media intervenors called an overflow room - due to the number of reporters, photographers, defendants, and attorneys now set to be present for the proceedings.

The judge said if the number of attendees grows, a larger courtroom may be necessary, and will be requisitioned accordingly.

None of the defense or prosecution appeared in court to oppose the ruling, which came after several news stations and publications requested there to be cameras.

McAfee further ruled to allow members of the media to use cell phones and electronics in the court for non-recording purposes such as note-taking, but said all devices 'must be silenced and [may] not be used to make phone calls.'

Trump submitted a not-guilty plea earlier in the day - seen here with his famous signature - avoiding a potential TV spot in the process

The sprawling racketeering case comes from Atlanta DA Fani Willis, who claims to have compiled an array of evidence proving the then-president conspired to overturn local election results. She is seen here at a press conference in the Fulton County Government Center after a grand jury voted to indict Trump on August 14

Fellow defendant Mark Meadows (pictured arrived at the Fulton County courthouse Monday, where he attempted to move his 2020 election subversion case out of Georgia and to federal court, where jurors may be more forgiving

The ruling came just days after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis laid out some the first details of her racketeering case against the embattled ex-head of state on Monday - during which Meadows, in a surprise move, took the stand to attempt move his case to federal court.

Aside from the change in venue - which is currently being considered - Meadows is looking to avoid trial altogether, having already requested feds to dismiss his charges if and when they take over the case, which comes from Atlanta DA Fani Willis.

Present during the press conference in the Fulton County Government Center that voted to indict Trump earlier this month, she claims to have compiled evidence proving the then-president conspired to overturn the county's election results.

Having her case 'political witch hunt,' Trump, 77, surrendered himself to lawmen at the Fulton County Jail last week, before being booked and quickly released on a $200,000 bond.

Stipulations on that bond includes restrictions on the ex-president's conduct, including provisions that bar him from intimidating witnesses or fellow co-defendants.

He is facing 13 counts in the Georgia case, including violating the state's racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate their oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery, and conspiring to file false documents.

That said, the Georgia case is just one of the legal woes Trump is facing. On Monday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. set a March 4 trial date for the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith through his January 6 probe.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had defamed two Georgia election workers, moving the case toward a trial over punitive damages.

Giuliani is also among those charged by DA Fani Willis in Georgia, and was also arrested and made to take a mugshot in The Peach State.

In New York, where Trump has been indicted on 34 counts for allegedly falsifying business records related to his $150,000 payment to Stormy Daniels via fixer attorney Michael Cohen, his trial has been scheduled for March.

As many experts have theorized that it is unlikely Trump will stand trial in any of his cases before the 2024 election, Trump's attorneys in that argued that presiding Justice Juan M. Merchan had a conflict of interest, because he donated $15 to Biden's 2020 campaign.

Merchan has rejected their arguments - though local DA Alvin Bragg has suggested he would be open to changing the trial's date if other prosecutors who brought the case were in agreement.

In Florida - where he is facing charges for his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House - Trump pleaded not guilty earlier in the month, and waived his notice of appearance at an arraignment hearing.

The most immediate of the politician's legal concerns, however, is the case in Georgia, which had a tentative trial date for March 4, 2024, but after one of Trump's co-defendants, Kenneth Chesebro, asserted his constitutional right to a speedy trial, Willis's office moved it to begin months sooner, on October 23, 2023.

Trump has moved to have his trials in Florida and DC both pushed back to April 2026, after federal prosecutor Jack Smith, who is handling both cases, asked for them to be held in January.

He is set to be arraigned on September 6 on charges aired in his Georgia indictment, which he has slammed as a 'most evil and heinous abuse of power.'
A lion sanctuary in Nevada has been accused of fraud after handwritten fundraising letters were sent out claiming the big cats would be put down unless people made donations.

Lion Habitat Ranch, home to 21 lions in Henderson, on the outskirts of Las Vegas, sent out the letters in early August, begging for help.

'It scares me deeply to think about what might happen if I can't afford to feed them,' wrote Keith Evans, owner of the ranch.

'It's possible they would be euthanized because they simply have nowhere to go I can't let that happen.'

But, asked by local news station 8NewsNow whether the lions would be killed, Evans said no, and blamed the letter on a Virginia-based fundraising company he had contracted to help them.

Keith Evans, owner of the Lion Habitat Ranch, said his handwritten letter had been sent by mistake

Evans wrote: 'It scares me deeply to think about what might happen if I can't afford to feed them. It's possible they would be euthanized because they simply have nowhere to go I can't let that happen'

Evans insisted the lions were safe, and would not be put down unless they were ill.

He admitted, however, that he had approved the mailing of the handwritten letter he wrote - but said he only approved its sending to avoid losing the money he had given to the fundraising firm.

'It had my final approval based on the fact if I say no, then whatever money they spent up onto that point I'm liable for it, 30 or 40 thousand dollars that I don't have,' said Evans.

Tax returns obtained by 8NewsNow show that the lion sanctuary brought in more than $2.5 million for the 2021-22 year.

The cost of animal care for 2022 was $218,122.

The sanctuary paid the fundraising company, Eberle Associates, a total of $613,533.

'They are making more money than what we are making,' he told the news channel.

Evans said anyone who received the handwritten letter should rip it up, and said he has now asked Eberle Associates not to send out any more copies.

Lion Habitat Ranch is currently home to 21 lions - none of them facing being put down

The ranch, in Henderson, Nevada, opened to the public in 2012

Evans, owner of the ranch, apologized for the letter and said it was a marketing error

The sanctuary then put out a statement apologizing for the letter and asking donors to forgive the error.

'It has come to our attention that an old letter provided through our fundraising company has recirculated and included inaccurate information regarding the future and care of our lions,' they wrote.

'Our lions, and the rest of our animal family are safe, secure, and supported.'

The sanctuary explained: 'The letter's verbiage was created under the fundraising company's advice and unfortunately did not clearly portray the positions, opinions, or options the Lion Habitat Ranch experienced following recovery from COVID protocols.

'We trusted in the fundraising company to aid us in raising funds for our small non-profit but this did not result as planned.'

Lion Habitat Ranch vowed that, from now on, they 'will be more prudent to rigorously review any and all information in the future for clarity and accuracy.'

They concluded: 'We all experienced significant strain to our lives and businesses during COVID and hope that you will understand our error. We thank you for your continued support and understanding.'

The handwritten letter has been referred to the Nevada attorney general, alleging 'fraudulent fundraising practice.'

The attorney general is yet to rule on the case.

Annoula Wylderich, who received the letter and alerted the attorney general, said she was 'shocked' by its plea.

'I think it's terribly wrong to be deceiving donors when you are soliciting money and when you're tugging at their heartstrings,' she said.

'It's very misleading and deceiving.'
A shooting at a popular Austin, Tex., shopping center left two people dead and at least three others injured on Thursday.

The incident occurred around 5 p.m. local time near The Arboretum, an upscale outdoor shopping mall.

Law enforcement said the shooting happened at a business. Around 6:30 p.m., Austin Police said no individuals had been detained but that there was no longer a threat to the public.

According to police scanner information, officers originally responded to a report of shots fired and a bomb threat. Upon arrival, they found multiple people with gunshot wounds.

Units from the Austin Police Department, Austin-Travis County EMS, and the Austin Fire Department responded to the scene. The police bomb squad was called in to search the business for explosives.

At around 7:30 p.m. local time, EMS said two people were pronounced dead at the scene and one person was transported to a hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries. Two others were injured after the incident and were being evaluated at the scene with minor injuries.

Police requested that the public avoid the area.

The shooting occurred less than a week after a racist shooter killed three at a Jacksonville, Fla., Dollar General store.
A 22-year-old ballroom dancer who was out jogging with her two brothers has died after a vehicle struck the trio in Long Island.

Ilona Kaydanov had been running on the shoulder of Harned Road in Commack, Suffolk County, with her two younger brothers when they were struck on Thursday morning.

Suffolk County police said the siblings had been hit by a 2022 Chrysler Voyager which caused the three of them to be rushed to hospital.

Tragically, Kaydanov was pronounced dead after being taken to South Shore University Hospital.

Her two brothers, Dennis, 20, and Joseph Kaydanov, 13, had been taken to Good Samaritan University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Ilona Kaydanov, pictured here, was pronounced dead after being taken to South Shore University Hospital on Thursday morning

The driver of the Chrysler, 44-year-old Francis Floyd, was not injured, nor were her two adult passengers, a 44-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man

No charges were announced by authorities, but the drivers car was impounded for a safety check and the crash is under investigation

The driver of the Chrysler, 44-year-old Francis Floyd, was not injured, nor were her two adult passengers, a 44-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man.

Video captured by ABC7 shows the black vehicle with a side door open and several police officers on the scene.

No charges were announced by authorities, but the drivers car was impounded for a safety check and the crash is under investigation.

Kaydanov had been a member of the studio Dance With Us Long Island, and has been remembered as dedicated and gifted.

Studio owner Stephanie Falciano told the New York Post: 'She was like a daughter to me and just the most incredible, beautiful creature inside and out.

'The hardest worker, smart, talented and beautiful. The world has lost today.'

Her grandmother, Lubov Kaydanov, told ABC7: 'I don't feel nothing. God has to take me, I am old. She is young.'

According to her website, Kaydanov worked in communications and was a recent graduate of Stony Brook University with an MBA in marketing.

Ilona is pictured here with her two young brothers Dennis, center, and Joseph, right, who had also been involved in the incident

Kaydanov had been a member of the studio Dance With Us Long Island, and has been remembered as dedicated and gifted

On social media, friends began paying tribute to Kaydanov who was described as 'ambitious and kind'

Residents also told the outlet that they had frequently seen cars speeding on the car, which is not designed for pedestrians.

It remains unclear at this stage if speeding was a factor in the fatal collision.

Her brother Joseph is said to have sustained a broken leg and a broken collarbone and will require surgery, ABC7 reported.

On social media, friends began paying tribute to Kaydanov who was described as 'ambitious and kind'.

Her grandmother Lubov Kaydanov, pictured here, said she wish she passed rather than her granddaughter

According to her website, Kaydanov worked in communications and was a recent graduate of Stony Brook University with an MBA in marketing. She is pictured here with her brother Joseph

One person posted: 'I am so devastated by this news. Ilona Kaydanov was extremely smart, talented, ambitious and kind.

'She was my right hand woman at our last job and it wouldnt have been the same without her.

'I was always in awe of her academic and professional accomplishments at the young age of 20, and now at 22 and she had so much more to accomplish.

'We went through a lot together in the short time we knew each other. You will be sorely missed, Ilona, and I will always cherish our bond.'

Another commented: 'Absolutely tragic she is a beautiful soul that will be greatly missed. May god bless her and her family at this time.'
Furious parents today hit out after the closure of their children's schools due to concrete safety concerns was revealed less than a week before the term restarts.

Families were 'frustrated' after being put in a 'difficult position' by the Government's last-minute announcement that 104 schools must shut because they are fitted with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RACC) that could suddenly collapse.

The Department for Education has told the schools and colleges to partially or fully close buildings just as pupils prepared to return after the summer holidays.

Thousands of pupils now face a return to Covid-style online lessons on Monday - and ministers admitted that they do not know how many will need to close completely.

Some parents are still in the dark about whether their children will be able to return to class at the beginning of the new term after the crisis dramatically escalated.

Several got in touch with MailOnline this morning to ask reporters whether their school would open, having no idea themselves following a lack of communication.

As the situation threatens to spiral out of control today:

The Scottish authorities are assessing schools north of the border with at least 37 known to have been constructed with RAAC;

Ministers admitted the entire public estate is being reviewed with hospitals and courtrooms also potentially affected by the problem.

Among those affected was a parent named Phil, who has two children who had been due to return to their primary school in Essex next week. He was told yesterday that its buildings were affected and his children would initially have to learn online.

Phil told BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight: 'Just frustration as to why it's been done three days before the school term. There was a report done back in June and you just wonder why. We've had six weeks' holiday.

'Why couldn't the plans have been put in place prior to this? Three days before the start of the new term is not good enough really.'

Richard Kemp, whose children attend Winter Gardens Academy in Canvey Island, Essex, said he was concerned that they had been in the building for five years when it was potentially unsafe.

Speaking to ITN, he said: Its just a real frustration. We want our children to be safe, but Ive had a massive frustration that weve found out about this tonight  literally days before the children go back to school.

We want our children to be safe, but the notice period seems ridiculously short. Its a real concern because we were unaware that this information was out there. So its really concerning that for five years my children have been in a school that was potentially really dangerous.

Among the other schools affected is Ferryhill School in County Durham, where father-of-six Kenneth Hope said his 11-year-old daughter was due to start secondary school next Tuesday.

A collapsed RAAC roof at a Kent primary school. Hundreds of schools across the country were built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, known as RAAC, between the 1960s and 1990s, with the buildings having a life span of around 30 years

A total of 104 schools have been instructed to keep buildings shut if they are made with a type of concrete that is prone to collapse, the government announced

Mr Hope was informed yesterday that it will now not open for another week until September 11. He told BBC News that it had put his family in a 'difficult position', adding: 'My daughter just wants to get there, she's been a bit apprehensive about starting secondary school.'

Two schools in the Bradford area have had to shut  and one parent outside Crossflatts Primary School in nearby Bingley said the presence of RAAC in his classroom means her son, who is about to start Year 5, will instead have lessons in the school's nursery.

She told BBC News: 'Our head's brilliant and on top of everything, so they already have things in place. Obviously it's going to be disruptive, but for the children we'll work around it  but it is a little concerning that it's so close to going back to school.

'But these things happen don't they? I'd rather my child not be in school than the school fall down around him.'

Staff move furniture from Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy in Leicester today, which has been told to shut some buildings because of safety fears

A sofa is moved from Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy in Leicester this morning

Staff move furniture from Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy in Leicester today

Another parent told MailOnline of her son's 'confusion' and 'disappointment' after they were informed only yesterday of the complete closure of St Andrews Junior School in Hatfield Peverel, Essex, due to an 'unsafe roof structure'.

The parent, who did not wish to be named, said: 'The school have not made any alternative provisions to use any other building in the area, although we do not blame the school for this situation.

'They have ordered some temporary 'classrooms' in the form of portacabins, which may arrive by mid September.

'My son was supposed to be starting in his new school on Tuesday, however now we will be using Google classroom for the foreseeable future with no confirmed date of face to face teaching.

'The school state they were informed of the forced closure on August 29 at 4pm by the DfE and local council. We are extremely frustrated and our son is confused and disappointed.'

Some 104 schools and colleges are being told to shut off buildings partially or fully due to fears reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) - a material used from the 1950s to mid-1990s - could suddenly collapse.

Abbey Lane Primary School in Sheffield today, which has been affected by the concrete issue

Workmen at Abbey Lane Primary School in Sheffield today, which is having to close buildings

Abbey Lane Primary School in Sheffield today, which has been affected by the concrete issue

But education minister Nick Gibb conceded in a round of interviews this morning that not all have been contacted by the government yet. He disclosed that some other schools have yet to return surveys on the presence of RAAC, meaning that the total could rise further.

Asked how many schools will need to close completely, Mr Gibb told Sky News: 'We don't know yet, we are talking to the schools in most cases it will be just a few buildings, or a few rooms, or indeed just a cupboard. But in some cases it will be whole schools.'

Mr Gibb also denied that the government had blundered by waiting until the eve of the Autumn term to warn families - saying 'new evidence' had emerged over the summer showing that RAAC previously thought to be in acceptable condition might abruptly fail. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a 'beam collapsed' despite no sign it was a 'critical risk'.

Mr Gibb said parents should be reassured their children are safe, despite the lack of clarity over which schools are affected. He insisted he would be happy with his own nieces and nephews sitting in a classroom where the roof was being propped up by a steel post.

Kingsdown School in Westcliff on Sea, Essex, has been ordered to close its main building with immediate effect

Hundreds of schools across the country were built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, known as RAAC, between the 1960s and 1990s

Education minister Nick Gibb conceded in a round of interviews this morning that not all have been contacted by the government yet

RAAC is a lightweight building material used from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s, but now assessed to be at risk of collapse.

The Department for Education (DfE) has been considering RAAC as a potential issue since late 2018.

Mr Gibb said evidence gathering and surveys have been happening since 2022, and problems were highlighted in a report in June by the National Audit Office (NAO).

But The Times reports the first warnings about RAAC cracking in roofs came as early as 1995.

The timing of the decision to issue guidance just days before the start of term has angered unions and parents but the schools minister insisted decisions could not have been taken sooner.

One parent, Shahzad Ismail, said he was 'devastated' as his son's school in Bingley, West Yorkshire, will be shut over concrete safety concerns. 'Even the headteacher that sent that letter, you could tell from the letter how emotionally stressed out she was because it's going to widely affect a lot of children,' he told BBC News.

How and when did evidence come to light on the concrete scandal?  1950s up to the mid-1990s - RAAC, a lightweight building material, is used  1995 - The Times newspaper reports the first warnings about RAAC cracking in roofs came in  2018 - The Department for Education (DfE) considers RAAC as a potential issue  June 2023 - Problems were highlighted in a report by the National Audit Office (NAO)  Summer 2023  Schools minister Nick Gibb says fresh evidence came to light  August 31, 2023  Parents are informed some schools will be forced to close Advertisement

Another parent told MailOnline of her son's 'confusion' and 'disappointment' after they were 'informed only yesterday of the complete closure of St Andrews Junior school in Hatfield Peverel, Chelmsford, Essex, due to an unsafe roof structure.'

The parent, who did not wish to be named, said: 'The school have not made any alternative provisions to use any other building in the area, although we do not blame the school for this situation.

'They have ordered some temporary 'classrooms' in the form of portacabins, which may arrive by mid September.

'My son was supposed to be starting in his new school on Tuesday, however now we will be using Google classroom for the foreseeable future with no confirmed date of face to face teaching.

'The school state they were informed of the forced closure on August 29 at 4pm by the DofE and local council.

'We are extremely frustrated and our son is confused and disappointed.'

The Government has refused to reveal the 104 education facilities which have been told to shut buildings, and critics warned the problems with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) could be far wider.

Mr Gibb said this morning that the 'vast majority' - but not all - of those schools have been contacted by the government.

'The vast majority have, we've been calling them yesterday. But there is a few more that we're calling today.'

He also revealed that not all institutions had returned surveys - suggesting there might be more at risk. 'The vast majority of the surveys have been returned there will be some more,' he said.

Mr Gibb said that the government will provide funding if schools need to bring in portacabins. 'We will pay for that. We've made it very clear we will cover all capital costs,' he said.

'So if in the worst-case scenario, we need portacabins in the school estate for an alternative accommodation, we will cover all those costs.

'So there has been some speculation that we won't cover those costs. We absolutely will.'

On whether all schools affected have now been informed, Mr Gibb said: 'The vast majority have. We have been calling them yesterday, but there are a few more that we're calling today, and those schools are now talking to parents about what's going to happen in their school.'

Mr Gibb also said the Government will release a list of the schools in 'due course'.

Pressed on BBC Breakfast if other public buildings could be affected by the RAAC issue, Mr Gibb said: 'Right across the public sector, we are surveying the estate.

How and when did evidence come to light? A timeline:  1950s up to the mid-1990s - RAAC, a lightweight building material, is used  1995 - The Times newspaper reports the first warnings about RAAC cracking in roofs came in  2018 - The Department for Education (DfE) considers RAAC as a potential issue 2022 - Schools minister Nick Gibb says they focused on surveys and evidence gathering this year  June 2023 - Problems were highlighted in a report by the National Audit Office (NAO)  Summer 2023  Schools minister Nick Gibb says fresh evidence came to light  August 31, 2023  Parents were informed some schools will be forced to close Advertisement

'You've heard of a court closing at Harrow. We are taking action, of course, in the hospital sector as well.

'Hospitals are very large buildings and they have teams of very expert maintenance people monitoring the building the whole time.

'They use propping where they identify RAAC and also we are rebuilding seven hospitals because of extensive RAAC in those hospitals.'

Ministers have been urged to 'come clean' about the scale of the problem as thousands of pupils faced a disrupted start to term and Priti Patel told the i newspaper the situation is becoming 'quite a big mess'.

Kenneth Hope's 11-year-old daughter was due to begin secondary at Ferryhill School in County Durham, on Tuesday - until the family received an email informing them the school would not be open until September 11.

Kenneth, who has six children, said the short notice has put his family in a 'difficult position'. 'My daughter just wants to get there, she's been a bit apprehensive about starting secondary school,' he told the BBC.

One parent, Fiona, told the BBC her son Seamus is about to go into year five in Bingley  but would now need to be taught in the school's on-site nursery.

'Our head's brilliant and on top of everything, so they already have things in place,' she said.

'Obviously it's going to be disruptive, but for the children we'll work around it  but it is a little concerning that it's so close to going back to school.

'But these things happen don't they? I'd rather my child not be in school than the school fall down around him.'

The schools minister said fresh evidence has come to light regarding the structural integrity of buildings in the United Kingdom, extending beyond schools.

Mr Gibb told GB News that the government was taking action now because it was moving faster than other countries.

He said: 'The decision is being taken now because over the summer, evidence has emerged about buildings in this country and in other countries - not just schools - where reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete that was considered to be non-critical, actually turned out to fail.

'So we took a very strict decision over the summer, we liaised with experts, and we took a cautious approach to make sure, because safety of children and staff in our schools is of the utmost importance.

'So we took the decision that the previous policy, which was to take buildings out of use if the RAAC was considered to be in a critical state, we changed that policy yesterday so that any RAAC identified in schools, now those buildings will be taken out of use.

'And we are supporting the 156 schools where this is a situation to find alternative accommodation for students.'

He added: 'I know parents and children will be frustrated by this but our paramount concern is the safety of children and staff in those schools.'

He insisted the decision to close the buildings at risk could not have been taken earlier.

'We took the decision as soon as the evidence emerged. We were proactively seeking that evidence, unlike any other governments around the world.

'We take this issue very seriously and as that evidence emerged, we discussed it with experts. We worked out what the consequences would be for schools.

'This happened in the summer. It could have happened in the coming November. It could have happened during term time. It just so happened that it happened over this summer.'

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told broadcasters: 'Most parents should not be worried about this at all.'

The DfE told four schools in Essex and the north-east to shut after RAAC was discovered in their ceilings. Hockley Primary School in Essex (pictured) was among them

Two schools in Bradford - Eldwick Primary School (left) and Crossflatts Primary School (right) - are among those impacted by the concrete problem. The schools were partially closed on the eve of the new term with pupils being moved to 'safe' areas of the buildings

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (pictured) said the government was supporting schools with 'the right support and funding' to put safety measures in place

But shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: 'We haven't seen the full list of schools affected. We don't know where they are, ministers should come clean with parents and set out the full scale of the challenge that we're facing.'

Official guidance was issued to schools, school nurseries and colleges - which have been told they will have to fund their own emergency accommodation.

The DfE said it contacted the 104 more schools in the wake of analysis of new cases after 52 of the 156 educational settings containing the concrete took protective steps so far this year.

What is reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC)? by Jon Brady Used as a cheap post-war building material in public sector construction projects, reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is starting to show its age decades on from its first uses in Britain. The lightweight, aerated cement-like material was used as a cheaper alternative to concrete but unlike traditional concrete it has no coarse aggregate - the chunks of quarry rock that are used to give concrete its strength and volume. Instead, it is made with fine aggregate and a chemical agent creating gas pockets to bulk out the material, giving it a texture that resembles the inside of an Aero chocolate bar. Over time, it has been found to lose its structural integrity as moisture creeps in, with a lifespan of just 30 years. Professor Chris Goodier, an expert on construction materials at Loughborough University, says the material was widely used in the 1960s and 70s but, decades on, is showing concerning signs of wear. He said earlier this year: 'It is RAAC from the 1950s, 60s and 70s that is of main concern, especially if it has not been adequately maintained. 'RAAC examples have been found with bearings (supports) which aren't big enough, and RAAC with the steel reinforcement in the wrong place, both of which can have structural implications. 'Prolonged water ingress (not uncommon on old flat roofs) can also lead to deterioration.' RAAC can still be - and often is - used all over the world as a construction material, and Prof Goodier says there is no reason why it cannot be used if it is properly designed, installed and maintained. But for the RAAC put into British schools, hospitals and other public buildings decades ago, he added: 'This is often not the case.' Advertisement

The department said a 'minority' will need to 'either fully or partially relocate' to alternative accommodation while safety measures are installed.

But its guidance to schools said funding will only be provided for works that are 'capital funded' and schools will have to pay for rental costs for emergency or temporary accommodation.

Space in nearby schools, community centres or in an 'empty local office building' was recommended for the 'first few weeks' while buildings are secured with structural supports.

Schools were told moving to pandemic-style remote education should only be considered as a 'last resort and for a short period'.

Calling for all affected schools to be named, Ms Phillipson told BBC's Newsnight: 'I expect ministers next week in the House of Commons to publish that data and tell parents and tell the public exactly where the problems are.'

RAAC is a lightweight building material used from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s, but now assessed to be at risk of collapse.

The DfE has been considering RAAC as a potential issue since late 2018 but the timing of the decision to issue guidance just days before the start of term has angered unions.

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said: 'It is absolutely disgraceful, and a sign of gross Government incompetence, that a few days before the start of term, 104 schools are finding out that some or all of their buildings are unsafe and cannot be used.

'To add insult to injury the Government states in its guidance that it will not be covering the costs of emergency temporary accommodation or additional transport.'

Other schools suspected of containing RAAC will be surveyed in a matter of weeks.

If RAAC is confirmed, the DfE has promised that 'appropriate rapid action is taken' which could include funding to remove any immediate risks and, where necessary, arranging temporary buildings to be put in place.

The Unison union's head of education Mike Short said: 'Parents, pupils and staff will be relieved the issue is finally being taken seriously.

'But to wait until the eleventh hour as schools are prepare for a new academic year will create turmoil for thousands of families. And this could just be the tip of the iceberg.'

The state of England's schools buildings - as well as problems with RAAC - were highlighted in a report in June by public spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO).

The NAO's report said 700,000 pupils were learning in schools that required major rebuilding or refurbishment.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said the 'timing of this couldn't be worse'.

'What we are seeing here are the very real consequences of a decade of swinging cuts to spending on school buildings,' he said.

The general secretary of teaching union NASUWT said the announcement highlighted 'more than a decade of wilful under-investment' in schools.

Dr Patrick Roach said: 'Although we welcome that the DfE has finally taken action to safeguard pupils and teachers, it would appear that mere luck rather than judgment has prevented a major disaster from occurring.'

The Education Secretary insisted that a 'cautious approach...is the right thing to do for both pupils and staff'.

'Nothing is more important than making sure children and staff are safe in schools and colleges, which is why we are acting on new evidence about RAAC now, ahead of the start of term,' she said.

'The plan we have set out will minimise the impact on pupil learning and provide schools with the right funding and support they need to put mitigations in place to deal with RAAC.'
The European Union has been accused of creating Orwellian 'ministries of truth' that will ensure wrong thoughts are not allowed in a bid to tackle disinformation online.

It is expected that those in charge of the platforms that must comply with the regulation will prioritise advice given by EU-approved 'trusted flaggers' and fact-checkers monitoring information posted online.

Cristian Terhes, a Romanian MP and Member of the European Parliament, argued the bloc's Digital Services Act provides it with enough power to rule on what content is true and false when it appears on the websites of some of the world's biggest providers.

He told the Telegraph: 'The European Commission has taken a page out of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and demanded that EU member states set up government-sponsored ministries of truth to ensure that wrong thoughts and banned words are not allowed into the digital space.

'Surely in a democratic society, it's the public, who hear or have access to all arguments, who are the ones to make up their mind on the truth or attractiveness of certain facts, ideas or parties.

Cristian Terhes, a Romanian MP and Member of the European Parliament, argued the bloc's Digital Services Act provides it with enough power to rule on what content is true and false when it appears on the websites of some of the world's biggest providers (File Photo)

'Surely it is for the people to hear and decide what they hold as true or desirable rather than government bodies.'

The Digital Services Act (DSA) aims to protect European users when it comes to privacy, transparency and removal of harmful or illegal content.

The regulation, which was put into effect on August 25, outlines the need for the EU's 27 member states to set up a network of 'trusted flaggers', with expertise in monitoring illegal or harmful content.

The rules aim to set new standards for policing hate speech, disinformation and counterfeits on the web, and all large digital platforms must follow them.

The new standards were implemented to tackle how tech giants such as Google and Facebook operate in Europe, but websites and online platforms bringing in 45 million monthly users will also be included.

Instagram and TikTok are among the 19 platforms that must comply with the special obligations under the regulation.

British author George Orwell circa 1945

The regulation, which was put into effect on August 25, outlines the need for the EU's 27 member states to set up a network of 'trusted flaggers', with expertise in monitoring illegal or harmful content (Stock Image)

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, said users can opt out of its artificial intelligence ranking and recommendation systems that determine which Instagram Reels, Facebook Stories and search results to show.

Instead, people can choose to view content only from people they follow, starting with the newest posts.

Search results will be based only on the words they type, rather than being personalised based on a user's previous activity and interests, Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said in a blog post.

Those on Snapchat 'can opt out of a personalised content experience.'

Algorithmic recommendation systems based on user profiles have been blamed for creating so-called filter bubbles and pushing social media users to increasingly extreme posts.

The European Commission wants users to have at least one other option for content recommendations that is not based on profiling.

Now that the regulation is set in place, users should find it easier to report a post, video or comment that breaks the law or violates a platform's rules so that it can be reviewed and taken down if required.

The new standards were implemented to tackle how tech giants such as Google and Facebook operate in Europe, but websites and online platforms bringing in 45 million monthly users will also be included (File Photo)

Like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, the DSA is expected to become a global benchmark as governments worldwide struggle to find ways to rein in the excesses of social media (File Photo)

The EU wants platforms to be more transparent about how they operate.

The DSA is not just about policing content. It's also aimed at stopping the flow of counterfeit Gucci handbags, pirated Nike trainers and other dodgy goods.

Amazon says it has set up a new channel for reporting suspected illegal products and content and it is also providing more publicly available information about third-party merchants.

Brussels also wants to crack down on digital ads aimed at children over concerns about privacy and manipulation.

Some platforms started tightening up ahead of the deadline, even outside of Europe.

TikTok said in July that it was restricting the types of data used to show ads to teens.

Users who are 13 to 17 in the EU, plus Britain, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, no longer see ads 'based on their activities on or off TikTok.'

In May, Twitter, which is now called X, dropped out of a voluntary European Union agreement to combat online disinformation.

European Commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted that Twitter had pulled out of the EU's disinformation 'code of practice' that other major social media platforms have pledged to support.

But he added that Twitter's 'obligation' remained, referring to the EU's tough new digital rules that were set to come into effect in August.

'You can run but you can't hide,' Breton said.

In May, Twitter, which is now called X, dropped out of a voluntary European Union agreement to combat online disinformation (File Photo)

On June 22, Breton warned that Twitter must have enough resources to moderate dangerous content by August 25, the DSA start date, or risk being in violation of the bloc's landmark rules to rein in big tech.

'If the technology is not ready they need to have enough resources to match the gap. I spoke on this specific topic with Elon Musk,' Breton told reporters following a meeting at Twitter headquarters, which included the platform's new CEO Linda Yaccarino.

Breton said he told the Twitter team, with Musk joining by videoconference from New York, that 'there are a few areas that will be critical immediately when the regulation will be enforceable.'

Breton said this would be 'especially everything related to child abuse, which is a very hot topic for us in Europe' and 'disinformation in elections'.

The DSA is one of the most ambitious legislations on controlling online content since the advent of social media, putting major obligations on how the world's biggest platforms deal with the free flow of speech.

Like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, the DSA is expected to become a global benchmark as governments worldwide struggle to find ways to rein in the excesses of social media.

To meet the new rules, Twitter, Meta, TikTok and other platforms will have to invest heavily on building compliance teams at a time when big tech companies have been cutting staff, including their content moderation workforce.

The regulations also require Meta, Twitter and others to provide officials and researchers with unprecedented access to their algorithms and content decisions.

Users have also been handed unprecedented rights to lodge an appeal when subjected to takedown orders by a platform.

TikTok says European users will get more information 'about a broader range of content moderation decisions' (Stock Image)

The Digital Services Act aims to protect European users when it comes to privacy, transparency and removal of harmful or illegal content (File Photo)

Major violations of DSA rules could see tech giants slapped with fines of up to six percent of annual turnover and, if violations persist, they may be banned outright from the EU as a last resort measure.

Meanwhile, Tech titans, including TikTok and YouTube, have been accused of failing to effectively tackle Russian disinformation online during the first year of the war in Ukraine, according to a study published on Wednesday by the EU.

The EU has previously warned against online manipulation and interference by Russia targeting the European internet in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The report focused on risks from pro-Kremlin disinformation on six platforms - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (rebranded X), YouTube, TikTok and Telegram - and whether the companies' actions complied with elements of the DSA.

Aside from Telegram, all must currently comply with the DSA's stricter rules that demand a more aggressive approach to policing content - including disinformation and hate speech.

Tech companies signed a code of practice on disinformation before the DSA that would have 'mitigated some of the Kremlin's malign activities', the report said.

'The evidence suggests that online platforms failed to implement these measures at a systemic level,' the study wrote.

The EU is particularly worried about the impact of disinformation during next year's European parliamentary elections and urged tech giants to effectively enforce the DSA.

The study said there is a 'high risk' that Russia would interfere in the elections.

'The rules provided by the DSA hold great potential to reign in Kremlin disinformation campaigns and other state-sponsored attacks on the democratic integrity and fundamental rights,' the authors said.

'But they must be applied quickly and effectively in order to help mitigate these coordinated attacks on European democracy,' they added.
The dangerous building material now forcing more than a hundred schools to close just days before the start of the new term was once hailed as something 'of a wonder'.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) was used as a cheap post-war building material in public sector construction projects.

The lightweight, aerated cement-like material was used as a cheaper alternative to concrete but unlike traditional concrete it has no coarse aggregate - the chunks of quarry rock that are used to give concrete its strength and volume.

Instead, it is made with fine aggregate and a chemical agent creating gas pockets to bulk out the material, giving it a texture that resembles the inside of an Aero chocolate bar.

Over time, it has been found to lose its structural integrity as moisture creeps in, with a lifespan of just 30 years.

More than 100 schools and colleges have now been told to partially or fully close buildings as children prepared to return after the summer holidays because of fears the RAAC could suddenly collapse. The DfE has been considering RAAC as a potential issue since late 2018 but the timing of the decision to issue guidance just days before the start of term has angered unions and parents.

Professor Chris Goodier, an expert on construction materials at Loughborough University, says the material was widely used in the 1960s and 70s but, decades on, is showing concerning signs of wear.

Hundreds of schools across the country were built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, known as RAAC, between the 1960s and 1990s

Professor Chris Goodier, an expert on construction materials at Loughborough University, says the material was widely used in the 1960s and 70s but, decades on, is showing concerning signs of wear

A demonstration shows how lightweight RAAC isn't as strong as modern day concrete

A total of 104 schools have been instructed to keep buildings shut if they are made with a type of concrete that is prone to collapse, the government announced

The difference between concrete and RAAC under water

He said earlier this year: 'It is RAAC from the 1950s, 60s and 70s that is of main concern, especially if it has not been adequately maintained.

'RAAC examples have been found with bearings (supports) which aren't big enough, and RAAC with the steel reinforcement in the wrong place, both of which can have structural implications.

'Prolonged water ingress (not uncommon on old flat roofs) can also lead to deterioration.'

'If you keep the RAAC nice and dry then you're fine, but if you let water get to it, it can soak up the water and if that water gets to the reinforcement that's inside it can corrode it and make it rusty.'

This is potentially why RAAC could be prone to collapse.

RAAC is also said to be much weaker than modern concrete.

RAAC can still be - and often is - used all over the world as a construction material, and Prof Goodier says there is no reason why it cannot be used if it is properly designed, installed and maintained.

But for the RAAC put into British schools, hospitals and other public buildings decades ago, he added: 'This is often not the case.'

A collapsed RAAC roof at a Kent primary school

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) was used as a cheap post-war building material in public sector construction projects

Parents can be assured it is safe to send their children back to school because the vast majority of questionnaires on the structural soundness of buildings say 'there is no RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete)', the schools minister has said.

Nick Gibb told Times Radio: 'Parents can be assured that if they haven't heard from schools, that it is safe to send their children into school.'

Asked how he can give assurances when not all questionnaires have been returned, Mr Gibb said: 'Yes I can, because more than any other governments in the world, we have been the most proactive in dealing with this issue. It's been around since the mid-1990s over successive governments.

'But as evidence has emerged, we have taken a very proactive approach in trying to identify in the 22,500 schools - and indeed across the public sector as a whole - where RAAC is.

'And those questionnaires when they come back, the vast majority of them say that there is no RAAC in the schools and we've only been surveying schools in the period that they have been built or extended between the 1950s and the 1990s.'

The Government will cover 'all capital costs' over disruption to educational building from the use of a type of concrete prone to collapse, the schools minister has said.

Asked on Sky News who will pay if schools need to either fully or partially relocate, Nick Gibb said: 'We will pay for that. We've made it very clear we will cover all capital costs.

'So if in the worst-case scenario, we need portacabins in the school estate for an alternative accommodation, we will cover all those costs.

'So there has been some speculation that we won't cover those costs. We absolutely will.'

On whether all schools affected have now been informed, Mr Gibb said: 'The vast majority have. We have been calling them yesterday, but there are a few more that we're calling today, and those schools are now talking to parents about what's going to happen in their school.'

Mr Gibb also said the Government will release a list of the schools in 'due course'.
Authorities in Ohio released bodycam video on Friday showing a police officer gunning down pregnant woman TaKiya Young, just more than a week after the deadly confrontation unfolded in a grocery store parking lot.

Young was fatally shot the night of Aug. 24 by Blendon Township police officers, who were initially called to the local Kroger to help a customer who had locked themselves out of their car. When they arrived on the scene around 6:30 p.m., they were met by a store employee who told them told them Young had just stolen several bottles of liquor.

The bodycam video starts off with an officer approaching the driver-side window of Youngs four-door Lexus sedan, which did not have a license plate and was illegally parked in a handicapped spot at the time. He then tells her shes been accused of theft and repeatedly orders her to exit her vehicle, while a second officer stands in front of the car, blocking her path.

Young protests, prompting the first officer to repeat his demand. Young can then be seen turning her steering wheel to the right and the car moves toward the second officer, who in turn fires his gun through the windshield. The sedan continues about 50 feet before stopping on the sidewalk outside the grocery store.

Young was struck once and died at Mount Carmel St. Anns a short time later. The child she was carrying, a daughter due in November, did not survive. She also had two young sons, ages 6 and 3.

Sean Walton, an attorney representing Youngs family, said the video clearly shows the use of deadly force was unjustified and he called for the officer involved to be immediatley fired and charged.

TaKiyas family is heartbroken, Walton said. The video did nothing but confirm their fears that TaKiya was murdered unjustifiably  and it was just heartbreaking for them to see TaKiya having her life taken away under such ridiculous circumstances.

Walton also blasted the authorities for waiting more than a week to release the footage, alleging the delay was a bid to minimize media attention. Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford has since pushed back on the claims, blaming the week-long delay on a lack of staff. He also dubbed Youngs death a tragedy shortly after the release of the bodycam video.

Ms. Youngs family is understandably very upset and grieving, he said in a written statement released Friday morning. While none of us can fully understand the depths of their pain, all of us can remember them in our prayers and give them the time and space to deal with this heartbreaking turn of events.

During a candlelight vigil earlier this week, Youngs grandmother, Nadine Young, described her granddaughter as a family-oriented prankster who was a loving older sister and mother.

She was so excited to have this little girl, she said. She has her two little boys, but she was so fired up to have this girl. She is going to be so missed.

With News Wire Services
Franke's three sisters - who are also influencers - have also released statements admitting they 'kept quiet quiet on the subject'

Her estranged daughter, Shari, said she has warned police for years about the allegations

Ruby Franke, 41, was taken into custody on Wednesday after two children were found starved with open wounds and duct tape on their 'extremities'

A daughter of the Mormon YouTuber mom arrested on suspicion of child abuse has said police were warned for years about the allegations before they 'finally' acted.

Ruby Franke, 41, known for her YouTube channel 8 Passengers, was taken into custody on Wednesday after two children were found starved with open wounds and duct tape on their 'extremities'.

Police were called after a child climbed out of the window of a home and ran to a neighbor pleading for food and water. The neighbor saw the child's wounds and immediately dialed 911, before another child was also found 'in a similar physical condition of malnourishment'.

Franke was arrested alongside her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt for two counts of aggravated child abuse.

Her daughter, Shari, has now claimed relatives have been 'trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this', adding that she was 'so glad they finally decided to step up' and the kids were safe. She posted the message to Instagram with a photo of police outside the home captioned 'finally'.

Kevin Franke (right) has said his 'urgent focus' is to keep his six children which he shares with former YouTuber Ruby Franke (left) together under his care

Mormon YouTuber Ruby Franke (pictured with her daughters) was taken into custody under suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse earlier this week

Ruby Franke, (left) who ran the now-defunct 8 Passengers channel, was arrested along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt (right)

In a further suggestion that Franke's alleged abuse was known by relatives, a statement from her sisters said that they have 'kept quiet on the subject of our sister... for the sake of her children'.'

The statement, posted by Ellie Mecham, Bonnie Hoellein, and Julie Deru to each of their Instagram accounts, said: 'For the last 3 years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children. Behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe.'

The sisters are also YouTubers and said they 'wouldn't feel right about moving forward with regular content without addressing the most recent events'.

'Once we do, we will not be commenting on it further,' the statement said.

'Ruby was arrested which needed to happen. Jodi was arrested which needed to happen. The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority.'

A statement from Franke's sisters said that they have 'kept quiet on the subject of our sister... for the sake of her children'. Pictured: Her sister, Ellie Mecham

The sisters said: 'For the last 3 years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children.' Pictured: Franke's sister Bonnie Hoellein

'Ruby was arrested which needed to happen,' her sisters said. 'Jodi was arrested which needed to happen.' Pictured: Franke's sister Julie Deru

The full statement from Franke's three sisters, which was posted across their Instagram pages

Franke's husband, Kevin Franke, who she shares six children with - Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell and Eve - has said he is 'trying to keep his children together' following the arrests.

Kevin's attorney, Randy S.Kester, told Page Six his client's 'urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his fatherly care'.

Four minor children were taken into the care of Child and Family Services following the police's investigation. It is unconfirmed if the children were related to either Franke or Hildebrandt.

Both women have been previously criticized for their teachings on parenting  collaborating on Hildebrandt's life counseling service ConneXions.

According to an arrest record, a child fled through a window of Hildebrandt's house in Ivins and went to a neighbor who then called the police.

The Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department in Utah arrested Franke and Hildebrant after a report of a juvenile in need at 10.50am on Wednesday.

Authorities said the child was described as 'emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities' and asking for food and water.

In a statement they said: 'The condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Irvins EMS and transported to a local area hospital.

'Information was obtained by police that other juveniles in similar condition may be in a nearby home.

'Officers arrived at the home and searched the residence, locating another juvenile in a similar physical condition of malnourishment.

'They were also transported by EMS for hospital treatment'. Cops said 'evidence consistent with the markings found on the juvenile' was located in the home.

Both Franke and Hildebrandt remain in custody at the Washington County Sheriff's Department.

Franke (seen with her husband) is well-known for her strict parenting style on the channel, which she stopped uploading footage in January 2022. It was taken down earlier this year

Ruby, her husband, and their six kids were shot into stardom back in 2015, after she started sharing videos giving an inside look into her life as a Mormon mother-of-six on YouTube

Frake's estranged eldest daughter Shari, 20, revealed in April she was no longer in contact with her mother.

In the post about her mother's arrest, she added: 'Today has been a big day. Me and my family are so glad justice is being served.

'We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.

'Kids are safe, but there's a long road ahead. Please keep them in your prayers and also respect their privacy.'

Franke's eldest daughter Shari, 20, posted about her mother's arrest on Instagram, sharing an image of police officers outside the home captioned 'Finally'

Franke came under fire in July for revealing her then-six-year-old daughter Eve had to 'go hungry' because the little girl had failed to make her own lunch before school

Franke is well-known for her strict parenting style on the channel, which she stopped uploading footage to in January 2022. It was taken down earlier this year.

When asked why she left YouTube behind months later on ConneXions, she said she opted to stop uploading videos because she wanted to 'save her kids.'

Franke racked up more than 2.2million subscribers for documenting their day-to-day endeavors on social media, with her husband Kevin.

The mother-of-six came under fire in July after footage resurfaced of her allowing her daughter Eve, 6, to go hungry because she forgot to make her own lunch.

Franke's eldest child, Shari (seen in May), revealed in April that she was no longer in contact with her mother

In a video posted to YouTube in February 2020, Ruby explained that she had received a text from her daughter's teacher, telling her that the youngster didn't have anything to eat for lunch.

She said all her kids are responsible for preparing their own lunches in the morning, so she would not be dropping off any food for Eve because she wanted to teach her a lesson.

Franke said: 'My hope [is that] she will be hungry and come home and be like 'that was really painful being hungry all day I'll make sure to always have a lunch with me.''

'The natural outcome is that she is just going to have to go hungry.'
Floridians have now begun the mammoth task of cleaning up their state

Windspeeds of up to 125 mph tore roofs off houses and downed power lines

Florida officials have not yet officially confirmed any hurricane-related deaths

Floridians are continuing a massive cleanup effort after Category 3 hurricane Idalia left a trail of devastation that has wrecked the lives of hundreds across the state.

Dozens were spotted gingerly picking through piles of rubble where their homes once stood, throwing tarps over ripped-apart roofs and trudging through flooded streets clogged up by fallen trees and dangerous electricity wires.

Even children were seen putting in hard work to aid the cleanup effort.

Several Floridians revealed just how damaging the hurricane, which reached windspeeds of over 125 mph as it made landfall near Keaton Beach in north Florida on Wednesday morning at round 8am, was to their entire lives.

Miriam Butler, an 82-year-old woman whose small landscaping business was destroyed by Idalia, said as she looked out at a flooded street in her hometown of Crystal River, northwest Florida, that she hadn't yet summoned the strength to inspect the damage that Hurricane Idalia inflicted on her small landscaping business.

'I know the water got inside and ruined everything for me,' said the native Honduran who has lived in Florida for more than 30 years.

Floridians were seen slowly trying to clear the destruction caused by Hurricane Idalia over the past few days

The hurricane, which reached land on Wednesday morning is expected to have caused billions of dollars of damage

 Slide me  Shocking satellite images revealed how badly Florida was hit, with this set of pictures showing damage caused to Ozello, a small community in the state

Businesses across the state were hit hard, and several people revealed that they may have to leave their homes permanently

'I'm an old lady, I've worked so hard and these storms leave you so frustrated,' she added.

Michael Curry, who owns a roofing company in Crystal River, said his one goal was to reopen his business by Monday.

While he and his employees were unable to prevent roughly two feet of water from entering his business, he has put them to work and tasked them with ripping out and replacing as much as possible in order to prevent mould from forming.

'Now we should be good, but in a week or a month, we could be gearing up to do this again,' the 43-year-old said stoically. 'That's just part of living here.'

Florida's Big Bend region, where the state's panhandle turns into its peninsula, was one of the areas worst affected by the hurricane.

 Slide me  Satellite images showed entire towns in calamity following the hurricane

Even children put in hard work to help clean their families' homes up

Officials have not yet been able to calculate the amount of damage caused by the storm

Hardy Floridians have already been seen trying to piece their lives back together again

One man who ran a roofing business said he was keen to get his business back up and running by Monday

One woman said she hadn't mustered the strength to start trying to piece her life together again

Entire towns appeared to be levelled and flooded by the hurricane

Shocking satellite imagery shows the extent of the devastation the area suffered.

Entire towns appeared to be levelled and flooded by the hurricane.

Horseshoe Beach, a town just 30 miles south of where Idalia hit land, was among those that bore the brunt of Idalia's impact.

John 'Sparky' Abrade, a 77-year-old retiree who lives in the area, said that despite the damage to his neighbours' homes, he felt relieved when he saw the damage to his own home, even though the windows were blown out and household items scattered about.

'I'm feeling great. The house is still here,' he said.

Tammy Bryan, a member of the severely damaged First Baptist Church near Horseshoe Beach, wasn't as optimistic: 'It's a breath of fresh air here. It's beautiful sunsets, beautiful sunrises. We have all of old Florida right here. And today we feel like it's been taken away.'

Some lucky few managed to make it through the storm with their properties unscathed

Entire homes were razed to just their foundations in the storm

Two other Horseshoe Beach residents, Austin 'Buddy' Daniel Ellison, 39, and his father Ronald Daniel Ellison, said that their family will have to leave the area after the storm levelled their fishing merch business.

'I ain't never seen one like this, my Dad never seen one like this,' Buddy said.

'This storm is forcing us out of here,' Ronald Ellison said.

'As I see it now, it's over.'

Officials have not yet been able to assess the full economic cost of the Hurricane, but investment bank UBS said that insured property losses in Florida were projected to run to at least $9.36 billion.

While the Big Bend region was battered by Hurricane Idalia, Tampa Bay was comparatively unharmed, though Hurricane Ian last year claimed the lives of 149 people when it hit Fort Myers.

'My plan today is to go around and find anything that's in the debris that is salvageable and clean out my storage shed,' Aimee Firestine of Cedar Key, an island located in the remote Big Bend area, said.

She revealed that an entire building belonging to the 12-unit motel her family owns had been wiped away, while another building lost a wall.

'It was a little heart-wrenching and depressing,' Firestine said.

Another Big Bend resident, James Nobles, was lucky enough to find his home hadn't been destroyed, though many of his neighbours weren't as lucky.

'The town, I mean, it's devastated. It's probably 50 or 60 homes here, totally destroyed. I'm a lucky one, a few limbs on my house. But we're going to build back.

'We're going to be strong. We just got to rebuild. We can't give up. My lifelong goal was to live on the water. And I'm not leaving just because the storm pushed me away.'

At time of publication, Florida has not officially confirmed any hurricane-related deaths, but the state's highway patrol reported two people killed in separate weather-related crashes just hours before Idalia made landfall.

At time of publication, Florida has not officially confirmed any hurricane-related death

Despite heavy damage to homes in many coastal communities, Idalia proved far less destructive, or lethal, than Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 storm that struck Florida last September

Nearly 36 hours after plowing ashore, Idalia weakened from a tropical storm to a post-tropical cyclone

At the height of Idalia's fury on Wednesday, it ravaged a wide swath of low-lying and largely rural Gulf Coast landscape

President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for several hard-hit Florida counties, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Deane Creswell said.

Biden said he plans to visit some of the storm-battered areas on Saturday.

Despite heavy damage to homes in many coastal communities, Idalia proved far less destructive, or lethal, than Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 storm that struck Florida last September, killing 150 people and causing $112 billion in property losses.

The last hurricane documented making landfall on the Big Bend coast with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph was an unnamed storm that struck Cedar Keys in September 1896, devastating the area.

Across the Southeast, electricity outages from fallen trees, utility poles and power lines were widespread. In all, more than 175,000 homes and businesses were without power in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas on Thursday, according to Poweroutage.us.

Florida officials said crews would restore most of the state's electricity within 48 hours.

The hurricane then crossed over Georgia's southern border, with winds slowing down slightly to 90 mph, though they still managed to tear roofs off of houses across the state.

A man in Valdosta, Georgia, died when a tree fell on him as he tried to clear another tree out of the road, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

Idalia drenched the Carolinas with heavy rain before departing the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday, while officials in Florida, where the tempest made landfall as a major hurricane a day earlier, stepped up recovery and damage-appraisal efforts.

Nearly 36 hours after plowing ashore, Idalia weakened from a tropical storm to a post-tropical cyclone and drifted out into the Atlantic.

At the height of its fury on Wednesday, it ravaged a wide swath of low-lying and largely rural Gulf Coast landscape and forced emergency teams, some in boats, to rescue dozens of residents who became trapped by floodwaters.

Idalia's storm surge - considered the greatest hazard posed by major hurricanes - appeared to have caused no deaths.

Even as Idalia headed out to the Atlantic, the back end of the storm system was producing downpours that were forecast to dump as much as 10 inches of rain in some spots along the coastline of North and South Carolina, the National Weather Service said.

Forecasters had warned of possible life-threatening flash floods in the Carolinas. But local media reports at day's end said both states had mostly been spared.

Flooding damaged about 40 businesses in the town of Whiteville, North Carolina, marking that state's most serious brush with Idalia, according to Raleigh-based ABC News affiliate WTVD-TV.

South Carolina's emergency management center was winding down its operations by afternoon, said Charleston-based station WCSC-TV.
A female student being bashed in a bathroom is just the latest incident of bullying at a troubled Central Queensland school, parents claim.

Worried mothers claim vulnerable students at Bundaberg North State High School live in fear of bullies who 'rule the school' by threatening classmates in a bid to get 'street cred'.

The disturbing trend resulted in an all-out brawl on Tuesday that saw the school of roughly 750 students locked down.

Footage of the riot showed students punching and piling on top of each other, an occurrence one parent described as 'normal' for the school.

Now, another video has emerged of two girls violently fighting in the school's toilets, The Courier Mail reported.

Footage of a violent attack between students in a bathroom at Bundaberg North State High School has emerged

The confronting clip shows a girl in a grey hoodie approach another student from behind and punch her head.

At least four other students fled the bathroom while the two launched into a full-blown brawl.

Just as things appeared to calm down, the girl behind the camera urged the student in the hoodie to 'keep going', with the pair seen throwing fists at each other repeatedly.

One mother at the school said her daughter was 'beaten up' four times in the last 18 months.

The most recent attack, in August, saw the young girl hospitalised.

Footage of the incident shows one girl hitting the other on the back of the head before they descended into a full-blown fight

'It is getting out of hand, someone is going to get seriously hurt,' another parent told the publication, adding her child had to change schools.

'There is a massive culture problem. It's crazy. Girls fighting in bathrooms, not just the boys.'

She also claimed some of the students were bringing weapons to school, and the bullying occurred outside school hours online as well.

A Department of Education spokesman said they were aware of the videos featuring 'student behaviour incidents' and said pupils involved in the toilet attack faced 'appropriate disciplinary action'.

The spokesman added it is taking the issues at the school 'extremely seriously', and said the bathroom brawl happened several weeks ago.

'All such incidents are investigated, actioned and support provided to students. The school takes student safety very seriously and works to provide a safe, supportive learning environment for all students,' the spokesman said.

'It is mandatory for the Student Code of Conduct to include guidance materials on how to report bullying and what to expect following the report, including timelines for a response.'

One concerned parent at the school said fights have become 'normal' at the school with one child hospitalised from the violence in August

All parents, students and carers have been urged to report cases of bullying and misconduct to the school principal.

To help assist struggling students, all pupils have been given access to anonymous reporting platforms, guidance officers, youth support, psychologists and community education counsellors.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Bundaberg North State High School for further comment.
A young British girl was allegedly raped ten times by a Spanish male careworker in Gibraltar, who has been charged by police, according to local reports.

In a statement, Royal Gibraltar Police said Pedro Luis Garcia Vallejo, 25, of La Linea, was arrested and had his initial hearing in court on Thursday.

He was remanded in custody, and is set to return to court on Friday.

Vallejo has been charged with 'one count of Sexual Activity with a Child: Abuse of Position of Trust and ten counts of Rape against an underage female,' police said.

According to the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation, Vallejo worked at a children's residential care home in the British Overseas Territory.

The police did not report on the identity or nationality of the young girl, but local reports said that she was British.

A young British girl was allegedly raped ten times by a Spanish male careworker in Gibraltar (pictured, file photo), who has been charged by police, according to local reports

News of the man's arrest comes after a series of alleged sexual assaults involving British victims.

In August, an 18-year-old British woman was alleged to have been raped by five French men and a Swiss tourist she had met at a party in Magaluf, Majorca.

The assault is alleged to have happened at dawn on August 14 at the hotel in the town found on the on the holiday island - renowned for its rowdy parties and cheap alcohol as much as its white-sand beaches.

A security guard found the young woman crying on the floor in the hotel's lobby - 400 yards from Magaluf's party strip - at around 5am on Monday.

Earlier in August, a 21-year-old British woman told Greek police that she was raped by an Israeli man after meeting him in a nightclub in Athens.

The young tourist was allegedly attacked at the man's home in the early hours the previous week after a night out in the Keramikos area.

She told police that during the sexual assault, the man's three friends appeared out of nowhere and filmed her with their mobile phones.

The woman, who had been partying with her friend from Portugal beforehand, told the group she was leaving but the man refused to stop the act, according to local media.

After a struggle the woman managed to escape the property and told police of the incident. A case has been filed against the Israeli man for rape.

In July, British tourist accused a 47-year-old Greek man of raping her in a hotel while on holiday on the island of Rhodes, according to local media.
A popular coastal town in Suffolk will be left with no banks after Barclays announced it will shut its last branch in November.

Southwold is one of the 15 Barclays branches due to close by the end of the year, with the bank confirming only 17 people use it as their only source of banking.

While residents can get cash out from the post-office, they face a 30-minute drive to their nearest bank in Lowestoft.

Suffolk Coastal MP Therese Coffey has said Barclays's decision is 'disappointing and extremely concerning' according to the East Anglian Daily Times.

Locals in Southwold will have to drive 30 minutes away to their nearest bank as Barclays announces another bank closure

She said: 'Physical branches are especially important for the elderly and most vulnerable and are also critical for our many small businesses.

READ MORE: Banks have closed a MILLION accounts in just four years, with rate of closures accelerating Advertisement

'I will be meeting senior representatives soon to question their decision and to identify what alternative services they are planning on offering customers.

The Mayor of Beccles, Christine Wheeler, also said she intends to challenge the bank's decision to close the branch in the town, according to local news reports.

The bank is expected to close its doors on November 30, however a spokesperson has reassured customers that people will still be able to talk to colleagues in person.

According to The East Anglian Times, the spokesperson said: 'We want to reassure you that we're here to help. We'll stay in your community and you'll be able to talk to us in person.'

'We're finalising the details of where we'll be based, and when, to support you with your banking, and we'll share the details locally once confirmed.'

Meanwhile, the banking giant is set to close more branches in Suffolk by the end of the year. It has been confirmed branches in Beccles and Woolridge will close its doors for good.

Barclays has confirmed it will close more branches in Suffolk by the end of the year, shutting banks in Beccles and Woolridge

Barclays has already closed branches in Newmarket, Mildenhall, Sudbury and Framlingham this year.

The number of branches in the UK stands at 5,000, just a quarter of the 20,000 that were open at the turn of the millennium, according to The Telegraph.

It comes following new powers set out by the Treasury, that state free cash deposit and withdrawal points must be no more than one mile away for people living in urban areas, and three miles in rural areas.

Banks and building societies that fail to provide free cash machines could be fined by the financial services watchdog.

Treasury Economic Secretary Andrew Griffith said: 'People shouldn't have to trek for hours to withdraw a tenner to put in someone's birthday card - nor should businesses have to travel large distances to deposit cash takings.

'These are measures which benefit everyone who uses cash but particularly those living in rural areas, the elderly and those with disabilities.'

MailOnline contacted Barclays for comment.
A man who broke his neck and severely injured his spinal cord will likely be left quadriplegic after jumping into a foam pit at a Spanish leisure centre.

The 27-year-old from Blimea in northern Spain sustained the injuries after the accident at a newly-opened leisure and games venue for adults and children in the nearby town of Colloto.

His girlfriend and a group of friends discovered him unconscious and phoned the emergency services.

The man was then taken to the Central University Hospital of Asturias for treatment, but there are fears that he may end up quadriplegic, local news outlet La Nueva Espana de Siero reported.

His spine had been broken at the third cervical vertebra, or C3, halfway down the neck.

The 27-year-old from Blimea in northern Spain sustained the injuries after diving into a foam pit at a newly-opened leisure and games venue for adults and children in the nearby town of Collot (Stock Image)

He has undergone surgery, but tests show that he has a complete spinal cord injury, which may leave him unable to move his arms or legs.

A complete spinal cord injury means that there is no nerve communication below the injury site, with sensory and motor function lost below that site.

The 27-year-old is currently on assisted ventilation.

The venue remains open but the foam pit has been closed and an investigation into the cause of the accident is being carried out.

The man was taken to the Central University Hospital of Asturias for treatment, but there are fears that he may end up quadriplegic, according to a report

'The facility complies with all safety measures,' one of the partners in the establishment told La Nueva Espana de Siero.

The venue will hand over recordings of the accident for the investigation, but says it was not at fault.

Venue company officials told local news El Comercio: 'It was not our fault, the installation is good and has all the necessary safety protections. We have hired experts and lawyers.'
The number of schools in England affected by RAAC concrete has jumped from 147 to 174, new figures from the government show.

This means schools affected by the crumbling concrete could potentially return to a pandemic-style remote learning, with some schools awaiting assessment.

Thousands of pupils had the start of their school term disrupted by the lightweight concrete already, as some schools had to close buildings or classrooms.

Pupils at Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School are now learning remotely and another 23 schools are partially closed and are having to move to remote learning.

The Department for Education has been considering RAAC as a potential issue since 2018; Education Secretary Gillian Keegan previously said fresh evidence about collapses without any warning sparked her decision to shut schools in England while mitigation was put in place.

Here, MailOnline reveals issues schools are facing this coming term, read on for more information regarding school closures.

Pupils at Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School are now learning remotely due to RAAC being found in the building

Hundreds of schools were disrupted at the start of the autumn term as the government ordered schools to immediately shut buildings made with RAAC

A total of 174 schools have been instructed to keep buildings shut if they are made with RAAC, or parts of the building have been constructed with it, the government announced

How and when did evidence come to light on the concrete scandal?  1950s up to the mid-1990s - RAAC, a lightweight building material, is used  1995 - The Times newspaper reports the first warnings about RAAC cracking in roofs came in  2018 - The Department for Education (DfE) considers RAAC as a potential issue  June 2023 - Problems were highlighted in a report by the National Audit Office (NAO)  Summer 2023  Schools minister Nick Gibb says fresh evidence came to light  August 31, 2023  Parents are informed some schools will be forced to close Advertisement

How to find out if your child's school is affected by RAAC closures?

Almost 250 temporary classrooms have been ordered by at least 29 different schools in response to the RAAC crisis.

One headteacher said the disruption could continue until 2023, MailOnline reported.

So far, only one school as resorted to online learning.

Schools and other education settings will let you know directly if there is any change at the beginning of terms.

Most schools are thought to be unaffected and children should attend school as normal unless you hear otherwise.

According to the government website, not all schools that use RAAC in their buildings will need to close.

The government website reads: 'It has always been the case that if the Department is made aware of a building that poses a safety risk, we will take immediate action to ensure safety and mitigate the situation.'

How can I teach my child at home?

Schools were told moving to pandemic-style remote education should only be considered as a 'last resort and for a short period'.

The DfE said: 'It should only be used where all options to continue face-to-face education - either on your site, at an alternative, or in temporary accommodation - have been exhausted.'

The education facility to have completely closed is Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School.

Some schools may have the concrete in just one building, resulting in a small number of classroom closures. While others may be able to continue with very little disruption if the concrete is in a small enough area.

Ms Keegan said: 'We are taking a cautious approach so every parent in England can be reassured their child is safe in their school.

'School and local leaders deserve huge credit for making sure the vast majority of settings with confirmed Raac are continuing to offer pupils face-to-face learning - including all of the 147 schools initially identified two weeks ago.

'We will continue to work closely with affected schools and provide both expert and financial support to minimise disruption and keep staff and children safe.'

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (pictured) has previously said fresh evidence about collapses without any warning sparked her decision to shut schools in England

How long will schools stay shut?

Though there has not been a confirmed time period affected schools should be closed for, guidance issued says they should find emergency or temporary accommodation 'for the first few weeks' until buildings are made safe.

All affected schools will be assigned a DfE caseworker who will help put solutions in place.

The government website states: 'If RAAC is confirmed, we will ensure appropriate rapid action is taken.

'This could include providing funding to remove any immediate risks and, where necessary, arranging temporary buildings to be put in place.'

Are colleges and nurseries affected too?

Alongside school buildings, colleges and nurseries are also affected.

According to the Standing Committee on Structural Safety (SCOSS): 'RAAC was used in schools, colleges, and other building construction from the 1950s until the mid-1990s.

'It may therefore be found in any school and college building (educational and ancillary) that was either built or modified in this time period.'

Responsible bodies are being urged to fill out a questionnaire on RAAC, and environments suspected to have the concrete will be brought forward for surveying.

The government website explained that a 'significant proportion' of the school estate was built outside of the time frame RAAC was used, and they have focused their efforts on buildings constructed in the post-war decades.

They said that 31 per cent of school buildings have been built since 2001.
A motorist has adopted a rude number plate to show London mayor Sadiq Khan exactly what he thinks of the controversial Ulez expansion.

The Volkswagen driver was spotted just outside the clean air zone, on the A20 near Chislehurst, south London, with the cheeky plate.

The vehicle also appeared to have a blacked out rear window.

Drivers can be fined up to 1,000 for non compliant number plates.

Those who saw the picture posted on a Facebook group said: 'A lot of people are going to be running around with false plates on soon, but this one will eventually attract attention from the police.'

The Volkswagen driver clearly thought he'd had a bright idea with his protest against the scheme

Another motorist spotted the vehicle just outside the clean air zone, on the A20 near Chislehurst, south London. It also appeared to have a blacked out rear window

Another said: 'If you take a closer look at the plate it's actually UK ULEZ, there's another plate underneath with the letter F there, either that or it's photoshopped but you can see the plates overlapping.'

And another simply stated his support, adding: 'Saw him the other week. Drives round with front and back plates. No f***s given good lad.'

The Ulez zone, which charges some vehicles 12.50 a day, was expanded to much outrage on August 29.

It comes as new data reveals at least a quarter of the Ulez cameras in the capital have been damaged by vandals.

Campaigners this week have stepped up efforts to deface the cameras installed in the wake of Mr Khan's controversial extension of the scheme, which is now clobbering thousands more drivers with the charge.

A crowd-sourced map appears to show that 450 of the 1,762 cameras installed to monitor cars in the zone are damaged or missing, The Telegraph reported.

Across the capital there have been reports of cameras being spray painted, stolen and having their wires cut as frustrated drivers push back against the scheme.

Official Met Police figures show that about 380 attacks on cameras have been reported since the start of the year.

At least a quarter of the camera in London's newly expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone have been damaged by vandals, new data reveals and here an anti-ULEZ campaigner poses with vandalised cameras

Campaigners this week have stepped up efforts to deface the cameras installed in the wake of mayor Sadiq Khan's controversial extension of the scheme, which is now clobbering thousands more drivers with 12.50 a day charges

Data suggests that six of the 23 boroughs now covered by the ULEZ have had more than a third of their cameras targeted - such as this one in Feltham

Data collected from Julie's Ulez Map, a crowd-sourced chart that documents camera locations, shows that six of the 23 boroughs now covered by the zone have had more than a third of their cameras targeted.

The latest data, taken on Thursday, shows that across both the old and existing zone, one in every five - 497 of the 2,692 - recorded cameras have either been removed or are out of commission.

But analysts allege this increases to one in four when assessing data only from camera installed in the newly expanded zone.

The map also suggests that the borough of Bromley has been worst hit with 83 per cent of its cameras - 100 out of 120 - reported missing or damaged.

Other hard-hit boroughs include Lewisham, Sutton and Bexley at 60 per cent, 57 per cent and 40.8 per cent, respectively.
A man charged with attempted murder escaped an Oregon psychiatric hospital on Wednesday after injuring an employee and driving off in a stolen vehicle.

Christopher Pray was fully restrained with leg shackles, a belly chain, handcuffs and a restraint connecting all three together when he managed to escape, according to the Oregon State Police.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, authorities described Pray as a dangerous escapee and said he was last seen driving south on Interstate 5.

He broke out the same day he was transferred to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem after he was ruled unfit to stand trial.

Pray was facing charges of attempted murder, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the Multnomah County Circuit Court, located near Portland.

He reportedly had an altercation with another patient soon after arriving at the hospital and was taken away for treatment, stated spokesperson Amber Shoebridge.

When Pray was brought back that night in an Oregon State Hospital van, he was somehow able to gain control of the van and drive away, Shoebridge said.

A staff member was injured in the incident, she added.

Pray was still on the loose as of Thursday night and considered extremely dangerous. He was last seen in a white 2016 Dodge Caravan, wearing a white T-shirt, maroon sweatpants and black slippers.

With News Wire Services
Australian fans of the hit television show Friends are in luck with the arrival of an interactive exhibition of the comedy series' set Down Under.

The Friends Experience, which tours worldwide, opened in Docklands, in the heart of Melbourne's CBD on Friday, giving fans a taste of what it was like behind the scenes.

Visitors can walk through Monica and Rachel's pristinely clean apartment or take some time out to lounge on the famous orange couch in front of the fountain seen in the series' title sequence.

Fans can also sip coffee inside the Central Perk cafe - a common hang out spot for the show's leading stars.

Aussies will get the chance to visit the set of the hit TV series Friends, with an exhibition of the set created by The Friends Experience unveiled in Melbourne on Friday

Fans of the hit series can now take a peek behind the scenes with the arrival of the Friends The Experience exhibition

The exhibition will be open until November 26 and fans can visit the site on everyday of the week except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Prices for tickets range between $25 and $39.

Ahead of the opening of the installation, fans expressed their excitement on the Friends The Experience's social media pages.

'SO EXCITED', one user wrote on Instagram.

'Can't wait,' another said.

Visitors will get a chance to recreate their own moment inside the Central Perk cafe, where most of the characters were often seen hanging out

Two Friends fans are seen hanging out in Chandler and Joey's apartment

Friends ran for 10 seasons after it debuted in 1994.

The program featured stars Matt LeBlanc, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox.

The 236th and final episode of the show aired on May 6, 2004.

Streaming giant Netflix bought the rights to the show in 2015 for $150million.

The move unearthed a new generation of fans of the sitcom who are now watching the show almost 20 years after it called time.

In 2019, production giant Warner Brothers floated the idea of recreating the set of the TV series to mark the 25th anniversary of the show, with a pop-up exhibition in New York City.

Since then, The Friends Experience has gone on to open exhibitions in 13 cities, including in North America and Europe, giving viewers and some of the newer fans a chance to revisit some of their favourite parts of the show.
Locals are split on a last-minute decision to kick students out of their 200 a week luxury flats so they could replace them with asylum seekers - with many condemning the plan but others suggesting they'll be a welcome break from all-night partying.

More than 150 Huddersfield University students had been promised rooms in the refurbished HD 1 development, but they lost their places after the Home Office decided to take over the 405-bed tower block - which has a cinema room and a gym.

The academic year starts in a matter of days for some students and the HD 1 move has left many scrambling to find alternative digs.

Several local people have condemned the plan as 'unfair' to students, but others who live opposite the block and recall its days as a noisy hub of all-night parties shared different views.

Naseem Sarwar, 53, told MailOnline: 'There were all sorts of shenanigans going on. There was partying all night, we were sick and tired of them. We were disgusted with that place. I can't see asylum seekers being worse than what we had.'

Another nearby resident, Mohammed Hussain, 54, said: 'The buildings had some students, but the place also had prostitution and drugs problems. We would rather have asylum seekers housed there than what we used to have.

'It has been lovely and peaceful since the fire brigade ordered them to be evacuated.'

Naseem Sarwar, 53, said he couldn't see 'asylum seekers being worse than what we had' after witnesses prostitution and partying all night

Local Christopher Hayes (left) thinks the accommodation could go to local people. Mohammad Shakeel (right), 49, owns Royal Spice take away and students are some of his best customers. He said: 'This town is very difficult for students to get housing.

Martin and Jennifer Harrison have spoken out against the decision to stop students moving into accommodation in Huddersfield

Pictured is the outside of the student block which is now being used to house asylum seekers

More than 100 university students are now in a desperate scramble to find new accommodation after it was said the building would be used to house asylum seekers (pictured is an impression of what some of the room in the building could look like)

Nobody has lived in the HD1 since the three buildings making up the accommodation were evacuated because they were a fire risk due to illegal cladding.

Huddersfield University students and other tenants were given just three hours to pick their belongings and leave Kingfisher Court, Cormorant House and Crane Court in August 2019 when West Yorkshire Fire brigade safety officers uncovered Grenfell Tower type risks. Since then, new cladding has been fitted to the buildings.

Local man Christopher Hayes, 67, said the way the students had been treated was 'rubbish'. He told MailOnline: 'Those rooms were promised to these students going to the university and at the last minute the Government has decided to have an overnight change of mind and use the rooms for asylum seekers.

'We have enough already and we should be looking after our students, they are our future. There are plenty of people in Huddersfield who would love to live in those flats, but can't afford them.'

Retired textile worker Martin Harrison, 80, said: 'It's crazy, we are a university town and we support everybody that comes, all ethnic minorities, but to bring asylum seekers in and place them above students is not on.'

Young mother Kiaq Robertson, 23, said: 'I don't think it's fair that the students should lose their places to somebody else.

'We are all struggling ourselves, so many of my friends can't find places to live and they would love to go into nice studio flats.'

Mohammad Shakeel, 49, who owns Royal Spice takeaway, said students are some of his best customers.

'This town is very difficult for students to get housing. So many come to me and ask if I know of accommodation going,' he said.

'Accommodation in Huddersfield is a big problem - it is very hard to find a place to live and rental prices have gone up.

'The asylum seekers are human beings and I don't want to say anything against them, but getting a roof over your head is a big problem for everyone around here.'

Ellie Robinson, 18, from Thirsk in North Yorkshire, is among the students who had been planning to move into the 405-bed halls.

But the first-year international business student was horrified when, with no prior warning, she was told the bombshell news that her tenancy contract had been cancelled - just weeks before the start of term.

Devastated Ellie was left in a state of panic as she and scores of other students scrambled to find last-minute replacement accommodation, in a fiasco branded as 'disgusting' by locals and a 'total mess' by Huddersfield's MP.

Ellie Robinson was one of more than 150 students at Huddersfield University left in the lurch after a deal was struck between the Home Office and landlords to move of asylum seekers into the HD1 building.

The 18-year-old from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, had been planning for months to move into the 405-bed lavish halls, which has its own gym, cinema room and where top-end rooms can cost 200 a week to rent

Dozens of students now just have weeks to find new digs in Huddersfield after the bombshell news was dropped. The block includes its own cinema room

To help with the house the new arrivals, the Home Office bought the HD1 block at Huddersfield, West Yorkshire - which comes with its own gym (pictured as an artist impression) and games room

Ellie told MailOnline: 'It was hugely stressful. I had to find somewhere else to live in just a few weeks. It was a kick in the teeth.

'I was really gutted because I wanted to move into this place because it looked really nice. It didn't feel like student accommodation. It was more expensive, but I really wanted to stay there.

'I was really shocked. I was all ready to move in. But then I had to find somewhere in just a few weeks was really awful. It was very stressful.'

Ellie, who is paying 9,500 a year for her three-year course - which includes a fourth year on placement - said she had first booked to see the flat back in April but had signed a contract in June.

She only managed to find a new place to live outside of Huddersfield yesterday - with just days to go before she starts her course on September 18.

She added: 'It was a real rush. It's not how I wanted to start the year. It's shame. I just we would have been told a bit more about why our contracts were cancelled. We were left in the dark.'

Speaking about asylum seekers taking over the tower block, she added: 'I get why they're doing this  they're doing it to better their lives. But it's a real inconvenience for students. There have to be other places they can do this.'

The situation also outraged Labour MP for Huddersfield Barry Sheerman. He told MailOnline: 'It's a total mess. There was pressure at one stage back in the day for universities to recognise they were education experts but not residential experts.

'A lot of universities sold all their accommodation to the private sector... Because of that now what seems to have transpired is that these guys have said, 'oh this is nice, we get more money if we put asylum seekers in'.

'Quite ruthlessly, they have dumped students who have built all their hopes and plans on these rather nice residences they thought they were going to get.'

Mr Sheerman said university vice chancellors were 'wringing their hands' about what had happened.

'Everybody is washing their hands and saying ''not my fault guv'',' he added.

Mr Sheerman, who previously chaired the Commons Education Committee, said he had three grandchildren at university and young people were already enduring a 'really tough time' with high costs and the impact of Covid.

'The government has got to get a grip on this... the Office for Students isn't fit for purpose,' he said.

Mr Sheerman said the Home Office had to be held responsible for taking the accommodation meant for students.

'We do have something called Cabinet government. Presumably the Home Secretary does speak to her colleagues in the education department,' he said.

He added: 'I have deep sympathy for students being given an appalling deal by the system.

'At the end of the day the buck has to stop with the ministers responsible.'

No students were living in the tower block prior to the arrangement having been reached.

The HD1 student halls, only a short walk from the University of Huddersfield campus, in West Yorkshire, was previously advertised as 'luxury student accommodation'.

Rooms were available to rent for from between 135 and 200 a week, with student facilities including a games room, pool table, cinema, gym and a washing room.

Plans to move hundreds of asylum seekers into a 405-bed HD1 tower in Huddersfield, which has a cinema room and gym and where top-end studio flats can cost 200 a week, have outraged Labour MP Barry Sheerman (pictured)

More than 20,000 migrants arrived in the UK this year (pictured are migrants reaching the UK on Tuesday)

The HD1 block has 405 beds - with 168 students who had reportedly signed on to live there having now been refunded (pictured is an example of a study area in one room)

News of the deal comes after 300 migrants made the perilous Channel crossing in small boats on Tuesday - taking the total number of illegal arrivals reaching this UK this year to 20,000.

Prestige Student Living (PSL), the lettings company, claimed landlord Hudd Student Management had told them the block would not be opening to students.

The block had previously been unoccupied over the summer. So far, 168 students, due to be living in the halls, have now been refunded.

In a statement, PSL told MailOnline: 'Hudd Student Management, the landlord for HD1, informed us that the building will not be opening to students in September. This decision is beyond the control of Prestige Student Living.

'Our team took immediate action to inform students and help them secure alternative accommodation in Huddersfield and return all payments made to us.

'We deeply sympathise with the students affected by the news and will do all we can to support them.

'Our agreement with the Hudd Student Management has terminated with immediate effect.'

The news outraged Labour's shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock who told LBC students were 'paying the price for the Government's reliance on emergency accommodation'.

Nick Hillman, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, added he was 'genuinely shocked' by the news.

Some of the boutique rooms boast having views of the canals in Huddersfield (pictured is an example of one of the bedrooms on offer)

The halls are kitted out with their own kitchen and bathroom (pictured is an impression of the room, used of in official marketing material online)

'It's one thing for the Home Office to block-book an empty hall of residence that is brand new or empty but to let students down like this just before term starts seems pretty outrageous  especially when Huddersfield was identified earlier this week as an amber risk in terms of a shortage of student beds,' he told the Telegraph.

He added the Home Office and landlords had a 'moral duty' to help the students but claimed that university accommodation is 'not generally taken as seriously in Whitehall' as other types of housing.

A spokesman for Huddersfield University said: 'Huddersfield has sufficient student accommodation to meet the needs of our students and there are current vacancies available. For any students affected by this, who have not already been re-housed, please contact: hudlets@hud.ac.uk '

The Home Office said Britain was facing a huge demand from asylum seekers crossing the Channel.

In a statement, a spokeswoman added: 'We have always been upfront about the unprecedented pressure being put on our asylum system, brought about by a significant increase in dangerous and illegal journeys into the country.

'We continue to work across government and with local authorities to identify a range of accommodation options. The government remains committed to engaging with local authorities and key stakeholders as part of this process.'
Eighty-four years ago today, Nazi Germany's attack on Poland kicked off the Second World War.

Adolf Hitler's troops broke through Polish border crossings and launched naval, air and ground attacks on the Westerplatte peninsula in what is now Gdansk.

Once Poland had been subdued, the Nazis set about terrorising its citizens and would later go on to build the death camps where many of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust would meet their fate.

Last year, the country's right-wing government made a formal request to Germany that it pay 1.1trillion in reparations for their six-year occupation.

Germany insisted the matter was settled decades ago, but, writing today for MailOnline, Poland's Europe minister ARKADIUSZ MULARCZYK argues his country deserves the compensation.

Burning workshops in Gdansk's port on September 1, 1939 following Nazi Germany's attack on Poland

Adolf Hitler observes German troops crossing the Vistula River, near Chelmno, northern Poland, in September 1939

Historical memory is key to national identity. Anniversaries of and monuments to events, battles, deaths and cultural figures in a nation's past are celebrated and commemorated because they reinforce that nation's identity, and what it means to be a member of that nation. They remind us of that which should never be forgotten, honouring the memory of those it represents - even if it is hard.

One such monument stands in Gdansk. The Defenders of the Coast, on the Westerplatte Peninsula, marks where the German army, at 4:45am on September 1 1939, invaded Poland and started the Second World War.

The monument watches over the harbour where the Polish garrison bravely fought against the invading Germans for seven days, with Major Sucharski holding the town while the German army poured across the Polish countryside towards Warsaw.

Every year, at 4:45am, the town of Westerplatte commemorates that fateful morning, beginning with the sounding of a siren and the singing of Poland Is Not Yet Lost, the Polish national anthem. It is a solemn ceremony, remembering the consequences of illegal wars and invasions.

Now, as Europe looks east to see these consequences once more with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, ceremonies like those at Westerplatte are all the more significant. As my country's president Andrzej Duda said at last year's ceremony, 'our task is to remember history, including World War II, which is a lesson for the whole world.'

Poland suffered tremendously at the hands of Germany, the most out of all European states, argues Poland's Europe minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk

German citizens of Gdansk, which was then the free city of Danzig and had a significant German population, are seen welcoming Hitler's troops on September 3, 1939

A German soldier stands guard in Gdansk, Poland, on September 1, 1939, with a sign which reads, 'Stop! Danger! Live ammunition being fired'

German battleship SMS Schleslen bombards Polish artillery positions on September 27 on the Hel peninsula in northern Poland

German troops search the military transit depot in Westerplatte after its capitulation

As hard as it is, remembering the Second World War is essential. What followed the attack on Westerplatte was six years of terror, culminating in the Holocaust, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the attempted eradication of the Polish and Polish Jews. The Polish nation was, once again, to be wiped off the map.

Remembering the Second World War means remembering not only the scale of destruction caused by the most brutal regime the world has ever seen, but also remembering the people and individuals who suffered at the hands of German barbarity.

Many of these victims are still alive to tell the stories of what they witnessed, keeping alive the stories of those they saw murdered while still suffering material loss and physical harm. They never received the compensation they are owed.

Poland suffered tremendously at the hands of Germany, the most out of all European states. It took 30 years for Poland to return to pre-war population levels and GDP figures. Our nation is still healing and every Polish family suffered. Permanent reminders of the horrors of war can be seen across Poland from the German death camps to memorials on street corners. The Poles and Polish Jews who were murdered will always be remembered. Our legacy must be, however painful it is, to maintain these sites and to educate people so that the evils of the Holocaust are never repeated, and remain firmly in the past - for Poland and the rest of the world.

Despite the tragic loss of human potential that affected Poland for decades, the redevelopment of Poland has accelerated in recent years. We are proud to stand side by side with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, and our nation has warmly welcomed Ukrainian refugees as they flee Putin's wrath. We have bolstered our armed forces and supplied the Ukrainian military, whilst growing our own to ensure we never suffer the pain of occupation ever again. Our economy has become the most successful economy in Europe since the fall of the Soviet Union, to the extent that it is predicted Poland's economy will overtake that of France by the end of the decade.

The entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau - the most notorious Nazi death cam - in 1945. It was built in southern Poland in the town of Oswiecim

Our successes, true as they are, are bittersweet when one thinks how far we could have progressed were it not for the Second World War. This is why, one year ago today, the Polish Government published The Report on the Losses Sustained by Poland as a Result of German Aggression and Occupation during the Second World War.

The report makes it clear that, over the course of six years of German occupation, over five million Polish citizens died, of whom three million were Jewish. A further six million were lost to deportation, displacement and slave labour, along with 196,000 Polish children who were kidnapped and taken to Germany in an attempt to 'Aryanise' them. Of these, only 30,000 returned.

Poland's borders - under threat once again from Belarusian subversion and Russian aggression  were shifted westward as a result of the War, and an area equivalent to the Benelux region was lost.

As a consequence of the loss of life, financial damage, destruction of infrastructure, theft of state assets, and irreversible cultural devastation that Poland suffered, Germany caused the equivalent loss of 1.1 trillion. Since the total was published in September 2022, this figure has not been contested. This is down to the remarkable achievements of the experts who wrote the report and the accepted international models they used to calculate Poland's losses.

Looking back on the anniversary of the invasion of Poland, and the publication of the report, we see once again the domination of one state by another in an attempt to prevent justice being done. Recognising the role that closing historical chapters can play, Poland has tried, since the report was published, to open a dialogue with Germany to resolve this issue. However, Germany refuses to discuss the compensation the Polish people are owed, with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stating the issue is 'closed', and German ambassadors being instructed to ignore our ambassadors.

A German propaganda photograph shows German soldiers dressed as Gdansk Police officers pretending to break the barrier at the border crossing between Poland the Free City of Gdansk

German troops with 75mm Le IG 18 light tank and infantry support guns as they attack a street in Warsaw on September 27, 1939

The ruins of the Lubomirski Palace in central Warsaw after Germany's attack in September 1939

Any claim that the issue of compensation is closed is a deliberate and dangerous misreading of history, based on false information and wilful ignorance. Typically, Germany's position rests on the fabricated existence of a waiver from 1953 from Poland's Communist Prime Minister at the time, apparently relinquishing Poland's claim to compensation. However, in April of this year, Poland's Council of Ministers passed a resolution reaffirming the reality that Poland has never relinquished these claims. This follows a resolution passed by our Sejm in 2004 stating the same.

When presented with this fact, Germany then resorts to the Two-Plus-Four Agreement of 1990, which saw Germany reunited and, supposedly, settled Germany's international obligations regarding the Second World War. Yet, despite gaining independence a year before this agreement in 1989, Poland was excluded from the process by which this agreement came about, and was never given the autonomy necessary to settle the topic of war compensation. Any reliance on this treaty disrespects Poland's position as a sovereign nation, capable of negotiating its own affairs on the international stage.

The issue of war compensation is at the forefront of the international agenda, as we all come together to force Russia to atone for its terrible and destructive invasion of Ukraine. But nothing happens in international affairs without negotiation and dialogue. It is important that, to ensure European solidarity, and send the message to Russia that illegal wars cannot go unaddressed, Germany takes the necessary steps to discuss this issue openly and honestly with us.

Arkadiusz Mularczyk is the Polish secretary of state for Europe.
The children of autocrats have been revealed as the ultimate owners of 250million worth of British properties after new transparency rules allowed them to be identified.

New laws require offshore companies that own property in England and Wales to name their ultimate owner in a public register of overseas entities. Previously this had often been kept secret.

Analysis of the Register of Overseas Entities by The Times revealed that nearly 200m of UK property is owned by the family of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and families of their political appointees.

This includes 21m of property in London controlled by Mr Aliyev's daughters, Leyla and Arzu, who were educated at Queen's College for girls in Westminster.

Their father has ruled Azerbaijan since 2003, and oversees what think-tank Freedom House describes as an 'authoritarian regime' where 'corruption is rampant, and the formal political opposition has been weakened by years of persecution'.

Arzu and Leyla Aliyev, daughters of Ilham Aliyev, who has been president of Azerbaijan since 2003

Mr Aliyev oversees what think-tank Freedom House describes as an 'authoritarian regime' where 'corruption is rampant'

Dariga Nazarbayeva, the daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev - the former Kazakh president - owns London real estate worth more than 40m. This includes two apartments in Chelsea worth a combined 31m and a 9.3m house in Highgate.

Meanwhile, the president's son-in-law Timur Kulibayev is the ultimate owner of a 1.5m mews house a short walk from Hyde Park. He owners this through an offshore company.

Official British government guidance for businesses operating in Kazakhstan describes how - in 2010 - its government passed laws making Nazarbayev the 'lifelong ''leader of the nation'', giving him the right to veto legislation and address parliament when he wishes'.

The advice added: 'The legislation also sets out penalties for anyone guilty of insulting the honour and dignity of the first president. It is likely that Nazarbayev's influence in the political sphere will continue for some time to come'.

Also appearing in the records is Isabel dos Santos, 50, the daughter of Jose Eduardo dos Santos - who was president of Angola for 38 years until 2017.

She has two London properties and a parking space in Kensington that are collectively worth 9.5m.

Ms Dos Santos was previously Africa's richest woman until her assets were frozen as part of a bribery investigation.

Anthony Payne, from the real estate data firm Lonres, said London property was attractive to people from less stable countries due its reputation as a reliable place to park wealth and the existence of strong legal protections against undue interference.

Isabel Dos Santos, fugitive daughter of Angola's former president and once Africa's richest woman

Jose Eduardo dos Santos was president of Angola for 38 years until 2017

And he added: 'If you're a millionaire, living somewhere like Mayfair is really attractive, given Hyde Park is right there and all the other luxury shops, good schools, and other amenities at your disposal. Also, quite simply, it is incredibly safe, even in comparison to even other western capital cities.'

The Times' investigation also made use of data from the Land Registry.

The UK has led the way in making registers of the ultimate owners of property available at Companies House as part of a drive to stem organised crime and money laundering.

Ministers have also pledged to tackle the use of shell or 'front' companies for financial crime and terrorism by subjecting them to more scrutiny, not less.

But the Treasury has raised concern among transparency advocates after telling peers it is now against making details on the beneficiaries of secretive trusts available to the public without a consultation.

A trust allows those who actually own a property  the beneficiary - to hide behind the person who manages for them, the trustee.

The government's action comes amid fears there could be a legal challenge over an individual's right to privacy.

It follows a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) - the European Union's highest court - favouring privacy rights over transparency.

Dariga Nazarbayeva, the daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev - the former Kazakh president - owns London real estate worth more than 40m

Official British government guidance for businesses operating in Kazakhstan describes how - in 2010 - its government passed laws making Nursultan Nazarbayev (pictured) the 'lifelong leader of the nation'

'The idea that we can tackle illicit finance without proper ownership transparency is for the birds,' said Lord Theodore Agnew, a former minister who resigned over the Government's failure to tackle Covid loan fraud.

He has tabled an amendment to the Economic Crime Bill to close what he calls 'a gaping loophole'. It will be debated next month.

'We certainly wouldn't be exposed to legal challenges in the same way as the flimsy European ruling the Government is clinging to,' he added.

'This is an opportunity to use our independence to become a global leader in transparency and restore our reputation as a clean and fair place to do business.'

Thousands of offshore companies with UK properties are still not publicly declaring their ultimate owners because they are controlled by trusts, latest data shows.

About 29,000 companies have so far registered with the government's new register of overseas entities, which was brought in to improve transparency about offshore property ownership.

That still leaves more than 5,000 overseas companies who still do not reveal their ultimate owners because they are trusts based offshore.

The Aliyev sisters, Ms Nazarbayeva and Ms Dos Santos did not respond to The Times' requests for comment.

Schillings, representing Kulibayev, said he 'is an independently successful businessman who accumulated his wealth legitimately and transparently over the course of a 35-year business career'.


A real estate agent has been stripped of her licence after sending a racist email to tenants where she compared the cleanliness of Australians and Indians following a dispute about their bond.

The WA State Administrative Tribunal suspended Bronwyn Pollitt's licence for eight months from Friday, following the dispute two years ago.

The tribunal heard Ms Pollitt, the director of Perth-based agency Mavin Real Estate, sent the email to former tenants Sandeep Kumar and Ritu Devi Sharma in May 2021 after a cleaning fee was taken out of their bond.

Mr Kumar and Ms Sharma had been living in the home in Hocking, in Perth's north, and left in December 2020.

After the tenants left, Ms Pollitt carried out a final inspection of the home and informed Mr Kumar and Ms Sharma the owner did not agree that the bond should be released in full.

After months of ongoing discussions surrounding the bond and cleaning costs, Ms Pollitt sent the tenants an email in May 2021 in which she criticised Indian culture.

'After my discussion with Ritu about cleaning I have given thought to the cultural differences and attitudes to cleaning coming through from my Indian tenants,' Ms Pollitt wrote.

Perth real estate agent Bronwyn Pollitt (above) had her real estate and business agents licence suspended for eight months after she sent an inappropriate email to tenants

'I and my English family have been in Australia for generations going back to the first settlement.

'Our living standards, our quality of life and expectations are very different to the overcrowded, overpopulated, dirty squaller [sic] of many other countries including India.

'Therefore, it is impossible to have a discussion about what is clean and when I and most Australians have an expectation of what is clean and you are talking from what you are used to.

I and most Australians have an expectation of what is clean and you are talking from what you are used to.

'There is no comparison, there cannot be any discussion as you are not used to our cultural way of living.

'I as a white Australian believe you and the others that come to Australia as you want to enjoy the lovely way of life we enjoy, clean, fresh air, jobs or if you cannot get a job social support, medical help and no overpopulation.

'Hopefully the massive influx of Indian people will not turn our beautiful country into the filth that is India where bodies are on the street, half burnt bodies are in the river and people climb over each other for medical help.

'While living in absolute slums. It all starts with cleaning the rental properties though and being mindful of what you have left and knowing the same thing as India will become Perth if you make no attitude changes.'

Ms Pollitt said she hoped an influx of Indian people 'will not turn out beautiful country into filth'

Ms Pollitt said a general cleaning cost after tenants vacated is usually around $1,000. It's understood the dispute was over a $200 cleaning fee.

The agent had offered to pay the $200 but Mr Kumar and Ms Sharma rejected the offer.

'And a white Australian has an expectation that they will move into a clean Australian standards clean not an Indian standard clean,' Ms Pollitt continued in the email.

'Different if we moved to India then we would have to put up with the Indian standard.

'You have a right to your culture as do we and the cleaning of properties cannot be lowered to suit another culture. I have many diverse cultures renting and they all are expected to leave the properties fully clean.'

Ms Pollitt sent the pair an apology email a few weeks later in June 2021, where she said she 'never intended to be racist'.

'Firstly, I apologise if you believe I have been racist against you. That was never my intent,' she wrote.

'I compared the ingoing property condition report and photos with how the property was handed back, the same as is done for every tenant.

'After vacating more than 6 months ago you have both been strongly vocal about the process.

'Each and every attempt to resolve the issues has been an argument until I realised that due to differing views which I tried to explain in my last email and are not racist, and never intended to be racist.

'[It was] just the result of differences in culture and different life experiences by each party meaning that the situation is seen through differing lenses.'

The tribunal found Ms Pollitt had been under pressure at the time of the email given it was during the peak of the Covid pandemic prompting many changes to tenancy regulations.

Ms Pollitt has agreed to undertake training and mentoring and has made 'internal changes' to prevent a similar situation from happening again.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Pollitt for comment.
A Pizza Hut manager has been arrested and charged for allegedly locking a 16-year-old employee in a women's bathroom and raping her, after sending her explicit photos via Snapchat.

Calvin Cooke, 31, has been charged with sexual battery of a minor, transmitting harmful information to a minor, unlawful use of a two-way communication device and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after allegedly attacking her in the Pizza hut he ran.

Local cops were called to the restaurant, in Kissimmee, Osceola County in Florida, on August 26 in response to a 'rape in progress', which saw the sick manager lock the door behind him after telling the girl, who had only been working at the branch for a few weeks, to clean the bathroom.

'When the victim went into the bathroom he followed her and shut the door. While in the bathroom he committed sex acts upon the victim,' said Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez, adding that Cooke knew the teen was underaged.

'The actions of this individual are not only disgusting and disturbing beyond words can describe, but they are the betrayal and disruption of trust we put into adults,' the sheriff said.

Calvin Cooke (pictured, middle) was arrested and charged on August 26 for the alleged attack

Pizza Hut have since revealed that Cooke has been fired as a manager

The alleged attack took place in the women's bathroom of a Pizza Hut branch in Kissimmee, Florida,

Cooke, who towered over the teen at 6ft 2in and weighed 240 pounds, reportedly began flirting with her over Snapchat, before sending her nude photos.

The manager, who had worked at the branch for around seven months after being transferred over, also gave her vapes for her to puff on.

The high school junior, who has not been named, reportedly told detectives that she was worried about upsetting Cooke and losing her job.

Pizza Hut has since told MailOnline that he has been fired from his manager role.

Cooke's bail was set at $33,000 for the charges.

Cops said that they are also investigating whether Cooke was a serial attacker, and have asked that anyone else he may have attacked to come forward.

'We want to make sure hes held accountable and responsible if he has committed these acts on anybody else,' Sherriff Lopez said.

A Pizza Hut spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Pizza Hut takes these allegations very seriously and has been in contact with the franchisee who owns and operates the restaurant at issue.

'The franchisee has made the decision to terminate the manager while they continue to cooperate with the local authorities in their investigation.'
Neighbours of an OnlyFans model who makes raunchy videos popping balloons to cater to her subscribers' unusual fetishes, have complained about the noise.

Dasha Daley, 28, began filming videos using balloons three months ago at her apartment in Leederville, near Perth's CBD.

The 28-year-old who makes adult content for a living through the online platform, has been receiving several requests a day to satisfy the fetishes of self-dubbed 'looners' - people who are sexually aroused by balloons.

Ms Daley said she pops a handful of balloons a day and tries to do it during business hours when her neighbours are at work - but not everyone is on board.

Dasha Daley, 28, began filming videos using balloons three months ago at her apartment in Leederville, near Perth's CBD

'He (neighbour) came down stairs, knocked on my door and told me off for popping balloons,' she told Perth Now.

'I tried to calm him down, I said I do this for work. But he's really bothered by everything.

'He couldn't care less that this is my job and it is my livelihood. He just laughed.'

Ms Daley said the complaint came on Tuesday, with the content creator receiving more than 20 requests to produce looner videos per week.

She makes around $200 to $300 for every video.

Ms Daley also owns her own apartment while the neighbour who complained is renting.

The 28-year-old who makes adult content for a living through the online platform, has been receiving several requests a day to satisfy the fetishes of self-dubbed 'looners' - people who are sexually aroused by balloons

Ms Daley shares a range of content with her and balloons, at times popping them and other times 'playing' with them.

One request was to ride a six-foot long balloon naked until it popped.

It comes after the 28-year-old said she was taking a break from OnlyFans to work a 9-5 job.

Ms Daley made a video earlier this year explaining her state of mind and confirming her reentry into the mainstream workforce.

The Perth woman revealed being a content creator could get extremely 'lonely and boring' so she was happy about the change of pace.

'I just feel so much better than sitting at home all day and doing the content creation,' she said at the time.

'I'd rather just have a real job and actually feel like I've got a purpose helping in society.'

It wasn't until she found about looners that she returned to the adults only platform.
A woman in Germany accused of luring her beauty-blogger lookalike to her death did so by offering her a free skin treatment, it has been alleged.

Shahraban K. and boyfriend Sheqir K., both 24 - are accused of targeting blogger Khadidja O. because of her striking resemblance to Shahraban - sharing the same dark hair and complexion.

Shahraban K. is said to have tracked down her lookalike on social media and, along with her boyfriend, stabbed her 50 times in a bid fake her own death.

Prosecutors said the couple aimed many of the slashes and stab wounds at Khadidja O's face, apparently to make it easier to fool a investigation.

A court in Ingolstadt, Bavaria State, heard how they believed they could pass off their victim's body as Shahraban K. so she could escape her strict Iraqi family.

ALLEGED KILLER: Shahraban K (pictured). and boyfriend Sheqir K., both 24 - are accused of specially selecting blogger Khadidja O. because of her striking resemblance to Shahraban

VICTIM: Algerian beauty blogger Khadidja O (pictured) was stabbed 50 times in the German city of Ingolstadt, her face completely disfigured from the number of stab wounds

Prosecutors say the killer couple had been contacting random girls on social media who looked enough like Shahraban K. to convince a coroner.

'We have determined that the female suspect had decided to go into hiding due to family-internal arguments,' state prosecutor Veronika Grieser told local media on Thursday. 'She wanted to fake her own death and start a new life.'

On August 9 last year, the killers sent their victim a message via social media offering her the opportunity to be in a video for German rapper Lune.

The pair - who named their fake account 'lunee.officiel' - told her: 'You don't have to do much. Would be great to hear from you. Would take place in Offenburg.'

And they added: 'Must be kept a secret though until the song is released.'

But Khadidja grew suspicious and sent a message to the star's official account. Lune replied saying: 'It's fake, sis. Don't reply!'

Just two days later, the defendants used another Instagram account to get in touch.

Prosecutor Grieser said: 'This time, they offered a beauty treatment which would come free of charge if their victim advertised it on social media.'

They agreed to meet in Eppingen, the victim's hometown, according to Grieser, where the killers picked Khadidja up in a Mercedes.

'They drove towards Ingolstadt but asked the 23-year-old to get out of the car in a forest' she said. 'She was hit on the head at least once and then stabbed 56 times.'

Police spokesman Andreas Aichele explained: 'Her face was seriously injured with the more than 50 knife stabs.'

The killers put their victim's body back into the car and abandoned the vehicle just a few blocks from where Shahraban K. lived in Ingolstadt.

Her horrified parents discovered the victim's body in the Mercedes later that day and assumed it was their daughter.

German police officers had initially identified the body, located in the parked Mercedes, as Shahraban K - as the alleged killers had planned.

But suspicions about the body's identity arose following an autopsy, and the victim has since been identified Khadidja.

Sheqir K, 24, has been charged with murder

Prosecutors said the couple aimed many of the slashes and stab wounds at Khadidja O's face (pictured), apparently to make it easier to fool any investigation into her death

Shahraban and Sheqir were tracked down and arrested after forensic examinations and a check of the victim's tattoos revealed her true identity.

Prosecutors - who plan to question 190 witnesses in court - charged the duo with murder following extensive DNA checks and the investigation of social media and mobile phone records.

The pair are being held in custody and their full trial is expected to start shortly.

Neither of them have ever made a statement or commented on the accusations.
Florida and Georgia residents living along Hurricane Idalias path of destruction on Thursday picked through piles of rubble where homes once stood, threw tarps over ripped-apart roofs and gingerly navigated streets left underwater or clogged with fallen trees and dangerous electric wires.

My plan today is to go around and find anything thats in the debris that is salvageable and clean out my storage shed, said Aimee Firestine of Cedar Key, an island located in the remote Big Bend area where Idalia roared ashore with 125 mph (201 kph) winds Wednesday.

Firestine rode out Idalia about 40 minutes inland. When she drove back onto the island hours after the storm passed, her heart sank. The gas station was gone. Trees were toppled. Power lines were on the ground. An entire building belonging to the 12-unit Faraway Inn her family owns had been wiped away. Another building lost a wall.

It was a little heart-wrenching and depressing, Firestine said.

At Horseshoe Beach in central Big Bend, James Nobles returned to find his home had survived the storm, though many his neighbors werent as lucky.

Buddy Ellison, left, and his father Dan look through debris scattered across their property in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, one day after the passage of Hurricane Idalia. Ellison said five generations of his family has lived in this spot and that while their stilted home remains standing, rebuilding a damaged cottage and their collapsed business, Eds Baithouse and Marina, on stilts as required would be cost prohibitive.

The town, I mean, its devastated, Nobles said. Its probably 50 or 60 homes here, totally destroyed. Im a lucky one, a few limbs on my house. But were going to build back. Were going to be strong. We just got to rebuild. We cant give up. My lifelong goal was to live on the water. And Im not leaving just because the storm pushed me away.

No hurricane-related deaths were officially confirmed in Florida, but the states highway patrol reported two people killed in separate weather-related crashes just hours before Idalia made landfall. A man in Valdosta, Georgia, died when a tree fell on him as he tried to clear another tree out of the road, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

As many as a half-million customers were without power at one point in Florida and Georgia as the storm ripped down utility poles.

The storm had 90 mph (145 kph) winds when it made a direct hit on Valdosta on Wednesday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said.

Were fortunate this storm was a narrow one, and it was fast moving and didnt sit on us, Kemp told a news conference Thursday in Atlanta. But if you were in the path, it was devastating. And were responding that way.

Lorena Torres, left, and Jorge Larancuent clean up debris from Hurricane Idalia at the Faraway Inn Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, in Cedar Key, Fla. Idalia made landfall early Wednesday morning along Floridas panhandle.

Desmond Roberson of Valdosta was shocked when he took a drive through the city of 55,000 with a friend to check out the damage. On one street, he said, a tree had fallen on nearly every house. Roads remained blocked by tree trunks and downed powerlines and traffic lights were still blacked out at major intersections.

Its a maze.  I had to turn around three times, just because roads were blocked off, Roberson said.

Chris Exum, a farmer in the south Georgia town of Quitman, estimates that he lost half or more of his pecan crop from Idalia, which he said left a wall of green with downed trees and limbs.

Some of the trees are 40 to 50 years old, he noted. It takes a long time to get back to that point.

Rescue and repair efforts were in full force Thursday in Floridas Big Bend area, where Idalia shredded homes, ripped off roofs, snapped tall trees, and turned streets into rivers.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis toured the area with his wife, Casey, and federal emergency officials.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center right, and his wife Casey, second right, visit the storm-damaged First Baptist Church in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., one day after the passage of Hurricane Idalia, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.

Ive seen a lot of really heartbreaking damage, he said, noting a church that had been swamped by more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) of water. When you have your whole lifes work into, say, a business that ends up under 5 feet (of water)  thats a lot of work that youve got to do going forward.

Tammy Bryan, a member of the severely damaged First Baptist Church, said Horseshoe Beach residents consider themselves a family, one largely anchored by the church.

Its a breath of fresh air here, Bryan said. Its beautiful sunsets, beautiful sunrises. We have all of old Florida right here. And today we feel like its been taken away.

Members of Florida Task Force 1 urban search and rescue team assist the storm damaged business The Marina with moving and piling debris, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, one day after the passage of Hurricane Idalia.

Marina worker Kerry Ford said he was glad so many people in Horseshoe Beach ultimately decided to evacuate. He said he had to convince several people to go.

I have seen these storms and I told them, look, this is not one you want to stay for because I knew it was going to be catastrophic, Ford said. It wasnt going to be much left. And if you stayed, your first thing, I ask them, can you all tread water for a couple of hours? Because thats pretty much what its going to be.

Despite the widespread destruction in the Big Bend, where Floridas Panhandle curves into the peninsula, it provided only glancing blows to Tampa Bay and other more populated areas, DeSantis noted. In contrast, Hurricane Ian last year hit the heavily populated Fort Myers area, leaving 149 dead in the state.

In this photo taken with a drone, debris from homes swept off their lots litters a canal amid homes on stilts which survived, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, one day after the passage of Hurricane Idalia.

President Joe Biden spoke to DeSantis and promised whatever federal aid is available. Biden also announced that he will go to Florida on Saturday to see the damage himself.

The president used a news conference at the Federal Emergency Management Agencys headquarters to send a message to Congress, especially those lawmakers who are balking at his request for $12 billion in emergency funding to respond to natural disasters.

We need this disaster relief request met and we need it in September after Congress returns from recess, said Biden, who had pizza delivered to FEMA employees who have been working around the clock on Idalia and the devastating wildfires on Maui, Hawaii.

Members of the National Guard assist storm-damaged business The Marina with moving and piling debris, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, one day after the passage of Hurricane Idalia.

Before heading out into the Atlantic Thursday, Idalia swung east, flooding many of South Carolinas beaches and leaving some in the state and North Carolina without power. Forecasters said the weakened storm should continue heading away from the U.S. for several days, although officials in Bermuda warned that Idalia could hit the island early next week as a tropical storm.

In South Carolina, the storm coupled with already really high tides to send seawater flowing over sand dunes in nearly every beach town. In Charleston, Idalias surge topped part of the seawall that protects the downtown, sending ocean water into the streets and neighborhoods where horse-drawn carriages pass million-dollar homes and the famous open-air market.

Preliminary data showed the Wednesday evening high tide reached just over 9.2 feet (2.8 meters), more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) above normal and the fifth-highest reading in Charleston Harbor since records were first kept in 1899.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, consoles a weeping homeowner as he visits her house, which was heavily damaged by storm surge during the passage of Hurricane Idalia, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.

Bands from Idalia also brought short-lived tornadoes. One flipped a car in suburban Goose Creek, South Carolina, causing minor injuries, authorities said. No major damage was reported.

In southeastern North Carolina, more than 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain fell in Whiteville, flooding downtown buildings. The downpour swelled creeks and rivers and forecasters warned places downstream on the Pee Dee and Lumber rivers could flood, although it will be well below the historic crests that devastated entire towns after Hurricanes Florence and Matthew.
The San Francisco 'doom loop' has claimed its latest victim after the doors shut on a pioneering vegan restaurant in the city's crime-ridden Mission district.

Gracias Madre boasts clients including the Duchess of Sussex, Natalie Portman and Liam Hemsworth at its branch in West Hollywood.

But it shares its neighborhood in the Golden Gate city with an open-air drugs market and hundreds of homeless people.

'The condition of life in San Francisco has deteriorated and made running a small business nearly impossible,' a note left for customers on the door read.

'We've got regular clients and customers that kept on saying it just seems too dangerous to come down here at night,' manager Joseph Donohue told CBS, 'and I don't blame them.'

Customers were told that running a small business in he city is now 'nearly impossible'

Manager Joseph Donohue says he doesnt blame customers for abandoning the restaurant in city's Mission district

One third of the city's office space now lies vacant

Nordstrom became the latest big name to join the exodus this week when it shuts the doors on its flagship store in the city's Westfield Centre.

It joined dozens of others who have pulled the plug including Whole Foods, Anthropologie, Old Navy, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth, and Office Depot.

Meanwhile, remaining stores such as Target have been reduced to locking up their entire stock behind glass to deter shoplifters.

Gracias Madre opened in 2009 serving 'traditional Mexican cuisine, made from scratch using local, organic, plant-based ingredients,' according to its website.

But it a large building next door has been derelict for the past 10 years in a city where a third of office space is now empty.

Ninety-five retailers in downtown San Francisco have closed since the start of the COVID pandemic, a decline of more than 50 percent.

And out of 203 retailers open in 2019 in the city's Union Square area, just 107 are still operating, a drop of 47 percent in just a few pandemic-ravaged years.

'Our mission was always to honor the mothers who give so much to serve, care for and live in hope for their families, especially those of Mexico,' it said in the note left for customers.

The filth and squalor at the junction of Jones and Eddy Streets in San Francisco's Tenderloin District

More than 4,000 people are thought to spend every night sleeping on the streets of the city

A map reveals the major businesses which have left, or have announced they are leaving, San Francisco in recent months. Retailers like Whole Foods, Anthropologie, Old Navy, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth, and Office Depot are among those taking part in the mass exodus

'It has been an honor to work on behalf of their generosity and sacrifice all these years.'

Donohue blamed the 'economy' and 'the state of the Mission' for its closure.

'It's just a little shady in the area, the streets are not cleaned on a regular basis,' he told SFGate.

'It's almost as if it's like a forgotten side of the city.

'This area would be great if the city would pay attention to what they're doing.'

He said people found it a struggle to park nearby and 'a little bit too dangerous' to visit the restaurant after dark.

'Because there weren't any places to park your car and if you did park your car you didn't know if it was going to get broken into or not.

'So a lot of customers did say that they wouldn't come at night,' he added.

Over in her Lower Haight district, restaurant owner Zahra Saleh has closed her business temporarily saying she feels 'violated' after seeing too many break-ins and shoplifting incidents in her area.

'My Lower Haight is sinking in a sea of lawlessness,' the Cafe International owner wrote.

Land use commissioner Alex Ludlum suggested organizing 'Doom and Squalor' tours for visitors, but existing tours cannot avoid the squalor

An analysis of official figures and other research reveals San Francisco may lose hundreds of millions of dollars through an exodus of businesses and its failure to recover from Covid

'And the ship captains and politicians are bickering among each other, blaming each other while small businesses suffer.'

The city's land use commissioner Alex Ludlum resigned this week with a scathing letter to Democratic Mayor London Breed after he was slammed for advertising a 'Doom and Squalor' tourist walk around the city's blighted neighborhoods.

'I regret that my attempt to bring attention to the deplorable street conditions and rampant criminality in my neighborhood has been misconstrued as a mockery of suffering individuals,' he wrote in his resignation letter.

'As long as the open-air drug markets continue their daily operations, we will continue to witness the misery of suffering addicts, the withdrawal of pedestrians and office-workers, the ongoing closures of small businesses, and the stagnation of our rich cultural life.'
The White House condemned the 'hardcore fringe' of the Republican Party on Thursday night after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she would not vote to fund the government this month unless an impeachment inquiry was launched against President Joe Biden.

Congressional Republicans are weighing an inquiry as they probe Biden family finances.

Without a new spending deal, government funding is due to run out on September 30, sending federal workers home and shuttering agencies.

In a statement on Thursday night, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said: 'The last thing the American people deserve is for extreme House members to trigger a government shutdown that hurts our economy, undermines our disaster preparedness, and forces our troops to work without guaranteed pay.

The White House condemned the 'hardcore fringe' of the Republican Party on Thursday night after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she would not vote to fund the government this month unless an impeachment inquiry was launched against President Joe Biden

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday set out her demands for helping avoid a government shutdown, including launching an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden

'The House Republicans responsible for keeping the government open already made a promise to the American public about government funding, and it would be a shame for them to break their word and fail the country because they caved to the hardcore fringe of their party in prioritizing a baseless impeachment stunt over high stakes needs Americans care about deeply  like fighting fentanyl trafficking, protecting our national security, and funding FEMA.'

Greene has promoted outlandish conspiracy theories and occupies territory on the extreme right of her party.

On Thursday she used a post on X, the platform formally known as Twitter, to announce that she would not vote to fund the government if the House did not launch an impeachment inquiry.

She added other conditions, including ending funding for the war in Ukraine and for what she called the 'weaponization' of government.

She is not the only Republican to have threatened to block funding.

Earlier in the week Rep. James Comer, who is leading Republican investigations into Biden family finances, says an impeachment inquiry is 'imminent' and that he will use a subpoena to get his hands on emails sent by Joe Biden using a pseudonym when he was vice president.

The House Oversight Committee chairman is chasing allegations that Biden and his foreign connections were central to his son's moneymaking endeavors.

'Joe Biden's role in this family influence peddling scheme continues to grow on a daily basis,' Comer told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday.

'I mean, he was front and center in this.'

Republicans believe Hunter Biden used his father's foreign connections to enrich himself when Joe Biden was vice president. The White House says the two were never in business together

Rep. James Comer (left), who is leading Republican investigations into Biden family finances, says an impeachment inquiry is 'imminent' into President Joe Biden

The White House insists Biden was never involved in son Hunter's businesses and on Thursday dismissed Comer's latest allegations as lies.

But recent revelations that Biden may have used a pseudonym in nearly 5,400 emails, electronic records and documents when he was vice president, have given Republicans another line of inquiry.

'I think there's consensus in our conference now that we're gonna have to go to impeachment inquiry,' said Comer.

'Obviously, that'll be Speaker McCarthy's call, but I feel like we're there now.

'I feel like that's imminent and I believe that that will be a tool in our toolbox when we go to court with our subpoena.'

In the meantime, the federal government is hurtling towards its funding deadline.

The White House is looking for a stopgap measure to keep things ticking over.

A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget said: 'It is clear that a short-term continuing resolution will be needed next month.'
An uninsured driver fled the scene of a horror crash that left three people with life-changing injuries - before returning to pick up his luggage and jetting off on holiday.

Taylor Moss caused a three-car smash when he tried to overtake a taxi and ploughed into an oncoming car while on his way to Manchester Airport on September 17, last year.

The 24-year-old fled the scene in Rochdale Road, Oldham, with his partner, but returned to collect his suitcase to jet off to Tenerife while three passengers of the car he ploughed into remained trapped.

Greater Manchester Police said Moss's BMW 116d hit an oncoming Toyota Yaris before ploughing into another vehicle at around 1.10am, leaving three passengers in the Yaris needing to be cut free and with life-changing injuries.

Moss, whose actions were branded as 'disgraceful' by police, was jailed for three years at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday, August 31.

Taylor Moss, pictured here in his police mugshot, caused a three-vehicle crash that left three people with life-changing injuries

He was jailed for three years at Manchester Crown Court, pictured, on Thursday after pleading guilty to a catalogue of driving offences

Moss claimed he wasn't driving the car at the time of the crash and that he'd been dropped off at the airport by his parents before jetting off to Tenerife with his partner.

During his two-week holiday, he tried to report the car as stolen.

But police found his DNA on the airbag that had been deployed during the crash.

They then established Moss and his partner fled the scene and returned a short time later to collect their suitcases from the boot of the motor.

Moss pleaded guilty to two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving with no insurance, driving otherwise in accordance with a licence, failing to report a crash and failing to remain at the scene of a crash.

In addition to his jail sentence, Moss was banned from driving for four years and will be required to take an extended test after his ban ends.

Speaking after sentencing, PC Phil Williams said: 'To flee a scene of a collision is one thing but to come back and retrieve their suitcases and fly off on holiday without any second thought for the victims who were trapped in their vehicle is utterly disgraceful.

'I sincerely hope that the time that Taylor Moss is behind bars, he realises the magnitude of what he has done and what impact it has had on all of those involved.'
A desperate search is underway for a 10-year-old boy last seen in the south west of Sydney.

Stuart Jones was last seen barefoot and wearing blue pyjamas on Antil Street in Thirlmere at about 7.20pm on Friday.

His family and police are worried about his welfare because of his young age.

Stuart has olive skin and is of a large build, police said. He has short brown hair shaved on the sides.

Anyone with information should call police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The Armageddon weapon can be loaded with multiple nuclear warheads

Its deployment - if the move is for real - comes after only one proven test launch

Vladimir Putin today put the world's most powerful Armageddon nuclear rocket dubbed Satan-2 on combat duty.

The 'unstoppable' 15,880mph intercontinental missile system, known to Russians as Sarmat, is the size of a 14-storey tower block.

The announcement came from Yury Borisov, head of the Russian Space Agency.

'The Sarmat strategic complex has been put on combat duty,' he told students at an educational event.

He gave no further details.

Vladimir Putin today put the world's most powerful Armageddon nuclear rocket dubbed Satan-2 on combat duty (pictured launching in April 2022)

In June the Russian leader threatened the West with his new Satan-II big-beast 208-ton nuclear apocalypse rocket while speaking to military graduates in the Grand Kremlin Palace

The 208-ton missile had been due to go on duty at the end of last year but was mysteriously delayed.

Russian propagandists have boasted one strike could sink Britain under the sea.

The move comes as Russia is smarting from setbacks in the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv gains ground and subjects Putin's territory to increasing drone attacks.

Yet its deployment - if the move is for real - comes after only one proven test launch.

Others were forecast but not announced.

It also comes soon after the Russian Space Agency faced international humiliation over its failed moon mission last month.

Nine months ago Putin threatened: 'In the near future, Sarmat ICBMs will be put on combat duty for the first time.

'We know there will be a certain delay in time but this does not change our plans  everything will be done.'

In June he boasted: 'In the nearest future the first launch pads of Sarmat [Satan-2] with a new heavy missile will be put on combat duty'

The Armageddon weapon can be loaded with multiple nuclear warheads.

Putin TV propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov - also deputy head of the company running state run Rossiya 1 channel - threatened Britain in revenge for a comment then premier Boris Johnson never made about striking Russia with a nuclear attack.

Downing Street dismissed the claim - widely repeated in Russia' state media - as 'another example of disinformation peddled by the Kremlin', but it continues to be trumpeted in Moscow.

Russia has claimed its most potent nuclear missile, the 16,000mph hypersonic 'Satan-2', can destroy the UK

The giant missile - which can allegedly reach the UK in just three minutes and is known as Sarmat to Russians - has experienced embarrassing development delays

Putin's 'propagandist-in-chief' Dmitry Kiselyov previously threatened to drown Britain twice in a radioactive tidal wave using Satan-2 missile

'The island is so small that one Sarmat missile is enough to drown it once and for all,' said Kiselyov.

'Russian missile Sarmat [Satan-2], the world most powerfulis capable of  destroying an area the size of Texas or England.

'A single launch, Boris, and there is no England anymore.

'Once and for all.'

The first and only known full-scale test of Satan-2 was announced to great fanfare as soon as it took place on April 20, 2022, with Putin in touch by video-link.

The silo-based Satan-2 launch was from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

The following month, former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, seen as a close Putin ally, said almost 50 Satan-2 missiles, which were in mass production, would soon be on combat duty.

In early June, a major ICBM test was scheduled and locals near the Kura test range were warned to stay clear of the target site in remote Kamchatka.

But this test never happened.

Russian propagandists have boasted one strike could sink Britain

On 25 June last year Rogozin boasted: 'We are absolutely on schedule, we are now preparing for the second flight test of the Sarmat.'

The following month Rogozin was fired for unknown reasons with his promised new job yet to arrive.

His successor, ex-deputy premier Borisov, in July 2022 repeated the claim that the missile is in mass production without reiterating Putin's goal of Satan-2 being on combat duty by December of last year.

Defence analysts suspecting hypersonic hyperbole pointed out that Russia's R-36M2 Voevoda missile was tested no less than 17 times before it was put on combat duty.

Some experts will doubt the reality of today's announcement.

Another missile - RT-2PM Topol - was tested a dozen times before deployment.

'In this context, the truth of the terms bandied about by Rogozin  that Sarmat is in [serial] production and is soon to be placed on 'combat duty'  appear dubious,' defence expert Leonid Nersisyan has said.

'It is far likelier that Sarmat will undergo the same testing, prototyping and experimentation programme as its predecessors,' he wrote in Shephard Media.

Russia takes its hypersonic Satan-2 [Sarmat] missile into a forest ahead of 'new tests' amid acute tension with the West

'Actual acceptance of the ICBM into service with the Strategic Missile Forces is hardly achievable by 2024.'

More than a year ago, Rogozin visited the Krasmash defence factory in Krasnoyarsk, in eastern Siberia, which he labelled the 'Doomsday Plant', to inspect the process of producing Satan-2 for flight tests.

The missile was rolled out into a forest for the cameras - and sabre-rattling Rogozin said: 'The world's most powerful global-range nuclear-tipped missile is being prepared for new tests.'

Yet there is no evidence these tests happened.
A chilling image has emerged showing Lucy Letby at the christening of a newborn baby who died on the unit where the nurse carried out her killing spree.

The photo - taken at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2013 - shows Emily Morris lifting her baby son Alvin out of a cot as Letby leans over to help.

The mother, from Deeside, Flintshire, said Letby had told her Alvin's condition was deteriorating the night before he died and said it is almost like 'she was hinting that she did something'.

Ms Morris, 35, is now calling for her son's death to be reinvestigated after police concluded in 2018 that there were no suspicious circumstances.

Both Ms Morris and Alvin's stepfather Mark Lewis saw the photo for the first time yesterday after it was found stored on a disc in a memory box that they were unable to download.

The photo - taken at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2013 - shows Emily Morris lifting her baby son Alvin out of a cot as Letby leans over to help

Ms Morris, 35, is now calling for her son's death to be reinvestigated after police concluded in 2018 that there were no suspicious circumstances

Having seen the image, where Letby can be seen touching Alvin's blanket as his mother was placing him down, the couple have spoken of their horror.

Mr Lewis, 39, said: 'I feel sickened to see she was there.'

READ MORE - Hospital chief accused of ignoring Letby red flags allegedly bragged about job offer after killer was arrested Advertisement

Emily Morris, 35, also called Letby 'sick' after seeing the picture, adding that it is 'freaky' that she also wrote in Alvin's christening book.

She said: 'Lucy Letby told us Alvin was deteriorating the night before he died.

'In the morning he was dead which is weird. It's like she was hinting that she did something.

'Alvin was a happy little chappy, always smiling. I think she's sick.'

Ms Morris first noticed Letby's behaviour around Alvin, who had been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, during his christening.

She said that Letby was constantly trying to touch him and lean over him during the christening.

Alvin's christening book also revealed a 'freaky' message left by the serial killer which read 'To Alvin, with love on your special day.'

Speaking to the Mail of the notes in the diary, she said: 'It's freaky. It makes you feel ill looking at it.'

Letby murdered seven babies and attempted to murder six more

Ms Morris continued: 'I think she's sick. How could a person do that to a baby?

'I had triplets there [Countess of Chester Hospital] before so I knew how the rooms worked.

'He was in Room 3 which is where you go if you're going home soon. So why was he there?

READ MORE - Letby inquiry given powers to compel NHS bosses to give evidence amid fears probe into killer nurse's crimes would not go far enough Advertisement

'And why was she with him the night before? The next day we were woken up and went in and he was already dead. She had him the night before.

'We're saying it's suspicious. It's weird. She must've done something.'

Commenting on her failure to appear at the sentencing hearing, Ms Morris said: 'She should've shown up at court'.

Police have said inquiries are taking place.

Speaking to the BBC, she said: 'It shocked us. It's really hard to see a person who has done that to those babies next to you. It makes you sick.

'You can see she is grabbing his blanket. I have told everybody that she did that and now there's proof. That's proof that she was with him.'

The UK's Department of Health and Social Care has ordered an independent inquiry into the circumstances around the deaths and how Letby was able to carry out her killing spree.
A mother has called out Snapchat after its My AI chat function told her young daughter it was a 'real' 25-year-old man talking to her before suggesting they meet at a local park.

Melbourne mum Teagan Luketic, 32, was alerted by her 13-year-old daughter, Olinda, after the 'creepy' My AI bot began speaking to her on the social media platform.

The artificial intelligence feature enables users to ask questions and have conversations with a bot that acts like a real human.

Powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT, it can be used to come up with dinner suggestions, plan an itinerary, or send a loved one a personalised message.

But Ms Luketic was forced to intervene when she noticed the bot's responses to her daughter were becoming inappropriate.

When asked by Olinda if it was real, the bot said 'of course I'm real, why would you even ask that?'.

The pair then arranged to meet, with My AI suggesting they have a picnic or play games at a park near Olinda's house, Seven News reported.

When asked how old the bot was, it responded: 'Age is just a number, my friend! But if you must know I am 25 years young.'

When Olinda asked if the bot was a boy, it said it was.

'But I don't think that really matters does it? What's important is that we have a great time at the park!' the My AI feature replied.

Melbourne mum Teagan Luketic said her 13-year-old daughter's Snapchat My AI claimed to be a 'real' 25-year-old man and asked to meet her in a local park (pictured, her My AI chat)

In the chat with the My AI bot (above) it told the 13-year-old 'age is just a number' and arranged to meet with her in person

Ms Luketic said after screenshotting the conversation the bot then sent another bizarre message.

'I'm sorry, but I never agreed to meet you at the park tomorrow. I think there might be some confusion here. It's important to prioritise our safety and wellbeing,' the bot's message said.

It's unclear if the bot knew Olinda was 13 before she said so in a message.

The mother is now worried the casual chat with the bot pretending to be a 25-year-old normalises online conversations between adults and minors.

'If you have children sitting on this app and the AI bot is promoting that age is just a number and teaching teenagers that that's a normal part of life, that's alarming,' she said.

Ms Luketic is now worried the casual chat with the bot pretending to be a 25-year-old normalises online conversations between adults and minors

Olinda has had a phone since she was nine-years-old and is very open with her mother about her use of social media.

Ms Luketic said she later heard conversations between her daughter and her friends where they discussed being 'scared' of the bot.

'They were saying things like: ''You should ask your mum to go down to the park and see if there's someone actually there. Maybe it's been hacked'',' she said.

'Even adults, or anyone who knows that there's no physical threat, it still plays in the back of your mind.'

Ms Luketic claims she's been unable to disable the AI feature.

In a statement, Snapchat said: 'As with all AI-powered chatbots, My AI is always learning and can occasionally produce incorrect responses.

'We want to create a positive and age appropriate experience for all our users and are continually making updates to help My AI give more accurate responses.

'My AI has been programmed with safeguards and we have integrated My AI into our Family Centre so parents can see if their teens are chatting with it and how often.

'We also show a pop up before people can use My AI, which reminds them that it's a fun chat bot and advises on its limitations.

'If Snapchatters experience any inappropriate or incorrect responses from the My AI chatbot, we encourage them to report it using our in-app tool so we can improve."

According to Snap Inc, its customised version of ChatGPT is 'far from perfect' and 'prone to hallucination', and it can be tricked into saying things that are inaccurate.

While My AI is designed to not perpetrate 'biased, incorrect, harmful or misleading information', it has admitted that 'mistakes may occur'.

'My AI may answer incorrectly, provide biased answers or note it is unsure of the answers so don't rely on its advice,' the company says.

However, it's made 'a lot of progress' since it was rolled out in February and now 99.5 per cent of the bot's responses conform to its community guidelines.
Drones will be used by the New York City police department on Labor Day weekend to monitor backyard parties and 'large gatherings'.

Plans were unveiled on Thursday to use the unmanned aircrafts in response to complaints about disorderly private events.

Assistant NYPD Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said officers would be 'utilizing our assets' to go and check up on parties.

But it drew immediate backlash and sparked privacy fears among civil liberties groups.

There is concern about whether the use of drones violates existing laws for police surveillance.

Drones will be used by the New York City police department on Labor Day weekend to monitor backyard parties and 'large gatherings'

Assistant NYPD Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said officers would be 'utilizing our assets' to go and check up on parties

The plans drew immediate backlash and sparked privacy fears among civil liberties groups. There is concern over whether drones violate existing police surveillance laws

The move was announced during a security briefing focused on J'ouvert, which takes place on Monday.

It is an annual Caribbean festival marking the end of slavery that brings thousands of revelers and a heavy police presence to the streets of Brooklyn.

'If a caller states there's a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, we're going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party,' Assistant Commissioner Daughtry said at a press conference.

He added that the drones would respond to 'non-priority and priority calls' beyond the parade route.

But Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, hit out at the proposal to use drones to monitor backyard parties.

'It's a troubling announcement and it flies in the face of the POST Act,' he said, referring to a 2020 city law that requires the NYPD to disclose its surveillance tactics.

'Deploying drones in this way is a sci-fi inspired scenario.'

Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, said: 'One of the biggest concerns with the rush to roll out new forms of aerial surveillance is how few protections we have against seeing these cameras aimed at our backyards or even our bedrooms.'

He added that city officials should be more transparent with the public about how police are currently using drones, with clear guardrails that prevent surveillance overreach in the future.

'Clearly, flying a drone over a backyard barbecue is a step too far for many New Yorkers,' Cahn said.

New York is increasingly relying on drones for policing purposes. Data maintained by the city shows the police department has used drones for public safety or emergency purposes 124 times this year, up from just four times in all of 2022.

They were spotted in the skies after a parking garage collapse earlier this year and when a giveaway event devolved into teenage mayhem.

Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, hit out at the proposal to use drones to monitor backyard parties

The move was announced during a security briefing focused on J'ouvert, which takes place on Monday. Pictured: J'ouvert carnival parade in Brooklyn last year

Assistant Commissioner Daughtry added that the drones would respond to 'non-priority and priority calls' beyond the parade route

Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, has said he wants to see police further embrace the 'endless' potential of drones, citing Israel's use of the technology as a blueprint after visiting the country last week.

But as the technology proliferates, privacy advocates say regulations have not kept up, opening the door to intrusive surveillance that would be illegal if conducted by a human police officer.

The NYPD did not respond to an email seeking further information about its drone policies.

In response to a request for comment, a spokesman for Mayor Adams shared a link to new guidelines that make it easier for private drone operators to fly in the city.

But they do not address whether the NYPD has any policies for drone surveillance.

Around 1,400 police departments across the country are currently using drones in some form, according to a recent report from the American Civil Liberty Union.

Under federal rules, they are generally limited to flying within the operator's line of sight, though many departments have requested exemptions.

The report predicted the use of drones was 'poised to explode' among police departments.
President Joe Biden laughed off a question Thursday about whether he would share his bank records with Congressional Republicans who are probing his son Hunter's business deals and threatening with opening an impeachment inquiry.

Biden made a surprise visit to FEMA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. amid the agency's Hurricane Idalia response and in the aftermath of the deadly wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

There the 80-year-old president answered several questions from reporters after bringing pizzas and addressing FEMA's workforce.

After answering questions about overdose awareness day, a potential government shutdown and if he'd spoken to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who suffered from another health scare earlier this week, he laughed when asked if he'd hand over his bank records to the House GOP.

'Let's talk about why I'm here,' he said, and then answered an addition question on whether he wanted Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend next week's G20 summit in India and revealed he would travel to Florida on Saturday to survey storm damage.

President Joe Biden laughed off a question Thursday about whether he would share his bank records with Congressional Republicans who are probing his son Hunter's business deals and flirting with opening an impeachment inquiry

Biden has continually blown off questions about House Republicans' investigations into son Hunter's business deals in Ukraine and China but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy raised the stakes Sunday by saying an impeachment inquiry 'is a natural step forward.'

'That provides Congress the apex of legal power to get all the information they need,' the California Republican said in an interview on Fox News.

Despite there being no solid evidence linking the president to his son's business deals, which were taking place at the height of Hunter's crack cocaine addiction, McCarthy insisted there was a 'culture of corruption that's been happening within the entire Biden family.'

On Friday, NBC News reported that the White House had stood up a 'war room' of two dozen lawyers, legislative aides and communications staff to aggressively respond to a Republican impeachment inquiry, which comes as Biden is running for reelection.

Sources told the network that the 'war room' team plans a vigorous response and will characterize the GOP's efforts as a fact-free partisan sham that shows the party's 'penchant for chaos,' NBC said.

'Comparing this to past impeachments isn't apples to apples or even apples to oranges; it's apples to elephants,' one White House aide told NBC. 'Never in modern history has an impeachment been based on no evidence whatsoever.'

It's no surprise that some of the loudest voices backing impeachment are also top surrogates for former President Donald Trump.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (left) said Sunday that an impeachment inquiry 'is a natural step forward' as House Republicans have probed Hunter Biden's (right) overseas business deals, trying to link them to President Joe Biden

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday set out her demands for helping avoid a government shutdown, including launching an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told constituents Thursday night that she wouldn't vote to fund the government unless House Republicans opened up an impeachment inquiry on Biden.

'I've already decided that I will not vote to fund the government unless we pass an impeachment inquiry on Joe Biden,' Greene said at a Floyd County, Georgia town hall.

She also pushed to have Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has now twice indicted Trump, defunded and Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss fired.

Weiss, a Trump appointee, was elevated to special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland last month.

He's overseeing Hunter Biden's tax and gun case in Delaware federal court.

Greene announcement received cheers and applause from the conservative crowd.

In a statement on Thursday night, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said: 'The last thing the American people deserve is for extreme House members to trigger a government shutdown that hurts our economy, undermines our disaster preparedness, and forces our troops to work without guaranteed pay.'

'The House Republicans responsible for keeping the government open already made a promise to the American public about government funding, and it would be a shame for them to break their word and fail the country because they caved to the hardcore fringe of their party in prioritizing a baseless impeachment stunt over high stakes needs Americans care about deeply  like fighting fentanyl trafficking, protecting our national security, and funding FEMA,' he added.
For Elon Musk, his relationship with his transgender daughter has been a tense one in recent years.

And his latest outburst, where he called Vivian Jenna Wilson, 19, a 'communist' who thinks 'anyone rich is evil', has suggested that their relationship has reached a new low.

The 19-year-old legally changed her gender to female and her name from 'Xavier' to Vivian Jenna Wilson last year, while revealing in court filings she 'no longer wishes to be related' to Musk 'in any way'.

While the South African billionaire was 'generally sanguine' about his daughter's transition, he has since slammed her, calling her a 'communist' and blaming her political views on the expensive private high school she attended.

But according to an excerpt from an upcoming biography of Musk, published this week in the Wall Street Journal, it has been claimed that the Tesla CEO's rift with Vivian 'pained him more than anything in his life since the infant death of his firstborn child Nevada,' who died just 10 weeks old of sudden infant death syndrome.

Further confusing matters, he famously tweeted in 2020: 'I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare.' And: 'Pronouns suck.'

So who exactly is Vivian Jenna Wilson? MailOnline takes a deep dive into her life to find out who she is and why her and her father have such a strained relationship.

Vivian Jenna Wilson, pictured, filed a petition to legally change her gender to female just three days after her birthday

Elon Musk has publicly lambasted his daughter for her political views, calling her a 'communist'

Vivian, who was called 'Xavier' at birth, was born to Elon Musk and his then-wife Justine in 2004

Who is Elon Musk's daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson?

Vivian, who was called Xavier at birth, was born a twin with her brother Griffin in 2004 in California three years before her younger siblings, Kai, Saxon and Damian, all of whom are 17.

All of Musk's children attended the wildly expensive Crossroads K-12 school in Santa Monica, where annual tuition costs up to $50,000.

Though he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her, and her siblings', education, the pair reportedly are not close, with text messages revealing that she tried to hide her true gender identity from her dad for several years.

On top of this, he has since publicly lambasted her and her political views, claiming she believes that all rich people are evil.

Vivian, along with all of her siblings, was educated at the wildly expensive Crossroads school in Santa Monica

Why did Vivian Jenna Wilson change her name?

Vivian, who was called Xavier at birth, officially adopted her mother, Justine's, maiden name at the age of 18 in 2022, according to court filings.

She filed a petition to change both her name and legal gender, and was quoted as saying she 'no longer wishes to be related' to her father 'in any way.'

A Santa Monica judge issued a new birth certificate that reflected her changed name, and gender, while their ruling simply stated: 'Xavier Alexander Musk to Vivian Jenna Wilson. The gender of the petitioner is changed from male to female.'

Vivian filed the petition just three days after her 18th birthday, though the court documents weren't made public until the day after Fathers Day.

In a tweet the night her daughter's petition was granter, mother Justine said: ''I had a weird childhood,' my 18 year old said to me.'

'I can't believe I'm as normal-seeming as I am.' 'I said, 'I'm very proud of you.' 'I'm proud of myself!''

Meanwhile, on Fathers Day, Musk tweeted prior to the revelation of her filings: 'I love all my kids so much.'

A private woman, she was not spotted in public until several months after her petition was granted.

She was seen on a quick shopping trip in Santa Monica, donning a brown T-shirt with a yellow pattern on it, black sweatpants, and a pair of sneakers. She wore a face mask and kept her long, flowing blonde hair loose.

Musk has openly admitted that he and his daughter are not close any more

Why did Elon Musk call Vivian Jenna Wilson a communist?

Elon Musk sent her to a wildly expensive Santa Monica K-12 school called Crossroads, which costs parents $50,000 a year to send their children there.

He partly blamed her education at the progressive California school as the reason for her political views, telling his biographer: 'She went beyond socialism to being a full communist and thinking that anyone rich is evil.'

He also blamed 'neo-Marxist' colleges for the rift between himself and Vivian, once telling the FT in 2022 that she refused to be a part of his life because of the supposed takeover of elite institutions by left-wing academics.

Justine Wilson was married to Musk between 2000 and 2008

What is Elon Musk's relationship with Vivian Jenna Wilson like?

While he has not said much about his relationship with his daughter, what he has said paints a painful picture of estrangement.

Vivian reportedly came out as transgender via text to her aunt when she was 16, but implored her to keep her gender identity from her father: 'Hey, I'm transgender, and my name is now Jenna. Don't tell my dad.'

Musk said during an interview with the FT in 2020 that while his relationship with his daughter 'may change... I have very good relationships with all the others [children].'

'Can't win them all,' he added.

More recently, he told his biographer that his attempts at winning her over have not been successful.

'I've made many overtures, but she doesn't want to spend time with me,' he said.
Some three weeks after wildfires ripped across Maui, claiming the lives of more than 100 people and leaving the historic Hawaiian town of Lahaina in ruins, officials expressed hope that the number of people unaccounted for could finally fall into double digits.

During a daily news briefing on the brutal blazes, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green confirmed the number of fatalities linked to the flames remained at 115. He gestured to a white board filled with statistics and details regarding the recovery effort, including a dramatic decrease in the number of people missing.

Were heartsick, but were still seeing the number of unaccounted-for individuals drop, he said in a video on social media.

A list of the missing released last week by the FBI included the names of 388 people, but more than 200 quickly came forward and have since reunited with their loved ones. On Thursday, Green said he expects that figure now stands at around 50.

Its not much consolation because our hearts are broken that we lost 115 people for sure, he told CNN, but it is something that we are grateful for that it is not 800 or 1,000 like people were projecting earlier.

Green also said he does not expect the death toll to increase, noting that crews have combed through most of the ash and debris with the exception of a little bit of the water areas.

A general view shows the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023.

The wildfire that destroyed much of Lahaina was one of three blazes sparked on Aug. 8. In the weeks since, officials have faced scrutiny over their decision against sounding the states emergency alarm system  even as fierce winds fueled the fast-moving flames, leaving residents little time to prepare for the destruction.

Green has asked the attorney general to conduct a comprehensive review into what exactly occurred during the lead-up to the devastating wildfires.

With News Wire Services
A 12-year-old boy has been found dead in a dumpster with a gunshot wound to the head near a public housing unit in West Philadelphia.

Hezekiah Bernard, known by friends and family as 'Hezzy,' was identified by the Philadelphia Police department's homicide unit on Thursday.

His death was ruled a homicide, according to staff inspector Ernest Ransom and head of the Philadelphia Police Department's Homicide Unit.

The gruesome discovery was made on August 23, the day after a sanitation worker with the city Housing Authority collected items from the dumpster at Cherry Street and 55th Street near the Haddington Homes in the Philadelphia neighborhood.

The boy had been found in a closed plastic trash container. He had plastic wrap on his head and a comforter over him, Ransom said, ABC News reported.

Hezekiah Bernard, 12, known affectionately by friends and family as 'Hezzy' was identified by the Philadelphia Police department's homicide unit on Thursday

The gruesome discovery was made on August 23, the day after a sanitation worker with the city Housing Authority collected items from the dumpster at Cherry Street and 55th Street near the Haddington Homes in the Philadelphia neighborhood

At a news conference on Thursday, Ramos said investigators believed the boy was dead between 24 and 36 hours before he was discovered, The Philadelphia Inqurier reported

A search is underway for any suspects in the case.

An August 24 autopsy revealed that the child had a gunshot wound on the right side of his head, according to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office.

At a news conference on Thursday, Ramos said investigators believed the boy was dead between 24 and 36 hours before he was discovered, The Philadelphia Inqurier reported.

He also said the boy had not been reported missing.

At the time of his death, the boy had been in custody with the Department of Human Services.

Ransom said the plastic container that was first picked up on August 22 sat in the sanitation worker's truck overnight at the Housing Authority facility at the 5000 block of Haverford Avenue.

The following day, when the driver was driving back to the housing complex to collect more trash, the plastic container that had been sitting in the truck from the prior day, 'overturned and the remains of a male were observed inside that container,' he said, in part.

After the disturbing discovery, the sanitation worker immediately contacted police.

Ransom said it is not clear why the boy was killed, where the crime was committed, and by whom.

'We feel like there's some sense of justice that needs to be served,' he said at the presser.

Detectives had distributed fliers at the housing unit and the West Philly neighborhood.

The boy wasn't positively identified until Tuesday, nearly a week after his remains were discovered, by family members who reached out to the Medical Examiner's Office and were able to confirm that Bernard was the victim.

Police continue to search for the suspect(s) and are asking the public for their help.

'We need the help of the public to identify the offenders in this investigation,' Ransom said.

'Again, Mr. Bernard was 12 years old. He was brutally, brutally killed, and placed in a trash can. The focus of this investigation is the swift apprehension of those involved in this business.'

Pictured: A line of metal dumpsters sit outside the Haddington Houses public housing unit

Bernard grew up in North Philadelphia, but Bernard's devastated sister, Lovier Jolly, said her brother was most recently living in the West Philadelphia area, the Inquirer reported.

On Thursday evening, hundreds gathered for a balloon release to pay tribute to Bernard.

The event was held by Pastor Aaron Campbell, the founding director of LevelUp, an organization that provides services, mentorship, and a safe space for young people.

Campbell said Bernard was a 'beloved' member of their organization and that he was there every Tuesday and Thursday, without fail.

He described him as polite young man who 'lit up a room,' and someone who was 'always dancing.' He had recently expressed interested in joining their job training program, Campbell said.

'This was a 12-year-old, a baby,' a grieving Campbell said, in part. 'Many here saw him as their younger brother.'

His added that the young man's death has left everyone in the organization heartbroken and confused, as per the news outlet.
A man, who murdered his estranged ex-wife at his home in Perth's northern suburbs, has been slammed as a 'coward' by his victim's family.

Paul Anthony Cannon, 55, was sentenced in the Western Australian Supreme Court on Friday to life in prison over the stabbing murder of Lynn Cannon, 51, in December last year.

Cannon was also handed a 19-year non-parole period.

Paul Anthony Cannon, was jailed after he murdered his ex-wife Lynn Cannon (pictured together) in December 2022

As the sentence was handed down by Justice Anthony Derrick, Ms Cannon's family and supporters erupted into applause in the public gallery.

Among them was Ms Cannon's sister, Jacqueline Darley, who read her victim impact statement to the court during sentencing submissions.

At one point she stopped and shouted at Mr Cannon: 'Look at me, you coward.'

He remained sitting in the dock with his head in his hands, refusing to meet her glare.

The court was told Mr Cannon used two kitchen knives to repeatedly stab his former partner to death at his home on Hardcastle Ave in Landsdale.

Prosecutor David Lima described the attack as 'particularly savage.'

'This murder (was) driven by festering and burgeoning possessiveness, anger, jealousy and selfishness,' Mr Lima said.

'This murder was particularly savage using, of all weapons, a kitchen knife, to not once, not twice, but repeatedly stab the victim to the chest seven times.

'All while repeatedly yelling out: ''I told you I was going to kill you''.'

The court heard Mr Cannon previously told his landlord he would kill Ms Cannon using swords he owned, and sent her abusive text messages saying things like he 'hoped and prayed she was dead' and that she 'died painfully.'

As the sentence was handed down by Justice Anthony Derrick, Ms Cannon's family and supporters erupted into applause in the public gallery (pictured is Lynn Cannon)

On the day of the murder, Mr Cannon and his former partner got into a heated argument, prompting neighbours to call police

On the day of the murder, Mr Cannon and his former partner got into a heated argument, prompting neighbours to call police.

Mr Cannon's landlord is understood to have found Mr Cannon stabbing Lynn Cannon, repeatedly shouting: 'I told you I was going to kill you'.

In sentencing on Friday, Justice Derrick described the attack as 'prolonged and vicious.'

Ms Darley's victim impact statement detailed learning of the death of Ms Cannon, who had separated from Mr Cannon two years prior.

'I received a video call from my sister Jennie who delivered those devastating words: ''Paul stabbed Lynn, he took her from us'',' Ms Darley told the court.

'I screamed, ''no, no, no'', my head was spinning and I couldn't take it in. Please tell me she was injured, anything else, but not that she was gone.

Lynn Cannon (far right) was stabbed seven times by her ex husband on the day she died, the couple had split two years before the horrific incident

'I looked at her face, her pain and desolation ... I could hear my mum sobbing in the background, ''my baby my baby''.'

Mr Cannon's defence lawyer argued his client has no prior convictions, aside from traffic infringements, and had no history of physical violence against Ms Cannon.

He tried to argue this should be a mitigating factor in sentencing, but it was rejected by Justice Derrick.

Ms Cannon's death prompted conversations about domestic violence, culminating in talks between the WA government, WA Police, and domestic violence advocacy groups in Perth in August.

The incident also prompted a police probe into response times, after it was revealed it took officers an hour and 15 minutes to respond to triple-zero calls made in the wake of the murder.

If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic violence, help is available 24/7 by calling 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).
Rishi Sunak suffered a major blow today as his top spin doctor quit after less than a year in the job.

No10 Communications Director Amber de Botton said it had been an 'honour' to work for the PM but it was 'time to move on'.

Ms de Botton had a successful career in TV journalism before being hired to oversee Mr Sunak's PR operation days after he entered Downing Street.

He paid tribute to her 'calm professionalism' in response to her announcement. However, there have been recent reports of tensions with other senior figures.

It emerged yesterday that Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, a former adviser to Matt Hancock,has been drafted in to serve as No10 director of strategy.

Rishi Sunak (pictured) suffered a major blow today as his top spin doctor quit after less than a year in the job

No10 Communications Director Amber de Botton said it had been an 'honour' to work for the PM but it was 'time to move on'

Ms de Botton dropped the bombshell news in posts on the X social media site today

As a special adviser she was not constrained by the rules for civil servants, meaning she could be involved in party political issues.

Writing on the X social media site Ms de Botton said: 'It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as the Prime Minister's director of communications but I have decided it is the right time to move on.

'I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Prime Minister for his support and his leadership.

'The team he has built around him is dedicated and focused because those are the qualities he inspires. I also want to thank my colleagues  No 10 is a demanding and high pressure place to work  yet the professionalism and talent they display every day is exceptional.'

Mr Sunak said: 'I would like to thank Amber for all her hard work over the past year. She brought with her top-level journalistic and management experience that has been invaluable.

'She has led the team with calm professionalism and has been instrumental in ensuring consistency and creativity across Whitehall communications.

'I want to particularly thank her for the work she did on the Windsor Framework, the Atlantic Declaration and the successful evacuation of Sudan earlier this year.'

The PM's press secretary Nerissa Chesterfield is set to take over from Ms de Botton as Director of Communications.

Ms de Botton was deputy head of politics at Sky News for five years until 2017 and then worked at ITV News as head of politics and then as head of news.

Her resignation comes a day after Mr Sunak carried out a 'mini-shuffle' seemingly designed to tighten his grip on government.

The PM surprised Westminster by shifting Grant Shapps into the defence brief vacated by Ben Wallace, who is quitting Parliament.

Meanwhile, Claire Coutinho was promoted from children's minister to take over Mr Shapps' old duties as Net Zero Secretary. An arch Sunak loyalist, Ms Coutinho is the first of the 2019 intake of MPs to become a full Cabinet minister.
A boyfriend who killed an NHS nurse when she fell from a third-floor window trying to escape his brutal assault has been jailed for 12 years.

Leonidas Georgalla, 51, was in breach of a restraining order when he killed his partner Kathleen John, 39, in London Road, Wembley, in the early hours of 29 July 2022.

He had punched Ms John repeatedly in the face, breaking her nose and pulling a clump out of her hair when she climbed out of the window to escape him.

She fell into a yard below and died at the scene.

Georgalla had been abusing her since they met at a recovery group for cocaine addicts in 2017 including assault, false imprisonment and threats to kill.

NHS nurse Kathleen John died when she fell from a third-floor window trying to escape her partner's abuse

There had been a previous assault she had tried to escape by climbing out of the window and he had breached multiple court orders preventing him from seeing her.

Georgalla denied murder but admitted manslaughter and breach of a restraining order and his pleas were accepted by the prosecution.

The restraining order had been made at Willesden Magistrates Court a few weeks earlier on May 22, 2022 after he was convicted of harassment by sending her threatening messages.

In New Zealand in 2008, Georgalla was jailed for 20 months for assaulting his then wife, who had a teenage son.

She had got onto the bonnet of his car to prevent him from leaving and he had driven off at speed, driving for over 120 metres before she fell into the road, fracturing her skull and suffering bleeding to the brain.

Judge Usha Karu told the killer: 'When you argued you were frequently violent toward Kathleen John.

'You continued to threaten and assault her throughout the relationship. Domestic abuse including threats to kill were reported to the police.

'Persistent breaches of court orders overtime caused her to become increasingly frightened by your threats and temper.

'She must have been so terrified of you and the assault perpetrated upon her that she was forced to climb out of window.

'All of this was brought about by the consequence of violence which was brought about in turn by drink, drugs and loss of temper.'

Prosecutor Jennifer Knight, KC, said: 'Their relationship was a volatile one from the outset, they often argued and when they did Mr Georgalla was frequently violent.'

In September 2017, he was convicted of assaulting her by punching and kicking her around the head and legs while they holidayed together in Spain.

He continued to assault her throughout the relationship and in June 2020 a non-molestation order was imposed forbidding him from entering her flat or attempting to communicate with her.

However the couple continued to get back together.

Ms John had grabbed the windowsill with blood on her hands before climbing out

Ms Knight said: 'Over time Kathleen became increasingly frightened. 'On several occasions in 2021 she mentioned her fears at one of the Cocaine Anonymous groups they attended.

'She frequently resolved to end the relationship and had frequent separations but they rarely lasted.'

On March 5, 2022 Georgalla made a video call to his addiction sponsor brandishing a butter knife and saying he would put it in Ms John's throat which was reported to police.

On March 29 he sent threatening messages to Ms John accusing her of prostitution and threatening to kill her.

Ms Knight said: 'She was very frightened and reluctant to speak to police because of her fear but did on May 5, 2022 when he had been arrested the previous day.

'She was very frightened and very worried about what he would do if and when he was released from custody.'

He was convicted of harassment and breaching a restraining order and another order was imposed which was meant to last until May 2025.

However by July the couple were seeing each other again.

Georgalla was living at his daughter's flat in London Road, Wembley, and on July 28 he and Ms John went to Nando's before returning to the flat with alcohol bought from Tesco.

Ms Knight said: 'Sometime after returning from Nando's it is clear he assaulted her in that flat.

'It began in the bedroom, continued into the living room where a clump of Kathleen's hair was forcibly pulled out.

'He assaulted her several times in that flat. He had also assaulted her a number of times over the course of the relationship.

'She was quite obviously frightened. She must have climbed out of the window of the flat either because she was trying to find safe haven from the attack on her or because affectively the ferocity of that assault had forced her out of the window with no option of anywhere else to go.

'When outside she stood holding the outside window. There is no way of knowing how long she stood there but there was clearly a point where he stood beside the window as well.

'Ultimately she fell backward to her death onto the concrete of the yard outside.'

Leonidas Georgalla denied murder but admitted manslaughter and breach of a restraining order and his pleas were accepted by the prosecution

When Georgalla's daughter and her friends returned to the flat they could hear her father sobbing and found him in an alleyway by the side of the house.

He was stood over Ms John's body sobbing and saying 'please don't die'. He told them she had fallen and then said she had jumped.

Paramedics arrived and attempted resuscitation but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police saw fresh scratches on Georgalla's neck and he told them she had fallen from the window. He also said: 'If I've killed her I'll go to prison for 20 years.'

As well as injuries from the fall, Ms John had facial injuries suggestive of serious assault of punches to her head and face.

There were also injuries suggesting she had been gripped by the arms, a fractures nose and lacerated lips.

A pathologist found she would have been bleeding profusely form the face.

Blood from Ms John and from Georgalla and signs of a struggle were found in the bedroom and living room.

Ms John had grabbed the windowsill with blood on her hands before climbing out.

Fingerprints showed he stood inside and placed his right hand through the window while she was outside.

Ms John's 19-year-old son Rio read his victim impact statement at the Old Bailey today.

He said: 'Not a day goes by when I don't think about my mother and how much she suffered that dreadful night and how her life would have flashed before her eyes.

'I will always remember how much fun we had when we were together, we would always laugh so much.'

He said that despite getting good grades he had deferred going to university and was struggling socially.

He added: 'People say they can see the sadness in my eyes. I just hope justice is done for her today.'

Ms John's mother Christine John, in her 70s, told the court: 'On July 29, 2022, my daughter was tragically taken from me and my family in extremely violent circumstances.

'The impact of that night is forever etched in my heart and soul and it's affect can never, ever be fully articulated.

'I am no longer a mother - my only daughter was cruelly taken from me.

'As the years advance for me I will be alone without the loving support of Kathleen- a beautiful girl I loved and cherished since I first laid eyes on her 40 years ago.'

In a letter to the judge, the abuser said he was remorseful and would live with a lifetime of 'guilt and sadness'.

He has been working as a barber and receptionist in prison. The killer cried in the dock at various times throughout the hearing.

More than 200 people attended Ms John's funeral.
A sleep-deprived traveller became enraged after the passenger next to her disturbed her beauty sleep four times during the three-hour journey.

Sitting in the middle seat on a plane is a lose-lose situation. You don't get the luxury of the picturesque window seat and you don't have easy access to the toilet either.

But one traveller was left baffled when the flyer in the aisle seat told him to 'hold it' in after using the toilet three times prior in under three hours.

The budgeting flyer was on his way home for the festive season when the incident happened, according to a Reddit thread.

He claimed he booked the middle seat because he didn't 'particularly care' about the window and we're 'on a budget'.

The enraged woman asked the 'bursting' passenger to 'hold it' after he disturbed from her sleep for the fourth time wanting to go to the toilet. File image: Woman sleeping on plane

The flyer continued to drink one of his litre bottles of water after the woman requested he hold it in for the rest of the flight so she could get some rest. File image: Interior of aircraft, along with passengers

The self-described 'pretty big person and athlete' was conscious about becoming dehydrated on the journey, so much so, that he took two one-litre bottles of water along for the ride.

Humidity on aeroplane are typically lower than normal because of their controlled environments, with the levels usually kept at 10-20%, according to the Centre for Family Medicine.

The lower humidity means you can become dehydrated more quickly while 36,000 feet up in the air.

The passenger in the aisle seat was visibly asleep, and was awoken not once, not twice, but thrice by the 'bursting' passenger in less than a three hour time span.

He stated: 'She would sigh, groan, roll her eyes, etc whenever I got up.

'When I used the bathroom for the third time, she asked me if I could try to hold it for the remainder of the flight so she could sleep.'

The hydration-conscious traveller shared that he did not take the appeal from their fellow-flyer 'too seriously and continued to drink water.'

As the unaware flyer disturbed the sleeping woman for the fourth time, an argument ensued where the frequent toilet user was branded as 'rude'.

He wrote: 'I told her it was either that, dehydrate, or wet myself and going to the bathroom seemed like the best option.

'She told me no one needs to drink enough to pee four times in less than three hours unless he have a bladder issue.'

The woman queried if the inconsiderate traveller had a 'bladder issue', to which she was told to mind her businesses.

Trying to bring the bickering to a stop, the frequent toilet user suggested he switch seats.

A flight attendant eventually sided with the self-described 'bigger person' and 'athlete', after attempting to find a resolution for their quarrel. File image: A toilet in a commercial aeroplane

Not everyone was on the 'bursting' flyer's side with many branding him inconsiderate, that it was unnecessary to drink so much water with one person going as far as to describe him as having 'a lack of empathy'. Pictured: United Airlines Boeing 767-400

Eventually, things reached a head when a flight attendant tried to defuse the argument and then proceeded to side with the middle-seat occupier.

But not everyone is in agreement with the flight attendant and the flyer, as their own family, as well as Reddit users shared their discernment at the lack of consideration for their fellow-flyer.

One commented: 'Three hours on a plane isn't going to dehydrate you enough to harm you.

'If you plan on doing this on your next flight, pay for the aisle seat or get ready to have another p****d off seat mate.'

Another person added: 'I have a tiny bladder so I do tend to pee a lot on flights. So I book an aisle seat when I fly because I'm not an a**hole.'

Another furiously shared: 'So you purposefully take the middle seat have to get up four times to pee and then bother the aisle seat person each time? Total d**k move.

One person quipped: 'Your lack of empathy for her trying to sleep is astounding.'

But not everyone dogpiled on the Reddit poster as person claiming to be a flight attendant recommended that travellers drink a cup (or half bottle) of water every hour of your flight.
This is the disgusting moment a live cockroach was pulled out of a woman's ear in Colombia.

The unnamed woman said it felt like her ear had just popped and she brushed off the pain as something minor, but when it persisted she told her friend she thought she might have something trapped inside it.

Footage shows the friend taking a pair of tweezers to the woman's left ear at a house in Villavicencio, 78 miles from the capital Bogota, before tugging on the insect.

The creepy crawly can be seen squirming around as the friend tries to extract it.

Seconds later, the cockroach is pulled out alive and kicking.

Footage shows the friend taking a pair of tweezers to the woman's left ear at a house in Villavicencia before tugging on the insect. The creepy crawly can be seen squirming around as the friend tries to extract it. Seconds later, the cockroach is pulled out alive and kicking

It is not known if any damage was caused to the woman's ear.

The video was uploaded to TikTok where it racked up more than two million views.

Social media users were quick to comment on the shocking video.

One wrote: 'New fear unlocked probably eggs in there now.'

Another posted: 'I would need a new ear.'

Earlier this year, a woman had a cockroach removed from her vagina after she went to the doctors complaining of an 'extremely strange' feeling in her genitals.

The patient, who has not been named, visited the clinic in Honduras because she was feeling 'extremely restless, agitated and sweaty'.

She had also been unable to sleep the previous night and said it felt like something 'extremely strange' was in her vagina.

Doctors were stunned when an examination revealed the dead insect inside her.

It was immediately removed and the woman was discharged after being checked for injuries.
The White House on Friday leant into the war on drugs, and the flow of fentanyl from Mexico, to persuade Republicans and some Democrats to reauthorize a controversial George W. Bush-era surveillance program.

A spokesman highlighted how the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Acts Section 702 was crucial in obtaining intelligence on traffickers and smugglers.

The statute allows intelligence agencies to intercept emails and other electronic communications of foreigners abroad but faces intense opposition from those who see it as a backdoor to monitoring Americans caught up in those conversations.

White House spokesman John Kirby used a regular briefing with reporters to highlight its value and highlighted the example of Admiral James Winnefeld, who described how his son might never have died of an overdose if the statute had used to its full extent.

Kirby said 'We urge that reauthorization.

Six years ago Admiral James Winnefeld (left) lost his 19-year-old son Jonathan to a fentanyl overdose. They are pictured with Jonathan's mother Mary Winnefeld at the University of Denver in 2017. Jonathan died soon after the picture was taken

On Friday, White House National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications John Kirby cited Winnefeld's experience as a reason why the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Acts Section 702 should be reauthorized at the end of the year

'The stark and sad example that Admiral Winnefeld cites is just one example of how 702 and those authorities really give us needed flexibility to pursue and to advance our national security interests around the world and quite frankly, here on the streets of America.'

The warrantless surveillance program has its roots in the fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Civil liberties campaigners have long had misgivings about its reach and power.

And they have joined forces in recent years with Republican skeptics who align themselves with Donald Trump and his attacks on security agencies.

It must be reauthorized before the end of the year, and its supporters are stepping up their efforts to highlight how it keeps Americans safe.

In an op-ed for Fox News, Winnefeld, former vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is now chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), describes the phone call six years ago telling him his 19-year-old son was dead.

'This tragedy didn't have to happen,' he writes. 'Societal stigma, gaps in mental health and addiction treatment, and a lack of understanding of the disease of substance dependence set this young "warrior against addiction" up for failure on the demand side of the equation.

'But he was also let down on the supply side: the fentanyl that killed him should never have been on the street.

'Had a key surveillance authority used by our nations intelligence community been fully applied to the fentanyl crisis that began gripping our nation around the time of Jonathan's death, that fatal dose might have never reached him.'

The provision allows the surveillance of foreign persons intending to do harm to the U.S., he continued, and on certain occasions may indicate that the target communicated with an American.

In those cases, a check is then done to see whether that person could be an accomplice or a victim.

'In the case of fentanyl, Section 702 could alert officials to a drug cartel working with a U.S. person, but the targeted collection of that persons communications would generally require a warrant,' writes Winnefeld.

He concludes by quoting his own report for the PIAB and the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB).

'As we stated in the PIAB/IOB report, "if Congress fails to reauthorize Section 702, history may judge [its lapse] as one of the worst intelligence failures of our time." Lets set politics aside and protect our nation from all threats, including illicit synthetic drugs, while also holding true to our belief in civil liberties,' he writes.

The angle is just one way that the White House hopes it can persuade Republicans to drop their opposition to the powers.

Many are still angry at errors made by the FBI during the investigation into links between Russia and Trump's 2016 Republican presidential campaign.
YouTuber mom Ruby Franke bragged online about letting her kids go hungry, canceling Christmas and even punishing her children by taking them out of school and forcing them to clean floorboards.

The 41-year-old, who was arrested for child abuse after two of her malnourished kids were found wrapped in duct tape, spoke openly about her alarming parenting methods in dozens of videos posted to her successful social media channels.

In one video, Franke talked about refusing to deliver lunch to her daughter in school - even after a teacher expressed concerns that the little girl would go hungry. 'Hopefully nobody gives her food,' Franke told her followers.

Another clip reveals she banned her son from his own bedroom and forced him to sleep on a beanbag for seven months because he played a prank on his younger brother.

Franke's business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, also spoke in a video on the pair's shared ConneXions YouTube channel about how 'pain is meant to be a teacher' for children.

In one video, Franke talked about refusing to deliver lunch to her daughter in school - even after a teacher expressed concerns that the little girl would go hungry. 'Hopefully nobody gives her food,' Franke told her followers

In another video, her son, Chad, reveals that he was evicted from his bedroom and forced to sleep on a beanbag for seven months after playing a prank on his younger brother. Since the arrests, an online form has been set up which documents examples of worrying statements made by Franke and Hildebrandt in their videos

Ruby, her husband, and their six kids were shot into stardom back in 2015, after she started sharing videos giving an inside look into her life as a Mormon mother-of-six on YouTube

The two children who were found by cops had allegedly been kept in Hildebrandt's home. She has also been arrested on child abuse charges.

Franke, who gained fame online through her YouTube channel 8 Passengers, was taken into custody on Wednesday after the two children were found starved with open wounds and duct tape on their 'extremities'.

Police were called after a child climbed out of the window of Hildebrandt's home and ran to a neighbor pleading for food and water. The neighbor saw the child's wounds and immediately dialed 911, before another child was also found 'in a similar physical condition of malnourishment'.

Since the arrests, an online form has been set up which documents examples of worrying statements made by Franke and Hildebrandt in their videos.

In the video about withholding lunch from her daughter, who was said to be aged six at the time, Franke says the girl's teacher sent a text which said the girl 'did not pack a lunch today and can I bring a lunch over to the school?'

Franke expects all of her children to pack their own lunch and says she knows the teacher is 'uncomfortable with her being hungry'.

'The natural outcome is [that] she's just going to need to be hungry and hopefully nobody gives her food and nobody steps in and gives her a lunch,' she tells her viewers.

A second example showed her son, Chad, reveal his 'bedroom was taken away for seven months' and he was forced to sleep on a beanbag in the house. Chad said the punishment was because he pranked his younger brother by telling him the family were taking a trip to Disneyland.

Franke says in another clip that she and her husband, Kevin, told their two youngest children they would not receive Christmas gifts, while their four siblings would, because of their bad behavior.

'Kevin and I have decided that we are going to give the gift of truth to them this Christmas,' she said. Franke said they made the decision after the children's behavior failed to improve after they were kept out of school and forced to scrub floorboards at home.

'I was really hoping that keeping them home from school and wiping the floorboards would really bring pain, like, "oh my gosh I really want to change this behavior that I've been exhibiting".'

Kevin Franke (right) has said his 'urgent focus' is to keep his six children which he shares with former YouTuber Ruby Franke (left) together under his care

Mormon YouTuber Ruby Franke (pictured with her daughters) was taken into custody under suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse earlier this week

Ruby Franke, (left) who ran the now-defunct 8 Passengers channel, was arrested along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt (right)

She added that she told the children she would 'literally do anything to invite you into repentance'.

She talks in another video about refusing to give her children 'personal space' at home. Franke says: 'As long as you are living my home, it is my job to know everything about you. You don't get to sneak, you don't get to hide, you don't get to have secrets. Not in my house. Do you see how loving that is?'

Her estranged daughter, Shari, has since said police were warned for years about the allegations before they 'finally' acted.

Her daughter, Shari, has now claimed relatives have been 'trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this', adding that she was 'so glad they finally decided to step up' and the kids were safe. She posted the message to Instagram with a photo of police outside the home captioned 'finally'.

In a further suggestion that Franke's alleged abuse was known by relatives, a statement from her sisters said that they have 'kept quiet on the subject of our sister... for the sake of her children'.'

The statement, posted by Ellie Mecham, Bonnie Hoellein, and Julie Deru to each of their Instagram accounts, said: 'For the last 3 years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children. Behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe.'

The sisters are also YouTubers and said they 'wouldn't feel right about moving forward with regular content without addressing the most recent events'.

'Once we do, we will not be commenting on it further,' the statement said.

'Ruby was arrested which needed to happen. Jodi was arrested which needed to happen. The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority.'

A statement from Franke's sisters said that they have 'kept quiet on the subject of our sister... for the sake of her children'. Pictured: Her sister, Ellie Mecham

The sisters said: 'For the last 3 years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children.' Pictured: Franke's sister Bonnie Hoellein

'Ruby was arrested which needed to happen,' her sisters said. 'Jodi was arrested which needed to happen.' Pictured: Franke's sister Julie Deru

The full statement from Franke's three sisters, which was posted across their Instagram pages

Franke's husband, Kevin Franke, who she shares six children with - Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell and Eve - has said he is 'trying to keep his children together' following the arrests.

Kevin's attorney, Randy S.Kester, told Page Six his client's 'urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his fatherly care'.

Four minor children were taken into the care of Child and Family Services following the police's investigation. It is unconfirmed if the children were related to either Franke or Hildebrandt.

Both women have been previously criticized for their teachings on parenting  collaborating on Hildebrandt's life counseling service ConneXions.

According to an arrest record, a child fled through a window of Hildebrandt's house in Ivins and went to a neighbor who then called the police.

The Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department in Utah arrested Franke and Hildebrant after a report of a juvenile in need at 10.50am on Wednesday.

Authorities said the child was described as 'emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities' and asking for food and water.

In a statement they said: 'The condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Irvins EMS and transported to a local area hospital.

'Information was obtained by police that other juveniles in similar condition may be in a nearby home.

'Officers arrived at the home and searched the residence, locating another juvenile in a similar physical condition of malnourishment.

'They were also transported by EMS for hospital treatment'. Cops said 'evidence consistent with the markings found on the juvenile' was located in the home.

Both Franke and Hildebrandt remain in custody at the Washington County Sheriff's Department.

Franke (seen with her husband) is well-known for her strict parenting style on the channel, which she stopped uploading footage in January 2022. It was taken down earlier this year

Frake's estranged eldest daughter Shari, 20, revealed in April she was no longer in contact with her mother.

In the post about her mother's arrest, she added: 'Today has been a big day. Me and my family are so glad justice is being served.

'We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.

'Kids are safe, but there's a long road ahead. Please keep them in your prayers and also respect their privacy.'

Franke's eldest daughter Shari, 20, posted about her mother's arrest on Instagram, sharing an image of police officers outside the home captioned 'Finally'

Franke is well-known for her strict parenting style on the channel, which she stopped uploading footage to in January 2022. It was taken down earlier this year.

When asked why she left YouTube behind months later on ConneXions, she said she opted to stop uploading videos because she wanted to 'save her kids.'

Franke racked up more than 2.2million subscribers for documenting their day-to-day endeavors on social media, with her husband Kevin.

The mother-of-six came under fire in July after footage resurfaced of her allowing her daughter Eve, 6, to go hungry because she forgot to make her own lunch.

Franke's eldest child, Shari (seen in May), revealed in April that she was no longer in contact with her mother

In a video posted to YouTube in February 2020, Ruby explained that she had received a text from her daughter's teacher, telling her that the youngster didn't have anything to eat for lunch.

She said all her kids are responsible for preparing their own lunches in the morning, so she would not be dropping off any food for Eve because she wanted to teach her a lesson.

Franke said: 'My hope [is that] she will be hungry and come home and be like 'that was really painful being hungry all day I'll make sure to always have a lunch with me.''

'The natural outcome is that she is just going to have to go hungry.'
A pony who was repeatedly hit with a plastic pole by its owner with a pole has now found a 'forever home' helping children at riding school.

Bramble's previous owner struck the pony in a shopping centre car park in Morecambe, Lancashire, to 'teach her a lesson.'

The attack was caught on camera, when horrified shoppers witnessed the owner hit the Bramble more than a dozen times.

Bramble, a yearling filly, was underweight and kept in dirty conditions before being rescued by the RSPCA. The young pony's shoulders, backbones and ribs were all visible.

She was kept in a stable covered in horse faeces and plastic bags. Her stable even had ivy growing at the back of it, a weed which is poisonous to horses.

Bramble now lives in at Queen Mary's School in North Yorkshire, where she helps children learn how to ride horses

As she had no food available to her in the stable, Bramble would often chew wood, which is a sign that a horse is not receiving adequate nutrition. She also had no bedding to stand on.

Bramble was rehabilitated and then rehomed to the British Horse Society's Second Chance scheme.

This is a joint venture between the RSPCA and the horse charity which gives a second chance to rescued horses by rehoming them to BHS Approved Centres running the BHS' Changing Lives through Horses scheme.

This supports young people and gives them the opportunity to develop life skills through working with horses.

The pony now lives in at Queen Mary's School in North Yorkshire, where she helps children learn how to ride horses.

Alice Clennan, Queen Mary's School equestrian centre manager, said: 'Bramble is settling into her new home.

'She is thriving in her new setting and is loved by all the pupils at Queen Mary's Equestrian Centre. It is wonderful to be able to provide this opportunity.'

Bramble's previous owner struck the pony in a shopping centre car park in Morecambe, Lancashire, to 'teach her a lesson'

Bramble was rehabilitated and then rehomed to the British Horse Society's Second Chance scheme
Tucker Carlson has made an explosive prediction that former president Donald Trump will be assassinated as the next logical step after his indictments.

The grave forecast by the ex-primetime Fox News host bolsters Trump's narrative that he is under fire from corrupt, politically-motivated authorities who are out to sabotage his 2024 White House bid.

His comment came as prominent Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov described Carlson himself as a 'dead man walking', suggesting that the US establishment would like to see him gone too.

Speaking with Adam Carolla on the comedian's eponymous YouTube show, Carlson said: 'They indicted him three times, and every single time his popularity rose.'

'If you begin with criticism, then you go to protest, then you go to impeachment, then you go to indictment, and none of them work, what's next? Graph it out, man! We're speeding toward assassination, obviously. No-one will say that, but I don't know how you can't reach that conclusion.

The hysterical forecast by the ex-primetime Fox News host bolsters Trump's narrative that he is under fire from corrupt, politically-motivated authorities who are out to sabotage his 2024 White House bid.

Tucker Carlson has made an explosive prediction that former president Donald Trump (pictured) will be assassinated as the next logical step after his indictments

Carlson's comment came as prominent Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov described Carlson himself as a 'dead man walking', suggesting that these same vague US authorities would like to see him gone too

'They have decided - permanent Washington, both parties - have decided, that there's something about Trump that's so threatening to them that they just can't have it.'

The 54-year-old Fox host turned Twitter extraordinaire also claimed the US government is getting ready to go to war with Russia - a battle he implied Vladimir Putin's country would win.

Carlson's comments came after he interviewed the 77-year-old former president on X, formerly known as Twitter, last week.

The former Fox host asked Trump directly if he thought he could be killed, given the various investigations he is currently subject to.

'Are you worried that they're going to try and kill you? Why wouldn't they try and kill you? Honestly,' Carlson asked.

'They're savage animals; they're people that are sick,' the former president responded.

Carlson's comments came after he interviewed the 77-year-old former president on X , formerly known as Twitter, last week

Their 46-minute conversation coincided with Trump's eight competitors facing off in the rival Fox-hosted Republican primary debate in Milwaukee, which was viewed by 13 million Americans on cable TV.

The debate was dwarfed by Carlson's Trump interview, which got 238 million 'views' on X.

However, this isn't a direct comparison because X calculates views based on users scrolling past the video and they don't need to watch any of it for the interaction to count as a 'view'.

Trump used his platform to slam Biden's 'skinny legs' in recent beach photos, claiming he doesn't have the mental capacity to win the White House in 2024.

He also claimed he skipped the first Republican presidential debate so he wouldn't get 'harassed' by rivals he said 'shouldn't even be running'.

Meanwhile, Russian propagandist Solovyov echoed a similar sentiment with a deadly prediction for Tucker himself.

The Thursday broadcast of The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov featured several clips of Carlson's hysterical predictions from his interview with Carolla.

Trump's mugshot after he was booked at Fulton County Jail in Georgia on August 24

Referring to Carlson's comment that the US is preparing for war with Russia and would lose, Solovyov theatrically deemed him a 'dead man walking'.

'Who says that? A dead man walking! He sincerely believes that the next step after the accusations and the declaration of impeachment will be an assassination of Trump,' Solovyov said, according to translations in reports.

'But this man, who is currently the most popular English-speaking journalist, signed his own death warrant!'

Solovyov claimed Carlson's desire to interview Vladimir Putin is the reason he is allegedly disliked by US authorities.

'They will not forgive him for the fact that he strives to interview our president and post the footage on a platform that has no censorship!' he declared.
Former Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola defiantly declared Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election on Friday after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

A short time later, Ethan Nordean, a Proud Boys leader from Seattle, was handed a whopping 18-year sentence. That length of incarceration is matched only by the term handed to Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes in May.

Prosecutors had requested that Nordean, 33, get 27 years for his role in the uprising, calling him the undisputed leader on the ground on Jan 6.

The pair stood out among thousands of MAGA loyalists who marched to the Capitol in protest, two months after Joe Biden bested Trump in their battle for the White House.

Amid the brutal demonstration, aimed at blocking the peaceful transition of power between the candidates, Pezzola  a 46-year-old former Marine from Rochester, N.Y.  snatched a police officers riot shield and used it to bust through a window, allowing protesters access to the government building. He also recorded a celebratory video with a cigar once inside, prosecutors said.

Rioters, including Dominic Pezzola, center, with police shield, are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said Pezzola turned into the tip of the spear when he breached the building and allowed a flow of protesters to enter.

The reality is you smashed that window in and let people begin to stream into the Capitol building and threaten the lives of our lawmakers, Kelly told Pezzola. Its not something that I ever dreamed I would have seen in our country.

Pezzola expressed some remorse for his actions during the hearing Friday, but shortly after he was sentenced, raised his fist in the air and proclaimed: Trump won!

Amid his trial, Pezzola testified he initially grabbed the officers shield to protect himself from police riot control measures. His lawyers argued that he broke only one pane of glass and that it was other rioters who smashed out the rest of the window.

Additional evidence presented throughout the months-long proceedings showed he was recruited to join the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, shortly before the riots. He earned praise from the organizations leadership for his violent actions at a separate rally ahead of the 2021 insurrection.

Pezzola was previously convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent Congress and federal law enforcement from their duties, and destruction of government property. However, he was the only one of the five Proud Boys defendants not found guilty of seditious conspiracy, a rarely brought Civil War-era offense.

In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, Proud Boys members Joseph Biggs, left, and Ethan Nordean, right with megaphone, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Nordean, meanwhile, was accused of leading nearly 200 men up Capitol Hill, then advancing to the front of that mob to help destroy a fence that was slowing the attack.

He told the court that Jan. 6 was a complete and utter tragedy and apologized to anyone who [he] directly or even indirectly wronged.

Those words stand in stark contrast to the increasingly violent rhetoric prosecutors accused him of posting online prior to Jan. 6.

Prosecutors are also seeking a 33-year prison term for Henry Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys. His sentencing was delayed until next week after the judge came down ill and had to reschedule his Wednesday hearing.

On Thursday, former Proud Boys leaders Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were sentenced to 17 and 15 years, respectively.

With News Wire Services
Simon Danczuk has been reunited with his Rwandan wife after she was finally granted a visa to live in the UK.

The former Labour MP, 56, and new wife Claudine Uwamahoro were emotionally reunited at Heathrow last Sunday, the first time they have seen each other since their wedding in July.

After a long visa battle, the beauty therapist, 28, has been accepted into the Home Office's settlement scheme and is now allowed to live and work in the UK for three years.

She previously revealed the couple planned to have a baby if she was accepted into the scheme.

Talking about their new lives, Mr Danczuk said: 'We now look forward to living between Rwanda and the UK. I love spending time in Kigali, especially with Claudine and her family, though we will also be in London and Rochdale to see my children as much as possible.'

Simon Danczuk and his wife Claudine Uwamahoro were reunited at Heathrow Airport last Sunday

The former Labour MP and his Rwandan wife were pictured kissing as they were reunited

The couple were all smiles as Mr Danczuk pushed his wife's luggage on a trolley on her return to the UK

The Mail revealed last month that Ms Uwamahoro was denied a visitor's visa a year ago by the Home Office because officials, 'did not believe they were in a relationship'.

But the couple appeared to be in the throes of marital bliss as they were pictured kissing and hugging in Heathrow Airport.

They have not seen each other since Mr Danczuk was forced to return to the UK days after their traditional Rwandan wedding in the capital of Kigali.

One source close to the couple told the Mail: 'Both of them were heartbroken. If there is a time you want to be together as husband and wife the most, it's straight after your wedding.'

'Claudine applied [for a visa] last year after she and Simon got engaged and she was devastated when it was turned down.

'Apparently, the officials didn't even believe that she and Simon were together.

'Lots of evidence was provided for them, there were photographs handed over and even records showing that they chatted several times each day.

'Simon had also been going out there to see Claudine every two months but even that didn't seem to be enough.'

Mr Danczuk, who has been married three times, greeted his latest wife as she arrived into Heathrow

The couple were reunited a year after she was refused a visitors visa because Home Office officials did not believe they were in a relationship

Mr Danczuk and Ms Uwamahoro looked happy to see each other, as the Labour MP greeted his wife with a bouquet of flowers

Ms Uwamahoro has now been granted a visa to live in the UK after the couple were left 'heartbroken' when her previous application was denied

The couple got married in a lavish ceremony in the Rwandan capital of Kigali earlier this year

Mr Danczuk pictured here kissing Ms Uwamahoro at their wedding earlier this year

The wedding took place almost 18 months after the pair first met each other while Mr Danczuk was on a business trip

Ms Uwamahoro met Mr Danczuk when he was on a business trip to Rwanda almost 18 months ago.

It is his third marriage having previously wed Sonia Rossington, the mother to his eldest children George, 25, and 20-year-old Mary, but that ended after ten years amid accusations that he 'bullied' her into sex  which he has always vehemently denied.

He then married Karen Burke, named the 'selfie queen' for posting pictures of her cleavage online.

They split in 2015 after three years following reports that he had had sex with a 22-year-old woman in his constituency office.
Prosecutors are investigating whether Iran was behind the attempted murder of Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie after grooming his US born attacker on a visit to Lebanon.

Hadi Matar, 25, is due to stand trial for his attack on the writer who was stabbed repeatedly on stage at a book fair in upstate New York in August last year.

But Chautauqua District Attorney Jason Schmidt said federal agents are probing whether the New Jersey suspect was given his mission by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group on a 2018 trip to the Middle East.

'We have to sort of confine ourselves to the four corners of the charges that we've asserted, which is essentially an 'attempted murder in the second degree' charge,' Schmidt said.

'The underlying motivations that went into the intent have been sort of removed from us in our jurisdiction, and that's something that the US Attorney's Office has been looking at and they are dealing with.

Hadi Matar, 25, returned from four weeks in Lebanon as a religious bigot his mother told Dailymail.com

Bystanders and staff leapt on stage to help Rushdie after the attack in which he was repeatedly stabbed

The author who lost an eye in the attack was made a Companion of Honor by the King earlier this year

Matar was found with a false driving licence in the name of two Hezbollah commanders when he was seized after the attack on Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution.

His mother Silvana Fardos told Dailymail.com that her son changed from a popular, loving son to a moody religious zealot after visiting her ex-husband in the Hezbollah-controlled town of Yaroun, a mile from the Israeli border.

'I was expecting him to come back motivated, to complete school, to get his degree and a job,' she said from her home in Fairview.

'But instead he locked himself in the basement. He had changed a lot, he didn't say anything to me or his sisters for months.'

Matar denied acting on orders when arrested for the near-fatal attack on Rusdhie, 76, who lost an eye and the use of a hand.

'I don't like the person. I don't think he's a very good person,' he told interviewers.

'He's someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems.'

The Indian-born writer spent years in hiding after his 1989 novel sparked Muslim fury over its supposed 'blasphemy' and prompted Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a 'fatwah' demanding his death.

Rushdie was airlifted to hospital and placed on a ventilator following the attack

Matar's Lebanese-born mother Silvana Fardos moved with her three children from California to a home in New Jersey (above) following her split with his father

Matar was found with a false driving license in the name of two Hezbollah commanders when seized on stage following the attack on Rushdie

The Japanese translator of the Satanic Verses, Hitoshi Igarashi, was stabbed to death in Tokyo in 1991, and Iran later distanced itself from the order insisting it would neither' help nor hinder' Rushdie's potential assassins.

But the fatwah was never formally lifted and tensions increased again after Donald Trump ordered the assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

Members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps were indicted for plotting to kill Trump's national security advisor, John Bolton, near his DC home in an alleged revenge attack just days before the attack on Rushdie.

Tehran denied any role in attack on Rushdie, but added: 'We don't consider anyone deserving reproach, blame or even condemnation, except for [Rushdie] himself and his supporters.'

Chautauqua District Attorney Jason Schmidt who is prosecuting Matar for attempted murder said the international dimensions of the case are 'way beyond my pay grade'

The author, who was made a Companion of Honor by the King in May this year, has blamed Matar alone for the attack on him and told the BBC he is not sure if he can 'be bothered' to face him in court when he comes to trial next year.

And the US government has been guarded about wider responsibility as it tries to revive its abandoned nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the Islamic republic.

Schmidt told Semafol that Iran's nuclear ambitions would have a bearing on the US Attorney's separate investigation into the influence of foreign agents on Matar.

'I understand that there's a lot of considerations here that, you know, that are way outside my paygrade,' he added.
A New Jersey cop has been arrested after he allegedly tried to a kiss a 16-year-old girl who he had stalked and unlawfully detained in his police vehicle.

Patrolman Kevin Ruditsky, 46, allegedly began pursuing his underaged victim during an annual community night while in uniform and representing Manalapan Township Police Department.

He began stalking her at the Manalapan's National Night Out, an event meant to connect cops with the local community, and sent her sexually explicit photos and messages via social media, despite her repeatedly telling him that she was 16, prosecutors said.

The cop then pulled her over several days later, and turned off his dashcam and body-cam before unlawfully handcuffing her to try and kiss her.

He ran searches of the underaged victim's name through police databases, despite not having any reason to do so, according to prosecutors.

Patrolman Kevin Ruditsky, 46, was handed multiple charges by New Jersey prosecutors after he allegedly began pursuing his underaged victim

And on one occasion, he parked his police patrol car outside her home, despite the fact that she never have him her address.

The cop, who was suspended with pay when the investigation was started but has since been suspended without pay, was arrested on Wednesday, and is currently being held in Monmouth County Jail.

He was charged with charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, second-degree official misconduct, third-degree computer theft, third-degree hindering apprehension, fourth-degree stalking and false imprisonment; the last charge is a disorderly persons offense.

Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago said on Thursday: 'That a sworn member of law enforcement would begin to so egregiously violate the public's trust while in uniform at an event specifically intended to strengthen trust between law enforcement and the public is, in a word, unconscionable.

'Swift action in addressing this conduct, culminating in the charges being announced today, was an absolute imperative.'

'The men and women of the Manalapan Township Police Department are and should be held to the highest moral and ethical standards, and it troubles me that the actions of one individual can stain the reputation of all of us,' said Manalapan Police Chief Edward Niesz.

'We are deeply saddened and disturbed that this victim had her trust betrayed by a man wearing one of our uniforms. I want to emphasize that this department will continue to provide our community with the most professional service with integrity and compassion, as we have always done.'

He added that the police department is cooperating with local prosecutors.

MailOnline has contacted Manalapan Township Police Department and an attorney representing Kevin Ruditsky for comment.
Britain's biggest ever warship the HMS Prince of Wales has finally set off for exercises in the US - a year after the 3billion project broke down just a few miles into the same trip amid a torrent of problems.

The 920-ft long Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier set sail from Portsmouth Naval Base today four weeks after it returned to the south coast - after spending nine months being repaired in a dry dock in Scotland.

Well-wishers snapped pictures on their phones, waved Union Jacks and bade farewell to the crew, who stood on the deck of the colossal 65,000-tonne vessel as it set off on its transatlantic journey to the States via the English Channel.

Once in the Channel the ships company will conduct trials with W Autonomous Systems to assess the feasibility of drones delivering supplies to Royal Navy vessels at sea.

The autonomous vehicles will initially fly in up to 100kg of stores for other ships in the test - with a long term goal of replacing expensive helicopter deliveries with the remotely piloted vehicles.

Well-wishers waved Union Jacks as they bade farewell to the HMS Prince of Wales as it began its transatlantic journey on Friday

The 920ft-long Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier dwarfed Portsmouth Naval Base as it set sail, delighting spectators

The HMS Prince of Wales' company waved to the public as the boat set off for exercises in the US - a year later than planned

The HMS Prince of Wales is the UK's biggest ever warship - and can hold 36 F-35B fighter jets and four Merlin helicopters (pictured)

Spectators waves and took photos on their phones as the aircraft carrier set sail. It will spend three months in the US

The ship has suffered an array of technical woes, from floods that cost millions of pounds of damage to, more recently, a problem with her propeller shaft which caused the 3.2billion aircraft carrier to breakdown shortly after setting off from Portsmouth to America in 2022

Once Stateside, crews will carry out exercises on deploying drones to deliver supplies in place of helicopters, launching F-35B Lightning stealth fighters and operating with Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft from the US Marine Corps.

The Portsmouth departure comes following the latest in a series of woes for the beleaguered aircraft carrier, which was first christened in December 2019.

She was flooded twice in her first year of service, causing millions of pounds of damage, and has so far spent more time being fixed than she has at sea.

She has, however, seen some service - visiting Gibraltar in 2021 and spendiong weeks in the Arctic Circle as a NATO command ship during drills off the coast of Norway.

But in August 2022 the vessel broke down just a few miles outside of Portsmouth after a propeller shaft broke, leaving it drifting off the coast of the Isle of Wight.

She was then taken to the Babcock shipyard in Rosyth, Scotland, where she was built, and spent months undergoing repairs.

Fears had been raised that the 65,000-tonne vessel was being 'cannibalised' for parts to be used on sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth but then-defence secretary Ben Wallace said this was 'perfectly normal' and the ship would return to service by the autumn.

She finally left the dry dock in July and returned to Portsmouth on August 4.

Those on board say the ship will finally be able to prove itself during the Stateside exercises, which will test its capacity to support fighter jets landing with more fuel and weapons to support more frequent sorties during high-intensity warfare.

The HMS Prince of Wales saw action in the Arctic Circle in early 2022, serving as a NATO command ship for exercises off the coast of Norway

The ship spent nine months being repaired at the Babcock shipyard in Rosyth, Scotland

It returned to Portsmouth last month before setting sail for the States on Friday

Tests will be conducted in the US to see if the HMS Prince of Wales can support F-35B fighter jets to conduct more frequent sorties by allowing them to land with more fuel and weapons

HMS Prince of Wales: The numbers behind colossal aircraft carrier Cost: 3.2 billion (up from 3billion) Weight: 65,000 tonnes Crew: 1,600 when fully functional. Dimensions: More than 900ft long and 230ft wide Speed: Top speed of 28 mph. Capable of travelling 500 miles a day. Fighter jets: 36 F35-B Lightning IIs, brought up from below in 60 seconds Weapons: Weapon system capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute. Radars: Long-range tracking of 1,000 aerial targets from 250 nautical miles; medium range radars can track a ball-sized target from 12 miles out. Advertisement

Tests will also be conducted with Mojave drones, which boast 1,500lb payloads of firepower, to see if the short take-off and landing vehicles can land on the Prince of Wales 901ft-long runway.

She will have a minimum crew of around 700 at any one time, increasing to around 1,600 with aircraft onboard - with capacity for 36 F-35B jets and four Merlin Helicopters.

'We are all excited for the longest deployment of HMS Prince of Wales,' said her Commanding Officer Captain Richard Hewitt.

'Being the first to operate with this level of drones will be a huge achievement and keep us on the front foot as we prepare for the next major Carrier Strike Group deployment in 2025.'

Commander Martin Russell, who leads flight deck operations, added: 'The deck team are ready and raring to go.'

The ship's company will conduct trials in the English Channel with UK firm W Autonomous Systems to assess the feasibility of drones delivering supplies to Royal Navy vessels at sea - initially flying in up to 100kg of stores.

A navy spokesman said: 'Both the Royal Navy and its supporting flotilla from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary are experimenting with drone technology - saving launching large, expensive naval helicopters to perform the missions.'

The carrier and its 750-strong crew are set to return to the UK by Christmas.
A Texas mother defending her daughter from her abusive boyfriend was arrested after she opened fire and shot the man dead after he yelled 'just shoot me.'

Patricia Conlon, 49, was taken into custody on Monday and charged with one count of murder in the killing of 34-year-old Justin Troutte, police said. The mugshot reveals a visibly distraught Colon.

The harrowing incident unfolded on Sunday around 1:50pm when Dallas police were called to a home at 4800 block of Ash Lane in Old East Dallas regarding a domestic dispute. When officers and emergency personnel arrived they found Troutte with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Conlon told police that she only shot Troutte after he reportedly grabbed her arm and pulled her hair, but, the police evidence did not match Conlon's story.

Police argued that the justification of self-defense did not hold up because she attempted to hold him at gunpoint. They asserted the 'lack of reasonableness in her action involved in the use of deadly force,' as per the affidavit.

Pictured: Patricia Conlon, 49, who taken into custody on Monday and charged with one count of murder in the killing of her daughter's boyfriend

Pictured: Josh Troutte, 34, died from a gunshot wound on Sunday afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the scene

Pictured: Conlon's daughter, Jenny Marie Archer who alleged that she was in an abusive relationship with Troutte that had been going on since late 2021

Conlon's daughter, Jennifer Conlon, had told police that she had been in abusive relationship with Troutte since December 2021, according to the arrest report.

A day before the shooting, she said that Troutte hit her above the eye with a cell phone, but she said she not file a police report in the alleged assault.

According to the affidavit, on the day of the shooting, the daughter reportedly told her mother that she was breaking it off with Troutte due to the ongoing abuse, and asked her mother to help her move out of the home the pair were sharing. The couple also had a roommate that also lived in the home.

Conlon had called the police before she arrived to assist her daughter, but entered the home before the officers arrived, Law&Crime reported.

Conlon's daughter and Troutte's roommate reportedly told police that they saw Conlon arrived at the residence through a side door, and saw her holding a gun in her hand, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The roommate told the police that they could hear Conlon and Troutte shouting at each other. At one point, Conlon confronted Troutte, who was in the bathroom.

During the heated exchange, Troutte yelled out: 'Just shoot me,' before witnesses heard multiple gunshots, according to the police report.

When Conlon spoke to police she reportedly told them that her handgun had been inside her purse, but later admitted that she was holding a handgun when she arrived at the home.

She further stated that she had planned to keep Troutte in the bathroom until police arrived. Part of her explanation she told cops was that Troutte had run away following previous domestic abuse incidents before police arrived.

Conlon reportedly told cops that she only fired after Troutte grabbed her and she claimed 'she was afraid for her life,' but the affidavit cited that Conlon 'provoked' Troutte and was unjustifiably unable to claim self defense.

Pictured: mother and daughter together smiling in this undated photo

Troutte's mother, Sue sent a heartfelt post saying she 'will always love him and his sweet spirit'

Conlon's daughter issued a post of the ordeal on her Facebook as friends sent her a virtual hug and told her they love her

According to reports, Troutte had a rap sheet going back to 2018 when pleaded guilty to assault and family violence.

Jenny Colon wrote on Friday and posted a message on Facebook regarding the ordeal as friends sent her a virtual hug and told her that they loved her.

She wrote, in part, 'that is never what I wanted or even could imagine the outcome would be. I loved someone unconditionally despite unimaginably bad consequences at every turn, and I'm desperately trying to find a way to process these events.'

Troutte's mother Sue Troutte posted a photo of her son on her Facebook sharing that she was 'always' love him.

'He came to us earlier then expected but then was taken way too early. He did manage to live life to the fullest. We will always love him and his sweet spirit,' she wrote. Thank you for all of you angels who have been with us on this journey.'

After Troutte's death many of his friends rallied including, best friend Cooper London, who claimed that his friend was the victim in the relationship.

On Monday, he wrote a seething post. 'See these two? Theyre the reason Josh Troutte is DEAD,' London, wrote in part. 'Jenny Marie Archer -> mom Patricia Conlon you are the reason he is dead.'

He added: 'Her mother SHOT MY BEST FRIEND OR JENNY YOU DID AND HAD YOUR MOM TAKE THE FALL.

'SHE IS GUILTY TOO!!!!! I watched the abuse, Ive seen it. EVERYONE WHO KNEW JOSH SHOULD CALL Dallas Police Department and report her to HOMICIDE!!!!! The amount of times she wanted him dead is uncountable.'

In the post, he urged those to contact the police.

'You Jenny deserve to be right next to your mother. Everyone her is the number of the tip line. May the call today. Help our brother get justice and get everyone involved locked away.'

Conlon's daughter, Jenny Marie Archer has not been charged in any crime.
The rescuers called upon to save the doomed Titan submersible have recalled the moment they discovered debris on the ocean floor and realized all five men onboard were dead.

There was a desperate search for the vessel, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, which was taking a crew to see the wreckage of the Titanic 12,500 feet underwater at $250,000-a-head.

A team at Pelagic Research Services, which operates remote-operated vehicles thousands of meters below the surface, was tasked with finding the Titan before it ran out of oxygen.

'Upon coming into the debris field there was a pause,' Pelagic CEO Ed Cassano told Sky News.

'Everyone's a professional, but you can't help but be impacted... it took us a moment to really understand and think about what it meant.'

The rescuers called upon to save the doomed Titan submersible have recalled the moment they discovered debris on the ocean floor and realized all five men onboard were dead

A team at Pelagic Research Services, led by CEO Ed Cassano, was tasked with finding the Titan before it ran out of oxygen

Its vehicle Odysseus 6K reached the seafloor after days of searching and found debris of the sub around 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic

Titan launched at around 4am on June 18 but lost communication with the mothership just one hour and 45 minutes later.

The Pelagic team's submersible, Odysseus 6K, reached the seafloor after days of searching and found debris of the sub around 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.

The Titan had imploded and killed everyone on board as a result of enormous water pressure.

Tourists Hamish Harding, 58, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, French Navy pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush all died on the submersible.

The Pelagic Research Services immediately became involved in the frantic search for the missing submersible and were told the Titan's oxygen was predicted to run out in four days.

The Odysseus, which is one of the few remote-operated vehicles (ROV) capable of reaching the depths of the Titanic wreck, was launched.

It was supposed to hook on to the Titan and bring it up 3,000 meters where it would be joined by another ROV which would help bring it to the surface.

But the team discovered an area of debris around 1,600 feet away from the Titanic wreck and they immediately fell silent.

Five people had been on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding (left) and Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who was just 19

French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) was on the sub along with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition

Salvaged pieces of the Titan submersible from OceanGate are returned to St. John's harbor in Newfoundland, Canada, on June 28

'We'd spent four or five days... expecting to go down there and perform a miracle,' deep sea expert Jesse Doren told Sky.

'Obviously, our sense of disappointment is miniscule compared to the people who are close to the families of those who were lost.'

The families of the five men on board were then informed about their death and the team began a salvage operation.

Cassano addressed the media to explain what happened several days later.

He chocked back tears and apologized before explaining that his team were still processing 'a lot of emotions'.

The Pelagic rescue team was scrambled on June 18 when Doren received a call from a colleague.

He was asked if his ROV was ready to go before adding 'We may need some help'.

They rushed to an airport in New York on June 19 and flew their equipment to Newfoundland in Canada, where the vessel had launched.

'Our focus was on getting our crew on location ready to effect a rescue... Our whole focus was finding these guys,' Doren told Sky News.

Cassano said: 'Everybody's first question was... how long is it gonna take you to mobilize?

'We said 12 hours, we were hoping to do it in eight. We did it in six.

'Then the question was, how fast can the ship go? The ship usually goes 10 or 11 knots, they did 17. Our focus upon arrival was getting in the water as fast as possible.'

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier

It was two hours before the Odysseus reached the sea floor and Cassano was thinking about those on board the Titan and their families.

He said: 'We were always thinking about the crew of the Titan. We were always thinking about the families.

'We were thinking about what was the best way for us to execute a rescue, knowing that we were limited in time, knowing that the submarine was a large object to recover.'

'We still had to do things safely because it's a lot of people at risk, a lot of equipment at risk, and you want to do it right,' Doren added.

'We knew we had one shot at this.'

There is an ongoing investigation into the tragedy by the Canada Transportation Safety Board.

It has conducted preliminary interviews with those on board OceanGates support vessel Polar Prince and the sub's wreckage has been inspected.

Blame or criminal and civil liability will not be attributed following the inquiry.

But it is being conducted to make sure a similar disaster does not happen ever again.
A chilling photograph has emerged of killer nurse Lucy Letby comforting a newborn as she poses as a poster girl for the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Smiling broadly in her blue nurses' uniform, the convicted killer leans over the baby in a hospital cot with her hand placed on its stomach.

The image of Letby was emblazoned across an entire page in the 2012-2013 annual report for the Trust in Cheshire.

Ironically, the report boasts about the Trust being among just a few in the country which have achieved the highest levels of 'safe care'.

This was not the only time the killer was used as a poster girl for the NHS  in 2013 she appeared on material promoting the hospital's BabyGrow appeal raising funds for a new neonatal unit.

A chilling photograph has emerged of killer nurse Lucy Letby comforting a newborn as she poses as a poster girl for the Countess of Chester Hospital

The image of Letby was emblazoned across an entire page in the 2012-2013 annual report for the Trust in Cheshire. Pictured: Countess of Chester Hospital where Letby murdered six babies

Lucy Letby, 33, (pictured in custody) was sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison last month for killing seven babies and trying to murder six more between 2015 and 2016

In a staff profile piece promoting the department she said: 'My role involves caring for a wide range of babies requiring various levels of support.

'Some are here for a few days, others for many months and I enjoy seeing them progress and supporting their families.'

READ MORE: Chilling image shows Lucy Letby at the christening of a newborn baby who died on the unit where nurse carried out her killing spree Advertisement

Letby, 33, was sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison last month for killing seven babies and trying to murder six more between 2015 and 2016.

Cheshire Police is now investigating whether Letby was already harming infants at the time the chilling image was taken.

It comes as a mother who discovered a photo of the murderer with her poorly baby at his christening called for his death to be examined again.

Emily Morris's one-month-old Alvin was being treated at the unit where Letby worked at the Countess of Chester in 2013.

She said Letby had told her Alvin's condition was deteriorating the night before he died and said it is almost like 'she was hinting that she did something'.

Ms Morris, 35, from Deeside, Flintshire, said the photo left her feeling 'sickened' and called for the death of her baby to be reinvestigated after police concluded in 2018 that there were no suspicious circumstances.

Both Ms Morris and Alvin's stepfather Mark Lewis saw the photo for the first time this week after it was found stored on a disc in a memory box that they were previously unable to download.

Cheshire Police is now investigating whether Letby was already harming infants at the time the chilling image was taken. Lucy Letby is pictured while working at the hospital

It comes as a mother who discovered a photo of the murderer with her poorly baby at his christening called for his death to be examined again. The photo - taken at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2013 - shows Emily Morris lifting her baby son Alvin out of a cot as Letby leans over to help

The couple have spoken of their horror of discovering the image of the killer fussing over the baby.

'It shocked us. It's really hard, to see a person who has done that to those babies next to you. It makes you sick,' said Ms Morris.

READ MORE: Lucy Letby was caught after a witness was haunted by accounts of the screams of the babies she killed Advertisement

'You can see she is grabbing his blanket. I have told everybody that she did that and now there's proof. That's proof that she was with him.'

Ms Morris added that Letby had written a message inside her child's christening book which read: 'To Alvin, with love on your special day.'

She told the Daily Mail: 'It's freaky. It makes you feel ill looking at it.'

Ms Morris first noticed Letby's strange behaviour around Alvin, who had been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, during the christening which took place at the hospital.

She said the nurse was constantly trying to touch him and lean over him during the intimate ceremony.

'Lucy Letby told us Alvin was deteriorating the night before he died. In the morning he was dead which is weird. It's like she was hinting that she did something,' she recalled.

'She had him the night before... We're saying it's suspicious. It's weird. She must've done something.'

This was not the only time the killer was used as a poster girl for the NHS  in 2013 she appeared on material promoting the hospital's BabyGrow appeal raising funds for a new neonatal unit. Lucy Letby is pictured holding an infant at Countess of Chester Hospital in 2012

Det Supt Paul Hughes of Cheshire Police said the force was 'committed to a complete and thorough investigation into the full period of time that Lucy Letby was employed as a nurse'.

'This investigation remains ongoing, through a transparent and open-minded process,' he said.

'The families of all babies, who are part of this investigation, have been informed and are supported. We will of course provide a more detailed update when we can.'

The UK's Department of Health and Social Care has ordered an independent inquiry into the circumstances around the deaths and how Letby was able to carry out her killing spree.
President Joe Biden has an impeachment war room set up at the White House, filled with dozens of lawyers and aides to help him battle House Republicans, according to a new report out Friday.

Those battle plans include taking on GOP lawmakers digging into Hunter Biden's business dealings and those threatening to impeach the president - a move that could come by the end of the month.

The war room will be based in the White House counsel's office and will be staffed by lawyers, legislative aides and communications staffers who will act aggressively against Republicans' investigations, NBC News reported.

President Biden has a war room in the White House to combat House Republicans

It comes as Biden ramps up his re-election efforts and many polls show voters want an alternative choice for the White House.

The White House has acted more aggressively in recent days, including going after Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for saying she would not vote to fund the government this month unless there was an impeachment inquiry launched against the president.

The ramp up comes as the possiblity of an impeachment grows.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has signaled that the process against Biden could be launched this month and could potentially move forward without a full House vote.

Republicans have pushed allegations of corruption against Biden tied to Hunter Biden's business work and argued the two federal investigations into Donald Trump are politically-motivated.

The White House argued the impeachment threat is about politics.

'Comparing this to past impeachments isn't apples to apples or even apples to oranges; it's apples to elephants,' a White House aide told NBC News. 'Never in modern history has an impeachment been based on no evidence whatsoever.'

Moving forward without a full House vote would avoid forcing moderates from swing districts to go on record with such a politically dicey matter. But it comes at the risk of McCarthy looking like he is politicizing the impeachment process - something he has been adamant in saying he does not want to do.

But McCarthy is also under pressure from Trump - who remains furious about his own two impeachments (he was acquited in both cases by the Senate - and conservative Republicans.

Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the vice chair of the GOP conference, laid out the case for impeachment on Fox News Monday morning: 'Article two, Section four says that treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. And on Capitol Hill, a lot of people debate and quibble about what high crimes and misdemeanors are.

'But we know what bribery is. It's someone paying you to do their bidding. And that's what happened here, apparently.'

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has indicated an impeachment proceeding against Biden could come sometime in September

House Republicans are also investigating Hunter Biden's business dealings

Trump also has been vocal on the issue.

'The Republicans in Congress, though well meaning, keep talking about an impeachment 'inquiry' of crooked Joe Biden,' the former president posted to Truth Social. 'Biden is a Stone Cold Crook - you don't need a long INQUIRY to prove it, it's already proven.'

'Either impeach the BUM or fade into OBLIVION,' Trump added.

The White House has avidly denied Joe had any involvement in Hunter's business dealings and Democrats have taken to saying that Hunter profited off the 'illusion' of access to his then-vice president father in business meetings.

Additionally, the White House has repeatedly pointed out the Justice Department operates as an independent agency and they don't comment on its investigations.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has provided the first detailed account of the transaction where billionaire Harlan Crowe purchased his mother's home  with his lawyer for the first time confirming she lived rent-free for years.

Lawyer Elliott Berke described the unusual transaction in a combative statement as Thomas finally updated his financial disclosures to reveal the 2014 sale totaling $133,000.

The idea for the purchase of the modest dwelling began on a trip that year when Crow, the Justice, and Thomas' wife Ginnie Thomas visited the home, and Crow 'witnessed firsthand how the neighborhood was blighted and dangerous with derelicts, drug users, and junkies, notably in the house next to the Justice's mother and in the other houses on her street.'

So began effort Berke described as a 'mini urban renewal project.' ProPublica revealed key details of the transaction after Thomas omitted it from his financial disclosure forms until Thursday.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' mother Leola Williams got a 'life estate' from billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow, who purchased her home, and has been living rent-free, according to Thomas' lawyer

Crow 'believed that if he built a seed home with a good tenant it would improve the neighborhood,' according to Berke. He built a house that he still owns, and sold the others to a developer.

He then provided 'a life estate to Mrs. [Leola] Williams (Thomas' mother) 'to live in this home for the rest of her life without rent.'

Berke claimed it wasn't a gift but 'part of the overall transaction.'

Without the deal, Williams 'would likely not have sold the home at that time if she had to move. This would have defeated Mr. Crow's intent to purchase the home in order to preserve it.'

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (left) disclosed that Republican billionaire Harlan Crow (right) paid for a trio of his private flights in financial disclosure forms that were released Thursday. Crow also bought a home that Thomas partly owned with the intention of turning it into a museum. Thomas' mother lives there

A picture of the boathouse at Camp Topridge, the private Adirondacks resort owned by billionaire Harlan Crow. Camp Topridge is invitation-only and has some unusual features including a recreation of Hagrid from Harry Potter's hut. Thomas disclosed staying there on his updated disclosure

The statement says Thomas told Crow that after his mother passed away, 'he intended to have the property bulldozed.' Crow then touted the idea of preserving it 'for possible museum.'

It says he didn't know Thomas had an interest in the property at the time.

It was just one of the Georgia properties Crow snatched up in an effort to honor the Supreme Court Justice, who Berke in the statement called a friend.

(It also raps left wing 'watchdog' groups for 'attacking Thomas' for his 'relationships with personal friends who happen to be wealthy.')

Crow purchased a former oyster and crab factory where Thomas' mother and family members worked, financed a museum in restored buildings to celebrate the Gullah Geechee culture, and also provided a life estate to family members living in adjoining property. He contributed to a prominent art school's effort to restore a former convent where Catholic nuns had taught the future jurist.

The letter says Thomas engaged both the law firm and an accounting firm to provide his updated disclosures.

It calls the transactions 'arms-length' and fair market value.

They calculated that although Thomas enjoyed proceeds of $44,000, he and his wife had put 'between $50,000 and $75,000 into his mother's home in capital improvements over the years'  which means the transaction 'amounted to a loss.'

Slate magazine confirmed this spring that Williams continues to live in the home.

The explanation came along with a filing where Thomas disclosed that Republican donor and billionaire paid for his private flights and meals on three trips in 2022.

Thomas said that Crow flew him home in February from Dallas after he keynoted the American Enterprise Institute's conference at Crow's property Old Parkland due to an 'unexpected ice storm.'

That May, Crow provided flights to Thomas on his private jet due to the 'increased security risk' after a copy of the Dobbs abortion decision leaked. Thomas was again appearing at the American Enterprise Institute's conference at Old Parkland in Texas.

A third trip in July that was financed by Crow, was to Keese Mill, New York, the town adjacent to Crow's private resort in the Adirondacks, Camp Topridge.

That followed stunning revelations in an initial ProPublica report, which revealed Thomas vacationed on his superyacht, visited the exclusive all-male retreat at Bohemian Grove, visited Crow's ranch, and summered regularly at his tranquil estate in Upstate New York.

Berke said any errors in Thomas' filings were 'stricly inadvertent,' although lawmakers are pushing to require more detailed annual filings.
Paris has fumigated for the first time to stop deadly Asian tiger mosquitos spreading dengue fever across the French capital.

Authorities closed roads in two of the capital's suburbs and scrambled to send stay-at-home alerts to residents of the city, while pest controllers sprayed insecticide in potential breeding hotspots.

Dengue fever, dubbed 'break-bone fever' for its painful joint pain symptom, can also cause high fever, headaches, body aches, nausea and rashes, according to the World Health Organisation.

The disease is more common in tropical climates, raising concerns that heat waves and severe flooding, that are becoming more frequent as the climate changes, could result in the insects posing a greater danger in Europe.

The fumigation operation in the French capital not the first of its kind in France, with pest-controllers attempting to get ahead of the rise in tropical diseases in the southern parts of the country.

The mosquitos are native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asiaand ad can easily adapt to different environments, particularly urban ones

It follows after two people were identified to have been infected with dengue while abroad, raising concerns that Aedes albopictus, also known as the 'Asian tiger mosquito' could bite an infected person and spark a chain of transmission in the country.

The mosquitos are native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asiaand ad can easily adapt to different environments, particularly urban ones, invading cities by a vast laying its eggs in small volumes of water.

The tiger mosquito transmits disease by biting humans and spreading viruses such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika.

The deadly mosquito was first spotted in France in 2004, and has now been found in 71 of the 96 departments on the mainland.

Adding to fears of the rate and proximity of its invasion, it has also been spotted in 13 countries, including all of Italy and Croatia, and parts of Spain and Germany.

Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the ECDC, told The Telegraph in June: 'If this [trend] continues, we can expect to see more cases and possibly deaths from diseases such as dengue'.

Dr Jolyon Medlock, head of medical entomology and zoonoses ecology at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), told The Telegraph that 'in 10 to 15 years' the UK will also face a scourge of the Asian tiger mosquitoes.

400 million people around the world are infected with with dengue each year and at least 100 million become ill as a result.

Paris has fumigated for the first time to stop deadly Asian tiger mosquitos spreading dengue fever across the French capital

Most people who get dengue won't have symptoms, with cases being generally mild, but with 500,000 people hospitalised annually, between 20,000 and 40,000 of these patients die.

This year has seen major outbreaks in much of Asia and South America, with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Peru and Bolivia among those worst hit.

On Thursday Guatemala declared a national health emergency as the virus has killed 22 and infected more than 12,000 since January.
A Missouri judge ruled Thursday that a white homeowner accused of shooting a Black teenager who went to the wrong Kansas City house will stand trial.

Andrew Lester, 84, allegedly shot teen Ralph Yarl on the night of April 13 when the youth went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers from their babysitter.

FILE  This undated photo provided by Ben Crump Law shows Ralph Yarl.

Lester, a retired aircraft mechanic, previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 20.

Clay County Judge Louis Angles issued Thursdays ruling after a dozen witnesses including Yarl spoke during a preliminary hearing.

Yarl testified he had lost his phone at school earlier that day and went to a house on the wrong street. The houses in question have the same number and are on parallel streets.

He said that he reached for the screen door when the inner door opened, but Lester said, Dont come here ever again before Yarl was shot in the head and arm.

Lesters attorney argued his client was terrified and acting in self-defense. Missouri is one of dozens of states with stand your ground laws.

Crime scene workers testified surveillance cameras in Lesters home did not record footage of the incident.

The new ruling came a day after officials in South Carolina decided not to press charges after a college student was fatally shot attempting to enter the wrong home on his block early Saturday morning.

Yarl, now 17, is still recovering from the shooting  which left a bullet embedded in his brain  and recently began his senior year of high school.

Several other people have been shot in similar incidents this year.

In April, Kaylin Gillis, 20, was shot and killed in upstate New York after the car she was riding in turned into the wrong driveway. Kevin Monahan, 65, shot at the car, striking Gillis. He was charged with second-degree murder.

That same month, cheerleaders Heather Roth and Payton Washington were shot after Roth mistakenly got into the wrong car in a grocery store parking lot in Texas. Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, was arrested and charged with deadly conduct.
Ecuador has been mired by a wave of violence dating back three years as gangs linked to Mexican cartels are warring over drug trafficking routes

The explosions came after inmates kidnapped more than 50 cops and guards at prisons following raids by security forces searching for weapons

This is the shocking moment a car bomb was set off in front of government building in Ecuador as part of an ongoing battle with gangs linked to Mexican cartels who are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes.

The vehicle explosion took place outside the Women's and Human Rights Ministry on Wednesday night in the capital Quito. A second blast outside the prison ministry's building rocked the city early on Thursday.

Footage of the incident shows the vehicle on fire after it had exploded before two more blasts as residents looked on in shock.

'Son of a b****. Son of a b*****. They just placed a bomb outside my house,' a man says in the clip. 'A car bomb outside my house. Son of a b****. A car bomb. It's one. Yes, another one now just '

It comes as gangs backed by Mexican and Colombian cartels are waging a deadly war against the government as they wrestle for control of territory used as drug trafficking routes.

Residents in Quito keep their distance while recording the exploding car outside the Women's and Human Rights Ministry on Wednesday night

On Friday, 44 cops and guards were released by inmates who took them hostage at the Turi prison in Cuenca, Ecuador. None of the agents were injured

Ecuador's National Police said two other bombings were reported in the capital. Another blast was reported in El Oro, a province that sits across from Peru.

Five Ecuadorians and one Colombian were arrested in connection with the first explosion. Five other suspects, whose nationalities are unknown, were apprehended for their roles in the second blast.

National Police General Pablo Ramirez, the national director of anti-drug investigations, told reporters on Thursday that gas cylinders, fuel, fuses and blocks of dynamite were recovered from where the first car exploded.

The suspects, authorities said, utilized gas tanks to carry out the blasts in the El Oro communities of Casacay and Bella India.

The bombings came as more than 50 police officers and guards are being held hostage at six different prisons, including Cotopaxi.

At least 2,000 agents entered the jail searching for guns and did not find any. However, they discovered 40 sharp weapons, two bulletproof vests and an ammunition clip.

Inmates at the Turi prison released 44 hostages on Friday afternoon, Azua Governor Azuay, Consuelo Orellana said.

View of the Turi jail where dozens of prison guards and police officers have been kidnapped by the inmates in Cuenca, Ecuador, on Thursday. The country has been rocked by the explosions of four car bombs and the hostage-taking of more than 50 law enforcement officers inside various detention facilities

A vehicle that blew up outside the Women's and Human Rights Ministry building is cordoned off by authorities in Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday. The building used to be the location of the government's National Service for Attention for People Deprived of Liberty, which runs the jail system

Inmates mill around on the roofs of the El Turi prison in Cuenca, Ecuador, on Thursday following the kidnapping of 44 cops and guards, who were all released without injury Friday

None of the law enforcement agents who are being held captive have been injured, according to Interior Minister Juan Zapata.

A video leaked by the jail inmates shows lieutenant Alonso Quintana surrounded by cops pleading with authorities 'not to make decisions that violate the rights of persons deprived of their liberty.'

Ecuadorian authorities attributed the unrest to criminal groups whose members were targeted inside prisons, where security forces launched a series of raids this week in search of weapons.

The government has struggled to contain the rise in violence over the last three years caused by a power struggle after the 2020 murder of Jorge Zambrano, alias 'Rasquina' or 'JL,' the leader of the local Los Choneros gang.

Los Choneros and other criminal groups linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels are fighting over drug-trafficking routes and control of territory, including within detention facilities, where at least 400 inmates have died since 2021.

The gangs are known of carrying out contract murders, run extortion operations, move and sell drugs, and control the prisons.

The hostage takings come almost one month after presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinate outside a rally.

He had accused Los Choneros and its imprisoned current leader, Adolfo Macias, alias "Fito," of threatening him and his campaign team days before the assassination.

Authorities arrested six Colombian men linked to the murder.
A chaotic Labor Day weekend is on the cards for many as 95 million Americans are expected to be traveling over the vacation period - which looks set to be riddled with traffic delays.

More than 20 million passengers are expected to fly out of state from Saturday to Monday - an 11 percent increase on last year - according to travel booking app Hopper, following on from a boom in international travel in recent months.

Meanwhile, millions more Americans are taking to the roads for shorter getaways at nearby beaches, theme parks, and woodland retreats to make the most of the last days of summer.

David Pekoske, from the Transport Security Administration, said passenger volumes this year are expected to be even greater than last year - which already exceeded 2019 levels.

Last year's Labor Day weekend was marred by mass cancelations. This year's vacation could be similar, with 2,522 arrivals and departures from the United States delayed on Friday already, according to tracking website Flight Aware.

A chaotic Labor Day weekend is on the cards for many as 95 million Americans are expected to be traveling over the vacation period - which looks set to be riddled with traffic delays. (Pictured: Grand Central Terminal in New York ahead of the start of the Labor Day weekend)

More than 20 million people are expected to fly out of state this Labor Day weekend - an 11% increase over last year - according to travel booking app Hopper. (Pictured: a passenger at O'Hare International Airport on Friday)

David Pekoske, from the Transport Security Administration, said passenger volumes this year are expected to be even greater than last year - which already exceeded 2019 levels

'We anticipate this Labor Day holiday weekend will be busy, with passenger volumes nearly 11 percent higher than last year-volumes that already exceeded 2019 Labor Day holiday travel volumes,' TSA's Pekoske said in a statement.

This comes after a giant dust cloud in Arizona caused mass power outages and grounded flights on Thursday, particularly around Maricopa County, the state's most populous area.

Meanwhile, further east, Hurricane Idalia wrecked havoc in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, upending travel plans for thousands.

According to flight-tracking website Flightaware.com, more than 1,500 flights were delayed and 60 were canceled on Friday as the storm slammed into the Big Bend region.

Despite this, nearly 400,000 passengers were scheduled to depart from airports in the direct path of Idalia on Thursday and Friday, according to Hopper.

Atlanta, GA, is expected to be the busiest airport, with 1, 541, 254 people due to depart over the Labor Day vacation.

Some 1,024,839 passengers will take off from Denver, CO, which will be the second-busiest airport over the long weekend.

Dallas Fort-Worth, TX, comes in third with 983,089 people leaving the state over the Labor Day period, with Los Angeles, CA, fourth at 927,031 and Chicago, IL, fifth with 816,943.

As vacationers prepare to fly out this weekend, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned passengers to 'respect flight crews' working over the Labor Day period.

'If you're onboard an airplane, do not get in the way of the flight crew,' he told CNN Friday before boarding a flight at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.

'We expect everybody to respect flight crews and their fellow passengers.'

'No one should do anything that endangers the flight crew or fellow passengers on a plane, and doing so could lead to you being referred for criminal prosecution and facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines.'

As vacationers prepare to fly out this weekend, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (pictured) warned passengers to 'respect flight crews' working over the Labor Day period

Last year's Labor Day weekend was marred by mass cancelations, with thousands of frustrated flyers waiting hours - or sometimes even days - for a new flight following major delays. (Pictured: people travel through JFK Airport Terminal 4 for the Labor Day weekend)

Millions more Americans are taking to the roads for shorter getaways at nearby beaches, theme parks, and woodland retreats

Nationwide, international bookings for flights, hotels, rental cars, and cruises for the Labor Day weekend were up 44 percent from a year ago, according to travel group AAA, while domestic bookings rose 4 percent compared with last year.

The exodus is good news for hoteliers, who can expect to cash in on the bookings.

Travel operators with a larger international footprint have reported strong earnings, with companies ranging from Airbnb to Marriott forecasting strong future demand due to robust global travel and higher room rates.

'US room rates were up 2.5 percent for the first 26 days in August and we expect similar rate increases year over year for the long weekend,' said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group.

AAA said Vancouver, Rome, London, Dublin, and Paris were the top five destinations for the long weekend.

Domestic cruise bookings also look strong, up 19 percent compared with a year earlier, AAA estimated.

Airfare for domestic getaways is averaging $226 per ticket, down 11 percent from last year and 20 percent lower from the Labor Day weekend in 2019, according to Hopper.
Shocking bodycam footage reveals the moment a pregnant black woman was shot dead by police after she drove into an officer in a Kroger parking lot.

Ta'Kiya Young, 21, was a mother to two young children and was pregnant with a third when she was shot dead inside her car in Blendon Township, Ohio last Thursday after rolling her car into a police officer. The unborn child was also killed.

Local police officers approached Young in her car after a Kroger store employee accused her of stealing. The family's lawyer denies she was involved in theft.

Sean Walton, an attorney representing Young's family, said the video clearly shows that the shooting was unjustified and has called for the officer to be fired and charged immediately.

'The video did nothing but confirm their fears that Ta'Kiya was murdered unjustifiably...and it was just heartbreaking for them to see Ta'Kiya having her life taken away under such ridiculous circumstances,' Walton told AP. 'Ta'Kiya's family is heartbroken.'

Local police officers approached Young in her car after a Kroger store employee accused her of stealing

Footage shows one officer interacting with the victim at her window, while another stands in front of the hood of her car

The officer is pictured speaking to Young through the window, while his colleague moves to the hood of the car

The officer can be seen standing at her window, wanting to speak to her about theft allegations

Young winds down the window and tells the officer she had nothing to do with the theft, and it was another woman

Police on Friday released the bodycam footage, and an investigation led by Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation remains ongoing.

The video shows one officer talking to Young at her window, while another stands in front of the bonnet of her car.

Young is seen rolling down her car window and asking police why she is being stopped before turning the steering wheel and rolling her car forward into the second officer.

Shortly before the shot is fired, Young can be heard asking: 'Are you going to shoot me?'

The second officer then fires a single shot through the windscreen, ultimately resulting in her death.

Young's vehicle continues to drift forward until it hits the brick wall of the grocery store to the right.

The officer's pursue the moving vehicle and break the driver's side window.

Blendon Township Chief John Belford said in a statement on Friday that within 10 seconds of getting Young out of her vehicle, officers called for paramedics and within 90 seconds, an emergency room doctor, who was in the parking lot at the time, began helping police treat her.

Ta'Kiya Young, 21, was the mother of two young children and was pregnant with a third when she was shot inside her car in Blendon Township

'Her tragic passing has left a void that words can't describe, especially for her two young sons, who must now grow up without the love and guidance of their mother' a family statement read

Friends comfort each other at a private candlelight vigil on August 25 in Columbus

Blendon Township has not yet released the identities of either officer, citing Marsy's Law which aims to protect the victims of crime

Blendon Township Chief John Belford said in a statement on Friday that within 10 seconds of getting Young out of her vehicle, officers called for paramedics

'Ta'Kiya was a beacon of love, strength and energy to all who knew her,' her family said

A statement released on behalf of Young's family after viewing the footage called Young's death 'avoidable,' and a 'hateful act.'

'Ta'Kiya was a beacon of love, strength and energy to all who knew her,' the statement read.

'Her tragic passing has left a void that words can't describe, especially for her two young sons, who must now grow up without the love and guidance of their mother, and while coming to understand the circumstances that led to her homicide.'

The statement also said Young's family wants a 'swift indictment' of the officer who fired the shot.

Blendon Township has not yet released the identities of either officer, citing Marsy's Law which aims to protect the victims of crime.

However, Young's family have identified the officer as Connor Grubb, who has been with Blendon Township since 2019, according to Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission records, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

The department said the first officer, who did not fire his weapon, had his arm and hand inside the driver's window when Young accelerated, making him a victim of misdemeanor assault.

The second officer, who fired his weapon, was hit by the vehicle and a victim of attempted vehicular assault, the statement said.

Brian Steel, executive vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Capital City Lodge No. 9, said the footage was hard to watch.

'Based on my training experience, from what I saw in that video, I understand why it could be justified,' he said.

'But again, I don't make that decision. Ultimately, a grand jury is going to make that decision.

'The fact is: Miss Young was not shot for stealing alcohol. She was shot because following an aggravated robbery, she tried to run down a fellow human being' he added.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation into the incident.

Upon the investigation's conclusion the Franklin County Prosecutor's office will present the case to a grand jury for review.
A woman dubbed 'Poolside Karen' for her tirade against a Latino family told police 'I'm not usually racist'.

Blair Featherman, 49, launched the attack on the group for having a party at a Colorado swimming pool over the July 4 weekend.

Video uploaded by a member of the Latino family to TikTok shows her becoming so irate that she had to be held down by a man she was with.

Newly released Lakewood Police bodycam footage has provided more detail as to what happened after the altercation.

Featherman branded the family 'trashy' and 'nasty' and told an officer 'they don't belong here'.

A woman dubbed 'Poolside Karen' for her tirade against a Latino family told police 'I'm not usually racist'

Blair Featherman, 49, launched the attack on the group for having a party at a Colorado swimming pool over the July 4 weekend

The police were called to the scene following the altercation in which Featherman told them to 'go back down to Denver'.

Bodycam footage, obtained by The Messenger, shows her telling an officer: 'I'm not usually racist at all.

'But I'll tell you what, they come in, and they come in for their party, they're trashy, they're nasty, and they don't belong here. I pay for this.'

She is also heard complaining that the family she got into an argument with would not be arrested 'because they are Latinos'

Featherman later claims they are part of a gang, without providing any evidence.

Members from the Latino family explained to officers that they were residents of the luxury Alta Green Mountain complex and they had in fact paid to rent out the clubhouse for a family party.

The two independent witnesses, who live at the complex, are heard telling police that Featherman instigated the ordeal.

'She said some weird, super racist s, got really aggressive,' one told an officer.

While another said: '[Featherman] started all of it; she was saying you guys do not belong here,' before adding the woman told her to 'go back to Mexico'.

But Featherman told an officer she had a video which showed her being attacked by the group.

However, an officer is heard saying her clip did not show anything 'criminal' happening.

'I know a cop, and this is BS,' she replies. It then appears she calls the officer she knows and tries to get them to speak on the phone with those at the scene.

But the responding officer explains he can't press charges until she could prove there had been an assault.

Featherman says: 'I get it, I get it. People just get away with everything these days  because they are Latinos.'

Newly released Lakewood Police bodycam footage has provided more detail as to what happened after the altercation

Featherman branded the family 'trashy' and 'nasty' and told an officer 'they don't belong here'

She is also heard complaining that the family she got into an argument with would not be arrested 'because they are Latinos'

She denied the family's claims that she hit a 14-year-old girl who was recording her during the tirade but later admitted she had tried to take her phone.

'I'm sure she is [saying that]  they want to kill any white person,' Featherman claims.

'Let her go claim it. I'll see her in court!'

The original video shared on TikTok shows her complaining about the group - while calling them 'trash' and saying they should 'go back down to Denver.'

Drawing a crowd of several people - and eventually police - she continues to shout and harass the family in the clip, at one point screaming 'Get the f*** out.'

'Yes, it's true,' the bikini-clad woman is heard saying in the clip, visibly annoyed by the group's presence. 'You have a f*****g Mexican party in a pool.'

At this point, Featherman approaches the woman filming, before physically accosting her.

'You can't do that. You can't just record me,' she says, before hitting the phone out of the hands of the person filming.

The spliced footage then jumps to what is presumed to be a few minutes later, with Featherman now being held down by a male member of her own party on one of the pool's sun loungers.

As this is happening, she continues to hit out at the family over their presence.

Several proceed to surround and argue with Featherman - as she continues to shout while attempting to confront the now angry group.

Amid the commotion, she can still be heard uttering xenophobic statements, such as 'Get the f**k out' and 'go back down to Denver'.

Featherman proceeds to yell and shout for nearly the entire duration of the video, which is just under a minute long.

When asked by one of the victims to leave the pool herself, she is heard responding that she lives in Lakewood - the affluent suburb where the complex is set.

Featherman launched into a racist rant at her luxury apartment complex in Colorado, calling a group of Latinos 'trash'

Featherman said she was the one who was attacked by a group of women, but the posted video carefully avoided showing that

She told the group they should 'go back down to Denver.' The ordeal took place at her apartment complex, where condos cost up to $6,500 a month to rent

At one point she is heard angrily telling the family, who had been having a poolside bash: 'I live here, nowhere you ever came from, you f****** low-class slime.'

The video then cuts to a shot of at least three police officers arriving on the scene.

They are seen talking to Featherman and the man who had been holding her down, before the clip ends.

Featherman previously told Dailymail.com that she was goaded into her ill-thought comments by a wannabe model who is desperate for TikTok views.

And she said she was the one who was attacked by a group of women, but the posted video did not show that.

'I have been trying to stay silent and not comment about this, but there are things the video doesn't show,' art consultant Featherman said.

'I'm not a racist. It was deceptively edited and put together to tell a narrative that isn't true.'

She said she was attacked after complaining that the group was breaking rules about the number of guests a resident at the complex could take to the pool.

She admits she was wrong to take the bait and get involved in an argument but said things had developed to a point of exasperation.

Featherman told DailyMail.com that the group was loud and there were too many people around the pool who did not live at Alta Green Mountain.

That is when things escalated, she claimed, saying members of the group started shouting racial epithets at her and filming her as she sat poolside. 'They were calling me white b***h and white this and white that,' she said.

'I was already having a bad day,' Featherman said. 'But this was too much.'

As she reached for the phone, she claimed she was physically attacked.
Families visiting Chessington World of Adventures Resort can avoid Sadiq Khan's hated Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) by parking nearby for free and getting a bus - as visitors share tips on how to dodge 20 charges.

Thousands more drivers with non-compliant vehicles are now being hit by 12.50 a day charges after the controversial scheme was officially expanded by the Mayor of London on August 29.

Chessington, part of the London borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, is included in the expansion but many surrounding areas in Surrey such as Epsom are not, meaning the town forms somewhat of a Ulez peninsula.

Frustrated visitors are now coming up with ways to avoid paying the 12.50 charge - which would add on to Chessington's 8 parking fees on weekends.

Visitors have suggested parking in nearby Epsom, Ewell and Leatherhead for free and getting the 467 bus to the theme park to avoid the total daily charge of 20.50.

It comes after it emerged earlier this week that families driving to Hampton Court Palace do not have to pay the Ulez fee if they follow a certain route despite the site being inside the charging area.

Visitors to Chessington can park in Epsom and Ewell and get on the 467 bus to the theme park. This way, they will avoid a 12.50 Ulez charge and 8 parking at the theme park on weekends

Families visiting Chessington World of Adventures Resort have shared sneaky tips on how to avoid Sadiq Khan's hated Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) after its expansion earlier this week

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey, who is also the MP for Kingston and Surbiton, has called for the Ulez zone in Chessington to be pushed further north

Visitors to Chessington can park near a bus stop along the 467 route which starts at Epsom Hospital and terminates at Hinchley Wood School.

As it is a TfL bus, the cost of the fare will be 1.75 for adults - meaning visitors to the theme park can save a total of 18.75.

Families can park for free on most of one side of London Road outside Ewell Hall in Ewell, Epsom, while on Sundays and after 6.30pm Monday to Saturday, there is no charge on the opposite side.

Free parking is also available every day in Church Street which adjoins to London Road. Once parked up, visitors can walk less than 10 minutes to the Ewell West Station bus stop and make their way to the theme park on the 467, getting off at Chessington School.

If families don't mind a walk they can also park at the Epsom Common Car Park for free and walk through the fields to the Epsom Station bus stop. The walk would take around 30 minutes, a bus would take 13 minutes or a cycle would be nine minutes.

On Sundays, motorists can also park in Epsom town centre for 2.50 all day. By getting a bus into Chessington, visitors would still save 16.25.

If you are coming from the other direction, motorists can park near Hinchley Wood School and hop on the 467 bus towards Epsom, getting off near the theme park.

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey, who is the MP for Kingston and Surbiton, has written to Sadiq Khan to voice concerns about the expansion on Hook and Chessington.

Pictured: The new Ulez expansion. The Chessington peninsula sticks out at the bottom left

Chessington told MailOnline that while it backed plans to reduce air pollution, it did not want its visitors to be punished by the charges. Pictured: A Ulez camera in Chessington

A vandalised Ulez sign in Chessington. Visitors to the theme park risk being charged more than 20 with the Ulez zone and parking

He has called for the new boundary to be moved further north up to the A3 which would mean Chessingon wouldn't be part of it.

Social media users have also voiced concerns about the expansion and shared tips to get out of being charged. One user said: 'I've heard some folk are parking up in nearby Epsom to avoid 8 resort parking and 12.50 ULEZ.'

Another said: 'I live Leatherhead and just get the bus or we get dropped off which takes about 5 minutes.' They added: 'Park in Leatherhead and get the 465 bus.'

Chessington told Mailonline that while it backs plans to reduce air pollution, it did not want its visitors to be punished by the charges.

A spokesman for the theme park said: 'We recognise that there continues to be different views about the expansion of the ULEZ area to the boundaries of Greater London.

'Whilst we are supportive of efforts to reduce emissions and air pollution, we also believe that those guests who unavoidably have to travel by car should not be penalised.

'With the expanded ULEZ boundary coming into force, our focus is on ensuring that those travelling to Chessington World of Adventures Resort using a non-compliant vehicle, avoid incurring a penalty charge.

'We are therefore advising guests to check whether their vehicles are ULEZ-compliant prior to visiting.'

Pictured: A build up of traffic at a roundabout on Bridge Road in Chessington at the point where the Ulez zone starts

Chesington added that visitors should think about using public transport such as trains from London to avoid charges.

Ulez cameras revealed: Interactive map shows how to dodge Sadiq Khan's enforcement cameras and avoid 12.50-a-day charge Advertisement

A spokesman continued: 'Whilst the vast majority of our guests will not incur the ULEZ charge, we want to advise those who may be liable  and help them take any necessary steps, such as knowing how to pay the daily charge or choose alternative means of transport.

'Our focus continues to be on ensuring that families have memorable days out at the Resort, and that includes being able to travel to us as cost effectively as possible.'

People who drive in the Ulez in a vehicle that does not meet minimum emissions standards are now required to pay a 12.50 daily fee or risk a 180 fine, reduced to 90 if paid within 14 days.

The expansion has triggered several protests, while new data has revealed that at least a quarter of the cameras have been damaged by vandals.

A crowd-sourced map appears to show that 450 of the 1,762 cameras installed to monitor cars in the zone are damaged or missing, The Telegraph reported.
Following Jeffrey Epstein's death, JPMorgan Chase reported more than $1 billion in 'suspicious' transaction for the sex predator over 16 years, a lawyer for the US Virgin Islands has claimed in court.

Mimi Liu, a lawyer for the territory, said at a hearing on Thursday in Manhattan federal court that JPMorgan flagged the transactions as suspicious to the Treasury Department after Epstein's 2019 death.

'Epstein's entire business with JPMorgan, and JPMorgan's entire business with Epstein, was human trafficking,' said Liu as she argued for a summary court judgement in favor of the plaintiffs.

The territory is suing JPMorgan for at least $190 million, saying the bank ignored red flags about convicted sex offender Epstein because he was a wealthy and lucrative client from 1998 to 2013.

In court, an attorney for the bank said JPMorgan had notified the Treasury Department about Epstein's transactions several times before his death, including as early as 2002.

Epstein is seen with his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in an undated evidence photo. JPMorgan Chase told US authorities it processed more than $1 billion in 'suspicious' transaction for the sex predator over 16 years, it was claimed in court

The bank's disclosures about Epstein to the Treasury, known as suspicious activity reports, are not public and could not be reviewed by DailyMail.com. A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment.

Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013, when the bank fired him. The disgraced financier had been awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges when he died behind bars in a Manhattan jail, in what officials ruled a suicide.

JPMorgan, the largest US bank, has denied knowing that Epstein was running a sex trafficking operation while he was a client.

The bank has also fired back at the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two private islands, alleging top officials there gave him tax breaks and waived sex-offender monitoring requirements in exchange for cash and gifts.

The USVI attorney Liu mentioned the $1 billion amount, which had not been previously disclosed, in arguing the court should find before the case goes to trial that the bank participated in Epstein's sex trafficking.

She said no reasonable juror could find that JPMorgan was in the dark about its jet-setting client.

'JPMorgan was a full service bank for Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking,' Liu said.

Felicia Ellsworth, a lawyer for JPMorgan, said it was not appropriate for the judge to determine the question of the bank's knowledge before trial, because current and former employees have testified that they were unaware of Epstein's sex trafficking.

She said JPMorgan notified the Treasury Department at least six times about Epstein's transactions, including as early as 2002.

JPMorgan CEO Jaime Dimon has denied any knowledge of Epstein or his account with JPMorgan until his 2019 arrest on federal charges

Epstein had owned two private islands within the US Virgin Islands, including Little St. James (above), where he infamously brought many young women and girls

JPMorgan's filings have shown that Cecile de Jongh, the former USVI first lady, was on Epstein's payroll and managed his affairs even as her husband served as territorial governor

Ellsworth also disputed the U.S. Virgin Islands' claim that JPMorgan obstructed investigations into Epstein, saying the bank had asked federal authorities about their own probes into his conduct.

That is 'the polar opposite of trying to obstruct,' she said.

US District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan has not yet ruled on Thursday's motions.

An October 23 trial is scheduled. Rakoff said he would decide by the end of September whether to resolve major legal disputes sooner.

In June, Rakoff preliminarily approved JPMorgan's $290 million settlement with women who say Epstein abused them.

Deutsche Bank, where Epstein was a client from 2013 to 2018, had earlier reached a $75 million settlement with his accusers. Neither bank admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlements.

Epstein had owned two private islands within the US Virgin Islands, including Little St. James, where he infamously brought many young women and girls, and which locals commonly referred to as 'orgy island' or 'pedo island'.

JPMorgan's filings have shown that the former first lady of the territory, Cecile de Jongh, was on Epstein's payroll and managed his affairs even as her husband served as territorial governor.

'Rather than account for its own failures to investigate and monitor this criminal under its jurisdiction and to protect its citizens and sovereign interests, USVI blames a third-party bank that did not have USVI's authority to enforce any law, nor USVI's knowledge of Epstein's crimes in USVI's territory, and seeks to pursue such claims at the expense of dragging Epstein's victims through yet more litigation,' the bank said in a recent filing.

Jes Staley, 66, was Epstein's friend and top contact at JPMorgan. The bank is separately suing Staley, claiming he concealed what he knew about Epstein and internally vouched for him

Jeffrey Epstein is seen with his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in an undated photo. Epstein died behind bars in an apparent suicide. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence

Meanwhile, the Virgin Islands attorneys said that former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley testified under oath that he discussed Epstein's 'very public' 2006 indictment in Florida with the bank's CEO Jaime Dimon at the time it was making headlines.

Dimon has previously denied any knowledge of Epstein or his account with JPMorgan until his 2019 arrest on federal charges, saying that he did not recall any conversations about Epstein with top lieutenants.

Staley, 66, led JPMorgan's asset management business from 2001 to 2009, and its corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013. He later spent six years as Barclays Plc's chief executive.

JPMorgan is separately suing Staley to cover its losses in the lawsuits filed by the Virgin Islands and Epstein's victims, claiming he concealed what he knew about the disgraced financier and internally vouched for him.

Staley has acknowledged being friendly with Epstein, but denied knowing about his sex trafficking, accusing JPMorgan of using him as a 'public relations shield' to deflect blame for its own failures in working with Epstein.

In his own new filing this week, Staley's attorneys asked for a summary court judgement in his favor, writing: 'the bank's effort to scapegoat Mr. Staley amounts to little more than a media stunt to distract from its own egregious compliance failures.'
South Carolina police are investigating a link between the Gilgo Beach suspect and a missing mom who disappeared in 2017.

Julia Ann Bean, 42, was last seen in Sumter County on May 31, 2017. On August 20, someone claiming to be a friend of the missing woman contacted the Sumter County Sheriff's Office.

The tipster met with authorities revealing a possible connection between Bean's disappearance and the Gilgo Beach murder suspect, Rex Heuermann, according to a news release by the Sumter County Sherriff's Department issued earlier this week.

Heuermann, who is accused of killing three women in Suffolk County, Long Island, also owns property in Chester, South Carolina, located about 80 miles north of Sumter.

The sheriff's office did not disclose the person they spoke to but confirmed that they were not from the Sumter County area. Officials said they were investigating the third-party tip and shared the details with a team that has been working on Bean's case since she first went missing and the FBI.

Investigators also interviewed Bean's daughter, who claimed the person she last saw her mother with could possibly be Heuermann. Sumter County Sheriff's Officer Mark Bordeaux told WLTX News that Bean's daughter said she may have recognized the 59-year-old architect and a vehicle that was linked to him.

Julia Ann Bean, 42, was last seen in Sumter County on May 31, 2017. Bean's daughter had reported her mother missing on November 18 that same year, officials said

Rex Huermann is currently being held at a Suffolk County prison. He is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared in 2009 and 2010. He is also the main suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007

The missing person's flyer that was distributed by the Sumter County Sheriff's

Bordeaux added: 'Someone that may have been, appeared, may have looked like Mr. Heuermann was with her mother and a vehicle may have been similar.'

'But once again, you'll notice I'm using the word 'may' and 'possibly.' We're hoping to nail that down through further investigations going on as we speak.'

Bean was 37-years-old when she first vanished. She last seen in the Red Bay Road area and was reported missing by a family member on November 18, 2017.

She stands at five feet six inches tall and between 110 and 120 pounds. She has three tattoos on her body. One on her lower back, a tribal design. The name 'Scott' on her left hip and eight small paw prints on her right hip.

Family members said that Bean may have left on foot in the area. They also said that did not have her cellphone with her and is not on any medication.

'Sumter County Sheriff's Office investigators have been pouring over the information they have recently received to determine if there is any evidence linking Bean with Heuermann, the release said.

'Yet there are no confirmed facts that confirm or deny the possibility of a connection,' the release said.

Heuermann is currently being held at a Suffolk County prison. He is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared in 2009 and 2010.

He is considered the main suspect in the disappearance of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007, and part of a group known as the 'Gilgo Four.'

The victims were all believed to have been sex workers who advertised on online sites, police said.

Last month, Heuermann appeared in Riverhead, Long Island with his court-appointed attorney, Michael Brown. It was the prosecutors revealed they have a mountain of evidence against him, including DNA he accidentally left on his alleged victims.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Long Island serial killer suspect is also being investigated for the murder of six others whose bodies were found near Giglo Beach in 2011.

A map showing where the victims remains were located along the barren stretch of Ocean Beach Parkway in Gilgo Beach, located on the South Shore of Long Island

The first victim, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, was discovered by Suffolk County Police on December 11, 2010. The body of Megan Waterman, 22, was found two days later

Maureen Brainard-Barnes was 25 years old when she went missing (left). Amber Lynn Costello was 27 years old. Their bodies were found near Barthelemy's the same day

Sumter County authorities have been invesigating Bean's mysterious disapperance and are looking into the tip as the case remains open and active, officials said.

Bean's daughter had reported her mother missing on November 18, 2017, nearly six months after she disappeared.

When DailyMail.com contacted the Sumter County Sherriff's Department for further details on Bean's case they were unavailable for comment.

The Sumter County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information on the case to contact 803-436-2000, or use the website www.p3tips.com or the
Mohamed Al Fayed, the self-made billionaire who owned Harrods and Fulham FC, has died - almost 26 years to the day after his son was killed alongside Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris.

The Egyptian businessman was 94.

He was born in Alexandria in 1929 and moved to the UK in the 1960s, becoming an early driving force in the development of Dubai, and he later bought House of Fraser, including Harrods, with his brothers, as well as the Ritz hotel in Paris, which he owned up until his death.

A funeral service was held at London Central Mosque in Regents Park on Friday - following Islamic conventions to bury the dead as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours.

He was then buried at Barrow Green Court, his 17th century country pile, in Oxted, Surrey, at the family mausoleum next to son Dodi.

Mohamed Al Fayed pictured alongside Diana, Princess of Wales at a charity event held at Harrods in London in 1996

Mr Al Fayed with his son Dodi, who was killed in the same crash that killed Diana in 1997

A funeral service was held for Mohamed Al Fayed on Friday at London Central Mosque in Regents Park

Mohammed Al Fayed's coffin before the service on Friday

Funeral prayers were held for Mr Al-Fayed after his death on Wednesday. Islamic conventions dictate that the deceased should be buried within 24 hours

Dodi was originally interred in Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, but was re-interred at Barrow Green Court shortly after his death, according to The Sun.

In a statement released by Fulham FC, his family said: 'Mrs Mohamed Al Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohamed, has passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday August 30, 2023.

'He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones. The family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this time.'

MailOnline understands that preparations had been in place for his funeral for some time amid concerns for his health.

'The service went ahead as planned,' a source said. 'The prayers were held in the mosque after Friday prayer - the prayer for the deceased.'

Al Shorouk newspaper reported that Ashraf Haider, a member of his family, wrote on social media: 'My wife's grandfather, the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, has died. We belong to God and to Him we shall return.'

Mr Al-Fayed began his career selling fizzy drinks and then worked as a sewing-machine salesman.

He built his family's fortune in real estate, shipping and construction, first in the Middle East and then in Europe.

A combination of building a business empire in the UK and establishing a charitable foundation saw him mixing with the UK's most illustrious figures - from stars to royalty.

Mr Al Fayed is believed to have met Diana and the then-Prince Charles at a polo match in the 1980s, and through this connection introduced her to his son Dodi.

Despite his vast business interests Mr Al-Fayed was probably best known for his continued search for answers to questions surrounding the crash that killed Dodi and Diana on August 31 1997 - almost exactly 26 years before his own death.

Diana - who was divorced from Charles in 1992 - and Dodi were pictured together in St Tropez in 1997, sparking rumours of romance, and the pair travelled together as they sought to leave the Ritz Hotel in Paris on the fateful morning of August 31 that year.

The younger Al-Fayed and the Princess of Wales were being driven away from paparazzi by Henri Paul, the deputy head of security at the hotel, when Paul lost control of the car and struck a pillar at around 65mph.

Mohammed Al Fayed (right) with son Dodi at a party for the film Hook in 1992

Mohamed Al Fayed pictured with his wife Heini Wathen in 2016. The couple had four children

Film producer Dodi Al-Fayed, Mohamed Al-Fayed's first son, was killed alongside Diana in Paris in 1997

After marrying Finnish socialite Heini Wathen Mr Al-Fayed had another four children, including Camilla (above)

Mr Al Fayed also had two sons - Karim (left) and Omar (right) - with Ms Wathen

Mr Al Fayed (right) with Prince Charles (with his back to camera) and Diana during a Harrods-sponsored polo match in 1987

Mr Al Fayed opened his own private investigation into the crash after being dissatisfied with the official investigations - and promoted a series of conspiracy theories alleging that the establishment had a hand in their deaths.

But a 2008 inquest concluded that Dodi and Diana were unlawfully killed by a combination of Paul's driving under the influence of alcohol, the fact neither were wearing seatbelts - and because of the erratic driving of paparazzi pursuing them through the early morning Paris streets.

Al-Fayed fell out with the British establishment after he was refused UK citizenship despite his vast business interests in the country.

He often threatened to move to France, which gave him the Legion of Honour, its highest civilian award.

He was later immortalised in Netflix series The Crown, played by Israeli actor Salim Daw, who will return to portray the businessman in the next series, which will deal with the crash that killed his son and the Princess of Wales.

One episode of the show charts Mr Al-Fayed's rise to fame and eventual meeting with Princess Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki.

Daw described him as an 'incredible, fascinating character' to play, telling Radio Times: 'He's so motivated to be on the top that this actually dictates the way he lives his life and the way he behaves.'

Mr Al Fayed (right) with Diana, Princess of Wales, a young Prince William and his son Dodi (left) at a polo match in July 1988

Mr Al Fayed (left) is seen with Princess Diana and Prince Charles at a Harrods-sponsored polo game in July 1988

Mohamed Al Fayed with the Queen in 1997. His business connections and charity work saw him mixing with high society

Mr Al Fayed pictured with actress Kim Cattrall at the launch of Harrods' Summer Sale in 2008. He kept the store in private ownership after House of Fraser began trading publicly but went on to sell it in 2010 for $2.4 billion

Mr Al Fayed bought Fulham FC in 1997, with his cash injection helping to send the club into the Premier League and European competitions in just a few years. He is pictured here in 2011

Mr Al Fayed greets late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti in 1995 as he arrives at Harrods

At one time Mr Al Fayed was one of the richest people in the world, with a wealth of businesses and property to his name.

Alongside his brothers, Mr Al-Fayed bought House of Fraser in the 1980s, which included London department store Harrods in Knightsbridge.

The purchase sparked a bitter feud with businessman Roland "Tiny" Rowland, who took the Al-Fayeds to a Department for Trade inquiry claiming their wealth had been exaggerated.

Like many billionaires, al-Fayed spurned convention. He once said he wanted to be mummified in a golden sarcophagus in a glass pyramid on the roof of Harrods.

He retained ownership of the store after the Frasers group entered public trading until 2010, when he sold it to Qatar Holding for $2.4billion.

Speaking to the Evening Standard about the sale, he said: 'Of course it makes me sad...you can go ask everyone, people don't want me to go.

'But first of all I can't take this. I am 77 years old, right. I have children, I have grandchildren, you know. I have done it. And time for me now to rest. And enjoy.'

But he also earned the respect of Fulham FC fans after buying the ailing West London professional side for 6m in 1997 - and his cash injection saw the team punch its way into the Premier League and European competition within a few years.

Mr Al Fayed later unveiled a statue of Diana and his son Dodi in Harrods commemorating their lives - the slogan 'innocent victims' is inscribed on its base

Mr Al Fayed after buying Fulham FC in 1997. Tonight, his successor hailed the legacy of a 'wise, colourful and committed chairman'

Mohamed Al Fayed pictured in Paris in 2016. He sold Harrods and Fulham FC - his largest British business interests - in 2010 and 2013 respectively

Mr Al Fayed - seen here leaving the Royal Courts of Justice in 2007. The inquest into the death of his son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales, concluded the pair were killed unlawfully

However, a decision to install a statue of Michael Jackson outside the ground in 2011 after the singer attended a match drew ire from the club's otherwise loyal fanbase.

Mr Al Fayed sold the side to billionaire businessman Shahid Khan in 2013 for $300 million.

Paying tribute on Friday, Mr Khan said: 'On behalf of everyone at Fulham Football Club, I send my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mohamed Al Fayed upon the news of his passing at age 94.

'The story of Fulham cannot be told without a chapter on the positive impact of Mr Al Fayed as Chairman.

'His legacy will be remembered for our promotion to the Premier League, a Europa League Final, and moments of magic by players and teams alike.

'I always enjoyed my time with Mr Al Fayed, who was wise, colourful and committed to Fulham, and I am forever grateful for his trust in me to succeed him as Chairman in 2013.

'I join our supporters around the world in celebrating the memory of Mohamed Al Fayed, whose legacy will always be at the heart of our tradition at Fulham Football Club.'

A club statement added: 'Everyone at Fulham was incredibly saddened to learn of the death of our former owner and chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed.

'We owe Mohamed a debt of gratitude for what he did for our club, and our thoughts now are with his family and friends at this sombre time.'

Fulham fans came out in droves to pay tribute to Mr Al-Fayed on social media. To them, he was known simply as 'Mo'.

One fan said: 'The man who changed Fulham forever, if there is anyone deserving of a statue, its Mo. Absolute top man, and a top owner.'

Another wrote: 'So sad. He did incredible things for our little club @FulhamFC and he will always be remembered (not only for the Michael Jackson statue) RIP Mo, reunited with your beloved son Dodi.'

Piers Morgan, writing on X (formerly Twitter), said: 'RIP Mohamed Al-Fayed, 94. An extraordinary tour de force of a man who never got over the death of his beloved son Dodi in the crash that also killed Diana.

'Mohamed wasnt everyones cup of tea and he was a flawed, complex character, but I liked him.'

Mr Al Fayed's repeated espousing of conspiracy theories relating to the death of his son Dodi alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 meant he was often in the media eye

Mr Al Fayed fell out with the British establishment regularly over its refusal to grant him British citizenship, and later revealed he had bribed MPs to ask questions on his behalf in Parliament

Mohamed Al Fayed, former owner of Harrods and Fulham FC, in 2018

Fulham fans were staggered when Mr Al Fayed erected a statue to Michael Jackson outside Fulham FC's ground, Craven Cottage, in 2011, after the singer attended a match upon his invitation in 1999

Earlier this year, Mr Al-Fayed's wealth was estimated at $2billion (roughly 1.58million), ranking at number 1,493 globally.

And in May last year, Forbes listed his wealth at $1.9billion - which is about 1.6billion.

Before Dodi's death in 1997, Mr Al Fayed also became known to the British public for his involvement in the 'cash-for-questions' scandal.

It saw Conservative MPs resign in disgrace after failing to declare that they had been paid by the Egyptian to ask questions in parliament.

He approached the Guardian newspaper with the allegations in 1994, which led to the resignation of MP Tim Smith.

Another MP, Neil Hamilton, was found to have accepted bribes, including a holiday at the Ritz and a free shopping spree at Harrods.

He did not stand down, but the scandal led to him being inextricably associated with sleaze and he lost his seat at the 1997 general election.The questions related to controversy over Mr Al-Fayed's ownership of Harrods, and the businessman says he was approached by lobbyist Ian Greer to grease the palms of willing MPs.

Mr Al-Fayed was married twice: first to Saudi Arabian author Samira Khashoggi from 1953 to 1956, with whom he had Dodi.

In 1985, he married Finnish socialite and former model Heini Wathen, with whom he had another four children: Jasmine, Karim, Camilla, and Omar.
The Chinese owners of a company developing a taxpayer-subsidized $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery facility in Michigan make staff pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party and wear Red Army uniforms, reports suggest.

Gotian High-Tech the Chinese parent company of Gotion Inc took staff on several corporate retreats to CCP revolutionary memorials in Anhui Province, China in 2021, the Daily Caller reported.

During the trips workers wore Red Army outfits and pledged to 'fight for communism to the end of my life' footage posted on the Chinese battery manufacturer's website shows.

It comes amid rising concerns surrounding Chinese investment in US industries and increased fears Communist spies are infiltrating top businesses and educational institutions.

Gotion Inc, the California-based company which is 'wholly owned and controlled' by Gotion High-Tech, according to a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing.

Gotian High-Tech the Chinese parent company of Gotion Inc took staff on several corporate retreats to CCP revolutionary memorials in Anhui Province, China in 2021. During the trips workers wore Red Army outfits and pledged to 'fight for communism to the end of my life' footage posted on the Chinese battery manufacturer's website shows

During a two-day trip to Anhui Province in July 2021 fifty employees wore matching Red Army uniforms and hiked for six miles across mountainous terrain

PLANNED MICHIGAN EV PLANT: The planned factory will occupy a swathe of land just outside the Big Rapids area, and will cost $2.4billion to make

Gotion Inc.'s parent firm ran field trips to #CCP sites in China, during which staff wore RED ARMY uniforms & swore CCP OATHS



"...to fight for communism as long as I live..."@DailyCaller recently reported Gotion High-Tech employs 923 CCP members (including its CEO)



WATCH: pic.twitter.com/Tpn2Jwynb9  Philip Lenczycki  (@LenczyckiPhilip) August 31, 2023

The US-based company plans to 'invest $2.4 billion to construct two 550,000-square-foot production plants' for electric vehicle (EV) batteries in Big Rapids, Michigan, Fox News reported.

During a two-day trip to Anhui Province in July 2021 fifty employees wore matching Red Army uniforms and hiked for six miles across mountainous terrain, according to the Daily Caller.

The following day, Gotion High-Techs field trip visited the Revolutionary Memorial Hall in Huoshan County, where employees pledged the oath of the CCP, the outlet said.

'I volunteer to join the CCP, uphold the Partys platform, observe the provisions of the Partys by-laws, carry out a members duties, carry out the Partys decisions, strictly observe the Partys discipline, be loyal to the Party, work hard, to fight for communism as long as I live, be ready at all times to sacrifice everything for the Party and people, and never betray the Party' the workers chanted in unearthed footage.

A second trip took place a month later with the company taking employees to Dabie Mountain in Anhui province, in an homage to the CCPs Long March, the Daily Caller stated.

During the second trip employees were taught Red Army songs are wore the matching uniforms.

Michigan residents have spoken out against the construction of the planned EV plant.

Unrest has surfaced in Green Charter Township near where Gotian has purchased a swathe of land in the Big Rapids area for its planned factory.

Community members in Green Charter, the small community where the plant is poised to reside, are issuing concerns over its connection to China.

Set to be built on the outskirts of Big Rapids, the planned plant would be set only a few miles from one of the state's National Guard bases

Gotion Inc. - which is based in the US but has ties to Beijing through its Beijingbased parent - has issued a statement asserting that it will continue to hear the statements from the Green Township community as they look to erect the factory, which will create roughly 2,000 jobs

Residents of rural Michigan are speaking out against the construction of a planned EV plant with ties to the Chinese Communist Party - now set to go through despite concerns over its proximity to a US military base

Days after feds said they don't have the proper jurisdiction to review the plant's constriction, local lawmakers also got involved, and urged officials like the governor and senate to put a stop to the plant's construction to avoid a potential crisis.

'We're not stupid,' Green Charter resident Ormand Hook is heard telling NewsNation in a clip set to air Sunday outlining the occurrence - which the latest instance of Chinese firms purchasing acres of American land often minutes away from military installations.

'We're here, but we're not stupid,' the farmer added, while flanked by members of his family.

When asked whether he thought his town was targeted for the planned EV plant due to its out-of-the way nature and rustic residents, Hook emphatically answered: 'Yes.'

In another snippet, Corrie Riebow, another person living in the small, somewhat suburban town an hour's drive from Grand Rapids just off Route 131, was similarly asked: 'Why here?'

She replied: 'I don't know; but somebody must be benefiting. We won't be,' she added, 'but somebody is.'

Others in recent weeks have aired similar grievances, with many pointing out how close the battery plant will be to the Michigan Army National Guard base in Big Rapids, only a few minutes south.
The US surprisingly does not have an official language like many other countries around the world.

English and Spanish are the most commonly spoken in America, with 91.6 per cent of the population speaking either, but the third most popular language varies from state to state.

A fascinating map, created by WordFinder, shows the incredible variety of dialects spoken across the US and some may come as a shock.

German is the most spoken, outside of English and Spanish, in 13 states- which is more than other language, according to US Census Bureau data. It is followed by French, Chinese, Portuguese and Arabic.

While less common tongues such as Aleut language, one of two surviving Eskimo dialects, Dakota languages and Hmong, an Asian dialect, dominate other areas.

English and Spanish are the most commonly spoken in America, with 91.6 per cent of the population speaking either, but the third most popular language varies from state to state

German is the third most-common language across 13 states which is significantly more than other dialect.

This is backed up by the 42 million Americans who boast German ancestry, according to Census data from 2021.

Two of the German-speaking states include North Dakota and Wisconsin which is where migrants from Germany historically settled.

The largest proportion of residents who identify as German live in Wisconsin.

German is also commonly spoken in the cluster of Idaho, Montana, Idaho, Nebraska and Colorado.

French is the most-popular, excluding English and Spanish, across seven states plus D.C.

France played a huge role in the shaping of the US, including their help in the American Revolution and its selling of Louisiana.

Around 9.4 million Americans claim to have ancestry from the country.

It is spoken in Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Maine, Maryland, D.C., Columbia, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Chinese follows French with it commonly spoken in six different states including New York, California, Washington, Kansas, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Workers from China first escaped the economic chaos in their country and migrated to the US in the 1850s.

They tried their hands in the gold mines, but also took agricultural jobs, and factory work, especially in the garment industry.

Chinese immigrants were particularly instrumental in building railroads in the American west.

There are around 5.4 million people who have Chinese ancestry in America.

Portuguese is the third-common language in Utah, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Migrants from Portugal began to arrive in the US in relatively large numbers around 1870.

The majority were men from the Azores, a group of islands and islets in the North Atlantic Ocean. They were largely recruited to work on American whaling ships.

Around 550,000 people in the country have Portuguese ancestry and 30 percent live in the cluster of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

German is the most spoken, outside of English and Spanish, in 13 states- which is more than other language, according to US Census Bureau data. It is followed by French, Chinese, Portuguese and Arabic

While Arabic is the most-common language after English and Spanish in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and Tennessee.

Arab immigrants began coming to the U.S. in sizable numbers during the 1880's.

It is estimated that nearly 3.7 million Americans can trace their roots to an Arab country.

Aleut language, which is an extremely rare language, dominates Alaska after English and Spanish.

It is spoken by indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands who are politically divided between the US state of Alaska and the Russian administrative division of Kamchatka Krai.

The Dakota languages is the third-most spoken in South Dakota and is a Native American dialect.

Is is thought that only 290 people speak it in the world. The language is is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language.

While Hmong is the most popular language after English and Spanish in Minnesota.

It is widely spoken by an indigenous group in east and southeast Asia.

Hmong refugees began their move to Minnesota in 1975 following the withdrawal of US forces after the Vietnam War.

Elsewhere Tagalog is a Central Philippine language is the third most spoken in the Nevada, Russian is dominates Oregon and Polish is widely spoken Illinois.
* Spanning 482 kilometers, the Guiyang-Nanning High-Speed Railway started operation on Thursday morning, marking the launch of full-scale high-speed rail services in south China's Karst regions.

* The railway is expected to have a positive impact on the local tourism industry and expedite the sluggish rural economy along the route.

* Ecological protection was the top priority during the construction of the project because the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau slope the rail routes cross contains many rolling hills, rivers, and several scenic spots.

NANNING/GUIYANG, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Fuxing bullet train on Thursday morning departed from Nanning, the capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, marking the launch of full-scale high-speed rail services in south China's Karst regions.

Spanning 482 kilometers, the new railway connects Nanning with Guiyang, the capital of the southwestern province of Guizhou, according to China Railway Nanning Group Co., Ltd.

The Guiyang-Nanning High-Speed Railway was designed to facilitate a top speed of 350 kilometers per hour, and it is the first railway of its kind to be built in either Guizhou or Guangxi, both of which are known for their Karst landscapes.

The time it takes to travel from Guiyang to Nanning has now been reduced from over five hours to approximately three hours, greatly benefiting residents in mountainous areas and contributing to economic growth along the route.

The new railway has 13 stations, with the Guizhou section housing six of these stations and the Guangxi section housing seven stations.

GOLDEN CHANCE FOR MOUNTAINOUS AREAS

Running across two of the regions previously listed as experiencing extreme poverty due to stony desertification, the new line was designed to pass through over 30 ethnic enclaves in the mountainous areas of southwest China.

The railway is expected to have a positive impact on the local tourism industry and expedite the sluggish rural economy along the route, said He Qiaoliang, a senior engineer of China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co., Ltd.

Wu Mengyao in Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, Guangxi, said the new high-speed railway will be a boon for her hometown by bringing in more foot traffic.

"I'm also confident that our products, with their unique ethnic appeal, will resonate with our customers," said Wu, who runs a workshop producing cultural and creative products inspired by local intangible cultural heritage, including ethnic wear making, bamboo weaving, and clay sculpting.

Notable for its spectacular karst formations, Libo County, situated on the steep mountainside of Guizhou, has spectacular views in abundance, but it was also mired in poverty for a long time due to its geographical isolation.

After the opening of the Guiyang-Libo section of the Guiyang-Nanning High-Speed Railway on August 8, the journey time between Guiyang and Libo was cut to less than an hour.

Ye Lin, the county Party secretary, said the railway will make Libo a huge draw for tourists throughout the year. The total number of visits to Libo in 2023 is predicted to surpass 25 million, according to a local tourism official.

BALANCING ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION AND TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

The construction of this railway was not an easy ride for those involved, as the building process had been dogged by many engineering challenges due to complex and often unfavorable geological conditions. It was estimated that over 90 percent of it would have to pass through tunnels or cross bridges.

Long Zongming, one of the chief designers of the Guizhou-Nanning High-speed Railway, told Xinhua that the difficulty lies in how to minimize the ecological impact while ensuring the stability and quality of the construction.

Long said that ecological protection was the top priority of the project because the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau slope the rail routes cross contains many rolling hills, rivers, and several scenic spots.

According to Long, the rail route took a 10-kilometer detour in the stretch from Guiding County Station to Duyun East Station, increasing the investment by about 1.4 billion yuan (about 192.18 million U.S. dollars), to protect the scenic spot located in between.

The 15.5-km-long Chengjiang Bridge in the Du'an Yao Autonomous County of Guangxi is the longest bridge along the railway, and 2.56 kilometers of this bridge pass through the Chengjiang National Wetland Park.

Su Li, a senior engineer at China Railway Beijing Engineering Group Co., Ltd., said that only 46 piers were set up in the park area, 34 fewer than the conventional scheme, to protect the wetland.

In addition, barriers 4 meters high and 3.69 kilometers long were set up along the rail routes to block the sound and light of high-speed trains to protect birds. Construction waste and waste water were also recycled after treatment to avoid polluting rivers and groundwater.

(Video reporters: Liang Shun, Chen Luyuan, Tan Guanghua, Huang Kaiying, Yangchi, Liu Qinbing, Cui Xiaoqiang and Xie Wentao; video editors: Hong Ling, Hui Peipei, Zheng Xin, Hong Yan and Lin Lin.)
A federal judge in Texas has blocked a law requiring internet users to verify their age to access porn sites, ruling the legislation is too vague and violates free speech rights.

House Bill 1181 was passed by the states GOP-controlled legislature earlier this year and signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on June 12.

Dubbed the Texas anti-porn law, HB1181 would require sites with adult content to force users to provide digital ID verifications and display warning labels about the alleged harms caused by pornography.

Opponents say the law would have given the state the power to fine adult content sites more than $3 million per year if they didnt require visitors to verify their ages.

Early last month, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), an advocacy organization for the adult industry, and several adult platforms and workers, sued the state, arguing the law violated free speech protections guaranteed by the Constitution.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Ezra agreed with the plaintiffs claims and blocked the state from enforcing the law while the case is litigated.

The law, which was set to take effect on Sept. 1, also raised privacy concerns, particularly because it would require users to verify their ages by using traceable government-issued identification, the Ronald Reagan-appointed judge said.

People will be particularly concerned about accessing controversial speech when the state government can log and track that access, Ezra wrote. By verifying information through government identification, the law will allow the government to peer into the most intimate and personal aspects of peoples lives.

The ruling was celebrated as a huge and important victory against the rising tide of censorship online, according to Alison Boden, FSC executive director.

From the beginning, we have argued that the Texas law, and those like it, are both dangerous and unconstitutional, she said, adding that the states defense of the law was not based in science or technology, but ideology and politics.

Texas has already filed a notice of appeal to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

With News Wire Services
Daniel Carey-Dawes is a 35-year-old Labour activist who has devoted much of his adult life to the cause, spending four years as the party's constituency secretary in his native Hackney and five years as its research and support officer at London's City Hall.

He stood, unsuccessfully, as a Labour council candidate in 2010, spent a couple of years as PA to the Corbynist London Assembly member Jennette Arnold and, according to his profile on the social network site LinkedIn, also 'developed policy' which 'formed part of Sadiq Khan's manifesto'.

This week, Carey-Dawes, who describes himself as a 'lifelong Labour voter', was found to be helping advance the party's agenda via his current day job.

On Wednesday he used X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to help his employer circulate a highly controversial series of social media posts calling Rishi Sunak and two senior Tory ministers 'LIARS!'

The messages looked, and read, like party-political attack adverts. They featured a sinister black and white image of the Prime Minister alongside his housing secretary Michael Gove and DEFRA supremo Therese Coffey. 'LIARS!' was rubber-stamped across it in blood-red text.

'You lie, and you lie, and you lie again. And we've had enough,' they proclaimed, before listing, in a further 11 similarly designed tweets, occasions when the trio supposedly told untruths about environmental policy.

Daniel Carey-Dawes is a 35-year-old Labour activist who has devoted much of his adult life to the cause

Carey-Dawes gleefully re-tweeted this series of posts to his thousand-odd followers at lunchtime on Wednesday, moments after they had been uploaded to his employer's account. He then added his own commentary, writing: 'Sometimes in campaigning, you just have to call a spade a spade.'

The messages, attacking a government proposal to axe EU rules on housebuilding, were also gleefully circulated by, among others, Tony Blair's former spin-doctor Alastair Campbell, the Green MP Caroline Lucas, and shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon, who reckoned they provided evidence we are in 'the dying days of a government devoid of ideas to make the county better'.

At this point, you may be wondering what division of the Labour Party was paying this young propagandist's wages. But Carey-Dawes doesn't work for His Majesty's Opposition any more. Not officially, at least.

Since May he's earned his crust as Government Affairs Manager for one of Britain's largest charities: the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It was this organisation, rather than his beloved Labour Party, that used Twitter to publish the ad hominem attack on Sunak, Gove and Coffey.

The trouble is that charities, which enjoy tax-free status, are prohibited by law from running political campaigns. While perfectly entitled to comment on matters of public policy  provided they affect a particular charitable remit  these wealthy organisations must remain resolutely non-partisan in the process. What they are not supposed to do is behave like a provisional wing of the Labour Party, abusing ministers to help score points.

On Wednesday he used X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to help his employer circulate a highly controversial series of social media posts calling Rishi Sunak and two senior Tory ministers 'LIARS!'

It's little wonder that, within minutes, the RSPB's tweets attracted significant controversy.

The Tory MP Mark Jenkinson angrily called for the organisation, which boasts tax-free income of 157 million a year, to be stripped of its charitable status. Fellow Tory Brendan Clarke-Smith said the personal nature of attack meant it had 'massively over-stepped the mark on this one', while the Charities Commission announced: 'We are aware of social media activity by the RSPB and will assess this matter to determine if there is a regulatory role for the Commission.'

A few hours later, the RSPB issued a mealy-mouthed apology: 'Frustration led us to attack the people not the policy. This falls below the standard we set ourselves and for that we apologise.'

But do they mean it? For, in what seems an act of staggering duplicity, the charity refused to delete the offending tweets, which by then were going viral and had already been viewed around two million times, with many Left-leaning individuals pledging to donate cash to the charity in turn.

The result was that at least five million more people would see the original 'LIAR!' message by last night. By contrast, only a million saw the RSPB's apology tweet.

The attack on Sunak remains on the charity's social media feed, where algorithms ensure it will continue to be more widely viewed than the apology, not only fomenting hatred against the Government but helping to fill RSPB coffers.

Perhaps that was always the intention. For the cash-soaked charity sector increasingly resembles a tax-efficient arm of His Majesty's Opposition, stuffed with activists more concerned with scoring cheap political points than carrying out the good deeds for which their organisations were originally created.

Dr Amir Khan is also a vehement critic of the Conservative Party. Two months ago he tweeted: 'Boris Johnson's list of honours approved by Sunak smacks of the usual mixture of cronyism and corruption expected from this Government. Makes me sick.'

Only last month, Greenpeace was invading Sunak's home in Yorkshire, unfurling black banners over his daughter's bedroom window in protest against plans for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. Meanwhile migrant charities were jamming the airwaves with criticism of Government efforts to 'Stop the Boats', prompting Home Secretary Suella Braverman to dub them 'politically motivated activists masquerading as humanitarians'.

Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ rights charity, is locked in an ongoing dispute with the Government over transgender issues. And Oxfam has spent much of the past decade parroting Labour on austerity, despite being rapped over the knuckles by the Charities Commission for 'failing to avoid any misperception of political bias'.

The RSPB, which boasts 1.2 million members (of various political persuasions) and benefits from 15 million a year in taxpayer grants, has increasingly ploughed a similar furrow.

While many supporters donate to prop up its conservation work, the charity's senior figures increasingly serve the so-called 'Blob' of quangocrats, civil servants and campaigners that seeks to frustrate government and - to quote the Charity Commission's former chairman Orlando Fraser - 'trash the motivations of those who think differently'.

Perhaps most high-profile, in this respect, is the RSPB's vice president, Chris Packham. The BBC presenter is a vociferous supporter of eco-protest groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion and in 2019 founded Wild Justice, which attempts to influence wildlife policy via the courts, often via hugely divisive campaigns. The RSPB's president, meanwhile, is TV doctor Amir Khan, who also ploughs a political furrow. Like Packham, he's a vigorous opponent of fieldsports who often picks fights with the tweedy classes on social media.

Perhaps most high-profile, in this respect, is the RSPB's vice president, Chris Packham. The BBC presenter is a vociferous supporter of eco-protest groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion

He once described people engaged in trail hunting (the legal version of the sport, in which hounds chase an artificial scent) as 'elitists gathering in the name of tradition who get pleasure from cruel bloodsports'.

Dr Khan is also a vehement critic of the Conservative Party. Two months ago he tweeted: 'Boris Johnson's list of honours approved by Sunak smacks of the usual mixture of cronyism and corruption expected from this Government. Makes me sick.'

To the delight of both Packham and Khan, late last year the RSPB launched its own hostilities against the Government when frustrated by delays in publishing post-Brexit environmental targets.

It urged supporters to post critical messages on social media under the hashtag #attackonnature, claiming that then-prime minster Liz Truss was somehow 'pushing forward with the attack on nature'. At one point, the charity posted video footage of the Green MP Ms Lucas accusing Truss of 'taking a wrecking ball' to the natural world.

Similarly aggressive posts continued after Sunak entered Downing Street, sparking criticism from, among others, the Tory peer and environmentalist Lord Lucas (no relation to Caroline), who argued the RSPB had been cynically attempting to stir up outrage.

He tweeted: 'You lying t****. There is no attack on nature, there never was an attack on nature You used to be, and could be again, a source of valued and truthful advice. But not while you are hooked on this outrageous lie.'

The social media posts called Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and two senior Tory ministers 'LIARS!'

This week's still-more-explosive hoo-hah kicked off after Michael Gove announced plans to scrap EU laws that have, for the past decade, required housebuilders to mitigate the effects of extra sewage that their developments produce

Perhaps the tweet inspired the 'LIARS!' attack on Sunak. Whatever the case, this week's still-more-explosive hoo-hah kicked off after Michael Gove announced plans to scrap EU laws that have, for the past decade, required housebuilders to mitigate the effects of extra sewage that their developments produce.

The Levelling Up Secretary believes the existing arrangement prevents up to 100,000 homes being built each year. Supporters of Gove argue his plan represents a sensible way to address the UK's housing crisis without significantly worsening the environment, saying it includes a proposal to devote an extra 140 million a year to offsetting river pollution.

They also point out that agriculture, rather than housing, accounts for the vast majority of nitrates and other nutrients that adversely affect British watercourses.

Nature groups disagree, however. Many make huge sums from existing EU rules because developers are often required to make grants to local nature reserves.

These groups insist we are already 'in a nature and climate emergency demanding urgent action' and argue that, to quote the relatively well-regarded Office for Environmental Protection quango, the proposed deregulation would be a 'regression'.

As with many political debates, both sides are entitled to their view. But what made the RSPB's contribution to the debate so unusual  and controversial  was the fact it didn't focus on alleged shortcomings in the Government's policy, but consisted of a provocative and (some might argue) tawdry attack on the personal integrity of individual politicians.

Among those who found this particularly demeaning are at least two members of the charity's governing board of trustees.

The messages looked, and read, like party-political attack adverts. They featured a sinister black and white image of the Prime Minister alongside his housing secretary Michael Gove and DEFRA supremo Therese Coffey (pictured)

One, an environmentalist and academic, Dr Ben Caldecott, publicly criticised the social media posts on Twitter, saying they were 'simply not an appropriate contribution to our public discourse from such an important and highly respected organisation'.

'We can strongly disagree and make our case without calling people 'LIARS!'.' He said he'd raised the issue 'urgently' with the charity's chief executive and chairman.

Another Trustee, the Tory peer Lord Randall of Uxbridge, tweeted a quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late associate justice of the US Supreme Court: 'Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.'

Adding to their concern is the fact many RSPB social media posts made questionable claims. For example, its hostile Twitter thread about Sunak cited what the charity called 'just some of your lies on the environment'.

'In the 2019 Tory party manifesto you all pledged to deliver 'the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth'. Lie.' The RSPB did not explain what evidence it has to suggest the manifesto pledge in question was indeed a 'lie'. To do that, they would need to prove Sunak knew it was an untrue statement when he made it. Since the Prime Minister wasn't even party leader at the time the manifesto was written, that seems unlikely. Amid growing controversy, the RSPB's chief executive Beccy Speight made an appearance this week on Radio 4's Today programme. During what many regarded as a car-crash interview, the 190,000-a-year boss appeared to have little grip on her organisation, claiming she hadn't approved the contentious Twitter thread, saying it 'didn't go through our normal protocols'.

She added: 'We do believe the nature of public discourse does matter. We campaign on policy not on people, so the framing of that tweet where we called out individual people we felt was incorrect and inappropriate and we apologise for that.

Carey-Dawes deleted his 'call a spade a spade' tweet but Speight is refusing to take down the RSPB's original offending posts. She argues  laughably, given that it continues to be viewed by tens of thousands of people every hour  that 'removing it could have drawn more attention to it'.

While the chief executive seems to have little clue how the RSPB came to call senior ministers 'LIARS!' there can be little doubt the posts were the work of a team of senior designers and writers within the charity.

After all, five minutes after the Twitter thread had been posted, the RSPB's director of policy and advocacy Jeff Knott, a Left-leaning conservationist who had lobbied against Brexit, could be found angrily re-posting his employer's contentious tweets.

Knott alleged that Sunak, Gove and Coffey were caught up in a tale of 'Lies, damn lies and nutrient neutrality' (referring to the issue of whether housing developments ought to be blocked if they add to nitrate levels in local rivers).

Also amplifying the tweets was Ghazala Koosar, a hard-Left lawyer on the charity's board of Trustees, who reposted within minutes of publication and has yet to delete them from her Twitter feed.

Koosar is a prolific user of the social network, with typical posts including support for Jeremy Corbyn, attacks on the Government's stewardship of the NHS and conspiracy theories suggesting think-tanks based in Tufton Street, Westminster, have a 'malign grip on Sunak's government'.

What fellow trustee Ben Caldecott makes of her output is anyone's guess, since he is a senior fellow at Policy Exchange, one of the Tufton Street think-tanks.

But the next board meeting will doubtless involve a heated discussion about the sort of content this hugely influential bird charity chooses to tweet.
A one-time leader in the Proud Boys far-right extremist group was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for his role in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, tying the record for the longest sentence in the attack.

Ethan Nordean was one of five members who have been convicted so far of spearheading an attack on the U.S. Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.

'He is the undisputed leader on the ground on January 6,' said prosecutor Jason McCullough.

The Seattle-area chapter president was one of two Proud Boys sentenced Friday. Dominic Pezzola was convicted of smashing a window at the U.S. Capitol in the buildings first breach on January 6, 2021.

He defiantly raised a fist and declared 'Trump won!' as he walked out of the courtroom after being sentenced to 10 years in prison, also among the longest sentences in the January 6 riot.

Proud Boys member Ethan Nordean walks toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021

The 18-year record for a January 6 sentence was set by Stewart Rhodes, founder of another far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers.

Members of both groups were convicted separately of seditious conspiracy, a rarely brought Civil War-era offense.

The highest ranking Proud Boy convicted after a monthslong trial earlier this year, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Nordeans words and online posting grew increasingly violent leading up to January 6.

On that day, he led a group of nearly 200 men toward the Capitol, then moved to the front of the mob and helped tear down a fence, allowing rioters to pour onto the grounds and confront police, according to court documents. Prosecutors had asked for a 27-year sentence.

Defense attorneys have argued there was no plan to storm the Capitol that day and pushed back against the idea that Nordean tore down the fence or that his rhetoric was specifically about January 6. They asked for less than two years.

For his own part, the 33-year-old from Auburn, Washington, told the judge he now sees January 6 as a 'complete and utter tragedy' and he regretted not trying to use his leadership role to stop what happened.

'There is no rally or political protest that should hold value over human life,' he said. 'To anyone who I directly or even indirectly wronged, Im sorry.'

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee who also sentenced Pezzola earlier in the day and applied a terrorism enhancement in both cases.

Nordean was 'the undisputed leader on the ground on January 6,' said prosecutor Jason McCullough

Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence the Seattle-area chapter president to 27 years

Nordean was one of several members convicted of spearheading an attack on the Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power

Nordean was convicted of seditious conspiracy and other serious charges

Members of both groups were convicted separately of seditious conspiracy, a rarely brought Civil War-era offense

Trump supporters surround a noose and a gallows near the Capitol, on January 6

Pezzola, 46, took a police officers riot shield and used it to smash the window, allowing rioters to make the first breach into the Capitol, and he later filmed a 'celebratory video' with a cigar inside, prosecutors said.

He was a recent Proud Boys recruit, however, and a jury acquitted him of seditious conspiracy. He was convicted of other serious charges and prosecutors had asked for 20 years in prison.

'He was an enthusiastic foot soldier,' prosecutor Erik Kenerson said.

Kelly noted that Pezzola, of Rochester, New York, was a newcomer to the group who didn't write the kind of increasingly violent online messages that his co-defendants did leading up to the Jan. 6 attack.

Still, he was in some ways a 'tip of the spear' in allowing rioters to get into the Capitol, Kelly said.

'The reality is you smashed that window in and let people begin to stream into the Capitol building and threaten the lives of our lawmakers,' the judge told Pezzola. 'Its not something that I ever dreamed I would have seen in our country.'

Defense attorneys had asked for five years for Pezzola, saying that he got 'caught up in the craziness' that day.

Pezzola testified at trial that he originally grabbed the officers shield to protect himself from police riot control measures, and his lawyers argued that he broke only one pane of glass and that it was other rioters who smashed out the rest of the window.

Prosecutors said Nordeans words and online posting grew increasingly violent leading up to January 6

Nordeen led a group of nearly 200 men toward the Capitol, then moved to the front of the mob and helped tear down a fence

More than 1,100 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 600 of them have been convicted and sentenced

He told the judge that he wished he'd never crossed into a restricted area on Jan. 6, and he apologized to the officer whose shield he took. 'There is no place in my future for groups or politics whatsoever,' he said.

But a few minutes later, as he was led out of the courtroom, he raised a fist and said, 'Trump won!'

Former President Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly and falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen.

A series of federal and state investigations and dozens of lawsuits have not uncovered any evidence the election was rigged.

Four Proud Boys have now been sentenced after a monthslong trial that ended in May.

Joseph Biggs, an organizer from Ormond Beach, Florida, got 17 years on Thursday, marking the second-longest sentence so far in the Jan. 6 attack.

Zachary Rehl, a leader of the Philadelphia chapter, got 15 years. The sentencings come after the Proud Boys trial laid bare far-right extremists embrace of Trump.

More than 1,100 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 600 of them have been convicted and sentenced.

In addition to Rhodes, several other members of the anti-government Oath Keepers have also been convicted of seditious conspiracy after a trial last year.
Rudy Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to subverting the 2020 election results in Georgia.

The former New York mayor has waived his right to an arraignment and will avoid appearing on live TV.

Former President Donald Trump also pleaded not guilty this week in the case accusing him and 18 co-defendants of joining a 'conspiracy' to unlawfully change the outcome of the election.

Guiliani and Trump's not guilty pleas comes amid uncertainty about how the case will proceed, with multiple defendants seeking to 'sever' their cases from the overall prosecution, which Fulton County DA Fani Willis has brought under a state RICO statute.

Trump allies Trevian Kutti and Ray Smith also waived their formal arraignments and entered not guilty pleas this week.

Giuliani, who was once heralded as a hero of Sept. 11th, has had a string of legal troubles over the last several months.

Rudy Giuliani, who served as former U.S. Donald Trump's personal lawyer, is shown in a police booking mugshot released by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office

Earlier this week, Giuliani was ordered to fork over tens of thousands in fines as a penalty for refusing to cooperate in a separate defamation case involving his comments about two Georgia election workers.

The fines are sanctions from Judge Beryl Howell against former President Donald Trump's once lawyer for failing to turn over electronic records requested during discovery.

The ruling enables the case to move forward to a trial in federal court in Washington, D.C. It's unclear how much Giuliani will have to pay, but the fines could reach nearly $90,000.

'It's very simple. You shouldn't be surprised at the result of that case. I knew at the minute the judge was alive,' Giuliani told a photographer for DailyMail.com.

'This is the judge, I don't know if she's first or second in the most January 6 people put in jail for the longest period of time.'

Giuliani faced the humiliation of having his mugshot taken after getting booked at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta earlier this month.

In the images released by the Fulton County Sheriff's office, Giuliani can be seen looking straight ahead, showing a slight frown with industrial lighting shining on his forehead and a sheriff's badge on his right.

His mugshot came a day before the man he once represented, former President Donald Trump, turned himself for processing.

Trump himself bemoaned the arrest of his former lawyer online, saying the man accused of false statements, conspiracy, and soliciting officials to violate their oaths was fighting for 'election integrity.'

'The greatest Mayor in the history of New York City was just ARRESTED in Atlanta, Georgia, because he fought for Election Integrity. THE ELECTION WAS RIGGED & STOLLEN. HOW SAD FOR OUR COUNTRY. MAGA!' Trump wrote.

It was a stunning and symbolic turnaround for the former mob boss prosecutor, who now must fend off election fraud charges.

Giuliani famously used the RICO Act to take down the Mafia in the 1980s during his time as a Manhattan prosecutor. Now, he's being charged with violating the anti-racketeering RICO Act in an effort to upend the 2020 election results.

He struck a defiant tone during a hectic scrum of Trump supporters, protestors and press following his release on $150,000 bail.

Asked by reporters after he exited the prison whether he regrets attaching his name to former President Trump, Giuliani chuckled and responded: 'I am very honored to be involved in this case, because this case is a fight for our way of life.'

'This indictment is a travesty,' he continued, calling it 'an attack on the American people.'

A defiant Rudy Giuliani spoke to a photographer for DailyMail.com Wednesday, saying he wasn't surprised by the legal setback in a defamation case against him filed by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss

The former New York City mayor also denied being intoxicated as he was giving advice to Trump around Election Day 2020 - something Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigators have been probing

He called himself the 'most prolific prosecutor in American history' and the most effective mayor 'ever.'

'If they can do this to me, they can do this to you,' he said defiantly during the scrum in which he was physically jostled around.

A protestor held up a sign calling Giuliani a 'clown' as he scurried to his vehicle.

Giuliani, who is facing 13 total charges, joined a flurry of eight other Trump allies who turned themselves into the Georgia prison before the Friday noon deadline last week.

Trump and 18 co-defendants are accused in a sprawling racketeering case of trying to upend the result of the 2020 election.
A headless bronze statue believed to depict the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius has been seized from the Cleveland Museum of Art by New York authorities investigating antiquities looted from Turkey.

A warrant signed by a judge in Manhattan on August 14 ordered the seizure of the statue, which the museum acquired in 1986 and had been a highlight of its collection of ancient Roman art.

The warrant was secured as part of an ongoing investigation into a smuggling network involving antiquities looted from Bubon in south-western Turkey and trafficked through Manhattan, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. No details of the investigation were provided.

The 76in statue dates from 180 to 200 AD and is worth 20 million dollars, according to the district attorney's office.

The Roman-era statue is thought to represent Marcus Aurelius and was removed from view at the museum more than two months ago

The statue has been seized from the Cleveland Museum of Art by New York authorities investigating antiquities looted from Turkey

The statue was removed from view more than two months ago and the museum changed the description of the piece on its website, where it now calls the statue a 'Draped Male Figure' instead of indicating a connection to Marcus Aurelius, according to Cleveland newspaper The Plain Dealer.

Turkey first made claims about the statue in 2012 when it released a list of nearly two dozen objects in the Cleveland museum's collection that it said had been looted from Bubon and other locations.

Museum officials said at the time that Turkey had provided no hard evidence of looting.

Zeynep Boz of Turkey's ministry of culture and tourism said of the statue: 'The enduring dispute surrounding this matter has kept him separated from his hometown.'

In an emailed statement, Ms Boz said the seizure 'provides a strong sense of hope, long-awaited, for the rectification of a willing wrongdoing'.

Todd Mesek, a spokesperson for the museum, said in a statement that the museum could not comment on the Marcus Aurelius statue while it is the subject of litigation.

Mr Mesek said the museum 'takes provenance issues very seriously and reviews claims to objects in the collection carefully and responsibly'.

Marcus Aurelius ruled as Roman emperor from 161 AD to 180 and was a Stoic philosopher whose Meditations have been studied over the centuries, seen here in another statue

Marcus Aurelius was the last of the Five Good Emperors and ruled the Roman Empire from 161-180 AD. He was known for reigning with authority, humanity, and competence and was one of the most respected emperors in Roman history

The Manhattan district attorney's office has worked in recent years to repatriate hundreds of objects looted from countries including Turkey, Greece, Israel and Italy.

It was unclear who might be targeted in the investigation of the statue seized in Cleveland.

Marcus Aurelius ruled as Roman emperor from 161 AD to 180 and was a Stoic philosopher whose Meditations have been studied over the centuries.

The seized statue shows a man in flowing robes holding one hand in front of him in a regal pose.
The White House fired back at Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday night after the governor's office said he wouldn't join Joe Biden when the president visits his storm-ravaged home state Saturday.

DeSantis' snub comes as Floridans are seeking federal infusions worth billions to recover from massive destruction in the path of Hurricane Idalia  and after the president said he would meet with DeSantis when asked about it.

A DeSantis spokesman said the governor, who is a top Republican presidential contender, has 'no plans' to meet Biden, citing concerns a visit could impact recovery efforts.

That comes despite the president responding 'yes' when asked Friday if he planned to meet with DeSantis.

The White House fired back later, saying the Florida governor 'did not express concerns' in his many phone calls with Biden. And DeSantis met with Biden in 2022 when the president visited Florida to see the damage from Hurricane Ian.

The bickering and recovery efforts come amid the backdrop of the 2024 presidential election. DeSantis is running for the Republican nomination and coming in second to former President Donald Trump in the polls for the right to take on Biden next year.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has 'no plans' to meet President Biden, who is visiting Florida Saturday afternoon

'We don't have any plans for the Governor to meet with the President tomorrow,' said DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern.

'In these rural communities, and so soon, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.'

He made the statement, which was confirmed by DailyMail.com, just as the White House was making preparations for a trip.

The White House fired back on Friday night, noting DeSantis didn't raise any concerns about Biden's visit when the two men discussed the trip.

'The president informed the governor yesterday before his visit to FEMA,' a White House official said of Saturday's trip.

'The governor did not express concerns at that time. The visit was closely coordinated with FEMA, state and local officials to ensure there is no impact to ongoing response operations.'

Biden has made multiple phone calls to DeSantis, and the White House has staged regular briefings by security officials. It is the kind of federal-state collaboration that presidents and governors usually to put forward to display cooperation in a recovery situation.

And, while visiting FEMA headquarters in Washington D.C. on Thursday, Biden said he had spoken to DeSantis so frequently that 'there should be a direct dial' between the pair.

The White House noted that Saturday's visit was coordinated with FEMA so rescure operations wouldn't be impacted. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell is on the ground in Florida and will join President Biden and first lady Jill Biden on their tour of damaged areas.

'Their visit to Florida has been planned in close coordination with FEMA as well as state and local leaders to ensure there is no impact on response operations,' White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said in a statement.

President Biden heads to Florida Saturday to view storm damage. In Florida UBS bank estimated that insurance claims would amount to a staggering $10 billion

DeSantis is tending to storm recovery even as he runs a presidential campaign, where his poll numbers have sagged

Storm recovery costs could hit $20 billion

Biden and DeSantis did meet in June 2021 following the collapse of the Surfside condominium.

NBC first reported on DeSantis' latest plans.

Biden himself often cites the security footprint issue when weighing visits  including his chaotic visit to tour wildfire damage in Hawaii. But with Biden going, there will already be a substantial Secret Service and security presence in place.

Idalia made landfall Wednesday near Keaton Beach with winds of about 125 mph and a six-foot storm surge.

At first, both Biden and DeSantis said helping storm victims would outweigh presidential politics.

However, DeSantis began raising concerns as this week drew to a close.

'Theres a time and a place to have political season,' the governor said before Idalia made landfall. 'But then theres a time and a place to say that this is something thats life threatening, this is something that could potentially cost somebody their life, it could cost them their livelihood.'

But, on Friday, DeSantis told reporters of his talks with Biden: 'One thing I did mention to him on the phone' was 'it would be very disruptive to have the whole security apparatus that goes' with the president 'because there are only so many ways to get into' many of the hardest hit areas.

'What we want to do is make sure that the power restoration continues and the relief efforts continue and we dont have any interruption in that,' DeSantis said.

The scale of the damage was becoming clear on Friday. Some 28,000 residents were told they could be without power for two weeks after the storm brought down power lines and left a trail of destruction.

But it could have been worse. It took a late turn away from the state capital Tallahassee, and its population of 200,000 people.

Instead it hit less populated coastal regions.

Even so, in Florida UBS bank estimated that insurance claims would amount to about $10 billion.

Other estimates suggested the final cost could be more than $20 billion in Florida alone.

If DeSantis does stay away from Biden, he may avoid a repeat of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who famously 'hugged' President Barack Obama during his 2016 trip to view storm damage from Hurricane Sandy.

Christie is among DeSantis' 2024 rivals, in a race where former President Donald Trump is the undisputed poll leader.
Among them are rare shots of a ghostly deep-sea monster and a tiger in Ukraine

Nominations for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award have been revealed

From a ghostly sea monster to a sneaky possum, the contending shots for this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award have been unveiled.

Hosted by London's Natural History Museum, the annual exhibition is showcasing more than a dozen nominated pictures put forward for the prestigious prize.

This year, photographers sought to capture the fragility of the modern world in numerous shots taken in 95 countries around the world.

These will be judged on October 10 in an event hosted by the TV presenters and conservationists Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin.

'What most impressed the jury was the range of subjects, from absolute beauty, rarely seen behaviours and species to images that are stark reminders of what we are doing to the natural world,' said Chairwoman of the judging panel, Kathy Moran.

'We felt a powerful tension between wonder and woe that we believe came together to create a thought-provoking collection of photographs.'

From a ghostly sea monster to a sneaky possum, the contending shots for this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award have been unveiled

The museum's competition, which kicked off in the 1960s, takes place every year to showcase the best talent in natural photography.

This year's event drew in almost 50,000 entries from photographers of all ages and experience levels.

'The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition reveals some of nature's most wondrous sights whilst offering hope and achievable actions visitors can take to help protect the natural world,' added Dr Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum.

'We are facing urgent biodiversity and climate crises and photography is a powerful catalyst for change.'

MailOnline reveals some of the top contenders for the prize below.

Elephant

Fight to the death by Jasper Doest, the Netherlands. Location: Lope National Park, Gabon

This shocking photograph captures the final moments of an elephant that was hit by a train in Lope National Park, Gabon.

Photographer, Jasper Doest, says the collision shattered the elephant's hip beyond repair, forcing workers to kill it and end its suffering.

This is not a rare tragedy in the national park, with countless animals crushed by trains that pass through, including 20 elephants every year.

These trains are used to transport manganese - a component used in the production of steel and iron - from the local Moanda mine.

Atlantic Stargazer

Death in waiting by Pietro Formis, Italy. Location: Rijeka, Croatia

While this fish may look like something from the twilight zone, it was actually spotted by Pietro Formis near the sandy shores of Croatia.

Known as the Atlantic Stargazer fish, this species hides under the sand to stake out prey, with its eyes and mouth just visible through the grains.

But erosion and pollution are among numerous challenges faced by the Stargazer, with the species also often getting caught in the nets of fishermen.

'To me it looks like a voodoo mask or a human face and those are species that I like most, the species that have a human-like face, with big eyes and big mouth. It's a beautiful animal,' Mr Formis told the BBC.

Brushtail possum

Possum's midnight snack by Caitlin Henderson, Australia. Location: Malanda, Queensland, Australia

It was Caitlin Henderson who caught the brushtail possum chomping on a green cicada outside her balcony window in Australia.

'There were heads here, wings there,' she said.

While its long sharp claws were made for life in the trees, the nocturnal marsupial has readily adapted to city environments.

But the small creature continues to clash with humans, often causing damage to buildings and fruit trees.

Red fox

The face of the persecuted by Neil Aldridge, South Africa. Location: Kent, England, UK

Neil Aldridge's shot puts the spotlight on the injuries sustained by a fox in Kent, UK.

The red fox's damaged flesh is on show as it appears to cautiously peer out from a makeshift den within a rehabilitation centre.

Mr Alderidge believes the fox was attacked by dogs that were sent into its den to flush it out.

Since 2005 in England and Wales it has been illegal to poison foxes, block or destroy foxholes, or use dogs to hunt them.

But this practice still continues today, with disturbing footage revealed only last month of an attack in Brokerswood, Wiltshire.

Leopard

The catwalk by Shashwat Harish, Kenya: Maasai Mara National Reserve, Narok, Kenya

Shashwat Harish spent countless hours in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve, eagerly hoping to catch sight of a leopard.

Leopards are the smallest of the big cats in the park, living among cheetahs and packs of lion.

Population numbers are decreasing due to habitat loss, hunting, and the decline of their prey.

Storks

Firebirds by Elza Friedlander, Germany. Location: Rhino Ridge, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

These two storks were among hundreds of birds walking among a simmering blaze in Elza Friedlander's shot.

Just like the leopard, this photograph was taken at Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve where controlled burning is used to manage grasslands.

Albeit controversial, rangers use this method to stimulate new growth and to control the spread of bushland.

However, in times of drought, this can encourage the spread of wildfire flames.

Coral

Coral connections by Alex Mustard, UK. Location: Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Alex Mustard's shot portrays a vibrantly healthy coral reef as ghost gobies swim between its branches.

The photographer is a huge fan of gobies - small fish predominantly found in the Indo-west Pacific.

Unfortunately, thriving ecosystems such as this are under threat due to warming seas amidst global climate change.

Sailfish

Prize catch by Jef Pattyn, Belgium/the Netherlands. Highly commended, Oceans: The Bigger Picture

Jef Pattyn had spent days watching fishers bring their catch to shore surrounded by birds trying to get their share.

The fish were prepared at sea then loaded onto trucks early in the morning when this photograph was taken.

Artisan fishing provides vital employment opportunities for people living around Ecuador's Eastern Pacific waters.

This is small in scale compared to the industrial-scale fishing undertaken by international fleets.

But the practice does take its toll on marine mammals too, which often get entangled in nets.

Tiger

War cub by Micha Siarek, Poland. Location: Poznan Zoo, Poznan, Poland



Micha Siarek records the moment a team from Poznan Zoo opens a crate to check on an evacuated tiger cub.

Mr Siarek documented efforts to evacuate animals including wild animals in private ownership such as tigers, from across war-torn Ukraine.

'That night changed me,' he says.

'Hearing the cry of a lion still in the truck made me decide to help with the next evacuation run.'

Many of the animals were rescued from fighting hotspots in eastern Ukraine in 2022.

At the Polish border, the animals were re-crated and rushed to Poznan Zoo, then on to sanctuaries in Europe. More than 200 animals have since been saved.
Japanese astronomers propose another planet that's closer than Planet Nine

For years, astronomers have teased the concept of another world in our solar system, commonly referred to as Planet Nine.

But there could be a whole other 'Earth-like' planet waiting to be discovered much closer to home, Japanese astronomers now reveal.

They think this new planet is hiding in the Kuiper Belt, the doughnut-shaped ring of objects extends just beyond the orbit of Neptune.

This so-called Kuiper Belt planet (KBP) is up to 500 astronomical units (AU) from the sun  500 times the distance between Earth and the sun, and closer than Planet Nine.

KBP is up to three times as massive as Earth, the experts say, but temperatures are likely too cold to sustain life as we know it.

Astronomers in Japan believe an Earth-like world could be hiding within our solar system, waiting to be discovered (file photo)

READ MORE Does Planet X really exist? If Planet Nine exists, its hypothetical orbit would see it take between 10,000 and 20,000 years to go around the sun Advertisement

The study was conducted by Patryk Sofia Lykawka of Kindai University in Osaka, Japan and Takashi Ito of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo.

'We predict the existence of an Earth-like planet,' they say in their paper, published in The Astronomical Journal.

'It is plausible that a primordial planetary body could survive in the distant Kuiper Belt as a KBP, as many such bodies existed in the early solar system.'

It's known that the Kuiper Belt contains millions of icy objects, referred to as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) because they're beyond Neptune.

TNOs are thought to be what's left over from the formation of the solar system and composed of mixtures of rock, amorphous carbon and volatile ices such as water and methane.

'The orbits of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) can indicate the existence of an undiscovered planet in the outer solar system,' the Japanese team say.

'These rock and ice bodies are the remnants of planet formation in the outer solar system.'

NASA describes the Kuiper belt as a 'region of leftovers from the solar system's early history'. The experts think the Earth-like planet resides in the belt, closer to the sun than the hypothesised location of Planet Nine

An Earth-like planet can explain three fundamental properties of the distant Kuiper Belt, including a 'significant population of high-inclination objects' (pictured)

What are Trans Neptunian objects? A TNO or Trans Neptunian object is any minor planet orbiting the sun in our solar system beyond Neptune, or at a distance which is more than Neptunes (on average). Most TNOs are small and faint, making them difficult to spot. Generally, they are more than 100 million times fainter than objects visible to the unaided eye. Most, but not all, TNOs are in the the Kuiper Belt, the doughnut-shaped ring of objects extends just beyond the orbit of Neptune. Source: ESA/planetfacts.org Advertisement

The team noticed that some of these objects have 'peculiar orbits' that suggest they are being gravitationally influenced by something larger close by.

The belt also has a significant population of high-inclination objects  those with a high tilt as they orbit around the sun.

Computer simulations suggested the hypothetical KBP could be responsible for these effects.

'We determined that an Earth-like planet located on a distant and inclined orbit can explain three fundamental properties of the distant Kuiper Belt,' they write.

'[These are] a prominent population of TNOs with orbits beyond Neptune's gravitational influence, a significant population of high-inclination objects, and the existence of some extreme objects with peculiar orbits.'

The experts note that they are predicting rather than confirming the Kuiper Belt planet exists, as more research will be required.

They also stress that their proposed planet is different from the already-hypothesized Planet Nine, which is much more massive and thought to be located on a more distant orbit.

Planet Nine was first theorised by experts from Caltech in 2014 when, similarly, they spotted that the orbits of the most distant TNOs were being perturbed or disrupted.

Astronomers still claim that this can be explained by the gravitational pull of a ninth planet in our solar system that orbits 20 times farther from our sun than Neptune.

However, to date, astronomers have only circumstantial evidence for the existence of Planet Nine  and some aren't convinced it exists at all.

If it exists, Planet Nine is in the outer reaches of our own solar system, beyond the Kuiper Belt, rather than within it.

Planet Nine could have formed in the inner solar system at its genesis and was then kicked out by interactions with Jupiter, another team of researchers said in 2020.

Another study published earlier this year suggested Planet Nine could be surrounded by 20 hot moons, which might help experts find it.
They're usually found grazing the arid landscapes of the Horn of Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.

But an adorable African wild ass has made himself at home here in the UK, having been born at a Hampshire zoo last month.

The African wild ass is listed as critically-endangered, with fewer than 200 animals left in the wild.

The male foal, which has not yet been named, was born at Marwell Zoo near Winchester on August 20 to parents Nadifa and Lars.

Darren Ives, the zoo's senior animal keeper for hoofstock, said: 'The team is very excited after a year-long wait for the foal to be born and what makes it even more special is we haven't had an African wild ass foal born at Marwell since 2020.

An adorable African wild ass has made himself at home here in the UK, having been born at a Hampshire zoo last month

The male foal, which has not yet been named, was born at Marwell Zoo near Winchester on August 20 to parents Nadifa and Lars

'The foal has already been seen doing "zoomies" around the paddock and is looking nice and healthy.'

The African wild ass is native to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somali, but is preyed on by African lions and Ethiopian wolves.

It has also been hunted by humans for food, causing their numbers to plummet in the wild.

A Marwell spokeswoman said: 'The birth of one of the rarest mammals on the planet has thrilled keepers at Marwell Zoo this week, following the arrival of a critically-endangered African wild ass.

'With gangly legs and floppy ears, it's an addition that's sure to be popular with guests too.

'The new arrival at Marwell is reported to be doing well and can be seen with mother Nadifa in the paddock opposite Okapi playground.

'The father, Lars, has been moved into an enclosure next door to our banteng whilst Nadifa bonds with her new arrival.

'Nadifa was born here in 2007 so the arrival of her foal is a continuation of Marwell's commitment to conserving this critically-endangered species, which we've had at Marwell since 1993.

Darren Ives, the zoo's senior animal keeper for hoofstock, said: 'The team is very excited after a year-long wait for the foal to be born and what makes it even more special is we haven't had an African wild ass foal born at Marwell since 2020'

The African wild ass is native to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somali, but is preyed on by African lions and Ethiopian wolves

'This is Nadifa's third foal and Lars has become a father for the fifth time. Keepers have confirmed the foal is male but haven't given him a name yet.'

She added: 'With so few of these animals left in the wild, it's more important than ever to ensure there is a healthy, genetically diverse population of African wild asses in zoos as a back up for populations in the wild.

'The new foal will play an important role in the future preservation of its species for future generations.'
Instead gasoline-fuelled cars are often preferred as a marker of masculinity

A US-based study claims that men who want to seem like 'real men' dislike EVs

Electric vehicles (EVs) are often deemed the future of transport, with titans like Ford and Tesla racing to make them.

But a new study reveals that 'more macho' men may not see this the same way, in the bizarre belief that EVs will harm their image.

Dr Michael Parent, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), claims that men who prioritise acting 'like a real man' are more likely to frown upon electric-powered cars.

High-performance gasoline vehicles are instead preferred as a marker of masculinity, he says, raising an alarming and unexpected uncertainty for efforts against climate change.

'It wouldn't be a main driver of climate change, but it is one more, preventable, thing that adds to the pile of issues related to climate,' Dr Parent told MailOnline.

A US-based study claims that cisgender men who want to seem like 'real men' dislike EVs (stock image)

READ MORE: Men like meat because it makes them feel MANLY A new study has found that the men who love meat the most also view themselves as more traditionally masculine, and see eating it is 'normal' (stock image) Advertisement

'Although the issue could be addressed through advertising, it would probably be better for education to address healthy gender role norms to reduce precarious masculinity in general.

'That is related to a broad set of negative behaviours including sexism, homophobia, aggression, and others.'

As part of his research, Dr Parent examined the concept of 'masculine contingency' among 400 men living in the US.

Masculine contingency refers to the degree to which a person bases their self-worth on cultural standards of masculinity including toughness, status and anti-femininity.

These perceptions can be real or imagined, with all participants asked to agree or disagree with a series of statements including 'I can't respect myself if I don't live up to what it means to be a "real man".'

Answers were then compared with car purchasing habits and attitudes, examining whether gas/diesel, hybrid or electric was preferred.

Almost 40 per cent of men ranked EVs as the worst option, with many of these participants also holding the most traditional 'masculine' views.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are often deemed the future of transport, with titans like Ford and Tesla (pictured) racing to make them

'Consumer good purchase decisions are made, to a degree, with consideration toward how those purchases reflect personal identities,' Dr Parent wrote.

'The prior literature has suggested that, overall, EVs may be appealing to men in terms of their fast acceleration and appeal as a technological innovation.

'However, among men, endorsement of masculinity contingency was linked to lowered preference for EVs.'

These startling results come as countless car giants are racing to develop new game-changing EVs amid heightened environmental concern against typical fuel engines.

New movements, like London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), also encourage drivers to go electric, with a 12.50 daily charge for vehicles that don't meet emission standards.

Psychologist Louise Goddard-Crawley claims the results even have roots in human evolution and long-established ideas of dominance.

'From an evolutionary perspective, throughout human evolution, traits associated with masculinity, such as physical strength and dominance, were advantageous for survival and reproduction,' she told MailOnline.

'Traditional vehicles, with their loud engines and powerful performance, could symbolise these traits, making them more appealing to some individuals who value traditional masculinity.

'Electric cars, being quieter and perhaps perceived as less powerful, may be seen as deviating from these evolutionary ideals, leading to resistance among those who strongly identify with traditional gender norms.'

Despite his findings, Dr Parent acknowledges that his study is limited, suggesting there is no data to show a direct causal link between masculinity and attitudes towards EVs.

Car preferences were also based on hypotheticals and not real purchase decisions, adding to the ambiguity of results.

'It is likely that many men are susceptible to masculinity threats without being consciously aware of it and as such experimental research in the precarious masculinity paradigm on the topic of consumer research would be valuable,' he wrote.

'In sum, this study demonstrates a link between masculinity contingency and EV-related attitudes and purchase intentions, contributing to work on masculinities and consumer choices.'
Walking around a bend in Palo Santo forest on the remote island of Genovesa, I grind to a halt. A short-eared owl is perched on a wooden bridge barely a yard away, fixing me with beady eyes and clenching its talons.

Yet despite my close proximity, the magnificent creature doesnt move an inch. Thats the joy of the Galapagos  getting to see nature up close and personal.

Here, in this archipelago of 19 volcanic islands, you are 600 miles from Ecuador, deep in the Pacific Ocean. You are also in a location renowned among zoologists and ornithologists for its amazingly rich abundance of wildlife.

Located on both sides of the Equator, it is here that Charles Darwin landed in 1835 on the Royal Navy sloop HMS Beagle  his observation of species such as the giant tortoise and mockingbird inspiring his theory of evolution.

Now I am following in his footsteps.

On a tour around the Galapagos Islands, Claudia Joseph gets up close and personal with the 'magnificent' creatures of the archipelago, including giant tortoises (above)

Seeing the short-eared owl is not the only treat in store. Francisco Dousdebes, my guide on Genovesa, says sea lions, boobies, giant tortoises and gulls can all be witnessed up close. As he adds: The Galapagos really changes the mindset of travellers and allows them to immerse themselves in nature.

My journey begins with a two-hour flight from Ecuador to the island of Baltra, before catching a ferry to Santa Cruz, home to the Charles Darwin Research Station. The temperature is 16C (61F) and theres a warm breeze, but the landscape is arid, dotted with cacti. Not what Id expected.

Nature teems in the surroundings. Oblivious to tourists, sea lions loll in the sunshine as pelicans swoop above the harbour wall. I board a bus to the highlands, traversing mangrove coastline towards a reserve to see the famous giant tortoises.

Here, hibiscus, citrus and avocado trees, as well as scalesia  giant daisy trees indigenous to the Galapagos  are found.

The sound of yellow warblers fills the silence, and monarch butterflies flitter as giant tortoises, lumbering around, munch on the vegetation and wallow in shallow pools.

Its a short bus ride to the islands main town, Puerto Ayora, where you can join the Galapagos expedition yacht La Pinta for a four-night cruise around the islands.

After welcome bubbles and a buffet dinner I roll into my cabin where Im lulled to sleep by the rocking of the yacht. At dawn, you can lie in bed and watch the sunrise over the tiny islet of Eden off the north-western coast of Santa Cruz.

Claudia's journey begins with a two-hour flight from Ecuador to the island of Baltra, before she catches a ferry to Santa Cruz (above), home to the Charles Darwin Research Station

The time has come for our first excursion on the Zodiac dinghy  an exploration of the coast of the islet, the remains of a volcanic ash cone.

You cannot land on the island but the wildlife is abundant on the dramatic coastline, dotted with prickly pear and candelabra cacti. Sea lions bask in the sunshine. Great piles of marine iguana lie on top of one another, looking quite content despite the squash. Red rock crabs lurk in crevices, while pelicans sail above the azure-blue sea and blue-footed boobies plunge with precision to catch their prey.

For the more adventurous, the deep blue waters surrounding the island are the perfect playground for kayaking and paddleboarding.

Or you could take a ride in La Pintas glass-bottomed boat, a favourite of children aboard the yacht and those who are not such keen snorkellers.

The next stop is Chinese Hat, one of the smallest islands in the archipelago, formed when a volcano on the nearby Santiago Island erupted, spewing lava and rocks into the sea to form a volcanic spatter cone.

Claudia joins the Galapagos expedition yacht La Pinta for a four-night cruise around the islands

Awe-inspiring: Charles Darwin's visit to the Galapagos Islands in 1835 inspired his theory of evolution

Sauntering along a 1,300ft (400m) trail, which begins on the crescent-shaped white sand coral beach, home to a sea lion colony, we step over marine iguanas, spread-eagled like starfish in the sunshine, and more red rock crabs.

But the piece de resistance is snorkelling in the crystal-clear waters amid white-tipped reef sharks and Galapagos penguins. I spot jewel-coloured rainbow wrasse with iridescent pinstripes, silver sergeant major damselfish, bright blue king angelfish and shoals of yellow-tailed surgeonfish.

The following day, it is up at the crack of dawn for a sunrise walk on the island of Bartholomew, named after the naturalist and lifelong friend of Darwin, Sir Bartholomew Sulivan, who was a lieutenant aboard HMS Beagle.

After clambering up the wooden steps to the top of the island  an extinct volcano with red, orange, green and black formations  you come to a jaw-dropping view.

While on the remote island of Genovesa (pictured), Claudia spies a short-eared owl 'clenching its talons'

Nature's Wonders: Claudia spots marine iguanas (pictured left) during a visit to Chinese Hat, one of the smallest islands in the archipelago. She also snorkels near Galapagos penguins, pictured right, while on the isle

In the foreground is Pinnacle Rock, a volcanic rock that rises out of Sullivan Bay like Londons Gherkin. In the distance you can see the enigmatic outline of Santiago Island, where Darwin spent six days. Santiago is not just one of the best places to swim and snorkel, the island is also a favourite among green turtles for mating and nesting. Then there is the geology.

The trail over a lava field created by a series of 19th Century volcanic eruptions is fascinating. Its an eerie landscape with lava resembling twisted rope.

Afterwards a dip or a snorkel around the white coral sand beach is highly recommended, though Ive never seen so many mosquitoes. Insect repellent is a must.

Claudia goes for a sunrise walk on the island of Bartholomew, named after the naturalist and lifelong friend of Charles Darwin, Sir Bartholomew Sulivan

On the final day on La Pinta, we motor to Genovesa, which has become known as Bird Island because of its numerous and varied avian species.

It is here, after climbing Prince Philips Steps, named for the late Duke of Edinburgh after he visited the Galapagos in 1964, that I first spot the short-eared owl, hidden in the undergrowth. But its not the only natural wonder: red-billed tropic birds soar overhead, darting between their nests and the bay as I clamber up the steps to a seabird colony, full of Nazca and red-footed boobies. At the end of the trail, I stand by the edge of a rocky lava plain and watch, entranced, as storm petrels and frigatebirds swoop out to sea.

According to my guide Francisco, Prince Philip, who visited the Galapagos islands three times, described it as an unfiltered wildlife experience.

Who am I to disagree?
Election workers nationwide are being threatened before, during and between elections, and so far this year the U.S. Department of Justice has charged about a dozen people with making them.

Those prosecutions are but a fraction of the thousands of death threats received across the country, according to election officials. Secretaries of state and other experts are warning that it could worsen as the 2024 presidential election approaches.

Some tie the threats to the lies fomented by former President Donald Trump as his supporters hold fast to their false belief that the 2020 election was stolen, despite reams of evidence to the contrary.

I anticipate it will get worse as we end this year and go into the presidential election next year, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told The Associated Press.

The threats have led to an exodus of election workers, the Brennan Center for Justice said in an April survey, noting in an analysis that Trumps lies werent just lies but were always paired with the threat of violence.

Federal efforts to combat the threats have been under way since 2021, when the Justice Department created a task force to address the issue.

This isnt going to be taken lightly. Its not going to be trivialized, task force second-in-command John Keller told AP. Federal judges, the courts are taking misconduct seriously, and the punishments are going to be commensurate with the seriousness of the conduct.

On Tuesday, Mark Rissi, 64, of Hiawatha, Iowa, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for threatening a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors election official in Arizona, as well as the states attorney general. James Clark of Falmouth, Mass., pleaded guilty on Aug. 11 to sending a bomb threat to an Arizona state election official if she did not resign.

Other threats have been aimed at Georgia election officials, where Trump now stands indicted for his efforts to overturn the election. He has pleaded not guilty.

Threatening public officials is a serious matter, never warranted by the situation no matter how heated or politically charged, said U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino for the District of Arizona at Clarks plea. Cases like this are important in protecting not only the public official victimized by the conduct, but also the integrity of our election processes as a whole.

With News Wire Services
Macbeth (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon)

Verdict: Bard Abuse

Rating:

Audiences could be forgiven for turning their backs on Shakespeare.

Directors in some of our most hallowed institutions appear to be doing the same. And yet, we theatregoers keep on booking, in the hope of discovering what makes the Bard such a theatrical titan  only to face the dispiriting insights of yet another rookie director of his work.

To be fair to Wils Wilsons Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, its only a partial travesty.

A lofty, experimental take on Shakespeare, it is an almost entirely Scottish-accented affair in which the famous Porters speech  deemed past its use-by date in the programme  has been re-written by English stand-up comedian Stewart Lee.

Before that, though, Georgia McGuinnesss design locates the mediaeval Scottish warlords in something like a lunar landscape reminiscent of a 1960s episode of Star Trek, but littered with dead birds.

A production of Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre directed by Wils Wilson

Costumes also go where no man has gone before, combining tartan kaftans with Japanese kimonos and, inexplicably, for the younger roles, spacesuit-like straitjackets.

Perhaps we shouldnt be surprised or disappointed to discover that the monarch Duncan, and sundry thanes, are women  but this only weakens the plays take on the violent male power fantasies exposed by the witches. It is all the more worrying that the rich diversity of this social milieu has metastasised into a monstrous Putin-esque gangster state.

After slightly meek beginnings, Reuben Josephs Macbeth does catch glimpses of his inner Prigozhin. He is nonetheless best at falling apart, after he imagines a dagger flashing about in mid-air, as if at Hogwarts. And did we really have to see him dragged off to his Pythonesque doom, yelping: Im sorry! Im sorry!?

Still, I was glad of Northern Irish actor Valene Kanes Lady Macbeth, who is here called Gruach (a sickly eructation of a name, which is strangely fitting).

Kanes licentious Lady is like an ultra-high maintenance rock chick, disappointed to discover her squeeze is having a crisis about his second album. And talking of music, Alasdair Macraes score is very much the shows most distinctive and haunting feature.

It provides the soundtrack for the witches creative writhing, with shrieking bagpipes, gallows drumming and an immensely portentous sousaphone (a giant wrap-around tuba, which issues long, infernal, fog-horn blasts).

Ive seen this play race past in under two hours (without an interval). But here its a three-hour modish variety act, with yawning gaps (literally) between scenes.

One of the chief gimmicks is breakout segments played on a microphone, including Lees controversial new Porters speech, which Alison Peebles tramp-like doorkeeper utters in a deliciously abrasive Gorbals brogue.

She sneers about Tories sponsoring sanitary towels at Glyndebourne, while ingratiating herself with asides to GCSE English students, before another actor calls her sexual innuendo-laden gags pathetic.

Its one thing for Wilson and Lee to try something fresh with the Bard, but re-writing Shakespeare is a slippery slope for the RSC, supposed guardians of his legacy.

As You Like It (Shakespeare's Globe, London)

Verdict: Runin the forest

Rating:

In Ellen McDougalls delightfully frivolous production of As You Like It at the Globe, theyve (re)discovered that the best way to handle Shakespeare is to get the audience behind you, simply by having fun.

And, if you want to flaunt your gender fluidity, as they do here, old Bills joyously subversive theatricality makes him a writer who keeps on giving. And its a boon that the costumes for this woodland romcom are a saucy mix of Elizabethan starch and queer couture.

But what really makes the show is that its easy to follow and spoken loud and clear with modern street cadences, from Manchester to Yorkshire, London and North America. And each word is matched with twitches, feints and hesitations to ensure the audience hangs on every syllable.

Admittedly, a tin-eared new prologue and epilogue, which would likely make Shakespeare squirm, has been added by Travis Alabanza. Nor do they go so far as to trust the hey nonino songs that drift through the drama like Old Mans Beard (thats Clematis vitalba to ye olde horticulturalists).

Instead, they draft in gay pop songs from Troye Sivans Bloom, to Canadian duo Tegan And Saras Closer and Bruno Marss Marry You.

Isabel Adomakoh Young plays Orlando in As You Like It at Shakespeare's Globe

Nina Bowerss American accented Rosalind, banished to the forest by her uncle, is eagerly lovelorn in her aching for Isabel Adomakoh Young as the tiny, goatee-bearded (and delightfully unlikely) wrestling champ Orlando.

Fortunately, he is similarly enamoured with her, having also been cast out of court and into the woods. And Macy-Jacob Seelochan adjudicates sweetly (and huffily) between them as Rosalinds beloved cousin Celia.

Perhaps the most radical performance is from Alex Austin, who turns the morose woodlander Jaques into a deracinated rent boy, giving new meaning to the line I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs.

Strutting about in tiny hose shorts and embroidered cowboy boots, hes a hoot  though he could have had more fun with his all the worlds a stage speech.

Yes, there are one or two moments of queer self-congratulation. But no real complaints from me about a show where loves labours are never lost.

Macbeth (Shakespeares Globe, London)

Verdict: No laughing matter

Rating:

The Globe continues to treat its audiences like children with the trigger warning: This production contains moments of violence, death and references to child loss and suicide, and features the use of stage blood, guns, and knives. And there was me thinking it was a cosy domestic drama.

Under Abigail Grahams misfiring direction, however, it appears to have moved from tragedy to comedy in the canon, as no opportunity to give a side-eye or telegraph a witty line goes untaken in her modern-dress interpretation, which opened last month but runs till the end of October.

The cauldron scene, for instance, is played entirely for laughs, a food processor here in place of the boiling pot. Its funny, but to what end?

Macbeth performed at Shakespeare's Globe, London, directed by Abigail Graham

The comedy lessens, rather than heightens, the horror of the Macbeths descent into depravity  although the scene where Macbeth kills Young Siward produced a few gasps (including mine). Unfortunately, the rest of the murders produce a meh, as mortuary trolleys bearing corpses, or emptily awaiting their next passenger, are wheeled across the stage.

Theres one neat directorial flourish: by putting Banquo, Siward and Macduffs sons in the spotlight, Ms Graham shows us the importance of the line of succession in this world  and it cruelly contrasts with the Macbeths loss of a child.

But less impactful is having the Three Witches being played by men  Callum Callaghan, Ben Caplan and Fery Roberts  who double up as Macbeths aides and assassins. Are they outcasts or insiders? Its difficult to tell.

Max Bennetts Macbeth is unconvincing as either hero or villain, while Matti Houghton as Lady Macbeth is equally bland, and even her mad scenes fail to elicit our sympathy. Few actors get the chance to shine, except perhaps for Mr Callaghans Porter.

This is a muddled production  not helped by Ti Greens almost empty set, inexplicably wrapped in creased grey material  that adds little to our understanding of the play.
Taylor Swift's upcoming tour documentary prompted producers of horror film, The Exorcist: Believer, to move up their release date.

After it was announced on Thursday that the 33-year-old hitmaker's Eras Tour documentary would be coming to theaters on spooky day October 13, the same day as the Exorcist, the film's date was quickly changed to avoid an overlap.

The Exorcist is now set to drop in theaters everywhere on October 6th. Jason Blum, a producer on the film had the perfect quip in response to the change.

Taking to his Twitter, Jason jokingly blamed the date shift on Taylor's film, writing, 'Look what you made me do!'

Adding an extra layer of humor to the tweet, the film producer added the hashtag, #taylorwins. The Lavender Haze songstress has yet to publicly comment on The Exorcist: Believer's new release date.

Look what she made made do: Taylor Swift's upcoming tour documentary prompted producers of horror film, The Exorcist: Believer, to move up their release date; Seen 2023

Creepy as it is: Initially slated to premiere on Friday the 13th, The Exorcist: Believer is now premiering one week earlier to avoid conflicting with Swift's highly anticipated concert film

Funny: Jason Blum, a producer on the film, jokingly blamed the date shift on Taylor's film, writing on Twitter, 'Look what you made me do!'

Taylor announced on Instagram for her millions of followers that, 'The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I'm overjoyed to tell you that it'll be coming to the big screen soon.'

She ramped up anticipation for her fans by adding, 'Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged.'

Movie ticketing websites are already preparing to brace their servers for the ticket-buying demands of dedicated Swifties who couldn't make the Eras tour in person.

According to NPR, AMC for example has already increased its website and servers to, 'more than five times the largest influx of ticket-buying traffic the company has ever experienced before.'

Noted concert film director Sam Wrench (he's directed concert films for Billie Eilish, Jennifer Lopez, BTS and Pentatonix, to name a few) will be behind the lens for the Taylor Swift Eras concert tour movie experience.

Michael O'Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, relayed his excitement for the Eras tour film hitting theaters via an official statement  'The only place where you can replicate the global excitement of Taylor Swifts live concerts is inside a movie theater with immersive, state-of-the-art projection and sound alongside a vocal crowd of passionate fans,' according to USA Today.

He praised the Evermore songstress for making her tour accessible for everyone, adding the blonde beauty will show, 'The true potential of what a concert film can do in theaters. This is a great opportunity for fans to experience a huge cultural phenomenon in a very accessible way.'

Meanwhile, the actual Eras tour will continue on into 2024.

The Bad Blood vocalist will take her Eras tour across the globe to Mexico, Japan, Australia, South America, and Europe, before returning to North America to conclude the tour.

Ticketmaster take a break: Swifties are already backing up movie theater ticketing servers trying to buy passes to see The Eras tour concert film in October

Golden girl: Meanwhile, the business mogul will keep performing live on the actual Eras Tour until 2024

Nightmare fuel: Meanwhile, The Exorcist: Believer is a follow up to the hit 1973 horror film The Exorcist

Return of the OG: Ellen Burstyn is set to reprise her role as Chris MacNeil in The Exorcist: Believer, the first time the Oscar winner has done so since 1973

Taylor announced on Instagram that, 'The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I'm overjoyed to tell you that it'll be coming to the big screen soon'

Meanwhile, Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn is set to reprise her iconic Exorcist role as Chris MacNeil in The Exorcist: Believer.

In the film, distraught father Victor Fielding (played by Hamilton's Leslie Odom Jr.) goes to Chris for help after his daughter is possessed by a demon.

The Exorcist: Believer, which debuts on October 6th, is the sixth installment in the Exorcist film franchise.

Meanwhile, the Taylor Swift: Eras Concert hits theaters everywhere on Friday, October 13th.
Georgia Toffolo looked sensational as she was spotted out and about in Soho on Wednesday.

The former Made In Chelsea star beamed as she donned a little black dress for the evening out as she headed home from the restaurant.

Ready for the autumn weather, the 28-year-old paired the short dress with black tights and some chunky platform black boots.

Georgia was out for the night with her pal entrepreneur Mikey Pearce as the two headed to Greek and Mediterranean restaurant Bacchanalia in Mayfair.

Her blonde locks were tousled naturally over her shoulders, as she kept her essentials in a cream handbag and held onto a chunky grey knitted cardigan.

Wow: Georgia Toffolo, 28, looked gorgeous as she donned a little black dress while out and about in Soho on Thursday night

Ready for the autumn: The reality star paired the short dress with black tights and some shiny platform black boots

Happy: Georgia was out for the night with her pal entrepreneur Mikey Pearce as the two headed to Greek and Mediterranean restaurant Bacchanalia in Mayfair

Taking to his story, Mikey posted a sweet video of the I'm A Celeb winner as he exclaimed 'Here she is!'

Playing up to the video, Toff blew a kiss as she cooed 'Missed you!'

The outing comes after it was reported earlier in August that Georgia has been left heartbroken after her on-off boyfriend struck up a romance with the reigning Miss Montenegro.

Convicted criminal George Cottrell, who was a senior adviser to Nigel Farage, is dating the model Andjela Vukadinovic after relocating to the Balkans.

Friends of Toff say she is 'devastated' that her relationship with the financier, which has lasted four years, may be finally over.

It is understood Cottrell and the beauty queen, who won the pageant in Montenegro in March, holidayed together in the South of France over the summer.

One pal told The Mail on Sunday: 'Georgia is so upset at all of this  it has really hit her.

'Their relationship has been through its ups and downs, but to see George now go off with Andjela has been very sad for her.

'She always had hopes it would work out. But George has been spending more and more time in Montenegro for work and he met Andjela.'

All smiles: Her blonde locks were tousled naturally over her shoulders as she kept her essentials in a cream handbag and held onto a chunky grey knitted cardigan

Surprised: Something had clearly caught Georgia off guard

Pecker up: Toff appeared to be in good spirits for the night out, despite recent heartbreak

What?! Georgia seemed to have spotted something in the street as she pointed

Heartbreak: Georgia was left heartbroken earlier this month after her on-off boyfriend George Cottrell struck up a romance with the reigning Miss Montenegro

Relaxed: The star took looked effortlessly chic in a white swimsuit as she posted a candid snap on Instagram during a relaxing getaway in the midst of the heartbreak

Georgia met Geroge at a social event before going on to spend time with him at his 2.5 million West London apartment and enjoying weekend breaks at his family's Worcestershire estate.

The reality star recently enjoyed a holiday away as she reflected on her heartbreak during a sunny getaway.

She spent a well-needed break soaking up the sun as she gave fans a holiday snap on Instagram, looking effortlessly chic in a white swimsuit.

Georgia looked calm and composed as she laid on the sand reading her book at the beach donning a funky bucket hat.
She rose to fame playing Marissa Cooper in the popular TV series The O.C.

And after a brief hiatus from acting after appearing on The Hills: New Beginnings, Mischa Barton is making a comeback by starring in the reboot of the beloved Aussie soap, Neighbours.

To celebrate her return to the TV screens, the 37-year-old has posed for a photo shoot for Stellar magazine.

The British-born American actress cuts a glamorous figure on the cover in a unique designer sheer top and black trousers.

Mischa's blonde locks are coiffed in a straight style and she smoulders with dark makeup palette.

Mischa Barton stuns in glamorous cover shoot for Stellar magazine as reveals why she chose Australia for her big TV comeback

And fans can expect some new insights about her role in the beloved soap in her Stellar cover story.

'From the O.C. to Ramsay Street. The come back that brought Mischa Barton to Australia,' reads the coverline of the latest issue.

Running from 2003-2007, The OC focused on the dramatic personal lives of privileged teens in affluent Orange County in Southern California.

It comes after Mischa revealed it was Neighbours veteran Kylie Minogue who inspired her to accept a role on the iconic Australian soap.

The 37-year-old star of the hit soap The O.C. recently joined the cast of the Amazon Prime reboot of Neighbours Pictured: Mischa on the red carpet in Los Angeles in 2019

Mischa plays a mysterious character called Reece Sinclair in the Neighbours reboot

The Hills: New Beginnings star admitted while she had never watched the show prior to signing on she was well aware of its significance because she is a huge Kylie fan.

'I was familiar with it, probably the same things that most people recognise about the show, like Kylie Minogue and the fun stuff,' she told the Herald Sun.

Mischa plays a mysterious character called Reece Sinclair in the Neighbours reboot.

A brand new trailer has teased that the character's secrets appear to be getting uncovered after her arrival.

Mischa first rose to fame as the character Marissa Cooper in the glossy U.S. soap The O.C., which dealt the dramatic personal lives of privileged teens in affluent Orange County in Southern California Pictured: The star signs autographs for fans during the heyday of The O.C. in the early 2000s

In the trailer, Reece quickly starts causing drama in Erinsborough as she becomes involved in a steamy romance.

Reece is shown growing closer with Byron Stone (Xavier Molyneux), with the pair sharing an intimate smooch in a lift.

Previous seasons of Neighbours, as well as many iconic episodes, are currently available to stream on Prime Video.

Meanwhile, the hotly-anticipated Amazon Prime reboot of Neighbours is set to drop on the streaming giant on September 25, after it ended its 37-year run last July.
He is one of Australia's best known comedians, radio presenters and TV hosts.

And now, Tommy Little has released his very own children's book, just months after being removed as a regular panellist of The Project.

The 38-year-old announced on Instagram on Thursday, his new book titled 'Who took my nuts?' is currently on sale.

'My kids book Who took my nuts? is here! I hope you love it,' Tommy wrote alongside a video of him signing a copy.

'It's in all good book stores and online and for the first week it's only ten bucks. After the first week it goes up to $40000 dollars per copy.'

The Project host Tommy Little has revealed his shock new career change... nine months after being removed as a 'regular' on the panel

The announcement comes just months after Tommy was quietly removed as a regular panellist of The Project.

The stand-up comedian is no longer an 'official' cast member but will appear on the show sporadically, according to TV Blackbox.

A spokesperson for Channel Ten talked down Tommy taking a step back from the show, after a number of high-profile resignations, including Carrie Bickmore, Lisa Wilkinson and Peter Helliar.

'The Project team adore Tommy and look forward to working with him again in 2023,' a spokesperson told TV Blackbox.

The 38-year-old announced on Instagram on Thursday, his new children's book titled 'Who took my nuts?' is currently on sale

It also comes following rumours Tommy was dating Carrie, the co-host of his HIT Network program, the Carrie and Tommy Show.

Fans were begging the couple to confirm their alleged romance, especially after they enjoyed a break in France together.

In June, they hosted their Hit FM radio show from the city of love, which had fans convinced that they are romantically involved.

'Can you guys just become a couple already? The chemistry between you two is out of this world and you can hear it on the radio', an Instagram user commented on a video of Tommy and Carrie exploring Paris.

It also comes following rumours Tommy was dating Carrie, the co-host of his HIT Network program, the Carrie and Tommy Show

'They make a cute couple. I'm convinced there is a little tryst going on,' another user wrote, while someone else added: 'Can't wait until the big secret comes out about you two'.

Carrie announced her split from her partner-of-11-years Chris Walker this year, while Tommy has reportedly been single since his breakup with girlfriend Natalie Kyriacou in 2021.

Tommy rushed to the mother-of-three's side in January when she confirmed her split, leading insiders to speculate their friendship could evolve into something more.
Martial arts star Don 'The Dragon' Wilson is headed Down Under.

The B-grade action movie performer, 68, is headed to Australia this September.

Wilson has been brought over by Dan Delts, a company known for bringing fans face-to-face with action stars like Steven Seagal, Michale Jai White, and Daniel Bernhardt.

Wilson's September tour will stop in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.

The main event will be a screening of his film Bloodfist with a Q&A afterwards.

Martial arts star Don 'The Dragon' Wilson (pictured with fellow martial artist Cynthia Rothrock) is headed Down Under. The B-grade action movie performer is headed to Australia this September

Wilson's September tour will stop in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. The main event will be a screening of his film Bloodfist with a Q&A afterwards

But fans will also have the opportunity to meet and greet with the action star with a tiered ticketing system.

Silver ticket holders will get a photo op, while VIP level tickets ensure a photo op and an autograph.

Other fans are able to pay for an exclusive martial arts seminar.

There is also an option to pay almost $700 to have dinner with the martial arts master.

Fans will have the option to pay almost $700 to have dinner with the martial arts master

After a career as a kickboxer in the 1970s and 1980s where he was called 'perhaps the greatest kickboxer in American history', Wilson gained cult status for his series of cheaply-made martial arts films.

1989's Bloodfist saw him star in his first feature role as Jake Raye, a kickboxer who travels to the Phillipines to enter a fighting competition to avenge the murder of his brother and fellow fighter.

While the film was poorly received by critics, it generated record profits for its production company, Concorde Pictures, prompting many more sequels.

Wilson has starred in many other B-grade and direct-to-video movies over the years, which titles such as Cybertracker, Night Hunter, and Inferno in his filmography.
A raunchy photo shoot of Kanye West's 'wife' Bianca Censori from her glamour modelling days recently resurfaced.

And one photo of the Aussie architect is very reminiscent to the rapper's ex-wife Kim Kardashian's infamous 2007 nude Playboy shoot.

Censori, 28, posed topless for swimwear brand Sasha in 2021 wearing skimpy G-string bottoms and hiding her nipples beneath a strand of seaweed.

She allowed her wet hair to fall loosely in natural waves while staring wistfully away from the camera.

The photo bares a striking resemblance to Kardashian's raunchy nude Playboy shoot from the start of career, which saw her pose in nothing but pearl necklaces.

Keeping up with Kim! Kanye West's new wife Bianca Censori (left) appears to have ripped off Kardashian's (right) famous pearl Playboy shoot in old modelling photos

She bared all in the shoot, which was observed by her mother and manager Kris Jenner, who famously said: 'You're doing amazing sweetie!' in a much-memed moment.

West and Censori were first romantically linked in January 2023 just months after his divorce was finalised.

The couple wed in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills in January, about two months after the rapper's divorce to Kardashian was finalised.

Eye-popping: The star famously bared all for Playboy back in the day

Got her approval: Momager Kris quipped: 'You're doing amazing sweetie!' as Kim bared all

However, the legality of the union is in question, as they did not file a marriage certificate.

Previously, Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021 after six years of marriage.

The former couple share four children together  North, 10, Saint, seven, Chicago, five, and Psalm, four.

Throughout their longtime romance, West often called Kardashian his 'muse' and he heavily influenced her fashion choices.

Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from West in February 2021 after six years of marriage. (Pictured together at the Met Gala in 2019)

Censori has recently raised plenty of eyebrows with her outrageous wardrobe choices while holidaying with the rapper in Italy.

She has stepped out on several occasions with her bare breasts clearly visible beneath see-through mesh outfits.

Among them was the outrageous nude catsuit - which saw her forced to cover her nipples with a black cross-body bag.

Fashion designer West is widely believed to be behind all of the Melbourne-born beauty's recent and controversial looks.

According to major tourism website CIU Travel, locals find it 'offensive' to see visitors 'wandering the streets in varying states of undress.'

The website reads: 'Walking around in beach attire or, worse, shirtless, is a huge no-no in Italy, unless you have your feet buried deep in the sand.'

West and Censori were first romantically linked in January 2023 just months after his divorce was finalised

It remains to be seen whether West or Censori will face any form of official punishment for their latest over-the-top display.

Meanwhile, calls are being made for West and Censori to be arrested over their latest outrageous display in Venice.

The couple sparked controversy on Monday after they were spotted enjoying an amorous moment on a boat, with West exposing his bare buttocks in front of gawking tourists.

Images of the couple showed the American rapper, 46, seated at the back of the river taxi while his Australian so-called bride placed her head in his lap.

Prior to boarding the boat, West was covered from head-to-toe in an all-black ensemble while Censori wore a knee-length trench coat which she teamed with a pair of nude heels.

However both shed their layers once getting on board, with Censori ditching her coat in favour of a strapless nude-coloured number as West pulled down his pants which exposed his bare behind.

It appeared that things were getting very steamy as Censori rested her elbows on his knees while he was then seen cradling her head as they sailed along the river.
She is one of the most in-demand lingerie models.

But Playboy and OnlyFans star Gabrielle Epstein went underwear-free as she slipped into an incredibly risque dress on Thursday.

The blonde bombshell risked a wardrobe malfunction in an extremely low-cut black strapless dress that showed off her extreme cleavage.

The skintight frock just covered the 29-year-old chest and gave her some extra oomph thanks its underwire bodice.

Gabby accessorised with several gold chains around her neck and some matching hoop earrings.

Playboy and OnlyFans star Gabrielle Epstein risked a wardrobe malfunction in an extremely low-cut black strapless dress on Thursday

She wore her platinum locks in a low-bun to showcase her decolletage and she revealed her natural beauty by wearing barely there makeup.

Gabby posed in the outfit in a luxurious hotel suite in Beverly Hills.

The shoot comes after the Aussie beauty almost broke the internet when she shared a sneak peek of her latest photo shoot.

The skintight frock just covered the 29-year-old chest and gave her some extra oomph thanks its underwire bodice

Gabby accessorised with several gold chains around her neck and some matching hoop earrings

Gabby, now based in Los Angeles, stripped down to a lace corset and stockings for lingerie brand, Honey Birdette.

She showcased her super toned tummy in the bustier and flaunted her peachy derriere in a G-string.

During outtakes she was tended to by an all-girl glam squad who curled her platinum tresses.

The shoot comes after the Aussie beauty almost broke the internet when she shared a sneak peek of her latest photo shoot

She also wore a glossy makeup palette for the shoot.

Gabby's fans immediately complimented the Gold Coast stunner.

'Unreal,' one fan wrote. 'A real life doll,' yet another wrote.

The Aussie model, now based in Los Angeles, stripped down to a lace corset and stockings for lingerie brand, Honey Birdette

Gabby showcased her super toned tummy in the bustier and flaunted her peachy derriere in a G-string

Gabby, who has three million Instagram followers, looked incredible during the racy shoot

With three million followers on Instagram and a huge following on Snapchat, Twitter, and OnlyFans, Gabby is one of Australia's biggest glamour modelling exports.

Gabby previously fired back at critics who said her Instagram photos were 'too explicit'.

Speaking to Maxim magazine back in 2021, she called out the 'toxic double standard' between how men and women are treated differently on social media.

'There are plenty of photos of men without their shirts on showing their nipples, but the fact that mine can be covered and a photo still gets removed creates a toxic double standard,' she said.
Neil Mitchell left his top-rating Melbourne radio show on his own terms but he was once unceremoniously sacked from the hit television series Frontline.

The outgoing 3AW morning host appeared as himself in the first season of Frontline, the ABC mockumentary which satirised TV current affairs journalism in the mid 1990s.

Frontline documented the production of a fictitious program of the same name as it battled for tabloid stories against the real-life A Current Affair and Today Tonight.

Mitchell had a recurring role discussing the news of the day with Frontline's self-absorbed and dimwitted host Mike Moore, played by Rob Sitch, on his 3AW morning program.

Neil Mitchell had a recurring role on the comedy series Frontline discussing the news of the day with the fictitious program's host Mike Moore, played by Rob Sitch (above)

Neil Mitchell insists it was his decision to quit his top-rating Melbourne radio show but he was once unceremoniously sacked from the hit television series Frontline

Frontline first aired in 1994 and was produced by Working Dog, the company founded by actors Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner a year earlier.

The same team, who had previously appeared in The D Generation, went onto make Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures, Have You Been Paying Attention?, Utopia and The Cheap Seats, as well as films The Dish and The Castle.

Frontline's cast included Kennedy as ambitious young reporter Brooke Vandenberg, Tiriel Mora as foot-the-door journo Martin Di Stasio, and Cilauro as weatherman Geoffrey Salter.

Bruno Lawrence, Kevin J. Wilson and Steve Bisley appeared as Frontline's executive producers in seasons one, two and three respectively.

Mitchell said he had loved appearing on Frontline but he fell out with Working Dog when he criticised another of their programs and they sacked him.

Frontline's cast included Jane Kennedy as ambitious young reporter Brooke Vandenberg (left), Rob Sitch as host Mike Moore (centre) and Tiriel Mora as foot-the-door journo Martin Di Stasio (right). Kevin J. Wilson appeared as executive producer Sam Murphy in series two

The broadcaster would be sent 'a bit of a storyline' the night before filming, or that morning, then he and Sitch would 'would just sit down and go for it' in the studio before Ernie Sigley began the station's afternoon shift.

'It was done in one take with a couple of Handycams,' Mitchell told Daily Mail Australia last year.

READ MORE: Neil Mitchell quits 3AW after 30 years behind the microphone Advertisement

'Ernie Sigley used to get p***ed off because he was about to take over the studio but it only took us about five minutes. I used to love doing it.

'Unfortunately, they sacked me. Mind you, my payment for the whole entire series was one bottle of whisky and I don't drink whisky.'

Mitchell said he got the boot because he had criticised another Working Dog production called Funky Squad which mocked 1970s American police dramas and lasted only one season.

'They sacked me because they had a thing called Mod Squad or something and it was awful and we bagged it on air,' Mitchell said.

'They got the manager to call me and say, "We don't want you anymore, we only want to work with people who approve of what we do".

'I got Rob Sitch to call me and I said, "But it's crap - I've got to express an opinion on it". We had a bit of a disagreement. Anyway, they sacked me.'

Mitchell was replaced by 7.30 Report journalist Sarah Henderson, who was the partner of Working Dog producer Michael Hirsh.

Henderson - now a federal Liberal senator - appeared in four episodes of Frontline's third and final series.

Mitchell has no hard feelings about his exit from the program, which finished in 1997 and is now considered an Australian comedy classic.

'It was good fun,' he said. 'I was an admirer of [Working Dog] from the days of the D Gen. I really liked them. I still do like them. We got over that.'

Working Dog, which also produced Thank God You're Here, The Panel, The Hollowmen and Audrey's Kitchen, has been contacted for comment.

Mitchell announced on Friday morning he was leave his morning program in December after 33 years but would continue at 3AW as an analyst and record a weekly podcast.

Seasons one to three of Frontline are available to stream on Stan.
Sydney Sweeney and her fiance Jonathan Davino made a stylish pair as they arrived in Italy on Thursday for the Venice Film Festival.

The 25-year-old Euphoria actress and her beau coordinated in cream linen outfits.

For her part, the Spokane, Washington native wore a sleeveless ivory top tucked into belted linen shorts.

And her beau, who is Chicago-based, complemented her in slacks of the same material and color, plus a short-sleeved, ribbed shirt.

Additionally, both parties elevated their looks with fashion-forward, dark-tinted sunglasses.

Matching: Sydney Sweeney and her fiance Jonathan Davino made a stylish pair as they arrived in Italy on Thursday for the Venice Film Festival

Her look: For her part, the Spokane, Washington native wore a sleeveless ivory top tucked into belted linen shorts. She also wore a pair of chunky, HOGAN H-Stripe Sneakers from luxury Italian brand TOD'S

Sweeney secured her bottoms with a brown leather belt with a gold buckle.

She matched her jewelry to the hardware as she sported a delicate gold-toned choker, a matching bracelet, and small earrings.

Her bright, blonde hair was styled in a center part as the locks fell over her chest and down her back.

The fashionista teamed her look with a pair of chunky, HOGAN H-Stripe Sneakers from luxury Italian brand TOD'S.

She carried a white shirt in her hand to potentially layer over her top, and she slung a brown leather purse over her shoulder.

Sydney wore a light face of makeup underneath her shades, blushing her cheeks in pink and matching a matte lipstick to it.

Jonathan looked handsome with a scruffy beard and his long hair neatly combed back.

The couple was spotted boarding a water taxi after touching down in the famous city.

His and hers: Jonathan, who is Chicago-based, complemented her in slacks of the same material and color, plus a short-sleeved, ribbed shirt

Shades: Both parties elevated their looks with fashion-forward, dark-tinted sunglasses

Venice International Film Festival typically attracts Hollywood's brightest stars as they flock to the city to promote their upcoming movies.

However, this year many actors are unable to attend the 80th anniversary event due to ongoing acting and writing strikes in the industry.

Since July 17, Hollywood has been halted as members of the SAG-AFTRA union joined the Writers Guild Of America in going on strike over growing concerns of the use of artificial intelligence and streaming residuals.

According to Variety, a select list of films premiering at Venice have obtained SAG-AFTRA interim waivers because they are independent productions that have not been produced by AMPTP members.
Four Finnish men were charged with plotting violence against migrants, political figures and critical infrastructure using weapons made with 3D printers.

Prosecutors accused three of those men of engaging in terrorism Thursday, according to The Associated Press. Those suspects were said to be training for racially-motivated armed conflict.

All the suspects reportedly supported neo-Nazi ideology including accelerationism, which the American Civil Liberties Union calls a term white supremacists have assigned to their desire to hasten the collapse of society as we know it.

Prosecutors dont believe the suspects training advanced to the point of practicing specific terror strikes. Only one of the unidentified suspects remained in police custody Thursday.

Based on their racist beliefs, the defendants are suspected of having prepared for an armed conflict between population groups, in which people would be killed and the structures of society would be undermined by attacks using home-made firearms, prosecutors said in a statement.

Finnish police said the radicalized quartet collected information on ideological opponents including left-wing policy activists. They also hoped to sabotage railroads and power grids.

Right-wing activists in the U.S. have also been accused of targeting infrastructure to advance their political agenda.

In February, a neo-Nazi Florida man and an alleged accomplice were accused of conspiring to damage Baltimores power grid out of racially motivated hatred. In 2019, authorities accused a Colorado neo-Nazi living in public housing and dependent on soup kitchens on similarly wanting to bring down the system.
Law & Order's Odelya Halevi is getting married!

The actress shared the happy news that she and boyfriend Aaron Mazor are now engaged in an Instagram post that showed her excitedly showing off her oval cut engagement ring.

'We're no longer dating @aaron.mazor,' the Israeli actress gushed in the caption, alongside photos and video of the happy couple celebrating.

The cover photo, which appeared to have been taken right after Mazor proposed, showed the two lovebirds snuggled up next to each other as the soon-to-be-bride flashed her ring.

A second picture looked similar, with Halevi holding up her left hand to showcase the ring again, only this time the image showed Mazor giving her a kiss while they stood underneath an outdoor archway.

Beaming: Law & Order actress Odelya Halevi, 34, announced her engagement to Aaron Mazor, 36, with a series of snaps on Instagram, some of which show her flashing her ring

It appears as though the couple color-coordinated for their engagement day, considering they both were dressed in summer white ensembles.

Mazor opted for a white fitted pants with a matching dress shirt and sneakers, while Odelya showed off her fashion sense in baggy white drawstring pants with a matching sleeveless top that also tied in the front.

They both changed into different outfits when they took their celebration on to the water for a boat ride under the summer sun.

While out cruising on the boat, which was driven by Mazor, he opted for light brown shorts and a white T-shirt, while Halevi looked lovely in a white off-the-shoulder dress.

The actress, who has played Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun on Law & Order since it was revived for a 21st season in February 2022, added a stylish hat to the mix when they took a ride in a convertible.

Both of them couldn't hide their excitement over their life-changing announcement, as they laughed and giggled throughout the clip.

A second video of them going for a drive had a Flag of France emoji added, signaling that they shared their milestone moment there.

Halevi also celebrated her engagement on her Instagram Story by posting a photo of the moon, writing, 'Last night's moon expresses all these feelings that I can't put into words. I love you @aaron.mazor.'

Law & Order initially had a 20 season run on NBC from September 1990 to May 2010. After an 11-year hiatus, the network announced it would be revived for a 21st season in September 2021.

The new version debuted with new regular cast members and the reprisal of District Attorney Jack McCoy and Detective Kevin Bernard, played by Sam Waterston and Anthony Anderson, respectively.

Just this past April, the network renewed the series for a 23rd season.

E Daily Buzz is reporting that Mazor works as a real estate agent at a company called Compass since 2017.

Excited: Both dressed in summer white, the Law & Order star would also flaunt her ring while standing underneath an outdoor archway as Mazor gave her a kiss on the cheek

Celebratory: The couple slipped into different summer ensemble when they took their engagement celebration to the water for a ride on a boat

Sweet: The real estate agent gave Odelya a kiss from behind the wheel of the boat

French vibes: The actress revealed their engagement happened in France, by added the Flag Of France emoji to a video of them taking a summer ride in a convertible car

Glowing: The Rosh HaAyin, Israel also turned the camera on her man

Bling: Halevi flaunted her engagement ring again while driving in the convertible

Over the moon: The actress got emotional when she shared a photo of the moon

Newcomer: Halevi is coming up on her third season playing Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun on Law & Order since its revival in 2021

Halevi told YNetNews.com earlier this year that she and Mazor met in New York City last April, and now a year-and-a-half later they are one step away from being married.

'It feels very right, I havent been in a relationship for many years, certainly not in a serious one with someone who just makes me love myself more every day, and it feels good,' she said of her partner during the interview.

The actress went on to share how she took Mazor to meet her family in Israel where she was 'was basically his personal tour guide.'

'He loved my family very much,' she revealed. 'Ever since we met them, he kept asking when we will see them again. And my family loved him as well, I just couldnt believe it.'
Kanye West and 'wife' Bianca Censori were seen on a barefoot shopping spree at the Balenciaga store in Tuscany, Italy, one day before his indecent exposure scandal.

The 46-year-old rapper's new muse, 28, put her ample cleavage on display in a low-cut transparent form-fitting white slip maxi dress, as she entered the store which was closed to the public.

Meanwhile the hip hop star bundled up in an all-black look and kept his face shielded for the outing. Both Kanye and Bianca - who has drawn the ire of locals with her very revealing outfits - were barefoot as they strolled the streets of Italy.

The pair and and their friends spent close to an hour at the store before heading to a hotel for an 'aperitif'.

Just a day later Kim Kardashian's ex husband was pictured baring his naked buttocks during an amorous boat ride with Bianca, in Venice, with calls for the couple to be 'arrested for indecent exposure.'

Shopping: Kanye West and 'wife' Bianca Censori were seen on a barefoot shopping spree at the Balenciaga store in Tuscany, Italy, one day before his indecent exposure scandal

Busty: The 46-year-old rapper's new muse, 28, put her ample cleavage on display in a low-cut form-fitting white slip dress, as she entered the store which was closed to the public

Australian architect Censori wore her short black tresses parted on the side and slicked down.

Bianca appeared to wear minimal makeup for the shopping excursion.

She held a grey Balenciaga shopping bag as she exited the store, flashing a smile to one of the workers.

Kanye's outfit consisted of a black leather jacket, oversized black pants and a scarf that he used to keep his face covered up.

Kanye - whose 'crazy' first album since his career imploded due to his anti-Semitism scandal is coming 'imminently' - and Bianca have been causing a stir during their trip to Venice.

In their most recent outing on the boat, the Donda rapper took things even further by exposing his naked buttocks in front of gawking tourists during a ride with his so-called bride.

Images of the couple show the rapper seated at the back of the river taxi while Censori appears to be nestled with her head in his lap.

The couple appeared to be blissfully unaware of the groups of tourists sailing past them with their phones held aloft as they put on their amorous display - the latest in a line of boundary-breaking public outings that have caused scandal among Italian locals.

Slick: Australian architect Censori wore her short black tresses parted on the side and slicked down

Bundled up: The hip hop star bundled up in an all-black look and kept his face shielded for the outing

Barefoot: Both Kanye and Bianca - who has drawn the ire of locals with her very revealing outfits - were barefoot as they strolled the streets of Italy

Enjoying Italy: The pair were joined by friends on the outing

No Yeezys? Bianca navigated the cobbled streets without any shoes

Racy: Censori has come under fire for the risque outfits she has donned during the trip - which has seen her modeling a series of skin-tight nude bodysuits that locals have slammed as a form of 'public indecency' in the conservative Catholic country

Going natural: The brunette has stepped out on several occasions with her bare breasts clearly visible beneath see-through mesh outfits

Upsetting the locals? Many argued that the looks have constituted 'public indecency,' a charge for which comes with a hefty fine

Married or not? The designer and his new muse wed in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills in January. The legality of the union is in question, as they did not file a marriage certificate

Censori has come under fire for the risque outfits she has donned during the trip - which has seen her modeling a series of skin-tight nude bodysuits that locals have slammed as a form of 'public indecency' in the conservative Catholic country.

The brunette has stepped out on several occasions with her bare breasts clearly visible beneath see-through mesh outfits.

Among them was the outrageous nude catsuit - which saw her forced to cover her nipples with a black cross-body bag.

Many argued that the looks have constituted 'public indecency,' a charge for which comes with a hefty fine.

The fashion designer  who is widely believed to be behind all of Censori's recent and controversial looks  and his new muse were first romantically linked in January 2023 just months after his divorce was finalized.

The couple wed in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills in January. However, the legality of the union is in question, as they did not file a marriage certificate.

Meanwhile Kanye's ex wife Kim has been left 'desperately embarrassed and worried' in light of his antics in Italy, according to reports.

The reality TV star, 42, who shares four kids with Kanye, believes 'something clearly isn't right' and doesn't know how she will 'explain it all to the kids' according to a source who spoke with The Sun.

'Kim's been so worried about the new pics that have come out with Bianca - like how will she explain it all to the kids?' the insider revealed.

'She's embarrassed and worried for him - he's wandering around barefoot with champagne in the street, something clearly isn't right.'

Amorous: Just a day later Kanye was pictured baring his naked buttocks during an amorous boat ride with Bianca, in Venice, with calls for the couple to be 'arrested for indecent exposure'

'Embarrassed': Kanye's ex-wife Kim Kardashian, 42, was left 'desperately embarrassed and worried' after his recent outings in Italy according to reports; Kim seen August 26

The source appeared to be referencing recent snaps of Kanye walking barefoot through the streets with a bottle in hand.

'It's hard for her because as soon as she thinks she can move on, something like this happens and she's pulled back into it.'

'It's like every time Kanye and Bianca pull these nearly-naked stunts, it reminds everyone that Kim dressed up in skintight nude outfits during the marriage.'

'She'd rather put it behind her and forget about it.'

Throughout their longtime romance, West often called Kim his 'muse' and heavily influenced her fashion choices.

The Kardashians star filed for divorce from the musician in February of 2021. The pair share four children together - North, 10, Psalm, four, Saint, seven, and Chicago, five.
Kelsea Ballerini stunned with her boyfriend Chase Stokes on Thursday as they attended Variety and the Golden Globes' Venice Film Festival party.

The 29-year-old country music artist - who recently talked about first date jitters - and her 30-year-old counterpart had the look of love as they coordinated in black looks.

At one point, the Tennessee native planted a kiss on her beau's cheek to his delight.

For the star-studded occasion, Ballerini slipped into a strapless Yves Saint Laurent dress with a matching neck scarf.

For his part, the Outer Banks actor looked smart in a double-breasted suit with a white shirt.

Picture perfect: Kelsea Ballerini stunned with her boyfriend Chase Stokes on Thursday as they attended Variety and the Golden Globes' Venice Film Festival party

Sweet: At one point, the Tennessee native planted a kiss on her beau's cheek to his delight

Kelsea's blonde bob was styled in a chic, slicked look with a side part and the front pieces tucked behind her ears.

Her glossy, highlighted tresses were arranged with a subtle flip at the ends for a touch of pizazz.

She looked typically beautiful with a smokey makeup look drawing attention to her blue eyes.

Stokes wore a pair of black-rimmed eyeglasses and his dark, lustrous hair was tamed with product, keeping the locks in place.

He was handsome with a full, neatly groomed beard as he smiled for photos with his girlfriend.

Ballerini's gown featured a plunging neckline that bared her chest and it gathered at the center with soft pleats.

Tying the look together, she carried a small black clutch for the evening out in Venice.

And Chase rounded out his ensemble with a pair of understated black loafers.

Her look: For the star-studded occasion, Ballerini slipped into a strapless Yves Saint Laurent dress with a matching neck scarf

Style savvy: For his part, the Outer Banks actor looked smart in a double-breasted suit with a white shirt

Loved-up: The 29-year-old country music artist and her 30-year-old counterpart had the look of love as they coordinated in black looks

Swanky: The affair was held at Hotel Excelsior in Venice, Italy

Also at the celebrity-filled soiree were Chris Appleton, 40, and Lukas Gage, 29.

The spouses, who tied the knot shortly after an engagement announcement in April, looked phenomenal.

They both donned monochrome looks, complementing each other as they posed in front of the event's step-and-repeat.

Lukas opted for a relaxed ivory suit with a matching crew neck sweater underneath his blazer.

It was tucked into his pleated trousers and he rounded out the look with white sneakers.

Meanwhile, Chris, Kim Kardashian's go-to hair guru, wore a silvery gray mock neck top with pants of the same shade.

His trousers were slightly baggy and he also completed the fashion-forward look with white sneakers.

Appleton's tousle of blonde highlighted locks were neatly cropped with more length on top to add texture.

Guests: Other attendees included Kim Kardashian's go-to hair stylist Chris Appleton and his love Lukas Gage

Colleagues: Variety Co-Editor-In-Chief Ramin Setoodeh and HFPA President Helen Hoehne posed together

Lady in red: Film director Alida Pantone wore a low-dipped red dress

Stunner: Martina Veneziani wowed in a low-cut, chartreuse-hued gown

Sharp: Jack Huston showed off his style in a black suit and brown loafers

Sizzling: Ukranian-French actress Olga Kurylenko turned heads in a bold, patterned mini dress

Venice International Film Festival typically attracts Hollywood's brightest stars as they flock to the city to promote their upcoming movies.

However, this year many actors are unable to attend the 80th anniversary event due to ongoing acting and writing strikes in the industry.

Since July 17, Hollywood has been halted as members of the SAG-AFTRA union joined the Writers Guild Of America in going on strike over growing concerns of the use of artificial intelligence and streaming residuals.

According to Variety, a select list of films premiering at Venice have obtained SAG-AFTRA interim waivers because they are independent productions that have not been produced by AMPTP members.
He turned his back on Hollywood and has denounced the show that made him a star as 'filth'.

At the age of nine he was propelled into the spotlight and became a national celebrity on a smash hit sitcom.

The much-loved show was a favourite for many, earning 46 Emmy nominations (nine won) and two Golden Globe nods.

Yet a decade ago this star dramatically quit acting, claiming he'd experienced a religious awakening.

So do you know who it is?

Who is it? This former child star looked unrecognisable as he was spotted on a rare outing in Los Angeles on Tuesday - but do you know who it is?

That's right, it's Two And A Half Men actor Angus T. Jones.

The former child star looked unrecognisable as he was spotted on a rare outing in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

His formerly boyish features were obscured behind a bushy beard as the 29-year-old strolled across a parking lot during a sweltering August day.

Over the past few years he has led a reclusive life, resurfacing only very infrequently into the public eye.

He cut a casual figure during his rare sighting, throwing on a full-sleeved shirt and a beanie despite the soaring temperatures.

Warding off the beating rays with a purple-toned pair of sunglasses, he could be seen using what appeared to be an old-fashioned flip-phone.

He was just nine years old when he landed his role on Two And A Half men alongside Jon Cryer and Charlie Sheen.

During his 10 years on the show, Angus saw Charlie plunge into a drug-fueled public flameout that eventually got him fired in 2011 and replaced with Ashton Kutcher.

Around the same time, Angus himself was struggling with the demands of his part, which increasingly included storylines involving drugs and sex.

He confessed in 2012 that he had begun to find the job 'very awkward,' noting that 'I am with these people on set that I have been with since I was eight years old.'

It's Angus T. Jones! The star was just nine years old when he first became a national celebrity on the smash hit sitcom Two And A Half Men, which he is pictured on in 2003 (left)

Out and about: His formerly boyish features were obscured behind a bushy beard as the 29-year-old strolled across a parking lot during a sweltering August day

Onstage at PaleyFest, he expressed his discomfiture with 'doing the adult thing when I am still not an adult. I mean, I am 18, but I am not an adult.'

Later that year, he was baptized into a Christian ministry called the Forerunner Chronicles and announced that he wanted off his sitcom.

He exhorted viewers of Two And A Half Men to 'stop watching it and filling your head with filth,' declaring that he himself was extricating himself from the project in order to avoid 'contributing to the enemys plan.'

Angus headed to the University of Colorado at Boulder and initially majored environmental studies - only to later switch to Jewish studies.

By 2015 he agreed to be on the series finale of Two And A Half Men, and by 2016 his feelings about religion appeared to have morphed even further.

'Over the last three years Ive been involved with various faith-based organizations Right now, Im stepping away from the organizational business-model programs,' he informed People. 'Im interested in seeing where I go without an organization putting a stamp of approval on if Im good or bad or whatever.'

He confessed that filming the Two And A Half Men finale 'kind of showed me how much I did like it' and said the 'door is definitely still open' for him to act again.

That year he played a small role on Louis CK's critically acclaimed miniseries Horace And Pete, but he has no IMDb credits to his name since.

Backdrop: Angus dramatically quit acting a decade ago after experiencing a religious awakening and denouncing Two And A Half Men as 'filth'

THe look: He cut a casual figure during his rare sighting, throwing on a full-sleeved shirt and a beanie despite the soaring temperatures
Julia Morris copped the wrath of her followers on Friday after the the TV host and comedian revealed she would be voting 'Yes' in the Voice to Parliament.

The 55-year-old I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! host posted a selfie and captioned the picture: 'Yes. I will absolutely be voting YES,' and signed it with kiss.'

Julia's decision to vote 'yes' in the landmark referendum, which seeks to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution, caused outrage, with many saying celebrities should stop trying to influence with their political views.

'Youre fabulous Julia but everyone is getting so tired of actors/comedians etc espousing their political & social views,' said one fan.

'We had every celebrity getting their COVD jab shoved down our throats and now theyre all on the Yes campaign trail. Its getting boring,' another added.

Julia Morris copped the wrath of her followers on Friday after the the TV host and comedian revealed she would be voting 'Yes' in the Voice to Parliament

The 55-year-old I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! host posted a selfie and captioned the picture: 'Yes. I will absolutely be voting YES,' and signed it with kiss

'I would love to see the people who tell everyone that theyre voting yes to tell us what they are voting yes to and why they are voting yes!,' one said.

'Youre backing a sinking ship. What a divisive, racist proposal the Voice is,' said another.

One follower warned Julia's position could cause harm to her career, before admitting they were prepared to 'cancel' her and drop their support for the popular star.

'Celebs should never get involved in political things,' they advised.

Julia's decision to vote 'yes' in the landmark referendum, which seeks to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution, caused outrage

'[It] can be damaging to your career and support base, I wouldnt risk upsetting 60 % of the population.

'Your income and career / supporting your family should be worth more to you than making political statements, especially in this sad cancel culture.

'Im a huge fan , I go to your shows and love Im a celebrity, but just that like, because I dont agree with you posting politically, you lose a fan.

'Not worth it. Call me shallow'

Another follower agreed: 'Ah no! Very disappointed you would push your political views down our throats!'

A few fans tried to joke about the situation, with one messaging the star: 'I'm a celebrity get me out of politics,' while another mocked Julia with the comment: 'Let me guess, you are triple jabbed and stand with Ukraine too?'

Another fan slammed Julia for announcing her political views

Fans warned Julia she was harming her career by announcing her political views

Julia pictured with her former I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! co-host Chris Brown

Julia did however receive some messages of support for her stance.

'Im pretty horrified by all the people who are so proud to be voting no, but cant give a sound reason,' said one.

'As Senator Briggs says, not all people who are voting no are racist, but you can bet all racists will be voting no.

'I would be so ashamed to be voting on the side of Pauline Hanson, I would certainly be keeping it myself. Good in you. Sending love.'
Just a week after Adam Sandler's new Netflix movie You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah arrived on the streaming service, the director defended Sandler for casting his own daughters.

Sandler, 56, stars in and produces the comedy, playing Danny Friedman, the on-screen father to his real-life daughters, Sadie, 17, and Sunny, 14, with his real wife Jackie also starring in the film alongside Idina Menzel.

While some have criticized Sandler for casting his real kids - with Sunny having her actual bat mitzvah just before filming - director Sammi Cohen defended the casting in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The film comes during a hot button conversation about 'nepo babies' within the film industry, with Cohen defending the casting.

'Sandler has a reputation for making movies with his friends, and thats something we all want to do,' she began.

New movie: Just a week after Adam Sandler's new Netflix movie You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah arrived on the streaming service, the director defended Sandler for casting his own daughters

Sunny: While some have criticized Sandler for casting his real kids - with Sunny having her actual bat mitzvah just before filming - director Sammi Cohen defended the casting in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter

'What I say is, hes still making movies with his friends, but theyre his kids. He is the kind of dad whos also your best friend,' she added.

'When it comes to the sort of chatter were hearing online, I dont really think twice about it because Im going like, "Yeah, hes doing the same thing hes always done,"' she added.

Cohen had directed a number of short films and TV episodes before her first feature, the 2022 coming-of-age Hulu film Crush.

'Sandler was looking for a young Jewish director who could relate to the story of the kids, the culture and how everything needed to be told through a modern lens,' she said.

She added that Sandler saw her film Crush, adding, 'my earliest talks with him, we talked a lot about movies and creatively aligned so much, and we also talked about being Jewish and how we listened to kids.'

'The Sandlers in general made me just feel like a part of the family. Its when you meet someone and you go, Oh, were going to be friends for life,"' she explained.

'Ive learned a ton from Adam  more than I could ever put into words  but the biggest thing is, success is not just making movies,' she explained.

'Success is making movies with people you love, and its a really different experience, and it really just lends itself to the making of better movies,' she added.

Kids: 'What I say is, hes still making movies with his friends, but theyre his kids. He is the kind of dad whos also your best friend,' she added

Same: 'When it comes to the sort of chatter were hearing online, I dont really think twice about it because Im going like, "Yeah, hes doing the same thing hes always done,"' she added

New film: 'Sandler was looking for a young Jewish director who could relate to the story of the kids, the culture and how everything needed to be told through a modern lens,' she said

Family: 'The Sandlers in general made me just feel like a part of the family. Its when you meet someone and you go, Oh, were going to be friends for life,"' she explained

Both Sadie and Sunny basically grew up on the sets of their father's movies, with the sisters having small roles in practically all of his films since 2010's Grown Ups.

Cohen explained that the teenage actresses, 'work harder than most adults I know. They love acting and filmmaking in general.'

'They take such an interest in how the movie is made, and theyre both so talented. I think Sunny feels like this really real kid. Shes got this incredible free-spirited nature and a natural silliness that elicits moments of charming vulnerability,' Cohen said.

'Shes lovable and relatable and the kind of person you root for. Sadie, too  all I had to do with Sadie is empower her to lean into what she does best. Shes got this natural ability to be just effortlessly funny with that dry humor in her grounded delivery,' she added.
Curtis Stone is pictured with his wife, Lindsay Price

Celebrity chef Curtis Stone will not face trial for allegedly mistreating his former nanny to the point that she 'feared for her safety' after a breakthrough in mediation.

Earlier this year, Daily Mail Australia revealed Stone had pledged to fight the explosive allegations in court, as former nanny Melissa Talley stood firm with her accusations that she was treated 'maliciously' and 'harassed' during her employment.

But an order issued on August 8 by Judge Kristin Escalante reveals that the trial - which was due to be heard on July 29 next year at Los Angeles Superior Court - has been scrapped after both parties agreed to enter arbitration.

It is likely to be a welcome relief to Stone that no more of Ms Talley's allegations will be made public and the arbitration will remain confidential, as will the outcome.

The Australian cook, 47, and his wife Lindsay Price, 46, hired Melissa Talley in 2019 to look after their children Hudson, 11, and Emerson, eight, at their sprawling $11.5million mansion in the upmarket suburb of Brentwood, Los Angeles.

Curtis Stone and Lindsay Price (pictured with their children) hired nanny Melissa Talley in 2019 to care for their sons

After months of legal wrangling, which threatened to result in a jury trial both Stone and Ms Talley have agreed to arbitration with a post-mediation status conference set for May 3 next year

Ms Talley did not live with the family, but was required to cook for the boys, read to them, drive them to classes and activities, bathe them, and do small household chores - for an annual salary of US$65,000 (AU$94,000) - each weekday for nine hours.

But Ms Talley claimed in a lawsuit that she regularly worked more than the nine hours per day stipulated by Californian law.

She also alleged that she was not paid overtime, according to court documents filed in the LA State Court in September last year.

Ms Talley further alleged that she was 'harassed' and fired when she approached Stone with her concerns.

She sued Stone for wrongful termination and sought more than US$25,000 in damages.

Court documents filed by Stone's lawyers in November said he denied 'each and every allegation' made by Ms Talley.

His legal team filed 15 defences in an attempt to prove her allegations were baseless.

In June, Judge Escalante signed off on an order that neither party wanted to carry on negotiating for either a settlement or mediation.

Both Ms Talley and Stone demanded a jury trial.

But there was a dramatic U-turn just weeks ago, with both parties seemingly having a change of heart and agreeing to arbitration with a post-mediation status conference set for May 3 next year.

Curtis Stone is an ambassador for Australian supermarket, Coles. He lives and works in California

The former nanny had alleged in an amended complaint, filed in court in September last year that Stone tried to hand her a check for US$1000 (AU$1400) during the same meeting, but she did not sign the document or accept the money.

Ms Talley claimed she was then 'summoned' to Stone's office a few days later to meet with him and another person, during which time her employment was allegedly terminated and she was told to sign another document.

She claimed that he did not explain what the document was for, or why she needed to sign it.

READ MORE: Curtis Stone fires back at his ex-nanny after she accused the celebrity chef of threatening behaviour when she confronted him about unpaid wages Curtis Stone is pictured with his wife, Lindsay Price Advertisement

'Feeling pressured and overwhelmed, Ms Talley left the office and sat down in the hallway to compose herself and review the document outside of Stone's presence,' court documents said.

'However, Stone immediately followed Ms Talley and continued to pressure her into signing the document while hovering over her.

'In fear for her own safety, Ms Talley finally signed the document without reading it in order to stop Stone's harassment.'

The former nanny claimed that she has suffered ongoing 'humiliation, emotional distress, and mental and physical pain and anguish'.

She alleged that Stone's 'misconduct was committed intentionally, in a malicious, oppressive, fraudulent manner'.

Ms Talley had sought compensation for the overtime she worked, with interest, plus damages including lost wages and earnings, and demanding Stone cover her legal fees.

Daily Mail Australia approached Kim Legal APC, which represents Ms Talley, for comment on the latest developments.

In Stone's original response, his legal team denied every single claim by Talley and said that his 'actions were business decisions justified by legitimate business motives, purposes and reasons, and were made in good faith'.

Representatives for Stone were also contacted about the mediation development.

Stone - a household name in both Australia and the US - has an estimated worth of about $36million. Along with the Brentwood property, he also owns a $9million ranch in Malibu.

He operates three upmarket restaurants in LA called Maude, Gwen, and Georgie, and is the ambassador for Australian budget supermarket, Coles.
Jennifer Garner had a busy Thursday that saw her head out to take care of some errands after catching up with a friend near her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The actress was first spotted engulfed in a conversation with a man who appeared to be an old pal, not too far from the home she shares with her three kids whom she co-parents with ex-husband Ben Affleck.

Garner kicked off the work day with a casualcool ensemble featuring military green pants that she paired up with a gray tank top.

As the sun glared and temperatures continually rose through the afternoon with a high in the low 90s Fahrenheit, the Dallas Buyers Club star also donned dark sunglasses, and had her dark brown hair styled long, straight and flowing just past her shoulders with a center part.

Eventually, Garner wrapped up her business and made a wardrobe change before heading to Dust Studios in West Hollywood.

Before and after: Jennifer Garner, 51, was seen earlier on Thursday chatting with a friend near her home in Brentwood. Later, she changed into a black dres for an event at Dust Studios in West Hollywood

Dust Studios LA is a fully equipped rental house located in the heart of West Hollywood that makes almost any and all studio equipment available.

It appear Garner is involved in some sort of new production, considering the company rents out everything from session photography, art space, audio and video gear, as well as lighting and production supplies.

Opting for a more chic style, the Houston native was spotted making her way around a loading dock in a black cut-out knee-length dress with matching black heels.

She appeared to be also still wearing the same black sunglasses, and had her hair in the same style as earlier in the day.

Garner has at least two new films that she already shot that are now in post-production.

She's reprising her role as Elektra in the superhero film Deadpool 3, after previously portraying a version of that character in the Fox-produced film Daredevil (2003) and its spin-off Elektra (2005), though that film has been paused due to the ongoing actors' and writers' strikes.

The upcoming movie, which stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Morena Baccarin and Brianna Hildebrand, is currently scheduled to be released in the US on May 3, 2024.

Garner also shot the comedy film Family Switch earlier this year.

Catching up: Garner wore military-green pants with a sleeveless gray T-shirt earlier in the day that included a stop to chat with a man, who appeared to be an old friend

Lovely: Later on Thursday, Garner changed into a lovely black dress and made her way to Dust Studios, a company that rents just about everything related in to video and audio production

New roles: Garner has two new films in post-production: Deadpool 3 and Family Switch

Directed by McG from a screenplay by Adam Sztykiel and Victoria Strouse, the film is based on the 2010 children's book Bedtime For Mommy by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

Along with Garner as the lead actress, the cast also boasts Ed Helms, Emma Myers, Brady Noon and Rita Moreno, among many others.

Family Switch is slated to premiere on Netflix on November 30.

Garner's recent roles include the lead in the thriller miniseries The Last Thing He Told Me (2023) that dropped on Apple TV+ on April 14 and the rebooted sitcom Party Down (2023) that released its third season in late February after a 13 year hiatus.
Celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge has recalled the moment he found out about the sudden death of his friend and colleague, Jock Zonfrillo.

Jock died in a hotel room at Zagame's House on Lygon Street in Carlton. He was found by police at around 2am on Monday, May 1.

The My Kitchen Rules judge, 50, said the first person he called was his co-star Manu Feidel.

'The world just stopped still. I remember we had just finished filming and we were on a down day and I was having a swim and everything just stopped. I rang Manu straight away,' he said.

The Irish-born chef said everyone in the culinary world leaned on one another, reflecting on how close to home Jock's death had been.

Celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge has recalled the moment he found out about the sudden death of his friend and colleague, Jock Zonfrillo

'We were like, if something happened to us and we're away and you don't see your family... Jock was younger than us and it sort of brings everything home,' he said.

It comes after Colin recently claimed he appreciates simply being alive after a recent cancer scare.

Speaking to Stellar magazine earlier this year, Colin said he began having persistent stomach pains while filming the new season of MKR in New Zealand.

But when he went to see his doctor, the Kitchen Nightmares Australia host said he didn't quite get the assurance he was expecting.

Jock died in a hotel room at Zagame's House on Lygon Street in Carlton. He was found by police at around 2am on Monday, May 1

'My doctor is as blunt as a brick, and he said to me, "Oh, that could be bowel cancer." I was like, "What the f*ck?"'

The television host was candid about his medical procedures, and expressed how fearful it had made him.

'He booked me in with a surgeon for a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy. It was a scary two weeks. I didnt tell anyone, but I was absolutely petrified,' he said.

Colin received the all-clear from a cancer diagnosis, but he is still working with his doctors to work out what has been causing his stomach issues.

It comes after Colin recently claimed he appreciates simply being alive after a recent cancer scare. Speaking to Stellar magazine earlier this year, Colin said he began having persistent stomach pains while filming the new season of MKR in New Zealand

The chef declared his newfound appreciation for life after getting the all clear in the aftermath of Zonfrillo's death.

'The next day, I was putting up pictures of a sunrise [on Instagram] because I was out running going, how good is the world? I think it was because of the whole Jock thing, as well, because he was younger than me. It was a wake-up call,' he said.

Colin, who was friends with Zonfrillo for 20 years, told Daily Mail Australia earlier this year that he was struggling to process the tragic news of his friend's death.

Colin will be back on screens in the new season of My Kitchen Rules in September.
Taylor Hill looked cool and casual when she was pictured out on a stroll in New York City on Thursday.

The outing marked what appeared to be her first public sighting since she married Daniel Fryer in Colorado in June.

The 27-year-old model took the spotlight off her slim figure with a simple black T-shirt that she wore tucked into a baggy pair of acid-wash jeans.

She wore them with a slim black leather belt, and she aided her cool street style with a set of chunky gray-and-white sneakers.

Taylor sported a modestly made-up face and wore her long brunette tresses styled down with a middle part, allowing them to flit about in the breeze.

Back in town: Taylor Hill, 27, was pictured out on a stroll in NYC on Thursday. The outing appeared to be her first public sighting since she married Daniel Fryer in Colorado in June

Casual: The 27-year-old model took the spotlight off her slim figure with a simple black T-shirt that she wore tucked into a baggy pair of acid-wash jeans

Taylor also appeared to be joined by a blond female friend in a ruffled white top and high-waisted jeans.

During her walk, the former Victoria's Secret Angel could be seen flashing her wedding band and engagement ring.

She and her love Daniel Fryer, a private equity investor, were wed in June at the 6,500-acre Devil's Thumb Ranch Resort & Spa in Colorado.

Taylor met Daniel  who was born in London but raised in Geneva, Switzerland, before returning to the UK to attend the boarding school Eton College  at the Aspen JazzFest in 2019.

It was only two years later that the investor proposed to the catwalk star in Italy at the Hotel Il San Pietro di Positano.

Taylor sounded over the moon earlier this summer when she shared some lovely photos from her special day in Colorado.

'It was a magical fairytale and my dream wedding!' she captioned a photo of herself and Daniel sharing their first kiss as a married couple.

She chose Colorado as the wedding location because the state has special significance to her loved ones, and she even managed to turn her ceremony into a family affair by getting her grandfather, Reverend Stanley Tate, to officiate.

Taylor made sure that she was the focus of attention on her big day by donning a gorgeous sheer white tiered Etro gown with a long veil and a ruffled texture, which she called the 'dress of my dreams.'

Taking it easy: She wore them with a slim black leather belt, and she aided her cool street style with a set of chunky gray-and-white sneakers

Big day: She and her love Daniel Fryer, a private equity investor, were wed in June at the 6,500-acre Devil's Thumb Ranch Resort & Spa in Colorado

Fur baby: Also on Thursday, Taylor shared some cute photos of herself and her newest member of the family, a beautiful seven-month-old black German Shepherd named Salem

Too cute! 'Took my giant black cat for a walk,' she joked in the caption, and she included a photo of herself sitting at a table on the sidewalk while grinning ear-to-ear at the sleek pooch, who seemed to sport a smile of his own

Also on Thursday, Taylor shared some cute photos of herself and her newest member of the family, a beautiful seven-month-old black German Shepherd named Salem.

She shared a sweet video over the weekend revealing that she had adopted him after her Labradoodle Tate died from Lymphoma in July.

'Took my giant black cat for a walk,' she joked in the caption, and she included a photo of herself sitting at a table on the sidewalk while grinning ear-to-ear at the sleek pooch, who seemed to sport a smile of his own.

She wore a black miniskirt and black flats with black-and-white gingham ribbons tied around her ankles, along with a black T-shirt, though it wasn't clear if it was the same top she wore her her walk with a friend.
A 98-year-old German man has been charged with assisting in the killing of more than 3,300 people at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, German prosecutors said Friday.

The man, whose name has not been released, was a teenager when he worked as an SS watchman at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, just north of Berlin.

Prosecutors in Giessen say he supported the cruel and malicious killing of thousands of prisoners as a member of the SS guard detail between July 1943 and February 1945.

A recent psychiatric assessment determined the man is fit to stand trial on a limited basis.

Given his young age at the time of his alleged crimes, a juvenile court in Hanau, just east of Frankfurt, will still decide if the case should go to trial.

Wreaths at the memorial wall of the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen after a ceremony marking the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day in Oranienburg, Germany.

In recent years, German prosecutors have pursued multiple cases against surviving SS personnel  the self-described political soldiers serving in Adolf Hitlers Nazi Party  after a precedent set by the 2011 conviction of former Nazi guard John Demjanjuk.

Demjanjuk was prosecuted as an accessory to murder for working as a guard at a concentration camp, without need for evidence he was an active participant in any killings.

Just over a year ago, a 101-year-old man became the oldest former concentration camp guard to be convicted in Germany.

Josef Schutz, who died in April at the age of 102, was convicted in late June 2022. Prosecutors said he knowingly and willingly enabled the killings of thousands of prisoners at Sachsenhausen, even though he denied any wrongdoing.

More than 200,000 prisoners  including Jews, political prisoners and LGBTQ people  were held at Sachsenhausen between 1936 and 1945. Scholars believe up to 50,000 people might have been killed there.

With News Wire Services
Diane Kruger looked elegant as she attend the Marc Cain fashion show in Bodelshausen, Germany on Friday.

The actress, 47, wore a plunging pink waistcoat and matching flared trousers for the event which celebrated the brand's 50th anniversary.

She layered over a long grey trench coat and boosted her height with a pair of strappy heels.

Diane topped off her look with a small white leather handbag and added a slick of red lipstick.

Posing for photos she joined Marc Cain owner and founder Helmut Schlotterer before taking her seat on the front row.

Chic: Diane Kruger, 47, looked elegant as she attend the Marc Cain fashion show in Bodelshausen, Germany on Friday

It comes after Diane looked typically stylish as she attended the premiere of her new film Visions in Paris on Tuesday.

The actress is starring in the upcoming psychological thriller written and directed by Yann Gozlan.

The film is set in the south of France and Diane stars as Estelle, an airline captain happily married to a doctor played by Mathieu Kassovitz.

After Estelle has a chance encounter with her ex, Ana, she has an affair and develops recurring visions, nightmares and hallucinations.

Visions is scheduled to be released in cinemas on September 6.

Diane also has a starring role in the upcoming ballet drama Joika that is currently in post-production.

Diane juggles her acting career alongside taking care of her four-year-old daughter Nova Tennessee who she shares with her partner Norman Reedus, 54.

Diane and Norman were first seen together as a couple in July 2016 following her split from actor Joshua Jackson, 44, in 2016 after a decade together.

Smiles: The actress wore a plunging pink waistcoat and matching flared trousers for the event which celebrated the brand's 50th anniversary as she joined founder Helmut Schlotterer

Pose: She layered over a long grey trench coat and boosted her height with a pair of strappy heels as the pair joined Karolina Kurkova

Stunning: Diane topped off her look with a small white leather handbag and added a slick of red lipstick

Event: Posing for photos she joined Marc Cain owner and founder Helmut before taking her seat on the front row

Front row: She sat with Bettina Zimmermann and Lilly zu Sayn-Wittgenstein

Movie: The actress is starring in the upcoming psychological thriller written and directed by Yann Gozlan which premiered last week

Norman and Diane originally met back in December 2015 while portraying lovers on the set of their film Sky and officially went public with their romance in March 2017 before getting engaged in August 2021.

Speaking in an interview in February, Diane said she didn't originally plan on having children but discussed the moment that changed.

In Dear Media's Divorced Not Dead podcast, she explained: 'I dont know. Maybe it is what people say about women and that time clock, just all of a sudden kicks in.

'I mean, the truth is I wouldve had a kid with or without a man attached.'
Amanda Holden has broken her silence on Andrew Tate's criticism of her racy snaps and revealed that despite temptation, she refused to retaliate.

In July, the Heart FM presenter, 52, tweeted a racy image of herself enjoying a poolside shower in a sexy black bikini, igniting a vile response from the former Big Brother contestant, dubbed 'the king of toxic masculinity'.

Replying to Amanda's tweet featuring her snap, Tate, 36, who is currently under house arrest in Bucharest over sex trafficking charges wrote: 'You are a wife and a mother and you're far past a teenager. There is no need for this post.'

In an interview with The Telegraph, the TV and radio star, who is mother to Lexi, 17, and Hollie, 11, with husband Chris Hughes, said: 'Honestly, I had another shot of me in a bikini with just a close-up of my bum...

'I was tempted to post with the caption: Kiss my 52-year-old a**e,' But you just know something like thats going to go on and on  in the end, why give him the oxygen?

Taut abs: Amanda Holden has broken her silence on Andrew Tate's criticism of her racy snaps and revealed that despite temptation, she refused to retaliate

Stunner: In July, the Heart FM presenter, 52, tweeted a racy image of herself enjoying a poolside shower in a sexy black bikini, igniting a vile response from the former Big Brother contestant, dubbed 'the king of toxic masculinity'

Shocking: Replying to Amanda's tweet featuring her snap, Tate, 36, who is currently under house arrest in Bucharest over sex trafficking charges wrote: 'You are a wife and a mother and you're far past a teenager. There is no need for this post'

Elsewhere in the interview, Amanda has insisted she can't see herself covering up 'anytime soon' after she has receiving criticism for her racy outfits in the past.

The stunner insisted she dresses for herself and no one else and doesn't see herself going for a more modest look yet.

Amanda previously received a whopping 235 Ofcom complaints during the 2020 series of the UK talent show by wearing a deeply plunging gown.

Asked if she will cover up Amanda said: 'Absolutely not! I will always listen to myself first, because I dress for me  nobody else.

'So if you do one day see me dressed in a Victorian bathing suit, its because everything has dropped to the floor and Ive decided, today is the day Im going to start covering up.'

She added: 'Honestly, I cant see that happening any time soon, darling.'

Amanda laughed off his criticism however, saying she has reached an age where she no longer worries what other people think of her.

The presenter told how she feels women are still held to a different standard than men, citing the age old prejudice that if a woman sleeps with a lot of men, 'she's a sl*t' while if a man does the same he is a 'playboy'.

Staying in shape: Elsewhere in the interview, Amanda has insisted she can't see herself covering up 'anytime soon' after she has receiving criticism for her racy outfits in the past

At the start of this year's BGT series, Amanda insisted she doesn't want any Ofcom complaints over her racy outfits on the ITV talent show.

Dismissing any previous criticism, Amanda previously told MailOnline those who take issue with her sartorial choices have 'too much time on their hands'.

Bruno Tonioli, 67, joined the judging panel this year and according to Amanda, has no problem showing off his dancer's physique.

She joked: 'This is the problem, everyone talks about my t**s and his are out all the time. No Ofcom complaints about me this year please!'

Bruno also defended his co-star, saying: 'If you've got it, flaunt it! I don't understand this complaining. She's a beautiful woman.'

Amanda sparked 235 Ofcom complaints during the 2020 series when she arrived on stage in a plunging navy gown some thought was inappropriate for a family show.

Reaction: The judge has previously sparked thousands of complaints to the regulator from viewers outraged over her revealing dresses on the live shows

Another revealing outfit the star donned became one of the most complained about TV moments of 2017, with 663 viewers contacting the regulator over it.

The presenter wore the controversial 11,250 dress by Julien Macdonald, after admitting days earlier that she was seeking complaints once again, saying: 'Will people be complaining to Ofcom? I hope so, I really do.'

Joking about how much attention her breasts and racy ensembles get, Amanda previously quipped that they need their own representation and will be going on Piers Morgan's Life Stories.

She said: 'I am seriously thinking my girls need separate representation to me, because they are known on their own. They don't need me, they're going to go off and do Piers Morgan's Life Stories on their own next year!
Jamie Dornan looked in good spirits as he attended a HAIM concert alongside his wife Amelia Warner at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on Thursday.

The actor, 41, cut a casual figure for the evening as he sported a grey shirt which he wore over a black T-shirt and matching trousers.

Music composer Amelia, 41, opted for a sleeveless white top which she wore with a pair of matching jeans.

Jamie's partner proved she is a big fan of the three-piece rock band as she was seen throwing her hands in the air and dancing during their performance.

Amelia is a former actress-turned musician, born on June 4, 1982 in Merseyside as the only child of acting duo Annette Ekblom and Alun Lewis.

Night out: Jamie Dornan looked in good spirits as he attended a HAIM concert alongside his wife Amelia Warner at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on Thursday

Laid back: The actor, 41, cut a casual figure for the evening as he sported a grey shirt which he wore over a black T-shirt and matching trousers

Casual: Music composer Amelia, 41, opted for a sleeveless white top which she wore with a pair of matching jeans

Romance: Jamie and Amelia married in 2013 after getting engaged the previous year

Following in her parents' footsteps at first, she started an acting career as a member of the Royal Court's youth theatre group, and in 2000 she featured in a BBC adaptation of Lorna Doone.

However, she moved into music and hit the UK charts in 2011 with a cover of The Smiths' Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - reaching number 31.

By 2015, Amelia was self-releasing original music with her first EP called Arms.

Jamie and Amelia met in 2010, and Jamie told the Belfast Telegraph in 2015: 'I was smitten with her from the start, I really was.

'I'm more in love with her today than I was at the start.'

They married in 2013, after getting engaged the previous year.

Bizarrely, Amelia had previously 'married' another actor in Tahiti back in 2003 - Colin Farrell.

However it was not a legal ceremony, which proved convenient as they ended the relationship four months later.

Show: Jamie's partner proved she is a big fan of the three-piece rock band as she was seen throwing her hands in the air and dancing during their performance

Partner: Amelia is a former actress-turned musician, born on June 4, 1982 in Merseyside as the only child of acting duo Annette Ekblom and Alun Lewis

Career: Following in her parents' footsteps at first, she started an acting career as a member of the Royal Court's youth theatre group, and in 2000 she featured in a BBC adaptation of Lorna Doone

History: Jamie and Amelia met in 2010, and Jamie told the Belfast Telegraph in 2015: 'I was smitten with her from the start, I really was'

He added: 'I'm more in love with her today than I was at the start'

The couple have three daughters together - Dulcie, Elva and Alberta - but are very private about their family life.

Jamie told the Sunday Times Magazine: 'Being a dad is the best. I feel a healthy and lovely duty to provide for my kids, and I really like it.

'It suits me. Making my kids happy is a good thing for my wife and me to be driven by.'
Christine McGuinness flaunted her jaw-dropping figure in a tiny purple bikini on Thursday after being forced to extend her holiday due to the air traffic control chaos.

The model, 35, is currently on a sunny getaway at an unknown location with her three children and her mother.

And after having no choice but to extend her stay, Christine certainly made the most of her free time as she posed up a storm in her swimwear.

The beauty put on a busty display in the purple tie dye effect two-piece while sitting seductively on her bed.

Christine donned a white visor with her beach look and swept her blonde locks into a high ponytail.

Hot stuff: Christine McGuinness flaunted her jaw-dropping figure in a tiny purple bikini on Thursday after being forced to extend her holiday due to the air traffic control chaos

Work it: After having no choice but to extend her stay, Christine certainly made the most of her free time as she posed up a storm in her swimwear

Amid a selection of holiday snaps, the TV personality also shared a selfie of herself wearing nothing but her white duvet as she chilled out on the trip.

Captioning her post, Christine expressed how 'grateful' she is for the 'unplanned adventure' as she shared how much her three children, who have autism, have blossomed on the trip.

She penned: 'Extremely grateful, very blessed, soaking in every second of this unplanned adventure with my children, words cant explain how proud I am.

'Theyre making new friends, rolling around in the sand, eating in new places, this really was supposed to happen for us.'

Christine previously said she was grateful to be sharing more quality time with her children, given that they were lucky enough to find somewhere to stay.

She is among the thousands of stranded Brits who are stuck after 80 per cent of flights leaving the UK have been delayed, with disruptions continuing into the week.

Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it experienced 'technical issues' that forced controllers to switch from an automatic system for landing and dispatching flights to a manual one, on one of the busiest days of the year.

The day before, she shared more stunning photos of herself looking incredible in a pink bikini.

Ooh I say: Amid a selection of holiday snaps, the TV personality also shared a selfie of herself wearing nothing but her white duvet as she chilled out on the trip

Message: Captioning her post, Christine expressed how 'grateful' she is for the 'unplanned adventure' as she shared how much her three children, who have autism, have blossomed on the trip

Updating her fans on the issue, Christine embraced the problem and recalled that everything happens for a reason.

She took to Instagram on Monday and wrote: 'Stranded due to network failures across the UK airports.

'No idea when we can get a flight home but I feel very lucky we found a place to stay.

Living it up! Christine McGuinness stuggled to contain her assets in a blue bikini on Instagram on Wednesday after being forced to extend her holiday due to air traffic control chaos

Looking on the bright side: The model, 35, is currently away at an unknown location with her three children and says she's lucky she has been able to find somewhere to stay

'I get extra time to make more memories with my babies.'

She later added another post and penned: 'I trust the universe. I had jobs booked all week, a million things to do at home getting ready to prep for 'back to school' but...

'We were meant to stay longer, we have more memories to make, time with my babies is priceless, I actually feel very grateful, we're not home, but we have everything we need'.
Helen Flanagan sent temperatures soaring in her latest racy Instagram post.

The Coronation Street actress, 33, looked incredible in her neon lingerie as she reclined on a picnic blanket while gazing seductively at the camera.

She was flaunting her taut abs in the sexy bra which boosted her cleavage while adding a risque touch with a suspender belt.

Raising her arm above her head, she gave a glimpse of her tattoo - a portrait of Marilyn Monroe on her forearm.

The stunner was sitting alongside a cake, bottle of wine and a bowl of strawberries.

Hot stuff: Helen Flanagan sent temperatures soaring in her latest racy Instagram post

Cheeky! She shared more snaps in which she flashed her cleavage

Cheeky! Helen showed off her eye-popping cleavage in another ensemble

Perky! She was sizzling in the racy one-piece

Sizzling: Her sizzling snap comes shortly after she showed off her sensational figure in a metallic gold bikini on Instagram on Saturday

Hot: The actress, 33, displayed her incredible figure and surgically enhanced assets as she posed for a mirror selfie in the two-piece and slicked her blonde tresses back in a bun

Her sizzling snap comes shortly after she showed off her sensational figure in a metallic gold bikini on Instagram on Saturday. She displayed her incredible figure and surgically enhanced assets as she posed for a mirror selfie in the two-piece.

She wore her blonde locks scraped back in a bun and rocked a pair of sunglasses.

The star is holidaying at the Wyndham Grand Crete Mirabello Bay hotel resort in Greece with her three children, Matilda, eight, Delilah, five, and Charlie, two.

In yet another sexy Instagram post, Helen again looked sensational in a racy red bikini last week.

She showed off her amazing figure as she posed in the two-piece, revealing the last time she wore the swimwear set was back when she was breastfeeding her youngest child Charlie, two.

The actress wore her blonde locks in a bun as she threw up the peace sign for a cheeky selfie and pouted while wearing 300 Miu Miu sunglasses.

'I love this bikini, last time I wore this I was breastfeeding Charlie,' she announced before tagging the brand OutDazl.

However it wasn't all sunbathing and cocktails for the mum-of-three who confessed she had 'cleaned up two pooey accidents today so far.'

Mum life: Helen wowed in the gold bikini as she chased around after her toddler son who she is potty training

Helen is currently potty training Charlie, and it seems it isn't as easy as her past experiences with her daughters.

The star admitted her ex-partner Scott Sinclair's mum potty trained Matilda due to the actresses commitments in Manchester while she was starring in Coronation Street, however she potty trained Delilah.

'I potty trained Delilah when she was two and a half and she got it so easily actually, really really easily, but yeah two pooey accidents so far.'

Helen also uploaded a snap of her relaxing with a drink in the shade with a sleeping Charlie as she displayed her washboard abs.

Stunning: It comes after the soap star set pulses racing as she put on a VERY busty display in a red bikini while on holiday in Greece last week

Spending quality time with her children, the star shared adorable snaps of her and the kids as she expressed her disbelief that her eldest is due to start Year 4 of school in September.

In the sweet snap, Matilda is sat on her mother's lap as Helen penned 'Can't believe my big girl is going to be in year 4 in September, the one that made me a mummy. Special memories before she goes back.'

'Felt like Greece was just right for our holiday, flight isn't too far, weather is stunning and I love this hotel as it's luxury but child friendly,' added Helen.

The snaps come after the star was mum-shamed earlier this week after she shared a video from her 'date night' with Charlie at the weekend.

Spoon feeding her youngest pasta fans were quick to question the mother's parenting as they left their opinionated comments on the post.

While many of Helen's one million followers liked the clip, some were not so complimentary.

Gorgeous: She also uploaded a snap of her relaxing with a drink in the shade with a sleeping Charlie as she displayed her washboard abs

One wrote: 'Poor kid, how much food are you trying to ram in his mouth, give him a chance... Blimey, you nearly choked the poor kid!!'

And a third added: 'Why are you ramming so much food into his mouth???'

Others took to the comments to defend the TV star, one wrote: 'Best mum, honest and real! Love this.'

Another added: 'It's hard raising three alone but you're doing great and looking fabulous'.
Adam Driver showed his support for striking actors on Thursday as he called out streaming services Netflix and Amazon for not being 'willing to support' people in the industry.

The actor, 39, is currently promoting his movie Ferrari at Venice Film Festival, which has been boycotted by many stars during the SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Ferrari actors (and writers) can attend without breaking the strikes because the film has been given an exemption as it was made by an independent, Neon, not a studio.

Driver was quick to heap praise on the independent studio for their role in negotiating with SAG-AFTRA as he hit out at the larger production companies.

Speaking at the festival he began: 'I'm very happy to be here to support this movie, and the truncated schedule that we had to shoot it and the efforts of all the incredible actors working on it and the crew.'

Speaking out: Adam Driver showed his support for striking actors on Thursday as he called out streaming services Netflix and Amazon for not being 'willing to support' people in the industry

Driver continued: 'But also, I'm very proud to be here to be a visual representation of a movie that's not part of the AMPTP and to promote the SAG leadership directive which is an effective tactic which is the interim agreement.

'The other objective is obviously to say, why is it that a smaller distribution company like Neon and STX International can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for  this is pre-negotiations  the dream version of SAG's wishlist, but a big company like Netflix and Amazon can't?

'And every time people from SAG go and support a movie that has met the terms of the interim agreement, it just makes it more obvious that these people are willing to support the people that they collaborate with, and the others are not.

'Understanding the interim agreement, it's a no-brainer for all of these reasons why you'd want to support your union, and I'm here because of that: to stand in solidarity with them by showing up, and further proving the point that it's really about the people you make it with.'

The Oscar-nominated actor added that he hoped by attending Venice Film Festival he was helping to 'stop the bleeding a little bit' and allow people in IATSE and SAG-AFTRA to be able to go to work.

Driver has worked with Netflix in the past, in 2019's Marriage Story and 2022's White Noise.

He has the leading role in Ferrari, which examines three months in the life of Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the car company. He has money trouble, is grieving his son who died, and has a child with his mistress  which is discovered by his wife.

Speaking alongside Driver at the press conference, director Michael Mann said: 'Ferrari got made because the people who worked on Ferrari made it by forgoing large sectors of salaries, in the case of Adam and myself.

'It was not made by a big studio - no big studio wrote us a check. And that's why we're here, standing in solidarity.'

MailOnline has contacted Amazon and Netflix for comment.

Working: The actor, 39, is currently promoting his movie Ferrari at Venice Film Festival, which has been boycotted by many stars during the SAG-AFTRA strikes

Pay cut: Speaking alongside Driver at the press conference, director Michael Mann said Ferrari got made because the people who worked on it accepted lower salaries

The writers union, the WGA, went on strike on May 2nd, and were followed by SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, on July 14th.

Venice Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday, and usually sees some of Hollywood's biggest stars grace the red carpet to promote their work.

However, this year only a handful of independent productions have permission to be promoted by their stars, with Venice confirming on Monday that Jessica Chastain will still make an appearance at the festival.

READ MORE: Who IS going to Venice Film Festival? Hollywood stars stay away amid strike chaos Advertisement

Hollywood has ground to a halt as members of the SAG-AFTRA union joined the Writers Guild Of America in going on strike over growing concerns of the use of artificial intelligence and streaming residuals.

According to Variety, a select list of films premiering at Venice have obtained SAG-AFTRA interim waivers since they are independent productions that have not been produced by AMPTP members.

The Daily Mail's Alison Boshoff previously revealed last week that Adam would follow Florence Pugh last year and make a fleeting appearance at the festival.

The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike 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. Brian Cox, Jim Carter, Hayley Atwell, David Oyelowo, and Oscar-nominated actress Imelda Staunton, were in attendance.

While there has been little movement in talks between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA, discussions with the WGA appear to have reached a stalemate.

The sides have not met since August 18 when the AMPTP rejected a counter-offer from the WGA, and since then there's been no move to resume talks.

SAG-AFTRA told members in an email on Sunday that the negotiating committee is ready to return to the table 'at a moment's notice,' but so far there has been little progress.
Rylan Clark has updated fans after his 71-year-old mum Linda was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery during their holiday.

The presenter, 34, took to Instagram on Friday morning where he announced the worrying news that his mother had suffered a serious fall.

Rylan admitted he was praying for his mother and explained that he would be pulling out of his scheduled Radio 2 show, with Scott Mills replacing him.

After revealing his mother would need to go under the knife, he later told fans: 'Surgery has gone well. Will keep yas updated x'

Rylan filled fans in with his original post, which read: 'So unfortunately I took my mum away on her first holiday in a good few years and sadly she's had quite a bad fall, resulting in her having to have surgery out here.

Oh no! Rylan Clark, 34, has revealed that his 71-year-old mum Linda has been rushed to hospital for emergency surgery during their holiday

Worrying: The presenter took to Instagram on Friday morning where he announced the news to his followers

By her side: Rylan admitted he was praying for his mother and explained that he would be pulling out of his scheduled Radio 2 show, with Scott Mills replacing him

'She's not in the best health with her other conditions and this has made it more complicated. My priority at the moment is my mum.

'Cheers scott for covering me at radio 2 and Thanks to the people out here that have sent their well wishes.

'Praying for a successful surgery and a quick recovery. Will update you on mummy. Linda as and when I can x'

X Factor star Rylan's celebrity pals quickly flooded the comments section of his Instagram post with well-wishes.

Kate Garraway wrote: 'Sorry to hear Rylan,' while Jordan North added: 'Oh mate, hope shes doing ok. Big love,' and Catherine Tyldesley penned: 'Sending love, light and healing darlings.'

Vanessa Feltz commented: 'O my goodness I am sorry to hear it! Praying for a speedy recovery, while Ruth Langsford wrote on behalf of herself and husband Eamonn Holmes: 'Oh no.darling Linda. Sending you both all our love.'

Linda has battled with Crohn's since her 30s, a condition that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive system.

She often has to undergo multiple operations to remove damaged parts of her bowel and takes numerous medicines each day for her condition.

Rylan's mum also contracted sepsis in 2018, which almost killed her.

Support: Rylan issued his followers with an update after his celebrity pals flooded the comments section of his Instagram post with well-wishes

Special bond: Linda has become hugely popular since her first stint alongside her famous son on Celebrity Gogglebox in 2021

Back in 2027, Linda endured a six-week stay in hospital, after a procedure related to her Crohn's disease went wrong.

Rylan previously opened up to the Daily Mail about his mum's battle with the illness, which has affected many aspects of her life.

He explained: 'My mum lost her job because of the disease - it totally dictates her life. When she was diagnosed it really hit her hard because it wasn't picked up early enough.

'The earlier you pick it up the easier it is to control. I grew up with the disease as well because she was ill - it is life-threatening. It's scary.

'It could be difficult when I was young because sometimes she couldn't come on school trips and other times she was so embarrassed about her symptoms that I couldn't have my mates to stay over.'

Crohn's disease is a chronic condition, which affects around one in 1,200 people in the UK, causing inflammation of the lining of the digestive system, although it is most commons in the intestines.

It causes symptoms including diarrhoea, intense abdominal pain, weight loss and fatigue.

Linda has become hugely popular since her first stint alongside him on Celebrity Gogglebox in 2021, however Rylan previously admitted she has no idea of her level of fame.

He write in a Sunday Times Magazine article: 'She's not dealing with her fame, she doesn't really know. She's not on social media and I'm never gonna let her be.'

Rylan added: 'My mum, Linda, is my biggest f****** headache, but I don't know what I'd do without her.

'She's got the best of both worlds with me  I'm a son and a daughter. I can talk to her about make-up and blow-dry her hair, and I can tell her to f*** off. She's a liability.

'She's the ultimate cross between the nan from Catherine Tate and Pam from Gavin & Stacey.'
Brian Cox was seen for the first time since announcing he tested positive for coronavirus, as he stepped out in Primrose Hill on Friday.

The Succession star, 77, cut a low-key figure as he walked through the affluent suburb while recovering from the virus. Government restrictions no longer require coronavirus-sufferers to isolate.

On Thursday, he announced that he was pulling out of the March and Rally for an Independent Scotland in the EU event in Edinburgh on Saturday, where he was due to give a speech in his native country.

He emerged just hours after it was revealed he will miss the gathering, which is being organised by Believe in Scotland and Yes for EU, while he recovers from the respiratory illness.

The Dundee-born actor told The National: 'I am absolutely gutted to have to miss the Believe in Scotland rally which seems to be building into a pivotal moment for the independence movement...

Out and about: Brian Cox was seen for the first time since announcing he tested positive for coronavirus, as he stepped out in Primrose Hill on Friday

Cancelled: He has been forced to pull out of a forthcoming Scottish independence rally after testing positive for COVID-19

On the up: The Succession star, 77, cut a low-key figure as he walked through the affluent suburb while recovering from the virus

'I was looking forward tremendously to joining the grassroots independence organisers and supporters and an inspiring list of speakers on Saturday for this positive celebration of the independence movement.

'I would very much like to attend the Believe in Scotland March and Rally planned for early next year so I will work with the organisers to fit that into my schedule.'

Instead, Brian will film an Independence video once he has recovered from the symptoms of coronavirus, which has seen a surge in cases across the UK and sparked growing concern over the spread of mutated COVID variant Perola.

Believe in Scotland founder Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp added: 'Everyone at Believe in Scotland and Yes for EU wishes Brian a speedy recovery.

'We will miss both the star quality and honest integrity that Brian provides whenever he speaks on Scotland's undoubted potential as an independent nation.

'Brian has also offered to record a video for our supporters when he is fully recovered, so we will hear from him soon.'

The Scottish actor is also among a number of celebrities who will be attending and speaking at this years Cheltenham Literature Festival.

The Gloucestershire-based festival gives a voice to contemporary authors in fiction  and the programme is a mixture of ticketed events, free family activities and fringe events.

Comfort: On Thursday, he announced that he was pulling out of the March and Rally for an Independent Scotland in the EU event in Edinburgh on Saturday, where he was due to give a speech in his native country

Disappointment: The Succession star was expected to speak at the March and Rally for an Independent Scotland in the EU event when it takes place in Edinburgh on Saturday

Absent: Cox will now miss the gathering, which is being organised by Believe in Scotland and Yes for EU, while he recovers from the respiratory illness

At the festival, Cox - who is known for playing Logan Roy in Succession - will be discussing his memoir Putting The Rabbit In The Hat, which traces his journey to fame and takes a look at his childhood experiences in the city of Dundee.

The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, hosted by Cheltenham Festivals, will take place from October 6-15.

Now Succession is over, Cox will return to the London stage next year as another monstrous father, in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night.

He will also front Amazon's James Bond-based gameshow, 007's Road To A Million.

More recently, Cox has been lending his support to the strike by members of Hollywood's Screen Actors Guild over pay and the threat to their livelihoods posed by artificial intelligence.

Speaking at a rally in London, he invoked Roy's foul-mouthed fury to argue for 'legislation that says ''AI f*** off'''.
Adam Driver couldn't contain his emotions on Thursday as his film Ferrari received a seven minute 30 second standing ovation at Venice Film Festival.

The actor, 39, takes on the titular race car icon in Michael Mann's biopic about Enzo Ferrari, the Italian founder of the car manufacturer.

After a near-empty red carpet premiere because of the SAG-AFTRA strikes, Driver and Mann settled in to watch the film, with the audience going wild for the biopic.

An emotional Driver choked back tears during the rapturous applause and was brought to his feet by Mann.

Earlier in the day the Hollywood star showed his support for striking actorsas he called out streaming services Netflix and Amazon for not being 'willing to support' people in the industry.

Welling up: Adam Driver couldn't contain his emotions on Thursday as his film Ferrari received a seven minute 30 second standing ovation at Venice Film Festival

He is currently promoting his movie Ferrari at Venice Film Festival, which has been boycotted by many stars during the SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Ferrari actors (and writers) can attend without breaking the strikes because the film has been given an exemption as it was made by an independent, Neon, not a studio.

Driver was quick to heap praise on the independent studio for their role in negotiating with SAG-AFTRA as he hit out at the larger production companies.

Speaking at the festival he began: 'I'm very happy to be here to support this movie, and the truncated schedule that we had to shoot it and the efforts of all the incredible actors working on it and the crew.'

Driver continued: 'But also, I'm very proud to be here to be a visual representation of a movie that's not part of the AMPTP and to promote the SAG leadership directive which is an effective tactic which is the interim agreement.

'The other objective is obviously to say, why is it that a smaller distribution company like Neon and STX International can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for  this is pre-negotiations  the dream version of SAG's wishlist, but a big company like Netflix and Amazon can't?

'And every time people from SAG go and support a movie that has met the terms of the interim agreement, it just makes it more obvious that these people are willing to support the people that they collaborate with, and the others are not.

'Understanding the interim agreement, it's a no-brainer for all of these reasons why you'd want to support your union, and I'm here because of that: to stand in solidarity with them by showing up, and further proving the point that it's really about the people you make it with.'

Watching on: After a near-empty red carpet premiere because of the SAG-AFTRA strikes, Driver and director Michael Mann settled in to watch the film

Ovation: The pair were joined by Patrick Dempsey and Daniela Piperno at the premiere

The Oscar-nominated actor added that he hoped by attending Venice Film Festival he was helping to 'stop the bleeding a little bit' and allow people in IATSE and SAG-AFTRA to be able to go to work.

Driver has worked with Netflix in the past, in 2019's Marriage Story and 2022's White Noise.

He has the leading role in Ferrari, which examines three months in the life of Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the car company. He has money trouble, is grieving his son who died, and has a child with his mistress  which is discovered by his wife.

Speaking alongside Driver at the press conference, director Michael Mann said: 'Ferrari got made because the people who worked on Ferrari made it by forgoing large sectors of salaries, in the case of Adam and myself.

'It was not made by a big studio - no big studio wrote us a check. And that's why we're here, standing in solidarity.'

MailOnline has contacted Amazon and Netflix for comment.
Today is Sept. 1 and three months ago was June 1. We offer the obvious calendar reminder not to mark the passing of a summer filled with stifling hot weather and a few days of really nasty and scary polluted air and an unending stream of migrants, but that under New York law, the state Commission on Legislative, Judicial & Executive Compensation was established three months ago. Or was it?

Checking our clips, we see that on June 1 we wrote an editorial about this quadrennial panel, urging the four appointing authorities to name their selections to the commission. Gov. Hochul has three members, state Chief Judge Rowan Wilson has two, while Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie have one each.

Heres the law: On the first of June of every fourth year, commencing June 1, 2015, there shall be established a commission on legislative, judicial and executive compensation to examine, evaluate and make recommendations with respect to adequate levels of compensation and non-salary benefits for members of the Legislature, judges and justices of the state-paid courts of the unified court system, statewide elected officials, and those state officers referred to in section 169 of the executive law.

Wilson fulfilled his legal duty, tapping former Court of Appeals Judge Gene Fahey as the chairman and attorney Helene Blank on May 30. Then June 1 came and nothing happened, for can a seven-member commission be established with just two? Seven weeks later, on July 21, Stewart-Cousins named a former judge and senator, Jerry Weinstein, to represent the upper chamber. But a seven-person panel cant exist with only three.

Now three full months have passed. By statute the commission has seven months, until Dec. 31, to complete its work evaluating the pay levels of the judiciary and writing a report with any recommendations for an increase.

Both Hochul and Heastie have yet to choose qualified (or even unqualified) people for the commission. How can they so cavalierly ignore the clear mandate of law? Even if they were unaware  which is unlikely since Heastie wrote the law when he was speaker in 2015  this column provided that timely reminder on June 1.

Having been deservedly embarrassed in this space, we suspect that both the lawless governor and the lawless speaker will quickly come around, giving the commission its full membership.

The work of the panel should be easy: put the state judges, now paid $210,900 a year, back on par with their federal counterparts, who are making $232,600 annually. Its a lot of money, but judges have a lot of responsibility.

The commissions recommendation, which must be backed by at least one member selected by each of the four appointers, becomes law unless the Legislature modifies it. Then, during next year, the panel will weigh raises for the Legislature and the governor.

Heasties disinterest is because he won a gigantic pay raise for his members last December, which Hochul approved while getting nothing in exchange. There is speculation that she did it as a thank you for the Legislature passing a special law to let her jettison her indicted lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, from the ticket. Whatever the reasons, it was undeserved and the Legislature mustnt get another raise.
Travis Barker shared cryptic images from the prayer room in Glasgow Airport hours after revealing he is rushing home to America due to an 'urgent family matter.'

The drummer, 47, turned to prayer after his band Blink-182 announced they have postponed their UK tour dates, which were due to kick off in Glasgow on September 1. The group revealed they have now postponed the tour until after their Dublin show on September 5.

Barker took to Instagram to share the poignant images with his 8.2 million followers, the first a yellow sign-posted door marked: 'Prayer room. All Welcome.' He followed it with a picture of a church-like stained glass window, and another of a tapestry reading: 'Together we pray.'

The musician has not given any details over his crisis, however it comes just months before his pregnant wife Kourtney Kardashian, 44, is expected to give birth.

Worry: Travis Barker has rushed home to the US due to an 'urgent family matter' as his band, Blink-182 announcedthat they have postponed their tour - (Pictured on Monday in Calabasas in his last sighting before the news)

The drummer, 44, shared three cryptic images to his Instagram story following the news, the first a yellow sign-posted door marked: 'Prayer room. All welcome.'

The posts, believed to have been shared from Glasgow Airport, included an image of a stained glass window from inside the prayer room

Travis' final picture from the prayer room was a tapestry reading: 'Together we pray'

Announcing the news on X, formally known as Twitter, the band, who were set to round out the tour at London's O2 Arena on 12 October, wrote: 'Due to an urgent family matter, Travis has had to return home to the States.

'The Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin shows are being postponed. More information in regards to his return to Europe and rescheduled dates will be provided as soon as available.'

Travis was last seen on Monday dining with pals in Calabasas, and prior to the outing he was seen on a stroll with his pregnant wife last week. Kardashian, who has not posted on social media since the tour was halted, is expected to give birth from late October to December.

The child will be the couple's first together, with Barker having two children, son Landon, 19, and daughter Alabama, 17, with ex-wife Shanna Moakler. Kardashian shares three children, Mason, 13, Penelope, 10, and Reign, 8, with her ex-husband Scott Disick.

MailOnline has contacted spokespersons for the band and Travis for more information.

More to follow... The band shared this statement on Twitter on Friday

Sad news: Blink-182 were due to kick off in Glasgow on September 1. They have now postponed the tour until after their Dublin show on September 5

His love: Prior to his outing on Monday, Travis stepped out for a romantic stroll with his pregnant wife Kourtney Kardashian in Santa Barbara on 25 August

Snapping away: Before the announcement, Travis shared a picture of the group's tour bus

The post comes days after Travis paid a special tribute to his late friend DJ AM on the 14th anniversary of his tragic passing by sharing slew of photos on his Instagram stories.

Travis notably collaborated with DJ AM and the pair later formed their own group called TRV$DJAM.

Barker took to his stories to pay tribute to the late star, whose real name was Adam Michael Goldstein. On August 28, 2009, he was found dead in his NYC apartment due to an accidental drug overdose at the age of 36.

He shared three black and white, throwback images of DJ AM, but chose to not add any text or caption on the photos.

The two were bonded by a tragic event when they were the sole survivors of a deadly plane crash.

Tough week: Travis 47, paid a special tribute to his late friend and music artist, DJ AM, on the 14th anniversary of his tragic passing by sharing slew of photos on his Instagram stories on Monday; pair seen at MTV Video Music Awards in 2008 in L.A.

Anniversary: Barker took to his stories to pay tribute to the late star who was found dead in his NYC apartment due to an accidental drug overdose on August 28, 2009; seen in 2005

Prior to that, they had the chance to perform live at numerous events together, such as the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.

DJ AM had previously joined a group called, Crazy Town, in 1999 but two years later, he left to better focus on his own solo career.

In 2003, he had begun to find more success and also started dating Lionel Richie's daughter, Nicole Richie.

In 2005, Blink-182 went on a hiatus, and drummer Barker eventually formed the group TRV$DJAM with Adam - who had battled drug addiction throughout his life.

They began performances at The Roxy Theater in Los Angeles in June 2008, and two months later, dropped their first mixtape online called, Fix Your Face, on August 27, 2008.

On September 19, 2008, the duo performed at a college event called the T-Mobile Block Party in Columbia, South Carolina.

Afterwards, they joined assistant Chris Baker as well as security guard, Charles Still, and two pilots to fly out of South Carolina to Los Angeles on a Learjet 60. However, shortly after takeoff, the plane experienced an emergency and crashed.

The accident was later reported to be caused by 'faulty tires,' per Billboard. The tragic incident killed both Baker and Still, as well as the two pilots, but Travis and DJ AM managed to escape the crash.

Due to the plane being on fire, both suffered third-degree burns and were taken to Joseph M. Still Burn Center located in Georgia for recovery. During a past interview with People, per Today, DJ AM had recalled the horrific accident.

Group: The Blink-182 drummer notably collaborated with DJ AM and the later pair formed their own group called TRV$DJAM; DJ AM (right) seen in March 2009 in Los Angeles

Success: They began performances at The Roxy Theater in Los Angeles in June 2008, and two months later, dropped their first mixtape online called, Fix Your Face, on August 27, 2008; seen in September 2008

'When the plane was on the runway I took my shoes off and fell asleep. The next thing I remember is us crashing into something,' he stated.

'I woke up to Travis screaming and the plane engulfed in flames. I remember thinking it was like "Miami Vice," where a car is on fire and you run before the gas tank explodes  we gotta get out of here!'

Adam continued, 'Travis jerked upon the door and slid on his butt down a wing that was on fire. I tried to cover my face as I jumped through a fireball. As soon as I hit the ground, I remembered "Stop, drop and roll," so I started rolling.'

Upon extinguishing the fire on his own body, he immediately jumped to Barker's side to also help put out his flames.

'My eyebrows and layers of skin were burned off my face. My forehead was gouged and my arm had skin hanging off. I was in shock and didn't feel anything.'

During a past interview with Larry King, Travis had also recalled the terrifying moment, and stated, 'The landing gear popped, it sounded like gunshots.'

'It sounded like someone was shooting a gun next to my head. Then the plane just spiraled out of control. The plane would basically go up in the air, then crash down and hit the ground, then come up.'

The musician added, 'Every time we hit the ground the flames and smoke would get bigger and before the last impact the plane was completely on fire. We were a ball of fire in the sky, and I was honestly waiting for lights out.'

Before tragedy: On September 19, 2008, the duo performed at a college event called the T-Mobile Block Party in Columbia, South Carolina

Only survivors: Both Travis and DJ AM were the only survivors of a Learjet 60 plane crush on September 19, 2008 that killed two pilots as well as assistant Chris Baker and security guard, Charles Still

Following the accident, both Travis and DJ AM chose to not step onto a plane. However, in 2021, the drummer took a flight to Italy as he overcame his fear with Kourtney Kardashian.

The flight was just his second since the crash, with his first having been a trip to Cabo. Travis had uploaded an image of the ground at night that was taken from the plane, followed by a photo of DJ AM.

During a past interview with Men's Health, Barker stated that when DJ AM was alive, they had been, 'each other's therapists' following the crash, adding, 'it was just him and me.'

He added, 'When he left, I was like, "Oh, f**k. I'm the only one in my club. It's just me." And I find my ways to deal with it.'

After the duo recovered, they each went on to focus on their careers and they both performed at New Year's Nation L.A. 2008 New Year's Eve bash together.

Adam also became a DJ at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas after leaving a position at Caesar's Palace. He briefly jumped into the film industry and made a cameo appearance as himself in Iron Man 2 as a DJ at Tony Stark's party - played by Robert Downey Jr.

He later became the host of the drug intervention reality show titled, Gone Too Far. The series aired shortly after his death.

The star battled drug addiction for years since he was a teenager, and sought sobriety and help after attempting suicide at the age of 24.

'Therapists': During a past interview with Men's Health, Barker stated then when DJ AM was alive, they had been, 'each other's therapists' following the crash, adding, 'it was just him and me'; seen in 2005

Addiction: The star battled drug addiction for years since he was a teenager, and sought sobriety and help after attempting suicide at the age of 24; Travis and DJ AM with Too Short in January 2009

In an essay published in Glamour in January 2008, DJ AM got candid about his addiction to drugs as well as struggles with weight and food.

'I was 14 years old and became known as "the fat kid from Philly." I spent the next two years doing drugs every day, until I went to my mom and actually asked her to send me to rehab,' he explained.

However, he added, 'Unbeknownst to my mother, the place was an abusive house of horrors that would eventually be shut down.' He was 18-years-old when he finally left.

'When I left rehab, I'd learned nothing about recoveryI attended a few meetings, but within five months I was back doing drugs,' and later added, 'I started going to meetings again and distanced myself from friends who were still using drugs. The hardest thing to adjust to was deejaying sober.'

He revealed that he worked at celebrity birthday parties for stars such as Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio.

'As the years passed, I grew stronger in recovery, but my food issues spiraled out of control. By the time I was 30, I weighed 324 pounds and hated my body more than anything,' and chose to get 'gastric bypass surgery.'

At the time he had penned the essay, Adam wrote, 'I'm 34 now, and it's been nine and a half years since I've had a drink or taken drugs. But every day I have to remind myself that no matter how much time I have behind me, I'm still a drug addict.'

'At any given moment, I'm five seconds away from walking up to someone, grabbing their drink out of their hand and downing it. And if I do that, within a week, tops, I'll be smoking crack.'

While filming MTV's Gone Too Far, he told the network in an interview in July 2008 that he had experienced 'a flashback' while shooting the project.

Tragic loss: He was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on August 28, 2009, and at the time, he was reportedly surrounded by drugs paraphernalia; the two seen in 2008

In New York, he had gone into a convenience store and bought a crack pipe in order to show that it could easily be done.

'My palms were sweaty. I was like, "Wait a minute, this is not smart for me to be holding this." I started really kind of freaking out and having to kind of vent. And it kind of put that image back in my head,' he stated, per ABC News.

He was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on August 28, 2009, and at the time, he was reportedly surrounded by drugs paraphernalia, including a crack pipe and prescription pill bottles. However, his death was later ruled an accident.

On September 2, 2009, his body was buried at the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery located in L.A. The following day, a memorial service was held, with numerous guests in attendance, including Travis Barker, Robert Downey Jr., Lindsay Lohan, as well as Adam's family.
Naomi Watts has opened up about her sex life with new husband Billy Crudup and the complications of keeping her libido 'alive' while going through the menopause.

The 54-year-old actress married Eat Pray Love star Billy earlier this year on June 9 in a very low-key ceremony and Naomi admitted they're still very much in the 'honeymoon stage' of their relationship.

Speaking at an exclusive event at Canoe Place Inn & Cottages in Hampton Bays on Thursday evening, Naomi explained how communication had been the 'biggest key' in her romance with 55-year-old Billy and it had led to them having 'pretty great sex.'

The King Kong star previously revealed that she went through early menopause at the age of 36 and felt like she was 'spiraling out of control' thanks to hot flashes and mood swings, which led to the launch of her wellness brand, Stripes.

During the conversation, which was entitled 'Unlocking Intimacy: Navigating Passion in Midlife,' she admitted that 'sex becomes more pleasurable' with age.

Award-winning actress Naomi Watts has opened up about her sex life with new husband Billy Crudup

The Watcher actress admitted that she and 55-year-old Billy have 'pretty great' sex

Billy and Naomi, 54, started dating in 2017 and got married in Manhattan in June this year

Naomi was speaking at an event at Canoe Place Inn & Cottages in Hampton Bays on August 31

During a panel chat about menopause with doctors Suzanne Fenske and Somi Javaid, Naomi said: 'We've heard tonight that there are complications, keeping the sex and the libido alive and everything, but sometimes people have the complete reverse effect.

'In fact, I think there was a time, generations ago, and talking about what menopause actually was... it was hysteria and some women were nymphomaniacs. Like we were just crazy old crows that wanted sex too much,' she added with a laugh.

'I personally think sex becomes more pleasurable when you take out the fear of like making babies... when you know it's not the right time... like what is that expression... "closed for business, open for pleasure!"

'It feels more, "I'm going to do this for myself"... you're more confident with yourself, you've had experience, you're wiser, you're not going to be all like, "Oh I want to turn the lights down."'

Referring to her recent nuptials, which took place in Manhattan, Naomi continued: 'I'm newly married, in the honeymoon stage I suppose, so it might sound easy for me to say, but I do think communication is the biggest key here.

'Like whatever it is you're going through, if you can talk to your partner, if you can be honest and have a really authentic conversation and take away the awkwardness, and most of the time if they're good people, they will be empathetic and that's hot, that's really hot when you can be honest and the conversation lands really well to the point where, "yeah we got through the awkwardness and now like, let's kick off some fun."'

Naomi has been in a relationship with Billy since 2017 when they met on the set of Netflix series Gypsy, but admitted she wasn't always so confident in the bedroom with her man because she was using estrogen patches when they first got together.

'This is a little bit personal but in the beginning of my relationship, I was wearing my patch and I was nervous that my new lover was going to see it,' Naomi explained.

Naomi has been in a relationship with Billy since 2017 when they met on the set of Netflix series Gypsy

Naomi was previously in an 11-year relationship with fellow actor Liev Schreiber

Naomi and Liev, pictured here in 2015, share two sons named Alexander and Samuel

Speaking about the residue that the patch left on her skin, the mother-of-two recalled: 'So, I remember the doctor at the beginning said "go to the hardware store and get this oil that you use on your car to get it off", because it's very sticky and it takes days... like that adhesive it just sits there and it looks like a bullet wound!'

Remembering a time when she and Billy were about to get intimate in the early stages of their romance, she said: 'So I went into the bathroom just before it would start and I'd be in there [pretends to scrub her body] and then I'd come out and my gorgeous partner said, "Are you okay? Is everything okay?"

'And the minute I brought honesty into the room, despite how awkward and hard that was for me - I've had so much shame about it - he knew how to behave, he knew what cues to follow, he was 100 per cent empathetic and I can safely say we went on to have you know, pretty great sex that night.

'It gets exhausting having all these rules and this ideology of how you must look, so I just tend to find myself being in a position where I just need to get what I want and say it boldly.

'I think it takes experience and growing into yourself and getting to know what you love and like, and you can't learn that or buy that, that is just the upside of leaning into this phase of life, and so I think a lot of women are horny at this age.'

When asked what her favorite sex position is, Naomi replied cheekily, 'On top, underneath! Right now I'm not fussy,' before touching on the importance of discussing menopause much more freely.

'Half the population is going to head there and then the rest of the population will be indirectly affected by it,' she said. 'The thing about menopause is that there's no one size fits all, it hits us all so differently.

'But it seems like the door has been cracked open. Everyone is just coming charging and ready to scream and shout about it, it's heartening. I feel that we can feel good about the next generation and actually it should start in sex education, this is the adult version of puberty. The story begins here, at the beginning, and then there's the middle and then this is this is the other side of it, but it is not the end.'
Gwyneth Paltrow is thinking of keeping her gray hair.

The Goop founder, 50, told fans she had let her blonde locks go their natural silver as she had been 'lazy' about her beauty regime over the summer, and asked them if they thought she should keep the new look permanently.

Mom-of-two Gwyneth made the query while answering questions from fans on her Instagram Stories.

When one of her millions of followers posed the question: 'Are you growing in to your natural grey hair? Which is beautiful btw,' Gwyneth polled her fans to see if she should 'go grey' or 'stay blonde'.

She added: 'I don't know, I've just been lazy over the summer.

Gray roots: Gwyneth Paltrow is thinking of keeping her grey hair. The Goop founder, 50, told fans she had let her blonde locks go their natural silver as she had been 'lazy' about her beauty regime over the summer, and asked them if they thought she should keep the new look permanently

But it looks fine: Mom-of-two Gwyneth made the query while answering questions from fans on her Instagram Stories

Another look: She also showed off her gray roots in this image from August 29

'Do you guys think I should go grey or keep my highlights?'

If Gwyneth decided to keep her natural greys, she would be joining female celebrities including Andie MacDowell, 65, who has decided not to dye her hair as she ages.

Gwyneth told British Vogue in July about maturing she is 'embracing aging'.

She added: 'As women, we want to be healthy, we want to be aging.

'This idea that we're supposed to be frozen in time is so weird.'

Hitting out at it as a 'double standard', Gwyneth added: 'It's handsome to go grey (as a man), but for women it's like, 'What do you plan to do about your wrinkles and your aging skin?'

Blonder in April: When one of her millions of followers posed the question: 'Are you growing in to your natural grey hair? Which is beautiful btw,' Gwyneth polled her fans to see if she should 'go grey' or 'stay blonde'. She added: 'I don't know, I've just been lazy over the summer'

Gwyneth, who turned 50 on 27 September 2022, wrote an emotional essay that she published online to celebrate the landmark in which she revealed her regrets over past mistakes.

She said: ''If nothing else, (my mistakes) have led me to a path of questioning. Of seeking a better version of myself.

'People often ask, 'If you could go back to your 21-year-old self and give her some advice' Well, I would know my boundary and hold on to it more tightly than my life itself.'

Paltrow also said that she still misses her dad 'so much'.

The Emma star was left devastated when her father Bruce Paltrow died in October 2002 aged 58 after a long battle with throat cancer, while they were on holiday in Rome to celebrate the actress' 30th birthday.

Nearly 21 years after his passing, Gwyneth has told fans: 'I miss my dad so much and I miss his humour.

'I was just on a walk with a friend this morning, and even she was talking about the things that my dad used to say. His phrases. He was kind of a philosopher, in his own way. And just had the most brilliant one-liners.'

Heartbreaking: Paltrow also said that she still misses her dad 'so much'. The Emma star was left devastated when her father Bruce Paltrow died in October 2002 aged 58 after a long battle with throat cancer, while they were on holiday in Rome to celebrate the actress' 30th birthday. Seen with dad Bruce and mom Blythe Danner in 1997

Hard for her: Nearly 21 years after his passing, Gwyneth has told fans: 'I miss my dad so much and I miss his humour. 'I was just on a walk with a friend this morning, and even she was talking about the things that my dad used to say. His phrases. He was kind of a philosopher, in his own way. And just had the most brilliant one-liners.' Seen in 2001

She added about the help her dad gave her: 'He helped me get through life and how to deal with a lot of stuff, and he would have helped me keep perspective all the time.'

Gwyneth opened up about her lingering grief over Bruce's death during a question-and-answer session with her 8.3 million followers on her Instagram Stories on Wednesday. (30.08.23)

She paid tribute to her father when responding to one fan who posted the question: 'What do u miss the most from your dad?'

Gwyneth paid tribute to her late dad by giving her son Moses, now 17, the middle name Bruce.

Along with the teenager, she and her Coldplay frontman ex-husband Chris Martin, 46, also share 19-year-old daughter Apple Martin, who has a middle name of Blythe  in honour of Gwyneth's 80-year-old actress mum Blythe Danner.

Gwyneth also paid tribute to Bruce when she tied the knot with her now-husband Brad Falchuk, 52, in 2018.

The actress said on an episode of Dax Shepard's 'Armchair Expert' podcast in 2019 she and Brad had said 'I do' near the tree where her dad's ashes are buried during their ceremony in the Hamptons, New York.

She added on the show about her ongoing grief over the loss of her dad: 'For years, I would go into the deepest depression of all time around my birthday and then I thought, 'I've got to reframe this somehow. My father would not want this for me.'

'My birthday is September 27 and so this past September, I got married on the 29th of September.

'(My dad's) ashes are buried under this beautiful tree at my house and we got married there  right near my dad kind of on my dad.

'I still have a hard time with it. He was such an intentional father, and he was so observant and so deeply supportive and set us up to win all the time.

'And now I have a 14-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son and I'm like, 'F***, I need to call my dad. I need to talk to my dad.'

'And I don't have that person. I have incredible people in my life, but I don't have their grandfather, who was also the greatest father in the world.'
Married At First Sight star Olivia Frazer moved to Scotland earlier this year after meeting the man she believed was 'the one'.

However, the reality star, 29, recently found out that the man of her dreams was cheating on her.

She has now received more devastating news, as she shared with her Instagram followers that she will be returning to Australia very soon after a family tragedy.

On Friday, Olivia shared the sad news that her uncle Jack passed away.

Sharing a gorgeous black-and-white photo of her uncle holding her as a baby, Olivia wrote: 'My beautiful boy, my uncle Jack.'

Married At First Sight star Olivia Frazer (pictured) moved to Scotland earlier this year after meeting the man she believed was 'the one'. However, the reality star, 29, recently found out that the man of her dreams was cheating on her

She continued, 'As I've mentioned before, my mum and I have been looking after my Nana's twin brother, uncle Jack since his wife passed away in 2014.

'Yesterday he also passed peacefully with my mum holding his hand and kissing his forehead,' wrote Olivia.

'He was the most pure and peaceful man I've ever known, and he will be missed every day.'

She finished, 'I know you guys will worry, but please don't as I'll be home with my family very soon.'

She has now received more devastating news, as she shared with her Instagram followers that she will be returning to Australia very soon after a family tragedy. On Friday, Olivia shared the sad news that her uncle Jack passed away

The tragic news came just days after the reality star opened up about being cheated on by her new Scottish beau, who she moved across the globe to be with in the UK.

Speaking about the ordeal to The Wash Online, she said: 'It's important to remind other girls not to ignore red flags from the start because you so desperately want it to work with someone.

'I feel like I've been completely scammed and made a fool out of. We spoke almost every day, he told me he wanted me to meet his son once I got to Scotland and made me feel so wanted.'

Upon her arrival, Olivia quickly realised her new man was behaving suspiciously around her and she worked at figuring out what he was hiding.

'I'm proud of myself for at least giving it a go, being vulnerable and open to finding love again. I know next time I meet someone not to be so blinded by how much I want it to work.'

The tragic news came just days after the reality star opened up about being cheated on by her new Scottish beau, who she moved across the globe to be with in the UK

On Thursday, Olivia thanked her followers for sending her supportive messages after she opened up about the ordeal

On Thursday, Olivia thanked her followers for sending her supportive messages after she opened up about the ordeal.

She wrote: 'Just a quick thank you to everyone who has taken time to write and send me something gorgeous over the last few days.

'You have no idea how much it means to me. I've been attempting to write back and will continue to do my best to respond.

'Highlands from Fort William I see you guys. Thank you for continuing to have my back and showing up in droves'.
Lewis Hamilton arrived at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, on Friday.

The Formula One star, 38, showed off his unique sense of style in a washed out orange denim co-ord set.

Lewis commanded attention in his quirky ensemble as he made his way along the grid at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Lewis wore his signature braids back in a ponytail as he donned a pair of dark sunglasses and his signature silver jewellery.

His stylish arrival comes after it was revealed Lewis has signed a 50million-a-year deal to continue to drive for Mercedes in 2024 and 2025.

Quirky: Lewis Hamilton, 38, showed off his unique sense of style in a washed out orange denim co-ord set as he arrived at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, on Friday

Iconic: Lewis wore his signature braids back in a ponytail as he donned a pair of dark sunglasses and his signature silver jewellery

All eyes on him: Lewis commanded attention in his quirky ensemble as he made his way along the grid at Autodromo Nazionale Monza

News of the two-season extension, confirmed by Mercedes, ends a protracted saga that has dragged on for months.

It will take the seven-time world champion to the eve of his 41st birthday, extending his stellar career into a remarkable 19th season. There is no option for a third year under the terms of his new arrangement.

The eye-watering salary  a rise of some 10m  puts him on a par with Max Verstappen as one of the two highest-paid drivers in Formula One.

Hamilton began negotiations by demanding a long-term deal, of five years according to one informed source, but that wish has not been granted.

Nor has early interest Ferrari been followed through as, in truth, Hamiltons stock falls with age.

As the sport heads back to the historic ground of Monza, Lewis's opponent Max Verstappen is on the cusp of history.

The Red Bull driver is just one win away from setting a new record for consecutive race wins.

Following his race win at Zandvoort, the Dutch driver is just one win away from winning 10 consecutive races.

Good times: His stylish arrival comes after it was revealed Lewis has signed a 50million-a-year deal to continue to drive for Mercedes in 2024 and 2025

With a win he would overtake former Red Bull driver and four-time World Driver Champion Sebastian Vettel.

Meanwhile, Sergio Perez will be hoping to bring an end to Max Verstappen's dominance and prove to Christian Horner he is deserving of a seat next season.

Mercedes announced George Russell will also stay at the Silver Arrows for the next two years  a deal that was signed and sealed some weeks ago but not announced until today. At 25, he does not wish to see the best years of his life waiting indefinitely to accede to No 1 status.

Hamilton, who has taken 82 victories for Mercedes and 78 poles since joining in 2013, said: We dream everyday of being the best and we have dedicated the past decade together to achieving that goal.

Being at the top does not happen overnight or over a short period of time, it takes commitment, hard work and dedication and its been an honour to earn our way into the history books with this incredible team.

Hamilton has not won a race since December 2021  the longest barren run of his career  but remains hell-bent on winning the eighth world titles that alluded him so controversially in Abu Dhabi two seasons ago.

We have never been hungrier to win, he added. We have learnt from every success but also every setback.

'We continue to chase our dreams, we continue to fight no matter the challenge and we will win again.

'Im grateful to the team who have supported me both on and off the track. Our story isnt finished, we are determined to achieve more together and we wont stop until we do.'

The Italian Grand Prix will take place at 2pm on Sunday 3rd September.
Kris Jenner has been dating Corey Gamble for nine years.

But it is not often that the lovebirds show a public display of affection.

On Thursday the 67-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians producer and the 42-year-old music manager were seen kissing when on a yacht.

The stars have been on vacation in Italy this summer and she has generously shared snapshots from the holiday.

The image was a flashback photo from their August trip as Kris shared the caption, 'Magical moments in August ,' while adding a pizza emoji.

Kissy: Kris Jenner has been dating Corey Gamble for nine years. But it is not often that the lovebirds show a public display of affection. On Thursday the 67-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians producer and the 42-year-old music manager were seen kissing when on a yacht

Italy is for lovers: The stars have been on vacation in Italy this summer and she has generously shared snapshots from the holiday

After Italy: Seen side by side at the TIAH event in LA on August 26

There was a collection of photos in the post.

One saw her with daughter Khloe Kardashian, 39.

Another showed her with one of the Dolce & Gabbana designers, and Kylie Jenner in one of the ads. And Kris was also seen making pizza.

In mid August, Khloe shared photos from the trip to Italy.

The siren appeared blonder than ever as she wore her long hair over her tanned shoulders.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians veteran was with her daughter True, five, as they posed away. There was no sign of her second child, son Tatum, whose name she had legally changed in August.

'The love that moves the sun and the other stars,' the Hulu star wrote in her caption in both English and Italian.

And she also shared, 'My heart is happy.'

With KOKO: The image was a flashback photo from their August trip as Kris shared the caption, 'Magical moments in August ,' while adding a pizza emoji. Seen with Khloe

Just like besties: Khloe and Kris seemed to be having a blast in Italy

They are close buddies: Another showed her with one of the Dolce & Gabbana designers. He has worked with Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner

Her richest daughter? Kylie was seen in one of the Dolce & Gabbana ads

Chef Kris: And Kris was also seen making pizza as a chef stood behind her

Koko looks bored: Khloe was there as well, seen left

A shore thing: Here is a look at the breathtakingly beautiful coastline. It looked to be taken from the D&G house in Portofino

The ex of Tristan Thompson added cherry red lipstick and Prada sunglasses.

This comes after Khloe shared a first family portrait with both her children.

The designer was seen with both her son Tatum, one, and daughter True, five, as they sat on the grass of her backyard while playing with toys.

The TV star was beaming with joy as she smiled alongside her kids during Tatum's first birthday bash while wearing Prada sunglasses.

But one person did not make the group.

Though her former partner Thompson was at the party, he was not in the frame-worthy snapshot.

Khloe looked youthful in her plunging white summer dress that had straps over her shoulders, a small waistline and a full skirt as she added high heels.

Her glam was on target as she wore her blonde hair down and had on rose-toned makeup as she added black sunglasses and a diamond necklace.

A little wine in the sun: Khloe looked stunning in a red-and-white floral print summer dress in images shared to Instagram in mid August when in Italy

Wonderful in white: Khloe also modeled this very sheer and long dress in Italy

Busy Kris: On August 26 she was seen with (L-R) Kim Kardashian, Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, and Elsa Marie Collins, co-founder of This Is About Humanity, at the TIAH 5th Anniversary Soiree in Los Angeles

Her cherry red long nails was the only color to her look.

Little True was darling in a white dress as she smiled from ear to ear as she wore her hair in curls with a braid up the center.

And Tatum was distracted as he looked off in the distance while mom out a hand on his waist. He wore a white T-shirt, beige slacks and white socks.
While Neelam Gill and Barbara Palvin brought the glamour to the Poor Things premiere at Venice Film Festival on Friday, it was missing the Hollywood sparkle of Emma Stone.

The actress, 34, joined the increasingly long list of no-shows at the annual festival as A-listers opt to stay away for fear of breaching the SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Despite Emma's absence, director Yorgos Lanthimos' new film received applause and was hailed 'best of the year' by critics who attended the screening.

On the red carpet, Neelam, 28, showed off her model figure in a strapless black patterned dress which had a plunging neckline.

The fashionista amped up the glamour with a diamond necklace and statement earrings.

Wow: Neelam Gill (L) and Barbara Palvin (R) brought the glamour to the Poor Things premiere at Venice Film Festival on Friday, but it was missing the Hollywood sparkle of Emma Stone

Touted for success: The actress, 34, joined the increasingly long list of no-shows at the annual festival as A-listers opt to stay away for fear of breaching the SAG-AFTRA strikes

Barbara, meanwhile, opted for an asymmetric gown with black beading. She flashed plenty of leg as she sashayed up the red carpet thank to its daring thigh-high slit.

Patroness of the festival Caterina Murino also arrived for the screening but she was left feeling rather flustered when her dog decided to run off.

Poor Things will be Emma's first major film role since 2021's Cruella.

An official trailer for Poor Things revealed that the Arizona-born actress's Poor Things character, Bella Baxter, was resurrected by her guardian, Dr. Baxter (Willem Dafoe) after Bella died by suicide.

The film is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who previously directed Emma and Olivia Colman in The Favorite.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 actress also conveyed her gratitude for Yorgos, saying that he, 'gave me a gift for making me a producer on [Poor Things.]'

'I've gotten to be privy to the whole process that I wouldn't have if I was just acting in it,' Emma gushed.

She added: 'It just felt like the perfect combination.'

Head turner: Neelam, 28, showed off her model figure in a strapless black patterned dress which had a plunging neckline

Diamonds are forever: The fashionista amped up the glamour with a diamond necklace and statement earrings

Perfection: She made sure to show off the stunning frock from every angle

Careful! She risked a wardrobe malfunction due to a gust of wind

Beauty: She accentuated her features with glam make-up and styled her glossy tresses poker straight

Leggy: Barbara, meanwhile, opted for an asymmetric gown with black beading

Strike a pose: The Hungarian model appeared in her element as she posed for the camera

All in the detail: Barbara went braless in the dress which had a slash across the bust

Here come the girls: Eugenia Silva and Barbara posed for a photo

Gorgeous: Barbara wore her hair in an elaborate updo which showed off her ear tattoo

Making an appearance: Patroness of the festival Caterina Murino also arrived for the screening

Pooch mischief: She was left feeling rather flustered when her dog decided to run off

Cheeky! But it wasn't long until she managed to catch up with the sausage dog

After the screening, it has been reported the audience broke out in applause.

CEO of The Wrap Sharon Waxman wrote on X - formerly known as Twitter: 'A delight to see Yorgos Lanthimos at the peak of mad creativity and flair. You will want to see with Emma Stone way out on a limb. Morning press audience broke out in applause.'

Another critic added: 'Poor Things might be the best film Ive seen so far this year. Emma Stone is extraordinary.'

Poor Things premieres everywhere in the U.S on December 8th, 2023 and on the 12th January next year for the U.K, with its premiere set for October.

The Venice Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday, and usually sees some of Hollywood's biggest stars grace the red carpet to promote their work.

However, this year only a handful of independent productions have permission to be promoted by their stars, with Venice confirming on Monday that Adam Driver and Jessica Chastain will still make appearances at the festival.

Since July 17, Hollywood has ground to a halt as members of the SAG-AFTRA union joined the Writers Guild Of America in going on strike over growing concerns of the use of artificial intelligence and streaming residuals.

One to watch: The film is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who previously directed Emma and Olivia Colman in The Favorite

Letting her hair down: Neelam wa slater spotted heading to premiere's swanky after party at Harry's Bar

Fun times: The stunner was ready to party as she joined the other guests

Busy: She checked her phone as she headed into the swanky event

Trip: Barbara was seen later arriving at the San Clemente Hotel

Stunning views: She appeared in high spirits

According to Variety, a select list of films premiering at Venice have obtained SAG-AFTRA interim waivers since they are independent productions that have not been produced by AMPTP members.

The ongoing SAG-AFTRA Strike, which enters its 45th 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. Brian Cox, Jim Carter, Hayley Atwell, David Oyelowo, and Oscar-nominated actress Imelda Staunton, were in attendance.

While there has been little movement in talks between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA, discussions with the WGA appear to have reached a stalemate.

The sides have not met since August 18 when the AMPTP rejected a counter-offer from the WGA, and since then there's been no move to resume talks.

SAG-AFTRA told members in an email on Sunday that the negotiating committee is ready to return to the table 'at a moment's notice,' but so far there has been little progress.
Give no one the kind of trust predators exploit

Port Jefferson Station, L.I.: On Sunday, reading your front page story, Abuse case shocker, I relived an experience I buried deep in my psyche: my abuse at the hands of a nice, older, neighborly man who lived in my building when I was growing up in the Bronx. It was 1962, when the world was nowhere near as wicked as it is today. My dear grandmother regularly allowed him to enter our home, a railroad apartment with the kitchen near the front door and the living room deep into the apartment. Instead of sitting in the kitchen to talk to my grandmother, he would find his way to the living room, where he would sexually assault me.

It does not matter if we were naked in the shower, as Franz Vila was with the 5-year-old girl he assaulted. I was being molested and violated by someone my family considered a respectable neighbor. Thank God my Uncle Robert confronted him for constantly being in my mothers home while she worked. I dont know if he suspected something or found him to be a freeloader having meals my grandmother made, but I thank my uncle every day for having the wherewithal to save me from a situation that could have escalated to something worse than molestation.

I thought these things often happened incestuously, but trusting anyone is a danger. My heart goes out to the little girl who will live with the scars of being abused by an older man, not to mention the guilt her mother will carry for exposing her to this predator. At least my mother and grandmother died not knowing the reality of my situation, which would have devastated them both  just because they were trusting. Lynda Perdomo-Ayala

Sleazy rider

Bronx: Recently, someone felt it was a good idea to bring a motorcycle on a subway train. I am confused as to how this person was able to get it into the subway and onto the train without being stopped. I was under the impression that motorcycles were prohibited there, especially since gasoline is used. The person was very rude and combative with passengers who complained about the bike taking up too much space and blocking the doors so that no one could enter or exit. While most of the other passengers were upset about the bike, no one thought to go to the conductor and let them know about the situation. This is a prime example of why there needs to be more transit personnel and police presence on the subways. Arlana Solomon Girven Walker

Speed traps recast

Brooklyn: How dare you endorse speed cameras (Speed cameras work, editorial, Aug. 30). Theyre nothing but the mechanized version of the classic speed traps. Theyre hidden, and if you go a bit over 35 miles per hour, you get a $50 fine. Also, fines are given in school zones way after schools are closed. Its Orwellian extortion. If they wanted people to slow down, there would be signs: Speed camera ahead, slow down. All they really are is another unfair tax on hapless drivers and another reason why people hate New York and move from this god-awful city that I will leave shortly. Perry Greenberg

Good Samaritans

Brooklyn: My wife and I would like to thank the good people who helped our son Steven when he fell on E. 70th St. near Avenue U just after 8 a.m. on Tuesday. They called a Hatzolah ambulance, which was excellent. One nice lady drove to our house and brought us to our son, then drove me home when my wife went with my son in the ambulance. Steven is back home now. Marlene and John Blank

Withheld pay

Staten Island: Re Pay EMTs & paramedics the $18M you owe them, appeals court tells city (Aug. 27): The 4,000-plus FDNY EMTs and paramedics should be forgiven if they dont hold their breath. The Aug. 25 decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals states that money is owed to them for preparing their ambulances with medical supplies and equipment at the change of shift. Some have been waiting for 10 years, while many have left the FDNY because of the citys shameful, parsimonious behavior. Former mayors, through the NYC Law Departments multitudinous attorneys, have repeatedly employed a baffling pattern of losing litigation against any and all attempts to get the FDNY EMS the just and equitable pay they have earned. Will Mayor Adams finally direct the department not to launch an expensive appeal of this latest court decision? Will he finally direct the NYC Office of Labor Relations to treat the FDNY EMS as the uniformed first responder service that it is, and to negotiate a fair and equitable labor contract with it? Helen Northmore

Terrible take

Pompton Plains, N.J.: Bravo to Voicer Michael Eddy for saying what everyone is thinking. After recently seeing Back to the Future, I think critic Chris Jones is way off base. The show was an amazing experience. The acting, singing and dancing were a beautiful thing to behold. The special effects were like a Disney ride. He states in his review that the audience was standing and applauding after the performance. What does that tell you, Mr. Jones? Your opinion means nothing to the sold-out audiences that have been there even through previews. Casey Likes is a star in the making, and make no mistake  this event is a smash hit. May it run long and continue to sell out. The remarks of a third-string critic will not deter the adoring audiences. I will be going again and again, as will many people who have seen it. Joe DiGeronimo

Risk assessment

Massapequa, L.I: As we approach another anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country, left-wing lunacy is at an all-time high. Thousands of innocent Americans lost their lives on 9/11, but as a country, did we learn anything? Unvetted migrants are walking across the border by the thousands on a daily basis. Why arent they being stopped? Why arent they being vetted? When will Americans learn their lesson? Is it going to take another terrorist attack before we secure our border and enforce the laws of the land? The policies of liberal politicians will cost more American lives. Michael Greaney

Fix the system

Parkland, Fla.: Allow me to preface this by stating that I am politically liberal and am pro-immigration, especially at our southern border. However, as of late, I have been disappointed by President Bidens policy (or lack thereof) regarding the influx of refugees at the above-mentioned border. Let them in, I say, but put in place some process by which they are accounted for and provided with work papers and a short-term place to live. This is not the late 1800s or early 1900s, when immigrants from Ireland and Italy were crowded into slums and provided no clear line to jobs and habitat. Biden must do more to fix the problem. He is doing nothing and will not get my vote until he does. John Squicciarini

Proper placement

Manhattan: Re Sane Republicans, stand up (editorial, Aug. 25): Its good to see the Daily News has finally put its toxic anti-Trump rhetoric on its editorial page where it belongs, and not masquerading as honest, objective journalism. Vincent Coluccio

Affront to the sensible

Staten Island: Voicer Gregory. J. Topliff cant be serious! What does Cadet Bone Spurs know about the 1,000-yard stare or anything remotely military except making fun of Gold Star families or disparaging a real war hero like John McCain? Trumps presidential salary  pocket change. He raked in obscene amounts of money overcharging the Secret Service for space at Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago while protecting him, from Ivankas lucrative Chinese licensing deals and Jared Kushners $2 billion from the Saudis. A family of grifters. Spare us New Yorkers your skewed Aiken, S.C., illogical logic. It would probably play better with your local paper. Most New Yorkers hate Kool-Aid! Ellen Settanni

Spittin image

Fairfield, Conn.: I finally figured out who Trump looks like in that mugshot. If you picture him with a cowboy hat, he looks like an old, constipated Don Imus. My apologies to Imus. May he rest in peace. Bob Bodo
Chris Pratt is looking to give back to the community in Hawaii, where he was discovered as a teenager by actress Rae Dawn Chong.

Three weeks after West Maui was left in shambles after a catastrophic wildfire, the Jurassic World Dominion star, 44, announced he teamed up with the clothing brand, TravisMathew, 'to do some good.'

'A lot of you might know this, maybe you don't, I was discovered in Maui. In Lahaina, specifically, slinging up shrimp at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company,' he reminded his 45 million Instagram followers.

Following the natural disaster, which has killed at least 106 people, the actor stated that Front Street, which is often referred to as 'the jewel in the crown of Maui,' has been 'destroyed.'

'Hundreds of people have lost their lives. Thousands more lost their homes. So, today, I'm partnering with TravisMathew for our second annual charity sales event,' he continued. 'Every single dollar is being donated to the Maui Strong Fund.'

Doing good: Chris Pratt is looking back to give back to the community in Hawaii, where he was discovered as a young teenager by actress Rae Dawn Chong

The sale runs all day on September 1, until 11:59 p.m. PST.

Pratt and TravisMathew revealed they have already raised $250,000.

Upon announcing the sale, TravisMathew shared a throwback photo of Pratt as a young teenager when he was still living in The Aloha State.

'Maui is the home to many, including the @travismathew family and a young @prattprattpratt,' the company captioned the image.

TravisMathew continued: 'When Chris was 19, he was working at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant in Maui while living out of a van. It was there that he waited on actress Rae Dawn Chong, who ended up casting him in his first movie that got him discovered.'

The brand noted that the community in the 'development of Chris' career' and 'one of the many reasons why' he teamed up with them and Hawaii Community Foundation to help provide support to the Maui Strong Fund.

Back in 2014, Pratt opened up about his time 'living in a van in Maui.'

At the time, he said he listened to the 1999 track, Forgot About Dre, and 'smoked weed every day.'

Three weeks after West Maui was left in shambles after a catastrophic wildfire, the Jurassic World Dominion star, 44, announced he has teamed up with the clothing brand, TravisMathew, 'to do some good'

'A lot of you might know this, maybe you don't, I was discovered in Maui. In Lahaina, specifically, slinging up shrimp at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company,' he reminded fans

'It's a pretty awesome place to be homeless,' he explained. 'It would be different if I lived on the streets of Chicago and ate garbage from a dumpster.'

At the time, he said he 'worked minimal hours, 15-20 hours per week, just enough to cover gas, food and fishing supplies.'

'You know, it was charming time,' he said of his days sleeping in his van or a tent on the beach.

After Chong discovered him at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in 2000, his life completely changed.

'Originally the dream was to pay my bills doing nothing other than acting,' he says. 'I got there, but the dream is constantly evolving. Then my dream was to do roles that are more than just the bad guy, or the douche,' he told The Independent.

Pratt continued: 'Then it was to do sidekick roles; then comedy. Now it's like I've crossed over this line where I actually say no to stuff. I could never have fathomed that. Before I would have done commercials for herpes medication if you wanted me to. Gladly, just as long as I didn't have to wait tables again.'

More than two decades in the spotlight: Chris scored his breakout role in short film Cursed Part 3 before going on to star in The O.C., Bride Wars, Jennifer's Body, Moneyball, The Five-Year Engagement, Zero Dark Thirty and the television series Parks And Recreation

Happy life: He tied the knot with his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger in 2019, and went on the welcome their daughter Lyla Maria in 2020 and their second child, Eloise Christina, just two years later

Big family: He was previously married to Anna Faris, who is the mother of his 10-year-old son Jack

More than two decades later, he returned to Maui to shoot his 2015 film, Jurassic World.

'It was so surreal - one of those weird full circle things that happen in life,' he said while appearing The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Previously, he shared a photo of himself standing next to his old white van, while holding the 'script for the movie that got' him 'out of Maui.'

Chris scored his breakout role in short film Cursed Part 3 before going on to star in The O.C., Bride Wars, Jennifer's Body, Moneyball, The Five-Year Engagement, Zero Dark Thirty, Her, Delivery Man, and the television series Parks And Recreation.

He tied the knot with his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger in 2019, and went on the welcome their daughter Lyla Maria in 2020 and their second child, Eloise Christina, just two years later.

He was previously married to Anna Faris, who is the mother of his 10-year-old son Jack.
Rylan Clark has updated fans after his 71-year-old mum Linda was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery during their holiday.

The presenter, 34, took to Instagram on Friday evening where he announced that his mum had made it out of surgery after suffering a serious fall.

Rylan assured fans that 'all went well' after earlier announcing that he would be pulling out of his scheduled Radio 2 show, with Scott Mills replacing him.

Sharing a picture of his mother's hands with a cannula in, he wrote: 'Mum is out of surgery. All went well.

'Asked me if she can still have a new driveway. She's deffo come round. Thanks for all your lovely messages x'

Tough: Rylan Clark has updated fans after his 71-year-old mum Linda was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery during their holiday

Thankful: The presenter, 34, took to Instagram on Friday evening where he announced that his mum had made it out of surgery after suffering a serious fall

Earlier in the day, the presenter took to Instagram to announce the worrying news that his mother had suffered a serious fall.

Rylan admitted he was praying for his mother and explained that he would be pulling out of his scheduled Radio 2 show.

After revealing his mother would need to go under the knife, he later told fans: 'Surgery has gone well. Will keep yas updated x'

Rylan filled fans in with his original post, which read: 'So unfortunately I took my mum away on her first holiday in a good few years and sadly she's had quite a bad fall, resulting in her having to have surgery out here.

'She's not in the best health with her other conditions and this has made it more complicated. My priority at the moment is my mum.

'Cheers scott for covering me at radio 2 and Thanks to the people out here that have sent their well wishes.

'Praying for a successful surgery and a quick recovery. Will update you on mummy. Linda as and when I can x'

X Factor star Rylan's celebrity pals quickly flooded the comments section of his Instagram post with well-wishes.

Oh no! Rylan Clark, 34, has revealed that his 71-year-old mum Linda has been rushed to hospital for emergency surgery during their holiday

Worrying: The presenter took to Instagram on Friday morning where he announced the news to his followers

By her side: Rylan admitted he was praying for his mother and explained that he would be pulling out of his scheduled Radio 2 show, with Scott Mills replacing him

Kate Garraway wrote: 'Sorry to hear Rylan,' while Jordan North added: 'Oh mate, hope she's doing ok. Big love,' and Catherine Tyldesley penned: 'Sending love, light and healing darlings.'

Vanessa Feltz commented: 'O my goodness I am sorry to hear it! Praying for a speedy recovery, while Ruth Langsford wrote on behalf of herself and husband Eamonn Holmes: 'Oh no.darling Linda. Sending you both all our love.'

Linda has battled with Crohn's since her 30s, a condition that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive system.

She often has to undergo multiple operations to remove damaged parts of her bowel and takes numerous medicines each day for her condition.

Rylan's mum also contracted sepsis in 2018, which almost killed her.

Back in 2027, Linda endured a six-week stay in hospital, after a procedure related to her Crohn's disease went wrong.

Rylan previously opened up to the Daily Mail about his mum's battle with the illness, which has affected many aspects of her life.

He explained: 'My mum lost her job because of the disease - it totally dictates her life. When she was diagnosed it really hit her hard because it wasn't picked up early enough.

'The earlier you pick it up the easier it is to control. I grew up with the disease as well because she was ill - it is life-threatening. It's scary.

Support: Rylan issued his followers with an update after his celebrity pals flooded the comments section of his Instagram post with well-wishes

Special bond: Linda has become hugely popular since her first stint alongside her famous son on Celebrity Gogglebox in 2021

'It could be difficult when I was young because sometimes she couldn't come on school trips and other times she was so embarrassed about her symptoms that I couldn't have my mates to stay over.'

Crohn's disease is a chronic condition, which affects around one in 1,200 people in the UK, causing inflammation of the lining of the digestive system, although it is most commons in the intestines.

It causes symptoms including diarrhoea, intense abdominal pain, weight loss and fatigue.

Linda has become hugely popular since her first stint alongside him on Celebrity Gogglebox in 2021, however Rylan previously admitted she has no idea of her level of fame.

He write in a Sunday Times Magazine article: 'She's not dealing with her fame, she doesn't really know. She's not on social media and I'm never gonna let her be.'

Rylan added: 'My mum, Linda, is my biggest f****** headache, but I don't know what I'd do without her.

'She's got the best of both worlds with me  I'm a son and a daughter. I can talk to her about make-up and blow-dry her hair, and I can tell her to f*** off. She's a liability.

'She's the ultimate cross between the nan from Catherine Tate and Pam from Gavin & Stacey.'
Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor have been together for the better part of a decade and it seems to only be getting better.

Sarah, 48, who is returning to Broadway after a 13 year absence gushed about her 'incredibly sexy' partner of eight years on the Dear Chelsea podcast Thursday with comedian Chelsea Handler.

'I think shes the smartest, wisest, funniest, most extraordinary person Ive ever met,' the Emmy winner gushed.

'So I cant imagine not being with her,' she said of Holland, 80. 'I just cant.'

'I just feel very, very lucky to be around someone so incredibly witty and funny and smart and, I think, incredibly sexy.'

Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor have been together for the better part of a decade and it seems to only be getting better. 'I think shes the smartest, wisest, funniest, most extraordinary person Ive ever met,' she told Chelsea Handler on the Dear Chelsea podcast Thursday (Pictured in Paris in March)

'I find her to be the most beautiful woman,' Sarah said of The Morning Show actress.

'I tell her all the time, like, shes the most beautiful woman Ive ever seen and she always will be.'

The Ratched star said her partner provides the kind of support she needs.

'She sort of pulls me out of my tendency to be anxious or sort of hysterical in doubting my own abilities. And shes sort of constantly reminding me of how capable I am.'

But from what the American Crime Story star said, Holland could use a taste of her own medicine.

'Shes constantly saying to me, "Why are you with me? Why are you doing this? What are you doing? Youre a very strange person,"' she revealed.

'She says all the time, "Youre very strange for doing this." And Im like, "really? Is it? I dont know."'

The couple first met in 2005, but didn't begin dating until 10 years later.

Sarah, 48, and Holland, 80, have been together since 2015. 'I find her to be the most beautiful woman,' Sarah said of The Morning Show actress. 'I tell her all the time, like, shes the most beautiful woman Ive ever seen and she always will be' (Pictured in New York in December 2021)

Sarah explained her partner 'sort of pulls me out of my tendency to be anxious or sort of hysterical in doubting my own abilities. And shes sort of constantly reminding me of how capable I am' (Pictured in Los Angeles in February 2019)

The pair reconnected over social media, and the rest, as they say, is history.

In an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in January 2019, the Mrs. American actress admitted Holland sneaked into her DMs after they began to follow each other on Twitter.

Sarah said her mom has told a story about visiting a psychic who told her 'your eldest daughter is going to live a wildly unconventional life.'

Sarah will soon begin rehearsals for Appropriate.

The drama about a family gathering after the death of their father is set to begin previews November 28 and will open December 18 at New York's Second Stage Theatre.
One of hip-hops biggest hitmakers was mistakenly identified as a dognapper by police officials in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

After a floppy-eared, short-legged pooch was stolen from the Brookside Pups pet store in Pine Mall on Thursday, the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department put out a bulletin for the public to help catch the thief. On social media, the authorities shared a photo of the missing puppy, alongside a photo of the suspect: Lil Uzi Vert.

Stolen ruby-colored Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, from Brookside Pups on Kidder St last seen going on the turnpike believed to be heading to Philadelphia, the post read. The license plate for the vehicle does not belong on the vehicle and is believed to be stolen. Any sightings of this vehicle, dog or individual is asked to call 911.

Later in the afternoon, the cops realized their error by mistaking the 28-year-old Philadelphia native as the actual suspect, a Black man who also has face tattoos.

The original photo of the male provided by the establishment was not the correct male, the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department wrote on its Facebook page. This current photo is the actor in question. We apologize for the error and any confusion.

Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department posted an update to this Facebook post that originally included an image of Lil Uzi Vert.

According to TMZ, Brookside Pups explained that the man who allegedly snatched the pooch Thursday afternoon uses Lil Uzi Verts face as his profile image on a social media account, which they shared with police.

In a strongly worded reprimand, Lil Uzis management firm, Roc Nation, said he was not in the area at the time of the incident: The Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department should be embarrassed and ashamed for disparaging [Uzis] character. This grave error couldve had significant repercussions on Uzis career and epitomizes how Black men can be wrongfully charged and arrested by police departments across the country.

The Jay-Z co-founded company added: Uzi loves all animals and this serious mistake has deterred the apprehension of the kidnapper. Our collective hope is that the puppy is safely and promptly rescued.
GST collections grew by 11 per cent to over Rs 1.59 lakh crore in August on the back of improved compliance and reduced evasion.

The gross GST revenue collected in August 2023 is Rs 1,59,069 crore of which Central GST is Rs 28,328 crore, State GST is Rs 35,794 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 83,251 crore (including Rs 43,550 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 11,695 crore (including Rs 1,016 crore collected on import of goods).

The revenues for the month of August 2023 are 11 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, revenue from import of goods was 3 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 14 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection was over Rs 1.43 lakh crore in August 2022.

Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said GST collections have grown more than nominal GDP growth rate in the April-June quarter despite no increase in tax rates.

This is because of better compliance and improved tax collection efficiency, Malhotra said, adding tax evasion and avoidance too have been low.

KPMG Partner and National Head Indirect Taxes Abhishek Jain said with the approaching festive season GST collections are expected to be better in the coming months.
The talk of a European single market and a single currency had set the pigeons among British hearts

The September 1988 Bruges speech of Margaret Thatcher marked a watershed in Anglo-European history when she warned against the threat of a European super-state dominance from Brussels over the United Kingdom.

Dan Hannan, a passionate history student at Oxford, emerged as the young stormtrooper of the movement. The opposite camp was led by the Eurocentric Maastricht Treaty followers. By September 1992 on Black Wednesday the European Exchange Rate Mechanism collapsed. Yet in July 1993, the Maastricht Treaty received Royal assent. Pretty soon an anti-Maastricht band of MPs formed the European Research Group (ERG) with Hannan as its first secretary and employee. By 1997 Rishi Sunak, about to go up to Oxford as an undergraduate, was getting worried at the thought that Tony Blair had plans for the possible breakup of the United Kingdom and the rise of a European super state. As if to calm the nerves, along came Dominic Cummings to fight off Blairs plans to join the euro. Hannan and Cummings became the double engine of the anti-European group!

Hannan also became the first full-time secretary of the anti-Maastricht European Research Group (ERG) one of whose star members was to be young Jacob Rees-Mogg. The Bruges Speech bombshell against any super-state dominance from Europe scotched all talk of any single market or closer political integration with Europe. A Eurosceptic ecosystem was in the ascendant. Margaret Thatcher resigned and the first thing she did in January 1991 was to become president of the Bruges Group.

The Conservatives ousted Thatcher when she offered MPs a second referendum and joined a temporary customs union with the EU. She pulled her Withdrawal Agreement Bill after apparently accepting her failure. A dramatic end for the Iron Lady and the arch Brexiteer. She died in April 2013 after suffering a stroke.

The Oxford Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIB) could well be described as the genesis of Brexit itself which along with the  Bruges Group became the flag bearer of an independent Britannia. The CIB quickly became mainstream. In November 1991, Edward Heath, who happened to join the debate in Oxford, was hissed repeatedly on points of information. The anti-European motion was carried by 108 votes. The Brexit victory had come full circle and unstoppable.

Brexit's long-term impact on the UK is a complex and evolving matter that can't be easily summarized as purely positive or negative. Different people and groups in the UK hold various opinions about whether Brexit was a beneficial move or a regrettable decision. One of the major concerns around Brexit was its potential impact on the UK's economy. Proponents argued that Brexit would allow the UK to have more control over trade and regulations, potentially leading to new trade deals and economic growth. Critics, on the other hand, raised concerns about disruptions to trade with the EU, potential job losses, and economic uncertainty.

And after 30 months critics seem to have got it right. Besides, Brexit exposed divisions within UK society and politics, with different regions and demographics having varying opinions on the issue. It also raised questions about the future of Scotland's place in the UK, as Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU. The possibility of another Scottish independence referendum has been discussed as a potential consequence of Brexit.

It's important to note that public opinion on Brexit is diverse. Some may see positive outcomes in terms of regained sovereignty and new trade opportunities, while others may view negative economic impacts and geopolitical challenges.

(The writer is a senior journalist based in the UK. The views expressed are personal)
India and Sri Lanka will review the entire gamut of their bilateral defence ties and explore ways to further strengthen them during Defence Minister Rajnath Singhs visit to the island nation that was earlier scheduled to begin on Saturday. However, his visit has been put off for a later date due to some exigencies.

Raksha mantri looks forward to visiting the island nation at the earliest possible time frame, said the Ministry.

Giving details of his schedule, Defence Ministry officials said here on Friday the visit will be an important landmark in building the strong bonds of friendship between the two countries. Moreover, it will reiterate India's continued commitment in furthering the existing warm and friendly relations with Sri Lanka, they added.

Rajnath will hold talks with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, the defence ministry said. Wickremesinghe also holds the charge of Sri Lanka's defence ministry.

During the visit, Rajnath Singh will hold talks with President and Defence Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena," the ministry said in a statement. It said the entire gamut of India's defence ties between the two countries will be reviewed during the meetings.

Rajnath will also visit Nuwara Elia in Central Sri Lanka and Trincomalee which is located in the eastern part of the country. "This visit of Rajnath Singh will reiterate India's continued commitment in furthering the existing warm and friendly relations with Sri Lanka," the ministry said.

Rajnath will also host the Sri Lankan President and other prominent dignitaries on board INS Delhi, Indian Navys first indigenously designed and built guided missile destroyer. It arrived in Colombo on Friday. The ship is on a two-day visit that coincides with Rajnaths visit to the island nation, Navy officials said here.

As part of India's 'Arogya Maitri' initiative to provide quality medical supplies to friendly countries, Rajnath will hand over state-of-the-art medical bricks that have been indigenously developed under project BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri), onboard INS Delhi.

The ships visit aims to strengthen navy-to-navy ties and bolster the Bridges of Friendship with Indias trusted neighbour. The crew of INS Delhi would be closely interacting with personnel from Sri Lanka Navy, both through professional engagements to enhance interoperability, and by creating environmental and health awareness through beach clean-up drive and a yoga session.

The ship would also remain open to school children and other local visitors. The Indian contingent would also lay a wreath and pay homage to the martyrs at the IPKF memorial.

INS Delhi was commissioned in November 1997 and is presently commanded by Captain Abhishek Kumar. The ship has recently undergone a mid-life upgrade and is equipped with the latest weapons and sensors, making it a formidable platform that is capable of undertaking all facets of maritime operations - on surface, air and underwater domains.

India has been expanding its overall strategic ties with Sri Lanka amid concerns over China's attempts to increase influence over the island nation.

The docking of the Chinese missile and satellite tracking ship 'Yuan Wang ' at Hambantota port in August last year had triggered a diplomatic row between India and Sri Lanka. Another Chinese warship docked at the Colombo port last month.

In August last year, India handed over a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft to Sri Lanka.

The aircraft was given to Sri Lanka from the inventory of the Indian Navy to help the country meet its immediate security requirement.

India has been supporting various capacity building measures of Sri Lankan defence forces including providing indigenously constructed Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs).

Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe visited India in July during which both sides vowed to further boost their defence and strategic ties.

It was the first visit to India by a Sri Lankan leader since the island nation reeled under a severe economic crisis last year.

India extended financial assistance worth around USD 4 billion to Sri Lanka, including lines of credit, for purchases of food and fuel last year when it was hit by the economic crisis.

New Delhi also provided guarantees to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help the country secure a USD 2.9 billion bailout package.
A day after announcing a Special Parliament Session later this month, the Centre on Friday constituted a committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind to explore the feasibility of One Nation, One Election.

Sources said Kovind will explore the feasibility of the exercise and the mechanism to see as to how the country can go back to having simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, as was the case till 1967.

With speculation of possibility of general elections 2024 to be advanced so that they could be held with State Assembly polls, Opposition parties slammed the Governments move to set up the committee to study the feasibility of one nation, one election, alleging it would pose a threat to the federal structure of the country.

Kovind is expected to speak to experts and may also consult leaders of different political parties. The Governments decision comes a day after it decided to call a Special Session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said there are important items on the agenda of the Special Session of Parliament and it will be circulated very shortly. He declined to comment on the items on the agenda and said its in the final stage of preparation.

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong votary for the idea of simultaneous polls, which include those at local bodies, citing financial burden caused by almost continuous election cycle and jolt to development work during the polling period.

Kovind too had echoed Modis view and expressed his support to the idea after becoming President in 2017. Addressing Parliament, the former President had said in 2018, Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct.

Like Modi, he had called for a sustained debate and expressed hope that all political parties arrive at a consensus on this issue.

With the Modi Government approaching end of its second term, there is a view in its top echelon that it can no longer let the issue drag on and needs to move decisively to underscore its purposefulness after debating on the topic for years.

With the ruling BJP under Modi always animated by grander themes and big-ticket ideas to rally popular support, the issue will also suit the party politically and catch the Opposition off guard, leaders in the party believe.

Assembly polls are due in five States  Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Rajasthan  in November-December and they are scheduled to be followed by the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year.

However, the recent moves by the Government have thrown open the possibility of advancing the general elections and some State polls, which are scheduled after and with the Lok Sabha contest. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh Assemblies are scheduled to go to the polls with the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP enjoys good relations with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik even though they are not formally part of its alliance. The BJP is in power in Arunachal while Sikkim is ruled by an ally.

Maharashtra and Haryana, two States where the BJP is in power with allies, and JMM-Congress-ruled Jharkhand are slated to go for polls after the Lok Sabha contest.

Opposition leaders alleged the ongoing meeting of the INDIA alliance in Mumbai has in fact rattled the ruling BJP which caused the Government to set up a committee under Kovind to explore the possibility of holding polls for the Lok Sabha and Assemblies simultaneously.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called the Governments move a diversion and distraction. No matter how many diversions and distractions the ruling regime throws at the people, the citizens of India shall not be betrayed anymore, Kharge said without making any direct reference to the formation of the committee.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said the country is already one and no one is questioning that. We demand fair elections, not one nation one election. This move of one nation, one election is being brought to divert attention from our demand for fair elections, he added.

While CPI leader D Raja said Modi always talks about India being the mother of democracy but the Government has taken a unilateral decision without discussing with other political parties, AAP national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said the move betrays the panic in the ruling party after they saw the unity of Opposition parties under the INDIA bloc.
A multi-agency security operation is being implemented to secure the G20 summit venue and protect the visiting dignitaries in the National Capital during the mega event on September 9-10, ensuring there are no infiltrations, acts of terror, or sabotage.

Nearly 1,30,000 security personnel are deployed for the high-profile mega event.

While the Delhi Police is heading the massive security umbrella, the security paraphernalia will include components of the paramilitary forces or the Central Armed Police Forces and the commandos of the elite anti-terror contingency force National Security Guard (NSG). As many as 1,30,000 security personnel, including the 80,000-strong Delhi Police, will be deployed during the G 20 summit.

Addressing a Press conference here on Friday, Special Commissioner of Police (Security) Madhup Tiwari said a Special Commissioner of police-rank officer will be commanding the security at the big venues.

Tiwari said the Delhi Police is being assisted by some Central Armed Police Forces and the NSG in the arrangements.

The Delhi Police has devised an extensive security plan covering various aspects, including airport security, venue security, accommodations, and motorcade management. The security planning aims to minimise disruption to normal law and order and inconvenience to the public, he said.

Tiwari, however, asserted that these measures have been taken keeping in mind that common people face minimum inconvenience.

At the hotels, a DCP-rank officer will serve as camp commander. The rest of Delhi will be on high alert, he added.

Tiwari said more than half of the Delhi Police force will be involved in providing security for the summit. He asserted that arrangements have been made to ensure that the common people are not inconvenienced.

Specialised measures involve the assistance of the Indian Armed Forces, and we are confident that we will provide foolproof security. More than half of the Delhi Police force will be deployed in civilian attire for this event, said the official.

Noting that the existing manpower of the Delhi Police would not have been sufficient for this, Tiwari said the force is being aided by the NSG for anti-terror measures and some Central Armed Police Forces, who have assisted by providing vehicles and equipment.

For specialised measures, we also have the Indian Armed forces assisting us. The staff has been provided role-based micro-functional training and made aware of their duties. This has been done through carcade rehearsals, point-wise briefing. The rest of Delhi will be on high alert, he said.

More than half of the Delhi Police will be deployed for the mega event, Tiwari added.

Asked if there will be any special uniform for those deployed for the summit, he said, In order to ensure that there is a uniform look of all the jawans deployed for the summit, there will be a special civilian dress designed for them. We will also be having jawans from districts and police stations. He, however, ruled out any specific input of threat.

Apart from snipers placed atop key buildings in the Lutyens zone, the Delhi police will mount drone surveillance over the national Capital to thwart any aerial threats. In addition, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will also be kept on standby to mitigate any contingencies during the mega event to be attended by nearly 30 heads of states and multi-lateral fora.

A multi-tiered security cover entailing dog squads, quick reaction teams and special weapons and tactics contingents deployed during the event will provide foolproof security.

In a bid to safeguard the Delhi airspace and provide a secure environment for high-level gathering, the Indian Air Force would be keeping its airborne warning systems, fighter jets including the Rafale on high alert along with stationing the new air defence missile systems at vital locations to protect the Delhi air space to provide protection to the high-level meeting.

Sources said the counter-drone systems along with air defence missiles are also being stationed in the national Capital to protect against any possible air threat in the national Capital to protect against any possible air threat in coordination with all security agencies by the Indian Air Force, sources said.

The northern regions of the nation will remain under vigilant surveillance through the utilisation of Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), often referred to as the eyes in the sky. These airborne systems will ensure continuous monitoring of the area to detect any untoward movements or activities.

Various agencies will work with backroom support from the Intelligence Bureau. Other security measures include taking off the public transport buses and private vehicles in the bungalows zone area and its vicinity where the venue at the Pragati Maidan is located. The gathering of the heads of state and other dignitaries will be held on September 9 and 10 at the newly-built Bharat Mandapam at Pragati Maidan.

Many world leaders travel with their own bodyguards and vehicles. India has requested countries to be rational about the number of cars and personnel that they bring, but has not put any restrictions, sources said. The Government has also leased 20 bullet-proof limousines at a cost of USD 2.18 million for ferrying leaders.

The two-day summit, starting September 9, will have the most high-profile guest list India has ever welcomed, from US President Joe Biden to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Saudi Arabias Mohammed Bin Salman.

Leaders from Japan, Australia, France and Germany are also among those expected to attend, although Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is facing criticism from the West for the war in Ukraine, has said he will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
A day after the Punjab Government placed under suspension the services of two senior IAS officers over the controversial decision to dissolve 13,000 panchayats prematurely, the file noting emerged on Friday that unequivocally indicate direct involvement of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar in the decision-making process.

The file notings, which have come to light on Friday morning and went viral in social media, exposed a trail of signatures that point directly to the involvement of the states top leadership in taking the decision. The file was initiated on August 3 by the Departments superintendent, and on the same day, Rural Development and Panchayats director Gurpreet Singh Khaira signed off on it. The following day, on August 4, Principal Secretary DK Tiwari also endorsed the decision.

However, the most crucial endorsements came on August 7, when both the Minister Bhullar and the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann signed and gave their approval for the dissolution of the panchayats.

The development assumed significance as the Minister Bhullar, a day before, had claimed that the Chief Minister ordered strict action against the Panchayat Departments officers as soon as the matter  to dissolve panchayats  came to his notice.

The State Government, hours after submitting in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday that it will withdraw August 10 notification of dissolving all the panchayats within two days, suspended two IAS officers  1994-batch DK Tiwari and 2009-batch Gurpreet Singh Khaira  for taking a technically flawed decision regarding the dissolution of panchayats.

The suspension orders were issued by Chief Secretary Anurag Verma under provisions of Rule 3 (1) of the All India Services (Disciplined Appeal) Rules, 1969. Bhullar, however, did not say why it took three weeks to act against the two officers and why the suspension order was issued only after the government took a U-turn in the High Court.

The revelation has sent shockwaves across the political spectrum in Punjab, as it unravels a narrative that appears to show that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Governments top officials were directly responsible for the controversial move to dissolve the panchayats. The government had, a day before, suspended two IAS officers  DK Tiwari and Gurpreet Singh Khaira  citing a technically flawed decision regarding the dissolution.

Opposition parties, sensing an opportunity to corner the government, swiftly targeted the Chief Minister Mann for his alleged role in approving the decision to dissolve the panchayats prematurely. The opposition leaders accused the Chief Minister of orchestrating a cover-up by making the bureaucracy a scapegoat while shielding the real culprits.

Senior leaders from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress have demanded the resignation of both the Chief Minister and the Rural Development Minister, accusing them of undermining democracy and manipulating the system.

The leaked file notings have amplified the embarrassment for the AAP-led Punjab Government, as it now faces questions about its transparency and accountability. The decision to reverse the orders on panchayat dissolution has further intensified scrutiny, as the Government will now have to respond to allegations that senior IAS officers were unfairly suspended while the real decision-makers escaped accountability.

At the time of the leak, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was reportedly away in Mumbai, participating in a meeting of the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A. His absence amid this brewing political storm only adds to the intrigue.

The political fallout from this scandal is expected to escalate, as the Opposition demands answers and accountability from the government. The Oppositions allegations of manipulation of the democratic process and an abuse of power will undoubtedly remain at the forefront of this contentious issue.

AAP, Govt Defends

As the political storm intensifies over the leaked file notings, the ruling AAP is mounting a staunch defense of its leadership. Partys chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang downplayed the significance of the file notings, asserting that they do not carry substantial weight.

He argued that different organs of the government work collectively to make decisions, and sometimes, errors or omissions occur. He pointed out that the Panchayats Department had initiated the proposal, and any flaws in the decision-making process were not intentional. Kang emphasized that the government swiftly corrected its course by reviewing and ultimately withdrawing the orders.

A spokesperson in the Chief Minister's Office maintained that both the Chief Minister and the Panchayat Minister had merely approved what the officers had presented in the file. The officers did not inform the Chief Minister and Minister about any procedural irregularities in the declaration of elections and the dissolution of panchayats, argued the spokesperson, adding that the embarrassment faced by the government in the Court stemmed from the actions of the officers, and not the elected officials.

Bureaucracy Disturbed

The unfolding controversy has also had a ripple effect within the state bureaucracy, with many officers reportedly claiming that the two suspended IAS officers were simply following instructions from their political superiors. The development has caused unease among the state bureaucracy, with many officers expressing anxiety, though in murmurs. Opposition leaders and bureaucrats alike have emphasized that the real culprits behind the decision should be held accountable.

Opposition Targets AAP Govt; Demands CM, Ministers Resignation

The political battleground in Punjab is heating up as the controversy surrounding the dissolution of 13,000 panchayats deepens, with the Opposition parties accusing the AAP government of attempting to scapegoat senior IAS officers in the matter.

The Opposition parties have launched an aggressive attack on the AAP-led government following the leak of a signed copy of the letter that revealed the involvement of the Chief Minister and Panchayat Minister in the decision to dissolve the panchayats, raising questions about why only the officers are being held responsible while the Minister in charge of the department is spared.

Opposition leaders have been vocal in demanding accountability and resignations from the Chief Minister and the Minister in-charge.

Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa labeled the move shameful while calling on the Chief Minister to take moral responsibility and resign. It is shameful that @BhagwantMann who signed off on the decision to dissolve the Panchayats has tried to scapegoat two bureaucrats to protect himself and his Minister. If CM had any morals, it is he who should own moral responsibility & resign forthright! he tweeted, along with a copy of the file noting.

Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira denounced the Government for making IAS officers scapegoats and urged the bureaucracy not to become part of what he described as unconstitutional actions. Also sharing the copy of the letter, Khaira tweeted, What a shame for @BhagwantMann & @BhullarLaljit Panchayats Minister to approve dissolution of Panchayats according to official noting doing the rounds on social media and then make IAS officers scapegoats for their foolish actions. I urge the bureaucracy of Punjab not to become part of their unconstitutional designs bcoz they dont have the courage to defend you and ultimately youll have to face the music later-Khaira @INCIndia @INCPunjab.

Demanding the resignation of both the Chief Minister and the Minister, SAD leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said that the decision was taken by the Chief Minister and the Rural Development Minister, but the officials were made scapegoats.

The government was in such a hurry to dissolve the panchayats that it was getting the files signed manuallyI have also been a minister, no file is cleared so soon, he said.

He tweeted, The cat is out of the bag. CM @BhagwantMann & Panchayati Raj minister @Laljitbhullar are responsible for signing & implementing the decision to dissolve panchayats six months before their term in Punjab. The file on this issue was moved by hand with the Director, Panchyati Raj & Financial Commissioner, Development forced to sign the files within two days following which both the Panchayati Raj minister & the CM signed the file on the same day. It is clear the @AAPPunjab govt is trying to make scapegoats of senior IAS officers by suspending them. The real culprits are the Panchyati Raj minister & the CM who backtracked once the Punjab & Haryana high court made it clear it was going to scrap this decision. Considering all facts, it is clear @LaljitBhullar & @BhagwantMann are responsible for killing democracy through this dictatorial decision aimed at usurping Panchayat funds. AAP Convener @ArvindKejriwal shud dismiss them immediately.

Mincing no words, Majithia said that the Chief Minister was behaving like modern day Hitler and Saddam Hussain in Punjab to kill democracy in the state. He himself dismissed democratically elected 13,000 Sarpanches and 70,000 Panches who were representatives of different sections of society including ladies, Scheduled Castes, Backwards classes besides others. Not AAP government dismissed them but also labelled them as thieves in Punjab and Haryana High Court defending its decision to dissolve Panchayats, he added.

Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, castigating the State Government for taking the unfathomable decision of dissolving panchayats, demanded that the Chief Minister must admit this grave mistake and apologize to the people of Punjab for this democratic and anti-institutions step.

This decision could not have never been arrived at by the bureaucracy who are now being blamed to shift the blame," Jakhar said, adding that it is crystal clear that nobody below the Chief Minister could have approved it.

Oh yes, the decision might have come to the Punjab IAS officers now suspended from the Super Chief Minister from Delhi, he quipped, while asking the Chief Minister whether the decision was not discussed in the Cabinet Meeting, or was he (Chief Minister) not in know of the decision or was the decision taken solely by the bureaucracy.

Another senior BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa also asked when would the Chief Minister @BhagwantMann and Minister @Laljitbhullar resign on Panchayat dissolution matter as the notification carries their signs as well?

Punjab officials should learn a lesson from this and not fall prey to @AAPPunjabs unconstitutional actions, he added.
As per the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Secretary to CM (5T) VK Pandian visited Jajpur district on the third day on Friday to review the progress of various developmental works in the district and for redressal of public grievances.

Pandian visited the Maa Biraja Temple in Jajpur and reviewed the progress of the ongoing project to develop the temple and provide better facilities for the devotees.

Later on, he visited Mission Shakti cafe nearby and appreciated their initiative. He also visited the Mission Shakti district federation office.

Pandian also visited the ongoing medical college project site at Jajpur. The project is progressing as per schedule and would be operationalised in the next academic year.

The 5T Secretary reviewed the progress of ongoing mega piped water supply projects at a cost of Rs 637 crore in Bari, Korei, Sukinda and Danagadi blocks.

During the day, he participated in public grievance meetings in Korei, Bari and Sukinda and assured early resolution of the petitions submitted.

Pandian also reviewed the progress of other major ongoing projects in the district such as the trauma care centre at a cost of Rs 101 crore at Panikoili, high-level bridge over Tantighai river on Chhatumari Bandhamunda road at a cost of Rs 53 crore and development of green belt in Sukinda and Danagadi Mining area at a cost of Rs 54 crore. He instructed for early completion of these projects adhering to the principles of 5T.

He also reviewed the construction of flood resilience road of Baruan-Bari-Kalamatia under the SDMF at a cost of Rs 124 crore, improvement of road from Prathamakhandi Sadamba to Aruala at a cost of Rs 51 crore and also other major road projects.
Animesh Jain, Head of the Project, Chatti Bariatu Coal Mining Project has assumed the position of Chief General Manager(I/c), NTPC Coal Mining Headquarters, Ranchi w.e.f 1st September,2023. He will be heading the Coal Mining division of NTPC and shall look after all the Coal Mining Projects located in the States of Jharkhand, Odisha & Chhattisgarh and Coal Mining HQ at Ranchi. Prior to his present posting Jain served as Head of Project at Chatti Bariatu Coal Mining.



In his illustrious career spanning over 32 years of experience Jain has an outstanding contribution in areas of information & Technology, CMD & Director (Technical) Secretariat, ERP, Corporate Planning, Coal Mining etc. He has also worked extensively in the area of business development both in India and abroad, merger and acquisition, risk management, strategic management, corporate affairs.

Jain also served as Managing Director of Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Ltd (BIFPCL) in 2020-21 and continues to be a board member till date. Prior to assuming the role of Managing Director at BIFPCL, he was responsible for establishing operations of NTPC Limited in Myanmar. Apart from being Country Head for NTPC Limited in Myanmar, he contributed to the power sector initiatives for BIMSTEC region as a member in inter-governmental committees. He also served as CEO, NESCL, and has been a Director on the Board of Trincomalee Power Company Limited (a JV of Ceylon Electricity Board and NTPC Limited) and TELK for over two years.



In his responsibility as Executive Director of World Energy Council India, from 2021 to 2023 he has developed a holistic view of the power sector including the energy transition underway both in India and globally.



A firm believer in empowerment of his team, Shri Jain strives for excellence. His mantra for success is Meticulous Planning and Flawless Execution. A veteran in the power Generation & Col Mining sector, Shri Animesh Jain brings with him rich experience along with dynamic leadership qualities.



On the academic front, Jain is a qualified Mechanical Engineer from National Institute of Technology(NIT) in India and holds a Masters Degree in Information Systems and Engineering Management from George Washington University, USA. He has completed a mini-MBA from Management Center Europe, Belgium and has attended global leadership programs at University of Maryland, USA, Indian Institute of Management(IIM), Kolkata and Indian Institute of Management(IIM), Ahmedabad.



On a personal front, he enjoys travelling and has visited over 25 countries in four continents for professional purposes & training.
Meg Ryans kids would rather not have what shes having  in the form of the iconic fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally

The Youve Got Mail star, 61, opened up about how the scene has mortified her son, Jack Quaid  whom she shares with ex Dennis  and daughter Daisy.

Its funny, my son just called me this morning and hes in New York staying at a hotel thats right across the street from Katzs Deli. My daughter was here and everybody was on speaker, and they were like, Mom, this is a very unique embarrassment,' Ryan said in a conversation with Carol Burnett for Interview Magazine.

Meg Ryan attends the 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival opening night gala When Harry Met Sally at TCL Chinese Theatre on Thursday, April 11, 2019, in Los Angeles.

He said, You know you can go into that deli and theres an arrow pointing down to the table where you shot that scene.  I wonder if its the right one.

Rob Reiners 1989 rom-com starred Billy Crystal and Ryan as the titular characters who, over the course of a decade, become best friends and then fall in love.

Perhaps the most iconic scene of the film, which earned screenwriter Nora Ephron an Oscar nomination, sees Sally demonstrating a fake orgasm to Harry in the deli. The scene ends with an older woman (played by Reiners real-life mother) saying, Ill have what shes having.

This image released by the Library of Congress shows Meg Ryan, left, and Billy Crystal in a scene from When Harry Met Sally.

The film marked Ryans first of four collaborations with Ephron, which also included Sleepless in Seattle, Youve Got Mail and Hanging Up.

Ephron co-wrote the latter three, and directed Sleepless and Youve Got Mail, both of which also starred Tom Hanks.
Hry CM to interact with beneficiaries of Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana today



Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will interact directly with beneficiaries of the Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana through audio conferencing on September 2. This initiative is part of the ongoing "CM ki Vishesh Charcha" series, a platform designed to bridge the gap between the government and its citizens and ensure the effective implementation of public welfare schemes. Scheduled for September 2 from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, the audio conferencing event will connect the Chief Minister with beneficiaries from across Haryana. During this session, Khattar will engage with beneficiaries to gain valuable insights into their experiences and any challenges they may face while availing the benefits of the Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana.



Hry Dy CM launches Mera Bill-Mera Adhikar scheme in Gurugram



Chandigarh: Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala informed that along with Haryana, Mera Bill Mera Adhikar Scheme started for the state of Assam, Gujarat and Union Territory (UT) of Daman Diu, Dadar Nagar Haveli and Puducherry from Friday. Chautala launched this scheme from Sector 15 Part II Market of Gurugram. Chautala said that this scheme has been launched to encourage tax payment. By being a part of this scheme, you will pay tax to the government, and then the government will also reward you as an incentive. Deputy CM informed that under this scheme, the consumer will have to upload the receipt of the purchase of the goods on the portal. He added that consumers will also get rewards through the corpus fund of Rs. 30 crores, through a draw system. He said that this scheme will play an important role for GST collection as more and more people will be motivated to collect GST bills.



UT Administrator releases silver jubilee celebrations souvenir and documentary film of GRIID



Chandigarh: The month-long silver jubilee celebrations of Government Rehabilitation Institute for Intellectual Disabilities (GRIID), Sector 31 C, Chandigarh, concluded on Friday with a grand function in its premises. Banwarilal Purohit, Governor Punjab and Administrator UT Chandigarh was the Chief Guest on the occasion. On the occasion, the Administrator released the silver jubilee celebrations souvenir and documentary film of GRIID. Purohit also felicitated the Group performance winners of GRIID who had won first prize in yoga competition, Bhavan Vidyalaya in dance competition, and Post Graduate Govt College sector 11 in inter-college cultural (group dance) competition.



Training programs for doctors and staff to start at Atal Cancer Care Centre in Ambala



Chandigarh: Haryana Health and Family Welfare Minister Anil Vij said that training programs for doctors and staff will also be started at the Atal Cancer Care Centre established in Ambala Cantonment Civil Hospital premises, so that their experience can be further enhanced. Apart from this, awareness programs for the public by the staff, vaccination programs and other programs for the prevention of Uterus cancer of women under the pilot project will also be organized.



38 people pledge for Organ Donation



Chandigarh: With 38 people pledging for Organ Donation and many more showcasing their voluntary spirit, ROTTOs Organ Donation Awareness Campaign at Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Nutrition Sector 42 D got good response. The campaign organised under ROTTOS Student Engagement Project was held alongside eye donation awareness session to popularize and strengthen the public movement for Organ Donation. The session was attended by over 150 students and was coordinated by Dr Pratik Ghosh, Head of the Department and senior faculty Dr Munish Ahlawat of the institute.







23 students from Punjab Govt Schools to witness Aditya L1 launch



Chandigarh: As many as 23 students of Punjab Government Schools on Friday left for Sriharikota to be part of the launch of PSLV-C57 Aditya L1. These students took flight from Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport in Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar (Mohali) to witness the launch of PSLV-C57 Aditya L1 in Sriharikota on Saturday, said the state School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains, adding that all the expenses incurred by these students in this regard are being borne by the Punjab Government. Bains said that the aim of the Punjab Government is to raise interest in the subject of science in the minds of the students studying in the government schools of the state. Notably, two batches of students had also went to Sriharikota during the launch of Chandrayaan 3 and PSLV-C56 in the previous days.



Punjab food safety commissioner insisted on testing and meeting set standards



Chandigarh: Punjabs Commissioner of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Dr Abhinav Trikha on Friday said that it is important to set standards and ensure they are tested and are being met. Dr Trikha, speaking at a conclave  Basmati Rice No Compromise, said that it was important that standards are set and are ensured they are tested and being met to combat any issues. Our country is late as far as food safety is concerned, but a lot has been done. Now the focus has changed and adulteration is being tackled effectively. It is time to differentiate the standard and sub-standard material, he said.



Punjab Govt Invites applications for post of State Commissioner for PwDs



Chandigarh: Punjab Social Security, Women and Child Development Department has invited applications to fill the position of State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities until September 15, 2023. The state Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Dr Baljit Kaur on Friday said that the applicants should submit their self-attested documents along with the prescribed application form and send the documents by registered post to the office of the Director Social Security, Women and Child Development Department, Punjab, SCO. No. 102-103, Sector-34-A, Chandigarh.



Pb Minister hands over appointment letters to 62 supervisors, 1 clerk



Chandigarh: Punjab Social Security, Women, and Child Development Minister Dr Baljit Kaur on Friday presented appointment letters to 62 supervisors and one clerk on compassionate grounds. Congratulating the newly-appointed employees, she urged them to work with honesty. She emphasized that this Department serves people from various sections of society, making it the employees' duty to consistently perform their duties with a spirit of service.
British Deputy High Commissioner Christina Scott paid courtesy call on Governor Mangubhai Patel at Raj Bhavan on Friday. Governor Shri Patel was apprised about the Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth Programme run by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office of the British Government. Minister of Science and Technology Shri Omprakash Sakhlecha and international stakeholders associated with the Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth Programme were present.

Dr. Anil Kothari, Director General, Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology, informed that under the Infrastructure for Growth Programme Portfolio, the climate information service tool Crisp-M has been designed by the Council in collaboration with the International Institute for Environment and Development. CRISP-M has been developed in collaboration between Ministry of Rural Development and Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office of the British Government to essentially support the rural communities which are potential challenges of climate change. Madhya Pradesh is a pioneer in the country, where its pilot project was launched in Raisen and Sehore districts in October 2021. <

The CRISP-M tool helps rural households respond to the climate crisis by facilitating access and sharing of local climate data. It facilitates access to resources to safeguard their livelihood. By making the communities aware about the effects of climate change, about the future climate scenario, groundwater status of the land, surface rain water flow and rainfall patterns etc., it helps in making long-term plans for water conservation. In view of the wider utility and acceptability of the tool in the pilot project, a global version of the tool has been developed jointly with the International Institute for Environment and Development for the general public, which can be used universally by any stakeholder at the global level.

Sushri Ritu Bhardwaj, Team Leader and Chief Researcher of the International Institute for Environment and apprise Development, told that a resource center has been established in MAPCOST to about the usefulness of the tool to the government officials and communities working at the field level and to increase their capacity. The center will aid in better management of climate impacts in the future by using the CRISP-M tool.
In a major decision the Uttarakhand government has decided to provide 10 per cent horizontal reservation to statehood activists and their dependents in the State government jobs. A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of the State cabinet held on Friday. In the cabinet it was decided that the 10 per cent reservation (one time) for statehood activists and their dependents bill-2023 in the upcoming session of the State assembly. It is pertinent to mention here that the statehood activists were deprived of the benefit of reservation for the last 10 years due to an order of the High Court.

There was no formal briefing of the cabinet decisions since the monsoon session of the State Assembly has been convened. However it is learnt that the cabinet approved the proposal to grant child adoption leave for the State government employees (males) who are single. This leave will be for a period of 180 days during the entire service period and will be given to single parent male employees on adoption of a child. The cabinet also gave its nod to the presentation of a supplementary budget of Rs 11,000 crore in the Monsoon session of the State Assembly. In another decision the cabinet approved the proposal to table the Uttarakhand (combined Prantiya Rakshak Dal act 1948) regularisation of leaves bill in the upcoming session of assembly. In its meeting the State cabinet also approved the proposal to grant the benefit of child care leave to the contractual workers and employees appointed by outsource agencies.

The cabinet also gave its nod to table a bill in which a provision to annul 199 laws and regulations has been made. These laws have become redundant and include 183 such provisions made during the time when the State was part of Uttar Pradesh. The state cabinet also gave its approval to the plan to revise the fees levied on the proposal to increase the capacity of the hydropower projects located in the State. The state will now charge a fee of Rs one lakh for the purpose which will be equivalent to the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.
With just a couple of days left for campaigning for the Bageshwar Assembly by-election, the Bharatiya Janata Party will intensify its campaigning from Saturday. The chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and the BJP State president Mahendra Bhatt are slated to campaign in the constituency on Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, the BJP reiterated that the Congress is complaining about alleged harassment during the campaigning in Bageshwar as it is searching for excuses for its impending defeat in the by-election.

The BJP State media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said that the chief minister and the BJP State president will be campaigning in Bageshwar on September 2 and 3. He said that the party candidate Parvati Dass is receiving overwhelming support from the voters in the constituency. Chauhan claimed that the people have made up their minds to ensure a record breaking win of the BJP candidate in the Bageshwar Assembly by-election. Regarding the complaint of the Congress about alleged harassment and misuse of the government machinery by the BJP in the Bageshwar constituency, he opined that true to its habit, the Congress is already looking for excuses to blame for its impending defeat in the Assembly by-election.

It is pertinent to mention here that senior Congress leaders including the Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahara and leader of opposition Yashpal Arya have campaigned elaborately to garner support for the party candidate Basant Kumar. The Congress has repeatedly accused the BJP of misusing the government machinery to gain an edge in the Assembly by-election while the BJP has consistently rejected all such allegations. With voting in the by-election slated to be held on September 5, the campaigning will end on September 3.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in the Ladli Bahna Sammelan in Sidhi that rakhi is not a bond of raw threads but of affection and intimacy. My life's aim is the welfare and development of women. If i manage to transform the lives of my fellow sisters, me being a CM will be a success Under Ladli Bahna Yojana, Rs one thousand is being given to the sisters every month, the scheme has increased the respect of the sisters. This is not a ritual but a social revolution. The amount of the scheme will be increased to Rs 3 thousand. During his stay in Sidhi district, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of a medical college and 100-bed hospital at Rampur Naikin. The Chief Minister laid the foundation stone and dedicated construction works worth Rs 156 crore.

The Chief Minister announced the formation of Municipal Council in Semaria, making Hanumangarh sub tehsil a tehsil and opening of CM Rise School in Gijwar. The Chief Minister announced the implementation of Lift Irrigation Scheme for irrigation facility in 35 villages of Patpara area. The Chief Minister said that now the fee in Lok Seva Centre will be Rs 20 instead of Rs 40. The honorarium of mini Anganwadi center worker has been increased from Rs 6500 to Rs 7250 and the honorarium of Anganwadi assistant has been increased from Rs 5750 to Rs 6500.

The Chief Minister said that I am running a family and not a government. Under Ladli Bahna Yojana, Rs 1,000 is being given from Gwalior on 10th September. The sisters will get Rs 1250 every month from October. It will be gradually increased to Rs 3 thousand. A Ladli Bahna Sena has been constituted in every village. This Sena will help in implementing the government schemes. Efforts are being made to increase the income of the sisters of Self-Help Groups to Rs 10,000 every month. Children coming in merit list have been given scooties and they have been given bicycle, scholarship and Rs 25,000 for computer. The government will pay the fees of the children of every poor family for admission in higher education institutions. Residential land pattas will be given to all landless families. Those poor families who have not got the benefit of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana will be given pucca houses from the Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana.

The Chief Minister said that the government will pay the bills of poor families who have received higher electricity bills till August 31. Rs 8 thousand crores are being given for this. Sidhi district and state will be developed with public co-operation. The Chief Minister also distributed benefits to the beneficiaries of various schemes. Ladli Behna Sena greeted the Chief Minister with a huge rakhi, performed kanya-pujan and showered flowers on the sisters. On reaching the venue, the Chief Minister was welcomed with traditional Shaila dance and Gudum Baje.

Member of Parliament Smt. Reeti Pathak said that Chief Minister Chouhan has given numerous huge gifts to Sidhi district. Today the medical college has been given as a great gift. MLA Sidhi Kedarnath Shukla said that today the Chief Minister has given such a gift to Sidhi district in the form of a medical college, which was far from imagination. This is a huge achievement for Sidhi district.

Sidhi district in-charge and Tribal Affairs Minister Meena Singh, Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Pratap Singh, MLA Sharadendu Tiwari, Kunwar Singh Tekam and District Panchayat President Manju Singh were also present.
Emphasising the importance of one district, one cooperative bank, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that every farmer should avail banking facilities.

Launching the B-PACS membership campaign and toll-free number, the chief minister said that Uttar Pradesh was emerging as a good investment hub.

The One District, One Product scheme has gained nationwide popularity. To achieve self-reliance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasises the campaign of local for global.

The MSME department is actively promoting the packaging, design and marketing of its local products. A new competition has emerged, urging people to contribute to promoting the local products. If cooperative banks also join this process, it will help rebuild public trust in them, Yogi said.

The chief minister pointed out that cooperatives have been an integral part of Indian tradition since ancient times. But at one time this work of cooperatives was compromised and wrong people got involved in it, resulting in significant consequences for the most populous state in the country, he added.

We are all grateful to Prime Minister Modi, who gave the status of ministry to cooperatives after becoming prime minister again in 2019, he said.

As the first Minister of Cooperation, Home Minister Amit Shah has worked to strengthen PACS, the most basic unit, by linking it with prosperity. It is a matter of happiness for us that this membership campaign has been launched in Uttar Pradesh from September 1 to 30 and a toll-free number has been issued, he added.

The chief minister said that the double-engine government was taking the programme forward by linking cooperatives with prosperity. Till now, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) was limited to selling fertilisers and seeds, but now it is also being developed as a common service development centre, and other facilities will be available there, he added.

The chief minister highlighted the importance of agriculture in a state like Uttar Pradesh, saying, We have the most fertile land in the world and the best water resources. There are more than 2.61 lakh farmers who are associated with PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. That means we have three crore farmers who can join this campaign, take it on the path of prosperity, and help connect agriculture with the prosperity of Uttar Pradesh.

Agriculture constituted more than 40 per cent of the total GDP during Indias independence. Over time, this figure gradually declined and currently stands at around 16-17 per cent nationwide. However, in Uttar Pradesh, it remains at a significant 25-26 per cent. UP has the potential to make an even better contribution in this sector, the chief minister added.

The chief minister pointed out that if farmers receive timely access to seeds and fertilisers and all aspects of agricultural operations function efficiently, the dedicated farmers can turn their land into gold. It will play a pivotal role in giving new impetus to the cooperative movement in Uttar Pradesh he added.

Along with increasing the credit limit of PACS, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath emphasised the importance of establishing specific targets for crop loans. He pointed out that the current limit of 7,500 PACS was insufficient to meet the liquidity needs for fertiliser purchases, considering the states requirements. As per the requirements of the state, a credit limit of Rs 10 lakh is required. The state government will provide full cooperation in this regard.

He further added that in the future, crop loans should be considered in collaboration with the Agriculture department.
In order to facilitate hassle free movement of the heads of State and other dignitaries slated to attend the G20 Leaders Summit here next week, as many as 450 drivers of CRPFs VIP security wing have been trained to pilot the special left-hand driven and bullet-resistant vehicles that will be used to ferry VIPs for the mega event.

A fleet of both bullet-resistant and non bullet-resistant Audi, Mercedes, BMW and Hyundai Genesis cars have been hired or purchased by the Union government to ferry 41 top foreign guests.

These specially-trained drivers will take the premiers and leaders to their destinations in the national capital, like the main meeting venue of Bharat Mandapam and the five-star hotels where the dignitaries will stay, officials said.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the countrys largest paramilitary force with over 3.25 lakh personnel in its ranks deployed for a variety of internal security duties.

CRPFs VIP security wing with a strength of over 6,000 personnel secures 149 high-risk persons, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Gandhis  Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The force has deployed a total of 900 personnel, including these 450 drivers, for providing proximate security to the VIPs during the two days of the G20 Summit on September 9-10 and on the preceding day on September 8 when the heads of various nations will start arriving in the national capital.

This special G20 pool of the CRPF includes personnel who have earlier served in the Special Protection Group (SPG) that protects the Prime Minister and the counter-terrorist force National Security Guard (NSG).

The spouses of the dignitaries will be secured by the specially-trained men and women commandos of another paramilitary force  Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), official sources said.

As over 60 vehicles have been specially pooled in to ferry the VVIPs are left-handed, the CRPF VIP security wing has undertaken a special training to skill drivers for these cars as India has right-hand drive protocol, they said.

The force got some left-hand driven cars from Germany to train these personnel for about a month apart from skilling them to drive the bulky bullet resistant luxury vehicles.

Another paramilitary force  the Border Security Force (BSF)  has been tasked to provide the contingency carcade for the G20 Leaders Summit, the sources said.

Other paramilitary or Central Armed Police Forces like the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) apart from the black cat commandos of the NSG have been deployed for securing the routes and venues of the summit in coordination with Delhi Police, they said.
Union minister of Civil Aviation and steel Jyotiraditya Scindia said the global industry should leverage the opportunities available in the Indian aerospace sector by investing in the country. Speaking at the International Aerospace Conference organised by CII in Gwalior on Friday, Mr Scindia said the growth of Civil Aviation sector is an imperative now for the growth of India.

He noted that while civil aviation was once considered an elitist product, the introduction of the UDAN scheme has effectively "democratized" it, making it accessible to a wider cross-section of the population. He said civil aviation needs to grow as a product and not just a service.

Scindia said risks in supply chain logistics needed to be offset and companies across the world are looking for a new promised land to build new capacities. The country offered that opportunity. "India has tremendous possibilities," he said while delivering his inaugural speech at the conference themed around Inclusive Global Value Chains.

Addressing a session on 'Spawning Global Value Chains in Design: Importance of MSMEs,' Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon, Minister of the Department of Industrial Policy & Investment Promotion, Govt of Madhya Pradesh, conveyed that Madhya Pradesh stands fully prepared to welcome the potential industrial investors.

He underscored the state's abundant resources, a skilled workforce, and a highly favorable ecosystem for industrial development. Dattigaon also elaborated on the robust aerospace and aviation infrastructure present in Madhya Pradesh. He said two more airports were coming up in the state at Datia and Rewa, which exemplify the shared dedication of both the state and central governments to firmly place Madhya Pradesh on India's aviation map.

The first day of discussions centered around spawning robust aerospace manufacturing with a specific focus on MSMEs, the integration of Global MRO Services, the role of women in the aviation sector, advanced technologies in Aerospace, Aviation and Air Mobility, and the need for diverse skill sets, and the strategies for building scale in Aerospace Manufacturing.

The B20 conference has been curated by the Confederation of Indian Industry in partnership with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers with the aim of boosting international collaboration and foster knowledge sharing within the aerospace industry. Over 300 Indian and foreign delegates attended the conference at Gwalior. Over 35 national and international experts and industry representatives addressed the conference.

The day culminated with a collective commitment to advance the aerospace sector and modernize the aviation industry in India, driven by a shared vision for progress.
The Gond paintings are in news as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented Gond painting to Brazilian president Luiz InacioLula da Silva at recently concluded 15th BRICS summit convention.

The Gond painting will now decorate the official residence of the president. The Gond paintings of Madhya Pradesh have got Geographical Indication Tag for their distinct style and unique thematic designs. For generations, the artistes of Gond tribe have been laboriously pursuing this art form.

The Prime Minister in his famous man ki baat talked about padmshri awardee Bhajju Shyam who is a renowned painter of this art-form. He was once a security guard in Jabalpur. During Prime Ministers visit to Shahdol, the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan presented to him a beautiful Gond painting.

The Gond painting is a unique art form developed in due course of time replicating association of mankind with nature. It is practiced by one of the largest tribes in India the Gond' who are predominantly dwelling in Madhya Pradesh.

The work of Gond artists is rooted in their folk tales; culture and story-tales.

These are the strong element of every painting. Gond painting depicts celebrations, rituals and man's relationship with nature. This mystical art form is created by putting together dots and lines. The imaginative use of the line imparts a sense of movement to the still images.

The artistes believe that good fortune befalls those whose eye meets a good image, so it is in the community's interest to be surrounded by beauty. For the Gond tribes, the function of art is not just restricted to practical and aesthetic pleasure; it also ensures a deep connection between the past and the present. The Gond artistes have firm belief that every act of painting is spiritual venture and is an act of prayer to the Unknown.

The Gond paintings are not only an offering in worship of nature, but are also a mode of seeking protection and warding off evils. Gond painting is based on the conviction that viewing a good image attracts good luck. They decorate their houses and the floors with traditional tattoos and motifs, drawn during festivals or rituals connected with seasonal changes like sowing of crops, onset of rains, harvest or on a significant occasion in their families such as birth, marriage, pregnancy and death. The themes and motifs are drawn from local flora and fauna, deities and urban culture.

Pictures of peacocks, birds, crabs, mythical beasts, lizards, lions, tigers, deer, snakes, wild boars, cows, monkeys, elephants, horses, and fish are the main subjects of Gond paintings. Mahua Tree as Tree of Life appears prominently as Mahua flowers, fruits, seeds, and leaves are used for many purposes by the Gond tribe.

Modern designs like airplanes, bicycles, cars etc, myths, legends, and aspects of the daily life also figure. Images of Gods mainly Lord Shiva, Lord Krishna, Lord Ganesha are also subjects. Local deities be Phulvari Devi, Jaharin Devi, Marahi Devi also find place distinctly. With all this, the central theme of Gond paintings is nature. The artists portray nature in various ways as they believe that the life of man and nature are interlinked.

A pattern is a decorative design that is repeated several times to fill an image. Each artist uses his own distinctive pattern and style to fill the images. These distinctive patterns are called signature patterns. Twigs, cotton swabs are used instead of brush.




Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday commended the Central Government's decision to form a committee to explore the feasibility of the One Nation-One Election.



Khattar, while welcoming this unique initiative taken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been a long-standing advocate of One Nation-One Election. The committee formed to explore the possibility of a One Nation-One Election in the country is definitely a valuable initiative. This committee will give its report after considering this subject, under which the benefits of the One Nation-One Election will be revealed.



The successful implementation of One Nation-One Election initiative would bring about numerous benefits for India, including substantial financial savings, improved governance, reduced corruption, and a more robust democratic process, said Khattar.



The Chief Minister while highlighting several key benefits associated with the One Nation-One Election initiative said that synchronizing elections at all levels of government would result in substantial savings of taxpayers' money, which could then be redirected toward public welfare initiatives.



The Chief Minister said that the frequent occurrence of elections hampers governance due to the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct, hindering timely policy decisions. Implementing One Nation-One Election would alleviate such disruptions, allowing governments to focus on the greater good.



Khattar further asserted that simultaneous elections would effectively curb corruption and the circulation of illicit funds within the electoral process. Besides this, holding elections concurrently would increase voter engagement and fortify India's democratic foundations, he added.
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NDA's campaign is going on in full swing in the Dumri bye-election. BJP State President and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi has put all his strength in the campaign of Dumri by-election. After the booth level workers' conference in all the six divisions, the party has now laid emphasis on village contact campaigns.

Today BJP State President and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi visited dozens of villages and appealed to the people to vote in favor of NDA candidate Yashoda Devi.

Marandi in his addresses requested for first voting and then refreshments. In the public relations campaign, Marandi today addressed people in dozens of villages including Jaridih, Baradih, Khaksawa, Karma, Bahiyar, Barwadih.

Marandi said that the way public anger is visible against the present government, it has become clear that the people of Dumri assembly constituency have decided to teach the Hemant government a lesson.

He said that the JMM/Congress government wants to remain in power for money and family. He is not worried about the poor people of the state, unemployed people, farmers, sisters and daughters, tribals, Dalits and backward people.

He said that Atal Bihari Vajpayee had established a separate state by respecting the sentiments of the tribals and indigenous people of Jharkhand. But the Hemant government mortgaged the state to robbers, middlemen and brokers.

He said that today's government is not even repairing the roads built during the BJP government. There is corruption everywhere in the state. Go to the block police station or any office, no work is done without money. Poor people have to pay bribes even to get a death certificate made. He said that the brokers and middlemen are dominant in the state. The police administration is busy in extortion instead of maintaining law and order.

Addressing the village of Santhal Samaj, he said that Santhali language was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution by Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government. Today, Narendra Modi ji gave great respect to the tribals by making the tribal daughter of Santhal community the President of India. The birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda was declared as Tribal Pride Day. Today there are eight tribal ministers in the Government of India.

He said that the BJP government is dedicated to the development of villages, poor farmers and laborers. He said that for the development of the state, strengthen the NDA to save Jharkhand from corruption, familyism, appeasement.

He appealed to vote for NDA candidate Yashoda Devi on banana print by pressing the button on banana print on coming 5th September.

Marandi was accompanied by former State President Dr. Ravindra, former MP Ravindra Pandey, State Vice President Pranav Verma, State Working Committee member Suresh Sav etc.
The multi crore worth 100 bed building in the MMCH Daltonganj has developed cracks and seepage, interestingly when rains are too scarce and had there been any heavy rains, the rooftop of this building would have dampened walls and floors. The rooftop is on the 5th floor.

Further this multi crore building has not yet been handed over by the Jharkhand State Building Construction Corporation to the district health committee.

The cracks and seepage in the roof top and its percolation down has raised questions about its quality and standard.

The seepage is still prominent even in the hot Sun in Daltonganj. Again the balcony of the building has a faulty slope. Curing is wanting.The seepage is enough for dampening the wall.

On being asked one engineer refusing to be identified said "The fault is more of the masonry, not of the material. The levelling of the roof top has been improper. Had it been proper and adequate levelling this problem would not have arisen."

This engineer further said "There is a definite proportion of slope. Here on the balcony side it is in the reverse order."

However the roof top can be set right with scrapping and anti leak and seepage measures.

Civil surgeon Palamu Dr Anil Kumar said that as per previous schedule this building was to be dedicated to the women and children on August 30 but when reports of seepage and crack in the roof top surfaced following an inspection of the building by the person of the rank of the executive engineer, then under order of the DC Shashi Ranjan it was decided to first mend the faulty roof top,seepage, and dampness.

Sources said the DC Palamu Shashi Ranjan had a plan to dedicate this 100 bed building exclusively for women and children with all facilities like OT, NICU etc.

The plan will be extremely beneficial to the women pregnant or otherwise and kids etc.

.
In a tragic mishap, two persons, including an eight-month-old baby, died while four others suffered critical injuries following a head-on collision between an auto rickshaw and a truck in Cuttack district on Friday.

The identities of the deceased and the injured victims were yet to be ascertained.

As per reports, the auto carrying seven persons including the driver was heading on the Narasinghpur-Khuntuni State Highway-65 when the truck coming from the opposite direction rammed into it near Bharat Gas in Panchagaon within the Tigria police limits.

Under the impact of the collision, the auto overturned on a vendor selling fish nearby. The latter reportedly suffered injuries too. Locals rushed the victims to SCB Medical College Hospital, where two of them including the baby were declared dead. The others were undergoing treatment.

On getting information, police reached the spot and started an investigation.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena on Friday dismissed the AAPs objection to Shivling-shaped fountains installed in the national Capital, saying they are just art pieces and there is God in every particle of the country.

Sources in the ruling AAP claimed the party will file a police complaint over the fountains as they have hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. Reacting to this, Saxena said, This is childish behaviour.

Saxena said the ongoing installation of new structures, and renovation efforts in the national capital in view of the G20 Summit has created permanent assets and asked Delhiites to preserve them.

Saxena and Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakashi Lekhi unveiled the newly installed Yakshini sculptures at Yakshini Chowk and on Ulan Batar Road in Delhi Cantt at the junction of Thimayya Marg and Palam Technical Area and later inaugurated the IAF Park in front of the Air Force Station in Palam, Raj Niwas officials said.

The LG emphasised that such structures, renovations and refurbishing across the city has created permanent assets for Delhi and its people and it was everyones responsibility to maintain and preserve them in the years to come.

Speaking at the inauguration, Saxena said the newly installed sculptures of Yakshinis represent the mythical guards of Lord Kubers treasury and now symbolise the sentinels of an ever emerging powerful and prosperous India.

The Yakshinis culptures installed at the newly christened Yakshini Chowk have been sculpted by noted sculptor from Odisha, DhrubaCharan Swain and those at Ulan Batar Marghave been sculpted by another Odia sculptor Sudarshan Sahoo.

Saxena had travelled to Odisha in June this year to procure these sculptures, with an aim to adorn the National Capital with artefacts from all across the country, apart from providing an impetus to indigenous artisans and artists.

These sculptures, in addition to many others installed at different locations in the capital, are reminiscent of our ancient cultural heritage, he said. The Yakshini sculptures at both Ulan Batar Road and Yakshini Chowk stand at 6 ft tall. Two MIG fighter planes provided by the Indian Air Force have been installed at the newly inaugurated IAF Park. Eight water fountains installed at equal distances from each other in a symmetrical design.

Saxena said the park and the road junction that lie just outside the Palam Air Force Station had been lying in an unkempt condition and have since undergone a transformation in a short period of just two months.

As Delhi gears up to host the G20 summit from September 9 to 10, arterial stretches in the capital have been given a makeover.

As part of the beautification drive, 18 fountains shaped like the Shivling have been installed at the Hanuman Mandir junction in the Palam airports technical area, according to officials.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be the chief guest at the Panchayat of guest teachers teaching in government schools of the state. The CM will also address the panchayat of guest teachers. The Panchayat will be held on September 2 at Lal Parade Ground, Bhopal from 12 noon. About 64 thousand guest teachers of the schools run by the Department of School Education and Tribal Affairs will participate directly and indirectly in the Panchayat. About 10 thousand guest teachers from different regions of the state will participate in this panchayat. Rest of the guest teachers will watch the live telecast of the programme from their respective places. Live telecast will be made on various communication media.

Minister of State for School Education (Independent Charge) and General Administration Shri Inder Singh Parmar along with departmental officers will also attend the panchayat.
Chief Minister Hemant has been included in the 13 member coordination committee of I.N.D.I.A. alliance of the opposition parties formed in the third meeting of the alliance held in Mumbai on Friday. Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav has also been included in the coordination committee.

It is noteworthy that the coordination committee of India alliance includes Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, KC Venugopal from Congress, Sharad Pawar from NCP, MK Stalin from DMK, Sanjay Raut from Shiv Sena (UBT), Abhishek Banerjee from TMC, The names of Raghav Chadha from AAP, Javed Ali Khan from Samajwadi Party, Lalan Singh from JDU, D Raja from CPI, Omar Abdullah from National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti from PDP are included.

It was also decided that the slogan of the alliance would be 'Judega Bharat, Jeetega India'. It will be publicised in the media. The logo was also to be unveiled in the meeting today, which was postponed.

The Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.), a coalition of 26 opposition parties in the country, released a joint resolution on Friday on the last day of its two-day meeting in Mumbai, stating that all parties in the organization will fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together.

Regarding the General Elections 2024, the resolution taken by the India Alliance has been said in the resolution that we, all the parties of the India Alliance, resolve to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible. The work of distribution of seats in different states will be started soon and this work will be finished as soon as possible with mutual cooperation.

Taking a pledge regarding the rallies and public meetings for the general elections, the alliance said that we, all the parties involved in the India alliance, also take a pledge to organize public meetings and rallies in different parts of the country soon on the problems and important issues related to the public. .

The parties involved in the India alliance also passed a resolution regarding the election and campaign strategy and said  We all parties of the India alliance resolve to coordinate campaign campaigns in different languages by formulating a communication and media strategy on the theme of India will win India. . India will join, India will win.
After the third meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA at Mumbai, Samajwadi Party is eyeing a bigger role for itself in national politics.

With the end of a 25-year-long coalition era from 1989 to 2014 following the Bharatiya Janata Party attaining clear majority in the Lok Sabha in 2014 and 2019, the regional parties have been marginalised in national politics and they have ceased to be the kingmaker. The strategists of the SP are confident that if the INDIA bloc is able to form the next government at the Centre in 2024 , the party will regain the clout it once enjoyed.

Earlier, reluctant to have any truck with the Congress following its alliance with the grand old party in the 2017 UP assembly election that resulted in a disaster, the SP is shedding its initial hesitation and wants to take the Congress on board in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav, on Friday, said in Mumbai that his party wanted talks on seat sharing to commence at the earliest.

Sources in the SP said the INDIA bloc was a bargaining chip for the party to seek seats outside Uttar Pradesh in the forthcoming assembly elections in five states and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The SP has a clear ambition to turn itself into a national entity from a regional party in Uttar Pradesh. For now, it continues to be a regional party even 31 years after it was founded by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Previous attempts to make the party get the national status, when Mulayam was at the helm, failed.

Akhilesh Yadav, who took over as national president of the party in January 2017, has the ambition to shed the regional party tag from his party. In the last national executive meeting of the party in September 2022, he had said lets pledge to make the party a national party by the time we meet at the next national convention.

The SP, since its inception in October 1992, has won assembly seats outside UP in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh (a constituency that now falls in Telangana), Gujarat and Uttarakhand. For instance, the party won seven assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh in 2003. This was its best electoral performance outside UP.

The Election Commission of India recognises a political party as a national party if it secures at least 6 per cent of the total valid votes polled in four or more states in a general election to the Lok Sabha or to the legislative assembly.

The SP secured over 32 per cent votes in the 2022 UP assembly election, but it could never touch the 6 per cent mark in any other state. The partys next pan-India challenge is the 2024 Lok Sabha poll. Before that, elections to Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana assemblies will be held towards the end of 2023. The SP expects the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) coalition, especially the Congress, to give it some seats outside UP in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in five states.

SP spokesperson Udaivir Singh said in Lucknow: Of course, we have national ambitions. We would like to get seats outside UP. Which political party would not welcome the idea? But all such things  seat adjustments in UP and outside, formula for seat sharing among the allies  will be discussed by the coordination committee of 13 members.
Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), the nodal agency for developing expressways, will acquire about 100 acres of land in the vicinity of Agra-Lucknow, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal expressways for allotment to industries. The agency is moving ahead on the project as per plans of the Uttar Pradesh government to convert expressways into corridors for an array of industries, including manufacturing and food processing.

The state government is likely to incur an expenditure of nearly Rs 4,000 crore on the acquisition of land near the expressway projects, especially at the entry and exit points, for faster transportation of goods and seamless logistics. While four expressways are operational in the state, several other expressway projects, including the 595-km Ganga Expressway costing Rs 36,000 crore, are under construction.

The functional expressway projects include Yamuna Expressway, Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Purvanchal Expressway and Bundelkhand Expressway. The state targets to complete the Ganga Expressway project by December 2024 before the Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj in early 2025.

Since the Yamuna Expressway serves the comparatively developed and well-connected western UP, the state is focusing on the remaining four expressways to spur industrial growth.

For example, industrial corridors are proposed to be set up in Jalaun and Banda districts along the Bundelkhand Expressway.

Once industrial units are set up in the proposed corridors flanking the expressways, the interstate and intrastate movement of goods will be faster and economical. This will enhance the competitiveness of industries, a UP government official said.

Meanwhile, the UPEIDA has been tasked with preparing a blueprint and conducting pre-feasibility study and preparation of a detailed project report. The UPEIDA will create an industrial land bank beyond the proposed 100 acres near each expressway for allotment to industries on demand.

The faster movement of farm and dairy products, apart from processed food, through the expressways will jack up rural incomes and accelerate the rural economy, which is among the top priorities of the government.

Moreover, the state looks to become a major electric vehicle and battery hub in South Asia and develop a robust charging network on highways and expressways. Trade and industry has welcomed the move of the government for industrialisation along the expressways, saying the growing network of expressways and airports in UP has given a much-needed scope to the landlocked state.
Director General Prisons and Correctional Services, Manoj Chhabra has proposed to the State Government to allow the Directorate of Prisons to fit GPS-enabled tracking devices on the ankles of under-trial prisoners (UTPs) and free them of the four walls of prisons.

Chhabra said if the proposal is accepted and implemented, Odisha will be the first State in the country to free UTPs involved in non-heinous crimes.

While overcrowding is the biggest problem in jails across the country including Odisha, the DG Prisons said about 80 per cent of prison inmates are UTPs. Many of them are lodged in jails even though they were caught in offences having provision of less than seven years imprisonment.

According to the Directorate of Prisons proposal to the State Government, GPS-enabled tracking devices will be fitted on the ankles of UTPs facing non-heinous charges for crimes carrying a maximum imprisonment of seven years to reduce prison overcrowding.

The DG Prisons said this would be voluntary and the UTPs would have the option to wear the devices or stay in jails.

Chhabra said police and prison authorities will be able to track any UTP with help of the device, adding that if any UTP tries to damage the tracker, the local police station will get an alert and act immediately.

The DG Prisons also said there are a few risks behind such a move. While chances of escape are there, a UTP may also commit crime while outside the jail. This apart, the UTP may threaten witnesses or attempt to tamper evidence. In all such cases, police can nab them and put them in jail, the DG Prisons pointed out.

Asked whether the move would violate human rights of a person, Chhabra said, I think human rights activists will support our effort as the UTPs will remain free and not within four walls. However, they will have to wear the device on the ankle area which can be covered by a trouser.

Stating that the practice is prevalent in about 30 countries including parts of USA and the UK, the DG Prisons said that State Prisons Directorate has proposed introduction of the technology and it is under consideration.

Though the price of the device is not known since they are not manufactured in India, Chhabra said the cost should be much less than the Governments expenditure made on each UTP in jails. Around Rs 1 lakh is spent on each UTP inside the jail every year. A tracker device must be much less than Rs 1 lakh, he said.

Chhabra also pointed out that the Supreme Court had earlier advised States not to keep offenders in jails for crimes carrying a maximum imprisonment of seven years.
The speaker of Uttarakhand Assembly Ritu Khanduri chaired a meeting of the senior officers of police and administration in her Vidhan Sabha office on Friday and reviewed the preparations for the upcoming Monsoon session of the Assembly. In the meeting she directed the officers of police and assembly secretariat to ensure proper security arrangements during the session. She said that information about the traffic diversions for the session should be properly conveyed so that the general public is spared from inconvenience. In the meeting she also gave necessary instructions for the parking of vehicles and public address system and asked the officers of fire safety to remain vigilant.

She informed that the Vidhan Sabha secretariat has so far received 614 questions for the session. Later interacting with the media persons the speaker said that all the issues related to the upcoming session of assembly were discussed in the meeting. She said that some officers came late in the meeting. The speaker said that the late arrival of some officers in such an important meeting is a serious issue. She said that the issue will be examined and warning will be given to the officers coming late.

The monsoon session of the Uttarakhand Assembly would commence on September 5 in Dehradun. In the session the government is expected to table many important bills. The government will also present a supplementary budget of Rs 11,000 crore in the Assembly during the session.
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In preparation for the upcoming G20 Summit scheduled for September 9 and 10 in the national Capital, the Gurugram Traffic Police issued a comprehensive traffic advisory on Friday. The advisory comes as foreign delegates are set to be accommodated in select hotels within Gurugram, leading to temporary restrictions on vehicular movement in the region.

The advisory noted that from 12 am (September 7) to 11.59 pm (September 10), heavy vehicles including roadways buses of Haryana and Rajasthan will not be allowed to enter Delhi from Sarhaul toll on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway and Kapashera border.

The heavy vehicles will be diverted from IFFCO Chowk via Mehrauli-Gurugram Road towards Delhi. However, essential vehicles will be operational as usual.

In addition, multinational companies in Gurugram have been advised to implement work-from-home policies on September 8.

The traffic restrictions will primarily affect the Dhaula Kuan route, where buses and private vehicles will be denied entry into Delhi during this period.

This restriction will be especially enforced when foreign delegates are traveling along this route.

To ensure a smooth flow of traffic, the police have devised a traffic diversion plan.

In case the air travellers opt to use the road, they should move out, keeping extra time in hand, he said.

Leela Ambience hotel on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway and Trident hotel in Udyog Vihar are proposed accommodations for various foreign guests, including officials.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Virendra Vij, explained that the delegates will begin arriving at Delhi Airport from September 8 and some will be staying in Gurugram hotels, including Hotel Leela and Hotel Trident.

As a result, vehicle movement along this route will be restricted.

A route diversion plan has been implemented for vehicles, so that commuters dont face issues while travelling on the particular dates, said DCP Virendra Vij.
The Supreme Court on Friday sentenced former Lok Sabha MP from Bihar Prabhunath Singh to life imprisonment in a 1995 double murder case.

On August 18, a three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had convicted Singh while overturning the orders of the trial court and the Patna High Court acquitting him in the case.

After hearing submissions on the quantum of sentence, the bench, also comprising Justices A S Oka and Vikram Nath, awarded life term to the convict.

The bench said a detailed order will be uploaded.

The case involved the killing of two people on the day of polling for assembly elections in Chapra in Bihar's Saran district in March 1995.

The apex court, while convicting Singh, a multiple-term former MP from Bihar's Maharajganj, had observed there was not even an iota of doubt that Singh was instrumental in making all possible efforts to "wipe out" the evidence against him.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim urged Malaysians to unite and reject racial and religious bigotry, as the country marked its 66th year of freedom from British rule on Thursday with fireworks and a street parade.

Fireworks were set off in various locations at midnight to usher in National Day. Tens of thousands of people thronged the government administrative capital of Putrajaya early Thursday for the main procession, waving national flags and cheering as bands. Dancers and convoys of vehicles went past.

Anwar, along with the nations King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, were among the dignitaries at the parade.

In a televised speech on the eve of National Day, Anwar appealed to Malaysians not to let their differences ruin the nation. He warned that powerful nations have collapsed not just due to mismanagement or corruption but because they played with fires of ethnic and religious fanaticism.

Dont take this lightly ... Our differences can be a strength or a force that can destroy the fabrics of society and the country, said Anwar, who took power in November after a divisive general election. We can choose to continue to sow doubt and suspicion, political and racial hatred or we can choose to say that enough is enough.

Islam is the official religion in Malaysia and by law, Malays - who make up over 2/3 of the countrys 33 million people - must strictly be Muslims and cannot convert. Malaysia also has large Chinese and Indian minorities.

Racial and religious divides further deepened in Malaysia after Nov. 19 general elections led to the rise of a strong Islamic-Malay nationalist opposition bloc. Anwars coalition won the most seats but fell short of a majority to form a government. Anwar, 76, later established a multi-coalition unity government with the backing of former rivals.

The opposition Perikatan Nasional bloc, which included a powerful Islamic party, further reinforced its strength in local polls earlier this month. It made major inroads in three government-controlled states and nearly swept all the seats in three other states it ruled. It has framed its gains as a protest vote against Anwars unity government.

Sultan Abdullah, in a National Day post on Facebook, echoed Anwars call for racial unity.

This unity is the main key to the countrys stability and prosperity, as well as the seed and source of strength for us to face any current and future challenges, he said.

Although his government has a two-thirds majority in Parliament, Anwar has not yet managed to shore up support among Malay voters, many who view him as too liberal. They fear their Islamic identity and economic privileges under a decades-old affirmative action program could be chipped away.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who recently returned from exile and began serving an eight-year prison term, has requested a royal pardon, a senior member of the outgoing Cabinet said Thursday. Thaksin was moved from prison to a state hospital soon after his return last week for reported ill health.

Wissanu Krea-ngam, who is acting justice minister as well as a deputy prime minister, said he has received a letter from Thaksin requesting a pardon, but declined to say how long it would take to be approved.

The process of approval entirely depends on his royal grace, he said. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, giving King Maha Vajiralongkorn the final word on pardons of convicted criminals.

Thaksin, by promoting populist policies and using the fortune he made in telecommunications to build his own political party, was elected prime minister in 2001 and easily reelected in 2005.

He was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and accused of corruption, abuse of power and disrespecting the monarchy.

He returned last week after 15 years of self-imposed exile and was immediately sent to Bangkoks main prison because of several criminal convictions he has decried as politically motivated.

Hours after Thaksins return, Srettha Thavisin of the Pheu Thai party won enough votes in Parliament to become prime minister, ending more than three months of uncertainty after Mays general election. Pheu Thai is the latest in a string of parties affiliated with Thaksin.

To achieve a parliamentary majority, Srettha formed a coalition with pro-military parties linked to a 2014 coup that ousted a Pheu Thai government formed by Thaksins sister, Yingluck Shinawatra. Pheu Thai had vowed during the May election campaign that it would not join with any pro-military party in forming a government.

It also excluded the progressive Move Forward Party, which won the most seats and votes in the polls.

It is widely believed that Thaksin returned out of hope that a new government friendly to him would reduce his sentence and that he may have made a deal with authorities, although he has said his decision had nothing to do with the Pheu Thai partys bid for power.

Srettha told reporters on Thursday that he expects to submit a list of his new Cabinet ministers for royal endorsement on Friday.

There is growing criticism that Thaksin has received special treatment compared to other inmates, including not having to get a prison-style haircut.

He was also transferred to a hospital just hours after being taken to prison, a move which officials attributed to several health problems.
People in Singapore will vote on Friday to elect the countrys ninth president, with former minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam hoping to be the next Indian-origin Singaporean head of the state in a three-way contest.

Shanmugaratnam, 66, an Indian-origin Singapore-born economist, formally launched his presidential campaign last month with a pledge to evolve the countrys culture to keep it a shining spot in the world.

He is one of the three candidates chosen under strict criteria. Singapore has a stringent qualification process for candidates vying for the presidency.

This will be Singapores first contested presidential election in years. On August 11, Singapore said it will hold the presidential election on September 1 if more than one person qualifies to run for the highest office.

If only one candidate had become eligible for the post, he or she would have been declared president on nomination day on August 22.

This year, candidates from all races can vie for the post but they cannot be affiliated to any political party on the date of nomination.

Therman, who joined politics in 2001, has served in the public sector and ministerial positions with the ruling Peoples Action Party (PAP) for over two decades. Chinese-origin Singaporeans Ng Kok Song and Tan Kin Lian are the other two contenders.

Ng, 75, is a former chief investment officer with the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) and former NTUC Income chief.

Tan, 75, is the former chief of the NTUC Income, also a state-owned union-based insurance group.

The role (of President) is an elected one, it pertains to state resources, the symbolism of the state, and responsibilities, even if the presidency has curtailed discretion, said Associate Professor of Political Science Chong Ja Ian at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

These qualities make the position political by nature, even if the people running for office and who hold office do not have a formal political party membership, he said.

Tharman supports his qualification to be the next president of the prosperous state by citing his international experience across various fields including pandemic preparedness and human development.

He also has experience in the government and with the city states foreign reserves, estimated to be over Singapore dollars 2 trillion.

Put quite simply, I know the whole system of safeguarding and using the reserves inside out. No one can fool me, The Straits Times newspaper quoted him as saying. Ng offered his three qualifications  competence and experience from his time at GIC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the de facto central bank, his non-partisan status, and his being a person of trust and responsibility.

Tan pointed to his 30-year experience as chief executive of NTUC Income.

While Ng and Tan have maintained their no-political affiliation, Tharman, who served as Singapores Deputy Prime Minister between 2011-2019, resigned in July from public and political posts to run for the presidency.

Sellapan Ramanathan, popularly known as SR Nathan, a Singaporean politician and civil servant of Tamil has served as the president of Singapore. In 2009, Nathan surpassed Benjamin Sheares to become Singapores longest-serving president.

Chengara Veetil Devan Nair, better known as Devan Nair, served as the third president of Singapore from 1981 until his resignation in 1985. Born in 1923 in Malacca, Malaysia, Nair was the son of a rubber plantation clerk, who was originally from Thalassery, Kerala.

I believe I can now best serve Singapore not in politics, but as the President, standing above politics. I have therefore resigned from the PAP, and as Senior Minister and all my other positions in government to run in the election, Tharman wrote in an open letter to Singaporeans.

I have made this decision because the challenges our country faces will grow. The Elected Presidency will be critical. The challenges are not merely about today. We are in a time of transition, both in Singapore and internationally. We are moving into a new era, he said.
Nigers military junta has revoked the diplomatic immunity of Frances ambassador and ordered police to expel him from the country, according to a statement from the military regime.

The mutinous soldiers who ousted Nigers president more than a month ago gave French Ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country last week. The deadline expired on August 28 without France recalling Itte.

The French government says it doesnt recognize the coup-plotters as the countrys legitimate leaders.
North Korea said Thursday its latest missile launches simulated scorched earth nuclear strikes on South Korea and that its also been rehearsing an occupation of its rivals territory in the event of conflict.

Pyongyang has previously tested nuclear-capable missiles and described how it would use them in potential wars with South Korea and the US. But the Norths disclosure of detailed war plans reaffirmed its aggressive nuclear doctrine to intimidate its opponents, as it escalates its protest of the ongoing South Korean-US military exercises that it views as a major security threat, observers say.

North Koreas military said it fired two tactical ballistic missiles from the capital on Wednesday night to practice scorched earth strikes at major command centers and operational airfields in South Korea, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The Norths military said the missiles carried out their simulated strikes through air bursts, suggesting it confirmed the explosions of dummy warheads at a set altitude.

North Korea said its missile tests were response to the United States flyover of long-range B-1B bombers for a joint aerial training with South Korea earlier Wednesday as part of the allies field exercises.

(The aerial drill) is a serious threat to (North Korea) as it was just pursuant to the scenario for a preemptive nuclear strike at North Korea, the Korean Peoples Army general staff said. The KPA will never overlook the rash acts of the US forces and the (South Korean) military gangsters.

The missile launches Wednesday were the latest in the Norths barrage of weapons tests since last year.

According to South Korean and Japanese assessments, the two short-range missiles travelled a distance of 360-400 kilometers at the maximum altitude of 50 kilometers before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Soldiers from the US, Indonesia and five other nations began annual training exercises Thursday on Indonesias main island of Java while Chinas increasing aggression is raising concern.

American and Indonesian soldiers have held the live-fire Super Garuda Shield drills since 2009, and Australia, Japan and Singapore joined last year.

The United Kingdom and French forces are participating in this years exercises, with a total of about 5,000 personnel.

China sees the expanded drills as a threat, accusing the US of building an Indo-Pacific alliance similar to NATO to limit Chinas growing military and diplomatic influence in the region.

Brunei, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Korea, and East Timor also sent observers to the two-week exercises in Baluran, a coastal town in East Java province.

The commanding general of US Army Pacific, Gen. Charles Flynn, said the 19 nations involved in the training are a powerful demonstration of multilateral solidarity to safeguard a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Super Garuda Shield 2023 builds on last years tremendous success, Flynn said in a statement released by the US Embassy in Jakarta on Tuesday, This joint, multinational training exercise displays our collective commitment and like-minded unity, allowing for a stable, secure, and more peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific.

The statement said at least 2,100 US and 1,900 Indonesian forces will enhance interoperability capabilities through training and cultural exchanges that includes a command and control simulation, an amphibious exercise, airborne operations, an airfield seizure exercise, and a combined joint field training that culminates with a live-fire event.

The command post exercise will focus on mission planning staff tasks in a combined military setting. A field training exercise will involve battalion-strength elements from each nation exercising war-fighting skills to enhance interoperability and combined operational capacity.

Garuda Shield was held in several places, including in waters around Natuna at the southern portion of the South China Sea, a fault line in the rivalry between the US and China.

Indonesia and China enjoy generally positive ties, but Jakarta has expressed concern about what it sees as Chinese encroachment in its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.

The edge of the exclusive economic zone overlaps with Beijings unilaterally declared nine-dash line demarking its claims in the South China Sea.

Increased activities by Chinese coast guard vessels and fishing boats in the area have unnerved Jakarta, prompting Indonesias navy to conduct a large drill in July 2020 in waters around Natuna.
2 Wall Street equities research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for South32 in the last twelve months. There are currently 1 sell rating and 1 buy rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street equities research analysts is that investors should "hold" S32 shares. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in S32, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.

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The following companies are subsidiares of CAE: 9595058 Canada Inc., AACE Vietnam Limited Liability Company, ARGE Rheinmetall Defence Electronics Gmbh/CAE Elektronik GmbH, Advanced Medical Technologies, Alpha Omega Change Engineering, Asian Aviation Centre of Excellence (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Aviation Personnel Support Services Limited, Aviation Training Northeast Asia B.V., Business Aircraft Training, CAE (UK) plc, CAE (US) Inc., CAE Academia de Aviacion Espana, CAE Aircraft Maintenance Pty Ltd., CAE Aircrew Training Services plc, CAE Australia Pty Ltd, CAE Australia Pty Ltd., CAE Aviation Services Pte Ltd., CAE Aviation Training B.V., CAE Aviation Training Chile Limitada, CAE Aviation Training Chile Limitada4, CAE Aviation Training International Ltd., CAE Aviation Training Peru S.A., CAE Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, CAE Beyss Grundstucksgesellschaft GmbH, CAE Brunei Multi Purpose Training Centre Sdn Bhd, CAE Brunei Multi-Purpose Training Center Sdn. Bhd., CAE CFT B.V., CAE CFT Holdings B.V., CAE CFT Korea Ltd., CAE Center Amsterdam B.V., CAE Center Brussels N.V., CAE Centre Copenhagen A.S., CAE Centre Copenhagen A/S, CAE Centre Hong Kong Limited, CAE Centre Oslo A.S., CAE Centre Oslo AS, CAE Centre Stockholm A.B., CAE Centre Stockholm AB, CAE China Support Services Company Limited, CAE Civil Aviation Training Solutions Inc., CAE Civil Aviation Training Solutions Inc., CAE Crewing Services Limited, CAE Delaware Buyco Inc., CAE Electronik GmbH, CAE Elektronik GmbH, CAE Engineering Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, CAE Flight & Simulator Services Sdn. Bhd., CAE Flight Solutions USA Inc., CAE Flight Training (India) Private Limited, CAE Flight Training Center Mexico, CAE Flight Training Center Mexico S.A. de C.V., CAE Flight and Simulator Services Korea Ltd., CAE Global Academy Evora, CAE Global Academy Evora SA, CAE Healthcare, CAE Healthcare Canada Inc., CAE Healthcare GmbH, CAE Healthcare Inc., CAE Healthcare KFT, CAE Holdings B.V., CAE Holdings Limited, CAE India Private Limited, CAE India Private Limited., CAE Integrated Enterprise Solutions Australia Pty Ltd., CAE International Holdings Limited, CAE Investments S.a.r.l., CAE Japan Flight Training Inc., CAE Kuala Lumpur Sdn Bhd, CAE Kuala Lumpur Sdn. Bhd., CAE Luxembourg Acquisition S.a r.l., CAE Luxembourg Acquisition S.a.r.l., CAE Machinery Ltd., CAE Management Luxembourg S.a.r.l., CAE Maritime Middle East LLC, CAE Melbourne Flight Training Pty Ltd., CAE Middle East Holdings Limited, CAE Middle East L.L.C., CAE Military Aviation Training Inc., CAE Mining Equipment Canada Inc., CAE New Zealand Pty Limited, CAE New Zealand Pty Ltd., CAE Nigeria Flight Training Services Limited, CAE North East Training Inc., CAE Operational Training Services Inc., CAE Oxford Aviation Academy (Singapore) Pte Ltd., CAE Oxford Aviation Academy Amsterdam B.V., CAE Oxford Aviation Academy Pheonix Inc., CAE Oxford Aviation Academy Phoenix Inc., CAE Parc Aviation Jersey Limited, CAE Railway Ltd., CAE STS Limited, CAE Screenplates S.A., CAE Services (Canada) Inc., CAE Services GmbH, CAE Services Italia, CAE Services Italia S.r.l., CAE Servicios Globales de Instruccion de Vuelo (Espana) S.L., CAE Servicios Globales de Instruccion de Vuelo (Espana) S.L., CAE Shanghai Company, CAE Shanghai Company Limited, CAE SimuFlite Inc., CAE Simulation Technologies Private Limited, CAE Simulator Services Inc., CAE Singapore (S.E.A.) Pte Ltd., CAE South America Flight Training do Brasil Ltda, CAE South America Flight Training do Brasil Ltda., CAE Training & Services Brussels NV, CAE Training & Services UK Ltd., CAE Training Aircraft B.V., CAE Training Norway A.S., CAE Training Norway AS, CAE USA Inc., CAE USA Mission Solutions Inc., CAE Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, CAE Wood Products G.P.1, CAE-LIDER Training Do Brasil Ltda., China Southern West Australia Flying College Pty Ltd, Datamine, Embraer CAE Training Services, Emirates-CAE Flight Training (L.L.C.) ., Engenuity Holdings (USA) Inc., Flight Simulator-Capital L.P.2, Flight Training Alliance GmbH, Flight Training Device (Mauritius) Limited, GCAT Flight Academy Germany GmbH, GCAT Flight Academy Malta Limited, HATSOFF Helicopter Training Private Limited, Helicopter Training Media International GmbH, International Flight School (Mauritius) Ltd., Invertron Simulators plc, JAL CAE Flight Training Co., KVDB Flight Training Services, Luftfartsskolen AS, National Flying Training Institute Private Limited, Oxford Airline Training Center Inc., Oxford Aviation Academy, Oxford Aviation Academy (Australia) Pty Ltd., Oxford Aviation Academy (Oxford) Limited, Oxford Aviation Academy Europe AB, Oxford Aviation Academy European Holdings AB, Oxford Aviation Academy Finance Limited, Oxford Aviation Academy Holdings Pty Ltd., Oxford Aviation Academy Ireland Holdings Limited, Oxford Aviation Academy Norway Holdings A.S., Parc Aviation (UK) Limited, Parc Aviation Engineering Services Limited, Parc Aviation Engineering Services Ltd, Parc Aviation International Limited, Parc Aviation Japan Limited, Parc Aviation Limited, Parc Aviation Services Limited, Parc Aviation Training Limited, Parc Aviation UK Ltd, Parc Interim Limited, Parc Selection Limited, Parc U.S. Inc., Pelesys Learning Systems Inc., Presagis Canada Inc., Presagis Europe (S.A.), Presagis Europe S.A., Presagis USA Inc., Rotorsim USA LLC., Rotorsim s.r.l., SIM-Industries Brasil Administracao de Centros de Treinamento Ltda., SIM-Industries Brasil Administracao de Centros de Treinamento Ltda., SIV Ops Training, SIV Ops Training S.L., SKYALYNE Canada Inc., Servicios de Instruccion de Vuelo, Servicios de Instruccion de Vuelo S.L., Sim-Industries Production B.V. NN, Sim-Lease Korea Ltd., Simubel N.V. (a CAE Aviation Training Company), Simulator Servicios Mexico, and Xtend Inc..

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On August 30th, Pan Yajie (left) packaged freshly picked grapes in a grapeyard in Zipeng Town, Feixi County

Aged 26, Pan Yajie has studied abroad for many years. After graduating with a master's degree in 2022, she returned to Feixi County, Hefei City, Anhui Province, driven by her love for her hometown, to become a rural entrepreneur.

Having spent years studying abroad and now returning to farming, some of her friends and relatives do not understand Pan Yajie's choice. Pan Yajie explains that her hometown is the place she wants to dedicate her entire life to. By applying her expertise in management and economics, she aims to empower agricultural projects and revitalize traditional farming.

During the golden autumn season, Pan Yajie's family had a bountiful harvest of over 60 mu of 'Shine Muscat' grapes. In addition to daily management, picking, and sales, Pan Yajie also leverages her skills to livestream and promote her grapes directly from the field. Pan Yajie acknowledges the challenges of agricultural work, and it requires patience to endure loneliness. However, witnessing the scenes of a successful harvest, she believes that all the efforts are worthwhile.

On August 30th, Pan Yajie (first from right) walked with her parents through a rice field in Zipeng Town, Feixi County.

On August 30th, Pan Yajie (first from left) worked on the care of a pear orchard in Zipeng Town, Feixi County with her parents.

On August 30th, Pan Yajie (first from left) conducted a live broadcast in a grapeyard in Zipeng Town, Feixi County.

On August 30th, Pan Yajie picked grapes in a grapeyard in Zipeng Town, Feixi County.

On August 30th, Pan Yajie used a device to test the sugar content of grapes in a grapeyard in Zipeng Town, Feixi County.

On August 30th, Pan Yajie drove a tractor to transport agricultural materials within a rural complex in Zipeng Town, Feixi County.
AdvanSix Inc. manufactures and sells polymer resins in the United States and internationally. It offers Nylon 6, a polymer resin, which is a synthetic material used to produce fibers, filaments, engineered plastics, and films. The company also provides caprolactam to manufacture polymer resins; ammonium sulfate fertilizers to distributors, farm cooperatives, and retailers; and acetone that are used in the production of adhesives, paints, coatings, solvents, herbicides, and engineered plastic resins, as well as other intermediate chemicals, including phenol, monoisopropylamine, dipropylamine, monoallylamine, alpha-methylstyrene, cyclohexanone, methyl ethyl ketoxime, acetaldehyde oxime, 2-pentanone oxime, cyclohexanol, sulfuric acid, ammonia, and carbon dioxide. It offers its products under the Aegis, Capran, Sulf-N, Nadone, Naxol, and EZ-Blox brands. The company sells its products directly, as well as through distributors. AdvanSix Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.
Albertsons Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of food and drug stores in the United States. The company's food and drug retail stores offer grocery products, general merchandise, health and beauty care products, pharmacy, fuel, and other items and services. It also manufactures and processes food products for sale in stores. It operates stores under various banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Carrs, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw's, Star Market, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Haggen, Kings Food Markets, and Balducci's Food Lovers Market; and pharmacies, in-store branded coffee shops, adjacent fuel centers, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities, as well as various digital platforms. The company was founded in 1860 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Albertsons Companies, Inc. is a subsidiary of Albertsons Investor Holdings LLC.
Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company primarily in Mid-Atlantic United States. The company operates through PSE&G and PSEG Power. The PSE&G segment transmits electricity; distributes electricity and gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers, as well as invests in solar generation projects, and energy efficiency and related programs; and offers appliance services and repairs. As of December 31, 2022, it had electric transmission and distribution system of 25,000 circuit miles and 864,000 poles; 55 switching stations with an installed capacity of 39,653 megavolt-amperes (MVA), and 235 substations with an installed capacity of 9,735 MVA; four electric distribution headquarters and five electric sub-headquarters; and 18,000 miles of gas mains, 12 gas distribution headquarters, two sub-headquarters, and one meter shop, as well as 56 natural gas metering and regulating stations. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated was incorporated in 1985 and is based in Newark, New Jersey.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company provides solutions that allow customers to capture, analyze, and act upon data seamlessly in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. It operates in six segments: Compute, HPC & AI, Storage, Intelligent Edge, Financial Services, and Corporate Investments and Other. The company offers general purpose servers for multi-workload computing and workload-optimized servers; HPE ProLiant rack and tower servers; HPE Synergy; and solutions for secondary workloads and traditional tape, storage networking, and disk products, such as HPE Modular Storage Arrays and HPE XP. It also offers HPE Cray, HPE Apollo, and converged edge systems; and HPE Superdome Flex, HPE Nonstop, and HPE Integrity products. In addition, the company provides HPE Aruba product portfolio that includes hardware products, such as Wi-Fi access points, switches, and gateways; HPE Aruba software and services comprising cloud-based management, network management, network access control, analytics and assurance, and location; and professional and support services, as well as as-a-service and consumption models for the intelligent edge portfolio of products. Further, it offers various leasing, financing, IT consumption, and utility programs and asset management services for customers to facilitate technology deployment models and the acquisition of complete IT solutions, including hardware, software, and services from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others. Additionally, the company provides consultative-led services; HPE Ezmeral Container Platform; HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric; and Hewlett Packard Labs. It serves commercial and large enterprise groups, such as business and public sector enterprises; and through various partners comprising resellers, distribution partners, original equipment manufacturers, independent software vendors, systems integrators, and advisory firms. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.
Johnson & Johnson is a US-based multinational pharmaceutical company that started in the early 1870s. Robert Wood Johnson began training as a pharmacist at 16 and founded his 1st company in 1873. That company would be disbanded by 1886 when Johnson joined his brothers to form today's entity. The companys first line of products was sterile surgical dressings which were soon followed up by household products and medical guides.

Today, Johnson & Johnson is one of the worlds largest companies. It is ranked 36th on the 2021 Fortune 500 list and is a Dow Jones Industrial Average member. The company operates via 250 subsidiaries with operations in 60 countries and product sales in 175. As of 2021, annual sales were in the range of $95 billion and growing. The company is also a leader in equality and the advancement of womens rights. Johnson & Johnsons workforce was nearly 50% female by 1910, and many held significant positions of responsibility.

Among the companys many advances in health care is the advancement of sterile conditions to prevent postoperative and secondary infections. Products include sterile gauze, cotton and dressings, and the development of the industrial sterilization process. However, the product that launched the company to success was the combination of a sterile dressing with tape. The company called the new products Band-Aids, which is now synonymous with small, prepackaged bandages. Another major win for the company was Johnson & Johnson Baby Soap.

Today, Johnson & Johnson operates in 3 segments: Pharmaceutical, Consumer Health and MedTech. The Consumer Health segment alone covers brands like Aveeno, Listerine, Tylenol, Zyrtec, Band-Aid and Neosporin, which are among the worlds most recognizable brands. The companys purpose is to blend science and ingenuity to change the trajectory of health for humanity profoundly.

The Pharmaceutical segment offers products in all segments of the healthcare spectrum and has partnerships to develop new drugs with at least 10 other major healthcare providers and dozens of smaller research facilities. Products are offered wholesale to retailers and through healthcare systems. The MedTech segment develops and manufactures various healthcare devices and diagnostic tools. Among the many recognizable products from this segment are ACUVUE contact lenses.

Johnson & Johnson went public in 1944 and began paying dividends soon after. The company began increasing its dividend payment in 1962 and has increased it yearly. The company is a member of the Dividend Aristocrat Index and qualifies as a Dividend King with more than 50 years of consecutive annual increases. The company employs more than 142,000 individuals and serves more than 1 billion daily. Regarding the companys health, its track record of dividend payments is backed up by a AAA credit rating. Johnson & Johnson is one of only 2 US corporations with such a rating and is more trusted than the US government.

The company announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies in 2021. The move is expected to be complete in late 2023 and will result in a Consumer Health company and a Pharmaceutical company.










BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates warehouse clubs on the eastern half of the United States. It provides perishable, general merchandise, gasoline, coupon books, promotions, and other ancillary services. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app. The company was formerly known as Beacon Holding Inc. and changed its name to BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. in February 2018. BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts.
PropertyGuru Group Limited operates digital property classifieds marketplaces that connects homeowners and tenants with verified home service providers in Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. The company offers digital and marketing services, and sales process and workflow automation software for developers. PropertyGuru Group Limited provides a range of data products and services for agents/agencies, property developers and valuers, and financial institution customers. It serves agents and developers to advertise residential and commercial properties for sale or rent to property seekers. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in Singapore.
Rithm Capital Corp., formerly New Residential Investment Corp., is a leading manager of assets and investments across the real estate and financial services space. The company was created in 2011 to hold mortgage servicing rights and other mortgage-related assets, and since then, it has evolved into a diversified platform of investments. With approximately $7 billion in equity and over $4.3 billion in dividends distributed, Rithm Capital has established itself as a reliable and strategic investment opportunity for shareholders.

Headquartered in New York, Rithm Capital aims to create new opportunities for growth in 2023 and beyond as it builds out its private capital business and manages third-party capital. The company's success is attributed to its strategic approach, which is focused on a diverse, complementary, and adaptable portfolio of investments. This includes operating companies, investment portfolios, and recently launched private capital businesses.

Michael Nierenberg is the Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, and President of Rithm Capital. Nierenberg has worked for the company since its inception in 2013 and has played a pivotal role in its success. Before his CEO role, Nierenberg served as Managing Director and Head of Global Mortgages and Securitized Products at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He also held senior leadership positions at Bear Stearns for 14 years, including Head of Interest Rate and Foreign Exchange Trading Operations, Co-Head of Structured Products, and Co-Head of Mortgage-Backed Securities Trading. Nick Santoro is the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer of Rithm Capital. Santoro has been with the company since 2015 and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Rithm Capital has demonstrated solid financial performance over the past few years, with notable revenue, earnings, and profit margins. The company's debt levels have remained manageable, and it has not made any significant changes in ownership recently. Rithm Capital's valuation metrics, such as price-to-earnings or price-to-book ratio, compared to industry peers, are favorable and suggest that the company's stock is undervalued. Regarding market performance, Rithm Capital's stock has experienced significant price movements and changes in trading volume. However, the company has remained resilient and continues to deliver value to its shareholders.

Rithm Capital operates in the real estate and financial services space, a highly competitive industry. The company faces competitors, including other asset management firms and financial institutions. The industry is also subject to regulatory and political issues that may impact the company's performance.

Despite these challenges, Rithm Capital has several growth opportunities in the pipeline. The company has expanded its business into private capital to diversify its investment platform and generate recurring earnings for shareholders. Additionally, Rithm Capital plans to create new opportunities for growth in 2023 and beyond by managing third-party capital and building out its private capital business.

However, like any company, Rithm Capital is not immune to risks and challenges. Consumer preferences, regulatory changes, and competitive pressures may impact the company's performance. Additionally, economic downturns may adversely affect the company's revenue and earnings.
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. provides insurance and financial services to individual and business customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. Its Commercial Lines segment offers insurance coverages, including workers' compensation, property, automobile, general and professional liability, package business, umbrella, fidelity and surety, marine, livestock, and reinsurance through regional offices, branches, sales and policyholder service centers, independent retail agents and brokers, wholesale agents, and reinsurance brokers. The company's Personal Lines segment provides automobile, homeowners, and personal umbrella coverages through direct-to-consumer channel and independent agents. Its Property & Casualty Other Operations segment offers coverage for asbestos and environmental exposures. The company's Group Benefits segment provides group life, disability, and other group coverages to members of employer groups, associations, and affinity groups through direct insurance policies; reinsurance to other insurance companies; employer paid and voluntary product coverages; disability underwriting, administration, and claims processing to self-funded employer plans; and a single-company leave management solution. This segment distributes its group insurance products and services through brokers, consultants, third-party administrators, trade associations, and private exchanges. Its Hartford Funds segment offers managed mutual funds across various asset classes; and exchange-traded products through broker-dealer organizations, independent financial advisers, defined contribution plans, financial consultants, bank trust groups, and registered investment advisers, as well as investment management, distribution, and administrative services, such as product design, implementation, and oversight. The company was founded in 1810 and is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut.
New Jersey Resources Corporation, an energy services holding company, provides regulated gas distribution, and retail and wholesale energy services. The company operates through four segments: Natural Gas Distribution, Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Services, and Storage and Transportation. The Natural Gas Distribution segment offers regulated natural gas utility services to approximately 569,300 residential and commercial customers throughout Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, and Sussex counties in New Jersey; provides capacity and storage management services; and participates in the off-system sales and capacity release markets. The Clean Energy Ventures segment invests in, owns, and operates commercial and residential solar installation situated in New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York. The Energy Services segment offers unregulated wholesale energy management services to other energy companies and natural gas producers, as well as maintains and transacts a portfolio of physical assets consisting of natural gas transportation and storage contracts in the United States and Canada. The Storage and Transportation segment invests in natural gas transportation and storage facilities. It provides heating, ventilation, and cooling services; holds commercial real estate properties; and offers solar equipment installation, and plumbing repair and installation services, as well as engages in the water appliance sale, installation, and servicing activities. The company was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Wall, New Jersey.
PJT Partners Inc., an investment bank, provides various strategic and capital markets advisory, restructuring and special situations, and shareholder advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. It offers advisory services to clients on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, activism defense, contested M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and divestitures. The company also advises private and public company boards and management teams on strategies for building productive investor relationships with a focus on shareholder engagement; and strategic investor relations; environmental, social, and governance matters; and other investor-related matters. In addition, it provides advisory services related to debt and acquisition financings; structured product offerings; public equity raises, including initial public offering and SPAC offerings; and private capital raises for early and later stage companies, as well as other capital structure related matters. Further, the company offers advisory services in restructurings and recapitalizations; and serving a range of companies, creditors, and financial sponsors on liability management and related capital raise transactions, including exchanges, recapitalizations, reorganizations, debt repurchases, and distressed mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, it provides private fund advisory and fundraising services for a range of investment strategies; and advisory services to GPs and LPs on liquidity and other structured solutions in the secondary market. The company was formerly known as Blackstone Advisory Inc. and changed its name to PJT Partners Inc. in March 2015. PJT Partners Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
The following companies are subsidiares of Dover: APM Grundstucksverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Accelerated Production Systems, Acme Cryo Intermediate Inc., Acme Cryogenics, Acme Cryogenics Inc., Acme Elevator, Advansor A/S, Advansor Dover International (Poland) sp. z o.o., Advansor Germany GmbH, Alfred Fueling Systems Holdco Ltd., Alfred Fueling Systems Inc., Alfred Fueling Systems Intermediate Holdco Ltd., All-Flo Pump Company, Anman LLC, Anthony Equity Holdings Inc., Anthony Holdings Inc., Anthony Inc., Anthony International, Anthony International Foreign Sales Corp., Anthony International Holding Company, Anthony Mexico Holdings LLC, Anthony North Holdco Inc., Anthony Specialty Glass LLC, Anthony TemperBent GP LLC, Audax ECII Blocker Inc., Auto Glanz Solutions LLC, AvaLAN Wireless Systems Incorporated, BELVAC CR spol s r.o., BSC Filters Limited, Belanger, Belanger Inc., Belvac Middle East FZE, Belvac Production Machinery Inc., Blackmer, BlitzRotary GmbH, Blue Bite LLC, Blue Bite LLC, Butler Engineering and Marketing S.P.A., CDS Visual, CDS Visual Inc., CEP Liquidation LLC, CP Formation LLC, CPC Europe Inc., CPI Products Inc., Caldera, Canada Organization & Development LLC, Chief Automotive Technologies (Shanghai) Trading Company Ltd., Chippewa Square Captive Insurance Company, Colder Products Company, Colder Products Company GmbH, Colder Products Company LTD, Cook Compression LLC, Cook Compression Limited, Cook-MFS Inc., Cryogenic Experts LLC, DD1 Inc., DDI Properties Inc., DE-STA-CO Benelux B.V., DE-STA-CO FRANCE, DE-STA-CO Shanghai Co. Ltd., DESTACO UK Limited, DFH Corporation, DFS Netherlands B.V., Datamax International Corp, De Sta Co (Asia) Company Limited, De-Sta-Co Cylinders Inc., DeStaCo Europe GmbH, Delaware Capital Formation Inc., Delaware Capital Holdings Inc., Dositec Sistemas SL, Dosmatic U.S.A. Inc., Dover (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Dover (Schweiz) Holding GmbH, Dover (Shanghai) Industrial Co. Ltd., Dover (Shenzhen) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover (Suzhou) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover Asia Trading Private Ltd., Dover Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Dover Business Services EMEA Limited, Dover Business Services Europe S.R.L., Dover Business Services LLC, Dover Business Services Philippines Corporation, Dover CLP Formation Limited Partnership, Dover Canada Holdings ULC, Dover Canada Operations ULC, Dover Corporation Regional Headquarters, Dover DEI Services Inc., Dover Denmark Holdings ApS, Dover EMEA FZCO, Dover Energy UK Ltd, Dover Engineered Products Segment Inc., Dover Europe Inc., Dover Europe Sarl, Dover Fluids UK Ltd, Dover France Holdings, Dover France Participations, Dover France Technologies, Dover Fueling Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Fueling Solutions UK Limited, Dover Germany GmbH, Dover Global Holdings LLC, Dover Holdings de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dover Imaging & Identification Segment Inc., Dover India Pvt. Ltd., Dover Intercompany Services UK Limited, Dover International B.V., Dover International Operations Inc., Dover International Ventures Inc., Dover International ithalat ihracat ve Pazarlama Limited Sirketi, Dover Italy Holdings S.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Finance Sarl, Dover Luxembourg Participations Sarl, Dover Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Services Sarl, Dover Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Dover Overseas Ventures Inc., Dover Pumps & Process Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment UK Ltd, Dover Resources International de Mexico S. de R.L. C.V., Dover Solutions Colombia SAS, Dover Southeast Asia (Thailand) Ltd., Dover Spain Holdings S.L., Dover Switzerland Participations GmbH, Dover UK Pensions Limited, Dover WSCR Holding LLC, Dover WSCR LLC, Dover do Brasil Ltda., Dow-Key Microwave Corporation, Dresser Wayne Data Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Dresser Wayne Fuel Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ECI - IGT Holdings LLC, ECI Holding Company LLC, ECI RegO S. de R.L. de C.V, ECI RegO Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., ECII (Mexico) LLC, EOA Systems Inc., Ebs-Ray Holdings Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Industries Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Pumps Pty Ltd, Em-Tec, Engineered Controls International LLC, Espy, Ettlinger, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, Fairbanks Environmental Limited, Fibrelite Composites Limited, Fibresec Holdings Limited, Fibresec Limited, Finder, GAL LLC, GIIER LLC, Gala Industries, Guangdong Tokheim LIYUAN Oil Industry Technology Limited Company, Highland Park Insurance Company, Hill PHOENIX Inc., Hill PHOENIX WIC LLC, Hill Phoenix Costa Rica Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, Hill Phoenix El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, Hill Phoenix Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Honduras Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hiltap Fittings Ltd., Hydro Systems Company, Hydro Systems Europe Ltd., Industrial Motion Control LLC, Innovative Control Systems, Innovative Control Systems Inc., Inpro/Seal LLC, JK Group, JK Group S.P.A., JK Group USA Inc., K S Boca Inc., K&L Microwave DR Inc., K&L Microwave Inc., KPS (Beijing) Petroleum Equipment Trading Co Ltd., KPS Fueling Solutions Sdn. Bhd., KPS Hong Kong Holding Limited, KPS UK Limited, KS Formation Inc., KS Liquidation Inc., KSLP Liquidation L.P., Kiian Digital (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Knappco LLC, Knowles Electronics, LIQAL, LIQAL B.V., Liquip, Liquip, Liquip International Pty Limited, MAAG, MARKEM FZ SA, MARKEM-IMAJE Corporation, MIP Holdings Inc., MS Printing Solutions, MS Printing Solutions S.R.L., Maag, Maag Automatik Plastics Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Maag Gala Inc., Maag Germany GmbH, Maag Italy S.R.L., Maag Pump Systems, Maag Pump Systems (US) Inc., Maag Pump Systems AG, Maag Reduction Inc., Maag Service (Malaysia) Sdn. Bdn., Maag Service (Taiwan) Ltd., Maag Systems (Thailand) Limited, Macro Technologies LLC, Malema, Marathon Equipment Company (Delaware), Markem Imaje Center of Competencies Spain S.L.U., Markem-Imaje, Markem-Imaje (China) Co. Limited, Markem-Imaje - Unipessoal Lda, Markem-Imaje A/S, Markem-Imaje AB, Markem-Imaje AG, Markem-Imaje AS, Markem-Imaje B.V., Markem-Imaje CSAT GmbH, Markem-Imaje Co. Ltd., Markem-Imaje GmbH, Markem-Imaje Holding, Markem-Imaje Identificacao de Produtos Ltda., Markem-Imaje Inc., Markem-Imaje India Private Limited, Markem-Imaje Industries, Markem-Imaje Industries Limited, Markem-Imaje KK, Markem-Imaje LLC, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Ltd., Markem-Imaje N.V., Markem-Imaje Oy, Markem-Imaje Philippines Corporation, Markem-Imaje Pty. Ltd., Markem-Imaje S.A., Markem-Imaje S.A. de C.V., Markem-Imaje S.r.l., Markem-Imaje SAS, Markem-Imaje Sdn. Bhd., Markem-Imaje Singapore Pte. Ltd., Markem-Imaje Spain S.A., Markpoint Holding AB, Midland Manufacturing LLC, Midwest Cryogenics Inc., Mouvex, Northeast Services Inc., Northern Lights (Nevada) Inc., Northern Lights Funding LP, Northern Lights Investments LLC, Nova Controls Inc., OK International, OK International Holdings Inc., OK International Inc., OK International Ltd., OPW Engineered Systems LLC, OPW Fluid Transfer Group Europe B.V., OPW Fluid Transfer Solutions (Jiang Su) Co. Ltd., OPW Fluids Group Inc., OPW Fuel Management Systems Inc., OPW Fueling Components (SuZhou) Co. Ltd., OPW Fueling Components LLC, OPW Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., OPW Slovakia s.r.o., OPW Sweden AB, Officine Meccaniche Sirio S.R.L., PDQ Manufacturing, PDQ Manufacturing Inc., PISCES by OPW Inc., PSD Codax Holdings Limited, PSD Codax Limited, PSG (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PSG (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PSG California LLC, PSG Germany GmbH, Petro Vend Sp. z o.o., Pike Machine Products Inc., Pole/Zero Acquisition Inc., Precision Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Para Postos De Combustiveis Ltda., Precision Service - Servicos De Manutencao E Instalacao De Postos De Abastecimento De Combustivel Ltda., Production Control Services, Pump Management Services Co. LLC, Quantex Arc Limited, Quantex Patents Limited, RAV France, Ravaglioli S.P.A., Reduction Engineering GmbH, RegO (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., RegO Holding GmbH, RegO Products, RegO Valve (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Rego GmbH, Revod Corporation, Revod Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Revod Sweden AB, Robohand Inc., Rosario, Rosario Handel B.V., Rotary Lift Consolidated (Haimen) Co. Ltd., SE Liquidation LLC, SWEP France, SWEP Germany GmbH, SWEP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SWEP North America Inc., SWEP Slovakia s.r.o., SWEP Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Seabiscuit Motorsports Inc., Shanghai RegO Flow Technology Company Ltd., Shine Bloom - ECI A Blocker Corp., Shine Bloom - ECI Blocker Corp., Shine Bloom - ECI S Blocker Corp., Simmons Sirvey Corporation, So. Cal. Soft-Pak, So. Cal. Soft-Pak Incorporated, Soft-Pak, Solaris Laser, Solaris Laser S.A., Somero Enterprises, Sound Solutions, Sound Solutions, Space S.R.L., Spirit, Start Italiana S.R.L., Superior Holding LLC, Superior Products LLC, Swep Energy Oy, Swep International A.B., Swep Japan K.K., Sys-Tech Solutions, Sys-Tech Solutions Inc., Systech, TQC Quantium Quality S.A. de C.V., TTSI III Inc., TWG Canada Consolidated Inc., TXHI LLC, Tartan Textile Services Inc., The Espy Corporation, The Heil Co., Tokheim, Tokheim Belgium, Tokheim China Company Limited, Tokheim GmbH, Tokheim Group, Tokheim Hengshan Technologies (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Tokheim Holding B.V., Tokheim India Private Limited, Tokheim Sofitam Applications, Triton Systems, Tulsa Winch Inc., UPCO Inc., US Synthetic, Unattended Payment Solutions LLC, Unified Brands, Val TemperBent Glass L.P., Vectron Frequency Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vehicle Service Group LLC, Vehicle Service Group UK Limited, Vos Food Store Equipment Ltd., WSCR Corp., Warn Automotive LLC, Warn Industries, Waukesha Bearings, Waukesha Bearings Corporation, Waukesha Bearings Limited, Waukesha Bearings Russia LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems, Wayne Fueling Systems (Rus) Limited Liability Company, Wayne Fueling Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Wayne Fueling Systems Canada ULC, Wayne Fueling Systems Italia S.R.L., Wayne Fueling Systems LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Sweden AB, Wayne Fueling Systems UK Holdco Ltd., Wayne Industria e Comercio Ltda., WellMark, WellMark, and em-tec GmbH.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Sonoco Products: 2103393 Ontario Inc., APEI UK Limited, APEI Unlimited IOM, Allied Packaging, Associated Packaging Technologies Inc., Ball Metalpack Holding LLC, Beteiligungen Sonoco Deutschland Vermogensverwaltungsgesellschaft mbh, CP Acquisition LLC, Can Packaging, Cap Liners Limited, Capseals Limited, Capseals Liners Limited, Cascades Sonoco Inc., Clear Lam Flexible Films (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., Clear Lam Packaging Inc., Clear Pack Co., Clear Pack Company, Colombiana P.M. LLC, Conitex Sonoco (BVI) Ltd., Conitex Sonoco (Mexico) S. de R.L. de C.V., Conitex Sonoco Hellas S.A., Conitex Sonoco Holding B.V., Conitex Sonoco Inc., Conitex Sonoco India Pvt. Ltd., Conitex Sonoco N.V., Conitex Sonoco Shanghai Ltd., Conitex Sonoco Suzhou Co. Ltd., Conitex Sonoco Taiwan Ltd., Conitex Sonoco USA Inc., Convex Mold Inc., Corenso Holdings America Inc., Corenso North America, Corenso Richmond LLC, Corepak Limited, CorrFlex Graphics LLC, Demolli Industria Cartaria S.p.A., Engraph Inc., Engraph Puerto Rico Inc., Fair Lawn Packaging Services LLC, Friarsgate Studio Limited, Graffo Paranaense De Embalagens S.A., Graffo Paranaense de Embalagens S/A, Grove Mill Paper Company Limited, Gunther of America Inc., Hartsville Corrugating LLC, Hayes Manufacturing Group, Highland Packaging Solutions, Highland Packaging Solutions LLC, Industrial Machine Co. Inc., Inversiones Sonoco Limitada, Italtubetti SpA, Laminar Medica, Laminar Medica (CE) s.r.o., Laminar Medica Limited, Manufacturas Sonoco S.A. de C.V., Matrix Packaging Inc., OOO Sonoco Alcore, PT Conitex Sonoco, PT Papcor Asia Pacific, PT Papertech Indonesia, PT Sonoco Indonesia, Packaging Holdings Inc., Papcor (Dezhou) Packaging Material Co. Ltd., Papertech Dezhou Co. Ltd., Papertech SL, PenPack LLC, Peninsula Packaging Company, Peninsula Packaging LLC, Penpack S. de R.L. de C.V., Phoenix Packaging Corp., Plastique Holdings LTD, SMB GmbH, SPC Capital Management Inc., SPC Liquidation LLC, SPC Management LLC, SPC Resources Inc., SR Holdings of the Carolinas LLC, Sebro Plastics Inc., Sonoco (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Sonoco (Taicang) Packaging Co. Ltd, Sonoco (Weifang) Packaging Company Ltd., Sonoco Absorbent Technologies LLC, Sonoco Absorbent Technologies Limited, Sonoco Alcore - Demolli S.r.l., Sonoco Alcore AB, Sonoco Alcore GmbH, Sonoco Alcore N.V., Sonoco Alcore Nederland B.V., Sonoco Ambalaj Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Sonoco Asia Holding S.a.r.l., Sonoco Asia L.L.C., Sonoco Asia Management Company L.L.C., Sonoco Australia Pty Ltd, Sonoco Board Mills Limited, Sonoco Bonmati S.A.U., Sonoco Canada Corporation, Sonoco Capseals Liners Limited, Sonoco Comercial S. de R.L. de C.V., Sonoco Consumer Products Dordrecht B.V., Sonoco Consumer Products Europe GmbH, Sonoco Consumer Products Hellas S.A., Sonoco Consumer Products Limited, Sonoco Consumer Products Mechelen BVBA, Sonoco Consumer Products Montanay SAS, Sonoco Consumer Products Poland Sp. Z.O.O., Sonoco Consumer Products SAS, Sonoco Consumer Products South Africa (PTY) Ltd., Sonoco Consumer Products Zwenkau GmbH, Sonoco Cores and Paper Limited, Sonoco Deutschland GmbH, Sonoco Deutschland Holdings GmbH, Sonoco Development Inc., Sonoco Elk Grove Inc., Sonoco Embalagens Ltda., Sonoco Flexible Packaging Canada Corporation, Sonoco Flexible Packaging Co. Inc., Sonoco Graphics India Private Limited, Sonoco Hickory Inc., Sonoco Holdings Inc., Sonoco Holdings UK Limited, Sonoco Hutchinson LLC, Sonoco IPD France SAS, Sonoco Iberia S.L.U., Sonoco International Holdings GmbH, Sonoco JV GmbH & Co. KG, Sonoco Kaiping Packaging Co. Ltd., Sonoco Limited, Sonoco Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Sonoco Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sonoco Milnrow, Sonoco Netherlands Holding II BV, Sonoco Netherlands Holding III BV, Sonoco New Zealand Limited, Sonoco Operadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Sonoco Packaging Limited, Sonoco Packaging Tapes Limited, Sonoco Paper Mill & IPD Hellas SA, Sonoco Paperboard Group LLC, Sonoco Partitions Inc., Sonoco Phoenix LLC, Sonoco Pina S.A.U., Sonoco Plastics B.V., Sonoco Plastics Canada ULC, Sonoco Plastics Germany GmbH, Sonoco Plastics Inc., Sonoco Poland Holdings B.V., Sonoco Polysack A/S Inc., Sonoco Polysack Limited, Sonoco Products Company UK, Sonoco Products Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Sonoco Protective Solutions Inc., Sonoco Recycling - International Trade Group LLC, Sonoco Recycling LLC, Sonoco Reels Limited, Sonoco Retail Packaging S. de R.L. de C.V., Sonoco S.A. de C.V., Sonoco SAS, Sonoco Saudi Limited Company, Sonoco Services LLC, Sonoco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Sonoco TEQ Holdings Ltd, Sonoco TEQ LLC, Sonoco TEQ Ltd, Sonoco TEQ Sp. Z.o.o, Sonoco Taiwan Ltd, Sonoco Thailand Ltd, Sonoco UK Leasing Limited, Sonoco Venezolana C.A., Sonoco Venture International Holdings GmbH, Sonoco Ventures UK Limited, Sonoco Wisconsin Rapids Core Plant LLC, Sonoco Wisconsin Rapids Inc., Sonoco Wisconsin Rapids Paper Mill LLC, Sonoco Yatai Pinghu Packaging Co Ltd, Sonoco de Colombia Ltda, Sonoco do Brasil Participacoes Ltda, Sonoco do Brazil Ltda, Sonoco of Puerto RicoInc., Sonoco-Alcore AS, Sonoco-Alcore Oy, Sonoco-Alcore S.a.r.l., Sonoco-Alcore Sp. Z.O.O., Sonoco-Engraph Puerto Rico Inc., TPT Limited, Tegrant Alloyd Brands Inc., Tegrant Corporation, Tegrant International Inc., Tegrant Property Holdings LLC, Tegrant de Mexico S.A. de C.V., ThermoSafe Brands Asia PTE LTD., ThermoSafe Brands Europe Ltd., Thermoform Engineered Quality LLC, Trident Graphics Canada Corporation, Trident Graphics NA LLC, Tubo-Tec Nordeste Industria, TuboTec, U.S. Paper Mills Corp., Weidenhammer Chile Ltda., Weidenhammer Packaging Group, Weidenhammer UK Ltd., and Wisenberg U.S. Inc..

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Westlake Corporation manufactures and markets performance and essential materials, and housing and infrastructure products in the United States, Canada, Germany, China, Italy, Taiwan, and internationally. The Performance and Essential Materials segment offers polyethylene, styrene monomer, ethylene co-products, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), vinyl chloride monomer, ethylene dichloride chlor-alkali, chlorinated derivative products, and epoxy resins. The Housing and Infrastructure Products segment provides residential PVC siding; PVC trim and mouldings; architectural stone veneer; windows; PVC decking; PVC films for various inflatables, wallcovering, and tape and roofing applications; polymer composite and cement roof tiles; PVC pipes and fittings for various water, sewer, electrical, and industrial applications; PVC compounds used in various housing, medical, and automobile products; and consumer and commercial products, such as landscape edging; industrial, home, and office matting; marine dock edging; and masonry joint controls. The company offers its products to chemical processors, plastics fabricators, small construction contractors, municipalities, and supply warehouses for use in various consumer and industrial markets, including residential construction, flexible and rigid packaging, automotive products, healthcare products, water treatment, wind turbines, and coatings, as well as other durable and non-durable goods. The company was formerly known as Westlake Chemical Corporation and changed its name to Westlake Corporation in February 2022. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Westlake Corporation is a subsidiary of TTWF LP.
By SA Commercial Prop News

Mozambique's airport company will spend $500m over three years to modernise its key facilities to encourage more foreign carriers to open routes to the country, its CEO said on Wednesday.

Our aim is to attract more regional and international companies to fly to Mozambique as well as to attract more tourists into the country, Aeroportos de Mocambique boss Manuel Veterano told AFP.

Over the next three years, we will invest $500m for the rehabilitation and modernisation of the airports of Maputo, Pemba, Nacala and Tete, he said.

The expectation is that investments will result in raising the level of utilisation of national airport infrastructures, by increasing traffic and also passengers.

The northern coastal town of Pemba is a tourist draw, while the port town of Nacala is near new offshore gas finds and the mining town of Tete sits amid huge coal deposits.

Veterano did not say how the upgrades would be financed. The companys profits fell 74% in 2011 to $2m.

- AFP


Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (File Photo) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sent fresh summons to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to join the probe in a Prevention of Money Laundering case related to a land grabbing incident on September 9. This is the third summon issued to Soren. Last time, Soren was questioned in connection with the illegal mining case for around ten hours along with his wife at ED's Ranchi based office.



In the present case, the ED has arrested 13 persons, including an IAS officer.



On July 8, a raid was conducted at the residence of Chief Minister's legislator representative Pankaj Mishra. The ED found a checkbook linked to Chief Minister Hemant Soren's bank account. Following this, their name was connected to this case. Mishra was then placed under arrest. Now, the ED has summoned them for questioning on August 14.



The agency seized a large number of fake deeds from their possession. In this case, there were allegations against IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan, and as a result, the ED conducted a raid on her and later arrested her. This case is from Jharkhand, but its ramifications extend to Bihar and Kolkata.



The sources said that the accused used to occupy land by referring to pre-independence documents and creating fake documents from 1932. They claimed to have owned the land since the time when the entire region was West Bengal, including parts of Bihar and Jharkhand, encompassing both private and government lands.



When the ED conducted a forensic examination of the seized documents, it was revealed that all the documents were forged. The districts' names that did not exist before independence were mentioned along with pre-independence documents, and the PIN code from the 1970s was used in old documents. After uncovering these small discrepancies, the accused were arrested.




Former President of India, Ramnath Kovind. (PTI)

NEW DELHI: Lifting suspense from the agenda of the special session of Parliament from September 18, the government on Friday announced the formation of a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to prepare ground for the "one nation, one election" Bill. It is expected that the government will kickstart a debate or discussion on the subject during the session from September 18 to 22.

On the issue, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said, "democracy is about evolution" and there was no need for the Opposition to press the panic button. He added that there were simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies till 1967. Now, due to some or other election every year, the exchequer faces huge expenditures.

"Right now, a committee has been constituted. A report by the committee will come out, which will be discussed. Parliament is mature and discussions will take place, there is no need to get nervous... India is called the mother of democracy. This is part of evolution. In this evolution, every new proposal that benefits the nation will be discussed," said Joshi on Friday.

The BJP is hoping to ride on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and plans to encash it at all levels as the nation heads for a general election next year. Though it may be too early to predict if the "one nation, one election" principle can be applied next year, the plan entails a huge political and administrative exercise along with massive resources, including increasing the number of electronic voting machines and, before that, making constitutional provisions through amendments.

Soon after the announcement of the Kovind committee, BJP chief J.P. Nadda met the former President at his residence. Details of the meeting are still under wraps.

Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and Nadda met the Prime Minister later in the day, most likely to discuss the agenda of the special session.

Ever since Modi took over as PM in 2014, he has been talking about the idea of simultaneous polls, which include those at local bodies, citing the financial burden caused by an almost continuous election cycle and the fact that it impacts development work during the polling period.

Kovind, too, had echoed Modi's view. While addressing Parliament in 2018, Kovind had said, "Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct."

The governments latest move to study the feasibility of the one nation, one election policy has not gone down well with the Opposition leaders, who dub it a threat to the federal structure of the country. The Opposition argues: "More than one nation, one election; fair elections are needed".

"No matter how many diversions and distractions the ruling regime throws at the people, the citizens of India shall not be betrayed anymore," said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Though the Law Commission has all along been in favour, fresh debate on one nation, one election began in 2018 when it prepared a draft working paper on holding simultaneous elections. It got buried under other issues and never came to the fore as the political parties continued debating on Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act, Triple Talaq, farm laws, etc. The government, too, waited for a more opportune time.

In its draft paper, the Law Commission stated that holding simultaneous elections will save public money, reduce burden on the administrative setup and security forces, ensure timely implementation of government policies and ensure that the administrative machinery is engaged in development activities rather than electioneering.

At the same time, the Law Commission said that simultaneous elections cannot be held within the existing framework of the Constitution and to have elections for the Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies in one go, the government will need to make certain amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act 1951 and the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. The commission also suggested that at least 50 per cent of the states should ratify the constitutional amendments.

The Law Commission recommended three alternatives to synchronise elections in India. The first option was advancing or postponing election timings in certain states so that elections to all state Assemblies and the Lok Sabha are held together. Second, for Assembly elections after the Lok Sabha polls, the states need to voluntarily dissolve their Assemblies earlier, or by operation of law. However, a political consensus was needed for these changes, the paper said, as this will require a constitutional amendment since the terms of different Assemblies will either need to be curtailed or extended.

And in the third, the commission recommended replacing the "no-confidence motion" with a "constructive vote of no-confidence", through appropriate amendments. In a constructive vote of no-confidence, the government may only be removed if there is confidence in an alternate government. It further suggested the option of limiting the number of such motions during the term of the House or Assembly.

If no party secures a majority to form the government, it may result in a hung House or Assembly. In order to prevent this, the commission recommended that the President or the governor give an opportunity to the largest party along with their pre- or post-poll alliance to form the government. If the government cannot be formed, an all-party meeting may be called to resolve the stalemate. If this fails, mid-term elections may be held. The commission recommended that appropriate amendments be made to provide that any new Lok Sabha or Assembly formed after mid-term elections, will be constituted only for the remainder of the ongoing term and not the entire five years.

The commission recommended that appropriate amendments be made to anti-defection laws to ensure that all disqualification issues arising from defection are decided by the presiding officer within six months.
TD leaders said Ayyanna Patrudu applied for anticipatory bail at High Court and hoped he would get the bail orders on Thursday evening. DC File Image

Visakhapatnam: Former minister and Telugu Desam politburo member Ch Ayyanna Patrudu was taken into custody by Krishna district police at Visakhapatnam airport on Friday morning. He arrived from Delhi on an Air India flight at 10.30.

Airport police said the Krishna police picked him up the moment he came out of the airport and put into a vehicle and taken back to Vijayawada. He was accused of making inappropriate comments against chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and other ministers at a public meeting held at Gannavaram in connection with the Nara Lokesh Yuvagalam padayatra.

TD leaders said Ayyanna Patrudu applied for anticipatory bail at High Court and hoped he would get the bail orders on Thursday evening.

"He should have waited for one more day, a local leader said.
N. Chandrababu Naidu (Twitter)

HYDERABAD: The income-tax department has found incriminating evidence that establishes siphoning off of public money by former chief minister and Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu, by accepting kickbacks from top infra companies after awarding them contracts worth thousands of crores of rupees.

The department recently issued a showcause notice to Naidu, asking why Rs 118 crore, which it found to have routed to him allegedly by Shapoorji Pallonji and L&T through bogus companies, should not be treated as undisclosed income for the assessment year 2020-21.

As per rules, the assessee has to pay a penalty of at least one time the tax (42 per cent) on undisclosed income and 18 per cent interest per annum. There is a provision for imprisonment also in the Income-Tax Act for concealing income.

Shapoorji Pallonji and L&T were awarded works by the Chandrababu Naidu government in the proposed capital of Amaravati post-state bifurcation along with housing projects for poor. In return, the two companies allegedly released funds to companies including Phoenix Infra, suggested by Naidus personal secretary Srinivas, in the guise of a sub-contract. These companies in turn withdrew cash and handed it over to different persons in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Dubai in the run-up to the 2019 polls.

"The siphoned off amount mentioned in one I-T notice is just tip of the iceberg. The kickbacks will run into thousands of crores of rupees. Besides, it is a fit case for the Enforcement Directorate to proceed against money-laundering. The gravity of the case is more because payments were made to Naidu in foreign currency also," AP industries minister Gudivada Amarnath said.

In March, Deccan Chronicle, in a report, Amaravati Secretariat bribe: IT starts probe against Naidu had reported the detailed trail of money and I-T department centralising his case, changing the jurisdiction from the ITO to the deputy commissioner, Central Circle.

The latest showcause notice, a copy of which is available with this newspaper, revealed that Naidu had been trying to halt further proceedings citing technical reasons rather than going into merits. Ironically, he had been quoting some provisions in the scrutiny guidelines which according to the ITD were completely non-existent. "It is quite natural that Naidu will try to hide under litigation rather than coming forward to prove his innocence," said Amarnath.

The department, however, rejected outright another of Naidus contentions, that he was not provided with all the material that was seized in search operations.

"..The seized material contains the information pertaining to the projects awarded by you and thereby unaccounted income generated through bogus sub contractors was given back to you. Therefore the material seized read with the statements leads (to) the irresistible conclusion that you (Naidu) have earned unaccounted income out of the transactions contained in the material seized," said the latest I-T notice served on the TD supremo.

It also referred to an "example of delivery of cash siphoned off from infrastructure projects to one of the senior TD functionary (Kilaru Rajesh) and close confidant of your (Naidu) son Nara Lokesh."
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and other opposition leaders during the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) meeting, in Mumbai, Friday, Sept. 1, 2023. (PTI Photo/Kunal Patil)

NEW DELHI: Putting up a show of unity, the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. alliance has decided to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls together, but with a rider "as far as possible." The alliance leaders expressed confidence that the Opposition bloc will defeat the BJP. Despite the united face put up by the alliance, the much-touted logo unveiling of the coalition was put off owing to the alleged differences among the allies.

Also, the appointment of a convener, along with the formation of the secretariat/election management, research wing, spokespersons, media and social media teams and committee for national agenda, were planned for the last day of the Opposition bloc meeting. However, there was little progress made on these issues.

The inauguration of the much-awaited alliances logo proved to be the biggest damp squib of the day, as some of the parties strongly objected to it, putting a spanner into the process.

"We were not taken into confidence while preparing the logo. This is an all-India alliance and its logo should be reflective of the national image. Hence, we thought that peoples suggestions should also be taken into consideration while making the logo," said G. Devarajan from the All India Forward Bloc.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray admitted that a couple of logos were kept ready. "But some of the parties insisted that people's opinions should also be invited for the making of the logo, which we found acceptable," he said.

On the concluding day of its two-day conference in Mumbai on Friday, the Opposition alliance passed a resolution saying that the member parties will "contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible."

"Seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take," the resolution said.

The I.N.D.I.A. alliance has also decided to organise joint public rallies "at the earliest" in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance. It will coordinate communications and media strategies and campaigns on the theme of "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India" in different languages. Sources said that seat-sharing arrangements will be finalised by September 30 by the bloc coordination committee.

Speaking at the joint press conference of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that it will be impossible for the BJP to win the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections if the Opposition stays united.

"This stage represents 60 per cent of the Indian population. If the parties on this stage unite, it is impossible for the BJP to win an election," he said.

Gandhi also appealed to the Opposition leaders to "come together in the most efficient way possible". The bloc will demonstrate and prove the corruption of the ruling party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added.

RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav said, "All the Opposition parties were sitting apart and the country paid for it. Modi benefited from this. I have been saying Bhajpa bhagao desh bachao (Drive out the BJP, save India). Now it is time for a seat-sharing arrangement. I assure you that it will also happen smoothly. We will make sacrifices if needed," he said.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said: "I.N.D.I.A. is not merely an alliance of 26-28 parties. Its an alliance of 140-crore people. They have come together to construct the Bharat of the 21st century. The BJP-led government is the most corrupt and arrogant government the country has ever seen."

Thackeray appealed to all anti-BJP parties to join the INDIA alliance. "All parties and leaders are welcome. I want to thank them for the third meeting and INDIA is strengthening by the day," he added.

The meeting held in Mumbai on Thursday and Friday was the third joint meeting of the bloc. The first meeting was held in Pune, while the second took place in Bengaluru, where the name of the alliance was announced.
George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy, health and beauty, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services. It operates retail drug stores under the Shoppers Drug Mart name. This segment also provides credit card services, insurance brokerage services, guaranteed investment certificates, and wireless mobile products and services. The Choice Properties segment owns, operates, and manages commercial, residential, tenant, industrial, and office properties. It provides products under the President's Choice, no name, Life Brand, and Farmer's Market brands. The company was founded in 1882 and is based in Toronto, Canada. George Weston Limited is a subsidiary of Wittington Investments, Limited.
Kiwi Property has today advised that the terms for the conditional sale of the Aurora Centre in Wellington have not been met and the transaction will not proceed at this time.

ENDS

Contact us for further information:

Campbell Hodgetts

Head of Communications and Investor Relations

campbell.hodgetts@kp.co.nz

+64 275 634 985

About us:

Kiwi Property (NZX: KPG ) is one of the largest listed property companies on the New Zealand Stock Exchange and is a member of the S&P/NZX 20 Index. Weve been around for over 25 years and proudly own and manage a significant real estate portfolio, comprising some of New Zealands best mixed-use, retail and office buildings. Our objective is to provide investors with a reliable investment in New Zealand property through the ownership and active management of a diversified, high-quality portfolio. Kiwi Property is licensed under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008. To find out more, visit our website kp.co.nz

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Green Dot Corporation, a financial technology and bank holding company, provides various financial services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Consumer Services, Business to Business Services, and Money Movement Services. The company offers deposit account programs, including consumer and small business checking account products, network-branded reloadable prepaid debit cards and gift cards, and secured credit programs. It also provides money processing services, such as cash transfer services that enable consumers to deposit or pick up cash and pay bills with cash at the point-of-sale at any participating retailer; and simply paid disbursement services, which enable wages and authorized funds disbursement to its deposit account programs and accounts issued by any third-party bank or program manager. In addition, the company offers tax processing services comprising tax refund transfers, which provide the processing technology to facilitate receipt of a taxpayers' refund proceeds; small business lending to independent tax preparation providers that seek small advances; and fast cash advance, a loan that enables tax refund recipients. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
Pure Storage, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides data storage technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. The company's Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object. Its products portfolio includes FlashArray for block-oriented storage, addressing databases, applications, virtual machines, and other traditional workloads; FlashArray//XL; and FlashArray//C, an all-QLC flash array. The company also provides FlashBlade, a solution for unstructured data workloads of various types; FlashStack that combines compute, network, and storage to provide an infrastructure platform; FlashRecover, an all-flash modern data protection solution; and AIRI, a full-stack AI-ready infrastructure. In addition, it offers evergreen storage subscription and Cloud Block Store, as well as Portworx a cloud-native Kubernetes data management solution It also offers technical and professional, training and education, and certification services. The company sells its products and subscription services through direct sales force and channel partners. The company was formerly known as OS76, Inc. and changed its name to Pure Storage, Inc. in January 2010. Pure Storage, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
The U.S. Army has unveiled its latest cross-functional team, dedicated to addressing the complex challenges of contested logistics on the modern battlefield. With an eye on future adversaries, such as China, and the harsh realities... More of this article 
The following companies are subsidiares of Crane: "CPI-Kiev" LLC, ARDAC Inc., AeroHose, AeroHose, Alfa Laval - The Industrial Flow Group, Alfa Laval - The Industrial Flow Group, Armature d.o.o., Automatic Products (UK) Ltd., Automatic Products international - Assets, Barksdale GmbH, Barksdale Inc., CA-MC Acquisition UK Ltd., CR Holdings C.V., CashCode Co, CashCode Co - Assets, Coin Controls International Ltd., Coin Holdings Ltd., Coin Industries Ltd., Coin Overseas Holdings Ltd., Coin Pension Trustees Ltd., Consolidated Lumber Co, Consolidated Lumber Co, Corva Corp, Corva Corp, Crane & Co. Inc., Crane (Asia Pacific) Pte. Ltd., Crane AB, Crane Aerospace Inc., Crane Australia Pty. Ltd., Crane Canada Co., Crane Composites Inc., Crane Composites Ltd., Crane Controls Inc., Crane Currency, Crane Currency Malta Holding Ltd., Crane Currency Malta Ltd., Crane Currency Malta Property Ltd., Crane Currency Netherlands Holdings B.V., Crane Currency US LLC, Crane Dutch Holdings B.V., Crane Electronics Corporation, Crane Electronics Inc., Crane Environmental Inc., Crane European Financing LLC, Crane Fluid & Gas Systems (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Crane Global Holdings S.L., Crane Holding AB, Crane Holdings (Germany) GmbH, Crane Instrumentation & Sampling Inc., Crane International Capital S.a.r.l., Crane International Holdings Inc., Crane International Trading (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Crane Ltd., Crane Merchandising Systems Inc., Crane Merchandising Systems Ltd., Crane Merger Co. LLC, Crane Middle East & Africa FZE, Crane Netherlands Holdings B.V., Crane Ningjin Valve Co. Ltd., Crane Nuclear Inc., Crane Overseas LLC, Crane Payment Innovations AG, Crane Payment Innovations GmbH, Crane Payment Innovations Inc., Crane Payment Innovations International Ltd., Crane Payment Innovations Ltd., Crane Payment Innovations Pty Ltd., Crane Payment Innovations S.a.r.l., Crane Payment Innovations S.r.l., Crane Pension Trustee Company (UK) Limited, Crane Process Flow Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd., Crane Process Flow Technologies GmbH, Crane Process Flow Technologies Ltd., Crane Process Flow Technologies S.P.R.L., Crane Process Flow Technologies S.r.l., Crane Pumps and Systems Inc., Crane Resistoflex GmbH, Crane SC Holdings Ltd., Crane Saudi Limited Liability Company, Crane Security Technologies Inc., Crane Stockham Valve Ltd., Crane Supply Co., Croning Livarna d.o.o., Cummins Illinois Inc., Cummins-Allison Corp., Cummins-Allison GmbH, Cummins-Allison Investment Co., Cummins-Allison Ireland Ltd., Cummins-Allison Limited, Cummins-Allison Pty Ltd., Cummins-Allison SAS, Cummins-Allison ULC, Cummis-Allison Corp, Cummis-Allison Corp, Delta Fluid Products, Delta Fluid Products Ltd., Dixie Narco, Dixie Narco, Dopak Inc., Dovianus B.V., ELDEC Corporation, ELDEC France S.A.R.L, Edlon - PSI division, Edlon - PSI division, Environmental Products USA, Environmental Products USA, Etex Group - Business, Etex Group - Business, Exbrownall Ltd., Exrhodes Ltd., Flow Technology Inc., Friedrich Krombach GmbH Armaturenwerke, General Technology Corp., General Technology Corp., Hattersley Newman Hender - Assets, Hattersley Newman Hender - Assets, Hattersly Newman Hender Ltd., Hydro-Aire Inc., Inta-Lok Ltd., Interpoint U.K. Limited, Kontron America - Mobile Rugged Business, Kontron America - Mobile Rugged Business, Laminated Profiles - Assets, Laminated Profiles - Assets, Lasco Composites, Lasco Composites, Liberty Technologies, Liberty Technologies, MCC Holdings Inc., MEI Australia LLC, MEI Conlux, MEI Conlux Holdings (Japan) Inc., MEI Conlux Holdings (US) Inc., MEI Queretaro S. de R.L. de CV, MEI de Mexico LLC, MOVATS - Nuclear Valve Division, MOVATS - Nuclear Valve Division, Merrimac Industries, Merrimac Industries Inc., Micro-Optic Films LLP, Money Controls, Money Controls Argentina SA, Money Controls Holdings Ltd., Multi-Mix Microtechnology SRL, NABIC Valve Safety Products Ltd., Nippon Conlux Co. Ltd., Noble Composites, Noble Composites Inc., Number One Supply, Number One Supply, Owens Corning - FRP Panel Business, Owens Corning - FRP Panel Business, P.L. Porter, P.L. Porter, P.T. Crane Indonesia, Pegler Hattersly Ltd., Resistoflex, Resistoflex, Sequentia Holdings, Sequentia Holdings, Signal Technology, Signal Technology, Sperryn & Company Ltd., Stentorfield, Stentorfield, Streamware, Streamware, Telequip, Telequip, Terminal Manufacturing Co., The Dow Chemical - Plastic-Lined Piping Products division, The Krombach Group, The Krombach Group, Unidynamics / Phoenix Inc., Ventech Controls, Ventech Controls, Viking Johnson Ltd., Visual Physics LLC, W.T. Armatur GmbH, W.T. Armatur GmbH, Wade Couplings Ltd., Wask Ltd., Westlock Controls, Westlock Controls Corporation, Xomox, Xomox Chihuahua S.A. de C.V., Xomox Corporation, Xomox Corporation de Venezuela C.A., Xomox France S.A.S., Xomox Hungary Manufacturing Limited Liability Company, Xomox International GmbH & Co. OHG, Xomox Japan Ltd., and Xomox Korea Ltd..

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Salesforce, Inc. is a cloud-based SaaS company founded by former Oracle exec Marc Benioff in 1999. Mr. Benioff founded the company with 3 partners who will remain active in management until nearly 2020. Larry Elison, a co-founder of Oracle, is a noteworthy early investor who helped propel the company to its success. The company is a leader in CRM or customer relationship management and is largely responsible for the proliferation of digitized CRM solutions that is ongoing today.

The company was not immune to the DotCom bubble bursting and had to cut back its workforce and plans but the event is nothing but a blip on the radar now. Even then, the company could sustain a hyper-growth rate that saw revenue skyrocket from $0 in 1999 to over $100 million by the end of 2003. The company held its IPO in 2004 and raised $110 million. The hypergrowth continued until 2014 driven by the growing recognition among C-suite executives that digital CRM was the path to accelerated revenue and earnings growth.

The company made multiple small acquisitions in the period leading up to 2014, but it was then that investment in other technology accelerated. Total spending in 2016 topped $5 billion and led to the acquisition of Slack in 2020. The company was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, instantly becoming the largest technology company in the index. The Slack acquisition came under some criticism due to the elevated cost the company paid. The track record of growth that includes sustained sequential growth through the end of 2022 put an end to the criticism.

Today, Salesforce.com provides customer relationship management technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. It is the 1st cloud stock to reach $1 billion in revenue, hitting that target in 2009. It is the worlds largest enterprise-level software provider and the 61st-largest company by market cap. In regards to US businesses, it is ranked 136th on the Forbes Fortune 500 list for 2022 when revenue topped $7.7 billion.

The company offers its services via the Customer 360 platform. The platform is designed to deliver connected experiences for a business's customers in a way that delivers sales. Revenue is generated in 2 channels that include Sales and Service. The Sales offering stores data, monitors leads and tracks traffic progression through the sales funnel. It can forecast and provide other analytics as well as deliver quotes, contracts and invoices.

The Service segment allows companies to provide personalized services and support at scale. Scale is the fundamental quality that drives Salesfoce.coms success because it has been able to scale and aid its clients when they scale. Among Services many offerings is the ability to create apps with a drag-and-drop builder tool. This segment also includes Slack which permits easy communication among business associates.

Salesforce.com Ventures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Salesforce.com. It is in business to invest in start-up and early growth phase businesses and has invested more than $5 billion since 2009.
Crestwood Equity Partners LP develops, acquires, owns, controls, and operates assets and operations in the energy midstream sector in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Gathering and Processing North; Gathering and Processing South; and Storage and Logistics. The Gathering and Processing North segment offers natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering, compression, treating, processing, and disposal services to producers in the Williston Basin and Powder River Basin. This segment owns and operates natural gas facilities with approximately 818 MMcf/d of gathering capacity and 775 MMcf/d of processing capacity; crude oil facilities with approximately 250 MBbls/d of gathering capacity and 496,000 Bbls of storage capacity; and produced water facilities with approximately 421 MBbls/d of gathering and disposal capacity. The Gathering and Processing South segment provides natural gas gathering, compression, treating, and processing; and produced water gathering and disposal services to producers in the Delaware basins. This segment owns and operates natural gas facilities with 1.1 Bcf/d of gathering capacity and 613 MMcf/d of processing capacity; crude oil facilities with approximately 90 MBbls/d of gathering capacity; and produced water facilities with approximately 354 MBbls/d of gathering and disposal capacity. The Storage and Logistics segment offers natural gas liquids, crude oil, and natural gas storage, terminal, marketing, and transportation, including rail, truck and pipeline services to producers, refiners, marketers, utilities, and other customers. Crestwood Equity GP LLC serves as the general partner of Crestwood Equity Partners LP. The company was formerly known as Inergy L.P. and changed its name to Crestwood Equity Partners LP in October 2013. Crestwood Equity Partners LP was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
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Find publications from government departments and agencies, including news, press releases, reports, and Freedom of Information responses. This page is still in development and is not a complete list of all publications. Further information on publications can be found on the individual department websites.
HIGHLIGHTS The Viva Magenta and Marshmallow Blue colours have a Vegan Leather back.

The Moto G84 5G features a 6.5-inch pOLED FHD+ display with a support of 10-bit colours and up to 120Hz refresh rate.

It is equipped with a Snapdragon 695 processor paired with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.

Motorola has dropped a new mid range smartphone in India. The famous Moto G series brings you the Moto G84 5G this time. The Moto G84 5G is getting attention because of its amazing design. The brand has featured the Pantone styled design in the Moto G84 5G. For those who dont know, Pantone is a company that is known for its relevant colour matching. The Moto G84 5G comes in three colour options; Viva Magenta, Marshmallow Blue and Midnight Blue. The Viva Magenta is the colour of the year by Pantone. Lets get to the specifications of this smartphone.

As I mentioned above, the Moto G84 5G comes in three colours. The Viva Magenta and Marshmallow Blue have a Vegan Leather back, whereas the Midnight Blue variant comes with 3D PMMA finish. On the back, there is a square camera module which holds a dual camera setup and a flashlight. There is Motorola branding in the middle and only in the Viva Magenta colour, a small sticker of Pantone is integrated at the bottom. The smartphone also features the IP65 rating.

Also read: Motorola Edge 2023 launching with dual camera and curved display: Report

Speaking of the display, it features a 6.5-inch pOLED FHD+ display with a support of 10-bit colours and up to 120Hz refresh rate. There is a punch-hole cutout at the centre. Motorola claimed that the Moto G84 5G gives 1300 nits on peak brightness. It runs on Android 13 OS and the brand is also promising the Android 14 and 3 years of security update with Moto G84 5G.

For performance, it is equipped with a Snapdragon 695 processor paired with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. This mid-range smartphone is packed with a 5000mAh battery with up to 33-watt fast charging support.

The Moto G84 5G comes with a dual camera setup on the back holding a 50-megapixel primary camera and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens. On the front, a 16-megapixel selfie shooter comes with Moto G84 5G.

Also read: Moto G54 5G to debut with Indias first Mediatek Dimensity 7020 chip on September 6

Talking about the price details, the Moto G84 5G has launched at a price of 19,999, but the company has given away a 1000 launch discount on ICICI bank cards. If you are interested in this smartphone, you can jab it for 18,999.

That was all pretty much about the all new Moto G84 5G. Additionally, Motorola is also launching another G series smartphone on September 6, which is The Moto G54 5G. So stay tuned for that and tell us how you like this smartphone.
HIGHLIGHTS The launch of OxygenOS 14 is scheduled for September 25.

OnePlus will be rolling out the beta version of OxygenOS 14 in a few days for testing.

OnePlus has mentioned six improvements in the press release.

This week, two big announcements have been made from two tech giants, Apple and Google. Apple announced its Wonderlust event, which is speculated to be the launch of iPhone 15 series, whereas Google also sent invites for its Made by Google event, which usually unpacks Google devices such as Pixels. Now comes the OnePlus with its big announcement, making the third huge news of the industry. Well its got nothing to do with the OnePlus' Open or any new smartphone from the company, but the Chinese brand has announced the OxygenOS 14 built upon Android 14 and its launch date. Lets check out.

Its surprising for OnePlus how it is launching the OxygenOS 14 before Android 14. However, the launch of OxygenOS 14 is scheduled for September 25, so we really dont know about it. Maybe Google would also roll out the Android 14 before or on September 25.

Also read: Android 14 Beta 3 launched: Interesting features, supported list of phones

OnePlus will be rolling out the beta version of OxygenOS 14 in a few days for testing. The beta version is going to be available for the OnePlus 11, OnePlus 11R and OnePlus Nord 3. However, being the companys flagship, the OnePlus 11 might be the first smartphone to get the stable OxygenOS 14 on September 25, and it might also be the first smartphone to run on Android 14 in general as well. Eventually, the OnePlus 11R and Nord 3 would also get the OxygenOS 14 update.

Also read: Google releases first beta version of Android 14

The Chinese brand has mentioned six improvements in the press release, which the OxygenOS 14 is bringing to OnePlus smartphones, and they are CPU Vitalization, RAM Vitalization, ROM Vitalization, HyperBoost, HyperTouch, and HyperRendering. However, the brand has not explained these features, so we have to wait for the OS update to roll out before saying anything about them.
Samsung automating semiconductor packaging, doubling efficiency

Samsung Electronics is not only the first company in the world to launch a labor-free semiconductor packaging line, but it has also set a goal of converting its packaging plants to be human labor-free by 2030.

According to the results of Samsung's conversion of its packaging production lines to an unmanned process, manufacturing manpower has been reduced by 85%, the occurrence rate of equipment failures has been reduced by 90%, and the overall equipment efficiency has increased by approximately 2 times or more.

Generally speaking, the traditional semiconductor packaging production line needs a large amount of manpower. According to the Korean media ET News, at the 2023 New Generation of Semiconductor Packaging Equipment & Materials Innovation Strategy Forum, Samsung TSP (Test & System Package) head Kim Hee-rye said in a keynote speech that starting in June 2023, Samsung is building manless production lines for its packaging plant.

Samsung's packaging factories are located in Cheonan and Wonyang, South Korea, where the unmanned production lines are built. However, the proportion of unmanned production lines accounts for only about 20% of the current Samsung packaging production lines. Samsung plans to convert the entire packaging factory into an unmanned factory by 2030.

Samsung has achieved complete automation through transportation equipment such as wafer transfer devices, elevators, and conveyor belts. This has significantly reduced waiting time and movement time during the process and has also improved production efficiency. Operators who were previously in the packaging production line are now assigned to the integrated control center outside the production line, where they are responsible for managing equipment and checking for abnormalities.
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Since the 1970s, China has been trying to develop and build nuclear submarines competitive with Russian and Western boats. Their latest nuclear submarines, the Type 096 SSN and Type 094 SSBN, appear to have closed the quality and performance gap with similar Russian subs. The U.S. Navy confirmed the improvements, which makes the Chinese subs more formidable adversaries. Currently only six Type 093 SSNs and six Type 94 SSBNs are in service. The first (of six) 094 SSBN entered service in 2007 while the first (of six) 093 SSN entered service in 2006. Their replacements, the 095 SSN and 096 SSBN, are expected to enter service during the late 2020s.

This first Chinese Type 091 sub entered service in 1974 after being under construction for nearly a decade. It was retired in 2000 but three of the other four o91 SSNs remained in service, undergoing numerous upgrades. In 2013 Chinese media declared that in 42 years of operation no Chinese nuclear sub has ever suffered a nuclear reactor accident. This was an indirect dig at the Russians, who are the only nation with nuclear subs to have suffered nuclear accidents, in part because most nuclear subs ever built were Russian. During the first 60 years of existence several hundred billion dollars has been spent on developing and building nuclear powered submarines. Some 400 have been built so far, most of them Russian.

In 2000 China joined this club and retired its first nuclear submarine, the Type 091 Long March No. 1. This sub was demilitarized. That meant taking it apart to remove the nuclear reactor and then reassembling and cleaning it up for display. This is a very expensive process and so far only the United States and France have done this. The Americans demilitarized the Nautilus, the first SSN, in 1965, while France did the same in 2002 when their first SSBN, the Redoutable, in 2002. Nautilus was, in 1954, the first SSN in service and served until 1968 but was not decommissioned until 1980. In 1985 Nautilus was demilitarized and turned into a museum ship.

France did the same with its first SSBN, Redoutable, which entered service in 1971, was decommissioned in 1991 and demilitarized in 2002 and now serves as a museum ship.

The Chinese navy is modernizing and that means more nuclear subs and modern surface ships. Since 1949, when Communist China came to be, the navy has been organized into three fleets; Northern, Eastern and Southern. Back then the Chinese navy was a coastal defense force. For thousands of years China has been content to have little more than a coast guard, mainly to deal with pirates and smugglers. On only a few occasions was there a high seas (or "blue water") fleet.

Since the 1980s China has become a major importer and exporter and, to protect its growing overseas trade, something China has never had before, needs a blue water navy. Such a navy requires not just experienced sailors but also support ships. These are the tankers, supply, and maintenance ships that can keep warships operational when they are far from China. In the 1990s China began investing heavily in these ships, by 2021 had the largest fleet in the world in terms of numbers of warships, and expected to increase the size of their fleet nearly 30 percent by the end of the decade while the Americans were having problems maintaining the force that China just passed in terms of number of warships, but not yet in total tonnage.

China still has some more fundamental naval needs. For example, China has never demonstrated any talent or enthusiasm for anti-submarine warfare. Considering the number of nuclear and conventional subs arrayed against it, anti-submarine warfare should have higher priority in China. Another serious shortcoming is mine-clearing capability. The Chinese Navy is well equipped to plant mines off hostile shores and in defense of its own waters but there is not a lot of capability to clear enemy mines. Many navies share this shortcoming but for a major maritime trading nation like China, it would be sad to see all that trade shut down by a few hundred naval mines.

China is still addressing anti-submarine warfare (ASM)) and mine-clearing, but has a modern navy. The three fleets are equipped with modern ships and the composition of each of the three fleets reflect current needs, including dealing with ASM as well as the nearest naval threats. Each fleet has over a hundred aircraft for ASM, recon and fighters for air superiority and bombers carrying anti-ship missiles.

For example, the Northern Fleet faces Korea and southern Japan. It currently has 66 warships, including an aircraft carrier, 18 attack submarines (four of them nuclear powered SSNs and the rest diesel-electric), 13 destroyers (two of the larger ones are classified as cruisers), 12 frigates, 12 corvettes (small frigates) and 15 fast patrol boats armed with anti-ship missiles. There are also five amphibious ships that can carry and land tanks and other vehicles onto a beach.

The Eastern Fleet faces the East China Sea and Taiwan. It has over 140 ships including 18 diesel-electric submarines, 13 destroyers, 23 frigates, 24 corvettes and 38 fast patrol boats armed with anti-ship missiles. There are also 24 amphibious ships that can carry and land tanks and other vehicles onto a beach plus three larger amphibious ships with a flight deck.

The Southern Fleet faces Taiwan and the South China Sea. It has about 110 warships including an aircraft carrier and a new base for carriers and subs. There are 22 submarines including 14 diesel-electric and two SSNs. There are also six SSBN (nuclear powered ballistic missile) subs. There are ten destroyers, 14 frigates, 20 corvettes and 14 fast patrol boats armed with anti-ship missiles. There are also 15 amphibious ships that can carry and land tanks and other vehicles onto a beach and five larger amphibious ships with a flight deck.

The Northern Fleet must deal with the two largest and most formidable fleets in the region; South Korea and Japan.

The Eastern Fleet has the longest coastline to defend and the new coast guard comes in handy to help, often using retired and repurposed corvettes. The Eastern Fleet also must assist the Northern Fleet against South Korea and Japan as well as any attack on Taiwan.

The Southern Fleet is currently concentrating on the South China Sea, as well as contributing forces for any attack on Taiwan.

In addition to new nuclear sub designs, the Chinese Navy has innovated in other ways. For example, during 2022 China introduced the Zhu Hai Yun, a 2,000-ton ship that carries up to fifty unmanned submarine, surface and airborne vehicles. Zhu Hai Yun is operated remotely to get it out to the high seas, where the ship operates autonomously to carry out a variety of missions it is capable of. China is depending on its AI (Artificial Intelligence) software to effectively carry out its mission and then signal that it is returning. The U.S. Navy has similar but smaller (145-ton) unmanned surface ships that do not carry and operate other autonomous vehicles, but can stay at sea for up to sixty days carrying out ASW (Anti-submarine warfare) missions. The navy has also developed larger autonomous cargo ships to move supplies long distances. Smaller armed and unarmed autonomous vessels have been in service for decades to patrol ports and coastal areas. China believes it has a lead in AI control software and the Zhu Hai Yun is an effort to test that. The Americans are depending on less ambitious technologies that have produced impressive results so far, while a new Orca autonomous submarine takes those proven concepts further than ever before.

A month before China presented the Zhu Hai Yun, the Americans received the first of 24 Orca 80-ton XLUUV (extra-large UUVs) that can carry and deploy a variety of naval mines and evade enemy detection due to their small size.

Orca was the U.S. Navy solution to the difficulties with deploying offensive mobile naval mines and a robotic submarine in enemy controlled waters, like the South China Sea. Orca could even operate as an offensive weapon against Chinese submarines seeking to block access to the South China Sea and Taiwan. China is considered the major submarine threat in the Pacific and the South China Sea is seen as a major future battleground.

Currently China has about 55 diesel-electric subs of recent design in service versus 42 operated by Japan and South Korea, each with 21. Malaysia and Indonesia each have two and Australia has six. The United States has about 30 nuclear attack subs in the Pacific versus a dozen Chinese SSNs and SSBNs. The anti-China coalition also has a large array of surface and aerial ASW forces.

To even the odds China has built a network of underwater sensors in the South China Sea that is complemented by ASW aircraft and surface ships. South Korea and Japan have similar technology monitoring their coastal waters. The only nation capable of blocking Chinese subs from moving out of the South China Sea is the United States, which has underwater sensors and a large fleet of ASW aircraft. The problem is defeating the Chinese diesel-electric submarine force. China has been trying to build effective SSNs for decades and that is still a work-in-progress. Chinese non-nuclear subs are another matter and they have become world-class.

The U.S. Navy believes robotic subs carrying mobile mines would be an effective new ASW asset because the U.S. is already developing some of the new ASW technology needed for this. This includes UUVs (Unmanned Underwater Vessels) and mobile mines. Over a decade ago the navy adopted civilian underwater UUVs used for monitoring the oceans and has been using them to do that as well as collect data useful for wartime submarine operations. With a growing number of civilian and military customers, American UUV developers and manufacturers have been coming up with new ocean research UUVs that also have military applications. The latest example of this is the new class of XLUUVs with the ability to go deeper, carry a cargo bay for other research gear to be stored and deployed from, and operate autonomously for up to six months. The first of these XLUUVs was the Echo Voyager, which Boeing developed from a research project and had the first one ready for testing in 2016. The tests were successful and have involved more complex and completely autonomous operations. In 2019 the navy ordered four militarized Orca versions of the Echo Voyager for $11 million each.

Both models are diesel-electric powered autonomous subs that are 16 meters (51 feet) long with a payload compartment 9.1 meters long, 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) in diameter and is wholly inside the pressure hull. Propulsion is by battery powered electric motors and diesel generators to recharge the batteries when on or near the surface. This XLUUV has no topside sail and can stay underwater for days at a time because there is no crew on board to sustain. While submerged these UUVs can move at 14 kilometers an hour and have sufficient generator fuel to travel 12,000 kilometers.

The main difference between Echo Voyager and Orca is that Echo Voyager is built to dive to extreme (3,400 meters/11,000 feet) depths. Orca does without that but adds additional passive sensors and signal processing computers to detect other submarines or surface ships. There is also an underwater communications system for arming the dozen Hammerhead mobile mines Orca is designed to carry and place on the ocean floor in areas like the South China Sea. These Hammerhead bottom mines carry a Mk 54 lightweight torpedo, which is normally carried by ASW helicopters and aircraft. Mk 54 has a range of ten kilometers and a guidance system that is regularly updated. Hammerhead is being used in a similar fashion to a larger version of this used during the Cold War that deployed a larger Mk 48 torpedo. Hammerhead is an encapsulated system equipped with passive sensors to detect and identify submarines and surface ships and attack specific types of targets, like diesel-electric subs larger than Orca.
The Louth International Film Festival announces its eagerly awaited 4th edition, a celebration of global perspectives and local charm.

The festival will take place in the IMC Cinema Dundalk, Dundalk Institute of Technology and the An Tain Arts Centre, from September 29 to October 1. With an expansive lineup encompassing over 50 hours of short films, features and documentaries, the festival organisers believe this year's festival guarantees a memorable experience for all attendees.

Opening Film: "Dublin Crust"

Date: September 29, 4:00 PM - Location: IMC Cinema, Dundalk

The festival's opening film is the highly anticipated "Dublin Crust," directed by Baz Black. Starring Baz Black, Barry John Kinsella, William Morgan, and Johnny French, this production offers a glimpse into the lives of former members of the disbanded punk group Crust, a decade after its breakup. The film chronicles Drummer Bonehead's quest to reunite the band for a monumental final performance.

Director Frank Berry Q&A and "Aisha"

Date: September 29, 6:00PM - Location: IMC Cinema, Dundalk

On September 29, the festival is honoured to welcome back Frank Berry. His impactful film, "Aisha," will grace the screen at the IMC Cinema in Dundalk. Following the screening, an insightful Q&A session will be led by esteemed DkIT Lecturer, Dr. Ingrid Lewis.

Local Film: The Troubles

Date: September 30, 6:00PM - Location: An Tain Arts Centre

Dundalk local Colm Mullen serves as Director of Photography and Editor for The Troubles, Colm is the festival's artistic director. The story follows two Dublin brothers diving into the treacherous world of republicanism, fuelling the Northern war machine through any means necessary.

The film features Paul Cumiskey, festival fundraising director, and involved the Louth Filmmakers Society for a pivotal exterior scene in Dundalk. Local support poured in with houses, props and extras. Director Luke Hanlon also takes on writing and producing, while the cast includes Ray Malone, Adam Redmond, William Delaney, Sarah Hayden, and Sophia Adli.

Endorsement from John Moore: A Local Perspective on Global Magic

Above: L-R Bruce Willis and John Moore

Hollywood writer/director John Moore, a native of Dundalk, continues to lend his unwavering support to the festival. Moore's endorsement of the 2023 edition encapsulates the festival's essence, celebrating the convergence of global perspectives and local charm. He had this to say about the fourth edition:

Everyone is from somewhere: but we like to reach out to everywhere - local film festivals do this; they bring the wide world to us all and add their own special local magic. Louth is a small county with a huge sense of magic, of history of story: I wish them continued success with their world-class festival and continue to support them and cheer them to the rafters.

The 4th edition of the Louth International Film Festival is a celebration of local and global cinema. Join LIFF from September 29 to October 1. The complete festival program will be launched on September 15th.
HUGG, a national suicide bereavement charity, whose vision is that anyone bereaved by suicide can find hope and healing, is launching a new support group in Dundalk in September.

HUGG provides information and support principally through the provision of local and online peer support groups, led by trained volunteers with lived experience of suicide bereavement.

For every person who dies by suicide, up to 135 people are affected. For many people, a level of support outside of family and friends is needed. With an average of 500 suicides annually in Ireland, that equates to 60,000 people affected by suicide every year.

HUGG's new support group in Dundalk will be led by three local trained volunteers, who each have a lived experience of suicide bereavement. The group will be hybrid, meaning people can attend in-person or online.

The support group will initially take place monthly, with the first meeting on Tuesday 19 September from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. It will be a hybrid meeting, allowing people to meet in-person or online.

Commenting on the launch of HUGG Louth, Marie McKeon, HUGG Groups Manager, said: After speaking at a Mental Health & Resilience Building Community Information Event last January in Louth, we recognised that there was a real need for a suicide bereavement support group in the region.

"We are delighted that Louth will have its own HUGG group, based in Dundalk. We hope that the group will greatly benefit the local community and the surrounding areas including those living in Ardee, Drogheda, Carlingford, Blackrock and parts of Meath including Duleek, Slane, and Donore.

Drogheda based volunteer Sarahmarie Kerr, reflecting on why she signed up to be a HUGG Volunteer Group Facilitator, stated: I lost my brother Dylan to suicide in 2011. I wanted to get involved with HUGG as I was drawn to the vision and work of the charity - their commitment to support those bereaved by suicide.

"Death by suicide hits different. Knowing you are in a safe, confidential space with others with a shared bond & lived experience is incredibly comforting and invaluable. Being able to talk openly with others who understood my grief was such a relief! There is a great sense of companionship in the support group, it helps to know you are not alone in your grief.

Fiona Tuomey, HUGGs founder and CEO added Those left behind often carry unanswered questions, stigma, self-isolation and blame, in addition to the trauma of losing their loved ones. Being among others who understand this grief can be lifesaving.

To join a HUGG group simply complete the form on www.hugg.ie, or email: support@hugg.ie or call 01 513 4048 (monitored answering machine).
MBABANE  A common comment was on transport crisis experienced during the primary elections.

This was raised during the orientation exercise for MP, indvuna yenkhundla primary elections winners from the Hhohho Region. The contention from some of the aspirants was that some of the public transport owners were also contesting candidates and their transport was part of those hired by the commission to ferry the electorate to polling stations, which then created a conflict of interest.

They submitted that the drivers of vehicles were employees of the candidates and the latter were allegedly influencing the drivers to transport voters going to the polling stations, where the owners were contesting. As such, they observed that the electorate from the other imiphakatsi, within the constituency, were left stranded with no transport to reach the polling stations.

We have nothing against the transport owners getting the tender to transport the electorate but their transport should be deployed to other areas outside of their constituencies because there is conflict of interest, submitted one candidate. Another candidate said he was contesting with a minister from another umphakatsi within his constituency and he observed that voters were struggling to get to the polling station at his umphakatsi but the transport was flowing on the other side.

Hhohho EBC Commissioner Chief Mawandla Gamedze disputed that ministers were getting preference because of their status. He explained that to them, all the candidates were the same and no one was getting any favours. On the suggestion that the transport should be deployed to other areas outside of the constituency where the owners were competing, Gamedze explained that the matter would be looked into.
Etihad Cargo will offer customers and partners more belly hold cargo capacity across the carrier's global network, WAM news agency said in a report.

The cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Airways has also announced new routes and increased frequencies from September 2023.

The airline's winter schedule will introduce 29 weekly passenger flights to new destinations and will have an increase of 90 passenger flights to existing routes, resulting in a total of 119 passenger flights per week.

Etihad Cargo's customers and partners will benefit from additional belly-hold cargo capacity onboard passenger aircraft in addition to scheduled freighter flights.

Etihad Cargo will offer additional cargo capacity to two new European gateways  Copenhagen in Denmark and Dusseldorf in Germany. The airline will also operate four passenger flights per week to Copenhagen.

The addition of three weekly passenger flights to Dusseldorf and three more passenger flights to Munich will bring the total number of flights for Germany to 28 per week, including four freighter services for Frankfurt.

As a result of the high demand for the three weekly passenger flights to Lisbon introduced for the busy summer months, it will be extended and operated during the winter schedule.

Additional cargo capacity will also be available for key routes via increased passenger flight frequencies, including four additional flights to Rome, bringing the total number of flights per week to 11, and three additional flights to Madrid and Milan, bringing the total number of weekly flights for each destination to 10.

Etihad Cargo will also strengthen its commitment to the Asian market, introducing additional cargo capacity via new routes and increased frequencies. The airline will operate five passenger flights per week to Osaka, a second Japanese gateway destination for the carrier.

The airline will also add three more flights to Beijing and four more flights to Shanghai per week, providing additional cargo capacity and adding further depth to its Chinese network.

To meet increased cargo capacity demand in the Indian market, Etihad Cargo will offer more belly hold cargo capacity across new passenger routes to Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram, operating seven flights per week to each destination.

Seven new passenger flights to Chennai will bring the total number of weekly flights to 21, supported by a twice-weekly freighter service.

Eight additional flights to Kochi, two new flights to Islamabad, seven more flights to the Maldives, five additional flights to Cairo and seven more flights to Phuket per week will provide Etihad Cargo's customers and partners with additional belly hold cargo capacity and options when transporting goods to these key Asian destinations. The airline will also introduce seven direct flights to Colombo per week.

Mohammad Al Bulooki, Chief Operating Officer at Etihad Airways, said, Etihad Cargo's partners and customers will benefit from additional belly hold cargo capacity and improved connectivity to key markets with the launch of the carrier's winter schedule. The airline's growing passenger network, combined with Etihad Cargo's scheduled and charter freighter services, will boost cargo capacity across Europe, Asia and North America, strengthening the links between Abu Dhabi and key global markets and ensuring Etihad Cargo can meet increased demand for cargo capacity.

As part of its commitment to achieving growth and expanding reach into key markets, Etihad Cargo recently announced the commencement of a freighter service to Ezhou Huahu Airport, making Etihad Cargo the first international carrier to operate services to China's first professional cargo airport.  TradeArabia News Service
Sara Reardon in Nature:

An artificial-intelligence system can describe how compounds smell simply by analysing their molecular structures  and its descriptions are often similar to those of trained human sniffers.

The researchers who designed the system used it to list odours, such as fruity or grassy, that correspond to hundreds of chemical structures. This odorous guidebook could help researchers to design new synthetic scents and might provide insights into how the human brain interprets smell. The research is reported today in Science1. Smells are the only type of sensory information that goes directly from the sensory organ  the nose, in this case  to the brains memory and emotional centres; the other kinds of sensory input first pass through other brain regions. This direct route explains why scents can evoke specific, intense memories.

Theres something special about smell, says neurobiologist Alexander Wiltschko. His start-up company, Osmo in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a spin-off from Google Research that is trying to design new smelly molecules, or odorants.

More here.
Alkis Vryenios Drakinos has been appointed as Director, Regional Head of the Caucasus for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). He will take up his role on 1 September 2023 and will be based in Tbilisi.

Mr Drakinos will lead the Banks operations in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, working closely with government authorities and market stakeholders to further develop the three economies, supporting private sector and key infrastructure development through investment, policy dialogue for reform and small business finance and advisory services, in line with the respective EBRD country strategies.

Mr Drakinos said: I am delighted to return to the Caucasus and look forward to taking on this exciting mandate, building on my previous experience of the region and track record with the EBRD. Supporting the Caucasus is a central priority for the Bank. The region has great potential for further development and integration into the global economy, and I am keen to start working with the local EBRD teams to make a tangible contribution to the success of these economies.

A Greek national, he first joined the Bank in 1993 as Advisor to the EBRD Board Director for Greece, joining the Financial Institutions team in 1995 and becoming Head of Office for Armenia, based in Yerevan, in 1998. After a 12-year period holding financial consultancy and banking roles with KPMG, Eurobank and the Black Sea Trade & Development Bank, he re-joined the EBRD in 2012 as Head of Office, Turkmenistan, and in 2015 moved to the role of Associate Director, Deputy Head of Greece, based in Athens. In October 2017 he was appointed Director, Head of Uzbekistan, a role in which he led the delivery of over 100 projects of more than 3 billion in value.

Mr Drakinos graduated from Athens University with a BA in Economics and obtained an MSc in Regional Development from Panteion University in Athens, followed by an MBA from Manchester Business School. He also completed the London Business School Corporate Finance Programme.

He succeeds Catarina Bjorlin Hansen, who has been appointed Head of Moldova, based in Chisinau.
Greek company at the forefront of innovation and renovation wave

Eco-friendly products are growing in popularity and businesses around the world are looking for ways to stay at the forefront of innovation, offering affordable, greener and better-quality products to their customers.

This is not an easy task when it comes to building and construction materials, which are necessary for renovations. The European Unions renovation wave strategy  which aims to double annual renovation rates in the next 10 years  plays a key role in upgrading existing buildings and making them more energy efficient, and it will be an important element in achieving a climate-neutral European Union by 2050.

Neotex is one of the businesses in this sector that are constantly improving their products and services. Through its Advice for Small Businesses programme in Greece, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with support from the Hellenic Republic, has helped Neotex grow and become even more competitive.

Established in 1959 in Greece, today the company is a leading manufacturer, with a presence in 70 countries in the fields of liquid waterproofing, resinous flooring, and energy saving and repairing solutions. The company has long-term relationships with its partners, and is continuously expanding its operations to diverse markets, in Europe, Africa, Asia and America.

We are conscious of our own company sustainable footprint, that of our products and the sector as a whole. Our R&D department is particularly concerned with making our products more user- and environment-friendly, says Alexandros Katraouzos, Managing Director of Neotex and Vice President of the Hellenic Association of Chemical Industries.

The Neotex team decided to get in touch with one of the EBRDs international knowledge experts to scale up the companys holistic approach.

It doesnt make sense for a company to grow only in terms of facilities, equipment and spaces. The organisational chart must also grow and modernise; the skills of the employees must evolve. The Banks consultant also recognised this, and as a result we shifted our attention to performance management and monitoring our progress. Now we have stronger sales and operations departments, and we focus on data management and digitilisation, Mr Katraouzos explains.

The international aspect of a project like this and the global background of the advisors serve to further internationalise a company such as ours, giving it a broader growth mindset, which also helps with any further global expansion, he continues.

The construction sector was hit hard during Greeces financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. But now, demand has increased, and the construction of residential and commercial buildings can be seen all over the country and beyond. Neotex is contributing to making this wave more sustainable, by embracing the twin green and digital transition, and by aiming higher with the EBRDs support.
POET Greg Delantys latest collection, The Professor of Forgetting, was launched by Chernobyl campaigner Adi Roche at the Crawford recently.

They are good friends. Greg got to know her through CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) in Cork in the 1970s when we were trying to save the world.

Greg is still doing his bit to try and make the world a better place, with his focus on climate change. It feeds into his poetry. He says that he is an obsessive type of person which sometimes gets me into trouble.

The Turners Cross-reared poet, who spends most of his time in the U.S where he is a professor in the English department at St Michaels College, Vermont, is a dedicated environmentalist. He ran for election in Vermont on a green ticket during the time of President George W Bush. While he never intended to become a politician, he wanted to raise awareness of the green party and, to his surprise, he got 18,000 votes.

Anita Carroll and Diarmuid O Mathuna who also attended the event.

Visiting Ireland to do a series of launches of his book, Greg is planning to spend time at his holiday home in Derrynane in Kerry. The day after the Cork launch, we meet in a city hotel. Asked how he got into poetry, he says he knew before his Leaving Certificate that he wanted to be a poet.

I just had an interest in words. It may have started with Bob Dylans Highway 61 Revisited. I had never heard of him but when I put on that record, I was hooked.

When the 16-year-old Greg got wind that there was a real live poet living in Cork, he knocked on the door of the late John Montague when he lived on Grattan Hill.

I was trying to write poems and I thought they were better than Shakespeare! John was actually very kind to me. He read the poems and poured me a whiskey.

Looking back, Greg says his poems were just dreadful. But John saw maybe not talent, but drive more than anything else.

Kay Harte and Dyane Hanrahan attending the launch.

Later, Greg went to UCC where Montague was one of his lecturers. But Gregs mother didnt approve of her sons pursuit of poetry. Having grown up in poverty on Blarney Street and Gurranabraher, she wanted me to be money-secure. She was worried for me. She would have liked me to be in a white collar office job and to have respectability.

Greg says that he had to hide his books under his bed because his mother thought they were dust collectors.

I loved her but she was difficult. Some women were fine with being a housewife. It didnt suit my mother. She never had a chance to blossom. She left school at 14.

She lived to see her literary sons success and was very proud of him.

But she used to say the poets were mad. She was right of course!

Unlike WB Yeats, who said that to be a poet, you have to put poetry before everything, Greg says that for him, poetry and his life are not separate. They feed into each other.

When I get absorbed in something, I write about it. Whatever obsesses me, I take action and also write.

Greg was arrested some time ago while protesting outside the White House in Washington against the fossil fuel industry. On the state of the environment, he says: Its a matter of how bad its going to be, but it can still be changed and we can be spared a certain amount.

Its also connected with population growth. The Catholic Church should cop on about condoms. Its still the largest organisation in the world. There are too many people on the planet.

Hilary and Liam Cunningham at the launch of Gregs latest book.

I think the natural world is correcting that even now as we go along.

Its reacting against the treatment it has been getting, partly because of Christianity which is human-centred and believes were superior and not connected. We try to control everything for our own purposes. Thats madness.

Greg walks the talk. He doesnt use gas or oil in his two homes, having had solar panels installed for his energy needs. He cycles everywhere, even in Vermont in the winter. If its snowing, he puts his bike onto the front of the bus.

In April, 2022, Greg was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He has since had his prostate gland removed and is doing well. He has a book coming at a later stage called The Cancer Club.

Asked if becoming ill made him face his mortality, Greg says: Were always aware of it, arent we?

Always looking for a base to work out of, cancer gave me a real platform. A robot called da Vinci worked on the operation to remove the prostate. I got some good poems out of that.

Its all grist to the mill for this down-to-earth poet.
A Cork GP has welcomed the expansion of the Laura Brennan HPV (Human Papillomavirus) Vaccine Catch-Up Programme to include older males.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly recently announced the expansion of the programme to include all males up to their 22nd birthday and those eligible can now register to get the vaccine at www.hpv.ie until December 31.

Dr John Sheehan of Blackpool Bridge Surgery encouraged those eligible to avail of the vaccine which he said can prevent cancers.

It can prevent a significant amount of cancer, not just cervical cancer but also reduce the risk of a lot of head and neck cancers that happen in males and females, he said.

For males, it has a double effect. It can reduce the rate of transmission of HPV to females and also reduce their own risk of getting cancer so we would really encourage people to avail of the catch-up programme.

It can prevent penile cancer and all other cancers, particularly oral and throat cancers.

HPV, other than smoking, is probably the second biggest cause of throat cancers and oral cancers so its something that can really make a difference for males later on in life.

Since its launch last year, the programme has offered free HPV vaccines to all boys and girls in second-level education who were previously eligible to receive the vaccine in school and who had not yet received it.

It is also open to young women up to the age of 25 who have left secondary school and did not previously receive the vaccine.

The vaccine protects against the types of HPV that cause approximately 90% of cervical cancers, 90 to 95% of HPV-related anal cancer, and 90% of genital warts.

Named in memory of Laura Brennan, who campaigned for higher uptake of the HPV vaccine before her death from cervical cancer at the age of 26 in 2019, the programme has provided free vaccines to over 3,500 young people.

Minister Donnelly said huge credit for the programme is due to the Brennan family who continue to campaign tirelessly in the memory of their brave daughter, describing Laura as an incredible patient advocate.

Laura Brennans parents Bernie and Larry Brennan said they are heartened that the work their daughter dedicated so much of her life to is being continued through the catch-up programme.

Laura was determined to increase uptake of the HPV vaccine to help protect people from various cancers and eliminate cervical cancer.

The HPV vaccine is effective in preventing cancer and we encourage everyone who is eligible to take this opportunity to protect their health.
RESTAURANT owners in Cork have described the move by the Government to increase the 9% VAT rate to 13.5% from midnight last night as a disappointing decision that will force closures.

Government extended the lower rate of 9% VAT, which was originally introduced as an intervention during the Covid-19 pandemic, for the final time in February. The move back to 13.5% went ahead despite last-minute pleas by business organisations for its retention.

Speaking to The Echo, owner of Sage restaurant in Midleton, Kevin Aherne questioned why the Government has made the decision not to extend the special VAT rate of 9%.

There is no restaurant looking for a handout. A helping hand and a handout are two different things but it is particularly bad timing going into off-season and in general because costs of electricity are going to go up as well in the winter.

Youve got electricity rates going up, staff costs going up, cost of products going up, and now weve got the VAT rate going up. The math just doesnt work, he said.

We are going to see closures, and we are going to see job losses, said Mr Aherne.

Its also important that when people think of restaurants, and of eating out and of hotels, its supposed to be a joyous occasion, and people should not feel as if theyre obligated to feel sorry for a restaurant because their prices have gone up or theyre being charged more in Vat.

He noted that the rise to 13.5% Vat from 9% is not a small hike and that the Government will end up using it to pay Jobseekers Allowance to those within the industry who will lose their jobs.

Thats a sorry fact to make, but thats the probability of it, thats whats going to happen, he said.

Its not protecting jobs. Its doing the opposite, and what we should be doing is giving security to people who are in their jobs and ensuring theyre secure in their life as well and getting paid the money they need, but instead we keep on squeezing things, which is just hard for everybody.

Richard Gavin at Spitjack, Washington Street, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Owner of the SpitJack, Richard Gavin, said he would have hoped that the Government would have looked at maybe a more dynamic structure for smaller businesses within the industry instead of taking this approach to hospitality as a whole.

I think if we look at hospitality, specifically hotels, look at the year that theyve had, he said.

Tourism is back very strong, theres been an awful amount of hotel rooms snapped up by Government use in terms of dealing with the crisis in Ukraine and the immigration crisis which has given almost 100% occupancy for some hotels. It has removed a lot of the entry-level competitive room rates.

On the flip side then for restaurants, we havent been enjoying that same level of turnover.

There are hotels around us that have been taken up for Government use and we havent had the spillover effect of tourism now from those hotels, so our sales are being impacted by that behaviour from the Government.

Mr Gavin said that an industry that has yield management at its disposal should not be treated the same as an industry that does not.

If I could sell every seat in my restaurant every night to the Government, for whatever reason, I wouldnt be worried about a 4.5% increase, he said.

But if youre going to have that level of interference in an industry, an industry that has small businesses like us that feed off hotels, then you have to be able to protect smaller businesses, and theyve done nothing to protect smaller businesses; and on top of that, were being treated the same as larger businesses now with this blanket increase of Vat back up to 13.5%.
A Fianna Fail member of Cork City Council has called on Fine Gael Justice Minister Helen McEntee to meet the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to ensure that garda community policing units are retained as a priority.

Cllr Tony Fitzgerald told The Echo that under a new garda roster system it is proposed to place all community gardai in routine rosters, meaning, he said, that those gardai would be working during the night and not available for community policing.

We have learnt over many years through many preventative measures that community engagement is the best model of community policing, Mr Fitzgerald said.

We see very positive partnerships with local authorities, HSE, Schools and Youth Clubs particularly through neighbourhood watch and juvenile liaison schemes.

As a former chair of the Cork City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) and as a community activist for many years, this proposal, if true, will seriously weaken the operation of the JPCs. Any partnership withdrawal from crime prevention is a major step back in community confidence in tackling crime, he said.

Mr Fitzgerald added that he understood that Justice Minister McEntee was due to visit Cork this week and, he said, she needed to reassure the public that plans for community policing should be increased rather than decreased.

A spokesperson for An Garda Siochana said they were aware of what they called a significant amount of disinformation being reported by certain media outlets quoting uninformed anonymous sources.

Cllr. Tony Fitzgerald. Picture Dan Linehan

They went on to say that no announcement had been in relation to the local implementation of rostering.

The Westmanstown roster is the only roster that has the collective agreement of all the garda associations and operated between March 2012 and March 2020 before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in an emergency roster being introduced to deal with the unique policing requirements of the time, the spokesperson said.

The Covid-19 emergency is now well over and the Covid-19 roster is no longer suitable for the delivery of a 24/7 police service  (for) example, policing of the night-time economy that was not a factor during Covid-19.

There are no plans to move any Garda members formally appointed to specialist units as part of the reintroduction of the agreed Westmanstown roster, the garda spokesperson concluded.

A spokesperson for the Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents almost 12,000 rank-and-file gardai, said: While we have yet to be informed of any specific changes to the Community Policing Service in the Cork Region, we believe any such proposed reductions would seriously affect our ability to deliver effective policing to the public we serve.

An Garda Siochana is very proud of its standing in our communities, policing by consent, and we would be opposed to any moves that would result in a further reduction in members on the ground and visibility on the streets, the GRA spokesperson said.
CORK businesses have highlighted major cost concerns amid an increase in both the VAT rate and the costs of fuel.

In recent days, the 9% VAT rate, which was originally introduced as an intervention during Covid-19, was increased to 13.5%. Meanwhile, petrol excise rates increased by 7c per litre, diesel prices rose by 5c and gricultural diesel also increased by 1c in the second of three increases in excise aimed at unwinding a reduction introduced in March last year.

Speaking to The Echo about the VAT increase, Jeff Hamidi of Koto Restaurant in Cork city called on the Government to reconsider its decision in Budget 2024, due to be announced in October, calling for meaningful and real commitment.

Give us meaningful and real commitment for a VAT rate to stay at 9%," he said. "The last thing we want to do is raise our prices but we have no choice.

The whole price increase is going straight to the Government, were not seeing any of the increase.

Nobody likes his VAT increase, not us in the hospitality nor our guests, nor our tourists - but the government will, Mr Hamidi added.

Its disappointing to see such a large increase - 9% to 13.5%. Many of the businesses affected are where you get your coffee from in the morning, where you get your haircut, and where you enjoy a nice meal out with friends and family - small, family-run and owner-operated businesses in the community.

We have the second highest VAT rate in this sector compared to our neighbours in Europe. I hope that the Government will reevaluate this decision in the upcoming Budget, with a permanent and meaningful decision to keep VAT at 9% for food operators, he concluded.

Joseph Byrne who is the owner of Josephs Hair Salon in Glasheen described the increase in VAT as "crazy".

"They [the Government] should have kept it at the 9% rate for the next 12 months," he said. "We have just come out of Covid. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. Our electricity bills and all our products have gone up. This is the last straw.

I will have to put up my prices even though I dont want to, he added. My staff are looking for extra wages because they have extra expenses as well such as increased mortgages, energy, and grocery bills.

I will wait before I put the prices up. I will see how things go.

"I am fearful that some people will stop coming and I dont want that either. The customers coming in are fearful over the rising costs in this country. It is a horrible situation."

Speaking to The Echo about the increase in fuel costs, Paul Lynch, a member of the Cork Taxi Council, said:

"The Government are out of touch, and they dont care. The Government could have postponed or stopped this increase in fuel. It just shows how out of touch with the public they really are. Everyone is suffering and feeling the pinch," he added.

"I dropped an elderly couple home and they told me they are already fearful of their bills over the coming months which is very sad.

Taxi drivers have the meter so we cant put the increase in fuel on to customers," Mr Lynch stated further. "We will have to suck it up. It is the same as the insurance which fluctuates every year. We just have to get on with it."
The Tanaiste has defended plans to increase the number of the countrys politicians, arguing they are not an expense we cant afford.

Micheal Martin was in Oxford on Friday ahead of attending the British-Irish Association conference.

His comments come after the Electoral Commission recommended the number of TDs should be increased from 160 to 174 following a review of the countrys boundaries.

The constituency review was prompted by a boom in the population to 5.15 million, as shown in Census 2022  an increase of 8% in four years.

As the Irish constitution says there needs to be one TD to represent every 20,000 to 30,000 people, the constituency boundaries needed to shift.

Asked if the Irish people want to pay for more TDs, Mr Martin said that democracy is not perfect.

He said: I am a democrat and I take a different view to that approach, in the sense that people value democracy in Ireland  for over 100 years now a modern democracy.

It has worked for Ireland and continues to work.

Democracy is not perfect. I really dont like the attitude of are we willing to pay for more politicians?

Mr Martin said he had just come back from an EU conference in Spain, where he had watched presentations from west African politicians who would dearly love to have their politicians back following a series of coups in the region.

Thats a government in Niger that was really working democratically, that was getting on top of a lot of situations  and they would dearly love to have their politicians back," he said.

So, we need to be very careful about some of the disparaging remarks, or sort of a line of thinking that somehow politicians are an expense that we cant afford.

I think that would be very dangerous indeed.

The boundary review follows population increases across nearly all of Irelands constituencies.
The family of a Dublin man missing from Cork for almost two weeks is appealing to the people of Cork to help them find him.

John Keaveney, who is 43, was last seen on CCTV footage around 1.25 am in the early hours of the morning of Monday 21 August, in the vicinity of Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

He had discharged himself from Cork University Hospital around 9.30pm the previous night, Sunday August 20, after being treated after suffering an epileptic episode while on holiday in East Cork with his wife and their three young daughters.

His uncle, Cathal Keaveney, told The Echo the family was desperate to find their loved one, as he had been without his medication for almost two weeks, and his disappearance was completely out of character.

John has been missing for more than 10 days now, and we are desperate to find him. He is the nicest and most decent person you could meet and we are appealing to the people of Cork to help us in our hour of need, Mr Keaveney said.

John is very friendly and he has great empathy. He would always stop and chat with homeless people on the street and you couldnt meet a kinder or more genuine person.

Mr Keaveney said the family could never repay the people of Cork for the kindness already shown to them, and he singled out for all of their help the volunteers at Penny Dinners, Mallow Search and Rescue, and Cork Missing Persons, and the staff at the Imperial and Clayton hotels.

John is described as being 5ft 9in in height, of slim build, with brown eyes and a bald head.

We are urgently appealing now to anyone who has CCTV cameras around the Marina greenway to check them from about 1.45am on the morning of Monday, the 21st of August, for a couple of hours, to see is John on them, Mr Keaveney said.
ACCORDING to statistics from An Garda Siochana, 2022 saw a 52% increase in car theft versus 2021, with more than 4,000 vehicles stolen in Ireland during 2022.

Its not just outside in public environments where your car is vulnerable, but also outside your front door.

With this in mind, PhoneWatch, Irelands leading home security company, has prepared the following home security tips that homeowners can implement to deter car thieves.

Remember that while these tips can help deter car thieves, there is no fool-proof method to prevent all car thefts.

Its important to stay proactive, aware, and maintain good security practices to protect your property.

Lock your vehicles

It may sound obvious, but so many people leave their car unlocked, thinking that just because they are home, their car is safe. Both home burglaries and car thefts, often occur when a person is at home or near their vehicle.

Always lock your car doors and windows, even when parked in your own driveway. Leaving a vehicle unlocked makes it an easy target for potential car thieves. Make it a habit to lock the car whenever you exit it.

Use a steering wheel lock or immobiliser

Consider using a visible anti-theft device, such as a steering wheel lock or an immobiliser. This adds an extra layer of difficulty for car thieves to hotwire your car.

These devices act as deterrents as they require additional effort to bypass. Car thieves, like most burglars, are usually just looking for a quick theft.

Install a car alarm system or dashcam

Most cars should already have a car alarm system. Check to ensure it works. They can be an effective deterrent against theft.

A dashcam with sensor detection, which operates when motion occurs near the car, can also act as extra security.

Burglars will be wary that they may have been recorded while scoping out a vehicle to steal, so, if they see it has a dashcam, they may choose another target.

Follow the experts advice to avoid falling victim to motor theft

Park in a secure, well-lit area

Whenever possible, park your vehicle in a well-lit and secure area. If you have a garage, use it to park your car overnight. This is especially true if your car is new or expensive, as burglars may see it as an indication of wealth. This could lead them to also target your home for a potential burglary.

If parking on the street, choose a well-populated and well-lit area.

A monitored house alarm with a bellbox will warn potential burglars that the property is monitored.

Dont leave valuables in your car

Avoid leaving valuable items such as laptops, handbags, or electronics in plain sight inside your vehicle. These can attract thieves and increase the likelihood of a break-in.

If you must leave items in your car, store them in the car boot or use a car cover to hide them from view.

Store your keys securely

Keep your car keys in a safe and secure location inside your home. Avoid leaving them near windows or doors where they can be easily reached by thieves. To home burglars particularly, you are just giving them an escape vehicle by storing your keys somewhere easy to reach.

Key storage is particularly important considering the increasing rise of keyless car theft affecting modern cars that dont require the key insertion for entry or ignition.

According to the gardai, car thieves are increasingly using relay signals to gain entry to the car. In these instances, if the car key is stored near the car (even if in the home), a signalling device is used to copy it and for burglars to gain entry and steal the car.

You can protect yourself from this by storing your key in a faraday box or biscuit tin which restricts the signal.

Install outdoor lighting

Adequate lighting around your home can make it less appealing for car thieves to approach your property. Use motion-activated lights or install well-positioned, bright lights near your driveway, garage, and any other areas where your vehicles are parked.

Install security cameras

Consider installing a home security system that includes alarms, surveillance cameras, and even smart home integration. These can deter potential car thieves near your home and provide you with peace of mind.

CCTV and outdoor security cameras can also provide evidence in case of a break-in or theft.

Place cameras in strategic locations around your property, including near your driveway or garage entrance, to capture any suspicious activity. Display signs or stickers indicating that your home is protected by a security system.

Research shows that homes protected by a monitored home alarm from PhoneWatch are 4.5 times less likely to be burgled.

Be aware of your surroundings

Stay vigilant and be mindful of any unfamiliar or suspicious individuals loitering near your property. Report any unusual activity to the Gardai and encourage your neighbours to do the same.

From house alarm systems to tailored home security, PhoneWatch create and install alarm systems to match your budget and give you peace of mind. We are trusted by over 118,000 homes in Ireland to keep them safe every day. Get a personalised home security quote today. Visit www.phonewatch.ie for more information.
Experts say govt approval will bolster tech advances and commercialization A group of Chinese technology companies and research institutions on Thursday opened their artificial intelligence-powered large language models or LLMs to the public, after receiving approvals from the Chinese authorities. Industry experts called it a key move that will promote technological advances and commercialization of generative AI. The first batch of companies and organizations to make their LLMs available to the public includes Chinese tech heavyweights Baidu Inc and ByteDance, AI firms Baichuan Intelligent Technology, SenseTime, Zhipu AI and MiniMax, and two research institutes  the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Baidu announced on Thursday its ChatGPT-like LLM Ernie Bot is now fully open to the general public starting Thursday. Users can download Ernie Bot from various app stores or experience it through its official website, the company said. Robin Li, co-founder and CEO of Baidu, said by making Ernie Bot available to hundreds of millions of internet users, Baidu will collect massive valuable real-world human feedback. This will not only help improve the company's foundational model but also iterate Ernie Bot at a much faster pace and enhance user experience, he said. The company is also set to launch a suite of new AI-native apps that allow users to experience core abilities of generative AI, Baidu said in a statement. In July, Chinese authorities issued a 24-item guideline for managing generative AI services, which took effect on Aug 15. The authorities said providers who want to offer such services to the public should submit security assessments and obtain necessary approvals. The country encourages the innovative development of generative AI and supervises the technology using methods compatible with innovation and development, according to the interim measures. Lu Yanxia, research director at market consultancy IDC China, said making LLMs available to the public will boost the former's iterations and upgrade, and promote technological advances as well as the large-scale commercial use of LLMs. "The LLMs will speed up integration with a wide range of industries and application scenarios, which necessitates a higher demand for data and knowledge in professional fields, and for talent that can fine-tune specialized models based on diverse industrial demands," Lu said. She added that LLMs have also triggered a new AI wave and brought fresh business opportunities to domestic AI servers, cloud computing and chip companies. Other leading Chinese tech companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, iFlytek Co Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd have been aggressively developing their own LLMs. Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba's cloud computing unit, said on Thursday it had filed for regulatory approval for its own LLM called Tongyi Qianwen, which was introduced in April, and it is now waiting to officially launch the ChatGPT-style chatbot to the public. "The initial list of companies that have received the approval is expected to be released by relevant local departments within one week," Alibaba Cloud said. AI company iFlytek also said on Thursday it is among the first batch of Chinese companies that have finished filing with the authorities in accordance with China's new AI rules. LLMs refer to computer algorithms that are trained with huge amounts of data and are capable of generating content such as images, text, audio and video. They are the key technology underpinning ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that many experts see as a potential game-changer in the world of high-tech. Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University's International Business School, said although LLMs have significant potential for applications in fields like culture, retail, finance, healthcare and education, their real value comes from the consumer market, and the ultimate goal of LLMs in industrial applications is to benefit the people. He said Chinese AI companies should devote more resources to improving computing power, algorithms and data quality, and step up investment in basic scientific research, to gain a competitive edge in the global AI chatbot race.
Michael Bolton

The Department of Education has said it is not aware of any potentially dangerous concrete material used in schools in the Republic.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) has been found in over 100 schools in England and has led to the closure of several classrooms across the country.

Raac is a lightweight concrete material and was used to build two-storey public sector buildings across Britain from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s. Due to its 30-year lifespan, there are fears of buildings collapsing and structural damage, as it is susceptible to structural failure when exposed to moisture.

Since 2018, the material is being assessed after it was linked to the collapse of the roof at Singlewell Primary School in Kent.

However, fears in Ireland have been eased over its possible use in schools.

A spokesperson from the Department of Education said: "The Department of Education is aware of the concerns in relation to schools in England that have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) materials.

"The Department is not aware of these materials being used in schools in Ireland.

"The Irish Concrete Society has indicated to the Department that it has no knowledge of the use of this material in Ireland."

In Britain, it is feared the material could have been used for other buildings, such as courts and hospitals.

In Northern Ireland, schools are to be contacted about structural surveys to determine the extent of the presence of Raac.
HALF of all anxiety and depression cases among new and expectant mothers are going undiagnosed, according to a new report.

Although 10-20% of women develop mental health problems, which can include anxiety and depression, during pregnancy or within the first year after having a baby, 50% of cases are being missed  despite contact with professionals, the report by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) in the UK found.

The report suggested that mental health needs are still secondary to physical health during pregnancy, and has called for a boost in midwife numbers to help spot more cases of mental ill health.

Amanda Mansfield, professional advisor to the RCM and one of the lead authors of the report, said the 20% of new or expectant mothers who have mental health issues will experience a range of symptoms.

Often the baby blues is normalised because its something lots of people get, and women are told, Youll be fine, Mansfield told PA Media.

That can contribute to the fact that significant numbers of women downplay their symptoms  in some reports, up to 70% of women dont feel able to disclose how they feel, they may feel judged.

Some women feel it may affect their ability to mother, or they may be concerned their baby may be taken away.

Mansfield added that some women may feel unable to share their symptoms with a health professional, because theyre worried about how theyre going to be perceived.

But it really is ok to not be ok, rather than women playing down and diluting their feelings, she added.

Its a good idea for everyone to be aware of mental health risks during pregnancy and beyond. Here are seven signs that somebody might need mental health support, and how to talk about it

1. Depression

Pregnant women or new mums may feel low, unhappy and tearful for much or all of the time. Mansfield said: Its looking for the variation in normal patterns of behaviour.

Family and friends should ask, in a very compassionate, non-judgmental way, how the womans feeling.

If friends and family dont feel confident about having such conversations, they should encourage the woman to talk to her health professional, Mansfield added.

2. Anxiety

Feelings of anxiety can manifest in many ways, and physical symptoms can include a racing pulse, breathlessness and sweating. But whether there are physical symptoms or not, its vital for women to talk about how theyre feeling, said Mansfield.

A woman may say she feels particularly anxious about the birth, or relatives coming over, or the in-laws, and having the space to talk about it is really important, to share the anxiety with a midwife that she has a relationship with. If these anxious feelings dont improve over time, Mansfield said they can be referred to a specialist midwife whos an expert in perinatal mental health, and who may be able to offer additional interventions and support.

3. Altered sleep patterns

All new parents will of course find their sleep is affected, but if there is also an underlying mental health issue going on, exhausted women may find it even hard to fall or stay asleep.

Women may have significantly disrupted sleep patterns, but we often normalise that with later pregnancy and new parents having difficulty sleeping, Mansfield pointed out.

Its really important that if youre having problems sleeping, and you may be unable to settle and find your mood is a lot lower, you talk to your health professional about that.

It is important to communicate.

4. Appetite changes

Some people do find their appetite is affected, said Mansfield. This may mean women lose their appetite and forget to eat or, conversely, comfort eat and possibly put weight on.

5. Difficulty concentrating

Its common for women to describe having brain fog when theyre pregnant or have just had a baby, but sometimes an inability to concentrate can be a sign of a deeper problem.

Mansfield explained: A womans ability to concentrate can be markedly affected, and we often downplay that  it can be a subtlety that we ally with having a baby or being pregnant, but these can be really important signs and symptoms to share with your health professional, as they may suggest theres something that needs exploring further.

6. Obsessive compulsive behaviour

Starting to behave obsessively or compulsively, or symptoms of any pre-existing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) getting worse, can be linked to perinatal mental ill health too.

Some women may be excessively tidying, for example, or be fixated on something and they may become more anxious, said Mansfield.

Very commonly, obsessive compulsive disorder may become worsened. Certainly if someone does have compulsive disorders, its important not to put them to one side, but share them with your midwife.

Picking it up early is so important.

Amanda Mansfield.

7. Unusual thoughts

Of course, new parents will have lots of new things to think about  but when those thoughts are perhaps a little unusual, its worth talking to family, friends and your midwife or health visitor about them.

Mansfield said: Women may present with different thoughts they havent experienced before, and often they downplay that because theyre not sure whether theyre normal or not, or they might think theyre just part of being pregnant and having a baby.

The challenge for us as midwives is when you only have 15/20 minutes antenatally to do the whole health assessment  the physical and mental health assessment. Its about understanding the subtlety of behaviour change.

Women should contact their health professional for advice.
Physical Traceability for Minimizing Risk & Supporting Regulation

SPONSORED CONTENT - Physical traceability presents a possible solution to navigating new legislation around textiles, such as supply chain risk management, accountability, and fostering circular practices.

The European Commission reports that over half of the voluntary green claims (53.3%1) by brands were found to be vague, misleading, or lacking a proper justification, while 40%1 were entirely unsubstantiated. As a result, consumer trust in brands has crashed, prompting the development of legislation to address these issues. Many European countries have already established their key objectives and have begun implementing diverse regulations to control claims in consumer goods and enforce due diligence practices.

To mitigate risks related to social and environmental issues, it is critical to ensure product-level information across the entire production process, from raw materials to finished products. An established way to trace products along the supply chain is by adding a DNA marking solution, like Haelixas patented technology. By performing forensic tests to detect the presence of the unique DNA markers corresponding to a specific location or raw material, companies can rely on objective data to uphold the identity of the materials throughout the supply chain, allowing them to reduce risk and optimize their sourcing operations.

Accountability is another key concern of the legislation. Companies are now required to disclose their suppliers and manufacturing processes. Value chain transparency enables regulators, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and consumers to hold companies accountable for their actions. Physical traceability ensures products identity preservation, making it easier to identify responsible parties and allowing to take appropriate measures to address any violations or non-compliance.

The sourcing practices of brands and retailers have shifted, as they increasingly engage with suppliers beyond Tier 1. This change is encouraged by various governance offices that advocate for the adoption of responsible sourcing, which prioritize the acquisition of raw materials from ethical and environmentally conscious suppliers. For instance, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) imposes restrictions on the entry into the United States of products made from raw materials, such as cotton, from specific regions with questionable labor practices into the borders of the United States. Within this context, physical traceability, like Haelixas DNA markers, are a critical tool in enforcing the legislation, since cotton can be blended or exchanged at any processing step. Haelixas solution offers security through a key-lock testing verification system, in order to test the DNA applied one must know for which sequence to screen. Each customer uses a unique marker that cannot be removed or tampered with after application. Through traceability, companies can effectively verify the origin and authenticity of their materials, thereby reducing the risk associated with sourcing from unsustainable or even illegal sources.

Through transparency and accountability, we can build trust amongst stakeholders and support textile companies in their goals of being more ethically and environmentally conscious, said Gediminas Mikutis, CTO and Co-Founder of Haelixa.

European legislation for textiles emphasizes a need to minimize risks, ensure accountability, and promote sustainability. The legislation drives positive change within the textile industry, making it more transparent, responsible, and environmentally friendly.

By implementing the Haelixa DNA physical traceability solution, companies will be more sustainable in sourcing, utilizing eco-conscious materials, and contributing to the circular economy.

1 Proposal for a Directive on green claims. (n.d.). Environment. https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/proposal-directive-green-claims_en

About Haelixa

Haelixa pioneers the development and commercialization of physical product traceability solutions to ensure full end-to-end supply-chain consumer goods traceability, focusing on sustainably manufactured products, such as organic or recycled textiles. Based on DNA markers, the Haelixa technology is physically applied to the material and remains embedded, providing a traceable physical fingerprint from producer to retail.

For more information, please visit https://www.haelixa.com

Media Contact Haelixa

Holly Berger

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone: +41 44 592 69 00
New DEFA CO to start in September



New DEFA Chief Officer, Scott Gallacher

Scott Gallacher has been appointed to take over from Ste Stanley as Chief Officer (CO) for the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA).

Mr Gallacher has held a number of senior executive roles within the New Zealand Government in areas such as animal welfare, biosecurity, fisheries, food safety and forestry.

Most recently Gallacher has led Wellingtons Public Transport Authority Metlink, which is responsible for 130,000 bus, ferry and rail passengers a day.

Speaking on his new role, Gallacher said: I cannot wait to get started and look forward to working with the team at DEFA, communities and stakeholders throughout the Island as we look to protect and enhance the Islands natural and built assets within the core principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability."

Clare Barber MHK, Minister for Environment, Food and Agriculture said that Gallachers extensive background and experience makes him a valuable addition to the Department.

She is confident that his expertise will greatly contribute to the efforts of DEFAs various Divisions.

Stanley has relocated from DEFA to take up Executive Director of Urban Regeneration in the Cabinet Office.
The authors of the book under review cite the Prime Minister's convocation address at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 2020 as a major inspiration for undertaking this research project. The Prime Minister had exhorted scholars to take up "lesser-known national heroes as India completed 75 years of independence" (p xxi). As scholars at the AMU, the authors could not have chosen a better personality to study, given the fact that they had access to vast archival material about Justice Syed Mahmood's life. Even otherwise, there is no dearth of reasons to be curious about the life and times of Justice Mahmood (18501903). He was the son of the founder of AMU, Syed Ahmad Khan with a glowing list of achievements to his credit: colonial India's youngest, first native, and Muslim high court judge. After all, a work such as this can shed light on his strategic engagements with the British for furthering personal, professional, and communal interests (Lelyveld 1978). Besides, he was a committed educationist, a polyglot scholar who played a pioneering role in Muslim law, a legislator, and an erudite jurist.

A Legal Luminary
Iran has accused Israel of being behind a failed plot to sabotage its defense industry and the production of missiles, state media reported.
UK economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics forecast further declines in the UK house prices, citing recent data from Nationwide that suggests a sharp month-on-month fall in August.

The downturn is attributed to a reduction in buyer affordability due to increased mortgage rates, with the effects of this being reflected in a more considerable annual drop in house prices.

The outlook remains cautious, with expectations of continued house price reductions.

August saw a noteworthy drop in the UK's house prices.

"Nationwides seasonally adjusted measure of house prices fell by 0.8% month-to-month in August," says Gabriella Dickens, Senior U.K. Economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Year-on-year data presents a concerning decline, indicating a momentum in the reduction of house prices.

"Year-over-year growth, therefore, fell to -5.3%, from -3.9% in July. The downturn in prices gathered momentum in August," Dickens says.

"As the hit to buyer affordability from higher mortgage rates continued to filter through," the analyst adds.

A historical comparison reveals the significance of this decline, drawing parallels with rates observed more than a decade ago.

"The 0.8% month-to-month drop was the largest since November and means prices now are 5.3% below their peak this time last year; house prices havent fallen that fast on a year-over-year basis since mid-2009," Dickens says.

Pantheon Macroeconomics believes the current state of the housing market necessitates a further reduction in prices to align demand with supply.

However, while mortgage rates have begun a downward trajectory, they are not expected to fall as dramatically as they did earlier this year.

"Mortgage rates have started to tick down, but we doubt they will fall as far as they did this spring, given bank Rate looks set to top out at 5.5%," says Dickens.

"Indeed, the rate on the benchmark two-year fixed-rate mortgage probably fell to around 5.9% in August, from a 15-year high of 6.26% in July," the strategist adds.

Household caution also seems to play a role in the housing market's dynamics. Expectations of further house price declines have now become a firm belief among households, potentially exacerbating the situation.

There's some optimism, however.

Pantheon Macroeconomics has adjusted its predictions on the house price decline's magnitude, factoring in recent trends in wage growth and the drop in energy bills.

"The recent momentum in pay growth, however, combined with the falls in energy bills in July and then again in October means we now expect a 6% peak-to-trough fall, rather than the 8% drop we had anticipated," says Dickens.

In essence, the UK housing market's current landscape is characterised by declining prices, influenced in part by higher mortgage rates, which have impacted buyer affordability.

While there is hope that certain factors like wage growth and reduced energy bills might mitigate the drop's severity, Pantheon Macroeconomics' analysis suggests that the market has yet to see the bottom.

Read the full UK house price data release here.
The Montana Club building located at 24 West 6th Avenue in downtown Helena. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)

The president of the Original Montana Club Cooperative Association board said the co-op plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy imminently to try to avoid foreclosure and keep the historic club in downtown Helena running with a bar and restaurant into the future.

Shareholders for the association voted unanimously last week to authorize the board to file for bankruptcy while it faces foreclosure after being sued last year for more than half a million dollars in unpaid assessments and interest by other owners of the Montana Club building. The Helena Independent Record first reported the shareholders vote.

In an interview, co-op board president Charles Robison said the hope was that filing for bankruptcy would pause the foreclosure lawsuit and prevent creditors from holding a sheriffs auction and what he called a fire sale of the Original Montana Club Cooperative Associations assets in the building.

Debt is a tool, and it creates core protections against this foreclosure sale. We are obligated to repay whats owed, and we have sufficient assets, Robison said. We just dont want the sheriff to auction them all off.

The Montana Club was founded in 1885 and rebuilt in 1905 after a fire destroyed the building. The Original Montana Club formed the Montana Club Building Condominium Owners Association in 1980, which was when the building was broken up with different owners. The club itself reorganized into a co-op in 2018 and reopened for dining, and the Original Montana Club Cooperative Association took over ownership of the Rathskeller and the second, third, and sixth floors, in 2021.

Robison said that filing for bankruptcy would allow the Montana Club to stay open five days a week and to pay its employees and vendors while a court decides how it should repay the money it owes, and the co-op figures out what assets to hold onto and which to sell.

Last October, the Montana Club Building Condominium Owners Association and other building owners sued the Original Montana Club Cooperative Association, claiming that as of June of last year, the co-op owed the owners association $579,131 in unpaid dues and assessments.

The plaintiffs asked a Lewis and Clark County District Court judge to find the co-op had breached its contract, to have the co-op pay back its dues and assessments plus interest, and to foreclose its lien on the property.

In a February court filing, the co-op admitted it was behind on its payments to the condo owners association but said it lacked sufficient information about other allegations contained in the original complaint.

At the end of July, the condo owners association filed a motion for summary judgment on one of the claims in the original suit, asking Judge Michael McMahon to issue an order saying the condo owners association was owed $648,000 in dues and assessments plus interest and foreclosing the co-ops lien.

The debt is substantially delinquent and despite demand, remains unpaid, lawyers for the condo owners association said in the filing. The failure to pay regular and special assessments is a substantial burden on the remaining condominium owners.

McMahon gave the co-op an extension to reply to the motion for summary judgment which is due Sept. 20, according to court records. Robison told the Daily Montanan that filing for bankruptcy would stay any summary judgment in state district court.

He said he believes the co-op owes around $500,000 in dues and assessments and was not sure the current interest total. A bankruptcy court would determine the exact amount the co-op needs to pay to the condo owners association once the filing is made.

We will be filing soon. I dont have a specific date, Robison said. And very quickly, well have to propose a plan and work through the process of the court looking at our plan, and getting a plan that the court will approve to pay off creditors.

The co-op put the Rathskeller up for sale in June for $600,000, and while Robison said there has been interest in the bar, the board and co-op has discussed lowering the asking price. The Montana Club also was awarded a $90,040 Historic Preservation Grant in June by the Department of Commerce.

Robison acknowledged that the co-op will likely have to sell other assets aside from the Rathskeller, possibly including its sixth-floor banquet hall property, but said he hopes it wont have to sell its liquor license unless a new buyer wants to run the full restaurant and bar businesses.

Were looking for the right buyer, the right opportunity, Robison said.

Other options discussed at last weeks meeting include getting all of the buildings owners to sell the building and potentially lease back space, though Robison said the co-op has not had those conversations with the other owners yet.

This (bankruptcy) is necessary to ensure that we have time to get to work through that, he said.

The post Helenas Montana Club plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy appeared first on Daily Montanan.
A sheep farmer is calling for increased awareness of sepsis after his remote rural location meant an ambulance would take five hours to reach him with medical help.

Last year, Northumberland farmer Paul Coulson was spending time with his wife Kirsty and children when he started feeling unwell.

A trip to A&E saw him initially discharged with a UTI diagnosis but his condition deteriorated rapidly over the next few hours.

Paul said: During the early hours of Sunday morning I began feeling extremely unwell - shivering, shaking, vomiting and sweating profusely."

After an hour, Kirsty called for an ambulance and when the paramedic arrived, Paul was told he either had sepsis or meningitis, and that he needed urgent medical attention.

Paul recalled: The paramedic gave me fluids and anti-sickness medication. As he was a first responder he called for an ambulance to take me to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.

"However, the call handler told him it would be a five hour wait before an ambulance could come to our rural location.

Luckily, the paramedic was able to stabilise Paul enough for Kirsty to drive him the hour-long journey to the nearest hospital, where he was immediately placed on a drip and strong antibiotics.

That evening Paul was told he had sepsis: I was really surprised, shocked and worried," he said, "My family were all very concerned but we decided not to tell our three young children that I was in hospital as we wanted to keep things as normal as possible for them.

Sepsis takes the lives of approximately five people every hour in the UK.

It occurs when the bodys response to an infection spirals rapidly out of control, injuring its own tissues and organs which can result in multiple organ failure and death.

Paul was kept in hospital for a week before being discharged with antibiotics but he continued to feel unwell.

I had no appetite, continued to sweat - especially at night - and could hardly walk. I felt like Id been hit by a bus," he said.

As the weeks went on I was back and forth to my GP as my body just wouldnt recover. After months of doctors appointments and tests they diagnosed me with post sepsis chronic fatigue and chronic migraines, which had been an ongoing issue since I had meningitis in 2015.

Unfortunately the infection had really taken its toll on my body. I still havent recovered fully, and I continue to need medication to manage the pain - Ive been unwell now for 17 months.

"Without any real treatment for the post sepsis condition, its just something I have to manage and live with. Thankfully Im still here though.

Colin Graham, chief operating officer at FEAT, the only UK charity dedicated to supporting sepsis research, said sepsis was the number one cause of preventable death in the world.

He said farmers especially can be vulnerable to sepsis given the likelihood of picking up cuts and grazes through their work, which can become infected and potentially lead to sepsis.

Add to that a rural location where medical attention may be harder to access and it makes it all the more important to know the symptoms, recognise them quickly and act fast to get treatment," he said.

"The faster sepsis is spotted, the more chance the patient has of a positive outcome.

Paul added: "I dread ever having sepsis again. It was without doubt the worst experience of my life. I have never felt so unwell, but Im very grateful to still be here even if I dont have the energy and health I would wish for.

If I had to share just one message I would say this: if theres any doubt dont delay, get to hospital. Time is your enemy.

"Sepsis can affect anyone not just the elderly, it seems to be a misconception that young fit people wont get sepsis. You can. I did. I survived.
Love Lamb Week has commenced today as part of an industry initiative seeking to promote British lamb following a year of market turbulence.

The annual campaign, which begins in early September for one week, promotes British lamb by teaming up with popular farming influencers on social media.

Farmers are being encouraged to spur on their local community to get involved in promotional activities for the annual campaign.

Love Lamb Week also aims to highlight to consumers the advantages of the UK climate, with its rainfall and lush grass, making it the ideal place to produce lamb.

Promoting the meat during the initiative will be farmer influencers who will showcase the natural landscape and sustainability credentials of their own farms as well as cooking up their favourite shepherd's pie recipe.

And major retailers will be promoting Love Lamb Week on their websites and consumers will find on-pack stickers in store on mince, lamb chops, shoulder joints, and meatballs.

The industry-wide initiative is supported by industry groups including AHDB, Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales), NFU and Red Tractor, among others.

Its #LoveLambWeek!??#LoveLambWeek was originally set up by Rachel Lumley, in 2015, in reaction to falling lamb consumption and depressed lamb prices??

Rachel recognised the need for planned promotion to encourage people to buy British lamb??

Get involved using #LoveLambWeek pic.twitter.com/r3F2XvLvX7  National Sheep Association (@natsheep) September 1, 2023

Here's to all our British sheep farmers!

Help to celebrate #LoveLambWeek with @AHDB_BeefLamb:

?? Use the hashtag in your posts.

?? If you're a sheep farmer, share video updates, highlighting the sustainable messages of UK lamb production

?? Post photos of tasty lamb dinners. pic.twitter.com/Q5HhwkAssH  NFYFC (@NFYFC) September 1, 2023

Its Day 1 of #LoveLambWeek!??

In Wales, were world renowned for our high-quality, sustainably produced @WelshLamb_PGI thanks to our fantastic sheep farmers who truly are experts in their field!

Well be posting delicious recipes all week so keep an eye on this channel! pic.twitter.com/BeORcX8ASG  Welsh Government Rural Affairs (@WGRural) September 1, 2023

A spokesperson for AHDB said: "Love Lamb Week will shine a light on the sustainability of UK sheep production while also reminding consumers of the exceptional taste and quality that UK lamb brings to the dinner table.

"There are lots of ways you could raise awareness of Love Lamb Week and champion the hard work of sheep farmers, who produce naturally delicious lamb while maintaining the country's unique landscape.

"Use #LoveLambWeek and #ShepherdsAndTheirPies hashtags in your posts, whether you're sharing video updates on the daily work you do on farm, highlighting the sustainable messages of UK lamb production or posting photos of tasty lamb dinners.

"You can also tag the Love Lamb accounts in your posts, and they'll be able to see and comment."

National Sheep Association (NSA) chief executive, Phil Stocker added that the campaign was a great opportunity to champion the UK sheep sector.

"That includes promoting the delicious product of some of the UKs native and lesser-known breeds, and the special eating qualities they can offer consumers."
The Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) has slammed the NI government for 'acting unlawfully' over the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme following a High Court case.

Attempts to recoup more than 50,000 awarded to a poultry farmer under the failed scheme were quashed by the High Court on Thursday (31 August).

The UFU said that approximately 130 participants of the RHI would be impacted by the outcome of yesterday's hearing.

The union said the DfE [Department for Economy] had 'acted unlawfully' in its attempt to recover 50,000 from farmer Thomas Paul, who is involved in the scheme.

Set up to encourage businesses to switch to greener wood pellet burning systems, the scheme was put in the spotlight when the potential cost to taxpayers came to light.

It became known as the 'cash for ash' scandal as subsidies were more expensive than fuel costs, eventually leading to the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive in 2017.

Now the UFU is urging members to seek legal advice as many farmers "will be impacted by this outcome".

The union's president, David Brown said yesterday's High Court ruling on the RHI case was 'outrageous'.

"It is almost a dead cert that there are cases of a similar nature, where participants have been made to repay money because they were allegedly abusing the scheme," he said.

For many years, UFU members who entered the RHI scheme endured suspicion and have had accusations thrown at them.

"Innocent parties were wrongly ejected from the scheme and forced to repay subsidies like the poultry farmer who contested the sanctions imposed on him which exposed the unlawful behaviour of DfE."

Mr Brown said vindication was now needed for those members who were "wrongly tarred with the same RHI brush of fraudulent behaviour".

Prior to this court hearing we raised questions about DfEs competence, capacity and capability to manage the scheme," he added.

"These were wrongly dismissed but now there is no doubt about DfEs competence  it is completely shot.

The RHI scandal is a huge setback for renewables in Northern Ireland and there is a strong case to be made for levelling up support for green energy here."
Adam Driver has slammed film studios including Netflix and Amazon for failing to meet the demands of striking writers and actors.

Adam Driver hit out at the big studios for failing to agree terms with the actors and writers unions currently on strike

Members of SAG-AFTRA - the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists - and the Writers Guild of America unions have brought Hollywood to a standstill after walking out in a bid to resolve issues over pay, residuals and AI technology with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers [AMPTP]. Now Driver - whose new film 'Ferrari' was given an exemption from the industrial action - has insisted studio bosses need to do more to meet the demands of those on strike.

During an appearance at the Venice Film festival in Italy, the actor said: "Im very happy to be here to support this movie, but also Im very proud to be here, to be a visual representation of a movie thats not a part of the AMPTP [Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers], and to promote the SAG leadership directive  which is an effective tactic  which is the interim agreement."

Under the terms of the strike, members are not allowed to make any film or TV project or promote any that have already been finished - meaning they are unable to attend premieres or film festivals in support of their work.

Driver was able to attend the VFF this week because 'Ferrari' was granted an exemption by the union as it was not made in partnership with the AMPTP and he insisted that if smaller production companies and distributors are able to meet the unions demands then big studios must step up.

He added: "The other objective is to say, why is it that a smaller distribution company like Neon and STX International [the distributor and production companies behind 'Ferrari'] can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for  this is pre-negotiation, the dream version of SAG's wishlist  but a big company like Netflix and Amazon cant?

"And every time people from SAG support a movie that has agreed to these terms, it just makes it more obvious that these people are willing to support the people they collaborate with, and the others are not."
Oprah Winfrey has joined forces with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to support victims of the wildfires in Hawaii.

Oprah Winfrey is trying to support the victims of the wildfires

The 69-year-old TV star and Dwayne, 51, have established the People's Fund of Maui with $10 million of their own money, and they're now encouraging others to throw their support behind the effort.

Oprah wrote on Instagram: "Were honored to announce the Peoples Fund of Maui, a fund putting money directly in the pockets of those who were affected by the recent wildfires. As we have seen firsthand, the impacts of these wildfires have been devastating, and were here to ensure with 100 percent guarantee that your donations will go directly into the hands of Lahaina residents.

"Every adult resident who lives in the affected area and was displaced by the wildfires in Lahaina and Kula is eligible to receive $1200 per month to help them through this period of recovery. All you have to do is go to PeoplesFundofMaui.org to apply.

"We are honored to start this campaign with $10 million dollars and ask for your help in donating to those who have lost their homes. We thank you in advance for your contribution. Link in bio to learn more and give to the @peoplesfundofmaui [prayer emoji] (sic)"

In July, US President Joe Biden expressed his sympathies for the people of Hawaii, after wildfires caused devastation in the state.

The president and his wife Jill 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 harms way to save lives."
Prince Harry has been told to get over it by an Australian radio host after opening up about his trauma over his Afghanistan tours of duty.

Prince Harry has been told to get over it by an Australian radio host after opening up about his trauma over his Afghanistan tours of duty

The Duke of Sussex, 38, says in his latest Netflix show Heart of Invictus he was left curled in the foetal position and bouncing off walls after he left the war-torn country during his 10 years as a soldier.

But broadcaster Kyle Sandilands has slammed the prince by ranting: Im sick and tired of hearing about this little b***** prince whining... he wants everyone to feel sorry for him all the time.

We all struggle, (but) surely hes struggled less than the rest of us.

The host, who was homeless as a teen, hit out while discussing Harrys latest series on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Thursday. (30.08.23)

Referring to the death of the princes mum Princess Diana age 36 in a Paris car crash in 1997, he added: A lot of people have lost a parent and have not had the means to try and get some help. They just cant afford it.

He also questioned the truth of Harrys claim in his memoir Spare he killed 25 Taliban while fighting in Afghanistan  adding he was convinced the royal was protected from harm during his army service because he was the prince.

Harry served in combat for over 10 weeks in Helmand Province, Afghanistan between 2007 and 2008, before returning to the country for a 20-week tour from 2012 to 2013 with the Army Air Corps, during which he was a helicopter pilot.

But Kyle blasted: You fought in a helicopter for a couple of weeks and you had to come back.

You havent got PTSD  nothing  you saw no action. Wheres the action?

When I was not much older than him, I was homeless on the street, not living in a palace. I had no support either, but Ive just dusted myself off and powered through and look at me. I have no issues.

Referring to Harrys wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, 42, with whom he has son Archie, four, and daughter Lilibet, two, Kyle went on: These people are making money off your, off your sadness for them. I dont even believe theyre that sad. They cause most of their own problems.

She hates her family, he now hates his family since theyve been together. And all they do is b**** about everybody.

Heart of Invictus explores the life of injured and ill military veterans who take part in the Paralympic-style Invictus Games, which Harry founded.

He says on the show about the death of his mum: I had that moment in my life where I didnt know about it but because of the trauma of losing my mum when I was 12  for all those years, I had no emotion, I was unable to cry, I was unable to feel. I didnt know it at the time.
Travis Barker has left Blink-182's world tour to deal with an "urgent family matter".

Travis Barker has returned to California

The 47-year-old drummer has left Europe to return home to California, but the band have so far remained tight-lipped about the precise reason for his abrupt exit.

They said on Instagram Story: "Due to an urgent family matter, Travis has had to return home to the States. The Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin shows are being postponed. More information in regards to his return to Europe and rescheduled dates will be provided as soon as available."

Travis hasn't made any public comment about his decision to return home. However, he has posted several Instagram Stories from inside a prayer room.

Travis and his wife Kourtney Kardashian have been preparing for the arrival of their first child over recent months.

The loved-up couple announced their pregnancy to the world in June, when Kourtney attended a Blink-182 concert and was seen holding up a sign that read, "Travis, I'm pregnant."

The celebrity duo - who tied the knot in 2022 - also staged a gender reveal for family and friends.

In a clip posted on Instagram, Kourtney sat on Travis' lap as he sat behind his drum kit.

Travis could be seen saying to Kourtney: "Tell when youre ready. Is our pyro guy ready?

Kourtney - who already has Mason, 13, Penelope, 11, and Reign, eight, with her ex-boyfriend Scott Disick - then smiled and said: "I dont know whats happening."

The musician gave a drumroll and as he slammed the cymbals while he and his wife shared a kiss, blue confetti rained down on them and a mass of blue streamers fell from the sky.

Guests could be heard shouting: "I knew it!"
This isnt just Another Day To Live Through in a brand new hauntingly powerful, psychological, ground-hog-day-esque horror that gets its UK digital release on 11th September 2023, courtesy of Reel 2 Reel Films.

Another Day To Live Through

Directed by Peter Simmons, in his feature debut, this captivating British/Finnish thriller unveils a world of harrowingly exquisite visuals, shrouded in enigma.

Satu (Lene Kqiku  Carcera), a Finnish ex-pat seeking solace after a terrible loss, returns to her homeland and there, meets Lauri (Timo Torikka  The Winter War), a semi- retired bitter military contractor.

But nothing is what it seems as Satu and Lauri find themselves ensnared within a labyrinth of disconcerting, violent and bewildering recurring scenarios, where roles and identities shift in an isolated cabin with no obvious escape.

As time distorts, reality fractures and dangerous truths come to light, Satu must do all she can to break the cycle and escape the waking nightmare she is trapped in...

This sinister, eerily evocate horror promises a spectacular experience. Open your eyes to Another Day To Live Through  a quietly terrifying and disturbing feature that will linger long after the credits have rolled.

On UK digital 11 September 2023 from Reel 2 Reel Films

by Matt Shine for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Under the Hong Kong-Bangladesh Comprehensive Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement (CDTA) signed in Hong Kong recently, Hong Kong companies can enjoy double taxation relief. Any tax paid in Bangladesh, whether directly or by deduction, in accordance with the CDTA will be allowed as a credit against the tax payable in Hong Kong in respect of the same income.

This CDTA is the 47th agreement that Hong Kong has concluded, its government said in a release.

Under a new comprehensive avoidance of double taxation agreement signed by Bangladesh and Hong Kong recently, firms from the latter can enjoy double taxation relief. Any tax paid in Bangladesh, whether directly or by deduction, in accordance with the new agreement will be allowed as a credit against the tax payable in Hong Kong in respect of the same income.

"Bangladesh is one of the economies participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. I have every confidence that this CDTA will further promote economic and trade ties between Hong Kong and Bangladesh, and offer additional incentives for the business sectors of both sides to do business or make investment," said Christopher Hui, secretary for financial services and the treasury of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

The agreement also provides the following tax relief arrangements.

Bangladesh's withholding tax rates for Hong Kong residents on dividends will be capped at 10 per cent or 15 per cent, depending on the percentage of their shareholdings; and on interest, royalties and fees for technical services will be capped at 10 per cent.

Hong Kong residents deriving profits from international shipping transport in Bangladesh will enjoy 50 per cent tax reduction in Bangladesh in respect of the profits subject to tax there.

The CDTA will come into force after the completion of ratification procedures by both jurisdictions.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Nicaragua and China recently signed a free trade agreement (FTA) after year-long negotiations. The deal is the 21st of its kind for China.

The FTA was signed virtually by Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao and Laureano Ortega, advisor on investment, trade and international cooperation at the Nicaraguan president's office.

Nicaragua and China have signed a free trade agreement after year-long talks. The deal is the 21st of its kind for China. The FTA will facilitate high-level mutual opening up in areas like goods and services trade and investment access. When the FTA takes effect, about three-fifths of goods in the bilateral trade will be exempted from tariffs.

Nicaragua has now become China's 28th global free trade partner and fifth in Latin America.

The FTA will facilitate high-level mutual opening up in areas like goods and services trade and investment access, according to a statement issued by the China's commerce ministry.

When the FTA takes effect, about three-fifths of goods in the bilateral trade will be exempted from tariffs, and the tariffs on over 95 per cent of goods will be gradually reduced to zero, an official Chinese news outlet reported.

It features provisions for the stay of business people's parents, comprises aspects of the digital economy and stipulates cooperation in measurement standards in the technical trade barriers chapter.

Bothe the countries will now carry out their respective domestic procedures for the early implementation of the FTA.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Long-term ocean freight rates continued their decline in August, marking a year of steady decrease for carriers, according to Xeneta. Carriers are facing challenging times in the contract market due to weak demand and increasing ship capacity, resulting in widespread long-term rate reductions.

Xeneta Shipping Index (XSI) data reveals a 7.8 per cent drop in contracted rates this August, adding up to a 62.7 per cent decrease from last year, the Oslo-headquartered ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform said in a press release.

Long-term ocean freight rates continued their decline in August, marking a year of steady decrease for carriers, according to Xeneta. Carriers are facing challenging times in the contract market due to weak demand and increasing ship capacity. US import and exports are increasing being affected by the restrictions that are in place for the Panama Canal transits.

Routes from the Far East, the busiest globally, witnessed a significant 75 per cent year-on-year (YoY) contract value reduction based on Xeneta's regional sub-index.

This pattern differs from the spot market, where major trade rates have risen in recent months. As the long-term market usually follows spot market trends, the current advantages for shippers might be temporary.

The XSI for European imports fell to 178.7 in August, down by 3.4 per cent from the previous month. Over the past 12 months, this sub-index has fallen by 60.1 per cent.

The XSI for European exports also fell by just an inch, as it declined by 2.8 per cent from July, bringing it to 188.1 in August. This sub-index has now been halved over the past, falling by 52.4 per cent from August 2022.

US imports as well as exports are increasingly being affected by the restrictions in place for Panama Canal transits.

The XSI for Far East exports has now fallen by almost 75 per cent since August 2022the most of any major XSI import or export region.

At 117.7, the Far East imports XSI fell by another 2 per cent in August to 120.2 points, the lowest of all the XSI sub-indices. Since this sub-index peaked exactly a year ago, rates have come down by 51.1 per cent.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
After 27 years, the Miss World pageant is coming back to India. The pageant was held in Bangalore in 1996, but no Indian city has subsequently hosted it despite a number of Indian girls taking home the coveted title. This year, that is changing. Before the host city was revealed, Julia Morley, CEO of the Miss World Organization, spoke about the "homecoming," hopes for hosting Miss World in India, and her recollections of Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai from their Miss World years. Over a generation has passed since India last hosted Miss World. When we had the show in Bangalore, it was a different time, a different era, agrees Julia, adding, But now, it feels like coming home almost because since then, we have come here several times with Aishwarya, Priyanka, and Manushi. I am really excited for this now.

India is one of the most successful nations at the competition. Five of these girls have gone on to achieve Her first memories of people like Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai, who won in 2000 and 1994, respectively, are described as follows: Priyanka was a totally different person, more reserved, which is always fascinating. But Aishwarya was a baby. We felt protective of her and wanted to mother her. When we have done recent Miss World shows, sometimes she has come over to say hello and theres something magical about her giggle and smile.In fact, Julia recalls how Aishwarya stunned everyoneincluding the organiserswhen she competed in Miss World 1994 in South Africa.. I remember her eyes! The director who was doing the show said, my God, one of the girls has the most incredible eyes. He didnt know who she was. When we opened the show that year, he zoomed in on those eyes. I said, is that favouritism. He just said thank God Im not a judge, she remembers.In the five decades that Julia has managed the Miss World pageant, she claims that Aishwarya has remained one of her favourites. Aishwarya is my baby. I didn't choose between the girls but my baby was Aishwarya. When she came into the competition, she was so young, only 18, all giggly. But she was lovely and she was a true, honest, open, happy, beautiful young woman. She was a joy to work with, she said.
Scam 2003: The Telgi Story

Bambai Meri Jaan

The Freelancer

Kaala

Masterpeace

Choona

August is way behind us and it came with a lot of good content in the OTT space. While shows like Made In Heaven and Guns & Gulaabs were instant hits, its time to look forward to whats in store for the upcoming month. September has officially descended upon us and it is time to look forward to a whole new lot of Hindi web series that are making their way to OTT this month.An interesting lineup there with a mix of thrillers and mass entertainers with shows like Scam 2003, Mumbai Meri Jaan, The Freelancer, Kaala and Masterpeace. After Scam 1992, Hansal Mehtas Scam 2003 - The Telgi Story is a much-anticipated series to look forward to. Bambai Meri Jaan comes across as a thrilling watch while The Freelancer with its stellar cast is one to look out for. There is a family drama in the mix too that not many people are aware of titled Masterpeace which sees Nithya Menen headlining it with a lot of comedy, confusion and chaos.Heres a look at the Hindi web-series in September 2023 you need to add to your watchlist:While Harshad Mehtas story in Scam 1992 had a terrific response and made Pratik Gandhi a star overnight,promises to be an edge-of-the-seat entertainer along the same lines. Hansal Mehta shared the teaser on his social media account with a very catchy caption that stated, Life mein aage badhna hain toh daring to karna padega na darling!" The intriguing plot of the series revolves around Abdul Karim Telgi who was a fruit seller. He got into the business of printing counterfeit stamps and thus built a massive empire.Gagan Dev Riar who has some of the most noteworthy projects to his name plays the lead role. To those unaware, the series has been adapted from Telgi Scam: Reporters Ki Diary written by Sanjay Singh. Other pivotal cast members include Mukesh Tiwari, Bharat Jadhav, Shaad Randhawa and Sana Amin Sheikh. The first look of the series has garnered a positive response with Hansal Mehta introducing the new scandalous tale and it is finally around the corner.Sep 1, 2023Thisis being produced by Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani and Kassim Jagmagia. Farhan took to his social media account to share a glimpse and captioned it with, Time to crown the new king of Bambai! The series is going to have 10 episodes and is adapted from S. Hussain Zaidis story that revolves around gaining Independence. The plot presents a young lad who finds himself in a war of choosing between law enforcement like his father or losing himself in the world of crime.This intriguing story is a period production set in the post-independence era and how the inception of the underworld in Mumbai took place while the nation celebrated its freedom. One of the most promising gangster series to look forward to this month with an equally stellar cast featuring Avinash Tiwary, Kritika Kamra, Amyra Dastur, Kay Kay Menon and Nivedita Bhattacharya.September 14The series boasts of an impressive cast featuring Mohit Raina, Kashmira Pardeshi, Sushant Singh, John Kokken, Navneet Malik, Gauri Balaji and Anupam Kher. The series has been adapted from the book A Ticket to Syria written by Shirish Thorat. The focal character is Avinash Kamath essayed by Mohit Raina who will be seen as a former police officer who now works as a mercenary. He sets out on a mission to save a young bride called Aliya who gets embroiled in Syria where ISIS terrorism is on the rise. With some of the most bankable actors headlining it, this is going to be aSeptember 1Another crime-thriller to add to your watchlist this month is Kaala helmed by Bejoy Nambiar. The cast onboarded for the same include names like Avinash Tiwary, Taher Shabbir, Hiten Tejwani, Rohan Vinod Mehra and Nivetha Pethuraj. The series is a combination of plunging deep into the world of crime whilst exploring the functioning of the darkness that invades human souls. The plot revolves around an Intelligence Bureau officer who gets involved in solving some high-octane cases that are about criminals, power, wealth, vengeance and action. The rollercoaster ride is as unfiltered as it gets and makes you think deeper about the kind of world we live in.September 15This dysfunctionalis going to make you take a break from everything that worries you and enjoy an easy-breezy watch. The lead actress Nithye Menen and Sharaf U Dheen see their entire world turn upside down when their family issues result in gigantic chaos as their parents meddle. This comedy of errors is a family entertainer that is as heartwarming as it gets. The series will be available in multiple languages such as Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada besides Hindi. Nithya Menen previously received positive reviews for her role in Breathe: Into The Shadows alongside Abhishek Bachchan. This coming-of-age family drama sees her in yet another avatar.September 8One of its kind, Choona is a heist comedy-drama that comes with an ensemble cast featuring Jimmy Shergill, Arshad Warsi, Namit Das, Chandan Roy, and Ashim Gulati to name a few. The plot revolves around a group of people who do not see eye to eye about anything come together and find a common nemesis in a merciless politician. How they come together to plan a heist to seek revenge is where the story lies.September 29Looks like an interesting mix of content to look forward to this month. A lot of crime-thrillers are lined up for this month which is also the most trending genre of all time in the OTT space. The star cast in most of them is what is going to make the audience hooked to their screens. Avinash Tiwary will be back to entertain us in a gritty role after a long time. Whereas Anupam Kher and Mohit Raina coming together in The Freelancer will be interesting. Hansal Mehta has kept the audience asking for more with a glimpse from Scam 2003: The Telgi Case and out of the lot, it is indeed the most anticipated one for all the right reasons. Heres looking forward to a month of thrilling storytelling and yet another round of notable performances as these web shows hit our screens.
Agastya Nanda Trolled: In a surprising turn of events, Agastya Nanda, the grandson of Bollywood veterans Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, has found himself at the center of a heated online debate after gracing the cover of Entrepreneur magazine's latest issue.

AGASTYA NANDA FEATURES ON THE COVER OF 'ENTREPRENEUR'

The 24-year-old, who is set to make his acting debut in the Netflix film 'The Archies', appeared alongside renowned actress and designer Masaba Gupta under the headline The NextGen Leaders.

Agastya Nanda, who is the son of Shweta Bachchan and Nikhil Nanda, a Delhi-based businessman, has been facing backlash for his appearance on the Entrepreneur magazine cover.

The cover shot, which was shared by his sister Navya Nanda's Instagram story made its way to Reddit and left users wondering about his credentials for gracing the cover of a renowned business publication.

AGASTYA NANDA TROLLED

Reddit users wasted no time in voicing their opinions, with some questioning Agastya Nanda's qualifications for being labeled a "NextGen Leader" in the world of entrepreneurship. A user wrote, "He chose to be born as a Bachchan which was a great business decision and has given him great ROI....."

"Just like his arrogant sister,...who got to intern with Indra Nooyi for no apparent reason. And,...that BS podcast that she hosts with her pathetic attitude," wrote another social media user. A third comment read, "The nepo kids from big families are so multitalented. Some are farmers, some are entrepreneurs and they're doing all of this and acting on the side (though none of their movies have released yet, some are even brand ambassadors/models ). It's amazing honestly."

One more comment read, "Being born into a wealthy business family! What has his sister done (apart from, allegedly, bullying girls who weren't wealthy like her/her family) that she goes around prancing around, being an entrepreneur??? I am not at all against nepotism etc btw, no sane parents won't do everything in their power to help their child/den, but Navya Nanda & her ridiculous posturing just irritate TF out of me. Give her a place in your family business, and let her work at the grassroots level. But all they've done is to prop her up as some youth entrepreneur without the basic credentials she requires!!!"

Meanwhile, apart from his acting endeavor, Agastya Nanda often garners limelight for his rumoured relationship with Shah Rukh Khan's daughter, Suhana Khan.

DISCLAIMER: The particular article is a compilation of thoughts shared by social media users on the subject. Ideas expressed do not reflect the view of Filmibeat.
Rakul Preet Singh is one of the prettiest actresses, who has gained immense popularity across various film industries. Since her debut, the leading lady has proved her mettle and has stamped her ability across various industries. Following her journey, she has worked with some of the biggest superstars of Bollywood and Tollywood. Besides being a successful actress, Rakul Preet Singh also has an influential personality. The actress was invited as the chief guest for the prestigious awards "Hindustan Shikhar Samagam 2023' held in Kashmir. The gorgeous actress shared the diary of her Kashmir visit on social media.

The actress shared the travel diary of her Kashmir visit on social media where she transports us to the divine beauty of Kashmir and shows the joyous mood. The leading actress interacted with the people of Kashmir and also shared her experience about the place and said, "The beauty of Kashmir should be experienced. I have shot for my film at Kashmir for 8 days, and it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The beauty of Kashmir, its food, and the way nature talks with us is simply amazing". She also explored the locales of the place and had a good time at the place and also gave us a glimpse into the "Hindustan Shikhar Samagam 2023'. Sharing the post on social media, she captioned,

"Kashmir the joy of being in the lap of nature .."

Meanwhile, Rakul Preet Singh who had 5 prominent releases last year, has two big successful releases with 'Chhatriwali' and'I Love You', will be seen in the Pan India Film Indian 2 alongside Kamal Haasan, and also has some interesting unannounced films in the filmography.
Kushi Public Review: Vijay Devarakonda and Samantha starrer Kushi released today. The film was highly anticipated by the fans. Checkout this space for more interesting public review about the film Kushi:

Vijay Devarakonda Samantha Need A Hit

Vijay Devarakonda, who is determined to give a hit somehow, has come up with Kushi. Actress Samantha has acted opposite him in Kushi. Shiva Nirvana directed the film and Justin Prabhakaran composed the music for the film. The film is releasing in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi languages. Murali Sharma, Sachin Kather, Saranya Ponvannan and Lakshmi have acted in the film.

Vijay Devarakonda met the press at Nakshatra Hotel in Coimbatore recently. He said "Kushi is being made as an entertaining film based on a love story. Everyone should go and watch it in theatres. There is no big difference as far as Tamil and Telugu films are concerned. Vijay starrer Kushi in Tamil and Pawan Kalyan starrer Kushi in Telugu became the biggest blockbusters. The film Khushi in which I acted is a film that can be watched with families. The people of Tamil Nadu will definitely enjoy the songs that will appear in Khushi. I'm ready to act with Samantha next time if there is a script.

I have seen films like Nee Thaaney En Pon Vasantham and I am a fan of Samantha. Films like Baahubali, Pushpa, KGF are big films. I saw Maveeran movie yesterday and I loved the movie. Sivakarthikeyan has acted well. Lokesh Kanagaraj and Nelson are the best directors in Tamil. I like director Vetrimaaran very much and I like all his films. Murali, the cameraman of films like Kaala and Kabali, has joined us in this film as well.

Film Industry Travels Only Through Talent

Haven't seen Jailer movie yet. But the review of the film is good and I'm happy that the film has collected more. There are opportunities for all film-based workers in all language films. The music composer of Khushi is from Kerala and many artistes are from other states. Film industry travels only through talent, and I see the industry from that point of view."

Finally @Kushi not bad



All good  positive reviews 3/5



Comback done 



Oopiri peelchukondi



Hit zoner modhalaindhi #VijayDeverakonda #Kushi pic.twitter.com/GxFcAZDR9y  Vijay Sai Kushi on Sep 1st (@VijaySa45011843) August 31, 2023

Vijay Devarakonda also shared a tweet about Kushi yesterday, "Thoughts before Kushi release tomorrow! Cannot believe it is already here. It feels so sudden even though its been a year since you saw me on the big screen last. I believe you will all have a great fun time at the cinema. I cannot tell you how much i look forward to big smiles on all your faces. I love you all. Kushiiii is yours in a few hours. Enjoyyyyy! Your man, Vijay Deverakonda"
Lucky Man Twitter Review: Yogi Babu's Lucky Man movie has got postive reviews from special media premieres and celebrity shows already. The film is slated to hit the screens on today (September 1st). Checkout this space for more interesting twitter reviews about the film Lucky Man:

Balaji Venugopal's Debut Film

The film is directed by Balaji Venugopal. While working as an RJ, Balaji has acted in various films and has made his debut as a director through this film. The film revolves around the story of a man who wanders in search of fortune.

Lucky Man is produced by Think Studios. Sean Roldan has composed the music for the film. Cinematography by Sandeep K Vijay. Yogi Babu along with Veera, Rebecca, RS Shivaji and many others have acted in the film. The trailer of the film was released recently and it created good expectation among movie buffs.

#LuckyMan Review : A feel good emotional drama laced with humour & realism from dir @balajesaar anchored fabulously by @iYogiBabu as a common man & a terrific #RaichalRebecca playing his wife, perfect casting @ActorVeeraBahu a cop with anger issues. Great music by @RSeanRoldan. pic.twitter.com/gt2ZTpWrT7  Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) August 31, 2023

The press meet of the film was held in Chennai recently. Director Balaji Venugopal said, "I have done everything like radio, TV, voice artist and acting for 20 years. But it took me so many years to make the film Lucky Man. It was 'Muruga Bhakthi' that connected me with Yogi Babu. He listened to the story and said, 'This story is like looking back at my own life. I will definitely do it.'

Yogi Babu's Dedication To Cinema

When a good thing happens, there are some people who always speak negative about it. Like that, they told me that Yogi Babu will not come shooting and dubbing. But we finished everything while listening to all that."

One day while shooting, Yogi Babu sir has a terrible medical emergency in his family. We had planned to shoot in three locations that day. We will have to wait a month for the next call sheet if we missed that day. At a time when everyone was in agony, when they thought they could pack up in the afternoon, he said 'I'll come'. We started at 1.30 and continued till 5.30 in comedy despite all the crises."

Balaji Venugopal also posted on his Facebook page, "From Empty auditorium to a cheering SATISFIED audience..

Completed the FIRST EVER PREVIEW of LUCKYMAN in Kaaraikudi. Whatte response and whatte love for the film. Time froze for me when my name appeared & the whole auditorium clapped non-stop. Those claps & whistles are reveberating in my ears till now. Thank you Universe & My team."
HONG KONG, Sep. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fosun International Limited (HKEX stock code: 00656, "Fosun International"), together with its subsidiaries ("Fosun" or the "Group"), today announced the interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023 (the "Reporting Period").

In the first half of 2023, the international political and economic environment remained evolving and complex, while China's economy has recovered modestly. In the face of the complex macro environment, Fosun has stepped up its efforts to focus on household consumption as the top-priority sector, concentrating on the development of core businesses where it boasts clear competitive advantages, the overall business of the Group maintained steady growth. During the Reporting Period, the Group achieved a total revenue of RMB97.06 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 10.9%. The four core subsidiaries of Yuyuan, Fosun Pharma, Fosun Insurance Portugal, and Fosun Tourism Group (FTG) continued to improve their products and services, yielded a total revenue of RMB70.76 billion, up 12.4% compared to the same period of last year.

The key indicator reflecting the Company's operational capabilities - industrial operation profit reached RMB3.37 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.5%, if excluding the profit of disposed (including transactions yet to be completed) enterprises, representing a significant year-on-year increase of 66%. During the Reporting Period, the Group's profit attributable to owners of the parent during the Reporting Period was RMB1.36 billion.

With the recovery of domestic consumption and the relaxation of travel restrictions worldwide, Fosun's core industries have seized the opportunity of economic recovery. Among them, Yuyuan's revenue grew 21.86% year-on-year to RMB27.44 billion. FTG saw a 38.7% surge year-on-year in its revenue to RMB8.90 billion and turned profits.

In addition, subsidiaries in various segments have been accelerating their deployment in frontier fields to foster growth with high-quality resources. In the first half of the year, the new drug applications for several innovative products (indications) of Fosun Pharma entered the stage of pre-market approval acceptance; the construction of the Grand Yuyuan is on accelerating pace; Club Med launched a new urban resort product line, Club Med Urban Oasis, and Nanjing Resort and Taicang Alps Resort are expected to open soon; Hainan Mining's 20,000-ton lithium hydroxide project is expected to be completed and put into operation in the first half of 2024.

Meanwhile, Fosun continued to optimize its capital and asset structure, and actively explored financing channels, maintaining sufficient liquidity. As of the end of the Reporting Period, cash and bank balances and term deposits were abundant, reaching RMB114.68 billion. The Group has accelerated the disposal of non-strategy and non-core assets, cash inflow from divestment amounted to more than RMB20.0 billion at the consolidated level. Under the consolidated statements of the Group, total debts amounted to RMB220.92billion, compared to the corresponding period in 2022 the amount was RMB261.12 billion. Total debts to total capital ratio was 51.8%, the average cost of debt was 5.32%; the adjusted NAV was HK$20.1 per share.

Through proactive liquidity management, Fosun has navigated through the "maturity wall". During the Reporting Period, it redeemed onshore bonds of RMB6.73 billion as well as USD offshore debt of over USD2.7 billion. As of the end of the Reporting Period, the Group had no material offshore bonds due in one year. The improved credit profile has also been affirmed by the international market. On 30 May 2023, international rating agency S&P Global Ratings issued a report, lifting the Group's rating outlook to "stable".

During the first half of 2023, Innovation and global operational capabilities have been further enhanced. During the Reporting Period, the Group invested a total of approximately RMB4.2 billion in improving its technology innovation capabilities. With the continuous harvest of R&D investment, the revenue and profit of innovative products have been growing steadily. In the first half of 2023, core commercial products such as HANSIZHUANG and HANQUYOU have led to a jump in total revenue, leading the continuous growth of sales revenue and helping Shanghai Henlius turn profitable for the first time in half a year. The globalization journey of Fosun started in 2007 when Fosun International was listed in Hong Kong. After 16 years, Fosun has established business presence in more than 35 countries and regions, and has more than 100,000 employees worldwide. In the first half of 2023, overseas business became the driving force for the Group's development, overseas revenue amounted to RMB44.09 billion, accounting for 45.4% of total revenue.

Guo Guangchang, Chairman of Fosun International, said, "In the first half of 2023, Fosun, which has won out over the 'perfect storm', has set sail for a new journey by firmly implementing the core business-focused strategy to continuously deepen the development of its industries. Centering around the needs of global families in Health, Happiness, Wealth, and with the implementation of the business streamlining and core business-focused strategy, our businesses have been developing steadily. We believe that as the economy continues to recover, Fosun, which is committed to innovation-driven development and global operations, will embark on a new phase of high-quality development. We will provide more good products and services to create happier lives for families worldwide."

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/fosun-international-focused-development-steady-advancement-total-revenue-for-the-first-half-of-2023-up-10-9-yoy-to-rmb97-06-billion-301915550.html
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, reminds investors of a class action lawsuit against Danaher Corporation ("Danaher" or "the Company") (NYSE:DHR) for violations of 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investors who purchased the Company's securities between April 21, 2022 and April 24, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the firm before September 15, 2023.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall of the Schall Law Firm, 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2460, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 310-301-3335, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at brian@schallfirm.com.

The class, in this case, has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member.

According to the Complaint, the Company made false and misleading statements to the market. Danaher's revenue growth from its business related to COVID-19 was declining. Despite the Company's claims, revenues from other business units were not able to compensate for this decline. The Company overstated its ability to sustain the growth it enjoyed in 2020 and 2021. The Company would be incapable of hitting its revenue targets. Based on these facts, the Company's public statements were false and materially misleading throughout the class period. When the market learned the truth about Danaher, investors suffered damages.

Join the case to recover your losses.

The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.

CONTACT:

The Schall Law Firm

Brian Schall, Esq.

www.schallfirm.com

Office: 310-301-3335

info@schallfirm.com

SOURCE: The Schall Law Firm

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/779297/shareholder-action-alert-the-schall-law-firm-encourages-investors-in-danaher-corporation-with-losses-of-500000-to-contact-the-firm
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Doximity, Inc. ("Doximity" or "the Company") (NYSE:DOCS) for violations of the securities laws.

The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall of the Schall Law Firm, 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2460, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 310-301-3335, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at bschall@schallfirm.com.

The class in this case has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member.

The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.

CONTACT:

The Schall Law Firm

Brian Schall, Esq.

www.schallfirm.com

Office: 310-301-3335

info@schallfirm.com

SOURCE: The Schall Law Firm

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/779309/investigation-alert-the-schall-law-firm-announces-it-is-investigating-claims-against-doximity-inc-and-encourages-investors-with-losses-to-contact-the-firm
In 2022, La Poste Groupe generated 35.4 billion in revenue (44% outside France) and had a headcount of 238,000, in more than 60 countries over 5 continents, of which 184,000 in France. As a mission-driven company since June 2021 and a leader in environmental transition and sustainable finance, La Poste Groupe is committed to reaching "net-zero" by 2040. Through its strategic plan "La Poste 2030, committed for you", the company has set itself the goal of becoming the leading European platform for links and exchanges, providing digital, people-oriented, green and socially responsible services for the benefit of its customers and the transformation of society as a whole.

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.
BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust Plc - Total Voting Rights

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, September 01

BLACKROCK LATIN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (the "Company")

LEI: UK9OG5Q0CYUDFGRX4151

Voting Rights and Capital (Article 15 Transparency Directive, DTR 5.6)

In conformity with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 5.6.1R, the Company would like to notify the market of the following:

As at 31 August 2023, BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc's capital consists of 29,448,641 Ordinary Shares of 10 cents each, carrying one vote each, excluding 2,181,662 ordinary shares held in treasury.

As at 31 August 2023, the total number of voting rights for Ordinary shareholders in BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc is 29,448,641.

Shareholders should use 29,448,641 as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company.

All enquiries:

Sarah Beynsberger

BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, Company Secretary

Tel: 0207 743 2639

1 September 2023
Rostock, Germany (ots) -This year's Northern Coasts (NOCO) naval exercise - one of the most important multinational exercises for strengthening cooperation between the naval forces of Germany and its partners in the Baltic Sea region - will take place between 9 and 23 September 2023. The German Navy, namely the German Maritime Forces Staff (DEU MARFOR), will be responsible for planning and conducting the exercise this year. When it comes to national and collective defence, protecting the northern flank is one of the key priorities of the German Navy."The mission of the German Navy is to protect Germany and its people. Every day - above, on and below the surface of the sea. After the start of the war in Ukraine, we showed that we were ready for this, among other things, with our quick decision 'everything that swims is to set sail'. Ensuring this protection means above all: exercise, presence, and permanent vigilance - together with our partners in NATO and the EU. The Northern Coasts exercise serves precisely these goals. The German Navy will take over the leadership of the exercise by our command center in Rostock starting this year. I am very glad that besides us the USA and twelve other nations are taking part in this exercise, which is so important for the Baltic Sea countries", says Vice Admiral Jan Christian Kaack, Chief of the German Navy.The objective of NOCO 23 is to practice tactical procedures in littoral waters in a national and collective defence scenario. In this context, it is essential to optimize interoperability between the naval, land and air forces involved and to further intensify cooperation between the partners in the Baltic Sea region. The exercise area primarily comprises the coastal waters of Estonia and Latvia, including the associated landspace and airspace, as well as the eastern and central parts of the Baltic Sea."With NOCO 23, we are taking a huge step towards the full operational readiness of our DEU MARFOR staff in Rostock. At the same time, it is the first time that we, as DEU MARFOR, are planning and conducting a manoeuvre of such magnitude. This year, about 3,200 soldiers from 14 nations are participating in the exercise. Around 30 ships, submarines, up to 15 aircraft and various landing units are training together. This year, for the first time since the manoeuvre's premiere in 2007, a realistic scenario is being practised within the framework of alliance defence. Another premiere is, that a manoeuvre is being led by my staff and me from Rostock, although it is taking place off the coasts and on the territory of Latvia and Estonia. We are ready with our expertise to take responsibility", says Rear Admiral Stephan Haisch, Exercise Director and Deputy Commander of DEU MARFOR.Background informationNOCOThe Northern Coasts exercise series was launched by the German Navy in 2007. It is the key exercise of the Chief of the German Navy. Responsibility for conducting the exercise alternates annually between Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. This year, it is Germany's turn to assume command. The participating nations of this year's exercise are Italy, France, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Canada, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, the United States, and Germany.The assets dispatched by the German Navy will include the frigate HAMBURG, the clearance diver support vessel 'Bad Rappenau', the tender 'Elbe', one P-3C 'Orion' maritime patrol aircraft, and the replenishment oiler 'Rhoen'. Two task groups from the maritime component of NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) will also participate in the exercise. The frigate 'Hessen' and the replenishment oiler 'Spessart' are currently part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG 1/ Task Group 01 - consisting of frigates and destroyers) under the command of German Rear Admiral Thorsten Marx, and the minehunter 'Bad Bevensen' is currently operating with Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG 1/ Task Group 03 - consisting of mine countermeasures vessels). For the first time ever, NOCO will see the participation of a US Navy amphibious warfare ship. US Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit will practice together with components of the German Sea Battalion, both aboard the USS 'Mesa Verde' and ashore.DEU MARFORThe "German Maritime Forces Staff", abbreviated to DEU MARFOR in NATO terminology, is a military naval command element. Its personnel plan and command multinational naval exercises and operations. In times of crisis, NATO or EU, for example, can activate DEU MARFOR as a maritime headquarters to command multinational naval forces. DEU MARFOR is thus another German contribution to Alliance defence.The staff is an integral part of the newly established German Navy Operations Centre in Rostock. Its nucleus is formed by almost 100 servicemen and women, and up to 25 of these posts may be filled with multinational personnel. Should DEU MARFOR be activated to fulfil a specific task in the event of a crisis, it will be augmented by experts from both the German armed forces and partner nations. The work processes and routines are certified according to NATO standards, and the day-to-day working language is English. All these features make DEU MARFOR unique in the German Navy.VJTFIn addition to participating in the missions mandated by the German Parliament, the German Navy continuously contributes vessels to NATO's four multinational naval forces.Operating as part of these NATO forces is one of Germany's obligations towards the Alliance also in times of peace. The naval forces of NATO have been in existence for decades. They are not strictly tied to a specific region, which is one of the reasons why they are used as naval rapid reaction forces that enable the Alliance to respond to potential crises or conflicts in a flexible manner. The naval forces are therefore part of the NATO Response Force (NRF) and within this formation they constitute the maritime component of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force - the spearhead of NATO, which is ready to be deployed at any time. Two of the forces are capable of ensuring the large-area protection of sea routes, while the other two specialize in mine countermeasures.Information for the pressPress conference will take place on board the German frigate 'Hamburg' in Rigaon 8 September 2023 at 4 p.m.Media representatives are very welcome to attend the press conference. Early registration is requested to facilitate detailed planning and coordination.Date: Friday, 8 September 2023. Arrival no later than 3:30 p.m.Late admissions will not be accepted.Place: Riga Cruise Port (northern entrance)Schedule: until 3.30 p.m. Arrival of media representatives at the gatefollowed by Walk to the frigate4 p.m. Start of the press conference with opening statement by Rear Admiral Stephan Haisch, Exercise Director and Deputy Commander of DEU MARFORfollowed by Statement by Captain (Navy) Maris Polencs, Commander Latvian Navyfollowed by Q&A with the option to obtain a few quotesapprox. 5 p.m. End of the eventRegistration: For accreditation, media representatives are requested to fill out the enclosed registration form and send it by e-mail to the Navy Press and Information Centre no later than Tuesday, 5 September 2023, 10 p.m.Late registrations will not be accepted.Pressekontakt:German Navy Press and Information CentrePress Relations BranchPhone: +49 (0)381 802 51521/51522E-mail: pressearbeitmarine@bundeswehr.orgOriginal-Content von: Presse- und Informationszentrum Marine, ubermittelt durch news aktuellOriginalmeldung: https://www.presseportal.de/pm/67428/5593114
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - MustGrow Biologics Corp. (TSXV: MGRO) (OTCQB: MGROF) (FSE: 0C0) (the "Company" or "MustGrow"), today announced that the board of directors of the Company authorized and approved the grant of a total of 612,757 deferred share units ("DSUs") and 177,035 restricted share units ("RSUs") to certain directors, officers, and consultants of the Company, effective August 31, 2023. This grant of DSUs and RSUs is made pursuant to the Company's Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan (the "Plan").

The RSUs will vest on March 28, 2024. Once vested, each RSU will entitle the recipient to receive one common share in the capital of the Company or a cash payment equivalent thereof at the discretion of the Company. The DSUs will vest in accordance with the terms of the Plan immediately upon grant. Settlement of the DSUs will occur when a holder ceases to be a director, officer or employee of the Company or any of its affiliates, as applicable. On settlement, each DSU will entitle the recipient to receive one common share in the capital of the Company or a cash payment equivalent thereof at the discretion of the Company.

---------

About MustGrow

MustGrow is an agriculture biotech company developing organic biocontrol, soil amendment and biofertility products by harnessing the natural defense mechanism and organic materials of the mustard plant to sustainably protect the global food supply and help farmers feed the world. MustGrow and its leading global partners -- Janssen PMP (pharmaceutical division of Johnson & Johnson), Bayer, Sumitomo Corporation, and Univar Solutions' NexusBioAg -- are developing mustard-based organic solutions to potentially replace harmful synthetic chemicals. Concurrently, with new formulations derived from food-grade mustard, the Company is pursuing the adoption and use of its technology in the soil amendment and biofertily markets. Over 150 independent tests have been completed, validating MustGrow's safe and effective approach to crop and food protection and yield enhancements. Pending regulatory approval, MustGrow's patented liquid products could be applied through injection, standard drip or spray equipment, improving functionality and performance features. Now a platform technology, MustGrow and its global partners are pursuing applications in several different industries from preplant soil treatment and weed control, to postharvest disease control and food preservation, to soil amendment and biofertility. MustGrow has approximately 50.1 million basic common shares issued and outstanding and 56.3 million shares fully diluted. For further details, please visit www.mustgrow.ca.

Contact Information

Corey Giasson

Director & CEO

Phone: +1-306-668-2652

info@mustgrow.ca

This release does not constitute an offer for sale of, nor a solicitation for offers to buy, any securities in the United States.

Neither the TSXV, nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV), nor the OTC Markets has approved the contents of this release or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

 2023 MustGrow Biologics Corp. All rights reserved.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179310
SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VPLUS, a pioneering brand in the field of modern inhalation technology, proudly announces the launch of its innovative non-heated atomizer product in Germany and the UK. Developed with the esteemed medical support of Feellife Nebulization solution, VPLUS is poised to redefine nicotine inhalation experiences with its breakthrough approach.

The distinctiveness of VPLUS lies in its utilization of AiMesh and Renico technology, setting it apart from conventional smoking alternatives. VPLUS does not involve combustion and heating, offering an alternative for those looking for a different kind of experience.

Feellife, known for its contributions to the medical sector, plays a crucial role in VPLUS's success. Celebrated for their achievements, Feellife recently received two prestigious accolades at the Healthcare & Pharma Awards 2023 and the Health, Beauty & Wellness Awards. This collaboration empowers VPLUS and advances nebulization technology.

"We are excited to introduce VPLUS to the discerning markets of Germany and the UK," stated Edward, CEO at VPLUS. "With over a decade of experience in professional nebulized medicine, this product development reflects our commitment to contributing to a more environmentally friendly society." VPLUS will make its debut at Inter Tabac 2023, which will be held at Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund from September 14th to 16th, 2023.

AiMesh medical atomization technology, licensed exclusively to VPLUS, empowers the device to differentiate itself from traditional devices in the way it operates, utilizing AiMesh's innovative AI nebulizer tablets that are not prone to break holes, coupled with medical grade NGI testing equipment and CNAS testing labs that can empower the VPLUS device to achieve medical-grade aerosol lung deposition levels when atomizing.

The Renico Technology demonstrates Feellife's dedication to user well-being. By using Renico synthetic nicotine technology, VPLUS ensures users are not exposed to harmful components like Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerin. With chemical additives eliminated and pure plant extraction embraced, this advancement is a step towards a smoke-free world.

For more information about VPLUS, please visit https://vplusone.com/

About VPLUS

VPLUS is an innovative brand specializing in non-heated nebulizer products, redefining inhalation experiences and setting new standards for personal inhalation technology.

CONTACT: Curly Yang, overseas-promotion6@feellife.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197639/image_5029226_24136633.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/revolutionary-non-heated-nicotine-atomizer-unveiled-introducing-vplus-with-aimesh-and-renico-technology-301915817.html
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Psyched Wellness Ltd. (CSE: PSYC) (OTCQB: PSYCF) (FSE: 5U9) (the "Company" or "Psyched Wellness"), a life sciences company focused on the production and distribution of health and wellness products derived from the Amanita Muscaria mushroom, is pleased to announce, further to its press releases dated May 30, 2023 (the "May 30 Release") and June 12, 2023 (the "June 12 Release"), that it has closed a second tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") effective August 31, 2023 (the "Tranche 2A Closing Date") for gross proceeds of US$4,500,000 ("Tranche 2A") upon satisfying the Tranche 2A closing conditions and receiving a closing notice. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein have the meanings attributed to them in the May 30 Release.

Pursuant to Tranche 2A, the Company has issued 87,402,855 Units at a price of C$0.07 per Unit for gross proceeds of US$4,500,000, approximately C$6,118,200, based on an exchange rate of US$1.00 = C$1.3596 as at August 28, 2023, as published on the website of the Bank of Canada.

Each Unit consists of one (1) Common Share and one (1) Warrant. Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one (1) Additional Share at a price of C$0.10 per Additional Share at any time for a period of sixty (60) months from the date of issuance, exercisable on a cashless basis, subject to acceleration and compliance with the policies of the CSE, as further outlined in the May 30 Release.

All securities issued under Tranche 2A are subject to: (i) a four (4) month and one (1) day hold period from the date of issuance and (ii) applicable legends as required pursuant to the U.S. Securities Act. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Shareholder Meeting

At the annual general and special meeting of Shareholders held on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 (the "Meeting"), the Shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of each resolution put forth at the Meeting at a passing rate of over 99%, including approval of the Transaction Resolution (as defined in the June 12 Release) by a majority of minority Shareholders.

Jeffrey Stevens, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented, "I appreciate the support and patience of our Shareholders as we have been working behind the scenes with Gotham Green Partners to close this tranche of financing. This is a transformative investment that will allow the Company to maintain its first-mover advantage in bringing legal and safe products derived from the Amanita Muscaria mushroom to consumers in the United States. I am pleased to also share that both sides have been working together on additional product development, while working to close the financing, to ensure we can hit the ground running post-closing."

Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement

In connection with closing Tranche 2A, the Company and Gotham (as defined in the June 12 Release) entered into an amended and restated investor rights agreement dated August 30, 2023 (the "Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement") which amends the original Investor Rights Agreement dated June 12, 2023 to provide for the closing of Tranche 2 in two instalments, Tranche 2A, and tranche 2B for gross proceeds of US$2,500,000 ("Tranche 2B"), and provides, among other things, that:

on the Tranche 2A Closing Date and for a period of twelve (12) months following the closing of Tranche 2A (the "Nomination Period"), Gotham will have the right to: designate one (1) additional individual to become a member of the Board (who shall not be the Initial Nominee (as defined in the June 12 Release)), who would replace an existing Board member (the "Second Nominee"), bringing the total Board representation of Gotham to two (2) members, and maintaining the size of the Board at seven (7); jointly designate, with the Company, one (1) individual for election to the Board, who will initially be Nick Kadysh, an existing Board member (the "Joint Nominee"); and designate for election to the audit committee of the Company, provided that any of the following individuals satisfy the eligibility criteria for such committee, one (1) of either: (x) the Gotham Nominees (as defined herein), or (y) the Joint Nominee; in addition, upon closing Tranche 2B, and during the remainder of the Nomination Period, Gotham shall be entitled to designate up to one (1) additional individual to become a member of the Board (the "Third Nominee" and together with the First Nominee and Second Nominee, the "Gotham Nominees"), replacing one existing member of the Board (who shall not be the First Nominee or Second Nominee), bringing the total Board representation of Gotham to three (3) members, and maintaining the board size at seven (7), provided that no more than three (3) Board members, at any time, will be employees or partners of the Investors (as defined in the June 12 Release) or their affiliates.

In addition, pursuant to the terms of the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement:

the Company extended Gotham's exclusivity until November 8, 2023, during which time the Company and its directors, officers, and representatives are prohibited from directly or indirectly discussing, negotiating, or entering into any agreement or arrangement with respect to any potential financing transaction, sale transaction or other strategic transaction with any third party;

the Tranche 2A Investors entered into lock-up agreements with the Company to refrain from selling any Units acquired in Tranche 2A (and any securities underlying such Units acquired in Tranche 2A) for a period of twelve (12) months following the Tranche 2A Closing Date;

the Company entered into an amended executive employment agreement with its Chief Executive Officer, Jeffrey Stevens, pursuant to which Mr. Stevens will be reengaged as Chief Executive Officer of the Company, with such employment agreement to supersede the employment agreement dated April 20, 2021 entered into between the parties (the "Employment Agreement"); the Company entered into an amended independent contractor agreement with The Shisel, pursuant to which David Shisel, as principal of The Shisel, shall be reengaged to perform Chief Operating Officer services for the Company, with such consulting agreement to supersede the consulting agreement dated June 8, 2022 entered into between the parties (the "Consulting Agreement"); the Company reimbursed Gotham for reasonable and documented out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with the Offering in the amount of C$15,000; and within five (5) business days following the satisfaction and/or waiver of the Tranche 2B Closing Conditions (as defined herein), the Company anticipates closing Tranche 2B. Closing of Tranche 2B is conditional upon the completion of the following (the "Tranche 2B Closing Conditions"): Gotham shall, in their sole discretion, be satisfied with their legal, tax, business and other due diligence with respect to the Company and its business, assets, liabilities, current and future operations, condition and prospects (financial or otherwise); Gotham shall have delivered to the Company a notice in writing (the "Tranche 2B Closing Notice"), in accordance with the terms of the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement, which shall include certain information, including confirmation from Gotham that the Tranche 2B Closing Conditions have been satisfied or waived, and confirmation of the identity of the Investors and Units issuable in Tranche 2B that each Investor will acquire; the Investors in Tranche 2B shall have entered into lock-up agreements with the Company to refrain from selling any Units acquired in Tranche 2B (and any securities underlying such Units acquired in Tranche 2B) for a period of twelve (12) months following closing of Tranche 2B; and satisfaction of certain other closing conditions customary for a transaction of this nature.

The Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement will terminate on the earliest of: (i) the written agreement of Gotham and the Company; (ii) the date on which Gotham ceases to hold any securities of the Company; (iii) if Gotham provides a notice to the Company that closing of Tranche 2B will not occur; and (iv) by the Company by written notice to Gotham, if Gotham has not delivered a Tranche 2B Closing Notice to the Company by November 8, 2023, or such other date as the parties may agree in writing.

Gotham has no obligation to acquire any Units under Tranche 2B. The Units issuable in connection with Tranche 2B shall be issued to the Investors within five (5) business days following the satisfaction and/or waiver of the Tranche 2B Closing Conditions, subject to the terms and conditions of the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement. Accordingly, as a result of the Offering, Gotham may be considered to have beneficial ownership over the Units issuable in connection with Tranche 2B in addition to the Units issued in the Initial Tranche and Tranche 2A.

The Company will make the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement available on its SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

Director Change

In connection with closing Tranche 2A and pursuant to the rights afforded under the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement, Terry Booth has resigned as a director of the Company, effective August 31, 2023, to accommodate Gotham's nominee, Lauren Spikes being appointed to the Board.

The Company would like to thank Terry for his services as a director of the Company and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.

"Psyched Wellness has built a solid foundation in the international psychedelic mushroom space. I wish Jeff, the Board and the Psyched Wellness team the very best in the future and I look forward to following their continued success," stated Mr. Booth.

Lauren Spikes

Lauren has been an Associate at Santa Monica-based investment firm Gotham Green Partners since September 2021. During her time at Gotham she has been active in all aspects of the investment process, including sourcing, business due diligence, industry review, documentation and portfolio management. Prior to joining Gotham, Lauren oversaw strategic finance for a fast-growing ecommerce business operating in the alternative beverage space. While there, she was deeply involved in the operational side of the business and subsequently helped lead the company through a fundraise. Lauren began her career at UBS Investment Bank in New York where she was involved in M&A and capital raising activities for clients in the industrial sector. Lauren graduated summa cum laude from Texas A&M University with a degree in Finance.

Option and RSU Grants

In connection with entering into the Employment Agreement, the Company granted Mr. Stevens 4,500,000 stock options (each, an "Option") pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Company's Option plan dated June 30, 2020 (the "Option Plan"). Each Option is exercisable into one Common Share at a price of $0.10 per Common Share, expires five years from the date of grant and vests upon the following terms: (i) 1,000,000 Options vest immediately; (ii) 500,000 Options vest on the six-month anniversary of the closing of Tranche 2A; and (iii) 3,000,000 Options vest in equal quarterly installments of 250,000 Options, beginning on the nine-month anniversary of the closing of Tranche 2A.

In connection with entering into the Consulting Agreement, the Company granted Mr. Shisel (x) 1,000,000 Options, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Option Plan. Each Option is exercisable into one Common Share at a price of $0.10 per Common Share, expires five years from the date of grant, and vests in equal quarterly installments of 250,000 Options, beginning on May 26, 2026; and (y) 3,500,000 restricted share units (each, an "RSU") pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Company's RSU award plan dated May 11, 2021. The RSUs vest upon the following terms: (i) 1,000,000 RSUs vest immediately; (ii) 500,000 RSUs vest on the six-month anniversary of the closing of Tranche 2A; and (iii) 2,000,000 RSUs vest in equal quarterly installments of 250,000 RSUs, beginning on May 1, 2024.

All of the Options and RSUs (and any Common Shares issuable upon their exercise and redemption) are subject to a four (4) month and one (1) day hold period pursuant to the polices of the CSE and applicable securities laws.

Related Party Transaction

Harrison Aaron, a director of the Company (the "Participating Insider") participated in the Offering and acquired an aggregate of 3,884,571 Units pursuant to Tranche 2A. The participation of the Participating Insider in Tranche 2A constitutes a "related party transaction", as such term is defined in Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Shareholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") and would require the Company to receive minority shareholder approval for and obtain a formal valuation for the subject matter of, the transaction in accordance with MI 61-101, prior to the completion of such transaction. However, in completing Tranche 2A, the Company has relied on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101, in each case on the basis that the fair market value of the Participating Insider's participation in Tranche 2A does not exceed 25% of the market capitalization of the Company, as determined in accordance with MI 61-101. Further details will be included in a material change report to be filed by the Company. While the Company filed a material change report in respect of the Offering on June 22, 2023, the Company did not file a material change report in respect of the participation of the Participating Insider more than 21 days before the closing date of Tranche 2A. The shorter period was necessary to permit the Company to close Tranche 2A in a timeframe consistent with usual market practice for a transaction of this nature.

For further information, please contact:

Jeffrey Stevens

Chief Executive Officer

Psyched Wellness Ltd.

Tel: 647-400-8494

Email: jstevens@psyched-wellness.com

Website: http://www.psyched-wellness.com

About Psyched Wellness:

Psyched Wellness is a Canadian-based health supplements company dedicated to the distribution of mushroom-derived products and associated consumer packaged goods. The Company's objective is to create premium mushroom-derived products that have the potential to become a leading North American brand in the emerging functional food category. The Company is in the process of developing a line of Amanita muscaria-derived water-based extracts, teas and capsules designed to help with three health objectives: promote stress relief, relaxation and assist with restful sleeping.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the objectives, distribution, and development of the Company's business and products and future activities following the date hereof, including the distribution of mushroom-derived products and associated consumer packaged goods; the Company's objective to create premium mushroom-derived products that have the potential to become a leading North American brand in the emerging functional food category; the development of the Company's Amanita muscaria-derived water-based extracts products and the uses and potential benefits of Amanita Muscaria; the anticipated use of the proceeds from the Offering; Gotham exercising its rights under the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement; the anticipated size, timing of the closing(s), number of placees, and tranches of the Offering; the anticipated completion of the entire Offering under the stated terms, including the satisfaction and/or waiver of the Tranche 2B Closing Conditions; the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement not being terminated in accordance with its terms; and the Company maintaining a first-mover advantage in bringing legal and safe products derived from the Amanita Muscaria mushroom to consumers in the United States.

Forward-looking information in this news release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: the Company carrying out its objectives, distribution, and the development of its business and products and future activities following the date hereof as intended; the Company creating premium mushroom-derived products that have the potential to become a leading North American brand in the emerging functional food category; the Company developing its Amanita muscaria-derived water-based extracts products and them having the uses and potential benefits of Amanita Muscaria; the Company completing the entire Offering under its stated terms; the Company's allocating the proceeds from the Offering as intended; the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement not being terminated in accordance with its terms; Gotham will exercise its rights under the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement; and the Company will maintain a first-mover advantage in bringing legal and safe products derived from the Amanita Muscaria mushroom to consumers in the United States.

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 carry out its objectives, distribution, and/or the development of its business and products and future activities following the date hereof; the Company's inability to achieve its objective to create premium mushroom-derived products that have the potential to become a leading North American brand in the emerging functional food category; the Company's inability to develop its Amanita muscaria-derived water-based extracts products and/or the products not having the uses and/or potential benefits of Amanita Muscaria; the Company's inability to complete the entire Offering under its stated terms or at all, including the inability to satisfy and/or get waiver of the Tranche 2B Closing Conditions; the Company's inability to allocate the proceeds from the Offering as intended; risks associated with Gotham exercising its rights under the Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement; and risk that the Company will be unable to maintain or have a first-mover advantage in bringing legal and safe products derived from the Amanita Muscaria mushroom to consumers in the United States.

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 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.

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179321
TATU CITY, Kenya, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tatu City, the 5,000-acre mixed-use Special Economic Zone (SEZ), has partnered with agroforestry farming pioneer ForestFoods to grow carbon-neutral organic produce for the new city on Nairobi's doorstep.

ForestFoods' first farm at Tatu City, located next to Crawford International School, integrates plants and forestry to promote a healthier, sustainable, clean food supply that contributes to reforestation, climate change mitigation and ecosystem restoration.

"Our farm in Tatu City is a remarkable example of how modern cities can embrace sustainable agriculture to enhance their environment, economy, and quality of life," said Sven Verwiel, Managing Director of ForestFoods. "Our mission is to transform the agricultural landscape in East Africa and beyond while addressing food insecurity and environmental challenges."

Syntropic agroforestry imitates ecological succession, which is nature's way of restoring land from barren to fertile. It achieves this by growing a diverse range of fruits, nuts, vegetables, timber, and livestock in the same production area. This process promotes biodiversity, which is crucial for maintaining soil quality and producing nutritious food, as well as preserving and rebuilding ecosystems often destroyed by other farming methods.

"ForestFoods' partnership with Tatu City aligns perfectly with our vision of harmonious coexistence between sustainable urban development and nature," said Perminas Marisi, Head of City Management at Tatu City. "We are delighted that residents, schools and businesses in Tatu City and the region can now access nutrient-dense and beyond-organic farm produce at their doorstep."

ForestFoods and Tatu City announced their partnership against the backdrop of the historic Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi on 4-6 September 2023, convened by H.E. President William Samoei Ruto. ForestFoods' location at the heart of Tatu City compliments the city's 100,000-strong tree nursery and large-scale reforestation plans.

More than 9,000 people currently work at more than 75 businesses in Tatu City, including Dormans, Copia, Cooper K-Brands, Grit Real Estate Income Group, Twiga Foods, Freight Forwarders Solutions, Friendship Group, Davis & Shirtliff, Kenya Wine Agencies Limited and Roast by Carnivore. Crawford International School and Nova Pioneer educate more than 3,500 students daily, and more than 4,000 people live in Unity Homes apartments and the Kijani Ridge premier neighbourhood.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2199840/Tatu_City_Agroforestry_Kenya.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/tatu-city-takes-a-green-leap-with-urban-agroforestry-farm-in-kenya-301915867.html
EQS Post-admission Duties announcement: Haier Smart Home Co.,Ltd. / Third country release according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act]

Announcement on the Progress of A-Share Repurchases through Centralized Bidding Transactions



01.09.2023 / 14:16 CET/CEST

Dissemination of a Post-admission Duties announcement according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 WpHG transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Third country release according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 of the WpHG

Announcement on the Progress of A-Share Repurchases through Centralized Bidding Transactions

Qingdao / Shanghai / Frankfurt / Hongkong, 01 September 2023 - Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. (the "Company" or "Haier Smart Home", D-share 690D.DE, A-share 600690.SH, H-share 06690.HK) today published an announcement in accordance with applicable trading rules of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and applicable PRC laws in relation to the Progress of A-Share Repurchases through Centralized Bidding Transactions.

The announcement is fully available at:

https://smart-home.haier.com/en/dggg/P020230901632220304207.pdf?appdesc=Announcement%20on%20the%20Progress%20of%20A-Share%20Repurchases%20through%20Centralized%20Bidding%20Transactions



IR Contact:

Haier Smart Home Hong Kong

T: +852 2169 0000

Email: ir@haier.hk

Press Contact:

CROSS ALLIANCE communication GmbH

Sara Pinto

Sven Pauly

pi@crossalliance.de

T: +49 (0) 89 1250903 35

About Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd.:

Haier is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household appliances with a focus on smart home solutions and customized production. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. develops, produces and distributes a wide range of household appliances. These include refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, kitchen appliances as well as small household appliances and an extensive range of intelligent household appliances. The Company distributes its products through leading household brands such as Haier, Casarte, Leader, Candy, GE Appliances, AQUA and Fisher & Paykel. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. has launched Smart Home Experiential Cloud, which connects homes, users, enterprises and ecosystem partners, and facilitates the integration of Haier's online, offline and micro-store businesses and supports user interaction to further optimize the user experience.

01.09.2023 CET/CEST The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.eqs-news.com


ST. PETERSBURG, FL / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Duke Energy - More than 1,400 income-eligible customers in Volusia County's DeBary neighborhood will receive a complimentary energy makeover this month for their house, mobile home or apartment as part of Duke Energy's money-saving Neighborhood Energy Saver program.

Beginning August 15, Duke Energy Florida will assess the homes of income-eligible customers to determine if they qualify for free attic insulation, duct sealing and AC maintenance. Eligible customers may also qualify to receive up to 17 energy-saving improvements at no cost, including:

Digital room thermometer

Energy-saving showerhead or shower wand

One-year supply of AC filters

Supply of AC/furnace filters

Water-saving kitchen and bathroom faucet aerators

Energy-efficient lightbulbs

Water heater wraps/pipe wrap

Covers for window AC units

Caulking, weatherstripping and door sweeps

Insulation upgrade

Basic AC maintenance

AC duct leakage sealing

The Neighborhood Energy Saver program also teaches customers how their daily activities, habits and other factors can contribute to higher electric use and energy bills.

"A smarter energy future is about making smarter, more strategic choices in the way we use energy," said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. "The Neighborhood Energy Saver program is just one of many we have available to help customers use energy more efficiently and save on their bills."

Eligible customers received an invitation to the Neighborhood Energy Saver launch event scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Gateway Center for the Arts, 880 N. Highway 17-92 in DeBary. Customers should contact our Neighborhood Energy Saver Customer Care Center at 855.227.2918 to reserve their spots, or to get more information if they cannot attend the launch event.

A map showing eligible neighborhoods is available upon request.

"I would like to thank Duke Energy for working with residents who struggle with energy costs to enroll in their Neighborhood Energy Saver Program," said Mayor Karen Chasez, City of DeBary. "With Duke Energy's assistance, our residents will have the necessary resources to make their homes more energy efficient while learning how to reduce energy use in their daily activities."

"Being more energy-efficient is a critical component of environmental conservation and sustainability," said Chasez. "By embracing energy efficiency, we can contribute to a healthier and more resilient city for future generations.

Since 2006, the Neighborhood Energy Saver program has helped customers in more than 65 communities across Florida, installing more than 700,000 energy efficiency improvements in more than 47,000 income-eligible customers' homes.

The program is available to residential customers (both homeowners and renters) living in communities identified by Duke Energy. Federal and state guidelines and census data are used to objectively select communities where the program would be most beneficial to income-eligible customers.

Since 1981, Duke Energy has helped its Florida customers save nearly $1.25 billion through its energy efficiency programs, including the Neighborhood Energy Saver program. For more information on energy efficiency tips that benefit all homeowners, visit duke-energy.com/home/savings.

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 10,500 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 1.9 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.

Duke 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.

Media contact: Audrey Stasko

Media line: 800.559.3853

Twitter: @DE_AudreyS

View original content here.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Duke Energy on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Duke Energy

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/duke-energy

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Duke Energy

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/779392/duke-energy-florida-provides-free-energy-makeovers-for-income-eligible-residents-in-debary
CORRIGAN, TX / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Georgia-Pacific has long supported fire departments and first responders in the communities in which they are located. The company has three major facilities that employ approximately 1,000 people in Polk County, Texas. Recently, Georgia-Pacific donated $100,000 to the volunteer fire department in Corrigan. The Corrigan Volunteer Fire Department, which has close to 25 active volunteers and answered more than 150 emergency calls in 2022, has kicked off a capital campaign to build a new fire station, which will cost $400,000.

The land for the new facility was donated by a local family, and the project will be completed in stages. The first stage involves building the shell of the facility so trucks can operate there immediately. The second stage will build out the living quarters and kitchen, and the third will finalize the parking lot and second story. The Corrigan Volunteer Fire Department also plans to allow local schools and community organizations to have access to the facility for functions and fundraisers.

The Corrigan Volunteer Fire Department is solely staffed by volunteers, which is typical in small and rural areas within the United States. In fact, 65% of firefighters in the U.S. are volunteer, and many fire departments are made up of solely volunteers. Out of 29,452 fire departments in the country, 18,873 of these departments are volunteer. In addition to fire emergencies, these first responders handle many other types of situations, such as emergency medical incidents, vehicle accidents, natural disasters, hazardous materials incidents, water rescue emergencies, and other general public service calls.1 While volunteer fire departments save small local governments money, funding and other challenges, such as recruiting and training volunteers, and securing and maintaining equipment and facilities, are common.

"Fire poses one of the biggest threats in the community and to any wood products business," said Lester Knight, Georgia-Pacific's Corrigan plywood plant manager. "It has been dry, and we do face wildfires in this area. When it comes to supporting this community, I cannot think of a better opportunity to give back than to support the Corrigan Volunteer Fire Department. These volunteers leave their families, wake up in the middle of the night, and put their safety at risk to protect us. The new facility will help them in these efforts."

Georgia-Pacific launched its Bucket Brigade program in 2006 to help support local fire departments, awarding more than $3 million to first responders. Learn more about GP's work by visiting First Responders | Georgia-Pacific (gp.com).

1 National Fire Volunteer Council: https://www.nvfc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NVFC-Volunteer-Fire-Service-Fact-Sheet.pdf

View original content here

Georgia-Pacific donated $100,000 to the Corrigan Volunteer Fire Department to help build a new fire station. From the left are: Yana Ogletree, Georgia-Pacific public affairs manager-Texas; Thomas Murphy, firefighter; Myrton Thompson, Georgia-Pacific Camden lumber plant manager; Lester Knight, Georgia-Pacific Corrigan plywood plant manager; George Standley, Camden plywood plant manager; Jimmy McDonald, Corrigan VFD Chief; Connie Cobb; firefighters Matt Hughes, Ken Hughes and Aaron Miller; Mike Cobb, Corrigan VFD assistant fire chief; Darrian Hudman, Corrigan city manager; and Johnna Gibson, Corrigan mayor.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Georgia-Pacific on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Georgia-Pacific

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/georgia-pacific

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Georgia-Pacific

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/779393/georgia-pacific-donates-100000-to-corrigan-texas-volunteer-fire-department
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd. ("Blackwolf", or the "Company") (TSXV:BWCG)(OTC PINK:BWCGF) is pleased to announce that the Company's proposed acquisition of all of the outstanding securities of Optimum Ventures Ltd. ("Optimum") by way of plan of arrangement (the "Transaction") was overwhelmingly approved at Optimum's annual general and special meeting of securityholders held on August 31, 2023.

Closing of the Transaction remains subject to court approval as well as other customary closing conditions. Assuming the timely completion of these conditions, the Company expects the Transaction to close on or about September 12, 2023.

Further to the Company's news release of July 28, 2023, the Company clarifies terms of the market maker agreement (the "Agreement") it has entered into with PI Financial Corp. ("PI"). Pursuant to the Agreement, PI has been engaged to trade the securities of Blackwolf on the TSX-V for the purposes of maintaining an orderly market. In consideration of the services provided by PI, the Company will pay PI a monthly cash fee of $5,000 for a minimum term of six months and thereafter the Agreement is automatically renewable on a month-to-month basis. As of the date the Company entered into the Agreement with PI, neither PI nor their authorized person held any securities directly in the Company.

About Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd.

Blackwolf's founding vision is to be an industry leader in transparency, inclusion and innovation. Guided by our Vision and through collaboration with local and Indigenous communities and stakeholders, Blackwolf builds shareholder value through our technical expertise in mineral exploration, engineering and permitting. The Company holds a 100% interest in the high-grade Niblack copper-gold-zinc-silver VMS project, located adjacent to tidewater in southeast Alaska as well as five Hyder Area gold-silver and VMS properties in southeast Alaska and northwest British Columbia in the Golden Triangle, including the high-priority wide gold-silver veins at the Cantoo Property. For more information on Blackwolf, please visit the Company's website at www.blackwolfcopperandgold.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd.

"Morgan Lekstrom"

CEO and Director

For more information, contact:

Morgan Lekstrom

250-574-7350 (Mobile)

604-343-2997 (Office)

mll@bwcg.ca Liam Morrison

604-897-9952 (Mobile)

604-343-2997 (Office)

lm@bwcg.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively herein referred to as "forward-looking information"). Wherever possible, words such as "expects", "expected", "strategic" and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" or "may" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative forms of any of these terms and similar expressions, have been used to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information contained herein includes, but is not limited to, the consummation and timing of the Transaction, the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the Transaction, the date of the hearing of the application for a final order in respect of the Transaction, and discussion of future plans, projects, objectives, estimates and forecasts and the timing related thereto.

Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, actions, events, conditions, performance or achievements to materially differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, the risk that the Transaction is not completed, on the timeline currently contemplated or at all, the potential of a third party making a superior proposal to the Transaction and such other risks as are identified in the public disclosure documents of the Company and Optimum filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca (the "Disclosure Documents"). This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of our forward-looking information. Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, actions, events, conditions, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results, actions, events, conditions, performance or achievements to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

Our forward-looking information is based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made, many of which may be difficult to predict and beyond our control. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, we have made certain assumptions about, among other things, our ability to satisfy the terms and conditions precedent to the Transaction. Although we believe that the assumptions inherent in forward-looking information are reasonable as of the date of this news release, these assumptions are subject to significant business, social, economic, political, regulatory, competitive and other risks and uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that could cause actual actions, events, conditions, results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those projected in the forward-looking information. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive. Other events or circumstances could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated or projected and expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking information contained in this news release.

Additional information about the risks and uncertainties concerning forward-looking information and material factors or assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based is provided in the Disclosure Documents. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance. 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. Forward-looking information involves statements about the future and is inherently uncertain, and our actual achievements or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking information due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, those referred to in this news release and the Disclosure Documents. For the reasons set forth above, readers and prospective investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

We do not assume any obligation to update forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by applicable law.

SOURCE: Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/779264/blackwolf-announces-securityholder-approval-of-plan-of-arrangement
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Kenorland Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: KLD) (OTCQX: KLDCF) (FSE: 3WQ0) ("Kenorland" or the "Company") announces that, further to the investor rights agreement dated November 5, 2021 (the "IRA") between the Company and Sumitomo Metal Mining Canada Ltd. ("Sumitomo"), Sumitomo has issued to the Company its intent to exercise its 'top-up right' and retain its 10.1% interest in the Company.

An aggregate of 22,470 common shares will be issued at a price of $0.7368 per share for aggregate consideration of $16,555.90 in accordance with the IRA, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. A copy of the IRA is available on the Company's SEDAR+ profile.

New Omnibus Share Incentive Plan

The Company announces that its board of directors has approved the replacement of its existing stock option plan and long-term incentive plan with a new omnibus share incentive plan (the "New Plan"). Shareholders will be asked to ratify and confirm adoption of the New Plan at the next annual general meeting to be held on September 22, 2023. The New Plan remains subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Details of the New Plan can be found in the Company's 2023 AGM information circular on its website at www.kenorlandminerals.com/investors/agm-materials or on the Company's SEDAR+ profile.

About Kenorland Minerals

Kenorland Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: KLD) is a mineral exploration company incorporated under the laws of the Province of British Columbia and based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Kenorland's focus is early to advanced stage exploration in North America. The Company currently holds five projects in Quebec where work is being completed under joint venture and earn-in agreements from third parties. The Frotet Project and Chicobi Project are held under joint venture with Sumitomo, the O'Sullivan Project is optioned to Sumitomo, the Chebistuan Project is optioned to Newmont Corporation and the Hunter Project is held under option to Centerra Gold Inc. In Alaska, the Company holds the advanced stage Tanacross porphyry Cu-Au-Mo project, optioned to Antofagasta, as well as a 70% interest in the Healy Project, held under joint venture with Newmont Corporation.

Further information can be found on the Company's website www.kenorlandminerals.com.

Kenorland Minerals Ltd.

Zach Flood

President, CEO and Director

Tel: +1 604 568 6005

info@kenorlandminerals.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects', "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, that could cause actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing these forward-looking statements are reasonable based upon the information currently available to management as of the date hereof, actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179299
Link Cutting Boards expands their Product Line and introduces a 12" x 12" model to meet the increased demand from the new home channel and kitchen remodeler client base. Adding to the success of the main 12" x 20" Gourmet model, Link Cutting Boards is expanding to offer more sizes, more wood types, and custom graphic options to their clients.

PEORIA, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Link Cutting Boards, a family-owned and -operated business dedicated to providing innovative and high-quality built-in kitchen cutting boards, today announced the launch of a smaller 12"x 12" version to meet the increased demand from new home builders and remodelers. The company's founder and product developer, John Rowan, said. "We were surprised by the explosive demand from our new home builder and kitchen remodeler channels for not just the original 12" x 20" gourmet version but also in a smaller unit suitable for smaller kitchens and kitchenettes."

Link Cutting Board

The only built-in cutting board designed for serious home cooks.

Link Cutting Board LLC manufactures a patent-pending product line designed to build in a cutting and meal prep area in home kitchens with popular undermount sinks and solid surface countertops. According to the company's founders, "There was a missing element in the standard home kitchen design that commercial kitchens addressed long ago. Commercial kitchens commonly have a knife-friendly cutting board and prep area built into the chef's workstation. We saw that this essential feature was unavailable for residential kitchens, so we engineered and patented a product to meet the need."

Link Built-In Cutting Boards are a two-piece system constructed from Acacia hardwood and a high-quality stainless steel mount that work together to build the high-quality cutting board into the countertop. The patent-pending mount locks the board in place but allows for easy clean-up and board replacement whenever needed.

About Link Cutting Boards

Link Cutting Boards is a family-owned and -operated business founded in 2023 that is dedicated to providing innovative and high-quality built-in cutting boards to new homes, tiny houses, outdoor kitchens, and kitchen renovations in North America and Mexico. Link Cutting Boards is committed to using sustainable materials and practices and is headquartered in Peoria, AZ.

To learn more about Link Cutting Boards and partnership opportunities, please visit www.linkcuttingboards.com.

Upcoming events.

September 20-21, 2023 - Build Expo #727

https://buildexpousa.com/los-angeles-build-expo/

October 18, 2023, 2023 - Southwest Builders Show #203

https://southwestbuildersshow.com/

February 27-29, 2024 - National Kitchen and Bath Show Las Vegas SL8001

https://kbis.com/

Contact Information

Kris Rowan

CEO

info@linkcuttingboards.com

Related Images

Link Cutting Board

The only built-in cutting board designed for serious home cooks. Link Cutting boards

link cutting board in place and overhang design

Related Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkIeiHw1lO8

SOURCE: Link Cutting Boards

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778671/redefining-home-kitchen-design-the-patent-pending-link-cutting-board-expands-product-line-to-meet-demand-from-new-home-builders-and-remodelers
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.
TURIN, Italy, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A unique in the world crossroads where financiers, politicians and innovators gather to progress concrete technological solutions applicable to marinas. It is the Monaco Smart and Sustainable Marina Rendezvous taking place at the Yacht Club de Monaco on 24th and 25th September. Under the aegis of its collective Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting approach, Ycm has become a platform of communication, hosting international events and, under its President HSH Prince Albert II, it aims to position the Principality as a spearhead for responsible yachting in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.



"Monaco has long fostered a tradition of innovation since the turn of the 20th century when it organised the first powerboat meetings, a living heritage we will pay tribute to during Monaco Classic Week-La Belle Classe (13-16 September). Now, we are returning to the pure yachting DNA, a more authentic and measured usage by putting forward sustainable solutions. This necessary evolution allows us to be in tune with core values shared by owners and those who love the sea", explains Bernard d'Alessandri, Yacht Club de Monaco General Secretary and President of the Cluster Yachting Monaco.

Organised by Monaco Marina Management (M3), the Monaco Smart and Sustainable Marina Rendezvous focuses on presenting the latest advances to encourage construction and development of virtuous marinas. Entrepreneurs, industrialists, investors, marina operators and promotors and architects are among the 250-plus professionals from all over the world gathering to discover the latest innovative solutions and discuss their application in round tables.

Alongside startups and scaleups, presenting their solutions in an E-Catalogue available online (https://sustainablesmartmarina.com/e-catalogue-2023), numerous marinas (Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, West Indies, etc) will be attending. In this spirit, Olivier Darrasson, representing the Mediterranee du Futur investors club will present PLIFF (PAMEx Local Investment Finance Facility), a finance tool for eco-projects in the Mediterranean and discuss a green electrification project for marinas. Sustainability is now an economic advantage and key issue for politicians as evidenced by the presence of international governmental delegations, such His Excellency the Acting CEO of Saudi Red Sea Authority Mohammed Al-Asir, Linos Voskarides, Director General of the Sea for the European Commission, Alessandra Priante, United Nations World Tourism Organisation, and a representative of PAMEx (Plan of Action for a Model Mediterranean) and Plan Bleu-Euromed.

The meeting is supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Extended Monaco, a Government digital transition programme for the Principality, as well as Bombardier, MB92 Group, Xerjoff and Royal Caviar House. The event ends on 25th September with the International Smart & Sustainable Marina Awards for the following categories: Startups & Scaleups, identified by positive impact innovation experts Blumorpho, Marinas and Architects plus a new ideas competition to inspire architects and student architects to create attractive, functional and sustainable waterfronts. The renowned French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte will chair the jury.

For more information:

Press Office LaPresse - ufficio.stampa@lapresse.it

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/426e8d2c-219c-4e82-990d-c0d9459e83b6. The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSXV: LG) (OTCQB: LGCXF) (the "Company" or "Lahontan") is pleased to announce that further to its press release of August 2, 2023 it has completed its previously announced brokered private placement through the issuance of 25,000,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.08 (the "Issue Price") per Unit for gross proceeds of $2,000,000 (the "Offering").

The Offering was conducted pursuant to the terms and conditions of an agency agreement entered into by the Company, Beacon Securities Limited ("Beacon") as sole bookrunner, and Haywood Securities Inc. (together with Beacon, the "Agents").

A Form 45-106F19 Listed Issuer Financing Document dated August 2, 2023 was prepared in connection with the Offering and was filed under the Company's profile on www.sedarplus.ca and on the Company's website at www.lahontangoldcorp.com.

The Units were offered by way of a best efforts private placement pursuant to the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption under National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus Exemption in all provinces of Canada, except Quebec, and certain foreign jurisdictions, subject to the receipt of necessary regulatory approval.

Kimberly Ann, CEO, President, Director, and Founder of Lahontan commented: "The Company is very pleased with the strong support from all the shareholders who participated in this offering, including our largest institutional investors and Victoria Gold. Completing an offering in challenging market conditions is testament to the strength of our projects, our Board, and our management team."

Each Unit is comprised of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Unit Share") and one transferable common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable to acquire one common share (a "Warrant Share") in the capital of the Company until September 1, 2026 at a price of $0.12 per Warrant Share, provided that, in the event that the daily volume weighted average trading price (or closing bid price on days when there are no trades) of the common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") is at least $0.24 per Common Share for a minimum of 20 consecutive trading days at any time after the first year anniversary of the closing of the Offering, the Company may provide written notice to holders of the Warrants requiring the holder of the Warrants to exercise the Warrants within 20 days following the date of delivery of such written notice.

As consideration for services provided by the Agents in connection with the Offering, the Company: (i) paid a cash commission in the amount of approximately $108,052 being equal to 7% of the proceeds of the Offering (except, with respect to certain purchasers on a "President's List", the commission being equal to 0% or 3.5%); and (ii) issued 1,354,290 non-transferrable compensation options (the "Compensation Options") being equal to 7% of the number of Units issued under the Offering (except, with respect to certain purchasers on a "President's List", the commission being equal to 0% or 3.5%). Each Compensation Option is exercisable to acquire one common share at the Issue Price until September 1, 2026.

The securities issued under the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption to Canadian subscribers will not be subject to a hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for exploration and development of the Santa Fe Project and West Santa Fe Project and for working capital and general corporate purposes. The Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSXV.

The Offering constituted a related party transaction within the meaning of TSXV Policy 5.9 and Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") as certain insiders of the Company subscribed for 2,687,500 Units pursuant to the Offering. The Company is relying on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as the Company is not listed on a specified market and the fair market value of the participation in the Offering by the insider does not exceed 25% of the market capitalization of the Company in accordance with MI 61-101. The Company did not file a material change report in respect of the related party transaction at least 21 days before the closing of the of the Offering, which the Company deems reasonable in the circumstances in order to complete the Offering in an expeditious manner.

The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Lahontan Gold Corp:

Lahontan Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company that holds, through its US subsidiaries, three top-tier gold and silver exploration properties in the Walker Lane of mining friendly Nevada. Lahontan's flagship property, the 19 km2 Santa Fe Mine, had past production of 345,000 ounces of gold and 711,000 ounces of silver between 1988 and 1995 from open pit mines utilizing heap-leach processing (Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, 1995). The Santa Fe Mine has a Canadian National Instrument 43-101 compliant Indicated Mineral Resource of 1,112,000 oz Au Eq (grading 1.14 g/t Au Eq) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 544,000 oz Au Eq (grading 1.00 g/t Au Eq), all pit constrained (Au Eq is inclusive of recovery, please see Santa Fe Project Technical Report*). The Company will continue to aggressively explore Santa Fe during 2023 and begin the process of evaluating development scenarios to bring the Santa Fe mine back into production. Quentin J. Browne, P.Geo., Consulting Geologist to Lahontan Gold Corp., is the Qualified Person for the Company and approved the technical content of this news release. For more information, please visit our website: www.lahontangoldcorp.com.

* Please see the Santa Fe Project Technical Report, Authors: Trevor Rabb and Darcy Baker, P. Geos. Effective Date: December 7, 2022, Report Date: March 2, 2023. The Technical Report is available on the Company's website and SEDAR.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Kimberly Ann

Founder, CEO, President, and Director

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Lahontan Gold Corp.

Kimberly Ann

Founder, Chief Executive Officer, President, Director

Phone: 1-530-414-4400

Email: Kimberly.ann@lahontangoldcorp.com

Website: www.lahontangoldcorp.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release includes certain "forward looking statements". Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intensions for the future, and include, but not limited to, statements with respect to: the anticipated use of proceed from the Offerings, the approval of the TSXV; the completion of future exploration work and the potential metallurgical recoveries and results of such test work; the future direction of the Company's strategy; and other activities, events or developments that are expected, anticipated or may occur in the future. These statements are based on assumptions, including: (i) completion of the Offering, including TSXV approval; (ii) the ability to achieve positive outcomes from test work; (iii) actual results of our exploration, resource goals, metallurgical testing, economic studies and development activities will continue to be positive and proceed as planned, (iv) requisite regulatory and governmental approvals will be received on a timely basis on terms acceptable to the Company (i) economic, political and industry market conditions will be favourable, and (vi) financial markets and the market for precious metals will continue to strengthen. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in such statements, including, but not limited to: (1) changes in general economic and financial market conditions, (2) changes in demand and prices for minerals, (3) litigation, regulatory, and legislative developments, dependence on regulatory approvals, and changes in environmental compliance requirements, and the political and economic climate, (4) the inherent uncertainties and speculative nature associated with exploration results, resource estimates, potential resource growth, future metallurgical test results, changes in project parameters as plans evolve, (5) competitive developments, (6) availability of future financing, (7) the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including, without limitation, effects of COVID-19 on capital markets, commodity prices, labour regulations, supply chain disruptions and domestic and international travel restrictions, (8) exploration risks, and other factors beyond the control of the Company including those factors set out in the "Risk Factors" in our Management Discussion and Analysis dated April 26, 2023 for the annual period ended December 31, 2022 available on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update such information, except as may be required by law.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179350
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / As the largest restaurant company in China, Yum China is committed to upholding 'People First' as one of the Company's core values and places a high priority on fulfilling the needs of the key stakeholders in the ecosystem. In this spirit, employing over 400,000 people across China, Yum China has a mission to cultivate a barrier-free, friendly, and inclusive workplace for everyone. As part of this commitment, in 2022 Yum China successfully met its target of allocating over 1.5% of its full-time positions to people with disabilities, supported by a number of programs designed to offer career opportunities and a platform for societal integration for all.

Celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2022, Yum China's "Angel Restaurants" initiative is one of the company's most ambitions programs. It was launched with the primary goal of supporting employees with disabilities in mastering new professional skills. In 2022, Yum China furthered its commitment to this initiative by enhancing its "Angel Restaurant" facilities to better accommodate the unique needs of employees with disabilities. Restaurants were equipped with upgraded visual devices to facilitate communication, and customized visual learning materials were installed to optimize the work environment.

Over the past decade, Yum China has established 30 Angel Restaurants across 27 cities, providing employment support to over 2,000 individuals with disabilities.

To learn more about Yum China's ESG efforts, visit: http://www.yumchina.com/respIndex

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Yum China on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Yum China

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/yum-china

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Yum China

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/779420/yum-china-angel-restaurant-concept-champions-inclusivity
PITTSBURGH, PA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Today, Liberated Syndication Inc. ("Libsyn"), the leading all-in-one podcasting platform for creators and advertisers, announced its August 2023 Podcast Advertising Rates, including the highest and most accessible CPM categories.

"Following Podcast Movement, it's abundantly clear that the value of podcasting has reached new heights. The conference once again showcased the incredible diversity and creativity within the podcasting ecosystem. As the industry continues to grow, so does the understanding of the unique relationship between content, context, and audience engagement," said Dave Hanley, Chief Revenue Officer of Libsyn's AdvertiseCast. "Brands are increasingly recognizing that context matters as much as content. It's not just about delivering a message; it's about delivering it in the right context, to the right audience, at the right moment. We take pride in being at the forefront of podcasting innovations, and our newly launched predictive contextual advertising solutions stand as a testament to our commitment to staying ahead of the curve."

August 2023 Podcast Advertising Rates

The following rates, which are denoted as cost per thousand or CPM, are published monthly by Libsyn's AdvertiseCast, the industry's premier podcast advertising marketplace that connects advertisers with podcasters. The Company releases the figures to empower the podcaster and advertiser communities to readily monitor market pricing and provide greater insight into podcasting advertising as a monetization vehicle. The data is derived from actual sales data across AdvertiseCast's network of thousands of shows.

For August 2023, the average CPM rate was $22.14 for a 60-second ad spot. That figure is fairly flat compared to last month (July 2023 avg. CPM rate: $22.20) and has decreased year-over-year (August 2022 avg. CPM rate: $23.41).

The three highest CPM categories in August based on delivered advertising were:

Technology: $26

Education: $26

Arts: $26

Moreover, three categories where advertisers can effectively tap into highly engaged audiences at more accessible CPM rates include Sports, News, and TV & Film, which averaged around the low 20s in August.

Libsyn's AdvertiseCast combines an industry-leading ad buying and management platform with full-service capabilities that makes it easy for podcast advertisers to initiate and manage highly targeted and measurable campaigns, while providing maximum return for creators. Historical monthly CPM rates can be found on AdvertiseCast's website at: www.advertisecast.com/podcast-advertising-rates.

About Liberated Syndication

Founded in 2004, Liberated Syndication Inc. ("Libsyn") is the leading all-in-one podcasting platform for creators and advertisers to host, distribute, monetize, amplify, and measure their audio content. In 2022, the Company hosted over 75,000 shows and delivered over 8 billion downloads to listeners globally. Libsyn's AdvertiseCast marketplace combines an industry-leading ad buying and management platform with full-service capabilities that make it easy for podcast advertisers to initiate and manage highly targeted and measurable campaigns on over 3,000 shows. Based in Munich, Germany, Libsyn's Julep Media platform is the leading podcasting hosting platform and advertising marketplace in Europe. Libsyn also powers podcast membership platform, Glow, and web hosting platform, Pair Networks. Visit libsyn.com or investor.libsyn.com for more Company information.

#? #? #

Media Contacts: Ray Yeung + Nancy Zakhary | ray@relev8.co+ nancy@relev8.co

Investor Contact: investor@libsyn.com

SOURCE: Liberated Syndication, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/779472/libsyn-unveils-august-2023-podcast-advertising-rates
LONDON, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a highly prevalent auto-immune ailment. This disease predominantly affects our joints, mainly that of hands and feet. It occurs when the immune system begins attacking the healthy tissues. The primary symptoms of this disorders are painful swelling, fatigue, joint stiffness, and fever, among others. Anti-rheumatic drugs are generally recommended for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), slow-acting antirheumatic drugs (SAARDs), immunosuppressive cytotoxic drugs are some of the most prescribed anti-rheumatics.



The Anti-rheumatic Market research report curated by Brandessence Market Research offers a detailed overview of the numerous aspects influencing the trends and dynamics of this industry. It entails a scrutiny of the major segments and geographies with an aim to accurately determine the size and scope of this marketplace. The report further includes accurate statistics on the past revenue, growth rate, and also provides revenue projections. A deep dive assessment of the competitive terrain is also included in this business vertical.

Key Takeaways

Anti-rheumatic Market is expected to amplify with a CAGR of 2.75% over 2022-2029.

Growing occurrence of auto-immune disorders, surge in the geriatric population base, and increased prevalence of orthopaedic conditions are aiding industry expansion.

MEA is projected to capture a substantial revenue share due to the growing prevalence of RA, surge in the geriatric population base, and increased healthcare expenditure.

Anti-rheumatic Market is valued at US$ 62.97 Billion in 2022 and it is expected to reach US$ 76.13 Billion by 2029 with a CAGR of 2.75% over 2022-2029.

Get Sample of Report@ https://brandessenceresearch.com/downloadSample/PostId/2617

Elaborating The Key Trends and Dynamics of Anti-rheumatic Market

Growing occurrence of auto-immune disorders, surge in the geriatric population base, and increased prevalence of orthopaedic conditions are the primary factors aiding the expansion of this business sphere. Alongside, escalating demand for early disease diagnosis and treatment along with the growing drug approval rates are creating lucrative opportunities for this marketplace to prosper. Moreover, surging R&D activities in the field, widespread technological advancements in the drug development sector are adding momentum to the progression of this market space.

Major Growth Drivers

Rise in the geriatric population base- The aging individuals are highly susceptible to auto-immune and orthopaedic disorders. This is because of the fact that our immune system weakens with age. Apart from that, our bones also starts losing minerals, calcium, and other nutrients which in turn gives rise to various disorders. The rapid surge in the elderly populace is stimulating the overall dynamics of this business vertical.

Growing prevalence of obesity- Being overweight or obese increases a person's susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis. The accumulation of excess fat tissues may cause inflammation throughout the body as they release a high amount of cytokines, a type of protein. Apart from that, obesity also leads to the onset of other comorbidities which may further deteriorate one's existing rheumatoid arthritis condition.

Challenges

Risk of side effects- Anti-rheumatic drugs may pose a risk of side effects. Nausea, fatigue, headache, allergies, and digestive issues may occur in some individuals as a result of anti-rheumatic drug consumption. Apart from that, some medications may even lead to lung damage, kidney issues, and hair loss. These factors together are hindering the remuneration scope of this market.

Competitive Landscape of Anti-rheumatic Market

Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc., AbbVie Inc., Amgen Inc., AstraZeneca plc, Biogen Inc., Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Celltrion Inc., Eli Lilly, Hoffmann, and Others are the primary players defining the competitive terrain of this business sphere.

Segmental Assessment

By type, the over-the-counter drugs segment is reckoned to amass notable gains over 2022-2029 due to the increased awareness about the availability of specialized drugs for the treatment of RA.

Based on drug type, the disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs segment is slated to generate significant returns over the stipulated timeline. This is ascribed to the growing emphasis of preventive treatment methods across the globe.

Geographical Analysis & landscape

Middle East & Africa Anti-rheumatoid Market

MEA is projected to capture a substantial revenue share over 2022-2029. This is attributable to the growing prevalence of RA, surge in the geriatric population base, and increased healthcare expenditure. Alongside, emergence of generic drugs and biosimilars for RA treatment and growing awareness about auto-immune disorders are aiding the expansion of this regional market.

Europe

Europe is anticipated to amplify with the highest CAGR over the stipulated timeframe. This is credited to the surge in the geriatric population base, the booming pharmaceutical sector, and growing RA cognizance among the masses. Besides, rising R&D activities in the field, presence of prominent players, along with the escalating demand for early disease diagnosis and treatment are creating an upward trend in this industry.

Opportunities in This Industry

Unhealthy lifestyle trends- People are moving towards a highly sedentary lifestyle. Lack of physical activities like exercise and high dependence of technology and mechanical devices for basic chores have made the masses very inactive. This is leading to the onset of lifestyle diseases like obesity, thereby increasing their susceptibility to RA. These factors together are propelling the growth of this marketplace.

Major Developments in Anti-rheumatoid Market

Acquisitions

In May 2020, AbbVie, a leading pharmaceutical company, acquired Allergan, a global pharmaceutical company, with aim to enhance its RA drugs portfolio.

Porter's Five Forces Analysis

Threat of New Entrants: The anti-rheumatic market may face a moderate threat of new entrants. While developing new drugs and therapies requires significant investment and regulatory approvals, there is still a possibility of new pharmaceutical companies or biotech startups entering the market. The barriers to entry may include high R&D costs, stringent regulatory requirements, and the need for expertise in clinical trials.

Bargaining Power of Buyers: The bargaining power of buyers in the anti-rheumatic market can vary. In some regions, where there is a significant concentration of healthcare providers or insurance companies, buyers may have greater negotiation power to demand lower prices or favorable terms. However, in regions with limited options for anti-rheumatic treatments, buyers may have less bargaining power, especially if the disease is severe and requires immediate treatment.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers in the anti-rheumatic market can be high, especially for specialized ingredients or components required in drug formulation. Suppliers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), raw materials, or specific equipment used in manufacturing anti-rheumatic drugs may have the ability to dictate terms, pricing, or even create supply shortages. However, the influence of suppliers can be mitigated to some extent if there are multiple suppliers or substitutes available.

Threat of Substitute Products: The threat of substitute products in this industry is relatively low. Rheumatic diseases are chronic conditions that require long-term management and treatment. While there might be alternative treatments or therapies available, such as physical therapy or complementary medicine, they are often used in combination with pharmaceutical interventions rather than as direct substitutes.

Competitive Rivalry: The competitive rivalry in this market is quite high. There are multiple pharmaceutical companies and biotech firms that develop and market anti-rheumatic drugs. The competition is primarily based on factors such as efficacy, safety, pricing, patent protection, and market share. Companies invest heavily in research and development to gain a competitive edge and introduce innovative treatments.

On Special Requirement Anti-rheumatic Market Report is also available for below region:

North America

U.S, Canada

Europe

Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Spain, Sweden, Netherland, Turkey, Switzerland, Belgium, Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific

South Korea, Japan, China, India, Australia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Rest Of APAC

Latin America

Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Rest of Latin America

Middle East and Africa

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa, Rest Of MEA

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HONG KONG, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NETA Auto and the Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) held a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony on August 31 in Hong Kong, where Evonne Ching (Chief Investment Officer of NETA Auto), and Albert WONG Hak-keung (CEO of HKSTP), signed an MOU. Sun Dong (HK's Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry), Lillian Cheong Man-lei (Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry), Philip Yung (Director-General of HK's Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises), Sunny Chai Ngai Chiu (Chairman of HKSTP), Ouyang Minggao (CPPCC Standing Committee member, CAS academician, Tsinghua University professor and Vice Chairman of the Academic Committee of Tsinghua University), and Fang Yunzhou (founder and chairman of NETA Auto), witnessed the moment.

Development of EV startups like NETA Auto is driven by China's leading new energy sector. Upholding the original aspiration "make intelligent EVs for all", this startup has been committed to making quality intelligent EVs accessible with the company value "tech for all". Its products have covered all types of EVs, ranging from A0-class to B+-class cars. The company also released forward-looking technologies such as the Shanhai Platform, Tiangong Battery and HOZON Intelligent Technology 2.0, signifying advancement of its future-ready technology system. Furthermore, it accelerates its globalization strategy and has tapped into markets in ASEAN, South America and Middle East with over 320,000 global users.

"As an important booster of China's auto sector, NETA will work with HK government under the MOU to support China's strategic emerging industries and make China-made new-energy vehicles available in the world," noted Fang Yunzhou.

As NETA Auto has advanced in product, technology and internationization after years of development, which is now embracing a new stage of global development, HK becomes its first-choice access to enhance international cooperation. Under the MOU, the company will gain an edge to unleash its investment potential and fit into global value chains leveraging HK's status as an international business hub, while stepping up efforts to go global.

Sun Dong said: "As a focus in world's technology industry, new-energy vehicle sector has the edge to connect all sectors across the industrial chain, attracting all sorts of cutting-edge technology R&D projects. HK government is resolute in building HK into an international I&T center, with a vision for high-quality development and new industrialization."

Under the MOU, NETA Auto will establish an international headquarters at the HKSTP. It also plans to invest approximately RMB3.2 billion in five years, building an over-40,000sqft intelligent R&D center and a big data center, and hire some 600 R&D staff. By doing so, it aims to attractive more I&T talents to the HKSTP to help connect HK with mainland China based on industrial chain. In addition, NETA Auto will seek a US$200 million equity investment. Gathering over 13,000 researchers and nearly 1,400 I&T firms with over 300 partners and a complete I&T ecosystem, the HKSTP, which has shored up over 10 unicorn companies, will drive business growth for NETA Auto with its rich experience.

The partnership will advance NETA Auto from a Chinese carmaker into a global tech company. Moreover, it will uplift the value of Chinese auto brands worldwide, while enhancing global impact of China's auto sector in intelligentization and new energy segments.

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LONDON, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Adhesive dispensing equipment encompasses of end number of devices and tools that are used to precisely apply adhesives or sealants to different surfaces or products. These equipment are adopted across numerous industrial and manufacturing applications. They are typically designed to ensure accurate and controlled dispensing of adhesives, thereby facilitating efficient production processes and reliable bonding. Dispensing guns, dispensing robots, metering systems, and dispensing valves, among others are some of the most popular used adhesive dispensing equipment.

The business intelligence report on Adhesive Dispensing Equipment Market sheds light on the top factors shaping the overall dynamics of this industry. It is curated with an aim to assist industry stakeholders, including manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, investors, and consultants in making informed business decisions. It offers in depth insights into the market size, revenue forecasts, market share, and growth rates. Apart from that, the key segments, geographical landscape, and competitive terrain are also thoroughly assessed in this report.

Key Takeaways

Adhesive Dispensing Equipment Market is expected to amplify with a CAGR of 7.3% over 2022-2029.

Widespread industrialization, rise in construction activities, and escalating demand for flexible packaging solutions are aiding market expansion.

MEA is projected to capture a substantial revenue share owing to the increased construction activities, surging R&D activities in the field, and widespread economic developments.

Adhesive Dispensing Equipment Market was valued at USD 7792.5 Million in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 12760.8 Million by 2028, registering a CAGR of 7.3% over 2022-2029.

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Elaborating the Key Trends and Dynamics of Adhesive Dispensing Equipment Market

Widespread industrialization, rise in construction activities, and escalating demand for flexible packaging solutions are the prime factors aiding the expansion of business vertical. Alongside, influx of advanced technologies in this sector, surging R&D activities in the field, coupled with prompt urbanization are creating lucrative opportunities for this marketplace to prosper. Moreover, shifting inclination towards lightweight materials in automotive manufacturing is bolstering the demand for adhesive bonding and dispensing equipment.

Major Growth Drivers

Surge in construction activities- With rapid urbanization and industrialization, there is an accelerating demand for various infrastructure. To accommodate the residential and commercial needs of the masses, buildings are being constructed at a prompt pace. There is also a significant increase in the number of government-based projects focused on the construction of roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure. Adhesive dispensing equipment is essential for various construction applications, including bonding of building materials, installation of flooring and tiles, and sealing joints. This in turn is stimulating the overall dynamics of this market space.

Growing adoption of two-component adhesives: Two-component adhesives, which require precise mixing and dispensing of two different components, offer superior bonding performance and versatility. The increasing adoption of these adhesives in various industries, such as automotive, aerospace, and electronics, is driving the need for advanced dispensing equipment capable of accurately proportioning and dispensing the components.

Challenges

Environmental issues- Adhesive dispensing processes often involve the use of chemicals and materials that may have environmental and regulatory implications. Adhesive waste, emissions, and proper disposal of used containers or equipment components need to comply with environmental regulations. Meeting safety standards, handling hazardous materials, and adhering to workplace health and safety protocols add complexity to the adhesive dispensing process. This in turn is hindering the remuneration scope of this market space.

Competitive Landscape of Adhesive Dispensing Equipment Market

The prominent players defining the competitive terrain of this business vertical are Ashby Cross Company, Valco Melton, Nordson Sealant Equipment, Henkel Adhesives Technologies India, Glue Machinery Corporation, Kirkco Corporation, EXACT DISPENSING SYSTEMS, Adhesive Systems Technology Corporation, Hernon Equipment, and Dymax Corporation.

Segmental Assessment

By product, the programmable microprocessor segment is slated to amass notable gains over 2022-2029. This is due to the their high precession, accuracy, and flexibility.

Based on end-user, the construction segment is likely to generate significant returns over the stipulated timeline. This is attributable to the escalating demand for public and private infrastructure across the globe.

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Geographical Analysis and Landscape

Middle East & Africa Adhesive Dispensing Equipment Market

MEA is projected to capture a substantial revenue share over the estimated timeframe. This is ascribed to the increased construction activities, surging R&D activities in the field, and widespread economic developments. Alongside, escalating demand for environmental friendly dispensing equipment and the booming automotive sector are propelling the growth of this regional industry.

Europe is poised to amplify with the fastest CAGR over the estimated timeframe. This is credited to the rapid population expansion, widespread technological advancements, and presence of prominent players. Besides, growing product adoption in the healthcare sector and increased number of government-based construction activities are aiding the expansion of this market.

Opportunities in This Industry

Accelerating demand for flexible packaging- Flexible packaging solutions are in high demand because of their convenience, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability benefits. Adhesive dispensing equipment plays a significant role in securely sealing flexible packaging materials such as pouches and sachets. This in turn is creating an upward trend in this industry.

Major developments in Adhesive Dispensing Equipment Market

In 2021, Graco Inc. announced the acquisition of Alphamin SAS, a metering, mixing, and dispensing equipment manufacturer.

Porter's Five Forces Analysis

Threat of New Entrants: The threat of new entrants to the adhesive dispensing equipment market is moderate. While there may be barriers to entry due to the need for specialized manufacturing capabilities, technological expertise, and established distribution networks, the relatively low capital requirements and ease of access to technology can attract new players. However, established companies with strong brand recognition, customer loyalty, and economies of scale can deter new entrants.

Bargaining Power of Buyers: The bargaining power of buyers in the adhesive dispensing equipment market is moderate to high. Buyers, such as manufacturers and contractors, have the ability to compare and switch between different suppliers based on factors like price, quality, and after-sales service. The presence of numerous suppliers and the availability of substitute solutions can give buyers more bargaining power. However, the importance of reliable and high-quality dispensing equipment can mitigate the bargaining power to some extent.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers in the adhesive dispensing equipment market is moderate. Suppliers of key components or raw materials used in manufacturing adhesive dispensing equipment can exert some influence, particularly if they have unique or proprietary technologies. However, the market typically has multiple suppliers, offering a variety of options for manufacturers. Additionally, manufacturers can develop strategic partnerships with suppliers or invest in backward integration to mitigate supplier power.

Threat of Substitutes: The threat of substitutes in the adhesive dispensing equipment market is relatively low. While alternative bonding methods like mechanical fastening or welding exist, adhesive bonding offers advantages such as lightweight assembly, stress distribution, and improved aesthetics. Adhesive dispensing equipment plays a crucial role in ensuring accurate and efficient adhesive application, making it challenging for substitutes to completely replace the need for such equipment.

Competitive Rivalry: The competitive rivalry in the adhesive dispensing equipment market is high. The market consists of several established players, both large multinational corporations and smaller specialized manufacturers. Intense competition is driven by factors such as product differentiation, technological advancements, pricing strategies, and customer service. Manufacturers often focus on innovation, expanding product portfolios, and building strong customer relationships to gain a competitive edge.

On Special Requirement Adhesive Dispensing Equipment Market Report is also available for below region:

U.S, Canada

Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Belgium, Rest of Europe

South Korea, Japan, China, India, Australia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Rest Of APAC

Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Rest of Latin America

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa, Rest Of MEA

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HBM Healthcare Investments AG / Key word(s): Monthly Figures

Key Figures 31.08.2023



01.09.2023 / 17:47 CET/CEST



in CHF Performance in % 31.08.2023 MTD FYTD CYTD NAV* 237.54 -1.6 -3.8 -3.4 Share Price* 178.40 -10.0 -13.1 -7.5 Total Net Assets (in million) 1'652 HBM Healthcare Investments AG Bundesplatz 1 CH-6300 Zug - Switzerland Tel. +41 41 710 75 77 Fax +41 41 710 75 78 E-Mail: hbm@hbmhealthcare.com Web: www.hbmhealthcare.com Wenn Sie keine Mitteilungen von HBM Healthcare Investments mehr wunschen, konnen Sie diese hier a bbestellen . Should you wish to unsubscribe from all HBM Healthcare Investments news, please unsubscribe here. Disclaimer: This message may contain confidential or privileged Information and is intended only for the use of the addressee named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you are hereby notified that you must not use, copy, disclose or take any action based on this message or information herein. If you have received this message by error, please advise the sender immediately and delete this message. The publication is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy securities. Statements regarding the past performance may not be understood as indication for the current or future performance. The value of investments and the income therefrom may fluctuate. A good past performance may possibly not be repeated in the future. It is possible that the investor will not be paid back the full amount invested. Performance data does not take into account any commissions and costs charged when units of the Fund are issued and redeemed. An investment entails risks, which are fully described in the individual offering documents. Some information quoted was obtained from external sources HBM considers to be reliable. HBM cannot guarantee the adequacy, accuracy, timeliness or completeness of or be held responsible or liable for errors of fact regarding such data and information obtained from third parties, and this data may change with market conditions. 06/2023 If the email looks unformatted, please use this alternative link .



End of Media Release


Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, September 01

For immediate release

1 September 2023

FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOMETRUST PLC

(the "Company")

MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES

The Company announces that it has today purchased 100,000 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 867.13 pence per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company.

The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 17 January 2023.

Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 19,095,544; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 205,895,759.

The figure of 205,895,759 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

For and on behalf of

Frostrow Capital LLP

Company Secretary

For further information, please contact:

Victoria Hale

Frostrow Capital LLP

Tel: 020 3 170 8732
Regulated Information - Denominator

Atlas Special Opportunities, LLChas converted 10convertible bonds in Oxurion resulting in a EUR 250,000capital increase. This is part of Atlas Special Opportunities, LLC's EUR 20 million Capital Commitment1 that will allow Oxurion to focus on progressing its novel and differentiated back of the eye drug candidate targeting potential market opportunities of over USD 5billion.

Leuven, BELGIUM,Boston, MA, US -September 1, 2023- 07.00 PM CET - In accordance with article 15 of the Belgian Act of May 2, 2007 on the disclosure of major participations in issuers of which shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market and regarding miscellaneous provisions, Oxurion NV (Euronext Brussels: OXUR) (the "Company" or "Oxurion"), announces the below information, following the issuance of 166,370,896 new ordinary shares on August 31, 2023, for a total amount of EUR 250,000, as the result of the conversion of 10 convertible bonds, pursuant to the Capital Commitment entered into with Atlas Special Opportunities, LLC.

Following completion of the capital increase through the conversion of the convertible bonds, the total number of shares issued by Oxurion amounts to 2,444,979,274 outstanding ordinary shares carrying voting rights (compared to 2,278,608,378 outstanding ordinary shares previously). This number will be used as the denominator for the calculation of the percentages of shareholdings.

Therefore, Oxurion publishes the following updated information:

Share capital (EUR) 82,456,161.32



Total number of securities with voting rights (all ordinary shares) 2,444,979,274 Total number of ordinary shares (= denominator) 2,444,979,274 Number of outstanding, granted rights to subscribe to securities carrying voting rights not yet issued: 590,500 subscription rights ("SRs") issued on November 20, 2017, entitling their holders to subscribe to a total number of 590,500 securities carrying voting rights (all ordinary shares);

60,000 SRs issued on December 23, 2020, entitling their holders to subscribe to a total number of 60,000 securities carrying voting rights (all ordinary shares);

972,250 SRs issued on April 14, 2021, entitling their holders to subscribe to a total number of 972,250 securities carrying voting rights (all ordinary shares);

532,500 SRs issued on September 22, 2021, entitling their holders to subscribe to a total number of 532,500 securities carrying voting rights (all ordinary shares);

604,405 SRs issued on December 30, 2021, entitling their holders to subscribe to a total number of 604,405 securities carrying voting rights (all ordinary shares);

162 convertible bonds issued on March 14, 2023, April 20, 2023, May 22, 2023, June 15, 2023, and August 10, 2023, entitling its holder, Atlas Special Opportunities, LLC, to subscribe to a total number of securities carrying voting rights (all ordinary shares) in accordance with the terms and conditions of these convertible bonds pursuant to the Subscription Agreement entered into between the Company and Atlas Special Opportunities, LLC on March 1, 2023; and

100 convertible bonds issued on December 20, 2021, entitling their holders (Kreos Capital VI (UK) Limited, Pontifax Medison Finance (Israel) L.P. and Pontifax Medison Finance (Cayman) L.P.) to subscribe to a total number of securities carrying voting rights (all ordinary shares) in accordance with the terms and conditions of these convertible bonds as attached to the Agreement for the provision of a Loan Facility entered into between the Company, Kreos Capital VI (UK) Limited, Pontifax Medison Finance (Israel) L.P. and Pontifax Medison Finance (Cayman) L.P., on November 21, 2021 (as amended from time to time).

END

About Oxurion

Oxurion (Euronext Brussels: OXUR) is a biopharmaceutical company developing next generation standard of care ophthalmic therapies, which are designed to improve and better preserve vision in patients with retinal disorders including diabetic macular edema (DME), the leading cause of vision loss in working-age people, as well as other conditions. Oxurion intends to play an important role in the treatment of retinal disorders, including the successful development of THR-149, its novel therapeutic for the treatment of DME. THR-149 is a potent plasma kallikrein inhibitor being developed as a potential new standard of care for the up to 50% of DME patients showing suboptimal response to anti-VEGF therapy. Oxurion is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, with corporate operations in Boston, MA. More information is available at www.oxurion.com.



Important information about forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this press release may be considered "forward-looking". Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and, accordingly, entail and are influenced by various risks and uncertainties. The Company therefore cannot provide any assurance that such forward-looking statements will materialize and does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or any other reason. Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties affecting the business and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement is contained in the Company's Annual Report. This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities or assets of Oxurion in any jurisdiction. No securities of Oxurion may be offered or sold within the United States without registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or in compliance with an exemption therefrom, and in accordance with any applicable U.S. state securities laws.

For further information please contact:

Oxurion NV

Tom Graney

Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +32 16 75 13 10

tom.graney@oxurion.com







Michael Dillen

Chief Business Officer

Tel: +32 16 75 13 10

michael.dillen@oxurion.com US

Conway Communications

Mary T. Conway

mtconway@conwaycommsir.com













1 Press release Oxurion, 02/03/2023

Attachments
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - IberAmerican Lithium Corp. ("IberAmerican" or the "Resulting Issuer") (formerly 1317198 B.C. Ltd. ("131")) is pleased to announce the completion of its previously announced reverse takeover transaction (the "Transaction") with IberAmerican Lithium Inc. ("ILI"), a privately-held lithium exploration and development company. The Resulting Issuer has also received conditional approval to list its common shares (the "Resulting Issuer Shares") on the Neo Exchange Inc., operating as Cboe Canada ("Cboe").

The Resulting Issuer Shares are expected to commence trading on Cboe under the symbol "IBER" on or about September 11, 2023. A further press release will be disseminated once trading has commenced.

The Transaction

The Transaction was completed according to the terms of an amended and restated business combination agreement dated August 18, 2023 (the "Business Combination Agreement"). Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, ILI and 1000513020 Ontario Inc. ("131 Subco") (a wholly-owned subsidiary of IberAmerican incorporated under the laws of the Province of Ontario for the purpose of completing the Transaction) amalgamated today in accordance with the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (the "Amalgamation") and continued operating under the name "IberAmerican Lithium Inc." ("Amalco").

In connection with the Transaction: (i) holders of the 104,450,488 issued and outstanding common shares of ILI (the "ILI Shares") received one common share of IberAmerican (each a "Resulting Issuer Share") for each ILI Share held; (ii) as consideration for the issuance of the Resulting Issuer Shares to effect the Amalgamation, the Resulting Issuer received one common share of Amalco for each Resulting Issuer Share issued to holders of ILI Shares; and (iii) each common share in 131 Subco issued to the Resulting Issuer on incorporation was cancelled.

Additionally, the Resulting Issuer issued approximately 18,225,244 replacement common share purchase warrants (the "Resulting Issuer Warrants") to existing holders of common share purchase warrants in ILI on a 1:1 basis. Each Resulting Issuer Warrant is exercisable for one Resulting Issuer Share at an exercise price of $0.40 per share until September 1, 2026.

Prior to the Amalgamation, 131 split its shares on a 1.29032258065:1 basis (the "Stock Split") and completed the 131 Financing (as defined below). Prior to the Amalgamation, 131 received shareholder approval for the Stock Split to result in a total of approximately 5,000,000 131 Shares being held by existing 131 shareholders.

In the near future, IberAmerican plans on filing articles of continuance to continue from the Province of British Columbia into the Province of Ontario, subject to regulatory approvals.

A summary of material changes resulting from the Transaction are provided herein. For further information, readers are referred to the filing statement of the Resulting Issuer dated August 31, 2023 (the "Filing Statement"), which was prepared in accordance with the requirements of Cboe and filed under IberAmerican's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Included in the Filing Statement is a summary of the National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") technical report prepared pursuant to NI 43-101, prepared by Resource Development Associates Inc. (RDA) consultant Scott E. Wilson, S.M.E., CPG, titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Alberta II Lithium and Rare Metals Deposit, Ourense Province, Galicia Spain" with an effective date of March 25, 2023 (the "Alberta II Project Technical Report"). The full version of the Alberta II Project Technical Report is available on the Resulting Issuer's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

Concurrent and Prior Financings

On August 24, 2023, ILI completed a concurrent best-efforts private placement of 36,450,488 subscription receipts ("ILI Subscription Receipts") at a price of $0.25 per ILI Subscription Receipt (the "Concurrent Financing") for aggregate gross proceeds of $9,112,622. PowerOne Capital Markets Limited ("PowerOne") and Canaccord Genuity Corp. ("Canaccord" and, together with PowerOne, the "Agents") entered into an agency agreement (the "Agency Agreement") with ILI and 131 and acted as Agents for the Concurrent Financing.

Pursuant to the Agency Agreement, IberAmerican paid to the Agents a 6% commission on the brokered portion of the Concurrent Financing, and additionally issued to the Agents an aggregate of 1,838,676 ILI broker warrants (the "ILI Broker Warrants"), representing 6.0% of the aggregate number of ILI Subscription Receipts issued pursuant to the brokered portion of the Concurrent Financing. Upon completion of the Amalgamation, each ILI Broker Warrant was exchanged for one Resulting Issuer broker warrant (a "Resulting Issuer Broker Warrant") exercisable until September 1, 2026 to purchase a Resulting Issuer unit, comprising one Resulting Issuer Share and one-half of one Resulting Issuer Warrant, at a purchase price equal to $0.25 per Resulting Issuer Broker Warrant.

The net proceeds from the Concurrent Financing are expected to be used for (i) exploration of the Alberta II Project, located in Spain; (ii) general working capital purposes; and (iii) payment of expenses incurred in connection with the Transaction.

Prior to the Transaction and the Concurrent Financing, ILI completed a private placement of 28,000,000 ILI Shares on a non-brokered basis at an issue price of $0.10 for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,800,000 (the "ILI Seed Financing"). The ILI Seed Financing closed in three tranches on December 28, 2022, February 13, 2023 and March 1, 2023, respectively, the proceeds of which were used (a) to acquire a 70% interest in the investigation permit No 5186 and the application for investigation permit No 5191 related to the Alberta II and Carlota lithium projects, respectively, located in Spain and (b) for working capital purposes.

131 Financing, Name Change, Stock Split and Board and Management Changes

Completion of the Transaction was subject to a number of conditions that are customary for a transaction of this nature. Immediately prior to the completion of the Transaction, 131 completed a non-brokered private placement of 50,000 131 Shares at a price of $0.25 per 131 Share for aggregate gross proceeds to 131 of $12,500 (the "131 Financing"), effected the Stock Split, changed its name to "IberAmerican Lithium Corp.", reconstituted its Board to consist of nominees of ILI, and all existing officers of 131 resigned and were replaced by nominees of ILI.

Consolidated Capitalization

After giving effect to the Transaction and the Concurrent Financing, there are (i) 109,500,488 Resulting Issuer Shares issued and outstanding; (ii) 18,225,244 Resulting Issuer Warrants issued and outstanding, with each warrant being exercisable for a Resulting Issuer Share at an exercise price of $0.40 and having an expiry date of September 1, 2026; (iii) 1,838,676 Resulting Issuer Broker Warrants, (iv) and no Resulting Issuer options.

Escrowed and Locked-up Securities

Pursuant to the requirements of Cboe, upon listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares, all securities of the Resulting Issuer that are held by "principals" of the Resulting Issuer (as well as certain other founding shareholders of ILI) (collectively, the "Escrowed Shareholders") will be placed into escrow. Upon the date on which the Resulting Issuer is listed on Cboe (the "Listing Date"), there will be an aggregate of 18,253,846 Resulting Issuer Shares and 1,200,000 Resulting Issuer Warrants held pursuant to a Security Escrow Agreement (collectively, the "Escrowed Securities") entered into among the Odyssey Trust Company (as escrow trustee), the Resulting Issuer and the Escrowed Shareholders. The Escrowed Securities will be released as follows:

On the Listing Date 10% of Escrowed Securities 3 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 6 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 9 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 12 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 15 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 18 months after the Listing Date of the remaining Escrowed Securities

All of the directors and officers of the Resulting Issuer identified by the Agents prior to the closing of the Concurrent Financing (collectively, the "Locked-Up Persons") are subject to a contractual lock-up period pursuant to which each of the Locked-Up Persons will not, until the date which is 180 days following the Listing Date, in each case without the prior written consent of the Agents, directly or indirectly, offer, sell, contract to sell, grant or sell any option to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, hypothecate, pledge, transfer, assign, lend, swap, or enter into any other agreement to transfer the economic consequences of, or otherwise dispose of or deal with (or agree to or publicly announce any intention to do any of the foregoing) whether through the facilities of a stock exchange, by private placement or otherwise, any common shares or other securities of the Resulting Issuer convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable to acquire, common shares, directly or indirectly, subject to customary exemptions from such restrictions, unless (i) they first obtain the prior consent of the Agents, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed, or (ii) there occurs a take-over bid or similar transaction involving a potential change of control of the Resulting Issuer.

Further, upon completion of the Transaction an aggregate of 73,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares were locked-up as follows:

40,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares issued to certain founders of ILI at $0.001 will be completely locked-up until 18 months following September 1, 2023 (the "Closing Date").

28,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares issued to shareholders of ILI in the ILI Seed Financing will be locked-up as follows:

10% (2,800,000) of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released on the Closing Date; 15% (4,200,000) of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 3 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 6 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 9 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 12 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 15 months following the Closing Date; and 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 18 months following the Closing Date.

5,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares Issued to shareholders of 131 in connection with the Transaction will be locked-up as follows:

10% (500,000) of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released on the Closing Date; 15% (750,000) of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 3 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 6 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 9 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 12 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 15 months following the Closing Date; and 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 18 months following the Closing Date.

Directors and Officers

In connection with the Transaction, the following individuals were elected to serve as members of the board of directors of the Resulting Issuer or appointed as officers. The following information is as furnished by such directors and officers.

Campbell Becher, Chief Executive Officer and Director - 50 years old

Mr. Becher has extensive experience in the capital markets industry. He was a Managing Director of Haywood Securities Inc. from 2016 to 2020. He also spent eight years in retail at RBC Dominion and BMO Nesbitt Burns before pursuing merchant banking for six years with Bearbeech Capital and Becher McMahon. From 2008-2014, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Bryon Capital Markets and has been President of Orchid Capital Partners Corp. since 2014. Since February 2021, Mr. Becher has also held the position of President at Becher Family Holdings. Mr. Becher currently serves as a director of many publicly listed companies including Strategic Minerals Europe Corp., Imperial Helium Corp., Royal Helium Ltd., Draxos Capital Corp., CENTR Brands Corp. and Trees Corporation.

Eugene McBurney, Chair and Director - 74 years old

Based in the Bahamas, Eugene McBurney brings deep international relationships and experience developed over an investment banking career which spans more than 25 years. He has spent several years establishing a dedicated investment banking practice to serve the Caribbean and Latin American regions and has established an enviable track record of providing advice and services for his clients in the resource and non-resource sectors. Over the course of his career, he has led a number of landmark transactions in the mining and natural resources sectors.

Prior to joining Canaccord Genuity in 2020, Mr. McBurney was co-founder of one of Canada's most entrepreneurial and long-standing independent investment dealers. Before launching his career in investment banking, Mr. McBurney spent several years as a partner with a leading Canadian law firm.

Jeffrey Holmgren, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary - 49 years old

Jeffrey Holmgren has an extensive background in corporate finance beginning in 2003 with Ernst & Young LLP, where he provided advisory services to a diverse range of private and public companies around the globe. In 2008, Mr. Holmgren took a senior financial advisor role with Progress Energy Trust where he participated in numerous capital raises in excess of $200 million. In 2008, Mr. Holmgren assumed the role of CFO for Rodinia Oil Corp. where he was instrumental in listing the company on the TSXV. In 2011, Mr. Holmgren became CFO of Westfire Energy Ltd., and navigated its sale to LongRun Exploration for approximately $400 million. In 2013, Mr. Holmgren cofounded Kaisen Energy Corp and served as the CFO until his departure in 2018 when he joined NewLeaf Cannabis as CFO in the early phase of its ascent to becoming Canada's largest cannabis retail company prior to its sale in September 2018 to Meta Growth Corp. Soon after he co-founded OCH, and on March 1, 2021, in connection with the closing of the amalgamation of Trees SubCo and OCH, Mr. Holmgren assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer and director of Trees Corporation and on February 7, 2022 Mr. Holmgren assumed the role of President of Trees Corporation.

David Young, Director - 43 years old

David Young serves as Chief Financial Officer and President of CENTR Brands Corp. Mr. Young brings more than 20 years of executive and financial leadership, drawing on roles in both industry and private equity settings. David's previous roles included Principal at global investment firm The Carlyle Group and other leading investment institutions including Perella Weinberg Partners, and as a director of private equity firm Talara Capital Management. Mr. Young is a distinguished alumnus of the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce.

Robert Metcalfe, Director - 83 years old

Robert Metcalfe is a lawyer and has served as President, Chief Executive Officer, Lead Director, Chairman and committee member on numerous publicly listed natural resource and industry company corporate boards in Canada, the USA, England, South America and Africa. He was a senior partner with the law firm Lang Michener LLP for 20 years. He is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Armadale Properties and counsel to all of the Armadale Group of Companies, with significant holdings across numerous industries including finance, construction of office buildings, airport ownership, management and refurbishing, land development, automotive dealerships as well as newspaper publishing, radio and television stations.

Mr. Metcalfe is currently a director of various publicly listed companies including Blue Star Gold Corp. since May 5, 2015, Pasofino Gold Limited since December 21, 2020, Orvana Minerals Corp. since February 28, 2023, BetterLife Pharma Inc. since January 21, 2020 and Strategic Minerals Europe Corp. since June 19, 2023.Mr. Metcalfe was a director of Canada Lands Company Limited, one of the largest real estate corporations in Canada, and was a director and Chairman of the Board of CN Tower Limited, the tallest communications structure in the world. Throughout his career Mr. Metcalfe has served as a director of public and private corporations including publicly listed Radiant Energy Corp. (airplane deicing company operating in the US), Alberta Oil Sands (Chairman of the Board); LeadFX (in Australia), Director and Chairman of the Board, and member of the Audit Committee; PetroMagdalena Inc. (oil and gas in Colombia, South America); LSC Lithium in Argentina; Gran Colombia Gold Corp., (Lead Director and Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee as well as a member of the Audit Committee); WPC Resources Limited (a gold mining company in Nunavut). As a director and shareholder, Mr. Metcalfe has been engaged in numerous acquisitions, divestitures, corporate reorganizations, financings and corporate improvements, as well as serving on numerous special committees across many sectors. He is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and a member in good standing of the Law Society of Ontario.

Serafino Iacono, Director and Executive Director - 62 years old

Serafino Iacono is Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Denarius Metals Corp. and is currently the Chief Executive Officer of NG Energy International Corp. since June 3, 2019. He was formerly Executive Chairman of GCM Mining Corp. from March 27, 2019 to September 26, 2022 and served as Executive Co-Chairman of such board from August 20, 2010 to March 27, 2019. Mr. Iacono served as Interim Chief Executive Officer of Aris Gold Corporation from February 25, 2020 to February 4, 2021. Mr. Iacono was also the Executive Co-Chair of the board of Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation from January 23, 2008 to November 2, 2016. Mr. Iacono has been a director of Aris Mining Corporation since February 28, 2020 and the Executive Chair of Western Atlas Resources Inc. from June 15, 2018 to January 16, 2023.

Miguel de la Campa, Director - 78 years old

Miguel de la Campa is the Executive Chair of Strategic Minerals Europe Corp. and has served as a director of the company since December 6, 2021. Mr. de la Campa also served as the Vice Chair of the GCM Board and was the Executive Co-Chair of the GCM Board from August 20, 2010 to March 27, 2019. Mr. de la Campa was also on the board of directors of Western Atlas Resources Inc. and was the Executive Co-Chair of the board of directors of Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation from January 23, 2008 to November 2, 2016.

Previously, Mr. de la Campa was the President and co-founder of Bolivar Gold Corp., a director of Petromagdalena Energy Corp. and a co-founder of Pacific Stratus Energy.

Mr. de la Campa has a BSFS in International Economics and an MA in Political Economics from Georgetown University.

Cboe Exchange Approval

131 was an unlisted reporting issuer and the Resulting Issuer Shares, subject to the following, are expected to be listed for trading on Cboe on or about September 11, 2023. The Transaction remains subject to final approval by Cboe and fulfillment of all of the requirements of Cboe in order to obtain such approval including, among other things, submission and acceptance of all documents requested by Cboe in its conditional acceptance letter and payment of all outstanding fees to Cboe. Upon listing, the Resulting Issuer Shares will trade on Cboe under the symbol "IBER".

Investor Relations and Market Arrangements

The Resulting Issuer will initially implement an annual investor relations budget of approximately $1,700,000, which will be used to prepare a written investor relations strategy and to provide information through digital and video platforms which facilitates informed investment decisions. This will be implemented through, among other things, a one-year contract with Gold Standard Media, LLC ("GSM"), to create and develop digital marketing campaigns and other related services to assist IberAmerican in enhancing its online profile with the global investment community.

GSM is a limited liability company existing under the laws of the State of Texas with an office at 1102 S. Austin Ave, #110-283, Georgetown, Texas, USA, and is headed by Kenneth Ameduri, who manages a marketing team and has been successfully marketing for a broad range of companies listed on exchanges from the TSX Venture Exchange to the New York Stock Exchange since 2010. GSM uses affiliated entities such as Future Money Trends and Portfolio Wealth Global LLC for the purpose of these marketing activities. To the knowledge of the Resulting Issuer, Wallace Hill Partners Ltd., an affiliate of GSM, owns 4,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares. GSM will be paid US$1,250,000 up front for these services. Pursuant to the agreement, GSM will help raise public awareness of the Resulting Issuer and help promote IberAmerican's business.

IberAmerican will also engage the services of Yabucoa Partners dba Street Smart and FeMax Publishing and Consulting to engage with potential investor bases.

The Resulting Issuer will engage the services of ICP Securities Inc. ("ICP") to provide market-making services in accordance with Cboe policies. ICP will trade shares of the Resulting Issuer on Cboe and all other trading venues, using its own capital resources to fund the market making activities, with the objective of maintaining a reasonable market and improving the liquidity of the Resulting Issuer Shares. ICP is a Toronto-based CIRO dealer-member that specializes in market making and liquidity provision. Established in 2023, with a focus on market structure, execution and trading, ICP has leveraged its own proprietary technology to deliver high quality liquidity provision and execution services to a broad array of public issuers and institutional investors.

Under the agreement, ICP will receive compensation of $7,500 per month in advance. The agreement is for an initial term of four months and will renew for additional one-month terms unless terminated. The agreement may be terminated by either party with 30 days' notice. There are no performance factors contained in the agreement and ICP will not receive shares or stock options as compensation for its market-making activities. ICP does not own any shares of IberAmerican. ICP and IberAmerican are unrelated and unaffiliated entities.

Early Warning

In connection with the Transaction, each of Serafino Iacono and Delbrook Capital Advisors acquired ownership, control, or direction over Resulting Issuer Shares requiring disclosure pursuant to the early warning requirements of applicable securities laws.

Mr. Iacono, in exchange for his holdings of ILI Shares, acquired 11,550,000 Resulting Issuer Shares representing approximately 11% of the Resulting Issuer's issued and outstanding shares on a non-diluted basis. Mr. Iacono indirectly owns or controls all of his Resulting Issuer Shares and Resulting Issuer Warrants through Brockville International Holdings Ltd., a company over which he exercises control. Mr. Iacono also, in exchange for his holding of warrants in ILI, acquired and indirectly owns or controls 500,000 Resulting Issuer Warrants, which represent approximately 3% of the Resulting Issuer's issued and outstanding warrants on a non-diluted basis.

In exchange for its holdings of ILI Shares, Delbrook Capital Advisors, through a number of affiliated funds, acquired 17,500,000 Resulting Issuer Shares representing approximately 15.99% of the Resulting Issuer's issued and outstanding shares on a non-diluted basis. Delbrook Capital Advisors also, in exchange for its holding of warrants in ILI, acquired 6,000,000 Resulting Issuer Warrants, which represent approximately 32.92% of the Resulting Issuer's issued and outstanding warrants on a non-diluted basis.

The securities of the Resulting Issuer acquired by each of Mr. Iacono and Delbrook Capital Advisors are presently being held only for investment purposes. Subject to regulatory approval, each holder may from time to time in the future increase or decrease their ownership, control, or direction over securities of the Resulting Issuer held by each of them, through market transactions, private agreements or otherwise, the whole depending on market conditions, the business and prospects of the Resulting Issuer and other relevant factors.

A copy of each early warning report (the "Early Warning Report") will be filed by each of the parties pursuant to applicable securities laws in connection with the completion of the Transaction. A copy of each Early Warning Report to which this press release relates will be available under the Resulting Issuer 's profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca.

The Resulting Issuer Shares and Resulting Issuer Warrants acquired by Mr. Iacono are held in escrow as described above under "Escrowed and Locked-Up Securities". Additional information on IberAmerican can be found by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca.

IberAmerican Lithium

IberAmerican Lithium is a hard-rock lithium exploration company focused on advancing its 70% owned Alberta II & Carlota Properties located in the Galicia region of northwestern Spain. IberAmerican Lithium's properties are located in a favorable lithium district with world class infrastructure and a supportive and proactive mining jurisdiction.

Additional information on IberAmerican Lithium is available at www.iberamericanlithium.com and by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca.

Qualified Person

IberAmerican engaged Scott E. Wilson, S.M.E., CPG (the "Author") to prepare the Alberta II Project Technical Report. The Author is a "qualified person" and considered "independent", as such terms are defined in NI 43-101. All of the scientific and technical mining disclosure contained in this news release and the Filing Statement regarding the Alberta II Project has been reviewed and approved by the Author. The materials Part IV - Information Concerning IberAmerican - Material Mineral Project - Lithium Alberta Project" in the Filing Statement comprise the "Summary" section of the Alberta II Project Technical Report.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

Cboe has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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 statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of IberAmerican to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the caption "Risk Factors" in IberAmerican's Filing Statement dated August 31, 2023, which is available for view on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca. These risks include but are not limited to, the risks associated with the mining and exploration industry, such as operational risks in development or capital expenditures, the uncertainty of projections relating to production, and any delays or changes in plans with respect to the exploitation of the site. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release, and IberAmerican Lithium disclaims, other than as required by law, any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, results, future events, circumstances, or if management's estimates or opinions should change, or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

For Further Information, Contact:

Campbell Becher

Chief Executive Officer

(647) 404-9071

inquiries@iberamericanlithium.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179373
Advanced Solar Generators for Portable and Uninterruptible Power Supply

CLEVELAND, OH / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Dory Power, a leading U.S. technology company specializing in portable solar generators, is excited to announce its expansion plans and extend an invitation to potential business partners to join its growing national business network.

Dory Sentry for Picnic

Portable solar generator from Dory Power used to grill steak and microwave foods at picnic.

As the demand for reliable and sustainable portable power solutions continues to surge, Dory Power is responding with strategic expansion initiatives for mass productions of its portable solar generators and uninterruptible power supply systems. The company is establishing a manufacturing facility in Northeastern Ohio, a dedicated factory poised to accommodate a large production capacity of 100,000 units annually.

With the establishment of the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, Dory Power is prepared to meet the growing market demand for portable solar generators in North America. Embarking on this exciting phase, Dory Power extends a warm welcome to potential business partners to collaborate and shape the future of portable power together.

This expansion aligns with Dory Power's commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation and sustainability while providing reliable and sustainable portable power for diverse applications. The company recognizes the value of partnerships and invites prospective collaborators to join in its mission.

Prospective business partners interested in leveraging this opportunity and becoming a part of Dory Power's national business network are encouraged to reach out. For inquiries and further details, interested parties are welcome to browse the Dory Power website and contact the Dory Power team via email at sales@dorypower.com.

The expansion initiatives reflect Dory Power's dedication to enhancing accessibility to advanced solar generators, empowering individuals and businesses alike.

About Dory Power:

Dory Power, founded in 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio, is a leading U.S. technology company focusing on the design and manufacture of advanced lithium-ion battery power systems for energy storage and backup power supply. Dory Power develops and manufactures a range of innovative solar generators and uninterruptible power supply systems, being widely adopted and used by households, hospitals, labs, data centers, law firms, restaurants, and universities nationwide in the United States. The company's mission is to empower people with the freedom to access clean and efficient energy wherever and whenever they need it. Through continuous innovation and a customer-centric approach, Dory Power is shaping the future of portable power solutions.

Contact Information

Dory Power Company

Solar generator manufacturer

service@dorypower.com

2163863953

SOURCE: Dory Power Company

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/779652/dory-power-invites-business-partners-to-join-its-expanding-national-network
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Nevada Organic Phosphate Inc. (CSE: NOP) ("NOP" or the "Company"), would like to announce and welcome Mr. Keith Li as its new Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Li is an experienced Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) with over 15 years of corporate accounting, finance and financial reporting experience. He specializes in providing management advisory services, accounting and regulatory compliance services to both public and private companies in a number of industries including junior mining, cannabis, health and wellness, and merchant banking. Mr. Li began his career in the public accounting sector as an auditor and has also held a senior-level position at Sears Canada and multiple reporting issuers. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University.

In connection with Mr. Li's appointment the Company has agreed to pay $12,500 in common shares (each a "Share") in the capital of the Company upon the six-month anniversary of his appointment at the then current market price, subject to the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "Compensation Shares"). The Shares will be issued pursuant to the prospectus exemption provided under Section 2.24 of National Instrument 45-106 -Prospectus Exemptions. All Shares have a hold period of four months and a day from the date of issuance.

Accordingly, the Compensation Shares will constitute a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The issuance of the Shares will be exempt from the valuation requirement of MI 61-101 by the virtue of the exemption contained in section 5.5(b) as the Company's Shares are not listed on a specified market and from the minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 by virtue of the exemption contained in Section 5.7(1)(a) as the value of the Compensation Shares do not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

Furthermore, the Company would like to announce the resignation of its current Chief Financial Officer, Doug Wallis. The Company thanks Mr. Wallis for more than 12 years of good and faithful service to NOP and other management associated companies.

Shares for Debt Settlement

The Company also announces that it has agreed to issue an aggregate of 180,000 Shares at a deemed price of $0.05 per Share to certain creditors of the Company (the "Creditors") as full and final payment of debt in the aggregate amount of $9,000 (the "Debt Settlement"), which debt was for certain unpaid fees for services performed by the Creditors.

All securities issued in connection with the Debt Settlement will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring four months and one day after the date of issuance, as set out in National Instrument 45-102 - Resale of Securities.

Nevada Organic Phosphate Inc.

NOP is a junior exploration company with an organic sedimentary raw rock phosphate bed, 8.25 kilometers long, in northeast Nevada (the "Murdock Property"). Believed to be one of the only organic rock phosphate projects with large scale potential in North America, the Murdock Property is situated close to the main highway to Montello/Elko and the rail head to California.

For More Information

Robin Dow, CEO

T: 604.355.9986

E: robin@dowgroup.ca

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulations services providers have reviewed or accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information ("FLSI") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. FLSI may include expectations, anticipations, beliefs, opinions, plans, intentions, estimates, forecasts, projections, guidance or other similar statements and information that are not historical facts. All statements which are not historical statements are considered FLSI. All FLSI is based on assumptions, which may prove inaccurate, and subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those risks and uncertainties identified in the Company's public securities filings, which may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated or implied in FLSI. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance or value on FLSI. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in any FLSI in this news release are reasonable at the present time, it can give no assurance that such FLSI will prove to be correct. Any FLSI in this news release is made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligations to publicly update or revise any FLSI, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws. Any FLSI in this news release is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179381
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Plata Latina Minerals Corporation (TSXV: PLA) ("Plata Latina" or the "Company") announces that its President and CEO and Chair of the Board of Directors, W. Durand Eppler, will retire effective immediately for personal and health reasons. The Company has appointed Mr. Gil Clausen as interim President and CEO and Chair of the Board of Directors as the Company undergoes a strategic review process.

As one of the founding members of Plata Latina, the Company thanks Mr. Eppler for his dedication to the Company from inception and for his leadership as Chair and CEO over the last five years. He successfully completed the sale of the Naranjillo project to Fresnillo and managed the downsizing of the current property portfolio to conserve limited cash resource. The Company wishes Mr. Eppler the best in his well-deserved retirement.

Mr. Clausen is one of the founders of Plata Latina and was previously Chair of the Company. He is a recognized mining executive with more than 30 years' experience in the areas of senior management, finance, development and operations in the base and precious metals industry. He was most recently President and CEO and Director of Copper Mountain Mining Corporation, which was acquired by Hudbay Minerals Inc. in June 2023. Prior to that, Mr. Clausen was President and CEO and Director of Brio Gold Inc., which was acquired by Leagold Mining Corp in May 2018, and President and CEO and Director of Augusta Resource Corporation, which was acquired by Hudbay Minerals Inc. in September 2014. Mr. Clausen has a Bachelors and Masters degrees in Mining Engineering from Queen's University.

About Plata Latina Minerals

Plata Latina Minerals was a Canadian exploration company which was in the business of exploring and evaluating mineral property assets, principally in Mexico. The Company has since sold or relinquished its interests in four Mexican mineral properties and is undergoing a strategic review process, which includes capitalizing on the value of the Company as a clean listed shell with modest cash and cash flow. Following the completion of an option agreement in 2020 where the Company sold its Naranjillo Property to Fresnillo for a total of US $2,150,000 over three years, Plata Latina currently receives advance royalty payments of US $100,000 until the earlier of (i) US $1,000,000 of advance royalty payments have been paid, or (ii) Naranjillo commences commercial production of minerals. The Company also was granted a 3% net smelter return royalty.

For more information, please contact:

Patricia Fong

Chief Financial Officer

Telephone: +1 800 933 9925

Email: patricia.fong@plminerals.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179121
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Bear Creek Mining Corporation (TSXV: BCM) (OTCQX: BCEKF) (BVL: BCM) ("Bear Creek" or the "Company") announces that Mr. Erfan Kazemi is retiring from the Company's board of directors (the "Board") effective today in order to concentrate on his other business obligations including his new role as President and CEO of Horizon Copper Corp. and his ongoing role as Chief Financial Officer of Sandstorm Gold Ltd.

Mr. Kazemi was first elected to the Company's Board in June 2018 and throughout his tenure has chaired the Company's Audit Committee. Mr. Kazemi's exceptional financial expertise, audit experience, governance oversight and market knowledge has contributed greatly to the functioning of the Audit Committee and to the Board in meeting its strategic, business and stakeholder responsibilities. The Company sincerely thanks Mr. Kazemi for his service over the past 5 years.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Catherine McLeod-Seltzer

Chair

For further information contact:

Barbara Henderson - VP Corporate Communications

Direct: 604-628-1111

E-mail: barb@bearcreekmining.com

www.bearcreekmining.com

Subscribe to Bear Creek Mining news

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179431
Sequense, an Austin, TX-based provider of a workflow automation software platform, received an investment from Alabama Futures Fund.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

In connection with the investment from AFF, Sequense and its CEO, Kimber Falkinburg, will relocate the companys headquarters to Birmingham, Alabama.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach.

Led by Kimber Falkinburg, CEO, Sequense provides industry-specific automation for travel advisors that allows users to elevate their business and capture more of the travel market. By entering a few key data points, the software organizes hundreds of tasks by stage of workflow and work type. The platform provides visibility for each advisor on outstanding tasks to be completed utilizing a project management tool.

FinSMEs

01/09/2023
Lovebirds Tamannaah Bhatia and Vijay Varma are back from their dreamy getaway in the Maldives. In addition to being seen separately at the Mumbai airport while departing for their destination, the two arrived at the airport on Thursday, in the same way as per media reports. Now, while the Lust Stories 2 co-actors are doing superbly at work, their personal life has gained attention in recent months. Since they acknowledged dating each other, the two have been under scrutiny for their next move in their relationship.

In a recent interview with News 18, Tamannaah spilled the beans on her next priorities, recent success with many projects and wedding rumours with boyfriend Vijay Varma.

Marriage rumours

While marriage rumours circulated after Tamannaah and Vijay acknowledged calling each other their happy place and breaking dating rules to be with each other in a separate interview with Film Companion, the Bholaa Shankar actress has denied them now, just as before. Im not in the mood to get married right now, she said. My career is progressing very well right now, and I want to focus on it. I do believe in marriage and eventually, it will happen but right now my happy place is on the sets. I am enjoying the variety of work that has been coming in and I hope it continues to stay like that.

Personal life

While talking about her personal life, Tamannaah Bhatia reiterated that people focusing on the actress personal life dont bother her. While elaborating further on the same, the Jailer star added that sometimes when people who know her say things, it hurts. However, in the long run, what matters is what she says to herself. So, I have had a very strong demarcation in my career when it comes to my work and personal life, she further stated.

Professional success

On the professional front, Tamannaah Bhatia added, I have had six releases in five months and I am thankful for all the work that has come out. The reason for this is that people appreciate and like it. I feel there is only one life and I want to do everything I can. Being an actor is something I enjoy the most. This is one thing I wake up to and love doing. Its a fantastic time and I am just trying to make the most of it.

Recently, Tamannaah shared pictures on her Instagram account enjoying off-duty time in the Maldives, and the snaps were probably clicked by Vijay Varma. At least thats what the internet users thought. In the pictures, the actress could be seen enjoying natures glory to the fullest. She wore unique beach outfits as she posed against a breathtaking rainbow backdrop.

Work Front

Work wise, Tamannah Bhatia has had several hits this year. The 33-year-old first appeared in Jee Karda, a romantic drama web series for which she received positive feedback. The Baahubali star was next seen alongside boyfriend Vijay Varma in Lust Stories 2.

Last month saw the release of Bholaa Shankar, with Chiranjeevi in the lead and Jailer featuring superstar Rajinikanth. The actors latest release is Aakhri Sach, a crime thriller released on Disney+ Hotstar last week.

Vijay Varma will next be seen in Sujoy Ghoshs Jaane Jaan alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat. He last appeared in Dahaad and Kaalkoot.
Cast: Vijay Deverakonda, Samantha Ruth Prabhu

Director: Shiva Nirvana

Kashmir, religion, love jihad, Hindutva and superstitious. Kushi, starring Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha Ruth Prabhu takes on all of these socio-political conflicts, not to portray a visceral and effecting story but romance and melodrama. These conflicts provide fodder that is clickbaity enough to draw the crowd in as it is laced with humor. So it is no surprise then that the film ends up becoming way too convoluted. Viplav (Vijay Deverakonda) works at the telephone exchange in Kashmir, and after his chance meeting with Ara Begum (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) he falls in love.

In an attempt to establish that Viplavs love is beyond religion, the film chooses Kashmir as a set-up. Is it tone-deaf? Yes! Will filmmakers continue to use the Kashmir conflict as a plot device? Looks like it. In fact, from the very beginning, Kushi made me uncomfortable. The film tries to tell audiences that only women in burqa are safe in a place such as Kashmir. It has a Hindu girl dressed in a burqa visiting a temple. After the hijab row, and the apparent Islamophobia in our country, this set-up could have been used to portray inclusivity and a sense of brotherhood and belonging. Instead, we get men dressed in Muslim attire drawing weapon against a group of people belonging to another religion.

As if this werent enough, there is another layer to this story. What happens when an atheist falls in love with a believer? This is not a believer who keeps her faith personal, but the kind that also believes in superstitions, to the extent that she a black cat is bad omen in her life. Her father speaks of nothing but the God, Gods teaching and so on. Viplavs father, on the other hand, believes in nothing but science. Can Aradhya and Viplav really overcome the differences in their belief system and their upbringing? In the honeymoon period, none of this seem to matter. However, as days pass and conflict of a failed pregnancy enters their relationship, everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

Aradhya, who buries the believer in her and forsakes her faith for the time being is forced to ponder on the words of her father, a pandit who had foretold that her relationship with Viplav was fated to fail. She wonders if one homam can really resolve all the issues and misunderstanding that had recently cropped up in her relationship and addresses the same to Viplav. Her father is after all not a quack in her eyes. It is at this moment that we begin to wonder, what of love and acceptance beyond faith?

The film did find its way to acceptance towards the very end, yes, but what of all the moments before. Ones where the film did nothing but establish the fact that differences would only lead to misery in a relationship? To establish that the opposite of the conflict is true, no time in spent and instead, we now see the focus of the film shift from differences in faith to pregnancy. Convoluted sounds like an understatement at this point.

In that vein, Kushi is a missed chance. In a country where extremists seek life in the name of love jihad, it could have really fostered love and acceptance. It could have been heart melting and mesmerizing. Instead, we have something forgettable. The music is honestly the only redeeming factor in this film that is ridden with too many ideas.

Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)

Priyanka Sundar is a film journalist who covers films and series of different languages with a special focus on identity and gender politics.
The first official meeting of the One Nation, One Election committee is being held today, 23 September under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind.

According to PTI, the meeting on One Nation, One Poll will be introductory in nature and members will discuss the roadmap and how to go about consulting with stakeholders.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former chairman of the 15th Finance Commission NK Singh, former general secretary of the Lok Sabha Subash Kashyap, senior attorney Harish Salve, former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari, and Minister of State (Law) Arjun Ram Meghwal are the members of the committee.

Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was also a member, however, he declined to join the panel in a letter to Home Minister Shah.

In this meeting, panel members are likely to examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats. The committee will also recommend a framework and a time limit within which the elections can be carried out.

What is One Nation, One Poll (ONOP)? What are the arguments for and against the proposal? Is it a feasible idea? We explain.

What is One Nation, One Election?

It pertains to holding Lok Sabha elections and state Assembly polls simultaneously across India, with voting possibly being held around the same time.

This practice was applicable in India till 1967. As per NDTV, several state Assemblies were dissolved prematurely in 1968-69, leading to different polling cycles in those states.

In 1970, the Lok Sabha was dissolved a year ahead of schedule; mid-elections were then held in 1971. The Election Commission (EC) had recommended going back to the exercise of simultaneous elections in 1983.

Currently, polls in only Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are held together with the Lok Sabha elections.

It must be noted that ONOP does not entail panchayat elections, state municipality elections, and byelections, reported Times of India (TOI).

Meanwhile, the panel headed by Kovind will study the practicality and draw up a mechanism to synchronise Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections, sources told TOI. He will consult experts as well as leaders of different political parties to ascertain the feasibility of the move.

Government has constituted a committee headed by ex-President Ram Nath Kovind to explore possibility of one nation, one election: Sources  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2023

Arguments for ONOP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a vocal supporter of conducting simultaneous elections across India. In 2019, soon after his reelection, Modi had said that a panel would be formed to discuss the proposal with all political parties.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has long argued for bringing back simultaneous polls. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister, had discussed the idea with the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Veteran BJP leader LK Advani took up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2010, as per an Indian Express report.

In its 2014 election manifesto, the BJP had vowed to bring back simultaneous state Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The supporters of simultaneous polls say it would reduce election expenses.

As per the Centre for Media Studies, the EC estimates that Rs 10,000 crore was spent on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Unofficial estimates put this figure at Rs 60,000 crore in 2019 and Rs 30,000 crore in the 2014 general elections.

States spend somewhere between Rs 250-500 crore per Assembly poll, according to The News Minute (TNM). The backers claim ONOP will save time and money. Combined elections could optimise public funds and the burden shared between the Centre and states could significantly come down, Akshay Rout, former Director General of Election Commission of India wrote for Economic Times (ET) in 2022.

As elections are always going on in some part or the other in the country, the Model Code of Conduct has to be implemented, which the ONOP supporters say hamper the government from introducing projects or policy plans for peoples welfare, noted Indian Express. During the Lok Sabha elections, states cannot launch new projects or schemes till the Model Code of Conduct remains in place, as per NDTV.

#WATCH | On One nation, One election, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minsiter Pralhad Joshi says Right now, a committee has been constituted. A report of the committee will come out which be discussed. The Parliament is mature, and discussions will take place, there is no need to pic.twitter.com/iITyAacPBq  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023

The Law Commission says that simultaneous elections could also improve voter turnout, reported India Today.

ALSO READ: Is Centre likely to introduce One Nation, One Poll bill in special session of Parliament?

Why doesnt everyone agree?

Critics question the practicality of holding simultaneous elections, pointing out that it would require twice as many electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines than are deployed now, according to Indian Express.

TOI reported citing the Law Commission that India would have had to spend about Rs 4,500 crore on EVMs if simultaneous polls were held in 2019.

Another concern is that national issues would overwhelm local topics in simultaneous polls, thus harming the federal structure. Regional parties also fear that they will suffer at the cost of national parties with more resources in such a scenario.

As per India Today, a study by the IDFC Institute in 2015 found that 77 per cent of electors are likely to cast votes for the same party in case of simultaneous polls. However, only 61 per cent of voters will choose the same party if polls are conducted six months apart.

Speaking to NDTV, Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja said, One Nation, One Election is not a new issue. It has been discussed for several years. Ever since the BJP came to power, it has been obsessed with one nation, one culture; one nation, one religion; one nation, one language; one nation, one tax; now one nation, one election; then one nation, one party; one nation, one leader. That is the obsession the BJP is suffering from.

Several Opposition INDIA bloc parties, including the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress, have also opposed the idea.

How feasible is the idea

For any such proposal to be realised, constitutional amendments will have to be made to align the terms of state legislative assemblies with that of the Lok Sabha.

A Bill on ONOP needs to be passed by a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament. Moreover, it has to be ratified by more than half of the state legislatures across India, noted TNM.

Polling is expected to be held in five states  Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana and Rajasthan later this year, while four others will go to polls along with Lok Sabha elections.

Four other states  Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Delhi  vote months after the Lok Sabha polls.

As per News18 sources, the Centre is likely to get these 13 states on board for ONOP. The main challenge would be to convince the rest of the 15 states, especially those ruled by Opposition parties, whose election schedules vary largely from general polls.

Also, there are several questions to consider. There is still uncertainty over what would happen if any of the state governments collapsed before their term ended. Will elections be held again for all states if the Central government falls? What will happen in case of a hung House after a state election that requires mid-term polling?

As the then Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora highlighted in 2019 simultaneous elections were a very desirable goal, but for that, political systems of the country will have to take steps to align the life of a state Assembly with the life of Parliament.

He said this is possible only if political parties sit together and evolve some consensus. Do the requisite amendments in the law, so that (poll) cycle can be brought together, reported Indian Express.

With inputs from agencies
Indias political circles are abuzz after the Union government announced a special session of Parliament from 18 September to 22 September. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi made the announcement on Thursday, but shared little information on what the agenda of the session would be.

In a post on X, he wrote, special session of Parliament (13th Session of 17th Lok Sabha and 261st Session of Rajya Sabha) is being called from 18th to 22nd September having five sittings. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to have fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament.

The decision has surprised one and all; the Opposition grouping of INDIA, who is in Mumbai for their third alliance meet, termed it as managing the news cycle, Modi style or an attempt to deflect attention or as something up their sleeve.

While theres no clarity on whats in store for the five sittings, speculation is rife that the Modi government would either be introducing bills on issues such as One Nation, One Election, Uniform Civil Code and womens reservation or even dissolve Parliament and call for early elections.

But what is exactly going on? We sift through all the noise on the matter and give you the answers you are looking for.

Call for a special session

Just a month after the Monsoon Session of Parliament ended, the Centre has called for a special session of Parliament. At the recently-concluded session, 20 bills were introduced in Lok Sabha and five were introduced in the Rajya Sabha. According to records, while Lok Sabha passed 22 bills, the Upper House passed 25.

Also read: Centre calls special session of Parliament: How is it convened?

The special session being called from 18 September, according to sources speaking to IANS, will have no Question Hour, no Zero Hour and no private member business. It has also been said that while the Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs (CCPA) took the decision to convene the special session, President Droupadi Murmu will issue the orders to summon it once she returns from Chhattisgarh.

It is yet to be announced if the special session of Parliament will be held at the new Parliament building, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 May. However, many believe that the session will be held at the new construction, as Minister Pralhad Joshi in his post making the announcement had used an image of it.

Agenda for the session

While the government has remained tight-lipped over the agenda for the session, it has sparked speculations and rumours. Some believe that the government may bring up discussions on Indias G20 presidency and the G20 Summit, which is scheduled to take place on 9 and 10 September during the special session.

However, others have different ideas on it. Many believe that the special session has been summoned in order to advance the Lok Sabha elections to December, along with the coming round of Assembly polls.

Earlier this week, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed that the Modi government will call for early elections as it is scared of the Oppositions INDIA bloc.

Some have noted that the announcement timing matches with the assessment within government circles about the possibility of Lok Sabha being advanced from April-May to be clubbed with elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. Sources told Times of India that they felt that going to polls early would make political sense for the BJP.

Another rumour that has gathered speed over the reasoning for a special session is that the Centre would like to push three special bills  One Nation, One Election, Uniform Civil Code and womens reservation.

Political pundits believe that the government is especially keen on pushing the One Nation, One Election bill, which refers to the idea of simultaneously holding the general and state elections. While the idea has been mooted several times previously by opposition parties, Prime Minister Modi has supported it.

In 2020, on Constitution Day, the PM had suggested a single voters list for Lok Sabha, Assembly and panchayat polls, saying separate lists are a waste of resources. He had added that national interest should be the basis for every decision and that legislature, executive and judiciary should work with better coordination.

The One Nation, One Election bill has also been supported by Home Minister Amit Shah. In an ANI interview in February, he had said that the time has come to consider the proposal for One Nation, One Election. He claimed that people have raised concerns that separate elections are not healthy for a democratic country.

Others believe that the session could see the introduction of legislation for Uniform Civil Code. For the unaware, Uniform Civil Code is aimed at replacing personal laws based on religions, customs, and traditions with one common law for everyone irrespective of religion, caste, creed, sexual orientation and gender. The BJP has been pushing for this legislation for long and was also a part of their 2019 election manifesto.

However, a National Democratic Alliance leader speaking to LiveMint ruled out the possibility of a Uniform Civil Code bill being introduced. There is no plan whatsoever to bring a UCC bill now, he said.

There are reports that the Womens Reservation Bill, which proposes 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, could also be introduced in Parliament. This bill had been passed in March 2010 in the Rajya Sabha but failed the Lower House hurdle.

Opposition questions session

The Centres call for a special session of Parliament, undoubtedly, sparked reactions from politicians across the board. Congress Rahul Gandhi, who is in Mumbai attending the third INDIA bloc meeting, said it indicated the Modi sarkars panic.

Addressing a press conference, the recently reinstated MP said matters like that of allegations against Adani Group are very close to PM Modi, making him uncomfortable and very nervous. I think maybe it is an indicator of a little panic. The same type of panic that happened when I spoke in Parliament House, the panic that suddenly made them revoke my Parliament membership. So, I think it is panic because these matters are very close to the prime minister. Whenever you touch the Adani matter, the PM gets very uncomfortable and very nervous, Rahul Gandhi said.

His party, the Congress, also questioned the timing of the session with spokesperson Jairam Ramesh saying it was an effort to shift attention from the Adani scandal.

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi told Indian Express: It is typical over-dramatics. You dont share the agenda when a Parliament session is announced, keep people guessing; set the agenda through leaks; minimise notice period and opportunity; and never discuss nitty gritties where both god and devil residethese are the hallmark characteristics of the BJP-NDA Modi government.

However, the Centres decision has rattled the Opposition bloc, who believes that the government is up to something. The Opposition bloc decided to announce several committees Friday itself, the main one being the coordination committee.

Shiv Sena-UBTs Priyanka Chaturvedi also expressed surprise at the timing of the session. She wrote on X that it was unfortunate that the session was called during Indias most important festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. She added that the call for the special sitting goes against the Hindu sentiments.

This special session called during Indias most important festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is unfortunate and goes against the Hindu sentiments. Surprised at their choice of dates! pic.twitter.com/MkSe4q2ZSf  Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) August 31, 2023

All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, on the other hand, had three demands from the Centre pertaining to the special session. He said he hoped that a discussion on the border issue with China would be held and also called for the implementation of the recommendations of Justice Rohini Commission.

News agency ANI quoted the Hyderabad MP as saying, We had been demanding a special session from the beginning because China has encroached upon 2,000 square km of Indias land. China is not giving up Depsang and Demchok... When they call a special session, we hope the PM will allow a discussion on China. Secondly, Rohini Commission has given its report. So, we demand that the Modi government bring a bill in the special session so that the 50 per cent reservation limit can be breached.

We also demand that ISRO scientists and Neeraj Chopra be invited to the Parliament and honoured.

Its left to be seen what happens next, but the last time Parliament met outside its usual sessions was on 30 June 2017 at midnight to rollout GST. However, that was a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and not a proper session.

With inputs from agencies
Every effort is being made to prepare Delhi for the G20 Summit, which will take place on 9 and 10 September. World Leaders are expected to arrive soon, and luxury hotels are working hard to showcase Indias hospitality.

The cuisine is being given special attention, with over 120 chefs working at the Taj Hotel alone. A menu of nearly 500 items is being arranged, including several fusion cuisines. The Taj has also added millet-based meals to its menu in honour of the International Year of Millets in 2023.

Millets magic awaits G20 delegates

The Taj Hotel is in full gear with preparations. The premier hotel has created a unique cuisine that uses millet in a variety of dishes.

We are presenting both Indian and foreign components in food to the foreign delegation. As PM Modi told us to keep a focus on millets, we are including millets as an ingredient in many cuisines, says Chef Surendra Negi.

We have kept both Indian as well as Western desserts as well, Negi added.

Also Read: G20 summit: Which world leaders are attending Delhi meet? Who is giving it a miss?

Meanwhile, another chef at the hotel told ANI, An arrangement for Thaalis has also been made for the guests who promote Indian cuisine and food

Some items in the menu are also kept keeping in mind the international year of millets, he said, adding We even have desserts made of millets like ragi laddoos and barley kheer.

To celebrate the culture and aesthetic ability of local artisans, the Taj Hotel will greet all worldwide leaders with an Ikta stole and Aarti. For all G20 guests, a Maharaja Giant Dining table will be set up, where they will be served an Indian Thali, Continental, and Sweet Dish.

As per a News 18 report, the Taj Hotels buffet will include Gud aur amarnath ke ladoo, Mango Truffle, Kaju Pista Roll, Ragi Badam Pinni, Ragi Paniyaram, Kakum Mathri, Nigella Cannoli, Bajri ki Kheer, Lamb Chops, Goat Cheese Ravioli, Bhapa Doi, Kaju Matar Makhana, Avacado Salad.

Special millets thali, daal baati, litthi chokha and more

The year 2023 is designated as Millets Year in India. Hence, a special Millets Thali has been created for all of the leaders and foreign delegates, including US president Joe Biden.

The millets thali will be made without the use of wheat and rice. Five types of millet will be used to make lentils. The thali also includes sweets made from millet. Ragi (Nachni) Barfi is being prepared from it, which looks just as soft as Mawa ki Barfi, Gagandeep, chief chef of Rosette Fight Star Hotel told NDTV.

Also Read: G20 Summit 2023: How NSG commandos will keep Delhi safe

Chef Arun Sundararaj, director of culinary operations, Taj Mahal, New Delhi, said, The value of millets was known by us [Indians] long ago, now we want to introduce the same to the delegates. Its full of nutrition and can be used in diverse ways. Well use many varieties like Jowar, Ragi, Foxtail and Sorghum. Well add some panache to Bajra, too. It will have a Rajasthani touch with garlic flavours, and well sprinkle some saag (leafy greens) on top, to bring two different flavours together.

Well have Ragi dosa, which will have a texture like that of rawa dosa, but with a different flavour  to add a millet-ness to the dish. Well experiment with international cuisine too: instead of using buckwheat flour for pancakes, well use ragi to add a unique texture, Indian Express quoted him saying.

According to a JW Marriott spokesperson, its restaurants will feature a millet bar with salads, dates, nuts and fruits. The hotel will also provide foods with a local flavour, such as Old Delhis curries and chaats, as well as cuisines that highlight the diversity of Indian and world cuisines, reports Indian Express.

Aside from the Millets Thali, foreign guests will be served delicacies from several states. The menu includes Bihars Litti-Chokha, Rajasthans Dal Baati Churma, Punjabi Tadka, South Indias Masala Dosa, Uttapam and Idli, Bengali Rasgulla, Jalebi, and many other distinctive dishes and sweets.

Among the desi street food, foreign guests will also get to taste Gol Gappa, Dahi Bhalla, Samosas and spicy chaat.

All ready to welcome world leaders

The 18th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in New 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.

Also Read: Government holiday, route rehearsals, revamping roads: How Delhi is preparing for the G20 summit

Muktesh Pardeshi, who is the Special Secretary and the head of operations and logistics of Indias G20 secretariat, in an exclusive interview with ANI said that New Delhi is geared up with its preparations for the summit.

Speaking to ANI, Muktesh Pardeshi said, We are days away from the event, an event we have been preparing from Day 1. We took over the presidency of G20 on 1 December last year, and since then we have been preparing for this mega event, the Leaders SummitG20 comprises 19 countries and the European Union. Plus, we have given special invitations to nine more countries and some international organisations. There will be approximately 40 plus delegations that will arrive at the leaders level.

So, we will have presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers and top officials of different delegations, representing different countries. We are gearing up, we are giving final shape to the programme, he added.

The special secretary said that New Delhi has a twin agenda to showcase Indian culture, crafts and cuisine. He added that an experience panel has been created for delegates to experience how UPI payments are made, how the CoWin app was developed and how one billion people were connected with Aadhar.

He also informed that the catering at the Convention Centre is being done by the ITC and there is a lot of focus on cuisine, menu planning as well and service aspects.

Have a look: G20 Summit in Delhi: Where will world leaders stay during their visit?

The catering at the Convention Centre is done by the ITC which is a leading hotel chain. They have created a large team comprising of shapes and other associates to not only have the menu ready but also the service experience impeccable. So theres a lot of focus on both the cuisine, the menu planning as well as the service aspect. And we have selected one of the best hotel chains for the purpose you want them to explore the street food of India, he said.

Muktesh Pardeshi said that the G20 Summit will have three sessions and all these sessions will be held around the theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. He said that India will hand over the G20 Presidency to Brazil in the concluding session on 10 December.

With inputs from ANI
In the United States, a man who was diagnosed with polio at the age of six spent more than seven decades inside a 600-pound iron lung.

Due to the illness, Paul Alexander has been paralysed from the neck down and has been unable to breathe on his own since 1952.

Polio Paul has refused to switch to a more advanced machine, according to the New York Post.

Alexander, who has lived his whole life within and outside of the iron lung, has created his own breathing technique, which he refers to as frog breathing, which has allowed him to live some of his life outside of the metal device.

The 77-year-old was recognised as the oldest iron lung patient in history by Guinness World Records in March.

Also read: Amid medicine shortage, polio outbreak feared in Pakistan as thousands refuse vaccination

Numerous challenges

Alexander, who was born in 1946, lived through the biggest polio outbreak in US history, which resulted in nearly 58,000 cases, the majority of whom were children. In 1955, a polio vaccine was authorised and widely injected into young people all over America. The polio virus was eradicated from the country in 1979, but it was too late for Paul.

His condition was so bad that he needed an emergency tracheotomy and had to breathe through a machine. According to Medscape, the iron lung is an airtight capsule covering everything but the head as it sucks oxygen through negative pressure, forcing the lungs to expand to allow the patient to breathe. Patients must lie down in the ventilator, which resembles a daunting metal coffin, with the device firmly strapped around their necks.

Since then, his survival has depended entirely on the neck-to-toe machine. He is currently one of the few persons in the world who still utilises an iron lung. He told The Guardian that he had grown accustomed to his old iron horse by the time newer machines had been created. He is reportedly unwilling to have a new throat hole, which would have been necessary for the newest equipment.

However, he has learnt how to breathe on his own with the help of frog breathing.

Alexander was in the hospital when physicians tried to get him to breathe on his own by forcing him out and turning off the machine, but it didnt take long for him to turn blue and pass out. But as The Guardian previously reported, Alexander was able to force some air into his lungs by exhausting himself with what he called frog breathing. Also known as glossopharyngeal breathing, it is the process of gulping down air and swallowing it.

According to Dailymail, Sullivan, Alexanders physical therapist, assisted him in creating the breathing technique. She encouraged him by promising him a puppy if he could go three minutes without the ventilator. Paul finally acquired his puppy, who he named Ginger, after waiting a full year to do so. Once he was able to breathe on his own for extended periods of time, he was able to leave the iron lung and make his way first to the porch and then the yard.

Alexander has outlived both of his parents, his brother, and even his initial iron lung. That iron lung started to leak air in 2015, but Brady Richards was able to fix it thanks to a YouTube video of Alexander screaming for assistance.

Despite being categorised as highly vulnerable to the virus, Alexander has managed to withstand a fresh, lethal outbreak, living through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also read: Afghanistan: First polio case of 2023 reported in Nangarhar

He is a trial lawyer!

He was the first graduate of a Dallas high school at age 21 who had never actually been to a class. After having a lot of issues with university management, he was finally accepted into Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and he later enrolled at the University of Texas at Austins law school.

In order to help with physical tasks and hygiene, Alexander moved into a dorm and hired a caretaker. When I transferred to the University of Texas, they were horrified to think that I was going to bring my iron lung down, but I did, and I put it in the dorm and I lived in the dorm with my iron lung, Alexander recalled.

He worked towards his goal of becoming a trial lawyer, representing clients in court while dressed in a three-piece suit and a specially designed wheelchair that held his crippled body straight.

Along with staging a sit-in in support of disability rights, he also wrote and published his own autobiography, Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung. The 155-page memoir took five years to write; Alexander wrote each page while holding a pen on a stick in his mouth.

Alexander claimed that despite his circumstances, he never gave up on himself in an interview with filmmaker Mitch Summers in 2020.

According to Dailymail, he said, No matter where youre from or what your past is, or the challenges you could be facing. You can truly do anything. You just have to set your mind to it, and work hard.

Alexander still worries that the devil of polio, which nearly took his life, may come back, though. I can see hospitals inundated by polio victims again, an epidemic, I can see it so easily. I tell the doctors, its going to happen. They dont believe me, he told The Guardian.

Also read: Can children have dementia? Whats the Type 2 Battens disease diagnosed in US children?

About iron lung

During a severe case of polio, a non-invasive negative-pressure ventilator called an iron lung is used to artificially support breathing, explained Dailymail.

They were originally used in the 1920s and function by applying pressure to the lungs, which causes them to dilate and contract to allow patients to breathe.

Most of the time, it would only be needed for one to two weeks, until the patient could breathe on their own, but some polio survivors who have lifelong respiratory paralysis depend on them every day.

Positive-pressure ventilators, like todays respirators, have almost completely replaced them.

Also read: Explained: The alarming rise of fatty liver disease among Indians

Polio in the world

Polio is an infectious viral disease that can induce muscular weakness and paralysis, disrupt the central nervous system, and have an impact on respiratory function. It is spread by contaminated food and drink as well as direct contact with an infected individual.

The mid-20th century pandemic, sometimes known as poliomyelitis, killed thousands of people annually while sickening tens of thousands more.

By 2000, the World Health Organization had proclaimed that polio had been eradicated throughout the Americas and the western Pacific region. India, which in the 1990s saw 200,000 cases of the virus annually, was deemed polio-free in 2014.

There are currently dozens of cases of the virus, which only affects Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

With inputs from agencies
Tiger mosquitoes are causing havoc in France. Despite being only about three mm long, this invasive species has managed to spread across most of mainland France in just 20 years. With global warming creating ideal conditions for its expansion, this small pest risks transmitting diseases like zika, dengue, and chikungunya now more than ever.

On Thursday, health officials in Paris fumigated portions of the French capital for the first time to kill disease-carrying tiger mosquitoes.

Roads were closed and people asked to stay in their homes in southeast Paris during the early hours of Thursday as pest control contractors sprayed insecticide in trees, green spaces and other mosquito-breeding areas.

Such scenes are a regular occurrence in tropical cities and becoming increasingly common in Europe as the tiger mosquito, which can carry the dengue, chikungunya and zika viruses, spreads from its native southeast Asia.

It was a first in Paris, but its not the first in France, deputy Paris mayor Anne Souyris, who is in charge of health policy, told BFM television. The south of France has been affected by tiger mosquitoes for some years.

The regional health body for the capital, ARS Ile-de-France, said the area targeted for fumigation was 150 metres (500 feet) around the home of a person in the 13th district of the capital who had contracted dengue fever while travelling.

These operations are being carried out to reduce the risk of transmission of dengue after a case was detected, it said.

A second fumigation operation has been planned overnight Thursday-Friday in the Colombes suburb northeast of central Paris, after a second person fell sick with dengue fever after returning from a foreign trip.

City authorities are trying to prevent a chain of transmission developing in the Paris region, which is home to an estimated 12 million people.

If a tiger mosquito stings a person who has imported a virus from abroad, it then becomes a carrier of the disease.

Rapid spread

The tiger mosquito, also known as Aedes albopictus, arrived in southern Europe in the first decade of this century and has been pushing rapidly north ever since, establishing itself in France, Germany and Switzerland.

Health experts say it has thrived on the continent in part because of climate change, with warmer weather shortening the incubation period for its eggs while winters are no longer cold enough to kill off the pests.

After first being spotted in France in 2004, it is now present in 71 of its 96 departments on the mainland, even in areas close to the northern Channel coast, according to health ministry data.

People are encouraged to report sightings, with a special website collecting evidence.

We are convinced that it is a risk that is going to get bigger, Marie-Claire Paty, head of a vector-borne disease monitoring unit at the public health body Sante Publique, told AFP in April.

Dengue and chikungunya have similar symptoms of fever, cramps and headaches and both can have serious complications, with chikungunya affecting the nervous system and dengue fever sometimes causing haemorrhaging.

Zika often causes no symptoms in infected people, but the virus can be dangerous for foetuses and cause severe brain problems and malformations in children.

Andrea Ammon, director of the EUs European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDPC), said in June that if the spread of the tiger mosquito continues we can expect to see more cases and possibly deaths from mosquito-borne diseases.

France had 65 locally acquired cases of dengue in 2022, according to the ECDPC.

With inputs from AFP
The Opposition INDIA bloc concluded its third meeting in Mumbai today (1 September), taking another step forward in its fight against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. More than 60 leaders of 28 non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties descended upon Mumbais Grand Hyatt Hotel for the two-day huddle.

The grouping had held its first meeting in Bihars Patna in June. The second conclave in Karnatakas Bengaluru in July resulted in the bloc announcing its name  INDIA, an acronym for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

As the Opposition parties met for the third time, what new plans were discussed? What remains to be done? What did the INDIA bloc leaders say and how has the BJP reacted? Lets take a closer look.

Coordination panel, Lok Sabha polls and more

The INDIA grouping has formed a 14-member coordination committee that will chalk out issues such as seat-sharing and a possible Common Minimum Programme.

This committee will include Congress KC Venugopal; Sharad Pawar from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP); Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) president MK Stalin; Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT); Rashtriya Janata Dals (RJD) Tejaswi Yadav; Trinamool Congresss Abhishek Banerjee; Raghav Chadhha from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP); Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Javed Ali Khan; Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) leader Lallan Singh; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren (JMM); D Raja from CPI; Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) leader Omar Abdullah; and Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti, reported Indian Express. CPI-M will provide a name later.

INDIA alliances Coordination Committee and Election Strategy Committee: 1. KC Venugopal, INC

2. Sharad Pawar, NCP

3. TR Baalu, DMK

4. Hemant Soren, JMM

5. Sanjay Raut, SS

6. Tejasvi Yadav, RJD

7. Abhishek Banerjee, TMC

8. Raghav Chaddha, AAP

9. Javed Ali Khan, SP

10. Lallan  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2023

There will also be four sub-panels that will work on issues, including a joint programme of the alliance, an action plan and handling of social media, joint campaigns and rallies, and research and data analysis to take on the NDA, news agency PTI reported earlier.

The alliance also adopted a resolution to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible. The parties said that they resolve to organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance.

We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to coordinate our respective communications and media strategies and campaigns with the theme Judega Bharat, Jiteega India in different languages, the resolution read.

The grouping has decided that seat-sharing arrangements should be initiated immediately and concluded in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take, NDTV reported.

As per The Hindu sources, seat-sharing arrangements are expected to be finalised by 30 September.

During the informal dinner meeting on Thursday, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee told the leaders that the manifesto of INDIA parties should be out by 2 October, reported Hindustan Times (HT).

The alliance also discussed action on the ground on Mahatma Gandhis birth anniversary in Delhi, sources told NDTV.

Hailing ISRO

The INDIA grouping also lauded the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for its successful Moon Mission  Chandrayaan-3.

We, the INDIA parties congratulate the entire ISRO family  present and past  for its outstanding achievements which have made our country proud. It has taken six decades to build, expand and deepen ISROs capacities and capabilities. Chandrayaan-3 has thrilled the world, which is looking eagerly to the launch of Aditya-L1 tomorrow (2 September). We hope that the extraordinary accomplishments of ISRO strengthen the spirit of scientific temper in our society and give our youth the inspiration to excel in fields of scientific endeavour, Indian Express quoted the resolution as saying.

No logo, differences over caste census

The Opposition group did not launch its logo today. Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut had earlier confirmed this, saying, Logo is a very important part of the alliance. It is going to be discussed in our meeting but will not be unveiled today, HT reported.

According to NDTV, the West Bengal chief minister objected to the political resolution of the bloc for including a caste-based census. However, JD(U), RJD and the SP backed the mention of caste-based census in the resolution.

INDIA bloc slams Centre

Taking a dig at the BJP, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the INDIA alliance is making the Central government nervous. We should be prepared for more attacks in the coming months, more raids and arrests due to this governments vendetta politics, he told the Opposition leaders, as per Indian Express.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, as per PTI, said, Two very big steps were taken (today). The first step is to set up a coordination committee and also speed up seat-sharing talks. These are two powerful steps to defeat the BJP.

VIDEO | Two important decisions were made in the session. First, a coordination committee will be constituted, and second, a seat-sharing formula will be discussed soon and a resolution will be brought on this, says Congress MP @RahulGandhi on INDIA alliance meeting in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/mk2wl5YxKT  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2023

The most important thing to understand is that this stage represents 60 per cent of Indias population. If the parties on this stage unite, it is impossible for BJP to win the election, he added.

As per Indian Express, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav told the reporters: We were not together and Modi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) was going ahead. Since we were not together, the country suffered. From the beginning, I have been fighting a battle against the BJP. It is Bharat Jalao Party, and it is turning out to be true. These people came to power after spreading lies about us.

The RJD patriarch added, Seat sharing will not be a problem. Even if we have to take a backseat, we will do so.

Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar said the INDIA alliance will begin its campaign in a systematic manner now. He reiterated his claim that the 2024 general elections can be preponed. Therefore we have to be alert. We have spoken about this (in the meeting), he was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

His remarks come in the wake of the Central government forming a committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind to examine the possibility of One Nation, One Election.

Delhi chief minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal called the INDIA alliance not of 28 political parties but of 140 crore Indians who have joined in to create a 21st century India.

BJP responds

The BJP hit back at the INDIA bloc, saying the Mumbai meetings only takeaway is that the Opposition leaders have formally and politically accepted their give-and-take principle.

VIDEO | In the third meeting of the so-called alliance, there was no vision for development of India, no roadmap for the upliftment of poor, no strategy to address concerns of the farmers or women, says BJP leader @rsprasad on INDIA alliance meeting held earlier today in pic.twitter.com/VmASWDmOjf  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2023

Senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media that there was no strategy to address the concerns of farmers, women and children and no vision for the countrys development in the third meeting of the so-called opposition alliance.

With inputs from agencies
First came the case of Sagarika Chakraborty vs Norway. Then came the case of baby Ariha in Germany and now comes the matter of Priyadarshini Patil and Australia. All three matters highlight child custody cases in foreign countries involving Indian or Indian-origin parents and their struggles.

The latest case is of 40-year-old Indian-origin woman, Priyadarshini Patil, who died by suicide, after learning that an online hearing for the custody battle of her two children in Australia was deferred to November.

We take a closer look at this tale of tragedy and also dig deeper into how Indians or Indian-origin parents struggle with child welfare services of other countries.

Patils custody battle and demise

Forty-year-old IT employee Priyadarshini Patil was married to Lingaraja Patil, a techie based in Sydney, and the couple had two children  son Amartya (17) and daughter Aparajita (13).

The teenage children were removed from their parents custody in 2021 after Amartya was admitted to a hospital in New South Wales, with media reports saying that he suffered from ulcerative colitis  an inflammatory bowel disease causing inflammation and ulcers in the digestive tract.

Six months into treatment when the Patils felt there was no improvement in Amartyas condition, they sought a medical transfer. However, the request was refused and a child protection case was triggered. The doctors at the hospital filed a complaint to child welfare against Patil allegedly accusing her for improper care given to the children at home causing the illness.

Reacting to the hospitals complaint, officials from Australias child welfare services met with the parents and inspected their house, and according to an NDTV report, submitted six positive reports. However, in the seventh they made a U-turn and took the two children into custody.

During her custody hearings, Priyadarshini Patil asked the Australian government to withdraw the citizenship of her children so that she could take them back to India, but received no response from them.

Feeling helpless and depressed about the situation, Priyadarshini left Australia on 18 August and said that she was returning to India to her parents  retired professor SS Desi and Shibha  who reside in Karnatakas Dharwad. However, she never made it home. Instead of heading to her hometown, Patil made her way to Belagavi and killed herself by jumping into the Naviluthirtha reservoir in Savadatti.

Before dying, she sent off her bags to her parents address. And on investigating, they found a note in which she outlined her grief and struggles over the custody battle.

Her note read: Our lives are threatened. I am compelled to end my life for the survival of my children and husband Lingaraj. I am accepting my death for the good of my family. From 2021 to the present day DCJ (Australias Department of Communities and Justice) has ruined my family. The residents of Verlie Street in Sydney have harassed us.

Patils letter also mentioned that the family of a police officer had been troubling her and they had poisoned the water supply to her house. Anand Goru, Ajitha Goru, Srinidhi Goru, Jabbur and family, Daniel and family, Raymond and his children, Tanya and the whole family, police officer and family are all responsible for my death.

SS Desai, the victims father, has filed a complaint with the Dharwad police, alleging that his daughter died by suicide because she was distraught about her son. He would fight against the injustice done to his daughter through the Indian government, he was quoted as telling The Federal.

Priyadarshinis husband and father have now called for the Ministry of External Affairs to intervene in the matter. As Priyadarshini (now deceased) and I had earlier asked, I requested the officials to carry out the assessment for both myself and the maternal grandparents in India simultaneously so that there is no further delay in resolving the issue of custody, Lingaraja told The Hindu, adding that it was the delay in the case that had driven Patil to take her own life during a visit to her parents in Dharwad.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is yet to comment on the case.

Meanwhile, the Australian government has taken note of the matter and expressed their condolences and reviewing the case. We are greatly saddened by the death of an Australian woman in India. We offer our deepest condolences to the family during this difficult time, said the Australian High Commission spokesperson in Delhi, adding that the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has provided consular assistance to the womans Australian family.

Reminiscent of other cases

The Patils struggle in Australia is very similar to what Ariha Shahs parents are going through in Germany against the Jugendamt and the battle that Sagarika Chakraborty waged against the Norwegian government to win custody of her two children, that spawned the Rani Mukerjee-starrer Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway.

Child rights lawyer Suranya Aiyar is of the opinion that the cases are part of a pattern where Indians and Indian-origin newcomers to rich G20 countries are persecuted by their child services, due to cultural differences.

Speaking to NDTV, she added, What we are seeing, again and again in these cases, is that the system is not able to respond to the plight of families, and particularly children, who are either Indian citizens or are new arrivals in a foreign country. And once they are taken away from the parents or, as in this case, once the parental rights have been severely constrained, there have nowhere to go and the children are, essentially, held hostage by foreign child services authorities.

It is indeed tragic that Indian parents are struggling with officials of child protection services in foreign countries. The most recent example is that of Bhavesh Shah and his wife Dhara battling a case against Germanys childcare services, Jugendamt, for the custody of their child, Ariha.

In 2021, they had taken a seven-month-old toddler, Ariha, to hospital with a perineal injury  an injury in the genital region. Despite them explaining that the baby had suffered the injury accidentally, the German authorities suspected it to be a case of sexual assault and took her away from her parents on 23 September.

The matter has caught the attention of the MEA as well as others and has been widely reported in and outside of India. The MEA also summoned German Ambassador Philipp Ackermann and called for early repatriation of the Indian baby girl earlier in August.

This came after Opposition women lawmakers, including Congresss Rajani Patil, NCP leaders Supriya Sule and Vandana Chavan, Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan and Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi had met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar over the case.

The other infamous case is that of Sagarika Chakraborty and the Norwegian authorities. In 2011, the Norwegian Child Welfare Services, known as the Barnevernet, had taken away Sagarikas two children  Aishwarya and Abhigyaan  on allegations of improper parenting. Allegations against the Chakraborty included sleeping on the same bed as their children, hand feeding (which was seen by Norwegian authorities as force-feeding) and also corporal punishment (Sagarika had allegedly slapped the children once). While these things might seem normal in the Indian context, for the Norwegian authorities, it was anything but that.

It was only after then External Affairs Minister SM Krishnas meeting with his Oslo counterpart that the children were moved into the custody of a paternal uncle back in India, 27-year-old dentist Arunabhas Bhattacharya. It was only in 2013 did Sagarika finally was granted custody of her children. She later penned a book titled Journey of a Mother, which was made into a movie titled Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway in March this year.

A collection of Suicide prevention helpline numbers are available here. Please reach out if you or anyone you know is in need of support. The All-India helpline number is: 022-27546669

With inputs from agencies
Chinas hunger for land seems to be almost unending.

The East Asian country recently released its official standard map, which shows other countries territories as its own.

The new map places Taiwan, Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin, Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island in the Amur River, and the disputed South China Sea inside Chinese territory.

According to the China Daily newspaper, the map was released by Chinas ministry of natural resources on Monday in Deqing County, Zhejiang province, during the celebrations of Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day and the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week.

Neighbouring countries have strongly criticised the map.

The 2023 edition of Chinas standard map was officially released on Monday and launched on the website of the standard map service hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources. This map is compiled based on the drawing method of national boundaries of China and various countries pic.twitter.com/bmtriz2Yqe  Global Times (@globaltimesnews) August 28, 2023

Also read: Why does China keep claiming Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin?

India rejects Beijings new version of map

Borders have been a source of friction between New Delhi and Beijing for decades. Thus, when the new map was released, India, naturally, was the first to dismiss the map and register a protest.

It protested the inclusion of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai-Chin plateau in Chinese territory.

Our response to media queries on the so called 2023 standard map of China:https://t.co/OZUwNRNrit pic.twitter.com/sAmy20DEa6  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) August 29, 2023

We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the China side on the so-called 2023 standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, said in a statement. We reject these claims as they have no basis.

Even the Minister of External Affairs (MEA), Dr S Jaishankar, rejected Chinas so-called standard map and asserted that simply making absurd claims does not give you ownership of someone elses territory.

China has even in the past put out maps which claimed territories which are not Chinas, which belong to other countries. This is an old habit of theirs, Jaishankar said while speaking to NDTV.

Also read: China digging tunnels, building bunkers in Aksai Chin: Should India be worried?

More rejection

The second one to speak up was the foreign minister of Nepal. Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines have since followed.

According to BBC, a Nepalese lawmaker cancelled a trip to China because, according to him, the new map did not account for the countrys updated map.

As per a statement on the government news website of the country, Vietnam claims that the official map of China published this week violates both its jurisdiction over its oceans and sovereignty over the Spratly and Paracel Islands.

The statement cited Pham Thu Hang, the spokesperson for Vietnams foreign affairs ministry, that Chinas sovereignty and marine claims based on the nine-dotted line on the map are invalid. According to the dotted line, Hang noted, Vietnam resolutely opposes all Chinas claims in the South China Sea.

The Philippines said on Thursday it rejected the map because of its inclusion of a dashed line around disputed areas of the South China Sea that was subject to an international tribunal ruling in 2016 that found in favour of Manila, according to CNN.

The map is the latest attempt to legitimise Chinas purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones (and) has no basis under international law, the Philippines foreign affairs spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza said in a statement.

In sternly worded remarks, the governments of Malaysia and Taiwan have also accused Beijing of claiming their territory.

Malaysias ministry of foreign affairs also rejected Chinas unilateral claims, adding that the country is consistent in its position of rejecting any foreign partys claims to sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction on Malaysias maritime features.

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) never ruled Taiwan, according to a statement released by Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday in response to Chinas new standard map.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu told Taiwan News that Taiwan, the Republic of China, is a sovereign and independent country that is not subordinate to the Peoples Republic of China. The Peoples Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan. These are universally recognised facts and the status quo in the international community.

Attacking a friend?

Looks like Chinas plan is not just upsetting India diplomatically as concerns have been raised the Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island, which Beijing has shared with its ally Russia since 2008 and is located in the Amur River, is shown on the map as a Chinese territory.

It is uncertain how Kremlin will respond to the latest development.

According to Daily O, the Vladimir Putin-led country may have chosen the road of silence as a result of Western sanctions that have rendered Russia more dependent on China for business due to its economic isolation.

Also read: Explained: Why its time for the United States to develop a BRICS policy

Chinas reaction

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin dismissed the controversy when asked about Indias protest, saying that the publishing of such maps was routine and part of Chinas exercise of sovereignty.

During a regular press briefing on Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, Chinas position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear. The competent authorities of China routinely publish standard maps of various types every year, which aims to make standard maps available to all sectors of society and raise public awareness of the standardised use of maps.

We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm, and refrain from over-interpreting the issue, he added, according to Reuters.

China argues that it controls more than 80 per cent of the South China Sea. To support its claim, China cites a 1947 map that depicts a series of hazy dashes, known as the nine-dash line, looping down to a point 1,100 miles (1,800 km) south of Hainan Island, as per CNN. In disputes with China about the location of the borders, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan all claim portions of the same maritime region.

Also read: Is China behind PM Modis decision to travel to South Africa for BRICS summit?

India-China tensions

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pushed an aggressive foreign policy and taken more forceful action in several significant flashpoints across Asia since he came to power in 2012. He has attempted to turn China into a global superpower.

A rare face-to-face meeting between Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in South Africa, where they pledged to intensify efforts to defuse tensions along the disputed border, was considered a positive start towards repairing their tense relationship. But days later, the map dispute broke out.

The map also comes after the 19th round of negotiations between the two neighbouring countries to settle their border dispute and ahead of a prospective meeting between PM Modi and Xi at the G20 summit in New Delhi next week, if Xi participates.

While it may look like there has been progress, analysts believe that might not be the case.

India and China do take every opportunity to hash out their differences, but it feels like one step forward, two steps back, CNN quoted Akhil Ramesh, a senior analyst from the Pacific Forum, a Honolulu-based foreign policy research institute focused on the Indo-Pacific. He added, In this climate, while both sides may publicly express their interest in easing tensions, I do not see this happening. Both countries are working toward their own goals of being leaders of the global south.

In the past, border disputes have resulted in war, which China won in 1962. The worlds most populous countries were divided in the years that followed by an imprecise de facto line known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Following a fatal brawl in the Galwan Valley, close to Aksai Chin, tensions between the two countries deteriorated substantially in 2020.

Since then, tensions have been building, and last December, when forces from both sides clashed in the Tawang region of Arunachal Pradesh, minor injuries were sustained, and tensions erupted.

With inputs from agencies
As India gears up for the Group of 20 (G20) Summit next week, heightened security arrangements are being made in New Delhi.

From the National Security Guard (NSG) to the Indian Air Force (IAF), the National Capital will be protected from all sides.

The G20 Leaders Summit, which will take place on September 9 and 10 in the National Capitals Pragati Maidan, is expected to draw more than 40 heads of state and leaders of global organisations.

Also read: G20 Summit: From millets to litthi chokha, the food being served to world leaders

Air shield for G20

IAF would send its best personnel and equipment for the summit in order to make the skies over the National Capital impregnable.

Delhis skies will be patrolled by the nations primary fighter aircraft, including Rafales, Mirage-2000s, and Sukhoi-30MKIs. A senior official told India Today that the Air Force will use cutting-edge air defence missile systems including the Medium Range Surface to Air Missile System (MRSAM) and the Akash air defence missile system.

Air bases such as Ambala, Bareilly, Sirsa, Bhatinda, and Gwalior which are close to the national capital would retain operational readiness platforms. The indigenous NETRA surveillance aircraft and AWACS surveillance planes will also be used by the Indian Air Force for improved monitoring.

Counter-drone equipment has been installed all over the national capital to stop any unwanted drone activity. Additionally, civil organisations are working together to minimise the possibility of infractions by ensuring strict adherence to the rules governing airspace security.

These advanced technologies are designed to eliminate threats posed by hostile drones, cruise missiles, helicopters, and aircraft within a phenomenal range of 70 kilometres.

According to the Times of India, the Operations Direction Centre (ODC) of the Indian Air Force would work closely with the Joint Control and Analysis Centre (JCAC) and other organisations to centralise the composite air picture, enabling the identification of a wide range of threats. These dangers range from slow-moving drones to swift aeroplanes, among other small and large things. The ODC will be the agency that makes the decision about the sort of response and defensive countermeasures if a threat is confirmed.

It should be noted here that even though similar preparations are conducted each year for occasions like Republic Day and Independence Day, this years operation is more larger and intensive due to the G20 Summit, reported News Nine.

Hot air balloons and parachutes banned

According to CNBC-TV18, from 29 August to 12 September, the Delhi Police prohibited the flying of sub-conventional aerial platforms.

Paragliders, paramotors, hang gliders, UAVS, UASS, microlights, remotely piloted aircraft, hot air balloons, small-sized powered aircraft, quadcopters, and parachutes leaping from aircraft are examples of non-conventional aerial platforms.

It has been reported that certain criminal, anti-social elements or terrorists inimical to India may pose a threat to the safety of the general public, dignitaries and vital installations by the use of sub-conventional aerial platforms like para-gliders, para-motors, hang-gliders, UAVs, UASs, microlight aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft, hot air balloons, small sized powered aircraft, quadcopters or even by para-jumping from aircraft etc, the order read.

Also read: Will Chinas Xi Jinping skip G20 Summit in India over map controversy?

NSG at work

The security team entrusted with safeguarding the protection of these foreign dignitaries and averting any undesirable situations on the ground includes the National Security Guard (NSG), Indias top counter-terror force.

The entire spectrum of the expertise of NSG will be employed by the MHA [Ministry of Home Affairs] for security during the G20 summit, a senior security establishment officer told Indian Express, adding, The NSG, in coordination with Delhi Police and other security forces, will be deployed for anti-terror, anti-sabotage and anti-drone tasks, as well as to meet any CBRN contingencies.

The NSG House Intervention Teams (HITs) and sniper detachments will be ready for action to neutralise any terror contingency in such locations, an MHA official was quoted as saying by the outlet. The report also suggests that NSG bomb teams will have Remotely Operated Vehicles and Total Containment Vehicles to stop any explosive threats.

Livemint reported that a total of 69 bomb-detecting dogs from the police K9 unit will be strategically positioned at key sites throughout the New Delhi district during the G20 summit in Delhi to prevent any hostage situations. The team consists of 13 trained canines that were acquired from the RVC (Remount and Veterinary Corps) section of the Indian Army.

In the meanwhile, CBRN  chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear  threat management teams from the NDRF will be stationed with the necessary tools, reported News18. There will be a large group of spotters deployed, and they will be on the lookout for any suspects on the precise list given. If a suspect is seen at pre-determined places where VVIPs are staying or gathering, these spotters will notify the relevant agencies or forces.

Also read: G20 Summit: Are monkeys the big scare for leaders coming to Delhi?

About G20

The G20 Summit will take place next weekend in New Delhi at the ITPO Convention Centre, Pragati Maidan, under the name Bharat Mandappam.

Global leaders will also travel to important locations in the city, including Rajghat, IARI Pusa, and NGMA (Jaipur House), in addition to the main summit site.

With just over a week till the Summit, Delhi is rushing its beautification efforts, with work on cleaning, sanitisation, a green makeover, and other projects all in full force.

With inputs from agencies
Johannesburg is a dangerous place to live. Many structures have been deemed unfit for human habitation. They are run-down, lack running water, bathrooms, and a legal electricity connection, and are occupied by families who frequently pay rent to criminal groups who run them.

Fires are regular, but nothing on the magnitude of the one that erupted on Thursday.

More than 70 people were killed when a fire raged through a five-storey Johannesburg apartment block that may have been rented out illegally, known as a hijacked building.

What are Hijacked Buildings and when did the issue begin?

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, a housing crisis in South Africas largest city of Johannesburg, in Gauteng province, has grown worse, as big businesses moved out of the inner city into affluent suburbs.

Criminal syndicates in the 1990s and 2000s started hijacking buildings that were left empty and renting them out illegally. They quickly became dilapidated centres of drugs crime and other lawlessness.

In some instances, the syndicates occupied buildings with fraudulent title deeds, said Angela Rivers, general manager at Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association.

People living there were convinced of the criminals ownership and either paid rent or were pushed out, Rivers said.

How big is the housing issue?

At least 1.2 million people in the province are homeless, a provincial official said on Thursday. Rivers said she was aware of 57 known hijacked buildings in the Central Business District alone, mostly owned by the city or the provincial government.

Experts say such buildings are prone to hijacking as they are badly managed with little access to amenities such as running water and electricity.

The burnt building on Thursday was owned by Johannesburg city, Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda told reporters. The city had leased it to a charity but it had ended up serving a different purpose, he said without giving details.

Many dilapidated buildings in the inner city are occupied by people who earn less than 3,500 rand (Rs 15,713) a month and account for over half of those living in the area, said Edward Molopi, senior communications and advocacy officer for Socio-Economic Rights Institute.

They look for housing that is closer to work opportunities, and the municipal government has to respond to their housing needs, he said.

Many also lack proper documentation to stay in formal housing and working in informal jobs means they have no way of getting any kind of official ID papers.

What has been done to deal with the issue?

Lebogang Isaac Maile, the head of the Human Settlements department for Gauteng province, said 23 hijacked buildings had been identified in Johannesburg as in need of development. About 100 buildings had no apparent owners.

There are cartels who prey on who are vulnerable people. Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rental from the people, he told reporters.

He did not elaborate on how authorities intended to solve the issue.

With inputs from Reuters
Its turbulent times for Pakistan. Indias neighbouring country is facing all types of trouble; its politics is in doldrums and its economy is in the dumps. As the country tries to tackle its problems, the country is also facing mass protests in the region of Gilgit-Baltistan and calls from people to leave the nation in lieu of Kargil.

Whats going on there? Why are people threatening to leave for India? What does this mean for the crisis-ridden country? Heres what we know.

Protests in Gilgit-Baltistan region

On social media, mostly now-rebranded X, videos have been emerging of people in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan region carrying out mass protests and chanting slogans against the nation.

In one of the videos on social media (none of them have been verified), people in the region of Skardu collected in large numbers and protested against the Pakistani authorities and chanted slogans against the country. One of the leaders of the protest can be heard threatening that they would break down the doors and move to Kargil.

Protest in Skardu to merge Gilgit-Baltistan with India: Protests in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistans Skardu have turned violent. The local population has threatened the Govt of Pakistan to release their leaders immediately, or else they will start a civil war and merge GB pic.twitter.com/7zbIb69TvB  Frontalforce  (@FrontalForce) August 29, 2023

An earlier video, posted on 25 August, shows similar demonstrations in the Gilgit-Baltistan area with Wazir Hasnain, a social worker in the region, saying, We will not go to your Sindh, we will not go to your Punjab. We do not want to live in your country, open the way to Kargil, we will go to Kargil.

We will not go to your Sindh, we will not go to your Punjab,We do not want to live in your country

open the way to Kargil, we will go to Kargil,

Wazir Hasnain President Tehreek Pasdaran POK Gilgit-Baltistan,

Welcome to India  pic.twitter.com/udEpRUbaCA  Sherine Fatima (@fatima_sherine) August 25, 2023

In the videos posted one can also hear the locals chanting Chalo, chalo Kargil chalo.

Notably, there have been no media reports of these protests in Pakistani media.

The protests that have been raging for over a week in the area are owing to the filing of an FIR against Agha Baqir Al-Hussaini, a reputed Shia cleric of the region. Authorities filed a blasphemy case against him for the remarks he made at an ulema council meeting in Skardu. The meeting had been held to discuss Pakistans stricter blasphemy laws, which many believe is to target the Shia community.

On 30 August, it was reported that authorities would clamp down on protesters and ensure that movement on highways is smooth. A heavy contingent of GB Scouts, Rangers and police will be deployed in all major cities to maintain law and order, said officials to Dawn.

Pakistans blasphemy laws

Earlier in the year, Pakistan strengthened its blasphemy laws, extending them to punish anybody who offended people connected to Prophet Muhammad. Critics say the blasphemy law is often misused against Pakistans tiny minority groups and even against Muslims to settle personal scores.

Critics argue that blasphemy convictions are common in the nation and at least 85 people have been murdered since 1990 in relation to blasphemy allegations.

Religious hatred is deeply intoxicated in the social structures due to lack of education, and for students, it is injected through the curriculum. Masses who may not be aware of their basic rights guaranteed by the constitution are fully acquainted with the use of blasphemy laws to settle their personal vendetta, Ruth Stephen, a minority rights activist, told Deutsche Welle.

About Gilgit-Baltistan

Gilgit-Baltistan is a Shia-majority region, located in Pakistans northernmost territory. It provides the only to China, meeting the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. To Gilgit-Baltistans west is Afghanistan, to its south is Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and to the east, is Jammu and Kashmir.

India considers Gilgit-Baltistan as its own territory, a part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that acceded to India in full after Independence, and which has been under illegal Pakistani occupation.

In 2020, the government told Parliament that Indias consistent and principled position, as also enunciated in the Parliament resolution adopted unanimously by both Houses on 22 February 1994, is that the entire Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are and shall be an integral part of India.

It said that the Government monitors all developments taking place in the territories of India including in territories that are under illegal and forcible occupation of Pakistan.

Also read: Twitter relocates Gilgit-Baltistan users to India, sends digital shockwaves across Pakistan

Two years later, on the occasion of Shurya Diwas (27 October), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said in Srinagar that India had only just begun walking north, and the journey would end when we reach the remaining parts (of PoK), Gilgit and Baltistan.

The people of Gilgit-Baltistan are physically and culturally far removed from India, and have very little connect with India. Some have in the past demanded a merger with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, but they have no real connect with Kashmir either.

However, the blasphemy laws and violence against the Shia community is changing the perception of the people in the region. Recently, there have been calls for independence amongst its people.

With inputs from agencies
Ten men including the son of a local BJP leader were arrested on Friday for allegedly raping two sisters in Chhattisgarhs Raipur district, police said.

The incident took place on Thursday night near Bhansoj village when the sisters, accompanied by a man, were returning after celebrating Rakshabandhan festival, said Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prashant Agrawal.

The survivors, aged 19 years and 16 years, lodged a complaint at Mandir Hasaud police station around 1 am on Friday, following which the police swung into action and nabbed the accused, he said.

The survivors were returning to Raipur from Tumgaon village with a male friend on a motorcycle when three of the accused intercepted them near Bhansoj.

The trio allegedly robbed them of cash and mobile phones. The other seven accused reached the spot on four motorcycles in the meantime, as per the complaint.

The accused took the two sisters to an isolated place away from the main road and allegedly raped them. They also thrashed the man accompanying them, the SSP said.

Multiple police teams were constituted, and as per the description of the accused provided by the victims and other information, all ten accused were identified and arrested by morning, Agrawal said.

The accused were booked under sections 376 D (gang rape), 376 DA (gang rape on woman under sixteen years of age) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the official said, adding that further investigation was underway.

Of the arrested men, Poonam Thakur, who is a habitual offender, is the main accused in the case. Five cases were registered against him at Mandir Hasaud and Arang police stations in the past. He was arrested in 2019 and 2022 on the charges of murder and rape, respectively. He had got bail only last month, the SSP said.

According to police, Thakurs father Laxminarayan Singh Thakur is a local BJP functionary based in Mandir Hasaud.
Former president Ram Nath Kovind-led committee has been constituted by the Centre to explore the possibility of one nation, one election, according to government sources.

The move comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between 18 and 22 September, the agenda for which is yet not clear.

Some media reports suggested that panel will speak to state stakeholders.

Over the years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed strongly for the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls, and the decision to task Kovind to look into it underscores the governments seriousness as a host of elections approach.

Slamming the move, Congress leader Arif Naseem Khan said to rope in former President for a political purpose is unprecedented.

It is unprecedented for a former president to be brought in for political perspective for such a committee, said the leader.

Several other opposition leaders called it an yet another diversionary tactic of the BJP ahead of the polls.

VIDEO | It is unprecedented for a former President to be brought in for political perspective for such a committee, says Congress leader @naseemkhaninc on reports of Centre forming a committee under former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of one nation one pic.twitter.com/1sNazB8X8l  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2023

Assembly polls are due in five states in November-December and they will be followed by the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year.

However, the recent moves by the government have thrown open the possibility of advancing the general elections and some state polls, which are scheduled after and with the Lok Sabha contest.

With inputs from agencies
BEIJING -- China's railways are expected to handle about 831 million passenger trips during this year's summer travel season, which runs from the start of July to the end of August, data from the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. shows.

The country saw 821 million railway passenger trips from July 1 to Aug 30, with the average daily number of passenger trips at 13.45 million, according to the company.

The country's railway networks are expected to operate another 10.8 million passenger trips on Aug 31, the data shows.

China's railways have strengthened their safety management and improved their travel services to ensure safe and smooth travel.

Local railway operators have adjusted their transport capacities for popular tourist destinations in a precise and orderly manner to meet passenger demand. They have also optimized security check procedures, facilities and the environments at stations, as well as catering services aboard trains.
The trainee commandos of Delhi Police conducted the helicopter slithering exercise on Friday as the national capital gears up to host the G20 Summit scheduled on September 9 and 10.

The helicopter slithering exercise was conducted by the second batch of trainee commandos of Delhi Police at the Police Academy in Delhi for the mega event.

Ahead of the global event, the security has been tightened in the national capital. The Delhi Police initiated training on May 31, to train the first batch of recruited commandos, at the Delhi Police Academy in Jharoda Kalan, using an M-17 helicopter.

Delhi Police is prepared to stop not just any terrorist threat but also any likely protests. Vikrant, our logistics van carrying all equipment to deal with any law and order situation, will be deployed. We have equipped PCR vans and logistic vans with chain cutters to deal with protestors. We are fully prepared.

G20 Summit in Delhi

The G20 Summit in Delhi will be held at the newly inaugurated Bharat Mandapam International Exhibition-Convention Centre (IECC) at Pragati Maidan.

Prior to India assuming the presidency of the G20 in December last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that Indias theme would be grounded in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or One Earth  One Family  One Future.

To discuss global economic concerns, cooperation, and policy coordination, the G20 summit is expected to bring together heads of state, economists, and officials from diverse sectors.

Leaders who have confirmed their participation

A majority of G20 leaders, including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, have already confirmed their participation at the summit.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are also among the G20 leaders who have confirmed their participation at the summit.



With inputs from PTI
A total of 450 drivers of CRPFs VIP security wing have been trained to steer the special left-hand driven and bullet-proof vehicles that will be used to ferry foreign leaders, who will be participating in the G20 Leaders Summit in New Delhi next week, officials said.

A fleet of both bullet-resistant and non-bullet-resistant Audi, Mercedes, BMW and Hyundai Genesis cars have been hired or purchased by the Union government to ferry 41 top foreign guests.

These specially-trained drivers will take the premiers and leaders to their destinations in the national capital, like the main meeting venue of Bharat Mandapam and the five-star hotels where the world leaders will stay, they said.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the countrys largest paramilitary force with over 3.25 lakh personnel in its ranks deployed for a variety of internal security duties. Its special VIP security wing with a strength of over 6,000 personnel guards 149 high-risk people including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and the Gandhis  Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The force has deployed a total of 900 personnel, including these 450 drivers, for providing proximate security to the VIPs during the two days of the G20 Summit on September 9-10 and the one preceding day of September 8 when the heads of various nations will start arriving in the national capital.

This special G20 pool of the CRPF includes personnel who have earlier served in the Special Protection Group (SPG) that protects the prime minister and the counter-terrorist force National Security Guard (NSG).

The spouses of the dignitaries will be guarded by the specially-trained men and women commandos of another paramilitary force  Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

As more than 60 vehicles have been specially pooled in to carry the VVIPs are left-handed, the CRPF VIP security wing has undertaken special training to train drivers for these cars as India has right-hand drive protocol, the officials said.

The CRPF got some left-hand driven cars from Germany to train these personnel apart for about a month apart from skilling them to drive the bulky bullet resistant luxury cars.

The Border Security Force (BSF) has been tasked with providing the contingency carcade for the G20 Leaders Summit, they said.

Other central armed police forces like the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) apart from the black cat commandos of the NSG have been deployed for securing the routes and venues of the summit in coordination with Delhi Police, they said.
The Bombay High Court has declined to quash a First Information Report (FIR) against a man who entered into a second marriage while his first marriage was still in force.

In its ruling, the court stated that this action not only constitutes bigamy but also falls under the offense of rape.

Justices Nitin Sambre and Rajesh Patil, in their decision on August 24, rejected a petition filed by the man who had been charged by the Pune police under Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape) and 494 (bigamy).

According to the FIR, the man began visiting a woman, both of whom were academics, after her husband passed away in February 2006, ostensibly to provide moral support. He claimed to have divorced his first wife due to marital discord and subsequently led the woman to believe that he was a divorcee.

They got married in June 2014 and lived together until January 31, 2016, when he abandoned her and returned to his first wife.

Upon investigation, it became apparent that the man had misrepresented himself as divorced and had deceived the woman into marriage and a physical relationship based on false promises.

The mans legal representative argued that the woman was aware that divorce proceedings initiated against his first wife in 2010 had been swiftly withdrawn.

The judges observed that the man had admitted to entering into a second marriage while his first marriage was still valid, while simultaneously asserting that their relationship was consensual. Furthermore, engaging in a physical relationship with the complainant while his first marriage was still in effect could be considered to meet the criteria for section 376 (rape), the judges concluded.
A man was shot dead at Union Minister Kaushal Kishores residence in Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow on Friday, police said on Friday, adding, a licensed pistol under the name of the ministers son has been recovered from the crime scene.

The victim, identified as 30-year-old Vinay Srivastava, was a friend of Kaushal Kishores son, police said.

#WATCH | Lucknow, UP | Rahul Raj DCP West Lucknow says Vinay Shrivastava, aged 30 years has been shot dead at the residence of Vinay Kishore. The incident took place around 4 am today. Dog Squad, Crime Branch and Forensic teams are at the spot for investigation. On the complaint pic.twitter.com/rY8PtXWZAH  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) September 1, 2023

Police said a total of six persons came to the house last night and the incident took place after the dinner in the wee hours of Friday.

The incident took place around 4 am today. Dog squad, crime branch and forensic teams are at the spot for investigation. On the complaint of the deceaseds brother, an FIR has been registered, said Rahul Raj, DCP West Lucknow.

Raj said that a licensed revolver has been found and the investigation in the matter is on.

The body has been sent for post-mortem, he added.

Reacting to the development, Kaushal Kishore said that the incident is a matter of investigation.

This is a matter of investigation. Forensic teams and police have started the investigation. The person involved will not be spared. We are standing in support of the family members of the deceased. I have no idea who was at the residence when the incident took place, said Kishore.

#WATCH | Lucknow, UP | BJP MP Kaushal Kishore says This is a matter of investigation. Forensic teams and police have started the investigation. The person involved will not be spared. We are standing in support of the family members of the deceased. I have no idea who was at the pic.twitter.com/rn73H8DiPt  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) September 1, 2023

Kishore confirmed that the pistol that police recovered from the spot belongs to his son Vikas Kishore.

#WATCH | Lucknow, UP | On a person being shot dead at his residence, BJP MP Kaushal Kishore says The pistol that police has recovered belongs to my son, Vikas Kishore. Police is conducting a thorough investigation. The culprits will not be spared. Vikas Kishore was not at the pic.twitter.com/eWKiBLZkaa  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023

Vikas was not at the residence when the incident took place. Police detained his friends and the people present there when the incident took place. Vikas was extremely sad when he got to know about this, the deceased Vinay was a very good friend of my son, added the Union Minister.

Vikas Shrivastava, brother of the deceased, said three people were present there when the incident took place.

#WATCH | Lucknow, UP | Vikas Shrivastava, brother of the deceased says My brother Vinay Shrivastava has been killed at the residence of Union minister Kaushal Kishore. My brother was a friend of his son Vikas Kishore. Three people were present there when the incident took place pic.twitter.com/CV9569r8zr  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023

My brother Vinay Shrivastava has been killed at the residence of Union Minister Kaushal Kishore. My brother was a friend of his son Vikas Kishore. Three people were present there when the incident took place but I dont have any idea where was Vikas Kishore when the incident took place. His licensed revolver was recovered by police from the spot, said Shrivastava.

With inputs from agencies
After the Centre constituted a committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind to explore the feasibility of one nation, one election, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minsiter Pralhad Joshi on Friday said the report submitted by the panel will be discussed in Parliament and that there was no need for the Opposition to get nervous.

#WATCH | On One nation, One election, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minsiter Pralhad Joshi says Right now, a committee has been constituted. A report of the committee will come out which be discussed. The Parliament is mature, and discussions will take place, there is no need to pic.twitter.com/iITyAacPBq  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023

Addressing the reporters on Friday, Joshi said, Right now, a committee has been constituted. A report of the committee will come out which be discussed. The Parliament is mature, and discussions will take place, there is no need to get nervousIndia is called the mother of democracy, there is evolution

He further added that he will discuss the agenda of the special session of Parliament.

Sources said on Friday that Kovind will explore the feasibility of the exercise and the mechanism to see as to how the country can go back to having simultaneous Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls, as was the case till 1967.

He is expected to speak to experts and may also consult leaders of different political parties, they said.

The governments decision comes a day after it decided to call a special session of Parliament between 18 and 22 September, the agenda for which is under wraps.

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong votary for the idea of simultaneous polls, which include those at local bodies, citing financial burden caused by almost continuous election cycle and jolt to development work during the polling period.

Kovind too had echoed Modis view and expressed his support to the idea after becoming President in 2017.

Addressing Parliament, he had said in 2018, Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct.

Like Modi, he had called for a sustained debate and expressed hope that all political parties arrive at a consensus on this issue.

Meanwhile, the Opposition, which has assembled in Mumbai for the third meeting of I.N.D.I.A bloc, has slammed the move saying that this the diversionary tactic of the BJP-led Centre.

The country is already one, is anyone questioning that? We demand fair election, not one nation one election. This funda of one nation one election is being brought to divert the attention from our demand of fair election, said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut.

VIDEO | The country is already one, is anyone questioning that? We demand fair election, not one nation one election. This funda of one nation one election is being brought to divert the attention from our demand of fair election, says Shiv Sena (UBT) leader @rautsanjay61 pic.twitter.com/9phqvFiqCv  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2023

Congress leader Bhai Jagtap said that the BJP is afraid of I.N.D.I.A bloc which is why they made this move.

There is an imperative need for a lot of discussion on this (one nation, one election). However, this proves that BJP is afraid of INDIA which is why they made this move, said the Congress leader.

CPI general secretary D Raja said that the government cannot take unilateral decisions.

VIDEO | How can the government take unilateral decisions without consultation with political parties and Parliament? says CPI general secretary D Raja on reports of the central government forming a committee to explore the possibility of one nation one election. pic.twitter.com/RXjYuI19Xx  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2023

How can the government take unilateral decisions without consultation with political parties and Parliament? asked CPI general secretary D Raja.

With inputs from agencies
The Reserve Bank on Friday said that as much as 93 per cent of Rs 2000 currency notes that were in circulation on May 19  the day when the currency was withdrawn from circulation  have been returned to banks.

According to the data received from the banks, the total value of Rs 2000 banknotes received back from circulation is Rs 3.32 lakh crore up to August 31, 2023, it said in a statement.

Consequently, Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation as at the close of business on August 31, 2023 stood at Rs 0.24 lakh crore. Thus, 93 per cent of the Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation as on May 19, 2023, have since been returned, it said.

Data collected from major banks indicates that out of the total banknotes in Rs 2000 denomination received back from circulation, about 87 per cent is in the form of deposits and the remaining around 13 per cent has been exchanged into other denomination banknotes.

The Reserve Bank of India had announced the withdrawal of Rs 2000 banknotes from circulation on May 19, 2023.

The total value of Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation, which amounted to Rs 3.62 lakh crore on March 31, 2023, had declined to Rs 3.56 lakh crore as at the close of business on May 19, 2023.

RBI requested the members of the public holding the high-value banknote to utilise the remaining period until September 30, 2023, to deposit and/or exchange them.
Hours after former president Ram Nath Kovind was on Friday tasked with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of one nation, one election, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut called the move a conspiracy to postpone polls in the country.

His MVA colleague and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said the unveiling of the logo of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) wont happen during the ongoing meeting of the grouping.

Talking to reporters here, Raut said, We need fair elections which are not happening now. The one nation, one election proposal is a conspiracy to postpone elections.

Raut said the BJP government did not respect Ramnath Kovind when he was the president. Now they are making him busy with a committee to explore the possibility of one nation, one election, he said.

The Rajya Sabha MP also questioned the need for a special session of Parliament, scheduled to be held from September 18 to 22, during the Ganpati festival.

When regular sessions are on, the prime minister never attends the proceedings, he claimed.

Raut alleged that the BJP-led Centres moves were attempts to divert attention from the meeting of the INDIA alliance currently underway in Mumbai.

He said the opposition blocs meeting is aimed at including all allies and working towards consensus on all issues. A chief coordination committee, research committee, campaign and agenda committee and manifesto committee are likely to shape up, he said.

Meanwhile, Wadettiwar said the unveiling of the logo of the INDIA bloc will be postponed. The discussion will be about setting up various coordination committees, he said.

The Congress leader claimed that the one nation, one election move happened because of the I.N.D.I.A alliance meeting.

The third meeting of the I.N.D.I.A alliance is underway at Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai. As many as 63 representatives from 28 political parties are taking part in the meeting.

Earlier in the day, all the participants got together for a group photo before starting their formal discussion.

On Friday morning, BJP chief J P Nadda met ex-president Kovind soon after the latter was tasked with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of one nation, one election, which was the case till 1967.

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong votary for the idea of simultaneous polls, which include those at local bodies, citing the financial burden caused by the almost continuous election cycle and jolt to development work during the polling period.
The Supreme Court on Friday sentenced former Lok Sabha MP from Bihar Prabhunath Singh to life imprisonment in a 1995 double murder case.

On August 18, a three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had convicted Singh while overturning the orders of the trial court and the Patna High Court acquitting him in the case.

After hearing submissions on the quantum of sentence, the bench, also comprising Justices A S Oka and Vikram Nath, awarded life term to the convict.

The bench said a detailed order will be uploaded.

The case involved the killing of two people on the day of polling for assembly elections in Chapra in Bihars Saran district in March 1995.

The apex court, while convicting Singh, a multiple-term former MP from Bihars Maharajganj, had observed there was not even an iota of doubt that Singh was instrumental in making all possible efforts to wipe out the evidence against him.
A day after Delhi Police apprehended two members of the banned organization Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), the radical outfit issued a threat, announcing its intention to stage a protest at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, brandishing Khalistan flags.

In response to the apprehension of its associates, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the founder of SFJ reportedly offered an incentive of Rs 1 lakh for revealing details related to the families of Delhi Police officers living in Canada, the UK, Germany, Italy, and Australia.

The Delhi police took two people into custody in the pro-Khalistan graffiti case on Thursday.

The duo travelled to Delhi via the Punjab mail on the intervening night of 25-26 August. Upon reaching Delhi they recced suitable places and spray-painted the graffiti in the evening before leaving for Punjab on 27 August, CP Special Cell Delhi Police HS Dhaliwal informed on Thursday while divulging the details of how the plan was carried on.

Ahead of the next months G20 meet pro-Khalistan slogans appeared on the walls of a few Delhi Metro stations on Sunday evening. Shivaji Park, Madipur, Paschim Vihar, Udyog Nagar, and Maharaja Surajmal Stadium metro stations had slogans saying Delhi Banega Khalistan and Khalistan Zindabad. Besides the stations, a wall of a government school in Nangloi was also found defaced.

Earlier this year in January, ahead of Republic Day also, anti-national and Khalistan-related were discovered written on walls in West Delhi. Two men were later arrested in the case.
A 38-year-old woman was beaten to death by her husband after she allegedly confronted the latter over molesting his own daughter in Maharashtras Pune.

The horrifying incident unfolded during the night between Wednesday and Thursday, within the confines of their residence in Awhalwadi, Lonikand.

The man subjected his wife to a brutal assault, involving kicking, punching, and forcefully slamming her head against a wall. He didnt stop there; a stick was also used to inflict further harm.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IV), Shashikant Borate told media that the assailant, who was later apprehended, even went to the extent of attempting to set his wife on fire by dousing her with petrol, though he halted when he realized she had succumbed to her injuries.

As per cops, when the daughter and her two younger brothers, aged 15 and 13, attempted to intervene and protect their mother from the relentless attack, the father locked them inside an adjoining room.

He later released them but not before issuing threats to prevent them from disclosing the incident to anyone.

In a display of immense courage, the daughter reached out to her maternal uncle and recounted the harrowing episode, prompting a swift response from the police.

The accused, identified as a farmer, was apprehended at his residence on Thursday.

A preliminary post-mortem report attributed the womans death to multiple injuries. Further investigations have revealed the suspects alcohol addiction, with the results of his medical examination eagerly awaited, according to Senior Inspector Vishwajeet Kaingade.

The officer recounted the daughters statement, revealing that her father, under the influence of alcohol, had molested her on the afternoon of August 28.

The distressing incident recurred on Wednesday night while she was asleep, leading to her mothers intervention and the subsequent violent altercation.

Law enforcement has registered a case against the accused, including charges of murder, destruction of evidence, wrongful restraint, and offenses under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
A man was critically injured after an unknown assailant shot at him inside premises of a hospital in Bihars Arrah city on Thursday evening, police said.

In a video posted on X, formerly known a Twitter, a man can be seen firing two-three shots at the person before fleeing. Another man at the hospital can be seen chasing the accused in the video.

According to IANS news agency, the victim had gone with his pregnant wife to admit her for delivery in the hospital when the assailant opened fire at him, inflicting two gunshot injuries.

The doctors immediately operated on him and removed the bullets but his condition is said to be critical.

The incident took place at a private hospital in Darahra locality under town police station in the district.

The incident led to huge chaos in the hospital and the attackers managed to flee without any resistance.

The local police is now scanning the CCTV footages to identify the accused.

The injured is being treated. Further investigation is on, said sub-inspector Anil Singh.

With inputs from agencies
Editors note: This series by one of Indias leading military historians of contemporary times showcases chronological vignettes of war and conflict in independent India. Watch out for this column close to all the dates in the year when independent India has had to deal with various national security challenges.

***

Testing the Indians in Kutch

The summer of 1965 saw a buoyant Pakistani Armed Forces under an overconfident military dictator, General Ayub Khan, test the resolve and preparedness of Indias Armed Forces in the salt pans of the Kutch. The Rann of Kutch is a large peninsular-shaped hybrid marshland cum salt pan which gets partially submerged during the few monsoon months. For a major part of the year however, it remains a marshy area interspersed with hard and dry salt pans and a permanent riverine creek, the Sir Creek, the middle of which marks the current border. Like many poorly defined and demarcated frontier areas in the sub-continent, the Rann of Kutch emerged as a contested area in the mid-1950s with both India and Pakistan laying claims to it despite clear evidence being available in pre-independence records that the Maharajah of Kutch had laid claims to the Rann based on historical evidence.

Operation Desert Hawk

The Americans had armed the Pakistanis with sophisticated military equipment that included Patton tanks, Sabre fighter jets and field artillery guns since the late 1950s and Ayub Khan was keen on assessing Indian military preparedness before August and September 1965 when he had planned Operation Gibraltar (the armed insurrection in J&K) and its follow-on operation called Operation Grand Slam that would complete the isolation of J&K from the Indian heartland through the capture of Chhamb and Akhnur.

While the larger strategic objective of Operation Desert Hawk, as Pakistan named this limited operation, was to analyse the politico-military reaction from the new Indian government led by prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, the military objectives were pretty focussed. The first was an evaluation of Indias military preparedness; the second was an opportunity to test the Patton tank in manoeuvre warfare along with the infantry and with artillery support; and lastly, to grab any territory and hold it. Pakistans response to India moving its posts towards a border hamlet called Kanjarkot was disproportionate  it moved almost an entire division into the area by early April.

Though the Indian Army would ultimately deploy a little over two brigades in the region and reorganise it as Kilo Force under Major General PO Dunne, these were undermanned and did not have the mobility and wherewithal to counter the swift initial assault by a brigade-sized force with a squadron of Patton tanks on 7 April that bypassed the Indian posts of Sardar and Vigokot and made a run for the small town of Dharamsala about 30-odd kilometres inside Indian territory. With only infantry units deployed, the Indian Army sorely missed the armour and mobility that may have allowed them to launch a counterattack towards the important town of Badin, some 30 kilometres inside Pakistani territory as a quid pro quo offensive move.

After some fierce fighting and having validated its tactics and equipment including its Sabre jets which did not cross the border or attack Indian forces but used the opportunity to practice Close Air Support missions, units of the Pakistani Army held their position as hectic international diplomacy took over to limit the fallout of the skirmishes. Though New Delhi threatened to expand the conflict, immense pressure from Britain forced Ayub Khan to pull back his forces and agree to a ceasefire and truce with India over the Rann on 6 June 1965.

Operation Gibraltar

To the north, the inability of Pakistan to sever J&K from the Indian Union in 1948 had turned into a national obsession for Pakistan and its armed forces. Having grabbed large chunks of territory in J&K from India in 1948, it was only natural that Pakistan would look for an opportune moment to occupy the rest of the state and fulfil the dreams of its founding fathers. Operation Gibraltar, the 1965 plan for subversion, infiltration and occupation of Kashmir was supported and inspired by Bhutto. It was then operationally stitched together by Major General Akhtar Hussein Malik, the General Officer Commanding of Pakistans 12 Division.

The plan was crafted with certain geopolitical, intelligence and military assumptions, most of which grossly underestimated Indias military response.

First, the success of Operation Desert Hawk in Kutch a few months earlier convinced Ayub Khan of the tactical, operational and technological superiority of the Pakistan Army. Second, the intelligence from J&K indicated that the local population was restive and highly vulnerable to subversion, and when the time came, would rise in rebellion and fight against the Indian Army alongside the Mujahids and regulars of the Pakistan Army.

Lastly, though Major General Malik appreciated that the Indian Army would be better prepared to counter the infiltration campaign as compared to 1947, he was confident that his own Mujahid battalions would be better trained and equipped than the rag-tag force that assaulted the Kashmir Valley back in 1947. When coupled with the prevailing geopolitical instability in India resulting from Nehrus untimely death, the relatively stable military regime in Pakistan felt that it was an ideal time to strike Kashmir.

Infiltration by the Mujahid battalions and regulars of the Pakistan Army into the Kashmir valley commenced on 05 August 1965, covered by heavy artillery fire and stray engagements between regular units of the two armies. As the Mujahids initially fanned out into the valley along seven or eight thrust lines, the main ones being in Gurez, Kupwara, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar, Naushera and Akhnur, they were surprised by the singular lack of support from the local population. Many of them were captured by the Indian Army and the state police and divulged elaborate subversion plans. It was revealed that the saboteurs were a mix of Razakars and Mujahids and numbered approximately 4,000-5,000.

Led by JCOs and a few regulars they carried with them leaflets and pamphlets to incite the local population along with transistor radios pre-tuned to Radio Pakistan. By 12 August, more than 1,200 infiltrators had been captured, many of them in their early twenties and demonstrating a zealously calm countenance when captured, indicating that they had undergone extensive religious indoctrination prior to the operation. By 21 August the infiltration was crushed and the last remnants of Khaled Force, the most stubborn force, retreated into Pakistan after suffering heavy casualties.

Harbakshs success

An overconfident Major General Akhtar Malik, the mastermind of Operation Gibraltar had not done his homework well! He had met his match in the form of the strapping six-foot Sikh warrior, Lieutenant General Harbaksh Singh, the aggressive GOC-in C of the Indian Armys Western Army Command. Having operated extensively in the Kashmir valley during the 47-48 conflict, Harbaksh knew the terrain like the back of his hand and had regular forces waiting at almost all entry points.

Despite not being permitted to station fighters at Srinagar as per the restrictions laid down after the UN-sponsored ceasefire of 1948, the IAF was not quiet during these operations. Responding with alacrity to a call from Harbaksh, the IAF put together a helicopter task force at Srinagar comprising 10-12 Mi-4 utility helicopters that were fitted with machine guns and modified to carry 25 lb bombs in the gunship role. The ability to shift small-sized forces from one sector to the other along with casualty evacuation capability in the valley was a significant morale enhancer. Surprising the infiltrators in areas that were not accessible by ground forces, the Mi-4s caused a fair amount of psychological degradation and demonstrated good coercive intent on the part of the Indian armed forces. The willingness of Harbaksh to use all resources at his disposal to thwart the widespread infiltration campaign, and forthcoming support from the IAF proved extremely effective in putting down the multi-pronged Pakistan-backed subversion in Kashmir.

Tough, unyielding and demanding commander, Harbaksh had ensured that by mid-September, all the infiltrators had been pushed back and the much-awaited Liberation of Kashmir was nothing but a pipedream for Pakistan. In the final analysis, Operation Gibraltar ended with a whimper and a resounding victory for India. It was a chastening defeat for Ayub Khan and his rabidly anti-India foreign minister, Bhutto. For India, it was a much-needed morale booster after the reverses in Kutch. Operation Gibraltar in many ways was Harbakshs finest hour  what it also did was to give him immense confidence to tackle subsequent battles on the western front with an aggressive mindset.

The author is a former fighter pilot from the IAF and an accomplished military historian. He is the author of two defining books on contemporary Indian military history, Indias Wars: A Military History 1947-1971 & Full Spectrum: Indias Wars 1972-2020. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.

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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday asserted that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre has lent credence to his anticipation of early Lok Sabha polls by convening a special session of Parliament.

The JD(U) leader made the remark while replying to queries from journalists after returning from Mumbai where the opposition coalition INDIA held the latest round of talks.

You need to understand that this special session is a sign that they are thinking of early polls, the possibility of which I have been seeing and sharing with you all for quite some time, he told reporters.

The Parliament, which was last month adjourned sine die after the monsoon session, will meet from September 18 to 22 for a special session of which the Centre has not made public the agenda.

The JD(U) leader, whose party has 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha, did not respond to queries about one nation one election, but added there are issues which will be strongly raised during the upcoming session.

This government is dragging its feet on the issue of caste census. Forget a caste census, it has not even begun the census which, as per norms, should have been completed long back. This government has time for all other things, said the former NDA ally, who got a caste survey done in the state after the Centre made it clear that it would not conduct separate headcounts for social groups other than SCs and STs.

Kumar also sidestepped queries about him being made the convener of the opposition coalition, a proposal that has been in the realm of speculation ever since he hosted the first meeting of the anti-BJP front in June.

Dont worry. The talks went on in the most cordial fashion. We shall be working together to put up a good show in the elections, he said.

Besides Kumar, the Mumbai conclave was attended by his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and the latters father Lalu Prasad, the founding president of the RJD.

Yadav fielded questions from journalists at the airport, while Prasad who stole the show with his wit in Mumbai, looked on, appearing tired from the exertion of travel.

Instead of one nation, one election, I would suggest PM Narendra Modi to set up a committee to ensure one nation, one income, which is a crying need in view of unemployment and economic disparity. Today they are talking about one nation, one election. What next? One nation, one leader? One nation, one party? One nation, one language? One nation, one religion? Yadav said quizzically.

Going by their trajectory, they may even say that henceforth there shall be no elections in states and there shall be only one election to choose who would rule the Centre, alleged the RJD leader, in line with the charge of anti-federalism levelled against BJP by the INDIA bloc, of which he has been made a coordination committee member.

He also expressed confidence that all constituents of the anti-BJP front will be able to amicably settle issues like seat-sharing in meetings we will be holding in the future.
The UK government wants its police to use AI-based facial recognition to solve more crimes and use it to bring charges against perpetrators, despite repeated warnings by activists and AI experts that the technology is highly inaccurate and is prone to make mistakes.

The UKs Home Office is planning to increase its use of facial recognition technology for the purpose of tracking and locating criminals within law enforcement and other security agencies. The technology that the UK Home Office is using has already made headlines for identifying the wrong people, a number of times.

New biometrics to be added

In a document released on Wednesday, the government outlined its intentions to potentially implement new biometric systems at a national level within the next 12 to 18 months.

This move follows criticism from privacy advocates and independent researchers who have raised concerns about the technologys accuracy and bias, especially in its treatment of people of colour.

Members of Parliament have previously called for a halt to its use on the general population until clear legislation is established by the parliament.

The government is now inviting submissions from companies offering technologies capable of resolving identity using facial features and landmarks, including live facial recognition systems that involve scanning the general public to identify specific individuals on police watch lists.

The Home Office is particularly interested in innovative AI technologies that can efficiently process facial data for individual identification, as well as software that can be integrated with the departments existing technologies and CCTV cameras.

Facial recognitions past failures in the UK

Facial recognition software has been tested in public spaces over the past five years by law enforcement agencies like South Wales Police and Londons Metropolitan Police, including trials in shopping centers and during events such as the Notting Hill Carnival and the recent coronation.

As per a Financial Times report, private entities, such as the owners of Kings Cross in London, used facial recognition to scan the public for known troublemakers and shared this data with the Metropolitan Police, although they have since ceased this practice.

EU to ban AI-based facial recognition?

In contrast, the European Parliament is moving toward banning the use of AI-driven facial recognition software in public spaces through its Artificial Intelligence Act. The legality of using live facial recognition on the general population in the UK is currently a subject of debate, as is the question of whether widespread use of the technology infringes on citizens rights.

Its worth noting that not only law enforcement but also schools and private retailers, including the Southern Co-op and J Sainsbury, have begun adopting facial recognition technology.

In 2020, an appeal court ruled that earlier trials of facial recognition software by South Wales Police were unlawful, although the force continues to use the technology. The Metropolitan Police recently announced that it conducted a review of the technologys effectiveness and found no statistically significant bias in relation to race and gender, with a low chance of false matches.

UK going the China route

Researchers specializing in facial recognition technologies and technology ethics, have stressed the need for a proper legislative framework before widespread use, and often compared it to Chinas version of generalised use of live facial recognition, without any rules or regulations.

The governments Defence and Security Accelerator, which operates under the Ministry of Defence, is overseeing the submission process for the Home Offices facial recognition technology initiative.

The Home Office has emphasized that facial recognition technology is already in use across various applications within the realms of UK policing and security. These applications include efforts to prevent and detect crime, enhance security measures, and locate individuals wanted by law enforcement, among other functions. Furthermore, expanding the use of this technology is deemed a top priority for the Home Office.

Last year, an independent review led by former deputy mayor of London, Matthew Ryder, highlighted the urgent need for new legislation regarding live facial recognition technology. This need was identified through an analysis of existing laws pertaining to human rights, privacy, and equality, which were found to be insufficient in addressing the challenges posed by this technology.
In a development that would spell nightmares for some people, the US military is planning to give some of their robot dogs the abilities of AI, and are also planning to throw guns into the mix.

If everything goes as per their plan, soon, the US military will have AI-enabled robodogs that have guns like AR-15s, SCAR, or even an LMG mounted to their backs, which, they can then fire at will.

According to a report from Military.com, a spokesperson for the US Army has indicated that the military branch is working on the idea of equipping remote-controlled robot dogs with advanced rifles as part of its exploration of future combat possibilities. They will then give the dogs some AI capabilities that will allow them to choose their targets and aim

The concept is relatively straightforward: to affix a rifle onto a robotic dog for various military tasks and deploy it in unspecified battlefield scenarios.

This initiative, which was initially reported earlier this month by the intelligence service Janes, appears to have received tentative confirmation from a spokesperson.

The Armys interest revolves around the idea of attaching a weapon to one of Ghost Robotics Vision 60 Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Q-UGV). This robotic platform is positioned as a competitor to Boston Dynamics well-known robodog, which has been employed by entities like the New York Police Department.

In previous reports, scientific researcher Bhavanjot Singh from the Armys Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) mentioned that the Army had already initiated experiments involving the attachment of various types of weaponry to Q-UGVs. However, he indicated that upcoming experiments would focus on evaluating the robotic dogs specific capabilities, akin to those of actual canines.

Singh emphasized that one of the unique attributes of these robot dogs is their ability to navigate diverse terrains that may be inaccessible to wheeled vehicles. He made this statement at a gathering of lawmakers in late July, where one of the armed robodog units was showcased.

Nevertheless, its important to note that the interest and experimentation in this area dont necessarily translate into an immediate deployment of gun-equipped robotic dogs on the battlefield, according to DEVCOM spokesperson Tim Ryder.

Ryder clarified that while advanced technology demonstrations enable the exploration of potential transformative capabilities for future combat formations, they do not automatically lead to formal service-wide research programs or investments.

The prospect of these experiments does raise ethical questions and introduces a novel dimension to military technology. It appears that the militarys exploration of these robotic dogs represents a unique and potentially contentious avenue of development.
The US Department of Commerce put out a statement saying that the Joe Biden-led administration has not blocked the sale of any AI chips to West Asian countries.

This statement comes in response to recent disclosures that export license requirements have been expanded for artificial intelligence chips from companies like NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

NVIDIA had revealed these new rules in a regulatory filing earlier in the week, and it was subsequently confirmed that AMD is also affected by the change as they too had received notifications.

Despite the comments from the Department of Commerce denying that they have blocked the sale of AI chips, they have not commented on whether specific requirements have been imposed on individual US companies.

As per what NVIDIA had reported earlier, new regulations stipulate that NVIDIA and other tech companies making AI chips must obtain licenses before selling its highest grade of AI silicon, their flagship chips to certain West Asian countries. It remains undisclosed whether these companies have applied for such licenses or if any have been approved or denied.

Typically, US officials impose export controls for national security reasons. While a similar move last year indicated an escalation of US efforts to restrict technology exports to China, the specific risks associated with exports to countries in West Asia do not become abundantly clear until one takes a look that most of them are working with China to develop their own Ai

Its worth noting that many of the US restrictions on technology exports to China result in a blanket denial of all licenses.
Google has announced its upcoming Made By Google event, which is set to include a livestream keynote to unveil new hardware, likely including the Pixel 8 smartphone and the Pixel Watch 2.

The event is scheduled for October 4 at 10:00 AM ET and will be organised in New York City. Similar to past events, Google will livestream the event on YouTube and other social media platforms.

It is expected that the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones will be revealed during the event, with the Pixel Watch 2 making its debut as well. This event aims to capture attention during the competitive phone launch season and showcase Googles latest hardware offerings.

While Googles I/O event earlier this year didnt offer much insight into the Pixel 8, leaks have filled the void with information on the upcoming device. One notable leak even came from Google itself, albeit unintentionally. The Pixel 8 Pro is expected to feature Googles Tensor G3 chip, which is the third iteration following the Tensor G2 from the Pixel 6. Leaks have suggested that the G3 chip will come with nine CPU cores, promising enhanced performance. Graphics are also anticipated to improve, with 10 GPU cores running at 890MHz, compared to the Tensor G2s 7 cores.

The Pixel 8 is expected to have a camera upgrade, introducing a 64 MP ultrawide sensor. The phone might also revert to its previous design with more curved corners and adopt colour options found on the Pixel Fold, such as Porcelain, Obsidian, and a blue hue referred to as Sea.

Regarding the Pixel Watch 2, reports indicate that the smartwatch will transition to the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip, and its battery life is expected to significantly improve compared to its predecessor. Rumours suggest that it could operate for up to 24 hours with the always-on display active. The Pixel Watch 2 is also likely to run on Wear OS 4.

While its uncertain whether Google will introduce a new Pixel Tablet, considering the relatively recent launch of the first one last year, there is a possibility of new Nest devices being unveiled. However, compared to the rumours surrounding Googles phone and wearable lines, theres been limited information regarding potential new Nest products.
India has not yet received any confirmation on Chinese President Xi Jinpings participation at the G20 summit on 9 and 10 September and the chances of his in-person attendance at the conclave are very low, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

There is a possibility that China may send Premier Li Qiang for the summit to be held in New Delhi, they said.

A majority of G20 leaders, including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, have already confirmed their participation at the summit.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are also among the G20 leaders who have confirmed their participation at the summit.

The chances of Xis in-person participation at the summit is very low, the people cited above said without elaborating.

It is learnt that Premier Li is likely to travel to India after attending the East Asia summit in Jakarta.

There was no official word from the Indian side on the Chinese participation at the G20 summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that it will not be possible for him to travel to India to participate in the summit.

In its capacity as current president of G20, India is hosting the annual summit of the influential grouping.

Asked about a report by Reuters that said Xi is likely to skip the upcoming G20 summit in India, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a media briefing in Beijing that he has nothing to offer on the matter.

On the Chinese leaders attending the G20 summit, I have nothing to offer at the moment, Wang said.

The ties between India and China have been under severe strain since the deadly clashes in eastern Ladakhs Galwan Valley in June 2020.

The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) were key for normalisation of overall ties.

On its part, China has been arguing that the boundary question does not represent the entirety of the bilateral relations, insisting that the two sides should move forward on overall relations.

Prime Minister Modi and President Xi held a conversation on 23 August on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in Johannesburg.

Following the conversation, Indias Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said Modi conveyed to Xi Indias concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, underlining that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas was essential for normalisation of India-China ties.

Kwatra said the two leaders also agreed to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation.

However, the Chinese readout did not have any mention of this.

The Chinese statement said President Xi Jinping conveyed to PM Modi that both sides should bear in mind the overall interests of the ties and properly handle the border issue.

On Monday, China released a so-called standard map laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin drawing a strong protest from India.

The map also showed the entire South China Sea and Taiwan as part of China as it featured in the previous editions of the map.
A judge in Georgia has decided that Donald Trumps trial on election fraud charges will be shown live on TV and online.

Judge Scott McAfee announced that all the court hearings will be broadcast on Fulton County Courts YouTube channel.

A specific trial date hasnt been set yet, but it might happen next year, possibly while Mr. Trump is running for re-election.

Mr. Trump, along with 18 others, is facing charges related to a plot to change the outcome of Georgias 2020 presidential election.

The former Republican president, who is also dealing with three other legal cases, has pleaded not guilty to the 13 charges in Georgia.

Normally, all court proceedings in Fulton County are shown live online. However, this will be the only one of Mr. Trumps four trials to be televised and is expected to be one of the most-watched trials in recent times.

Mr. Trump recently went to Atlanta, where he turned himself in at Fulton County Jail and had his photo taken.

He has chosen not to attend his arraignment, a brief hearing where the plea is officially entered in court, which is scheduled for next Wednesday.

Prosecutors claim that Mr. Trump pressured Georgia officials to change the election results in the state, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

A crucial piece of evidence in their case is a recorded phone call in which he asked the states secretary of state to recalculate the vote count.

In the call, he can be heard saying, I just want to find 11,780 votes. Mr. Trump insists the call was perfect, and his lawyers on the call did not express any concerns.

Despite these legal challenges, Mr. Trump remains the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and his popularity among his supporters has not waned.

He has described the Georgia case and the other three criminal cases against him as politically motivated.

Some of his co-defendants in the Georgia case, including his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, have also decided not to appear at the upcoming court hearing.

This decision is typically not controversial, according to Clark Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University.

He explained that the main purpose of the arraignment is to inform the accused of the charges and enter their plea, which Mr. Trump is already aware of.

Among the charges facing Mr. Trump and his co-defendants is racketeering, commonly referred to as the Rico Act, which is used to connect those who committed crimes with those who organized or ordered them, both at the state and federal levels.
Most of Hong Kong and other parts of southern China ground to a near standstill Friday with classes and flights canceled as Super Typhoon Saola edged closer.

The typhoon could make a landfall in southern China and many workers stayed at home.

Students in various cities saw the start of their school year postponed to next week. Hong Kongs stock market trading was suspended and more than 400 flights were canceled or delayed in the key center for regional business and travel.

Mainland Chinese rail authorities ordered all trains entering or leaving Guangdong province to be suspended from Friday night to early evening Saturday, state media CCTV reported.

The Hong Kong Observatory raised a No. 8 typhoon signal, the third-highest warning under the citys weather system, early Friday. Its forecast said Saola  with maximum sustained winds of 210 kilometers (130 miles) per hour  would be closest to the financial hub on Friday night and Saturday morning, skirting within about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the citys shopping district Tsim Sha Tsui.

The observatorys director, Chan Pak-wai, said Thursday the alert might be upgraded to a No. 10 signal if the strength of the winds reached hurricane levels. The No. 10 hurricane signal is the highest warning under its system and was last hoisted when Super Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong in 2018.

Chan expected the winds would gradually weaken Saturday as the typhoon moves away from Hong Kong.

The observatory warned serious flooding might occur in low-lying coastal areas and that the maximum water level might be similar to that when Mangkhut felled trees and tore scaffolding off buildings under construction in the city.

As the city braced for heavy rains and strong winds Friday morning, about 190 people sought refuge at temporary shelters, with some ferry and bus services halted. Residents living in low-lying areas had placed sand bags at their doors to prevent their homes being flooded. The government received two reports of fallen trees and three flooding cases. One man was injured during the typhoon period and sought treatment at a public hospital.

Weather authorities in the nearby casino hub of Macao also warned of flooding, forecasting that the water level might reach up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) in low-lying areas Saturday morning. The cross-border bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai city would be closed in mid-afternoon.

In the technology and finance hub Shenzhen, its emergency management bureau ordered to suspend work and businesses starting from late afternoon, as the typhoon was expected to make landfall in the city or its nearby areas on Friday night. All entries to highways in the city would be banned starting from 7 pm until further notice, except for rescue crews.

Chinas National Meteorological Center said Saola could make landfall from Huidong County to Taishan city in Guangdong province, neighboring Hong Kong, between Friday night and Saturday morning. But it also did not rule out it would move west near the shore of central Guangdong.

Another storm, Haikui, was gradually moving toward the coastal areas of eastern China. Coupled with the influence of Saola, parts of Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces would see strong winds and heavy rains, according to a website run by China Meteorological Administration. By Thursday night, some 100,000 people living in dangerous areas in Fujian were relocated to other safer places.

Saola passed just south of Taiwan on Wednesday before turning to mainland China, with the storms outer bands hitting the islands southern cities with torrential rain. The typhoon also lashed the Philippines earlier this week, displacing tens of thousands of people in the northern part of the islands because of flooding.

In recent months, China had some of the heaviest rains and deadliest flooding in years across various regions, with scores killed, including in outlying mountainous parts of the capital Beijing.
Japans government announced Friday it will impose sanctions against three groups and four individuals for supporting North Koreas missile and nuclear development program.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Friday that the sanctions, in tandem with the United States and South Korea, are in response to North Koreas attempted launch of a spy satellite Aug. 24 and its firing of two missiles Wednesday, as United Nations Security Council resolutions ban any North Korean launches using ballistic missile technologies.

The additional sanctions, approved during Fridays Cabinet meeting, freeze the assets of the three North Korea-based hacker groups linked to cyberattacks  Andariel, BlueNoroff and Korea Expo Joint Venture  as well as four individuals, three of them based in China, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on two people: a North Korean and a Russian linked to a Moscow-registered firm accused of supporting the Norths ballistic missile program.

Japan, the United States and South Korea have been stepping up their strategic three-way cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region to jointly deal with their shared concern of growing threats of North Korea and China.

Matsuno said Japans government strongly calls on the North to take concrete actions to respond to Tokyos proposal to settle the issues of abductions of Japanese nationals during the 1970s and 1980s by North Korea, along with its nuclear and missile programs.

He said relatives of the abductees are getting old and that Japan seeks talks between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as soon as possible.

North Korea has failed twice in recent months to launch a spy satellite. The nations National Aerospace Development Administration said it would make a third attempt in October.
Pervaiz Elahi, president of former prime minister Imran Khans party was rearrested by Islamabad police hours after the Lahore High Court ordered his immediate release from the custody of the anti-graft agency in a corruption case.

Elahi was rearrested even after the court had warned the agency against arresting the former Punjab chief minister in any other case.

Justice Amjad Rafiq of the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered the release of the President of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) failed to produce Elahi in the court on one pretext or another despite strong orders issued by the Court, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

The LHC has ordered authorities to immediately release former Punjab chief minister Pervez Elahi, the report said.

Expressing displeasure over the NAB and the Punjab provincial governments conduct, Justice Rafiq remarked that the high court is being undermined.

Stop playing ping-pong with the court, he said in the order and instructed an inquiry to be conducted into his arrest in violation of court orders.

Elahi, 77, is among several leaders and workers who have been arrested amid the states crackdown on the PTI leadership following the May 9 riots during protests over party chief Khan being whisked away by paramilitary personnel at the Islamabad HC premises.

He was first arrested on June 1 but was deprived of his freedom repeatedly and dragged in on several graft cases.

The PTI presidents most recent arrest, by the NAB on August 14, was in a case of allegedly receiving bribes/kickbacks in exchange for getting the contracts of road schemes of Gujrat Highways Division awarded to favourite/hand-picked contractors. His custody was extended till September 2.

During the proceedings on Friday, Additional Advocate General Ghulam Sarwar Nihung initiated his argument by stating that they could not obtain the court order passed to present Elahi in the court and then read a letter from the provincial caretaker government, wherein the court was informed that the armed forces and the Punjab Police were busy with anti-terrorism operations.

He further said that armoured vehicles are also not available and added that the CTD had reported that there are threats to the lives of the politicians, including Elahis.

Following the courts order, Elahi was released from the custody of NAB.

Talking to reporters after his release on Friday, Elahi held the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) responsible for the current state of the economy.

All of them have run off to London after ruining the economy, he was quoted as saying in a report by the Dawn news website

They have kept me inside, I dont even know what is happening in the country, the PTI president added.

With inputs from PTI.
Singaporeans headed to the polls Friday in the city-states first contested presidential election in more than a decade, a vote being closely watched as an indication of support for the ruling party after a rare spate of political scandals.

The presidents role is largely ceremonial, but there are stringent requirements for the position, which formally oversees the citys accumulated financial reserves and holds the power to veto certain measures and approve anti-graft probes.

While the presidency is a non-partisan post under the constitution, political lines were already drawn ahead of the election to replace incumbent Halimah Yacob, who ran unopposed for her six-year term in 2017.

The city-states government is run by the prime minister, currently Lee Hsien Loong of the Peoples Action Party (PAP), which has ruled Singapore continuously since 1959.

Observers said the vote could indicate the level of PAP support ahead of general elections due in 2025 or discontent after recent scandals that include a corruption probe into the transport minister and the resignations of two PAP legislators over an affair.

What we want is a prosperous Singapore, self-employed worker Patrick Low, 70, told AFP after casting his vote.

Long orderly lines snaked from polling centres absent the raucous environment that can accompany elections in other countries, where supporters chant or distribute flyers to lobby for last-minute votes.

The frontrunner is former deputy prime minister and finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a long-time PAP stalwart before he resigned ahead of his candidacy.

The 66-year-old economist is widely perceived as having the governments backing and was questioned about his independence during the campaign.

Shifting sentiments

Another candidate, former insurance executive Tan Kin Lian, 75, has gained the support of several opposition leaders.

The third contender, Ng Kok Song, 75, is the former chief investment officer of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, which manages the countrys foreign reserves.

The vote will have no exit polls before a result is announced late Friday night.

The presidential election is increasingly being treated as a general election, said Mustafa Izzuddin, a political analyst with consultancy Solaris Strategies Singapore.

An increase in protest voting is anticipated due to vacillating ground sentiments vis-a-vis the ruling government.

The PAP was recently rocked by political scandals, a rarity in a city that has capitalised on its reputation for clean government to become an international hub for an array of industries like finance and aviation.

The PAP suffered its worst-ever election performance in 2020 but maintained its more than two-thirds majority.

Voting is compulsory for Singapores more than 2.7 million eligible citizens. Those who do not vote without a valid reason risk being struck from the voters list.

Singapore requires presidential candidates to have served either as a senior civil servant or the chief executive of a company with shareholder equity of at least 500 million Singaporean dollars ($370 million).

Perhaps the presidents most crucial function is to serve as a custodian of Singapores financial reserves, which can only be drawn upon in exceptional circumstances, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2009 global financial crisis.
Sri Lanka has formally announced an end to the fuel rationing scheme it had imposed one year ago during the height of the unprecedented economic crisis, a senior minister said on Friday, hinting at an improvement in the island nations economy.

Energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the QR-based fuel rationing system, imposed in August 2022, when Sri Lanka plunged into its worst economic crisis since 1948, would be discontinued from Friday.

Under the rationing system, registered consumers at filling stations were guaranteed a weekly quota.

Sri Lanka announced its first-ever sovereign default in April 2022 and faced its worst economic crisis in history due to a shortage of foreign exchange reserves.

The unprecedented forex shortages meant that the imports of fuel and essentials became harder, causing mile-long queues. More than 20 people died from exhaustion at fuel queues when the rationing began.

The QR-coded rationing system came into effect in August last year. It was priced to be an instant success, with queues disappearing with the demand dropping.

The authorities then blamed stockpiling as the reason for long queues leading to an unscrupulous black market.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka was then solely dependent on Indian supplies of fuel through an Indian credit line. The Indian credit lines for fuel and essential imports provided relief to the public protesting against the government for its mishandling of the nations economy.

The forex crisis hampered the state oil entity Ceylon Petroleum Corporations (CPC) ability to pay for oil imports. The Lankan subsidiary of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was running continuous supplies as the pumps of the state fuel entity ran dry.

Since then, the Sri Lankan governments urgent reform measures in the power and energy sector saw the third player, Chinese Sinopec Oil, enter the retail market.

Sinopec coincidentally started its retail operations this week. In March, the International Monetary Fund extended a nearly USD 3 billion bailout facility to debt-ridden Sri Lanka to help stabilise the countrys economy after it was jolted by the devastating economic crisis last year.
The Nobel Foundation that administers the prestigious awards, has reversed its invitation policy and invited Russia, Belarus and Iran, as well as the leader of a far-right Swedish party, who had previously been banned.

Vidar Helgesen, the executive director of the private foundation said in a statement that there was a global trend in which dialogue between those with differing views is being reduced.

To counter that, he said, we are now broadening our invitations to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free, peaceful societies.

The foundation said that invitation for the 2023 events was extended to all countries with diplomatic missions in Sweden and Norway and parties that have parliamentary representation via democratic elections, adding that this common approach promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone, and in future this practice will be common to the entire organization.

Last year, the diplomatic envoys of Russia and Belarus were barred from attending the glittery prize ceremonies and banquets, which always take place on Dec. 10, because of the war in Ukraine, and the ambassador of Iran was also excluded because of the serious and escalating situation in the country.

All the Nobel Prizes are handed out in Stockholm other than the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo.

The foundation also extended the invitation to the Sweden Democrats party leader Jimmie Akesson who declined it, saying on Facebook that unfortunately Im busy that day.

Swedish political party leaders are traditionally invited to the banquet but Akesson, who heads a nationalist party with far-right roots, has been snubbed in the past. The Sweden Democrats, which are seen by some as a threat to fundamental values in the Scandinavian countrys society, including tolerance toward asylum-seekers from conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa, came second in in the 2022 parliamentary elections.

This years Nobel prize winners will be announced in early October.
Thailands king on Friday reduced former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatras eight-year prison term to a single year following the divisive politicians return last week from 15 years of self-imposed exile.

Thai media, citing Justice Ministry sources, reported that Thaksin can apply for parole after serving one-third of his sentence, or four months. They said the former leader, who was transferred to a hospital after a brief prison stay because of reported frail health, could remain there for that period with permission from the Correction Departments chief.

The decision by King Maha Vajiralongkorn was published in the Royal Gazette, making it effective immediately. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, giving the king the final word on pardons of convicted criminals.

Thaksin was ousted as prime minister in a military coup in 2006 and accused of corruption, abuse of power and disrespecting the monarchy. He fled Thailand in 2008 when he faced prison time on charges he described as politically motivated.

It is widely believed that Thaksin, 74, returned out of hope that a new government friendly to him would reduce his sentence, and that he may have made a deal with authorities.

Hours after Thaksins return, Srettha Thavisin of the Thaksin-affiliated Pheu Thai party won enough votes in Parliament to become prime minister, ending more than three months of uncertainty after national elections in May. Pheu Thai was able to cobble together a majority by forming a coalition with pro-military parties linked to a 2014 coup that ousted a government formed by Thaksins sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

The decree granting Thaksin royal clemency said he had acknowledged his guilt. It said Thaksin had worked to benefit the country and was loyal to the monarchy, and could use his knowledge and abilities to help the nation and its people.

After returning to Thailand, Thaksin was sent to prison but was quickly transferred to a state hospital because of what the prison described as high blood pressure and low oxygen, difficulty sleeping and tightness in his chest.

Thaksin became prime minister in 2001 by promoting populist policies and using his telecommunications fortune to build his own political party, and was easily re-elected in 2005.

Thailands traditional royalist ruling class felt threatened by Thaksins popularity. His ouster set off years of sometimes violent confrontations between his supporters and opponents. Political parties with his backing continued to win elections but were forced from power several times by the courts and the army, both bulwarks of royalism.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, who is also acting justice minister, dismissed speculation that Thaksin was being treated with special leniency. He said in a telephone interview on Friday that Thaksin will be treated as a normal convict and will be returned to prison to serve his term once his health issues are cleared up. Wissanu will soon lose his positions when Sretthas government takes office.
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday and sought to sever his case from some other defendants who are accused along with him of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set arraignment hearings on 6 September for Trump and the 18 others charged in the case. Trumps court filing entering a not guilty plea also waived arraignment, meaning he wont have to show up for that.

The decision to skip an in-person appearance averts the dramatic arraignments that have accompanied the three other criminal cases Trump faces, in which the Republican former president has been forced amid tight security into a courtroom and entered not guilty pleas before crowds of spectators. Georgia courts have fairly permissive rules on news cameras in the courtroom, and this means Trump wont have to enter a plea on television.

McAfee said Thursday that he planned to allow live-streaming of the trial on a Fulton County-provided YouTube channel. He said he would also allow video and photographs to be shot by press pool members.

Trump and 18 others were charged earlier this month in a 41-count indictment that outlines an alleged scheme to subvert the will of Georgia voters who had chosen Democrat Joe Biden over the Republican incumbent in the presidential election.

An attorney for Trump also asked McAfee on Thursday to separate his case from those of defendants who have asked for an expedited trial. The judge has already set an 23 October trial date for one of those defendants.

Giving the former president less than two months to prepare a defense against a 98-page indictment would violate President Trumps federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law, attorney Steve Sadow said in a court filing.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she wants all of the defendants tried together. After one defendant filed a demand for a speedy trial, she asked the judge to set an 24 October trial date for everyone.

Thursdays developments add to the pre-trial legal jousting that has dominated the two weeks since the indictment was brought, underscoring the complexities inherent in attempting to bring 19 defendants to trial at once  including an ex-president  and foreshadowing the delays ahead as judges sift through competing arguments from the defendants.

Jenna Ellis, an attorney who prosecutors say was involved in efforts to persuade state lawmakers to unlawfully appoint presidential electors, also pleaded not guilty and waived arraignment Thursday.

Three other people charged in the indictment had already waived arraignment in filings with the court, saving them a repeat trip to Atlanta after they all turned themselves in at the Fulton County Jail last week. Trump surrendered at the jail on 24 August, where he became the first former president to have a mug shot taken.

The case, filed under Georgias Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, is sprawling, and the logistics of bringing it to trial are likely to be complicated.

At least two defendants have filed demands for a speedy trial and have asked to be tried separately from others in the case. The judge set a 23 October trial date for one of them, Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who worked on the coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely stating that Trump won the state and declaring themselves the states duly elected and qualified electors.

Some of the others charged are trying to move their cases to federal court. A judge on Monday heard arguments on such a request by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, but the judge did not immediately rule.

Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, has criticised the cases against him as part of a politically motivated attempt to keep him from winning back the White House.
In a new development, the UK government plans to require domestic abusers leaving prison to wear electronic monitoring devices. This move aims to enhance the safety of victims who have faced domestic abuse.

A trial program, commencing in the East and West Midlands, and anticipated to expand across England and Wales next year, will impose specific restrictions on offenders who pose a threat to former partners or their children. These restrictions include prohibiting them from approaching a victims residence beyond a certain distance and implementing a curfew.

Approximately 500 individuals released from prison will be subject to these conditions and will be obligated to wear either a GPS or curfew monitoring tag. Any offender found in violation of these conditions, such as entering restricted areas or breaching curfews, may be returned to prison.

Alex Chalk, the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, stated, Survivors of domestic abuse display immense courage in coming forward, and it is crucial that every available means are employed to shield them from further harm. The use of electronic tags on released prisoners with a potential for further domestic abuse is an additional safeguard we are introducing to aid victims in rebuilding their lives and feeling secure within their communities.

The government also reported that over 2,700 victims have been safeguarded from further harassment by their incarcerated abusers, thanks to a Prison Service initiative reintroduced last summer. This service prevents offenders from calling victims using prison phones or sending threatening letters to their addresses.

A survivor of domestic violence, Louise, expressed her relief, saying, The prospect of my abuser attempting to contact me, whether from behind bars or after release, left me feeling anxious and helpless. These measures offer reassurance that survivors like us are receiving improved protection against attempts to intimidate and terrorize us.

Nicole Jacobs, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, voiced her support for the governments actions, stating, I commend the governments announcements today to address domestic abuse perpetrators. The domestic abuse electronic tagging pilot represents a positive stride in safeguarding victims. The unwanted prisoner contact scheme, by preventing perpetrators from contacting victims, establishes an important precedent that the criminal justice system will not be complicit in perpetuating domestic abuse. This will significantly impact the safety, recovery, and freedom from abuse for survivors.

Jacobs concluded, For too long, the responsibility has fallen on domestic abuse victims to shield themselves from harm. I will continue collaborating with the government to address this issue.
The United Nations chief sent Russia a new proposal aimed at getting its grain and fertilizer to global markets in hopes of reviving the deal that allowed Ukraine to ship almost 33,000 tons of grain at a time of growing global hunger.

But Moscow wasnt satisfied with the letter that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week.

Speaking at a press conference Thursday after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Lavrov said he had given Ankara a list of actions that the West would have to take in order to resume Ukrainian shipments.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the deal in July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports. A separate memorandum between the U.N. and Russia pledged to overcome obstacles to Moscows shipment of food and fertilizer to world markets.

The deal followed Russias 24 February, 2022, invasion of Ukraine which sent global food prices skyrocketing because the two countries are major breadbaskets for the world.

Guterres told U.N. reporters on Thursday that he had written a letter to Lavrov with a set of concrete proposals, allowing to create the conditions for the renewal of the Black Sea initiative. He did not give any details other than to say, we have some concrete solutions for the concerns allowing for an effective, or more effective access of Russian food and fertilizers to global markets at adequate prices.

Russia suspended the Black Sea grain initiative in July. It repeatedly complained that the Ukraine deal largely benefitted richer nations, and that Russia still had difficulties obtaining financing, insurance and shipping for its fertilizer and grain shipments.

Data from the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which organized the Ukraine shipments, shows that 57% of the grain from Ukraine went to developing nations, with the top destination being China, which received nearly a quarter of the food.

Turkeys Fidan told reporters his meeting with Lavrov in Moscow was preparation for an upcoming meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

Describing the grain deal as quite a complicated and laborious job, Fidan said when Erdogan and Putin get together they will take a more strategic and political view.

Fidan is also due to meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was involved in the deals negotiations, on 1 September.

Lavrov told reporters: As soon as talks turn into concrete decisions, well be ready to resume the Ukrainian part of the grain package that same day.

The U.N.s Guterres said a renewed Black Sea initiative must be stable  and not move from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension. The original agreement for 120 days was extended once for 120 days and twice for 60 days.

I believe that working seriously we can have a positive solution for everybody for the Ukraine, for the Russian Federation, but more important than everything else for the world in a moment in which so many countries are facing enormous difficulties in relation to guarantee the food security of their populations, he told reporters.

Guterres said that he saw little prospect of peace in Ukraine before the General Assemblys annual meeting of world leaders starting 18 September. He said thats why he stressed the need to take measures to reduce the dramatically negative impacts of this war in relation to the world.
Following North Koreas unsuccessful attempt to launch a spy satellite last week, the United States imposed sanctions Thursday on two men and a Moscow-registered firm accused of supporting North Koreas ballistic missile program.

The decision was taken shortly after the White House revealed recent intelligence indicating an exchange of letters between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. This correspondence suggests Russias interest in procuring additional munitions from North Korea to support the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Treasury sanctioned Russia-based Jon Jin Yong and Sergei Kozlov, who it said worked together to coordinate the use of North Korean construction workers in Russia. It said they directly supported or helped generate revenue for North Korean organizations linked to the development of weapons of mass destruction, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The U.S. said Jon led a team of North Korean IT workers in Russia and worked with Russians to procure identification for the workers. Some of the identity documents were from family members or Russian employees of Kozlov, Treasury said.

Treasury also sanctioned Moscow-registered firm Intellekt LLC, described as being owned or controlled by Kozlov and connected with a Moscow-based construction project coordinated by Jon.

The latest sanctions action was taken in coordination with the South Korean and Japanese governments.

Brian E. Nelson, Treasurys undersecretary of terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement that the U.S. will continue to coordinate closely with both countries to combat North Koreas unlawful and destructive activities.

The Biden administration has said Russia has increasingly turned to North Korea and Iran for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine. In March, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Russia was offering North Korea food in exchange for munitions.

North Korea has failed twice in recent months to launch a spy satellite into orbit. The nations National Aerospace Development Administration said it would make a third attempt in October.

U.N. Security Council resolutions ban any launches by North Korea using ballistic technologies.

With inputs from AP.
General Anthony Cotton, who leads the U.S. Strategic Command, arrived in Tokyo on Friday for his first visit to the region since taking office last December.

Cotton is in charge of Americas nuclear triad, which comprises land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarines armed with ballistic missiles (SSBNs) deployed at sea, and strategic bombers operating in the air.

On Friday morning, Cotton touched down at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo after flying in from South Korea.

During his stay, he is scheduled to meet with General Yoshihide Yoshida, the highest-ranking officer in Japans Self-Defense Forces. Additionally, he has plans to visit the prime ministers office and the Foreign Ministry.

The primary objective of his visit is to provide reassurance to a crucial ally regarding Americas extended deterrence, commonly referred to as the nuclear umbrella.

Earlier this year, Cotton informed the U.S. Congress that China has now surpassed the United States in the number of land-based fixed and mobile ICBM launchers.

He highlighted Chinas recent construction of hundreds of new ICBM silos, a move inconsistent with Beijings longstanding claim of maintaining a minimum deterrence strategy.

General Yoshida of the Self-Defense Forces recently stated in an interview with Nikkei that Japans security cannot be adequately maintained with its current military posture.

He emphasized the need for Japan to significantly bolster its defensive capabilities while continuing to rely on extended deterrence from the United States.

Cottons visit follows rare demonstrations of American nuclear capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region.

In July, the USS Kentucky, an Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), made a historic port call in Busan, South Korea, marking the first SSBN visit in four decades. This visit was part of the Washington Declaration signed by U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in April, where they committed to increasing the presence of strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula.

On Friday, the U.S. Pacific Fleet shared photos of USS Kentucky in Guam, indicating its continued presence in the western Pacific region.

In April, senior leaders from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the South Korean navy were invited aboard the USS Maine, another SSBN, in Guam. This trilateral embarkation on an SSBN at sea was a significant milestone.

During a roundtable discussion with journalists in Omaha, Nebraska, last month, Cotton emphasized that the SSBN visits to Busan and Guam showcased the global reach of U.S. extended deterrence.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to New Delhi to participate in the G20 leaders summit from 7-10 September, making her fourth visit to India in 10 months, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

Yellen intends to focus at the summit on strengthening the global economy and supporting low- and middle-income countries by advancing efforts on debt restructurings, the evolution of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and building International Monetary Fund trust fund resources, the Treasury said.

She will continue to build momentum for her drive to evolve the World Bank and other multilateral lenders to boost financing capacity to aid developing countries clean energy transitions, tackle pandemics, fragility and conflict, it said.

The Treasury estimates that the lenders collectively can unlock $200 billion in new financing over a decade with balance sheet measures now being implemented or under discussion.

The Treasury said Yellen also will rally Americas G20 allies to maintain economic support for Ukraine and increase costs on Russia over Moscows continuing war in Ukraine. This includes supporting the G7-led price cap on Russian oil exports and efforts to strengthen global food security in the face of restrictions on Ukrainian grain exports.

At the same time, the Treasury said Yellen will work to deepen US bilateral ties with India, a country she first described last November as a prime friend-shoring destination and alternative to China for US investment and supply chains.

Treasurys statement did not mention specific bilateral meetings.

On the sidelines of last years G20 Summit in Indonesia, Yellen met with the Peoples Bank of Chinas then-governor Yi Gang in first of several face-to-face meetings with senior Chinese officials in recent months to ease rocky US-China ties, culminating in her visit to Beijing in July.
In May, the Government sanctioned the PLI 2.0 scheme for IT hardware, allocating Rs 17,000 crore, double the budget from the 2021 scheme. The application date for accepting applications under PLI 2.0 was extended till 30th August 2023.

On Thursday, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said that the PLI Scheme 2.0 for IT Hardware has been oversubscribed, with 40 companies submitting applications, and some of the worlds largest IT companies, such as Dell, HP, ASUS and Acer have applied for the scheme.

He added that major IT companies such as Dell and HP are participating directly under the scheme while other players like HPE, Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, Thomson are participating through EMS companies having manufacturing facilities in India.

This is further supported by domestic companies like Padget (Dixon), VVDN, Netweb, Syrma, Opiemus, Sahasra, Neolync, Panache, Sojo (Lava) among others.

This initiative is expected to generate direct employment to 75,000 professionals along with an incremental investment of Rs 2,430 crore and an incremental production of Rs 3.35 lakh crore.

Regarding Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said:

This shows that they are interested in manufacturing computers in India. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi reiterated how India is the worlds second-largest manufacturer of smartphones. We want to achieve the same status in IT hardware, such as laptops, servers and tablets. The PLI scheme is part of this mission. We are happy that the scheme has been well-received by the industry. We want the big IT companies to manufacture their products in India and export them from here. This will create opportunities for jobs and investments
After rumours, Samsung has officially started its Android 14-based One UI 6 beta update starting with the Galaxy S23 series in India and few more countries such as Poland and UK, and it rolled out in the US, Germany and South Korea a few weeks back.

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.

How to join One UI 6 Beta Program?

To join the One UI 6 Beta Program, Samsung Galaxy S23 series owners in India can register for the beta program via the Samsung Members app. There is a large banner in the app which you can click to apply. Samsung asks users to back up important data, and says that some features might not work in some apps since its still in beta.

Stable One UI 6 update based on Android 14 is expected in October. Since the Galaxy S23 series has received the beta, we can expect the S22 series and the Z Fold and Z Flip series to join in the next few weeks.
HONOR unveiled new foldable devices at IFA 2023 with the theme Unfold Tomorrow. One of them is the HONOR Magic V2. They plan to release it worldwide soon. HONOR also introduced a unique concept device called the HONOR V Purse, named because it resembles a handbag.

HONOR V Purse

The V Purse is a bit unusual as it folds outward. Huawei had a similar design with the 2019 Mate X. It has a large outer display that covers the phone when folded, creating a smoother surface.

The V Purse transforms the foldable phone into a fashion statement with customizable always-on displays that mimic a handbags look, complete with chains, feathers, and tassels that move with the phone. You can also change its straps and wear it like a regular purse or handbag.

To unfold the display, theres a small button. The HONOR V Purse is thinner than Huaweis Mate Xs and Mate Xs 2, measuring less than 9 mm when folded, making it 20% slimmer than Huaweis efforts and 10.1% thinner than the Magic V2.

HONOR designed the V Purse with sustainability in mind, using vegan leather for its straps and promoting a fashion style that lasts longer. This can help environmentally conscious consumers reduce fast fashion consumption.

HONOR didnt provide many hardware details, since this is not meant for mass production. Whether it will be available to the public remains uncertain, as previous concept devices took a long time to become reality.

Collaborative Design for HONORs AODs

HONOR has partnered with creative talents, including BURBERRYs Bram Van Diepen and contemporary artist Yunuene Esparza, to design custom Always-On Displays (AODs) for their devices.

This collaboration aims to infuse fashion into technology. In the next phase, HONOR will open its API interface to emerging designers worldwide, allowing them to create innovative designs using sensors like gyroscope and touch, shaping future lifestyle trends.

HONOR Magic V2 Unveiled Globally

At IFA 2023, HONOR revealed its flagship foldable phone, the HONOR Magic V2, globally. It brings significant improvements in design, battery life, display quality, and user experience.

Despite its advanced features, its remarkably light at 231g and impressively thin at 9.9mm, thanks to careful design and manufacturing.

However, the company has not yet disclosed the global release date or pricing for the HONOR Magic V2.

HONOR 90 Gets a New Color

HONOR announced that the HONOR 90 has received the Best Buy Smartphone 2023-2024 award from the Expert Imaging and Sound Association (EISA). To celebrate this achievement, HONOR is launching a stylish Peacock Blue color option for the HONOR 90, available worldwide.

The HONOR 90 was initially launched in European markets, including the UK, in July. This smartphone boasts a powerful 200MP Main Camera and an eye-comfort technology-equipped Quad-Curved Floating display.

It will launch in India in September.

Speaking at the IFA 2023 event, George Zhao, CEO of HONOR, said:
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. We sailed from Seattle in the blazing sunshine of a late July afternoon. After nearly two days at sea, we made our first landfall at Juneau, Alaska's capital city. Within which huge national forest, the largest in the US, is Juneau situated?



Answer: Tongass



Our northward route took us along the coast of Vancouver Island, then past the Haida Gwaii - formerly known as Queen Charlotte Islands - reaching Juneau on a cool, cloudy afternoon. The capital of Alaska since 1906, Juneau lies in the Alaska Panhandle - a remote, breathtakingly beautiful area sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Home to around 31,000 people - though occupying a land area larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined - the city is part of the Tongass National Forest, the largest of the few temperate rainforests left in the world.



Established in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt, the forest covers a sizable portion of southeast Alaska: with an area of 16.7 million acres (26,100 sq mi/68,000 km), it is almost as large as the Eurasian country of Georgia. The US's second-largest national forest, Humboldt-Toyabe (California and Nevada), is less than half the size of Tongass. Inhabited by many unique and protected animal species, Tongass National Forest mainly consists of tall conifers (Sitka spruce, western red cedar, and western hemlock); it includes 19 designated wilderness areas, meant to be preserved in their natural state.



The three national forests listed as incorrect answers are located in Washington (Olympic), California (Tahoe), and Oregon (Klamath).

2. Juneau is known for having no road connections to the rest of North America. What is the reason for this state of affairs?



Answer: the city is surrounded by mountains and ice fields



Juneau's dramatic landscape of steep, densely forested mountains and numerous bodies of water comes at a price. Because of the extensive ice fields that lie north and east of the city, on the border with British Columbia, building road connections with the rest of North America is problematic to say the least. This means that the city, though mostly located on the mainland, can only be reached by air or sea - as if it were an island. A segment of Alaska Route 7 (which consists of four unconnected pieces of road serving various communities in the Panhandle), known as Glacier Highway, runs north from Juneau's ferry terminal at Auke Bay to a dead end after about 45 mi (72 km).



About 30 glaciers have their source in the Juneau Icefield, including the Mendenhall Glacier (about 12 mi/19 km from downtown Juneau) and the Taku Glacier, the largest in the ice field, located southeast of the city. Sadly, both glaciers - and the whole of the icefield - have been in retreat for at least two centuries. The photo was taken on our excursion to Mendenhall Glacier in the afternoon of 1 August. We did not have enough time to reach Nugget Falls, which lies almost next to the glacier, but even from a distance the view of the majestic, blue-tinged river of ice was breathtaking.



Although the whole of Alaska is earthquake-prone, that is definitely not the main reason for not building roads in Juneau. While there are financial and environmental concerns about any road construction projects in a region with large, protected areas of wilderness, the area's unique geography is the primary reason for Juneau's isolation.

3. Walking through the magnificent Alaskan forests, we were treated to the sight of many beautiful wildflowers - including what tiny but lovely flower, Alaska's floral emblem?



Alpine forget-me-not



With its cool and wet climate, southeast Alaska is home to a rich and diverse flora, particularly abundant in its vast wilderness areas, but also nearer to human habitation. The Tongass National Forest is an ideal environment for observing the myriad plant species that grow in the region. Thought the eye of the visitor will first be attracted to the towering trunks and spreading canopy of the conifers, beneath those massive trees a wealth of smaller trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants - as well as mosses, lichens, and fungi - are thriving.



One such plant is Alaska's official state flower, the Alpine forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris), a perennial that - as its name implies - grows well in moist, mountainous areas. Native to Alaska and other cool regions of the Northern Hemisphere, it grows abundantly throughout the state from June to September - its tiny, sky-blue flowers, arranged in small clumps, blooming in the shadow of the majestic old-growth trees. The Alpine forget-me-not was designated as Alaska's official flower in 1949, ten years before Alaska became the 49th state of the Union: it was thought to represent the perseverance of the pioneers that settled in the beautiful, rugged territory. The photo was taken in the woods around Mendenhall Glacier.



The three flowering plants listed as wrong choices are also found in Alaska's meadows and forests. Answer:With its cool and wet climate, southeast Alaska is home to a rich and diverse flora, particularly abundant in its vast wilderness areas, but also nearer to human habitation. The Tongass National Forest is an ideal environment for observing the myriad plant species that grow in the region. Thought the eye of the visitor will first be attracted to the towering trunks and spreading canopy of the conifers, beneath those massive trees a wealth of smaller trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants - as well as mosses, lichens, and fungi - are thriving.One such plant is Alaska's official state flower, the Alpine forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris), a perennial that - as its name implies - grows well in moist, mountainous areas. Native to Alaska and other cool regions of the Northern Hemisphere, it grows abundantly throughout the state from June to September - its tiny, sky-blue flowers, arranged in small clumps, blooming in the shadow of the majestic old-growth trees. The Alpine forget-me-not was designated as Alaska's official flower in 1949, ten years before Alaska became the 49th state of the Union: it was thought to represent the perseverance of the pioneers that settled in the beautiful, rugged territory. The photo was taken in the woods around Mendenhall Glacier.The three flowering plants listed as wrong choices are also found in Alaska's meadows and forests.

4. The visit to Glacier Bay was one of the highlights of our cruise, in particular the time we spent admiring the stunning Margerie Glacier from various angles. What name is given to this type of glacier, which looks like a river of ice?



Answer: tidewater glacier



Located west of Juneau, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve was established in December 1980 by President Jimmy Carter as an expansion of the national monument proclaimed in 1925 by President Calvin Coolidge. The Park was also designated by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve (1986) and a World Heritage Site (1992).



Though called a bay, Glacier Bay is a long fjord with deeply indented coasts surrounded by high mountain ranges - notably the Saint Elias Mountains on the US-Canada border. As its name suggests, the Park contains a total of 1,045 glaciers. Eight of them are tidewater glaciers, which carve their way through mountains to reach the ocean, where their front fractures into icebergs - a process called calving. Named after French geologist Emmanuel de Margerie, the Margerie Glacier flows for 21 mi (34 km) from the slopes of Mount Root, a mountain in the Fairweather Range of the Saint Elias Mountains. While most of the other glaciers in the Park are receding at a dramatic rate, the Margerie Glacier is considered stable.



The photo was taken in the early afternoon of 2 August, when the ship stopped for some time in front of the glacier to allow passengers to view it from relatively close up. Only a limited number of cruise ships are granted access to Glacier Bay. The slow progress of our ship through the eerily calm, deep green waters - littered with growlers (small icebergs), added to the almost otherworldly feel of the experience.The weather was cloudy, drizzly and chilly as you would expect in such a place: we took photos from the deck, wrapped in warm woolen blankets. When we were close to the glacier, we heard the thunderous noise of the calving ice - an unforgettable moment.



A cirque glacier, as its name suggests, is formed in a bowl-shaped depression, usually on the side of a mountain.

5. Later in the day we headed to Icy Strait Point, a small tourist port on Chichagof Island. This large island is part of what archipelago, named for a 19th-century monarch?



Answer: Alexander Archipelago



Named for Tsar Alexander II of Russia, the Alexander Archipelago is a 300-mile (480-km) long chain of islands that is part of the Alaska Panhandle. There are about 1,000 islands in the archipelago, some of which are quite large. Prince of Wales Island and Chichagof Island, the chain's southernmost and northernmost islands, are respectively the fourth and fifth largest islands in the US. All the islands in the Alexander Archipelago are the tops of submerged mountains, separated from each other by deep channels and fjords. With their rugged terrain and dense forest cover, these islands harbour a wide variety of wildlife species, some of them endemic.



Chichagof Island, named for a Russian explorer, is separated from the mainland by the Icy Strait; Glacier Bay lies directly to the north. Icy Strait Point, located at the northern tip of the island, is a destination for cruise ships owned by a group of Alaskan Natives, most of which reside in the community of Hoonah. The area is a prime spot for whale-watching and other wildlife sightings. We arrived there in the early evening. The photo was taken during our excursion to the Spasski River Valley - one of the most magical places I have ever visited, especially so close to the twilight hour.



The three island groups listed as wrong answers are all located in the North Pacific Ocean. The Pribilof Islands and most of the Aleutian Islands are also part of Alaska, while the Eugenie Archipelago belongs to Russia.

6. One of Alaska's greatest attractions is its rich wildlife, including bears. What bear species is particularly abundant on Chichagof Island?



Answer: coastal brown bear



Chichagof Island boasts the world's highest concentration of bears: they outnumber the rather sparse local population by four to one. While southeast Alaska is also home to the American black bear (polar bears are found in the far north of the state), the so-called ABC (Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof) Islands of the Alexander Archipelago are brown bear country. About 70% of the brown bear population of the US live in Alaska. Spectacled bears, on the other hand, are the only bears found in South America.



There is some confusion as to the naming of the Alaskan brown bear populations. Though brown bears in North America are often called grizzlies (a name first used by Lewis and Clark with the spelling "grisley"), the name generally denotes those that live inland - such as the brown bears found in Yellowstone National Park. The brown bears of the Alaska Panhandle, which feed primarily on salmon, are often referred to as coastal brown bears, and are larger than those that live further east - though not as large as Kodiak bears. Interestingly, it has been discovered that the brown bears of the ABC Islands are genetically related to polar bears.



As the sign in the photo (taken on Baranof Island) indicates, anyone hiking in the Alaskan woods has to take the presence of bears - which are unpredictable, and can react aggressively if they feel threatened - into account. During our excursion on Chichagof Island, one of our two guides was a young woman carrying a firearm, while the other had a can of bear spray at hand.

7. Founded by Russian explorers in 1799 with the name of New Archangelsk, Sitka was capital of Russian America from 1808 to 1867. Which of these facts about Sitka is NOT true?



Answer: it can be reached by highway



The city-borough of Sitka (from Tlingit "Sheet'ka") encompasses an area of 2,870.06 sq mi (7,433.42 km2) split between the west side of Baranof Island and the south half of Chichagof Island. In spite of its sparse population of about 8,400, it is the largest incorporated city in the US - about four times the size of Rhode Island, the Union's smallest state. Located at a latitude of 5703'N, it has a cool, wet oceanic climate, with relatively mild, snowy winters and moderate, generally pleasant summers.



Being situated on two islands in the Pacific Ocean, Sitka is only accessible by boat or aircraft. Cars are almost redundant there, as there are only 14 miles (23 km) of road that go from one end of the island to the other. Everything is within walking distance in the city's compact centre, and bicycles and public transportation are also frequently used. A busy seaport during Russian rule, Sitka is now a popular tourist destination; a sizable part of the city's population also works in fishing and seafood processing.



Sitka boasts 22 buildings and sites featured in the National Register of Historic Places - including St Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral (on whose steeple a bald eagle was perching when we were in town), the Sitka Pioneer Home (now an assisted living facility), and the Russian Bishop's House. The majestic Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), one of the world's tallest trees, was named after the city, in whose area it grows abundantly; it was adopted as Alaska's state tree in 1962.

8. This beautiful totem carving can be admired in the visitor centre at Sitka National Historical Park. This and other equally stunning artifacts on display there were created by what indigenous people of southeast Alaska?



Tlingit



The name Tlingit means "people of the tides" in the language spoken by these indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Historically, the Tlingit occupied most of the Alaska Panhandle, from the border with British Columbia to the eastern coast of the Gulf of Alaska. Unlike the Native American peoples of the lower 48 states, they do not live in bounded reservations, but are spread throughout their original homeland, owning the houses and land they inhabit. According to genetic analyses, they share ancestors with the Ainu people of northern Japan.



While originally hunter-gatherers, now most Tlingit work in the fishing and canning industry, or practice their traditional crafts, such as weaving, wood carving, and basket-making. The Tlingit have a rich culture that emphasizes family and kinship - embodied by their elaborately carved and painted totem poles, which can be admired in various settlements in the Alaska Panhandle. Sitka, the old capital of Alaska, is one of the main hubs of Tlingit culture. The impressive Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi, or Tribal Community House - a gorgeous wooden building that hosts dancing and singing performances based on Tlingit legends (one of which we were able to attend as part of our shore excursion) - is located in the city centre. The Sitka National Historical Park, located at the mouth of the Indian River (a favourite place for salmon to spawn), houses a remarkable collection of Tlingit and Haida totem poles. Most of those kept outside are replicas, while the originals are kept in protective storage.



The Inuit (also known as Eskimo) are a group of indigenous peoples that inhabit parts of northern Alaska, as well as Greenland and northern Canada, while the Seminole are found in Florida and Oklahoma, and the Mohawk in southeastern Canada and northern New York state. Answer:The name Tlingit means "people of the tides" in the language spoken by these indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Historically, the Tlingit occupied most of the Alaska Panhandle, from the border with British Columbia to the eastern coast of the Gulf of Alaska. Unlike the Native American peoples of the lower 48 states, they do not live in bounded reservations, but are spread throughout their original homeland, owning the houses and land they inhabit. According to genetic analyses, they share ancestors with the Ainu people of northern Japan.While originally hunter-gatherers, now most Tlingit work in the fishing and canning industry, or practice their traditional crafts, such as weaving, wood carving, and basket-making. The Tlingit have a rich culture that emphasizes family and kinship - embodied by their elaborately carved and painted totem poles, which can be admired in various settlements in the Alaska Panhandle. Sitka, the old capital of Alaska, is one of the main hubs of Tlingit culture. The impressive Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi, or Tribal Community House - a gorgeous wooden building that hosts dancing and singing performances based on Tlingit legends (one of which we were able to attend as part of our shore excursion) - is located in the city centre. The Sitka National Historical Park, located at the mouth of the Indian River (a favourite place for salmon to spawn), houses a remarkable collection of Tlingit and Haida totem poles. Most of those kept outside are replicas, while the originals are kept in protective storage.The Inuit (also known as Eskimo) are a group of indigenous peoples that inhabit parts of northern Alaska, as well as Greenland and northern Canada, while the Seminole are found in Florida and Oklahoma, and the Mohawk in southeastern Canada and northern New York state.

9. We reached Ketchikan early in the morning - our last stop in Alaska before heading south. Known as the Salmon Capital of the World, until the end of the 20th century it was home to what thriving industry, based on a plentiful local resource?



Answer: lumber



Ketchikan is located close to the US-Canada border, at the southern tip of the Inside Passage - the maritime route that weaves through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast, connecting the Gulf of Alaska with Puget Sound. Named after the creek that flows through the town - a prime spot for salmon spawning - Ketchikan is located on Revillagigedo Island, one of the southernmost islands of the Alexander Archipelago. The city is arranged along the waterfront as a long, narrow strip, surrounded by densely forested mountains. The offices of the US Forest Services that manage Tongass National Forest are headquartered there.



Incorporated in 1900, Ketchikan is also known as Alaska's first city. It is one of the wettest cities in the US, though its climate is rather mild, moderated by its maritime location even during the winter. For most of the 20th century, the city's economy revolved around logging and forestry. The picturesque Creek Street, a boardwalk mounted on stilts on the east side of Ketchikan Creek, was the city's red-light district in the first half of the 20th century. Most of the historic wooden houses that have been converted into museums, cafes and shops were once brothels patronized by the men who worked in fishing and logging.



Another popular tourist attraction is the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, where professional athletes perform amazing feats of strength and agility related to Alaska's logging history. After the demise of the timber industry in the late 1990s, tourism and fishing have become Ketchikan's main economic engines.

10. Another of Ketchikan's claims to fame is its collection of totem poles. The totem in the photo, an example of a shame pole, depicts which "foolish" 19th-century American politician, strongly associated with Alaska?



Answer: William H. Seward



Ketchikan boasts the world's largest collection of standing totem poles, found throughout the city and in four dedicated sites: Saxman Totem Park, Totem Bight Historical Park, Potlatch Park, and the Totem Heritage Center. The latter houses a sizable collection of unrestored 19th-century totem poles recovered from abandoned Tlingit, Tsimshian and Haida settlements.



Located in the town of the same name, just southeast of Ketchikan, Saxman Totem Park is a fascinating place, where tall, brightly painted totem poles loom among the dense vegetation. Established in 1938, the site also includes the striking Beaver Clan House, which hosts song and dance performances. Probably the most famous of the 25 totems housed at Saxman Park is the Seward shame pole, carved as a caricature of Secretary of State William H. Seward, responsible for purchasing Alaska (then nicknamed "Seward's Folly") from Russia in 1867. Originally carved in 1885, the pole was meant to ridicule the controversial politician's stinginess in not reciprocating the hospitality received by the Tlingit, who in 1869 had organized a potlatch (gift-giving feast) in his honour. The pole that we saw (shown in the photo) was carved in 2017 by Tlingit artist Stephen Jackson.



Totem carving is still practiced today by Native Alaskans, and at Saxman we were able to see a totem that was being worked on. However, the heyday of totem pole carving in southeast Alaska coincided with the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries, when the fur trade brought prosperity to the inhabitants of the region, encouraging them to record their history through those stunning creations. Unfortunately, totems are short-lived, as the massive tree trunks into which they are carved - as well as the colours used by the carvers - are subjected to decay, especially in the region's wet climate.

Source: Author LadyNym This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
Getting a noise control complaint at your flat is a checkpoint one must pass through before getting on with Kiwi life. In Spain though, one man took it too far and has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for terrorising his neighbours over five years by blasting EDM music.
Samsung Galaxy A05 Surfaces on Google Play Console: Check Specs, Render News oi -Kabir Jain

Samsung is gearing up to launch a new entry-level smartphone called the Galaxy A05. The device has been spotted on the Google Play Console, revealing some of its key specifications.

Samsung Galaxy A05: Specifications

The Galaxy A05 will feature a waterdrop notch display, a small cutout located at the screen's top center to accommodate the front-facing camera. The display is expected to deliver HD+ resolution, measuring 720 x 1600 pixels.

Driving the smartphone's performance is MediaTek's Helio G85 SoC, an octa-core processor clocked at up to 2.0 GHz. This processor will be combined with a maximum of 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage.

Out of the box, the Galaxy A05 will run Android 13 with Samsung's OneUI interface layered on top. Its rear will house a dual-camera setup, comprising a 50MP primary sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. For selfies, an 8MP front camera will be available.

Anticipated to house a 5000mAh battery, the smartphone will also feature a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and a USB-C port.

Although Samsung has yet to officially announce the Galaxy A05, its release is expected in the upcoming weeks as the device has received a couple of certifications and now has made an appearance in the Google Play Console.

Samsung Galaxy A04 Recap

The Galaxy A05 is set to replace the Galaxy A04. To recollect, the Galaxy A04 comes with a 6.5-inch PLS LCD screen with HD+ resolution. It boasts a 60Hz refresh rate and a pixel density of 270 PPI.

Beneath the surface, the phone is driven by an octa-core Helio P35 System on Chip (SoC), coupled with 4GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The device features a dual-camera setup with a 50MP primary lens, a 5MP front camera, 4G VoLTE compatibility, and a 5,000mAh battery. The price of the device in India is set at Rs 11,999.

The Galaxy A05 is looking to be a budget-friendly smartphone that offers decent specifications for its price. It can be a good option for those looking for a reliable and affordable phone.

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Germany Federal Foreign Office

30.08.2023 - Press release

Today (30 August) a Federal Foreign Office Spokesperson issued the following statement on the events in Gabon:

We are following events in Gabon with concern and watching the situation unfold while coordinating closely with our partners. The Federal Government's crisis unit convened today at the Federal Foreign Office. German citizens are requested to follow the Federal Foreign Office's travel and security advice and to enter their personal information in the register for emergency contact ELEFAND.

Even though criticism of the transparency and lawfulness of the recent election is justified, the military is not mandated to use violence to interfere in the political process. The people of Gabon must be able to decide their future freely in a spirit of self-determination.
NPS Research on Coast Guard Icebreaker to Enhance Arctic Readiness

US Navy

30 August 2023

From Naval Postgraduate School Public Affairs

MONTEREY, Calif. -- During a seven-week Arctic transit aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB 20), researchers from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) will study the impact of the extreme environment on crew performance and potential mitigations, as well as advanced Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies in adverse sea conditions.

The studies, which commenced with Healy's departure from Kodiak, Alaska on Aug. 26, will be led by principal investigator Dr. Nita Shattuck, a professor in the NPS Operations Research (OR) department. Shattuck's research leverages her years of studying crew performance for the U.S. Navy - work which has led to significant changes in policy for shipboard watch bills to maximize cognitive and physical readiness and safety at sea.

"Operations at extreme latitudes are incredibly challenging for crewmembers of both Coast Guard and U.S. Navy ships," said Shattuck. "The conditions faced by Coast Guardsmen on the Healy make it especially difficult to achieve healthy sleep. Icebreaking and isolation pose additional risks."

The journey will be north of the Arctic Circle for much of the scheduled voyage, and will conclude in Troms, Norway later this fall. Shattuck will be accompanied by the Defense Innovation Unit's (DIU) Chief Medical Officer, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Niels Olson. DIU supplied much of the technology being used in the study, and Olson is the lead medical advisor for the project, also helping with data collection, analysis, and reporting. In addition, NPS' Consortium for Additive Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) installed an Amos01 3D printer instrumented with a data acquisition system to measure at sea conditions for analyzing print quality and ship movement, which also supports Shattuck's research.

According to Shattuck, conditions expected during the Healy's transit through the Arctic include near-constant daylight, numerous time zone changes, extreme cold, and a punishing physical environment. As operations in the Arctic increase, U.S. Navy ships will experience similar challenges, and the lessons learned from this research are expected to translate to naval applications in future ship designs and concepts of operation.

Homeported in Seattle, Wash., Healy is the largest vessel in the Coast Guard and the United States' most technologically-advanced icebreaker. Healy also serves as a research platform, and several other researchers will be on the trans-polar voyage. Shalane Regan is the Chief Research Engineer for USCG Research and Development Center (RDC) and aboard the Healy as Chief Scientist, overseeing several research efforts while underway.

"We have nearly 20 research projects on board ranging from Arctic environmental studies to tests of novel international search and rescue technologies, supported by researchers with equally diverse backgrounds and expertise," said Regan. "It's great to have NPS aboard, and Dr. Shattuck's research is unique in that it is the only project working with the Healy's crew to understand the direct impacts of the Arctic environment on crew performance, and how changes to daily routines and technologies can enhance overall effectiveness and safety. This research is deeply relevant to the U.S. Coast Guard as we work to ensure our crews can operate at their peak performance and sharpen our competitive edge."

To study the effects of these conditions on a ship's crew at sea, Shattuck and her team will collect physiological data from the Healy's crew members. Using innovative wearable technology, they will continuously monitor physiological processes such as sleep, heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration, oxygen saturation, and skin temperature. Study participants indicate that the rings are an improvement over wrist-worn wearables. The team will also use other sensors to monitor ambient light, noise levels, motion, and vibration aboard the ship.

"These technologies are invaluable and give us the ability to continually monitor sleep and other physiological indicators of health for prolonged periods," Shattuck said. "The results will allow us to provide recommendations for improving shipboard habitability and enhance warfighter readiness."

The Crew Endurance Team - part of NPS' Operations Research (OR) department and the Human Systems Integration program - plans to use the data to better understand the sleep and circadian patterns of crewmembers in austere environments and their effects on mood, morale, and overall health. While NPS students were not able to make the seven-week voyage, the data will be used by NPS students in their thesis and capstone projects to provide recommendations for improving overall shipboard habitability, designing better berthing compartments, and enhancing ship designs.

Similarly, NPS Research Associate David Dausen from the CAMRE team, based in NPS' Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, has students engaged with the Amos01 3D printer on board, including preparations for the system to go aboard, analyzing the performance data, and collaborating with CAMRE partners to send part designs to the ship for real-world verification.

Shattuck and her team have been conducting human performance research around the world for more than 20 years. Under ongoing research efforts, the team is currently monitoring more than 300 Sailors and Marines worldwide using wearable technologies. The research findings from Shattuck and her team have set the foundation for changes to the U.S. Navy's "Comprehensive Crew Endurance Management Policy," signed off by Commanders of Naval Surface Force Pacific and Atlantic. This policy fundamentally changes crew watch standing practices and mandates circadian-based watch bills with crew rest requirements similar to those for aircrews. The submarine community has also applied the lessons learned to have circadian-based watch bills.

"Better sleep is linked to improvements in memory, alertness, concentration, performance, and positive emotions," Shattuck says. "Chronic poor sleep practices can lead to an inability to sleep normally, also called circadian scarring. While we can train our service members in procedures, tactics, and even how to cope with stress, our warfighters require quality sleep to maintain peak effectiveness for various tasks."

One of the new tasks envisioned is the 3D printing of parts at sea, especially in austere or contested environments where supply chains are limited. The Amos01 3D printer aboard the Healy was developed by the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific; its data acquisition system is being tested aboard other U.S. Navy ships, but this is the first Arctic voyage to test the system aboard an icebreaker. The accelerometers installed on the 3D printer record roll, pitch and yaw and other environmental factors to determine how these conditions affect not just the printer's overall component quality, but the operator's performance.

"We are using the CAMRE 3D printer data to correlate with our physiological data. Ship's motion and vibration are recorded by the system, which is crucial for our research," said Shattuck. "It's a good example of how NPS researchers from completely different fields collaborate in complementary and innovative ways on solutions for the sea services."

The NPS research aboard the Healy leverages a long-standing partnership with USCG RDC and is a collaborative effort between NPS, the Coast Guard, DIU, and CAMRE - enabled in part by the U.S. Tri-Service Maritime Strategy, which encourages greater integration amongst the sea services (Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard) in training, capabilities, and capacity.

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Continuing Promise 2023 Concludes in Santa Marta, Colombia

US Navy

30 August 2023

From Lt.j.g. Nickolas West, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command / U.S. 4th Fleet

SANTA MARTA, Colombia -- The Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship, USNS Burlington (T-EPF 10), completed its second stop in Santa Marta, Colombia, Aug. 30, 2023 in support of the Continuing Promise 2023 (CP23) mission.

The Continuing Promise 2023 team worked collectively with participating host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase security and stability in the region, and foster new and enduring friendships in Caribbean, Central and South American region. Throughout the remainder of Continuing Promise 2023, the Burlington will visit Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada. The Burlington will bring a medical engagement team to each mission stop to provide some direct patient care in community clinics and through host nation medical facilities. The team includes veterinarians who will work with animals in the host nation, biomedical technicians, Navy Seabees who will conduct small engineering projects, and the U.S. Fleet Forces Navy Band Detachment, which will entertain people through school visits and concerts.

During Burlington's stop in Santa Marta, medical personnel saw more than 3,800 patients, including the administration of over 850 vaccinations, and the distribution of more than 7,500 prescriptions. The medical team also participated in 55 subject matter expert exchanges. The veterinarian team delivered medical treatment to over 200 animals and conducted multiple trainings with local K9 law enforcement entities. CP23 conducted a two day workshop for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and shared in Women, Peace and Security initiative events. U.S. Navy Biomedical Equipment Repair team also worked alongside Colombian military personnel to repair over $200,000 worth of medical equipment. The U.S. Fleet Forces Band hosted three performances and seven engagements in Santa Marta, Colombia to over 1,600 people. The U.S. Navy Seabees worked to repaint a local school and hospital culminating a total of 180 man hours.

"The experiences we've shared have enriched our understanding of each other's medical practices, cultures, and ways of life." said CDR Charles Castevens, Continuing Promise 2023 Mission Commander. "The knowledge and insights gained from working alongside Colombia's medical professionals within local communities will undoubtedly serve as stepping stones towards a brighter and healthier tomorrow for all of us."

Continuing Promise 2023 marks the 13th mission to the region since 2007 and the first involving USNS Burlington. The mission will also foster goodwill, strengthen existing partnerships with partner nations, and encourage the establishment of new partnerships among countries, non-government organizations, and international organizations.

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet supports U.S. Southern Command's joint and combined military operations by employing maritime forces in cooperative maritime security operations to maintain access, enhance interoperability, and build enduring partnerships in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American region.

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2nd Infantry Division Soldiers test new Army command post tech

By Jacqueline Howard, Test Officer, Mission Command Test Directorate, U.S. Army Operational Test Command August 31, 2023

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- Soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord are testing new gear that aims to achieve the Army's top priority in communications  to reduce its command post battlefield footprint while improving mobility and agility.

Under development in two increments, termed Increment 0 and Increment 1, Soldiers of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team "Ghost," 2nd Infantry Division, are testing Inc. 0 of the Command Post Integrated Infrastructure, or CPI2.

Maj. Joseph Brown, brigade fire support officer, and lead planner for the exercise and test, said, "CPI2 is intended to provide the Army a more survivable mission command platform."

Brown said it is important for combat units like his to be able to tear down move, and stand up their capabilities rapidly.

"If it functions the way it is intended," he said. "Brigades will consume less time in transitions and the improved survivability makes our C2 structure more resilient to enemy attack."

"Soldiers are exercising the CPI2 by conducting real-world missions in an operational environment," said Mr. Beresford Doherty, test officer with the U.S. Army Operational Test Command, based at Fort Cavazos, Texas.

"Nine production representative vehicles are being tested under simulated combat operations," he added.

According to its website, Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communication Tactical at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, CPI2 is currently executing multiple phases of prototyping, integration, and experimentation.

Doherty said CPI2 will replace the dated Command Post Tent System with a family of more mobile systems.

"One of the most important elements of the test is Army Soldier feedback of how the CPI2 performs in support of their mission," Doherty said.

"Soldier feedback and lessons learned during Inc. 0 will inform Inc. 1, which expands upon product lines with an additional mix of military vehicle platforms, including armored vehicles, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and Medium Tactical Vehicles," he added.

Sgt. 1st Class Austin Bradford, brigade help desk NCOIC said, "So far it's been pretty good, we've run into some issues, but I think as we work things out it's going to get better and faster."

Platoon Leader 2nd Lt. Cassie Daly, working out of the brigade's tactical action center, seemed excited about the overall set up of the "expando" vehicles and quick connection capabilities.

"It's been cool to see the attachments to the S3, or our attachments to the BDE S6 and other S shops that are fielding these new expandos," she said.

"The coolest part is that they can connect the services we provide through wireless, verses through fiber, across the battlefield. And just the whole set up of the expando is like a mini conference room."

According to Mr. Robert Potter, chief of Mission Command at the U.S. Army Evaluation Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, data points collected during the test will be used to assess operational effectiveness, suitability, and survivability of CPI2, as well as any effects across the Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel and Facility domains.



About the U.S. Army Operational Test Command:

As the Army's only independent operational tester, OTC tests Army, joint, multi-service, and multi-domain warfighting systems in realistic operational environments; using skilled Soldiers to provide data on whether the systems are effective, suitable, and survivable. OTC is required by public law to test major systems before they are fielded to its ultimate customer  the American Soldier.

OTC's Mission Command Test Directorate plans, conducts, and reports on independent operational tests, assessments, experiments and rapid initiatives of Enterprise and Tactical Mission Command systems to provide essential information for the decision-making process for acquisition and fielding.

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Resilient Sky 2023: Czech Air Force launches key national air defence exercise

Ministry of Defence & Armed Forces of the Czech Republic

31.8.2023

Author: Zuzana SEKANINOVA

The two-week home air defence exercise Resilient Sky has kicked off. It will verify and enhance operations planning and control and the very command and control systems through the involvement of more than four hundred service members from all units of the Czech Air Force with dozens of air assets and ground vehicles. It will also see the participation of the national Integrated Emergency System that comprises of the blue light services.

The Resilient Sky tests the Czech National Reinforcement Air Defence System activated for the protection of the Czech Republic's airspace in crises or emergencies, which was the case in the wake of 9/11, in the course of the Prague NATO Summit in 2002 and when the New START treaty was signed in Prague. It involves other aircraft, airbase and air defencecommand posts, radars as well as air defence and passive surveillance systems.

"The primary objective is to enhance skills and abilities of all units and staffs assigned for the National Reinforcement Air Defence System in performance of a broad spectrum of missions with specific focus on tactical flying, counter-air operations by the ground based air defence, airlift, close air support, ISR and vertical integration of operational and tactical echelons plus planning and realisation of COMAO type of operations," says Czech Air Force Commander Major General Petr Cepelka.

In this year's edition of Resilient Sky, units will rehearse defence of the Caslav airbase and the Temelin Nuclear Power Plant. One of the key tasks will be the performance of an air manoeuvre by a helicopter squadron and setting up a Forward Arming and Refuelling Point (FARP) with adequate force protection.

According to General Cepelka, the exercise will verify the capability to control all units under national command anddeconflict NATO operations possibly affecting the Czech Republic's airspace. "The Czech Air Force Command assigns and reinforces the 261st Control and Reporting Centre, which is a unit reporting to the 26th Command, Control and Surveillance Regiment. The CRC plays a critical part - it isthe brain of the whole exercise, which provides command and control. Called the Air National Component Centre, it is activated in contingencies", Czech Air Force Commander MG Cepelka expanded.

The first week will train L-159 aircrews, and CRC/SAMOC plus ANCC staffs. The second week will verify the functioning of the whole Czech Air Force command and control system.

"Protection of our homeland territory is the priority we exercise for - and we seek to be the best in what we do. We learn from mistakes and respond to the situation in NATO's Eastern Flank. At the same time, we are proving that our abilities to plan, support and coordinate all types of NATO scenarios are up to requirements. Immediately upon the Resilient Sky 2023, exercise Ample Strike Lite (AMSE23)will follow to hone the skills of our Joint Terminal Attack Controllers," said MG Cepelka.

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August 31, 2023

Release

Statement by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Marking Two Years Since the End of the Afghanistan War

As we mark two years since the conclusion of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, we salute the valor, patriotism, and selflessness of the American service members and civilians who fought and served there over the course of 20 years.

Throughout America's longest war, our troops showed great courage and compassion. My thoughts today are with all of the brave Americans who answered the call to duty after al-Qaeda's terrorists attacked Americaincluding the Pentagon itselfon September 11, 2001. We bow our heads today in memory of the 2,461 U.S. service members who never made it home, including the 13 courageous troops taken from us in the attack at Abbey Gate in the final hours of the war. We also remember the hundreds of service members from allied and partner countries who lost their lives during this 20-year war. And we honor the more than 20,000 Americans who were injured waging war in Afghanistan, including many who still bear wounds that are not visible.

In the war's final days, the United States, along with our allies and partners, safely evacuated more than 124,000 civilians from Afghanistan, in the midst of the pandemic and in the teeth of danger. In recognition of teams that operated and excelled under these difficult and dangerous conditions, I am proud to announce the approval of the Presidential Unit Citation for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command, and Joint Task Force 82 of the 82nd Airborne Division and its supporting units.

We remain deeply committed to supporting the Afghan allies who fought by our sides and to helping those who are now building new lives outside their troubled homeland. We will continue to push to help resettle our Afghan allies, and I am proud that we have welcomed more than 115,000 Afghans who stood by our side to the United States over the past two years.

Today, our hearts and our prayers are with the brave Americans who volunteered to keep our country safe, with the Gold Star families whose loved ones fell in Afghanistan, with the military families who endured so much over those two decades, and with the veterans who still carry the memories and the scars of war. The war in Afghanistan is over, but our gratitude to the Americans who fought it is unending.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3511814/

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August 31, 2023

By C. Todd Lopez , DOD News

DOD Finance Chief Says Delayed Budgets Present a Challenge

Last year, the Defense Department's financial management community demonstrated remarkable agility in developing four supplemental budgets  an unprecedented feat  in addition to DOD's regular, baseline budget.

Those supplemental budgets supported: Operation Allies Welcome, the federal government's efforts to resettle Afghans; work at the Red Hill fuel storage site in Hawaii; an array of natural disasters; and Ukraine defense.

During DOD's recent financial management conference, Michael McCord, undersecretary of defense comptroller and chief financial officer, remarked that the effort demonstrated the ability of DOD's financial management community to meet the needs of the National Defense Strategy.

"The National Defense Strategy outlines our security priorities, defending the homeland, paced to the ... growing threat posed by the People's Republic of China across many domains  from cyber to nuclear weapons," McCord said.

The NDS also paints Russia as an acute threat, McCord said, and asks the department to deter strategic attacks against the U.S., its allies and partners and to be prepared to prevail in conflict, especially in the Indo-Pacific theater. All of that, he said, demands a remarkable level of agility from agencies within the department, including those in the financial management community.

"Last year, as an example of that agility and responsiveness, we had four supplementals in one calendar year," McCord said. "I've never seen that before  four [in] a year. All of them were done quickly and with broad support from Congress. It speaks to that broad support for what we're doing. And it also illustrates our need to be agile and our ability to be agile in our [financial management] community."

In the future, McCord said, it's likely there will continue to be more opportunities, such as with Ukraine, for the financial management community to step up to unexpected requirements. There will be more opportunities for the financial management community to continue to demonstrate its agility, he said.

"Ukraine is not going to be the last case of emerging national commitment demanding our assistance," he said. "In fact, we're seeing them all over the place ... we have to be in a position to move quickly at all times. Conflicts and wars and crises, humanitarian crises, remain common worldwide. Along with allies across the globe, we have to continue to support freedom and human rights as we've been doing."

McCord said that while the president and Congress have increased DOD funding by $100 billion over the past two years, the timing of each budget's delivery continues to pose problems.

"Support for the top line is great," McCord said. "Timing and timeliness of that support matter just as much. One thing that is not so great is this pattern of recurring, lengthy, persistent, continuing resolutions. These negatively impact our mission."

"It's more difficult to compete  especially with China, who tends to move faster than we think [and] tends to deliver things faster than we thought they would," he said.

Part of a solution to that problem, McCord said, is increased communication with Congress  and better listening, as well.

"It's also our job to continue to help remind people and enable our service chiefs and secretaries to remind people on the harm that this dynamic does for us," he said. "And speaking of communicating, we can't succeed if we're not communicating with Congress  both our priorities and hearing their concerns, not just ... transmitting. We have to listen."

McCord said he spent several years working on Capitol Hill and is familiar with how committee work is done and of its importance.

"I have firsthand appreciation for what goes into their work and how seriously our oversight committees take their work," he said. "Open communication between the administration and the Hill is key to making our process work."

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August 31, 2023

By Jim Garamone , DOD News

DOD Remembers Afghan Vets, Details Disaster Aid, Announces Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Site

DOD leaders marked the second anniversary of the end of the war in Afghanistan today praising the valor, patriotism and courage of those who fought there and remembering those troops who died in the 20-year war.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement that the nation also honors the more than 20,000 Americans who were injured waging war in Afghanistan, including many who still bear wounds that are not visible.

Austin said the war is over, but America's gratitude to those who served "is unending."

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said DOD continues to learn lessons from America's longest war. Ryder, speaking at a press conference today, said DOD is "an organization that learns from all of our operations  to include those in Afghanistan."

Those lessons are learned in professional military education or in new tactics, techniques and procedures that service members learned the hard way in combat. The lessons are also learned in personal experience," Ryder said. "In my own experience, having served in Iraq, having served in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, every time you engage in those type of operations, you're going to learn things which you subsequently apply."

Service members continue to apply those lessons daily. "Ultimately, this is a learning organization," he said. "As a result, what you see is a U.S. military that comes out of 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, that truly makes this the most combat capable, most credible military the world has ever known for that very reason: because you have so many combat veterans in our ranks."

Ryder also briefed reporters on continuing efforts to aid the people of Maui and those hurt by Hurricane Idalia.

DOD assets continue to work closely with FEMA and Hawaiian officials to support the coordinated response to the Maui wildfires. "Joint Task Force 5-0 continues search and recovery activities with Hawaii National Guard teams, the FBI and the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency," Ryder said. The Hawaii National Guard also continues providing 24-hour support to local law enforcement."

The 25th Infantry Division has provided trucks, water tanks and water purification specialists to the effort in Maui. Also helping with this mission is the Pacific Fleets Navy Environmental Preventative Medicine Unit Six. "As we move forward, the Department of Defense will continue to support the people of Hawaii during this very challenging time," he said.

Ryder turned to the military effort to help Americans in the southeastern part of the country. "Hurricane Idalia made landfall yesterday in the Big Bend area of the Florida panhandle as a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles an hour and record-breaking storm surges," he said. "That was the strongest hurricane to strike Florida's Big Bend region in more than 125 years."

He noted the Florida National Guard is fully activated and the Joint Task Force-Florida is at full operational capacity working under the direction of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. "Joint Task Force Florida has in position 5,344 guardsmen, 2,400 high-water vehicles, 14 Army National Guard helicopters, 23 watercrafts and [Air Force] Red Horse heavy construction teams around the state to provide responsive, sustained support to reduce suffering and assist in the restoration of critical services," he said.

The storm tracked into Georgia and South Carolina and its effects were felt up the East Coast. Ryder said the North Carolina National Guard has activated 128 guardsmen and positioned them and 51 high-water vehicles and other resources at armories.

The South Carolina National Guard also has nearly 100 guardsmen on duty supporting hurricane recovery operations in that state. U.S. Northern Command is providing FEMA a federal staging area at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and has deployed a defense coordinating officer to FEMA in Tallahassee, Florida.

"DOD will remain in close coordination with FEMA, state officials and other supporting agencies as the cleanup and recovery operations continue to develop," the general said.

Finally, Ryder noted the department is launching a website on the all-domain anomaly resolution office to provide the public with information concerning the office and its efforts to understand and resolve unidentified anomalous phenomena.

This website will provide information including videos and photos on unidentified aerial phenomena "as they are declassified and approved for public release," Ryder said. "The website's other content includes reporting trends and a section of frequently asked questions, as well as links to official reports, transcripts, news releases and other resources that the public may find useful."

The office will update the website with its most recent activities and findings as new information is cleared for public release. To access the site, click here.

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China calls for peace, order to be restored in Gabon while West expresses concerns over self-interest

Global Times

Military coups show 'failure of West-promoted governance and political reforms'

By Chen Qingqing Published: Aug 31, 2023 07:51 PM Updated: Aug 31, 2023 10:15 PM

After media reported that a group of senior military officers in Gabon seized power on Wednesday, some Western countries condemned the military coup. The coup in Gabon, which comes a month after Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum was taken hostage by the troops of presidential guard, showed that the overall influence of Western countries, which have been promoting political system reforms and governance models in Africa, have largely failed, some Chinese experts said.

The West's primary concerns about the coup are not about humanitarian issues in Gabon but rather the fear that a new government that is not pro-West might take power, some experts said.

A group of senior Gabonese military officers appeared on the Gabon 24 TV station early Wednesday and announced the cancellation of the August 26 presidential election, the "end of the regime" and the dissolution of "all institutions of the Republic," France 24 reported.

The statement came shortly after the results of the presidential election were declared, which gave President Ali Bongo 64.2 percent of the vote and a third term in office, according to media reports.

The US said the situation in the African country is "deeply concerning." White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the US remains "a supporter of the people in the region, a supporter of the people of Gabon and of their demand for democratic governance," according to media reports.

France condemned the military coup in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments in the country, and reaffirmed its wish that the outcome of the election, once known, be respected, French government spokesman Olivier Veran was quoted as saying in media reports.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday that "China is closely following the developments in Gabon. We call on relevant sides in the country to proceed from the fundamental interests of the nation and the people, resolve differences peacefully through dialogue, restore order at an early date."

The Chinese Embassy in Gabon issued a consular notice on Wednesday local time, stating that due to the current situation in the country, the embassy has activated its emergency mechanism for significant unexpected incidents. It also advised all Chinese citizens in Gabon to stay at home and not venture outside.

"Elections in the African region have their uniqueness and cannot be judged solely on the surface. For example, the overthrow of Mali's president Keita in 2020, who was elected by a large majority, is a case in point," You Tao, deputy director of the research center for francophone world development at Sichuan International Studies University, told the Global Times.

The people's level of satisfaction with their lives, their assessment of good governance, and their views on social fairness are sometimes not fully expressed through elections, You said.

A fundamental reason for the coup in Gabon is primarily due to Gabon's relatively low level of governance and inefficacy in administration, Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times.

"The core of this issue is its influence from former Western colonial powers and the governance and political system reforms that the West has been pushing in Africa since the Cold War. These reforms have not laid the foundation for Africa to innately produce democracy," she said.

Thus, the West's overall promotion of governance in Africa has essentially been a failure, she said.

Following the military coup in Niger, France "fully supports" the Economic Community of West African States' (ECOWAS) decision to activate a standby military force on the borders of the Sahel country, media reported earlier in August. Macron also said recently that France's ambassador to Niger will stay in the country despite pressure to leave from leaders of the coup.

The turmoil in West Africa has a strong contagion effect, especially with the high success rates of coups and the lack of strong intervention by the international community, which greatly emboldens African military factions, You said.

France, as a former colonial power, has always been committed to maintaining the stability of its former colonies, the expert noted. However, due to the current Russia-Ukraine conflict on Europe's doorstep and the heavy colonial burden it carries, France appears to be indecisive in its actions.

"If the Gabon coup succeeds, the French government will certainly not stand idly by. After all, the Bongo family has maintained good personal relationships with successive French presidents, and national interests are highly intertwined. France cannot afford to lose Gabon," You added.

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Norwegian Embassy in Mali to close

Government of Norway

Press release | Date: 31/08/2023

Norway is closing its Embassy in Bamako.

On 30 June, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution terminating the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) , and requesting MINUSMA to start the withdrawal process, to be completed by the end of the year. This will have consequences for the security of Norwegian and other diplomatic missions and international organisations in Mali. The Norwegian Government has therefore decided to close the Embassy in Bamako by the end of 2023.

'There is an urgent need to promote stabilisation, conflict resolution and development in the Sahel. Conflict and the impacts of climate change are causing widespread humanitarian need. At the same time, the underlying conditions for international engagement have changed significantly in recent years. We therefore have to find other ways to follow up our interests in Mali moving forward,' said Minister of Foreign Affairs Anniken Huitfeldt.

The decision to close the Embassy in Bamako was taken following an assessment of whether it is possible to safeguard Norwegian interests in Mali given the security situation in the country. Since the two military coups in 2020 and 2021, the political situation in Mali has been volatile. The military-led transitional government has terminated its security cooperation with France and the UN. When the UN mission ends, it will become more difficult to maintain normal diplomatic activity in the country.

In addition to Mali, the Embassy in Bamako has been responsible for representing Norway in Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger and Chad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now working on solutions to safeguard Norway's diplomatic representation in all these countries once the Embassy in Bamako is closed.

'The closure of the Embassy in Bamako does not mean that Norway is ending its engagement in the Sahel. Humanitarian needs remain high, and Norway will continue to be a long-term and reliable partner to the civilian population in the Sahel,' said Ms Huitfeldt.

Norway has provided substantial support to the Sahel (a total of NOK 745 million in 2022, of which 180 million to Mali).

In addition, Norway provides a high level of humanitarian aid to the Sahel (close to NOK 450 million in 2023, including Mali).

Norway currently has 96 diplomatic and consular missions including 78 embassies, 8 consulates general, 9 delegations and 1 representative office. Norway's diplomatic presence abroad is dynamic, and changes are made based, among other things, on political priorities, resources and security considerations. Earlier this year, the number of diplomatic and locally employed staff was increased at selected missions, particularly those in Europe, while certain other missions were closed.



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Iran FM meets with resistance leaders in Lebanon

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 9:39 PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has held an extended meeting with the leaders of the Palestinian resistance movements of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad during a sojourn in Lebanon.

The top Iranian diplomat held the meeting on Thursday in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, to which he has traveled following a two-day visit to Syria.

Both sides laid emphasis during the meeting on the need for the liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation.

The Islamic Republic, the Iranian foreign minister told the resistance leaders, was still committed to its strategy of lending support to the Palestinian nation and resistance and backing Palestine's liberation from occupation.

Amir-Abdollahian, meanwhile, cited Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as stressing the need for the provision of support for the occupied West Bank -- where the Israeli regime has increased its atrocities since the inauguration of its hard-right cabinet led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

For their part, the Palestinian officials said they considered resistance to be the strategic option for the Palestinian nation.

"There will be no retreat from the resistance's operations in the West Bank," they said, calling the operations a "priority."

Back in June, Iran hosted a delegation of the Gaza Strip-based resistance movements' officials, including the Islamic Jihad's Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhala, which was being led by Hamas' Politburo Chief, Ismail Haniyeh.

The Palestinian officials held meetings during the visit with Ayatollah Khamenei as well as various Iranian officials.

Meeting with Haniyeh, the Leader praised the remarkable achievements of Palestinian resistance groups and the sacrifices made by the Palestinian youth in the occupied territories, saying the West Bank was where the Israeli regime would be brought to its knees.

Ayatollah Khamenei also met with Nakhala, congratulating the Islamic Jihad's victory against the Israeli regime during Tel Aviv's latest war on Gaza, and stating, "The Zionist enemy is in a position of passivity and reaction today.

These circumstances indicate that the resistance groups and the Islamic Jihad have recognized the path ahead correctly, and are walking down this path with prudence."

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Yemen to give harsh response to slightest mistake by US, British forces: Top official

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 6:59 PM

The head of Yemen's Supreme Political Council has warned that US and British military forces will receive a crushing response in case of making the slightest mistake against the Arab country, and attempting to plunder its energy reserves and other natural assets.

"We have received information about the deployment of US marines and British troops in occupied province [under control by Saudi-backed Takfiri militants]. We have warned the aggressors that any mistake will draw a strong and crushing response," Mahdi al-Mashat said as he addressed a group of people in Yemen's northwestern province of Amran on Wednesday evening.

He said natural resources are a red line for the Sana'a-based National Salvation Government and Yemeni nation. "We will never allow enemies to cast a greedy eye onto them and loot these national and valuable assets."

"We are in possession of various types of unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles. We are also led by someone [Leader of Ansarullah resistance movement Abdul-Malik al-Houthi], whose fingers are on the trigger," Mashat said.

He said Yemeni Armed Forces recently test-fired a range of homegrown naval weapons during a military exercise in the Red Sea, and the drill struck fear in the hearts of enemies.

Mashat said Yemeni naval forces have warned foreign tankers against approaching the Port of Aden, and occasionally thwarted their attempts to plunder the country's natural gas.

"Last week, we engaged in a bitter confrontation with two vessels. They were seeking to anchor in the Port of Aden with an intent to loot Yemeni gas. They beat a hasty retreat four times, the last of which happened the previous day," the senior Yemeni official said.

Mashat underlined that the owners of Sinemar Jin and Bolivar tankers have been warned of dire consequences if their captains opt to moor in the Port of Aden, stating that Yemeni naval units are ready to strike them if they make such a terrible mistake.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mashat disclosed parts of Washington's anti-Yemen schemes for the next few years. Americans, he said, are hell-bent on creating miseries for Yemeni people and divesting the nation of their inalienable rights.

He stated that the US embassy in Aden is poised to absorb a number of distinguished Yemeni figures and personalities next year, and hold seminars abroad with their participation.

The diplomatic mission is going to establish so-called civil society organizations in order to advance such plots, Mashat said.

Saudi Arabia initiated a brutal war of aggression against Yemen in March 2015, enlisting the assistance of some of its regional allies, including the United Arab Emirates, as well as massive shipments of advanced weaponry from the US and Western Europe.

The Western governments further extended their political and logistical support to Riyadh in their failed bid to restore power in Yemen to the country's former Saudi-installed government.

The former Yemeni government's president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, resigned from the presidency in late 2014 and later fled to Riyadh amid a political conflict with Ansarullah. The movement has been running Yemen's affairs in the absence of a functioning administration.

The war further led to the killing of tens of thousands of Yemenis and turned the entire nation into the scene of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

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Niger's military rulers orders police to kick out French ambassador after ultimatum

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 5:48 PM

Niger's military rulers have revoked the diplomatic immunity of France's ambassador and ordered police to expel him from the African country, according to a statement.

The latest communique sent by Niger's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said French Ambassador Sylvain Itte "no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic staff of the embassy."

The document also said the diplomatic cards and visas of the ambassador's families have been canceled.

The military said in a recent statement that the visas of the ambassador and his family were canceled.

The credentials of the French ambassador to Niger were just withdrawn by the Niger military, which gave Itte 48 hours to leave the country last week. The deadline expired on August 28.

The new military rulers say the ambassador refused to meet with them. They say the French government's behavior is "contrary to the interests of Niger."

President Emmanuel Macron has said France's ambassador to Niger will stay in the coup-hit African country despite the ultimatum by the new military leaders to leave.

Macron has also reiterated France's support for Niger's ousted president Mohamed Bazoum. He dismissed calls from some in the United States and Europe for Western powers to give up on Bazoum.

The French Foreign Ministry in Paris said on Thursday that the people involved in the military coup in Niger had "no authority" to ask France's ambassador in Niamey to leave.

"We constantly evaluate the safety and operating conditions of our embassy," the ministry added.

Macron said on Monday that the ambassador would stay in the Sahel country.

Protesters call for France to withdraw troops

Hundreds of women protested outside the French embassy and a military base in Niamey, calling for France to remove its troops and military bases from the country. They banged on pots, pretended to sweep and chanted anti-French slogans.

Others gathered in front of the 101 Squadron airbase to protest and show support for Niger's defense and security forces. They also demanded the withdrawal of French troops stationed at the base.

Ousmane Naomi, one of the protest organizers, stated, "We are here to convey to France that times have changed. They must respect us and acknowledge our importance."

Massive protests in support of the military also emerged on the streets of Niamey.

Niger's neighbor such as Mali and Burkina Faso have warned against any military intervention, warning that it would be a "declaration of war" against them too.

Burkina approves sending troops to Niger

Burkina Faso's government on Thursday approved a bill authorizing the dispatch of troops to neighboring Niger, which faces threatened military intervention.

The draft law was approved in a meeting of Burkina's military-dominated government, according to a statement seen Thursday.

It gave no details about the deployment of the force but said the decision had been made "by a joint agreement" between the two countries.

"What affects security in Niger fundamentally affects security in Burkina Faso," the statement quoted Defense Minister Kassoum Coulibaly as saying.

Italy warns against military intervention

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday that a military intervention in Niger would be a "disaster" that could trigger a new migration crisis.

"We need to work day by day for a diplomatic solution," Tajani told reporters as he arrived at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Spanish city of Toledo.

Asked if he feared military intervention could lead to a migration crisis, Tajani replied: "Yes, of course. To have a war in Niger (means) more people leaving this country, as in Sudan -there are more and more people leaving Sudan."

Anti-French sentiments on rise across Africa

The impoverished Sahel region, which lies south of the Sahara, has suffered a series of coups in recent years. Military administrations have replaced pro-Western leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea as well as Niger.

The upheavals have led to the creation of new military governments hostile to France, a former colonial power in West Africa that has troops across the region.

Earlier this month, the military rulers scrapped a series of Niger's cooperation agreements with France in a bid to bring to a close the French military presence across the country and the subsequent looting of the resources of the impoverished nation.

France has between 1,000 and 1,500 troops in Niger, who are claiming to be fighting the so-called war on terrorism. In Niger, there are not only French forces but American and European soldiers as well.

Burkina Faso and Mali have already expelled French troops, many of whom are now stationed in Niger.

The French president recently admitted the failure of France's policies across various parts of Africa.

"France and its diplomats have faced particularly difficult situations in some countries in recent months, from Sudan, where France has been exemplary, to Niger...," Macron said on Monday.

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In a volte-face, PA backs Saudi-Israeli normalization on conditions: Report

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 7:21 AM

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has reportedly announced its conditions for backing any potential normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, despite rejecting the previous agreements between the occupying regime and some Arab states.

Citing six US officials and Israeli sources familiar with the issue, American news website Axios reported on Wednesday that the PA's list of wants includes giving Ramallah more control over parts of Area C in the occupied West Bank, where Israel currently has full control and the reopening of the US consulate in al-Quds.

The PA has also asked for steps to be taken by the United Nations to recognize Palestine as a member state and demands the US for the scrapping of congressional legislation characterizing the PA as a terror organization.

It also wants Saudi Arabia to open a consulate in al-Quds and to resume funding to the PA which was halted several years ago.

Hussein al-Sheikh, Secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s Executive Committee, who is leading the consultations on the issue with Riyadh, gave the list of possible deliverables to Saudi national security adviser Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban three months ago, the sources said.

The Biden administration is aware of the content of the Palestinian proposals to the Saudis, they added.

The shift in PA's policy, which strongly condemned the normalization deals back in 2020, comes as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his aides have decided to avoid a clash with Riyadh and leverage their position to get as much as they can from any possible agreement.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed Saudi officials, reported that Riyadh has offered to resume financial aid to the cash-strapped PA in a bid to gain Ramallah's support for its efforts to normalize relations with Israel.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first made the proposal in April, when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia hopes that Abbas's approval of a normalization agreement with the Tel Aviv regime would silence criticisms directed at Riyadh over abandoning the Palestinian cause.

US President, Joe Biden, declared on July 28th that a deal for Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations may be on the horizon following National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan's talks with Saudi officials in Jeddah earlier in the week.

In order to sign a deal with Israel, Riyadh publicly asked Tel Aviv to implement the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative to establish a Palestinian state first.

However, members of the far-right Israeli regime, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, say they will not make any concession to the Palestinians as part of a potential deal for normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia.

The US-brokered normalization deals in 2020, which saw the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco normalize ties with Israel, have sparked widespread condemnations from the Palestinians as well as nations and human rights advocates across the globe, especially within the Muslim world.

Palestinians slammed the deals as a treacherous "stab in the back" and a "betrayal" of their cause against the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

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China's neighbors reject new territorial map

Manila slams 'latest attempt to legitimize China's purported sovereignty' in the South China Sea.

By Jojo Rinoza, Basilio Sepe and Iman Muttaqin Yusof for BenarNews 2023.08.31 -- Southeast Asian countries and Taiwan on Thursday objected to China's latest version of its territorial map because of new boundaries that reach waters they claim as well in the South China Sea.

Beijing released the map on Monday amid tensions with the United States over Taiwan, and days after China Coast Guard ships formed a cordon to block Philippine supply boats delivering supplies to the BRP Sierra Madre, Manila's military outpost in Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal), in the disputed waters.

"This latest attempt to legitimize China's purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)," the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said in a statement.

A 2016 international arbitration ruling had invalidated China's sweeping claims to the South China Sea, the department noted.

"The Philippines, therefore, calls on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award," it said.

The 2023 edition of China's territorial map covers Taiwan and most of the West Philippine Sea, particularly the contested Spratly Islands. The West Philippine Sea is how Filipinos refer to South China Sea waters within their nation's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Fellow ASEAN members Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, along with Taiwan, also spoke out against the new map.

"Taiwan, the Republic of China, is a sovereign and independent country that is not subordinate to the People's Republic of China," said Jeff Liu, spokesman for the foreign ministry of Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

"The People's Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan. These are universally recognized facts and the status quo in the international community," he said.

China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, including waters within the EEZs of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

In Jakarta on Thursday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters that the government had always maintained that any claim must be consistent with UNCLOS.

While Jakarta is not an active claimant in the South China Sea, it has been locked with China in tensions over the Natuna Islands.

In Malaysia, Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir said the government would lodge a formal protest with China over the new map.

"This map has no binding effect on Malaysia whatsoever," Kadir had said a day earlier when his office responded angrily to it.

And in Vietnam, the government on Thursday called the map "a violation of Vietnam's sovereignty and international laws, especially the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea."

Spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said China's sovereignty and maritime claims, based on a new 10-dash line as depicted on the map, were null and void, according to Vietnamese media.

Extra dash

China came out with its revised map soon after the Philippines announced upcoming joint patrols with Australia and the U.S. in South China Sea waters. Japan has said it was negotiating for a similar defense arrangement with the Philippines as it seeks to contain China's military growth in the region.

In Manila, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri promised to expedite passage of the proposed Philippine Maritime Zones Act to quell attempts by China to include waters claimed by the Philippines as its own.

Zubiri said officials were confident that China's 2023 map would solidify support for the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling, which quashed the nine-dash line that had appeared on older Chinese maps.

"More countries will support and stand with the Philippines to condemn and to appeal to China not to follow that ridiculous 10-dash line. It violates the sovereignty, not only of the Philippines now, but of several other countries all around Asia," Zubiri said.

The added 10th dash takes in the island of Taiwan, and the map also encompasses small islands claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Paris-based Modern Diplomacy.

In addition, the new map also includes the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

"We will not be alone this time. I think India has filed a formal protest, Indonesia and Malaysia have also filed protests along with Vietnam. And I think that will speed up the process of a code of conduct in the South China Sea," Zubiri said.

India filed its own protest on Tuesday, a day after the map's release, according to media reports.

Risa Hontiveros, another Philippine senator, called China "delusional" for issuing the new map.

"We know that China is a master manipulator, willing to bend the truth for her own gain, at the expense of countries like ours," Hontiveros said. "China will continue to spread fake news, fund pro-Beijing mouthpieces and distribute propaganda materials. We must push back. We must not rest until China stops her absurdity."

Collins Chong Yew Keat, a security analyst at University Malaya in Malaysia, said the map's timing invited scrutiny in light of rising regional tensions that would compel Beijing to defend its interests and maximize its gains.

He said the path chosen by Beijing is based on a three-pronged factor. First, he said, is a fast-closing window and timeframe for Chinese President Xi Jinping to execute his planned reunification with Taiwan.

"Second, the increasing counterforce capacities by the U.S. in thwarting Beijing's moves have challenged Beijing's near-term capacities. And third, the declining effectiveness of deterrence and influence of ASEAN itself in showing real and credible opposition to Beijing's inroads, will give a clearer path for Beijing to reassert its push," Chong said.

Responding to the criticism, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said "China's position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear.

"The competent authorities of China routinely publish standard maps of various types every year," he told reporters on Thursday. "We hope parties concerned can view it in an objective and rational light."

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news outlet.

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.

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Chinese Coast Guard water cannon attack on Vietnamese fishing boat leaves 2 injured

Move reflects Beijing's strategy of 'rocking the tree to threaten the monkey,' an observer says.

By RFA Vietnamese 2023.08.31 -- Two Vietnamese fishermen were injured when a Chinese Coast Guard vessel fired a water cannon at their boat near the contested Paracel Islands, the latest casualties in China's aggressive campaign to expand its control in the South China Sea.

Tuesday's incident, ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to Vietnam on Sept. 10, happened as the fishing boat was moving from Woody Island to Observation Bank in the waters surrounding the Paracels, Vietnamese state media reported.

The ship's owner, Huynh Van Hoanh, 43, suffered a broken right arm while fisherman Huynh Van Tien sustained a head injury during the attack by Coast Guard ship 4201.

The Paracel Islands, known as the Xisha Islands in Chinese and the Hoang Sa Archipelago in Vietnamese, comprise about 130 small coral islands and reefs.

Claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan, they have been occupied entirely by Beijing since 1974 after the Chinese navy defeated the then-South Vietnamese navy in a brief sea battle. Triton is the closest island in the chain to Vietnam.

Researcher Nguyen The Phuong from the University of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia, said he expected to see more tensions between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea as the date of Biden's trip approached.

Regardless of whether Vietnam and the U.S. upgrade their relationship to a "comprehensive strategic partnership" or "strategic partnership," China will continue its maritime strategy of "rocking the tree to threaten the monkey," he said.

Marine Traffic data

Meanwhile, the same Chinese Coast Guard vessel and an unspecified Vietnamese boat, Ly Son 62908, have been chasing each other since Aug. 19 in the waters around Triton Island, where China recently built a 600-meter (2,000-foot) military airstrip.

China's Coast Guard in recent years has ramped up its attacks on Vietnamese fishing boats by ramming them or firing water cannons to assert Beijing's territorial claims in the resource-rich waters of the South China Sea.

The Coast Guard ship was operating in the middle of the Paracel Islands on the day of the attack, according to the automatic identification system, or AIS, data from maritime analytics provider Marine Traffic. The self-reporting system lets vessels broadcast their identification information, characteristics and destination.

Raymond Powell of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University and a former U.S. defense official, told Radio Free Asia that the position of the Coast Guard vessel coincided with the location of the attack reported by the fishing boat owner.

Marine Traffic data also indicated that the second Vietnamese ship had been moving around Triton Island. Since Aug. 19, the Coast Guard ship and Vietnam's Ly Son 62908 have been following each other closely, and at one time were only 300 meters (1,000 feet) apart in distance.

On Aug. 27, the Chinese Coast Guard ship left the Triton Island area, headed northeast and arrived in the middle of the Paracel Islands, where it assaulted the other Vietnamese fishing boat, QNg 90495TS, two days later.

After the attack, the Coast Guard ship returned to the Triton Island area and continued the chasing game with Vietnam's ship, Ly Son 62908. To date, the two ships are still following each other in the area.

Into the zone

Researcher Hoang Viet pointed out that China has intensified its aggressive actions since a phone conversation between U.S. President Joe Biden and Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in March and the visit to Vietnam by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in mid-April.

China had repeatedly sent its survey ship Xiang Yang Hong 10 into Vietnam's exclusive economic zone, which extend 200 nautical miles (230 miles) beyond a nation's territorial sea, he said.

Powell told RFA he believed it was a small militia vessel, and that the fishing boat had gone further east than the regular route of Vietnamese Coast Guard or militia ships. He also said although Vietnam claimed sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, it rarely sent security vessels to the middle of this archipelago.

"In fact, I've never seen them do that," he said.

The attack on the fishing boat also followed an Aug. 5 incident in which a Chinese Coast Guard ship shot water cannons at a Philippine boat en route to providing food and supplies to Philippine forces on the Second Thomas Shoal.

Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content 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.

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'Illogical And Inhumane': Taliban's Ban On Women Entering National Park Sparks Widespread Anger

By Khujasta Kabiri, Mursalin Arsala August 31, 2023

Thousands of families flock every year to the crystal-blue lakes and soaring cliffs in Band-e Amir, one of the most popular national parks in Afghanistan.

Among them was the family of Zahra Qumbri, a young woman who lives in the central province of Bamiyan, where the park is located.

But Qumbri can no longer visit after the Taliban on August 26 banned all women from entering Band-e Amir, in a move that has triggered widespread condemnation.

"This is a cruel act that is both illogical and inhumane," Qumbri told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. "In the past two years, women have been removed from all cultural, economic, and political activities."

The ban is seen as the latest attempt to erase Afghan women from public life. Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban has banned women from education and most forms of employment and imposed strict limitations on their freedom of movement and appearances.

"We are virtually under house arrest," Qumbri said. "They are gradually increasing and tightening restrictions against Afghan women. They are burying us alive."

'Hijab Just An Excuse'

The ban came into effect shortly after Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban's minister for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice, claimed that women visiting Band-e Amir were not wearing the mandatory hijab, or Islamic head scarf, properly.

"Going sightseeing is not a must for women," said Hanafi, who ordered Taliban fighters to prevent any women from entering the park.

Gul Bakht Nejati, a woman who lives in Bamiyan, said Taliban fighters were preventing some women from entering Band-e Amir even before the ban was announced.

"Everyone going there was being questioned," she said, adding that women were ordered to prove their relationship with the men accompanying them. "If you are accompanying your husband, you must carry your marriage certificate because the Taliban will always question you."

Taranum Saeedi, an Afghan women's rights activist, says the Taliban is using women's alleged violations of the hijab requirement as an excuse to further diminish their access to public places. In the past year, the Taliban has also banned women from using gyms and visiting public bathhouses and city parks.

"Afghan women have always worn the Islamic hijab," Saeedi told Radio Azadi. "But the Taliban is a misogynistic and oppressive group."

More Suffering

The Taliban ban is likely to see a significant drop in the number of people visiting Band-e Amir, a top tourist destination in Afghanistan. Local business owners who depend on tourism fear their livelihoods will suffer.

"Our shops will now have to be closed," a woman who owns a shop near one of the six lakes in the national park told Radio Azadi. She spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

In 2009, Band-e Amir became Afghanistan's first official national park. Four years later, several female rangers were employed in the park, in a first for the country. The number of local tourists visiting the park was steadily growing until the Taliban takeover.

"This is just cruel," Hogai Amil, an Afghan writer and women's rights activist, told Radio Azadi. "This is a betrayal of our culture and human values."

Written by Abubakar Siddique based on reporting by Khujasta Kabiri and Mursalin Arsala of RFE/RL's Radio Azadi

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-women-ban-national- park/32572992.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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EU Must Rethink Africa Policy After Military Takeovers in Niger, Gabon - Borrell

Sputnik News

20230831

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - The European Union must review its policy towards the Sahel region and the Gulf of Guinea following twin military takeovers in Niger and Gabon, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday.

"We must find a way to review our Sahel policy in the light of current developments, as well as our policy towards Gabon, which is also in the midst of a coup since yesterday," Borrell told reporters after the EU informal ministerial meeting on foreign affairs in Spain's Toledo.

However, the EU assesses the situations in Niger and Gabon differently, despite the fact that military takeovers took place in both countries, he added.

"I would like to point out the difference between the situations in Niger and Gabon. In Niger, [ousted President Mohamed] Bazoum was the only democratically elected president in the entire Sahel region, while as for the elections in Gabon, we have doubts about their democratic nature. We should not treat both situations equally," Borrell said.

The EU supports a political dialogue with Gabon and the restoration of a "real, and not a dummy democratic government," the foreign policy chief added.

The military took control of Niger on July 26 after Bazoum was ousted and detained by his own guard, led by General Abdourahmane Tchiani. Subsequently, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended all cooperation with Niger and threatened invasion if the leadership do not reinstate Bazoum.

By early August, during a summit in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, ECOWAS leaders agreed to activate a standby force to potentially compel the Nigerien military to reinstate Bazoum. On August 18, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs Abdel-Fatau Musah said the block's general staff chiefs had agreed on the date for invading Niger but would not make it public.

Earlier this week, another military takeover unfolded in Gabon. On Wednesday, Bongo Ondimba was reelected as the country's head for a third term after securing 64.2% of the vote. The Gabonese military then delivered a televised address, declaring the election results canceled and all institutions dissolved.

Ondimba has since been placed under house arrest, while his son has been detained, media reported. Later Wednesday, the rebels said they unanimously appointed Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema as Gabon's interim president.

 Sputnik

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Niger Leadership Reportedly Suspends UN, NGO Work in Military Zones

Sputnik News

20230831

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The government of Niger, currently under command of military leadership, announced Thursday that the work of international organizations and UN agencies is prohibited in the areas of military operations.

The statement through the Interior Ministry was reportedly relayed to the wider public via broadcast on national radio.

"Due to the current security situation and the ongoing implementation of the tasks set by the armed forces of Niger, the Ministry of Internal Affairs informs international organizations, national and international NGOs and UN agencies present in Niger that their activities and movements in the areas of [military] operations are temporarily suspended," the Nigerien Ministry of the Interior said in a statement, cited by French media.

The statement, however, did not specify which districts of the country the decree concerns.

Niger came under military leadership on July 26 after Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum was ousted and detained by his own guard, led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani.

Most Western countries as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) condemned it. In early August, ECOWAS adopted a plan for a potential military intervention in Niger.

 Sputnik

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Deputy Secretary of State Verma Meeting with Costa Rican President Chaves

US Department of State

Readout

Office of the Spokesperson

August 31, 2023

The following is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma met yesterday with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles to address key priorities in the U.S.-Costa Rica bilateral relationship and a range of regional issues.

Deputy Secretary Verma and President Chaves discussed joint efforts to promote economic prosperity and greater investment in cybersecurity and technology, as well as cooperation on safe, orderly, and humane migration management and security.

The Deputy Secretary reaffirmed the United States will continue to work with Costa Rica to deepen our partnership on these critical challenges.

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The UN Interim Force in Lebanon plays a critical role in maintaining peace and stability: UK Statement at the Security Council

Explanation of vote by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon.

31 August 2023

Let me begin by joining others to thank France for their efforts as penholder.

In the spirit of compromise and consensus, The UK has voted in favour today.

The UK is a strong supporter of UNIFIL. It plays a critical role in maintaining peace and stability across the Blue Line, preventing any further escalation that would be catastrophic for the region.

Resolution 1701 has always been clear - UNIFIL is authorised to take all necessary action to ensure the freedom of movement of its personnel and to fulfil its duties. This resolution clearly upholds that principle.

We are pleased the language clarifying UNIFIL's long-standing mandate to exercise freedom of movement - which allows UNIFIL to conduct independent patrols and respond quickly to blue-line violations, and was added last year to that end, has been retained. However, it is unacceptable that UNIFIL is still unable to access some locations along the Blue Line border, including Green Without Borders sites. Particularly given Hezbollah's self-acknowledged stockpiling of weapons in violation of resolution 1701.

The support UNIFIL provides to the Lebanese Armed Forces [LAF] has had a positive impact on the situation across the Blue Line. So, it is disappointing that the logistical support - an important signal of cooperation - was removed from this year's mandate. The UK has long been a proud supporter of the Lebanese Armed Forces and we will continue our support to the LAF and Internal Security Forces in Lebanon as the pillars of Lebanon's stability.

With this mandate passing we look to UNIFIL to provide stability that Lebanon needs and we pay tribute to its personnel.

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New Navy Medicine Capability Delivered to Support Missions in the Pacific

US Navy

31 August 2023

From BUMED PAO

AGANA HEIGHTS, Guam -- Trauma and surgical supplies arrived at Guam in July to support staging for quick deployment of the Expeditionary Resuscitative Surgical System (ERSS) in the Pacific region.

The posturing of the mobile kit enables an ERSS crew to support the Naval and Joint Force with a quick, ready, and relevant medical unit. The team can quickly deploy to provide role 2 medical care for servicemembers in remote locations afloat, undersea, or ashore during combat or contingency operations with minimal personnel and portable equipment.

"This is the first of a number of medical capability sets that we will sustain in forward locations to better support our Sailors and Marines," said Rear Admiral Darin Via, Acting Surgeon General. "It is all part of a greater strategy to align our medical force to best support Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO)."

Naval Medical Readiness Logistics Command was responsible for procuring, packaging, and deploying these expeditionary medical containers into Indo Pacific Command's Area of Operation. "Having this medical equipment forward deployed quickens response times and reduces risk to operational personnel in austere locations," said Capt. Matt Marcinkiewicz, NMRLC's Commanding Officer. It also provides and opportunity to train with our allies and partners allies across the INDO-PACOM area of responsibility, building trust and strengthening our relationships across the region.

When the ERSS equipment arrived at Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Guam, Sailors performed an item check and inventory review of each container, inspecting all material, disposition of supplies, and expiration dates. The containers consisted of ventilators, bandages, blood refrigerators, and other components needed to perform surgery in an operational environment. Sailors also prepared labels for each ERSS set and organized the cases in a climate-controlled storage room to ensure the equipment was safe and ready for use.

NMRTC Guam is preparing to host future Navy ERSS teams at their medical facility. "Staging medical assets at a forward deployed site ensures that when the call to deploy medical teams occurs, there are no shipping delays of the equipment sets," said Capt. Accursia Baldassano, Director, Branch Clinics, NMRTC Guam. "Supplies are ready for use in the operational environment."

Navy Medicine is positioning expeditionary medical platforms such as the ERSS to support Sailors, Marines, and joint warfighters with standardized, modular, and scalable medical capabilities that can be employed across the competition continuum.

"Having ERSS capabilities in Guam will enhance our Naval forces strategic agility, operational reach, and tactical flexibility," Marcinkiewicz said.

Julius L. Evans, NMRLC Public Affairs and Jaciyn Matanane, NMRTC Guam Public Affairs contributed to this story.

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Agile Spartan 23.2: RJ's Stay on Watch

US Navy

31 August 2023

From Senior Airman Leon Redfern

NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY SOUDA BAY, Greece -- Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Greece, provided operational and logistical support to the crew of a U.S. Air Force Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint assigned to the 763rd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, Aug. 18-23, 2023, as the unit participated in Operation Agile Spartan.



"At Souda Bay, we truly sit at the overlap of the U.S. European, U.S. Africa and U.S. Central Commands' areas of responsibility," said Lt. Jared Goulette, operations officer, NSA Souda Bay. "We're able to capitalize on our strategic location by providing the Joint force with the operational support they need to project the full might of the U.S. military across these critical geographic areas."

During the 763rd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron's forward deployment to Greece, NSA Souda Bay supported the unit by providing jet fuel and air operations support to the RC-135 Rivet Joint and crew. NSA Souda Bay also provided the lodging for the crew of more than 60 personnel.

In a dynamic display of agility and combat effectiveness, the U.S. Air Force Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint assigned to the 763rd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, recently showcased its indispensable role during Operation Agile Spartan, Aug. 18-23, 2023.

Commonly referred to as the RJ, the RC-135 Rivet Joint deployed from Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., is a high-altitude, reconnaissance aircraft. The RJ forward deployed to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Greece, to exercise their ability to generate combat missions in various locations in and out of U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility. This capability to operate with coalition partners maintains interoperability, strengthening U.S. force posture.

"As regional and global adversaries become more unpredictable, the ability to rapidly and adaptably deploy to atypical or dispersed locations, becomes essential to regional stability," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Jonathan Ruiz, 763rd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron detachment commander.

During the exercise, the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing provided in-flight refueling from the KC-135 for the RJ, and transport for mission essential personnel in addition to support for partner air platforms. The 912th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron operated from an austere location proving their ability to maintain a resilient and flexible logistics network capable of supporting agile combat employment operations. This allowed our partner nation and U.S aircrews' freedom of movement and sustained airpower for longer periods of time, extending their reach in the Middle East.

The joint effort not only highlighted the 379th AEW's commitment of maintaining readiness and deterrence toward adversaries in the USCENTCOM's AOR, but also wing's ability to rapidly generate combat airpower and engage in ACE scenarios.

The RJ provides national leaders and regional partners with a unique capability, providing real-time intelligence, surveillance, and dissemination to mission and coalition partners, augmenting regional and international security.

Between the flight deck crew, electronic warfare officers, intelligence operators and in-flight maintenance technicians, the team was able to gather critical information, process data, and transmit actionable intelligence to decision-makers on the ground and in the air.

"This aircraft is the only one in the world that can do what we do," said Senior Airman Gregory Allen, 763rd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron airborne cryptologic language analyst. "We get to work closely with decision makers, and getting to see the impact of our mission is rewarding."

Aircrews gather the data in real time to provide imminent threat warnings, protecting assets around the AOR.

"Our team works tirelessly to prepare for the next conflict and to ensure theater and global security," Ruiz said. "I'm proud to serve with these Airmen and proud of what we bring to the fight every day."

The RJ has been active in all other theaters around the world, but has consistently conducted 13,460 non-stop combat missions and completed over 145,000 flying hours throughout the Middle East for 33 years in support of operations DESERT STORM, DESERT SHIELD, NORTHERN WATCH, SOUTHERN WATCH, ENDURING FREEDOM, IRAQI FREEDOM, and now INHERENT RESOLVE and SPARTAN SHIELD.

Operation Agile Spartan acted as a proving ground, testing the RJ's versatile capabilities and integration into ACE scenarios, solidifying its reputation as a powerful strategic asset in the Middle East and across the globe.

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Experts Warn of Shrinking Civic Space as BRICS Expands Membership

By Ignatius Annor August 31, 2023

Some analysts warn that the choice of countries selected for induction into the BRICS bloc suggests the grouping as a whole may be headed on a path toward decreased tolerance for public dissent and debate.

The five-nation developing bloc, which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, announced on August 24 the admission of six countries into its fold: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Their membership is expected to become effective in January 2024.

Of the six states, four  Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and Iran  have a history of heavily clamping down on dissenting voices. Their inclusion draws them closer to Russia and China, both known as authoritarian regimes that allow little engagement by independent civil society groups.

Neil Melvin, director of International Security Studies at London-based Royal United Security Institute, the U.K.'s oldest defense and security policy group, told VOA the selection of these six nations from among some 40 applicants reflected the disparate interests of the existing BRICS members.

"Argentina is there because of its neighbor Brazil. Russia and China also want to bring in Iran. And Egypt is there primarily because of the centrality of the hydrocarbon sector to many of the BRICS countries. And, for South Africa, it likely wanted Ethiopia because of its centrality for African diplomacy," he said. The African Union is headquartered in Addis Ababa.

"We do see a group of countries that certainly have a democracy problem, and this is strengthening non-democratic trends in the BRICS, and a human rights problem," Melvin said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has cited Ethiopia, Iran and China among the 10 most censored countries for journalists in the world. Like political analysts, the advocacy group wants openness on the part of BRICS leaders.

Guillen Kaiser, CPJ's advocacy and communications director, told VOA that because BRICS makes up "a significant portion of the world's population," it is imperative for member states, "many of which are repressive regimes," to accept that their people want to be informed.

"The public wants transparency and accountability. Journalists provide this every day, with reporting that moves markets and allows people to make informed decisions," she said. "BRICS leaders must accept that ultimately, their chokehold on the flow of information isn't grounded in reality and it is in their interest to embrace a free press."

Melvin noted that the BRICS expansion follows Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the refusal by some countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to join the United States and most of Europe in retaliatory sanctions.

The expansion, he said, might be a signal of the bloc's resolve to lead a new kind of Global South movement to broaden its legitimacy. "But I think this is going to be a very difficult agenda because it is relatively easy to complain about the existing [world] order."

Melvin said if BRICS expects to offer an alternative to the West, it will have to address the challenges faced by its incoming members  an economic crisis in Argentina and massive debts faced by Ethiopia and Egypt.

"The West has been struggling with this for many years," he said. "So, can China, Russia and the rest actually put something together? That's the question they have put on themselves, and they're going to have to answer that."

Mandeep Tiwana, chief officer for evidence and engagement at CIVICUS, a global civil society alliance, told VOA that many of the newly inducted BRICS members have a record of suppressing human rights and dismantling the democratic aspirations of their people.

"BRICS is, in a sense, trying to reframe global governance," Tiwana said. "Because when you have governments that are totalitarian in nature, it is going to create more challenges for people around the world rather than resolve challenges or create a better life for all."

Tiwana said with Russia and China having disproportionate influence within the bloc, it is still not clear whether democratic states like Brazil, India and South Africa can have a positive influence on the other members.

"The leaders have not openly spoken about this, and our research shows that four of the countries BRICS is admitting have serious civic space restrictions, and so it doesn't augur well for people-centered decision-making when you practically have no independent civil society in these countries," he said.

"Our hope is that countries with democratic traditions within the BRICS alliance can influence the others to be more open to civil society so they can involve people in their decision-making."

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said BRICS would expand more in the future.

This story originated in VOA's English to Africa Service.

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Russo-Ukraine War - 31 August 2023 - Day 554

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 overnight on the 29/30 August 2023, Russia experienced up to five separate strikes by one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA-UAVS) - the largest attack on Russia since the start of the conflict. Explosions were recorded in Moscow, Bryansk, and Ryazan, as well as at Pskov airbase close to the Estonian border. The attack on Pskov likely damaged several Russian military transport aircraft. During August 2023 Russia experienced 25 separate drone attacks, almost certainly carried out by OWA-UAVS.

Many of these UAVs have reached their targets, which likely means that Russian air defence is having difficulty detecting and destroying them. Russia is likely rethinking its air defence posture in the area between Ukraine and Moscow to better deal with these attacks.

Previous strikes against Russian military airbases have led to the dispersal of Russian aircraft to locations across Russia. However, the recent strikes against Soltsy and Pskov have demonstrated that the UAVs have significant reach, making further dispersal more challenging. It is likely that Russia will have to consider the addition of further air defence systems to airfields that it considers to be at risk from UAV attacks.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of August 31, Russian forces launched 3x missile and 31x air strikes, 52x MLRS attacks at the positions of Ukrainian troops and various settlements. Unfortunately, the Russian attacks have killed and wounded civilians.

Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged.

The likelihood of missile and air strikes across Ukraine remains high.

During the day of August 31, there were more than 25x combat engagements.

Volyn and Polissya axes: no significant changes.

Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna axes: the Russian invaders fired mortars and artillery at more than 20x settlements, including Sosnivka (Chernihiv oblast), Seredyna-Buda, Romashkove, Shalyhyne, Nova Sloboda (Sumy oblast), Vovchans'k, Khrypuny, Karaichne, Mala Vovcha, Budarky (Kharkiv oblast).

Kup'yans'k axis: Russian forces launched an air strike in the vicinity of Kotlyarivka (Kharkiv oblast). The settlements of Borova, Kup'yans'k, Kyslivka (Kharkiv oblast) came under artillery and mortar fire of the Russian adversary.

Lyman axis: the Russian invaders launched air strikes in the vicinities of Cherneshchyna (Kharkiv oblast), Novojehorivka and Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast). Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at more than 10x settlements, including Nevs'ke, Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast), Rozdolivka, Verkhn'okam'yans'ke, Fedorivka (Donetsk oblast).

Bakhmut axis: the Russian occupiers launched air strikes in the vicinities of Bila Hora and New York (Donetsk oblast). More than 15x settlements, including Min'kivka, Bohdanivka, Ivanivske, Pivnichne (Donetsk oblast), suffered from Russian artillery shelling.

Avdiivka axis: Russian forces fired artillery and mortar shells at the settlements of Oleksandropil', Novokalynove, Avdiivka, Sjeverne, Pervomais'ke (Donetsk oblast).

Mar'inka axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to hold back the Russian offensive in the vicinity of Mar'inka (Donetsk oblast). The Russian adversary conducted unsuccessful offensives in the vicinity of Novomykhailivka. The occupiers launched an air strike in the vicinity of Krasnohorivka. The settlements of Krasnohorivka, Pobjeda, Mar'inka, Kurakhove, Novomykhailivka, Katerynivka (Donetsk oblast) came under artillery fire.

Shakhtars'ke axis: Russian forces launched air strikes in the vicinities of Vuhledar and Staromaiors'ke (Donetsk oblast). The settlements of Vodyane, Bohoyavlenka, Prechystivka, Blahodatne, Urozhaine (Donetsk oblast), suffered from Russian artillery shelling.

Zaporizhzhia axis: The Russian invaders launched air strikes in the vicinities of Novodanylivka, Robotyne, Orikhiv (Zaporizhzhia oblast). More than 15x settlements suffered from the Russian artillery shelling, including Novodarivka, Ol'hivs'ke, Chervone, Hulyaipole, Lobkove, Plavni (Zaporizhzhia oblast).

Kherson axis: the settlements of Stanislav, Veletens'ke, Antonivka (Kherson oblast). suffered from Russian artillery shelling

At the same time, the Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to conduct the offensive operation on Melitopol' axis, consolidating their positions and conducting counter-battery fire.

During the day of August 31, Ukrainian Air Force launched 12x air strikes on the concentrations of troops and 4x air strikes on the anti-aircraft missile systems of the Russian adversary.

During the day of August 31, the Ukrainian missile and artillery troops hit 1x artillery asset at the Russian forces' firing position and 2x radar systems of the Russian adversary.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that in Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces supported by aviation and artillery in the course of offensive actions improved the situation along the front line.

Over the past 24 hours, five counter-attacks by assault detachments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 68th Separate Jaeger Brigade, 32nd and 43rd mechanised brigades have been repelled near Sergeevka and Novoegorovka (Lugansk People's Republic).

The enemy has lost up to 50 Ukrainian troops, two motor vehicles, one Polish-made Krab self-propelled howitzer, as well as two D-20 howitzers.

An ammunition depot of the AFU 66th Mechanised Brigade was wiped out close to Petrovskoye (Lugansk People's Republic).

In Donetsk direction, units of the Yug Group of Forces in close co-operation with aviation and artillery repelled six attacks by AFU assault detachments near Bogdanovka, Andreevka, Mayorsk, and Avdeevka (Donetsk People's Republic).

In Donetsk direction, up to 365 Ukrainian troops, three U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, two armoured personnel carriers, 32 motor vehicles, one Polish-made Krab self-propelled artillery howitzer, as well as D-20 and D-30 howitzers, have been neutralised.

An ammunition depot of the AFU 54th Mechanised Brigade has been destroyed close to Veseloye (Donetsk People's Republic).

In Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian Group of Forces supported by Army aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems repelled five attacks by the AFU 82nd Air Assault Brigade close to Verbovoye (Zaporozhye region).

Up to 85 Ukrainian troops, two motor vehicles, one U.S.-made M777 artillery howitzer, one Czech-made Vampire MLRS combat vehicle, as well as three D-30 howitzers, have been destroyed.

Moreover, an ammunition depot of the AFU 47th Mechanised Brigade was destroyed close to Orekhov (Zaporozhye region).

In Krasny Liman direction, the Tsentr Group of Forces' units, aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems repelled two attacks of assault detachments of the AFU 67rd Mechanised Brigade close to Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic).

During the day, the enemy's losses in this direction have amounted to 55 Ukrainian troops, three armoured fighting vehicles, as well as Msta-B and D-30 howitzers.

In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces delivered strikes at AFU manpower and hardware clusters near Staromayorskoye and Urozhaynoye (Donetsk People's Republic).

Up to 100 Ukrainian troops, four motor vehicles, two Msta-B howitzers, as well as one U.S.-made M119 howitzer have been neutralised during the day.

Two ammunition depots of the AFU 72nd Mechanised Brigade have been destroyed close to Ugledar (Donetsk People's Republic).

In Kherson direction, up to 20 Ukrainian troops, two motor vehicles, as well as two D-30 howitzers, have been neutralised.

An ammunition depot of the 121th Territorial Defence Brigade has been wiped out close to Mikhailovka (Kherson region).

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Group of Forces have engaged AFU manpower and hardware in 128 areas during the day.

One Ukrainian S-200 surface-to-air missile system has been neutralised near Slavyansk (Donetsk People's Republic).

A command post and a military field training camp of the AFU 72nd Mechanised Brigade were eliminated close to Ugledar and Selidovo (Donetsk People's Republic).

Air defence forces shot down two HIMARS MLRS shells, two JDAM guided bombs, and two HARM anti-radiation missiles during the day.

Furthermore, during the day, 32 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, including Tu-141 Strizh, were intercepted over the settlements of Kovalevka, Golikovo (Lugansk People's Republic), Soledar, Blagodatnoye (Donetsk People's Republic), Mirnoye, Novoukrainka, Tokmak (Zaporozhye region), and Obryvka (Kherson region).

In total, 466 airplanes and 247 helicopters, 6,266 unmanned aerial vehicles, 434 air defence missile systems, 11,578 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 1,147 combat vehicles equipped with MRLS, 6,145 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 12,570 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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Two Leaders of the Proud Boys Sentenced to 17 and 15 Years in Prison on Seditious Conspiracy and Other Charges Related to U.S. Capitol Breach

Thursday, August 31, 2023

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

Court Concludes Conduct of Biggs and Rehl was Terrorism

Two former leaders of the Proud Boys organization were sentenced today for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes necessary to certify the 2020 presidential election.

Joseph R. Biggs, 39, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was sentenced to 17 years in prison and 36 months of supervised release.

Zachary Rehl, 38, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 36 months of supervised release.

A jury convicted Biggs and Rehl and three other co-defendants of multiple felonies, including seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding on May 4, 2023, for their actions before and during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

According to court documents and evidence presented during the trial, the Proud Boys organization played a significant and often violent role in Washington, D.C., rallies in November and December 2020. In the aftermath of that violent conduct, Biggs and Rehl served as members of a special chapter of the Proud Boys known as the "Ministry of Self Defense."

Beginning after Dec. 19, 2020, Biggs and Rehl, all of whom were leaders or members of the Ministry of Self-Defense, conspired to prevent, hinder, and delay the certification of the Electoral College vote and to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States.

In the days leading to Jan. 6, Biggs, Rehl, and co-defendants Henry "Enrique" Tarrio and Ethan Nordean hand-selected co-defendant Dominic Pezzola and others known as "rally boys" to participate in the attack on the Capitol that day. This group established a chain of command, chose a time and place for their attack, and intentionally recruited others who would follow their top-down leadership and who were prepared to engage in physical violence if necessary.

On Jan. 6, the group and the men they recruited and led participated in every consequential breach at the Capitol on Jan. 6. The group began their assault that day at 10:00 a.m. when Biggs, Rehl, and others marched an assembled group of nearly 200 individuals away from speeches at the Ellipse and directly toward the Capitol. They arrived at the First Street gate at 12:50 p.m., and Biggs led the crowd in chants of "Whose Capitol? Our Capitol!" and "Whose house? Our house!" Within minutes, Biggs, Rehl, and others led their recruits up the first street walkway, breaching multiple barricades and tearing down fencing. Biggs then declared, "we've gone through every barricade thus far."

At about 1:30 p.m., when law enforcement appeared to have successfully controlled the crowd by pushing them back, the men again pushed forward with Biggs and other co-defendants leading the charge. Biggs and other co-defendants then gathered at the base of the concrete stairs that led to the doors and windows of the Capitol. The group again surged toward the Capitol and overwhelmed officers who had been battling the crowd for nearly an hour. Rehl sprayed an officer in the face. One co-defendant, Dominic Pezzola, smashed open a window, allowing the first rioters to enter the Capitol at 2:11 p.m., and Biggs entered close behind him with some of his men.

During the attack, Biggs posed with other Proud Boys on the west lawn of the Capitol for a celebratory video in which Biggs stated that "January 6 will be a day in infamy." Rehl made social media posts calling Jan. 6 a "historical day," and told his mother that he was "so fucking proud" of the Proud Boys' "raid of the capitol."

Later, Biggs and Rehl made statements regarding their attack on the Capitol. On Jan. 7, Rehl told members of the Ministry of Self-Defense that he was "proud as fuck what we accomplished. Likewise, Biggs recorded a podcast-style interview in which he called Jan. 6 a "warning shot" to the government that showed them "how weak they truly are" after being "bitch-slapped . . . on their own home turf." Biggs explained that "January 7th was warning shot to the government -look, we started this country this way and we'll fuckin' save it this way."

During the hearing, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly applied the enhancement for a federal crime of terrorism to the defendant's final sentence.

This case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section, and the Criminal Division's Organized Crime and Gang Section.

This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office. The charges in the investigation are the result of significant cooperation between agents and staff across numerous FBI Field Offices and law enforcement agencies.

In the 31 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,106 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 350 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Topic: Domestic Terrorism

Components: Criminal - Organized Crime and Gang Section

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

National Security Division (NSD)

USAO - District of Columbia

Press Release Number: 23-953

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Man Pleads Guilty to Election-Related Threat Toward Georgia Public Officials

Thursday, August 31, 2023

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

A Texas man pleaded guilty today in the Northern District of Georgia to posting a message online threatening several Georgia public officials following the 2020 election.

"This case marks another destructive example of threats of violence to the election community and law enforcement," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "The Department will not tolerate the criminal targeting of the men and women responsible for administering our elections and ensuring that every eligible voter has the opportunity to exercise the most fundamental right in our democracy: the right to vote."

According to court documents, around Jan. 5, 2021, Chad Christopher Stark, 55, of Leander, posted a message to Craigslist entitled, "Georgia Patriots it's time to kill [Official A] the Chinese agent - $10,000." The message included the following: "It's time to invoke our Second Amendment right it's time to put a bullet in the treasonous Chinese [Official A]. Then we work our way down to [Official B] the local and federal corrupt judges. It's our duty as American Patriots to put an end to the lives of these traitors and take back our country by force. . . . If we want our country back we have to exterminate these people. One good loyal Patriot deer hunter in camo and a rifle can send a very clear message to these corrupt governors.. milita up Georgia it's time to spill blood.... we need to pay a visit to [Official C] and her family as well and put a bullet her behind the ears. Remember one thing local law enforcement the key word being local..... we will find you oathbreakers and we're going to pay your family to visit your mom your dad your brothers and sisters your children your wife... we're going to make examples of traitors to our country... death to you and all you communist friends."

"All across this country our fellow citizens and neighbors, including many retirees, choose to serve as elections officials, poll workers, and in other capacities to help ensure free and fair elections in the United States. They serve out of a patriotic duty and appreciation for our nation and deserve to do so without fear of retaliation or threats of violence," said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. "Stark threatened officials working at all levels of the election process including elected office holders and a volunteer poll worker. His egregious conduct placed our democracy in jeopardy, striking at the heart of the process we assume to be insulated from such attacks. Our office will remain steadfast in partnering with federal, state, and local authorities to safeguard those who work to secure our elections."

"Today's guilty plea plainly shows that anyone who threatens election officials online will be investigated by the FBI and held accountable for their words" said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division. "We must take calls to violence seriously, whatever their form, especially when they have the potential to result in physical harm and undermine the integrity of U.S. elections."

Stark pleaded guilty today to one count of a sending a threat using a telecommunications device. He faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI Atlanta Field Office is investigating the case.

Election Crimes Branch Director of Enforcement and Litigation Sean F. Mulryne of the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and Senior Litigation Counsel Brent A. Gray for the Northern District of Georgia are prosecuting this case.

This case is part of the Justice Department's Election Threats Task Force. Announced by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and launched by Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco in June 2021, the task force has led the Department's efforts to address threats of violence against election workers, and to ensure that all election workers - whether elected, appointed, or volunteer - are able to do their jobs free from threats and intimidation. The task force engages with the election community and state and local law enforcement to assess allegations and reports of threats against election workers, and has investigated and prosecuted these matters where appropriate, in partnership with FBI Field Offices and U.S. Attorneys' Offices throughout the country. Two years after its formation, the task force is continuing this work and supporting the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and FBI Field Offices nationwide as they carry on the critical work that the task force has begun.

Under the leadership of Deputy Attorney General Monaco, the task force is led by the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and includes several other entities within the Department of Justice, including the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division, the Civil Rights Division, the National Security Division, and the FBI, as well as key interagency partners, such as the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. For more information regarding the Justice Department's efforts to combat threats against election workers, read the Deputy Attorney General's memo.

To report suspected threats or violent acts, contact your local FBI office and request to speak with the Election Crimes Coordinator. Contact information for every FBI field office may be found at www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/. You may also contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or file an online complaint at www.tips.fbi.gov. Complaints submitted will be reviewed by the task force and referred for investigation or response accordingly. If someone is in imminent danger or risk of harm, contact 911 or your local police immediately.

Topic: Voting and Elections

Components: Criminal Division

Criminal - Public Integrity Section

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Criminal Investigative Division (FBI)

USAO - Georgia, Northern

Press Release Number: 23-952

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Man Pleads Guilty to Making Threats to Arizona State Election Official

Thursday, August 31, 2023

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

An Ohio man pleaded guilty today to sending threatening communications to an election official with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.

"The Justice Department has no tolerance for illegal threats that target those who administer our elections, and it will not hesitate to investigate and prosecute such criminal conduct," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "These threats endanger election workers and their families, and they endanger our democracy."

According to court documents, on or about Aug. 2, 2022, on the date of Arizona's primary elections, Joshua Russell, 44, of Bucyrus, left the following voicemail for an election official with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office (Victima1): "This message is for traitor [Victim-1's full name]. You've drug your feet, you've done nothing, to protect our election for 2020. You're committing election fraud, you're starting to do it again, from day one. You're the enemy of the United States, you're a traitor to this country, and you better put your sh[inaudible], your [expletive] affairs in order, 'cause your days [inaudible] are extremely numbered. America's coming for you, and you will pay with your life, you communist [expletive] traitor [expletive]."

"Election officials are the first responders of democracy," said U.S. Attorney Gary M. Restaino for the District of Arizona. "We best vindicate the work of these public servants when we locate, investigate, and prosecute those who make threats against them."

Additionally, on or about Sept. 9, 2022, Russell left the following voicemail for Victim-1: "This message is for terrorist [Victim-1's last name]. The only reason you're still walking around on this planet is because we're waiting for the midterms to see you prosecuted for the crimes you have done to our nation. You are a terrorist. You are a derelict criminal. And you have a few short months to see yourself behind bars, or we will see you to the grave. You are a traitor to this nation, and you will suffer the [expletive] consequences."

Finally, on or about Nov. 15, 2022, Russell left the following voicemail for Victim-1: "This message is for communist, criminal, [Victim-1's full name]. We will not endure your crimes on America another day. You've been busted, over and over again. We will not wait for you to be drugged through court. A war is coming for you. The entire nation is coming for you. And we will stop, at no end, until you are in the ground. You're a traitor to this nation. You're a [expletive] piece of [expletive] communist, and you just signed your own death warrant. Get your affairs in order, cause, your days are very short."

Russell pleaded guilty to one count of making a threatening interstate communication. The sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 13, and the defendant faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI Phoenix Field Office is investigating the case, with the assistance of the FBI Cleveland Field Office, Mansfield Resident Agency.

Trial Attorney Tanya Senanayake of the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean K. Lokey for the District of Arizona are prosecuting the case.

This case is part of the Justice Department's Election Threats Task Force. Announced by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and launched by Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco in June 2021, the task force has led the Department's efforts to address threats of violence against election workers, and to ensure that all election workers - whether elected, appointed, or volunteer - are able to do their jobs free from threats and intimidation. The task force engages with the election community and state and local law enforcement to assess allegations and reports of threats against election workers, and has investigated and prosecuted these matters where appropriate, in partnership with FBI Field Offices and U.S. Attorneys' Offices throughout the country. Two years after its formation, the task force is continuing this work and supporting the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and FBI Field Offices nationwide as they carry on the critical work that the task force has begun.

Under the leadership of Deputy Attorney General Monaco, the task force is led by the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and includes several other entities within the Department of Justice, including the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division, the Civil Rights Division, the National Security Division, and the FBI, as well as key interagency partners, such as the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. For more information regarding the Justice Department's efforts to combat threats against election workers, read the Deputy Attorney General's memo.

To report suspected threats or violent acts, contact your local FBI office and request to speak with the Election Crimes Coordinator. Contact information for every FBI field office may be found at www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/. You may also contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or file an online complaint at www.tips.fbi.gov

. Complaints submitted will be reviewed by the task force and referred for investigation or response accordingly. If someone is in imminent danger or risk of harm, contact 911 or your local police immediately.

Topic: Voting and Elections

Components: Criminal Division

Criminal - Public Integrity Section

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

National Security Division (NSD)

USAO - Arizona

Press Release Number: 23-954

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Trump pleads not guilty in 2020 Georgia election case

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:06, September 01, 2023

Trump's lawyers asked the judge to separate his case from some of his co-defendants who sought a speedy trial in the case.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of attempting to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat in the southeastern state of Georgia.

"As evidenced by my signature below, I do hereby waive formal arraignment and enter my plea of NOT GUILTY to the Indictment in this case," Trump said in a court filing in Fulton County Superior Court.

Trump and 18 others were indicted on Aug. 14 over alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Trump was charged with 13 counts, including violating the state's racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate his oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree, and conspiring to file false documents.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set arraignment hearings for Trump and other defendants charged in the case for Sept. 6. That plea means the former Republican president will not appear in person in court next week to face the charges.

Trump's lawyers also asked the judge to separate his case from some of his co-defendants who sought a speedy trial in the case.

Last week, Trump turned himself in at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta, Georgia, becoming the first former president to have a mug shot taken.

Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, has been indicted in four criminal cases -- two by the Justice Department, and two by state prosecutors in New York and Georgia, seperately. The Georgia case is the fourth criminal case to be brought against him.

Trump has criticized the cases against him as part of a politically motivated attempt to keep him from recapturing the White House.

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RAAF engineers build strong links in Mongolia

By Flight Lieutenant Rachael Blake

31 August 2023

Seven aviators from the Royal Australian Air Force deployed on a civil-engineering program in central Mongolia as part of Exercise Pacific Angel 23 this month.

Led by the United States Pacific Air Forces, Exercise Pacific Angel brings together countries from around the region to positively impact the lives of thousands of people in the Indo- Pacific.

For this latest iteration, US and RAAF civil engineering teams worked with the Mongolian Armed Forces along with civilian and regional agencies to restore a local hospital.

Wing Commander Paul Howell, Commanding Officer of 65 Air Base Recovery Squadron, said five of his aviators joined the RAAF team.

"There's a strategic goal to this exercise, where our professional engagement and support to Mongolia helps build regional partnerships," Wing Commander Howell said.

"For our aviators, the exercise builds partnerships at the local level as they apply their skills in restoring civil infrastructure within remote Mongolian communities."

The team's skill sets included carpentry, plumbing and plant operations, which were used in the remote Mongolian villages of Tsetserleg and Jargalent.

Two other RAAF aviators provided combat first aid and Mongolian linguist support and cultural awareness.

After the 20-hour flight to Mongolia's bustling capital city, Ulaanbaatar, the small RAAF contingent drove another 10 hours along difficult roads, arriving at the ancient cultural village of Tseterleg, near the Khangai mountains.

Detachment commander Warrant Officer Andrew Warmington, from 65 Air Base Recovery Squadron, directed the hospital restoration project as the senior engineer on site, managing up to 20 people from different backgrounds.

"Managing foreign forces can be very interesting and has its challenges, requiring an understanding of both Australian and US trades skill sets and their unique ways of doing business, whilst also remembering that this is the Mongolian Armed Force's country and we're the visitors," Warrant Officer Warmington said.

The hospital site was a small outpost half an hour from Tseterleg. Despite being very old and run down, local staff made the most of what they had and kept it clean and tidy.

"Their pride in their little hospital made the team want to provide them with the best we could give and the assistant manager got more and more excited with every repair and upgrade we made," Warrant Officer Warmington said.

"They are a strong people who live in a hard country and make the absolute best with what they have. Their gratitude was evident every time we fixed something."

The team of RAAF aviators demonstrated a range of skill sets and ingenuity, integrating easily with the other forces and discussing different ways in which to conduct tasks.

"The RAAF team always stands out on these international exercises, as our trades personnel are fully qualified in their chosen trades having completed a 3-4 year apprenticeship," Warrant Officer Warmington said.

"Their ability to innovate in the refurbishment of an aging and isolated hospital with little construction materials and minimal tooling was a pleasure to watch."

Wing Commander Howell said Exercise Pacific Angel was also an opportunity for participants to learn from each other, build common understanding and galvanise people-to-people bonds.

"The reciprocal exchanges are key to improving capability of all partners, gaining a better understanding of each other's (construction) methodologies and standards for future cooperation," Wing Commander Howell said.

"These relationships help underpin enduring friendships between Mongolia and Australia."

Exercise Pacific Angel is a multilateral endeavour, enhancing the participating nations' humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities. It has provided services to people in need throughout the wider Pacific for more than a decade.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau

August 30, 2023

Ottawa, Ontario

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with the President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The two leaders highlighted Canada and Nigeria's deep people-to-people ties.

The Prime Minister thanked the President for his strong leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and expressed Canada's support for the bloc's peaceful and diplomatic efforts to restore constitutional order in Niger. The leaders also shared their concerns for the safety of President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been detained in Niger for over a month.

The leaders exchanged views on democratic backsliding in West Africa and the Sahel, and reiterated their unwavering commitment to protecting democracy around the world. Prime Minister Trudeau noted Canada's commitment to the region and concern for the situation in Gabon, with both leaders underscoring the importance of regional stability to mitigate the spread of terrorism.

The Prime Minister reiterated Canada's commitment to protecting the human rights of LGBTQI+ people around the world.

Prime Minister Trudeau also highlighted Canada's deepening economic engagement in Africa and reiterated Canada's support for the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The leaders looked forward to seeing each other at upcoming multilateral engagements later this fall.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski

Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau

August 30, 2023

Ottawa, Ontario

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski.

The leaders discussed shared values and issues of common interest, including promoting good governance, expanding bilateral economic cooperation and investment, and upholding regional stability in the Western Balkans. They emphasized their unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to resist Russia's brutal and unjustifiable aggression.

Prime Minister Trudeau thanked Prime Minister Kovacevski for North Macedonia's leadership in the region and for the country's contribution to the enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battle Group in Latvia.

Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated Canada's support for North Macedonia's accession to the European Union and noted the importance of continued progress toward this milestone.

As strong Allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the two leaders reaffirmed the strength of the relationship between Canada and North Macedonia and looked forward to future opportunities to connect.

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Fourth Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel delivered to The Royal Canadian Navy

National Defence

News release

August 31 - Halifax, N.S. - National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

Today, the Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN) fourth Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV), His Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) William Hall, was delivered to the fleet.

Designed to assert and uphold Arctic sovereignty, the Harry DeWolf-class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel significantly enhances the Canadian Armed Forces' (CAF) capabilities and presence in the Arctic. With its considerable space to transport cargo, small vehicles, and deployable boats, the AOPV brings versatility and support to a wide range of domestic CAF operations with the ability to support global peace and security in coordination with our allies and partners.

As the RCN takes delivery of HMCS William Hall, the next steps will include sea trials, warm and cold weather trials, and other post-delivery evaluation tasks. The full commissioning ceremony for HMCS William Hall is expected to take place sometime next year, after the conclusion of the trials.

Since the inaugural deployment of first in class, HMCS Harry DeWolf in 2021, these ships have seen multiple deployments to Canada's Arctic regions, the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and have contributed to the Hurricane Fiona response in Newfoundland. HMCS William Hall will remain at His Majesty's Canadian Dockyard Halifax while post-acceptance work, sea trials and final ship preparations are completed, and subsequently will officially be commissioned into the RCN fleet.

In support of Canada's defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, the Government of Canada continues to deliver the modern, functional, and effective ships that the RCN needs to support operations, while also rebuilding Canada's marine industry with the creation of hundreds of new jobs under Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy.

Quotes

"Today, we celebrate the next important milestone for the National Shipbuilding Strategy and the Royal Canadian Navy with the arrival of our fourth new Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel, HMCS William Hall. This new asset to Canada's fleet has been made possible by the vital work of our shipbuilders and the thousands of Canadians that have contributed to the construction of this new ship. We will continue to provide the Royal Canadian Navy with the ships needed to protect our country, while creating good jobs for Canadians." The Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence

"Today's delivery of our fourth Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel, HMCS William Hall, brings the Royal Canadian Navy ever closer to achieving our full fleet of six modern, ice-capable ships. Each of the AOPV represents an advanced capability and skillset for the Navy, and our allies, and we are proud that this ship will soon be officially welcomed into the RCN Fleet." Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy

Quick facts

The Harry DeWolf-class ships are highly versatile vessels that can be used on a variety of missions at home and abroad, such as coastal surveillance, search and rescue, drug interdiction, support to international partners, humanitarian aid, and disaster relief.

The ships of the Harry DeWolf-class will be affiliated with regions of the Inuit Nunangat. The first affiliation between HMCS Harry DeWolf and the Qikiqtani Inuit of Nunavut was formalized in May 2019 and HMCS Margaret Brooke was affiliated with Nunatsiavut in 2022. Affiliation between an HMC Ship, its sailors and civilian communities is a long-standing and honoured naval tradition, with relationships lasting throughout the service-life of the ship.

AOPV's are known as the Harry DeWolf-class, named in honour of Vice-Admiral Harry DeWolf, a Canadian wartime naval hero. First in class, HMCS Harry DeWolf, was delivered to Canada on July 30, 2020, and was officially commissioned into RCN service on June 26, 2021.

The second AOPV, HMCS Margaret Brooke, was named in honour of the Royal Canadian Navy Nursing Sister Lieutenant-Commander Margaret Martha Brooke, who was decorated for gallantry during the Second World War. HMCS Margaret Brooke was officially commissioned into RCN service on October 28, 2022.

The third AOPV, HMCS Max Bernays, was named in honour of Chief Petty Officer Max Bernays, a Canadian naval hero who served as the Coxswain of HMCS Assiniboine during the Second World War's Battle of the Atlantic, and was officially delivered to the RCN on September 2, 2022.

The fourth AOPV, the HMCS William Hall, is named in honour of William Hall, the first person of African descent, the first Nova Scotian, and the first Canadian naval recipient of the Victoria Cross.

AOPV's five and six, HMCS FrAdArick Rolette, and HMCS Robert Hampton Gray, are currently in various stages of production, with the planned delivery of one new ship every year until 2025.

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Chinese Defense Ministry confirms launch of first Type 054B frigate

Global Times

By Liu Xuanzun Published: Aug 31, 2023 08:35 PM

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has launched a new type of frigate, the Type 054B, China's Ministry of National Defense confirmed on Thursday.

It is a normal arrangement addressing national security needs and the overall naval trend of the PLA Navy developing equipment including main combat vessels according to related plans, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson at the Chinese Defense Ministry, said at a regular press conference on Thursday.

The goal is to defend national sovereignty, security and development interests, and better safeguard world and regional peace and stability, Wu said.

China always follows a path of peaceful development, and unswervingly adheres to a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, Wu said.

Wu made the remarks in response to a question about recent online news reports that the Type 054B has been launched in Shanghai.

The reports suggested that the first hull of the Type 054B was launched at Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai last week.

US news website The Drive called the Type 054B one of the PLA Navy's most important future vessels, saying that it is likely a continuation of the previous Type 054A frigate, which mainly carries out anti-submarine tasks but can also conduct general purpose missions including anti-air warfare and anti-surface warfare.

According to analyses of photos by naval news website Navy Recognition, the Type 054B is larger than the Type 054A, has enhanced situational awareness and air defense capability through a dual-face active phased array radar system plus an integrated radio frequency mast similar to that on the Type 055 destroyer, and replaces the Type 054A's 76mm main gun with a new 100mm main gun that offers more range, power and diversified strike capabilities.

The Type 054B is apparently equipped with a 32-cell vertical launch system that can accommodate long-range air defense missiles and rocket-assisted torpedoes, plus two sets of anti-ship missile launchers, but reduces the two close-in weapon systems equipped by the Type 054A to one in favor of an additional short-range air defense missile system, according to the reports, which also speculated that the new frigate is equipped with a fully electric propulsion system.

The advanced new frigate should be a far sea-operable vessel with high versatility, reliability, cost efficiency and comfortability, and could be built in large numbers, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Thursday.

It is expected to join aircraft carriers, amphibious ships and destroyers in far sea voyages after entering service, the expert said.

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China, US trade ministers to meet at least once a year, talk directly on 'key matters': MOFCOM

Global Times

By GT staff reporters Published: Aug 31, 2023 11:07 PM

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has given a further explanation on the results of the latest trade talks amid US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo's visit to China, saying the two nations' trade ministers have agreed to meet at least once a year, and will talk directly on "key issues" in a prompt, timely manner.

While emphasizing the importance of maintaining healthy China-US relations, the ministry also lodged a series of concerns over discriminatory tariffs on Chinese imports and sanctions on Chinese companies, urging the US to scrap discriminatory measures, which have seriously interfered with normal bilateral trade and disrupted the global order.

"A more detailed explanation on the meeting results indicates the two did achieve progress during talks, but a reiteration on the removal of tariffs and sanctions demonstrates a bottom line," Zhang Hong, an independent macroeconomic analyst, told the Global Times on Thursday.

It's a clear signal that China will not give in when it comes to its core interests in future dialogues, Zhang said.

China and the US agreed to establish a multi-level communication mechanism to strengthen talks on economic and trade affairs, with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Raimondo agreeing to maintain regular communication, discuss key issues directly in a timely manner, and meet at least once a year, the MOFCOM said on Thursday.

The multi-level mechanism includes the setting up of a joint working group, composed of officials at the deputy minister and bureau chief levels, convening biannual deputy ministerial-level meetings and inviting representatives from businesses on both sides.

The working group will focus on addressing concerns voiced by businesses from both nations, striving to collaboratively explore solutions for specific commercial issues, Shu Jueting, a MOFCOM spokesperson, told a regular press conference held in Beijing.

Moreover, a mechanism for exchanging export control information has been initiated, serving as a platform for elucidating each side's export control systems and enhancing communication. Both parties will share export control-related information in accordance with their respective laws. This mechanism is expected to facilitate mutual understanding and communication regarding export control policies, conveying the concerns of businesses from both countries, Shu said.

In addition, the two sides agreed that experts from both countries will conduct technical consultations on strengthening the protection of trade secrets and confidential business information in the process of administrative licensing, according to the official.

Commenting on the meeting results, Shu said the new communication channels that were established will provide significant platforms for the two nations' commerce ministries to conduct normal dialogue, and it's a major step in stabilizing China-US ties and promoting practical cooperation among business communities from the two nations.

Shu also mentioned that China has expressed serious concerns over issues including the US Section 301 tariffs, semiconductor policies, investment restrictions, discriminatory subsidies, and sanctions on Chinese firms.

"China stressed that a broad approach to national security hampers normal economic exchanges, and unilateral protectionist measures conflict with fair competition principles, undermining global supply chains and business collaboration," Shu said.

The remarks came after Raimondo wrapped up her "successful and productive" four-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai on Wednesday. The US official said at a press conference in Shanghai that she did hope to "see some results" in the next few months as a result of her visit, according to a Reuters report.

American businesses - who are eager to expand in the world's second-largest economy - said they are "encouraged" to see the established dedicated channels for constructive dialogue.

"Given the significant US commercial and investment interests in China, we are appreciative of Secretary Raimondo's efforts to recalibrate this important, yet complex, relationship. The American business community in China stands ready to engage with both governments, with the goal of seeking tangible results that improve the business environment for our companies," Colm Rafferty, chairman of AmCham China said in an email statement it sent to the Global Times on Thursday.

From January to July, China's actual use of US investment surged by 25.5 percent year-on-year, according to the MOFCOM, a vivid display of global firms' vote of confidence in China even amid uncertainties.

"Some foreign enterprises, including those from the US, have voiced interest in expanding operations in China after years of engagement. However, the biggest risk for these enterprises is the heightened instability due to fraught China-US relations," Shu said.

The best way to mitigate the risks is to return to the consensus reached at the Bali Summit. This would steer the China-US economic relationship onto a healthy and stable path, leveraging the bilateral economic and trade relationship to stabilize expectations and boost confidence in trade and investment cooperation, the official noted.

"China remains committed to reform and opening-up, aiming to create a market-oriented, rules-based international environment. China's doors are opening wider, welcoming global enterprises, including from the US, to invest and partake in development opportunities," Shu said.

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on August 31, 2023

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China

CCTV: This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping. President Xi has announced that China will hold the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation later this year. Could you give us more information on when the forum will be held and the considerations behind it?

Wang Wenbin: Focusing on connectivity as the main theme, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to provide a new platform for international economic cooperation and add fresh impetus to participating countries' development and world economic growth. Over the past decade, it has become a popular global public good and international cooperation platform.

China will hold the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in October this year. This is not only the highlight in commemorative events to mark the BRI's 10th anniversary, but also an important platform for all partners to plan high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. China is in communication with all parties concerned on the preparation for the forum. Relevant information will be released in due course.

CCTV: Today, China and Nicaragua officially signed a free trade agreement. Do you have any comment?a

Wang Wenbin: This morning, China and Nicaragua officially signed a free trade agreement, which is the most important achievement in the bilateral practical cooperation since the resumption of diplomatic relations. The milestone agreement will further stimulate the potential of investment and trade cooperation and open up broader prospects for practical cooperation between our two countries. The two sides have efficiently completed the negotiations on the free trade agreement within one year since the launch in July 2022, fully demonstrating the high-level mutual trust between the two countries and a shared readiness to step up practical cooperation.

Since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, we have witnessed leapfrog development in bilateral relations, deepening political mutual trust and fruitful practical cooperation. The dividends of resuming diplomatic relations continue to be felt. These have fully proved that the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Nicaragua is in line with the trend of history and the times, and serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples. China is ready to work with Nicaragua to promote bilateral relations to a new height and bring more benefits to our peoples.

Reuters: The latest 2023 map released by China shows a 10-dash line in the South China Sea including two dashes east and southeast of Taiwan. In the map submitted by China to the UN in 2009, there were just 9 dashes. Malaysia, India as well as the Philippines have protested against this new map. Why is there a difference in the line on maps now currently released and the one in 2009?a

Wang Wenbin: China's position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear. The competent authorities of China routinely publish standard maps of various types every year, which aims to make standard maps available to all sectors of society and raise public awareness of the standardized use of maps. We hope parties concerned can view it in an objective and rational light.

NHK: One week has just passed since Japan started releasing treated water. The Japanese government has been calling for China to engage in expert discussions based on scientific facts. So I'm wondering if the Chinese government has any intention to join the discussion? If no, could you give us the reason?

Wang Wenbin: 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, China and Russia presented three joint lists of technical questions to Japan to demand clarifications regarding its ocean discharge plan. The Japanese side has failed to give a sincere reply and address our concerns. Instead, it has made groundless accusations against its neighbors over their legitimate concerns and eventually forcibly started the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. This is not the right attitude or approach to solve the problem.

Let me stress that if Japan is truly sincere about this, it should immediately stop the ocean discharge and engage in full communication with all stakeholders, including its neighbors, on all relevant matters to address the concerns of neighboring countries and the international community.

Kyodo News: I want to confirm whether China thinks it's important to engage in active communication with Japan regarding the issue of discharging the "treated water" into the sea?

Wang Wenbin: Like I stated clearly just now, if Japan is truly sincere about this and wants to act as a responsible country, it should immediately stop the ocean discharge.

CRI: Last week, the US imposed visa restrictions on some Chinese officials for their part in "forced assimilation" in Tibet. China said it would make a resolute response. Could you share the specific countermeasures China will take?

Wang Wenbin: The US imposed illegal sanctions on Chinese officials based on fabricated lies on Tibet in disregard of the facts. This move gravely interferes in China's internal affairs, harms China's interests, and violates basic norms governing international relations. We firmly oppose and categorically reject it. China will impose, on a reciprocal basis, visa restrictions on US individuals who spread rumors to smear China in this case or have long meddled in Tibet-related issues. We once again call on the US to respect facts, change course, stop spreading disinformation on Tibet, and stop using Tibet-related issues to interfere in China's internal affairs.

AFP: The Biden administration has for the first time approved a direct US military aid to Taiwan under an assistance program aimed at foreign governments. Do you have any comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: The US decision to provide weapons to China's Taiwan region under the so-called Foreign Military Financing used for sovereign states seriously violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiquAs, especially the August 17 CommuniquA of 1982. This move seriously violates international law and basic norms governing international relations, undermines China's sovereignty and security interests, harms peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and sends gravely wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces. China deplores and firmly opposes them.

There is but one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China'saterritory. The Taiwan question is entirely China's internal affair that brooks no foreign interference. We urge the US to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiquAs, stopaenhancingamilitaryacontactawith the Taiwan region or arming itaby any means oraunderawhateverapretext,astop creating factors that could heighten tensions in the Taiwan Strait, and stop conniving at and supportingatheaseparatists' attempt to seek "Taiwan independence" by force.aNo one should underestimate the determination, resolve and capability of the Chinese people in safeguardingaourasovereignty and territorial integrity.

Reuters: The ASEAN summit will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia next week. May we know who will China be sending as representatives to the meetings related to the summit?

Wang Wenbin: We will release relevant information in due course, please stay tuned.

Associated Press of Pakistan: According to media reports, on August 8, three former service chiefs of the Indian army, air force and navy visited Taiwan and attended a security dialogue organized by Taiwanese authorities. Do you have any comment on that?

Wang Wenbin: China firmly opposes all forms of official interaction between the Taiwan authorities and countries having diplomatic relations with China. This is our consistent and clear position. We hope the country concerned will abide by the one-China principle, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from having any form of military and security cooperation with Taiwan.a

Kyodo News: According to Japanese media reports, Chinese and Japanese leaders are expected to attend the ASEAN Summit next week. Will the two sides talk to each other on the issue of the discharge of "treated water" on that occasion?

Wang Wenbin: I have no information to share on that.

The Paper: Following on the announcement that China will hold the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, can you share with us the achievements of Belt and Road cooperation in the past 10 years and China's expectation for its future?

Wang Wenbin: Ten years ago, President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Ten years on, the BRI has evolved from broad strokes to refined details, and become the most popular international public good and largest-scale international cooperation platform with remarkable achievements.

We have some slides here to give you some ideas about what has been achieved in a decade of BRI cooperation.

Over the past decade, the BRI's circle of friends has continued to expand. China has signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations. The vision of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation supported by the spirit of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, open, green and clean cooperation, and a high-standard, people-centered and sustainable approach has been incorporated in the Joint Communique of the Leaders' Roundtable of the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.a

Over the past decade, Belt and Road cooperation has achieved fruitful outcomes. It has established more than 3,000 cooperation projects and galvanized nearly USD 1 trillion of investment, creating an array of national landmarks, livelihood projects, and milestones of cooperation. A large number of transport infrastructure projects have been launched, greatly boosting the development of BRI partners. Clean, efficient and quality green energy projects have lit up the road to future development of partner countries. Projects closely linked to people's daily life and aimed at improving people's wellbeing in areas of poverty reduction, agricultural technology and vocational education have effectively increased the living standards of people in BRI partner countries. According to the World Bank, by 2030, BRI transport infrastructure, if fully implemented, is expected to increase global real income by 0.7 to 2.9 percent, lifting 7.6 million people from extreme poverty and 32 million people from moderate poverty.

Over the past decade, high quality Belt and Road cooperation has progressed in solid steps. In implementing BRI projects, we actively fulfilled our duty for environmental protection, improved ecological environment and preserved biological diversity. China has signed over 50 cooperation documents on ecological environmental protection with relevant parties, established the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition, and launched the Initiative for Belt and Road Partnership on Green Development with 31 countries. Former Under-Secretary-General of the UN Erik Solheim said that the BRI has become the biggest driving force for global green development. BRI partners have worked actively to carry out international cooperation in emerging areas, such as digital economy. The Digital Silk Road is becoming a digital bridge facilitating a new type of globalization. China has also worked with cooperation partners to actively promote the building of a clean Belt and Road, enhance anti-corruption international cooperation, and jointly launched the Beijing Initiative for the Clean Silk Road.

As we mark the 10th anniversary of the BRI, it is to set sail again. We will take the holding of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation as an opportunity to take stock of what we've achieved and chart the course for the future, guide the continuous advancement of high-quality BRI cooperation, lay down a pathway toward common development and draw a beautiful picture of green development, and open up a chapter in the new era for the Silk Road featuring mutual benefit and win-win results between countries, friendship and cultural affinity between peoples and mutual learning between civilizations.

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China jails economics professor who highlighted government's personnel costs

Yang Shaozheng's sentence comes amid allegations of torture from his legal defense team.

By Gu Ting for RFA Mandarin 2023.08.31 -- A Chinese court on Thursday handed down a four-and-a-half-year jail term to an outspoken economics professor who had estimated the high personnel costs of the Chinese government, finding him guilty of "incitement to subvert state power," according to rights website.

The Guiyang Intermediate People's Court handed down the sentence to former Guizhou University professor Yang Shaozheng in a trial behind closed doors on July 29, a post on the Weiquanwang rights website said.

"Yang Shaozheng expressed dissatisfaction with the judgment in court and filed an appeal," the group said. "The reason for the appeal was that this was an illegal trial."

Yang's appeal argued that members of the Chinese Communist Party had presided over the case from start to finish, including the investigation, the prosecution and the trial itself.

"The actions he was charged with fell under freedom of speech and expression, and to criminalize a citizen for exercising those rights was a violation of the constitutional right to freedom of expression," the report paraphrased Yang's appeal as saying.

A key member of Yang's defense team, Zhang Lei, declined to comment when contacted by Radio Free Asia, indicating that he was under a lot of pressure from the authorities, while repeated calls to another member of his defense team rang unanswered on Thursday.

Cost to Chinese taxpayers

Yang, 53, lost his job at Guizhou University's Institute of Economics in November 2017, on the orders of someone "higher up" the government hierarchy, and was subsequently investigated by police amid a purge of outspoken academics and the adoption of President Xi Jinping's personal brand of ideology across higher education.

Hunan-based dissident Chen Siming said an article in which Yang calculated that party and government personnel cost the Chinese taxpayer an estimated 20 trillion yuan (US$2.75 trillion) annually was likely the trigger for his arrest.

"These questions [he was asking] hit home," Chen said in an interview last month. "He was later expelled from Guizhou University, and then secretly arrested. During this period, lawyers and family members weren't allowed to meet with him."

Yang spent some time on the run in 2019 after being shackled to a chair and interrogated by state security police for eight hours, around the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

Just before that stint in detention, Yang had criticized a new wave of ideological training being launched in China's colleges and universities.

He was arrested in secret in May 2021 and placed under incommunicado detention for six months on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power," before being formally arrested and prosecuted. He is currently being held in the Guiyang No. 1 Detention Center.

His lawyers filed an administrative complaint with the Guizhou provincial state prosecutor on March 3, alleging that state security police were trying to force a "confession" from Yang through torture, which caused him to lose consciousness several times and lose some 25 kilograms (55 pounds) in weight.

The complaint said the abuse took place during the six months he was held under "residential surveillance at a designated location," a type of incommunicado detention frequently used to target critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party in "national security" cases.

A Guizhou-based lecturer who gave only the surname Yu said Yang, whom she counts as a friend, is a "rare" person in today's China.

"I think Yang Shaozheng knows very well what he was bringing down on his own head when he spoke out like that, but he did it anyway," Yu told Radio Free Asia in a recent interview. "He is a politically brave person, which is a rare thing in our society."

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content 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.

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HRW Says China Continues To Crush The Rights Of Uyghurs, Turkic Muslims

By RFE/RL August 31, 2023

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that China is continuing to violate the rights of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in its northwestern region of Xinjiang, saying the offenses constitute crimes against humanity.

"Over the past year, Chinese officials have maintained their abusive 'strike hard' policies, crushing the rights of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims," Maya Wang, associate Asia director at HRW, said in a press release issued on August 31. "UN member countries should not stay silent in the face of crimes against humanity."

The Chinese government has carried out widespread and systematic offenses against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Xinjiang's other indigenous ethnic groups since 2017. The campaign has included force assimilation and internment in mass detention camps.

The HRW assessment came one year after the United Nations issued a damning report on the rights violations being committed by the Chinese government in Xinjiang.

HRW said that Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent pronouncement that China intends to maintain its counterterrorism policies in the region was indicative that crimes against humanity are still being carried out.

While traveling in Xinjiang on August 26, Xi commented on "the outcomes of [China's] Xinjiang policies." He pledged to "consolidate hard-won social stability," ensure that "the public [in Xinjiang] have correct views...on ethnicity, history, and religion," and "forge a consciousness of a united Chinese nation."

Since Beijing's dragnet accelerated in 2017, the plight of ethnic Kazakhs interned in China has been an unexpected source of dissent, with the testimonies of former detainees and family members fueling a guerrilla advocacy campaign that brought outsized international attention to the issue.

The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/uyghurs-forced- assimilation-china-human-rights-watch/32572414.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi has phone call with S.Korean FM, calling for preventing interference from external factors

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Sep 01, 2023 02:04 AM

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and China's Foreign Minister, held a phone conversation with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Thursday. The Chinese top diplomat said that the two sides should adhere to the original intention of establishing their diplomatic ties, prevent interference from external factors, avoid drawing ideological boundaries, and jointly promote the steady and long-term development of bilateral relations.

Wang said that China maintains a continuous and stable policy toward South Korea and the development of bilateral relations has an internal driving force and inevitable logic, which should not be influenced by any third party.

Both China and South Korea should adhere to the original intention of establishing diplomatic relations, maintain the correct direction of friendly cooperation, continuously enhance mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries, guard against external interference, refrain from drawing ideological boundaries, and jointly promote the steady and long-term development of bilateral relations, ushering in the next 30 years that are more sustainable, resilient, and characterized by even closer cooperation, Wang noted.

Wang added that mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation is the cornerstone of bilateral relations. China's economy has huge development potential and vast market. It is speeding up the building of a new open system of economy at a higher level. Expanding the cooperation between the two countries will help South Korea achieve sustainable prosperity and development.

It is hoped that South Korea will enhance its strategic independence, resist various forms of anti-globalization measures, and "decoupling and severing supply chains," deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in diverse fields, and deliver greater benefits to the peoples of both countries, Wang said, noting that China supports South Korea as the chair for China-Japan-South Korea cooperation in playing an active role to promote trilateral cooperation.

Park Jin expressed sincere condolences over the recent floods in some parts of China and wished the 19th Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou a complete success and a grand event of peace and unity.

Park said that South Korea and China are close neighbors and important partners. This year marks the commencement of the second 30 years since the establishment of China-South Korea diplomatic relations.

According to Park, the Yoon Suk-yeol government speaks highly of the fruitful results achieved in bilateral relations since the establishment of the diplomatic ties between South Korea and China, and will continue to attach great importance to and develop the bilateral relations.

South Korea looks forward to closer high-level communication with China, strengthening cultural and people-to-people exchanges, improving mutual understanding and actively building a sound and mature China-South Korea relationship, Park said.

Park said South Korea has no intention to engage in country-specific decoupling on the issue of production and supply chain, and "de-sinicization" is neither possible nor feasible, adding that South Korea is willing to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with China, keep the production and supply chain stable and unimpeded, and jointly promote the regional economic growth.

During the phone conversation, the two sides also exchanged views on Japan's dujmping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea and the Korean Peninsula issue.

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Senior military officials from China, US have held talks: Ministry of National Defense

Global Times

By Guo Yuandan Published: Sep 01, 2023 02:46 AM

Senior military officials from China and the US have held talks, China's Ministry of National Defense (MOD) said on Thursday, making it reportedly the first offline exchange between senior officials of the two militaries this year. Experts said whether the high-level contacts can be normalized depends on whether the US military can correct its wrongdoings and meet China halfway.

Vice chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission Xu Qiling held a meeting with representatives of the US military in Fiji, confirmed Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson from the MOD, during its first offline press release after the pandemic on Thursday.

The military exchanges between China and the US are not suspended. Both sides have maintained open and effective communication through military and diplomatic channels, Wu added.

During August 12 to 18, Xu led a delegation to Fiji to attend the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defense conference and visit Fiji, said Wu.

According to previous reports by Reuters, the US commander of the Indo Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, and Fiji's military commander, Major General Jone Logavatu Kalouniwai, "are hosting the meeting, with 27 nations from the region taking part."

Inferred from the disclosure of information by several parties, Admiral John Aquilino held talks with Xu.

Recently, the US military officials have been continuously exaggerating the possibility of a war between China and the US by emphasizing the interruption of military exchanges between the two countries.

Wu refuted that it is fundamentally impossible for the US military to create crises through actions while attempting to control them through language. "The Chinese side urges the US to stop its military provocations against China, in order to avoid the extreme situation that nobody wants to see," he said.

A military expert, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times all the facts indicate that it is the US military that is creating risks between the Chinese and American militaries.

The US State Department announced on Wednesday it will provide the Taiwan region with approximately $80 million worth of military assistance for the first time under the "Foreign Military Financing program."

"Regardless of whether the US is to aid or sell arms to the Taiwan region, we have always been firmly opposed to such a move," said Wu in response. The People's Liberation Army will take all necessary measures to resolutely counteract it as always, he added.

The actions of the US side have hindered normal communication between the two militaries for a period of time, Zhuo Hua, an international affairs expert at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy of Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times.

If the two militaries want to have further positive interactions, the key lies in whether the US can truly change its erroneous perception and policies towards China in the coming period of time, and whether it can take concrete goodwill actions, said Zhuo. "This is the fundamental condition for the two militaries' relationship to get back on track."

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North Korea conducts 'nuclear strike' drill in response to South-US joint drills

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 6:50 AM

North Korea has staged a simulated "scorched-earth" nuclear strike drill on potential targets across South Korea in response to joint military exercises by the US and South Korea off the Korean peninsula.

In a statement on Thursday, the General Staff of the North Korean People's Army (KPA) said that the dill, involving the entire army, aimed at stimulating the occupation of South Korean territory.

"The KPA staged a tactical 'nuclear strike' drill simulating scorched-earth strikes at major command centers and operational airfields of the 'ROK' military gangsters on Wednesday night," the country's official KCNA news agency quoted the KPA as saying, while referring to South Korea's official name as ROK.

"Two tactical ballistic missiles launched at the Pyongyang International Airport into the northeastern direction were exploded at the fixed height of 400 meters in the air above the target island, correctly carrying out the nuclear striking task," the KPA added in its statement.

The statement elaborated unusually on how Pyongyang envisions a potential war, including countering any attack by striking the South with nuclear weapons, then sweeping into the southern territory.

According to the report, the drill simulated repelling a sudden invasion, and then launching a counterattack to take control of "the whole territory of the southern half."

Using frontline and strategic reserve artillery forces, the simulated "scorched-earth" drill plans for establishing a front behind the enemy lines, disrupting the entrance of "outside armed forces" into the conflict, and "making simultaneous super-intense strikes at the pivotal military command centers, military ports, operational airfields, and other important enemy military targets," KCNA further said.

The KCNA also added that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday had overseen the drills during his visit to the training command post of the KPA, adding that the visit aimed at preparing the army for an all-out war with the South.

The US and South Korea on Thursday are set to complete their Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which began on August 21.

A day earlier, the two allies conducted joint air drills, involving at least one US B-1B strategic bomber, over the Yellow Sea.

Pyongyang said the simulated nuclear strike drill had been conducted in response to Washington's "provocative and dangerous" large-scale joint exercises simulating an all-out war against North Korea.

"The recent drill is to send a warning signal to the enemy who challenges us with such military threat as the deployment of strategic nuclear asset despite our repeated warning and make them clearly realize once again our definite will for punishment and practical retaliatory capacity," the KPA added.

In response, South Korea's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said in a statement that they "strongly condemn Kim Jong-Un explicitly revealing his intention for a military attack on us using the annual defensive South Korea-US combined drills as a pretext."

The nuclear-armed North, which is under harsh sanctions by the United Nations and the United States for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, views all military drills conducted by Washington and its regional allies as rehearsals for the invasion of its territory.

North Korea has been very open about its rocket development program, saying Pyongyang's objective is to defend the nation against US aggression exemplified in its continuous military drills and deployment of nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula.

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South Korea issues unilateral sanctions on North Korean firm, 5 individuals

Named individuals and company involved in illicit financing for weapons of mass destruction programs, said Seoul.

By Jeongho Lee for RFA 2023.08.31 -- South Korea on Friday imposed unilateral sanctions on a North Korean company and five individuals involved in illicit financing for weapons of mass destruction programs in an effort to curtail Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, which have posed threats to the United States and its regional allies.

New sanctions target the Ryu Kyung Program Development Company and its five officials, including the firm's chief Ryu Kyong-chol, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

South Korea became the first nation in the world to impose sanctions on the named individuals and company, joining other nations with independent blacklists relating to North Korea's weapons program, the ministry added.

This marks the eleventh time the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration has imposed sanctions on North Korea, bringing the total to 54 individuals and institutions since October of last year.

South Korean nationals must obtain permission from the governor of the Bank of Korea or the Financial Services Commission if they wish to engage in financial transactions with sanctioned firms or individuals.

The latest measure reflects Seoul's efforts in synchronizing its diplomatic stance with the U.S.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned two individuals and a company accused of helping the North Korean regime raise funds for its ballistic missile program, a move that came just a week after Pyongyang's failed attempt to launch what it described as a "satellite."

"The measure is expected to further tighten the international sanctions network and deepen the coordination of North Korea policy among friendly countries," South Korea's foreign ministry said.

It added that the new sanctions "demonstrate the government's strong commitment to lead the international community's efforts to prevent North Korea from developing satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles, evading sanctions, and financing its nuclear and missile programs."

"Our government will continue to work closely with the United States, Japan, and the international community to ensure that North Korea learns this lesson, ceases its reckless provocations, and engages in dialogue on denuclearisation," the ministry explained.

North Korea has been ramping up its military activities over the past few weeks. The country disclosed that it had performed a "scorched earth" nuclear strike simulation targeting South Korea on Thursday. Earlier in the same week, Kim Jong Un characterized the heads of the U.S., South Korea, and Japan as "gang bosses," which seems to hint at their recent summit on Aug.18 in Camp David, Maryland.

Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.

Copyright 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content 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.

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US issues sanctions over North Korean missile program

A North Korean and a Russian national have been sanctioned following Pyongyang's Aug. 23 failed satellite launch.

By Alex Willemyns for RFA 2023.08.31 -- The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned two individuals and a company accused of helping the North Korean regime raise funds for its ballistic missile program, according to a statement released on Thursday.

The sanctions come "in response to the DPRK's Aug. 23 attempted launch of a reconnaissance satellite into orbit," the statement says, using an acronym for the North Korean government.

They target two Russia-based individuals, Jon Jin Yong and Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov, it says, and the company that they ran, Intellekt LLC.

"Russia-based Jon Jin Yong worked with Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov (Kozlov) to coordinate the use of DPRK construction workers in Russia and served as a director of one of Kozlov's companies," it says.

"Kozlov has assisted Jon Jin Yong in the procurement of items commonly used in the ship-building industry. Jon Jin Yong led a team of DPRK information technology (IT) workers in Russia and worked with Russian nationals to obtain identification documents to validate the DPRK IT team's accounts on freelance IT work platforms."

Jon Jin Yong, Kozlov and their company have been added to the Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals list, which prohibits American citizens and companies from doing business with them.

The U.S. Treasury said they were being sanctioned for their role in supporting the development of weapons of mass of destruction.

The sanctions target "the facilitation networks that enable the DPRK's ballistic missile and WMD programs, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions," Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, was quoted saying in the statement.

North Korea on Aug. 23 attempted to launch a spy satellite into orbit for the second time in two months. However, the launch again failed.

Amid military drills held in response by the United States and South Korea off the Korean peninsula this week, Pyongyang on Wednesday night launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast. The regime said it was to test its defense against a nuclear attack.

Copyright 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content 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.

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North Korea Holds Tactical Nuclear Strike Drill Simulating Strikes Against South Korea

Sputnik News

20230831

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - North Korea, in response to the US-South Korea drills, has carried out a tactical nuclear strike drill simulating nuclear strikes at the territory of South Korea, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) said Wednesday.

"On August 30 the US imperialists let a formation of B-1B nuclear strategic bombers conduct a joint attack formation drill against the DPRK together with fighters of the military gangsters of the 'Republic of Korea' in the sky above the East and West Seas of Korea," North Korean state media quoted the general staff as saying.

"To cope with this, the KPA staged a tactical nuclear strike drill simulating scorched earth strikes at major command centers and operational airfields of the "ROK" [the Republic of Korea, South Korea] military gangsters on Wednesday night."

North Korea's military said the US and South Korea's Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise is a serious threat "as it was just pursuant to the scenario for a preemptive nuclear strike" and "opened this fact to the press and loudly advertise it as a 'demonstration of the implementation of the extended deterrence'" against Pyongyang.

The military confirmed that a missile unit had fired two tactical ballistic missiles northeastward and "correctly carried out its nuclear strike mission through air bursts at a preset altitude of 400 meters above the target island."

On Wednesday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea said North Korea launched two ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, which flew some 360 kilometers (223 miles) before falling into the sea. The military added that the detailed characteristics of the missiles were being analyzed by South Korean and US intelligence agencies.

The office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that Japan protests North Korea's ballistic missile launches. Following the launch, Kishida also instructed that maximum effort be dedicated to gathering and analyzing information and providing it to the public, as well as that the safety of aircraft, vessels and other assets be ensured, and all possible measures be taken for precautions, including readiness for contingencies, the office said.

The US and South Korea are holding the annual exercise dubbed Ulchi Freedom Shield from August 21-31. On Wednesday, Seoul and Washington carried out an aviation exercise involving at least one B-1B strategic bomber.

A Sputnik

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Designating Two Individuals and One Entity in Response to the DPRK's Failed Satellite Launch

US Department of State

Press Statement

Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

August 31, 2023

The United States is today imposing sanctions on two individuals and one entity that have engaged in revenue generation activities that support the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. We are taking this action in close coordination with the Republic of Korea and Japan.

This action is in response to the DPRK's failed launch of a reconnaissance satellite on August 23 - the DPRK's second failed attempt this year - that used ballistic missile technology in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions. We will continue to coordinate with our allies and partners to combat the DPRK's destabilizing activities.

The Department of the Treasury's designations were taken pursuant to Executive Order 13687 ("Imposing Additional Sanctions with Respect to North Korea"). Treasury designated Jon Jin Yong for being an official of the Workers' Party of Korea; Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Jon Jin Yong; and Intellekt LLC for being owned or controlled by Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov. Jon Jin Yong coordinated a Moscow-based construction project between Intellekt LLC and a Second Academy of Natural Sciences (SANS) cover company. SANS is already designated by the Department of State and the UN for having engaged, or attempted to engage, in activities or transactions that have materially contributed to the proliferation of WMD or their means of delivery. SANS uses numerous subordinate organizations and international representatives to procure foreign technology, equipment, materials, and information used in the research and development of advanced weapons systems.

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Treasury Targets Individuals and Entity Supporting the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Weapons of Mass Destruction Program

U.S. Department of the Treasury

August 31, 2023

Action Taken in Coordination with the Republic of Korea and Japan

WASHINGTON -- In coordination with the Republic of Korea and Japan, the United States sanctioned two individuals and one entityaJon Jin Yong, Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov, and Intellekt LLCainvolved in generating revenue for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) unlawful development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missiles. Today's action by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is being taken in response to the DPRK's August 23 attempted launch of a reconnaissance satellite into orbit, marking its second failed attempt to do so in three months.

"In furtherance of the Administration's commitment to coordinate our responses to regional challenges, today's actionaalong with the actions of our allies and partnersatargets the facilitation networks that enable the DPRK's ballistic missile and WMD programs, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. "The United States will continue to coordinate closely with the Republic of Korea and Japan in our collective effort to combat the DPRK's unlawful and destructive activities."

Today's action targets two individuals who have directly supported or helped generate revenue for DPRK organizations that are linked to the development of WMD, and identifies a company owned by one of the individuals.

DPRK WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION SUPPORT

Russia-based Jon Jin Yong worked with Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov (Kozlov) to coordinate the use of DPRK construction workers in Russia and served as a director of one of Kozlov's companies. Kozlov has assisted Jon Jin Yong in the procurement of items commonly used in the ship-building industry. Jon Jin Yong led a team of DPRK information technology (IT) workers in Russia and worked with Russian nationals to obtain identification documents to validate the DPRK IT team's accounts on freelance IT work platforms. Some of the identity documents were from family members or Russian employees of Kozlov. OFAC is designating Jon Jin Yongpursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13687 ("Imposing Additional Sanctions With Respect to North Korea") for being an official of the Workers' Party of Korea, which was sanctioned on March 15, 2016, pursuant to E.O. 13722 ("Blocking Property of the Government of North Korea and the Workers' Party of Korea, and Prohibiting Certain Transactions With Respect to North Korea"). OFAC is designatingKozlov pursuant to E.O. 13687 for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Jon Jin Yong.

Jon Jin Yong coordinated a Moscow-based construction project between Intellekt LLC and a Second Academy of Natural Sciences (SANS) cover company. On August 30, 2010, the U.S. Department of State designated SANS pursuant to E.O. 13382 ("Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and Their Supporters") for having engaged, or attempted to engage, in activities or transactions that have materially contributed to the proliferation of WMD or their means of delivery. Today's action will further restrict the ability of SANS to utilize its foreign-based agents to procure both financial and material support from DPRK representatives in foreign countries and from companies that provide services to circumvent U.S. and UN sanctions. OFAC is designating Intellekt LLC pursuant to E.O. 13687 for being owned or controlled by Kozlov.

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

As a result of today's action, pursuant to E.O. 13687, all property and interests in property of the persons named above that are in the United States, or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.

Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or otherwise exempt, OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.

In addition, persons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals or entities designated today may themselves be exposed to designation. Furthermore, any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction or provides significant financial services for any of the individuals or entities designated today could be subject to U.S. correspondent or payable-through account sanctions.

The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from its ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC's Frequently Asked Question 897.

For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list, please click here.

Find identifying information on the individuals sanctioned today here.

###

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Following the ballistic missile launches by North Korea on 30 August 2023, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office released a statement.

31 August 2023

A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesperson said:

North Korea's ballistic missile launches on 30 August are a breach of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

Illegal ballistic missile launches continue to destabilise the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.

The UK will always call out these violations of UNSCRs.

We strongly urge North Korea to return to dialogue and take credible steps towards denuclearisation.
Iran's Army is self-sufficient in defense equipment: Cmdr.

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Aug 31, 2023

Tehran, IRNA -- Iranian Army Commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi has said that Iran's Army in supplying defense equipment enjoys self-sufficiency and it is not dependent on any foreign country.

During his visit to the exhibition of the defense industry in Tehran on Thursday, Major General Mousavi said that following wise and valuable guidelines of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Iran's Army reached a point that is now independent of foreign countries in supplying its defense equipment.

When a country relies on foreigners to provide defensive equipment, it inevitably needs to behave in operations based on the capability of the imported equipment, but when a country has its own defense equipment based on its tactical needs, it will have the power to take initiatives, he added.

Referring to his visit to the exhibition of achievements of the defense industry, Major General Mousavi thanked the Iranian youth for achieving great outcomes in the Ministry of Defense.

3266**2050

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Iran enjoys domestic air defense system: Commander

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Aug 31, 2023

Isfahan, IRNA -- The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force enjoys domestic systems and does not require the knowledge of other countries, the Iranian army commander says.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the commander of the central air defense region Shahid Nasr-Esfahani headquarters Second Brigadier General Ali Haddadi Samani said that the country's air defense in the field of command and control has achieved many successes which is now being used.

Pointing to the progress on drone technology in the country, he emphasized that the Islamic Republic has proficiency in the manufacturing and maintenance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and progress in this field will increase day by day.

He reiterated that optimizing and upgrading systems, equipment, and facilities, recruiting, training, and organizing specialized and committed human resources, scientific and research efforts based on modern threats, and producing new systems, equipment, plus facilities are among the air defense measures.

The message of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the world is peace, friendship, and ensuring security by the countries of the region, he added.

3266**2050

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Sabotage attacks cannot stop Iran nuclear program: AEOI chief

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Aug 31, 2023

Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's nuclear program cannot be stopped by military attacks or sanctions, says Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami.

During an interview with Al-Jazeera on Thursday, Eslami said that Iran will comply with its obligations under the nuclear deal only after the Western powers fully abide by their share of commitments, according to which they fully remove the sanctions.

In reaction to a question about the threats of the Zionist regime, he noted "Iran's nuclear program cannot be stopped by targeting nuclear facilities or sanctions. Targeting our nuclear facilities is futile and will face a decisive and devastating reaction."

Probably, 2023 will be the year of the end of the "political uproar" related to Iran's nuclear program, he said, adding that talks between Iran and the IAEA are continuing and recently the case of high-level enriched uranium particles was closed.

Eslami stressed that setting the IAEA surveillance cameras mostly depends on the commitment of the other parties to the nuclear deal.

At the end of interview, the AEOI chief highlighted that his country is ready for constructive cooperation with its Arab neighbors in the nuclear field.

3266**2050

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FM: Iran to continue strongly supporting Lebanon's govt., nation

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 3:12 PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has highlighted the country's close and friendly relations with Lebanon, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic will continue to strongly support the Lebanese government and nation.

Addressing reporters upon arrival at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Thursday afternoon, Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran desires nothing other than welfare, stability and peace for Lebanon.

The top Iranian diplomat went on to call upon all Lebanese political factions to break a political deadlock that has gripped the country for months, and pick a replacement for former President Michel Aoun, whose term ended in October, through dialogue and understanding.

Amir-Abdollahian said he will discuss the matter during meetings with high-ranking Lebanese officials. "Naturally, the Lebanese people and authorities themselves should decide on the election of a president."

"We expect all regional and extra-regional countries to help improve Lebanon's situation within the framework of comprehensive economic and commercial cooperation," Amir-Abdollahian said.

He said Iran has always been wishing the best for the Lebanese government, nation, army and Hezbollah resistance movement.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian foreign minister pointed to his recent trip to Saudi Arabia, highlighting that Saudi authorities have hinted at positive and constructive measures in order to improve the status quo in Lebanon.

"We invite all countries to help and cooperate economically with Lebanon. The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to strongly support Lebanon," Amir-Abdollahian said.

Lebanon's presidency has seen stalemate several times since the 1975-1990 civil war. The country has also had only a caretaker government since May.

The Arab country has been mired in an economic crisis that the World Bank has dubbed one of the worst in recent history, which comes amid crippling sanctions imposed by the US and its allies.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95 percent of its value on the black market since 2019.

According to the United Nations, the financial crisis in Lebanon has caused poverty rates to reach more than 80 percent of the population, and food prices have risen by an astonishing 2,000 percent.

Creditors under the US influence such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have conditioned the release of billions of dollars in emergency loans to specific reforms, which many observers believe would make the country dependent on the West.

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Iran foils 'biggest' sabotage plot against its defense industry

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 9:26 AM

Iranian intelligence forces have thwarted a complicated sabotage plot against the country's defense industry.

The "biggest" sabotage plot against the missile and aerospace industry of the Defense Ministry was neutralized through the vigilance of the ministry's Intelligence Organization, the national TV reported on Thursday.

It added that the Israeli regime's spy services and its global vassals were behind the plot, aimed at harming Iran's defense power.

An official in the Defense Ministry's Intelligence Organization said that due to the effectiveness of Iran's missile power in creating deterrence against enemy threats, its missile industry has always been among the targets of enemy spy services.

The source explained that in recent years, multi-layer intelligence and security projects have been designed and implemented under the cover of buying parts to deceive the enemy's spy services.

The Iranian intelligence forces managed to bust a professional network that had plotted to introduce "faulty and equipped parts" to be used in the production of advanced missiles in the Defense Ministry, the source added.

"Under direct orders from Mossad, this network, by selling the equipped parts, intended to convert the produced missiles into explosive devices to harm industrial lines and employees working in this field."

The source further stated that the Israeli regime is frustrated over the huge blow it received with the dismantling of its sabotage network in Iran.

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Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal dismissed by junta's high court

The democracy icon's whereabouts is a mystery.

By RFA Burmese 2023.08.31 -- An appeal filed by lawyers for Aung San Suu Kyi has been rejected by the military junta's Supreme Court - a decision that comes a month after a junta pardon reduced her total prison sentence from 33 years to 27 years.

But the whereabouts of the 78-year-old former de facto leader of Myanmar remains unclear.

A month ago, a National League for Democracy official told Radio Free Asia that she would be moved from Naypyidaw Prison to "a more comfortable state-owned residence" in a residential area in the capital.

And a source with connections to the prison also told RFA in late July that the former State Counselor had been "relocated."

But junta officials haven't commented on her location, and they've barred her lawyers from meeting with her since January.

"We don't know exactly where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is. She hasn't been allowed to see her son for over two and a half years," NLD spokesman Kyaw Zaw said, using an honorific for Suu Kyi.

"In Myanmar, there have been arbitrary arrests and disappearances of individuals, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, without any trace of information," he said.

Not being allowed to see family members is a violation of the "fundamental principles of human rights," Kyaw Zaw said as the United Nations and civic groups marked the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on Wednesday.

Using all legal measures

The military detained Suu Kyi and other top leaders of the NLD in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup d'etat. She was kept under house arrest in Naypyidaw for several days before the junta moved her to a secret location.

In June 2022, she was transferred to Naypyidaw Prison, where she was held in solitary confinement. She was found guilty of corruption charges and in violation of election and state secrets laws in December 2022. Her supporters say the charges were politically motivated.

The junta has brought a total of 19 cases against Suu Kyi since the coup. In July, the Supreme Court began hearing an appeal for five of those cases, which include a charge related to walkie talkie devices found at her home and two charges for allegedly breaching the COVID-19 safety regulations during the 2020 election campaign.

As part of a broader amnesty to mark a Buddhist holiday, the junta on Aug. 1 pardoned her in those five cases. That cut her prison sentence by six years.

But the appeal trial in those cases continued forward, and on Tuesday the Supreme Court rejected the appeal, as well as a separate appeal of convictions in two other cases for Suu Kyi.

Sources close to Suu Kyi's lawyers told RFA that her legal team is using all legal measures to defend her in every case, regardless of the recent pardon.

Junta's biggest political fear

"Aung San Su Kyi is the person most feared politically by the junta that claims to be 500,000 strong," political analyst Than Soe Naing said.

That's why she's mostly being kept in the dark, away from media attention, he said. The junta has granted some meetings, including with the Thai foreign minister in July, but only as a way to improve its public perception, he said.

Three military officers visited her at Naypyidaw Prison on May 27 and June 4 to enlist her help in peace negotiations with the armed resistance, a source with knowledge of the situation at the prison told RFA. She rebuffed their request, the source said.

RFA called junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun on Thursday to ask about where Suu Kyi is currently being held, but he couldn't be reached.

"She has been sentenced to prison for her charges, and therefore, realistically, she must be in prison," said Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, which is made up of former military officers.

"She could be somewhere, but not under house arrest," he said. "But no one can say anything for sure as the details have not been announced."

A Yangon resident told RFA on Thursday that people are always keeping their ears open for any news about Suu Kyi.

"If they dare to, just let the people see her on state television - or anything about her," he said. "Everyone wants to hear her news. I pray for [her] good health. Most of all, I pray for her release as soon as possible."

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content 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.

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Junta arrests 11 civilians in Myanmar's Kachin state

They were accused of having links to pro-democracy forces.

By RFA Burmese 2023.08.31 -- Junta troops have arrested 11 people in a raid on Myitkyina township in Myanmar's Kachin state, locals told RFA Thursday.

They said that six men and five women were detained three days ago after around 30 soldiers went to a house and accused the residents of having ties to the local People's Defense Force, part of the pro-democracy forces created in 2021.

As of Thursday, the detainees were still being questioned at the Northern Command base in Myitkyina, according to township residents.

One local, who didn't want to be named for security reasons, told RFA none of the arrested have links to anti-junta militias and had just gathered for a celebration.

"I heard people chanting 'Happy Birthday' at around 8:00 p.m. I think it was a birthday party, with people gathered for food and drinks," the local said.

"Some employees of phone shops were among those detained. I have no idea who informed the junta soldiers about them."

The local added that the arrests may have been prompted by an attack on the Northern Command in which five bombs exploded close to the base. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the junta has not released any statement about it.

Win Ye Tun, the junta's spokesperson for Kachin state, declined to provide comments.

According to figures exclusively compiled by RFA, the junta arrested at least 700 people between June 2023 and August 2023, and among them, only 500 were released.

More than 24,000 people, including pro-democracy activists, have been arrested since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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.

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Suicide Bomber Attacks Security Convoy In Northwestern Pakistan, Killing Nine Soldiers

By RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal August 31, 2023

At least nine Pakistani soldiers have been killed and 20 more injured in a suicide attack that targeted a security convoy in northwestern Pakistan.

The attack on August 31 was carried out by a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle, Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations Agency (ISPR) said in a statement.

The statement added that "the army is committed to eliminating terrorism."

The attack occurred in the Jani Khel area of the Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK) near the North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan.

There has been no claim of responsibility.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar condemned the bombing.

"Heartbroken by the loss of 9 valiant soldiers in Bannu Division, KPK, to a cowardly terrorist act that injured many. Such acts are utterly reprehensible," Kakar said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The number of deadly suicide attacks on security forces in and near North Waziristan in 2023 has been increasing. North Waziristan served as a base for insurgents until the army announced years ago that it had cleared the region of local and foreign militants.

One of the most deadly was a suicide bombing on July 30 at a political rally for the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party that killed more than 50 people in the Bajur district, a stronghold of the Tehrik-e Taliban, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, a close ally of Afghanistan's Taliban-led government. The Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group claimed responsibility.

There have been frequent protests and repeated calls for the government to maintain security in the region.

The government and the military have stressed that they have carried out operations against the militants and claimed the actions have achieved success in the past few years.

The attack compounds security concerns in the runup to a national election expected to take place later this year. Elections are to be held before early November following the end of the government's tenure in the first half of August.

With reporting by AP and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-jannikhel-suicide- attack-soldiers-killed/32573172.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russian-German National Arrested for Illegally Exporting to Russia Sensitive U.S.-Sourced Microelectronics with Military Applications in Violation of U.S. Export Controls

Thursday, August 31, 2023

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

The Defendant Allegedly Participated in an Illicit Procurement Network That, Subsequent to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, Illegally Procured Large Quantities of U.S.-Sourced Sensitive Microelectronics for a Russian Company That Supplies Manufacturers for t

Arthur Petrov, 33, a dual Russian-German citizen who has resided in Russia and Cyprus, is charged by criminal complaint, unsealed today, with export control violations, smuggling, wire fraud, and money laundering offenses based on his alleged participation in an ongoing scheme to procure U.S.-sourced microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical electronics components for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military.

Petrov was arrested on Aug. 26 in the Republic of Cyprus at the request of the United States.

"As alleged in the complaint, Arthur Petrov conspired to smuggle U.S. microelectronics technology with military applications to Russia, the type of components used by the Russian military in its unjust invasion of Ukraine," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division. "The Justice Department will not tolerate efforts to circumvent our export control laws to fuel the Russian war machine and those who try will find no refuge from U.S. justice. We thank our partners in the Republic of Cyprus for their law enforcement cooperation and continued support."

"Those how evade our export control restrictions to support Putin's brutal war machine will be held accountable," said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod. "In conjunction with today's criminal action, we have issued a Temporary Denial Order to shutter this alleged illicit procurement network's access to the type of U.S. micro-electronics embedded in Russian missiles and drones that have been used in its unprovoked war against the Ukrainian people."

"Arthur Petrov is alleged to have participated in an international illicit procurement network based in Russia, using shell companies to smuggle shipments from U.S. distributors of microelectronics with military applications through intermediary countries in order to conceal the ultimate destination of these sensitive materials: Russia. As alleged, Petrov knew that the transactions and shipments were in contravention of U.S. export controls relating to Russia," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. "Efforts to illicitly supply Russia with U.S.-sourced military technology represent an affront to national security and will continue to be met with criminal prosecutions by this office."

"Petrov's alleged conduct in the complaint represents a complex, concerted scheme to circumvent U.S. law and export controls," said Executive Assistant Director Larissa L. Knapp of the FBI's National Security Branch. "The alleged creation and establishment of an intricate network of shell companies demonstrates the elaborate measures adversaries will take to steal sensitive technology. The FBI remains committed to dismantling criminal enterprises' intent on threatening national security."

According to court documents, Petrov is a dual Russian-German national who works for LLC Electrocom VPK (Electrocom), a Russia-based supplier of critical electronics components for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military. Petrov and two co-conspirators (CC-1 and CC-2), who are Russian nationals also working for Electrocom, operated an illicit procurement network in Russia and elsewhere overseas. As alleged, following Russia' invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and continuing until August 2023, they fraudulently procured from U.S. distributors large quantities of microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of Electrocom. To carry out the scheme, Petrov, CC-1, and CC-2 used shell companies and other deceptive means to conceal that the electronics components were destined for Russia. The technology that Petrov and his co-conspirators procured during the course of the conspiracy have significant military applications and include various types of electronics components of the sort that have been recovered in Russian military hardware on the battlefield in Ukraine, such as Russian guided missiles, drones, and electronic warfare and communications devices.

To perpetrate the scheme, Petrov first acquired the controlled microelectronics from U.S.-based electronics exporters using a Cyprus-based shell company, Astrafteros Technokosmos LTD (Astrafteros), which he operates. Petrov procured these sensitive electronics components by falsely representing to the U.S. exporters that Astrafteros was purchasing the items for fire security systems, among other commercial uses, and that the ultimate end-users and destinations of the electronics are companies in Cyprus or other third countries a when in fact the components are destined for Electrocom in Russia, which supplies manufacturers for the Russian military. The microelectronics that Petrov procured as part of the conspiracy include, among other things, microcontrollers and integrated circuits that are on the Commerce Control List maintained by the Commerce Department and cannot lawfully be exported or reexported to Russia without a license from the Commerce Department. Invoices provided to Petrov by the U.S. distributors expressly noted that these microcontrollers and integrated circuits are subject to U.S. export controls.

To evade these controls, Petrov, CC-1, and CC-2 worked together to transship the controlled items procured by Petrov using pass-through entities operated by CC-1 and CC-2 in third countries. CC-1 and CC-2 then caused the items to be shipped, sometimes through yet another country, to the ultimate destination: Electrocom in Saint Petersburg, Russia. At all times, Petrov, CC-1, and CC-2 concealed from the U.S. distributors that they were procuring the controlled electronics components on behalf of Electrocom and that the items were destined for Russia. During the course of the conspiracy, Petrov, CC-1, and CC-2 procured from U.S. distributors and shipped to Russia more than $225,000 worth of controlled electronics components with military applications.

Petrov is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; three counts of violating the ECRA, which each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; three counts of smuggling goods from the United States, which each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI and the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security are investigating the case, with valuable assistance provided by the FBI's Legal AttachA offices in Poland, Germany, and Athens, Greece; the Justice Department's National Security Division; and the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs. The Republic of Cyprus National Police also provided critical assistance in effecting the defendant's arrest and detention at the request of the United States.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Sullivan for the Southern District of New York is prosecuting the case, with assistance from Trial Attorney Maria Fedor of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

Today's actions were coordinated through the Justice Department's Task Force KleptoCapture and the Justice and Commerce Departments' Disruptive Technology Strike Force. Task Force KleptoCapture is an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with its allies and partners, in response to Russia's unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. The Disruptive Technology Strike Force is an interagency law enforcement strike force co-led by the Departments of Justice and Commerce designed to target illicit actors, protect supply chains, and prevent critical technology from being acquired by authoritarian regimes and hostile nation states.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Topic: Export Control

Components: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

National Security Division (NSD)

USAO - New York, Southern

Press Release Number: 23-950

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MFA statement on closing of Polish Consular Agency in Smolensk

Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Republic of Poland

31.08.2023

A ceremony was held on 31 August to close the Consular Agency in Smolensk.

The ceremony was attended by Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Russian Federation Krzysztof Krajewski. The Polish mission operated in the city from 10 April 2012. The tasks of the Consular Agency included caring for the two Polish national memorials in the consular district, namely the Katyn cemetery complex and the site of the Tu-154 air disaster of 10 April 2010.

The Agency was closed after the Government of the Russian Federation had withdrawn consent for its functioning.

It should be re-emphasised that the decision of the Russian authorities has met with strong opposition from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

MFA Spokesperson

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Moscow says Russia will deepen relations with North Korea

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 6:46 PM

Russia says it will further deepen its bilateral relations with North Korea as the United States expresses concerns about advancing alleged arms negotiations between Moscow and Pyongyang.

At a press conference on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that Moscow and Pyongyang currently maintained good ties and that the Russian side wanted to develop them more.

"Moscow and Pyongyang maintain good, mutually respectful relations. We intend to develop them further," he stressed, calling North Korea "a very important neighbor."

His comments came a day after Washington expressed concerns that alleged arms negotiations between Moscow and Pyongyang were advancing actively, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had written to each other pledging to boost their cooperation.

The White House on Wednesday claimed that it had new intelligence that purportedly shows the two leaders have exchanged letters, accusing Russia of looking to North Korea for munitions for the war in Ukraine.

Peskov did not confirm the alleged swapping letters when asked by reporters if the exchange had taken place, but stressed that "contacts are being made at various levels."

North Korea has backed Russia over the war in Ukraine, insisting that the "hegemonic policy" of the US-led NATO military alliance of Western governments forced Moscow to take military action to protect its national security interests.

The United States, in turn, has accused Pyongyang of providing arms to Russia to help combat the West-supplied Ukrainian forces. North Korea and Russia have, however, dismissed US claims as part of its usual publicity campaign against unfriendly countries.

Russia and China, meanwhile, have stood firm against US-led efforts at the United Nations Security Council to impose more sanctions against North Korea over its growing missile tests in response to increasing US military presence and war games in the Korean Peninsula.

Last month, North Korea officially recognized Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republics (LPR), Ukraine's two eastern breakaway regions, which joined the Russian Federation following local referendums. Ukraine retaliated by severing its relations with the North.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Peskov strongly rejected claims by the Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, that Russia allegedly provokes hunger in the world by blocking Ukraine's grain export, calling the accusation "unfounded and erroneous."

"Russia takes a very responsible stance in this area. Russia, as you know, despite the failure to fulfill the relevant obligations in relation to it (referring to obligations within the grain deal), has repeatedly extended the so-called grain deal," Peskov added.

The deal is officially known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative. It was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations on July 22, 2022, and has since, according to the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, allowed three Ukrainian ports to export some 32.9 million metric tons of grain and other food to the world, over half of that to developing countries.

The agreement last came up for extension on May 18 and Russia agreed at that point to extend it for 60 more days. On July 17, Moscow said that it would not extend the deal anymore unless Russia's demands were met.

The deal came with a separate agreement to facilitate shipments of Russian food and fertilizer. Moscow says no facilitation under that agreement has yet taken place. The Kremlin had initially threatened to abandon the deal if its concerns were not addressed.

Commenting on prospects for the resumption of the grain deal, in particular, with the participation of Qatar, Peskov stressed that "there are no concrete results of these talks yet."

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Books To Boots: Critics Say New Russian History Textbook Is Propaganda, Preparation For War

By Robert Coalson August 31, 2023

As schools across Russia and the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine prepare for the start of the school year on September 1, some 650,000 copies of a brand-new history textbook for students in 11th grade -- the final year of high school -- are being distributed.

"The section about the period from the 1970s until the 2000s has been completely reworked," Vladimir Medinsky, a nationalist aide to President Vladimir Putin who served as culture minister in 2012-20 and is one of the authors of the new textbook, said at a presentation on August 8.

He said that "a section has been added that covers the period from 2014 to the present" -- the period, in other words, since Russia seized control of Crimea and fomented a war in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region that was supplanted, in February 2022, by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"There are many micro-histories and interesting facts. Many new illustrations.... And, of course, there is a separate chapter devoted to the 'special military operation,'" he added, using the Kremlin's euphemism -- enshrined in Russian law -- for the invasion and the war that persists 18 months later.

Critics say the new textbook has little to do with history but rather is a return to Soviet-style practices of ideological indoctrination aimed at youths who could soon find themselves drafted into the military. With some exceptions, boys become eligible for one year of mandatory service when they reach the age of 18.

"The new history textbook is a book addressed to pre-conscripts and their girlfriends," Aleksei Makarkin, deputy head of the Center for Political Technologies, wrote on Telegram. "The government today actually has few effective ways of communicating with young people. Young people don't watch television and there is no way to make them do so."

"History is being turned into a tool to make students obey," Russian educator Dima Zitser told RFE/RL.

'Cheap Manipulation'

The complete textbook has not been made available, and RFE/RL had not seen a hard copy as of August 31. Earlier in August, the media outlet RBK published photographs of what it said was the textbook, including the table of contents and some key pages on the war in Ukraine and Russian relations with the West.

Wording on the pages depicted in the photos published by RBK repeats President Vladimir Putin's false claims that Ukraine is an "ultranationalist" and "neo-Nazi" state; that Kyiv is controlled by the West, which seeks to dismember Russia and steal its natural resources; that NATO advisers pushed Kyiv to "attack the Donbas" in 2020; that "strictly secret" U.S. "biolaboratories" were created in Ukraine; that Kyiv has been "aggressively" seeking to acquire nuclear weapons; and more.

Western sanctions imposed on Russia after Moscow's occupation of Crimea in 2014 and its waging of a hybrid war against Kyiv in parts of eastern Ukraine, as well as in the wake of the full-scale invasion, are dismissed as "absolutely illegal" acts that "violate all norms of international law."

According to the photos published by RBK, the textbook estimates without evidence that the Western sanctions resulted in what it calls the "theft" of $300 billion in Russian state and private property, and it falsely claims that the West's actions "do not essentially differ" from the looting of Soviet museums by Nazi forces in World War II.

"The main beneficiary of the Ukraine conflict was the United States," it says, referring in the past tense to the current war, which the United States attempted to avert through diplomacy as Russia amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine's borders before launching the full-scale invasion. "It managed to hook Europe up to its expensive natural gas and other resources. The United States fully intends to fight 'to the last Ukrainian.'"

The text shown in the photos warns students about what it claims is nefarious activity of "foreign agents," a reference to the many activists, media outlets, and civil society groups that Russia has shut down or placed under enormous pressure under legislation that has grown progressively harsher over the past decade. It instructs them to "be vigilant" against the influence of "oppositionists," "opinion leaders," and "popular bloggers" so that they "don't become victims of cheap manipulation."

It includes short biographical sketches of Russian soldiers who have been killed in the war on Ukraine.

"There are photographs of heroes," Medinsky said at the August 8 presentation. "Everything was approved by the commanders and the families. By the children of the heroes. By the wives and widows."

'History Is Crucial For Us'

Medinsky, the most prominent of the authors of the new textbook, is a historian with a questionable reputation. He is the author of numerous books, including a series called Myths in which he tries to debunk what he claims are stereotypes that foreigners have invented to discredit Russia and Russians. His book War: Myths Of The U.S.S.R. 1939-45 has been described by historian Aleksei Isayev as "agitprop" and "nonsense."

In January 2012, a group of historians accused Medinsky of plagiarizing his doctoral dissertation and published excerpts from the document alongside quotations from other historians. Historian Lev Usyskin said at the time that Medinsky was a "fraudster" with a "fraudulent academic degree."

In October 2017, a top Russian academic council recommended revoking Medinsky's doctorate on the grounds that his research was "unscholarly" and ignored "sources if they contradict his theses."

Language scholar Ivan Babitsky described the dissertation as a "propaganda pamphlet."

Others named as co-authors of the new textbook include the academic director of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Aleksandr Chubaryan, and the rector of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), a prestigious foreign-policy school that produces numerous Russian diplomats, Anatoly Torkunov.

At the presentation of the book in August, Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov described it as part of "a single educational program for literature, social studies, and history."

"The subject of history is crucial for us," he said. "Our president has said repeatedly that we can't distort our historical memory and that it is important that objective facts be taught in schools. We have added to the textbooks -- particularly this one for the 11th grade -- those facts that are most relevant today."

Putin, who frequently talks and writes about history, is widely accused by critics in Russia and abroad of distorting the past. His decision to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was preceded by numerous false statements about the history of that country, its people, and its relationship with Russia over the centuries.

'Historically Absurd, Logically Illiterate'

The new textbook is the latest manifestation of the program of "patriotic education" that has been a defining feature of Putin's more than two decades as president or prime minister. During the last school year, Russia introduced a program called Important Conversations, weekly meetings during which teachers raised patriotic themes and laid out Kremlin narratives about international and domestic topics.

"Any repressive dictatorship, particularly one waging an aggressive foreign war, needs this," said former Russian parliament member Aleksandr Osovtsov, a Kremlin opponent who now lives abroad. "In the 21st century there is no other way to justify foreign aggression except through myths."

"They can only justify -- if only superficially -- what they are doing by pasting together a historically absurd and logically illiterate cocktail of mythical achievements, combining Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Lenin, Stalin, and all those who can somehow be presented as 'gatherers of the Russian lands,'" he added.

Yevhen Mahda, a Ukrainian political scientist and director of Kyiv's Institute of World Policy, told RFE/RL that "the authors of the textbook are hoping it will help intensify patriotism in Russia" and facilitate military mobilization.

"This textbook is for the graduating class -- that is, the kids who will read it need to understand why they are putting on uniforms and boots," he said.

Ukrainian historian Serhiy Hutsalyuk, of the Institute of National Memory, said the new textbook could someday be entered as evidence at "an international criminal tribunal."

"It is a demonstration of how the ideological component is conducted in Russia to support its policy of aggression," he said.

'A Country With An Unpredictable Past'

Russian political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin said the Putin government's attitude toward history harks back to Soviet precedents in which "history has no relationship to reality but is intended to form the ideological basis for bolstering the authorities."

Marxist historian Mikhail Pokrovsky, who oversaw the instruction of history in the years after the 1917 Bolshevik coup, said that "history is politics projected onto the past," Oreshkin noted.

"That is, history changes depending on the interests of the ruling party," he added. "That is why Soviet Russia always was a country with an unpredictable past."

He noted in passing that although Pokrovsky died of cancer in 1932, many of his followers were persecuted in Stalin's Great Terror and his textbooks were destroyed after the dictator decided Pokrovsky did not give sufficient importance to the role of personalities like Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

"When the agenda of the day changed, Pokrovsky's followers were shot, imprisoned, destroyed," Oreshkin said.

Russian historian and educator Sergei Chernyshov, from Novosibirsk, said Medinsky's textbook was "an appeal not to facts or analysis, but to emotions."

"Its main goal is to incite anger toward Ukrainians," he told RFE/RL.

However, he expressed doubt that it will do much to shape young minds. "This propaganda will be opposed by healthy, youthful indifference," he said. "I really hope that the 11th-graders, like all good 11th-graders everywhere, aren't going to read textbooks. At that age, they have more important things to do."

Zitser agrees, saying that 11th-graders are "fully formed personalities" who probably already have formed their views of the war and issues such as Russia's relations with the West.

"For now, we are talking about a textbook for 11th-graders," he cautioned. "That doesn't mean -- and they are already promising this -- that books for the fifth- and sixth-graders won't come next."

Written by Robert Coalson based on reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service and Current Time

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-history-textbook- propaganda/32572916.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia, North Korea Maintain Good Relations, Contacts Occur at Various Levels - Kremlin

Sputnik News

20230831

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shared Moscow's stance on current issues of global policy.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia and North Korea maintain good mutually respectful relations, and contacts occur at various levels, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday. Peskov was asked to comment on statements from the US about exchange of letters between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"Moscow and Pyongyang maintain good relations, mutually respectful relations, we mean to develop them further. Contacts are being made at various levels. This is our very important neighbor in the region, so these relations will continue to develop," Peskov said.

On Food Crisis on the African Continent

Kiev's statements holding Russia responsible for the famine on the African continent are groundless, erroneous, and they deliberately distort the truth, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"They are absolutely baseless, they are wrong. This is a deliberate distortion of reality, I mean in the sense that the shortage of cereals, the shortage of food on the African continent is somehow connected with our country, this is not the case," Peskov told reporters.

Russia takes a very responsible position on the supply of food to Africa, the official added.

On Black Sea Grain Deal Prospects

Discussions about the Black Sea Grain Initiative did not bring any specific results yet, but Russia is ready to return to it immediately if conditions concerning Moscow are fulfilled, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"No, I repeat once again, there are no concrete results of this discussion yet. But there will be a discussion of this issue in Moscow today [during the meeting between foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey], and in the very near future, at the highest level, of course. It is difficult to say how effective this will be, but I repeat once again, as a responsible supplier of grain, Russia takes part in such discussions," Peskov told reporters.

The spokesman also recalled Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement when he said that Russia is ready to return to the grain deal "immediately" as soon as the conditions concerning Moscow are fulfilled.

A Sputnik

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Joint Statement on Russia's continued pursuit of weapons from the DPRK

The United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea have issued a joint statement following Russia's negotiation of potential deals with North Korea for significant quantities and multiple types of munitions, to be used against Ukraine.

31 August 2023

Good morning everyone, and thank you very much for being here, I would like to make a statement in my national capacity on behalf of Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

At the top, I would like to note that we are tracking reports that the DPRK has conducted another launch this morning. And as we investigate further, we call on the DPRK to refrain from engaging in provocative behaviour and instead accept one of our numerous offers for dialogue.

We are here today to share new, deeply troubling information: Arms negotiations between Russia and the DPRK are actively advancing. As was highlighted during Friday's Council meeting, Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu stood beside Kim Jong Un during the DPRK's recent military parade - which showcased the DPRK's Security Council-prohibited ballistic missile advancements. It is shameful that the Russian Federation - a permanent member of the Security Council - participated in a celebration of the DPRK's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons delivery systems.

The United States is now able to share that Shoigu's visit was more than just a photo op. Russia used this visit to the DPRK to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia. Since then, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation. Our information further indicates that, following Shoigu's visit, another group of Russian officials traveled to the DPRK for follow-up discussions about potential arms deals between the DPRK and Russia.

Russia is negotiating potential deals for significant quantities and multiple types of munitions from the DPRK to be used against Ukraine. These potential deals could also include the provision of raw materials that would assist Russia's defense industrial base. In its pursuit of these weapons, Russia will violate Security Council resolutions, including resolutions Russia itself voted for. Any such arms deal would be a serious violation of resolutions the Security Council adopted, unanimously, after the DPRK's past nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches.

Those resolutions prohibited all Member States, including Russia, from procuring any arms from the DPRK. This sends the wrong message to aspiring proliferators: that if you sell Russia arms, Russia will defend - even enable - your pursuit of nuclear weapons. On numerous occasions, the DPRK has publicly said it will not sell arms to Russia. We urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments Pyongyang has made.

This is not the first time Russia has moved to violate Security Council resolutions to pursue its illegal war against Ukraine. There is now incontrovertible evidence that Russia has procured drones from Iran in violation of another resolution it voted for, Security Council Resolution 2231. Russia has since used those drones in punishing attacks against critical infrastructure in Ukraine. And we are very disappointed the UN has not carried out its mandate to investigate and document Russia's outrageous violations.

Russia's pattern of behavior - flouting its responsibilities as a member of the Security Council, propping up proliferating regimes - is unacceptable. The United States is therefore taking direct action - by exposing and sanctioning individuals and entities working to facilitate arms deals between Russia and the DPRK. On August 16th, we designated additional entities tied to an already sanctioned evasion network attempting to support illicit DPRK-Russia arms deals.

We cannot - and we will not - stay silent as we receive more information that Russia continues to turn to rogue regimes to try to obtain weapons and equipment in order to support its brutal war of aggression. We will continue to work with allies and partners to identify, expose, and counter Russian attempts to acquire military equipment from the DPRK or any state that is prepared to support Russia's war in Ukraine. And we will keep strengthening cooperation to address the DPRK's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.

This is a pressing matter of international peace and security, and it is one that demands the Council's attention. Thank you.

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A Man's Hobby Becomes a Crucial Tool in Global Efforts to Enforce Sanctions on Russia

By Dorian Jones August 31, 2023

It started as one man's hobby, but watching Russian cargo ships on the Bosphorus Strait and spotting those that are busting sanctions by carrying illegal cargo from occupied ports in Ukraine has become a crucial resource for global media and others who monitor compliance.

From his terrace, Yoruk Isik captures with his camera another Russian cargo ship passing Istanbul's Bosphorus waterway from the Black Sea to European markets and beyond. It started as a hobby, but for Isik, a regional political analyst, monitoring the ships has become a personal passion.

"I am interested in Russian foreign policy, and watching ships on the Bosphorus really gives clues about Russian foreign policy and what they are engaging in, what they are planning to do in the coming months," he said.

With the Bosphorus waterway narrowing to a few hundred meters, monitoring ships is relatively easy. Isik records the name of the ships, the cargo, and the flag it is sailing under. He works with an international network of volunteers and nongovernment organizations that share data online on the movement of Russian cargo ships.

The information is crucial for world media and others who monitor compliance.

Isik's website, bosphorusobserver.com, has become an important go-to resource for media including Reuters news agency, which uses his photos. With sanction-busting ships often turning off their Automatic Identification System or AIS that allows them to be tracked by international authorities, monitoring efforts by people like Isik are vital, said George Voloshin, a global financial crime expert at ACAMS, a U.S.-based watchdog.

"I think this (ship monitoring) is very valuable because, actually, a common technique is to manipulate your AIS signal by resample just turning down your transponder or trying to manipulate it, interfere with it so that a ship appears to be in a different place in a different location. So, all those leads are potentially valuable," he said.

Voloshin said such monitoring helped expose Russia's exports of stolen Ukrainian grain and coal from Black Sea ports that it occupied in Ukraine, much of which Isik recorded passing through the Bosphorus waterway.

Moscow denies accusations that it is busting sanctions.

The waters off Istanbul are under limited Turkish jurisdiction and are an international hub for hundreds of empty cargo ships and tankers that frequently change owners. Experts say this makes tracking difficult and creates conditions favorable to those seeking to circumvent a long list of sanctions.

Adding to the difficulties in applying the sanctions is Turkey's refusal to enforce them. Ankara says it is not bound by them.

Trade between Russia and Turkey has surged since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Russia is the world's most sanctioned country. So, most of the people who are engaged in trade with Russia, they are trying to hide their activities because they are worried that somehow some sanctions will come back and haunt them," said, the Bosphorous Observer analyst Yoruk Isik.

In 2015, Isik exposed Russia's export of arms by sea to the Syrian government for its fight against rebels. Now, he spends most of his spare time tracking ships, which he expects to continue for many years, as Russia shows no signs of changing its behavior.

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Pursuing Taiwan unification high on Xi's third term agenda: MND

ROC Central News Agency

08/31/2023 09:04 PM

Taipei, Aug. 31 (CNA) Pursuing unification with Taiwan is likely to be high on the agenda during Chinese President Xi Jinping's () third five-year term that began earlier this year, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a new report.

The MND based its analysis on three events that have taken place since the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), held last October, that cemented Xi's grip on power in the party following a major leadership shuffle.

At the congress, the CCP wrote the "one country, two systems" formula into its party constitution, which sets more definitive guidance on the party's Taiwan policy, the MND said.

The concept was first proposed by the late leader Deng Xiaoping () in the 1970s to promote the policy of peaceful unification with Taiwan.

Another indication was the first speech given by Xi at the 14th National People's Congress, after he was elected for an unprecedented third term as president, in which he vowed to lead the CCP to "solidly" promote the "great cause of national reunification," it added.

The report added that the line-up of the 20th Central Military Commission (CMC), China's highest national defense organization, also suggested Xi considered unifying with Taiwan to be at the top of his third term agenda.

Xi has prioritized those with expertise in military technology, combat experience and experience handling matters related to Taiwan in the appointing of CMC generals, the MND said.

The MND added that He Weidong () was appointed to hold one of the two CMC vice chairmanships because he was well versed with People's Liberation Army (PLA) military readiness, which would be an asset in the event of a cross-Taiwan Strait conflict.

His recent post was as commander of the PLA's Eastern Theater Command, during which he was responsible for Taiwan and East China Sea contingencies.

The MND said the PLA's Rocket Force aims to establish precise strike capabilities against adversaries in the first island chain by 2027, referring to the chain of islands that make up Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

It added that the PLA also aims to construct a comprehensive and versatile ground force, to modernize its navy so it is able to counter adversaries spanning from the first island chain to the second island chain by 2035, and to extend the attacking range of the air force to the second island chain by 2035.

The second island chain consists of a number of Japanese islands, as well as Guam and Micronesia.

Meanwhile, the PLA's Strategic Support Force is expected to be critical in China's ability to conduct information warfare, the report said.

The MND also noted that the PLA would continue to engage in military actions of varying intensity in the sea and air around Taiwan.

Such actions by the PLA were aimed to test and assess its ability to respond to external intervention in a conflict and to demonstrate its ability to deter external military forces from coming to Taiwan's aid, according to the report.

(By Matt Yu and Shih Hsiu-chuan)

Enditem/kb

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Only DPP firmly defends Taiwan's sovereignty: VP Lai

ROC Central News Agency

08/31/2023 06:05 PM

Taipei, Aug. 31 (CNA) Vice President and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential nominee Lai Ching-te () sought to assure voters in Taiwan that the DPP is the best choice to maintain the country's sovereignty and democracy during a party meeting in Taipei on Thursday.

"Of all the presidential candidates, only we [the DPP] firmly defend Taiwan's sovereignty," Lai told the meeting attended by nearly 100 DPP workers who head local election campaign offices across the country.

The DPP "asserts that Taiwan is not part of the People's Republic of China" and that "the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name) and the People's Republic of China are not subordinate to one another," he added.

He criticized his opponents for caving in to Beijing by either accepting the "1992 consensus" or proposing to resume negotiations over a service trade agreement with China, which he claimed would not proceed unless Taipei "accepts the 'one China' principle."

The vice president was referring to Taiwan People's Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. founder Terry Gou () and Kuomintang (KMT) New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih ().

Ko has suggested the possibility of a cross-strait agreement on trade in services, Gou has publicly endorsed the "1992 consensus," while Hou has embraced both.

In 2014, the then-KMT government attempted to push through a plan to sign a cross-strait service trade agreement, which in practice promoted the greater economic integration of Taiwan with China, but was forced to back down following massive protests in Taipei later dubbed the "Sunflower Movement."

However, it remains unclear whether the "one China" principle, which asserts that Taiwan is part of China, is considered by Beijing to be a prerequisite for such trade negotiations.

At a press briefing in June, Zhu Fenglian (), a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, responded to a question on the topic by saying Beijing was open to negotiating with any parties in Taiwan should they support the "1992 consensus."

The "1992 consensus" refers to an understanding reached at a 1992 meeting between Taiwan's then-ruling KMT and Beijing that both sides would recognize there is only "one China."

Over the years, the KMT has maintained that the consensus tacitly allows each side to interpret what "China" means, although Beijing has never formally endorsed that formula.

The DPP, on the other hand, has refused to accept the "1992 consensus." It has argued that Beijing never acknowledged the existence of the ROC and that agreeing to it would imply acceptance of China's claim over Taiwan.

At the meeting, Lai also said the 2024 presidential election is of the utmost importance for the future of Taiwan, contending that it will determine whether the country's sovereignty and democratic system can be sustained.

Lai, without elaborating, urged the party rank and file to be wary of smear campaigns against the DPP and to unite in pursuing victory in the election next year.

(By Teng Pei-ju)

Enditem/AW

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US 'keeps creating tension' over Taiwan with new arms funding

Global Times

By Yang Sheng and Liu Xuanzun Published: Aug 31, 2023 08:59 PM Updated: Aug 31, 2023 10:24 PM

The US intends to keep creating the tension of the Taiwan question to provoke China rather than to ease the tension, analysts said on Thursday, as US President Joe Biden's administration has approved a military transfer to the island of Taiwan under the Foreign Military Financing, or FMF, which is normally used for sovereign states.

A notification sent to the US Congress, seen by Reuters, informed congressional committees of the US State Department's intention to obligate up to $80 million of FMF funds in support of Taiwan.

"This violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiquAs, especially the August 17 CommuniquA," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a routine press conference on Thursday.

"It seriously violates international law and basic norms governing international relations, undermines China's sovereignty and security interests, and jeopardizes peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, and sends a seriously wrong signal to the separatist forces for 'Taiwan independence.' China firmly opposes and sternly condemns this," Wang said.

Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Wu Qian said at a routine press conference on Thursday, "We have always firmly opposed military assistance or arms sales to Taiwan. It needs to be emphasized that Taiwan's security relies on the joint efforts of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits under the one-China principle, and not relying on US military assistance or arms sales to Taiwan."

"US military assistance and arms sales to Taiwan only serve to benefit the US military-industrial complex, while harming the security and well-being of the people in Taiwan. In response to this, the People's Liberation Army will take all necessary measures to firmly counter it, as it has always done," Wu said.

Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday "the US move proves that Washington has intention to provoke military conflict in the Taiwan Straits, and it believes such a scenario would be the most effective method to create great trouble for China's development."

"A cornered beast will fight desperately. The US found it has failed to contain China's development despite having initiated confrontations in many fields, and it is unable to completely 'decouple' from China, so it decided to take advantage of the Taiwan question, which is extremely dangerous," Li noted.

Another reason of approving the FMF is that the Ukraine crisis has cost the US a lot, and it has to mobilize resources in a new way to maintain "encouragement" for the Taiwan separatist authorities, having American taxpayers pay the bill for a dangerous act which has nothing to do with their own well-being, experts noted.

The US takes this action just after Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo wrapped up her "successful and productive" four-day high-stakes visit to China on Wednesday. This has once again proved the US has no sincerity to manage existing tensions with China and the future of China-US ties will still be intense despite of communication between the two countries, said experts.

Through frequent visits by US senior officials to China, the Biden administration wants to lay a foundation for higher-level communication when the US holds the APEC meeting at the end of this year, but the provocation on China's red line will only make a China-US summit more difficult, Li noted.

Making Taiwan a cash cow

The US has in the past sold weapons to Taiwan through a separate program called Foreign Military Sales (FMS). The new FMF program will provide grant assistance to Taiwan in order to make those purchases, CNN reported on Thursday.

According to the notification sent to Congress, the sale could include air and coastal defense systems, ballistic missile defense, cyber defense, drones, military training, individual soldier protective gear, and ammunition. It is likely to take months or years for the military support to actually get to Taiwan, because the equipment will be folded into future equipment purchases by the Pentagon, CNN reported.

On July 28, the US also announced a military aid package worth $345 million to the island of Taiwan that draws on the US' own stockpiles, which reportedly include man-portable air defense systems, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles to defend, educate and train the armed force on the island.

The military equipment transfers, even in the name of aid, are not free at all because they are actually baits leading to more arms sales, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Thursday. Song said the program mainly offers assistance and training linked to arms sales, which means the major part is the sales.

The US has been selling weapons to the island of Taiwan over the past years in an attempt to arm the island into a "porcupine." Yet many arms sold to the island are outdated and overpriced; the US does not provide any significant military advantages for the island against the Chinese mainland, but only make Taiwan a cash cow for the US military-industrial complex, observers said.

The US moves would only encourage the secessionist forces to seek "Taiwan independence" via the US, making the island a powder keg and ammunition depot and increasing the risk of a military conflict in the Taiwan Straits, analysts said. The US uses the island as expendable and doesn't care about people living on the island.

In another move around the island of Taiwan, the US military is in talks to develop a "civilian" port in the northernmost Batanes islands of the Philippines, less than 200 kilometers from the island of Taiwan in the Bashi Channel, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

This port will unlikely be a civilian port, as the US military will build a surveillance system to monitor the Bashi Channel, the Taiwan Straits, the Taiwan island and the Chinese mainland's southeastern coast, including warship and warplane activities around the island of Taiwan and in the South China Sea, Song said.

The US has been lately rallying the Philippines to become a US foothold in the region against China. But experts warned that becoming a US military outpost to confront China does not fit the national interests of the Philippines.

They elaborated that if the US and China get involved in a military conflict in the Taiwan Straits or in the South China Sea and the US military uses bases in the Philippines, it would be the Philippines that suffers from the flames of war, as the US homeland is thousands of kilometers away.

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US approves first arms to Taiwan under foreign aid program amid rising tensions with China

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 10:25 AM

US President Joe Biden's administration has approved its first-ever arms aid to Taiwan under a foreign military assistance program typically used for sovereign nations, infuriating China which views the self-ruled island as part of its territory.

The Biden administration on Wednesday approved the transfer of $80 million worth of military equipment to Taiwan under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, which will be paid for by US taxpayers.

"FMF will be used to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities through joint and combined defense capability and enhanced maritime domain awareness and maritime security capability," the State Department said in its notification to Congress, as reviewed by CNN.

The FMF program generally involves grants or loans to sovereign countries, but Washington claims that the military package, which is smaller than recent sales to Taiwan, does not imply any recognition of the sovereignty of Taiwan.

"Consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and our longstanding One China policy, which has not changed, the United States makes available to Taiwan defense articles and services necessary to enable it to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability," Reuters quoted an unnamed State Department spokesperson as claiming on Wednesday.

China has sovereignty over the Chinese Taipei, and under the "One China" policy, almost all world countries, including the US, recognize that sovereignty. However, Washington has long courted Taipei in an attempt to unnerve Beijing.

Furthermore, Washington, which backs Taipei's secessionist president, also infuriates Beijing by selling weapons to the self-governed island in violation of its own official policy.

The new military assistance to Chinese Taipei needs approval from Congress, which is virtually certain as legislators from both parties widely support the self-ruled island.

In a brief statement on Wednesday, Chinese Taipei's defense ministry expressed gratitude for the military assistance, claiming, "The aid will help in regional peace and stability."

China, however, as was expected, responded firmly to the military aid, saying on Thursday that Beijing is resolutely against US weapons supplies to Taiwan.

"China is resolutely opposed to military ties between the United States and Taiwan and weapons supplies. This is our consistent and unequivocal position," Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told TASS.

"The United States should adhere to the One-China principle and three joint communiquAs between China and the US and stop sending weapons to Taiwan or create new pretexts that may escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait and stop posing risks to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," he stressed.

Separately, CNN quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Thursday as expressing "strong dissatisfaction" and "firm opposition" at the arms sale.

Wang further said at a press conference that the new military package had harmed "China's sovereignty and security interests" and undermined "peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait", urging Washington to "cease enhancing US-Taiwan military connections and arming Taiwan" and "stop creating tensions across the Taiwan Strait."

China describes Taiwan as the most sensitive and important issue in its relations with the US, and the topic remains a constant source of friction between Beijing and Washington.

Last August, China deployed warships, missiles, and fighter jets around Taiwan in its largest show of force in years, following a trip to the island by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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Ben Wallace formally resigns as British defense secretary after 4 years in role

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 31 August 2023 3:22 PM

Ben Wallace has formally resigned as the United Kingdom's secretary for defense after serving four years in the role.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office announced Thursday that Wallace had formally stepped down as the country's defense secretary, more than a month after he said that he would resign in the next UK government cabinet reshuffle.

Wallace, who has been in the UK parliament for 18 years, is regarded as the longest-serving Conservative defense secretary since Winston Churchill.

In a letter to 53-year-old Wallace, Sunak praised the "dedication and skill" Wallace brought to the role that saw him take a leading role in Western allies' support for Ukraine against Russia.

"You have served our country with distinction," the British premier further said, adding that he had seen "before others did what Vladimir Putin's true intentions in Ukraine were."

"Your determination to get Kiev weaponry before the Russians attacked had a material effect on the ability of the Ukrainians to thwart the invasion," Sunak further hailed Wallace, who said he would also quit as a legislator at the next national election in order to pursue new opportunities and to "invest in the parts of life I have neglected."

A former army officer, Wallace was London's choice to replace Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg as NATO secretary general. However, due to receiving insufficient support from the United States, Wallace failed to become the head of the US-led military alliance.

Wallace was picked as defense secretary by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson back in July 2019 after holding junior ministerial posts in earlier governments.

Additionally, on Thursday, the British government named former energy secretary Grant Shapps, a key Sunak ally, as Wallace's successor while appointing Claire Coutinho as the new energy secretary.

Sunak has already begun a mini Cabinet reshuffle ahead of a general election that is expected to take place in 2024.

Back in April, the then British deputy prime minister Dominic Raab also resigned following an independent investigation into complaints that he had bullied colleagues, dealing another heavy blow to Sunak's embattled government.

Over the weekend, Nadine Dorries, a prominent member of the UK Parliament, lashed out at Sunak after stepping down, accusing him of running a "zombie parliament" and lacking any political vision.

"Since you took office a year ago, the country is run by a zombie parliament where nothing meaningful has happened. What exactly has been done or have you achieved?" she said in a lengthy resignation letter that tore into the British prime minister.

The by-election to replace the outgoing MP will likely take place in the autumn, presenting the Conservatives with another test of their popularity when they are trailing the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls.

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UK Defense Minister Wallace Resigns After Four Years in Office

Sputnik News

20230831

Wallace was appointed the UK's defense chief in 2019 under the government of then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has sent a resignation letter to the country's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after four years in office, according to a document published by the British government on Thursday.

"After much reflection, I have taken the decision to ask that I be allowed to step down. I won my seat in 2005 and after so many years it is time for me to invest in the parts of life that I have neglected, and to explore new opportunities," the letter read.

Sunak, in turn, accepted the resignation, saying that he fully understands his desire "to step down after eight years of exacting ministerial duties."

"You leave office with my thanks and respect," the British prime minister added.

Grant Shapps Becomes New UK Defense Secretary

A British news network reported that Wallace had been replaced by the current Energy, Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps.

Shapps was reportedly seen entering Number 10 on Thursday morning, giving a wave to the gathered journalists as he entered.

"It will be the fifth cabinet post Shapps has held in a year - having been transport secretary under Boris Johnson, having a brief stint as home secretary under Liz Truss, and being business secretary before his current energy role under Sunak," the news network added.

Commenting on Wallace's resignation, Russian Foreign Minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in turn, wrote on her Telegram page that time has come to "bid farewell to the character responsible for the contamination of Ukrainian lands with radiation through the supply of shells with depleted uranium to the Kiev; Agent 006 has ingloriously left the battlefield."

In an interview with a UK newspaper in July, Wallace confirmed he was "not standing next time", saying that he would step down from office in the fall and retire from politics as part of a planned cabinet reshuffle.

Also in July, Wallace, who is notorious for being an ardent supporter of arms supplies to Ukraine, said that the UK had delivered 15 times more artillery shells (over 200,000) to Ukraine than Downing Street had planned a year ago.

Additionally, the UK's arms supplies to Ukraine included at least five million pieces of anti-personnel weapons, such as mortars and grenades, as well as 1,500 pieces of anti-aircraft weapons and 100 launchers for them.

The UK, along with its allies, not least the US, ramped up their military assistance to Kiev shortly after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that NATO countries "play with fire" by supplying arms to Kiev, which the Kremlin said adds to prolonging the Ukraine conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, for his part, underscored that any cargo with weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian forces.

A Sputnik

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Finland sends more assistance to Ukraine

Finnish Government

Ministry of the Interior

31.8.2023

Press release

Finland sent a large amount of wastewater treatment plant equipment to Ukraine at the end of August. The equipment will make a significant contribution to helping Ukraine meet its water supply needs, which have grown during the summer. Finland and the EU have continued their active support of the Ukrainian authorities to mitigate the effects of the Russian attacks.

In addition, Finland sent ambulances, a fire engine, 3D imaging equipment and various water supply equipment, such as pumping devices, to Ukraine in late summer. Because Ukraine needs various supplies and equipment, Finland's assistance is diverse. Finland is currently preparing to send a large amount of assistance to Ukraine's energy sector as well as IT equipment and various vehicles.

The Ministry of the Interior coordinates the assistance that Finland sends to Ukraine through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism together with the European Emergency Response Coordination Centre ERCC. Most of the material sent to Ukraine has been donated by private and public sector operators.

Over 260 truckloads of aid sent so far

In addition to 261 truckloads of material assistance, a total of 60 vehicles, such as rescue service vehicles and buses, have been sent to Ukraine. Finland has also provided expert assistance to support the operation of the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism in Ukraine's neighbouring countries and received patients in need of medical care evacuated from Ukraine.

In addition to modular housing funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the largest recipients of Finland's aid have been the healthcare, rescue services and energy sectors, where the need for assistance has remained high for a long time. Finland has also supported Ukraine's education sector by donating school furniture and school buses, for example. Ukraine will continue to need a significant amount of assistance in the future too.

- Russia's war of aggression puts a constant strain on Ukrainian society. They need assistance to maintain both infrastructure and public services. Finland continues to support Ukraine and aims to respond to the need for assistance as comprehensively as possible, says Heikki Honkanen, Senior Coordinator at the Ministry of the Interior.

The Ministry of the Interior would like to thank all those who have donated civilian material assistance for their significant help. Supporting Ukraine is a long-term endeavour that is unlikely to end soon.

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At the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, the State Secretary underlines long-term support to Ukraine

Republic of Latvia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

31.08.2023

On 30 and 31 August 2023, the State Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andris PelAs, took part in the Informal Meeting of the European Union Foreign Affairs Ministers (Gymnich) in Toledo, Spain. The meeting addressed Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the situation in the Sahel region focusing on events in Niger.

The discussion focused on the EU's long-term military assistance to Ukraine. Andris PelAs underlined that Ukraine's military needs must be met in the shortest time period possible and in full, as well as ensuring assistance in the long term. Therefore, Latvia supports a dedicated envelope of funding under the European Peace Facility to increase support to Ukraine. The meeting voiced broad support for an enhanced EU cooperation with global partners to foster rules-based international order and assistance to Ukraine.

The meeting was attended by the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, who updated the participants on current developments in the country.

Ministers also exchanged views on the EU's further action after the coup in Niger, which has posed a serious threat to the security situation in the Sahel. Latvia supports the vital role of the countries in the region in dealing with the Niger crisis in order to restore constitutional order in the country. It is also important to counter Russia's disinformation campaign in the region, especially in relation to the activities of the Wagner Group.

Foreign Minister of Niger, Hassoumi Massoudou and the leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also were invited to take part in the exchange of the EU foreign ministers.

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Lithuania's Foreign Minister Landsbergis at an informal meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers: "We must commit and deliver what is needed for Ukraine to achieve victory because the only other option is Putin's victory"

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2023.08.31

Today, in Toledo, Spain, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis is attending an informal meeting of European Union Foreign Affairs Ministers (Gymnich).

"We must commit and deliver what is needed for Ukraine to achieve victory because the only other option is Putin's victory. Victory is a difficult process. It is multi-staged, multi-operational, multi-field, meaning that there is air, sea, naval, and land," the head of Lithuania's diplomacy said ahead of the meeting.

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Drone Downed Near Moscow As Heavy Fighting Continues In Ukraine's South, East

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service August 31, 2023

The Ukrainian military has said its counteroffensive in the country's south and east is continuing in the face of efforts by Russian forces to advance, while Russia's Defense Ministry has reported downing a drone en route to Moscow.

Heavy fighting is continuing in the southeastern Zaporizhzhya region, the Ukrainian military said on August 31, adding that Russian forces had suffered significant losses near Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian military "continues to entrench itself" and is preparing for further offensive actions in Robotyne more than a week after saying its troops liberated the village.

"There are small successes," military spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun told RFE/RL. "It's going a little slowly because the enemy dug in quite powerfully -- mined the area. Therefore, in order not to lose personnel, we first disrupt the enemy's logistics. And we try to act very carefully because the lives of our soldiers are the most important for our command," the spokesman said.

According to him, the problem of demining is "one of the biggest, it is significant." Shtupun said the mines were set "creatively," adding that there have been "many surprises."

Robotyne lies along an important road leading to the strategic city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhye region. The military announced its liberation on August 22 after two months of fierce fighting. It had been held by the Russian military since March 2022.

The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said that its air-defense forces in the Voskresensky district had downed what it called a Ukrainian drone en route to Moscow on August 31.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, citing preliminary information, wrote on Telegram that there were no casualties or damage. It was not clear whether the drone was launched in Ukraine or from within Russian territory.

The Russian capital's Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports resumed operations late in the morning of August 31 after briefly being shut down as a security measure.

There have been repeated disruptions to takeoffs and landings at Moscow airports in recent days because of the risks posed by drones.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, addressing EU foreign ministers in Toledo, Spain, slammed critics of his country's counteroffensive and the speed of its advance into Russian-held territory.

Kuleba said the critics are "spitting into the face" of the Ukrainian soldier "who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward, and liberating 1 kilometer of Ukrainian soil after another."

He said all critics should "shut up," inviting them to try to clear even 1 square centimeter of territory by themselves.

Kuleba and his counterparts discussed further support for Ukraine, and he urged them to approve more arms to help Kyiv fight against the Russian invasion.

"The war is raging," Kuleba said in his address to the EU foreign ministers, asking for more armored vehicles and tanks, as well as armored ambulances, which are in high demand.

"When we went to visit combat brigades, warriors told me about this," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on August 31 in a video on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

An agreement has been reached to send a large batch of armored medevac vehicles to the front line, Zelenskiy said.

Kuleba specifically asked Germany to supply Taurus cruise missiles.

"There is really not a single objective argument against making this decision," Kuleba said, noting France and Britain had already supplied long-range cruise missiles.

Ukraine has been demanding the German missiles for some time. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far been reticent about this because of fears that the missiles could be used to strike in Russian territory.

Zelenskiy said the range of the newest Ukrainian weapons is 700 kilometers, and the task is to make that number bigger.

Kuleba also warned that Russia's capacity to produce drones and missiles was increasing and called on the European Union to stop this development with export controls and a crackdown on anyone evading sanctions.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-war-russia- drones-heavy-fighting/32572472.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Stresses Importance Of Reviving Grain Deal In Meeting With Lavrov

By RFE/RL August 31, 2023

Turkey's foreign minister has emphasized how important reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative is to global food security during a meeting in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Hakan Fidan, who is in Moscow to make preparations for a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, spoke at a joint news conference on August 31 with Lavrov, who said Russia would return to the deal if problems that Moscow raised about it are solved.

Fidan said he and his team "underlined its critical role for global food security and stability in the Black Sea." When the deal was brokered in July 2022, the UN and Turkey hailed it as a way to help tackle a global food crisis that worsened after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Russia quit the deal last month, complaining that Western sanctions were impeding its own exports of food and fertilizers and that too little of the grain was getting to the poorest countries.

Turkey has since sought to convince Moscow to return to the agreement, which allowed the safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments on the Black Sea and included an inspection regime managed by officials from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the UN in Istanbul.

Lavrov said before the meeting that he and Fidan would discuss a proposal by Moscow for an alternative to the deal.

Under the plan, Russia would send a million tons of grain to Turkey at a discounted price, with financial support from Qatar, to be processed in Turkey and sent to countries most in need, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. It was not clear what incentive Qatar would have to take part in the arrangement.

"We consider this project as the optimal working alternative to the Black Sea deal," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on August 30.

The original deal had enabled the shipment of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to countries in Africa and Asia through Ukrainian Black Sea.

After withdrawing from the deal Russia began attacking Ukrainian ports and storehouses, destroying millions of tons of grain, which prompted accusations that Moscow was again using food as a weapon of war.

The Russian Foreign Ministry statement on August 30 said Lavrov would restate Moscow's position that following its withdrawal from the grain deal, it would consider all ships heading to Ukraine as potentially carrying military cargo.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-turkey-lavrov-fidan- ukraine-grain-deal/32573102.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russian Forces Repel 11 Ukrainian Attacks In Donetsk, Kupyansk Directions

Sputnik News

20230831

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Ukrainian military lost over 400 soldiers in the Kupyansk and Donetsk directions in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

The ministry mentioned that Russian forces have repelled 6Ukrainian attacks in the areas of Bogdanovka, Andreyevka, Mayorsk and Avdeyevka of the Donetsk direction.

"During the day, the enemy's losses in this direction [Donetsk] amounted to 365 Ukrainian servicemen, three US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, two armored personnel carriers, 32 vehicles, a Polish-made Krab self-propelled artillery mount, as well as D-20 and D-30 Howitzers. A field ammunition depot of the 54th mechanized brigade of the AFU was destroyed near the village of Vesyoloye in the Donetsk People's Republic," the ministry stated.

Kupyansk Direction

According to the ministry, 5 attacks have been repelled in the Kupyansk direction near the settlements of Sergeevka and Novoyegorovka, where Russian soldiers have managed to improve positions at the front lines.

"The enemy's losses amounted to up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 vehicles, a Polish-made Krab self-propelled artillery mount, as well as 2D-20 howitzers," the ministry issued.

Moreover, Russian troops wiped out an ammunition depot of the 66th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian forces near the settlement of Petrovskoye of the Lugansk People's Republic.

Furthermore, the Russian military knocked out one of the Ukrainian S-200 anti-aircraft missile systems near Slavyansk in the Donetsk People's Republic, the ministry stated.

"The S-200 anti-aircraft missile system was destroyed near the city of Slavyansk in the Donetsk People's Republic," the ministry highlighted.

Kherson Direction

Russian units wiped out up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, 2vehicles, 2 D-30 howitzers and an ammunition depot of the 121st Territorial Defense Brigade in the Kherson direction over the past 24 hours, the ministry reported.

"Up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, 2vehicles, as well as 2D-30 howitzers were destroyed as a result of fire in the Kherson direction. An ammunition depot of the 121st Territorial Defense Brigade was destroyed near the settlement of Mikhaylovka in the Kherson region," the ministry stated.

South Donetsk Direction

Russian servicemen of the Vostok Battlegroup obliterated Ukrainian forces and equipment accumulations near the settlements of Staromayorskoye and Urozhaynoye in the South Donetsk direction, Kiev lost around 100 soldiers, the ministry stated.

"The enemy's losses amounted to about 100 Ukrainian soldiers, 4 vehicles, 2 Msta-B Howitzers, as well as a US-made M119 gun," the ministry reported.

In addition, two ammunition depots of the Ukrainian military's 72nd Mechanized Brigade were destroyed near Ugledar, according to the ministry.

Furthermore, the Russian military obliterated a command post of the brigade and a field training camp of the Ukrainian military in the Donetsk People's Republic, the ministry stated.

"Near the town of Ugledar and Selidovo of the Donetsk People's Republic, the control point of the 72nd mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian troops and the field training camp of the Ukrainian forces servicemen were hit," the military ministry said.

Zaporozhye Direction

In the past 24 hours the Russian Armed Forces repelled 5 Ukrainian attacks near Verbovoye in the Zaporozhye direction, destroyed up to 85 Ukrainian servicemen and 7 units of equipment, including one Czech-made Vampire Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) combat vehicle and one American M777 Howitzer, the ministry mentioned.

"Russian troops repelled 5 attacks by the 82nd Airborne Assault Brigade of the Kiev regime near the settlement of Verbovoye in the Zaporozhye region using air strikes, artillery fire and heavy flamethrower systems. Up to 85 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 vehicles, a US-made M777 artillery system, a Czech-made Vampire MLRS and 3 D-30 Howitzers were destroyed," the ministry issued.

In addition, an ammunition depot of the 47th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian troops was wiped out near Orekhovo, the ministry reported.

Moreover, Russian air defense systems shot down 2 HIMARS MLRS shells, 2 JDAM guided aerial bombs, 2 HARM anti-radar missiles, as well as 32 drones, including the Tu-141 Strizh, the ministry reported.

"Air defense systems intercepted 2 HIMARS, multiple rocket launchers, 2JDAM guided aerial bombs and 2US-made HARM anti-radar missiles. In addition, during the day 32 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) werfe destroyed, including TU-141 Strizh, near the settlements of Kovalevka, Golikovo of the Lugansk People's Republic, as well as in the vicinity of Soledar, Blagodatnoye of the Donetsk People's Republic, in the area of Mirnoye, Novoukrainka, Tokmak of the Zaporozhye region and Obryvka of the Kherson region," the statement read.

Krasny Liman Direction

Units of the Tsentr battlegroup in the Krasny Liman direction repelled 2 attacks of the Ukrainian troops over the day, destroyed up to 55 Ukrainian servicemen and 5 units of equipment, the ministry stated.

"The Tsentr battlegroup, employing aircraft strikes, fire of artillery and heavy flame-throwing systems, repelled 2attacks by assault groups of the 67th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian forces near the settlement of Chervonaya Dibrova in the Krasny Liman direction. The enemy losses amounted to 55 Ukrainian servicemen, 3 armored combat vehicles, as well as Msta-B and D-30 Howitzers," the ministry said.

A Sputnik

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UN Proposals on Grain Deal Have No Guarantees for Russia - Lavrov

Sputnik News

20230831

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The proposals made by the United Nations regarding the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative lack guarantees when it comes to Russia's concerns, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

Lavrov held a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Moscow on Thursday. The Russian minister mentioned that Moscow "appreciates" UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' efforts to renew the grain deal.

"I spoke with him [Guterres] a few days ago on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg. He told me about his new initiatives. He sent me a message on that. We explained honestly both to the [UN] secretary general and to our Turkish friends that, still, in this message there is not a single guarantee [for Russia]. There are only promises to try faster, to try harder," Lavrov told a press conference.

Lavrov: Situation After Grain Deal Termination Exaggerated by Foreign Media

The situation after the termination of the grain deal is blown out of proportion by foreign media, there is no rise of food prices, the minister stressed.

"It seems to me that the whole situation, which developed after the termination of the Black Sea initiative, is being artificially blown out of proportion, largely due to the work of Western media. We have given statistics to our Turkish colleagues today... there is no food crisis in the world, there is no price increase," the Russian top diplomat emphasized.

Situation in Ukraine, Zelensky's Peace Plan Discussed - Lavrov

Lavrov stated that he explained the unacceptability of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's peace plan for Moscow to his Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

"We talked about the situation in and around Ukraine, including the initiatives that are designed to promote the unacceptable, ultimatum-driven and deliberately failed 'Zelensky's Peace Formula.' We explained why it is impossible to rely on the efforts that are being made in this direction, which are trying to replace any serious conversation about how to ensure equal, indivisible security that will prevent conflicts on the territory of Europe," Lavrov stressed.

Fidan: Preparations for Putin, Erdogan Meeting in Sochi Discussed

The Turkish diplomat stated that he discussed with the Russian counterpart the preparations for the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi.

"Soon our presidents will meet in Sochi. Our leaders will discuss topical issues on the agenda. During this visit, preparations were made for the meeting of our leaders," Fidan told a press conference, following talks with Lavrov.

The presidents are expected to discuss the grain deal in detail at the upcoming talks, the minister added.

"There are a lot of technical details. Today we reviewed the technical details, we will present them to our leaders, and the leaders of the countries will discuss them in detail at the upcoming talks. Our efforts in this direction will continue," Fidan stated.



A Sputnik

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Drone Destroyed Over Moscow Region

Sputnik News

20230831

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said early Thursday that Russia's air defense systems destroyed a drone flying toward Moscow over the Voskresensky district of the Moscow region.

"Today, air defense forces destroyed a drone flying in the direction of Moscow. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties or destruction," Sobyanin said on Telegram.

He added that emergency services were working on site.

According to Russia's Ministry of Defense, aircraft-type drone was downed over the Voskresensky District in the Moscow Region.

"On the morning of August 31 Moscow time, another terrorist attack by the Kiev regime with the use of aircraft-type UAVs against objects in Russia was thwarted. Air defense on duty destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of the Voskresensky District of the Moscow region," the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Vnukovo Airport announced on Thursday that it had introduced flight restrictions and redirected some flights to other air harbors for safety reasons.

"For reasons beyond the control of the airport, Vnukovo introduced temporary restrictions on the reception and release of aircraft. For security reasons, from 05:21 a.m. [Moscow time, 02:31 GMT], some flights were redirected to other air harbors," the airport said in a statement.

On August 30, several Russian areas experienced drone attacks, including Moscow suburbs and the Pskov Region, where the drone attack resulted in fire at the Pskov airport.

Ukrainian troops resorted to drone warfare in last several months after loss of several strategic locations and growing number of casualties. Military experts stress that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia pursue no meaningful military goal apart from boosting morale among Ukrainians.

A Sputnik

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Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant Will Be Rebuilt - Kherson Region Acting Governor Saldo

Sputnik News

20230831

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia will rebuild the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (KHPP), which was partially destroyed by Ukraine in June, and work is already under way on the design, Vladimir Saldo, acting governor of Russia's Kherson Region, told Sputnik.

"I think that no matter how much money is required [to rebuild the KHPP], this is an economically expedient project and it will pay off," Saldo said.

"So it is not a matter of funds, but of desire and expediency. There are such intentions, and plans are already being designed."

Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said the KHPP needed to be restored as the water supply of Crimea, as well as Russia's Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, depends on it.

Early on June 6, Ukrainian troops launched a series of strikes on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, destroying its upper part. The destruction led to an uncontrollable release of water from the Kakhovka Reservoir and the flooding of some areas of the Kherson Region downstream of the Dnepr River.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the plant destruction a barbaric act by the Kiev regime and noted that it led to a large-scale environmental and humanitarian disaster. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Kiev regime blew up the KHPP as it weakened its positions in the Kherson direction, transferring troops from there to the offensive area.

A Sputnik

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After the victory, Ukraine should be an example of barrier-free accessibility - President during a conversation with the university community of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute

President of Ukraine

31 August 2023 - 21:30

After the end of the war, Ukraine will have a large number of veterans and civilians who have suffered various injuries as a result of hostilities, so our country should become an example of creating a barrier-free environment. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a conversation with the university community on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute".

The Head of State noted that the development of barrier-free accessibility should be carried out by the state together with local communities, as the scope of work required in each region will be different, as the degree of destruction of the infrastructure of settlements will differ. The number of people with injuries will also vary.

According to the President, the best international experience should be used in the issue of barrier-free accessibility, but Ukraine will have to create a lot on its own, because in recent years no one has faced the need to provide conditions for such a large number of people.

"The Ministry of Veterans has to change the policy in general. They will develop policies and implement relevant legislation for 1.5 million people. It will be a large number. We must be an example of barrier-free access," the Head of State summarized.

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The most important thing is to give an opportunity to develop science at universities - President during a conversation with the university community of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute

President of Ukraine

31 August 2023 - 21:03

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute", which celebrates the 125th anniversary of its foundation, and spoke with professors, lecturers and students.

Answering the students' questions, he noted that digital technologies play an important role in the full-scale war, and it is very important that our state began to develop cooperation with the IT sector even before the full-scale Russian invasion. This, he said, helped protect our institutions from enemy cyberattacks and intensify work on advanced weapons, missiles, drones, etc.

Therefore, according to the President, it is important to create conditions for IT professionals to be able to build private IT businesses, actively cooperate with the state and jointly develop cybersecurity, digital technologies, etc. In particular, Ukraine has introduced a special legal and tax regime called Diia.City for IT professionals.

"We have the best taxes for tech companies today. This is a fact. They are among the best in the world and perhaps the best in Europe," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The Head of State noted that creativity, intelligence and memory need to be constantly trained, and it is important not to lose the educational experience gained. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the competitiveness of our universities in the world. According to him, after the victory, the restoration of Ukrainian universities will begin, and modern infrastructure will appear.

"The most important thing is to give an opportunity to develop science at universities. So that people do not want to change their profession, so that scientists are involved. And if they want to develop something, they should have this opportunity here. There should be a state order, and business should be interested in such specialists," the President is convinced.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also called for the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to develop a mechanism that would allow Ukrainian students to travel abroad to participate in international competitions, similar to the one in place for athletes and cultural figures, but would not be available for citizens who want to leave Ukraine to avoid mobilization.

At the end of the conversation, Rector of the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" Mykhailo Zgurovsky presented the Head of State with two etchings by Honored Artist of Ukraine Volodymyr Ivanov-Akhmetov depicting former students of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Serhiy Korolyov and Igor Sikorsky, as well as a book about the university.

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Ihor Zhovkva: More than 70 countries share the Ukrainian philosophy of the Peace Formula already

President of Ukraine

31 August 2023 - 19:41

Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva met with a delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden.

The parties focused on the implementation of agreements following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent visit to Sweden.

Separately, the parties discussed the situation in Ukraine and ways to restore its territorial integrity in view of Russia's ongoing full-scale armed aggression against our country. In this context, the interlocutors discussed in detail the security component of bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Sweden.

Ihor Zhovkva thanked for the significant comprehensive assistance to our country, especially noting the leadership in creating the CV90 coalition, as well as the opportunity for Ukrainian pilots to test the Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets.

"We are grateful to Sweden for 13 defense assistance packages and the transfer of several dozen CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, which have already proven to be highly effective on the battlefield. We look forward to expanding their supply to the Ukrainian defense forces, as well as launching joint production of these vehicles in accordance with the joint Statement of Intent on enhanced cooperation on the CV90 platform recently signed by the leaders of the two countries," the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office emphasized.

The parties also focused on the practical implementation of the Peace Formula proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The diplomats discussed in detail the Ukrainian side's vision of the implementation of each point of the Formula, as well as Sweden's role in this process.

"We appreciate Sweden's activity in developing the basis for the practical implementation of each of the 10 points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula at the level of ambassadors, national security advisors and political advisors. Today, more than 70 countries share the Ukrainian philosophy of the Peace Formula already. We are looking forward to Sweden's participation in the inaugural Global Summit on the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula," said Ihor Zhovkva.

The interlocutors also discussed the concept of providing Ukraine with security guarantees from Sweden until our country joins the North Atlantic Alliance. In this context, the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office thanked Sweden for joining the Joint Declaration of the G7 leaders on support for Ukraine (security guarantees) and expressed hope for its active participation in the restoration of our country.

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Andrii Sybiha met with UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine

President of Ukraine

31 August 2023 - 14:01

Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha met with Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in Ukraine Jaco Cilliers.

Andrii Sybiha praised the assistance provided by UNDP to Ukraine in the face of Russia's full-scale aggression.

"We are grateful for the scale and effectiveness of the UNDP's work. Projects worth almost $400 million are a significant contribution to the post-war development of our country. We are especially grateful for the commitment announced during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London to expand UNDP's reconstruction activities up to $1 billion. This is an efficiency and focus on results nontypical for many international organizations," the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office emphasized.

The interlocutors discussed in detail the main areas of UNDP's activities in Ukraine, including programs to support veterans and internally displaced persons, rebuilding the energy sector based on energy efficiency, restoring schools and hospitals damaged by Russian attacks, humanitarian demining, anti-corruption initiatives and support for small businesses in Ukraine.

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Russian Scam Sites Obtain Personal Info of Thousands of Ukrainians

By Carla Babb, Ostap Yarysh August 31, 2023

Russia has been using sham websites to obtain the personal information of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and their family members, U.S. defense officials say, in what they believe is an attempt to detain the family members who are living in occupied Ukraine and deport them to Russia.

Two U.S. defense officials say a Russian information warfare unit has created at least two phishing websites, WarTears.org and ForeignCombatants.ru, that are posing as support websites for friends and family members of missing, captured or fallen Ukrainian soldiers.

Petro Yatsenko, spokesman for Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, confirmed to VOA that the two websites are scams. He said there are dozens of similar phishing websites that try to collect data from the families.

"They exploit the extremely vulnerable relatives and loved ones of missing or captured servicemen ... [using] the fact that Russia does not provide Ukraine with information about those they hold in captivity," Yatsenko told VOA. "Relatives hope that their loved one is not dead but is imprisoned, so they provide their personal data."

One of the websites, WarTears.org, claims to have records of more than 170,000 Ukrainian soldiers in its database.

U.S. defense officials say they believe that Russia is using the names, phone numbers and addresses of Ukrainians obtained through these sites to determine whether any of the soldiers and their family members are living inside Russian-occupied territories.

Those living in occupied territories can be found, screened, detained and deported to Russia, according to the officials.

"That's quite alarming," said retired U.S. Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, who spent more than two decades as an intelligence officer, "but it also shows the thoroughness of their [Russia's] data collection capabilities and their willingness to exploit these vulnerabilities."

Last September, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said estimates from a range of sources, including the Russian government, indicated that Russian authorities have interrogated and forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainians. Russia has denied the claim.

Yatsenko said Russia's FSB, the main successor of the Soviet Union's KGB security agency, has used the personal information obtained from sites like these to extort information about Ukrainian POWs.

"By providing such information, people may unknowingly worsen the situation of their loved ones who are in captivity," he said.

Applying personal pressure on people is a "very typical" Russian tactic used since Stalinist times, Leighton said.

"This is a refinement to that. This is definitely taking it to a new level," he told VOA.

The sites were believed to have been created shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. U.S. defense officials say they became aware of the two sites this summer.

Not all of the phishing sites identified by the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine are from the Russian government, according to Yatsenko. Some of the fake websites are created by fraudsters trying to extort money from Ukrainians in a vulnerable position.

"They promise communication, delivery of parcels, and then engage in blackmail, saying the prisoner will be beaten if relatives don't send money," he said. "In 99% of cases, behind these channels are people who have no relation to the prisoners and have zero information about them."

To find out more information on missing family members, Yatsenko said, Ukrainians should contact only official government sources. The Ukrainian government's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War can be reached at +38 (044) 390 43 90 or 0 800 300 529, Monday-Friday between the local hours of 0900-1700.

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Moscow Court Sentences 2 Exiled Reporters for Issuing 'Fake' Ukraine War News

By VOA News August 31, 2023

A Moscow court this week sentenced two exiled reporters to 11 years each in a penal colony for distributing "fake" news about Russia's war in Ukraine.

The reporters, Ruslan Leviev and Michael Nacke, were also banned from managing a website for four and five years, respectively.

Leviev is the founder of the Russian independent investigative project Conflict Intelligence Team, and Nacke is a Lithuania-based video blogger. Russian authorities have labeled both as "foreign agents."

They were not present at Tuesday's hearing and neither intends to return to Russia to serve his sentence, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom group, which condemned both sentences.

"The 11-year sentences handed to exiled journalists Michael Nacke and Ruslan Leviev are proof that Russian authorities' harassment of those who dare to report independently on the war in Ukraine does not stop at the country's borders," Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ's program director, said in a Thursday statement.

The journalists were charged in connection with three YouTube videos posted in March 2022 a one on Nacke's YouTube channel, and two featuring the reporters that were posted on the YouTube channel Popular Politics, which is run by jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny's team.

In the videos, the reporters discussed Russian military actions, including Russian shelling of the grounds of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and the adoption of the law criminalizing "fake" information about the Russian army.

The reporters were convicted on three counts: distributing "fake" information as a group, "out of political hatred," and by creating artificial evidence, according to CPJ.

A lawyer with Setevye Svobody, a Russian freedom-of-expression legal assistance organization, told CPJ that the reporters intended to appeal their sentences.

"Authorities must not contest the journalists' appeals, immediately drop all charges against them, and let the press report freely on the war," Martinez de la Serna said in his statement.

The sentences came after Russian lawmakers in March 2022 changed the country's laws to impose prison terms of up to 10 years for discrediting or distributing "fake" information about the Russian military.

Moscow regularly sentences dissident journalists in absentia, including Ilya Krasilshchik, an exiled former publisher of the independent news website Meduza, who was sentenced in June to eight years behind bars on similar charges.

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UN Chief Sends New Grain Deal Proposal to Russia

By Margaret Besheer August 31, 2023

The U.N. secretary-general said Thursday that he has reached out to Russia with "concrete proposals" to renew the collapsed grain deal Moscow pulled out of in July and then followed with a series of attacks on Ukraine's ports and grain infrastructure.

"The proposal is relating to the need to reestablish the Black Sea initiative," Antonio Guterres told reporters at the United Nations during a brief news conference. "At the same time, we have some concrete solutions for the concerns allowing for more effective access of Russian food and fertilizer to global markets at adequate prices."

He did not go into detail on the proposal, only saying it addresses some of Moscow's concerns. But he cautioned that any revival of the initiative must be stable.

"We cannot have a Black Sea initiative that moves from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension," Guterres said. "We need to have something that works, and that works to the benefit of everybody."

The U.N. chief said he does not see the possibility for peace in Ukraine anytime soon, making a resumption of initiatives like the grain deal even more urgent.

"I think we are not yet there," Guterres said of ending the war. "That is why it is so important to take measures to reduce the dramatically negative impacts of this war in relation to the world."

Meanwhile, Turkey, which played a key role in the negotiations and implementation of the grain deal, dispatched its foreign minister to Moscow Thursday to discuss reviving it.

For nearly a year, the initiative helped facilitate the export of nearly 33 million tons of grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine via the Black Sea, helping to bring down global food prices, which spiked after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Russia was also receiving help in facilitating its own grain and fertilizer exports.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan expressed support for the U.N. proposals during a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to Turkish media reports.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also is reportedly planning to meet soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the grain deal, among other issues.

Fresh drone, missile attacks

Russian officials said Thursday the country's air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone flying toward Moscow.

The Russian defense ministry said the drone was destroyed over the Voskresensky district.

Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow's mayor, said on Telegram there were no reports of casualties or damage.

On Wednesday, Ukraine launched a wave of drone attacks aimed at six Russian regions, including hitting an airport near Russia's border with Estonia and Latvia. That drone ignited a huge blaze and damaged four Il-76 military transport planes, which can carry heavy machinery and troops, the Russian news agency Tass reported, quoting emergency officials.

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine was relying on foreign help because the drones "simply would not be able to fly such a distance without carefully researched information from Western satellites."

Meanwhile, Moscow's forces hit Kyiv with drones and missiles that Ukrainian officials described as a "massive, combined attack." Two people were killed by falling debris.

Sergei Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, described Russia's attack on the Ukrainian capital as the biggest since the spring, even as Ukraine's air defenses shot down more than 20 drones and missiles.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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Staunton, VA, Aug. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In December of 2022, Dominion issued new rules for interconnection. Those rules were cumbersome, extremely costly, and created an immediate and sharp downturn in the growth of solar installation across the state of Virginia. The Virginia Distributed Solar Alliance filed a petition for injunction with the SCC, stating that the rules were illegal, passed without the SCC approval and outside of the operating tariff of Dominion.\

On August 30th, the SCC agreed , issuing a Final Order granting immediate injunctive relief to the industry, and removing all the stated parameters at least until the SCC workgroups can complete their findings. This feels like a very David and Goliath moment, stated Ruth Amundsen, Treasurer for the Alliance, and owner of multiple solar businesses. Here we are, this small group of solar business owners and customers, basically being halted by Dominion, but we organized, pushed back and won.

Alden Cleanthes, Legislative Director for the Alliance, and Co-Founder of Norfolk Solar, was a bit more apprehensive. While this feels like a big win, and it is- its just the first step. We fully anticipate that similar efforts to hurt solar growth will inevitably be back through legislative initiatives in the General Assembly. This ruling, and this fight will be landmark/flagship findings for the growth of solar even beyond Virginia. We still really have our work cut out for us.

Our work in developing solar projects is hard enough as it is, without constantly fighting rearguard actions against the utilities using ratepayer money to fight distributed solar. We hope to develop a working relationship with Dominion CEO Bob Blue and the company, rather than an adversarial one. We hope Dominion will come back to the table and work with us in developing win-win solutions, rather than engaging in lose-lose fights, stated Anthony Smith, President and Founder of Secure Futures, and Chair/Co-founder of the Virginia Distributed Solar Alliance.

###

The Virginia Distributed Solar Alliance was formed in 2013 to protect the right of all Virginians to access affordable solar power without high costs due to unnecessary restrictions. Our members include solar power developers, environmental and consumer rights advocates, and customers of rooftop solar power including schools, hospitals, churches, and local governments. Find the VA-DSA online at https://vasolaralliance.org/.

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DUBAI, UAE, Aug. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PLAYA3ULL GAMES, the innovative minds behind the latest gaming advancements, are proud to unveil NEXUS, a third-person Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) shooter set to redefine gaming standards. Built on the breath-taking Unreal Engine 5, NEXUS thrusts players into a futuristic arena where strategy, agility, and adaptability are key. But NEXUS is more than just a game; it's a revolution. By empowering players to craft weapons, abilities, and equipment, NEXUS ensures a truly unique gaming experience tailored to each individual's play style.





Unique Selling Points of NEXUS:

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No Pay-to-Win Elements: PLAYA3ULL is passionate about fair play, ensuring NEXUS remains a skill-driven game without pay-to-win elements.

Tournaments & Rewards: Tournaments are coming soon and you get the chance to earn multiple types of currency, including the exclusive 3ULL coin.

PLAYA3ULL GAMES, pronounced as "Playable Games", is dedicated to blending traditional gaming with the latest technological advancements. Their commitment to player experience and fair gameplay makes them a company to watch in the coming years.

To get a firsthand experience of the action-packed world of NEXUS: https://youtu.be/7qg9G5svVIs

For further inquiries or exclusive interviews with the minds behind PLAYA3ULL GAMES, please contact amanda@playa3ull.games

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PLAYA3ULL GAMES, a forward-thinking gaming company, bridges the gap between thrilling gameplay and cutting-edge technology. Their dedication to innovation and player-first experiences positions them at the forefront of the gaming industry.

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SOURCE: PLAYA3ULL GAMES
MANILA, Philippines, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Witness the next evolution of haute couture, as internationally-renowned Filipino fashion designer Michael Cinco brings his acclaimed designs to Philippine Blockchain Week (PBW) in the countrys first-ever Metaverse Fashion Gala. Taking place on September 18 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom, Newport World Resorts Manila, the event will redefine how audiences see digital fashion.



For Cinco, whose designs have been worn by royalty of multiple countries, as well as celebrities such as Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Nick Jonas, James McAvoy, Jason Derulo, Steve Aoki, Carrie Underwood, Sofia Vergara, Mila Kunis, Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Ellie Goulding, to name a few, the opportunity to break ground in a new medium was irresistible.

Fashion has always been about redefining barriers, and right now, theres no bigger barrier than taking whats physical into the digital, says Cinco. Im excited to be partnering with PBW, and even more excited for everyone to see what we have planned.

At the Gala, collectors will be treated to a showcase of signature Cinco pieces, while the runway models avatars will be shown wearing the same outfits in the Metaverse. Finally, fashion collectors will be invited to take home their favorite pieces, which will be made available for purchase through an exclusive pre-sale, whichin addition to the actual gownswill come with special edition digital collectibles.

To drive further hype, PBW delegates will be treated to an exhibit of Michael Cinco gowns which will be displayed throughout the PBW venue, allowing fashion-forward fans to get up close and personal with Cincos iconic style.

According to PBW convener Chezka Gonzales, the partnership with Michael Cinco is indicative of how Blockchain technology is changing every aspect of how the world lives, works, and plays. Philippine Blockchain Week isnt just about technologyits about showcasing how blockchain technology can complement creative professionals at the top of their field.

Part of the proceeds from the Michael Cinco Metaverse Fashion Gala will benefit the World Wildlife Fund for the conservation of endangered species, as well as the Global Reskilling Movement, an international initiative devoted to providing better opportunities for youths.

Tickets for the Michael Cinco Metaverse Fashion Gala are on sale now, granting holders VIP access to a once-in-a-lifetime experience while indulging in pre-show cocktails and a 5-course epicurean dinner. For reservations or more information, visit pbw.ph/mc or email info@pbw.ph .

Official Philippine Blockchain Week Channels

Website: https://www.pbw.ph/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/philblockchain

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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philippineblockchainweek

Media Contact

pr@yourPRstrategist.com



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0fa82887-294d-40ea-a0cb-eb15646f1b50
EL PUERTO DE SANTA MARIA, Spain, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spanish food technology company, Nortem BioGroup, has applied for listing on the Paris Stock Exchange with a view to becoming a listed company in the next few weeks, thus reinforcing its position as a leader in the sustainable food sector.



With sales spanning seven European nations, Nortem sells its product catalogue online to more than half a million consumers. It had a turnover of more than seven million euros last year, mainly through Amazon (AMZN).

Specialising in the development of functional supplements and products that promote human well-being, Nortem operates as a holding company and currently controls five different brands of organic products and materials: Nortembio, NaturalPharma Laboratories, Luxury & Grace, Ecodescalk and LG Health iSystems.

Seventy percent of its products are certified organic and meet the highest quality and food safety standards, as well as CAAE and Euroleaf certifications, among others.

Its IPO process began 18 months ago and the company expects, following the eventual approval by the Euronext Admissions Committee, to start trading this month.

Jose Luis Vazquez, founder and president of Nortem BioGroup, explained that "For Nortem, this is a crucial moment. The future listing in Paris endorses our passion for innovation and sustainability in food technology, for improving people's lives by developing projects that are healthy and for driving our vision for the future."

Today, the company has a team of 35 specialists, 20 percent of whom are focused on R&D.

More than 30 percent of the company's revenue is spent on research and development, which is carried out from the company's 5,000 square metre facilities in Puerto de Santa Maria, which will be expanded in the coming months.

Vazquez said: "This is a transformational moment for Nortembio and the decision to go public underlines our commitment to innovation and sustainability in the field of bio-food technology. We are proud to be a leader in organic and natural products, and this new stage of our growth will allow us to advance our mission of promoting wellbeing and environmental responsibility."

Nortem operates as a biotech investment company, with an aggressive brand and product development strategy that it hopes to reinforce. It champions the cause of promoting sustainable food choices, innovative supplements and potent probiotics, all in line with the brand's commitment to environmental protection and human health.

"Listing on the Paris Stock Exchange is not just a business milestone; it is a testament to our vision and the values we hold dear. We hope that this strategic decision will allow the company to expand its production capacity and soon reach anywhere in the world," explained Vazquez.

Euronext is the pan-European stock exchange, created to foster collaboration between European capital markets. It includes the stock exchanges of Paris, Oslo, Dublin, Milan, Brussels, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and the London futures market.

The company is being advised on the transaction by Solventis.

Contacts:

Pedrosa IR

ir@pedrosa.uk
TORONTO, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The government sector accounted for 86.7 per cent of all new jobs in Canada since the pandemic began in early 2020, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.



The government sector, not the private sector, is driving job creation in Canada since the onset of the COVID pandemic and recession, said Ben Eisen, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Comparing Government and Private Sector Job Growth in the COVID-19 Era.

The study examines labour market statistics between February 2020 when the pandemic started and July 2022, the most recent available monthly information. It finds that jobs in the government sector have increased by 9.4 per cent (net) versus just 0.4 per cent in the private sector, including self-employment.

The government sector added 366,800 jobs (net) during this period while the private sector (including self-employment) added 56,100.

Consequently, the share of adults (15 years or older) employed in the private sector (including self-employment) has actually fallen from 49.3 per cent to 48.2 per cent.

Another worrying statistic in the study is the decimation of self-employment, a key measure of entrepreneurship. The study found that 214,400 jobs (net) have been lost since the pandemic began.

Many of the headline statistics surrounding the Canadian labour market appear encouraging at a glance, but the reality is more complicated, said Eisen.

Canadas job creation in recent years has not been driven by private sector-growth, but rather has primarily been the result of government hiring.

MEDIA CONTACT:

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
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Samsung Electronics Canada today announced the Flip My Dorm contest inviting post-secondary students1 across Canada to share how Samsung Galaxy technology can upgrade their student experience and supercharge their return to school. Contest entrants will enter for a chance to win one of three Galaxy Prize Packs featuring the latest Samsung Galaxy devices including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra and the Galaxy Watch6.



Commenting on the campaign, Raj Doshi, Head of Mobile Business at Samsung Electronics Canada said, With our new lineup of Samsung Galaxy devices and the Flip My Dorm contest, we aim to provide students with the digital tools they need to enhance their academic experience and set them up for success this school year. He added, Tech and innovation go hand in hand, and we at Samsung strive to build smart technology that keeps people connected to what matters most and integrates seamlessly into all lifestyles.

With the trinity of Galaxy devices available to be won in the Flip My Dorm campaign, students can feel empowered to take on any task that comes their way this back-to-school season, from classroom to dorm room. Make studying a breeze with the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, its 14.6 Dynamic AMOLED makes notetaking and journaling easy with the included S Pen. When it comes to social activities, stay connected with the Galaxy Z Flip5 and the improved Flex Window, which makes capturing content, making calls and replying to texts a breeze while commuting on the way to class. Unwind in the dorm room with the Galaxy Watch6 which provides meaningful insights and personalized tips such as relaxation breathing to help users stay on track of their wellness 2.

Samsung Flip My Dorm Schedule:

As a part of the contest, Samsung will host pop up activations on select university campuses across Canada for students to experience the latest Galaxy devices including a closet space selfie station using the Galaxy Z Flip5, productivity work desk area with the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra and a tech enabled bedroom easily controlled by the Galaxy Watch6.

The activations will take place in September for a limited period at the following institutions:

Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, September 1 -2

Western University, London, ON, September 5 - 6

University of Alberta, Calgary, AB, September 5 -6

Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, September 7 -8

University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, September 7 - 8

Guelph University, Guelph, ON, September 11 - 12

University of British Colombia, Vancouver, BC, September 12 - 13

Trent University, Peterborough, ON, September 18  19

University of Regina, Regina, SK, September 18  19

Windsor University, Windsor, ON, September 21  22

Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, September 26  27



Canadian students interested in participating in the contest can visit the Samsung Flip My Dorm activations to shoot their submission video and for more information. To enter the contest, students are required to post a video of up to 30 seconds on an eligible social media platform explaining how Samsung Galaxy products would upgrade their student life and submit the social URL online at https://www.samsung.com/ca/flipmydorm/3, up until September 30, 2023 for a chance to win one of three Galaxy Prize Packs. Winners will be announced on the site on October 20, 2023.

For more information on the latest Samsung Galaxy news and offerings for students, please visit https://www.samsung.com/ca/offer/student-epp.

About Samsung Electronics Canada Inc.

Samsung Electronics Canada inspires Canadians to reach their full potential through a transformative ecosystem of products and services that deliver innovation and distinct design to every aspect of their connected lives. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets and digital appliances. In 2022, Samsung was ranked as one of Canada's "Most Reputable Companies" by Leger, named one of Canadas Top 100 Employers and placed first on Forbes 'The World's Best Employers' list. Dedicated to helping make a difference in the lives of Canadians, Samsung's award-winning corporate giving initiatives support public education and health-related issues in communities across the country. To discover more, please visit www.Samsung.ca.

Follow Samsung Canada at facebook.com/SamsungCanada, on Instagram @samsungcanada or on Twitter @SamsungCanada.

Contact information: Shalynn Mortillaro, Account Manager, North Strategic, 647-614-1737, shalynn.mortillaro@northstrategic.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c3001bb5-e02b-4f83-bed9-0695e6bc2b50

____________________

1 Flip My Dorm Contest is open to legal residents of Canada, (excluding residents of Quebec), between the ages of 16 and 27 years of age and currently attending a recognised post-secondary educational institution in Canada (excluding post-secondary institutions located or registered in Quebec). Where you have not yet reached the age of majority in your province or territory of residence, you must have the consent of a parent or legal guardian to participate in the Contest.

2 Intended for general wellness and fitness purposes only. Not intended for use in detection, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring or management of any medical condition or disease. Any health-related information accessed through the device and/or application should not be treated as medical advice. Users should seek any medical advice from a physician. Certain features may vary by market, carrier, or the paired device.

3 To enter, participants are required to capture and post a video of up to 30 seconds explaining how Samsung Galaxy products are currently or would upgrade their student life. The video must be posted to a public social media account owned and controlled by the participant, this includes: Instagram, Facebook (Meta), Tiktok, Twitter (X), or YouTube. Participants must then proceed to samsung.com/ca/flipmydorm to fill out the entry form and provide the URL of their entry video as posted to a public profile on the social media platform of their choice from the list above.




Dublin, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Energy Efficient Motor Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Application, By Efficiency Level (IE3, IE2, IE1, IE4 and IE5), By Power Output Rating, By Type, By End User, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2023 - 2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This comprehensive study explores the proliferation of energy-efficient motor adoption, propelling sustainable and eco-friendly practices across various sectors.

Driving Industry Forward: The Energy Efficient Motor Market encompasses a diverse array of industries, including metallurgy, hydrocarbons, chemicals, cement, and paper, where these motors are seamlessly integrated with pumps, fans, and compressors. The market's growth is fueled by the ascending demand for energy-efficient solutions that not only optimize processes but also contribute to reduced carbon footprints. From low voltage motors with IE1 standard efficiency levels to precision-control reducers and motors, the market continues to innovate to meet evolving needs.

Market Growth and Expansion: The global Energy Efficient Motor Market is projected to soar, reaching a substantial $64 billion by 2029, reflecting an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.8%. This meteoric rise highlights the accelerating adoption of energy-efficient motor technologies across industries, paving the way for a sustainable and energy-conscious future.

Efficiency Redefined: One of the cornerstone efficiency levels is IE1, integral to energy-efficient motors. With IE1 motors widely used in vital industries, their revenue surged to $5,553 million in 2022. These motors, spanning capacities from 0.75kW to 355kW, cater to diverse applications with varying poles and revolutions per minute (rpm) frequencies. The attributes of IE1 motors, combined with their RPM range of 500 to 3600, contribute to their remarkable growth.

Innovative Strategies for Evolution: Industry leaders are deploying strategic initiatives to meet evolving demands. Notable among these is the introduction of the WEG IE3 electric motor assembly line in October 2022, enhancing flexibility and ensuring prompt delivery times. Furthermore, Nidec Drive Technology Corporation's FLEXWAVE, a precision-control reducer and motor, exemplifies the commitment to innovation with enhanced energy density and reduced backlash.

Pioneering Collaborations and Agreements: Collaborations and agreements are driving market evolution. In a significant partnership, Rockwell Automation teamed up with Energy Drive in March 2023, focusing on sustainable projects to propel the adoption of energy-efficient solutions. Similarly, Nidec Leroy-Somer's alliance with Airbus in June 2023 aims to design electric motors for hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine prototypes, contributing to zero-emission aviation.

Leaders in Market Competition: Siemens AG stands out as a major market leader, demonstrated by collaborations such as the one with Turboden S.p.A. in February 2021 to decarbonize Egypt's natural gas transmission network. Other prominent players, including ABB Group, Nidec Corporation, and WEG Equipamentos Eletricos SA, contribute to a dynamic and innovative market landscape.

Market Growth Drivers:

Government initiatives promoting energy-efficient motor usage.

Efforts to reduce carbon emissions and advance industrialization.

Market Restraints:

Elevated production and net costs of energy-efficient motors.

Innovative Offerings and Diverse Strategies: Leading market players are constantly innovating to maintain their competitive edge. The market shares illustration showcases the revenue distribution among key companies. Acquisitions, partnerships, and collaborations are pivotal strategies driving growth and expansion.

Segmentation Insights:

Type: AC motors and DC motors, with DC motors witnessing significant adoption due to their rapid response times and stability in torque and speed.

Power Output Rating: Categories include < 1 kW, 1-2.2 kW, 2.2-375 kW, and > 375 kW, with the < 1 kW segment dominating due to its versatility across various applications.

Efficiency Level: IE1, IE2, IE3, IE4, and IE5, with IE2 motors particularly favored for capacities between 0.75kW and 355kW.

Application: HVAC & pumps, fans, compressors, refrigeration, material handling, and material processing, with HVAC & pumps leading due to their widespread usage.

End-user: Industrial, commercial, residential, automotive, agriculture, and aerospace & defense, with industrial usage driving the market significantly.

Regional Dominance: The Asia Pacific region is at the forefront, generating the highest revenue share in 2022. Governments' initiatives in the region promoting energy-efficient motor adoption contribute to this growth trajectory.

Key Players Shaping the Market:

ABB Group Siemens AG Toshiba Corporation Rockwell Automation, Inc. Nidec Corporation WEG Equipamentos Eletricos SA Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Havells India Ltd. CG Power & Industrial Solutions Ltd. (Murugappa Group) Kirloskar Brothers Limited (Kirloskar Group)



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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.

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Wilmington, Delaware, United States, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global market for digital door lock systems was estimated to have acquired US$ 11 billion in 2022. It is anticipated to advance with a robust 14.3% CAGR from 2023 to 2031 and by 2031, the market is likely to gain US$ 37.2 billion.



Traditional lock and key systems may be replaced with smart locks, which are practical and simple to use. These locks also do away with the need for actual keys, allowing users to open doors with a PIN, password, or fingerprint.

Digital door lock systems are more secure than conventional mechanical locks, which makes them a popular option for owners of residential as well as business properties. This is anticipated to accelerate market growth for digital door lock systems in the near future.

In a nutshell, the Transparency Market Research Report is essential reading for startups, individuals in the industry, investors, researchers, consultants, business strategists, and anyone seeking to gain insight into this particular sector. Take a brief look at it - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/digital-door-lock-systems-market.html

Connect with our team of research specialists and unlock the optimal solution for driving your business growth

Market Snapshot:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue US$ 11.0 Bn Estimated Value US$ 37.2 Bn Growth Rate - CAGR 14.3% Forecast Period 2023-2031 No. of Pages 150 Pages Market Segmentation Type, Access Type, Connecting Technology, End-use Regions Covered North America,Europe,Asia Pacific,Middle East & Africa,South America Companies Covered Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd.,Honeywell International Inc.,Siemens AG ,Nestwell Technologies,Assa Abloy Group,Samsung,Panasonic Corporation,Guangdong Be-Tech Security Systems,HavenLock Inc.,Xiaomi Corporation

Key Findings of the Market Report

It is predicted that from 2023 to 2031, the deadbolt type sector will have the majority of the shares.

During the forecast period, the residential end-use sector is expected to dominate the global market.

From 2023 to 2031, North America is expected to make up a sizeable portion, followed by Europe.

In the next years, expansion in the construction sector is projected to boost the market for digital door lock systems.

Market Trends for Digital Door Lock Systems

According to estimates, the deadbolt type sector will have a significant share of the global market between 2023 and 2031. Steel and fiberglass doors work well with deadbolt digital door lock systems.

These systems are becoming more and more common in residential and business settings since they are simple to connect with smart home automation systems as well as allow for remote access.

Demand for digital door lock systems has increased in the residential sector.

Throughout the forecast period, the residential end-use market will dominate the world.

The increase in smart building projects and the spike in investment in smart homes can be attributed to the segment's growth. Digital door lock systems are simple to combine with smart home appliances like thermostats, lighting controls, and security cameras.



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Digital Door Lock Systems Market Regional Outlook

Various reasons are propelling the growth of the digital door lock systems market in different regions. These are:

From 2023 to 2031, North America is expected to make up a sizeable portion, followed by Europe. Market dynamics in the area are being driven by an increase in the use of smart home automation products, which incorporate digital door lock systems.

Market growth in North America are also being driven by a growth in consumer awareness of security hazards, particularly in light of an increase in residential burglaries and break-ins. Enhanced security features offered by digital door lock systems, like remote access control, biometric authentication, and real-time notifications, can aid homeowners in safeguarding their belongings and assets.

In the near future, a significant rate of market growth in Asia Pacific is anticipated. The need for better security measures across urban areas is increasing due to rapid urbanization, which is boosting market revenue in this region.



Global Digital Door Lock Systems Market: Key Players

Numerous local and international actors contribute to the fragmented nature of the global market. The emergence of local players is likely to increase competition over the next few years. To remain competitive, vendors are implementing a variety of marketing tactics. They are also concentrating on product development to boost the market share of their digital door lock systems.

The following companies are well-known participants in the global digital door lock systems market:

Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd.

Honeywell International Inc.

Siemens AG

Nestwell Technologies

Assa Abloy Group

Samsung

Panasonic Corporation

Guangdong Be-Tech Security Systems

HavenLock Inc.

Xiaomi Corporation

Developments by the key players in the global market for digital door lock systems are:

In February 2023, Xiaomi Corporation launched Smart Guardian Can See a new smart door lock series equipped with an integrated peephole camera and a display screen

In August 2021, Galaxy Next Generation, Inc., a provider of interactive learning and other school technology solutions, partnered with HavenLock Inc. to expand its product offerings for school safety and security

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Global Digital Door Lock Systems Market Segmentation

By Type

Deadbolt

Lever Handle

Padlock

Others

By Access Type

Biometric

Smart Card

Electric Strike

Magnetic Strike

Others



By Connecting Technology

Wi-Fi

Bluetooth

Zigbee

Others

By End-use

Residential

Commercial

Government

Others

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

South America



Read More Related Reports:

Exploring the Rising Demand for Garage Door Market 2023-2031

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Kids Storage Furniture Industry from 2023 to 2031

About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. The firm scrutinizes factors shaping the dynamics of demand in various markets. The insights and perspectives on the markets evaluate opportunities in various segments. The opportunities in the segments based on source, application, demographics, sales channel, and end-use are analysed, which will determine growth in the markets over the next decade.

Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision-makers, made possible by experienced teams of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants. The proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques we use always reflect the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in all of its business reports.

Contact:

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Dublin, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Raw Coffee Beans Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Raw Coffee Beans Market size is expected to grow from USD 33.33 billion in 2023 to USD 44.60 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 6% during the forecast period (2023-2028).



Key Highlights

Coffee beans are a global agricultural product shipped worldwide, providing livelihood for millions of coffee growers and producers. While coffee production is concentrated in developing countries, its consumption mainly occurs in developed and emerging economies. The coronavirus restrictions led to shipment delays and increased freight prices, and overland transportation became difficult for smallholder farmers who often receive low prices for their produce.

Coffee farming communities in Indonesia face overlapping crises as market volatility, climate change, and gender inequity pose critical challenges to rural communities and agricultural enterprises.

Globally, Europe is the world's largest consumer and exporter of raw coffee beans, accounting for more than 28% of global consumption. The growth of the global market for coffee beans is driven by their taste when consumed as a beverage.

Raw Coffee Beans Market Trends

Increasing Demand for Certified Coffee

Due to rising consumer concerns regarding the sourcing and quality of coffee, the demand for certified coffee is increasing globally. Certified coffee is an assurance to the consumer about the reliability of the product. These certifications offer various third-party assurances to the consumer regarding environment-friendly farming practices and the quality involved during the production of coffee.

As a result, some of the coffee certification organizations, such as Fair Trade Certification, Rainforest Alliance Certification, UTZ Certification, and USDA Organic Certification, are engaged in keeping a check on the production procedures and supply chain of coffee. These certifications help improve the quality of life of workers and help them gain adequate market access through increased trade of certified coffee.?

Many Fairtrade coffee growers also have organic certifications that ensure environmentally sustainable production. In Indonesia, around 25 Fairtrade-certified coffee cooperatives, and 98 percent of them have organic certifications. Having organic and Fairtrade certifications increase market opportunities for coffee growers and enable them to fetch higher prices from consumers willing to pay a premium for sustainable coffee.

Among all the certifications, UTZ Certification or the rainforest alliance is an important certification that allows farmers to grow coffee professionally with care for local communities and the environment. The most important aspect of the UTZ certification program is traceability, which means that consumers can know exactly where their coffee comes from and how it was produced. This makes the consumers more inclined towards purchasing certified coffee, thereby fueling the growth of the market during the forecast period.

South America Dominates the Export Market

In South America, Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer and exporter, responsible for 40% of the world's total production, with 69.9 million bags in 2021. Due to its major production and exportation role in the global coffee market, Brazil has also been recognized for its commitment to quality and social sustainability parameters based on voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) and geographic identification (GI). In 2021, Brazil held a share of 30.2% of the coffee production worldwide, followed by Vietnam and Indonesia, with 18.6% and 7.7%, respectively.

According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), coffee plantations in Brazil covered about 11.3 hectares in 2021. Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Sao Paulo, and Parana are the main coffee-producing regions.

These regions produced 3 million metric tons of coffee in 2021, of which 2.3 million metric tons were exported. The major countries that imported raw coffee beans from Brazil as of 2021 were the United States (USD 1.12 million), Germany (USD 1.1 million), Belgium (USD 4.9 million), and Italy (USD 4.8 million), among others. Brazil is also the second-largest consumer of coffee.

Brazil's major green bean export destinations include Germany, the United States, Italy, Belgium, and Japan. Other key exporters of coffee beans include Vietnam, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, and Honduras.

However, the existence of economic and social barriers plays salient challenges for farmers to meet the quality standards as well as GI protocols among other market compliance tools, in addition to the correct value appropriation arising for quality sustainable adopted strategies by coffee farmers in Brazil.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/978wpl

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Dublin, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Privacy Filters Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023-2028)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Privacy Filters Market is expected to reach a CAGR of 12.96% over the forecast period. With the expanding use and application of smart connected devices, such as laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets, in corporations and enterprises, security concerns are also rising. Visual hacking, one of the most common and traditional hacking techniques, is one such threat. It makes it possible to spy on confidential company information anytime workers leave the confines of the office.



Key Highlights

Data security becomes more crucial as more firms transition to digital operations. Business representatives or IT experts who work with or have access to sensitive data belonging to a company or client may occasionally be required to travel or access the data in public locations, increasing the risk of sensitive data exposure.

Unauthorized eyes may view the data shown on a laptop, monitor, or tablet. While antivirus software, encryption, and authentication are the mainstays of conventional data security, physical screen privacy could play a significant role in a comprehensive data protection program.

Moreover, the increased online payment process increases the demand for privacy filters. The sensitive information on the screen revealing passwords and PINs can be picked up by the onlookers and used later for malicious activities. Personal data, like messages, chats, pictures, and contacts, need to be safeguarded in an exposed environment, driving the demand for Privacy Filters.

The majority of screen filters are simple to apply and remove. They frequently clip on or are magnetic for monitors. There are detachable adhesive privacy filters for laptops, tablets, and smartphones that adhere to the screen, similar to a typical screen protector; however, the lack of knowledge is a significant barrier to the market's overall growth.

Privacy Filters Market Trends

Financial Institutions to Hold Major Share

The demand for privacy filters will witness significant growth in financial institutions over the coming years. With rising customer security sensitivity, increasing data breaches, and an increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment, consumer data needs to be protected while storing, transmitting, and viewing. In financial institutions, consumer data protection and internal financial statements are becoming essential, driving the demand for privacy filters.

Further, financial institutions are constantly discovering new ways to use and access data within the enterprise to protect both customers and the company, serve customers better, and find new sources of revenue. In this new era, bankers have greater access to customer data than ever before.

However, as this data lake widens, critical privacy issues arise, and visual privacy becomes increasingly difficult to control. Privacy filters in financial institutions offer visual privacy to protect the data, thus finding significant application in financial institutions over the last few years.

Banks and other financial institutions worldwide are under increasing scrutiny to ensure they have the appropriate security measures in place, especially in the wake of the numerous high-profile data breaches that have occurred over the past few years.

Asia Pacific to Register Fastest Growth

Increasing globalization has driven a significant focus on existing data privacy rules across the Asia-Pacific region. Over the past year, several Asian nations have amended, released, or reviewed their data privacy regulations and frameworks.

In addition to cyber hacking, visual hacking has increased, where hackers capture data using cameras. Hackers can easily obtain sensitive information from a computer or tablet screen simply by capturing an image of the screen. It has become a major concern, especially in developing countries like China, India, Sri Lanka, Korea, and other Southeast Asian nations. More than health information is collected by physicians in healthcare. Healthcare professionals should be especially careful when dealing with personal and financial information, such as Social Security numbers.

Furthermore, countries like China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are key laptop and smartphone manufacturers. Smartphones are especially a primary catalyst behind Asia's digital growth, connecting millions, launching social networks at scale, and spurring e-commerce and large-scale digital transactions.

The sales volume of smartphone manufacturing in Southeast Asian countries has been on an upward trend in recent years, especially in Thailand and Vietnam, where continued economic growth has contributed to the rapid growth of smartphone manufacturing sales volume.

Moreover, 5G is gathering pace across the Asia-Pacific: nine markets have launched commercial mobile 5G services, including Japan, and 12 more have officially announced plans to do so. In addition, governments are taking the initiative to boost the sales of mobile phones in the country.

These regulations are boosting the growth of smartphones in the country, and with more smartphones, the demand for privacy filters is also increasing in the country as most of the important data and information are available nowadays on smartphones.

A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

3M Company

Targus

Dell Inc.

Tech Armor

Fellowes Brands

Kensington Computer Products Group (ACCO Brands)

MoniFilm (Right Group Co. Ltd)

EPHY Privacy (Advance Services & Solutions Ltd)

Upscreen (Bedifol GmbH)

KAPSOLO Europe ApS

Fujitsu Limited

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/5t59jm

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ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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Dublin, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Yttrium Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Yttrium market is projected to register a CAGR of more than 4% during the forecast period.



Key Highlights

COVID-19 negatively impacted the market in 2020. However, the market reached pre-pandemic levels in 2022 and is expected to grow steadily in the future.

Increasing demand from the ceramics industry and electronic devices industry is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. On the other hand, the substitution of the product by scandium in specific applications is expected to hinder the market's growth.

Increasing applications in the defense sector are likely to act as an opportunity. Asia-Pacific dominates the global market with the largest consumption in a country such as India, China, etc.

Yttrium Market Trends

Increasing Demand from High-Temperature Refractories

Yttrium oxide is used in many applications in the refractory field. The application range includes the use as a compound for applications that require stability at high temperatures. Yttrium oxide, along with calcium oxide (CaO), magnesium oxide (MgO), and boron nitride (BN), is considered an aspirant material for insulator coating due to its extremely high-temperature stability up to 2,200C.

High-temperature refractories are majorly used in the iron and steel industry, including in internal linings of furnaces to make iron and steel, furnaces for heating steel before further processing, vessels for holding and transporting metal and slag, and in the flues or stacks through which hot gases are conducted, among others.

As a rare earth metal, yttrium is extensively employed in producing iron and steel. The increasing production of steel leads to a higher demand for metalworking to mold the steel in its desired form, thus positively impacting the market for yttrium.

According to the World Steel Association (WSA), global crude steel production for the 64 countries was151.7 million tonnes (Mt) in September 2022, representing an increase of 3.7% compared to September 2021. Furthermore, 1 691.4 million tonnes (Mt) was produced across the globe from January-November 2022.

The demand for high-temperature refractories is increasing significantly due to the increased iron and steel production and the increasing construction activities in the country. This is expected to impact the Yttrium market during the forecast period positively.

Asia-Pacific Region to Dominate the Market

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of yttrium products. In terms of consumption, China alone accounts for more than 40% share of the yttrium oxide market in the Asia-Pacific. Due to the presence of a large number of reserves of rare earth metals, the country is also a key producer of yttrium metal and yttrium oxide.

As most of the reserves and mines of yttrium oxide are concentrated mainly in China, the product has limited international trade. According to the US Geological Survey's (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS), China produced the majority of the world's yttrium supply from weathered clay ion adsorption ore deposits in the southern Provinces, primarily Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi-and a smaller number of deposits in Guangxi and Hunan.

In 2021, nearly all imports of yttrium metal and compound imports in the United States were generated from mineral concentrates processed in China. The United States imported about 94% of yttrium compounds from China and 1% each from Japan and Korea. Furthermore, according to the USGS-MCS, China's yttrium compounds and metal exports were 2,400 tons in 2022. Japan, the US, the Republic of Korea, and Germany were the top export destinations.

All the aforementioned factors are likely to increase the demand for the market over the forecast period.

Yttrium Industry Overview



The yttrium market is fragmented in nature. Some of the major players in the market include Goring Rare Earth Corporation Limited, Metall Rare Earth Limited, Alkane Resources Ltd, The Nilaco Corporation, and Nippon Yttrium Co., Ltd, among others.



A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

Alkane Resources

Chengdu Haoxuan Technology Co. Ltd.

China Rare Earth Co. Ltd.

Crossland Strategic Metals Limited

Double Park International Corporation

Ganzhou Hong De New Technology Development Ltd. Co.

GBM Resources Ltd

Goring Rare Earth Corporation Limited

Inner Mongolia Nonferrous Mining Co. Ltd

Metall Rare Earth Limited

Nippon Yttrium Co., Ltd

Shenzhen Chuanyan Technology Co., Ltd.

Sichuan Lanthanum Rare Materials Limited

The Nilaco Corporation

Zhejiang Jinda Rare-earth Element Co. Ltd

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7ehnft

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.

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Dublin, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Neutropenia Market (2023-2028) by Treatment, Distribution Channel, and Geography, Competitive Analysis, Impact of Covid-19 and Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Global Neutropenia Market is estimated to be USD 4.26 Bn in 2023 and is expected to reach USD 5.77 Bn by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 6.2%.



Neutropenia is a medical disorder characterized by an unusually low quantity of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that plays an important part in the immunological response of the body. It can weaken the immune system, making people more vulnerable to infections, and it can be caused by a variety of factors, including particular drugs or medical conditions.



The rising prevalence of leukemia, a kind of blood cancer frequently associated with neutropenia, is a major market driver for neutropenia. As the number of leukemia patients increases, so does the demand for treatments that target low neutrophil numbers. This tendency has generated an emphasis on developing medicines that increase neutrophil production, hence improving patient outcomes and quality of life.



Increased research and development initiatives have resulted from a better understanding of neutropenia's influence on patients. To fight neutropenia more effectively, pharmaceutical companies are investing in new drug research and treatment options. The launch of new medications with enhanced efficacy and safety profiles improves the market outlook overall.



The market for cancer supportive treatments, especially those for neutropenia management, has seen a trend away from more expensive branded medications and towards less priced biosimilars. This transformation is being driven by cost-effectiveness and increasing access to high-quality treatment choices, which will broaden the reach of the neutropenia market and benefit patients worldwide.



The emergence of a strong pharmacological pipeline primarily addressing neutropenia treatment creates a market potential. With multiple promising medications in various phases of research, this signifies a substantial advancement in neutropenia management. When these pharmaceuticals hit the market, they will be able to address unmet medical needs, attract investment, and enhance patient outcomes.



However, the market for neutropenia is restricted by high treatment costs. The costs of treating neutropenia, including drugs and supportive care, can be prohibitively expensive for individuals and healthcare systems, limiting access and uptake of these therapies.



The neutropenia market faces the challenge of managing tight laws and regulations for product approvals. Long and complicated approval processes imposed by regulatory bodies can cause delays in drug development and market access, providing challenges for pharmaceutical companies wanting to deliver new neutropenia therapies.

Competitive Quadrant



The report includes a Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis



The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Neutropenia Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development, and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.



The analyst analyses the Global Neutropenia Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.



Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, The analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Neutropenia Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The research report also provides a detailed market size analysis and projections in volume and value terms. The projections are calculated using verified research methodologies.

Excel data sheet for the market size will also be provided with the report.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model, PESTLE Analysis, and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of COVID-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report includes Self-Assessment Form, which helps customers evaluate their position in the market compared to their competitors

The report offers customized research - tailored uniquely to our customers with a quick turnaround time. We offer a 15% customization option at no extra charge to all our clients for any of our syndicated reports.

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 199 Forecast Period 2023 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $4.26 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $5.77 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 6.2% Regions Covered Global







Market Dynamics

Drivers

Rise in Prevalence of Leukemia

Surge in R&D Efforts and Development of New Drugs

Fundamental Shift from Branded Drugs to Biosimilars in Cancer Supportive Treatment

Restraints

High Cost of the Treatment of Neutropenia

Opportunities

Robust Drug Pipeline for Neutropenia Treatment

Challenges

Stringent Rules and Regulations for Product Approvals







Companies Mentioned

Amgen

Baxter International Inc.

BeyondSpring Pharmaceuticals

Biogen Inc.

Cantargia

Coherus Biosciences

Dong-A ST

Enzychem Lifesciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc.

Kyowa Kirin

Merck & Co., Inc.

Myelo Therapeutics

Mylan Institutional (Fulphila)

Novartis Pharmaceuticals

Partner Therapeutics

Pfizer

Sandoz (Novartis)

Sanofi S.A.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals

Teva Pharmaceutical

Market Segmentation

The Global Neutropenia Market is segmented based on Treatment, Distribution Channel, and Geography.

By Treatment, the Global Neutropenia Market is classified into Colony-Stimulating Factors (CSFs), Antibiotics, and Antivirals.

Colony-Stimulating Factors (CSFs) hold a larger market share. CSFs are especially designed to increase white blood cell production, so addressing the underlying cause of neutropenia, making them a primary and more targeted therapy option for treating this illness.

By Distribution Channel, the Global Neutropenia Market is classified into Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, and Online Pharmacies.

Hospital Pharmacies hold a significant market share. Due to the specialized nature of these treatments and the necessity for close monitoring, healthcare facilities play an important role in dispensing and managing neutropenia drugs.

By Geography, the Global Neutropenia Market is classified into the Americas, Europe, Middle-East & Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

The Americas hold a larger market share. This was due to parameters such as the region's increased prevalence of neutropenia-related illnesses, improved healthcare infrastructure, and greater availability to advanced medical treatments.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/k25gby

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.

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ATLANTA, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Booster, the countrys leading fundraising partner for K-12 schools, released its annual Impact Report , announcing the addition of $125 million raised for schools in the 2022-2023 school year. This brings the company closer to its goal of profiting schools $1 billion in five years, ending with the 2025-2026 school year. To date, Booster has raised more than $252 million toward its goal.

The fundraising companys newly released report also shares updated numbers reflecting its growth and reach across the nation. Booster, which recently expanded its fundraising offerings to support high schools, teams and groups, now serves over 7,500 schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade, creating positive experiences and building community for over 16.5 million students across all 50 states.

I want to express our gratitude to the administrators, teachers and parent volunteers for trusting Booster to help their schools thrive, said Stephen Murray, President and COO of Booster. We are inspired by the bravery and perseverance we have witnessed in families and school systems, especially the last few years as theyve faced significant challenges with such courage and creativity.

Boosters report goes beyond numbers and showcases tangible examples of how its fundraising solutions are creating a lasting impact on schools, students and communities as well as building trust and lasting relationships.

[The Booster team is] enthusiastic, theyre energetic, the kids absolutely adore them, they love them. They make connections and they do it so eloquentlyJust when you think it can't get any better, it does," said Gina Fanelli, PTO President at Blue Mountain Elementary East in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania.

Blue Mountain Elementary East celebrated its 10th Fun Run with Booster during the spring. The partnership has raised more than $280,000 for the school to help fund a pavilion, specialized playground equipment, field trips, teacher appreciation, classroom supplies, technology and more.

Funds raised through Booster programs this year have also helped contribute to projects such as transforming a school gym for a high school in Greer, South Carolina, giving a massive playground upgrade with funds from a Fun Run in Frisco, Texas, bringing new technology to every single classroom at a school in Littleton, Colorado and providing educational enrichment resources through Fun Run and product sale fundraisers for students in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.

Boosters fundraisers also directly impact students such as 21-year-old Harper Hancuff , a professional weightlifter with two world records who competes in both general competitions and the Special Olympics. Hancuff, who recently stopped by Boosters headquarters in Atlanta to visit with the team, attributes her passion for fitness to participating in Booster fundraisers as a student.

You have exceeded our expectations by far. Thank you all so much. Your legacy makes a huge difference and heres proof of it, said Hancuffs father, Travis Hancuff.

As the 2023-2024 school year begins, Booster remains dedicated to making a lasting impact on the lives of individual students and entire educational communities nationwide as it continues to work towards its goal to raise $1 billion for schools by 2027.

# # #

About Booster

Booster is the leading school fundraising company in the U.S. As the son of an educator, founder Chris Carneal created Booster in 2002 to help strengthen schools. Since then, Booster has offered ever-expanding fundraising services such as school fun runs, fundraising technology, spirit gear and promotional products, product sales and more to help schools thrive by increasing funds and inspiring students through fitness and character-building experiences. More than 800 team members serve 7,500 K-12 schools nationwide and have helped schools, groups and teams profit more than $600 million.

Based in Georgia, Booster embraces the virtues of gratitude, wisdom, care, courage, grit, and celebration. These virtues guide every aspect of its business, from client care, leader development, product development and technical support, to sales and marketing. Learn more at choosebooster.com.

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NEW YORK, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Danaher Corporation (Danaher or the Company) (NYSE: DHR), and certain officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and docketed under 23-cv-02055, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Danaher securities between April 21, 2022, and April 24, 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 acquired Danaher securities during the Class Period, you have until September 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 newaction@pomlaw.com 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]

Danaher designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Company is comprised of more than 20 operating companies organized under four segments: Biotechnology; Life Sciences; Diagnostics; and Environmental & Applied Solutions.

In 2020 and 2021, Danahers diagnostic tests and life sciences research tools were widely used in the effort to combat the COVID-19 virus. Specifically, Danahers diagnostics segment included Cepheid, a leader in molecular testing, and its life sciences segment included a variety of companies that worked to develop COVID-19 vaccines and therapies. As a result, Danaher experienced a significant upswing in revenue growth over the course of this period.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) as the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, revenue growth associated with Danahers COVID-19-related businesses was declining; (ii) contrary to the Companys prior representations to investors, revenues associated with Danahers non-COVID-19-related businesses were insufficient to compensate for the foregoing negative trend; (iii) accordingly, Danaher overstated the Companys ability to sustain the growth it had experienced in 2020 and 2021; (iv) as a result, it was unlikely that Danaher would be able to meet its 2023 revenue forecasts; and (v) as a result, Defendants public statements were materially false and/or misleading at all relevant times.

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 Danahers prior reassurances that revenues associated with the Companys non-COVID-19-related businesses would compensate for the foregoing negative results.

On this news, Danahers stock price fell $22.36 per share, or 8.79%, to close at $231.99 per share on April 25, 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 .
Houston, TX, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empire Communities, one of North Americas largest privately held homebuilders, is celebrating some big wins with numerous industry accolades across their Texas markets. The esteemed homebuilder was named the recipient of several Texas Association of Builders (TAB) Star Awards including the prestigious Star Grand Award for Volume Builder of the Year, in addition to various Summit Awards and Marketing and Advertising Excellence (MAX) Awards this season.

The TAB Star Awards are a statewide tribute to excellence in the homebuilding industry, recognizing TAB builders, architects, designers, sales professionals, marketing professionals, construction professionals, and industry leaders for over 30 years. With awards wins in multiple categories, Empire Communities received the coveted Star Grand Award for Volume Builder of the Year, recognizing its impressive product and promotional offerings.

Empire Communities was named the recipient of the Best Product Design Award ($600k-$725k) for the Llano Model in Parmer Ranch, the Best Bathroom Design Award ($500k-$750k) for the Mustang Model in Audubon, the Best Specialty Promotion Award and the Best Direct Mail Piece Award for Everyday Beautiful, and the Best Interior Merchandising Award (Under $500k) for the Burleson Model in The Highlands, with finalist designation in the following categories:

Online Sales Manager of the Year recognizing Trista Nixon

Best Interior Merchandising for the Wilcox Model in Sunterra

Best Product Design for the Wilcox Model in Venetian Pines, the Archer Model in Emory Glen, and the Mustang Model in Audubon

Best Specialty Promotion for the Annual Savings Event

The Max Awards, presented by the Home Builders Association of Greater Austins Sales and Marketing Council, recognizes the best in local residential construction, development, sales achievement, and marketing. Empire Communities was named the recipient of the Best Digital Marketing Campaign Award for Everyday Beautiful, and the Online Sales Professional of the Year Award recognizing Trista Nixon, with finalist designation in the following categories:

Best Overall Ad Campaign for Everyday Beautiful

Best Interior Merchandising for the Llano Model in Parmer Ranch

Best Single-Family Detached Home for the 37' Yard Home Plan 2280 in Mueller

Best Attached, Product Design for the Edgewater in Villas at Rowe

The Summit Awards, presented by the Greater San Antonio Builders Association, are given to builders, remodelers, developers, and associate members who have achieved excellence in the homebuilding industry. Empire Communities was named the recipient of the Best Direct Mail Piece, Volume Builder Award for Everyday Beautiful, and the Best Print or Digital Ad, Volume Builder Award for Everyday Beautiful.

These prestigious award wins and designations recognize Empires unwavering commitment to creating experiences that matter for homebuyers and inspiring new places to live for lifes best moments to unfold.

We are incredibly proud to be to the recipient of multiple awards in the Texas homebuilding industry and be recognized by our peers for our dedication to homebuilding and marketing excellence in our state, says Jenni Leccese, Regional Marketing Director of Empire Communities Texas Division. Our team is grateful for the opportunity to continue to innovate, grow, push boundaries, and connect with our community.

Empire Communities extends its gratitude to its homebuyers and talented team members across the organization who have made these achievements possible.

EMPIRE COMMUNITIES

Empire Communities is a residential builder/developer involved in all new home building industry sectors, including lowrise and highrise built forms. Celebrating 30 years of building inspiring new places to live, Empire has an established tradition of creating prestigious awardwinning new homes, communities and amenities and has earned a reputation for outstanding attention to detail and customer service. Since its inception in 1993, Empire has built over 32,000 new homes and condos. Today, Empire is one of North Americas largest privately held integrated residential homebuilders, with current communities in Toronto, Southwestern Ontario, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.

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Former TSI in Roseville now part of Robert Bosch Semiconductor LLC

Semiconductor industry specialist Thorsten Scheer is heading the new organization as plant manager of Roseville and regional president of the Bosch Automotive Electronics division in North America

California Competes Tax Credit incentive of $25 million approved as part of funding opportunities to support planned $1.5 billion investment into the site by Bosch

Roseville, California, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Bosch has completed the acquisition of assets of the U.S. chipmaker TSI Semiconductors Corporation (TSI Semiconductors), based in Roseville, California, on August 31, 2023. The new company is called Robert Bosch Semiconductor LLC.

In April 2023, Bosch announced its intention to acquire certain assets of TSI Semiconductors. With this acquisition, Bosch is establishing significant manufacturing capacity in an important market. Starting in 2026, the first chips will be produced on 200-millimeter wafers based on the innovative material silicon carbide (SiC). Bosch plans to invest some $1.5 billion to transform the Roseville site into a facility that produces and tests silicon carbide semiconductors, which are a key building blocks for electric vehicles.

We are systematically reinforcing our global portfolio of SiC chips to advance electromobility, said Michael Budde, President Bosch Automotive Electronics. In electric vehicles, SiC chips enable greater range and more efficient recharging, as they use up to 50 percent less energy. The investment clearly shows our commitment in this strategically important field.

By extending our semiconductor operations, we are strengthening our local presence in an important market for high efficiency electronic solutions" said Paul Thomas, who will assume the role of president, Americas for Bosch Mobility beginning January 2024. The location in Roseville will reinforce the Bosch semiconductor business and expand our international semiconductor manufacturing network.

The approximately 250 local associates in Roseville are now part of the global Bosch family. The Roseville location has extensive experience in the design and production of semiconductors for automotive and industrial applications for nearly 40 years. Production will be built up gradually and we expect the Roseville location to grow.

Thorsten Scheer, a semiconductor industry specialist with 10 years of professional experience in the sensor business, is heading the new organization as plant manager in Roseville and regional president of the Bosch Automotive Electronics division in North America. In this role, he integrates the Roseville site into Bosch's international semiconductor manufacturing network and manages the transformation of the plant into a production facility for silicon carbide chips. Here, Thorsten Scheer builds on his broad experience in various leadership positions for Bosch in Germany, Hungary, and the U.S., and in particular his expertise in post-merger integration. Thorsten Scheer is a physicist and holds a doctorate in economics.

The semiconductor experts in Roseville and the existing clean-room facilities will allow us to manufacture SiC chips for electromobility on an even larger scale, said Thorsten Scheer. This is an amazing opportunity to be at the forefront of one of the most exciting developments in the technology sector, together with a dedicated and experienced team.

Systematic investments in pivotal semiconductor technology

Over the next years, Bosch intends to invest more than $1.5 billion USD in the Roseville site and upgrade the manufacturing facilities to state-of-the-art processes. The full scope of the planned investment will be heavily dependent on federal funding opportunities. Bosch intends to apply for federal funding under the CHIPS and Science Act and already the Governors Office of Business & Economic Development (GO-Biz) approved a $25 million California Competes Tax Credit incentive that will support redevelopment and investment in Roseville.

Bosch looks forward to a strong, long-term partnership with the City of Roseville, Placer County and the State of California, Scheer said.

Press photo/s:

Aerial footage of Roseville, CA facility: https://www.bosch-presse.de/pressportal/de/en/video-253957.html

View of Bosch semiconductor plant in Reutlingen, Germany: https://www.bosch-presse.de/pressportal/de/en/current-view-of-the-semiconductor-production-in-reutlingen-237957.html

Photo of Bosch semiconductor production in Reutlingen, Germany: https://www.bosch-presse.de/pressportal/de/en/4000-square-meters-of-new-clean-room-space-to-be-built-in-reutlingen-by-the-end-of-2023-234439.html

About Bosch

Having established a presence in North America in 1906, today the Bosch Group employs 37,000 associates in more than 100 locations in the region (as of Dec. 31, 2022). Bosch generated consolidated sales of $15.1 billion in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in 2022. For more information visit www.bosch.us, www.bosch.ca and www.bosch.mx.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 421,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2022). The company generated sales of $93.1 billion in 2022. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Groups strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is Invented for life. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 470 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Boschs global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. With its more than 400 locations worldwide, the Bosch Group has been carbon neutral since the first quarter of 2020. The basis for the companys future growth is its innovative strength. At 136 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 85,500 associates in research and development, of which nearly 44,000 are software engineers.

The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (18611942) as Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering. The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant upfront investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-four percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The remaining shares are held by Robert Bosch GmbH and by a corporation owned by the Bosch family. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, an industrial trust. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by the trust.

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, www.twitter.com/BoschPress



Exchange rate: 1 EUR = 1.0538

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Ottawa, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global medical aesthetics market revenue is projected to reach around USD 6,860 million by 2029, a study published by Towards Healthcare a sister firm of Precedence Research.







An increase in the adoption of Robot-based surgery helps in reducing cost as well as provide open procedures treatments.

Medical aesthetics are procedures used to improve cosmetic appearances. It is a fusion of healthcare and beauty, and it contains many types of skin treatments like skin tightening, laser hair removal lip fillers, etc. People doing aesthetic procedures from ancient days for beautiful looks. In Ancient times Egypt people used milk and honey baths for beauty now they switch on aesthetic procedures to help people to achieve the look they want including medical aesthetics. Medical aesthetics has a huge demand worldwide for energy-based, minimally invasive procedures for skin tightening, wrinkle reduction, face contouring, and skin rejuvenation.

Request a short version of this report @ https://www.towardshealthcare.com/personalized-scope/5013

The expansion of the market for aesthetic devices is anticipated to be constrained by the high cost of aesthetic surgery procedures and the negative effects of the devices used in those procedures. The market for medical aesthetics is driven by expanding public awareness and medical aesthetic devices are used to treat impairments associated with a persons aesthetic appearance or to enhance the same. In addition, these devices (particularly implants) rectify the malformations caused due to accidents, trauma, and other congenital disorders. The medical aesthetics devices market is driven by an increase in technological advancements, high demand for minimally invasive & non-invasive reconstruction surgeries, a rise in the incidence of congenital face & tooth deformities, and growth in awareness for aesthetic appearance. However, this growth is limited due to the high costs of treatment, low reimbursements, and risk of malfunctions associated with implants. The growth of the medical tourism industry, the emergence of tourism medical spas, and the adoption of aesthetic procedures are on the verge to enhance physical appearance and provide several opportunities for key market players.

Regulatory Scenario

Government regulation affects several aspects of the medical aesthetic market. For instance. The latest regulations on MDs in the EU are the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR), Regulation 2017/745, published on 5 April 2017, and entered into force on 25 May 2017. The regulation, to reshape and improve essential health and safety practices and guidelines, has widened the scope not only of aesthetic products but also non-medical devices.

Covid Impact on the Aesthetic medicine market

COVID-19 has a potential economic impact and implications on most sectors, including the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Governments worldwide are now responding to the threat of COVID-19 with all the essential measures, such as social distancing, travel restrictions, and large-scale quarantines, that are anticipated to impact businesses and consumer spending negatively. Many countries had been in lockdown and have suspended trade with other countries, leading to declining market capitalizations of major companies across the world, along with a decline in industrial production and other businesses. Thus, the rising COVID19 cases are expected to have a short-term impact on surgical rates of cosmetic procedures. The short-term effects on the surgical segment are less prominent. However, the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on the global economy may have significant indirect effects on the surgical segment of the market

Expanding awareness about Aesthetic devices drives the market growth

The market for medical aesthetics is driven by expanding public awareness, medical aesthetic devices are used to treat impairments associated with a persons aesthetic appearance or to enhance the same. In addition, these devices (particularly implants) rectify the malformations caused due to accidents, trauma, and other congenital disorders. The medical aesthetics devices market is driven by an increase in technological advancements, high demand for minimally invasive & non-invasive reconstruction surgeries, a rise in the incidence of congenital face & tooth deformities, and growth in awareness for aesthetic appearance.

However, this growth is limited due to the high costs of treatment, low reimbursements, and risk of malfunctions associated with implants. The growth of the medical tourism industry, the emergence of tourism medical spas, and the adoption of aesthetic procedures are on the verge to enhance physical appearance and provide several opportunities for key market players.

Growing adoption of minimally invasive and non-invasive aesthetic procedures Provides a future opportunity for the market

In the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the preference for minimally invasive and non-invasive aesthetic procedures over traditional surgical procedures. Minimally invasive/nonsurgical alternatives offer various advantages over traditional surgical procedures, such as less pain, reduced scarring, and quicker recovery. These procedures are also more economical than traditional surgical procedures. As per the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), there was an overall increase of 5.4% in the number of plastic and cosmetic procedures between 2017 and 2018. In addition to this, the prices of dermal fillers, botulinum toxins, and skin care products tend to go up, mostly, as the companies raise the prices. However, in countries, like the United States, there are certain reward programs one can sign up for, to help lower the price. Moreover, presently, many physicians are offering promotions during the year, which prove to be useful to lower the price

Segmentation Outlook:

Based on type, the medical aesthetic market has been segmented into invasive and non-invasive. The invasive segment is further bifurcated into Breast Augmentation, Tattoo Removal, Liposuction, Eyelid Surgery, Hair Removal, Tummy Tuck, and Others. And the non-invasive segment is bifurcated into Dermal Fillers, Chemical Peels, Botulinum Toxin, Microdermabrasion, and Others.

The non-invasive type of segment is dominating segment in the medical aesthetic market. Recently, there has been an increasing trend of the shift of patients from more complicated, time-consuming invasive procedures to minimally invasive and non-invasive procedures for aesthetic applications. Aesthetic lasers offer effective non-invasive methods of body contouring, fat reduction, and other cosmetic procedures. Therefore, the adoption of aesthetic lasers is increasing, and this trend is expected to continue throughout the forecast period. In the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the preference for minimally invasive and non-invasive aesthetic procedures over traditional surgical procedures.

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Minimally invasive/nonsurgical alternatives offer various advantages over traditional surgical procedures, such as less pain, reduced scarring, and quicker recovery. These procedures are also more economical than traditional surgical procedures. As per the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), there was an overall increase of 5.4% in the number of plastic and cosmetic procedures between 2017 and 2018. The non-invasive type segment was valued at $7,855.5 million in 2020 and is expected to reach more than $14,774.6 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.6% during the forecast period. However, the invasive market was valued at $3,541.3 million in 2020 and is expected to reach more than $6,417.8 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.0% during the forecast period.



Based on applications, the market has been Acne Scars Removal, Lip Augmentation, Wrinkle Removal, Rhinoplasty, and Others. In 2022, the others segment accounted for the maximum share of the medical aesthetic market across the globe. Others include hair transplants, dental implants, eyelid surgery, facelift, facial implants, and more. For illustration, in hair transplant, service providers use an extractor with a tiny punch graft of 0.5-0.8 mm diameter which is much smaller than the conventional FUE techniques leaving no visible scarring. Dental implants are replacement tooth roots. Implants provide a strong foundation for fixed (permanent) or removable replacement teeth. Such implants and procedures contribute to the growth of the other segment over the forecasting period. The other segment in the application segment was valued at $6,888.5 million in 2020 and is expected to reach more than $12,617.4 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.2% during the forecast period. However, the rhinoplasty segment was valued at $708.8 million in 2020 and is expected to reach more than $1,400.4 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 10.4% during the forecast period.

Based on end users, the market has been segmented into hospitals & clinics, beauty centers, and home care. According to this segment, in 2022, the Hospitals & clinics segment was the highest contributor to the global medical aesthetics market. Followed by beauty centers and spas. Hospitals and clinics provide facilities for a variety of cosmetic procedures that include breast augmentation, breast reduction, facelift, eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, liposuction, breast lift, tummy tuck, body lift, hair transplant, laser resurfacing, laser hair removal, reconstructive surgeries, and hand surgery. Due to the popularity of cosmetic procedures, hospitals & clinics have installed the latest technologically advanced devices and products to provide effective, yet minimally invasive cosmetic reconstruction methods. This has enabled hospitals to provide almost all types of cosmetic procedures for patients. This will contribute to the growth of the segment over the forecasting period at the global level.

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Acne Treatment Market : The global acne treatment market revenue is estimated to grow from USD 9,661.5 million in 2022 at 4.8 % CAGR (2023-2032) to reach an estimated USD 15,183.2 million by 2032.



The global revenue is estimated to grow from USD 9,661.5 million in 2022 at 4.8 % CAGR (2023-2032) to reach an estimated USD 15,183.2 million by 2032. Dental Services Market : The global dental services market accounted for USD 432.1 billion in 2022 and is expected to hit US$ 699.7 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.93% from 2023 to 2032.



The global accounted for USD 432.1 billion in 2022 and is expected to hit US$ 699.7 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.93% from 2023 to 2032. 3D Printed Prosthetics Market: The 3D printed prosthetics market is estimated to grow from $1.54 billion in 2022 at 7.9 % CAGR (2023-2032) to reach an estimated $ 3.28 billion by 2032.



North America leading region for Medical Aesthetics

The life cycle for medical aesthetics has been analyzed for regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. In 2022, North America held the largest share of the global medical aesthetics market, a trend that is expected to continue throughout the forecast period. Advanced healthcare infrastructure, adoption of cosmetic procedures, increasing prevalence of skin disorders, and the presence of board-certified and skilled cosmetic surgeons in the region are some of the major factors contributing to the growth of the aesthetic medicine market in this region. There is a vast growth of aesthetic procedures by facial injectables in Canada. These procedures are being performed in non-clinical organizations like shopping malls, beauty salons, or day spas, as well. Owing to this, the regulations of the Canadian Association of Medical Spas & Aesthetic Surgeons (CAMAS) must be adhered to ensure safety.

Market Key Players:

Merz Pharma

Anika Therapeutics, Inc.

Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.

AbbVie

Lumenis

Solta Medical

Syneron Candela

Alma Lasers

Hologic

Cutera, Inc

El.En. S.p.A.

Medytox, Inc.

Fotona d.o.o

Sisram Medical

Cynosure

Galderma

Market Segmentation

By Type

Non-Invasive



Dermal Fillers Chemical Peels Botulinum Toxin Microdermabrasion Others

Invasive



Breast Augmentation Tattoo Removal Liposuction Eyelid Surgery Hair Removal Tummy Tuck Others



By Application

Lip Augmentation

Acne Scars Removal

Wrinkle Removal

Rhinoplasty

Others



By End User

Hospital & Clinic

Beauty Centers

Home Care



By Geography

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa (MEA)



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NEW YORK, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Bausch Health Companies Inc. (Bausch or the Company) (NYSE: BHC). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether Bausch and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On May 10, 2022, Bausch reports its financial results for the first quarter of 2022. Following the announcement, Bauschs stock price fell $3.50 per share, or 27.13%, to close at $9.40 per share on May 10, 2022. Analysts attributed the decline to concerns related to the Company's spin-off of Bausch + Lomb Corporation, high debt levels, and anticipation over the Xifaxan patent decision in the Companys ongoing litigation against Norwich Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Norwich). Then, on July 28, 2022, Bausch issued an update on the Xifaxan patent dispute case between Bausch and Norwich, in which the court ruled that certain Bausch patents were invalid.

Following the update, market analysts downgraded Bausch, and the Companys stock price fell $3.58 per share, or 41.24%, to close at $5.10 per share on July 28, 2022.

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 .
Visiongain has published a new report entitled Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Market Report 2023-2033: Forecasts by Flaw Type (Surface Cracks & Flaws, Internal Flaws & Discontinuities, Lack of Bond or Lack of Fusion, Non-Metallic Inclusions (Slag, Porosity), Material Quality, Laminations & Thickness Measurement), by Material (Ferrous Forgings & Stampings, Ferrous Raw Materials & Rolled Products, Ferrous Tube & Pipe, Iron & Steel Castings, Non-Ferrous Components & Materials), by Technique (Ultrasonic Testing, Visual Testing, Radiographic Testing, Liquid Penetrant Testing, Eddy-Current Testing, Magnetic Particle Testing), by Application (Automotive & Railway Industry, Aerospace Industry, Petrochemical & Gas Industries, Pipe & Tube Manufacturing Industry, Shipbuilding Industry, Non-Ferrous Components & Materials), by End-use (Designing, Manufacturing Quality, In-service Inspection, Plant Life Extension, Other) AND Regional and Leading National Market Analysis PLUS Analysis of Leading Companies AND COVID-19 Impact and Recovery Pattern Analysis.

The non-destructive testing (NDT) market was valued at US$9,042.3 million in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period 2023-2033.

Use of Drones and Crawling Robots for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)

Refinery structures require constant inspection, maintenance, and safe work procedures to keep them in good working order; but, due to their vast height and bulk, accessing them is becoming increasingly difficult. Many researchers have created numerous robots for wall crawling in attempt to address this problem, but much more development is required. One of the main reasons why existing wall crawling robots haven't been employed more widely in the field is the possibility of the equipment falling out of the wall owing to operational failure caused by harsh environmental factors such as strong winds and the unpredictability of rough surface conditions. As a result, attempted to design a wall-sticking aerial robot platform that can fly to and stick to any spot on the structure. The sensor probe is "sticked" on the ferro-magnetic surface of the structure by electro-magnetic hold/mount devices on the robot.

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How has COVID-19 had a Significant Negative Impact on the Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Market?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant negative impact on various sectors of the global economy, including the non-destructive testing (NDT) market. NDT is an essential industry that provides testing and inspection services to ensure the safety and reliability of structures, equipment, and materials without causing damage. However, the pandemic has led to several challenges and setbacks for the NDT market. Many industries experienced disruptions in their operations due to lockdowns, restrictions, and reduced demand. This led to a decrease in manufacturing, construction, and maintenance activities, resulting in a reduced demand for NDT services.

The majority of industry executives and legislators are looking for effective methods and policies to redesign production patterns and match customer demand. The majority of raw materials are imported from China and other Asian developing countries, according to global supply chain perspectives. Most transportation linkages and distribution methods between suppliers, production facilities, and customers have been disrupted by the COVID-19 epidemic. As a result, in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period, it is critical to examine sustainable production and consumption patterns.

How will this Report Benefit you?

Visiongains 365-page report provides 137 tables and 209 charts/graphs. Our new study is suitable for anyone requiring commercial, in-depth analyses for the non-destructive testing (NDT) market, along with detailed segment analysis in the market. Our new study will help you evaluate the overall global and regional market for non-destructive testing (NDT). Get financial analysis of the overall market and different segments including flaw type, material, technique, application, and end user and capture higher market share. We believe that there are strong opportunities in this fast-growing non-destructive testing (NDT) market. See how to use the existing and upcoming opportunities in this market to gain revenue benefits in the near future. Moreover, the report will help you to improve your strategic decision-making, allowing you to frame growth strategies, reinforce the analysis of other market players, and maximise the productivity of the company.

What are the Current Market Drivers?

Demand for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Inspection Services in The Power Generation Industry

NDT and inspection are incredibly useful techniques for evaluating and diagnosing product flaws in a timely manner. It is a critical quality control tool in the production process since it allows for the early detection of surface and subsurface faults in both finished and work-in-progress (WIP) goods. Factory buildings, platforms, bridges, railway lines, piping systems, and industrial machinery are examples of industrial assets and public infrastructures where NDT is utilised to detect flaws and structural integrity. Government regulations governing public safety and product quality, as well as ongoing advancements in electronics, automation, and robots, are driving the market's growth.

Corrosion fatigue can cause steam pipelines in electric generating plants to fail. Plants' dependability and lifespan should be preserved. Up to 4 kilometres of pipe work delivering superheated steam at pressures up to 400 bars and temperatures up to 580 degrees Celsius can be found in a typical 500 megawatt electric power station (nuclear or conventional). Extreme pressures and temperatures can cause cracks in pipes, which can lead to pipe ruptures. Failure to discover cracks as soon as they appear can result in catastrophic accidents, resulting in horrific injuries and massive power outages. Pipelines are inspected with non-destructive testing procedures during scheduled outages when power plants are shut down for maintenance and repair. Under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), the HOTSCAN project obtained money to construct a pipeline monitoring system that would be permanently installed. The new system would be installed during a scheduled outage and would continually inspect all welds while the plant was in operation.

Increasing Safety and Quality Regulations

Increasing safety and quality regulations have become a most important concern in several applications and end user industries, which is primarily aiming to enhance product reliability, minimize risks, and safeguard consumer well-being. Growing demand of major countries around the world such as U.S., Germany, China, and most countries need non-destructive testing of aircraft. Governments and regulatory bodies of each regions and countries to ensure compliance with industry standards and guidelines such as the American Society for Non-destructive Testing, Inc. (ASNT), Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International, these government authorities are focusing on providing technical standards for materials, products, systems, and services. The primary goal NDT is to prevent accidents, improve product quality, and maintain public trust.

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Where are the Market Opportunities?

The Future of NDT With Wireless Sensors, A.I., and IoT

Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) is on the brink of a transformative era, driven by the convergence of wireless sensor technology, artificial intelligence (A.I.), and the Internet of Things (IoT). This synergy promises to revolutionize the way industries ensure structural integrity, safety, and reliability. Wireless sensors are at the forefront of this evolution, enabling real-time data collection without the need for cumbersome cables or manual intervention. These sensors can be embedded in critical infrastructure including bridges, pipelines, and aircraft, continuously monitoring for signs of wear, stress, or anomalies. For instance, in the aviation industry, wireless sensors placed within aircraft engines can provide real-time information about temperature, vibration, and pressure, alerting maintenance teams to potential issues before they escalate. Also, in May 2022, VCxray announced the launch of its innovative software solutions for industrial X-ray inspection, namely x.OS, at the Control exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany.

Competitive Landscape

The major players operating in the non-destructive testing (NDT) market are Acuren, Anritsu Corporation, Ashtead Technology, Inc., Eddyfi Technology, Fischer Technology Inc., FPrimeC Solutions Inc., Fujifilm Holding Corporation, GE Measurement, Intertek Group PLC, Magnaflux Corporation, Mistras group, Nikon Corporation, Olympus Corporation, SGS SA, Sonatest Ltd., and T.D. Williamson, Inc. These major players operating in this market have adopted various strategies comprising M&A, investment in R&D, collaborations, partnerships, agreement, regional business expansion, and new product launch.

Recent Developments

On 2 nd May 2023, Eddyfi Technologies announced the launch of its advanced Panther 2, the ultimate solution for the fastest and most versatile industrial inspections with phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) and total focusing method (TFM)

May 2023, Eddyfi Technologies announced the launch of its advanced Panther 2, the ultimate solution for the fastest and most versatile industrial inspections with phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) and total focusing method (TFM) On 31st January 2023, Magnaflux Corporation pleased to announce the launch of its latest environmentally friendly non-destructive testing product namely ZP-4D, in Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. The ZP-4D is a non-combustible dry powder developer for form A penetrant testing that is ideal for highly sensitive fluorescent penetrant processes

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The board of directors of IDEX Biometrics ASA has resolved to issue 1,935,611 ordinary shares at NOK 0.55 per share to employees who participate in the companys 2022 Employee Share Purchase Plan (ESPP). The ESPP was approved by the annual general meeting on 12 May 2022.

24 employees participated in the ESPP in this period. The participating employees have elected to invest a part of the base salary in ordinary shares in the company. Purchase takes place every six months.

Following the issue, the company's share capital will be NOK 197,695,403.25 divided into 1,317,969,355 shares, each with a nominal value of NOK 0.15.

Primary insiders

IDEX Biometrics discloses transactions by the following primary insiders in IDEX Biometrics shares ISIN NO0003070609:

CEO Vince Graziani acquired 180,753 ordinary shares at NOK 0.55 per share.

IDEX Biometrics 2022 ESPP

The ESPP was approved at the annual general meeting on 12 May 2022. Reference is made to the notice of that meeting where the plan document for the ESPP was attached.

All employees in the company and its subsidiaries, except in China, have been offered to subscribe for shares in the Company in connection with the ESPP. The ESPP is structured around two contribution periods, starting on 1 September and 1 March and lasting for the following six months. During each contribution period, a fixed amount (up to 20% of the employees gross base salary) is withheld from the employees net salary each month. The employee may sign up to participate in the ESPP from the date of the public disclosure of the interim report before the contribution period until the beginning of the contribution period. Unless the employee actively withdraws from the ESPP, participation is automatically renewed for the same amount for subsequent contribution periods. The board's resolution to issue new shares in connection with the ESPP is made pursuant to the authorization granted by the company's annual general meeting on 12 May 2022 to increase the company's share capital in connection with the ESPP.

In accordance with the ESPP, the subscription price is the lower closing price of the IDEX Biometrics share, as traded on Oslo Brs, on the first or last day of the contribution period, less 15% discount. Payment of the subscription amount is made out of the relevant employee salary withholding.

In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (the Prospectus Regulation) Article 1 (5) h, issuance of shares in connection with the ESPP is exempt from the obligation to publish a listing prospectus.

For further information contact:

Marianne Be, Head of investor relations

E-mail: marianne.boe@idexbiometrics.com

Tel: + 47 9180 0186

About IDEX Biometrics

IDEX Biometrics ASA (OSE: IDEX) is a global technology leader in fingerprint biometrics, offering authentication solutions across payments, access control, and digital identity. Our solutions bring convenience, security, peace of mind and seamless user experiences to the world. Built on patented and proprietary sensor technologies, integrated circuit designs, and software, our biometric solutions target card-based applications for payments and digital authentication. As an industry-enabler we partner with leading card manufacturers and technology companies to bring our solutions to market.

For more information, visit www.idexbiometrics.com

About this notice

This notice was published by Erling Svela, Vice president of finance, on 1 September 2023 at 19:50 CET on behalf of IDEX Biometrics ASA. The information shall be disclosed according to section 58 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act (STA) and in accordance with section 512 of the STA.
Bellevue, KY, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tom Rechtin Heating & Air, a leading HVAC company based in Bellevue, Kentucky, is proud to announce that it has been honored with the prestigious "Patriotic Employer" award by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. This recognition highlights the company's unwavering commitment to national security, liberty, and freedom through its steadfast support of employee participation in America's National Guard and Reserve force.

The "Patriotic Employer" award is a testament to Tom Rechtin Heating & Air's dedication to both its employees and the nation. By enabling and encouraging staff members to contribute to the National Guard and Reserve, the company demonstrates its recognition of the vital role these brave individuals play in protecting our nation's values.

One shining example of this commitment is Ed Krift, Jr., a dedicated employee of Tom Rechtin Heating & Air since 1997. Ed's journey includes a remarkable chapter of service in the U.S. Army from 1988 to 1993. In January 2008, he continued his commitment to our nation by joining the National Guard. Since then, Ed has shown unparalleled dedication by actively participating in drill and annual trainings, as well as deploying to both Texas and Iraq.

Throughout his service, Krift has been supported by his employer, who consistently upholds the belief that the company will be here to welcome him upon his return. This steadfast encouragement, understanding, and unwavering support not only exemplifies the values of Tom Rechtin Heating & Air but also contributes to the greater fabric of our nation's defense.

"We are deeply honored to receive the 'Patriotic Employer' recognition," said Tom Rechtin, Jr., President at Tom Rechtin Heating & Air. "At our company, we hold a profound appreciation for the sacrifice and dedication shown by individuals like Ed, who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. Their commitment to our country aligns with our values, and we are committed to standing behind them every step of the way."

Tom Rechtin Heating & Air's recognition as a "Patriotic Employer" highlights their role as a cornerstone of support for the men and women who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. This acknowledgment further solidifies the company's commitment to fostering an environment that values both employee growth and national security.

For more information about Tom Rechtin Heating & Air, please visit tomrechtin.com.

Media Contact:

Sarah Hartwig

Director of Marketing & Communications, FUSIONWRX

sarah@fusionwrx.com

513.477.4421

About Tom Rechtin Heating & Air:

Tom Rechtin Heating & Air is a renowned HVAC company based in northern Kentucky, dedicated to providing top-tier heating, cooling, and ventilation solutions to the local community. With a strong commitment to excellence, integrity, and community support, the company has become a trusted name in the HVAC industry.

Attachment
Kirkland Lake Discoveries Corp. (TSXV: KLDC) ("KLDC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Natalia Samartseva as Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") and Corporate Secretary of the Company, effective September 1, 2023.

Ms. Samartseva is a Chartered Professional Accountant with significant experience in public company reporting, IFRS, internal controls and auditing. She brings over 15 years of experience across diverse financial leadership positions having previously served as Chief Financial Officer and Director of Financial Reporting of companies listed in Canada and the United States. She has also held a variety of public accounting practice positions, including senior audit manager, and consulting engagements focused on financial reporting and analysis for junior resource companies. During her career, Ms. Samartseva has overseen projects related to internal control improvements implementation, preparation of financial models, forecasts, business valuation models, transition from exploration to commercial production stage for mining companies and other complex accounting and tax issues.

Concurrent with this appointment, Salil Dhaumya has stepped down as CFO, after having served the Company since 2010. The Board of Directors and executive management team of the Company extend their gratitude to Mr. Dhaumya for his valuable contributions during his tenure and his support ensuring a seamless transition.

About Kirkland Lake Discoveries Corp.

Kirkland Lake Discoveries Corp. is a TSX Venture Exchange listed company that has recently consolidated a district-scale and highly prospective land package in the Kirkland Lake Gold Camp in Ontario, Canada. The properties are hosted in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, one of the world's best-endowed greenstone belts, with 200+ million ounces of gold produced to date.1 The properties are host to regional and property-scale mineralized structures that are considered second-order structures off the Larder Lake Cadillac Deformation Zone (LLCDZ), the regional structure in the belt known to be spatially associated with the gold mines hosted in the camp.

The properties assembled include the 100%-owned Lucky Strike Property, Goodfish-Kirana, the Arnold property, and the optioned KL West (KLW) and KL Central (KLC) properties. The KLDC land position comprises approximately 38,000 ha, over 1,338 claims and 29 patented claims and ranks the Company as the largest landholder in the Kirkland Lake region.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the Company.

The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

1 Canada's Gold Exploration Frontier: The Abitibi Greenstone Belt - https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/canadas-gold-exploration-frontier-the-abitibi-greenstone-belt/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901255968/en/

Contact

For additional information:

Daniele Spethmann, P.Geo.

President & CEO

https://www.kirklandlakediscoveries.com

+1 416 363 0317

daniele@kirklandlakediscoveries.com
VANCOUVER, Sept. 01, 2023 - Victory Battery Metals Corp. (CSE: VR) (FWB: VR61) (OTC: VRCFF) ("Victory" or the "Company") announces that the Company has entered into a Mining Claims Option Agreement between the Company and Alexandr Beloborodov Geologue Inc.. (the "Purchaser"), dated August 15, 2023 (the "Purchase Agreement"), providing for the sale by the Company of an undivided 100% interest in and to various mining claims located in Lac Simard, Quebec, for a total consideration of CAD $115,000.

The Company will retain a royalty of 2% of net smelter returns ("NSR"). The Purchaser shall have the option to purchase 1% of the NSR from the Corporation upon payment of $1,000,000, and up to an additional % NSR upon the payment of $1,000,000. The Corporation will retain first right of refusal to purchase the remaining NSR Royalty owned by the Corporation at the discretion of the Corporation.

Mark Ireton, Victory CEO and Director noted: "With a dedicated focus on Stingray, Smokey Lithium, Tahlo Lake and Georgia Lake, our team and resources are best deployed on these promising projects that are more advanced and can return benefits to shareholders in the shorter term, so an offer to sell Lac Simard was accepted, supporting our teams focus on our main properties."

For further information, please contact:

Mark Ireton, President

Telephone: +1 (236) 317 2822 or TOLL FREE 1 (855) 665-GOLD (4653)

E-mail: info@victorybatterymetals.com

About Victory Battery Metals Corp.

Victory Battery Metals Corp. (CSE: VR) is a publicly traded diversified investment corporation with mineral interests in North America. The company is also actively seeking other exploration opportunities.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.




Saguenay, September 1, 2023 - First Phosphate Corp. (CSE: PHOS) (OTC Pink: FRSPF) (FSE: KD0) ("First Phosphate" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has obtained strong assay results from a geological reconnaissance program at its Larouche property at only 40 km distance from the deep sea Port of Saguenay (Figure 2) in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Quebec, Canada.

Larouche Project Results

Grab sampling from the geological reconnaissance program in the Larouche area (Figure 1) assayed up 36.46% P 2 O 5 in massive apatite found within nelsonite layers. 13 of 22 samples collected returned from 8.29% P 2 O 5 to 36.46% P 2 O 5 while 4 others assayed between 17.32% TiO 2 to 19.22% TiO 2 (Table 1). The phosphate is found within layers of apatite-bearing nelsonite within anorthosite host rock. The geological context is similar to what the Company's winter drilling program revealed in the northern part of its Begin-Lamarche property. At Larouche, the mineralized area is up 1,000 m long by 500 m wide.

"These results demonstrate once again that First Phosphate has multiple rich, high-grade phosphate-bearing prospective properties at close proximity to the deep sea Port of Saguenay," explained First Phosphate CEO, John Passalacqua. "The high grade nature of this mineralization, its 40 km distance from Port Saguenay and its close proximity to existing infrastructure are key elements for a successful project."

TABLE 1 - ASSAY RESULTS - LAROUCHE PROPERTY



Sample_ID Easting Northing P2O5 (%) TiO2 (%) B378037 315672 5373426 36.46 1.552 B378097 316119 5375114 19.22 9.626 B388167 315148 5374751 17.58 11.56 B378021 316118 5375125 15.12 9.433 B378038 315669 5373428 15.09 10.25 B378034 314869 5374085 13.58 2.253 B378032 315503 5375345 12.58 9.667 B378039 315664 5373431 11.36 7.872 B378096 315975 5374726 11.18 6.286 B378036 315699 5373402 9.18 8.266 B378028 316195 5375365 9.01 6.681 B378029 316193 5375367 8.79 10.16 B378033 314761 5374103 8.52 6.045 B378035 314903 5374060 8.29 2.893 B378100 315943 5375259 5.50 14.54 B378099 315943 5375258 1.21 18.59 B388168 315025 5374813 0.88 3.602 B388169 314556 5374442 0.88 3.469 B378139 315028 5374839 0.75 2.816 B378098 315992 5375076 0.37 17.58 B378030 315514 5375355 0.09 19.22 B378031 315516 5375369 0.07 17.32





FIGURE 1 - ASSAY RESULTS FOR THE LAROUCHE AREA

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8917/179342_9582e6d77454c8f7_001full.jpg

Additional Reconnaissance Conducted on Other Bluesky Properties

The geological reconnaissance program also included 3 other First Phosphate Bluesky properties.

At the Perron property, 9 samples out of the 44 gathered returned values greater than 5% P 2 O 5 with up to 13.68% P 2 O 5 and 19.02% TiO 2 . Mineralization is found within centimetric to decimetric layers of nelsonite in the anorthosite mass.

At the Lac Alex property, more than 50% of the grab samples assayed over 3% P 2 O 5 and up to 5.79% P 2 O 5 and TiO 2 varying from 4 to 8%. The mineralization occurs within an oxide-apatite gabbronorite (OAGN) similar to the Company's Lac a l'Orignal project.

At the Brochet property, 12 out of 48 samples returned over 3% P 2 O 5 and up to 6.99 P 2 O 5 with up to 12.28% associated TiO 2 . The mineralization occurs within an oxide-apatite gabbronorite (OAGN) similar to the Company's Lac a l'Orignal project.





FIGURE 2 - OVERVIEW OF FIRST PHOSPHATE PROPERTIES

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8917/179342_9582e6d77454c8f7_002full.jpg

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical disclosure for First Phosphate included in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gilles Laverdiere, P.Geo. Mr. Laverdiere is Chief Geologist of First Phosphate and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

Corporate Updates

Peter Kent has retired as President and Director of the Company. Mr. Kent will remain involved with the Company as a member of its advisory board. "We thank Peter for his outstanding contributions to the Company in its early formative stages and we wish him the best for his well-deserved retirement after a long and well distinguished career in media and politics," says Company CEO, John Passalacqua.

Garry Siskos has stepped down as COO/CFO of the Company to pursue fundraising opportunities in his private practice and will remain as a consultant to the Company. "We thank Garry for his diligent service in meticulously setting up the structure around our business modelling and corporate strategy from mine to midstream product development," added, John. Bennett Kurtz, the predecessor CFO to Garry, will serve as the Company's CFO in addition to his CAO role.

The Company has approved the grant of 500,000 stock options (the "Options") to purchase common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") to certain advisors of the Company, at an exercise price of $0.70 per share, with an expiry date of three years from the date of issuance (the "Option Grants"). The Options are subject to time-based vesting such that increments of 25% vest every 6 months for two years. The terms of the Options granted are in accordance with the Company's Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan as approved by disinterested shareholders at the Company's annual and special meeting of shareholders held on August 25, 2023. All securities issued are subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus one day from the date of issuance, in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

The Company has settled $273,200 of debt for accrued management and board salaries through the issuance of 718,947 Common Shares at the deemed price of $0.38 per Common Share, with such shares subject to a statutory four month and one day hold period (the "D&O Shares for Debt Transaction"). Further, the Company has settled $216,676 of debt for accrued amounts owing to arm's length service providers through the issuance of 570,200 Common Shares at the deemed price of $0.38 per Common Share, with such shares subject to a statutory four month and one day hold period.

The Company also announces that it has granted restricted share units ("RSUs") of the Company to certain directors, officers, and consultants of the Company in lieu of cash compensation. The Company will issue 1,018,424 RSUs at a deemed price of $0.38 per Common Share (the "RSU Grants"). Such RSUs will vest in 2 tranches after 3 and 6 months of issuance and will be subject to a statutory four month and one day hold period. Each vested RSU entitles the holder to receive one Common Share.

The Company has entered into agreement to engage Laura Stein for Investor Relations Activities (as defined in the CSE's Policy) with the effective date of September 1, 2023. Ms. Stein's engagement is for an initial term of 12 months ending on September 1, 2024, during which the Company anticipates to issue, as compensation to Ms. Stein 250,000 Options over the course of the 12 month engagement, at the exercise price of $0.70 per Common Share, subject to minimum exercise price as set out in the CSE's Policy. The Options are anticipated to be granted at 25% per quarter over 9 months with the first 25% of such Options granted immediately.

Ms. Stein resides in the State of New Jersey and is an arm's length party to the Company. Her contact information is as follows: email: laura@laurastein.net and telephone: 917-254-8906.

Adoption of Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan

In order to further align the interests of the Company's senior executives, key employees, consultants and directors with those of the shareholders of the Company, the board of directors (the "Board") has approved the implementation of an Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan ("Omnibus Plan") as approved by disinterested shareholders at the Company's annual and special meeting of shareholders held on August 25, 2023.

The Omnibus Plan replaces the Company's stock option plan (the "Stock Option Plan") and restricted share unit plan ("RSU Plan"). The Omnibus Plan will provide the Company with the flexibility to grant diverse equity awards as part of its objective to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified directors, officers, employees and consultants, all granted under one plan which will allow such awards to be subject to the same administration and overall limits.

The Omnibus Plan is a "rolling" share-based compensation plan pursuant to which the aggregate number of Common Shares reserved for issue under the Omnibus Plan may not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the Common Shares issued and outstanding at the time of Option or RSU grant. The Omnibus Plan is a "rolling" maximum share plan, and any increase or reduction in the number of outstanding Common Shares will result in an increase or reduction, respectively, in the number of Common Shares that are available to be issued under the Omnibus Plan. The Omnibus Plan is considered an "evergreen" plan, since the Common Shares covered by Options and Awards that have been exercised or redeemed, as the case may be, shall be available for subsequent grants under the Omnibus Plan.

Outstanding Options under the Stock Option Plan will continue to be governed by the Stock Option Plan. There were no RSUs issued under the RSU Plan. The Company currently has 6,208,000 Common Shares reserved for issuance pursuant to Options already granted and outstanding pursuant to the Stock Option Plan, representing an aggregate 12.0% of the Common Shares outstanding. After the Option Grants and RSU Grants, the Company has 7,976,424 Common Shares reserved for issuance pursuant to Options and RSUs granted and outstanding, representing an aggregate of 15.4% of the Common Shares outstanding,

The Omnibus Plan was approved and adopted by the Board on July 26, 2023. The Omnibus Plan is a long-term incentive plan that, once approved, permits the grant of Options and RSUs (together, the "Awards") to directors, officers and employees of, and consultants to, the Corporation. The purpose of the plan is to promote share ownership of the eligible individuals to align the interests of such individuals with the interest of the Company's shareholders. The Omnibus Plan will replace the Stock Option Plan and RSU Plan and no further grants of Options or RSUs will be made under such plans, respectively. As a result, the Omnibus Plan streamlines the administration of long-term incentive grants to eligible individuals as all future grants will be made under the Omnibus Plan and therefore all future grants will be subject to the rules and restrictions of that plan.

Under the Omnibus Plan, eligible persons may (at the discretion of the Board) be allocated a number of restricted share units ("RSU") as the Board deems appropriate, with vesting provisions also to be determined by the Board, subject to a maximum vesting term of three (3) years from the end of the calendar year in which RSUs were granted. Upon vesting, eligible participants shall be entitled to receive Common Shares from treasury to satisfy all or any portion of a vested RSU award. The expiry date of Options granted pursuant to the Omnibus Plan is set by the Board, and must not be later than ten (10) years from the date of grant.

A full copy of the Omnibus Plan is available for viewing under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Related Party Transaction

As related parties of the Company received Common Shares, RSUs, and Options in connection in connection with the Transactions, the Transactions are considered related party transactions for the purposes of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The participation of the related parties of the Company are exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements provided under MI 61-101 in accordance with sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101. The Company is relying on an exemption from the formal valuation requirements of MI 61-101 available because the fair market value of the issued Common Shares, RSUs, and Options to the related parties pertaining to the Transactions does not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization, as determined in accordance with MI 61-101. The Company did not file a material change report related to the Transactions more than 21 days before the expected closing of the Transactions as required by MI 61-101 but believes that this shorter period is reasonable and necessary in the circumstances as the Company wishes to improve its financial position by reducing its accrued liabilities as soon as possible and to incentivize the retaining of key personnel.

About First Phosphate Corp.

First Phosphate is a mineral development company fully dedicated to extracting and purifying phosphate for the production of cathode active material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate ("LFP") battery industry. First Phosphate is committed to producing at high purity level, at full ESG standard and with low anticipated carbon footprint. First Phosphate plans to vertically integrate from mine source directly into the supply chains of major North American LFP battery producers that require battery grade LFP cathode active material emanating from a consistent and secure supply source. First Phosphate holds over 1,500 sq. km of royalty-free district-scale land claims in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean Region of Quebec, Canada that it is actively developing. First Phosphate properties consist of rare anorthosite igneous phosphate rock that generally yields high purity phosphate material devoid of high concentrations of harmful elements.

For additional information, please contact:

Bennett Kurtz, CFO and CAO

bennett@firstphosphate.com

Tel: +1 (416) 200-0657

Investor Relations: investor@firstphosphate.com

Media Relations: media@firstphosphate.com

Website: www.FirstPhosphate.com

Follow First Phosphate:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FirstPhosphate

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-phosphate

-30-

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 Company's commitment to producing high purity phosphate materials at full ESG standard under a low carbon footprint; the Company's plans to integrate directly into the functions of certain major North American LFP Battery producers; the Company's proposed development of its land claims in the Saguenay Region, Larouche, and Blue Sky properties; the stated benefits of the properties proximity to the Port of Saguenay; and the claims of the Company possessing multiple rich, high-grade phosphate-bearing prospective properties.

Forward-looking information in this press release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: the Company's ability to producing high purity phosphate materials at full ESG standard under a low carbon footprint; the Company's ability to integrate directly into the functions of certain major North American LFP Battery producers; the Company's ability to develop its land claims in the Saguenay Region, Larouche, Bluesky properties; the Company's ability to realize upon the stated benefits of the properties proximity to the Port of Saguenay; and the Company's ability to realize upon its claims of possessing multiple rich, high-grade phosphate-bearing prospective properties.

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 produce high purity phosphate materials at full ESG standard under a low carbon footprint; the Company's inability to integrate directly into the functions of certain major North American LFP Battery producers; the Company's inability to develop its land claims in the Saguenay Region, Larouche, and Bluesky properties; and the Company's inability to realize its claims of possessing multiple rich, high-grade phosphate-bearing prospective properties.

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/179342
TORONTO, Sept. 01, 2023 - Montauk Metals Inc. (TSX-V: MTK) (the "Company" or "Montauk") today announces that further to its news releases of March 27, 2018, February 25, 2019, February 10, 2020, and November 23, 2021, the arbitration brought by the Company against the Republic of Colombia (the "Arbitration") to enforce the Company's rights to compensation under the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (the "FTA") has been suspended pending a resolution of funding the costs of the arbitration panel.



The Arbitration is being conducted in two phases. Phase One is a determination of jurisdiction and liability issues. Phase Two is a determination of damages, discovery jurisdiction and liability as found. Montauk contends that Colombia breached its obligations owed to Montauk, including specific obligations under the FTA. The claims include Colombia's refusal or failure to compensate the Company for the losses incurred as a consequence of Colombia's prohibition of mining in the paramos (high altitude eco-systems).

Montauk is currently reviewing the status of the Arbitration and the merits of pursuing further funding to recommence the Arbitration. The final outcome of the Phase One Arbitration and the eventual outcome of the Phase Two Arbitration cannot be predicted at this time. Certain costs of the proceedings including legal and arbiter costs have exceeded the original estimates and the Company has also had to pay Colombia's half of the arbiter fees. The total cost to obtain a final resolution to the Arbitration is unknown at this time; however, the Company expects that the cost would be a minimum of US$400,000 to conclude the Phase One jurisdiction and liability ruling. The Company has a cash balance of approximately $100,000 and is contesting $473,000 in legal fees representing a portion of the legal fees it has paid to date.

The Company is very mindful of balancing the potential for reward against the cost of share dilution arising pursuant to a financing. There can be no assurance that the Company will proceed with the Arbitration at this time given the need for a financing. Management of the Company has not been successful in sourcing funding from institutional, individual or litigation funding investors. In particular, several litigation funding groups have been approached and there has been no interest to support the Arbitration at this time. The Arbitration will be dismissed by November 9, 2023, if no decision is made to proceed and to continue funding the costs. The Company will continue solicit funding, but there can be no guarantee that the Company will be able to obtain funding on commercially attractive terms or at all. Management of the Company will continue to provide updates on material developments of the status of the Arbitration.

Montauk Metals Inc.

Robert Suttie

Chief Financial Officer

416-848-6865

www.galwaygoldinc.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe Montauk's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that Montauk or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "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 Montauk, Montauk 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 is not limited to, the status of the Arbitration, the mertisand the associated costs of continuing the Arbitration and the availability of funds and the potential share dilution. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to the inability to reinstitute the Arbitration for any reason, costs of the Arbitration for amounts which are in excess of anticipated amounts, an inability to fund the Arbitration on terms which are economic or at all, an inability on the part of the Company to succeed on Phase One and Phase Two of the Arbitration and the resulting failure to recover damages in respect of the termination of the Reina de Oro project with a complete loss of all costs incurred in respect of the Arbitration, any change in the legal landscape which could render the Company's pursuit of the Arbitration more or less promising, any change in the legislation, policy and/or jurisprudence of Colombia and/or Canada which could impact the ability of the Company to recover damages in respect of the termination of the Reina de Oro project, political risks, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, and those risks set out in Montauk's public documents filed on SEDAR. Although Montauk has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in the 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. The forward-looking information contained herein is presented for the purposes of assisting investors in understanding Montauk's plans, objectives, and goals and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Montauk does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities 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.
Bridgestone still pushing for 2025 F1 tyre deal

Bridgestone is still pushing hard to replace Pirelli as Formula 1's exclusive tyre supplier from 2025.

Bridgestone tyres

 The Cahier Archive

Many in the paddock expected the FIA to have already announced the results of the current tyre supplier tender process.

Some teams think it is already too late for Bridgestone to be prepared enough for 2025.

I think the main thing is that technically, these tyres are very challenging to make. And if you haven't done F1 for a long time, like one of the suppliers hasn't, how do you go through a very extensive test program? said Haas team boss Gunther Steiner.

However, the FIA is believed to have actually green-lit the technical capabilities of both Pirelli and Bridgestone, with talks having moved on to commercial matters.

Pirelli is said to have the best chances, Auto Motor und Sport correspondent Michael Schmidt said ahead of the Italian GP at Monza.

Apparently Bridgestone has improved its offer, he added. "But if Bridgestone were to secure the contract, they would have only a year to prepare.

The teams would then have to make 2024-spec cars available in order to create conditions that are as realistic as possible for Bridgestone. It is questionable whether it can all be managed in such a short time.

Steiner said it is obvious that the big teams will help Bridgestone develop, but the other teams will complain about getting a disadvantage .

We need to wait until it's decided who is getting the tyre contract and then we'll see if we've got a problem or not, he added. But I think it will not be easy if there is a new supplier.

Alpha Tauri boss Franz Tost, meanwhile, admitted that it is still possible Bridgestone will win the day.

It's good that there are two suppliers who want to provide us with tyres because this brings us additional money and a good situation for FOM, he said.
FIA cracking down on flexible F1 wings

F1's governing body is cracking down on flexible wings.

Fernando Alonso, Dutch GP 2023

 Aston Martin Racing

It is a topic that rears its head every now and then in Formula 1, as teams can get an aerodynamic advantage by pushing the limit in terms of the wings' ability to deform under load.

According to a website, the FIA suspects that some teams are currently pushing the limits in this area, and will ramp up their checks for wing flexibility from the forthcoming Singapore GP.

It comes in the form of technical directive TD018, which teams received ahead of the recent Dutch GP.

It now emerges that the regulators sounded the alarm at the Azerbaijan GP, asking teams to react, said correspondent Bianca Garloff.

One of the teams is said to have been Aston Martin, she added, speculating that it could explain the team's strong start to 2023 and subsequent dip.

Garloff added that the FIA still has suspicions that some teams have found a way to design and produce flexible wings that are not detected by the current stress tests.
Lawson will probably race at Singapore too says Marko

Liam Lawson "probably" has two more chances to show Red Bull he is ready for the Formula 1 grid.

Liam Lawson, Dutch GP 2023

 Red Bull

The 21-year-old New Zealander, currently backed by Red Bull as a frontrunner in the Japanese series Super Formula, was called up at Zandvoort to replace the newly-injured Daniel Ricciardo.

Lawson admits it is his big chance.

Whenever you get put in the situation, you get one shot, you don't get to do this again, he told a throng of reporters at Monza on Thursday.

"I'm just looking at it race by race right now. It's just this weekend. It's all I'm doing and that's what the whole focus is on.

Yeah, definitely not looking too far ahead at the moment.

Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull's team advisor, told Osterreich newspaper that Lawson did a good job at the Dutch GP, despite qualifying dead last.

But in the race he set competitive times, said the 80-year-old Austrian.

He also showed no respect by overtaking not only (Charles) Leclerc but also Max (Verstappen). Overall, it was a very positive debut, Marko added.

Red Bull has already admitted that Ricciardo could miss more than just this weekend's Italian GP because the break in his hand is complicated .

When asked what potential he thinks Lawson has, Marko answered: That will be seen in Monza and probably also in Singapore .

Usually it takes six weeks for such a serious hand injury, but sometimes things like that heal quicker, he added. Daniel should be back scoring points for Alpha Tauri as quickly as possible.

Marko said Ricciardo is a key part of Red Bull's plans to improve Alpha Tauri's performance and results by making the Faenza based team more aligned with Red Bull Racing.

As far as the regulations allow it, that makes sense, he said.
No job guarantee for Perez, warns Marko

Dr Helmut Marko has repeated his warning that Sergio Perez does not have a "job guarantee" at Red Bull.

Sergio Perez, Dutch GP 2023

 Red Bull

Ahead of the Italian GP at Monza, the Mexican brushed off speculation he might lose his seat alongside Max Verstappen due to poor performance.

From my side there is still a year and a half to go. So I think there's no need to change anything, he said.

At the same time, however, team advisor Marko told Osterreich newspaper that while Verstappen really could win the rest of the races this year, he wouldn't put money on another Perez victory in 2023.

Unfortunately not, he said.

Checo drives really well at times, but he doesn't always manage to squeeze the most out of the car without making mistakes.

When asked if Red Bull is losing faith in the 33-year-old, Marko added: He has a contract until 2024.

However, he said that is actually no job guarantee .

Does a job guarantee even exist in Formula 1? the 80-year-old Austrian asked the journalist. It is a contractual guarantee, in any case.

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher said after the recent Dutch GP that he can't imagine Perez remaining at Red Bull for much longer.

Hopefully he didn't mean that his nephew Mick should replace him, Marko laughed.

Verstappen hinted last week that he would enjoy sharing a Red Bull garage with his friend Lando Norris, even though the McLaren driver is already under contract.
Schumacher admits F1 return plans could fail

Mick Schumacher admits he might need to start to contemplate a plan-B in the event that his return to the Formula 1 grid doesn't work out.

Mick Schumacher, Italiian GP 2022

 Haas F1 Team

The German insists that, after being dumped by Haas at the end of last year, he has improved by serving as Mercedes' official reserve and simulator driver in 2023.

When I go back to a team as a regular driver, I now know exactly where I have to start to develop the car, he told DPA news agency ahead of the Italian GP.

However, the 24-year-old admits that his plans to re-launch his F1 race career are ambitious, with other similarly-ousted drivers like Nyck de Vries and Nicholas Latifi deciding to leave motorsport rather than push for returns.

It doesn't matter what phase of your life you are in, you can never be sure that it will work out the way you imagine, Schumacher admits.

The most realistic team for his potential return seems to be Williams, where rookie Logan Sargeant has struggled this year.

The Mercedes-powered team is also now run by former Mercedes strategy boss James Vowles, who remains close to Schumacher's boss at Mercedes, Toto Wolff.

Wolff said at Monza: Mick deserves to be on the grid.

Schumacher, though, acknowledges that it might not work out.

Of course you think about what to do if your plans don't work out, he said.
Celebrate the living

Daily Graphic Editorials Sep - 01 - 2023 , 08:37

Last Monday, the management, staff and alumni of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) held a unique event that deserves everyones attention.

On the 95th birthday of Nana Opoku-Ampomah, the man who sowed the seed of the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) in 1965, which has blossomed to present day UPSA, a surprise and befitting-service was held to celebrate the educationist and traditional leader.

During the event which was heavily attended by alumni of the university, glowing tributes were paid to Nana Opoku-Ampomah, the Paramount Chief of Amoafo Bekwai in the Ashanti Region, for his role in shaping their lives.

Some of them shared fond memories of their encounters with Nana during their student days and how the founder had contributed to their success.

The old students, including the Inspector-General of Police and some of his top brass, and the university authorities presented gifts to the bewildered nonagenarian, who was full of smiles as he listened to the narratives from his former students.

The event reminds the nation that the time has come to always recognise and celebrate its heroes and heroines who through their blood and sweat have charted paths that have contributed immensely to the development of the nation.

One of the respected columnists of the Daily Graphic, Brig. Gen. Dan Frimpong (retd), in an article in the September 23, 2022 issue titled: Give me my flowers when I can still smell them," advocated the need to show love and affection to people while they are alive and not to wait till they die before showering them with praises.

The piece underlined the need for recognition and appreciation by the nation of outstanding Ghanaians when they are alive and not pay glowing tributes when they die.

This goes to the heart of the popular adage that, a country that does not honour its heroes is not worth dying for.

The import is a reminder to appreciate and show gratitude to people who play significant roles in the life of the country while they are alive.

Many a time, such honour is bestowed on great personalities only posthumously, when they can never have the opportunity to smile at and smell the flowers laid by their caskets or graves.

It is a fact that in Ghana, grand funerals are organised for people who lived in abject poverty during their last days, all in the name of giving them a befitting farewell.

This philosophy is so engrained in the society that even when people are celebrated, others grumble, murmur and try to belittle their achievements.

For honouring Nana Opoku-Ampomah, the alumni and the UPSA family have reminded us of the need to acknowledge and give due recognition to people who play useful roles in our lives.

The Daily Graphic commends the university community for celebrating this illustrious Ghanaian, who sowed the biblical mustard seed in 1965, which has now blossomed into a huge tree.

Today, UPSA has become a global icon, having trained thousands of graduates who are occupying high positions both locally and internationally.

As the IGP put it, as Abraham was the father of many nations, according to the Holy Bible, Nana Opoku-Ampomah would be known as the father of many professionals.

The Daily Graphic also salutes Nana Opoku-Ampomah for the thousands of individuals who passed through the four corners of the great university, without which, they might not have had the opportunity to attain tertiary education.

Interestingly, there are a number of Nana Opoku-Ampomahs all over the country, brightening their corners quietly.

Some have made vital contributions in their vibrant youthful working life but have neither been celebrated nor appreciated.

The example of Nana Opoku-Ampomah should be a model for all that whatever we have started should be done to the best of our ability.
GH event venues not acoustically right but good for conferences George Quaye

Gifty Owusu-Amoah Showbiz News Sep - 01 - 2023 , 10:37

COMMUNICATIONS Professional and Event Planner, George Quaye, is lamenting how most event organisers have to make do with available venues for their shows even though they are not acoustically right.

He pointed out that the challenge of securing good venues, coupled with the absence of large-size auditoriums have put event planners at the mercy of sponsors.

Speaking with Graphic Showbiz on how the lack of venues is threatening the survival of event planners, the lead team at Image Bureau mentioned that it was quite unfortunate that Ghana only boasts of the National Theatre as the only proper structure set up for concerts and other theatre productions.

There are not enough venues and the available ones dont have the right set-up to aid production. The only venue set up for concerts and other theatre productions is the National Theatre which needs immediate attention.

The others arent acoustically right for certain purposes but most of them are great for conferences and meetings.

Again, without large-size auditoriums, event planners are at the mercy of sponsors. Most public events are patronised on disposal incomes. Meaning you cannot peg ticket costs too high. You do that, you lose patronage. Small venues would usually command same costs as large-size venues with slight differences.

For instance, though the cost of sound supply may alter based on venue size, artiste fees wont necessarily change. So to break even or make profit, event planners are pushed to sponsors. If venues were large and many, the spaces could cater to the cost of the events without necessarily charging high fees or relying on sponsors, he said.

George Quayes comments are very relevant in these times when complaints about proper event venues have been very high especially in December, which is the cocoa season for event organisers.

In an interview on Joy FM last year, Gospel musician Joe Mettle also lamented Ghanas lack of adequate event venues, which makes it difficult for artistes to explore different stage productions.

Just like George Quaye, Joe Mettle also expressed frustrations about how the available venues lack the needed set-ups to support productions.

On the said interview, Joe Mettle disclosed that he had to end a music tour following challenges with proper structures for the shows.

George Quaye told Graphic Showbiz that while the issue of the unavailability of proper venues for events is a problem not only for event organisers but to a larger extent players in the creative industry, very few people are making noise about the challenge.

This is a huge challenge but interestingly, very few people are shouting about it. The majority are silently watching on. Some also hear the rants, see the posts, comment a little and leave it alone. If we are going to make an impact, the noise must be loud and made in unison, he stated.
Nigeria's Ruth Kadiri threatens legal action against Ghanaian TV stations airing her content without authorisation

Edith Mensah Showbiz News Sep - 01 - 2023 , 10:34

Popular Nollywood actress and filmmaker Ruth Kadiri has issued a stern warning to Ghanaian television stations airing her content without proper authorisation.

The renowned actress has similarly announced her intentions to pursue legal action against offenders.

The actress, who has gained widespread recognition for her roles in various Nollywood films, emphasised the importance of respecting intellectual property rights.

She asserted that the unauthorise broadcast of her movies not only infringed upon her rights but also affected the livelihoods of the many people involved in the production process.

In a recent video the actress shared on her social media platforms and monitored by Graphic Showbiz, she was very serious about dealing legally with culprits who are involved in the unauthorised broadcasting of her films and series.

"I love the country as a whole but I am very disappointed that a major TV station in Ghana would go on my platform, rip my contents apart, show it on TV like they have the license to do that.

It is not even just one, not two, not three. I don't want to put a watermark on my contents because I feel like it's going to make it look taggy. This is the first warning and it is going to be the last one, because the next time, you're going to hear from my lawyers.

I beg you, let's not start dragging ourselves through the mud. I expect so much from you because you know how expensive it is to create contents and instead of you to buy this content, you would rather rip it and show it on national TV," she said.

Ruth Kadiri's stance has received widespread support from her fans and Nollywood colleagues who applauded her for taking a stand against piracy and unauthorised use of creatives' content.

Watch video below
Dear Church: Theres nothing to interpret on noisemaking

Timothy Gobah Opinion Sep - 01 - 2023 , 06:45

The story in your esteemed newspaper of Tuesday, August 29, 2023 with the headline: Interpret ban on noisemaking for harmony  GEC to government, makes interesting reading but is confusing.

It said inter alia that the Global Evangelical Church (GEC) at its Synod at the weekend had called for the proper and legal interpretations of the annual ban on drumming and noisemaking that is imposed on the people by the Ga Traditional Council (GTC) before the celebration of the Homowo.

It said that would not only prevent potential conflicts between the GEC and other religious communities, but also reinforce the principles of religious freedom and peaceful coexistence which underpinned the nation's ethos.

According to the church, the practice sometimes led to conflicting interpretations and inconvenience among different religious communities which could potentially disrupt the nations harmony.

Clarity

By seeking clarity and consensus on this matter, we can work together to ensure that the ban is observed in a manner that respects the rights and practices of all stakeholders, the church said.

The church is of the strongest view that through open dialogue and collaboration, all parties can arrive at a solution that strikes a balance between preserving cultural heritage and upholding the rights and practices of all religious groups.

We respect and honour the rich cultural traditions of our nation, so we believe your leadership and wisdom are instrumental in guiding us toward a resolution that respects the traditions of our past while embracing the diversity of our present, it said.

In my bewilderment, I have decided to embark on the below journey to satisfy myself as to what exactly the demands of this respected religious body are.

sound

The Cambridge Dictionary describes noise as unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to hearing.

Environment noise on the other hand, is defined as unwanted or harmful outdoor sound created by human activity such as noise emitted by means of transport, road traffic, rail traffic and industrial and (churches and drinking bar operators- mine)

Dangers

The dangers inherent in noise, according to health experts, include exposing individuals to hearing loss, the cardiovascular system is also affected as hormones are stressed.

Noise also affects the heartbeat of victims and pregnant women as well as their unborn babies, among other health conditions.

It is a fact that the situation whereby some unidentified youth from some traditional authorities abuse the ban by using brute force to seize drums and musical instruments and damage property of churches that go against the ban is giving way to compromise and dialogue.

It is common knowledge that when the ban was imposed by the Ga Traditional Council to herald the Homowo celebration on May 15, 2023, some peace was brokered with the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs which led the charge.

It is sufficient to inform the GEC that there are laws in Ghana under the behest of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the level of noise in terms of decibels and particularly, in the residential areas but this is ignored by the churches, wayside preachers and drinking bar operators.

In Ghana, the permissible ambient noise set by the Ghana Standards Authority and the EPA for residential areas requires that noise levels should not be above 55 decibels (dB) during the day, and 48 dB at night.

Incidentally, the churches and drinking bar operators are the culprits of noisemaking, particularly in residential areas, with their all-night and weekend services.

Human Rights

It must, therefore, not be lost on the GEC that the churches are the main abusers of human rights with the excessive noise they produce mostly during ungodly hours.

It must be noted also that there are currently many matters pending before the courts regarding noise pollution, while infractions are being committed by the same churches who speak about human rights.

Refrain

The popular refrain that seems to justify the fragrant human right abuse has always been that God has admonished them (churches) to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

Then I ask: Isnt it the same Lord who defines what the fruit of the Spirit is, in Gal. 5: 22-23 which says But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law?.

Again the Bible tells us in Isaiah 59:1-3 that Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

3 For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt.

So will it be so much a demand if the Ga Traditional Council takes only one of the 12 months to preserve their cultural heritage and uphold the rights and practices of all religions?

It is worrying among other things, how some churches place their loud speakers outside the chapels while the worshippers are inside.

One for the road: Habakkuk 2:20 of the Holy Bible states: But the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.

The writer is a Sub-Editor

Daily Graphic

Accra.

0244236816
Is it over for Alan? Will Kwesi Pratt run?

Enimil Ashon Opinion Sep - 01 - 2023 , 17:50

Last Saturdays New Patriotic Partys (NPP) Super-delegates conference was one of those events in history that leave humankind shocked but not surprised.

That Bawumia won was no surprise: even and the most enthusiastic campaigners for Alan Kyrerematen foreknew the general outcome.

But whoever dreamed that Alan was going to be this distant third!

That was shocking, even to Kennedy Agyepong himself, the first runner-up.

In politics there is a word like momentum.

Simply, it says that in a contest, the outcome of the first battle gives impetus to the winner.

In politics, this battle often  90 per cent of the time  determines who wins the war.

Thinking aloud

It is the reason I have been left thinking aloud: is this the end of the road for Alan Kyerematen in Ghana politics? O dear, had he always been so disliked by the party elite?

While all of us attempt to guess an answer, I like to go into the Convention Peoples Party (CPP).

Forgive my infatuation with CPP.

For some reasons, I have, even against evidence on paper, considered it the third most significant party in the Fourth Republic.

I have been counting on the CPP to provide the Third Force this country has been looking for to break the National Democratic Congress (NDC)  NPP duopoly, though election results since 1992 prove me wrong all the time.

In the run-up to the last election, I floated the idea of a CPP with Kwesi Pratt as flag bearer and Kweku Baako, Jnr as his Running Mate.

It didnt fly because neither Kwesi Pratt nor Kweku Baako was interested.

Again, I dont have any scientific polls to back my claim but I know for a fact that the youth listen to Pratt.

He himself is not so young  he only recently turned 70  but apparently because of his physical looks, not many Ghanaians will call him an old man.

His brains are as sharp as the surgeons scalpel.

Plus, we can count on him for honest leadership.

Everybody in CPP either fears or respects him but the party is yet to unleash Pratt on the electorate.

There is a certain sizeable youth population in Ghana whose votes, combined with those of the CPP old brigade and Ghanas floating vote of intellectuals, can earn for the CPP a five per cent showing in a general election  that is, if nobody goes taking bribes from NDC/NPP.

Can anybody begin to imagine what five per cent can do in Ghanas electoral politics! It will take the election to a run-off.

In the run-off chessboard negotiation, CPP will be the king maker.

To throw its five per cent numbers behind any of the two dominant parties, it can name its prize, including a number of ministerial portfolios, ambassadorial postings, board memberships, etc.

That, in my opinion, spells the death of Winner-Takes-All politics, which we all hate but which nobody wants to do anything about.

Apart from Pratt, is there anybody in CPP now who can make a dent in the next presidential election?

Back

Back to NPP and to Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen.

Placing second in the Super Delegates Conference could have strengthened his hand in a negotiation with Ken Agyapong to have the latters supporters switch allegiance to Alan.

In spite of his second place showing last Saturday, Ken is currently not in the hearts of many Ghanaians: a future President doesnt appear on TV swearing and threatening showdown.

Talking about Alans chances on November 4, I heard communicator Catherine Afeku state emphatically on a number of radio stations this week that Alan does not only have a chance; he will win!

Two polls results released between May and August showed that while Bawumia had the thumbs up of the party elite (the Super delegates), Alan sits comfy in the hearts of the grass roots.

The Alan Campaign knows this; indeed, has been touting this in the media, but does it have what it takes to turn it into electoral advantage? Can it match up the financial muscle of the Bawumia Campaign?

Of course, I dont believe the document that put Bawumias vote-buying budget of Super delegates at GH70 million.

The November 4 campaign requires what the NPP as a party has lacked since 1992: a deadly combination of intellectual ruffians (ruffians with PhDs) and political sense.

At the risk of being branded anti-this Candidate or pro-that Candidate, I am still waiting for an announcement from NPP concerning the incident in North East Region that led to a polling agent nearly losing an eye.

If, for merely threatening a showdown, Kennedy Agyepong has been hauled before party Disciplinary Committee, why is the party silent on someone whose criminal action nearly led to loss of eye?

From the same party!

 Stop press! There is a mad rush to buy up delegates of the remaining seven candidates.

That will take another GH70 million.
Show down in Asylum Down and lessons from my Middle School - Occasional Kwatriot writes

Kwesi Yankah Opinion Sep - 01 - 2023 , 07:25

The launch of my book yesterday gives me the freedom to sigh, but also to steal from its contents without looking over my shoulders. Yet even while the launch was going on, we were missing a few notables who were attending meetings in Asylum Down, and biting their primary school finger nails in search of solutions to dilemmas.

And which ruling party has never carried thorny dilemmas. Should the issue of who qualifies to be shortlisted for flagbearer in a party spin a crisis?

Surprisingly this has lingered awhile, triggering the type of headlines that remind us of Mohammed Alis rhymes those days. It should now be possible for hip hop musicians and rappers to even to coin phrases like Show Down in Asylum Down

(copyrighted).

So for once, we are still debating who was First, Second, Third, last and so on in a super delegates congress?

Those days, to be last in school was dreadful. Woawe, they would tease. But the teacher would merely announce the

results, and allow the pupils to freely apply Last to whom it may concern.

To be first was great, and rare. To be second or third put you in the running for excellence without being declared a wizard. You could of course be an assistant wizard of sorts, and still attract cheer leaders.

In our middle school however, our teachers logic would have completely overruled the current controversy which

is paralyzing the ruling party.

Read page 34/35 of my book just launched, The Pen at Risk. Without looking over my shoulder, let me copy:

At school our favorite teacher was one cane-happy gentleman in his forties; slim, stern, and tough talking. He was so fearsome when he was sighted from a distance coming to class, a typical alert signal would be sounded to ensure all talking ceased before terror arrived. The signal was although, although, although, which simply meant oreba ooo, oreba oo he is coming. That indeed became a signature alarm; it simply meant danger was looming. Although had an additional uniqueness. His results declaration after exams defied laid down practice. He would sometimes declare the best student in the exams as First, and the next best as Third (not Second). Second would have meant the students raw marks were fairly close to the First. If the numerical gap was not marginal (but extremely wide), no student had any business boasting he was Second. His position was Third which would leave him whipping his fingers and aiming higher next time. In three successive terms I spent at Kwabena Nkrumah school, no pupil was ever Second at Form Three. We were indeed lucky anybody at all was First in the scheme of Although.

Which school was this? It was Kwabena Nkrumah Middle School in Akim Achiase, near Oda.

NPP, if you cannot locate the place, Ace Ankomah will take you there. Thats where he comes from.
Johannesburg fire 'wake-up call', President Ramaphosa says

BBC International News Sep - 01 - 2023 , 03:24

A deadly fire in Johannesburg's inner city was "a wake-up call" for South Africa, says President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Seventy-four people were killed - including 12 children - after a blaze in a five-storey building, which was being occupied by homeless people.

More than 50 others were injured.

Earlier, the city of Johannesburg confirmed it owned the building, but said cartels had taken it over. Officials say the cause of the deadly fire is unclear.

In a news conference at the site of the fire, Mr Ramaphosa said the incident needed to be investigated and lessons learnt to prevent future tragedies.

"It's a wake-up call for us to begin to address the situation of housing in the inner city," the South African leader said.

The building used to be a home for abused women and children, but once the lease expired, it was "hijacked", President Ramaphosa explained to reporters.

Many properties around the area where the blaze happened have been deemed unfit to live in.

Yet these old blocks, abandoned by their owners or the city authorities, are full of families, often paying rent to criminal gangs who run them.

Some of those who use the buildings include undocumented migrants, mostly from other African countries.

The buildings, which lack running water, toilets or a legal electricity connection, are then said to have been "hijacked".

South Africa faces a chronic housing shortage, with an estimated 15,000 people estimated to be homeless in Johannesburg.

"We need to get on top of this and find effective ways of dealing with problems of accommodation, of housing, and services in the inner city," Mr Ramaphosa added.

He also commended emergency services, who arrived at the scene 10 minutes after the fire was reported.
Ghana's Outstanding Women Awards (GOWA) to Honor Accra Mayor

GraphicOnline Life Sep - 01 - 2023 , 07:44

The Ghana Outstanding Women Awards (GOWA) administration is preparing to confer its highest distinction upon Hon. Elizabeth Naa Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey, the Mayor of Accra.

This prestigious recognition is scheduled to take place at this year's GOWA event, set for September 10 at the Accra International Conference Center.

This celebratory gesture is a tribute to her exceptional leadership since assuming the role of Accra's first female Mayor. Having ascended through the ranks over the years through unwavering dedication and hard work, the organizers of this esteemed event deemed it fitting to celebrate the historic achievement of Ghana's inaugural female Mayor of the capital city.

Recently, the CEO of ASKOF Productions Limited, the organizers behind this grand occasion, Afua Asantewaa O. Aduonum, along with her team, paid an official visit to the Accra Mayor to extend a formal invitation to the Awards Ceremony.

During the visit, she conveyed the sentiment, "This year marks our sixth anniversary, and there couldn't be a more fitting time to honour our Mayor. The theme for this year, 'Encouraging Women to Take Up Leadership Roles,' played a pivotal role in our decision to select Honorable as our distinguished honoree."

She continued, "You undeniably serve as a tremendous source of inspiration to countless individuals, and we eagerly anticipate celebrating you in the unique GOWA fashion on Sunday, September 10. We eagerly await your presence as our special guest."

The Mayor of Accra expressed her gratitude to the organizers for the honour.

The event promises to captivate attendees, featuring a performance by the eminent female rap sensation, Eno Barony, and ace broadcast journalist Nathaniel Attoh as the master of ceremonies.

GOWA extends its appreciation to sponsors including Verna Natural Mineral Water, Flora Tissues, Top Choco, Care Front, Lux Light, and Gas Now.
Chevening at 40 celebrations in Ghana: Fostering excellence and leadership

Graphic.com.gh Education Sep - 01 - 2023 , 05:40

The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson joined the growing community of Chevening alumni led by Ebenezer Amankwah to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the UK governments prestigious Scholarship programme.

Since its inception, Chevening has played a pivotal role in nurturing exceptional talent, promoting international collaboration, and fostering leadership among Ghana's future leaders.

The governments Foreign Secretary, Mr Francis Pym, announced the creation of the programme on 8 February 1983, and it has been 40 years of rewarding excellence, championing education and creating global change for good.

Ghana was one of the first countries to be part of the first recipients of the Chevening scholarship; hence, the Chevening scholarship scheme is also 40 years in Ghana.

Over the past four decades, Chevening has granted opportunities to numerous Ghanaian scholars, enabling them to pursue higher education in the United Kingdom and equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to drive positive change in their communities.

Speaking during the event Mrs Thompson Said; "Forty years since its launch, Chevening remains one of my most cherished programmes as High Commissioner.

It is a joyful reminder of the incredible potential that lies in our youth, and the transformative power of the UKs world-class education institutions, and the remarkable success that can be achieved when countries work in partnership programme.

This 40th anniversary, we celebrate shows the remarkable journey of some of Ghana's brightest minds, the positive impact theyve had on making their societies better and their journeys towards becoming global leaders

President of the Chevening Alumni Association Ebenezer Amakwah said; The Chevening journey in Ghana has been a unique leadership experiment and we are happy to be celebrating 40 years this year.

Thanks to the support of the Ghana and UK governments, we shall continue our mandate of transforming lives and creating change in society

The celebration also served as a farewell dinner for the 40th cohort of Chevening Scholars.

The FCDO through British High Commission Accra has awarded Chevening scholarships to seventeen (17) scholars from Ghana who are passionate about driving positive change in their countries to study in various UK universities this year.

Successful applicants have been sharing their stories through the #ChosenForChevening hashtag on Twitter and Instagram. [Instagram, Twitter, Facebook]

Application for this year opens 12th September.

Chevening Scholarships are the UK Governments global scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), partner organisations, and partner universities. The scholarships support study at UK universities  mostly one year taught master's degrees  for individuals with demonstrable potential to become future leaders, decision-makers, and opinion formers.

Chevening began in 1983 and has developed into a prestigious international awards scheme. Chevening Scholars come from over 160 countries and territories worldwide, and over the past five years, we have awarded almost 10,000 scholarships. There are over 50,000 Chevening Alumni around the world who comprise an influential and highly regarded global network.

The name 'Chevening' comes from Chevening House in Sevenoaks, Kent  currently the joint official residence of the UKs Foreign Secretary.

More information is available at https://www.chevening.org/news/how-to-prepare-your-chevening-application/
16 Staff at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital sanctioned for various offenses

GraphicOnline Sep - 01 - 2023 , 06:18

In a bid to uphold discipline and enhance patient care standards, the management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has taken decisive action against 16 of its staff members.

These individuals have been found guilty of various infractions, resulting in sanctions ranging from dismissals to cautionary measures and suspensions without pay.

According to Professor Otchere Addai-Mensah, the hospital's Chief Executive Officer, these infractions include cases of extortion by some of the implicated staff. He announced these actions during the 2023 mid-year performance review conference in Kumasi, emphasizing the hospital's commitment to maintaining discipline within its ranks.

Prof. Addai-Mensah highlighted the hospital's dedication to prioritizing patient care and ensuring the integrity of its operations.

He explained, One thing that we have not toyed with is discipline in the hospital and about sixteen staff have been sanctioned for various offences. Extortion has come up a couple of times and many other offences reported too. The quality assurance unit has been strengthened, and it is largely responsible for setting up committees to investigate issues like this and make recommendations to management which then are forwarded to the disciplinary committee which takes a decision on what sanctions should be meted out to culprits.

Furthermore, Prof. Addai-Mensah unveiled plans to renovate the aging Gee Block within the hospital premises. This particular facility, constructed in 1954, has served for nearly seven decades without substantial refurbishment. Given that KATH receives referrals from various parts of the country, concerns have arisen about the state of these long-standing structures.

In a philanthropic gesture, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, is leading a fundraising campaign aimed at rejuvenating these facilities.

Professor Addai-Mensah expressed optimism that this intervention would significantly enhance healthcare services in the region.
IGP Dampare suppressing dissent within Ghana Police - COP Mensah

GraphicOnline Sep - 01 - 2023 , 15:10

The Director-General of Technical Services at the Ghana Police Service, COP George Alex Mensah, has raised concerns about the current Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo-Dampare, alleging that he is stifling dissent within the police force.

Appearing before a committee convened to investigate an alleged plot to remove the IGP, COP Alex Mensah who is making his second appearance before the seven-member bi-partisan committee expressed his reservations about how Dr. Dampare is managing the institution.

According to COP Mensah who is on leave prior to retirement, the IGP does not permit police officers to express their grievances, even curtailing the activities of the Public Affairs Directorate of the Service.

COP Alex Mensah criticized Dr. Akuffo-Dampare for micromanaging the police and claimed that his leadership style is detrimental to the service.

He further asserted that Dr. Akuffo-Dampare is the worst IGP the country has ever had, stating, "Honourable Chair, I will not deny that fact today, tomorrow, or the next day; I will make that statement again, that the current Inspector General of Police is not managing the Police Service well."

In addition to his criticisms, COP Mensah disclosed that he has been actively lobbying to become the Inspector General of Police since 2017, although he has not yet achieved this aspiration. He also confirmed his political affiliation with the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Background

The investigation stems from a leaked audio recording that purportedly revealed a clandestine plot by a senior police officer and a prominent member of the ruling NPP to oust the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare. The release of this audio sparked a parliamentary debate, with the Minority calling for a forensic audit.

Subsequently, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Bagbin, established a Special Committee to probe the matter. The committee, led by Abuakwa South MP, Samuel Atta-Akyea, has been tasked with submitting its report by September 10, 2023.
Court orders OSP to return Cecilia Dapaahs assets

Justice Agbenorsi Sep - 01 - 2023 , 04:00

The High Court in Accra has ordered the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to return the confiscated assets of the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah, to her within seven days.

This was after the court had dismissed the Special Prosecutors application seeking to continue freezing the bank accounts and assets of Ms Dapaah.

In a ruling yesterday, the court, presided over by Justice Edward Twum, held that the OSP breached the Special Prosecutor Act 2017, Act 959, when he filed the application out of time (after seven days suspicion).

Tainted property

Aside from that, it was the considered view of the court that the OSP was in doubt of the true ownership of the alleged tainted property found in Ms Dapaahs house and also failed to convince the court that the alleged tainted property were used in connection with a crime.

If he (OSP) is unsure as to ownership, how did he reach the conclusion that the property is tainted? the presiding judge queried.

Ownership and possession are not the same, Justice Twum added, saying the application was premature as the OSP failed to establish the reasonableness of the suspicion.

It added that there was no justifiable basis for the OSP to exercise the power of seizure under Act 959.

The application is based on public sentiments and not based on any justifiable legal basis, Justice Twum said.

Background

The OSP commenced investigations on Ms Dapaah for corruption and corruption-related offences following the revelation that she was keeping more than $1 million in her house.

That was after police prosecutors had arraigned two househelps working for Ms Dapaah and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour, at an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly stealing money and items worth millions of Ghana cedis from the couple's residence at Abelemkpe in Accra.

Subsequently, the OSP searched the residence of the former minister and found $590,000 and GH 2,730,000 cash.

The Special Prosecutor seized the cash and froze the former ministers cedi and dollar bank accounts, pending further investigations.

The OSP then applied to the High Court to continue the seizure and freezing of the bank accounts of the former minister.

Officials of the OSP argued that the cash was seized on grounds that they were suspected to be tainted property, hence the need to prevent the former ministers bank accounts from concealment or loss.

Opposition

However, lawyer for Ms Dapaah, Victoria Barth, said the application for confirmation contravened the procedure outlined in the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).

Counsel contended that Section 32(2) of Act 959 mandated the office to bring the application for confirmation within seven days after the seizure.

She argued that the application was filed after the seven days had elapsed.

Ms Barth further argued that the fact that substantial amounts were found in the home of her clients did not justify the seizure of the property.

Counsel maintained that the mere fact that their client was being investigated for corruption was not enough grounds for her accounts to be frozen.

According to her, the Special Prosecutor Act requires the applicant to demonstrate reasonable grounds for believing that the property is tainted and not just a mere assertion of the fact.

In her view, the OSP had not shown any grounds to prove that the monies found were tainted.

The court upheld the arguments of Ms Dapaahs lawyers and subsequently dismissed the OSPs application.

Disagreement

Meanwhile, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has challenged the ruling of the High Court, insisting that it did not file its application out of time.

In a statement issued yesterday, the OSP believed the courts computation of the time limitation was erroneous, stressing that it filed its application within the statutory window.

While the OSP respects the Court's decision, it disagrees with the decision of the Court. First, the OSP believes that the Court's computation of the time limitation is, with respect, erroneous.

The OSP searched three private residences associated with Ms Dapaah over the course of two weeks.

The searches and discovery were ongoing during that period.

There is little doubt that the OSP filed its application within the statutory window once the search and discovery window is considered, it said.

Defence

The statement argued that the seizure by the OSP and the Special Prosecutor's freezing order were effectuated on the very firm basis of reasonable suspicion that the amounts and bank balances were tainted property as Ms Dapaah prevaricated as to the source(s) of the amounts she reported stolen from her residence, the amounts discovered by the OSP in her residence, and the volume of transactions in her bank accounts and investments.

Third, the freezing order was not based on public sentiments.

Rather, it was based on court processes filed in a criminal matter before the Circuit Court, Accra, involving Ms Dapaah as the complainant.

Further, the freezing order was effected to aid the investigation, as required by law, not on the basis of the investigation, as indicated by the Court.

Therefore, it cannot be said that the OSP did not carry out proper investigations to warrant the freezing order.

The investigation has only commenced, and it is ongoing, it further explained.

The OSP, however, assured the public that it will take all necessary legal steps to ensure that the seized amounts and the balances in Ms Dapaah's bank accounts and investments were neither concealed, lost, or otherwise dissipated.
COVID-19 Trust Fund completes work - Pays GH7.4m into Consolidated Fund

Donald Ato Dapatem Sep - 01 - 2023 , 08:23

The COVID-19 Trust Fund established to mobilise support to complement the governments efforts in the fight against the pandemic has completed its work and paid the remaining GH7.4 million into the Consolidated Fund.

The fund in its three-and-a-halfyears duration received both cash and in-kind a total of GH65,467,911.71 out of which a total of GH58,020,508.91 was disbursed for the major projects, programmes,activities and interventions.

The Chairperson of the fund, Justice Sophia A.B.Akuffo,who made this known to journalists at the offices of the fund within Jubilee House in Accra, said the payment was in accordance with Section 23 of Act 1013 establishing the fund.

The seven-member Board of Trustees inaugurated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on April 8,2020, was charged with the responsibility to manage the contributions received, both in cash and in kind.

It was also to support those who were directly engaged in the combat of the pandemic,and those infected with or afflicted by the COVID-19 disease, particularly the socially needy and vulnerable.

Justice Akuffo explained that the trust contracted the Ghana AntiCorruption Coalition (GACC) to conduct a study on the governance structure, sources of funding and legal regime at a cost of GH150,600.00.

That,she explained,was to ensure that a future institution could function on a broader basis as a conduit for receiving and managing resources to support the management or combat of any future medical emergency similar to the COVID- 19 pandemic.

Public Records

She added that an amount of GH27.7 million had been paid to the Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) to keep and all the relevant records of the Trust Fund for future referencing by any member of the public who desired to conduct research into the Trust Fund.

The Fund has also made an additional contribution of GH361,693.45,as a top-up (arising from price escalations) to the initial amount given to Cape Coast Teaching Hospital to ensure the completion of the rehabilitation of their Isolation Centre, she added.

Furthermore,the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and the Veterinary Services Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture were supported with a total amount of GH7.5 million to purchase reagents through the Ministry of Health to enhance testing for the virus during the heat of the pandemic.

Support

Justice Akuffo announced that the fund provided various support towards construction,rehabilitation and equipping of COVID-19 care management centres,isolation centres, hospitals and other medical facilities to the tune of GH8,637,280.56.

The beneficiaries,she stated,were the National Infectious Disease Centre in Ga East,Pantang Hospital,Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and the Greater Accra Regional Hospital.

She commended Ghanaians for their generosity.

She explained that 85 per cent of all contributions to the fund came within the first three months of its establishment.

Justice Akuffo said the fund acquired and distributed PPE to a cumulative total value of GH22.1 million to 56 regional,municipal and district hospitals; COVID-19 Care Management Centres,Isolation Centres; eight Testing Centres; and about 226 CHPS compounds across the length and breadth of the country.

She said also included was the support given to the School Reopening Committee to procure PPE for distribution to students in tertiary institutions.
Egyaa octopus - Well spiced, straight from the oil

Shirley Asiedu-Addo Sep - 01 - 2023 , 07:00

If you ever want a peppery crispy taste of freshly fried octopus, come to Egyaa (1&2) in the Central Region, between Mankessim and Cape Coast.

The tasty delicacy is usually straight from frying pans along the street.

They are fried and packaged in plain polythene for sale to motorists at prices ranging from GH5 to GH30.

Fishermen in the two fishing communities specialise in getting the octopus, propelling a thriving octopus market in the communities.

Octopuses are soft-bodied ocean creatures that are most famous for having eight long arms, bulging eyes and bulbous heads.

Gladys Takyi sells the octopus on commission basis

They have three hearts and blue blood; they squirt ink to deter predators; and being boneless, they can squeeze into or out of tight spaces.

Gladys Takyi has been selling octopus along the Egyaa street for some time now.

She says the business is not bad.

"It feeds my child and I.

I have a little baby and I sell this to take care of the baby," she explained.

On commission

While others buy the octopus from the fishermen and fry for sale themselves along the streets, others sell the fried octopus on a commission basis.

Gladys sells on a commission basis.

For her, for every GH100 of fried Octopus she sells, she's paid GH15. On a good day, she sells more than GH100.

I could have sold more but I have a young baby so I am not able to sell much. Others sell more, she said.

Transactions are done within a minute

The sellers have developed a skill in selling, despite the danger of selling in-between and along running vehicles.

Like many on-street transactions and selling, transactions are done within a minute.

Sellers strategically position themselves where there are road humps and many of the vehicles are compelled to slow down and sell to interested customers.

Other vehicles pack off the road to buy the octopus and other fish they may get from the stretch.

Octopus market

I am Aunt Kate.

You can call me Sister Kate.

Everyone here knows me.

I sell very fresh fried octopus.

On some days, sales are good; like the weekends.

On other days it's not too good," she said.

I bought GH10 of fried hot octopus.

It was well-spiced and fried.

She said running to and from vehicles all day was hectic.

"We get something but it is not easy.

We go home with a lot of body pains," she said.

The weather also impacts what we do greatly," she added.

The sellers could do with a well-structured space as a market for their safety and that of other motorists.

Though Gladys agrees it would be good for their safety, she said it was also likely to affect sales.

Maybe something big could be developed from the Egyaa octopus market.

Possibly, the delicacy could be developed and well-packaged to sell the area to tourists, considering that the area has breathtaking beaches.

So, whenever you use the route, and you see sellers beckoning you to buy the octopus, be encouraged to try it.

It is likely to be freshly fried octopus straight from the oil, a treat you will not forget easily.
Emoluments for Article 71 Officeholders: Ex gratia demands debate - President Akufo-Addo

Donald Ato Dapatem Sep - 01 - 2023 , 08:00

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called for a debate to arrive at a constitutional decision on the entitlements of Article 71 Officeholders in view of the publics concerns about the matter.

He set the tone with a suggestion that the country, among others, must examine the practice of other jurisdictions such as the United States of America, where the principles were established and automatically adjusted according to certain objective criteria.

He further averred to the newly constituted Committee of Emoluments for Article 71 Officeholders to consider public concerns about whether or not such officeholders, notwithstanding the constitutional imperative, deserved what was paid to them in view of the current economic challenges.

President Akufo-Addo made the call when he swore in a five-member Committee of Emoluments for Article 71 Officeholders at the Jubilee House in Accra last Wednesday evening.

Composition

The committed is chaired by a lawyer and immediate past Chairperson of the Public Services Commission, Dr Janet Ampadu-Fofie.

The members are the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, Professor George Gyan-Baffuor; a lawyer and womens rights activists, Gloria Ofori-Buadu; a research fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Prof. Isaac Osei-Akoto, and the Chief Executive of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Benjamin Arthur.

They swore the Official Oath and Oath of secrecy.

As the terms of reference, the committee is to make recommendations in respect of emoluments and other privileges for Article 71 Officeholders as specified under the Constitution.

The committee is also to examine any other relevant matter which it deems appropriate to its work.

President Akufo-Addo indicated that in recent times, there had been public discourse surrounding the remuneration of public officers which had centred primarily on those of Article 71 Officeholders.

Public

The debate, the President explained, had centred on whether or not notwithstanding the Constitutional imperative, we are deserving of what is being paid to us in view of the challenges currently confronting our national economy.

He, therefore, suggested to the committee that it might well be that their work should also focus on those concerns and make recommendations on how they should be addressed.

President Akufo-Addo stated that it appeared that every President of the Republic was bound by the constitutional injunction to establish the Committee of Emoluments for Article 71 Officeholders to consider the emoluments of Article 71 officeholders.

I think it may be worth our while to examine the practice of other jurisdictions.

For example, the American one, where the principles are established and automatically adjusted according to certain objective criteria, he added.

Article 71

The inauguration of the five-member committee is sanctioned by Article 71 (1) of the Constitution which requires the President to set it up to determine the salaries and allowances payable, and the facilities and privileges available to his office, the Vice-President, the Speaker and Members of Parliament and a group of nine officeholders spelt out in that Article.

The recommendations of the five-member committee are subject to the approval of the President and Parliament.

The composition of the committee is done on the advice of the Council of State.

I've appointed you to this committee on the advice of the council of responsible Ghanaians as eminently qualified to undertake this important function and I congratulate each and every one of you on your appointment, President Akufo-Addo said.

He urged the committee to bring to the table the work of previous committees, namely those chaired by Miranda Greenstreet, Mary Chinnery Hesse, Ishmael Yamson, Marian Ewurama Addy, Francisca Dora Edu-Buandoh and Yaa Ntiamoah Badu in the conduct of their work to be able to establish some consistencies.

The President also reminded members of the committee that the task ahead was a challenging one but it was his expectation that they would be up to it and deliver their report expeditiously.

President Akufo-Addo assured the committee of his full support for the assignment as well as his government's assistance if needed throughout the period of their work.

Dr Ampadu-Fofie, on behalf of the committee, commended the government and the Council of State for the confidence reposed in them.

She gave an assurance that they would work diligently and expeditiously to deliver on their mandate.

Background

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, recently reiterated that the money paid to Members of Parliament (MPs) and other Article 71 Officeholders every four years was accumulated salary arrears (gratuity) and not ex gratia.

He said at the beginning of every Parliament, most legislators, including himself as the Speaker, did not know the exact salary they were entitled to until the end of their four-year term; a practice he described as wrong.

The Speaker explained that whenever Ghanaians talked about budget for Parliament, they considered such budget as money earmarked for salaries and conditions of service of MPs, especially what people refer to as ex gratia.

Gratuity is different from ex gratia; what they pay MPs is gratuity and it is another wrong practice because as we sit here in our third year, which is three years down, I as the Speaker do not know my salary, he revealed.

Unstable salary

Speaking during a visit to the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Bagbin said: My salary has not yet been fixed and so every month I am paid something based on what my predecessor was earning.

But we all know from the labour front that every year they try to renegotiate with the government and so at the end of the four years then they (government) come out with your salary.

And that will definitely be higher than the first year and so they have to pay you arrears.

It is those arrears that balloon to what the Members of Parliament take at the end of four years and people call that ex gratia and you get the problem, the Speaker explained.
GPHA replaces workshop/winch house at New Takoradi

Dotsey Koblah Aklorbortu Sep - 01 - 2023 , 06:50

The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has provided fishermen in New Takoradi in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis with a new workshop and office building to replace the old structure which was inside the Port of Takoradi.

The facility inside the port was destroyed to pave the way for the port expansion project, which included a bulk jetty, to save the fishermen from the stress they go through daily.

The new facility for the Ghana Inshore Fisheries Association (GIFA), which has a machine shop, mini conference room, motorised winch house and sanitary facility, would help the fishermen to work closer to the community where the fish is processed.

Employment

At the opening ceremony, the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, said Ghanaians rely heavily on fisheries for employment, income and nutrition.

It has been suggested that up to about 45 per cent of the workforce are directly or indirectly supported by fishing activities.

He said it was also instructive to say that even though the sector remained very important to the nation, the coastal communities were still living in deprivation and so there was the need to improve the environment and enable those in the sector to benefit.

Mr Darko-Mensah said siting the facility in New Takoradi would also ensure the development of the fisheries sector in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.

This project is another manifestation of efforts by the GPHA to encourage the fisheries community/association to strive to provide every customer, large or small, with the service and commitment in ensuring the delivery of safe and sustainable seafood to our tables, he stated.

Community

and GIFA

He urged the community and GIFA to take good care of the facility and commended GPHA for replacing the workshop, which has now become a jetty, and urged them to do more and extend the existing breakwater at the landing beach.

The Director of the Port of Takoradi, Peter Amo-Bediako, commended the people for their understanding, stating that the community remained one of its important stakeholders.

The GPHA, he said, remained committed to the needs of all stakeholders and would ensure that there was always harmony.

The community members commended the initiative and called for more support for the shed, where mending and other community activities take place.
IGP Dampare did the recording and leaked it - COP Mensah

Zadok Kwame Gyesi Sep - 01 - 2023 , 16:15

Commissioner of Police (COP) George Alex Mensah has accused the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare of recording and leaking the conversation he [Mensah] had with Daniel Bugri Naabu, a former Northern Regional Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Appearing before a committee convened to investigate an alleged plot to remove the Dampare from office as IGP, COP Alex Mensah who was making his second appearance before the seven-member bi-partisan committee told the committee that his conviction was based on his intelligence, which he declined to share.

Daniel Bugri Naabu, concerning an alleged plot to remove the current

According to COP Mensah who is the Director-General of Technical Services for the Ghana Police Service and currently on leave prior to retirement, he regrets that a private conversation between himself and Bugri Naabu, someone he considered to be a well-respected person could be recorded and leaked in the public domain.

The leaked audio, which allegedly involves a Police Commissioner and a politician discussing the plot, prompted the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, to form the Committee. The seven-member Committee comprises representatives from both the Majority and Minority sides of Parliament, as well as technical expert.

The Committee's mandate is to investigate the secret recording and its implications regarding the alleged plot to remove IGP Dampare from office. It is set to deliver its findings by September 10, 2023.

When questioned about a claim on the tape that suggested that the current IGP was in constant touch with former President John Dramani Mahama, COP Mensah answered it in the affirmative and told the committee that his answer was also based on his intelligence.

When asked whether he could share the said intelligence with the committee, he declined to do so.
IoD seeks media support for National Corporate Governance Code

Yaa Kuffour Senyah Sep - 01 - 2023 , 07:08

A delegation from the Institute of Directors, Ghana (IoD, Ghana) has paid a courtesy call on the Editor, Graphic, Theophilus Yartey, to solicit support for its objective of promoting professionalism and development through good corporate governance.

The delegation, made up of the President of the institute, Reverend Angela Carmen Appiah, and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Clement Wiredu, visited with the aim to explore available opportunities to promote good corporate governance in the country.

This follows the implementation of the phase two of the National Corporate Governance Code (NCGC).

The code, to be launched in September this year, is aimed at providing guidelines for corporate entities in the country, both private and public, to govern and operate based on ethical principles.

As part of plans to ensure a successful implementation, the institute is currently engaging relevant stakeholders to help promote the implementation of the code.

Major stakeholder

Mrs Appiah explained that the Daily Graphic was a major stakeholder known for its credible content for more than seven decades, hence the need to get its leadership on board to help drive the implementation of the code.

She stated that over time, corruption and bad practices had taken over the needed principles of most organisations, which had led to a direct impact on the government purse, a situation she stressed needed to be curbed.

She explained that one of the effective ways of instilling discipline was the implementation of the corporate code which would serve as a reference tool for corporate ethics and thus give much attention to its stakeholder agencies.

Theophilus Yartey (right) in a discussion with Rev. Angela Carmen Appiah

So even though it is not a mandatory document with legal punitive measures, it is a conglomerate of all codes which would serve as a reference for best practices and principles in the corporate space, she explained.

Rev. Appiah said Phase One of the NCGC which was launched in November 2022 after several stakeholder engagements, set the tone for Ghanaian organisations and businesses to engage in responsible business practices that create long-term value for all stakeholders, including investors and the wider society.

Also, it was launched to align with national, continental and global aspirations and priorities by drawing from relevant local, regional and global goals and standards

The National Code, she stressed, had been underpinned by three core values - patriotism, accountability and responsibility - and consists of five pillars, namely purpose, leadership, controls, disclosures and engagements.

She stated that just as it was done for the launch of the phase one, there would be a another stakeholder engagement which would bring together critical players both in the private and public sectors to come together to dialogue towards the implementation of the code.

Mr Wiredu said it would not be enough to have the code without its strict implementation, stressing that it was for that reason that the medias collaboration was needed for successful action.

It is not enough to have the code.

We need the collaboration of the media to bring to the fore the issues and need to have the best practices to curb if not eradicate corruption and bad principles in the corporate space, the IoDs CEO stated.

Collaboration

The Editor, Graphic, Theophilus Yartey, led Graphics team that also included the Editor, Graphic Business, Boahen Asamoah, to receive the guests.

Mr Yartey expressed appreciation to the delegation for the visit and said it was important for the deepening of collaboration between the two parties to ensure that good corporate governance was promoted in the country.

For Daily Graphic as a stakeholder, Mr Yartey explained, considered corporate governance as an essential tool for transparency and combating corruption.

Notwithstanding its history and business trajectory, he said the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) as a company, had over the years built on its corporate governance skills through continuous education and learning which had moved the company to become the most credible newspaper in the country for 73 years.

So by way of trying to be professional and objective in what we do as an institution, the only currency we have is credibility, he said.

He gave an assurance of his support for the initiative, emphasising that corporate governance remained the heart of everything in the corporate space.

Mr Asamoah also reiterated the need to support the implementation of the code, saying  in the world of business and administration, good governance remained the key foundation.

The IoD delegation, after the discussions, presented some books by the institute titled Best Practices to both Editors.

Why the National Corporate Governance Code for Ghana

 To set a national standard of best corporate governance principles and practices

 To promote Ghana as a place where democracy, good governance, social justice and human rights & dignity thrive

To promote enterprise and entrepreneurship by signalling Ghana as being ready for business; and

 To promote Ghanaian values, including shared prosperity and wealth, among others.
Leaked tape doctored - COP Mensah tells Parliament committee

Nana Konadu Agyeman Sep - 01 - 2023 , 04:00

One of the three police officers alleged to have featured in a conversation that discussed a purported plot to remove the Inspector General of Police has challenged the authenticity of the audio being investigated by the seven-member committee of Parliament.

Commissioner of Police (COP) George Alex Mensah, the Director-General in charge of Technical Services of the Ghana Police Service, said although he could identify a voice that resembled his, he strongly believed the tape had been doctored.

He made the statement when he appeared before the committee yesterday to answer questions about the veracity or otherwise of the leaked tape.

This is an edited tape; there are so many things in that tape that I heard today that I do not remember, and there are certain things I remember that we discussed that are not on the tape, he said.

COP Mensah, who appeared in the company of the counsel, said: I cannot deny that I had conversation with Chief Bugri Naabu, and my voice is on the tape.

Last Monday, the former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu, authenticated the leaked tape when he appeared before the committee.

He identified three senior police officers  COP Mensah, Superintendent George Asare and Superintendent Emmanuel Gyebi  as people he discussed the plot to remove the IGP with.

My voice doctored

Prior to the commencement of the proceedings yesterday, the committee played the tape to the hearing of COP Mensah and his counsel.

When the Chairman of the committee, Samuel Atta Akyea, asked if he could identify the voices on the tape, COP Mensah said: I identify some voice that resembles my voice, but I cannot specifically say that this is my voice.

Mr Atta Akyea asked if he was imputing that somebody had doctored his voice, and he responded exactly; somebody has doctored my voice, acknowledging that he was aware that Mr Naabu taped the conversation which took place at his (Mr Naabus) office opposite the Osu Police Station and his house at Dansoman.

When the Vice-Chairman of the committee, James Agalga, asked him which aspect of the audio he heard was true to him, COP Mensah said: Mr Chair, the audio that I heard is the edited version of the conversation that we had.

As I sit here, I cannot tell you from the first minute to the last minutes of all those things that were in the audio for me to reproduce to you what is genuine and what is not genuine, he said.

He made reference to an earlier request by his counsel, Kwaku Owusu Agyeman, to the committee to get them the original tape to study it before answering questions, saying as I sit here, if I recollect everything that was said in the audio, then I would be lying.

Original tape

Seemingly unhappy with the answers being given by COP Mensah, the Chairman of the committee caused the tape to be replayed to COP Mensah and his legal team after which the Chairman asked if he wanted to deny the uninterrupted, logical flow of conversation between him and Mr Naabu.

COP Mensah said: I hear a voice that resembles my voice, but I cannot accept everything in the conversation.

Mr Chairman, I would not deny the flow of conversation.

What I want to say is the audio is edited and somebody can fake my voice, he said.

Quizzed further if he would admit whether there was a portion of the tape that he could boldly claim had not been faked, COP Mensah said: Mr Chairman, not the entire tape has someone faking my voice.

COP Mensah, who is currently on terminal leave pending retirement, requested the committee to obtain the original tape which Mr Naabu gave to the President.

When the Vice-Chair asked him what he discussed with Mr Naabu, he said he had met Mr Naabu four times and discussed so many issues, most of them private matters, adding that he was not ready to reveal the details of the discussions.

He described as wholly incorrect the allegation that he held the meeting with Mr Naabu with the view to having the IGP removed on grounds that Dr Dampares continued stay in office would not injure the current governments prospects in the 2024 elections.

When Mr Agalga asked him to clarify what he meant in his conversation with Mr Naabu that elections were about mafia work, COP Mensah denied ever saying that.

He explained that in elections, there was always some Mafia work that was employed to undermine successful elections, citing instances such as snatching of ballot boxes.

So, if you allow people to come and snatch ballot boxes at your stronghold, then you are ending in opposition, he explained.

IGP not managing service well

When he was asked to explain what he meant in his conversation with Mr Naabu that the IGP is not correct, he said he stood by the assertion.

I will make that statement again that the current IGP is not managing the police service well, and it is something I would not run away from.

I would say it anywhere that I go, and you can do your own investigations, call police officers and find that from them, he said.

He indicated that his concern was that majority of police officers were not happy, a situation that did not augur well to deploy such officers to oversee elections.

Asked if he was a politician as a serving police officer, he boldly admitted, saying yes, of course I am, and there is nobody here who is not a politician.

No bad blood

When a member of the committee, Patrick Yaw Boamah, sought to know if there was bad blood between him and the current IGP, COP Mensah said he did not have any personal issues with his boss.

I do not have any bad blood with the IGP, but what I do is I speak my mind whether you like it or not.

If you are my boss and you do what I do not like, I would tell you and you can decide to hate me for that, he said.

Earlier denial

Earlier, Superintendent Gyebi, whom Bugri Naabu claimed to have arranged with to go and see the President to discuss the idea of removing the IGP from office, denied knowing Chief Bugri and discussing such an idea with him.

It is a palpable lie as I do not know Bugri Naabu.

I do not have his telephone number, so how would I know it was Chief Bugri Naabu I was speaking to? he asked.
Maritime security confab underway in Accra

Della Russel Ocloo Sep - 01 - 2023 , 06:23

The Chief of the Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Issah Adam Yakubu, has said that good governance, poverty alleviation and social inclusion create a thriving and secure maritime environment.

He described maritime security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea as multi-faceted and complex.

Rear Admiral Yakubu was addressing the opening session of a maritime security conference in Accra yesterday.

The two-day conference is on the theme: Maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea: Fostering a comprehensive approach to a complex problem.

It is being jointly organised by the Royal Danish Defence College; the Stellenbosch University's Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa, and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC).

The conference, which is a build-up to the maiden edition held in 2022, has seasoned maritime security practitioners from around the world as participants.

Among issues being discussed are how to address maritime security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) maritime domain.

Cost of freight

Rear Admiral Yakubu said that the high cost of freight in the Gulf of Guinea maritime domain resulting from increased insurance premiums for ships operating in the region was negatively impacting the cost of living in many countries.

He also mentioned the lack of trust, inadequate information sharing, interoperability, boundary delimitation and language barrier as some of the drawbacks to maritime security in the region.

Others include poverty, weak governance and environmental degradation, drug and human trafficking, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, maritime terrorism and pollution.

The seas seamless nature and the shipping industrys multinational character require countries to cooperate to address maritime security issues, Admiral Yakubu said.

Concerns

An Associate Professor of the Royal Danish Defence College, Thomas Mandrup, expressed worry over the rising spate of military takeovers in some landlocked countries within the ECOWAS sub-region, which he said posed serious security threats to coastal states ability to effectively address maritime security challenges.

Prof. Mandrup also said that coup detats allowed local crimes and insurgencies to fester, causing enormous spillovers on neighbouring states.

The Vice Dean of the Faculty of Military Science at Stellenbosch University, Dr Michelle Nel, urged players in the maritime sector to build capacity to enable them to monitor and secure their waters.

It is not just about preventing threats, but also about fostering a culture of maritime responsibility to the benefit of all stakeholders, he added.

The Commandant of the KAIPTC, Major General Richard Addo Gyane, said whereas efforts of both regional and international partners had drastically reduced, piracy activities within the GoG were increasing and, therefore, required a comprehensive and coordinated approach to tackle the menace.
Talensi: Rock shelters, shrines & gold

Gilbert Mawuli Agbey Sep - 01 - 2023 , 16:00

The Tongo Hills, with its attractive rock formations and natural rock shelters, is the sacred epicentre of the Talensi people, and home to numerous shrines.

People from all walks of life visit the shrines for consultation, spiritual healing, fortification and pursuit of wealth, among others.

The Tongo Hills and Tengzug Shrine have been proposed for the United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage site.

Students and researchers, including anthropologists and archaeologists, often visit the site for academic purposes.

This is the Talensi Constituency.

The constituency, regarded as the gateway to the Upper East Region, is endowed with large gold deposits, and fast becoming an emerging gold mining hub.

In all, there are about 70 mining concessions with gold-deposited sites for mining.

There are about seven active concessions with a maximum of 40 pits for mining.

Currently, two large-scale mining companies have been granted licences to undertake large-scale mining in the constituency.

They are Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited and Cardinal Namdini Mining Limited.

Whereas Earl International is already engaged in mining, Cardinal Namdini is yet to commence commercial mining after resettling more than 1,000 people from its concession to pave the way for the mining project to take off.

On the side of the regulated system and processes, there are sites of illegal mining activities in some of the communities with gold deposits.

Political dynamics

Talensi is among the 15 constituencies in the Upper East Region, and its political space has been largely dominated by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) since the commencement of the Fourth Republic in 1992.

The NDC won the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2016 and 2020 parliamentary elections.

The New Patriotic Partys only victory there was in 2012, when its candidate, Robert Nachinaab Doameng Mosore, polled 11,380 votes to beat the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), John A. Tia.

However, in 2015, Mr Mosore resigned as MP after being enskinned as the Paramount Chief of the Talensi Traditional Area, with the skin name Tongraan Kugbilsong Nanlengbetang.

Subsequently, Benson Tongo Baba of the NDC won the by-election and went on to win both the 2016 and 2020 parliamentary elections.

Profile

The constituency, which also hosts the Talensi District, used to be part of the then Talensi Nabdam District until it was separated from Nabdam under Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2110 in 2012.

A tourist at one of the shrines during a tour

The constituency shares boundaries with Nabdam, Bolgatanga, Bawku West and Kassena Nankana.

The rest of the part of the constituency to the south shares boundaries with North East Region.

The constituencys location is strategic due to its proximity to Bolgatanga, the regional capital, to attract potential investors to establish businesses or firms in the district to contribute to the growth of the local economy.

It has a land size of about 838.4 kilometres square, which is mostly rocky and provides the potential for quarrying, mining and cement production.

Currently, two quarry companies are operating in the constituency and contributing to the progress of the construction sector.

The 2021 Population and Housing Census puts the districts population as 87,021, with 43,849 males and 43,172 females.

Challenges

Despite the presence of two large-scale mining companies in the district, residents still complain of underdevelopment in the area.

Among their concerns are poor road networks, especially in the eastern part of the district, high youth unemployment, teenage pregnancy, school dropouts, and inadequate educational and health infrastructure.

Currently, the roads in the constituency stretch up to 99 kilometres, which form about 4.6 per cent of the total network in the region, out of which 74.6km are engineered and 24.5km are not engineered, while six kilometres are bitumen surfaced.

That notwithstanding, many of the roads are in a deplorable state, making transportation very difficult for the residents, especially those in the remote communities.

In 2018, the contract was awarded to contractors to work on the Balungu-Gbeogo, Shia-Yinduri-Tongo and Balungu-Pwalugu roads, but the projects are yet to be completed.

Also, although the Degaare Junction-Buing road was awarded on contract in 2020, the contractor is yet to move to the site.

The Gbee Kindergarten/Primary Basic School also highlights the infrastructure deficit in basic schools in the district.

Unfortunately, the absence of the school feeding programme and inadequate classroom blocks and furniture have forced more than 100 pupils out of the school.

The school currently has pupils from Kindergarten One to Primary Six who are being accommodated in a two-unit classroom block provided by ActionAid.

Due to the lack of furniture, KG pupils lie on their stomachs daily on mats to take part in lessons.

Residents concerns

Some residents said a major concern of the youth, in particular, was the inadequate job opportunities despite the area being endowed with natural resources and large-scale mining firms.

They indicated that the absence of job opportunities in the area, despite the mining potential, had forced many youths to travel to the south in search of non-existent jobs.

We believe that immediate steps must be taken to create more jobs for the youth to keep them in the district to contribute to its growth, a resident of Gbee, Daniel Naab, said.

He said a worrying development in the district was school dropouts among basic school pupils who preferred to engage in illegal mining instead of going to school.

Due to the alleged lavish lifestyles of some illegal miners, there is a high rate of crime, including incidences of armed robbery, in some of the mining communities.

Health & Education

Healthwise, the constituency has 45 health facilities made up of a district hospital, seven health centres, two clinics and 35 Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds.

The CHPS compounds are all functional, with support from the government, donor partners and local stakeholders. In all, 144 community volunteers are supporting healthcare delivery in the health facilities.

A new basic school built for the Gbane community Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited

The constituency has one school for the deaf, a technical and vocational institute, 146 basic schools and two senior high schools (SHSs), namely Bolgatanga SHS and Tongo SHS.

A Community Day SHS started at Yameriga to provide secondary education for students in the eastern part of the constituency has been abandoned, with portions of its roof ripped off.

DCEs reaction

The Chief Executive of the Talensi District Assembly, Thomas Duanab Wuni, admitted the poor state of roads in the district, saying Our district is very new, and it will take some time for the constituency to have the required roads.

He noted that as and when the district assembly was able to rake in proper revenue internally, more accessible roads would be created to ease transportation within communities in the district.

Thomas Duanab Wuni, DCE for Talensi

While admitting that some farmers had lost their farms due to the presence of two major mining companies, he stated that the assembly, in collaboration with Cardinal Namdini Mining Limited, had developed a five-year plan to assist affected farmers.

He said the move was to provide an alternative source of livelihood to the farmers, adding that the smallholder farmers would be put together and supported to cultivate some crops and go into animal rearing as well.

He added that plans were advanced to set up a training centre to develop the skills of the youth to take advantage of the mining activities in the area, and stressed that when Cardinal Namdini begins gold production in September 2024, about 2,400 youth would get direct jobs.

MPs support

The MP of the area, Mr Baba, said since winning the 2015 by-election and two subsequent elections, he had rolled out several interventions in the various sectors to assist the constituents in their activities.

Benson Tongo Baba, MP for Talensi

He mentioned the construction of 63 boreholes for communities with water challenges, and the provision of start-up equipment to more than 300 artisans who completed their training in sewing and hairdressing.

He said his interventions also included providing pumping machines to farmers to enable them to undertake dry season farming, providing six tractors to plough farms at subsidised rates, as well as the provision of five incubators with the capacity of hatching 2,000 chicks to encourage the people to go into poultry farming.

He stressed that he had, over the years, also offered support to the educational and health sectors in the constituency to address some of their basic challenges.

Defunct factory

The popular North Star Tomato Factory, also known as Pwalugu Tomato Factory, is in Pwalugu, one of the major towns in the constituency.

The Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited mining site in Gbane

The factory, which hitherto sourced the majority of its tomatoes for processing into paste from neighbouring Burkina Faso, became defunct due to the deprivation of the needed tomato supply to enable it to operate at the minimum level.

Several interventions by successive governments to revamp the factory have been unsuccessful, as residents who used to cultivate tomatoes and supplied to the factory had turned their attention to the cultivation of other crops.

Residents in the communities are of the view that if the needed attention was paid to the factory to come back to life, it would create thousands of direct and indirect jobs for the youth and transform the local economy as well.
Planting for Food and Jobs programme failure  Minority

Daily Graphic Politics Sep - 01 - 2023 , 07:18

The National Democratic Congress Minority group in Parliament has said the governments Planting for Food and Jobs programme (PFJ) has failed, and that it is a resource looting platform disguised as a flagship programme.

It said the agriculture sector in the last six years had shown a lack of in-depth policy formulation and implementation.

In a statement issued and signed by the Deputy Ranking Member on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs in Parliament, Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw, he questioned the governments agriculture policy objective.

It asked, for instance, what the exact policy in place to stimulate crop production was particularly by the small holder farmers and what the exact quantum and flow of the investment by the government in specific prioritised commodities along the value chain was, among other things.

Phase 2

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, had informed Parliament during the mid-year budget presentation that the PFJ programme had ended since December, 2022.

Subsequently, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, launched the second phase of the programme in Tamale a few days ago.

But the statement said the PFJ had a high budgetary strain, and as such was a drain on the economy.

It said the programme was burdened with non-adoption of the value chain approach, limited access to agricultural credit, low prioritisation of national strategic stock and limited focus on the needs of small commercial , medium and large scale farmers.

We have been arguing that there is no elaborate value chain arrangement in place to ensure efficient utilisation of soya, maize and rice that were supposed to be produced under the subsidy programme.

That is why we witnessed recent shortages in maize to feed the poultry farms (many of which are closed now) as well as the shortages and high increases of food prices witnessed recently (850,000 more families driven into abject poverty due to food price increases), it said.

Plan

The Minority said Ghanas priority crop production efforts were not linked to the local industry or even a dedicated export market.

This, it said, reflected a deliberate misrepresentation of the agricultural policy architecture, poor and/or misdirected investments in the sector and an over-hyping of the so-called successes of the governments flagship PFJ programme.

The statement alleged that the recent expenditure on PFJ alone was mindboggling.

For instance in 2021 alone, the government spent GH439 million; 2022, GH614 million; 2023, GH660 million.

It said after six years of implementation of the PFJ programme, the government could still not account for the so-called increased production figures that were reported by the the then minister for agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto.

It questioned where the maize was?

Where is the rice?

Where are the soybeans?

, saying, all other things being equal, it expected the programme to have resulted in a glut in the system and that should have driven down food prices.

The Minority said on the contrary, food produce were scarce and prices were skyrocketing.

We have been tricked.

After reading through the PFJ Phase Two programme document, we are sad to report that there is nothing substantially new in it ,and it will not deliver any significant march to food security for this country.

Its aimed at erasing the mess of PFJ One and creating an image-saving platform to continue the dissipation of the countrys resources through establishments to their friends and family, it added.
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The 19th annual Life Works Guam Out of the Darkness, Our Community Walks 2023 Candlelight Memorial Service Processional Walk together with Ashenafi Lom Foundation, Pacific Daily News, KUAM CAREFORCE, St. Anthony Catholic School, Rainbows for All Children Guam will be held on Sept. 23 at the St. Anthony Catholic School auditorium from 5:30 am to 8:30 am.

Register at St. Anthony Catholic School and Goodys Sporting Good. No fee to register, must complete registration form to be given a bib number. This impactful event is in observance of September Suicide Awareness Month.

Create Hope Through Action is a reminder that there is an alternative to suicide and aims to inspire confidence and light in all of us; that our actions, no matter how big or small, may provide hope to those who are struggling and thinking of harming themselves.

Preventing suicide is often possible and you are a key player in its prevention. Through your actions, you can make a difference to someone in their darkest moments  as a member of society, as a child, as a parent, as a friend, as a colleague or as a neighbor. We can all play a role in supporting those experiencing a suicidal crisis according to the International Association of Suicide Prevention.

Mission: Suicide is preventable. We as a community can reduce the incidence of death from suicide.

Goal: Promote leadership and advocacy on suicide awareness, prevention, intervention, postvention education programs. Collaborate with other agencies in health and other fields of discipline.

Suicide on Guam is a public health issue. It is the 8th leading cause of death on Guam as reported by

Department of Public Health and Social Services, April 2022. According to the Guam State Epidemiological, 66% of suicides were completed at home. 16% of suicides were completed in a public place. One in four (12%) suicides left evidence of their intent. It is imperative that we come together to help reduce the risk of suicide.

Clearly more must be done and the time is now.

With advocacy and education, we will overcome this dilemma. Since 2001 Life Works Guam has provided a comprehensive suicide prevention, intervention program in our island and neighboring islands.

Donation to Rainbows for All Children Gum is appreciated. Rainbows for All Children-Guam a 501 C3, a nonprofit research-based peer support group for children who are going through life altering crisis and painful transition. Rainbows Mend Hearts, Inspire Minds. Rainbows mission is to help heartbroken children navigate their feelings of loss, process their grief, develop trust, self-esteem, journey through life, bridging the hurt, healing, and hope for a better brighter tomorrow.

It is a free resource for our petrified and forlorn children.

Since 1987 we have assisted 25, 500 children.

If you have any questions, please contact me at 671-632-0257, 671-685-0237 or email: rainbbows@yahoo.com.

Activities

Out of the Darkness Our Community Walks, Candlelight and Memorial Service and other related activities for the month of September.

Fact about suicide on Guam:

From January 2021- December 2021 there were 26 completed suicides.

60% of suicide deaths are under the age of 30 years.

Suicide deaths in Guam occur predominantly among males, with an average ratio of 6:1. In the US, overall, males outnumber females in suicide deaths by a ratio of 4:1.

Ethnicity: highest incidence of suicide deaths occurred among Chuukese followed by CHamoru descent.

1 in 3 suicide deaths left evidence of their intent.

Risk factors of suicide: history of previous suicide attempts or mental illness, sexual violence, sexual identity, substance abuse.

Over three-fourths (82%) of completed suicides were by hanging.

1 in 4 suicide deaths involved alcohol. 7% involved other drugs. Source: Guam State Epidemiological

September is suicide awareness, prevention and intervention campaign month. These initiatives were founded and led by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and World Health Organization (WHO).

LifeWorks Guam has joined forces with the rest of the world to help decrease the risk of suicide on Guam.

Processional Walk

19th Annual Life Works Guam Out of the Darkness, Our Community Walks, Processional Walk

Place: Starts at the parking area of St. Anthony Catholic School Gym.

Date: Sept. 23, Pre-register at St. Anthony Catholic School and Goodys Sporting Goods: Registration Fees Waived, must completer registration form to be given a bib number.

Time: EventDay: 5:15 am registration Go: 5:30 am End: 7 am. Candles and ribbons will be given to participants until we ran out.7:15 am  7:30 am: Light refreshments will be served.

Activity: Prayer and Remembering our Beloved at St. Anthony Catholic School Gym.

Memory Tree activity.

Candlelight Memorial Service, in memory of loved ones who have died from self-harm. Time: 7:30 am to 8:30 am: Spiritual leaders will lead the participants in spiritual readings in memory of loved one who have died from suicide.

Friends and families of loved ones who have died from suicide are encouraged to participate in the Candlelight Memorial Service. Please bring photos and memento of your loved ones you have loss from suicide deaths.

Lighting of the candles, readings, songs and sharing from participants.

We will be inviting participants to come forward and share their testimonies in between songs and readings.

Candlelight Memorial Service will close at 8:45 am.
A carabao and cart decoration is displayed by the Guam Power and Waterworks Authority tent during Government of Guams Labor Day Picnic at Gov. Joseph Flores Beach Park in Tumon on Sept. 4, 2022.
With three successful local cycles in the books, the organizers behind the Guam Green Growth Conservation Corps is expanding throughout Micronesia, one student at a time. The program is a green economy workforce development program that has already graduated 36 students, 12 per cycle.

It will still be based on Guam, and the goals of the newest cohort of eco-soldiers will have the same goal as their predecessors: learn as much as they can in the field of sustainability, get the training needed to pursue a sustainable future in any green economy and then go do it and teach others.

All 12 of the pioneer cycle were successfully placed, said Kyle Mandapat, Associate Director for Communications and Communication Lead for the UOG Center for Island Sustainability and Sea Grant.

The newest cohort of students is the first cycle of the Local 2030 Islands Network Conservation Corps. The program was open to students living at the University of Guam residence halls, and who originate from the CNMI, Palau, FSM or Marshall Islands.

Ten of the 12 attended a swearing-in ceremony on Friday at the UOG Student Residence Hall. They represented neighboring islands such as Saipan, Palau Yap and Pohnpei.

As they were introduced, each student was asked to share a bit about themselves. Each student spoke about wanting to make a difference when they return to their island homes.

Yapese native Jonathan Mitsur. a junior at UOG majoring in business administration, said it feels great to be part of the first regional cohort, and he also was grateful and humbled to be a part of it.

Mitsur said he is fully committed to the program.

I feel it all comes down to values. My parents instilled into me that knowledge and wisdom always starts at home, so I always try and do my best in everything I do, whether workwise or schoolwise, he said.

Lieutenant Governor of Guam Josh Tenorio was present and offered brief remarks. He told the group of students that the foundation for the community of Micronesia can be created at UOG, and added that the future leaders will also walk the university halls.

Its your leadership and your willingness and your sacrifice to leave your comfort zone and come here ... and remain focused on investing in yourself ... but now being able to help us on your host island of Guam, he said.

Mandapat said that the program is for five months initially, with an opportunity to extend to up to a year. During the program, students will get a crash course in various eco-industries such as aquaculture, agriculture, invasive species removal and renewable energy, and many more.




Haiti - FLASH : Results of 9th AF exams for 9 departments





The Ministry of National Education has published the results of the 9th Fundamental Year (AF) 2022/2023 exams for 9 departments, Nippes, North-East, Grande-Anse, Center, North-West, North, South-East, South and West.



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: (in descending order)



Grande-Anse: out of 6,493 participants, 6,169 candidates were admitted, e.e. a success rate of 95% (sharp increase) the previous year 79%

North: out of 18,849 participants, 17,399 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 92% (strong increase) the previous year 80.95%

North-West: out of 10,669 participants, 9,241 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 87% (up) the previous year 77.31%

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%

South: 12,256 participants, 10,469 candidates admitted, i.e. a success rate of 85% (up sharply) the previous year 71.51%

West: 78,176 participants, 64,850 candidates admitted, i.e. a success rate of 83% (up) the previous year 75.04%

South-East: out of 9,142 participants, 7,322 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 80% (sharp increase) the previous year 61.07%

Center: out of 13,105 participants, 10,002 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 76% (slight increase) the previous year 75.29%

Nippes: out of 7,115 participants, 5,129 candidates were admitted, i.e a success rate of 72% (up) the previous year 65.54%



The Ministry informs that the results of Artibonite should be available in the next few days.



Directors of schools are invited to withdraw their school's results list from the Departmental Directorate of Education (DDE) concerned.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40380-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-7-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40347-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-6-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40331-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-5-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40273-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-4-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40265-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-3-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40219-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-2-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40213-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-the-northeast-laureates.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : More than 20 victims of violence per day in the second quarter of 2023 (report)





On Thursday August 31, 2023, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) published its latest quarterly report on the human rights situation in Haiti. During the second quarter of 2023 (April  June), BINUH documented more than 1,860 victims of murders, injuries and kidnappings across the country. An increase of almost 14% in the number of victims compared to the previous quarter (January  March 2023).



Key takeaways :



The number of victims of killings, injuries and kidnappings increased by 14% compared to the previous quarter (January  March 2023), with a total of

1,860 cases reported.



1,860 cases reported. Lynchings, as part of a movement known as Bwa Kale, resulted in the death of at least 238 individuals allegedly linked to gangs.



Gang violence continued in Artibonite.



Sexual violence, including rape and sexual slavery, continued to be used in gang-controlled areas as a weapon to spread fear and punish the population.



The recruitment of children into gangs and their involvement in kidnapping, robbery and other criminal activities continues to be of concern.



The Designated Expert on the human rights situation in Haiti made his first official visit to the country. He called on the international community to

support the transition to a strengthened system of governance and to deploy a specialized international force to reinforce the Haitian National Police https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39888-haiti-human-rights-end-of-mission-of-the-independent-expert-william-o-neill.html



Download the full PDF report in French 11 pages : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/Rapport-trimestriel-situation-des-droits-de-l-homme-en-Haiti-(avril---juin-2023).pdf



Download the full PDF report in English 10 pages : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/Human-rights-situation-in-Haiti-quarterly-report-(April---June-2023).pdf



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39888-haiti-human-rights-end-of-mission-of-the-independent-expert-william-o-neill.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39817-haiti-human-rights-first-mission-in-haiti-of-the-new-independent-expert.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Politic : The Biden administration proceeded Thursday to a deportation flight to Haiti





Thursday, August 31, 2023, 24 hours after urging U.S. citizens living in Haiti to leave the country as soon as possible for security reasons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a deportation flight with more than 60 Haitians on board.



This deportation flight, the second to Haiti this month (on August 2nd ICE had repatriated 55 people to Haiti), left Alexandria, Louisiana shortly before 8 a.m. EDT, landing in Port-au-Prince shortly after 11 a.m. in the morning.



Guerlain Joseph, Executive Director of the Haiti Bridge Coalition, said, "You cannot evacuate (US citizens) and repatriate Haitians in the process. It is more than inhuman. This is definitely a violation of human rights."



For his part Steven Forester, coordinator of immigration policy at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti declared "What is inadmissible is that the United States supports an illegitimate regime responsible for the infernal conditions that Haitians endure every day [...] The United States must not deport people to Haiti [...]"



S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Carrefour-feuilles : 24 hours of shooting

Thursday, August 31, 2023, the "Grande Ravine" gang continues its advance in the Carrefour-feuilles neighborhood, after bringing down the last pockets of resistance. Several members of the civilian population were killed in the offensives carried out that same day by the bandits. Residents of Carrefour-feuilles who have not yet abandoned their neighborhood denounce the capitulation of the police.



Pastor Marco invited to the DCPJ

This Friday, September 1st, 2023, Pastor Marcorel Zidor alias "Pastor Marco", as well as three members of his church are invited to report to the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) on Friday, September 1, 2023. They will have to answer questions of the DCPJ relating to the march that turned into a massacre, in Canaan, on August 26, where several participants were killed by the Canaan gang. This march, organized by Pastor Marco, was intended to dislodge the gang in question. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40355-haiti-flash-a-faithful-march-against-the-canaan-gang-ended-in-a-bloodbath-video.html



NOTICE : Theft of 913 cash receipts from the DGI

A batch of 913 cash register receipts numbered from 16290450 to 16292049 was stolen from the DGI. The institution declines all responsibility in the use of these receipts and intends to take legal action against the perpetrators of this act.



The Sanatorium hospital quasi-dysfunctional

The Port-au-Prince Sanatorium hospital is almost dysfunctional due to the actions of armed bandits in Carrefour-Feuilles, deplores its Medical Director, Dr. Jean Ardouin Louis Charles.



Pastor Marco absent at the Public Prosecutor's Office

Invited to the prosecutor's office of the Croix-des-bouquets, Marcorel Zidor alias "Pastor Marco" did not show up. In a correspondence to the Government Commissioner, he indicated that he had been injured in the foot and requested a postponement of his hearing...



Message from the Embassy of Haiti in Madrid

The Embassy of Haiti in Madrid and its consular section informs users of the resumption of its regular schedule from September 4, 2023. Embassy: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. / Consular Section: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Please submit any request to the consular section via email and an appointment will be granted. Consular.espana@diplomatie.ht / ambhaitiesp@gmail.com



HL/ HaitiLibre


















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(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission files charges against William V. Conn, Jr., a certified public accountant of Sandy Springs, Georgia, for participating in a Ponzi scheme perpetrated by John Woods using an investment fund Woods created and controlled, Horizon Private Equity, III, LLC (Horizon III). The SEC also charged Conn with conducting a fraudulent scheme through a different investment fund he formed and controlled, Horizon Private Equity, LLC (Horizon I).

According to the Complaint, between 2007 and 2021, Conn agreed to serve as the public-facing manager of Horizon III, so Woods could perpetrate a Ponzi scheme that raised more than $110 million from over 400 investors without being detected by the investment adviser firm at which he was employed. In August 2021, the SEC charged Woods with multiple counts of securities fraud based on his role in orchestrating the Horizon III Ponzi scheme. The Complaint also alleges that, between 2008 and 2022, Conn solicited 21 of his accounting clients to invest nearly $2 million in his investment fund, Horizon I. Initially, Conn represented that the money would be invested in selected hedge funds. Ultimately, however, Conn allegedly misappropriated and misused the investor funds to support his accounting business, pay personal expenses, and pay expenses related to a failed real-estate project.

The SECs complaint, filed in the United Stated District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, charges Conn with violating the antifraud provisions of Sections 206(1), 206(2), and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act) and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder. Additionally, the Complaint charges Conn with aiding and abetting Woods, and the two entities he controlled, in previously charged violations of the antifraud provisions of Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Advisers Act, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Complaint against Conn seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.




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 business climate in Germany's renowned automotive industry has taken a hit as companies report a worsening situation, as per the latest ifo Business Survey. The key indicator dropped to 12.7 points in August, a significant decline from the 22.1 points recorded in July. Analysts have noted that this decline has been most pronounced among automakers, while suppliers, in contrast, have remained relatively content with their present circumstances.

Anita Wolfl, an expert at the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies, highlighted, "Sentiment has deteriorated most noticeably among automakers, while suppliers remain fairly satisfied with their current situation."

In August, automakers' assessment of their business situation plummeted to the zero mark, down drastically from the robust plus 34.6 points reported in July. Moreover, their business expectations also took a severe hit, dropping from a concerning minus 48 points in July to a grim minus 75 points in August. Almost half of the automotive manufacturers expressed concerns about a shortage of orders hampering production. However, it is important to note that order books still have enough backlog to cover the next six months, offering a glimmer of hope.

On the other hand, the sentiment among suppliers only slightly darkened on average, with expectations even rising in certain segments. Wolfl emphasized, "Some suppliers possess specialized technical expertise, which can drive advancements in electromobility, autonomous driving, and alternative mobility solutions, not only within Germany but globally."

While the German automotive industry is facing headwinds, especially among automakers, there remains potential for innovation and growth, particularly in the realm of cutting-edge technologies like electromobility and autonomous driving. As the industry navigates these challenging times, the role of specialized suppliers with technical expertise becomes increasingly crucial for shaping the future of mobility solutions, not just in Germany but worldwide.

HT
Among the measures agreed on by the four ruling parties are criminalising holocaust denial, promoting the entry of immigrant women to the workforce and launching a development programme to promote equality and non-discrimination across the education system.

THE FINNISH GOVERNMENT sets forth 23 measures in the long-awaited statement on promoting equality and non-discrimination it approved and submitted to parliament on Thursday.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) stated at a news conference that the government will allocate sufficient funding for the measures, within the ballpark of 11.5 million euros, at its budget session in the autumn.

Every cabinet member rejects racism and commits in his or her work to take active action against racism both in Finland and internationally, he said.

The statement defines racism as defining individuals or population groups as inferior based on, for instance, their ethnic origin, colour of skin, nationality, culture, mother tongue or religion. Racism, it adds, can manifest as discriminatory norms or practices in society and as discriminatory behaviour between individuals and groups.

Prejudice between individuals and groups and fear of the unfamiliar can serve as a breeding ground for racism. Racism create inequality and not only damages its targets, but all of society, it reads.

The statement is important not only for weeding out racism and discrimination, but also for keeping together the ruling coalition. It was drafted over the past several weeks in response to revelations about the past racist messages and statements of senior members of the Finns Party, especially Minister of Finance Riikka Purra and Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman.

Anna-Maja Henriksson, the chairperson of the Swedish Peoples Party, on Thursday described the statement as a clear demonstration that the government does not tolerate any kind of racism and is able to function. People participating in politics, she reminded, have a special responsibility for the tone of public discourse.

Purra, who is the chairperson of the Finns Party, said the racism debate of the past months took place under somewhat dark clouds, possibly creating the impression that there are enormous problems in Finland.

Our immigrant population is on average happy and content with life, she stated.

Statement draws some praise, more criticism

The government statement lacks concrete measures, stated both Sofia Virta, the chairperson of the Green League, and Jussi Saramo, the chairperson of the Left Alliance Parliamentary Group.

The statement fails to prohibit organised racism under the criminal code and criminalise racist hate speech. The language on anonymous recruitment should have similarly been more concrete. Prohibiting holocaust denial is a great measure, but it also draws attention to the lack of other similarly concrete measures, Virta said in a press release.

Saramo, in turn, estimated in a press release that the statement does not dispel the racist and xenophobic undertone of the government programme, pointing to measures such as separating social security for immigrants and eroding the health care right of undocumented immigrants that increase structural discrimination and inequality.

Both the Green League and Left Alliance have announced their intention to submit a motion of no confidence against Purra and Rydman.

The Centre Party will not support the motions of no confidence because the government statement includes practical measures to weed out racism, chairperson Annika Saarikko stated on Thursday.

It also represents the continuation of the work undertaken by previous governments, including the most recent one. It is also positive that the statement clearly defines racism, she stated to Helsingin Sanomat. After these promises, youll of course have to make good on [the promise that every cabinet member is committed to combating racism].

Martta October, the director of advocacy at the Finnish League for Human Rights, said to the newspaper that ultimately the statement adds little to the government programme: while it refers to national obligations to promote equality and non-discrimination, as well as the recommendations of international watchdogs, it stops short of forwarding the concrete measures needed for implementation.

The measures are based to quite a large extent on existing entries in the government programme, she viewed.

The Finnish League for Human Rights was hoping the government would take action to criminalise hate speech and adopt more detailed definitions for hate crimes, online shaming and ethnic profiling.

October identified as positives the prohibition of holocaust denial, the development programme in education and the annual government review of decisions and recommendations issued by international human rights watchdogs. The review, though, would be more effective if it was involved also the parliament.

That way the process would be public and also opposition parties would have the opportunity to voice their views, she said to Helsingin Sanomat.

The lack of concrete measures in the statement on issues such as organised racism and hate speech is a concern also for Aicha Manai, the CEO of Startup Refugees. She argued to Helsingin Sanomat that the provision that the government and its members commit to work actively against racism raises questions.

What about these ministers, representatives, people in positions of power whove made racist writings  how will they distance themselves from racism? she asked.

The government statement also prompted a response from trade unions.

The Industrial Union, Service Union United (PAM), Trade Union of Education (OAJ), Trade Union Pro and Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL) on Thursday indicated in a joint communique that the government statement does not eliminate the problems caused by the numerous amendments proposed to the immigration policy amid widespread labour shortages.

The unions reminded that the government is looking to separate social security for immigrants and permanent residents within the bounds of the constitution in what it claims is a means to promote social integration.

[This] is an alarming example of policy decisions that divides human dignity, they remarked.

The Finnish parliament will start its autumn session next week, with the debate on the statement on equality and non-discrimination scheduled tentatively for Wednesday. The parliament can vote on confidence in any individual cabinet member or the entire government in conjunction with the debate.

The confidence votes are expected to be held on Friday, 8 September, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
HENLEYS Christmas Festival will be bigger and better than before, says the town centre manager.

A celebrity will turn on the lights on the large Nordmann fir in Market Place and Santas grotto will be back at Kings Arms Barn.

Traders attending the event will be banned from using single-use plastic.

The festival will be held on Friday, November 24 and will feature food and drink stalls, fairground rides and carol singing.

Paul Carey, who started work as town centre manager in January, said the event would be really spectacular thanks to sponsorship by local businesses.

Speaking at a meeting of the town councils events sub-committee, he said: We have changed the way weve done things and are looking for the business community and retailers to come together and support what were doing.

The event will be similar in lots of ways but kind of bigger and kind of better. Lots of the favourites will be there but I think by seeking sponsorship we will be able to do things in a much cooler way.

Invesco will remain the main sponsor but 10 other local businesses have so far agreed to support the event as well.

Mr Carey said: We are just bringing more into the party  and there will be a party. Were having a celebrity to launch the event and switch on the lights and the Mayor will be hosting sponsors etc in the parlour.

Well be using the council chamber for a reception for all the sponsors and it should be fun.

Were going to have the grotto at Kings Arm Barn, which has been used before. I am working with party planners on dressing that, making it look really spectacular.

We do need some support from any local businesses that want to provide gifts for the children who come to see Santa.

Philippa Ratcliffe, owner of Experience Henley, said it was important that the council enforced the ban on traders using single-use plastic, which becomes law on October 1.

She said: Even if theyve paid up, they know what the rules are and theyre not able to trade. When you see things like plastic bags of candy floss hanging up and all the flashy light plastic things and polystyrene boxes if were going to make a stand, weve got to make sure that everyone is complying.

Town clerk Sheridan Jacklin-Edward said the ban was included in the terms and conditions for traders coming to the event.

He said: In the booking form it says that they must not use single-use plastics. If they do, then they may not be offered the opportunity to attend other events.

Kellie Hinton, vice-chairwoman of the committee, said there was a problem with enforcement last year when a trader arrived with a diesel generator, which is banned, and was allowed to trade all night.

This year, no, she said. If someone turns up and the generators not electric and its not quiet, they do not trade that night. Even if theyve paid, they get nothing back, end of story.

I want it to be really clear. That is because I think people will try their luck and they need a little red mark against their name for all future events if they cant adhere to the rules. We have a duty to do the things that weve committed to for the climate emergency.

Councillor Tony Hoskins agreed, saying: If people come along and do not obey, particularly as its law, I think its right to take a very pragmatic approach and say: If you dont adhere to the law, you cant participate.

Mr Jacklin-Edward said: I would be happy that we take a hard line approach and perhaps on the confirmation emails make it clear.

Cllr Hinton also called for the return of the childrens torchlight parade, which used to set off from the River & Rowing Museum but did not take place for the last two years due to a lack of staff.

She said: It was a nice tradition. It happened for more than 10 years at least and Id really like that not to be lost.

There will be no live reindeer at the festival. Mayor Sarah Miller said: We had so much stick for having live animals. Its a shame but we were inundated with emails.

Communications manager Daisy Smith said the council had looked at hiring a robotic reindeer but it was too expensive.
Builds on President Bidens Historic Commitment to Create a Long-Term Care System Where People Can Live with Dignity

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), issued a proposed rule that seeks to establish comprehensive staffing requirements for nursing homesincluding, for the first time, national minimum nurse staffing standardsto ensure access to safe, high-quality care for the over 1.2 million residents living in nursing homes each day. This proposed rule builds on the Presidents historic Action Plan for Nursing Home Reform launched in the 2022 State of the Union.

Todays action is one among many advanced by the Biden-Harris Administration to build a long-term care system where all older Americans can age with dignity, where people with disabilities can receive high quality services in the setting of their choice, where family caregivers are adequately supported, and where there is a pipeline of direct care workers into good-paying jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union.

Establishing minimum staffing standards for nursing homes will improve resident safety and promote high-quality care so residents and their families can have peace of mind, said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. When facilities are understaffed, residents suffer. They might be unable to use the bathroom, shower, maintain hygiene, change clothes, get out of bed, or have someone respond to their call for assistance. Comprehensive staffing reforms can improve working conditions, leading to higher wages and better retention for this dedicated workforce.

CMS is proud to be leading the Presidents initiative to improve the lives of over 1.2 million residents who reside in Medicare and Medicaid-certified long-term care facilities, and those who will need that care in the future, said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. Today, we took an important first step to propose new staffing requirements that will hold nursing homes accountable and make sure that residents get the safe, high-quality care that they deserve.

Under CMSs proposal, nursing homes participating in Medicare and Medicaid would be required to meet specific nurse staffing levels that promote safe, high-quality care for residents. Nursing homes would need to provide residents with a minimum of 0.55 hours of care from a registered nurse per resident per day, and 2.45 hours of care from a nurse aide per resident per day, exceeding existing standards in nearly all states. CMS estimates approximately three quarters (75%) of nursing homes would have to strengthen staffing in their facilities. As the long-term care sector continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the proposed standards take into consideration local realities in rural and underserved communities through staggered implementation and exemptions processes.

In addition, nursing homes would also be required to ensure a registered nurse is on site 24 hours per day, 7 days per week and to complete robust facility assessments on staffing needs. Facilities would continue to be required to provide staffing that meets the needs of the individual residents they serve, which may require higher levels of staffing above the proposed minimum standards.

CMS also proposes to require states to collect and report on compensation for workers as a percentage of Medicaid payments for those working in nursing homes and intermediate care facilities. These policies build on CMS recent proposals to support compensation for direct care workers in home- and community-based settings and to publish Medicaid data on average hourly pay rates for home care workers. This enhanced transparency will aid efforts to support and stabilize the long-term care workforce across settings. The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to strengthening access to high-quality long-term care both at home, in the community as well as in nursing homes and other facilities.

Additionally, CMS announced a national campaign to support staffing in nursing homes. As part of the HHS Workforce Initiative, CMS will work with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and other partners to make it easier for individuals to enter careers in nursing homes, investing over $75 million in financial incentives, such as scholarships and tuition reimbursement. This staffing campaign builds on other actions by HHS and the Department of Labor to build the nursing workforce.

Wages are an important part of job quality and drive challenges in recruitment and retention of direct care workers. Our research shows that in many places these workers can earn higher wages doing other entry-level work, said Miranda Lynch-Smith, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

More than 500,000 direct care workers provide care in nursing homes, assisting residents with daily tasks, such as bathing, dressing, mobility, and eating. This work, performed primarily by women of color, is significantly undervalued. Direct care workers across long-term care settings earn low wages, rarely receive health and retirement benefits, and experience high injury rates. Improving working conditions and wages will lead to improvements in the recruitment and retention of direct care workers and enable nursing staff to provide safer care.

Findings published by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation show that wages for direct care workers trail other entry-level jobs. In 2019, median wages for nursing assistants were lower than the wages of other entry level jobs in 40 states and the District of Columbia. As an example, the median wage for nursing assistants in Louisiana is $10.90 per hour, compared to $13.41 for other entry-level positions. This is despite the significant demands of direct care jobs and their essential role in meeting the long-term care needs of older adults and people with disabilities.

Other announcements from CMS and the HHS Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made today would increase transparency, enhance enforcement of existing standards, increase accountability, and ensure safe, high-quality, and dignified care for people living in nursing homes. These announcements include:

Increasing Audits of Nursing Homes Staffing : CMS is expanding audits of the direct care staffing data that nursing homes must report to make sure that federal and state inspectors, as well as residents and their families, have accurate information, including through Nursing Home Care Compare, CMS informational website that families and prospective residents use to learn about facilities.

: CMS is expanding audits of the direct care staffing data that nursing homes must report to make sure that federal and state inspectors, as well as residents and their families, have accurate information, including through Nursing Home Care Compare, CMS informational website that families and prospective residents use to learn about facilities. Improving Nursing Home Inspections : CMS will undertake new analyses of state inspection findings to ensure cited deficiencies receive the appropriate consequence, particularly in incidences involving resident harm. These analyses will ensure citations are applied more consistently and reflect the seriousness of the deficiency, permitting appropriate follow-through and enforcement.

: CMS will undertake new analyses of state inspection findings to ensure cited deficiencies receive the appropriate consequence, particularly in incidences involving resident harm. These analyses will ensure citations are applied more consistently and reflect the seriousness of the deficiency, permitting appropriate follow-through and enforcement. Ensuring Taxpayer Dollars Go Toward Safe, High-Quality Care : HHS-OIG is performing new oversight work to follow the money on how nursing homes spend the taxpayer funds they receive. This will include analysis of how nursing homes may profit at the expense of taxpayers and residents by using services, suppliers, or facilities controlled by parties they own or are otherwise connected to, rather than from vendors who might charge a more competitive price. These related party transactions, have not only obscured how taxpayer funds are being used by nursing homes, but also prevent a transparent and accurate assessment of whether profits and payouts to shareholders are prioritized above investments in resident safety and fair wages for workers.

: HHS-OIG is performing new oversight work to follow the money on how nursing homes spend the taxpayer funds they receive. This will include analysis of how nursing homes may profit at the expense of taxpayers and residents by using services, suppliers, or facilities controlled by parties they own or are otherwise connected to, rather than from vendors who might charge a more competitive price. These related party transactions, have not only obscured how taxpayer funds are being used by nursing homes, but also prevent a transparent and accurate assessment of whether profits and payouts to shareholders are prioritized above investments in resident safety and fair wages for workers. Cracking Down on Inappropriate Antipsychotic Prescribing Practices and Risks: Grave concerns persist that nursing homes are overprescribing dangerous antipsychotic drugs to residents. To support efforts to reduce the misuse of these powerful medications, HHS-OIG is examining risks at nursing homes that have concerning prescribing practices. This builds on recent actions by CMS to increase oversight of inappropriate use of antipsychotic medication.

Grave concerns persist that nursing homes are overprescribing dangerous antipsychotic drugs to residents. To support efforts to reduce the misuse of these powerful medications, HHS-OIG is examining risks at nursing homes that have concerning prescribing practices. This builds on recent actions by CMS to increase oversight of inappropriate use of antipsychotic medication. Enhancing Resident Safety During Emergencies: Nursing home residents are often among the most vulnerable to public health emergencies and recent emergencies have exposed weaknesses in nursing home emergency planning and harm to residents who suffered from inadequate care. The HHS-OIG is undertaking a new effort to improve resident safety during emergencies, including launching a national study of nursing home preparedness and key challenges and identifying practices to strengthen protections for residents.

The proposed rule is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/current

The ASPE report is available at: https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/dcw-wages

The CMS fact sheet is available at: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/medicare-and-medicaid-programs-minimum-staffing-standards-long-term-care-facilities-and-medicaid
Lucknow, August 26, 2023 - The gastronomic landscape of Lucknow is in the midst of a profound transformation, thanks to two remarkable restaurants that offer unique and captivating culinary experiences. Ishaara, a renowned establishment located within Phoenix Palassio Lucknow, is revolutionizing traditional dining norms by placing an unwavering focus on the quality of food and service, effectively rendering words superfluous. In tandem, 'Eight,' a novel culinary venture introduced by Bellona Hospitality, a division of Phoenix Mills Ltd., promises an opulent dining affair that harmoniously blends tradition, innovation, and luxury. This article delves into these two extraordinary dining destinations, each exemplifying an unyielding commitment to culinary excellence.

Ishaara: A Silent Ode to Excellence

Ishaara ingeniously combines the universal language of food with an innovative approach of employing differently-abled individuals.

Founded by the visionary Prashant Issar, Ishaara ingeniously combines the universal language of food with an innovative approach of employing differently-abled individuals. This pioneering concept has resulted in a dining experience that is not only exceptional in terms of cuisine but also profoundly inclusive, celebrating the talents of those with speech and hearing impairments, chosen for their remarkable hospitality skills.

At Ishaara, the entire team takes immense pride in their roles, turning dining into an enlightening and emotional journey, far beyond the realms of mere enjoyment. It serves as a testament to the belief that exceptional service can be effectively conveyed through actions, gestures, and emotions, transcending the limitations of verbal communication.

Mr. Sanjeev Sarin, Senior Centre Director at Phoenix Mills Ltd, expressed, "Ishaara is a celebration of food, people, and the art of communication in its various forms. The multi-sensory experience and the stories told through each dish and staff gesture make it a truly exceptional and meaningful dining destination.

The restaurant's menu is a symphony of traditional Indian flavors and contemporary culinary techniques. From tantalizing appetizers like Water Chestnut and Sweetcorn Tikki to signature dishes such as Ishaara Butter Chicken and Raw Jackfruit Roganjosh, every dish pays homage to the diversity and richness of Indian cuisine.

The commitment to detail extends to the restaurant's interior design and logo, illustrating a dedication to offering guests a comprehensive and immersive experience. Ishaara invites patrons to savor culinary excellence where each dish and gesture tells a story, making it an unparalleled dining destination in Lucknow.

'Eight': An Extravagant Culinary Odyssey

Sanjeev Sarin, Senior Centre Director at Phoenix Mills Ltd. and Prashant Issar, Founder, Eight

Bellona Hospitality proudly presents 'Eight' at Phoenix Palassio Lucknow, following its triumphant debut at Phoenix Palladium in Mumbai. 'Eight' promises an unparalleled dining experience that artfully weaves together tradition, innovation, and luxury, with a spotlight on authentic Oriental cuisine enhanced by contemporary twists and premium ingredients.

The centerpiece of 'Eight' is its sushi bar, an alluring visual spectacle that offers an interactive dimension as guests witness the artful creation of their sushi selections.

The restaurant's diverse menu draws inspiration from the culinary traditions of Canton, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Japan, weaving together forgotten regional Chinese delicacies, timeless favorites, and innovative creations. This culinary selection reflects a sincere dedication to providing a holistic and enriching dining experience.

Sanjeev Sarin, Senior Centre Director at Phoenix Mills Ltd., shared, "Having established an unparalleled shopping heaven, Phoenix Palassio is poised to redefine dining in Lucknow. Through 'Eight,' we introduce an exclusive encounter, coupling a meticulously curated culinary selection with an ambiance of sheer opulence.

Complementing the cuisine are meticulously crafted beverages and signature cocktails, along with a delightful selection of signature desserts from the forthcoming patisserie, adding an element of sophistication to the overall dining affair.

In conclusion, Ishaara and 'Eight' are two enchanting culinary destinations where patrons embark on gastronomic journeys like no other. Ishaara redefines the dining experience through inclusivity and the power of non-verbal communication, while 'Eight' offers a luxurious and opulent experience that pays homage to the rich culinary traditions of the Orient while embracing modern gastronomic trends and creativity. Together, these establishments epitomize the ever-evolving and diverse culinary tapestry of Lucknow.

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.

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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit India, it brought with it unprecedented challenges. Among these was the plight of migrant workers who were left stranded and struggling to return home due to the sudden lockdown. While many organizations stepped up to provide aid, one NGO stood out for its efforts in providing a long-term solution for port workers in Kutch, Gujarat. The Maheshwari Laxmi Memorial Foundation funded Uttar Bhartiya Kutch Sewa Samaj, Gandhidham, Gujarat, for building 14 rooms to help prevent future migration situations during lockdowns or other crises. Let's take a closer look at how this organization is positively impacting the lives of those in need.

Maheshwari Laxmi Memorial Foundation is a non-governmental organization (NGO) working among the economically weaker sections of Indian society, including tribal and indigenous communities. Mr. Anil Kumar Sinha, Director of Maheshwari Laxmi Memorial Foundation, also firmly believes that it is our responsibility as citizens of this country to give back to those who have dedicated themselves to protecting us. That's why the NGO is also committed to serving war widows and retired defense personnel in bringing a positive difference in their lives by providing practical solutions for long-term stability.

Maheshwar Laxmi Memorial Foundation built 14 rooms in 2352 square feet area in Gandhidham, Kutch, Gujarat for port workers

The Maheshwar Laxmi Memorial Foundation has played a significant role in helping the economically weaker sections of Indian society. One such initiative was building 14 rooms in Gandhidham, Kutch, Gujarat for port workers. These rooms were built on an area of 2352 square feet and are aimed at providing shelter to these workers who often face difficult living conditions.



Port workers play a vital role in India's economy, but their contribution is often overlooked. They work tirelessly under harsh conditions, and most of them come from far-off places to earn a livelihood. The foundation understood this struggle and took it upon themselves to build these rooms so that the workers would have access to decent living conditions while working away from home.



This project provides shelter and serves as a solution for the problem caused by migration during lockdown situations like those experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. This way, port workers can continue working without having to worry about finding alternative housing when they need it most.



It is initiatives like these that make us realize that we can all contribute something positive towards our communities if we put our minds and resources together.  says Mr. Anil Kumar Sinha, Director, Maheshwar Laxmi Memorial Foundation.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to light the vulnerability of migrant workers in India. The sudden lockdown caused a mass exodus of these workers, who were left with no choice but to travel back to their hometowns. This situation not only put them at risk but also had severe consequences on their livelihood. To avoid such situations in the future, Maheshwar Laxmi Memorial Foundation took a step towards providing shelter for port workers and their families.



This initiative has helped provide stability and security for these workers as they can now stay close to their workplace without fear of losing it all due to unforeseen circumstances like this pandemic. It is imperative that more organizations take up similar efforts to address this issue faced by migrant laborers across India. It is not just about providing temporary relief but creating sustainable solutions for better living conditions and job opportunities within communities themselves. he added.

The Maheshwar Laxmi Memorial Foundation through the vision and mission of Mr. Anil Kumar Sinha, has played a significant role in helping underprivileged sections of society. Such initiatives go a long way in ensuring that vulnerable sections of society are not left behind during challenging times like lockdowns or any other crisis situations. With more support and collaboration, as a society, we all can work towards creating a better future for everyone.

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.

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India's antitrust body on Friday approved the merger of Tata group-owned Air India with sister airline Vistara, subject to compliance with voluntary commitments made by the carriers. A Vistara aircraft(Bloomberg)

The approval comes amid growing concerns within the industry about a duopoly, with a merged Air India-Vistara and IndiGo controlling more than 75% of the domestic market, while smaller rivals such as SpiceJet and Go First struggle.

READ | Air India issued CCI notice over Vistara merger

Tata said in November it was merging its two full-service carriers Air India and Vistara, a joint venture between Tata and Singapore Airlines, to create a bigger airline that will take on local rivals such as IndiGo and Middle Eastern carriers that dominate outbound traffic from India.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had flagged that on some routes and categories - such as business class travel - the merged entity could have a monopoly, raising competition concerns, sources previously told Reuters.

READ | Here's why Air India plans to scrap Vistara after merger

Reuters reported last month that Air India Chief Executive Campbell Wilson had held talks with India's antitrust head on the merger, weeks after the watchdog raised concerns about potential market domination.

The regulator on Friday approved the proposed deal, "subject to compliance of voluntary commitments offered by the parties," but did not elaborate on the voluntary commitments made by the airlines.

READ | Tata Group to merge Air India with Vistara by 2024 as part of key deal

The Tata group last month unveiled a new logo, branding and plane livery for Air India as part of a multi-million dollar transformation of the former state-run carrier.

Air India and Vistara, which will be rebranded as Air India, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has initiated an investigation against officers of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in connection with the Bitcoin scam case, according to an officer familiar with the development. The Central Crime Branch, which operates under the Bengaluru police, had probed the Bitcoin scam when it came to light in 2020. The investigation against CCB comes after CID took over the case earlier this month after the Siddaramaiah led-Congress government came to power. The CID interrogated prime accused in the bitcoin scam Sri Krishna Ramesh to find out role of CCB officers in the scam. (HT Archive)

It is alleged that during the investigation CCB officials had tampered with the evidence in the case while it was in their custody, officers familiar with the matter said. A first information report (FIR) has been registered against unnamed CCB officials with Cottonpet police under Section 204 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for the destruction of evidence and Section 120(B) of IPC for criminal conspiracy.

As part of the investigation, the CID interrogated Sri Krishna Ramesh, also known as SriKi, a hacker, at least three or four times last week. Sri krishna, who is facing trial in the scam and is out on bail, is being questioned regarding the investigation against him and the role of the CCB officers in tampering with the evidence, said a senior officer.

The alleged Bitcoin scam came to light after Sri krishna, aka Sriki, was arrested by the CCB on November 18, 2020, in connection with a drug peddling case. He had allegedly used bitcoins on the dark web to purchase drugs from international dealers. Subsequent interrogation by the CCB revealed that the software engineer turned hacker was involved in a series of online crimes.

He allegedly hacked into websites to steal their data and lock the owners out of them. He would then demand payment in bitcoins to unlock the websites. He also confessed to creating mirror sites, or fake payment portals that mimicked real ones, to steal credit or debit card information for financial gain. The police also stated that he confessed to attempting to steal 11.5 crore from the e-procurement cell of the Karnataka e-governance centre, in addition to hacking into some Bitcoin exchanges.

The Congress, which was in opposition at the time, alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was protecting the hacker involved in the cryptocurrency case. However, the erstwhile chief minister Basavaraj Bommai denied all the charges and clarified that a fair investigation was conducted.

After the Congress government handed over the case to the CID, as part of the investigation, the CID lodged a case against officers of the CCB. The allegations concern the alleged tampering of electronic devices seized from associates of hacker Sri Krishna.

Deputy superintendent of police (DSP), CID, K Ravishankar, filed a complaint against unnamed officers from the CCB who were involved in investigating the 2020 case that implicated Srikrishna and 10 others.

A crucial aspect of the Bitcoin case is the disappearance of vital evidence. In 2021, Sriki faced arrest in connection with the seizure of 31 Bitcoins. The allegations against him centred on the unauthorized withdrawal of Bitcoins from his virtual wallet.

According to the complaint, a digital forensic analysis report of devices seized from Sri krishnas associates revealed tampering after the devices were confiscated following their arrests in November 2020.

The CID cites a digital forensics report dated February 20 its complaint which indicates that two pen drives seized on November 9, 2020, were tampered with while in police custody, said the officer cited above.

Similarly, an Apple MacBook and a hard disk seized on November 17, 2020, were found to have been tampered with between November 18 and 20. A second MacBook seized on November 19, 2020, was tampered with between November 20 and 21, he added.

Each digital file has a hash value (a record of digital transaction or file movement). In simple terms, whenever there is movement of any digital file, the hash value changes. In this case, the evidence in CCB custody has undergone such changes, implying possible movement of bitcoins. We suspect that these devices were tampered with within the premises of the CCB office in Bengaluru between November 9 and December 12, 2020, said a senior CID officer who wished to remain anonymous.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arun Dev Arun Dev is an Assistant Editor with the Karnataka bureau of Hindustan Times. A journalist for over 10 years, he has written extensively on crime and politics. ...view detail
Amid the tussle between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over Cauvery water, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar on Thursday said that the Mekedatu project is the only solution to the water sharing issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in connection with Cauvery dispute. DK Shivakumar held a consultation with legal experts and officials on the Cauvery River water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.(PTI)

DK Shivakumar held a consultation with legal experts and officials at Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi regarding the Cauvery River water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

"The only solution is the Mekedatu project. We will request the authorities to visit the sites in Karnataka and see the problems being faced by the state," Shivakumar told ANI.

READ | Ex-Karnataka CM Bommai demands immediate halt to release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu

The Mekedatu project is a multipurpose project involving the construction of a balancing reservoir near Kanakapura in Ramanagara district, Karnataka. Its objectives are to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and neighboring areas

Terming the order of releasing 5000 cusecs of water as a big pain, Shivkumar said that Karnataka is in a very grave situation since there is no rain and no water.

"Today, we had a meeting with all our legal experts. Now, the entire team is on the way to meet our senior advocate who is representing Karnataka. We have been given an order to release 5,000 cusecs of water. It is a big pain to Karnataka because there is no water due to no rain. I hope they will respect the sentiments of the farmers of Karnataka. We also respect the farmers of Tamil Nadu. But still, Karnataka is in a very grave situation. We are appealing to the authorities to visit the sites and know the problems Karnataka is suffering," he said.

Earlier in the day, the farmer's associations in Karnataka staged a fresh protest near Krishna Raja Sagar(KRS) reservoir in Mandya district against the release of 5,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of Cauvery water to the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.

Complying with the direction of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), Karnataka on Wednesday started releasing water from its reservoirs to Tamil Nadu.

READ | "Will discuss how much we can reduce Cauvery water released to TN," says DK Shivakumar

CWMA on Tuesday had directed Karnataka to ensure 5,000 cusecs of Cauvery water at Billigundulu on the Tamil Nadu- Karnataka boundary every day up to September 12.

CWMA's direction came after the Cauvery Water Regulation Committe (CWRC) recommended Karnataka release 5,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Though Karnataka made a protest at CWRC's recommendation CWMA upheld it.

After the Karnataka government started complying with CWMA's direction farmers started protesting saying that the Cauvery basin was facing severe drought and water storage in the reservoirs was barely enough to meet the drinking water needs of the region.

The Cauvery water issue has been a controversial issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for decades, and they have been locked in a battle over the sharing of water from the Cauvery River, which is a major source of irrigation and drinking water for millions of people in the region.

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With Karnataka starting release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu in compliance with the directives of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), protests have erupted in southern parts of the State. Various farmers' bodies staged demonstrations in Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar in Cauvery heartland against the government's move; the BJP accused the Congress government of "doing nothing" to protect the interests of Karnataka. Karnataka farmers from in and around Cauvery and Kabini river and Krishnaraja Sagar dam in Mysuru have been staging protests since Thursday. (Archive/Image for representation)

The opposition party also charged the government with not taking up legal battle properly against the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government as the party there in power is a key ally in the newly formed INDIA bloc, where Congress is a key player. The Karnataka government on Wednesday started releasing 5,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water to TN following the CWMA's August 28 directive to it.

READ | Karnataka govt will decide on declaring areas hit by drought on Sept 4

Previously, the CWMA had ordered Karnataka to release 10,000 cusecs of water everyday. After releasing it for a few days initially, Karnataka again approached the CWMA, saying there was no adequate rainfall in the Cauvery basin. Taking Karnatakas point of view into consideration, the CWMA directed the government to ensure that 5,000 cusecs of water reaches Biligundlu just at the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu daily.

Karnataka farmers, especially from districts in and around Cauvery and Kabini river and Krishnaraja Sagar dam in Mysuru have been staging protests since Thursday. Farmers in Mandya took out a march raising slogans against the Congress government, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who holds the Water Resources portfolio. In Srirangapatna, farmers staged a "shirtless" protest. Standing in the Cauvery river, they held the water in their palm and raised slogans blaming the state government for taking an "anti-farmers stand".

Similar protests were staged by farmers in Chamarajanagar district. Reacting to the release of water, former CM B S Yediyurappa wondered why Tamil Nadu was exerting pressure on Karnataka to release more water when there was no crisis in the neighbouring state. Today we have a water crisis and the KRS dam is getting empty. In this situation, releasing water to Tamil Nadu is not possible. Tamil Nadu has sufficient water. I dont know why they are exerting pressure (on us). We will support the governments stand, Yediyurappa said. Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai demanded that the state government immediately stop the release of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, file an appeal in the Supreme Court and fight a legal battle.

READ | Karnataka begins releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu following CWMA order

The BJP leader accused the Congress government of failing to protect the interests of farmers and the drinking water needs of people in Karnataka. "The government has been faltering on the Cauvery issue since the beginning. Already about 15 TMC water, by way of releasing 10 thousand cusecs (cubic feet per second) water everyday, has been released as per the order of Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) directive but yet no legal action has been taken against it," he alleged.

Bommai wondered what was the point of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who holds Water Resources portfolio, discussing with legal experts now when the government has already started releasing 5,000 cusecs of water daily on the instructions of CWMA. An appeal against the previous order should have already been filed with the Supreme Court, which has not been done yet, he said.

"I demand that the release of water should be immediately stopped and an appeal to the Supreme Court be filed and a legal fight be initiated by making strong convictions. The Congress government has failed to protect the drinking water requirements of Karnataka state and the interest of the farmers," Bommai added. Meanwhile, Shivakumar held a meeting with the legal team and Karnataka officials dealing with the Cauvery issue at Karnataka Bhavan-1 in New Delhi.

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Police on Friday produced chargesheet in a designated fast track National Investigation Agency court in Doda against eight top terrorist commanders of terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). A senior police officer said that these terrorists, who are in Pakistan or PoK, constantly attempt to lure local youth of Doda region to join terror outfits for carrying out subversive activities to keep militancy alive (Getty Images)

In a statement, Doda police said they produced chargesheets under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the eight top ranked terrorists that included commanders of the LeT and the HM under section 299 Cr PC.

They are presently operating from Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and running modules to keep terrorism alive in Doda district and other parts of the Jammu province, the statement read.

Doda police said that an FIR under the UAPA was registered at the Thathri police station against LeTs top ranked terrorist Mohammad Amin alias Khubaib of Kathwa in Phagsoo, presently operating from Pakistan.

Similarly, an FIR under UAPA was registered at the Bhaderwah police station against two top HM terrorists identified as Mohammad Hussain Khateeb of Masjid Mohalla in Bhaderwah and Zakir Hussain of Draina Bhalla.

A case under UAPA was registered at Doda police station against two LeT terrorists identified as Abdul Hai alias Tahir Bilal of Sazan in Doda and Irshad Ahmed Itoo alias Idress of Dharnal Arnora.

An FIR under UAPA was registered against three HM terrorists identified as Atta Mohammad alias Adil Mubashir of Tanta Gandoh, Mohammad Shafi alias Nadeem of Trankal and Majid Hussain alias Abu Jihad of Manoie Gandoh.

The cases were registered against these terrorists for running modules in Doda to keep terrorism alive and shed the blood of innocent people in the region on the behest of their Pakistan-based mentors, Doda police said.

After completing the investigation in all respects and after collecting sufficient evidence against these terrorists, Doda police filed chargesheet under section 299 of Cr PC before the designated fast track NIA Court at Doda for judicial determination, they added.

A senior police officer said that these terrorists, who are in Pakistan or PoK, constantly attempt to lure local youth of Doda region to join terror outfits for carrying out subversive activities to keep militancy alive.

Doda police have made special efforts to tighten the noose of the sympathisers, supporters and over ground workers of terrorists and other anti-social elements to wipe out residual terrorists from the district, he added.

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The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Thursday sought response from the Centre and Haryana government on a plea alleging irregularities/nepotism into the appointments of law officers in the advocate generals (AG) office. The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Thursday sought response from the Centre and Haryana government on a plea alleging irregularities/nepotism into the appointments of law officers in the advocate generals (AG) office. (Shutterstock)

The HC bench of justice Vinod S Bhardwaj sought response by January 24 in a plea by Gurdev Singh of Naraingarh who claimed that a detailed complaint against the favouritism and irregularities into the selection of law officers was submitted but no action was taken on the same.

Besides, the Centre and the state government, the HC has also sought response from the states AG, Baldev Raj Mahajan, and members of the selection committee which assessed the merit for engagement as law officers with the AG office Haryana after the Haryana Law Officers (Engagement) Act 2016 came into effect in 2016. The plea sought directions for a court monitored probe from the CBI.

The plea alleges that none of the non-selected candidates was interviewed. Certain pre-selected favourites have been appointed, some of whom allegedly do not even fulfil the laid down criteria, in violation of the provisions of the 2016 law, it claims.

Fair chances for advancement should be open to everybody interested, such that they have an equal chance to compete within the framework of goals and the structure of rules established Individuals should succeed or fail based on their own efforts and not extraneous circumstances such as having well-connected parents, the plea stated.

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A total of nine candidates will duke it out for the post of president in the Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC) elections on September 6. Chandigarh SSP Kanwardeep Kaur headed for a meeting with the poll candidates at Panjab University on Friday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

The final list of candidates for the much-awaited polls was displayed at the dean students welfare (DSW) office on Friday evening.

At nine, the number of presidential candidates this time is the highest in recent years. In the 2022 polls, eight candidates were in fray for the post.

While elections were not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2019, only four candidates contested for the top post and six in 2018. Even in 2017, only four vied for the post.

Of all the parties joining the contest for the presidents seat, only Panjab Students Union (PSU-Lalkaar) has fielded a female candidate  Manika Chhabra.

Since the students polls started in the nineties, the varsity has seen only one female president, in 2018  Kanupriya from the left-leaning Students for Society (SFS).

This time, the party has picked Prateek Kumar for the post. Divyansh Thakur will attempt to retain the post for Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the student wing of the AAP, that had won last year in its maiden foray in PU student polls.

Yuvraj Garg is the presidential face of Student Organisation of India (SOI), the student division of SAD, that had last won in 2019. In 2017, the post went to Congress student body National Students Union of India (NSUI) that has picked Jatinder Singh this time in the hope of bagging the seat again.

For the 2016 president post winner, Panjab University Students Union (PUSU), Davinder Pal Singh will aim to regain glory for the home-grown student body.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP, has nominated Rakesh Deshwal for the contest.

The eighth presidential candidate is Kuldeep Singh of Hindustan Student Association (HSA), while an independent candidate, Saksham Singh, has also stepped into the battle of ballots.

Also, four each candidates will be slugging it out for the posts of vice-president, secretary and joint secretary. Of the total 21 candidates, only three are women.

Election will also be held for departmental representatives (DRs). While at 40 departments, 58 DRs have been elected unopposed, in the remaining 29, students will vote to pick 68 DRs.

In the last elections in 2022, ABVP-turncoat Aayush Khatkar of CYSS had defeated Harish Gujjar of ABVP by 660 votes. NSUI had managed to grab two posts, with its candidates Harshdeep Singh Batth being elected as vice-president and Manish Bora as joint secretary. The post of secretary had gone to Pravesh Bishnoi, the joint candidate of the ABVP-led alliance.

Three alliances to battle it out

So far, three alliances have emerged in the run up to the polls. CYSS has joined hands with the Himachal Students Union (HIMSU), with the former settling for only the presidents post. Last year, too, CYSS was in alliance with Panjab University Helping Hands (PUHH) that has tied up with ABVP this time.

NSUI had also decided to contest the polls with the Indian National Students Organisation (INSO), the student wing of Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) for the secretarys post and Himachal Pradesh Students Union (HPSU) for the joint secretarys post.

However, after a spat between two NSUI members at UIET, INSO PU in-charge Rajat Nain said a decision was taken on Friday to instead forge alliance with SOI and HPSU. SOI will contest for the presidents seat, INSO for vice-president and secretary, and HPSU for joint secretary. With no alliance, NSUI will only be vying for the presidents post.

Final candidate lists out for colleges too

The final lists of candidates for the Student Council elections 2023-24 at citys colleges were also released on Friday. At DAV College, Sector 10, four candidates are in the race for the presidents post, whereas three are eyeing it at GGDSD College, Sector 32.

The candidates at GGDSD College are Lalit Jhorar from NSUI-HPSU alliance, Parwinder Singh from the alliance of Sanatan Dharam College Union, Himachal Students Union (HIMSU) and ABVP; and Yuvraj Singh Tiwana from SOI.

Similarly at DAV College, the candidates are Ashish from INSO, Gurprince Singh from NSUI, Jashanpreet Singh from SOI-ABVP alliance and Sahil Lathwal from the HSA-HIMSU-HPSU alliance.

At Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector 26, all four posts were filled unopposed  Kamalpreet Kaur as president, Harpreet as vice-president, Navneet Kaur as secretary and Vrinda as joint secretary.

Section 144 is in force in city, SSP reminds candidates

Chandigarh SSP Kanwardeep Kaur held a meeting with the 21 finalised candidates in the presence of DSW Jatinder Grover, where she informed them that car rallies were completely banned and canvassing was also allowed in groups of only five, as Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was in place in the city till October 2023.

For conducting any big procession or rally, permission is required from the district magistrate. She said outsiders and weapons, including licensed, were prohibited on the campus. Candidates were also warned not to organise trips or parties, as campaigning expenditure should be below 5,000 according to the Lyngdoh committee guidelines.

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Left with no option but to water down their pen-down strike call as the government invoked the East Punjab Essential Services (Maintenance) Act (ESMA), patwaris across Punjab began an agitation on Friday, saying that they are boycotting additional work. A man waiting outside a locked patwari room in Patwar Bhawan in Bathinda on Friday. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)

Punjab has 4,716 revenue circles in all and only 1,523 patwaris, who have been assigned the additional charge of 3,193 revenue circles as a stop-gap arrangement.

A union leader said the officials have stopped work allotted to them in 3,193 additional revenue circles but were carrying out the duties, including those related to flood relief, in their own circles.

Over 2,000 employees, under the banner of the Revenue Patwar Union and the Revenue Kanungo Association, had initially called for an indefinite pen-down strike, over a corruption case registered against a patwari and a kanungo (both revenue officials) in Sangrur a week ago. But on Thursday, they softened their stance in wake of the Punjab government, led by chief minister Bhagwant Mann, invoking the ESMA, which barred all government officials and employees from leaving their place of posting till October 31 or till further orders. The government had also threatened them of strict penal action for violation of the orders.

The union leaders have threatened to move the Punjab and Haryana high court against the state governments decision to invoke the ESMA.

Public on the receiving end

In Bathinda and the adjoining districts of south Malwa, residents were seen waiting outside patwarkhanas as patwaris abstained from work at additional revenue circles.

Puran Singh, a resident of Akliya village, said he had travelled to Bathinda to verify a land record but found the office locked. An extended family member is caught in a land dispute. I had sought an appointment for Friday to examine the land records but the office of the revenue circle was shut. I feel harassed, said the elderly farmer.

According to the officials, Bathinda has 172 revenue circles and only 99 patwaris, out of which 84 are regular staffers.

General secretary of Bathinda patwari union Tehnoor Singh said the largest district of southwest Punjab has 73 vacant posts of patwaris. Each of us is manning at least two circles and it is injudicious on the part of the state government to burden us with extra work. We have decided to work only for the main allocated circle, he said.

Another patwari posted in a rural subdivision said the common man will suffer as the protest continues and public dealing in scores of offices will remain suspended. From birth certificates to work on all land-related records, the revenue department handles a lot. People will suffer but we are helpless as the union has given a call to abstain from additional duties indefinitely and we have to abide by it, he added requesting anonymity.

In Jalandhar, work hit in 530 revenue circles

In the Doaba region, work was hit at 530 revenue circles as the charge of these was assigned to patwaris who already have the charge of other circles. Ram Parkash, a general secretary of Jalandhar revenue association, said it wont be possible for one official to look after the revenue work of 15-20 circles all along.

We have been burdened for years with additional charges of multiple revenue circles. It is in complete violation of service rules and human rights, he said.

In Ferozepur, all revenue officials belonging to 146 circles of the district joined the agitation. In Ludhiana, as many as 291 of the districts 441 revenue circles remained shut, leaving visitors in the lurch.

In Amritsar too, the patwaris refrained from shunning work entirely but boycotted work in the extra circles assigned to them. In Sangrur, work at 117 out of 218 circles remained completely stalled. Navdeep Singh, secretary of Sangrur unit of patwaris said, The chief minister had promised to give 19,900 to patwaris during their training period and also promised that the training period will be limited to a month. However, the patwaris under training are getting only 5,000 a month and their training period extends up to a year and a half.

Meanwhile, officials said the deputy commissioners have been asked to ensure that the public does not suffer during the agitation.

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, general secretary of Punjabs Revenue Patwar Union, said the appointment of new patwaris was also one of the demands of the union.

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Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Friday alleged that the finance department recently returned a file related to his proposed visit to Ghana next month for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in October, and indicated to his office that the trip requires the lieutenant governors (LG) approval. Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel (FILE)

The finance department has said that the Speaker needs the approval of the LG to visit Ghana. It is highly objectionable. The Speaker does not work under the LG! Goel said at a press briefing at the Delhi assembly.

He added that he may approach the Lok Sabha Speaker on the frivolous objection raised by the finance department if it does not approve the file.

To be sure, assembly officials said that the Speaker does not require the LGs approval for travelling abroad; but the approval of the finance department is mandatory for incurring expenditure on foreign tours.

According to Goel, the file for the Ghana visit was sent in June, and that two other assembly officials plan to go for the event.

It is a prestigious conference where presiding officers and secretaries of legislatures from all the Commonwealth countries participate. The Indian delegation is led by Lok Sabha Speaker and all the speakers, chairpersons and secretaries are invited to this conference. The ministry of finance and the ministry of external affairs (GOI) have accorded us clearance but the finance department has still not approved it, he said.

Officials in the Delhi finance department and the LGs office did not respond to HTs queries for a comment on the matter.

Separately, the Speaker said he also wrote to LG VK Saxena, seeking disciplinary action against two Delhi government officials for allegedly threatening two assembly officials to get confidential information related to an ongoing probe by a House panel.

On 28th and 29th August 2023, Officers of the Delhi Assembly were called telephonically, to the Services Department on the behest of YVVJ Rajasekhar, special secretary (vigilance & services). I was informed that Rajasekhar and Amitabh Joshi, deputy secretary met these officers and sought to know the details of the complaints being examined by the (Delhi Assembly) Welfare of OBCS Committee and Committee of Privileges... They were hinted they could face suspension and disciplinary action if they did not cooperate, the Speaker said.

The committee is examining a complaint that Rajasekhar secured his appointment in the government on the basis of a fake OBC caste certificate.

Rajasekhar did not respond to HTs queries for a comment on the matter.

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Delhi is all set for a grand welcome of the leaders of the G20 nations for the summit on September 9 and 10. Quite a selfie point! G20 logo installed near IGI Airport ahead of the G20 Summit. (Photo: Sanjeev Verma/HT)

Vrooming demand for luxe cars

With a days rental going as high as 1,00,000 per day there is a shortage of luxury vehicles in the city as per the car dealers. (Photo: Dhruv Sethi/HT)

Car rental dealers report a shortage of luxury vehicles as the National Capital gears up to host the delegates at the upcoming G20 Summit. Amrit Mann, president, Indian Tourist Transport Association and director at Mann Tourist Transport Services Pvt Ltd., says his company needs around 30 to 40 more cars per day to fulfil the requirement of 300/day. Weve spent about 61 crore since November 2022 to buy new luxury cars, adds Mann.

Mercedes Maybach and Toyota Coaster are among the top models in demand. Even if someone is ready to pay a lakh per day for a luxury car, we dont have any to provide, says Lakhanpal Singh Dhillon, owner, Rajputana Cabs. His firm has supplied 92 cars per day, but are in need of 103 more.

Artistically spruced up Delhi

Several murals have come up on city walls ahead of the G20 Summit. This one is near IGI Airport. (Photo: Sanjeev Verma/HT)

Besides the sprucing up of 66 arterial roads and stretches, including the 5.8km stretch near Pragati Maidan, authorities have re-carpeted avenue roads, installed designer fountains with sculptures and refurbished pavements, such as those near Samrat Hotel Rotary and Ashoka Hotel. According to Satish Upadhyay, vice-chairperson, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), around 3,000 trees and 2.8 million saplings have been planted. Floodlights, multicoloured LED lights, underground power cables and Tricolour flagpoles have been installed along the Ranjeet Singh and Safdarjung flyovers. A Saptarishi installation, showcasing the seven sages in Hindu culture, has come up at Pragati Maidan.

Dilli darshan!

At the Taj Palace New Delhi hotel, guests will be welcomed with a traditional tika and aarti. (Photo: X)

Attendees of the G20 Summit are in for a traditional welcome at hotels, replete with aarti, tika, garlanding and a welcome gift in the form of Katkari stoles. Leaders of the G20 nations, who will assemble at Pragati Maidan, will be treated to a cultural corridor exhibiting sculptures and paintings, giving them a peek into Indias rich heritage.

An official from the Ministry of Culture says that for the spouses of the leaders, a visit has been arranged to the National Gallery of Modern Art. They will also get a tour of the prominent monuments including Safdarjung Tomb, Purana Qila, Jantar Mantar, Red Fort, Qutb Minar and Humayuns Tomb.

Paws at your service, guests!

Sniffer dogs will be deployed starting from IGI Airport to the hotels where they will stay.

69 explosive detection dogs, part of the K9 squad, will be on duty. Breeds include Belgian Malinois, Golden Retriever, Labrador and Alsatian. The dogs have undergone six-month-long training at the ITBP camp.

Besides this, the Delhi Police has deployed virtual help desks (traffic.delhipolice.gov.in/dtpg20info) to assist visitors find their way through the city. Essential information regarding directions, safety services and medical facilities will also be available on the portal.

Author tweets @maishascribbles

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As the campaign for the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections picks up steam, the university administration has announced measures to prevent violations in the code of conduct. Qalls across DUs North Campus were defaced with names and the posters of candidates since the start of the election campaign. (Sanjeev Verma/HT)

Following an advisory committee meeting of the Delhi University (DU) on Thursday, the administration said that a special committee will be formed to ensure that violations do not take place.

DU also said that candidates have been advised to strictly adhere to the universitys code of conduct and the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines for student elections.

Consequent upon the non-compliance, there will be legal action, including arrest of the violator and debarment of the candidate from the election, the university said in a statement, dated August 31.

HT on August 29 reported on flagrant violations of DUSU elections campaigning norms, with students seen atop moving cars with posters in their hands, fireworks being set off in front of college gates, and printed posters dotting the streets of North Campus.

DU officials said that the special committee will comprise four flying squads, with four or five professors each. The flying squads will work jointly with the proctors office and the DUSU election committee till the elections are over.

Proctor Rajni Abbi,who is also a professor of law at DU, said, Four flying squads of professors, have been formed to take rounds of the colleges and ensure that decorum is maintained.

Professor Chandra Shekhar, from the department of Persian, who is serving as the chief election officer, said, We have set up these teams to ensure that all the guidelines are followed.

He added, Some colleges might suspend campaigning in and around the G20 Summit areas because of restricted movement. However, the university has not issued any such notification.

It was not immediately clear which colleges will suspend the campaigning. The university did not share the details despite HTs repeated requests.

Additionally, colleges were advised to enhance their security arrangements, particularly at night. Colleges were informed that they can reach out to Sagar Singh Kalsi, the deputy commissioner of police (north), or the station house officer of the respective police station. They can inform the proctors office as well, officials said.

In the presence of university authorities, we have asked candidates to engage and campaign constructively. Police forces have been regularly patrolling the campus and extra forces have been deployed. We have also requested the proctor to assign student volunteers, said Kalsi.

Besides, walls across DUs North Campus that were defaced with names and the posters of candidates since the start of the election campaign, will be painted over, officials said.

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Two more suspects were arrested on Thursday for their alleged role in the murder of an Amazon executive in an incident of road rage in Bhajanpura in northeast Delhi, police said on Friday. Harpreet Gill was shot dead by the five men after an argument on letting the other group pass in the narrow east Delhi lane

In the latest arrests, police said Sohail (only identified by his first name) and Mohammad Junaid, both aged 23, were apprehended on Thursday night from Burari in north Delhi. With these arrests, police said they have nabbed four of the five suspects.

They were arrested while they were trying to escape to Punjab, said deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Joy Tirkey.

On Tuesday night, 36-year-old Harpreet Gill, who worked as a senior manager for e-commerce firm Amazon, was shot dead following an argument with the five suspects.

Police on Thursday ascertained that the murder took place following an altercation between the suspects, and Gill and his relative Govind Singh, 32, when both sides were trying to enter a narrow bylane of Bhajanpura on their respective bikes. Singh was injured with a gunshot wound to his head.

Singh was discharged from hospital on Friday and is recuperating at home. He is helping us with our investigation, said DCP Tirkey.

A day earlier, Mohammad Sameer alias Maya, and Bilal Gani, both aged 18, were arrested in the case.

The fifth suspect, 19-year-old Adnan  also identified by his first name  is on the run, police said.

Police said that Maya, who was allegedly involved in four murders as a minor, opened fire during the confrontation on Tuesday night.

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Congress MLA Mamman Khan, who was served notice to appear before a special investigation team investigating the cases of the communal violence that broke out in Nuh district on July 31, failed to appear before it on Thursday for questioning on his suspected involvement in the violence, police officers familiar with the matter said on Friday. Mamman Khan represents the Ferozepur Jhirka assembly constituency of Nuh. (Twitter)

According to the police, Khan sent a WhatsApp message to members of the SIT that he would be unable to appear on Thursday due to an illness.

On August 29, Haryana home minister Anil Vij announced that Khan had been served notice to appear before the investigating team. Khan had visited several locations in Nuh on July 28, 29, and 30 and was in contact with the people in these locations where violence later erupted on July 31. His actions were suspicious, Vij had said.

On Friday, Satish Kumar, deputy superintendent of police for Ferozepur Jhirka subdivision, said they have not yet determined when the MLA would be asked to appear again.

We will serve him notice again very soon, asking him to appear before us for questioning in the July 31 communal violence incident, DSP Kumar said.

He said that since the SIT was formed, which was one of the three formed within four days of the outbreak of violence, they have arrested more than 100 suspects for their alleged involvement in the communal violence.

The violence that erupted following the attack on the Brajmandal Jalabhishek Yatra killed six people, including two police personnel from Gurugram who were part of reinforcement, and injured at least 88 more across Nuh. The violence then quickly spread to Sohna, Gurugram, and Palwal.

Meanwhile, numerous attempts were made to contact the MLA, but his mobile phone number was switched off. Khan represents the Ferozepur Jhirka assembly constituency of Nuh.

According to the Nuh police, 62 first information reports have been filed so far, with at least 310 suspects arrested and a minor girl apprehended for their alleged involvement in the violence and aftermath, in which police teams were attacked twice while conducting raids to apprehend perpetrators.

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Every morning Dukhu Majhi, a resident of Sindri village in West Bengals Purulia district, goes out on his bicycle with two tin containers carrying some water and saplings. He pedals to plant the saplings mostly of fruit-bearing or shady trees such as banyan at places where he thinks there is a lack of shade and pedestrians may need some to avoid the scorching sun. It could be a school or a temple premises. Dukhu Majhi is a resident of Sindri village in West Bengals Purulia district. (HT PHOTO)

I have seen my father planting saplings and been following his footsteps since I was a child. The saplings, when they finally grow into large trees, would provide us with shade and oxygen, said Majhi, who is in his 70s.

Majhi, who lives in a thatched hut with his wife, two sons, and grandchildren and does odd jobs, tries to plant a sapling daily. If all of us work like this, the world would be a better place. There would be a lot more shade and oxygen and we can live a healthy life, said Majhi, who works as a daily wage labourer.

He would erect small fences of bamboo to protect the saplings from cattle. But poor villagers often took the bamboo to use as fuel at home, leaving the saplings unguarded.

Then I came up with an idea. I started putting up the fence using burnt wooden logs or clothes discarded at crematoriums. Out of superstition, the villagers never touched them. The saplings remained protected.

Majhi has planted thousands of trees in Purulia, Bengals westernmost district bordering Jharkhand, which is part of the Chota Nagpur plateau. The soil in the region is undulating and barren with a porous layer, which cannot retain water. The land remains mostly parched.

Filmmaker Somnath Mondals first documentary Rukhu Matir Dukhu Majhi [Dukhu Majhi: Son of the barren land] based on Majhi won the National Film Awards this year in the best biographical category.

Mondal, an alumnus of Punes Film and Television Institute of India, said he met Majhi by chance in 2018 in Purulia. I saw a sapling planted along the road and protected by half-burnt wood and torn cloth. Villagers told me that it was Majhis sapling. Everybody in Purulias Baghmundi block seemed to know him and his innovative way to save saplings.

Mondal said forest officials and the local administration acknowledged Majhis work and gifted him with a bicycle. He also has some certificates from the administration acknowledging his work.

Mondal said Majhi told him the death of a tree is on the pen of a babu, meaning trees are cut whenever the district administration takes up development work.

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A fast-track court judge at Berhampore in West Bengals Murshidabad district on Thursday sentenced a 24-year-old man to death after finding him guilty of murdering his 18-year-old former girlfriend in May 2022, public prosecutor Bibhas Chatterjee informed. For representational purposes only. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

On August 24, the same judge, Santosh Kumar Pathak, sentenced another 22-year-old man to death for murdering primary school teacher Bandhu Prakash Pal (35), his wife Beauty Pal (31) and their seven-year-old son on October 8, 2019. Incidentally, Chatterjee was the public prosecutor in that trial as well.

The judge passed the sentence on Thursday after declaring Sushanta Chowdhury guilty of murdering Sutapa Chowdhury outside a girls hostel in Berhampore on May 22 last year. The police arrested Sushanta after examining CCTV footage from security cameras installed in the area. As many as 32 witnesses testified during the trial.

The 18-year-old college student, whose family lives in the adjoining Malda district, was stabbed 42 times, the prosecution told the court. When some local youths tried to intervene, the accused brandished a toy pistol to scare them away.

Sushanta admitted that he killed Sutapa because she had walked out of the relationship. This cannot be a reason to commit such a heinous crime. He kept stabbing the victim to ensure her death, Chatterjee told the media after the sentence was announced.

Sushanta broke down in court after hearing the order. His lawyer Pijush Ghosh said he will challenge the verdict in the Calcutta high court.

In the 2019 murder case, the judge declared Utpal Behera, a 22-year-old mason, guilty under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (tampering evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The murders, which took place on the morning of Dashami, the last day of Durga Puja, had rocked West Bengal.

All three victims were stabbed and hacked multiple times inside their house in Murshidabads Jiaganj area. Beauty Pal was in her eighth month of pregnancy at the time, the autopsy report submitted in court revealed.

Behera, who had no criminal record before the murders, pleaded that he was innocent and framed by the police. He was arrested from Sagardighi area of the district a week after the murders following statements by locals who spotted him leaving the teachers house.

The prosecution told the court that Behara had purchased a short time insurance policy through the schoolteacher for which he used to give the latter 24,000 a year as premium. The policy lapsed in 2019 because Pal allegedly did not deposit the premium with the insurance company. This enraged the mason, following which he planned to commit the murders. The woman and her son were killed as they were eyewitnesses.

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The Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College in Kolkata issued a notice to undergraduate students asking them to submit an affidavit with a declaration, before taking admission, stating they would not wear indecent clothes like torn jeans within the college premises. The parents of the students have also been asked to submit an undertaking in the matter. (File)

The affidavit read, Having been admitted to Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College, I will never enter inside college premises wearing torn/artificially torn jeans or any kind of indecent dresses. I do hereby affirm that I shall wear normal civil dresses during my study period inside the entire college premises.

The parents of the students have also been asked to submit an undertaking in the matter.

The admission notice on the website of the college states that only formal dresses are allowed. It reads, New 1st SEM classes will start on and from 07.08.2023 ***Torn Jeans are strictly prohibited.*** Formal dresses are allowed only.

Last year as well, AJC Bose College issued a similar notice urging students and the members of the staff to not wear torn or artificially torn jeans since it looks indecent.

Principal Purna Chandra Maity said, Last year, we had issued a similar advisory for our students. But despite such notice, some students were seen coming to the college in torn jeans. We dont want our students to come to the campus in such attires. I will not permit anyone to wear such indecent clothes and come to the college. Thats why to take a strong stance, this year we have decided to issue the advisory for those who will take admission to the college. In addition, they will have to give in writing that they will not wear such outfits before taking admission. They are free to wear such outfits outside the college promises.

Maity said the students would be directed to the payment portal for admission fees only after they and their parents had signed the affidavit.

Torn clothes do not fit the decorum of an educational institute. Students must follow the rules of the college and know how to dress appropriately to a formal institute, Maity said.

Several students have spoken against the move stating it curbed the freedom of expression of the students. Some teachers told The Times of India that they thought the move was scary and could spark negative reactions from the students.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sanskriti Falor Sanskriti Falor is a Senior Content Producer at the News Desk of HT Digital. Having worked in Digital Media for the past two years, she is interested in covering civic issues and global affairs. ...view detail
A 45-year-old woman head constable was found unconscious with multiple stab woundsin a general compartment of the Saryu Express at Ayodhya junction railway station on Wednesday, senior police officials said here on Friday. Four teams have been constituted to work out the case at the earliest. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

Initially, sexual assault was suspected as the lower part of the head constables uniform was missing. But Superintendent of Police (SP), Government Railway Police (GRP), Lucknow, Pooja Yadav on Friday stated that no incident of sexual offence surfaced as per the investigation so far.

She said a First Information Report under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 307 for attempt to murder, 332 for voluntarily causing hurt to public servant and 353 for assault of criminal force to deter public servant has been registered against unidentified people on the complaint of the head constables family members at the Ayodhya Cantt GRP station. She also said four teams were constituted to work out the case at the earliest.

Another police official said the constable was still not able to speak as she has a deep cut on the face. He said the woman has a total of five stab wounds on her face, head and abdomen. She is undergoing treatment at Lucknows King Georges Medical University (KGMU) trauma centre where her condition is stated to be out of danger, the official added.

Earlier, on Wednesday, she was found lying in a pool of blood under the berth of an empty general compartment by a passenger who boarded the Saryu Express from Ayodhya junction at around 4am. He alerted a team of Railway Protection Force (RPF), who in turn informed the GRP. Thereafter, she was rushed to a local hospital in Ayodhya from where she was later referred to Lucknow.

Ayodhya Cantt police station in-charge Pappu Yadav said the head constable was posted in Sultanpur district with the women helpline cell and she had come to Ayodhya as she was deployed at a point near Hanuman Garhi in Ayodhya town for Sawan Mela duty.

He said the head constable had boarded the Saryu Express at 9.15pm on Tuesday from Sultanpur and was supposed to deboard at Ayodhya junction at 12.01 am, as her duty timing was 3am to 3pm on Wednesday. He said the head constable apparently missed deboarding at Ayodhya junction and was returning from Mankapur junction when the incident took place.

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After Union minister for state for home affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni, another Union minister from Uttar Pradesh Kaushal Kishore is in the news due to a controversy associated with his son whose licensed revolver was allegedly used in the murder of a 26-year-old man in Lucknow early on Friday. Police at the crime scene in Lucknow on Friday. (HT Photo)

The police recovered the mans body from the residence of Vikas Kishore, Kaushal Kishores son, at Begariya Kala village in Lucknow early on Friday. The police also recovered Vikass licensed revolver from the spot. An accused identified as Ankit Verma confessed to the murder, according to the police.

While the family members of the deceased Vinay Srivastava alleged foul play, Kaushal Kishore said his son Vikas was not in Lucknow at the time of the incident and had left for Delhi by a flight on Thursday evening, leaving his revolver at home.

Kaushal Kishore, who represents Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha seat in Lucknow district, was in his constituency to celebrate Raksha Bandhan on Thursday.

After receiving information about the recovery of a body at the family house, I rushed there and informed the police. I do not know how the incident took place. The police will investigate the case, he said.

After the death of his younger son Akash Kishore in October 2020 due to liver cirrhosis, Kaushal had launched a campaign against drug abuse in Lucknow and adjoining districts. He organised meetings in villages, schools and colleges to administer a pledge against alcohol consumption to people and students.

A prominent Dalit leader of Central Uttar Pradesh, Kaushal Kishore started his political journey as a member of the Community Party of India (CPI).

He organised meetings in villages on public and social issues, raised his voice against exploitation and discrimination, organised padyatra and demonstrations at the government offices to establish himself as a powerful leader of the Pasi community.

Kaushal contested the 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1996 assembly elections on a CPI ticket from Malihabad, a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates but lost. He contested the 1998 Lok Sabha election on a CPI ticket from Mohanlalganj but lost. In 2001, the CPI expelled him on the charge of indiscipline and anti-party activities.

He contested the 2002 assembly election from Malihabad as an independent candidate and defeated senior Samajwadi Party leader Gauri Shankar. He floated Rashtrawadi Community Party (RCP) and supported the Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav in formation of the government in 2003 and earned a cabinet berth as labour minister.

Kaushal contested the 2007 and 2012 assembly elections on the RCP ticket but lost. In 2013, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by merging the RCP with the BJP. He was made state president of the BJPs scheduled caste wing. The BJP fielded him from Mohanlalganj in 2014 Lok Sabha election and he bagged the seat, Bahujan Samaj Party candidate RK Chaudhary. He was re-elected from Mohanlalganj in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, defeating the SP- BSP alliance candidate CL Verma.

Kaushal not only assisted the BJP in making inroads in SP and BSP strongholds in Central UP but also contributed to weaning away the Pasi community from the BSP.

The BJP fielded his wife Jai Devi from Malihabad in the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections, she won on both occasions, consolidating her partys hold on the area that was once a strong Samajwadi Party fort.

The BJP rewarded Kaushal Kishore by appointing him as Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs in July 2021.

As for Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni, his son Ashish Mishra is the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case of October 3, 2021 in which eight people were killed and several injured.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rajesh Kumar Singh Rajesh Kumar Singh is a special correspondent at HT Lucknow. He covers State Home Department, State Police, Central police agencies,BSP, Health Department, UP Chief Electoral Officer, Irrigation Department, Mining and, Lokayukta. ...view detail
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has granted bail to former superintendent of Chitrakoot district jail, who was arrested for allegedly facilitating the illegal meeting between Mau MLA Abbas Ansari (son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari) and his wife Nikhat Bano. During investigation, it was discovered that Nikhat used to meet Abbas inside the jail for three to four hours every second or third day. Her visits were facilitated by local jail authorities, and not logged in the jail register.

A single-judge bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi approved the bail plea of Ashok Kumar Sagar on August 29. He was in prison since March 6 this year.

Appearing on behalf of the applicant, advocate Amit Chaudhary argued before the court that all charges levelled against the jail superintendent were fabricated and he was wrongly implicated in the case.

Deputy jailor Chandrakala was in-charge of facilitating the meeting of prison inmates and visitors, said Chaudhary. Jailor Santosh Kumar was in-charge of the barrack in which Abbas Ansari was lodged, he added.

However, deputy jailor Piyush Pandey was in charge as Santosh Kumar was on leave from February 8, 2023. Pandey was made a witness in the case, Chaudhary pointed out.

Nikhat was arrested on February 11 this year from the VVIP guest room adjacent to the jailors office inside the Chitrakoot jail.

During investigation, it was discovered that she used to meet Abbas inside the jail for three to four hours every second or third day. Her visits were facilitated by local jail authorities, and not logged in the jail register.

Abbas Ansari was relocated to the Kasganj district jail after the incident came to light.

Seven persons were arrested in the case, including Nikhat. The Supreme Court granted her bail on August 11.

Abbas father, gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, is serving a jail sentence and faces trial in multiple cases as part of a crackdown ordered by chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Abbas was himself arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in November 2022 in connection with a money laundering case.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested Naresh Goyal, founder of the grounded private airline, Jet Airways, after questioning him for several hours as part of its money-laundering investigation related to an alleged bank fraud of around 538.62 crore. The CBI registered its case based upon a complaint in November 2022 from Canara Bank, Mumbai. The case, registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act, related to the alleged offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct against the accused for causing the bank a loss of  538.62 crore. (HT PHOTO)

Goyal was brought to the city from Delhi by an ED team on Friday afternoon. Goyal was in Delhi to attend a court hearing related to a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office when an ED team asked him to accompany them to Mumbai for questioning, sources said. He was placed under arrest at around 11 pm after being questioned for over six hours in the agencys office in Worli. He will be produced in the PMLA court on Sunday for remand by the agency. The agency had twice summoned him for questioning in the case earlier, but he had not allegedly appeared, citing certain emergencies, the sources said.

The EDs money-laundering case is based upon a May 3 First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Jet Airways (India) Limited (JIL), Goyal, his wife Anita and former company executive Gaurang Ananda Shetty and unknown public servants and private persons in connection with the alleged fraud at Canara Bank. The agency had on July 19 carried out searches in connection with the case at seven locations in Mumbai and one location in Delhi.

The CBI registered its case based upon a complaint in November 2022 from Canara Bank, Mumbai. The case, registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act, related to the alleged offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct against the accused for causing the bank a loss of 538.62 crore.

The bank alleged that it had sanctioned credit limits and loans to JIL to the tune of 848.86 crore, of which 538.62 crore was outstanding. The loan account was declared an alleged fraud in July 2021.

The bank had alleged that the forensic audit conducted in the accounts of Jet Airways (India) Ltd revealed alleged fraudulent features like diversion and siphoning of funds. It was also alleged that funds were diverted through Jet Lite (India) Limited. As per the sample agreement of JIL, it was noted that the expenses of the General Sales Agents (GSA) were to be borne by GSA itself and not by JIL. However, it was observed that JIL has paid various expenses amounting to 403.27 crore, which is not in tune with the GSA, the banks complaint, which is a part of the CBI FIR, alleged. It also alleged that personal expenses, including the staff salaries and phone bills of the Goyal family, were handled by the firm.

The bank alleged that the accuseds transactions pointed towards cheating, misappropriation of funds by the borrower and siphoning of funds borrowed from the bank towards utilisation for purposes unrelated to the operations of the borrower, to the detriment of the financial health of the entity and/or the lender.

In February, the Bombay high court had quashed a money-laundering case lodged by the ED against Goyal and his wife based on a Mumbai police case to probe charges of cheating and forgery on a complaint from Akbar Travels.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan had quashed the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report or the ED equivalent of an FIR) registered in February 2020 and all proceedings against the Goyals on the ground of being illegal and contrary to law. The court order came after the police filed a closure report, stating that they had found no substance in the complaint and the dispute seemed to be civil in nature.

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Mumbai: Referring to the foundation day of the Indian National Congress on December 28, 1885, in Bombay, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that Maharashtra is the nucleus of Congress and appealed to party workers to strengthen the organisation in the state. He added that PM Modi aims to win elections and defeat Congress with the help of Adanis money and misusing the institutions. But that will not happen. What happened in Karnataka will be repeated in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and even in Maharashtra. In the Lok Sabha elections, INDIA alliance will defeat the BJP, Gandhi said. (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

He also remarked that if the powerful British empire in India failed to finish off Congress, then how would prime minister Narendra Modi do it in this era?

Congress was founded at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay, with 72 delegates in attendance.

Gandhi, who was in Mumbai for two days to attend the INDIA coalition meeting, visited Tilak Bhavan, headquarters of Maharashtra Congress in central Mumbai, on Friday evening. State Congress leaders felicitated him for emerging victorious in the disqualification case.

While slamming Modis slogan of Congress Mukt Bharat, Gandhi said, The British, who were the superpower of that time, could not finish Congress, then how can PM Modi do it? Congress defeated the British and was thrown out of India, he said, adding that Maharashtra is the nucleus of the Congress.

The Congress party started here, and it needs to be strengthened here, he remarked. Some people say Congress does not have guts. Then who showed the ground to the BJP in Karnataka? It is the only Congress in Maharashtra which has not split. The reason behind it is the partys ideology. Congress party workers in Maharashtra are like tigers and tigresses. They do not fear anyone, and thats why RSS-BJP is scared of Congress.

He added that PM Modi aims to win elections and defeat Congress with the help of Adanis money and misusing the institutions. But that will not happen. What happened in Karnataka will be repeated in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and even in Maharashtra. In the Lok Sabha elections, INDIA alliance will defeat the BJP, Gandhi said.

Taking a potshot at Adani Group getting the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, Gandhi remarked, Adani wants every big project. Now, they have taken the Dharavi project. It seems they do not understand the Dharavi. Now Congress will explain to them what Dharavi is.

He also criticised the RSS-BJP culture of hatred and said that their party can never agree to hate policy as they believe in humanity and love for each other.

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Tension prevailed in parts of Jalna district in central Maharashtra after police resorted to lathi charge to disperse protestors demanding Maratha reservation. (Twitter/Screengrab)

Police in Antarvali-Sarati village tried to disperse a group of activists sitting on a hunger strike demanding reservations for the Maratha community in education and government jobs.

A group of activists led by Maratha Marcha coordinator Manoj Jarange Patil has been protesting since August 29.

On Friday, a clash broke out between the police and the protesters. Initially, police resorted to firing warning shots in the air to deter the crowd. Later, police resorted to lathi charge to after stones were pelted on police personnel and administrtarion who had gone to pacify the crowd.

Reportedly, 10 to 12 people, including police personnel, are said to have been injured in the incident.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar blamed deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who heads the home department, for the police action.

An incident of torching of a vehicle was also reported on the Dhule-Solapur highway.

Notably, the Maratha community were allocated quotas in the fields of education and government jobs as per the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act of 2018.

However, in 2021, the Supreme Court struck down the order which grants reservations to the Maratha community for violating the 50% limit on reservations and the 102nd Amendment of the Constitution.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday accused opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) of fomenting communal tensions in Dhanpur and Boxanagar constituencies in Tripura where bypolls are scheduled to be held on September 5, and requested the Election Commission to take strict action against opposition leaders who are involved in such activities. For representational purposes only. (PTI File Photo)

CPM leaders are instigating people through their speech during campaigns in the two constituencies. They are trying to provoke people from minority communities about what will happen if the BJP is voted to power. We request the Election Commission to take action against those who are involved in these unprincipled politics, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya told media persons at party headquarters in Agartala.

Targeting the opposition, he alleged that Boxanagar and Dhanpur did see any development for several years during the Left Fronts regime.

Bhattacharya claimed that prominent leaders from opposition parties, including CPM and Congress, are switching over to the BJP.

People are aware that opposition party leaders and activists are joining us. It shows that people are keeping faith in the BJP. Despite the CPM leaders trying hard to instigate voters on communal issues, people are not paying attention to them or getting influenced, Bhattacharya added.

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A 32-year-old woman from Assams Cachar district was arrested on Friday for allegedly drowning her two minor daughters in a pond, police said. Police found the bodies of the two minor children from Kachudaram area of Cachars Sonai on Friday morning. (Representative file image)

Police found the bodies of the two minor children from Kachudaram area of Cachars Sonai on Friday morning.

Additional superintendent of police (SP) of Cachar district, Subrata Sen said that they have detained the mother and registered a case against her under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Also Read: 19-year-old man drowns in Greater Noida village pond, locals blame authority

She has admitted to her crime, and we have arrested her. We are investigating the matter, and she is being interrogated, Sen said.

Police added that the mother had tried to kill herself too.

Police said that the bodies have been sent to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) for postmortem.

If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist.

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In a joint operation, social security cell and crime branch unit of the Pune city police arrested 19 Bangladesh nationals, including 10 women, allegedly staying illegally in a red-light area of Budhwar Peth, on Friday. The accused could not produce valid documents after we raided the place on a tip-off, said police. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

Bharat Jadhav, senior inspector, social security cell of Pune city police, said, The accused could not produce valid documents after we raided the place on a tip-off.

The accused were handed over to the Faraskhana police station who filed a case under the Indian Passport Act and Foreigners Act.

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The Maharashtra governments ambitious move to revamp the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) making it universal and increasing health cover up to 5 lakh still remain on paper. The MPJAY is a flagship cashless health insurance scheme of the Government of Maharashtra that started in 2012. At present, it is available at 966 hospitals (government and private) in the state and 67 hospitals, (55 private and 12 government) in the Pune district. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

Even after a month, the health cover for free medical treatment under the scheme remains 1.5 lakh and is restricted to eligible patients.

The MPJAY is a flagship cashless health insurance scheme of the Government of Maharashtra that started in 2012. At present, it is available at 966 hospitals (government and private) in the state and 67 hospitals, (55 private and 12 government) in the Pune district.

The state government on July 28 issued a general resolution making the scheme universal and will cover  2.72 crore families across the state, instead of the earlier 2.20 crore families falling under various income categories.

Also, a major decision to provide free medical treatment under the MPJAY scheme worth up to  5 lakh instead of the earlier limit of 1.5 lakh was taken. However, even today the scheme remains restricted to the eligible population with a cover limited to 1.5 lakh, informed the officials.

A senior official, requesting anonymity, said, The work to make changes in the scheme is under process and soon the health cover will be increased to 5 lakh and universal making all citizens of the state eligible for the scheme.

The state government is in the process of signing a new memorandum of understanding with the insurance company. Once the new agreement is signed the new changes will be applicable to the scheme, said the officials.

Sharad Shetty, health activist, said, not just the amount of coverage for the entire family but even the sum assured for renal transplant increased to 4.5 lakh from 2.5 lakh remains on paper.

Also, the 360 new procedures that were added to the scheme much in demand remain on paper. This is leading to a lot of inconveniences to the hapless patients who are forced to run from pillar to post, he said.

Shetty, said, the government should have completed the agreement with the insurance company before releasing the general resolution. Now the patients unaware of the amendments just been on paper are turned back by the hospitals.

There is a huge waiting list for Kidney transplant patients and many families had a ray of hope that increasing the amount of cover for renal transplant to 4.5lakh under the scheme will help them undergo the transplant but all in vain, he said.

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Netflixs One Piece adaptation has received a high audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, breaking the curse of the streaming services previous anime adaptations. Netflixs One Piece won over fans and critics(Netflix)

The show is based on the popular manga by Eiichiro Oda, which has also been adapted into a successful anime series by Toei Animation. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy (Inaki Godoy) and his pirate crew, who are searching for a legendary treasure of Golden Rodger One Piece that will make Luffy the greatest pirate captain of all time.

The show has been praised by critics, earning a Certified Fresh 81% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. But more importantly, it has also won over the fans, who have given it a stellar 94% audience score, based on more than 2,500 user reviews.

ALSO READ| One Piece Live Action series sets sail with mixed reactions from fans

This is a remarkable achievement, considering Netflixs history of disappointing anime fans with its live-action adaptations, such as Death Note and Cowboy Bebop.

One of the reasons why One Piece has succeeded where others have failed is that it has stayed faithful to the source material, while also making it accessible to new viewers.

The show covers the early chapters of Luffys journey, but also hints at the larger One Piece world that longtime fans are familiar with. The show also had the advantage of having Oda himself as a creative consultant, who had the power to request reshoots that matched his vision.

One Piece has not only set a new standard for Netflixs anime adaptations, but also created a lot of excitement for the future of the platforms anime projects.

While there is no confirmation of a second season yet, the positive reception indicates that there is a strong demand for more of Straw Hat Crews saga.

ALSO READ| One Piece Live-Action drops on Netflix: Does it stay true to the original manga?

Plus, with One Piece breaking Netflixs bad streak of anime adaptations, there is more hope for upcoming projects, such as the Duffer Brothers new Death Note adaptation and My Hero Academia movie.

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Vijay Varma schooled paparazzi for crossing the line as photographers at Mumbai airport recently teased him about his rumoured Maldives holiday with actor-girlfriend Tamannaah Bhatia. In a recent interview with News18, Tamannaah opened up about being in the limelight for her personal life, ever since June, when she had confirmed she was dating her Lust Stories co-star Vijay Varma. Also read: Vijay Varma on if his relationship with Tamannaah Bhatia was a publicity stunt Tamannaah Bhatia and Vijay Varma at the Lust Stories 2 premiere in Mumbai in June. (File Photo/ Varinder Chawla)

Tamannaah reacts to attention on her relationship

The actor told the portal about the focus on her relationship with Vijay Varma, People say things and sometimes it hurts as it comes from some people who know you, but in the end what matters is what you say to yourself."

She added, So, I have had a very strong demarcation in my career, when it comes to my work and personal life. I have always been a straightforward person who has always spoken my mind and told the truth. Earlier, I would be worried about what my parents would think. However, the beauty is that as I have evolved, they have evolved as well. And I take that as an achievement. I think today, apart from the ill-health of my close ones, nothing else robs me of my happiness.

Vijay schools paparazzi

Recently, videos of the actor returning from his alleged Maldives vacation with Tamannaah surfaced on social media. Both Vijay and Tamannaah were spotted at Mumbai airport around the same time, but they exited the airport gate separately.

While Tamannaah stayed mum, when asked about Vijay by the paparazzi, the latter was upset after a paparazzo asked him, Maldives ke samandar ke maaze leke aye ho (You have returned after enjoying the Maldives)?" Vijay had said in response before getting into his car, Iss tarah ki baat nahi kar sakte aap (You can't talk to me like that)."

Since Tamannaah confirmed her relationship with Vijay in an interview with Film Companion in June, the duo has been commenting on each others posts on social media and also opening up about their relationship in interviews. Tamannaah had told Film Companion about Vijay, "He is someone I really look up to. He is someone with whom I bonded very very organically. He is someone who came to me with all his guard down. Then, it became very easy for me to put all my guard down... He's a person who I care about deeply and yeah, hes my happy place.

Their recent projects

Tamannaah was last seen in Disney+ Hotstar's Aakhri Sach. She played the lead investigator in the show, which is said to be based on the 2018 Burari case. Before this, she was seen alongside Rajinikanth in the blockbuster film Jailer, which was released on August 10.

Vijay was last seen in JioCinema's show Kaalkoot. He will soon be seen alongside Kareena Kapoor and Jaideep Ahlawat in the Netflix thriller Jaane Jaan, which is directed by Sujoy Ghosh.

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The 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival has begun amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, which would mean less spotlight glittering red carpet shenanigans and modest star power at the Lido. Still, one of the most important and respected film festivals in the world, it will run from 30 August to 9 September 2023. Given the impressive array of international titles in the lineup this year, here are 10 picks that we can't wait to watch. (Also read: Stranger Things to Deadpool 3: List of movies and web series put on hold due to the SAG-AFTRA strike) Venice Film Festival 2023 lineup includes films from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sofia Coppola and Yorgos Lanthimos.

1. Stolen: Indias sole entry at the Venice Film Festival this year is this 90 minute-long film that will be showcased at the World Premiere section. Starring Abhishek Banerjee, Stolen tells the gripping tale of a five-month-old baby abducted from her mother, a downtrodden woman named Jhumpa Mahato. It is directed by debutant filmmaker Karan Tejpal.

2. The Killer : David Fincher returns to form with this psychological action thriller starring Michael Fassbender as a globe-trotting professional hitman who fears hes losing his mind the longer he waits for his next target. Based on the French graphic novel series by Alexis Nolent and adapted by screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, The Killer also stars Tilda Swinton and Charles Parnell. Fight Club and Seven stars have reason to rejoice.

3. Priscilla : If you thought last year that Baz Luhrmann's biopic on Elvis starring Austin Butler was the definitive spotlight on the King of Rock and Roll, then wait till Sofia Coppola corrects that standpoint with her Priscilla, starring Jacob Elordi as Elvis. But this is a story told through the perspective of his wife, Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (played by Cailee Spaeny) and is based on her 1985 memoir Elvis and Me.

4. Evil Does Not Exist : Secrecy surrounds Ryusuke Hamaguchi's next, that quietly popped out in the main competition lineup this year. The Japanese director's last feature, Drive My Car vowed Cannes a few years ago and went on to claim Oscars glory. Evil Does Nor Exist Anymore tells the story of a big Tokyo corporation that plans to build camp accommodation near the village where the protagonist lives. Yet the populace who live there are not ready to leave their home so soon.

5. Origin : Ava DuVernay has already made history by becoming the first Black woman to ever be selected for the Venice Film Festival's Official Competition and eyeing the top prize, the Golden Lion. Based on the 2020 bestseller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Pulitzer Prize-winning Isabel Wilkerson, Origin stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor stars as Wilkerson and Jon Bernthal as her husband Brett to take on the subjects of racism and class.

6. El Conde : Chilean director Pablo Larrain is back to the Lido after premiering a bunch of his psychological dramas including Jackie and Spencer, with his next billed as a black comedy horror film, titled El Conde. This time, the director focuses on Chilean military commander Augusto Pinochet, and the years surrounding the orchestrated coup to seize power over President Salvador Allende. The only twist here? Pinochet is a 250-year old vampire living in a rundown rural mansion after faking his death.

7. Maestro : Will Bradley Cooper's prosthetic nose finally inch him closer to Oscars glory? The nine-time nominee returns after A Star is Born to write and direct the highly-anticipated biopic Maestro, taking on the role of acclaimed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. Carey Mulligan stars as his partner Felicia Montealegre. Reports added that Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg were initially attached to direct the film, until Spielberg handpicked Bradley for the part. It releases on Netflix on December 20, 2023.

8. Poor Things : If the trailer and poster releases are anything to go by, trust Yorgos Lanthimos to do no wrong. The Greek auteur teams with The Favourite's Emma Stone to direct a surreal science-fantasy feature based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray. Stone stars as Bella Baxter, who is brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist by the name Dr. Godwin Baxter, played by Willem Dafoe. Expectations are sky high on this one!

9. The Beast : Although Gabrielle (Lea Seydoux) wishes to be rid of emotions, she meets Louis (George MacKay), and together their whirlwind relationship threatens to spill matters out of proportion. Loosely based on Henry James famous novella, The Beast sees writer-director Bertrand Bonello expand the character's universe from the Paris floods of 1910 to the future in 2044. This one has got us intrigued!

10. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar : Wes Anderson is back just a few months after the release of this year's Asteroid City, that premiered at Cannes to much acclaim. Premiering out of competition at Venice, the short film sees the whimsical director try an adaptation of the Roald Dahl short story. Cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar, Ralph Fiennes as Roald Dahl, along with Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Rupert Friend and Richard Ayoade.
50 Cent during his recent show in Los Angeles, threw his broken microphone in frustration into the crowd, hitting a concert-goer with the mic on the head. Variety said in a report that the rapper might be in serious legal trouble after the incident, which took place during his Final Lap tour stop at Cryto.com Arena in LA on August 30. Moreover, TMZ also reported that 50 Cent was a suspect in a criminal felony battery report after US radio host, Bryhana Monegain, the woman he hit, filed a police report. Also read: Cardi B hurls her mic at fan who threw drink at her during concert 50 Cent throws microphone into crowd at LA concert (left), strikes fan who has been identified as US radio host Bryhana Monegain (right).

50 Cent's video goes viral

Videos of the rapper on stage from the LA concert, which started surfacing soon after he wrapped up the gig, showed a frustrated 50 Cent hurling his microphone into the crowd, not once but twice. He was reportedly upset because the microphones were not working. He threw the first one with little force, but when the second microphone also failed, he launched it into the audience with more force.

Special guests, including YG, were performing on stage at the time when 50 Cent hit an audience member. Images of the alleged victim, Bryhana Monegain, have been doing the rounds on social media and show her with an open wound on her forehead, and bloody towels wrapped around her neck.

What 50 Cent's attorney said

Scott Leemon, an attorney for 50 Cent, said in a statement, as per Variety, Lets be very clear, as I told LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) this afternoon (August 31), my client Curtis would never intentionally strike anyone with a microphone. Anyone saying something different doesnt have all the facts and is misinformed.

Who is Bryhana Monegain?

Law enforcement sources were quoted as saying by TMZ that they believe 50 Cent threw the mic at his crew in the production area and hit the victim. The alleged victim reportedly told police that the rapper looked directly at her before throwing the mic, and so, according to Bryhana Monegain, he knew she was there. Bryhana, who works as radio host with Power 106, went to the hospital with a laceration on her head, added the report.

50 Cent follows in the footsteps of Cardi B

Cardi B was recently involved in a similar incident in which she angrily tossed her mic at a fan. In that instance, however, she threw the mic at a man, who threw a drink at her during a Las Vegas show. The mic ricocheted off something and hit another person standing nearby. That person had then filed a police report, but Cardi was cleared.

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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
A 30-year-year old man Vinay Srivastva was found dead at Union minister Kaushal Kishores family house in Begariya Khal area under Thakurganj Police station of Lucknow early on Friday. Lucknow police are probing the mysterious death of a man at Union minister Kaushal Kishores family home in the city. (Representative image)

The victim is said to be a friend of minister Kaushal Kishores son Vikas Kishore and a pistol recovered from the scene of crime is said to be licensed in his name.

An FIR is being registered after a complaint was filed by the deceaseds brother Vikas Srivastava who has alleged his brother was murdered, said Rahul Raj, deputy commissioner of police, south district.

The young man had injury marks on his head. A pistol has also been found, Raj said, adding that the pistol is said to belong to Kishore, the ministers son.

Also Read: Could not save him: Union ministers emotional appeal after losing son to alcohol

The sequence of events and reason for the murder is being ascertained, Raj said.

Police and forensic teams have reached the spot. The licensed revolver was also recovered by the team and sent for examination, the DCP said.

Initial investigation revealed that at least six persons had come to the ministers sons house on Thursday night and partied till late. What happened subsequently is still not clear.

We are looking into the CCTV footage to investigate the matter, said DCP.

According to Kishore, who is the minister of state for housing and urban affairs, his son was not present in the house when the incident took place. Kaushal said his son has been in Delhi since Thursday and will be reaching Lucknow soon.

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ISRO Chairman S Somanath has said that the space agency is ready for the September 2 launch of the country's ambitious solar mission, Aditya-L1 and that the countdown for its launch will start tomorrow. Preparations in the final phase for India's maiden solar mission, Aditya L1 onboard the PSLV-C57, ahead of its launch on Sept. 2.(PTI)

The mission is scheduled to be launched on September 2 at 11.50 am from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.

Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed for providing remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the earth.

It will be the first dedicated Indian space mission for observations of the Sun to be launched by the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency.
S Somanath of the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO visited the Sri Chengalamma Parameshwari temple in Andhra Pradesh's Sullurpeta on Friday, a day before the launch of the Aditya-L1 solar mission, and prayed for its success. Somanath visited the temple at 7.30am and offered prayers to the deity, said a temple official, news agency PTI reported. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath speaks to the media on the Chandrayaan-3 Mission in Chennai on Thursday. (ANI)

Talking to reporters, the ISRO chief said the Aditya-L1 mission will be launched at 11.50am on Saturday. He added that the solar mission is for studying the Sun and it will take 125 days to reach the exact radius.

After the Sun observatory mission, the ISRO will launch various others, including SSLV - D3 and PSLV, in the coming days, he said.

Also follow | Aditya L1 Mission Live Updates

"Next launch is Aditya L1, then by October-mid Gaganyaan in-flight crew escape system demo TV-D1, then GSLV INSAT 3DS, then SSLV-D3, then PSLV, then LVM3 and so on..." Somanath replied when asked about the ISRO's new missions.

PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 Mission: The 23-hour 40-minute countdown leading to the launch at 11:50 Hrs. IST on September 2, 2023, has commended today at 12:10 Hrs, the ISRO, meanwhile, wrote on X (formally Twitter) on Friday.

The launch can be watched LIVE on ISRO Website https://isro.gov.in Facebook https://facebook.com/ISRO YouTube https://youtube.com/watch?v=_IcgGYZTXQw DD National TV channel from 11:20 Hrs. IST, it added.

On being asked about the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission, Somanath said everything was working well.

Highlights of ISRO's upcoming and past missions:

ADITYA-L1

Slated for launch on Saturday, September 2, the Aditya-L1 (Aditya is a name for the sun in the Hindi language) is the first Indian space mission to study the Sun.

The spacecraft will be placed in an orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, about 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) from Earth, where the gravitational effects of both bodies cancel each other out. That "parking lot" in space allows objects to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption by the spacecraft.

The mission aims to observe solar activities and their effects on space weather in real time. In 2019, the government sanctioned the equivalent of about $46 million for the Aditya-L1 mission. The ISRO has not given an official update on costs.

GAGANYAAN

India's first crewed space mission ("Gagan" means sky in Hindi, "yaan" is craft) plans to launch a crew of three to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission before landing in Indian waters.

The ISRO has said its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre had successfully tested systems for stabilising the crew module and safely reducing its velocity during re-entry.

Earlier this year, the deputy minister for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, said about 90.23 billion rupees ($1.08 billion) had been allocated for the Gaganyaan programme. The ISRO said it will focus on achieving a sustained human presence in space once Gaganyaan is completed.

No official kickoff date has been announced so far.

NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) SATELLITE

NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) is a low-Earth orbit observatory system jointly developed by NASA and ISRO. NISAR will map the entire planet once every 12 days, providing data for understanding changes in ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, ground water and natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.

Roughly the size of an SUV, the satellite is set to be launched from India in the first quarter of next year, with a target launch set for January.

X-RAY POLARIMETER SATELLITE (XPoSat)

India is also building its first dedicated polarimetry mission to study cosmic X-ray sources.

The mission is aimed at unfolding new frontiers in high-energy astrophysics and will allow in-depth investigations of neutron stars and black hole sources. The ISRO has not set a launch date for this mission yet.

PAST MISSIONS

Chandrayaan-3: On August 23, India became the first country to safely land a craft in the Moon's south pole region. The mission is ongoing, with the ISRO saying its rover had confirmed the presence of sulphur, iron, oxygen and other elements on the moon.

Chandrayaan-2: In 2019, the ISRO launched its second moon mission, its first attempt to study the lunar south pole. The mission included an orbiter, lander and rover, and was launched amid high expectations. Although it deployed the orbiter successfully, the lander crashed.

Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM): In 2013, ISRO became the fourth space agency to put a spacecraft in the Mars orbit. MOM, which had a projected mission time of only six months, did not lose contact with ground controllers until 2022.

Chandrayaan-1: India's first mission to the Moon was launched successfully in 2008. The satellite made more than 3,400 orbits around the moon and confirmed the presence of water ice on the moon; the mission concluded when communication with the spacecraft was lost on Aug. 29, 2009.

(With inputs from PTI, Reuters)

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The second and the last day of the opposition alliance INDIA's meeting in Mumbai was marked with significant developments as a decision on seat sharing was taken. Amid the opposition parties' resolve to fight together 'as much as possible', the BJP continued its attack on INDIA while in a major development former Congress leader who had left the party, Kapil Sibal, attended the meeting. In the group photo, he stood on the side, not amid the top leaders of the Congress. Rahul Gandhi in conversation with Uddhav Thackeray during INDIA alliance meet on Friday.

INDIA alliance meeting: Here are the top takeaways:

1. Setting up of committees

Several committees were set up which from now on will take up different issues. The seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately in a collaborative spirit of give and take.

2. No logo launched

It was highly speculated that INDIA group will launch its logo in the third meeting in Mumbai. But the logo was not launched and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said there would be more discussions on the issue. The BJP claimed the INDIA leaders could not come to agreement over logo. "No surprise here! When have they ever agreed on anything before," BJP said in a tweet.

3. Early election?

INDIA bloc set the ball moving for the election with the formation of the top committee amid speculations of early elections. The five-day special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22 has triggered these speculations. "There is no certainty, but elections can be held early, so we've to remain alert and be prepared. we have discussed this," Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said.

4. Nitish Kumar Hoppenheimer

The BJP called Nitish Kumar Hoppenheimer, in a wordplay on Oppenheimer as Nitish Kumar said he is not in the race for the PM post. "Riveting story of a chief minister who switched sides 5 times to keep his chair. Starring Nitish Kumar as Hoppenheimer the professional party hopper," the BJP's satirical poster read,

5. No welcome to Bhagwant Mann

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chandha accompanied AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to the two-day meeting. The BJP shared a video of the three entering the venue and only Kejriwal being welcomed. BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, "Pretty sad to see how Punjab CM was treated. Was welcome team instructed by AAP leaders that only Kejriwal should be welcomed & not Punjab CM as Kejriwal is Super CM of Punjab & non-working CM of Delhi?"

6. Kejriwal says 'desperate attempts...'

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in his statement after the two-day meet said there are desperate attempts to show infighting in INDIA. But all opposition parties are together and no leader is in the alliance for the PM post, Kejriwal added.

7. Sibal's first attendance

Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal was present at the meeting on Friday. Reports claimed Kapil Sibal's attendance created a flutter as senior Congress leaders were not happy about Sibal attending the meeting. But Congress top leadership apparently had no problem with Sibal joining the meeting, though Sibal was not seen along with the Congress leaders in the group photo.

8. 'Differences being ironed out'

Rahul Gandhi in his statement said INDIA leaders have differences among them but these meetings are building rapport and bringing them together. There is increased flexibility among the leaders with differences being ironed out, Rahul Gandhi said

9. 'Ready to compromise'

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said there will be no problem with seat sharing in the states as the parties are ready to compromise for the bigger cause of defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

10. 'Prepare for more ED raids'

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the opposition leaders should be prepared for more ED raids because of the government's vendetta politics.

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Congress MP Rahul Gandhi addressing the party workers in Mumbai on Friday asked how can PM Modi make India 'Congress-mukt' something that even the British could not do. "England was the superpower of the world at that time like America today is. They could not make India free from Congress. Instead, the Congress drove them out of the country. But Modiji thinks his relationship with Adani will be able to obliterate the Congress. Like he thinks that Adani's money can erase the Congress," Rahul Gandhi said. Read | 'Impossible for BJP to win because...' Rahul Gandhi from INDIA alliance stage Rahul Gandhi commented on Adani Group's Dharavi Redevelopment Project as he addressed party workers in Mumbai.

"All of you must have seen the headline of the world's largest financial newspaper which claimed that 1 billion dollars went from India to other countries and then came back. The report said Modiji has a deep and old tie with Adani. The entire country is understanding. The money goes from here, the share prices of Adani Group increase. Then the money comes and with that Adani ji buys airports. And now he is dreaming to come to Dharavi. Does he even know what Dharavi is and what Dharavi people are. The Congress will make him understand in some time," Rahul Gandhi said taking a swipe at the Adani Group's Dharavi Redevelopment Project.

'BJP ki pitai Karnataka mein kaun kiya?'

"If the Congress party is finished, then who defeated the BJP in Karnataka? Which is the only party in Maharashtra standing tall? Our party in the state did not break, right? Because our party is of ideologies. It's not like other parties. All Congressis have the same blood in their veins -- of fearlessness. This is a party of lions and lionesses. I have seen Congressis don't get scared," Rahul Gandhi said.

Mocking at PM Modi and the BJP members in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said Congress members, though not shown much on television, smile and laugh in Parliament, but the BJP members are always 'grumpy'. "They don't know how to live," Rahul Gandhi said. Rahul Gandhi addressed the party workers in Mumbai after the two-day meeting of the opposition alliance. In the meeting, it was decided that seat-sharing among the parties will be addressed immediately.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Poulomi Ghosh Poulomi Ghosh is a journalist with Hindustan Times, New Delhi. ...view detail
With the elections to the Telangana state assembly nearing, the Congress is gearing up for a massive show of strength in Hyderabad by holding a public rally on September 17, which will be preceded by the first meeting of the newly-constituted Congress Working Committee (CWC), people familiar with the matter said. As per the proposal put forth by the TPCC to the high command, the CWC will hold its first meeting in Hyderabad on September 16. (Hindustan Times)

We had put forth a proposal before All India Congress Committee [AICC] president Mallikarjun Kharge during his visit to Telangana last week. A formal letter was also written to the high command later, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) official spokesperson B Ayodhya Reddy told HT.

The PCC spokesperson said the high command responded positively to the proposal and indicated to the PCC to make arrangements. However, we are yet to get the official confirmation, as we understand there are similar requests from the PCCs in other poll-bound states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Reddy said.

The latest developments of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government calling for a special session of Parliament may affect the plans of the party holding the CWC meeting, followed by a public rally at Hyderabad, he said.

As per the proposal put forth by the TPCC to the high command, the CWC will hold its first meeting in Hyderabad on September 16. It will be a major event for the party, as all top leaders of the party including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and chief ministers of various Congress-ruled states will attend it, Reddy said.

On September 17, the PCC is planning to hold a huge public rally at Secunderabad Parade Grounds which would be addressed by Sonia Gandhi. The day also holds historical significance as it was on this day that Hyderabad was merged with Indian Union in 1948. Sonia, with whose initiative the Telangana state had become a reality in 2014, would make a fervent appeal to the people to bless the Congress which granted separate statehood to the region, the PCC spokesman said.

Since all the CWC members would be present on the dais, the PCC would make unprecedented arrangements for the meeting. It is going to be a massive show of strength by the party. On the same day, the PCC will announce its five promises to the people of Telangana, as was done during the Karnataka assembly elections, Reddy said.

As per the schedule, more than 100 Congress leaders from different parts of the country would tour all over Telangana to kickstart the election campaign from September 18. However, the entire schedule depends on the special Parliament sessions and the party high commands decision, he said, adding that if there is any change in the programme at the last moment, it would be rescheduled to a later date this month.

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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
The voters of Puthuppally Assembly constituency, who will exercise their democratic choice in a by-election scheduled on September 5, were witness to a unique father-son political face-off on Friday. Senior Congress leader A.K. Antony with his wife Elizabeth Antony meets former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy's wife Mariamma Ummen and son Chandy Oommen, in Kottayam on Friday. (PTI)

Veteran Congress leader and former union defence minister AK Antony and his son Anil Antony, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary, were both in the constituency to campaign for their respective party candidates. While they were not seen or photographed together, it was the first time the father-son duo campaigned in an election on opposite ends of the political spectrum.

While Antony continues to be a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest party decision-making body, he has retired from active politics and resides in Thiruvananthapuram. His son Anil, who earlier headed the Congress digital cell in Kerala, jumped ship to join the BJP in April this year and was subsequently elevated as the partys national secretary and spokesperson on Thursday.

On Friday, the Congress leader paid respects to former chief minister Oommen Chandy, whose death necessitated the bypoll in Puthuppally, and visited the latters family residence. He was seen interacting with Chandys widow Mariamma and his son Chandy Oommen, who is the Congress candidate in Puthuppally.

Later at an election campaign meeting, Antony remembered Oommen Chandy, his friend of over six decades.

In 1962, I met Oommen Chandy for the first time. I would visit his home in Puthuppally and meet his father and mother. I and Oommen Chandy travelled everywhere together, both in Kerala and outside. There are no secrets that we havent shared. We would discuss everything. I have not had a close friend like Oommen Chandy and I know I will never have one again. Only after him, do others have a place in my heart, Antony said recollecting memories of his friendship with Chandy.

The Congress leader also lashed out at the Communist Party of India (Marxist), accusing it of harassing Chandy when he was alive and even after his death. The voters of Puthuppally should not forgive the Marxist party which hunted and caused pain to Oommen Chandy. The public of this constituency should punish them. Their candidate should suffer a big defeat. Chandy Oommen should be given a resounding win, Antony appealed.

At the same time, a few kilometres away, Anil Antony addressed neighbourhood meetings and engaged in door-to-door campaigning for the BJP candidate Ligin Lal.

When asked about him and his father campaigning for polar opposite parties, Anil told a local TV channel, This is not a personal contest. This is a political contest between three parties. I dont discuss politics [with my father] but we belong to the same family. We follow different political ideas.

While Chandy and Ligin are the Congress and BJP nominees in Puthuppally, the CPI(M) has fielded Jaick C Thomas, who has unsuccessfully contested the seat twice. Elections in Puthuppally will be held on September 5 and counting of votes will be conducted on September 8.

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Holding simultaneous elections would be ideal as well as desirable, but a workable formula is required to be provided in the Constitution, the Law Commission of India concluded in its draft report in August 2018, citing detailed discussions. A woman voting in Assam. (AP)

The report said the Election Commission of India (ECI) has supported the idea and projected logistical and financial requirements for conducting simultaneous elections. It added the ECIs analysis of financial implications, logistical issues, the effect of the Model Code of Conduct, and constitutional and legal provisions point to the fact that there is a feasibility of restoring simultaneous elections as they existed during the first two decades of independence.

The Union government has constituted a panel led by former President Ram Nath Kovind to study the one nation, one election proposal. The panel will explore the feasibility and the mechanism of going back to having Lok Sabha and state assembly polls simultaneously. These polls were held together until 1967.

The Law Commission called for appropriately addressing the issues of democracy, basic structure, federalism, etc. Care has also been taken to ensure that the rights of the citizens are not compromised in any manner. Free and fair election is an essential part of a democracy. Even today, premature dissolution of House(s) and mid-term polls are frequent in the country.

It added holding simultaneous elections by no means affects the democratic set-up of India. The right to vote or contest elections are statutory/constitutional rights and in no manner could be fundamental rights. Thus, even by the stretch of the imagination, it cannot be argued that holding simultaneous elections would adversely interfere with the basic structure of the Constitution.

The commission said the process of simultaneous elections does not alter any of the entries on the three lists (over the division of power between the Union and States) contained in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. It added it does not interfere with the legislative competence of the Centre or the States.

The Law Commission said the contention that the simultaneous polls would tinker with the concept of federalism is devoid of any merit. Therefore, the Commission comes to the inescapable conclusion that restoring simultaneous elections will, in no way, affect the basic structure of the Constitution, democracy, and the quasi-federal nature of the Constitution.

The commission noted that the intent of the government of the day is often questioned whenever it comes to a major change in the system and that this was also true with regard to the idea of simultaneous elections. There have been allegations and accusations in the media that such a move is politically motivated.

The commission cited its study that looked into these allegations and concluded that the intent of the legislature(s), as and when a statute is enacted, cannot be questioned. The issues that may come in the way of simultaneous elections to the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies have been examined by the Commission in detail. The Commission widely studied the subject and suggests the ways to (i) achieve synchronisation by constitutional and legal amendments to be carried out; (ii) ensure [the] stability of the Central and State Governments; and (iii) continue with the cycle of simultaneous elections, once synchronisation is achieved.

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Bengaluru: Former Karnataka minister MP Renukacharya on Friday levelled accusations against BJP general secretary (Organisation), BL Santhosh, alleging his role in sidelining the four-time chief minister of Karnataka, BS Yediyurappa. Renukacharya, who was the former political secretary of BS Yediyurappa, attributed the partys defeat in the Karnataka Assembly elections to Santhosh, claiming that numerous party leaders were denied tickets due to Santhoshs purported ambitions for the chief ministers position. The former Honnali MLA also accused Santhosh of systematically sidelining senior leaders, claiming that Santhoshs ultimate goal was to become the chief minister himself.

Some of our own leaders are responsible for the partys defeat. BS Yediyurappas removal as chief minister was a disaster. The person who chaired the meeting yesterday (BL Santhosh) did not contribute to strengthening the party. He entered the party from the Sangh Parivar in 2006-07 and is attempting to control it. About seven to eight individuals are running the show, he said.

They initially sidelined Yediyurappa, and it was because of his displeasure that the party suffered defeat, Renukacharya added.

Santhosh had convened a meeting of BJP leaders in Bengaluru on August 31 to prepare for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Notably absent from the gathering were former chief ministers BS Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai, along with several MLAs and senior leaders, including Renukacharya.

When asked about his conspicuous absence, Renukacharya said that he would not participate in party meetings until the state BJP withdrew the show-cause notice issued against him for his critical remarks about party leaders.

The former Honnali MLA also accused Santhosh of systematically sidelining senior leaders, claiming that Santhoshs ultimate goal was to become the chief minister himself. Senior leaders were methodically targeted. Lingayat leaders were decimated, starting with BS Yediyurappa, followed by Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi. They even denied a ticket to KS Eshwarappa. He fielded 72 new faces with the intention of becoming chief minister, he added.

Meanwhile, a day after BJP General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh claimed that approximately 45 Congress leaders were in contact with him, former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar responded with ridicule. Shettar advised Santhosh to focus on retaining the partys existing MLAs, suggesting that the BJP was a sinking ship in the state.

During the meeting held on August 31, Santhosh led discussions with state MPs and MLAs in preparation for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. BJP spokesperson MG Mahesh quoted Santhosh as stating that no BJP members would defect while revealing that 40-45 Congress leaders were in touch with him.

In response, MLC Shettar mocked Santhoshs claims and issued a challenge, daring Santhosh to attempt to lure Congress MLAs away, if he believed it was possible. I would like to suggest they first retain the MLAs and former MLAs in the party. BJP is fighting for survival in the state. Who will leave Congress when the government has a solid majority? Let them make some efforts, and if he can take away the MLAs tomorrow, lets see, said Shettar.

When questioned about Santhoshs leadership of the meeting in the absence of the full-time state president and the Opposition leader, Shettar expressed concerns about the state BJPs diminishing influence. I have been informed multiple times that the Karnataka BJP is losing its relevance. The primary reason for this is that the party is under the control of a select few individuals. Unless the party frees itself from their influence, its standing will continue to decline day by day, he said.

Senior BJP leader Basangouda Ramangouda Patil didnt answer questions on Renukacharyas statement, however, said that the focus of the meetings held by the Santosh is to reconstruct the party in the state and they have confidence in him. In at least 12 constituencies we have lost by a margin of fewer than 5,000 votes. So, we have to build from the booth level again. A survey was conducted (ahead of Thursdays meeting), and it was insightful. We are confident, he said.

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NEW DELHI: There is no consensus within the G20 on the Ukraine crisis and the Indian presidency of the grouping faces strong pressure from some countries that have hijacked the agenda, Russian ambassador Denis Alipov said on Friday. Russian ambassador Denis Alipov said a new timetable has been worked out for S-400 air defence systems by Russia because of delays due to the Ukraine conflict

The existing rupee-ruble mechanism established by India and Russia is not working properly because of fears of secondary sanctions and other consequences within the Indian financial community and banks, Alipov said during an interaction at the Foreign Correspondents Club of South Asia.

Alipov also acknowledged delays in the delivery of S-400 air defence systems by Russia because of the Ukraine conflict but said the two sides had worked out a new timetable that is being followed very meticulously.

Also Read: G20 declaration has to reflect Ukraine crisis to remain credible, says US negotiator

Indias G20 presidency is facing strong pressure from some countries which hijacked the agenda by using the Ukraine crisis, Alipov said. He contended that there had been consensus since the creation of the G20 that the bloc should focus on economic and financial matters. Russia doesnt accept the discussion of political issues within the G20 and items on which there is no consensus should be removed so that the grouping can discuss topical matters such as climate change, sustainable development and the financial and food crises, he said.

The success of the G20 rests on some members who insist on non-consensual matters in the agenda, he added.

India is set to host the G20 Summit on September 9-10 and all ministerial meetings held so far have failed to produce joint statements because of divisions on the Ukraine conflict. Alipov said the language used in the leaders declaration at the last G20 Summit in Bali to refer to the Ukraine issue is no longer acceptable to Russia as the text has been overtaken by subsequent developments.

If the West wants reflection of the Ukraine conflict [in the leaders declaration], then it should be open to changes in the para, he said.

Alipov further contended that despite assertions from the West, it is Russia that is open to peace. He said Ukraine had consistently said it doesnt want negotiations while the West continues supplying weapons to the country.

We would welcome any serious proposals or ideas for resolution [of the Ukraine crisis] from India or any other country. India has not proposed any ideas that stand for the quickest resolution or cessation of hostilities, he said.

Referring to the rupee-ruble mechanism for trade that was established some years ago to get around Western sanctions, Alipov said the arrangement is workable but it doesnt work properly because the Indian financial community and banks are reluctant to use it due to fears of secondary sanctions or some other consequences. The US has no leverage to disrupt bilateral transactions in national currencies, but over-cautiousness is the main reason the mechanism is not working, he added.

Asked about the delivery of five S-400 systems contracted for by India, Alipov acknowledged that delays had occurred because of military degradation during the Ukraine conflict. We have agreed mutually on a new timetable, which is being followed very meticulously, he said.

Russia has so far delivered only three S-400 systems and all the deliveries were to have been completed by the end of 2023. The supplies are continuing and will be concluded on time as stipulated in the new agreement, Alipov said without giving details.

Alipov said in response to another question that a possible India-China conflict is a hypothetical matter. We hope that it will never happenRussias position is that our relations with India and our relations with China are very wholesome, he said.

Russia advocates improvement of the relations between India and China but wont interfere in disputes between the two countries, Alipov said. Both India and China have said their boundary issue is a bilateral issue and Russia has abided by that, he added.

Alipov also contended the Russia-India-China mechanism could help build confidence that could be the basis for improving relations. This will certainly happen sooner or later but the sooner the better, he said.

Asked about Chinas new standard map that includes the territory of several countries, Alipov said Russia hasnt formally commented on the matter but pointed out that the map has some discrepancy on the Russian border as well.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rezaul H Laskar Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music. ...view detail
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday hit out at the INDIA alliance and the Congress party in particular. Prasad asked if the party's MP Rahul Gandhi had become the spokesperson of the Chinese establishment. Mr Rahul Gandhi, have you become the spokesperson of the Chinese establishment? The Indian Armed forces have clearly said about what happened in Galwan Valley, but you don't even believe them. What can we expect? Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned. Senior BJP Leader Ravi Shankar Prasad(HT File Photo)

China also funds some of your friends From which all places does your late father's NGO receives funding that we already know Remember your great grandfather Nehru's statements. He said, My heart goes out for Assam, when Chinese defeated the Indian security forces, the BJP leader added.

Rahul Gandhi will himself make India 'Congress Mukt' if he continues to abuse patriots like Savarkar and bat for China, he said.

The BJP leader's statements came after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that he had spoken to the people of Ladakh on the issue of Chinese encroachment on their land.

READ | At INDIA alliance Mumbai meet, Opposition slams Centre's 'one-nation, one-election' move. Top updates

Prasad also slammed the INDIA alliance during his address and said, In the third meeting of the so-called alliance, there was no vision for development of India, no roadmap for the upliftment of poor, no strategy to address concerns of the farmers or women

The Opposition alliance called INDIA met for its third meeting on Thursday and Friday. Speaking at a media briefing post the alliance meeting, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that it was impossible for the BJP to defeat the alliance as it represented 60 per cent of the country's population. "This stage (INDIA alliance) represents 60 per cent of India's population. If the parties in the state unites it is impossible for the BJP to win. The task is to come together in the most efficient way possible," Rahul Gandhi said.

"I am confident that the INDIA alliance will defeat the BJP. The real work in this alliance is the relationships that are forged between leaders of this alliance," he added. Four committees were formed by the grouping during the meet. The Coordination Committee and Election Strategy Committee includes KC Venugopal (INC), Sharad Pawar (NCP), TR Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Raghav Chadha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lalan Singh (JDU), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), and one more member from CPI(M).
The Hyderabad police on Thursday arrested a 24-year-old Pakistani national, who entered India illegally via Kathmandu in Nepal in November 2022, officials familiar with the matter said. The police said a case has been registered in the matter at the Bahadurpura police station. (HT Archives)

Disclosing this to reporters on Friday, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Hyderabad (South Zone) P Sai Chaitanya said the accused has been identified as Faiz Mohammed from Swat village in Shangal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Chaitanya said Faiz had been illegally staying at NM Guda of Kishan Bagh area in Hyderabad without any visa. The police have seized a passport of Pakistan and other documents from his possession, he said.

The DCP said Faiz had gone to Saif Zone, Sharjah in UAE in December 2018 and worked at a garments company in the stitching and finishing department. In 2019, he met Neha Fatima [29] from Asad Baba Nagar colony, Kishanbagh of Hyderabad in Sharjah and helped her get a job at another fashion industry as a tailor, he said.

A few months later, Faiz and Fatima got married and were blessed with a son. In August 2022, Fatima returned to Hyderabad and was staying at Kishan Bagh. Subsequently, her parents  Zubair Shaik and Afzal Begum, called Faiz and asked him to come to India, assuring that they would manage to get him a local identity to stay in India.

On November 13, 2022, Faiz took a flight from Pakistan to Kathmandu via Dubai and from Kathmandu, he entered into India by road without obtaining a valid visa from the concerned authority. Zubair and Afzal picked him up from Nepal border by managing some locals at the border and brought him to their place.

Subsequently, the couple took Faiz to Aadhar office at Madhapur and got him enrolled by the name of Mohd Ghouse, claiming him to be their son by submitting fake birth certificate, Chaitanya said.

However, the police got a tip off from the local residents at Kishan Bagh and took Faiz into custody on Thursday night. Both Zubair and Afzal are absconding and we have launched a manhunt for them, the DCP said, adding that a case has been registered in the matter at the Bahadurpura police station.

The police have seized several documents, including his Fairzs Pakistan passport, Pakistan national identity card, fake birth certificate, copies of the flight tickets from Pakistan to Nepal via Dubai, boarding pass, hotel room receipt at Kathmandu, etc.

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Security in the national capital has been tightened ahead of the 18th Heads of State and Government Summit of G20 nations scheduled on September 9 and 10. Delhi Police has put in place a comprehensive security arrangement considering several dimensions ranging from airport security to deployment at venues and anti-terror measures. Flags of the countries participating in the upcoming G20 Summit put up at the entrance gate Gandhi Darshan Museum.(PTI)

More than half of Delhi Police will be deployed for the event, assisted with troops of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and National Security Guard (NSG). Additionally, Indian armed forces will also provide assistance in specialised measures.

The event will be attended by several significant world leaders including US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida among others.

Here are top updates on India's preparedness for G20 Summit:

Indian Air Force (IAF) has set up a dedicated operations direction centre for coordinating various aspects of the arrangements with security agencies concerned. It is also deploying frontline fighter jets, radars, anti-drone systems and surface-to-air missiles as part of its elaborate efforts to secure the skies of Delhi and neighbouring regions. The trainee commandos of the Delhi Police on Friday conducted a helicopter slithering exercise ahead of the G20 Summit here, officials said. As majority of the security lies with the Delhi Police, the force will make arrangements to deploy special commissioner of police-rank officers as the commander with deputy commissioner of police-rank officials as zonal commander at the venue. Special civilian dress has been designed for all the jawans who will be deployed for the summit in order to give a uniform look. The police will carry out extra vigil at the national capital's borders to prevent any unwarranted entry, while non-essential goods vehicles will not be allowed in the city. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has trained nearly 450 personnel to escort the Heads of States as drivers and personal security officers. Around 60 personnel among drivers have been specially trained for the left-hand drive bullet-proof vehicles for G20. A PSO armed with a sophisticated weapon and driver will be in coat pants. A total of 12 bullet-proof limousines have been leased by the government to escort the leaders. The spouses of the dignitaries will be guarded by specially trained commandoes of Sashastra Seema Bal. IAF spokesperson said the military along with the paramilitary forces will deploy anti-drone systems to prevent aerial threats. Special security arrangements have been made at key hotels that will host the world leaders. "At the hotels, a DCP-rank officer will serve as camp commander. The rest of Delhi will be on high alert," senior Delhi Police officer Madhup Tiwari said at a press briefing.

(With agency inputs)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT News Desk Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail
PM Modi and the BJP are a nexus of corruption and that is the first time the INDIA alliance will demonstrate and prove, Rahul Gandhi said as the two-day meeting of the opposition alliance in Mumbai concluded. It is impossible for the BJP to win the election as the opposition stage, Rahul Gandhi said, represents 60% of the Indian population. "So the task in front of us is to come together in the most efficient way possible. And two major steps have been taken in this regard -- a coordination committee and that we will expedite all seat-sharing discussions. These are two powerful steps in ensuring that the INDIA alliance defeats the BJP," Rahul Gandhi said. Rahul Gandhi addressing the press conference after the two-day opposition alliance meeting in Mumbai ended.

INDIA meet in Mumbai: Here's what happened

"The idea behind Prime Minister Modi's government is to extract money from the poor people and transfer it to a limited few. So we are going to propose a clear path, a development path, a clear set of ideas that will once again involve the poor people, the farmers, the workers in the progress of this country," Rahul Gandhi said.

Kejriwal's 'no fight among us' announcement at INDIA alliance meet: Jabardasti

'Real work of alliance is...': Rahul Gandhi addresses 'conflict' reports

"There are many leaders who are much more senior to me here...the real work in this alliance is the relationships that are forged between the leaders of this alliance. I can say with confidence that these meetings have done a huge to build rapport among the leaders. I can see that there is flexibility among all the leaders in the way we are approaching things. There are differences but I am impressed to see how these differences are being minimised and ironed out," Rahul Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi on China

"I spent a week in Ladakh. I went to Pangong Lake right in front of where the Chinese are. I had a detailed discussion, probably the most detailed discussion any politician outside Ladakh has had with the people of Ladakh. And specifically, the shepherds of Pangong Lake, the leaders of Pangong Lake and the people who live around Pangong Lake categorically told me that China has taken Indian land. They categorically told me that PM Modi is lying that China has not taken Indian land. There is clearly an accommodation that has happened between the government and the Chinese. There is clearly a change in the borders. Our shepherds told me that they are not being allowed into the area where they were earlier allowed. What happened in Ladakh is extremely shameful," Rahul Gandhi said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Poulomi Ghosh Poulomi Ghosh is a journalist with Hindustan Times, New Delhi. ...view detail
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) constituents on Friday resolved to contest the 2024 national elections together as far as possible and said seat-sharing arrangements in states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. (ANI)

In a resolution passed at the groupings third meeting in Mumbai, the INDIA bloc also said they will organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance. The bloc will coordinate communications and media strategies and campaigns with the theme Judega Bharat, Jiteega India [India will unite, win] in different languages.

Leaders from 28 opposition parties gathered in Mumbai on Thursday to hammer out strategies for poll preparations for the first time hours after the government announced a surprise special session of Parliament in September.

HT on Friday reported chief ministers Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar asked the alliance leaders to take quick decisions. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal suggested that seat-sharing talks must start at the state level. Several leaders in the bloc also cautioned against early general elections otherwise due in April-May 2024.

Banerjee suggested that the alliance should identify an agenda comprising five or six issues and start the poll campaign by announcing those issues from Rajghat in Delhi on October 2, HT reported.

The INDIA blocs earlier meetings in Patna and Bengaluru in June and July largely focused on bringing like-minded parties on a common platform and identifying similar ideological positions. The Mumbai meeting was devoted to election planning.

The Mumbai deliberations are the groups first effort at moving beyond symbolism to resolve thorny substantive issues of leadership and political strategy.
Mumbai The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) switched to election mode on Friday, announcing talks on seat-sharing arrangements, key panels, and a public campaign next month, as it attempted to wrest back the political momentum from the government that has set off furious speculation with the surprise declaration of a special session of Parliament in the third week of September. HT Image

A day after the governments decision of the September 18-22 session sparked buzz of a legislative move on simultaneous state and national elections, womens reservation or big-bang announcements, the INDIA group tried to get battle-ready, forming five panels including a 14-member coordination and election strategy committee, and deciding to campaign together for the 2024 elections.

But thorny issues loomed large over the 28-party bloc, which didnt name a convener or unveil a logo  an issue that triggered some disquiet among key constituents, and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee leaving the meeting early sparked speculation though the TMC later said it was just a scheduling issue.

The election campaign might start from Rajghat on October 2, Mahatma Gandhis birth anniversary, with the bloc unveiling its vision on issues such as unemployment, price rise and Centre-state relations, and announce a plan on alternative policies, a member said.

The meeting of the group in Mumbai marked its most productive gathering so far, and a shift away from the ideological issues discussed in earlier events in Patna and Bengaluru, to a road map focused on the next general elections. But several leaders underlined the sense of urgency, saying elections could happen anytime soon  months ahead of schedule  and that INDIA needed to remain alert.

We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible. Seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take, said a resolution passed at the meeting.

The bloc also decided to coordinate among members on political communication and media strategies under the campaign theme Judega Bharat, Jitega India in different languages. Parties will organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance, it added.

Though crucial questions of seat-sharing arrangements and leadership remained unresolved, leaders reminded each other of the need to pick the maximum number of common candidates, remain alert to threats to their unity, and show flexibility as seat pacts and smooth coordination are decisive factors for the group.

The meeting, however, saw some arguments between West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar when the latter suggested that the blocs commitment for a caste census should be highlighted. Banerjee argued that the poll committee should discuss such issues and said she wont support any attempt to link census with religious issues.

We were not together earlier. We could not put common candidates in each seat and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi took the advantage We have arrived at a conclusion and an organisation has been formed. We will start the seat sharing arrangements by accommodating everyone. There will be no hurdle, former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said he was impressed at the way differences were ironed out in the meeting.

We will propose a clear set of ideas to benefit farmers and poor people. The real work in this alliance is the relationship forged between the leaders. I can say the two meetings have helped immensely to build a rapport and we work as one team. There are differences but I can see flexibilities, he said.

In the meeting, leaders agreed to draft the resolution on seat arrangement to reflect the sense of urgency as shown by AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and a number of leaders. Later, CPI(M)s Sitaram Yechury supported Banerjees proposal to make bullet points of the agenda.

Still, the differences were palpable and prevented the group from naming a convener.

The coordination and election strategy committee comprised three former chief ministers  Sharad Pawar, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti  Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav. Congress leader KC Venugopal, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagams TR Baalu, Shiv Senas Sanjay Raut, Trinamool Congresss second in-command Abhishek Banerjee, AAP Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha, Samajwadi Party leader Javed Ali Khan, Janata Dal (United) leader Lallan Singh, and Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja were the other members. The Communist Party of India-Marxist will also have a seat, but its nominee was not announced.

We have put an infrastructure in place. We have committed ourselves to seat sharing. We will unveil our policies on October 2 and start the campaign, said G Devarajan of the Forward Bloc.

A 19-member campaign committee, a 12-member working group for social media, a 19-member working group on media and a 11-member working group on research were also formed. The Congress wants the next meeting of the group to be held in Bhopal, said people aware of developments.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who declined any post in the meeting, spelled out the priorities for the alliance. We will campaign across the states regularly But now there is no guarantee on what might happen. Election can happen anytime. We have to remain alert, he said.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and other leaders hit out at Modi and the ruling dispensation, criticising the governments recent decision to reduce cooking gas price by 200.

Modi always hikes 100 and then reduce only 2. Petrol and LPG prices have doubled but he has only cut rate by 200. Modi never works for poor because his policy has always been to work closely with big industrialists, Kharge said.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who insisted at the informal meeting on Wednesday that seat talks must be completed by September, said, INDIA alliance is not about 28 parties, this is alliance of 140 crore people. He also cautioned that Big forces are trying to break INDIA. It will be forcibly shown that we are fighting against each other. No one fought with the other. No one has come for any post.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Saubhadra Chatterji Saubhadra Chatterji is Deputy Political Editor at the Hindustan Times. He writes on both politics and policies. ...view detail
The Opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or I.N.D.I.A. is likely to announce a coordination committee of 11 members who would be from principal Opposition parties, as 28 non-BJP parties will hold a formal meeting at Mumbai's Grand Hyatt Hotel on Friday. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut and party leader Aaditya Thackeray arrive to attend the third meeting of the Opposition bloc, INDIA, in Mumbai on Thursday. (ANI Photo)

The unveiling of the coalition logo has been, however, cancelled for the day, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut confirmed the development. "Logo is a very important part of the alliance. It is going to be discussed in our meeting but will not be unveiled today," he said.

On Thursday, during their informal meeting, the Opposition parties decided to get into poll mode and expedite their plans to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Some of the top leaders also stressed on the urgency to finalise seat sharing and come out with a joint agenda in a few weeks' time.

Top points on I.N.D.I.A. meeting in Mumbai on Friday:

1. Earlier, reports claimed that the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is likely to unveil its logo around 10.30am on Friday, even though reports indicated that there were no discussions on it on Thursday.

Also follow: INDIA alliance Mumbai meet LIVE Updates

2. On Thursday, the opposition leaders discussed the agenda of Friday's meeting which would begin at 11am, after which they would issue a joint statement and address a press conference jointly.

3. Some reports claimed that the parties might decide on a team of spokespersons who would speak on behalf of the alliance, as leaders of various parties have their own respective spokespersons.

Also Read: On INDIA v NDA meet in Mumbai, Sanjay Raut targets Maha CM Eknath Shinde

4. At Thursday's informal meeting, it was also decided that a coordination committee will be formed after discussions, along with at least four sub-groups which include one to plan the joint programme of the alliance, another on preparing the action plan and managing social media, and one on research and data analysis to take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance or NDA, news agency PTI reported. Besides, a sub-committees would also be set up for chalking out joint campaigns and rallies.

5. On Friday, there could also be a discussion on having a convener for the opposition alliance.

Also Read: Primary objective is to defeat BJP: INDIA alliance meeting to begin soon

6. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee reportedly told the opposition gathering that the alliance must come out with its manifesto as early as October 2, while her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal called for finalising seat sharing among parties for the Lok Sabha elections by the end of next month.

7. According to several opposition leaders, finalisation the poll plans for 2024 is necessary considering that there could be early elections, while stressing that there was no time left with them and mere meetings would not help.

8. While Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav is also learnt to have called for finalising seat sharing between parties in states early, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge reportedly told the meeting to prepare a common national agenda in bullet points.

9. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said the opposition should be ready for all contingency plans to take on the NDA's surprise element strategy and gimmicks, PTI reported. The government has convened a special session of Parliament for five days between September 18 and 22.

10. Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee, AAP convener Kejriwal, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, CPI (ML) Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and SP president Akhilesh Yadav, RLD's Jayant Chaudhary among others, participated in the informal talks.

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NAGPUR : India is a Hindu Rashtra and all its citizens are Hindus, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Friday, pointing out that while most have accepted this truth, a section refuses to accept it due to selfish motives. Mohan Bhagwat (Rameshwar Gaur)

Hindustan (India) is a Hindu Rashtra and this is a fact. Ideologically, all Bharatiyas (Indians) are Hindus and Hindus mean all Bharatiyas. All those who are in Bharat (India) today are related to Hindu culture, Hindu ancestors and Hindu land, nothing other than these, the Sangh chief said at the inauguration of Madhukar Bhavan, the new building of Shri Narkesari Prakashan Limited that publishes Marathi daily Tarun Bharat.

Bhagwats claim is one he has made before. In December 2022, he said all people of India are Hindus and that whoever considers India home is a Hindu, irrespective of religion.

Reacting to Bhagwats statement, senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party Anil Deshmukh said, India is one of the most diverse nations in terms of religion and that is why Sarva Dharma Samabhava concept of Indian secularism emerged in independent India under the impact of Gandhian thought.

Former national chairperson of Congress SC cell Nitin Raut said, How can he say so... when the Indian constitution has made it very clear it is the country of all religions. Such a statement is ridiculous when not only most of the worlds Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs live in India, but it is also the home to one of the worlds largest Muslim populations.

On Friday, Bhagwat also appealed to media to participate in nation building. Media should aim to build the society to make the country a world power, he said.

Asserting that our ideology is much sought-after the world over, he called upon the media to report on everyone in a fair manner while keeping the countrys  ideology intact.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was also present at the event, asked the media to work towards increasing the social consciousness of the society.

The influence of media is more in shaping the masses. Therefore, it is necessary to reach common people with proper ideas... Media must work to increase the social consciousness of society. It should aim to bring positivity in the thoughts of the citizens and it should aim to eliminate negativity. Thoughts should get priority over business, he said.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who was the chief guest at the event, added: Dailies need to be thought-driven. Inclusiveness should be the identity of a newspaper.

With agency inputs
NEW DELHI: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have opposed Chinas so-called standard map, which has already been the subject of a strong protest by India over the inclusion of Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh within Chinese borders. A Chinese Coast Guard ship launches what the Coast Guard says is a warning water cannon spray in the direction of a Philippine vessel at an unknown location at sea in this screen grab taken from a video released on August 8. (via REUTERS)

The 2023 edition of the standard map, issued by the Chinese natural resources ministry on Monday, incorporates Taiwan, which China claims is part of its territory, and a large swathe of the South China Sea, where the Chinese side is involved in multiple territorial disputes.

Vietnam was the latest country to join the protests against the map. Vietnamese foreign ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang reiterated the countrys consistent position regarding sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) islands and rejected any maritime claims by China based on the so-called dotted line in the East Sea.

Also Read | Chinas PLA scaling up in Aksai Chin: Satellite data

The new map and Chinas dotted line claim are a violation of Vietnams sovereignty over the islands as well as the countrys sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its waters as stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), she said on Thursday.

Maritime claims based on the dotted line, as depicted in the map, are void and violate international law, particularly UNCLOS, the spokeswoman said.

Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi reacted to the development on Thursday by saying that the drawing of territorial lines, including Chinas standard map, must be in accordance with international laws.

The drawing of any [territorial] lines, any claims, must be in accordance with UNCLOS 1982, Marsudi was quoted as saying on Thursday by Antara news agency. She said Indonesias position on territorial sovereignty has always been consistent.

Indonesias Natuna islet cluster, located within the countrys 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, is claimed by China within its nine-dash line over the South China Sea.

Malaysias foreign ministry, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said the country does not recognise Chinas unilateral claims in the South China Sea, covering the Malaysian maritime area, as outlined in the standard map. The statement reiterated that Malaysia has consistently rejected claims of sovereignty and jurisdiction by any foreign party in relation to the South China Sea issue and that Chinas map is not binding on the country.

The statement further said the South China Sea issue is a complex and sensitive matter that needs to be handled peacefully and rationally through dialogue and negotiations based on international law, including the UNCLOS.

Malaysian foreign minister Zambry Abdul Kadir was quoted by the local media as saying on Thursday that the country will send a protest note to China over the map.

The Philippines too rejected Chinas map on Thursday because of the dotted line showing Chinese boundaries in the South China Sea. A statement from the foreign ministry said the latest attempt to legitimise Chinas purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, especially the UNCLOS.

The Philippines called on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award, the statement said, referring to a ruling given in the countrys favour by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Taiwans foreign ministry too has rejected the Chinese map, with spokesman Jeff Liu saying this week that the Peoples Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan. He added, No matter how the Chinese government twists its position on Taiwans sovereignty, it cannot change the objective fact of our countrys existence.

India had rejected Chinas territorial claims a day after the standard map was issued, with external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi saying a strong protest had been lodged with the Chinese side through diplomatic channels.

We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question, he said.

The Chinese side has doubled down on the standard map, with foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin saying on Thursday that Chinas position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear. Asked about protests against the map by several countries, he added: We hope parties concerned can view it in an objective and rational light.

On Wednesday, Wang had described the release of the map as a routine practice in Chinas exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law. He added, We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm, and refrain from over-interpreting the issue.

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As the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) making last-moment preparations ahead of the Aditya-L1 solar mission launch, its scientists headed to the Tirumala Tirupati Sri Venkateswara Temple to offer prayers for the mission's success. The team of ISRO scientists also carried a miniature model of the spacecraft along with them. ISRO chief and other scientists offer prayers at temples.(PTI/ANI)

Meanwhile, ISRO chief S Somanath visited the Sri Chengalamma Parameswari Temple in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati district to offer prayers.

Today the countdown of Aditya L1 will begin. The launch will take place at around 11.50 am tomorrow. It will take another 125 days to travel to L1 point, the ISRO chief was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The lift off of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C57 rocket will take place from the launchpad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

What is the Aditya L1 mission?

The primary objective of the mission is to study atmospheric dynamics of the outer-most layer of Sun's atmosphere called corona and chromosphere. It will also carry out studies to find out the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers of the Sun which eventually lead to several solar events including the ejection of solar mass in the form of solar flares.

"The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide most crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particle and fields etc.," ISRO said in a statement.

Four out of seven payloads will study the Sun, whereas, three of them will carry out experiment at the Lagrangian Point to observe the local environment.

Why has ISRO opted the Lagrangian Point 1?

The name Lagrangian Point was given after the French mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange for its discovery. These points are where the gravitational forces between two terrestrial objects balance each other leading to a spacecraft hovering without the use of external force. There are a total of five such points and L1 is the most significant of them.

"A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses. This will provide a greater advantage of observing solar activities and their effect on space weather in real-time," ISRO said.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday night arrested Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal in a money laundering case linked to an alleged bank fraud of 538 crore at the Canara Bank. Goyal was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a long session of questioning at the central agency's office. File photo of Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal.

The 74-year-old founder is expected to be produced before a special PMLA court in Mumbai on Saturday where the ED will seek for his custodial remand, reported news agency PTI.

Earlier on July 20, the ED conducted raids on Goyal, and his associates after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR against Jet Airways (India) Limited (JIL), Goyal, his wife Anita, former company executive G Shetty, and unknown public servants - based on the Canara bank's complaint.

What does the FIR against Goyal and his associates say?

According to the FIR, the bank alleged that it sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Ltd (JIL) to the tune of 848.86 crore - out of which 538.62 crore is outstanding. Reportedly, the account was declared "fraud" on July 29, 2021.

The bank, in the FIR, further alleged that the forensic audit of JIL showed that it paid "related companies" 1,410.41 crore out of the total commission expenses, thereby diverting funds. It added that JIL had paid personal expenses such as salaries of staff, phone bills, and vehicle expenses among others of the Goyal family.

Meanwhile, in February, the Bombay High Court had quashed a money-laundering case lodged by the ED against Goyal and his wife on the basis of a Mumbai police case to probe charges of cheating and forgery on a complaint from Akbar Travels.

(With inputs from PTI)
Bengaluru: The Karnataka high court on Friday disqualified Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna from his position as a member of parliament representing the Hassan constituency in the Lok Sabha over wrongful disclosure of his assets during the 2019 general elections. Revanna is the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. He was the only candidate from the party to win the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka in 2019 (HT PHOTO)

Revanna is the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. He was the only candidate from the party to win the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka in 2019.

Justice K Natarajan, in his judgment, partly allowed the two petitions filed by G Devaraj Gowda, a voter from the constituency, and A Manju, the then BJPs defeated candidate (2019 LS polls). He also directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take action against Prajwal Revanna for election malpractice as per the Conduct of Election Process Rules.

Both the election petitions filed by the petitioners are allowed in part. The election of the returned candidate, Respondent No. 1, namely Prajwal Revanna alias Prajwal R, member of parliament, Constituency 16, Hassan (General), having been declared as a returned candidate dated 23.5.2019, is hereby declared as null and void, Justice Natarajan said.

The high court, however, dismissed the prayer of the petitioners to declare Manju as the winning candidate, as he himself was involved in corrupt practices. The prayer of the petitioners in both cases to declare A Manju as a returned candidate is rejected in view of the findings that he himself (is) involved in corrupt practices, the HC said.

The HC also directed the Election Commission to take action against Prajwals father HD Revanna (MLA and former minister) and brother Suraj Revanna (MLC) for election malpractices.

HD Revanna and Suraj Revanna are named in the complaint under the Representation of Peoples Act for having committed corrupt practice at the time of the election, and also A Manju, who is also involved in corrupt practice, the HC said.

Manju, who fought the Lok Sabha election against Prajwal on a BJP ticket and lost, subsequently joined JD(S) and is currently an MLA from JD (S).

Manju, along with lawyer Devaraj Gowda, approached the high court with allegations that Prajwal had deliberately concealed critical information within his election affidavit. Manjus allegations against Prajwal revolved around purported false information concerning properties included in the latters election affidavit.

Manju filed an objection on May 15, 2019, against Prajwals affidavit to the then Returning Officer (RO) and Hassan deputy commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis. After hearing the petitioner, the RO had said that the complainant could move to court citing the 2014 election commission order.

In his complaint, he claimed that Chennambika conventional hall was worth at least 5 crore but was declared as worth only 14 lakh by Prajwal. Another example was the bank balance in an account declared as 5 lakh but allegedly having a deposit of  48 lakh. It was alleged that the MP had several assets in the names of proxies and that he had also committed income tax fraud.

This is a perfect example of the fact that there are two enemies or friends in politics. In that situation, I had to fight. I fought against him, and I won the case. I am happy. It was the Gowda family that got me to (back to) JD(S). When I was joining, there was no talk of this (the case). When I was fighting that case, no one supported me; only the law was with me. Now, Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy are with me, Manju said, reacting to the verdict.

Prajwal told reporters that he is yet to receive the order copy. I just came to know about the order. I dont know all the details because Im yet to get the order copy. I will discuss with my lawyers further steps, he said.

When asked about Manjus statement after the verdict, he added, I dont know in what sense he has said it. When the HC has given an order, we have to follow it, and no one is above the law. About his statement, I will look at it and tell you, he added.

His father HD Revanna said that they will abide by the court order and make further statements after reading the order copy. His lawyers are there. They will decide the future course of action. We will abide by the law, he said.

The high courts ruling effectively bars Prajwal Revanna from participating in any elections for the next six years. Prajwal was the solitary JD(S) member of parliament representing the state of Karnataka, and Hassan, earlier held by the party Supremo HD Deve Gowda.

Initially, the high court on January 17, 2020, dismissed the petition filed by Manju on the technical ground that he had not filed a mandatory affidavit in the prescribed format. The high court on January 31, 2020, also dismissed the petition filed by Devaraj Gowda by stating that he had not complied with mandatory procedure.

Manju then appealed against this order of the high court in the Supreme Court, which in December 2021 directed the HC to examine the petitions afresh. Following this, the HC took up both petitions, and a trial was conducted, which included a recording of statements of both the petitioners and Prajwal.

(With PTI inputs)

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Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 2014 poll plank where he allegedly claimed to deposit 15 lakh in each bank account' from the (black) money that had been allegedly deposited in large sums in Swiss Banks. I was also lured by the offer and opened a bank account along with my family, the former Union minister and Bihar chief minister at the joint press conference of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc in Mumbai. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav(ANI)

You must recall how they (BJP-NDA) came to power by lying and spreading rumours. They took my name as well as that of several other leaders' names that we have money in Swiss Banks. PM Modi said that he would come to power, get back money from Swiss Banks and deposit that money in the accounts of the people of the country. I too was lured by the offer...I didn't do the kind of evil corruption that is being done and facilitated by Narendra Modi, he said.

He further said that minorities are not safe in the country under the BJP government's rule and that the country suffered because the Opposition parties were not united.

Lalu Yadav's remark came days after he claimed that the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc was holding Narendra Modi by his throat, ahead of leaving for the meeting in Mumbai. "Hum log Narendra Modi ka nareti pakde hue hainnareti par chadhne jaa rahe hain (we are holding Narendra Modi by his throat, we are going to tighten our hold)," he told the reporters in Patna.

Soon after, the BJP reacted to the statement and asked the RJD chief to not use foul language against any leader.

"At the end of his political career, Laluji is desperate to make his son the chief minister of Bihar and that is why he is going out of the way to grab headlines and pressurise Nitish Kumar," BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said.
Mumbai: The leaders of the INDIA bloc reminded each other of impending tasks, spoke about the general elections campaign and criticised the Narendra Modi government in Mumbai on Friday. Heres what some key leaders said. Opposition leaders during the meeting of INDIA bloc in Mumbai. (Amit Sharma)

Rahul Gandhi: The Congress leader maintained that the task before INDIA was to unite in the most effective way possible. He underlined that the Opposition bloc represents 60% of the countrys population. If parties on this stage unite, it is impossible for the BJP to win.

He also referred to fresh allegations against the Adani Group to target the BJP. The PM and BJP are a nexus of corruption. The idea behind the Modi government is to extract money from the poor and transfer to a limited few, Gandhi alleged.

He also offered glimpses into the campaign plan of the alliance. We will propose a clear set of ideas to benefit farmers and poor people, Gandhi said, emphasising on unity. The real work in this alliance is the relationship forged between the leaders. I can say, the two meetings have done a huge thing to build rapport.

Lalu Prasad: The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader pointed out that the lack of Opposition unity benefitted PM Modi in the past. We were not together. We could not put common candidates in each seat, and Modi took advantage. Minorities are not safe...We have come to a conclusion and an organisation has been formed, Prasad said.

In his inimitable way, Prasad joked that Modi should be sent to the sun. No Opposition leader was spared from ED and CBI, he said, adding that though he underwent a number of surgeries, he wont die before removing Modi from power.

Uddhav Thackeray: The former Maharashtra chief minister recalled how, when opposition parties were getting united, he said they were not just Opposition. We are not opposition parties. We are all patriots. Everyone knows who is opposed to India. We will also fight against Adani.

Thackeray spoke about the upcoming special session of Parliament and said, Now a (Parliament) session has been called. No one knows what will happen now? But I want to tell everyone dont be afraid

Mallikarjun Kharge: The Congress chief hit out at the Modi government and said the 200 relief on cooking gas came after several rounds of price hikes. Modi always hikes 100 and then reduces only 2. Petrol and LPG prices have doubled but he has only cut prices by 200. Modi never works for the poor because his policy has always been to work closely with big industrialists.

Kharge announced that for the benefit of the poor, the INDIA must win. We will go to all state capitals to campaign, he said, attacking the government. Why didnt Modi call a special session on Manipur, Covid or China? Whenever he was in trouble, he never called a special session, Kharge alleged.

Arvind Kejriwal: The Delhi CM, who insisted at the informal meeting on Wednesday that the seat sharing talks must be completed soon, said the INDIA bloc was an alliance of 1.4 billion people. Big forces are trying to break INDIA. It will be forcibly shown that we are fighting against each other. No one fought with the other. No one has come for any post,he said.

Kejriwal dubbed the ruling dispensation as the most corrupt and arrogant.

The government of India is working for one person. That person is taking money away from India. Our young people are looking for employment but the entire government is working for one person, he said.

Nitish Kumar: The Bihar CM announced that the bloc will campaign across states. With these parties coming together, the person who is in power will be defeated. He works less but campaigns more. If anyone wants to change the history of India, we will not allow it. Our aim is to uplift all sections of the society. Now there is no guarantee, election can happen anytime. We have to remain alert. And we have completed our preparations, he said.

Sitaram Yechury: The Left leader announced that an understanding was reached and on its basis, seat-sharing talks will start at state level. But seat sharing might vary from state to state. We are here to save the character of the Indian republic, to save the Constitution and democracy.

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Chennai: The Madras high court has taken up suo motu (on its own) revision of a 2012 order of a Sivaganga court that discharged former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam in a disproportionate assets case, and issued notices to the expelled AIADMK leader and the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to appear before it in the matter. O Panneerselvam was accused of accumulating wealth 374% times more than the known sources of his income (PTI)

This is the fourth case within this month where the high court has sought to take a relook at years-old orders of lower courts involving senior politicians. Three other cases involve sitting ministers of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government. All four cases are being heard by justice N Anand Venkatesh.

Paneerselvam was accused of accumulating wealth 374% times more than the known sources of his income during his tenure as chief minister for four months, and subsequently as revenue minister between 2001 and 2006. In December 2012, the chief judicial magistrate of Sivaganga discharged Panneerselvam in the case citing DVACs final probe that gave him a clean chit.

Justice Venkatesh has now taken up a suo motu revision of the 2012 order and criticised the manner in which the entire proceedings were conducted by DVAC.

When a political party comes to power in the state of Tamil Nadu, DVAC swoops down on the Opposition and clamps (down) on cases of corruption. However, no prosecution for corruption ends in five years, which is the lifespan of an elected government in the state, the justice said.

Invariably, the Opposition is voted back to power and DVAC, like the puppets in the muppets show, will have to perform a different tune in tandem with its political masters.

This is the fourth suo motu revision taken up by justice Venkatesh this month. He recently ordered a relook on the acquittal of three Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ministers  K Ponmudy (education), Thangam Thennarasu (finance) and KKSSR Ramachandran (disaster)  in disproportionate assets cases.

Pointing out a pattern in all the four cases, the judge Venkatesh observed: Prima facie, this court found this to be a well-orchestrated modus operandi to short-circuit corruption cases once the accused had come to political power in the State... Whatever be their radical political differences, the accused political personages across party lines appear to be united in their endeavour to thwart and subvert the criminal justice system in this State.

While examining records, the judge also highlighted a file of the chief judicial magistrate (special judge), Sivagangai, on Panneerselvam. The records, prima facie, reveal a shocking tale of how the criminal justice system was once again subverted by the collective effort of all concerned to ensure that the accused were released from the clutches of the law, he said.

Noting that the court is not oblivious of the fact that 10 years have rolled by since the order of the CJM, Sivagangai, justice Venkatesh pointed out disturbing details of the case. They disclose a grave illegality at every stage which shows a well-orchestrated plan. This is a case where a political personage has manoeuvred the DVAC, the state government and the court to ensure that the trial against him was derailed, he said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Divya Chandrababu Divya Chandrababu is an award-winning political and human rights journalist based in Chennai, India. Divya is presently Assistant Editor of the Hindustan Times where she covers Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. She started her career as a broadcast journalist at NDTV-Hindu where she anchored and wrote prime time news bulletins. Later, she covered politics, development, mental health, child and disability rights for The Times of India. Divya has been a journalism fellow for several programs including the Asia Journalism Fellowship at Singapore and the KAS Media Asia- The Caravan for narrative journalism. Divya has a master's in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick, UK. As an independent journalist Divya has written for Indian and foreign publications on domestic and international affairs. ...view detail
The Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday hit back at Rahul Gandhi over his latest attack on industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for their perceived proximity, calling the Congress leader childish. The BJP asked Gandhi to explain past engagements of Congress governments with the Adani Group, including the land parcels given to the ports-to-power conglomerate when the grand old party was in power at the Centre before 2014. Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi holds a printout of news media report on industrialist Gautam Adani during a media briefing in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, August 31, 2023. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times)

In a long post on X (formerly Twitter), the state BJP said, Rahul Gandhi who has a childish brain should tell why the Congress government before 2014 had given key land parcels to the Adani group. The earlier Congress government had given several awards to the Adani group, it should be communicated to the people.

Why did Mamata Banerjee and industrialist Adani meet each other? What is Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot doing with Gautam Adani?

Why did (NCP founder) Sharad Pawar oppose the Congress demand for JPC (probe in Adani group affairs) which was based on Hindenberg report? Why did Congress government in Maharashtra in 2013 awarded 660 MW Tiroda power plant to the Adani group? the party asked.

What Rahul Gandhi said

Rahul Gandhi earlier asked Prime Minister Modi to come clean on fresh allegations by some top global financial dailies against the Adani Group and said he must order a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into it as India's reputation is at stake ahead of the G20 meeting in the country.

"India's reputation is on the line...This is damaging the image of the country and therefore the prime minister should take action immediately and say that a JPC will probe this and a full-scale investigation will take place on the Adani issue," Gandhi told reporters in Mumbai.

"Why is there no investigation taking place? It is very important that the prime minister clears his name and categorically explains what is going on. At the very least, a JPC should be allowed and a thorough investigation should take place," Gandhi said.

I can't understand why the prime minister is not forcing an investigation, why is he quiet? Why doesn't he say that he will make sure that this issue is investigated and the people who are responsible are put behind bars? This is raising very serious questions about the Indian prime minister just before the leaders of G20 are coming here, Gandhi said, noting that the world leaders are going to ask the question about this special company owned by a gentleman close to the prime minister.

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Director general of Assam Rifles PC Nair said the situation in Manipur was unprecedented, as fresh violence has killed eight persons in Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts over the last 72 hours, and claimed the state had never seen this before. The ethnic violence in Manipur has claimed around 160 lives and displaced over 50,000 people. (PTI)

He said while the situation was new for the armed forces to handle, such a state of violence was also new for the state of Manipur.

The situation that we are facing in Manipur is unprecedented. We have never faced anything of this kind in history. It is new to us, it is new to Manipur too. Something similar happened in the early 90s when the Nagas and Kukis fought and then within the Kuki groups also there was a fight in the late 90s, Nair told news agency ANI.

Nair said there were multiple challenges that the armed forces were facing in the violence-hit state. One of the biggest challenges, as per Nair, was the large number of weapons within both communities.

The society has become weaponised. Unless these weapons come back in whatever way they can, this challenge will be the biggest. Today, there's so much against each other, it's so corrupted. This needs to be stalled.

At least eight persons have been killed and 18 injured, including two security personnel, in Manipurs Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts following continuous gunbattle between Kukis and Meiteis over the last 72 hours.

An official said firing was continuing intermittently in the foothills of Khoirentak in Bishnupur district and adjoining Chingphei and Khousabung areas in Churachandpur district.

Nair said the only way a resolution can be reached is through negotiations. He said, There is a need for realisation to come for the people that the only way forward is peace. They have to talk and get back negotiations.

Other challenges, Nair said, were road blockages which hamper the movement of the troops. These things have not happened in such a scale.

In the past month, the Army and Assam Rifles have repeatedly accused women protesters  including Meira Paibis from the Meitei community  of interfering with operations and blocking the movement of troops due to protests or road blockage. In response, Meira Paibis have accused the Assam Rifles of bias and helping Kuki militants.

At least 163 people have died and another 50,000 displaced since ethnic violence first broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities on May 3.

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From the pages of Paninis Ashtadhyayi, a 6th to 5th century BCE treatise on Sanskrit grammar from India, to the United Kingdoms Magna Carta issued in 1215; from the Charter of Freedom in the United States to a Fahua-lidded jar from China; and from the Mona Lisa displayed at the Louvre in France to the Gutenberg Bible from Germany, a section of the venue for the G20 Leaders Summit will amalgamate iconic masterpieces and artwork from 29 countries, some physical, some digital, providing an artistic background to the G20 summit. The displays are broadly categorised as Object of Cultural Significance (as a physical display), Iconic Cultural Masterpiece (as a digital display), Intangible Cultural Heritage (as a digital display), Natural Heritage (as a digital display), and an Artefact Related to Democratic Practices (as a physical or digital display), officials familiar with the matter said. (HT Photo)

Spread over a sprawling 10,000 sq feet area with alcoves and widescreen displays on the second floor of the Bharat Mandapam in Central Delhi, where India is set to host the summit, the so-called culture corridor will capture different traditions from 29 countries, including India (the G20 and special invitees).

The display will include physical and virtual exhibitions, creating an immersive experience for the visitors.

The displays are broadly categorised as Object of Cultural Significance (as a physical display), Iconic Cultural Masterpiece (as a digital display), Intangible Cultural Heritage (as a digital display), Natural Heritage (as a digital display), and an Artefact Related to Democratic Practices (as a physical or digital display), officials familiar with the matter said.

It will feature world renowned artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Vermeer (Girl with a Pearl Earring), and significant cultural symbols, including a performance on loan from the UK  of Shakespeares famous tragedy Hamlet. The traditional Russian outfit, Kashkha, will also be on physical display, as will the Apollo Belvedere, a sculpture dating back to the second century by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli (from Italy). Mrs. Ples, the common name for a 2.5 to 2.8 million years-old fossil skull that was discovered in the Sterkfontein Caves in South Africa, will also be on display.

Among the natural heritage on display will be the Grand Canyon (US), the Himalayas and the Ganga (India) and Baikal Lake from Russia. Indias intangible heritage on display will include the Bhimbetka cave paintings, Yoga, the Kumbh mela, Vedic chanting, Chola bronzes and Patan Patola weaving.

The US Charter of Freedom, which includes the Declaration of Independence, American Constitution and Bill of Rights, is a part of an exhibition titled Mother of Democracy, in which participating countries have focused on one key milestone in their democratic journey. India has submitted an original entry from the Rig Veda, which outlines the spirit of Vasudev Kutumbhakam (the world is one), which also happens to be its theme for G20.

A three-dimensional immersive experience will feature four fifteen-minute screenings in a 90ft by 20ft U-shaped screen.

The idea is to provide a 360-degree view of art from across the countries to the visitors, an official familiar with the matter said, on condition of anonymity.

The corridor will be open to the dignitaries attending the summit through the day.

The artefacts, on loan for four months, will also be open for public viewing once the G20 summit is over, though the government is yet to finalise the guidelines for their showing.
Bengaluru According to the complaint, no proper precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the personnel involved.

A case has been registered against the deputy conservator of forests (DCF), assistant conservator of forests (ACF) and range forest officer (RFO) on charges of negligence in connection with the death of a retired forest guard by a wild elephant in Hassan.

Former guard Venkatesh died on August 31 after an injured wild elephant attacked him while he was attempting to tranquillise the mammal.

The case was registered after Venkateshs son, Mithun Kumar, filed a complaint alleging his fathers death was a result of negligence on the part of the forest officials present at the scene. He claimed that they failed to take adequate safety measures during the operation.

According to the complaint, no proper precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the personnel involved.

The utter negligence stemmed from the reckless dispatch of tranquillisers without adequate safety measures, deceaseds son Mithun Kumar told reporters. He said this lapse in safety protocols ultimately led to the fatal attack on his father by the wild elephant. He also alleged for decades forest officers have not trained new personnels in the department to dart and participate in elephant operations, and hence have been depending on his father.

The First Information Report (FIR) in the case was registered at the Aluru Police Station, and the local authorities have initiated an investigation into the matter.

Following the complaint of Mithun Kumar, we have registered a case of negligence against DCF, ACF and RFO, Alur circle inspector N Gangadhara told HT. He said the case has been registered under Section 304A (causing death of person by rash or negligent act) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and further investigation is underway.

According to the police, Bhima, a 40-year-old wild elephant sustained injuries during a confrontation in the forest area near Alur. Initial treatment was administered, but as the injuries worsened, forest department officials sought permission for further medical care, which was granted by the principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife).

On Thursday morning, forest department personnel initiated an operation to treat the elephant by tranquillising it in Halliyur, in Alur taluk. Venkatesh arrived at the location around noon and successfully administered tranquillizer injections to the elephant. However, Bhima, the elephant that inadvertently received the injection, reacted aggressively and attacked Venkatesh, who died on his way to the hospital, police said.

Retired forest guard and sharp shooter Venkatesh joined the department on a temporary basis as a forest watcher in 1988. He resided in the jungle-infested vicinity of Honnavalli village and had a deep understanding of elephant movements, coupled with extensive experience in using firearms to deter them. His expertise was frequently utilized during operations involving the administration of tranquillisers for the capture of numerous elephants.

Venkatesh had successfully targeted and administered tranquilizers to approximately 60-70 wild elephants during his previous operations. He also contributed to anti-poaching efforts in Arunachal Pradesh where he actively participated in vaccinating elephants. Recognizing his dedicated service, the state government had honoured him with the prestigious Rajyotsava award in 2017.

In 2013, the government formalized Venkateshs employment under a welfare scheme. He retired from service in 2018. He continued to serve as a trainer for the operation team and was thus retained in the forest department through outsourcing.

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All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday put forward three demands to be taken up during the special session of the Parliament called by the government from September 18-22. Owaisi said the discussion on the border issue with China should be allowed during the session and called for the implementation of the recommendations of Justice Rohini Commission. AIMIM Chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi.(PTI)

We had been demanding a special session from the beginning because China has encroached upon 2000 square km of India's land. China is not giving up Depsang and Demchok...When they call a special session, we hope the PM will allow a discussion on China. Secondly, Rohini Commission has given its report. So, we demand that the Modi government bring a Bill in the Special Session so that the 50% reservation limit can be breached, the Hyderabad MP told ANI.

Owaisi also demanded that ISRO scientists and star Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra should be invited to the Parliament and honoured.

Thirdly, we demand that ISRO scientists and Neeraj Chopra be invited to the Parliament and honoured, he said.

The government on Thursday announced a "special session" of Parliament for five days between September 18 and 22 but kept the agenda for it under wraps, triggering speculation. Some media reports speculated on the possibility of bills on simultaneous general, state and local polls and reservation for women in directly elected legislatures like Lok Sabha and assemblies. However, both are constitutional amendment bills and will require passage with the support of two-thirds of members in both Houses.

Owaisi said, Fourthly, the speculations whether there will be a One Nation, One Election - it can't happen. It will be against the Constitution of India because federalism is a part of India's basic structure. BJP doesn't have a majority in Rajya Sabha. Also, several of the opposition-ruled states will not accept this.

The last time Parliament met outside its three usual sessions was --at midnight on June 30, 2017, to mark the rollout of GST. However, it was a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and was not a proper session.

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modis nine-year regime has instilled new confidence in every citizen of the country, and empowered Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) scientists to reach the Moon and aim for the Sun, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Friday. Amit Shah (PTI)

The whole country is fortunate that after a long time, we have got such a leader (Modi), who is paving the way to make the country first in the world during Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Today, our economy has moved from 11th to fifth position in the world and soon we will become the third largest economy, the Union minister said while launching the Amrit Kalash Yatra under the Meri Maati-Mera Desh campaign in New Delhi.

As part of the yatra, which aims to honour slain soldiers, selected youths from 7,500 gram panchayats across India will assemble at Kartavya Path in Delhi with 7,500 urns carrying soil and saplings from across the nation.

Hailing the Centres efforts to rekindle the feeling of patriotism among citizens, Shah pointed to the 200,000 programmes organised as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav -- an initiative of the government to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of Independence.

The confidence instilled in the minds of every Indian citizen through such programmes serves as inspiration for our courageous soldiers to carry out surgical strikes, empowers our scientists to develop the Covid-19 vaccine, and provides the courage for Isro scientists to reach the Moon and will soon reach the orbit of Sun, he added.

He termed Prime Minister Narendra Modis five pledges to fulfil freedom fighters dreams by 2047 the goals of a developed India.

The pledges, Shah said, are the highway to building a great India, and highlighted that 230 million houses, offices and buildings across the country hoisted the tricolour after the PMs call for Har Ghar Tiranga.

The idea behind the Meri Maati, Mera Desh campaign is that every individual, family, citizen, and child should connect emotionally with the idea of creating a great India, he added.

From September 1 to 30, every household, ward, and village will collect mitti (soil) or grains in a pot (Kalash) following it up from October 1-13 at the block and later, from October 22-27, at the state level, and finally, from October 28-30, these 7,500 pots will reach Delhi, he said.

The prime minister will put soil from these Amrit Kalash in the Amrit Vatika created at Delhi to honour the countrys bravehearts to remind every citizen that we must make India great during the period of Amrit kaal, he added.

Only a person like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is full of patriotism in his heart, could have imagined initiating this journey..., he said.

With agency inputs
Ahead of the third joint meeting of the newly formed INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), a poster of Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde was seen outside the Grand Hyatt hotel in Mumbai on Friday, where the opposition leaders have gathered to chart out a concrete roadmap to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Eknath Shinde posters(X/ ANI)

News agency ANI shared a video in which posters of Shinde reading can be seen outside the hotel. On Thursday, posters and hoardings showing the leaders of the alliance were put up in Mumbai.

However, Shinde had compared the opposition alliance with demon Raavan when Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray asserted that the INDIA bloc has many faces for the prime ministerial post and asked BJP if the party has another face than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Hitting out at the third meeting of the INDIA alliance, Shinde said, All the opposition parties have come together to plan the strategy to defeat Modi ji. But I will give them advice, do not play with fire, you will get burnt.

Leaders of around 28 opposition parties have gathered in Mumbai to deliberate on their strategy to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections amid speculation of early polls and the formation of a panel to explore the possibility of "one nation, one election".

The meeting aims to discuss the alliance strategies for the Lok Sabha election and seat sharing in the states. A new slogan of the INDIA alliance is also likely to be launched.

The first meeting of the joint opposition convened in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18.
As the INDIA alliance commences its preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said 140 crore Indians are looking towards us with the hope to relieve them of their miseries. He also warned opposition partners to prepare for more attacks, raids and arrests due to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central governments vendetta politics. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge (centre) with senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai on Friday. (PTI Photo)

Inaugurating the formal meeting of the INDIA alliance in Mumbai, Kharge said the success of the bloc can be measured by Prime Minister Narendra Modis increasing attack on the alliance.

We should be prepared for more attacks in the coming months, more raids and arrests due to this governments vendetta politics. The more ground our alliance gains, the more the BJP government will misuse agencies against our leaders. It was done in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal. In fact, last week, it was done in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as well, Kharge said, referring to the ongoing raids and cases against key Opposition leaders.

The Congress president maintained that the success of the INDIAs Patna and Bengaluru meetings can be measured by the fact the Prime Minister in his subsequent speeches has not just attacked INDIA, but also compared the name of our beloved country with a terrorist organisation and a symbol of slavery.

Modi last month had slammed the alliance and said even the East India Company during the British Raj and terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen had used the name India.

Today, every section of our society  be it the farmers, youth, women, the marginalised, middle class, public intellectuals, NGOs and even journalists  all have been at the receiving end of BJPs authoritarian misrule...140 crore Indians are looking towards us with hope to relieve them of their miseries, Kharge said pitching that the alliance is catering to aspirations of all Indians.

Continuing his scathing attack on the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Kharge spoke about hate crimes, release of convicts of rape and referred to the atrocity on a Kuki woman, wife of a Karil hero.

The communal poison that the BJP and RSS have spread over the last 9 years is now seen in hate crimes against innocent train passengers and against innocent school children. It is no surprise that when people involved in gruesome rape are released and felicitated in one part of the county, it encourages horrific crimes and parading of naked women somewhere else. In Modi jis India, even the wife of a Kargil brave heart is also not spared, Kharge said.

It is the BJP governments apathy towards the marginalised that makes their leaders urinate on poor tribals and Dalits, and the culprits roam freely, the Congress president said, referring to an incident in Madhya Pradesh.

Also Read:How special session announcement changed the mood of Oppositions Mumbai meet

The Congress president also attacked the government over the federal system  a common issue for many Opposition parties.

The Central government headed by Prime Minister Modi wants to keep states under check. States are being denied their share of the tax revenues. MNREGA dues to Opposition-ruled states are not disbursed. Special grants and state specific grants are not released as per recommendation of the Finance Commission. Investors are forced to move their investments and projects out of opposition ruled states to states ruled by the BJP, Kharge said.

In the meeting, Kharge also touched upon the latest revelations on the Adani issue and questioned why the PM is not getting the issue investigated.

Yesterday, Rahul ji held a press conference here and questioned PM Narendra Modis silence on alleged stock manipulation by the Adani group. he demanded a JPC probe into charges of round tripping and reports of opaque investment from Mauritius based company. It is unexplainable why the Prime Minister is not getting the matter investigated. The BJP wants complete control on agencies and institutions  it is adamant on controlling the appointment of ED chief, the CBI director, Election Commissioners or even judges of courts across the country, Kharge said.

The Congress chief claimed that the alliance has been able to hold the government accountable both within and outside Parliament as a united front. Our strength makes the government nervous, which is why it has further bulldozed important bills in parliament, suspended our MPs on flimsy grounds, filed privilege motions against us, switched off our mikes, not allowed cameras to cover our protests and blatantly censored our speeches on Sansad TV, he added.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Saubhadra Chatterji Saubhadra Chatterji is Deputy Political Editor at the Hindustan Times. He writes on both politics and policies. ...view detail
Mumbai Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi told the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) meeting on Friday that there were three myths about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that needed to be busted  incorruptible, improving Indias global standing and welfare of backward and Dalit groups  underlining the groupings tough challenge of taking on the popular incumbent in the 2024 general elections. PREMIUM Opposition leaders during the INDIA meet, in Mumbai on Friday. (PTI)

At the day-long meeting of the Opposition bloc in Mumbai, a number of leaders discussed key issues that could be taken up before the elections and stressed on the need to get poll-ready quickly. Many parties pushed for urgent election preparations, saying that time was running out.

Also read: At INDIA alliance Mumbai meet, Opposition slams Centre's 'one-nation, one-election' move

Addressing the leaders, Gandhi alleged that a myth was created that Modi was incorruptible and that his government had a clean image, said people aware of developments. The Congress leader tried to argue that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government mastered the art of invisible corruption, offering the example of the Rafale controversy. They even manipulate the GDP figures, Gandhi alleged.

He also said that a number of malpractices were flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and that the fresh allegations on the Adani Group was a glaring example of how the government permitted illegal activities, said the people cited above.

Gandhi told INDIA leaders that the second myth was that the current regime had lifted Indias image on global platforms, arguing that the countrys status took a beating instead. You will notice that wherever he goes, people come out to protest against his government, Gandhi said, according to the people cited above. He cited other incidents such as remarks of global leaders and articles in international publications to drive home his point.

The Congress leader highlighted the governments claims of other backward classes (OBC) welfare as a third myth. Though the Narendra Modi government has announced a number of schemes for OBCs, including one declared on Independence Day, Gandhi said the current dispensation did not do anything for marginalised communities. We have to go to the people and tell them that this government has not done anything for the OBCs and scheduled castes. There might be a number of schemes on paper, but the budget for these communities have been slashed, he said, according to the people cited in the first instance.

In the Mumbai meeting  the third of the grouping after Patna in June and Bengaluru in July  no one raised the issue of appointing a convener and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, one of the names making the rounds, made it clear in his speech that he was not aiming for any post, said a leader present in the meeting.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray suggested that when the 14-member coordination committee  which was announced on Friday  meets, the members could discuss among themselves and appoint a convener if needed, said a leader present at the meeting, requesting anonymity.

In the meeting, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had an argument with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar over the caste censusa politically sensitive topic. According to leaders present in the meeting, Kumar spoke about the importance of a caste census and insisted that the issue be highlighted by the alliance. Bihar is compiling the data of a caste survey undertaken by Kumars government earlier this year.

But Banerjee disagreed with him and asked why all issues needed to be discussed at this stage, said the leader quoted above. She was of the opinion that the election management committee should meet and discuss this issue. She also hinted that the exercise is being given religious colour in some parts of India, said a second leader present in the meeting.

In West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has targeted Banerjee, alleging that many Muslims were illegally being given OBC status. Later, the Trinamool Congress clarified that Banerjee was not against the caste census, but if such an exercise invoked any religious angle, the party would not support it.

Also read: 'Impossible for BJP to win because...' Rahul Gandhi from INDIA alliance stage

Kumar, on the other hand, felt that caste census is an important issue and the Mumbai meeting itself should make an announcement to help the alliance to reach out to the people with a definite promise, said a third leader.

Many parties  including the Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party  pushed for a faster pace in poll preparations as time was running out, said the leader quoted above. A number of leaders spoke about the possibility of early elections and suggested that the seat sharing agreements should be in place by October 15, he added.

The Congress proposed the next INDIA meeting be held in Bhopal while Banerjee proposed that a mini agenda of the bloc be declared from Rajghat on October 2, the leader said. Banerjee also said that instead of a long text, the vision document or mini agenda of the grouping should have bullet points, a proposal that found instant support from Left leader Sitaram Yechury, he added.

Hitting back, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: In the third meeting of the so-called alliance, there was no vision for the development of India, no roadmap for the upliftment of the poor, no strategy to address concerns of farmers or women and children. The most important is that there was not even an acknowledgement of the threat to India from terrorism, radicalisation and successionist forces.
The Supreme Court on Friday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former member of Parliament (MP) Prabhunath Singh to life imprisonment in a double murder case of 1995, days after it reversed his trail court verdict acquitting him. Prabhunath Singh, a three-term JD(U) and one-time RJD MP from Maharajganj in north Bihar.(File photo)

The court also directed Singh and the Bihar government to pay 10 lakh each to the families of the two deceased victims and 5 lakh to an injured victim in the case which involved the killing of two people on the day of polling for assembly elections in Chapra in Saran district in March 1995. The two were shot dead because they did not vote as per Singhs suggestion.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had convicted Singh, also a former MLA, for the murders of Daroga Rai and Rajendra Rai and for attempting to kill a woman. The apex court overturned the orders of the trial court and Patna high court, observing that it was dealing with an exceptionally painful episode of our criminal justice system.

It is rare, if not unprecedented, for the Supreme Court, which is the top-most appellate court in the country, to convict a person. It usually upholds or rejects the conviction of a person for an offence on appeal.

A trial court in December 2008 acquitted Prabhunath Singh citing lack of evidence and the Patna high court later upheld the acquittal in 2012. Rajendra Rais brother challenged the acquittal in the Supreme Court.

"In the case with which we are dealing, there is no iota of doubt that the accused-respondent no.2 (Singh) was instrumental in making all possible efforts to wipe out the evidence against him and the prosecution machinery as also the presiding officer of the trial court, if we may say so, was used as a tool of his highhandedness," the bench said in its 143-page judgement.

"In the present case, the FIR, being a public document and a dying declaration of the informant, is the foundation of the entire prosecution case. However, in the present matter, we have to find out the 'evidence of those persons who can vouchsafe for the truth of the facts in issue, the bench said.

We set aside the impugned order of the Patna high court and convict respondent no 2...Prabhunath Singh, under Section 302 (murder) for the murders of Daroga Rai and Rajendra Rai. We direct the home secretary of...Bihar and the director general of police of the state to arrest Prabhunath Singh and produce him before this court in custody on the next date of hearing to be heard on [the] argument of [the] sentence, said Justice Nath, reading out the operative part of the judgment.

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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said India is a Hindu Rashtra while calling it the truth whether some people accept it or not. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat. (ANI)

It is a Hindu nation and seizable people accept it. However, a few people do not understand it yet while a section even knows it but refuses to say it, he said at a ceremony for the inauguration of the new office of Shri Narkesari Prakashan Limited, which publishes RSSs Marathi daily Tarun Bharat. Bhagwat added a section of people may not accept it for selfish motives. It is a Hindu land with Hindu culture where everyone has a bond. Bhagwat asked the media to help in nation building and making the country a world power.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was present at the ceremony, cited the medias influence and called it necessary for it to propagate proper ideas. The media must work to raise the social consciousness. The media are expected to bring positivity to the thoughts of the citizens and should aim to eliminate negativity. Thoughts are expected to get priority over business.

He referred to technological changes and added those who do not embrace them will fall behind. This should not change the basic ideological core of the media.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who was the chief guest at the ceremony, said inclusiveness should be the identity of a newspaper. Readers love media that are inclusive along with ideological identity.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala police, which probed the alleged rape and murder of a five-year-old child in Aluva in July this year, has submitted a charge sheet in the case to the Ernakulam Additional Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court on Friday, a top officer familiar with the matter said. The police have collected medical evidence and DNA samples which point to the complicity of the accused (HT Archives)

The sole accused in the case, a 29-year-old native from Bihar, has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Pocso Act including kidnapping, destruction of evidence, rape and murder.

As per the chargesheet, the accused has been booked under sections 364 (kidnapping), 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 367 (kidnapping to subject to grievous hurt), 376 (2)(n), 376(a)(b) (rape on woman under 12 years of age), 376(a) of the IPC, sections 3 read with 4 of Pocso Act, sections 5 read with 6 of the Pocso Act, sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 297 ( trespassing on burial places), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 302 (murder) of the IPC.

The accused has been booked previously for sexual offences under the Pocso Act at the Ghazipur police station in Delhi. He came to Kerala in 2021 and has been living here since then, doing odd jobs, said Vivek Kumar, superintendent of police (SP), Ernakulam (Rural), under whose leadership the probe was completed and the chargesheet was filed.

On the day of the incident, he [the accused] kidnapped the five-year-old girl from her neighbourhood by luring her with sweets and soft drinks. He took her to a secluded spot with the intention of sexual gratification. He raped her and subsequently strangulated her to death. The accused then covered the childs body with garbage and stones to hide it, the officer added.

The officer said that there are several witnesses who saw the accused walking with the child before the committing the crime and the CCTV camera visuals also show the accused going to the secluded spot and coming out alone. The police have also collected medical evidence and DNA samples which point to the complicity of the accused.

The incident of alleged rape and murder of the five-year-old girl, daughter of migrant workers from Bihar, took place on July 28 near Aluva, a suburb outside of Kochi. The crime sent shockwaves through Kerala with activists deploring the lack of safety for children even in residential neighbourhoods in the state.

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The Centre, in a tweet by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, has called for a five-day special session of Parliament from September 18th to the 22nd. The agenda for this special session, however, was not revealed. The decision to convene a session of Parliament rests with the government. (HT file photo)

Special Session of Parliament (13th Session of 17th Lok Sabha and 261st Session of Rajya Sabha) is being called from 18th to 22nd September having 5 sittings. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to have fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament, tweeted Joshi.

Soon after the announcement was made speculations on the agenda for the five-day session began to circulate. One of the agenda items speculated upon was dissolving the current Parliament and announcement of early Lok Sabha elections. This decision, however, can be brought about by a cabinet decision and therefore convening a special sitting of Parliament if early Lok Sabha elections was indeed the agenda, was not a requirement. However, what could be part of the BJP governments plan as per sources is that the government would put forth its achievements of the past five years and explain to the people via the parliament session the need to hold snap polls along with state elections that are scheduled to be held this year.

However all this is only a matter of speculation sources said, confirming that no one is quite sure what the agenda is for the parliament session next month.

Some of the other agenda items that were in this speculative list included a discussion on the Centres recent achievements, including the G20 Leaders' summit in Delhi and success of Chandrayaan-3 mission, under the second term of PM Modi coined as Amrit Kaal, a term used to denote a Golden period of governance. Also in the possible agenda list was introduction of the One Nation, One Election bill, which as the name suggests would mean simultaneous state and general elections.

However, One Nation  One Election would need a constitutional amendment and then it would need to be taken to state assemblies. It is not a new concept having taken place four times in the 1950s and 60's but India has fewer states and a smaller population that could vote.

On all the three speculative agenda items listed above there was no confirmation or denial by government sources who were asked to comment on the snap announcement of a special session.

Criticising the Centres move, Congresss Communication in charge Jairam Ramesh termed it managing the news cycle.

Managing the News Cycle, Modi style. 1. News today has been dominated by latest revelations on the Modani-scam. 2. Tomorrow the ever-growing INDIA parties meet in Mumbai. How to counter? Announce a 5-day special session of Parliament when Monsoon session has just ended 3 weeks back. Regardless, the JPC demand will continue to resonate inside and outside Parliament, Said Jairam Ramesh in a tweet.
New Delhi The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and the Manipur government to ascertain basic supply of food, medicines and other essential materials are not disrupted for the people affected or displaced due to ethnic strife in the state, calling it a humanitarian aspect requiring the courts intervention. The SC order came after a committee of retired women judges brought up the issue of supplies of food and essential items to the victims of violence, especially those housed in relief camps. (AP)

Taking note of the reports of blockades in the state, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud ordered that all steps necessary to improve the situation, including removal of blockades, should be taken by both the central and state governments.

We direct the government of India and the government of Manipur to distribute basic supply of food, medicine, and other essentials so that there is no denial of basic human facilities. The manner in which the blockade is dealt with is under law enforcement. However, considering the humanitarian aspect of the matter, the Government should explore all options including air dropping necessity, if necessary. The court shall be apprised of the steps taken to ameliorate the situation in the next hearing, the order by the bench, also comprising justice JB Pardiwala, said.

The court order came after a committee of retired women judges brought up the issue of supplies of food and essential items to the victims of violence, especially those housed in relief camps. Senior counsel Meenakshi Arora, representing the committee, and Indira Jaising, appearing for one of the parties in the matter, submitted before the bench that blockades in the Moreh region of Manipur have prevented people from getting basic rations. They also raised the issue of an outbreak of measles and chickenpox in some relief camps.

Solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre and the state, assured the bench that the government is aware of the problem and that necessary steps shall be taken. Mehta added that removal of blockades was not an issue within the remit of the judges committee, which comprises justices Gita Mittal (former chief justice of the Jammu & Kashmir high court), Shalini P Joshi (former Bombay high court judge) and Asha Menon (former Delhi high court judge).

Responding, Jaisingh said: There is no food in Moreh area. The problem is the blockade. The committee cannot direct the armed forces to remove the blockade...otherwise we can provide the food supply.

The bench, however, told her that removing blockades was easier said than done and was a complex and sensitive issue that required careful consideration, as these blockades were often set up by local individuals or groups.

Removing a blockade is not about directing the armed forces to do it. There are sensitive issues. What we will do is that the govt is aware of the fact and that the govt will take appropriate steps after evaluating the situation, it added.

Another counsel urged the court to note that such blockades had not only been affecting Moreh but also other areas including the National Highway 2, which runs from Dimapur (Nagaland) to Imphal).

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for one of the petitioners in the matter, raised the issue of destruction of more than 200 churches in Manipur. The court asked him to share a copy of his plea with the office of SG Mehta and with the high-powered committee of retired judges.

While adjourning the case to September 6, the bench also asked the SG to take instructions on the issue of aligning the Manipur compensation scheme for the victims of violence with the scheme framed by the National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) that provides for a higher quantum of compensation. Once Nalsa has formulated a scheme, it should be applicable to the entire country, the bench observed.

On the next date of hearing, the bench said it will also issue certain directions on the reports received by the high-powered panel on the efficacy of rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures. One of these reports highlighted loss of identity documents by the people affected by the violence while another one proposed appointment of domain experts to streamline the administrative aspects of the case proceedings.

Ethnic clashes between the tribal Kukis and dominant Meiteis first erupted on May 3 during a protest against a court-ordered tweak to the states reservation matrix, granting Scheduled Tribe status to the latter. The violence quickly engulfed the state where ethnic fault lines run deep, displacing tens of thousands of people who fled burning homes and neighbourhoods into jungles, often across state borders. At least 163 people have been killed in the violence.

Hearing a bundle of petitions that have sought an array of protective and rehabilitative orders, the court had on August 25 shifted 27 cases being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to a set of designated judges in Assam to ensure protection of victims and witnesses, besides facilitating fair and quick trials. Of these, 20 cases relate to the offences of rape, molestation and murder of women. One of these cases pertains to a horrific 30-second video clip of two Kuki women being stripped and paraded naked by a mob that prompted the apex court to take suo motu cognisance, and the subsequent hand over of the case to CBI by the Centre on July 28. Among the other seven cases, three are for looting weapons, two for murder, and one case each for rioting and conspiracy.

By an order on August 10, the apex court had appointed Dattatray Padsalgikar, former deputy national security adviser and ex-director general of police (DGP) of Maharashtra, to oversee investigations being carried out by CBI as well as by those conducted by the 42 special investigation teams (SITs), constituted by the Manipur government to probe more than 6,500 other first information reports (FIRs) registered in connection with the violence in the northeastern state. He has been given two months to submit a report.

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NEW DELHI: A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Friday articulated its reservations about the top courts order last November allowing human liberties activist Gautam Navlakha to be kept under house arrest, saying the decision may have set a wrong precedent. May have set wrong precedent: SC bench on Gautam Navlakhas house arrest order

In the facts of the case, this order may set a wrong precedent looking at the facilities being extended to him (Gautam Navlakha), a bench of justices MM Sundresh and JB Pardiwala said, referring to the courts November 10, 2022 order permitting the activist to remain under house arrest considering his medical condition. The November 2022 order was passed by a bench of justices KM Joseph (now retired) and Hrishikesh Roy.

Gautam Navlakha, 70, who had been in jail since his arrest in April 2020 in the Bhima Koregaon case, was allowed to move into a room at a public library in Mumbai in view of his medical condition. In his new request, Navlakha has asked the court to place him under house arrest in Navi Mumbai.

Navlakha is among the activists, lawyers, poets and scholars arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. This, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city, leading to the death of one person and injuries to several others.

The NIA, which had all along opposed moving Navlakha out of Taloja jail, reiterated its stand. It is a very unusual order, a first of its kind. One person is being given so much security whereas others like him are in jail, additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju appearing for NIA said.

This house arrest is unwarranted. He is said to be sick and one lady is allowed to stay with him. She isnt staying there for most of the time, Raju added.

We may have our own reservations. We wont say anything as quite a lengthy order was passed by this court, the bench said and directed NIA to file its response to Navlakhas plea within four weeks indicating the present scenario on Navlakhas health condition and the stage of the trial.

The 2022 order required Navlakha to bear the cost of his security as a condition of house arrest since Maharashtra police personnel had to be stationed outside the house. Raju said Navlakha hadnt been making the payments and the total outstanding dues payable by him had gone up to 1 crore.

Advocates Nithya Ramakrishnan and Warisha Farasat appearing for Navlakha disputed this figure and said they have deposited 8 lakh. The NIA sought directions that would require Navlakha to make a 25 lakh lumpsum deposit.

Navlakha claimed in his application that he was asked to vacate the present premises and sought relocation to a new property at Alibaug. After an initial assessment of the new location, NIA in May told the Supreme Court that the purported ground of his health was a farce since there is no super speciality hospital in its vicinity. Further, NIA said the property was sea-facing and was not safe from the security point of view.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant a stay on the Andhra Pradesh high courts interim order stalling the construction of houses for economically weaker sections (EWS) by the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the residential zone (R-5 zone) in the capital region of Amaravati, people familiar with the matter said. The state government on August 8 filed an SLP in the Supreme Court challenging the interim orders of the high court. (AP)

A division bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Sanjeev Khanna, which took up the hearing on the special leave petition (SLP) filed by the state government seeking a stay on the high court order, said there was no hurry in taking a decision on the issue.

We have to go deeper into the case, as the construction of houses involves expenditure of more than 1,000 crore of public money. There is no hurry to stay the high court orders, Justice Khanna said, while deferring the case till November.

Senior counsel for the Andhra Pradesh government Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the government had sought an emergency stay on the high court order, as it was constructing houses which were sanctioned by the Central government. The plots were already distributed among the beneficiaries as per the earlier directions of the Supreme Court and the government has taken up construction of houses in these plots, he said.

While rejecting the plea for an emergency stay, the Supreme Court bench said it would issue notices to the respondents (farmers of Amaravati) to file their counter within three weeks. The government can file its rejoinder within another three weeks after the respondents file their counter, the bench said.

On August 3, the Andhra Pradesh high court stalled the construction of houses for the EWS from other parts of the state in the residential zone (R-5) of Amaravati, which was proposed to be developed by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government as a world-class capital city of the state.

A three-member bench of the high court comprising justices D V S S Somayajulu, Cheekati Manavendranath Roy and Ravi Nath Tilhari issued the orders acting on a petition filed by the Amaravati farmers, who questioned the governments move to change the original master plan of Amaravati for construction of the housing project.

The high court said the issue of Amaravati capital was pending for hearing in the Supreme Court and hence, the matter of allotment of land for the housing project was subject to the outcome of the apex courts judgement. It said if the judgement goes against the government, it would lead to wastage of enormous amounts of public funds.

The state government on August 8 filed an SLP in the Supreme Court challenging the interim orders of the high court.

On July 24, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy laid foundation stone for the construction of a massive housing colony of 50,793 houses for the poor at Krishanayapalem village in the core area of Amaravati at a cost of 1,829.57 crore, including 384.42 crore on creating infrastructure facilities like roads, electricity and drinking water.

Earlier on May 26, Jagan distributed house site pattas to the beneficiaries from Guntur and NTR districts. The housing sites were spread over 25 layouts in nine villages of Amaravati in the R-5 zone, which was created by amending the master plan of Amaravati in March this year.

This zone was previously earmarked for industries, businesses and other commercial purposes in the master plan for the Amaravati capital area. The Amaravati farmers opposed the change in the master plan and moved the high court on the ground that it would change the status of the capital region and affect their interests.

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The Supreme Court on Friday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Member of Parliament (MP) Prabhunath Singh to life imprisonment in a double murder case of 1995, days after it reversed his acquittal which it said was a result of the failure of the state machinery and trial court to ensure a fair trial. A trial court in 2017 had found him guilty in connection with the 1995 murder of legislator Ashok Singh. (Representative file image)

A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, AS Oka, and Vikram Nath also directed Singh and the Bihar government to pay 10 lakh each and separately to the families of the two deceased victims and 5 lakh each to an injured victim in the case.

Singh was produced virtually from the Hazaribagh jail in Jharkhand where he is presently undergoing life imprisonment in another murder case.

A trial court in 2017 had found him guilty in connection with the 1995 murder of legislator Ashok Singh, who defeated the former MP in the 1995 Bihar assembly poll. Prabhunath Singh had threatened to eliminate him within 90 days of the election results.

Also Read: SC finds ex-RJD Lok Sabha MP guilty in double murder case, reverses acquittal

Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and R Basanth, representing Singh pleaded that his client be not sentenced to death sentence since it was not a case that would fall within the category of the rarest of rare offence. The lawyers added Singhs acquittals by two courts below have been reversed by the Supreme Court, and it is also a relevant factor to be accounted for at the time of sentencing. While the lawyers informed the bench that Singh has also filed a review petition against the conviction order on August 18.

In its August 18 judgment convicting Singh, the apex court had lamented that the three main stake holders in a criminal trial, namely the Investigating Officer that is the part of the police of the State of Bihar, the public prosecutor, and the judiciary, has all utterly failed to keep up their respective duties and responsibilities cast upon them.

The bench had on the day held that Singh, a three-term Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) and one-time RJD MP from Maharajganj, in the double murder case saying there is sufficient evidence to show he murdered Rajendra Rai (18) and Daroga Rai (47), near a polling booth in Chhapra in March 1995.

The two were shot dead because they did not vote as per Singhs suggestion.

The Patna high court transferred the case from Chhapra after the kin of those killed alleged that witnesses were being threatened and influenced. A Patna court in December 2008 acquitted Singh citing lack of evidence. The Patna high court upheld the acquittal in 2012. Rajendra Rais brother challenged the acquittal in the Supreme Court.

In its judgment on August 18, the apex court also underlined that the tainted investigation shows the high-handedness of Singh, who was a powerful person being a sitting MP of the ruling party, as it lamented that the prosecution, trial court as well as the Patna high court unjustifiably overlooked the dying declaration of Rajendra Rai as well as the eye-witness account of his mother.

The prosecution version in the present case was being demolished brick by brick by using political authority and muscle power with the aid of not only the police administration but also with the aid of Public Prosecutor and unfortunately, the presiding officer of the trial court also conducted himself in a manner unbecoming of a judicial officer, said the bench, adding several key witnesses and evidence were deliberately kept out or overlooked during the trial to benefit Singh.

It came down hard on the deplorable functioning of the public prosecutor, police administration and the presiding officer of the trial court to extend undesirable favour to Singh, noting there were sufficient evidence to hold that Singh shot dead the deceased.

Both the courts completely shut their eyes to the manner of the investigation, the prosecutors role, and the high-handedness of the accused as also the conduct of the presiding officer of the trial court, it said.

The court, however, affirmed the acquittal of six other co-accused over lack of evidence.

Singh joined Janata Dal in 1995. He later became a member of JD(U) before joining RJD in 2010 after falling out with chief minister Nitish Kumar.

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The Union government on Friday announced a committee to explore the possibility of simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, sparking a debate on a fractious issue with far-reaching impact on Indian politics, the Constitution, and federalism. PREMIUM File photo of President Ram Nath Kovind(PTI)

The announcement of the committee  likely to be headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, according to people aware of the matter  came amid speculation that some legislation to align national and state elections could be introduced in the upcoming special session of Parliament in less than three weeks. There has also been speculation that the Lok Sabha polls might be brought forward.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed the idea of holding state and national elections simultaneously several times in the past, hailing what he called One Nation, One Election. But opposition parties reject the proposal as undemocratic and said the decision was against the interests of the country.

Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi confirmed that the committee was set up.

Right now, a committee has been constituted. A report of the committee will come out, which will be discussed. Parliament is mature, and discussions will take place; there is no need to get nervous... India is called the mother of democracy; there is evolution... this is part of evolution, he said.

The composition of the committee and the terms of its functioning will be announced soon, said people aware of the details.

The first few rounds of elections in independent India were held simultaneously  in 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967  but the schedule got fragmented after the 1967 elections when a number of state governments either lost their majorities or were dismissed later. In the past, a parliamentary standing committee, the Niti Aayog, and the Law Commission have weighed in on the issue, expressing concern over the burgeoning expense of holding one election after another but also flagging possible constitutional and legal problems.

There were simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and state assemblies till 1967. Now there are polls every few months and it is a huge expenditure. This must be discussed, Joshi said.

The announcement comes ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh; the BRS-ruled Telangana; the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and in Mizoram where BJPs ally the Mizo National Front is in power. These elections precede the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by about four-five months and another round of state elections that will be held in the same year in Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Maharashtra, Haryana and Mizoram. If synchronised polls are held in 2024, then the terms of the assemblies in Haryana and Maharashtra will have to be cut short by about six months as their assembly term is till November.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pushed for conducting simultaneous polls in the past, saying it will help curb spending and allow governments to function without the fetters that the model code of conduct (MCC) forces on development project. To be sure, MCC does not bar governments from completing ongoing work or even announcing new projects in cases of exigencies.

The BJP has explained in detail the merits of holding simultaneous polls. The first, being taking the country out of the continuous election mode as polls are scheduled in 5-7 states in a calendar year. This leads to government officials and paramilitary forces being diverted and deployed for polls that in turn affects their usual work, said a senior party leader.

In its 2014 election manifesto, the BJP said it intends to evolve a method of holding Assembly and Lok Sabha elections simultaneously, through consultation with other parties.

On Friday, BJP chief JP Nadda met Kovind.

In 2019, Modi said in his Independence Day address that the concept of one nation, one election will be good for the country and said just as the goods and services tax achieved the dream of one nation, one tax, and the power sector saw one nation, one grid , simultaneous polls should happen in a democratic manner.

But the Opposition tore into the government over the move, saying it was a diversionary tactic that showed the BJP was afraid of losing the 2024 polls.
The Union governments decision to set up a committee to explore the feasibility of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies sparked a political controversy on Friday, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defending the move and the Opposition alleging that it was against the interests of the country. The Congress alleged that the Centres move came because the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sensed it would be trounced by the INDIA bloc in the general elections. The Shiv Sena (UBT) said the government needed to discuss the concept of One Nation, One Election with other political parties before implementing it. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) termed the decision totally undemocratic (PTI)

Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said the Opposition was scared of the governments proposal while Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the initiative will spur development.

There will be a discussion (on One Nation, One Election) in Parliament. Why is the Opposition scared (about it)? Democracy is about evolution; India is the mother of democracy. This is part of evolution, Joshi said.

In response, the Congress alleged that the Centres move came because the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sensed it would be trounced by the INDIA bloc in the general elections. The Shiv Sena (UBT) said the government needed to discuss the concept of One Nation, One Election with other political parties before implementing it. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) termed the decision totally undemocratic.

The reactions came hours after the Union government announced a committee to explore the possibility of simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, sparking a debate on an issue with far-reaching impact on politics, Constitution, and federalism.

The panel -- to be headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind -- was announced amid speculation that some legislation to align national and state elections could be introduced in the upcoming five-day special session of Parliament from September 18.

Rajasthan chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said the BJP had sensed its defeat in the upcoming general elections, which are scheduled for April-May next year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is so worried due to the INDIA alliance that he and the central government have sensed they are not going to win the 2024 elections and the BJPs defeat is also certain in the states where assembly elections are going to be held this year, he said.

Rajasthan is one of the states slated to go to the polls later this year.

Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath said holding simultaneous elections was not possible without taking the nod of state assemblies.

Delhi minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said the BJP was scared of the INDIA bloc, and hence, wanted to hold polls early.

The central government is afraid of the manner in which 28 parties have come together and are meeting for a third time, he said, referring to the two-day meeting of the INDIA bloc in Mumbai that concluded on Friday. They want to conduct the (Lok Sabha) elections earlier, he added.

The BJP hailed the governments move.

It is a pleasure to know that a committee has been formed for One Nation-One Election under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind. On behalf of the people of Uttar Pradesh, I express my heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this innovative initiative This is an excellent initiative that will not only accelerate development but will also ensure the prosperity and stability of democracy, benefiting the lives of every citizen. I welcome this wholeheartedly,  said Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the country will progress by the move. The decision to form the committee for this (One Nation, One Election) and a person like Ramnath Kovind who has such a long experience and has been the President of the country as well accepting this responsibility (chairperson of the committee) is a great thing and we welcome such an initiative, Dhami told ANI.

But the Opposition was not impressed. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut called the move a conspiracy to postpone polls in the country. We need fair elections which are not happening now, he said.

One Nation, One Election concept needs to be put forward to political parties across the spectrum, then the thoughts, contribution, deliberation, and discussion would take place, and then the decision would come, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Desai said.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai said simultaneous polls were against the interests of the country. Ever since the idea was mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the DMK has all along been opposing it as part of its Dravidian ideology of good governance, he said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) member Sujan Chakraborty said the concept of unity in diversity was getting compromised by such a move. The formation of such a committee is not democratic at all, he said.

The National Conference (NC said the party had some reservations but would give a detailed response only after the committee submitted a report on the issue.

There are many things in it on which we want to react, but, as of now, the Kovind committee has been mandated to submit a report on it, so, it is better to wait for some time. But, once this report comes, the NC will give its detailed response then, party spokesperson for the Maharashtra unit, Imran Nabi Dar, said.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha said it will go with the nation if a legislation is made for holding Lok Sabha and state assembly polls simultaneously.

Our chief minister Naveen Patnaik has always said that BJD is better prepared to face elections than any other political party in the state BJD has no difficulties, said former minister and senior BJD lawmaker Badrinarayan Patra. Since 2004, Odisha has held simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state assembly.

(With agency inputs)
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen will rally Americas partners to maintain collective economic support for Ukraine during her visit to India to participate in the G20 Summit next week. US treasury secretary Janet Yellen (Reuters Photo)

Yellen will also highlight the importance of imposing severe costs on Russia and mitigating global spillovers on the conflict in Europe, the US treasury department said in a statement regarding her visit to India.

Yellen will be in India from September 7-10, and this will be her fourth visit to the country in 10 months. She will also focus on supporting low and middle-income countries by advancing multilateral development bank (MDB) evolution and debt restructuring, the statement said.

While in New Delhi, Secretary Yellen will continue to rally Americas partners to maintain our collective economic support for Ukraine, including through contributions from across our coalition, the statement said.

Besides highlighting the issue of imposing severe costs on Russia, Yellen and the partners of the US will work to address the consequences of Russias unprovoked war on global growth and poverty reduction, including through the price cap on Russian oil.

The statement said the oil price cap has been achieving its dual goals of reducing Russian revenue while keeping global energy prices stable.

Yellen and the partners of the US will also work on efforts to strengthen global food security through MDBs, leveraging multilateral tools such as the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) and working towards a replenishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

She will also focus on strengthening the global economy and supporting low and middle-income countries by advancing MDB evolution, debt restructuring and the IMFs Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust. She will continue to build momentum for the collective effort launched in October 2022 to evolve the MDBs so that they have the right vision, incentives, operational models and financing capacity to address critical global priorities like combating climate change, addressing pandemics and global health security, and tackling fragility and conflict.

The US treasury department estimates that MDBs, as a system, can unlock $200 billion over the next decade just from measures already being implemented or under deliberation as part of this process. There is the potential to unlock even more funds if MDBs undertake some of the longer-term and more complex recommendations in the G20 Capital Adequacy Framework report, including on callable capital, the statement said.

Yellen will also continue to deepen the bilateral relationship with India by engaging with counterparts and the Indian people to discuss common priorities such as expanding bilateral economic ties and cooperating on global challenges.

In New Delhi, Yellen will participate in engagements on the margins of the G20 Summit and hold bilateral meetings with counterparts. She will also join US President Joe Biden for several engagements on the margins of the summit.

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Dehradun: The Uttarakhand high court on Friday summoned chief secretary SS Sandhu over non-compliance of its earlier order to constitute a committee of independent experts for a study on instances of land subsidence in Joshimath town, after hundreds of residential buildings and other structures began developing cracks earlier this year. On January 12, the high court had directed the state government to form the panel and submit a report in a sealed envelope within two months, after several families were forced to shift to temporary relief camps due to the cracks. HT Image

Since then, 868 residential buildings and other structures developed cracks, 181 of these were declared unsafe, and familes affected. A division bench of chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Alok Kumar Verma was hearing a plea related to the 2021 Chamoli flood disaster, that claimed 204 lives, when it recalled its order related to the Joshimath crisis, advocate Snigdha Tiwari, who appeared for the petitioner, said.

The court has summoned chief secretary SS Sandhu during the next hearing on September 22, she said.

Disaster management secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha said he is yet to receive a copy of the order. Once we receive and examine the order we will come up with our response accordingly.

In its January order, the high court had directed inclusion of Piyoosh Rautela, executive director of Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority, and SPS Bisht director Uttarakhand Space Application Centre, into the committee.

In her petition, Tiwari soughtformation of an independent committee to analyse the impacts of hydel power projects in the upper reaches of Himalayan valleys and a stay on construction of all under-construction hydropower projects, till early warning systems are put in place.

She also sought formation of an independent committee comprising hydrologists, geologists, glaciologists, disaster management experts, social scientists, geomorphologists, ecologists, hydrogeologists and landslide experts to assess the current situation on the ground in Joshimath, Reni village and Tapovan.

The application sought directions to the committee to make recommendations relying on scientific findings with respect to the viability of the hydel power project, disaster mitigation and management plans within a time frame decided by the court.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Neeraj Santoshi He is principal correspondent based at Bhopal. He covers environment and wildlife, state administration, BJP and other saffron organisations. He has special interest in social issues based stories. ...view detail
A crew of women officers will spearhead a key project to upgrade an advanced landing ground near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh to a full-fledged base for fighter operations as India steps up infrastructure development along its farthest frontiers to support military operations and counter Chinese infrastructure construction across the contested border where the two countries have been locked in a standoff for more than three years, officials aware of the development said on Friday. Col Ponung Doming with Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry, director general, BRO. (HT Photo)

The upgradation of the Nyoma airfield to support offensive and defensive operations will involve a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) task force led by a woman combat engineer, Colonel Ponung Doming, who will have five women engineers under her command, said one of the officials cited above, asking not to be named. The scope of the work will include extending and strengthening the existing airstrip and building allied infrastructure for fighter operations.

BRO will begin work on upgrading of the Nyoma airfield, located at a height of 13,300 feet above sea level and 23km from the LAC, in a few days after defence minister Rajnath Singh remotely lays the foundation stone of the 214 crore project on September 12, said a second official, who also asked not to be named. The foundation stone of the Indian Air Forces (IAF) Nyoma fighter base will be laid on the day Singh inaugurates the BROs Devak bridge near Jammu, and dedicates around 90 other infrastructure projects to the nation including roads, tunnels and bridges.

The project is expected to be completed by September 2025, the officials said.

The Nyoma airstrip was out of use for decades after the 1962 India-China war before IAF reactivated it in September 2009 and landed an AN-32 transport aircraft there for the first time. IAF has operated its C-130J special operations aircraft, AN-32s and helicopters from Nyoma in support of the militarys forward deployments, including during the ongoing LAC row with China. IAF reactivated its other two airstrips at Daulet Beg Oldi (16,614 feet) and Fukche (13,000 feet) in May 2008 and November 2008.

The upgradation of the Nyoma advanced landing ground is not the only project being spearheaded by the BRO task force with women engineers.

Colonel Domings unit is also constructing a high-altitude road in Ladakhs Demchok sector to provide connectivity to one of the militarys farthest outposts in the sensitive sector, Fukche, which is just 3km from the LAC, the officials said. The construction of the 64-km Likaru-Mig La-Fukche road began on August 15.

At its highest point, the road will roll over an altitude of 19,400 feet, and when ready by mid-2025, it will be the highest motorable road in the world. The existing highest motorable road in the world has also been built by BRO. Two years ago, BRO created a world record by constructing and blacktopping the worlds highest motorable road at Umling La in Ladakh at a height of 19,024 feet.

Recognising the contribution of BRO workers, the government invited 50 of them as special guests at the 77th Independence Day celebrations at Red Fort.

After the India-China border row began in May 2000, India has built infrastructure at a swift pace in eastern Ladakh with focus on better living experience and improved facilities for soldiers, conservation of modern weapons and equipment deployed there, and supporting faster movement of men and material to deal with any contingency.

India inducted thousands of extra troops and modern military weaponry into the Ladakh sector to counter the Chinese military build-up after the standoff began, and the changed dynamics along the LAC necessitated the infrastructure push aimed at enhancing efficiency of the militarys deployments.

The steps taken by the army to support its forward deployments along LAC include building of modular shelters for troops deployed at heights of up to 18,000 feet, habitat for reserve troops in rear locations, storage facilities for tanks, artillery guns and other equipment, underground facilities for ammunition storage, airfields, and new roads, bridges and tunnels in difficult terrain for improved connectivity in forward areas.

This has come in the backdrop of Chinas unrelenting infrastructure push.

An analysis of satellite imagery from Aksai Chin, a region that India has for long accused China of occupying illegally, shows the Chinese side has ramped up the construction of reinforced bunkers and underground facilities to better protect military assets from aerial or missile strikes.

A comparison of satellite images from December 2021 and August this year  provided to Hindustan Times by Maxar Technologies earlier this week  shows the Chinese side has built reinforced bunkers and underground facilities at six locations within an area of roughly 15 sq km in Aksai Chin.

This area is located about 70km from the LAC, and while troops were deployed in the region following the start of the standoff in May 2020, most of the land was barren and with few signs of construction activity, apart from some overground facilities to host equipment.

At the 19th round of talks between corps commanders of the two armies on August 13 and 14, the two sides agreed to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC in a speedy manner through continued dialogue. That was the first time military talks were held over two days.

Despite four rounds of disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), the Indian and Chinese armies still have tens of thousands of troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre. Problems at Depsang in Daulet Beg Oldi sector and CNN junction in Demchok are still on the negotiating table.

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A youth has been found dead under suspicious circumstances at the house of Union minister Kaushal Kishore. The deceased, identified as Vinay Srivastava, was shot dead around 4.15am at Kisore's house Begaria village residence under Thakurganj police station area. Police said a licensed revolver was recovered from the scene allegedly belonging to Kishore's son, Vikas Kishore. Union Minister Kaushal Kishore's Son 'Shoots Friend'; Body Found at MP's Lucknow Home. (HT Photo)

DCP West, Lucknow, Rahul Raj said the dog squad, crime branch and forensic teams are at the spot for investigation.

A person named Vinay Shrivastave was shot dead. A pistol has been recovered which belongs to Vikas Kishore. Further investigation is underway. A forensic team has also arrived and we are also searching CCTV visuals. An FIR has also been registered in this case, Rahul Raj told reporters.

BJP MP Kaushal Kishore assured support for the victim's family and said the culprit will not be spared.

"This is a matter of investigation. Forensic teams and police have started the investigation. The person involved will not be spared. We are standing in support of the family members of the deceased. I have no idea who was at the residence when the incident took place."

According to News18, three suspects have been taken into police custody following the complaint filed by the victim's family.

Kishore lost a son to alcoholism

The minister of state for housing and urban affairs lost one of his sons, Akash Kishore, to alcoholism in October 2020, prompting the BJP lawmaker to roll out a campaign to save the young from getting consumed by the brew. Addressing a programme on de-addiction in the Lambhua assembly constituency last year, he called the tragedy as he appealed to people not to get their daughters and sisters married to alcoholics.

"My son (Akash Kishore) was into the habit of consuming alcohol with his friends. He was admitted to a de-addiction centre. Assuming that he will quit the bad habit, he was married after six months. However, he started drinking again after his marriage, and that eventually led to his death. Two years ago, on October 19, when Akash passed away, his son was barely two years old," the Union minister said.

Kaushal Kishore told the gathering, I could not save my son, due to which his wife became a widow. You must save your daughters and sisters from this.

(This is a developing story. Please check back for updates)

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A headless bronze statue believed to depict the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius was ordered seized from the Cleveland Museum of Art by New York authorities investigating antiquities looted from Turkey. The Emperor as Philosopher, a Roman-era statue, thought to represent Marcus Aurelius, stands in a gallery at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio. A warrant signed by a judge in Manhattan, ordered the seizure of the statue, from the Cleveland Museum of Art by New York authorities investigating antiquities looted from Turkey. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, File)

A warrant signed by a judge in Manhattan on Aug. 14 ordered the seizure of the statue, which the museum acquired in 1986 and had been a highlight of its collection of ancient Roman art.

The warrant was secured as part of an ongoing investigation into a smuggling network involving antiquities looted from Bubon in southwestern Turkey and trafficked through Manhattan, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. No details of the investigation were provided.

The 76-inch (1.9-meter) statue dates from A.D. 180 to 200 and is worth $20 million, according to the district attorney's office.

The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported that the statue was removed from view more than two months ago and that the museum changed the description of the piece on its website, where it now calls the statue a Draped Male Figure " instead of indicating a connection to Marcus Aurelius.

Turkey first made claims about the statue in 2012 when it released a list of nearly two dozen objects in the Cleveland museums collection that it said had been looted from Bubon and other locations. Museum officials said at the time that Turkey had provided no hard evidence of looting.

The enduring dispute surrounding this matter has kept him separated from his hometown, Zeynep Boz of Turkeys Ministry of Culture and Tourism said of the statue.

In an emailed statement, Boz said the seizure "provides a strong sense of hope, long-awaited, for the rectification of a willing wrongdoing.

Todd Mesek, a spokesperson for the museum, said in a statement Thursday that the museum could not comment on the Marcus Aurelius statue while it is the subject of litigation.

Mesek said the museum takes provenance issues very seriously and reviews claims to objects in the collection carefully and responsibly.

The Manhattan district attorney's office has worked in recent years to repatriate hundreds of objects looted from countries including Turkey, Greece, Israel and Italy. It was unclear who might be targeted in the investigation of the statue seized in Cleveland.

Marcus Aurelius ruled as Roman emperor from A.D. 161 to 180 and was a Stoic philosopher whose Meditations have been studied over the centuries.

The seized statue shows a man in flowing robes holding one hand in front of him in a regal pose.

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The British noticed the cheetah as early as their arrival at the Mughal court. Ralph Fitch, who visited Agra and Fatehpur Sikri during Akbars reign (15561605), records that the Emperor had at the two cities as they doe credibly report, one thousand Elephants, thirty thousand Horses, one thousand and four hundred tame Deere (sic), eight hundred Concubines: such store of Ounces [cheetahs], Tygres [lions], Buffles, Cockes and Hawkes, that is very strange to see.1 William Hawkins, predecessor of the more famous Sir Thomas Roe as envoy to Jahangir, had noticed Ounces for game at the Mughal court in 1610 as well.2 PREMIUM .

Soon thereafter, the cheetah came to be depicted on a carpet ordered by a British trader. William Fremlin was an agent of the East India Company at Agra and elsewhere from 1628 to 1644 during the reign of Shah Jahan. Between 1635 and 1640 he commissioned a carpet for his personal use, which is described by Deborah A. Swallow of the Courtauld Institute as follows: The ground of the carpet is red, with a deep blue border; the pattern consists of floral, animal and bird motifs, interspersed with the Fremlin arms (size 6.99 metres x 2.49 metres)  Nine colours and white: 2 shades of red, 2 blues, 2 browns, 2 greens and yellow.3

The animal motifs include some fantastic and composite animals, three leopards pouncing on wild goats and so on. But clearly identifiable are three cheetahs in full flow, chasing blackbuck. Their colour appears white. Before the carpet came to be preserved at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, it had gone through usage and transportation. Whether this was the original colour or has faded through use and transportation over the years, is moot.

The cheetah is recorded to have been transported to England during this period. Lord Piggot, Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Fort St George, Madras, from 1755 to 1763, presented the Duke of Cumberland a cheetah for the royal menagerie at Windsor, no doubt as a strange animal likely to arouse interest at court for its hunting ability. An attempt was made to course with it in Windsor Great Park but the crowd was so great that the creature would not move.4

This attempt may have been a fiasco, but it was strange enough to have resulted in a painting by George Stubbs of c. 1765, preserved at the Manchester City Art Gallery. The cheetah stands ready, wearing the kamarkach (waist-band), a collar and a tamancheki topi, the latter slipped back onto its neck. One keeper holds it by the kamarkach while another seems to be urging it to attack as he points with both arms towards a stag whose antlers resemble a sambars rather than a red deers. The anatomy of the cheetah is exquisitely painted with its claws distinctly visible. The look on its face is alert and directed towards the deer it is meant to attack, though its tail is curled upwards and the posture of the body appears as though it is pulling back! Whether it was the crowd, the unfamiliar English countryside or the size of the selected prey that did it, we do not know. But the cheetah refused to course.

(Excerpted with permission from The Story of Indias Cheetahs by Divyabhanusinh, published by The Marg Foundation; 2023)
A pleasant table setting, a steak in the pan, and romantic candlelight may sound like the beginning of a lovely evening. However, a new study from Aarhus University's Department of Public Health advises that you should be wary about inhaling too much of the comfortable atmosphere. Burning candles, fumes may be harmful for people with mild asthma: Study(Photo by Twitter/ColumbiaAllergy)

Karin Rosenkilde Laursen, a postdoc at the department and co-author of the study, said, "Our study shows that indoor air pollution caused by fumes from cooking and burning candles can lead to adverse health effects such as irritation and inflammation in young individuals with mild asthma. Among other things, weve found indications of DNA damage and signs of inflammation in the blood."

ALSO READ: Kids with asthma may benefit by moving from troubled areas to better ones: Study

When we turn on the oven, place a pan on the hob, or light candles, ultrafine particles and gases are produced, which we then inhale. Previous studies have shown that these particles and gases can be detrimental to health. What sets this study apart is that the researchers have focused on the effects on young individuals with mild asthma, aged between 18 and 25, says Karin Rosenkilde Laursen:

"In the study, we observed that even very young individuals with mild asthma can experience discomfort and adverse effects if the room is not adequately ventilated during cooking or when burning candles. Young people are generally fitter and more resilient than older and middle-aged individuals. Therefore, it is concerning that we observed a significant impact from the particles on this particularly young age group."

But not only people diagnosed with asthma need to keep an eye on the indoor climate, she says.

Even though the study focused on young asthmatics, its findings are interesting and relevant for all of us. Winter is approaching, a time when we tend to light many candles and perhaps are less likely to open doors and windows while cooking. By prioritising a healthier indoor climate, even when we're cosying up indoors, we may be able to help reduce the incidence of serious lung and cardiovascular diseases, as well as cancer.

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Parasites or worms are organisms that need other living organisms to survive and can cause various kinds of infections in human beings. Since parasites often live in intestine, the common symptoms of a parasitic infection are diarrhoea and vomiting apart from itchy skin rashes. Many infections also manifest in brain or lungs. From protozoa like amoeba, malaria, helminths that live in the intestines and can infect liver, lungs or brain, or Ectoparasites like mites, ticks, lice and flea, there are three main types of parasites that affect humans. Human brain is most common affected by Taenia solium - a pork tapeworm, causing a condition known as neurocysticercosis and Echinococcus - a tapeworm, causing hydatid disease. (Also read: World's first case of live parasitic worm found in Australian woman's brain: Alive and wriggling) The 64-year-old Australian woman was infected by a rare parasite called Ophidascaris Robertsi. This is a type of Roundworm (Helminth). This roundworm usually lives in a Carpet Python called Morelia Spilota(Pinterest)

Doctors pulled out a live 8cm roundworm from the brain of a 64-year-old Australian woman who complained of forgetfulness and depression. The lady also suffered from symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhoea, constant dry cough, fever and night sweats a year back. Doctors suspected some kind of infection in the brain, but never expected they would find an alive and wriggling worm.

"The 64-year-old Australian woman was infected by a rare parasite called Ophidascaris Robertsi. This is a type of Roundworm (Helminth). This roundworm usually lives in a Carpet Python called Morelia Spilota. The eggs of the worm are around the snakes faecal droppings, which infect the grass. This grass containing the eggs, are eaten by small mammals, who are then eaten by the Carpet Python. This is how this worm gets cycled between its two hosts. This woman became an 'accidental host'. She lived near the carpet python habitat and while foraging the native vegetation for cooking, she ingested the egg. The worm developed in her intestine and travelled via blood circulation to her brain. It caused symptoms of forgetfulness, confusion and headache. Upon consulting the doctors, she underwent an MRI brain scan, which showed inflammation in the area of the brain with an underlying parasite. She underwent surgery," says Dr Himanshu Champaneri, Senior Consultant - Department of Neurosurgery, Marengo Asia Hospitals, Gurugram.

Symptoms of parasitic infection in brain

"These organisms reach the brain via blood circulation and start growing there. In response, the body produces inflammation around the worm and as a result, an area of inflammatory tissue or granuloma develops in the brain. Depending upon the affected location, it can cause a multitude of symptoms such as pressure symptoms - headache, vomiting, visual blurring, confusion, altered sensorium, cognitive symptoms - forgetfulness, problems in understanding, calculations, disorientation, seizures and epilepsy - due to irritation of the brain by inflammatory tissue, and circulation block - it can block the normal circulation of brain fluid and cause sudden increase in fluid pressures called hydrocephalus. Without treatment, these conditions can be fatal and patients can die," says Dr Himanshu.

Who are at risk?

Human population living in close vicinity to the animals or forest are likely to get infected by these parasites:

People eating raw vegetables, uncooked food, are likely to consume the parasitic eggs.

Partially or poorly cooked meat of animals such as dog, cow, pigs etc. when consumed, can lead to direct entry of these worms inside the human. Most of the people living with pets can encounter parasitic eggs in the pets faces.

How to prevent this infection

Proper washing of all vegetables before consuming

Purchasing meat from an authentic source and cooking it properly to kill the underlying parasites

Deworming of pets at regular intervals

Frequent hand washing after every outing from the house, if you are living in a forest or similar areas

Phases, complications and treatment of parasitic infection

Dr Himanshu explains how this infection begins, complications arising out of it and how it is treated.

Intestinal phase: When the eggs are consumed and parasites grow in the intestine, they cause abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, nausea and asymptomatic period. This is the phase when the worms are growing in the intestine and the body is not responding with any active defence.

Neurologic phase: When the worms have reached the target organ, the brain, they can cause symptoms such as headache, confusion, forgetfulness, seizures, altered sensorium and sometimes death.

Complications

It can cause epilepsy, with is a disorder of multiple frequent unprovoked seizures.

Encephalopathy: It can cause damage to the brain leading to decline in cognition and progressive deterioration of the mental functions

It can cause damage to the brain leading to decline in cognition and progressive deterioration of the mental functions Hydrocephalus : It can cause obstruction to fluid circulation pathways, needing urgent surgery for fluid diversion.

: It can cause obstruction to fluid circulation pathways, needing urgent surgery for fluid diversion. Coma and death

Treatment

"The parasitic infections are treatable with anthelminthics drugs. Brain infections often need surgery for the removal of parasite, reduction of the pressure and sometimes fluid diversion via shunt procedure. The surgery is frequently done via a keyhole and using endoscope or operating microscope," says Dr Himanshu.

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and three of his cabinet ministers sampled fish from waters off the coast of Fukushima. A video, shared on August 31, shows them trying the fish in a bid to raise awareness about the safety of the water after treated radioactive wastewater was released into the Pacific Ocean from the nation's power plants. Picture of Japan PM Fumio Kishida having fish from wastewater. (Twitter/@PM's Office of Japan)

"Lets support the Sanriku & Joban regions through food! These regions, consisting of Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki prefectures, offer wonderful marine products," says the official Twitter handle of PM's Office of Japan. (Also Read: Fukushima treated water release: No radioactivity detected in seawater tests)

What is shown in the video?

The clip opens to show Fumio Kishida promoting fish and other seafood products. The clip goes on to show him, along with other members enjoying the seafood.

In the end, he also urges people to show support by buying "safe and flavourful fish and other marine products" from Sanriku and Joban regions.

Watch the video of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida here:

Why did Japan release water from the nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean?

According to The Washington Post, after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, Japan stored the contaminated water in large metal tanks near the plant. However, now the country is running out of space to build more tanks to accommodate the contaminated groundwater and rainwater. So, the country has started to treat the wastewater and release it into the ocean.

When did Japan start to release water from the nuclear power plant?

The process of releasing the nuclear water began in late August 2023, after Japan received approval from the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to release over a million tons of treated radioactive water. (Also Read: Japan says harassment calls from China regarding Fukushima water release extremely regrettable)

Due to worries about the potential effects, local fishing communities as well as other nations, including China and South Korea, which share international waters with Japan, have expressed opposition to this approval.

What did the IAEA safety review conclude?

Following a safety evaluation, the IAEA determined that the discharge would have a negligible environmental impact, in line with water releases from nuclear facilities in other areas. According to the nuclear agency, the safety evaluation addressed technical issues and clarified the science underlying the intended discharge, ensuring that there would be "negligible radiological impact on people and the environment."

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The Canadian Government had advised against any travel to the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir or POK following protests there in the wake of the arrest of a Shia cleric by Pakistani security forces. HT Image

In an updated travel advisory on Thursday, the Canadian Government warned: Avoid all travel to the Pakistan-administered region due to violent protests.

The advisory added, Large protests began on August 31, 2023, in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, after a local religious leader was arrested under Pakistans blasphemy laws. Clashes between protesters and security forces have occurred. The demonstrations have led to traffic and public transport disruptions.

The reference was to the arrest of Shia cleric Agha Baqir al-Hussaini, who had opposed tightening of blasphemy laws.

Overall, Canada advised travellers to exercise a high degree of caution while in Pakistan due to the unpredictable security situation. There is a threat of terrorism, civil unrest, sectarian violence and kidnapping.

In fact, several areas in Pakistan carry the warning against travel. These include those within 50km of the border with Afghanistan, within 10km of the borders with India, China and Iran, within 10km of the Line of Control or LoC, PoK, section of the Karakoram Highway, the entire province of Balochistan and much of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

There are also alerts with regard to prominent cities in Pakistan. Canada advises against non-essential travel to Karachi.

There is a threat of terrorism in Pakistan. The security situation is fragile and unpredictable. Several terrorist groups are present and operate across the country, the full travel advisory stated.

It also noted Ottawa may not be in a position to provide consular assistance to Canadians in some areas where there are serious security concerns.

Alluding to the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the advisory said demonstrations continue across the country with Pakistani security forces on high alert in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi.

It also refers to womens safety, stating, Women travelling alone may be subject to some forms of harassment and verbal abuse. Gender-based violence is common in Pakistan. Honour killings and forced marriages are frequently reported.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anirudh Bhattacharyya Anirudh Bhattacharya is a Toronto-based commentator on North American issues, and an author. He has also worked as a journalist in New Delhi and New York spanning print, television and digital media. He tweets as @anirudhb. ...view detail
The Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have rejected as baseless a map released by China that denotes its claims to sovereignty including in the South China Sea and which Beijing said on Thursday should be viewed rationally and objectively. China's U-shaped line loops as far as 1,500 km (932 miles) south of its Hainan island and cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. (Twitter)

China released the map on Monday of its famous U-shaped line covering about 90% of the South China Sea, a source of many of the disputes in one of the world's most contested waterways, where more than $3 trillion of trade passes each year.

The Philippines called on China on Thursday "to act responsibly and abide by its obligations" under international law and a 2016 arbitral ruling that had declared the line had no legal grounds.

Malaysia said it had filed a diplomatic protest over the map.

China says the line is based on its historic maps. It was not immediately clear whether the latest map denotes any new claim to territory.

China's U-shaped line loops as far as 1,500 km (932 miles) south of its Hainan island and cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

"This latest attempt to legitimise China's purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law," the Philippine Foreign Ministry said.

Its Malaysian counterpart in a statement said the new map holds no binding authority over Malaysia, which "also views the South China Sea as a complex and sensitive matter".

The map was different to a narrower version submitted by China to the United Nations in 2009 of the South China Sea that included its so-called "nine-dash line".

The latest map was of a broader geographical area and had a line with 10 dashes that included democratically governed Taiwan, similar to a 1948 map of China. China also published a map with a 10th dash in 2013.

Asked about the latest map, Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu said Taiwan was "absolutely not a part of the People's Republic of China".

"No matter how the Chinese government twists its position on Taiwan's sovereignty, it cannot change the objective fact of our country's existence," he told a press briefing.

China is currently having a "national map awareness publicity week", state broadcaster China Central Television reported on Tuesday.

Asked why China had released the latest map with 10 dashes compared to one with nine dashes, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Beijing had been unambiguous about its territory.

"China's position on the South China Sea issue has always been clear. The competent authorities of China regularly update and release various types of standard maps every year," he told a regular briefing.

"We hope that relevant parties can view this in an objective and rational manner."

Read Here: India lodges protest with China showing Arunachal as its territory in new map

Late on Thursday, Vietnam's foreign ministry said China's claims based on the map have no value and violate Vietnamese and international laws.

Vietnam "resolutely rejects any claims in the East Sea by China that are based on the dashed line," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in a statement, referring to the South China Sea.

Separately, Hang said Vietnamese authorities are seeking to clarify an allegation by Vietnamese fishermen that a Chinese vessel attacked their fishing boat with water canon earlier this week in the South China Sea, injuring two of them.

"Vietnam opposes the use of force against Vietnamese fishing boats operating normally at sea," she said in a statement sent to Reuters.

India said on Tuesday said it had lodged a strong protest with China over a new map that lays claim to India's territory, the latest irritant in testy ties between the Asian giants.
A judge has announced that Donald Trump's trail for alleged election fraud in Georgia in the 2020 US Presidential elections, will be livestreamed. According to a BBC report, Judge Scott McAfee has ruled that all the hearings will be available live on Fulton County Court's YouTube channel. Donald Trump (AP)

In the Georgia election fraud case, Trump has been indicted along with 18 other people for conspiring to overturn the election results. The former US President has pleaded not guilty to the 13 charges of his indictment. He has waived the right to appear in court at his arraignment.

Prosecutors believe that one important evidence in the case is a taped phone call that Trump made to Georgia's then-secretary of state to recalculate the vote tally.

Legal problems for Trump have mounted as he faces a total of four criminal trails against him in the US. The other three legal cases against Trump are: 1) attempt to defraud the US, as well as conspiracy to obstruct and actual obstruction of an official proceeding( in light of the attack on US Capitol on January 6, 2021), 2) a probe for possession of classified documents and 3) hush money payments case.

Meanwhile, Trump has alleged that all the legal cases against him, are politically motivated.

ALSO READ| Do right wingers in the USA have a favourable opinion of India? Pew survey reveals startling details

Recently, in a first for any serving or former US president, Trump's mugshot was taken at the Atlanta's Fulton County Jail. Later, Trump shared the mugshot on social media platform "X"(formerly Twitter). His campaign team for the 2024 Presidential elections have used the mugshots to gather support and donations for him.

Despite all the controversies and legal troubles, Trump remains the frontrunner to get official Republican nomination for the 2024 Presidential elections. Recently, Trump endorsed Indian-origin Republican Party member Vivek Ramaswamy as a "very good" vice presidential candidate.
Afghanistan war hero Ben McBean has slammed Prince Harry for alleging that "media doesn't support veterans". In his latest Netflix documentary "Heart of Invictus", Harry has talked about McBean's service days and horrific injury and highlighted media's apathy towards war veterans. Notably, both McBean and Harry had served at the same time during the war against terrorism in the Asian country. Prince Harry(REUTERS)

In an interaction with The Sun, McBean outrightly blasted Harry for being wrong about media's help towards war veterans. In stark contrast to Harry's claims, McBean hailed the British media for supporting veterans and helping gather charity for wounded and disbaled soldiers.

I have had his back for 15 years. Ive always championed him but it doesnt mean I have to agree with everything that comes out of his mouth. On this one the Duke of Sussex is wrong.," said McBean

I can say, hand on heart for a fact, that the British media  and especially The Sun  did cover the stories of veterans. One of the only positives post-injury was how the media supported the troops,"

They didnt write us off and told the world about us and our disabilities. Thanks to The Sun, everyone was wearing a Help for Heroes wristband.

McBean served in the Helman province of Afghanistan and had lost his right leg and left arm in a bomb blast. In 2008, while McBean was being treated at the Headley Court Military Hospital in Surrey, he was visited by Prince Harry and Prince William.

McBean acknowledged Harry's help and said: I have seen Harry lots of times over the years. He has brought me beer and Get well soon cards when I have been sick."

My mum, dad and uncle have met him and William. I think Harry is cool but I am a 36-year-old man and I dont agree with him. The papers and the media explained why the war was on and why you were going to see amputees walking in your local city," said McBean.

The whole country knew about us. Ive nothing bad to say about the media supporting the military, said the war veteran.

ALSO READ| Donald Trump's trial for election fraud in Georgia : How to watch live telecast

Harry's ambitious project the 2023 edition of the Invictus Games, on which the documentary is based, is set to be held between September 9 and 16 in Dusseldorf, Germany. Invictus translates to unconquered. The event was founded by Prince Harry in 2014 to celebrate the great contribution by the veterans and help them have good mental health through sports.
The CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, Elon Musk, has revealed that his estranged transgender daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson became a communist who hates the rich after attending a prestigious California school. He said he feels more hurt by their separation than by the loss of his first son Nevada, who died as an infant. Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk gets in a Tesla car as he leaves a hotel in Beijing, China May 31, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang(REUTERS)

The 52-year-old made these shocking claims in an excerpt from the forthcoming biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. He said he was initially supportive of his childs gender transition, but things changed in April 2022 when Wilson, 19, cut off all ties with him and embraced Marxism.

She went beyond socialism to being a full communist and thinking that anyone rich is evil, Musk said, adding that he has tried to reach out to her many times, but she refuses to see him.

The firmer X CEO whos worth $257.5 billion, partly blamed the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica, where Wilson studied, for infecting her with the woke mind virus.

The elite K-12 school, which costs up to $50,000 per year and has produced many famous alumni such as Jack Black and Zooey Deschanel, allegedly taught Wilson to despise wealthy people like her father.

Musk said this is similar to the mindset that has taken over Twitter and other liberal universities, where neo-Marxists suppress conservative and anti-establishment voices.

This is why the CEO of Tesla Motors decided to buy Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, calling himself the fire-breathing dragon that the social media platform needed. He said he wanted to defend free speech and challenge the woke culture that has alienated him from his daughter.

ALSO READ| X (earlier Twitter) to get audio and video calls, says Elon Musk

This is not the first time that Musk has criticized elite schools and universities for spreading wokeness. In October 2021, he said that they had been infiltrated by neo-Marxists who teach their students to hate rich people.
A super PAC that supports Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president in 2024 has stopped knocking on doors in four states that will vote early in the Republican primaries, The New York Post reported on Thursday. FILE - Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaks during a campaign event, June 2, 2023, in Lexington, S.C. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr., File)(AP)

Never Back Down, which plans to spend $100 million to help DeSantis win the nomination, has closed its field offices in Nevada, California, North Carolina, and Texas in recent weeks, as NBC News first reported.

The super PACs spokeswoman Erin Perrine quoted that the reason for the shutdowns was to concentrate more on the first three states to vote: Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

We see real opportunities in the first three. The first three are going to set the conditions for the March states, she said.

But, Perrine seemed to overlook the fact that Nevadas GOP has moved its caucus ahead of South Carolina, making it the third state to vote. Nevada Republicans have scheduled their caucus for Feb. 8, 2024, while South Carolinas primary is set for Feb. 24.

ALSO READ| Elon Musk accuses California school of influencing his communist trans daughter's views over wealth and ideology

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC backing former President Donald Trump, ridiculed Perrines statement on X.

Uh Nevada is in the first 3? she wrote.

Never Back Down has some serious issues if they dont even know the primary calendar.

Reports suggest more than 250 staff members were working in the four states before the shutdowns.

The news follows a turbulent summer for the DeSantis campaign, which saw dozens of layoffs and a new campaign manager amid rumors of overspending.

The Florida Governors main rival for the nomination, Trump, is expected to appear in a federal court in Washington, DC, on March 4, a day before Super Tuesday, when 13 states will hold their primaries or caucuses. Trump is facing charges of trying to unlawfully overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.

The Nevada GOP, which supported Trumps false claims of election fraud, has sued the state legislature for adopting a state-run primary system without implementing certain voting integrity measures, such as voter ID and banning mail-in ballots.

Perrine said that the change in Californias rules, which will give all 169 state delegates to the primary candidate with the most votes or a share of them based on their statewide vote percentage, was a Trump-inspired rigging that made grassroots campaigning impossible.

ALSO READ| 100-year-old Oak tree nearly crushed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' mansion during Hurricane Idalia

When they changed it to a proportional, statewide winner-take-all, that completely eliminated the opportunity for grassroots campaigning, she stated.

She also said that Nevadas process was unfair and uncertain, and that both states had influenced their decision to stop door-knocking there.

And so with neither state having a fair process, the door knockers that were in Nevada and California, we decided to make them kind of refocus into the first three, she added, repeating, The first three are going to set the conditions for the March states.
India has expressed displeasure over more temples being vandalised and anti-India posters in the Canadian province of British Columbia. (Representative Photo)

A prominent temple in the town of Surrey in British Columbia was vandalised on Saturday (August 12) with anti-India and pro-Khalistan posters pasted on its front gate and rear wall.

Such posters also appeared in the early hours of Tuesday. Among the temples targeted was the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey, which had earlier also been desecrated on August 12.

This time posters feature the countrys High Commissioner to Ottawa and two union ministers.

While the previous version had Indias High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma and its Consul Generals in Toronto and Vancouver, this time it featured External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and minister of home affairs Amit Shah.

Also Read: Pro-Khalistan elements hold anti-India poster campaign in Canada

The latest series of posters, with the word Wanted, were placed at various locations in the town of Surrey. As with the Kill India posters earlier, videos of the posters being placed at various locations were circulated on social media on Monday.

According to videos posted online at various locations in the Metro Vancouver region, the other temples that were targeted were the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, the Sri Venkateshwara Mahavishnu Temple and the Shree Mata Bhameshwari Durga temple.

The Hindustan Times confirmed the episode at the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir but could not independently verify those at the other three temples. Videos posted online carried the hashtag #HindusUnderAttack.

A senior Indian official described these posters as unacceptable as the targeted public officials from India. They appeared just days prior to voting for the so-called Khalistan Referendum in Surrey on September 10, organised by the secessionist outfit Sikhs for Justice or SFJ.

Also Read: Temples in Canada support petition before House of Commons to recognise Hinduphobia

These posters refer to the assassination of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18.

Nijjar, the secessionist group SFJs principal figure in British Columbia, was murdered in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Singh Gurdwara Sahib he headed in Surrey.

SFJ has blamed India for his assassination. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team or Investigation Team or IHIT, which is probing the killing, has not ascribed any motive while it seeks the murderers.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anirudh Bhattacharyya Anirudh Bhattacharya is a Toronto-based commentator on North American issues, and an author. He has also worked as a journalist in New Delhi and New York spanning print, television and digital media. He tweets as @anirudhb. ...view detail
Indian American presidential aspirant Vivek Ramaswamy, whose stocks for a Republican ticket have surged after the first primary debate, hit out at his party rivals for attacking him and said the knives are out because he is surging ahead in the race for the White House. Republican presidential candidates, Vivek Ramaswamy (L) and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News on August 23, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.(Getty Images via AFP)

Ramaswamy's adversaries like former vice president Mike Pence, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie have begun directing their attacks toward the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur.

Haley, another Indian American in the race for the Republican nomination, in an interview, claimed that Ramaswany's foreign policy would make America less safe.

He has shown that he's naive. The idea that he doesn't think we need to continue to partner with Israel, the idea that now he's saying that we shouldn't worry about Iran getting a nuclear bomb and we shouldn't defend ourselves against Iran, Haley said.

In a social media post on X, the Republican leader said, @VivekGRamaswamy must have missed that the fanatical terrorist regime in Iran regularly calls for Death to America.'

If he doesnt see a nuclear Iran as a threat to American security, then he should take his place beside AOC and the Squad and get nowhere near the White House.

Responding to the criticism, Ramaswamy said, Another flagrant & dishonest distortion by the neocons. Watch the actual video. I explicitly state we *would* fully support Israel, including militarily, but that we should *not* want U.S. men & women dying in a war between Israel and Iran. If Pence, Haley, Christie, & Rove feel differently, they should have the spine to say how many Americans theyd be prepared to see die in that conflict. Ill wait.

Pence also took to X to attack Ramaswamy over his views on American foreign policy and its ties with Israel. He posted, @VivekGRamaswamy announcing that he will not use military force to defend Israel against Iran demonstrates a profound lack of understanding about defending American interests and our most cherished ally.

Weakness Arouses Evil. Viveks hesitation to send a clear message of support for Israel will only embolden the radical Islamic mullahs in Tehran as they continue to target innocent American civilians and threaten to annihilate Israel. Peace comes through strength. America Stands With Israel!

In a video message, Ramaswamy said, We are continuing to surge in the race and that means the knives are continuing to come out, so we're going to keep debunking the myths as they come up because I think it's important to be transparent and address criticisms.

He said a lie that is floating around is that he is somehow anti-Israel.

"Thats just dead false and reflects the desperation of frankly, some other candidates who feel like their fundraising might be lagging, and so they need to figure out how to attack him as a way to raise funds," he alleged.

That's what they seem to be doing. The fact of the matter is our relationship with Israel will be stronger by the end of my first term than it ever has been, he said, noting that he had been to Israel several times and one of the founding investors in his company is actually an Israeli firm.

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Brazilian national Danelo Cavalcante escaped from Chester Count prison in West Chester, Pennsylvania on Thursday morning, September 1, 2023. As of now, a reward of $10,000 has been offered to anyone who shares information with the police about the escaped murderer.

A massive manhunt has been issued for the 34-year-old inmate who had been sentenced to life in prison, a week ago for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in front of her two small children.

In a press conference held on Thursday, Howard Holland, the prison's acting warden, shared no details of the escape, just informing that an investigation was under procedure.

Danelo was last seen walking along a road in Pocopson Township, about an hour after his escape from the prison.

Residents of a six-mile radius were notified of the murderer's escape and warned to be cautious of suspicious strangers.

If you see him, do not approach him. We're asking you to please contact 911, said Deb Ryan, district attorney from Chester County.

He is considered extremely dangerous, he added.

Law enforcement agencies have deployed dogs, drones and helicopters in order to find the convicted culprit as soon as possible.

According to the authorities, Danelo stabbed his ex-girlfriend Deborah Brandao 38 times in April 2021, leading to her death. He carried out the murder in front of her two children, who were four and seven at the time.

The police arrested him hours later after he fled to Virginia.

Danelo, previously a gang member, is also wanted in Brazil for the murder of a man who owed him money in 2017.

As of now, a reward of $10,000 has been offered to anyone who shares information with the police about the escaped murderer.
North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the sea off the west coast of the Korean peninsula in the early hours of Saturday, according to the South Korean military. Details of the launch are being analyzed by South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the sea off the west coast of the Korean peninsula in the early hours of Saturday, according to the South Korean military.(AP/Representational image)

On Thursday state media KCNA reported that Pyongyang had conducted a simulated "scorched-earth" nuclear strike on targets across South Korea.

Seoul announced sanctions on Friday on five North Korean individuals and one company in response to Pyongyang's launch of what it said was a space rocket last month.
Twitter (X) owner Elon Musk, believes his communist daughter was brainwashed by her elite LA school into thinking rich is evil. In October last year, he mentioned how neo-Marxists had taken over elite schools and universities teaching them to despise wealth and money.

The billionaire's transgender daughter severed her ties with her father. Elon has crossed out any reason why his 19-year-old daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson would distance herself from him.

According to him, it is the rich Californian school he sent her to named, Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, Santa Monica, that infected his daughter with this woke mind virus.

An excerpt from the planned book "Elon Musk" that was published in the Wall Street Journal Thursday claims that Vivian's transition was part of a chain reaction that caused her father to purchase the social media application (Twitter/X) as part of his campaign to crush wokeness.

Elon was generally sanguine with his daughter's decision in the beginning, until in April 2022, when she "became a fervent Marxist and broke off all relations with him," he revealed to the book author Walter Isaacson.

She went beyond socialism to being a full communist and thinking anyone rich is evil, said the billionaire with an estimated net worth of $257.5 billion.

He went on to add how this rift with his daughter had pained him more than when he lost his firstborn child, Nevada.

In 2022, Vivian was granted a petition to change her gender and name, which she hoped would be the final thread to lose and cut the ties with her biological father.

According to Elon, the school he sent her to is partly to be blamed for this mental transition. Crossroads costs up to $50,000 per student annually and boasts Zooey Deschanel and Maya Rudolph as its alumni.

In October last year, he mentioned how neo-Marxists had taken over elite schools and universities teaching them to despise wealth and money.
To address the growing challenge posed by China, it is important not to let Russia fall into Beijing's lap, Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said on Thursday, asserting that if elected, he would achieve this goal by offering a "deal" with Moscow. U.S. presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy(File/ REUTERS)

Ramaswamy told Fox News that as a US president, he would offer to freeze the current lines of control between Ukraine and Russia, make a hard commitment that NATO will not admit Ukraine into it and lift sanctions. In return, Russia would have to exit its military alliance with China, he said.

Very clear vision. I would do a deal that (Vladimir) Putin would say yes to but that actually advances American interests so that the United States wins. Here's what I would do, Ramaswamy said when asked how he would stop the war in Ukraine.

I would freeze the current lines of control. I would further make a hard commitment that NATO will not admit Ukraine to NATO. That's enough to get Putin to do the deal. But I will require something even greater in return, the 38-year-old multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur said.

Russia has to exit its military alliances with China. Right now, we're pushing Russia further into China's hands. The Russia-China military alliance is the single greatest threat that the United States faces today. And so just as Nixon did it in 1972, I'll do it in reverse," Ramaswamy said.

"Pull Russia apart from China, and by the way, get Russia to also remove its military presence in the Western Hemisphere. Get out of the Western Hemisphere. Reopen economic relations with Russia, that's how we do it, he added.

The Indian-American presidential aspirant said the reason why China is more valuable today is because the US has wrongfully cut off Russia from the West by bombing the Nord Stream one and two pipelines and also sanctioning Russia.

So if we can reopen the Western economic relations with Russia, Russia has less of a reason to be in partnership with China. There are also cracks in the armour of that relationship if you look closely, he said.

Russia actually sent weapons both to India and to Vietnam, both of which border China. They are sending a signal that China wants to build a railroad in northeast China to get to the ocean. Russia won't let them. So there are cracks in that armour now, he asserted.

Meanwhile, another Indian-origin Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley slammed Ramaswamy for his comments that he was against using US military force against Iran.

We will not stop Israel from defending itself to the fullest capacity. And we remain supportive of Israel because they are our friend, Ramaswamy had told the Israel Hayom.

I think it's really important that the US not put our own men and women on the line in a war with Iran, when in fact, there's no reason for us to be in that kind of war now, and I don't think that's good for the United States, and I don't think that's good for Israel. But what we do need to do is to make sure that Israel is strong so that Iran isn't emboldened, Ramaswamy told the Israeli newspaper.

Vivek must have missed that the fanatical terrorist regime in Iran regularly calls for Death to America, Haley said in a statement. If he doesnt see a nuclear Iran as a threat to American security, then he should take his place beside AOC and the Squad and get nowhere near the White House, she said, referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a group of eight Democratic members of the US House of Representatives known as the Squad.
A Texas nun who was caught sexting with a priest is refusing to leave the monastery where she lives, despite being ordered by the Vatican to do so. Mother Teresa Agnes relies on a wheelchair, as stated by her attorney.(Jason Allen/CBS)

The bishop who investigated her case has closed the monastery to the public and warned that the nun and her supporters may face excommunication.

Last year, allegations arose that Rev. Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach, a 43-year-old nun, had violated her vow of chastity with Father Bernard Marie. She allegedly admitted to sexting, but denied having a physical relationship.

Earlier this year, Bishop Michael Olson, the Diocese of Fort Worth's leader, acting as a delegate of the Pope, expelled her from the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington.

But, Gerlach has not left the monastery, and has declared that she and her fellow Carmelite nuns are now independent of Olsons authority. They have also expressed their trust in Gerlachs moral integrity and leadership.

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Therefore, because the salvation of our souls is our first duty before Almighty God  we hereby state that, in conscience, we no longer recognize the authority of, and can have no further relations with, the current Bishop of Fort Worth, they wrote on their website.

They also forbid him or any of his officials or representatives to enter our monastery property or to have any contact or relations with the monastery or any of its nuns or novices.

Olson responded by saying that he was hurt by Gerlachs rejection of his authority as diocesan bishop and Pontifical Commissary. He said that he had to inform the faithful that Gerlach may have excommunicated herself by her own actions, and that the other nuns could also be excommunicated depending on their involvement.

Thus, it is with deep sorrow that I must inform the faithful  that Mother Teresa Agnes, thereby, may have incurred upon herself excommunication, he wrote in a public statement.

He also said that the monastery would remain closed to the public until Gerlach publicly disavowed her actions.

The nuns replied again on Saturday, accusing Olson of waging a private warfare against us. They said they do not recognize his authority or interference, and that they will face any unjust sanctions with serenity and firmness. They said they only answer to the authority of God.

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Matthew Bobo, a lawyer for the nuns, told WFAA-TV that they are upset about the closure of the monastery and worried about excommunication. This is the only life they know, he said.

He also said that Olson was not welcome on the property and that they would take steps to remove him if he tried to enter. He said that Olsons letter ordering them to close the gates and seek his permission for anyone to come on the property was a violation of Texas law.
AirTags have reportedly saved the day in a related situation involving stolen headphones, as reported by Apple Insider. On a Delta flight that touched down at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), Raleigh resident Mat Krantz discovered he was missing a $100 pair of wireless headphones and their case.

He was denied access to the aircraft despite being able to confirm that the headphones and their AirTag were still there using Find My. Instead, he informed RDU and Delta officials before leaving for home.

According to Krantz, Find My showed that the headphones were at RDU for the following six hours. However, he discovered the headphones had relocated the following morning and were now in a Raleigh area.

Krantz made the decision to go to the residence where the AirTag was found, but his wife dissuaded him.

Krantz had the headphones returned after police visited the residence, where they informed him that it belonged to a Delta employee.

No further information has been provided, but according to WRAL-TV, Delta has stated "kind of generically" that a worker involved in the incident is no longer employed by them.

In another North Carolina criminal case, an AirTag was deployed, and it helped police identify a suspect who had a long history of stealing in the neighborhood.

Read also: New York City Gives Free Apple AirTags to Fight Rampant Car Thefts

AirTags Save the Day

In another recent event, Leone Pierce, a travel-related TikToker from Oakland, was already in a tight spot when she had to make a protracted stay in Singapore on her way home. To make matters worse, when she arrived at her layover, her luggage did not travel around the carousel like that of other passengers.

(Photo: by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

This photo illustration taken on February 13, 2023, shows an Apple Air Tag in Washington, DC. -

However, Pierce had hidden an AirTag, a tiny Find My tracker from Apple, in her bag. Her conclusion was that her luggage wasn't detained in Bali, where she had just left off, but rather at Singapore Changi Airport, where she had just arrived.

She needed to persuade a Singapore Airlines employee to assist her, and after an hour of pleading, she found someone who would listen. It wasn't enough for her to show Singapore Airlines staff that she had evidence that her luggage was on the tarmac.

An airport worker had discovered the suitcase and laid it out in the baggage claim area when she returned to check the luggage carousel once more, as reported by SFGate.

Why More People are Choosing AirTags

When it comes to luggage, Pierce is not the only traveler taking matters into her own hands. Social media is flooded with recommendations for AirTags from travel influencers, especially when business travel picks back up after the pandemic's peak.

According to the annual insights report from aviation data company SITA, the incidence of mishandled luggage events climbed from 5.6 per 1,000 passengers in 2019 (pre-pandemic) to 7.6 per 1,000 passengers in 2022. 19.3 baggage per 1,000 passengers was significantly higher for international flights in 2022.

The teeny tracking devices, according to at least one influencer, are the most crucial item you should include in your suitcase. Travelers may tuck one of the tiny gadgets into their luggage and monitor its progress from the check-in conveyor belt to the airplane on their phone.

Because the "precision finding" capability enables users to trace the tag within a foot, passengers can even use it to expedite sifting through luggage off the luggage conveyor belt once they have deplaned.

Related article: US Crime: More and More Criminals Are Using Apple AirTags for Car Theft, Stalking

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Elon Musk's X can now process crypto trades and payments, thanks to the new license it received.

If this is true, then the new license is a huge improvement for the platform since the billionaire wants it to make an "everything app."

Elon Musk's X Can Now Process Crypto Trades, Payments

According to Interesting Engineering's latest report, X officially received a license for cryptocurrency transactions in the United States.

This was revealed by the data displayed on the NMLS, saying that the social media company received the "Rhode Island Currency Transmitter License."

The license, which X received on Aug. 28, allows the company to provide virtual asset-related services, as well as enable users to exchange digital coins on the platform itself.

Caroline Bowler, the chief executive of BTC Markets, was excited about X's new license for crypto transactions.

"The news of Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter), obtaining a license to facilitate U.S. crypto payments amplifies the ongoing transformation of the crypto landscape," she said via Forbes.

"Endorsements from prominent figures like Musk lend credibility to the sector and hold implications for international markets," she added.

Read Also: Binance Facing Another Setback as Mastercard, Visa End Card Tie-up With Crypto Exchange

When Can X Process Crypto Transactions?

As of writing, the license is considered by experts as merely another state money transmitter license.

But, this also means that the Rhode Island license brings the social media firm's overall state money transmitter licenses to seven.

Although sources stated that X's upcoming payments feature will initially support fiat currencies, Elon Musk is already instructing his developers to build payment systems for the app.

These payment systems are expected to have crypto functionality, which can be added in the future as X moves towards being the "everything app."

As of press time, it is still unclear when will X officially conduct cryptocurrency transactions. But, once X starts offering fiat currency transactions, experts said that it would be similar to how PayPal works.

If you want to know the status of X's ongoing efforts to bring crypto transactions into the platform, you can click here.

Related Article: New IRS Rule Takes Aim at Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency Tax Reporting, Drawing Ire From Industry Groups

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(Photo : Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Tech billionaire Elon Musk sparks a federal investigation of Tesla after he allegedly used company funds to pay for a secret house project.

Elon Musk sparked a federal investigation into his electric vehicle manufacturing company, Tesla, over the alleged use of company funds for a secret house project.

Following the report, neither Musk nor a spokesman for the US Attorney's office in Manhattan responded to requests for comment regarding the situation. While there was no information regarding the project's cost, the report noted that the house is located near Austin, Texas.

Elon Musk's Secret House Project

In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla board members had investigated whether or not company resources were misused on the alleged secret house project. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also opened a civil probe into the matter.

A spokesperson for the SEC said that the agency does not comment on the existence or non-existence of a possible investigation related to the matter. The report noted that the investigations are still in their early stages and may not even lead to any charges against anyone, per the New York Post.

The report added that prosecutors also looked into complaints about Tesla electric cars' lower-than-expected driving range. This comes after reports in July that the company's vehicles often fail to achieve their advertised range estimates and projections made by the cars' equipment.

People familiar with the investigations said the project is known internally as Project 42. On top of trying to determine how much was used for the project, the US Attorney's Office is also looking into what personal benefits were paid to the tech billionaire.

Previous reports suggest that the structure was described as a house for Musk that allegedly needed specialized glass that cost millions of dollars. The situation comes as the SEC's regulations require public companies to disclose perks paid to top executives and any transactions that go beyond $120,000 if a company representative has either a direct or indirect material interest in the transaction.

Read Also: 3M Agrees to Pay $6 Billion Settlement in Earplugs Lawsuit

Using Tesla's Company Funds

The glass reportedly used on the Secret House project included large panels commonly used on building facades. According to Forbes, the investigation was triggered internally after an order for the glass was made.

If such an effort to build a secret glass house for Musk is confirmed, it would come in contrast to the tech billionaire's supposed preference for a low-maintenance lifestyle. Two years ago, the Tesla CEO said his primary residence was a $50,000 South Texas home rented from his SpaceX company.

He added that the only house he owned at the time was an events house in the Bay Area. However, his remark was contradicted after he was found to have lived in a multi-million square-foot mansion that is owned by Ken Howerry, the co-founder of PayPay and Musk's friend.

For years, the 52-year-old tech billionaire has been in regulators' crosshairs as he has previously openly feuded with the SEC and accused the agency of unfairly targeting him. Musk reached a $20 million settlement with the feds in 2018 after he lied about having enough funds to take Tesla private, causing the company's stock to skyrocket, according to the New York Daily News.

Related Article: Elon Musk's X Can Now Process Crypto Trades, Payments

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Two years ago, the United States ended nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan- the longest war in American history.

Today, we pause to remember the selfless service of generations of brave women and men over the course of the conflict-who, time and time again, sacrificed their own safety and security for that of their fellow Americans. That includes the 2,461 U.S. service members who made the ultimate sacrifice, and 20,744 of their brother-and-sisters-in-arms who were wounded in action. These servicemembers dared all, risked all, and gave all to our nation. We owe them and their families a debt we can never fully repay.

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I remain forever grateful to the military members, diplomats, intelligence professionals, and development specialists who not only worked together to advance the United States' Afghan mission for two decades-but who also conducted our withdrawal with the same resolve and bravery that defined U.S. service in Afghanistan. Together, they helped evacuate approximately 120,000 people in one of the largest airlifts in history. And every day since, they have skillfully used every military, diplomatic, and intelligence resource available to continue to protect our homeland from terrorist threats in Afghanistan and around the world. We have demonstrated that we do not need a permanent troop presence on the ground in harm's way to take action against terrorists and those who wish to do us harm.

Finally-I am proud that our nation has welcomed more than 117,000 Afghan newcomers. I am thankful for the work of our veterans and fellow Americans who remained relentless advocates for our Afghan allies and I am grateful for the generosity of state and local governments and our resettlement partners who continue to welcome them into their communities. We will also continue to support the Afghan people, and we are proud to be the largest single donor of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.

Just as they contributed to our mission in Afghanistan for twenty years, our Afghan allies are now making vast contributions across our nation. And, just as they stood with us, I remain committed to standing with them-including urging Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act so we can provide a pathway to permanent legal status for our Afghan friends and neighbors.

Let us continue to meet our sacred obligation to our servicemembers, veterans, and their families, caregivers, and survivors-who gave so much over so many years in Afghanistan. Let us continue to do right by our Afghan partners who also served and sacrificed. And, let us continue to honor our fallen warriors and their families by continuing on their work to secure and defend our nation-together.

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(Photo : Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

US President Joe Biden announces student loan relief with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona (R) on August 24, 2022 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC. - Biden announced that most US university graduates still trying to pay off student loans will get $10,000 of relief to address a decades-old headache of massive educational debt across the country.

The Biden administration is terminating student loans for 2,300 former Ashford University students to relieve students defrauded by for-profit educational institutions.

This decision was made in response to allegations that the university issued degrees without appropriate accreditation, calling into question the value of the education received, as per CNN.

Biden Administration Provides Student Loan Relief

Despite the US Supreme Court's rejection of President Joe Biden's earlier effort to rescind student loans on a large scale, his administration has pursued alternative means to offer loan forgiveness. The emphasis has shifted to programs that prioritize students who attended for-profit colleges and received deceptive information.

Ashford University was sued for deceiving its students about the cost of attendance and the time required to earn degrees. The court ruled that the university had misrepresented these crucial aspects, causing significant damage to the affected students.

Recently, the Biden administration announced canceling $72 million in student loans for Ashford University students. Those who had previously applied for borrower defense and were enrolled between March 1, 2009 and April 30, 2020 will receive this relief automatically.

As described on the Student Aid website, borrower defense to repayment is a legal basis for discharging federal Direct Loans if the school engaged in misconduct related to the loan or educational services, causing students injury. Students must have a verified account on the Federal Student Aid website to initiate the application process.

They will be required to provide information about the school they attended or are currently attending and documentation demonstrating their eligibility for borrower defense loan discharge and the injury they suffered. Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, responded to this announcement by emphasizing the illegal nature of Ashford University's actions.

He stated, "What Ashford University did to its students was morally reprehensible and unlawful. The California Department of Justice therefore sued Ashford and its parent company. In the end, we prevailed, obtaining over $22 million in penalties."

James Kvaal, undersecretary of education for the United States, highlighted Ashford's use of deceptive student recruitment tactics. As the California Department of Justice demonstrated in court, Ashford heavily relied on high-pressure and deceptive recruiting techniques to attract students.... Today, we are safeguarding the students who were defrauded by Ashford and holding the perpetrators accountable, protecting taxpayers, and discouraging future wrongdoing," according to Newsweek via MSN.

Read Also: GOP Candidate Francis Suarez Calls End of Road for White House Bid

Student Loan Repayment Programs

As October approaches, the Biden administration and the Department of Education (DOE) are actively searching for methods to alleviate student debt burdens.

Former President Donald Trump initially paused federal student loan payments at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and former President Joe Biden continued this suspension until just recently.

The administration of Vice President Joe Biden has advocated for student loan repayment programs that modify monthly payments based on family size and annual income.

These actions are a part of a larger initiative to improve the management and equity of the student loan system while addressing the problems that some educational institutions have caused, Yahoo News reported.

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The United States accuses Russia of engaging in significant arms deals with North Korea, escalating tensions between international powers.

According to a recent intelligence report from the United States, Russia and North Korea are actively pursuing high-level talks to facilitate additional weapon transfers, The New York Times reported.

Russia Pursues Major Arms Deals with North Korea

The stated purpose of these transactions is to support Russia's ongoing military involvement in Ukraine. In response to these allegations, a united front of nations criticized the recent visit to North Korea by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US. Ambassador to the United Nations, joined her counterparts from Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom in condemning the visit and its implications.

Thomas-Greenfield revealed that Shoigu's visit was not merely a photo shoot, even though it was initially perceived as such. She stated, "Russia used this visit to the DPRK to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia."

Thomas-Greenfield emphasized further that Russia's violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions are not isolated incidents but rather a pattern. She noted that there is irrefutable evidence that Russia purchased drones from Iran in violation of another solution.

This highlights the growing concern regarding Russia's disregard for international regulations and its pursuance of military advancements to advance its geopolitical goals. The purported agreement between Russia and North Korea could have far-reaching ramifications.

According to US intelligence reports, this potential agreement would allow North Korea to ship "significant quantities and multiple types" of weapons to Russia for eventual deployment in Ukraine. These ramifications extend beyond regional tensions and have the potential to exacerbate the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The gravity of the situation is highlighted by the forceful condemnation of Shoigu's visit by the US representative. She referred to the visit as "shameful" and indicated that additional discussions and letter exchanges have transpired between the North Korean and Russian leaderships, as per The Hill.

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Russia, Ukraine Escalating Tensions

The situation's evolution reflects the complexity of international relations and the difficulties posed by these covert arms transactions. In the background of these allegations are the deteriorating relations between the United States and its Asian allies and North Korea and Russia.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has exacerbated the situation. Not only has this military action compromised diplomatic relations, but it has also heightened tensions on a global scale.

South Korea reported that North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on a recent Wednesday, demonstrating the continued instability. This incident occurred just hours after the United States dispatched at least one long-range bomber to the Korean Peninsula, which served as a warning to Pyongyang.

These actions highlight the precarious nature of the situation and the possibility of a rapid escalation. As these allegations of arms deals and geopolitical maneuvering continue to unfold, the international community continues to be vigilant and concerned about the implications for global stability.

The accusations against Russia illuminate the difficulties of managing and mitigating conflicts that span multiple regions and involve numerous actors. Such arms agreements can have repercussions far beyond the nations directly involved, affecting the delicate balance of power and international security according to NPR.

Related Article: Ukraine Now Repurposing Earthquake Sensors; How Can These Help in War Agains Russia?

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Under the Biden administration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made a significant recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to relax federal restrictions on marijuana.

Although the proposal does not advocate for marijuana's complete removal from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), it does propose transferring it from Schedule I to Schedule III, as per Reuters.

Biden Administration Recommends Easing Marijuana Restrictions

This change could represent one of the most significant shifts in federal drug policy in decades. This recommendation stems from a review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which prompted Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine to communicate with the DEA.

The primary objective of this action is to facilitate opportunities for cannabis-based pharmaceutical research and development. Schedule III substances have a "moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence."

Also included in this category are ketamine and testosterone. Rachel Levine's letter describes the culmination of a year-long federal evaluation of available marijuana research, resulting from an executive order issued by President Joe Biden in October.

Along with federal pardons for low-level marijuana convictions, the action was perceived as an effort to mobilize younger and more progressive voters ahead of the midterm elections. While rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III has generated optimism in the cannabis industry for immediate financial benefits and the potential to facilitate banking services, legalization advocates have expressed concern.

Cannabis advocate Justin Strekal emphasized that rescheduling does not mean the end of criminalization, as individuals may still face penalties for possession after rescheduling. He noted that criminal penalties persist regardless of a person's lawful standing within a state-level medical program.

Marijuana's current federal classification as a Schedule I substance places it in the same category as heroin and LSD, indicating a high potential for abuse and no recognized medical use.

The change to Schedule III could affect pharmaceutical research and the development of cannabis-based medications beyond the cannabis industry. However, it may also result in administrative adjustments to state markets. A cannabis attorney, Jonathan Havens, speculated on the potential impact of the HHS recommendation on legislative initiatives, especially the SAFE Banking Act, which seeks to make banking services more accessible to the cannabis industry.

If the DEA approves the recommendation, the need for safe harbors may decrease, altering the landscape for cannabis-related businesses' financial transactions.

The action would also be consistent with the transition in state cannabis policies. While cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, 23 states have legalized its use for adults over 21, and 38 states have established medical marijuana programs, Politico reported.

Read Also: Texas District Court Judge Rejects 'Death Star' Bill Law, Calls it Unconstitutional for Proposing Local Preemption

Advocates Push for Full Removal from Controlled Substances Act

However, critics contend that the rescheduling is insufficient. Advocates have called for completely removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, which would necessitate federal legalization and address the broader criminalization issues related to cannabis-related convictions.

The HHS recommendation has elicited a range of responses, with the cannabis industry praising the potential benefits, drug legalization advocates cautiously optimistic about a significant shift, and opponents of the move expressing concerns regarding public health and the motivations behind the proposal.

The ongoing developments demonstrate the complexity of cannabis regulation, its intertwined relationship with criminal justice reform, and its broader implications for pharmaceutical innovation and public policy.

As federal agencies contemplate and potentially reshape the environment, the fate of cannabis and its legal status continues to be the subject of intense scrutiny and debate, according to CNBC.

Related Article: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Freezes for 30 Seconds While Speaking to Reporters, Raising Concerns for Republican's Health Condition

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A super loud sonic boom in England terrified residents after their houses were shaken.

The shock wave was heard on Wednesday, Aug. 30, in some parts of Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, and Cambridgeshire.

Sonic Boom in England Shakes Houses

According to BBC News' latest report, the sonic boom was so strong and loud that it shook some houses in the mentioned counties above.

A Ministry of Defense official confirmed that the sonic boom was generated by an RAF (Royal Air Force) Typhoon fighter jet.

The aircraft from RAF Coningsby was launched from RAF's QRA (Quick Reaction Alert). The Sun reported that the RAF fighter aircraft was an FGR4 model.

Based on FlightRadar's data, the RAF Typhoon jet took off near Grantham at around 8:30 p.m. It flew down to Milton Keynes before making a U-turn through Luton in Bedfordshire.

After that, it flew over Peterborough. While making this air trip, the RAF fighter aircraft made a loud sonic boom that terrified many residents.

Read Also: Greece Boat Disaster: Coastguard Accused of Pressuring Survivors to Blame Egyptian Men

England Residents Share Terrifying Experience

On X (formerly Twitter) and other social media platforms, many residents who heard the sonic boom shared their terrifying experiences.

Some of them said that the shock wave was so loud they thought it was a real explosion. Others said that the sonic boom shook their houses.

"It blew our bedroom door open," said one of the residents.

Camilla Sherwin, from Northamptonshire, shared more specific details of her experience.

"We were about to turn in and suddenly, this massive boom - we thought it was some sort of explosion," she said.

She said that the extraordinary noise shook the windows and other parts of their house.

The woman added that her entire family was panicking on Facebook, asking what the loud sound was.

Why Was the Fighter Jet Flying Around?

An MoD spokesperson said that the Royal Air Force is responsible for policing the U.K. airspace.

The official added that RAF's fighter jets don't prefer causing any disturbance to the country's residents.

However, he clarified that the security and safety of the nation remain their top priority.

The England official didn't explain the specific reason why the fighter jet, which made the terrifying sonic boom, was in operation that day.

Related Article: UK Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Bombers North of Scotland

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The US expanded the restriction of exports of sophisticated Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) artificial-intelligence (AI) chips beyond China, which included other regions such as some Middle Eastern nations.

Washington's curbs were done despite Nvidia's warning that chip export curbs would risk the competitiveness of US-made AI chips in the world market, especially in China.

Nevertheless, the company said in a regulatory filing this week that the curbs affecting its A100 and H100 chips designed to speed up machine-learning tasks would not immediately impact its results.

In a separate statement, Nvidia, one of the world's most valuable companies at $1.2 trillion, said the new licensing requirement does not affect any meaningful portion of the company's revenue.

"We are working with the U.S. government to address this matter," the company added.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that AMD also received an informed letter about the matter with similar restrictions and the move had no material impact on its revenue. Last September, AMD said it had received new license requirements that would halt exports of its MI250 artificial-intelligence chips to China.

Read Also: China's EV Industry Slows Down, Affecting Nvidia's Automotive Business

Denying Tech Innovations to Adversaries

It is usual for US officials to impose export controls for national security reasons, as a similar move was announced last year to signal an escalation of US crackdown on China's technological capabilities. However, it was not immediately clear what risks were posed by exports to the Middle East.

Nevertheless, Nvidia, AMD, and Intel have since disclosed plans to create less powerful AI semiconductors that could be exported to the Chinese market.

Nvidia also said last year that US officials informed them the rule would address the risk their products might be used in, or diverted to, a "military end use" or "military end user" in China. However, they have not specified which countries in the Middle East would be affected by Washington's curbs.

The company derived most of its $13.5 billion sales in its fiscal quarter that ended July 30 from the US, China, and Taiwan, while 13.9% of its sales came from all other countries combined.

"During the second quarter of fiscal year 2024, the [US government] informed us of an additional licensing requirement for a subset of A100 and H100 products destined to certain customers and other regions, including some countries in the Middle East," the company said in Monday's (August 28) filing.

The announcements from Washington came as tensions bubbled over the fate of Taiwan, where chips of Nvidia and almost every other major chip firm were manufactured. The situation only got worse after the Biden administration went a step further when it published a sweeping set of export controls, including a measure to cut off China from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with US equipment in an effort to slow Beijing's technological and military advances.

Without American-made AI chips from Nvidia and AMD, Chinese tech firms could not cost-effectively carry out the kind of advanced computing used for image and speech recognition, among other tasks.

The US Commerce Department, which regulates the licensing requirements on exports, has yet to comment on the matter as of this report. Meanwhile, Japan and the Netherlands followed the US' lead by imposing similar rules for their chip exports and imports earlier this year.

Related Article: Nvidia Warns Chip Curbs Would Risk US Chipmakers' Competitiveness in China

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If you are a feline lover, then you might want to know the oldest cat flap in the world.

Luckily, the historian was able to find what might be the world's oldest cat door.

What's the World's Oldest Cat Flap?

Via BBC News, cathedral historian and author Diane Walker said that a doorhole at the Exeter Cathedral is thought to be the world's oldest cat door.

The ancient door is estimated to date back over 400 years based on records about it.

Walker said that the bishop made the hole to allow his cat to catch mice and rats. But she explained that the Exeter Cathedral door has lots of legends connected with it.

"This door has lots of legends associated with it, but there are facts that we also know, and there is a hole at the bottom of this door," said the historian.

She added that Bishop Cotton paid around eight pence to carpenters just to cut the hole in his door.

The cathedral historian added that the door leads to a cavity behind a very large clock. Diane said that rodents tend to go inside that room since the clock was lubricated using animal fat.

Because of this, the Exeter Cathedral needed to cut a hole in the door so that cats could easily catch the rats and mice.

Walker explained that although the hole doesn't really have a flap (like the one seen in modern cat doors), the hole is still considered one of the earliest examples of a cat-access portal.

Read Also: Speaker's Cat Conducts Sweeping Investigation of Parliament for Mice Ahead of Coronation, Finds None

Fun Facts About Cat Flaps

Cat flaps/doors have very interesting facts. One of these is the inventor behind this pet portal.

Ferplast stated that the man behind the idea of the cat door was Sir Isaac Newton. Experts said that the great English physicist owned a cat.

At night, Newton often worked late. Since he's busy and his cat doesn't have a way out of the house, the mathematician's pet will keep meowing for hours until Isaac opens the door.

To solve this issue, the inventor put a hole in his door and added a swinging flag, which is a brilliant solution for his cat problem.

Aside from this, here are other fun facts about cat flaps that you need to know:

The first cat flaps were often installed in basement doors.

Modern cat doors are integrated with technologies that make them exclusive for felines.

Most cat flaps are airtight so that the cold wind of winter will not enter the house.

Related Article: Dozens of Cats in Poland Infected With Bird Flu-No Human Cases Reported

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To compel Elon Musk to bring his Starlink service to Sudan, a hacker group named Anonymous Sudan brought X (previously Twitter) down in over a dozen nations on Tuesday morning, August 29. The social media site was unavailable for almost two hours, impacting tens of thousands of people.

The hackers demanded through Telegram, "Make our message reach to Elon Musk: 'Open Starlink in Sudan.'"

Message to Elon Musk

The BBC spent many weeks having concealed chats with the gang using the Telegram messaging app to learn more about their techniques and motivations.

According to the BBC, a group member going by the name Crush said that the assault on Tuesday used the same basic and very primitive hacking tactics for which the organization is renowned.

Downdetector, an outage monitoring website, said about 20,000 outage complaints were reported by users in the United States and the United Kingdom amid the incident, with many individuals presumably being impacted.

Hofa, another member of the hacker gang, claimed the DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) assault was meant to bring attention to the civil crisis in Sudan, which is "making the internet very bad and it goes down quite often for us."

Neither X nor Musk has commented on the delay in bringing their satellite internet service to Sudan.

See Also: Japan Takes 9 Months to Identify NISC Breach; Here's How Serious China's Cyberattacks Are

Debunking Speculation

Many in the cyber-security community believe that Anonymous Sudan is really a Russian cyber-military force trying to sow discord in the Kremlin's online networks while hiding their true identities. The group's online advocacy for Vladimir Putin and its apparent alignment of goals with other Russian cyber groups give rise to this supposition.

However, the criminal organization has disputed claims that it is Russian and has, for the first time, provided proof to the media that it is, in fact, based in Sudan.

The group's spokesman and driving force, Crush, provided confirmation by broadcasting his current location on the Telegram messaging service. Images of Crush and Hofa's Sudanese passports and other pictures strongly show they are now in Sudan.

"Our long-term goal is to show the world that Sudanese people, although with limited capabilities, have very good skills in many different fields," Crush told BBC.

Despite frequent internet disruptions, he maintains that his organization is composed of a small number of hackers based in Sudan.

Anonymous Sudan first surfaced in January and has since effectively disrupted scores of organizations and government online sites in France, Nigeria, Israel, and the US. The group has been attacking Kenya for the last month, saying that the government there is "meddling in Sudanese affairs."

Crush added, "The reason we hit infrastructure is to teach the country and its rulers a lesson, and yes we have red lines, that is if our attacks harm a lot of innocents."

See Also: NYC Subway Security Flaw Raises Concerns as Loophole Allows Tracking of a Rider's Locations in the Last 7 Days

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After being forced out of a "luxury" housing complex that was purportedly going to be utilized by migrants, university students are now in a desperate search for alternative homes.

According to Home Office proposals, hundreds of people seeking refuge might relocate to a 405-bed student residence in Huddersfield with a gym and a movie theater, according to The Daily Mail.

A week before the start of the academic year, more than 150 students who had already signed tenancy agreements were obliged to locate new housing due to the government agreement.

Previously marketed as "luxury student housing," the HD1 student halls in West Yorkshire are just a short stroll from the University of Huddersfield campus.

Students could rent rooms with amenities like a games area, pool table, movie theater, gym, and laundry facility for up to 200 ($253) per week.

The Entry of Hundreds of Migrants

The pact's announcement came after 300 migrants crossed the treacherous English Channel in small boats on Tuesday, bringing the total number of unauthorized immigrants entering the UK this year to 20,000.

The lettings company, Prestige Student Living (PSL), asserted that landlord Hudd Student Management had informed them the building would not be open to students.

The summer months have previously seen no one living on the block. 168 students who were supposed to live in the dorms have already received their refunds.

Read also: UK Gets Huge Houseboat to Host 500 Asylum Seekers

Disappointments Arise

Stephen Kinnock, the shadow minister for immigration for Labour, expressed his displeasure at the revelation, saying that students were "paying the price for the Government's reliance on emergency accommodation."

The Higher Education Policy Institute's Nick Hillman stated that he was "genuinely shocked" by the information.

Huddersfield University is four minutes away by car from the HD1 studio apartments. Students living in the opulent building have access to super-fast broadband rates of up to 250mbps, as well as its own theater and a common kitchen space.

The prices for rooms range from 200 per week for a "platinum" studio apartment with a fully equipped kitchenette, a bed, a study area, and canal views to between 135 ($171) and 140 ($177) for a smaller bronze room.

According to a representative for Huddersfield University, there are currently open positions and enough student housing in the city to accommodate all of the university's students. They said to contact hudlets@hud.ac.uk if any impacted students have not already been re-housed.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "We have always been upfront about the unprecedented pressure being put on our asylum system, brought about by a significant increase in dangerous and illegal journeys into the country." The Home Office claimed Britain was facing a huge demand from asylum seekers crossing the Channel.

Related article: Migrants Evacuated at UK's Bibby Stockholm Immigration Barge After Reports of Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak

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After deeper examination, it was discovered that the empty West Point time capsule actually contained something. U.S. Officials from the Military Academy unlocked the box on Monday.

Six antique coins, dating from 1795 to 1828, and a commemorative medal from 1826 were later discovered at the bottom of a 1-foot-long lead cube that had been sealed up for nearly 200 years. They had initially gone unnoticed, as reported by USA Today.

Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland, the academy superintendent, said the live-streamed unveiling wasn't simply hype: something was inside the time capsule. The additional information, which was revealed on Wednesday, offers some consolation to him. But it also gives an unresolved enigma a fresh angle.

An 1800 Liberty dollar, an 1828 50-cent coin, an 1818 quarter, an 1827 dime, a 1795 nickel, an 1827 penny, and an Erie Canal commemorative medal were discovered by West Point experts after they dug through the earth. Some may wonder whether they have any relevance.

Given that West Point's Thaddeus Kociuszko monument is one of America's most significant Revolutionary War fortifications, the recent finding raises a fresh conundrum that military and civilian specialists have been attempting to answer for months.

Kociuszko, an engineer, was chosen by Gen. George Washington to bolster West Point's fortifications.

Officials from the academy concluded that the lead box was a time capsule buried in the monument in 1828, barely 26 years after the institution's inception, by cadets. However, that is all conjecture. It appears that there are no records that explain the box. When they were remodeling the monument, they discovered it.

Read also: US Military Emails Leaked in Mali Due to Typo; Internet Expert Explains How It Happened

A Major Event

The discovery of the time capsule was a major event at the United States Military Academy (USMA), and it generated a great deal of interest in the academy's history. The items in the box provide a glimpse into the life of the academy in the early 19th century, and they are a valuable historical resource.

The time capsule was returned to its original location after it was opened. It is now encased in a protective covering and scheduled to be opened again in 240 years.

Military time capsules are a type of time capsule specifically designed to be buried on military bases or other military-related sites. They often contain items that commemorate important moments in military history, such as wars, battles, or technological advancements. Military time capsules can also be used to send messages to future generations, sharing the hopes and dreams of the people who buried them.

Related article: U.S. Navy Service Member Allegedly Transmitted Sensitive U.S. Military Information to a Chinese Intelligence Officer

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The exact nature of the Apple Pay vulnerability is unclear. Still, a researcher who monitored riders on New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) subway system claims that the same approach reveals the flaw of the mobile payment service.

After a delay due to issues with Apple's Express Transit service, all New York City subway stations finally accepted Apple Pay in 2020.

MTA Subway System Flaw

Joseph Cox of 404 Media, an independent media firm, claims he discovered an alarmingly inadequate vulnerability in MTA's systems, which also affects Apple Pay.

According to Apple Insider, Cox described how he tracked a traveler using their credit card information. And, without providing any context, he argued that the same technique is achievable with Apple Pay, even though it is widely regarded as a safer payment option.

The MTA operates New York City's subway system, and Cox said he was watching passenger movements from inside his apartment using a tool on the MTA website. They gave him permission to put their credit card information onto the MTA site for OMNY, the subway's contactless payments system, where it might easily fall into the wrong hands. Credit card information is widely available on underground markets or may be obtained easily by an abusive spouse.

He said that the website only took a few seconds to generate the rider's trip log for the previous week and that further verification was not even required.

Obviously, if this is true, MTA has a major security flaw on its hands. MTA emphasized its commitment to maintaining customer privacy by noting in an email to Cox that it only tracks passengers' points of arrival and not their departures. But in reality, this may not make sense.

Also Read: NYC Subway Security Flaw Raises Concerns as Loophole Allows Tracking of a Rider's Locations in the Last 7 Days

How Safe Is Apple Pay?

Therefore, MTA's system is defective. Yet, the actual question concerns Apple Pay, which should be immune to credit card-related security flaws.

Apple Pay only transmits a one-time verification code at the moment of transaction, never the actual credit card number.

Since Cox and others at 404 Media claimed they could do the same monitoring when Apple Pay is utilized, he drew the conclusion that Apple Pay is vulnerable. Nonetheless, a copy of the findings has not been reported, and the question of what exactly defines the transaction point remains.

Cox's explanation on this matter is somewhat vague, but he claims that all he needed to do to see a user's MTA history was input their payment card information. Those data must match the ones the user entered into the MTA's OMNY contactless payment system.

Also Read: Bank of Ireland App Bug Gives Zero-Balance Clients Free Cash, Prompting Long Lines at ATMs

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Alleged Russia-North Korea nuclear weapons negotiations are concerning the U.S. government.

Linda Thomans-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., even called the rumored nuclear weapons transactions between the two superpowers "shameful."

Alleged Russia-North Korea Nuclear Weapons Negotiations Concern US

According to CNN World's latest report, a newly released U.S. intelligence claim that North Korea and Russia are actively negotiating their nuclear weapons.

On Wednesday, Aug. 30, the Biden Administration said they are concerned that the two nations are in the middle of arms negotiations.

U.S. officials shared their concerns after the latest North Korea visit of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in July.

They added that a second delegation of Russia's officials could have followed Sergei's NoKor visit, saying they conduct further discussions about the alleged nuclear weapons negotiations.

Politico reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un began exchanging letters pledging to improve their cooperation ever since Sergei visited the Asian country.

Read Also: Readout of President Joe Biden's Meeting with President Rodrigo Chaves Robles of Costa Rica

About the Rumored Russia-NoKor Nuclear Weapons Deal

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby warned that the potential warfare agreements could allow North Korea to supply Russia with significant quantities and multiple types of weapons.

He said that these weapons could be used in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Kirby added that the weapons negotiations allegedly include the provision of raw materials.

If this is true, then NoKor could help Russia boost its military manufacturing capability.

"Following these negotiations, high-level discussion may continue in coming months," said Kirby.

The NSC official described the alleged Russia-North Korea nuclear weapons negotiations deal as an act of desperation and weakness.

Thomas-Greenfield also criticized the newly leaked activities between Russia and North Korea, calling the negotiations "shameful."

She added that the rumored warfare deals are a violation of the Security Council resolutions approved by the Russian government.

The newly released U.S. intelligence revealing the potential Russia-NoKo nuclear weapons transactions is a big deal.

This is because it's an effort of the Biden Administration to publicize Russia's initiatives to source weapons for its war in Ukraine.

If you want to learn more details about the latest allegations against these two superpowers, you can click here.

Related Article: Russia, North Korea Near To Reaching Arms Deal Against Ukraine as Putin, Kim Jong Un Exchange Letters, US Reveals

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Police discovered the bodies of at least 30 dogs this week at a property in southern New Jersey, and two people have been charged with both animal cruelty and endangering children.

Investigators estimate that up to 100 canines passed away in the house, many of which are thought to have been interred there. According to the Evesham Police Department, on Monday, officers discovered multiple cats, bunnies, and both live and dead canines inside the home, as reported by NBC News.

Nine of the live canines, including three that were in "extremely poor health," were transferred to an animal hospital for treatment, according to the authorities. Eventually, one of the dogs had to be put to death.

Several Unhealthy Dogs and a Child

In the Philadelphia suburb of Evesham, Rebecca Halbach, 35, and Brandon Leconey, 32, were taken into custody on Monday. After a representative of a North Carolina-based animal rescue organization, which had provided the couple money to care for some of its pets, saw several hungry and sick canines roaming the property, they called the police.

According to the authorities, a 9-year-old boy who lived in the house was taken out because of the "unhealthy conditions" and given to child welfare authorities. He didn't seem to be related to Halbach or Leconey.

(Photo: by SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images) Abandoned dogs are seen in a cage as they wait to be adopted during an event organized by Taiwan's Paw Print K9 Rescue at a flea market in Taipei on August 26, 2023.

Before detectives could enter the house, it needed to be thoroughly ventilated after they arrived on the scene.

Public records did not have a phone number for Halbach or Leconey, and officials were not of whether either had retained a lawyer who could speak on their behalf. As the investigation goes on, further charges may be brought, according to the authorities.

Halbach was being examined by a doctor at a hospital for an unidentified medical problem, while Leconey was being held at the Burlington County Jail.

Read also: New Animal Cruelty Law Set By FBI Going Into Effect Next Year [REPORT]

Animal Cruelty in Philadelphia

In 2021, there were over 5,000 reports of animal cruelty in Philadelphia. This number is likely underreported, as many cases of animal cruelty go undetected. The most common forms of animal cruelty in Philadelphia are neglect and physical abuse. Neglect is the failure to provide animals with food, water, shelter, or veterinary care. Physical abuse is the intentional infliction of pain or injury on an animal.

Animal cruelty can have a devastating impact on both the animals and the people who witness it. Animals who are abused or neglected are often suffering from physical and psychological trauma. They may also be more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior. People who witness animal cruelty may also be traumatized, and they may develop feelings of anger, sadness, and helplessness.

Related article: Florida Man, Ephrian Myles, Charged With Cruelty For Dousing Puppy In Hot Sauce

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Fox News has exclusively interviewed "Penny," the woman Florida governor and US Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis mentioned in last week's GOP presidential debate.

Her real name is Miriam Hopper, and her appearance on the network was in response to the presidential hopeful's critics who discredited her story and existence.

During the debate, DeSantis told Hopper's story who allegedly survived multiple abortion attempts and was left discarded in a pan in 1955.

Hopper said her mother was profoundly bleeding and the doctor attending her parents had not detected her heartbeat and suggested they terminate the pregnancy.

However, she detailed she survived the ordeal after her grandmother saved her and brought her to a different hospital for natal treatment.

The details of Hopper's account could not be fully verified.

Hopper: 'I Existed'

It was after mentioning this story that DeSantis's detractors on social media quickly dismissed Hopper's story, with some of them accusing the governor of lying.

Former GOP consultant and The Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt called Hopper's story of being found in a pan by her grandmother ludicrous, while liberal journalist Jill Filipovic called the story bizarre and impossible.

Hopper, a 67-year-old Florida resident, said she already existed at 23 weeks. She added that she was fortunate to be alive as there were thousands of abortion survivors globally who have stories similar to hers.

Read Also: Iowa Republicans Are Seeking To Pass New Restrictive Abortion Limits After the State Supreme Court Blocked a Previous Measure

Hopper's Story Complicated, Experts Say

Hopper's story was featured in a pro-life ad by Faces of Choice during the 2020 March for Life in Washington DC.

The organization's founder and executive director, Lyric Gillett, said she made contact with Hopper through Abortion Survivors Network founder and CEO Melissa Ohden.

Abortion Survivors Network is a support and advocacy group for individuals who have survived abortions when they were infants.

The alleged abortion survivor admitted she did not watch the GOP debate but was excited, shocked, and humbled to learn DeSantis shared her story on national television.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that Hopper's story first appeared in a newspaper article documenting her recovery after the ordeal in 1956.

Several gynecologists have since indicated their speculation with Hopper's story, saying the 1950s was a different time and the methods of detecting a heartbeat were not as refined as in the 21st century.

They raised questions on the details of Hopper's gestational age at birth, saying her recorded birth weight more likely matched a fetus several weeks further, at around 26 or 27 weeks. They added that the lungs are not developed enough to breathe at 23 weeks without intense assistance, making it improbable such an infant could survive abandonment for hours outdoors.

As far as Colorado maternal-fetal medicine physician Leilah Zahedi-Spung was concerned, because the fetus was presumed dead during the ordeal, the procedure performed in the hospital would not be considered an abortion.

In addition, pregnancies and their records were very difficult to accurately date in the 1950s as they predated the medical use of ultrasounds.

Hopper acknowledged there was little documentation about her birth aside from newspaper clippings since her parents have since died and her county would not share her birth records. However, she confirmed DeSantis was referring to her story but would not say whether she and the governor have already met or spoken, stating that her story was strictly about abortion and surviving it and not about politics.

Related Article: Ron DeSantis, Allies Donate $95,000 to Iowa Nonprofit in Aid of His Struggling Presidential Campaign

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China issued a map earlier this week outlining its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea. Beijing said on Thursday, August 31, that the image should be examined logically and objectively.

However, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam have all turned down the map as groundless.

In a report by Reuters, China issued a map showing its controversial U-shaped line encompassing about 90% of the South China Sea on Monday, August 28. The area is a hotspot for conflicts in one of the world's most contentious waterways through which more than $3 trillion in annual commerce flows.

Reactions From Neighboring Countries

On Thursday, the Philippines urged China to behave responsibly and honor its obligations under international law and a 2016 arbitral judgment that found no legal basis for the line. Meanwhile, it has been reported that Malaysia has lodged a diplomatic complaint about the map.

China claims its ancient maps serve as the basis for the border. It is unclear whether or not the newest map indicates a claim to more land.

The U-shaped line gets into the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia and stretches as far south as 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) from China's Hainan island.

"This latest attempt to legitimize China's purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law," the Philippine Foreign Ministry stated, as reported by local media Philstar.

The Malaysian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the new map has no binding power over Malaysia and that the country sees the South China Sea as a complicated and sensitive issue.

When asked about the new map, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu insisted that Taiwan was "absolutely not a part of the People's Republic of China."

Vietnam's foreign ministry stated late Thursday that China's map-based claims are invalid and illegal under Vietnamese and international law. According to a statement released by Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Pham Thu Hang, Vietnam "resolutely opposes all China's claims in the South China Sea based on the dotted line," which refers to the South China Sea, Bloomberg reported.

See Also: South China Sea Dispute: Philippine Supply Boats Breach Chinese Coast Guard Blockade

Controversial South China Sea Map

China's new map is different from the one it submitted to the United Nations in 2009. The previous map was smaller and did not contain the so-called "nine-dash line" in the South China Sea.

The most recent map included a larger region than the one from 1948 and included democratic Taiwan by means of a line with ten dashes. In 2013, China also released a map that had a ten-dash subdivision.

China Central Television stated on Tuesday, August 29, that a national map awareness publicity week was underway across the country.

See Also: Taiwan Warns of Increased Tensions Due to Chinese Incursions

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Niger's military junta has revoked the diplomatic immunity of the French ambassador to Niamey, Sylvain Itte, and has ordered police to expel him from the country after insisting to stay despite the regime's 48-hour period for him to leave.

The decision was primarily influenced by Paris officials not heeding the junta's demands of recalling its ambassador, saying they do not recognize the coup plotters as the country's legitimate leaders, the Associated Press reported.

Earlier this week, the Nigerien Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a communique saying Itte no longer has diplomatic immunity in the country, adding that the diplomatic cards and visas of the ambassador and his family have been canceled.

The French government has yet to respond regarding the expulsion order as of this report.

Macron: Itte Insists to Stay

French President Emmanuel Macron said Itte insisted on remaining in his post when he was first told to leave Niger. The president also spoke out against the coup leaders while insisting that France, which once colonized Niger, was not its enemy.

Since Niger's president, Mohamed Bazoum, was toppled from power, the junta has leveraged anti-French sentiment among the population to solidify its support base. This resulted in people chanting "Down with France" at the almost daily rallies in Niamey, with some of them held in front of a French military base in the capital city, which currently billeted some 1,500 troops aimed at helping the military push back al-Qaeda-linked insurgents.

Since the coup, insurgents have killed 17 Nigerien soldiers and wounded 24 so far.

Read Also: Biden Admin Wants US Forces to Stay in Niger, Here's Why

Niger vs. ECOWAS

The Nigerien junta also faces an external threat in the form of the West African bloc ECOWAS, which has since made preparations for a military intervention should all avenues of diplomacy fail.

Meanwhile, the junta has since appointed a new government and said it would return Niger to the system of government prescribed by the constitution within three years, a timeline that ECOWAS rejected.

A Diplomatic Dilemma

According to Verisk Maplecroft senior analyst Mucahid Durmaz, the expulsion of Itte from Niger and the revocation of his diplomatic immunity puts France in a challenging position since Paris said it would support ECOWAS's efforts to restore democratic rule in Niger, but it is also faced with the need to protect its diplomatic staff.

"If Paris recognizes the military authority in Niger, which is the heart of the matter, it could potentially limit the reputational damage that France is facing in its former African colonies," he said.

At the same time, he thinks France is unlikely to use the junta's moves against the ambassador as a reason to launch a military intervention backed by ECOWAS troops.

Related Article: ECOWAS Announces 'D-Day': Set to Restore Niger to Democratic Rule

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A new study revealed that more and more Americans are now getting vasectomies. Based on the research's findings, men in the U.S. who decided to have vasectomies increased between 2014 and 2021.

Study Shows More Americans are Getting a Vasectomy

According to UPI, the new study claims that American men who got vasectomies between 2014 and 2021 increased by 26%.

The latest health research, which was published in the Urology journal, calculated the annual vasectomy rate in men between 18 to 64 years old.

"All areas in the United States except the Northeast showed increased vasectomy rates," said Dr. Omer Raheem of the University of Chicago School of Medicine, the senior researcher of the study.

Other doctors, including those not involved in the study, expect that vasectomies in the United States will further increase in the next years.

Dr. Stanton Honig of Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Conn., said that vasectomy searches on Google significantly increased after the Roe v Wade overturn happened.

"This recent study points to the fact that men are taking more of a role in reproductive health and family planning," said the health expert.

Honig, who was not involved in the new study, explained that vasectomies are more common in men who already have children.

Read Also: This Weight Loss Drug Could Reverse Heart Failure Symptoms

What to Know About Vasectomy

For those who are unfamiliar with vasectomy, Mayo Clinic explained that it is a kind of permanent birth control for men.

The process involves cutting the supply of sperm to the semen. It is done by severing and sealing the tubes that carry the sperm.

Health experts said that vasectomy has a low risk of problems. They added that the process can even be conducted in an outpatient setting under local anesthesia.

But, before men decide to get a vasectomy, it is advised to ensure that they no longer want to have a child in the future.

Doctors clarified that vasectomies are reversible in some scenarios. But, it should always be considered as a permanent form of male birth control.

If you are a father or a husband who no longer wants to have kids, here are some reasons why many are now getting vasectomy:

Vasectomy is around 100% effective when it comes to preventing pregnancy.

Compared to female sterilization, vasectomy is more affordable.

When you get a vasectomy, you no longer have to wear a condom or ask your wife to take birth control pills.

Related Article: [STUDY] Choosing the Correct Arm for COVID-19 Vaccine Could Lead to Stronger Immune Response, But How?

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China decided to conduct anti-submarine operations in the South China Sea. These maritime exercises happened as the tensions in the Indo-Pacific region intensified.

China Conducts Anti-Submarine Operations

According to Reuters' latest report, the Chinese military conducted intensive anti-submarine drills in the South China Sea, which has strategic importance to China.

China explained that these military drills are part of its efforts to hone defense capabilities amid the rising maritime tensions with its neighbors and their ally countries.

On Monday, Aug. 28, the Southern Command Theatre of China's People's Liberation Army said that the anti-sub drills were conducted non-stop for over 40 hours.

These exercises include flying anti-submarine patrol jets to search for submarines, as well as simulating attacks.

"It has effectively honed the military's round-the-clock aerial anti-submarine combat capabilities," said the Chinese theatre command.

China's anti-submarine exercises happened at night and early in the morning so that the Chinese navy could accumulate experience at different hours.

Read Also: Did a Chinese Nuke-Powered Sub Crash Near Taiwan Strait? Taiwanese Officials Dismiss Reports

US Also Conduct Military Drills in the Indo-Pacific Region

The U.S. government is also conducting military drills in the Indo-Pacific region. The United States was joined by Indonesia and five other nations.

They started their annual training exercises on Thursday, Aug. 31, on Indonesia's main island of Java.

Time Magazine stated that the United Kingdom and French forces are joining the U.S. and Indonesia in 2023's Super Garuda Shielf exercises.

"Super Garuda Shield 2023 builds on last year's tremendous success," said the Commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific, Gen. Charles Flynn.

He added that the multinational training drills display their like-minded unity and collective commitment to make the Indo-Pacific a peaceful, secure, and more stable region.

Of course, China is threatened by these military drills of the U.S. and allied countries, saying that the American government is building an Indo-Pacific alliance.

Chinese officials that this alleged alliance will be quite similar to NATO, claiming that it could limit China's growing diplomatic and military influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Related Article: China's Current Map of the South China Sea Rejected by Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia

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U.S. election workers are continuously receiving death threats. Experts are now concerned that these will just get worse as the 2024 U.S. Election nears.

US Election Workers Bombarded With Death Threats

According to Fortune, U.S. election staff are receiving alarming death threats. Although this is the case, individuals who are making these statements are rarely prosecuted.

As of writing, there are only over a dozen Americans who have been charged with threatening election workers.

Because of this, experts are now urging the U.S. Department of Justice to take more actions to protect staff handling the elections.

John Keller, DOJ election crime investigation unit's second in command, said that they are expecting that the prosecutions they made would deter others from making death threats against election volunteers and employees.

"This isn't going to be taken lightly. It's not going to be trivialized," he said via the Associated Press.

He added that federal judges and courts are taking these election misconducts seriously. Keller explained the punishments are going to be commensurate with the severity of the misconduct.

Read Also: Donald Trump Surrenders to Atlanta Authorities in Relation to Georgia Election Case After his Official Mug Shot was Released

Election Death Threats Getting Worse

Experts said that periods between U.S. elections are commonly quiet, claiming that workers who are handling voting systems rarely receive life-threatening and other alarming statements from anonymous individuals.

However, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said that this is no longer the case. Griswold, who has pushed back against election-related conspiracy theories, expects that election crimes will get worse as 2023 nears its end.

"I anticipate it will get worse as we end this year and go into the presidential election next year," said the Democrat.

Griswold stated that current death threats are usually linked to the rumors that the 2020 election was cheated against Trump.

Election workers receive different kinds of death threats, such as statements claiming they'll be surrounded by "patriots" when they least expect it.

Others even post mass shooting polls against election officials and staff. Some death threats are just completely terrifying since they include children of the election workers.

"Someone needs to get these people AND their children. The children are the most important message to send," said a Texas resident, who was sent to prison for 3 1/2 years.

Griswold shared her concern, saying that the U.S. doesn't have the best tools to prevent these alarming death threats through the next period of the election.

Related Article: Montana Man Facing 2+ Years in Federal Prison After Sending Death Threats to Senator

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Ukraine has broken through major Russian lines of defense in its southeastern region as part of Kyiv's counteroffensive.

It has been reported that Ukrainian forces have moved deeper into the Zaporizhzhia region after securing a major foothold behind Russian lines towards the towns of Verbove and Novoprokopivka.

Ukrainian military officials reported Wednesday (August 30) that troops have succeeded in a march toward both towns, strengthening their positions and bombarding Russian ones with artillery.

They have also reported they might have penetrated through the first line of Russian defense, which many call the "Surovikin Line" after the infamous Russian general Sergei "Armageddon" Surovikin who ordered the construction of the defensive positions.

Ukrainians Have More Defenses to Crack

Institute for the Study of War Russia analyst George Barros told The Hill that while the Ukrainian gains were significant, it does not mean the Surovikin Line has been fully breached.

"Ukrainian forces very well may have breached it, but we need more evidence," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile, popular Russian military blogger Rybar confirmed on Telegram that Ukrainian forces are advancing toward Verbove and intend to "concentrate its efforts on enveloping Verbove from the west and reaching the flank of Russian troops to block supply routes in the village."

However, another popular Russian military blogger publishing under the Telegram channel Voenkor Kotenok said there has not been a breakthrough in Verbove and Ukraine was "suffering heavy losses in men and equipment."

The counteroffensive was one of many things Ukraine has been dealing with Russia, as a massive drone strike on Russian soil has been reported this week.

Despite this, Ukrainian forces have reported they have only lost five of its 71 Leopard 2 during the counteroffensive.

Read Also: Ukrainian Drone Attack Hits Northwest Russia Airport, Damaging 4 Military Planes

Picking Up the Pace

On the other hand, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar explained troops south from Verbove were making progress toward the direction of Novoprokopivka as compensation for the first few weeks the counteroffensive had been slow and sluggish.

The main objectives of the counteroffensive were to take the town of Tokmak and, further south, the city of Melitopol, which would be vital in cutting off the land bridge connecting mainland Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.

For these gains, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told naysayers of the counteroffensive Thursday (August 31) to "shut up" and come to Ukraine to fight with those on the frontlines.

"Criticizing the slowness of the counteroffensive amounts to spitting in the face of the Ukrainian soldiers who have sacrificed their lives," he told EU foreign ministers in Spain. "I suggest everyone who criticizes [us] to shut up, come to Ukraine, and try to free up a square centimeter on your own."

Kuleba was in Spain to ask for more munitions, armored vehicles, long-range missiles, and anti-aircraft systems, Euro News reported.

Related Article: Ukraine Now Repurposing Earthquake Sensors; How Can These Help in War Against Russia?

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The Biden Administration now wants to eliminate the so-called "gun show loophole." To do this, the U.S. government proposed a new firearm rule that can do just that. Here are the latest details.

Biden Admin's New Firearm Rule Could Eliminate Gun Show Loophole

According to Forbes, the latest firearm rule introduced by the Biden Administration could close the gun show loophole.

For those who are unfamiliar with this term, the gun show loophole refers to private firearm sales that don't require federal background checks from buyers.

Since this is quite dangerous, especially since mass shootings in the United States are becoming worse, officials proposed a new regulation.

This firearm rule wants to require all gun sales to perform background checks on customers. The Biden Administration explained that it doesn't matter if the firearm sales are conducted in physical stores, via the Internet, or elsewhere.

Statistics show that one in five gun sales in the U.S. are happening without background checks because of the gun show loophole.

As of writing, federal law doesn't require gun show vendors to conduct background checks on customers.

Read Also: UNC-Chapel Hill Shooting: Shooter's Motive Puzzles Police; What We Know So Far About the Suspect

What Inspired Biden Admin to Propose Such Rule

Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the newly proposed gun regulation of the Biden Administration was inspired by the bipartisan law passed in 2022.

"The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was passed by Congress to reduce gun violence, including by expanding the background checks that keep guns out of the hands of criminals," he said via NBC News.

Garland added that the Biden Admin's proposed rule implements the mandate of the U.S. Congress to expand the definition of who should conduct background checks and obtain a license before selling guns.

Before the new rule becomes a law, it should undergo the federal rulemaking process. This means that Americans can submit public comments, which will be reviewed by federal agencies.

Since recent polls revealed that around 88% of U.S. residents support firearm background checks, there's a high chance that the newly proposed gun regulation could receive positive feedback.

Related Article: Retired Police Killed 3 People at California Bar, Shot His Ex-Wife First During 'Horrible' Mass Shooting

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At least 74 people have been killed overnight after a fire destroyed a run-down, five-storey apartment block in Johannesburg. Authorities say the fire was one of the worst disasters the city has experienced in its history of poverty, household fires, and homelessness.

According to multiple media reports, the fire was still smoldering as of Thursday morning, local time, more than 12 hours after the blaze broke out. Authorities are still unable to provide a clear picture of who lived in the complex as some of the rooms might have been rented out by criminal gangs in a so-called "hijacked building."

Forensic Pathology Services official Thembalethu Mpahlaza said that, of the 74 bodies that were recovered, 12 of whom were children and 24 were women.

Ramaphosa: Johannesburg Flat Block Fire a 'Great Tragedy'

In a televised remark, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called the fire a "great tragedy" for those who have lost loved ones in the blaze.

"I do hope that the investigations into the fire will...prevent a repeat of such a tragedy," he added.

Ramaphosa also visited the scene of the fire, where he also attended to the wailing of families of victims of the incident. He said the South African government should consider addressing the housing issue in the city.

Meanwhile, emergency services personnel were overwhelmed with the vastness of the fire.

"Over 20 years in the service, I've never come across something like this," Johannesburg Emergency Services Management spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said.

Firefighters are still investigating how the fire started, but local government official Mgcini Tshwaku said initial evidence suggested it started with a candle, a staple supply for residents in the area to give them light during the evenings and heat during the winter months.

As the fire grew, many of the residents had a hard time getting out quickly, with some of them having to jump off windows to get to safety, as per the Associated Press.

Read Also: Fire Crews Were Able To Contain the Flames of a Blaze That Resulted from a Marathon Petroleum Refinery

Building Connected to the Apartheid, Criminal Gangs

Johannesburg officials initially suggested the building was occupied by squatters, but Gauteng province Human Settlements department head Lebogang Isaac Maile said the Johannesburg building was inhabited by people who might have been renting from or were being extorted by, criminal gangs.

"There are cartels who prey on...vulnerable people," he told reporters "Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rental from the people."

Meanwhile, Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said the local government had leased it to a charity for displaced women, but it had "ended up serving a different purpose" over time. However, he did not give any further details.

Aside from the fact it was hijacked, the apartment building had a sign at the entrance which was identified as a heritage building from South Africa's apartheid past, where Black South Africans came to collect their "dompas" - documents that would enable them to work in white-owned areas of the city.

Related Article: Dems Blame Climate Change Over Hawaii Wildfire; Experts Say Otherwise

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(Photo : Photo by SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images)

An unidentified soldier's body lies near a burning Russian Armoured personnel carrier (APC) during fighting with the Ukrainian armed forces in Kharkiv, on February 27, 2022. - Ukrainian forces secured full control of Kharkiv on February 27, 2022 following street fighting with Russian troops in the country's second biggest city, the local governor said.

Russian military hackers have set their crosshairs on the mobile devices of Ukrainian soldiers to steal sensitive battlefield data that could aid the Kremlin's ongoing war efforts against Ukraine.

The United States and its intelligence-sharing partners, the "Five Eyes" - Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom - have warned sternly about this cyber threat, as per CNN.

Russian Hackers Target Ukrainian Soldiers' Mobile Devices

The recent advisory from the United States and its Five Eyes allies confirms the findings of Ukraine's SBU security service that Russian hackers actively sought to infiltrate the Android tablets used by the Ukrainian military for planning and carrying out combat missions.

The insidious nature of this cyber intrusion is made clear by the hackers specifically targeting data transmitted from these devices to Elon Musk's company's Starlink satellite system.

Starlink satellites have played a crucial role in battlefield communications in Ukraine, demonstrating their strategic significance.

Controlling confidential military data in cyberspace has become a crucial battleground in Russia's all-out war against Ukraine. While the extent of the success of the hacking campaign remains unknown, the SBU has confirmed that some hacking attempts were thwarted. However, they also admitted that Russian forces had been able to acquire tablets on the battlefield and implant malicious software on these devices.

This maneuver exemplifies the constantly evolving tactics utilized in modern warfare. Mobile malware is especially pernicious because it can provide intelligence services with the physical coordinates of their targets.

According to John Hultquist, the principal analyst at the Google-owned security company Mandiant, this capability can be "extremely effective on the battlefield."

The potential repercussions of this intelligence collection are vast and far-reaching, spanning from tracking troop movements to identifying vital military installations. The United States and its allies have attributed this cyber activity to Sandworm, a notorious espionage unit within Russia's military intelligence directorate.

This unit has a history of intrusions, including those that disrupted the power supply in Ukraine in 2015 and 2016. Russia's consistent pattern of cyber aggression demonstrates the lengths it is prepared to go to achieve its goals, according to Voa News.

Read Also: China's Anti-Submarine Exercises Happen in South China Sea Despite Tensions

Pentagon's Cyber Command Leads the Charge in Defending Ukraine

The Pentagon has been active in response to these cyber threats. Cyber Command, the espionage unit of the United States military, has conducted offensive cyber operations in support of Ukraine's efforts to defend against Russian aggression.

This demonstrates the growing importance of cyber capabilities in contemporary warfare and the need for nations to develop comprehensive cyber defense strategies.

In addition to Russian cyberattacks, hackers supporting Ukraine have joined the conflict. The Ukrainian government has encouraged tens of thousands of volunteer hackers to launch cyberattacks against Russian assets within Ukraine and on Russian territory.

This digital retaliation highlights the evolving nature of warfare, in which conventional and cyber means are intricately intertwined. Since the beginning of Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russian intelligence services have relentlessly attacked the Ukrainian infrastructure via cyberspace.

These cyberattacks have included, among others, data-destroying breaches aimed at Ukrainian energy and transportation infrastructure. Ukraine's digital defenses have shown resilience in the face of adversity, even though some of these assaults have necessitated recovery efforts.

It is essential to observe that determining the true scope and impact of Russian cyber operations in Ukraine remains difficult. The fog of war, in which both parties are motivated to exaggerate their successes and minimize their failures, further complicates the evaluation.

Despite the limited impact of Russian espionage thus far, the ongoing cyberwar in Ukraine is a stark reminder of warfare's evolving nature and cyberspace's central role in modern conflicts. Recent revelations that Russian hackers targeted the mobile devices of Ukrainian soldiers highlight the high stakes in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Cyberwarfare's convergence with traditional kinetic operations represents a paradigm shift in contemporary warfare, where information is as valuable as firepower on the battlefield. As both parties continue to adapt and innovate on this digital battlefield, the international community must remain vigilant and ready to respond to these evolving threats to global security, ARS Technica reported.

Related Article: Picking Up the Pace: Ukraine's Counteroffensive Enters Zaporizhzhia

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(Photo : Photo by ROUHOLLA VAHDATI/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - === EDITOR NOTE: AFP IS USING PICTURES FROM ALTERNATIVE SOURCES AS IT WAS NOT AUTHORISED TO COVER THIS EVENT, THEREFORE IT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIGITAL ALTERATIONS TO THE PICTURE'S EDITORIAL CONTENT, DATE AND LOCATION WHICH CANNOT BE INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED === Ballistic missile Zelzal is launched during the second day of military exercises, codenamed Great Prophet-6, for Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards at an unknown location on June 28, 2011.

Iran has accused Israel of trying to sabotage its ballistic missile program by delivering faulty foreign components that might explode and endanger the effectiveness of these weapons.

Although the Israeli Prime Minister's office has been mum on these charges, they have come to light amid escalating hostilities between the two countries and a more extensive international campaign to weaken Iran's military prowess, Fox News reported.

Allegations of Faulty Components in Ballistic Missile Program

According to a report on Iranian state television, this alleged Israeli operation was "one of the biggest attempts at sabotage" it had ever seen. Israeli Mossad agents were directly blamed for obtaining and disseminating these problematic parts, called inexpensive "connectors."

The damaged components were seen in the film shown on Iranian state television, with some of them blasting into the air as if hit by bombs. The suspect parts were military-style, high-density circular electrical connections frequently used to connect electronic systems in drones or missiles to transport data and electricity.

These connectors are essential for connecting the computer network of drones and ballistic missiles built in Iran, according to Younes Shadloo, Iran's official television military correspondent. Shadloo claims that the purposefully sabotaged components were outfitted with modified explosive kits that were timed to go off.

The report should have comprehensively justified Iran's desire to import these connections. According to several Iranian sources promoting comparable connectors, the best on the market were those built in Russia. Notably, due to its role in the crisis in Ukraine, Russia has been subject to international sanctions, which may impact the supply of electronics required for missile systems.

It's important to note that experts who have examined these weapons claim that Iranian-made drones, which have earned popularity for their use by Russia in the ongoing Ukraine crisis, also use circular connectors. The damaged parts' discovery date was not disclosed in the Iranian official TV broadcast nor confirmed whether they had been used in any ballistic missiles before their discovery.

Recent events, though, have prompted questions about the security of Iran's military and missile development sites. An engineer lost his life, and other people were hurt in a severe explosion at the Parchin military base in May 2022, located east of Tehran.

The United States has long accused Tehran of using these endeavors to advance its ballistic missile program, and this episode, along with earlier setbacks in Iran's space program, has garnered their ire. This disclosure also follows accusations from 2019 that the US had stepped up a clandestine sabotage effort to thwart Iran's missile and rocket program when Donald Trump was still president.

The CIA, however, chose not to respond to Iran's most recent allegations of sabotage. The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a powerful organization that reports directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is in charge of Iran's ballistic missile arsenal, as per Defense News.

Read Also: Niger's Junta Orders French Ambassador's Expulsion

Expert Validates Iran's Claims of Sabotage as Israeli Actions Continue to Fuel Tensions

The state TV film was examined by Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, who confirmed that circular connectors are a standard part of practically all types of ballistic missiles.

As Hinz remarked, this is not Iran's first claim that components were tampered with to obstruct its missile program. "It's quite likely Iran purchases these connectors from abroad," he added. Israeli sabotage strikes have harmed Iranian nuclear facilities in the past, and Israel has previously been suspected of planning a slew of targeted killings of Iranian atomic scientists.

The most notorious of these assaults occurred in the late 2000s when the uranium centrifuge control units were attacked by the Stuxnet computer virus, which caused them to malfunction and self-destruct.

Although no official accusation was made, many analysts concur that the Stuxnet attack was the work of the United States and Israel; Iran has also made this assertion.

These sabotage claims threaten to worsen already tense relations between Iran and Israel, raising questions about the stability of the Middle East and the future of international attempts to limit Iran's military capabilities, according to the Independent.

Related Article: China's Current Map of the South China Sea Rejected by Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia

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(Photo : Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 20: A Drag Queen performs during a show at the Swan Dive nightclub on March 20, 2023 in Austin, Texas. Controversy and debate over four bills seeking to restrict Drag shows in the state of Texas intensifies as lawmakers continue their proposals. Bills SB 8, SB 12, and SB1601 are scheduled for a hearing this Thursday.

A federal magistrate in Texas has issued a temporary restraining order against a recently enacted law that, according to its opponents, would severely restrict or outright ban drag show performances.

The law, which was about to take effect, did not expressly mention drag performances, but it did raise concerns about censorship and free speech, ABC News reported.

Texas Federal Magistrate Halts Controversial Law Targeting Drag Shows

The legislation, passed by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature, sought to expand the legal definition of what constitutes an illegal public display of sexual conduct in front of children.

Critics argued that the report was comprehensive, potentially incorporating mainstream performances such as the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Houston-based US District Judge David Hittner issued the provisional restraining order in response to a legal challenge by a group of drag performers and LGBTQ+ rights advocates who sought to prevent the law from going into effect.

During a two-day court hearing earlier this week, the drag performers and their supporters argued that the new law threatened their livelihoods and would violate their right to free speech.

In his ruling, Judge Hittner agreed with the plaintiffs that the law violated their First Amendment rights. While preparing a more permanent order for the case, he issued a temporary restraining order to halt the law's implementation promptly.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, hailed the judge's ruling as a "much-needed reprieve for all Texans, especially our LGBTQIA+ and transgender community, who have been relentlessly targeted by the state legislature," according to Fox News.

Read Also: GOP Senators Consider Having a Special Conference Meeting To Discuss Mitch McConnell's Future in Leadership

Free Speech vs. Child Protection

The ACLU of Texas tweeted, "Drag performers and LGBTQIA+ allied businesses belong in our state, and Texas politicians have no right to censor our free speech."

The Texas Attorney General's Office, representing the state in the lawsuit, defended the law as an effort "to protect children and uphold public decency."

They declared their intention to vehemently defend the law and its purpose of protecting minors from explicit content. Proponents of the law argued that its primary objective was to protect minors from drag shows. In response to criticism, Republican lawmakers amended the law to remove specific references to drag performances.

However, the law's "statement of intent" still emphasized the need to protect minors from such arrangements. The final version of the law expanded the definition of what is illegal in a manner that could encompass a broad spectrum of performances viewed by children.

For instance, the legal definition of sexual conduct included acts involving "accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics." It also criminalized actual or simulated groping, arousal, and the display of sexual objects if done in a prurient manner in front of minors or in public places where children could be anticipated to witness the performance.

Infringers could face up to a year in prison, and businesses that host such interpretations could be fined $10,000 per infraction. This Texas ruling is consistent with other states, including Florida and Tennessee, that have attempted to ban or restrict drag performances.

The ongoing legal debates surrounding these laws highlight the delicate balance between free speech, child protection, and the ever-changing landscape of LGBTQ+ rights in the United States, as per New York Times.

Related Article: Study Shows More Americans are Getting Vasectomies-Doctors Explain Why

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The following publication is part of a series of 7 pieces prepared by Glion's IHB Masters students during a one-day workshop aiming at highlighting the potential of the hospitality industry to contribute to the achievement of the UN SDGs by 2030. All figures, data and initiatives are fictitious and were created by students in the context of an immersive and transformative learning experience where students generated ideas and propositions that transcend the conventional thanks to the simulation of a professional conference taking place in 2030.

Learn more about the workshop at Glion here.

This piece focuses on SDG 14, Life below water and SDG 15, Life on land. With NGO, UN and Marriott representatives around the table, students focused on the role of partnerships for the hospitality industry to protect and restore biodiversity and natural habitat. Key leverages for the industry includes paying attention to its supply chain, shedding a new light to its food offering so as to avoid endangered species and creating biodiversity hubs around hotel properties. Students' ideas and propositions highlight that hotel groups have a unique potential to contribute to the restoration of life below water and on land and will benefit from it both in the short and in the long term.

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As a passionate student dedicated to sustainable development, I had the incredible opportunity to attend a thought-provoking panel discussion on the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 14  Life Below Water and 15  Life on Land in the hospitality industry by 2030. Esteemed leaders from Marriott, the Coral Reef Alliance, the World Tourism Organization (WTO), World Wildlife Funds (WWF), and the Global Shippers Association came together to explore how our industry can drive meaningful change by focusing mainly on Biodiversity and Protection of Natural Habitat. I am thrilled to share my insights and key takeaways from this inspiring event.

First and foremost, the representative of WWF, the world's leading conservation organization, highlights the achievement of new key protected areas, where new infrastructure cannot be made, to ensure that natural habitat is being preserved and restored. The WWF has collaborated with the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) to ensure their preservation. The partnership between WWF and CORAL Alliance exemplifies the power of collaboration in achieving conservation goals.

The representatives from the Coral Reef Alliance emphasized the critical need to protect and restore our marine ecosystems. Their passionate plea for responsible tourism practices and the preservation of coral reefs highlighted the urgency of action. It was heartening to witness their collaborative efforts with hotels to increase Protected Areas as they serve as invaluable sanctuaries for biodiversity, allowing ecosystems to thrive and providing critical habitats for numerous species.

The WTO representative shed light on the global impact of sustainable tourism and its potential to drive economic growth while safeguarding our environment. He stressed the importance of creating inclusive and resilient destinations, fostering community engagement, and preserving biodiversity. Their call for governments and businesses to work hand in hand towards achieving these goals showcased a shared responsibility for sustainable development.

The Global Shippers Association brought a unique perspective to the discussion, highlighting the role of logistics and supply chain management in reducing the industry's carbon footprint. Their ballast water discharge since they did this, there are no new introduction of invasive marine species, shipping lanes were modified to minimize the sonic impact on marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins which use similar frequency sound waves to communicate. Also, eliminating discharge of pollution into the oceanic environment, Sources of environmental contaminants are diesel engines and human waste from cruises. To minimize the industry's footprint.

Lastly, the CEO of Marriott set the tone by reaffirming the company's unwavering commitment to sustainable practices. Their bold achievement of banning the consumption of key stone species completely in their hotels resonated deeply. By integrating sustainability into every aspect of their operations, with its commitment to creating net positive environments and habitats for endangered species. Creating hotels and resorts throughout their portfolio that are aimed to protect natural habitats and preserve biodiversity. Marriott is leading the charge towards a greener future in the hospitality industry.

The insights shared by these influential leaders left an indelible mark on me. I am inspired by their collective dedication and their acknowledgment that achieving SDGs is not a solitary endeavor but a collaborative journey that demands commitment from all stakeholders in the hospitality industry. As a student, this panel discussion has reinforced me to contribute to the achievement of further goals. I am excited to embark on a career path where I can promote sustainability within the industry, advocating for responsible practices, and influencing positive change.

*Article by Kaan Vanapruks, Pasit Sritragul, Hanin Mansouor I Hamdi, Ishita Kapur, Yuanhui Xia, Fumikazu Tei, Maxim Oosterveld, Valeriia Pecheryshna, Olivier Burnand-Galphin

About Glion Institute of Higher Education

Founded in 1962, Glion Institute of Higher Education is a Swiss institution offering bachelor's and master's degrees in hospitality, luxury and finance to an international student body across three campuses in Switzerland and London, UK.

Glion is ranked among the world's top five higher education institutions for hospitality and leisure management, and in the top three number for employer reputation since its entry in the ranking in 2018. (QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2022).

Part of Sommet Education, worldwide leader in hospitality education, Glion is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).

For more information, visit glion.edu.
Data from SiteMinder, the worlds leading open hotel commerce platform, reveals that hotel bookings for September in Spain are off to their strongest start in five years. SiteMinders World Hotel Index shows that hotel bookings in Spain are currently at 116.3% of 2019 volumes  10.8% higher than the global average. Among neighbouring countries, only Portugal is outpacing Spains momentum, with hotel booking volumes that are 127.7% of 2019 levels.

More than half (53.5%) of all bookings at Spanish hotels in the last two weeks are for stays in September, suggesting the keenness of travellers to enjoy the remaining weeks of Spains summer by booking at the last-minute. The data also illustrates the continued popularity of Spain as a top travel destination among both international travellers and locals.

SiteMinder's World Hotel Index: more than half of bookings at Spanish hotels in the two weeks leading to September 1, 2023, are for stays in September Source: SiteMinder

Hotel bookings are being led by international travellers who see the milder temperatures of September, and the smaller crowds, as an ideal time to travel in the country. SiteMinders data shows that two-thirds (66.2%) of expected hotel guests in September will be international travellers.

It is pleasing to see international travel return so strongly to Spain. For hotels, this is an opportune time to assess their commerce technologies, to make sure they reflect modern traveller preferences and behaviour, especially as they relate to bookings, payments and communication. Sara Padrosa, Regional Director of Spain at SiteMinder

About SiteMinder

SiteMinder Limited (ASX:SDR) is the name behind SiteMinder, the only software platform that unlocks the full revenue potential of hotels, and Little Hotelier, an all-in-one hotel management software that makes the lives of small accommodation providers easier. The global company is headquartered in Sydney with offices in Bangalore, Bangkok, Barcelona, Berlin, Dallas, Galway, London and Manila. Through its technology and the largest partner ecosystem in the global hotel industry, SiteMinder generates more than 100 million reservations worth over US$35 billion in revenue for its hotel customers each year.For more information, visit siteminder.com.

Maria Cricchiola

Director of Brand Communications & PR

+61 2 9056 7415

View source
New World Hotels & Resorts, the upper-upscale hotel brand under Rosewood Hotel Group, is propelling forward with ambitious growth initiatives in Asia. The brands portfolio will reach a total of 18 operating hotels by end of this year with two more slated to open in 2024. This remarkable expansion highlights the brands confidence in the region and its commitment to delivering contemporary accommodations to the new generation of modern business and leisure travellers across the most sought-after gateways and getaway locations in Asia.

Robust Growth in China

Buoyed by an increase in domestic tourism and a growing demand for new experiences, New World Hotels & Resorts steers towards impressive growth in China. With the successful opening of New World Shijiazhuang Hutuo Resort in June this year, the brands momentum continues to soar. Three more remarkable hotels, nestled amidst the vibrant landscapes of Chongqing, Taishan and Guangzhou, will open their doors in the fall of 2023.

In a strategic move aimed at enhancing the brands portfolio and commercial activities in China, Rosewood Hotel Group successfully transitioned and rebranded all KHOS properties to New World Hotels & Resorts in June this year  welcoming New World Qingyuan Hotel, New World Langfang Hotel and New World Shenyang Hotel. This significant collaboration not only incorporates three additional hotels into New World brand, but also ushers a new phase of development for the brand in the region. With this strategic alignment, New World Hotels & Resorts is poised to elevate its presence and deliver unforgettable experiences to an even broader audience in China.

Harnessing the power of strategic partnerships to bring about growth and transformation, New World Hotels & Resorts entered a joint venture with Rezen Group, a subsidiary of Trip.com Group, to develop and operate all newly opened New World Hotels & Resorts in Mainland China in 2021. The joint venture, known as New World Tongpai Hotels Group, established a three-year goal to develop 10 New World Hotels & Resorts in Mainland China, with a focus on promoting advanced digital transformation through all hotels. As of today, the joint venture has successfully opened one property, with additional seven properties currently under development. This marked the establishment of a mutually beneficial, synergistic relationship and will continue to bring about shared success and steady growth in the market.

Unleashing Potential Throughout Rest of Asia - Vietnam and Japan

In the enchanting landscape of Vietnam, New World Hoiana Beach Resort commenced operations in April 2023, captivating guests with its unrivalled charm. Adding to the excitement, the brand will be opening its fifth property in Vietnam with New World Nha Trang Hotel next year, further strengthening the brand presence in the country.

The brand is set to make its highly anticipated debut in Japan with the opening of New World La Plume Niseko Resort in 2024. This remarkable milestone marks a significant chapter in the brands journey, bringing its signature blend of contemporary design and genuine hospitality to Japan. The brand continues to push boundaries and forging its path as a leader in the upper-upscale hospitality industry. These upcoming launches in Vietnam and Japan are testament to the brands commitment to expanding its footprint and delivering a modern experience through local Asian culture.

We are thrilled to be entering this immensely exciting phase as our commitment to New World Hotels & Resorts and dedication to Asian hospitality begins to yield remarkable results, says Hoss Vetry, Vice President of Operations, Asia Pacific of Rosewood Hotel Group. With our plans coming to fruition, our passion to expand our diverse range of offerings and create truly meaningful experiences for our guests has never been stronger.

Hotel Listing

New World Beijing Hotel

New World Dalian Hotel

New World Wuhan Hotel

New World Shunde Hotel

New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel

New World Guiyang Hotel

New World Qingyuan Hotel

New World Langfang Hotel

New World Shenyang Hotel

New World Shijiazhuang Hutuo Resort

New World Chongqing Hotel (To open in 2023)

New World Taishan Hotel (To open in 2023)

New World Guangzhou Hotel (To open in 2023)

New World Makati Hotel

New World Saigon Hotel

New World Hoiana Hotel

New World Hoiana Beach Resort

New World Phu Quoc Resort

New World La Plume Niseko Resort (To open in 2024)

New World Nha Trang Hotel (To open in 2024)

About Rosewood Hotel Group

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts manages a global collection of 31 one-of-a-kind luxury hotels, resorts, and residences in 18 countries. Each Rosewood property embraces the brand's A Sense of Place philosophy to reflect the individual location's history, culture, and sensibilities. The Rosewood collection includes some of the world's most legendary hotels and resorts, including The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel in New York, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, and Hotel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel in Paris, as well as new classics such as Rosewood Hong Kong and Rosewood Sao Paulo. For those who wish to stay a little longer, Rosewood Residences offer a distinct opportunity for the ownership or rental of properties co-located with a Rosewood hotel or resort and of standalone for-sale residences. Rosewood Residences are defined by the brand's commitment to Enriched Living through thoughtful details and experiences that enhance the quality of life while evoking a sense of discovery and inspiration.

For more information, please visit rosewoodhotels.comConnect with us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WeChat @RosewoodHotels
Data from SiteMinder, the worlds leading open hotel commerce platform, reveals that hotel bookings for September in Spain are off to their strongest start in five years. SiteMinders World Hotel Index shows that hotel bookings in Spain are currently at 116.3% of 2019 volumes  10.8% higher than the global average. Among neighbouring countries, only Portugal is outpacing Spains momentum, with hotel booking volumes that are 127.7% of 2019 levels.

More than half (53.5%) of all bookings at Spanish hotels in the last two weeks are for stays in September, suggesting the keenness of travellers to enjoy the remaining weeks of Spains summer by booking at the last-minute. The data also illustrates the continued popularity of Spain as a top travel destination among both international travellers and locals.

Hotel bookings are being led by international travellers who see the milder temperatures of September, and the smaller crowds, as an ideal time to travel in the country. SiteMinders data shows that two-thirds (66.2%) of expected hotel guests in September will be international travellers.

It is pleasing to see international travel return so strongly to Spain. For hotels, this is an opportune time to assess their commerce technologies, to make sure they reflect modern traveller preferences and behaviour, especially as they relate to bookings, payments and communication, says Sara Padrosa, Regional Director of Spain at SiteMinder.

Media enquiries

Maria Cricchiola

+61 2 8031 1287

media@siteminder.com

Investor information

Paul Wong

+61 411 889 876

investor.relations@siteminder.com

About SiteMinder

SiteMinder (ASX:SDR) is the worlds leading open hotel commerce platform, empowering hotels and accommodation providers to sell, market, manage and grow their business. SiteMinders innovative online platform offers hotels and accommodation providers a comprehensive range of products and solutions to manage and streamline the distribution of their rooms across a wide selection of direct and indirect channels, take bookings from guests and communicate with guests. The global company, headquartered in Sydney with offices in Bangalore, Bangkok, Barcelona, Berlin, Dallas, Galway, London and Manila, generates more than 100 million reservations worth over US$35 billion in revenue for hotels each year. For more information, visit siteminder.com.
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What every songwriter needs to know about the BMI sale [Chris Castle]

Musicians and other music professionals are understandably nervous about the likelihood of BMI being sold to venture capitalists. Attorney and artist advocate Chris Castle offers answers.

by CHRIS CASTLE from Music Tech Policy

Ive been getting a lot of questions about the proposed cash-out sale of BMI. These usually come from freaked-out songwriters and independent music publishers who havent been quieted down and locked in by loans from BMI that were made and accepted before the going private sale. There are still a lot of people affected and who are scared of what the future may hold. This post is not about the fairness of the distribution of the sale price. Those issues are covered well by an open letter from songwriter groups.

We will talk more about what is the most likely result from any sale to private equitythey will come in and move pieces around the board without realizing who butters their bread because they have zero cultural reference for what a PRO actually does or more precisely what a PRO like BMI actually does. After the sellers cash out and the buyers bring in Boston Consulting Group to tell them how to gut the organization and structure massive layoffs, the songwriters and publishers will gradually jump ship or start their own and the buyer will sell the smoldering remains at a fire sale because nobody at the buyer will understand what they did wrong. Or elves and unicorns could reign supreme, whichever version of the future you think is most likely.

Layoffs likely

These are bittersweet conversations because there are really good people at BMI, and these creative relationships go back years and decades. The immediate reaction is to ejecthow do I get out of the situation, why wait aroundbut at the same time there is a reluctance to leave your writer relations team behind. There is some cold comfort in the knowledge that they may be having the same emotions about their writers. In any major acquisition there are likely to be layoffs, perhaps massive layoffs and reorganizationall of which the incumbent senior management weasels will deny are in the works until they happen.

So what move can you make assuming you are not locked down by advances against future BMI royalties (aka debt) that you cannot pay off in the short term or transfer in the long term.

It must be said at the outset that theres a deeper question of what should BMI itself do for its songwriters in light of this sale. The easy solution is to offer all affiliated songwriters and publishers the immediate ability to terminate their affiliation agreements early. This approach may avoid some of the antitrust implications of the sale which seem inevitable given BMIs consent decree and the likely concentration of ejecting writers to the remaining PROs.

If there are a lot of writers who leave, this approach may actually benefit BMIs rumored long term goals of dropping the bottom 90% or so of earners (which top 10% may correspond to most likely recipients of large advances from BMI (paid withahemother cash sources)).

Unilateral Termination

You may also elect to unilaterally terminate your affiliation agreement which is a more cumbersome process because these people never make it easy. BMI has an FAQ on the websiteabout how to terminate and what happens if you do terminate. You need to review your own affiliation agreement which for songwriters is likely available through your Online Services account dashboard if you didnt keep a copy. The key issue to understand is that these agreements have a fixed term (two years for songwriters and five years for publisher generally) with an automatic renewal if you dont opt out. The agreement term starts on the effective date of your agreement, so you need to know what that is in order to effect a termination.

Terminating that agreement requires notice to BMI at certain times to avoid the auto-renew, so theres that.

There are some twists and turns with termination that relate to post-termination payments under BMI licenses with music users that were still in effect after your termination. Because of these various wrinkles its highly likely that your revenue will get screwed up following a termination. At a minimum, you may want to decide which PRO you want to jump to before you terminate with BMI. Theres no guarantee that other PROs are not planning on adopting a similar top 10% program themselves or at least charging more for affiliations as BMI. (It may be worth consulting BMIs Royalty Policy Manual.

Changing PROs gets a little hairy so you should discuss with your lawyer and accountant. A cynic might say they make it so difficult to get out once you get in because they are trying to keep you from opting out.

What Does a PRO Actually Own?

This discussion highlights some issues about the proposed sale. First of all, what does any PRO actually own in the way of property they can sell? The core asset is clearly the right to collect performance rights royalties on certain songs or shares of songs that are given effect by affiliation agreements that can be terminated at will. It may take a while to actually pry their hands off of the income stream, but from a buyers perspective, there is a big difference between owning a copyright and renting the right to collect a share of one income stream from that copyright when you can be fired at any moment.

A PRO does actually own technology and data, but can they sell it? Who would buy it? As the technologist and investor Ann Winblad used to say, bought code is crap code. A bit emphatic, a bit expansive, but not really assailable. What she was getting at is when you buy bespoke code you will probably spend the purchase price again in figuring out how to operate it and fix everything that was wrong with it, especially the parts that the developers lied about. (Attention MLC.). And if you think thats good stewardship of other peoples money or even your own, there is a whole vast universe of people who will be happy to sell you things. Just ask Boston Consulting Group who may spend a lot of time and get paid a lot of your money to essentially tell you the same thing that Ann summarized in a pithy maxim.

What about the data?

There are some interesting privacy issues that arise here, but lets say that the personal payment data of songwriters is the clearest privacy issue. Theres a question about whether songwriters gave up their data (personal or song data) to BMI with the plan being that BMI could sell it at a profit and pocket the money. Leaving aside whether those writers are entitled to a share of the sale price based on their data even if they did approve the charitable sale of that data, it does seem that the songwriters should be accorded the courtesy of being asked nicely. And in some jurisdictions, they just might have the right to compel something involving the data and sale thereof.

To my knowledge, no one has asked them jack and they are largely being blown off. Now I am sure that theres all kinds of legal opinions (also called a good guess) from white shoe New York lawyers you could stack from Brownsville to Amarillo that says they have the right to do what they are doing. But what I dont think they have is a judges order blessing all aspects of the transaction.

Of course, the most valuable resource that BMI hasat least for the momentis its staff. They have wonderful people who work there and the songwriters I know have always had great support from them and are tremendously loyalto the staff. What the weasels have done is put these people in a position where they have to choose between their own families and their songwriter families. Which sucks.

So theres probably other things you can do starting with talking to your lawyer. But I point out that the deal hasnt closed and even if it does close its unclear whether the government will be involved.

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Holiday Hours: Labor Day



Boston-born Labor Secretary Frances Perkins was the first woman to hold a Cabinet position and the architect of Social Security.

Labor Day is being celebrated Monday, Sept. 4. Labor Day was established as a federal holiday in 1971 by Congress and is held on the first Monday of September. Read a history of Labor Day here.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The union encouraged the development of a workingman's holiday and a number of states began setting a day aside. Parades and picnics or similar events were not uncommon in its early days; it is now seen as part of the last three-day weekend of the summer prior to the start of school in many localities.

Massachusetts was among the first states to recognize Labor Day and the first to institute a minimum wage on June 4, 1912.

The fourth U.S secretary of labor, and the first woman to hold a Cabinet position, Frances Perkins, was born in Boston in 1880. Perkins, who attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, is considered the architect of the Social Security Act. The headquarters of the Department of Labor is named after her.

Closed:

Federal, state and local offices; no mail delivery.

Banks; Wall Street

Public colleges and schools, most private schools

Public libraries

Most offices and businesses

BRTA is not running

No trash pickup in Pittsfield; one-day delay

Open:

MassDOT update:

Heaviest Labor Day traffic on the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) is expected on Thursday and Friday westbound and Monday afternoon and evening eastbound. Motorists are advised to drive in off-peak hours if possible, utilize available technology tools for trips including www.mass511.com, consider public transportation if possible to reach destinations and bring a face-covering as some municipalities have a mask mandate for indoor venues.

"We encourage members of the public to use MassDOT's resources before planning travel for the Labor Day Weekend," said Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver. "By planning ahead, you can select the best travel times, avoid congestion, and have a safer and more efficient trip."

All state construction outside of fixed work zones will be halted from 5 a.m., Friday, Sept. 1, until the start of normal business hours on Tuesday, Sept. 5. High-occupancy lanes will open early at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31, and 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 1.

Sign up at the 511 Traveler Information Service to receive personalized travel information alerts via email, text or telephone. MassDOT as always reminds drivers to avoid using cell phones while driving. Call into the 511 service before departing.
Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities Ricardo Morales added that engineering can help alleviate the problem and narrower roads have been shown to decrease speeding.

Pittsfield Residents Argue Over West Street/Holmes Road Changes

The meeting lasted over two hours.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. During the final West Street/Holmes Road Changes community forum, residents agreed to make the roads on the west side safer changes need to be made.

However, by the end of the two-hour-plus meeting on Wednesday, there was no consensus among residents on how to best accomplish this.

The proposed designs cover the stretch of road on Holmes Road between Williams Street and Elm Street and West Street from the intersection of Government Drive and College Way to Valentine Road.

Proposed changes to the Holmes Road corridor include new Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant sidewalk ramps, rapid flashing beacons at the mid-block street crossings, raised crosswalks at Cambridge Avenue and Strong Avenue, the replacement and repair of the existing sidewalks, extending sidewalk from Foote Avenue to Grace Terrace, and reconfiguring travel lanes from a 12-foot car lane with a three-foot shoulder to a 10-foot car lane with a five-foot bicycle lane.

Proposed improvements to the West Street corridor include narrowing the road, reconfiguring travel lanes into 10 to 11-foot travel lanes, upgrading ADA-compliant ramps, rapid flashing beacons at mid-block street crossings, re-aligning crosswalks, shortening pedestrian crossing distances, eliminating dedicated turn lanes, and reducing turning radii.

City of Pittsfield engineer Tyler Shedd said the current roads were not built for the city's current population.

The current designs were built with "an eye on a city that's 100,000 people," Shedd said. He said it is overbuilt and "leading to pedestrian and vehicle accidents that would otherwise be avoided."

Safety was one of the main drivers of conversation Wednesday with many residents noting the roadway has always been dangerous.

One person commented that growing up he would be grounded for crossing the street to go to the park due to how unsafe it was.

The danger of crossing that busy section of West Street was further demonstrated by Peterson Desire who lost his wife Shaloon Milord last year . Milord was crossing the street with their daughter when she was struck by a car.

Desire said through a translator, that every time he passes that section of West Street by Dorothy Amos Park he can't help but cry.

To inform the proposed designs, Shedd reviewed MassDOT's Crash data and determined since Jan. 2020 there have been 69 reported accidents.

"Of the accidents reported 23 resulted in minor injuries, 2 resulted in major injury, and 1 resulted in a fatalityShaloon Milord," Shedd said in a follow-up email.

Of the 69 accidents, 62 happened in the 25 MPH zone, from Backman Ave to Dewey Ave.

During the community forum, residents argued that rather than making so many changes the city should improve its enforcement when it comes to speeding.

Shedd explained that enforcement is just one of the three tactics needed to address speeding.

"Speeding and road design is a three-part problem, and they call it the three E's," Shedd said.

The "three E's" of addressing speeding areenforcement, engineering, and then education, he said.

Shedd added that enforcement isn't always easy as there are only six officers in traffic control who are responsible for monitoring approximately 200 miles of road in the city.

Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities Ricardo Morales added that engineering can help alleviate the problem and narrower roads have been shown to decrease speeding.

"There's ample evidence, empirical, anecdotal, scientific, and theoretical that says lower speeds are correlated with narrower lanes," Morales said.

As for education, Shedd said they hope to accomplish this with the community forum itself.

"We are talking about why we're doing changes, why we think they work, and all that," Shedd said.

Commenting on the actual design, a majority of residents approved of the idea of developing raised crosswalks. The only concern that they had was how it would affect plows in the winter.

Both Shedd and Morales ensured that it would not affect the plows as it is not high enough and plows are supposed to only go 25 MPH.

Residents also expressed that they would like the city to work on improving the visibility of the crosswalks by making them a brighter color.

Concerns were raised by residents regarding the elimination of the dedicated turn lanes. They feared that it would cause a lot of confusion leading to more accidents. There was also a fear that it would congest traffic and cause road rage.

Another addition that caused an up-roar in the meeting was the inclusion of bike lanes in the designs. Residents expressed that the city's current bike lanes are not frequently used, cause confusion, and eliminate parking.

The inclusion of bike lanes in the designs removes the breakdown lane where St. Mark's Catholic Church parishioners park most days of the week, former Ward 6 city councilor Jim Massery said.

"On Sunday, we just accept people are gonna park there," Shedd said.

Morales agreed, adding that they could add signage to the design to make that official. He also disputed the claims that the bike lanes are barely used citing data taken from their camera system.

"Even if there was one bicycle at that intersection, it will be detected. It will be logged as a bicyclist and it will trigger the light to change for that cyclist," Morales said.

Based on data collected at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and North Street, approximately 2 to 3 hundred bicyclists use the bike lane a day. Morales said on a day when the weather is poor, that number drops down to approximately 110.

There are approximately 3,000 pedestrians that walk that intersection a day.

With this final community forum, the Public Works Department will bring the community comments to the design consultant Fuss And O'Neil. They hope to have a new design plan by January.

They will present these new designs to the community by late fall.

During a follow-up conversation, Shedd and Morales said Fuss and O'Neil estimated the total cost of the changes would be around $800,000.

The city already has $600,000 earmarked toward the project. Depending on the timing of the construction the city may be able to split the cost over two years, Shedd said. The city was able to do this with Tyler Street.

There are also other sources of funding like Chapter 90, Shedd said.
Dalton Ladder Truck Delayed for a Fourth Time

DALTON, Mass.The delivery of the Fire District's new ladder truck has been delayed for a fourth time and it is now expected to be delivered the second week in October.

Since the start of the project, Northern Fire Equipment has run into multiple obstacles causing these delays including a staffing shortage, project changes, and unexpected mechanical malfunctions.

"The biggest thing is that he used to have 12 people working for him and now he has six. COVID hit him hard and so they're doing the best they can," Board of Water Commissioners Chair James Driscoll said.

In addition to the staffing shortages the truck's Detroit Diesel ECM, which controls the fuel injection, needed to be replaced.

Since then the replacement part has been delivered. It costs $2,700 and will be covered by Northern Fire Equipment

The district also requested that Northern Fire Equipment add a USB-A/USB-C outlet to the dashboard. Almost all fire departments change imaging and other devices with this type of outlet. This addition will not cost the district any money.

The district will stay in communication with Northern Fire Equipment and try to get the project completed faster.

If the district receives notice of another delay they will visit Northern Fire Equipment to look at it.

The ladder truck went into the paint booth this past Monday. The ladder truck has been completely refurbished from the ground up.

The Fire Department sidelined its 32-year-old ladder truck in 2022 because of mechanical and safety concerns and had been loaned a truck from the Boston Fire Department.

The Boston Fire Department has replacement trucks that they lend out to other fire companies in the state. The loan truck the department was using was returned on Aug. 7.

The town purchased its "new" 2000 ladder truck for about $100,000, including having it refurbished. A brand-new ladder truck can cost a million and a half to $2 million.

The Northern Fire Equipment will be sending a picture of the truck which will be forwarded to interim Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski.

In other news:

The department's engine-2 passed inspection but there are a few vehicles that will need to be inspected this month.

The department's boiler and air compressor tank passed Liberty Mutual's annual inspection.

A per-diem paramedic was interviewed on Wednesday.

The good weather that the area has been experiencing has allowed for more outdoor training including pump operations and ladder training.
Its one of the stranger partnerships in cinema history  the fiery, motor-mouthed, New York-based Italian-American filmmaker Martin Scorsese and the patrician English director, Michael Powell. When their friendship began in the mid-1970s, Scorsese was at the height of his powers, while Powell was a near-forgotten figure in the UK film industry whose reputation still hadnt recovered from the critical drubbing he had taken a decade earlier, for his voyeuristic serial killer movie, Peeping Tom (1960).

Powell and his partner Emeric Pressburger (whose career together is celebrated next month with a major season at the BFI) had been reduced to making kids movies like The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972) and lowbrow skits like the Australian-produced comedy, Theyre a Weird Mob (1966). The glory years of their best known pictures The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life And Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948) were a very long way behind them. Nonetheless, their young American admirer remained convinced that Powell (1905-1990) and Pressburger (1902-1988) were the most subversive filmmakers ever to be financed by a major studio.

The man who brokered the introduction between Scorsese and Powell was the publicist, filmmaker and distributor Mike Kaplan, well known for his work with Stanley Kubrick and Robert Altman. As Kaplan told me this week, he had been working as an agent for his friend, the actor Malcolm McDowell, when he first encountered Powell.
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There is a lot of furious jumping going on in Yorgos Lanthimoss Poor Things, which has just premiered at the Venice Film Festival. This is the phrase its heroine Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) uses to describe sex. Once shes first stuffed a cucumber inside what she calls her hairy business, a new world of adventure and tragedy opens up for her.

Lanthimoss screenwriter Tony McNamara adapted the film from the novel by cult Scottish author Alasdair Gray, but the universe conjured here is very similar to that found in the Greek directors earlier works: deadpan comedies such as 2015s The Lobster and 2018s The Favourite. Here he uses surrealism and extreme stylisation to make his points, resulting in a film that is brilliant and often deeply unsettling. Whimsical humour and misogynistic violence sit side by side. Bella is the holy innocent discovering mens depravity and viciousness. Stone gives surely the boldest performance of her career so far, in a role that puts upon her heavy physical and psychological demands.

In its early scenes, cast in black and white and set in what appears to be 19th-century London, the film has the feel of an old Universal horror movie. It even pays explicit homage to the scenes in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) in which the shock-haired Elsa Lanchester is brought to life. Here, though, it is Bella who is revived after she commits suicide  by formidable scientist Dr Godwin Baxter (a horribly scarred Willem Dafoe, speaking in a gentle Scottish burr and made up to look as if he is Boris Karloff). Bella was pregnant at the time of her death. The doctor, or God as she calls him, has implanted her unborn babys brain in her head. She is therefore an adult-bodied woman who has the emotions of a young infant. She is seen early on playing the piano with her feet, spitting out food and giggling wildly as she urinates on the floor. One character describes her as a very pretty r*****. The doctor regards her as an experiment. Her brain and body arent yet fully in sync.

Bella helps the doctor in the lab but he declines to let her loose on living organisms. She takes wild pleasure in sticking scalpels and knives into gooey flesh and eyeballs. The doctors home is beautifully furnished, but full of strange animals and dogs with chicken heads.

Ramy Youssef plays Max McCandless, an earnest young medical assistant who soon falls in love with Bella in spite of her anarchic behaviour. Bella elopes with someone else, however: a seductive cad played by Mark Ruffalo, in fine comic form. Their travels take them to Lisbon, Alexandria and Paris, Bella using the journey to embark on a search for sex and adventure. Each new city is created in fantastical style, with Lanthimos rekindling memories of the work of Wes Anderson, or old Georges Melies silent films at their most artificial.

Throughout, Bella refuses to be victimised and never defers to the many men who try to take advantage of her. She is hungry for experience and often comically oblivious to social niceties. Like Voltaires Candide or Jane Fonda in Barbarella, she is an ingenuous figure whose unaffected behaviour continually shows up the corruption and hypocrisy of those around her.

Parts of the film are uncomfortably voyeuristic. For example, Lanthimos takes a fetishistic pleasure in showing Bella servicing her various elderly, hirsute and foul-smelling clients after she starts working at a brothel in Paris. For all the ironic humour with which these scenes are handled, she is still the object of the often very lecherous male gaze.

Emma Stone in the subversive and oddball Poor Things (Atsushi Nishijima)

Despite such occasional unease, though, Poor Things ultimately packs an emotional kick. As time passes and she soaks up more and more knowledge, Bella begins to understand the behaviour and motivations of others. She reads Emerson and other philosophers and learns from them even when she is startled by their chauvinism. She embraces socialism. She has pity for everybody, whether the impoverished outcasts she spots in Alexandria or the Frankenstein-like doctor who created her. You cant help but root for her.

It will be intriguing to see whether Poor Things becomes an Oscar contender. It may prove too subversive and oddball for more mainstream tastes, but its an exquisitely made film. As for Stone? She gives a wildly inventive star turn.

Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos. Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef. 141 minutes

Poor Things is in cinemas from 12 January
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Blink-182 have postponed a handful of their upcoming Ireland and UK shows as drummer Travis Barker had to return home due to an urgent family matter.

The three-piece rock group were scheduled to perform two shows at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on Friday (1 September) and Saturday (2 September), followed by concerts in Belfast on Monday (4 September) and Dublin on Tuesday (5 September).

However, hours before their first Glasgow night, Blink-182 announced that due to an urgent family matter, Travis had to return home to the States.

The Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin shows are being postponed, they wrote on an Instagram Story. More information in regards to his return to Europe and rescheduled dates will be provided as soon as available.

No other information regarding the urgent family matter was released.

Barker, 47, is married to his third wife, Kourtney Kardashian, 44. The two are expecting their first child together. Kardashian made the surprise announcement in June during a Blink-182 concert.

Her announcement came around six months after she publicly shared that she had stopped in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments because it had taken a toll on her physical and mental health.

The Independent has contacted Barker and Kardashians representatives for comment.

Blink-182 Instagram Story (Blink-182 Instagram Story )

The new baby will be Barkers third child; he shares two children, Landon, 19 and Alabama, 17, with his ex-wife Shanna Moakler, with whom he was married from 2004 to 2008.

Kardashian, meanwhile, shares three children, Mason, 13, Penelope, 12, and Reign, 10, with her ex-boyfriend Scott Disick, with whom she dated for nine years.

The All the Small Things band, who are currently on a 2023-2024 world tour, finished their North American leg on 16 July in Nashville, Tennesee.

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They were due to hit the road again, with their Glasgow shows kicking off the beginning of their European leg.

Blink-182s reunion tour marks the first time the original trio  consisting of Barker, guitarist Tom DeLonge and vocalist Mark Hoppos  have performed together since 2015 when DeLonge left the band to focus on his lifelong extraterrestrial passion.

Hoppos, 51 and DeLonge, 47, formed the band in 1992 with drummer Scott Raynor before he was dismissed in 1998 and replaced by Barker.
Chinas latest efforts in advancing the development of the industrial internet will inject new vitality into the convergence of advanced manufacturing and digital technologies, and buoy the countrys sprawling industrial economy amid challenges and uncertainties, experts and company executives said.

The comments came as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology aims to encourage about 3,000 enterprises to build 5G factories this year and build upgraded versions of 5G plus industrial internet projects.

The industrial internet refers to the convergence of industrial systems with the power of advanced computing, analytics, sensing and new levels of connectivity. It is a new-tech frontier in which all major economies are scrambling to establish a bridgehead.

Zhang Yunming, vice-minister of industry and information technology at the MIIT, said the industrial internet is an important cornerstone of the fourth industrial revolution, a key foundation for the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and a strategic infrastructure for the new industrialisation.

Zhang called on local governments to increase collaboration with the MIIT and strengthen policy coordination and support, such as funding, technology, talent and data, to continuously optimise the policy environment for the innovation and development of the industrial internet.

Data from the ministry showed that the scale of Chinas industrial internet exceeds 1.2 trillion yuan (129.2 billion) in value, and the country has nurtured 240 influential industrial internet platforms, with 28 being cross-industry and cross-domain platforms.

Yu Xiaohui, head of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said the industrial internet has proved to be very effective in upgrading traditional industries.

Now, the industrial internet has been used in more than 50 per cent of the following industrial scenarios in large enterprises, including visual quality inspection, intelligent warehousing, quality traceability, intelligent production scheduling and lean production, Yu said, adding that it is also increasingly used in modelling and analysis scenarios, such as process optimisation, equipment fault diagnosis and prediction.

Song Zhigang, deputy general manager of Chinese industrial internet company Inspur Yunzhou, said its industrial internet platform focuses on helping eight key industries, such as equipment, electronics, chemicals, mining, steel, energy, food and parks, to promote high-end and intelligent manufacturing transformation.

In a 58,100-sq-ft workshop in Jinan, Shandong province, for instance, automated guided vehicles are busy with transferring production materials and rail-guided vehicles assist in converting production processes. The workshop requires only 39 human workers, thanks to the support of Inspur Yunzhous industrial internet platform.

Song said the company has developed precise construction plans for the above factory to quickly locate its weaknesses and bottlenecks. By adding sensors such as sound, light and electricity, it helps dumb devices produce sound and achieve interconnections between people and devices. We have helped the workshop reshape business processes with lean thinking and established a more scientific, standardised full process management system, Song added.

Xue Junjie, director of the production and manufacturing centre at Xinneng Technology, which owns the workshop, said: Through the technological empowerment of Inspur Yunzhou, our production efficiency has increased by 27 per cent and the comprehensive operating costs of the workshop have been reduced by 17 per cent.
When the last frame of the documentary film, The Sinking of Lisbon Maru, was shown in Londons BFI Southbank on 15 August, 2023, long-lasting applause filled the movie theatre and tears welled up in the eyes of the audience.

Lisbon Maru was an armed Japanese cargo ship during the Second World War, and the documentary told the lesser-known story of hardship, horror, tragedy and courage surrounding the sinking of the ship and the people involved.

While transporting more than 1,800 British prisoners of war from Hong Kong to Japan, Lisbon Maru was torpedoed by a US submarine because the ship was not displaying the sign indicating it was carrying POWs. The ship sank off the coast of East Chinas Zhejiang province on 2 October, 1942, when the British POWs were battened down and left to drown by the Japanese soldiers on board. Local Chinese fishermen saved 384 from the water, but some 800 lives were lost with the ship.

A sonar image of the wreck of the Lisbon Maru off the coast of Zhejiang province (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The special screening of the documentary, which was still in its final production stage, was organised for around 400 descendants, relatives, and friends of the British POWs. Many of the audience had previously been interviewed by the filmmaking team and most were in their senior years. Some brought their children, and some even flew from Australia.

Mark Weedon, 83, son of Martin Weedon of the Middlesex Regiment who survived the incident and lived until the age of 60, said: Im here to honour those who didnt make it, as well as my father and my godfather, who did make itand I hope people remember them.

Its an untold history, said Fang Li, producer of the documentary. We see the bravery of our Chinese fishermen, we hear heartbreaking stories of individual British families one after another.

Fang said he first heard about the Lisbon Maru story from a ferry captain in the Zhoushan archipelago, Zhejiang province, when he was shooting another film in the region in 2013.

Impressed by the story, Fang carried out a survey of the area in 2016. With sonar detectors mounted on drones, he located the wreck of the Lisbon Maru, and decided to make a film about it.

In the following years, Fang and his team contacted more than 380 relatives of the POWs and interviewed 120 of them, including the only two remaining British survivors, who have since died.

While I was doing this I was totally touched by those young boys, the age of my son. So many of them lost their lives there, he told the BBC in 2018 when he posted advertisements in British newspapers, looking for descendants of the POWs.

The films history consultant Tony Banham, a British historian based in Hong Kong, was among the early researchers of the incident and wrote the book, The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru: Britains forgotten wartime tragedy, in 2006.

The true story of war is grief. Its the impact on families. So many documentaries about war talk about the glamour of it, the aircraft, the tanks, the colourful explosions. But the real long-term impact of war is on the families of those who were killed and those who survive, said Banham.

Zheng Zeguang, Chinas ambassador to the UK, said at the screening: One important inspiration we may draw from the Lisbon Maru incident is that peace does not come by easily and lives are the most precious. Today, against a complicated world which is far from being tranquil, let us remember that historical event, commit ourselves to increasing understanding, collaboration and friendship and make joint efforts toward world peace.

The filmmaker also interviewed the last surviving Chinese fisherman Lin Agen, who passed away in 2020, and documented the British POWs descendants visiting Zhoushan in 2019 and their reunion with Lin and other fishermens descendants.
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China has asked India to stay calm as India registered a strong diplomatic objection following the release of a map by Beijing which Delhi says asserts ownership over its territory in the Himalayas.

China said that the neighbouring nations should avoid over-interpreting the matter after Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan joined India in rejecting the new standard map.

On Monday, Chinas Ministry of Natural Resources released a map showing the Indian territories of northeastern Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin area on the western border as Chinese territory.

The map also included Taiwan and the entire South China Sea as Chinese areas.

Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement that India rejected claims of Chinas so-called standard map.

On Thursday, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan categorically shot down the legitimacy of the assertions on the map even as Beijing claimed on Thursday that it should be viewed rationally and objectively.

Malaysia does not recognise Chinas claims in the South China Sea as outlined in the 2023 edition of the standard map of China which extends into the Malaysian maritime area, the countrys foreign ministry said in a statement.

The map has no binding effect on Malaysia.

The nation said it has filed a diplomatic protest over the map.

The Philippines also called on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under international law.

This latest attempt to legitimise Chinas purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, its foreign ministry said.

Taiwan also remarked on how the map cannot change the objective fact of our countrys existence.

Vietnam became the latest country to reject the new China map on Thursday as authorities said that it violates international law.

Meanwhile, Mr Bagchi said earlier: We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 map of China that lays claim to Indias territory.

We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question, he added.

China asserts its sovereignty over the entire region of Arunachal Pradesh in India, referring to it as South Tibet, a claim firmly rejected by India. In turn, India claims control over the Aksai Chin plateau in the Himalayas, which is currently under Chinese administration.

Relations between India and China have deteriorated since 2020, following a deadly clash involving their troops at the Galwan Valley in Ladakh.

Media reports suggest that Chinese president Xi Jinping is expected to skip the upcoming G20 leaders talks in Delhi next week.
Zhong Zhenhuas trip to Shenzhen, Guangdong province, more than 40 years ago was quite an eye-opener for him. Little did he realise how his journey would eventually lead him to the heart of Chinas economic transformation.

It was only by coming to Shenzhen that I realised I lived in a really tiny place. The energy and ambition I witnessed left an indelible mark on me. It was a wake-up call that inspired me to think bigger and aim higher in my pursuits, said Zhong, 66, who owns an electronics trading company in the city.

In 1980, China was on the cusp of a new chapter in its history. Economic reforms were gradually sweeping across the nation, marking the end of decades of a planned economy and heralding the dawn of a new era of opportunity.

Zhong, a demobilised soldier from Hubei province, decided to venture into the unknown in Shenzhen, which at the time was a small fishing village poised to become a symbol of Chinas modernisation. He was armed with a deep curiosity and thirst for adventure.

Zhong said, Going to Shenzhen was, for many like me searching for opportunities, a chance to see the outside world in this burgeoning landscape.

Zhong witnessed this transformative time in many ways and has been amazed by the way in which Shenzhen has developed so dramatically.

On 26 August, 1980, the 15th session of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National Peoples Congress, Chinas top legislature, approved the establishment of Special Economic Zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong, and Xiamen, Fujian province. Shenzhen was the first to launch such a zone, with the other three following in the next two years.

Zhong said arriving in Shenzhen was like stepping into a world of contradictions, as the dusty streets were home to glimmering fast-rising skyscrapers.

Despite having limited resources, he tried his hand at different ventures, ranging from starting a small restaurant to engaging in electronics manufacturing. Despite initial setbacks, his willingness to adapt and keen eye for emerging trends allowed him to capitalise on changing market dynamics.

Over the 43 years, Shenzhen has progressed from being a fishing village on the South China Sea coast into a modern metropolis. Before becoming a SEZ, Shenzhen had only 330,000 residents in 1979, with a GDP of $131 million. In 2022, it ranks third on the list of Chinese cities with a GDP of over $481 billion (382 billion), higher than that of countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam and South Africa.

A staff member at a technology company in Shenzhen demonstrates an optical motion capture technique at the 24th China Hi-Tech Fair in Shenzhen in November, 2022 (MAO SIQIAN / XINHUA)

Wei Jianzhang, vice-president of the Belt and Road Initiatives International Cooperation and Development Research Institute in Shenzhen, said: This city is a product of Chinas exploration towards modernisation. It is a catalyst for reform.

SEZ status provided Shenzhen with preferential policies and incentives to attract foreign investment, and its proximity to Hong Kong played a significant role in Shenzhens early development by facilitating the transfer of knowledge, expertise and capital, propelling rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, Wei added.

When it was launched as a SEZ, Shenzhen introduced a number of unprecedented policies in China, including a project-bidding initiative in 1981, salary reform the following year, the issuance of the first stocks in China in 1983, and the introduction of temporary residence permits in 1985.

It did not take long for Shenzhens economy to take off  its GDP reached 3.9 billion yuan (426 million) in 1985, 14 times that of 1980.

Wei said that in addition to Shenzhens economic and institutional reforms, the citys soft power should be highlighted, as Shenzhen encompasses a unique culture of reform and innovation centred on entrepreneurship, dedication and craftsmanship.

The city boldly explored uncharted territory and transmitted its pioneering ethos throughout China, establishing a foundation for comprehensive reform and opening-up, Wei said.

More than 80 per cent of Shenzhens population hails from other regions, contributing to its migrant culture that embraces risk-taking, resilience to failure, and the pursuit of excellence.
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Russia will oppose the final declaration at the G20 summit if Moscows position on Ukraine is disregarded, said foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, casting doubts on Indias aspirations to make its presidency a success with a joint communique.

Mr Lavrov is set to lead the Russian delegation in Delhi for the two-day summit betweeb 9 and 10 September in the absence of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to the students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Mr Lavrov said India will be forced to issue a non-binding communique in absence of agreement on all points from the G20 member countries.

"There will be no general declaration on behalf of all members if our position is not reflected," Mr Lavrov said.

The foreign minister said the western countries were eroding international institutions by promoting their own interests and said if the G20 meeting is not able to reach a consensus, the G20 president might consider releasing a chair summary.

"Another option is to adopt a document that focuses on specific decisions in the sphere of G20 competences, and let everyone say the rest on their own behalf," he said.

The pushback by Russia at the G20 summit in Delhi has thrown Indias hopes to conclude the economic forum with a Delhi Declaration in doubt as the host country was expecting to reach a breakthrough in reaching a consensus in the final meeting of the leaders.

The G20 under Indias president risks going down as the first summit to conclude without a joint statement since the forum was created in 1999 if consensus is not reached between members.

So far, none of the G20 ministerial or working groups meeting have been able to release a joint statement as representatives from the west on one side and Russia and China from another wrangled over language on the Ukraine conflict.

Instead, India has been releasing a chair summary amid disagreement over some points in the final statement.

Raising hopes over issuing a joint communique at the G20 summit, Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar last week said he was very confident India will be able to provide a joint statement due to its unique position.

"As a consultative chair, I am confident at the G20 summit, there will be shared interest for a common statement. We will do everything from our side," he told NDTV.

In March, the G20 meeting foreign ministers ended without a joint meeting as there were divergences on the issue of the war in Ukraine which we could not reconcile as various parties held differing views, Mr Jaishankar had said after concluding the meeting.

It comes as another blow to Indias presidency amid speculations that Chinese president Xi Jinping will give a miss to the summit after Mr Putin confirmed prime minister Narendra Modi that he will not travel to Delhi.

Unconfirmed government sources told Reuters that Premier Li Qiang will fill for Mr Xi over the latest map controversy between the two countries, which are already amidst a bitter border dispute from past three years.

Chinas foreign minister was unable to confirm Mr Xis attendance most recently when asked at a regular press briefing.

It would mark the first time that Mr Xi will skip the G20 gathering, a major economic platform, since taking power.
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Nine soldiers were killed in Pakistan when a suicide bomber rammed his motorbike into their military convoy and set off explosives.

Another five soldiers were wounded in the attack that took place in the restive Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, located 61km from the Afghanistan border. Some of the security officials estimate the number of injured to be 20.

The attack has been claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)  Pakistans home-grown Taliban group, news agency PTI reported.

A "motorcycle-borne suicide bomber exploded himself", the army's media wing said, adding that additional security forces had cordoned off the area.

Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve, the media wing said in a statement.

The province has long been a hotspot for militant activity, where organisations such as TTP have increased their attack since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The TTP are a separate group but allies of the Afghan Taliban.

The suicide bomber was riding a motorcycle and he rammed his bike into a truck in a military convoy, provincial minister Feroze Jamal Shah told AFP.

Caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar called the attack "a cowardly terrorist act". Such acts are utterly reprehensible. My thoughts are with the families of the martyred and injured, he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

At least six soldiers were killed in a skirmish with militants in the Asman Manza area of South Waziristan district in late August.

Another suicide bombing last month at a political gathering in the northwest killed more than 60 people, including 23 children. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State militant group.

In January, a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up during the afternoon prayers in a mosque in Peshawar, killing 101 people and injuring hundreds.
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Thailands king reduced the prison term of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from eight years to one year following the divisive politician's return from 15 years of self-imposed exile.

The decision by King Maha Vajiralongkorn was published Friday in The Royal Gazette, making it effective immediately.

Mr Thaksin was a prime minister, has done good for the country and people and is loyal to the monarchy, The Royal Gazette said on Friday.

He respected the process, admitted his guilt, repented, accepted court verdicts. Right now he is old, has illness that needs care from medical professionals, it read.

Mr Thaksin was prime minister from 2001 to 2006, when he was ousted by a military coup. He fled Thailand in 2008 when he faced prison time on charges he described as politically motivated.

He returned to Thailand last week and was immediately sent to prison, but was quickly transferred to a state hospital because of what was described as his frail health.

The return of Thailands most famous politician was met with celebrations by his supporters and blow-by-blow media coverage of arrival in Bangkok on his private jet, and his transfer to prison soon after.

He returned after 15 years of self-imposed exile and was immediately sent to Bangkoks main prison because of several criminal convictions he has decried as politically motivated.

Hours after his return, Srettha Thavisin of the Pheu Thai party won enough votes in Parliament to become prime minister, ending more than three months of uncertainty after Mays general election. Pheu Thai is the latest in a string of parties affiliated with Thaksin.

It is widely believed that Thaksin returned out of hope that a new government friendly to him would reduce his sentence and that he may have made a deal with authorities, although he has said his decision had nothing to do with the Pheu Thai partys bid for power.
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The number of unaccounted for people in Maui following the fatal fires could drop to the double digits, according to Hawaiis top politician.

Governor Josh Green told CNN on Thursday that the list could drop to below 50 names. The formal announcement will be tomorrow from the FBI and the group thats working on this, he said.

I think were going to hear a number in the lower double digits tomorrow, hopefully under 50, Mr Green added.

And its not much consolation because our hearts are broken that we lost 115 people for sure, but it is something that we are grateful that it is not 800 or 1,000 like people were projecting earlier, the governor added. On Friday, we should have a much tighter number for everyone.

He also said in a video on X that the number of fatalities remains at 115 people, adding that officials have basically finished the search, with the exception of a little bit of the water area.

Last week, officials announced that 388 people were still missing. That number has since been slashed, though, as at least 100 individuals named on the list came forward and told the FBI they were safe.

Were very thankful for the people who have reached out by phone or email, Steven Merrill, the FBIs special agent in charge in Honolulu, said. As we get someone off of a list, this has enabled us to devote more resources to those who are still on the list.

President Joe Biden said earlier this week that he was still laser focused on helping Hawaii recover from the wildfires.

Mr Biden also announced $95 million in infrastructure funds for Maui that will pay for stronger powers line and technology to send alerts about power disruptions.

The president told residents, some of who have complained that officials wont let them return to their homes, that the federal government has to remove hazardous material from the properties before they can return.

Were doing everything we can to move heaven and earth to help you recover, rebuild and return to your lives, he said, adding that the situation will be as frustrating as the devil for people.

I want to be clear with the people of Maui about what to expect, he added. The work were doing is going to take time, in some cases a long time.
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Analysts are estimating that Hurricane Idalia may become the most costly climate disaster in the US this year, according to a report.

The storm  which made landfall near Big Bend, Florida, on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane  caused an estimated $9.36bn based on early estimates from UBS, a risk analysis firm. However, those are only early estimates; Accuweather predicted the total damage could be somewhere between $18bn and $20bn.

The storm is still thrashing the east coast.

The costs of climate disasters like Hurricane Idalia and the 15 other incidents recorded this year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are becoming especially costly for insurers and risk management companies, according to The Guardian.

Tom Larsen, the senior director of insurance solutions at CoreLogic, which provides property analytics and publishes an annual hurricane risk report, told the newspaper that the "costs are becoming unbearable."

The business of insuring for catastrophes used to mean exceptional, very rare events and thats not what were seeing," he said. "These are much more common, so somethings got to change.

The NOAA estimated that by the end of July, the total estimated cost caused by the 15 disasters was $39.7bn, which does not include the estimated $5.5bn needed to rebuild Lahaina following what became the deadliest wildfire in the US in more than a century.

Mr Larsen noted that the only positive is that Hurricane Idalia was not as destructive as it could have been, as it struck a relatively rural part of Florida. Hurricane Ian, by comparison, caused $113bn in damage when it hit the Fort Myers area last year.

But the cost of doing business in Florida has already driven some insurance companies out of business, even with the state government's attempts to appeal to the industry.

Idalia made landfall in Floridas Big Bend as a Category 3 storm early Wednesday morning with wind speeds topping 125 mph (via REUTERS)

Consumers will ultimately pay the price of skyrocketing premiums as few insurance providers choose to make plans available in Florida, further worsening the ongoing home insurance crisis facing Americans.

Mr Larsen said mitigation efforts  like more resilient homes that better withstand the battering of increasingly powerful hurricanes due to the climate crisis  are needed to keep prices reasonable.

The remnants of Hurricane Idalia  now a tropical storm  have moved through Florida and are now battering the Carolinas with rain and life-threatening flooding.

As the storm continues to batter parts of the US, Floridians are beginning to pick up the pieces as floodwaters subside and utility companies work to restore power.
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Japans summer this year has its recorded highest average temperature since records began 125 years ago, the country's weather agency said on Friday.

In the summer of 2023, the average summer temperature in Japan was considerably higher in northern, eastern and western Japan. Average temperatures in Japan are the highest for summer since 1898, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Based on measurements at 15 locations around the country from June through August, the average temperature deviation was +1.76C, the agency said. That exceeded the previous record of +1.08C in 2010.

Between 16 July and 23 August, the maximum temperature records were broken at 106 of 915 monitoring locations across Japan, it said.

High temperatures have continued even into the beginning of autumn, with extremely hot days being recorded in the city of Sapporo.

Earlier in August, Japan recorded the hottest day of the year as temperatures hit 40C in the Fukushima Prefecture. The country recorded its hottest average July temperatures in more than 100 years.

Temperature records have tumbled in 2023 across Asia, Europe and North Africa as the climate crisis makes meteorological conditions more volatile.

At the onset of summer in April, at least a dozen countries were hit by a "monster heatwave" that was made at least 30 times likely" due to the climate crisis, according to a study.

The risks from climate change are right before us, said Yasuaki Hijioka, deputy director of the Centre for Climate Change Adaptation at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, told the Associated Press.

You can in principle try escaping from a flood. But heat affects such a wide area, there is almost no escape. Everyone is affected.

Meanwhile, the weather agency in India said the average mean and maximum temperatures in August 2023 were "record highest since 1901".

The large rainfall deficiency and weak monsoon condition is the main reason, it said, according to AFP.
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Most of Hong Kong and southern China ground to a near standstill on Friday, with flights cancelled and schools closed as powerful Super Typhoon Saola closed in.

Many workers stayed at home, and trading on Hong Kongs stock market was suspended, while authorities in mainland China halted all trains entering or leaving Guangdong province.

The Hong Kong Observatory issued a number 10 hurricane signal, the highest warning under the citys weather system and the first of that strength since Super Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018.

More than 400 flights were cancelled or delayed in the key centre for regional business and travel, while nearly 4,000 trains will be out of service until Sunday.

Saola, with maximum sustained winds of 121mph, poses a high threat to the territory, said the Hong Kong Observatory, which warned of serious flooding in coastal areas and said the maximum water level might be similar to when Mangkhut felled trees and tore scaffolding off buildings in the city.

In recent months, China has experienced some of its heaviest rain and deadliest flooding in years in various regions, with scores killed, including in outlying mountainous areas near the capital, Beijing.

A tree uprooted by Typhoon Saola in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong on Friday (AFP via Getty Images)

Weather authorities in the gambling hub of Macao also warned of flooding, forecasting that water levels might reach five feet in low-lying areas on Saturday morning.

Chinas National Meteorological Administration said Saola could make landfall in coastal areas from Taishan city in Guangdong province to Shenzhen early on Saturday, or just skim across those regions.

It warned Saola could be the strongest typhoon to make landfall in the Pearl River Delta since 1949 in a post on Weibo.

According to the state-run Global Times, more than 100,000 people have been evacuated in eastern Chinas Fujian province.

Cathay Pacific announced the cancellation of all flights to and from Hong Kong from 6am on Friday to 2am on Saturday. A budget airline, HK Express, said it decided to cancel 70 flights scheduled for Friday and Saturday into and out of Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Chinas Ministry of Transport has dispatched 16 rescue-and-salvage ships and nine rescue helicopters to regions expected to be affected by the storm, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Saola veered just south of Taiwan on Wednesday before changing course to mainland China. The storms outer bands brought torrential rain to the southern cities of Taiwan.

It moved through the northern Philippines as well and led to the displacement of thousands of people. However, there have been no reports of direct casualties at this point.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
 Close Flood waters from Hurricane Idalia inundate Steinhatchee, Florida

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Joe Biden told Florida residents your nation has your back on Saturday as he toured areas of the state damaged by Hurricane Idalia.

The president assessed the scale of the storms impact from the air, before meeting members of the public on a walking tour.

But while Mr Biden was joined by one of the states Republican senators  Rick Scott  his trip was snubbed by governor Ron DeSantis, a possible rival in the next presidential election.

As Ive told your governor, if theres anything your state needs, Im ready to mobilize that support, Mr Biden said.

Idalia ploughed into Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning before losing power as it moved inland through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

At around 5pm on Saturday afternoon the National Hurricane Center issued what it said was its final advisory on Idalia, noting that the post-tropical cyclone had moved away off Bermuda and that the storm warning for the island was discontinued.

Potentially dangerous surf and rip currents from Idalia will continue to hit the US east coast throughout the Labor Day weekend, it warned.
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An American Airlines passenger shared photos on Reddit showing that her luggage had been crushed by a luggage truck.

The passenger explained that the airline forced her to check in her luggage at the gate. When they arrived at baggage claim they were reportedly told by officials that it was banged-up but didnt elaborate on the extent of the damage. The passenger said they discovered that not only the suitcase had been destroyed but every non-clothing item as well. All of the clothing within was filthy and caked with dirt.

A baggage claim worker kindly filed a claim for them, according to the passenger. In light of what happened, the airline tried to ameliorate the situation, but the passenger wasnt satisfied: They gave me a new carry-on, but like what the heck was I supposed to put in it??

They asked their fellow Reddit users if they had had similar experiences. A maintenance worker for another airline replied to the post, describing an incident in which a bag got stuck beneath their work truck. One night, raining heavily  with that stupid asphalt/concrete mix that seems to turn into a black hole yet make every light super glaring into my eyes  just driving as usual with a colleague to one of our overnight aircraft in our work truck. I swear theres a [weird] noise coming out of the front end, the maintenance worker wrote.

Their colleague brushed it off saying that they were probably stuck because their truck was a piece of s***. The maintenance worker proceeded to drive another hundred feet before stopping the vehicle to investigate the problem. Sure enough, the worker said. [A] standard black generic bag like every other piece of luggage is wedged basically under the front of the truck.

The worker said that black bags were impossible to see on rainy nights, and dubbed those situations accidents.

Unfortunately, baggage getting run over by work trucks is more common than one might think. A Delta Airlines passenger posted a similar incident on Reddit, detailing their own experience, but in their case, their bag was ripped apart. They replied to Redditors, explaining that when they picked up the bag, officials told them: I could either (1) take a new (cheap) [carry-on] from the baggage office, or (2) file a claim to have my bag replaced.

The passenger continued, Since I was in the middle of a trip and needed a bag for everything that was inside, and didnt have time to go shopping, I opted to take them up on the new bag. They didnt make me sign any sort of waiver in exchange for the bag, so I pursued a claim anyway. Fortunately, my bags contents were fine.

These stories, while unfortunate, do not hold a candle to an incident at Chicagos Midway International Airport in 2019, in which a bag was accidentally run over by a luggage truck. The bag reportedly exploded while being loaded onto its corresponding flight and caused officials to declare a Level 1 hazmat situation and suspend airport operations. At the time, local police deduced that the explosion may have been caused by a mobile phone battery or charger.

The Independent has contacted American Airlines for comment.
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A TikTok trend from recent months is influencers sharing the truth behind viral picturesque vacation spots, only for them to be met with criticism from commenters.

The latest influencer involved is Mikaela Testa. On 15 August she posted a video of herself in Italy, specifically on the island of Capri. In her TikTok she told viewers to not be sad if they didnt get to visit Europe over the summer saying, it is not all its cracked up to be.

"Influencers come to these locations and make them look so pretty and so photogenic and so amazing, but half of it is edited and filtered and just not real, she said. I hardly see anyone mentioning any negatives, I dont even want to mention them because I dont want to be that b***h.

Testa said she had been travelling with her friends for the last three months and had hit a point where they were dying to go home.

Its been three months, were just dying to go home at this point, were just hating, were being negative, you get to a point in life where you start to hate everything around you and you just need something stable. Like my own bed, my own TV and my cats, she continued.

The TikToker then went on to list all of the negative aspects of the country she was in. Testa complained about the amount of walking her and her friends had to do. It takes the entire day to walk to a location you want to go to, she said. She also said she felt like she had burned literally 3,000 calories a day from walking up stairs and the heat was so unbearable she and her friends had to dump water on themselves before going inside.

The same day she posted another TikTok telling people to skip Barcelona if they were travelling to Europe. "I stand in piss every single day, this place stinks, and its horrible," she said. The insults continued as Testa also said that all of her friends had their phones stolen and she talked about how bored they all were.

In one clip, she and her friends were walking through the citys streets saying, Its 8pm, and yes were wearing pyjamas outside because there is no point in looking good for this city," she said.

People ended up questioning where her critiques of Barcelona specifically were coming from. Barcelona is amazing, what are you talking about, one comment read. Testa replied to this comment writing, why does nobody mention the negatives like literally urine puddles EVERYWHERE and major crime, violence and theft in daylight!

They say its too hot but wear a winter hat and winter uggs?! another person commented.

Were not gonna live in Barcelona for 3 months r we tho, someone commented.

Other commenters agreed with Testa and specifically werent pleased with the crime in the city. Went on a full train and my mums wallet got stolen right in front of me, also a guy too and he had it in his fanny pack in front of him, one person recounted their experience.

Barcelona was so rough for me. My phone and wallet got stolen, another person recalled in the comments.
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Its heart-breaking to see a child thats seriously ill, particularly when theyve got cancer and might not survive.

But children do get the disease  and its being highlighted during Septembers Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Fortunately, its not common. But every day in the UK, 10 families receive a cancer diagnosis for their child, teenager or young adult, and its the leading cause of death in children under 14, according to the charity Children With Cancer UK (CWCUK).

However, Jeanette Hawkins, chief nurse at the Childrens Cancer and Leukaemia Group (funded by Young Lives vs Cancer), stresses that childhood cancer isnt as rare as people might think, with a similar risk as diabetes, epilepsy and bacterial meningitis.

Use of the word rare for childhood cancer is a barrier to diagnosis as both GPs and parents therefore dont consider its possible, she explains.

Families, on average, have three to five GP visits before cancer is suspected. We need to reduce that by increasing awareness. Remember that childhood cancer is often a constellation of non-specific persistent symptoms, rather than a single red flag that would alert a GP.

If youre worried about your child keep going back.

Christiana Ogunbote, head of research at CWCUK, says childhood cancer accounts for less than 1% of all cancers in the UK, and explains there are 12 main categories of cancers affecting children, with the most common being leukaemia (30%), brain, central nervous system (CNS), intracranial tumours (26%) and lymphomas (11%).

Ogunbote says cancer symptoms in children can vary widely depending on the cancer type and where it is in the body, but points out: Often the individual symptoms of cancer can be similar to common childhood illnesses, so it can be hard to identify.

If a symptom progresses or doesnt get better as quickly as expected, we would suggest getting it checked out by a medical professional. Its useful for parents who know whats normal for their child to be aware of the signs and symptoms of cancer, as earlier diagnosis will support better outcomes for children and young people.

Here, Ogunbote outlines the symptoms of the three most common childhood cancers

1. Leukaemia

Symptoms of leukaemia in children and babies, which may be acute myeloid or acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), can include frequent and persistent infections, unusual bleeding and/or bruising, tiredness, paleness, breathlessness and, with ALL, coughing and anaemia.

Childhood leukaemia develops quickly, says Ogunbote. but its possible for some or all of these symptoms to be apparent.

She says a leukaemia diagnosis can be made from a blood test, which may reveal low numbers of normal white blood cells and large numbers of abnormal white blood cells. Further tests will then be done on a sample of bone marrow to confirm the diagnosis.

2. Brain and spinal tumours

The symptoms of brain and spinal tumours (central nervous system tumours) vary between age groups, says Ogunbote, but symptoms in babies may include persistent/recurrent vomiting, balance/co-ordination/walking problems, abnormal eye movements or suspected loss of vision, behaviour change (particularly lethargy), fits or seizures (not with a fever), abnormal head position such as head tilt or stiff neck, and increasing head circumference.

Childrens brain tumour symptoms are similar to symptoms in babies, but may also include a persistent/recurrent headache, blurred or double vision, fits or seizures, reduced consciousness and abnormal growth.

Ogunbote says symptoms vary depending on the type and site of the tumour, and develop much more slowly with low grade tumours. But she stresses: Its important to remember that many of these symptoms are extremely common, and experiencing one by itself is rarely a sign of a brain tumour.

A CT or MRI scan will be done if a brain tumour is suspected, and if the scan confirms the diagnosis, further investigations will determine the type of tumour and best treatment.

3. Lymphoma

Children may get a cancer of the lymphatic system known as either Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Ogunbote says symptoms of both include a persistent (lasting a few weeks) painless swelling of a single lymph gland, usually in the neck, or possibly in the armpit or groin with non-Hodgkin, a cough or breathlessness (if glands in the chest are affected), fevers, sweats, and weight loss. There may be itching with Hodgkin lymphoma, and with non-Hodgkin there may be tiredness, feeling full after a small meal, stomach pains (if abdominal lymph glands are affected), and sleep sweats.

Diagnosis is confirmed by removing part or all of an affected lymph gland, usually under general anaesthetic, and doing a biopsy on it so the cells can be examined in a laboratory.

Further tests, like x-rays, CT and MRI scans and blood tests, will also be carried out to determine the size and position of the lymphoma and whether it has spread. This is known as staging.

Many of the symptoms of lymphoma can also be symptoms of other illnesses, so this can make it difficult to diagnose, explains Ogunbote. Symptoms your child might experience depend on where the lymphoma is in their body, and symptoms vary from child to child, even if they have the same type of lymphoma.
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A woman posted a dating horror story to TikTok about the time she went on vacation with her boyfriend but he ghosted her mid-trip.

In a video posted on Sunday, TikTok user Chandler (@chanzandchill) claimed that a man she referred to as Michael flew her out to Miami for their second date and then ghosted her. At the time, he had told her that he had plans to see his sister, who he apparently hadnt seen for two years, and promised that he would be back at noon. Things took a turn after Chandler messaged him at 1.10pm., reminding him that they had plans, and he didnt respond for a while.

Chandler said she grew frustrated and decided to message him: This is so disrespectful to me and my time He finally responded, apologizing for being non-responsive and told Chandler that he had just found out about some devastating news. Although Chandler described herself as empathetic and trusting, she sensed something was wrong. After having pushed back the reservation multiple times and not hearing back from him, Chandler was idly waiting in her hotel room until housekeeping arrived at 3.30pm.

Afterward, she took a nap, and when she woke up, she realized that none of his stuff was in the bathroom. Immediately, Chandler deduced that he must have grabbed his things while she was asleep or earlier. I was, like, did he come get his stuff while I was taking a nap? Like that is so disrespectful, Chandler said. Michael left another smoking gun: a wet washcloth in the shower. This realization led her to believe that not only did he pack up his stuff without saying goodbye, but he also showered.

Many in the comment section encouraged Chandler to enact some form of revenge. RUN UPPPP THAT ROOM SERVICE!!!! one wrote, while another shared: Girl forget him! run up his tab and meet someone else! his loss.

The way I would be buying drinks for everyone at the pool, a third commented. Others remarked that Chandler should have known that Michael flying her out for their second date was a giant red flag. Another woman said, Vacation together on your 2nd date??? Girl

Someone else advised, Going on a vacation with him on 2nd date? Dont do that anymore. Lots of psychos out there.

A lot of people also shared their theories on what may have happened as well, one person said: He went home to save his marriage.

He is definitely married, his wife told him to come home, someone else commented. Another remarked, The devastating news is that his wife found out.

Since posting the video on Sunday, Chandlers TikTok video has gone viral, receiving more than 3 million views. On Tuesday, she ended up posting a follow-up video on the situation, providing viewers with more insight. In one screenshot, Chandler tried to comfort him by saying everything is gonna be ok. The last message she received from Michael was a short reply, Ill be fine.

Chandler asked viewers if she should reach out again, to which the vast majority replied that they were vehemently against the idea.

Girl no answer IS AN ANSWER, one person wrote. Why in the world would you reach out, seconded another. A third chimed in, Leave that man alone and enjoy the free vacay.
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Paris Hilton has celebrated her 45 month anniversary with her husband Carter Reum.

The reality TV star and socialite shared a series of throwback photos of the couple together with her 24.5m Instagram followers.

The socialite and Reum, who is an entrepreneur, have known each other since they were in their twenties. But they did not become romantically involved until late 2019 when Reums sister, Halle Hammond, invited them both over for Thanksgiving that year.

Hilton told People that they reconnected on Thanksgiving and had this incredible chemistry and ended up going on their first date. By January 2020, they had made their first public appearance by sharing a kiss at a Golden Globes afterparty.

Reum proposed in February 2021 while the pair were on a private island for Hiltons 40th birthday. They were married in a lavish Los Angeles wedding ceremony on 11 November of that same year and celebrated with a neon carnival-themed afterparty.

Hilton said she wanted to get married on 11 November, or 11/11.

11:11 has always been my favourite time of day," she told Vogue. Its my reminder to make a wish and be open to miracles.

This date is special to Carter and I  it represents our love story, which both of us knew was meant to be, she added.

The pair went on a five-destination honeymoon tour, with stops including Bora Bora and the British Virgin Islands.

I cant wait to grow our family, Hilton told People following their three-day wedding weekend.

I feel like Carter and I are puzzle pieces getting connected. I never thought Id meet a man like him, who loves me for Paris and not Paris Hilton. Hes going to be the best husband  and the best dad.

Shortly after the pair wed, Hilton said in an interview that motherhood was one of her top priorities and revealed in 2022 that they had started the IVF process.

We really wanted to enjoy our first year of marriage together as a couple, you know, before bringing kids into the mix," she said. "So now that we just had our year anniversary, I cant wait for 2023, Hilton told People at the time.

The pair welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Phoenix Barron Hilton Reum via surrogate in January 2023.

Announcing the news on Instagram at the time, Hilton wrote: Its always been my dream to be a mother and Im so happy that Carter and I found each other.

We are so excited to start our family together and our hearts are exploding with love for our baby boy.
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Earl Spencer has honoured his late sister on the anniversary of her death.

On 31 August, the 59-year-old paid tribute to the 26th anniversary of Princess Dianas passing with a sweet photo of the siblings from their childhood. In the throwback, the former Princess of Wales is seen with her arm around her younger brother, donning a pink and white striped dress with a little collar, in front of a bush adorned with blossoming pink flowers.

Meanwhile, a young Charles Spencer is seen sporting a grey and navy collared shirt, blue pants, and brown sandals over white socks. He didnt caption the post.

The renowned author is known to often post throwback photographs with his sister. In May 2021, Spencer took to his social media page to pay homage to the resilient bond he and Diana shared from a young age. The sentimental moment was photographed in black and white, picturing them sitting side-by-side as children.

Some bonds go back a very long way, Spencer captioned the post.

In July that same year, he paid tribute to his sister on what wouldve been her 60th birthday. The official Instagram account for Althorp House - their childhood home where Earl Spencer still lives - shared a single black and white image of Diana with her hair pulled into pigtails.

1 July 1961 was an exceptionally hot English summers day, Dianas parents always remembered, they captioned the Instagram tribute. She was born in Park House, on the Queens Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. Park House is seen in the background of this family photograph taken by Dianas father, the 8th Earl Spencer.

Charles Spencer was Princess Dianas youngest sibling and only brother. The siblings also shared two older sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, both of whom are still alive.

The late Princess of Wales passed away on 31 August 1997 at 36 years old. While travelling through Paris, France, with her companion Dodi Fayed, their car was tragically struck in a traffic collision. At her funeral in London, Dianas two sons - Prince William, 15, and Prince Harry, 12 - walked the funeral procession behind their mothers casket.

The boys were accompanied by their father, King Charles III; their grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh; and Dianas brother, Earl Spencer. Following the funeral proceedings, Dianas remains were buried on the grounds of Althorp House.
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Ruby Franke, who once operated her own YouTube channel about the lives of her six children, has been placed under arrest on charges related to child abuse.

Franke first made headlines back in 2015 for her controversial parenting advice that she shared on the YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which featured her husband Kevin Franke and their children: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve. The now-deleted channel was once popular, having accumulated more than two million subscribers before speculation and concern began to mount in 2020 about the familys daily activities.

Two years later, the Utah-based mother went on to announce that she was joining a new YouTube channel called ConneXions - which has since been deleted - alongside Jodi Nan Hildebrandt. The pair also sparked controversy with their videos, including one in which they made claims about what loving children unconditionally means.

On Wednesday, the mother-of-six was arrested after officials said they discovered a malnourished minor with visible injuries and duct tape on their limbs. In a press release, the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department explained that, based on the evidence gathered, officers proceeded to a nearby residence where they discovered another juvenile in a comparable condition.

Two of Frankes children were taken to a hospital for medical treatment, according to court documents. Those children, along with Frankes other children, were placed into the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.

Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were set to appear in court in St George, Utah on Friday afternoon but the virtual hearing was delayed by tech issues.

Both women were ordered to be held without bail. Their bond hearings are slated for 21 September.

Since her arrest, Frankes family, including her daughter, has made several statements about the situation, including that they are so glad justice is being served.

Heres everything we know about Frankes rise to fame on YouTube  as a former family vlogger  and her arrest.

Who is Ruby Franke?

In January 2015, Franke first launched the 8 Passengers YouTube channel, which highlighted her familys life in Springville, Utah. One year after sharing the channel, she told local news stations KSL that her page was a way for her to just let [her] heart rate come down and to just enjoy being with the kids as they are right now. She also expressed that, as her children were getting older, she gained an even bigger perspective about why her family was so important.

I just want women who are still nursing babies, women who are still trying to get their families, women who are not sleeping through the night to see what it looks like at the finish line, to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and its beautiful and its powerful and its worth it, its worth all the effort that families put into their family, she said at the time.

After making headlines for her videos about her controversial parenting choices, which racked up millions of views, she went on to become a part of ConneXions, in which she and Hildebrandt gave daily advice. The now-deleted YouTube channel, which Franke joined in June 2022, had more than 4,800 subscribers, with videos also racking up thousands of views.

How have her parenting choices sparked controversy online?

Following her rise to fame with 8 Passengers, Franke went on to spark criticism after she said in a video that one of her sons, Chad, had been sleeping in a beanbag for seven months, after playing a prank on his sibling. In June 2020, concerned viewers contacted local child protective services, with a Change.Org petition created to encourage a CPS Investigation of 8 passengers.

Amid the backlash, Franke told Insider at the time the sleeping arrangement was Chads choice after he stopped sharing a room with his younger brother amid behavioural concerns. A letter from DCFS, seen by Insider, said the claims were unsupported and that the case  which alleged that Franke was the perpetrator  was closed.

In August 2022, she also faced criticism for refusing to bring lunch to her then six-year-old, after her daughter said shed packed food but had actually forgotten it. Franke alleged that she didnt want anyone to give her daughter lunch, since she wanted the child to realise how painful it is to be hungry all day, so shell make sure to always pack a lunch.

As a teacher, Id be filing a report if a parent had this reaction to me asking them to fulfill basic needs, one person responded to Frankes comments, which were shared on TikTok.

My hope is it will be painful all day. No maam, another commented, while a third wrote: Kids cant learn if theyre too hungry or tired!! Most schools will have a sandwich or something even if you forget one or something.

Franke and Hildebrandts joint channel has also sparked outrage. In December 2022, they shared a now-deleted video about the concept of love, and gave examples in which they claimed children allegedly dont love their family unconditionally.

The Utah-based mother claimed that if her child doesnt love or trust her, after offering them the gift of truth, then they are refusing to love unconditionally. She alleged: If my child will only love me if I give them what they want, then thats not really love, is it?

What are the accusations against Franke amid her arrest?

On 31 August, Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety said in a statement that it had received a report regarding a juvenile asking for help. The caller told officials that the child appeared to be emaciated and malnourished and had open wounds and duct tape around the extremities.

After another child was found in similar physical condition of malnourishment, Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety said that the Department of Child and Family Services was contacted, and four minor children were taken into the agencys care.

Along with Franke, Hildebrandt was also arrested. Due to the sensitive nature of this case, no additional information will be released at this time, officials said in the statement.

The charging documents accuse both women of causing or permitting serious injury to two of Frankes children in three different ways, according to the Washington County attorneys office. This includes through a combination of physical injuries or torture; through starvation or malnutrition that jeopardizes life; and by causing severe emotional harm.

The alleged abuse adds up to the six aggravated child abuse counts each woman faces. Each count carries a sentence of 1-15 years in prison, and a fine up to $10,000.

Springville Police Department records later revealed that the authorities had responded to Frankes home numerous times over the years, twice regarding the welfare of her children.

The most recent check was on 18 September 2022, when her daughter Shari Franke reported to the police that her sisters and brother had been left home alone for five days while her mother visited a friend in St. George, the Salt Lake Tribune reported, according to court documents.

The daughter called for a welfare check on the children and asked police to make sure they had enough food for the extended period.

But when the police responded to the home, the children would not answer the door. They were able to see the children through the window.

There are several other reports from neighbors who told police video cameras on their property showed that Frankes car would be continuously gone for four days or more.

Everyone who came to the scene was very concerned about the children and them being left at home alone, an officer wrote in a police report.

[They] expressed great concern about the two youngest children being homeschooled while the two older ones go to public school. Mostly because it shows they are home alone during the day by themselves, and there isnt any way for them to contact emergency services if needed.

An earlier incident was reported on 16 April 2022, according to the documents, in which a DCFS caseworker alerted police that two unsupervised children were running in the street near Frankes Springville home. But the officer who responded to the house said he did not see any children in the street.

What has her family said about her arrest?

Following her mothers arrest, Shari Franke, 20, has taken to Instagram to make several statements about the situation. She started off by posting a photo of a police car and an officer, as she wrote: Finally.

Me and my family are so glad justice is being served, she wrote in another post. Weve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they decided to finally step up. Kids are safe, but theres a long road ahead.

Shari also created a document asking followers to share questionable or concerning information about ConneXions or 8 Passengers.

Frankes sisters Ellie Mecham, Julie Deru, and Bonnie Hoellein released a statement saying that, for the last three years, they have kept quiet on the subject of their siblings for the sake of her children.

They went on to say that they tried everything they could to ensure the children were safe.

The post said: For the last three years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children. Behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe. We wouldnt feel right about moving forward with regular content without addressing the most recent events. Once we do, we will not be commenting on it further.
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Algerian forces killed two men and detained a third after they strayed across Morocco's maritime border with Algeria on water scooters, according to Moroccan media reports.

Such deadly run-ins are rare on the border, which has long been closed because of deep tensions between the two North African neighbors, linked to the disputed territory of Western Sahara among other issues.

A French citizen was among those killed Tuesday, and the detained man is also French, the French Foreign Ministry said Friday. Moroccan media reports said the men involved were French-Moroccan dual citizens.

Moroccan prosecutors opened an investigation into a "violent sea incident'' involving five people on water scooters, the official Moroccan news agency MAP reported. Moroccan officials haven't provided details about what happened.

Algerian police and coast guard officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Mohamed Kissi told Moroccan news website 360.ma that he, his brother Bilal and friends were on vacation and riding personal watercraft off the coast of the Moroccan town of Saaidia when night began to fall.

We were low on gas for the water scooters and were drifting. In the darkness, we found ourselves in Algerian waters, he told 360.ma, a new sites known as being close with the Moroccan royal palace.

He said a speedboat with the word Algeria on its side approached the water scooter his brother was riding and the armed forces onboard exchanged words.

Kissi said the Algerian forces then fired on the group, and his brother was killed along with friend Abdelali Mechouer, according to 360.ma. Another wounded friend was detained, Kissi said. He said he swam to escape until he was rescued by Moroccan maritime police.

The website published a video of Bilal Kissi's funeral, which took place Thursday in the Moroccan border town of Bni Drar. It said Mechouers family was seeking repatriation of his body from the Algerian forces.

Asked about the confrontation, Moroccan government spokesperson Mustapha Baitas said, "these issues are within the jurisdiction of the judicial authority,'' and would not provide further comment.

MAP reported that the prosecutor's office in the northern city of Oujda opened an investigation Tuesday based on statements from an individual who said that he and four other young men on Jet Skis were involved in a violent sea accident.

Prosecutors interviewed family members and friends of the young men, and the investigation is ongoing, MAP said.

The Paris prosecutors office has been informed of the incident, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that it was up to judicial authorities to determine what happened. The French government is in contact with the families of the French citizens as well as with Moroccan and Algerian authorities, the ministry said.
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More than 40 people died and dozens were injured while protestors from a religious sect gathered in the Congolese city of Goma, national authorities said.

Congos communications ministry said violence related to planned protests led to 43 deaths and 56 injuries, raising the preliminary death toll of seven announced by the army on Wednesday.

Dozens were being treated for severe injuries in nearby hospitals, and the UN human rights office said Friday more than 220 people were arrested.

People have a right to express themselves freely and to assemble peacefully, even if in protest at the United Nations and other actors, UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.

The protest was organized by a sect called the Natural Judaic and Messianic Faith Towards the Nations and known colloquially as Wazalendo. Its supporters were demonstrating against the regional East African Community organization and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, called MONUSCO, which is in the process of being drawn down by the end of the year.

Gomas Mayor Faustin Napenda Kapend had banned the protest on Aug. 23 soon after it was announced. Congolese security and defense forces had amassed at major intersections in anticipation when violence broke out around 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Wednesdays events were an apparent massacre according to Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group. Security forces used live ammunition seemingly to break up a gathering of people preparing to demonstrate in the streets of Goma, said Thomas Fessy, a senior Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The unnecessary use of lethal force is callous as well as unlawful, Fessy said, calling on authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into senior military officials who ordered the use of unlawful lethal force.

I dont understand our government anymore. How can we understand that heavily armed soldiers come to kill unarmed civilians? said demonstrator Alexis Chirimwani on Wednesday.

U.N. peacekeeping missions began operating in Congo in 1999. Three decades of conflict in the northeastern region have displaced over 6 million people, according to the U.N., with the crisis intensifying since 2021. Critics say the mission, which was the target of deadly protests in July 2022, has done little to help protect civilians from overlapping conflicts in eastern Congo.

MONUSCO remains concerned by the threats of violence made prior to the demonstration and reiterates the importance of the peaceful resolution of disputes and concerns through inclusive dialogue, the mission said in a statement Thursday.



Associated Press reporters Justin Kabumba in Goma, Congo and Sam Mednick in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this story.
 Close Expert explains why Raac is more dangerous than standard concrete

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Sir Keir Starmer has blamed the crumbling concrete crisis on cutting corners and sticking plaster politics as he grilled the prime minister in PMQs today.

The Labour leader: Its the sort thing you expect from cowboy builders saying everyone else is wrong, everyone is to blame, protesting that theyre doing an effing good job even if the ceiling falls in  except in this case the cowboys are running this country.

He added: Isnt he ashamed that after 13 years children are cowering under steel supports, stopping their classroom roof falling in.

Rishi Sunak said he was not sorry for the decision to close around 100 of the 156 schools with Raac, saying he would make no apology for acting decisively in the light of new information.

It comes as the Department for Education has published a full list of the schools affected with Raac in England.

Are you a parent whose child has been affected by RAAC closures? E-mail alexander.butler@independent.co.uk
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Fresh strikes are due to take place as junior doctors and consultants will hold a joint strike in England for the first time in the history of the health service.

The joint strikes will take place over the course of four days, starting next month as junior doctors vote overwhelmingly in favour of continuing their industrial action in their campaign for full pay restoration, according to the British Medical Association (BMA).

Against the backdrop of a hugely understaffed and under-resourced health service, junior doctors and consultants have seen their pay drop in real terms by over a third in the past 15 years. The Government continues to refuse to even enter talks with either group to try to bring an end to the disputes, the BMA has said.

Since March of this year, junior doctors have staged 19 days of strike action - with consultants having staged four days.

There has been a turnout of over 71 per cent and 43,440 junior doctors voting to continue industrial strikes, their re-ballot has renewed their mandate for industrial action for another six months, the BMA added.

Junior doctor committee co-chairs Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: Today, junior doctors across England are sending a single message, loud and clear to the Government: we are not going anywhere. We are prepared to continue with our industrial action, but we dont have to  the Prime Minister has the power to halt any further action by making us a credible offer that we can put to our members. Refusing to negotiate with us and with our consultant colleagues is not the way ahead.

Rishi Sunak has been urged to listen to the voices of junior doctors and consultants and to no longer delay pay negotiations.

If he does not come to the table with a credible offer on pay, he will face another six months of strike action, the co-chairs added.

BMA consultants committee chair Dr Vishal Sharma said: Junior doctors and consultants walk the same wards, look after the same patients in an underfunded and poorly staffed NHS. It is becoming ever clearer that this Government does not value us or our work and nor does it really value patient care.

When are the strikes taking place?

(Lucy North/PA Wire)

The BMA said consultants will strike in the long-running row over pay on September 19 and 20 with Christmas Day levels of cover, with junior doctors also walking out on September 20 with Christmas Day cover followed by strikes on September 21 and 22.

Both consultants and junior doctors will strike again on October 2, 3 and 4, all with Christmas Day cover.

The dates listed for strike action are:

Tuesday 19 September  Consultant strike

Wednesday 20 September 2023  Joint strike

Thursday 21 September  Junior doctors strike

Monday 2 October 2023  Joint strike

Thursday 3 October 2023  Joint strike

Wednesday 4 October 2023  Joint strike

What has Rishi Sunak said about the strikes?

(Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Rishi Sunak and Steve Barclay should negotiate with medics to end the pay dispute. He said: The failure of the Prime Minister and his Health Secretary to sit down and talk to doctors has now led to the most severe strike action yet.

The risk to patients is intolerable and the blame for cancelled appointments, delayed operations and rising waiting lists lies firmly at the door of 10 Downing Street.

There is no excuse for the Prime Minister failing to sit down with NHS doctors to try to bring an end to these strikes.

The NHS needs all hands-on deck right now. Rishi Sunak cannot continue to sit this out.

However last month, Mr Sunak said Junior doctors should accept the pay deal on offer so we can all get back to treating patients and getting waiting lists down, according to The Telegraph.

The Prime Minister said progress on tackling record NHS backlogs has stalled because of the industrial action and the current pay offer is a larger increase than almost every other workforce in the public sector.

Additional reporting from agencies
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A not-for-profit health system in Maine has threatened legal action against a 15-year-old boy for shedding light on alleged patient safety issues in the paediatric ward of one of its hospitals.

Samson Cournane, a student at the University of Maine, started a petition advocating for an investigation into Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center last year, claiming conditions at the hospital were unsafe.

Mr Cournanes mother, Dr Anne Yered, had previously been fired from the hospital after reportedly voicing safety concerns to the hospitals CEO and president in 2020.

In the petition, Mr Cournane said his mother was threatened by hospital staff after raising concerns, with one hospital manager going so far as to show up in her backyard to confront her. Dr Yered subsequently claimed she was wrongfully terminated.

Mr Cournane then began pushing for an investigation into the hospital, outlining problems in the petition, which was addressed to US Representative Jared Golden. He alleged that the medical director of the paediatric intensive care unit (ICU)  a former colleague of his mothers  finished just one year of a three-year critical care fellowship, and implied other hospital employees may be scared to come forward with safety concerns.

But the hospital filed a counterclaim  in response to Dr Yereds wrongful termination suit  accusing Dr Yered of starting the petition under her sons name. The counterclaim, shared with The Independent, says: This case is about a physician who was so angry about her termination from employment that she hatched a scheme to get back at her former employer by posting malicious, false, and defamatory statements about a former colleague harming patients on the internet, posing as or ghost writing for her teenage son.

Northern Light Health, which did not respond to a request for comment, is threatening whats called a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), which are illegal in Maine, Jay Diaz, senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), told The Independent. A SLAPP suit is generally thought of as a lawsuit brought by an entity that seeks to drag a speaker into court over their protected speech in order to silence them, Mr Diaz said. Its censorship by lawsuitThey create this power imbalance because you have this entity thats going to drag you into an expensive court proceeding and put you at risk of financial ruin.

FIRE sent a demand letter to Northern Light Health on 23 August, requesting that they disavow any intent to sue Mr Cournane for his public advocacy. Northern Light Health was asked to respond by 1 September; Mr Diaz said the company had not replied as of that afternoon.

Samson is a bright young kid, and just because hes 15 years old doesnt mean he cant form opinions and communicate his opinions to his public officials, Mr Diaz said. A large hospital conglomerate, a billion-dollar corporation, is threatening to sue to silence a 15-year-old just because he advocated for an investigation and improved patient safety.

Mr Diaz said Mr Cournanes patient advocacy work did not start with the online petition he authored. First, Mr Cournane turned to his school to start a petition on campus, but that was going to be too expensive, Mr Diaz explained. However, a student counsellor who he spoke with offered to introduce Mr Cournane to hospital staff so he could voice his concerns directly. Samson didnt ask for it, but a student counselloron his ownconnected him to administrators at the hospital, Mr Diaz explained. They started up a correspondence where Samson was asking questions and not receiving answers. Mr Cournane was in contact with the hospitals head patient safety administrator, but when hospital staff realised they were communicating with a former employees son, Mr Diaz said, They called off all discussion about the issues he was concerned about. Essentially, he added, Mr Cournane was told by hospital representatives, Were not going to talk to you anymore.

Mr Diaz said that Mr Cournanes decision to advocate for an investigation into Northern Light Health was not based on his mothers termination. This was not just a topic of enormous public importance, but one of significant personal importance to him, he explained. As a minor, Mr Diaz added, if [Mr Cournane] got sick, the ambulance would take him straight to that paediatric [unit]. This directly affected him, his friends, and his siblings.

Mr Cournane, who recently started classes at the University of Maine and was not available for comment, said in a video released by FIRE that he was frustrated by Northern Light Healths counterclaim stating that his mother was responsible for his advocacy efforts. I felt very nervous, first of all, because it was something that I wrote, he said in the video. And then I felt sort of betrayed becausewhy are they taking it out on my mom instead of me?

In the video, Mr Cournanes father, John Cournane, spoke about his sons efforts to draw attention to the alleged safety issues outlined in the petition and the subsequent threat of a lawsuit against him. When he decided to do this and meet with university administration all on his own, I was very impressed, he said. I realised he must care about it a lot, that he was willing to go outside his comfort zone anddiscuss these issues with people, strangers, he didnt know. He went on to say he was concerned about what could happen if a lawsuit is filed. The threat of a lawsuit has had a tremendous effect on my family, he said. From the financial implications of it to the psychological, emotional uncertainties of whats going to happen  its really created a lot of stress about the future of our family.

Mr Cournane isnt the only person to have made claims against Northern Light Health: Last year, a federal jury awarded $3m to a former employee of the same hospital Dr Yered worked at who said he was fired due to racial discrimination, according to the Associated Press.

Additionally, a 2022 report from a nonprofit called Patients Rights Advocate found two Northern Light Health hospitals  including the one where Dr Yered used to work to be noncompliant with price transparency rules.

Mr Cournane said in the FIRE video that hes hopeful Northern Light Health will reconsider its position. Instead of threatening me and my momwe can actuallymake our healthcare system better, he said.
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In the wake of hurricanes, mass shootings and the shadow of a nuclear war, the world's richest man wants you to take heart.

The world, he says, is actually getting better.

In an editorial in Time, Bill Gates notes many trends  ranging from the rates of child mortality to the number of countries now offering protections for gays and lesbians  are heading in a positive direction. We just don't hear much about them, because of the focus on negative news.

"These events  as awful as they are  have happened in the context of a bigger, positive trend," Gates writes. "On the whole, the world is getting better."

Among the developments he points to are:

A drastic decrease in child mortality rates for children under five. They're down by half since 1990, saving the lives of 122 million children.

A dramatic decline in the proportion of the world population that lives in extreme poverty, from more than a third of the population in 1990 to about one-tenth today.

A huge increase in the number of children who attend primary school worldwide; more than 90% now do.

Laws that protect gay people are now in place in 100 countries

A rising number of women worldwide are being elected to public office.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Gates blames the media for spreading the widespread feeling of pessimism. People are more likely to read bad news, which encourages news organizations to focus on the negative stuff, he argues.

In addition to having Gates write an editorial, Time asked him to guest edit its latest issue. He used the opportunity to fill the magazine with positive stories. The issue includes essays from some of Gates' friends who also feel optimistic about the future.

In his essay for the magazine, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett asserts Americans' standard of living will continue to rise "for many generations to come." Biogen vice president Samantha Budd Haeberlein writes in her piece that her company is close to a cure for Alzheimers.

Meanwhile, U2 front man Bono says in his essay he believes more men are starting to understand that they need to join the fight against misogyny and violence against women.

"Men cant step back and leave it to women alone  to the Merkels and Malalas  to clean up the mess weve made and are still making," he says.

Read more:

 May tackles new Brexit Rebellion

 Philip Hammond and Mark Carney are in China to secure 1 billion of trade deals

 Facebook admits that social media can be bad for you

Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2018. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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A Ukrainian MP has urged newly appointed Defence Secretary Grant Shapps to personally come to Ukraine to establish good relations.

It comes after Ben Wallace formally resigned from his position on Thursday, prompting a mini-reshuffle.

Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun considered Mr Wallace a friend of Ukraine and expressed her gratitude for his time as defence secretary after four years.

Speaking from Kyiv, she told the PA news agency: Ben Wallace is a friend to Ukraine and we very much appreciate everything that he has done.

She has urged Mr Shapps to visit Ukraine to gain a better understanding of the situation.

She said: I think that for him personally coming here (to Ukraine) to talk to the minister of defence of Ukraine, Ukrainian military, members of parliament, the president, that this will give him a better feel of the challenges that we are facing, and it will help him build a better understanding of how to move forward with it.

I also hope he meets the military personnel directly, not just the top officials, because I think this will give a better feeling of the commitment of the Ukrainian military.

Ms Sovsun, deputy leader of the Holos Party, also hopes Mr Shapps will express himself as a strong leader to ensure the allyship between Ukraine and the UK remains firm.

She said: I very much hope he would be able to establish himself as a strong leader of the coalition as Ben Wallace has been.

The UK has always been, historically, good at fighting autocratic regimes threatening Europe and I very much hope that this tradition will continue.

She hopes for increased support for Ukraine in terms of weapons delivery because this is the single issue that can lessen the number of casualties on our side.

Ms Sovsun urged Mr Shapps and people in the UK to remember the hardships that Ukrainians continue to face on a daily basis after she woke up from explosions.

It's as scary as it was a year ago when it was all over the news Inna Sovsun on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine

Yesterday night, I woke up from explosions in Kyiv, she said.

My partner is on the front line, so I think about him and Im constantly worried about him.

This is daily reality for us, even if its not reported daily, and its as scary as it was a year ago when it was all over the news.

I think what he (Mr Shapps) needs to remember is that Ukraine has suffered through so much. Almost two years of intense war; we deserve to win this war.

The MP from Ukraine spoke of her daily nightmare after losing friends in the war and hopes that the UKs support will not wane.

She said: We are fighting ourselves, but we need the continued support of the UK.

We just hope that this support will not wane and that this issue will not be some issue in the background, because its not for us.

I just want the UK to remember that this is still an ongoing nightmare for all of us, a daily nightmare for every single one of us.

Its not getting any less traumatic and its not getting better just because its not being reported as widely in the media.
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Children experiencing homelessness are too often invisible and overlooked, an expert has said, as analysis showed stark differences in the picture across England when it comes to families in temporary accommodation.

The total number of children in temporary accommodation is at its highest level since records began almost two decades ago, with 131,370 children in this situation as of the end of March this year.

While less visible than someone sleeping on the streets, being in temporary accommodation is considered a form of homelessness.

Analysis by the PA news agency of figures published in July shows the number of households with children in bed and breakfast (B&B) hotels in England on March 31 was more than double the figure at the equivalent point in 2022  up from 1,700 to 3,930.

This is the biggest year-on-year percentage increase since data was first recorded for this category in 2002.

Under legislation that came into force in 2004, the use of B&Bs for families is prohibited except in an emergency, and even then it should not be used for longer than six weeks.

But PA analysis shows the number of households with children who have been in B&Bs for more than this length of time nearly trebled from 670 as of March 31 2022 to 1,840 by March 31 this year.

While households with children account for 30 per cent of all households in temporary accommodation in north-east England, the figure soars to 76 per cent in the West Midlands  the highest for any region.

Yorkshire and the Humber (45 per cent) and south-west England (46 per cent) are the only other regions where the figure is below 50 per cent.

In London, 66 per cent of households in temporary accommodation have children, though data for the capital is incomplete.

It is a similar picture for households placed in B&Bs, with 60 per cent of such households in the West Midlands having children, compared with just 6 per cent in north-east England.

More than a third (35 per cent) of households in B&Bs in the West Midlands not only have children but also have been in their accommodation for more than six weeks.

This is well above all other regions, with London (16 per cent) having the next highest figure.

Dr Nadia Svirydzenka, a psychologist with specialist experience in child mental health, said she is troubled by the rise and described the term temporary as a misnomer, generally, with some of the families she has worked with spending years  so for children under five  almost the entirety of a their life  in such circumstances.

Dr Svirydzenka is a co-investigator on the Champions project  a collaboration between University College London and De Montfort University looking at the impact of temporary accommodation on the health and wellbeing of children under five in England.

She said there is a discourse of neglect around the issue that must be pushed back on, with some people thinking these families need to try harder and do better.

She told PA: I think we really need to challenge that. This isnt parental neglect. From our evidence what we see is that families are doing the best they can in the circumstances. No family wants to be in temporary accommodation or living in the environment they are in.

She said any of us could find ourselves in this situation, with things like illness, redundancy, a family death or caring responsibilities suddenly putting an additional financial burden on a family.

Recent research by housing charity Shelter suggested half of working private renters are only one paycheque away from potentially losing their home.

Dr Svirydzenka said it is not an over there and those people problem, adding: I think there are different pathways in which people end up in temporary accommodation but I think only few are safe from it.

Too often children in temporary accommodation are invisible and their needs and experiences are overlooked. You see advocacy for rough sleeping, but not children experiencing homelessness Dr Nadia Svirydzenka

Temporary accommodation can sometimes be cramped, lack cooking facilities and clean spaces, she said, and frequent moves can lead to feelings of instability, which can impact a childs wellbeing in later life.

She said: If you grow up with a sense of Im not safe, we move a lot, this isnt my space, it threatens that sense of belonging that we need for our well-being, for our mental health. And that can create anxiety around when we go about the world because our fundamental sense of stability is threatened.

The rise in families in need of temporary accommodation is really troubling for all the consequences it has for child development and for their school preparedness, what theyre exposed to, what they experience, she said.

She added: Too often children in temporary accommodation are invisible and their needs and experiences are overlooked. You see advocacy for rough sleeping, but not children experiencing homelessness.

There is this oh, youre lucky to have a roof over your head, what are you complaining about type of mentality towards families in temporary accommodation, but that is problematic as it overlooks how the temporary accommodation environment, frequent moves and lack of integrated system around the needs of the child experiencing homelessness can limit their life opportunities and impact their health and development long term.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists said while young people tend to be resilient, some might need professional help due to the impacts of homelessness and accommodation moves.

Dr Elaine Lockhart, chair of the colleges child and adolescent faculty, said children can be particularly susceptible to the pressure on families from the uncertainty of living in temporary accommodation and potential threat of homelessness and may struggle with feelings of anxiety or stress under such circumstances.

The Childrens Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, described the numbers as completely unacceptable and said she was particularly worried about the number of children living in B&Bs for long periods of time.

Her office was launching research which will reveal other hidden groups of children not in appropriate accommodation, focusing on 16 and 17-year-olds who present as homeless and are inappropriately treated as young adults who are only in need of a temporary roof over their heads rather than care.

Charities have long called for more social housing to be built.

When the July figures were published the government said it had given 2bn over three years to help local authorities tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, targeted to areas where it is needed most and is improving the availability of social housing, committing to delivering 300,000 new homes per year and investing 11.5bn to build the affordable, quality homes this country needs.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, said they worked incredibly hard to prevent the tragedy of homelessness from happening but that increasingly complex homelessness pressures, combined with depleting social housing stock and an unaffordable private rented sector feels like a perfect storm for already stretched council services.
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A man has been arrested after an 11-year-old boy suffered life-changing injuries on a shooting trip.

Police and paramedics were called to a woodland near Catsfield around 11am on Thursday after an 11-year-old boy was injured when a shotgun was discharged.

Officers who found the boy at the scene said he had suffered a serious, potentially life-changing wound to his hip. The schoolboy was airlifted to hospital in London.

A 54-year-old man from Nottinghamshire was arrested at the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm, police said.

The boy had been with a party of adults in the woodland who were rough shooting, police said.

Rough shooting is a method of live quarry shooting where trained dogs are used to flush game out of the hedgerows, woods or other cover as shooters walk along.

A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: An 11-year-old boy was injured when a shotgun was discharged in woodland near Catsfield on Thursday morning (August 31).

Police and ambulance paramedics were called to the scene between Catsfield and Ninfield at 11.08am.

The boy was with a party of adults who were rough shooting at the time of the incident and suffered a serious, potentially life-changing wound to his hip. He was airlifted to hospital in London.

A 54-year-old man from Nottinghamshire was arrested at the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.
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A TikTok star with more than 120,000 followers has been jailed after setting a trap to murder her mothers 21-year-old lover after he threatened to blackmail her over a sex tape.

Social media influencer Mahek Bukhari, 24, was sentenced to life in prison at Leicester Crown Court alongside her mother Ansreen, 46, who must serve a minimum of 26 years and nine months after they were found guilty of murdering two men in a high-speed car chase.

Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, died in a horrific crash that left their flaming Skoda Fabia split in two after they were rammed off the A46 dual carriageway near Leicester on February 11 last year.

In heartbreaking victim impact statements read to the court on Friday, the mens loved ones spoke of the torture of their grief, challenging the killers: Was it worth it?

The court previously heard how Mahek, who posted fashion updates to her followers under the name Maya, helped set a plan in motion to silence her mothers former lover after he threatened them with blackmail.

Hussain, who did not want their affair to end, was threatening to send sex tapes to Ansreens husband if she did not pay back the 3,000 he had spent wooing her.

Prosecutors said he was lured into meeting with the Bukharis in a Tesco car park in Hamilton, Leicester, on the pretence of being given back the 3,000.

Ansreen Bukhari, 46, appeared in her daughters video on TikTok (Screengrab)

But the mother and daughter, from Stoke-on-Trent, arrived at the arranged meeting along with six others in two vehicles, an Audi TT and a Seat Leon, to ambush him.

Hussain, who was in the Skoda being driven by his friend Ijuzaddin as a favour, grew suspicious and they left without ever getting out of the car  with the Audi and Seat in quick pursuit.

In a desperate 999 call to police made by front-seat passenger Hussain moments before his death, he said their car was being rammed off the road by balaclava-wearing assailants in two pursuing cars.

He told operators: Theyre trying to ram me off the road. Theyre trying to kill me. Im going to die, before the call abruptly ended.

Forensic collision investigators found the Audi had reached speeds of up to 100mph, while the Skoda was estimated at being in excess of 80mph at the time of the crash.

Saqib Hussain, from Banbury in Oxfordshire, died in a car crash on the A46 in Leicestershire in February 2022 along with Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin (Leicestershire Police/PA) (PA Media)

Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, from Banbury in Oxfordshire, died along with Saqib Hussain in the crash (Leicestershire Police/PA) (PA Media)

Jurors deliberated for more than 28 hours before finding the mother and daughter guilty last month, following a three-month trial.

Fellow defendants Rekhan Karwan, 29, and Raees Jamal, 23, were also sentenced to life after being found guilty of two counts of murder.

Raees Jamal must serve 36 years, while Karwan faces a minimum term of 26 years and 10 months. Natasha Akhtar, 23, Ameer Jamal, 28, and Sanaf Gulamustafa, 23, were all found not guilty of murder, but guilty of two counts of manslaughter.

Akhtar was sentenced to 11 years and eight months, while Ameer Jamal faces 14 years and eight months and Gulamustafa 14 years and nine months.

Another defendant, Mohammed Patel, was found not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

Sentencing, Judge Timothy Spencer KC said Mahek Bukharis tawdry fame as a social media influencer had made her utterly self-obsessed, with a wholly unjustified sense of entitlement and oblivious to the damage you do.

He added: The prosecution were right to categorise this case as cold-blooded murder.

The YouTuber wiped away tears in the dock as her sentence was read out.

Addressing all of the defendants, Judge Spencer said rather than showing concern for the victims in the aftermath of the crash, they had been intent on saving your own skin.

He said: Each has done all you can to try to avoid responsibility and to seek to explain away the evidence.

So whilst remorse is expressed by some, it is little and late and has a hollow ring. The jury saw through your lies.

(left to right from top) Ansreen Bukhari, Mahek Bukhari, Raees Jamal, Rekhan Karwan, Sanaf Gulamustafa, Ameer Jamal, Natasha Akhtar (Leicestershire Police/PA Wire)

In a victim impact statement read out in court by prosecutor Collingwood Thompson KC, Hussains father Sajad, who was in court surrounded by family, described his son as his pride and joy.

He said: He brought love and light into the lives of everyone who knew him. He was kind-hearted and selfless, and he was loved by all his friends and family and everyone who knew him.

He described how Saqibs mother fell to the floor crying and screaming my child, my child when they were told by police their son had died.

Ijazuddins father, Sikander Hayat, told the packed courtroom his family have been living a never-ending nightmare that has shattered our lives.

Looking at the defendants in the dock, he said his son was one hundred per cent innocent.

He added: My heart has been ripped out.

Why did this happen to him? He did not know his murderers or what awaited him in that Tesco car park.

We have lost our son in the worst possible way. The fear he must have felt in the moments leading up to his death. He was left with his friend to burn. It is heart-shattering.
The leader of Lelo Georgia, Mamuka Khazaradze, has responded to the statement made by the chairman of the Georgian Dream, Irakli Kobakhidze. According to Khazaradze, the Russian government is presently violating the Constitution of Georgia."Meetings between the President of Georgia and their European counterparts should only concern our country's adversaries and those against European integration. If there's anything currently undermining the Georgian Constitution, it's the Russian government in the guise of the 'Georgian Dream' party, which is undermining the pro-Western choice established in the Constitution! Europe is the preferred path of the Georgian people, and it belongs to us. It represents a secure future for our nation and our children!" Khazaradze stated.A member of the United National Movement, Sopo Japaridze, met with electors in Kakheti. Japaridze, who represents the interests of the third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, joined forces with Irakli Pavlenishvili, the deputy secretary general of the United National Movement, and Gigi Gigitelashvili, the deputy chairman of the United National Movement faction in the Telavi city council, to connect with the local population at the Telavi market.Sopo Japaridze highlighted the significant role of Kakheti for Mikheil Saakashvili."In a time when nobody believed in the potential for tourism development in Kakheti, Mikheil Saakashvili had faith and took decisive actions to bring about the progress we see today. He introduced Kakheti to the world, even during the wine embargo when the region faced its toughest challenges. He acquired land in Kvareli and hosted delegations from around the globe, effectively showcasing Kakheti to the world. Hence, the opinions and concerns of every citizen here hold great importance for Mikheil Saakashvili," Japaridze stated.
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Unheard audio tapes of Diana, Princess of Wales, talking about the King and her hatred for stepmother Raine Spencer is to air in an upcoming documentary.

The recordings of Diana were taped three decades ago for her biographer Andrew Morton, who went on to publish the book Diana: Her True Story in 1992.

On Friday, a few extracts of unheard clips were shared through ABC News ahead of the release of documentary Diana: The Rest Of Her Story.

It serves as a follow-up to 2017 film Diana: In Her Own Words, both directed by Tom Jennings.

Speaking about her relationship with Charles, Diana says: He was so grown-up and here was Diana, a kindergarten teacher. I mean the whole thing was ridiculous.

Diana later spoke about her husbands relationship with her family, revealing he wont even talk to mummy.

She continued: Because at Harrys christening, Charles went up to mummy and said we were so disappointed, we thought it would be a girl and mummy snapped his head off and said you should realise how lucky you are to have a child thats normal.

And ever since that day, a shutters come down, and thats what he does when he gets somebody answering back at him, so to speak.

The release of the clips comes a day after the 26th anniversary of Dianas death on August 31 1997, following a car crash in Paris, and a week before the first anniversary of the death of the late Queen.

The clips also hear Dianas feelings towards her stepmother Raine, who married her father John in 1976 before his death in 1992.

Speaking of her strained relationship with her stepmother, Diana says: I was so angry. And I said I hate you so much. If only you knew how much we all hated you for what youve done. You ruined the house.

You spent daddys money. I have said everything I possibly could and Raine said you have no idea how much pain your mother put your father through.

I said pain Raine? Its one word you dont even know how to relate to.

In my job and in my role, I see people suffer like youve never seen. And you call that pain? I said youve got a lot to learn.

I remember really going for her gullet.

It comes two days after the Duke of Sussexs Netflix docuseries Heart Of Invictus was released, where Prince Harry recalls the triggering return from his final tour of Afghanistan which related to the trauma of losing his mother Diana.
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Politicians must commit to investing more in better diagnosing dementia in a bid to give people access to up-and-coming drugs and ensure the disease does not remain a death sentence for those impacted, a charity has said.

Alzheimers Research UK said a third of over-65s living with dementia in England never get a formal diagnosis, which could prevent them accessing groundbreaking treatments if they are approved by regulators.

Its report  Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia  says lumbar punctures are an effective tool for diagnosing the disease but they are only offered to 2% of people on the NHS.

Alzheimers Research UK is urging politicians to pledge to increase the number of people being given lumbar punctures to diagnose dementia from 2,000 to 20,000 per year.

It is calling for an initial investment of 16 million in equipment and staff training, followed by 10 million annually until new diagnostic tools for the disease, such as blood tests, are developed.

Samantha Benham-Hermetz, executive director of policy and communications at Alzheimers Research UK, said: For people living with dementia to receive proper treatment  including the new drugs currently being looked at by regulators  they need to receive a formal diagnosis.

But in England, we know that more than a third of over-65s living with dementia never get a diagnosis at all. This is completely unacceptable, as is the underlying diagnosis target of 67%.

We wouldnt accept this for any other condition, so we shouldnt for dementia. In other UK nations, this information isnt even available, as data on dementia diagnosis rates arent routinely published.

About 850,000 people are estimated to have dementia in the UK, the NHS says.

The report comes after trials of the drug donanemab were found to slow the clinical decline of Alzheimers by up to 35%.

The results were hailed as a turning point in the fight against the disease.

Another drug, lecanemab, was found to reduce memory decline among patients with early-stage Alzheimers.

In July, NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard told BBCs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show she had set up a team to plan how to roll-out promising new drugs even as they wait to be approved by regulators.

However, Alzheimers Research UK said people in the UK may not benefit from the new treatments if the NHS cannot widely and equitably offer early stage, accurate diagnoses as standard.

This isnt about winning over voters with warm words. Its about committing to tangible actions that will ensure we have a future where there is a cure for dementia, and where people can be free from the fear and heartbreak of this devastating condition Samantha Benham-Hermetz

The charity has made a number of other recommendations to politicians across all parties ahead of the next general election.

These are:

 The development of a cross-party strategy to address health and lifestyle factors that increase the risk of a person developing dementia; A call to instruct the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to consider the cost of informal care and carers quality of life when assessing the cost-effectiveness of making new drugs available on the NHS; and Increasing clinical research participation across the UK.

Ms Benham-Hermetz added: Were calling on all parties to ensure dementia does not remain a death sentence for those it touches.

This isnt about winning over voters with warm words. Its about committing to tangible actions that will ensure we have a future where there is a cure for dementia, and where people can be free from the fear and heartbreak of this devastating condition.

Divya Chadha Manek, a trustee of Alzheimers Research UK, said: As a member of the Covid Vaccines Taskforce, Ive seen first-hand how clinical research in the UK delivered life-changing discoveries to the rest of the world. I know we can do this for dementia.

But making discoveries alone is not enough. Discoveries need to be turned into diagnostics, treatments and prevention measures that can stop dementia in its tracks.

By prioritising action on dementia, there is a significant opportunity for policy makers to improve societal wellbeing and lifelong health, reducing the burden on our NHS and most importantly, building a legacy where people with dementia no longer have to suffer. Its time for decision-makers to listen and take action.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: We recognise that early diagnosis of dementia is vital, which is why were committed to improving diagnosis rates and access to new treatments.

We are doubling the funding for dementia research to 160 million a year by 2024/25 to accelerate the development of the latest treatments and technology. Our Major Conditions Strategy will also set out the standards patients should expect at all stages of dementia care.

But the most effective way to support early diagnosis is to deliver on our priority to cut the waiting lists  we have opened 114 community diagnostic centres across the country which have delivered over four million additional tests, checks and scans since July 2021.
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A February hospital visit with an asthma attack resulted in an unexpected diagnosis for award-winning author Alex Wheatle: he has prostate cancer.

Now, the 60-year-old says he is determined to raise awareness about the disease which affects twice as many Black men than their white counterparts.

Having released two new books this year, the novel Kemosha of the Caribbean and his memoirs Sufferah, Mr Wheatle was riding high after Steve McQueens Small Axe series, consisting of a TV drama based on his life, won a BAFTA award in 2021.

Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Mr Wheatle recounted the immediate aftermath of his cancer diagnosis - which he publicly revealed this week - and how hard it was to break the news to his loved ones.

It was a big shock and its especially hard news to tell your family, the father-of-three said.

The writer, who grew up in care, said that he felt cheated and also struggled with telling his five siblings and 92-year-old mother with whom he had been reunited 20 years ago.

I havent known them all my life; its only been 20-odd years or so since I traced them, he said. It feels like Ive been cheated, in a way. All of us have managed to build this fantastic relationship - and then this happens.

Early-stage prostate cancer often doesnt carry symptoms; that was true in this writers case.

Its only after Mr Wheatles wife mentioned his recent weight loss and lingering cough to a consultant during that chance hospital visit, that the all-important medical examinations were conducted. When it comes to illnesses like cancer, early detection is crucial.

This is how I started to have all these tests, he said. Results then showed that I had cancer in my bone marrow and it was further discovered that the original source of the cancer was my prostate.

I could have had it for up to two years, doctors told me. I didnt expect it because I had no symptoms.

Wheatle has written over 17 books across a two-decade career (Alex Wheatle)

He added: Id experienced a bit of back pain and, being a writer, I thought that came with the job because I sit down for long periods and my posture is not that good.

Though the cancer is advanced, the writer has been told that it is treatable and hes already receiving care.

The charismatic writer, who has penned over 17 books, is now focusing on raising awareness of prostate cancer, helping more Black men to attend health screenings.

I want to help other people. I was alarmed to learn that Black men are twice as likely to get this form of cancer than white people, Mr Wheatle said.

The Cane Warriors novelist is calling for a national campaign inviting men for prostate cancer screenings, saying that it could save lives.

When women are screened for cervical cancer, they receive a letter asking them to attend smear appointments, he said.

Given that prostate cancer is so prevalent, especially for Black men, then why arent we being invited for screenings so it could be detected very early?

Alex Wheatle (Sheyi Cole) amid civil unrest in Steve McQueens Small Axe (BBC/McQueen Limited/Will Robson-Scott)

Mr Wheatles health update comes months after actor Colin McFarlanes announcement that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Amy Rylance, at Prostate Cancer UK, said: Im hopeful that Alex Wheatles bravery in sharing his experience of prostate cancer will raise awareness in Black communities across the UK, helping more men to get diagnosed in time for a cure.

When prostate cancer is in its early, treatable stages its often symptomless. Because Black men have double the risk of prostate cancer and develop it younger, we strongly recommend they talk to their GP about a regular PSA blood test from the age of 45.

Alex is right that you wont get invited for testing  instead take our 30-second Risk Checker on the Prostate Cancer UK website, to quickly find out your own risk and what you can do about it.

The reasons for racial disparities in diagnoses are not well-known; its thought to be a combination of reasons including genetic factors.

Affectionately known as the Bard of Brixton, Wheatle credits his earlier years of growing up in the district with helping to mould him. (Getty Images)

Upon completion of his biography Sufferah: Memoir of a Brixton Reggae Head last year, Mr Wheatle had no idea of his cancer.

Released in July, the celebrated scribes latest offering details how reggae music became his salvation through a childhood marred by abuse, imprisonment, and police brutality.

Affectionately known by his pen name The Brixton Bard, the writer credits his earlier years of growing up in the district with helping to mould him; community is at the heart of what he does.

Moreover, a love of storytelling and raising up marginalised truths comprise the fabric of his being.

I believe that I was born a storyteller and, being a storyteller, youve got to chip away at some stone to actually reveal the person within, Mr Wheatle said.

My experiences in a childrens home and in Brixton helped me carve myself out as a storyteller, but it was always there - it just needed a bit of encouragement, motivation and belief.

Im no different from the DJ who used to come to the dance on Friday and Saturday nights, telling stories about the local neighbourhood in his lyrics.

My stories come from real scenarios, real incidents, real people and real situations.
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Burger King must face a lawsuit that accuses the company of misleading its customers by making its Whopper burger appear larger on the menu than it is in reality, a US judge has ruled.

The class action lawsuit alleges the fast food chain shows the burger with a meatier patty and ingredients that overflow over the bun. It also alleges the Whopper was made to look 35% larger, with more than double the amount of meat compared to what was actually served to customers.

Burger King has denied the allegations. The company has previously argued that it was not required to deliver burgers that look exactly like the picture.

US District Judge Roy Altman said it should be left to jurors to tell us what reasonable people think. But he dismissed claims that Burger King misled customers with its television and online advertisements.

The flame-grilled beef patties portrayed in our advertising are the same patties used in the millions of Whopper sandwiches we serve to guests nationwide, a Burger King spokesperson said in a statement after the ruling.

The Burger King website describes the Whopper as the burger to rule them all, that contains a real meaty beef patty and other ingredients.

Fast food chains McDonalds and Wendys are also facing a similar lawsuit in the US, accusing the companies of unfair and deceptive trade practices.

The Burger King website describes the Whopper as the burger to rule them all (Burger King)

The lawsuit alleged that McDonalds and Wendys burgers in marketing materials were at least 15% larger than they were in real life.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Taco Bell was sued in the US for selling pizzas and wraps that allegedly contained half the filling that was advertised.

The plaintiffs claims are false, a Burger King spokesperson told The Independent.
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The government has published the full list of schools so far identified to be affected by Raac concrete.

The list, published just 30 minutes before Rishi Sunak faced the Commons for prime ministers questions, includes 147 institutions so far.

But the number of buildings is expected to swell as more assessments are coming out.
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Parents of children with special needs were called just days before the start of the new term to be told their school had to shut as it is fitted with a concrete that could suddenly collapse.

Louise Robinson, headteacher of Kingsdown School in Southend, Essex, called parents of students, who are aged between three and 14 and have severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties, physical disabilities and associated learning difficulties, on Thursday to tell them the news that the school will be closed next week due to the aerated concrete.

It comes amid chaos across the country as 104 schools and colleges have been told by the Department for Education (DfE) to partially or fully close buildings just as students prepare to return after the summer holidays.

The Government has not identified the schools but the list also includes: Parks Primary, Mayflower Primary School and Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy in Leicester; Cranbourne College in Basingstoke; Crossflatts Primary School and Eldwick Primary School in Bingley, near Bradford; Abbey Lane Primary School in Sheffield; Scalby School in Scarborough; St Leonards Catholic School in Durham; and Corpus Christi Catholic School in Brixton, London.

Ms Robinson said: Instead of preparing to welcome our students back to class, were having to call parents to have very difficult conversations about the fact the school is closed next week.

Were hoping that a solution can be found that allows us to open the school, at least partially, but that entirely relies on ensuring the safety of our pupils and staff, and approval by DfE.

The schools main building has been ordered to close, which has special equipment inside that the students need and cannot be accessed.

It causes a huge amount of chaos for these children Councillor Lydia Hyde

Lydia Hyde, Labour and Co-operative Party councillor for Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, said the situation was awful and a plan should have been made in March when the school was first inspected.

She added: The main building of the school has been affected, no-one can go in it, its riddled with the stuff unfortunately.

Its a special educational needs school, theres special equipment in there, some customised for certain children, at the moment we cant get to that.

We know that its going to be closed for at least the next week, we dont know beyond that.

Its the right decision that the children arent going back to this school as it is unsafe, this should have been sorted out months ago, the Local Government Association has been warning the Government for a long time.

The school was first inspected in March, thats when a plan should have been made, but that hasnt happened.

Ms Hyde added that the situation is particularly bad for these students as change can be detrimental.

Weeks before school starts there will be meetings about school transport, getting the students used to it and understanding what is going to happen, she added.

The impact on the families, its difficult enough to get babysitting arrangements, but for children with additional needs its virtually impossible.

Were going to see parents not being able to go to work, siblings where parents would have taken them to school might not be able to.

It causes a huge amount of chaos for these children, its not suitable to put up a marquee in a field, we need to be looking at getting access to the specialised equipment and finding alternative provision that is set up and safe for them for their education.

Southend Council is doing everything to find somewhere suitable.

Theres going to be big questions asked about how this was allowed to happen, why the families have been thrown into such chaos, the first thing is to ensure the children are back into education as soon as possible.

Councillor Helen Boyd, cabinet member for childrens services, education and learning, added: The last thing anyone wants is for a tragedy to occur and for that reason, the DfE have been clear that there is absolutely no choice but to close the school.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) was also found in a Sheffield school, where alternative meal arrangements will be in place while the work costing 620,000 is carried out.

The concrete was found at Abbey Lane Primary School in the kitchen area.

Councillor Dawn Dale, chairwoman of the education, children and families policy committee at Sheffield City Council, said that work started in July, which will cost 620,000 from the local authoritys capital budgets, and is expected to be completed by December 1.

Louise Haigh, Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley, labelled the situation schools have been put in appalling.

She said: Raac was identified as an issue back in 2018 and there remain schools around the country which the Government do not know if they contain this material and are therefore a risk to children.

Nor has the Government funded the works to protect children  the council has funded the cost of a new roof, amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

It is appalling that the Government has allowed schools across the country to fall into such dilapidation and are now expecting councils and schools to foot the bill. Just days before children return to school after the summer break, it is totally unacceptable that children, schools and parents and carers have been put in this position.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Essex County Council said three local authority schools have Raac and the council is working closely with these schools to minimise any disruption to learning.

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council said access to areas of Crossflatts Primary School and Eldwick Primary School where Raac is present is prohibited and at least eight teaching spaces have been lost, alongside other staffing facilities across both sites and the loss of the kitchen at Crossflatts.

Education will continue at the schools in the short term with alterations to the safe areas so that all children can be accommodated on the school sites.

A longer term plan is in place to provide temporary classrooms on both school sites. These have been ordered and, following relevant ground works on both sites should arrive within the next eight to 10 weeks at Crossflatts and 14 to 16 weeks at Eldwick.

Over in Leicester, the city council said the Raac notification for Parks Primary and Mayflower Primary School came before the summer holidays, and alternative accomodation was arranged, but Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy was only identified on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the council added that they will be working with the academy trust to offer support and advice to try to minimise disruption to pupils.

And temporary works have been carried out in one section of Cranbourne College in Basingstoke to make sure it is safe and another area has been taken out of use since the beginning of the year, but the school is expected to open as normal.

Nick Hurn, chief executive of Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, wrote to parents of students at St Leonards Catholic School in Durham to say a DfE-commissioned survey had identified that Raac panels were used in the construction of the building.

As a result, the DfE directed the Trust yesterday afternoon that they have taken the difficult decision to temporarily deem St Leonards school as a site that must not reopen next week, Mr Hurn wrote.

We understand the disruption this will cause, however we have not been left with any choice than to temporarily close as we put emergency measures in place.

North Yorkshire Council said Scalby School in Scarborough had been asked to close, but was the only one of its schools affected.

The councils director of children and young peoples services, Stuart Carlton, said: The school is required to make suitable arrangements to continue the education of their 1,000 pupils until safety work can be carried out.

Raac was found in the roof of part of the junior school at Corpus Christi Catholic School in Brixton, south London, so it has temporarily relocated from the Trent Road site to St Martin-in-the-Field Girls School in two self-contained blocks.

Cockermouth School in Cockermouth sent a letter to parents on Thursday saying the school term will start on August 6, one day later than planned, to ensure the school can prepare well after Raac was found in four areas.

Surrey County Council confirmed Raac has been found in one school, which it has not named, and said the school does not require full closure.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said a condition survey of all state-funded schools and colleges was commissioned earlier in the year which will identify any structures suspected of containing Raac.

Local authorities and further education institutions have not reported any instances of Raac being present within schools or colleges to the Government, the spokesperson added.
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Irelands deputy prime minister has defended plans to increase the number of the countrys politicians, arguing they are not an expense we cant afford.

Micheal Martin was in Oxford on Friday ahead of attending the British-Irish Association conference.

His comments come after the Electoral Commission recommended the number of TDs should be increased from 160 to 174 following a review of the countrys boundaries.

The constituency review was prompted by a boom in the population to 5.15 million, as shown in Census 2022  an increase of 8% in four years.

Democracy is not perfect. I really don't like the attitude of are we willing to pay for more politicians? Micheal Martin

As the Irish constitution says there needs to be one TD to represent every 20,000 to 30,000 people, the constituency boundaries needed to shift.

Asked if the Irish people want to pay for more TDs, Mr Martin said that democracy is not perfect.

He said: I am a democrat and I take a different view to that approach, in the sense that people value democracy in Ireland  for over 100 years now a modern democracy.

It has worked for Ireland and continues to work.

Democracy is not perfect. I really dont like the attitude of are we willing to pay for more politicians?

Mr Martin said he had just come back from an EU conference in Spain, where he had watched presentations from west African politicians who would dearly love to have their politicians back following a series of coups in the region.

Ive just come from the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union in Toledo yesterday and we had a presentation from the foreign minister of Niger and the president of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) who were describing the coup detats in that region, and in particular the Niger situation, but obviously it has been followed by Gabon, he said.

Thats a government in Niger that was really working democratically, that was getting on top of a lot of situations  and they would dearly love to have their politicians back.

So, we need to be very careful about some of the disparaging remarks, or sort of a line of thinking that somehow politicians are an expense that we cant afford.

I think that would be very dangerous indeed.

The boundary review follows population increases across nearly all of Irelands constituencies.

Indeed, of the countrys current 39 constituencies  nine three-seaters, 17 four-seaters and 13 five-seaters  all but one have seen population increases which put them at more than 30,000 people per TD, with Limerick County being the exception.

According to Irish electoral laws, each constituency should have between three and five elected members, with three-seaters seen as advantageous to large political parties and five-seaters an easier job for smaller parties and independents to get over the quota threshold.

Constituency reviews are meant to avoid breaching county boundaries where possible, to follow geographical features and to maintain the continuity of electoral areas as much as they can.

If approved, the increase in TDs will be the largest increase since 1980.
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All NHS trusts should have access to the necessary funding to replace concrete that has been deemed unsafe as soon as possible, a health chief has said.

The Government has committed to rebuilding seven hospitals most affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) by 2030.

The lightweight material was used in public buildings from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s, but is now assessed to be at risk of collapse.

Earlier this year, NHS Providers published a report calling for the long-neglected NHS estate in England to be brought into the 21st century.

It also described Raac as presenting a major and unjustifiable safety risk.

The Government said it remains committed to eradicating Raac from the NHS estate by 2035.

Trusts that missed out on additional capital funding following the recent New Hospital Programme announcement still need major investment to overhaul ageing estates, and to address other infrastructure risks that can compromise patient and staff safety Sir Julian Hartley, NHS Providers

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said the organisation welcomed recent Government action, but called for all trusts to have access to cash to replace Raac where necessary.

We welcomed recent government action to replace dangerous, crumbling old concrete blocks in ceilings and walls by ensuring the seven trusts with the most critical Raac risk will be replaced by 2030, he added.

The Government has made a commitment that the remaining Raac risk will be removed from the NHS estate by 2035.

However, it is vital that all trusts can access the necessary capital funding to replace these concrete planks as soon as possible.

When asked by the BBC if hospitals are safe, schools minister Nick Gibb said: Yes, they are. Hospitals are very large buildings. They have big and expert maintenance teams in those hospitals.

They can use propping, and they are using propping so they can move patients from one ward to the other.

Its a very different estate from the school estate.

Raac planks are thought to be present in 34 hospitals buildings in England.

The Government launched its New Hospitals Programme in 2020 pledging to build 40 new hospitals by 2030.

However, a report by the public spending watchdog in July said it is on track to break a key promise in the blueprint.

The National Audit Office (NAO) found delays in projects mean the target is not likely to be met.

By the watchdogs analysis, 32 hospitals in England classed as new by the definition the Government first used are set to be completed in 2030.

Sir Julian added: Trusts that missed out on additional capital funding following the recent New Hospital Programme announcement still need major investment to overhaul ageing estates, and to address other infrastructure risks that can compromise patient and staff safety.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the NHS will continue its current approach of monitoring and mitigating risks.

The NHS has a mitigation plan in place for hospital buildings with confirmed Raac, backed with significant additional funding of 698 million from 2021 to 2025, for trusts to put in place necessary remediation and failsafe measures.

We remain committed to eradicating Raac from the NHS estate entirely by 2035.

Additionally, we have announced that the seven most affected NHS hospitals will be replaced by 2030 through our New Hospital Programme.

The technical advice received from the NHS is that the current approach to monitoring and mitigation remains appropriate.

In recent days, the Department for Education (DfE) has told 104 schools they must partially or fully close buildings as pupils prepare to return after the summer holidays due to the presence of Raac.
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Agnes, Fergus and Nicholas are among storm names chosen by Irelands national forecaster for the coming autumn and winter period  in honour of eminent scientists from across the island.

The new list of names for the 2023/2024 storm season, which is in place from Friday, has been released by meteorological services in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands.

Storms are named when they could have a medium to high impact in Ireland, the UK or the Netherlands in order to make messaging to the public on how to prepare for severe weather easier.

Each service has chosen seven names on the alphabetical list (which excludes the letters q, u, x, y, and z).

Irelands Met Eireann has chosen to honour scientists who have made important contributions to science and benefits for humankind with its names.

The list of names chosen by Met Eireann are Agnes, Fergus, Jocelyn, Kathleen, Lilian, Nicholas, and Vincent.

These are after Irish astronomer and science writer Agnes Mary Clerke; scientist Fergus ORourke, who provided an authoritative description of Irish ants; Northern Ireland astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who discovered the first pulsating radio stars in 1967; and one of the mothers of computer programming, Kathleen Kay McNulty Mauchly Antonelli.

The other names chosen by Met Eireann honour Irish crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale; Anglo-Irish journalist and pioneer aviator Lilian Bland, the first woman in Ireland to build and fly an aircraft; physicist Nicholas Callan, who invented the induction coil that was used in early telegraphy; and Vincent Barry, who is best known for leading the team which developed the anti-leprosy drug clofazimine.

Professor Bell Burnell said: I am delighted to feature in this distinguished list celebrating science and hope that if a potential Storm Jocelyn happens, it may be a useful stirring-up rather than a destructive event.

Science advancements increase our knowledge and understanding of the world around us, and I think this is wonderful example of science-based services communications.

Eoin Sherlock, head of the forecasting division at Met Eireann, said that they were delighted to celebrate science and scientists in this seasons list of storm names.

He thanked the public for voting on what name the storm beginning with A should represent, resulting in Agnes.

Our warmest thanks to all who voted and to those who suggested other names that we will keep in mind for future seasons, Mr Sherlock said.

He said storm naming was an important asset in making severe weather communications clearer and more effective.

It connects our weather services more closely to the public, helping us in our mission to protect lives and property and ensuring the safety of our communities, he added.
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Britains new defence secretary once claimed his YouTube account was hacked into because the password was 1234 or something equally easy to guess.

Uneasy Tory MPs have taken to WhatsApp to re-share the story of how Grant Shapps explained the hack - which occurred ahead of a 2007 by-election.

Then the shadow housing minister, Mr Shapps claimed a comment under a Liberal Democrat campaign video was not made by him.

But the comment came from Mr Shapps official account. It cast doubt on the Lib Dems chances in the Ealing Southall contest, prompting allegations of astroturfing.

The comment said: Okay, realistically were not going to win though. Especially since the Tories have just received 5 defecting Councillors from Labour. Dont quite know how theyve done it, but the Tories have stolen a march on us this time.

Bloggers suggested Mr Shapps was trying to fake a comment to appear as though it was from a Lib Dem, but forgot which account he was logged into.

But, asked by broadcaster Iain Dale for an explanation, Mr Shapps claimed to have used a very easily guessable password similar to 1234.

A Conservative spokesman said at the time: We have absolutely no idea how this post appeared, however it does appear someone has been accessing his account. The short password has now been changed to something more secure.

In the past two days he has removed a number of posts from his own YouTube videos which had appeared without authorisation. We will be monitoring the account carefully and cant rule out the activities of our opponents.

On Friday Politico reported that the story was pinging round WhatsApp groups after Rishi Sunak promoted Mr Shapps to defence secretary.

Mr Shapps has also come under growing pressure to delete his TikTok account over security concerns.

The Chinese-owned app has been banned from official government devices over fears user data could be transferred to the Chinese government.

Then energy secretary Mr Shapps vowed to keep using TikTok on his personal phone despite the ban.

He posted a clip from the Wolf Of Wall Street in which Leonardo DiCaprio  playing a Wall Street banker  declares he is not f***ing leaving.

Pressure on Mr Shapps to quit TikTok has ramped up after his promotion to defence secretary. A Labour official told Playbook he must now follow the rules of his own department and put our national security ahead of his own self promotion.

A source close to Grant Shapps said: Along with the Ministry of Defence, which maintains a long-standing official TikTok account, Grant knows that TikTok can be a valuable tool for communicating with his constituents.

Aware of security concerns, he doesnt have the app on his phone and the account is instead managed by his constituency staff.
 Close Who is new defence secretary Grant Shapps?

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Former military chiefs and opposition MPs have questioned the suitability of yes man Grant Shapps for his new role as defence secretary.

Mr Shapps, the former energy secretary, was Rishi Sunaks surprise choice to replace Ben Wallace this morning as the prime minister carried out a mini cabinet reshuffle.

Sir Richard Dannatt, the former head of the Armed Forces, expressed his concern that Mr Shapps had been given the job to support Mr Sunak rather than make the case for defence budgets.

He also suggested it would take Mr Shapps some time to get up to speed with the defence brief, which he knows very little about.

Claire Coutinho, a former education minister, replaced Mr Shapps in a major promotion for the East Surrey MP. A close ally of Mr Sunak who previously worked as his adviser, the 38-year-old is the first MP from the 2019 intake to join cabinet.
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The government has admitted that the number of schools forced to close over dangerous crumbling concrete is likely to rise  as teachers and parents were braced for years of disruption over the issue.

As school leaders prepared for a weekend dash to inspect more buildings and put in temporary measures before next weeks back-to-school rush, Nick Gibb admitted there may be more schools, nurseries and colleges affected by the chaos, on top of the 156 already identified.

The schools minister also conceded that some parents are still in the dark about whether their children will return to classrooms after the summer break, with some schools still unaware they will have to close.

Amid warnings the number of affected schools could rise to more than 1,000, the government faced mounting questions about how many more children would be forced out of classrooms  and why ministers hadnt acted sooner.

In other developments:

Mr Gibb said the chaos had been sparked by the collapse of a supposedly safe concrete beam

He refused to publish the full list of schools affected by the issue  saying it was right for parents to hear directly from the schools

Parents said they were warned the disruption could last for years to come

Fears were raised the crisis could be UK-wide, with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) found in at least 37 schools in Scotland

Experts warned the problem could be far wider, with offices, courts, hospitals and factories at risk

An economist warned each building might cost 5m to replace  leaving the government with a huge bill

In a shocking admission on Friday morning, Mr Gibb said only the vast majority of schools had been informed they would have to close.

Items are cleared from Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy in Leicester, which was forced to closed over safety fears (Joseph Walshe / SWNS)

We have been calling them yesterday, but there are a few more that were calling today, and those schools are now talking to parents about whats going to happen in their school, he told the BBC.

Follow our live coverage here

But despite thousands of pupils and staff now expected to be unable to return to school, Mr Gibb refused to publish a full list of those affected. We want the parents to hear from the school, not to read about it in the media first, he said.

He also said more schools may be forced to shut classrooms as the Department for Education (DfE) gathers more evidence about the presence of RAAC, with some schools still expected to return surveys about the presence of the material.

People leave the school in Leicester with chairs and other items after it was closed (SWNS)

Thousands of pupils across the country will be forced to resume their studies either online or in temporary facilities, after the government ordered more than 100 schools to close immediately following fears over the concrete, described as 80 per cent air and like an Aero Bar.

The dangerous material was used to construct schools, colleges, and other buildings between the 1950s and mid-1970s in the UK, but has since been found to be at risk of collapse.

The government said that of the 156 schools found to contain RAAC, 104 require urgent action, while 52 have already received repair works.

One of those was Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy in Leicester, which received news that it had to close on Thursday  days after pupils went back after the summer break.

My understanding is they literally evacuated the place, parent Raj Kaur told The Independent. The first most parents knew about it was when we arrived for pick-up. All the children were out on the field. It was awful. Children were crying.

Roughly half of Willowbrook Mead  a 470-pupil school serving an area of high deprivation  is made of the concrete in question. Most pupils will now learn online for the next 10 days before two entire year groups  3 and 4  are moved to two other city schools. Years 5 and 6, meanwhile, will be squashed into spare classrooms and shared areas away from the danger zone.

Some parents say teachers have told them it could be well into 2025.

If theyd made this decision in July, the headteacher could have made other plans and we wouldnt now be rushing around trying to make the best of an absolutely awful situation, said mother of five Laura Smith.

Thered still be disruption but it would be far less because everyone would have had six weeks to prepare.

Meanwhile, Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at the Building Cost Information Service, warned each affected building may cost 5m or more to replace based on its data  which could amount to a cost of 500m.

Any buildings which have this material as part of their fabric should be inspected regularly, suitably protected, and buildings with this material should ultimately be replaced, he said.

And a schools estates manager told the Guardian that the tally of those affected in some way could reach 1,000, adding that the crisis could see children being taught in temporary buildings for up to a decade.

After sending questionnaires to schools last year asking if they had RAAC, the DfE received 6,300 responses and identified 572 in which RAAC may be present. As of May, RAAC had been confirmed in 65 schools.

But figures from the National Audit Office (NAO) showed 8,600 schools, more than half of those sent questionnaires, had not responded, not completed work or were unaware of the risks posed by RAAC.

Labour accused housing secretary Michael Gove of starting the neglect of schools that led to the collapsing concrete crisis.

In an article for The Independent, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson slammed Mr Goves decision to scrap the last Labour governments school-building programme, saying it was the death knell of ambition for our children.

The move was the first sign of the neglect that was to come, she wrote, accusing ministers of having no strategy to ensure school sites are up to scratch.

The head of school leaders union the NAHT said it had repeatedly raised concerns about these buildings for a long time so the news was shocking but not hugely surprising.

Paul Whiteman also called for a proper programme of repairs and re-building right across the school estate.

Experts warned the RAAC crisis could reach far wider than school buildings, with offices, court houses, hospitals, and factories at risk of sudden and catastrophic collapse if it is not removed.

Mr Gibb said the government was rebuilding seven hospitals due to extensive use of RAAC and would be surveying buildings right across the public sector.

And teachers union the NASUWT said the closure of some schools will raise questions about the safety of other schools.

Drone footage shows Sheffield primary school built with dangerous concrete

The union also said school closures raise questions about whether the government could and should have done more to prevent this situation arising in the first place.

The government has not identified the schools but the list also includes: Parks Primary, Mayflower Primary School and Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy in Leicester; Cranbourne College in Basingstoke; Crossflatts Primary School and Eldwick Primary School in Bradford; and Abbey Lane Primary School in Sheffield.

Labour has called for an urgent audit into the governments handling of public sector buildings containing concrete that could suddenly collapse.

Deputy leader Angela Rayner said: The safety of the public is not being taken seriously by this reckless Tory government. If public safety is at risk, we need to know urgently.

An urgent, full audit is required to find out the extent that Conservative ministers failed to replace this dangerous concrete across the public sector estate.
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Disadvantaged teenagers are at a greater risk of falling victim to email scams than their peers, research suggests.

Around one in seven (14%) 15-year-olds are at risk of responding to a phishing email  but this rises to a fifth among those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, according to an international study.

Deprived youngsters who also have weaker cognitive skills are most at risk of falling prey to phishing emails, the data from 38 countries suggests.

Pupils  especially those from poorer backgrounds and low academic achievers  need higher quality instruction about the online risks they face, a University College London (UCL) researcher has said.

Data for the study was based on more than 176,000 children who took part in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa)  a triennial international survey by the OECD which measures what 15-year-olds students know in reading, science and mathematics.

As part of a questionnaire, pupils were asked how they would respond to a made-up scenario where a mobile phone company told them via email they had won a smartphone. The sender asked them to click a link and fill out a form with their data to access the phone,

More needs to be done to help young people navigate what is becoming an increasingly complex and dangerous online world Professor John Jerrim, author of the study

Possible responses included answering the email to request more details, checking the senders email address, and clicking on the link to fill out the form as soon as possible.

The findings  published in the British Journal of Educational Studies  found teenagers from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds were markedly more likely to say they would click the link.

The biggest gap was based on cognitive skill, with a quarter of low-achieving students saying they believed clicking the link was an appropriate response, compared with 5% of those in the top quintile of reading scores.

Results showed that Japanese teenagers were least likely to respond to unsolicited emails (4%). The figure for the UK was 9%.

Teenagers in Mexico (30%) and Chile (27%) were most at risk.

Author of the study, Professor John Jerrim, from the UCL Social Research Institute, is urging schools to provide more  and better quality  teaching on how to recognise online harms, including phishing emails.

He said: Socio-economically disadvantaged groups are  at least in some countries  at greater risk from phishing attacks than their more advantaged peers.

This is largely driven by socio-economic differences in cognitive abilities. Unfortunately, current attempts by schools to address this issue do not seem to be particularly effective.

As well as ensuring people are educated about this issue, work also needs to be done to tackle this problem at source and prevent scam emails from being sent out in the first place Julie McCulloch, Association of School and College Leaders

The study also found no clear evidence that students who received instruction from their school about the dangers of phishing emails were at less risk of being scammed.

Prof Jerrim added: More needs to be done to help young people navigate what is becoming an increasingly complex and dangerous online world.

This is particularly true for some of the most vulnerable groups who are most at risk of falling for attempts at digital fraud.

The findings come as a separate report published by childrens online safety group Internet Matters earlier this week suggested that disadvantaged children are more likely to experience harm online.

Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: Schools are acutely aware of the risks that young people can face online and teach pupils about these as part of their relationships, sex and health education.

Cyber crime is something that affects people of all ages and is becoming increasingly common. As well as ensuring people are educated about this issue, work also needs to be done to tackle this problem at source and prevent scam emails from being sent out in the first place.

A Home Office spokesman said: A core priority in our Fraud Strategy is to empower people by providing better education on how to protect yourself from fraud. Thats why we worked with the Association for Citizenship Teaching to create a comprehensive set of interactive lessons designed for secondary school pupils. Themes covered include phishing, money muling and social media scams.

This government is absolutely committed to cracking down on scams and we continue to work intensively with partners to protect young people, and the wider public, from fraud.
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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to meet with the King during a weekend trip to Balmoral Castle.

The visit to the royal estate comes ahead of Parliament returning from recess on Monday.

It is not uncommon for the sitting Prime Minister to visit Balmoral, with the late Queen creating the tradition of inviting the incumbent to Scotland for a weekend in the summer.

The late Queens meeting with then leader Liz Truss was held in the green drawing room at Balmoral days before her death in September 2022, with the last ever public picture of the then monarch taken during the visit.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie visited the estate around the same time the year before, and the late Queen met their son Wilfred for the first time.

Charles and Queen Camilla are currently seeing out their summer holidays at the royal estate, with Mr Sunaks visit set to coincide with the Braemar Gathering nearby on Saturday.

The event is considered a favourite of the royals, with Charles regularly in attendance alongside his late mother over the years.
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A poster placed in a bus shelter in Northern Ireland claiming to disclose personal details on three serving police officers contained incorrect information, the PSNI has said.

The police had launched an investigation into the incident in Chapel Road in Dungiven, Co Londonderry, on Thursday.

The poster was placed in the shelter weeks after the details of about 10,000 officers and staff were mistakenly released online in a major PSNI data breach.

However, providing an update on the Dungiven investigation on Friday evening, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd said the information purportedly revealed by the poster was incorrect.

This was a clear attempt to intimidate police officers, staff and their families, but police can confirm that the information contained on the poster is incorrect Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd

We are aware that a poster claiming to contain details of three serving officers was placed near a bus shelter on Chapel Road in Dungiven last night, Thursday August 31, he said.

This was a clear attempt to intimidate police officers, staff and their families, but police can confirm that the information contained on the poster is incorrect.

Last month, details of officers and staff, including the surname and first initial of every employee, their rank or grade, where they are based and the unit they work in were released in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The PSNI has confirmed the list is in the hands of dissident republicans, who continue to target officers.

The admission came after redacted information from the breach was posted on the wall of a library in west Belfast near a Sinn Fein office.

Just earlier this year Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot a number of times at a leisure facility in Co Tyrone.

Police officers and their representative organisations have spoken out in recent weeks over concern for their safety.

A number of other data breaches have since come to light, including the loss of a police officers laptop and notebook which contained details of 42 officers and members of staff after the items fell from a moving vehicle.

An independent review of the circumstances of the data breach is to be carried out, led by City of London Police Assistant Commissioner Peter ODoherty.

It will look at process and actions leading to the breach and if any organisational, governance or management issues allowed it to happen.

Last month a man appeared in court in Co Antrim charged with two terror offences relating to the data breach.
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The use of psychedelic drugs to treat mental health conditions is not a weird hippy movement, an expert has said.

Professor David Nutt will speak to the Scottish Parliament next month about a more rational drugs policy, before he gives a talk at the University of Edinburgh on his latest book, called Psychedelics, on September 28.

Prof Nutt told the PA news agency he believes members of the public will be shocked by his belief that psychedelic drugs such as magic mushrooms and MDMA can help treat mental health conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

He said: This isnt a weird hippy movement. The truth is, they are (life-changing) and that is why we should use them. They can change peoples lives for the better.

Prof Nutt, who is a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, was sacked as a government adviser in 2009 after he argued the drug MDMA, known as Ecstasy, could be no more harmful than riding a horse.

Figures published last week showed that while drug deaths in Scotland have fallen, they are still the highest in Europe.

On Thursday, the Commons Home Affairs Committee suggested drug consumption rooms could be trialled in Scotland.

Such a facility has been mooted in Glasgow for years, but requires an exemption to the Misuse of Drugs Act from the Home Office to go forward.

If the UK Government is not willing to support such a move, the committee said, the relevant powers should be devolved to Holyrood.

Prof Nutt agreed that it seems the public are coming round to the idea of drug consumption rooms.

He said: This isnt remarkable. Drug treatment rooms have been around for 30 years. They get people off the drugs because they engage with social workers.

The only opposition to this is political and people who really cannot think beyond the law.

When the population realises they havent had any real innovation in mental health treatment, sensible people realise we need to do something different.

These drugs can give huge value and can be used safely in a medical setting.

The Department of Health really should be involved in this. It cannot just be the Home Office making these decisions.

Prof Nutt has spent around 15 years researching psychedelic drugs. His book also looks at how other countries such as Australia and some US states including Oregon and Colorado are using psychedelic drugs in the treatment of mental health issues.

A Home Office spokesperson said: There is no safe way to take illegal drugs, which devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities, and we have no plans to consider this.

We continue to share learning from Project Adder with the Scottish Government and exchange insights from initiatives aimed at addressing drug use and harms at ministerial and official level. We welcome these ongoing discussions.
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Thousands of Harry Potter fans have braved the rail strikes on Friday to gather at Kings Cross station in London for the annual Back to Hogwarts Day.

Donning wizard robes and carrying wands, fans of the franchise travelled to the station to hear the magical loudspeaker call for the Hogwarts Express at 11am, inviting witches and wizards to board the train to Hogsmeade on platform nine and three quarters.

While a host of fans gathered online, thousands crowded in front of the live departure board at the station to see the written display for the fictional platform call, which prompted a cheer from fans of all ages upon its appearance.

The live event was hosted for the second year in a row by TV star, radio presenter and fellow fan, Sam Thompson  who, at one point, invited one fan Manish Pindoria to the stage where he proposed to his girlfriend, Panveet Kaur Bason.

Celebrity fan Thompson, who has named his two cats Albus and Cedric, encouraged fans to join in with the live countdown for the trains departure, which was led this year by 10-year-old Arnav Partukar from Chelmsford.

Arnav, who won a competition held by the Wizarding World to find the most enthusiastic fan in the UK, said it was a day he will never, ever forget.

All my friends and family know that I am the biggest Harry Potter fan around, so when my parents told me about a competition to lead the live countdown at Back to Hogwarts, as a proud Gryffindor I just knew I had to give it a go, Arnav said.

I have had so much fun, and it has been amazing meeting lots of other Harry Potter fans, just like me.

Made In Chelseas Thompson said hosting the event was a dream come true and getting to do so alongside 10-year-old Arnav was an absolute honour.

As my cats, Albus and Cedric can attest to, I love Harry Potter, he said.

Being able to come back to Kings Cross to host such a brilliant event, in front of so many like-minded fans is literally my dream come true.

What I loved about Back to Hogwarts is that you get to see the shared love that this community has for Harry Potter and the magical wizarding world, and hosting alongside Arnav has been an absolute honour.

Speaking about the festivities, one fan in attendance, Eliya Williams, nine, said: Back to Hogwarts is something I look forward to every time September rolls around, its a time I feel really connected to other fans and they havent disappointed this year.

Im so excited to be here to celebrate with my fellow Muggles, witches and wizards and it means so much that they involved fans in the countdown too.

The new cast members and creative team behind Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play were also in attendance, joining fans in the annual festivities.
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More than a hundred schools and colleges in England have been told to close buildings made with a type of concrete that is prone to collapse.

This means thousands of pupils, who are just days away from the start of the new academic year, are set to face disruption.

Here the PA news agency takes a closer look at what happened and the key issues in this story.

 What is reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac)?

Raac, visually resembling concrete but notably lighter, was employed in numerous one and two-storey public sector buildings across the UK from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s.

Unlike traditional concrete, it exhibits reduced durability and is estimated to have a lifespan of approximately 30 years. Moreover, it is susceptible to structural failure when exposed to moisture.

The Government initiated its investigation into the use of this material in schools in 2018 following an incident where the roof of a primary school in Kent collapsed just 24 hours after the onset of structural stress indicators.

 Why are schools closing?

The Government has found out that out of the 156 schools in England using Raac materials, only 52 have implemented precautions to mitigate potential risks, including structural collapse.

In response, the Department for Education (DfE) has issued a directive to these schools, instructing them to promptly close buildings constructed with Raac.

Though not confirmed, it is estimated that about 24 schools in England have been told to close entirely because of the presence of Raac, the PA news agency understands.

 Which schools are affected?

The local authority in Bradford revealed on Thursday that Raac was detected in Crossflatts Primary School and Eldwick Primary School in Bingley.

Both interim and long-term alteration works are being carried out to ensure children can be accommodated on the two sites, according to Bradford Council.

Parents can be assured that if they havent heard from schools, that it is safe to send their children into school Nick Gibb, schools minister

The council said interim alterations to safe areas will be finished by Sunday and temporary classrooms on both school sites have been ordered and should arrive within the next eight-10 weeks at Crossflatts and 14-16 weeks at Eldwick.

Elsewhere, the BBC reports affected schools include Ferryhill School, a secondary in County Durham; Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy in Leicester; and Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School in Brixton, south London.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said the Government will release a list of the schools affected in due course.

 What is the Government saying?

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said most parents should not be worried about this at all and Mr Gibb echoed her comments in a separate round of interviews on Friday.

The schools minister told Times Radio: Parents can be assured that if they havent heard from schools, that it is safe to send their children into school.

Asked how he can give assurances when not all questionnaires have been returned, Mr Gibb said: Yes, I can, because more than any other governments in the world, we have been the most proactive in dealing with this issue.

 Who is paying for the schools affected by Raac?

Ministers have dropped guidance suggesting schools and councils would have to fund the costs of temporary and emergency accommodation.

Mr Gibb sought to dampen some of the anger on Friday by confirming that the Government would pay for the makeshift measures.

 Are other public buildings besides schools being evaluated for Raac issues?

Other public buildings including courts and hospitals were also constructed using Raac  with many in need of remedial work or repair.

Mr Gibb told BBC Breakfast on Friday: Right across the public sector, we are surveying the estate.

Youve heard of a court closing at Harrow. We are taking action, of course, in the hospital sector as well. Hospitals are very large buildings and they have teams of very expert maintenance people monitoring the building the whole time.

They use propping where they identify Raac and also we are rebuilding seven hospitals because of extensive Raac in those hospitals.
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The presence of collapse-risk concrete in Scottish schools is being assessed by ministers after the UK Government confirmed it will close more than 100 buildings due to the potentially harmful material.

Pupils at the 104 schools south of the border will be placed in temporary accommodation amid the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).

The material is a lightweight concrete used from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s which is being assessed after it was linked to the collapse of the roof at Singlewell Primary School in Kent in 2018.

The Scottish Government has confirmed work is under way to fully understand the presence of Raac across the school estate in Scotland, with local authorities expected to prioritise remedial work.

Figures obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats in May revealed the substance was present in at least 37 schools in Scotland.

The data showed the light and bubbly form of precast concrete was present in nine schools in Dumfries and Galloway, seven in Aberdeen, six in Clackmannanshire and five in West Lothian.

Two schools in Dundee, the Highlands and North Lanarkshire were also found to contain the material, as well as single schools in Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, East Lothian and Perth and Kinross.

Guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers instructs the material to be replaced only if it is deemed to be in a poor condition and is considered a high risk, otherwise it can be managed in place.

The Scottish Government said local authorities are currently undertaking reviews of the presence of Raac in public buildings in Scotland, including schools and hospitals.

It said that where it is found, remedial work could include the closure of impacted rooms or sections of the building and the use of temporary, modular provision for pupils to ensure the continuity of education.

Ministers have also stressed pupils will not be taught in the parts of buildings where the concrete is considered a risk.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: This is an issue the Scottish Government takes very seriously and so we have been working with partner bodies to understand the scope and nature of what we are dealing with.

Work is currently under way with local authorities to understand the presence of Raac across the school estate Scottish Government

Reviews of Raac in property are being conducted by local authorities, NHS Scotland and other public sector organisations.

Work is currently under way with local authorities to understand the presence of Raac across the school estate.

We have received returns for the majority of the school estate and expect to have full returns from all local authorities this week.

For those schools where Raac is found, appropriate mitigation plans have and will be put in place to ensure the safety of pupils and staff. Ministers are clear that they expect local authorities to prioritise this work.

We issued guidance and background on Raac to the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and Scottish Heads of Property Services networks. We will continue to work closely with all those bodies in responding to the challenge.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton urged the Scottish Government to reveal which schools are impacted.

He added: Ministers need to pull their heads out of the sand and take action. We now know from England that beams previously assessed as safe can still catastrophically collapse. Does Scotland have to have a tragedy before ministers take this seriously?

This issue has been bubbling up for months and its ridiculous that the Scottish Government have failed to use the summer to rigorously assess the scale of the problem and get repairs under way.

Teachers union NASUWTs general secretary Patrick Roach called for an immediate survey of school buildings.

He said: We are calling on the Scottish Government to urgently take steps to assess the safety of the schools estate.

We need to be clear about which buildings may be affected by Raac and what plans are in place to ensure childrens education faces minimum disruption if their schools are found to be unsafe.
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The fugitive stepmother of a 10-year-old girl who was found dead at her home in Woking, Surrey, should come back to the UK and tell the police exactly what happened, her relative has said.

The body of Sara Sharif was found at a property on Hammond Road after police were called from Pakistan by her father Urfan Sharif on August 10.

Mr Sharif, 41, his partner, Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother, Faisal Malik, 28, are thought to have travelled to Islamabad on August 9 and are wanted for questioning.

They travelled with five children aged between one and 13 years old, police said.

A cousin of Ms Batool has now urged her to hand herself in to the police.

The relative, who asked not to be named, told Sky News: Beinash should come back to the UK.

I dont know where she is. But Im worried about her. Im worried about her kids.

She should come back to the UK, go to the police and tell them exactly what happened.

She added: I dont know  my family dont know  what happened. It could have been an accident; a misunderstanding.

Ms Batools cousin, who is originally from Gujrat in Pakistan, also told the broadcaster Ms Batool was estranged from her parents, having run away to marry Mr Sharif.

The relative told Sky News: The relationship (with her family) is finished.

She married secretly, and her father said, She is not my daughter.

She hasnt spoken to her parents since.

Saras grandfather, Muhammad Sharif, 68, has also urged his son Urfan Sharif to hand himself over to the police.

Muhammad Sharif said his son had briefly visited the family home in the city of Jhelum, Punjab province, earlier this month before he disappeared again.

He said Urfan did not tell him about Saras death.

He told The Sunday Times: We want them to present themselves.

We want them to resolve the matter as the privacy of our house is affected due to frequent police raids.

Surrey Police are continuing to appeal for information to help them piece together a picture of Saras lifestyle prior to her death.

They widened the timescale of their investigation after the post-mortem examination revealed that Sara had suffered multiple and extensive injuries, likely to have been caused over a sustained and extended period of time.

Saras mother, Olga Sharif, is being supported by specialist officers.

Surrey County Council previously told the PA news agency Sara was known to the local authority.

Detective Superintendent Mark Chapman, from the Surrey Police and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, previously said: We know that there will be lots of people in the Woking community and beyond who will have had contact with Sara who may not already have come forward, and we would encourage them to do so.

Any information is better than no information  although you might think its insignificant, it might be vital to the investigation and in helping us to bring justice for Sara.

Lawyers in the UK have said Pakistans government is unlikely to block an extradition request in connection to Saras death.

There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Pakistan but people have been returned from the Asian country before.
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At least 74 people have been killed and dozens more injured after a fire ripped through a building in Johannesburg  one of the deadliest blazes in South Africas history.

At least 12 of those killed were children, the youngest, a one-year-old, according to city and medical officials. They said an undetermined number of people were still missing and many bodies recovered were burned beyond recognition. The building had been abandoned but was being occupied by homeless people.

Some people threw babies out of third-floor windows to others waiting below in the desperate scramble to evacuate, witnesses said.

Around 60 people were injured, six of whom were in a serious condition in the hospital. Emergency services officials had earlier warned that the death toll could rise as they continued to search the scene.

Dozens of bodies recovered by firefighters were laid out on a side road outside the apartment block, some in body bags.

Over 20 years in the service, Ive never come across something like this, Johannesburg Emergency Services Management spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said.

Firefighters were still making their way through the remnants of shacks and other informal structures that littered the inside of the derelict five-story building in the heart of Johannesburgs central business district hours after the fire was extinguished

Authorities hadnt established the cause of the fire but Mgcini Tshwaku, a local government official, said the initial evidence suggested it started with a candle. Inhabitants used candles and fires for light and to keep warm in the winter cold, he said.

Smoke rises from the building amid the deadly fire (X/@ODIRILERAM via Reuters)

Some of the survivors described how they jumped out of windows, but only after tossing their children to others below.

A witness who lives in a building across the road said he saw others also throw babies out of the burning building and that he saw at least one man jump from the third floor and hit the concrete pavement head first.

Another witness who didnt give his name told television news channel eNCA that he lived in a building next door and heard people screaming for help and shouting, We're dying in here. As the fire raged, some occupants got trapped behind locked gates at the exits and it was clear there were no proper fire escape routes, the local official Mr Tshwaku said. People couldnt get out, he said, adding that some of the victims may have died after jumping out of the building.

More than 200 people were living in the building, witnesses said, including in the basement, which should have been used as a parking garage. Others estimated an even higher number of occupants.

Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said 141 families were affected by the tragedy but could not say exactly how many people were in the building when the fire started. Many of the people inside were foreign nationals, he said. That could make identifying victims and tracing the missing hard as many were likely in South Africa illegally, other officials said, and had no South African documents.

Relatives wait for news of their loved ones (AFP via Getty)

Abandoned and broken-down buildings are common and people desperate for some form of accommodation use them for shelter. City authorities refer to the structures as hijacked buildings and they have been a problem for years, if not decades.

Officials initially suggested the building had been occupied by squatters, but Lebogang Isaac Maile, the head of the Human Settlements department for Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, said some of those who died may have been renting from, or were being extorted by, criminal gangs.

There are cartels who prey on who are vulnerable people. Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rental from the people, he told reporters.

This is a great tragedy felt by families whose loved ones perished in this terrible manner, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in televised remarks. I do hope that the investigations into the fire will ... prevent a repeat of such a tragedy.

The building was reportedly owned by the city of Johannesburg and is considered a heritage site, but was not being managed by the city. It was once the site of South Africas notorious pass office, which controlled the movement of Black people under the racist system of apartheid, according to a blue historical plaque hanging at the entrance.

Denied a place in the city, many were ordered to leave Johannesburg, the plaque reads.

Decades later, the deadly fire made the building a modern emblem of the exclusion of poor people in Johannesburg.

Gauteng province police commissioner, Lt Gen Elias Mawela, said police were aware of approximately 700 buildings in central Johannesburg that were derelict and abandoned. He urged city authorities to act and to bar squatters from the burned building in the future.

Associated Press
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A 14-year-old boy who was found dead at a remote Colorado campsite in July along with his mother and aunt weighed only 40 pounds at the time of his death, according to an autopsy report.

Rebecca Vance, Christine Vance and Rebeccas son, whose name has not been released due to his age, all died from malnutrition and hypothermia, autopsy reports obtained by the Colorado Sun revealed.

According to the CDC, the average weight for a 14-year-old boy is 112 pounds, meaning he weighed just over a third of the average weight for males of his age.

None of the three suffered from injuries, the reports also said, but they were all very thin.

Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes previously said the trio had been surviving on soup and other prepackaged items and had cited malnourishment as a possible cause of death. Mr Barnes also hypothesised that the harsh winter conditions could have led to their deaths.

The three were found wearing several layers of clothes and necklaces with crosses, the autopsies noted, adding that Christine Vances necklace included a whistle as well as a wooden cross.

The trio had set out to live an off the grid lifestyle in a mission that was led by Rebecca Vance, according to her stepsister Trevala Jara in an interview with the New York Times.

None of the three had outdoor survival experience, according to the The Colorado Springs Gazette.

Rebecca, however, was so discouraged with the state of the world that she was set on living in a remote destination away from modern stressors, according to Ms Jara.

She explained that Rebecca thought she was protecting her son and our sister, Christine, because she didnt want them to get wrapped up in what the world was coming to in her eyes. The Covid-19 pandemic only intensified her uneasiness with the state of the world, Ms Jara said.

Christine ended up joining the mother-son duo because she thought that if she was with them, they had a better chance of surviving, Ms Jara added.

Gunnison County officials came across three heavily decomposed bodies at the Rocky Mountain campsite after a hiker noticed one of the corpses. One body was in a wooded area that hikers dont usually explore, Sheriff Adam Murdie previously told CBS News, adding that the other two bodies were found in a zipped-up tent. The authorities thought they may have been there for a year, since the bodies were fairly mummified.

Ms Jara told the Times that the trio had left last July to permanently live in a tent near Gold Creek Campground, which is an hours drive from Gunnison, Colorado.
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A shooting outside a shopping centre in the Texas city of Austin left one victim dead and another with critical injuries.

The incident, which also left the gunman dead, took place near The Arboretum on Thursday evening.

Police say that any relationship between the gunman and victims was not immediately known, and Austin Interim Police Chief Robin Henderson declined to give more details about the shooting.

Here is everything we know:

Where and when did the shooting take place?

The violence unfolded at The Arboretum, an upscale outdoor shopping mall on Austins north side.

Authorities say that it started at 5pm on Thursday 31 August and that by 5.07pm responding police had found two people suffering from gunshot wounds.

The shooting is believed to have taken place near the malls Teapioca Lounge.

At 5.11pm, police, firefighters and medics began treating a victim, who was taken to a hospital at 5.17pm. Two other people were also evaluated for minor injuries.

By 5.20pm, two people, one of whom was the gunman, had been declared dead at the scene.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire and Explosives (ATF) and the local bomb squad responded to the scene because of reports of an explosion being heard. However, no explosives were found at the scene, police said.

I would like to offer condolences to the families of the victims, in addition to the multiple witnesses that witnessed the tragedy here today, said Chief Henderson.

Who was killed in the shooting?

Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services say that both people killed in the shooting were adults.

Investigators say they do not yet know if there was any relationship between the gunman and the victims.

Austin police and EMS meet at the Great Hills Baptist Church for a media briefing on Thursday, 31 August, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP)

The identity of the gunman has not yet been released,

Reaction from the owner of the shopping mall

A spokesperson for the Washington Prime Group, the owner of The Arboretum, released a statement following the incident.

We are deeply saddened by this senseless act. The safety of our guests, retailers and employees is our top priority. We are working closely with the Austin Police Department as they investigate this isolated incident, the statement read.
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Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger is seeking to ban cameras from his high-profile trial after bizarrely claiming that the media is honing in on his crotch.

The 28-year-old criminal justice PhD student filed a motion on 24 August asking Judge John Judge to toss cameras from the courtroom where he faces charges for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

In the defence motion, his attorney Anne Taylor argued that past footage from his court appearances had focused heavily on his crotch.

Mr. Kohberger is entitled to defend himself against capital criminal charges without cameras focused on his fly, his attorney wrote.

She added that the media had been warned back in June not to focus solely on Mr Kohberger during the court appearances  but that they had failed to comply.

The in-person hearing to address the request was slated to take place on Friday but was vacated the night before.

Instead, a scheduling conference was held over Zoom with Latah County Judge John Judge deciding to rescheduled the hearing for 13 September.

A group of media outlets have pushed back on the defences request motion, asking the judge to allow cameras to remain in the courtroom for his future hearings and the trial.

In response, the group argued that no photographic or film coverage had focused on his fly  pointing out that an image included in the defence motion came from a social media post and not a media outlets coverage.

Although Mr. Kohberger argues that he is entitled to defend himself against capital charges without cameras focused on his fly, that assertion misstates the role that courtroom camera coverage played in the X social media post that appears at page 3 of his motion. No photographs or camera coverage focused on Mr. Kohbergers fly, it states.

Mr Kohbergers motion to dismiss the indictment has also been rescheduled to 22 September.

The accused mass killer is asking the judge to throw out the case on the grounds of a biased grand jury, inadmissible evidence, lack of sufficient evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct by withholding exculpatory evidence.

His trial had been due to start on 2 October but has now been delayed indefinitely after Mr Kohberger abruptly waived his right to a speedy trial last month.

Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a hearing on 18 August at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho (AP)

Mr Kohberger is facing the death penalty over the brutal murders of the four University of Idaho students.

Back in the early hours of 13 November, he is accused of breaking into an off-campus student home on King Road, Moscow, and stabbing the four students to death with a large, military-style knife.

Two other female roommates lived with the three women at the property and were home at the time of the massacre but survived.

One of the survivors  Dylan Mortensen  came face to face with the masked killer, dressed in head-to-toe black and with bushy eyebrows, as he left the home in the aftermath of the murders, according to the criminal affidavit.

For more than six weeks, the college town of Moscow was plunged into fear as the accused killer remained at large with no arrests made and no suspects named.

Then, on 30 December, law enforcement suddenly swooped on Mr Kohbergers family home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania and arrested him for the quadruple murders.

He was tied to the murders through his DNA found on a knife sheath left on the bed next to Mogens butchered body.

The motive remains unknown and it is still unclear what connection the WSU PhD student had to the University of Idaho students  if any  prior to the murders. The murder weapon  a fixed-blade knife  has never been found.

As a criminal justice PhD student at WSU, Mr Kohberger lived just 15 minutes from the victims over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman.

He had moved there from Pennsylvania and began his studies there that summer, having just completed his first semester before his arrest.

Before this, he studied criminology at DeSales University  first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022.

While there, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland who interviewed the BTK serial killer and co-wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer with him.

He also carried out a research project to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.
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An extremely dangerous murder convict has escaped from a Pennsylvania prison prompting authorities to launch a manhunt.

Danelo Cavalcante, a 34-year-old man who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death, escaped from Chester County Prison in West Chester around 8.45am on Thursday, said the countys district attorney Deb Ryan.

She said the convict is considered an extremely dangerous man and urged for the publics help in locating him.

Cavalcante was convicted on 16 August for the murder of his 33-year-old former girlfriend Deborah Brandao in April 2021 in front of her children. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for stabbing the woman to death.

He is also wanted for a homicide in 2017 in Brazil, the US Marshals Service for Philadelphia said.

A search of the prison and surrounding area is currently being conducted, the Chester Countys district attorney office said.

Notification of the escape has been communicated to all residents within a six-mile radius of the prison. Chester County Detectives and the Pennsylvania State Police are conducting a thorough county-wide search, and prison officials are conducting an internal investigation, it said.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, was sentenced to life in prison (Chester County District Attorneys Office)

Ms Ryan said Cavalcante was last seen walking on Wawaset Road in Pocopson Township around 9.40am after his escape.

He was wearing a white T-shirt, grey shorts and white sneakers.

Cavalcante was described as a Brazilian man with a 5-foot height and light complexion, shaggy black curly hair and brown eyes. He speaks Portuguese and Spanish.

Authorities urged people to not approach Cavalcante and released his pictures from when he was last seen.

The Marshals Service and the Chester County district attorneys office have offered a combined reward of $10,000 for information leading to an arrest.

Cavalcante killed his ex-girlfriend in Schuylkill Township in front of the victims seven-year-old daughter and a three-year-old before fleeing to Virginia.

Ms Ryan had called it a heartbreaking tragedy.

Two children are left without a mother. The pain these children and all of Deborahs loved ones are enduring as a result of this depravity is horrific, she said.
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A prominent member of the neo-fascist Proud Boys gang who led a mob of dozens of members into the US Capitol on January 6 has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, one of the largest sentences to date in connection with the assault in the halls of Congress.

Ethan Nordean, who used the alias Rufio Panman, was convicted of seditious conspiracy along with three other Proud Boys earlier this year for conspiring to forcefully oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power, then unleashed mob violence to upend an American election.

The men were also convicted on a number of other felonies, including counts of obstruction and destruction of government property, among other charges.

Nordean, characterised in charging documents as the self-described Sergeant of Arms for a Seattle chapter of the far-right group, is the fourth of five Proud Boys defendants to receive some of the longest prison sentences to date in connection with the attack.

Now-former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio will be sentenced on 5 September. Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of 33 years, what would be the largest yet for any January 6 defendant.

Federal prison sentencing guidelines suggested Nordean could be sentenced to 27 to 33 years. Prosecutors sought 27 years.

At a sentencing hearing on 1 September in Washington DC, US District Judge Timothy Kelly determined that Nordeans destruction amounted to terrorism, adding what is called an enhancement to the sentencing guidelines for the crime of destruction of government property.

The judge applied the same enhancements to three other Proud Boys sentenced this week but has thus far refrained from imposing larger prison sentences for crimes he has contrasted to mass casualty events.

Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 years, Zachary Rehl was sentenced to 15 years, and Dominic Pezzola  the sole co-defendant who was not convicted of seditious conspiracy  was sentenced to 10 years, some of the largest sentences yet among the hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

Nordeans sentence is the longest among all Capitol riot cases thus far, alongside Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was also convicted of seditious conspiracy and similarly sentenced to 18 years in prison.

From left, Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean and Joe Biggs are pictured marching toward the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021 (AP)

Prosecutors argued that Nordean and his co-defendants directed, mobilized and led a crowd of 200 supporters towards the Capitol on January 6, leading to dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, breaching of the Capitol building, and assaults on law enforcement, then bragged about their actions on social media and in group chat messages that were later shared with jurors.

Nordean gained notoriety among far-right circles after knocking a man unconscious during Proud Boys brawls with antifascist demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, a moment that sparked a violent turning point in the groups street-level presence and recruitment, exploiting white male rage and relying on semi-ironic posturing and barroom culture to launder its violence and toxic bigotry.

Why dont we just fash the f*** out so we dont have to deal with these problems anymore? Nordean wrote in a Proud Boys group chat. Live free or die hard.

After then-President Trump told the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by during a televised presidential debate, members of the group and their allies heard it as a call to action. He said our name! Nordean wrote.

Prosecutors also argued that Nordean was instrumental in recruiting Proud Boys to march alongside them in Washington DC.

Two weeks before 6 January, 2021, Nordean posted on the social media platform Parler that anyone looking to help us with safety/protective gear, or communications equipment it would be much appreciated, things have gotten more dangerous for us this past year, anything helps. Two days before the siege, he posted a video with himself and other Proud Boys wearing tactical gear. Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us, the caption read.

Nordean, like his co-defendants, repeatedly echoed the former presidents bogus assertions of voter fraud and manipulation, including in an hour-long podcast posted to his social media in which he baselessly raged against blatant, rampant voter fraud in the 2020 election.

He also called on the Proud Boys to bring back that original spirit of 1776 of what really established the character of what America is.

It is apparent now more than ever, that if you are a patriot, you will be targeted and they will come after you, he wrote on Parler one day before the attack. [F]unny thing is that they dont realize is, is we are coming for them.

After leading Proud Boys and other members of the mob around and into the Capitol, Nordean posted a picture of a US Capitol Police officer, writing that if you feel bad for the police, you are part of the problem.

They care more about federal property (our property) than protecting and serving the people. BACK THE BLACK AND YELLOW, wrote Nordean, referencing the Proud Boys colours.

In remarks at his sentencing hearing on Friday, Nordean said he would challenge anyone who is proud of what happened [on January 6] to imagine it was your loved one who didnt come home that day.

I would like to apologize for my lack of leadership that day, he said.
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The Ohio police department whose officer fatally shot a pregnant woman through her car windshield has released body camera footage of the incident.

The footage captures the moments leading up to the Kroger parking lot shooting from 24 August, involving 21-year-old TaKiya Young and two Blendon Township police officers. One officer, standing next to the drivers side of the vehicle, asked Young to get out of the parked car. The other officer was standing in front of the car, with his gun pointed toward her.

Young refused to get out of the car and started driving away, hitting the officer in front of the car  a bang can be heard from the footage. Thats when this officer shot at her through her cars windshield. The bullet hole that punctured the windshield is clearly visible in the footage.

The officers then ran after her vehicle, yelling for her to get out of the goddamn car and tried opening the drivers car door as Young swerved onto the sidewalk near a storefront. Officers then smashed onto the driver-side window until it shattered, revealing Young facing away from the window.

The entire incident transpired over accusations that Young stole items from the grocery store.

The police chief previously said that a supermarket employee alerted officers  who happened to be at the store on an unrelated matter  that people were fleeing from the store with stolen items, a group that included Young. She had allegedly stolen multiple bottles of alcohol.

Young died at Mount Carmel St. Anns from her injuries, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Her family told the outlet that the baby girl she was carrying also did not survive; her daughter was reportedly due in November.

Young was the mother of a six-year-old son and a three-year-old son.

Last week, there was a tragedy in our community, Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford wrote in a statement on Facebook. In a parking lot outside a local grocery store, a theft suspect drove her car into one of my officers and the officer fired a single shot through the windshield. She was struck by the bullet and later died.

Mr Belford added that the officer who fired the weapon was placed on administrative leave and out of an abundance of caution, the other officer on the scene was also placed on administrative leave. After reviewing the footage, Mr Belford said that the second officer has since returned to duty, as our staffing is already very limited, and we must continue to protect and serve our township.

The police chief also said that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent investigation into the incident.

Because Young drove her car directly at an officer and struck him, Chief Belford said, that officer became a victim of attempted vehicular assault. When Ms. Young pulled away from Officer #2 while his hand and part of his arm was still in the drivers side window, Officer #2 became a victim of misdemeanor assault.

He also clarified a few details that were not seen in the footage. Just 10 seconds after the officers got Young out of the car, the officer who fired the shot called for EMS, and then sprinted back to his car to get a trauma kit and wound seal and then sprinted back and began to use it to stop bleeding.

A minute later, that officer ran back from his car and applied a chest seal to her wound to try to stop the bleeding. Shortly after, an ER physician approached the officers and began providing medical attention. Nine minutes after the call was made, EMS arrived on the scene and took over Youngs treatment.

A statement on behalf of Youngs family, which was released after viewing the footage, called the 21-year-olds death avoidable, a gross misuse of power and authority and a hateful act.

TaKiya was a beacon of love, strength and energy to all who knew her, the statement said. Her tragic passing has left a void that words cant describe, especially for her two young sons, who must now grow up without the love and guidance of their mother, and while coming to understand the circumstances that led to her homicide.

Her family also called for a swift indictment of the officer who fired the shot. This incident goes beyond the obvious policy violations that occurred, the statement said. After seeing the video footage of her death, this is clearly a criminal act.
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One inmate has been killed in a mass stabbing at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta where former President Donald Trump was booked and had his mug shot taken earlier this month.

Natalie Ammons at the Fulton County Sheriffs Office told CNN that the situation was under control by Thursday afternoon and an investigation was now underway.

It is the fifth death of a Fulton County Jil inmate since the end of July, according to the news network.

The Department of Justice started a civil rights investigation in July looking into the jails unsanitary and dilapidated conditions as well as into violence against inmates held there.

Mr Trump and his 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case were booked at the jail earlier this month. One of them, Harrison Floyd, was held there after not being able to reach a bond agreement before he was released on Wednesday.

The Fulton County Jail is also known by the nickname Rice Street as it is notoriously overcrowded and in poor repair, with a reputation for unhygienic living conditions.

Its miserable. Its cold. It smells. Its just generally unpleasant, veteran defence attorney Robert G Rubin told The New York Times. Plus, theres a high degree of anxiety for any defendant thats in that position.

The facility was considered state of the art when it was built in 1985 to hold 1,300 inmates. In recent years, it has been forced to house closer to 3,000 people, with an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) report from September 2022 observing that hundreds of people were being held at Fulton County Jail for longer than 90 days because they had not yet been formally charged or could not afford to pay off their bail bond.

Another 117 had been held for more than a year because they had not been indicted and two more for over two years for the same reason, the report said.

Fallon McClure, deputy director of policy and advocacy at the ACLU of Georgia, told the BBC the jail had essentially been overcrowded since it was built.

This has just been a perpetual cycle over and over for years, she added, expressing pessimism that a long-touted $1.7bn replacement containment facility would ever be built.

Theres been a lot of talk of cleaning it up. We have not really seen or heard anything particularly significant. It seems like a lot of posturing.

Another recent report by the Southern Center for Human Rights recounted outbreaks of Covid-19, lice, scabies and cachexia, an affliction otherwise known as wasting syndrome, which hits those who are significantly malnourished.

Multiple people have died in Fulton County custody this year, according to the BBC, including 19-year-old Noni Battiste-Kosoko in July and a 34-year-old man who was found unconscious in a medical unit cell.

In September last year, another inmate, Lashawn Thompson, 35, died after being housed in a cell his lawyer likened to a torture chamber.

The prisoner had spent three months in the jails psychiatric ward before he passed away and an independent medical review concluded that while his untreated decompensated schizophrenia had played a role in his death, so had dehydration, malnutrition and severe body infestation with insects, including lice and bed bugs.

Were just letting people literally rot away there, Sarah Flack, another local defence attorney, lamented to Insider.
 Close Rachel Morin: Maryland police release CCTV of suspect

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Rachel Morins family are pleading for information that leads to an arrest more than a month after her body was found on the Ma & Pa Trail after she failed to return home from an evening hike.

Authorities in Harford County, Maryland, continue to hunt for Morins killer amid fears that the suspect could strike again.

Police previously released footage from the scene of a home invasion and assault in Los Angeles, where DNA found matched DNA at the Morin crime scene.

But despite the developments, investigators have yet to make any arrests in the case.

Morins brother Michael Morin told NewsNation on Wednesday that his family was hopeful somebody would provide the key piece of information needed to bring the suspect to justice.

We only need one lead. We need a last name, we already have DNA and video, Mr Morin said.

Last week, Morins sister Rebekah Morin shared a behavioural profile built by a volunteer criminal profiler.

It suggested that the killer has psychopathic traits and may have travelled to Bel Air because he knew someone in the tight-knit community.
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A lockdown at Rhode Island TF Green International Airport has been lifted after a call reporting a man with a rifle in a parking garage was determined to be unfounded.

Law enforcement has determined there is no credible security threat at R.I. T.F. Green International Airport. RIAC has lifted the precautionary airport lockdown, the airport wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Friday afternoon. Travelers are asked to check with their airlines regarding potential delays.

The airport wrote on X on Friday morning: Rhode Island T.F. Green Airport is currently in lockdown as law enforcement addresses a potential security threat. Travelers are asked to delay arrivals at the airport at this time. More information will be provided when available.

Both state and local police responded to the airport, according to WPRI.

We received a call of a possible threat at the airport, multiple agencies are investigating now and conducting a search of the parking lots, Warwick Police Chief Bradford Connor told the TV station before the threat was determined to be unfounded.

State police added that troopers established a perimeter surrounding a parking garage, adding that a Warwick SWAT team worked on clearing the building.

Preliminary, what we have is the call came into Warwick police about a potential suspect with a rifle, state police Col Darnell Weaver said, according to WPRI. They responded to the area, it was isolated to the parking garage, not the actual terminal.

Police told travellers that the airport was closed and that they blocked the entrances.

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation said that all travel lanes going towards TF Green on the airport connector were also closed.

WJAR reporter Joanna Bouras tweeted earlier on Friday: Warwick Police, airport police, and Rhode Island State police are actively investigating at TF Green airport ... several people are sitting across the street on Post Rd. waiting for information on their flights.

The Warwick Officer in Charge tells me someone called the police department saying they have a rifle and then hung up ... they tell me they have not confirmed whether or not its true, she added at the time.

The caller said there was a man with a gun in a parking garage, prompting the arrival of the SWAT team.

Floridian Robert Souza told WPRI: We were actually trying to get out of our hotel, trying to get an Uber, but couldnt. The roads blocked off from both ways, couldnt get in.

I couldnt get off the Airport Connector to the airport, so I went onto Post Road and there are cops everywhere and just couldnt get through, Mary Lou Medeiros told the station. Nobody knew what was going on initially, and there were two cops here and they said it was a security issue.

WPRI reporter Tim White tweeted before the all-clear was given that flights going into TF Green have been diverted to other airports after caller claims person with a gun was spotted in an airport parking garage. So far its unfounded.

Police urge you to avoid area as roads to the airport are closed, he added at the time.
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A mother from Utah who operated a YouTube channel that offered parenting advice has been arrested on charges related to child abuse.

Ruby Franke, who formerly operated the 8 Passengers family YouTube channel, was arrested on Wednesday after officials said they discovered a malnourished minor with visible injuries and duct tape on their limbs.

Ms Frankes business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, faces similar charges and was also arrested.

The two frequently collaborated on producing content, particularly videos offering guidance on relationships and parenting for Hildebrandts life counselling service known as ConneXions.

ConneXions has previously come under scrutiny for its parenting philosophy, it was reported.

The Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department said in a statement on Thursday that they received a report about a juvenile requiring assistance at 10.50am on Wednesday morning.

The juvenile was described as emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities.

The condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Ivins EMS and transported to a local area hospital, the press release said.

The release explained that, based on the evidence gathered, officers proceeded to a nearby residence where they discovered another juvenile in a comparable condition. This second juvenile was subsequently transported to a local hospital to receive medical attention.

Following a search of the residence where the severely undernourished juveniles were located, four minors were entrusted to the custody of the Department of Child and Family Services.

Ruby Franke gained widespread recognition in 2015 via the YouTube channel 8 Passengers which showcased her husband Kevin and their six children.

The channel amassed a substantial following, with nearly 2.3 million subscribers, before it was unexpectedly removed from YouTube earlier this year. The exact reasons for the channels removal from the platform remain unclear.

The Frankes notably strict parenting approach had prompted certain viewers to report them to authorities.

In June 2020, concerned viewers contacted local child protective services after their 15-year-old son Chad disclosed in a video that he had been sleeping on a beanbag for seven months, as reported by Insider.

Ms Franke had told the outlet at the time that this sleeping arrangement was a result of Chads choice, made after he was relocated from sharing a room with his younger brother due to behavioural concerns.

She previously received criticism for her actions in videos where she declined to give lunch to her then-six-year-old child when they forgot to pack their own food as well as for threatening to discard her childrens cherished belongings.
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At least two people were killed and one sustained critical injuries following a shooting outside a shopping centre in Austin, Texas.

The shooting took place shortly after 5pm on Thursday at a business near The Arboretum, an outdoor shopping centre.

Two adults were pronounced dead at the scene, while one person was rushed to a local hospital with "critical life-threatening injuries", the Austin Police Department said.

There didn't appear to be any threat to the public following the gunfire, the Austin police said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The shooter is one of the two killed in the firing, said Austin police interim chief Robin Henderson at a press conference.

At this time the relationship between the suspect and the victims is unknown, she added.

"At 5pm, a 911 call was received of shots fired.... while responding there was information received that multiple shots were fired in the shopping centre," she said, adding at 5.07pm the first units arrived at the scene.

Additionally, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire and Explosives (ATF) and bomb squad responded to the scene, because it was initially reported that there were sounds of an explosion. However, upon inspection, the officers found no traces of explosives.

Two others were also evaluated for minor injuries at the spot, authorities said.

A woman, who was shopping in the area, said she immediately left after receiving a text message from her mother alerting her of the shooting.

Its terrifying. My dad lives in this area. I live in this area. My son goes to school in this area. Its just scary to know that we were just a couple of businesses away from where this happened, the woman told KXAN.

According to witnesses, more than 30 emergency vehicles responded at the scene of the shooting, along with a helicopter.

Police have asked potential witnesses to come forward and submit any photos or videos from the area.
 Close University on lockdown over active shooting situation on campus

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Students at the University of North Carolina are demanding action on gun control in the wake of Mondays deadly Chapel Hill campus shooting.

Around 600 students took part in a rally on Wednesday calling for stricter state gun laws and holding a moment of silence for slain professor Zijie Yan.

The student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel marked the tragedy with a powerful front page on Wednesday, featuring the terrified text messages sent by loved ones to its editor-in-chief during the active situation. The page has gone viral.

Many questions still remain about suspect Tailei Qis motive for the attack as the search for the gun continues.

Mr Qi, a PhD student majoring in applied physical sciences, had complained about the victim online in the lead-up to the attack and railed against hard work, girls and tattletales and bullies in the US.

He was arrested and booked into Orange County Sheriffs Office jail on a first-degree murder charge for fatally shooting Yan, the head of the Department of Applied Sciences.
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Those attending outdoor parties or barbecues in New York City this weekend may notice an uninvited guest looming over their festivities: a police surveillance drone.

The New York City police department plans to pilot the unmanned aircraft in response to complaints about large gatherings, including private events, over Labor Day weekend, officials announced Thursday.

If a caller states theres a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, were going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party, Kaz Daughtry, the assistant NYPD Commissioner, said at a press conference.

The plan drew immediate backlash from privacy and civil liberties advocates, raising questions about whether such drone use violated existing laws for police surveillance.

Its a troubling announcement and it flies in the face of the POST Act, said Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, referring to a 2020 city law that requires the NYPD to disclose its surveillance tactics. Deploying drones in this way is a sci-fi-inspired scenario.

The move was announced during a security briefing focused on Jouvert, an annual Caribbean festival marking the end of slavery that brings thousands of revellers and a heavy police presence to the streets of Brooklyn. Daughtry said the drones would respond to non-priority and priority calls beyond the parade route.

Like many cities, New York is increasingly relying on drones for policing purposes. Data maintained by the city shows the police department has used drones for public safety or emergency purposes 124 times this year, up from just four times in all of 2022. They were spotted in the skies after a parking garage collapse earlier this year and when a giveaway event devolved into teenage mayhem.

Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, has said he wants to see police further embrace the endless potential of drones, citing Israels use of the technology as a blueprint after visiting the country last week.

But as the technology proliferates, privacy advocates say regulations have not kept up, opening the door to intrusive surveillance that would be illegal if conducted by a human police officer.

One of the biggest concerns with the rush to roll out new forms of aerial surveillance is how few protections we have against seeing these cameras aimed at our backyards or even our bedrooms, said Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP).

The NYPD did not respond to an email seeking further information about its drone policies.

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Mayor Adams shared a link to new guidelines that make it easier for private drone operators to fly in the city, but which do not address whether the NYPD has any policies for drone surveillance.

Around 1,400 police departments across the country are currently using drones in some form, according to a recent report from the American Civil Liberty Union. Under federal rules, they are generally limited to flying within the operators line of sight, though many departments have requested exemptions. The report predicted the use of drones was poised to explode among police departments.

Cahn, the privacy advocate, said city officials should be more transparent with the public about how police are currently using drones, with clear guardrails that prevent surveillance overreach in the future.

Clearly, flying a drone over a backyard barbecue is a step too far for many New Yorkers," Cahn said.
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Elon Musk became vehemently anti-woke because of his daughters gender transition, according to a new book on the Tesla boss.

The billionaires right-wing political leanings were partly triggered when his then-16-year-old child, Vivian Jenna Wilson, came out to her aunt. The claim was made by Mr Musks biographer, Walter Isaacson, in an excerpt from his book  entitled Elon Musk  published in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

Hey, Im transgender, and my name is now Jenna, she reportedly texted her aunt. Dont tell my dad.

Ms Wilson was granted a legal name and gender change last June and has severed all ties with her famous father.

According to the book, Mr Musk brands his daughter a Communist who ended her relationship with him because she was brainwashed into thinking that anyone rich is evil by her $50,000-per-year school in California.

Mr Musk said he partly blames the Crossroads School for Arts& Sciences for his daughters change in attitude towards him.

She went beyond socialism to being a full communist and thinking that anyone rich is evil, said Mr Musk, who has a personal worth of $257.5bn.

Elon Musk described the rift with his daughter as one of the most painful things he had ever experienced (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Musk has previously blamed woke schools for his daughters transition, but it is the first time that he has named Crossroads.

Mr Musk said that the rift with his daughter is the most painful thing he has experienced since the death of his first child at 10 weeks old from sudden infant death syndrome.

Her mother is the Canadian writer Justine Wilson, who was married to Mr Musk from 2000 to 2008.

The Independent has reached out to Crossroads for comment.
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An attempted murder suspect described as extremely dangerous managed to escape from an Oregon mental hospital and drive off in a hijacked van  despite being in full shackles.

Oregon State Police said on Thursday that Christopher Pray had been newly transferred to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem when he broke out and drove off in a stolen van.

Mr Pray, who was previously charged with attempted murder and other crimes, was last seen driving south on Interstate 5, the Oregon State Police said on Facebook, calling him a dangerous escapee.

The state police statement said they were notified Wednesday night of the escape.

He eluded law enforcement southbound on Interstate 5, the state police said, without specifying how he managed to escape despite being fully restrained with leg shackles, a belly chain, handcuffs, and a restraint connecting all three together.

Mr Pray faced charges including attempted murder, robbery, assault and felon in possession of a firearm in Multnomah County Circuit Court, where Portland is located, but was sent on Wednesday to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem after he was found unfit to proceed with trial, according to court records.

Mr Pray, who was wearing a white T-shirt, maroon sweatpants and black rubber slippers, is considered extremely dangerous, the police said.

The public is urged to call 911 and report any sightings of him or the white 2016 Dodge Caravan he was driving.

Oregon State Police released this mug shot of Christopher Lee Pray (Oregon State Police)

Oregon State Hospital spokesperson Amber Shoebridge said Pray had an altercation with another patient shortly after he was admitted and needed to be taken away for treatment, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

When he was brought back to the Oregon State Hospital that night, Pray was able to gain control of the van and drive away, OPB reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
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For nearly 30 years, Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have approved millions of taxpayer dollars for an anti-abortion program. Now the state's new governor plans to end the contract as the organization that distributes those funds and other groups like it gain attention since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Pennsylvania plans to end on Dec. 31 its longstanding contract with the nonprofit Real Alternatives, the first organization in the nation to secure significant state and federal subsidies to support anti-abortion counseling centers. Under the program, Real Alternatives distributed the state and federal funds to dozens of Pennsylvania centers, including Catholic Charities, anti-abortion counseling centers and maternity homes, which provide support and housing for pregnant women.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement his administration would not continue that pattern of subsidizing the organization, saying he was steadfast in defending abortion access.

We will ensure women in this Commonwealth receive the reproductive health care they deserve, he said.

The news shocked Eileen Artysh, the executive director of St. Margaret of Castello Maternity Home, which receives money through Real Alternatives to provide housing, materials and parenting counseling. While it's not their entire budget, the loss of funding will impact the centers longevity, she said.

Artysh said many pregnant women who come to the maternity home have already made their choice to have the baby.

Until theres that last penny left, Im in this for the long haul, she said. And the moms that we help  I cant imagine deserting any of them.

Pennsylvania was the first state to enact an official abortion alternative program in the mid-90s. Helmed by then-Gov. Bob Casey, an anti-abortion Democrat, the state began funding alternatives in tandem with a preexisting program that subsidized Planned Parenthoods services for womens health. The funding for both programs had continued under both Republican and Democratic governors in the years since.

Real Alternatives network of centers has seen about 350,000 women at 1.9 million office visits in Pennsylvania, the organization said in a statement. Last year, Pennsylvania sent about $7 million to the group, which distributed those funds to more than 70 centers.

At one point, Real Alternatives was overseeing programs in Indiana and Michigan, and it inspired other states to find ways to fund organizations like it using taxpayer money. Even as Pennsylvania is poised to stop funding the program, the state's move continues to have an impact nationwide.

Michelle Kuppersmith, the executive director for Campaign for Accountability, a watchdog group that has filed complaints against Real Alternatives' use of taxpayer dollars, said Shapiro did the right thing by ending the contract.

Now, just as many states unfortunately looked to Pennsylvania as a model for letting these programs into their states, we urge other states to follow suit in eliminating this spending that is not just wasteful, but actively harmful to the health of their citizens," she said.

Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars across the U.S. have been sent to such organizations, which are typically religiously affiliated. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion last year, Republican-led states have sent more tax dollars to what are sometimes called crisis pregnancy centers, while Democratic-leaning states apply more scrutiny to them.

In Tennessee, which has a near-total abortion ban, legislators approved $20 million in funding for a grant program. Republicans said the money would support struggling families because women could tap into the centers parent counseling classes, diaper banks and other services.

Similarly, Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds proposed doubling the funds for a state program designed to help fund the centers, which launched last year with $500,000 just before Roe was overturned.

In Florida, lawmakers upped the amount the centers could seek from $4.5 million to $25 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year. And governors in Arkansas and West Virginia signed off on spending $1 million on the centers over the next fiscal year.

Meanwhile, Democratic-led state have tried to thwart the centers, which for years have been accused of providing misleading information about abortion and contraception  for example, suggesting that abortion leads to mental health problems or breast cancer.

Colorado lawmakers made it a deceptive trade practice for an organization to advertise that they offer abortions or emergency contraceptives when they do not. But a similar law in Illinois was blocked by a federal judge, who said it violated the First Amendment.

Massachusetts set aside $1 million to launch a public education campaign focused on warning the public of potentially misleading claims from the centers. And in Vermont, pregnancy centers will now be subject to the states existing consumer protection laws  which prohibits false and deceptive advertising.

Even with the scrutiny, the centers have received strong support from those who benefited from their services.

Alyssa MacAfee, 26, was one of them. She was homeless, jobless and in early recovery when she found out she was pregnant. She came to St. Margarets in Pennsylvania six months pregnant and stayed until her daughter was around 5 months old.

Everyone was definitely looking at my situation like, You cannot bring a baby into the world right now, but I knew that I wanted to, she said.

MacAfee said she found the organization to be welcoming; she felt it was for people that had already decided to pursue parenthood.

Since she's left, MacAfee has a job, an apartment and even some of the diapers provided by Saint Margaret.

It turned out to be the biggest blessing life has ever given me, she said.

About $8 million in state subsidies hangs in the balance this year as Pennsylvania completes its budget, with the Shapiro administration looking to send the money to other womens health providers. Abortion opponents called Shapiros decision harmful, and Republicans said the option of using the money for other anti-abortion programs will have to be part of continued budget negotiations.

Its sad because this is a great program, and you take this program away, abortions will substantially increase in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said Kevin Bagatta, president and CEO for Real Alternatives.

Defunding the program was a key budget priority for some Pennsylvania Democrats, and abortion rights groups like Planned Parenthood PA Advocates hailed the decision.

Concerns over abortion access now outweigh the good intentions centers tend to tout, said Laura Antkowiak, a political science professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Its not so much about the substance of the work anymore, but who theyre aligned with and what their position is on abortion that has politicized the centers, she said.

In terms of the political context, I think this is part of a much larger phenomenon in which both sides of the abortion debate are battling over which service providers are going to gain access to public funding, she said.

___

Kruesi reported from Nashville, Tenn. Brooke Schultz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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The son of mushroom poisoning victims Gail and Don Patterson has revealed the heartbreaking final WhatsApp message his mother sent before her death.

Gail and Don Patterson, both aged 70, died after ingesting what Australian authorities believe were death cap mushrooms at a family lunch hosted by their sons estranged wife Erin Patterson, 49, in Gippsland, Victoria, on July 29.

Gails sister Heather Wilkinson also died, while her husband, Ian Wilkinson, is still fighting for his life in hospital.

Simon Patterson, estranged husband of Erin, reportedly fell gravely ill in 2022 after eating one of her meals (Facebook / Simon Patterson)

Victoria Police have launched a homicide investigation, and are treating Ms Patterson as a suspect in the killings.

Erin Patterson has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged by Victoria Police.

At an emotional memorial for his parents in Gippsland on Thursday, Simon Patterson, 49, revealed the final text his mother sent to the family group chat as he lay dying in hospital.

It was no fluke that mums final text message on our family group chat as she lay in Dandenong hospital was: Lots of love to you all, Mr Patterson told 350 mourners, according to the NCA NewsWire.

The 49-year-old described his parents as very much a team, news.com.au reported.

The fact they died in consecutive days reflects the togetherness that they always worked so hard to grow, he said.

Mr Patterson also described his mother and father as people who lived deeply by their Christian faith.

Erin Patterson (7 News)

They acknowledged lifes transience and deaths reality as something that is not right about the world and very sad but also knew that death is not final, he said.

They would always wave goodbye when they parted ways. It was partly because one day would be the last wave.

He added: As mum and dad lay in comas in the hospital in their final days and each day  we were unsure if they would recover or not, it was comforting to know that when we said, See you later, we knew it was true.

The only thing we didnt know was when. In the meantime, well miss them.

Erin Patterson did not attend the service.

The mother of two gave a sworn written statement to police documenting her recollections of the July 29 lunch where she served beef wellington to her four guests.

She claimed she bought the dehydrated mushrooms from a grocer in Mount Waverley at least three months before the lunch and rehydrated them before mixing them into the dish with supermarket-bought mushrooms.

Ms Patterson also admitted she had intentionally disposed of a food dehydrator that police found in a skip bin at the Koonwarra Transfer Station after people began accusing her of intentionally poisoning the meal, according to broadcaster ABC.

Toxicology reports have not confirmed that the lunch guests ingested the poisonous mushrooms, but police initially believed their symptoms were consistent with death cap mushrooms.

Ms Patterson, who was known to expertly pick wild mushrooms, claimed she was also admitted to hospital with stomach pains and diarrhoea following the lunch but survived.

Simon Patterson reportedly became gravely ill and spent 16 days in an induced coma in 2022 after eating one of his wifes meals.
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An endangered brown bear, who was often spotted roaming in Italian towns with her two cubs, was shot dead near a national park on Thursday.

The marsican brown bear died on the outskirts of the town of San Benedetto dei Marsi in the mountainous Abruzzo region, according to a statement posted by the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise.

The park described the slain animal  nicknamed Amarena after the black cherries she loved eating  as one of its most prolific brown bears.

Amarenas death sparked outrage from local politicians and animal rights advocates, as park rangers tried to locate her cubs amid fears for their survival.

Local police identified and questioned the suspected shooter, who said he acted out of fear when he shot Amarena after discovering the mother bear on his property.

Hunting bears is against the law in Italy.

Italys environment minister Gilberto Pichetto said the killing of a marsican bear is a grave episode and that authorities concerned for the bears cubs are doing everything possible so that they can remain free.

The head of World Wildlife Funds Italy office, Luciano Di Tizio called the bears slaying a very grave, unjustifiable crime of nature and the result of a constant campaign against wildlife.

He also said the motherless cubs are too young to be self-sufficient and thus at high risk, triggering the search for them in the parklands.

National Park president Luciano Sammarone was quoted by a local newspaper as saying that the bear had crossed over a private fence, but had no history of attacking humans.

I have a hard time believing that (she was killed) in self-defence, he said, adding that he would wait for the outcome of investigations.

Locals, including families with small children, would stop and watch Amarena and her cubs during their frequent evening excursions through streets of towns near the park.

Amarena was the mother of a four-year-old marsican bear, known as Juan Carrito, who was fatally struck by a car earlier this year.

Juan Carrito earned national fame two years ago, after broke into a bakery and munched on cookies.

The uproar over Amarenas shooting follows an argument over an incident in April when another bear killed a 26-year-old runner in northern Italy.

The death sparked a legal battle between local authorities, who want to kill the bear and another one deemed dangerous, and environmental groups who want to save them.

Additional reporting by agencies.
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A 98-year-old man has been charged as an accessory to murder at a Nazi concentration camp in Germany.

The man, who has not been named, is alleged to have supported the cruel and malicious killing of thousands of prisoners as a member of the SS guard detail at Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1943 and 1945.

In operation from 1936 until April 1945, Sachsenhausen  also known as Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg  was a labour camp known for its medical experimentation area. After the end of the Second World War, when the area was Sovient-occupied, it was used by the secret police agency the NKVD, later renamed the KGB, as a special camp.

The German man, unnamed by prosecutors, was an adolescent when he worked as a SS watchman at the Sachsenhausen camp (AFP via Getty Images)

More than 200,000 prisoners were held at Sachsenhausen between 1936 and 1945, where tens of thousands died of starvation, disease and forced labour alongside medical experiments and SS extermination operations, including shootings, hangings and gassing.

Though the exact figures vary, upper estimates suggest 100,000 people died at Sachsenhausen.

The accused man is a resident of the county of Main-Kinzig, near Frankfurt, and is charged with over 3,300 counts of being an accessory to murder between July 1943 and February 1945.

Filed at the state court in Hanau, prosecutors will now decide whether to send the case to trial. Should the case move forward, the man will be tried under juvenile law to take into account his age at the time of his alleged crimes, with a psychiatric expert adding that the suspect is fit to stand trial at least on a limited basis.

In recent years, German prosecutors have brought several cases to allow for those that helped Nazi camps to function to be prosecuted as an accessory to murder.

In 2021, 96-year-old Irmgard Furchner was caught shortly after going on the run ahead of a court hearing on charges of committing war crimes during World War Two.

A psychiatric assessment in October 2022 of the suspect has found that he is fit to stand trial within certain limits (AFP via Getty Images)

The next year, Furchner was handed a two-year-old suspended sentence for aiding and abetting the murder of 10,505 people and for the attempted murder of five people during her time working as a stenographer and typist at Stutthof concentration camp.

She was accused of being part of the accessory to the function of the camp, where she was alleged to have aided and abetted those in charge in the systematic killing of those imprisoned there.

In July 2020, a court in Hamburg convicted 93-year-old Nazi camp guard Bruno Dey of being an accessory to murder over his time spent at Stutthof concentration camp during the final months of the Second World War.

He was handed a two-year suspended sentence after being convicted of 5,232 counts of accessory to murder - equal to the number of people believed to have been killed at Stutthof during his time there in 1944 and 1945.
 Close Aftermath of Russian missile strike on Ukraine mail depot that killed six

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Vladimir Putins troops have been forced to regroup while suffering over 400 casualties a day in a drive to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, Donetsk, Kyiv claimed.

The enemy is trying to move forward and then we beat them back, Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraines southern groups of forces, said.

So by no means can you speak of a fixed situation of some sort. Heavy fighting is continuing, though activity has subsided somewhat. The enemy is going through some kind of regrouping.

Mr Shtupun said Russian forces had suffered over 400 casualties a day in its campaign which has relied on small assault groups of 30 to 40 men.

Meanwhile, North Korea has shipped over 1,000 containers of military equipment to Russia, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

It said Pyongyang was set to become one of Russias most significant foreign arms suppliers alongside Iran and Belarus.

On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin tested Russias ability to launch a massive retaliatory nuclear strike as he pulled the country out of an international test ban treaty.
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Russia has said that Moscows RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), nicknamed Satan II  capable of carrying ten or more nuclear warheads  has been rolled out on combat duty.

The head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos said that the missiles had entered active duty, the state-run news agency RIA reported. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Sarmat missiles would be deployed for combat duty "soon".

Prior to that, defence committee deputy chairman Aleksey Zhuravlyov had used it as a threat when he was interviewed by state broadcaster TV Russia 1 in May regarding Sweden and Finlands aspirations towards joining Nato in light of Russias invasion of Ukraine. Finland joined the alliance earlier this year, while Sweden is still waiting to be ratified.

Mr Zhuravlyov claimed that Moscow could unleash Satan II to strike back at those nations and at the UK and US, which the Putin regime regards as the key organising forces behind Nato.

If the United States threatens our state, its good: here is the Sarmat for you, and there will be nuclear ashes from you if you think that Russia should not exist, he said.

We can hit with a Sarmat from Siberia, and even reach the UK. And if we strike from Kaliningrad... the hypersonics reaching time is 200 seconds  so go ahead, guys.

The Sarmat ICBM measures approximately 116 feet in length, weighs 220 tonnes and can carry 15 light nuclear warheads at once, arranged as Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicles (MIRVs), meaning a single rocket can hit an array of targets at once.

The missile was developed as a successor to the original Satan ICBM, otherwise known as the R-36 or Voevada, which dates from the Soviet era and could carry only 10 warheads and cover a range of 6,340 to 9,940 miles, compared with Satan IIs superior 6,200-11,180 miles, according to US Center for Strategic and International Studies data.

Mr Putin has repeatedly spoken about the Satan II missiles, saying that make those who, in the heat of frantic, aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country, think twice.

He has claimed that the missile is unlike any available to rival superpowers and that all of its components are manufactured domestically, meaning Russia is not dependent on foreign partners in its production.

Russia has made repeated, barely veiled nuclear threats against its European enemies since the invasion of Ukraine commenced on 24 February 2022, with state television presenter Dmitry Kiselyov declaring at one point that the Sarmat was capable of destroying an area the size of Texas or England.

The Sarmat or Satan II intercontinental ballistic missile (EPA)

Britain has previously dismissed such talk as empty sabre-rattling, with Julian Lewis, chair of the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee, saying: Russia and the Western nuclear states have had the ability to annihilate each other ever since they acquired strategic nuclear bombers, followed by intercontinental ballistic missiles, over 60 years ago.

Putin adding this new missile to his pre-existing overkill capability makes absolutely no difference to the effectiveness of our Trident nuclear deterrent submarines.

Russias defence ministry has admitted that its forces have fired hypersonic ballistic missiles in Ukraine, claiming to have destroyed a fuel depot in the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv and an underground ammunition store in western Ivano-Frankivsk.

Ukraine has confirmed that those targets were hit but has not specified what weapons were used.

Hypersonic missiles like the Kinzhal (Dagger) rockets allegedly being deployed by the Russian Air Force are thought to represent the next generation of arms because they can travel at exceptionally high velocities  up to ten times the speed of sound, which is around 8,000mph.

By comparison, a subsonic cruise missile like the US Air Forces Tomahawk rocket moves at a relatively sluggish 550mph.

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer has argued that the true value of Russias menacingly-named modern arsenal, even beyond reaping destruction at ground level, is giving a certain psychological and propaganda effect.

That is to say, seeking to inspire fear.
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Drone strikes on Russian soil are only set to increase as Ukraine brings Moscows invasion home, a senior Kyiv official has said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said that it has increased strikes on Russian-occupied areas and would also ramp up attacks within Russia itself. Kyiv does not generally directly claim attacks outside of Ukraine, with Mr Podolyak saying such strikes would be carried out by agents or partisans.

As for Russia ... there is an increasing number of attacks by unidentified drones launched from the territory of the Russian Federation, and the number of these attacks will increase, Mr Podolyak told Reuters. This is the stage of the war when hostilities are gradually being transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation.

Drone attacks on Russia have increased sharply recently, with the largest such strikes hitting six regions on one night this week. That assault included two Russian military transport planes being destroyed  and two more damaged  at an airbase in the city of Pskov. Ukraines military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said that the drones were launched from inside Russia. However, in speaking to the War Zone website, Mr Budanov did not say whether the attack  about 400 miles (700km) from the Ukraine border  was carried out by Ukrainian or Russian operatives. We are working from the territory of Russia, he said.

President Zelensky had suggested earlier this week that a new long-range Ukrainian weapon had hit a target 700km away, without saying what the weapon was or where it struck.

The drone strikes continued into Friday, with attacks on three regions. Russias Defence Ministry also claimed to have destroyed a total of 281 Ukrainian drones over the past week, including 29 over the western regions of Russia  indicating the scale of the role drones are now playing in the 18-month war.

On the ground in Ukraine, where Kyiv is trying to break through Russian lines in a counteroffensive that started in June, The US said on Friday that it has seen solid progress by Ukrainian forces in the southern Zaporizhzhia region during the previous three days.

We have noted over the last 72 hours or so some notable progress by Ukrainian armed forces ... in that southern line of advance coming out of the Zaporizhzhia area, and they have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defences, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. That is not to say ... that they arent mindful that theyve still got some tough fighting ahead of them as they try to push further south or that Russia could launch a counter effort, he added.

Mr Podolyak said Kyivs forces were continuing to advance and hoped that Western military aid would continue to come in the months ahead. He added that he believed allies who have poured in billions of pounds of weaponry understood that there could be no kind of accommodation with Moscow.

At the moment, the partners understand that this war will no longer end in a compromise solution  that is, either we destroy Russias capabilities by military means, and to do this we need the appropriate tools, or this war with such level of aggression will continue for some time.

The Kremlin will not like the pressure Kyiv is exerting with its drone strikes. That may have been behind the state-run RIA news agency quoting the head of Russias space agency Roscosmos as saying that the countrys Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads, had been put on combat duty. Mr Kirby said that the White House was not in a position to confirm the reports.

Recommended

In June, Vladimir Putin said that Sarmat missiles would be deployed for combat duty soon. The Russian president has constantly sought to talk up the advanced nature of the missiles in recent years.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
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Ukraines forces have pushed back Russian troops in areas of the countrys south and east as Kyiv pushes on with its counteroffensive  with President Volodymyr Zelensky also claiming that his country has developed a new long-range weapon.

The pronouncement by Mr Zelensky that the unnamed weapon reached a target more than 700km (400 miles) away comes a day after a wave of airstrikes across six regions in Russia. Those strikes included an assault that caused a huge fire at a military airbase in Pskov in northern Russia, damaging several giant military transport planes. That airbase is roughly 700km from the Ukrainian border.

Mr Zelenskys remarks are almost certainly part of the information war with Russia over Moscows 18-month invasion, although he did not give details on the new weapon other than the fact it was produced by Ukraines Ministry of Strategic Industries. But it is certainly the clearest suggestion that Kyiv was behind the attack.

Ukraine has upped the number of drones attacks on Russian territory in recent weeks, but rarely officially claims them. Western allies of Kyiv are wary of such attacks, although Mr Zelensky has repeatedly said that his nation has the right to hit military targets. Russia reported overnight drone attacks in its Bryansk region on Thursday and said it had shot down a missile fired on occupied Crimea.

On the ground in Ukraine, Kyiv's troops have secured some new successes in the south and east.

Ukraines foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has said this week that recent gains on the southern front could enable them to recapture the annexed Crimean peninsula.

He suggested those who criticised the pace of its three-month-old counteroffensive to shut up  the sharpest signal yet of Kyivs frustration with some Western officials, quoted in US media reports, that Kyivs troops are moving too slowly.

Criticising the slow pace of [the] counteroffensive equals ... spitting into the face of [the] Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward and liberating one kilometre of Ukrainian soil after another, Mr Kuleba said. I would recommend all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine and try to liberate one square centimetre by themselves, he said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Spain.

After months of fighting their way through heavy minefields, Ukraine's forces have finally reached the main Russian defensive lines in the Zaporizhzhia region, in recent days. If troops can find a way past anti-tank defences and other Russian traps, a further advance there would provide the first test of Russias deeper defences, which Ukraine hopes will be more vulnerable and less heavily mined than the areas its troops have traversed so far.

Elsewhere, the Foreign Office confirmed the death of a British man whose family said he was fighting in Ukraine. Samuel Newey, 22, from Solihull in the West Midlands, was killed in action on Wednesday in eastern Ukraine, his brother, Daniel, said in a social media post.

Meanwhile, BAE Systems said it had established a local entity in Ukraine and signed deals with the Ukrainian government to help ramp-up the supply of weapons, equipment and training to the country. Britain is a key defence supplier for Ukraine and BAE, as the UKs biggest defence contractor, has manufactured a significant amount of the hardware provided to Kyiv.

The new agreements will facilitate BAEs future support by helping it better understand Ukraines capability requirements, and they will also allow the company to work directly with Ukrainian partners with a plan to produce 105mm light guns there.

Reuters contributed to this report
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The massive drone attack across multiple regions of Russia into Wednesday marked Ukraine's largest attack on Russian soil since the start of Vladimir Putin's invasion 18 months ago.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said it is one of 25 such attacks on Russia during August as Kyiv increases its attempts to "bring the war home" to Russia and destroy equipment that would be used on the frontline in Ukraine. The MoD believes that Russian air defences are likely having difficulty detecting and destroying the drones, given the number of drones hitting their targets.

Follow the latest on the Ukraine war in our live blog here

For Ukraine, their own mission to down drones coming from Russia, a constant menace throughout the war, is being added by the US-made 'Vampire' rocket system. The Vampire consists of a laser-guided-missile launcher that houses four rockets and can quickly be installed in a military  or even civilian  truck with a flat bed. It can fire BAE Systems Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System rockets outfitted with fuses designed to detonate near a drone.

The Vampire, which stands for Vehicle Agnostic Modular Palletised ISR Rocket Equipment, has one major aim. As the Pentagon's undersecretary of defense for policy Colin Kahl, put it, the launcher uses small missiles, essentially, to shoot [drones] out of the sky.

The laser-guided element allows it to be very accurate, without being as hi-tech as other systems being sent by Western allies. There are other advantages to the system too. The cost per missile is about $27,000 (21,000), which is expensive for a single munition but relatively cheap for guided missile. The fact that it can be added to most flatbed trucks is useful, with Ukraine's ground forces having proved resourceful in adapting a number of vehicles to house the weapons they need.

Ukraine air defences have had to shoot Russian drones out of the sky for almost all of Moscows 18-month invasion (Reuters)

Air defence systems like the Vampire give Ukrainian forces the option to swiftly  and relatively cheaply  combat Russia's kamikaze drones, offering them the ability to keep their most advanced anti-aircraft systems for areas where they are most important. With many air defence systems built to take down airplanes, helicopters and missiles, small drones can prove a costly problem. While there is scope for advanced technology drones to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to produce, but smaller ones can cost thousands or even hundreds of pounds. Missiles used to shoot them down can also cost hundreds of thousands, making the four-barrel Vampire rocket launcher system a relative steal.

The Pentagon has confirmed that the Vampire, which is also able to strike ground units, is now being used by Ukrainian forces. Initial Vampire systems have been delivered and are in operation by Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Pentagons Acquisition and Sustainment Office said in statement. The company that makes the counter-drone system, L3Harris Technologies Inc have said that four of the 14 systems that make up a $40m contract signed in January, arrived in Ukraine in the middle of the year. The contract calls for the other 10 to be delivered by the end of 2023.

While the bulk of US military support to Ukraine comes from existing stock, the contact for the Vampires comes directly under the billions of dollars set forth as part of Washington's Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. It is the first time the system has been deployed in a combat zone  and it will prove extremely useful to Ukraine in a conflict where drones are playing an increasingly important role.
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Tech billionaire Elon Musk is being criticised for his silence after a man in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to death for his comments against the government on X, the social media platform owned by him.

On 10 July 2023, a counterterrorism tribunal in the country convicted Muhammad al-Ghamdi for criticising authorising on Twitter and YouTube, said Human Rights Watch.

Arrested on 11 June last year, the 54-year-old retired teacher was kept in solitary confinement for four months before he was found guilty of describing the King or the Crown Prince in a way that undermines religion or justice.

He was also convicted of supporting a terrorist ideology, communication with a terrorist entity, and publishing false news with the intention of executing a terrorist crime with judgement concluding that he used his accounts on the X, formally Twitter, platform and YouTube to commit his crimes, according to the documents obtained by the rights group.

While rights groups have criticised the conviction, Mr Musk, a self-professed free-speech absolutist, has so far not issued any public statement on the matter. His silence stands out more so because of his commitment earlier last month to cover the legal costs of those being treated unfairly by their employer due to their activities on social media.

If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill, he had posted on 6 August. No limit. Please let us know.

However, raising the question on Mr Musks silence, Sarah Leah-Whitson, executive director of Dawn, an organisation founded by slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi wrote: Why is @ElonMusk silent on Saudi man sentenced to DEATH for his Tweets by Xs second largest owner?

I mean he owns a platform where the second largest investor is a country that literally murders and mutilates the bodies of journalists, we cant exactly be shocked, wrote another user.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia became the second-largest shareholder after Mr Musk of X, formerly Twitter, on the day he closed the deal to buy the social media company.

A federal judge in 2022 dismissed a lawsuit filed by the fiance of Khashoggi against Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, citing president Joe Bidens grant of immunity. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in 2018 allegedly by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Meanwhile, criticising the conviction, HRWs Joey Shea said: Repression in Saudi Arabia has reached a terrifying new stage when a court can hand down the death penalty for nothing more than peaceful tweets.

Saudi authorities have escalated their campaign against all dissent to mind-boggling levels and should reject this travesty of justice.

Saudi authorities have spent billions of dollars trying to rehabilitate their image, but no amount of money can whitewash just how repressive the country has become, said Philip Luther, Amnesty Internationals Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

The death sentence against Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, who has a total of just 10 followers on both of his anonymous Twitter accounts and is accused of nothing other than expressing his opinions on social media, is ludicrous. It is a marked escalation in the kingdoms crackdown on any form of dissent.

According to UK-based human rights group ALQST, in 2022 about 148 executions were carried out in Saudi Arabia  more than twice the number of executions recorded in 2021, reported CNN.
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Scientists have found material from outside of our solar system for the first ever time, according to a controversial Harvard Professor.

The spheres were found in the Pacific Ocean in June. But early analysis has now indicated that the material came from outside of our solar system, carried by an interstellar object that crashed into the Earth in 2014, according to Avi Loeb, a theoretical astrophysicist at Harvard University.

The material could even be of extraterrestrial technological origin because of some unusual characteristics of the material, he said. Professor Loeb has previously claimed that the asteroid may have been artificial, such as an alien spacecraft.

This is a historic discovery because it represents the first time that scientists analyze materials from a large object that arrived to Earth from outside the solar system, Professor Loeb wrote in his announcement.

Professor Loeb has made a number of claims about potential extraterrestrial life and visitors from other solar systems. While has made a number of contributions to astrophysics, he is perhaps best known for his suggestions that Oumuamua, the first interstellar object to visit our solar system, could have been an alien probe.

His regular and often unusual claims have led to some censure from fellow scientists, who say that he is given to sensationalism and is damaging the usual process of discovery. His pronouncements can be attention-grabbing and undermine the usual work of science to check extraordinary claims with extraordinary evidence, they have said.

People are sick of hearing about Avi Loebs wild claims, Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University, told The New York Times in July, when Professor Loeb revealed details of his search. Its polluting good science  conflating the good science we do with this ridiculous sensationalism and sucking all the oxygen out of the room.

Professor Loeb made the most recent claims on Medium, where he has been documenting his trip to the Pacific Ocean to collect materials. In recent years he has been taken with a fireball that fell to Earth in 2014  and has been looking to collect any fragments from it.

He has claimed that details about the fireball indicate that it had come from outside of our solar system. Those claims have proven controversial  though they have been accepted for publication in the prestigious Astrophysical Journal, after initially being rejected  because scientists have argued there is not significant enough proof to indicate it really was an interstellar visitor.

Nonetheless, in recent months Professor Loeb and his team have been scouring the Pacific Ocean for any fragments from that object, and in June they announced that they had successfully gathered some examples. Those samples have since undergone testing by scientists.

Now Professor Loeb says that analysis shows that the materials are from a meter-size object that originated from outside the solar system. A number of details about the material indicated that it was of interstellar origin, he said.

He pointed particularly to the amount of beryllium, lanthanum and uranium (or BeLaU) in the objects. That set them apart from other samples not found in the path of the object  and also from objects that would normally be expected to have been formed on the Earth, the Moon or Mars, he said.

Professor Loeb said he he was confident that more objects would be found like IM1, the name he has given to that object he claimed to be an interstellar visitor. He suggested that there could be a few million such objects reside within the orbit of the Earth around the Sun at any given time and that some of them may represent technological space trash from other civilizations.

He also criticised those many scientists who have expressed scepticism about his claims, joking that he was running away from colleagues who have strong opinions without seeking evidence, and I am running towards a higher intelligence in interstellar space and saying that he wishes his critics happiness and prosperity.
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The recent launch of an anticipated Threads feature seems to have done little to attract more users onto the platform, new data suggests.

Instagrams Threads, launched in early July, swiftly became the fastest-growing app in the world and initially posed as a legitimate rival to Elon Musks platform Twitter, now rebranded as X.

Though launched without key features of its rival, its early strategic roll out at a key time when Twitter was facing widespread backlash for policy changes under Mr Musk helped Threads quickly accumulate users.

But weeks since its launch, Threads lacked one of the most basic features of social networks  to be able to use it outside of an app.

Last week, the Threads web app was finally rolled out, with the platforms chief and Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announcing that the web experience was available for everyone at threads.net.

Let us know what you think, he said.

While in the US, Threads website use jumped up by a fifth over the past week compared to the week prior, how this traffic may have contributed to the onboarding of new users remains unclear.

Globally, the traffic increase to the platform via the website during this period was also only 3 per cent, according to digital intelligence firm Similarweb.

In terms of other parameters as well, Threads traffic appears worrying.

Mobile intelligence firm Sensor Tower reported earlier this month that daily active users on Threads dropped over 80 per cent since the platforms launch, with only 8 million users using the app daily.

There isnt much data to also suggest theres a rapid influx of new users signing up to join Threads since its web app launch.

Similarweb speculates that much of the new Threads website visitors in the US were likely just older users moving from the app to the web.

The Meta-owned app is continuing to test and roll out new features to woo in more users.

The company is also starting to test keyword search in Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Mosseri said the tests began on Thursday, and would expand to countries including the US soon.

Get excited  search is coming to Threads, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg posted on Threads along with a GIF of Vin Diesel from the Fast and Furious franchise saying, I bet you gonna enjoy this.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan has revealed 156 schools have been told to partially or fully close buildings because of fears over concrete which could suddenly collapse.

The education secretary said: For scale and context, there are 22,500 schools, were talking about 156, so most parents should not be worried about this at all.

Weve done a lot of work on this in the last few years and most parents should not be concerned.

But, for those 156 schools, 52 already have mitigation in place and we will provide more updates on the 104 as we get it.
A drunk driver speeding on the wrong side of a Nebraska highway called the police on himself.

The incident, caught on video by the Lancaster County Sheriffs Office, happened in March 2023 on Highway 77 in Lancaster County, Nebraska.

Thankfully a Lancaster County Sheriffs deputy was able to arrest this driver before anyone was seriously hurt, the Facebook post read.

Police shared the clip to discourage people from drink driving over the US Labor Day holiday weekend.
The former internal audit head at Irish Nationwide, Killian McMahon, has said he is willing to submit to questioning in San Francisco on foot of an application in the US by lawyers for Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) to depose him.

Mr McMahons evidence is being sought by the bank for use in a case taken by it against former Irish Nationwide boss Michael Fingleton in Dublin.

Mr McMahon will be asked by the special liquidators of IBRC, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, to confirm if Mr Fingleton failed to implement a number of recommendations during his tenure that would have curtailed risky lending at Irish Nationwide.

Mr Fingleton recently failed to prevent a civil case against him from proceeding.

It has been submitted that during Mr McMahons tenure as head of internal audit between 2005 and 2011, Irish Nationwides internal audit department frequently raised issues around loans being issued outside the terms of the applicable lending policies and a failure to properly review the performance of loans.

Mr McMahon was the only qualified accountant in the department.

Now Mr McMahon has contacted lawyers in the US for IBRC and indicated his willingness to be deposed by them for the case against Mr Fingleton.

In an email from Mr McMahon to US lawyers for IBRC on August 5  the day he had been served with the demand to make himself available to be deposed  the former Irish Nationwide executive said he could make himself available on September 18.

A service notice was left with me this morning, the email seen by the Irish Independent notes. What are the next steps?

Morgan Lewis, the US lawyers for IBRC, responded five days later and said a final date for the deposition still has to be decided between the parties.

He has also since had a video call with lawyers at McCann FitzGerald who represent IBRC, in which he expressed his agreement to participate in a deposition.

Mr McMahon and counsel for the applications (IBRC) have met and conferred, and are working diligently on logistics, scheduling and availability for a deposition at a mutually agreeable date and time once the court issues an order, the US-based lawyers for IBRC have told the San Francisco court.

The deposition will take place at the Morgan Lewis office in San Francisco, with some attendees appearing via video-conference, Mr McMahon has been told.
Irish exporters will get extra time before full UK port checks kick in

Traders will not face physical or identity controls until at least October 31, 2024

The Welsh port of Holyhead is one of the main shipping gateways to the UK. Photo: Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg

Sarah Collins Fri 1 Sep 2023 at 03:30

Irish exporters will get at least six months longer than their EU peers to comply with some of the UKs new border controls.
Ulster Bank sold its tracker mortgage loans to AIB and other mortgages to Permanent TSB before it left the Irish banking market

Another bank has admitted a blunder affecting customers, the latest in a string of errors to beset financial institutions.

Ulster Bank is compensating 16,000 mortgage customers after admitting it miscalculated repayments.

In the last month there have been foul-ups by Bank of Ireland, AIB and the Central Bank. The latest comes as KBC Bank Irelands last remaining hub, or branch, was shut for good yesterday as part of the bank leaving Ireland.

Among those affected by the Ulster Bank interest calculation error is mortgage arrears campaigner David Hall.

He was contacted this week and told a cheque is on the way to him over mistakes made in calculating the repayments on a mortgage he has since redeemed after moving house.

The latest payout will be the third time in recent years he has been compensated for miscalculations on the same mortgage, he said. He has received amounts of 5,800 and 9,000 in the past, but has not yet been told how much he is due this time.

Systems across all the banks are not fit for purpose and no one is being held responsible, Mr Hall said. We are seeing mistakes all the time by banks and there are no consequences.

Ulster Bank has been contacting about 16,000 customers to tell them of the latest error.

The average refund is about 350 and most affected customers are due to receive 400 or less.

But around 5,000 customers are due tiny amounts in compensation.

The errors relate to those who were in financial difficulty for a while and were supported by Ulster Banks arrears unit.

Once these borrowers came out of forbearance, an error was made calculating full monthly repayments.

This meant the customers balance did not reduce as quickly as it should have, with more interest incurred than if the error had not happened. Many of the mortgages affected have since been sold by Ulster Bank.

It sold its trackers to AIB and other mortgages to Permanent TSB.

The majority of those affected by the mistake have been contacted, but some have yet to receive calls or letters from Ulster Bank.

An Ulster Bank spokesperson said: Ulster Bank is writing to some mortgage customers who were impacted by up to two errors which meant that their monthly repayment amount was not recalculated correctly and, for some, mortgage repayment amounts were lower than they should have been for a period of time.

Ulster Bank said a compensation payment and any additional interest incurred will be paid to customers who have since redeemed their mortgage.

We sincerely apologise for this, and Ulster Bank is contacting customers to outline the issue and give them their cheques.
Amazon directing users to TV dodgy boxes with targeted search ads

The retail giant is encouraging public to buy dodgy boxes at Amazon through sponsored posts on Google, just as a crackdown is happening here

New crackdown on dodgy boxes in Ireland

Adrian Weckler Fri 1 Sep 2023 at 03:30

Amazon has been directing users to dodgy boxes  devices that receive pirated TV broadcasts via the internet  through localised online ads aimed at Irish people.
American rock band Blink-182 have cancelled their upcoming Irish gigs due to an urgent family matter.

The band issued a statement via social media today saying drummer Travis Barker has had to return to the US to attend to the matter.

Due to an urgent family matter, Travis has had to return home to the States. The Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin shows are being postponed.

More information in regards to his return to Europe and rescheduled dates will be provided as soon as available.

Blink-182 were scheduled to play at the SSE Arena I Belfast on Monday September 4 before heading to Dublin to play the 3Arena on Tuesday September 5. The groups sold-out shows in Glasgow on September 2 and 3 have also been cancelled.
Thirty years after it first aired, its clear the show that said trust no one could only have been a hit in the years between the Cold War and the War on Terror

The X-Files might not look that dated on the surface, but watching it is like stepping back in time.

Launched 30 years ago this month, it captured the 1990s zeitgeist. Although the series ran until May 2002, and was briefly revived between January 2016 and March 2018, its high point is perhaps measured by the four consecutive nominations it received for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmys, starting in 1995. In 1999, reflecting the shifting culture, the shows slot was surrendered to a representative of a new breed of television: The Sopranos.

Still, The X-Files was a powerhouse. At its peak, it was the 11th most-watched show on American television. It spun off into a summer blockbuster film between two of its most popular seasons. It added catchphrases like trust no one and the truth is out there to the lexicon. The shows female protagonist has been credited with encouraging women to take up careers in the sciences, a phenomenon known as the Scully effect.

It was a hotbed for a new generation of television talent, even beyond leads David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, who won an Emmy for her work on the series. The writing staff included future Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan, 24 showrunner and Homeland creator Howard Gordon and The Man in the High Castle creator Frank Spotnitz. It provided early roles for stars such as Ryan Reynolds, Jack Black and even Michael Buble.

Unlike many shows from the era, The X-Files still looks great. It has been remastered in high definition, its early seasons reformatted for widescreen. Allowing for the occasionally blocky mobile phone or ill-fitting suit, there is little in the look of the show to date it in the same way as Columbo or Miami Vice. Its a reminder that, as cultural critic Kurt Andersen has noted, the appearance of the world has changed hardly at all since the early 1990s.

Still, the show is undeniably a product of its era, a time capsule of 1990s anxieties. Many have associated end-of-the-century culture with boundary breakdown and transgression, wrote political theorist Jodi Dean in Aliens in America, especially as heretofore excluded possibilities, be they monsters, the supernatural, or previously repressed sexualities and subjectivities, make their way into the social imaginary. The X-Files certainly made room for such excluded possibilities.

Even more than contemporary shows such as Friends or ER, to revisit The X-Files is to step into a completely different world. It captures what columnist Charles Krauthammer called the unipolar moment, what historian Francis Fukuyama perhaps prematurely declared the end of history, what President George HW Bush named a new world order.

That last turn of phrase is indelibly linked with the conspiracism that snakes through The X-Files. At its core, The X-Files is the story of FBI Agent Fox Spooky Mulder (Duchovny) who, along with his partner Dana Scully (Anderson), investigates little green men and pulls at a thread of conspiracy that is woven through decades of American history back to the end of World War II.

The X-Files was created by Chris Carter, a surfer who grew up in the small town of Bellflower, California. He came of age amid the chaos of Watergate and Vietnam, betrayals that defined a generation of artists like Oliver Stone. The X-Files was frequently compared to Stones 1990s work, especially JFK. Those formative traumas clearly shaped The X-Files. Mulders earliest informant is named Deep Throat, the alias of Watergate informer Mark Felt.

While The X-Files was the child of 1970s paranoid thrillers such as All the Presidents Men, The Parallax View and Three Days of the Condor, it existed in the wake of the Cold War. That conflict had defined American identity since the end of World War II. However, after the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989 and the USSR officially dissolved at the end of 1991, the United States became the sole global superpower.

First season episodes such as Eve and Fallen Angel suggested the shows central conspiracy was an artefact of that conflict, the search for a new adversary. Now that Russia is no longer our very recognisable enemy, we suddenly need to find other enemies and other sources of discontent, Carter explained in December 1994. Thats when we start looking to the skies

However, America also turned its gaze to the past. World War II was now half a century removed, with films of the 1990s, such as Steven Spielbergs Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan and Terrence Malicks The Thin Red Line, attempting to preserve some impression of it. That conflict, which had so defined American identity, was slipping out of living memory. With the Cold War over, there was an opportunity to look at it with clear eyes.

Liberated from the rigid ideological boundaries of the Cold War, The X-Files could challenge Americas understanding of its own history. The second episode of the shows third season, Paper Clip, was named after the plan to smuggle Nazi scientists out of post-war Germany to work on American projects. Episodes such as Nisei and 731 evoked both the horror of Japanese experiments on civilians during the war and Americas own history of human experimentation.

David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) and Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully) in The X-Files

This was a larger debate. The same year that Paper Clip aired, the Smithsonian became embroiled in a debate over an exhibit depicting the atomic bombing of Japan, with many claiming it was too critical of the decision to drop the bomb. The shows conspiracy was headed by a sinister German character named Strughold, who shared his name with former Nazi Hubertus Strughold, who later worked for Nasa and the US Air Force. The latter agreed to remove the real-life Strugholds name from a library just a day before Paper Clip aired. President Bill Clinton apologised for radiation experiments on American citizens.

Conspiracy theories had always been a part of American life, but they became inescapable in the 1990s, fuelled by high-profile tragedies like Ruby Ridge and Waco and spread by emerging networks over the increasingly accessible World Wide Web. Depending on which side of the political aisle one occupied, Clinton was either party to sinister conspiracies or the victim of a vast right-wing conspiracy.

As the show went on, it became anxious about being tied to real-life conspiracism. In the fourth season, episodes such as The Field Where I Died and Unrequited demonstrated anxiety about the militia movement. The series is neither about paramilitary groups nor does it propose revolutionary tactics, Carter explained in press leading up to the first movie, which opened with a scene that had echoes of the Oklahoma City bombing. It only suggests to the audience to question authority and not to trust any institution.

This conspiratorial mindset is the aspect of the show that has aged most uncomfortably, particularly in the era of alternative facts and fake news. It can be difficult to watch The X-Files today, knowing that one in six Americans believes conspiracy theories like QAnon. This may be one reason why the shows revival in 2016 didnt resonate the same way as the original run. What had been a fun thought experiment during the 1990s was now a nightmarish reality.

The X-Files could only really have worked in the context of the 1990s, a period of relative economic prosperity and political stability for the United States, a safe space in which to wrestle with these questions. This may explain why the shows original run only lasted one season past 9/11. Carter himself concedes that things changed after 9/11. According to Carter, people wanted to know the government would protect us and provide us with security after 9/11.

There was only ever one particular window in which The X-Files could have existed, between the end of the Cold War and the start of the War on Terror. Still, for those willing to look, there is still some profound truth to be found in there.

Darren Mooney is author of Opening the X-Files: A Critical History of the Original Series
Meet the Kilkenny farmer battling to save 3ac of his farm being seized by the State

Alex Wilsdon is fighting to keep 3ac of his land out of the residential zoned land tax  and he says hundreds of farmers could be affected without even being aware*

Alex Wilsdon's land borders Kilkenny city - he is pictured here on the land of IFA Carlow chair John Nolan, whose land is on the edge of Carlow town. Photos: Finbarr ORourke

Sarah Slater Fri 1 Sep 2023 at 08:19

A Kilkenny man is leading a nationwide battle against a new law which he says could result in thousands of acres of land being seized from farm families by the State.
For more than half a century, US farmers dominated the international market for corn, shipping more of the critical crop than any other country to feed the world's livestock, fill its stockpiles and manufacture its processed foods.

No more. In the agricultural year ending Aug. 31, the US handed the corn-exporting crown to Brazil. And it might never get it back.

In the 2023 harvest year, the US will account for about 23% of global corn exports, well below Brazil's nearly 32%, US Department of Agriculture data show. Brazil is seen holding onto its lead in the 2024 planting year that begins Sept. 1, too. Only once in data going back to the Kennedy administration did America drop out of first place before: for a single year in 2013 following a devastating drought. The US corn-exporting industry has never before spent two back-to-back years in second place until now.

Losing its lead in corn exports may feel familiar to American farmers, who in the last decade have also relinquished the top spot in both soybean and wheat exports. Soy was the first to go, with Brazil definitively taking the lead in 2013. The next year, the US lost its wheat dominance, too, with the European Union, then Russia, beginning to elbow out American farmers in the global market.

An array of factors is behind the shift: the country's rising costs and a shortage of open farmland, the lingering effects of former president Donald Trump's trade war with China, a strong US dollar. The US today comprises about one-third of global soybean exports, a distant second to Brazil. On wheat, it's now in fifth place, with a single-digit share of the global market.

The steady decline and loss of competitiveness for the US is a blow for a country that has long wielded food as a geopolitical force. At the height of the Cold War, it used its ample supplies as a tool to keep communism from spreading in developing nations and even supplied about a quarter of its wheat to Russia after a crop failure in the early 1970s.

"The US reminds me of the frog being slowly boiled," said Ann Berg, an independent consultant and veteran trader who started her career at Louis Dreyfus Co. in 1974. "It's lost its dominance but it took 40 years."

To be sure, the shift in corn shipments isn't all that unexpected: For years, the federal government has been incentivizing the use of domestically grown corn for ethanol, which is added to gasoline.

About 40% of US corn goes to supply domestic mills making ethanol for use as a transportation fuel though that demand will be at risk as more electric vehicles hit the road. When mills aren't buying, the US corn crop can also be stored in massive silos or grain elevators for future use for years at a time, awaiting better prices.

"In the case of corn and beans, what you're seeing is we're using a lot more of it at home," said Gregg Doud, former chief agriculture negotiator for the United States Trade Representative under the Trump administration. "That's not a bad thing. What's really going on here is that we're making ethanol, we're feeding it to livestock, we're making renewable diesel and we're more energy independent in terms of fuels."

Krista Swanson, an Illinois farmer and the lead economist at the National Corn Growers Association, said a huge crop in the Latin American nation and a shortfall in the US, paired with a weak Brazilian currency, gave Brazil's corn export industry the upper hand this season. She's hoping it's temporary. "We were kind of up against some challenges in the world market this year," she said. "It's hard to compete when throughout May and June, Brazil's market price was 75 cents per bushel lower than the United States."

Still, some of the US corn-industry's challenges competing on a global stage will remain well after the current marketing year. The US has higher labor and transport costs, especially as a continued drought on the Mississippi River clogs the main trade artery for Midwest crops.

Meanwhile, Brazil has been upgrading its ports and infrastructure, closing earlier logistics gaps. Brazil, with its warmer climate, also gets two corn harvests a year, instead of one, giving it a competitive advantage over the US. Even if the US corn sector regains the top exporting spot for a year or two in the near term, given all its obstacles in the global market compared to Brazil, it's unlikely to recapture the crown in the long term.

That's a big shift for a country whose patriotic songbook exalts the nation's "amber waves of grain." At its peak, the US exported 78% of its annual wheat production, 54% of its soybeans and 45% of its corn; in 2024, those figures are forecast to slip to 40%, 43% and 14%, respectively. It's also making up a smaller share of global crop exports overall.

For major agricultural buyer China, Brazil also doesn't come with any of the US's political baggage. Last year, China inked an agreement to purchase Brazilian grains to reduce its dependence on the US and replace supplies from Ukraine cut off by the Russian invasion. Brazil's first shipment of corn under the new deal set sail in November.

Of course, China is still a major buyer of American crops, importing more of the US's corn and soybeans than any other buyer for at least the last two calendar years. But millions of tons of Brazilian crops now flow to China every year, too. In July, China was the leading destination for Brazil's corn shipments at 902,000 tons, up from zero at the same time last year.

Brazil "isn't a close US ally, so Beijing feels confident it could continue to trade with Brazil, even if the relationship with the US deteriorates suddenly," said Even Pay, an agriculture analyst at Trivium China, a policy research consultancy. Brazil also needs more of what China has to offer, like investment in infrastructure and technology, further strengthening its nascent bonds, she said. "It doesn't look likely that the US diplomatic relationship with China will improve much in the near term, which, like it or not, will leave US agriculture at somewhat of a disadvantage."

Bloomberg.
Blood clots could be the cause of the debilitating brain fogs experienced by people after a Covid infection, Oxford University has suggested.

Around 1.9 million people in Britain say they are still experiencing long-Covid, with around 37pc saying they have difficulty concentrating.

A new study by Oxford University has found people who were hospitalised with Covid and went on to have cognitive problems had high levels of two proteins that make the blood clot. It suggests excess clotting during a Covid infection may have caused long-term damage that can still be felt more than two years later.

Experts said blood clots could cause a lack of blood supply to the brain or cause fatigue, both of which can cause cognitive problems.

Although the team did not study infected people who were not hospitalised, they said the findings could still apply, and warned patients in hospital were often treated with anticoagulants, unlike those managing the condition at home.

The results support the hypothesis that blood clots are a cause of post-Covid cognitive problems, said Dr Max Taquet, a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) senior research fellow at the University of Oxford.

The team looked at blood tests from 1,837 people who had been hospitalised with Covid and also suffered serious and persistent problems with thinking, concentration and memory.

Their memory was assessed at six and 12 months after hospitalisation using both a formal test and by asking them their own subjective view about their memory.

Dr Simon Retford, of the University of Central Lancashire, a participant in the study, said: Since my illness I have been plagued by brain fog, concentration-induced fatigue, poor vocabulary, poor memory. I am unable to process the amount and scale of work that I would previously have done stood on my head.

Tests showed patients with brain fog had high levels of a protein called fibrinogen and raised levels of a protein fragment called D-dimer  both of which are involved in clotting.

Experts believe fibrinogen may be directly acting on the brain and its blood vessels, whereas D-dimer often reflects blood clots in the lungs, which would mean brain problems are down to a lack of oxygen.

Prof Chris Brightling, NIHR Senior Investigator and Clinical Professor in Respiratory Medicine, at the University of Leicester, said: One of the things we have been surprised about is the failure of recovery. I am disappointed that a number of people are still having persistent problems more than two years on.

The research was published in the journal Nature Medicine. ( Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2023)
Ask Allison: My daughter has put on weight and let her hair go grey. I worry if her husband leaves, shell have nothing
Eight years on from Direct Provision  Syrian science graduate Salaam looks ahead to his future

Salaam Yateem (29) fled Syria after war broke out. He graduated this week with a science degree from the University of Limerick and now looks forward to a new life with his fiancee Reem

Saleem Yateem, originally from Damascus, was yesterday conferred with an honours BSc in Bioscience from the University of Limerick. Hes pictured with mother Suad Heder (left) and his fiancee Reem Al Salti. Photo: Arthur Ellis

Cian O Broin Fri 1 Sep 2023 at 03:30

A Syrian refugee who fled his war-torn country eight years ago with no English and no possessions has defied the odds by graduating with a science degree from the University of Limerick (UL).
Conor McGregor voice note expressing condolences heard at funeral todayMichael D Higgins and Norma Foley in attendanceMourners told of great cloud over the town this week

Luke McSweeney (24) and his sister Grace McSweeney (18) from Clonmel were laid to rest today.

President Michael D Higgins arriving for the funeral of crash victims Grace McSweeney and her brother Luke McSweeney in St Peter and Paul's Church, Clonmel. Photo: Collins

Mourners follow the hearses which carry the remains of crash victims Grace McSweeney and her brother Luke McSweeney in Clonmel this morning. Photo: Colin Keegan

Mourners at the funeral mass of siblings Luke and Grace McSweeney, who died alongside two other teenagers in a crash in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, last week, heard that the pair were exceptional and extraordinary.

Luke (24) was driving his younger sister Grace (18) and her friends Nicole Murphy (18) and Zoey Coffey (18) to celebrate their Leaving Cert results when the car in which they were travelling crashed last Friday.

Their funeral mass today was told that a great cloud had come over the town in the days since.

Mourners also heard that the town was united in grief with the OReilly family in Cashel, who lost Tom (3) and his grandparents Thomas (45) and Bridget (46)  in a road accident just a few days after the Clonmel crash.

Fr Billy Meehan recalled the moment he got the call from local gardai that there had been a fatal collision on Mountain Road on Friday.

Luke McSweeney (24) and his sister Grace McSweeney (18) from Clonmel were laid to rest today.

He travelled to anoint the bodies, later realising  when he learned the names of those who died  that he had baptised the siblings as babies and even married their parents, Paul and Brigid.

Luke was described as an exceptional young person who was very involved in the GAA and passed along "gems of wisdom to all of his friends.

Grace was full of life and loved dancing, even giving her time to teach younger children gymnastics.

"Her name was Grace  she was grace by nature, she was grace by disposition, said Fr Meehan.

A reflection, written by their parents, was read during the mass, describing Ms McSweeney as a princess who was born to shine and her brother as a warrior.

My gratitude outweighs my sorrow, their mother Brigid said, thanking all those who sent messages of support to the family and for the heroic efforts of emergency services last Friday.

Grace was gentle and very shy and always had to have a friend by her side. Luke was strong, not only in body but also in mind.

Ms McSweeney said her son always wanted to make the world a better place and always aimed to be the best version of himself.

President Michael D Higgins arriving for the funeral of crash victims Grace McSweeney and her brother Luke McSweeney in St Peter and Paul's Church, Clonmel. Photo: Collins

A eulogy, read by friends of both siblings, noted that Mr McSweeney loved his family more than anything in the world and would have done anything for his sister Grace.

There are a lot of people here today who wouldnt have crossed paths if it wasnt for Luke, the mass was told. "Even just 15 minutes with Luke felt like golden time.

He had a larger than life personality, an infectious easy-going nature and gift to connect with people that brought many together.

Luke met his girlfriend Kelly in 2021, and she described him as her best friend and biggest supporter whom she is forever grateful to have known.

A message from his hero Conor McGregor was played out during the mass.

Michael D Higgins attends the funeral of Clonmel crash victim

The MMA fighter sent his condolences to the McSweeney family, saying in a voice note: Conor McGregor here. I just want to send out my condolences to Luke and his family. I just want to say rest in peace, Luke.

I hear many, many things about you. Youre a good man. Im very sad hearing this news and I want to send my well wishes and my condolences.

Grace was described as someone with a free spirit who was a kid at heart always.

Her deputy principal said it was an honour and a privilege to be part of her life, adding that Grace was an extraordinary gymnast and dancer.

Luke was described as an exceptional young person while Grace was full of life and loved dancing

She had a warmth and kindness that was exemplary and the young gymnasts that she taught would continue to admire her and will aspire to be just like her.

Her friend Zoey Coffey was her partner in crime and her best friend who will remain together forever now in heaven and in our hearts.

"Grace was a credit to a wonderful close-knit family who have always been quite rightly proud of their beautiful kind daughter and sister.

All shops and businesses in the town of Clonmel closed today while the funeral mass took place.

Among those who filled St Peter and Pauls Church were President Michael D Higgins and the Education Minister Norma Foley.

The siblings are survived by their mother Brigid, father Paul, brothers Mark and David, Mr McSweeneys girlfriend Kelly, Ms McSweeneys boyfriend Aaron, their aunts, uncles, cousins, relatives, neighbours and large circles of friends.

Nicole Murphy was laid to rest yesterday, while the funeral of her friend Zoey Coffey will take place tomorrow.

Mourners who gathered at St John the Baptist Church in Kilcash yesterday were told how Ms Murphy was someone who lit up a room when she walked in.

Her mother Serena described her as so caring and too good for this world, adding: We only had Nikki for 18 years but they were amazing.

I was so lucky to have been her mother and I thank God every day for giving her to me. We wish we could have had her for eternity, but now she will live in our hearts forever.

Gardai make urgent safety appeal to road users following fifth fatality this week
The census data show for the first time the number of homes with surplus accommodation. Pic. Getty

New data collected during Census 2022 shows that 21pc of Irish households have two or more spare rooms in their homes, prompting calls for homeowners to consider renting a room.

The census data show for the first time the number of homes with surplus accommodation. Some 389,000 households had two or more bedrooms, which adds up to 778,000 unoccupied bedrooms.

There were 110,000 homes in Ireland with three bedrooms that nobody slept in on census night, accounting for 6pc of all households in Ireland with three rooms unoccupied, or about 330,000 unoccupied bedrooms.

It comes as the latest report from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) reveals that the average rent for new tenancies in Dublin has reached a record of 2,102 per month.

Nationally, the standardised average rent in new tenancies was 1,544 in the first quarter of this year, which is an increase of 38 compared with Q4 2022.

The average rent in new tenancies in Cork city stood at 1,490 per month, which is 381 per month higher than for Cork county (1,109).

Average rents for new tenancies have increased by 8.9pc in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest rent index report published yesterday.

Leading housing charities said the alarming findings of rent increases this year are pushing many renters deeper into poverty and at risk of homelessness.

Focus Ireland has said many people working on lower or mid-incomes are struggling to pay their rent as the crisis deepens, and the Government must act in the Budget to help them.

Roughan Mac Namara, Head of Communications at Focus Ireland, said staff were witnessing an increasing number of families and individuals facing evictions from Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenancies due to skyrocketing rents.

The current maximum rent limit on HAP properties is woefully inadequate and urgently needs to be adjusted to realistically reflect the substantial increases in market rents over the past six years, Mr Mac Namara said.

Market rents in the private rental sector have become increasingly unsustainable, especially for low-income and vulnerable groups.

Despite the year-on-year rise in market rents, HAP rates have remained stagnant since 2017. This has led to a growing disparity between HAP rates and market rates, forcing tenants to bridge the financial gap through top-ups.

This growing gap between HAP rates and market rents places an unfair burden on HAP tenants, who, by definition, have extremely limited financial resources.

Meanwhile, Francis Doherty, chief executive of the Peter McVerry Trust, said the timing of the report as students return to college, is a reminder of just how expensive it is for students to secure somewhere to stay.

The price of accommodation is now perhaps the biggest barrier for many students getting to third level, she said.

Housing charity Threshold said the findings were frustrating, but unfortunately no longer surprising.

We see some unusual jumps in Galway county  an annual increase of 13.4pc amounting to 137  and a 15pc increase in south Dublin county which equates to 280, along with a staggering 23.7pc increase in Co Roscommon, amounting to 120, said Ann-Marie OReilly, Threshold national advocacy manager.

St Vincent de Paul recorded a 14pc increase in calls this year with people looking for help with the costs of living.

Dr Tricia Keilthy, head of social justice with the charity, said increasing rents were putting a huge amount of pressure on families.

Wayne Stanley, executive director of the Simon Community, said the figures were further evidence of the need for secure, affordable accommodation.

It is critical the Government continues to invest in public housing and increases delivery, or we will continue to see new records in the levels of homelessness recorded each month. In the immediate future, the Government must review HAP levels.

The report covers the period of January 2023 to March and the Index analysed 14,085 new tenancy registrations.

A spokesman for the Department of Housing said the most effective way to reduce and stabilise rents in the medium to long term is to increase supply and accelerate delivery of housing for the private and social rental sector.

Supply is increasing. The Governments Housing for All Plan is having a real impact. More homes are being built and bought than in a generation, said the spokesman.

14,069 homes were completed in the first half of this year. This is the highest H1 completion total since records began in 2011.

The Government has introduced cost rental, which is a new form of rental tenure designed to assist moderate-income households above the income limits for social housing.

The Governments Housing for All plan targets the delivery of 18,000 Cost Rental homes by 2030, primarily through delivery by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), Local Authorities and the Land Development Agency (LDA).
It is hard for me to even remember his voice and his smile

Patricia Douglas with a photograph of Sean, who has been missing since 1998

The mother of a Co Down man who went missing 25 years ago today has issued a fresh appeal for information.

On the morning of Tuesday, September 1, 1998 Sean Ryan (17), the youngest of five children, left his home in Downpatrick.

His mum Patricia Douglas, who is now in her 70s, last saw him the night before, when he told her he didnt have to return to school until Wednesday.

The following morning she left for work while Sean was still in bed.

Family members say he didnt tell any of them why he left.

Sean Ryan in June 1998

Between the day he disappeared and September 5, there were several sightings of the A-level student.

Sean crossed the border on a bus from Belfast to Galway.

This was the first confirmed sighting.

Patricia recalled her two nephews, who are from Co Donegal, ran in to him on the west coast, and he told them he was going to get a bus and was heading away for a few days.

On September 5 a fisherman gave Sean a lift on the Ennis to Lahinch road in Co Clare, dropping him off near a hostel.

Sean was last seen by a garda, who stopped and talked to him as he walked in the direction of the Cliffs of Moher.

Patricia previously told The Down Recorder: He asked his name, his age, where he was from, and he told the garda he was 18.

But he wasnt; he had only turned 17 that June. Sean told him his right name and that he was going to some house up a lane. That was the last proper sighting.

Sean is 5ft 7ins, with hazel eyes, and has a mole on his left cheek.

He was of medium build at the time and had short brown hair.

When last seen he was wearing blue or brown jeans and a distinctive brown corduroy fur-lined jacket with fur collar.

He also had a silver ring on a finger and was carrying 300.

How Sean Ryan might look today

Speaking previously to the Belfast Telegraph, Patricia said: He had been working during the summer in the local hotel in Downpatrick, in their kitchens.

He was getting ready to go back to school for the second year of his A-levels.

He seemed to be looking forward to going back and seeing his friends, and I had turned up his new trousers the night before.

I had everything ready for him going back to school, but he didnt go.

I went to work and came home, and in the evening time there was no sign of him.

As the night went on I started to get really worried about him. I started making phone calls and looking for him.

It turned out he had taken 300 out of his Post Office savings account that morning. He had very little with him, just a shoulder bag, a jacket and a pair of jeans and a jumper.

Patricia has been left bereft by Seans disappearance, but remains hopeful he will be found safe and well.

She has led a determined effort with the PSNI and the Irish Missing Peoples charity to establish his whereabouts.

The Garda undertook an extensive search along the coastline and at sea in 1998, but to no avail.

Patricia then dedicated her time to contacting hotels in Co Clare for possible leads from hospitality staff, as having worked in the sector, Sean was interested in catering.

She added: Sean was a wonderful person  very kind and helpful.

He rarely complained about anything and is sorely missed.

I miss him terribly, and its hard to remember his voice and his smile.

Ndella Senghore from Missing People said: If anyone has any information about Seans disappearance, they can contact the Missing Peoples helpline.

She added: Sean, if you are reading this, please get in touch. You can call us on 116 000 or email 116000@missingpeople.org.uk. If you are calling from Ireland, call us on +00 44 208 392 4545.

People can visit Seans appeal on the Missing People website, where they can report a sighting, download his missing appeal as a poster and share it as widely as possible on social media. They can also contact Downpatrick PSNI station on 028 4461 5011.
A robot performs for residents at a care home in Germany. Photo: Matthias Bein/picture alliance via Getty Images.

More than 70pc of people in Ireland would be comfortable with care robots looking after the elderly, a new study has found.

A team of researchers from Ireland, Japan and Finland measured the level of concern over ethical issues surrounding the use of robots among elderly people, family carers and care staff.

The team included Dr Naonori Kodate from UCDs School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice.

Researchers gathered 1,130 responses between November 2018 and February 2019, including 208 from Ireland, 260 from Finland and 664 from Japan.

However, just 38pc of respondents to the study in Ireland said they would like to receive care using a care robot in their own home. This is well below the international average of 58pc.

Just 5pc of people said they would never want to use a care robot at home to assist in looking after a family member.

The study was published in Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics and found that 77pc of people in Japan approved of using care robots, followed by 70pc of people in Ireland.

Just 53pc of people in Finland said they were willing to let robots care for older people.

Potential issues with the use of robots in care settings include privacy concerns and how personal information of those receiving care might be used, including the users location.

Another dilemma stems from whether nurses and doctors should be able to access information on the physical health of someone in care, such as vital signs like pulse and blood pressure.

Led by Professor Sayuri Suwa of Chiba University in Japan, the study found a correlation between ethical concerns around care robots

From our results, we can infer that social implementation of care robots can be promoted if developers and researchers encourage potential users to participate in the development process, proposed in the form of a co-design and co-production concept, Prof Suwa said.

We hope that the process of developing care robots will be improved to contribute to human well-being in a global aging society.

The development of care robots is accelerating as the proportion of people in the population aged over 65 continues to grow.

Declining birth rates and aging populations could result in a shortage of carers in the coming years with robots offering a potential solution to the deficit.

It is projected that the number of people aged 65 and older will reach 1.5 billion worldwide by 2050.

Prof Suwa said the use of care robots with monitoring cameras has become commonplace in Japans ageing society to make up for a shortage of carers.

However, there are no discussions among users - older people, family caregivers, and care staff - and developers regarding the willingness to use care robots, the protection of privacy, and the appropriate use of personal information associated with the use of care robots.

The desire to improve this situation and to promote appropriate utilisation of care robots beyond Japan was the impetus for this research, she said.
Georgia Lillis has set up a GoFundMe page to keep the therapy horses near the children she cares for

A woman whose father killed her mother when she was a child has told how her dogs and horses became my family as she tried to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy.

Georgia Lilliss former Bond girl mother Celine Cawley (46) was killed by her father, Eamonn Lillis,at their Dublin home in 2008. Now 30, Georgia says her animals helped get her through the lonely times after her mothers death as she grew up in the family home largely on her own.

She is now desperately searching for new premises for her therapeutic equine centre for children and said: Horses have kept me sane and on this earth through dark times.

Georgia has five months left to find alternative accommodation before she has to leave her rented five-acre Royal Stables therapeutic riding centre in Skerries, Co Dublin. In the last month she has had to turn down a number of offers of land from people in nearby counties, but is intent on staying in the north Co Dublin area.

This is for the sake of the children she works with, most of whom have no transport to travel farther afield and many of whom are not eating or sleeping since learning of the possible closure.

She has a few suitable sites to look at in the area, but needs funds to help her realise the dream for her and the children, many of whom are on the autism spectrum, and so is appealing for donations through a GoFundMe campaign.

Parents say they have seen their children blossom under the guidance of Georgia, who has developed the five-year-old centre into a close-knit, caring community for the children.

I didnt want to go down the GoFundMe route, but its important to have the money in place so we can be ready to go for any suitable land, she said.

We will also have to build stables and an arena to facilitate our sessions and house our horses. We did not plan on this move, so we do not have the funds readily available. Our hand has been forced. I wanted to try and fund it all myself, but the repayments on the bank loans were astronomical.

Georgia said she needs to stay near the children who currently come to her centre.

Im not leaving them behind, she said. Some of the children have shut down completely and have removed themselves from conversations with us. 

The therapy helps with social inclusion, conversation, sensory issues, emotional regulation, self-esteem and so much more.

Georgias film producer mother Celine, who appeared as an actress in 1985 Bond film A View To A Kill, was killed by her Eamonn Lillis in their Howth home.

He went on trial accused of murder, but was convicted of manslaughter by a jury and sentenced to six years and 11 months in prison. With remission, he was released in April 2015.

Georgia has not been in contact with her father since his imprisonment in February 2010 and says she does not want to ever see him again.

I have dyslexia and ADD [attention deficit disorder] so I know how incredibly powerful horse therapy can be. Horses dont judge people, they just care about you and they are good at reading people, she said.

My mum had dyslexia too and always told me that there was no point in sitting in a corner, to get up and do it. She was amazing and always said there was nothing I couldnt do. Its not off the ground that I licked it.

I was 16 when she passed, but Im pretty sure that she would be so proud of me today, and thats why I have to fight and find somewhere else for these children.

Im an only child and Ive been around horses and dogs since I was four. They became and are still my family.

Georgia said she still has Bella, her 22-year-old pony. Shes an old showjumping mare and mum got to see her and try her out the day before she died, she said.

So shes very special. I tried amateur showjumping and dressage and all of that and my mum was worried sick when I used to go showjumping.

Georgia said she worries about what will happen to her ponies if she cannot find a new home for them.

Im close to my cousins and my mums family but I lived with my dogs and horses and developed such a strong bond with them and all animals since, she said.

If it wasnt for the healing power of horses, I dont know where Id be right now.

Thats another reason to find a new home. I have a lot of ponies who are in their 30s  I dont want to even think what could happen to them if I dont.
Scene of road accident outside Busaras where pedestrian died last night

Ciaran Briody died outside Busaras on Thursday night. Photo: An Garda Siochana

The pedestrian in his 20s who died after a collision involving a bus outside Busaras in Dublin last night has been named by gardai as Ciaran Briody.

Gardai attended the incident at 11.30pm and the man in his 20s was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Briodys body was removed from the scene to Whitehall Morgue where a post mortem is expected to take place in the coming days.

A family liaison officer has been appointed to provide support to Ciarans relatives, gardai confirmed.

Busaras was closed for a time following the incident but has now reopened.

Serious incident in Dublin overnight leads to road closures, disruption to Luas and bus routes

For a time there was no access to Amiens Street from Beresford Place and the road was closed to northbound traffic at Beresford Place/Gardiner Street. However, it has now reopened.

"The collision, which involved a bus and a pedestrian, occurred at the junction of Amiens Street and Store Street in Dublin 1, a Garda spokesperson said.

The pedestrian, a male in his 20s, was fatally injured during the collision. He was pronounced deceased at the scene. There were no other injuries reported.

The body of the deceased has since been removed to the City Morgue at Whitehall.

The scene of the incident is currently preserved for a technical examination by Garda forensic collision investigators.

For a time, the Luas was not operating between Abbey Street and the Point due to the incident but normal services have now resumed.

Bus Eireann CEO Stephen Kent said: Bus Eireann wishes to convey our deepest condolences and sympathies to the family and friends of the deceased.

We are cooperating fully with the Garda investigation.

Gardai are asking for any witnesses to the incident to contact them.

Any road users or pedestrians who may have camera footage (including dash cam), and who were in the Amiens Street/Store Street area last night between 11.15pm and 11.45pm, is asked to make this footage available to gardai, the Garda spokesperson added.

Gardai make urgent safety appeal to road users following fifth fatality this week
Police Service of Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd said details of three officers was placed on a bus shelter in Co Derry (Liam McBurney/PA)

Police in Northern Ireland have said a poster with details of three serving officers was placed on a bus shelter in Co Derry.

An investigation has been launched into the incident in Chapel Road in Dungiven on Thursday.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd said: We have contacted those involved to make them aware and recognise the impact this may have on them and their families.

The safety and welfare of all our officers and staff remains our priority and additional security and reassurance patrols have already been implemented across Northern Ireland as part of our organisational response.

We have commenced an investigation into this matter and I appeal to anyone with any information relating to this incident to contact police on 101.

We are particularly keen to hear from anyone who was travelling through Dungiven last night and who has any dash cam footage.

Last month the details of around 10,000 officers and staff were mistakenly released online in a major PSNI data breach.

Details of officers and staff, including the surname and first initial of every employee, their rank or grade, where they are based and the unit they work in were released in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The PSNI has confirmed the list is in the hands of dissident republicans, who continue to target officers.

The admission came after redacted information from the breach was posted on the wall of a library in west Belfast near a Sinn Fein office.

Redacted information from the PSNI data breach was posted on a wall in west Belfast last month (Liam McBurney/PA)

Just earlier this year Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot a number of times at a leisure facility in Co Tyrone.

Police officers and their representative organisations have spoken out in recent weeks over concern for their safety.

A number of other data breaches have since come to light, including the loss of a police officers laptop and notebook which contained details of 42 officers and members of staff after the items fell from a moving vehicle.

An independent review of the circumstances of the data breach is to be carried out, led by City of London Police Assistant Commissioner Peter ODoherty.

It will look at process and actions leading to the breach and if any organisational, governance or management issues allowed it to happen.

The SDLPs Cara Hunter said many PSNI officers and families are living in fear (Liam McBurney/PA)

Last month a man appeared in court in Co Antrim charged with two terror offences relating to the data breach.

East Derry MLA Cara Hunter said many officers and their families are living in fear following the data breach.

She said: Given the sensitive nature of policing here, its imperative that officers feel as safe as possible in their homes and in their communities, and its disgraceful that anyone would try to exploit this to intimidate or to put officers in real danger.

Im deeply disappointed that details relating to officers have been posted in the Dungiven area and I welcome their swift removal.

Those who seek to intimidate or threaten police have no support from the local community here and any attempt to use information about police officers in this way should be fully condemned and rejected.
Roy Keanes incredible generosity means the world to us here,

Heroic former Ireland and Manchester United midfield superstar, Roy Keane, has shown he is willing to dig deep for charity, after he donated 30,900 this week to cover the cost of a Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid for a hospital fundraiser.

Marymount Hospital and Hospice are running a raffle which runs until February 14 and staff could not believe their eyes when Roy showed up with his jaw dropping gesture.

Roy Keanes incredible generosity means the world to us here, said Enid Conway, fundraising and marketing manager at Marymount Hospice.

Roy is now a pundit

Built in 2011, Marymount Hospice provides palliative and respite care as well as bereavement support at its 44-bed in-patient facility. Ms Conway was so appreciative of the former Celtic players big heart.

A huge community of people receive the special care delivered by Marymount. It is inspiring to see this acknowledged by anyone wishing to support what we do, she said.

Marymount is a unique and essential force of care for families in Cork and further afield. We are sincerely thankful for Roys gesture and the positive impact it will have for those in our care and their families. It really is a wonderful act of kindness, Ms Conway added.

Guide Dog Day

Roy is someone who has a strong reputation for his charitable work. Back in May, the Cork man launched launched Guide Dog Day, with the fundraising campaign urging dog lovers across the country to get involved and donate.

Keane's love of dogs is well known through his constant support for the Irish guide dogs organisation.

There are many anecdotes about Roys kindness but the private way that he helps, particularly children in need, means it is difficult to ascertain the precise details of all he does.

Roy Keane launches Manchester Uniteds new third kit

The book Keano: Portrait of a legend includes the following lines:

No one really knows about the good work Roy doesHes always up at the local kids hospital, visiting the children with leukaemiayet he wouldnt want a photographer there and wouldnt even mention it to peoplea woman we knew told Roy about a very ill young girl who was mad on Manchester United. The next day Roy went round and spent two hours with the little girl.

Tickets for the car raffle can be bought here.
Met Eireann was inspired by Irish and Northern Irish scientists when making their selection.

Waves crash against the sea wall in Tramore, Co Waterford, as Storm Betty brings strong winds and rain as well as flooding across Ireland. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

This year could see a Storm Kathleen, Ciaran or Regina, according Met Eireanns list of names for the upcoming storm season.

A storm is named when it could cause medium or high impacts in one of the three partner countries  Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands  who each contribute seven names to the list.

Met Eireann was inspired by Irish and Northern Irish scientists when making their selection.

Storm season begins on September 1 and the first storm of the year will be one named by the Irish meteorological service: Agnes.

"As part of our process we asked the public to choose the name for letter A, resulting in Agnes, after Irish astronomer and science writer Agnes Mary Clerke, said Eoin Sherlock, the Head of the Forecasting Division at Met Eireann said.

Met Eireann was inspired by Irish and Northern Irish scientists when making their selection.

The Irish meteorological service also chose the names Fergus, Jocelyn, Kathleen, Lilian, Nicolas and Vincent.

Astrophysicist Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell, whose namesake storm takes the place of the letter J, said: I am delighted to feature in this distinguished list celebrating science and hope that if a potential Storm Jocelyn happens, it may be a useful stirring-up rather than a destructive event!

"Science advancements increase our knowledge and understanding of the world around us, and I think this is wonderful example of science-based services communications.

Other names were inspired by Fergus ORourke, computer programmer Kathleen McNulty Mauchly Antonelli and crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale, pioneer aviator Lilian Bland, physicist Nicholas Callan and developer of an anti-leprosy drug Vincent Barry.

The name Babet  a contribution of the Dutch meteorological service  came from a visitor.

"We asked visitors during our open day last October for suggestions said KNMI Senior Forecaster and Team Manager Jos Diepeveen.

"Visitor Babet filled in her own name: Because I was born during a storm."

There are no names starting with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z on the list, in line with the US National Hurricane Centre naming convention.

When another national meteorological service names a weather system, all others keep the name, such as the 1986 storm Charley and the 2017 storm Ophelia.

Storm names for the 2023/24 season
Shielded environment will contribute to a calm and relaxed flight, Corendon says

Adults-only zones will be trialled later this year by one European airline, in a move that could mean getting stuck next to a screaming baby is a thing of the past.

Corendon Dutch Airlines, the sister company to Turkey-based Corendon Airlines, will begin testing this approach on flights between Amsterdam and the Caribbean island of Curacao from November 3.

The Only Adult zone will feature 102 seats at the front of Airbus A350-900, including nine with extra legroom.

It will be separated from the rest of the plane by walls and curtains, which the airline said will create a shielded environment that contributes to a calm and relaxed flight.

It added that it will also have a positive effect on parents will young children, giving them peace of mind that their crying baby or boisterous toddler wont be bothering those who have a particular aversion to flying alongside youngsters.

A Corendon Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane in Amsterdam. Photo: Getty

Picking your seat to ensure your cabin neighbours are aged over 16 comes with an additional cost, however. Reserving a seat in the child-free space will cost 45 for one flight, rising to 100 for the extra-large seats.

On board our flights, we always strive to respond to the different needs of our customers, said Atilay Uslu, chairman and founder of Corendon.

" We are also the first Dutch airline to introduce the Only Adult zone, because we are trying to appeal to travellers looking for some extra peace of mind during their flight.

We also believe this can have a positive effect on parents travelling with small children. They can enjoy the flight without worrying if their children make more noise.

Corendon isnt the first airline to take this step. Scoot, the low-budget subsidiary of Singaporean Airlines, offers Scoot-in-Silence cabins, which are only available for passengers aged 12 and above.

In May, an influencer sparked a parenting debate about spoiling children after revealing that he and his wife sit in first class on planes while they pay for their children to be seated in economy.

On a flight in late 2022, a man ignited conversions about travelling etiquette after documenting his irritation with a baby who cried continuously on his 29-hour flight to Berlin.
Seldom, if ever, have we had such a sorrowful six days on our roads, with such a harrowing toll. It is such a secret place, the land of tears, the French writer and poet Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote.

But the sense of shock and anguish at 11 lives lost so tragically is shared by the whole country.

The personal pain was summed up yesterday by Nicole Murphys mother as she described her familys broken dreams and broken hearts.

Serena Murphy described her daughter as the light of our lives. Nicole, Zoey Coffey and Grace McSweeney, all 18, and Graces 24-year-old brother Luke all died after their car overturned in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, a week ago.

Since then, two grandparents and their three-year-old grandson died in a single-vehicle crash near Cashel, Co Tipperary, on Tuesday. Another three-year-old, a girl, died in a road accident in Co Laois on Wednesday.

All these have been devastating for the families and their communities.

Understanding the causes and combination of circumstances that can result in road accidents demands constant attention. So far this year there have been 125 fatalities.

There are too many contributing factors to generalise, but Assistant Garda Commissioner for roads policing Paula Hilman has identified key issues that could help.

Speed limits are not targets. Theyre there as guidance, but also take into account the road and weather conditions, she said yesterday.

Road safety was not just totally one-dimensional, she also said, calling for a holistic approach.

She has urged drivers to be mindful of others using the road and to recognise what level of speed was appropriate.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan described the latest road deaths as heartbreaking and said the Government must respond to the increase in fatalities.

One of the key responses  which is in the Programme for Government  is a commitment to review speed limits, Mr Ryan said. This includes the potential for different standard speed limits, such as a 30kmh limit in urban areas, and lowering limits on other roads.

One of the delusions of driving is the sense of security when behind the wheel.

The hazards of looking out for the next speed camera or speed limit sign while at the same time watching the speedometer have been well documented.

Road Safety Authority chairwoman Liz ODonnell also feels too many deaths are happening on country roads with 100kmh and 80kmh speed limits.

Lower limits and more visible policing could make a difference, she feels.

For bereaved families there may be no appropriate words of comfort, but the least we owe them is to do all we can to prevent such tragedies in future.
Those involved in the far-right protests describe as 'pornographic' books on LGBTQ and Trans matters for adolescents and have protested a number of times at Cork City Library leading to its closure on two occasions in recent weeks.

A CORK Sinn Fein TD has likened far right protesters whose demonstrations have led to the closure of Cork City Library twice in recent weeks to the Black & Tans whose actions led to the closing of the facility just once over a hundred years ago.

Deputy Thomas Gould was speaking to The Corkman in advance of a planned demonstration, entitled Ireland Says No, by far right protesters at the library on the citys Grand Parade on Saturday as the participants are arguing that inappropriate material is being distributed to young teenagers.

At the end of July, far right protesters hung a banner outside the library on its wall proclaiming there were only two genders, male and female. That protest led to the closure of the library on safety ground by the authorities.

According to the TD, who will be speaking at a counter protest, the planned demonstration protest by the far right is an attack on the LGBTQ and Trans community and he also described it as a workers rights issue.

"Anybody who knows the library service and the staff in it. thats a safe space where families and parents and older people, anyone, can go in and read a paper, read a book and now theres a fear factor around it because people see all these protests and no-one wants to bring their children or go into that type of environment, he said.

"People want to go in and do their jobs, this is a huge workers rights issue as well.

"Ive met with the Far Right and Ive asked them if they give me their concerns, if they point out what their worries are, I will look into it to see if there are realistic points there  but I have yet to get an email on it from them.

"They keep reading from one or two passages but, like, if you were to read passages from every book, including the Bible, the Koran and the Talmud, you could find something to offend somebody in those pages."

The TD said that the priority must be the education of children. Where children are educated, the more educated children are, the less at risk they are because education helps children overcome their ignorance, their shyness, their childishness, education protects them.

"To me the whole thing about banning books, burning books and closing down libraries  is that the kind of Ireland we want in 2023?"

The TD referred to his own republican ideology and said that Irish republican figures of the past such as Padraig Mac Piarais, Terence McSwiney and Bobby Sands had all placed a premium on education as well as emphasising that Ireland was a warm and welcoming society.

He said that anger at the after effects of the COVID pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the struggle to pay bills was fuelling some of those involved with the protests and added that blame for these causes of anger should be directed at the Government rather than protests at libraries which intimidated both families and staff.

The TD has written to the Local Government Minister, Kieran ODonnell, to urge him to provide any necessary support to Cork City Council to ensure all libraries can remain open and safe for staff and patrons at all times.

Cork City Council have refused to issue any comment regarding questions about whether the library would be open on Saturday.

A counter protest is planned for 2pm at the library by the group called Cork Rebels for Peace.
Cork County Council give the green light to start completion works on the estates

Finishing works are set to start at seven unfinished housing estates across in north Cork over the coming weeks.

IT has emerged that seven unfinished housing estates across the north Cork region, including two in Dromina, are to be finally taken in charge by Cork County Council.

This after the local authority announced they are to green light the completion of the estates, which were left unfinished with the authority unable to take them in charge until a performance bond agreed with the developer was released.

Typically between 10 and 15% of the original contract price, the bond covers the cost of completing a project if the contractor fails to do so, for example if they go out of business.

Under Cork County Councils taking in charge procedure the authority will liaise with the developer or their representatives with a view to them completing unfinished elements of an estate, for example infrastructural works such as roads and public lighting.

Should this procedure prove unsuccessful, the council can call in the bond to undertake any necessary remedial works.

However, the authority has experienced difficulties in the past in getting some of these bonds released from banks and insurers. This could be down to any one of a number of factors including their age, potential legal defects in the wordings or unreasonable terms and conditions.

It has been the case that local authorities have been reluctant to go to the High Court to get bonds released unless they were absolutely sure of the grounds for their claim, as an unsuccessful claim could result in substantial costs being awarded against them.

As far back as 2015 Cork County Council was urged to get tough with bondholders after the issue was raised at northern area meeting by former county councillor Timmy Collins, who said it has become a major issue in many unfinished housing estates across the region.

At the time Cllr John Paul OShea said it was clear to him that banks and other institutions were being deliberately uncooperative on the whole issue.

As a council we need to get tough and if need be taking legal proceedings to reclaim these monies that belong to the affected communities, said Cllr OShea.

If we do not take some kind of affirmative action we will be left with the legacy of ghost estates for years to come, he warned.

Cllr OShea welcomed the announcement by Cork County Council that they had finally secured the bond monies for the Meadowside and The Gables estates in Dromina, both of which were left incomplete by developers, and have given the green light for their completion.

He said a schedules for remedial works at both estates have been drawn up and agreed, with contractor MacPlant & Civils set to complete works over the coming weeks.

This will allow Cork County Council to take in charge the services within the estate such as the roads, footpaths, public lighting etc. It will also allow for Irish Water to take in charge the water and waste-water services within the estate, said Cllr OShea.

I know these works, which will enhance both estates, which have remained incomplete since they were built, will come as great relief to the residents, he added.

Meanwhile, it is understood that completion works will also be undertaken at the unfinished Castlepark & Brookfield estates in Mallow and the Coais Tobar, Ard na Gaoithe & Cluain Na Greine estates in Dromahane over the coming weeks to bring them up to taking in charge standard.
The President's Dog, written and illustrated by Peter Donnelly, is out now

A childrens author has finally answered a long-running demand from Irish kids and written a book on Michael D Higgins beloved dog.

The Irish President is the owner of Misneach, a Bernese Mountain dog. He also had dogs called Sioda, who passed away in September 2020 and Brod, who died in April of this year.

Peter Donnelly, who lives and works in Dublin, has already written The Presidents Glasses, The Presidents Cat and The Presidents Surprise, which are much-loved favourites with children all over the country.

His new release, The Presidents Dog, which is out from today, is about the President taking his dog for a walk in the mountains.

Its the first time his pet has been on a hike and its very exciting. But when a storm hits, the President sends the pup off for help while he takes shelter on the mountainside.

President Michael D Higgins with his dogs Brod, who died earlier this year, and Misneach

Mr Donnelly told Independent.ie: When I wrote the first draft of the Presidents Glasses, it wasnt called that and the President didnt even feature in it.

He was the last part of the jigsaw. I wanted to write a book about Dublin. Something quirky and identifiable. A story book about all of the wonderful landmarks around the city.

The pigeon featured in the first book but there was a piece missing, I needed something to draw kids into it, it needed another character.

I kept a notebook at the side of my bed. I woke up with a little lightbulb going off over my head. I thought, why not put Michael D Higgins in the book.

Once I put him in, it made so much sense. I was never worried about putting him in the books, Im a big fan of him myself.

The books are very affectionate towards him. Hes a man of the arts so I hope he sees the funny side of the books.

Mr Donnellys books are adored by children. The Presidents Glasses is a bestseller and his second book, The Presidents Cat, was the winner of the Childrens Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.

It started with the Presidents Glasses, it was the first book I wrote and illustrated, prior to that I was just an illustrator, Peter said.

I thought it was going to be a once-off book, I ended up doing three, the Presidents Cat and the Presidents Surprise.

Peter Donnelly has written four books about President Michael D Higgins

I thought thatd be it, but from doing book festivals and going to schools, kids kept asking me to write a book about his dogs. Theyre all crazy about the Presidents dogs.

The excitement for this new book is overwhelming. Kids are really excited about it. They love the President.

Lots of people who dont live in Ireland are contacting me about the book. People tend to buy this book for families who live abroad.

Theyre quite universal stories, we know that its Michael D Higgins, but it never mentions him by name.

Its wonderful that we have someone to look up to as a President. Theres not many Presidents in the world that you could write a book on, he added.
Mum tells of roller-coaster years of learning to deal with sons epilepsy as family calls for more awareness about condition

Sean and Colette Daly and family want to raise awareness around epilepsy

Sean's seizures are now down to one or two per week

Sean Daly, who first began having seizures aged 4, with his mum Colette

Sean Daly, was a healthy, happy and outgoing four-year-old when his life, and that of his family, changed forever.

Without any awareness of what epilepsy meant, the Dublin family was plummeted into a neurological odyssey where Sean was experiencing up to 30 seizures per day.

Now aged 24, the years in-between have been a roller-coaster of learning how to cope with numerous daily seizures, which started without forewarning.

An eventual diagnosis came some 14 years after the seizures, which are now down to one or two per week, first started.

Seans mum Colette, a well-known soprano, her husband and their two younger children, Amelia and Peter, are determined to raise awareness of what is often termed The Epilepsies due to there being so many different types.

We were plummeted into a neurological odyssey where Sean was experiencing up to 30 seizures per day and hospitalised for long periods in Crumlin Childrens Hospital, Colette said.

Sean's seizures are now down to one or two per week

It felt as if we were fire-fighting all the time. When Sean was about six or seven-years-old we realised that he had a developmental delay with cognitive regression.

We were absolutely desperate for answers and had to get our heads around what was happening. Being honest, there was a severe wave of panic being felt by us.

When all of this happened it was like the grief of losing the four-year-old boy we had.

But we now have such a wonderful son in our lives and we are so thankful for every day we have with him.

For Colette and her family, there was nothing they did or could have done to prevent his type of epilepsy, known as CHD-2, from developing.

You question yourself and you question everything. The term The Epilepsies is so multi-faceted, the presentations and origins are all totally different, Colette said.

Sean went through so many treatments and surgery, but in 2017 there was a chink of light with some marginal success in reaching a diagnosis as to the cause of his seizures.

He took part in a genetic clinical research study in conjunction with Future Neuro, a Science Foundation Ireland-funded research centre for Chronic and Rare Neurological Diseases, through the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

The research study involved 50 candidates. Sean was found to have CHD-2 which is a little malfunction in the brain. This information was of enormous benefit to us and to Sean, she added.

Colette explained there is currently no treatment that would fix his type of epilepsy, but she wants research to continue for all those who live with similar diagnoses.

Sean lives a life that needs routine and is on a lot of medication, but he is fully verbal and has full mobility.

Sean and Colette Daly and family want to raise awareness around epilepsy

His seizures are now more controlled, which is wonderful for him and us. He is such a loving person and has so much love to give, Colette said.

Genomic research is so important and its funding is vital. The trial Sean took part in was of so much significance to us and helped us accept what was happening.

There is still too much fear out there around epilepsy and education is key to changing that, she added.

Seans epilepsy is not inherited and there are numerous different types of the condition which are still being researched.

FutureNeuro is hosting a public engagement event in Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) next Tuesday evening, September 5.

The event is being led by Colette, who is a member of the FutureNeuro Public Patient Involvement panel, to highlight the research centres involvement in genomic research and the impact of its work.

Collette will speak briefly about her personal story, followed by a recital by herself, harpist Anne-Marie O'Farrell and pianist Trudi Carberry.

Special guest at the event will be Professor Sam Berkovic, who discovered the first epilepsy gene, and later the CHD-2 gene which is the type Sean lives with.
Alleged assault took place on Rampart Lane in Dundalk in early August

A 16-year-old boy accused of slashing a man twice across the face with a curved blade, has been readmitted to bail on stricter terms.

The teenager, who cannot be identified because of his age, is charged with assaulting a 24-year-old man causing him harm at the Imperial Hotel car park, Rampart Lane, Dundalk, on August 6 last.

He had his bail revoked by Judge Susan Fay on August 23 for allegedly breaching a curfew, part of a number of bail terms imposed 15 days earlier.

Following a contested bail application, Judge Patricia Cronin decided to grant bail.

She said it was a last resort to remand a young person in custody. The court had serious concerns and hoped that the accused had learned from a week spent in custody.

Judge Cronin warned the boy that she would be available to come back to deal with the matter if a re-entry was made for revocation of bail.

He said he understood that in that case he would be likely to lose his liberty.

Bail was set in the teens own bond of 50, nil cash.

He must reside at his home address in Dundalk, observe a curfew between 6pm and 9am, be contactable by mobile phone 24 hours a day (he was given 48 hours to provide Gardai with a number), sign-on daily at Dundalk Garda Station, have no contact with the alleged injured party, and stay out of Dundalk town centre, except for court appearances, signing on, and legal and medical appointments.

Judge Cronin told the youth that the guards can check 10 times a night if they wish.

The case was put back to September 13 for DPP directions and bail compliance.

Legal aid was granted, and the court also certified for counsel.
75-year-old woman trapped in her home for weeks as Wexfords jewel in the crown floods once more
Information evening regarding plans for new studio to be held with local residents

Irish film financier John Gleeson is one of the backers of Tara Studios

Borleagh Manor is planned to be the site of a major film studio in north Wexford

A touch of Hollywood movie magic is coming to Gorey in the coming weeks as film studio bosses intend to hold an information evening with local residents to discuss building one of the largest film studios in Ireland, in north Wexford.

An Bord Pleanala gave the green light last year for a 20m film studio to be built at Inch, about five kilometres north of Gorey, at Borleagh Manor.

Borleagh Manor was previously owned by actor Richard Greene, star of the TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood. Guests over the years have included Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

When completed, Tara Studios will be one of the largest such facilities in Ireland, with the potential to create up to 120 jobs during the construction phase and 30 permanent jobs, as well as catering for up to 400 cast and film crew and 200 extras.

Wexford County Council expects the project to generate spin off jobs in tourism, hospitality and other services, and the plans have received broad support from community groups in the nearby village of Killanerin, and from County Councillors.

Tara Studios was established by the former chief executive of Britains Pinewood Studios, Ivan Dunleavey, and a leading film tax accountant and movie financier in Ireland, John Gleeson.

In its over 85-year history, Pinewood has gained a global reputation, associated with the James Bond and Star Wars franchises.

The aim is to build seven sound stages near Gorey, ten workshops and associated production facilities, within the 160-acre grounds of the 19th century listed building.

Wexford County Council had granted planning permission for the studios to be developed but this was challenged in an appeal to An Bord Pleanala by a local resident, who maintained it was inappropriate for the area.

Senator Malcolm Byrne said there is a capacity issue for the industry to develop in Ireland, due to a shortage of studio space. An Bord Pleanala has approved it, and the project developers now have the keys to Borleagh Manor, he said.

Its understood Tara Studios are going to make a big announcement shortly and hold a Question-and-Answer session with local residents in Autumn in Gorey, before construction works begin next year.

They are going to start a recruitment process, said Senator Byrne. The intention is that there will about 30 people directly employed by the studio in general administration and in production. But then there will be a requirement for painters, electricians, carpenters, and caterers, and all of that. Its going to be quite significant.

The potential for north Wexford is huge. This is one of the big projects. There is great interest in it locally, added Senator Byrne
Urban's enduring popularity in Ireland explains the 2,000-plus systems already installed across the island.

The Urban computerised calf feeding system, which has proven such a resounding success since its introduction to Wexford farmers since 2002, remains readily available in the Tirlan catchment area.

Creva International, a County Galway-based company with proud dairy farming roots, has secured an exclusive Irish distribution deal for the acclaimed, German-engineered feeding system.

A delighted Noel Kelly, CEO of Creva International, expressed his excitement about the collaboration. We are delighted to partner with Urban throughout Ireland, he said. As dairy farmers ourselves, we understand the challenges faced by farmers in the Tirlan catchment area and the significance of ensuring excellent calf welfare.

Our distribution agreement guarantees that farmers adopting the Urban system will receive top-tier calf rearing advice and best practice information from their Tirlan calf specialists."

Thanks to this groundbreaking partnership, Wexford farmers who invest in a new Urban system will receive complimentary calf rearing and welfare consultations.

Experienced calf specialists from Tirlan will visit each farm to guide farmers through essential aspects such as shed design, drainage, ventilation and calf management in addition to providing advice on calf jackets, hutches and troughs.

Urban is available with countrywide coverage of certified Urban installation, thanks to service engineers such as Urban Engineers, Hackett Enterprises Service Ltd, Connor Dairy Service Ltd, Monageer PM Electrical Ltd and David Johnston Calf Feedings Systems.

When implemented correctly, computerised calf feeding systems have the potential to revolutionise calf rearing. Data sourced from Urban systems highlight its many benefits including up to 300g additional daily weight gain, up to 100pc increased udder development (parenchyma cells), up to 40pc reduced mortality and up to 1,000 litres of additional milk in the first lactation.

Moreover, the system promotes earlier insemination and pregnancy of heifers, constant high temperature to reduce energy losses, and a steady temperature and mixture to minimise the risk of diarrhoea.

Urban's enduring popularity in Ireland explains the 2,000-plus systems already installed across the island, much of which can be attributed to its remarkable durability, lasting up to 20 years, featuring a user-friendly interface and exemplary hygiene standards. Through the free calf rearing and welfare consultations, Creva International is confident that further adoption rates will follow.
The new WWETB Wexford College of Further Education and Training in Clonard where PLC courses will take place.

The new Wexford College of Further Education and Training in Clonard.

The Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board (WWETB) has announced the elimination of fees for all its PLC programmes as it prepares to open a new College of Further Education and Training in Clonard.

The abolition of fees is being implemented with immediate effect and all students enrolling in PLC courses for the coming academic year will benefit.

There will still be a nominal course contribution of 200 for all PLC courses, to cover operational costs and certain courses will also require students to rent kits instead of purchasing expensive equipment or materials, to reduce the financial burden. On completion of courses where kits are rented, students will be reimbursed the rental costs.

PLC courses continue to be a popular choice for those who have completed their Leaving Certificate and even for students who are a few years out of school.

With a shortage of trained professionals across a number of trades and careers, WWETB is playing its part in ensuring that there are sufficient education and training programmes in the south east to deal with the shortages, according to a spokesperson.

PLC courses will be delivered in Wexford town at the new Wexford College of Further Education and Training in Clonard. They include Healthcare, Nursing Studies, Early Learning, Art and Office Administration, to name but a few.

Selskar College principal Mick Weafer, principal of Selskar College in Wexford said he is delighted with the level of interest in PLC courses this year.

"We provide a wide range of nationally recognised QQI level 5 courses, offering students the opportunity to launch an exciting educational journey, he said.

As principal of Selskar College, I am delighted to be in a position to provide the courses in our new state-of-the-art facility, Wexford College of Further Education and Training. This is an exciting time for education and training in Wexford.

Mick explained how the work experience programme provides a significant advantage to students, offering a substantial edge in the marketplace through well-established workplace links.

The programme also links to third level, giving students the opportunity to look beyond PLC, if they choose to go further with their studies.

PLC courses including Healthcare, Childcare, Business, Engineering Technology, Fitness Health, Beauty Therapy and Hairdressing are also running in Enniscorthy and Gorey

As in Wexford, the Enniscorthy and Gorey PLC programmes have built up important links with local businesses, ensuring that quality work placements are available for their students.

Principal Iain Wickham has highlighted the availability of the Erasmus Plus programme for students, which he described as a unique and exciting opportunity for students to complete three-week work placements in Sweden and Spain.

Approximately 30 students are selected each year to take part in the fully-funded programme. It really is an amazing opportunity for students to travel and experience work life in a place outside their own community.

PLC courses in Wexford, Ennsiscorthy and Gorey are now open for applications. For more information visit http://www.selskarcollege.ie/ (Wexford PLC courses), www.enniscorthyccfe.ie (Enniscorthy PLC courses) and www.goreyife.ie (Gorey PLC courses).
Members of the Tinahely Men's Shed pictured on their recent trip to the Beyond the Trees attraction in Avondale, County Wicklow.

Members of the Tinahely Men's Shed pictured on their recent trip to the Beyond the Trees attraction in Avondale, County Wicklow.

Evergreen members of the Tinahely Mens Shed rolled back the years as they explored the glorious treetop walk, stunning 360-degree views and giant slide at Beyond the Trees in Avondale.

Half of the 14-strong Tinahely contingent, later dubbed The Magnificent Seven, descended the popular attraction via the 90m long spiral slide, recapturing their youth as they whizzed around and around to join their shed mates on the ground.

Rounding off the fantastic day out, the mens shed crew stopped off in Woodenbridge to enjoy a slap-up meal before heading their separate ways.

It was a fabulous day, shed member Tony Lundberg said. There were 14 of us who went along, and seven went down the slide. We called them The Magnificent Seven - myself, Eddie Hogan, Jim Kennedy, Brendan Sinclair, Tony Byrne, Paul Brennan and Simon Kelley.

I have to say, the staff there were brilliant with us on the day. Were not spring chickens by any means, so they kept an eye on us and made sure we stuck together!

We finished out the day with a great meal in the Woodenbridge Hotel and took plenty of photographs there and in Avondale. Just a great day all around and one of many to come.

It was great to welcome the lads from the Tinahely Mens Shed to Avondale, a Beyond the Trees spokesperson said. They seemed to really enjoy the slide back down, which just goes to show you, we never really grow up!

Ah, it was fantastic to have them here. We know how active they are as a group, and theyve got a great social media following, so theyll do wonders for our exposure!

Since its inauguration in 2016, when it acquired a derelict property on Kellys Hill, the organisation has gone from strength to strength, providing a lifeline for local men in the community.

Members have worked closely with the national Mens Shed, supporting initiatives such as The Big Hello and, more recently, the Sheds For Life; a national health and wellbeing programme.

Tinahely Mens Shed is highly regarded within the local community and recently supported local schools in the creation of barn Owl Boxes as part of their biodiversity initiative. The men also made buddy benches for the local schools and benches for the local churches.

For more information about the Tinahely Men's Shed contact Tony Lundberg at 086 104008 or email tonylundberg3@gmail.com
Margaret Gerrard of Sugarloaf Lions, with Greystones Municipal District Cathaoirleach Mark Barry and John Connor of Sugarloaf Lions, launching the Light It Up Gold Campaign at Greystones Municipal Offices, which are now Lit Up Gold for September.

Families affected by childhood cancer in Wicklow will be helped by a new project being launched by Lions Clubs in partnership with the registered charity, Childhood Cancer Ireland.

It comes as figures show an average of seven children, adolescents and young adults (aged 0-24) are diagnosed with cancer each week in Ireland.

This September, during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Childhood Cancer Ireland and Sugarloaf Lions will Light It Up Gold to raise awareness of childhood, adolescent and young adult cancer, a disease which has been increasing annually by 1-2% over the last 25 years in Ireland.

The charity will also be fundraising locally for Childhood Cancer Ireland during September, with events and other initiatives taking place in the following areas.

Greystones library was Lit Up Gold until Sunday, September 3.

Greystones Council building will be Lighting Up Gold for the month of September.

A table quiz will be held in Greystones Rugby Club at 8pm, on Thursday September 21. Tickets can be booked by emailing sugarloaflionsclub@gmail.com or phone 086-3992651.

Awareness stands will be set up in local supermarkets selling Childhood Cancer Ireland pins, at various locations through the month for those who wish to donate directly.

Childhood Cancer Ireland raises funds to provide a number of practical and emotional supports to children and families including the Beads of Courage and Sibling Beads Programmes at the National Childrens Cancer Service in Childrens Health Ireland at Crumlin. Funding is also directed towards, the refurbishment of paediatric oncology isolation rooms in Shared Care facilities (regional hospitals).

A new series of workshops for parents in 2023 is also being funded through Childhood Cancer Ireland, which will enable parents to process what they have been through since their child was diagnosed and to begin to heal. This includes parent peer support, which is a vital support to parents both during and after treatment.

Sugarloaf Lions Club was founded in November 1967. It consists of a group committed individuals who give voluntarily of their time to make a difference in the community locally, nationally and internationally through the Lions Club worldwide organisation.

The organisations aim is to identify needs in the community and seek to assist in finding solutions to those needs either through direct action ourselves or working with other charities. All administrative costs of the Lions organisation at all levels from local to international are paid for by the members themselves.

As a result, the bureaucratic needs of the charity are kept to a minimum and all funds raised for charity are used exclusively to address the needs identified by the Lions organisation.
CHILDRENS authors and booksellers from Wicklow have joined internationally celebrated authors and illustrators to launch , a new initiative to champion childrens books written by those living and working in Ireland.

Childrens authors Sam Blake, who lives at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains, Alan Nolan, who resides in Bray, and Trish Hennessy of Halfway Up the Stairs bookshop in Greystones, are all involved with Discover Irish Childrens Books, alongside renowned authors and illustrators Eoin Colfer, Marita Conlon-McKenna, Chris Haughton, Shane Hegarty and Laureate na nOg Patricia Forde.

Discover Irish Childrens Books estimates there are upwards of 350 published childrens writers and illustrators from or living in Ireland. Yet for 15 weeks between May and early August 2023, no Irish books charted in the weekly childrens top ten sellers list. In the same period, 96 Irish writers charted in the equivalent list for adults fiction.

To highlight the range of Irish titles available to young readers, the campaign will launch a new top ten bestsellers list dedicated to Irish childrens books. The list will be informed by the top ten best-sellers in a different independent bookshop across Ireland, including Halfway Up The Stairs, each week throughout September and October.

The Discover Irish Childrens Books campaign was created by award-winning childrens writer and childrens books champion Sarah Webb, who worked in the book trade for many years as a childrens bookseller and buyer and works as the Events Manager at Halfway Up the Stairs.

She said: Out of interest, I asked children attending my summer workshops who their favourite writer was. Even when prompted, they struggled to name an Irish writer. On the international stage, Irelands storytellers for children are much celebrated. Eoin Colfers Artemis Fowl was a New York Times bestseller. John Boynes The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has been translated into 56 languages. Oliver Jeffers has sold over 14 million books worldwide. Catherine Doyle, Judi Curtin, Roddy Doyle, Derek Landy, Mary Murphy  these are well-known names in childrens books global-ly.

Yet at home theres a lack of knowledge and awareness that Discover Irish Childrens Books is de-termined to tackle. We want to see new and well-established Irish writers and illustrators at book festivals, hear them on the radio and published in newspapers, and find them front and centre in bookshop and library displays.

Almost a quarter of all books sold in Ireland are childrens titles, but celebrity authors and big mar-keting budgets dominate that pool. There will always be a place for international writers and for the classics we all know and love, but there is a diverse wealth of new Irish books available, we need to give them an equal opportunity to find their way into childrens hands.

Award-winning childrens writer and illustrator Chris Haughton has also designed a sticker to be made available to bookshops, libraries and schools to highlight Irish childrens books for young readers and adults. The campaign will raise awareness of titles for all ages on social media using #DiscoverIrishKidsBooks and work directly with teachers to recommend novels for class groups. Resources will be available on the website www.discoveririshkidsbooks.ie.
BREAKING | Mohamed Al-Fayed, former Harrods owner and father of Dodi Al Fayed who died in crash with Princess Diana, dies at 94

The Egyptian businessmans son Dodi Fayed, an Egyptian film producer, died alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Mohammed Al Fayed stands in front of the east stand of Craven Cottage, home of Fulham Football Club in 1997. Photo: Reuters

Hannah Roberts Fri 1 Sep 2023 at 22:54







Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed has died at the age of 94, his family have announced.
Jack Freeman is running the 100 mile perimeter coastline of the Isle of Man in 24 hours to raise money for charity (Jack Freeman/PA)

A British man is running 100 miles around the Isle of Man in 24 hours to raise money for charity in memory of his father, who died of leukaemia.

Jack Freeman, 26, told the PA news agency that he struggled with his mental health in the years after his fathers death, but his life transformed when he began running during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Photo Courtesy: Unsplash/Anasmeister

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday called for urgent assistance for children caught up in wildfires in Greece, considered to be the worst Europe has seen since the turn of the century.

Fuelled by record temperatures and high winds, the deadly fires that began across the country in July have so far claimed 27 lives, including two children  both asylum seekers, according to news reports.

They were among 18 bodies discovered by Greek authorities on 22 August in the national forest of Dadia, in the northeast, reportedly all asylum seekers. A 19th body was found last Thursday.

As of the end of 2022, around 86,600 refugees and asylum seekers have been sheltering in Greece, with refugees from Ukraine accounting for around 25 per cent.

Lost everything

Children have been among the hardest hit by the disaster, said Ghassan Khalil, UNICEF Representative in the Mediterranean nation.

They have lost their homes, families have lost their livelihoods, and some have lost their lives. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with all those affected and all those responding.

Many children are also suffering health issues, especially due to the air pollution caused by the blaze.

UNICEF for its part is working with authorities and humanitarian partners to support children and their families, providing them with medical supplies, essential items and psychosocial support.

Unprecedented disaster

The risk of new fires - or the rapid spread of existing ones - is anticipated to remain high over the next 48 hours, according to media reports.

The flames have destroyed over 155,000 hectares of forests, farmlands and urban land so far, an area twice the size of New York City, and affected over 100,000 people, including around 30,000 children.

As flames moved toward a medical facility in northern Greece, 11 newborns were among patients in intensive care who have had to be moved to a makeshift hospital on a boat, UNICEF noted.
Photo Courtesy: Pixabay

Srinagar/UNI: Police arrested 343 drug peddlers including 80 most wanted and attached property worth crores during the current year in Jammu Kashmirs Baramulla district.

Among the 343 drug smugglers 213 have been booked under Narcotic Drugs and Psychographic Substances (NDPS) Act while as 54 habitual drug peddlers booked under PIT- NDPS/PSA besides recovered contraband worth Crores (value of contraband in black market), a police statement said on Friday.

Baramulla Police has also attached properties worth Rs 2.1 Crore of drug smugglers which includes 3 houses, 3 vehicles & cash to the tune of Rs1.2 Crores in Pattan, Kreeri, Nambla & Kamalkote areas.

Moreover, the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (SAFEM) Forfeiture of Property (FOP) & NDPSA, New Delhi confirmed attachment of property (Illegal acquired property by Drug Smugglers) orders of Baramulla Police at Pattan & Kreeri in which house and vehicle was attached

Baramulla Police affirmed its commitment to act tough against the drug smugglers and with regard to attachment of movable/ immovable property which has been raised/ used for illicit trafficking by the drug smugglers in the district.

Police have also requested general People of the district to come forward with the information of drug peddlers in their areas (identity will be kept confidential) in order to support police to eradicate menace of drugs from the society.
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A senior Indian government official has said the progress in the digital sector of the country will also be showcased to the foreign delegates who will visit the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

Muktesh K Pardeshi, Special Secretary, G20 Operations, told ANI in an interview that he also informed that the catering at the Convention Centre is being handled by the ITC and there is a lot of focus on cuisine, menu planning as well and service aspects.

He said not everybody is able to understand how India has been able to leapfrog in the sector of digital payment and delegates will also get to know how the CoWin app was developed and how over a billion people were connected with Aadhar.

The G20 meetings focusing on three Cs. But there is one unmistakable aspect of our approach. We are going to showcase progress in the field of the digital sector. So therell be an experience zone created to showcase the progress we have achieved in the field of technological transformation, particularly digital transformation, he said.

There will be some experience panels created for delegates to experience, for instance how UPI payment is done. People will get to know how biometric enrolment was done and one billion people were connected through Aadhar. How the CoWin app was developed. Not everybody is able to understand how India has been able to leapfrog in the sector of digital payment. So we want to showcase the modern face of India as well," he told the news agency.

The major G20 Summit will be held in New Delhi from Sept 9 to Sept 10.

India assumed G20 presidency last year on Dec 1.

So far, 200 meetings related to the G20 Summit have been held across 60 cities in the country.
The delegation from The Republic of North Macedonia visiting Kolkata and paying homage to Mother Teresa.

Kolkata/IBNS: A delegation from Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, comprising Foreign Affairs Minister Bujar Osmani, Ambassador to India Slobodan Uzunov, and others visited Kolkata.

The delegation from Mother Teresas city of birth visited the Mother House to pay their homage to St. Teresa of Calcutta and also met the Archbishop of Kolkata, Thomas DSouza, and paid floral tributes amid prayers at a life-sized bronze statue of Mother Teresa stationed at the Archbishop House in Kolkata.

We attach great importance to India and to the deepening and strengthening of our bilateral relations. We envisage opening a new chapter, a new dynamic in economic and political cooperation. I believe there is a huge untapped potential to grow economic relations between India and the Republic of North Macedonia, said Bujar Osmani in Kolkata.

It is great to meet our guests from Skopje  the city where Mother Teresa was born  and pay tribute to Mother Teresa. I am thankful to our well-wisher Mr Namit Bajoria, Honorary Consul of North Macedonia in Kolkata for his support, Archbishop of Kolkata, Thomas DSouza, said.

Osmani met with Vandana Yadav (IAS), Chairperson, WBIDC, and explored the possibilities to forge business opportunities and collaborations between West Bengal and North Macedonia.

Yadav requested and invited Osmani to bring business delegations to Kolkata during the next Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) and have a business-to-business (B2B) interface with local entrepreneurs and businessmen.

The Foreign Affairs Minister also met Mayor, Firhad Hakim, and discussed possible collaborations in tourism, culture, and other areas. The Mayor extended his personal invitation to the minister to come to Kolkata at the next BGBS. Both agreed to increase cultural exchanges between North Macedonia and West Bengal.

Our Ambassador in Delhi and our Honorary Consul of The Republic of North Macedonia in Kolkata, Mr Namit Bajoria, would take it forward and achieve our goals to achieve business and cultural ties with West Bengal, said Osmani.

Mother Teresa is the guiding force that connects Skopje and Kolkata through a spiritual bond. While Skopje, where she was born was her janma bhoomi, Kolkata on the other hand was her karma bhoomi. I look forward to the deepening of socio, cultural, economic, and political ties between India and the Republic of North Macedonia in the years ahead, Namit Bajoria, Consul, Republic of North Macedonia in Kolkata, said.

Our Honorary Consul office of the Republic of North Macedonia in Kolkata would take pro-active steps to build an environment for conducive business growth and cultural exchanges with West Bengal and also develop people-to-people contact, said Bajoria.

The bronze statue of St. Teresa of Calcutta, conceptualized and designed by Subrata Ganguly of Church Art, was donated by Namit Bajoria in September 2016 to mark a symbolic link between Kolkata and Skopje, Macedonias capital city where Mother Teresa was born.

The statue was formally inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a week prior to the canonization of Mother Teresa in early September 2016.
Earlier this month was the birth anniversary of Sewa Singh Theekri Wala  the hero of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal movement (Self-Rule Movement in the Princely States) in Punjab against the despotic rules of the Punjab State rulers.

The Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal was affiliated to the All India States People`s Conference then fighting for the self-rule and rights of the people living in 600 British crown supported princely states in India.

Like the Akali Dal fighting for the emancipation of Gurudwaras from the British crown supported Mahants in Punjab, the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal movement gained appreciation and support from the mainstream leaders of the national freedom movement.

The freedom movement against the imperial rule by the British in India was multi-layered but only the mainstream in the public knowledge: there was fight against the local rulers in the princely states who were extended support by the British India government as a part of the British policy and agreement.

That is why, as a sequel to the political activities in the then Indian princely states, the present day CRPF was raised by the crown representative of the British Empire help the princely states contain unrest there.

Established in 1939 as the Crowns Representative Police was renamed as the CRPF by the act of Parliament in 1949.

One layer of the freedom movement against the British India government, being what is called the mainstream movement, there were other movements on the side lines against the British supported and patronised Indian Princes and the heads of religious institutions such as the Mahants in Punjab.

Since all of them were fighting for their emancipation from the autocracy, misrule and mismanagement and their civil and legitimate rights, they often cut across the side lines and the mainstream.

Thus from the 1920s the Praja Mandal movement popular in princely states where the people were directly subject to the rule of local aristocrats called Rajas, Maharajas and Nawabs but indirectly to the British government in India shared its concerns and synchronised with the national independence movement in India.

The leaders of the Parja Mandal campaigned against their feudal rulers and also the British administration fighting for their civil rights.

It was just before or soon after the independence in 1947 when the movements on the side lines, which were actually the mainstream movements in their domains, were covered and forgotten by the mainstream movement exponents.

However, their role in the freedom movement was no less than the mainstream movement; in reality the sufferings of their leaders outweigh the sufferings of the mainstream leaders. The founder and the first president of the Punjab Riyasati Praja Mandal should not remain in oblivion but be remembered by us with respect equal to the mainstream leaders of the freedom movement.

With the initiative and support from the then Akali workers and other right thinking individuals fighting for freedom, the formation of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal- peoples organisation/ group in the princely states in the region of Punjab, was formed on September 17, 1927 and announced at a congregation at the Mansa town, then in the Patiala state and now in the Sangrur district on 17 July 1928. The Praja Mandal movement was a revolt against both colonial rule by the British and the feudal rule by the Indian Princes with patronage from the British government in India.

Born on August 24, 1882 in the Thikriwala village near Barnala town in the then Patiala State and the present Sangrur district, the child Sewa Singh studied in Patiala because his father was a high-ranking official at Maharaja Rajinder Singhs court in Patiala. After his education and study of Urdu, Persian, Punjabi, and English languages, Sewa Singh was also appointed as a State official yet he spent his time working on the Singh Sabha movement for reforms and revival of Sikh values.

Influenced by the events of Jallian Wala Bagh massacre in 1919 against the repressive Rowlatt Acts by the British India government, Saka (massacre) Nankana Sahib in 1921, Guu Ka Bagh Morcha in 1922 and Jaito Morcha in 1923 against the British India government supported corrupt priests called Mahants in the Sikh shrines (Gurudwaras) and the acts of despotism in the Patiala and other Princely states in Punjab, he devoted himself to awaken the people for their rights, dignity and freedom. In 1923 he was arrested and detained in the Lahore jail for three years. Being opposed to despotism and autocratic rule by the British supported Indian princes squandering the state wealth on personal luxuries, he developed trouble with the rulers of the Patiala State. When released in 1926 from the Lahore jail, he was rearrested on a false charge of a minor theft which could not be proved, yet he was kept in jail for another three years. While he was still in jail in a false sedition case, Sewa Singh Thikri wala was elected the founder president of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal in its congregation on July 17, 1928.

The then Patiala state ruler Maharaja Bhupinder Singh received strong denunciation from the Akali leader Baba Kharak Singh who demanded immediate release of the Sewa Singh Theekri Wala. In protest against the bad behaviour of the jail authorities, Sewa Singh went on hunger strike. When his condition grew critical, he was released under pressure. Immediately after his release he pursued the Praja Mandal agenda passionately.

The first formal session of the Punjab Riyasti Praja Mandal after its inception was held on December 27, 1929 at Lahore where a resolution condemning the inefficient administration of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh was adopted.

A memorandum on the misrule in the Patiala state was sent to the Viceroy of India and the Maharaja was found guilty of most charges in an enquiry conducted by the All India States People`s Conference. At another conference held on October11, 1930 in Ludhiana, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh was severely criticised for his misrule.

Sensing the popularity of the Praja Mandal movement in the State, in 1931, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh invited Sewa Singh for negotiations which fizzled out over his demand for an elected assembly in the State. In the same year the annual conference of the Punjab Riyasati Praja Mandal was held in Shimla where he met Mahatma Gandhi and discussed the problems of the people of the Patiala State.

Following that in 1931 the Hidayat (instruction) banning all political activity was issued by the Patiala State to contain the Praja Mandal activities in the state. But the popularity of the Praja Mandal movement under the leadership of Sewa Singh Theekri Wala continued to rise and it launched an aggressive campaign against the Patiala ruler, demanding his deposition.

Sewa Singh Theekri Wala participated in the farmers agitation in Jind in 1931 and Malerkotla in 1932. He also launched a newspaper named Kaumi Dard to spread the principles of Sikh religion and raise the voice against atrocities on it.

In 1933 Seva Singh was arrested by the Patiala police and sentenced to imprisonment. Protesting against the ill treatment in the jail, he went on hunger strike. As the jail authorities did not pay much attention to his demands and deteriorating health, he died on 19 January 1935.

The history of the freedom movement of the present India has not been the same at all times and in all its parts; it is, in reality, a layered history accumulating many narratives of protest and suffering over time with some more apparent and the others underneath.

It is necessary to uncover and articulate those underneath for all the due acknowledgement of what the individuals and the movements delivered.




Image: UN Photo/Cia Pak

New York: The UN Secretary-General on Wednesday firmly condemned the on-going coup attempt in Gabon, while acknowledging that serious infringements of fundamental freedoms appear to have taken place during elections at the weekend.

Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that UN chief Antonio Guterres was following the evolving situation in the capital Libreville very closely.

While condemning military action as a means to resolve the post electoral crisis, the Secretary-General said he had noted the announcement by the Central African nations electoral body of a win for incumbent president Ali Bongo with deep concern given reports of serious irregularities at the polls.

Strong opposition to coups

This announcement of a military takeover in the capital by a group of officers who declared the election results void and the dissolution of State institutions, would mark the eighth coup  if successful  in West and Central Africa since 2020.

The Secretary-General reaffirms his strong opposition to military coups, said the UN Spokesperson.

According to news reports, the coup leaders have placed President Bongo under house arrest, ending in effect more than half a century of dynastic rule.

The current presidents father, Omar, came to power in 1967, and after violent unrest erupted following his disputed election victory in 2016, there was a foiled coup attempt in 2019.

News reports said the coup leaders calling themselves The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions, had declared the country to be in a state of institutional, political, economic and social crisis.

So far, there has been no response from the existing Government and the presidents whereabouts are unknown.

The country is currently an elected member of the UN Security Council.

Dialogue and restraint call

The Secretary-General calls on all actors involved to exercise restraint, engage in an inclusive and meaningful dialogue and ensure that the rule of law and human rights are fully respected, said the statement issued by his Spokeperson.

He also calls on the national army and security forces to guarantee the physical integrity of the President of the Republic and his family.

Standing with the people

Mr. Dujarric also stressed that the UN stands by the people of Gabon.

Questioned by correspondents at the daily Noon Briefing in New York on the pattern of military coups across the region, he said the best way of dealing with them is in fact to invest more in preventing them prior, in investing in strong institutions, in ensuring that elections are safe, that people are able to express themselves, that human rights are respected.

The UN has 81 international staff and 163 national staff working in the country and Mr. Dujarric said that latest information suggested that all staff and their families were safe and sound.

Our broader concern is really for the people of Gabon, and people of countries that have undergone military coups recently which is a clear violation of their rights.
Image: PAHO

Human rights experts on Wednesday urged the UN General Assembly to declare a second International Decade for People of African Descent starting in 2025 as more action is needed to combat racism and other intolerance.

They stressed that more than ever, the world urgently needs humanity to unite and collaborate in a spirit of equality and non-discrimination.

This demands political will to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination, inequality and stratification at both the domestic and international levels, they said in a statement.

Achieving this goal means that inequalities within and among countries will need to be drastically decreased, and the legacies of colonialism, apartheid, enslavement and genocide effectively resolved, they added.

A cause for humanity

The General Assembly proclaimed 2015 to 2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent, with actions at the national, regional and global levels.

Objectives include promoting respect, protection and fulfilment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by people of African Descent, and greater knowledge of their diverse heritage, culture and contributions to society.

The cause of people of African descent for recognition, justice and development is a cause for humanity, the experts stated.

Sustain the momentum

They said the UN Decade, together with the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, have contributed significantly to combatting racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance.

However, there is much more work to be done and the momentum gained must be sustained, they said.

They urged the General Assembly to consider proclaiming a second International Decade for People of African Descent from 2025 to 2034, with a view to taking further action to address systemic discrimination and legacies of the past to bring about the full recognition, justice, and development for people of African descent worldwide.

Pervasive discrimination persists

The 13 experts were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

They issued their appeal on the eve of the International Day for People of African Descent.

In his message for the Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted the enormous impact that both the African continent and people of African descent have had on the development, diversity and richness of world civilizations and cultures, which constitute the common heritage of humankind.

At the same time, we acknowledge the pervasive discrimination faced by people of African descent around the world, and the many obstacles they face to realising their full human rights, he said.

Promote equality, combat racism

He noted that recent years have seen renewed momentum for change, based on the global anti-racism movement of 2020. Millions of people took to the streets of major cities worldwide following the police killing of George Floyd, an African American man, that May.

Mr. Guterres pointed to UN initiatives, such as the establishment of the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement, and the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, as a testament to the collective aspirations of the African diaspora for justice and equality worldwide.

The Secretary-General has also made anti-racism a management priority at the UN, where he has appointed a Special Adviser and team charged with overseeing implementation of a Strategic Action Plan on Addressing Racism and Promoting Dignity for All.

Call to action

Today, as we mark the International Day for People of African Descent, I reiterate the call of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to use the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to announce and take prompt and robust steps to advance equality and combat racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia, he said.

The UN chief urged countries to take concrete steps, with the full participation of people of African descent and their communities, to tackle old and new forms of racial discrimination; and to dismantle entrenched structural and institutional racism.

Today and every day, we must continue to speak out against all ideas of racial superiority, and work tirelessly to free all societies from the blight of racism, he said.
Image: Unsplash/John Cameron

A UN expert on torture has called on the UK Government to conduct an urgent review of sentences imposed on prisoners who are being held indefinitely under the discredited Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentencing scheme.

As of the end of 2022, close to 2,900 people were still being held under the scheme.

Unresolved legacy

Between 2005 and 2012, English and Welsh courts used the IPP legislation to issue indeterminate sentences to those deemed likely to cause serious public harm, until they no longer represented such a risk, said a press release issued by the UN human rights office OHCHR on behalf of the UN torture expert, Alice Jill Edwards.

These sentences were mandatory for more than 50 specified serious crimes initially, leading to a larger than expected number being incarcerated - a total of 8,711.

Crucially, the cancellation of the scheme after 2012 was not retrospective.

The Government must step up its efforts to ensure rehabilitation opportunities for all those affected, as well as access to adequate and appropriate reparations, said Ms. Edwards, officially known as the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Disturbing suicide rate

A recent parliamentary report on the nearly 3,000 prisoners who remain under the scheme, brought attention to the significant psychological distress experienced by these inmates.

This includes elevated instances of self-inflicted harm, thoughts of suicide, efforts at self-harm, and tragic instances of suicide.

Cruel, inhuman and degrading

The distress, depression and anxiety caused by this scheme is severe for prisoners and their families, Mrs. Edwards said.

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Moreover, IPP prisoners are reportedly about 2.5 times more susceptible to self-harm than the general prison population, with Government data from 2021 revealing 65 cases of suicide among IPP prisoners.

For many, these sentences have become cruel, inhuman and degrading. They have been acknowledged by successive UK governments and even described as indefensible by a justice minister  yet they persist, she said.

Call for change

Having communicated with the Government and other experts, Mrs. Edward underscored that the programme violates essential principles of fair justice and the rule of law, and individuals reintegrated into society under IPP can be re-incarcerated at any point.

Mrs. Edwards conveyed her concerns over a lack of funds for effectively overseeing IPP prisoners, which has led to restricted entry to essential rehabilitation initiatives.

Furthermore, she highlighted the concept that indeterminate sentences should be employed sparingly and preserved for only the gravest crimes.

Mess of a system

Without safeguards, we are left with the mess that is the UKs IPP system, where people are held without being able to prove that they deserve to be released. It is therefore not surprising that many IPP prisoners are in a much worse mental state than at the time they were sentenced, she said.

Special Rapporteurs and UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts who serve on Working Groups are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organisation. They serve in their individual capacity and receive no salary for their work.
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Image: MINUSMA/Marco Dormino

Highlighting the succession of military coups unfolding across Africa, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday emphasized the need for durable democratic governance and the rule of law.

Wednesdays military takeover in Gabon came on the heels of Niger last month, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Chad, Guinea, Sudan and Mali in the years prior to that. Overall, all recent coups except Myanmar, in 2021, have taken place on African soil.

The announcement of the takeover in Gabon came shortly after election results were announced saying incumbent president Ali Bongo had been re-elected, amid reports of irregularities at the polls.

Many countries face deep-seated governance challenges. But military governments are not the solution, Mr. Guterres stressed, speaking at a press encounter at UN Headquarters, in New York.

They aggravate problems. They cannot resolve a crisis; they can only make it worse.

Credible institutions

The UN chief called on all countries to urgently establish credible democratic institutions and rule of law.

Mr. Guterres highlighted the need to strengthen international bodies such as the African Union, in their diplomatic efforts to foster peace, stability and democracy on the continent.

At the same time, conditions need to be created that allow African citizens to address the root causes of political instability; lack of development being a major factor, he said.

Development is a central objective if we want to create conditions for peace and stability in Africa, the Secretary-General said, in response to a question from a journalist.

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Diplomacy more important than ever

Mr. Guterres also spoke of a series of high profile upcoming trips, where he aims to drum up support for diplomacy and multilateralism, leading to the high-level opening of the UN General Assembly, in late September.

This weekend he will be travelling to the Africa Climate Summit in Kenya, from where he will travel to Indonesia to attend the 13th ASEAN-UN Summit.

Next, he will head for the Indian capital, Delhi, for the G20 Summit, and then on to Cuba for a Summit of the G-77 and China.

I look forward to engaging with global leaders at these four very different summits before the world comes together for the opening of the General Assembly, Mr. Guterres said.

Dialogue the only way

Key items on his agenda for the four summits include climate action in Africa, the crisis in Myanmar (ASEAN-UN Summit), reforming global financial institutions (G20), and getting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development back on track (G-77 and China).

Diplomacy is more important than ever to navigate the tensions of our emerging multipolar world, the UN chief said, adding:

Dialogue remains the only way to find joint approaches and common solutions to the global threats and challenges that we face.
Photo courtesy: UNI

Islamabad/UNI: Nine Pakistani soldiers were killed and five others injured in a suicide attack in the country's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, an army statement said.

The Army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Thursday night that a motorcycle-borne suicide bomber exploded himself near a military convoy in the Jani Khel area of Bannu district of the province.

The area has been cordoned off by security forces and an operation is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the area, the statement added.

The Pakistani army said that the security forces are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of soldiers would further strengthen the resolve.

Earlier last week, six soldiers and four terrorists were killed in a clash in South Waziristan district of KP province, according to the military.


After India, now the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have rejected a recent map released by China that showed Beijing's territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea. Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.

The Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have all rejected a map released by China recently that showed Beijing's territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea, joining India in slamming its neighbour for territorial exaggeration.

The countries categorically shot down the legitimacy of the assertions on the map even as Beijing claimed on Thursday that it should be viewed 'rationally and objectively', a report by Independent said.

Rejecting the map, the Malaysian foreign ministry said in a statement as quoted by Independent: "Malaysia does not recognise Chinas claims in the South China Sea as outlined in the 2023 edition of the standard map of China which extends into the Malaysian maritime area."

The country said it has filed a diplomatic protest over the issue.

The Philippines government also asked Beijing to "act responsibly and abide by its obligations" under international law.

"The Philippines rejects the 2023 version of Chinas Standard Map issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China on August 28, 2023, because of its inclusion of the nine-dashed line (now a ten-dashed line) that supposedly shows Chinas boundaries in the South China Sea," the government said in a statement.

"This latest attempt to legitimize Chinas purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

"The 2016 Arbitral Award invalidated the nine-dashed line. It categorically stated that 'maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the nine-dash line are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of Chinas maritime entitlements under the Convention'," the statement said.

When enquired about the latest Chinese standard map, Taiwans foreign ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu said Taiwan was "absolutely not a part of the Peoples Republic of China".

"No matter how the Chinese government twists its position on Taiwans sovereignty, it cannot change the objective fact of our countrys existence," he was quoted as saying by Independent.

A similar sentiment was displayed by Vietnam. Pham Thu Hang, the spokesperson for Vietnam's foreign affairs ministry said in a statement that the nation "resolutely opposes all China's claims in the South China Sea based on the dotted line."

India's reaction:

India Tuesday lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with Beijing over the issue of the 2023 standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory.

In response to media queries, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "India rejects these claims as they have no basis."

"Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," the MEA spokesperson said.

Chinas position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear: Foreign Ministry

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reacted to the development around the map and said in a statement: "Chinas position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear."

"The competent authorities of China routinely publish standard maps of various types every year, which aims to make standard maps available to all sectors of society and raise public awareness of the standardized use of maps. We hope parties concerned can view it in an objective and rational light," he said.
Photo Courtesy: Video grab from X Page of syedustb

A large number of protesters recently gathered in the Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan's Skardu region and demanded the release of a Shia cleric who has been detained over blasphemy charges.

The protesters were even heard shouting slogans demanding to unite the region with India's Kashmir region.

Skardu witnessed protests in recent times after cleric Agha Baqir al-Hussaini was detained and booked for his remarks during a religious gathering.

Massive protest at Skardu Gilgit Baltistan against Toheen Sabah bill keep in mind on the behalf of this Bill The FIR has been launched against Syed Baqir Al Hussaini for cursing Yazid bin Muawiyah bin Sufiyan#skardu #GilgitBaltistan pic.twitter.com/GpadJgWvPQ  SYED (@syedustb) August 25, 2023

Despite the Pakistani medias lack of coverage of the protests in Gilgit, social media has seen the emergence of videos and accounts that show the intensity of the unrest. Since most of it cannot be verified, even this is simply a trickle, reports The Statesman.

Accounts on X (previously Twitter) claim that the first demonstrations on August 22 were by Sunnis calling for the detention of Agha Baqir al-Hussaini. The Karakoram Highway, which connects the hilly area to Pakistan, was subsequently shut.

In videos, local authorities can also be heard warning that if the route was still closed, people would head to Kargil rather than Sindh or Punjab (both in Pakistan).

Along with demanding the release of al-Hussaini and the opening of the roadway, they also threatened civil war.

(Note: IBNS could not separately verify the image)
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A large number of protesters surrounded the Matta police station in Pakistan's Swat region recently after a young man died at a local hospital allegedly due to police torture.

The deceased Sanaullah's relatives alleged he was arrested by the police recently.

The police tortured him during investigation and when his condition worsened, he was sent to jail instead of hospital, they told Dawn News, adding that owing to his critical situation the jail sent him to the hospital where he breathed his last.

The protesting family members said the boy's body had signs of brutal violence.

They placed the youths body in front of the Matta police station, barricading the road and launched a forceful protest, Dawn News reported.

Additionally, they urged the authorities concerned to initiate legal proceedings against the police officers allegedly involved in the violent incident.
Photo Courtesy: Pixabay

Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council recently condemned the continuous hike in the price of essential commodities in Pakistan.

In a joint statement issued here, the KP Bar Councils vice chairman Zarbadshah Khan and its executive committee chairman Syed Mubashir Shah demanded of the government to forthwith abolish free provision of electricity, natural gas and petrol and free air tickets provided to bureaucrats, judges, army officers, etc, reports Dawn News.

They stated that continuous price hike especially of essential commodities had badly affected the general public and made their lives miserable. They stated that the legal fraternity would observe complete boycott of all the courts on Thursday, the newspaper reported.

They also asked all district and tehsil bar associations to hold protest meetings in their respective barrooms.

They also announced that the bar council would provide free legal assistance to people in cases in the consumers courts.
Photo Courtesy: Pixabay

A case has been registered against a senior Pakistani police official in Lahore for his alleged involvement in cross-border drug smuggling via drones.

According to reports, he headed the anti-narcotics wing of the city police.

Lahore DIG (Investigation) Imran Kishwar confirmed the involvement of a DSP, saying that the official was booked by the ANF.

We have constituted a high-powered committee of senior police officers to further expand the scope of the investigation into the illegal cross-border smuggling of the drug, the DIG told Dawn.

He said that Lahore SSP Internal Accountability (IAB) Tauqeer Naeem would head the committee while SP Crime Record Officer Aftab Phularwan and a DSP would assist him in this matter.

Departmental action has already been initiated against the police officer, he said, adding that further proceedings would be made in the light of the inquiry report.

The issue was highlighted after a drone carrying six kilogrammes of drugs, worth millions of rupees, crashed in the outskirts of the provincial capital in July.

Sources told Dawn News that the issue was escalated to the prime minister after reports suggested that some elements were sending drugs from Kasur to India through drones.
Photo courtesy: Joe Biden Instagram page/Wallpaper Cave

Washington/UNI: US President Joe Biden is not planning to hold an official meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, the NBC broadcaster reported on Friday, citing US administration officials.

On Thursday, Biden said he hoped to see Xi at the G20 summit in New Delhi despite media reports that the Chinese leader would skip the gathering.

Even if Xi attends the event, interaction between the two leaders will most likely be limited to official greetings and the exchange of pleasantries, the US officials told the broadcaster.

However, the two presidents may still hold a meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in San Francisco this fall, officials told the broadcaster, adding, however, that no talks had been confirmed yet.

"I have no doubt if (Xi) were to come (to the APEC conference) it would be productive," US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told the broadcaster.

The G20 summit will be held in the Indian capital of New Delhi from September 9-10, while the APEC Economic Leaders' Week will take place in San Francisco in November.
On Friday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) appointed actor R. Madhavan as President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Society's governing council chairman. The former President, director Shekhar Kapur, ended his tenure on March 3, 2023.

"Mr. R. Madhvan has been appointed the President of the FTII Society and Chairman of the Governing Council. The decision has been formally conveyed to us by the Ministry," FTII Registrar Sayyid Rabeehashmi said.

AFP

The FTII chairman leads the FTII Society and includes 12 nominees. Among them, eight are nominated as 'Persons of Eminence,' and the remaining four are FTII alumni.



I&B Minister Anurag Thakur congratulates actor R Madhavan on being nominated as President of FTII (Film and Television Institute of India, Pune) and Chairman of the governing council. pic.twitter.com/gA8ACLhoC5  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023

Typically, the Ministry selects these members when appointing the institute chairman, but there was a departure from this tradition when Anupam Kher was established in October 2017.

Madhavan's appointment by the Ministry follows a similar pattern, where the other nominated members have yet to be appointed. Once 24 members, including 12 ex-officio members, are in place, it leads to establishing a governing council, an academic council, and a standing finance committee.

R. Madhavan, celebrated for his roles in blockbuster movies such as "3 Idiots," "Tanu Weds Manu," and "Rang De Basanti," has recently ventured into directing with "Rocketry: The Nambi Effect.

IMDb

This film received acclaim and earned the prestigious Best Feature Film Award at the 69th National Awards, announced just last week.



Madhavan wore multiple hats for this project, acting, co-writing, and directing, marking a significant milestone in his career. His journey in the world of Indian cinema continues to be a remarkable and evolving one, leaving audiences eagerly anticipating his future endeavors.

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New Delhi is gearing up for the G20 summit to be held on September 9-10. The event is going to be one of the most remarkable moments in the history of Indian diplomacy as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar are forging new alliances across the world. Preparations are being made to host hundreds of delegates from the member nations who will start arriving in the Capital in the first week of September. The expected guests include US President Joe Biden, UK PM Rishi Sunak, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, and Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Russian President Vladimir Putin will send his foreign minister to the event, while Chinese President Xi Jinping will likely miss the event being held under India's Presidency.

G20 Summit Delhi Holidays: What's Open, What's Closed In Delhi? All You Need To Know | BCCL

What is G20?

Group of Twenty, or the G20, is a group that seeks international economic cooperation. It was founded after the Asian financial crisis in 1999 as a forum. Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the member countries were invited to discuss global economic and financial issues. After the global economic and financial crisis of 2007, the G20 was transformed to accommodate the Heads of State. Eventually, in 2009, the group was designated the "premier forum for international economic cooperation".



The group is formed by 19 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, United Kingdom, United States and the European Union. The member states represent around 85% of the global GDP and over 75% of the global trade.



How G20 Functions?

The G20 functions in two parallel tracks: the Finance Track and the Sherpa Track. Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors lead the Finance Track, while Sherpas lead the Sherpa Track after Finance Track. Sherpas are personal emissaries of the Leaders from the member countries.



G20 Summit 2023 Member Countries

While the Ministry of Finance mainly leads the Finance Track and ensures regular meetings during the term of each Presidency, the Sherpas oversee negotiations over the course of the year, discussing agenda items for the Summit and coordinating the substantive work of the G20. Additionally, Engagement Groups bring together civil societies, parliamentarians, think tanks, women, youth, labour, businesses and researchers of the G20 countries.



The Group's Presidency comes to different countries on a rotational basis. The country that gets the Presidency decides the G20 agenda for that particular year.

Why is the summit important for India?

India is expected to use this opportunity to solidify further its position as a force to reckon with in the global south. The robust Indian foreign policy - arguably successful in securing the critical balance while maintaining the relations with Russia and the European Union - is being praised by several commentators and geopolitics experts.

India has chosen 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' or 'One Earth, One Family, One Future' as the theme for its G20 Presidency. The phrase not only reflects India's inclusive approach, but it also emphasizes India's policy to remain non-partisan in many of international conflicts.



G20 Summit 2023 Invitees and Guests

India would like to use the forum to convince the world of its commitment to peace and non-aggression. More importantly, at a time when China is reportedly infiltrating Indian territory, India would like to remind world leaders about the dangers of expansionist motives of the so-called powerful nations.

Despite the existing discords and discontent, the upcoming summit will likely see India winning more friends while compelling the enemies to join hands for a safe and prosperous future.
West Point Military Academy recently witnessed the unexpected discovery of an 1820s time capsule, which blended the thrill of archaeology with the intrigue of a historical mystery. This murky reveal, hidden deep within the academy's hallowed grounds, has piqued the interest and excitement of historians, cadets, and the general public.



West Point staff and students gathered on Monday for what was intended to be a meaningful moment: the opening of a mystery 1820s time capsule unearthed months earlier at the base of a campus statue.

The Resurrection Of History: West Point's 1820s Time Capsule's Muddy Unveiling

The live-streamed event began with pre-recorded remarks from academy historian Jennifer Voigtschild, who invited the audience to "literally uncover a piece of West Point history." Cadets were filmed predicting what was inside the 200-year-old lead box: an American flag, boots, or a class ring.

However, there was mud instead.

Credit: BBC

Ms. Voigtschild had led the school through the frenetic build-up for the previous 30 minutes, inviting some of West Point's top brass on stage to celebrate the thrilling moment.

The grey box, 12 inches by 13 inches (30cm by 30cm by 33cm), stood in front of them, centre stage, while two school officials stood by with purple rubber gloves and white masks, ready to reveal its contents.

Credit: BBC

The box was discovered a few months ago when a bronze statue of military hero Thaddeus Kosciuszko was removed. The box was discovered beneath the marble face of the monument, likely placed there during the memorial's completion in 1829.

"We're guessing it's an artifact, or what we'd call a time capsule today, placed there when the monument was finished in 1829," Ms. Voigtschild said from the stage.

What Was The Box Made Of?

But they were speculating, she continued, because no reference to a box, artefact, time capsule, or any other object being placed inside the Kosciuszko statue's base could be found. Because the box was made of lead, an x-ray of the alleged time capsule revealed only some "anomalies" in the interior, which were interpreted as an indication of something, although no one knew what.

Credit: AP

The auditorium became silent when the box was finally opened as the lid was painstakingly wrenched open with a metal tool. The livestream camera zoomed in, recording the meticulous efforts. After carefully opening the box, one employee took a little flashlight and scanned the contents.

There Was Nothing He Discovered

The employee said, "We're not sure if it's soil, mud, or dust," he explained, adding, "The box didn't quite meet expectations."

Still, in the hopes that West Point's ancestors did not leave a box of dirt to be discovered centuries later, the silt will be thoroughly investigated for any unusual contents.

Credit: AP

Do some of our audience members have questions for our various experts up there? Ms. Voigtschild stated that the mud was discovered. There weren't any.

What do you think about it? Do let us know in the comments.

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Navigating the corporate world often involves understanding unspoken guidelines regarding employees' appearances. Just as visible tattoos are typically discouraged in Indian government jobs, private companies also tend to expect their employees to maintain a certain level of professionalism, particularly within the workplace.

In response to such expectations, a woman in the United States donned an unconventional wig after her corporate office raised concerns about her colored hair. This incident sheds light on the balance between personal style and workplace norms.

Emily Benschoter, a corporate employee, had a bright pink streak in her hair.

However, when she started a job in the hospitality industry, her office asked her to hide her colored hair.

Living in Georgia, Benschoter talked about her experience in an interview with Newsweek.

In the discussion, the 29-year-old expressed herself as someone who values self-expression and feels self-assured with her pink hair.

She was chosen for a front-of-house role based on a video interview, where it was hard for the interviewer to see her hair color. However, the issue arose when she arrived at the office, where different hair colors might be seen as unprofessional or distracting.

She asked her manager for advice to keep her job, and the manager recommended wearing a wig in a natural color.

Dying my hair for a job I work for 40 hours per week wasnt an option. So, I came up with a solution to keep the job and my hair. I prefer my pink hair as its me to my core. So now I purposely pick wacky wigs, which is quite funny, she told Newsweek.

She also thinks it's "dehumanizing" that her appearance, precisely her unconventional hair color, prevents her from being accepted for who she is at face value.

Benschoter, known for her TikTok videos, first shared her concern on the platform.

On July 19, she wore a bad blonde wig in one of her posts, accompanied by a caption that read, "When you have pink hair, but corporate does not approve, so you wear terrible wigs," as reported by the Independent.

Unsplash

The CROWN Act, Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, was established in the United States in 2019 to combat racial hairstyle discrimination.

It offers legal protection for natural protective hairstyles like braids, locs, twists, and knots in workplaces and public schools. However, this doesn't apply to Benschoter's situation because her pink hair is not considered natural.

For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appears in federal court in Atlanta today to fight for the ability to try her massive racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants in a state court in Fulton County, Ga. Trumps final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has filed to remove the case to federal court due to his prior federal office and duties. There are good arguments on both sides of the motion.

However, more is at stake for Willis than a change of courtrooms.

Willis used a sweeping racketeering theory to snare Trump and others in an alleged conspiracy that is the aggregation of more than 160 insular acts, ranging from tweets to speeches to specific actions. Some of these individuals face tough charges involving alleged access to voting machines and other specific crimes. However, Willis is trying to hold together a case to try them en masse and in state court. As her defendants try to scatter, Willis will be running between federal and state courts to herd them back into one collective trial.

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Trying 19 people in one case is never easy. It is like a potato-sack race with 38 legs and everyone moving at different paces. While linked in this alleged conspiracy, these defendants are loosely grouped together. Large racketeering cases are nothing new, but they generally are linked by more sturdy connections, such as an organized crime syndicate, or other more conventional criminal elements.

For some of the defendants, the framing of the case may be a greater threat than the alleged crimes. Collective prosecution can encourage a jury to mete out collective punishment. Willis clearly wants to paint all of the defendants with the same brush. That is more difficult if they are tried separately or in small groups.

Willis already faces two challenges.

First is the desire of defendants like Meadows and Trump to remove the case to federal court. Here, the political character of their alleged actions works in Willis favor. In his brief, Meadows concedes that all the substantive allegations in the Indictment concern unquestionably political activity. That raises an obvious challenge that the Hatch Act bars many political activities by federal officials and thus moves them outside of the official duties of figures like Meadows. However, White House chiefs of staff have always addressed political issues, from Capitol Hill to state legislatures. For a person with that portfolio, what constitutes a campaign matter and what constitutes an official matter can become blurred. Moreover, Williss inclusion of a wide array of actions and statements makes it more likely that some arguably official duties may be raised at trial.

Second, some defendants are not keen on being tried in gross. They are willing to give up the time needed to prepare a defense in exchange for putting themselves on a different trial schedule. Defendants like attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro have demanded their constitutional right to a speedy trial, and Willis has proposed an October date. That is roughly five months before the proposed date for the mass trial.

The combination of defendants seeking speedy trials and those seeking removal to federal court could make Williss original strategy unwieldy, if not unworkable.

The division of the cases also could make the prosecution more fair for the defendants, since some of them could be prejudiced by a mass trial. Many are the type of low-hanging-fruit defendants that prosecutors often charge in the hope that they will cooperate to avoid financial ruin or potential incarceration. For example, Stephen Cliffgard Lee, Harrison William Prescott Floyd and Trevian C. Kutti are charged with attempting to influence Fulton County election worker Ruby Freemans testimony before the grand jury; Lee is specifically charged with traveling to Georgia and knocking on Freemans door in an attempt to influence her testimony. Likewise, other defendants like Scott Graham Hall are charged with seeking illegal access to voting machines.

The indictment does not establish particularly strong connections to such individual actions as part of this conspiracy. Yet trying them together allows the prosecution to give them a more sinister, conspiratorial patina.

Willis also faces the reality that, even if the federal district judge is sympathetic, the removal motions will need to be reviewed on appeal. They involve challenging questions over the scope of not just laws like the Hatch Act but the duties of federal officials like Meadows. That could place those cases on a different trajectory for months.

The trial courts will have to render decisions on major constitutional challenges, including free-speech claims, before trial. However, defendants are generally forced to go to trial before they receive a full appellate review of such questions; since they have not been convicted, it is often viewed as premature to render an appellate decision. These are certainly unprecedented cases that could prompt review, but the defendants cannot count on such an intervention. Yet, while the appellate courts may allow the criminal cases to proceed to verdicts, these severance and removal motions could result in more narrow reviews on the appellate level.

Of course, Willis is not the only person with a challenging calendar. It remains controversial that Willis waited more than two years to bring this prosecution just before the next presidential election. Trump potentially faces four major prosecutions in the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia and New York before the 2024 election. Some trials are scheduled for just before major Republican Party primaries. In Washington, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has already indicated that the court will not treat Trump differently because he is running for office.

However, there is a separate due process question raised by the daisy-chained trial schedule. Even without a national political campaign, any defendant would be hard-pressed to prepare for all of these trials before the general election  and that is not even counting the civil cases pending against him. In one federal case alone, the government has 11 million pages of evidence that will have to be shown to the defense team.

It is often fun to debate whether someone would rather fight one horse-sized duck or a hundred duck-sized horses. However, the almost 100 counts now facing Trump in four different criminal cases are all horse-sized charges, and he has comparatively little time to fight them all in rapid succession.

Trump and his co-defendants must stand trial for these allegations, but criminal cases are supposed to be tests of evidence, not of endurance or exposure. Something has to give in this schedule  not in the interest of Trump, but in the interest of justice.

Jonathan Turley, an attorney, constitutional law scholar and legal analyst, is the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at The George Washington University Law School. https://jonathanturley.org
By Caitlin Johnstone

September 01, 2023 - Information Clearing House - The Economist has taken a keen interest in Australia lately, which if you know anything about The Economist is something you never want to see happen to your country. Two articles published in the last few days by the notorious propaganda outlet have celebrated the fact that Australia appears to be the most likely nation to follow the United States into a hot war with China as it enmeshes itself further and further with the US war machine.

In How Joe Biden is transforming Americas Asian alliances, The Economist writes the following:

Meanwhile, the unbreakable defence relationship with Australia is deepening, following the AUKUS agreement struck in March, amid a flurry of equipment deals and military exercises. Should war break out with China, the Aussies seem the most willing to fight at Americas side. Australian land, sea and air bases are expanding to receive more American forces. Under the AUKUS deal, Australia is gaining its own long-range weapons, such as nuclear-powered (but not nuclear-armed) submarines to be developed jointly with America and Britain. The three partners want to work on other military technologies, from hypersonic missiles to underwater drones.

Taken together the latticework of security agreements, shows how Americas long-heralded pivot to Asia is accelerating.

In Australia is becoming Americas military launch-pad into Asia, The Economist elaborates upon this war partnership with tumescent enthusiasm, calling it a mateship and likening it to a marriage, and calling for a rollback of US restrictions on sharing military technology with Australia.

If America ever goes to war with China, American officials say the Aussies would be the likeliest allies to be fighting with them, The Economist gushes, adding, Australias geographical advantage is that it lies in what strategists call a Goldilocks zone: well-placed to help America to project power into Asia, but beyond the range of most of Chinas weapons. It is also large, which helps America scatter its forces to avoid giving China easy targets.

The Economist cites White House Asia Tsar Kurt Campbell reportedly saying of Australia, We have them locked in now for the next 40 years.

Equally, though, Australia may have America locked in for the same duration, The Economist hastens to add.

Well gosh, thats a relief.

How the world sees us, tweeted former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr when sharing the Economist article.

Historians will be absolutely baffled by whats happening in Australia right now: normally countries never voluntarily relinquish their sovereignty and worsen their own security position out of their own accord. They normally have to lose a war and be forced to do so, commentator Arnaud Bertrand added to Carrs quip.

As much as it pains me to admit it, The Economist is absolutely correct. The Australian government has been showing every indication that it is fully willing to charge into a hot war with its top trading partner to please its masters in Washington, both before and after the US puppet regime in Canberra changed hands last year.

This sycophantic war-readiness was humorously mocked on Chinese state media back in 2021 by Impact Asia Capital co-founder Charles Liu, who said he didnt think the US will actually fight a war with China over Taiwan, but the Australians might be stupid enough to fight it for them.

US is not going to fight over Taiwan, Liu said. Its not going to conduct a war over Taiwan. They may try to get Japanese to do it, but Japanese wont be so stupid to do it. The only stupid ones who might get involved are the Australians, sorry.

He had nothing to be sorry about; he was right. Australians are being very, very stupid, and not just our government. A recent Lowy Institute poll found that eight in ten Australians believe the nations alliance with the United States is important for Australias security, despite three-quarters also saying they believe the alliance makes Australia more likely to be drawn into a war in Asia.

Thats just plain stupid. A war with China is the absolute worst case security scenario for Australia; anything that makes war with China more likely is making us less secure. Making bad decisions which hurt your own interests is what stupid people do.

Thats not to say Australians are naturally dimwitted; were actually pretty clever as far as populations go. Whats making us stupid in this case is the fact that our nation has the most concentrated media ownership in the western world, a massive chunk of which is owned by longtime US empire asset Rupert Murdoch. This propaganda-conducive information environment has been distorting Australias understanding of the world so pervasively in recent years that on more than one occasion Ive had total strangers start babbling at me about the dangers of China completely out of nowhere within minutes of striking up conversation with them.

This artificially manipulated information ecosystem has made Australians so pants-on-head idiotic that they think the US empire is filling their country up with war machinery because it loves them and wants to protect them from the Chinese. Thats as stupid as it gets.

The single biggest lie being circulated in Australia right now is that our government is militarising against China as a defensive measure. China has literally zero history of invading and occupying countries on the other side of the planet. You know who does have a very extensive history of doing that? The United States. The military superpower that Australias military is becoming increasingly intertwined with. The belief that were intertwining ourselves with the worlds most aggressive, destructive and war-horny military force as a defensive measure to protect ourselves against that military forces top rival (who hasnt dropped a bomb in decades) is transparently false, and only a complete idiot would believe it.

Were not militarising to defend ourselves against a future attack by China, were militarising in preparation for a future US-led attack on the Chinese military. Were militarising in preparation to involve ourselves in an unresolved civil war between Chinese people that has nothing to do with us. China has been sorting out its own affairs for millennia and has managed to do so just fine without the help of white people running in firing military explosives at them, and Taiwan is no exception.

The imperial media talk nonstop about how the Peoples Republic of China is preparing to seize control of Taiwan using military force, without ever mentioning the fact that thats exactly what the US empire is doing. The US empire is preparing to wrest Taiwan away from China to facilitate its long-term agenda to balkanize, weaken and subjugate its top rival.

Only a complete blithering imbecile would believe any part of this is being done defensively. Its being done to secure unipolar planetary domination for the worlds most powerful and destructive government, and only an absolute moron would agree to risk their own countrys security and economic interests to help facilitate it.

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.
September 01, 2023 - Information Clearing House - In the end, History was made. Surpassing even the greatest of expectations, the BRICS nations performed a giant step for multipolarity by expanding the group to BRICS 11.

Starting on January 1, 2024, the five original BRICS members will be joined by Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

No, they wont turn into an unpronounceable BRIICSSEEUA. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed the song remains the same, with the familiar BRICS acronym to the Global South or Global Majority or Global Globe multilateral organization that will shape the contours of a new system of international relations.

Here is the Johannesburg II Declaration of the 15th BRICS summit. BRICS 11 is just the start. Theres a long line eager to join; without referring to the dozens of nations (and counting) that have already expressed their interest, according to the South Africans, the official list, so far, includes Algeria, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Venezuela, Vietnam, Guinea, Greece, Honduras, Indonesia, Cuba, Kuwait, Morocco, Mexico, Nigeria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkiye and Syria.

By next year, most of them will either become BRICS 11 partners or part of the second and third wave of fully-fledged members. The South Africans have stressed that BRICS will not be limited to just one expansion phase.

Russia-China leadership, in effect

The road leading to BRICS 11, during the two days of discussions in Johannesburg, was hard and bumpy, as admitted by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. The final result turned out to be a prodigy of trans-continental inclusion. West Asia was aggregated in full force. The Arab world has three full members, as much as Africa. And Brazil strategically lobbied to incorporate troubled Argentina.

The global GDP-purchasing power parity (PPP) of BRICS 11, as it stands, is now 36 percent (already larger than the G7), and the institution now encompasses 47 percent of the worlds population.

BRICS+ Countries GDP, GDP (PPP) and Debt. (Photo Credit: The Cradle)

G7 Countries GDP, GDP (PPP) and Debt. (Photo Credit: The Cradle)

Even more than a geopolitical and geoeconomic breakthrough, BRICS 11 really breaks the bank on the energy front. By signing up Tehran, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, BRICS 11 instantly becomes an oil and gas powerhouse, controlling 39 percent of global oil exports, 45.9 percent of proven reserves and 47.6 percent of all oil produced globally, according to InfoTEK.

A direct BRICS 11-OPEC+ symbiosis is inevitable (under Russia-Saudi Arabia leadership), not to mention OPEC itself.

Translation: The collective west may soon lose its power to control global oil prices, and subsequently, the means to enforce its unilateral sanctions.

A Saudi Arabia directly aligned with Russia-China-India-Iran offers a stunning counterpoint to the US-engineered oil crisis in the early 1970s, when Riyadh started wallowing in petrodollars. That represents the next stage of the Russian-initiated and Chinese-finalized rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran, recently sealed in Beijing.

BRICS+ And G7 Proven Oil Reserves. (Photo Credit: The Cradle)

And thats exactly what the Russia-China strategic leadership always had in mind. This particular diplomatic masterstroke is rife with meaningful details: BRICS 11 enters the fray on the exact same day, January 1, 2024, when Russia assumes the annual presidency of BRICS.

Putin announced that the BRICS 11 summit next year will take place in Kazan, the capital city of Russia's Tatarstan, which will be yet another blow to the west's irrational, isolation-and-sanctions policies. Next January, expect further integration of the Global South/Global Majority/Global Globe, including even more radical decisions, conducted by the sanctioned-to-oblivion Russian economy - now, incidentally, the 5th largest in the world by a PPP of over $5 trillion.

G7 in a coma

The G7, for all practical purposes, has now entered an Intensive Care Unit. The G20 may be next. The new Global Globe G20 may be the BRICS 11  and later on the BRICS 20 or even BRICS 40. By then, the petrodollar will also be on life support in the ICU.

The BRICS 11 climax could not have been accomplished without a stellar performance by the Men of the Match: Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, supported by their respective teams. The Russia-China strategic partnership dominated in Johannesburg and set the major guidelines. We need to be bold and expand; we need to press for reform of the current institutional framework  from the UN Security Council to the IMF and the WTO; and we need to get rid of those institutions that are subjugated by the artificial rules-based international order.

No wonder Xi defined the moment, on the record, as historic. Putin went so far as to publicly call on all BRICS 11 to abandon the US dollar and expand trade settlements in national currencies - stressing that BRICS oppose hegemonies of any kind and the exceptional status that some countries aspire to, not to mention a policy of continued neo-colonialism.

Importantly, as much as the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is celebrating its 10th anniversary next month, Putin drove home the necessity to:

establish a permanent BRICS transport commission, which would deal not only with the North-South project [referring to the INTSC transportation corridor, whose key BRICS members are Russia, Iran and India], but also on a broader scale with the development of logistics and transport corridors, interregional and global.

Pay attention. Thats Russia-China in synch on connectivity corridors, and they are preparing to further link their continental transportation projects.

On the financial front, the Central Banks of the current BRICS have been instructed to seriously investigate and increase trading in local currencies.

Putin made a point of being very realistic on de-dollarization: The issue of the single settlement currency is a complex issue, but we will move toward solving these problems one way or another. That complemented Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva's remarks on how the BRICS has started a working group to study the viability of a reference currency.

In parallel, the BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) has welcomed three new members: Bangladesh, Egypt, and UAE. Yet their road to prominence from now will be even steeper.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa publicly praised NDB President Dilma Rousseffs report on the nine-year-old institution; but Dilma herself stressed again that the bank aims to reach only 30 percent of total loans in currencies bypassing the US dollar.

Thats hardly enough. Why? It's up to Sergey Glazyev, the Minister of Macroeconomics at the Eurasia Economic Commission, working under the Russia-led EAEU, to answer the key question:

It is necessary to change the statutory documents of this bank. When it was created, I tried to explain to our financial authorities that the capital of the bank should be spread between the national currencies of founding countries. But American agents madly believed in the US dollar. As a result, this bank today is afraid of sanctions and is semi-paralyzed.

No mountains can stop a mighty river

So yes, the challenges ahead are immense. But the drive to succeed is contagious, perhaps best epitomized by Xis remarkable speech at the closing ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum, read out by Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao.

It's as if Xi had invoked a Mandarin version of the 1967 American pop classic Aint No Mountain High Enough. He quoted a Chinese proverb: No mountains can stop the surging flow of a mighty river. And he reminded his audience that the fight was both noble - and necessary:

Whatever resistance there may be, BRICS, a positive and stable force for good, will continue to grow. We will forge stronger BRICS strategic partnership, expand the BRICS Plus model, actively advance membership expansion, deepen solidarity and cooperation with other EMDCs [emerging market developing countries], promote global multipolarity and greater democracy in international relations, and help make the international order more just and equitable.

Now add this profession of faith in humanity to the way the Global Globe perceives Russia. Even though the Russian economy's purchasing power parity is by now ahead of the imperial European vassals that seek to crush it, the Global Souths perception of Moscow is as one of our own. What happened in South Africa made this even more clear, and Russia's ascendency to the BRICS presidency in four months will crystallize it.

Its no wonder that the collective west, dazed and confused, now trembles as it feels the earth  85 percent of it, at least - moving under its feet.

Pepe Escobar (born 1954) is a Brazilian journalist and geopolitical analyst.
This is slavery, not to speak ones thoughts.  Euripides, The Phoenician Women

September 01, 2023 - Information Clearing House - Some time ago on a Sunday evening when my wife and I had just sat down to dinner, our phone rang. Since I didnt recognize the phone number and it was dinnertime, I hesitated to answer it, but for some chance reason I did. The voice on the other end was agitated, intense, and asked for me.

Could he visit immediately because he had urgent news for me? he asked. He told me his name, one I was not familiar with, and said he was a big fan of my book, Seeking Truth in A Country of Liesthat he had read it numerous times. He wondered how I knew so much about the workings of what we might call the deep state, the power elite, the intelligence/moneyed class connections, the assassinations of JFK, RFK, et al. He had also read a newspaper Op Ed I had written about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and wished to talk to me about that as well. He said he had a very important story to tell me. The urgency in his voice was palpable.

Naturally I was wary, so I put him off for a few days. But New England is a relatively small area, the home to so many of the countrys ultra-wealthy families and the traditional Blue Blood ruling power structure, and the little bit he had told me about himself intrigued me. So a few days later I travelled to meet him where he lived, not wanting to open myself to an unknown visitor to my home. On the way I realized that his last name did ring a bell and it was one connected to important U.S. history of the 1960s. For reasons of privacy, I will not disclose his name.

Call him Mr. Blue.

This is out of the blue,

In the wink of an eye.

No conspiracy that I know of,

Though something on that order

Is not impossible. Between me

And you I would say it flows.

No sense in telling them

What we are up to, or why.

We dont know ourselves, do we?

Who cares, the knowing is overrated.

What is this, school we are still in,

0r havent we graduated to the world

Of living? Out of the blue,

In the wink of an eye,

Long before we know it,

But not after, never after.

We arranged to meet in a cafe, but when we did, he asked to converse away from the cafe on a bench in the open air instead. The first thing he said to me was that he was not CIA. I took that in two ways: he was and he wasnt. But I said little and listened to his story, even while questioning myself for agreeing to meet a stranger after such a bizarre phone call. I was glad not to be sitting over cups of coffee.

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He began by telling me about his Blue Blood family heritage, how his family was connected to all the prominent wealthy families whose names are very familiar to many people: the Forbes, Morgans, Choates, Rockefellers, et.al., an index of The Social Register of old money and high society well-connected to all the levers of political and economic power. Primarily based in the northeastern United States, their tentacles stretch around the world because of their power and influence. They attend Yale, Harvard, Princeton and the elite New England prep schools. They have long held important positions in the media, government, and Wall Street. In short, his family was part of what C. Wright Mills termed the power elite, and as he made clear, he and the children of these families were brought up to assume they were born to make the major decisions for the country. To rule.

But Mr. Blue said he always felt like an outsider even while being an insider in this family nexus. He seemed burdened with guilt for something, and as he told a long story I became a bit impatient waiting for the crux of the pressing news he wanted to convey to me. But I listened silently.

He told me about some of what he has done over the decades, which was good work trying to repair the damage caused by major corporations. It seemed to me he did this as a way of atoning for his familys sins. I would interrupt him from time to time to ask a point of clarification about some connection between the people he mentioned and their links to U.S. government agencies or the well-known media people connected to his family. He was very forthright in his answers. I grew to trust him the more he talked.

After about an hour, I asked him to please tell me the urgent news he had phoned about. It concerned the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. He said he told RFK, Jr. decades ago that the CIA killed his father. This, he said, he learned two days after the assassination from a relative who was a CIA officer. This relative said to him in person, We knew. When I asked him what that meant, he told me it meant that the CIA had killed Senator Kennedy. Then he traced this relatives connections through the military-intelligence-industrial-political-wealth complex and how it all wound through his familys history and the prominent families he was connected to. He named many names, including the CIA relative. I wasnt surprised by all the interconnections, for they confirmed what I already knew about the upper echelons of power and money. But this was the first time that an insider told me personally, and I kept marveling at their extent and how the names were connected to key events in U.S. history, particularly those involving the intelligence agencies.

We were sitting in a town deeply steeped in the famous names and historic mansions of the old money elites, and as he talked, I kept drawing on my knowledge of these people, which was not just academic but based of personal experience. We were sitting in the heart of the place where these traditional ruling elites congregated and socialized.

In another similar New England town years before, I had heard endless stories told to me by the famous theologian Reinhold Niebuhrs widow, Ursula Niebuhr, who was a big name dropper, and liked to point up all the Niebuhrs elite connections. (Niebuhr was the most famous U.S. theologian of the 20th century; his photo appeared on the cover of Time magazine; he influenced politicians of many stripes; was quoted approvingly and often by Barack Obama and even John McCain; in short, he was the establishments God-man during the Cold War and a theological underpinning for the neoliberal warfare state). She would regularly note how so-and so, her friend and local resident (usually these people had their massive summer homes in addition to city residences)  e.g. Adolph Berle, an intelligence officer in WW I, a member of FDRs original Brain Trust, Ambassador, Columbia law professor, power broker involved in above and below board foreign intrigue, Cold Warrior  did this and that, etc. For some reason she shared with me much of her inside knowledge of her elite friends as if I shared her values, which I didnt. It must have been my theological background. And I guess playing dumb helped. But I listenedand learned in doing sothat people will tell you many things you may or may not want to hear if they think you are receptive. Her stories about some of the most famous people of the 20th century  Einstein, T.S. Eliot, her Princeton associates, et al., always referred to by their first names  told me much about the workings of the power elites. Sometimes the stories were weirdly funny if not revealing of something else.

At lunch with her son Christopher one day, she told me about her friend (all the famous people were friends) the famous German-American psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. She said he encouraged her husband Reinhold to stop smoking cigarettes by turning to Danish cigarillos. She quoted him as saying: Remember what Freud said, Reinhold: Its been a long time since I had something hot and wet between my lips. I was taken aback by this seventy-five year-old woman saying this, knowing as I did that Freud smoked cigars his whole life.

But it was typical of a type of double entendre that she often gave about her elite associates that opened my eyes to the inner workings of a social class I was not familiar with. I took note of all of it and drew connections between various organizations these elites were involved with, many of which at first blush one would not think were involved in their power operations, such as conservation and nature groups, organizations allegedly formed to fight corporate misdeeds, etc. For decades after, I have come to see more connections than seemed possible, and many in a small geographic area but all connected to the upper class elites and their control of land, resources, and media outlets.

Mr. Blue confirmed all this and more. He told me about the Cold War bomb shelters under the mansions of his and other wealthy families, the connections between the CIA and corporations, how those seen as the good guys were really working for the bad guys, that CIA and Mossad operatives would contact him under the assumption he was on their side, the seamless socializing between all the elite families with so many names and places connected to operations of deep state operators  the stuff I have been researching for years and the subject of much of my recent book. Mr. Blue corroborated for me the essence of what I had discovered through my own work. And as I told him, I did it by studying, researching, and listening, something anyone could do if so inclined.

Weeks after our first meeting, Mr. Blue agreed to meet again, this time together with me and a documentary filmmaker. He told all the same stories, elaborating on many of them and adding others. He was loose and easy and we talked for nearly five hours. At one point, when I asked him to repeat what he had told me weeks before about his CIA relative and what that relative meant by the phrase We knew about the RFK assassination, and Mr. Blue had then told me that he meant that the CIA had killed Kennedy, he jumped to say, I never said that. This denial startled me. But he had said it. After our initial conversation, I had written his exact words in my notes on my drive home. And he had also said that he told RFK, Jr. that the CIA killed his father. This was the only time during our long conversation that he grew very agitated.

This was obviously the one revelation that scared him among all the other stories he shared. I understand his fear. But time is relentless; we run out of it. There comes that day when it is too late to find your public tongue. It is why he remains Mr. Blue, an anonymous good man caught in a family history for which he has tried to atone. An outsider on the inside still, calling to be heard by another person, in the wink of an eye, out of the blue.

Perhaps someday he will tell the world.
Devon Archer: Hunter Biden, Burisma execs called DC to get Ukrainian prosecutor fired

By Brooke Singman

September 01, 2023 - Information Clearing House - Devon Archer testified Monday that Hunter Biden and top executives of Burisma Holdings "called D.C." in 2015 to ask the Obama administration to help fire the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the firm, a source familiar with his testimony told Fox News Digital.

Archer, a former business associate and longtime friend of Hunter Biden, testified for hours before the House Oversight Committee Monday.

Archer testified that Hunter put his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, on speakerphone while meeting with business partners at least 20 times, and said Joe Biden was put on the phone to sell "the brand." Archer was on the board of the natural gas firm along with Hunter Biden.

He also testified about an interaction in December 2015, involving Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky and Vadym Pozharski  an executive at the firm.

Archer said Zlochevsky and Pozharski "placed constant pressure on Hunter Biden to get help from D.C." in getting Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin ousted. Shokin was investigating Burisma for corruption.

According to the source, Archer testified that in December 2015, Hunter Biden, Zlochevsky and Pozharski "called D.C." to discuss the matter. Archer testified that Biden, Zlochevsky and Pozharski stepped away to make the call.

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It is unclear if Hunter and the Burisma executives spoke directly to Joe Biden on the matter.

At the time, though, Joe Biden was in charge of U.S.-Ukraine policy for the Obama administration.

A source said that Archer testified that just days later, on Dec. 9, 2015, Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine and made a speech. Biden, during the speech, said the government needed to fix the Ukrainian prosecutor's office.

"This is the most revealing aspect of Archers testimony and maybe the most important in our entire investigation so far," House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan told Fox News Digital.

The testimony comes after Fox News Digital reported on an unclassified version of an FBI-generated FD-1023 form, which contained allegations that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden allegedly "coerced" Zlochevsky to pay them millions of dollars in exchange for their help in getting Shokin fired.

Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire prosecutor Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, and at the time, Hunter had a highly lucrative role on the board receiving thousands of dollars per month.

The then-vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired.

Biden allies maintain the then-vice president pushed for Shokin's firing due to concerns the Ukrainian prosecutor went easy on corruption, and say that his firing was the policy position of the U.S. and international community.

That form said Pozharski said the reason Hunter Biden was hired was "to protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems."

Fox News Digital has reported that on Nov. 2, 2015, Pozharskyi emailed Hunter Biden, emphasizing that the "ultimate purpose" of the agreement to have Hunter on the board was to shut down "any cases/pursuits against Nikolay in Ukraine," referring to Zlochevsky, who also went by Nikolay.

The White House has said President Biden was "never in business with his son."

Archers testimony comes as part of the House Oversight Committee's months-long investigation, which Republicans say has yielded evidence related to the Biden family's alleged foreign business schemes  including that the Biden family and its business associates created more than 20 companies and received more than $10 million from foreign nationals while Joe Biden served as vice president.

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said that some of these payments could indicate attempts by the Biden family to "peddle influence," and said the family appeared to take steps to "conceal the source and total amount received from the foreign companies."

Meanwhile, the White House released a statement following Archer's testimony:

"It appears that the House Republicans own much-hyped witness today testified that he never heard of President Biden discussing business with his son or his sons associates, or doing anything wrong," White House spokesperson Ian Sams told Fox News Digital. "House Republicans keep promising bombshell evidence to support their ridiculous attacks against the President, but time after time, they keep failing to produce any."

"In fact, even their own witnesses appear to be debunking their allegations. Instead of continuing to waste time and resources on this evidence-free wild goose chase, House Republicans should drop these stunts and work with the President on the issues that actually impact Americans daily lives, like continuing to lower costs, create jobs, and strengthen health care," Sams said.

In February 2022, Archer was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for defrauding a Native American tribal entity and various investment advisory clients of tens of millions of dollars in connection with the issuance of bonds by the tribal entity and the subsequent sale of those bonds through "fraudulent and deceptive means," according to the Department of Justice.

The Justice Department, over the weekend, sought to set a date for Archer's sentence to begin.
Do you remember the propaganda people swallowed?

Six months after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and two years after the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, John Pilgers documentary Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror highlighted the hypocrisy and double standards of the American and British adventures of 2001-3, which led to the deaths of more than a million people.

The film opens with a series of haunting war photographs. Over the carnage, George W Bush says, The United States will bring to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies, and freedom. His voice dissolves into the high-pitch of his co-conspirator, Tony Blair, who exalts his actions as a fight for freedom and a fight for justice.

Pilger asks, What are the real aims of this war and who are the most threatening terrorists?' In a remote village in Afghanistan, he interviews Orifa, who lost eight members of her family, including six children, when an American plane dropped a 500-pound bomb on her mud-brick home. This is juxtaposed with Bush telling Congress that the United States is a friend to the Afghan people. Few countries have been helped less by the United States  less than three per cent of all aid to Afghanistan is for reconstruction from war damage.

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Kabul, the capital, is a maze of destruction, with cluster bombs not cleared from the city centre and families living in abandoned buildings. Ive spent much of my life in places of upheaval, but Ive rarely seen such a ruined city as Kabul, says Pilger, standing in a shoe factory where the populations of two villages have squatted, destitute.

Most of the damage was inflicted not by the official enemy, the Taliban, but by warlords backed, trained and funded by the United States, who restored the poppy harvests and opium trade, which the Taliban had banned.

Recalling the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Pilger reveals that President Jimmy Carter signed a secret presidential decree authorising the bank-rolling of the warlords, known as the mujahedin, to fight the Red Army. Among them, the CIA and Britain's MI6 trained Islamic extremists, including Osama bin Laden, as part of what was called Operation Cyclone. From this, says Pilger, came the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and [the attacks of] September 11th.

The Taliban were also the United States's secret friends. Shortly after they took power in Afghanistan, they were offered a bribe by the administration of President Bill Clinton if they backed a plan for an oil pipeline from central Asia through Afghanistan. However, when George W Bush became President, the connection between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban was an embarrassment, and the tie was cut.

Pilger's interviews with administration officials  described by former CIA analyst Ray McGovern as the crazies  are perhaps the highlight of a film made when 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq were raw. He interviews Under Secretary of State John Bolton, who is today Donald Trump's National Security Adviser. Bolton tells Pilger that the United States has done more to create conditions in which individuals can be free around the world than any other country. When Pilger points to the US record of bombing countries into submission, Bolton says, Are you a Labour Party member or a Communist Party member? When Pilger replies that Tony Blair's Labour Party are his allies, he says, Oh, really?

Of all Pilger's films about American foreign policy, Breaking the Silence achieved something of a cult status as counter-history and was shown across the United States  thanks in part to Ray McGovern, who took the film on a tour of campuses and small towns. We warn people, he said, about the crazies. Nothing, he might add today, has changed.

Awards: The Chris Statuette in the War & Peace division, Chris Awards, Columbus International Film & Video Festival, Ohio, 2004.

'Breaking the Silence: Truth And Lies In The War On Terror' was first broadcast on ITV1, 22 September 2003
Microsoft is retiring its Visual Studio for Mac IDE. The company advises developers on Mac to seek alternatives such as the C# Dev Kit for Visual Studio Code and other extensions that enable .NET development.

Citing ongoing user feedback and usage patterns for Visual Studio for Mac, Microsoft on August 30 said it is now focusing efforts on optimizing its Visual Studio IDE, available through the Microsoft Dev Box service on Azure for developers on any OS, and also the C# Dev Kit for VS Code, also available for any OS. With the retirement, Visual Studio for Mac 17.6 will be supported until August 31, 2024.

Microsoft said it is redirecting resources to enhance both Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code and optimize them for cross-platform development. No new framework, language support, or runtime will be added to Visual Studio for Mac. For the next year, the company will provide essential updates such as servicing updates for critical bug fixes, security issues, and updated Apple platforms.

Runtime and workload updates also will be provided so that developers can continue building applications on the .NET 6, .NET 7, and Mono frameworks. While .NET 8 is not officially supported, the company also has enabled rudimentary support for .NET 8 in Visual Studio for Mac for building and debugging applications.

Microsoft recommends the following alternatives to Visual Studio for Mac:

Recently announced C# Dev Kit, .NET Maui, and Unity extensions for Visual Studio Code, which are available in preview. These extensions, which augment Visual Studio Codes capabilities for C# and .NET developers, operate natively across all supported platforms including macOS. The experience using these will continue to be improved as they move from preview to general availability and beyond, Microsoft said.

Visual Studio on Windows in a virtual machine on Mac, which offers legacy project support for Xamarin, F#, and remote development on iOS via a VM.

Visual Studio on Windows in a VM in the cloud, via Microsoft Dev Box.

As of August 31, 2024, Visual Studio for Mac will be available as a legacy installation only via my.visualstudio.com for users with Visual Studio subscriptions, but it will no longer be maintained or serviced. Users with support agreements will have access to technical support until August 31, 2024.
Zadie Smith publishes her new historical novel, Jenny Laden transports readers to '90s Philly in her new YA novel, plus more from these 10 new page-turners. Read more

In late July, a former major in the Air Force appeared before the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security to testify about aliens. And as he shared his cryptic anecdotes about nonhuman activity in our skies and nonhuman biologics recovered at crash sites, all I kept thinking was: I wish Art Bell was around to see this.

In the 90s and 00s, Art was the king of overnight radio, broadcasting live from his double-wide trailer in the Nevada desert to AM stations nationwide. All night long, to an audience of truckers, insomniacs, and weirdos, Art talked about aliens. Also: ghosts, the Antichrist, the apocalypse, Bigfoot, etc. Real X-Files-type stuff.

But in addition to his usual rogues gallery of eccentric guests and callers  exorcists, abductees, doomsday mathematicians, and off-brand Mulders  a few respectable voices sometimes slipped through: a learned Egyptologist, a decorated veteran, a renowned theoretical physicist.

Art faded from the airwaves long ago and died in 2018, but if he still had a show today, I figure hed eat up all this modern nonhuman activity talk on Capitol Hill. Maybe give his old guests some I-told-you-so airtime. It would be a rare quasi-victory, or at least a taste of legitimacy, in a career full of blurry photos, sketchy documents, and shaggy Sasquatch stories.

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And I bet hed invite Avi Loeb on the show to talk shop into the wee hours. Because Loeb, a Harvard astrophysicist and controversial author, also really likes to talk about aliens.

The New York Times calls him the worlds leading alien hunter, thanks in no small part to his theorizing confidently and constantly about the extreme likelihood of otherworldly life existing somehow.

In his latest book  Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars (Mariner Books, $28.99), published last week  Loeb argues that the oddly shaped Oumuamua object that zipped past Earth in 2017 could maybe, possibly, perhaps have been an extraterrestrial-manufactured artifact.

Despite all the caveats, Loebs peers are not on board. They call for caution and calm. Snooze. I think Loebs brand of data-based speculation is useful. And fun. Why not imagine the possibilities? Nobody knows what Oumuamua was. Whats the harm in dreaming?

Like Art Bell, Avi Loeb believes in searching the stars for answers to the big mysteries. He says we shouldnt wait for the government to declassify radar screenshots and mangled saucer parts. If there are aliens out there (or down here) scientists need to do the research and find the evidence. Testify.

And now, some more earthly delights:

Learned by Heart, Emma Donoghue

The strict, cold confines of a boarding school in 19th-century Britain is an ideal setting for a dystopia. Maybe thats why the mind wanders to Winston and Julia of 1984 (Orwell was himself a survivor of a similar institution) while reading about the precarious relationship between the mousey Eliza Raine and the fiery Anne Lister in Donoghues striking and passionate new novel. That these characters are lifted from the pages of history does little to lift the sinking feeling that their blooming romance, if thats what it is, can be something other than fleeting, awkward, and doomed. In fiction, these two have a fighting chance. (Little, Brown and Co., $28, out now)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

This Terrible True Thing, Jenny Laden

Its the 90s. Salt-N-Pepa and Freedom 90 on the radio. ACT-UP protests and Zipperhead on South Street. And Philly high schooler Danielle has just been informed that her dad has HIV. Hed been out of the closet for years, but this new revelation hits hard at a time when shed rather be concentrating on getting into art school, dating, and finding herself. This Terrible True Thing is billed as a Young Adult novel  and its many line drawings read like (impressive) doodles in the margins of a notebook  but the complexity of Danielles relationship with her father as they wrestle with the grief and ignorance of the era allows this story to transcend the YA/lit-fic divide. Laden will be at the William Way LGBT Community Center on Sept. 6. (Blackstone Publishing, $19.99, Sept. 5)

Buy it now on bookshop.org

The Fraud, Zadie Smith

Until now, Smith (author of White Teeth, NW, etc.) has resisted the lure of the full-on historical novel, but those Victorian aristocrats, man, they are hard to resist: all that pomp and perversity, always pining in their diaries and kissing their cousins and tightening their corsets while the empire expands. Employing nimble dialogue and sly humor, Smith moves The Fraud along swiftly and mysteriously, challenging you to keep up with competing plot lines. One of these concerns the Tichborne affair  the wild, real-life court case in which a gruff butcher claimed to be a long lost nobleman and heir to a sizable fortune. Smiths retelling of this trial of the century alone is worth the price of admission for The Fraud, though I could have spent an entire novel in the company of prosaic novelist William Ainsworth and Eliza Touchet, his witty abolitionist housekeeper, muse, lover, and, of course, cousin. Smith will appear at the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia on Sept. 17, with tickets at $39. (Penguin Press, $29, Sept. 5)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

Creep: Accusations and Confessions, Myriam Gurba

If that name rings a bell, maybe you read Gurbas 2017 true crime memoir Mean. Or perhaps you caught her famously scathing (and wildly viral) review of a gringas immigration novel and the white gaze of the publishing industry in general. Witty, confident, and effortlessly provocative, Gurba writes about the things that piss her off with poison and precision, sometimes daring readers to look for themselves in the tangled complicity flowchart. In this new collection of personal essays, the queer Mexican American author blends the autobiographical with the historical and the sociological while recalling the misdeeds of bad actors  from abusive boyfriends and sketchy relatives to William S. Burroughs, Richard Ramirez, and Joan Didion  while speaking with overdue care about those swept up in their wakes. Creep goes to some dark places, but theres something joyous about Gurbas righteous and ravenous worldview. Gurba will be at the Wooden Shoe on September 8. (Avid Reader Press, $27, Sept. 5)

Buy it now on bookshop.org

Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America, Michael Harriot

While alarmist conservatives and their terrified constituents still struggle to understand the word woke, authors like Harriot have long since moved on. Youll struggle to find more than a passing reference to the concept in Black AF History. However, its prevailing message  that theres more to history than what you were taught in school  drives this illuminating, likely divisive, and frequently funny new book. The best historians, he writes, try to approximate the truth by unbending the collection of funhouse mirrors through which the past has been viewed. Homeschooled in the works of Zora Neale Hurston and W.E.B. Du Bois before becoming an award-winning journalist (for the Grio, Washington Post, CNN, etc.), Harriot makes for a wise and charming guide through the American funhouse of horrors: slavery, erasure, white supremacy  its a long list. (Dey Street Books, $32.50, Sept. 19)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

Also out this month:

Every Drop is a Mans Nightmare, Megan Kamalei Kakimoto

Modernity and mythology collide in this haunting and entrancing story collection by an exciting new voice in fiction. Kakimoto is of Hawaiian and Japanese descent and her home state is hurting right now. (Bloomsbury, $27.99, out now)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

The Vaster Wilds, Lauren Groff

The author of last years Dark Ages drama Matrix here delivers a thrilling story of escape and survival in colonial Virginia. An amazing book to get lost in. (Riverhead, $28, Sept. 12)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

Wednesdays Child, Yiyun Li

Sometimes the prose by this New Yorker regular is so elegant and thoughtful you dont immediately notice it when she pulls the rug out from under you in this collection of dreamy, devastating stories. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27, Sept. 5)

Buy it now on bookshop.org

The Enchanters, James Ellroy

The author of L.A. Confidential, American Tabloid, and a dozen other gritty noir novels leads you through the dirty, doped-up streets of 60s Hollywood in the wake of Marilyn Monroes overdose. (Knopf, $30, Sept. 12)

Starter Villain, John Scalzi

In a lateral career move, a substitute teacher inherits his uncles supervillain operation and squares off against a rogues gallery of Bond-worthy baddies. (Tor Books, $28.99, Sept. 19)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library
After 17 years in business, Marshalls at Snyder Plaza is closing. Read more

The Marshalls department store at Snyder Plaza is closing after 17 years.

The store is expected to have its final day on Dec. 9, according to a company statement shared with The Inquirer. The 23,800-square-foot building is owned by the Goldenberg Group. It was one of two anchor stores at Snyder Plaza. The 24-store retail hub is located at Front Street and Snyder Avenue.

We are grateful for the loyalty of our Philadelphia customers, read the statement from TJX, the parent company of Marshalls, which also manages T.J.Maxx and HomeGoods.

The company employs around 60 associates in South Philly and says it expects to offer employees positions at nearby stores in the companys portfolio, according to a TJX spokesperson.

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The store, which opened in 2006, is the latest closure for the company in Philadelphia. In December, Marshalls announced it would close its Center City location on Market Street. At the time of the announcement, Paul Levy, head of the Center City District, a group representing downtown businesses, said that the slow return to the office for workers was affecting Market Street retail.

In January, retail storefront occupancy in Center City was a little over 80%, which is slightly below pre-pandemic levels, according to a report from the Center City District.

Despite the Snyder Plaza store closure, Marshalls has grown its store count this year. Marshalls had 1,183 locations in the country as of the end of January and grew to 1,190 by the end of July, according to the companys quarterly reports.

TJX did not give a reason for the store closure.

The news comes as other large retailers have recently closed their Philadelphia outposts. Bed Bath & Beyond announced it would close three stores in the Philadelphia area this year amid the companys bankruptcy. In March, Target closed its 12th and Chestnut Street location, and Wawa has been reducing its store count in Center City, citing continued safety and security challenges.

Davids Bridal, based in Conshohocken, planned to close all their locations  in Philly and elsewhere  after filing for bankruptcy in April. In July, the company was sold to CION Investment Corp., saving up to 195 stores.

Marshalls customers can still visit nearby company stores including T.J. Maxx stores on South Columbus Boulevard and Market Street, and the Marshalls in Camden and Burlington Counties.
As it turns out, Philadelphia rapper Lil Uzi Vert isnt actually suspected of stealing a dog from a Luzerne County pet store, despite an erroneous message shared to social media this week by the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department.

The police department on Thursday shared a Facebook post seeking the publics help in finding a suspect who stole a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Riku from Brookside Pups in Pine Mall. Along with photos of the stolen dog, the post included a picture of the suspects vehicle, as well as a shot of the suspect  sort of.

The photo included on the initial post was actually a picture of Uzi, real name Symere Bysil Woods, and while it remained up only briefly, it caused something of a stir. Police updated the post a short time later indicating that the suspect photo was incorrect, and that the post had been corrected to show the actual suspect.

The original photo of the male provided by the establishment was not the correct male, the department wrote in the updated post. We apologize for the error and any confusion.

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Uzi, incidentally, announced last year that they identify as gender nonconforming.

In an Instagram post, Brookside Pups wrote that Uzi is unequivocally not a suspect in the theft of Riku. According to TMZ, the error likely came from the suspects social media profiles, on which he uses a picture of Uzi as his avatar.

We wanted to make clear that the music artist Lil Uzi Vert was not involved in the theft of Riku the puppy, the pet shops statement read. While the confusion in the photos used in the post was unfortunate, our focus is on the return of Riku.

Uzis representatives at Roc Nation issued a statement saying that the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department should be embarrassed and ashamed for disparaging Uzis character. Roc Nation added that Uzi was nowhere near Pennsylvania when this theft occurred.

This grave error couldve had significant repercussions on Uzis career and epitomizes how Black men can be wrongfully charged and arrested by police departments across the country, Roc Nations statement read. Uzi loves all animals and this serious mistake has deterred the apprehension of the kidnapper. Our collective hope is that the puppy is safely and promptly rescued.

Whoever stole Riku, meanwhile, was last seen traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and was believed to be heading toward Philadelphia. Brookside Pups asked anyone who spots the vehicle, a dark-colored Chevrolet Tahoe, to contact 911.
A National Guard helicopter takes off after meeting with the Chester County Department of Emergency Services on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023. The helicopter was brought in the search for Danelo Cavalcante, who escaped from Chester County Prison on Thursday. Read more

The prison that a convicted murderer escaped from Thursday in Chester County is being run by an interim warden whose predecessor retired the day before the escape, county officials said Friday.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, is the subject of a massive manhunt in the county by local, state and federal authorities. Cavalcante was convicted of first-degree murder Aug. 16 for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death, and was awaiting transfer to a state correctional facility to begin serving his life sentence when he slipped past guards early Thursday, according to District Attorney Deborah Ryan.

We will not stop until he is in custody, Ryan said Friday.

Cavalcante also has an active warrant in his native Brazil for a 2017 murder, in which hes accused of killing a man who owed him money, prosecutors said.

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 READ MORE: What we know about Danelo Cavalcantes escape from Chester County Prison

Acting Warden Howard Holland declined Thursday to answer questions about how Cavalcante escaped, saying the matter was being investigated. Holland, the former chief of police in Downingtown, has overseen the jail since July 28, when Ronald Phillips was placed on administrative leave, according to Rebecca Brain, a spokesperson for the county commissioners.

Phillips, who served as warden since October 2020 after decades as a deputy warden, filed his retirement paperwork at the county prison boards regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday afternoon, Brain said.

She could not comment on why Phillips was placed on leave, nor say if he provided a reason for his retirement, describing both as personnel matters.

Prior to being appointed acting warden, Holland had served as a special liaison to the county prison board since April, according to a resume posted online.

 READ MORE: A convicted murderer escaped from the Chester County Prison early Thursday, police say

The 1,100-inmate facility is located in Pocopson Township, a rural suburb about seven miles southwest of West Chester, the county seat. With a population of a little less than 5,000, the township is dotted by rolling hills, farmhouses, and lush greenery. It also has a broad historical context, having served as a central location for the Battle of Brandywine during the American Revolution.

In the search for Cavalcante, investigators said Pennsylvania State Police troopers and U.S. Marshals have fanned out across a six-mile radius from the prison, employing helicopters and other resources to look for him in heavily wooded areas.

The agencies are paying special attention to railroads and the Brandywine Creek, which, they said, could be potential avenues for Cavalcante to leave Chester County.

In an update Friday afternoon, Ryan said that there was no indication that Cavalcante had left the area, but that investigators believe his ultimate goal is to head south. She urged residents to be vigilant during the forthcoming Labor Day weekend, and said to especially take stock of cars, bicycles, and other means of transportation at their homes.

Brazilian authorities have been notified of Cavalcantes escape, but it is up to them to decide if they will pursue their active warrant for his arrest, according to Robert Clark, a supervisory special agent for the U.S. Marshals.

A joint, $10,000 reward is being offered by state police and the marshals for information leading to Cavalcantes arrest. As they search for the fugitive, they are warning residents to stay away from him and call 911 if he is spotted. As of Friday afternoon, more than 100 tips had been submitted, investigators said.

Cavalcante, who has a sister and friends living in the Phoenixville area, is likely desperate for help and seeking out those associates, according to Bill Latorre, a retired Pennsylvania State Police sergeant and security consultant who is not involved in the search for Cavalcante.

In this particular case, if he didnt have outside help, hes pretty much winging it, said Latorre, who worked on similar cases during his tenure with the state police. He didnt escape from the prison with a cell phone, so hes going to need to somehow borrow or steal means of communication and reach out to whoever can help.

In her Friday update, Ryan said that there was no evidence that Cavalcante had assistance during his breakout.

Cavalcante has a history of attempting to elude law enforcement. He came to the United States after the 2017 murder in Brazil by first traveling to Puerto Rico and obtaining a fake ID, prosecutors said.

And after he killed his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, outside of her Schuylkill Township home in 2021, he relied on two friends to help him flee the county, according to evidence provided during his August trial. He was arrested in Virginia hours later, when a state trooper there recognized his car from a description distributed by county detectives. At the time, Ryan said, he was heading to Mexico, and from there planned to disappear back into Brazil.

Brandaos children and other relatives are safe, Ryan said. Her office believes that Cavalcante is prioritizing his escape from the area, and he does not intend to try to locate them.
 Update: Murderer who escaped from the Chester County Prison sighted in Pocopson Township, less than two miles from the jail

Investigators in Chester County announced Thursday that Danelo Cavalcante, a convicted murderer, escaped from custody early that morning.

Cavalcante, 34, is considered extremely dangerous, according to District Attorney Deborah Ryan, who urged anyone who sees him to call 911 immediately.

Cavalcante, an undocumented immigrant from Brazil, was convicted earlier in August of killing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, outside of her home in Schuylkill Township in 2021. Authorities have released little information about Cavalcantes escape, saying that the matter remains under investigation.

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In the meantime, Chester County Detectives and U.S. Marshals are searching for Cavalcante, who most recently lived in Royersford, according to court documents.

Who is Danelo Cavalcante?

Cavalcante is a native Brazilian who illegally immigrated to the United States after a warrant was issued for his arrest for murder in his home country in 2017, investigators said. He first traveled to Puerto Rico, where he obtained a fake ID, according to evidence presented during his trial earlier this month.

He settled in Chester County because he had a sister and friends that had arrived here ahead of him, he later told police. Cavalcante worked for a while in construction and other trades, prosecutors said, and rented a storage trailer that he parked at a lot in East Pikeland Township.

What are the circumstances surrounding his escape?

Acting Chester County Prison Warden Howard Holland said he would not answer questions about how Cavalcante escaped during a news conference Thursday afternoon because the matter was under investigation.

Investigators said Cavalcantes absence was noticed just before 9 a.m., and that he was last seen at 9:30 a.m., walking southbound in Pocopson Township on Wawaset Road, which the prison is located on.

As soon as they saw Cavalcante was missing, prison administration locked down the facility, and notified law enforcement agencies, Holland said.

In an update Friday, Ryan said that there was no indication Cavalcante had any outside assistance in escaping. As of Friday afternoon, investigators believed he had not left Chester County, but they think his ultimate goal is to travel south, eventually back to Brazil, Ryan added.

On Saturday morning, the Chester County DAs Office said Cavalcante was seen on residential surveillance footage on the 1800 block of Lenape Road around 1:43 a.m. Local police also received a report of an attempted burglary about two hours earlier, at 11:30 p.m. Friday, on the 1000 block of Ballintree Lane, also in Pocopson.

Who is searching for Cavalcante?

Detectives from the Chester County District Attorneys Office are being assisted by Pennsylvania State Police troopers and U.S. Marshals, according to Ryan. Late Thursday, they announced a joint, $10,000 reward was being offered for information leading to his capture.

U.S. Marshal Supervisory Agent Robert Clark said Friday that the agency had received more than 100 tips from residents. The marshals employed helicopters, drones and other resources to search for Cavalcante in the heavily wooded areas near the prison.

By Saturday, authorities said they had narrowed their search to a deeply wooded area with hundreds of homes along Route 52 in Pocopson.

Cavalcante is 5 feet tall and 120 pounds, with black curly hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and pants, and white sneakers, Ryan said.

What happened between Deborah Brandao and Cavalcante?

Deborah Brandao, 33, met Cavalcante through mutual friends, according to court filings. She and her two children moved in with Cavalcante after they began dating, and their relationship lasted about two years.

During that time, prosecutors said, Cavalcante was violent and abusive. After an argument at their apartment in June 2020, Cavalcante bit Brandao on her lip hard enough to draw blood, and chased her and her children out of their home.

The three hid in a neighbors apartment until police arrived. A warrant for simple assault was issued for Cavalcantes arrest, and he promised, through his sister, to turn himself in, investigators said. He never did, despite that arrangement.

In December 2020, Cavalcante attacked Brandao again, chasing her with a knife, investigators said. She filed for a temporary protection from abuse order against him as a result, but it lapsed in March 2021 when she did not appear at a hearing.

Cavalcante kept in touch with Brandao even after the order, texting her frequently, according to evidence presented at trial. Brandao eventually told him to leave her alone, threatening to tell police about his active warrant in Brazil if he didnt.

The day after, Cavalcante drove to her home to confront her, police said. There, they got into an argument in Brandaos front yard as her two children were playing nearby.

During the argument, Cavalcante yanked Brandao by her hair and threw her to the ground, according to Brandaos 9-year-old daughter, who testified during the trial. He then began to stab her repeatedly with a kitchen knife he had brought from his home as her daughter screamed for him to stop and threw a rock at him.

 READ MORE: Chester County man stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death while her children watched, DA says

Cavalcante stabbed Brandao more than 30 times in her neck, chest and back, according to prosecutors. She was later pronounced dead at Paoli Hospital.

At the time of Cavalcantes arrest, Ryan called Brandaos murder a cold blooded, premeditated, and despicable act.

What was he convicted of?

Cavalcante was convicted of first-degree murder Aug. 16 after a three-day trial before Chester County Court Judge Patrick Carmody. It took the jurors just 15 minutes of deliberation to render their verdict, one of the fastest that prosecutors said they had ever seen.

During the trial, two of Cavalcantes friends, Francisco Lima and Michael Scahill, testified that Cavalcante came to them after the fatal stabbing, requesting their help. The two said that they bandaged Cavalcantes hands, which were injured during the attack, gave him a change of clothes and filled his car up with gas.

 READ MORE: Chester County man convicted of first-degree murder in killing of his ex-girlfriend

Scahill, a construction superintendent from Phoenixville, said that he took the bloody clothes Cavalcante wore during the attack and disposed of them at a site he was working on in Philadelphia. He said he did so because he was scared, and wanted to help his friend, despite knowing that Brandao had been killed.

Both Scahill and Lima testified during the trial in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Why was Cavalcante still in county prison?

After Cavalcantes conviction on Aug. 16, he was sentenced to life in state prison six days later, a mandatory sentence for that charge.

He was awaiting transfer to a more secure, state-run correctional facility when he escaped Thursday, according to Ryan.

 READ MORE: The former Chester County Prison warden retired the day before a convicted murderer escaped, officials said

Ryan later said that the countys policy is to hold inmates in the local prison for 30 days after their sentencing, in order to give them an opportunity to file an appeal.

Cavalcantes attorneys filed such an appeal on Friday, asking for a new trial in Brandaos murder, according to Ryan.
Aaron Campbell, Founder and Executive Director of Level Up, holds a photograph of 12-year-old Hezekiah Bernard, who was shot and killed, and discarded in a dumpster in West Philadelphia. Read more

The body found in a dumpster in West Philadelphia last week has been identified as a 12-year-old boy who was shot in the head and wrapped in plastic before his remains were discarded, police said Thursday.

Police had said they recovered the body of a young man on the morning of Aug. 23 inside a trash can at a public housing complex at 55th and Cherry Streets.

But for nearly a week, they did not know who he was  or that he was a child.

On Tuesday, he was identified as Hezekiah Bernard, according to Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, head of the Philadelphia Police Departments Homicide Unit.

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Bernards death has been ruled a homicide. Ransom said at an afternoon news conference that Bernards remains were discovered on Aug. 23 by a Housing Authority sanitation worker, and that an autopsy later showed that the boy, by that point, had been dead for 24 to 36 hours.

Ransom said Bernard had not been reported missing in recent weeks.

Bernard, known by friends and family as Hezzy, grew up in North Philadelphia but was most recently living in West Philadelphia area, according to his sister, Lovier Jolly.

His family, overwhelmed with grief, declined to speak Thursday morning. They were in the middle of planning his Janazah prayer for later this week, they said.

Thursday evening, hundreds of young people gathered for a balloon release in the courtyard of LevelUp, an organization that provides services, mentorship, and a safe space for young people to hang with friends.

Pastor Aaron Campbell, the founding director of LevelUp, said Bernard was a beloved member of the organization. He was one of the first kids through their doors each Tuesday and Thursday, he said, and stayed until after dinner was served at 8 p.m.

This was a 12-year-old, a baby. Many here saw him as their younger brother, he said. I want them to know they can cry publicly together, to not suppress their grief and anger.

He said Bernard was polite, always saying please and thank you and speaking to adults with respect.

He lit up a room. He was always dancing, he said. He was teachable, he wanted to be mentored and he was joining our new job training program.

His death, he said, has left everyone in the organization heartbroken and confused.

Ransom, of the Homicide Unit, said it was not clear where the boy was killed, by whom, or why.

He said a PHA sanitation worker had collected a plastic trash container from the housing complex on the 5500 block of Cherry Street on Aug. 22 and taken it to a PHA facility on the 5000 block of Haverford Avenue, where it was stored overnight. The next day, Ransom said, when a sanitation worker was bringing the container back to Cherry Street, the bin tipped over and the sanitation worker saw a persons body spill out. The worker called 911.

An autopsy was conducted, but investigators werent able to figure out who the victim was, Ransom said. Detectives distributed fliers in West Philadelphia, and on Aug. 29, Bernards relatives reached out to the Medical Examiners Office and were able to confirm that Bernard was the victim.

Thursday evening, as the golden sun set over West Philadelphia, Campbell stood on a ladder amid the crowd of teens, all holding red, white, and silver balloons. More than 800 would gather at LevelUp that night.

Family, Campbell said, addressing the crowd with a megaphone. Were here to honor Hezekiah. Were showing our city the power of our youth. That we can come together in love.

Then, they counted down together.

Long live Hezzy, they said, releasing the balloons into the air.

Campbell told the crowd he was proud of them, then he told them to repeat after him.

Together, they said: One day at a time.
Anti-censorship advocates dressed as books parade through Doylestown last year capping Banned Books Week. Two books banned by Central Bucks are being depicted in a mailer attacking Democratic candidates for the school board. Read more

Last Thursday, Shannon Hiller came home to find her 13-year-old daughter upset and embarrassed. She told her mother she hoped she wasnt in trouble.

Hillers daughter had opened an envelope that came in the mail  her attention grabbed by red lettering on the front that mentioned Central Bucks School Libraries.

Inside was a flier with a cartoon depicting oral sex, and a line drawing of a penis.

The images came from two books banned by Central Bucks following a controversial policy passed last year by the Republican-led school board: Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, and This Book Is Gay, by Juno Dawson.

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Extreme Central Bucks Democrats are fighting to keep these books in our middle school and high school libraries, the flier read. Request an early vote ballot to protect our children!

The mailing was the product of a new political action committee promising to expose the Democrats seeking election to the Central Bucks school board in November  highlighting the culture-war battles that have engulfed the district since the pandemic.

Stop Bucks Extremism says it sent the mailers to 17,000 households along with an early vote application and prepaid return envelope.

With parents preparing to send their children back to school, we will be reminding them that the radical Democrats running for Central Bucks School Board are fighting tooth and nail to teach children as young as five years old about performing fellatio and engaging in anal sex, along with educating them about the supposed pleasure of eating feces and urinating on people, Bob Salera, the PACs founder, said in a statement on the groups website.

The mailer is just the beginning of our paid advocacy efforts, and by the time we are finished highlighting the disgusting positions of Karen Smith, Heather Reynolds, Susan Gibson, Dana Foley and Rick Haring, they will be ashamed to be seen in public, Salera said.

The illustrations are meant for our oldest students, said Smith, a Democrat on the board seeking reelection. But the PAC has done more to expose younger students to age-inappropriate material with this mailing than hundreds of library books could ever have done.

Salera said that voters needed to know what was in the books. If these images coming to their homes in a sealed envelope was offensive, its even more offensive that they were available to children in school libraries, he said.

Hiller, whose daughter opened the mailing, didnt see it that way. While the envelope said Caution: Contains Sexually Explicit Images, Hiller said her daughter struggles with reading comprehension and didnt pay attention to that phrase. Her 7- and 6-year-old siblings were next to her when she opened it.

It was just underhanded, Hiller said. Do they want the kids to look at this? Do they want to rile us up?

A political consultant and multiple funders

A Republican political consultant based in Alexandria, Va., Salera previously has worked on Pennsylvania state races, including former Delaware County Councilman Dave Whites gubernatorial campaign last year.

In an interview Thursday, Salera said he founded the PAC after conversations with some concerned parents in the Central Bucks School District. Asked whether those parents included Paul Martino, a venture capitalist and GOP donor who spent more than $500,000 on Pennsylvania school board races in 2021, Salera declined to give any names.

We have multiple funders that will be disclosed in due course, Salera said.

Martino  whose wife, Aarati Martino, is among the Republicans running for school board, and whose Bucks Families for Leadership PAC is directly supporting the Republican candidates  declined to comment Thursday on whether he was involved with the Stop Bucks Extremism PAC.

Instead, he directed a reporter to his Facebook page, where he said in a post Thursday that a Bucks County Courier Times article about the PACs mailers had proved his point that the removal of books was not about gay rights, this is about PORN. The paper, Martino noted, had blurred the images from Gender Queer and This Book Is Gay.

The books were pulled from Central Bucks libraries in May  the first bans under a district policy barring sexualized content in library books that was passed by the Republican-led board last year over objections from Democrats. Critics accused the board  which enlisted a legal group focused on religious liberty to help implement the policy  of seeking to remove LGBTQ-themed books; the district said its focus was ensuring age-appropriate materials.

Of the first five books reviewed under the new policy, four centered on LGBTQ characters. While deciding to remove Gender Queer and This Book Is Gay  issuing reports indicating the books contained prohibited sexual content, but offering little insight into the review committees other deliberations  the district retained Beyond Magenta, Lawn Boy, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

The district has yet to issue findings on 60 more books that have been challenged.

A pack of lies

Democrats say they never sought to make Gender Queer or This Book Is Gay available to young children. Its a pack of lies, Smith said. Ive never said anything like that. Before their removal, Smith said she believed Gender Queer was available only at Central Bucks South High School, while This Book Is Gay was at Tamanend Middle School.

Asked to explain how Democrats wanted to make the books available to 5-year-olds, Salera said that Central Bucks online library catalog, Destiny Discover, allowed access to these sexually explicit books about eating feces and urinating on other human beings. Prior to last year, the original Destiny Discover program allowed across-school access to kids as young as kindergarten. He didnt answer a follow-up question on whether access meant children could view the content online, as opposed to reserving a book from a library building.

The school district did not respond to a request for comment.

The feces and urinating references appears to be drawn from This Book Is Gay, which includes a list of sexual slang, including scat and golden showers. On its mailer, Stop Bucks Extremism quotes another section of the book that refers to sexual activity by stimulating the prostate gland and bum.

The book, which is nonfiction, focuses on queer identities, stereotypes, and sex education. Dawson, the books author, has said she wishes young queer people could go out into adulthood armed with better knowledge, and ways of being smart about sex and dating.

She also disagrees that its pornographic. I would challenge anyone to be titillated or aroused by what is essentially a textbook, she told Rolling Stone earlier this year.

Gender Queer  the most challenged book in the United States in 2021  is a graphic memoir describing author Kobabes experience as a young person grappling with gender identity. It has come under fire for some of its images, including illustrations depicting oral sex. (In that panel, the character stops the act, saying it had been imagined it differently.)

Hiller, the mother whose teenager opened the mailer, said she is an independent, middle-of-the-road voter, who didnt know enough about the books to have an opinion: She hasnt read them, she said, and doesnt know what librarians have to say. But she was upset after getting the mailing.

Its not upset at the school, its not upset at the book, its upset at this organization, she said.

As for what Hiller told her daughter, I said to her, This isnt your fight, she said.
Latrice Mumin was tapped as the interim superintendent of the Chester Upland School District. Read more

Chester Upland School Districts superintendent is leaving, and the district is tapping its assistant superintendent  who is married to Pennsylvanias education secretary  to replace him.

During a brief meeting Friday, Nafis Nichols, the court-appointed receiver who oversees the distressed district, thanked Superintendent Craig Parkinson. He then introduced Assistant Superintendent Latrice Mumin.

Weve done a lot of work, and we still have a lot of work to do, Mumin said. She said she looked forward to engaging our students so they, too, have an opportunity to excel and compete.

The reason for the leadership change wasnt clear. An agenda item for the meeting referred to a resignation and confidential separation agreement for an unnamed employee that took effect Friday. The same item specified that Mumin would be reassigned from assistant to interim superintendent, also as of Friday.

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Mumin is married to Khalid Mumin, a former Lower Merion and Reading superintendent who was named education secretary by Gov. Josh Shapiro earlier this year.

The Chester Upland district has been under receivership since 2012  oversight initiated by the state Department of Education, which argued the district lacked the ability to address its financial troubles.

Nichols is the latest in a series of receivers appointed by a Delaware County judge. He was approved by the court in 2021, after submitting his own name for consideration and garnering support from the citys largest charter operator, Chester Community Charter School. The state education department had suggested a different nominee.

Last year, though, the department supported Nichols reappointment. Nichols then granted a new five-year contract to Parkinson, a former principal in the Phoenixville Area School District who had started in Chester Upland in 2021.

During Fridays meeting, Parkinson said the district had made growth during his tenure, and that it had been an amazing, amazing two years.

Following the comments from Parkinson and Mumin, outgoing Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland, who attended the meeting, stood up and criticized the leadership change  noting Parkinson had replaced a previous superintendent who was in the position for about a year.

Were hurting our children, said Kirkland, who lost the Democratic primary in May. We cannot continue to remove superintendent after superintendent.

Kirkland said, I understand the politics of it, but its wrong. In a comment apparently directed at Mumin, he said, I dont know how long its going to take before they walk you out.

Again, consistency will remain in place, said Nichols, who said earlier that Parkinson had worked to update the districts strategic plan. He adjourned the meeting.

Nichols did not respond to requests for comment Friday on the reason for Parkinsons departure. He also did not provide the terms of Parkinsons separation agreement or of Mumins reassignment.
A first-floor classroom at Mitchell Elementary School. The school was closed by asbestos in April and is reopening for students on Sept. 5. Read more

In April, asbestos closed Mitchell Elementary School in Southwest Philadelphia, forcing students to learn virtually for weeks, then crowd into a small space at another school for months to finish out their term.

And though officials promised a reopening for the 2023-24 school year, some worried that the 1915 building needed so much work that repairs might not be finished by Tuesday, students first day of school.

On Thursday Philadelphia School District facilities area manager Stephen Manna, who has been leading a team working day and night to get the school in shape, proclaimed: Bring on the students. Mitchell will be ready.

Its basically a safe, clean learning environment with brand-new lights, brand-new ceiling tiles, Manna said.

Some Mitchell staff, however, said they felt unprepared to start the school year. While district officials invited news cameras to tour Mitchells first floor, where the hallway was clear and shining and classrooms were mostly ready, the schools second and third floors were still in disarray.

By midmorning Friday, the second floor, third floor, and basement still had desks, chairs, boxes, and assorted teaching materials stacked and pushed against walls in hallways. Shaw MacQueen, a Mitchell teacher, said that everyones at their wits end, and the staff asked for more time to get the school ready for students, but was denied.

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As part of the asbestos work on every floor of Mitchell, ceiling tiles were removed, asbestos-containing plaster was taken out, and new tiles were installed. New fiberglass insulation was applied around pipes throughout the three-story building at 55th and Kingsessing.

After the environmental work was complete and inspectors from the district and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers said the job passed muster, tradespeople came in  electricians, carpenters, painters, and insulators  to complete the extensive project. The schools old fluorescent bulbs were replaced with LED lighting, making for brighter hallways, and the speaker system was replaced.

Mitchell was one of six district schools closed in the 2022-23 school year because of asbestos. Its damage was discovered over spring break, and it quickly became apparent that the problem was so widespread the school couldnt safely house students and staff. District officials ordered the school closed, and students learned virtually until a school team identified McMichael, a West Philadelphia district school, as an alternate site.

Mitchell has a new principal this year, as well as four new teachers; two classroom teaching positions and one special education position remain vacant. MacQueen, the Mitchell teacher, said the principal has rightly given staff who came back this week every moment to work on righting their rooms, but as a result, there hasnt been time to meet as a staff to go over policies and procedures.

Much work remained Friday afternoon.

Extra cleaners and other staff were brought in to work on the building, but MacQueen said the amount of work left was daunting. He and others felt blindsided by the district declaring the building ready, a statement he said was just not accurate.

Its the Friday before kids come, and there are teachers who still dont even have a room, MacQueen said. We dont have access to copiers and printers. I was writing up my parent letter, but I cant even copy it.

Renato Lajara, the assistant superintendent who oversees Mitchell, said the school community went through a great deal last year  closing abruptly, then learning virtually, then located inside another school.

It was very uncomfortable to have the whole school on one floor, said Lajara, who credited the Mitchell staff for doing whatever was necessary to make the best of a tough situation for their students.

Getting students and staff back in the building was a top priority, Lajara said.

We didnt want them to start the school year in another space, he said.

Its still a work in progress, were not 100%, Lajara said. But this is very exciting, Im very happy. It looks a lot better here.
More changes are coming to Philadelphia's special-admissions policy. The Philadelphia School District's school selection window opens Sept. 15. Shown in this file photo is Central High, a top city magnet. Read more

Philadelphia is again changing the way it admits students to its criteria-based schools  loosening standards for grades and attendance at select magnet schools and considering students best standardized test scores over two years.

The changes come after a recent outside analysis of the Philadelphia School Districts admissions policies recommended that students at magnets that contain middle as well as high school grades gain automatic admission to the high schools as long as they continue to meet academic standards. The district granted that change to start with applications for the 2024-25 school year, and promised more changes to come.

Among the shifts announced Thursday include developing a process for students who meet criteria but are waitlisted for all their schools of choice. Such students will receive an offer for placement at one of the other 38 criteria-based or citywide schools where seats are available.

 READ MORE: Responding to complaints, Philly schools are changing the special-admissions process for the 2024-25 school year

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Students are scheduled to report to district schools Tuesday for the start of the 2023-24 school year; the school selection window for the 2024-25 year will open Sept. 15 and close Oct. 27, allowing students in prekindergarten through 11th grade to apply to schools outside of their neighborhood with available space.

The changes to the policy come after widespread discontent over a special-admissions policy overhaul initiated in 2021 and tweaked last year. Those changes, designed to bring equity to a system where the citys top magnets generally did not reflect the citys or school systems demographics  disadvantaging Black and Latino students  resulted in a federal lawsuit that is still pending.

What will not change is the districts centralized lottery, which had removed the ability of principals to have final say over their student body. And also remaining in place is preference at some schools, including Masterman and Central, for students who come from certain underrepresented zip codes.

The shifts announced Thursday include:

Test-score and grade-criteria changes

Hundreds of seats were left open in a number of special-admissions schools after the 2022-23 school year selection process concluded  even with the district reopening the process and allowing qualified students who got into none of their schools of choice to pick new schools. Critics said that was due in part to the effects of the pandemic, the schools unbendable standards, and the inability of schools to do what they had done in the past  allow in students who were close to meeting academic requirements and who demonstrated they would be a good fit for the school.

For the coming year, some schools have adjusted their academic targets, and all schools will consider a larger test-score picture.

Instead of students being judged on their math and English language test scores solely from seventh grade for high schools and fourth grade only for middle schools, this year, students best scores across two years (seventh and sixth, and fourth and third) on English and math state exams will be considered. An option for a 50th percentile cutoff point on ELA or math, but not both, has also been added.

Some schools that had last year required As and Bs only will now let students with one or two Cs be considered eligible to apply. Though Masterman, Central, Academy at Palumbo, George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science, Parkway Center City Middle College, and Northeast Highs aerospace magnet and pre-International Baccalaureate still require all As and Bs.

A complete list of each special-admissions schools requirements can be found here.

Attendance criteria changes

Fifteen schools lowered their attendance requirements. They now require 90% attendance, equal to 18 or fewer unexcused absences. They had required 95% attendance  nine or fewer unexcused absences.

An enhanced process for students with IEPs

The LeGare consent decree requires the district to make accommodations for students with diverse learning needs, including special education and English language learning services. This year, the district will beef up its individualized review process for applicants to magnet schools.

Better communication, more staff training, application assistance labs

One key problem with the special-admissions process over the past two years was the districts haphazard communication. Families found the districts messaging opaque and confusing.

Officials pledged clear and relevant information earlier and more often, and to increase families and students understanding of the process, and said district staff would also receive more training on the process to better assist students and families.

The district will host multiple student and family engagement meetings around school selection in September and October, as well as new Application Assistance Labs at schools across the city, officials said.

For magnet middle school students, a bridge to high school

As previously announced, students who attend middle grades programs at Carver, Girard Academic Music Program, Hill-Freedman World Academy, Masterman, and Science Leadership Academy at Beeber will receive automatic admission to those schools high schools if they continue to meet academic standards.

More coming

For the 2024-25 school year, the district hopes to offer lottery, ranking, and waitlist optimization updates in order to improve the efficiency of matches and ultimately increase offers per students.
Cider Belly, at 8005 Germantown Ave., before it fills up for the evening. The bar has 36 seats inside and 12 seats outside, with the option to put tables around the corner on Willow Grove Avenue. Read more

Imagine holding down a 9-to-5 job, then running a bar on nights and weekends. Thats reality for Matt and Kim Vendeville, the owners of Chestnut Hills Cider Belly at 8005 Germantown Ave. And while the premise sounds grueling, its also a dream come true  one the couple has shared since they met in grad school in Pittsburgh.

Cider Belly opened July 7, serving European-style dry ciders and small plates, plus Karamoor wines, Love City beers, and draft cocktails made with New Liberty spirits. The small but elegant space  minimally decorated with marble tables, bistro chairs, and thrifted Philadelphia prints, lithographs, and landscapes  nails the tony Chestnut Hill vibe.

This is Northwest Phillys second spot serving up delicious dry, seasonal ciders in a beautiful setting: Young American Hard Cider opened up two miles down Germantown Avenue in late 2020.

Because the Vendevilles are still full-timers and Cider Bellys primary staffers, the bars hours are limited: Fridays 6 to 10 p.m., Saturdays 5 to 10 p.m., and Sunday 4 to 8 p.m. (They also fill takeout growlers on Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m.) Arrive early or perhaps late: When The Inquirer visited in mid-July, the 36-seat space was packed within minutes of the doors opening.

The couple has long shared an ambition to be their own boss, something they bonded over when they started dating at University of Pittsburghs School of Public Health. Matt began making cider around 2018 as a hobby, and they fell in love with Pittsburghs Arsenal Cider House. It was while on their 2019 honeymoon in Italy that they first conceived of Cider Belly, a play on the term pasta belly.

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In 2021, two years after they moved to Philly, they sublet space from Cardinal Hollow Winery in Lansdale to pilot the concept. There they refined their process and recipes, and they started selling cider at regional festivals. Positive feedback followed. Thats when we realized like we really could have something, Kim says. They signed a lease on the Chestnut Hill space, at the bottom of the hill, shortly after.

Today, their ciders are made in the back, using raw cider from Boyertowns Beekman Orchard thats tailored to custom acid and sugar levels by farmer Calvin Beekman.

He puts all these different apples together and tastes it. This is a fourth-generation family farm, so they know what theyre doing, Matt says.

Beekman delivers the cider to the bar, hooking up a hose to a tank on the back of a truck, then pumping in enough fresh-pressed cider to fill six 60-gallon tanks. From there, the Vendevilles add yeast and keep an eye on the cider during its first fermentation.

A lot of things can go wrong in the process, but overall its just making sure that the yeast are happy. It takes about a week to two weeks to complete primary fermentation, Matt says, at which point the yeast has consumed all the available sugar in the juice. And then it goes into whats called secondary. Thats really where youre aging, youre adding your infusions, like cherries or peach.

As the cider ages, it gets clearer (as the yeast and sediment settle to the bottom) and develops more character. Cider Bellys ciders are aged for a month or two before theyre put on draft. They offer three varieties: the Wissahickon (original dry), the Pastorious (dry-hopped), and a rotating seasonal flavor (right now its the Willow Grove, aged on local peaches). They also plan to release a small-batch series featuring ciders aged on locally foraged fruits like pawpaws.

Neither Matt nor Kim have previous experience in the hospitality industry, but they recently hired some veterans to help. The neighborhood reception has been even better than they anticipated. The cherry cider they thought would last two months was sold out in three weeks.

The feedback has been amazing  from people liking the cider but also our small plates, which are also locally sourced, Kim says. Were trying to be very intentional, but you never know until you put something out there, and we dont have a background in any of this. So for people to be like, Oh my gosh, the trout dish is amazing, its shocking.

For now, Cider Belly only has a cold-prep kitchen space, so its food menu is limited. But that and the satellite-location options that come with their winery license already have these entrepreneurs dreaming up more possibilities.

We dont want this to be the end-all, be-all. Were excited for what could potentially come, Kim says.
Temple University students recently started a new academic year, and among the new faces on campus is the chair of the universitys Department of Nursing.

Earlier this summer, Temple hired Amita Avadhani, a nurse-practitioner with over a decade of teaching experience, to lead its nursing department. Prior to joining Temple, Avadhani spent 13 years overseeing graduate nursing programs at Rutgers University. She holds doctorate degrees in nursing and general psychology.

Avadhani joins the North Philly-based university at a time when about a third of nursing positions in Pennsylvania hospitals are vacant. And Temples department is among six Philly-area nursing programs being watched by the state Board of Nursing because too many graduates failed to pass their licensure exams last year.

Avadhani sees the new position as an opportunity to better prepare nurses for a field strained by worker shortages and high rates of burnout. She wants to pursue new programs for more specialized and higher-level nursing work, which could help fill workforce gaps.

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Im hopeful that I would be able to work here and call it my home for a while, Avadhani said. The most important thing is to make a difference.

Raising test scores

Temples largest nursing program is its bachelor of science in nursing, or BSN, which admits more than 100 students every year. The program prepares trainees to work in clinical settings and pass the NCLEX, the exam that licenses registered nurses.

Only 72% of Temple graduates passed the exam last year. Thats below the 80% pass rate required by state regulators. The performance landed Temple on the state Board of Nursing list of programs with provisional status.

Avadhani said the decline in scores reflected a one-year blip and was part of a national trend. So far this year, more than 90% of first time test takers have passed, she said.

Im confident that we will be able to resolve that, Avadhani said.

She said a new simulation lab is planned for the nursing program in a new building for the College of Public Health. The lab should help students better prepare for the exam.

 READ MORE: Six Philly-area nursing schools are being watched by state board

Educating during a nursing shortage

Avadhani has plans to develop new nursing programs at Temple.

She is developing an accelerated bachelors degree in nursing that she expects to launch next fall. The program is designed to help people who already earned a bachelors degree in another field transition careers and earn a BSN in less than two years.

 READ MORE: Pennsylvania House approves bill to require nurse staffing minimums in hospitals

Bringing new nurses to the field can help ease shortages. But hospitals, nursing homes, and other health-care organizations must do more to address burnout, a leading reason many nurses have left the profession in recent years, according to multiple surveys.

To help retain workers, health-care systems could reduce the number of patients each nurse must care for and improve benefits packages, Avadhani said.

For their part, nursing programs can offer more preparation for the jobs challenges. She wants Temples nurse educators to teach students the technical skills they need to care for patients, as well as the emotional and mental skills theyll need to care for themselves.
Watermark Retirement Communities LLC agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle a whistleblower case alleging that it had an illegal agreement to refer residents to Pennsauken-based Bayada Home Health Care Inc., the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey announced Thursday.

The alleged kickback scheme came to light through a whistleblower suit filed in New Jersey in 2017. That suit alleged that in 2014, Bayada overpaid for two Watermark home-health agencies in Arizona to induce referrals of Medicare beneficiaries living at Watermarks facilities in Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

Two years ago, Bayada, whose national operations include partial ownership of Thomas Jefferson Universitys home health and hospice services, agreed to pay $17 million for its part in the alleged scheme. Neither party has admitted liability.

Whether you pay them or receive them, kickbacks undermine the integrity of our health care system, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a news release. Patients need to know the health care referrals they receive are in their best interest, not in the best interest of someone elses bottom line.

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The whistleblower, David Freedman, will receive $765,000 from the new settlement. Freedman, who was Bayadas director of strategic growth from 2009 to 2016, received $3 million from the 2021 settlement for his role in exposing the alleged fraud, which occurred between early 2014 and October 2020.

Watermark spokesperson Vicki Doyle said in an email Friday: We firmly deny that we did anything unlawful, and, in fact, we cooperated fully with the DOJ in the investigation. We have entered into this settlement as the cost and distraction of litigation likely would have exceeded the amount required to resolve it through prevailing on the merits.

Two years ago, Bayada denied the allegations and said it opted to settle to avoid the significant expense of protracted litigation and allow our focus to remain on providing high quality home health care to our patients.

Watermark, based in Tucson, Ariz., operates 79 retirement communities nationwide, including three in the Philadelphia area. They are The Watermark at Bellingham in West Chester, Blue Bell Place in Blue Bell, and Rockland Place in Wilmington. Watermark also operated The Springs at Watermark in Center City until November 2022, when its lease was terminated.

Bayada, which converted to nonprofit status in 2018, had $1.6 billion in revenue in 2021, according to its audited financial statement. It has continued to expand through acquisitions, buying Abramson Senior Cares home-health and hospice businesses this year for an undisclosed price.

In June 2022, Bayada paid $31.7 million for 51% of Thomas Jefferson Universitys home-health and hospice businesses, which now operate as a joint venture.
After six months of negotiations, the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia and The Philadelphia Inquirer have agreed on a new three-year contract, which includes pay raises, a significant increase in paid parental leave, and additional paid sick time.

The new contract, which takes effect Friday, also codifies hiring procedures already in place that are intended to advance the companys diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.

This agreement is the best contract weve had in the more than 20 years Ive been a Guild officer, said Guild president Diane Mastrull.

The NewsGuild, which represents 257 Inquirer employees, voted on the contract Thursday, with a majority of 194 voting members approving the tentative agreement.

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We are pleased that we have reached a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia, Inquirer publisher and CEO Lisa Hughes said. The contract includes improvements in the areas of both wages and benefits and is a reflection of The Inquirers best effort to invest in our most valued resource  our employees.

Full-time Guild employees will receive a one-time payment equal to 6% of their regular pay within 30 days of ratification.

Members will also receive salary raises in years two and three of the contract, which vary by annual salary level in order to begin addressing pay disparities within the staff. In each of the two years, members who make $80,000 or less will get a 4.3% raise, those who make $80,000 to $100,000 will receive a 4% raise, and those who make $100,000 or more will get a 3% raise.

This is the second consecutive contract with raises following 10 years of pay cuts and unpaid furloughs, Mastrull said. We are a union that has made many sacrifices to help this company survive and continue to serve the Philly region.

Paid parental leave for Guild members will increase to 15 weeks, plus five paid transition days off to be used within the first month of returning to work. The previous contract provided six weeks of paid parental leave.

Its an important signal to employees that this company recognizes that their families matter, Mastrull said. Employees that are respected are really productive and happy employees in the end, and so I think the company can only benefit from this.

The agreement also allows for some nonunion managers to do limited amounts of work that would normally be done by Guild members. Mastrull said this issue arose from a couple of cases already being discussed by the union that were ready to go to arbitration. The union instead chose to settle them at the bargaining table.

It was the most contentious of the issues throughout these six months of bargaining, Mastrull said. Paramount for the Guild, she said, was protecting union members from repercussions based on managers doing work not permitted under previous contracts.

The hiring procedures outlined in the contract state that the companys goal is to increase diversity in its staff and requires that candidate pools for hiring include diverse candidates. The company must also provide data on job applicants, merit raises, and representation progress with the Guild, and perform a formal pay-equity review.

Thats a major step forward from what we had here at the Inquirer for a long, long time, in a place that was viewed as very, very white, and quite frankly, very, very male, Mastrull said. But, she added, we have lots more work to do to truly become a company that is diverse, inclusive, and equal.

The contract includes a home office expense payment of $500 per year, two additional fully paid sick days for a total of eight, and 401(K) employer matching after six months instead of one year.

Congratulations to the Guild, its leaders and members, and Inquirer management for working together to reach an agreement, Hughes said. We thank the Guild leadership for their professionalism and collegiality during this process.

The deal comes in Philadelphia as across the state at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh have been on strike since October and without a contract since 2017. The Post-Gazettes executive editor is Stan Wischnowski, who was a longtime editor at The Inquirer and a prior member of The Inquirers negotiating team.

It is a sobering time in this industry, with our Guild friends in Pittsburgh on strike more than 10 months now, Mastrull said. That is something that I wanted to avoid here.
Kelly Boyd, owner of KB Consultants, in her Delancey Place town house in 2004. Read more

A politically connected Philadelphia publicist recalled as a trailblazing woman in the local public relations scene died Wednesday afternoon after being hit by a pickup truck in a Montgomery County Wawa parking lot, police said.

According to police, Kelly Boyd, 56, was in a Hatfield Township Wawa parking lot just before 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday when she was struck by a 2021 Ford F-150 truck operated by a 65-year-old Philadelphia driver. She was taken to Grandview Hospital, where she died from her injuries, police said.

The incident is being treated as an accident, and no charges have been filed, police said, although an investigation is ongoing. Hatfield police Thursday declined to elaborate on where Boyd was in the parking lot of the combined convenience store and gas station, but said that she was not in a vehicle.

Police have asked anyone who may have information on or witnessed the incident to call 215-855-0903 or email policetips@hatfield.org.

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Boyd, a longtime Philadelphia resident and founder of Rittenhouse-based KB Consultants, is best remembered by friends and family for her zeal for business and love for her three daughters: Claire, Grace, and Frances.

 READ MORE: From 2004: Philadelphias Kelly Boyd  wife, mother, successful entrepreneur  has it all, wants more, and has a 5-year plan for getting it

Kelly was really a powerhouse, said HughE Dillon, a photographer and public relations professional behind the Philly Chit Chat blog. Dillon said he first met Boyd 16 years ago, when he was launching his blog. She just was glamorous, and very welcoming, and really helped me out in my career in the beginning to make the connections that I needed to make to cover and chronicle Philadelphia.

The oldest of three children, Boyd was raised in Lower Gwynedd, and graduated from Gwynedd-Mercy Academy. She attended American University, before graduating from Penns Fels Institute of Government with a masters degree in government administration, and Temple Universitys law school.

Boyds local political connections were deep and ran the gamut of working for the late Sen. John Heinz to fundraising for former Mayor John Street and the powerful International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98.

She held dinners at Del Friscos steak house with the whos who of Philadelphia, and rubbed elbows with celebrities like William Shatner, Dillon said. And her philanthropic parties at her Delancey Place town house often gave way to group sing-alongs around the piano, he said.

Happiness and fun are critical to me, she told The Inquirer for a 2004 article. Everyone who knows me, knows that I have to have fun, with my clients and home life.

As a budding PR pro in the early 2000s, Dillon said he learned from Boyd to turn off my hearing and photograph people, as well as to always wear a suit jacket to events.

With a charismatic personality and often wearing pastel Chanel and towering pumps, Dillon said Boyd made [PR] events glamorous and attractive, you wanted to go to them.

Before her, it was all men in brown suits, he said, calling Boyd a trailblazer for women.

Boyds cousin, Jamie, said she was inspired by Boyds work, interning at KB Consultants before she studied public relations at Temple. Jamie Boyd, 39, called her cousin fearless and learned from her to not be afraid of being a leader.

I think she was one of the bigger influences during that time for women, especially in Philadelphia, Jamie Boyd said.

In her personal life, Boyd cherished her three daughters, her cousin said, also throwing elaborate parties at her town house for the girls. Birthday parties, baptisms, you name it, Jamie Boyd said. It was mainly all for them.
The family of Eddie Irizarry, the 27-year-old man shot and killed by a Philadelphia police officer, viewed the police body-worn camera footage of the shooting this week, and were told the video will be released to the public within the next two weeks, lawyers said at a news conference Thursday.

Shaka Johnson, who is representing Irizarrys family, said they met with District Attorney Larry Krasner and officials from his office on Wednesday to review the footage from the Aug. 13 shooting. The video, he said, is the strongest confirmation yet of what Irizarrys family has maintained from the start: He was not a threat to the officer who killed him.

But, he said, the recordings do show Irizarry holding a pocket knife at his side when officers approached his car.

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Heres what the body cameras showed, according to Johnson:

Just before 12:30 p.m., Officer Mark Dial and his partner, who worked in North Philadelphias 24th Police District, saw Irizarrys car driving erratically, hopping up onto the shoulder and weaving in the road. They followed him a few blocks and stopped their cruiser alongside Irizarrys Toyota Corolla on the 100 block of East Willard Street in Kensington.

Both officers quickly got out of the marked cruiser, and immediately pulled their guns and pointed them at Irizarrys car.

Show us your hands! the officers yelled.

Irizarry was seated in the drivers seat with his windows rolled up. He was holding a 3-inch folded pocketknife by the side of his knee, Johnson said. The blade was open.

One officer yelled that Irizarry had a knife. According to Johnson, Dial told him to drop the knife and also yelled that he would shoot Irizarry.

Almost immediately, Dial fired multiple times at near point-blank range through the drivers side window. He fired again through the windshield as he ran backward and circled around the car. Irizarry was shot six times throughout his body.

Johnson said Irizarry did not appear to threaten the officers with the knife and was holding it by his side. He said he had no time to follow the officers orders to drop it.

He never got a chance to hear and respond to a police command, he said. Hes sitting in his car with the windows rolled up, and doesnt speak English.

The footage also showed that Dials partner, who police have not identified, told his supervisors at the scene that Irizarry had a knife in his hand, raised it, then sat up.

Johnson said that Irizarry never raised the knife.

When he was shot, they initially couldnt even find the knife that he had in his hand. They said something like, Its around here somewhere, it might have fallen down there, he said recounting the video.

It shows the partner did not tell supervisors that Irizarry got out of his car or lunged at officers  a narrative that police had shared with reporters at the scene. He told supervisors they saw Irizarrys car driving erratically, at times driving onto the road shoulder, and followed him to try to run his license plate.

Dial did not speak about what happened to anyone on camera, Johnson said. He could be heard warning colleagues who approached him that he was on a hot mic, Johnson said, and waved people away with his hands.

Johnson said Krasners office told the family they would release the footage to the public within the next two weeks. The family requested that the footage be released unredacted.

Krasner declined to say whether the office intended to press criminal charges, Johnson said.

Jane Roh, a spokesperson for the DAs Office, declined to comment on the ongoing inquiry and their discussions with Irizarrys family.

Dials lawyer, Fortunato Perri, did not respond to a request for comment.

The news that the footage would be released was made just hours ahead of a rally and march, where people called for Dial to face criminal charges. Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announced last week that the department intended to fire Dial for insubordination after he has refused to speak with internal investigators about what happened.

Hours later, at Taller Puertorriqueno, the renowned Fairhill community center for Philadelphia Puerto Ricans and Puerto Ricos diaspora, about 80 to 90 people  later growing to approximately 200  rallied to remember Irizarry, who moved to Philadelphia from Ponce, Puerto Rico, about seven years ago, and to push for prison time for Dial, the officer who killed the man affectionately called Junito.

White roses were handed out to people to carry to the site where Eddie Irizarry was shot on Aug. 14.

After the rally, the crowd of supporters marched to the 24th Police District, on the 3900 block of Whitaker Avenue, where Dial worked.

Speakers and participants at the rally and march said two weeks was far too long to wait for the footage.

Were asking Commissioner Danielle Outlaw to release the body cam footage now said Rafael Alvarez Febo on a loudspeaker in front of the police station.

Irizarrys father, Eddie Irizarry, addressed the line of uniformed officers standing in front of the police station where his sons killer worked.

In Spanish, he said that he knows and respects many police officers, but that the department needed to get rid of the rotten apples.

If you want the communitys respect, you have to earn it, he said.

He closed his remarks by praying that God blessed every officer there every morning they went to work.

Starting Aug. 23, Outlaw has said, Dial is being suspended for 30 days with the intent to dismiss after he refused to cooperate with the departments internal investigation.

But family and activists said Dials imminent firing is nowhere near sufficient redress and called on the District Attorneys Office to charge Dial criminally and for Dial to receive a prison sentence.

Walking at the very front of the march was Nasheli Ortiz Ganzalez, a young Puerto Rican woman who moved to Philly six years ago. Shes the second director of Taller Puertorriqueno and said it was important for the march to spread the word that a community member has been killed at the hands of a police officer.

If a policeman cant deescalate a situation, he shouldnt be out in the street, she said.

Rosaura Torres Thomas, the only Latina member of the Citizens Police Oversight Commission, joined the rally to show her support as a mother, a daughter, a grandmother, and a Latina.

I have to be here to support la comunidad, she said.

Torres Thomas was at the rally on her own, not representing the commission, she said. After the police narrative of Irizarrys killing changed, Torres Thomas said she believed he had been murdered.

We have to be here to support the family, she said.

At last Wednesdays news conference, Outlaw declined to say whether she thought the shooting of Irizarry was a crime, saying the investigation was ongoing. And she did not answer questions about where the initial erroneous narrative originated from, saying only that it came from an internal source.

Over roughly the last 50 years, prosecutors have charged 10 Philadelphia police officers with murder or manslaughter for on-duty killings. Of those cases, three have been brought since Krasner took office in 2018.

Most recently, last May, Krasner charged Edsaul Mendoza, the former Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tommy TJ Siderio, with first-degree murder and other charges. Mendozas trial is scheduled to begin in May.

Staff writers Robert Moran, Josef Wirnshofer, and Nick Vadala contributed to this report.
Eddie Irizarry's family wants an unredacted version of the police body-worn camera footage of the shooting released to the public. The family's supporters gathered for a rally Thursday evening calling for justice in his case. Philadelphia Police officer Mark Dial was suspended for refusing to cooperate with the police departments investigation into the incident.
Former Philadelphia Proud Boys president Zachary Rehl leads a crowd toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. Read more

WASHINGTON  Zach Rehl, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the alt-right Proud Boys, was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison for his role in fomenting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The punishment  handed down by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly  fell just shy of the longest prison term imposed against any of the hundreds of people sentenced in connection with the riot so far.

It is exceeded only by the 17-year sentence Kelly gave to Rehls codefendant  Joseph Biggs, a Proud Boy leader from Florida  who was sentenced earlier in the day, and the 18-year prison term handed to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in May.

Still, the sentence Rehl received was half the minimum term recommended by federal sentencing guidelines and the 30 years that prosecutors sought for what they described as an effort to change the course of American history by force.

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 READ MORE: Zach Rehl, former president of the Philly Proud Boys, faces a potentially record sentence for the Jan. 6 riot

Kelly acknowledged that disparity as he announced his sentencing decision, explaining that while he found Rehls crimes should be punished as an act of terrorism  a factor that dramatically increased the possible prison time under sentencing guidelines  he did not believe that Rehl intended the type of mass casualty event typically associated with a terrorist act.

I probably never will sentence someone 15 years below the guidelines again in my entire career, the judge said. Still, he remarked: Its a miracle  a miracle  that there wasnt greater loss of life.

For his part, Rehl, 37, of Port Richmond, described Jan. 6 as a despicable day as he read from a prepared statement through tears. With his lawyer, Norman Pattis, consoling him, Rehl told the judge he fell hook, line, sinker for politicians spewing lies about the 2020 election, causing him to lose sight over what was truly important in life  his family.

Im done with all of it, Rehl said. Im done with politics. Im done peddling lies for other people who dont care about me.

 READ MORE: Pennsylvania Proud Boys played a big role in Jan. 6 planning: Key takeaways from Capitol riot sedition trial

Thursdays hearings came three months after a federal jury convicted Rehl, Biggs, and two other Proud Boys leaders on seditious conspiracy charges, concluding that they spearheaded a plan to keep former President Donald Trump in power by riling up the mob that disrupted Congress certification of President Joe Bidens victory.

The verdict delivered one of the most significant victories to date in the Justice Departments push to hold accountable those who participated and organized the Jan. 6 attack. And among the hundreds charged so far, the Proud Boys have emerged as a focus.

Investigators placed the groups members at nearly all the central flashpoints at which violence unfolded, and more than 20 members face charges.

But Rehl, Biggs, and their codefendants  the Proud Boys former national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and Ethan Nordean, a chapter leader from Washington state  led a 200-man force in Washington that day and should shoulder much of the blame for what played out, Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson said in court Thursday.

Nordean is scheduled for sentencing Friday and Tarrios hearing is set for Tuesday.

These defendants  knew the effect that they had on the people they referred to as the normies, Kenerson said. Theyre lucky that Jan. 6 did not turn into a mass casualty event.

Rehl, in particular, did little to help himself during the trial.

Going into the proceedings, prosecutors had not accused him of personally committing acts of violence during the Capitol attack. But as he testified in his own defense, they confronted him with newly surfaced body camera footage that appeared to show him pepper spraying police.

Pressed on the witness stand, Rehl  a former Marine and the son and grandson of Philadelphia police officers  insisted he couldnt recall whether hed assaulted police during the melee.

If you believe I did anything wrong that day, he told the jury, I really do truly apologize.

But it was Rehls comments in the run-up to and aftermath of the riot that the judge described as chilling.

In the days before, he endorsed firing squads for the traitors that are trying to steal the election on social media.

And once the riot was quelled, Rehl expressed regret that the mob hadnt succeeded in stopping Congress certification vote.

Looking back, it sucked, he texted other members of the Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter on Jan. 7. We should have held the Capitol.  Everyone shoulda showed up armed and took the country back the right way.

Reading the text in court Thursday, Kelly was taken aback.

I mean, my God, he said in response. My God.

 READ MORE: For Philly Proud Boys president Zach Rehl, sedition conviction for Jan. 6 attack rests largely on his own words

But Pattis, Rehls lawyer, said his clients statements and actions were based in a well-meaning, if misguided, belief that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen.

If theres a direct threat to democracy greater than an insurrection, Id say its a stolen election, he said. They decided to engage in behavior that reflected our highest ideals.

He defiantly likened the Proud Boys actions to those of the Founding Fathers who took up arms to fight tyranny and predicted that a stiff sentence for Rehl would be the equivalent of burning Waco down  a reference to the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, that resulted in the deaths of 82 members of that group and spawned a generation of antigovernment militia groups.

Its just disproportionate, uncalled for, Pattis said of the 30-year sentence prosecutors sought Thursday. It will not promote respect for the law. It will create a martyrdom syndrome.

When it was his turn to address the judge, Rehl struck a considerably different tone. He apologized to his wife, seated feet away in the courtroom gallery, and their daughter, who was born shortly after his arrest and whom Rehl has not had the chance to hold since he remains in prison.

Its my fault, its my fault, he said. Theres no other way to slice it.  I wasted my time with politics for people who arent even here today. 

What his sentence means for the Philadelphia chapter of the Proud Boys  an organization Rehl has led since 2018  remains to be seen.

During his trial, Rehl told jurors he joined the Proud Boys hoping to expand his professional network and transform the Philadelphia chapter into one more engaged in politics and less in drunken street fighting with left-wing demonstrators.

In 2018, he led a pro-Trump We the People rally outside Independence Hall that drew a minuscule crowd of supporters but provoked heated clashes with counterprotesters.

He was among the group of Proud Boys spotted drinking beer, carrying the groups flag, and chanting with police officers at a Back the Blue rally outside the Fraternal Order of Police lodge in Northeast Philadelphia shortly after the citys racial justice protests in 2020.

But shortly before Rehl was led away by U.S. Marshals at the end of Thursdays hearing, he told Kelly he was prepared to leave all that behind.

January 6 was a despicable day, he said. I did things I regret, and I made my family suffer because of it.  I would do anything to be a part of their lives again.
Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl (left) and Ethan Nordean (right) walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. Read more

Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

Welcome to the start of a new month.

It should be a perfect summer day with clear and sunny skies. Temperatures should reach a high of 80.

Our lead story recaps the sentencing of the former president of the Philly Proud Boys for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

 Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Zach Rehl, the former president of the Philadelphia chapter of the alt-right Proud Boys, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Thursday for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Important note: Its the third-longest prison term imposed against any of the hundreds of people sentenced in connection with the riot so far.

Rehls sentence is exceeded only by the 18-year sentence for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in May and the 17-year sentence for Florida Proud Boys leader Joseph Biggs also on Thursday.

Reminder: Still, Rehls punishment is half of the three-decade prison sentence prosecutors sought. Federal sentencing guidelines also recommend 30 years for the minimum term.

Keep reading to learn the reasoning behind the judges decision.

What you should know today

Ahead of Labor Day, photographer Jose Moreno created an ode to the laborers.

He photographed construction workers, migrant workers, butchers, and others as an ode to workers. He tagged along during their days to see their work and hear their stories.

In his own words: Put simply: Manual laborers make this city, and region, run, Moreno wrote.

Click to meet the the workers and gaze at the stunningly beautiful pictures.

Twenty years ago, columnist Jenice Armstrong started the sensational Sexy Singles.

From 2003 to 2017, Armstrong highlighted mostly up-and-comers who were doing their thing, succeeding at life, and enjoying the best of what Philly had to offer. And yes, they were also attractive.

Armstrong recalls how it began and how she loved the project during its run. Some of the Singles even married people they met as a result of getting picked.

In her own words: Getting people dates wasnt necessarily the goal of the project, Armstrong wrote. To me, it began as a fun thing to do, which showcased interesting people who otherwise might not have ever made it into the newspaper.

Keep reading to reminisce about the iconic brand.

 Trivia time 

One of the 22 women vying to date ABCs first-ever Golden Bachelor is from the Philly region.

Susan, 66, is a former hair and makeup artist and a current wedding officiant.

Which county is she from?

A) Delaware County

B) Montgomery County

C) Bucks County

D) None of the above

Think you know? Check your answer.

What were...

 Watching: Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty and waived arraignment in the 2020 Georgia election case.

 Reading: What New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker had to say about American politics and Republican presidential candidates Chris Christie and Tim Scott. Although most Americans tend to feel bleak about the state of the country, Booker kept it positive.

 Unscramble the anagram 

Hint: When you see her, shes balancing a box full of treats on her head.

DANDY ACYL

Well select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Alan Morgenstein, who correctly guessed Thursdays answer: The Clay Studio. Email us if you know the answer.

Photo of the day

Thanks for starting your morning with The Inquirer. Im starting mine finishing the last few pages of From the Back of the Bus by comedian and social satirist Dick Gregory. Paola will have the latest news ready for you Sunday morning.
Philly artists gather at Rittenhouse Square to display their works of art for a peaceful protest to show support to local artists and those whove had their work confiscated, in Philadelphia on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023. Read more

Recently, three visual artists  NEEK, NZ One, and Ginger  were kicked out of Rittenhouse Square by police officers, who confiscated their artwork.

Why did the police confiscate the artwork? If it is illegal to sell art on the street without a license, why not give a warning and let them keep their art?

Rittenhouse Square has always been a part of my life, long before the neighborhood and anything around it was called Rittenhouse, a relatively recent affectation. The arrests of the artists reminded me of when hippies were arrested during two raids in Rittenhouse Square in 1967, while Frank Rizzo was the police commissioner.

Comparing the latest incidents to something that happened almost 60 years ago, I look at Rittenhouse Square and see how much it has pivoted.

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 READ MORE: Philly artists get kicked out of Rittenhouse Square by police, say artwork is damaged

While Rittenhouse Square has been a tolerant meeting place for diverse people for many years, it has evolved into a less tolerant place. In 2017, the city enacted a ban on wall sitting in the square as a way to reduce loitering (it was ended after public uproar). In 2022, Friends of Rittenhouse Square, the nonprofit that maintains the parks grounds, swapped the more than 150 benches in the square for new models that include a center armrest, which makes it harder for people experiencing homelessness to sleep there.

Communities shift and change. I understand that. But an integral part of any community is the art community, which has been a major presence in Rittenhouse Square for as long as I can remember. It is one of the few places left where artists of many backgrounds can interact and communicate with each other and with the broader community.

Over the years, different groups of people in Rittenhouse Square have been targeted by the city, from people experiencing homelessness to young people, LGBTQ people, and people of color.

I dont want to see artists and the artistic community added to that list.

When I was a child and we lived nearby, my mother regularly took me and my older brother to Rittenhouse Square. I have a special memory of walking with my mother while she was wearing a chic pair of black patent leather spike heels, and I would sing Follow the Yellow Brick Road; the ruby slippers on most black and white television sets looked black, so my mothers shoes looked like the ruby slippers to me. My brother and I played with the statues of the lion and the goat. The squares lawns had Keep off the grass signs then. I can still picture the large colored lights on the Rittenhouse Square Christmas tree.

I started going to Rittenhouse Square again as a teenager in the late 60s and early 70s when I was interested in hippies.

One summer day when I was 16 years old, I met a Puerto Rican drag queen in the square and discovered the underground gay world. It was like putting on new glasses, which revealed to me, for the first time, the invisible gay community. At that time, the square was divided: north of the fountain was the straight side, and south of the fountain was the gay side. Many people crossed over.

As a transgender person of color, who had been severely bullied and punished, it was a liberating revelation to finally meet other people like me in Rittenhouse Square.

The first Philadelphia Gay Pride March started in Rittenhouse Square in 1972. I volunteered as a marshal. It used to be normal in Center City for many people  Blacks and whites, gay and straight, poor, middle class, rich people, artists, and bohemians  to live congenially around Rittenhouse Square and in Center City. But about 20 to 30 years ago, the neighborhood around Rittenhouse Square started changing.

Between 1991 and 2015, I lived in my late fathers rental property on 22nd Street below Bainbridge. When I walked up 22nd toward Spruce, the same white woman would approach me and ask what I was doing there. Repeatedly. After I sold the house in 2015, I lived at 20th and Spruce Streets for two years. Again, white people would come up and ask what I was doing there, and what I did for a living, without introducing themselves or asking my name.

I didnt mention I was born on that street  Spruce  at Pennsylvania Hospital.

I no longer saw drag queens hanging out in Rittenhouse Square. At about the same time, the squirrels disappeared, replaced by rats. One Sunday, I saw an elderly white woman complaining to a police officer about an elderly Black man who had fallen asleep sitting up on a bench. I pointed out to the officer that other people  white, seemingly middle class  lie out on the grass all the time, and no one threatens them with arrest.

Rittenhouse Square has changed before, and it may change again.

The neighborhood and what is now called Rittenhouse has changed, becoming expensive and exclusive, not necessarily better. That may not last. Rittenhouse Square has changed before, and it may change again.

I sincerely hope that the square keeps part of the identity I saw growing up: a place for people of many backgrounds, including artists, to interact and communicate. Its one of the few places left in Philadelphia where that is still possible.

It would be sad to see that possibility lost.

Cei Bell is a writer and artist living in West Oak Lane.
GOP mayoral nominee David Oh at a Latino Town Hall that Democratic nominee Cherelle Parker did not attend. Wednesday, August 30, 2023 Read more

There are more clouds than clarity surrounding the Latino Town Hall held Wednesday for Philadelphias mayoral race.

Republican nominee David Oh and other participants all agree someone organized the event. They cant say who did that.

Oh and the participants also insist Cherelle Parker, the Democratic nominee, was invited. Who invited her? No one can say.

The event was held on the sidewalk in front of a building on American Street in North Philadelphia because someone refused to open the building after threats were lobbed about the event, Oh said.

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Who perpetrated the lockout? Who made the threats?

Oh said he didnt know.

Parkers campaign on Monday decried fake fliers on social media that suggested she would participate. Her campaign said it received no formal invitation to the event and learned about the fliers only when Phillip Fisher, the Republican leader in the 42nd Ward, sent them a copy.

Parker spokesman Aren Platt said campaign staffers made phone calls to figure out what was happening but didnt lean on anyone to cancel the event or lock out Oh.

The event opened with an eruption from William Cartagena, a Democratic Committee member from the 56th Ward, shouting that he had been identified as an organizer but played no part. Cartagena, who said Parker is a friend, denounced the event as a hoax on the Latino community.

USALA Media, a Latino outlet listed as a host of the event, has offices in the building where it was scheduled to be held.

Fred Ramirez, a cofounder of USALA Media who gave Parkers campaign $1,250 last year, told Clout on Thursday that his outlet had nothing to do with the event. He blamed Fisher, who works part time as a technician at USALA Media, for listing the outlet on the flier.

Ramirez also said the building owner locked out the event after learning USLA Medias name had been falsely attached to it.

Parker sees a clear path to victory in a city where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 7-1, so she has been stonewalling Oh as he seeks joint appearances and an agreement about debates.

Oh spent about 90 minutes talking to the 30 people who showed up for the event, sitting on plastic folding chairs on the sidewalk as traffic whizzed by. He appeared bemused by the brouhaha.

Its kind of heavy-handed for a town hall, dont you think? he asked while chuckling about the lockout.

A version of this article was included in this weeks Clout, a weekly roundup providing often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.
Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican who represents Pennsylvania's 10th District, at the U.S. Capitol in January, 2023. Read more

Will U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, the central Pennsylvania Republican who heads the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, be challenged in 2024 by a very familiar face next year?

Clout hears Janelle Stelson, a news anchor at NBC affiliate WGAL in Lancaster, is considering a run in the Democratic primary for the 10th Congressional District as Perry seeks a sixth term.

Stelson, who has worked for WGAL since 1997 and previously worked for two Harrisburg television stations, did not directly respond when Clout asked whether she was considering a run in the 10th.

In the past more than three decades that Ive been a journalist in Central PA, Ive had quite a few people ask if I would be interested in running for office ... so Im not surprised you would hear something like that, Stelson wrote in an email. And Im honored folks would mention my name.

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Stelson lives in Lancaster, which is part of the 11th Congressional District, represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker. WGALs market covers 10 counties, including all of the 10th District, made up of Dauphin County and parts of Cumberland and York Counties.

Members of Congress must be at least 25 years old and a resident of the state where their district is located but are not required to live in the district they represent.

Stelson is certainly familiar with the 10th District and Perrys record. She moderated debates between Perry and his Democratic challengers that aired on WGAL before the 2018 and 2020 general elections.

Someone used Google Domains in late June to privately register the websites StelsonForCongress.com and JanelleStelson.com.

Rumors about Stelson have been circulating for months.

Rogette Harris, chair of the Dauphin County Democratic Party, said she heard that chatter in the spring but had not heard from Stelson. Its been floating around for a while, she said.

Matt Roan, chair of the Cumberland County Democratic Party, and Chad Baker, chair of the York County Democratic Party, heard the same rumor but also have not heard from Stelson.

Normally when a candidate is ready to declare or thinking about it, at least, the local parties in the district are contacted, Baker said.

Shamaine Daniels, a Harrisburg City Council member who challenged Perry in last years general election, has declared her bid for a rematch. Rick Coplen, who lost the 2022 Democratic primary to Daniels, has also announced another run.

Daniels and Coplen told Clout they have heard for months that a prominent local media figure might enter the primary but no name had been attached to that rumor.

David Ohs lockout Latino town hall

There are more clouds than clarity surrounding the Latino Town Hall held Wednesday for Philadelphias mayoral race.

Republican nominee David Oh and other participants all agree someone organized the event. They cant say who did that.

Oh and the participants also insist Cherelle Parker, the Democratic nominee, was invited. Who invited her? No one can say.

The event was held on the sidewalk in front of a building on American Street in North Philadelphia because someone refused to open the building after threats were lobbed about the event, Oh said.

Who perpetrated the lockout? Who made the threats?

Oh said he didnt know.

Parkers campaign on Monday decried fake fliers on social media that suggested she would participate. Her campaign said it received no formal invitation to the event and learned about the fliers only when Phillip Fisher, the Republican leader in the 42nd Ward, sent them a copy.

Parker spokesman Aren Platt said campaign staffers made phone calls to figure out what was happening but didnt lean on anyone to cancel the event or lock out Oh.

USALA Media, a Latino outlet listed as a host of the event, has offices in the building where it was scheduled to be held.

Fred Ramirez, a cofounder of USALA Media who gave Parkers campaign $1,250 last year, told Clout on Thursday that his outlet had nothing to do with the event. He blamed Fisher, who works part time as a technician at USALA Media, for listing the outlet on the flier.

Ramirez also said the building owner locked out the event after learning USLA Medias name had been falsely attached to it.

Parker sees a clear path to victory in a city where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 7-1, so she has been stonewalling Oh as he seeks joint appearances and an agreement about debates.

Oh spent about 90 minutes talking to the 30 people who showed up for the event, sitting on plastic folding chairs on the sidewalk as traffic whizzed by. He appeared bemused by the brouhaha.

Its kind of heavy-handed for a town hall, dont you think? he asked while chuckling about the lockout.

Quotable

It looks that way because she has a David Oh poster. I did not have a are you really supporting me kind of discussion. Shes in the Different Kind Of Democrat group and carrying a sign.

 Philadelphia Republican mayoral nominee David Oh, after posting pictures on social media of former State Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell carrying a Democrats for David Oh sign.

Oh said Johnson-Harrell, who resigned from office in 2019 and later pleaded guilty to stealing from her own nonprofit, is part of the group Different Kind of Democrat, which endorsed Oh for mayor in June. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.
President Joe Biden speaks at the AFL-CIO convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in June. Read more

President Joe Biden will return to Philadelphia Monday morning to celebrate Labor Day, the White House announced.

Biden is planning to attend the AFL-CIO Philadelphia Councils Tri-State Labor Day Parade and Family Fun Festival, council spokesperson Maggie Mullooly confirmed. The event begins with a rally at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 office on Columbus Boulevard in South Philadelphia. Biden is expected to attend the kickoff, which is currently scheduled for 9:15 a.m.

Following the rally, union members and their families will parade north to Penns Landing, where the festival will be held.

AFL-CIO is one of the largest unions in the city and endorsed Bidens reelection campaign along with 17 other unions in June.

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It marks the seventh time Biden has come to the city this year and at least the 14th since he took office in January 2021, as he continues to hone in on a critical Democratic city in a key swing state more than a year before the 2024 election.

Biden was last in Philadelphia for a tour of Philly Shipyard on July 20. Vice President Kamala Harris visited a union training institute in Northeast Philadelphia on Aug. 8 to announce a program to increase pay to construction workers.

Biden has frequently highlighted his ties to and support for labor unions, and has said a number of times that he intends to be the most pro-union president in history.

He has made labor a focal point of his presidency and his reelection campaign. The president picked Philadelphia and a friendly union crowd at the Convention Center for his first large-scale campaign rally.

In March, he broke form and delivered his budget address from a union hall in Northeast Philadelphia instead of from Washington.

Last June, he headlined the AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia. Youre a gigantic reason why Im standing here, he told the crowd then.

Labor backed him heavily in his 2020 run. The AFL-CIO, SEIU, and the American Federation of Teachers were among some of the big unions who endorsed his first run.

While his 2020 campaign was based in Philadelphia, his reelection campaign is based in Wilmington, though hes done far fewer official events in his home city.

Biden so far has two announced primary opponents: former candidate and author Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The DNC has already announced it wont hold debates in the Democratic contest.

Biden is also slated to be in Montgomery County on Wednesday. The details of that event have not been released.
The Jackson family from Pennsauken sits along the Camden waterfront with Philadelphia and the Ben Franklin Bridge in a smoky haze in the background in June. The temperatures may have been normal; the smoke wasn't. Read more

In a summer when the Southwestern United States and the world set records for heat, the summer of 2023 in Philadelphia was quite exceptional in another respect.

Officially, at least, it was extraordinarily normal.

For the June 1-Aug. 31 meteorological summer  the average temperature was 75.9 degrees at Philadelphia International Airport, based on preliminary data. Thats just a half degree below the 30-year normal, but the coolest since 2014. The rain total was 12.73 inches; normal is 12.71 inches.

Those numbers are pretty amazing, said Dean Iovino, a veteran lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly. Its very unusual for it to be that normal.

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Although the astronomical summer doesnt end until Sept. 23, the world weather community divides the meteorological seasons into tidy three-month increments, mindful that the atmosphere has a certain disdain for calendars. It has been known to snow in April, and to reach 90 in May.

Perhaps as further emphasis of that contempt of predictability, our pumpkin spice-saturated anticipation of fall is about to be interrupted with an unusually timed stretch of 90-degree days.

The official metrics notwithstanding, unofficially, the summer of 2023 was anything but normal around here.

Thunderstorms, including the one that resulted in seven deaths, were reported on 15 days in July, and 10 in August. The average for an entire year is 28 in Philly.

 READ MORE: After a tragic flood, Upper Bucks residents wonder what's next

The weather services automated observation doesnt distinguish between haze and smoke, and the agency doesnt keep smoke records, but if it did it would be shocking if this summer didnt set one. Smoke and/or haze was detected on 18 different days. The region endured a number of air quality alerts, and during one of the smoky outbreaks from wildfires in Canada, the Montgomery County emergency center was flooded with 911 calls reporting fire.

 READ MORE: Smoke from Canadian wildfires frequently filled Philly's skies

What happened here was inextricably tied to the persistent otherworldly heat in the Southwest, said Dave Dombek, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather. Domes of high pressure baked that region with triple-digit temperatures as the annual monsoonal rains went AWOL.

The average July temperature in Phoenix, 102.7 Fahrenheit, beat the old record by a full 7.2 degrees, according to the Western Regional Climate Center. As so often happens, the East and West are on opposite ends of an atmospheric seesaw.

The pattern was so locked in, said Dombek. As heat and dryness persisted out there, a sequence of upper-level storm systems pestered Philadelphia and the Northeast from late June into August.

For Philadelphia, the summers journey constituted a strange path to normal, but in reality, normal isnt normal, and probably isnt what you think.

It is not to be confused with average, which is from simple arithmetic. Normal is the result of complicated data analysis.

 READ MORE: So just what is "normal" weather. The answer may surprise you

About 100 years ago, what is now the World Meteorological Organization decreed that weather agencies compute normals for stations based on 30-year data sets, the logic being that climate is always changing. In recent decades, global warming has accelerated.

The current normals are based on values from Jan. 1, 1991, to Dec. 31, 2020. The data is smoothed to account for day-to-day jumpiness. As the adage attributed to Mark Twain suggests: Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.

As it turns out, the meteorological fall is about to begin with a Labor Day week heat wave that forecasters say could possibly result in the longest stretch of 90-degree days of the year.

No, thats not normal.
Harpreets appointment as the CEO of HSBC Life Singapore comes at a pivotal time when we are investing and growing our insurance and wealth businesses, Hingston said. Singapore is a strategically important market for HSBC and we are expanding propositions, channels and platforms to meet the health, protection and wealth management goals of our individual and corporate customers. I am confident that under Harpreets leadership, HSBC Life Singapore will realise its potential with best-in-class propositions for our customers across their wealth journey. We thank Lee Yen for her contributions, particularly for facilitating a smooth transition as we combined the two businesses, to position HSBC Life Singapore well for future success.
Ultimately, and I believe I can speak for Matt here, what we dont want to see is regionally specific variations of LEG2 or LEG3 produced and adopted in different parts of the world, said McLellan, The better outcome would be for local concerns to be identified and articulated and then funnelled back to the London Engineering Group to consider so that any future iterations are as apt here in Australia, or Europe, or the US, as they are anywhere else in the world.
Beginning in March of next year, four USAA subsidiaries will only issue new homeowners policies if the home has a wildfire risk score of 1 on a 32-point scale, according to the Standard. The higher the number on the scale, the greater the wildfire risk.
Hurricane Idalia arrived in Florida on Thursday as a Category 3 storm, leaving an estimated damage of up to $20 billion. According to a Reuters report, UBS bank has estimated the average insured losses could reach as much as $9.36 billion, which was based on August 28 data. This includes a 50% chance of losses of over $4.05 billion and a 10% chance of losses of $25.6 billion.
Wood frame multifamily assets in Florida will be skewed in the impact from a financial standpoint, Bane told Reuters. They are most likely to suffer significant damage, already have high deductibles, and they are going to see elevated rate increases and just a general pullback in coverage.
The UN stated that the world needs to spend around four to five trillion a year of new money in new technologies, and every one of those businesses needs insurance, whether that is photovoltaic cells for solar panels, turbines for wind power or even technologies to help companies reduce its environmental impact.
Police reports about deaths and other incidents in public hospitals cannot be kept secret, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, citing the importance of government transparency and the public`s right to know what happened.

A majority of the justices rejected an attempt by state officials to prevent the release of a police report about a patient who reportedly choked to death on food in 2016 while being restrained by staff members at Connecticut`s only maximum-security psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane.

State officials argued the report was confidential under the patient- psychiatrist privilege as well as under the federal medical privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.

While the court majority acknowledged the harm that could result from publicly releasing a patients medical information, we must also acknowledge the unfortunate and undeniable reality that governmental secrecy can be used to conceal governmental abuse, corruption, and neglect.

Four justices joined the majority opinion, which ordered the release of the report with some patient information redacted. Chief Justice Richard Robinson, in a partial dissent, agreed the report should be released but believed more information should be made confidential. Two justices said the report should not be disclosed.

The decision ensures that an untimely death which occurs when a patient is under the custody, control or care of a public institution will be investigated thoroughly and that the cause will not be shielded from public view, said Colleen Murphy, executive director and general counsel of the state Freedom of Information Commission.

The state attorney general`s office, which argued against releasing the report, said Tuesday afternoon that it was working on a response to the ruling.

The legal case was sparked by a request under state public records law for the police report by Hartford Courant reporter Josh Kovner in 2017. Kovner, who died in 2020, requested the report from the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the agency`s police force.

The report is about the December 2016 death of a patient at the Whiting Forensic Hospital in Middletown, which is overseen by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, or DMHAS. The hospital treats people acquitted of crimes by reason of insanity as well as other patients.

An agency spokesperson said Tuesday that DMHAS will be making administrative and policy changes as required by the court decision.

In the months after the patient`s death, Whiting Forensic would become ensnared in a scandal involving another patient who was abused numerous times by staff. The abuse led to the arrests of 10 employees, the firings of nearly three dozen workers and reforms at Whiting.

After the patient`s death, DHMAS said in a statement that the person died due to a medical event. The department denied the request for the police report, which the Courant appealed to the Freedom of Information Commission.

The commission determined the report was subject to public disclosure with no redactions and ordered DMHAS to release it. But the department appealed to Superior Court, where a judge ruled the report could be released, but with patient information blocked out. The department appealed again, leading to the state Supreme Court ruling.

In 2019, the Courant obtained records that showed the patient was choking on multiple fig bars and flailing their arms, leading staff to restrain him because they believed he was becoming aggressive. The records said staff did not identify or respond to the patient`s obstructed airway for nearly 2 1/2 minutes until a nurse ordered staff to release him so lifesaving measures could be performed.

Tuesday`s Supreme Court ruling is an important step in the Hartford Courants pursuit of the truth, the paper`s executive editor, Helen Bennett, said in an email to The Associated Press. We will review this decision and then decide on what our next steps will be in the case.

The patient was identified as 25-year-old Andrew Vermiglio, of North Haven, by the Courant and a 2019 investigation report by the nonprofit group Disability Rights Connecticut.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Law Enforcement Connecticut
An eye surgeons English language mandatory arbitration agreement with a patient is valid and enforceable where the patient claimed if it had been in his first language, Spanish, he would not have signed it.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has reversed a Superior Court that ruled in favor of the patient when it found that the surgeons failure to translate the arbitration agreement into Spanish amounted to fraud in the inducement.

But the high court has found the arbitration agreement valid and has remanded the case for the entry of an order compelling arbitration and dismissing the complaint against the doctor.

Prior to his elective eye surgery by Worcester surgeon Steven Stetson, Carlos Lopez signed a form agreeing to submit any disputes regarding the surgery to arbitration. Dissatisfied with the surgery, Lopez filed a medical malpractice complaint in the Superior Court, and Stetson moved to dismiss and to compel arbitration pursuant to the signed arbitration agreement.

In reversing the lower court judge, the states high court reviewed the totality of the circumstances and found the arbitration agreement was valid, there was no obligation to translate, the patient had ample opportunity to review the contract and ask questions, and there was no evidence of fraud, misrepresentation or coercion by the surgeon. The evidence also showed that the surgeon made a Spanish translator available but the patient did not avail himself of the interpreter.

Lopez had lived in Massachusetts for 12 years at the time of his surgery and had learned a little bit of English on the streets, which the Superior Court found was not sufficient to understand the document.

But the high court ruled that Lopezs lack of facility with the English language did not require a different result. The court also stressed that it discerned no evidence of fraud by Stetson or anyone in his office to induce Lopez to sign.

The general rule is that, in the absence of fraud, one who signs a written agreement is bound by its terms whether he reads and understands it or not. This rule applies to a person who cannot read, the Supreme Judicial Court noted.

The high court said there was neither unfair surprise nor oppressive terms. It found that the arbitration agreement was brief and to the point and entirely consistent with state and federal policies that heavily favor submitting disputes to binding arbitration.

The court noted that under ordinary contract principles, a partys failure to read or understand a contract provision does not free him from its obligations. Therefore, the court concluded, Lopez is bound by the arbitration agreement.
Hong Kong was starting to feel the impact of Super Typhoon Saola as winds reached hurricane force and rain lashed the city.

The government said it will raise the No. 9 storm signal  the second highest  at 6:20 p.m. That will be the first time in three years such a warning has been issued. The city earlier closed the stock market along with schools and grounded most public transportation ahead of the storms arrival later Friday.

The storm, which was 90 km (56 miles) away from the financial hub at 6 p.m., currently has sustained winds of 210 km/hour near the center, according to the local observatory. That makes it as strong as a category 4 major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

Gale force winds were affecting the territory, with occasional storm force winds offshore and hurricane force winds on some high ground, the observatory said in its latest update. There were also heavy squally showers, it said.

The storm, which is on track to be the strongest to affect the city since at least Mangkhut in 2018, is a major test for Chief Executive John Lees government. Mangkhut provoked public criticism after roads remained blocked for days by some of the tens of thousands of trees toppled by the typhoon and people struggled to get to work.

Saola is forecast to be within 50 km south of Hong Kong late Friday and early Saturday, the observatory said, warning that a storm surge will cause water levels to rise rapidly in low-lying coastal areas. The maximum water level may be similar to when Mangkhut hit Hong Kong, it said. Mangkhut was 100 km away from the city at its closest point.

Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki, who is leading a government task force to deal with the storm, warned residents to stay indoors.

This can be a very destructive typhoon, the chief secretary said Thursday, flanked by heads of various government departments. We hope to minimize the damage.

In the past 40 years, only five storms have prompted the raising of the highest signal in Hong Kong, according to observatory data. The No. 10 signal means hurricane force winds reaching a sustained speed of at least 118 km an hour.

Residents took advantage of the calm conditions on Friday morning to do some outdoor exercise, walk their dogs and stock up on food before the storm arrived. At one Wellcome supermarket in Wanchai on Hong Kong island, vegetables, fresh meat and hot food were running out by mid-morning, while instant noodles and pasta were in short supply.

About 460 flights in total have been canceled on Friday, according to the local airport authority. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., the citys flag carrier, said it halted all Hong Kong flights from 2 p.m. Friday until 10 a.m. Saturday.

In Hong Kong, all inner harbor and outlying islands ferry services were suspended, along with all bus services.

Nearby Shenzhen airport halted all flights from noon, the airport operator said. Businesses closed from 4 p.m., while transport would stop three hours later, the government said. Trains traveling to and from Guangdong province would be halted from 8 p.m. Friday to Saturday evening.

The Hong Kong exchange halted stock trading because of rules requiring it when signal no. 8 or above is in place. Trading halts due to severe weather are seen as increasingly antiquated given that the global finance industry adjusted to remote working during the pandemic.

With most orders now received and executed electronically, the case is growing for Hong Kong to ensure continuous trading in bad weather. Financial Secretary Paul Chan said earlier this year that the city will explore arrangements to allow stock trading under severe weather.

Chinas national weather authorities reiterated their highest alert for the typhoon on Friday morning. They warned of severe weather in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, and urged local officials to be ready for flash flooding. China dealt with several bouts of extreme weather this summer, with dozens of deaths in northern areas including Beijing that were caused by flooding from Typhoon Doksuri.

Another storm is expected to affect Taiwan and eastern China in coming days. Severe tropical storm Haikui, with maximum sustained winds of 110 km per hour, is forecast to be close to northern Taiwan on Saturday evening or Sunday morning before making landfall in mainland China near Fuzhou.

Currency and fixed income markets in the Philippines were closed on Friday after government offices including the central bank were shut due to monsoon rains enhanced by Saola and other storms.

With assistance from Jing Li, Philip Glamann, Filipe Pacheco, Danny Lee, Luz Ding, Dominic Lau, Olivia Tam and Alfred Liu.

Photograph: Pedestrians brace from the wind and rain on the waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui district during a No. 8 storm signal raised for Super Typhoon Saola in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023. Hong Kong hunkered down on Friday as officials and residents prepared for the impact of Super Typhoon Saola, which is forecast to hit the city toward the end of the day. Photo credit: Justin Chin/Bloomberg

Copyright 2023 Bloomberg.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters
Eden Foods, Inc, a natural foods company based in Clinton, Michigan, will pay more than $182,500 to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to obtain relief for former employees.

According to the EEOC lawsuit, Edens male owner and president touched multiple female employees inappropriately on their backs, shoulders and legs, sometimes sitting with his leg pressed up against a female employee for hours at a time. He kissed multiple female employees without their consent and touched at least one on the buttocks.

The owner also regularly made lewd comments, injected sex into marketing materials, and referred to females in crude sexual terms. Multiple employees complained to the company HR representative, who confronted the owner. In response, he laughed and said, all these girls want me.

Such conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating based on sex. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Eden Foods, Inc., Case No: 2:22-cv-10881) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The EEOCs complaint asserted sexual harassment claims with respect to a marketing department manager and three additional female employees. The manager then filed an intervening complaint, which included claims for retaliation and wrongful discharge.

The 3-half year consent decree resolving the lawsuit requires Eden Foods to pay $182,500 in compensatory damages to be distributed among the three additional female employees. Eden Foods will also pay substantial additional monetary compensation to the marketing department manager.

Eden Foods must provide annual training to management (including the owner), submit annual reports to the EEOC, and maintain a hotline for employees to report complaints.

Source: EEOC

Topics Lawsuits Michigan
Charles Symington is the new president and chief executive of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big I), effective Sept. 1.

Last September, Symington was promoted to executive vice president and selected to succeed Bob Rusbuldt, who has retired as president and CEO. Symington joined the organization nearly 20 years and was previously senior vice president for external, industry and government affairs.

He has been regularly recognized by The Hill newspaper as a top lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and has been a key leader in many industry coalitions on Capitol Hill, advocating on issues important to Big I members. Big I said it has had numerous legislative wins under Symingtons leadership, including securing substantial small business tax relief, defending a modernized state regulatory system for insurance, preserving the Federal Crop Insurance Program and National Flood Insurance Program, and extending the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA).

Independent insurance agents are a critical piece of our nations economy with their tireless work serving their communities and protecting the livelihoods and property of their neighbors, Symington says. It is an honor to continue my work at the Big I on behalf of our members in my new role. As we provide resources, support and advocacy for independent agents through the challenges and opportunities ahead, I look forward to working together with the many dedicated leaders in our industry to improve and protect the independent agency channel and the many customers it serves.

Before joining the Big I, Symington served as a senior counsel with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services from 2000 to 2003, where he focused on insurance issues. He also worked as a majority counsel for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, concentrating on healthcare policy and oversight.

Symington worked in the private sector before his time on Capitol Hill, first as an associate attorney with Drew, Eckl & Farnham in Atlanta, Ga., specializing in insurance defense litigation, and then as an attorney with the firm Matricardi & Moylan in Springfield, Va.

Topics Agencies
A 34-year-old man who was being held at a problem-plagued jail in Atlanta died after he was taken to a hospital. He was the fourth person to die in Fulton County custody in the span of a month.

A jail officer doing dinner rounds found Samuel Lawrence unresponsive in his cell at about 4:20 p.m. on Saturday, the Fulton County Sheriff`s Office said Wednesday in a news release. Lawrence was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was declared dead.

The Fulton County Jail has been in the national spotlight recently. It`s where former President Donald Trump and the 18 people indicted along with him surrendered for booking last week on charges related to an alleged illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into jail conditions in the county, citing violence, filthy conditions and the death last year of a man whose body was found covered in insects.

Lawrence had been arrested by Atlanta police and was booked into the main county jail on Dec. 26. He was charged with second-degree arson and had a bond set at $30,000.

The sheriff`s office said Atlanta police will investigate Lawrence`s death, and the Fulton County medical examiner`s office will do an autopsy to determine the manner and cause of death.

The other three people who died in the last month include 66-year-old Alexander Hawkins, 34-year-old Christopher Smith and 40-year-old Montay Stinson.

Photo: (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Numbers
ABBEVILLE, Ga. (AP)  A central Georgia sheriff responding to a call for service was killed when his car went off the road, hit a tree and overturned, authorities said.

Wilcox County Sheriff Robert Rodgers died Tuesday afternoon after the crash on Highway 233, north of Rochelle and about 75 miles south of Macon, Coroner Janice Brown told WGXA-TV.

Rodgers, 52, has been sheriff in Wilcox County since 2016.

He gave his life while protecting the citizens of Wilcox County, which is what he loved best, Maj. Mitchell Thompson said on Facebook.

Lenny Brown, a friend of Rodgers, told WMAZ-TV that he had spoken with him just last week.

Just a terrible tragedy, he said of Rodgers` death. This whole county`s going to mourn a long time over this.

He described Rodgers as the best sheriff you could ask for. He helped everybody. He helped people that weren`t even from here, Brown said.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Instead of flowers, Rodgers` family asks that donations be made to the Georgia Sheriffs Youth Homes Foundation in McDonough, Thompson said.

Meanwhile, Thompson said agencies are helping the sheriff`s office with answering daily calls as they mourn the loss of their beloved leader and friend.

Law enforcement agencies posted condolences on Facebook as did the Wilcox County School system.

Please remember the family of Sheriff Robert Rodgers and the Wilcox County Georgia Sheriffs Office in your prayers, the school system posted. Robert was a diligent servant to our county and a huge supporter of the school system. He will be greatly missed!

Rodgers is the second member of the Wilcox County Sheriffs Office to be killed in the line of duty, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page that tracks law enforcement deaths. A deputy sheriff was shot to death in 1965.

He is the third Georgia law enforcement member to die in the line of duty this year, according to the Officer Down site.

The Georgia State Patrol is investigating the crash. Details on the cause have not yet been released.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Auto Georgia
Last year it was Hurricane Ian that drew a bead on Tampa Bay before abruptly shifting east to strike southwest Florida more than 130 miles away. This time it was Hurricane Idalia, which caused some serious flooding as it sideswiped the area but packed much more punch to the north.

In fact, the Tampa Bay area hasn`t been hit directly by a major hurricane for more than a century. The last time it happened, there were just a few hundred thousand people living in the region, compared with more than 3 million today.

Tampa Bay avoided the worst again, Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miamis Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, said via email. A lot of it comes down to luck. Its happened before (1848, 1921 ) and will happen again.

Many in the area live in low-lying neighborhoods that are highly vulnerable to storm surge and flooding they have rarely before experienced, which some experts say could be worsened by the effects of climate change. In such an event, water would bulldoze its way into the relatively shallow bay from the Gulf of Mexico, also not very deep.

Since the city is nothing like what it was a hundred years ago, the impacts now would be unimaginable. Tampa Bay is shaped and aligned perfectly to allow for huge storm surge, McNoldy said.

That vulnerability was apparent as Idalia swept past, with storm surge swamping neighborhoods and busy roads, triggering shutdowns of some bridges between Tampa and the St. Petersburg area. Access to barrier islands was temporarily shut off, and several dozen people had to be rescued from flooded homes.

Make no mistake, this hurricane left its mark, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said at a news conference. The reality is we are not done dealing with the consequences of this major storm.

Still, it could have been much worse. The storm surge in Tampa Bay was far lower than the levels experienced when Idalia came ashore Wednesday morning as a Category 3 storm near the rural town of Steinhatchee in the Big Bend region.

We have thankfully not suffered a great deal of damage in our community, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said at a Wednesday news conference.

The last time Tampa Bay was hit by a major storm was Oct. 25, 1921, by a hurricane that had no official name but is known as the Tarpon Springs storm for the seaside town famed for its sponge-diving docks and Greek heritage.

The storm surge from that hurricane, a Category 3 with estimated winds of up to 129 mph (207 kph), was 11 feet (3.3 meters). At least eight people died, and damage was estimated at $5 million at the time.

Now the tourist-friendly region known for its sugar-sand beaches has grown by leaps and bounds, with homes and businesses occupying prime waterfront real estate.

The city of Tampa had about 51,000 residents in 1920. Today, there are almost 385,000. Most other cities have experienced similar explosive growth.

Nancy Brindley, 88, has been through around three dozen tropical storms and has lived in Indian Rocks Beach, outside of St. Petersburg, since 1970 in a beachside house that has been a gathering spot for three generations of family and friends. That`s where she rode out Hurricane Idalia with relatives.

Brindley absolutely thinks the Tampa Bay area seems to have some special protection, saying, Its just a perfect place in so many ways.

I think that in this region, that meant that you had all the fish you needed in the bay and you had the Gulfstream (current) that wasnt too close to you. Fisherman called it the golden triangle. The sweet spot, Brindley said.

Yet for years storms have bypassed it. Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, noted that only one of five hurricanes that hit Florida at Category 3 strength or higher has come ashore in Tampa Bay since 1851.

In general, cyclones moving over the Gulf of Mexico had a tendency of passing well north of Tampa, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration said in a report on the 1921 storm.

Also lurking in the waves and wind are the impacts of climate change and the higher sea levels scientists say it is causing.

Due to global warming, global climate models predict hurricanes will likely cause more intense rainfall and have an increased coastal flood risk due to higher storm surge caused by rising seas, Angela Colbert, a scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wrote in a June 2022 report.

Amid all the science, a local legend has it that blessings from Native Americans who called the region home have largely protected it from major storms for centuries. Many mounds were built by the Tocobagan tribe in what is now Pinellas County that some believe are meant as guardians against invaders, including hurricanes.

Rui Farias, executive director of the St. Petersburg Museum of History, told the Tampa Bay Times after Hurricane Irmas near miss in 2017 that many people still believe it.

Its almost like when a myth becomes history, Farias said. As time goes on, it comes true.

Top photo: The Hillsborough River rises near the University of Tampa as Hurricane Idalia approached Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (Ivy Ceballo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Florida Flood
California officials are expected to vote on a proposal to increase storage capacity at the site of the nations largest known methane leak that sickened thousands of families and forced them from their Los Angeles homes in 2015.

The proposal for the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility has sparked protests from residents, environmentalists and politicians, but utilities and state regulators say its necessary to guard against fuel price spikes this winter.

This is an unnecessary danger to people, said Issam Najm, an environmental engineer and resident of Los Angeles Porter Ranch suburb, where thousands of residents were sickened by the leak.

Each day the facility remains open, it is emitting cancer-causing chemicals including benzene, said Najm, citing reports by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the regulatory agency monitoring air pollution in the area.

He and other opponents, including Democratic lawmakers, say the state should be expediting its long-term plan endorsed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to shut down the facility, not increase its capacity. The facility is slated for closure by 2027.

The 2015 gas leak, which took four months to control, released more than 120,000 metric tons of methane and other gases into the atmosphere over the communities in the San Fernando Valley.

Thousands of residents were forced to move out of their homes to escape a sulfurous stench and maladies including headaches, nausea and nose bleeds. SoCalGas and its parent company, Sempra Energy, agreed to pay up to $1.8 billion in settlements to more than 35,000 victims of the leak in 2021.

Given the history of disaster and risks from continued operations at Aliso Canyon, I continue to support closing the facility on an expedited timeline, U. S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote in a letter to the commissions president earlier this month. This proposed decision to increase capacity, however, appears to go in the opposition direction.

The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates and oversees gas, electric and other utilities, will vote on the expansion proposal Thursday. Commission staff say the expansion is necessary to avoid gas shortages over the winter and curtail rising prices, and that it wont affect the facilitys progress toward closure.

An administrative law judge for the commission proposed allowing SoCalGas to increase its storage to 68.6 billion cubic feet of gas underground at the vast Aliso Canyon field on the northern edge of Los Angeles County. The facility has a maximum capacity of 86 billion cubic feet.

The field, which stores gas in old wells, was at 50% capacity for years following the leak. But the commission started increasing its storage in 2020, saying it needed to ensure supplies of natural gas for the upcoming winter months in a safe and reliable manner. The volume is currently at 41.16 billion cubic feet.

Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas & Electric Co., in arguing for boosting storage, said it was better to buy gas in the summer when it is generally cheaper and store it for winter use.

The commissions Administrative Law Judge Zhen Zhang noted that California and the West saw sharp spikes in the price of wholesale natural gas last winter that affected customers energy bills.

On balance, as a matter of policy, it is prudent to take the conservative approach by protecting natural gas and electricity customers from reliability and economic impacts during the upcoming 2023-2024 winter, the judge wrote.

In a letter signed by dozens of environmental organizations opposing the increase, activists said no shortages were reported in the two years after the blowout when Aliso Canyon was offline.

Democratic state lawmakers who represent the region said in a joint statement that the risks are too great.

SoCalGas says more use of this dangerous gas field will keep prices down, but there are still too many unanswered questions to proceed, said a statement from U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, state Sen. Henry Stern and state Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo.

Earlier this month, the company reached another settlement with the California Public Utility Commission, agreeing to pay more than $70 million to the Aliso Canyon Recovery Account to address the impacts from the leak on air quality and public health.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California Trends Training Development
Two months after a railroad bridge collapse sent carloads of hazardous oil products plunging into Montanas Yellowstone River, the cleanup workers are gone and a mess remains.

Thick mats of tarry petroleum asphalt cover portions of sandbars. Oil-speckled rocks and bushes line the shore along with chunks of yellow sulfur, a component of crude. In the middle of the river downstream of the bridge, a tangle of black steel juts out of the water from a large piece of ruptured tank car.

The railroad, Montana Rail Link, in conjunction with federal and state officials last week halted most cleanup work and stopped actively looking for contaminated sites. They said falling river levels that have been exposing more pollution also make it harder to safely operate the large power boats used by cleanup crews.

Almost half of the 48,000 gallons of molten petroleum asphalt that spilled has not been recovered, officials said. That includes 450 sites with asphalt in quantities considered too small or too difficult for efficient removal, according to data provided to The Associated Press.

The spill extends more than 125 miles along a stretch of river popular among anglers and recreationists and relied upon by farmers to irrigate crops. Yellowstone National Park is upstream and not impacted.

The scope of remaining pollution was evident this week when viewed by boat downstream of the collapsed bridge, which has since been repaired. Asphalt could be seen on every river island visited, ranging from globs stuck on riverside vegetation and rocks, to thick mats of tar oozing across sandbars as summer temperatures heat it into a viscous liquid.

What we`ve seen out there tells us that there should be a second phase of cleanup. They need to come back and they need to do a better job, said Wendy Weaver, executive director of Montana Freshwater Partners.

The nonprofit group focused on water protection has received reports of tar balls and other asphalt at more than 40 sites where cleanup workers previously passed through.

Elevated levels of a toxic component of oil known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, have been detected in mountain whitefish downstream of the spill site, prompting an advisory against eating any caught along a 41-mile stretch of the Yellowstone. The contamination has not been conclusively linked to the derailment but the spilled asphalt contained PAHs, according to documents submitted to federal officials.

Test results on other fish species are pending, said Chrissy Webb with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks. At least eight snakes and 11 birds have been killed after encountering the sticky asphalt.

Downstream intakes for drinking water and irrigation were temporarily shut down after the spill and later reopened with no impacts reported.

Asphalt is not as volatile as other oil products such as gasoline. It emits chemicals that are toxic to humans and the environment at a slower rate, but breaks down slowly and can have a more lasting impact, said University of Houston chemistry Professor Ramanan Krishnamoorti.

Asphalt in the water could be especially problematic, he said, because it wont readily set or harden as it does when used in road construction or roofing.

It can be toxic, especially once you let it sit in the environment without it getting really set, Krishnamoorti said. It could also get ingested by fish in the water and that could be a massive challenge, because it`s essentially not digestible by most living things so it can sit in the body.

Federal and state officials cautioned in the days after the derailment that much of the spill would not be recovered and a too-aggressive cleanup risked further harm to the environment. Cleanup crews collected asphalt at 377 sites, along with more than 20 tons of rocks, sand and vegetation that stuck to the asphalt as it began to harden, according to data provided by federal officials.

Montana Rail Link spokesperson Andy Garland said the company was committed to addressing the derailments impacts, and decided in coordination with state and federal officials that a different approach was needed as the river dropped and decreasing amounts of asphalt were being recovered. A local task force will continue responding to reports of spilled material, he said.

To merit removal, the asphalt must cover an area greater than 20 inches wide when found in pebbles or rocks, or greater than 6 inches in sand.

As recently as Aug. 3, officials anticipated the cleanup work continuing via boat and land into fall, according to a planning document approved by the government and railroad. Less than two weeks later officials said they met conditions to start winding down the cleanup. That threshold was three or fewer sites with contamination deemed extensive enough for removal, over any 10-mile stretch of the river.

Crews working downstream reached that point east of Custer, Montana, about 136 miles from the bridge collapse.

Six tank cars filled with asphalt went in the river during the June 24 derailment along with three cars filled with another petroleum product, molten sulfur. Railroad representatives and government officials have not disclosed how much sulfur was released or cleaned up. It can produce hazardous vapors at high temperatures, but is not considered a threat once it cools and hardens, Krishnamoorti said

The derailment marked the third large petroleum spill into the Yellowstone in recent years, following ruptures of crude oil pipelines that crossed beneath the river in 2011 near Laurel, Montana, and in 2015 near Glendive. A small fraction of oil from those spills was recovered.

The cause of the June bridge collapse remains under investigation. It happened following torrential rainfall and at a time when the river was swollen with melting mountain snow.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianfortes press secretary, Kaitlin Price, declined to say whether the Republican was satisfied with the cleanup. She said his priority was protecting public health and the river.

A follow-up search for asphalt is planned next year and officials said shifting sandbars could reveal more that can be removed. Weaver worries next year`s spring surge of snowmelt could wash the remaining asphalt further downstream or bury it.

I feel like they`re trying to sweep this under the rug, she said.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Energy Oil Gas Montana
Source: Streetwise Reports

September 1, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Sage Potash has received a permit for water rights that will allow them to advance toward drilling. Read on to see how this company is filling in for the rising demand for potash.

Sage Potash Corp. (SAGE:TSX; SGPTF:OTC) has achieved an essential milestone on the way to meeting its operational goals. The company has received the green light from Utah's Department of Natural Resources Division of Water Rights, giving Sage Potash permission to use 0.207 cubic feet per second (CFS) (150 acre-feet of brackish water annually). This approval is effective until July 31, 2043. This water will come from the proposed access well intended for the Sage Plain potash project. 88,000 acres of mineral leases and permit applications make up the Sage Potash project. The project contains two potash beds, with an inferred resource of 279.5 million tons of high-grade potash.

Sage Potash is a Canada-based company focused on developing a U.S.-based domestic potash supply through sustainable solution mining techniques. Its flagship project is the Sage Plain Potash Property in the Paradox Basin, which is known to host extensive, underdeveloped, world-class potash resources.

Water rights are critical to the potash industry, especially in water-challenged areas, such as the western United States. Water rights give the company the right to extract water for potash production, an essential resource during the extraction process. Sage Potash claims that its operations will not impact traditional sources of irrigation, agricultural, or potable water. The company will use brackish water, which is unsuitable for conventional use.

Sage Potash states it is ahead of the average development schedule for potash projects. According to a representative of the company, "It can take 15 years to get to where we are, and it literally has taken us close to 10 or 12 years to get to where we are because nothing happens without the initial discovery hole."

Peter Hogendoorn, the CEO of Sage Potash, commented on this milestone, saying, "In any resource project, one of the biggest risks to advancement beyond exploration is permitting. Receiving water/brine access rights is a key step in derisking the Sage Plain project since there can be no production without water. We are advancing numerous permit applications and are extremely pleased with the support we are receiving from the various Utah state agencies involved."

Demand Rises as Supply Lines Disrupted

Like many other industries, potash has been dramatically affected by the conflict in Ukraine. Russia and Belarus account for over one-third of the world's potash supply, and sanctions related to the conflict have disrupted the supply chain.

Given that potash is one of a triad of minerals (phosphate, nitrogen, and potash, also known as NPK) essential for agricultural production, this has driven up demand. Prices for potash have increased since the start of the conflict, peaking in April of 2022 at US$1200.

According to Josh Linville, a director at the fertilizer company StoneX, "European production has come back online. Largely, they're still sort of offline, but most of it is back. A lot of these fears that drove prices up were found to be unfounded, and now we're starting to correct lower."

The market for potash is expected to expand significantly, driven primarily by agriculture, by 4.48% by 2028. Regardless of unstable supply, data suggest that demand will increase.

Ready to Move Forward With Several Catalysts

Technical Analyst Clive Maund has rated Sage Potash as a "Buy" for investors and commented that "the fundamentals of the company are favorable and on the 5 [of July] news came out that it had started trading on the OTTCQBA Venture Market and in addition, the company announced that its common shares are now eligible to be electronically cleared and settled in the United States through the Depository Trust Company (DTC)."

According to Sage Potash, it has several catalysts on the horizon, including a 3-well drilling program designed for the dual purpose of additional data to advance to a Measured and Indicated Resource while also providing the initial underground infrastructure to begin pilot production expected in mid-2024.

The company is currently awaiting multiple permit approvals for two exploration wells, which will also serve as a test cavern development well, a waste disposal well, and a water access well.

Engineering is progressing toward pilot production together with the data from the cavern well to complete the production permit for a Large Mine Operation. This application, along with the necessary studies, has been in process since March 2023.

Ownership and Share Structure

Management and insiders own 60.4%. Including options, Peter Hogendoorn controls 6.48% with 2.00 million shares and 2,300,000 options. Combined, management and insiders control 40,903,343 of 66,382,406 fully diluted.

According to Sage Potash, approximately 17 million shares are held by strategic investors, of which 11.9 million are held by two brokers at Haywood Securities.

The company has CA$1 million in the bank and is trying to raise CA$4 million to CA$6 million. Sage Potash recently closed a small CA$1.5M financing and is expected to raise additional capital once drill permits are approved.

There are 54.14 million shares outstanding and 50.51 million free-float traded shares. The company has a market cap of CA$11.03 million. It trades in the 52-week period between CA$0.27 and CA$0.80.

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Source: Streetwise Reports

September 1, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) TAG Oil has begun an ambitious drilling campaign in the Egyptian desert. Read on to see what analysts have to say about TAG's stock.

TAG Oil Ltd. (TAO: TSX.V; TAOIF:OTCQX) has commenced drilling its first horizontal well, BED4-T100 (T100), in the Badr oil Field (BED-1) in the Western Desert of Egypt, and has set surface casing at ~1,250 meters.

Located on the Abu-Roash F (ARF), it is intended to target an unconventional tight, carbonate reservoir at a projected total vertical depth of 3,300m. TAG decided to spud the T100 well after conducting geological and geophysical studies with the assistance of the company's development team. TAG believes that the T100 well will be ready by Q4 2023. The company will continue to put out updates on drilling and project completion.

The T100 drilling program is an important step forward for TAG. The design is made up of a vertical pilot assessment well for potential coring, open hole logging, formation imaging, pressure measurement, and fluid sampling.

Additional features of the well's design include a cement plug-back of the lower vertical pilot hole and whip-stock drilling.

Using what it learned during the drilling of the T100 well as well as other geological work and 3D seismic interpretations, TAG designed the well completion and fracture stimulation program.

The results from the T100 well will be used to design future drilling plans, which the company expects to begin by Q1 2024.

TAG also put out the company's results for the period ending on June 30, 2023, on August 29, 2023. TAG has posted this information on its website. According to TAG, the company had acquired CA$15.5 million in cash and CA$17.9 million in working capital by March 31. The company reports that it is not in debt. It recently finished a public offering worth CA$11.7 million.

The company has provided a summary of its drilling progress. According to TAG, the company has also determined 1,250m of surface casing and has begun drilling. TAG will continue to provide updates about drilling on the Abu Roash F.

Oil Prices Rising

Oil prices are expected to rise with no end in sight. In early August, the Biden administration rescinded a deal to buy 6 million barrels of oil as prices are expected to rise after an output cut from Saudi Arabia.

A spokesperson from the Energy Department reported that the decision was made based on the current market, where cuts in production had caused oil prices to rise to over US$80 per barrel.

On August 18, 2023, Reuters reported that Europe's natural gas storage is almost full but that this still may not be enough to see the region through the winter. Consumer countries have been trying to find solutions, but the oil supply continues to constrict.

Analysts Bullish on TAG

Chen Lin, author of What is Chen Buying? What is Chen Selling? is bullish on TAG Oil. He commented that "[TAG's success] would change politics forever. Egypt would become a major oil producer."

Bill Newman of Research Capital Corp. is also bullish on the company and predicted a possible 93% return for investors in a June research note. He put down a target price of CA$1.35 on TAG, which currently trades at about CA$0.70 per share.

Ownership and Share Structure

Management and insiders own 27.14% of the company. Askar Alshinbayev owns 18.78% of the company with 29.99 million shares, Abdel Fattah Z Badwi owns 3.36% with 5.38 million shares, Shawn Reynolds owns 1.49% with 2.38 million shares, Suneel Gupta owns 0.99% with 1.59 million shares, Tony Robert Pierce owns 0.95% with 1.51 million shares, Barry MacNeil owns 0.85% with 1.36 million shares, and Gavin Hugh Lothian Wilson owns 0.72% with 1.15 million shares.

Institutions own 10.93% of the company. YF Finance, Ltd., owns 8.14% with 13.01 million shares, Purpose Investments Inc. owns 2.15% with 3.44 million shares, and Novum Asset Management AG owns 0.64% with 1.02 million shares.

There are 159.74 million shares outstanding, and 102.77 million free-float traded shares. The company has a market cap of CA$67.23 million. It trades in the 52-week period between CA$0.39 and CA$0.58.

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September 1, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) If you listen to mainstream media, climate change (a misnomer, the correct term is global warming, because the warming is not a change, it's been going on for 21,000 years) has only one antecedent: human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases (methane, water vapor, nitrous oxide) that have been spewing into the skies since the Industrial Revolution. These greenhouse gases have caused heat to become trapped within the atmosphere.

While human-caused pollution is certainly degrading our soil, water and air, this theory does not take into account the natural cycles of cooling and warming that have driven climate change for billions of years.

Milankovitch's Theory states that as Earth travels around the Sun, cyclical variations of three elements combine to produce variations in the amount of solar energy that reaches us. These three elements are:

Variations in the Earth's orbital eccentricity - the shape of the orbit around the Sun, a 100,000-year cycle.

Changes in obliquity or tilt of the earth's axis - changes in the angle that Earth's axis makes with the plane of Earth's orbit, a 41,000-year cycle.

Precession - the change in the direction of the Earth's axis of rotation, a 19,000 to 23,000-year cycle.

These orbital processes are thought to be the most significant drivers of ice ages and, when combined, are known as Milankovitch Cycles.

The last ice age occurred at the end of the Eemian (see below) to the conclusion of the Younger Dryas, a period running from about 115,000 to 11,700 years ago. The Last Glacial Period is part of a larger sequence of glacial and interglacial periods known as the Quarternary glaciation, which started around 2,588,000 years ago and is ongoing. (Wikipedia)

21,000 years ago the average global temperature was about 6 degrees C colder than today, with permanent summer ice covering about 25% of the land area. Sea levels were about 125 meters lower than present.

Warming cycles

According to Climate.gov, the planet has experienced cold periods, (known as glacials), and warm periods (interglacials) on roughly 100,000-year cycles for the last 450,000 years.



Over the course of these cycles, global temperatures have cooled or warmed within a range of 3 to 8 degrees Celsius.

The last glacial ended around 20,000 years ago, and after a few thousand years, a long-term warming trend began, that continues to this day. It is known as the Halocene Interglacial.

Interglacials and glacials coincide with cyclical changes in the Earth's orbit.

Climate.gov maintains that interglacial periods such as the Halocene, are caused by variations in how much sunlight reaches the northern hemisphere in summer (i.e., Milankovitch Cycles). When Earth's orbit made northern summers warmer than average, the ice sheets melted. When the orbit cooled northern summers, the ice sheets grew again.

However, these fluctuations are too small to bring about full-blown ice ages and interglacials. For that to happen, a series of feedback loops amplify the original cooling or warming.

During an interglacial:

Sea ice and snow retreat, reducing the amount of sunlight the Earth reflects;

Warming increases atmospheric water vapor, which is a powerful greenhouse gas;

Permafrost thaws and decomposes, releasing more methane and carbon dioxide; and

The ocean warms and releases dissolved carbon dioxide, which traps even more heat.

At AOTH, we know about feedback loops and have written about them extensively.

The Halocene

About 20,000 years ago, the ice sheets covering much of North America, Europe and Asia stopped advancing.

For unknown reasons, the Southern Ocean began releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, at concentrations of more than 100 parts per million over a millennium, roughly equivalent to the amount of CO2 rise in the past 200 years (existing CO2 levels are about 400 ppm).

In other words, the natural release of carbon dioxide warmed the planet to within the precise temperature range that permitted life on Earth, and enabled humanity to thrive.

But the planet didn't heat up evenly.

According to a 2016 study by a team of American geophysicists, following the last ice age, the Antarctic warmed two to three times faster - about 11 degrees C between 20,000 and 10,000 years ago, compared to a 4-degree temperature rise worldwide.

The southern-most continent also warmed faster than the Arctic. Within 15,000 years, the study based on analysis of ice core samples found that Antarctica had warmed about 75% of its current temperature, whereas the Arctic took another 4,000 years to warm this much.

The models, states Berkeley News, currently predict that because of climate change, Antarctica will warm twice as much as the rest of the planet, though it won't reach its peak for a couple of hundred years.

The last ice age also provides intelligence regarding the likely rate of warming at the tropics.

Start with the fact that glaciers covered the higher latitudes, and temperatures plummeted. The tropics and mid-latitudes also saw temperature drops, but according to a 2021 study published in Nature', based on groundwater samples taken from all continents except Antarctica, the drop in temperatures at lower latitudes was much greater than previously estimated.

"This means that the Earth's climate system is much more sensitive to changes in carbon dioxide concentrations than we thought," said study co-author Martin Stute, a hydrologist at Barnard College and Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "So for the future, we can expect more climate change than we thought."

Specifically, the study showed that low- to mid-latitude, low-elevation land surfaces cooled on average by about 5.8 degrees C during the last glacial maximum, compared to previous estimates of 1 to 4 C.

"This could be bad news for the future, because what goes down also goes up," states a press release from Columbia Climate School.

The Halocene has witnessed all of humanity's recorded history and the rise and fall of every one of its civilizations. Since it began 11,700 years ago, there have been small climate shifts, such as the "Little Ice Age" between 1200 and 1700 A.D., but in general, the Halocene has been a relatively warm period between ice ages.

Only in the last 300 years or so, since the Industrial Revolution, has the Earth warmed significantly, by an estimated 1.3 degrees C.

The past five interglacials



Source: Utah Geological Survey

Consulting the above graph, the past four interglacials are clearly evident, with the first one starting around 400,000 years ago. Each interglacial lasts between 10,000 and 30,000 years, then the next glacial period starts. Glacials are much longer than interglacials, lasting 70-90,000 years.

Moving back in time, we have the Eemian (130-115 thousand years ago (tya); the Arousa Interglacial (242-230 tya); the Purfleet Interglacial (337-300 tya); and the Holstein/ Mindel-Riss (424-374 tya).

What were the conditions on Earth like in each of these past warming periods? To find out, scientists take sediment cores from the bottom of the ocean in various places and then measure the ratio of Oxygen 16 to Oxygen 18 in the calcite shells of deep-sea life forms known as foraminifera. The O18/O16 ratio changes over time, mostly as a function of the volume of glacial ice. Marine isotope stages (MIS) are therefore used as proxies for climate change.

Like the Halocene era, the Eemian period also saw global temperatures rise, in its case by 2 degrees Celsius.

A recent article in Time magazine states that with just 0.7 degrees more warming than currently, the effects on the planet were severe:

One study in Research Gate found that Eemian hurricanes were stronger and more northerly than those observed today-even increasing the incidence of winter storms, which lasted well beyond the contemporary hurricane season. Another, in Scientific Reports, found Eemian droughts and brush fires in Australia that lasted multiple centuries at a time. Yet more research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that the Eemian was characterized by "superstorms' more intense than any observed historically."

It took a long time for the Earth to warm this much - according to the article, more than 16,000 years compared to the less than 300 years it has taken for the planet to warm 1.3 degrees, since the fossil-fuel age began.

Other manifestations of warming during the Eemian: sea levels were between 5 and 9.4 meters higher than today, and ocean temperatures were 2-3 degrees warmer. The proportion of CO2 in the atmosphere was about 280 parts per million versus about 400 ppm today.

According to an article by Oxford University, Eemian ice sheets were much smaller, forests extended into the Arctic Circle and there were hippos in Britain. In Africa, the equatorial forest extended farther than currently and the Sahara was constituted by a savannah, states Science Direct.



The scientific evidence regarding the next three interglacial periods is less abundant, however we know the Purfleet Interglacial, also known as Marine Isotope Stage 9, lasted from 337,000 to 300,000 years ago and corresponded to warming periods in Britain, Europe and North America.

According to a Wikipedia page, Purfleet temperatures were above -4 degrees C for the first 16,000 years, and the following 4,000 years saw a 3.5-degree increase above those of our modern climate.

Also of note: Europe was occupied by Homo heidelbergenesis, who had retreated from Britain during the preceding glacial period and returned as the climate warmed and sea levels rose about 330,000 years ago. Evidence of this early human species, including thousands of axes, has been found along the Thames River in the UK and the former Solent rivers in Europe.

A 2006 study investigated the five isotopic interglacials, using deep-sea cores from off the northwest coast of Spain, containing foraminifera (benthic and planktic oxygen isotopes) and marine pollen deposits.

The study found that during the last five interglacials, warm periods in northwestern Spain were characterized by the development of temperate and humid forest, principally deciduous oak.



Source: Climate Variability of the Last Five Isotopic Interglacials: Direct LandSeaIce Correlation from the Multiproxy Analysis of North-Western Iberian Margin Deep-Sea Cores'

The record of planktic foraminifera assemblages for MIS 11, 9 and 7 (corresponding to the Vigo, Pontevedra and Arousa interglacials in the Iberian Peninsula) showed that tropical and summer subtropical species reached their maximum development during warm periods.

Moreover, each isotopic interglacial was characterized by three major warm periods associated with low ice volume.

As for which period was the warmest, some works suggest that MIS 11, the Vigo Interglacial, which occurred before the Pontevedra Interglacial, shows the highest temperature of the last 450,000 years. Other works challenge this notion, saying that in fact the Vigo was not warmer than today.

Ice-core records from Vostok, Antarctica show the highest temperatures were during the Pontevedra, but newer (2004) data revealed higher temperatures in Antarctica occurred during Vigo than the Holocene.

Further complicating the picture, the Arousa Interglacial is marked by the highest percentage of temperate and humid trees.

The study concludes that, "the Vigo interglacial may be the warmest period of the last 450,000 years, but the difference of temperature does not appear large."

Conclusion

Let's review what we know. We've had five interglacial/ warming periods over the past 450,000 years, with each lasting 10-30,000 years.

We are currently in the Halocene interglacial which started about 12,000 years ago. There was about 8,000 years between when the ice sheets retreated ~20,000 years ago, to when the Earth started warming.

But if we go back half a million years, we find that there have been four cycles of warming and cooling, defined by interglacials and glacials. Remember, this is within the Quarternary glaciation, which started around 2,588,000 years ago and is ongoing. (Yes, despite all the talk of global warming, we are still technically in an ice age!)

The last interglacial before the current one, the Eemian, resulted in significantly more climate change than we are currently seeing, and that was with only 0.7 degrees more than the current 1.3-degree rise in temperatures.

Sea levels were up to 10 meters higher than today, and ocean temperatures were 2-3 degrees warmer.

Temperatures during the Purfleet Interglacial were 3.5 degrees higher than our current climate.

A study of deep-sea sea cores from off the northwest coast of Spain showed that for the five isotopic interglacials, warm periods in northwestern Spain were characterized by the development of temperate and humid forest. Each isotopic interglacial was characterized by three warm periods associated with low ice volume.

Now let's revisit the idea that interglacials and glacials coincide with cyclical changes in the Earth's orbit.

Interglacial periods such as the Halocene are caused by variations in how much sunlight reaches the northern hemisphere in summer (i.e., Milankovitch Cycles).

However, these fluctuations are too small to bring about full-blown ice ages and interglacials. For that to happen, a series of feedback loops amplify the original cooling or warming.

During an interglacial:

Sea ice and snow retreat, reducing the amount of sunlight the Earth reflects;

Warming increases atmospheric water vapor, which is a powerful greenhouse gas;

Permafrost thaws and decomposes, releasing more methane and carbon dioxide; and

The ocean warms and releases dissolved carbon dioxide, which traps even more heat.

We have been experiencing all the above feedback loops, during our current warming cycle which has been happening since the Halocene Interglacial began about 12,000 years ago.

They amplify the warming or the cooling that is, and was, already happening naturally. Remember, each warming cycle is followed by a new cold cycle, the next ice age.

The question is, are we just following the natural cycles of warming and cooling, that would have happened anyway?

Remember, interglacials last 10-30,000 years and with ours beginning 12,000 years ago the questions we are interested in are; how long does the current interglacial last, how bad is it doing to get heat rise wise, and what will be the effects? And of course when are we do for due for a shift to the cold locker?

Many believe that anthropogenic global warming is putting the next ice age on hold - one estimate has warming lasting for 10,000 years.

Here's a clue that shows we may be throwing a wrench into the natural ebb and flow: during the Eemian Interglacial, the proportion of CO2 in the atmosphere was about 280 parts per million versus about 400 ppm today.

Is it possible for that much carbon dioxide to get into the atmosphere through natural CO2 release? It seems unlikely.

About 20,000 years ago, the Southern Ocean began releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, at concentrations of 100 parts per million over a millennium, roughly equivalent to the amount of CO2 rise in the past 200 years. It took a thousand years for CO2 to increase to 100 ppm, naturally, but we've done that in one-fifth of the time. Again, it seems quite unlikely for that to be down to natural warming.

In my view, the more likely scenario is that we, through our own carbon emissions, are simply accelerating what was already happening naturally, warming the planet to the point where it stops, and starts cooling again. However, our pollution has become its own feedback loop.

The unsettling conclusion is nobody knows what this new variable will mean to long-term climate patterns. There is little doubt that man's impact on atmospheric CO2 has pushed us beyond the Earth's natural rhythms.

Richard (Rick) Mills

aheadoftheherd.com

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Young people considering their career choices can feel confident that construction and engineering roles offer them a rewarding future, say leaders in Corks construction sector.

There are currently almost 170,000 working in construction, but far more are needed. The governments new Careers in Construction Action Plan estimates that 50,831 new entrants will have to be recruited into the construction sector from 2023-2030.

Promoting the bright future for construction careers will be a core message for the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) Southern Construct Summit on Thursday, September 7, in Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork.

One big challenge for construction is that the number of students taking up courses in the construction sector continues to fall. It seems that parents, who remember well the property crash, perceive the construction sector to be an unstable career and may be therefore influencing their children not to get into the sector.

Many parents and careers guidance counsellors are pushing their children in different directions, so were doing everything we can to promote the great career opportunities on offer in construction, said Kieran ODonovan, chair of CIF Southern Region and managing surveyor at Murnane OShea, the Cork-based construction firm.

Working in construction offers huge choices. You can branch into facilities management, project management and there are huge opportunities for entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses across the sector.

Your skills and experience are recognised and in demand globally. In many other careers, you dont have anything like the same opportunities to redirect into new pathways.

As well as promoting the skills pipeline, the CIFs Southern Construct Summit will also focus on the themes of housing, the Port of Cork Masterplan, and Corks ability to attract investment.

The speakers at the event will include: Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, Eoin McGettigan, CEO Port of Cork, Dearbhla Lawson, chief planner and head of strategic planning, Land Development Agency, Nigel ONeill, director of capital programme management, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, and Jim Power, economist.

There will also be a strong construction sector representation, with Maurice Killeen, director, PJ Hegarty, Conor OConnell, director of housing and planning, CIF, and Patrick Doyle, South West Regional manager, IDA.

John Fitzgibbon, Cork ETB Director of Further Education & Training, will discuss the measures and initiatives ongoing to encourage uptake of trades and roles in construction. CIF continues to work closely with Cork ETB to build a pipeline of talent for the sector.

Kieran ODonovan said: The Southern Construct Summit is a key event for business in Munster as it brings together political and industry leaders, influencers and policymakers across the construction sector and industry at large.

We have a number of key focus areas this year, including implementation of the Port of Cork Masterplan to create a global port of the future, housing and the housing market, building Corks critical infrastructure and attracting future investment, and fostering a pipeline of talent to support the construction sector.

Read More Business movers: People starting new jobs in Ireland

Kieran ODonovan has over three decades of experience in the construction sector in Ireland, working on large-scale commercial, residential and environmental projects. He is currently involved in some of the largest housing projects in Cork, including Heathfield, Ballincollig with 380 units, as well as Embury in Carrigtwohill which is a 300-plus housing development.

Promoting the construction skills pipeline is central to ambitions to develop Cork. The CIF wants young people to see that the sector has a huge number of opportunities and offers such a variety of roles and disciplines that there really is a job for everyone in construction.

I see it myself firsthand every day on building sites where the average age of workers is now circa 40 years of age, where a decade ago it was approximately 30 years of age. While it is great to have experienced workers in the sector, we need young people entering the industry to ensure a pipeline for the next decade and beyond, said Kieran.

The CIF has been proactively working with secondary schools in the Munster region to provide information and increase awareness about the incredible opportunities in the sector.

We go out into schools to talk about the construction industry, and to encourage students to consider this area for employment in the future. We are very proactive in this regard, as we see it as a key enabler for growth in the sector.

However we need more support from education and training boards, and in particular from career guidance teachers in secondary schools to highlight the huge opportunities for students for careers in the Construction Industry. We are really promoting construction to all genders also, as diversity is key to growing the skills pipeline in the industry."

cif.ie/event/southern-construct-summit/
You dont want comedy cops in a drama about the Magdalene laundries.

In The Woman in the Wall (BBC One and iPlayer), when a detective patiently explains to his mother that Columbo wasnt a whodunnit because they showed us who did the murder at the start, it feels tone-deaf.

And not just because Ive heard it before in a stand-up comedy routine that was actually funny.

A few scenes later, one guard is explaining number plates to a younger guard in a scene that is straight out of Father Ted.

It jars, given the subject matter. Youd nearly prefer if they went all out and made a comedy musical about the shocking treatment of women in these laundries.

But parts of this show are creepy and credible, with the stand-out performances youd expect from actors such as Ruth Wilson and Phillipa Dunne.

Wilson plays Lorna Brady, a woman in modern-day Ireland who is haunted by her experience in a local mother-and-child home.

She gets a message from an unknown source asking her to meet in a pub because this character knows what happened to Bradys child.

Brady goes and gets stood up and ends up shouting at a hen party. It was a pointless scene  time that should have been used to move the story along.

Theres a compelling story in here somewhere, so fair play to the writers for managing to keep it under wraps.

Ruth Wilson as Lorna Brady in The Woman In The Wall.

Brady discovers the body of an old woman in a room in her house that is lit red, for reasons that arent made clear. The old woman seems to attack her, or is it all in her head?

It seems like a bit of a horror show, dropped in here in case a UK audience wasnt hooked by the story of religious orders abusing Irish women.

In the meantime, the patient detective arrives in town to investigate the apparent murder of a priest.

It turns out the priest had kept an eye out for him when the detective was a young-trouble maker.

This felt like another show again, one of those cosy crime things that air on a Sunday evening about strange happenings in peaceful villages.

It felt like I was being bombarded by four different shows in the first 30 minutes, in the hope that one would stick and Id stay watching.

When Sgt Massey from the comedy cop scene told the visiting detective about a local banshee, I felt the ghost of Ballykissangel rising from the grave.

Theres a twist at the end of the first episode, but by then I didnt care. If youre going to make a show about an open wound in Irish society, dont fold in a murder-mystery/Father Ted/David Lynch tribute compilation. Just tell the story with a straight face.

Theres no need to add in a woman in a wall because the fact that Irish women were locked up and had their kids taken off them is shocking enough as it is.

And its still terrifying that so many people turned a blind eye.
Avenging angels are always cool, but the coolest of them all is Denzel Washington, who returns for a third stint as Robert McCall  the man who avenges the unspeakable  in The Equalizer 3 (16s).

Badly wounded in a botched execution of a Sicilian mafioso, McCall washes up in Altamonte, a picturesque fishing village on the Italian coast near Naples.

Tended by the local doctor Enzo (Remo Girone), and befriended by the locals, the lone wolf McCall starts to believe that he has finally found himself where he is supposed to be.

But when a gang of local hoods led by Marco (Andrea Dodero) start terrorising the town and demanding extortion money, McCall is unable to resist the urge to intervene.

Washington is here reunited with director Antoine Fuqua for their third Equalizer thriller, and while the broad strokes remain the same  Robert McCall embodies the one-man army fantasy, the Shane who stands alone against all comers  Equalizer 3 is a quieter, more reflective version of the previous two outings.

Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 3

The body count is still pretty impressive, but much of the violence takes place off-screen, in part, perhaps, because neither Fuqua nor Washington care to pretend that the actor isnt of a certain vintage.

Its also true, however, this film isnt interested in violence for its own sake, but in investigating the consequences of violence, and particularly how a repeated acquaintance with death will change a man over the course of his life.

Its not especially profound, and nor is the best action-thriller youll see this year, but Washingtons gravitas ensures that The Equalizer 3 is a compelling watch.
For as long as she can remember, Jacqueline OMahony wanted to be a writer. She just wasnt exactly sure how to make it happen.

I always wanted to write a novel  I actually wrote one when I was 12 but I didn't know how to go about it because you go to college and you dont think I'm going to be a novelist. For me, it meant being an academic or a journalist, so it was a long route towards being a novelist. I really just wanted to write books  thats all I'm cut out to do.

OMahony, who grew up in Cork and now lives in London with her husband and three children, eventually fulfilled her destiny and has just published her second book Sing, Wild Bird, Sing: A Novel, a compelling novel inspired by a real-life event that occurred during the Famine.

The Doolough tragedy unfolded in 1849, when hundreds of starving adults and children walked miles in freezing conditions from Louisburgh to Delphi in Co Mayo in search of food, only to be refused any sustenance by their English landlords when they arrived.

On the return journey, many died from hunger and exhaustion. Like a lot of people, OMahony was unaware of this heartbreaking chapter of our past.

A standing stone on the Louisburgh-Delphi famine walk. Pic: Jude Leavy

Its an extraordinary story. It was my brother-in-law who told me about it. They had gone to visit Mayo and he said they had gone to this amazing place. I was writing about the Famine at the time, but the angle I was coming at was too broad. I wanted a particular local story, that would be like a microcosm of the whole Famine, that would explain it to people who knew very little about it. Rather than talking about in the general broad sense, if you give people a specific story, they respond much more strongly to it, she says.

When OMahony visited Doolough, she was struck by one particularly heartbreaking aspect of the story which she heard from a local.

I walked it with my agent from New York, and we met this old man and he was telling us that in the winter, theres a very strong microclimate there. The wind blows up, and it's strong enough to blow people from the road into the lake. So thats what happened to the people, they were so weak, they were literally blown from the road into the water, hundreds of them. We dont know how many, up to 600 according to the local stories. There are no names and no one knows. From a storytellers point of view, its an incredible story, but I also wanted to mark the lives of those nameless people. I felt, at least by writing the story, I was acknowledging them, giving them a name.

OMahony couldnt be better qualified to write historical novels given her academic background. After graduating in English and history from UCC in 1994, she went on to study as a Fulbright Scholar at Duke University and completed her PhD at Boston College. She later worked as a journalist for publications including Vogue and Tatler, which has also helped her as a writer.

That taught me the most important thing is to put down the first sentence, and the rest comes after that. You just have to write it and you can fix it afterwards. It made me open to the idea of being editors as well because I think some people can find that difficult.

The central protagonist of Sing, Wild Bird, Sing is Honora ONeill, who survives the barefoot trek across the mountainous paths of Doolough and then escapes to the American West in search of a better life. OMahony says Honora represents the spirit of female resilience, a topic which has long fascinated her. Her first novel, A River in the Trees, explored womens experiences during the War of Independence, while her PhD thesis was on women in the American Civil War.

We know a lot about the men who went off and fought in the war but we dont know much about what happened to the women who were left behind. Ive always been interested in history from the angle of the woman  especially from the angle of an ordinary woman who was there at the time, what were her experiences?

She didnt consciously put herself into the character but she says there are aspects of Honoras life that reflect her own experience.

I left Ireland when I was young, and Ive always been attracted by travel and movement. I'm effectively a nomadic person but Ive been made less so by having three children. I like the idea of travelling and moving and looking for something. For me, its the idea of the quest  Honora is on a quest to look for something. And I relate to that.

Sing, Wild Bird, Sing: A Novel by Jacqueline O'Mahony

While writing is in her bones, OMahony it doesnt mean she finds the process an easy one.

When Im doing it, I kind of feel like God, this is terrible. But the end product is worth it. I think of it as like carving something out of stone  youre trying to get at the truth of it. And its a very difficult process, its not for the faint-hearted. It can be isolating  youre writing this thing and you dont know if anyone will ever read it.

On that theme, OMahony is refreshingly honest about her disappointment at the performance of her first novel, which, while well-received critically and nominated for prizes, didnt do as well as she hoped commercially. However, her hopes have been lifted this time around with Sing, Wild Bird, Sing hitting number one in Womens Historical Fiction on Amazon.

I was very bruised by the first one. It was very difficult to come back from that, even though it did perfectly well. Its not an easy business. This book seems to be different. For some reason, it has hit a nerve  my agent emailed me from New York last night in the middle of the night and she said it already had 40,000 downloads.

The book has struck a particular chord with American readers, for whom Honoras tale of striving and surviving resonates strongly.

It is an American story, really, in many ways. Everyone in America came from somewhere else and I think that informs the psychology of a nation. Someone wrote to me yesterday and said his ancestors left Mayo during the Famine and he always wondered about their story. Having read the book, he could now imagine it. So I hope it's drawing a picture for people.

OMahony herself has always been drawn to the US and, after making a stop at her house in Crookhaven in Cork, will be spending the rest of her summer in Montana.

It is the most beautiful place I have ever been and has inspired a lot of my writing. The landscape there is incredible  one thing that was very interesting to me was that the landscape in Mayo really reminds me of the landscape in Montana and Wyoming. And I thought of Honora, who would have gone from Mayo and seen this similar landscape in Wyoming. It was kind of like an echo of it to me.

And while it may seem like Montana is a long way from Crookhaven, OMahony sees a lot of similarities.

I meet many characters in both places who bear a big resemblance to each other. Theyre not rule followers, as it were.
BEFORE we start, this isnt about Instagram. When we think of perfectionism, its often around our immediate selves  wishing we were better looking, better earners, better parents.

Social media can amplify the niggling sense of not being enough or having enough, causing us to ceaselessly strive for more and better.

Its compare-and-despair on a personal level, weaponised by the advertising industry. Yet bizarrely, perfectionism remains our favourite flaw  think of the cliched response at job interviews when asked about our weaknesses: Well, I suppose that would be my perfectionism.

We are encouraged to harness our perfectionism, so that it drives us on.

But if perfectionism worked, wed all be perfect people leading perfect lives  which clearly were not. Its a trap.

What, then, if perfectionism is a symptom of something far bigger than the inner critic of any individual person? What if our interpretation of perfectionism is too narrow, so that we need to radically zoom out to see what it really is, and who it serves? What if perfectionism is the product of a system that pits us against each other in unending competition for more, leading to widespread depression and burnout, helicopter parenting, pressure to achieve, terminal discontent, and unending consumerism?

Academic Thomas Curran describes perfectionism as the defining psychology of an economic system thats hellbent on overshooting human thresholds.

Curran, 35, is an associate professor of psychology and behavioural science at the London School of Economics. He recently published The Perfection Trap: The Power of Good Enough In A World That Always Wants More. He argues that perfectionism is not personal but cultural  pressure piled on individuals to relentlessly strive or be deemed failures.

His is certainly not a self-help book. Instead, its a call to arms, to question, perhaps even dismantle, a system which tells us, every waking minute of our lives, that we are not good enough and that the only way to be good enough is to consume more while remaining in perpetual competition with each other.

Thomas Curran, writer and recovering perfectionist

Unshakeable insecurity

Curran himself identifies as a recovering perfectionist. I still have struggles, but on the whole, its getting better, he says. You never really lose perfectionism. Everything is reviewed, rated  you cant escape the judgement.

He describes the feeling as something that lives in our interiors via a lingering and unshakeable insecurityabout what we dont have, how we dont look, what we havent achieved. It differs from having high standards, which he says do not involve a burning need for approval.

Until quite recently, perfectionism was seen as a positive trait  in 1978, US psychologist Don Hamachek drew a distinction between healthy and unhealthy perfectionism, although this idea was later debunked by fellow psychologist Thomas Greenspon, who declared healthy perfectionism to be an oxymoron. Another psychologist, Asher Pacht, went further, describing perfectionism as a kind of psychopathology.

Unsurprisingly, societal perfectionism impacts women more than men. Its deeply gendered, Curran explains. Weve come on a lot, but we still live in a patriarchal world.

Women are still expected to navigate standards and expectations in parenting and the workplace in ways that are very different to men.

However, we are starting to see boys struggle too. For the first time ever, there are expectations that are starting to weigh on boys. People like Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson are telling them theyre weak and servile. This is having a negative impact  the tyrannies of should are weighing on them too. Perfectionism is now coming for everybody.

These tyrannies of should come from German psychoanalyst Karen Horney (1885-1952), whose work, says Curran, was prophetic. Her influence on him is clear, when she wrote in 1937: From its economic centre, competition radiates into all activities. It permeates love, social relations and playand is a problem for everyone in our culture

Horneys tyrannies of should created conflict within women between the person they felt they were, and the person who they needed to present to the outside world in order to function in society, Curran says.

This created a deep sense of disconnection, alienation, and neurosis, which is the root of what she called an idealised self, and what we later called perfectionism. (Or as Simone de Beauvoir wrote twelve years later in The Second Sex, one is not born, but becomes, a woman.)

Socially prescribed perfectionism, he adds, can elevate loneliness, rumination, poor quality relationships, fear of intimacy, lower life satisfaction, and low self-esteem.

The idea foisted upon women about having it all is just socially prescribed perfectionism in fewer syllables. And perfectionists of all genders experience burnout, which makes them no more successful than people who are not especially perfectionistic.

He reminds us that failure is essential to life.

Manufactured discontent

Curran suggests our main sources of perfectionism and manufactured discontent come from consumerism (What I dont have), social media (What she posted), meritocracy (You just havent earned it yet) and the pressure to raise exceptional children (Perfectionism begins at home).

The problem is the system, he says. It needs to grow to survive, which was fine  it brought us out of scarcity  but weve done the heavy lifting. We dont need to keep doing it.

Theres nowhere else to go other than to crush everyone under the weight of those expectations to do more than we already have. Thats the big picture, and its not talked about enough.

He mentions how influential thinkers like Malcolm Gladwell, Jonathan Hay, and Brene Brown focus on the symptoms  the education system, the workplace, how we parent, how we interact on social media  rather than examining what causes these symptoms to come into effect: They view them as happenstance, an unconnected set of things.

Curran urges us instead to view the bigger picture because perfectionism, despite demonstrably not improving our lives, is on the rise  having analysed data from 40,000 students over several decades, he found that it has increased by 33% since 1989. And unlike neuroticism, it doesnt resolve with age.

In a standard self-help book, this would be the part where a neat solution is offered. Not so from Curran.

Im trying to be optimistic, but there isnt much optimism to be found  we can move people in the direction of change... The climate is rapidly deteriorating, and I think that will be the impetus to take action against the system... Part of me believes if we use our democratic power, we can bring about change.

He pauses. Its society thats broken, not us.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Simon Byrne is facing growing pressure, with both rank and file officers and civilian staff considering confidence votes in his leadership.

The embattled Chief Constable insisted he would not resign following a marathon session of his oversight body, the Policing Board, on Thursday.

The latest controversy to hit the force erupted earlier this week when High Court judge Mr Justice Scoffield ruled that two junior officers were unlawfully disciplined for an arrest made at a Troubles commemoration event in 2021.

The judge said they had been disciplined to allay a threat that Sinn Fein could withdraw its support for policing.

Liam Kelly, chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland (Liam McBurney/PA)

Sinn Fein has insisted there was no such threat.

Mr Byrne initially said he accepted the judgment, but on Thursday indicated that an appeal was being considered and said it was inappropriate to make any further comment.

The chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland Liam Kelly expressed disbelief and anger at the statement.

Mr Kelly said: This has infuriated and antagonised the rank and file further and once again the two officers at the centre of the case are being treated disdainfully.

It is hugely damaging to officer morale and confidence and has to be condemned.

He added: In short I am disgusted, disillusioned and extremely angry.

The Police Federation has called an extraordinary meeting of its executive central committee next Wednesday when it said a confidence vote may take place into the PSNI leadership.

Nipsa, which represents a number of civilian police staff, is also set to hold an extraordinary departmental committee meeting of police staff representatives next week, during which it will be assessed if there is a demand for a confidence vote in Mr Byrne.

I think people have just come to the end of the road with how the organisation is being treated

Nipsa official Tracy Godfrey said she feels it is likely that police staff colleagues will want to have such a vote.

She told BBC Radio Ulsters Nolan Show: I think people have just come to the end of the road with how the organisation is being treated, they have just had enough.

Its been one disaster after another, the data breach after being told for many years by DoJ (the Department of Justice) that police staff arent under the same kind of threat as police officers when we clearly are and always have been.

The data breach comes out and our names are on it, we are not weaponised like police officers so we have no way of defending ourselves if someone comes knocking on our door.

Unionist leaders are expected to hold talks with Mr Byrne later on Friday.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has called for Mr Byrne and his deputy Mark Hamilton to resign.

He told the BBCs Good Morning Ulster programme: None of it looks good and you just need to look at the reaction of the Police Federation and the rank and file officers of the PSNI just to see how bad this actually is.

What is absolutely clear is that it seems to me that all confidence in the leadership of the Police Service in Northern Ireland has been lost or eroded to such a stage that it cant be regained.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said public confidence in the leadership of the PSNI had been eroded (Liam McBurney/PA)

Referencing the potential appeal over the court judgment, Mr Beattie said: It is absolutely ludicrous and it further undermines his position and it undermines the leadership of the police service.

And it further alienates the rank and file officers and confidence by the public in what is going on at the very top of a service which is supposed to give us that sense of strong policing.

The incident which the High Court ruled on occurred on the Ormeau Road in Belfast in February 2021 during a service marking the anniversary of the February 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers attack, in which five people were murdered.

The two officers faced action in 2021 after the arrest of Mark Sykes, a survivor of a loyalist gun attack on the bookmakers in south Belfast.

The incident unfolded when police challenged people attending a memorial event amid suspicions that the size of the public gathering breached coronavirus regulations.

Mr Sykes was handcuffed and arrested in chaotic exchanges captured on social media.

The incident triggered a major controversy at the time and sparked criticism of Mr Byrne.

Mr Byrne apologised for the PSNIs handling of the event at the time, and it was announced that one officer was to be suspended and one repositioned.

The court ruling this week has heaped further pressure on Mr Byrne, who was already facing questions about his future after a major data blunder led to personal details of officers entering the public domain and getting into the hands of dissident republicans.
Housing Minister Darragh OBrien has said the search for accommodation for Ukrainian refugees continues to be a challenge as new arrivals are due to stay in tented accommodation in the coming days.

It comes as the Department of Integration confirmed that due to a "significant" shortfall in accommodation, tents will be used for new arrivals in the coming days. Speaking on Friday, Mr OBrien said all Government departments are working together on the issue.

Our preference is obviously that people are not in tents, but earlier on this year we did have a situation where other accommodation was provided on a very temporary basis whilst more permanent accommodation was provided and well continue to do that, he said.

Mr OBrien said the State has managed to accommodate almost 100,000 Ukrainians and asylum seekers fleeing persecution, which hasnt been without its challenges.

I think by any fair assessment, we have done well and we need to continue to further ramp up our refurbishment program which were doing and were targeting an additional 1,500 spaces to be delivered this year.

We have obligations morally as a people and the vast majority of our citizens in Ireland support the approach we are taking. Its not without its difficulties from time to time, he said.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said Ukrainians are leaving circumstances beyond our imagination.

We will find the money and we will find a way of supporting them as we have done. It is demanding, it is difficult, were all aware of the challenges that are there, with the demands that are here in Ireland already for accommodation and already for housing, to meet the needs of those who are coming to our country, he said.

Mr Donohoe said the effort to secure accommodation for newly arriving Ukrainians will not overtake the Governments desire to build more student accommodation.

Student accommodation has been used to plug the gap over the summer months with the Government now scrambling to source alternatives as students return.

The Department of Integration said it spent recent weeks exhausting all options within our control including contacting properties used in the past as emergency shelters such as Croke Park, UCD, and the Aviva Stadium.

Officials are examining sites where tents can be set up, similar to the Gormanston Camp in Meath that was used last year. Up to 2,000 Ukrainian refugees could be left without accommodation in the weeks ahead.
The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) is in contact with Canadian medicine supplier Bausch and Lomb after some eye surgeries were cancelled at a Cork hospital due to anaesthetic shortages.

According to the HPRA, three forms of anaesthetic eye drops in the Minims range is currently in short supply  oxybuprocaine hydrochloride, proxymetacaine hydrochloride and tetracaine hydrochloride eye drops.

On Wednesday, it emerged Cork's Bon Secours Hospital had cancelled eye surgeries scheduled to take place on Thursday with less than 24 hours' notice.

However, a spokesperson for the hospital said the shortage of the anaesthetic relates to a "wider issue concerning global supply problems that is impacting hospitals all across Ireland and not just Bon Secours Hospital Cork".

A spokesperson for the HPRA told the Irish Examiner the limited supply is linked to manufacturing issues as well as a "significant increase in demand for these products and are also affecting other countries".

The agency said it was in ongoing contact with the supplier of these medicines, Bausch and Lomb, and said it was looking to restore supplies as soon as possible.

However, additional stock of these medicines is expected to made available in Ireland during the next two weeks.

"The HPRA will continue to engage with the company to expedite the timeline for the delivery of this additional stock," the spokesperson added.

"As part of the national medicines shortages framework, we are also working with the HSE with a view to assisting hospitals in managing the current situation."
The constituency changes published by the Electoral Commission have been digested and political parties have already begun strategising for the future.

A number of TDs have been left disappointed by the review, and the various political headquarters are already assessing the damage and potential gains. Prior to the commission publishing the boundary changes, Fine Gael was nervous about how the redraw may influence the decision of TDs on whether they would run again.

Leo Varadkars party is already on the back foot with several well-known politicians, who would have comfortably held their seats, announcing they will not be running again in the next General Election. These include Kerry TD Brendan Griffin, Carlow-Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan, Cork North-West TD Michael Creed, Cork East TD David Stanton and Donegal TD Joe McHugh.

Impact on Fine Gael

And now that the dust has settled on the constituency review, it is expected more Fine Gael TDs will be considering their futures as a result of poor polling performances and against the Sinn Fein surge. It is also anticipated that a few senior members of the party who have dedicated their lives as public representatives are not going to seek re-election.

The review is a blow to Wexford TD Paul Kehoe with areas containing almost 50,000 people around Gorey and Enniscorthy, where the former junior minister for defence minister is based, transferred into the new Wexford-Wicklow constituency.

The changes will also place further pressure on Charlie Flanagan after the split of the Laois-Offaly constituency, as its expected Sinn Fein will run a second candidate alongside Brian Stanley who topped the poll in the last election.

Although she said she has no regrets, its hard to believe former Cabinet minister Regina Doherty isnt frustrated, having moved from her former territory of Meath East, which has gained an extra seat, to Dublin Fingal West which now has three seats. It means Doherty will have to battle it out against Sinn Feins Louise OReilly who is expected to bring in a running mate.

In Clare, its not yet known if Joe Carey will run again in the next election having taken time off after becoming ill in March.

Fine Gael does have a number of opportunities, with an opening in Tipperary South for Senator Gareth Ahearn to take a seat, now the county has been split. Sources within the party are hoping former TD Kate OConnell will run again in Dublin Bay South, with party members stating she would walk it home".

The party is also hoping to win seats in Offaly and are looking at adding a running mate for Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys in Cavan-Monaghan.

Fianna Fail aim to gain

For Fianna Fail, party sources have said they are overall happy with the outcome of the electoral watchdogs review. The aim is to hold onto all seats currently while work has begun behind the scenes to identify areas where the party is hoping they can make gains.

With the creation of the new Wexford-Wicklow constituency, Senator Malcolm Byrne is at an advantage given he is the only Oireachtas member representing the area. The party is also targeting Mayo which now has an additional seat.

However, former TD and one-time mooted the next leader of the party, Lisa Chambers has said she has her eyes set on running in the European elections next year.

Micheal Martins party is also weighing up their options to run candidates in Kildare North, Galway East and Meath West.

Despite an extra seat being added to Cork South-Central, home to the Tanaiste as well as Finance Minister Michael McGrath, there is no intention to run a third candidate in the constituency at this time, according to Fianna Fail sources.

The boundary redraw has also caused a headache for Fianna Fail in the Cork North-West constituency, with the move of more than 20,000 people from Ballincollig to the Cork North-Central constituency which will greatly impact Aindrias Moynihan. Jackie Cahill will have a tough battle to retain his seat in North Tipperary alongside former Labour leader Alan Kelly, and Independent TD Michael Lowry.

Its expected, given the success of Sinn Feins Martin Browne in South Tipperary, the party will run a second candidate in the North. The transfer of part of county Kilkenny to North Tipperary will bolster Kellys voter base.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly may face additional difficulties with the removal of the more rural parts of Wicklow, which have since been added into a new three-seater Wicklow-Wexford.

These rural areas of the constituency helped push him over the line in 2020.

Fianna Fail sources have said these are the realistic challenges the party faces and also noted current agriculture minister Charlie McConalgue will be under pressure to retain his seat in Donegal.

Its no secret that the Green Party is well aware of the fight they will face ahead of the next election as the party continues to poll poorly.

However, extra seats added in Media Minister Catherine Martin and Childrens Minister Roderic OGormans constituencies will likely cushion them when voters hit the ballot boxes, possibly in November as mooted privately by many Cabinet ministers.

But Green TDs in vulnerable positions as a result of the redraws include Steven Matthews in Wicklow and junior minister Joe OBrien following the split up of Dublin Fingal.

Sinn Fein set to benefit

Sinn Fein will welcome the additional 14 new Dail seats and the party will learn from its mistake in 2020 when it didnt run enough candidates. Mary Lou McDonalds party clearly will gain further advantage following the boundary redraws.

The main Opposition party will aim to add a TD in every one of the four additional three-seat constituencies and will tackle the new five-seat constituencies, especially in Dublin.

Party sources also said they will target Cork South-Central, adding a running made with Donnchadh O Laoghaire. They will also aim to gain advantages in Dublin West and are thinking about taking a third seat in Donegal.

The party that appears to have suffered greatly following the Electoral Commission's report is the Labour Party. Duncan Smith will struggle to retain his seat as he will move to Dublin Fingal which is a three-seater, and will be up against Housing Minister Darragh OBrien, Fine Gaels Alan Farrell, and a Sinn Fein candidate.

Labour TD for Cork East Sean Sherlock has seen his base of Mallow moved into Cork North-Central. And its unclear whether former Labour leader Brendan Howlin will run again. The partys leader Ivana Bacik will also struggle in Dublin Bay South.

There has been little change for the Social Democrats with Cork-South West remaining unchanged which will be welcome news for leader Holly Cairns. However, its unsure whether Catherine Murphy will run again, an extra seat in Kildare North may be the deciding factor on whether she will seek reelection.

Gary Gannon will be under pressure to retain his seat in Dublin Central as its expected Mary Lou McDonald will bring in a running mate.

Jennifer Whitmore is considered to be in a comfortable position in Wicklow and Cian OCallaghan is relieved his voter base in Dublin Bay North stayed intact. Despite changes to Dublin North-West, Roisin Shortall will be satisfied.

For smaller parties such as People Before Profit, Aontu and Independent TDs, the increase in the number of three-seat constituencies from 9 to 13 will likely favour incumbent TDs and more established voices as well as bigger parties, which will serve as a blow to many.
Tanaiste Micheal Martin has said he would be reluctant to put a cap or cull politicians following the Electoral Commission's recommendation to increase the number of TDs.

In line with Irelands population increase, the Commission recommended the number of TDs for the next Dail to be increased by 14 from 160 to 174.

Currently, under the Constitution, there must be one TD for between 20,000-30,000 people, however, with Irelands population continuously increasing, the potentially never-ending increase has come under the spotlight.

Speaking this week, Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said the number of TDs should not be increased ad nauseam adding that there is a duty to question when the growth in TDs should stop.

On the other hand, the Tanaiste said on Friday that he would be reluctant to cap the number of TDs saying Irelands democracy should be celebrated.

We have a particular feature of our democracy where public representatives are close to people, people are close to public representatives and theres an access there, he said.

Mr Martin said this closeness keeps politicians from losing the run of themselves as constituents would not be long telling them if that were the case.

However, Mr Martin said, if Irelands population continues to increase over the coming decades, there is space for reflection. He said the Commission was correct to be relatively conservative in terms of its approach to the electoral boundaries and the increase in TDs.

I think the average is right in terms of the average number of people that TDs will represent across the country, theres a reasonable balance there, he said. However, he added that it is impossible to get it perfect.

Speaking on Newstalk, Mr Martin said Irelands ongoing significant population rise must be reflected in representation in Leinster House. He said while some TDs will be happy with the boundary changes, others will now find themselves under pressure.

Undoubtedly for some, it will create significant pressures as all electoral boundary changes do and Im conscious that quite a number of colleagues will be under pressure, he said.

General Election

The Tanaiste said the next General Election is wide open, and that no one is safe.

There are very fundamental differences between Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail in respect of the economy particularly the enterprise-oriented nature of our economy which I think Sinn Fein is instinctively negative towards, he said.

He said the party will often legitimately argue for investigations into unacceptable activities, and killings by British state forces during the Troubles but rarely come forward themselves in relation to IRA violence.

The narrative that is increasingly emerging of endeavouring to not just justify but to celebrate this as some great war to secure freedom for people is, I think, reprehensible and I think is doing damage to relationships on these islands, he said.
Talking with Conor Gray is an absolute pleasure. Sound and down to earth, hes a walking ambassador for taking the apprenticeship train to the future.

Im not surprised then, to learn that he is Mercury Engineerings apprenticeship development manager. Hes highly qualified for the role, having started out as an apprentice electrician with this company 35 years ago and having worked his way up the ranks ever since.

Given his own success and his experience in recruiting and looking after apprentices, hes well placed to observe the apprenticeship landscape in Ireland.

Of that he says: The growth in apprenticeships in Ireland is fantastic. From an employer's point of view I think that a lot of young people probably don't see the career prospects that can be got from apprenticeships, but the opportunities are great.

A huge amount of the senior management in our company are time-served trades people. That is replicated in many other top construction companies as well. Most of the top fellows didnt come out of college or from CEO backgrounds. They came up through the ranks. Its good for young people to know this.

We talk then about his experience of hiring apprentices. Pre-Covid we had about 150 apprentices working with us and we were looking to recruit more as we had three or four major projects coming up.

Mercury Engineering spotted a gap in the training of apprentices. Of that he says: We had apprentices on site and because we wanted to do a little bit more training with them, we set up our own training centre here in Ballycoolin in Blanchardstown, Dublin.

Apprentices learn when out on the job. So we bring them in here to our training centre before they go off to Solas for the off the job phases. We run them through a few things here as well to make sure they are properly prepared. We supplement the training.

Gray says that in the four years apprentices are on contract, Mercury Engineering does its level best and they do their level best to get them through their training. We all work hard to ensure that at the end of training, they get their QQI Level 6 qualification  the National Craft Certificate.

Hes a member of the National Apprenticeship Alliance (NAA) which represents apprenticeship stakeholders and brings together a wealth of knowledge and first-hand, practical experience from the worlds of education providers, learners, industry partners and trade unions.

Of that he says: Its really important that industry and business have an input into the NAA . Because from our point of view we can see things that are happening quicker, so if there is innovation in business  whether that might be hairdressing or cheffing or farriering or whatever  then industry has an opportunity to bring that innovation back into the NAA, and make sure its improved for everybody.

The unions are part of the alliance as well and it is in everyone's interest, from an Ireland point of view, from an industry point of view and from a business point of view, that we are all successful. Everyone is going to have a hand, act, or part in this and I think thats going to be really beneficial and should raise the standard for everybody.
Pope Francis arrived in Mongolia on Friday on a visit designed to encourage one of the worlds smallest and newest Catholic communities.

It is the first time a pope has visited the landlocked Asian country and comes at a time when the Vaticans relations with Mongolias powerful neighbours, Russia and China, are again strained.

The Pope arrived in the capital Ulaanbaatar after an overnight flight which passed through Chinese airspace, affording a rare opportunity to send a note of greetings to President Xi Jinping. Vatican protocol calls for the pope to send such greetings whenever he flies over a foreign country.

In his message to Mr Xi, he expressed greetings of good wishes to your excellency and the people of China.

People wave Vietnamese flags as they wait for Pope Francis at the Ulaanbaatars International airport Chinggis Khaan, (Ng Han Guan, AP)

Assuring you of my prayers for the wellbeing of the nation, I invoke upon all of you the divine blessings of unity and peace, he said.

Upon arrival Pope Francis, who uses a wheelchair, was met on the tarmac by helmeted honour guards along with Mongolias foreign minister and was offered a taste of dried yoghurt from a woman in traditional dress, in a sign of welcome.

He made no public comments. Along with priests and others gathered on the tarmac, several dozen watched his arrival from the airport terminal.

Speaking to reporters en route to Mongolia late on Thursday, Pope Francis said he was looking forward to visiting the country.

There are only a few inhabitants  a small people, but a big culture, he said aboard the ITA charter plane.

I think it will do us good to try to understand this long, big silence, understand what it means but not intellectually, but with senses.

He added: Mongolia, you understand with your senses.

Pope Francis is received by the Foreign Minister of Mongolia, Batmunkh Battsetseg, right, as he arrives in Ulaanbaatars (Andrew Medichini, AP)

The visit will include official meetings with the Mongolian president and prime minister, as well as a speech before Mongolian government, cultural and business leaders, followed by Pope Francis first encounter with the bishops, priests and nuns who form the backbone of a tiny Catholic community of 1,450 which has only been in existence for a generation.

While Christianity has been present in the region for hundreds of years, the Catholic Church has only had a sanctioned presence in Mongolia since 1992 after the country shrugged off its Soviet-allied communist government and enshrined religious freedom in its constitution.

The Holy See and Mongolia have had diplomatic relations since and a handful of missionary religious orders, including Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity, have nurtured the tiny community through its first three decades of life.

Catholic sisters attend a mass at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cathedral in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (Louise Delmotte, AP)

Four Missionaries of Charity sisters run a nursing home on the northern outskirts of Ulaanbaatar with a capacity of 30 beds.

There, they provide care for elderly people with mental or physical disabilities, or who are homeless, undocumented, or otherwise ostracized by their families.

Sister Jeanne Francoise said it was an honour Pope Francis was coming to Mongolia, saying she had seen him once before when she was living in Rome but that it was never as close as it would be in Mongolia.

The Pope has long praised the work of missionaries and has tried to reinvigorate the missionary focus of the church at large by visiting them and encouraging their work.
Body camera footage showing the final moments of a pregnant black woman who was shot and killed by police in an Ohio car park last week is expected to be released to the public on Friday.

TaKiya Young, a 21-year-old from Columbus, was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting on August 24 outside a shop in the suburb of Blendon Township. Her unborn daughter did not survive.

Suspected of shoplifting, police say Ms Young was killed after she accelerated her car toward an officer.

The familys lawyer, Sean Walton, claims the police department has waited to release the bodycam video to minimise media attention on potentially damaging footage.

Friends, family and activists gather on Friday to protest against the shooting of Ms Young (Courtney Hergesheimer/The Columbus Dispatch/AP)

Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said the delay was due to staff trying to process the video and properly redact certain footage in accordance with Ohio law. The family will be able to review the video before it is made public, he said.

The police chief gave a brief account of the shooting in a statement on August 25 in which he said two officers were helping someone get into a locked car when a supermarket employee told them several people were leaving with stolen items.

Ms Young was among them, according to the employee who pointed her out sitting in her car in the car park.

She allegedly took bottles of alcohol without paying. One officer went to the drivers side of Ms Youngs car and told her to stop and get out multiple times, Mr Belford said, while the other officer moved to the front of the vehicle.

Ms Young then put the car in gear and accelerated, Mr Belford said.

The officer who was directly in the path of the oncoming car fired one shot through the front windshield, the police chief said. The body camera footage Ive reviewed also confirms the officer was directly in the path of the car.

Ms Young had two sons and was expecting a daughter (The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

Police have not provided further details on the moments when Ms Young was shot.

Her car continued about 50ft before stopping on the sidewalk outside the grocery store. Officers broke the car window, pulled her out and began medical assistance with the help of an emergency room doctor who happened to be there, Mr Belford said.

The two officers names, ages and races were not immediately released. They are on paid administrative leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation examines the shooting, which is standard in cases of police use of deadly force.

Ms Young was expected to give birth to a daughter in November. She also was the mother of two young sons, aged six and three.

Family and friends held a private vigil a day after Ms Young was killed.

Her grandmother, Nadine Young, described her granddaughter as a family-oriented prankster who was a loving older sister and mother.

She was so excited to have this little girl, Nadine Young said at a press conference on Wednesday.

She has her two little boys, but she was so fired up to have this girl. She is going to be so missed.

Im a mess because its just tragic, but it should have never, ever, ever happened.
A headless bronze statue believed to depict the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius has been seized from the Cleveland Museum of Art by New York authorities investigating antiquities looted from Turkey.

A warrant signed by a judge in Manhattan on August 14 ordered the seizure of the statue, which the museum acquired in 1986 and had been a highlight of its collection of ancient Roman art.

The warrant was secured as part of an ongoing investigation into a smuggling network involving antiquities looted from Bubon in south-western Turkey and trafficked through Manhattan, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. No details of the investigation were provided.

The 76in statue dates from 180 to 200 AD and is worth 20 million dollars (15.8 million), according to the district attorneys office.

The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported that the statue was removed from view more than two months ago and that the museum changed the description of the piece on its website, where it now calls the statue a Draped Male Figure instead of indicating a connection to Marcus Aurelius.

Turkey first made claims about the statue in 2012 when it released a list of nearly two dozen objects in the Cleveland museums collection that it said had been looted from Bubon and other locations.

Museum officials said at the time that Turkey had provided no hard evidence of looting.

Zeynep Boz of Turkeys ministry of culture and tourism said of the statue: The enduring dispute surrounding this matter has kept him separated from his hometown.

In an emailed statement, Ms Boz said the seizure provides a strong sense of hope, long-awaited, for the rectification of a willing wrongdoing.

Todd Mesek, a spokesperson for the museum, said in a statement on Thursday that the museum could not comment on the Marcus Aurelius statue while it is the subject of litigation.

Mr Mesek said the museum takes provenance issues very seriously and reviews claims to objects in the collection carefully and responsibly.

The Manhattan district attorneys office has worked in recent years to repatriate hundreds of objects looted from countries including Turkey, Greece, Israel and Italy. It was unclear who might be targeted in the investigation of the statue seized in Cleveland.

Marcus Aurelius ruled as Roman emperor from 161 AD to 180 and was a Stoic philosopher whose Meditations have been studied over the centuries.

The seized statue shows a man in flowing robes holding one hand in front of him in a regal pose.
The Japanese government has announced it will impose sanctions against three groups and four individuals for supporting North Koreas missile and nuclear development programme.

Chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the sanctions, in tandem with the United States and South Korea, are in response to North Koreas attempted launch of a spy satellite on August 24 and its firing of two missiles on Wednesday, as United Nations Security Council resolutions ban any North Korean launches using ballistic missile technologies.
Firefighters have rescued a group of 25 migrants trapped in a forest in north-eastern Greece as flames from a massive wildfire approached, authorities said.

The fire department said the group became trapped in the forest between two villages in the Evros region, near the border with Turkey.

No injuries were reported. There was no immediate information on the groups nationalities.

The blaze, burning for a 14th day on Friday, has already been blamed for the deaths of 20 people whose bodies were found last week.

All are believed to have been migrants who had recently crossed the border. Greeces Disaster Victim Identification Team has been tasked with identifying the remains.

Greek authorities have reinforced firefighting efforts in the countrys north-east (e-evros.gr via AP)

A multinational force of more than 580 firefighters backed by six planes and two helicopters is battling the wildfire that began on August 19 and within days had joined with other blazes to form the largest single wildfire in a European Union country since records began in 2000.

The fire has burned homes and vast tracts of forest, scorching more than 81,000 hectares (200,000 acres).

Overnight, residents of the border town of Soufli were put on alert for possible evacuation as a huge wall of flames approached.

To date, thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in villages and towns in north-eastern Greece due to the fire, although the vast majority have since been allowed back.

Greece has been stricken by hundreds of wildfires across the country this summer, with dozens of new blazes breaking out each day. The vast majority are extinguished quickly before they spread, but the Evros blaze has proved particularly tough to control.

Another persistent blaze has been burning for more than a week in a national park on the slopes of Mount Parnitha, on the fringes of Athens, with more than 160 firefighters trying to extinguish occasional flare-ups.

The massive blaze is now in its 14th day (e-evros.gr via AP)

With its own firefighting forces stretched to the limit, Greece called on other European countries for help, and has received hundreds of firefighters and a dozen aircraft from France, Germany, Spain, Cyprus, Romania, Albania, Serbia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

Arson is suspected in some of the smaller fires that were quickly brought under control, and authorities have made several arrests across the country. But the causes of the major blazes are still under investigation.

Speaking on Thursday in parliament, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis implied  without providing any evidence  that migrants may have been responsible for the Evros fire, even though he noted an investigation into the causes is still ongoing.

It is almost certain that the causes were manmade. And it is also almost certain that this fire started on routes that are often used by illegal migrants who have entered our country, Mr Mitsotakis said. We dont know if it was negligence or deliberate.

Last week, three people  two Greeks and one Albanian national  were arrested in north-eastern Greece and charged with a series of crimes for allegedly rounding up 13 people from Syria and Pakistan and forcing them into a car trailer, accusing them, without any evidence, of setting fires.

Mr Mitsotakis said incidents of vigilantism would not be tolerated.

Several people, all Greeks, have been arrested in the past two weeks on suspicion of arson for allegedly deliberately attempting to start wildfires.
Algerian authorities shot dead at least one Moroccan tourist after a group of five strayed into Algerian waters on jet skis, according to one of the survivors.

Only two of the group returned home, said relatives of the victim and the family of a second man who is missing and presumed to be dead.

The incident took place on Tuesday after the five men lost their bearings while exploring the sea on jet skis near the Moroccan coastal resort of Saidia, on the border with Algeria, said Mohamed Kissi, who survived the incident and who says his brother was killed.

The border between Algeria and Morocco has been closed since 1994 and the two have had no diplomatic relations since Algiers cut ties with Rabat in 2021.

Speaking in a video published by Morocco's le360 news site, Kissi said the group of friends had been approached after dark by an Algerian government vessel.

He said he heard the boat firing on the group and said his brother Bilal, 29, and another man, Abdelali Mechouar, 40, were both shot dead. Another member of their group was detained by the Algerian authorities, Kissi said.

Moroccan authorities said they could not comment on the case, calling it a judicial matter.

Algeria's navy and foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters requests for comment.

Mohamed and Bilal Kissi, along with the unidentified man who is presumed to have been arrested, each have dual Moroccan and French nationality, local media said.

France's foreign ministry said it had learned of the death of one of its nationals and the detention of another in Algeria and was in touch with the families and with authorities in Morocco and Algeria.

Bilal Kissi's body was found by Moroccan fishermen and he was buried near the eastern Moroccan city of Oujda on Wednesday, his brother said.

Mustafa Mechouar, the father of Abdelali Mechouar, told Reuters he believed his son was dead and wanted to bury him.

"I appeal to Moroccan and Algerian authorities to reach an agreement to bring my son back to me to observe a proper funeral and burial for him," he said.
Ohio authorities have released bodycam footage showing the deadly police shooting of pregnant black woman TaKiya Young.

The 21-year-olds loved ones have seen the video, the familys lawyer said on Friday.

The clip shows Ms Young slowly accelerating towards an officer in her path as he yells for her to stop before firing the single bullet that killed her.

Ms Young, from Columbus, was declared dead shortly after the August 24 shooting outside a food shop in the suburb of Blendon Township.

Her unborn daughter did not survive.

Friends comfort each other at a private candlelight vigil on Friday (Courtney Hergesheimer/The Columbus Dispatch/AP)

The footage, which comes more than a week after her death, showed one officer at the drivers side window, repeatedly demanding that Ms Young get out of the car.

Sean Walton, a lawyer for the Ms Young family, said on Thursday that the family grew frustrated with delays in the police force timeline of releasing body camera footage publicly.

He said the community will be outraged.

She was an unarmed pregnant mother of two, he said.

It goes beyond the unjustifiable.

Blendon Township Police chief John Belford said the delay resulted from a small staff trying to process the video and properly redact certain footage in accordance with Ohio law.

In a video statement a day after the shooting, Mr Belford said two officers were helping someone get into a locked car when a supermarket employee told them several people were leaving with stolen items.

Friends, family and activists gather on Friday to protest against the shooting of Ms Young (Courtney Hergesheimer/The Columbus Dispatch/AP)

Ms Young was among them, according to the employee, who pointed her out sitting in her car in the car park.

She allegedly took bottles of alcohol without paying.

One officer went to the drivers side of Ms Youngs car and told her to stop and get out multiple times, Mr Belford said, while the other officer moved to the front of the vehicle.

Ms Young then put the car in gear and accelerated, Mr Belford said.

The officer who was directly in the path of the oncoming car fired one shot through the front windshield, the chief said.

The body camera footage Ive reviewed also confirms the officer was directly in the path of the car.

Youngs car continued about 50 feet before stopping on the pavement outside the shop.

Officers broke the car window, pulled her out and began medical assistance with the help of an emergency room doctor who happened to be there, Mr Belford said.

Nadine Young, right, the grandmother of TaKiya Young, gathers with family and friends during a candlelight vigil (Courtney Hergesheimer/The Columbus Dispatch/AP)

The two officers names, ages and races were not immediately released.

They are on paid administrative leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation examines the shooting, which is standard in cases of police use of deadly force.

Ms Young was expected to give birth in November.

An online effort to pay her funeral expenses has raised nearly 7,000 US dollars (5,547).

Ms Youngs siblings, cousins, grandmother and father have rallied around her sons, six-year-old JaKobie and three-year-old JaKenlie, who do not yet understand the magnitude of what happened to their mother, Mr Walton said.

Its a large family and TaKiya has been snatched away from them, Mr Walton said.

I think the entire family is still in shock.

Im a mess because its just tragic. But it should have never, ever, ever happened

Family and friends held a private vigil a day after Ms Young was killed, releasing balloons and lighting candles spelling out RIP Kiya.

Her grandmother, Nadine Young, described her granddaughter as a family-oriented prankster who was a loving older sister and mother.

She was so excited to have this little girl, Nadine Young said at a news conference on Wednesday.

She has her two little boys but she was so fired up to have this girl. She is going to be so missed.

Im a mess because its just tragic. But it should have never, ever, ever happened.
French students will not get past the door if they show up for school wearing long robes, President Emmanuel Macron has insisted  saying authorities will be intractable in enforcing a new rule when classes resume next week.

French education minister Gabriel Attal announced at a news conference four days ago that robes worn mainly by Muslims, known as abayas for girls and women and khamis for boys and men, would be banned with the start of the new school year on Monday.

Mr Macron addressed the dress code for the first time publicly after visiting a professional school in the Vaucluse region of southern France.

We know there will be cases of pupils testing the rule, the president said, including ones trying to defy the republican system.

Muslim women wearing black abayas (File image/Alamy/PA)

Mr Macron said they will not be able to slip into class, saying we will be intractable on the subject.

The education minister described girls and boys wearing the robes in school as an infringement on secularism, a foundational principle for France.

He accused some youngsters of using the traditional attire to try to destabilise schools.

The new rule has received inevitable criticism.

Social media platforms have buzzed with critics saying the loose, body-covering garments do not constitute an ostentatious display of religion and should not be banned from classrooms.

The framework for the ban is a 2004 law aimed at preserving secularism in French public schools.

French education minister Gabriel Attal (Alamy/PA)

The law prohibited Muslim headscarves but also applied to large Christian crosses, Jewish kippas and the large turbans worn by Sikhs.

It passed after months of furore and marathon parliamentary debates.

Muslims claimed it stigmatised them.

The law does not apply to university students.

Addressing how the new measure will be enforced, Mr Macron said specific personnel will be sent to sensitive schools to help teachers and to talk with pupils and families, if needed.

Mr Attal said earlier that 14,000 educational personnel in leadership positions would be trained by the end of this year to deal with enforcement and other issues in upholding secularism, and 300,000 personnel would be trained by 2025.
A former member of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group defiantly declared Trump won after being sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Fridays sentence for Dominic Pezzola, who smashed a window at the US Capitol in the buildings first breach of the January 6 2021 riot, is among the longest handed down for offences committed during the insurrection.

It comes after leaders of the group were convicted of spearheading the attack, which was aimed at preventing the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.

The highest-profile defendant in the months-long trial, former top Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, will be sentenced on Tuesday.

Pezzola, 46, took a police officers riot shield and used it to smash the window, allowing rioters to make the first breach into the Capitol, and later filmed a celebratory video with a cigar inside the building, prosecutors said.

He was a recent Proud Boys recruit, however, and a jury acquitted him of the most high-profile charge, seditious conspiracy, a rarely brought Civil War-era offence.

He was convicted of other serious charges and prosecutors had asked for 20 years in prison.

He was an enthusiastic foot soldier, prosecutor Erik Kenerson said.

US district judge Timothy Kelly noted that Pezzola, of Rochester, New York, was a newcomer to the group who did not write the kind of increasingly violent online messages that his co-defendants did leading up to the attack.

Still, he was in some ways a tip of the spear in allowing rioters to get into the Capitol, said the judge, who decided to apply a terrorism enhancement to the sentence.

The reality is you smashed that window in and let people begin to stream into the Capitol building and threaten the lives of our lawmakers, the judge told Pezzola.

Its not something that I ever dreamed I would have seen in our country.

Defence lawyers had asked for five years for Pezzola, saying he got caught up in the craziness that day.

Pezzola told his trial he originally grabbed the officers shield to protect himself from police riot control measures, and his lawyers argued that he broke only one pane of glass and it was other rioters who smashed out the rest of the window.

He told the judge he wishes he had never crossed into a restricted area and apologised to the officer whose shield he took.

There is no place in my future for groups or politics whatsoever, he said.

But later, as he left the courtroom, he raised a fist and said: Trump won.

Two of his co-defendants were sentenced on Thursday to a couple of the longest prison terms handed down yet for the attack.

Joseph Biggs, an organiser from Ormond Beach, Florida, got 17 years, and Zachary Rehl, a leader of the Philadelphia chapter, got 15 years.

The Proud Boys trial laid bare far-right extremists embrace of lies by Mr Trump, above, a Republican, that the 2020 election was stolen from him (PA)

The Proud Boys trial laid bare far-right extremists embrace of lies by Mr Trump, a Republican, that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

More than 1,100 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 600 of them have been convicted and sentenced.

The longest January 6-related prison sentence so far is 18 years for Stewart Rhodes, founder of another far-right extremist group, the Oath Keepers.

Six members of that anti-government group were also convicted of seditious conspiracy after a separate trial last year.
With one-third of Myanmars population in need of humanitarian assistance, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday used a cabinet meeting to order his ministers to more closely regulate local and international aid groups, accusing some of being stooges of foreign governments.

More than 1.9 million people have been displaced by the fighting since the coup, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), while the humanitarian crisis continues to deteriorate in Kachin and Chin states as well as Mandalay and Sagaing regions.

More than 1 million people in Rakhine State in western Myanmar who were hit by a devastating cyclone in May still need assistance to recover because the regime has restricted the supply of humanitarian aid to storm victims. The regime itself has provided little assistance for those who lack food and housing.

On August 17, a senior UN official called for expanded humanitarian access to assist the 18 million people in need of aid across Myanmar.

Successive crises in Myanmar have left one-third of the population in need of humanitarian aid, the UNs Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said.

On the same day, OCHA said humanitarian needs in Myanmar have surged in recent years, with the number of displaced persons increasing fivefold in less than three years, from 380,000 at the start of 2021 to 1.9 million at present.

The regime, however, is paranoid about aid groups, accusing some of funding revolutionary organizations.

In October last year, Min Aung Hlaing replaced the 2014 Law on Registration of Associationswhich covers both national and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with a tougher law. The new law gives the regime the power to dissolve NGOs, including international ones, confiscate their property, and imprison those it deems to have violated its provisions.

The law prohibits organizations from supporting or having direct or indirect links to groups and individuals that the regime has labelled terrorists or are actively opposing the regime, as well as unlawful associations and their members.

The regime has labelled the parallel National Unity Government and its armed wing, the Peoples Defense Force, as terrorist organizations.

While the old law on registration of associations only imposed fines, the new one can land those found violating it in prison for up to five yearsas well make them pay a fine of up to five million kyats (about US$ 2,375)for unlawful association or having ties with terrorist organizations.

Under the old law, organizations operating in their townships or regions did not need to register. But the new law prescribes three years imprisonment and a fine of 1 million kyats for non-compliance.

The new law also requires international NGOs operating in Myanmar to reserve 40 percent of the seats on their boards of directors to Myanmar citizens. International and domestic NGOs are also banned from politics and religious and domestic affairs, and are subject to random checks by government officials.

In the aftermath of devastating Cyclone Nargis, which left more than 100,000 people dead in 2008, the then-military regime also barred international NGOs and civil society organizations (CSOs) from providing humanitarian supplies to victims of the cyclone.

During the time of Thein Seins administration, and the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government, military sympathizers labelled international and domestic NGOs as supporters and lobbyists for the NLD.

The crackdown on NGOs is likely to intensify.

In May, the regime formed a 19-member committee to draft a new law on foreign and international NGOs. Led by the deputy police chief, the committee consists of officials from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health, Defense, Legal Affairs, Commerce, and other government departments.

The committee will study legal practices regarding foreign and international NGOs used by ASEAN neighbors and other countries to draft a legal framework that suits Myanmar, the regime said. The new law is intended to prevent NGO staff from interfering in the countrys affairs with financial and other assistance from foreign countries, it added.

For decades, Myanmar military has also used the colonial-era Unlawful Association Act to prosecute people suspected of having ties to ethnic armed organizations.
A combined force of junta troops and allied Pyu Saw Htee militia killed six civilians in Kantbalu Township, Sagaing Region in the final week of August, residents said.

A column comprising over 100 soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee members raided villages in southern Kantbalu on August 23. They torched five homes in Thayet Gaung village and killed three residents of other villages as they fled, said local charity and information group Kyun Hla.

The victims were 19-year-old Ye Min, from Yin Khat Kone village, and U Kan Tun, 60, and Kaung Myat, 25, from In Inn Taw Pauk village.

U Kan Tuns body was dumped in water with his hands tied behind his back, while Kaung Myat was killed as he confronted the troops, the group said.

On August 25, the junta force raided Sesone Gyi and Ywar Thit villages, firing indiscriminately and forcing residents to flee. Troops remained stationed at the two villages for four days and killed three residents.

A local said the troops have now left Khin-U Township but around 20,000 residents from 20 villages have fled their homes to escape frequent raids by junta troops and their allied militia.

There are around 20 Pyu Saw Htee villages in the township. Combined forces of soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee destroy villages regularly, a resident told The Irrawaddy.

Residents have been terrorized by the townships militia and are too fearful to return to their villages, he added.

Local charity groups said displaced civilians are in urgent need of food and medicines.

Sagaing Region is a resistance stronghold where Pyu Saw Htee militias are active in townships, forcing village residents to undergo military training.
GENEVAA coalition of rights groups on Thursday condemned Myanmar for the armys renewed use of cluster munitions, demanding an immediate end to the practice.

The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) said the military junta, which seized power in February 2021, had used such weapons on several occasions, as recently as June.

It was, they argued, in violation of international law.

Myanmars production and use of cluster bombs is gravely concerning as these indiscriminate weapons primarily kill and injure civilians, said group researcher Dr. Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan.

There can be no justification for using them. All governments should condemn this use of an internationally banned weapon.

Myanmar is not a signatory to a 2008 convention ratified by 112 countries and signed by 12 banning the weapons.

A CMC statement said their use in the country had come to light in the form of new information including photographs.

Cluster munitions are delivered by artillery, rockets, missiles, and aircraft, opening in mid-air and dispersing dozens or hundreds of submunitions or bomblets, over a wide area. Many of them do not explode on initial impact but, like land mines, can wound and kill, for years.

The CMC said its monitor had asked Myanmars Defense Ministry to confirm or deny its production and use of cluster bombs but had not received a response.

Myanmar told the UN General Assembly in November 2019 it could not join the convention until a nationwide peace agreement was in place.

The army has met stiff opposition to the coup, which turfed out the administration led by now jailed Nobel peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leading to unrest which has left thousands dead.

The CMC is a coalition of rights groups based in around a hundred countries around the world and includes Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
More than 2,000 civilians from seven villages remain displaced in Katha Township, Sagaing Region, after a series of Myanmar junta raids and arson attacks in resistance-held territory.

Villagers said around 80 junta troops have torched houses in three villages, Inn Da Yant, Bant Bway Kone and Done Awt, since August 27.

They are still in our village so we cannot return, an Inn Da Yant villager said.

The troops were from Light Infantry Battalion 121, which was stationed in neighboring Shan State, according to resistance forces.

Residents said at least 100 houses were burned down in Inn Da Yant by the same infantry troops in early August.

Fighting reportedly erupted between junta troops and resistance forces near Inn Da Yant on August 29.

Junta troops suffered casualties after resistance groups used a landmine to ambush a convoy, transporting food and ammunition near New Ni Aing village on August 30, according to Katha Peoples Defense Force.

A resistance member claimed at least eight soldiers were killed and 11 injured during the ambush.

The Irrawaddy was unable to verify the junta casualties.

At least two civilians, including a child, were killed by junta shelling in Katha on August 3 when a junta flotilla of nine vessels passed through the area along the Ayeyarwady River.

Thousands of villagers from nine villages fled their homes in early August when junta troops occupied the area before the arrival of the flotilla.

Sources reported that Light Infantry Battalion 121 previously advanced into the area, killing at least five Inn Da Yant villagers in late July.
At least 36 Myanmar junta forces were killed in the last four days as Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs) and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) continued to attack regime targets across the country.

Incidents were reported in Shan and Karen states and Sagaing, Bago and Tanintharyi regions.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs and EAOs.

Some military casualties could not be independently verified.

Clashes continue in northern Shan

Clashes continued to break out in northern Shan State on Wednesday as regime forces attempted to raid areas of the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in Kutkai Township, said the TNLA.

Three military bases nearby supported the ground troops with artillery shelling, killing a woman resident and injuring three others when one of the juntas explosives hit Nam Hpat Kar Village.

On the same day, a clash was reported in adjacent Muse Township when the TNLA counter-attacked against two military bases.

Military outpost attacked in Karen

The resistance group Cobra Column 2 Venom claimed to have killed five regime forces as they conducted two ambushes against regime forces at the Ukayit Hta military outpost in Myawaddy Township, Karen State on Wednesday.

Junta bases attacked in Karen

At least three junta soldiers were killed and six injured in Hpapun Township, Karen State on Sunday and Monday when Brigade 5 of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), attacked two junta bases, the KNU said.

Army captain killed in Bago

Bago Region PDF said its member Okpho Underground Guerilla Force killed army Captain Tin Myo Aung in Okpho Township, Bago Region on Thursday. A weapon and some documents were seized from him.

Junta forces ambushed in Sagaing while looting houses

Kyauk Lone Gyi PDF said it and other resistance groups jointly ambushed an advance unit of 35 regime forces while they were looting houses near Sithu Log Yard in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday, killing seven soldiers.

The resistance groups seized a weapon, two bullet proof vests and three phones along with some gold that the soldiers had stolen from civilian houses. The regime forces also stole logs belonging to civilians from the Sithu log yard.

On Monday, the junta troops also arbitrarily shot dead a woman harvesting betel leaves in Thanpho Village in the township, the PDF group said.

Police station pounded by drones in Sagaing

Seventeen junta soldiers including an army captain were killed in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region at 2:45 a.m. on Sunday when 11 resistance groups jointly conducted drone strikes using six drones against the police station at Nyaung Pin Wun Village, said Civilians Defense and Security Organization of Myaung (CDSOM), which joined the mission.

On that evening, regime forces held a military funeral and a gun salute for the dead soldiers at the police station, the resistance group said.

Military checkpoints raided in Tanintharyi

Three regime forces were killed and four others injured in Yebyu Township, Tanintharyi Region on Tuesday when six resistance groups attacked a miliary checkpoint near Yebyu Bridge, said Tavoy People Liberation Force, which took part in the attack.

Clash erupts in Launglon

Dawei Guerilla group said it and Dawei Defense Team attacked a military unit of 80 troops near a mountain in Launglon Township, Tanintharyi Region on Sunday.

Before the shootout, the resistance groups abandoned their mission to ambush the junta unit with land mines, as the regime forces used many civilian detainees as human shields.

In the clash, the resistance groups lost many rounds of ammunition and two mobile phones along with a motorbike.

Miliary casualties were unknown.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Myanmars junta are engaging in more battles across Kachin State with the repeated use of airstrikes.

Junta troops reportedly killed at least three out of 10 civilians seized from Kyauk Htone Gyi and Inn Da Yant villages in Katha Township, Sagaing Region, since August 23, according to residents.

They arrested seven men and three women to use as human shields and we found three dead men on August 25 in the jungle near Wel Ma village, said a resident.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Rural civilians are repeatedly being seized as human shields across Kachin State.

A junta convoy was attacked near Mogaung Township on August 19, leading to at least 17 abductions, including the seizure of a child, accusing them of supporting the Kachin Peoples Defence Force (PDF).

Among those detained from Moe Gaung was Pyaw Len Lawk who was killed at an interrogation center on August 27. The whereabouts of the others are still unknown.

The KIA and PDFs are conducting joint operations. On Friday morning KIA Brigade 5 and Myo Hla PDF seized a police station in Kyauk Gyi village, Shwegu Township, after 90 minutes of fighting.

A member of Myo Hla PDF said the regime suffered heavy casualties and responded with airstrikes, although casualty numbers were unknown.

Clashes were reported on the major Myitkyina-Bhamo road on Sunday and Monday.

The Kamaing-Hpakant road was reopened on Monday after being closed for five days after fighting and the seizure of numerous civilians as human shields.

Numerous Nant Yar villagers have been missing since August 22 and their whereabouts are still unknown.

Light Infantry Division 33 troops are still being deployed across the jade-mining hub of Hpakant, according to KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu, who said his forces are preparing to attack.

He said at least 80 junta troops had been injured around Nam Sang Yang village near the KIA headquarters.

The conflict in Kachin State is expected to worsen in the coming days. Since the coup, intense fighting has occurred in Karen State. Now that is coming to Kachin State, Col Naw Bu said.

The KIA and residents said the junta is increasingly using allied militias in fighting with junta reinforcements arriving from Shan State.

Col Naw Bu said the junta is training militias, including in the use of artillery.
Friday, Sep 1st, 2023 (7:53 am) - Score 8,232

Internet service provider YouFibre, which predominantly harnesses Netomnias growing UK Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based network (currently available to 600,000 premises), has today officially taken the wrappings off one of the countrys fastest 8Gbps (Gigabits per second) broadband packages for homes!

Regular ISPreview readers wont be surprised by this because the boss of YouFibres parent network, Jeremy Chelot, revealed his plan a week ago as part of an interview with the CEO of another provider (here). Jeremy said: Everybody right now is making a headline about doing 2Gbps. I can do 8Gbps, so why not do a headline with 8Gbps, before adding that it was about having a bit of fun to show whats possible (marketing plays a role).

NOTE: DigitalBridge and other investors, has ambitions of reaching 1 million premises by early 2024 in parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland ( Netomnia s network, supported by funding of 648m fromand other investors, has ambitions of reaching 1 million premises by early 2024 in parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland ( coverage plan  plus additions here here and here ).

The reality is that the vast majority of consumers dont NEED and couldnt even harness (explainer) this sort of speed, although its worth noting that some other countries have had 10Gbps tiers for quite a few years (e.g. Singapore). Similarly, YouFibre are by no means the first UK ISP to offer such a ridiculously fast tier to consumers either, with others like B4RN having launched a more expensive 10Gbps option back in 2020, but their coverage is very limited.

The reality today is that, for most providers, 1-3Gbps packages seems to be a more common target in the UK market, which is partly because its difficult to feed enough capacity to meet the performance expectations of even faster tiers. But this is less of an issue for YouFibre as, given the price and realities of such a service, they arent anticipating a particularly significant level of take-up.

The 8Gbps Package (symmetric)



The new package costs 99 per month on a 24-month term, which may seem expensive, but it really isnt for this level of performance. Just for a quick comparison, Zzoomm charges 54.95 per month for 2Gbps, CommunityFibre charges 49 for 3Gbps and B4RN will give you 10Gbps (8Gbps is probably more realistic for the advertised average) for 150 per month plus 360 setup.

According to Jeremy, the new package is being supported by a beast of a router, although at the time of writing we havent yet got the full specification sheet for this. Naturally, any device able to support a 10Gbps transfer will have to be very capable indeed. But we should point out that, per the usual advertising rules, the new service is being promoted as having an average advertised rate of 7Gbps.

Take note that you can optionally add a mesh WiFi system to this package for an extra 7 per month, while adding a Static IP costs 5 and adding a VoIP Phone service with unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK Landlines is an additional 3.

UPDATE 8:10am

The included router is an Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000, which typically retails around the 500 mark. Not bad for a package with no setup fee! This is an Ultrafast WiFi 6E (802.11ax) device with dual 10G WAN/LAN ports and one 2.5G WAN port (they use the 10G LAN/WAN port to link with the ONT, rather than the WAN one).
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VOA60 World- Israel's military on Friday raided an apartment suspected to be housing militants in the northeastern West Bank town of Tubas












VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FIREWEED METALS CORP. (Fireweed or the Company) (TSXV: FWZ; OTCQB: FWEDF, formerly Fireweed Zinc Ltd.) is pleased to announce the closing of the non-brokered private placement (the Offering) first announced August 10, 2023.

Highlights

$16.8 million total raised to expand the 2023 drill program and support other exploration

The Lundin Family, through their Trusts, subscribed for a total of 4,635,000 shares

Other key shareholders subscribed including Larry Childress for 1,400,000 shares and Teck Resources Limited for 700,000 shares

The Offering

The Offering consisted of 8,750,000 flow-through common shares of the Company at a price of CAD$1.92 per share through a charitable donation arrangement or directly (Premium Flow-through Shares).

The proceeds from the Offering will be used for exploration and development of the Companys projects in northern Canada. The gross proceeds from the issuance of all Premium Flow-through Shares will be used on the Companys projects to incur Canadian Exploration Expenses (CEE) which will qualify as flow-through critical mineral mining expenditures under the Income Tax Act (Canada). These expenses will be renounced by the Company to the purchasers of Premium Flow-through Shares with an effective date no later than December 31, 2023, in an aggregate amount no less than the proceeds raised under the Offering.

Insiders of the Company acquired an aggregate of 6,085,000 Common Shares in the Offering, which participation constituted a related party transaction as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (MI 61-101). Such participation is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as neither the fair market value of the securities acquired by the insiders, nor the consideration for the securities paid by such insiders, exceed 25% of the Companys market capitalization. As required by MI 61-101, the Company advises that it expects to file a material change report relating to the Offering less than 21 days from completion of the Offering, as the nature of the related party transaction is relatively immaterial, and was not necessary to complete the Offering, and can generally be considered reasonable in the circumstances. The Company will pay finders fees in compliance within the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable securities legislation, to arms length finders in connection with subscriptions from subscribers introduced by them, totaling $61,355.48 and 46,945 warrants exercisable for 12 months from the date of issuance to acquire common shares of the Company at an exercise price of $1.37 per share.

Closing of the Offering is subject to certain customary conditions, including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals and acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day following the date of closing.

About Fireweed Metals Corp. (TSXV: FWZ; OTCQB: FWEDF; FSE:20F): Fireweed Metals is a public mineral exploration company on the leading edge of Critical Minerals project development. Fireweed is well-funded, with a healthy working capital position, and is well-positioned to carry out the large 2023 exploration program. The Company has three projects located in Canada:

Macmillan Pass Project (Zinc-Lead-Silver) : Fireweed owns 100% of the district-scale 940 km 2 Macmillan Pass project in Yukon, Canada, which is host to one of the largest undeveloped zinc resources in the world* where the Tom and Jason zinc-lead-silver deposits have current Mineral Resources 1 (11.21 Mt Indicated Resource at 6.59% zinc, 2.48% lead, and 21.33 g/t silver; and 39.47 Mt Inferred Resource at 5.84% zinc, 3.14% lead, and 38.15 g/t silver) and a Preliminary Economic Assessment 2 (PEA). In addition, Boundary Zone, Tom North and End Zone have significant zinc-lead-silver mineralization drilled but not yet classified as mineral resources. The project also includes large blocks of adjacent claims with known showings and significant upside exploration potential.

Fireweed owns 100% of the district-scale 940 km Macmillan Pass project in Yukon, Canada, which is host to one of the largest undeveloped zinc resources in the world* where the Tom and Jason zinc-lead-silver deposits have current Mineral Resources (11.21 Mt Indicated Resource at 6.59% zinc, 2.48% lead, and 21.33 g/t silver; and 39.47 Mt Inferred Resource at 5.84% zinc, 3.14% lead, and 38.15 g/t silver) and a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). In addition, Boundary Zone, Tom North and End Zone have significant zinc-lead-silver mineralization drilled but not yet classified as mineral resources. The project also includes large blocks of adjacent claims with known showings and significant upside exploration potential. Mactung Project (Tungsten) : The Company owns 100% interest in the 37.6 km 2 Mactung Project located adjacent to the Macmillan Pass Project. Recently announced mineral resources for Mactung (41.5 Mt Indicated Resource at 0.73% WO 3 and 12.2 Mt Inferred Resource at 0.59% WO 3 ) 3 make it the worlds largest high-grade resource of the Critical Mineral tungsten*. Located in Canada, it is one of the rare large tungsten resources outside of China*.

The Company owns 100% interest in the 37.6 km Mactung Project located adjacent to the Macmillan Pass Project. Recently announced mineral resources for Mactung (41.5 Mt Indicated Resource at 0.73% WO and 12.2 Mt Inferred Resource at 0.59% WO ) make it the worlds largest high-grade resource of the Critical Mineral tungsten*. Located in Canada, it is one of the rare large tungsten resources outside of China*. Gayna River Project (Zinc-Lead-Gallium-Germanium): Fireweed owns 100% of the 128.75 km2 Gayna River project located 180 km north of the Macmillan Pass project. It is host to extensive mineralization including Critical Minerals zinc, gallium and germanium as well as lead and silver, outlined by 28,000 m of historical drilling and significant upside potential.

In Canada, Fireweed (TSXV: FWZ) trades on the TSX Venture Exchange. In the USA, Fireweed (OTCQB: FWEDF) trades on the OTCQB Venture Market for early stage and developing U.S. and international companies and is DTC eligible for enhanced electronic clearing and settlement. Investors can find Real-Time quotes and market information for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com. In Europe, Fireweed (FSE: 20F) trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Technical information in this news release has been approved by Fireweed Metals VP Geology, Jack Milton, Ph.D., P.Geo. (BC), a Qualified Person as defined under Canadian National Instrument 43-101.

Additional information about Fireweed and its projects can be found on the Companys website at FireweedMetals.com and at www.sedarplus.com

ON BEHALF OF FIREWEED METALS CORP.

Brandon Macdonald

CEO & Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements

Offering Disclosure Statements

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Companys securities in the United States. The Companys shares 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.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and information (forward-looking statements). All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included herein, including, without limitation, statements relating to interpretation of drill results, future work plans, the use of funds, and the potential of the Companys projects, are forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects, "anticipates, "believes, "intends, "estimates, "potential, "possible, and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will, "may, "could, or "should occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of Company management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Company management and reflect the beliefs, opinions, and projections on the date the statements are made. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties and accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include but are not limited to, exploration and development risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, expenditure and financing requirements, general economic conditions, changes in financial markets, the ability to properly and efficiently staff the Companys operations, the sufficiency of working capital and funding for continued operations, title matters, First Nations relations, operating hazards, political and economic factors, competitive factors, metal prices, relationships with vendors and strategic partners, governmental regulations and oversight, permitting, seasonality and weather, technological change, industry practices, uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and laboratory tests, and one-time events. The Company assumes no obligation to update forwardlooking statements or beliefs, opinions, projections or other factors, except as required by law.

Footnotes and References

* References to relative size and grade of the Mactung resources and Macmillan Pass resources in comparison to other tungsten and zinc deposits elsewhere in the world, respectively, are based on review of the Standard & Poors Global Market Intelligence Capital IQ database.

1: For details and QP statements, see https://www.sedarplus.ca/ Fireweed Technical Report titled NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Macmillan Pass Zinc-Lead-Silver Project, Watson Lake and Mayo Mining Districts Yukon Territory, Canada filed on https://www.sedarplus.ca/ on February 23, 2018, and Fireweed News Release dated January 10, 2018.

2: For details and QP statements, see https://www.sedarplus.ca/ Fireweed Technical Report titled NI 43-101 Technical Report Macmillan Pass Project Yukon Territory Canada filed on https://www.sedarplus.ca/ on July 9, 2018, and Fireweed News Release dated May 23, 2018. This Technical Report includes a Preliminary Economic Analysis disclosing an economic analysis of mineral resources that is preliminary in nature and does not include any mineral reserves. It is equally emphasized that the mineral resources disclosed within this Technical Report are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

3: For details and QP statements, see Fireweed news release dated June 13, 2023 Fireweed Metals Announces Mineral Resources for the Mactung Project: the Largest High-Grade Tungsten Deposit in the World and the technical report entitled NI 43-101 Technical Report, Mactung Project, Yukon Territory, Canada, with effective date July 28, 2023 filed on https://www.sedarplus.ca/

Contact: Brandon Macdonald

Phone: (604) 646-8361

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
On July 20, 2023, the Appeals Chamber of the Special Criminal Court (SCC) in the Central African Republic handed down its first judgment on the merits. The ruling went largely unnoticed. However, it offers a real double added value: controlling the work of the trial chamber, and guiding the judges in their future task.

The Appeals Chamber was called to rule on the SCC trial court judgment handed down on October 31, 2022. Issa Sallet Adoum, Yaouba Ousman and Mahamat Tahir had been found guilty of crimes against humanity for murder and other inhumane acts, and war crimes for murder and outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment. In addition, Issa Sallet Adoum was found guilty as superior of rape committed by his subordinates, constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The three defendants are former members of the armed group known as "3R" (Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation), led by Sidiki Abass, who died in 2021. This armed group was officially founded to protect the Peuhl minority from the exactions of the "anti-balaka" self-defence militias. The acts attributed to them were perpetrated in the villages of Lemouna and Koundjili, in northwest CAR, in May 2019. At least 32 people died in the attack. At the end of the trial, Issa Sallet Adoum was sentenced to life imprisonment and his two co-defendants to 20 years' imprisonment. All three appealed.

Appeals Chamber corrects errors

In its ruling of July 20, the Appeals Chamber deemed that the trial court judgment contained a number of errors and shortcomings, both in form and substance. It acquitted Issa Sallet Adoum of other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity and the war crime of outrages upon personal dignity, in relation to the events at Koundjili. In its view, the trial chamber failed to show that such acts had been committed prior to the murders of civilians attributed to the accused. But instead of sending the case back to the Assize Division for retrial, as it could have done, the Appeal Chamber decided to rule directly, correcting the errors itself. It sentenced Issa Sallet Adoum to 30 years' imprisonment for the other crimes against humanity and war crimes. It also confirmed that Yaouba Ousman and Mahamat Tahir were guilty as charged, and sentenced them to 20 years' imprisonment.

The Appeals Court also considered that the October 31, 2022 judgment fails to meet the requirements of national and international law with regard to the reasoning of its factual findings on which the guilty verdict and sentences are based. These shortcomings concern the analysis of a non-international armed conflict in which the 3R armed group took part, the characterization of the existence of a systematic and widespread attack, the qualification of the factual findings, the description of the different types of criminal liability applicable, and the individualization of the sentences. On this point, the Appeals Chamber considered that the most appropriate response in the interests of justice was not to refer the case back to the Trial Chamber. Instead, it should itself determine the key points in question.

Setting a model for judgments

This is the first definitive decision handed down by the SCC, a temporary hybrid court created in June 2015 to investigate, prosecute and judge serious violations of human rights and International Humanitarian Law committed on the territory of the Central African Republic (CAR) since January 1, 2003. This in itself represents a step forward in the fight against impunity for the perpetrators of atrocities in the CAR. Really operational only since 2018, the SCC was so slow to issue its first decisions that there were doubts it could meet the expectations of the local population and the international community on the repression of atrocities by warlords. This belated first step is undoubtedly a step in the right direction.

The July 20, 2023 judgment shows all the rigour required to meet the standards of international justice. Solidly reasoned, it is based on national and international law. It refers to the decisions of the International Criminal Court, the Extraordinary African Chambers, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Specialized Chambers for Kosovo and the international tribunals for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. The predominantly international composition of the Appeals Chamber - which includes one German and one French judge - has contributed to bringing logic, rigour and intellectual richness to the ruling.

But the judgment does more than simply state the reasons for the decision, and reiterates the need for the trial chamber to provide sufficiently reasoned decisions (a legal requirement, as well as a historical one, it points out). In an educational way, it proposes a standard judgment plan in seven parts (reminder of the procedure, information about the accused (personal details, level of education, marital status, occupation), relevant factual conclusions established, analysis of the evidence, legal analysis, sentencing (the various factors that led the trial court to choose the sentence, including mitigating and aggravating circumstances).

This model plan is a practical tool that will be very useful for trial courts in future. The outline proposed will enable them, over and above the variety of facts and situations submitted to them, to follow a coherent approach, harmonize their reasoning and limit the risk of their judgments being overturned. This is an original and particularly welcome approach for an internationalized jurisdiction which must place efficiency and speed at the heart of its action.

Recommended reading Central African Republic: Special Criminal Court hands down first judgment
To listen to the podcast, click on the "play" button below:

This month Sweden is putting two oil executives on trial, charged with complicity in war crimes committed in what is now South Sudan, between 1999 and 2003.

On Tuesday 5th September, the case against Ludin Oils former Chief Executive Ian Lundin and its former vice president, Alex Schneiter, finally begins.

Its alleged that between 1999 and 2003, the Lundin Oil company paid the Sudanese army and allied militia forces to secure oil operations in southern Sudan. Swedish prosecutors say that once the company found oil in an area known as Block 5A in 1999, these military and militia groups led numerous violent operations to take control of the area.

These systematic and indiscriminate attacks, the prosecutors say included aerial bombardments from transport planes, shooting civilians from helicopter gunships, abducting and plundering civilians and burning entire villages and their crops so that people did not have anything to live of. A period grimly referred to as the oil wars.

Both men deny the charges.

It has been over ten years since the start of criminal investigations into Lundin Oil and two years since the two executives were formally charged with aiding and abetting war crimes. Back then we did a podcast on the indictments. You can check it out here.

During that episode, we spoke with Egbert Wesselink of the Dutch non-profit organisation PAX. The organisation released a detailed report called Unpaid Debt in 2010 of what had happened and how Lundin executives could be prosecuted under Swedish law.

Its unusual for corporations and the individuals within them to face consequences for human rights violations. As such, many are hailing this as a rare case of corporate accountability, with comparisons being made to the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

In this episode we speak to Mark Klamberg, Professor of Public International Law at Stockholm University and Tara Van Ho, Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex, about what we can expect from this trial and the broader implications it has for corporations and their executives when it comes to their human rights conduct.

Recommended reading Oil and war crimes: Swedish justice in the front line
#Tokio| Canciller Gervasi efectuo una presentacion sobre la situacion actual y la economia del Peru ante altos funcionarios de mas de 80 empresas ????, en el marco del Seminario sobre Economia y Oportunidades de Negocios, que abordo temas de mineria, infraestructura, entre otros. pic.twitter.com/kHIcVIfTxv
"I'm not sure whose cat Kiddo was," Allan Janus, a museum specialist in the archives department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, says via email. "He may have been a stray who was adopted by America's crew, though Wellman said he was the pet of one of the crew."

Whatever the case, Kiddo (as he later became known) did not, initially, want to be part of the historic voyage. Later, the navigator Simon gave this account to The New York Times:

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"All the time we have been towed to sea I am chiefly worried by our cat, which is rushing around the airship like a squirrel in a cage. I was at the wheel and Jack Irwin, the wireless man, who was seated in the lifeboat suspended from the car of the airship, cried out to me, 'This cat is raising hell; I believe it's going mad.'"

Kiddo, notably, was the subject of the first wireless transmission from an aircraft.

" " Kiddo, the first cat to attempt to cross the Atlantic by airship, and Melvin Vaniman, engineer of the airship America. Kiddo was the subject of the first-ever wireless radio message sent from an aircraft. Library of Congress

"Roy," either Irwin or Vaniman wired, "come and get this - - -damn cat."

The crew was so discombobulated by the cat's antics early in the flight that Kiddo was put in a bag and lowered toward a trailing boat of newspapermen as the America was being towed to sea. The handoff couldn't be completed, though, and Kiddo was brought back onboard.

The cat eventually settled down as the hours passed and the ship drifted from its target. Some 72 hours later, after 1,008 miles (1,622 kilometers) in the air, the America was abandoned at sea near Bermuda  the ship was never to be seen again  and its crew was rescued by a passing steamship. The wooden lifeboat is now among the artifacts at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Back in New York, the crew was welcomed as heroes. Photos were snapped for The Times with Kiddo front and center. "For a time," Janus says, "he was displayed at Gimbels department store in a gilded cage. Afterward, he retired from aviation and lived with Wellman's daughter in Washington, D.C."

The last flight of America was not, technically, a successful one. But no airship had ever traveled so far (albeit in the wrong direction). America brought the dream of flight, of crossing oceans in a human-made flying machine, closer to reality than it ever had been.

"We sacrificed our airship, but we saved our lives," Simon wrote after America's voyage, "and, above all, as Mr. Wellman and Mr. Vaniman will show when they write their technical reports, we have gathered a vast amount of useful knowledge which will help largely in the solution of big problems relating to the navigation of the air. And we also saved the cat!"

Now That's Interesting The first trans-Atlantic airship voyage was completed about nine years after America was lost, in July 1919, by the British airship R34. The 643-foot (196-meter) ship carried a stowaway kitten named Whoopsie.
This 2023, Gong Seung Yeon returned to the limelight as a paramedic and Kim Rae Won's love interest in the action drama "The First Responders 2."

She proved that she's an amazing actress who boasts an ethereal beauty and grace, making her one of the most sought-after stars in Hallyu today.

Let's learn how much Gong Seung Yeon earns at 30, and how she spends her hard-earned money. Keep on reading.

Gong Seung Yeon Earns Thousands Per Episode

Gong Seung Yeon grew up in a rich household with an enviable lifestyle as her father, Yoo Chang Jun, was a private chef for South Korea's former president Kim Dae Jung.

It's not surprising that the actress enjoyed a comfortable life growing up. However, she still worked hard to get atop in the acting industry.

The "The First Responders" star earns mostly through her acting career with a salary of an estimated amount of 50,000 USD per episode.

Her most notable works include "My Lovely Girl," "Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Introvert Boss," to name a few.

Gong Seung Yeon's net worth amounts to a whopping 15 million USD, and it's expected to increase in the coming years as she accepts more roles in the future.

Despite the big amount of assets, Gong Seung Yeon remains humble and down-to-earth, which earned her high praises not only from fans but also from her beloved colleagues.



Here's How Gong Seung Yeon Spends Her Millions

Besides her designer purses and other luxury items, Gong Seung Yeon makes sure that she wisely spends her hard-earned money.

Every year, the "The First Responders" star devoted her heart to stray animals. Together with her sister TWICE Jeongyeon, she would always extend help to animal shelters.

Recently, the sisters donated over 53 million KRW (approximately 45,000 USD) worth of pet care products and other supplies to the non-government organization Ansung Animal Care.

The two also spent their time helping the staff at the animal shelter despite their busy schedules. In fact, the celebrity sisters have been volunteering and donating to animal shelters for years now.

Gong Seung Yeon and Jeongyeon are members of the Blue Angel Volunteer Corps, a group who help abandoned animals created by Natural Balance in 2013.

They also adopted dogs and cats from abandoned shelters, giving their fur babies new homes and eternal love. Gong Seung Yeon now lives with her pets whom she refers to as "family."

The actress has two dogs namely Bbosong and Nanan, and a cat called Bam. She and her sister have also spread their "good influence" to others including TWICE Momo and Tzuyu.

Have you seen Gong Seung Yeon's "The First Responders 2"? Tell us what you think in the comments below!

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Delta Air Lines apologized following the social media rant that Lee Hyeri shared during her experience with the company.

With her Instagram, the actress regularly updates her fans with her vacation photos abroad. However, netizens were surprised after the celebrity called out an international airline for having an unacceptable experience.

Lee Hyeri Criticizes International Airline for Bad Service

Lee Hyeri's Instagram story featured a part of the airline ticket along with a message stating what really happened.

According to her, the international airline downgraded her first-class ticket to economy without offering a refund. Lee Hyeri mentioned in her post that she booked first class one and a half months before the scheduled flight.

"The only option that they offered me was to either fly economy at the price of a first-class ticket or to walk away and wait for the next flight," she wrote.

Frustrated and disappointed with the airline's service, Lee Hyeri calls it "the most absurd experience I've been going through recently."

Although she didn't mention the name of the airline, a snapshot of her flight ticket revealed that it was Delta Air Lines.

Delta Air Lines Apologizes for the Incident Over Lee Hyeri's Instagram Post

After the post blew up in various media outlets and social media, Delta Air Lines responded to the actress' claims.

As obtained by a news outlet, the company explained that the situation happened inevitably as some flights needed to undergo unexpected changes for safe operation.

"As is customary in these cases, Delta will recommend the passenger to board the next available first-class flight or offer the option of refunding the difference in seat price when traveling in economy class," a representative shared.

Moreover, when it comes to remuneration, things like this need to be compensated based on "the amount for the difference is in the process of being refunded."

As for Lee Hyeri's bad experience with the company, Delta Air Lines expressed an apology "for the inconvenience."

In a different report, Maeil Business Newspaper Star Today received a response from the company saying that they escalated the incident to the "relevant department" and will conduct an investigation.

As for questions regarding racial discrimination, the company remained silent and did not make further comments about it.

"There's nothing we can answer at the moment," a representative said.

Lee Hyeri is best known as a member of the all-female group Girl's Day. After being in the group for years, she transitioned into acting with her breakthrough K-drama, the hit series "Reply 1988."

Now, she has a ton of successful projects under her name, which includes "Miss Lee," "My Roommate Is a Gumiho," and "May I Help You."

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
Two of the three fires making up a devastating wildfire complex that destroyed almost 200 homes around Lake Okanagan in the B.C. Interior are now under control. Smoke from the McDougall Creek fire is seen over Okanagan Lake from Kelowna, B.C., on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Joe O'Connal
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Ministry of Defense has denied accusations by Azerbaijan of amassing military equipment near the border.

In a statement, the Armenian Ministry of Defense warned that Azerbaijan, by spreading such disinformation, seeks to commit new provocations in continuation of its shelling of Sotk on Friday morning, which left two Armenian soldiers dead and one wounded.

The Azerbaijani propaganda is disseminating disinformation that the Armenian Armed Forces are concentrating a large number of weapons, military equipment, and personnel in the Sotk [section]. By disseminating such false information, the Azerbaijani side creates an informational basis to continue yet another provocation that began this morning in the direction of Sotk, the defense ministry said in a statement on social media.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan is amassing military equipment and troops near the Armenian border in the direction of Sotk, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Friday.

As a result of the monitoring of the relevant units of the Armenian Armed Forces, measures of concentration of military equipment and additional personnel of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces are recorded in the direction of Sotk, reads a statement released by the defense ministry.
In a statement late on Thursday, the government put the toll at 43 dead, with 56 injured and 158 people apprehended, including the sect leader.

It said it supported the investigation opened by the military auditor so that those responsible can be brought to justice.

Two unverified video clips circulating on social media on Thursday appeared to show Congolese soldiers throwing lifeless bodies  some drenched in blood  into the back of a military vehicle.

Congolese security forces shot and killed dozens of protesters, and wounded scores more, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

DRC forces appear to have fired into a crowd to prevent a demonstration, an extremely callous as well as unlawful way to enforce a ban, said Thomas Fessy, senior Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The organisation said senior military officials who ordered the use of unlawful lethal force should be suspended, investigated, and held accountable in fair and public trials.

 Anti-UN sentiment 

The Democratic Republic of Congos east has been ravaged by militia violence for three decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.

The UN peacekeeping mission in the region is one of the largest and costliest in the world, with an annual budget of about $1 billion.

But the UN comes in for sharp criticism in the central African nation, where many people perceive the peacekeepers as failing to prevent conflict.

Last year, dozens were killed in anti-UN protests across eastern Congo, including four peacekeepers.

The latest violence comes amid an ongoing debate over when the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC, known as MONUSCO, should leave the country.

 Perceived inaction 

Last year, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi told French media there was no reason for MONUSCO to remain beyond the December 2023 presidential election.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said in August that the peacekeeping mission is in its final phase.

The departure date remains unclear, however.

MONUSCO continues to be a focus of popular discontent and frustration over its perceived inaction, Guterres said.

Although UN officials admit to broad frustrations, they also argue that MONUSCO is subject to disinformation campaigns.

The force has a current strength of about 16,000 uniformed personnel, mainly deployed in Congos mineral-rich east.

Militias continue to hold sway over much of the region, despite the presence of peacekeepers.

One group, the M23, has captured swathes of territory in North Kivu province since 2021, for example.

Several Western nations including the United States and France, as well as independent UN experts, have concluded that Rwanda is backing the Tutsi-led M23. Rwanda denies this, however.
The European Union Delegation to Uganda has asked the government to involve the youth in implementing the countrys policies if the country is to achieve peace and economic development.

The European Ambassador to Uganda, Mr. Jan Sadek says young people play a big role in shaping the countrys development.

He says the youth must also be empowered to take charge of their own lives.

He made the remarks while officiating at the launch of the European Union Delegation Youth Sounding Board at his residence in Kololo, Kampala.

Youth empowerment is a top priority for the EU and the EU believes that young people must be involved in shaping and implementing its external action. The Youth Sounding Board aims to create a real change in how the EU engages with young people at global and local levels, Sadek said.

He says the activity, which begins with lower-level dialogues, brings together elected youth representatives right from the village level up to the national level to discuss matters of importance to the youth across Uganda.
By STEPHEN KAFEERO

A Supreme Court judge, who put the Judiciary to test by suing its top brass, has formally requested to retire early from the bench.

Justice Esther Kitimbo Kisaakye communicated her decision to quit Ugandas highest appellate court to President Museveni, the appointing authority, in a July 18 letter.

The letter is copied to Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, the chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission and the Judiciary Permanent Secretary/Secretary  three principals she took to the Constitutional Court. Read more
Councilors sitting at city hall have put to task the technical wing to explain why five of their fellow councilors have not received their remuneration for the past two months.

This followed a complaint tabled by Fausta Nalubega Bitaano representing Makindye West II, indicating that their fellow councilors hadnt received their remuneration for the past two months.

The five councilors include the workers councilor Bismarck Ssempijja who is on study leave in Canada, the youth councilor Awali Namusisi who is on maternity leave in Canada, Elimiya Masembe who is in America, Rashid Kakande, a councilor representing Kawempe and Immaculate Nalwadda, a councilor from Makindye.

However, the Town Clerk, Mr. Dan Muhumuza noted that the five councilors have missed 4 council sittings, contrary to the Local Government Act that directs on how a councilor should be punished once he misses council sittings which the Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka has given full backing.

The deputy speaker Nasur Masaba advised the executive director to consult with the office of the speaker before making the decision.

Meanwhile, Deputy Lord Mayor, Ms Doreen Nyanjura vowed to engage with the concerned departments to ensure that the five councilors are paid.
The Minister for Local Government, Mr. Raphael Magyezi has asked parliament to review the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Act.

Magyezi seeks to stop the Taxi Operators Association from collecting fees from taxi owners and operators in a bid to eliminate the ongoing infighting among taxi operators.

He made the remarks while appearing before the parliamentary Presidential Affairs Committee, chaired by Naome Kabasharira, in relation to a petition from taxi operators at Natete Taxi Park.

Magyezi says the infighting among taxi operators is caused by corruption in taxi management.

He said that KCCA should not allow any taxi associations to collect the fees on their behalf.

The challenge at hand is really the money. This infighting is about the corruption in that industry. In the park, they have brokers who are getting more money than the taxi operators. We must do what it takes to take away the collection of money from the associations.

Meanwhile, the minister says his ministry will work with the Ministry of Works and Transport to ensure that there are proper guidelines for the election of taxi operators leaders.
President Museveni who is also the Commander in Chief of the Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) has advised the retiring senior army officers to invest their retirement package wisely. He said that the retirement should not be regarded as becoming redundant.

You should do something small which you are sure of. Like a man called Nyakana in Fort Portal area. He has listened to our message and with 1.2 acres of land, he earns over Shs240m in a year from 8 cows of milk and poultry eggs so if you can get 5 acres, this is a lot of land that can help you to get a lot of income. If you invest in food production, you cannot go wrong. You see when we got Corona, things like tourism collapsed but eating never collapsed, Museveni emphasized.

The President made the appeal on Thursday at State House Entebbe as he officially retired 11 army generals, including former police boss Gen (Rtd) Kale Kayihura.

You are now going to become a new commissar and officer in a wider population. People will come to you, but they will come to you when you are stable, Museveni added.

The generals join other 99 Senior army officers from the rank of Major to Colonel who retired in August at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters in Mbuya, making a total of 110 senior officers who have retired this year.

The President advised the retirees not to misuse their retirement package by investing in ambitious projects like building schools and hotels.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani military has deployed UAVs and mortars in targeting Armenian border outposts near Sotk, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

At around 12:50 p.m., the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces used UAVs and mortars in the direction of Sotk. The Ministry of Defence will make an additional report, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Helping Irish Hosts, an organisation set up to facilitate and support Irish people to host displaced Ukrainians in their homes is coming to Kilkenny later this month.

The informational roadshow hosted by Kathy Sheridan, an award winning journalist with the Irish-Times, will take place at the Fr McGrath Centre, St Joseph's Road on Wednesday, September 13 at 7pm.

The event, hosted in partnership with Kilkenny LEADER Partnership, will celebrate the local community response, thank existing hosts, recruit new members and help make sure everyone feels confident about opening their homes to a Ukrainian family.

Nationally, more than 85,000 displaced Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland to date with approximately 15,816 Ukrainian people being hosted by over 7,000 Irish homeowners.

However, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, a high demand for Ukrainian accommodation remains.

Helping Irish Hosts Co-Founder and CEO, Angie Gough said: "Hosting is not a long term solution to the crisis we are in, but hosts and host communities are beating a path to something better, for all displaced people, and learning loads about ourselves and each other along the way. It's hard. Its true solidarity. It's human kindness in action."
A commemoration will take place in the coming weeks to honour Patrick OHanlon, a 16 year old who was was shot and killed in Kilkenny during the Irish Civil War.

The war was a divisive conflict that erupted following the establishment of the Irish Free State. Patrick OHanlon was a member of the anti-treaty IRA who was shot while a prisoner in Kilkenny Gaol and died a day later from his wounds in the Curragh military camp.

Patrick was the son of Mary and Patrick OHanlon Snr who moved to Carrick-on-Suir shortly after the end of World War I.

On August 3, 1922 Carrick was taken by Free State troops. Republicans who had previously held the town withdrew to the hills, and conducted a series of raids.

One of the caches arising from these raids contained sensitive documents, and shortly after one was discovered at Millvale, in March 1923, and a short time later Patrick OHanlon (then 16 years old) was arrested along with others by Free State soldiers and jailed in Clonmel. They were subsequently moved to Kilkenny jail where they remained without trial throughout the summer.

Following the end of the Civil War in June 1923, many Republican prisoners remained in jail. Patrick continued to be held without trial in Kilkenny where on 3 rd September 1923 he was shot in the leg by a sentry. He was immediately moved the Curragh military hospital where he died from his wounds the following day.

While the circumstances surrounding his shooting remain unclear to this day what is undisputed is that he was unarmed and defenceless at the time of his death. The soldier responsible for Patricks death is named on the Register of Death where he is described as discharging his duty to explain his actions.

However, the Registrar makes it clear that this account of events is deeply unsatisfactory and in a very unusual step includes the following comments on the Register: We consider the order issued a disgrace with regards to prisoners. We can consider the other prisoners in the cell should have been called as witnesses.

After Patricks death he was returned to his home in Carrick and arrangements were made for his funeral.

A ceremony to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Patrick OHanlons death will take place on Sunday, September 3 at 3pm at the Republican plot in St Marys Cemetery, Carrick Beg, Carrick On Suir.

The ceremony is being organised under the auspices of the 3rd Brigade Old IRA Commemoration Committee. It is a public event, and all are welcome.
Fitness trackers for cows? Its the latest technology helping out on Irish farms and a mother and daughter team in Kilkenny are putting it to excellent use!

The RISE Community Fund supported by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) and Granahan McCourt has awarded a 1000 grant to Goresbridge-based farmers Joanne Cushen and her mother, Bridget, in recognition of their entrepreneurial use of technology to embrace new advances in biodiversity and sustainable farming.

In partnership with Macra, the RISE Community Fund ran a national competition to find entrepreneurial young farmers with plans to use technology in innovative ways.

Running the mixed family farm, the mother and daughter team have several enterprises to manage, from dairy, sucklers, calf to beef, a small flock of ewes, tillage, forestry, and a brood mare.

Joanne impressed the judges with her desire to use technology to improve efficiencies and lower the carbon footprint of their various operations.

Our aim with the family farm is to produce high quality produce from all of our animals in a sustainable way, utilising all available technologies and new research, Joanne said.

We are delighted to receive this grant from the RISE Community Fund as the project were working on will provide a health monitoring system for our suckler weanlings. This system will provide us with 24-hour information about the animals, which spend their time grazing on parts of the farm that are about 900 feet above sea level. The remote monitoring technology means we will only have to commute to this part of the farm once a day, which frees up valuable time to expand other areas of the business.

David McCourt, technology entrepreneur, founder of RISE and Chairman of NBI, commented: Joanne is a fantastic example of a young farmer who is incredibly proactive in looking for ways to use technology to improve the operations of their family farm. By combining technology with her entrepreneurial mindset, shes not only making the farm more efficient, but also driving real environmental benefits which will make the farm more sustainable.
Agnes, Fergus and Nicholas are among storm names chosen by Irelands national forecaster for the coming autumn and winter period  in honour of eminent scientists from across the island.

The new list of names for the 2023/2024 storm season, which is in place from Friday, has been released by meteorological services in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands.

Storms are named when they could have a medium to high impact in Ireland, the UK or the Netherlands in order to make messaging to the public on how to prepare for severe weather easier.

Each service has chosen seven names on the alphabetical list (which excludes the letters q, u, x, y, and z).

Irelands Met Eireann has chosen to honour scientists who have made important contributions to science and benefits for humankind with its names.

The list of names chosen by Met Eireann are Agnes, Fergus, Jocelyn, Kathleen, Lilian, Nicholas, and Vincent.

These are after Irish astronomer and science writer Agnes Mary Clerke; scientist Fergus ORourke, who provided an authoritative description of Irish ants; Northern Ireland astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who discovered the first pulsating radio stars in 1967; and one of the mothers of computer programming, Kathleen Kay McNulty Mauchly Antonelli.

The other names chosen by Met Eireann honour Irish crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale; Anglo-Irish journalist and pioneer aviator Lilian Bland, the first woman in Ireland to build and fly an aircraft; physicist Nicholas Callan, who invented the induction coil that was used in early telegraphy; and Vincent Barry, who is best known for leading the team which developed the anti-leprosy drug clofazimine.

Professor Bell Burnell said: I am delighted to feature in this distinguished list celebrating science and hope that if a potential Storm Jocelyn happens, it may be a useful stirring-up rather than a destructive event.

Science advancements increase our knowledge and understanding of the world around us, and I think this is wonderful example of science-based services communications.

Eoin Sherlock, head of the forecasting division at Met Eireann, said that they were delighted to celebrate science and scientists in this seasons list of storm names.

He thanked the public for voting on what name the storm beginning with A should represent, resulting in Agnes.

Our warmest thanks to all who voted and to those who suggested other names that we will keep in mind for future seasons, he said.

He said storm naming was an important asset in making severe weather communications clearer and more effective.

He added: It connects our weather services more closely to the public, helping us in our mission to protect lives and property and ensuring the safety of our communities.
Children in Hospital Ireland (CIH Ireland) are looking for Kilkenny locals to support children at St Lukes General Hospital and to join their play volunteer team.

With almost 300 volunteers across 14 hospitals in Ireland, Children in Hospital Ireland creates play opportunities and eases the experience of hospitalisation for children and their families.

CIH Ireland also provides information and advocates on behalf of all children and their families to ensure they have access to the resources and supports.

Children in Hospital Ireland are looking for volunteers to dedicate two hours a week to play with children in the hospital.

Volunteers must be 18 years or older and will have the opportunity to engage in activities such as arts and crafts, story time, board games and more.

CIH Ireland is hosting an information evening in Kilkenny on September 21 for those interested in volunteering.

To register your interest in becoming a volunteer, please visit childreninhospital.ie.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The UK Ambassador to Armenia John Gallagher hosted a farewell reception for departing Chevening Scholars who have been selected for Masters degree scholarships at UK universities in 2023-2024, the UK Embassy said in a press release.

Members of the wider Chevening alumni family joined the event to congratulate the newcomers and to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Chevening.

The Ambassador also presented certificates to the four successful Scholars. He said:

For 40 years, Chevening has been building a global network of over 55000 Alumni who are creating positive change in their communities and for the world. An impressive bunch of around 200 Armenians grace this huge Chevening family.

Today, I congratulate these amazing four people who have joined them and will be studying at UKs best universities through Chevening Scholarships. I wish them good luck for this new chapter and hope they will invest their UK experience and knowledge in the development of Armenia.

Chevening Scholarships are the UK Governments global scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and partner organisations. The scholarships support Master's degrees studies at UK universities for individuals with demonstrable potential to become future leaders, decision-makers, and opinion formers.

As of today, there are around 200 Chevening alumni in Armenia, among them senior government officials and staff, members of parliament, influential civil society representatives and opinion makers, media professionals, staff of international agencies, and businesses.

Applications for 2024/2025 Chevening Scholarships will be open between 12 September and 7 November 2023.
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(Kitco News) - Diversified miner IGO (ASX: IGO) said today that FY23 has been "another successful year for the company, with continued strong operating and financial results driven by record earnings from the groups investment in its lithium joint venture with Tianqi.

The company reported FY23 revenue of A$1,024M, up 13% from the prior year, as well as record underlying EBITDA of A$1,987M, resulting in annual net profit after tax of A$549M (FY22: net profit of A$331M) and underlying free cash flow of A$1,098M (FY22: A$312M).

IGO noted outstanding contribution from its lithium joint venture with Tianqi, delivering IGO a share of net profit of A$1,604M and dividends of A$1,184M, adding that Greenbushes annual spodumene production of 1,491kt exceeded guidance and unit costs of goods sold were marginally above the top end of guidance at A$279/t.

The company said that production ramp-up at train 1 at the Kwinana lithium hydroxide refinery was challenged, however performance is expected to improve during FY24.

Group nickel production of 34,846t and cash costs of A$5.63 per payable pound of nickel were within revised guidance following solid operational performance from Nova and Forrestania, it added.

The company also recorded a $968M non-cash impairment against the assets acquired from Western Areas.

This impairment is disappointing, however IGO remains committed to optimizing value from the Western Areas assets as we work to grow our nickel business, the company said in a press release.

Acting CEO Matt Dusci commented, The delivery of record financial performance during FY23 has clearly demonstrated the transformation of IGO and our success in pursuing a strategy of being aligned to clean energy metals.

In FY23, we have generated the strongest set of financial results in IGOs 21-year history, with record revenue, EBITDA and net profit. This has enabled the declaration of a final dividend of 44c plus a 16c special dividend for FY23, bringing total dividends for FY23 to a record 74c per share, equivalent to A$560M in dividend payments.

We are clear on what we need to do to continue to create shareholder value in FY24, including the execution of the continued expansion at Greenbushes, the ramp-up of lithium hydroxide production from train 1 at Kwinana and demonstrating value at the Cosmos project. This will be coupled with safe and reliable delivery of production and costs within guidance at Greenbushes, Nova and Forrestania, he added.

IGO owns and operates the Nova nickel-copper-cobalt operation, the Forrestania nickel operation and the Cosmos nickel operation - all in Western Australia.

The company also invested in a lithium focused joint venture with its partner, Tianqi Lithium Corporation, which comprises a 51% stake in the Greenbushes lithium mine and 100% interest in a downstream processing refinery at Kwinana producing battery grade lithium hydroxide.
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(Kitco News) BlackRock  the worlds largest asset manager and a leading contender for a Spot Bitcoin ETF  is now reportedly getting into Bitcoin mining, and so much focus on the Bitcoin ecosystem from big Wall Street players might be dangerous for the worlds largest cryptocurrency, according to George Gammon, an investor, macroeconomics expert, and host of the Rebel Capitalist Show.

BlackRocks latest investment into four of the five largest Bitcoin miners by market cap was worth around $411 million, making it the second-largest shareholder of those mining stocks, according to Finbold, which cited CNN data. BlackRocks increase in holdings also boosted its influence in the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) - an American Bitcoin mining lobby group.

Prior to that, BlackRock applied for a Spot Bitcoin ETF in June, and given its near-perfect record for ETF filing approvals, it is seen as a top contender in securing this one as well.

The market is now carefully watching the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's deadlines to approve, reject, or postpone several spot Bitcoin ETF filings. On Thursday, the SEC announced a delay in its decision regarding the applications by BlackRock, Valkyrie, Invesco, and WisdomTree, pushing its ruling until at least October. Earlier, the SEC had already delayed its decision on the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF application.

Speaking to Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News, Gammon expressed concern that financial instruments like ETFs based on Bitcoin could harm Bitcoins original purpose to allow for decentralization of finance and an alternative to traditional banking.

They are trying to become vertically integrated in the ecosystem, Gammon said. You've got this really cool currency that was set up in a way to promote decentralization. And it was a way to de-financialize our economy. Unfortunately, when you have guys like Larry Fink trying to take control of it, he's going to take it right back to what he does with everything. They're financializing something that was meant to create an economy with less financial products.

And even though Gammon does not see these efforts as changing the use case for Bitcoin, he warns it is still very worrisome."

BlackRocks Spot Bitcoin ETF filing has a clause that has Bitcoin purists alarmed about the worlds largest asset manager gaining enough power to alter BTC  possibly transforming it from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. For more details on this clause and Gammons take on why it could be even more problematic now that BlackRock is taking over the Bitcoin mining space, watch the video above.

Approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF by the SEC will be good news for those holding Bitcoin to make money when the price goes up, Gammon added. However, for those holding Bitcoin as "wealth" rather than just a "currency," immediate gains are not the final goal.

One of the reasons we have these booms and busts is because the government comes in, they have all these entities to bail out  then you got Wall Street that just takes it to an extreme. And the next thing, you've got mortgage-backed securities, you've got derivatives valued at a quadrillion dollars, and it's this ticking time bomb, he said. If they do the exact same thing to Bitcoin, which I'm sure is their objective, then I don't see how that's a good thing.

Financial manipulation of the Bitcoin space is something to watch out for, Gammon noted, stating that a lot of paper Bitcoin could lead to similar manipulation techniques used with paper gold in the ETF futures market. Watch the video above for his explanation and manipulation warning.

Gammon also warned that the world could see a quick introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), adding that U.S. citizens wouldnt even know they'll be using it. For more on Gammons theory of why investors need to own alternative assets like Bitcoin and gold, watch the video above.

Gammon pointed out that even perfect money does not guarantee an ideal financial system. Even if we went to a Bitcoin standard, it might work well for a decade or two, but eventually, we're going to go right back to where we are today, he said. You can have perfect money. And if it's controlled by imperfect human beings, eventually it will behave imperfectly.

Worldcoin and its Orwellian reality

The new cryptocurrency project Worldcoin is creating a lot of negative buzz in the digital assets community, with a growing backlash tanking the WLD token nearly 50% in the last 30 days.

After the controversial cryptocurrency-biometric ID project launched last month, with more than two million sign-ups, regulators across the globe are not convinced that Worldcoin, spearheaded by Sam Altman - the man behind ChatGPT and CEO of OpenAI - is appropriately protecting peoples data.

Worldcoin has shifted its focus a few times since its inception and has raised many security and ethical questions. It went from the idea of distributing universal basic income (UBI) to creating a digital ID to help users prove they are human and not AI bots on the Internet.

At its core, Worldcoin has a disturbing onboarding process  the eye-ball scanning Orb, Gammon said. Worldcoin has been using biometric hardware called the Orb to scan peoples irises in exchange for 25 WLD tokens.

[This is] something that puts us right back on that path towards Orwell's 1984 [sci-fi novel]. They're not legal in the United States yet. That's why a lot of Americans haven't seen them," he said. This is the road to serfdom we've been hearing about."

Some countries raising an issue with this project include France, Argentina, and the United Kingdom, citing serious concerns about the projects data-collection activities. Kenyas government suspended Worldcoin earlier in August as it assesses the risks the coin poses to the population. And a German data watchdog - the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision - has also been investigating Worldcoin since late last year due to biometric data concerns.

The fact that regulators are worried is good, but it will take more than that to beat this scary future, Gammon pointed out.

Gammons solution is to have a rational plan to avoid the system. To get his advice, watch the video above.
Sept 1 (Reuters) - Pickering Energy Partners (PEP) is launching a financial advisory unit for oil and gas dealmaking, the investment firm said on Friday, doubling down on traditional fossil fuels as some banks are becoming wary about the industry and ramping up their bets on clean energy.

The launch of the investment banking unit marks a return to oil and gas advisory services for Dan Pickering, the veteran energy financier who helped form Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co, an energy boutique bank that was acquired by Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP.O) in 2016.

The new seven-member unit will be spearheaded by two former Barclays Plc (BARC.L) dealmakers, Jason Kivett and Robyn Underwood, and offer services including mergers & acquisitions advisory and capital markets issuance.

Houston-based PEP has an existing investment banking unit that focuses solely on energy transition, while the firm's other offerings include equity research, investment funds, and consulting services.

The current iteration of PEP was spun out of Perella Weinberg in 2019, and has since deployed more than $16 billion in capital across the energy industry, as per its website. All non-compete agreements between the two firms have now expired, enabling Pickering to pursue oil and gas advisory work.

Some banks in recent years have attempted to transition away from oil and gas, and place greater focus on dealmaking in the renewables industry, responding to the growth of green energy but also pressure from shareholders and regulators wary of fossil fuels and their role in causing climate change.

Banks including BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) have pulled back from oil and gas dealmaking over the past few years. More recently, Credit Suisse, once among the most active banks in the energy sector, shuttered its Houston office after being taken over by UBS Group AG (UBSG.S).

To be sure, many traditional lenders continue to advise the world's biggest oil and gas companies, earning lucrative fees for their efforts across a host of services.

This includes M&A, with dealmaking involving U.S. upstream companies at robust levels so far this year, as publicly-listed producers seek to add scale and inventory through mergers with rivals, and acquisitions of privately-held companies.

"This is a great time to be pushing more chips onto the table in the energy market, and that's what we're doing," Pickering told Reuters, adding his firm's investment banking arm plans to double headcount over the next two to four years.
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(Kitco News) - Talga Group (ASX: TLG) said today that the decision to grant the environmental and Natura 2000 permit for the companys Nunasvaara South graphite mine in Sweden stands as the Swedish Land and Environment Court of Appeal rejected permit appeals.

According to a press release, the Swedish Land and Environment Court approved the environmental and Natura 2000 permit for Nunasvaara on 5 April 2023.

However, a number of parties subsequently sought leave from the Swedish Land and Environment Court of Appeal to appeal the decision.

Talga said the Court of Appeal confirmed yesterday, 31 August 2023, that it has determined that there are no grounds to grant leave to appeal to any of the parties.

The Land and Environment Court decision to grant the environmental and Natura 2000 permit therefore stands, the company said.

In accordance with statutory process, the rejected parties have until no later than 28 September 2023 to appeal the Court of Appeals decision to the Supreme Court.

If no appeals are filed, the Nunasvaara environmental and Natura 2000 permit would come into force.

Talga Group is building a European battery materials supply chain. The company said it works with one of the highest-grade graphite resources in the world at its mine and coated anode production facilities in northern Sweden.

Located in north Sweden, the Vittangi graphite project (containing the Nunasvaara and Niska deposits) has a current total JORC (2012) resource of 36.9 million tonnes at 23.1% graphite ("Cg") - the highest grade graphite mineral resource defined under JORC/NI 43- 101 codes in the world.

The Vittangi graphite deposit has been declared a mineral deposit of national interest by the Swedish Geological Survey.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Raffi Hamparian has called upon U.S. Senators to place a hold on all nominations to the State Department, blocking any new confirmations until President Biden takes decisive action to break Azerbaijans 260+ day blockade of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

The ANCAs call is backed up by a nationwide advocacy campaign, empowering Armenian and allied Americans from all fifty states to send letters urging their Senators to take this principled stand  in accord with U.S. interests and American values. The action portal is www.anca.org/hold.

The ANCA is asking that a hold on U.S. diplomatic nominees remain in place until the Biden Administration has undertaken demonstrable steps to:

 Lead a United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning Azerbaijans blockade of Artsakh, sanctioning the Aliyev regime, and putting in place mechanisms to open land transit via the Lachin Corridor and to airlift supplies to Artsakh.

 Stop any new, current, or pending U.S. military or security assistance to Azerbaijan, and fully enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.

 Deliver emergency U.S. humanitarian assistance and longer term development aid to the Armenian victims of Azerbaijani aggression in Nagorno Karabakh, including by means of a humanitarian airlift;

 Enforce statutory sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for the genocidal blockade of Nagorno Karabakh.
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YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of encroaching on the territorial integrity of Armenia after Azeri forces killed 3 Armenian troops and wounded 2 others in a border attack on Friday.

Today, Azerbaijani Armed Forces , using UAVs and mortars, attacked positions towards the Armenian combat outposts nearby Sotk & Norabak, leaving 3 servicemen dead & 2 wounded. Encroachments on the territorial integrity of Armenia, combined with warmongering rhetoric, are a continuation of Azerbaijans policy, PM Pashinyan said in a post on X.

The Armenian Ministry of Defense initially reported that the death toll was 4, but then updated it to 3.
Genocide is being carried out in Nagorno-Karabakh today. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, stated in an interview with the VOA Armenian Service, News.am informed.

September 1, 2023, 09:50 Luis Moreno Ocampo: Genocide is being carried out in Karabakh

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 1, ARTSAKHPRESS: At the request of the Armenian side, he presented his expert opinion on the blocking of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan and the resultant catastrophic humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Reflecting on the five variants of the crime defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention, Ocampo singled out the creation of conditions for the extermination of a group of people, which does not even foresee the existence of casualties.

The 15 judges of the International Court of Justice unanimously decided that blocking the Lachin corridor poses an immediate threat to the lives of people living in Nagorno-Karabakh, he said.

In his opinion, the intentions of the Azerbaijani side are obvious. Baku continues to reject calls from the international community to reopen the Lachine corridor, ignoring the ruling of the International Court of Justice.

Luis Moreno Ocampo emphasized the use of the term "genocide" to alert the international community, especially the USA and France, which are engaged in the Karabakh negotiation process.

If we are dealing with a humanitarian crisis, then the international community can call for political talks, they can give other qualifications, but if it is genocide, then we have a different situation, he noted.

Referring to the discussion on the issue in the UN Security Council, and the fact that, apart from the Armenian side, no other country refrained from calling what happened a "genocide," Ocampo reminded that in the 1990s, during the Rwandan genocide, the UN Security Council was discussing "mass murders" while avoiding calling them "genocide."

According to him, countries do not want to recognize the genocide because in case of recognition, they have to resort to certain actions.

In the UN Security Council, each country defends its interests, but here they have no interest in that respect. Legally, everything is clear. It is complicated from a political point of view because the USA supports Azerbaijan in the conflict with Iran. Europe needs energy carriers coming from the region. So there are many political interests that influence the legal response, Ocampo said.

According to him, the United States, Russia, and France coming to an agreement on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh can put pressure on Azerbaijan and quickly achieve the reopening of the Lachin corridor.

It's the easiest way. If that doesn't work, of course there is the option of supplying the population with food via an airlift. But the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court believes that this is plan B.

As per the Argentinian lawyer, the United States has enough leverage to put pressure on Azerbaijan. At the same time, Washington simply cannot support Baku in exerting pressure on the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh because such a move would make the US an accomplice.

He drew attention to the fact that the problem is not only food, and the issue cannot be considered solved by delivering food once in an alternative way.

There is no reason that does not allow Azerbaijan to implement the decision of the international court, Luis Moreno Ocampo said.
FANUC Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, sale, and maintenance of computer numerical control (CNC) systems, lasers, robot systems, robomachines, robocop, robocut and nano robots. It operates through the following divisions: Factory Automation (FA), Robot, and Robomachine. The FA division provides products that enable factory automation, such as CNCs, which control machine tools with numerical information, servos and laser oscillators. The Robot division tasks can be automated by applying the basic technologies of CNCs and servos freely controlling robot arms. The Robomachine division develops compact machining centers, electric injection molding machines, wire electrical-discharge machines that apply the basic technologies of CNCs and servos. The company was founded by Seiuemon Inaba in 1955 and is headquartered in Minamitsuru-gun, Japan.
Firefighters extiguish a fire in a building in Johannesburg on Aug. 31. AFP-Yonhap



A fire that ripped through a five-storey building taken over for illegal housing killed 74 people including 12 children in central Johannesburg overnight, South African authorities said Thursday.



An additional 61 were injured and treated in hospital in one of the deadliest fires worldwide in recent years.



Bodies were discovered piled up at a security gate that was closed, preventing people from escaping the blaze, an official said.



Thembalethu Mpahlaza, the head of forensics services in Johannesburg's Gauteng province said a total of 74 bodies were recovered, 24 female, 40 male and 10 "burnt beyond recognition".



"We are having 12 children involved also in this tragedy," he told a press conference.



City authorities said the municipality-owned, listed building in a deprived, crime-ridden area had been turned into illegal housing after being abandoned.



Most of those living there were foreigners, one resident said.



"I'm grateful to be alive, there was a lot of us running, trying to find the fire exit and a lot of people eventually died because of the smoke inhalation," said Kenny Bupe, a survivor caught up in the blaze while visiting a friend.



The 28-year-old told AFP he was in a group that managed to break open a locked fire escape gate and run to safety, while others "jumped out" of windows.



Blankets and sheets used for escape hung from the burned-out windows, after the flames were put out.



Witnesses spoke of parents throwing their babies out into the street, hoping to save them.



"There were people catching the babies and there were also mattresses laid out for (them)," said Mac Katlego, 25, who lives across the street.



In the evening, rescuers were wrapping up search operations before handing the scene over to the police.





Medics stand by the covered bodies of victims of a deadly blaze in downtown Johannesburg, Thursday, Aug. 31. AP-Yonhap



Security gate closed



"This is a great tragedy, felt by families whose loved ones perished in this terrible manner," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at an event in the southern city of Gqeberha.



Visiting the scene later in the evening he said authorities were working "full out" to assist those affected, adding the disaster needed to be investigated.



"It's a wakeup call for us to begin to address the situation of housing in the inner cities," Ramaphosa said.



It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze. House fires are fairly common in the country, plagued by chronic power outages, where poverty and homelessness are widespread.



Authorities said candles used for lighting inside the structure or stoves and other heating devices were a likely cause.



The building, which has been evacuated, is located in what used to be the business district of South Africa's economic hub and was used as an informal settlement by people squatting there illegally, authorities said.



"Inside the building itself there was a (security) gate which was closed so people couldn't get out," said Mgcini Tshwaku, a member of the city's mayoral committee in charge of public safety.



"Many burned bodies were found stashed at that gate."



During the day, firefighters damped down hotspots as emergency services laid dead bodies under blankets on the street outside.



Paramedics assisted survivors, some looking bruised and visibly in pain.





Covered bodies are seen on the scene of a deadly blaze in downtown Johannesburg Thursday, Aug. 31. AP-Yonhap
On Instagram, Girl's Day Hyeri expressed her frustration after her bad experience with an airline that forced her to fly economy even after paying for first class. Here's the full story.

Hyeri Reveals Bad Experience With Foreign Airline: 'They told me to take the next flight...'

Girl's Day-turned-actress Lee Hyeri turned to Instagram to call out an international airline for an unfair act regarding her flight.

On August 31, the idol-actress revealed the story of her being downgraded to an economy class.

"Although I booked my first-class ticket about a month ago, I've been downgraded to an economy ticket without any refund."

She continued that she was forced to fly economy when she paid for the first class.

"The only option that they offered me was to either fly economy at the price of a first-class ticket or to walk away and wait for the next flight."

As the idol went on, Hyeri was still confused about the incident and clarified that it was not a domestic airline.

"I booked two seats so how could both be downgraded? I have a lot of things to say, but I couldn't express it properly, so it was a moment when I thought I should have studied English harder."

She then warned her Instagram followers and fans, stating:

"Beware, everyone, this is the most absurd experience I've been going through recently."

Delta Airlines Releases Official Statement Regarding Girl's Day Hyeri's Complaint

Based on the plane ticket photo released by Hyeri, it was revealed that she was referring to Delta Airlines. In the past, the airline has been the center of negative reports and reviews for overbooking and constant racism.

There were various stories about Delta being racist, especially to Koreans, such as firing a Korean stewardess for speaking Korean, refusing to board a Korean family after insulting them and refusing to unload three Korean individuals' luggages and demanding them to retrieve it in Seattle instead.

In a related article, Delta Airlines told Maeil Economic Start Today on the same day:

"We have delivered the incident to related departments and we are investigating the incident."

When asked by a reporter:

"Isn't Hyeri's incident a racism case?"

Delta Airlines avoided an immediate answer and said:

"There is nothing that can be answered at the moment."

They also remained silent on questions about compensation for damages.

As additional information, according to reports, Lee Hyeri had her Delta flight from LA to New York on the afternoon of the 30th.

The price of a one-way economy and first-class seats from LA to New York varies by two to three times larger depending on the flight. The difference per seat alone ranges from about 530,000 won ($402) to 2.24 million won ($1700).

If the two seats were forcibly downgraded to an economy without a difference refund, the damage could range from 1.06 million won ($804) to 4.48 million won ($3400).

For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Eunice Dawson.
Armenian border outposts near Sotk on Friday morning came under heavy cross-border gunfire by Azerbaijani Armed Forces, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

September 1, 2023, 10:33 Azerbaijan opens intense fire at Armenia positions in Sotk village sector

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 1, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, periodically spreading disinformation on August 31 and thereby creating an information basis for another provocation, on September 1, starting from 07:50, opened intense fire on Armenian positions located in the Sotk, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

The units of the Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire from different caliber small arms against the Armenian combat positions in the vicinity of Sotk. The Azerbaijani armed forces also used mortars in the direction of Sotk, the ministry added in an update.
NEW ORLEANS - The major candidates for Louisiana governor will square off soon in their firs
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The post office at the Hallmark store in Auburn Plaza has closed, and the owner of the store said it's because the U.S. Postal Service doesn't want to compensate him fairly for running it.

The Contract Postal Unit at Palmer's Hallmark at 217 Grant Ave. closed July 17, owner Jay Palmer told The Citizen. The closure followed his request for the USPS to increase the amount it paid him to cover the costs of running the unit, which included staff wages, workman's compensation, unemployment insurance and utilities.

"I told them if I can't get an increase, I'm going to have to close the store," Palmer said. "I was losing money four, five months in a row."

Instead of responding to his request, Palmer said, the USPS closed the unit itself days later. The unit, which provided over-the-counter services, briefly closed in 2020 due to similar issues.

In a statement, USPS Strategic Communications Specialist Mark Lawrence told The Citizen the unit closed because "both parties were unable to come to an agreement to continue the current lease."

Palmer said the unit has been at the Hallmark store for 20 years, and built a dedicated base of customers who came for stamps and shipping services. He doesn't believe his business will suffer from the loss of the unit, as most of those customers didn't patronize the store. On the contrary, he looks forward to using the newly freed space to stock more cards and other inventory.

However, Palmer believes USPS will suffer from the loss. The customers who used to come to the store will likely utilize FedEx instead of the downtown post office at 1 James St., he said.

"They don't want to climb the steps," he said. "We were providing a service to the public, and they were happy with that, but when I have to start paying for it. ... I can't support the Postal Service when they're not supporting me. It was a one-way deal. We certainly didn't want to close, we were forced to. This is the big guy bullying the smaller guy."
City

 George N. Williams, 44, 4 Jefferson St., Auburn, was charged Aug. 29 with criminal sale of a controlled substance.

 Christopher M. Peluso, 49, 25 Kensington Ave., Auburn, was charged Aug. 29 with first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child.

 Sincere A. Harrison, 24, 33 Seymour St., Auburn, was charged Aug. 29 with first-degree unlawful imprisonment, first-degree criminal contempt, second-degree criminal contempt, aggravated family offense, second-degree menacing, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree obstruction of government administration, fourth-degree criminal mischief, third-degree robbery and endangering the welfare of a child.

 Jessie D. Wright, 25, 73 Owasco St., 2, Auburn, was charged Aug. 30 with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

County

 Brien P. Fredendall, 44, 1128 Maiden Lane Road, Mentz, was charged Aug. 30 with third-degree criminal solicitation, tampering with physical evidence and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

State

 Joseph M. Smith, 26, Auburn, was charged Aug. 30 with criminal obstruction of breathing and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

The records page: Police blotter, restaurant inspections and more Visit the records page of auburnpub.com to see The Citizen's latest police blotter, restaurant inspections, property transfers and building permits.
Sao Paulo, Sep 1 (AP) An explosion Friday at a metal factory in southern Brazil killed two people and seriously injured at least 12 others, state officials said.

Dozens of firefighters and rescue teams were sent to the site of the explosion in the countryside city of Cabreuva in Sao Paulo state, Gov. Tarcisio de Freitas said on social media. Cabreuva lies about 90 kilometres northwest of the city of Sao Paulo.

Also Read | Great Kanto Earthquake: Is Japan Ready for the Next Big One?.

Footage on Brazilian TV broadcasters showed the factory completely destroyed by the explosion.

Local media outlets said the blast was triggered by overheating equipment, and that hospitals in the area had been warned there would be a big influx of injured patients. (AP)

Also Read | Singapore New President: Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Economist-Turned-Politician, Elected As Ninth President of Singapore.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
<i> Konte is a San Francisco journalist</i>

I cant wait until Im 45 and get all those great parts. --Elizabeth Hartman, in a 1971 interview.

The first reports of 43-year-old Elizabeth Hartmans June 10 suicide here were sketchy. Homicide detectives werent sure just who the slight woman was who had thrown herself from the fifth-story window of her efficiency apartment. A handful of neighbors volunteered what they knew. She was an unemployed actress, they thought, who had starred long ago in some movie with Sidney Poitier.

She would have hated that description. Even though she was subsisting on disability insurance, Social Security benefits and family handouts, even though her days were spent with various psychiatrists or wandering through the Carnegie Art Museum or merely sitting, listening to records, when somebody asked Hartman what she did, she replied, Im a film actress.

Some of her therapists thought that this was another of her fantasies. But she was.

In 1965, at age 21, she was nominated for a best-actress Academy Award in her movie debut as a blind girl in A Patch of Blue (but lost to Julie Christie in Darling). She won a Golden Globe Award for most promising female newcomer. She was voted one of 1966s Stars of Tomorrow by the American Film Exhibitors. Columnist Hedda Hopper predicted glowingly that those who watch her at work tell me she cant miss.

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Biff Hartman (her nickname originated from her sisters childhood inability to pronounce Elizabeth ) of Youngstown, Ohio, had gone West and taken on the city that had been the object of so many of her childhood dreams.

And, in her own words, the city had won.

All actresses are probably very paranoiac, she once said in an interview with the New York Times, and never accept the fact theyre good. You keep thinking: Nobody wants me, I cant get a job. That initial success beat me down. It spiraled me to a position where I didnt belong. I was not ready for that.

After she died, once co-star Poitier issued the following statement: It saddens me to think shes no longer with us. She was a wonderful actress and a truly gentle person. We have lost a distinguished artist.

(Another Patch of Blue co-star, Shelley Winters, declined comment. Her spokesperson at International Creative Management offered, Shes busy. She was asked to appear in a documentary about Marilyn Monroe and she turned that down, too.)

(Calls by Calendar to the Warners Bros. representative for Clint Eastwood, who starred with Hartman in The Beguilded, were not returned.)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette magazine editor George Anderson had a harder edge: I think hers was a tragic American career that peaks at the beginning and has no follow-up. Its a common Hollywood story.

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The headline in another Pittsburgh paper summed it up. Failing Career/Mental Problems Blamed in Actress Suicide Here.

Those closest to Hartman get angry when it is suggested that it was just her faltering movie career that propelled her out that window. Theres so much more to it, says her sister, Janet Shoop. Thats whats so hard for people to understand about mental illness. Its not always outward. Hartman desperately wanted to resume her career. But, in the end, it was just too difficult for her to do so.

I think that sort of illness is a spiraling thing, says her former husband, screenwriter Gill Dennis (co-writer of Apocalypse Now, writer of HBOs Home Fires). It would have gotten her . . . no matter what she decided to do.

But even Hartmans brother-in-law, attorney Bob Shoop, admits that the link was there: Dont forget, she was nominated for an Academy Award in her first motion picture. She lived a pretty pressure-packed life for a youngster. The pressure had built up so much, I dont think she could handle it.

Its true that Hartman didnt die like Peg Entwistle, the 30s would-be starlet who hurled herself dramatically from the Hollywood sign in despair over her non-career.

But it is uncomfortably coincidental that Hartman leaped to her death on June 10, five years to the day after she left movies forever.

And people like Joe Don Baker, Hartmans co-star in Walking Tall (1973), do think her predicament is not unique.

I was so upset when I heard, he said. But I wasnt surprised. Nothing surprises me in this town. There are a lot of (people) here who wont stick with someone when theyre down. She was a great actress. She should have been working. I keep thinking that acting is a noble profession, but its nothing but a garbage pail. I wish more people had helped her.

His harsh Southern drawl softens. I wish I had helped her.

All this has happened so fast, Im kind of misplaced. Im just drifting around. Im in a very strange state of mind. I used to know who Biff was, but I dont, now. Im suddenly in a different kind of world.

--Elizabeth Hartman, 1965 interview.

To the 21-year-old Hartman, her overnight discovery was initially part of the natural order of things.

Ever since her childhood in Youngstown, she had been positive an acting career was her destiny.

Although desperately shy and a loner, she could lose herself in a character to such an extent that she could tune out the world, and what she perceived as her disabilities: her timidity, her daydreaming and her desire to retreat into her private fantasies. She felt her talent could make her overcome these obstacles, that it was, ultimately, all she would need for stage and motion-picture success.

She wanted to be a movie star, says Janet Shoop. But she didnt think about the glitter and glamour. She didnt dream about those parties shed be too shy to attend anyway. She wanted to be a star because of her abilities.

Her success as the shy, sweet heroine Emily in a local production of Our Town (she was selected as Ohio High School Actress of the Year) and further triumphs in summer stock and at Carnegie Techs drama department, made her determined to try her luck in New York. Her excessive shyness made this initial venture a disaster. She spent five months huddled in her hotel room, too afraid of rejection to audition for acting roles. My illusions were shattered, she said later.

She returned to Ohio, where she got a job as a resident actor with the Cleveland Playhouse and, later, with the Kenley Players in Warren, Ohio. John Kenley, now director of the Civic Theater in Akron, encouraged her to return to New York, but not without reservations.

She didnt have the aggressiveness it takes, he recalls. She had no confidence in herself.

Nevertheless, she came back, with an agent as a buffer this time, and was quickly offered two major roles. She accepted the ingenue lead in a play called Everybody Out, the Castle Is Sinking. The production closed out of town, but her performance caught the eye of MGM scouts, then casting Patch of Blue. She was brought to Hollywood to audition for director Guy Green, who owned the rights to Elizabeth Katas novel and had casting approval. The moment he saw Hartman, he says, he knew she was right for the part of the blind heroine.

She wasnt a glamour girl, he says. But I gave her a personality test, and it was astonishing how well she came across for someone with no screen experience.

I told Sidney Poitier I wanted to cast an unknown, and he was horrified at first, until I arranged for them to work on the set together and he, too, became very happy.

Patch of Blue tells the story of the waiflike Selina, accidentally blinded with boiling water by her slatternly mother (Winters). She spends her days in the park, stringing costume jewelry beads to earn her keep, where she strikes up a friendship with a kindly newsman (Poitier), never realizing he is black.

She held her own like a pro with that cast, says Green. At first, I thought she was quiet, shy and retiring, until we went to the Braille Institute so she could research the role. She immediately stopped being shy at all. She was working, and it changed her. She wanted to learn everything about the experience of being blind.

She was one of the best instinctive actresses Ive ever worked with. She had it. No doubt about it.

The film drew attention for several reasons. It was made on the crest of Poitiers popularity, and it was one of the first films to feature a sympathetic relationship between a black man and a white woman.

At one point, Hartman gives Poitier a gentle kiss on the cheek. The scene made the film something of a civil rights cause celebre (at one screening, an executive yelled There goes Alabama), and it was excised in prints for Southern distribution. Green remembers that MGM was terrified of the controversy, but it ended up enhancing the films national box-office appeal.

Although much attention was given to Winters performance (she won an Academy Award for best supporting actress), the critics fell in love with Hartman.

The prize of the cast is 21-year-old film fledgling Elizabeth Hartman, wrote Time, spindly and coltish as Selina, with a plain-pretty face that can erupt unexpectedly into electric beauty. She wins genuine sympathy by playing up the spunk of her role, playing against the saccharine. She is achingly real without ever being soppy. . . .

Columnists couldnt get enough of what they perceived as Hartmans endearing self-deprecation. (I was lacking the things they wanted an actress to lack . . . I was disappointed when I saw myself on screen . . . I had a different picture in mind.)

They loved her shy remarks about Dennis, the aspiring director she was eager to wed (I just want to be married to the person I love, have children and live in New England and make breakfast for him every day), and her fragile, childlike qualities. She is shy, timid, wrote columnist Sidney Skolsky. She sleeps in a normal-size bed in sleeveless nightgowns. She always takes her Raggedy-Ann doll to bed with her.

When Hartman was nominated for an Oscar, sister Janet remembers it was an exciting time.

We had a party in our apartment. My husband was in law school then, and half the school was there, and most of the local press. We were so proud. The Academy Awards were something you watch from the time youre a little kid, and there Biff was.

Hartmans daydreams had come true. Film offers began to pour in. But the overnight star, who should have been ecstatic, was surprisingly pensive.

When they bring people to meet me, you can see the look of disappointment. But I cant be anything but what I am, or I couldnt sleep at night. Perhaps for this reason, my career wont be successful.

And Dennis, who saw Hartman immediately after the first screening of A Patch of Blue, recalls: She said everybody else was wonderful. But she was invisible.

Really, my life has been so unhappy since I made that film. --Elizabeth Hartman, 1969 interview.

The film catalogue of Hartman is a very brief one. After Patch of Blue, she played a sexually repressed wife in The Group (with Candice Bergen and Joan Hackett); a shy waif in The Fixer (with Alan Bates), a psychotic go-go dancer in Francis Coppolas first major film, Youre a Big Boy Now (with Geraldine Page and Julie Harris); a repressed schoolteacher in Beguiled (starring Eastwood and Page) and the victimized wife in Walking Tall.

Although her output was not prodigious, critics continued to admire her work. (Richard Schickel, who loathed Youre a Big Boy Now, wrote, If anything, she is too strong and artful for her surroundings, and the harsh light of her work, spilling over the rest of the film, intensifies ones sense of dismay with its juvenility.)

Nonetheless, her career never quite took off. There are many theories why.

Her former agent, Howard Rubin, claims the offers were there, but for the wrong films. We got 20 blind girls, deaf girls, crippled girls. Name the handicap and there was a script for it.

Says Dennis, who married Hartman in 1969: The role in Patch of Blue was one an actress gets once in a lifetime. She wasnt perceived as a comedienne, and she was a wonderful comic actress. She wasnt offered glamorous roles. If she was going to keep getting parts where she was hesitant or insecure, she didnt want them. But the other parts didnt seem to exist.

Dennis says she was offered the ingenue role in Guess Whos Coming to Dinner. But it was just another alternative on the white girl/black man theme, offered to Biff with Hollywoods usual lack of imagination.

Hartman blamed the studio, claiming that her ascent began when the star-making machinery was disintegrating along with it.

Im the last product of the star build-up, she said in 1971. But there was no follow-through. It got to the point where I died.

But Janet Shoop believes part of the responsibility rested with Hartman herself. She was a dreamer. We kept telling her to sell herself. Wed tell her, This is a hard business. She had such an idealistic view. Shed say, You dont go selling yourself, you stand on your record. Shed audition for roles. But there was none of the using of contacts. That would seem bad to her.

She liked work and applause. She liked making films better than anything else. But she didnt want to deal with the reality of the profession. She was capable of acting, but she lacked stamina, and she wasnt worldly enough to be a fighter. She never could do that very well.

An example of this--Hartman badly wanted the part of Pookie Adams in The Sterile Cuckoo (for which Liza Minnelli later was nominated for an Academy Award). She told an interviewer, I read for it, and (director) Alan Pakula said, No, youre just not Pookie. 

What did you do?

I went home, she said simply.

Whatever the case, the shower of offers turned into a trickle, and Hartman became very depressed. When she returned to Broadway in 1969 to appear in a revival of Our Town with Henry Fonda, she voiced her disillusionment to the New York Times, in an article entitled prophetically, After a Patch of Blue, Gray Skies.

She claimed that she had spent the past two years at home, just reading and brooding (Dennis says it was actually a few months). In a way, I expected to fail. Everybody wants to see if you can live up to your big success. Well, the parts that followed just werent that good.

When the inevitable money problems occurred, Hartman was urged to take on more lucrative roles. At first, she claimed she would never do so. I wouldnt take any part because of the money, she told Seventeen. (Says Janet Shoop: That might have been another reason for the decline in parts. She was a 60s intellectual snob in certain ways.)

But, in 1973, she did just that with Walking Tall, the violent story of Southern sheriff Buford Pussers campaign to clean up his town, at a risk to himself and his family. Hartman played the wife who was ambushed and killed. (Hartman hated violence and her sister says she never saw the film.)

As usual, the critics had nothing but praise for her. Elizabeth Hartman is a gifted actress who appears too seldom, wrote Pauline Kael. A delicate-featured redhead with a beautifully molded brow, she has the appealing quality that the young Janet Gaynor had. You want to reach out to her, shes huggable. (Director Phil) Karlson uses her for as much tear-jerking potential as he dares.

Joe Don Baker has equally fond memories of Hartman. I liked her an awful lot. She was such a sweet lady. She was fragile, a lot more fragile than I thought. There was a distant look in her eyes. But she was a wonderful actress. She helped me so much. She looked in my eyes and made me feel just like a hero.

It was her last major screen role. Shortly after its release, Hartman began her descent into mental illness.

Ive spent years being unhappy. What it is is that when things become so important, theyre no fun anymore. Making movies should be fun.

--Elizabeth Hartman, 1975 interview.

The signs were small at first. An increased paranoia, an oversensitivity to fancied slights. (Shed walk down the street, and if someone didnt smile back, shed fall apart, remembers a production assistant on one of her films.) She continued to voice her dissatisfaction about her lack of work. But when acting jobs were offered, she began to turn them down. Dennis says she rejected the Dyan Cannon role in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. She even fired her publicist.

If I encouraged her to work, her ex-husband says, shed say I was betraying her. If I didnt encourage her, shed say I was betraying her. Thats the trick with mental illness. There are always reasons.

She became a virtual recluse. Dennis would return home to find she had not left the house or eaten since his departure. (A reporter described her at the time as 5 feet 5 inches tall, 103 pounds, with a chalk white face.)

Shed cry all day, he says, or sleep all day, and then refuse to let me sleep at night.

The turning point, says Dennis, was when he was offered a job writing additional scenes for Apocalypse Now. I was told I had to stay in the Philippines a month. I realized wed be out of our financial hole. It should have been a joyous time. But the moment she heard, she became incredibly paranoid.

Dennis returned home one day to find Hartman had collected a dresser drawer full of paper scraps that she claimed contained threatening messages from an unseen enemy. She said she had gathered them in the yard. He says, I knew then it had gone far beyond what I could handle.

I realized what I had perceived as shyness, lack of aggressiveness and overdependence, were actually symptoms of a much greater problem. I only stayed on location for two weeks, so I wouldnt be away from her too long. But I knew then I would not be able to survive it much longer. It was an extremely difficult decision, and a terrible, terrible time.

Janet Shoop says simply, Gill couldnt handle her anymore. So he sent her back home.

In its Sept. 7 article on Hartman, People magazine contended that it was chiefly her growing mental problems that caused her career to come to a halt after Walking Tall.

But Shoop claims that Hartmans determination to be ready for the right role--the one that never came--contributed to her fall.

Biff was determined to maintain a heightened sensitivity. She felt her sensitivity gave her good qualities in acting. But the same sensitivities caused her to become unglued in real life. She didnt want to be in reality, fantasy was better. The fantasy was that she was going to get a film she would love, and be proud of, as A Patch of Blue. The reality was she was having career problems. They frightened her, and she became less and less able to cope.

I wanted her to work, says Dennis. She was happier working. She got out of herself. But everything became a rationalization for her retreat, after a while. I dont want to do this role because I dont want to be typecast. I dont want to do TV. Then shed get offered a movie role, and shed find a reason for rejecting that. Its a tremendous thing, that kind of torment.

Whatever the case, Hartman arrived at her sisters home in Oakmont, a suburb of Pittsburgh, not in good shape at all. She was very paranoid. She was unable to sleep, unable to talk, unable to literally do anything.

She was institutionalized (the first of 19 hospitalizations before her death) and later alternated between staying with the Shoops and with her mother in Youngstown. (Her father had died in 1964.) In 1978, she was sent to the Institute of Living in Connecticut, a facility that helps the mentally ill learn to take care of themselves. Hartman spent a year there, eventually taking an apartment near the institute and even doing a bit of community theater. By 1979, she felt ready to return to Hollywood.

Dennis helped her move her furniture into a new apartment. After that, he never saw her again. They divorced in 1981.

I would like to play a well - adjusted girl who isnt afflicted, in a comedy like Katharine Hepburn used to do. Oh, I forgot. Nobody writes well-adjusted things anymore.

--Elizabeth Hartman, 1979 interview.

Hartman attempted to go back to work. Unfortunately, her absence had only lessened producer interest in her. She was reduced to taking roles in undistinguished movies like Full Moon High, in which she played a high school teacher trying to cope with a teen-age werewolf, played by Adam Arkin.

Arkin, now a co-star in NBCs A Year in the Life, says: She seemed haunted, vulnerable, obviously very fragile. She kept her distance from everybody. I tried to talk to her a little bit and asked if I could do anything to make her feel more comfortable. She seemed to want privacy, but also seemed pleased--and surprised--by my intentions.

However, things improved when Hartman was offered the role of Myrtle Brown in the national company of Mornings at Seven. After the Boston opening, she received the kind of glowing reviews she had gotten in the old days. But the situation had worsened. Shortly after the run began, Janet Shoop received a call from a concerned physician.

She was very suicidal, she recalls. As soon as I arrived, she took an overdose of sleeping pills and was rushed to intensive care. But, the next night, she appeared on stage and she was wonderful. I spent two weeks with her to try to get her to the theater every night. She was frightened of everyone and everything. Wed go to breakfast, and shed get up and dash out as though somebody was after her.

But on stage, she was functional. The second she took her bow, she wasnt.

When the play came to Los Angeles as a production of the Center Theatre Group in 1981, a family friend was hired to look after Hartman. But, during the Chicago run, she felt unable to continue. She quit, says Shoop. But everyone connected with the show was wonderful and supportive about it.

She returned to Hollywood. But, even though Hartman was now willing to take anything, the offers were sparse. Baker remembers seeing her in a Beverly Hills restaurant in 1982. She seemed very upset about not working, he says. Nothing was happening. She seemed very disappointed. She felt she should have been in some A movie.

She accepted one final role, the voice of the mouse heroine, Mrs. Brisby, in the Don Bluth animated feature, The Secret of NIMH.

But it was her final performance. On June 10, 1982, feeling depressed, disillusioned and unable to take care of herself, Hartman returned home for good.

One of her last lines in the movie is: Dont let me fall. Im afraid of heights.

As for the future, Id just like to be offered some roles and be healthy enough to accept them, and--ha--live a happy, peaceful, contented life. --Elizabeth Hartman, 1971 interview.

For a while, she rested and read, wrote and brooded. She was hospitalized again and, for a time, lived in a halfway house.

When she felt better, on the advice of a physician, it was decided that she would have an enhanced sense of self-sufficiency if she got her own apartment. It was a tiny place (all her money had long since gone to doctors and hospitals). But she felt at home. For a while, things worked well. Hartman had never learned to drive, and the apartments closeness to the museum, the grocery store and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic was convenient. She even attempted some volunteer work, setting up programs at the museum, and worked for a time as a cashier there.

But Hartman could not forget her past. Once, she ran away for two weeks. No one knew where she was. Eventually, she was tracked to Los Angeles, where she checked into a hotel room, and just sat waiting, no one is sure exactly for what. She said she wanted to die.

Her neighbors were vaguely aware she had been an actress, but she seldom talked about it. She didnt have any friends. She said it was too difficult for her, says Shoop. Among the few friends who remained from the old days were Francis Coppola and Geraldine Page, who continued to communicate with and support her. (Page died of a heart attack shortly after Hartman died.)

I had received a letter from her shortly before her death, says Coppola. She seemed excited about acting in the theater again. She sent me an identification card from a library she was working in. It had a current picture. She made a few jokes in the letter, and seemed happy to be going on her own and thinking about acting again. I was mentally composing a letter in response to her when I learned of her death.

On her good days, she did indeed think she might try to work again. Once, she gathered all her courage and went to call on the director of a local theater company. His first words, says Shoop, were Well, heres Miss Hollywood.

Another director was more supportive. He even suggested another meeting. Hartman never kept the appointment.

It was hard to be optimistic and encouraging after a while, says Shoop. At first, I used to say, Youll be able to work again. But I realized it was unfair. We werent seeing progress. After a while, it wasnt I want you to act again. It was Lets try to go out to lunch. 

In the early part of 1987, Hartman became increasingly depressed. Neighbor Vee Toner told an interviewer that she was very morbid. . . . Shed say things like Vee, Im 42 and all by myself. 

Shoop, too, remembers that Hartman was obsessed with age. My youngest son had graduated from high school on June 5, and Biff couldnt believe my kids were as old as they were. Then she realized my oldest son was 21, the same age as she was when she made A Patch of Blue. It threw her.

On June 9, the last day she saw Hartman, Shoop remembers that Hartman was depresed but not unusually so. She wanted to take her to lunch, but Hartman said she didnt feel like it. Instead, they had coffee at her apartment and talked about a slipcover that Shoop was making for her daybed. She wanted to take Hartman to the fabric store, but again Hartman said no. Shoop, who usually called her sister at 9:30 every morning, had a meeting the next day and told Hartman that shed reach her the next afternoon.

She will always regret not making the morning call. On Wednesday, June 10, something happened that upset Hartman. She called her physician and said she wanted to go to the hospital. After a discussion, she calmed down a bit and said she might be all right after all.

The physician told her to lie down and relax and that Biff could come in later if she needed to see her. Instead, she opened the window.

Biff was able to zero in on something so keenly she could exclude everything around her, Shoop said. It gave her a fine ability in terms of her acting. She also did that in terms of living--in that she didnt always see the whole picture. People talk about the fine line between madness and brilliance. That same thing that gave her the ability to act did not allow her to live normally.

Whatever the case, Hartman is dead. Despite the conflicting theories about just why, she is certain to be relegated to the annals of those killed by Hollywood.

Hartmans family doesnt think this was true. Others arent so sure.

I get so damn bitter about her lack of work at the beginning, says Baker. I may be idealistic. But a good actress like that should have been working. But that doesnt surprise me in this town.

I was very saddened by the news, says Arkin. But it echoed something of the condition I had seen in her. It didnt startle me; it was not a complete surprise. She seemed so haunted. I guess she just gave way to her demons.

Its a difficult thing to be an actress, says Dennis. Its a horrible thing, in many ways. The great roles just dont exist. Sally Field, Meryl Streep and Cher get them right now. In two years, itll be three other people.

Nobody ever knew what happened to Cinderella after the ball. Yes, dreams can come true, but, for some people, life can be even harder when they do.

Whatever one believes, its likely that film buffs can catch repeated TV reruns of Patch of Blue until the interest dies down. Shoop caught it on cable TV the other night, when she was alone in the house.

At first, I just lost myself in the movie, she says. As usual, I forgot it was Biff. I completely believed the character. But, shortly after it began, the camera zeroed in on her hands, stringing her beads.

Biff had such childlike hands, so delicate, so sensitive . . . just like she was.

Thats when it became difficult for me. After the movie was over, I just sat back in my chair and thought about Biff and all her pain. And I cried.
Donald Trump is scheduled to be arraigned over his Georgia election interference scheme next week but he will not be attending. He pleaded "not guilty" to all charges against him in the sprawling RICO case.

Trump has always been known to seize on his court appearances and turn them into fundraising issues to get his supporters to donate. However, Axios noted that this is a "change" for the president who usually also uses these court appearances to galvanize his base.

Trump used his right to waive his arraignment appearance. He released a statement regarding his decision, which said, "Understanding my rights, I do hereby freely and voluntarily waive my right to be present at my arraignment on the indictment and my right to have it read to me in open court."

He added, "I do hereby waive formal arraignment and enter my plea of NOT GUILTY to the Indictment in this case."

Some of his 18 co-defendants also waived their right to arraignment appearance. These include the "Kraken" lawyer, Sidney Powell, who helped spread conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 elections.

In total, the former president faces 91 counts across four different criminal cases across the country at both state and federal levels. All but his Georgia case already have court dates and have already made his Republican primary campaign schedule even more complicated and hectic. His federal election case is even scheduled the day before Super Tuesday.

Donald Trump Exploring To Try and Transfer Case to a Federal Court

Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is attempting to transfer his case from a state court in Georgia to a federal court, arguing that he did what he did in his capacity as the White House chief of staff. Now, Trump may be following suit as his lawyers are weighing in on whether to ask to have the case moved to a federal jurisdiction.

READ MORE: Rudy Giuliani Loses Defamation Lawsuit by Georgia Election Workers

According to The Guardian, the former president's lawyers might base their decision on whether Meadows' appeal to transfer is successful. Should Meadows pull it off, though, the ex-president would have to show that his criminal conduct involved his official duties as president and that he was acting "under color of office" so he cannot be prosecuted at the state level.

Trump does have a vested interest in transferring the jurisdiction from state-level to federal. Should he win the presidency, Trump cannot pardon himself for crimes on the state level, only federal. Another reason is the jury pool in Georgia might skew heavily Democratic.

Donald Trump's Georgia Trial Will Be Televised

With the enormous amount of public interest in the trial, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee ruled that the trial of Donald Trump and 18 others, including Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, will be televised.

McAfee stated that broadcast news media will be allowed to have "pool" cameras, according to CNN. This allows groups of news organizations to combine their resources and share camera access inside the courtroom.

Neither the prosecution nor the defense seems to oppose this decision. McAfee also allowed members of the media to use cell phones and computer electronics in the courtroom for non-recording purposes.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Election Interference Co-Conspirators Turning on Each Other

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WATCH: Trump enters not guilty plea in Georgia election interference case - ABC News
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed a bill into law in June that aimed to restrict the ability of cities to pass certain local ordinances.

The move was widely interpreted as an attempt to limit the influence of Democratic-led cities in the state, according to Insider.

Governor Greg Abbott, along with business lobbying groups such as the National Federation of Independent Business, had advocated for this law, citing concerns about the proliferation of local regulations that they claimed put excessive burdens on businesses.

However, this law has now been ruled unconstitutional by District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Texas following a lawsuit filed by the city of Houston.

The law in question, known as HB 2127, faced opposition from various quarters, including Houston and other home-rule cities in Texas.

Critics argued that it represented a power grab by the state legislature and an unwarranted intrusion into the local powers granted to cities by the Texas Constitution.

Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston expressed satisfaction with the court's decision, stating that the law was an unconstitutional encroachment on the autonomy of Texas cities.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Attorney General has appealed the decision made by District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble that declared the law unconstitutional.

Paige Willey, the director of communications for the office, said the judge's ruling did not halt the enforcement of the law by individuals affected by local ordinances that the law preempts.

The Office of the Attorney General believes the ruling is incorrect and has immediately initiated an appeal, preventing the court's declaration from taking effect until the appeal process is completed.

As a result, the law in question, HB 2127, is expected to go into effect on September 1 as originally scheduled.

The law's restrictions extended to the point where it prohibited local ordinances that required measures such as providing water breaks for construction workers.

This led to the law being colloquially referred to as "the law that kills."

READ NEXT: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Floating Barriers

Case Will Be Submitted to Texas Supreme Court Led by Republicans

The district judge's ruling will now move to the Texas Supreme Court, which comprises Republican judges, AP reports.

The law was passed by Republicans in the GOP-controlled legislature despite strong opposition from Democrats, labor groups, and city leaders.

Proponents of the law argued that it was necessary to maintain Texas' reputation as a business-friendly environment and to reduce the complexity arising from varying city ordinances.

On the other hand, critics contended that the law's impact was unclear and pointed out specific concerns, such as the elimination of water breaks for outdoor workers during extreme heat.

Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, defended the law on social media shortly before the ruling was announced.

He emphasized the importance of supporting small businesses and reducing burdensome regulations.

Houston, San Antonio, El Paso Sue Texas

Local officials strongly opposed the law's passage earlier this year, criticizing it as an extensive, ambiguous, and potentially unconstitutional expansion of state power.

They expressed concerns that the law could hinder their ability to address local needs and disrupt established state operations.

Houston took legal action in response to the law and was later joined by San Antonio and El Paso in a lawsuit against the state last month, per KSAT.

The lawsuit alleged that the law contradicted a section of the state constitution that grants cities the authority to establish their own ordinances.

During a court hearing, the state's lawyers argued that such a law falls within the state's jurisdiction. However, the judge ultimately sided with the cities and ruled that the law was unconstitutional.

READ MORE: Texas: 4, Including 2 Kids, Found Dead at Home

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WATCH: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs law getting rid of #water breaks - From MSNBC
Unlike 23 New York State Thruway rest stops that are being rebuilt, four service areas will be renovated as part of a $450 million privately funded project.

The Malden, Ontario, Pattersonville and Sloatsburg service areas will close next week after Labor Day. The Malden and Sloatsburg rest stops are on Interstate 87, while Ontario and Pattersonville are on I-90.

"Significant renovations and upgrades" are planned for the rest stops, according to the Thruway Authority. Although the facilities will be closed, fuel services will remain available.

The rest stops are scheduled to reopen in the first half of 2024.

Empire State Thruway Partners was awarded a 33-year contract to operate the 27 service areas. The entity was created by Applegreen, an Ireland-based company with travel plazas in the U.S. and United Kingdom.

The first phase of the reconstruction project began in July 2021 with the closure of 10 Thruway service areas. The initial plan was for the project to be completed in three phases, but delays altered the timeline. Indian Castle Service Area on I-90 was the first rest stop to reopen to the public in August 2022, 13 months after it closed for construction.

Over the past year, more of the rest stops have reopened and construction began on other service areas. Work on the first wave of service areas that closed in 2021 has been completed. Once those facilities reopened, 10 others closed for construction.

Some of the rest stops that are under construction, including the Port Byron Service Area in Cayuga County and Seneca Service Area near Rochester, are expected to open later this year. Others won't reopen until 2024.

One goal of the $450 million project is to offer better amenities at the rest stops. Restaurants like Chick-fil-A and Shake Shack have replaced McDonald's and Roy Rogers. Electric vehicle charging stations will be available at every location and select rest stops will have special amenities for truckers, such as laundry services and showers.

The revamp of the rest stops has faced criticism, mainly because of the lack of space and the smaller restrooms compared to the previous facilities. Some critics have questioned why Chick-fil-A was selected as one of the restaurants when it's not open on Sunday.

The Thruway Authority has noted that not all of the rest stops will be the same size. The first few service areas that reopened were among the smallest in the state. But other service areas that have been rebuilt, namely Clifton Springs and Pembroke, are some of the largest rest stops in the state.
Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, has been rocked by a series of explosions caused by car bombs, and this may be related to the country's crackdowns inside prisons. These explosions reportedly happened overnight as four car bombs were set off. Nobody was reported injured by these car bomb explosions.

Two of the car bombs exploded within Quito, while the other two detonations happened in El Oro, a province that borders Peru.

These car bomb attacks happened just three weeks after the assassination of a presidential candidate. The assassination led to a crackdown inside prisons as the killing was attributed to a local drug gang with ties to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel.

For the Quito car bombs, Ecuador National Police's Gen. Pablo Ramirez, who is the country's national director of anti-drug investigations, stated in a news conference that they were related to "several transfers of inmates" that happened earlier this week. However, no reason was given for a possible motive for the explosions in the border province of El Oro.

The first bomb went off in Quito last Wednesday night, near where an office of the country's corrections system was previously located. The second car bomb went off outside where the agency is currently located.

In these crime scenes, investigators found gas cylinders, fuel, fuses, and blocks of dynamite among the debris. The vehicle used in the first explosion was a small car, while the second vehicle used as a car bomb was a pickup truck. As for the El Oro explosions, gas tanks were used.

"There are violent actions like that of the two cars burned in Quito last night, clearly that's a reaction to an action. The action of imposing order in the prisons, the reaction to intimidate," President Guillermo Lasso said, condemning the attacks.

READ NEXT: Ecuador: President Guillermo Lasso Asks FBI for Help After Election Murder

Ecuador Police Arrest 10 People After Car Bomb Explosions

Shortly after the explosions, Ecuador police went into action, leading to 10 people getting arrested. For the attack in Quito, six suspects were arrested, including five locals and one Colombian. The nationalities of those arrested in the second group were not given, according to Reuters.

Interior Minister Juan Zapata stated in a news conference that most of those arrested already have criminal records, including three people who were previously caught for a robbery two weeks ago. They were released by a judge shortly after.

Ecuador Car Bombs Highlight Country's Fragile Peace

It all started with the assassination of anti-corruption presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who had been rallying against drug gangs in Ecuador. His death led to raids and an overhaul in the country's prison system, possibly leading to these car bomb attacks.

As Financial Times pointed out, there had been a recent rise in violence in Ecuador, especially with gang violence as drug gangs vie for drug trafficking routes to Mexico. During the first six months of 2023 alone, 3,500 homicides were reported in Ecuador. The murder rate is expected to exceed last year's, which was at 4,800 people murdered.

READ NEXT: 5 Most Bizarre Foods in Ecuadorian Cuisine

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WATCH: Six arrested in Ecuador after two car bombs explode | Al Jazeera English
After over two months of intelligence gathering and surveillance, the FBI has launched a series of raids against members of a notorious biker gang known as Bandidos in New Mexico.

There have been fears that the biker gang would be launching a retaliatory attack after a Memorial Day shootout in Red River, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The raids were launched early on Thursday morning across towns in New Mexico, with both the FBI and New Mexico State Police SWAT working together for these raids.

Federal and New Mexico authorities searched the homes of 25 Bandidos members who were s identified as having made "imminent threats" to kill or hurt rival biker gang members after that deadly shootout last May.

Over 150 firearms were seized as evidence during the early morning raids, with three men being arrested on state charges as authorities continued their investigation into the biker gang's possible crimes, including racketeering.

The state's top law enforcement officials then sent a warning to the other Bandido bikers whose properties were not raided. "The motorcycle is a symbol of freedom, of individualism, and the open road," said US Attorney for New Mexico Alexander Uballez in a statement. "But today, a selfish few are trying to tell us who gets to enjoy our roads, what clothes they are required to wear, and with whom they can ride. The people of New Mexico have no more patience for violent bullies. Working together, the law enforcement agencies of New Mexico want to return the open road to the public who owns it."

The FBI is also investigating whether the firearms they seized have also been used in several unsolved homicides all over New Mexico.

Bandidos Biker Gang Is Having a Conflict With a Smaller Local Biker Gang

According to the Associated Press, during that Red River shootout, the Bandidos were fighting against a much smaller motorcycle club known as the Water Dogs. The conflict may have started when the leader of the New Mexico-based Water Dogs biker gang was seen standing with at least one member of the Mongol Motorcycle Club in a photograph.

READ MORE: New Mexico Shootings: Losing Republican Candidate Arrested for Shooting at Elected Democrats' Homes

It was reported that the Mongols were trying to increase their presence in New Mexico, and the Bandidos treated this as hostility as they considered the state part of their territory.

Those searched by the FBI were described as "the most aggressive proponents of violent conflict." FBI Special Agent Bryan Acee stated in a press conference that the search warrants would "mitigate the current threat and result in the seizure of valuable evidence."

FBI Considers Biker Gangs a 'Small Part' of New Mexico Crime

There has been a sharp increase in violence between the Mongols and Bandidos as of late, as the conflict rages across a few states, including New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Despite this, however, biker gang violence is treated as only a small part of the crime happening in the state.

According to KRQUE, the FBI treated the Red River incident as an isolated case, and not all gang members are criminals. Despite the raid, the FBI has said it "believes the majority of the members in these gangs have day jobs and just want to be part of a club and aren't personally committing crimes."

The FBI added that it is working with local police to ensure that local bike rallies stay peaceful.

READ MORE: Republicans Investigated for Fake Elector Scheme in Michigan

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WATCH: Red River biker shooting sparks massive raid of Bandidos' homes - KRQUE
Brazil ex-President Jair Bolsonaro was interrogated by the federal police regarding allegations of attempting to smuggle diamond jewelry worth an estimated $3 million and the sale of luxury watches gifted to him by Saudi Arabia during his time in office.

The questioning occurred Thursday at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil's capital.

In addition to Bolsonaro, his wife Michelle, two lawyers, former aide Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, Cid's father, Osmar Crivelatti, and Marcelo Camara were also subjected to police questioning.

The interrogation sessions were conducted simultaneously to prevent any exchange of information pertaining to the line of inquiry.

An anonymous federal police officer, not authorized to speak on the record about the ongoing investigation, verified to the AP that eight individuals, including Bolsonaro, were summoned to answer the jewelry and watch-related matters.

READ NEXT: Brazil Launches Investigation on Jair Bolsonaro's Saudi Arabia Jewelry

How Authorities Discover Jair Bolsonaro's Undeclared Saudi Arabia Gifts

Investigations by the police have revealed that the opulent gifts, including jewelry, valuable watches, and gold-plated statuettes, bestowed upon former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were never officially disclosed.

However, when Bolsonaro attempted to reclaim a seized shipment of these gifts from customs authorities, Reuters noted, the revelation came to light.

Subsequently, following public attention on the matter, a court mandated that Bolsonaro and his wife surrender the gifts to the state.

Bolsonaro's aides and legal representatives endeavored to repurchase some of the items sold in the United States.

Prosecutors contend that the appropriate jurisdiction for the case is Brasilia, where the investigation was initiated under the directive of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Conversely, Bolsonaro's defense team argued that the case should be heard in Sao Paulo, citing where customs officers apprehended certain jewelry items at Guarulhos airport.

This incident marks the fifth instance in which Bolsonaro has been summoned by law enforcement to provide statements as part of an array of investigations.

These investigations span matters ranging from his criticisms of Brazil's electoral system to suspicions of his involvement in inciting his supporters to stage protests and occupy government premises following his electoral defeat.

Brazil Ex-President Jair Boslonaro Cases

The Saudi Arabia gift hearings mark yet another potential setback for the beleaguered far-right leader, who finds himself entangled in multiple ongoing investigations.

In recent weeks, federal law enforcement conducted searches at residences and offices linked to individuals implicated in the jewelry affair, ABC News noted.

The probe alleges that Bolsonaro received nearly $70,000 through selling two luxury watches gifted by Saudi Arabia.

Jair Bolsonaro has consistently refuted any allegations of misconduct.

The inquiry into the unreported jewelry forms just one strand of the complex legal challenges confronting Bolsonaro.

Earlier this year, a panel of judges declared him ineligible to stand for office until 2030, citing his misuse of authority and unfounded skepticism of the nation's electronic voting system.

Another investigation revolves around Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, who was arrested in May on charges of fabricating COVID-19 vaccine certificates for his family and Bolsonaro's relatives during the pandemic.

Running parallel to these matters, a parliamentary commission of inquiry continues its scrutiny into whether Bolsonaro played a role in inciting the January 8 riots.

During the riots, his supporters stormed the Supreme Court, the presidential palace, and Congress, occurring a mere week after leftist figure Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva assumed Brazil presidency.

READ MORE: Jair Bolsonaro Net Worth

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WATCH: Brazil's Former President Jair Bolsonaro to Hand Over Jewels Given By Saudis - From Firstpost
A Utah family YouTuber, Ruby Franke, who is known for running the now-deleted 8 Passengers YouTube channel, was arrested in Utah and is facing charges. The "momfluencer" is still in police custody for aggravated child abuse charges.

Utah police found an emaciated child, and this led to the family YouTuber's arrest. That child was described by authorities as "emaciated and malnourished" with "open wounds and duct tape around the extremities." The child reportedly was looking for food and water before running into some neighbors who quickly helped the child.

The child then informed police officers that other children inside a nearby residence were also undergoing similar circumstances. This prompted the police to search the home, where they found another juvenile "in a similar physical condition of malnourishment." That child, as well as the other juvenile, were then sent to a nearby hospital due to their "severe" condition.

According to E! News, the police found evidence "consistent with the markings found" on the first child. Franke was then arrested with her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt. The two children were reportedly staying at Hildebrandt's home.

Following their arrest, four more children were taken into the custody of the Department of Child and Family Service. It was not mentioned if the other four kids were also malnourished.

The first child reportedly escaped through a window before trying to get some neighbors to help. The neighbors found the child to be extremely malnourished with some bondage marks.

READ MORE: Josh Duggar Child Pornography Scandal: Judge Upholds Reality Show Star's Conviction

Ruby Franke Knew of the Abuse and Neglect of the Children Under Jodi Hildebrandt's Care

Jodi Hildebrandt is the creator of the mental health company "Connexions Classroom," and the two children were under her care. The "MomTuber" appeared in a YouTube video that she filmed inside Hildebrandt's basement and posted two days ago. Because of this, police believe that she knows about the abuse and neglect happening inside her business partner's home.

ABC-4 reported that Hildebrandt was in direct care of the children and had direct knowledge of the abuse. Following her arrest, she told police that the two children should "never be allowed around any other kids," furthering law enforcement's opinion that she knew about the abuse.

Franke and Hildebrandt are known to promote family values and have been giving tips on parenting, both in Hildebrandt's family counseling service and also in Franke's YouTube channel.

Ruby Franke's Eldest Daughter Celebrates Mother's Arrest

Ruby Franke has an estranged relationship with her eldest daughter, Shari Franke. After her mother's arrest, the 20-year-old Shari posted a photo of police on her Instagram account with the caption, "Finally." She then released a statement saying that she and her family are glad that justice is now being served.

"We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up," she stated.

According to Fox 13, Shari Franke also confirmed that the other children were safe but admitted that there was still a "long road ahead."

READ NEXT: R. Kelly Gets Another 20 Years in Prison for Child Pornography

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WATCH: YouTuber Ruby Franke arrested after 'emaciated' child with duct tape around extremities ran for help - Page Six
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating an incident involving rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, in connection with a microphone being thrown during a performance at the Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday evening. The incident reportedly may have caused injury to a woman in the audience.

Scott Leemon, the legal representative for 50 Cent, confirmed his communication with the Los Angeles Police to NBC News.

In a statement, Leemon emphasized that the rapper would never intentionally harm anyone. He stated that those presenting a contrary narrative lack a comprehensive understanding of the situation.

The episode unfolded when 50 Cent invited fellow rapper YG, Keenon Dequan Ray Jackson, to join him onstage.

Video footage captured the Grammy winner walking to the side of the stage and seemingly attempting to hand over his microphone.

Subsequently, he is seen discarding the microphone off the stage. In a separate clip, 50 Cent is observed with another microphone; however, upon realizing its malfunction, he forcefully tosses it offstage, according to TODAY.

A media spokesperson from the LAPD clarified that their police units did not respond to the venue on Wednesday night. The department has not issued an official statement on the matter and is unable to provide a police report about the incident.

READ NEXT: Las Vegas: Cardi B Goes Viral After Throwing Mic at Fan

The Fan 50 Cent Hits With Mic Is a Power 106 Radio Host

Bryhana Monegain, radio host at Power 106, has been identified as the woman who was struck during the incident.

She took immediate action by filing a police report on Wednesday night. Law enforcement sources have shared that they suspect rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, threw the microphone toward his production crew area and accidentally hit the victim.

According to the victim's account given to the police, she asserts that 50 Cent made direct eye contact before tossing the microphone, implying that he was aware of her presence.

As a result of the impact, Bryhana sustained a laceration on her head and was subsequently taken to the hospital for medical attention.

While sources on-site at the event disclosed to TMZ that 50 Cent's intent was not to target the woman, she was struck by the microphone.

A representative connected to 50 Cent revealed that the woman was not authorized to be in the restricted area where the incident occurred.

Disturbing images of the victim circulated on Instagram, displaying a visible forehead injury and blood-soaked towels wrapped around her neck.

Controversies Started to Surround Concerts

Following a recent incident involving rapper 50 Cent throwing a microphone during a performance, a trend of onstage mic-throwing is surfacing, reminiscent of similar actions by other artists.

Cardi B notably engaged in a brief legal dispute after she hurled a microphone into the crowd, per Variety.

This incident happened when she responded to a fan throwing a drink at her, inadvertently hitting another nearby.

The affected person subsequently filed a police report. Still, Cardi B was ultimately cleared of potential battery charges in the ensuing days.

Interestingly, the tables have turned in the past, with concert attendees deliberately targeting artists on stage.

This summer, Bebe Rexha faced a near-knockout situation when a fan threw a cell phone at her head in New York.

Likewise, Harry Styles was struck by an unidentified object in Vienna. At the same time, Latto encountered a similar projectile in Germany and responded with a stern warning.

READ MORE: Taylor Swift Concert: Viral Security Guard Gets Fired

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: 50 Cent Allegedly Hits Fan After Launching Microphone Into Concert Crowd - From Entertainment Tonight
In a significant move, American Airlines flight attendants have taken a decisive step by voting in favor of granting their union leaders the authority to call for a strike, according to the NY Post.

This action aims to pressure the airline's management to accede to their demands for a substantial 35% increase in wages and other associated benefits.

An overwhelming majority, exceeding 99% of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants members, have endorsed the potential strike option, which signifies a united stance in seeking a resolution.

Suppose the ongoing negotiations, mediated by a third party, fail to produce desired outcomes, the union must contemplate a work stoppage.

In contrast to the recent agreement granting a 40% salary elevation to pilots, the airline and the union, representing a considerable 26,000 flight attendants, are slated to engage in further discussions mediated by federal authorities in Dallas next week.

While both parties continue to seek common ground, flight attendants are expressing a diminishing level of patience.

Their spokesperson, Paul Hartshorn Jr., emphasized that the flight attendants have been without a raise since January 2019, underscoring the urgency of their demands.

The union's objectives encompass a comprehensive 35% wage hike across the board and a yearly 6% salary augmentation throughout a proposed three-year contract.

Additionally, the union advocates restoring onboard staffing levels, which had been curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

READ NEXT: American Airlines Plans to Hire 18K Employees by 2022

American Airlines Flight Attendants Can't Go On Strike Unless Given the Green Light

While the recent vote by American Airlines flight attendants to authorize a strike showcases their intent, it is important to note that the prospect of an actual strike is not imminent. Federal regulations create significant hurdles for such actions within the airline industry.

Federal law, specifically the Railway Labor Act, places substantial barriers on airline unions to legally execute strikes, per CBS News.

This includes obtaining a declaration from federal mediators that continued negotiations would be futile, a condition that rarely materializes.

Furthermore, the president and Congress have the authority to intervene, potentially delaying or preventing a strike.

The National Mediation Board must grant approval for flight attendants to initiate a strike, and even then, a mandatory 30-day "cooling off" period must transpire.

Lori Bassani Hedrick, the President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, acknowledged these legal constraints.

She clarified that while they cannot immediately initiate a walkout if management persists in offering insufficient compensation and retirement improvements while proposing concessions, the union would not hesitate to request authorization for a strike if necessary.

American Airlines pilots ratified a contract that guarantees a substantial pay increase exceeding 40% over four years earlier this month.

It is anticipated that American Airlines flight attendants may not secure a comparable raise, as their leverage is comparatively weaker due to the higher availability of flight attendants compared to pilots, who are presently in short supply.

Airline Ticket Prices Plunge

In the preceding month, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association's request to suspend contract negotiations with their airline was denied by the National Mediation Board.

Engaged in talks with the carrier for over three years, the union resorted to strikes at several airports, including Los Angeles International, on August 30th.

Historically, pilot strikes are uncommon, with the last recorded instance transpiring in 2010 involving Spirit Airlines.

Regulatory bodies like the NMB take meticulous measures to avert work stoppages that could disrupt the crucial flow of interstate commerce facilitated by the airline and railway sectors. In some instances, Congress intervenes to manage these situations as well.

Concurrently, despite grappling with pilot shortages and challenges post-pandemic, the airline industry has shown signs of progress that benefit travelers.

Notably, airline ticket prices have experienced a decline, particularly in the realm of domestic flights, Kiplinger reports.

This price reduction is a welcomed development for passengers and underscores ongoing changes within the industry.

READ MORE: Texas: Greg Abbott's 'Law That Kills'

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: American Airlines flight attendants vote to authorize a strike - From WFAA
The annual Steelworkers and Friends parade is returning to Bethlehem, giving residents the chance to spend part of the Labor Day 2023 weekend with laborers.

The caravan will rally at the SteelStacks campus in front of the old Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces on Southside starting at 8:30 a.m.

The parade kicks off at 10 a.m., crossing the Lehigh River at New Street and proceeding through the citys north side on Main Street, Broad Street and back to the United Steelworkers Local 2599 offices.

The union is celebrating 81 years of solidarity, according to the parade flyers.

MORE: Steeples and Steel Tours returning to Bethlehem this fall

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Northampton Community College students and staff are set to gain a new boost in their commuting needs  just in time for the fall 2023 semester.

LANTA has introduced two new Enhanced Bus Service (EBS) Rapid Transit routes, providing 15-minute departures and arrivals at the new Southside Station on Third Street. The station also sits in front of the colleges Fowler Family Southside Center in Bethlehem.

Both routes with serve the center, with the Blue Line running between Easton and Trexlertown, and the Green Line running from the Wind Creek Casino in Bethlehem to Whitehall, said Chuck Genna, a spokesman for the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority.

Both routes, Genna said, will stop at the Bethlehem Transportation Center, Broad and Guetter streets, which provides easy transfers to several other LANTA routes. Additionally, Route 323  running between Southside Bethlehem and the Center Valley area  is served by the Southside Station. This will provide even more opportunities for transfers, he said.

Another bonus to Fowler riders are the buses stop at the 80-foot bus shelter. The shelter has been a part of the building since 1939 when it historically served Bethlehem Steel workers. Modern signs and future amenities are planned for the site, Genna said.

The Fowler Family Southside Center, owned by the community college, is open to the community, as well as students. Its home to the Follett Family Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), allowing area entrepreneurs and inventors to jumpstart ideas and launch business ventures. The space also offers GED classes, childrens programs and adult literacy courses, according to its website.

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The 4-year-old girl who authorities say was stabbed by her father in an attack that left her mother dead remained hospitalized Friday.

Northampton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Tatum Wilson on Friday described the girl as stable following Wednesday mornings domestic incident in Wilson Borough.

She had surgery yesterday which was successful, the prosecutor told lehighvalleylive.com. She is currently and will remain hospitalized for the foreseeable future.

Family of the girls 38-year-old mother, Shante Mason, have started a GoFundMe online fundraiser to help with funeral expenses, as well as the little girls hospital bills. It raised more than $4,000 toward a goal of $20,000 as of early Friday afternoon.

The suspect in the attack, 38-year-old Richard Fantauzzi-Aviles, is being held on homicide and related charges in Northampton County Prison. He has been denied the possibility of release on bail. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled Sept. 14. Once that is held, a district judge will determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the charges toward trial in the county court of common pleas.

Fantauzzi-Aviles admitted to police, I took her life, clarifying to an officer whom he was talking about: My wife, according to court records. He also admitted to killing Mason in a phone call to his sister, who relayed that information to police, court records say.

Fantauzzi-Aviles about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday had flagged down the officer at Sound 22nd Street and Fairview Avenue in the borough, saying he needed to go to the hospital and that I feel like they made me take her life, police wrote in court records. It was not immediately clear who they are. He then provided police with his address in the 900 block of South 25th Street and apartment key, and police responded to find the two victims lying prone in the bedroom of the apartment, with a large kitchen knife on the floor beside Masons leg.

Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek pronounced Mason dead at the scene of sharp-force injuries and ruled the manner of death homicide. The girl suffered life-threatening sharp-force injuries to vital organs and was taken to St. Lukes Hospital-Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township, then flown by medical helicopter to the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.

Fantauzzi-Aviles was detained immediately and taken to St. Lukes Easton Hospital before being arraigned and sent to the prison.

Court records were not updated as of Friday with an attorney for Fantauzzi-Aviles.

Fantauzzi-Aviles was charged with summary harassment in an incident May 1 in Wilson Borough, pleaded guilty May 30 and was making monthly payments on a fine in that case before District Judge Richard Yetter III, court records say. That case involved a male victim, Yetters court said Friday.

Editors note: Reach the Turning Point of Lehigh Valley Domestic Violence Helpline at 610-437-3369. Reach the New Jersey Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-572-7233 (SAFE). Reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 (SAFE), chat with their advocates here or text START to 88788.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is taking a page out of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's playbook with the completion of her 62-county tour.

Gillibrand, D-N.Y., capped off her statewide swing with a stop at the New York State Fair Thursday.

"Visiting every one of New York state's 62 counties is important to understanding the issues facing our communities," she said. "From small business owners in New York City to farmers across upstate to families in every community focused on health care, jobs and education, New Yorkers face many challenges and meeting with them face to face helps me be a better senator."

Gillibrand has embarked on a 62-county tour in the past, but it's not an annual tradition for her like it is Schumer. Since Schumer, D-N.Y., was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998, he has visited the 62 counties every year. His statewide tour is in its 25th year.

After Gillibrand was appointed U.S. senator in 2009, she visited every county. She has repeated that feat over the years. She was elected to a full six-year term as senator in 2012, and won reelection in 2018.

She has already announced she will seek reelection in 2024.

Cayuga County was one of the last stops on Gillibrand's most recent statewide tour. She visited Auburn Community Hospital to highlight $2 million in federal funding for the hospital's cancer center.

It was Gillibrand's first public appearance in Cayuga County in six years. In 2017, she visited the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn.
Students with disabilities in Pennsylvania will now receive free support through the public education system for an additional year beyond what current policy dictates.

Under a settlement announced Thursday, the states Department of Education will change its policy to allow students with disabilities to continue in K-12 public education until they turn 22. Previously, students would age out of the program at the end of the school year during which they turned 21.

Students who turned 21 during the 2022-23 school year and were considered to have aged out will also have the option to re-enroll in public school this year, according to the settlement.

The new policy takes effect Sept. 5 and will continue offering students support services to help them transition into adulthood, as well as supports such as speech therapy and occupational therapy. Each year, there are about 17,000 special education students in Pennsylvania between the ages of 18-21  approximately 300 of whom are 21  according to the attorneys that filed the case.

Lawyers representing a 19-year-old student and his family filed a federal class action suit in July. It argued that the states policy failed to comply with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which states that services should continue until a student receives a diploma, or turns 22.

The student  who has multiple disabilities and receives occupational therapy, speech therapy and transition services  would have aged out of the program in the summer of 2025, following his 21st birthday in February. Under the new policy, he will be able to receive support until February 2026, adding six months of additional time to access the free services.

This is a significant step forward for young adults with disabilities in Pennsylvania, his attorneys, who work for the Public Interest Law Center as well as Berney & Sang, said in a statement. We look forward to working with them to ensure that students with disabilities are able to receive the support they deserve to prepare for the next stage in their lives.

A spokesperson for the states Department of Education said in a statement that it was notifying families with eligible students of the change. The department is committed to ensuring that every student receives a high-quality education.

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Three years ago, Bob Hartman fell for a scam that cost him $50,000.

Hes still paying for it with $400 monthly payments on an interest-only home loan that the scammers pilfered as part of the fraud.
UPDATE: Manhunt for escaped murdered continues in southeastern Pa., closures announced

Hundreds of law enforcement agents searched Friday for a man recently convicted of murder in Pennsylvania for the fatal stabbing his ex-girlfriend, a day after he escaped from a county jail.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, is also wanted in his native Brazil in a separate slaying and is considered an extremely dangerous person, authorities say.

The search dragged through a second day, with authorities using drones, helicopters and dogs. Searchers were focusing on railways, waterways and routes out of the area, Chester Countys district attorney, Deb Ryan, said at a news conference Friday.

Ryan said authorities believe Cavalcante is trying to flee south, but also have no evidence that Cavalcante has left the area or that he is receiving assistance from others.

Authorities said area residents should scan video from their doorbells or surveillance cameras for anything suspicious and check their cars, sheds and any outbuildings.

They also advised people to check the homes of vacationing neighbors and check for missing cars, bicycles or any other mode of transportation that Cavalcante could use to aid his flight.

Robert Clark, supervisor of the U.S. Marshals fugitive task force in Philadelphia, said the Brazilian consulate was advised of Cavalcantes escape.

Cavalcante escaped Thursday morning and was seen walking on a road near the prison shortly afterward, authorities said. Authorities have not disclosed the circumstances of his escape, and say the matter is under investigation.

This aerial photo shows Chester County Prison on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Danelo Cavalcante, convicted in August of fatally stabbing his girlfriend escaped Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, from the suburban Philadelphia prison and prosecutors say he is also wanted in his native Brazil in a separate slaying.WPVI-TV/6ABC via AP

A jury convicted Cavalcante last month of killing Deborah Brandao, his ex-girlfriend, in front of her children in 2021. Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison and was awaiting a transfer to state prison.

Prosecutors have said that he killed Brandao to stop her from telling police about the charges against him in Brazil in connection with a 2017 slaying. He was captured in Virginia after Brandaos murder, and authorities say they believe he was trying to return to Brazil.

Cavalcante originally came to the United States illegally, after fleeing Brazil to Puerto Rico following the 2017 murder for which he is wanted, authorities say.

Authorities described him as 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall and 120 pounds (54 kilograms). He has curly black hair and a closely cropped beard and mustache, according to a photo the county released.

PSP Troop J and the Chester Co. Detectives are searching for Danelo Souza Cavalcante, 34, who escaped from Chester County prison on Aug. 31. Anyone with information should call 911, PSP at 1-877-926-8332 or PA Crime Stoppers: 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477) or https://t.co/GheTzi0bTc. pic.twitter.com/H6eI5Jf1sR  PA State Police (@PAStatePolice) September 2, 2023

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Pennsylvania State Police are planning targeted enforcement over the Labor Day holiday weekend.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission projects over 2.7 million people will be on their roadway during the Labor Day holiday. This is the five-day period beginning Aug. 31 and ending Sept. 4. The figure represents a 2.5% increase in holiday traffic during the same travel period last year.

Friday is expected to be the busiest travel day of the weekend, according to state police.

As a result, Troop M, covering the Lehigh Valley and Bucks County, will be increasing patrols as part of its Pennsylvania Aggressive Driving Enforcement Education Program. The program will run from early Friday morning to just before midnight Monday.

The program focuses on speeding, seat belt violations and child seat belt infractions, but troopers also will be looking for phone violations. These include texting while driving; drivers using handheld cellphones; wearing headphones or earbuds; careless driving; and reckless driving.

Additionally, Selected Traffic Enforcement Against Drunk Drivers and Drug Recognition Expert troopers will be targeting drivers under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. State police in Lehighton are conducting a sobriety checkpoint  from some point between midnight Friday to just before midnight Monday  in Carbon and Monroe counties.

Pennsylvania State Police Troop T, covering multiple stations, including in the King of Prussia and Pocono areas, are suspending all scheduled construction projects from now through 11 p.m. Monday. All lanes will be open to accommodate the expected increase in traffic.

Last year during the Labor Day weekend, Troop M investigated 45 crashes and made 29 DUI arrests. Troop T reported a 40% increase in crashes over last years holiday weekend compared to the year before.

Motorists also should slow down and move over when possible if they see any police or emergency vehicle on the side of the road, under the Steer Clear or Move Over law.

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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
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Dublin South, Kildare and West Wicklow Community Healthcare launched its Green Ribbon Campaign on today, Friday September 1 to raise awareness about mental health difficulties and encourage members of the general public to wear a Green Ribbon to show you are open to having meaningful conversations about mental health.

I encourage all across Dublin South, Kildare and West Wicklow to connect with the Green Ribbon Campaign for 2023 to help raise awareness of mental health difficulties and start conversations to end mental health stigma. By communities working together we can help to create a more compassionate society where conversations around mental health take place freely and those who need to, feel more comfortable in coming forward to seek and get support when they need it most. Please wear your green ribbon proudly this September," said Mary OKelly, Interim Chief Officer, Dublin South, Kildare and West Wicklow Community Healthcare.

"Through a range of events across Dublin South, Kildare and West Wicklow and social media posts, Resource Officers for Suicide Prevention are encouraging people and our partners to wear a green ribbon and to become more aware of the language they use every day that may be triggering for people with mental health difficulties. We will also be encouraging people and our partners to educate themselves about mental health and mental illnesses."

Green Ribbons will be disseminated across healthcare and community settings in Dublin South, Kildare and West Wicklow so please feel free to pick up a ribbon at your local Primary Care Centre and Family Resource Centre.

Green Ribbons will also be available at Whitewater Shopping Centre on September 22.

Your support for the Green Ribbon Campaign will be greatly appreciated and you can support by wearing a green ribbon, distributing Green Ribbons to your family, friends, workplace and wider community, staging a Green Ribbon event or supporting and engaging with social media activity related to the campaign. A Green Ribbon supporters pack is available to support you and can be downloaded at the following link by visiting www.seechange.ie/green-ribbon/ .
Farmers have objected to the plan to hold the Electric Picnic in the middle of August 2024 because of the impact on the harvest.

Festival Republic announced in the run-up to the 2023 event that it is planned to hold 20th anniversary of the show in Stradbally from August 16-18 a fortnight earlier than usual.

Stradbally is also a hub for malting barley harvested in the surrounding farms which are intensive tillage lands. Agriland reports that Laios farmers are shocked by the move.

Bobby Miller, who farms in Stradbally, the new date would clash with prime harvest time.

Paul Cushe lives in the town and farms locally. He summed up the views of farmers.

Its pure craziness, thats what it is, Cushen said.

Apart from needing the co-operation of farmers and local people to hold the festival in Laois, Festival Republic rely on farmland in and around the village for parking.

The late 2023 harvest caused by a summer of bad weather could also cause problems. Met Eireann is forecasting a dry and warm weekend in Laois.

The expected weather led to a reply from one farmer to Carlow Weather that at least one road will be out of bounds to picnicers.

If thats the case Ill be cutting corn ye may use a different road to get there  Enda fingleton (@EndaFingleton) August 29, 2023

Over 70,000 are due in Stradbally from September 1-3. Full Agriland story HERE.
Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Attaf in Berlin on June 22, 2023. ODD ANDERSEN / AFP

Algeria, attempting to give substance to its double "no" to the situation in Niger  neither accepting the coup nor approving foreign military intervention against the putschists  made a proposal, on Tuesday, August 29, for a six-month transition plan for a return to constitutional and democratic order. The initiative, announced at a press conference in Algiers by Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Attaf, drastically reduces the three-year "transition" proposed by the junta.

"The process can be completed in six months so that the coup d'etat does not become a fait accompli," said Attaf, who has just completed a three-country tour of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He visited Nigeria, whose President Bola Tinubu currently heads the regional organization; Benin; and Ghana. On August 9, he held talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The secretary general of the Algerian Foreign Ministry, Lounes Magramane, traveled to Niamey on August 24, where he held talks with the junta-appointed prime minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, without meeting President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been detained since July 26. This diplomatic action is intended to promote a solution based on both "the rejection of unconstitutional change and the refusal to use force to deal with the resulting crisis," explained the Algerian Foreign Ministry.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Algeria seeks to mediate in Niger crisis

Algiers' primary objective is to work, over a six-month period, to find internal "political arrangements" in Niger "between all parties" to enable a return to constitutional order, notably by granting guarantees to the putschists. The proposal specifies that the transition would be supervised by a "civil authority headed by a consensual figure accepted by all sides of the political class, in order to lead to the restoration of constitutional order in the country."

'Disaster' of foreign intervention

Algeria "will engage in intensive contacts and consultations with all parties concerned who can contribute to and assist in the political resolution of the crisis or support efforts to achieve it," explained Attaf. Algeria also advocates holding an "international conference on development in the Sahel" to mobilize funds for development programs and "ensure stability and security in a sustainable manner," he added.

Algeria is determined to avert the prospect of military intervention, which continues to be raised as an "option" by ECOWAS leaders with the support of France. Attaf described his meetings with the leaders of Nigeria, Benin and Ghana as "fruitful," adding that they had assured him that they are not "warmongers."

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A TWELVE-HOUR spinathon will take place this weekend in Limerick as two friends build up to one of the most challenging expeditions of their lives.

Fitness instructors Geri McLoughlin, who lives in the city centre and Emma Cross of Ardnacrusha will get in the saddle and teach bike classes for half a day in Aisling Annacottys clubhouse between 7am and 7pm on Sunday.

They are gearing up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania next year, and are holding a number of warm-up events to get themselves in tip-top shape for the volcanic walk.

Although the pair are self-funding their trip, money they raise from the expedition, and the events in the run-up to the adventure will go to two very deserving charities.

They are the neonatal units at University Maternity Hospital in Limerick and its equivalent in Cork.

These are super-close to us. Emmas children were in the neonatal unit in Limerick. My nieces and nephews were in the neonatal unit in Cork. Between the two, they were so good to our families, explained Geri.

She admits both her and her friend are massively into walking.

Emma scaled Africas highest peak 20 years ago, while for Geri, its another challenge in her hiking journey having just returned from Mont Blanc in the Alps.

The pair will be joined by another friend and fitness instructor Lisa ORiordan at the spinathon.

Although the official plan is for them to work in two hour blocks each, Geri admits she might try and keep going for the full distance!

We will be doing our own tracks, we'll have DJs and playlists to teach the class. For example, I might do a Disney hour, Emma might do a rock-n-roll hour. We all have different genres we want to cover, she explained.

There will be a collection for the neonatal units on Sunday, plus a bake sale.

Members of the public can choose to join the effort for as short or as long a time as they wish.

For more information, or to book a spot on a bike, please telephone Geri at 085-1510841.

Donations for the neonatal units can also be made by dropping into Aisling Annacotty on Sunday itself.

Alternatively, go online and search Beats and treats at gofundme.com

The friends will host a quiz night and one more event before they hit the volcanic rocks.
Over the last 14 years, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has made several stops in Cayuga County.

Gillibrand, D-N.Y., recently announced she has completed a statewide tour of New York's 62 counties, including Cayuga.

Since being appointed one of New York's two U.S. senators in 2009, Gillibrand has visited Cayuga County seven times. Her swings through the area include a couple of stops at the Harriet Tubman Home  now a national park  and a few press conferences to highlight bills she authored in the Senate.

The Citizen compiled a timeline of Gillibrand's visits to Cayuga County over the years.

2009: Seven months after being appointed U.S. senator, Gillibrand made her first visit to Cayuga County. She held a roundtable discussion with business leaders and public officials at Cayuga Community College in Auburn.

2011: Gillibrand visited the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn as she pushed for passage of legislation to establish the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn. She joined Karen Hill, president and CEO of Harriet Tubman Home, Inc., and Tubman Home supporters for a tour.

2012: At Auburn Public Theater, Gillibrand heard from local leaders about plans for downtown revitalization and economic development.

2013: Gillibrand joined then-U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei for a press conference at Emerson Park in Owasco to unveil legislation that would prevent the spread of invasive species. Specifically, the bill sought to make it easier to add animals to the invasive species list.

2014: Gillibrand held a press conference at the Booker T. Washington Community Center in Auburn to announce legislation that would boost summer meal programs for children.

2017: Four months after its formal designation, Gillibrand visited the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn. She was a leading advocate of the legislation to establish the Tubman national park in Cayuga County. The bill was signed in December 2014 and the Department of the Interior formally established the park in January 2017.

2023: As part of her latest 62-county tour, Gillibrand toured the future site of Auburn Community Hospital's cancer center. She helped secure $2 million for the hospital to buy equipment for the new facility.
AFTER NEARLY 100 years in the family, a Limerick village post office has shut its doors, with the unit now to let.

Kildimo Post Office was in the local ORourke family and extended family for as long as horses and carts were around but now the family have been left with no choice but to close up shop. And it's a bittersweet feeling.

Margaret ORourke, daughter of Peggy, says her mother was a postmaster for over 50 years, but they had to close down due to personal circumstances and loss of sales. The family also ran a small shop inside the post office.

Back in the day, the post office was a thriving business - it was the hub of the community, Margaret said, as she shared many fond memories of the family business.

My mam, Peg, her sister, Maureen Morris and her sister-in-law, Celia Costello, mostly ran it together [along with Pat Costello], and the three women were known to be there all of the time - they were gas tickets.

It was very much a place of laughter and craic, and you just knew when you walked in the door you were going to have a laugh.

The people who entered the front door were from all walks of life - lorry drivers, pensioners, mothers, match-goers - and Peggy also had her reliable regulars, including the school students.

My mother had a fantastic work ethic - she worked seven days a week, and, on wet mornings, mam would go down early and open the shop at 7:30am to let the students stand in, out of the rain.

Illness struck some years ago, around 2012, leaving Margaret technically in charge.

The kids never forgot it, or her, and a lot of kids sent my mother cards and notes when she fell ill, which I was overwhelmed with, Margaret said.

Her aunt Maureen was to become the face of the business, while Peggy, now 84-years-old, took a step back. Margaret kept her own job elsewhere, while keeping the post office going, from behind the scenes.

Covid-19 hit, and we closed the shop overnight. It was a very small shop, but a lot went on there - it was a busy spot, but we had no choice because of the restrictions and the one-metre distance rule.

Before the post office closed too, we werent making any money from it - it was just about paying its way.

We still had responsibilities in terms of paying peoples wages, insurance and electricity costs, and, in general, it was a worry, as there was money kept there and burglaries are always a worry for something like this.

The pressure is now taken off us. We are hoping there might be a bit of new life in it, in the near future.

The government has financed An Post through a subsidy scheme for the first time ever, which came into effect in June.

The plan outlined a 30 million rescue package for three years - 10m a year.

We were keeping it open for the sole purpose of the community. At the time, up to 2023, if we closed it, it wasnt being put back up for tender by An Post. That changed this year.

With this news, other terms came with the deal, such as the ability to let out former post office units.

Margaret said that the new government subsidy failed to cover the rise in electricity costs alone, which she describes as the straw that broke the camel's back.

For Margaret, a number of factors came into play which signalled the right time for a change, and the end of a fondly-remembered era.

On behalf of the whole family, I want to express our heartfelt thanks to all our customers for their support over the years, and a special thank you to staff for their loyalty and commitment - most of all, to our family, for their unwavering love, she said.
THE LIST of storm names for the upcoming autumn and winter seasons have been released by Met Eireann, the UK Met Office and KNMI - the national weather service of the Netherlands.

Similar to previous years, each of the three weather services has contributed names reflective of their nation and culture, mainly suggested by members of the public.

Met Eireann says it chose names of eminent Irish/Northern-Irish scientists, to honour their important contributions to science and benefits for humankind.

Commenting following the publication of the names, Eoin Sherlock, Head of the Forecasting Division in Met Eireann, said: "Storm naming is an important asset in our warnings arsenal and makes severe weather communications clearer and more effective. It connects our weather services more closely to the public, helping us in our mission to protect lives and property and ensuring the safety of our communities."

Mr Sherlock added that Met Eireann is delighted to celebrate science and scientists in this years names. "As part of our process we asked the public to choose the name for letter A, resulting in Agnes, after Irish astronomer and science writer Agnes Mary Clerke. Our warmest thanks to all who voted and to those who suggested other names that we will keep in mind for future seasons."

The letter J this year is named by Met Eireann after Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the brilliant astrophysicist who discovered the first pulsating radio stars (or pulsars) in 1967. She has led a distinguished career in research and teaching, with an emphasis on empowering women in physics.

Reacting to the announcement of the new storm names list, Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell said: "I am delighted to feature in this distinguished list celebrating science and hope that if a potential Storm Jocelyn happens, it may be a useful stirring-up rather than a destructive event! Science advancements increase our knowledge and understanding of the world around us, and I think this is wonderful example of science-based services communications.

Since 2015, Met Eireann and the UK Met Office have been working together on the naming programme and they were joined by the Netherlands KMNI in 2019.
Politics is SUPPOSED to be about persuasion; but it has always been stalked by propaganda. Campaigners dissemble, exaggerate and fib. They transmit lies, ranging from bald-faced to white, through whatever means are available. Anti-vaccine conspiracies were once propagated through pamphlets instead of podcasts. A century before covid-19 , anti-maskers in the era of Spanish flu waged a disinformation campaign. They sent fake messages from the surgeon-general via telegram (the wires, not the smartphone app). Because people are not angels, elections have never been free from falsehoods and mistaken beliefs.

But as the world contemplates a series of votes in 2024, something new is causing a lot of worry. In the past, disinformation has always been created by humans. Advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI)with models that can spit out sophisticated essays and create realistic images from text promptsmake synthetic propaganda possible. The fear is that disinformation campaigns may be supercharged in 2024, just as countries with a collective population of some 4bnincluding America, Britain, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Taiwanprepare to vote. How worried should their citizens be?

It is important to be precise about what generative-AI tools like ChatGPT do and do not change. Before they came along, disinformation was already a problem in democracies. The corrosive idea that Americas presidential election in 2020 was rigged brought rioters to the Capitol on January 6thbut it was spread by Donald Trump, Republican elites and conservative mass-media outlets using conventional means. Activists for the BJP in India spread rumours via WhatsApp threads. Propagandists for the Chinese Communist Party transmit talking points to Taiwan through seemingly legitimate news outfits. All of this is done without using generative-AI tools.

What could large-language models change in 2024? One thing is the quantity of disinformation: if the volume of nonsense were multiplied by 1,000 or 100,000, it might persuade people to vote differently. A second concerns quality. Hyper-realistic deepfakes could sway voters before false audio, photos and videos could be debunked. A third is microtargeting. With ai, voters may be inundated with highly personalised propaganda at scale. Networks of propaganda bots could be made harder to detect than existing disinformation efforts are. Voters trust in their fellow citizens, which in America has been declining for decades, may well suffer as people began to doubt everything.

This is worrying, but there are reasons to believe AI is not about to wreck humanitys 2,500-year-old experiment with democracy. Many people think that others are more gullible than they themselves are. In fact, voters are hard to persuade, especially on salient political issues such as whom they want to be president. (Ask yourself what deepfake would change your choice between Joe Biden and Mr Trump.) The multi-billion-dollar campaign industry in America that uses humans to persuade voters can generate only minute changes in their behaviour.

Tools to produce believable fake images and text have existed for decades. Although generative AI might be a labour-saving technology for internet troll farms, it is not clear that effort was the binding constraint in the production of disinformation. New image-generation algorithms are impressive, but without tuning and human judgment they are still prone to produce pictures of people with six fingers on each hand, making the possibility of personalised deepfakes remote for the time being. Even if these AI-augmented tactics were to prove effective, they would soon be adopted by many interested parties: the cumulative effect of these influence operations would be to make social networks even more cacophonous and unusable. It is hard to prove that mistrust translates into a systematic advantage for one party over the other.

Social-media platforms, where misinformation spreads, and AI firms say they are focused on the risks. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, says it will monitor usage to try to detect political-influence operations. Big-tech platforms, criticised both for propagating disinformation in the 2016 election and taking down too much in 2020, have become better at identifying suspicious accounts (though they have become loth to arbitrate the truthfulness of content generated by real people). Alphabet and Meta ban the use of manipulated media in political advertising and say they are quick to respond to deepfakes. Other companies are trying to craft a technological standard establishing the provenance of real images and videos.

Voluntary regulation has limits, however, and the involuntary sort poses risks. Open-source models, like Metas Llama, which generates text, and Stable Diffusion, which makes images, can be used without oversight. And not all platforms are created equalTikTok, the video-sharing social-media company, has ties to Chinas government, and the app is designed to promote virality from any source, including new accounts. Twitter (which is now called X) cut its oversight team after it was bought by Elon Musk, and the platform is a haven for bots. The agency regulating elections in America is considering a disclosure requirement for campaigns using synthetically generated images. This is sensible, though malicious actors will not comply with it. Some in America are calling for a Chinese-style system of extreme regulation. There, AI algorithms must be registered with a government body and somehow embody core socialist values. Such heavy-handed control would erode the advantage America has in AI innovation.

Politics was never pure

Technological determinism, which pins all the foibles of people on the tools they use, is tempting. But it is also wrong. Although it is important to be mindful of the potential of generative AI to disrupt democracies, panic is unwarranted. Before the technological advances of the past two years, people were quite capable of transmitting all manner of destructive and terrible ideas to one another. The American presidential campaign of 2024 will be marred by disinformation about the rule of law and the integrity of elections. But its progenitor will not be something newfangled like ChatGPT. It will be Mr Trump.

 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved.

From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
Years after managing two different verticals of the company, Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is mulling over to appoint a CEO for its cab business reported Economic Times.

The new CEO, possibly an ex-Unilever executive, is likely to join the company early next week, reported Economic Times citing sources. Till now, CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has remained the CEO of the company and managed its cab business along with e-scooters verticals.

Also Read: Uber, Ola drivers to face fines for ride cancellations in THIS state, affected passengers to receive rebates

Mint could not independently verify the news. So far, he managed to entrust a number of executives to handle the day to day affairs at the cab business after the launch of Ola Electric. It is unclear whether the new CEO will lead ANI Technologies, the umbrella entity which manages Ola Cabs its subsidiaries along with Ola Financial Services or just the Ola cab business.

Also Read: Two top executives quit Ola Electric; two more departures likely

According to the ET report, the new CEO for Ola Cabs is expected to be a former executive of FMCG major Unilever. The incoming CEO was earlier based in Southeast Asia and had held the role of the country head of Unilever Indonesia. One of the possible names for the post of CEO would be Hemant Bakshi, reported ET citing sources. Hemant is currently posted as the global head and executive vice president of Unilever Marketplace in Singapore.

Earlier, Hemant Bakshi held the leadership position of president and director in Unilever Indonesia. His career started in the company from India thirty three years ago.

Ola cabs enjoy a dominant market share in India. On the other hand, Ola electric is also performing well in the wake of rising demand for electric vehicles sin India. It is expected that the market of e-scooters will expand in the coming years. Months ago, the company CEO Bhavish Aggarwal shared the IPO plan of Ola Electric. The company began selling electric scooters in late 2021. Sharing the IPO plan of Ola Electric, Bhavish said that he is expecting to launch the company's IPO in next four to six years.

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Brightcom Group share price was locked in its lower circuit as the stock opened at its 5 per cent lower price band of 16.08 on BSE on Friday. Shankar Sharma portfolio stock Brightcom Group has been hitting the lower circuit for the last eight consecutive sessions. On a monthly scale, the stock fell 20 per cent in July and 33 per cent in August. On the first day of September today, the stock continued its losing streak, falling 5 per cent.

Why is Brightcom Group share price falling?

The stock has been falling after market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued an interim order raising concerns over the found lapses in the preferential issue of the company. SEBI has barred Suresh Kumar Reddy - the promoter-cum-chairman and managing director of Brightcom Group, along with chief financial officer Narayan Raju from holding directorial posts until further notice.

Read more: SEBI finds lapses in Brightcom's preferential issues of shares; top officials barred from holding directorial posts

Besides, the capital market regulator barred ace investor Shankar Sharma and 21 other individuals from offloading their shareholding in the company. According to the shareholding pattern of Brightcom Group for the April to June 2023 quarter, Shankar Sharma held 2.30 crore company shares, which was 1.14 per cent of the total paid-up capital of the company.

Hyderabad-based Brightcom had problems with the market regulator before too, including concerns over overstating profits in its financial documents.

In June, SEBI levied fines totalling 40 lakh on Brightcom Group and its promoters for flouting regulatory norms. The regulator imposed a fine of 12 lakh on Geetha Kancharla, 6 lakh each on Vijay Kumar Kancharla HUF, Vijay Kumar Kancharla, Karta of HUF and M Suresh Kumar Reddy (Chairperson and MD) and 5 lakh each on S V Rajyalaxmi Reddy and Brightcom Group Ltd.

SEBI conducted an examination of the matter of the media company to ascertain the violation of provisions of insider trading norms, if any, by certain entities while trading in the shares of the company from April 2020 to August 2021.

In its examination, the regulator found that Vijay Kumar Kancharla HUF, M Suresh Kumar Reddy, S V Rajyalaxmi Reddy and Geetha Kancharla traded in the scrip of BGL from April 2020 to August 2021.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday (August 26) conducted searches under the provisions of FEMA, 1999 at 5 locations in Hyderabad at the residences of Brightcom Group Ltds CEO and CFO, and premises of the companys auditor P Murali Mohana Rao, according to ED's official account on the X platform.

During the search, various incriminating documents, digital devices, unaccounted cash of 3.30 crore and gold jewellery and bullion worth 9.30 crore from the residence of auditor, P. Murali Mohana Rao were recovered and seized, ED said on Saturday.

Read more: ED conducts searches at Brightcom Group's CEO, and CFO residences in Hyderabad today; seizes cash, gold and bullion

After Brightcom's board meeting on August 27, the company informed its Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Reddy had resigned from his position. The company's Chief Financial Officer Narayana Raju also resigned.

Technical views on Brightcom Group share price

Jigar S. Patel, Senior Manager of Equity Research at Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers observed that on August 23, 2023, the stock broke the lower band of Bollinger band along with the Ichimoku cloud break which triggered further weakness in the counter and is currently placed at 16.15 levels.

"As we advance, support is seen near 14.5 followed by 12.5. Since this counter is trading below all major exponential averages, further weakness could be seen. Fresh buy is not advised at the current juncture," said Patel.

View Full Image Brightcom Group technical chart

Vaishali Parekh, vice president of technical research at Prabhudas Lilladher said the stock has witnessed an erratic chart pattern with a series of lower circuits so, little technical judgment can be made for this stock.

"The near-term support visible is near 14 level as per the previous bottom made," said Parekh.

Read all market-related news here

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations above are those of individual analysts and broking companies, not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.

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I have spent $3,000 on wedding stuff in the past yearnot for planning my own wedding, to be clear, but in attending weddings as a guest.

For those of us in our late 20s and 30s, this is that agethe wedding age. The wedding time brings dozens of heart-shaped glasses and bachelorette invites, a fridge cluttered with Save the Date!" magnets and a closet crushed with tasteful dresses in demure colors. But it also brings astronomical airfare prices, hotel expenses, wedding gifts purchased on credit and more.

My younger sisters are getting married 10 months apart, so Ive been in this zonked-out mode for a while now. But Im not alone in shelling out for celebrations; a dear friend of mine is crisscrossing the country to attend 10 different weddings, all for close friends and family. Another says he will have attended six by the time 2023 endstwo even happening on the same day.

We all love to show up for our friends and celebrate their joywe love to love love!but theres no denying it: Doing so takes a toll on the bank account. Guests traveling by car to weddings spend an average of $640, according to data from The Knot, and people traveling by plane to celebrate someone elses nuptials spend $1,200. This doesnt include all the ancillary costs that come with the events leading up to the big day: bachelor and bachelorette parties, bridal-shower gifts, engagement-party travel and more.

At a certain age, youre going to 10 weddings in a summer. There are just so many happening," says Jen Doll, writer and author of Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest." She adds, If youre spending $8,000 doing that, you could buy a house with that."

Just say no

I think I have to be the one to tell you that you cannot attend any more bachelorette parties this year," a friend recently joked. She was poking fun at my recent travels, all for bachelorette parties in rural California, beachside New Jersey and Texas wine country.

My problem is knowing I dont have to attend everything but wanting to attend everything. My friend was telling me to give it a rest because she saw the exhaustion in my eyes from the constant travel and party planning. But my wallet was also begging for a break after buying decorations, booking party buses and more.

It snowballs into this huge, huge cost, but you still want to be there," Doll says. You want to be a good friend. I happily went to all the weddings I was invited to. I cant think of one I didnt want to go to."

Danielle Arlotta, lead financial planner at Brooklyn Plans, says she often talks with clients wrestling with my same issue: learning how to pick and choose when it comes to participating in these many celebrations.

Its not just going to the wedding, its the stuff beforehand, too: the bachelorette parties, the bachelor parties, the engagement parties, everything," she says. Ive definitely seen an uptick in my clients trying to plan for everything, but you spend a lot on it, so it can be overwhelming."

Arlotta helps her clients take a step back and view the calendar as a whole: When are these weddings happening? Where are they happening? What other financial commitments do I have happening alongside these dates? From there, Arlotta recommends assessing the individual events leading up to the big day and, depending on your closeness to the person, asking directly what is most important to the people getting hitched.

Even for one person, they have three weddings in a year, and for each different wedding, they have three different relationships with each person," Arlotta says. Decide what is most important for each of these couples youre supporting or going to see. Like I said, one person might be a co-worker, someone else you might be in their wedding, so youre expected to do more. Make sure youre showing up not only for what you think is important, but also what is realistic for you."

Brides and grooms sometimes also need a bit of a reality check, Doll says. Wedding season can whip everyone into a frenzy, but if the newlyweds are considering their guests and their needs, theyll understand that everyone cant come to everything.

We talk so much about the couples, and while that is important and interesting and love is a great thing, the people who are going to the wedding are often as important a part of a wedding as everything else," Doll says. If youre putting on a wedding, try to think about what youre asking from your guests. If you do have your heart set on some wedding in Fiji, know that not everyone is going to be able to come, and that doesnt mean theyre not your friend."

Learn to compromise

Learning to make compromises can make this planning process less stressful for wedding guests, Doll says. Once you receive the official Save the Date card, that is your time to price out how much you can reasonably set aside for attending this wedding and its ancillary events. If youre going to have to take on debt or plunder your savings to make it to everything, that should be a sign that youll have to find some compromises, such as attending fewer pre-celebrations or staying for less time over the actual wedding weekend.

You need to have pretty firm boundaries, but that is something thats way easier to talk about than to do," Doll says. Dont feel like a failure that you cant do everything because of your bank account."

After talking with Doll and Arlotta, I looked at my 2024 calendar: two weddings, both in honor of people I absolutely adore. My girlfriend mentioned another wedding shed love me to attend as her plus-one.

Over the years, after being in several weddings and attending many more, Ive come to my own set of compromises. On a bachelorette party, I take charge of setting up the SplitWise account or keeping track of whos been handling what costs. That way, at the end of the celebratory weekend, we can all make sure that one person isnt shouldering a greater burden of our shared costs.

And if Im traveling a significant distance for a wedding, I dont buy a present off the registry; instead, I try to gift the new couple something smaller, usually handmade. In the past, I have sewn scrap quilts and pressed flowers from the centerpiece bouquets. The married folks are always just as grateful to unwrap my tiny crafts as they are to receive a $200 kitchen gadget. One of my best friends hung the pressed flowers I framed for her and her husband in a prominent place above the dining table. Every now and then, I spy it in her Zoom background. We both share a smile.
Malayalam cine-serial actor Aparna Nair passed away at the age of 33. As per police, Aparna was found hanging inside her room at her residence near Thiruvananthapuram's Karamana last night, PTI has reported. She is survived by her husband and two children.

The 33-year old actor has acted in a few movies and numerous television serials. Aparna was staying with her husband and children. As per the police, the incident happened at around 7.30 pm on 31 August. As per the report, the Police were informed about the incident by a private hospital where Aparna was admitted after she was found hanging.

"We received the information from the hospital and have registered a case for unnatural death," a police officer told PTI.

Police are suspecting a case of suicide and that family issues were behind this extreme step taken by Aparna. The police also added that an investigation has been launched into the incident.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Manipur has seen communal tensions previously also but the current situation is unprecedented owing to the fact that both communities have large number of weapons, a senior Army official said on Friday.

Lt. General PC Nair, Director General of Assam Rifles said, The situation that we are facing in Manipur is unprecedented. We have never faced anything of this kind. Something similar happened in the early 90s when the Nagas and Kukis fought and then within the Kuki groups also there was a fight in the late 90s."

Speaking of the current threats, he said, Today, the biggest challenge is the large number of weapons that are out within both communities. Related to this, is the minds of both communities. Today, there's so much against each other, it's so corrupted. "

This needs to be stalled. There is a need for realisation to come for the people that the only way forward is peace," he adds

Changes in the last decade have been phenomenal

Nair also praised the developments that happened in last 10 years and urges all to look forwards

The changes in the last decade have been phenomenal in terms of infrastructure, educational institutions, job opportunities, airports and highways...Who, 10 years ago would have ever imagined that a Femina Miss India or a Durand Cup or a G20 meet would ever happen?"

If somebody asked this question, you would say "Are you mad to ask such a question" but all this has happened and this is what I want to remind the citizens of Manipur. Let's get back there because as you move forward that is the only way to ensure your socioeconomic progress, he added
NEW DELHI : Average room rates for premier New Delhi hotels are set to triple next week, reaching a range of 18,000- 25,000, amid heightened demand driven by the arrival of thousands of delegates from 20 nations for the G20 summit across 9 and 10 September.

The average daily rate (ADR), a key metric used by hoteliers to measure room revenue, from 7-11 September surged to 26,000, a more than fourfold increase from the average 6,000 in the past year, according to RateGain Travel Technologies Adara division data.

ADR includes room rates, food and beverage, and other services availed of by customers, but it only counts the occupied rooms in a hotel, not the empty ones.

View Full Image Hotels data

The summit, which will bring together top leaders from the worlds 20 largest economies, is expected to attract thousands of officials, journalists, and other visitors, pushing hotel rates to record levels.

Several of the worlds most important heads of state, including US President Joe Biden, will attend the summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping has yet to confirm to the Indian government whether hed attend the meeting.

However, Reuters reported that Xi will likely skip the G20 summit amid tensions between India and China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, has not announced plans to attend the G-20.

Many top leaders will stay at the ITC Maurya and the Taj Palace in Delhi, respectively. These two hotels have hosted several heads of state and are familiar with the protocols for top leaders.

People familiar with the development said The Leela Palace would host the entire Saudi delegation, including the head of state, during these dates.

JW Marriott at Aerocity, too, will have a 60-member delegation staying, and about 50% of its rooms will be taken up by those attending the conference.

Other five-star hotels, such as Lodhi and Oberoi, are also expected to host G20 delegates.

Since we are the only luxury hotel in Aerocity, we have garnered business from G20, unlike some of the other hotels in this area. About 50% of our hotel is occupied by G20-related delegates over the next 10 days, including one head of state. We have flown down chefs from the locations where the delegations are from and expect to give them a similar fare along with Indian cuisine," said Sharad Datta, general manager of the JW Marriott Aerocity.

But for hotels that have failed to draw bookings from official delegations, the G20 summit has not delivered the windfall they anticipated.

These hotel owners expect room occupancies to drop significantly during the next week because of travel restrictions announced.

A top executive said his hotel is not expecting any G20 event-related business, and to make matters worse, the hotel expects local patronage to also decline because of restrictions on movements.

RateGain said that India has a two-month advantage this year, where there will be high demand for the top hotels. Otherwise, the demand pattern typically begins around the festive season in November.

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The Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan and the National Development and Reform Commission of China signed a framework agreement on strengthening production capacities and investment cooperation, Azernews reports.

Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov wrote about this on his page on the social network X.

The head of the department noted that the agreement was signed at a meeting with the chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, Zhong Shanjie. According to him, the implementation of the agreement will help strengthen bilateral economic ties and deepen cooperation in the investment field.

At a meeting with Shanjie, we shared our views on the initiatives being implemented in the direction of developing Azerbaijani-Chinese economic relations, our country's participation in the One Belt, One Road project, encouraging mutual investment and strengthening cooperation, M. Jabbarov said.

Recall that the delegation headed by Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov is on an official visit to China. Within the framework of the visit, the opening ceremony of the Trade House of Azerbaijan in Beijing and other events are planned.
A shopper dressed up as a cowboy with a pistol caused a disturbance at the Seneca Falls Walmart Sunday night.

Town Police Chief Timothy A. Snyder said in a news release that a person dressed in cowboy attire entered the premises with a gun visibly strapped to their leg. The sighting prompted an immediate response from law enforcement and store management, leading to a temporary evacuation of the store.

After a thorough search of the store, a review of security camera footage and an interview with the Cowboy," Snyder said, police determined that the gun carried by the individual was indeed a fake, alleviating concerns about public safety. The shopper had attended an event earlier in the day that had apparently inspired their choice of attire, resembling a character out of the Old West.

However, Snyder continued, "In todays environment, the sight of any firearm, even if it turns out to be a replica, understandably raises alarm. Seneca Falls Police would like to remind the public to exercise caution and consider the potential impact of their actions, even in the context of costumes or themed attire."

Store operations returned to normalcy shorty after the incident was deemed false.
Indian-origin Singapore economist Tharman Shanmugaratnam has won the Presidential election in the country. Tharman Shanmugaratnam defeated two contenders of Chinese origin in the country's first contested presidential polls since 2011.

In the presidential elections, Tharman Shanmugaratnam secured 70.4 per cent votes. The other contenders  Ng Kok Song and Tan Kin Lian  who contested against Tharman Shanmugaratnam bagged 15.7 per cent and 13.88 per cent votes, respectively.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong congratulated Tharman Shanmugaratnam on winning the presidential election.

Lee Hsien Loong said, Singaporeans have chosen Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam to be our next president by a decisive margin. As head of state, he will represent us at home and abroad, and exercise custodial powers, including over the reserves and key appointments."

"I thank the three candidates for putting themselves forward in this presidential election. I am happy that Singaporeans have been able to exercise the right to vote for our next president, and to focus on what the elected president is about. In this election, both voters and candidates have shown a greater understanding of the roles and duties of the president, which bodes well for Singapore," Lee Hsien Loong said.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam earlier spoke at Taman Jurong Food Centre where his supporters had gathered and thanked his supporters and said that he was "truly humbled by the strong endorsement" Singaporeans have given him.

"Im humbled by this vote - it is not just a vote for me, it is a vote for Singapores future, a future of optimism and solidarity. Thats what it really is. My campaign was one of optimism and solidarity, and I believe thats what Singaporeans want," Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam added that he will honour the trust that Singaporeans have placed in me and respect all Singaporeans including those who did not vote for me."

About Tharman Shanmugaratnam

The president-elect Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who joined politics in 2001, has launched his campaign for the polls in July and had promised the country to evolve the country's culture to keep it a "shining spot" in the world.

Sixty-six-year-old Tharman Shanmugaratnam had served as Singapore's Deputy prime minister from 2011 to 2019. He joined politics in 2001. He has also worked in the public sector and held ministerial positions.

Over 2.7 million voters cast their ballots. The voters started casting their ballots at 8 AM when polling stations opened. The polls closed at 8 PM (local time).

Madam Halimah Yacob, Singapore's eighth and first female president, will conclude her six-year term on September 13. The recent election marked Singapore's first competitive presidential race since 2011.

(With agency inputs)

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In 1801, after the young nations fourth election, Vice President Thomas Jefferson faced a choice in his constitutional role to certify the results: He could reject Georgias tally because the paperwork was defectiveor he could accept the defective paperwork and set himself up for victory.

More than two centuries later, that long-lost-to-history decision resurfaced as relevant to the aftermath of the 2020 election and the legal quagmire now surrounding former President Donald Trump.

On Jan. 6, 2021, it was Trumps vice president, Mike Pence, whose role was to certify the results of the electoral vote before a joint session of Congress as he faced intense pressure from Trump and his supporters to reject Electoral College tallies from key states and send them back to the legislatures, even though both the Electoral College count and the popular vote gave Biden his victory.

The pressure on Pence was the culmination of frenzied planning by Trump and his allies over how they could create a slate of alternate electorsstate representatives picked by the party or candidate who formally cast presidential ballots based on the popular votefrom narrowly decided states to produce a Trump victory.

Pence became the plotters last chance on the deadline day for certifying the election, making the vice president the target of Trump supporters as they stormed the Capitol and called on him to refuse to legally certify the election. Pence stood his ground, saying he had no leeway under the Constitution to do anything other than conduct the process by which the results of the Electoral College were counted and certified.

Trumps and his allies actions are now at the heart of two criminal cases. In a federal case in Washington, Trump is accused of conspiring to overturn the election; in Georgia, he and 18 allies are accused of racketeering to fabricate a victory for Trump in the state. Trump and the others deny any wrongdoing.

Where Jefferson comes in relates to whether Pence had more authority than he exercised.

Jefferson, who was President John Adamss vice president, was a leading candidate for president among several on the 1800 ballot at a timebefore the modern Republican and Democratic parties came to dominate electoral politics.

If Jefferson accepted the results from Georgia, albeit submitted with faulty paperwork, his vote tally would give him a tie in the Electoral College, throwing his candidacy to the House of Representatives where he finally prevailed after 36 rounds of voting. If he rejected Georgias results, with the prospect in those days that it would take weeks for a resubmission with the paperwork fixed, it could have sparked a Constitutional crisis, as Bruce Ackerman and David Fontana wrote in a 2004 article in The Atlantic.

Americas nascent democracy had faced a similar issue four years earlier, Ackerman and Fontana noted. In 1797, then-Vice President John Adams was the leading contender in the presidential race when he oversaw the Electoral College count as president of the Senate. The paperwork from Vermont, which was favorable to him, was under question for its validity.

Jefferson urged his fellow southerners not to dispute the Vermont ballots so that substance and not form should prevail," he wrote to James Madison, according to The Atlantic. Yielding to the choice of the people," he wrote, would prevent the phaenomenon of a Pseudo-president at so early a day." Adams counted the Vermont ballots and became president.

Jefferson embraced that same approach in February of 1801 when he accepted Georgias faulty paperwork and eventually won his first presidential term as the nations third chief executive. The rest, as they say, is history.

Trumps lawyers have since described that Jefferson incident as justifying why they believed Pence had the authority to reject Electoral College ballots from several states, including Georgia. Trump has added his own twist, making clear that he didnt want Pence to do exactly what Jefferson did because Jefferson ultimately accepted the ballots, and Trump wanted Pence to reject them, paving the way for new ones showing falsely that Trump had won.

Mike Pence had the right, in my opinion, to send them back," Trump said in an interview last week with Tucker Carlson on X, formerly known as Twitter. I was really disappointed, and I didnt want to do what Thomas Jefferson did."

There are key differences of course. Jefferson wasnt seeking to change the way Georgia votes were reflected, which was the goal of Trump and his team.

There was no question about what actually the vote was," said Ackerman, a Yale law professor who has researched the 1800 episode. Its a deficiency that is a technical deficiency," he added.

It wouldnt make sense to have one person sitting there deciding on who the next president is, because that violates all sorts of basic principles of constitutional law," added Fontana, now a law professor at George Washington University.

There were no challenges to Jeffersons decision at the time, additional evidence that he was acting within established norms. The same cant be said of what Trump asked Pence to do.

A Trump spokesman didnt respond to a request for comment.

Trump, in his Carlson interview, conjured up a colorful, but undocumented, scene of how Jefferson conducted himself during the certification process in the U.S. Capitol.

I didnt want to do what Thomas Jefferson did. Thomas Jefferson, it was Georgia, and it was, Hear ye, hear ye, the great state of Georgia is not capable or allowed to tabulate their votes, " Trump said in the Carlson interview, attributing a quote to Jefferson that is not supported by any historical records. He didnt send them back to have them redo it."

In the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, Trumps team seized on the idea that Jeffersons precedent gave Pence the right to reject state paperwork, making the argument in a memo circulated within the highest echelons of the Trump administration. This was their grand theory that Pence could overturn the election," said Marc Short, then-Pences chief of staff, in an interview.

Trumps team, including John Eastman, used other historical examples as well, Short said. They pointed to 1960 when Hawaii sent two slates of electors to Congress because of a pending recount. In that case, then-Vice President Richard Nixon recognized the slate that favored his rival, John F. Kennedy, who became the nations 35th president, he said. They also pointed to the 1796 election when Adams contended with Vermonts voting irregularities, according to a report on the events of Jan. 6 by a House of Representatives committee.

Privately, Eastman, a former constitutional law professor who advised Trump during the 2020 transition, conceded that there were problems with the legal theories he wanted Pence to use, according to the Jan. 6 report.

Eastman acknowledged that in the 1800 example, there was no question that Georgia voters gave their support to Jefferson, according to an account given to the committee by Greg Jacob, Pences vice presidential counsel. Eastman also conceded that if the vice president had the authority to determine which votes counted, you could never have a party switch thereafter" because the vice president would have no incentive to certify an opponents win, according to Jacobs account.

Eastman is one of Trumps co-defendants in the Georgia case; he faces arraignment next week. Charles Burnham, an attorney for Eastman, didnt respond to a request for comment. Eastman has denied wrongdoing.

Congress in December included a provision in a spending bill to clarify that the vice presidents role in the electoral certification process is ministerial and doesnt include sole authority to reject slates of electors. Trump told Carlson that showed the validity of his argument: If the law subsequently had to be clarified, then Pence had discretion at the time.

The Vice President did have the right to do it," Trump said.
Calling restraint from all parties in Gabon, the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell rejected the seizure of power by military junta, Reuters reported Thursday.

Earlier on Wednesday, a military junta disposed the Gabon President Ali Bongo and put him under house arrest while cancelling election results that had handed Bongo a third term. Hours after seizing power in the Central African nation, the junta appointed General Brice Nguema  a cousin of ousted President Ali Bongo  as transitional head.

It is the eighth military coup of the OPEC member state since 2020.

"The challenges facing Gabon must be resolved in accordance with the principles of the rule of law, constitutional order and democracy," reported Reuters quoting Borrell. "The country's peace and prosperity, as well as regional stability, depend on it," he added.

The EU foreign policy chief said that the block shared the "serious concerns" about the way in which the presidential election that preceded the coup was organised and conducted.

Borrell further told reporters during a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Spain that the Gabonese election had been "plagued by irregularities".

"There are military coups and institutional coups, where you don't need to take up arms, but if I rig an election to seize power, that is also an irregular way to do it," Borrell added.

Meanwhile, General Nguema said, The decision to remove Bongo was motivated by the presidents ill health, along with what he described as a flawed August 26 election that secured him a third term in office," reported Bloomberg.

He did not have the right to serve a third term," Bloomberg reported Nguema saying. The constitution was flouted, the method of election itself was not good. So the army decided to turn the page, to take responsibility," he added.

Gabon is one of OPECs smaller members, pumping about 200,000 barrels a day, and has abundant manganese deposits, though these resources havent translated into better living standards. About one-third of the population live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

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US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to New Delhi to participate in the G20 leaders summit. This will be Yellen's fourth visit to India in 10 months. According to the Treasury Department, Yellen will focus on strengthening the global economy and supporting low- and middle-income countries by advancing efforts on debt restructurings, the evolution of multilateral development banks (MDBs), and building International Monetary Fund trust fund resources during the G20 summit .

Also read: G20 leaders are going to ask: Rahul Gandhi attacks PM Modi on OCCRP allegations against Adani Group

The Treasury said Yellen also will rally America's G20 allies to maintain economic support for Ukraine and increase costs on Russia over Moscow's continuing war in Ukraine. This includes supporting the G7-led price cap on Russian oil exports and efforts to strengthen global food security in the face of restrictions on Ukrainian grain exports.

Also read: G20 Summit 2023: Delhi Metro transforms outskirts of Supreme Court station with artwork, pedestrian plaza, lights

At the same time, the Treasury said Yellen would work to deepen U.S. bilateral ties with India, viewing the country as an alternative to China for US investment and supply chains.

Also read: Delhi Police say rumours of city under lockdown from 8 to 10 Sept for G20 are not correct

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip the G20 Summit. A report by Reuters said China is reluctant to confer influence on its southern neighbour that boasts one of the fastest-growing major economies. The report added that Premier Li Qiang is expected to represent Beijing at the Summit.

"China doesn't want India to be the voice of the Global South, or to be that country within the Himalayan region to be hosting this very successful G20 summit," Farwa Aamer, director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) said.

Also read: Xi Jinping not to attend G20 Summit, instead Premier Li Qiang is coming: Report

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already said he will not be travelling to New Delhi and will send Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov instead.

The G20 summit is seen as an important showcase for India, with the country coming off a successful lunar landing and touting itself as a rising power with attractive markets and a source for global supply chain diversification.

The G20 summit will be held in Delhi on September 9 and 10. India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1, last year.

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Google Doodle on Friday celebrated Singapore's first presidential elections in over a decade with a special illustration. The elections to the largely ceremonious position are being viewed as a show of support for the ruling Peoples Action Party (PAP) amidst a rising cost of living crisis and rare political scandals.

The incumbent, Halimah Yacob, ran unopposed for her six-year term in 2017, but the election to replace her is a three-way contest between former deputy prime minister and finance minister in the PAP government, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and two political outsiders.

Another presidential candidate is 75-year-old former insurance executive Tan Kin Lian, who has received the backing of several opposition parties. The third candidate is the former chief investment officer of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, Ng Kok Song.

During the campaign, Tharman has been criticised for being a PAP insider. At a forum this week, the former minister defended his association with the PAP. He said, (as quoted by Bloomberg), All the senior people on the public track, they owe their positions to bosses who are political figuresAre they obligated to their bosses because of that? Not necessarily. It depends on the individual.

What are the requirements for becoming Singapore's president?

Candidates for the presidency of Singapore must have either served as a senior civil servant or as the head of a company with a shareholders' equity of more than 500 million Singapore dollars.

During his six-year term, the president has the power to veto spending bills, act as custodian of the nation's financial reserves, sign off on key civil service appointments and order the anti-graft agency to continue investigations despite the premier's objections.

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China released the 2023 edition of its 'standard map' on August 28, showing India's Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as part of its territory. The map also shows China's claims in the South China Sea over the exclusive maritime zones of countries such as Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The Chinese standard map has now been widely criticised by a number of countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Also Read: The US, allies see opportunity and risk in Chinas slowing economy

Indonesia's foreign minister Retno Marsudi while commenting on the newly published Standard Map asked China to respect international law. She noted that drawing of any territorial lines or claims must be in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Also Read: India rejects China claims in new standard map"

The Philippines has also rejected the standard map which shows the ten-dashed line in their territory. Philippines Foreign Ministry in a statement said, "This latest attempt to legitimize Chinas purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)."

Also Read: Chinese President Xi Jinping likely to skip G20 Summit in India: Report

Additionally, Malaysia's foreign ministry said that it had lodged a formal complaint with China. Malaysian foreign minister also said in a statement that the new map holds no binding authority over the country while calling the South China Sea a complex and sensitive matter

Also Read: China ramps up construction of bunkers, underground facilities near LAC, reveal satellite images: Report

Moreover, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry strong rejected the idea that the island nation is a part of China. Jeff Liu, spokesperson for the Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson noted that "Taiwan was absolutely not a part of the People's Republic of China".

Also read: Xi Jinping not to attend G20 Summit, instead Premier Li Qiang is coming: Report

"No matter how the Chinese government twists its position on Taiwan's sovereignty, it cannot change the objective fact of our country's existence," Liu was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Meanwhile, Vietnam also protested aginst the map and noted that it violates the country's sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly islands.

Also Read: China's Map Row: Why dont we start issuing', Shashi Tharoor's advice to Jaishankar

Vietnam also protested that the map and the nine-dash line" claims violate Vietnam's sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands, reported AP.

The Vietnamese foreign ministry said that the China's claims based on the map have no value and violate Vietnamese and international laws.

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Super Typhoon Saola is poised to strike Hong Kong with its formidable force, as authorities have elevated the strong wind signal to No.8, prompting the closure of schools, businesses, and even the stock exchange.

This impending natural juggernaut, boasting wind speeds exceeding 200 kmph, is predicted to chart a course towards eastern Guangdong, the adjacent Chinese mainland province.

The impending typhoon has triggered the issuance of the highest typhoon alert by Chinese authorities, marking the potential for one of the most potent typhoons to hit Guangdong since 1949.

The Hong Kong Weather Observatory anticipates that Saola will pass within 100 km of the city on Friday (September 1) night and Saturday ((September 2) morning, ushering in a swift deterioration of weather conditions. With this in mind, there is a likelihood that higher cyclone warning signals may be deemed necessary as the day progresses.

Hong Kong's typhoon warning system employs a five-tier scale, with rankings of 1, 3, 8, 9, and 10 indicating the strength of the hurricane signal. In preparation for Saola's arrival, all schools will be closed on Friday, causing disruption to the start of the term for many students.

Citizens have flocked to fresh food markets and supermarkets in anticipation of the typhoon's arrival, leading to depleted stocks of vegetables and long queues at supermarkets. As the city braces itself, the Hong Kong Observatory has projected heavy rainfall and fierce winds. The water level within the city is expected to surge considerably until Saturday, raising concerns about potential flooding.

Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's flagship airline, has cancelled all flights between 2 pm on Friday and 10 am on Saturday, with the possibility of further disruptions contingent on the typhoon's trajectory on Saturday morning.

Typhoon Haikui

Meanwhile, another typhoon named Haikui is making its way towards Taiwan, with projections suggesting it will make landfall on the northern part of the island before heading towards Fuzhou, an eastern Chinese city. The Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan has been monitoring Haikui's progress closely.

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Google on 1 September is celebrating Uzbekistan's Independence Day with a special Doodle illustration. On this day in the year 1991, as per Google, Uzbekistan declared independence from the USSR and became a sovereign nation.

The illustration shows the Uzbekistan flag waving on a ship or a boat.

According to Google, following the August Coup in Moscow President Islam Karimov of the former Uzbek SSR had declared Uzbekistan an independent nation. This resolution was approved by Uzbekistan's Supreme Soviet, and the next day was declared a national holiday.

During this day, citizens on this day gather in each of Uzbekistans 12 regions and attend concerts, parades, firework shows, and speeches to honor the countrys progress and prosperity.

The biggest celebration takes place in Tashkent's Mustaqillik Maydoni or Independence Square. The Independence Day holiday is incomplete without the preparation of plov, a well-known rice dish with mutton, onions, and grated carrots on top. The well known places to travel on this day Tashkent, Bukhara, State Museum of the Temurids, Samarkand, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, The Walled City of Khiva. Tashkent, Uzbekistans captivating capital, is renowned for its vibrant cultural scene, boasting fascinating museums and exhibition halls with diverse collections and expositions.

Meanwhile, from India, DGCA has approved IndiGo's Delhi-Tashkent direct flight. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has approved the operations of Indigo Airlines to Tashkent with effect from September 6. A senior DGCA official informed that IndiGo has been given approval to operate between Delhi and Tashkent four days a week, as reported by ANI.

Moreover, the carrier also informed that the airline will operate four days weekly non-stop flights between Delhi and Tashkent, catering to the increasing travel demand to the lively metropolis which will not only promote trade but also foster stronger economic and cultural ties between India and Uzbekistan.

(With inputs from ANI)

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A recent post on a Russian Telegram channel has reignited concerns about the health of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The post, accompanied by a picture of Putin, was made by "Z-blogger" Pozdnyakov. The message read: "God, don't you leave us. Pray to God you are alive and healthy."

This cryptic message, as per the Daily Express, has led to a flurry of discussions on social media platforms. People are questioning the well-being of the Russian leader. However, the Russian government has not released any official statement or confirmation regarding Putin's health status.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, also expressed his curiosity on social media. An interesting post on the Telegram channel of "Z-blogger" Pozdnyakov: "God, don't you leave us Pray to God you are alive and healthy " What is going on?" he wrote on X. His inquiry has added more fuel to the already simmering speculation about Putin's health.

Social media users have been actively speculating about Putin's health. Some suggest that if he is unwell, it could have implications for Russia's political landscape. Any uncertainties about Putin's health could have significant domestic and international repercussions.

Timing of the speculations

The timing of these events has raised suspicions and led to various theories. Some even speculate that the Kremlin might be involved in orchestrating these events for unknown reasons, the British publication added.

Nothing. More propaganda. Just a way to manipulate peoples feelings. I know exactly where he's going with this. What country has a leader that prays to god on social media unless they're hoping to use it to get people to keep worrying about what he might do. We all know better," wrote one user on X.

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The government has convened a special session of Parliament for five days between 18-22 September 2023, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Thursday. There was no official word on the agenda behind the special session which will be held days after the G20 Summit in the national capital on September 9 and 10. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to having fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament," Pralhad Joshi said on X (formerly Twitter).

The announcement of the Special Session came as a surprise in political circles with the parties gearing up for assembly polls in five states later this year.

This is the first such special session under the nine years of the Modi-led government which had convened a special joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to mark the midnight GST roll-out on June 30, 2017. However, it will be a full-fledged session of five days this time with both Houses meeting separately as they usually do during sessions. Generally, three parliamentary sessions are held in a year- Budget, Monsoon and Winter sessions.

Early Lok Sabha elections?

After the announcement was made by Parliamentary Affairs Minister, speculations on the agenda for the five-day session began to circulate. One of the agenda items speculated upon was dissolving the current Parliament and announcement of early Lok Sabha elections, as reported by news agency ANI. This decision, however, can be brought about by a cabinet decision and therefore convening a special sitting of Parliament if early Lok Sabha elections was indeed the agenda, was not a requirement.

However, what could be part of the BJP governments plan as per sources is that the government would put forth its achievements of the past five years and explain to the people via the parliament session the need to hold snap polls along with state elections that are scheduled to be held this year, ANI has reported.

However all this is only a matter of speculation sources told ANI, confirming that no one is quite sure what the agenda is for the parliament session next month.

Some of the other agenda items that were in this speculative list included a discussion on the Centres recent achievements, including the G20 Leaders' summit in Delhi and success of Chandrayaan-3 mission, under the second term of PM Modi coined as Amrit Kaal, a term used to denote a Golden period of governance. Also in the possible agenda list was introduction of the One Nation, One Election bill, which as the name suggests would mean simultaneous state and general elections.

Opposition on special Parliament session:

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that maybe it is an indicator of a 'little panic'. "I think maybe it is an indicator of a little panic. The same type of panic that happened when I spoke in Parliament House, the panic that suddenly made them revoke my Parliament membership," a Congress leader said in Mumbai. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Rahul Gandhi said matters like that of allegations against Adani Group are very close" to PM Modi, making him uncomfortable" and very nervous".

Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said, "Central Government doesn't consult anyone, it doesn't talk to any political party...Central Government is strangulating democracy like this."

Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations against the Adani Group, however, will continue to resonate inside and outside Parliament. "Managing the News Cycle, Modi style. 1. News today has been dominated by latest revelations on the Modani-scam. 2. Tomorrow the ever-growing INDIA parties meet in Mumbai. How to counter? Announce a 5-day special session of Parliament when Monsoon session has just ended 3 weeks back. Regardless, the JPC demand will continue to resonate inside and outside Parliament," he said.

AIMIM president and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said, We hope the PM will allow a discussion on China."

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)

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Watch: Royal Enfield Bullet 350 quick walk-around

Royal Enfield Bullet 350 colour options Royal Enfield will offer the new Bullet 350 in five different colour options. The top-spec variant will come with a combination of Black and Gold and is named after the two colours as Black Gold. The mid-spec variant, called the Standard, will come with two colour options including Standard Maroon and Standard Black. The entry-level Military variant will be offered in Military Red and Military Black colour options.

Royal Enfield Bullet 350: Changes revealed Royal Enfield has revealed the changes in the new generation Bullet 350. The motorcycle gets a new instrument console with semi-digital display. The switchgears of the motorcycle have also been updated. The new Bullet 350 will come with telescopic forks in the front and twin gas-charged shock absorbers at the rear to carry out the suspension duties. Braking hardware consists of disc brakes at either end or a disc and drum setup, depending on the variant. The 2023 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 comes with this updated instrument console which is semi digital in nature. It also gets reworked switchgears.

Also check these Bikes Find more Bikes Royal Enfield Bullet 350  1.74 - 2.16 Lakhs* *Ex-showroom price Add to compare Check latest offers Explore your Vehicle Check vehicle details Check Insurance & PUCC due date Yamaha MT-15  1.40 - 1.41 Lakhs* *Ex-showroom price Add to compare Check latest offers UPCOMING Yamaha XSR155  1.40 Lakhs *Expected Price View Details Bajaj Pulsar N250  1.39 Lakhs* *Ex-showroom price Add to compare Check latest offers Yamaha FZS 25  1.39 - 1.58 Lakhs* *Ex-showroom price Add to compare Check latest offers Honda Hornet 2.0  1.39 - 1.40 Lakhs* *Ex-showroom price Add to compare Check latest offers

Royal Enfield Bullet 350 launched: Price, variants, booking details revealed Royal Enfield has launched the 2023 Bullet 350 motorcycle at a starting price of 1.74 lakh (ex-showroom). Offered in three variants called Military, Standard and Black Gold, the price of the bike goes up to 2.16 lakh (ex-showroom) for the top-spec variant. The bookings have started for the new Bullet 350.

Royal Enfield Bullet 350 breaks cover Royal Enfield has unveiled the new generation Bullet 350 motorcycle at an event in Chennai today. To be launched in three variants, the Bullet 350 will be based on the two-wheeler manufacturer's J-platform which also underpins the likes of Hunter 350 and Classic 350 bikes.

Royal Enfield Bullet 350: Price expectation The current generation of Bullet 350 motorcycle is priced between 1.60 lakh and 1.69 lakh (ex-showroom). As of now, the most affordable motorcycle in Royal Enfield's lineup is the Hunter 350. The new generation Bullet 350 is expected to start at 1.70 lakh (ex-showroom). In pricing structure, the new Bullet 350 motorcycle is expected to slot in between the Hunter 350 and the Classic 350.

Royal Enfield Bullet 350 through every decade This picture holds all the Royal Enfield Bullet models that were on sale since the 1930s. Each model represents the decade they were sold. The new generation Bullet 350, to be launched today, will be the first update on the model in this decade.

Royal Enfield Bullet 350: Flashback moment Royal Enfield started to sell the Bullet 350 motorcycles in India back in the 1960s. The first batch of Bullet motorcycles were brought to the country as completely knocked down units. The Chennai-based two-wheeler manufacturer brought in these first 50 units and assembled in India before selling them.

How many variants for the new Bullet 350? Royal Enfield has not shared details about the variants of the new Bullet 350. However, according to reports leaked on social media, the motorcycle will come with three variants. The name of the variants will be announced during the launch. Reports suggest the entry-level variant of the Bullet 350 will come with single-channel ABS, rear drum brake and fuel tank in single colour. The mid-level variant is expected to get similar features along with cosmetic updates like gold pinstripes and 3D badging. The top-spec variant will get a blacked-out engine instead of chrome garnish and black matte effect on the fuel tank.

Royal Enfield Bullet 350: What is new? The new generation Bullet 350 motorcycle will come with several changes in its latest avatar. The overall look and design will remain similar to the older models. Its imposing road presence will remain intact with a large teardrop-shaped fuel tank, the single seat setup and the round-shaped large headlight unit. However, there will be certain new elements added to the new generation Bullet 350. Recent spy shots have already revealed that the motorcycle will come with a new set of swtichgears, a USB port and an updated instrument console which will be semi-digital in nature.

Shared platform with Hunter 350 and Classic 350 2023 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 will be based on the Royal Enfield's J-platform. The same platform also underpins other Royal Enfield motorcycles like the Classic Reborn, Meteor 350 and the Hunter 350. The improvements that Royal Enfield has made with the J-platform over the previous platform are significant. The new bike will replace the older generation Bullet 350 and is expected to be positioned between the Hunter 350 and Classic 350 motorcycles from the two-wheeler manufacturer.

New Bullet 350 but same old engine? Another thing that has not changed too much is the engine that powers the iconic Bullet 350 motorcycle. The new generation Bullet 350 motorcycle will come equipped with the same 349 cc, single-cylinder motor, long-stroke engine that is air-oil cooled. The maximum power that it will be able to generate is going to be around 19.9 bhp at 6,100 rpm and the peak torque output will be around 27 Nm at 4,000 rpm. The tranismission unit on the new Bullet 350 will be a 5-speed unit.

A look at the first generation Royal Enfield Bullet 350 The first of the Bullet 350 launched in 1969 is still around, Believe it or not, it is still in working shape. The bike is owned by an 84-year old veteran whose video of kickstarting the 54-year old motorcycle has gone viral. The design of the Bullet 350 in the past was not too different. It came with a similar-looking teardrop-shaped fuel tank and had a distinct Royal Enfield logo on it. It came with 346cc single-cylinder, four-stroke engine. Though it was not known for sprints, it was one of the most stable motorcycles for cruise or daily commute. A 1969 model of the Royal Enfield Bullet 350, still in working condition, was shared on social media recently. (Image courtesy: Instagram/@rasi_rider)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday that the Ladakh locals informed him that the Chinese have taken over the Indian land. Rahul Gandhi said the locals told him the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was lying about China's acquisition of the Indian territory.

I spent a week in Ladakh. I went to Pangong Lake right in front of where the Chinese were. I had detailed discussions, probably the most detailed discussions that any politician outside Ladakh has had with the people of Ladakh. They categorically told me that the Chinese have taken Indian land. They categorically told me that the PM [Modi] is lying about the fact that the Chinese have not taken Indian land," Rahul Gandhi said. The Congress leader said every person in the Union Territory knows that they have been betrayed" by the Central government. Rahul Gandhi has also alleged that there definitely has been some change in borders. There is clearly an accommodation that has happened between the Centre and the Chinese. There is clearly a change on the borders," Rahul Gandhi said.

Our shepherds themselves told us that they are not being allowed into the areas where they were allowed...It is extremely shameful what has happened in Ladakh," the Congress MP said.

This is in line with the set of allegations that Rahul Gandhi has recently made over China's presence in Ladakh.

To add to it, China on Monday officially released the 2023 edition of its "standard map" that showed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as part of its territory. The "map" also showed the entire South China Sea as part of China as it featured in the previous editions of the 'map'.

As India registered a strong protest over its new standard map", China defended its move, saying that it is a "routine practice" in accordance with its law and urged India to "stay objective and calm" and refrain from "over-interpreting" the issue.

(With agency inputs)

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Robb Report Thailand Best of the Best is an annual awards program that recognizes the best of the best in luxury and lifestyle in Thailand. The awards are based on a rigorous selection process that takes into account factors such as quality, service, and innovation.

The 2023 Robb Report Thailand Best of the Best winners were announced at a gala dinner in Bangkok on March 8, 2023. The winners represent the cream of the crop in Thailands luxury and lifestyle industry, and they offer the best that the country has to offer.

The Robb Report Thailand Best of the Best awards are a testament to the high quality and standards of luxury and lifestyle in Thailand. The winners of these awards offer the best that the country has to offer, and they are sure to provide an unforgettable experience for discerning travelers.

Here are some of the criteria that Robb Report Thailand uses to select the winners of the Best of the Best awards:

Quality: The products and services must be of the highest quality.

The products and services must be of the highest quality. Service: The products and services must be delivered with excellent service.

The products and services must be delivered with excellent service. Innovation: The products and services must be innovative and cutting-edge.

The products and services must be innovative and cutting-edge. Exclusivity: The products and services must be exclusive and not available to everyone.

The Robb Report Thailand Best of the Best awards are a valuable resource for discerning travelers who are looking for the best of the best in luxury and lifestyle in Thailand. The winners of these awards offer an unforgettable experience that is sure to exceed expectations.

For 48 years, Robb Report has served as an indispensable resource for the ultra-affluent, captivating them with its uncommon insight into the best luxury has to offer. Its content covers the full gamut of extravagant living from the most coveted automobiles and haute horology to high-end real estate and exclusive vacation spots.

The Thailand edition puts a regional spin on living the fine life, spotlighting the names, destinations and brands that are making a mark on the rapidly expanding Asian luxury market.

The publication aims to connect the increasingly discerning high-net-worth individuals in the region to everything that is prestigious and privileged.

Remastered in Thailand in 2020 by Matthew Nekvapil, Robb Report Thailand is the leader in ultimate luxury media in Thailand, bar none.

No Surprise that Beauty Gems CEO Suriyon Nueng Sriorathaikul was the recipient of the Award in the Jewelry section.

The family-owned Beauty Gems Group is an award-wining gem and jewelry manufacturer that has grown from a small business founded in 1964 to a global firm whose reputation today is second to none. A pioneer in Thailands gem and jewelry industry and a member of all major international trade associations, Beauty Gems boasts clients around the globe and a well deserved winner of the Robb Report Award.

The Beauty Gems factories are among the most advanced jewellery manufacturing plants in Asia. From there, products are developed for the worlds best-known brands via state-of-the-art technology, consistently meeting our clients exacting requirements and standards. Despite the modernity of the plants, Beauty Gems is still very much in touch with the traditions inherent in crafting fine jewellery. Taking advantage of Thailands strong culture of craftsmanship, the company employs highly-skilled artisans who create pieces of intricate beauty and design. The flexibility of its manufacturing setup allows unmatched agility and the ability to cater to the full spectrum of gem and jewellery products ranging from mass market to high end customized pieces.

Shayne Heffernan
He says he has great expectations for the future of this program, and the small businesses that will grow from it.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- On August 28, 2023, AutoCore.ai (AutoCore), a Chinese provider of automotive system software, announced the successful completion of its B1 round fundraising.

Photo credit: AutoCore.ai

The funding was led by Mizuho Leaguer Investment (MLI) fund, a co-GP USD fund established through collaboration between Mizuho Financial Group and Shenzhen Leaguer Group. MLI focuses on investments in the deep-tech field, reflecting a strategic emphasis on cutting-edge technology.

This significant milestone underscores the growing global recognition of AutoCore's products and its expanding market presence. The investment also represents a substantial stride towards establishing a stronger foothold in the Japanese automotive market.

Hidetaku Matsuo, Partner of MLI, emphasized the crucial role of communication middleware in the evolution of EE architecture. Matsuo highlighted the pressing need for secure and stable data transmission technology, which AutoCore's solution effectively addresses. Matsuo expressed admiration for AutoCore's accomplishments and expressed confidence in the leadership of Dr. Yang Zhang, foreseeing benefits for local OEMs and international clients alike.

Dr. Yang Zhang, Founder and Chairman of AutoCore.ai, expressed gratitude to Mizuho Group and Mizuho Leaguer for their belief and support in the company's mission. He eagerly anticipates collaboration in the targeted Japanese market and aims to be a dependable partner in navigating future challenges for their clientele. This strategic partnership signifies a step closer to realizing AutoCore's vision of transformative automotive technology.
UPDATE: Five indicted after GBI investigation of teen's death in 2022 while in custody at Dalton detention center
Minister of State Business, Employment and Retail, Neale Richmond T.D. visited Longford on Tuesday, August 22 where he met with council officials, members of the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) team and some of their client companies.

The Minister was greeted at the LEO by Cathaoirleach, Cllr Colm Murray of Longford County Council, Chief Executive, Paddy Mahon, Head of Enterprise, Michael Nevin and Director of Services, Barbara Heslin.

Minister Richmond said, I was delighted to visit the Longford Local Enterprise Office and meet with the LEO team and some LEO clients. Meeting businesses across the country is one of the most rewarding aspects of my role and it is great to meet such dynamic companies doing great work here in Longford.

Longford is a county with so much to offer and it is great to see the dedication the LEO team has to local businesses here and their commitment to the growth and success of their clients.

Minister Richmond had the opportunity to meet the LEO Longford team members before meeting a selection of LEO Longford clients.

The Minister met Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney of Harp Media and was shown a clip of their award-winning film Lakelands.

Established in 2018, Harp Media is a multi-discipline film production company which develops films and factual tv programming for general audiences, creative and corporate videos for brands and companies along with a number of training initiatives in all areas of filmmaking.

The Minister then met Sheila Mullen, Peter and Michael Clancy, three siblings who established Lough Ree Distillery in 2017. The Old Post Office Building in Lanesboro is the home of the distillery and centre, a location that offers an historic building close to the Shannon.

Minister Richmond then spoke with Aaron OMalley, founder of GreenQube, an environmentally friendly company producing green products for the cleaning industry in their production facility in Ballymahon. Working with an Italian patent holder, GreenQube has exclusive distribution and production rights for a range of products, including a swimming pool product that is both chlorine and bromine free.

The Minister was then introduced to Jenna Farrell of Scopey by video link.

Scopey is a cloud-based project proposal and management solution aimed primarily at creative businesses in Ireland, UK and Australia, Scopey offers a software solution to help manage project proposals, quotes, scope management, client communications and invoicing.

Established by Jenna Farrell, originally from New Zealand and now living in Longford with her family. Jenna ran her own digital design agency for 10 years in Australia prior to her move to Ireland.



After meeting with these impressive LEO Longford clients, the Minister enjoyed presentations from Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Colm Murray of Longford County Council, Chief Executive, Paddy Mahon and Head of Enterprise, Michael Nevin about the work being undertaken currently by the Longford LEO. The Minister then made an address to those in attendance to conclude the day.

He said, The impact of support provided by Local Enterprise Offices to businesses across the country cannot be underestimated. Mentorship, funding and training can be transformative to businesses across every sector, as Ive seen here in Longford.

The success of the LEO office here in Longford can be seen clearly through the success of their clients. Thanks to the LEO network, businesses across Ireland can rest assured that support is available to help them grow and create jobs now and into the future.
Last week saw a group of Ardagh Girl Guides and Sr Branch head off to visit one of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) World Centres in Switzerland, Our Chalet.

The girls have been hearing and learning about the World Centres since starting their Guiding adventure in Ladybirds and Brownies, so to finally get to visit one was a very exciting adventure for everyone, including the Leaders.

Looking out over the village of Adelboden, Our Chalet was the first World Centre and has visitors from all over the world, throughout the year, and last week was no exception as our Irish group connected with several guiding units from parts of England, Wales and the US. Over 80 girls experienced the Our Chalet Discovery Programme run by International Guiding volunteers, including Lauren from Drogheda Sr Branch.

As part of the programme, our group hiked through Adelboden, visited Engstligenalp located at 1,964m with Switzerlands second highest waterfall. Going up in a cable car, girls had a birds eye view of the waterfall below, and were greeted by the ringing of cow-bells as we visited a cheesemaker and were lucky enough to hear Swiss horns and music as part of the day.

Visiting the glacier-fed Lake Brienz, girls had a guided kayak tour and swam in the lake. Other activities making up the week included a walk across a suspension bridge. On the return journey, via Geneva, a visit to the CERN Universe of Particles Exhibition.

I found CERN very interesting learning all about how the Universe is made. said Caoimhe Farrell. As part of an International evening at Our Chalet each group had to give a brief overview of their country, Caoimhe challenged the other Guides units to spell her name  that kept the evening going for a while! Giving all the other Guides pins of the Irish flag kindly given by Joe Flaherty and Irish and Swiss flags from Enterprise Ireland, many Guiding friendships were sealed that night.

Joanna Pearman, one of the Leaders, expressed her appreciation of the opportunity to take the girls away. It is a big step, letting your child go even just to Guide Camp, never mind to another country. With Guides aged 12 there is a huge amount of trust being placed on you and I am grateful for that trust and chance to give this group the most amazing experience.

It is a wonderful place with a lovely group of girls who stepped out of their comfort zones and took part in all the activities. Thanks so much to Our Chalet staff and volunteers who made this such a memorable experience! enthused Donna Reilly, another Leader on the trip. Donna is the Sr Branch Leader in S.Longford and took the opportunity to enrol new members into the unit, making their Guiding promise all the more memorable.

Donnas twin daughters, Chloe and Kayla agreed, So glad I made the trip, its lovely place, got to meet loads of other guides and enjoyed taking part in the programme activities said Kayla,  Views from the campsite were amazing, enjoyed doing the Our Chalet challenge, pushed me to talk to other guides agreed Chloe.

Senior Branch has activities and events for ages 14 right up to age 30 years with no commitment to weekly meetings and opportunities to travel the world. There is no need to have been in Ladybirds, Brownies or Guides to join Sr Branch and there are plenty of volunteering roles available to those starting Gaisce this year. For further information please contact Donna on 087 220 0406 or visit our social media, FB @ArdaghGirlGuides or Instagram @ardaghsb.
Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: September 01 2023

Christopher Anderson shot and killed a 21-year-old man and shot another victim in a Freeport park; in a separate incident, fired on police.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that an alleged Bloods gang member was sentenced Wednesday to 22 years to life in prison for the murder of a 21-year-old man and attempted murder of another individual in November 2020, and in a separate incident, attempted murder for shooting at officers during a vehicle pursuit in December 2020.

Christopher Anderson a/k/a/ CK, 27, of Roosevelt, pleaded guilty in June 2023 before Judge Howard Sturim to Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony) and Attempted Murder in the Second Degree (a B violent felony) for a shooting on November 28, 2020, at Martin Luther King Park in Freeport. He also pleaded guilty to Attempted Murder in the First Degree (an A-I felony) and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (a C violent felony) in satisfaction of the indictment for shooting at four police officers on December 29, 2020. Anderson was sentenced yesterday to 22 years to life in prison.

Christopher Anderson did not know Taffarie Haughton or the other teenage victim he shot at repeatedly at Martin Luther King Park in November 2020. He just knew that they had interrupted a gang meeting, and that was enough to unleash deadly violence on them, said DA Donnelly. Andersons crime spree did not end after the shooting, and a month later he led police officers on a high-speed chase in Roosevelt that ended in more gunfire. Christopher Anderson is an incredibly dangerous individual. Todays sentence ensures that he will no longer threaten our communities.

DA Donnelly said that on November 28, 2020, 21-year-old Taffarie Haughton and a second 19-year-old victim were at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Freeport. The victims entered the park bathroom and were followed by several Bloods gang members who were attending a gang meeting in the park.

When Haughton and the other victim attempted to leave the park, the exit was blocked by numerous members of the gang, including the defendant. Anderson and his co-defendant, Floyd McNeil, then allegedly began firing on the victims, striking them both.

Haughton was struck twice, once in the chest, piercing his lung and heart, and once in the left foot. He was taken to Nassau University Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased.

The other victim was struck once in the shoulder and taken to Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

Seven shell casings were recovered from the scene.

Anderson and McNeil were both arrested on June 13, 2022, by detectives of the Nassau County Police Departments Homicide Squad.

Floyd McNeil, a/k/a DOT and Diddy DOT, 27, of Hempstead, was charged with Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony); Attempted Murder in the Second Degree (a B violent felony); Attempted Assault in the First Degree (a C violent felony); and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (a C violent felony).

The case again McNeil is pending. That defendant faces up to 50 years to life in prison if convicted.

McNeil is currently serving a sentence of 25 years after being convicted at trial in June 2022 of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree (a B violent felony); Assault in the First Degree (a B violent felony); Criminal Use of a Firearm (a B violent felony); and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (a C violent felony) for a September 2019 shooting in Hempstead.

In a separate incident, on December 29, 2020, at approximately 8:14 p.m., four Hempstead Police Detectives pursued Andersons vehicle with lights and sirens activated for approximately one and a half miles through Roosevelt as he weaved in and out of traffic and drove at high rates of speed.

Anderson pulled into a driveway near Pennywood Avenue and tried to exit the vehicle as officers approached within feet of the defendant.

The defendant then fired two shots in the officers direction and missed. Officers returned fire and Anderson fled the scene unharmed. He was arrested on December 30, 2020.

The cases are being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Michelle Lewisohn and Senior Litigation Counsel Ania Pulaski of the Homicide Bureau. Anderson is represented by Michael Elbert, Esq. McNeil is represented by Don Rollock, Esq.
Man Arrested for Crashing U-Haul Van Into Police Vehicle, Larcenies from Multiple Suffolk Stores

Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: September 01 2023

Emmitt Smith, 43, was charged with Criminal Mischief, a NYS Parole Warrant, Grand Larceny and Petit Larceny.

Suffolk County Police today arrested a man for crashing a stolen vehicle into a police vehicle earlier this month.

Fourth Precinct Crime Section officers pulled over a U-Haul van on Howells Road in Bay Shore on August 16 at approximately 4 p.m. The vehicle had been reported stolen. When officers approached the vehicle, the driver, Emmitt Smith, reversed the van, intentionally struck an unmarked police vehicle and fled.

The van was located by Warrant Enforcement Section officers in West Babylon on August 25 and impounded.

Third Squad detectives, assisted by the Property Auto Crimes Unit, the United States Marshals Service, and New York State Parole located Smith on Booker Avenue in Wyandanch at approximately 7 a.m. and arrested him.

Smith, 43, was charged with Criminal Mischief 3rd Degree and a New York State Parole Warrant. He was also charged with three counts of Grand Larceny 4th Degree and eight counts of Petit Larceny for stealing merchandise from multiple stores throughout Suffolk County between April and August.

The investigation into the stolen vehicle is ongoing.

Smith was held overnight at the Third Precinct and is scheduled for arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip on September 1.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: September 01 2023

Traffic safety is a top priority, and each day Troopers work to ensure the well-being of all those who utilize New Yorks roadways," said NYS Police Acting Superintendent Steven A. Nigrelli.

The New York State Police will increase patrols to combat drunk, impaired, and reckless driving throughout this Labor Day weekend. The special enforcement period starts on Friday, September 1, 2023, and runs through Monday, September 4, 2023. Labor Day weekend traditionally results in heavy traffic throughout the state. This increased flow of traffic also brings with it an increase in accidents, serious injuries, and fatalities and police will be out in force to remove impaired and reckless drivers from our highways.

New York State Police Acting Superintendent Steven A. Nigrelli said, Traffic safety is a top priority, and each day Troopers work to ensure the well-being of all those who utilize New Yorks roadways. Our goal during this enforcement is to ensure we can take intoxicated and drug impaired drivers off our roadways before they injure or kill others. Our Troopers will remain vigilant to remove reckless drivers from our roads and hold them accountable for their actions. I thank the Governors Traffic Safety Committee for their support in conducting pivotal traffic enforcements such as this.

Drivers can expect to see sobriety checkpoints and increased patrols by State Police and local law enforcement agencies during this holiday weekend. Troopers will be using both marked State Police vehicles and Concealed Identity Traffic Enforcement (CITE) vehicles as part of this crackdown to more easily identify motorists who are violating the law. CITE vehicles allow the Trooper to better observe driving violations. These vehicles blend in with everyday traffic but are unmistakable as emergency vehicles once the emergency lighting is activated.

This initiative is partially funded by the Governors Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC). The GTSC and the New York State STOP-DWI Foundation remind motorists that their Have a Plan mobile app is available for Apple, Droid and Windows smartphones. The app enables New Yorkers to locate and call a taxi service and program a designated driver list. It also provides information on DWI laws and penalties, and a way to even report a suspected impaired driver.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Tage, the Chinese autonomous driving solutions developer for mining operations, recently announced the successful completion of a 400-million-yuan Series C2 funding round.



Photo credit: Tage

The investment was led jointly by Hefei Industry Investment Group and a fund backed by CHN Energy Investment Group. Additional participation came from Luxin Venture Capital, Qing Shi Asset Management Group, Beihang Assets Management, and others.

This funding round represents the largest investment in the Chinese mining-scenario autonomous driving sector this year and surpasses the record for the highest funding amount within a year, totaling 500 million yuan, said Tage.

With this substantial infusion of capital, Tage aims to further enhance its autonomous mining technology and products, adapting them to more complex scenarios while maintaining a competitive edge. The company's vision is centered around the development of next-generation electric and autonomous mining vehicles. Additionally, Tage is poised to accelerate its penetration into the domestic market and actively expand its presence in international mining scenarios.

Tage achieved an impressive record of over 2,000 accident-free days through a holistic approach to safety, encompassing product design, engineering implementation, and management mechanisms. Notably, it became the first in China to operate mining sites without safety personnel for 24 hours, a milestone that has now been replicated in over 10 mining areas.

Furthermore, Tage is set to introduce a hybrid autonomous mining vehicle that reduces energy consumption by over 30%. In the future, the company plans to explore alternative energy sources like methanol to further enhance energy efficiency.
(Alliance News) - GSK PLC on Friday said a new drug application for its monoclonal antibody mepolizumab has been accepted for review by the Japanese government.

Shares in GSK were marginally down at 1,389.60 pence in London early on Friday.

GSK said the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour & Welfare has accepted for review its supplementary new drug application for mepolizumab, brand name Nucala, as a treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, or eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis, in adults.

GSK made the application based on results from its phase three Merit trial, which studied Nucala's safety and efficacy over one year in patients with "inadequately controlled" chronic rhinosinusitis. It also used data from the global phase three Synapse trial, which tested the antibody against a placebo.

GSK said if Nucala is approved, it will become the first anti-IL-5 biologic for adult chronic rhinosinusitis patients available in Japan. It is already approved there to treat bronchial asthma in children aged six years and older, as well as refractory asthma and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis in adults.

Chronic rhinosinusitis is caused by chronic inflammation of the nasal lining, with symptoms including nasal congestion, facial pain and a decreased sense of smell, and affects an estimated 2 million people in Japan. Approximately 10% of those patients may require surgery to treat nasal polyps, or soft tissue growth in the sinuses and nasal cavity.

By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to edge higher on Friday following losses in the previous session, as investors eyed the latest US non-farm payrolls report.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 16 points higher at 7,455.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "This week we've seen the number of job openings for July slow to their weakest levels since March 2021, a sharp slowdown in August consumer confidence, a weaker than expected ADP payrolls report, and a downgrade to US Q2 GDP.

"US continuing claims also rose sharply to a 6-week high, suggesting that recent rate hikes were starting to exert pressure on the US economy and a tight labour market.

"If today's non-farm payrolls report shows a similarly modest slowdown in the rate of jobs growth, then there is a very real sense that we could see further gains in stock markets, as bets increase that the Federal Reserve may well be done when it comes to further rate hikes. At the very least it could go some way to signalling a pause as the US central bank looks to assess the effects recent rate hikes are having on the US economy."

Hewson said the NFP are expected to show that 170,000 jobs were added in August, while the unemployment rate is expected to be steady at 3.5%.

The figures are due at 1330 BST, along with average earnings.

On home shores, data from the British Retail Consortium showed that poor weather and strong comparisons with last year meant that footfall across the UK retailing sector was down in August.

The BRC said that footfall across the UK fell by 1.6% last month when compared with August 2022, reversing the annual 1.8% increase experienced in July.

High street footfall fell by 0.9%, retail parks footfall was unchanged but shopping centre footfall plummeted 3.8%.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: "Footfall took a turn for the worse in August as the summer sun failed to materialise.

"The impact was made worse when compared to last year's heatwave, where many shoppers rushed to the shops to buy clothing, BBQs and other outdoor essentials."

In corporate news, Diversified Energy reported increased half-year profits as its hedging policy and higher production offset weaker oil and gas prices.

The company said adjusted core earnings rose 26% to $283m, despite a 48% revenue decline to $487m for the six months to June 30 as the average realised sales price fell 52%.

Elsewhere, Japanese regulators are reviewing a new drug application for GSK's Nucala treatment to be used for the treatment of adult sinusitis, the biopharma giant announced.

The drug, otherwise known as mepolizumab, is already used in Japan to treat bronchial asthma and a rare form of vasculitis (known as eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis), but GSK's new application is hoped to see it approved as a treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.
All four reactors now functioning at site near Luxembourg's border for first time since February 2022

The French nuclear power plant at Cattenom, just across the border from Luxembourg, is fully operational for the first time in 18 months, operator EDF said on Friday.

Reactor 2 was reconnected on Thursday evening after being shut down for a valve repair a fortnight ago, EDF said in a statement, meaning that all four reactors are now online for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine at the start of last year.

The last time that all four reactors at Cattenom were functioning at the same time was on 18 February 2022, an EDF spokesperson wrote in an email to the Luxembourg Times.

There have been a series of stoppages  both scheduled and unplanned  affecting all four reactors over the past year-and-a-half. That included a number of false starts as the plant prepared to return to full power, with safety incidents reported within the past week.

Luxembourg's government sent several letters to French authorities last year raising concerns about the plant, which lies around 25 kilometres from the Grand Duchy's capital.
CHINO, Calif.Adult pleasure products brand Honey Play Box participated in the Asia Adult Expo 2023 held from Aug. 29 to today, Aug. 31 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Asia Adult Expo (AAE) is an annual trade show dedicated to the adult industry and showcases an extensive array of products, including novelties, lingerie, adult healthcare items, gifts, games, adult content production and distribution, industrial facilities and equipment, as well as consultation and trade services.

During the event, Honey Play Box unveiled its latest creation, the JOI Collection, featuring three new products: JOI, a dual stimulator with a clitoral licking function and a rotating G-spot vibrator; JOI PRO, enhanced with a remote control; and JOI THRUST, an app-controlled clitoral licking and G-spot thrusting vibrator.

In addition to the JOI Collection, the spotlight also shone on the POMI WAND and the ADRIAN.

"Asia has long been a prominent center for the production of adult products and sex toys. We are thrilled to participate in this event, which offers us the chance to connect and exchange insights with fellow industry professionals," shared a rep. "Throughout the show, we've encountered a diverse array of innovative adult products and emerging technologies that have truly ignited our imagination for future advancements.

"Currently, we are actively enhancing and refining our app-controlled product range. Our upcoming upgraded HoneyPlayBox app is set to be unveiled at the forthcoming eroFame convention, alongside our collection of app-controlled toys. I am confident that this innovation will be a game-changer, and I eagerly anticipate your valuable feedback."

Additionally, Honey Play Box has announced the upcoming improvements on its app. The existing version of the Honey Play Box app offers features such as long-distance control and music synchronization. The enhanced version is projected to launch in September 2023 and will be unveiled at the eroFame 2023 Global Trade Convention.

For further information, visit the Honey Play Box website.
Spain's traffic directorate has issued a new instruction regarding the parking of motorhomes and camper vans. This is in response to a motion approved by Congress in October 2020 which called for a study to be carried out to analyse regulations. The motion was itself partly motivated by the increased use of motorhomes during the pandemic.

The motion, which was not legislation as such, recognised positive aspects of motorhomes. Against the background of Covid, they represented a sector for "promoting tourism recovery and the country's economic activity as well as safe and responsible tourism". Nevertheless, it was accepted that regulations needed to be clarified. The traffic directorate hadn't issued any instruction since 2008, and elements of this had become obsolete.

Crucial to this instruction is the application of the 1988 Coasts Law and the movement of motorhomes and their parking in those areas governed by the law - the maritime terrestrial domain. Essentially, this means (or can mean) frontlines by the sea. Where vehicles are parked on public land (the maritime terrestrial domain), a minimum fine of 40 euros per metre per day of land occupied can be applied. In the case of, for example, a six-metre vehicle, this would equate to 240 euros.

The instruction goes on to refer to regional and municipal regulations as well as to those of the Coasts Law, implying that these would govern parking of motorhomes rather than general traffic regulations. In the Balearics, there are no specific regulations, but certain town halls have adopted measures. Santa Margalida town hall, for instance, prohibited the parking of vehicles of a certain height on the frontline road in Son Serra de Marina after residents objected that their view of the sea was being obstructed.

Other regions, such as Andalusia and Valencia, have adapted their legislation in order to regulate the parking of motorhomes as a form of tourist accommodation.
The upscale home furnisher Restoration Hardware has plans to open an outlet store at Patriot Place in Foxborough, the shopping center announced Thursday.

The new store, which will be located in the Patriot Place South Marketplace, will open some time this fall, it said.

The company, whose name is often shortened to just RH, is known as a curator of design, taste and style in the luxury lifestyle market, Patriot Place said in a news release.

The Restoration Hardware Outlet will offer a variety of goods from furniture, to lighting fixtures, home decor, rugs, textiles, outdoor items and products for babies, children and teens, Patriot Place noted.

With their unmatched combination of inspired design and unparalleled quality, Restoration Hardware Outlet promises to be a great addition to Patriot Place, said Brian Earley, the vice president and general manager of Patriot Place, in a statement.

Their collections of timeless classics and authentic reproductions crafted in partnership with some of the worlds most renowned artisans will provide our guests with everything they need to furnish their homes with their own unique vision, Earley added.

Read more: Owner of beloved Davis Square liquor store to sell business after 37 years

Inside the new RH outlet store, there will be a state-of-the-art showroom with the companys experts available to assist guests with furnishing the home of their dreams, Patriot Place said.

There are currently two other RH locations in Massachusetts, one in Boston and an outlet store in Wrentham, according to the companys website.

Patriot Place is located adjacent to Gillette Stadium and is also home to 27 restaurants and nightlife venues, a 14-screen movie theater, a retro-style bowling alley, and the Patriots Hall of Fame, among other attractions.
A New England inn is one of the best bed and breakfasts in the United States, offering a place to relax and restore.

Pilgrims Inn, located in Deer Isle, Maine, was listed as number four on USA Todays 10 Best List for best bed and breakfasts across the U.S. It was the only location in New England to make the list.

This post-and-beam property that dates back to 1793 includes 12 guest rooms and three cottages, with kitchenettes and pull-out sofas, USA Today wrote. Pilgrims Inn overlooks Northwest Harbor and Mill Pond and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Expert Amber Gibson loves the charm and heartfelt hospitality.

When it was first built it was a private home built by Ignatius Haskell, one of the maritime communitys most influential residents, according to the website.

From 1890 to 1944 when it was known as The Ark and was an inn run by Elizabeth Haskell. But was vacant for many years.

Over the past 30 years, the house has undergone renovations, though most original details were kept intact. Youll see post-and-beam architecture, wide pumpkin pine floors, and eight-foot-wide fireplaces in the common rooms, the website reads.

In 2022, Al and Lindsay Schmurr purchased the inn after running resorts in Missouri for over a decade.

They were ready to fulfill their dream of owning an inn on the New England coast and could not be more thankful for the opportunity to take care of such an amazing island property in Coastal Maine, the website reads.
The Brockton school district is facing a $14 million shortfall discovered only days before classes start, according to a Thursday night announcement by Mayor Robert Sullivan.

The announcement came after a four-hour closed-door session by school officials that did not include Superintendent Michael Thomas, who is out on medical leave, Sullivan said.

An emergency meeting with school officials open to the public is scheduled for Friday at 3:30 p.m. at the citys high school.

It was recently brought to the attention of the Brockton School Committee that an approximate $14 million deficit exists for FY23s budget, said Sullivan, who chairs the School Committee, according to NBC Boston.

The $14 million shortfall announced on Thursday piles onto an already dire financial dilemma in the district. The school district already cut more than 100 teachers and staffers through layoffs due to a previous $18 million shortfall, according to The Boston Globe.

Collectively, we are all dismayed by the situation and we are committed to ensuring that we will rectify this situation, appoint new leadership, and move forward with our strategy ... to deliver the best schools for our teachers, our staff, our students, our parents, and of course our guardians, Sullivan told media outlets.

Sullivan reportedly did not take questions at the announcement Thursday night nor did he offer an explanation about how the $14 million shortfall was discovered.

There were at least 130 teachers and staff laid off this summer due to the previously reported deficit, which sparked protests from teachers, parents and students, according to the Globe. Thomas was also set to become the interim principal of Brockton High School as well as remaining the districts superintendent, the outlet reported.

The three unions representing teachers and staff of Brockton schools issued a joint statement after Thursdays deficit announcement.

The 2,100-plus unionized educators of the Brockton Union Coalition ... are committed to ensuring that students have a positive experience as they return to the classroom. The students are our top priority, and it is vital that the new school year begins smoothly and positively for them, the statement read.

The (unions) will continue to advocate for adequate staffing to meet the needs of students, and our members will work with families and district administration to provide our students with both the opportunities and support they need for success.
CYBERSPACECaptionQueen.com has announced that it is offering AI-powered captions for content creators. The service aims to optimize creators' content performance.

Utilizing advanced algorithms, CaptionQueen.coms AI model is trained on a dataset of 1,000 real DMs, enabling it to create persuasive captions. The service is designed to adapt to the unique tone and content of the adult industry, offering uncensored options that can "talk dirty with the best of them."

For more information, visit the Caption Queen website.
If Springfield residents cant get to Rio, David Ciampi proposes bringing Rio to Springfield.

We need a new economic engine, says the Springfield pyschotherapist and counselor, who is asking voters to elect him as mayor.

Ciampis proposed economic engine is a month-long ethnic carnival patterned after an event staged successfully in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Springfields population is 155,000. There are 6.74 million people in Rio. Ciampi is unfazed, and pledges a proclamation declaring Springfield the North American Gateway City for Rios carnival.

It generates $750 million there. Were not going to do that here, but we can generate enthusiasm and tourism, he said.

Ciampi envisions a summer event that would create jobs, celebrate diversity and attract not just tourism and revenue streams, but business interest from major Eastern cities such as Boston and New York, and beyond.

The carnival may be Ciampis best-known proposal, but hardly the only reason hes running for mayor in the Sept. 12 preliminary election. The two top finishers will compete in November.

Ciampi believes problems facing Springfield are results of what he sees in his therapy practice: the ravages of poverty, drug abuse and poor mental health. He says these relate directly to crime.

He said he understands those social factors, but doesnt pretend to be an expert on other, more administrative areas. Im not a money cruncher. Im a concepts guy, he said.

The 69-year-old counselor understands the political odds hes up against. He has never served in either elected or appointed office, even on a municipal board.

Why is he running? If I stay silent and do nothing, nothing will change. If I dont stand up, and I dont speak up, I believe it will get worse, Ciampi said.

Mental health and public health has been underfunded for 40 years, and this (crisis) is where were at, he said.

On many matters of financial detail, Ciampi said he would put his trust in the City Council, the auditing department and others more skilled in the field. He does not take a stand on whether taxes will be raised, reduced or kept level. To keep up with costs, we can reduce expenditures, remove waste, and increase new revenue streams, he said.

He calls for more genuine partnerships with law enforcement, and more effective drug treatment programs.

The perception on the street is that the police are heavy-handed and corrupt, and that Mayor Sarno has an iron fist when it comes to social issues and problems, Ciampi said.

Asked if he felt Springfield police were, in fact, corrupt, Ciampi said no. But he said the perception alone throws a roadblock into cooperation between residents and their officers, denying police vital information. Ciampi thinks an incentive program for tipsters would help. Until then, he said, those with information will be afraid to share it.

Ciampi endorses acceleration of clean and renewable energy initiatives. As mayor, he would chair the School Committee and says he favors a review of the very definition of education to embrace emotional and social growth, and not just traditional subject matter.

Its not enough to have them just add and subtract, Ciampi said.

Ciampi is running for municipal office, but he thinks in a global way. While describing Rios carnival as a natural fit for Springfield, he points out that Toronto scores well with a Caribbean festival of its own. In confronting the problems of drug addiction and mental health, he refers to a pilot program in Amsterdam, Netherlands as a model.

Within his own city, he said his out-of-the-box message resonates better with some groups and neighborhoods than with others.

It resonates very well with the Latino community. The Italian community is a mixed bag  some of them hug me, and others are on auto pilot, he said.

I realize I wont shave votes away from some other groups, he said.

As much as Ciampi differs from the other four candidates, he does share a view with Sarnos other three opponents. For one thing, he says Sarnos 16 years in office are enough for anyone.

I think hes done a lot, said Ciampi. He goes so far as to say Sarno has done a remarkable job.

No matter how good you are, you slow down. We need new ideas. In a democracy, should someone be in office 16, 20 or 30 years? I struggle with that, he said.

If Ciampi were to win, he said voters would not have to worry about that with him.

Im 69, said the challenger, who is nine years older than Sarno. I dont have all the answers, and I would require people with different skill sets to come in.

But we need a different direction and out-of-the-box thinking. Id be coming into a situation thats gone on for decades. Im asking for four years in office and then Im moving on, he said.

Would that be enough to produce the changes hes talking about?

No, but we can get out of the hole were in, Ciampi said. I can set the stage for change.
As hospital were desperate, one company raised their prices on N95 masks, which the U.S. Attorney Joshua Levys office is claiming was used to exploit and profit off of the critical need of hospitals and healthcare workers.

Jason Colantuoni, 35, of Norfolk, was charged with conspiracy to commit price gouging in violation of the Defense Production Act.

On March 11, 2020, a longtime friend of Colantuoni formed a company in Florida in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which Colantuoni and another person joined.

Officials claim the three people accumulated N95 masks and sold the masks through the company to desperate hospitals in Massachusetts at much higher prices. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, N95 masks were about 70 cents. The company purchased the masks during the pandemic for about $4.48 per mask.

But the company, officials said, sold them for as much as $11.95 per mask. Overall, they sold about 1,000 boxes of N95 masks to various hospitals, with each box containing 20 or 30 masks.

The charge of conspiracy to commit price gouging in violation of the Defense Production Act provides for a sentence of up to one year in prison, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $10,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled.
GREENFIELD  Tim Sweeney, 44, will finish the degree he started in 1997 at Greenfield Community College with support through the new MassReconnect program.

The state program, launched last week, will provide students like Sweeney with a free community college education to pursue careers that have been out of reach.

State Sen. Adam Gomez, D-Springfield, described the new program as revolutionary during a press event celebrating the program Thursday at the Greenfield college.

Gov. Maura Healeys administration included funding in the state budget that pays community college tuition for Massachusetts residents 25 and older and for nursing students of any age. The program has allocated $20 million for the first year. The funding covers the full cost of tuition and fees, in addition to providing students with an allowance for books and supplies.

GCC President Michelle Schutt said the program will address historical inequities in higher education. I believe the power of education can change the family tree, she said.

Officials said the program will help provide staff for one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy, healthcare and information and technology. With over 2,000 nurses, pharmacy technicians and other health care positions needed in the region post pandemic, Baystate Health is a partner.

To have a real shot at those careers, it is essential that workers establish themselves with industry related credentials and certificates, Schutt said.

Greenfield Community College President Michelle Schutt said the MassReconnect program will help students secure industry-related credentials and certificates. (Aprell Munford / The Republican / MassLive)

While enrolled decades ago at GCC, Sweeney worked jobs. Soon, he became one of the 700,000 students in the state who have higher education credits, but lacked a degree. Finishing his education took a back seat to constraints of life, he said. His GCC schedule fell from full-time to part-time and then, in 2003, he dropped out.

Sweeneys wife recently earned a doctorate in philosophy. That inspired him to return to school.

We heard of the program and decided it was time for me to take my turn, he said. Sweeney hopes to complete his degree and transfer to the University Without Walls program at the University of Massachusetts.

Schutt said tuition-free community college improves completion rates for students who are often the first in their families to go to college.

Graduates are more likely to find good-paying jobs, which will ultimately help Massachusetts retain and attract competitive employers. Schutt said.

Up to 2 million eligible

According to MassReconnect, about 2 million residents over the age of 25 hold a high school diploma or equivalent, but have not completed a college degree. That limits career opportunities.

Each community college will receive $100,000 to support the MassReconnect program administratively.

The program has allocated $20 million for the first year to make higher education more accessible. Funding covers the full cost of tuition and fees, in addition to providing students with an allowance for books and supplies. (Aprell Munford / The Republican / MassLive)

Holyoke Community College President George Timmons has said HCCs financial aid and student affairs teams are guiding students through enrollment.

MassReconnect will enable our community colleges to do more of what we do best, which is serve students from all ages and all backgrounds, he said in a statement.

At the event, state Sen. Jacob R. Olivera said it is vital to invest in students and higher education. He called $20 million an excellent start, but said more work must be done.

Olivera noted that a close friend is a faculty member at Springfield Technical Community College. The free-tuition program will help help students in her early childhood courses. She teaches nine courses and every single student in her class is 25 years old or over, he said.

To qualify, students must be 25 or older on the first day of classes and be a permanent state resident for at least one year at the start of the term.

The program is limited to residents who have not previously earned a college degree. They must enroll in at least six credits per semester in an approved program leading to an associates degree or certificate.
T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, went into lockdown Friday morning due to an investigation of a potential security threat.

The airports official social media stated at 11:35 a.m. that law enforcement was investigating the situation and that travelers should delay arrivals to the airport.

Rhode Island T.F. Green Airport is currently in lockdown as law enforcement addresses a potential security threat. Travelers are asked to delay arrivals at the airport at this time. More information will be provided when available.  Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (@IFlyRhodeIsland) September 1, 2023

Warwick Police Chief Bradford Connor told 12 News that police were notified of the potential threat and that several agencies were investigating parking lots at the airport.

Rhode Island State Police Col. Darnell Weaver told the outlet that the threat appears unfounded at this time and that troopers set up a perimeter around a parking garage and a police SWAT team was clearing the area.

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation announced all travel lanes heading toward the airport on the connecting roadway were blocked off as of 11:03 a.m.
Law enforcement officials at Rhode Islands T.F. Green Airport in Warwick determined that there is no credible security threat, resulting in the lockdown being lifted, the airport said on Friday.

The airports official X, formally known as Twitter, account said at 11:35 a.m. that law enforcement was investigating the situation and that travelers should delay arrivals to the airport.

Rhode Island T.F. Green Airport is currently in lockdown as law enforcement addresses a potential security threat. Travelers are asked to delay arrivals at the airport at this time. More information will be provided when available.  Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (@IFlyRhodeIsland) September 1, 2023

Warwick Police Chief Bradford Connor told 12 News that police were notified of the potential threat and that several agencies were investigating parking lots at the airport.

By around 12:39 a.m., the airport posted on X that no threat was found and asked travelers to check with their airlines about possible delays.

The Rhode Island Airport Corporation would like to thank the (Rhode Island) State Police, Warwick (Police Department), (the Department of Homeland Security), TSA and all others who assisted the RIAC Airport Police in investigating a potential security concern, a third X post read. We appreciate the patience of all travelers as airport operations resume.
Just over a decade since opening in downtown Springfield, Indian restaurant Panjabi Tadka has announced a second location opening in Western Massachusetts.

The popular restaurant, located at 1688 Main St. in Springfield, boasts traditional Indian cuisine with appetizers such as Samosas, Pakora and Tikki, along with entrees including expansive vegetarian options, Tandoori, curried chicken and lamb favorites and more.

Though it has no plans to close its current location in downtown Springfield, the Indian restaurant announced its expansion as of late August to another location in East Longmeadow, according to its Facebook page.

8/8/2019 -Springfield- Panjabi Tadka Indian restaurant is located at 1688 Main Street in Springfield, Ma. (Don Treeger | The Republican)

The newest establishment is called Motu Indian Kitchen, and is located at the former Cookies Cafe location at 520 North Main St. in East Longmeadow, the restaurant stated on its page.

Read more: This New England bed and breakfast is one of the best in the US

Motu Indian Kitchen has been touted as a fast and casual food location  a contrast to Panjabi Tadkas current location, which has more of a dining out feel with its 50-person seating area and waitstaff.

Motu Indian Kitchen celebrated its soft-launch opening on Monday, Aug. 28, and is officially open for business, the restaurant stated on its page. The new location will also maintain its vegetarian menu along with some gluten-free and vegan options, the restaurant added.
As the U.S. Department of Educations COVID-19 relief for student loans is ending, student loan interest begins again on Friday.

Student loan interest resumes on Sept. 1. However, payments wont be due until October.

Those with student loans will get their bill with their payment amount and due date at least 21 days before the due date. These bills could be sent in August or September.

But there are a few things that can be done in preparation.

The U.S. Department of Education suggests making sure youve updated your contact info on StudentAid.gov as soon as possible. They also suggest comparing repayment plans with the Loan Simulator.

An income-driven repayment (IDR) plan may be a more affordable option. IDR plans adjust your payment amount based on your income and family size, the website states. For your payment amount to be adjusted before your first bill, apply for an IDR plan as soon as possible. You will see your new payment when you apply, and it will be displayed on your servicers website when your first bill is sent.

For those who were on an IDR plan before the payment pause, theyll have at least six months to recertify their income after the payment pause ends. This is usually done each year.

The department also encourages people to enroll in autopay, which likely needs to be done again if people had it before.

Finally, the department suggests looking into forgiveness options. These exist for people who work in public service, people who cant pay due to a disability, those who were defrauded by their school or those who enrolled in a school that abruptly closed.
For some, it was jarring to hear a male pastor talking about periods in church. But in 2021, the Rev. Tim Schenck began the conversations after a ministry was created in Hingham to tackle period poverty in Massachusetts.

I have never said the word menstruation as much as I have in the last couple of weeks, Schenck said at the time. Once they get over the initial shock of me talking about menstruation in church, I think that it takes the stigma away and thats one of the things that were really hoping to do.

Two years later, the organization has continued to expand, now helping about 340 schools across Massachusetts with $500,000 from the state.

The program, known as Free., first started in May 2021 as a ministry offered by St. John the Evangelist in Hingham. It began by helping supply menstrual hygiene products to those in need on the South Shore. It has since expanded.

St. John's has started a new ministry called Free. to help tackle period poverty.

Products to support this biological function are an added expense placed on many who are already financially insecure. These products are not covered by benefits, the website states. This gap in need and coverage imposes yet another barrier to equity in education and employment as many are forced to miss school or work during their period.

In the first nine months, the program donated more than 119,000 products.

Free. has grown into something much greater than any of us could have imagined, Kenzie Blackwell said.

And it continued to grow.

Free. found that out of 360 schools surveyed, 92% were unable to meet the period product needs of students. And that more than 5,000 students in those schools were at risk of not having any period care at all.

It can also be hard for students to find period products if they are offered in school.

Free. found roughly 30% of schools have products available in restrooms where students need them and the majority of schools expect students to rely on word of mouth to know where to find necessary period products, the organization said.

The $500,000 will help purchase millions of pads, tampons and liners to help students across Massachusetts.

According to the organization, Worcester had the greatest need outside of school hours. Lawrence, Springfield, Lowell, Chicopee and Brockton also had high needs.

Brookline voted to become the first municipality in the United States to offer free tampons and pads in all of the bathrooms in town-owned buildings. And Boston first put free pads and tampons in public school restrooms in 2019.

But four years later, there are still large gaps.

The I Am bill, first introduced in 2019, would provide access to free menstrual products in schools, shelters and incarcerated facilities.

Non-menstruating people go into a bathroom expecting their basic bodily needs to be met  this is not the case for menstruators, Massachusetts Menstrual Equity Coalition wrote.

The bill highlighted issues prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, since then, the need has continued to grow, the coalition said.

Periods dont stop for pandemics, the websites states. In fact, period poverty has gotten worse.
Gov. Maura Healey announced on Thursday that she will be pardoning four people  a child care worker, a personnel specialist, a marine and a nonprofit volunteer  bringing the number of pardons she sought via clemency to 11.

Healeys first pardon back in June, included seven people, all of which were approved by the Governors Council in July. Healeys use of clemency was momentous as this was the most number of pardons a first-term governor has ever used in 40 years.

When we recommended our first round of pardons earlier this year, I said that we were doing it because justice cant wait, Healey said in a statement. This second round reflects our continued commitment to that principle.

Healeys pardons include Joanne Booth, a childcare worker, who was convicted of assault charges  including one on a police officer  in 1979. After her probation sentence, Booth began working at a daycare center, until she was fired from her employer in 2021 for failing a background check.

The governor is also pardoning Murphy Smith who recently worked as a personnel specialist in the State of Marylands Spring Grove Hospital. According to Healeys office, Smith worries that his assault conviction from 1988 could harm his future job prospects.

Evan Willey, a Marine who was convicted of an OUI in 2009 and Kenny Jean, a nonprofit volunteer, who was sentenced to prison for an armed robbery he committed while he was homeless, were also recommended for pardon.

These four individuals are deserving of pardons for offenses that they committed a long time ago, and they have since taken productive steps to improve their lives and give back to their communities, Healey said. Our administration believes that clemency is a powerful tool to ensure that our criminal justice system is just and equitable.
Jack Teixeira, the national guardsman accused of sharing classified information about Russias war in Ukraine on social media, was denied a release by a federal judge on Friday.

Teixeira will remain in jail as he awaits his trial. Last month, lawyers for Teixeira argued in a court filing that government prosecutors had failed to show that Teixeira had any desire to harm others, according to the Boston Globe.

Read More: Jack Teixeira pleads not guilty to sharing classified documents

Furthermore, Teixeiras attorneys claimed his comments were directed to mostly teenagers on Discord, a social media platform dedicated to the gaming community, the Globe reported.

Judge Indira Talwani, who is presiding over this case, agreed with a detention order from a magistrate judge who stated that Teixeira could pose a security threat if he was released.

Teixeira is being charged with six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense, according to NBC News. He has pleaded not guilty to each count, which is punishable to up to 10 years in prison.
Any election involving an incumbent is, by nature, a referendum question. Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno says thats fine with him.

Judge me by my decisions, says the 60-year-old mayor, whose 16 years in office make him the longest-tenured chief executive in the citys history.

When I took over (in 2008), the city was on the brink of bankruptcy. We now have the highest bond rating in city history and a healthy reserve fund, he says.

Weve balanced nine consecutive budgets without going into reserves. When I took over, the high school graduation rate was just over 50% and the dropout rate was 14%. Now the graduation rate is 86%, and the dropout rate, which got down to 1.9% before COVID-19, is around 3.

Sarnos hold on the office is being tested as perhaps never before. He will face four challengers in the Sept. 12 preliminary election, and three of them now hold elective office. The two top finishers will compete in November.

Time for change is central to their campaigns. His opponents focus on two recurring criticisms.

One is that the citys soaring 2023 homicide rate, the highest in 24 years - proves Sarnos strategies and those of the Police Department under his administration are failing.

The other is that after 16 years in office, the mayor has lost touch with significant portions of a city thats different than the one he inherited in 2008, causing him to understand and represent only portions of his constituency.

Sarnos response is theres no point in changing what is working . I have a proven track record of leadership with heartfelt compassion. Im battle tested, he said.

Sarno was Springfields mayor during a tornado (2011), a freak October Noreaster that created havoc with power lines (2011), a downtown gas leak explosion (2012), the reshaping of downtown with the opening of the MGM Springfield casino (2018) and of course, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sarno maintains they still count as examples of leadership under pressure.

Even on his most controversial subject  the Police Department  Sarno says his record stands up to scrutiny. We were the first to fully implement body cams. We have taken a record number of illegal guns off the streets. And our police and fire departments are above parity on diversity, Sarno said.

Reaching diversity goals in 2022 released the city from a consent degree dating back to 1975. That achievement has been overshadowed by feuding over the civilian Police Commission, as well as Sarnos criticism of judges he says are letting previous offenders go free on soft bail, giving some a chance to commit yet more crimes.

Asked if his remarks on judges amount to rhetoric that effects no change, Sarno is unyielding and even defiant. Tell that to the families of the victims, he said. I will continue to hammer away at repeat offenders.

What I hear (from people) in the church communities is I cooperated with you (with information), and that person wound up back on the street.

Its demoralizing to the Police Department, and the task forces who do strategic raids only to see the next day, theyre right back on the street. I have compassion, and Im all for re-entry programs - I fund them - but these are bad, bad individuals, and youve got to handle them differently, Sarno said.

Its also not just me yelling and screaming. I do have a (legislative) plan that if a defendant doesnt like the bail, kick it up to Superior Court in a timely manner, he said.

His bail reform proposal has yet to gain traction in the Legislature, but the mayor says hell keep trying.

As for the Police Commission, the City Council won a verdict over Sarno in the Supreme Judicial Court, guaranteeing its restoration. Now, the same council members who supported it  including Jesse Lederman and Justin Hurst, who are also opposing Sarno  are frustrated by its ineffectiveness.

Sarno maintains the court order gave the commission power only over discipline, and not as an overall supervisory body. The commission is funded by the citys police and law departments, but Sarno insisted that does not compromise its independence.

Sarno proposes the new Hampden County courthouse be built on north riverfront property, and not next to Union Station. Describing himself as pro-business, he calls MGM Springfield an unqualified success.

MGM is the largest taxpayer in Springfield, and the spin-off to local vendors, hotels and restaurants has been great, he said.

He said new opportunities are surfacing, among them a location for the University of Massachusetts Medical School, which Sarno said has expressed interest.

Sarno said Springfield under his watch has new schools, with more to come. The mayor conceded a housing crisis exists, but said construction projects are about to get underway.

And he lauds the citys handling of American Rescue Plan Act funds as both prompt and fair. The money supported women and people of color and saved many businesses from closing, he said.

Asked to explain why ARPA funds for outdoor dining went to establishments that already had it, Sarno said it allowed for expansion of a service.

I love what I do, and I do it 24/7, he said. And I have a proven track record behind me.
WORCESTER  Second baseman Enmanuel Valdez and left-handed pitching prospect Brandon Walter will join the Red Sox on Friday as their two September call-ups, according to an industry source.

Its a much deserved promotion for Walter who dominated at Triple-A Worcester in five outings (four starts) during August. The 26-year-old posted a 1.16 ERA (23  innings, three earned runs), 0.99 WHIP, 16 strikeouts and six walks. He also held opponents to just 17 hits (one homer) and a .207 batting average against. He added a cutter after the Red Sox optioned him to Worcester in late July.

I started throwing the cutter more, which has helped me be in the zone more, Walter said this week. Its a pitch that doesnt move as much as the others, so being in zone with that and then, and being in zone with the other stuff has just been crucial.

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Walter has posted a 4.75 ERA in 20 outings (17 starts) overall for the WooSox this season. In three previous stints with Boston this season, he has a 3.07 ERA (14  innings, five earned runs) in six relief outings.

Valdez, a 24-year-old left-handed hitter who Boston acquired in the Christian Vazquez trade, made his major league debut with Boston earlier this season. He slashed .234/.280/.404/.684 with four homers and four doubles in 33 games (101 plate appearances). He has a .249/.364/.491/.855 line with 10 homers, eight doubles, two triples, 34 runs and 38 RBIs in 51 games (206 plate appearances) for Worcester this year.

Earlier Thursday, the Red Sox optioned David Hamilton to Worcester and reinstated Wilyer Abreu from paternity leave. Ceddanne Rafaela, who MLB Pipeline ranks the Red Soxs No. 3 prospect, is sticking with the big league club for now. He made his first major league start Wednesday, going 1-for-4 with an RBI double.
Justin Hurst has been a Springfield City Council member for 10 years, serving part of that time as its president.

I have a track record of speaking out against the injustices of this administration, and not forgetting the people who need government most, said Hurst, one of four challengers to the incumbent mayor in the Sept. 12 preliminary election. The two top finishers will compete in November.

Has Domenic Sarno changed? The longer hes been in office, the smaller his circle has become, said Hurst,

Hurst has been a vocal critic of Sarno for years. Hes been outspoken over the citys controversial Police Commission, which was restored by the state Supreme Judicial Court over the mayors opposition.

Hurst said the effectiveness of the civilian commission was doomed from the start by Sarnos influence to limit its scope. He said if elected, hed ask all of the commissioners to resign and reapply; he said their reapplications would be given fair consideration.

Its obvious they have been set up to fail. Many are beholden to the mayor. Its a complete debacle of epic proportions, said Hurst, who has been frustrated by Sarnos insistence that the court decision limited the commissions powers only to disciplinary matters.

The commission has conceded power that the City Council fought for. The community has to have confidence in its Police Commission, Hurst said.

According to Hurst, the problem of crime in Springfield runs much deeper than the commission. He said it cant be addressed without an entirely new approach that focuses not just on responding to violent crime, but in doing a deeper dive into why its happening at all.

There needs to be a cultural shift, and that cannot happen without new leadership, he said.

The community needs to be involved. We need a full complement of police officers, Hurst said of a department that is more than 50 officers below full staffing.

Hurst is the son of Frederick and Marjorie Hurst, both prominent members of the citys legal and media communities, and visible spokespeople for African American residents.

While proud of his lineage and what the family has represented, Hurst disputes any perception that he is representing any specific ethnic or racial group. I dont fight for any ethnic group. I fight for the residents of Springfield. Were all impacted, Hurst said.

His signature issues have involved the police, not just regarding the commission but in the departments overall relationship with the community.

Some want to paint me as anti-police. Thats far from true  the C3 units do a phenomenal job, Hurst said of community-oriented police units. Theres a lot of good in the department, but the culture has to change, and that cant happen without new leadership, he said.

Hurst calls for members of the department to play active roles on every federal or state task force on drugs, gangs and violence. He says flexible shifts are needed to give the city better police coverage on weekends or at night.

Hurst calls for greater communication between City Hall, the police and those impacted in the neighborhoods  not only residents, but those at risk to become offenders.

To that end, Hurst is calling for more training in mental health issues, trauma and conflict resolution. He bristles at what may be Sarnos most publicized theme: that Springfields crime problems are at least partly due to judges letting repeat offenders out on low bail, only to have them commit fresh acts of violence.

What he wants is unconstitutional, said Hurst, who has a degree in law. What he wants to do is convict individuals who look like me before theyve had their day in court. Thats contrary to what any mayor with any decency should ask for in a majority-minority city like Springfield.

Hurst doesnt stop there in his rebuke of Sarnos policies.

What has City Hall done to expunge (criminal) records? Hurst asked. The councilor feels many citizens are being kept from getting jobs and moving forward with their lives because of drug convictions from 20 years ago or longer.

Hurst says the city must advance its efforts to hire citizens who re-enter the population after serving time and help them develop employable skills.

He also says tax relief must be a goal. Conceding the economic challenges of such a proposal, he said Springfield can start by eliminating the trash fee. Additional relief for residents is possible with better, more efficient management.

On Day 1, we will audit every department in the city, Hurst said. We find any money that is being misspent, or being used fraudulently.

Hurst is passionate about enforcing the city residency policy for department officials, and requiring municipal contracts to stay in the city of Springfield. He dismissed concerns that these practices would reduce the talent pool.

Hursts campaign sees two Springfields, one that has Sarnos attention and another the mayor has either overlooked, ignored or no longer understands.

People need someone to speak up for them. Even if we dont win. weve left a legacy for people to speak up, Hurst said. But regardless, he remains optimistic. The mayor does not believe some of the individuals hes leaving out will come out to vote. But I believe its different this time.
Screams and laughter were heard all over the gate nine entrance of The Big E fairgrounds Thursday evening, as the annual Sip & Slide FUNdraiser event returned to West Springfield ahead of the fairs start date.

The two and a half hour night of festivities featured unlimited rides down the giant yellow slide along with food and local craft brews, live music, raffles and more.

Acoustic music was put on by Party of 2 members Keri Klee and Andrew Banas and sips provided by Hardwick Winery, Truly Hard Seltzer and Two Weeks Notice Brewing Co.

But above all, the slide event got guests itching for The Big Es start date of Sept. 15.

Were all Big E lovers so I think having a taste of the fair before it starts is fun, attendee Madison Gage told MassLive while with her friends. Its showcasing one of the most memorable things about The Big E.

All proceeds from the event even benefit agricultural education programs for youth at the Eastern States Exposition.

We wanted to do something fun and different as a fundraiser. We have the Giant Slide which is such a great attraction, especially for kids. But this event is adult-focused and those attending can loosen their ties or kick their heels off after work and have a good time and relax, Nancy Delson, director of the ESE Foundation, said.

See MassLives look at the event below.

The Big E will return to Western Massachusetts on Sept. 15 and will conclude on Oct. 1. More information about the fair can be found here.
In any authoritarian regime, what is necessary to attain position and status is not merit, expertise or competence. What is paramount is loyalty to the supreme leader and his movement.

For example, during his first week as president, the would-be authoritarian Trump invited FBI Director James Comey to a one-on-one dinner at the White House. He told Comey, I need loyalty; I expect loyalty. Comey did not comply, opening the Russia investigation. In the end, Trump fired Comey.

Despite this, during his presidency, Trump found no dearth of people who were willing and able to commit immoral and illegal acts out of blind, obedient loyalty.
Worcester Police Chief Steven M. Sargent has retired, the city announced Friday, ending a nearly four-decade-long long career in law enforcement.

The lifelong Worcester resident and U.S. Army veteran joined the department in 1986 and advanced through its ranks, from patrolman, to detective, to the gang and vice units and to a deputy chief post he served in for nine years.

In 2016, Worcesters then-City Manager Ed Augustus chose Sargent to head the department, following the retirement of former Chief Gary J. Gemme.

I want to thank Chief Sargent for his dedicated years of service to the City. I value the relationship we established between the department and my administration to serve the community, City Manager Eric D. Batista said in a statement. Throughout his tenure, the City achieved a significant decline in the rate of crime as Chief Sargent led with an emphasis on community policing and optimized the department by restructuring and tailoring its operations to the community.

It has been an honor and privilege to serve the City that I grew up in and raised a family in, Sargent said in a statement. To the residents of Worcester, I appreciate all of your support over the years and enjoyed working in partnership as we improved public safety and addressed quality of life issues together.

Sargent was promoted from patrol officer to sergeant in 1995, according to city officials. In 1999, he became a lieutenant, achieving the same rank his father attained on the Worcester police force. One of Sargents three sons is also a police officer in the city.

Sargent was promoted to captain in 2004 and became a deputy chief in 2007, overseeing the departments Operation Division, the city said.

Among his career achievements, the citys announcement lists Sargents participation in the creation of the Gang Unit in 1992.

While working in the Gang Unit, Chief Sargent saw the need for youth violence prevention and intervention programs, the announcement read.

He and other members of the Gang Unit established numerous athletic programs for at-risk youth, the city said. Sargent also worked with the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester to form outreach programs that could connect with hard-to-reach young people.

During his tenure as chief, Sargent also formed new units that included the Neighborhood Response Team, Mounted Patrol and Crisis Intervention Team. He also reinstated the departments K-9 Unit and Traffic Division.

The citys announcement credited Sargent with restructuring the Operations Division into precincts in an effort to solve repeat problems in neighborhoods and increase community engagement.

Read more: How long until the DOJ investigation into Worcester PD is closed? Average case takes 2 years to show findings

Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty said the department during Sargents tenure added nearly 200 new officers, which fortified the departments alignment with the demographics of our vibrant city. The police force, Petty said, became younger, more educated, and culturally diverse.

In the contemporary landscape dominated by ceaseless social media engagement and an unceasing 24-hour news cycle, the challenges inherent in his role have been considerable. Chief Sargent has admirably navigated these complexities, Petty said.

Sargent has a masters degree from Curry College and graduated from the FBI National Academy.

His retirement announcement comes weeks after reporting from the Telegram & Gazette revealed a 2021 investigation found Sargent engaged in a pattern of harassing and retaliatory behavior toward an officer in the service division.

The officer, Robert Belsito, is now threatening to sue the city, the newspaper reported, claiming Sargent has harassed him as recently as this year.

The department as a whole has also come under the scrutiny of the Department of Justice. The DOJ and U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts announced last November that they would launch an investigation into the possible use of excessive force or discriminatory policing based on race or sex within the department.

Out of the 18,000 police departments nationwide, fewer than 100 have faced this sort of investigation, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau found in a January report. Worcester is the second such department in Massachusetts.

The DOJ launched an investigation into the Springfield Police Department in 2018. Four years later, Springfield reached an agreement to follow a consent decree that gave the DOJ broad oversight of its policing.

The DOJ has not specified what triggered the investigation in Worcester. But the police department has paid out millions of dollars in lawsuits in the last decade tied to allegations of racial profiling, discriminatory racial bias regarding promotions within the department, fabricated evidence and the use of excessive force.

While the department has faced several lawsuits, crime in the city during Sargents tenure has been comparatively lower than in other cities of similar or smaller size.

Worcester has had one homicide this year, compared to the 25 in Springfield as of mid-August. Worcester saw a high of 13 homicides in 2019, but that number trended downward in subsequent years with nine killings in 2020 and seven in 2021.

From 2016 to 2022 reportable offenses for the city declined every year with an overall reduction of 29%, according to the citys announcement.

Later in the day Friday, the city announced Worcester Deputy Police Chief Paul Saucier will act as the interim chief.

Saucier, 57, joined the department in 1994. His most recent position was deputy chief of Police Bureau of Investigative Services, according to a press statement from the city.
La cooperation entre lEtat du Maharashtra et Maurice va prendre une nouvelle ampleur avec la signature dun protocol daccord dans les jours/semaines a venir.

Cabinet has agreed to the Ministry of Tourism signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of tourism with the State of Maharashtra of the Republic of India. The main objective of the proposed MoU is to enhance cooperation in the field of tourism and strengthen the existing friendly bilateral ties between Mauritius and the State of Maharashtra.

The MoU provides, inter alia, for cooperation in the following areas:

(i) capacity building in the tourism sector to enhance tourism related businesses;

(ii) promotion of the harmonious development of people-to-people relations, through the expansion of reciprocal visits, meetings and marketing campaigns;

(iii) exchange of information and sharing of experience, know-how and good practices in areas to be agreed by both Parties;

(iv) promotion of business initiatives and investment opportunities in tourism; and (v) conservation of natural heritage and promotion of sustainable tourism.
Les contraintes et restrictions de la Quarantine (COVID-19 Restrictions) Regulations 2022 seront assouplis a partir du 4 septembre 2023 apres approbation du Conseil des Ministres du 1-9-2023.

Cabinet has agreed to amendments being brought to the Quarantine (COVID-19 Restrictions) Regulations 2022, with effect from 04 September 2023, to:

(i) specify only four institutions where employees need mandatorily to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or need to produce a negative COVID-19 Test Certificate in order to have access to their place of work as follows 

(a) educational or training institution;

(b) health institution;

(c) residential care home/residential care institutions for children victims of violence, abuse and neglect/shelters for women victims of domestic violence; and

(d) child care services establishment.

(ii) it will no longer be mandatory for a person who is tested to be infected with COVID-19 to be self-confined for a period of seven days. The period of self-confinement will henceforth be determined by a registered medical practitioner.

Cabinet has also taken note that the Director of Civil Aviation has extended two NOTAMs up to 31 October 2023 with respect to passengers and crew members travelling to Mauritius and Rodrigues. In that respect, the NOTAM for Mauritius specifies the following conditions:

(i) filling of All-In-One travel form is recommended prior to boarding but not mandatory for boarding;

(ii) wearing a surgical or N95/FFP2 mask during the flight is not mandatory but recommended;

(iii) wearing of mask at the airport is not mandatory but recommended; and

(iv) any person having been tested COVID-19 positive within seven days of departure shall not be allowed to board a flight to Mauritius.

The NOTAM for Rodrigues specifies the same conditions, except that passengers are not required to fill in the All-In-One travel form.
The sun shone on Achill Island this morning to welcome the Minister of State, Jack Chambers who performed the official opening of a new 5km stretch of Greenway.

The official opening of the new 5km extension of the Great Western Greenway from Achill Sound to Cashel was carried out by Minister of State Chambers alongside Leas Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr Martin McLoughlin.

This extension of the Great Western Greenway sees an additional 5km added to the existing 44km length of the greenway, which now links Westport to Cashel on Achill Island and will further enhance the tourism offering in Mayo.

One of the unique highlights of the new Greenway is the 400m boardwalk over blanket bog in Saula which is the widest greenway boardwalk currently in use in the state and was constructed using sustainable and environmentally friendly products. Another feature is the use of decommissioned blades from wind turbines which are used as outdoor furniture along the Greenway.

The project was managed by and constructed by Mayo County Councils Engineering and Outdoor staff and contractors. It also saw the cooperation of 25 landowners and 90 commonage shareholders with Mayo County Council to bring the project to fruition.

Funding of 4 million was allocated towards the extension of the Greenway into Achill Island by the Department of Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Jack Chambers said he was delighted to come to Achill to perform the official opening.

The opening of this 5km extension means that the Great Western Greenway will now extend into Achill Island. The Great Western Greenway has enjoyed tremendous success since its opening in 2011 attracting significant numbers of visitors to this part of County Mayo.

Approximately 4 million has been spent to date by the Department of Transport in relation to the construction of this extension to Cashel. Work is underway to continue this extension by another 4km providing an almost fully segregated cycleway from Westport to Keel, I look forward to its completion in due course, he said.

Local councillor Paul McNamara thanked Minister Chambers and former Minister Michael Ring for allocating funding for Greenway projects in Achill and stated that the new Greenway and other projects in Achill showed what can be achieved when funding is made available.

The delivery of Greenways across the country is part of the remit of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and this project was the first Greenway in the county to be opened having been overseen by TII.

Western Region Manager for TII Kieran Kelly said he was delighted to be in Achill for the official opening and looked forward to the extension of the Greenway further into Achill and the Belclare to Murrisk Greenway in Westport.

The Great Western Greenway lit the spark that allowed so many other regions throughout the country to see the benefits of Greenway projects. TII and Mayo County Council worked collaboratively on delivering this 5km Greenway extension to Achill Island, adding to the existing 44km of the Great Western Greenway. TII looks forward to working with Mayo County Council on future projects, he said.

Joanne Grehan, Deputy Chief Executive of Mayo County Council said that Mayo County Council has once again shown why it is the leader when it comes to the provision of tourism infrastructure with his new extension of the Great Western Greenway to Cashel.

I would also like to acknowledge the Mayo County Council staff across several sections who nurtured this Greenway extension from its inception to completion. It was also delivered thanks to our funding partners Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the Department of Rural and Community Development and the other partner agencies who assisted with this project, she said.

Leas Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr McLoughlin said the Great Western Greenway has been one of the most important projects that Mayo County Council have invested in over the past half a century.

We have seen the greenway grow from an acorn of an idea to the blossoming piece of tourism infrastructure it has become today. Not only does it attract thousands of visitors a year to the county, it has seen towns and villages along the route thrive and brought vital employment to there and this extension will only increase this.
The North American Festival of Wales is being held in Nebraska for the first time in the history of the event this weekend.

The celebration began on Wednesday evening at the Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel with an outdoor street festival. Visitors from throughout the United States, Canada and many from Wales stopped at vendor tables and sampled Welsch-themed food and drink. Muscial performances were given by Paddywhack, Triano, The Many Moccasins Dance Troupe, Dylan Morris and Urdd Gobaith Cymru.

On Thursday about 100 attendees visited the Wymore area with stops at the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Centre, Bethel Cemetery, McCandless Park including the Pleasant View Schoolhouse and the Homestead National Historical Park near Beatrice.

Visitors milled around the inside of the Heritage Centre viewing exhibits from Welsh immigrants and the climate controlled archives. Traditional music played while many of the guests sat in the courtyard admiring the mural on the north side of the building in downtown Wymore.

Pat Morris is visiting from Canada and serves on the board of the festival.

About 300 people usually attend the festival, she said. Each year is a new city and this year in Nebraska is unique. It has been spectacular. During the next few days there will be music, food, poetry and everything Welsh that you can imagine.

Each of the three buses made a stop at Bethel Cemetery five miles south of Wymore. Several descendants of Welsh immigrants took on the role of a family member buried in the cemetery. The spirits told pieces of the familys history.

President of the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Centre and an organizer for this years festival Gwenith Closs-Colgrove took the voice of her great-grandmother, Ann Morris Jones.

Jones was a common Welsh name so Ann took her husbands name, Morris, as her middle name. Her family emigrated from Wales to Wisconsin in 1858. They came to Nebraska in 1879. Like many people during that time they purchased land from the Otoe-Missouria Reservation to farm.

Closs-Colgrove included interesting details from her life like how she ran for mayor in Wymore, which was unheard of for that time. She only lost by three or four votes. Her father, Ellsworth, was one of the last speakers of Welsh in the community.

He never lost his love for Wales and the language, she said.

A visitor was overheard saying the spirits brought the history to life.

The Bethel Cemetery is the site where the Bethel Welsh Church was built in 1879. As the community grew, the church was rebuilt to accommodate more people.

The Pleasant View School was built by the Bethel Welsh Community two miles south of Wymore and is now sitting in McCandless Park. Many visitors on the tour walked through the school on their lunch stop. Volunteer Elaine Mick told visitors the history of the building.

They were also treated to a traditional miners lunch of a pasties, a meat-filled pastry, grapes, cheese, a Welsh cake and water.

Closs-Colgrove said many of their ancestors worked in mines and took their lunch in pales.

Many of our ancestors worked in coal, slate, or copper mines, she said. They would take their lunch down into the mines, she said.

Visitors also made a stop at the Homestead National Historical Park while they were in the area.

Many of the attendees of the festival attended the opening ceremony and flag raising at the Nebraska State Capitol on Thursday afternoon. Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen and Lincoln Mayor Leirion Baird welcomed the guests.

The festival will conclude on Sunday afternoon at Saint Paul United Methodist Church in Lincoln with the 91st Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu (Singing Hymns to God).
The Global FemTech Market is projected to experience a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) growth of approximately 13.52% throughout the forecast period spanning from 2023 to 2028. This growth is primarily propelled by several factors, including the increasing adoption of digital health solutions, advancements in artificial intelligence and virtual assistance, augmented investments and funding, heightened female consciousness about personal health and hygiene, a surge in infectious diseases affecting women, substantial investments originating from governmental bodies and various organizations. To capture the growing market portion, some of the key companies such as HeraMED, Sera Prognostics, iSono Health, Inc., Flo Health Inc., NUVO Inc., Natural Cycles USA Corp, Athena Feminine Technologies, Inc., NUROKOR LIMITED, Canopie, Univfy Inc., Glow Inc., Clue by Biowink GmbH, Oura Health Oy., Ava, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Baymatob Operations Pty. Ltd., Expectful, Evofem Biosciences, Inc., March Inc., Syantra Inc., and others actively working in the Global FemTech Market.

DelveInsights FemTech Market Insight, Competitive Landscape and Market Forecast 2028 research report provides the current and forecasted FemTech market size, share, and trends analysis for the next five years. Moreover, it highlights the ongoing innovations in the segment, major market drivers & barriers, key competitors, and emerging devices in the domain.

FemTech Market: Overview

FemTech, short for Female Technology, refers to a category of technology and innovation that specifically focuses on addressing womens health and wellness needs. It encompasses a wide range of products, services, and solutions that leverage technology to improve various aspects of womens lives, including reproductive health, maternal care, menstrual health, sexual wellness, fertility tracking, pregnancy monitoring, menopause management, and more.

FemTech products and services can include mobile apps, wearable devices, smart medical devices, online platforms, virtual health consultations, and other digital solutions. The goal of FemTech is to empower women by providing them with better access to information, personalized healthcare, and tools to manage their health and well-being throughout different stages of life.

FemTech has gained significant attention in recent years as discussions about womens health and gender-specific healthcare needs have grown. The field seeks to address historical gaps in medical research and technological innovation that have often overlooked or underserved womens unique health concerns. As FemTech continues to evolve, it holds the potential to reshape how women engage with their health, receive medical care, and make informed decisions about their bodies and lives.

To provide a better understanding of the market dynamics, DelveInsights FemTech Market report provides an in-depth assessment of the market by product type (which is further segmented as devices, software, and services), application (such as reproductive health, pregnancy & nursing care, pelvic & uterine healthcare, general healthcare & wellness, and others), and end-user (hospitals, fertility clinics, diagnostic centers, and others). According to DelveInsights assessment, the reproductive health sector is anticipated to hold a substantial portion of the revenue within the FemTech markets application segment in the upcoming years. This trend can be attributed to the growing occurrence of diverse reproductive conditions and the integration of FemTech tools and services in the treatment and control of these reproductive disorders.

The expansion of the FemTech market is being driven by a range of factors, with a significant contributor being the rising desire for digital technologies and the widespread adoption of these technological services by individuals. All segments and age groups of the population have demonstrated an upsurge in internet and smartphone usage in recent times across the globe. The primary goal of FemTech technology is to address the health concerns and needs of women globally. The utilization of FemTech technologies to enhance the comprehension and diagnosis of womens issues has led to a noteworthy request for FemTech services.

The FemTech products market has been propelled by the diverse implementation of digital technology in various regions to cater to womens healthcare needs. The escalation of infectious diseases among women has resulted in a surge in demand for FemTech offerings aimed at managing, treating, and diagnosing such ailments. An important driver of the FemTech market is the widespread availability of mobile applications designed to monitor fertility and pregnancy. Additionally, the growing acceptance of healthcare approaches that strive to enhance womens involvement in clinical research is further propelling the FemTech market. Besides, the rising investments by the government and other public and private organizations are another factor for the high growth of the FemTech products market.

Nonetheless, challenges such as cybersecurity and privacy apprehensions, limited awareness regarding FemTech products and their applications in developing countries, along with other factors, might impede the expansion of the FemTech market.

Interested to know more about the ongoing developments in the market? Visit to get an in-depth insight @ FemTech Types and Emerging Products

North America is projected to dominate the global FemTech market in terms of market share in the upcoming years. This is attributed to factors such as the elevated occurrence of cancer among women, an increase in lifestyle-related ailments, and widespread acceptance of technologically advanced products, among others in the North American region. Furthermore, a noticeable trend has emerged indicating that a significant portion of individuals within the region are increasingly gravitating towards FemTech products and services as a solution to address infertility. This shift can be attributed to various factors, including lifestyle changes, which are directly linked to the growing prevalence of female infertility.

Moreover, the region benefits from a substantial disposable income, well-developed healthcare infrastructure, the rising preventative care use, and heightened awareness regarding FemTech products and services among the intended audience, all of which have further propelled the market growth in this particular area. Similarly, as smartphone usage continues to expand and the demand for intelligent health solutions grows, the healthcare sector in North America is anticipated to undergo swift digital transformation. Coupled with the factors mentioned above, strategic activities such as product launches and approvals, mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, investments, and others also help boost regional product demand.

Interested in knowing how the market will grow by 2028? Click to get a snapshot @

FemTech Market Trends and Developments

Over the years, the FemTech market has evolved significantly, owing to the active participation of the global MedTech companies and technological advancements in the domain. Similarly, several clinical, commercial, and regulatory developments have also been registered in the domain. Some of the major advancements in the FemTech market in recent years include 

In November 2022, London-based accelerator FemTech Lab launched an innovation space for the FemTech community. The FemTech Hub is the first physical innovation hub dedicated to womens health, especially.

Maven Clinic , a teletherapy firm with a focus on womens health, raised USD 90 million in Series E fundraising in November 2022, in the years largest FemTech deal. Maven has reportedly raised more than USD 300 million in total capital.

In June 2022, companies in Japan introduced  FemTech  or  Female technology,  under which attention is being paid to the health of female employees. This initiative was undertaken by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry in Japan .

In April 2022, a FemTech startup, Conceive , received USD 3.7 million in funding that would be used for its outcomes-oriented fertility solution.

In August 2021, LabCorp , a leading global life sciences company, acquired Ovia Health , a digital health platform used by millions of women seeking information and support with family planning, pregnancy, and parenting.

In July 2021, the US FDA approved and gave clearance to Natural Cycles to use body temperature data readings collected by smart wearables, such as Oura smart ring , for assessing a womans fertility and managing pregnancy.

In March 2021, Clue received the U.S. FDA clearance for the launch of Clue Birth Control a digital contraceptive built-in Clue application that can predict ovulation statistically by using a tool for birth control.

Learn more about major clinical and commercial development in the market @ FemTech Market  Clinical and Commercial Development Activities

Globally, some of the leading MedTech giants working in the FemTech market include HeraMED, Sera Prognostics, iSono Health, Inc., Flo Health Inc., NUVO Inc., Natural Cycles USA Corp, Athena Feminine Technologies, Inc., NUROKOR LIMITED, Canopie, Univfy Inc., Glow Inc., Clue by Biowink GmbH, Oura Health Oy., Ava, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Baymatob Operations Pty. Ltd., Expectful, Evofem Biosciences, Inc., March Inc., Syantra Inc., and others. Due to increasing demand and favorable revenue generation prospects, a number of new entrants are expected to join the market, resulting in heightened competitiveness within the sector.

Learn how new players entries will transform the market dynamics in the coming years @ FemTech Competitive Landscape

Scope of the FemTech Market Report:

Study Period  2020-2028

Geography Covered  North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World

FemTech Market Assessment by

Product Types  Devices, Software, and Services Application  Reproductive Health, Pregnancy & Nursing Care, Pelvic & Uterine Healthcare, General Healthcare & Wellness, and Others End-User  Hospitals, Fertility Clinics, Diagnostic Centers, and Others

Porters Five Forces Analysis, Product Profiles, Case Studies, KOLs Views, Analysts Views

Table of Content

1 Report Introduction 2 Executive Summary 3 Regulatory and Patent Analysis 4 FemTech Market Key Factors Analysis 5 FemTech Porters Five Forces Analysis 6 COVID-19 Impact Analysis on the FemTech Market 7 FemTech Market Layout 8 FemTech Global Company Share Analysis  Key 35 Companies 9 FemTech Product Profiles and Key Companies 10 Project Approach 11 KOL Views 12 DelveInsight Capabilities 13 Disclaimer 14 About DelveInsight

Reach out to us to get a more detailed overview of the market @ FemTech Market Insights and Competitive Landscape

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by Teresa Buyikian , September 1, 2023

Earlier this week, a Florida judge determined that portions of a class-action suit regarding false advertising by Burger King will move forward.

Originally filed in 2020 by Florida attorney Anthony Russo, the suit represented plaintiffs from Florida, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Arizona. Burger King moved to dismiss the charges, but parts of the motion were granted, while others were denied in part.

The suits primary allegation is that Burger King, through its advertisements and in-store ordering boards, materially overstates the size of (and the amount of beef contained in) many of its burgers and sandwiches. The plaintiffs claim that Burger King used to more fairly advertise the size of the Whopper on its website and store menus," and that although the size of the Whopper and the beef patty increased materially in Burger Kings advertisements, the amount of beef or ingredients contained in the actual Whopper that customers receive did not increase.

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U.S. District Judge Roy Altman agreed to dismiss the claims that Burger King's television and online advertisements misled customers, as well as accusations the company violated consumer protection laws. The judge did decide that other components of the lawsuit -- including allegations of negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and unjust enrichment -- could move forward.

He supported the ruling by stating that the court was not in the position to determine if the difference between products received and advertised were "enough to alter the purchasing preferences of reasonable American consumers." He went on to say that it would be better to leave that determination to the consumers themselves, who  if the case survives that far  will get to sit in the jury box and tell us what reasonable people think on the subject."
by Colin Kirkland , September 1, 2023

To help relieve regulatory scrutiny over ad-tracking data-privacy concerns, Meta may be planning to allow users living in the European Union to pay to avoid seeing advertisements on both Facebook and Instagram, reports

By way of a paid subscription model, users would avoid seeing ads in either app, marking a major shift in Meta's long-standing core business model, which, for twenty years, has been rooted in offering the public free social networking services while selling advertising to companies interested in reaching a specific audience.

For a while, the California-based tech giant has been battling with the European regulators around its ad-tracking services and data transfers.

In January, Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined Meta more than $400 million for its use of user data on Facebook and Instagram.

Then, in May, the company was ordered to stop transferring the Facebook data of EU citizens to the U.S. after being hit with a record-breaking fine of $1.3 billion by the DPC for violating the GDPR  a landmark legislation to protect people's online data.

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In July, the EU's highest court barred Meta from combining data collected about users across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in addition to outside websites and apps without consent from users.

A week ago, the Digital Services Act took effect. Now, online platforms must adhere to the groundbreaking EU law, which bans discriminatory targeted advertising, gives users a chance to opt out of data collection, demands more transparency of how platforms algorithms work, requires the removal of illicit posts and goods from their apps, and more.

Thus, social media users in the EU now have more control over personal data being collected on their feeds across social-media platforms than they have ever had before.

The Meta insiders who spoke to The Times believe that providing users with the choice to opt out of ads on Facebook and Instagram could alleviate European regulators ongoing concerns. Even if few people choose the paid version, making such an option available could serve Meta's interests in the region, The Times wrote, summarizing the insiders' words.
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Haptic Feedback from Hand-held Ball fosters Mental Health

Watch your Breathing to Keep your Anxiety at Bay

Breathe! The shape-shifting ball that supports mental health - (https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/breathe-the-shape-shifting-ball-that-supports-mental-health/)



Disciplines that frequently include mindful breathing include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) , Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and trauma-focused therapies.Most people, however, struggle to sustain attention on their breathing. Once disengaged from the process, they are likely to return to thinking mode and be less receptive to mental-health interventions that require concentration.Explaining how the device supports a user, Mr Farrall said: "When an individual holds the ball, their breath becomes a physical thing between their hands. They can feel and see the flow of air as the object expands and contracts.""This allows them to become more aware of their own internal sensations and more receptive to psychological change. It gives a personalised and engaging experience, and is accessible to everyone."Recent research led by Mr Farrall shows a significant improvement in people's ability to focus on their breathing when they use his shape-shifting ball. With their attention heightened, study participants were then able to pay closer attention to a guided audio recording from a meditation app.Among those who used the ball, there was an average 75% reduction in anxiety and a 56% increase in protection against worry-induced thoughts. In contrast, those relying only on the audio recordings experienced a 31% reduction in anxiety (recording 44% more anxiety than their counterparts).Additionally, those accessing the ball alongside audio guidance showed significantly higher Heart Rate Variability (indicative of better stress resilience and emotional regulation) than those using only audio, demonstrating the superior calming effect of a combined ball plus audio approach.While digital technologies like apps have emerged to bridge this gap, many people don't use them for long enough to enjoy the promised benefits, with one study showing that only 3.9% of users stick with an app programme over a 15-day period.Mr Farrall's interactive ball - named the Physical Artefact for Well-being Support (PAWS) - offers a potential solution by giving people an extra incentive to actively participate in managing their mental health . In time, Mr Farrall hopes his ball will be a tool used both by mental-health professionals and private individuals."I want this device to be a genuine catalyst for mental health improvement, not just in clinical settings but also for home users," he said.In the Bath study, the PAWS prototype used an electronic and pneumatic circuit to convert pulmonary activity to pneumatic activation. Future versions, however, will leverage Bluetooth technology and smart geometric structures to eliminate the need for wires, and make the device easier and more comfortable to use.Plans for a larger study are underway to delve deeper into the potential benefits of PAWS. This next study will incorporate insights from mental health experts and people who have spent some time using the ball.Source: Eurekalert
Parental Incarceration's Impact on Young Adults' Cardiovascular Health

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Childhood Parental Incarceration and Adult-Onset Hypertension and Cardiovascular Risk - (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/article-abstract/2809090)

"There was very little data on its association with cardiovascular risks ," said Elizabeth Tung, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at UChicago and the lead author on the study. "We set out to fill that gap in understanding."The researchers analyzed data from over 9,600 young adults between the ages of 33 and 44 in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health)  a robust, nationally representative dataset. They found that a staggering 14.1% of all participants and 21.4% of Black participants reported having been exposed to incarceration of a parent or parental figure during childhood. Tung notes that these figures reflect mass incarceration rates in the 1980s and 1990s, when study participants were less than 18 years old. These people were more likely than their peers to develop hypertension in adulthood, and they had higher levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a marker of inflammation that health experts use to estimate risk of future coronary events.However, Tung pointed out that these markers are more likely to emerge in middle age and beyond, whereas hypertension tends to emerge in young adulthood  the age group examined in this study."From a societal perspective, it's important to consider our approach to incarceration in the U.S. and how racial disparities in incarceration may be contributing to health disparities," said Tung. She pointed out that there are multiple areas where resources can prove helpful to families affected by incarceration. Legal aid partners can provide legal support and also connect families to social services and public benefits, which may in turn be able to address some of the economic insecurities that often arise. On the healthcare side, clinicians can offer family counseling and mental health resources to affected children.Healthcare and policy groups alike have shown an increasing interest in social determinants of health: non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. Clinicians who screen for social determinants of health in order to inform patient care tend to ask questions about things like housing and food insecurity. Tung said her group's findings should encourage healthcare practitioners to factor in the impact of parental incarceration, which is unfortunately prevalent at similar levels to other social determinants of health. However, she acknowledged that this line of inquiry may be less accepted due to the stigma currently associated with incarceration."As a society, we have a responsibility to destigmatize parental incarceration to remove shame-based pressures and instead address these issues with a focus on public health rather than criminality," said Tung.Further research from this group will seek to explore connections between parental incarceration and other critical dimensions of public health, including social isolation and mental health outcomes such as suicidality.Source: Eurekalert
A Billings man admitted Thursday to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in the parking lot of a local business.

Tyson Lee Garza, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of felony sexual assault in Yellowstone County District Court. He appeared before District Judge Rod Souza via teleconference.

Garzas arrest and subsequent guilty plea followed an investigation by the Billings Police Department and a social media campaign on the part of the assault survivors mother to find her daughters attacker.

In December 2022, the Gazette previously reported, the teenage girl was at the Walmart on King Avenue West with her grandfather. She went into the store ahead of her grandfather, and surveillance footage showed the girl leaving Walmart with a man later identified as Garza.

Garza walked with the girl into the parking lot, court documents said, and asked her to sit in his truck while he put away groceries. Garza then got inside the truck and sexually assaulted the girl. The girl managed to escape Garzas truck and met with her grandfather. They were apart for about 15 minutes, court documents said, and BPD officers responded to the scene.

Police used a description from the girl and purchase records from Walmart to identify Garza as her attacker. Coinciding with BPD detectives efforts to find Garza were social media posts from the girls mother providing a description of Garza and his truck that were shared over 1,000 times. Billings police arrested Garza in January 2023 when an officer identified Garza during a traffic stop. He has remained in custody at Yellowstone County Detention Facility since then on a $150,000 bond.

County prosecutors initially charged Garza with sexual intercourse without consent, to which he pleaded not guilty. County attorneys adjusted that charge to one count of sexual assault earlier this month. In Montana, felony sexual assault comes with the possibility of four years to life in prison.

In exchange for Garzas guilty plea, prosecutors are recommending a 15-year sentence to Montana State Prison, with eight years suspended. Per the nature of the plea agreement, should the judge decide to order Garza to a sentence beyond 15 years, Garza can opt out of the plea agreement.

Girls under the age of 18 are one of the most vulnerable populations to sexual violence in the United States, according to data from the Rape, Incest and Abuse National Network. In cases of child sexual abuse reported to police nationwide, the perpetrator is nearly always an acquaintance or family member of the victim.

Garzas sentencing will be scheduled after he undergoes a psycho-sexual evaluation. Until then, he will remain in custody at YCDF. District Judge Brett Linneweber will oversee the sentencing.
Yellowstone Repertory Theatre has announced its season five. The Billings-based theater group will present two main stage shows at NOVA Center for the Performing Arts, a world premiere and a production of our much-postponed favorite play.

For the first time, YRT will produce an original play that the company helped to develop. Straight On To Stardust, the first full-length play by two-time High Plains Book Award winner Craig Lancaster, opens with a dead father, a son who made a promise to him, and an old dog whos along for the ride.

As Clinton Cobb carries his dads body from Billings, Montana, to burial in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he must confront his memories, the steadily worsening weather, and the hopes and fears of his adult daughter and his ex-wife back home.

YRT collaborated with Lancaster on the development of the script, providing feedback through a Zoom reading and a public reading at This House of Books. YRT Artistic Director Craig Huisenga said, If you know Craig Lancasters writing, you know he tells great stories, with vivid characters and funny, engaging dialogue. Stardust shares all those traits. Were looking forward to sharing this original work from our own community.

In May, 2024, YRT will stage one of its favorite plays, The Book of Will by Lauren Gunderson, the most-produced living playwright in the U.S. since 2016. It has been postponed twice because of Covid.

Without William Shakespeare, we wouldnt have literary masterpieces like Romeo and Juliet. But without Henry Condell and John Heminges, we would have lost half of Shakespeares plays forever. The Book of Will combines comedy, suspense, tragedy, and inspiration to form a thriller about the publication of the First Folio. According to the Boulder Weekly in Colorado, The Book of Will will bring tears of both laughter and sorrow to all but the most jaded audience members eyes. It is, in a word, a triumph.

Huisenga calls The Book of Will one of the best plays he has ever read. When we read it, we laughed and gasped and cheered and wept. Then, we immediately decided that this was a show we had to share with Billings. We are determined to make that happen this season.

'Straight On To Stardust'

A World Premiere by Craig Lancaster

Directed by Craig Huisenga

Oct. 20 - Nov. 4, 2023

'The Book of Will'

Directed by Craig Huisenga

May 10 - 24, 2024

All performances will be presented in the intimate Black Box Theater at NOVA Center for the Performing Arts, 2317 Montana Avenue.

Both plays contain strong language that may not be suitable for younger audiences.

Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students, with discounts for subscribers and groups. Students with ID are free on Sponsor a Student Nights. Details are available at www.YellowstoneRep.org.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth signed new instructions for soldiers this week that are intended to improve access to mental health treatment by allowing them to request an immediate referral for an evaluation from a supervisor or commander.

Following a months-long delay in implementing a Defense Department policy announced in May, Wormuth issued a memorandum to Army commands dated Aug. 29 that institutes the Brandon Act, allowing troops to request a mental health assessment without having to provide any reason or basis.

Under the policy, entitled "Self-Initiated Referral Process for Mental Health Evaluation of Soldiers," soldiers can request a referral through their commander or supervisor of the rank of staff sergeant and above who, in turn, must ensure that an appointment occurs "as soon as practicable" and must follow up to make sure the service member is aware of the date, time and location of the evaluation.

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The policy stems from a provision in the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act named for Navy Aviation Electrician's Mate 3rd Class Brandon Caserta, who died by suicide in 2018, which required the Defense Department and the military services to institute a program that protects service members from repercussion or retaliation if they request a mental health evaluation through their leadership.

"I call on leaders to continue making it clear that taking care of your mental health and your family is encouraged," Wormuth said in a press release Thursday. "We must constantly look for additional ways to connect our soldiers with the necessary resources for their well-being, and the Army's new policy to implement the Brandon Act gives soldiers another tool to seek help while honoring the legacy of Petty Officer Caserta."

The Defense Department issued an instruction related to the law May 5, requiring the military services to draft and institute their Brandon Act policies within 45 days. Though the deadline was June 19, the Navy and Marine Corps announced their policy July 11, followed by the Air Force on Aug. 7.

The Army's delay in publishing its version sparked anger among advocates of the legislation, including Brandon Caserta's parents, Patrick and Teri Caserta. The Casertas lobbied for passage of the legislation and have spent much of the year pressing the services to implement the law.

Last week, the Casertas, through the Brandon Caserta Foundation, issued a harshly worded press release decrying the delay and saying it meant the Army wasn't serious about addressing suicide or mental health issues among soldiers.

On Tuesday, after the Casertas had gone public with their anger over the delay, an Army Office of Public Affairs spokesman told Military.com that the service was drafting its instruction. He did not mention that Wormuth signed it that day.

"The Army is working deliberately to finalize a new policy that will comply with the Brandon Act and will empower soldiers with additional avenues to seek help confidentially -- for any reason, at any time and in any environment -- with the goal of reducing the stigma associated with seeking mental health care," Bryce Dubee wrote in an email to Military.com.

The Aug. 29 memorandum was published late Thursday. A copy of it was obtained by Military.com earlier in the day.

"The United States Army fosters a culture of support to create an environment that promotes help-seeking behaviors and reduces the stigma for help-seeking in the provision of mental health care," Wormuth wrote in the memo.

The new Army policy calls for annual training on service members' rights to request a mental health evaluation and requires commanders to maintain privacy by not asking providers to share the results of the mental health examination, except in cases spelled out in Defense Department Instruction 6490.08.

Those exceptions include if a soldier is at risk for harm to themselves, others or the mission; needs inpatient care or substance abuse treatment; has an acute medical condition that interferes with duty; or in cases where the service member was required by the command to get a mental health evaluation, in addition to other special circumstances.

In the memo, Wormuth noted that service members do not need to wait for a referral for a mental health evaluation and can seek mental health treatment through their primary care doctor at a military medical facility at any time. They also have access to non-medical counseling or therapy from Military and Family Support Centers, Military OneSource, chaplains, and military and family life counselors.

Commanders also may continue to refer soldiers for a mental health evaluation if they deem that a service member needs one.

The Army's policy differs from the Air Force, Space Force, Navy and Marine Corps policies in that a supervisor is defined as an E-7 and above. The Air Force policy allows members to request a referral through someone with the rank of E-6 and above, while the Navy and Marine Corps have given E-5s the ability to take a self-referral.

The policy only applies to Army Reserve and Army National Guard members on active-duty orders for 30 days or more.

On Thursday, Patrick Caserta, a retired senior chief petty officer and combat veteran, said he was grateful to Wormuth and her staff for finally implementing the Brandon Act.

"We did not want our son to die in vain," Patrick Caserta said in an Army press release. "We are in the life-saving business, and we will remain in this business the rest of our lives. We thank the secretary of the Army and her staff for implementing this policy."

If you are a service member or veteran who needs help, it is available 24/7 at the Veterans and Military Crisis Line, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org, or through the online chat function at www.veteranscrisisline.net.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter and Threads @patriciakime.

Related: Sailor's Suicide Prompts Calls for Better Mental Health Treatment
Even now, almost eight decades later, Art Watson can still feel the sting.

He reaches for the right side of his face, pausing as he takes a moment, as if to make sure his memory is correct. It is, and while the pain is no longer real physically, it lives on in the sharp mind of the 103-year-old resident of Dancing River, an assisted living residence in Grapevine, Texas.

The memory is one of his Merchant Marines ship, the SS Oklahoma, being torpedoed by a German Nazi submarine in 1945 while on a mission to Aruba to gather fuel for delivery to Senegal.

"When it hit I was up on the bridge. It knocked my legs out from under me and I went flying," Watson recalled, intensity still in his face after all these years. "It blistered this whole right side of my face."

Watson doesn't consider himself a hero, though many others do. But he does believe stories like his must be told. And while there is pain in the memories, there is also a satisfaction of knowing that each time he tells it -- and he's told it many times to young and old alike in gatherings large and small -- someone might leave having learned something about the value of life.

He lost 50 of his shipmates in the explosion. He and 21 other survivors scrambled to lifeboats, realizing it was their only hope of survival.

Waiting for Help

And survive they did, for 18 days at sea, floating in a lifeboat, with little rations and virtually no shelter from the elements. The sides of the boat were no more than a foot or two above the water, any big storm might have done them in.

Fortunately, no such storm came, but things were far from comfortable, nonetheless.

"A big wind would come up and blow the water in. That blister on the side of my face was constantly getting hit by salt water," he said. "It was very painful and it was terrible."

Watson said the nights were the worst time of all while lost at sea, waiting in the darkness, not knowing or being able to see what danger might be just a few feet away. And, of course, sleep is always a challenge when it might be the last time you close your eyes.

"I dreaded the nights. You'd finally get to sleep and then the waves would come crashing over you," he said. "I remember during the day we didn't have much sun, and that was a blessing."

Each time an abundance of water would come into the small boat, the men would clamor to get it out, otherwise they'd sink.

Their nourishment was slim as they survived on minuscule rations. A cracker would suffice for an entire meal.

During their time afloat, Watson and his shipmates came across land. Once they dropped anchor and were waiting to go ashore the next morning, only to awake and find a strong wind had sent them back out. The next time the captain informed them that once they went ashore it would be about 75 miles on foot before they reached civilization and he did not believe many of them would make that distance.

"He allowed us to vote, though, and we voted to stay in the boat," Watson said. "We wouldn't have been any better off. It was a jungle.

"The captain had a good sense of sailing. He always knew how many miles we had gone each day and we all trusted him."

A couple of the men couldn't take the ordeal and lost most of their sanity, Watson recalled. As for himself, he credits an unwavering faith for remaining sane.

"I was a Christian, still am, and I thought God would help us, and he did," he said.

He also said growing up on a farm helped give him the physical stamina needed to endure.

"We had a big farm and our dad made us work all the time. I grew up strong," he said.

"I can't imagine being out there, not seeing land in any direction," said Watson's son, Walt, who also lives in Grapevine. "But I don't think Dad's ever been one to worry, even then."

Despite a couple of planes passing over them during the time, it wasn't until they came close to another ship that they were finally rescued.

"I remember that first shower, washing all of that salt water off," Watson said. "I really enjoyed that. Best shower of my life."

He still reflects on the ones who didn't survive. He takes a small breath, before saying somberly, "Two brothers are the ones I think of the most, and having to tell their mother and daddy that they lost their children."

While one might think such an emotional trial might have been the end of young Watson's time at sea, not so. He would sail out again.

"It's all I knew," he said. "That and working for my dad.

"If you sit and look the situation over, you'd be scared to get back on a boat, but I couldn't let myself do that."

Watson recalled his last mission in the Merchant Marines. They were carrying a load of wheat, he said, with plans to eventually end up in France.

"We went through the Panama Canal, and while we were on the way to our destination they dropped the atom bombs on Japan and ended the war," he said. "When we got where we were going, no one needed anything."

Before the Blast

Watson, originally from Cleveland, Texas, was set to start his shift at the refinery where he worked on Dec. 8 when he learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese the day before.

"He was told by the refinery director, 'You're not going to work, you're gonna get drafted,'" said another son, Ed, of Arlington.

Instead, Watson joined the Civilian Construction Corps and was sent to Pearl Harbor, where he worked for two years. A carpenter by trade, Watson helped with reconstruction by building warehouses and storage facilities.

"They'd be 600 to 700 foot long and 100 feet wide, and they'd fill 'em up as soon as we'd build 'em," Watson said. "It was very hard work and very long days."

Following two years at Pearl Harbor, Watson joined the Merchant Marines. He said it was one of the most dangerous jobs someone could have in the military.

"Six ships might go out and maybe two would come back," he said.

Ed noted that by the end of the war, Merchant Marine ships had more protection, but ironically, that is when Art's ship was sunk.

"His case was just happenstance," Ed said. "But being a Merchant Marine was a dangerous job all through the war."

Life as a Farmer

Watson would go on to start his own business, Watson Construction, which he ran for 36 years. He left his home of 125 acres in Winnie and moved to Dancing River to be closer to his children.

"He built every house he ever owned," his son said. "He never had a house note in his life."

He also followed in his father's footsteps and became a farmer, living largely on organic products. He grew a 250-pound pumpkin once, believed to be the largest in Chambers County history.

"That pumpkin grew itself," Watson said with a smile. "It was a big one, though."

Watson said he believes it grew so big because his dad pulled all the other others and left that single one to grow by itself.

Watson is widowed twice. He has three children (including daughter Sharon Alsup in Corpus Christi), seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

"He's a personal hero to all of us," said his grandson, Will Watson, who lives in Mansfield and praised his grandfather's healthy living. "He set up his own irrigation system, had his own cows, grew everything. It's why he's 103.

"As a kid I would stay with him all the time and I loved eating the vegetables. I'd go home and ask my mom, 'Why can't you have food like granddad's?'"

'An Amazing Life'

"He has lived such an amazing life and has so many fascinating tales. I could listen to them for hours, and I'm not the only one," said Tina Mandrell, memory care coordinator at Dancing River. "Art is loved by so many people and he is a genuine hero."

Watson had a lot of visitors at his birthday celebration on Aug. 25, including Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate.

"He is a survivor. Being out there so long, it's a miracle," Tate said. "Longevity of life is a blessing we should all appreciate, and he does. Every day is a treasure. Love life and enjoy as much of it as you can."

One of Art's fellow residents at Dancing River, Gaylord Grace, is one of those folks who said he could never tire of hearing Art's life stories. He remains in awe that his friend survived that 1945 ordeal to be alive today to continue to tell them.

"I remember thinking, this is crazy, but he did it, he survived," Grace said. "He'd be lying there and here comes a damn big wave. I don't know if I could have taken it, a lot of people couldn't.

"He's a great individual, and not only because he is a survivor, but he's just a great person and I'm glad I got to know him."

Pausing from a bite of cake, Watson, wearing a blue cap that simply read "103" on it, said, "I've told the story a lot and I'll tell it as long as I get a chance. It's something that needs telling -- but the pain stays with you, no matter how much time passes."

 2023 Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Visit star-telegram.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
EL PASO, Texas -- A Texas National Guard soldier has been suspended after he shot and wounded a man on the other side of the U.S. southern border last week, Mexico's president said Thursday.

Calling the shooting "a violation of international law," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he received a report on the soldier's suspension, without specifying which agency it came from.

The soldier says he shot the Mexican man in defense of a migrant who the man was allegedly seeking to harm, and the soldier fired first into the air, Lopez Obrador said at a news conference.

A different account of Saturday's shooting was given by Enrique Rodriguez, a spokesperson with the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office, who says the 22-year-old Mexican man was shot while jogging. The man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the buttocks and has since been released, Rodriguez said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has confirmed it's investigating the shooting in Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande River from El Paso. But the agency did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Thursday on the soldier's suspension, nor did the Texas Military Department.

The Department of Public Safety oversees Operation Lone Star, which has deployed state resources and members of the Texas National Guard to the border since March 2021. The mission has drawn criticism over its cost, strategy and effectiveness.

The shooting is being investigated by Mexican and U.S. federal authorities and the Department of Public Safety. The Texas Rangers met with top diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday to discuss the soldier's suspension, according to a statement from the ministry.

It's not the first time a national guardsman fired along the border this year. In January, a migrant was shot and wounded in a struggle with a member of the Texas National Guard, who was trying to detain him.

Few details about that shooting were shared at the time and concerns were raised over the lack of transparency.

Mark Stevenson and Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Related: Texas National Guard Member Fires Across Rio Grande, Wounds Mexican Citizen
BEIRUT -- The United States military called for an end to days of fighting between rival U.S.-backed groups in east Syria on Thursday, warning it may help the resurgence of the Islamic State group.

The fighting that broke out Monday -- and left at least 40 people dead and dozens wounded in the eastern oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour -- was the worst in years. East Syria is where hundreds of U.S. troops have been based since 2015 to help battle IS militants.

The clashes pitted members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces against its former ally the Arab-led Deir el-Zour Military Council and some regional Arab tribesmen who had sided with them.

The Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve said in a statement that it continues to closely monitor events in northeast Syria adding that "we remain focused on working with the Syrian Democratic Forces to ensure the enduring defeat of Daesh, in support of regional security and stability." It used the Arabic acronym to refer to IS.

Sporadic clashes occurred in different parts of the area along the border with Iraq on Thursday and both sides were reportedly bringing in reinforcements.

On Wednesday, the SDF and the council jointly said that Ahmad Khbeil, better known as Abu Khawla, would no longer command the Deir el-Zour Military Council. He and four other militia leaders were dismissed over their alleged involvement in "multiple crimes and violations," including drug trafficking.

Khbeil was also removed over "coordination with external entities hostile to the revolution," apparently a reference to his purported contacts with the Syrian government in Damascus and its Iranian and Russian allies.

The latest round of clashes raised concerns of more divisions among the SDF and its allies in eastern Syria, where IS had once controlled large swaths of territory and where the extremist group's militants still stage occasional attacks.

"Distractions from this critical work create instability and increase the risk of Daesh resurgence," the U.S. military said. "The violence in northeast Syria must cease, and the effort returned to creating peace and stability in northeast Syria, free from the threat of Daesh."

On any day, there are at least 900 U.S. forces in eastern Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors. They partner with the SDF to work to prevent an IS comeback.
The Marine Corps received its first trailer- and vehicle-mounted 5G systems Thursday, marking the first step in the service's advancement toward what Lockheed Martin calls "near real-time" communication.

The devices, which included a trailer-mounted tower and all-terrain vehicle mobile relay system, were delivered to Camp Pendleton, California, and will be tested in the field as part of Lockheed Martin's rollout of its Open Systems Interoperable and Reconfigurable Infrastructure Solution, or OSIRIS, program.

For the Marine Corps, the communications network is meant to be used in contested expeditionary environments and appears to support the service's desire to "close kill chains" in austere conditions. In other words, the 5G systems are meant to make communications quicker to make combating the enemy more efficient.

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"The Lockheed Martin-led team, in close partnership with the U.S. Marine Corps, has proven that quickly evolving 5G commercial technology can be leveraged in near real-time to solve current and emergent mission challenges," Deon Viergutz, vice president of Lockheed Martin Spectrum Convergence, said in a press release Thursday.

Broadly, 5G is the fifth-generation broadband network and -- in addition to its burgeoning military applications -- provides connectivity for commercial uses like cell phone connections.

Lockheed said that the new technology would allow the Marine Corps to connect to 5G-ready devices, sensors and vehicles. That network can also be integrated into intelligence, command and information systems to exponentially reduce latency and increase communication speeds -- "minutes instead of hours" on the battlefield, Lockheed claims.

In its ambitious Force Design 2030 plan, the Marine Corps has made clear that it intends to expedite communication connections, to include its indirect fire control capabilities, logistics networks and integration into Navy systems.

The delivery is part of the Defense Department's shift toward 5G, an effort that is largely lagging behind China. While the Pentagon "holds large portions of the usable spectrum," according to a Congressional Research Service report from March, China is leading the proliferation of 5G technology.

Defense officials fear that, because Chinese companies are required to comply with their home country's intelligence laws, Beijing-produced 5G tech could provide a pathway for hacking and intelligence-gathering if it makes its way into U.S. ally or commercial hands.

"Other analysts have argued that having any Chinese equipment in the network could pose potential security concerns," the congressional report said. "Such concerns have prompted some analysts to argue that the United States should limit intelligence sharing with any country operating Chinese-supplied 5G equipment."

For example, Huawei -- a Chinese company with ties to the Chinese government that pose security concerns for U.S. officials looking to curtail the use of its products in America -- has already signed 5G network contracts with 30 countries.

Last year, President Joe Biden banned new Huawei sales in the U.S. The Pentagon has selected 11 other stateside installations to test the capability, including Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.

The devices delivered Thursday are part of a nearly $20 million Lockheed contract from last February. Lockheed has also tested the 5G network in unmanned military systems like vehicles and drones.

-- Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @df_lawrence.

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Packaged military explosives were found unattended in an office building at Camp Pendleton, California, on Wednesday, triggering a temporary evacuation of the area. No one was hurt, the Marine Corps told Military.com on Friday.

The material -- which was not specifically identified by the service -- was removed by explosive ordnance experts after the discovery. EOD officials disposed of the explosives, and the office building was deemed safe for occupancy afterward.

The discovery of the explosives occurred during the routine installation of information technology equipment in the building. An investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS, was initiated and remains ongoing.

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"The safety of our staff and students is a top priority," Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Joshua Pena told Military.com. "The command is in full cooperation with NCIS and is reviewing current processes and procedures to ensure future incidents like this do not occur."

It is unclear how the explosives ended up in the building or why they were unattended. Ordnance is typically kept under close observation and in secure areas where it can be monitored.

In 2021, The Associated Press reported that thousands of firearms, including some explosives, were unaccounted for by the military. Some of those firearms were used in crimes.

Two of the explosives noted in the AP report were armor-piercing grenades and C4 plastic explosives.

The C4 reported by the AP, more than a dozen pounds of it, was stolen by an unidentified Marine Corps demolitions noncommissioned officer who feared an impending civil war in the U.S.

Other explosives reported by the AP ended up in the hands of high school students. The same year as the AP report, the Defense Department initiated reforms on how it would keep track of its weapons and ordnance.

There was no indication from the Corps that the explosives found at Camp Pendleton on Wednesday were involved in any violent criminal activity. It is also unclear when the explosives found in the office building were left there.

No additional information about the discovery was available from the Marine Corps on Friday, Pena said.

Camp Pendleton is home to the School of Infantry-West, one of the Marine Corps' two entry-level infantry schools, which has had a tumultuous and tragic summer.

The senior enlisted leader of the school, Sgt. Maj. Steven Burkett, known as "Sergeant Major Kettlebell," was fired in July for "loss of trust and confidence."

Last month, a student at the school was killed during nighttime live-fire training. As of August, that investigation remains ongoing.

-- Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @df_lawrence.

Related: Marine Corps Identifies Lance Corporal Killed During Night Training in California
STOCKHOLM -- The chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee said Friday that a partnership between the Russian and Chinese leaders worried him, adding, "We have never seen a threat this large scale to Europe and the Pacific, I would argue, since World War II."

An alliance between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin "provides a very big challenge, I think, for the free world in this great power competition that we find ourselves in," Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said during a visit to Sweden.

The Biden administration has warned Xi's government of unspecified consequences if it supports the Kremlin's war effort in Ukraine. A United States intelligence report said Beijing possibly provided equipment used in Ukraine that might have military applications. The report cited Russian customs data that showed Chinese state-owned military contractors supplied navigation equipment, fighter jet parts, drones and other goods, but didn't say whether that might trigger U.S. retaliation.

China has stepped up purchases of Russian oil and gas, which helps Putin's government offset lost sales after the United States, Europe and Japan cut off most purchases of Russian energy. Beijing can do that without triggering Western sanctions on its own companies, but Washington and its allies are frustrated that it undercuts economic pressure on Moscow.

China rejects Western trade and financial sanctions on Russia because they weren't authorized by the United Nations Security Council, where Beijing and Moscow have veto power. However, China has appeared to avoid directly defying those sanctions.

McCaul, who was part of a U.S. congressional delegation visiting Sweden and met with Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, said he expects the Nordic country to join NATO by October.

Long-neutral Sweden applied for NATO membership together with neighboring Finland in 2022. New entries must be approved by all existing members, and as NATO leaders met for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sweden was missing the green light from two: Turkey and Hungary.

Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with Russia -- more than doubling the length of NATO's border with Russia -- became the 31st member of the world's biggest military alliance in April. But it wasn't until a NATO summit in July that Turkey's president agreed to send the accession documents to the Turkish Parliament for approval, something he had refused to do for more than a year.

By having Finland and Sweden in NATO, "I think it will achieve the exact opposite effect that Mr. Putin wanted to achieve, and that was to weaken and divide NATO," McCaul said. With the two Nordic neighbors in NATO, the alliance has "never been stronger and more united," he said.

The visiting congressional delegation also included Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.; Ann Wagner, R-Mo.; Gerry Connolly, D-Va.; Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.; Thomas Kean, R-N.J.; and Bill Huizenga, R-Mich. After Stockholm, they were to travel to the Netherlands for meetings with Dutch government officials and members of parliament, among others.

The delegation's Europe visit aims to bolster ties with U.S. strategic allies, as well as discuss support for NATO and Ukraine, ways to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine; and how to confront shared threats from China. The Netherlands and Denmark recently said they will donate fighter jets to Ukraine.
This Sept. 11, more than 60 Veterans Affairs cemeteries will hold volunteer events as part of the National Day of Service, welcoming VA employees, veterans, family members and the public to take part in beautification efforts on their grounds.

The events are meant to honor the service members, veterans, law enforcement officers, firefighters and other first responders who served on that day, as well as post-9/11 veterans who gave their lives for their country in the past 22 years, according to the VA.

"On 9/11, we encourage all Americans to join us at one of our national cemeteries to volunteer and pay tribute to our nation's heroes," Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Matt Quinn said in a release Thursday. "By volunteering on this day of service, by cleaning a headstone and saying their names, we tell these heroes our nation has not forgotten all they sacrificed for us."

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Volunteers largely will clean headstones at 66 participating national cemeteries, but they may be asked to plant flags or participate in other projects at the sites.

Two years ago, VA Secretary Denis McDonough and wife Kari volunteered at Quantico National Cemetery in Virginia, scrubbing grave markers and placing American flags at gravesites.

"We wanted to demonstrate that this is an ongoing commitment, especially, to our 9/11 vets," McDonough said in an interview Thursday. "The idea is to get out, particularly on that day, to demonstrate again that we do not forget and we will not forget."

Volunteers have dedicated Sept. 11 as a day to engage in charitable service since the first anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. But Congress established Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance in 2009. That same year, President Barack Obama amended President George W. Bush's proclamation designating Sept. 11 as Patriot Day also as a day of service and remembrance.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when 19 al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four U.S. airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center towers in New York City; the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.; and a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

The attacks launched the war in Afghanistan and resulted in the deaths of numerous al-Qaida leaders, including founder Osama Bin Laden, who was killed on May 2, 2011, in Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs with support from CIA operatives.

The volunteer opportunities at the VA cemeteries mark the fifth year that Carry the Load, a nonprofit founded by two Navy SEALS to promote remembrance of fallen heroes on Memorial Day, has partnered with the VA's National Cemetery Administration for the events.

The VA website has information on which cemeteries are participating. To register as a volunteer, check out the Carry the Load website. Cleaning supplies and other materials will be provided, and there is no cost to participate.

The VA manages 155 cemeteries nationwide and funds an additional 121 state, territorial and tribal veterans cemeteries. Veterans who are eligible for VA burial benefits include all who were discharged under something other than dishonorable conditions; spouses or surviving spouses of eligible veterans; dependent children; and some others.

VA officials also reminded friends, family and loved ones to go to the Veterans Legacy Memorial website to locate their loved ones' pages and post photos and tributes. The online memorial contains pages for 4.8 million veterans interred at VA national cemeteries, as well as state, territorial, or tribal veteran cemeteries funded by the VA.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter or Threads @patriciakime

Related: This Memorial Day, VA Adds More than 300,000 Veterans to its Legacy Memorial Project Site
The White House announced Friday that the president will award the Medal of Honor to Army Capt. Larry Taylor for his heroic actions during the Vietnam War.

Taylor, who was an AH-1 Cobra pilot between August 1967 and August 1968, is credited with the daring rescue of a small patrol of soldiers who were surrounded by the enemy in Vietnam. He made the rescue amid enemy fire and despite the fact his helicopter wasn't designed to carry extra people.

A press release from the White House says that Taylor will be presented with the award -- an upgrade of a previously awarded Silver Star -- by President Joe Biden at a ceremony Sept. 5.

Read Next: Unattended Explosives Found at Camp Pendleton Triggered Evacuation, Marine Corps Says

Taylor's heroic actions took place more than 55 years ago on June 18, 1968, near the hamlet of Ap Go Cong.

According to details released by the White House, then-1st Lt. Taylor was leading a helicopter light-fire team deployed in support of a reconnaissance patrol that had been surrounded.

"He and his wingman strafed the enemy with mini-guns and aerial rockets," the statement said. Amid the "intense ground fire, the two Cobra gunships continued to make low-level attack runs for the next 45 minutes."

However, during the fighting, Taylor was told that the plan to rescue the soldiers with a UH-1 Huey helicopter had been canceled because it stood almost no chance of success.

"Running low on fuel, with the patrol team nearly out of ammunition, Taylor decided to extract the team using his two-man Cobra helicopter, a feat that had never been accomplished or even attempted," the statement said.

Taylor decided to land his Cobra "under heavy enemy fire and with complete disregard for his personal safety" and had the trapped patrol team grab onto his helicopter's rocket-pods and skids. Taylor then carried them to safety and without injury.

Taylor's original Silver Star citation notes that his "selfless courage, competent leadership and quick perception of the situation ... were responsible for saving the lives of four American soldiers."

Taylor joined the Army after graduating from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1966.

According to a biography on the university's website, "after completion of the armor officers basic course, [Taylor] concluded being on the ground was not in his future."

"He attended flight training and was later assigned to one of the Army's first Cobra companies in Vietnam," the website says.

The university biography says that Taylor would go on to fly "well over 2,000 combat missions in the UH-1 and Cobra helicopters" as part of the 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division.

"He was engaged by enemy fire 340 times and was forced down five times," the website notes.

The National Medal of Honor Center said Taylor ultimately earned "a litany of other decorations including the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, two Bronze Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, 44 Air Medals, among others" -- in addition to the Silver Star that is now being upgraded to the nation's highest honor for valor in combat.

Taylor would go on to finish his career in the Army with the 2nd Armored Cavalry in West Germany, according to a service statement. He was honorably released from active duty on Aug. 31, 1970, and was discharged from the U.S. Army Reserve on Oct. 17, 1973.

According to the Army, after his discharge, Taylor "operated a successful roofing and sheet metal company in Chattanooga and was involved with several veterans' organizations."

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Paris Davis, Black Green Beret in Vietnam, Finally Awarded Medal of Honor at White House
Trump pleads not guilty in 2020 Georgia election case

Xinhua) 09:06, September 01, 2023

U.S. President Donald Trump leaves for Florida at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 23, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Trump's lawyers asked the judge to separate his case from some of his co-defendants who sought a speedy trial in the case.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of attempting to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat in the southeastern state of Georgia.

"As evidenced by my signature below, I do hereby waive formal arraignment and enter my plea of NOT GUILTY to the Indictment in this case," Trump said in a court filing in Fulton County Superior Court.

Trump and 18 others were indicted on Aug. 14 over alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Trump was charged with 13 counts, including violating the state's racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate his oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree, and conspiring to file false documents.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set arraignment hearings for Trump and other defendants charged in the case for Sept. 6. That plea means the former Republican president will not appear in person in court next week to face the charges.

Trump's lawyers also asked the judge to separate his case from some of his co-defendants who sought a speedy trial in the case.

Last week, Trump turned himself in at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta, Georgia, becoming the first former president to have a mug shot taken.

Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, has been indicted in four criminal cases -- two by the Justice Department, and two by state prosecutors in New York and Georgia, seperately. The Georgia case is the fourth criminal case to be brought against him.

Trump has criticized the cases against him as part of a politically motivated attempt to keep him from recapturing the White House.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
In accordance with the instructions and tasks given by President Ilham Aliyev, comprehensive measures are being implemented by the State Road Agency of Azerbaijan to ensure comfortable and safe crossing of motorways for citizens, Azernews reports, citing AAYDA.

In order to ensure the safety of citizens living in the city of Baku and on sections of motorways passing through the territory adjacent to the capital, pedestrian crossings are being built in several places as part of these measures.

Another project in this context has been implemented by the agency. Thus, the construction of the pedestrian crossing on the 8th km of the Mardakan-Zagulba motorway has been completed and handed over to the citizens in the section where pedestrians have problems crossing the motorway.

The length of the passage according to the project is 53.4 metres, internal width - 3.5 metres, width of stairs and ramps - 1.35 metres.

The crossing, located 5.5 metres above road level, is an open lattice metal structure.

The crossing, which consists of two entrances and exits, has oval-type pedestrian ramps in accordance with international standards, ensuring comfortable movement of people with disabilities.

The project also included new bus stops on both sides of the road, the construction of a bus shelter, a control room for workers monitoring the crossing, and landscaping work around the pedestrian crossing.

The crosswalk, built on the basis of modern technologies, complying with international standards and using high-quality materials, will provide pedestrians with a convenient and safe way of crossing the road, as well as give a special colour to the appearance of the city.

According to the action plan, pedestrian crossings will be built at other necessary sites in the following years.










After more than four decades, the last oil-drilling lease on the Blackfeet Indian Tribes Badger-Two Medicine cultural area has been canceled.

I remember when the Lewis and Clark forest supervisor called a meeting amongst the elders, and told them, Theyre going to drill in there  show us where the sacred sites were and theyll throw a construction fence around them, Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Officer John Murray said on Friday. Thats where the struggle started.

The lease to Louisiana-based Solenex LLC was one of 47 sold by the federal government in the 1980s during a Reagan administration push to open much of Montanas Rocky Mountain Front region to energy exploration. About 34,000 acres of the Badger-Two Medicine area were included in the lease sale, along with many more in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and other sensitive areas.

Although the leases were soon ruled to have been offered illegally, Solenex and other energy companies challenged the withdrawals in court for years.

Terms of the settlement were not released in Fridays announcement. However, Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso said it included money from the Wyss Foundation and the federal government to cancel Solenexs right to explore on 6,247 acres of the Badger-Two Medicine area south of East Glacier.

It was a reasonable outcome to a long-standing dispute, Preso said on Friday. It provides a pathway to retire this lease expeditiously.

A 2016 Interior ruling determined Solenex was entitled to a refund of $31,235 for lease payments made between 1982 and 1985, but not any interest on that money.

The Badger-Two Medicine area is surrounded by Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and the Lewis and Clark National Forest. The Blackfeet consider it a sacred landscape with evidence of occupation and cultural significance dating back more than 12,000 years.

The significance of todays agreement goes far beyond the protection of the Badger-Two Medicine, Michael Jamison of the National Parks Conservation Association said in a statement on Friday. It shows the importance of respecting tribal rights, cultural practices and sacred land. It facilitates wildlife movement to and from adjacent protected areas like Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. And it demonstrates what is still possible when we come together as Montanans  Native and non-Native, conservationists, hunters, anglers, ranchers, business owners  to stand up for what we value in this state: our wildlife, our public lands, our communities, and our outdoor heritage.

Solenex and several other energy companies bought the leases with plans to drill exploratory wells for oil and gas. The Blackfeet and a coalition of conservation groups challenged the leases in 1994, and the Interior Department in 1996 ruled they were improperly granted without a proper National Environmental Policy Act review or consultation with the Tribe. Montana Sen. Conrad Burns sponsored a bill in 2006 to block further oil and gas drilling in the area.

Solenex attempted to revive its permits in 2013. A U.S. District Court judge ordered the Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management to reinstate them, but then-Interior Secretary Sally Jewell ruled the leases were unusable in 2015. The U.S. Historic Preservation Advisory Council also declared the 165,000-acre Badger Two-Medicine a Traditional Cultural District under the National Register of Historic Places.

The court fight went on through several more reversals and appeals and was before a federal appeals court in 2023 when Fridays decision was announced.

Today the government filed a motion to hold its appeal in abeyance while the transaction is completed, Preso said. That should end all litigation.

Lease opponents included the Blackfeet Headwaters Alliance, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, National Parks Conservation Association, Pikuni Traditionalist Association, The Wilderness Society and Wild Montana.

Blackfeet Headwaters Alliance recognizes Solenex and all the former leaseholders who have retired their exploratory leases in the Badger-Two Medicine, the traditional territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy, co-founder Jack Gladstone said in a Friday statement. The Badger-Two Medicine is a vital vertebra within the Backbone of the World. From our homelands, waters are cast towards the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. From our homelands, the Backbone of the World ensures water, both for North America, and for Mother Earths re-creation.
The Navy destroyer USS Carl M. Levin arrived in Hawaii for its official homecoming in early August with a novel sight flapping from its mast: a brand-new battle flag featuring a fearsome pirate ship, a legendary sea monster and mythical phoenix.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer pulled into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Aug. 7, just six weeks after the Navy commissioned the vessel as the newest to join the fleet in Baltimore.

The warship is named for the late Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), a longtime legislative force on military and defense affairs in the U.S. who died in 2021 at age 87. Through his tenure as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Levin advocated for greater fiscal responsibility and oversight, bipartisanship and the well-being of U.S. service members and veterans.

The battle flag, designed by Damage Controlman 3rd Class Hector Mendoza and selected from among submissions from other Levin sailors, shows a kraken -- a large, terrifying sea creature of yore -- splitting a pirate ship in two as a phoenix rises over the wreck, a Navy spokesperson told Military.com.

Related: The Navy's Newest Destroyer Is Named for a Marine Who Saved His Company from Annihilation

Mendoza "was inspired by telling his nieces about his job in the Navy as a pirate," Levin spokesperson Ensign Anastasiya Dudaryk said in an email. "He told them how he would sail the seven seas, hence the pirate ship being at the center."

"When I explain to family and friends my job here in the Navy, sailing the seven seas, I enjoy the heritage and the history [whether it be fact or fiction] that comes along with the job title," Mendoza told Military.com in an email.

While a kraken splintering a pirate ship into pieces might seem a mildly foreboding emblem for a new warship, Dudaryk explained that the phoenix, as the ship's mascot, "rises out of the destruction, symbolizing how the crew will persevere through any hardships or challenges."

"Whatever hardships we face as a crew, we will always come out on top and rise to the occasion," Mendoza said.

The ship's namesake is represented in an ivory gavel in the lower left corner to mark Levin's 36 years of service in Congress, while the Michigan flag appears in the lower right-hand corner as a tribute to the late senator's home state, Dudaryk said.

For Mendoza, it's the pirate ship, kraken and phoenix that truly distinguish the standard from those flown by other Navy warships.

"Between all of the battle flag ideas submitted by other sailors, I felt as if none of them really caught the attention that I knew a battle flag should," he said. "I just wanted to design a pretty badass battle flag to display for everyone to see."

USS Carl M. Levin arrives in Hawaii for homecoming at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Aug. 7, 2023. (Lt. Autumn Estrada/U.S. Navy photo)

The practice of flying battle flags while arriving at port has become a fixture of the U.S. Navy in recent years, with more and more newly commissioned warships flaunting uniquely designed standards, from the distinctly historical to the aggressively patriotic. The Levin is not the only Navy warship to take inspiration from the pirates of centuries past for a battle ensign. Indeed, the destroyer USS Kidd has flown the distinctive Jolly Roger flag often associated with pirates at least once in the last several years; so has the Seawolf-class nuclear submarine USS Jimmy Carter, according to eagle-eyed military observers, although sub battle flags have their own unique history and culture.

While battle flags often pay tribute to the military service of a vessel's namesake, Levin was not a veteran. Instead, he used his chairmanship of the SASC to champion pay raises for service members and better treatment for wounded warriors, push for better oversight to improve Pentagon spending practices and play a key role in overturning "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The naming of the destroyer pays tribute to Levin's dedication and gratitude to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces during his time as their advocate in the halls of Congress, his daughter Laura said during the ship's commissioning in June.

"As Dad put it, those who served in the military 'have inspired us, year after year, to come together across lines of party and ideology to support them,'" Levin said. "'They not only protect us, they unite us.'"

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TODAY: Garcia is now a free agent after clearing release waivers, the Nationals announced.

SEPTEMBER 1: The Nationals announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Travis Blankenhorn, a move that was reported on yesterday. They also recalled right-hander Amos Willingham, with he and Blankenhorn taking the two extra spots on the expanded roster. To make room on the 40-man for Blankenhorn, the club has requested unconditional release waivers on righty Rico Garcia.

Garcia, 29, began the year with the As on a minor league deal, getting selected to the major league club in May. He was designated for assignment in July, cleared waivers and elected free agency. He then signed a minor league deal with the Nats and was added to their roster in mid-July. Between the two clubs, he has an earned run average of 9.26 in 11 2/3 major league innings this year. But in 27 2/3 Triple-A innings, he has an ERA of 2.93, striking out 29.5% of hitters though also walking 17.2%. He was placed on the injured list July 30 due to biceps tendinitis.

Andrew Golden of The Washington Post reported in early August that Garcia was headed to Florida to rehab. He hasnt appeared in a rehab game yet but was perhaps nearing a return in the coming weeks. The Nats could have transferred him to the 60-day IL, but doing so would have effectively ended his season. Injured players cant be placed on outright waivers, so the Nats have placed him on release waivers instead.
CADILLAC, Mich. - Fall color fans have a new tool for following the spectacular change of seasons across nearly a million acres of Michigan forestland.

The Huron-Manistee National Forests, which span nearly one million acres across the Lower Peninsula, have launched their 2023 fall color interactive map. The continuously updated map allows viewers to select different colored icons within the forests interior to reveal recent images of emerging fall colors photographed by forest service employees.

We introduced the map last year to create an opportunity for those who are unable to travel to the Huron-Manistee to see the colors changing, said Acting Public Affairs Officer Travis Owens.

Owens said the interactive map also can serve as a great tool for those wanting to plan a leaf-peeping trip.

The national forests contain dozens of day-hiking areas and more than 500 miles of forest roads for a scenic drives. The forests Lumbermans Monument Visitor Center in Oscoda also offers fall color walks on the accessible Highbanks Trail along the Au Sable River on Saturdays in October until October 22, 2023.

A statement from the National Forests noted that fall colors are already beginning to show up in hardwood foliage as hues of red and lime green, hinting that full color is not far off.

The fall color interactive map can be found on the Huron-Manistee National Forests website at fs.usda.gov/hmnf.

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I missed the big storms.

I was up north with my two daughters, celebrating their last week of freedom before they started the fifth and sixth grades at Whitmore Lake Elementary School.

But I saw that it was a doozy. Five inches of rain fell in Washtenaw County in just one day. Then tornados whipped across the center of the state.

Once again, there was flooding, power outages in whats become an all-to-familiar storm scenario. Its distressing because we depend so heavily on electricity and the internet these days. Many of us cant do our jobs without them.

Which brings me to two of our big stories this week. Like many other schools, the University of Michigan welcomed students to class this week --including A-Rods daughter. But there was a major glitch. On day one, the school was forced to shut down the internet at its Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses due to a significant security threat.

Classes werent canceled, but without being able to access various internal networks, instructors and students alike were left scrambling.

And theres a mystery brewing over in Lima Township between Dexter and Chelsea, also known as the Bermuda Triangle for DTE customers. Some say they are losing power even when the sun is shining. Reporter Lucas Smolcic Larson caught up with Chris and Ingrid Justice who live a couple miles south of Dexter and have clocked 18 interruptions in their DTE Energy electrical service in the past year.

Thats what caught our eye in Ann Arbor this week. Take a look at those headlines, and others, below:

Internet outage affects first day of University of Michigan classes

In DTE Energy Bermuda Triangle, Washtenaw County couple clocks 18 outages in a year

Alex Rodriguez joins list of famous parents whose kids are attending the University of Michigan

Significant security concern prompted internet outage at University of Michigan

Gravel mine operator sues Washtenaw County township after permit for 400-acre mine denied

Ann Arbor man dies after kayak overturns on Washtenaw County lake

Ann Arbor-area dioxane plume affecting dozens of drinking wells north of M-14, new map shows

World class paella: Ann Arbor chef set to represent U.S. in international competition

Bus carrying Saline football team drives into ditch near U.S. 23

About Hello, Ann Arbor: Each week, we deliver the big headlines straight to your inbox. Hello, Ann Arbor has also won awards from both the Michigan Press Association and the Associated Press for best column. Sign up here for the newsletter.

John Counts is editor for MLive/The Ann Arbor News where he started as a police and court reporter in 2012. He lives in Whitmore Lake with his wife, two daughters and two dogs. He can be reached at johncounts@mlive.com.

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ANN ARBOR, MI -- Ann Arbor will soon have a new restaurant serving up authentic Peruvian food.

Culantro plans to soon bring its fast-casual Peruvian eatery to North Main Street in Ann Arbor. The new restaurant is aiming to open its second location in The Broken Eggs former location, 221 N. Main St., by early to mid-October.

Culantro began in downtown Ferndale in 2018 after co-owner Betty Shuell noticed a lack of Peruvian restaurants in Michigan. Shuell owns the restaurant alongside her husband, John, and son, Alvaro Herrera.

Herrera and his mom are behind creating all the restaurants authentic recipes, he said, adding the pair still manage to bring their own twist to the menu.

Customers can expect to find some authentic Peruvian dishes like pollo a la brasa, ceviche and lomo saltado. Herrera said the restaurants Ferndale location also offers vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options which he believes will also come to Ann Arbor.

The pollo a la brasa served at Culantro.

We have made all our recipes as authentic as we can while also still reflecting the needs and wants of the community around us, he said.

Culantro is very much like comfort food, he added. We have a lot of people come in ... and tell us (our food tastes) the same way their grandmother would make it at home or that they only have dishes like this when they visit Peru.

Herrera said the family business felt like Ann Arbor was a good fit for what it is all about. He said the family really got to experience what the city has to offer as his sister attended the University of Michigan.

The reason we have had success in Ferndale is I believe because of how open and diverse (it is), Herrera said. Its a town that really celebrates that and I saw the same thing in Ann Arbor ... There are a lot of people that would be familiar with what we do and, if not, at the very least they would be open to trying (Peruvian food.)

Many of Culantros current customers are already from Ann Arbor which was just another reason for choosing the city, Shuell said, adding she is very excited to bring another location for her restaurant and offer Ann Arbor another option for diverse food.

Find Culantro online or on social media.

Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page, the Ypsilanti-area news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter.

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Dexter resident launches spirits brand with plans to open 2 tasting rooms

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Firefighters with the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be spending the weekend mopping up a wildfire between Billings and Pryor that burned several thousand acres.

The Pryor Creek Road fire was sparked Aug. 29 on farmland northeast of Pryor and high winds drove it across 3,200 acres over the next two days. As of Thursday evening, the fire was about 60% contained, with firefighters bringing the blaze under control with no injuries and only two structures damaged.

Five engines will stay on the fire through Saturday, BIA Crow Agency Fire Management Information Officer Jon Kohn said via email. The engine crews will be dousing any interior smoke left by the fire.

BIA firefighters responded to the blaze Tuesday, with investigators saying it was human-caused. It began in fields where dryland grain was being harvested. Hot, dry winds drove the fire north, threatening several homes and spurring evacuation warnings. The two buildings damaged by flames were outbuildings.

A rush of winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour further spread the fire, but firefighters have since been able to encircle the blaze. Along with the BIA, the Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, Big Horn County, Blue Creek, Lockwood, Shepherd and Worden fire departments contributed to the effort. Ten aircraft also made a sequence of water drops from above during the first days of fighting the fire.

Temperatures in Yellowstone County will have highs in the low 90s through most of Labor Day Weekend, according to the forecast from the National Weather Service. On Labor Day, however, temperatures will drop into the 60s, with a high chance of rain.

Across Montana, nearly 113,000 acres have been burned by wildfires so far this year. About half of those fires have been caused by humans, according to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MI  For 20 years, Shiawassee County residents have spent the early portion of their Labor Day holiday gathering near the Curwood Castle in downtown Owosso.

They mass themselves in a group around 8 a.m.  some prepared to run, other inclined to take a leisurely stroll. And then they step off, over a foot bridge crossing the Shiawassee River, through parts of Owosso and then down the James S. Miner Trail before ending in Corunnas McCurdy Park.

But this year, the annual Labor Day walk almost didnt happen.

(Corunna) found out some time last week and called us, said Owosso Assistant City Manager Amy Fuller, describing how the cities learned about how the event nearly didnt happen. Their mayor called our mayor and said, What can we do to make sure this happens?

Its still a little unclear how the event fell through the cracks, Fuller said. A local organization had been tasked with coordinating and sponsoring the event since 2021. Thats when former Corunna Mayor Chuck Kerridge retired. He and his wife, Donna, had organized the event for years.

It was actually Kerridge who first recognized the lapse in planning, according to Corunna City Manager Joe Sawyer.

They were getting phone calls from people planning/wanting to participate, Sawyer said in an email.

But when it was learned just days before Labor Day that the go-to holiday activity in Shiawassee County was on the brink of disaster, the communities of Owosso and Corunna came through in the clutch  especially in the wake of sad news.

Former Owosso Mayor Jack Davis, one of the creators of the now annual tradition, died earlier this month.

I was interested because I didnt want to dishonor the mayor of Owosso who created this thing, said Owosso City Manager Nathan Henne. We wanted to honor Jack and keep this thing going.

One issue was ensuring the James S. Miner Trail, which follows the Shiawassee River as it twists and turns its way from Owosso to Corunna, was in good enough condition for the walk. But Owosso and Corunna public works employees traversed the pathway and made sure it was clear of trees and debris following recent storms that brought high winds and tornados to the region.

There was also the concern of flooding due to the storms, but as it turned out only one portion of the route was affected by that  where the trial goes below M-21 in Owosso. A detour has been developed for that portion of the route.

The biggest challenge was trying to find a shuttle, Fuller said, explaining walkers are typically transported back to Owosso from Corunna at the conclusion of the walk. In the past, there was a shuttle. We felt that was something pretty important that we wanted to make sure we had.

Bus transportation company Indian Trails, which has a location in Owosso, had a bus available for the use of Labor Day walkers. The Indian Trails involvement was coordinated by Corunna Councilperson Becky Hoddy-Smith, who used to work for the transportation company.

Henne and Sawyer put up the money to fund a volunteer driver for the bus.

In the past, restrooms had been set up along the route to ensure easy-access when walkers needed to make a pit stop along the 3.5 mile course. This year, porta-johns will be available along the trail at the Owosso Amphitheater, Rudy Demuth Fields and at Stu Coutts/Mitchell Fields by the footbridge in Corunna.

Some things couldnt be amended in time for this years walk. While most years feature a new shirt, none were made in time for this years event. Participants are encouraged to wear shirts from past years.

There also wont be a pancake breakfast greeting participants who finish the miles-long trek. And the temperature will likely be high  so planners are encouraging people to bring their own water and drinks.

But the last-second effort to ensure the event continued did come with some familiarity. Fuller said by coming together the way the communities did, it kinda brings it back to how it all started.

When it started, it was a couple mayors that kinda got together and spearheaded it, Fuller explained.

One of those mayors, Owossos Jack Davis, died on Aug. 20.

He served on the Owosso City Council for 10 years, eight of which he served as mayor from 1997-2005, according to Davis obituary.

Especially with that weighing on us, we just thought, this has to happen, Fuller said.

The event is free of charge.

Going forward, the cities may work together to make sure nothing like this happens again.

(It would be) way too much work for any one of us to pull off alone on such short notice, Sawyer said. (Its) always fun to see that small town can do attitude. We are fortunate to have friendly, cooperative and respectful relationship. We operate as both neighbors and friends.

It just makes it fun that we can do stuff like this thats not really related to city service but thats really important to the community, Henne added. Its never difficult here to work with a fellow community and that is certainly appreciated.

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:

5 things to do in Flint, Genesee County this Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1-3)

YMCA project in downtown Flint meets $21M capital campaign goal

Little Miss Flint to host annual Back to School giveaway at Cook Park

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(This article has been updated with comments from the events organizer.)

FLINT, MI - Who is the King of the Wing in the Flint area?

That will be determined during the first-ever King of the Wing chicken wing showdown where taste buds will be crowned champion on Saturday, Sept. 2.

In partnership with the Flint Downtown Development Authority, the contest is scheduled from 3-8 p.m. in Buckham Alley in downtown Flint on Second Street.

Whether youre a drum or a flat lover, the events goal is to highlight the delicacies of wings in the local community.

I am a lover of chicken wings, said Randall Wilburn, the events organizer. That is my preferred go-to meal anytime I get hungry. I love cooking chicken wings and my father was a chef. He taught me how to cook at a very early age.

Wilburn thought of the idea 18 months ago and decided to constantly post his love for chicken wings on his Facebook page as part of the marketing strategy.

When people think of chicken wings, they think of me, he said.

The purpose is to uplift the culture and shine light on creative avenues, music, community resources and local businesses.

Chefs, wing connoisseurs and enthusiasts will be judged on their food by the audience in attendance. There will be eight or nine vendors all from Flint, and to try each vendors wings, participants will pay $1. At the end, people will vote for the best wings at a booth.

After all the votes are counted, the King or Queen of the Wing will be crowned.

I want people to know that Flint has some amazing talent and great restaurants, Wilburn said. It can all be celebrated in a friendly, family oriented light.

Admission to the event is $7 per person. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.

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:

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Attorney Ben Crump says the city of Grand Rapids should be held accountable in court for a former city officers deadly shooting of Patrick Lyoya, even though a federal judge recently dismissed the city from a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

The national civil rights attorney was in Grand Rapids on Thursday, Aug. 31 to speak about the Lyoya case and join a rally.

Speaking to a crowd of protestors in downtown Grand Rapids, Crump argued former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurrs defense is that he was following training when he shot and killed Lyoya during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022.

Despite a federal judge recently dismissing the city from the lawsuit, Crump said he believes the city was complicit in Lyoyas death by failing to properly train its officers on the use of excessive force. Schurr remains a defendant in the lawsuit.

We feel confident that the police officer, and the city, will have to face the truth in the court of law, because they cant have it both ways, Crump said during a rally in downtown Grand Rapids. If youre going to believe this officer when he says, I shot him because I was in fear of my life, then youve got to believe him too when he said, I was following my training. That is a factual issue.

Just under 50 protestors, community activists and religious leaders gathered for a march and rally on Thursday. Organizers said it was an effort to renew calls for justice for Lyoya and other Black people who have been killed by police officers in recent years.

Nearly a year and a half has passed since Lyoyas killing, and local activists say they are trying to keep his death at the forefront of peoples minds as Schurrs criminal case next week goes before the state Court of Appeals. His lawyers have argued a Grand Rapids District Court judge made the wrong decision in ordering Schurr to stand trial for second-degree murder.

RELATED: Appeal in Patrick Lyoya killing set for September argument

Its really important that we keep the momentum up in remembering Patrick, said Emma Henkel, 26, a lifelong Grand Rapids resident, who attended Thursdays march. They have continued to delay Christopher Schurrs trial, in an attempt to have the community lose the momentum. So its important that we come out here and continue to remind the communities that were still here, and that we still care.

Grand Rapids resident Dain Gates, 71, said she continues to show up at local rallies and protests for Lyoya because she is deeply concerned about the killing of Black men across America.

The murders continue, she said. Policing in America has a culture where Black men seem to be hunted like prey, and the subjects of aggression... and excessive use of force.

The group of protestors gathered at Calder Plaza and marched down to the Kent County Courthouse nearby, where they listened to speakers including Crump, former Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack, and Cle Jackson, president of the Grand Rapids NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).

Several speakers encouraged those in attendance to help keep Lyoyas memory in the publics mind, and not to forget about his case as more time passes.

I want you to life your voice and use it for Patrick, because hes not here, said Erykai Cage, one of the speakers at the rally. Hes not here to tell us that he only wanted to make it home to his daughters. Hes not here to tell us that he never wanted that day to be the day that he died. Hes not here to tell us that the dreams and goals and aspirations that he wanted, he will never get to see.

Crump told protestors there is no evidence that Lyoya was the aggressor in the traffic stop that led up to his death, arguing Schurr had no reason to fear for his life before he shot Lyoya.

Patrick was not the initial aggressor, Crump said. Patrick never, ever tried to confront the police. In fact, Patrick did everything in his power to get away from the police. How can the police officer say he was in fear of his life when a black man is running away from you?

Schurr is accused of second-degree murder in the April 4, 2022 shooting death of Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant, in a Southeast Grand Rapids neighborhood. Schurr had pulled Lyoyas car over during a traffic stop and Lyoya soon after tried to flee on foot.

A struggle ensued between Schurr and Lyoya and the two fought over control of the officers Taser. A witness cell phone video shows Schurr on top of Lyoya, yelling at Lyoya to let go of the Taser, when Schurr fires his weapon.

A Wednesday, Sept. 6 court date has been set as the next legal stage in Schurrs case.

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KENT COUNTY, MI  Kim Urbanski starts every morning off at Godwin Heights Middle School in Wyoming by cracking a bad mom joke over the intercom during her daily morning announcements.

What vegetables do librarians like? she read to students and staff listening on the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 29. Quiet peas!

As a mom who spent nearly 20 years teaching middle schoolers, Urbanski has plenty of corny jokes in her back pocket. They may elicit some groans, but the new Godwin Heights Middle School principal is using them with a purpose: To build a safe, positive school culture that students and staff want to return to every day.

One of my main goals (as principal) was... making a building that everybody would like to come to, and they want to be proud of their school, Urbanski told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. A building that staff and students want to come to every day and where they feel supported.

Urbanski, 42, is in her first year as the new principal of Godwin Heights Middle School, at 100 Wexford St. SE in Wyoming. She is taking on the administrative role after spending 19 years as a middle school art teacher.

The bad mom jokes are just one part of Urbanskis efforts to make Godwin Heights a place where students feel supported so that they can be motivated to learn.

Theyre really funny, because theyre so bad, she said, of her mom jokes. Its a fun part of my day, but my students are really starting to enjoy it. Now Im getting some jokes at lunch, and Hey, that add this to your bad mom jokes.

Creating a fun and welcoming culture was something she learned from her days as an art teacher. Urbanski spent the last 10 years teaching art and technology at Godwin Heights Middle School. Before that, she taught art for nine years at Grant Public Schools.

Teaching art is all about giving students a safe space where they feel comfortable enough to express themselves, she explained. Every student wants an outlet for their voice, and Urbanski loved giving students a platform where they felt safe enough to be creative.

Its always been something Im passionate about, is making sure students felt safe and had a relationship with me, that they could then get to the point where they can create, she said.

We know that, in order for students to be able to learn or to create, they have to have their needs met, and one of those needs is always safety. So that was something I took to heart and always tried to put in the forefront.

Urbanski is also committed to setting high expectations for academic success at the middle school. The principal wants to set a strong core commitment to learning for students when theyre in sixth, seventh and eighth grade, so that foundation stays with them all throughout high school.

My morning announcements also remind students of the expectations within the building, and the high expectations were setting, she said. At Godwin, we focus on Godwin P.R.I.D.E., which is Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Disciplined behavior and Engagement. So, Im doing a lot of reminding them about the acronym and what that sounds like and looks like.

While Urbanski is only in her first year as a building principal, Godwin Heights Superintendent Bill Fetterhoff said it wont take long for the community to recognize her strong leadership abilities and her vision for success at the middle school.

In the classroom and out of the classroom, shes proven to be a true champion for children with a very objective ability to make decisions, Fetterhoff told MLive. She has proven herself to be collaborative in terms of working not only with administration, but certainly with staff and parents.

At the core of Urbanskis success in the classroom was her ability to celebrate the strengths in every student, and look for opportunities to turn weaknesses into strengths, the superintendent said. She lifts up her students with the mentality of, If you can do this and you can do this well, you can do anything, he said.

Thats the culture that she propagated in the classroom, and thats a culture she propagated with her peers as an instructor, and went well beyond just the content of art, Fetterhoff said.

Urbanski earned her bachelors degree in art and sociology and teaching certificate from Alma College in 2003 and her masters degree in educational leadership from Western Michigan University in 2009.

Godwin Heights Public Schools, located in Wyoming, welcomed back approximately 2,000 students in grades K-12 for 2023-24 school year on Monday, Aug. 21.

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OTTAWA COUNTY, MI - The Ottawa County Community Action Agency wants residents to know that funding is available to assist eligible homeowners and renters with past-due water or sewer utility bills.

Through September 30, Ottawa County residents in jeopardy of the disconnection of water services can apply for assistance through the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP), a temporary emergency program to help low-income households pay overdue water and wastewater bills.

Jennifer Brozowski, program director for the Ottawa County Community Action Agency, said LIHWAP serves individuals who are at 150% or below the federal poverty level.

For example, she said for a family of four at 150% or below the federal poverty line, the total income earned would be $45,000, plus $7,080 for each additional person. And for a family of eight, the total income earned would be $75,840.

We just want individuals to know that we have funds to help with pass-due water bills, really, for the next four years, Brozowski said. When it comes to eligibility and the funding source, we can help individuals sort through those pieces.

Since October 2022, Brozowski said the agency has served 84 households with LIHWAP, totaling over $22,000 in funding assistance.

We should be able to serve even more individuals and they might have fewer barriers to receiving the assistance, Browzowski said. We know that utility costs have gone up significantly in the last couple of years, so we want to try to relieve some of that pressure in some way so people can focus on other expenses and things in their lives.

The Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program launched in January 2022, and it requires a local water provider to opt in and agree to sign a memorandum of understanding through the state, Brozowski said.

Ottawa County residents interested in applying for assistance through the program should have the following documentation handy:

Proof of income for all household members in the home. Examples include check stubs from the last 30 days, child support, SSI, disability, DHS cash assistance, or unemployment.

Proof of household size, complete names and date of birth for all members.

Photo ID and social security number of the applicant.

Shut-off notice or past due utility bill.

Funding for the program is administered through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to Community Action Agencies statewide until Sept. 30, 2023, unless depleted prior to that date, according to the MDHHS website.

The Ottawa County Community Action Agency promotes self-sufficiency with a variety of programs by empowering individuals and families to achieve economic independence. For more information, visit miOttawa.org/CAA.

The following list is an example of eligibility based on family size and income earned at 150% or below the Federal Poverty Line:

One family member: $21,870

Two family members: $29,580

Three family members: $37,290

Four family members: $45,000

Five family members: $52,710

Six family members: $60,420

Seven family members: $68,130

Eight family members: $75,840

Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Grand Rapids daily newsletter.

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CALHOUN COUNTY, MI -- A crash involving two semitrucks and a smaller truck resulted in a spill of 800 gallons of a chemical and a cleanup that left the highway closed or partially closed for about nine hours, the Michigan State Police said.

The crash happened about 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 31, at M-311 (11 Mile Road) Exit 104 near Battle Creek, Calhoun County 911 said in a news alert. All eastbound lanes were closed following the crash.

A preliminary investigation shows a semitrailer was traveling in the left passing lane before rear-ending a second smaller truck. The second truck was pushed into the rear of a trailer being pulled by a third vehicle, another semi, that was in the right lane, Michigan State Police said on Twitter.

Two of the three drivers were taken to Bronson Hospital Battle Creek for injuries that were not life threatening, state police said. The other driver was not injured.

Speed appears to be a factor in this crash. It is unknown if alcohol/drugs were a factor.

Investigators believe all three drivers were wearing seat belts.

The impact of the collision resulted in an estimated 800-gallon spill of a chemical identified as Voramer MR 1165 Isocyanate, state police said.

Authorities advised the spill does not pose any short- or long-term threats to the public or environment, Michigan State Police said on Twitter Friday.

The crash remains open pending further investigation. Police originally said it involved three semitrucks.

The investigation and cleanup partially shut down eastbound I-94 until 12:19 a.m. Friday, Sept. 1.

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KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoo County government officials are looking for citizen input on how to spend millions of dollars coming to the county through opioid litigation settlements.

Kalamazoo County launched the Opioid Community Needs Assessment Thursday, Aug. 31. Its a community survey to assist officials to make the best use of National Opioid Settlement funding. The goal is to save lives, prevent opioid use and remedy the impacts of opioids on the community, the county said in a news release.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoo Public Schools is raising wages for support staff.

Wages for campus safety, paraprofessionals, office personnel and Montessori teaching assistants are rising roughly $2 to $4 per hour, according to a new contract passed by the board on Thursday, Aug. 31.
MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI  A motorcyclist was killed and his passenger seriously injured in a crash Thursday, Aug. 31, state police said.

The victim is a 59-year-old Fruitport man. His name has not been released.
SAGINAW, MI  A jury deliberated for several hours before finding a Clio man guilty of murdering a Birch Run man him during a robbery gone wrong, first shooting them then burning him alive when he set his home on fire.

Jurors in the trial of Jorden A. Schmitzer, 23, delivered their verdicts about 2:45 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 1, finding the defendant guilty of felony murder, first-degree arson, unlawful imprisonment, and felony firearm. They jury found him not guilty of a fifth charge, that of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Next year, elections in North Dakota could be on the ballot.

A group of residents on Tuesday filed a petition with the Secretary of States office for a proposed constitutional measure that would overhaul the states electoral process if approved by voters. Among the most notable proposed changes are the removal of voting machines in favor of paper ballots that must be hand-counted, and the restriction of mail-in voting by requiring all mail-in ballots be received by 8 p.m. on the day before the election.

Around 20 supporters of the initiative walked the halls of the Capitol on Tuesday  many of them wearing items supporting former President Donald Trump  as they completed the first step in the process that could eventually put the matter on the ballot. All potential initiatives must be reviewed by the secretary of state, and must have at least 25 electors serving as sponsors. The sponsoring committee for the electoral process measure listed by the Secretary of States office numbers 79.

The initiatives chair, Lydia Gessele, said the proposed ballot measure is a route to ensure election integrity in the state. She cited the states past usage of paper ballots as an approach to return to, and named the elimination of voting machines as her top priority.

Everybodys sick and tired of these machines controlling our elections, Gessele said. We are supposed to be in control of these elections. Were supposed to know that our vote actually counted. And we cant tell that with the machines.

The State Auditors Office ahead of the 2022 election released a review of the states election system in which auditors determined its exceptionally unlikely that North Dakota election results could be fraudulently influenced.

The initiative is the latest iteration of an ongoing battle interrogating the states electoral process in the wake of the 2020 presidential election and Trumps unfounded claims of election fraud.

Burleigh County Auditor Mark Splonskowski in July filed a lawsuit in collaboration with a conservative legal organization that seeks to restrict mail-in voting across North Dakota. That suit was filed in federal court and claims that state mail-in collection policies are at odds with federal law. The state argues that such a conflict doesnt exist and the filing is instead an attempted improper overthrow of North Dakota law.

Some of the facets of the proposed measure are reminiscent of attempts from the last legislative session to change the states electoral process.

Lawmakers earlier this year considered a slate of bills on election operations, including one from state Sen. Jeff Magrum, R-Hazelton, that would have eliminated mail-in ballots. Magrum, a sponsor of the election integrity initiative, said he was recruited to the cause based on his legislative record.

Many of Magrums election-related bills died in the Legislature. But he said the proposed ballot initiative is a new opportunity for North Dakota residents to weigh in on the matter  an opportunity he hopes will gain more traction.

I did introduce a lot of legislation that didnt get anywhere, Magrum said. So its going to have to be done through the ballot box by the people. It wont get done at the Legislature.

The initiative also includes a proposed change to the process for altering North Dakotas Constitution. Currently, legislators are able to place constitutional amendments on the ballot  but under the proposal, that power would be removed. Supporters didnt elaborate to the Tribune. Residents would still have the power to propose and circulate an amendment through an initiative petition.

Supporters of the measure must collect at least 31,164 valid voter signatures to make the ballot if the petition is approved for circulation by the secretary of state. Gessele said she is hoping to see the measure included in the June primary, with a goal for signature collection to be done by late December or early January.

If the group meets the signature count, the initiative could either make it on the ballot in June or for the November 2024 general election depending on the length of the signature collection process. The secretary of state will respond to the initiatives filing for circulation no earlier than Sept. 6 and no later than Sept. 8.
Michigans presidential primary will be Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. At least, thats what Democrats have said.

The date change made big headlines in the winter, when the Democratic National Committee voted to move Michigans primary to third in line  behind South Carolina and Nevada.

But more still needs to happen for this to become reality. And the trickledown effect it has on the Republican side makes things even more uncertain.

What Democrats must do

Bills passed by the legislature and signed by the governor go into effect 90 days after lawmakers adjourn for the year, which is typically mid-December.

Thats unless two-thirds of lawmakers voted for the bills. With immediate effect, as this designation is called, laws take effect immediately. This is why Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was able to sign a distracted driving bill in June that took effect before Independence Day traveling.

Because Democrats were short of that threshold when Senate Bill 13 passed by slim margins six months ago, the legislature will need to adjourn by Wednesday, Nov. 29. That essentially means Democratic leadership in the state House would need to shave off the last four weeks of scheduled session days.

Were going to have this primary on the 27th of February, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes told MLive this week.  I feel good about the leaderships ability to make this happen.

When asked this week whether hes told his colleagues to plan on being done in Lansing in November, House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, told reporters there have been conversations but we have to think about what the rest of the year looks like for us.

Adjourning early, however, may not be the only way to ensure a February election.

Its only one of many options on the menu, Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, told MLive last week. Moss, chair of the Senate elections committee, sponsored SB 13 and is still confident the election will be Feb. 27.

An additional vote on immediate effect, he said, could be on the table.

Mosss counterpart in the House, Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou, D-East Lansing, told MLive last week were on track to have a Feb. 27 primary.

I dont think anyone knows for sure whats going to happen, she said of whether adjourning early will be the path taken. A lot of things are up in the air.

Republicans roadblock

If the primary happens on Feb. 27, that still causes a problem for Republicans.

The Democratic National Committee changing its early primary order means its out of sync with the other side, and the Republican National Committee is not budging on the traditional slate: Iowa first, New Hampshire second, South Carolina third.

The RNC has an official rule that says no state can skip ahead of those three. Michigans change violates that rule, forcing the state GOP to get creative. The penalty for having a primary on Feb. 27 means Michigans delegates to next summers national nominating convention would be cut from 55 to 12.

Earlier this summer, the Michigan GOP devised a two-part plan to please the RNC:

Hold a primary on Feb. 27, and the winner gets 16 delegates. Hold a caucus in all 13 congressional districts on March 2, awarding three delegates to the winner of each caucus.

But theres another rule, an RNC official told MLive, that says any primary or caucus before March 15 must allocate delegates proportionally based on statewide or congressional district population. Part No. 2 in the above Michigan GOP plan violates that rule.

The deadline for states to elect, select, allocate and bind delegates is May 31, which is 45 days before the national convention.

Weve been working with the RNC hand-in-hand through this process, Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo told reporters Thursday. So, they are helping us make sure that we are complying with the RNC rules so that well have our full delegation.

A final plan for how Michigan Republicans will pick a presidential nominee is due to the RNC Oct. 1. The state party will announce that plan in the coming weeks, Karamo said.

The RNC, per its rules, will decide by Dec. 1 whether Michigan will be penalized.

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The UAW has filed unfair labor practices charges against General Motors and Stellantis for bad faith bargaining, president Shawn Fain told members on Thursday, Aug. 31.

During a Facebook Live, Fain gave members an update on the ongoing negotiations with the Big Three that started in July. He described this week of negotiation as a real s*** show.

The UAW presented the automakers with their economic demands and have not received a counter from GM or Stellantis, Fain said. The union is refusing the counter presented by Ford.

The lack of counter by GM and Stellantis is prompting the union to file an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, Fain said.

Theres a pathetic irony to having these companies fixate so much on worker absenteeism and productivity when their top leadership have ditched bargaining and are refusing to buckle down and do the work of actually negotiating a contract, he said.

In response, a Stellantis spokesperson sent the following statement to MLive:

Stellantis has not received the filing, but is shocked by Mr. Fains claims that we have not bargained in good faith. This is a claim with no basis in fact, and we are disappointed to learn that Mr. Fain is more focused on filing frivolous legal charges than on actual bargaining. We will vigorously defend this charge when the time comes, but right now we are more focused on continuing to bargain in good faith for a new agreement. We will not allow Mr. Fains tactics to distract us from that important work to secure the future for our employees.

Similarly GM was surprised by Fains unfair labor accusation. The automaker refutes the claim said Gerald Johnson, GM Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing.

We believe it has no merit and is an insult to the bargaining committees. We have been hyper-focused on negotiating directly and in good faith with the UAW and are making progress. The pace of negotiations is based on how quickly both parties resolve nearly1,000 UAW demands, including more than 90 presented this week. Our goal remains the same - to achieve an agreement without a disruption that rewards our team members and protects the future of the entire GM team.

A strike is looming large now that 97% of UAW membership voted to authorize a strike if a contract is not approved by 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14. The UAW represents about 150,000 workers across all three companies.

Among the unions economic demands is reinstating cost-of-living adjustments, eliminating pay tier systems, re-establishing pensions and a 40% pay increase.

Ford submitted a counter offer, but Fain added it to his symbolic trash can that has made a regular appearance on his Facebook Live updates throughout the negotiation process. One commenter joked Fain needed to upgrade to a paper shredder.

The union is not satisfied with Fords response to job security proposals, quality of life proposals and retiree payout proposals. Fain said Ford rejected all three and gave emphasis to the fact that Juneteenth was not approved as a paid holiday.

[Thats] a day thats not just of historic importance to all of us, but a symbol of our shared values and the progress we still need to make as a country. Thats shameful, Fain said.

For its part, Ford released a statement from CEO Jim Farley on what the company describes as a generous offer after extensive negotiations.

The statement describes 15% guaranteed combined wage increases and lump sums, and improved benefits over the life of the contract for hourly employees. Ford estimates wages and bonuses would increase from $78,000 on average in 2022 to $92,000 in the first year of the contract.

Full-time permanent Ford employees at the top wage rate could be paid $98,000  from wages, cost-of-living adjustment bonus, ratification bonus, profit sharing and overtime  in first year, according to the Ford statement.

The offer would also eliminate the wage-tier system, according to Ford.

Fords statement notes their wages are looking to be competitive with Tesla and foreign automakers. Farleys statement went on to say:

We will not make a deal that endangers our ability to invest, grow and share profits with our employees. That would mortgage our future and would be harmful to everyone with a stake in Ford, including our valued UAW workers.

Bottom line, we believe there is a path to succeed together in what is the most competitive and fast-changing era in the history of the American auto industry.

Fain describes Fords counter for hourly wages as a 9% general increase and took particular issue with the lump sum bonus offer instead of cost-of-living adjustments for hourly employees saying it short changes them in the long run.

If Ford thinks we will accept a single digit pay increase and no cost of living allowance, then I hope these shareholders know how to work on an assembly line because those are going to be the only people left to build cars come September 15, Fain said.

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31.08.2023 LISTEN

Former Deputy Information Minister under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the John Dramani Mahama Administration, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has said the latest ruling of Cecilia Abena Dapaah's case by the court is expected.

According to Mr. Ofosu, as long as President Nana Akufo-Addo remains in power, nothing untoward will happen to his New Patriotic Party (NPP) members or appointees.

He said in a tweet, that the only way to hold the NPP accountable is by voting against them in the 2024 general elections.

I am surprised people are surprised about the turn of events in the Cecilia Dapaah matter. As long as Akufo-Addo and his NPP remain in office, no NPP wrongdoer will ever be held to account. If you want them held to account, boot them out in 2024, Felix Kwakye Ofosu stated.

An Accra High Court has ordered the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to return Cecilia Dapaahs seized money to her within seven days.

The former Sanitation Minister found herself entangled in a legal dispute when her assets were seized by the OSP. However, the court has overturned this action, directing the OSP to return the confiscated funds to her.

The OSP is investigating Madam Dapaah for corruption and corruption-related offenses following the revelation that she was keeping more than $1 million in her house.

In the wake of the startling revelation of stolen funds by her domestic staff, the Office of the Special Prosecutor embarked on a comprehensive search of the ministers residences, prompted by the staggering amounts that were reported stolen.

Meanwhile, Cecilia Dapaah has described the application of the special prosecutor to confirm a freeze and seizure order against her properties as an attempt to perpetuate the arbitrary exercise of power based on the misrepresentation of facts and the resultant media frenzy.

She asserts that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is infringing upon its own legal framework and is engaging in an arbitrary process driven solely by suspicion fueled by distorted representation.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has issued a warning to the Electoral Commission (EC), expressing its intention to potentially challenge the EC's decision to limit the new voter registration exercise to the commission's 268 district offices.

The NDC's Director of Legal Affairs, Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, has indicated that legal action could be pursued if the EC's limited voter registration approach is not changed.

The Chairperson of the EC, Jean Adukwei Mensa, recently unveiled plans for a new voter registration exercise ahead of the 2023 District Level Elections.

The exercise, scheduled to run from September 12 to October 2, aims to facilitate registration of Ghanaians who attained voting age (18) since the last registration in 2020, as well as those who were unable to register in 2020 due to various reasons.

Mr Tamakloe raised concern over the EC's decision, arguing that it could potentially deprive a significant portion of eligible voters the opportunity to register.

He emphasized that the NDC's Legal Directorate would meticulously examine the available legal remedies to challenge EC's action.

According to him, the EC is misinterpreting the law by restricting registration to its district offices.

He stated, "We will explore all the available legal channels to ensure that we will get an outcome that will allow the registration to be more decentralized.

We want to ensure that all our MPs are duly protected within the confines of our law, and we will definitely do that.
01.09.2023 LISTEN

Former Executive Director of Danquah Institute (DI), Prof. Kingsley Nyarko has taken a swipe at political pundits predicting the outcome of the November 4 presidential results of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) against Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia.

According to the Kwadaso lawmaker, such characters should stop the deceit since NPP delegates have resolved to vote for Dr. Bawumia to lead the party to the 2024 polls.

Prof. Kingsley Nyarko, MP for Kwadaso writes:

Stop Deceiving the Losing Aspirants: Nothing will change on November 4.

On Saturday, 26th August 2023, delegates of the New Patriotic Party across the country and other parts of the world (External branches) voted at 17 polling stations to select 5 standard-bearer aspirants out of 10 for the showdown on November 4, 2023.

This pruning process became necessary because the partys constitution (Article 13:9) stipulates that where more than 5 standard-bearer aspirants are qualified to contest, there should be a selection process (A Special Electoral College) to get the first 5. That was exactly what happened on Saturday.

It was an election with high stakes with all the euphoria, anxiety, tension, anticipation, and showdown among others.

The previous super delegates conferences didnt witness most of the characteristics mentioned above. This election has been the superlative of the super delegates conferences.

At the end of the day, the election was peaceful, transparent, free, and fair. The voters selected the one they felt was the best and represented the voice of the party at all levels.

Dr. Bawumia, who received the most votes: 629 out of 927, representing 68% represents the choice of the party. He won all 17 polling stations demonstrating his acceptance by the rank and file of the party. Hes not only for the leadership, or those at the upper echelon of the party, but the grassroots too. Hes a grassroots man.

With the result on Saturday, especially the difference between the votes garnered by Dr. Bawumia and his distant 2nd and 3rd contestants, it is very strange for some political pundits and commentators to suggest that there could be an overtaking by those who came after him. This is a quixotic expedition and thought that should be perished. Perish that thought. It cant and wont happen.

Those commentators and political pundits are just deceiving those aspirants, and sadly, goading them to waste their diminished resources. I doubt if they would have gone ahead to contest if they were in such a position. Lets be real and stop the speculative ejaculations.

They should stop giving them false hope. They should be bold and tell them to quit because the task ahead of them is no kids play. Its an insurmountable one. Impossicant! They will lose again.

What is even more ridiculous and unthinkable is the mistaken belief that the other 4 aspirants have the support of the grassroots. As if they own the grassroots or possess a magic wand to attract them. This is strange thinking. How do you assume that the first, with that huge margin, will not have the grassroots support, but those who fell behind him will? Does it make sense?

If any of the other aspirants had even won one region or polling station, then we can suggest, albeit carefully, that the unthinkable can happen.

You didnt get a single region or polling station, yet bragging that you can leapfrog and win. What about the one who won all the polling stations? That person cant, how?

Let me conclude by stating that, the result on Saturday is a reflection of the thinking and thoughts of the party at all levels. The grassroots prefer the Vice President. The outcome on Saturday is the will of the party. The will of the rank and file of the party: the grassroots. This thinking, emphatic declaration, and endorsement of the VP will not change on November 4, 2023. It will be the same. Dr. Bawumia will win again.

Let those losing aspirants tinkering themselves and laughing beware. Let them study the results critically. Let them look before they leap. They cant pull a surprise. It wont happen. It cant happen. The dust is settled.

I will encourage them to yield, and support Dr. Bawumia, the winner on Saturday. Hes the obvious choice of the party and the people.

We must douse the internal inferno. We must move on. We must save resources. We must mobilize resources to face the NDC on December 7, 2024. That should be the focus now because the internal contest is settled already. Nothing will change on November 4.

God bless Ghana. God bless the NPP.
The Chairman of Entreps, International Board of Global Actors and Business for Sustainability, Joaquin V. Boston, has praised the exceptional advocacy work of the Human Rights Reporters Ghana and its visionary founder Joseph Kobla Wemakor, which resulted in their announcement as winners of the prestigious 5th UN Global Entreps Awards.

He described as a remarkable achievement that stands as a shining example of the positive impact NGOs can make on society.

He asserted that this ought to inspire others to imitate their actions in order to contribute to the development of a better world for all.

HRRGs remarkable achievement stands as a shining example of the positive impact NGOs can make on society and encourages others to follow suit in creating a better world for all, he added.

The Entreps Chairman recently made this claim in a news release, reinforcing the two winners' outstanding contributions to society, which are currently making headlines all over the world.

The vibrant Ghanaian NGO, Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG), received the prestigious award for its Nationwide Sensitization Campaign on Kidnapping, Teenage Pregnancy, and Tramadol/Drug Abuse (KTT Project).

The project was recognized as the Best International Practice Award on Sustainability among 1,912 projects and enterprises from 126 countries competing for their implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The organizations dedication to promoting human rights awareness and protection has garnered commendation from various individuals, organizations, and institutions both within and outside Ghana.

The award ceremony, held in San Jose, Costa Rica, on July 15, 2023, was backed by Entreps-International Board of Global Actors and Business for Sustainability, with the support of 1,000 Global Jurors and in partnership with the UN75.

HRRGs founder, Joseph Kobla Wemakor, who received the award, expressed gratitude for the prestigious honor, highlighting the importance of collective efforts in uprooting societal menaces. He noted that the organization remains steadfast in its mission to safeguard human rights and contribute to a safer and more progressive society.

For HRRG to be acknowledged by the 1,000 Global Jurors of Entreps, Joaquin Boston, the Chairman of Entreps, and its Secretary-General, Raquel Torres, in collaboration with the United Nations as an awardee from Ghana, West Africa, to receive the revered global honor is a noteworthy accomplishment, confirming Ghanas position in global sustainable practice and setting precedence for other NGOs and stakeholders in the region to emulate, he stated.

It feels amazing to see our work recognized globally. But the real victory is witnessing the change and progress these communities make as a result of our constant efforts, he added.

According to Chairman Joaquin Boston, the Human Rights Reporters Ghanas dedication to promoting human rights awareness and protection resonates perfectly with these goals, positioning Ghana as a global leader in sustainable practices.

The recognition from the Global Entreps Awards marks a significant milestone for HRRG and Ghana as it demonstrates international support for their efforts in achieving sustainable change. This recognition is expected to inspire more stakeholders and governments to invest in preventive strategies and social initiatives to safeguard human rights and create a safer and more progressive society, he stated.

In Entreps -The International Board of Business for Sustainability, we support these types of practices that promote and reinforce the UN SDGs -Sustainable Development Goals-.

"Additionally, we have had an agreement with the UN to promote together the SDGs, ever since January 2020.

"We are pleased to find and recognize best practicesprojects and initiativessuch as the one carried out by Human Rights Reporters Ghana and its founder, Joseph Kobla Wemakor, a brave project in such a challenging society; their actions defend the role of women, from childhood to adulthood, and seek to end bad habits and practices that denigrate a large part of their society.

"We boost people as those who have carried out this project, for being deeply involved and dedicate a large part of their free time to changing - improving - the society to which they belong. Cheers to them, Joaquin Boston posited.
France is aiming to impose a minimum price for plane tickets to protect the environment. Transport Minister Clement Beaune said he would present a proposal to the European Union in the coming days.

Ten euro plane tickets while we are in an ecological transition are not acceptable, Beaune said in an interview with L'Obs weekly magazine. He was referring to loss leader pricing from low-cost airlines that offers tickets that do not cover the real cost of air travel.

Beaune wants the European Union to impose a minimum ticket price to "fight against social and environmental dumping, with the goal of getting plane tickets in line with the cost of train tickets.

I completely stand by taxing polluting activities in order to invest in the ecological transition, he said.

Costly trains

A report by Greenpeace in July showed the environmental impact of trains was 100 times less than plane travel in France, but train tickets remain much more expensive.

Beaune did not elaborate on what the minimum plane ticket price should be, nor how the rule should be applied.

The announcement was welcomed by the president of the National Federation of Transport User Associations, Bruno Gazeau, who told FranceInfo that financial aid, in the form of subsidies or tax breaks, should not make planes systematically less expensive than the train.

Tony Renucci, of the air quality advocacy group Respire, told France Info a minimum cost of plane tickets was a step in the right direction, but it was unclear how it would encourage alternatives.

"If you want people to take the train rather than the plane, you must lower the cost of train tickets, he said, adding that cars were still more polluting than air travel, producing 53 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions.

Earlier in August Beaune announced a reinforcement of taxes on plane tickets in the 2024 budget, along with increased taxes on highway companies.
Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ibrahim Awal

31.08.2023 LISTEN

Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ibrahim Awal, has said in order to turn the corner of the economy, the government ought to increase tariffs in the hospitality industry.

According to Mr. Awal, the recent increase is justified due to the fact that electricity tariff in the hospitality industry has not been increased for the past four years.

Dr. Awals comments come after the Ghana Hotels Association and the Ghana Progressive Hotels Association petitioned the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) following a 167% increase in water and electricity tariffs in February this year.

For four years, we did not increase tariffs. It is only now that we are facing some economic challenges and working to restore macroeconomic stability.

Once we do that, it will be better than dumsor. Lets not forget what happened before we came to power. Before 2017, we know what happened. We dont want to go back to dumsor. Dumsor is devastating. Bear with us, we know that slowly we will stabilize the economy and this tariff adjustment will abate, Dr. Ibrahim Awal stated.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyeman, says a meeting will be held with the hoteliers to address their concerns.

We had even requested for a meeting with PURC on this, and we are going to follow through. I am happy that at least they also added their voice to our concerns. We sympathize with them. Obviously, if hotels can operate more effectively and efficiently, some of these tariffs have to be looked at. But we are also mindful of the fact that they say expensive electricity is better than no electricity. So lets see how we work together to resolve it, Akwasi Agyeman stated.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has launched the country's maiden integrated data repository, the Statistics Bank (StatsBank), to guide policy decisions for sustainable inclusive national development.

The academia based StatsBank launch has students compete in a hackathon, using data from the Statistical Service's central repository to highlight various socio-economic issues in disaggregated form.

The StatsBank enables users to generate customised tables and maps at the national, and sub-national levels at no cost, as well as data repository on macroeconomic indicators.

It also contains administrative and other non-traditional data sources that would provide government with real time policy options.

GSS, Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, Statistics Denmark, and the Denmark Embassy collaborated to develop the Statsbank and hackathon.

Speaking on the relevance of the StatsBank, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, said: The only way we can help policymakers solve the challenges we have is to give them access to multiple data sources.

He explained that over time, national statistical offices in the global south had heavily relied on internationally driven statistics by different bilateral and multilateral organisations.

That, he said led to data being produced based on some economic indices, including Gross Domestic Product (GPD), and consumer and producer price indexes, with little focus on the complex nature of national problems.

The Government Statistician noted that: No single data source can help us solve the problems that we face. It's now compelling for all of us to think about bringing together data sets to help solve the complex challenges that we have.

He said it was for that reason that the Statistics Bank had been built to integrate different data sets to guide policy decisions, while deemphasising data aggregates.

Anytime you talk about any statistic, it's about what's happening at the national, regional and district level. This is not helping the cause, especially in the context of leave no one behind, Prof Annim said.

He said the Service took cognisance of the high sensitivity characterising disaggregated data and had taken proactive measures to protect the privacy and confidentially of information from people and institutions.

Once you're going below the district level and 100 by 100 metre or 1,000 by 1,000m data, we need to be careful that we have anonymised the data to avoid the incidence where somebody can combine 'x' number of variables to identify a particular individual, he said.

He extended invitation to educational institutions to collaborate with the Service to put together resources and have a data repository as a baseline to build a pipeline between data from GSS and what was in the universities.

In her speech, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana (UG), Prof Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, said the objectives of the StatsBank platform and the hackathon competition were essential for the holistic development of students.

She said the objectives on the initiatives resonated with her goal of training students to be critical thinkers, technologically adept, humane, culturally sensitive, and ready to provide leadership for the country and the continent.

She also said the hackathon would help students to raise awareness about the StatsBank, while creating avenues and opportunities for collaboration, mentorship, and team building in their academic and career fields.

Ms Vibeke Sandholm Pedersen, the Deputy Head of Mission and Cooperation at the Denmark Embassy, said: Easy access to statistical data can guide decision makers, and the public to make decisions on an informed basis, and ensure transparency and accountability, which is of great importance in our democracy.

GNA
Former Deputy Regional Minister for the Upper West Region Abu Kabiebata Kansangabata has criticized the Daily Guide Newspaper for allegedly doing the bidding of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

According to Mr. Kansangabata, the Daily Guide Newspaper is attempting to divert the attention of Ghanaians from the "incompetent and corrupt" activities of the Nana Akufo-Addo administration.

He said in a statement that the so-called "deep-throat information" purportedly coming from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) about the picking of a running mate for John Dramani Mahama is "unsubstantiated."

I have noted with nostalgia, the spirited attempts by the Daily Guide Newspaper to publish concocted and fabricated stories concerning the NDC all in an attempt to divert attention from the incompetent, inept and corrupt NPP government

In recent times, this government surrogate of a media house has resorted to publishing stories purporting to be coming from deep-throat sources within the National Democratic Congress which remain unsubstantiated, Abu Kabiebata Kansangabata stated.

He continued by asserting that Ghanaians are only concerned with the NDC party's victory in the 2024 general elections.

The Destiny of the majority of Ghanaians lies in the hands of the NDC to assume governance in 2025 and to entrench multi-party democracy, he stated.

Below is the statement by Abu Kabiebata Kansangabata

THE NDC MUST WAKE UP TO THE UNETHICAL CONDUCT OF THE DAILY GUIDE NEWSPAPER AND ITS PUBLISHERS NOW

I have noted with nostalgia, the spirited attempts by the Daily Guide Newspaper to publish concocted and fabricated stories concerning the NDC all in an attempt to divert attention from the incompetent, inept and corrupt NPP government

In recent times, this government surrogate of a media House has resorted to publishing stories purporting to be coming from deep throat sources within the National Democratic Congress which remain unsubstantiated.

Regrettably however, the leadership of our Party has not responded to these maliciously fabricated stories in an attempt to dispel the Daily Guides latent agenda of destabilizing the reorganisation agenda of the NDC in preparation to take over the reigns of government in 2025.

It is pretty obvious that the Daily Guide Newspaper has an agenda to divert attention from the rot, corruption and mismanagement which are rife in government as seen in the exposures concerning Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah as well as the loss of over Sixty Billion Ghana Cedis incurred by the Bank of Ghana and the fallout from the just-ended Special Delegates Congress of the NPP which witnessed scenes of violence, vote-buying and inducement using state resources amounting to incumbency abuse.

In order to kill these trending issues which are of concern to the average Ghanaian, the Daily Guide Newspaper throws in stories bordering on the selection of a Running Mate by the NDC ahead of the 2024 elections. As important and cardinal as the process of the selection of a Running Mate is, it is undoubtedly of enormous concern to not only members of the NDC but majority of Ghanaians who are banging their hopes and aspirations on the NDC to salvage this country from the insensitivity and disrespect to the public by Nana Akufo Addo and his NPP government

It is therefore appropriate for the leadership of the NDC to find a convenient way of responding timely to the spurious and malicious publications of the Daily Guide Newspaper which not only seek to divert attention from the abysmal daily performance of the government but to sow seeds of discord and disunity within the NDC front.

It is abundantly clear that, the aftermath of the reorganisation process of the NDC which commenced from the branches right up to the election of the Presidential Candidate and Parliamentary Candidates as well as the recent appointment of Directors, Deputy Directors and Vice Chairman shows the readiness of the party as the strongest opposition party to wrestle power from the failed regime of Nana Akufo Addo, the reason for which Daily Guide came up with its most recent publication which ought to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

The continuous loud silence of the party on these publications would only give some credence to the publishers who continue to cite unnamed persons within the party leadership as their source. As much as the publishers have not been able to name their source, it is still necessary for their mode of journalism to be condemned by the party to assure the rank and file of the party of the focus and direction going into the crucial elections in 2024. The DESTINY of the majority of Ghanaians lies in the hands of the NDC to assume governance in 2025 and to entrench multi-party democracy.

ABU K. KANSANGABATA

FMR. DEP. REG. MINISTER

UPPER WEST REGION

(0242387445/0208380428)
A legal battle over a rifle trigger that's playing out in federal courts in New York and Texas is no longer being litigated in North Dakota, after questions about whether the manufacturer actually is doing any business in the state.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2021 ordered Rare Breed Triggers to stop selling its model FRT-15 trigger, declaring the devices illegal machine guns.

The company in 2022 sued U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the U.S. Department of Justice, ATF and its acting director in U.S. District Court in North Dakota, maintaining the classification was wrong. Federal government attorneys a few months later asked a federal judge to dismiss the suit.

Rare Breed Triggers was founded in Florida and now is based in Fargo. Federal lawyers argued that U.S. District Court in North Dakota wasn't a proper venue for a legal battle because they said Rare Breed's Fargo headquarters is likely only a mailing address, with the company's principal place of business remaining in Florida.

Rare Breed attorneys in a response denied "judicial forum shopping" and said the company moved to North Dakota because the state had a more favorable business climate.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Alice Senechal late last year granted the government's request to dismiss the case. She noted in her decision that Rare Breed did not dispute the government's assertion that its Fargo location was a "virtual office."

Rare Breed Triggers owner and attorney Kevin Maxwell claims the trigger resets -- readies for another shot -- faster than any other trigger in the world, and requires the shooter to pull the trigger a second time to fire another round. A gun equipped with an FRT-15 would malfunction if the shooter forced the trigger to stay in the fire position, he has said.

ATF officials contended that continued pressure on the trigger after the initial pull causes the firearm to continue to shoot. They tested a gun equipped with an FRT-15 by using a zip tie to keep continuous pressure on the trigger. The gun continued to fire, they said. The bureau classified it as a machine gun under the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act.

Other lawsuits

Two other lawsuits involving the trigger continue.

Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, sued Rare Breed in January, accusing the company of fraud, according to The Associated Press. The lawsuit, being heard in federal court in Brooklyn, claims Rare Breed failed to get ATF approval before selling the devices and defrauded customers by telling them the triggers are legal. Rare Breed denies any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, the National Association for Gun Rights sued the ATF in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas this month, challenging its classification of the FRT-15 as a machine gun, AP reported.

The ATF has been asking people who bought the triggers to voluntarily turn them over to the agency.

Another kind of rapid-fire trigger, the binary trigger, was used earlier this month in a shooting in Fargo that killed a police officer and wounded two others and a civilian. The binary trigger, which enables a weapon to fire one round when the trigger is pulled and another when it is released, is legal in most states and at the federal level.
Ghanaians old enough to remember the days of the former Ghanaian leader, John Jerry Rawlings, will agree that the extent of the corruption of previous Ghanaian leaders, which provoked him to stage a coup, cannot be comparable to this extremely unusual level of corruption by Akufo Addos government, which has affected the entire infrastructure of the country, leading to the rapid collapse of the economy, the collapse of banking institutions, high rates of crime and unemployment as well.

When a goal is reached, certain things justify the means or the end, but when the same issue arises again or when history repeats itself worse than before, it becomes apparent that the hate-filled loss of time and life was unnecessary. This is the situation with the late John Jerry Rawlings when in 1976, he believed that corruption had flooded Ghana's banks under consecutive governments and that he needed to take action to protect Ghanaians.

Why should individuals who steal millions of dollars and keep in their homes be allowed to enjoy impunity, whereas Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa and Ignatius Kutu Acheampong were put to death for not stealing such amounts of money?

In what he called a "House Cleaning Exercise," up to eight army officers, including three heads of state, were accused of corruption and executed after being found guilty. Overnight, millions of Ghanaians hailed Rawlings as a hero but how do Ghanaians today regard their country? Only hypocrites, tribal bigots, dishonest pastors, and corrupt politicians can assert that Ghana is on the right path because people must support this worst and most corrupt dictatorship to put food on their tables.

Rawlings who claims he wants to eradicate corruption said, "The executed officers were jumbo-size armed robbers whose execution left the world smelling sweeter. Ghana is now more bitter than the bile, the country is off track like a derailed train and going as fast as that the president has confessed that he cant do anything about it but the next leader will come to solve the problem. May I ask the president, which leader is he talking about, Bawumia or Akoto? Its a profound disgrace to the president.

How can someone who pledged to Ghanaians to make their lives better leave the nation in such a catastrophe? How can someone who promised to protect the peoples finances be so deeply corrupt? How can someone who criticized Mahama for implementing too much taxation on the people end up increasing it? He is not a sincere politician who genuinely cares for the well-being of the oppressed masses, thats why he has failed. He only came to change the names of institutions to honor his family.

Imagine the church-related corruption, which foundation has not even been started. Think of the corruption of several NPP politicians including Eugene Arhin, Charles Bissue, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, Cecilia Dapaah, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Ernest Addison, Pastor Kusi Boateng, and many others, would Rawlings let these people survive what he calls the House Cleaning exercise? I don't think so, because these people have committed more serious corruption cases than those he executed.

How much money did Afrifa and Accheampong steal to be executed? Acheampong even borrowed money from former Ghanaian boxer, D. K. Poison, but today the likes of Akufo Addo, Bawumia, Eugene Arhin, Cecilia Dapaah, Ken Ofori-Atta, and more, have stolen millions, despite some hasnt been exposed, continue to enjoy impunity. Thats why I am saying that the coup in Ghana is long overdue. Ghanaians are suffering and Kayayee are suffering let me remind Bawumia.

When a trader invests money in a business and things dont work out as planned, they can explain to you the factors that contributed to the company's failure or debt. Therefore, if the NPP administration has incurred such a large amount of debt in Ghana but is unable to explain how it did so or how the money was spent, it should be obvious to anybody with common sense that public funds have been embezzled, just as the COVID funds were embezzled.

Akufo Addo now views crime and corruption as lucrative businesses, and he intends to restore democracy in Niger by sending ECOWAS troops, including Ghanaian troops. This is unacceptable; the president must go to fight the Niger army by himself or with members of his family. He shouldn't be too happy because he is the commander-in-chief of the Ghanaian Army, since a man's enemy comes from his own household.
The New Patriotic Party has called off its September 2, 2023 run-off scheduled to break the tie between two flagbearer hopefuls Francis Addai-Nimoh and Boakye Agyarko.

This follows the withdrawal of Mr. Agyarko from the race.

We take notice of your decision to withdraw from the contest and therefore the run-off election scheduled for Saturday, September 2, 2023, will no longer be held, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, Chairman of the NPPs Presidential Elections Committee, said in a letter addressed to Boakye Agyarko.

The run-off was being organised to break the tie between Mr Agyarko and Mr Addai-Nimoh to decide who would join the four aspirants in the party's November 4 presidential primary.

Boakye Agyarko refrained from the run-off after accusing the party of breaching provisions of their constitution.

I refuse to be a part of such an act that seeks to unjustly truncate a previously agreed upon process, and cannot be part of what is about to be done on Saturday, 2nd September 2023. I cannot, with a clear conscience make such an impermissible concession to such an errant decision. I, therefore, respectfully, serve this notice to refrain from such a contest. As always, I wish the party well, he said in a letter addressed to Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye on August 31, 2023.

Background

The NPP held a super delegates conference last on August 26 to reduce its flagbearer hopefuls from ten to five.

At the end of the polls, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia won the super delegates conference with a total of 629 votes, representing 68.15% of the vote.

Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong came in second with 132 votes (14.30%) while former Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen placed third with 95 votes (10.29%). Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto placed fourth with 36 votes (3.90%).

The New Patriotic Party disclosed that a run-off will be held on Saturday, September 2, to decide the fate of Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh after both presidential candidates secured nine (9) votes each.

Although the persons who voted during the August 26 special delegates conference were expected to take part in the run-off, the party later announced that only members of its National Council will vote in the exercise.

According to the party, the decision is to save time and cost adding that it will be held at its headquarters at Asylum Down in Accra.

Mr. Agyarko was however unhappy with such decision.

In light of your withdrawal, the aspirants who will contest in the November 4 election are as follows: Mahamudu Bawumia; Ken Ohene Agyapong; Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen; Owusu Afriyie Akoto and Francis Addai-Nimoh, Mr. Oquaye said in the letter.

Prof. Oquaye extended the partys appreciation to Mr Agyarko for his engagement and communication on the matter and noted that the Committee remained committed to transparency and fairness in all aspects of its work.

-citinewsroom
Military adventurers who have throughout Africa's history failed to rule in the people's interest, the dean of the Law School at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Professor Kofi Abotsi, has said.

Prof Abotsi stated that coups like the one in Gabon present a false choice to the people.

A choice between bad or even imposed governance, and military adventurers who have throughout Africa's history failed to rule in the people's interest, he tweeted.

A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science of the University of Ghana, Dr Lloyd Amoah for his part, accused African governments of misruling under democracy.

He said the misrule on the continent had reached its limit.

Commenting on the coup situation in Gabon, Dr Amoah who is also founding Director of the Centre for Asian Studies at the University of Ghana said in a Facebook post that Gabon has caught the coup contagion. African misrule under a macabre lazy democracy has reached its limits.

A Security Expert, Colonel Festus Aboagye (Rtd), also analyzed the causes of rampant coups in Africa.

He accused presidents of African countries of toying with democracy, changing constitutions, entrenching themselves in power, repressing the opposition, and suppressing public participation in popular politics.

These actions, he said are giving rise to coups in their countries.

Speaking on the Ghana Tonight Show on TV3 on Wednesday, August 30, in connection with the coup in Gabon, he said My line of argument has always been that there are triggers for every event in life including coups. So when those triggers and those structural and proximate factors are present in any country then the likelihood of coups.

It is not a question of whether it is possible but it is a question of when. So all the signs have been there in the case of Gabon as well as some other African countries that are toying with democracy, changing constitutions, entrenching themselves in power, repressing the opposition, and suppressing the public participation of popular participation in politics.

Army officers have appeared on national television in Gabon to say they have taken power.

They said they were annulling the results of Saturday's election, in which President Ali Bongo was declared the winner.

The electoral commission said Mr Bongo had won just under two-thirds of the votes in an election the opposition argued was fraudulent.

His overthrow would end his family's 53-year hold on power in Gabon.

Gabon is one of Africa's major oil producers, while nearly 90% of the country is covered by forests.

Twelve soldiers appeared on television early on Wednesday morning, announcing they were cancelling the results of the election and dissolving all the institutions of the republic.

They added that the country's borders had been closed until further notice.

If confirmed, this would be the eighth coup in former French colonies in Africa in the past three years.

However, most of the others have been further north, in the Sahel region where an Islamist insurgency has led to rising complaints that the democratically elected governments were failing to protect the civilian populations.

The soldiers said they were from the Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions and represent security and defence forces in the country.

One of the soldiers said on TV channel Gabon 24: We have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime.

This, he added, was down to irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos.

The sounds of loud gunfire could be heard in the country's capital, Libreville, following the broadcast.

-3news.com
Professor Kwadwo Appiahagyei-Atua, an Associate Professor at the University of Ghana School of Law has warned that the frequency of coup detats on the African continent is likely to persist unless leaders and the African Union (AU) address the underlying issues that contribute to these unconstitutional changes of government.

In an insightful interview on Morning Starr with Francis Abban on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, Professor Appiahagyei-Atua emphasized that the recent coup in Gabon might not be the last.

"Rather than exclusively focusing on the aftermath of coup detats, African leaders and the AU must confront the deeper elements that fuel these power shifts.

The refusal of leaders to relinquish power has become a recurring theme, as seen with Bongo's continued stay in office since 2009.

This lack of accountability to democratic principles and the rule of law has gone unchecked," Professor Appiahagyei-Atua expressed.

He elaborated further, "When a coup occurs, the attention naturally shifts towards restoring constitutional order, organizing elections, and reinstating governance.

However, the fundamental factors driving these coups often remain unaddressed. This pattern contributes to the repetitive cycle of coups that we are witnessing now. It's highly likely that Gabon won't be the last instance unless substantive changes are made."

Army officers had taken control of the nation and declared the nullification of the election results, which had proclaimed President Ali Bongo as the winner.

Subsequently, Mr. Bongo was under house arrest with one of his sons arrested for treason.

This shift in power marked a significant departure from the Bongo family's long standing rule, which had persisted for over five decades.

Gabon, with its significant oil production and vast forest cover, citizens continue to wallow in abject poverty.

The country's recent membership in the Commonwealth in June 2022 distinguished it as one of the few member states without a colonial history tied to Britain.
01.09.2023 LISTEN

The Minister of Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong has defended the government's transformative initiative, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), citing its profound impact on food production.

The Minister's resolute defense comes in the wake of criticisms, as he asserts that the policy has yielded impressive outcomes since its inception.

In a conversation on The Point of View on Citi TV monitored by ModernGhana News, Minister Bryan Acheampong countered claims that the Planting for Food and Jobs policy had fallen short of expectations.

He pointed to remarkable strides in food production and the lessening of import dependency.

We were importing 950,000 metric tons of rice per annum and today, it is about 500,000 metric tons of rice and so PFJ has halved the importation of rice.

Today, we produce more maize than we consume, and we produce more yam than we consume.

Indeed, we are the largest exporter of yam in the world. We also produce more plantain than we consume, he stated.

Since the policy's launch in 2017, the Minister stated that major grain production in Ghana had experienced exponential growth.

Addressing concerns raised about the maize supply for poultry farming, Minister Acheampong clarified, "Although there may be challenges in providing maize at the cost demanded by the poultry industry, this does not equate to the overall failure of the PFJ policy."

He added, "It is imperative to recognize that the PFJ policy has achieved the goal of enhancing domestic food security and reducing our reliance on imports.

We have successfully stimulated production, and while certain sectors may face specific challenges, the policy's broader successes remain undeniable."

Planting for Food and Jobs is a comprehensive agricultural campaign encompassing five distinct implementation modules.

The first module, PFJ (Crops), strives to bolster food security, ensure the availability of essential food crops in the market, and generate employment opportunities.

The inauguration of the PFJ (Crops) module took place on April 19, 2017, in Goaso, Brong Ahafo Region, with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo leading the launch.
Hayford Attah Krufi, Chief Executive Officer of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), has opined on the state of the pension scheme in the country.

Mr. Atta Krufi revealed that the private sector is now contributing more to the national pensions scheme than the government.

In an interview on JoyNews PM Express on Thursday, August 31, Mr. Krufi stated, "The private sector is now contributing more to the scheme than the government."

He noted that while there are risks inherent in pension systems worldwide, including payment defaults, the situation in Ghana is improving despite previous economic downturns.

"We have situations where employers don't pay on time, and others also default. There are a few employers who are recalcitrant and that is where the courts come in," he said.

Mr. Krufi emphasized that contributions must continue to be paid regardless of difficult economic times.

"We can't say that because times are difficult, contributions shouldn't be paid. Pensions are a very dynamic industry, the value of money changes every time so you have to be on the lookout for new products to invest in," he added.

He explained that pension reforms initiated in 2010 mean some contributors have paid for only about 10 years so far.

"Someone who has contributed for this number of years won't have the same benefit as someone who has contributed for more years," Mr. Krufi noted.

The NPRA CEO reiterated the authority's commitment to continuing improvements in default payments and other aspects of the national pensions system.
Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Sudan's war have crossed into Chad to find themselves in overcrowded camps, sweltering in plastic huts and awaiting healthcare that never comes.

One of them, Adam Bakht, is an elderly man with a sparse beard who said he counts "diabetes, asthma and allergies" among his ailments.

But he has received only "an injection to ease the pain", he told AFP from a camp in Adre, bordering Sudan's Darfur region which has been gripped by horrific violence.

In a bright white jellaba, Bakht was desperately waiting for medical attention, along with another 200,000 refugees in the town who are trying to survive.

The camps that house them are running low on everything -- medical personnel, sanitary facilities and medicine -- in scattered makeshift clinics.

Still, hundreds arrive in unending columns every day, fleeing on foot to escape the raging clashes between the army, paramilitary forces and tribal fighters who have also entered the fray.

300 patients a day

The new arrivals in Adre may now be safe from the gunfire, but they soon learn they are still in danger -- including from torrential rains that pummel camps already experiencing shortages of food and water, according to aid group Doctors without Borders (MSF).

Refugees wait in a shelter to be seen by medics. By Mohaned BELAL (AFP)

"Malaria cases have sharply increased with the onset of Chad's rainy season, and people are at increased risk of contracting waterborne diseases such as cholera," MSF has warned.

"A lot of diseases are currently circulating," said Muzammil Said, a 27-year-old who sought refuge in Chad himself before volunteering to help keep one of the clinics running.

Every day, they receive "up to 300 patients" who lie on beds placed directly on the sand, close to each other.

The small team has neither the space nor the supplies to better equip the "hospital": a barebones set-up of branches and tarpaulin where staff sterilise what they can in iron sinks.

At rudimentary workstations, they ration the few boxes of medicine left over from international donations.

"Providing medicine is a huge challenge because it's so expensive. We need help," Said told AFP.

Bakht is still waiting for the pills he was promised since he fled El Geneina, the West Darfur capital ravaged by war.

"My diabetes medication is supposed to arrive in three days, but for my asthma they told me to buy an inhaler from outside the camp," he told AFP.

But Chad is the third least-developed country in the world, according to the United Nations, with an already crippled healthcare system, especially in remote areas such as Adre.

The country has one of the world's highest rates of maternal mortality, and one in five children dies before the age of five.

Starving children

Child mortality has already surged within the camps, where dozens of children under five have died of malnutrition, according to the UN.

Refugee women await the distribution of international aid rations. By Mohaned BELAL (AFP)

Since the war began, at least 500 more children have died from hunger within Sudan, where the World Food Programme warns that more than 20 million people face severe hunger.

"The majority of our patients are sick with malaria, eye infections, respiratory diseases and malnutrition," volunteer doctor Nour al-Sham told AFP from the "North" camp in Adre.

Those arriving from Darfur, a deeply impoverished and war-scarred region, have long suffered the effects of a fragile healthcare system.

In Sudan, even before the current conflict began in April, 78,000 children under five died every year "from preventable causes, such as malaria", the UN says.

The risk of disease soars in the absence of clean water, for which people "begin lining up ... at 2:00 am" amid shortages in some camps, MSF reported.

Aid groups -- already navigating security challenges and bureaucratic hurdles -- say international donors have supplied just a quarter of the funding they have promised, more than four months into the war.

And in Chad, where need was already extreme, the situation has only grown worse.

Women who fled the Sudan war wait for international aid at the refugee camp. By Mohaned BELAL (AFP)

Even before Sudan's current conflict, Chad hosted tens of thousands of refugees from Cameroon in the southwest and the Central African Republic in the south.

That is in addition to 410,000 Sudanese refugees who had already fled the atrocities of the war in Darfur that began in 2003.

The new conflict in Sudan has driven more than 382,000 refugees to Chad, according to the UN refugee agency, more than 200,000 of them to Adre.

According to UN projections, another 200,000 people could cross the border from Sudan, where the violence shows no signs of abating.
Military rulers in Gabon were on Friday digesting the decision of the African Union (AU) to suspend the country from the regional bloc following the overthrow of President Ali Bongo.

The AU's peace and security council announced the move on social media in the first regional response to the eighth coup in West and Central Africa since 2020.

It said that Gabon would be barred from all AU activities, organs and institutions until constitutional order is restored.

General Brice Oligui Nguema, the coup leader and former head of the presidential guard, is due to be sworn in as president on Monday.

On Wednesday, senior officers in Gabon said they had seized power shortly after Bongo was declared the winner of Saturday's election.

The officers rejected the vote which would have given Bongo a third term in office, dissolved state institutions and closed the country's borders.

Opposition seeks election win

The opposition Alternance 2023 alliance had remained silent since the coup but on Thursday called on the putschists to acknowledge that it had won the election.

The alliance said in a statement that it invited the defence and security forces to talks in order to work out the best solution following the vote.

Led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, Alternance had earlier accused Bongo of fraud and demanded he hand over power without bloodshed.

In a statement on Thursday, the military leaders said domestic flights would be resumed but land and air borders would remain shut.

The events in Gabon follow recent coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger.

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) threatened military intervention in Niger after a coup there in July and imposed sanctions.

But the coup leaders have defied the regional bloc and not backed down.

Popularity

In Gabon, Bongo's popularity had worn thin amid claims of corruption, sham elections and a failure to spend more of Gabon's oil and mineral wealth on the country's poor. He took over in 2009 on the death of his father Omar, who had ruled since 1967.

France, the United States, Canada and Britain have all expressed concern about the coup. But they have not made direct calls for reinstating Bongo.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the election had been full of irregularities adding that the EU rejected the seizure of power by force.

A lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts, and the decision to cut internet service after the election raised concerns about the transparency of the vote.
Former President, John Dramani Mahama has expressed sadness after learning of the demise of Major Kojo Boakye-Djan (Rtd).

The celebrated statesman was reported dead on Thursday, August 31.

In a statement to react to the passing of Major Kojo Boakye-Djan (Rtd), John Dramani Mahama has described him as a courageous soldier and an astute politician.

We are sad to hear the passing of Major Kojo Boakye-Djan (Rtd.), a stalwart of the National Democratic Congress. He was a courageous soldier and an astute politician, the former President said in a post on Facebook.

Major Boakye-Djan began the transformation and financial independence of the Ghana Meteorological Agency when he was appointed Board Chairman of the strategic national institution by John Dramani Mahama.

The flagbearer of the NDC is hoping that the vision of the late Major Kojo Boakye-Djan will be attained in the coming years alongside the aviation sector to strengthen the Meteorological Agency to adequately respond to weather variations in this era of climate change.

Lordina and I and the entire NDC extend our sincerest condolences to the bereaved family, comrades, and friends of Major Boakye-Djan. Rest in peace, Major, Mahama added in his post.
Sex workers will be able to argue their case against a French law that penalises clients paying for sex before the European Court of Human Rights, which has agreed to hear their appeal.

The court said Thursday it had agreed to rule on an appeal against a 2016 law that made it a crime to pay for sex acts in France.

The case was filed at the end of 2019 by 260 male and female sex workers of different nationalities, who say they practice prostitution legally in France.

The sex workers, supported by several advocacy groups, argue that the law has unjustly affected their livelihoods.

They say it goes counter to several articles of the European Convention of Human Rights, including on the protection of life and against inhumane treatment.

'Greater risks'

"According to the applicants, who engage lawfully in prostitution, the possibility of criminal proceedings being brought against clients pushes those engaged in prostitution into operating in a clandestine manner and in isolation, exposes them to greater risks for their physical integrity and lives, and affects their freedom to define how they live their private lives," the court said Thursday.

The fact that the court has agreed to hear the case is in itself already a victory for sex workers, given that the court usually rejects more than 90 percent of all appeals.

It has already heard testimony from several sex workers, both French and foreign, about how precarious their lives had become since clients stayed away because of fear of the law.

A person convicted of paying for sex face fines of 1,500 euros  up to 3,750 euros for repeat offenders  and the possibility of being required to attend sensitivity training.

The court will make its ruling in the coming months.

(with AFP)
Attorneys on Monday presented opening statements in the murder trial of a Mandan teenager who is charged as an adult in the fatal shooting of a South Dakota man and the related wounding of another person in Bismarck.

Prosecutors allege the victim was shot multiple times, while the defense argues it's a case of self-defense.

Jesse Taylor Jr., 17, is charged with murder in the Sept. 23, 2022, death of Maurice Thunder Shield, 28, of McLaughlin, South Dakota. An aggravated assault charge stems from allegations that Taylor also shot another person during the same incident at Motel 6 in north Bismarck.

A judicial referee in moving the charges from juvenile jurisdiction to adult court noted Taylor had a limited juvenile history but said he didnt comply with probation and admitted to committing other offenses while on probation, according to documents.

Taylor, then 16, pleaded not guilty last October and is scheduled for a two-week trial presided over by South Central District Judge James Hill at the Burleigh County Courthouse in Bismarck.

Taylor and Thunder Shield knew each other, according to police. The two that day initially had a conversation that ended with a handshake and a hug, Burleigh County States Attorney Julie Lawyer told jurors.

Thunder Shield was hanging out with friends later that night when Taylor allegedly confronted him. Taylor made fun of and harassed Thunder Shield about his sexual orientation, according to Lawyer.

Defense Attorney Philip Becher told jurors that both Taylor and Thunder Shield were saying "some stuff to each other that really wasn't all that great.

The argument started with Jesse basically asking and confronting Maurice because he was concerned Maurice was providing narcotics to his mother, Becher said. He did not specify if it was Taylors mother.

Taylor removed himself from the situation but Thunder Shield continued to harass, spit on and throw things at Taylor, which caused him to begin arguing again, according to Becher.

Thunder Shield cant let it go, cant go away, and instead Thunder Shield comes downstairs to confront Taylor in person, the attorney said.

Lawyer said Taylor called Thunder Shield to him, shot Thunder Shield multiple times and fled the scene. She did not cite a possible motive.

Becher said Thunder Shield was threatening to beat up Taylor, and Taylor defended himself.

(Thunder Shield) created a situation where Jesse felt the reasonable need to act -- and he acted by protecting himself, the attorney said.

Thunder Shield was shot four times but suffered 13 bullet wounds in the chest, arm, hip and back.

One of the (bullets) that went in his arm actually exited under his arm and went back into his body in his chest, Lawyer said.

A bystander was grazed by a bullet.

Police found five bullet cartridges at the scene.

Thunder Shield was pronounced dead at a hospital. Drugs and alcohol were found in his system during an autopsy, according to Lawyer.

Taylor was arrested in Warren, Minnesota, the evening of the shooting. Authorities haven't said if he had allegedly been drinking or using drugs that day.

The reported-stolen gun allegedly used by Taylor was found in Bismarck's Jaycee Centennial Park at the base of a tree by a resident, according to authorities.

Taylor faces a possible life prison sentence without parole if convicted on the murder charge.
01.09.2023 LISTEN

Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, says his confidence in the work of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) under Mr Kissi Agyebeng is beginning to shake due to the manner and way he is handling the issues involving the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources Cecilia Abena Dapaah.

This was after Mr Kissi Agyebeng failed to provide the evidence to the court after filing an application to freeze the bank accounts of Madam Dapaah.

The Financial Division of the Accra High Court had ordered the OSP to return the seized property of Cecilia Abena Dapaah within seven days.

The Court says there was no justifiable basis for the seizure of the property as the OSP entered the act wrongly. The Court also found the OSP as having no reasonable grounds to freeze the bank accounts of the former Bantama Member of Parliament (MP).

It said the action by the OSP was borne out of speculation and reaction to public sentiments, thus undertaking poor investigations subsequently. The ruling was given on Thursday, August 31.

The OSP had sought confirmation from the High Court to freeze accounts of Madam Abena Dapaah at Prudential Bank and Societe Generale Ghana in accordance with section 38(1) of Act 959 and regulation 19(1) of LI2374. The confirmation was required, according to the OSP, to facilitate investigations.' It had indicated in its motion that a search at the Abelemkpe residence of the former Sanitation Minister found $590,000 and GH2.73 million in the house.

It, then, put her under house arrest, believing that there was reasonable grounds to suspect her of corruption and corruption-related activities. But the entire application has been rejected by the court.

Asked whether he was surprised by the ruling of the court while speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 on Thursday, August 31, Mr Martin Kpebu said A bit surprising but not too much. I expected that between the two applications, on the seizure that is the 590,000 and the 2.7 million that was found in Madam Dapaah's house, I expected the judge to be able to scale the procedural lapses of the OSP and to confirm the seizure so that those assets would remain seized while investigations go on.

As for the freezing of the account, the judge is spot on, the OSP didn't expect to get the order when the details of the account have not been provided, how much was involved.

Those are the accounts one is said to have transaction volumes up to 5 million Dollars and the other one has transaction volumes up to 48 million Cedis. What was Mr Kissi Agyebeng thinking that the judge should grant him an order on the accounts when he has not given the details? How?

That is the crown jewel of the case, the most crucial evidence that we have heard is that there are transaction volumes of up to 5 million Dollars in one account and transaction volumes of up to 48 million Ghana Cedis.

He added Mr Agyebneg is making the whole thing look like it is true that this thing is staged. This is basic, it is elementary, you want a court to freeze an account and you are hiding the bank statement or the information. How? He shouldnt be dong doing that. I have been supporting him 150 percent but this thing is beginning to shake my confidence in his work.

This is basic, even robots would expect some information to be able to act. It is what you put in, this is garbage in garbage out, he should not do that again for us to believe those theories that this thing is just staged. How can you go to court without the evidence?

-3news.com
01.09.2023 LISTEN

Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has said the judge got it right in denying the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) the power to freeze the bank accounts of former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.

He wondered how the judge was going to grant the order when the OSP had not provided the crucial evidence, that is the details of the bank account.

The Financial Division of the Accra High Court had ordered the OSP to return the seized property of Cecilia Abena Dapaah within seven days.

The Court says there was no justifiable basis for the seizure of the property as the OSP entered the act wrongly. The Court also found the OSP as having no reasonable grounds to freeze the bank accounts of the former Bantama Member of Parliament (MP).

It said the action by the OSP was borne out of speculation and reaction to public sentiments, thus undertaking poor investigations subsequently. The ruling was given on Thursday, August 31.

The OSP had sought confirmation from the High Court to freeze accounts of Madam Abena Dapaah at Prudential Bank and Societe Generale Ghana in accordance with section 38(1) of Act 959 and regulation 19(1) of LI2374. The confirmation was required, according to the OSP, to facilitate investigations.' It had indicated in its motion that a search at the Abelemkpe residence of the former Sanitation Minister found $590,000 and GH2.73 million in the house.

It, then, put her under house arrest, believing that there was reasonable grounds to suspect her of corruption and corruption-related activities. But the entire application has been rejected by the court.

Asked whether he was surprised by the ruling of the court while speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 on Thursday, August 31, Mr Martin Kpebu said A bit surprising but not too much. I expected that between the two applications, on the seizure that is the 590,000 and the 2.7 million that was found in Madam Dapaahs house, I expected the judge to be able to scale the procedural lapses of the OSP and to confirm the seizure so that those assets would remain seized while investigations go on.

As for the freezing of the account, the judge is spot on, the OSP didnt expect to get the order when the details of the account have not been provided, how much was involved.

Those are the accounts one is said to have transaction volumes up to 5 million Dollars and the other one has transaction volumes up to 48 million Cedis. What was Mr Kissi Agyebeng thinking that the judge should grant him an order on the accounts when he has not given the details? How?

That is the crown jewel of the case, the most crucial evidence that we have heared is that there are transaction volumes of up to 5 million Dollars in one account and transaction volumes of up to 48 million Ghana Cedis.

-3news.com
Danger is looming at State M/A Primary School situated at Bantama in the Kumasi Metropolis of the Ashanti region as classroom blocks used by the pupils are on the verge of collapse.

Two separate classroom blocks in the school are not only dilapidated and weakly grounded but their pillars are also cracking, spalling, and collapsing as well as the roofs leaking.

In spite of this, pupils of the school, still study in one of the weak grounded classroom structures which has a section of it closed due to its deplorable state.

The other dilapidated classroom structure has completely been shut down by the School Management Committee.

The deplorable nature of the building structures does not only pose a danger to the pupils but also to teachers and visitors of the school.

Teachers and the head teachers of the school have no option but to monitor the movements of the pupils from playing close to the weakest part of the structures.

Built in 1940, the authorities say, the public school has not seen any renovation, leaving its structures in a deplorable state even though the school has produced great alumni.

Not only the Ashanti regional Minister has been informed about the deplorable state of the structures, according to the school authorities, but also the Member of Parliament(MP) for Bantama, the Kumasi Mayor, and the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service(GES).

With the several complaints channeled to the necessary authorities, the Chairman of the School Management Committee, Mr Peter Akwasi Peprah Gyamfi told Class FM's Ashanti Regional Correspondent, Elisha Adarkwah that none has yielded results.

Mr Gyamfi fears the building structure could collapse in no time, and, therefore, appealed to the government to swiftly intervene to prevent any unforeseen disaster.

-classfmonline
The 2023 'Ngmayem Festival' of the chiefs and people of Manya Krobo in the Eastern Region has been launched with a call on the people to prioritise peace and unity as catalysts for social and economic progress.

Ngmayem, literary meaning Eating the new millet, is observed on the final two Sundays of October in towns such as Odumase and Somanya, entailing a diverse array of activities to mark the bountiful harvest of millet, called 'ngma.'

This years celebration is scheduled for October 21 to 29, on the theme: Development in Unity: Reviving Patriotism Through Unification, and presents a great cultural significance as it offers togetherness and national pride.

It is celebrated by the people of Manya Krobo in communities of Asesewa and its surrounding areas in the Upper Manya Krobo District, as well as Odumase in the Lower Manya Municipality.

Nene Sakite II, the Paramount Chief of Manya Krobo, in a speech read on his behalf during the launch on Thursday at Akuse in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality, said the forthcoming festival would be an extraordinary occasion.

Against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving world driven by technological advancements and societal modernisation, he highlighted the importance of preserving the core values of the people, which had shaped their identity.

He said the Ngmayem Festival served as a poignant reminder to the people of their cultural origins, thereby exemplifying their powerful sense of community and steadfast commitment to safeguarding their unique identity amidst societal transformations.

It also provides a valuable guidance for future generations, he said, and urged the residents to unite in a collective effort to accelerate the progress and prosperity of their communities, and enhance their quality of life and well-being.

The launch, graced by chiefs, queen mothers, prominent political figures, religious leaders, and residents, adorned in colourful customary clothes, saw splendid cultural performances, depicting the rich culture of the people.

Mr Mark Okraku Mantey, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, who launched the festival at the Volta River Authority Club House at Akuse, said Ghanas tourism sector, ranked third in West Africa, had undergone significant transformation.

That could be credited to the implementation of initiatives like the Year of Return and Beyond the Return, which had not only yielded positive outcomes but fostered the celebration of traditional festivals to amplify the country's tourism potentials, he said.

He emphasised the significance of peace in Ghanas development and urged the people to actively build an environment of peace during festivals.

Mr Bismarck Tetteh Nyarko, the Member of Parliament for Upper Manya Krobo, urged Krobos to wholeheartedly embrace peace and unity as catalysts for the advancement of their communities.

We must come together and plan together towards developing the Kroboland, he said, adding: In my district, Upper Manya Kobo, we are hungry for development, and how do we seek it if we keep on fighting ourselves?

We must be united and put our heads together towards developing Manya Krobo because the government cant do it all for us.

GNA
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has promised to keep in touch with former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko despite his decision to withdraw from the flagbearer race.

The ruling partys chairman, Mr. Stephen Ntim says they will continue to count on Mr. Agyarko who is a member of the partys highest body, the National Council.

The party will continue to count on the rich experience of Mr Boakye Agyarko, who is a member of the National Council of the party, he said.

He made this statement while responding to the allegations of by the failed flagbearer hopeful concerning the decision on the now-cancelled run-off.

The former Energy Minister said the decision by the National Council on Wednesday, August 30 to allow only its National Council members to vote in the run-off between him and former Mampong lawmaker Francis Addai-Nimoh was perpetuated on the altar of expediency.

Due to an alleged clear violation of the partys constitution and the guidelines for the Special Electoral College, Mr. Agyarko withdrew, leaving the slot to Mr. Addai Nimo to join the top five.

It is an unconstitutional act which I cannot allow myself to be associated with, he stressed.

However, according to Stephen Ayesu Ntim, National Chairman of the NPP, Mr. Agyarko, who is also a member of the Council made false claims.

The Chairman explained that before making a decision, the Council took all relevant factors into account.

It must be noted that no run-off is explicitly provided for under the NPP Constitution in relation to the election in question.

The Guidelines formulated by the Presidential Elections Committee provided for a run-off but did not indicate the modalities for such a run-off.

Therefore, the National Council, pursuant to Article 10(3)(1), is clothed with the power to come up with the modalities to break the tie, Mr Ayesu Ntim wrote.

He emphasized that the Council took into account all of the conditions.

Following comprehensive analysis and deliberation, the National Council being the highest authority of the party in between the National Annual Delegates Conferences, resolved that a special election be conducted by the National Council, constituted as an Electoral College, to break the tie between the 5th placed candidates in the previous Special Electoral College election, he noted.
Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has expressed his belief that the government led by President Akufo-Addo cannot be reformed and should instead be scrapped.

He cited the government's lack of commitment to fighting corruption as a major reason for his stance.

His comments come in the wake of a high court ruling ordering the Office of Special Prosecutor (OSP) to return the seized money of former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah.

The court had issued the order on August 31, giving the OSP seven days to return the funds and revoke its earlier decision to freeze both her Dollar and Cedi accounts. The OSP had initiated an investigation into Madam Dapaah over allegations of corruption and related offenses, primarily concerning the revelation that she had more than $1 million in her possession at her residence, leading to the freezing of her accounts as part of the investigation.

Mr. Nketia, in an interview with CTV, Class FM, and Accra FM, expressed his skepticism about the government's commitment to fighting corruption.

He stated that he believed from the beginning that the case involving Cecilia Dapaah would not lead to any substantial outcome.

He criticized the government, stating, "This government cannot be reformed; it must be scrapped. Any attempt at reform, like their stated intentions to introduce transparency and fight corruption, is futile because how can corrupt individuals effectively combat corruption? It won't happen."

He went on to suggest that when scandals occur, the government's primary concern is how to manage public opinion rather than addressing the underlying issues.

Regarding the Cecilia Dapaah case, Mr. Nketia indicated that he had predicted from the outset that it would not lead to any significant outcome.

He suggested that both the government and the Office of Special Prosecutor were engaged in a charade, playing on the public's expectations when they attempted to investigate the matter.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Jeorge Wilson Kingson

01.09.2023 LISTEN

The Private Newspaper and Online News Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) has announced that its Executive Secretary Kenteman Nii-Laryea Sowah has retired.

In the interim, the Public Affairs & External Relations Officer of PRINPAG, Mr. Jeorge Wilson Kingson has been appointed as Acting Executive Secretary.

This is contained in a press release issued by PRINPAG on Thursday, August 31.

Subsequent to the above the National Executive body of PRINPAG has nominated Mr. Jeorge Wilson Kingson, the Public Affairs & External Relations Officer to serve as the Acting Executive Secretary till a substantive Executive Secretary is appointed, part of the PRINPAG release signed by its President Andrew Edwin Arthur said.

Following his retirement, Kenteman Nii-Laryea Sowah has been elevated to serve as a member of the Council of Patrons of the Association by the National Executive Committee.

The National Executive has now started preparations towards organizing a befitting farewell in honour of Kentemans committed and dedicated service to the Association.

Find more in the PRINPAG release below:

KENTEMAN NII-LARYEA SOWAH RETIRES AS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF PRINPAG

The National Executive Committee on behalf of the entire membership of the Private Newspaper and Online News Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) extend their sincerest gratitude and appreciation to the Executive Secretary KENTEMAN NII-LARYEA SOWAH on the occasion of his retirement after 32 years of meritorious service to the Association.

The PRINPAG Executive Secretary who is a Founding Member of the Association since 1991 served with all the Executives of the Association under the Presidency of the late G.B.K. Owusu, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Mr. Joojo Bruce-Quansah/Mr. Kwaku Baako Jnr, Mr. Kwame Obeng-Fosu, Nana Kofi Coomson, Ambassador Gina Blay and the current President, Mr. Andrew Edwin Arthur.

Kenteman Nii-Laryea Sowah represented the Association on the National Media Commission (NMC) from 2009  2012. Has also served as a member of the Committee of Directors of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers since 2002.

At a brief handing over ceremony at the PRINPAG Secretariat in Accra on Thursday, August 31, 2023, an emotional Kenteman recounted his journey with the Association through the years, the difficult times, and the happy moments. He was hopeful, however, that he was leaving the Association in good hands and that the new administration will continue well from where he left off.

Everything that has a beginning has an end. I am elated that my journey with PRINPAG which began some 32 years ago has also come to a successful end today. I am grateful for the opportunity to have served this Association. It was a privilege I will always cherish, Kenteman stated.

Chairman of the Three-Member Transition Committee and Vice President of PRINPAG, Mr. Michael Antwi-Agyei who received the Handing-Over notes congratulated Kenteman and thanked him profusely for his commitment, dedication and invaluable service to the Association over the years.

We congratulate you on reaching your retirement. We are really happy for you. Now that you are going to serve on the Council of Patrons, well continue to tap into your vast experience. We hope that anytime we call upon you, youll respond to our call. We wish you well in your future endeavors, he stated.

In a related development, the National Executive Committee has elevated the former PRINPAG scribe to serve as a member of the Council of Patrons of the Association.

Subsequent to the above the National Executive body of PRINPAG has nominated Mr. Jeorge Wilson Kingson, the Public Affairs & External Relations Officer to serve as the Acting Executive Secretary till a substantive Executive Secretary is appointed.

The National Executive has started preparations towards organizing a befitting farewell in honour of Kentemans committed and dedicated service to the Association.

We wish him well in his future endeavours.



Andrew Edwin Arthur

(President, PRINPAG)
Political parties without representation in parliament have expressed their dissatisfaction with the stance of the Electoral Commissioner, Madam Jean Mensa, regarding the limited voter registration exercise.

The group claims to have written to the EC commissioner requesting an emergency Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the matter, but they have not received any acknowledgement from the commission.

Ato Dadzie, the General Secretary of the Great Consolidated People's Party (GCPP) and one of the spokespersons for the group, voiced their displeasure during a panel discussion on The Citizen Show, hosted by Nana Ama Agyarko on Accra 100.5 FM on Thursday, August 31, 2023.

He expressed frustration at the lack of respect shown by the commissioners of the Electoral Commission towards their group.

It has been a week since the group sent their letter to the EC, and they are concerned that the EC's posture could potentially lead to unnecessary chaos ahead of the District Level Elections.

Mr Dadzie warned that the EC's decision to centralise the voter registration exercise for the District Level Elections could result in double registrations.

Previously, the group had called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to utilise the 1,500 gazetted offices of the commission for the upcoming voter registration exercise, instead of the 268 offices initially announced for the exercise.

They argued that the limited number of offices would hinder eligible voters' participation in the registration process and could lead to unnecessary tension.

Furthermore, they noted that using a limited number of offices would impose significant costs on individuals and political parties, as many people would have to travel long distances to register.

The Political Parties Without Parliamentary Representation in the group include the All People's Congress (APC), Convention People's Party (CPP), Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), National Democratic Party (NDP), and People's National Convention (PNC).

Source: Classfmonline.com
Former Director-General, Technical of the Ghana Police Service, COP George Alex Mensah, yesterday admitted that his voice is on the leaked audio which is being investigated by a parliamentary committee.

He made the admission when he appeared before the seven-member bi-partisan committee investigating the leaked tape recorded by the former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu.

COP Mensah, however, stated that some segments of the audio had been doctored and that he would not be able to speak to those portions.

The audio I listened here today is an edited version of the conversation that we had, and because wholly, this audio that we listened to is not genuine, he intimated.

Bugri Naabu

Mr. Naabu, who is the Paramount Chief of Namong in the North East Region under the skin-name Namong Daan II, earlier told the MPs at the first sitting of the committee that COP Mensah and Supt. Asare had come to complain that the IGP was not loyal to the government because he was meeting with the leader of the opposition party, ex-President John Dramani Mahama.

According to him, the two wanted him to inform the President to remove the IGP from office since he is a member of the NDC and working against the ruling party.

He said while the meeting was going on, one Gyebi, who is also a police superintendent at the Police Headquarters, spoke to him on the phone about the same subject.

While authenticating the leaked audio, he revealed that the encounter took place at his personal office in Osu, Accra, opposite the Osu Police Station.

IGP Mismanagement

COP Mensah corroborated some aspects of the chief's statement and asserted that many serving police officers are dissatisfied with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare, for his mismanagement of the service, and that any independent investigation will back up his assertion.

The current Inspector General of Police is not managing the Police Service well. It is something I will not run away from. I will say it everywhere and anywhere I go. And you can do your own investigations, Call police officers underground and find out from them, he stressed.

He added, Hon. Chair, my concern was and is that as we speak, the majority of police officers are not happy. And if these same people are those who are going to police the elections, and remember, police officers vote; their wives vote, their children vote and their mother and fathers vote, and that is my concern.

Election Mafia

COP Mensah, who is a lawyer and chartered accountant, also admitted having had discussions with Chief Bugri Naabu on mafia work in elections to obtain a specific outcome, but denied that the discussions partly centred on a plot to get the IGP removed from office.

Mr. Chair, what I admit as correct is that I had a meeting with Mr. Bugri Naabu but we didn't have any plan to remove the IGP because I don't remove IGP and don't appoint IGP, he stated.

I said in elections, there is always some mafia work. What do I mean by that? During elections, if you don't provide the needed security for people to come out and vote peacefully and you allow people to come and disturb, snatch boxes at your strongholds, then you are ending in opposition, he explained.

According to him, he has held discussions with Chief Bugri Naabu on four occasions in the former NPP Regional Chairman's office and residence in Accra, but noted that most of them were private matters which are not meant for public consumption.

'NDC Commissioners'

COP Mensah admitted having told Chief Bugri Naabu that the NPP was going to lose the Assin North by-election by reasoning of the posturing of the IGP, Dr. Akuffo-Dampare and some 'NDC Commissioners' of Police.

Because I heard what was going on before the elections, what the police officers who had been deployed in the Assin North were doing in Assin North, he recounted.

He said there was no bad blood between him and the IGP except professional disagreements, pointing out, What I do is I speak my mind, whether you like it or not. If you are my boss and you do what I don't like I will tell you. You can decide to hate me for that, but I don't have anything personal against him.

Supt. Gyebi

Meanwhile, one of the senior police officers involved in the leaked audio, Superintendent Emmanuel Gyebi, denied any relationship with Chief Bugri Naabu, when he appeared before the committee.

He also denied working on a pre-planned plot with two other top police officers to discuss the probable dismissal of the IGP with President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Supt Gyebi, who is the Director of the Cyber Crime Unit and Child Protection at the CID, described as palpable lies claims by Chief Bugri Naabu and subsequently expressed surprise at his testimony.

Supt. Asare

Due to a lack of time, the committee was unable to attend to Supt. George Asare, who was rescheduled to appear today, along with COP George Alex Mensah, who is expected to resume his evidence.

-Daily Guide
Every discerning Ghanaian knows that the economy of the country has experienced a downturn due to COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.

As usual, the naysayers for political reasons will not credit the NPP administration with any positive efforts to improve the well-being of the people.

Just a casual content analysis of our media space tells you that Nana Akufo-Addo and his team have not folded their arms in despair when they inherited John Mahama's 'dumsor' economy in January 2017.

Besides the most impactful social intervention policy of our time, the free SHS, the government has other policies to its credit such as the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ). The hallmark of a successful leader is the one who dreams big ideas and puts them into action regardless of the challenges.

These obstacles may not be for want of trying, but making sure that policy measures are put in place to advance the economic development of the country.

What makes the difference is the capacity to step back, undertake a review in order to leave the chaff behind and make progress with the grain that will bear fruits. That is what the government intends to do with the review of the PFJ.

Speaking at the launch of phase two of the Planting for Food and Jobs, President Akufo-Addo spoke about an input credit system to make seeds and fertilisers available to farmers and an offtaker or commodity trading arrangement to make farming more attractive to all.

We expect the government to walk the talk to make agriculture the cornerstone of our economic forward march.

Agriculture has changed the economic dynamics of many countries, and it is our hope that during this second phase the government will do all within its power to increase productivity in the sector.

We suggest to the government to do targeted farming where specific crops such as onions and tomatoes as well as maize and rice will be cultivated in volumes for local consumption and for export.

The narratives must now change so that we can end import of vegetables from Burkina Faso and Niger, especially when Ghana can boast more arable lands.

All our efforts to turn the corner completely round in the present economic dispensation will come to naught if we continue to relegate agriculture to the back burner.

We have all the resources to break the back of the present economic challenges, and all that needed to be done is the proper harnessing of the potential in the soil. Any country that is able to feed itself must be on the path of recovery, hence we urge all and sundry to jump onto the agriculture bandwagon by turning every space in their houses to plant anything that is suitable for the kitchen.

We cannot afford to import food in large quantities and expect our foreign exchange reserves to remain attractive and support the economy. After all, we are encouraged to eat what we grow and grow what we eat. That being the case, we cannot continue to pay little attention to agriculture.

The next phase of economic boom in the country can be found on the land. There are other factors that affect agriculture output, which include the availability of land and credit. The present high cost of credit will not help any investor in agriculture to get good returns on investment.

The government must demonstrate its readiness to doing something new in the sector by overhauling the credit arrangements and the land tenure system for better returns. There is no doubt that agriculture hold the key to economic independence and recovery, but it can be done with pragmatic direction, policies and leadership but not rhetoric and lip service. There are glimpses of success from phase one of the PFJ which gives indications that the experiences can be leveraged to attain greater heights.

Source: Daily Guide
A 32-year-old man was arrested outside the North Dakota Governor's Residence Wednesday on suspicion of unlawful firearm possession and other charges.

Bismarck resident Eduardo Diaz drew the attention of police after he parked near the front gate of the Governor's Residence, exited his vehicle and sat on the lawn to the south of the mansion, according to a court affidavit. Multiple police cars responded to the scene due to Diaz's criminal history, his proximity to the residence and Gov. Doug Burgum's status as an elected official and presidential candidate.

Diaz was arrested without incident Wednesday. Officers searched the vehicle and found two firearms, ammunition, a large knife, marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia, the affidavit states.

Diaz now faces a felony charge for unlawful possession of a firearm that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. He also faces two infractions, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.

A warrant had been issued for Diaz's arrest Tuesday after he failed to show up for a preliminary hearing in another case, where he is charged with two counts of terrorizing and one count of criminal mischief.

Those charges come from a recent altercation with his neighbor: On July 18, he allegedly shot out two windows of his neighbor's mobile home with a BB gun, and then confronted and threatened the neighbor. He also allegedly told his mother he was going to commit suicide by cop. He pleaded not guilty on all three charges related to the incident in an Aug. 25 preliminary hearing.

On July 30, Diaz allegedly fired twice with a BB gun at his neighbor driving away in a pickup truck hauling a camper. He faces additional felony charges of terrorizing and criminal attempted aggravated assault as a result.

According to court records, Diaz attempted to buy a firearm twice this month, on Aug. 15 and 16, and was denied both times.

Court records do not list an attorney for Diaz in any of his ongoing cases.
The Managing Director of the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover has strongly rejected the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)'s call for accountability regarding the government's flagship Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) program, describing it as a mere jest.

In an exclusive interview with the media in Tema, Titus Glover, a former Deputy Minister of Transport and now the head of VALCO, expressed his astonishment at the NDC's demand, suggesting that it either reflects NDC's intellectual laziness or a hidden agenda.

Titus Glover exclaimed, "It is surprising that these people will be asking for accountability when the government has been accounting for the PFJ program every year!" before posing a rhetorical question: "Where were they when President Akufo-Addo and the Finance Minister were giving accounts during the presentation of the budget or the state of the nation address?"

The VALCO MD's remarks is in reaction to the opposition NDC's press conference, where they called for government to account for the implementation of PFJ phase 1, spanning from 2017 to 2022.

In reaction to the government's announcement of an increased budget for PFJ phase 2, raised from Ghc 614 million to Ghc660 million, the NDC Caucus in Parliament held a press conference, alleging that the government was using the PFJ program as a means to embezzle state funds.

They further demanded accountability for PFJ phase 1.

But Titus Glover rubbished those claims, stating, "Whichever way you look at the demand, it sounds ridiculous, especially so when it is coming from MPs who have access to all of Parliament's Hansard on any day."

He also emphasized that if the MPs could not find the information they sought in the Hansard, they could officially request it from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

"To bypass all of these official avenues and go and sit at a press conference and cast insinuations at the government and demand for accountability is nothing short of either intellectual laziness, because you do not like reading, or downright mischief," Mr Titus Glover added.

The former MP for Tema East, known for his contributions to the development of Tema, urged the public to dismiss the "antics" of the Minority and continue supporting the Akufo-Addo government.

He cited the success of the PFJ program, noting that it had reduced rice imports and facilitated the export of food items like maize.

"As far back as 2019, just two years into the PFJ, Ghana produced some 150,000 tonnes of food under the program," Mr Titus-Glover pointed out.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has highlighted the potential of the expanded PFJ program to create thousands of jobs in the agricultural value chain.

He stated, "The impact of the Programme is expected to be in the area of job creation, with some 1.2 million farmers to be enrolled in the first year.

In the next four years, the Programme is destined to record an annual average of 210,000 new farm-related jobs.

This will exclude other jobs along the agricultural value chains estimated at an annual average of 420,000 over the same period, providing reassurance of the program's positive impact on employment."
Tunisian police have arrested four men, including a fisherman, on suspicion of maritime piracy after they allegedly robbed a boat taking migrants from Tunisia to Italy.

Speaking on Thursday, Farid Ben Jha  a spokesman for a court in the port city of Monastir  said police intervened and arrested the four Tunisians last Saturday after one of the migrants posted a video online showing men taking the engine of the migrants' dinghy.

The dinghy, engine and an unspecified sum of money were later seized from their homes, and the four men have been accused of "criminal association with the aim of attacking people and property".

It is not the first case of piracy targeting migrants who have sought to make the treacherous sea journey from North Africa to Europe.

Two weeks ago, prosecutors in Italy said six Tunisian "pirate fishermen" had been detained after threatening to set adrift a boat carrying 49 migrants unless those aboard handed over the boat's engine and their money.

In July, four Tunisians  a captain and three crew members  were accused of forcing migrants to hand over their phones and cash in exchange for being towed closer to Italy's Lampedusa island.

Over 100,000 migrants in Italy since January 2023

Meanwhile, the Italian news agency Ansa said investigations revealed that some Tunisian fishermen had turned to piracy as it was more lucrative.

So far this year, around 113,000 migrants have landed in Italy, two-thirds of them from Tunisia and the rest from neighbouring Libya.

Departures of sub-Saharan migrants have risen since spring, when Tunisian President Kais Said alleged that "hordes" of irregular migrants were causing crime and posing a demographic threat to the country.

Tunisians have also opted for the journey across the Mediterranean in growing numbers as the country faces a grinding economic crisis and severe shortages of basic staples.
Nii Amassa Naomle, a former Member of Parliament for La-Dadekotopon Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, has raised concerns about the behaviour of the Electoral Commission's chair, Jean Mensa, describing her actions as un-Ghanaian.

According to the former MP, Madam Jean Mensa is not demonstrating the qualities expected of a Ghanaian and appears to be ignoring wise counsel.

Nii Amassa Naomle expressed his disapproval of the EC boss' behaviour, particularly regarding the upcoming voter registration exercise, where the EC announced its decision to hold limited registration in district offices.

He noted that prominent individuals, chiefs, political parties, and others have expressed their concerns about the EC's stance on the voter registration process.

The former National Democratic Congress MP and one-time Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture expressed these concerns while speaking as a panelist on the discussion segment on The Citizen Show hosted by Nana Ama Agyarko on Accra 100.5 FM on Thursday, August 31, 2023.

In a related development, the Paramount Chief of the Goaso Traditional Area in the Ahafo region, Nana Akwasi Bosompra I, has asked the Electoral Commission to consider extending the upcoming limited voters registration exercise to other areas apart from the district offices.

Nana Bosompras argument is that many eligible voters may lack the means to travel from their villages to the district offices since some villages are located far away from the district capitals.

Speaking at an event to mark the 15th anniversary of his enstoolment, at Goaso, on August 27, 2023, Nana Akwasi Bosompra I said the ECs decision to restrict the conduct of the limited voter registration exercise to its district offices has the potential to disenfranchise a significant number of Ghanaians who reside in areas located far from the district offices.

From September 12, 2023 to October 2, 2023 the EC will undertake a limited voter registration for eligible Ghanaians who turned 18 years after the 2020 registration exercise and other eligible voters at its district offices.

Reacting to the ECs choice of undertaking the exercise only at its district offices, Nana Akwasi Bosompra I, explained that many eligible voters might lack the means to travel from their villages to the ECs district offices to partake in the exercise.

What is Jean Mensa [EC Chairperson] doing, has she been to Ahafo before? Does she know the town that follows Esumira.

"Does she know the town after Kasapin, so is Jean Mensa saying that all these people, if they want to write their names, should have three people and travel to Goaso? Is she going to pay for their fare?

She should be careful not to bring any confusion into this country, Im pleading with her, she should change that rule and decentralise the process.

Because a rich person can bus people to register and vote for him, but that person is someone we may not even like, he said.

-Classfmonline.com
The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has taken disciplinary action against 16 staff members for violations including extortion and medical negligence.

The most severe sanction was the dismissal of one staff member, while 15 others have been suspended without pay as management investigates additional cases against them to enforce discipline at the hospital.

This crackdown, according to the management, is part of KATH's efforts and commitment to improve healthcare delivery in the Ashanti region and beyond, under the 2023 theme "Driving a Customer-centric Agenda for Healthcare delivery, the Role of Management, Staff and Stakeholders."

KATH implemented practical measures to enhance patients' experience, including boosting staff performance and enforcing discipline standards that resulted in the dismissal of some staff.

According to KATH's Chief Executive Officer, Professor Otchere Addai-Mensah, "Enhanced supervision of staff and clinical services with the maintenance of physical presence at all operational areas has resulted in better healthcare delivery to patients during the period under review."

However, KATH also improved staff motivation and welfare packages, increasing medical benefits for each staff member and their families by 25%.

Prof. Addai-Mensah said, "All outstanding promotions were cleared for qualified staff while 13th-month allowances owed to members of the Health Services Workers Union were paid.

He stressed, A payment plan has also been agreed with the unions whose members are entitled to an allowance to clear the 2022 one amounting to GH5.2 million by the end of the year."

KATH's infrastructure has undergone major improvements in recent months as ongoing and stalled projects are completed.

The CEO noted that "Key projects such as the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) centre, Patients Relative Hostel, expansion and refurbishment of Dialysis Centre and comprehensive renovation and modernization of the main hospital theatre at a cost of GH1.5 million, will engage the attention of the management for the rest of the year."
01.09.2023 LISTEN

Renowned Lawyer Martin Kpebu has said there is nothing wrong with the Accra High Court ruling regarding the return of the seized money of Cecilia Abena Dapaah.

According to Mr. Kpebu, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) headed by Kissi Agyebeng ought to have provided more evidence to warrant the freeze of the former sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaahs account.

He said in an interview on TV3, that the OSP should know better than to goof in such a manner.

As for the freezing of the account, the judge is spot on, the OSP didnt expect to get the order when the details of the account have not been provided, how much was involved.

Those are the accounts one is said to have transaction volumes up to 5 million Dollars and the other one has transaction volumes up to 48 million Cedis. What was Mr Kissi Agyebeng thinking that the judge should grant him an order on the accounts when he has not given the details? How?

That is the crown jewel of the case, the most crucial evidence that we have heard is that there are transaction volumes of up to 5 million Dollars in one account and transaction volumes of up to 48 million Ghana Cedis, Martin Kpebu stated.

He added Mr Agyebeng is making the whole thing look like it is true that this thing is staged. This is basic, it is elementary, you want a court to freeze an account and you are hiding the bank statement or the information. How? He shouldnt be doing that. I have been supporting him 150 percent but this thing is beginning to shake my confidence in his work.

This is basic, even robots would expect some information to be able to act. It is what you put in, this is garbage in garbage out, he should not do that again for us to believe those theories that this thing is just staged. How can you go to court without the evidence?

An Accra High Court has ordered the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to return Cecilia Dapaahs seized money to her within seven days.

The OSP is investigating Madam Dapaah for corruption and corruption-related offenses following the revelation that she was keeping huge cash in her house.

In the wake of the startling revelation of stolen funds by her domestic staff, the Office of the Special Prosecutor embarked on a comprehensive search of the ministers residences, prompted by the staggering amounts that were reported stolen.

Cecilia Dapaah described the application of the Office of the Special Prosecutor to confirm a freeze and seizure order against her properties as an attempt to perpetuate the arbitrary exercise of power based on the misrepresentation of facts and the resultant media frenzy.

She asserts that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is infringing upon its own legal framework and is engaging in an arbitrary process driven solely by suspicion fueled by distorted representation.
01.09.2023 LISTEN

The Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson has accused the Akufo-Addo-led administration of ruining the economy of Ghana.

According to Mr. Forson, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) turning to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a last resort warned the economy was in a coma.

Addressing the audience at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), he said the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government signed the worst form of an IMF program since Mansa Musa went on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

It is worth noting that this is the only IMF program that came with a debt restructuring program, in other words, haircuts- the first in the history of Ghana.

These haircuts program has impoverished the rich, the middle class, and even the poor.

This same debt restructuring has rendered our banking and financial institutions insolvent, bankrupt and, literally, on their knees, Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson stated.

The Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam lawmaker took on the Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Ernest Addison for some of the alleged ills of the economy, calling for his resignation.

The Minority noted that a protest march on Tuesday, September 5 will see them demand the resignation of not only the Governor but also his two deputies as well as directors of the bank.
The managing editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has admonished Ghanaians to rise up and mount pressure on government to reject solutions proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to address the crisis facing the country.

According to the renowned journalist, the solutions proposed by the IMF and the World Bank will only make the country poorer and worsen the plight of the citizenry.

The solutions put forward by the IMF and the World Bank only deepen our poverty and make us worse. So in this battle, we are not just fighting the current administration but we are fighting all those who aid them, who direct them, who supervise them, and that includes the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They are our enemies, Kwesi Pratt Jnr stressed.

He was speaking at a Public Forum organised by pressure group Arise Ghana on Thursday, September 31, ahead of the Minoritys protest to demand the resignation of Bank of Governor Dr. Ernest Addison.

Kwesi Pratt Jnr at the forum also cautioned Ghanaian leaders that their cup is full and will soon run over.

Those who think the letters they write after their names, those who see no good in the carpenter, those who believe they are ordained to be masters forever. Their kingdom is coming to an end and the earlier they accept that the better it will be for them, Mr. Pratt indicated.

The Minoritys protest to the Bank of Ghana is scheduled to happen on Tuesday, September 5.
Alhaji Hammed Abubakar Yussuf, Yendi Municipal Chief Executive has suggested the establishment of an annual peace festival for the Dagombas and Konkombas to sustain peace within the area.

He said the area lacked development because of recurrent ethnic conflicts and perpetual suspicion and therefore the festival would forge unity and trust to enhance growth and development.

The MCE made this call during a day's joint Dagomba- Konkomba Peace Forum organised by Peace Centre at Yendi, a social wing of the Catholic Church in the Northern Region.

The 57 participants were drawn from Yendi, Zakali, Saboba, and Sanguli in the Tatale Sanguli District, Wapuli, Ugbenbord, Banda, Nakpache, Gnani, Jagrido among others.

The topics discussed included, 'Ways to build trust, reports from the ethnic groups, things that can hinder the trust building process, plenary adoption and way forward amongst others.

The Most Rev. Matthew Yitiereh, the Catholic Bishop of the Yendi Diocese said over the years, there was peaceful co-existence between the two ethnic groups adding that the major task of the Catholic Church was to promote peace as frequent conflicts in the area brought about the need to establish a Peace Centre in Yendi.

He said it was important to call the two ethnic groups to discard all types of rumours and advised them to refrain from violence and live in peace.

The Chancellor of Yendi Diocese Rev. Fr Gregory Dery said when there was rumours about conflict between Dagombas and Konkombas the members of the Yendi Peace Centre met them separately at different dates on behalf of Rev. Fr. Micharl Cobb in charge of the Yendi Peace Centre who had travelled outside Ghana.

He said during the meeting, the two ethnic groups said there was the need to build trust so they decided to meet them together to find way of building trust among them.

ASP. Benjamin Amoh Ayesu, the Yendi Acting Municipal Police Commander said reminded them that peace was absence of fear and if they did things legally they were at peace and thanked the organizers for bringing the two ethnic groups together to discuss peace.

After a group work, the Konkomba group in presentation indicated there should be openness and frank discussion, respect for each other's culture and tradition, empathy for each other's challenges and concern, encouraging inter marriages, joint ethnic convention and sensitization, honesty about their collective histories amongst others.

The Dagomba group indicated that the two groups should visit one another without fear, when there was rumours they should be able to communicate to each other, find solutions to rumours, smoke peace pipe between Dagomba and Konkomba chiefs.

GNA
Ahead of the official launch of the maiden edition of the Climate Change Debate competition, a Disaster Relief Network Ghana organised a one-day workshop for various stakeholders and actors on Friday 25th August, 2023 at the Mikado Conference in Accra.

The debate is an initiative of DRNGhana in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Environment Science Technology and Innovation and the Environmental Protection Agency along with other key stakeholders.

The event was also streamed live to a global audience via DRNGhanas social media channels.

Headmasters, headmistresses and assigned teachers and facilitators from eight selected senior high schools in the Greater Accra Region were convened for the workshop, which was to acquaint the debate actors with the technical guide for the debate competition to enable them properly prepare their participating students for what is expected to be a very competitive battle for the ultimate prize. Also participating were debate judges, moderator and other officials. The eight participating schools for the Greater Accra maiden edition are Accra Girls High School, St Thomas Aquinas Senior High School, Presbyterian Boys Secondary School, Chemu High School and St Marys Secondary School, Accra Academy Senior High School, Labone Senior High School, and Achimota Senior High School.

Delivering his welcome remarks, Godwin Avenogbor, chairman of the board of directors of DRNGhana and communications director at the Melcom Group of Companies, thanked the major partners and stakeholders for their cooperation and the schools for their participation. He emphasised that climate change is a global catastrophe that requires a coordinated global response employing all the tools available to mankind.

In particular, he said, there is the need to orient students to the challenge, which the climate debate intends to do. Mr Avenogbor called for clearer communication on climate change in a way that will resonate with people in order to spur them towards the changes that they need to make to save the planet and humanity. He urged the participants to engage fully in the workshop for capacity building function to derive the maximum benefits from it.

Dr Emmanuel Takyi-Aubynn, acting director for climate change, EPA, in his speech, said the agency was happy to join hands with DRNGhana to sensitise the public on the threat of climate change and the actions needed to combat it, He said that EPA has since 2016, stepped up communication with regard to climate change, including annual climate education weeks with symposiums, exhibitions, durbars, dialogues and quizzes. Under the current Ghana education curriculum, climate change is studied at the junior high schools level, while 2000 teachers have been trained on the subject, an indication of the need to provide young people with knowledge on the issue. He commended DRNGhana for the initiative, saying that it will complement and enhance the governments efforts.

The debate competition will be launched on 8th September, 2023, while the competition itself will be held on 22nd September, 2023 at the Presec Hall. Schools will compete in knockout rounds, with the winning school receiving a prize amount of GHc10,000 to be split between the school and competing teams. The second and third places schools will receive GHc8,000 and GHc6,000 respectively, also to be shared equally between the schools and the debating teams. Debaters will be assessed by a panel of expert judges on preparation, argumentation and delivery.

The organisers said in addition to boosting knowledge sharing on climate change, the competition will build the capacity of students and help them develop critical thinking and communication skills. Representatives from the schools expressed satisfaction with the workshop and said they were now better able to prepare their students for the competition.
The Coordinator for the Tax-Free Period Campaign in Ghana, Vivian Akligo has urged the Ministry of Finance to include a proposal for tax relief on sanitary pads in the national budget for 2024.

She is pleading with the government to grant tax exemptions to Ghanaians so that they can take a break from the negative social and economic effects of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and other world economic downturns.

"On behalf of our campaign team, I humbly implore the Finance Ministry of Ghana to take into account our request for tax relief on all sanitary products in the 2024 budget.

"Menstrual hygiene is a right, not a luxury, and we set out to change perceptions and policies to reflect this reality in order to ensure that every woman and girl has access to affordable, high-quality menstrual hygiene products without experiencing financial hardship because of their affordability," she stated.

Vivian Akligo, a Women Deliver Young Leader and a supporter of women's reproductive health, has urged all national stakeholders to join her in calling for policymakers to be held accountable, for policies to be changed, and for a future where periods are common and sanitary pads are easily available and affordable, even to the most marginalized groups in communities.

Akligo echoes the sentiment, describing the taxation on menstrual products as an unjust economic burden that disproportionately blights women.

According to the passionate Women Deliver Young Leader, who is also a dedicated feminist leader and an acclaimed advocate for women's reproductive health, the financial burden of menstrual hygiene products has a far-reaching implication, affecting not only individuals but also families' economic stability and the nation's prosperity.

She averred that by alleviating this burden, Ghanaians will be contributing to unlocking a brighter future for adolescent girls and young women, including families.

We have mobilized diverse stakeholders, sparking conversations on the need for the government to exempt sanitary products from taxes, including locally manufactured products.

"We hope that as discussions are ongoing in Parliament on this issue, our parliamentarians will see this not just as a mere fiscal decision but a transformative step towards achieving a more equitable society, Mrs. Akligo posited

Akligos tireless advocacy has begun to ripple changes across communal dialogues and policy discussions. She has succeeded in fostering an environment that encourages nationwide conversation, steering the spotlight towards an increasingly acknowledged issue.

The Tax-Free Period Campaign has already garnered ample support from activists, public figures, and civil society organizations. However, Vivian acknowledges that the real triumph would be the government's integration of the no tax on period products initiative into the forthcoming 2024 budget.

Her plea for the removal of the menstrual product tax is not just about supporting women's rights to health and hygiene. It is about taking significant strides towards gender equality and economic equality, and most importantly, it is about upholding human rights.

Budget policies should consistently reflect the nation's attempt at nurturing an inclusive, fair society, and introducing a tax-free period is an integral part of that attempt.

Consideration of a tax-free period in the 2024 budget is undoubtedly an urgent appeal. Vivians persistent advocacy and the widespread support for the Tax-Free Period Campaign should prompt government leaders to critically evaluate and reconsider their fiscal policies surrounding menstruation products.

Mrs. Akligos fight is against mounting odds, but like many women who've spearheaded change, she hopes to transform normalized injustice into necessary reform.

As global conversations rooted in equity and inclusivity continue to evolve, her campaign reignites the pressing need for progress towards a tax-free period.
On the first Saturday of September every year, the world celebrates the International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD) to raise awareness about the plight of vultures. These magnificent birds are staring at a bleak future with their populations having declined catastrophically by up to 97% for some species over the last 50 years. While vultures are often viewed as sinister, signifying bad tidings, or even death, the vital role that they play in the environment is irreplaceable.

Acting as Natures own clean-up crew, these endangered birds remove carcasses from the environment, which when accumulated in the environment would have a negative impact on environmental and human health. The loss of these unique scavengers can have a devastating impact as witnessed in Asia in the 1990s, where vulture populations crashed by up to 99% after feeding on cattle carcasses containing diclofenac - a veterinary drug toxic to vultures. As a result, other scavengers including rats and dogs increased in number, leading to increased disease transmission from carcasses to animals and humans, particularly an increase in the number of cases of humans infected with rabies were reported.

Across Africa, vultures are faced with various threats. Poisoning is the major cause of vulture mortalities on the continent. In some instances, poachers lace carcasses with poison to kill vultures, as they alert authorities of poaching activities. In other cases, vultures are killed unintentionally, when herders lace carcasses with poison to kill predators in retaliatory killings, and vultures die after feeding on these carcasses. Belief-based use is another threat facing vultures on the continent, where vultures parts are used to make traditional medicine to cure ailments or imbue partakers with magical powers or bring good luck. In addition, energy infrastructure being developed on the content, is responsible for vulture deaths through collisions or electrocutions.

BirdLife International, the worlds largest partnership is working with its network of partners to stem this decline. A key element of this work is working with local communities to deliver cross-cutting conservation interventions. To address the threat of poisoning, BirdLife and partners are developing a poisoning response network in East Africa to create a platform for collaboration and coordination among stakeholders to address the threat of wildlife poisoning and ensure rapid and effective responses to poisoning incidences. In Southern Africa, BirdLife, and partners working with landowners, managers and local communities have established more than 1,000,000 hectares of Vulture Safe Zones (VSZs) in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa where vultures can feed and breed without the risk of poisoning.

To tackle the belief-based use threat to vultures, BirdLife is working with local stakeholders including traditional healers to create awareness of the impact of their trade on vultures and mainstreaming the use of sustainable plant-based treatments as alternatives to vulture parts. Furthermore, BirdLife is working with partners to ensure bird-safe energy infrastructure through retrofitting, dangerous powerlines. In Ethiopia, for instance, BirdLife has retrofitted 182 poles in the countrys Central and Eastern regions in 2023. These poles have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of birds, particularly the Egyptian Vulture, a globally endangered species.

In addition, to the conservation interventions, BirdLife partners are carrying out awareness campaigns on the plight of these endangered birds, which are beginning to bear fruit. In North Africa, the Griffon Vulture is finally breeding in Morocco after a 40-year absence, while a West Africa Vulture Conservation Action Plan (WAVCAP) is being developed. As we mark International Vulture Awareness Day, it is imperative that we redouble our efforts to save Africas vultures from extinction.

The writer is the Preventing Extinctions Programme Coordinator for Africa at BirdLife International and can be reached via [email protected]
01.09.2023 LISTEN

The Director-General of Operation of Ghana Police Service, COP Alex Mensah has said he did not visit the premises of the former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bugri Naabu on his own.

According to Mr. Mensah, Bugri Naabu extended an invitation to him.

He revealed to the Parliamentary Committee investigating an alleged tape aiming to remove the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare that out of respect for the former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bugri Naabu, he decided to honor the invitation.

COP Mensah clarified that he met Chief Bugri Naabu based on a recommendation from one of his junior officers.

He explained that the officer had informed Bugri Naabu that he believed COP Mensah was a suitable candidate for the position of IGP.

And Bugri Naabu said if that is so, then bring him and let me see him, that is why I ended up at Bugri Naabus office, COP Alex Mensah stated.

When asked if he had confidence in Bugri Naabus support in his pursuit of becoming the IGP, COP Mensah affirmed that he did.

He mentioned that he was aware of Bugri Naabus prominent role within the NPP and decided to meet him to seek his endorsement for the position.

Honourable chair, I had because I knew or I have heard his name when it comes to NPP party circles, that he was a former chairman, hes a friend of the president so once my boy told me that the man says hes ready to recommend me but he wants to see me, I said why not.

"If somebody wants to see you not for a bad thing but a good thing, I will go, COP Mensah stated.
President Nana Akufo-Addo's lawyer, Kow Essuman has accused former President John Mahama of copying governments hashtag #BuildingGhanaTogether.

Kow Essuman accused the former president of not being able to coin his own hashtag but rather using the governments hashtag.

In a tweet on Friday, September 1, Mr. Essuman wrote, So incompetent that he couldnt come up with his own hashtag. #BuildingGhanaTogether is Governments hashtag. The picture is nice but Sir, please find your own hashtag and leave our hashtag for us. Thank you.

He was responding to an earlier tweet by the former President that criticized the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government's performance and used the #BuildingGhanaTogether hashtag.

In his tweet, Mr. Mahama said the upcoming December 7, 2024 election is crucial for restoring faith in Ghana's democracy which has declined under Akufo-Addo's government.

He accused the current administration of eroding the country's democratic goodwill and allowing corruption and economic conditions to deteriorate.

The governance of Nana Akufo-Addo and Bawumia has eroded Ghana's democratic goodwill. Political credibility is at an all-time low, never experienced in the history of the 4th Republic.

December 07, 2024, election is crucial to restoring faith in our democracy. Poor leadership must be held accountable for the corruption and deteriorating conditions. #BuildingGhanaTogether #TheGhanaWeWant #JohnMahama, he wrote with the alleged stolen hashtag.

President Akufo-Addo will be completing his second four-year term in 2024 and cannot run again due to constitutional term limits.

Mr. Mahama, who served as president from 2012 to 2016, has been given the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDCs) flagbearer slot once again.
An Egyptian man who took selfies while piloting a small boat across the Channel with dozens of migrants on board was jailed on Friday, the UK's interior ministry said.

The government, under fire for new laws which rights groups insist violate international refugee conventions, welcomed the conviction.

Reda Hamoud Abdurabou, 25, was sentenced to three years and two months in prison after being convicted of assisting unlawful immigration to the UK and attempting to enter the country illegally, the ministry added.

The sentencing, at Salisbury Crown Court in southern England, follows his arrest in July 2022 after Border Force officials intercepted the "dangerously overcrowded" inflatable he was piloting.

UK officials found images on his seized mobile phone showing him posing with his hand on the motor's tiller earlier in the perilous journey, said ministry statement.

Investigators also found messages on his phone "about his attempt to reach the UK illegally" along with other selfies taken as he piloted the boat packed with 50 migrants, it added.

Under controversial legislation recently passed by the government, immigration officers have new powers to search and seize electronic devices from anyone trying to enter the UK illegally.

It also makes any attempts to enter the UK via the Channel or other ports without prior authorisation illegal.

That has been heavily criticised by rights groups and international organisations, including United Nations agencies, who argue it flouts London's obligations under refugee conventions.

The UK government has insisted its actions comply with such statutes.

Asylum issues

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said Abdurabou had "brazenly tried to flout our laws, and has rightly been brought to justice.

"Putting lives at risk by steering men, women and children across the Channel in flimsy dinghies will not be tolerated," he added.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said Abdurabou had 'brazenly tried to flout our laws, and has rightly been brought to justice'. By JUSTIN TALLIS (AFP)

More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Channel on small boats from France to southeast England since Britain began publicly recording the arrivals in 2018.

The route across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes has repeatedly proved perilous, with numerous previous capsizes and scores of migrants drowning in the waters over the last decade.

It has also strained Britain's asylum system, with a growing backlog of more than 175,000 people, including children, waiting for an initial decision by the end of June.

In July, a High Court judge ruled that the government's long-term use of hotels to house lone child asylum-seekers had been unlawful over the last 18 months and should not continue.

However, the interior ministry has placed more than 100 such children in hotels in recent weeks as local authorities struggle to meet the demand for accommodation, UK media reported Friday.

The ministry has repeatedly said it has no choice but to use hotels "on a temporary basis" while more permanent placements are found.
Thanks to a new discovery linked to shares of Tesla, regular folks can now target gains of 100% or more in six days or less. New research shows its happened 23 different times this year. The next trade is scheduled for this Thursday.
Evergy, Inc. (NYSE:EVRG) announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August, 4th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.45 billion. Evergy had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 12.97%. The business's revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share.
The following companies are subsidiares of Becton, Dickinson and Company: Accuri Cytometers, Accuri Cytometers Inc., Alverix Inc, Alverix Inc., Atto Bioscience Inc, BD Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., BD Infection Prevention BV, BD Kiestra BV, BD Kiestra Total Lab Automation, BD Rapid Diagnostic (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., BD San Luis Potosi S.A. de C.V., BD Switzerland Sarl, BD Ventures LLC, BD West Africa Limited, BDX INO LLC, Bard (Thailand) Limited, Bard ASDI Inc., Bard Access Systems Inc., Bard Acquisition Sub Inc., Bard Australia Pty. Limited, Bard Benelux N.V., Bard Brachytherapy Inc., Bard Brasil Industria e Comercio de Produtos Para a Saude Ltda., Bard Canada Inc., Bard Chile S.p.A., Bard Czech Republic s.r.o., Bard Devices Inc., Bard Dublin ITC Limited, Bard EMEA Finance Center Sp.z o.o., Bard European Distribution Center N.V., Bard Finance B.V. & Co. KG., Bard Financial Services Ltd., Bard Finland OY, Bard France S.A.S., Bard Global Holdings I LLC, Bard Global Holdings II LLC, Bard Global Holdings III LLC, Bard Healthcare Inc., Bard Healthcare Science (Shanghai) Limited, Bard Hellas S.A., Bard Holding SAS, Bard Holdings Limited, Bard Holdings Netherlands B.V., Bard Hong Kong Limited, Bard IP Holdings Inc., Bard India Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Bard International Holdings B.V., Bard International Inc., Bard Istanbul Healthcare Limited Company, Bard Korea Ltd., Bard Limited, Bard MRL Acquisition Corp., Bard Malaysia Healthcare Sdn. Bhd., Bard Medica SA, Bard Medical Devices (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical SA (Proprietary) Limited, Bard Mexico Realty S. de R.L. de C.V., Bard Norden AB, Bard Norway AS, Bard Pacific Health Care Company Ltd., Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc., Bard Poland Sp. z.o.o., Bard Productos Plasticos e Medicos Ltda., Bard Reynosa S.A. de C.V., Bard S.r.l., Bard Sdn. Bhd., Bard Shannon Limited, Bard Singapore Private Limited, Bard Sourcing Office Singapore Pte. Ltd., Bard Sweden AB, Bard UK Newco Limited, Bard de Espana S.A., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Management Limited, Becton Dickinson (Mauritius) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Pty) Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Thailand) Limited, Becton Dickinson A.G., Becton Dickinson A/S, Becton Dickinson Argentina S.R.L., Becton Dickinson Asia Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson Asia Limited, Becton Dickinson Austria GmbH, Becton Dickinson Austria Holdings GmbH, Becton Dickinson B.V., Becton Dickinson B.V. Saudi Limited Company, Becton Dickinson Benelux N.V., Becton Dickinson Biosciences Systems and Reagents Inc., Becton Dickinson Canada Inc., Becton Dickinson Caribe Ltd., Becton Dickinson Croatia d.o.o., Becton Dickinson Czechia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Dispensing Belgium BVBA, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Denmark A/S, Becton Dickinson Dispensing France SAS, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Norway, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Spain S.L.U., Becton Dickinson Dispensing UK Ltd., Becton Dickinson Distribution Center N.V., Becton Dickinson East Africa Ltd., Becton Dickinson Euro Finance Sarl, Becton Dickinson Europe Holdings S.A.S., Becton Dickinson France S.A.S., Becton Dickinson GSA Beteilgungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings I Inc., Becton Dickinson Global Holdings II LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings IV LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings V LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VII LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VIII LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Services Centre Sdn. Bhd, Becton Dickinson GmbH, Becton Dickinson Guatemala S.A., Becton Dickinson Hellas S.A., Becton Dickinson Holdings Limited, Becton Dickinson Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Hungary Kft., Becton Dickinson India Private Limited, Becton Dickinson Industrias Cirurgicas Ltda., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy AB, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Holdings UK Limited, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc. S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy UK, Becton Dickinson Insulin Syringe Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings II Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings III Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Israel Ltd., Becton Dickinson Italia S.p.A., Becton Dickinson Ithalat Ihracat Limited Sirketi, Becton Dickinson Korea Holding Inc., Becton Dickinson Korea Ltd., Becton Dickinson Ltd., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Finance S.a.r.L., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Global Holdings Sarl, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings II S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings III S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings V S.a.r.L., Becton Dickinson Malaysia Inc., Becton Dickinson Management GmbH & Co. KG, Becton Dickinson Matrex Holdings Inc., Becton Dickinson Medical (S) Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Products Pte. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Technology (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Global Holdings II C.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings B.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings II B.V., Becton Dickinson Norway AS, Becton Dickinson O.Y., Becton Dickinson Overseas Services Ltd., Becton Dickinson Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd., Becton Dickinson Penel Limited, Becton Dickinson Philippines Inc., Becton Dickinson Polska Sp.z.o.o., Becton Dickinson Portugal Unipessoal Lda., Becton Dickinson Pty. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Research Centre Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Rowa Germany GmbH, Becton Dickinson Rowa Italy Srl, Becton Dickinson S.A., Becton Dickinson Sample Collection GmbH, Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.L.P., Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.P., Becton Dickinson Sdn. Bhd., Becton Dickinson Slovakia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Sweden AB, Becton Dickinson Sweden Holdings AB, Becton Dickinson Switzerland Global Holdings SarL, Becton Dickinson Technology Campus India, Becton Dickinson U.K. Limited, Becton Dickinson UK Financing I Limited, Becton Dickinson UK Financing II Limited, Becton Dickinson Venezuela C.A., Becton Dickinson Venture LLC, Becton Dickinson Verwaltungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Vostok LLC, Becton Dickinson Worldwide Investments Sa.r.L., Becton Dickinson Zambia Limited, Becton Dickinson and Company Ltd., Becton Dickinson de Colombia Ltda., Becton Dickinson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson del Uruguay S.A., Bee IT Solutions, Benex Ltd., Biometric Imaging, Bridger Biomed Inc., C. R. Bard (Portugal) - Produtos e Artigos Medicos e Farmaceuticos, C. R. Bard Do Brasil Productos Medicos Ltda., C. R. Bard GmbH, C. R. Bard Inc., C. R. Bard Netherlands Sales B.V., C.R. Bard Inc, CME America LLC, CME Ltd., CME Medical (UK) Limited, CME UK (Holdings) Limited, CRISI Medical Systems, CRISI Medical Systems Inc., Caesarea Medical Electronics, Cardal II LLC, Care Fusion Development Private Limited, CareFusion (Barbados) SrL, CareFusion (Shanghai) Commercial and Trading Co. Limited, CareFusion 213 LLC, CareFusion 2200 Inc., CareFusion 2201 Inc., CareFusion 302 LLC, CareFusion 303 Inc., CareFusion Asia (HK) Limited, CareFusion Corporation, CareFusion Corporation., CareFusion D.R. 203 Ltd., CareFusion France 309 S.A.S., CareFusion Israel 330 Ltd., CareFusion Italy 312 S.p.A., CareFusion Manufacturing LLC, CareFusion Mexico 215 S.A. de C.V., CareFusion Netherlands 328 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 503 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 504 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands Financing 283 C.V., CareFusion Resources LLC, CareFusion S.A. 319 (Proprietary) Limited, CareFusion Solutions LLC, CareFusion U.K. 244 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 305 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 306 Limited, Carmel Pharma AB, Carmel Pharma Inc, Cato Software Solutions, Cell Analysis Systems Inc, Cellular Research, Cellular Research Inc., Clearstream Technologies Group Limited, Clearstream Technologies Limited, Clontech Laboratories Inc, Corporativo BD de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Critical Device Corporation, Cubex, Cytognos, Cytopeia Inc, DLD (Bermuda) Ltd., DVL Acquisition Sub Inc., Davol Inc., Davol International Limited, Davol Surgical Innovations S.A. de C.V., Difco Laboratories Incorporated, Distribuidora BD Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dutch American Manufacturers (D.A.M.) B.V., Dymax Corporation, Embo Medical Limited, Enturia de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Enturican Inc., FJ International Inc., FlowCardia Inc., FlowCardia LLC, FlowJo LLC, Franklin Lakes Enterprises L.L.C., GSL Solutions, Gamer Lasertechnik GmbH, GenCell Biosystems, GenCell Biosystems Ltd., GeneOhm Sciences Canada ULC, GeneOhm Sciences Inc, Gentest Corporation, Gesco International Inc., Gesco International LLC, Glentech Inc, HandyLab Inc, HandyLab Inc., IBD Holdings LLC, Iontophoretics Corporation, JoHome LLC, Kabushiki Kaisha Medicon (Medicon Inc.), Liberator Health and Education Services Inc., Liberator Health and Wellness Inc., Liberator Medical Holdings Inc., Liberator Medical Supply Inc., Limited Liability Company Bard Rus, Loma Vista Medical Inc., Loma Vista Medical LLC, Luther Medical Products Inc, Lutonix Inc., Med-Design Corporation, Med-Design Investment Holdings Inc., Med-Safe Systems Inc, Med-Safe Systems Inc., MedChem Products Inc., Medafor Inc., Medegen LLC, Medinservice.com Inc., Medivance Inc., NAT Diagnostics Inc., NAT Diagnostics Inc., NOW Medical Distribution Inc., NOW Medical Distribution LLC, Navarre Biomedical LLC, Navarre Biomedical Ltd., Neomend Inc., Nippon Becton Dickinson Company Ltd., Omega Biosystems Incorporated, P.R.C. (Isialys) Societe a responsabilitie limitee, PT Becton Dickinson Indonesia, PharMingen, PharMingen., Plasso Technology Ltd, PreAnalytiX GmbH, Pristine Access Technologies Inc., ProSeed Inc., Procesos para Esterilizacion S.A. de C.V., Productos Bard de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Productos Para el Cuidado de la Salud S.A. de C.V., Puls Medical Devices AS LC, PureWick Corporation, Roberts Laboratories Inc., Rochester Medical Corporation, Rochester Medical Ltd., Saf-T-Med Inc, Safety Syringes Inc., Scanwell Health Inc., Sendal S.L.U., SenoRx Inc., SenoRx LLC, Shield Healthcare Centers Inc., Sirigen Group Limited, Sirigen II Limited, Sirigen Inc., Sistemas Medicos ALARIS S.A. de C.V., Specialized Cooperative Corporation, Specialized Health Products Inc., Specialized Health Products International Inc., Specialized Health Products International LLC, Staged Diabetes Management LLC, Straub Medical AG, Straub Medical AG, Surgical Site Solutions Inc., TVA Medical Inc, TVA Medical Inc., Tepha Inc, Tepha Inc., Tissuemed Ltd., Tri-County Medical & Ostomy Supplies Inc., TriPath Imaging Inc., Tru-Fit Marketing Corporation, Vas-Cath Incorporated, Vascular Pathways Inc., Velano Vascular, Velano Vascular Inc., Venclose Inc., Venetec International Inc., Venetec International LLC, Visitec, Y-Med Inc., Y-Med LLC, and ZebraSci Inc..

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Bath & Body Works, Inc. operates a specialty retailer of home fragrance, body care, and soaps and sanitizer products. It sells its products under the Bath & Body Works, White Barn, and other brand names through retail stores and e-commerce sites located in the United States and Canada, as well as through international stores operated by partners under franchise, license, and wholesale arrangements. The company was formerly known as L Brands, Inc. and changed its name to Bath & Body Works, Inc. in August 2021. Bath & Body Works, Inc. was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) pays an annual dividend of $3.92 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 0.91%. The company has been increasing its dividend for 25 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 32.56%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, FDS will have a dividend payout ratio of 22.02% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Read our dividend analysis for FDS.
Great Bear Resources Ltd. operates as a mineral exploration company in Canada. The company primarily explores for gold. Its flagship property is the Dixie project covering an area of 9,140 hectares located in the Red Lake district of Ontario. The company was formerly known as Great Bear Uranium Corp. and changed its name to Great Bear Resources Ltd. in January 2010. Great Bear Resources Ltd. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
Met Police data platform 64m over budget

A freedom of information request has revealed the Mets integrated record management system is running tens of millions over budget, generating more than 25,000 support requests so far

Buyers guide to SaaS integration  part 1 of 3: The challenges of integrating SaaS applications

SaaS has grown from a handful of applications to a vast market covering almost every type of business task. We look at the integration challenges

Is spinning disk doomed?

Pure Storage says HDDs will be dead by 2028 and its own flash will replace it. We look at the rationale behind its bold message, and the possible impacts of such a scenario

Turkopticon helps gig workers fight for rights

Remote Mechanical Turk workers who are responsible for training AI algorithms face numerous workplace issues, but collectively they have the power to change the status quo
IGM Financial Inc. operates as a wealth and asset management company in Canada. It operates through Wealth Management, Asset Management, and Strategic Investments and Other segments. The company offers financial advisory services; and IG Living Plan that provides financial planning services, such as investment vehicles, insurance products, mortgage and banking solutions, and charitable giving program. It also provides mutual funds; managed solutions; IG Advisory Account, a fee-based account that enhances client experience by offering the ability to simplify and consolidate selected investments into a single account; iProfile Private portfolios, a portfolio management program for households with investments; iProfile Portfolios, a suite of four managed solutions; segregated funds; separately managed accounts; insurance products; and securities services. In addition, the company offers management and related services; global private equity, private credit, and infrastructure investment solutions; and exchange traded funds. The company was incorporated in 1978 and is headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada. IGM Financial Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Power Financial Corporation.
The following companies are subsidiares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum: AMI Metals Aero Services Ankara Havaclk Anonim Sirketi, AMI Metals Europe SPRL, AMI Metals Inc. , AMI Metals UK Limited, Acero Prime S. de R.L. de C.V., Admiral Metals Servicenter Company, Admiral Metals Servicenter Company Inc., Airport Metals, Alaska Steel Company, Alaska Steel Company, Aleaciones Especiales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., All Metal Services (Malaysia) Sdn., All Metal Services India Private Limited, All Metal Services Limited, All Metal Services Ltd. (Xian), All Metals Holding, All Metals Processing & Logistics Inc., Allegheny Steel Distributors Inc., American Metals Corporation, Best Manufacturing Inc., CCC Steel Inc., Chapel Steel, Chapel Steel Canada Ltd., Chatham Steel, Clayton Metals Inc., Continental Alloys & Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Continental Alloys & Services Limited, Continental Alloys & Services Pte. Ltd., Continental Alloys Middle East FZE, Crest Steel Corporation, Delta Steel Inc., Diamond Manufacturing, DuBose National Energy Fasteners & Machined Parts, DuBose National Energy Fasteners & Machined Parts Inc., DuBose National Energy Services, DuBose National Energy Services Inc., Durrett Sheppard Steel Co. Inc., Earle M. Jorgensen Company, FastMetals Inc., Feralloy Corporation, Ferguson Perforating Company, Ferguson Perforating Company, Fox Metals And Alloys, Fox Metals and Alloys Inc., Fry Steel, Fry Steel Company, GH Metal Solutions, GH Metal Solutions Inc., Haskins Steel, Infra-Metals Co., KMS FAB LLC, KMS Fab, KMS South, KMS South Inc., Liebovich Bros. Inc., McKey Perforating, Merfish United, Merfish United Inc., Metals USA, Metals USA Inc., Metalweb Limited, National Specialty Alloys, National Specialty Alloys Inc., Northern Illinois Steel Supply Co, Northern Illinois Steel Supply Co., Nu-Tech Precision Metals Inc., Nu-Tech Precision Metals Inc., PDM Steel Service Centers Inc., Pacific Metal Company, Phoenix Corporation, Precision Flamecutting and Steel Inc., Precision Strip Inc., Reliance Metalcenter Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Reliance Metals Canada Limited, Rotax Metals Inc, Rotax Metals Inc., Service Steel Aerospace Corp., Siskin Steel & Supply Company Inc., Sugar Steel, Sunbelt Steel Texas, Tubular Steel, Tubular Steel Inc., Valex Corp., Valex Korea Co. Ltd., Valex Semiconductor Materials (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., Viking Materials Inc., and Yarde Metals Inc..

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The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 13125882 Canada Inc., 211 E. Russell Road LLC, 4458664 Canada Inc., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES ASIA PTE. LTD., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES BORROWER S.C.A., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES LLC, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES MIDDLE EAST FZE, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES SERVICES LIMITED, ASTRUM IT GmbH, Accudyne Industries Acquisition S.A r.l, Accudyne Industries Canada Inc., Accudyne Industries S.A r.l., Air Dimensions, Air Dimensions Inc., Albin Pump SAS, BOC Edwards Global Low pressure Air business, CISA S.p.A., Cameron-Centrifugal Compression, Comercial Ingersoll-Rand (Chile) Limitada, Comingersoll-Comercio E Industria De Equipamentos S.A., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Dosatron International SAS, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Proprietary Limited, FlexEnergy Holdings LLC, Frigoblock Grosskopf Gmbh, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First (UK) Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings II Inc., GD Global Holdings Inc., GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., GPS Industries, Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp (Canada), Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Limited, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica SL, Gardner Denver Inc., Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver International Inc., Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Investments Inc., Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan Ltd., Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte. Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia s.r.o., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH (f/k/a ILMVAC GmbH), Gardner Denver Thomas Inc., Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Ghh-Rand Schraubenkompressoren Gmbh, HASKEL EUROPE LTD., HASKEL HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, HASKEL INTERNATIONAL LLC, Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, Haskel France SAS, Haskel Sistemas de Fluidos Espana S.R.L., Hibon Inc., Highspeed Newco LLC, Hingerose Limited, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, INGERSOLL RAND ITS JAPAN LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHANG ZHOU) TOOLS CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHINA) INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND CHINA LLC, INGERSOLL-RAND COMERCIO E SERVICOS DE MAQUINAS E EQUIPAMENTOS INDUSTRIAIS LTDA., INGERSOLL-RAND DE PUERTO RICO INC., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL COMPANY B.V., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL SP. Z O.O., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL U.S. INC., INGERSOLL-RAND PHILIPPINES INC., INGERSOLL-RAND SPAIN S.A., INGERSOLL-RAND U.S. HOLDCO INC., IR HPS Holdco. Inc., ITO Emniyet, Ingersoll Rand Cyprus Investments Ltd., Ingersoll Rand Finance LLC, Ingersoll Rand Global Investments LLC, Ingersoll Rand Global Ventures LLC, Ingersoll Rand Hong Kong Investments Limited, Ingersoll Rand Inc., Ingersoll Rand Investments (SG) Pte. Ltd., Ingersoll Rand Investments B.V., Ingersoll Rand Schweiz Investments Gmbh, Ingersoll Rand Technology R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand (Australia) Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand (China) Investment Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (Guilin) Tools Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (Hong Kong) Holding Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (India) Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Ab, Ingersoll-Rand Air Solutions Hibon Sarl, Ingersoll-Rand Beteiligungs Und Grundstucksverwaltungs Gmbh, Ingersoll-Rand Colombia S.A.S., Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited (Uk), Ingersoll-Rand Company South Africa (Pty) Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Cz S.R.O., Ingersoll-Rand De Mexico S.A. De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Equipements De Production S.A.S., Ingersoll-Rand Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Industrial Ireland Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International (India) Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Italia S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Italiana Manufacturing S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Korea Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Korea Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments II S.A R.I., Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Luxembourg Industrial Company S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Machinery (Shanghai) Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Malaysia Co. Sdn. Bhd., Ingersoll-Rand S.A. De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Services And Trading Limited Liability Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Singapore Enterprises Pte. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand South East Asia (Pte.) Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Superay Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technical And Services S.A.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Technologies And Services Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technology R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Tool Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Trading Gmbh, Ingersoll-Rand Vietnam Company Limited, Instrum Rand JSC, Interflex Datensysteme, Ir Canada Holdings Ulc, Ir Canada Sales & Service Ulc, Ir France Sas, Kryptonite corp, Lawrence Factor Inc., LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MILTON ROY (HONG KONG) LIMITED, MILTON ROY (UK) LIMITED, MILTON ROY EUROPA B.V., MILTON ROY EUROPE SAS, MILTON ROY INDUSTRIAL (SHANGHAI) CO. LTD., MILTON ROY LLC, MILTON ROY US PURCHASER INC., MP Pumps Inc., Maximum AG Technologies Inc., Maximus Solutions, Mb Air Systems Limited, Nash Elmo, Officina Meccaniche Industriali Srl, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Plurifilter D.O.O., Pt Ingersoll-Rand Indonesia, Robuschi, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, SEEPEX, Seepex (M) SDN, Seepex Australia Pty Ltd, Seepex Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft mit Beschrankter Haftung, Seepex France S.a.r.l., Seepex GmbH, Seepex Inc., Seepex India Private Ltd., Seepex Italia SRL, Seepex Japan Co. Ltd., Seepex Nordic A/S, Seepex OOO, Seepex Pumps (Shanghia) Co. Ltd., Seepex UK Ltd., Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Shanghai Ingersoll-Rand Compressor Limited, Shenzhen Bocom System Engineering Co., Superay, Syltone, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, Tamrotor Marine Comp AS Norway, Tecno Matic Europe s.r.o., Thomas Industries Inc., Trane Technologies, Tri-Continent Scientific Inc., Vacuum and Blower Systems division, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zaxe Technologies Inc., Zeks Compressed Air Solutions Llc, Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, Zinsser NA Inc., and crayon interface.

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Internet Initiative Japan Inc. provides Internet connectivity, WAN, outsourcing, systems integration, and network-related equipment sales services in Japan. It operates through two segments, Network Services and Systems Integration Business, and ATM Operation Business. The company offers mobile communication and remote access/telework services; WAN/network services, including SDN, multi-cloud network, closed connection, internet VPN, SEIL, remote access, wireless LAN, and GIGA-school; leased line and broadband services; IIJ DNS platform, and domain name registration and maintenance services; IIJ access ID management, dial-up access, and IIJ IPv6 fiber access services; and security solutions for IIJ managed firewall, DDoS protection, and managed IPS/IDS services. It also provides cloud solutions, such as HaaS/IaaS, cloud storage, monitoring/operation, virtual desktop, Paas/Saas, solution for Microsoft and AWS, IoT/M2M, ID management and authentication, network, global, mobile, license, and specialized solutions, as well as IIJ cloud exchange and IIJ cloud integration solutions; integrated, network, mail, and web security, endpoint, security assessment/consulting, web and mail hosting, online storage, content delivery/CDN/CMS, and system integration; IoT services and solutions in the field of industrial, agriculture, energy, and IoT-oriented mobile communication; industry-specific solution; content delivery; and global/privacy products. In addition, the company offers IT outsourcing, IIJ consulting, cognitive factory, IIJ PC deployment support, IIJ PaaS solution, IIJ EMM utilization support, IIJ private cloud, network solutions, IIJ security audit, IIJ malware analysis, IIJ content management, cloud integration solution for Microsoft and AWS, Microsoft 365 transition support solution, data center service, and data center construction engineering solutions, as well as DX edge services. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
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. The component stocks are weighted according to the total float-adjusted market value of their outstanding shares. The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. The Fund invests in sectors, such as consumer non-cyclical, financial, energy, technology, communications, industrial, consumer cyclical, basic materials and utilities. BlackRock Fund Advisors (BFA) serves as the investment advisor to the Fund.
Chevron Corporation, through a network of subsidiaries, engages in integrated energy and chemicals operations worldwide. The company is the 7th largest integrated oil company worldwide, the 2nd largest in the US, and has been in operation since 1879. Chevron was part of the original Standard Oil Company and is one of the 34 successor companies that were formed when it was broken up. Today, the company brings in roughly $160 billion in annual revenues and is the last remaining oil and gas component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Originally called Standard Oil Of California the company grew quickly via mergers and acquisitions. It was hailed as one of the Seven Sisters to dominate the US and global production throughout the mid-20th century and became even bigger in 1985 when it merged with Gulf Oil. The merger with Gulf Oil resulted in the rebranding from Standard Oil Of California to Chevron (a brand used by the company outside its California jurisdiction) and then ChevronTexaco Corporation in 2005 when that merger took place. The company rebranded again in 2005 to what we know today as Chevron Corporation.

Chevron Corporation is now based in San Ramone, California, and has operations in 180 countries. The company employs more than 42,500 people who operate 5 refineries and 8,000+ Texaco, Chevron, and Standard Oil service stations in the US alone. The company's Exploration and Drilling operations produced a record 3.1 million barrels per day and its US refineries process more than 1 million barrels per day. At the end of 2021, the company has more than 11.3 billion barrels of proven oil and liquid-equivalent reserves and boasted a 112% reserve replacement rate.

The company operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment explores new reserves, develops known reserves, produces petroleum and gas products as needed, transports, processes, pipes, stores, and markets petroleum worldwide. The Downstream segment refines and markets the full line of petroleum-based products including but not limited to fuels such as gas, diesel, and aviation fuel, as well as lubricants, petrochemicals, and plastics. The company transports products via pipeline, rail, marine vessels, and truck.

Chevron recognizes the need to lower the worlds carbon output and is working toward that end. The companys strategy is two-pronged and includes reducing its own carbon output while investing in green and lower-carbon technologies. The companys goal is to invest $10 billion or more into lower carbon energy sources and technologies by 2028.

Chevron is a Dividend Aristocrat. The company has been paying a dividend since 1989 and it has raised it every year since its inception.






Peruvian Metals Corp. engages in the processing and acquisition, exploration, and development of precious and base metals in Peru. The company holds 100% interests in the Panteria phorphyry gold-copper project that consists of 15 mineral concessions covering an area of 7,204 hectares in south central Peru; and the Mansa Musa project, a gold-silver bearing project consisting of 10 concessions totaling 6,900 hectares situated in the Department of Huancavelica. It also has interests in the Huachocolpa properties that consist of 82 contiguous and non-contiguous mining concessions covering an area of 2,980 hectares located in the Department of Huancavelica; and Mamanina porphyry copper-molybdenum-gold project comprising 8 concessions covering 4,069 hectares located in the province of Huaylas in the Department of Ancash. The company was formerly known as Duran Ventures Inc. and changed its name to Peruvian Metals Corp. in September 2018. Peruvian Metals Corp. was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Toronto, Canada.
All the trading advice youve ever received boils down to one goal and one goal only: finding a reliable edge in the markets. If you can do that, grab hold of it and never let go. Because once you have that edge, and you can count on it, you never need to do anything else.
Hippo Holdings Inc. provides home protection insurance in the United States and the District of Columbia. Its insurance products include homeowners' insurance against risks of fire, wind, and theft; and personal and commercial insurance products. The company distributes insurance products and services through its technology platform; and offers its policies online, over the phone, or through licensed insurance agents. It provides care and protection for homeowners, as well as operates an integrated home protection platform. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
@jannettemuiruri7185

3 months ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZczKjpbm_Ow





Blessed be the name of the Lord our God. I love this story with all my heart." Iam Joseph i am your brother" moments that made me cry. Our God keeps His Word. If He has given you a dream or a vision though it tarries it must come to pass. They all bowed before Joseph. And Joseph became great just like in His vision. Our God is bringing our dreams to pass. I believe even more today.



Joseph has succeeded in bringing out the bright side and divine love that belongs to the Lord Jesus, He is the LOGOS of the living Word of God, the Savior of all mankind, this film is very blessing. [goodvibes] [hand-purple-blue-peace]

8

Reply

[@qua888]

@qua888

9 days ago

I cried heavy, when God blessed Joseph to be governor of the land..amen [] [] who was such a humble being..

1

Reply

[@Pinoyster718]

@Pinoyster718

3 months ago

"Blessed be the name of the Lord GOD Almighty."

@bobswett8389

4 months ago

The acting, filming, and storyline was GREAT. What even make it greater is that it follows the Scriptures about 98%. Which is super-good for a movie. The only part that was not accurate was when the brothers took the weapons from the Egyptian soldiers and held the weapons against the soldiers and Joseph. Actually, in according to the Scriptures.,.. Judah, who suggested selling the Joseph as a slave, is also the one who pleated for Benjamin life. Which is portrayed in the movie, but not to the full extend as it is described in the Scriptures. Israel (Jacob) would not accept his oldest son, Reuben, to safeguard Benjamin, but he did trust Judah.

Why? Because Judah's life was changed from hating Joseph to trusting God when he demonstrated it when Judah's granted Mercy and Grace to his daughter-in-law. (I am glad this movie covered this, Most movies eliminated this) Because of this, Judah pleaded for Benjamin, and Joseph granted Mercy and Grace upon Judah and his brothers.

Even though the Story is called "Joseph", it is actually should be called "Joseph & Judah". Here Joseph is representing God the Son, Jesus Christ and his Mercy and Grace upon all mankind of those who will accept it, and Judah is representing man and his sin and the change in our lives when we accept Jesus Mercy and Grace by believing/trusting in Him. Again, Great move.

@IXOYE64

13 days ago

Beautiful story of how God can turn bad situations into good outcomes.

2

Reply

[@tebec3624]

@tebec3624

3 weeks ago

Absolutely loved it! Normally I don't like Biblical movies because the acting seems forced and missing transitional scenes and kind of preachy. But this drama really brought the characters to life with excellent acting and continuity. I used to think Jacob was weak and unfair but now I understand why he entrusted Joseph with more responsibility. Anyway, I appreciated the layers of personality all the Actors brought - it humanized these people and told a great story which is what great filmmaking is all about!
Xero Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a software as a service company in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers Xero, an open platform that connects small businesses to a range of solutions, which helps to manage their finances. It also provides Xero mobile app; and accountant/bookkeeper tools, including Xero HQ, Xero Practice Manager, Xero Workpapers, and Xero Cashbook or Xero Ledger. Xero Limited was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand.
Yext, Inc. organizes business facts to provide answers to consumer questions in North America and internationally. It operates Yext platform, a cloud-based platform that allows its customers to provide answers to consumer questions, to control the facts about their businesses and the content of their landing pages, and to manage their consumer reviews, as well as provides customers to update their information and content through its knowledge network of approximately 200 maps, apps, search engines, intelligent GPS systems, digital assistants, vertical directories, and social networks. The platform enables its customers to centralize, control and manage data fields, including store information, such as name, address, phone number and holiday hours; professional information, comprising of headshot, specialties, and education; job information, consisting of title and description; and FAQs and other information. It serves the healthcare, retail, and financial services industries. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
you are here:
You further amuse me with your ancient beliefs!

Exploitation director Joel Wynkoop made a name for himself in the independent horror market starring in films like Truth or Dare: A Critical Madness, Killing Spree, and Dirty Cop No Donut which would become the new classics of Florida exploitation. Wynkkoops first feature-length film, Lost Faith would carry with it the same intensity he brought to his acting roles but lacked the unhinged hypersexualized aesthetic that would define his later contributions. I first became aware of Wynkoops legacy after reviewing the documentary Blood, Guts & Sunshine which profiled the Florida exploitation scene.

Lost Faith aka Joel D. Wynkoop's Lost Faith follows Steve Nekoda (Joel Wynkoop, Strip Club Slasher), a devoted husband and Chuch Norris fan who must rescue his wife Donna from a human trafficking ring. The feature is a unique mix of martial arts action and religious drama. Wynkoop awkwardly shoehorns Nekodas spiritual issues throughout the film using it as a payoff during the final fight scene. Its an entertaining mix of roundhouse kicks, captive women, and angry dudes swapping haymakers.

The film begins as Steve begrudgingly drives his aspiring model wife Donna (Christine Seisler, Enchanting Tales from Hell) to her next photo shoot. Soon shes kidnapped and deposited on an island where a sex slavery ring is collecting girls for international buyers. Steves anger at the kidnappers isnt as fierce as his rage against the inept cops handling the case. When Detective Shields (Bill Simms) brushes the enraged husbands worries aside Steve takes this personally. He takes matters into his own hands to track down his wife and seek revenge. Steve follows clues to the island which reveals Donnas captors who are led by The Master (David Bardsley, Gentleman Jack), a self-absorbed grandstanding fighter who leads a band of bumbling goons tasked with collecting the girls for sale. His second-in-command is Barnes (David Lurry), a timid soldier of fortune whose kindness for the ladies is overshadowed by the racially insensitive caricature Wynkoop gave him. Yikes.

The moralizing in Lost Faith gets heavy-handed through Walt (Fred Ursini), a member of Steves church who constantly urges him to seek Gods help for his problems and come back to the church. Even after Walt bails him out of jail for stealing a car, Steve pushes back against him by reading tragic headlines from the newspaper to justify the absurdity of God. It isnt until the final battle scene that Steve heeds Walts advice. I wouldnt call this a faith-based film, but if youre a fan of SOV movies and looking for one with Gods message this may be an excellent fit for you.

Wynkoop uses every opportunity to indulge in his love of martial arts and his desire to showcase whatever skills he can offer the film. Between the fight scenes, however, he pads the film quite a bit giving us lovely shots of Nekoda driving around town or the kidnappers bumbling about their compound. Wynkoop isnt sure what to do with these side characters but keeps them busy and intimidated by their leader. I love that two of the goons on the island are named Fred and Barney. Look out, Mr. Slate!

Performances from the cast of amateur actors are shaky at best, but Wynkoop assembled an assortment of weirdos wholly committed to their characters come hell or high water. He lets them run through lines fumbling about which gives the scenes an authenticity you wouldnt expect. Thankfully, those possessing any fight training are given ample time to show off their skills before getting knocked out by Nekodas sweet roundhouse kicks.

While lacking the nudity and perverse trappings of a skeezy exploitation film, Lost Faith teeters on the edge of fetish themes with the kidnapped girls and an opening sequence with a busty blonde chased through the woods. Captive girl Sharellas sexual assault after her escape nearly tips the scales giving me the feeling Wynkoop chose to keep this feature tame.

Overall, Lost Faith is an entertaining B-movie that is worth a watch for fans of martial arts movies or SOV action. If you're looking for a well-made and polished film, this is not it. But if you're looking for a film that is over-the-top, ridiculous, and a lot of fun, then Lost Faith will do the trick.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray

The All-Region BD-50 disc loads the Saturns Core logo before landing on the Main Menu screen with scenes from the film playing adjacent to typical navigation options. The disc is housed in a transparent case with reversible artwork.
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Indias recent Q1 GDP growth numbers gave investors some reason to cheer as data for the April-June quarter showed a robust growth of 7.8 percent on the back of a strong show by the services sector. Talking about GDP numbers, Rajani Sinha, chief economist, CARE Ratings, said, "Economic growth in the first quarter of current fiscal was broadly in line with our expectation. From the supply side, services remained the key support pillar while strength in construction and manufacturing also contributed." However,...

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Nickey Mirchandani NICKEY MIRCHANDANI Assistant Editor at Moneycontrol. Shes a presenter and a stock market enthusiast with over 12 years of experience who loves reading between the lines and scanning through numbers.
Qabil Ashirov

On August 29, the U.S. Charge d'Affaires William (Chip) Laitinen, and the Defense Attache, Colonel Kevin Steele in Armenia met with the Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan in Yerevan. Armenian media outlets claim that the meeting discussed the military cooperation between Armenia and the USA, its development prospects, and regional security.

Given that Armenia is the only strategic ally of Russia in the South Caucasus, and Armenia has a tight relationship with Iran, the military cooperation and its development prospects pose questions. What kind of cooperation did the sides speak? How deep the cooperation can develop?

On the issue, Azernews learned the opinion of military expert Ramil Mammadli. The expert noted that despite being a member of the Collective Security Council (analogue of NATO), Armenia has been cooperating with the USA for a long time.

It is somewhat surprising that Armenia, which is a member of the Collective Security Council, has a high level of cooperation in the military field with the United States, that is, the locomotive and main leading state of NATO. However, the reality is completely different. The point is that for almost 30 years, the USA has been continuously allocating a certain amount of funds to the Armenian Defense Ministry. Of course, these funds are called humanitarian for the military structure, and it is reported that these funds are related to the provision of non-weapon ammunition, training, and the purchase of certain equipment. However, we know very well that, the Armenians have opportunities to manipulate in this direction, Ramil Mammadli said.

Quoting the former Armenian Defense Minister, Ramil Mammadli pointed out that the root of the cooperation is very deep and it is constantly getting more elaborating. He added that Armenia also cooperates with other NATO members.

At the beginning of 2000, in a meeting with the deputy of the US defense ministry, the then defense minister of Armenia Mikael Harutyunyan stated that the level of cooperation and joint projects with the US is very high and it is impossible to list them one by one. After 2014, this cooperation expanded further and Armenia signed an agreement with the United States, that is, with NATO, on a number of joint projects. I believe that this is one of the main reasons for the deterioration of Armenia's relations with Russia. It should also be noted that Armenia does not deal with many issues directly with the US defense minister, but indirectly with NATO and US-allied countries, for example, France. Of course, France-Armenia military cooperation or cooperation with other US allies within NATO means cooperation with America itself. From this point of view, the cooperation between the two countries can be analyzed in several directions. After 2018, relations in this direction moved to a more open level. Today, in fact, NATO specialists act as consultants in certain military structures in Armenia, and this is not a secret. In fact, certain opinions are openly voiced about it, he said.

Ramil Mammadli also touched on the Russian reaction against this cooperation and opined that it played a major role in Russias neutrality in the 44-day War.

As for Russia's attitude to the issue, of course, it is strict. That is why Russia actually supported Azerbaijan's position during the war in 2020. One of the main reasons why Russia takes such a position is the integration of Armenia into the West, the process of becoming an ally of the United States. We should approach the issues from this aspect as well, Ramil Mammadli concluded.
Wealthy folks with a mansion close to public pickleball courts in San Francisco's Presidio want them closed. They are circulating an online petition seeking to close the courts, as the noise is disruptive, and lowers property values. No one expects the sounds of recreation to emanate from a public park.

One of the petitioners, Holly Peterson, has her own court, at the mansion she shares with her tech executive husband.

SF Gate:

The petition, signed by residents Holly Peterson and Mary Tesluk, is chock-full of claims that seem designed to generate sympathy. The authors say the sounds emanating from the courts are "grating," and claim that the "endless racket" threatens native ecosystems. They also say that the "flood of pickleball fanatics" are depressing neighborhood home values with their "unyielding noise," and are creating a safety hazard by clogging up a nearby Slow Street with their vehicles. The petition appeared online last week and has so far gathered 94 signatures. But earlier this week, internet sleuths in a pickleball forum on Reddit dug up a Wall Street Journal article from May that describes the 106-year-old Presidio mansion that Peterson shares with her husband. Turns out the home has a pickleball court in the backyard. Reddit users were quick to jump on the newfound information. "She has a pickleball court? Lol that can't be good for her petition," one person wrote.

Featured Image: Screengrab
Mehul R Thakkar is Special Correspondent, Moneycontrol, Indias leading financial news platform, based in Mumbai where he is focussed on covering the real estate sector.
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"Your question is wrong, it's flawed in many, many ways and I would advise you to go speak to the governor and the local and state officials in Hawaii."

Generally convivial, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was not having any of Fox News' Peter Doocy's implication that the President was too busy vacationing to help the people of Maui. We are used to a give-and-take where Doocy asks stupid questions, and either the PressSec or President Biden himself groans a little and then manages Doocy like a school child. Not so this time, as Jean-Pierre doesn't allow Doocy to get away with even a soundbite.

Doocy: Is it just easier for people to get help from the white house when the president is not on vacation?



KJP: Your question is wrong, it's flawed in many, many ways and I would advise you to go speak to the governor and the local and state officials in Hawaii. pic.twitter.com/NUNEu3UIz5  Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2023

New Civil Rights Movement:
Gearoid Reidy is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Pratim Ranjan Bose is an independent columnist, researcher, and consultant. His Twitter handle is @pratimbose. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Arup K Chatterjee is a Professor at OP Jindal Global University, and the author of The Great Indian Railways (2018), Indians in London: From the Birth of the East India Company and Independent India (2021), and Adam's Bridge (2024). Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Leticia Miranda is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering consumer goods and the retail industry. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.
A Texas man and his young daughter have been stripped of nearly all their possessions after his apartment building's management company accidentally ordered the wrong unit to be cleaned out. Johnny Abney says he lost tens of thousands of dollars' worth of personal possessions.

"They came to my door and cleaned everything  from my daughter's clothes to my clothes to everything from A to Z. They pretty much left me with nothing. It's all gone," says Abney in this FOX 4 News Dallas video (posted below). "Not only did they put my stuff out, they watched people take all my property," he says. Abney shows his daughter's ruined toys and school supplies meant for her first day of fifth grade.

The apartment managers recovered one of the mattresses from a dumpster, which had been urinated on. They cleaned it and returned it to Abney's apartment.

Attorney Jason Friedman, representing Abney, argues, "There was no reason to go into his apartment. There was no reason to throw anything away."

The property management company at the Hamilton apartments at The Epic in Deep Ellum attempted to evict Abney afterward. They allege he violated his lease by subletting, but Abney consistently paid his rent.
New York Police Department announced that it plans to monitor backyard parties throughout the city with drones. Though plainly unconstitutional, and in violation of a 2020 law prohibiting it, the warrantless surveillance plan has the support of mayor Eric Adams, who "wants to see police further embrace the "endless" potential of drones, citing Israel's use of the technology," reports the Associated Press.

The plan drew immediate backlash from privacy and civil liberties advocates, raising questions about whether such drone use violated existing laws for police surveillance. "It's a troubling announcement and it flies in the face of the POST Act," said Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, referring to a 2020 city law that requires the NYPD to disclose its surveillance tactics. "Deploying drones in this way is a sci-fi inspired scenario."

The law binds you, not them. The first thought people have is "shoot them down," but the here's the thing: police drones are "aircraft," so you're not risking months in jail for damaging police property, you're risking decades in prison as a terrorist. Instead, find another way.
A high-ranking New Hampshire official for Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign is refusing to answer questions about a video in which he calls for police suicides. He recorded this video during the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to a report from the NH Journal.

"I have a message," Dylan Quattrucci, currently the NH Deputy State Director for the Trump campaign, said in the video. "If you are a police officer, and you are going to abide by unconstitutional bullsh*t, I want you to do me a favor right now and go hang yourself cuz you're a piece of sh*t. Go f*** yourself."

I kid you not, he posted the video to his mother's Facebook account. @SeditionHunters reposted the video (below) to its Twitter account.

Quattrucci is undoubtedly ecstatic that four police officers who protected the Capitol on January 6 have since died by suicide.

From the NH Journal:

Quattrucci tweets from Jan. 6 included, "Mike Pence is a traitor to America" and "I'm bleeding for my country. You'll have to kill me to stop my #FightForTrump." That last tweet accompanied a photo presumably showing Quattrucci's hand with a minor cut on a finger.

WMUR reached out to Trump's New Hampshire campaign staff for a comment. A spokesperson said in a statement, "President Trump's campaign values the hard work of its team to ensure he wins the New Hampshire First-in-the-Nation primary and takes back the White House."
Over the summer, nine teenagers made regular visits to John W. Danforth Co.s shop in the Town of Tonawanda, getting hands-on experience in skilled trades work.

With guidance from experienced instructors  unionized workers at Danforth who stepped forward to help out  they built metal household items that they were able to take home.

Were trying to get some exposure to students on this, said Michael Bement, vice president of shop operations. We are trying to reach out to that student who may be interested in a career in construction and doesnt know what path to take.

Construction, right now, is in need of workers, he said. Our goal here is to introduce and expose these high school-age students to what we do.

Around the region, workforce development leaders, businesses and unions are looking for more young people to go into careers in skilled trades.

The need has become pressing, with more older workers heading toward retirement and fewer younger workers to take their place. The state Labor Department projects a 20% increase in construction jobs in Western New York from 2020 to 2030, a gain of 4,320 jobs over that span.

Still, employers have long said they feel many high schools dont do enough to promote skilled trades as a viable career path after graduation, partly because guidance counselors and parents viewed fields like manufacturing and construction as having limited career opportunities. Over the past three decades, construction employment locally has been flat, according to state Labor Department data.

Danforth is doing its part to provide more exposure to these careers, as is a manufacturing program in Genesee County.

Danforth adopted a program, called the Heavy Metal Summer Experience, that the companys CEO had learned about on a business trip. Participating students attended Danforths program two days a week for six weeks.

Along with working in the shop, the students toured Sheet Metal Workers Local 71 and Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 22  which represent workers at Danforth  and the Lockport Memorial Hospital construction site.

Were trying to tie it all together, Bement said.

Danforth has locations around New York and Ohio.

Were a contractor, but I tell everybody we dont build buildings, we make them comfortable, Bement said. We do the plumbing, the heating, mechanical piping, sheet metal work.

But even an established company like Danforth copes with the challenge of getting young people familiar with  and excited about  careers in the industry.

Danforth kept the number of participants in the summer program deliberately small, said Wendy Glauber, vice president of human resources and general counsel. The company wanted a small instructor-to-student ratio, to ensure safety, provide individualized attention and make students feel comfortable about asking questions. Each instructor typically worked with two students.

A lot of kids didnt know this was an opportunity for them after high school, said Rudy Wolf, a member of Local 22. I think its great to give them the experience and just see whats out there.

Wolf calls his job at Danforth an honest days work for an honest days pay. Along with the pay and benefits is the pride that comes with his work, he said.

You go down the Thruway and say, I built that building, I did the plumbing in that building, Wolf said.

Danforth used a playbook that serves as a guide for the Heavy Metal Summer Experience.

We opened that playbook up and picked what projects would be best for us, especially with living in the piping and sheet metal world, Bement said.

Over the six weeks, the students built a toolbox, a dustpan and garbage can, a picture frame, a tablet holder and a lamp.

Some of these students have said, We want to come back, but we want to make new projects, Bement said. That was really rewarding to hear.

Danforth recruited the participants in a number of ways, including through schools that identified prospects. Some of the students walked in with some background in this type of work; others were simply curious to learn more.

Basically, everybody has an instructor here, so were able to learn equally, said Isaiah Johnson, 15, who attends Frontier High School in Hamburg.

Two classmates from McKinley High School, Derrick Lopez and Luis Hernandez, found out about the Danforth program through their teacher. Both of the 17-year-olds said they are thinking about careers in the trades.

Its been really interesting, Lopez said. Weve been making stuff that we can use on a daily basis, like dustpans, but also how we use the tools in the shop.

This is the first time Danforth has tried the program, so only time will tell if the participants end up making careers in the trades. Glauber hopes they had a positive experience they can share with their friends and teachers, as well.

Its just another way we have an outreach to young people to build our pipeline for future workers in a great industry, she said.

In nearby Genesee County, workforce development advocates are preparing for GLOW With Your Hands, which will showcase careers in the trades. GLOW stands for Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties.

Christopher Suozzi, vice president of business and workforce development at the Genesee County Economic Development Center, teamed up with Jay Lazarony, executive director of the GLOW Workforce Development Board, to launch the program.

GLOW With Your Hands will feature 66 employers and over 1,000 students in grades 8 through 12 from 29 school districts. The event is scheduled for Sept. 26 at the county fairgrounds in Batavia.

The employers who participate are encouraged to demonstrate the work they do, rather than just staff a booth, like at a trade show. In the past, students have been able to try their hand operating a backhoe, compete in a hammering competition and use a welding simulator.

Those hands-on activities are really what sets everybody apart, what really sets the event apart, Suozzi said. Youre physically working. Youre not just talking to somebody.

Suozzi said he sees a growing need for skilled workers in Genesee County and its neighboring counties, especially with two major business projects coming. Plug Power and Edwards Vacuum are building manufacturing plants in the Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park, or STAMP, in the Town of Alabama.

I know that if STAMPs coming and I cant satisfy the workforce for our current employers, whats going to happen when STAMP hits? Suozzi said. My sense of urgency is like no other.

But Suozzi sees signs that interest is picking up, with enrollment rising 30% in the past couple of years in local BOCES programs. We definitely know were making a surge there, he said.

And he views apprenticeships as an ideal way for young people to climb the career ladder.

If you get into an apprenticeship, youre golden, he said. Youve got the best of all worlds. Youre getting educated, youre getting promoted, youre getting pay increases. Youre at the top of the food chain by the time you get done with a four-year apprenticeship program.
Dairy product company HP Hood is expanding its processing operations at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, a $120 million project that will create 48 new jobs at the Batavia facility, Empire State Development said Thursday.

The project will add new processing systems and other upgrades to increase production of Hoods line of extended-shelf-life products, including dairy and non-dairy drinks and creamers.

Hood purchased the 363,000-square-foot former yogurt plant from the Dairy Farmers of America for $60 million in 2017 and expanded the facility by 100,000 square feet, becoming the agri-business parks largest landowner. The company has created 400 jobs at the site so far.

Empire State Development will provide Hood with up to $1 million in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Tax Credits in exchange for job creation commitments at the Batavia facility. Genesee County is also considering providing incentives for the project, which is slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.

This continued commitment from one of the nations most prominent dairy companies will create top-quality jobs and spur new investment in the Finger Lakes, said Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight.

Agriculture and food processing are key pillars of the regions economic development efforts, and HP Hoods latest investment shows that our multi-pronged growth strategy is working, she said.

As one of the nations biggest dairy companies, Hood produces a wide array of fresh dairy products including milk, cream, ice cream, sour cream and cottage cheese, as well as franchise products Crowley Foods, Planet Oat, Heluva Good!, Lactaid, and Blue Diamond Almond Breeze. The companys annual sales top $3 billion.

Hood President Gary Kaneb said Hoods investment in the Batavia facility is being driven by the continued growth of extended-shelf-life dairy and non-dairy beverage categories.

We are grateful for the support of Empire State Development as Batavia continues to be a strategic site for the expansion of our ESL manufacturing capabilities, Kaneb said.

Genesee County Legislature Chair Rochelle M. Stein credited the many family-owned dairy farms in Western New York for providing high-quality local milk to fuel Hoods growing extended-shelf-life dairy beverages.

This investment by HP Hood adds to the agricultural business foundation of our county and strengthens our regional agribusiness economic synergies from farm to consumer, she said.

New Yorks dairy industry is the states largest agricultural sector, with nearly 3,500 dairy farms and 620,000 cows, most of them family owned.Empire State Development said the Greater Rochester Enterprise business development group also assisted with the expansion.

Hood is based in Lynnfield, Mass., and employs 1,200 people in New York, with four other production facilities in Vernon, Oneida, Arkport and Lafargeville.
Kate Nowadlys 5-year-old son with autism is nonverbal, with a tendency to run or climb anything in sight.

Marissa and Nathan Mieth said their son, Anthony, an elementary school student with autism, can throw tantrums and push over tables if his routine is disrupted.

Andrea Binner and Beatrice Vargas have sons who thrived as friends in a middle school program for high-functioning students with autism.

The four parents told The Buffalo News during the last two weeks that they were uncertain which Buffalo school their children will attend starting next week.

They are among more than 400 students with autism and other health challenges affected by changes Buffalo Public Schools implemented in July and August to address class size and structure for the 2023-24 school year. And they are among parents critical of district and special education department communication, timing and lack of compassion for a student population that by nature relies on regular routine.

Its breaking my heart as a mom, said Nowadly, who earlier this month was considering moving closer to a school district that could accommodate her son or, at worst, beginning home instruction. I did my best to advocate for my son.

Buffalo Schools spokesperson Jeffrey Hammond described the adjustments, one affecting elementary students and the other affecting high-schoolers.

For several years, classes for students with autism and sensory needs in kindergarten through fourth grade contained six students, one teacher and one paraprofessional  referred to as 6:1:1 classes.

This year, these classes have been eliminated and students previously enrolled will now attend classes comprising eight students, one teacher and one paraprofessional (8:1:1)  in different schools, in some cases  in order to maximize resources and provide continuity for these students with their peers in grades five through 12, Hammond said in an email.

In other words, Buffalo Schools has erased classrooms with the lowest student-to-teacher ratio for elementary students with autism. Any student who requires more individual attention would be referred to one of Buffalos agency partners outside the district. Several parents told The Buffalo News that those agencies  four of which either did not reply to a request for comment or declined comment  were full and could not accommodate more students due to staff shortages.

Kids with autism 'can completely be themselves' at Explore & More's Au-Some Evenings The event presents a place where children can play freely and safely under the watchful eyes of staff, while parents compare notes on how best to nurture and support those children  and

Buffalo Schools Committee on Special Education (CSE) chairs have since late July contacted parents of affected students to amend student Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) in order for them to be placed in a less restrictive setting.

This realignment will further foster the development of social skills while still being sensitive to students social needs, Hammond said, using sensory integration and group work as examples.

Compared to 58 kindergarten-through-fourth-grade autism classes with a 6:1:1 setup last year, Buffalo will maintain 62 classes of the 8:1:1 structure this year.

Students with disabilities account for 18% of Buffalos 30,000 students, according to 2022 state data, and other special education classrooms for students without an autism diagnosis may include those with behavior and emotional needs.

The district will enroll 438 students with autism in kindergarten through fourth grade for the 2023-24 school year, Hammond said, an increase of 103 over the previous year. He did not say a lack of teachers prompted the elementary class structure change, but noted there is a shortage of about 20 high school special education teachers.

The high school change is more focused, but also invited strong parent backlash toward the district for its timing and lack of understanding of students with autism. One of two Frederick Law Olmsted 8:1:1 Students with Autism Rising to Success (STARS) classes, in which high-functioning students with autism work toward a number of diploma options, will shift to City Honors for the coming year.

Hammond said the curriculum remains the same at City Honors as Olmsted, and the purpose of the change is to expand to two STARS classrooms per grade level at City Honors over the coming years to accommodate a projected increase in students with autism.

Frustration grows

The district has not discussed these changes at board meetings, on the school website or by messaging teachers. That lack of communication has rankled some key district figures.

Making these changes over the summer  the optics of it look bad, said Rich Nigro, new president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation. After hearing concerns from several special education teachers, Nigro said he spoke to Kim Hoelscher, assistant superintendent of special education for Buffalo Schools, who told him teachers moving from 6:1:1 to 8:1:1 would receive greater support, including trainings, additional personnel and supplies.

Its not fair to parents, said Ed Speidel, president of the District Parent Coordinating Council and co-chair of the Special Education Parents Advisory Committee, Buffalo district-recognized parent groups.

Speidel has communicated with several frustrated parents, but finding solutions has been tough. Those parents described their reactions as disgusted, desperate, heartbroken and insulted, he said.

It took the footing right out from under us, Marissa Mieth in early August.

Her son was slated for a 6:1:1 first-grade class at Lorraine Elementary until the South Buffalo family of eight learned Aug. 16 their sons class had been dissolved. They were told there would be no elementary special education classrooms in South Buffalo, and that theyd have to choose between three schools in North Buffalo, about 20 minutes away. That was especially inconvenient, Nathan Mieth said, because the family had used its sibling preference to send another son to join Anthony at Lorraine.

If we knew this was going to happen, our planning would have been very different, Marissa Mieth said.

Buffalo school leaders have already begun damage control.

In hindsight, I certainly wish we would have handled the rollout of this significant change very differently, but we are doing everything possible to ensure these students have a happy and successful year, Superintendent Tonja M. Williams said last week.

Classroom challenges

The loudest complaints among elementary parents about eliminating 6:1:1 classes are the districts highest-need students now have less individual attention and instruction, both academically and for their social-emotional growth. Teachers are worried about safety concerns stemming from more high-need students in a classroom  some with potentially aggressive behaviors  with less supervision.

The 6s struggled last year, said an elementary teacher for students with autism, who asked not be identified because of fears of district retaliation. Teachers were hurt or on leave. How will a move to 8:1:1 make it better for teachers, but more so for kids?

The teacher described significant variance in autism classes. Some elementary students, she said, are nonverbal, unable to feed themselves or use the bathroom alone, and might need a baby bottle in kindergarten. Other students seem on the verge of comfort in a regular classroom.

That teacher understands least-restrictive settings  like the integrated co-teaching model  are the ultimate goal, but students with greater needs may not thrive there yet.

Not everyone benefits from a larger setting, the teacher said.

Nowadlys son, who is nonverbal and entering kindergarten, is an example. Nowadly said the evaluation meeting for her sons IEP  held before any district change  indicated he was best suited for an agency or 6:1:1, public school classroom because hed get more personal attention, more personal care and more hands.

She tried to communicate with the special education department starting in February to find an agency for her son, but by the time she received a reply, she said, agencies were full. The 6:1:1 classes were eliminated shortly afterward.

Im begging them to look at my kid and then try to not care at all, Nowadly said.

Parents and teachers are concerned how the district amended IEPs  legally binding documents  over the summer, months after determinations were made in annual review meetings between students, parents and student support staff.

Theresa Veprek, director of program operations for the Parent Network of WNY, said her organization has fielded calls from parents confused by abrupt changes in placement.

Veprek said she encourages parents to ask the special education department what developments have happened since the review that would suggest the student would be suited for a less-restrictive setting. If parents agree to an 8:1:1 placement, she said they can request a personal aide or more adult support. Parents dont always understand their rights, she said.

The elementary teacher said its crucial the district supply communication tools to help students in 8:1:1 rooms, and is confident in her ability to adjust to the new classroom size due to previous experience in agencies. Im somebody who has a background, but if you dont, I dont know what youd do.

An unwanted move

Charlie Binner and Timothy Anderson Jr. were eighth-grade students with autism at Olmsted who visited Darien Lake this spring with their classmates to celebrate middle-school graduation.

They worked really hard to become friends and learn the skills to make and keep friends, said Charlies mother, Andrea. Timothys mother said the students relished their Class of 27 Olmsted shirts.

Their mantra: Were going to graduate high school together like we did eighth grade, Beatrice Vargas said.

The districts decision to move one of two STARS classes out of Olmsted shattered those plans, leaving the friends with no guarantee theyd be together. Andrea Binner learned at an orientation Aug. 18 at Olmsted her sons class was no more, that they would have to choose another school. Im trying to figure out how to make it through the next two minutes without a panic attack, she recalled of her reaction.

Both parents acknowledge City Honors has a strong academic reputation, but the hard work of adjusting had already been done at Olmsted. The two students grew especially close to school social worker Joel Russell, one of the most compassionate people I have ever met, Binner said.

The two mothers, and parents of other students in the class, are fighting back against the districts decision. Instead of accepting the placement at City Honors, Vargas said shes putting her son in a lottery that could land him back in Olmsted. Wheres the compassion? Wheres the understanding? Vargas asked. Shes beginning to see her son reverse some of his progress.

All of the kids are going to go backwards, Vargas said. The behaviors have already started back up.

The unknowns for the students with autism dwarf their parents worries.

Im concerned that the students that have the hardest time with transition, Binner said, are being asked to transition to a whole new school with very little prep.
Republican Erie County executive candidate Chrissy Casilio on Thursday called for an investigation into accusations that County Executive Mark Poloncarz improperly awarded a $60,000 grant to a cultural organization run by a woman he dated.

Poloncarz has denied the accusations, which were made to the countys Board of Ethics and other government officials last week, and figures show the cultural organization actually received less funding last year than it had in previous years.

But at a news conference on the steps of the Rath County Office Building, Casilio said Poloncarz should have recused himself from the process by which the Centro Culturale Italiano in North Buffalo received a $60,000 grant in public funds last year. Poloncarz was the chair of a committee that selected the grant recipients. Poloncarz would not say whether he was dating the cultural club leader at the time the grant was awarded.

There was a conflict of interest, and he, obviously, did not disclose that information, Casilio said. There needs to be further investigation into exactly what has been going on.

On Wednesday, The Buffalo News reported that a complaint filed with Erie County officials accused Poloncarz of improperly awarding a $60,000 grant to a cultural organization run by a woman he dated.

Poloncarz denies improperly awarding county funds to cultural group run by woman he dated A complaint filed with Erie County officials accuses County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz of improperly awarding a $60,000 grant to a cultural organization run by a woman he dated. Poloncarz denied that he has done anything wrong.

The accusation was sent to the countys Board of Ethics and other county officials Aug. 20, within a day after a different woman he was dating filed a police report accusing Poloncarz of physical abuse  an accusation he also denied. The complaint to the ethics board was made by the same woman who claimed Poloncarz grabbed her during a recent domestic incident.

Poloncarz denied the accusations, and said they did not make logical sense because the funds were awarded through a complex process and in a bipartisan manner, adding: A very private breakup has been made public, and now an accusation that doesnt have any basis in facts has been made.

The facts show there is no merit to the allegation that he improperly awarded county funds, Poloncarz said. Theres nothing that was done wrong. We followed the rules.

The countys Board of Ethics chair Chris G. Trapp said the ethics board would decide if it was going to investigate the matter after its next meeting Sept. 11.

Casilio, though, said someone from outside county government should investigate the accusations.

Republican legislators call Poloncarz police report an example of 'hothead' behavior Republicans on Friday worked to link the allegations regarding his private behavior to Poloncarz's public behavior.

I think this type of investigation needs to involve the U.S. attorney, she said. We need to make sure that whoever is doing the investigation isnt the same people who rely on the county executive for their budget or hiring or political favors or anything that has to do with their operations.

Poloncarz spokesperson Peter Anderson stressed that the Italian Cultural Center is a Western New York institution, and that funding was approved by both Democrats and Republicans in the County Legislature.

What took place was a personal matter and will not distract Mark from continuing to grow Erie Countys economy, cut property taxes even further, and ensure vital services are there for our residents, he said.

Since 2019, the cultural group received $167,500 in funds, according to a memo written to Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick by his staff. That includes allocations from both the county executive and the Legislature.

In 2022, the countys Capital Projects Committee  which is chaired by Poloncarz and also includes some Erie County legislators and department heads  recommended more than 30 local organizations receive a total of $8.6 million in funding, with awards ranging from $4,000 to nearly $1 million. The Italian cultural group received $60,000, which was less than the average grant award.

Poloncarz denies grabbing woman who called police but did not seek charges Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is accused of grabbing and restraining a woman in a Buffalo police domestic incident report. Poloncarz denied grabbing or restraining the woman in any way, and he said he did nothing to merit a police report being filed.

This year, county budget documents show one of his departments recommended the group receive $88,000 in funding, but Poloncarz recommended that amount be reduced to $7,500. Legislators later increased the groups funding to $22,500.

Casilio sought to bring more attention to Poloncarzs conduct by setting up a whistleblower hotline for county employees and others to report bullying by the county executive.

The accusations come at a fraught time for the three-term county executive, who is in the midst of a re-election campaign for what would be an unprecedented fourth term.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Slovakia Zuzana Caputova on the occasion of Slovakia Constitution Day, Azernews reports.

The letter reads:

"Dear Mrs. President,

On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I cordially congratulate you and all your people on the occasion of the national day of your country - Constitution Day.

The dynamics of relations between Azerbaijan and Slovakia, which will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year, is gratifying. The active dialogue of our countries has paved the way for the development of our cooperation on an upward trajectory in a number of fields, especially in the field of energy.

I am sure that we will successfully continue our joint efforts towards the strengthening of Azerbaijan-Slovakia friendly relations, and the realization of the great potential of our mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, investment, transport and other areas.

On this festive day, I extend my best regards to you, and wish the friendly people of Slovakia everlasting peace and prosperity".
Buffalo firefighter Jason Arno, who sacrificed his life five months ago while responding to a four-alarm blaze in a Main Street commercial building, has a new namesake in the State Park Police.

An 18-month-old German shepherd from Hungary, given the name Arno as an homage to the fallen firefighter, was introduced Thursday afternoon by Park Police officers headquartered in Niagara Falls during a news conference at Buffalo Fire Engine Company 2, the Virginia Street station where Arno worked.

'This is felt throughout the country': Hundreds line Delaware Avenue for fallen Buffalo firefighter As light snow fell across the city, at least 1,000 firefighters and first responders in their dress uniforms and white gloves filled Franklin Street in front of St. Joseph Cathedral for the funeral of Buffalo Firefighter Jason Arno.

Jason Arno lost his life selflessly serving the public with honor, bravery and loyalty, said Maj. Clyde Doty, Western District Commander of the State Park Police. We look for nothing less from our K9 partners in the performance of their duties.

Doty and his team of commanders were welcomed to the station by Buffalo Fire Commissioner William Renaldo, who was joined by his team.

Arnos widow, Sarah, mother, Sheryl Maher, and young daughter, Olivia, also attended.

Thank you for being here and being so gracious and giving of your time and energy over these last several months, Renaldo said to Arnos family. And we in the department pay tribute and homage to Jasons bravery, dedication and sacrifice.

Arno, 37, and other firefighters entered a burning building March 1 at 745 Main St.

A wall collapsed as firefighters battled the blaze, started by workers who used blow torches on masonry and bricks before the fire was reported. Thousands of mourners turned out for Arnos funeral nine days later.

Parks Police purchased their newest K9 and about a week ago and assigned him to handler Officer Michael Cali, a veteran with nine years of experience as a K9 handler.

As we preferred to not use the name that came with the K9, we were struggling to find a fitting name for him, Doty said.

Soon after, he and three fellow officers were sitting around, discussing and throwing out all kinds of different names for suggestions, Doty said. Then, out of the blue, Officer Cali simply said, Arno. He said, After the Buffalo firefighter, Jason Arno, who was killed in the line of duty this past March.

Everyone just kind of stopped, looked at each other after a moment of silence, and Officer Cali just said, Yeah, I like that. So, from there, we contacted Commissioner Renaldo to seek approval from Jasons family.

Cali and Arno the K9 are in now in a bonding period.

His official training is going to start Sept. 11, Doty said. He will train first in explosives detection with the Chautauqua County Sheriffs Department and then, eventually, once he completes that training, hell go on to patrol tracking and apprehension training. In all, itll be roughly 16 weeks.

Cali said the K9 is already quite familiar with his new name.

For about two or three days, hes been responding to it, the K9 officer said. Its just been a week that weve had him now.

As Cali petted and rubbed the dogs thick black fur, Arno the K9 showed off his welcoming personality in the presence of another K9 at the news conference.

I think hes just really social, a friendly, social dog, Cali said. Hes including everybody, and thats what we want to see.
Assemblyman James Gallagher speaks at crime rally View Photo

Sacramento, CA  The California Republican Assembly Caucus held a rally outside the state capitol arguing in favor of proposed laws to increase penalties on crime, and opposition to bills that reduce sentences.

Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher argued, We are all gathered here for one reason only; to say enough is enough! We need to make crime illegal again in California. This crime wave that has plagued our state has made far too many victims.

The rally included personal stories from residents and business owners about how they have been negatively impacted by rising crime trends in the state.

The rally voiced opposition to Senate Bill 94, which would allow offenders who are sentenced to life without parole to still petition for possible parole. The speakers also argued in favor of Senate Bill 14, which would increase the penalties for sex trafficking. Gallagher said both pieces of legislation are going before the Assembly Appropriations Committee today (Friday).
South Africas ruling African National Congress (ANC) has blasted CCC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa for representing imperial and neo-colonial interests, ahead of those of his countrymen and the SADC region at large.

This comes as Mr Chamisa is refusing to concede defeat to President Mnangagwa in last weeks harmonised elections, instead opting to listen to his Western handlers who claim the elections were not free and fair.

President Mnangagwa emerged victorious with 52,6 percent of the vote against his closest challenger Mr Nelson Chamisa of the CCC, who garnered 44 percent.

Addressing an ANC meeting yesterday, Cde Fikile Mbalula, who is the revolutionary partys Secretary General, said for siding with imperial powers, Mr Chamisa will never be their ally.

He said reactionaries would never lead African countries as they represent colonial interests.

Cde Mbalula added that it was mind-boggling that as most countries globally were focused on establishing alternative economic orders that are not skewed in the former oppressors favour, Mr Chamisa was looking to further their interests.

Zanu PF, said Cde Mbalula, was the only progressive party in Zimbabwe and would forever remain the ANCs ally.

All these reactionaries and puppets in this continent, you will see them with their long tails everywhere, said Cde Mbalula.

The ANC is not a reactionary party; we might have problems with Zanu PF, but in Zimbabwe you must know what is progressive and our ally is Zanu PF and reactionaries do not want us to say that.

Nelson Chamisa and his allies are not our allies, they do not speak our language. They are not with us in this new world order agenda of the alternative multi-polar world we want to build.

Cde Mbalula said former liberation movements would always have each others back under any circumstances.

We know how the loss of the ANC will affect the African revolution. They are with the neo-liberals and the liberal agenda in the world, and as the ANC we do not subscribe to that.

We are anti-imperialist so any political party that perpetuates the entrenchment of neo-colonialism and imperialism is not our ally.

Our allies can be committing blunders, including former liberation movements, but they remain our allies, said Cde Mbalula.

Zimbabwe is reeling under unilateral economic sanctions imposed by the West, mainly the United States, since 2001.

The sanctions were invited on the country by opposition leaders including Mr Tendai Biti, as recently revealed by President Mnangagwa.

 Herald

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ZEC Stands Firm Against US Pressure, Election Results Under Scrutiny

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has defiantly rejected the demand from the United States State Department to disclose the raw data contained in V11 forms, intensifying the controversy surrounding the recently held elections. The US State Department had urged ZEC to publish the data in order to authenticate the disputed election results.

The opposition party, CCC, has been vocal in its opposition to the election outcome, accusing ZEC of manipulating the data to secure victory for incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa over his main challenger, Nelson Chamisa. CCC alleges that some polling officers were coerced into signing altered polling station result forms, known as V11s, further fuelling doubts about the integrity of the process.

ZEC, however, remains unwavering in its refusal to comply with the US demand, citing the absence of any legal obligation to release such information. Taking to social media, ZEC emphasized its position, stating, ZEC is not compelled by the law to publish V11 forms. The map below shows the real performance by the top two Presidential candidates during the just ended elections.

ZEC is not compelled by the law to publish V11 forms. The map below shows the real performance by the top two Presidential candidates during the just ended elections pic.twitter.com/Q5pQtxD8hy  Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (@ZECzim) August 31, 2023

The US State Department had also called on ZEC to release disaggregated vote results from polling stations to enhance transparency and confidence in the tabulation process. ZEC has not addressed this specific request, leaving room for further speculation and skepticism about the accuracy of the election outcomes.

The controversy surrounding the authenticity of ZECs presidential vote count has deepened as CCC data collectors challenge the credibility of the results. With ZECs rejection of the US demand and the oppositions persistent allegations of manipulation, the publics trust in the electoral process has been significantly undermined.

As the dispute continues, calls for transparency and accountability grow louder. Zimbabweans are eagerly seeking clarity and assurance that their votes were accurately recorded and that the election was conducted fairly. The refusal to release the raw data only adds to the ongoing uncertainty and raises questions about the credibility of the electoral process.

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President Mnangagwa has proclaimed December 9 as the date for by-elections for the nine vacancies created in the National Assembly following the recall of 15 Citizens Coalition for Change legislators two weeks ago.

The Nomination Court will sit on November 7.

The vacancies were created by the recall of the legislators by CCCs interim secretary-general Mr Sengezo Tshabangu.

The dates are contained in a proclamation contained in Statutory Instrument 188 of 2023.

The by-elections will be held in nine constituencies with six of the 15 MPs recalled having been elected through proportional representation.

Breaking News via Email
At 9:20 p.m. Tuesday night, Mary Rasp, her brother and his girlfriend found themselves in a precarious situation. Rasp accidentally drove into a pond  and they were trapped inside as water rapidly filled the vehicle.

But a stranger with just the right training and skills happened to be driving by at that moment and came to the rescue.

On Thursday, Mary Rasp shared the story with The Buffalo News, and Detective A.J. Ortiz spoke with local media.

That night, Rasp was driving her brother, Michael Linnan, and his girlfriend, Estella Gutierrez, who were visiting from San Diego to a house they were renting near Kissing Bridge Ski Resort.

Linnan and Gutierrez were in town because Rasps son is getting married Saturday.

Ill get you kids home, she told her brother and his girlfriend.

Rasp, 71, had offered to drive because her brother, who is 75, has cataracts and cant drive at night.

It was very dark, Rasp said. No lights. None. ... Pitch black.

They were driving along trying to find the house on Crane Road in Glenwood. They finally saw the street sign for Crane Road, and Rasp made a U-turn with her 2020 Lincoln.

There it is! Linnan yelled out, pointing to the house, Rasp recalled.

Rasp made a right turn into what she thought was the driveway and ... splash!

We were floating, she said.

They had driven into a pond next to the road.

The cars electrical system went haywire. The windows wouldnt roll down. The doors were locked shut. The headlights flickered on and off and the horn wouldnt stop blaring.

We started feeling the water coming in by our feet, Rasp said.

She began to panic.

Get those windows open! she yelled.

The murky, muddy water quickly rose inside the car. Soon, it was up to their waists.

Rasp was in a bad state, her arms and legs shaking with fear. She didnt know what to do.

At the same time, Ortiz, a Buffalo police detective who is the second-in-command of the Buffalo Police Underwater Recovery Team, was driving by while off duty.

With many friends and family in the Southern Erie County, Ortiz was familiar with the area.

He was on Crane Road, a street he knows well, when he saw what looked like taillights in a spot where he knew there was a pond.

I turned around to make sure I wasnt seeing something. And it was taillights in a pond, Ortiz said.

Ortiz jumped out, grabbed his flashlight and waded out into the water.

Is everybody OK? Ortiz asked as he looked inside the car and saw three scared people.

Ill help you. Ill get 911 going, he said.

Rasp couldnt have been more relieved to see that someone was there to help them.

There is a God, Rasp said she was thinking.

Ortiz, who had waded out to the partially submerged car, tried to calm them down.

Youre not going to drown, Rasp said Ortiz told them.

The water is up to our waists! Rasp cried to him.

Youve got to be patient. Theres a crew coming, Ortiz replied.

Ortiz could see that the car was starting to slip deeper into the pond.

I wanted to anchor the vehicle, he said.

He used a tow strap to tether the Lincoln to his car. Then, he started working on getting the three people out.

One of back windows was partially open, and Ortiz coaxed Gutierrez, who was sitting in the back seat, to crawl through. Ortiz helped pull her out, put her on his back and carried her to the grass.

Ortiz then went to the front passenger side, where Linnan was sitting.

Rasp pointed out that her brother is 6 feet 2 and about 220 pounds. She watched in awe as Ortiz pulled her brother out through his window.

That amazing man yanked him out over the window and proceeded to drag him on his back out of the water, Rasp said.

Then, he came for Rasp.

Ortiz told Rasp to get over to the passenger side to try to get out that way. But slippery mud had made everything in the car slick and Rasp, who has a bad knee, couldnt get a good foothold on the seat.

Ortiz came up with a new plan. Im going to open the door. Youre going to come right out and Im going to grab you, he said, she recounted.

Water rushed into the car as Ortiz opened the door, scooped up Rasp and carried her out of the pond.

Soon, an ambulance crew and Erie County Sheriffs deputies arrived. Someone brought blankets and to wrap around the shivering trio.

Rasp said she is grateful for Ortiz, the EMTs, the deputies and everyone who came to help them.

Everybody was wonderful, she said.

The car was a total loss, but no one was injured. The whole rescue took about 15 minutes, Ortiz said.

I know somebody was looking over us that night, Rasp said. My brother is an atheist, and I told him: Look at what happened! 

I dont know, he told his sister.

Think about it! Rasp said.

That wasnt the only miraculous event that night, she said. In the water, Rasps diamond wedding ring floated off her finger. She thought she would never see it again. But when the tow truck came to pull the car out of the water, the ring was still inside, she said.

On Thursday, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia commended Ortiz for his skillful rescue.

It shows how calm, cool and collected he acted when it mattered, Gramaglia said.

Tim Carney, chief of patrol services at the sheriffs office, said Ortiz was the right person in the right place with the right training, and he did the right thing.

Ortiz credited the many dive trainings he has been sent to by the Buffalo Police Department. A lot of the work of the underwater recovery team involves recovering bodies and evidence, he said.

It was very good to be a part of something where it was a positive outcome, he said.

Now, Rasps family is back to getting ready for the nuptials this weekend.

One thing is certain: It is going to be one heck of a memorable wedding toast.
ZANU PF and its affiliate Forever Associates Zimbabwe (FAZ) have allegedly threatened to clamp down on Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) supporters in an attempt to foil the opposition partys planned mass protests over last weeks disputed poll results.

The opposition party has threatened to roll out a 30-day campaign starting today to force a rerun of the polls.

CCC spokesperson, Promise Mkwananzi, yesterday said the party had received several reports of its supporters being trailed and threatened by FAZ members.

Results of elections held last week revealed that the CCC had made inroads into traditional Zanu PF strongholds, threatening the ruling partys support base.

They are all over the place targeting our members and supporters. Some of them (CCC supporters) have gone into hiding, Mkwananzi told NewsDay yesterday.

Zanu PF must abstain from violence and other extra-judicial operations that are meant to harm or kill CCC supporters. CCC is a legal and leading party in Zimbabwe.

Muzarabani South CCC losing candidate Wellington Gweru claimed that he went into hiding after being targeted by Zanu PF and FAZ members.

I am worried about my polling agents, family, supporters, friends and relatives whom I think are targeted. I am failing to account for one agent, he said.

Gweru said the harassment and intimidation started before the election.

I was attacked at Goromokwa Farm on my way to a polling station by agents known as Mandi and Rwodzi, he said.

They tracked me everywhere and they attacked my car. I made a police report at Centenary Police Station under RRB 549762. I also failed to transport food to my election agents on polling day.

A WhatsApp audio listened to by NewsDay exposed suspected Zanu PF supporters planning retribution after losing the Seke constituency.

They pretend to be with Zanu PF, but they vote opposition, we should fish them out, a Zanu PF activist is heard on the audio saying.

There are also reports of CCC supporters who have gone into hiding in Zaka, Bikita, Umguza and Sanyati, among other areas.

The rise in cases of political violence against CCC supporters comes as the Masvingo Centre for Research, Advocacy and Development (Macrad) said this week that victims in Chiredzi district have reportedly skipped the border.

For the first time after independence, ward 6 in Chiredzi South was won by an opposition councillor. The ruling party structures in Chiredzi South are breathing fire and promising violence to all those who were behind the opposition councillor. This also resulted in most indigenous Shangaan youth migrating to South Africa, afraid of being victimised, as some are still nursing wounds and some have lost their homes to fire, Macrad said.

It said Vutisani Mushinyi, the chairperson of the Chilonga irrigation scheme, had also skipped the border before the August 23 and 24 harmonised elections.

Zanu PF acting information director, Farai Marapira, however, dismissed the CCC claims.

Our President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been calling for peace and any violence should be condemned in the strongest terms, Marapira said when contacted for comment.

The election period has largely been peaceful, and the ruling party wants to maintain that.

The CCC has refused to accept election results citing several irregularities and intimidation of voters.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) delayed delivering ballot papers in Bulawayo and Harare in what the CCC said was a strategy to frustrate its supporters.

Election observer missions have condemned the elections, but Zanu PF and government allege bias by the former.

The CCC is now plotting protests beginning today to force a fresh election supervised by the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and African Union (AU).

Mkwananzi told NewsDay that the party was engaging regional bodies in a multi-pronged strategy including protests to challenge the results.

The rest is up to the citizens to ensure that they put pressure on the government to respect their vote, Mkwananzi said.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, however warned citizens against participating in the planned protests.

The law is very clear, anyone who wants to do any form of political gathering should get clearance from the police and this is clear in terms of the Maintenance of Peace and Order Act, anyone who contravenes the law should be able to face the consequences, Nyathi said.

On Wednesday, Nyathi warned against illegal gatherings.

The police have taken note of offensive messages circulating on social media platforms openly agitating for violence and illegal gatherings, especially in Harare and Bulawayo, Nyathi said in his statement.

Speaking at a discussion titled Sadc and Solving Post-Election Conflict organised on X, formerly Twitter, citizens expressed mixed opinions about the planned post-election protests.

If Mnangagwa wants to continue illegitimately, he must know he will be putting himself on fire, CCC activist Nimrod Zivhu, said during the discussion.

Another participant, Bernard Muchemwa said the protests were likely to cause serious unrest.

Every time the opposition cries of rigging, it fails to prove that. If Zanu PF supporters also go onto the streets, there will be a dog-eat-dog situation, Muchemwa said.

In 2018, six civilians were killed in post-election protests.

 NewsDay

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Zimbabwes Consulate in Johannesburg is engaging the local police to check if there were any Zimbabweans among the over 70 people killed by a fire which started in the early hours of yesterday in South Africas commercial capital.

The fire broke out in one of the buildings in the city and indications so far are that 73 people died, while 43 were injured.

Zimbabwes Ambassador to South Africa, Mr David Hamadziripi said: The Consulate in Johannesburg is in contact with the police. More information is expected at a later stage.

City of Johannesburg spokesperson, Ms Colleen Makhubele, told the media that the cause of the fire was under investigation.

It is reported that the inferno started at around 1.30am.

Scores of people have since been evacuated from the building, and the emergency services are still carrying out a search and recovery operation.

 Herald

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Yves here. Even with China being a vastly more important a trade partner to Indonesia than the US (22.6% of 2022 exports versus 9.7% in the US), Indonesia so far has not applied to join BRICS. A big factor is that Indonesia exports to US friendlies Japan (8.5%), South Korea (4.4%) and the Philippines (4.4%) brings the total exports to the Western bloc to 39.5% of exports, versus 30.6% for China + India.

So I would not expect Indonesia to be up for BRICS membership any time soon.

By Andrew Korybko, a Moscow-based American political analyst who specializes in the global systemic transition to multipolarity in the New Cold War. He has a PhD from MGIMO, which is under the umbrella of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Originally published at his website

Indonesia is trying to balance relations with its top Chinese trade partner and its increasingly important American security one, but this is extremely difficult to do. On the one hand, Chinas maritime claims are causing problems with fellow ASEAN members, while the US is trying very hard to create the optics that Indonesia supports its containment of the Peoples Republic. Amidst such pressures, joining BRICS could have complicated Jakartas already challenging balancing act.

BRICS historic expansion that more than doubled its number of official members during the groups latest summit in South Africa conspicuously omitted Indonesia. Hopes were high among observers that ASEANs largest economy would join after a recent statement from the host countrys Foreign Minister. Naledi Pandor claimed on 7 August per pages 7-8 of the official transcript of her remarks from that day that Indonesia officially expressed interest in becoming a BRICS member, though this wasnt true.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) clarified during his statement at the summit several weeks later that We intend to conduct a thorough study and calculation. We do not want to make any hasty decision. Our relations with the five BRICS member countries are also incredible, especially on economic cooperation. To become a new member of the BRICS group, a country must submit a letter of expression. Until now, we have not submitted that.

His Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi confirmed a week later that From the start there was an idea from BRICS to expand membership, all BRICS Foreign Ministers made an approach to Indonesia to invite Indonesia to join the BRICS. Internal studies are still being carried out to weigh the benefits from the political side, from the economic side. To join the BRICS, the country must submit what the expression of interest letter conveyedand until now we Indonesia havent conveyed it.

Whats so interesting about this is that Indonesia had just as much time to conduct a thorough study and calculation to weigh the benefits from the political (and) economic side as the six countries that joined, yet it still didnt even submit an expression of interest by the time the summit arrived. This strongly suggests that decisionmakers there have some serious concerns about the potential detriments of membership, at least at this point in time.

Indonesia is a major economy with a GDP of $1.32 trillion in 2022 according to the World Bank. To put that figure into context, its more than new BRICS members Ethiopia, Iran, and Egypt combined and is only barely bested by adding the UAE to this calculation. Indonesias GDP is also larger than Saudi Arabias $1.1 trillion last year. This means that it would have been the largest economy to join BRICS. For these reasons, its important to discover why it didnt even officially convey interest in this.

While it cant be known for sure, the case can compellingly be made that geopolitical pressure played an outsized role in its leaderships reluctance. Although China is Indonesias top trade partner, Jakarta wants to avoid the optics of siding with Beijing on major matters. To be clear, BRICS isnt Chinese-dominated despite the Peoples Republic boasting the groups largest economy by far, but its popularly perceived in the West as a means for that country to accelerate the expansion of its global influence.

Appearing to tilt closer to China than the US in the New Cold War between the SinoRusso Entente and the US-led Wests Golden Billion over the direction of the global systemic transition could have placed Indonesia in an undesirable position as was explained here. In brief, its caught between AUKUS-member Australia and that blocs US leader via the latters newly expanded military presence in the Philippines. From Jakartas perspective, care should therefore be taken to avoid inadvertently provoking them.

Had it agreed to join BRICS last month, then there was no guarantee that those two and whatever agents of influence they command within its borders wouldnt overreact to that in ways that risked destabilizing it, even if only by trying to slow its nearly decade-high 5.31% yearly growth rate. At worst, this could have taken the form of waging Hybrid War on Indonesia, including through support of rebel/insurgent/separatist/terrorist threats by exploiting its internal fault lines that were detailed here.

The other geopolitical factor to consider is how polarizing China is becoming within ASEAN in spite of being each others top trade partner. Even before the release of that countrys new map earlier this week reaffirming its contentious nine-dash-line, Indonesia would have foreseen that the optics of tilting closer to China via formal BRICS membership could pose problems for ASEAN unity. It therefore wisely decided to sit out the groups historic expansion last month in order to adopt a wait-and-see approach.

That was the right thing to do in hindsight since Chinas aforementioned map sparked harsh condemnation from Indonesias Malaysian and Philippine neighbors. Foreign Minister Marsudi also issued a reminder that all territorial claims must be in accordance with UNCLOS. This alluded to the Indonesian Defense Minister agreeingwith his US counterpart last week that China is violating that aspect of international law, though he clarified that it is a statement, but there was no joint statement.

In any case, the point is that Indonesia is trying to balance relations with its top Chinese trade partner and its increasingly important American security one, but this is extremely difficult to do. On the one hand, Chinas maritime claims are causing problems with fellow ASEAN members, while the US is trying very hard to create the optics that Indonesia supports its containment of the Peoples Republic. Amidst such pressures, joining BRICS could have complicated Jakartas already challenging balancing act.

This insight reveals that Indonesias decision to pass up the opportunity to participate in BRICS historic expansion was driven by geopolitical factors and not by economic-financial ones. By adopting a wait-and-see approach, it hopes to retain balanced ties with the New Cold Wars primary Sino-US protagonists while preserving ASEAN unity. These calculations can change by the next BRICS summit since a lot could happen before then, but theyre still expected to remain constant unless something significant occurs.
Car with giant bull named Howdy Doody crammed into passenger seat pulled over by Nebraska police NBC News

Germanys radioactive boars are a bristly reminder of nuclear fallout Science

Drought Reveals 113-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tracks in Texas Smithsonian Magazine

Heres when humans nearly went extinct, reveals new study Interesting Engineering

Climate/Environment

Toxic Train Bombs

Railroads resist joining safety hotline because they want to be able to discipline workers Associated Press

#COVID-19

Old Blighty

Defence secretary Ben Wallace resigns. Before becoming an MP he worked for arms firm Qinetiq. Which arms firm will he join next through the ever-turning revolving door between Whitehall and military industry https://t.co/2uBO7muaRK  Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) August 31, 2023

Niger

Gabon

Coups vs Democracy and the Misunderstanding of Africas Youth The Elephant

India

Balochistans deadly confluence of separatist insurgency and Islamist militancy Himal Southasian

China?

Japans Defense Ministry Requests Largest Ever Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 The Diplomat

New Not-So-Cold War

Positive signals from Brussels reignite Georgians EU hopes Eurasianet

Azerbaijan says embassy in Lebanon attacked by people of Armenian origin Anadolu Agency

Three more Armenians detained at Azerbaijans Lachin checkpoint Eurasianet

Syraqistan

Spook Country

GoFundMe, Go To Hell Matt Taibbi, Racket News

Biden Administration

Trump

1/6

The Supremes

Clarence Thomas Acknowledges Undisclosed Real Estate Deal With Harlan Crow and Discloses Private Jet Flights ProPublica

GOP Clown Car

Our Famously Free Press

AI

HCA, Google roll out generative AI project Beckers Hospital Review

Healthcare?

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Imperial Collapse Watch

Grievance and Reform The Polycrisis. Will the BRICS bargaining chip bear fruit for smaller and lower-income countries?

Class Warfare

Tech

Tech billionaires secretive plan to build a California city from scratch Los Angeles Times

The Bezzle

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Bidens big mouth about to expose his corruption in a soon-to-be-released damning audio tape, Newsmaxs Greg Kelly announces

"Joe has a big problem coming his way."

This was the warning uttered by anchor Greg Kelly during a recent episode of "Greg Kelly Reports" on Newsmax, a teaser for the release of what he referred to as an incriminating audio tape by no less than President Joe Biden himself.

"Biden has a big mouth and it got him into a lot of trouble, but he hasn't seen the half of it yet," Kelly said on the show's Aug. 29 broadcast. "There is an audio tape I am told by people in the know  not necessarily in government, not necessarily out of government, I can't say too much  but there is incontrovertible evidence of Joe Biden's corruption that is about to be made public.

The host said that the White House is aware of the tape's circulation but he claimed not to know who will be releasing the tape to the public. Nevertheless, he informed the public of the rough timeframe of its release. "It's not going to happen tomorrow, it's not going to happen before Labor Day, but it will happen sometime between Labor Day and Halloween," he said, offering very limited information about the release of the alleged tape.

Greg Kelly: "Biden has a big mouth. A damning tape is coming out before Halloween." pic.twitter.com/Ni8n3tnHsr  Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) August 29, 2023

According to Kelly, once the tape is published, Biden would only have two options. One, he would not be able to remain a presidential candidate for the 2024 race. Second, what he "might be able to do  potentially but probably not  is remain as president." He added that there may be more than one damning tape or piece of evidence.

Elsewhere in the show, Kelly also played an audio recording of Biden's alleged call with former Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko back on February 18, 2016, related to the former's demand to fire former Ukrainian Prosecutor Victor Shokin.

"Yesterday, I met with the General Prosecutor Shokin," Poroshenko, where the supposed voice of Biden responded with "Yes." "And despite the fact that we didn't have any corruption charges and we don't have any information about him doing something wrong, I [specifically] asked him to resign," the former president said. Biden answered, "Great." Poroshenko added that this was his second step toward keeping his promises and Biden replied, "I agree."

As per Kelly, it was the former Ukrainian president who recorded the conversation as proof to hold over Biden. He commented that the most incriminating evidence  the "controversial tape  is set to come out and it is going to "blow the lid off of the Biden administration that could probably bring it down forever."

For the host, Biden is just taking it easy as he waits for the worst and is now only all about himself. He claimed that Biden knows "his time is up" because he has recently been engaging in leisurely activities, like going to the beach and biking.

"It's all about himself now. It's all about survival and planning his life after the presidency and trying to protect himself as much as possible. The country? We are not on Joe Biden's mind," Kelly commented and added, "If this pans out I think the way it is, it shows once again that Donald Trump was right."

Greene: Let Biden's impeachment process begin!

Meanwhile, Republicans have been ramping up their attacks on Biden in recent days. They have sent out feelers of impeachment plans based on the GOP-led House investigations into the Biden crime family and their illegal business affairs.

But for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga), the party seemed to be soft and slow on this. "What the hell is wrong with Republicans who aren't moving to investigate President Joe Biden?" she said during a Tuesday morning interview on Real America's Voice News' "American Sunrise." "I can't comprehend that we need any more evidence. We have so much."

The Peach State's congressperson even added that if a House vote for impeachment were to be held today, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy "would be one of the first ones to vote yes." "It's not our Speaker's [fault.] It's still some of these few remaining Republicans that may have won a Biden district, or they, for whatever reason, I don't know," she said and pushed to vote on it in September.

Moreover, McCarthy called impeachment a natural step forward during an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, where he made accusations about the Biden family's "culture of corruption." The GOP leader also told host Maria Bartiromo, "Well, we have been out on summer recess. When we go back, we'll discuss this. But we find new information every week." He also said that passing a short-term spending bill to keep the government running past the end of September would ensure that investigations of Hunter Biden could continue. (Related: The American public is ready to go off on 'the Biden crime family' and all this ongoing nonsense, what is hands down the worst political scandal in U.S. history, dwarfing Watergate.)

Get updated on the Biden family's illegal international business dealings at BidenCrimeFamily.news.

Sources for this article include:

Newsweek.com

News.Yahoo.com

APNews.com
Brushfires break out near Kaanapali resort area where many Lahaina wildfire victims are staying

Residents were forced to evacuate after brushfires swept through parts of Kaanapali , Hawaii on Aug. 26. But unlike the deadly wildfires on Aug. 8, authorities acted swiftly to end the emergency.

Using a helicopter from above and water cannons from the ground, firefighters doused flames in two hours, preventing further damage. There were no reported casualties.

The fire broke out at around 12:45 p.m. near the Kaanapali resort area where many of the wildfire victims from Lahaina are now staying.

By 2:45 p.m., a Maui County alert said "firefighters had stopped forward progress of the fire. No additional threats or evacuation order (sic) are in place."

The brushfire, which affected four hectares of land, came just 18 days after deadly wildfires devastated Maui, leaving at least 115 dead and 2,207 structures either damaged or destroyed.

At least 2,170 acres of land were burned in the Maui inferno and an estimated $5.5 billion is needed to rebuild the areas damaged by fires, officials said. Three hundred individuals remain unaccounted for as authorities try to determine what triggered the wildfires.

"We don't know what actually ignited the fires. But we were made aware in advance from the National Weather Service that we're in a red-flag situation," said Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara.

Hara, who leads the Hawaii National Guard, said three factors set the stage for fire risks: months of drought, low humidity and high winds.

Authorities ignored warnings about fire threat of invasive grasses in Maui

The invasive grasses in Maui also posed a deadly fire threat, according to a report published in the Wall Street Journal.

Local fire officials in Lahaina, Hawaii, had long been concerned about invasive grasslands taking over abandoned sugar plantations above the ancestral capital. These grasses, highly flammable and responsible for previous blazes, raised fears among wildfire-prevention groups.

The accumulation of vegetation around Lahaina contributed to "catastrophic fire spread," according to a preliminary analysis by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. Maui County filed a lawsuit alleging Hawaiian Electric equipment ignited the fire.

Reports and interviews suggest county and state authorities ignored warnings about the grasses for years.

Large landowners, including the state, an educational foundation and a developer, had little incentive to address the issue. Maui County data and property records revealed extensive overgrowth around Lahaina, but authorities took limited action. (Related: Maui wildfires continue to expose governments FAILURES and QUESTIONABLE decisions.)

Reports spanning nearly a decade consistently warned about the grasses' fire risk, with Maui's fire department highlighting the dangers. Despite the warnings, wildfires fueled by overgrown vegetation occurred in 2018 and 2022.

Efforts to mitigate invasive grasses faced challenges due to limited resources, lack of penalties and fast regrowth. The complex issue involved large landowners like Kamehameha Schools and the state education agency.

Local and state government responses were insufficient, prompting the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization to independently fund mitigation efforts.

The situation echoed challenges faced in other places like California, where wildfire prevention efforts only gained momentum after destructive fires. The catastrophe underscored the need for proactive vegetation management and collaborative efforts between authorities and landowners to mitigate fire risks.

Visit Disaster.news for more stories about the Maui wildfires.

Watch this video about the Lahaina wildfire disaster.

This video is from the InfoWarSSideBand channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Maui coverup: where in the world are all the children?

LAND GRAB: Hawaii government to confiscate lands burned by deadly Maui wildfires.

Hawaii state official deprived Lahaina of water to fight fires until devastation was complete  WHY?

Maui wildfires: Lawsuit accuses Hawaiian Electric of negligence resulting in wrongful deaths, severe injuries and damages to property.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

PBS.org

WSJ.com

Brighteon.com
Victory for parental rights: California school district agrees to pay family $100,000 settlement after teachers transitioned student to LGBT behind parents back

In what attorneys are describing as a "resounding victory for parental rights," the Spreckels Union School District in the Salinas-Monterey area of Northern California has agreed to pay a $100,000 settlement to a mother who says that child-grooming public school "educators" encouraged her daughter to switch genders behind her back.

Jessica Konen filed a lawsuit last year against the Spreckels Union School District on behalf of her daughter Alicia, who was groomed to take on a new name and gender pronouns after "teachers" convinced the seventh grader that she is a transgender.

"Today's settlement is a clear message to schools: parents will not stand idly by as schools trample on their right to raise their children," said the Center for American Liberty, which represents Konen and her daughter.

CEO Harmeet Dhillon also commented on the victorious case, stating that at its core it is about "upholding the sacred bond between parents and their children."

"Parents have an inherent right to be involved in pivotal decisions concerning their children's lives," Dhillon said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Spreckels Union did not admit to do any wrong-doing.

Center for American Liberty is proud to announce a settlement in Konen v. Spreckels Union School District that resulted in a $100,000 payment by the school district to Jessica and Alicia for the violation of their rights. Thanks for all the hard work @pnjaban, @mark_trammell, pic.twitter.com/wdORxgueEH  Center for American Liberty (@Liberty_Ctr) August 29, 2023

(Related: The trans mob, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, is furious that some Southern California school districts are rightfully informing parents about their students' LGBT gender "transitions.")

Buena Vista Middle School in Salinas is run by GROOMERS who are transitioning innocent children into LGBTs

According to the suit, Spreckels Union is operating under a "Parental Secrecy Policy" that effectively strips parents of their right to know whether or not their children are being groomed into a life of transgenderism or some other form of LGBTism.

Two "teachers" who headed up Buena Vista Middle School's "Equality Club" told 11-year-old Alicia that she is a transgender and pushed her to take on a "male identity." They also warned the young girl not to tell her family about it, to which she obeyed and hid the information from her mother.

Alicia was then given a "Gender Support Plan" that the two groomers drew up for her. That plan included a new name, male pronouns and a push for unisex bathroom use  and Konen was never told about any of it.

During the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "pandemic" when Alicia was forced to take classes at home through a remote learning platform, she gradually started to shed her transgender identity  because when she was not around the groomers, she naturally started reverting back to normal.

"If you choose not to fight for your children, then they will fight and take your children," Konen said in a statement. "Stand up, parents. It's your right to be able to parent your own children."

Dhillon added that he is simply "thrilled to have played a role in this landmark victory, which sends a clear message that parental rights must be respected."

"Jessica and Alicia's courage has inspired countless others to defend their rights against unwarranted intrusions," she said.

The settlement was delivered just one day after California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Chino Valley Unified School District in Southern California for requiring all public schools under its banner to inform parents about their children's gender transitions.

Bonta, who seems to be just as much of a child-grooming pervert as Newsom, called Chino Valley's decision a "forced outing policy."

This week, Protect Kids California announced the launch of a campaign to place three transgender-related initiatives on the November 2024 ballot in California, including a measure that would require parental notification for all LGBT and gender-transition issues that occur within the state's public schools.

The latest news about the fight against the Cult of LGBT at the public school level can be found at Transhumanism.news.

Sources for this article include:

WashingtonTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
Calls to shut down DC US Attorneys office, FBI field office, and federal court after pro-lifers thrown in regime gulag

Theres widespread demand to shutdown D.C.s U.S. Attorneys office, FBI field office, and Federal court. This comes after these weaponized institutions unjustly convicted five pro-life activists of conspiracy for blocking an entrance to an abortion clinic. These individuals now face up to eleven years in prison.

(Article republished from Revolver.news)

Yes, eleven years

Justice.gov:

Today, a federal jury convicted five defendants  Lauren Handy, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia; John Hinshaw, 67, of Levittown, New York; Heather Idoni, 61, of Linden, Michigan; William Goodman, 52, of Bronx, New York; and Herb Geraghty, 25, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  of both offenses in a two-count indictment charging them with federal civil rights offenses in connection with an alleged reproductive health care clinic invasion in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 22, 2020. The defendants were each convicted of a felony conspiracy against rights and a FACE Act offense. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, for the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, and Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist, of the FBI Washington Field Offices Criminal and Cyber Division. The defendants each face up to a maximum of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $350,000. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who presided over the trial, ordered the defendants immediately detained as required by statute. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date. As the evidence at trial showed, the defendants, engaged in a conspiracy to create a blockade at the reproductive health care clinic to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services. As part of the conspiracy, Handy, Hinshaw, Idoni, Goodman, and Geraghty, traveled to Washington, D.C. from various northeast and midwestern states, to meet with Handy and participate in a clinic blockade that was directed by Handy and was broadcast on Facebook. According to the evidence, Handy, Hinshaw, Idoni, and Goodman forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains and ropes. Once the blockade was established, their activities were live-streamed. The evidence also showed that the defendants violated the FACE Act by using a physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with the clinics employees and a patient, because they were providing or obtaining reproductive health services.

Lets not forget the unchecked actions of BLM activists in D.C., where theyve blocked highways and even obstructed emergency vehicles from reaching hospitals. Add to that Antifa protesters who disrupt traffic and resort to violence while advocating for abortion, all while seemingly facing no real legal consequences whatsoever.

This was when the pro-abortion protest in Los Angeles on Friday night devolved into a riot. The violent extremists, aided by #Antifa in black bloc, shut down the freeway & streets. Here, they threaten & attack @LAPDHQ officers. Video by @fromkalen. pic.twitter.com/DkPde9y4Ud  Andy Ngo ???? (@MrAndyNgo) June 26, 2022

Journalist Julie Kelly is calling for the shutdown of these compromised, weaponized, and unjust institutions entrenched in the Swamp. Heres what she had to say in a tweet:

Five pro-life activists are now sitting in a DC jail after a DC jury found them guilty of a blockading a DC abortion clinic. Shut down DC US Atty office, Washington FBI field office, and DC federal court.https://t.co/dYLSCp1RIZ  Julie Kelly ?? (@julie_kelly2) August 29, 2023

This reminds us of the unjust case of Douglass Mackey, a young man convicted of conspiracy for sharing an anti-Hillary meme on Twitter. Hes now facing the possibility of a decade behind bars.

Its high time Republican lawmakers moved beyond faux outrage on social media and empty soundbites. They need to take decisive action against those who are weaponizing our cherished institutions to target law-abiding Americans. If they cant rise to the occasion, they need to be voted out and replaced by genuine fighters who know how to outmaneuver Dems at their own evil game.

Read more at: Revolver.news
From one unapologetic media hoax to the next

Joe Biden lied repeatedly when he claimed he knew nothing of his son Hunters influence-peddling businesses.

(Article by Victor Davis Hanson republished from AMGreatness.com)

The President further prevaricated that he had no involvement in Hunters various shake down schemes.

Yet, the media continued to misinform by serially ignoring these facts.

Had journalists just been honest and independent, then candidate Joe Biden might have lost a presidential debate and even the 2020 election. The public would have learned that Hunters business associates and his laptop proved Joe was deeply involved in his sons illicit businesses.

Later, as the evidence from IRS whistleblowers mounted, the White House stonewalled subpoenaed efforts and sought to craft an outrageous plea deal reduction in Hunters legal exposure.

Reporters ignored the Ukrainians who claimed Joe Biden himself talked to them about quid pro quo arrangements.

They again discounted Hunters laptop that explicitly demonstrated that Hunter was whining that he had handed over large percentages of his income to his father Joevariously referred to as the Big Guy and a ten percent recipient on many deals.

They played dumb about Joe Bidens use of pseudonyms and alias email accounts to hide thousands of his communications to Hunter and associates.

They attacked the former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who now claims Biden was likely bribed by Ukrainians.

Yet the media can no longer hide the reality that the President of the United States likely took bribes to influence or alter U.S. policy to suit his payers. Those two crimesbribery and treasonare specifically delineated in the Constitution as impeachable offenses.

In denial, the media has instead pivoted with hysterical glee over various weaponized prosecutions of Donald Trump.

But now, to use a progressive catchphrase, the proverbial walls are closing in on Joe Biden.

So will we at last expect the media finally to confront the truth?

Answeronly if Joe Bidens cognitive and physical health continues to deteriorate geometrically to the point that he can no longer finish his term or run for reelectionand thus becomes expendable.

Such a cynical view of the media is justified given their record of both incompetence and unapologetic deceit.

From 2015 to 2019, we were suffocated 24/7 with lies like Russian collusion, Putins puppet, election rigging and the Steele dossier.

When all such evidence was proven to be a complete fraud cooked up through Hillary Clintons stealthy hiring of and collusion with a discredited ex-British spy, a Russian fabulist at the Brookings Institution and a Clinton toady in Moscow, did the media apologize for their untruth?

Was there any media confessional that perhaps Robert Mueller and his leftwing legal team (the giddy media-dubbed all-stars, dream team, and hunter killers) proved a colossal waste of time?

Not at all.

Instead, the media went next right on to the phone call and impeachment.

The country then wasted another year.

The same biased reporters now claimed that the heroic Andrew Vindman had caught Donald Trump fabricating lies about the Bidensgiven Joe Biden was a possible 2020 opponentto force Ukraine to investigate them or lose American foreign aid.

On that accusation Trump was impeached.

Then the truth emerged that unlike Joe Biden, Trump never threatened to cancel aid, but merely to delay it.

Trump was right that the Bidens were knee deep in Ukrainian bribes and influence peddling.

And that the whistleblower had no first-hand knowledge of the Trump call but was spoon fed a script cooked up by the gadfly Vindman and Rep. Adam Schiff.

The result was journalistic glee that we impeached a president for crimes that he did not commit but exempted another president, Joe Biden, who had actually committed them.

Then came the next hoax of the Russian fabricated facsimile of Hunters laptop.

The 2020 Biden campaign along with an ex-CIA head rounded up 51 intelligence authorities to mislead the country into believing that Russian gremlins in the Kremlin had fabricated a fake laptop.

Ponder that absurd fantasy: Moscow supposedly had created fake nude pictures, fake photos of Hunters drug use, and fake email and text messages from Hunter to the other Bidens.

The media preposterously convinced the country that the Russians and by extension Donald Trump had once again sandbagged the Biden campaign.

No apologies followed when the FBI later admitted it had kept the laptop under wraps for more than a year, knew it was authentic, and yet said nothing as the media and former spooks misled the country and warped an election.

Now we are enmeshed in at least four court trials on cooked-up charges that could as easily apply to a host of Democrats as to Trump.

For the last eight years, a discredited media has never expressed remorse for any of the damage they did to the country. And they will not again, when their latest mythological indictments are eventually exposed.

Read more at: AMGreatness.com
A man died. That alone is enough reason for the Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride tour to remain closed until all questions have been answered.

Its therefore both mystifying and disturbing that the tours would resume  even as walking excursions, with the aquatic element removed. As it now stands, no safety assurances have been given by this attractions private owners or by local government officials. One of many unanswered questions regards a key issue with faulty electrical wiring in the tunnel where these tours take place.

The attractions tragic history demands a thorough and credible official accounting. But so far, the silence has been deafening. Until it is broken, there is no justification for allowing these tours to continue in any form.

The tours single boat capsized on June 12, during an excursion for members of the local tourism industry. Harshad Shah, 65, was pinned under the boat and drowned. He was a native of India and the longtime president of the Budget Host Inn in Niagara Falls. His wife was also injured, as were 10 other people. During the rescue effort, some first responders had to break through rock with sledgehammers to access the tunnel.

Since this fatal accident, the tour  which includes a boat ride and a walking segment  has been nonoperational. The incident drew international attention, with questions arising at every level, including these basic concerns:

What official oversight, if any, does this attraction have? At the time of the accident, representatives of both Gov. Kathy Hochul and Niagara County told The News that their respective levels of government were not responsible for safety inspections of the Lockport Cave boat ride. Both Hochul and State Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt of North Tonawanda urged state oversight of the attraction, with Ortt introducing legislation to make it so, but none of this has been finalized. The tour remains unanswerable to any government body.

Had the attraction ever been subjected to a safety inspection? It seems not and no one seems to be clear on which entity would be doing the inspection.

Lockport chief building inspector Jason Dool visited the site the day after the accident and found a broken electrical conduit that left wiring exposed; areas where the wrong wiring was used; and a rusted panel box. Though this is unlikely to have contributed to the boat accident, there is no word on whether any of it has been addressed.

A similar incident in which the boat capsized occurred in September 2015, but was never publicly reported or investigated.

Most disturbingly, Tom Callahan, co-owner of the ride, has been steadfast in his unwillingness to address specific questions about his business, even after a fatal accident.

To our knowledge, the results of any official investigation by the city of Lockport  if, indeed, one took place  have not been revealed.

And now Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride is ready to bring visitors back into the tunnel for a 1-hour guided, historic, lantern-lit walking tour.

Sorry, but no. Even if boat tours are not advertised or available for reservation, it is still horrifically unwise to risk further accidents or even loss of life.

Keep the Lockport Cave attraction closed until its safety has been thoroughly vetted and official government oversight is in place.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.
Nikki Haley: Prospect of Kamala Harris presidency sends chills down every Americans spine

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has warned that a Democratic victory in the 2024 presidential elections is a serious cause of worry for all Americans

She echoed this warning during an Aug. 27 appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" hosted by Maria Bartiromo. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, stressed that incumbent President Joe Biden may not be able to make it through an entire second term even if he wins in 2024. This opens the door for incumbent Vice President (VP) Kamala Harris to replace him in the Oval Office.

"We have to make sure we win this because the thought of Harris being president should send a chill up every American's spine," Haley told Bartiromo. To accomplish this goal, she added that the GOP needs to target suburban women, Hispanic voters and Asian-American voters. The erstwhile governor had been insinuating for months that a vote for Biden in the 2024 elections means a vote for the former California attorney general.

"My concern is we cannot have Harris as president. We can't chance this. We have to make sure that we have a new generational leader that's going to bring in not only Republicans, but  pull back the independents."

This was not the first time the former governor of the Palmetto State voiced out her opposition to the incumbent VP becoming the chief executive. In July 2023, Haley told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at the Family Leadership Summit: "We can't afford a President Harris. I will say that over and over again."

The 51-year-old Haley, who formerly served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under the Trump administration, has made age a focus of her 2024 bid. She has called for mental competency tests for politicians older than 75  a clear shot at both the 80-year-old Biden and 77-year-old former President Donald Trump. Haley has also suggested that Biden is unlikely to survive a second term, in which he would be 86 if he finishes it.

Haley claims Trump has "slim chance" of winning but surveys prove otherwise

During her appearance on Bartiromo's program, Haley also commented on Trump  her erstwhile boss turned rival for the GOP presidential nomination. She remarked that the former president, who is currently the frontrunner among GOP candidates, has a slim chance of winning.

"Trump is a friend of mine. It was an honor to serve in the [Trump] administration and work on foreign policy with him, and I agree with a lot of his policies," she said. "But the fact is, I don't know if it's four, five, six or how many indictments it is now  but he's going to spend a lot of time in a courtroom and not on a campaign trail."

But the latest surveys disprove Haley's claims about Trump. An average of recent polls conducted between Aug. 17 and Aug. 26 found that Trump has 53 percent of voters' support, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has 13 percent. Haley landed at fourth place with five percent of votes, trailing entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who received 7.5 percent.

Despite the former president's legal troubles, including four indictments, his lead has grown over the other candidates. The results of a Morning Consult poll as of Aug. 29 found that Trump leads the race with 58 percent. DeSantis landed in second place with 14 percent, while Haley recorded a five percent support, among voters. This put her in fifth place behind Ramaswamy and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Moreover, some polls also show that most Republicans view the criminal charges against Trump as politically motivated, making the topic a tricky one to navigate for his rivals. (Related: Poll: 55% of independents find Trump's indictment politically motivated  because IT IS.)

Visit VoteRepublican.news for more stories about Trump, Haley and other GOP presidential candidates.

Watch Nikki Haley blasting Vice President Kamala Harris' "embarrassing" response to the border crisis in this Fox News interview.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

GOP presidential primary debate: No one came out to challenge Trump's dominance.

Trump will NOT attend any Republican primary debates, but dominates the field anyway.

Hillary Clinton: Joe Biden's AGE is a legitimate issue to consider ahead of 2024 presidential elections.

Polling indicates Trump's nomination by the Republican National Convention is ALL BUT GUARANTEED.

Kamala Harris put in charge of "Ministry of Gender Truth" to harass anyone who doesn't bow down to LGBT insanity.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

MSN.com

Pro.MorningConsult.com

Brighteon.com
House subpoenas CCDH for information regarding its COLLUSION with Biden administration to censor online content

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio has officially subpoenaed the anti-online free speech organization the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) for documents and other information relating to the group's communications with the federal government

The subpoena gives the CCDH until the end of September to produce the necessary communications with the White House since Jan. 1, 2020 regarding "content moderation" that occurred "as a result of the government's influence.

"It is necessary for Congress to gauge the extent to which the federal government or one of its proxies worked with or relied upon CCDH to censor speech," wrote Jordan in the subpoena's accompanying letter to CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed. "The scope of the Committee's investigation includes intermediaries who may or may not have had a full understanding of the government's efforts and motivations." (Related: Imran Ahmed from CCDH censorship organization facing congressional inquiry over "Disinfo Dozen" report.)

Jordan's subpoena against the CCDH comes after the organization allegedly refused to "comply voluntarily" with requests for the aforementioned records. These requests were made by the House Judiciary Committee in early August when it began its investigation on how the administration of President Joe Biden is attempting to influence efforts to moderate online content.

"By declining to produce anything of substance in response to the Committee's request, CCDH is hindering the Committee's ability to fulfill its constitutional oversight obligations," wrote Jordan.

CCDH claims Jordan's subpoena is "pointless"

In his response to Jordan's subpoena, Ahmed called the latest inquiry "a pointless, time-wasting attack on our work and an attempt to silence our efforts to study and hold social media companies accountable."

"After we explained to the Committee that we engaged with both Republican and Democratic administrations, this request oddly shrunk to focus almost entirely on our communications with the current administration," said Ahmed in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to engage on a bipartisan basis with political parties in the United States and elsewhere in productive conversations on preventing the spread of disinformation that harms human life, but this request looks increasingly like a wild goose chase."

In a letter responding to Jordan sent by a lawyer representing the CCDH, the organization claimed that it "may not have a clear understanding of CCDH's mission or work."

The letter claims that the CCDH has a 501(c)(3) designation as a charitable entity and is therefore obligated to remain nonpolitical and nonpartisan. The letter reiterates Ahmed's claims that it works with both Republican and Democratic officials, pointing out that it in the past collaborated with former President Donald Trump's administration.

The CCDH, a British nonprofit funded by a variety of individuals and organizations including investment groups linked to China, came to prominence as the origin of Biden's "disinformation dozen," the administration's nickname for 12 Facebook accounts that the CCDH identifies as the top sources of so-called disinformation on the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

Biden used the CCDH's research to call on Facebook's parent company Meta to censor the accounts of those responsible for spreading so-called disinformation and accusing the social network of "killing people" by allowing these accounts to continue posting freely. One of the "disinformation dozen" is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Biden's leading opponent in the Democratic presidential primary.

For its work, the CCDH has also been the target of multiple legal battles. One lawsuit, filed by the organization America First Legal, claimed that the CCDH has colluded with Democrat attorneys general to censor speech online. Another, filed by Twitter parent company X Corp, alleged that the CCDH "unlawfully" scraped data from the platform and hurt the company's revenue by influencing advertisers to pause spending on the site.

For more news about the government's censorship efforts, head over to SpeechPolice.news.

Watch this clip from the Next News Network discussing how Jordan is planning to subpoena other individuals, including people within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, to learn more about the Hunter Biden scandal.

This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

FACEBOOK FILES: FBI communicated more than once with tech giant to cover up Hunter Biden's "Laptop from Hell."

YouTube takes down video about free speech lawsuit against Biden, claiming it promotes "medical misinformation."

Twitter parent company X Corp sues Center for Countering Digital Hate over "scare campaign" that drove away advertisers.

Mark Zuckerberg, facing imminent contempt Congress charges, agrees to cooperate with GOP probe into Big Tech-government collusion.

"Hate speech" censorship group partnered with White House funded by these 9 "dark money" sources.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

TheHill.com

TheFederalist.com

WashingtonExaminer.com

Brighteon.com
ISIS-affiliated smuggler helped migrants illegally enter the U.S. via Mexico

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating a migrant smuggler with ties to the Islamic State (ISIS) who helped more than a dozen migrants enter the United States illegally through the southern border with Mexico

The investigation started when U.S. intelligence officials discovered a smuggling network based in Turkey that brought people mainly from Uzbekistan into the U.S., with one of the smugglers used by this network having ties to ISIS.

The FBI noted that it has not uncovered any evidence of a specific ISIS plot, and National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson added that authorities have not uncovered any evidence that the illegals smuggled into the country by the network have any ties to ISIS or any other extremist organizations. (Related: Venezuelan illegal immigrant paroled by Biden ARRESTED by ICE in Chicago for allegedly FUNDING TERRORISM.)

Watson further noted that the White House is closely scrutinizing several of the illegals that were smuggled in by the ISIS-linked individual as possible criminal threats. These individuals who "fit the profile" of those assisted by the smuggling network are already being placed in rapid deportation proceedings and "thoroughly vetted."

About 15 of the roughly 120 migrants from Uzbekistan smuggled into the U.S. by the ISIS-linked individual fit this profile, and the FBI is reportedly trying to locate all of them.

"I'm not so sure I believe it's raising alarm bells across the government because I think most of the people in the government now are  other than a few good civil servants here and there  most of them that have any real authority are knowingly allowing this to happen  and apparently are in favor of it," said TV personality and political commentator Brannon Howse. "[This] begs the question: What are these people doing here? Who's paid for them to be smuggled here? And what orders are they waiting for, and from whom and when?"

Biden scrambling to respond to renewed threat by ISIS-linked militants

Top members of President Joe Biden's cabinet have reportedly been informed and have kickstarted a flurry of urgent meetings with top national security and administration officials.

The identification of an ISIS-linked individual working to smuggle migrants into the U.S. comes at a time when migration into the country is reaching record-high levels. Between October 2022 and July 2023, nearly two million migrants were encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border. Of these, at least 216 were identified as being part of U.S. watchlists for potential links to terrorism.

This revelation also comes at a time when Republicans and other conservatives in the U.S. continue to strongly criticize the Biden administration for the lack of security at the southern border. The leadership of at least two committees in the House of Representatives has already reportedly been informed of the incident.

Furthermore, the law enforcement and intelligence communities are expressing serious concerns that there is an increasing number of migrants coming from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian nations, a region that isn't normally known to be a major source of immigrants. They note that this fact alone should have immediately been a cause for alarm for the Biden administration.

But for some Biden administration officials who spoke with media outlets, the discovery of the smuggling network is proof that the border is secure. They claim that the administration's intelligence community was able to identify a particularly dangerous group of migrants and intelligence agencies collaborated with the FBI on an investigation that allegedly determined that they did not pose a threat.

"We continually assess our security architecture to ensure that we are best poised to respond to threats to the homeland," said Watson. "Moreover, we will continue to constantly recalibrate our screening, vetting and processing of those encountered entering the United States to ensure that we are taking into account the most up-to-date information at our disposal and with an unyielding commitment to protecting Americans and the homeland from the full range of potential threats."

Learn more about the dangerous character of the illegals pouring into the U.S. through the southern border at InvasionUSA.news.

Watch this clip from the "Worldview Report" as host Brannon Howse interviews Anni Cyrus about the implications of the extremist smuggler helping illegals cross the border.

This video is from the Worldview Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Biden regime "welds open floodgates" at southern border in Arizona to allow illegal aliens to POUR THROUGH.

Chicago officials refuse to disclose how they spent $120M in taxpayer money on ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

US border crisis persists: Thousands of migrants continue to cross daily despite the summer heat.

NEW DOMESTIC TERRORISTS: Chinese shock troops posing as tourists entering U.S. through Mexican border could ignite WWIII from within our homeland.

Five illegal migrants on FBI's terrorist watchlist ARRESTED shortly after Title 42 expired.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Edition.CNN.com

Reuters.com
Falun Gong founder: COVID-19 resurgence in China targeting top ChiCom Party officials

The resurgence of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) in China is mainly targeting top officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to the founder of the Falun Gong spiritual practice.

Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi told the Epoch Times on Aug. 26 that the latest EG5 strain is directed at the CCP and those who blindly follow, defend and give their lives to it. He said: "When humans become corrupt in their hearts, they will generate karma, fall sick and suffer calamities."

"A pandemic like the current [one]  has come with a purpose and with a target. It has come to eliminate the followers of the evil [CCP] and those who go along with [it]."

The Falun Gong founder advised people to "stay far away from the evil CCP and don't align with [it]. Because what lies behind it is the red demon. Its behavior and actions are thuggish, and it stops at no evil."

Li's remarks came more than three years after the city of Wuhan in China's central Hubei province became the ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic. The disease recently returned to the mainland, with infections fueled by the EG5 strain. Many top-ranking CCP members are suffering and dying from the disease, despite their special access to medical care and drugs that ordinary Chinese citizens cannot reach.

Dozens of Chinese officials, senior executives, prominent academics and scientists  some in their 20s and 30s  have succumbed to the latest COVID-19 wave. Recent obituaries of prominent figures published by Chinese media, state-owned entities and universities have highlighted their CCP affiliations.

This wasn't the first time Li commented on the COVID-19 pandemic in China. In January, he disclosed that more than 400 million have died in the communist country and that the CCP has been covering up the true situation in China. In March 2020, Li said plagues are inevitable when moral values deteriorate.

Zero-COVID had disastrous outcome for the mainland

"Over the past three-and-a-half years, the world has learned to live with the virus. China's ruling regime [meanwhile] aggressively pursued its draconian 'zero-COVID' campaign aimed at eliminating every potential case," the Epoch Times noted. (Related: Zero-COVID policy having severe effects on Chinese economy.)

"In China, almost everyone has joined a [CCP-affiliated] organization at some point in their life. Demonstration of loyalty to the [CCP] is a necessary condition for holding a position of authority."

One cannot help but wonder if the events in China serve as just desserts for the CCP's oppression of Falun Gong adherents. The discipline, rooted in traditional Chinese beliefs on moral and spiritual development, gained an estimated 100 million adherents in China by 1999.

But the Chinese government under then-paramount leader Jiang Zemin ordered a violent persecution of Falun Gong adherents, fearing that its popularity could outshine that of the CCP. Succeeding leaders have continued this persecution, causing the deaths of an untold number of practitioners. Under current paramount leader Xi Jinping, Falun Gong adherents are often imprisoned and subjected to organ harvesting.

U.S.-based analyst Heng He asserted that China's COVID-19 death toll vastly exceeds that of any other country during the height of the pandemic. He also noted that throughout China's history, natural disasters have tended to surge around a time when the nation was experiencing a dynastic change.

"In traditional Chinese culture, there's a prevalent belief that disasters are a reflection of the state of morality," Heng said, citing an instance during the 1640s.

Bubonic plague hit the reigning Ming Dynasty at the time, wiping out hundreds of thousands of people and contributing to the collapse of the dynasty. The epidemic disappeared when the Manchus took over and ushered in the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial era.

According to Heng, the current situation in China mirrors this historic example. "The CCP's rule, from what I see, is approaching its end," Heng said.

Watch this video about the persecution of Falun Gong under the CCP.

This video is from the rise channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Mainstream media helping communist China justify the slaughter of Falun Gong practitioners.

China forcibly collecting blood from Falun Gong adherents to boost its organ harvesting efforts.

Almost 100 Falun Gong practitioners arrested by Chinese law enforcement in Heilongjiang province.

Mike Adams and Mitchell Nicholas Gerber discuss communist China's organ harvesting of Falun Gong members  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Brighteon.com
Truck driver hailed as a hero for rescuing more than a dozen children from human trafficking

An observant truck driver is being hailed as a hero after he bravely reported a strange situation he witnessed to authorities that resulted in the rescue of more than a dozen children who had been kidnapped.

While parked in a dark New Mexico rest area on June 18, the driver, who would only identify himself as Michael, says he saw a pickup truck pull up at around 1 a.m. A man and woman emerged from the vehicle and went to the back of the truck, where a padlocked cage was sitting under a tarp. They then unlocked the cage, and several children came out, who were then herded into the bathrooms by the woman before being guided back into the cage and locked up again.

This truck pulls up, opens up the back. Its like a cage-looking thing That guy and this lady have a whole bunch of kids in the back of that truck And then they take the padlock off, raise the tarp, and all these kids come out the back, and theyre forcing them into the bathroom, Michael said, describing what he saw.

When they come back out, they were pushing the kids back in there, locked them back in there, and pulled the f-ing tarp down.

He was so disturbed by what he saw that he called 911, even though it is out of character for him. He said that he was concerned about the possibility of human trafficking and wanted to be on the safe side. However, when the couple saw him talking on the phone and trying to look at their license plate number, they started to leave.

He said the police on the phone instructed him to follow them to the best of his ability until units could respond, although this proved challenging given the limitations of his truck and its slow top speed compared the kidnappers vehicle.

Nevertheless, he was able to provide police with information that proved crucial for locating the kidnappers and identifying them.

Although he initially saw just a few children get out to use the bathroom, there ended up being around 15 involved in total. He said: In the cage, there were hammocks with kids draped across the top, and the entire bottom of the cage was filled with children.

Michael estimated that the little girls he saw might have been around 3 or 4 years old. It turned out that several of the children had already been reported missing. The father of two said that the incident left him emotionally distraught.

Michael was honored last week by the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA), who named him a Highway Angel for chasing down the human traffickers and rescuing the children. The program recognizes drivers who show courage, courtesy and kindness on the job.

Hundreds of human trafficking incidents are reported each year in New Mexico

One of the most unsettling aspects of this story is the fact that Michael said the police informed him that this kind of thing happens all the time.

According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, there were 364 different human trafficking incidents reported in New Mexico alone in 2021, which is almost one per day. Unfortunately, this crime is under-reported, and it can be difficult to identify victims of human trafficking. Experts have emphasized the importance of looking out for the signs of human trafficking and reporting any possible incidents to authorities or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

Sources for this article include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

HighwayAngel.com

KOAT.com
Video: Trump vows to lock up sick evil people trying to destroy him

(Article by Steve Watson republished from Summit.news)

Referring to Hillary Clinton, Beck noted You said in 2016, you know, lock her up. And then when you became president, you said, We dont do that in America. Thats just not the right thing to do.

The host continued, Thats what theyre doing. Do you regret not locking her up? And if youre president again, will you lock people up?

Trump responded in the affirmative and noted Well, Ill give you an example. Uh, the answer is you have no choice because theyre doing it to us.

Trump continued, I always had such great respect for the office of the president and the presidency And I never hit Biden as hard as I could have. And then I heard he was trying to indict me and it was him that was doing it.

I dont think hes sharp enough to think about much, but he was there and he was probably the one giving the order, Trump continued, adding But he was, you know, hard to believe that he even thinks about that because hes gone. But then I said, well, theyre actually trying to indict me because every one of these indictments is him, including Bragg.

I dont know if you know this, he put his top person into the office of the Manhattan district attorney. Theyve been in total coordination with Fani Willis, Trump further asserted, adding The woman that I never met, that they accused me of rape, thats being run by a Democrat, a Democrat operative, and paid for by the Democrat party.

You know, so many these days, I have a couple of other lawsuits all funded against me by the Democrats. But these are sick people. These are evil people, Trump concluded.

Watch:

.@glennbeck: "Do you regret not locking her up, and if you're president again will you lock people up?"@realDonaldTrump: "The answer is you have no choice because they're doing it to us." pic.twitter.com/L1G6zCGQtL Trumps comments come after he issued an ultimatum to Congressional Republicans Sunday, to either impeach Joe Biden or fade into oblivion.

Read more at : Summit.news
Biden admin to spend $1.4B in taxpayer money for the development of MORE unnecessary COVID-19 vaccines

The Biden administration has announced that it will fund the development of more experimental Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines with $1.4 billion in taxpayer money . According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the move will be part of the "Project NextGen" health initiative.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said Project NextGen is "a key part of the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to keeping people safe from COVID-19 variants." He added that the grants are an "investment" that will help the U.S. "respond to future variants" of coronavirus.

According to Becerra, Biden isn't waiting until 2024 to prepare for what could happen next, insisting that the program is going to help America prepare for the next global health emergency. (Related: Biden admin to buy 1.5M doses of Novavax COVID-19 shots, company reveals.)

The HHS website announced that the agency, through the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), awarded over $1.4 billion for Project NextGen to allegedly support the development of "tools and technologies to protect against COVID-19 for years to come."

The awards follow far-reaching coordination with industry partners and include support for clinical trials that will support the rapid development of things like "more effective and longer-lasting coronavirus vaccines, a new monoclonal antibody and transformative technologies to streamline manufacturing processes."

Project NextGen is a $5 billion initiative led by ASPRs Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

The project claims to build on a better understanding of COVID-19 with the HHS developing, using and constantly reevaluating the strengths and weaknesses of current vaccines and therapeutics for more than three years.

America has already spent $30B on COVID-19 injections

The initiative also involves generous contracts to Big Pharma for COVID-19 vaccines, along with other vaccines and therapeutics. It adds to the $30 billion the U.S. government has already spent on the vaccines and $4.6 trillion in overall COVID-19 relief.

The grants were awarded to several pharmaceutical companies, non-profits and non-governmental organizations.

The HHS website states that the Project NextGen initiative includes:

$1 billion to four BARDA Clinical Trial partners to support vaccine Phase II-b clinical trial studies: ICON Government and Public Health Solutions, Inc. of Hinckley, Ohio; Pharm-Olam, LLC, of Houston, Texas; Technical Resources Intl (TRI), Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland; and Rho Federal Systems, Inc., Durham, North Carolina

$326 million to Regeneron to support the development of a next-generation monoclonal antibody for COVID-19 prevention

$100 million to Global Health Investment Corp. (GHIC), the non-profit organization managing the BARDA Ventures investment portfolio to expand investments in new technologies that will fast-track responses to future issues

$10 million to Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JLABS) for competition through Blue Knight, a BARDA-JLABS partnership

The ambitious projects come as mainstream media and hospitals once again exaggerate the emergence of a mild COVID-19 omicron subvariant called EG.5. To date, the new subvariant has been used to justify the return of previous ineffective pandemic restrictions, including face masks.

InfoWars founder Alex Jones first broke the report that the Biden administration was readying new COVID-19 restrictions in mid-September as Big Pharma was about to launch a new COVID-19 booster. Some reports suggest that aside from the new booster, the Biden administration has also started buying up COVID-19 equipment and hiring advisers on "safety protocols."

Learn more about the adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines at Vaccines.news.

Watch the video below to find out why people shouldn't get the COVID-19 boosters.

This video is from the Stand Up for Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

VAX FOR TAX: Covid vaccines have caused a surge in IRS estate tax revenues as fully vaccinated wealthy people DIE.

Biden administration officials pressured Meta to censor private WhatsApp messages of COVID-19 vaccine skeptics.

Biden regime faces first-ever U.S. lawsuit over covid vaccine injuries, deaths.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

HHS.gov

Brighteon.com
Taxpayer money going down the drain: Biden circumvents SC decision, cancels $72M in student debt

President Joe Biden has made good on his promise to circumvent a Supreme Court decision. The Biden administration recently canceled student loans amounting to $72 million for 2,300 students who were deceived by the now-defunct Ashford University.

Based on an independent review by the Department of Education (ED) the degrees obtained by the students are "effectively worthless." This deception by the former Ashford University about the costs, time requirements and values of its degree programs became the basis of the student loan cancellation.

"These borrowers were lied to about the cost of attending Ashford, were misled about how long it would take to get a degree and were deceived about the transferability of Ashford credits. They deserve better," Biden himself said in a statement. He stressed that his administration "won't stand for colleges taking advantage of hardworking students and borrowers."

But observers think Biden simply wants to show the Supreme Court who's the boss.

His administration earlier announced the cancellation of $39 billion in student debt, which would benefit more than 800,000 borrowers. This, coupled with the $72 million to be forgiven, shows the president's persistence to circumvent the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the policy.

Back in June, the high court voted 6-3 to strike down Biden's $800 billion student loan forgiveness plan. Under the scheme, debts of as much as $20,000 could be canceled for 40 million borrowers. Fortunately, the Supreme Court stepped in and threw a wrench in his plans.

"They said no, no  literally snatching from the hands of millions of Americans thousands of dollars in student debt relief that was about to change their lives," Biden said at the time. "[The Supreme Court] decision has closed one path, and now we're going to pursue another." The president also promised a "new way" to circumvent the high court's decision.

Biden's ED helped him find that way.

According to the ED's review, only around 25 percent of students in Ashford graduated within eight years of enrollment. Not only will the more than 2,300 student loan borrowers see their loan balances zeroed out, but the $72 million will also go toward refunding them for the payments they made on their loans. The ED will email those eligible for student loan forgiveness in September.

Formerly based in San Diego, Ashford University boasted of having more than 100,000 students in its heyday. The University of Arizona (UA) later acquired it for $1 in 2020, renaming and restructuring it as the online nonprofit UA Global Campus. (Related: Survey: The average American has over $54,000 worth of debt and would do almost anything to get rid of it.)

Biden giving away taxpayer money to potential voters

James Kvaal, education under secretary, said in a statement: "We are protecting the students who were cheated by Ashford, and we will also hold the perpetrators accountable, protect taxpayers and deter future wrongdoing."

Aside from the ED review, a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Justice (CADOJ) against Ashford and its parent company Zovio also served as the basis for the loan forgiveness plan.

Evidence uncovered from the lawsuit proved that Ashford and Zovio "made numerous substantial misrepresentations" between March 1, 2009 and April 30, 2020 "that borrowers relied upon to their detriment." The court ruled in favor of the CADOJ, concluding that Ashford had made more than 1.2 million misleading representations nationwide to prospective students.

Still, many Americans believe the student loan forgiveness plan is just a vote-buying scheme in disguise, with Biden literally giving away taxpayer money to potential voters.

Visit DebtCollapse.com for more stories about student loans.

Watch this clip from Fox Business detailing how Biden's new Supreme Court-subverting student loan forgiveness plan could cost American taxpayers over $475 billion over the next 10 years.

This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

SCOTUS BYPASSED: Biden's education department to automatically WIPE OUT $39 billion in student loans, despite Supreme Court ruling against it.

Greedy Harvard University, which boasts a $53 billion endowment, tells struggling students to apply for FOOD STAMPS in order to survive.

Dave Blaze calls for end to the STUDENT LOAN racket.

HIGHER EDUCATION ROBBERY: American taxpayers will be forced to pay an average of $2,500 each if student loans are canceled.

Biden's plan to write off student loans using post-9/11 national emergency law is a form of political posturing.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

InsideHigherEd.com

TheEpochTimes.com

Axios.com

TheHill.com

Brighteon.com
Big Pharma has a dirty little trick up their sleeves when it comes to child vaccines

The controversy surrounding childhood vaccines has been simmering for some time, particularly with the rapid rise in autism rates. While the so-called scientific community hasnt reached a consensus on a potential link between vaccines and the neurodevelopmental disorder, public skepticism has only grown. This mistrust was made even worse when the government aggressively began promoting COVID vaccines not just for adults, but for children  who were at very low risk. The flu was likely more dangerous for these poor kids. The experts assured us the vaccines were safe, but public suspicion went through the roof following an uptick in sudden deaths among otherwise healthy people  including many children. This raised many questions about the actual safety of these vaccines, as well as other jabs.

(Article republished from Revolver.news)

These concerns might be very warranted given a very deceptive little trick that the government and Big Pharma have been playing on parents and kids. Its known as the Placebo Pyramid Scheme. This method is used to fast-track the approval of vaccines for children.

Chief Nerd:

Aaron Siri Exposes the Placebo Pyramid Scheme Used to License Childhood Vaccines What Dr. Offit wrote is all vaccines are tested in placebo-controlled trials before licensureThe problem is that is not trueHe is dead wrong in making that claimAs an example the initial Prevnar vaccine, Prevnar 7, was clinical trialed against another experimental vaccine [not placebo]. And then in that clinical trial the adverse event rate that occurred between the vaccinated group and the control group that got another experimental vaccinesince that rate of harm was the same, it was deemed safe. Then when they went to license Prevnar 13, they used Prevnar 7 as the control vaccine.

Aaron Siri Exposes the 'Placebo Pyramid Scheme' Used to License Childhood Vaccines "What Dr. Offit wrote is 'all vaccines are tested in placebo-controlled trials before licensure'...The problem is that is not true...He is dead wrong in making that claim...As an example the pic.twitter.com/W2T5xtLpp9  Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 12, 2023

Even more information is coming out on this trickery. Heres what X user who goes by the anonymous name It Guy had to say about after Dr. Paul Offit confessed that some childhood vaccines were NOT placebo tested at all.

This trick?is covered extensively in the book Turtles All the Way Down Most childhood vaccines are not tested against a placebo, theyre tested against a prior version of the vaccine. The (flawed) assumption is the prior vaccine is already proven safe; therefore, the only test needed is if the new one is worse. One can immediately see where this circular logic leads. Its one of many dirty tricks Big Pharma uses to make their drugs appears more safe and effective than they are.

This trick ? is covered extensively in the book Turtles All the Way Down (h/t @Fynnderella1 for raising awareness of this book) Most childhood vaccines are not tested against a placebo, theyre tested against a prior version of the vaccine. The (flawed) assumption is the https://t.co/Bu1upcvm8F  IT Guy (@ITGuy1959) August 29, 2023

Watch:

Dr. Paul Offit Confesses That Some Childhood Vaccines Were Not Placebo Tested PCV [Prevnar] 13 was tested against PCV [Prevnar] 7 because you couldnt give a placebo to children knowing you had a vaccine that workedThats not an ethical study. pic.twitter.com/cIrs7BhKVL  Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 28, 2023

Parents ought to be well-informed about this sort of information so they can make educated and secure choices about what goes into their childrens systems. This is especially true in the wake of the COVID crisis, which has clearly eroded the publics trust in our so-called experts.

The New York Times:

[] American public had lost much of its trust both in public health experts and in government leaders, and was less worried than before about Covid-19, according to a survey conducted in early May and released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. Confidence ratings for public health officials, like those at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; for state and local elected officials; and for President Biden fell in a range from 43 percent to 54 percent in the survey  much lower than during the early stages of the pandemic.

The sad part is, its actually quite simple to test against a real placebo. Just be upfront with parents that their child might get a placebo and would need to come back for the actual vaccine if they want it. Theyre not doing this likely because it would reveal any potential side effects and cost them money in the long run.

Read more at: Revolver.news
Power hungry COVID cultists demand return of MASK mandates so they can order people around

Believe it or not, there isa contingent of mentally deranged automatons out there that is demanding another round of mask mandates and lockdowns for the latest alleged strains of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

A bunch of mostly white, fully masked Canadians held a rally in Vancouver at which they held up signs about Fauci Flu infections and so-called "long COVID," which they claim necessitates more medical fascism.

Members of "Postcards for Public Health" and "Do Not Harm B.C.," as they call themselves, were seen standing around like dolts on a public right-of-way in British Columbia to push for more COVID tyranny, stat  watch the video below:

"What brought me out here is my basic moral outrage," said one masked elderly woman named Karina Zeidler, co-founder of "Protect Our Province B.C." and clearly a leftist, to reporters.

She and the rest of the mask zealots stood in front of the office of Adrian Dix, MLA, B.C.'s health minister to beg her for a return of the province's mask mandates, which were dropped back in April.

"I have many patients who are extremely medically vulnerable having to decide, 'should I go into the hospital or not to receive care, knowing now that I'm also going to have to be exposed, potentially, to getting a virus which may then very significantly impact my health?'"

(Related: Do you think fake president Joe Biden and his handlers will really try to launch a COVID 2.0 event in order to steal the 2024 election?)

Pro-mask extremists attack unmasked man

Another young woman by the name of Kaylie Jamieson, who identified herself as "immunocompromised" to City News, told the media that she was out there protesting for more mask mandates because her entire life was apparently destroyed by COVID.

"I'm your typical young person that was previously healthy before getting infected," Jamieson said, mumbling often incoherently through her mask.

"And I got one [inaudible] infection of [inaudible] back in the summer of 2021, and now I have long COVID. And it's been over 20 months and I've had to leave my two jobs  I used to be a master's student at SFU, and my entire life has completely changed. I can no longer exercise."

It is nothing short of a miracle that Jamieson is able to still stand out on a sidewalk holding a sign for hours on end, seeing as how she is no longer able to work at all or go to school because of her long COVID mental illness.

At one point during the protest, a group of counter protesters gathered across the street to demonstrate against the pro-mask zealots, who attacked one counter protester named Rob who believes that all Canadians should have freedom of choice when it comes to wearing a mask or not.

"I've never worn a mask, and I will continue to not wear a mask because I think it's still legal," Rob said to reporters following his assault at the hands of the mask fanatics.

The pro-mask extremists also called for better ventilation inside health care facilities across Canada. In an attempt to get their point across, some of them laid on the ground while others drew a chalk silhouette around their bodies, the suggestion being that without mask mandates and better ventilation, pro-mask extremists could die suddenly.

"It would be great to see, um, more access to boosters and Paxlovid," Jamieson further told the media about what she wants in order to feel safe against COVID.

Just say no to wearing a mask, no matter how much they try to bully you. Learn more at Resist.news.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
Waterfowl hunting applications available

If you are interested in waterfowl hunting opening weekend (Oct. 21-22) at either Tonawanda or Oak Orchard Wildlife Management Areas, the states Department of Environmental Conservation is accepting waterfowl permit lottery applications at https://www.dec.ny.gov/press/123619.html. In the interest of safety and quality of the hunt, DEC holds a drawing to limit the number of duck hunters at this popular public location. Typically 100 permits are available for Tonawanda and 50 for Oak Orchard. The application deadline is Sept. 15.

For questions or concerns about the permit lottery or access to the online entry form, contact the DEC Iroquois Wildlife Field Office at 585-948-5182. Anyone unable to complete the online survey should contact the office before the Sept. 15 deadline. For more information, visit https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/24442.html.

Early deer season dates set

The DEC has announced the September antlerless deer season will be held in select Wildlife Management Units from Sept. 9 to 17. For Region 9, only 9A and 9F will be open for harvesting antlerless deer. In Region 8, the WMUs are 8A, 8F, 8G, 8J, and 8N. Other eligible units are 3M and 3R. These are all for firearms, crossbows and vertical bows. In addition, WMUs 1C, 3S, 4J, and 8C also will be open, but only for vertical bow usage. You must use your Deer Management Permit or DMAP tags only.

Hunters are reminded that hunting hours for deer and bear are 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset. Fluorescent orange or pink is required when hunting deer (or bear) with a firearm. The junior hunting law that allows 12- and 13-year-olds to hunt deer with a crossbow or firearm will continue to be in effect in counties that passed a local law. Erie County did not pass the local law.

In addition to the early September hunt, the Holiday Deer Hunt will be held Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, 2024, in the Southern Zone only. This amounts to an extension of the late bow and muzzleloader seasons. DEC encourages people to read https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/sharethesnow.pdf.

3F Youth Mentor Day Sept. 16

Its that time of year for fall hunting seasons to kick in. The Fin, Feather, Fur Conservation Society, located at 904 Swann Road in Youngstown, will be helping the next generation of sportsmen and women with its annual Youth Mentor Day on Sept. 16. The day will be focused on first-time attendees from ages 12 to 18. A hunting license is required and the cost per attendee is $45.

Activities include skeet, trap, archery, turkey calling and a dog training demonstration, as well as a mentored pheasant hunt on the club grounds. Space is limited. If you are interested in signing up, contact Tim Gunther at 504-7646 or Colleen Gunther at 504-7645.

Changes to Southtowns Walleye contest

If you were planning to participate in the Southtowns Walleye contest in September, there is a new date and a new format. Formerly a one-day derby for the biggest walleye in Lake Erie, the contest has been changed to a six-fish tournament format Sept. 23. Fishing time is from 12:01 a.m. to 2 p.m. The six fish are for one person, not a team. Cost is $40 for an adult (members and nonmembers) and $20 for a junior angler age 16 and under. An all-you-can-eat walleye dinner will follow the contest for participants. Nonentrants can purchase a meal ticket for $15.

Registration is available at the monthly meeting Sept. 21 in Hamburg, starting at 7 p.m. You also can mail a check to tournament coordinator Tom Chiavetta at 4779 Best St., Hamburg, NY 14075. Entry forms will be available at the clubs Tuesday morning coffee club. For more information, contact Chiavetta at 208-4245.

Fish Odyssey Winners Announced

The 48th Annual Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey, held Aug. 18-27, has announced its winners for the adult and youth divisions. However, the $2,500 grand prize in the adult division will not be determined until a special drawing of first-place winners at the awards ceremony, tentatively set for Sept. 23 at the NYPA Wildlife Festival in Lewiston.

Adult Division winners: Salmon  Doug Updyke of Mercer, Pa., at 41.5-inches; Brown Trout  Arthur O-Mara of Moravia at 31.5 inches; Rainbow Trout  Mike Leising of East Amherst at 35.75 inches; Smallmouth Bass  Dave Stahura Jr. of Lackawanna at 22 inches; Carp  Dan Kelsey of Alexander at 37 inches; Walleye  Mike Fox of Youngstown at 30.75 inches; Lake Trout  Steve Klejdys of North Tonawanda at 35.25 inches.

Junior Division winners: Salmon  Julius Labarbara of Lackawanna at 41.5 inches; Trout  Christian Woods of Velencia, Pa., at 28.5 inches; Bass  Gabby Geiger of Lackawanna at 21.5 inches; Carp  Norman Bixby of Attica at 30.25 inches; Panfish  Emma Flaherty of Grand Island with a 13-inch perch; Walleye  Parker Costello of Lockport at 27 inches; Sheepshead  Connor Flaherty of Grand Island at 26 inches.

Keesler Scholarship Deadline Sept. 15

The Janice and Paul Keesler Scholarship Fund is accepting applications from students looking for some financial assistance for college. Students must be a state resident and registered in some facet of wildlife management. To date, more than $32,000 in grants have been awarded. Applications may be obtained through keeslerscholarshipfund.org and may be sent through the mail or emailed to keeslerbridget@gmail.com. The deadline is Sept. 15 to receive applications.

This scholarship opportunity is a living memorial to Janice and Paul, founders of New York Sportsman Magazine. They loved New York State and the outdoors. Individuals and clubs wishing to contribute to the fund can do so through the Keesler Scholarship Fund, c/o Bridget Keesler, PO Box 485, Newport, NY 13416.
Vivek Ramaswamy: Establishment believes Americans CANT BE TRUSTED with the truth

According to Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, the American establishment believes the American people cannot be trusted with the truth

"I think we now live in a moment where the government  not just the government, but a broader establishment in our country  believes that citizens of this nation cannot be trusted with the truth," he told Tucker Carlson in an interview.

Ramaswamy, who founded Roivant Sciences in 2014 before stepping down as its CEO in 2021, said the so-called "enlightened" have to ensure the public is protected from the truth. He compared this to how a parent protects a child from any and all dangers. In the present day, the truth has been concealed by government authorities  both Republican and Democratic  because they believe the people still cannot be trusted.

However, the entrepreneur told Carlson that there is a school of thought that believes that the government  i.e. the people in charge  are fundamentally hostile to the people. When the government thinks its actions are for the good of the people, the reality of what is actually going on is far more dangerous, he said.

According to Ramaswamy, this concealment of truth had been done for most of human history because of the prevalent belief that people can't be trusted to resolve their own differences. Church leaders, labor leaders and business leaders were the ones who decided what was right for the rest of society. But things took a different turn in 1776, during the American Revolution. (Related: How We the People can take back the government we once created.)

Ramaswamy: We The People can handle the truth

Despite this, the presidential candidate believes Americans can handle the truth when they are told about it.

"I think that's really one of the questions at issue today, as it was in 1776: Do we believe that the public can be trusted with the truth? Whatever the truth is, just give me the hard truth," he told Carlson. "What makes us human beings and not animals is the belief that we can believe in something bigger than ourselves, and that we can handle the truth from those who are in power."

"Actually, We The People can be trusted in a system where every person's voice and vote count equally  with free speech and open debate in the public square. Whatever it is, sometimes we might get it wrong; sometimes we get it right. But whatever it is, that's the way we do things in this new thing we call the United States of America."

Carlson then asked if Ramaswamy sensed the nation was on the cusp of chaos, based on his nationwide campaign travels and interactions with Americans. Ramaswamy replied that while the nation is on the cusp of something, he thinks it's not one of chaos but a revolution in a positive way.

"I think that there's something going on. I think we're like in 1775, spring of 1776 moment in this country actually. I think that people are hungry now," he said. "The form I want to see it play out in is reviving those shared ideals that unite us, that set the nation into motion in 1776 that, I think, are innate to our nature as human beings [and] as Americans. I think there's a hunger for revival of those ideals. That's where we are."

Ramaswamy added there are a lot of ways this energy could go, and he can play a small role in helping channel that energy if elected. But the American president is not going to do it all. Everyone has a role to play to channel that energy towards a positive revival that unites the American people across their diverse attributes or divides, he stressed.

VoteRepublican.news has more stories about Vivek Ramaswamy's 2024 presidential campaign.

Watch Episode 17 of "Tucker on Twitter" with Vivek Ramaswamy below.

This video is from the Puretrauma357 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.

Vivek Ramaswamy is not your typical GOP presidential candidate.

Ramaswamy: Kids who believe they are trans have a mental health condition.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Reuters.com
RESISTANCE IS WORKING: Kaiser Permanente, Lionsgate film studio both drop mask mandate amid rising pushback

Not so fast, COVID tyrants: We the People have had enough of all your tyranny, including the mask mandates you are trying but failing to reimplement.

The pushback taking place against the globalist effort to reimplement a Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "pandemic" 2.0 has reportedly prompted Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa, Calif., to rescind a recently implemented policy requiring face masks inside its hospital.

Hollywood studio Lionsgate, which attempted the same thing, has also reversed course and will no longer force its employees to mask up at all times inside the building.

Kaiser will still force its employees to mask up, officials from the hospital system confirmed to the media. For everyone else, Kaiser is "strongly encouraging" them to wear masks at all times in both the hospital and medical offices.

"Our intent was to communicate that as of Tuesday, we have expanded the masking requirement for our employees and physicians to medical offices and clinic settings; we apologize for any confusion among Press Democrat readers," Kaiser said in a statement.

"We have not changed our masking requirements in the hospital, which have been in effect since April: employees and physicians are required to wear masks and we ask visitors to wear masks when in the hospital."

Don't fall for it again: COVID is OVER and DONE

Kaiser is not exactly telling the truth in this statement, though. The health care provider just days before issuing it had indicated that mask mandates would be reinstated for all patients, doctors, and visitors.

Many local residents of Northern California  which leans left, by the way  expressed outrage over the proposed reinstatement of universal mask mandates at Kaiser that the health care provider clearly changed course while pretending this was the plan all along.

"I think it's more political than anything," commented Craig Roberts who lives in the area about face masks. "I just think they're trying to do what they did in 2020."

What Roberts means by this, of course, is that Democrats are once again trying to mask everyone and force stay-at-home mail-in voting in 2024 so they can once again steal the election for Biden or whomever they potentially have waiting in the wings to replace him.

Hilariously, Lionsgate had a different excuse for reversing its mask mandate.

"The LA County Department of Public Health notified us yesterday that we could lift the mask requirements, effective immediately, and we have," the film studio said in a statement.

The thing is, there is not a mask mandate in place in Los Angeles County. Lionsgate acknowledged this as well, but claimed that it was ordered to temporarily reinstate its mask mandate "after we reported a cluster of COVID cases to them and we have an obligation to comply with their orders."

According to Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine, there are currently fewer people being hospitalized for COVID than at any other time since the "pandemic" first began in early 2020.

"An upswing is not a surge; it's not even a wave," Doron is quoted as saying. "What we're seeing is a very gradual and small upward trajectory of cases and hospitalizations, without deaths really going along, which is great news."

The disturbing part about Doron taking this angle, though, is that if enough people do start getting sick and dying in the coming days, things could change quickly. Once the "vaccines" run their course in everyone who took them, widespread immune failure could ensue, resulting in a major public health crisis that will be used to justify a reimposition of mask and likely other mandates.

The latest news about COVID 2.0 can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
Ukrainian KAMIKAZE DRONE sets off explosion, crashing into Russian airbase and damaging supersonic bomber

A Ukrainian kamikaze drone has once again struck Russian territory , successfully targeting an airbase and damaging one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's prized warplanes.

Reports show that the attack targeted the Soltsy military airport in Novgorod, a region that is more than 700 miles from Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defense said a "helicopter-style" drone damaged a warplane, calling it a "terrorist attack" by the "Kyiv regime." While there were no injuries, it caused a fire in the airfield's parking lot that was quickly extinguished.

According to the ministry, only one warplane was damaged during the attack. It was moved to an airfield in the city of Murmansk to undergo repairs. However, a pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel has reported that two Tu-22M3 supersonic bombers were damaged during the strike. (Related: PROXY WAR: RFK Jr. says the West provoked Putin to invade Ukraine.)

The Soltsy airfield serves as a base for the Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers that Russia has used to attack Ukraine. It was first deployed by Moscow during the war with Ukraine in "carpet-bombing" operations targeting the city of Mariupol.

The TU-22M3 has an operational range of nearly 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles), meaning it can target all of Europe. It can not only drop conventional explosives but can also carry Kh-15 nuclear or anti-radar missiles and Kh-22 long-range naval strike missiles.

According to national security expert Mark Episkopos, the Tu-22M3 is one of "the most recognizable symbols of Russian airpower." It has become infamous over its three decades of use as "an effective and eminently reliable strategic bomber."

Recent attacks highlight dangers to strategic locations within Russia

Other high-profile targets have been damaged or outright destroyed by Ukrainian drone strikes, including the Moskva cruiser, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, which was sunk in 2022. Attacks were also launched at the Kerch bridge linking Crimea to Russia, a personal project of Putin that has been damaged twice.

Ukrainian drone strikes within Russia have increased within the last few months, with many of the attacks targeting Moscow. To date, there has been no official comment from the government in Kyiv on the destruction of the jets. The authorities are wary of commenting on sophisticated sabotage operations or angering any Western allies who are more comfortable with supporting defensive military operations.

However, senior officials don't shy away from talking about links to the attacks. For example, Andriy Yusov, the deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence service, openly ridiculed Russia's attempts to minimize the destruction of the jets and other drone attacks.

On national TV, Yusov joked that it "was probably just some big pigeons that dropped something on those Tu-22M3 aircraft." He mockingly added that there were no explosions in Moscow and that "their airports and flights are probably operating according to schedule," with everything "going according to plan."

Other reports have revealed that Ukrainian drones have damaged at least five planes within the last few weeks. Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) said two other aircraft were damaged aside from the Tu-22M3. Days later, two bomber planes in the Russian city of Kaluga were damaged after an attack by "drones controlled by GUR saboteurs."

In August, one attack disrupted flights in and out of the capital and injured two people after it was shot down by Russian air defenses. The incident caused injuries when parts of the Ukrainian drone fell on a house in the Moscow region, reported the regional governor.

Meanwhile, arrivals and departures from Moscows four main airports  Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky  were restricted. The delays disrupted 45 passenger planes and two cargo planes, according to the Russian aviation authority.

The governor of Kaluga region, located south of Moscow, claimed that a drone attack had also been repelled in the area.

Visit WWIII.news for more updates on the Russia-Ukraine war.

Watch this video for more updates on the situation in Ukraine.

This video is from the Marine1063 channel on Brighteon.com.

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Ukraine may have tried to ASSASSINATE Vladimir Putin using a kamikaze drone.

Russia deploys warship with hypersonic missiles to waters around Ukraine.

Sources include:

The-Sun.com

TheGuardian.com

Brighteon.com
National Australia Bank now debanking customers for mean speech

Effective Nov. 1, 2023, the National Australia Bank (NAB) plans to start debanking customers who engage in "mean" speech.

If someone else's feelings become hurt by something a NAB customer says or does, the bank will take away his or her bank account as punishment.

According to The Counter Signal, the NAB updated its terms and conditions in such a way as to turn its relationship with customers into something "that resembles that of a schoolteacher or grade school student."

Any NAB customer caught "making profane, derogatory, discriminatory or harassing comments to any person," or who inflicts "psychological harm" on someone else, will face the ire of one of Australia's largest banks, which is also one of the "big four" alongside the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (which was owned by the Australian government until 1996), and the Westpac Banking Corporation.

"The entire Commonwealth is compromised," tweeted the X (formerly known as Twitter) account of Lion Advocacy's Daniel Ari Freiheit, MBA, LLB.

"Look into dual citizenship & consider moving your savings to countries that respect property & speech."

(Related: Did you know that JPMorgan Chase recently debanked Dr. Joseph Mercola and his Mercola Market for no justifiable reason, and with no advance warning?)

Don't be "mean" or we'll stop you from buying and selling and accessing your own money

In its terms and conditions update, the NAB spelled out what will happen to any customer who is caught uttering threatening or abusive language, as defined by the bank.

"We may reasonably exercise one or more of our rights in these terms and conditions to suspend, cancel or deny an account holder's access or use of the account, card or an electronic banking service if we reasonably consider it appropriate to protect a customer or another person from financial abuse," the update states.

The changes could spark a boycott, which is exactly what happened to Scotiabank after it informed military veteran Jeremy MacKenzie that his account was being closed because he was deemed to have exceeded the bank's "risk appetite."

"What part of it is too risky for the bank  is that my military pension?" MacKenzie asked the Scotiabank representative who informed him that his account was being shuttered.

"I'm afraid I don't have any more detail," the representative responded. "I'm just the messenger."

That sure sounds a whole lot like World War II era just following orders, does it not?

Not only is MacKenzie no longer to bank with Scotiabank, but he is also barred from ever again visiting a branch of the bank without permission.

It turns out that MacKenzie publicly criticized the regime of Justin Trudeau, including the corrupt RCMP which persecuted him and others for participating in the Freedom Convoy of Ottawa.

"First they came for the Mercolas and I took NO action. Then they ...," one commenter wrote on a story about what happened to Dr. Mercola at the hands of JPMorgan.

"If you speak the truth, you will be punished," wrote another. "That is the message the lying left-wing scum are putting out there. Oppose us, reveal our lies and you will be ruthlessly punished. So, how do you like those Democrats now?"

It is one thing for Australia and Canada to be engaging in this kind of debanking "censorship," seeing as how neither of those two countries have a constitution like that of the U.S. But there is no excuse for JPMorgan Chase being allowed to persecute an American citizen while operating on U.S. soil.

"Suffice it to say Americans are no longer living in the country that was founded by our 'Founding Fathers,'" another commenter wrote. "The Constitution & the Bill of Rights no longer have any more meaning  it is now just an antiquated notion."

Debanking is the latest way the powers that be are trying to punish free speech of which they disapprove. Learn more at Censorship.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheCounterSignal.com

NaturalNews.com
San Francisco bakery refuses to serve cops due to stores gun ban

San Fransisco-based Reem's California has refused to serve armed and uniformed police officers due to the chain's gun ban in stores, leading to accusations of bigotry from the city's police union.

The San Francisco Police Officers Association (SFPOA) took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to call out the bakery for its policy that bars serving armed and in-uniform police officers and military members.

"We are not asking Reem's or any business with a bigoted policy to serve our officers," it wrote. "We're asking them to own their discriminatory policy [and] and put up a sign so we know not to spend money in your establishment  on or off duty.

SFPOA President Tracy McCray added that the bakery's employees reportedly informed an officer that they were prohibited from serving anyone "armed and in a uniform."

"This is our point: If you're going to have policies that discriminate against one group of people, then own it, post it publicly and let your potential customers make the decision that best reflects their values," McCray said in her email to SFGATE.

Reem's claims it objects to guns, not to police officers

Amid the intense backlash and debate, Reem's clarified that its policy only applies to armed officers while on duty. They confirmed that police officers are welcome to dine at their establishment, but only when off-duty and unarmed.

"In a time of increased gun violence  particularly impacting people of color, youth, and queer people  we believe that maintaining a strict policy of prohibiting guns in our restaurant keeps us safer," the company said in a statement.

"Maintaining a strict policy of prohibiting guns in our restaurant keeps us safer. Many members of our community have been impacted by gun violence, whether that be an experience on the streets of San Francisco or Oakland; having come from war or occupation; or having increased fear due to a growing climate of political extremism."

The statement further explained that the policy's intention is to provide a space where patrons can enjoy their food without fear of violence or harassment, particularly as marginalized individuals often bear the brunt of gun violence. Moreover, the doughnut chain's founder Reem Assil added that the policy aligns with the chain's commitment to social and racial justice.

Gun Owners of America spokesman Mark Jones, himself a staunch gun rights advocate, called the doughnut chain's policy an extreme example of anti-gun sentiment.

"Where to even begin? That sounds like anti-gun extremism taken to the max," Jones argued. "What are they going to do when a bad guy robs their store? Are they not going to want the police there then?"

He continued that "gun-free zones" often do not deter criminals and can even attract them, as they may see such areas as soft targets.

"I'm not disputing private property rights. Im just pointing to the fallacy that a gun-free zone doesnt prevent crimes. It just emboldens criminals. Meanwhile, gun control just disarms law-abiding citizens." (Related: Nordstrom to leave downtown San Francisco after 35 years due to citys deteriorating conditions of high violence and crime.)

Head over to AntiPolice.news for more stories about discrimination against law enforcement.

Watch this footage of downtown San Francisco featuring a lot of shuttered stores.

This video is from the alltheworldsastage channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

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CowboyState.com
The Economist implies Ukrainian drone strikes are ramped up to psychologically terrorize ordinary Russians

A mainstream news outlet recently implicitly admitted that Ukraine's ramped-up drone strikes on Russian territory have really been all about terrorizing civilians.

According to the report titled "Inside Ukraine's drone war against Putin" published on Sunday by the Economist, which is considered cozy with U.S. national security insiders, the chief reason for the increased drone attacks has been to intensify the "psychological impact" of the war for "ordinary Russians."

"The drone campaign is being stepped up now for a number of reasons. The headline-making strikes on Moscow are intended to have a psychological impact, bringing ordinary Russians closer to the reality of war. But Ukrainian military insiders say most of their operations directly support the three-month-old counter-offensive," the article read. It was also admitted in the writeup that Russia was a missile superpower and when the conflict started, it had a clear superiority in terms of long-range strike capacity. "I added that later, the Eurasian country began buying cheap, effective Shahid kamikaze drones from Iran."

"Ukraine, on the other hand, has not been allowed to use Western-donated weapons in Russia itself, and so has been looking for other ways to hit back," it revealed and so, the country decided to ramp up the drone strikes. Interestingly, there was also a revelation in the latter part of the report that Ukraine's military is receiving targeting help from the West, which includes the United States.

"They gather intelligence (often from Western partners) about radars, electronic warfare, and air-defense assets. Russia cannot lock down the entirety of its vast territory. If you can scuttle past 60 kilometers of jamming stations on the border, you are in the Russian hinterlands and it's game on," said the Morok source. Morok, or "dark spirit," is one of the prototype drones used in the recent Crimean operation.

"About 35-40 percent of drones make it through to the general vicinity of the target. Feedback about a strike's success is compiled from satellites, tracking devices, social media reports, and local agents," the British digitally published weekly newspaper further reported.

However, Ukraine's drone program does not have a single command or procurement structure while state organizations, including all the intelligence agencies, have their own.

Ukrainian drone attack on airport damages Russian military transport planes

On August 30, Ukraine launched what appeared to be its most extensive drone assault on Russian territory yet, with attacks on six regions, BBC reported. In the western city of Pskov, which is 600km (372 miles) away from Ukraine and is close to the border with Estonia, drones reportedly hit an airport.

An initial report from Russia's TASS news agency, quoting emergency services, said that four multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic air lifter Ilyushin 76 (Il-76) aircraft had been damaged with two bursting "into flames." Ria news agency said later that two Il-76 planes had caught fire.

In a video uploaded by Pskov regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov, who claimed that the military was repelling an attack, a large fire and an explosion could also be seen and heard. Vedernikov, who said he was at the scene of the attack, added: "According to preliminary information, there are no victims."

Drone attacks on Moscow have been happening since early May. And the past weeks have seen several instances of strikes in the city buildings. In some cases, the attacks caused damage to residences in apartment blocks, especially in the border Belgorod region. Russia's two major airports have also been forced to temporarily stop flight traffic several times over the past few days. Last week, there were inbound Ukrainian drones in or around the Russian capital for six days straight.

Lots of talk about how the drone attacks on Moscow apartment blocks and raids into Belgorod region villages will discombobulate Russians, prick Putin's aura of invincibility, show border defences to be weak, etc. Little on the fact they're deliberately targeting civilians...1/2 pic.twitter.com/yoT24gTfqW  Collingwood ?? (@admcollingwood) June 1, 2023

Although Ukraine has not said it carried out specific drone strikes, President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said that attacks on Russian territory are an "inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process" as the war with Russia continues. (Related: Zelensky warns war is coming to Russia as Moscow downs three more Ukrainian drones.)

Catch the latest updates on the ongoing conflicts in Russia and Ukraine on WWIII.news.

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Biowarfare incoming? Russia accuses US of planning to drop malaria-infested mosquitoes on Russian troops in Ukraine.

Military expert warns: Drone attack against the Kremlin could escalate Ukraine conflict to dangerous new levels.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

TheEconomist.com

BBC.com
Takahe, a sizable species of prehistoric flightless bird that spent 100 years on the verge of extinction in the wild, is once again wandering New Zealand as a result of successful conservation efforts.

Takahe: Large Prehistoric Flightless Bird

Some say that the Takahe is one of the peculiar creatures on Earth. They originated in an environment devoid of native land mammals, much like several New Zealand birds, and evolved to occupy the ecological niches that mammals would normally occupy. They inhabit the highlands, cannot fly, and are roughly fifty cm tall. According to fossil evidence, they were present in Aotearoa at least during the prehistoric Pleistocene epoch.

Ngai Tahu resident Tumai Cassidy described them as having a somewhat primitive appearance. Their blue-green feathers and nearly spherical bodies give them the appearance of a model of Earth seated atop two long, vibrant red legs when viewed from the front.

Ngai Tahu rangatira or elder Ta Tipene O'Regan claimed that Ngai Tahu was originally referred to as the "land of the birds that walk." The sight of these enormous birds scurrying back into tussock areas where they haven't walked in more than a century is one of nature's most breathtaking sights.

Reintroduction and a Conservation Victory

In the South Island of New Zealand's alpine Lake Whakatipu Waimaorivalley, 18 of the birds were released last week onto slopes where they had not been seen for about 100 years. It is especially significant for Ngai Tahu, the tribe that owns the lands and endured a protracted court battle to have them returned; it signifies the return of the birds that their ancestors coexisted within the areas they battled to reclaim.

The resurgence of wild takah populations in New Zealand is a carefully applauded conservation success and a revival of one of the rarest animals on the entire planet. The birds' already-decreased population had been decimated by the entrance of European settlers' companion animals, including stoats, cats, ferrets, and rats. They had been officially proclaimed extinct in 1898. They were rediscovered in 1948, and today there are about 500 of them, with a yearly population growth rate of 8%.

Artificial Intubation and Sock Puppets

To stop them from being eaten by predators, conservationists first collected the eggs and gave them artificial incubation. The workers dressed as the birds' distinctive red beaks in sock puppets fed and cared for the chicks as they developed. The Department of Conservation (DOC), which switched to rearing the birds in captivity and substantially invested in trapping and pest elimination to safeguard the birds, gradually moved the birds to certain island sanctuaries and national parks.

The operations manager for DOC Takahe rehabilitation Deidre Vercoe noted that stoat, ferret, and feral cat trapping has reduced the number of predators and that it is essential to keep the predator population low.

The plan is to release up to 10 juvenile takahe early next year, and another seven of the birds in October if the recently released pairs settle in well. Vercoe was circumspectly optimistic. It's exciting to focus on creating more wild populations after decades of laboring to boost the takahe population, but there are difficulties involved; creating new wild native species populations can take time, and success is not always guaranteed.

Also Read: 37,000 Migrating Birds Choose to Spend Winter at Dump Site in Spain to Feed on Food Waste, Rats

The government along with the Indigenous group that will house them are working closely together to develop the nation's third wild takahe population through the release on the Ngai Tahu land area.

Cassidy claims that for Maori, the rewilding of the birds into the valley had great significance. The feathers of the birds were collected and sewn into cloaks by the Ngai Tahu ancestors, who revered them.

Wild takahe's demise happened about the same time as a lot of the tribe's land was taken, sold, or vandalized. Local Maori at the time gave these mountain peaks the name "Lands of Tears," or Ka Whenua Roimata. Now, O'Regan hopes that manuhiri or guests will appreciate the close-by takahe call that emanates from the valley floor.

Related Article: 15 Canada Geese Land in La Brea Tar Pits, Severe Burns Kill 13
Killer lakes such as the Democratic Republic of Congo's Lake Kivu and Cameroon's Lakes Nyos and Monoun have been recorded in history as small bodies of water that contain a hazardous agent or substance that is deadly not only to marine life but also to humans. What makes these lakes lethal is the carbon dioxide gas trapped at the bottom of these lakes.

In the 1980s, both Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun underwent limnic eruptions, with the natural disaster at Nyos leading to the deaths of more than 1,700 people after suffocating from the release of toxic carbon dioxide. Since then, these lakes may hide in the guise of a paradise but is quite the opposite underneath. While the three mentioned lakes have been proven to be deadly, another killer is lurking within the heart of Europe.

In Spain, scientists suggest that a body of water is another killer lake overlooked before. Known as El Corta Guadiana (Corta Guadiana lake in English), previous report indicates that carbon dioxide is trapped under the lake's bottom. If released, the gas could cause life-threatening risks to its surrounding environment and communities, leading to potential injury or death.

Spain Killer Lake

The killer lake of Spain, Corta Guadiana, has been discovered to have the potential to emit a similarly lethal toxic cloud, according to a team of scientists led by Javier Sanchez Espana, a geochemist at the Institute of Geology and Mining in Spain.

This is based on a report in 2016, when Espana found that another eruption may occur in the Spanish lake due to the presence of trapped carbon dioxide underneath it, in addition to the mentioned killer lakes in DRC and Cameroon.

Corta Guadiana is an artificial lake located near the small community of Puebla de Guzman with only 3,000 reported inhabitants. The town is situated in the western part of Huelva province in Spain.

Prior to the recent discovery of trapped carbon under the killer lake, it has posed a danger to public health after it was formed in 1983. Its creation was initially operated by the British company The Bedel Metal & Chemical, which was searching for iron sulphide at that time.

Also Read: Officials Worried More 'Illegal' Piranhas Are Lurking in Louisiana Lake

Killer Lake of Cameroon

Lake Nyos, as mentioned earlier, underwent a catastrophic explosion in August 1986. It released up to 1 kilometer of carbon dioxide from the water and into the atmosphere killing approximately 1700 people in a radius of up to 26 kilometers (13 miles) away from the killer lake, according to the Michigan University.

Aside from the abundance of carbon, some conditions that led to the release of the gas include the weakening of the "strength of stratification," which becomes weaker as surface waters lose heat. This occurs during the monsoon season when decreasing air temperatures and solar energy occur, the university explains.

While scientists have only recorded few killer lakes at this point, it is possible there are other similar bodies of water around the world that may contain not only trapped carbon but also other hazardous chemicals.

Related Article: Africa's 'Killer Lake' Kivu Hides a Deadly Poison Cloud Gas That May Erupt, Risk Millions
Japanese ministers dined together over sashimi made from fish caught after water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant was released to alleviate concerns.

Japanese Ministers Sharing Fukushima Sashimi

This week, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and three other high-ranking Japanese officials ate Fukushima sashimi to alleviate concerns over fish safety after treated radioactive water was released from the nuclear plant. Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura noted the Wednesday lunch included flounder, octopus, and sea bass caught off Fukushima's coast, along with local rice.

Cant wait to try the kojizuke. Also picked up some peaches, pears, and grapes from the JA farmers market for dessert. And lets be clearIm not sharing the grapes. @soma_city #Fukushima pic.twitter.com/Oc3fH47KYf   (@USAmbJapan) August 31, 2023

The aim is to bridge the gap between reassurance and safety. Prime Minister Kishida found the seafood "safe and delicious," and US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel also dined in Fukushima without security concerns.

1 Million Metric Tons of Treated Wastewater

Japan recently began releasing water from Fukushima Daiichi, the site of a major nuclear disaster, intending to discharge over 1 million tons of treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean within 30 years. Despite reassurances from authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency on safety, concerns linger. Tritium levels, a rare radioactive isotope, in the water, are deemed too insignificant to be dangerous by scientists.

The move faced resistance from Japanese fishing groups fearing harm to their goods' reputation due to radioactive stigma. The neighboring country, China, has banned Japanese seafood imports, igniting state-supported outrage and amplifying tensions with US-aligned nations amid regional divisions. The US ambassador criticized China's decision as overtly political after visiting Fukushima and joining the said lunch meeting.

Also Read: Fukushima to Release Over a Million Cubic Meters Water From Nuclear Plant; Officials Urge Locals Stop Swimming

Support From Other Countries

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol supported concerns about safety in eating Japan's fish by sharing a seafood lunch with his staff to demonstrate its safety amid Japan's water release plan. Japanese authorities argue water discharge is essential for the Fukushima plant's eventual decommissioning after the 2011 quake and nuclear meltdown.

Japan's prime minister plans to aid Fukushima's fishing industry, which is still recovering from reputation damage and economic worries due to the water release. Makoto Takahashi from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam explained that treated water with trace tritium is commonly released globally, but Japan's plan could harm its economy. Fukushima's recovery progress, including tighter safety measures, faces threat from the release's impact.

Dispelling Worries and Rumors

The Japanese government's call for support against reputation damage has led to increased backing for Fukushima businesses across the nation. The hometown tax program, allowing taxpayers to donate to a chosen city, resulted in almost sevenfold donations to Iwaki following the Fukushima wastewater post-release.

Iwaki's Mayor Hiroyuki Uchida aims to convert this backing into strength to dispel rumors. Vendors outside Fukushima have also promoted region-specific fish sales. Aeon, a Japanese supermarket chain, established Fukushima fish sections in 21 Tokyo-area locations and pledged continued support for seafood from Fukushima after the water release.

Related Article: Japan Poised to Release 1.3M Tonnes Treated Wastewater From Fukushima Nuclear Plant
An individual in Texas died from an infection of brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a lake in Austin, reports revealed.

Recently, portions of the U.S. experienced high temperatures, including in Texas and the Southeastern U.S. Heat-related health advisories were also issued in the affected areas.

Meanwhile, public health officials warned people to swim in freshwater as warmer and soaring temperatures could likely grow harmful organisms.

Deadly Brain-Eating Amoeba in Austin, Texas

The press release did not identify the Travis County resident who died from the deadly brain-eating amoeba after swimming in Lake Lyndon B. Johnson this month.

Brain-eating amoeba is considered very rare. The infection could become very life-threatening.

In Texas, 39 were reported to suffer from amebic meningoencephalitis.

Based on the CDC's report, the brain-eating amoeba can be found in the following water:

Lakes

Hot Springs

Rivers

Reports showed that at least one in three people in the U.S. gets infected by the deadly Naegleria fowleri.

Meanwhile, the Austin Public Health reminded swimmers of possible risks in freshwaters, such as amebic infections.

Once people get infected by swallowing the contaminated water, they will likely feel the following symptoms:

Fever

Nausea

Vomiting

Stiff Neck

Seizures

Other symptoms of amoeba are trembling, coma and confusion.

The infections could result in severe illness. Affected people should immediately seek medical attention as the condition is life-threatening.

People should always be careful with untreated geothermal waters and springs, which are primary homes of the deadly amoeba.

In August, NWN also reported the same infection after an individual died due to the rare brain-eating amoeba in Georgia.

Also Read: Fish Deaths in North Mexico Coast Likely Due to High Temperatures, Algae Bloom

Staying safe from the possible infection of brain-eating amoeba

As record-high temperatures unfold in parts of the U.S., the rare case of amoeba infection could be likely.

Here are essential reminders to stay safe and avoid exposure to Naegleria fowleri.

The harmful organism emerge in low water levels or higher temperatures. In the warmer season this September, people should take possible precautions.

Homeowners should look after their children and advise them to avoid swimming in freshwater, especially during warmer months.

Swimmers should always keep their heads above the water if they plan to swim in these areas. When you swim underwater, it can pose a risk of infection.

People should also avoid digging the sediment, which could have the amoeba.

According to the CDC, young boys are mostly at risk of amoeba infection as they participate more in outdoor water activities in freshwater.

Related Article: Rare Infection 'Brain-Eating Amoeba' Kills Georgia Resident After Likely Swimming in Freshwater

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
After bringing massive destruction in Florida, Tropical Storm Idalia has also caused flood in Georgia.

Heavy rains and significant inland and coastal floodings have continued in Georgia as well as in the Carolinas and Virginia, with weather forecasters issuing a warning that Idalia could still bring damage in these areas.

According to the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, tropical storm conditions could be observed in the Bermuda by Saturday.

Furthermore, torrential rains will likely lead to areas of flash and urban floodings on the island.

On the other hand, water levels are expected to subside and winds are forecasted to diminish along the coast of North Carolina through early Friday.

Read Also: Florida In High Risk For Impacts As Idalia Seen To Develop Into Hurricane

Effects on Georgia

Officials said that the weather disturbance's powerful winds and heavy rains toppled down power lines and clogged interstate highways and local roads with uprooted trees and debris.

Governor Brian Kemp earlier issued a State of Emergency order for all of the areas in Georgia to address the anticipated impact of Idalia across the state.

"I am taking this additional executive action to ensure state assets are ready to respond," Kemp said. "Georgians in the expected impact area can and should take necessary steps to ensure their safety and that of their families. We are well positioned to respond to whatever Idalia may bring."

Kemp further said that the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) State Operations Center has remained open and would continue to monitor Idalia's progress and possible effects in the state.

Kemp, GEMA/HS officials, as well as other state leaders have vowed to work closely with local officials as regards the planned and implemented storm response.

Moreover, the GEMA/HS also has teams standing by to deploy to affected counties, when appropriate.

The governor further called on all Georgians to keep on monitoring weather alerts and to take the necessary precautions to ensure their safety as well as that of their families.

Those directly affected by the storm's path are encouraged to consult GEMA/HS' informational website, which provides tips on storm preparedness before, during, and after a hurricane.

Florida

Meanwhile, in Florida, the extent of the damage due to Idalia can be seen along Florida's Gulf coast, where the tropical storm battered the areas as a Category 3 hurricane with gusts of 160mph. It also sent a surge of seawater of up to 16ft far inland through vulnerable low-lying communities.

Officials said that roofs have been torn in some buildings and that residences were submerged by water from the Gulf of Mexico and flash floods.

Thousands of trees were also tore down from Florida's west coast to Wilmington, North Carolina.

United States President Joe Biden disclosed that he had signed a major disaster declaration for Florida.

"It means we're making available federal assistance for Florida survivors, whose homes were damaged or destroyed, by the declaration that I agreed to," Biden said.

"And we're helping both Florida and South Carolina with the delivery of meals, waters, and debri- - debris removal that's going to help both states begin their road to recovery and do it immediately," Biden added.

Related Article: Tropical Storm Idalia: 28 Florida Counties Issued With Mandatory Evacuation Orders Amid Onslaught

Related Video:
A rare Amur tiger died in a "freak accident" after falling off a bench and suffering a severe spinal injury after being administered anesthesia for dental operations at a Colorado zoo.

Mila, who was transferred from Toronto Zoo to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (CMZoo) in Colorado Springs in March 2023, was suffering from a dental condition that required surgery.

Minutes after receiving the anesthesia and lying down, Mila slipped off the bench, which was only waist-high, and suffered from a fatal spinal injury.

"It was impossible from a human safety standpoint to stop her tragic fall," the zoo said in a statement.

The zoo's medical team entered the tiger's den as soon as it was safe to do so, but she perished despite receiving life-saving care for 40 minutes.

Read Also: Animal Deaths Continue at Bonbin Surabaya, Indonesia's 'Zoo of Death'

Right amount of drug

CMZ Zoo president and CEO Bob Chastain said the medical team had given the "right amount of drugs to a very calm tiger who had trained for this moment."

He went on to say that many tigers had been securely anaesthetized in the same den in the past.

"We never take decisions to anaesthetize an animal for a procedure lightly, and this is a tragic example of why," he added.

Mila is the second female Amur tiger to die in the zoo since 2021.

Another tiger named Savelli died due to problems following recovery from an artificial insemination treatment.

The deaths of the two tigers were unrelated, but the zoo stated that the "fragile state of their species is glaring."

"It is sobering to know that no matter how tragic these events are, that we are losing tigers in the wild every day as these animals, and many like them, struggle to survive in a world where there are so many people and so few wild places," Chastain added.

Amur tigers are highly endangered in the wild, with only about 500 tigers remaining in their natural habitats. The number of animals in human care in zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) in the United States and Canada is close to 100.

It was on the verge of extinction in the 1940s, with fewer than 50 individuals left in the wild. This was owing to the Russian Revolution and the founding of the Soviet Union, which resulted in decades of practically continuous political instability.

Arrival of Mila in CMZoo

Mila moved to the zoo in March 2023, after demonstrating in Toronto Zoo that she was ready for her own habitat apart from her mother.

She arrived at CMZoo based on a breeding recommendation. She never met CMZoo's male tiger, Chewy, because Amur tigers are solitary animals.

Rebecca Zwicker, animal care manager in Asian Highlands at CMZoo, described Mila as an intelligent and feisty tiger, and that the zoo is patiently training her on a consistent basis to help her settle in and make her feel comfortable in blth the indoor and outdoor spaces they have.

Mila had been working with the team on numerous critical husbandry behaviors that would allow her to enjoy a life at the Zoo with plenty of choice, autonomy, and care. She was focused on moving around easily and returning to keepers when called.

Related Article: The Race to Save the Amur Tiger [EXCLUSIVE]

Related Video:
Mexico's Navy announced that it intends to expand the region where it sinks concrete blocks with metal hooks to catch gill nets that are killing vaquita marina porpoises.

Last year, the Navy began dropping the blocks into the Gulf of California in the hopes of saving the world's most endangered marine animal.

The vaquita can only be found in the Gulf, also known as the Sea of Cortez, where there are as few as ten vaquitas. They are not capable of being kept or bred in captivity.

The vaquitas are trapped and drowned in illegal gill nets set for totoaba, a Gulf fish whose swim bladder is valued at hundreds of dollars per pound in China.

Read Also: Endangered California Vaquita Porpoise Could Be Saved From Extinction If We Stop Illegal Fishing

Zero tolerance area

The Navy said that it will negotiate with the fishing town of San Felipe in the Mexican state of Baja California to begin sinking blocks beyond the zero tolerance zone.

The zero tolerance zone is a rocky rectangle considered the last refuge for vaquitas.

It's called that because that's where the blocks are sunk and patrols are the most intense, and there's supposed to be no fishing at all, though it does happen occasionally.

"Once a consensus with the fishing community has been reached, 152 more blocks will be placed in the freezone alongside the zero tolerance area, where there have been visual or echolocation sightings" of vaquitas, Rear Admiral Marco Peyrot Solis, the Navy commander of the region, said in an interview.

San Felipe fishermen claim the government has failed to fulfill past pledges of compensation payments for lost income owing to net prohibitions in the area. They also claim that the government has done little to supply better, more environmentally friendly fishing equipment.

According to experts, the most recent observations indicate that 10 to 13 vaquitas remain, which is similar to the number sighted on the previous mission in 2021.

Extinction alert

The International Whaling Commission issued its first-ever extinction alert to warn of the severely endangered vaquita porpoise.

The vaquita porpoise, known to be the smallest of porpoises and all species within the order Cetacea in terms of size, can grow up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) long and was declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species in 1996.

The extinct warning effort is "a new mechanism" to "voice extinction concerns for an increasing range of cetacean species and populations."

"The vaquita is on the verge of extinction due to gillnet entanglement, despite nearly thirty years of repeated warnings," the news release said.

The scientific committee believes the vaquita population has a chance of recovery provided the prohibition on gillnets in their habitat is strictly enforced.

"The extinction of the vaquita is inevitable unless 100% of gillnets are substituted immediately with alternative fishing gears that protect the vaquita and the livelihoods of fishers," the committee said in the news release. "If this doesn't happen now, it will be too late."

Related Article: Vaquita Porpoise: International Whaling Commission Issues Extinction Alert for World's Smallest Cetacean

Related Video:
Michael Godek - Getty Images

Researchers believe theyve discovered the worlds largest asteroid impact crater in New South Wales, Australia.

They think the impact may have happened between 445 and 443 million years ago.

It could have been part of the reason for the Hirnantian glaciation stage, a mass extinction event that eliminated about 85 percent of Earths species.

The news about the discovery of the worlds largest asteroid impact crater is huge, if true323-miles-in-diameter huge.

Researchers at University New South Wales (UNSW) believe theyve found evidence that an asteroid impact buried near the town of Deniliquin, Australia, is the worlds largest ever discovered, and could have helped trigger a major glaciation event that killed off 85 percent of the worlds species. The research is published in the journal Tectonophysics.

Dubbed the Deniliquin structure, UNSW adjunct professor and asteroid impact researcher Andrew Glikson believes the crater is 323 miles in diameter, nearly double the size of the current record-holding craterthe Vredefortimpact structure in South Africa.

Glikson claims the impact that caused the crater may have occurred during the Late Ordovician mass extinction event. Specifically, I think it may have triggered whats called the Hirnantian glaciation stage, which lasted between 445.2 and 433.8 million years ago, he wrote in a statement. This huge glaciation and mass extinction event eliminated about 85 percent of the planets species.

Gigantic asteroid impacts can have a devastating effect for life on Earth, with the sudden impact not only sending reverberating waves of devastation out, but the debris fields and subsequent atmospheric noise dims the suns intensity and can trigger a cooling event.

Glikson concedes that the crater may be even older, but says that whenever the asteroid hit, it hit the eastern part of the Gondwana continentwhich existed for some time before it split off into several continents, including Australia.

Story continues

Finding a crater of that size buried in plain view is tricky because of erosion and sediment movement. Even Earths shifting tectonic plates can alter the crater. Glikson says that when an asteroid strikes, it creates a crater with an uplifted core, like how a drop of water splashes upward when a pebble hits a pool.

This central uplifted dome is a key characteristic of large impact structures, he writes. However, it can erode over thousands to millions of years, making the structure difficult to identify.

By understanding the geophysical makeup of the materials thrown out of a crater during impact, scientists can study layers of impact ejecta in various terrains around the world. Already, Gondwana and Australia were and are home to 38 confirmed and 43 potential impact structures.

In 1995, Gliksons colleague Tony Yeates suggested thst magnetic patterns in New South Wales likely represented a massiveyet buriedimpact structure. By analyzing the regions updated geophysical data between 2015 and 2020, Glikson wrote, he believes he confirmed the existence of the Deniliquin structure with a seismically defined dome at the center.

To support his claim, Glikson cites a number of indicative physical phenomena. Magnetic readings that reveal a symmetrical rippling pattern that would have been produced by the impacts extremely high temperatures, a central low magnetic zone corresponding to deep deformation above the mantle dome (the top of the dome is shallower than the top of the regional mantle), and radial faults moving away from the believed center that are typical of large impact structures are among the indicators.

According to the study, the central uplift and associated angular rock have all been eroded. Still, the authors claim that an interpretation of the Deniliquin features are inconsistent with the surrounding structural trends.

The bulk of the evidence for the Deniliquin impact is based on geophysical data obtained from the surface, Glikson wrote. For proof of impact, well need to collect physical evidence of shock, which can only come from drilling deep into the structure.

With no mega-drilling operation planned, well have to chalk up the Deniliquin news to the giant possibility of an enormous asteroid impact crater with vast consequences. Huge, if true, indeed.

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By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Adani Group on Thursday rejected the fresh allegations of stock price manipulation.The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists, in a report, has claimed massive investments were channeled into Adani Group stocks through opaque funds based in Mauritius. OCCRP has alleged that the promoter group family secretly invested in their own companies via close affiliates and bypassed the existing rules and regulations that prevent stock price manipulation.

Reacting to the allegations, Adani Group has said that the reports appear to be yet another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report. Soros is referred to George Soros, a Hungarian-American businessman, who has been critical of billionaire Adani Group and PM Narendra Modi-led government.

The port-to-power conglomerate said that the fresh claims are based on closed cases from a decade ago when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) probed allegations of over-invoicing, transfer of funds abroad, related party transactions and investments through foreign portfolio investors. It added that the matter attained finality in March 2023 when the Supreme Court ruled in their favour.

Clearly, since there was no over-valuation, there is no relevance or foundation for these allegations on transfer of funds. Notably, these FPIs are already part of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). As per the Expert Committee appointed by the Supreme Court, there is no evidence of any breach of the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements or manipulation of stock prices, said Adani Group.

Most Adani Group stocks on Thursday fell by 2-5%. Shares of the Group companies are yet to recover from the allegations of stock price manipulation first raised by the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research in January this year. The stock rout once had erased more than half, or about $150 billion, of the combined market cap of 10 Adani companies.

OCCRP said that Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli of UAE and Chang Chung-Ling of Taiwan are individuals who spent years trading hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Adani Group stock. The two men have close ties to the Adani family, including appearing as directors and shareholders in affiliated companies.

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NEW DELHI: Adani Group on Thursday rejected the fresh allegations of stock price manipulation.The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists, in a report, has claimed massive investments were channeled into Adani Group stocks through opaque funds based in Mauritius. OCCRP has alleged that the promoter group family secretly invested in their own companies via close affiliates and bypassed the existing rules and regulations that prevent stock price manipulation. Reacting to the allegations, Adani Group has said that the reports appear to be yet another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report. Soros is referred to George Soros, a Hungarian-American businessman, who has been critical of billionaire Adani Group and PM Narendra Modi-led government. The port-to-power conglomerate said that the fresh claims are based on closed cases from a decade ago when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) probed allegations of over-invoicing, transfer of funds abroad, related party transactions and investments through foreign portfolio investors. It added that the matter attained finality in March 2023 when the Supreme Court ruled in their favour.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Clearly, since there was no over-valuation, there is no relevance or foundation for these allegations on transfer of funds. Notably, these FPIs are already part of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). As per the Expert Committee appointed by the Supreme Court, there is no evidence of any breach of the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements or manipulation of stock prices, said Adani Group. Most Adani Group stocks on Thursday fell by 2-5%. Shares of the Group companies are yet to recover from the allegations of stock price manipulation first raised by the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research in January this year. The stock rout once had erased more than half, or about $150 billion, of the combined market cap of 10 Adani companies. OCCRP said that Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli of UAE and Chang Chung-Ling of Taiwan are individuals who spent years trading hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Adani Group stock. The two men have close ties to the Adani family, including appearing as directors and shareholders in affiliated companies. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: International flights will begin operations at Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport on September 12, the airport operator announced late Thursday night. The proposed launch on August 31 was abruptly postponed at the last minute.

Singapore Airlines will operate the first flight (SQ 508) to arrive at the new terminal from Singapore at 10:55 a.m.

An official statement from airport operator, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), said, After consultation with regulatory authorities and other stakeholders, BIAL is pleased to announce the commencement of International operations at BLR Airports Terminal 2 on 12th September 2023, from 10.45 am onwards. This decision has been taken after careful evaluation and consideration of various factors, including regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and passenger convenience.

Meanwhile, confusion prevailed among flyers as airlines showed international departures and arrivals at T2 while the Bengaluru airport website was showing departures and arrivals on T1.

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BENGALURU: International flights will begin operations at Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport on September 12, the airport operator announced late Thursday night. The proposed launch on August 31 was abruptly postponed at the last minute. Singapore Airlines will operate the first flight (SQ 508) to arrive at the new terminal from Singapore at 10:55 a.m. An official statement from airport operator, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), said, After consultation with regulatory authorities and other stakeholders, BIAL is pleased to announce the commencement of International operations at BLR Airports Terminal 2 on 12th September 2023, from 10.45 am onwards. This decision has been taken after careful evaluation and consideration of various factors, including regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and passenger convenience.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Meanwhile, confusion prevailed among flyers as airlines showed international departures and arrivals at T2 while the Bengaluru airport website was showing departures and arrivals on T1. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Union Minister of External Affairs Dr. S Jaishankar on Thursday said the world is divided into North-South and East-West and it is the responsibility of India to bring the divided world together.

Addressing an event at Delhi Universitys Hindu College over Indias G20 presidency, Dr. Jaishankar said that the world is divided into developed countries in the North and developing in the South and East and West after the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

Began the Amritkaal-Vimarsh: Viksit Bharat@2047 series by interacting with students of the Hindu College @UnivofDelhi today.



Spoke about our G20 Presidency and its global impact. The domestic transformation in the last decade and our manifold contributions abroad have shaped https://t.co/LlsowvjjWG pic.twitter.com/FUvVvgL4qm August 31, 2023

We are in the middle of all this, so it is our responsibility to bring the divided world together, the EAM said. He said India is respected in the world because of its governance, economy, technology and independent foreign policy.

India recovered quickly from the Covid pandemic, whereas many countries were unable to do so, Dr Jaishankar said and added, Now, the Ukraine war is creating many problems for the world. Over a question by a student regarding United Nations Security Council (UNSC) membership, the minister said, "Our country is the most populated and the fifth largest in economy and thats why India cannot be ignored.

The UNSC has China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US as permanent members and India has been campaigning over the years for its inclusion. Prof. Yogesh Singh, Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi, was also present at the event titled Viksit Bharat@2047 Vikas Samvad.

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NEW DELHI: Union Minister of External Affairs Dr. S Jaishankar on Thursday said the world is divided into North-South and East-West and it is the responsibility of India to bring the divided world together. Addressing an event at Delhi Universitys Hindu College over Indias G20 presidency, Dr. Jaishankar said that the world is divided into developed countries in the North and developing in the South and East and West after the outbreak of the Ukraine war. Began the Amritkaal-Vimarsh: Viksit Bharat@2047 series by interacting with students of the Hindu College @UnivofDelhi today. Spoke about our G20 Presidency and its global impact. The domestic transformation in the last decade and our manifold contributions abroad have shaped https://t.co/LlsowvjjWG pic.twitter.com/FUvVvgL4qmgoogletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); });  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) August 31, 2023 We are in the middle of all this, so it is our responsibility to bring the divided world together, the EAM said. He said India is respected in the world because of its governance, economy, technology and independent foreign policy. India recovered quickly from the Covid pandemic, whereas many countries were unable to do so, Dr Jaishankar said and added, Now, the Ukraine war is creating many problems for the world. Over a question by a student regarding United Nations Security Council (UNSC) membership, the minister said, "Our country is the most populated and the fifth largest in economy and thats why India cannot be ignored. The UNSC has China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US as permanent members and India has been campaigning over the years for its inclusion. Prof. Yogesh Singh, Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi, was also present at the event titled Viksit Bharat@2047 Vikas Samvad. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
HALIFAX  Premier Tim Houston is marking 25 years since the crash of Swissair Flight 111 off Nova Scotia claimed the lives of 229 passengers and crew.

The MD-11 passenger jet plunged into the waters near Peggy's Cove on Sept. 2, 1998, during a flight from New York to Geneva, Switzerland.

In a statement, Houston extends the deepest sympathies of all Nova Scotians to the families and loved ones of the victims.

Houston also notes the massive search effort involving large numbers of local residents, Canadian Armed Forces and coast guard members and RCMP officers.

The premier says those who helped in the days following the disaster represent the very best of our province and country," adding that we are forever grateful for your service.

Houston says people from across Canada and around the world will gather this weekend to remember the tragedy at two memorial sites on St. Margarets Bay.

May their memory be a comfort at this difficult time, and please know that Nova Scotians hold you in their hearts, Houston says to the relatives and friends of the victims.

The crash occurred after an electrical fire in the ceiling over the cockpit spread and the pilots struggled to get the aircraft on the ground.

In 2003, investigators concluded that the fire began when a corroded wire ignited a flammable insulation covering in the aircrafts ceiling.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2023.

The Canadian Press
Shruti Kakkar By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar MP Prabhunath Singh was awarded life imprisonment on Friday by the Supreme Court, days after reversing his acquittal in a double-murder case of 1995.

Singh was accused of killing Rajendra Rai (18) and Daroga Rai (47) near a polling booth in Chhapra in March 1995. He was acquitted by the Patna court in 2008, citing lack of evidence which was upheld by Patna High Court in 2012.

A bench of Justices SK Kaul, AS Oka, and Vikram Nath also directed the former MP and Bihar government to compensate the victims by paying Rs 10 lakh each to the deceased family and Rs 5 lakh to those injured.

Justice Kaul while hearing arguments on the quantum of the sentence said that there were only two punishment options related to life sentence or the death penalty before the former MP. Appearing for Prabhunath Singh, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi while laying emphasis on the lower courts orders of finding him innocent said his presumption of innocence was high. Senior counsel also indicated that the case was fit for seeking a review of the Supreme Courts guilty verdict.

The top court had reversed Singhs acquittal on August 18 opining that the appellate courts failed to take into consideration the conduct of the accused subsequent to the incident and also failed to draw any adverse inference against him with respect to their guilt.

Coming down heavily upon the trial court and the high court for its failure to notice the sensitivity and intricacies of the case, the bench in its verdict authored by Justice Nath said that the trial was shabby and the investigation tainted.

Both the courts shut their eyes to the manner of the investigation, the prosecutors role and the high-handedness of the accused as also the conduct of the presiding officer of the trial court, despite observations and findings having been recorded not only by the administrative judge but also by the division bench, it said.

ALSO READ | Supreme Court reverses acquittal of ex-MP Prabhunath Singh in double murder case

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NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar MP Prabhunath Singh was awarded life imprisonment on Friday by the Supreme Court, days after reversing his acquittal in a double-murder case of 1995. Singh was accused of killing Rajendra Rai (18) and Daroga Rai (47) near a polling booth in Chhapra in March 1995. He was acquitted by the Patna court in 2008, citing lack of evidence which was upheld by Patna High Court in 2012. A bench of Justices SK Kaul, AS Oka, and Vikram Nath also directed the former MP and Bihar government to compensate the victims by paying Rs 10 lakh each to the deceased family and Rs 5 lakh to those injured.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Justice Kaul while hearing arguments on the quantum of the sentence said that there were only two punishment options related to life sentence or the death penalty before the former MP. Appearing for Prabhunath Singh, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi while laying emphasis on the lower courts orders of finding him innocent said his presumption of innocence was high. Senior counsel also indicated that the case was fit for seeking a review of the Supreme Courts guilty verdict. The top court had reversed Singhs acquittal on August 18 opining that the appellate courts failed to take into consideration the conduct of the accused subsequent to the incident and also failed to draw any adverse inference against him with respect to their guilt. Coming down heavily upon the trial court and the high court for its failure to notice the sensitivity and intricacies of the case, the bench in its verdict authored by Justice Nath said that the trial was shabby and the investigation tainted. Both the courts shut their eyes to the manner of the investigation, the prosecutors role and the high-handedness of the accused as also the conduct of the presiding officer of the trial court, despite observations and findings having been recorded not only by the administrative judge but also by the division bench, it said. ALSO READ | Supreme Court reverses acquittal of ex-MP Prabhunath Singh in double murder case Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Preetha Nair By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee held meetings with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the capital ahead of the Mumbai conclave of the INDIA bloc, sources said. The meeting assumes significance as it is seen as an attempt to diffuse the rising tension between Congress and AAP, both important players in the Opposition bloc.

As the third meeting of the Opposition parties in Mumbai is expected to chart out a roadmap for 2024 election, the friction between both AAP and Congress is seen as a big challenge for the unity ahead, said a senior leader.

Trinamool sources told this paper that TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met both Kejriwal and Rahul as part of TMCs continuous effort to bring a truce between the two parties. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had played a key role in bringing the warring parties together after the first meeting of INDIA bloc in Patna in June this year.

AAP had threatened to boycott the Patna meeting if Congress does not support it on the Delhi ordinance issue. It was after the intervention of the TMC chief that both parties reached a consensus. Mamatas role in the bloc has become more important after the political crisis in Maharashtra. Whether it is the trust factor or negotiating power or good will, Mamatas role now assumes importance. The stand of Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar are very confusing for many people now, said the leader.

Though both the parties seemed to have struck truce after the Congress supported AAP in Parliament on opposing the Delhi Services Bill, fissures have emerged recently over alliances in Delhi and Punjab where both the parties are in contest with each other. They were engaged in a war of words over AAPs entry into Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where Congress is a main player. However, opposition leaders maintain that differences will be sorted out.

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NEW DELHI: TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee held meetings with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the capital ahead of the Mumbai conclave of the INDIA bloc, sources said. The meeting assumes significance as it is seen as an attempt to diffuse the rising tension between Congress and AAP, both important players in the Opposition bloc. As the third meeting of the Opposition parties in Mumbai is expected to chart out a roadmap for 2024 election, the friction between both AAP and Congress is seen as a big challenge for the unity ahead, said a senior leader. Trinamool sources told this paper that TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met both Kejriwal and Rahul as part of TMCs continuous effort to bring a truce between the two parties. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had played a key role in bringing the warring parties together after the first meeting of INDIA bloc in Patna in June this year.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); AAP had threatened to boycott the Patna meeting if Congress does not support it on the Delhi ordinance issue. It was after the intervention of the TMC chief that both parties reached a consensus. Mamatas role in the bloc has become more important after the political crisis in Maharashtra. Whether it is the trust factor or negotiating power or good will, Mamatas role now assumes importance. The stand of Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar are very confusing for many people now, said the leader. Though both the parties seemed to have struck truce after the Congress supported AAP in Parliament on opposing the Delhi Services Bill, fissures have emerged recently over alliances in Delhi and Punjab where both the parties are in contest with each other. They were engaged in a war of words over AAPs entry into Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where Congress is a main player. However, opposition leaders maintain that differences will be sorted out. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: The fact that families loyal to the BJP for decades are disenchanted with the saffron party is distinctly manifesting itself ahead of the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.

In the latest setback, two-time ex-MLA Girija Shankar Sharma quit the BJP on Friday.

He is the fourth BJP leader to quit the ruling BJP in the past five months.

It's not lost on political observers that two sons of the powerful Brahmin Sharma family of Narmadapuram district had won the Hoshangabad assembly seat (formerly Itarsi seat) seven consecutive times between 1990 and 2018, thus making it a bastion of the saffron party for 33 years.

Sitting MLA and ex-Vidhan Sabha speaker Dr Sitasaran Sharma held the seat five times (1990, 1993, 1998, 2013 and 2018). Before him, his elder brother held sway here between 2003 and 2008.

The disregard of the party's top leaders towards veterans and long-time workers was cited as the reason by Girija Shankar Sharma for quitting the party. He vowed that he will ensure that BJP will not retain the seat in the forthcoming polls. He said that BJP coming back to power in the state is not in the state's larger interest.

Girija Shankar Sharma's resignation from the primary membership of the BJP took place at a time when there was buzz that the BJP was likely to deny a ticket to anyone from the Sharma family to contest from the Hoshangabad seat for the first time in 33 years.

Party insiders claimed that the family is disappointed over the younger sibling and ex-assembly speaker Dr Sitasaran Sharma not being made a minister in the recent cabinet rejig.

The former MLA, who has twice been the chairman of the local municipality in the Narmadapuram town and also former district BJP president, while admitting that he has recently met the state Congress chief Kamal Nath and Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh once, added that the talks haven't yet matured to the level of him joining the main opposition party.

"All I can say is that I'll work for the victory of the best opposition candidate. But it remains to be seen whether that will be done by being inside the Congress or outside it. It's still a month and a half before polls are announced, whether I'll join the Congress, the AAP or any other opposition party will be decided later," he maintained.

The Hoshangabad seat is one of the four seats of Narmadapuram district (earlier named Hoshangabad district). All four seats were won by the BJP in 2018.

In 2018 there was also a rebellion within the BJP ranks in the central MP district, as multiple times former MLA and MP and ex-union and state minister Sartaj Singh, upset over the denial of ticket by BJP, had joined the Congress and contested against the sitting BJP MLA and the then outgoing Vidhan Sabha speaker Dr Sitasaran Sharma from Hoshangabad seat, but lost by over 15,000 votes. Singh, however, returned to the BJP a few years later.

Importantly, the elder Sharma's resignation from the BJP happened just a day after sitting BJP MLA from Kolaras seat of Shivpuri district Virendra Raghuvanshi quit the BJP, accusing Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist leaders and ministers of corruption and "ill-treatment" of elder leaders in the party.

Raghuvanshi is likely to join the Congress in Bhopal on Saturday.

Other leaders to quit the BJP in last five months

On March 22, Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav, the elder son of three times former BJP MLA Late Rao Deshraj Singh Yadav, quit the party to join the Congress. He is likely to be fielded by the Congress from his father's old seat Mungaoli in the Ashok Nagar district of Gwalior-Chambal region.

In April, former BJP MP from Khargone-ST seat of west MP, Makhansingh Solanki quit the BJP and joined the Congress. His nephew Sumer Singh Solanki is the first-time BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha.

In May, former CM Late Kailash Joshi's ex-Madhya Pradesh minister son Deepak Joshi ended his decades-long association with the BJP to join the Congress. He is keen on contesting against CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan from the latter's political pocket-borough Budhni in central MP's Sehore district.



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BHOPAL: The fact that families loyal to the BJP for decades are disenchanted with the saffron party is distinctly manifesting itself ahead of the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh. In the latest setback, two-time ex-MLA Girija Shankar Sharma quit the BJP on Friday. He is the fourth BJP leader to quit the ruling BJP in the past five months.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); It's not lost on political observers that two sons of the powerful Brahmin Sharma family of Narmadapuram district had won the Hoshangabad assembly seat (formerly Itarsi seat) seven consecutive times between 1990 and 2018, thus making it a bastion of the saffron party for 33 years. Sitting MLA and ex-Vidhan Sabha speaker Dr Sitasaran Sharma held the seat five times (1990, 1993, 1998, 2013 and 2018). Before him, his elder brother held sway here between 2003 and 2008. The disregard of the party's top leaders towards veterans and long-time workers was cited as the reason by Girija Shankar Sharma for quitting the party. He vowed that he will ensure that BJP will not retain the seat in the forthcoming polls. He said that BJP coming back to power in the state is not in the state's larger interest. Girija Shankar Sharma's resignation from the primary membership of the BJP took place at a time when there was buzz that the BJP was likely to deny a ticket to anyone from the Sharma family to contest from the Hoshangabad seat for the first time in 33 years. Party insiders claimed that the family is disappointed over the younger sibling and ex-assembly speaker Dr Sitasaran Sharma not being made a minister in the recent cabinet rejig. The former MLA, who has twice been the chairman of the local municipality in the Narmadapuram town and also former district BJP president, while admitting that he has recently met the state Congress chief Kamal Nath and Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh once, added that the talks haven't yet matured to the level of him joining the main opposition party. "All I can say is that I'll work for the victory of the best opposition candidate. But it remains to be seen whether that will be done by being inside the Congress or outside it. It's still a month and a half before polls are announced, whether I'll join the Congress, the AAP or any other opposition party will be decided later," he maintained. The Hoshangabad seat is one of the four seats of Narmadapuram district (earlier named Hoshangabad district). All four seats were won by the BJP in 2018. In 2018 there was also a rebellion within the BJP ranks in the central MP district, as multiple times former MLA and MP and ex-union and state minister Sartaj Singh, upset over the denial of ticket by BJP, had joined the Congress and contested against the sitting BJP MLA and the then outgoing Vidhan Sabha speaker Dr Sitasaran Sharma from Hoshangabad seat, but lost by over 15,000 votes. Singh, however, returned to the BJP a few years later. Importantly, the elder Sharma's resignation from the BJP happened just a day after sitting BJP MLA from Kolaras seat of Shivpuri district Virendra Raghuvanshi quit the BJP, accusing Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist leaders and ministers of corruption and "ill-treatment" of elder leaders in the party. Raghuvanshi is likely to join the Congress in Bhopal on Saturday. Other leaders to quit the BJP in last five months On March 22, Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav, the elder son of three times former BJP MLA Late Rao Deshraj Singh Yadav, quit the party to join the Congress. He is likely to be fielded by the Congress from his father's old seat Mungaoli in the Ashok Nagar district of Gwalior-Chambal region. In April, former BJP MP from Khargone-ST seat of west MP, Makhansingh Solanki quit the BJP and joined the Congress. His nephew Sumer Singh Solanki is the first-time BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha. In May, former CM Late Kailash Joshi's ex-Madhya Pradesh minister son Deepak Joshi ended his decades-long association with the BJP to join the Congress. He is keen on contesting against CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan from the latter's political pocket-borough Budhni in central MP's Sehore district. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Amid speculation of advancing general elections, the government on Friday constituted a seven-member committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind to study the legal and constitutional feasibility of the one nation, one election concept.

It came a day after the government called a special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22.

However, the Opposition bloc INDIA lashed out at the panel, calling it a threat to the countrys federal structure.

Assembly polls are due in Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Rajasthan in November-December. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies are scheduled to go to the polls with the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year.

Ever since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been articulating the idea of simultaneous polls. In 2018, during his address to the joint session of Parliament, Kovind suggested wide deliberations on the proposal of holding Lok Sabha and all state elections simultaneously.

Union minister Pralhad Joshi said the committee will hold consultations with all stakeholders, including legal luminaries. The panel may also consult leaders of different political parties. Kovind has a good understanding of the law, as he is an advocate by training.

While there has been no official word yet on the composition of the panel, it could comprise retired judges of the higher judiciary and senior members of the Union Cabinet.

BJP national president J P Nadda met Kovind at his residence on Friday, days after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat called on the former President. Sources said the RSS, too, is in support of restructuring of the election cycle.

Legal experts said introducing the one nation one election system would require at least five constitutional amendments besides a lot of groundwork.

Kharge calls it diversion

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge called it a diversion. No matter how many diversions and distractions the regime throws, the citizens shall not be betrayed, he said

One nation, one election: BJP chief Nadda meets Kovind

VIDEO | Former President Ram Nath Kovind and BJP chief JP Nadda leave from the former's residence after a meeting.



The Centre, earlier today, is reported to have formed a committee headed by the former President to explore the possibility of 'one nation one election'. pic.twitter.com/n8sDeOKNli  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2023

BJP chief JP Nadda on Friday met Ram Nath Kovind soon after the former President was tasked with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of "one nation, one election".

Nadda visited Kovind's residence in the national capital this morning. However, details of the meeting could not be immediately ascertained.

Kovind will explore the feasibility and the mechanism to see how the country can go back to having simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, as was the case till 1967.

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong votary for the idea of simultaneous polls, which include those at local bodies, citing the financial burden caused by the almost continuous election cycle and jolt to development work during the polling period.

Kovind too had echoed Modi's view and expressed his support to the idea after becoming President in 2017.

Addressing Parliament, he said in 2018, "Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct."

Like Modi, he had called for a sustained debate and expressed hope that all political parties arrive at a consensus on this issue.

(With inputs from PTI)

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NEW DELHI: Amid speculation of advancing general elections, the government on Friday constituted a seven-member committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind to study the legal and constitutional feasibility of the one nation, one election concept. It came a day after the government called a special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22. However, the Opposition bloc INDIA lashed out at the panel, calling it a threat to the countrys federal structure. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Assembly polls are due in Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Rajasthan in November-December. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies are scheduled to go to the polls with the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year. Ever since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been articulating the idea of simultaneous polls. In 2018, during his address to the joint session of Parliament, Kovind suggested wide deliberations on the proposal of holding Lok Sabha and all state elections simultaneously. Union minister Pralhad Joshi said the committee will hold consultations with all stakeholders, including legal luminaries. The panel may also consult leaders of different political parties. Kovind has a good understanding of the law, as he is an advocate by training. While there has been no official word yet on the composition of the panel, it could comprise retired judges of the higher judiciary and senior members of the Union Cabinet. BJP national president J P Nadda met Kovind at his residence on Friday, days after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat called on the former President. Sources said the RSS, too, is in support of restructuring of the election cycle. Legal experts said introducing the one nation one election system would require at least five constitutional amendments besides a lot of groundwork. Kharge calls it diversion Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge called it a diversion. No matter how many diversions and distractions the regime throws, the citizens shall not be betrayed, he said One nation, one election: BJP chief Nadda meets Kovind VIDEO | Former President Ram Nath Kovind and BJP chief JP Nadda leave from the former's residence after a meeting. The Centre, earlier today, is reported to have formed a committee headed by the former President to explore the possibility of 'one nation one election'. pic.twitter.com/n8sDeOKNli  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 1, 2023 BJP chief JP Nadda on Friday met Ram Nath Kovind soon after the former President was tasked with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of "one nation, one election". Nadda visited Kovind's residence in the national capital this morning. However, details of the meeting could not be immediately ascertained. Kovind will explore the feasibility and the mechanism to see how the country can go back to having simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, as was the case till 1967. Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong votary for the idea of simultaneous polls, which include those at local bodies, citing the financial burden caused by the almost continuous election cycle and jolt to development work during the polling period. Kovind too had echoed Modi's view and expressed his support to the idea after becoming President in 2017. Addressing Parliament, he said in 2018, "Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct." Like Modi, he had called for a sustained debate and expressed hope that all political parties arrive at a consensus on this issue. (With inputs from PTI) Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Shruti Kakkar By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court collegium on Thursday has recommended for appointing five additional Madras HC judges as permanent judges. The judges recommended for permanent judgeship are Justices AA Nakkiran, Nidumolu Mala, S Sounthar, Sunder Mohan, and Kabali Kumaresh Babu.

Their recommendation has been made against the backdrop of Madras HC unanimously recommending their appointment on June 20 pursuant to the same being concurred by TN CM and governor.

In terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, we have consulted a judge of the Supreme Court conversant with the functioning of the Madras HC with a view to ascertain the suitability of the above Additional Judges for being appointed as permanent judges.

The Committee of two judges of the Supreme Court constituted by the Chief Justice of India in terms of the Resolution dated 26 October 2017 of the Supreme Court Collegium has assessed the judgments of the above- named Additional Judges, the collegium in its resolution said.

Additionally the collegium has also recommended the appointment of two additional judges Anant Ramanath Hegde and Kannankuzhyil Sreedharan Hemalekha of the Karnataka HC as permanent judges. However, the collegium has also recommended one year extension of additional judge Justice Siddaiah Rachaiah.

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NEW DELHI: Supreme Court collegium on Thursday has recommended for appointing five additional Madras HC judges as permanent judges. The judges recommended for permanent judgeship are Justices AA Nakkiran, Nidumolu Mala, S Sounthar, Sunder Mohan, and Kabali Kumaresh Babu. Their recommendation has been made against the backdrop of Madras HC unanimously recommending their appointment on June 20 pursuant to the same being concurred by TN CM and governor. In terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, we have consulted a judge of the Supreme Court conversant with the functioning of the Madras HC with a view to ascertain the suitability of the above Additional Judges for being appointed as permanent judges.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Committee of two judges of the Supreme Court constituted by the Chief Justice of India in terms of the Resolution dated 26 October 2017 of the Supreme Court Collegium has assessed the judgments of the above- named Additional Judges, the collegium in its resolution said. Additionally the collegium has also recommended the appointment of two additional judges Anant Ramanath Hegde and Kannankuzhyil Sreedharan Hemalekha of the Karnataka HC as permanent judges. However, the collegium has also recommended one year extension of additional judge Justice Siddaiah Rachaiah. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Over five years before being tasked with the responsibility to explore the feasibility of 'one nation, one election', Ram Nath Kovind as the country's then-president had made a strong pitch for debate and consensus among all parties on simultaneous polls.

Addressing a joint session of Parliament on January 29, 2018, Kovind had said citizens alive to the state of governance in the country are concerned about the frequent elections in one part of the country or another, which adversely impact the economy and development.

"Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct. Therefore, a sustained debate is required on the subject of simultaneous elections and all political parties need to arrive at a consensus on this issue," he had said.

Again in his address to the first joint sitting of Parliament after the election of the 17th Lok Sabha, Kovind had made a strong pitch for 'One Nation, Simultaneous Elections'.

"During the last few decades, due to frequent elections being held in some part of the country or the other, the pace and continuity of development programmes have been impacted," he had said.

Noting that the people of the country have demonstrated "their wisdom by delivering a clear verdict both on state and national issues", Kovind said that 'One Nation, Simultaneous Elections' was the need of the hour and that it "would facilitate accelerated development, thereby benefitting our countrymen".

"With such a system in place, all political parties, according to their respective ideologies, will be able to better utilise their energy towards development and public welfare. Therefore, I urge all Members of Parliament to seriously ponder over this development-oriented proposal of 'One Nation, Simultaneous Elections'," he had said.

READ MORE | Ex-President Kovind-headed committee to explore possibility of 'one-nation, one-election'

Kovind, 77, who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022, had also told all parties at a farewell dinner organised for him at Parliament's Central Hall on July 23, 2022 to shun partisan politics to deliberate on what is essential for people's welfare with the spirit of "nation first".

Over a year after demitting office, the former President will now head a committee constituted by the government to explore the feasibility of 'one nation, one election'.

Even after demitting office as President of India, Kovind has had an active public life and has been delivering lectures and attending various functions.

Only two days back, he met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who visited the former President's residence here.

After the meeting, Kovind had said he had "a good conversation on various national issues".

"His insights into our nation's progress and values are truly inspiring," Kovind had said after meeting Bhagwat.

Known as someone having risen from being a grassroots-level politician to becoming the country's first citizen, Kovind in his speeches over the years has often referred to his humble background and talked about how he grew up in a mud house in a small village and that his journey to the presidency had been a long one.

Born in Paraunkh village in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district, Kovind enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1971 and served as counsel of the Union government in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979.

In 1978, he became an advocate-on-record with the Supreme Court of India.

From 1980 to 1993, Kovind was the standing counsel for the Union government in the apex court.

He was elected as a member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, effective from April 1994.

He served two consecutive terms of six years each till March 2006.

Kovind was appointed the governor of Bihar on August 8, 2015.

He was the second Dalit to occupy the top constitutional post after K R Narayanan, who was the first Dalit president of the country from July 25, 1997 to July 25, 2002.

ALSO READ | Raut calls Centre's 'one nation, one election' move conspiracy to 'postpone' polls in country

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NEW DELHI: Over five years before being tasked with the responsibility to explore the feasibility of 'one nation, one election', Ram Nath Kovind as the country's then-president had made a strong pitch for debate and consensus among all parties on simultaneous polls. Addressing a joint session of Parliament on January 29, 2018, Kovind had said citizens alive to the state of governance in the country are concerned about the frequent elections in one part of the country or another, which adversely impact the economy and development. "Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct. Therefore, a sustained debate is required on the subject of simultaneous elections and all political parties need to arrive at a consensus on this issue," he had said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Again in his address to the first joint sitting of Parliament after the election of the 17th Lok Sabha, Kovind had made a strong pitch for 'One Nation, Simultaneous Elections'. "During the last few decades, due to frequent elections being held in some part of the country or the other, the pace and continuity of development programmes have been impacted," he had said. Noting that the people of the country have demonstrated "their wisdom by delivering a clear verdict both on state and national issues", Kovind said that 'One Nation, Simultaneous Elections' was the need of the hour and that it "would facilitate accelerated development, thereby benefitting our countrymen". "With such a system in place, all political parties, according to their respective ideologies, will be able to better utilise their energy towards development and public welfare. Therefore, I urge all Members of Parliament to seriously ponder over this development-oriented proposal of 'One Nation, Simultaneous Elections'," he had said. READ MORE | Ex-President Kovind-headed committee to explore possibility of 'one-nation, one-election' Kovind, 77, who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022, had also told all parties at a farewell dinner organised for him at Parliament's Central Hall on July 23, 2022 to shun partisan politics to deliberate on what is essential for people's welfare with the spirit of "nation first". Over a year after demitting office, the former President will now head a committee constituted by the government to explore the feasibility of 'one nation, one election'. Even after demitting office as President of India, Kovind has had an active public life and has been delivering lectures and attending various functions. Only two days back, he met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who visited the former President's residence here. After the meeting, Kovind had said he had "a good conversation on various national issues". "His insights into our nation's progress and values are truly inspiring," Kovind had said after meeting Bhagwat. Known as someone having risen from being a grassroots-level politician to becoming the country's first citizen, Kovind in his speeches over the years has often referred to his humble background and talked about how he grew up in a mud house in a small village and that his journey to the presidency had been a long one. Born in Paraunkh village in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district, Kovind enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1971 and served as counsel of the Union government in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979. In 1978, he became an advocate-on-record with the Supreme Court of India. From 1980 to 1993, Kovind was the standing counsel for the Union government in the apex court. He was elected as a member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, effective from April 1994. He served two consecutive terms of six years each till March 2006. Kovind was appointed the governor of Bihar on August 8, 2015. He was the second Dalit to occupy the top constitutional post after K R Narayanan, who was the first Dalit president of the country from July 25, 1997 to July 25, 2002. ALSO READ | Raut calls Centre's 'one nation, one election' move conspiracy to 'postpone' polls in country Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

WASHINGTON: An Indian American has been arrested in New Jersey on a charge of being part of a technical support scam that targeted more than 7,000 victims defrauding them of more than USD 13 million, a US Attorney announced Thursday.

Charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Manoj Yadav appeared before US Magistrate Judge Jose R. Almonte in Newark federal court.

"The defendant and his conspirators are alleged to have misled their numerous victims into thinking that they were a legitimate technology support company affiliated with a major software company," US Attorney Philip R Sellinger said.

After claiming to provide technical support for issues involving the software company's popular accounting software, they allegedly charged the victims exorbitant fees for purported support services that were not authorized by the software company, he alleged.

"We allege Yadav lied to software users and forced them to pay for services that would usually come free with their initial purchase," FBI Special Agent in Charge James E Dennehy said.

The count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of USD 2,50,000 or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offence, whichever is greatest.

"The amount he's accused of stealing from his victims and the number of victims seem shocking; however, we are seeing an incredible increase in all types of tech support scams. The fraudsters are pretty savvy in how they con money out of people, even those of us who think we're smart enough to not fall for it. If you think you're a victim, please reach out to the FBI," Dennehy said.

According to federal prosecutors, from 2017 through 2023, Yadav and his conspirators, many of whom were in India, fraudulently held themselves out as a technology support company affiliated with a major US business and accounting software company that developed and sold a widely used accounting software product.

They operated under multiple fraudulent business names, including Phebs Software Services, LLC, Phebs Software Services, PN Bookkeeping Services, Phebbs Consulting, Quickbooks Tech Assist, Quickbook US, Quickbooks Accounting, and Quickbooks Support Team.

According to court documents, the conspirators would contact victims under the guise of fixing technical issues they faced with the accounting software. After receiving tech support from the conspirators under these fraudulent pretences, the victims would either be charged exorbitant fees or additional subscription fees.

These "services" were all fraudulent: They would not cost any additional money for customers who contacted the actual software company, and the software company never authorized Yadav or his conspirators to act on its behalf or charge any fees.

Yadav personally participated in the scheme by charging the victims for the fraudulent technology support services and funnelling millions of dollars from these victims to his conspirators, it alleged, adding that he fraudulently obtained these funds through the Phebs Software Services, LLC, which he himself formed.

That entity did business as both 'Phebs Software Services' and 'Quickbooks Accounting'.

Yadav also used these entity names to falsely hold himself out to banks and victim customers as an accounting company legitimately affiliated with the software company.

He did this to prevent chargebacks, Better Business Bureau complaints, and the closure of bank accounts.

Yadav sent his conspirators over USD 13 million in funds obtained from victims and would routinely keep approximately 17 per cent when he wired funds to the conspirators, it said.

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WASHINGTON: An Indian American has been arrested in New Jersey on a charge of being part of a technical support scam that targeted more than 7,000 victims defrauding them of more than USD 13 million, a US Attorney announced Thursday. Charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Manoj Yadav appeared before US Magistrate Judge Jose R. Almonte in Newark federal court. "The defendant and his conspirators are alleged to have misled their numerous victims into thinking that they were a legitimate technology support company affiliated with a major software company," US Attorney Philip R Sellinger said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); After claiming to provide technical support for issues involving the software company's popular accounting software, they allegedly charged the victims exorbitant fees for purported support services that were not authorized by the software company, he alleged. "We allege Yadav lied to software users and forced them to pay for services that would usually come free with their initial purchase," FBI Special Agent in Charge James E Dennehy said. The count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of USD 2,50,000 or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offence, whichever is greatest. "The amount he's accused of stealing from his victims and the number of victims seem shocking; however, we are seeing an incredible increase in all types of tech support scams. The fraudsters are pretty savvy in how they con money out of people, even those of us who think we're smart enough to not fall for it. If you think you're a victim, please reach out to the FBI," Dennehy said. According to federal prosecutors, from 2017 through 2023, Yadav and his conspirators, many of whom were in India, fraudulently held themselves out as a technology support company affiliated with a major US business and accounting software company that developed and sold a widely used accounting software product. They operated under multiple fraudulent business names, including Phebs Software Services, LLC, Phebs Software Services, PN Bookkeeping Services, Phebbs Consulting, Quickbooks Tech Assist, Quickbook US, Quickbooks Accounting, and Quickbooks Support Team. According to court documents, the conspirators would contact victims under the guise of fixing technical issues they faced with the accounting software. After receiving tech support from the conspirators under these fraudulent pretences, the victims would either be charged exorbitant fees or additional subscription fees. These "services" were all fraudulent: They would not cost any additional money for customers who contacted the actual software company, and the software company never authorized Yadav or his conspirators to act on its behalf or charge any fees. Yadav personally participated in the scheme by charging the victims for the fraudulent technology support services and funnelling millions of dollars from these victims to his conspirators, it alleged, adding that he fraudulently obtained these funds through the Phebs Software Services, LLC, which he himself formed. That entity did business as both 'Phebs Software Services' and 'Quickbooks Accounting'. Yadav also used these entity names to falsely hold himself out to banks and victim customers as an accounting company legitimately affiliated with the software company. He did this to prevent chargebacks, Better Business Bureau complaints, and the closure of bank accounts. Yadav sent his conspirators over USD 13 million in funds obtained from victims and would routinely keep approximately 17 per cent when he wired funds to the conspirators, it said. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways on Thursday appointed Jaya Verma Sinha as the new chairman and chief executive officer of the Railway Board for a tenure that extends till August 31, 2024. Sinha, who was previously the member of operations and business development in the railways, will assume charge on September 1. The incumbent chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti retires this month.

This is the first time that a woman officer of the Higher Administrative Grade-Plus rank has been designated as the chairman of the prime decision-making body of the national transporter. The appointment of Sinha, who is an Indian Railway Management Services (IRMS) officer of the 1986 batch, as the next chairman of the Railway Board is being defined as a groundbreaking step by Railways towards women empowerment and equality.

This decision regarding Sinhas appointment was approved by the Centre. A notification was issued on Thursday by the Department of Personnel and Training in this regard. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Jaya Verma Sinha, Indian Railway Management Services (IRMS), Member (Operations & Business Development), Railway Board to the post of Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Railway Board, an order read.

Sinha, an alumnus of the Allahabad University, joined the Indian Railway Traffic Service in 1988 and worked in Northern Railway, S E Railway and Eastern Railway. She is considered as one of the best officers of HAG+ grade because of her sharp professionalism and decision-making power. She is also called a very articulate and objective railway officer with a strong skill in professional ideation. She is credited with achieving targets related to overall transportation of freight and passengers.

She was at the centre stage of the Railways media interactions recently when, as the member of operations and business development, she explained the complex signalling system after the tragic Balasore accident.

Prior to this posting, she had served as an additional member of traffic and transportation, when she was credited for railways crossing 1.5 billion mark of annual freight. She was also the first woman to be appointed as the principal chief operation manager of SE Railway and has worked as principal chief commercial manager of Northern Railway. She was railway advisor at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

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NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways on Thursday appointed Jaya Verma Sinha as the new chairman and chief executive officer of the Railway Board for a tenure that extends till August 31, 2024. Sinha, who was previously the member of operations and business development in the railways, will assume charge on September 1. The incumbent chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti retires this month. This is the first time that a woman officer of the Higher Administrative Grade-Plus rank has been designated as the chairman of the prime decision-making body of the national transporter. The appointment of Sinha, who is an Indian Railway Management Services (IRMS) officer of the 1986 batch, as the next chairman of the Railway Board is being defined as a groundbreaking step by Railways towards women empowerment and equality. This decision regarding Sinhas appointment was approved by the Centre. A notification was issued on Thursday by the Department of Personnel and Training in this regard. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Jaya Verma Sinha, Indian Railway Management Services (IRMS), Member (Operations & Business Development), Railway Board to the post of Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Railway Board, an order read.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Sinha, an alumnus of the Allahabad University, joined the Indian Railway Traffic Service in 1988 and worked in Northern Railway, S E Railway and Eastern Railway. She is considered as one of the best officers of HAG+ grade because of her sharp professionalism and decision-making power. She is also called a very articulate and objective railway officer with a strong skill in professional ideation. She is credited with achieving targets related to overall transportation of freight and passengers. She was at the centre stage of the Railways media interactions recently when, as the member of operations and business development, she explained the complex signalling system after the tragic Balasore accident. Prior to this posting, she had served as an additional member of traffic and transportation, when she was credited for railways crossing 1.5 billion mark of annual freight. She was also the first woman to be appointed as the principal chief operation manager of SE Railway and has worked as principal chief commercial manager of Northern Railway. She was railway advisor at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

KOLKATA: Amid the dress code controversy in Rajkot in Gujarat, a Kolkata-based college issued a notice saying that students seeking admission should not come to the institution wearing ripped jeans.

The notice has triggered an uproar as students said they have the liberty to decide what they should wear.

Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College in the city has issued six-point conditions, which include measures to prevent ragging and restriction on dress code.

The students have been asked to sign accepting all conditions before completing the admission procedure.

Away in Gujarat, the Rajkot Self-Finance School Association has informed parents about the dress code they need to follow every time they arrive to drop their children. The District Development Officer of Rajkot has also issued a circular on the dress code to be followed by government officials.

We are not minors. When we have rights to vote and elect a political party to run the country, we should have the liberty to wear dress according to our choice. How can an institution tell us what to wear and what not to, said a student aspiring to take admission to the college. Another applicant described the decision as unilateral. If our parents do not have any objection to wear ripped jeans why should the college authorities make it an issue. The particular style of the attire doesnt appear as obscene. The objection raised by the authorities doesnt have anything to do with studies, she said.

The college conditions for admission is asking students to sign a written declaration stating, If I am allowed admission, I will not enter the institution wearing ripped jeans. I will come to the institution wearing normal dresses. Purna Chandra Maity, the principal of the college, said the restriction on dresses will have to be followed strictly. A student wearing ripped jeans doesnt fit to an educational institutions culture. I will never accept this, Maity added.

Asking college students to follow a dress code is unprecedented in Kolkata. The dress code instructions of Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College comes amid raging controversy following recent death of a first-year student at Jadavpur University allegedly due to ragging. The college authorities also included several points to stop ragging in the six-point conditions. It has been clearly mentioned that if a student is found encouraging ragging or directly involved in ragging, he or she will be immediately rusticated.

The issue has become very prominent after the incident in Jadavpur University. We are going to take a strict stand on this, said an official of the college authorities. The death at Jadavpur University triggered massive uproar in both students circle and political arena in Bengal. A political slugfest broke out between the ruling TMC and principal opposition BJP blaming each other for ragging at the institution led to. Freshers death.

Were not minors

The notice has triggered an uproar as students said they have the liberty to decide what they should wear. We are not minors. When we have rights to vote and elect a political party to run the country, we should have the liberty to wear dress according to our choice. How can an institution tell us what to wear and what not to, said a student aspiring to take admission to the college. Meanwhile, the principal of the college, said the restriction will have to be followed strictly.

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KOLKATA: Amid the dress code controversy in Rajkot in Gujarat, a Kolkata-based college issued a notice saying that students seeking admission should not come to the institution wearing ripped jeans. The notice has triggered an uproar as students said they have the liberty to decide what they should wear. Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College in the city has issued six-point conditions, which include measures to prevent ragging and restriction on dress code. The students have been asked to sign accepting all conditions before completing the admission procedure. Away in Gujarat, the Rajkot Self-Finance School Association has informed parents about the dress code they need to follow every time they arrive to drop their children. The District Development Officer of Rajkot has also issued a circular on the dress code to be followed by government officials. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); We are not minors. When we have rights to vote and elect a political party to run the country, we should have the liberty to wear dress according to our choice. How can an institution tell us what to wear and what not to, said a student aspiring to take admission to the college. Another applicant described the decision as unilateral. If our parents do not have any objection to wear ripped jeans why should the college authorities make it an issue. The particular style of the attire doesnt appear as obscene. The objection raised by the authorities doesnt have anything to do with studies, she said. The college conditions for admission is asking students to sign a written declaration stating, If I am allowed admission, I will not enter the institution wearing ripped jeans. I will come to the institution wearing normal dresses. Purna Chandra Maity, the principal of the college, said the restriction on dresses will have to be followed strictly. A student wearing ripped jeans doesnt fit to an educational institutions culture. I will never accept this, Maity added. Asking college students to follow a dress code is unprecedented in Kolkata. The dress code instructions of Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College comes amid raging controversy following recent death of a first-year student at Jadavpur University allegedly due to ragging. The college authorities also included several points to stop ragging in the six-point conditions. It has been clearly mentioned that if a student is found encouraging ragging or directly involved in ragging, he or she will be immediately rusticated. The issue has become very prominent after the incident in Jadavpur University. We are going to take a strict stand on this, said an official of the college authorities. The death at Jadavpur University triggered massive uproar in both students circle and political arena in Bengal. A political slugfest broke out between the ruling TMC and principal opposition BJP blaming each other for ragging at the institution led to. Freshers death. Were not minors The notice has triggered an uproar as students said they have the liberty to decide what they should wear. We are not minors. When we have rights to vote and elect a political party to run the country, we should have the liberty to wear dress according to our choice. How can an institution tell us what to wear and what not to, said a student aspiring to take admission to the college. Meanwhile, the principal of the college, said the restriction will have to be followed strictly. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: A man was found shot dead at the residence of the son of Union Minister of State for

Housing and Urban Affairs, Kaushal Kishore, in the old Lucknow area on Friday morning. As per the police, the victim was identified by cops as Vinay Srivastava, 30, a BJP worker. He was also a close aide of the ministers son Vikas Kishore. The weapon used was a licensed .32-bore pistol belonging to the ministers son.

The police arrested three persons  Ankit Verma, Ajay Rawat, and Shamim alias Baba  from the spot. The arrests were made after a named FIR was lodged under Section 302 of IPC against them on the basis of the complaint given by the family of the victim.

However, Union Minister Kaushal Kishore, who is a BJP MP from Mohanlalganj parliamentary constituency situated on Lucknow outskirts, claimed that his son Vikas Kishore went to Delhi an evening before the incident and that he was not present in the house at the time of the murder.

Lucknow DCP Rahul Raj said that Srivastava died of a bullet injury. He said that during a preliminary inquiry, it came to light that six people  Ankit Verma, Ajay Rawat, Shamim alias Baba, and two others Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh alias Bunty-- had come to the house on Thursday night and they had dinner together. They even consumed alcohol and played cards.

As per the police statement, during the gamble, a scuffle ensued between Vinay (the victim) and Ankit to whom Vinay had lost `12,000 after which Ankit, Ajay, and Shamir stopped the game and Saurabh Rawat along with Bunty went away with the amount won in the gamble. This infuriated Vinay resulting in the fight among all four. In the scuffle, Vinays shirt was torn. As the fight intensified, Ankit took out the pistol of Vikas Kishore from under the pillow kept on the bed and caught hold of Vinay with the help of Ajay and Shamim. He then shot Vinay on his head leaving him dead on the sport.

A .32 bore pistol recovered from the spot is said to belong to Vikas Kishore. CCTV footage from cameras installed in the house corroborated the sequence of the incident, said the police statement.

Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased said that he was a close associate of Vikas and alleged that he was murdered in a planned manner. The victims brother Vikas Srivastava pointed the finger of suspicion at Vikas Kaushal.

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LUCKNOW: A man was found shot dead at the residence of the son of Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Kaushal Kishore, in the old Lucknow area on Friday morning. As per the police, the victim was identified by cops as Vinay Srivastava, 30, a BJP worker. He was also a close aide of the ministers son Vikas Kishore. The weapon used was a licensed .32-bore pistol belonging to the ministers son. The police arrested three persons  Ankit Verma, Ajay Rawat, and Shamim alias Baba  from the spot. The arrests were made after a named FIR was lodged under Section 302 of IPC against them on the basis of the complaint given by the family of the victim. However, Union Minister Kaushal Kishore, who is a BJP MP from Mohanlalganj parliamentary constituency situated on Lucknow outskirts, claimed that his son Vikas Kishore went to Delhi an evening before the incident and that he was not present in the house at the time of the murder. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Lucknow DCP Rahul Raj said that Srivastava died of a bullet injury. He said that during a preliminary inquiry, it came to light that six people  Ankit Verma, Ajay Rawat, Shamim alias Baba, and two others Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh alias Bunty-- had come to the house on Thursday night and they had dinner together. They even consumed alcohol and played cards. As per the police statement, during the gamble, a scuffle ensued between Vinay (the victim) and Ankit to whom Vinay had lost `12,000 after which Ankit, Ajay, and Shamir stopped the game and Saurabh Rawat along with Bunty went away with the amount won in the gamble. This infuriated Vinay resulting in the fight among all four. In the scuffle, Vinays shirt was torn. As the fight intensified, Ankit took out the pistol of Vikas Kishore from under the pillow kept on the bed and caught hold of Vinay with the help of Ajay and Shamim. He then shot Vinay on his head leaving him dead on the sport. A .32 bore pistol recovered from the spot is said to belong to Vikas Kishore. CCTV footage from cameras installed in the house corroborated the sequence of the incident, said the police statement. Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased said that he was a close associate of Vikas and alleged that he was murdered in a planned manner. The victims brother Vikas Srivastava pointed the finger of suspicion at Vikas Kaushal. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Mark Wahlberg showed love for Canada while visiting Toronto Ontario for the launch of his tequila brand Flecha Azul. (Instagram/ @markwahlberg Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Mark Wahlberg is showing love for the Great White North.

On Wednesday, the "Planet of the Apes" star shared a series of Instagram reels from Toronto, marking his latest career milestone  the Canadian launch of his tequila brand Flecha Azul.

The action-packed day began with a visit to an LCBO store that proudly carries bottles. Alongside Wahlberg were none other than former Toronto Maple Leafs star Tie Domi and his son, current Maple Leafs player Max Domi.

"We're finally here, in Toronto," Wahlberg said in the reel.

He added in the caption, "Great turnout! Thank you to all who came out."

Wahlberg then took his tequila tour to a Moxies restaurant in downtown Toronto, that now offers Flecha Azul to its patrons. To honour the occasion, the restaurant also launched a new drink aptly named the "Marky Mark."

"We're in the north, baby! Home of Drizzy Drake and Max Domi," the 52-year-old actor said in one of the clips before segueing from an outdoor stroll into footage of himself celebrating at Moxies.

"What a time in Toronto," he captioned the reel.

"I have had some of the greatest working experiences, not only personal but professional experiences, and built relationships here. So this is a place that's near and dear to my heart," he later shared in an interview with ET Canada's Sangita Patel at the event, adding, "Yeah, a lot of connection here."

In the comments of his post, fans swooned over Wahlberg's love for Canada.

"We love that you love it here," a fan wrote. "This makes my Canadian heart so happy!"

"Toronto loves you, king!," someone else chimed in.

One person quipped: "You're an honourary Canadian."

"You definitely brought the good vibrations to the '6ix' with your amazing tequila," a fan commented.

Story continues

Wahlberg's affinity for Canada traces back to his roots, as his mother is of French-Canadian descent. This also is not the only time the Boston-born actor has sung Canada's praises.

Back in 2012, he told the Globe and Mail that he has had his best professional experiences in Canada.

"I've made four movies in Toronto and three in Vancouver," he said. "It's the best working experience, some of the best crew, the best people I've ever worked with, and there's just not enough film being made here."

He added: "And they have the best film festival in the world. They need to have the best film production here."

Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Dilip Singh Kshatriya By

Express News Service

AHMEDABAD: For the last few days, there has been a controversy in Gujarat regarding the mural paintings made under the huge statue of Lord Hanuman (also known as King of Salanpur) in the Salangpur Hanuman temple in Botad, Gujarat. The Gujarats monks have already voiced their objections, and now the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has jumped into the fray.

According to Hindu Monks, murals painted under the statue of lord Hanuman show the god in a folded hand posture before the Swaminarayan Sects God Neelkanthavarni (Sahjananda Swamis childhood name). On the celebration of Hanuman Jayanti in the month of April, a 54-foot-tall statue of Lord Hanuman was built in the courtyard beyond the main entrance at the Salangpur Hanuman Temple.

The statues foundation is painted with murals paintings of various religious themes. In one image, Lord Hanuman is standing with folded hands in front of the God Sahajananda Swami, while in another, the former is seated in front of Sahajananda Swami.

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AHMEDABAD: For the last few days, there has been a controversy in Gujarat regarding the mural paintings made under the huge statue of Lord Hanuman (also known as King of Salanpur) in the Salangpur Hanuman temple in Botad, Gujarat. The Gujarats monks have already voiced their objections, and now the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has jumped into the fray. According to Hindu Monks, murals painted under the statue of lord Hanuman show the god in a folded hand posture before the Swaminarayan Sects God Neelkanthavarni (Sahjananda Swamis childhood name). On the celebration of Hanuman Jayanti in the month of April, a 54-foot-tall statue of Lord Hanuman was built in the courtyard beyond the main entrance at the Salangpur Hanuman Temple. The statues foundation is painted with murals paintings of various religious themes. In one image, Lord Hanuman is standing with folded hands in front of the God Sahajananda Swami, while in another, the former is seated in front of Sahajananda Swami. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Taking a U-turn, the AAP-led Punjab government on Thursday informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it would withdraw the notification to dissolve panchayats in the state.

The U-turn has come a fortnight after its decision was challenged in the court Punjab Advocate-General Vinod Ghai, appearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli, submitted that the notification would be withdrawn in the next couple of days and election would be held by the year-end.

A PIL filed by Gurjeet Singh Talwandi, a Shiromani Akali Dal general Secretary, had challenged the notification. In view of the AGs statement, the court has disposed of the PIL.

The government had received a lot of flak from Opposition parties Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for its call to dissolve panchayats.

Hours after giving an assurance in the court, the Bhagwant Mann-led government on Thursday suspended two senior IAS officers overseeing the work of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat.

The suspension order of Dhirendra Kumar Tewari, Principal Secretary, Water Supply and Sanitation & Financial Commissioner-Rural Development and Panchayats, was issued by Chief Secretary.

Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Director Rural Development and Panchayats, is the other officer who has been suspended.

The decision to dissolve panchayats had caused embarrassment to the government after various panchayats knocked doors of the high court and the government found itself in a tight spot.

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CHANDIGARH: Taking a U-turn, the AAP-led Punjab government on Thursday informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it would withdraw the notification to dissolve panchayats in the state. The U-turn has come a fortnight after its decision was challenged in the court Punjab Advocate-General Vinod Ghai, appearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli, submitted that the notification would be withdrawn in the next couple of days and election would be held by the year-end. A PIL filed by Gurjeet Singh Talwandi, a Shiromani Akali Dal general Secretary, had challenged the notification. In view of the AGs statement, the court has disposed of the PIL.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The government had received a lot of flak from Opposition parties Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for its call to dissolve panchayats. Hours after giving an assurance in the court, the Bhagwant Mann-led government on Thursday suspended two senior IAS officers overseeing the work of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat. The suspension order of Dhirendra Kumar Tewari, Principal Secretary, Water Supply and Sanitation & Financial Commissioner-Rural Development and Panchayats, was issued by Chief Secretary. Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Director Rural Development and Panchayats, is the other officer who has been suspended. The decision to dissolve panchayats had caused embarrassment to the government after various panchayats knocked doors of the high court and the government found itself in a tight spot. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: Some comments by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot regarding the state of the Indian judicial system have ignited a fierce debate in the state. During his interaction with mediapersons in Jaipur, Gehlot said he believes that corruption is rampant in judiciary and alleged that there are instances where lawyers draft judgments that are then read out by judges.

These remarks elicited significant political backlash, with the BJP accusing the chief minister of undermining the constitutional structure and the judiciary. CP Joshi, BJP state president, responded strongly to Gehlots statements, interpreting them as indicators of Gehlots frustration and disappointment.

A person in a constitutional role openly criticising the judiciary displays a lack of faith not only in the Constitution but also in the nations judicial framework. This instance underscores his failure to effectively manage law and order in the state. Criticising the Constitution while occupying a constitutional position raises serious questions about his stance, he said.

The legal community in the state has mobilised against the chief minister. Former vice-president of the Bar Council of Rajasthan Yogendra Singh Tanwar has penned a formal complaint letter to the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court. Gehlots public allegations of widespread corruption within the judiciary have dealt a severe blow to its reputation. Such derogatory statements not only tarnish the judiciarys image but also disrupt the smooth functioning of the legal system, Tanwar stated

He urged the Chief Justice to treat the letter as a criminal complaint and investigate the matter. Gehlot voiced concerns about the prevalence of corruption in the judiciary. There are instances where lawyers draft judgments that are then read out by judges. What is happening within the judiciary? This issue plagues both lower and upper levels of the system, and it demands national contemplation, he said.

Furthermore, Gehlot referenced allegations made by BJP MLA Kailash Meghwal against Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, asserting their validity. Information has come to light indicating substantial corruption during Arjun Ram Meghwals tenure as an IAS officer, which has been suppressed. Legal proceedings have been initiated to halt these claims, Gehlot said.

The CMs remarks have not only led to a political fracas but have also galvanised discussions around the state of the judiciary and its integrity. As the controversy unfolds, both political and legal circles are engaging in impassioned debates regarding the implications of Gehlots assertions.

Graft in judiciary?

There are instances where lawyers draft judgments that are then read out by judges. What is happening within the judiciary? This issue plagues both lower and upper levels of the system, and it demands national contemplation, CM Gehlot said while interacting with reporters.

BJP flays remark

A person in a constitutional role openly criticising the judiciary displays a lack of faith not only in the Constitution but also in the nations judicial framework. This instance underscores his failure to effectively manage law and order in the state, said CP Joshi, BJP state president.

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JAIPUR: Some comments by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot regarding the state of the Indian judicial system have ignited a fierce debate in the state. During his interaction with mediapersons in Jaipur, Gehlot said he believes that corruption is rampant in judiciary and alleged that there are instances where lawyers draft judgments that are then read out by judges. These remarks elicited significant political backlash, with the BJP accusing the chief minister of undermining the constitutional structure and the judiciary. CP Joshi, BJP state president, responded strongly to Gehlots statements, interpreting them as indicators of Gehlots frustration and disappointment. A person in a constitutional role openly criticising the judiciary displays a lack of faith not only in the Constitution but also in the nations judicial framework. This instance underscores his failure to effectively manage law and order in the state. Criticising the Constitution while occupying a constitutional position raises serious questions about his stance, he said. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The legal community in the state has mobilised against the chief minister. Former vice-president of the Bar Council of Rajasthan Yogendra Singh Tanwar has penned a formal complaint letter to the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court. Gehlots public allegations of widespread corruption within the judiciary have dealt a severe blow to its reputation. Such derogatory statements not only tarnish the judiciarys image but also disrupt the smooth functioning of the legal system, Tanwar stated He urged the Chief Justice to treat the letter as a criminal complaint and investigate the matter. Gehlot voiced concerns about the prevalence of corruption in the judiciary. There are instances where lawyers draft judgments that are then read out by judges. What is happening within the judiciary? This issue plagues both lower and upper levels of the system, and it demands national contemplation, he said. Furthermore, Gehlot referenced allegations made by BJP MLA Kailash Meghwal against Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, asserting their validity. Information has come to light indicating substantial corruption during Arjun Ram Meghwals tenure as an IAS officer, which has been suppressed. Legal proceedings have been initiated to halt these claims, Gehlot said. The CMs remarks have not only led to a political fracas but have also galvanised discussions around the state of the judiciary and its integrity. As the controversy unfolds, both political and legal circles are engaging in impassioned debates regarding the implications of Gehlots assertions. Graft in judiciary? There are instances where lawyers draft judgments that are then read out by judges. What is happening within the judiciary? This issue plagues both lower and upper levels of the system, and it demands national contemplation, CM Gehlot said while interacting with reporters. BJP flays remark A person in a constitutional role openly criticising the judiciary displays a lack of faith not only in the Constitution but also in the nations judicial framework. This instance underscores his failure to effectively manage law and order in the state, said CP Joshi, BJP state president. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

MUMBAI: Hours, after former president Ram Nath Kovind was on Friday tasked with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of 'one nation, one election', Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, called the move a 'conspiracy to postpone polls' in the country.

His MVA colleague and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said the unveiling of the logo of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) won't happen during the ongoing meeting of the grouping.

Talking to reporters here, Raut said, "We need fair elections which are not happening now. The 'one nation, one election' proposal is a conspiracy to postpone elections."

Raut said the BJP government did not respect Ramnath Kovind when he was the president.

"Now they are making him busy with a committee to explore the possibility of one nation, one election'," he said.

The Rajya Sabha MP also questioned the need for a special session of Parliament, scheduled to be held from September 18 to 22, during the Ganpati festival.

"When regular sessions are on, the prime minister never attends the proceedings," he claimed.

Raut alleged that the BJP-led Centre's 'moves' were attempts to divert attention from the meeting of the INDIA alliance currently underway in Mumbai.

He said the opposition bloc's meeting is aimed at including all allies and working towards consensus on all issues.

"A chief coordination committee, research committee, campaign and agenda committee and manifesto committee are likely to shape up," he said.

ALSO READ | Ex-President Kovind-headed committee to explore possibility of 'one-nation, one-election'

Meanwhile, Wadettiwar said the unveiling of the logo of the INDIA bloc will be postponed.

The discussion will be about setting up various coordination committees, he said.

The Congress leader claimed that the 'one nation, one election' move happened because of the INDIA alliance meeting.

The third meeting of the INDIA alliance is underway at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here. As many as 63 representatives from 28 political parties are taking part in the meeting. Earlier in the day, all the participants got together for a group photo before starting their formal discussion.

On Friday morning, BJP chief J P Nadda met ex-president Kovind soon after the latter was tasked with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of one nation, one election, which was the case till 1967.

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong votary for the idea of simultaneous polls, which include those at local bodies, citing the financial burden caused by the almost continuous election cycle and jolt to development work during the polling period.

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MUMBAI: Hours, after former president Ram Nath Kovind was on Friday tasked with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of 'one nation, one election', Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, called the move a 'conspiracy to postpone polls' in the country. His MVA colleague and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said the unveiling of the logo of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) won't happen during the ongoing meeting of the grouping. Talking to reporters here, Raut said, "We need fair elections which are not happening now. The 'one nation, one election' proposal is a conspiracy to postpone elections."googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Raut said the BJP government did not respect Ramnath Kovind when he was the president. "Now they are making him busy with a committee to explore the possibility of one nation, one election'," he said. The Rajya Sabha MP also questioned the need for a special session of Parliament, scheduled to be held from September 18 to 22, during the Ganpati festival. "When regular sessions are on, the prime minister never attends the proceedings," he claimed. Raut alleged that the BJP-led Centre's 'moves' were attempts to divert attention from the meeting of the INDIA alliance currently underway in Mumbai. He said the opposition bloc's meeting is aimed at including all allies and working towards consensus on all issues. "A chief coordination committee, research committee, campaign and agenda committee and manifesto committee are likely to shape up," he said. ALSO READ | Ex-President Kovind-headed committee to explore possibility of 'one-nation, one-election' Meanwhile, Wadettiwar said the unveiling of the logo of the INDIA bloc will be postponed. The discussion will be about setting up various coordination committees, he said. The Congress leader claimed that the 'one nation, one election' move happened because of the INDIA alliance meeting. The third meeting of the INDIA alliance is underway at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here. As many as 63 representatives from 28 political parties are taking part in the meeting. Earlier in the day, all the participants got together for a group photo before starting their formal discussion. On Friday morning, BJP chief J P Nadda met ex-president Kovind soon after the latter was tasked with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of one nation, one election, which was the case till 1967. Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong votary for the idea of simultaneous polls, which include those at local bodies, citing the financial burden caused by the almost continuous election cycle and jolt to development work during the polling period. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Shruti Kakkar By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it is ready to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir once the Election Commission of India decides the dates. However, it did not give a timeframe on restoring statehood to J&K, though it reiterated that its current status as a Union Territoty was temporary.

Updation of the voters list is almost complete, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. As to when elections would be held, it for the State Election Commission and the Election Commission of India to decide after considering the overall situation, he said.

Elections at three levels are due  panchayat, municipality and the legislative Assembly. As far as statehood is concerned, Union Territory is a temporary phenomenon, Mehta said. We are dealing with extraordinary situation. State will have to be infused with several things so that it becomes a state so to say, he added. Highlighting the positives post revoking Article 370, Mehta said infiltration, law and order issues, stone pelting, hartals have all come down.

The Centre has take various steps to boost investments in the area and several projects have come up, he pointed out. However, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, alleged that the Centre is trying to project an image of normalcy in J&K while house arrest and Internet shutdown are on in the Union Territory.

The CJI reassured him that the facts presented before the court would have no bearing on the constitutional issue regarding the reading down of Article 370. The constitutional challenge would have to be answered by the Centre on the same grounds and not by quoting statistics.These facts would have no bearing on the constitutional issue.

This cannot be an answer to the constitutional challenge, Chandrachud said. The top court in its last hearing had asked the Centre to provide a roadmap for restoration of statehood to J&K. During the hearing, Attorney General R Venkataramani said the President could have abrogated Article 370 unilaterally but instead took the Legislative Assemblys recommendation

Statehood to take time: Government

The exact time frame for restoration of complete statehood in J&K cannot be given at the moment. It might take some time, Tushar Mehta said

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NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it is ready to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir once the Election Commission of India decides the dates. However, it did not give a timeframe on restoring statehood to J&K, though it reiterated that its current status as a Union Territoty was temporary. Updation of the voters list is almost complete, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. As to when elections would be held, it for the State Election Commission and the Election Commission of India to decide after considering the overall situation, he said. Elections at three levels are due  panchayat, municipality and the legislative Assembly. As far as statehood is concerned, Union Territory is a temporary phenomenon, Mehta said. We are dealing with extraordinary situation. State will have to be infused with several things so that it becomes a state so to say, he added. Highlighting the positives post revoking Article 370, Mehta said infiltration, law and order issues, stone pelting, hartals have all come down.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Centre has take various steps to boost investments in the area and several projects have come up, he pointed out. However, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, alleged that the Centre is trying to project an image of normalcy in J&K while house arrest and Internet shutdown are on in the Union Territory. The CJI reassured him that the facts presented before the court would have no bearing on the constitutional issue regarding the reading down of Article 370. The constitutional challenge would have to be answered by the Centre on the same grounds and not by quoting statistics.These facts would have no bearing on the constitutional issue. This cannot be an answer to the constitutional challenge, Chandrachud said. The top court in its last hearing had asked the Centre to provide a roadmap for restoration of statehood to J&K. During the hearing, Attorney General R Venkataramani said the President could have abrogated Article 370 unilaterally but instead took the Legislative Assemblys recommendation Statehood to take time: Government The exact time frame for restoration of complete statehood in J&K cannot be given at the moment. It might take some time, Tushar Mehta said Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The West should be prepared to change the paragraphs on the Ukraine conflict included in the Bali declaration if they want a joint statement at the G20 Summit, said Russias Ambassador to India Denis Alipov on Friday.

"The Bali declaration cannot be repeated. It prevented the peace process between Russia and Ukraine. The impact of sanctions was reflected in the Bali formula. If the West wants to resolve the conflict, they should be open to changing the Bali paragraphs, which we do not agree with," Ambassador Alipov said.

"Why should G20 meetings insist on retaining Ukraine in the dialogue. We are open for discussions. The Security Council is there for that. G20 should be used as a platform to tackle financial and economic issues, not geopolitics," he said, adding that Ukraine should remain a neutral state. There should be other mutual agreements to resolve the conflict. "We are open to dialogue with NATO, but it should develop in good spirit."

Ambassador Alipov said relations between India and Russia have been further strengthened with the introduction of an e-visa by India for Russians which was reciprocated by Russia on August 1.

"We are also considering visa free travel between India and Russia as this would enhance and facilitate travel between the two nations," he added.

ALSO READ | Ashtadhyayi, Magna Carta and more: 29 artefacts from G20 Summit invitees to be exhibited at Culture Corridor

Russia alleges that it was NATOs expansion eastward which led to the conflict in Ukraine.

"We had been warning the US and NATO that the situation would erupt and it did erupt. However, we are open to any suggestions from India or any other country that can help in building up negotiations to end the conflict. Zelenskys 10-point formula is not acceptable. In addition, I would like to say that Russia wants peace in Ukraine, but they are not showing any interest," said Ambassador Alipov.

The Russian envoy also said that Indias clout was beginning to rise globally and Russia always supported India including its bid for full membership of the UNSC. Regarding G20, he said that some countries had hijacked the agenda and there should instead be a consensus. Issues where there is no consensus should be done away with, he added.

"We strongly support Indias priorities and are hopeful that the outcome will be one India aspires for and the Summit turns out to be a success for India and the world, irrespective of the formal outcome," Ambassador Alipov said, adding that India will be the centre of decision making very soon and has the capacity and right to be a leader of the Global South.

India and Russia have had historic ties and are strategic partners in trade. The rupee-rouble mechanism hasn't done as well as expected as Indian banks have feared secondary sanctions and are over-cautious.

Ambassador Alipov also pointed out that long before BRICS came into existence, there was the India, Russia, China trilateral which worked well until the Galwan clashes. "I hope that this trilateral is revived. Both India and China are close to Russia and whatever disputes they may have are bilateral and we dont interfere in that," he added.

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NEW DELHI: The West should be prepared to change the paragraphs on the Ukraine conflict included in the Bali declaration if they want a joint statement at the G20 Summit, said Russias Ambassador to India Denis Alipov on Friday. "The Bali declaration cannot be repeated. It prevented the peace process between Russia and Ukraine. The impact of sanctions was reflected in the Bali formula. If the West wants to resolve the conflict, they should be open to changing the Bali paragraphs, which we do not agree with," Ambassador Alipov said. "Why should G20 meetings insist on retaining Ukraine in the dialogue. We are open for discussions. The Security Council is there for that. G20 should be used as a platform to tackle financial and economic issues, not geopolitics," he said, adding that Ukraine should remain a neutral state. There should be other mutual agreements to resolve the conflict. "We are open to dialogue with NATO, but it should develop in good spirit."googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Ambassador Alipov said relations between India and Russia have been further strengthened with the introduction of an e-visa by India for Russians which was reciprocated by Russia on August 1. "We are also considering visa free travel between India and Russia as this would enhance and facilitate travel between the two nations," he added. ALSO READ | Ashtadhyayi, Magna Carta and more: 29 artefacts from G20 Summit invitees to be exhibited at Culture Corridor Russia alleges that it was NATOs expansion eastward which led to the conflict in Ukraine. "We had been warning the US and NATO that the situation would erupt and it did erupt. However, we are open to any suggestions from India or any other country that can help in building up negotiations to end the conflict. Zelenskys 10-point formula is not acceptable. In addition, I would like to say that Russia wants peace in Ukraine, but they are not showing any interest," said Ambassador Alipov. The Russian envoy also said that Indias clout was beginning to rise globally and Russia always supported India including its bid for full membership of the UNSC. Regarding G20, he said that some countries had hijacked the agenda and there should instead be a consensus. Issues where there is no consensus should be done away with, he added. "We strongly support Indias priorities and are hopeful that the outcome will be one India aspires for and the Summit turns out to be a success for India and the world, irrespective of the formal outcome," Ambassador Alipov said, adding that India will be the centre of decision making very soon and has the capacity and right to be a leader of the Global South. India and Russia have had historic ties and are strategic partners in trade. The rupee-rouble mechanism hasn't done as well as expected as Indian banks have feared secondary sanctions and are over-cautious. Ambassador Alipov also pointed out that long before BRICS came into existence, there was the India, Russia, China trilateral which worked well until the Galwan clashes. "I hope that this trilateral is revived. Both India and China are close to Russia and whatever disputes they may have are bilateral and we dont interfere in that," he added. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday sprang a surprise by announcing a special session of Parliament from September 18-22, reviving speculation of early Lok Sabha elections. The special session will be held about one-and-a-half months before the winter session of Parliament is due, which usually is in November.

Union Parliamentary minister Pralhad Joshi made the announcement through a post on X, adding the special session would have five sittings. It will be the first such special session ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014. Both Houses of Parliament would meet separately for five full days. On June 30, 2017, the government had convened a special joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to mark the midnight rollout of the GST regime.

A well placed source said the government will go into poll mode after the special session, both for the upcoming state elections and the 2024 general elections. The government could also try to test the Opposition on the principle of one nation, one election (ONOE) by introducing a bill on it during the special session. Speculation is also rife that the Modi government would bring the womens reservation bill and the Uniform Civil Code bill, in addition to the ONOE bill.

Since all of these bills are associated with the BJPs poll agenda, the government may introduce them to reaffirm to its voters the partys commitment to its poll planks, said a BJP office bearer. With the G20 summit ending on September 10, the special session is also expected to discuss its outcome and dedicate it to the nation.

The dates for the special session coincide with the upcoming Ganpati festival, which is celebrated in a big way in Maharashtra and other states. Some Opposition MPs urged the government to reconsider the schedule. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the special session was aimed at managing the news cycle and countering the news about the ongoing meeting of INDIA.

Govt word on the legislative agenda

There is no clear word yet on the agenda of the special session. Speculation is also rife on whether it will take place at the new Parliament building that was inaugurated on May 28:

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NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday sprang a surprise by announcing a special session of Parliament from September 18-22, reviving speculation of early Lok Sabha elections. The special session will be held about one-and-a-half months before the winter session of Parliament is due, which usually is in November. Union Parliamentary minister Pralhad Joshi made the announcement through a post on X, adding the special session would have five sittings. It will be the first such special session ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014. Both Houses of Parliament would meet separately for five full days. On June 30, 2017, the government had convened a special joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to mark the midnight rollout of the GST regime. A well placed source said the government will go into poll mode after the special session, both for the upcoming state elections and the 2024 general elections. The government could also try to test the Opposition on the principle of one nation, one election (ONOE) by introducing a bill on it during the special session. Speculation is also rife that the Modi government would bring the womens reservation bill and the Uniform Civil Code bill, in addition to the ONOE bill.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Since all of these bills are associated with the BJPs poll agenda, the government may introduce them to reaffirm to its voters the partys commitment to its poll planks, said a BJP office bearer. With the G20 summit ending on September 10, the special session is also expected to discuss its outcome and dedicate it to the nation. The dates for the special session coincide with the upcoming Ganpati festival, which is celebrated in a big way in Maharashtra and other states. Some Opposition MPs urged the government to reconsider the schedule. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the special session was aimed at managing the news cycle and countering the news about the ongoing meeting of INDIA. Govt word on the legislative agenda There is no clear word yet on the agenda of the special session. Speculation is also rife on whether it will take place at the new Parliament building that was inaugurated on May 28: Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Shruti Kakkar By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: AMIDST the controversy regarding sharing of Cauvery water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) has informed the Supreme Court that the Authority in its 23rd meeting has directed Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water at Biligundlu for the next 15 days from August 29.

Putting forth Karnatakas stand regarding release of water, CWMA in its affidavit has also said the state government has fulfilled CWMAs direction to release 10,000 cusecs of water from KRS and Kabini reservoirs to be realised at Biligundlu starting from August 12.

The affidavit has been filed in compliance of top courts August 25 order passed while considering TN governments plea of directing Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs of water. Directing CWMA to submit a report on the status of discharge of water by Karnataka to TN by September 1, a bench led by Justices BR Gavai had said, Authorities consist of experts. We dont have that expertise. How can we pass an order? All of you in one chorus are saying that it is not being complied while Mr Divan is saying that it is being complied with.

TN government, apart from release of water, had alleged Karnataka government did not comply with its order of releasing 10,000 cusecs of water. Highlighting the efforts undertaken by TN government to get its due of water from Karnataka, the plea states that Karnataka is bound to release the water as per the orders passed by the top court. 14.913 lakh acres are dependent on Mettur reservoir for irrigation, which in turn depends on the flows realized at Biligundlu, based on the flows released by Karnataka from KRS and Kabini reservoirs, which gets major portion of inflows during South West Monsoon.

During this monsoon period, both kuruvai and samba crops are sown and transplanted in the Cauvery Delta. Hence, the release of water from Mettur during South West Monsoon is crucial. About 4 million farmers and about 10 million labourers both directly and indirectly depend on Mettur water for their livelihood, the affidavit said.

Ktaka farmers begin indefinite stir at KRS

Mysuru: With Karantaka releasing water to Tamil Nadu complying with the directives of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), protests have erupted in the Cauvery heartland in Karnataka. The farmers took to the streets against the release of 5,000 cusecs of water to the neighbouring district across Mandya and also started an indefinite stir at the KRS reservoir. The farmers also staged shirtless protests raising slogans against CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, and Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy



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NEW DELHI: AMIDST the controversy regarding sharing of Cauvery water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) has informed the Supreme Court that the Authority in its 23rd meeting has directed Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water at Biligundlu for the next 15 days from August 29. Putting forth Karnatakas stand regarding release of water, CWMA in its affidavit has also said the state government has fulfilled CWMAs direction to release 10,000 cusecs of water from KRS and Kabini reservoirs to be realised at Biligundlu starting from August 12. The affidavit has been filed in compliance of top courts August 25 order passed while considering TN governments plea of directing Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs of water. Directing CWMA to submit a report on the status of discharge of water by Karnataka to TN by September 1, a bench led by Justices BR Gavai had said, Authorities consist of experts. We dont have that expertise. How can we pass an order? All of you in one chorus are saying that it is not being complied while Mr Divan is saying that it is being complied with.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); TN government, apart from release of water, had alleged Karnataka government did not comply with its order of releasing 10,000 cusecs of water. Highlighting the efforts undertaken by TN government to get its due of water from Karnataka, the plea states that Karnataka is bound to release the water as per the orders passed by the top court. 14.913 lakh acres are dependent on Mettur reservoir for irrigation, which in turn depends on the flows realized at Biligundlu, based on the flows released by Karnataka from KRS and Kabini reservoirs, which gets major portion of inflows during South West Monsoon. During this monsoon period, both kuruvai and samba crops are sown and transplanted in the Cauvery Delta. Hence, the release of water from Mettur during South West Monsoon is crucial. About 4 million farmers and about 10 million labourers both directly and indirectly depend on Mettur water for their livelihood, the affidavit said. Ktaka farmers begin indefinite stir at KRS Mysuru: With Karantaka releasing water to Tamil Nadu complying with the directives of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), protests have erupted in the Cauvery heartland in Karnataka. The farmers took to the streets against the release of 5,000 cusecs of water to the neighbouring district across Mandya and also started an indefinite stir at the KRS reservoir. The farmers also staged shirtless protests raising slogans against CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, and Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: While the countrys capital is gearing up to greet world leaders arriving to attend the G20 Summit from September 8-10, there seems to be an ambiguity regarding the attendance of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the summit.

There has been neither an official confirmation nor denial from the Chinese side on Xis visit. With this, speculation is rife that his Premier Li Qiang may fill in for Xi. Until now, Xi had attended all the G20 meetings that have happened during his tenure. Irrespective of the ambiguity, India is making preparations for his arrival, said sources.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Xi during the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg recently and talked about normalising the relationship. From the courtesies exchanged, it seemed that Xi is likely to attend the G20 Summit. However, in the past few days, India and China have been involved in a diplomatic rebuttal after China brought out a Standard Map that included Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh under its territories.

China hasnt officially said that President Xi Jinping isnt coming to Delhi for the G20 Summit. However, if he does decide not to attend, it will send out a message that relations between India and China are still on a downward slide, Ashok K Kantha, former ambassador to China, told this newspaper. Meanwhile, leaders including US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Saudi Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Salman are amongst the world leaders who have confirmed their in-person participation in the summit being conducted under Indias presidency.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had informed that he would not be able to make it for the G20 Summit as he was busy gearing up for a military operation. Russias foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to India on his behalf. Putin had called up Prime Minister Modi and informed him about his inability to take part in the G20 Summit.

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NEW DELHI: While the countrys capital is gearing up to greet world leaders arriving to attend the G20 Summit from September 8-10, there seems to be an ambiguity regarding the attendance of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the summit. There has been neither an official confirmation nor denial from the Chinese side on Xis visit. With this, speculation is rife that his Premier Li Qiang may fill in for Xi. Until now, Xi had attended all the G20 meetings that have happened during his tenure. Irrespective of the ambiguity, India is making preparations for his arrival, said sources. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Xi during the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg recently and talked about normalising the relationship. From the courtesies exchanged, it seemed that Xi is likely to attend the G20 Summit. However, in the past few days, India and China have been involved in a diplomatic rebuttal after China brought out a Standard Map that included Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh under its territories.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); China hasnt officially said that President Xi Jinping isnt coming to Delhi for the G20 Summit. However, if he does decide not to attend, it will send out a message that relations between India and China are still on a downward slide, Ashok K Kantha, former ambassador to China, told this newspaper. Meanwhile, leaders including US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Saudi Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Salman are amongst the world leaders who have confirmed their in-person participation in the summit being conducted under Indias presidency. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had informed that he would not be able to make it for the G20 Summit as he was busy gearing up for a military operation. Russias foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to India on his behalf. Putin had called up Prime Minister Modi and informed him about his inability to take part in the G20 Summit. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate late Friday night arrested Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged bank fraud of Rs 538 crore at the Canara Bank, official sources said.

He was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a long session of questioning at the central agency's office here.

Goyal, 74, is expected to be produced before a special PMLA court in Mumbai on Saturday where the ED will seek for his custodial remand.

The money-laundering case stems from an FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Jet Airways, Goyal, his wife Anita and some former company executives in connection with an alleged Rs 538-crore fraud case at Canara Bank.

ALSO READ | JKC gets one more month to pay lenders of Jet Airways

The FIR was registered on the bank's complaint which alleged that it sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Ltd (JIL) to the tune of Rs 848.86 crore of which Rs 538.62 crore is outstanding.

The CBI had said the account was declared to be a "fraud" account on July 29, 2021.

The bank alleged that the forensic audit of JIL showed that it paid "related companies" Rs 1,410.41 crore out of a total commission expenses, thus siphoning off funds from JIL.

"As per sample Agreement of Jet Airways (India) Ltd (JIL), it was noted that the expenses of General Selling Agents (GSA) was to be borne by GSA itself and nor by JIL. However, it was observed that JIL has paid various expenses amounting to Rs 403.27 crore which is not in tune with the GSA," the complaint, now part of the CBI FIR, alleged.

It said personal expenses such as salaries of staff, phone bills and vehicle expenses among others of the Goyal family were paid paid by JIL.

Among other allegations, it surfaced during the forensic audit that funds were also siphoned off through Jet Lite (India) Ltd (JLL) by way of making an advance and investing and subsequently writing off of the same by making a provision.

JIL diverted the funds for the subsidiary JLL in the form of loans and advances and investments extended.

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MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate late Friday night arrested Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged bank fraud of Rs 538 crore at the Canara Bank, official sources said. He was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a long session of questioning at the central agency's office here. Goyal, 74, is expected to be produced before a special PMLA court in Mumbai on Saturday where the ED will seek for his custodial remand.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The money-laundering case stems from an FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Jet Airways, Goyal, his wife Anita and some former company executives in connection with an alleged Rs 538-crore fraud case at Canara Bank. ALSO READ | JKC gets one more month to pay lenders of Jet Airways The FIR was registered on the bank's complaint which alleged that it sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Ltd (JIL) to the tune of Rs 848.86 crore of which Rs 538.62 crore is outstanding. The CBI had said the account was declared to be a "fraud" account on July 29, 2021. The bank alleged that the forensic audit of JIL showed that it paid "related companies" Rs 1,410.41 crore out of a total commission expenses, thus siphoning off funds from JIL. "As per sample Agreement of Jet Airways (India) Ltd (JIL), it was noted that the expenses of General Selling Agents (GSA) was to be borne by GSA itself and nor by JIL. However, it was observed that JIL has paid various expenses amounting to Rs 403.27 crore which is not in tune with the GSA," the complaint, now part of the CBI FIR, alleged. It said personal expenses such as salaries of staff, phone bills and vehicle expenses among others of the Goyal family were paid paid by JIL. Among other allegations, it surfaced during the forensic audit that funds were also siphoned off through Jet Lite (India) Ltd (JLL) by way of making an advance and investing and subsequently writing off of the same by making a provision. JIL diverted the funds for the subsidiary JLL in the form of loans and advances and investments extended. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
One of the reporters who works at the small Kansas newspaper that was raided by authorities last month filed a federal lawsuit against the police chief Wednesday.

Deb Gruver believes Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody violated her constitutional rights when he abruptly snatched her personal cellphone out of her hands during a search where officers also seized computers from the Marion County Record's office, according to the lawsuit.

That Aug. 11 search and two others conducted at the homes of the newspaper's publisher and a City Council member thrust the town into the center of a debate over the press protections in the First Amendment.

Cody has said little publicly since the raids other than posting a defense of them on the police department's Facebook page. In court documents he filed to get the search warrants, he argued that he had probable cause to believe the newspaper and City Council member Ruth Herbel, whose home was also raided, violated state laws against identity theft or computer crimes.

But the newspaper's publisher, Eric Meyer, has said he believes the identity theft allegations provided a convenient excuse for the search, and the police chief was really upset about Gruver's investigation into his background with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department before he was hired in Marion this year. Meyer has said he plans to file his own lawsuit.

The Record is known for its aggressive coverage of local politics and its community of 1,900 people about 150 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.

Gruver  a veteran reporter with more than three decades of experience  said in a statement that by filing her lawsuit "I'm standing up for journalists across the country." She previously worked at other newspapers in Kansas, Wyoming and Indiana and has won awards for her reporting.

"It is our constitutional right to do this job without fear of harassment or retribution, and our constitutional rights are always worth fighting for," said Gruver, who had the words "Freedom of the press" tattooed on her right forearm the same day her lawsuit was filed.

The city administrator directed questions about the lawsuit to its attorney, Brian Bina, and outside council, Jennifer Hill. Neither attorney returned phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The police department's investigation of the newspaper began after a local restaurant owner accused reporters of improperly using personal information to access details about the status of her suspended driver's license and her record that included a DUI arrest. A spokesman for the agency that maintains those records has said the reporter's search on a public website was likely legal.

The lawsuit says that the warrant expressly said that the search was supposed to focus only on equipment that was used to access those records, which was done by another reporter at the paper. But after Cody handed Gruver a copy of the warrant and she told him that she needed to call the publisher, he quickly grabbed her personal phone and took it.

"In seizing Ms. Gruver's personal cellular phone despite the seizure exceeding the scope of the unreasonable and unlawful search warrant, Chief Cody acted in unreasonable and unnecessarily violent fashion, causing injury to plaintiff's Gruver's rights and her person," the lawsuit said.

One of the officers even read Gruver, another reporter and an office administrator their Miranda rights even though they were never arrested.

After the search of the newspaper office, officers went on to search the home Meyer shared with his 98-year-old mother. Video of that raid shows how distraught his mother became as officers searched through their belongings. Meyer said he believes that stress contributed to the death of his mother, Joan Meyer, a day later.

Legal experts believe the raid on the newspaper violated a federal privacy law or a state law shielding journalists from having to identify sources or turn over unpublished material to law enforcement.

Authorities returned the computers and cellphones they took during the raids after the prosecutor decided there was insufficient evidence to justify their seizure. A judge ordered investigators Tuesday to also destroy electronic copies they made of the newspaper's files.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is looking into the newspaper's actions, but it hasn't provided any updates on its investigation.

It's not clear what action local officials might take. The City Council refused to discuss the raids at its meeting last week, and the mayor has told the Record that he doesn't plan to take any action in response to them until after the KBI completes its investigation.

Same fears, new tactics: How efforts to ban 'bad books' reached a record high in 2022 Same fears, new tactics: How efforts to ban 'bad books' reached a record high in 2022 Burned or banned: Outlawed books reflect fears and politics of the time 2022 set a record for book challenges, almost doubling from 2021 Most of the top challenged 2022 books cited LGBTQ+ and sexual content School libraries are being targeted more frequently Organized efforts are accelerating
Hemant Kumar Rout By

Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Three months after the tragic train crash at Bahanaga in Balasore district that claimed 296 lives and left over 900 injured, 28 bodies still remain unclaimed. With the condition of the bodies stored in a container at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar deteriorating due to delayed embalming, the hospital authorities are in dark over their disposal as neither the state government nor the Centre have yet taken any decision in this regard.

AIIMS had received 162 bodies in two phases from the temporary morgue at the accident spot and different hospitals where the injured were treated. It started collecting DNA samples after 81 of those bodies remained unidentified and some had multiple claimants. While 53 bodies have already been handed over to the kin of the deceased after DNA cross-matching, there are no claimants for 28. DNA profiling of around 112 samples collected from claimants have already been conducted and there are no samples pending for cross-matching.

Sources said since no samples for DNA cross-matching are pending at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory at Delhi and hardly any kin of the deceased is coming to claim bodies, there is little chance that the bodies left out would be identified.

The bodies now stored in the container are mostly defaced or mutilated. Some of the bodies do not have heads and some have only parts like hands and legs. It is difficult to identify the bodies in such a condition, said an AIIMS official.

The Ministry of Railways has already issued five advertisements urging people to come forward for DNA cross-matching. The last time the newspaper advertisement was issued was on August 9.

Only one sample was collected for DNA matching since then and it did not match. After the last body from Bihar matched his mothers sample, there is no match for other bodies. We are verifying the condition of bodies at regular intervals to prevent further deterioration, he said.

As most of the unclaimed bodies are of migrant labourers from the remote areas of northern West Bengal bordering Bangladesh and they had come alone in search of work, sources said it is unlikely that there would be any claimant for the bodies after three months.

Even as there are no takers for the bodies and the police manual states unclaimed bodies should be disposed of within 30 days, the government is undecided over the disposal of corpses as the case is under CBI investigation. Though an inter-ministerial decision was to be taken on the modalities to dispose of the unidentified and unclaimed bodies, the delay in decision is making things murkier.

Executive director of AIIMS Dr Ashutosh Biswas said no agency alone can take a decision on a sensitive matter like this. The Centre and state government will jointly take a call. We hope a decision on disposal of the bodies will be taken soon, he added.

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BHUBANESWAR: Three months after the tragic train crash at Bahanaga in Balasore district that claimed 296 lives and left over 900 injured, 28 bodies still remain unclaimed. With the condition of the bodies stored in a container at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar deteriorating due to delayed embalming, the hospital authorities are in dark over their disposal as neither the state government nor the Centre have yet taken any decision in this regard. AIIMS had received 162 bodies in two phases from the temporary morgue at the accident spot and different hospitals where the injured were treated. It started collecting DNA samples after 81 of those bodies remained unidentified and some had multiple claimants. While 53 bodies have already been handed over to the kin of the deceased after DNA cross-matching, there are no claimants for 28. DNA profiling of around 112 samples collected from claimants have already been conducted and there are no samples pending for cross-matching. Sources said since no samples for DNA cross-matching are pending at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory at Delhi and hardly any kin of the deceased is coming to claim bodies, there is little chance that the bodies left out would be identified.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The bodies now stored in the container are mostly defaced or mutilated. Some of the bodies do not have heads and some have only parts like hands and legs. It is difficult to identify the bodies in such a condition, said an AIIMS official. The Ministry of Railways has already issued five advertisements urging people to come forward for DNA cross-matching. The last time the newspaper advertisement was issued was on August 9. Only one sample was collected for DNA matching since then and it did not match. After the last body from Bihar matched his mothers sample, there is no match for other bodies. We are verifying the condition of bodies at regular intervals to prevent further deterioration, he said. As most of the unclaimed bodies are of migrant labourers from the remote areas of northern West Bengal bordering Bangladesh and they had come alone in search of work, sources said it is unlikely that there would be any claimant for the bodies after three months. Even as there are no takers for the bodies and the police manual states unclaimed bodies should be disposed of within 30 days, the government is undecided over the disposal of corpses as the case is under CBI investigation. Though an inter-ministerial decision was to be taken on the modalities to dispose of the unidentified and unclaimed bodies, the delay in decision is making things murkier. Executive director of AIIMS Dr Ashutosh Biswas said no agency alone can take a decision on a sensitive matter like this. The Centre and state government will jointly take a call. We hope a decision on disposal of the bodies will be taken soon, he added. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

MUMBAI/CHENNAI: DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday urged partners of the opposition bloc INDIA to immediately hammer out a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and asserted it would be the face of the alliance.

Stalin said the countdown for removing the BJP from the corridors of power has begun and he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for becoming what he called the "publication (publicity) officer" for the opposition INDIA alliance. "There are no achievements in the nine years of the BJP regime. Day by day this government is becoming unpopular whereas the INDIA alliance is becoming popular," he said.

Addressing the opposition meet in Mumbai, Stalin said immediately, a coordination committee should be set up and a CMP must be prepared.

"That (CMP) will be the face of the INDIA alliance. The BJP regime has ruined the country in several ways. It (CMP) must present a road map to the people spelling out what we intend doing to undo it," he said.

The INDIA alliance should identify itself with policies and ideals required to usher in democracy by trouncing and dislodging an autocratic regime and such ideals must head the opposition bloc, he said.

"Our first objective is to dislodge the BJP regime and install a government of secular, democratic forces at the Centre. In order to isolate the BJP, as far as possible, parties opposed to the BJP must be inducted into the alliance. I urge all the leaders to work with this in mind," he said.

READ MORE | Strength of opposition alliance making govt 'nervous': Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge

When the only goal is protecting Indian democracy, "there is no doubt that the BJP will be defeated."

He said the alliance is marching on the path of victory.

The name INDIA itself is causing "fear and fever" to the Saffron party, he claimed.

In his press briefing, Stalin said, as regards the Mumbai meet, being more than satisfactory, it has turned out to be a "turning point" as the "countdown" for the fall of the BJP government has commenced. Though the constituents of the alliance are independent parties, they have come together to save the country, he said.

"Do not please think that we have joined hands for political gains. In order to safeguard the dignity of the nation, secularism and social justice, all of us have joined forces. We are going to take part in a big battle (2024 Lok Sabha polls) and all of you should support us in our battle (for India) and this is my appeal."

Stalin termed the opposition bloc powerful with 28 parties being constituents of the alliance.

Accusing the BJP of running a despotic regime at the Centre, Stalin said Modi could not talk about his government's achievements and was only speaking on INDIA alliance in events, be it government or others.

"We are now witnessing an autocratic regime so far not seen in India."

Stalin, who had alleged irregularities and corruption in Central projects vis-a-vis the CAG report, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not come forward to comment on the matter.

"There is no respect to the Supreme Court verdict. The Election Commission does not have autonomy. The BJP regime is using the ED, CBI and Income Tax Department to intimidate political rivals," he alleged.

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MUMBAI/CHENNAI: DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday urged partners of the opposition bloc INDIA to immediately hammer out a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and asserted it would be the face of the alliance. Stalin said the countdown for removing the BJP from the corridors of power has begun and he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for becoming what he called the "publication (publicity) officer" for the opposition INDIA alliance. "There are no achievements in the nine years of the BJP regime. Day by day this government is becoming unpopular whereas the INDIA alliance is becoming popular," he said. Addressing the opposition meet in Mumbai, Stalin said immediately, a coordination committee should be set up and a CMP must be prepared.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "That (CMP) will be the face of the INDIA alliance. The BJP regime has ruined the country in several ways. It (CMP) must present a road map to the people spelling out what we intend doing to undo it," he said. The INDIA alliance should identify itself with policies and ideals required to usher in democracy by trouncing and dislodging an autocratic regime and such ideals must head the opposition bloc, he said. "Our first objective is to dislodge the BJP regime and install a government of secular, democratic forces at the Centre. In order to isolate the BJP, as far as possible, parties opposed to the BJP must be inducted into the alliance. I urge all the leaders to work with this in mind," he said. READ MORE | Strength of opposition alliance making govt 'nervous': Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge When the only goal is protecting Indian democracy, "there is no doubt that the BJP will be defeated." He said the alliance is marching on the path of victory. The name INDIA itself is causing "fear and fever" to the Saffron party, he claimed. In his press briefing, Stalin said, as regards the Mumbai meet, being more than satisfactory, it has turned out to be a "turning point" as the "countdown" for the fall of the BJP government has commenced. Though the constituents of the alliance are independent parties, they have come together to save the country, he said. "Do not please think that we have joined hands for political gains. In order to safeguard the dignity of the nation, secularism and social justice, all of us have joined forces. We are going to take part in a big battle (2024 Lok Sabha polls) and all of you should support us in our battle (for India) and this is my appeal." Stalin termed the opposition bloc powerful with 28 parties being constituents of the alliance. Accusing the BJP of running a despotic regime at the Centre, Stalin said Modi could not talk about his government's achievements and was only speaking on INDIA alliance in events, be it government or others. "We are now witnessing an autocratic regime so far not seen in India." Stalin, who had alleged irregularities and corruption in Central projects vis-a-vis the CAG report, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not come forward to comment on the matter. "There is no respect to the Supreme Court verdict. The Election Commission does not have autonomy. The BJP regime is using the ED, CBI and Income Tax Department to intimidate political rivals," he alleged. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

BEIJING: China on Thursday said it firmly opposed all forms of official interaction between Taiwan authorities and countries having diplomatic relations with Beijing.

Responding to a question raised by a Pakistani journalist on reports that three former top Indian military officials attended a security dialogue held by Taiwanese authorities in Taipei this month, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China firmly opposes all forms of official interaction with Taiwan.

China, which considers self-ruled Taiwan as part of its mainland, routinely objects to any high-level visits to Taipei, saying that it is a violation of the one-China principle.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang said, "China firmly opposes all forms of official interaction between the Taiwan authorities and countries having diplomatic relations with China. This is our consistent and clear position. We hope the country concerned will abide by the one-China principle, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from having any form of military and security cooperation with Taiwan".

According to media reports, Admiral Karambir Singh, General M M Naravane, and Chief of Air Staff R K S Bhadauria --- the former Navy, Army and Indian Air Force chiefs --- recently attended Ketagalan Forum's 2023 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue held in Taiwan.

ALSO READ | UK Parliament addresses Taiwan as independent country as their Foreign Secretary visits Beijing

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BEIJING: China on Thursday said it firmly opposed all forms of official interaction between Taiwan authorities and countries having diplomatic relations with Beijing. Responding to a question raised by a Pakistani journalist on reports that three former top Indian military officials attended a security dialogue held by Taiwanese authorities in Taipei this month, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China firmly opposes all forms of official interaction with Taiwan. China, which considers self-ruled Taiwan as part of its mainland, routinely objects to any high-level visits to Taipei, saying that it is a violation of the one-China principle.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang said, "China firmly opposes all forms of official interaction between the Taiwan authorities and countries having diplomatic relations with China. This is our consistent and clear position. We hope the country concerned will abide by the one-China principle, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from having any form of military and security cooperation with Taiwan". According to media reports, Admiral Karambir Singh, General M M Naravane, and Chief of Air Staff R K S Bhadauria --- the former Navy, Army and Indian Air Force chiefs --- recently attended Ketagalan Forum's 2023 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue held in Taiwan. ALSO READ | UK Parliament addresses Taiwan as independent country as their Foreign Secretary visits Beijing Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
The FBI has released new photos of what Leo Burt might look like at about 75 years old. Burt is the only suspect in the bombing of Sterling Hall at UW-Madison five decades ago who was never apprehended.

Burt is still wanted in connection with the 1970 bombing amid protests against the Vietnam War.

Age-enhanced photos of Burt, released by the FBI on Thursday, predict he would have grayed hair with a receding hairline. One of the photos shows him with round-shaped glasses similar to the kind he was pictured wearing in a 1969 photo.

The FBI continues to offer a $150,000 award for information leading to Burts arrest and warns he may be armed and dangerous.

In the early morning hours of Aug. 24, 1970, Karl Armstrong lit a fuse to a 2,000-pound bomb made of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil inside a stolen Ford Econoline van outside Sterling Hall, where the UW-Madisons Army Mathematics Research Center was located on three floors.

Armstrong had conspired with his brother, Dwight, David Fine and Burt in the bombing that killed 33-year-old physicist Robert Fassnacht, who had been working in the basement at the time on a project unrelated to the Army research.

The blast left the Army research center largely intact but damaged 26 other buildings on campus.

Burt was indicted about a week and a half after the bombing on federal charges of sabotage, destruction of government property and conspiracy.

The Armstrong brothers and Fine were arrested, but Burt has never been found. Burt was last confirmed to be seen fleeing through a rear window of a boarding house in Peterborough, Ontario, leaving behind a wallet with a fake ID with the alias Eugene Donald Fieldston.

Karl Armstrong served seven years in prison after initially receiving a 23-year sentence, while Dwight Armstrong served three years. Fine was sentenced to seven years in prison but served three.

In 2010, the FBI released age-enhanced photos of Burt, then 62 years old.

The bombing was considered the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in the U.S. until Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

Sterling Hall was also the target of arson in April. The UW-Madison Police Department said it believed the fires, started in two first-floor classrooms, were intentionally set.

Photos: Remembering the UW-Madison Sterling Hall bombing 50 years ago Sterling Hall bombing 1970 - Sterling Hall bombing Death in bombing Sterling Hall bombing suspects Sterling Hall bombers caught Sterling Hall bombing on front page Sterling Hall bombing Leo Burt Sterling Hall bombing Engine fragment Leo Burt, then and now Robert Fassnacht Sterling Hall interior Sterling Hall plaque Sterling Hall bombing
Mumbai, Aug 31

A ctress Ila Arun, who is currently gearing up for the release of her streaming film 'Haddi', has shared that some of the scenes from the film were very demanding as they were shot in high temperatures.

The scenes were tough to shoot particularly for the lead actor of the film, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, as he had to shoot the scene in heavy layers of make-up and wig.

The film stars Nawazuddin in the role of a transgender character, who is very close to Ila Arun's character of Revati Maa, Hijra Gharana's mother candidly.

Talking about the challenges during the shoot, the actress said, "Some scenes were more like nightmares. It was a nightmare to work under those difficult situations in such heavy makeup. And hats off to Nawaz who used to take 6 hours to get ready with the wig, makeup, and everything else and still look flawless. The shoot happened at real locations in 45-46 degree celsius temperature without AC because the director chose a real location that was not equipped."

She also spoke about her experience working with the debutant director, Akshat Ajay Sharma and how difficult it was to shoot at real locations, Ila Arun said " 'Haddi' being his debut film, the way he kept his calm in extremely high temperatures which went up to 45-46 degrees is indeed praiseworthy. He was facing challenges from every direction, right from the weather conditions [scorching heat] to other things. All the actors were equally suffering. There was no AC and so everybody was losing their temper. However, Akshat dealt with it in a very calm way. That's the first success of a director - being able to tolerate everything for the sake of good work."

The film, which also stars Anurag Kashyap, is set to drop on September 7 on ZEE5.

Ila Arun recollects shooting for 'Haddi' in 45-46 degree C; lauds Nawaz for his dedication

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New Delhi, Aug 31

Markets regulator SEBI has proposed the creation of a Performance Validation Agency to validate any claims of performance by SEBI registered intermediaries and other entities.

Intermediaries/ ther entities need to showcase their performance to attract more clients and grow and continue to do business. However, in the rush for more clients, some of these entities may indulge in making inflated claims of their performance or recommendations to investors, thereby misleading the investors, said a SEBI consultation paper.

Currently, Asset Management Companies (AMCs) calculate the performance of mutual fund schemes. Similarly, portfolio managers have been permitted to report their performance vis-a-vis certain benchmarks. The claims made by these intermediaries/entities are mostly self-verified and currently there is no dedicated agency to validate such claims.

Investment Advisers (IAs) and Research Analysts (RAs) are also inherently involved in giving investment advice and 'buy/sell/hold' recommendation, respectively. In terms of the advertisement code for IAs and RAs issued by SEBI, IAs and RAs are currently not allowed to make any reference to past performance.

There has been a demand from registered intermediaries to showcase their performance to investors so as to establish/ enhance their credibility.

Accordingly, it is proposed to create an independent body called Performance Validation Agency (PVA) to validate the claims/performance related to investment advice, 'buy/sell/hold' recommendation, mutual fund scheme, portfolio management service, algorithm, etc. by SEBI registered intermediaries/other entities such as IA, RA, portfolio manager, AMC, stock broker, etc.

PVA shall validate the claims by SEBI registered intermediaries/ other entities of the actual profit made by their clients on the basis of advice/ recommendation/ services provided by them.

PVA shall validate the performance claims of SEBI registered intermediaries/ other entities. PVA shall validate the performance of algorithms by testing the algorithms during a prospective reasonable test period.

Apart from the above, any other performance claim may be validated by PVA, subject to the core principle that there will be no selective cherry-picking of favourable events/ strategies/ client and other results. Further, any claim should be independently verifiable from sources other than the entity making the claim.

SEBI proposes agency to validate claims of intermediaries

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Guterres going to G20 summit with messages of global financial reform, fighting climate change

United Nations, Aug 31

U N Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced on Thursday that he will be going to the G20 summit in New Delhi carrying the messages of global financial reform and fighting climate change as he takes a swing through four international summits ahead of next month's high-level UN meetings.

G20 countries, as the world's biggest economies, "need to look seriously into reform of global financial institutions, rules and frameworks, to adapt them to today's realities and more effectively enable developing countries to access the resources they need to invest in the (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)", he said.

"They account for 80 per cent" of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and "as climate chaos gathers pace, the world is looking to them", he said.

"They need to step up, accelerating their reduction of emissions," he added.

After the G20 Summit hosted by India on September 9 and 10 that will bring together the leaders of the members of the group of major emerging and developing countries as well as those of nine invitees, the G77 summit in Cuba is on Guterres's itinerary.

He called the G77, that includes China, "the voice of the Global South  the largest group of countries on the international stage" and said: "I will focus on getting the 2030 (UN SDG) Agenda back on track; using science and technology for good; and ensuring that multilateralism delivers for all countries".

The theme of the G77 summit from September 15 and 16 is Science, Technology and Innovation.

Before going to Delhi, he will attend the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi on Monday and Tuesday and the UN-ASEAN Summit that will be held during the group's summit in Indonesia from Tuesday to Thursday.

Reflecting on the four top-level meetings that lead up to the UN's high-level meetings in New York, Guterres said: "This multiplicity of summits reflects the growing multipolarity of our world. Power is more diffuse. Different countries exert influence in different spheres".

While recognising that together, "these summits demonstrate the vitality of our multipolar international community", he warned that "multipolarity in itself does not guarantee peace and stability" and could lead to fragmentation.

"Without strong multilateral institutions, multipolarity could be a factor for escalating geostrategic tensions, with tragic consequences," he said. He said that "fragmentation is all but inevitable" unless multilateral frameworks are reformed.

"And with fragmentation, confrontation can come. Multilateral institutions will only survive if they are truly universal."

On September 18 and 19, world leaders will gather for a summit in New York on the UN's SDGs, which will segue into the annual high-level meeting of the General Assembly.

At the meeting with the ASEAN, Guterres said that he will also take up the issue of Myanmar, where a military junta ousted the elected government in February 2021. He said that he will seek to "engage all sides of the conflict in Myanmar in dialogue, while stressing that the de facto authorities must release all detained leaders and political prisoners, and launch an inclusive process to return to the democratic institutions".

The ousted President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who was the de facto government leader are in detention along with several members of parliament and other leaders. Myanmar is a member of the ASEAN, but its military leaders have been barred from participating in its meetings.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

Guterres going to G20 summit with messages of global financial reform, fighting climate change

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New Delhi, Aug 31

T he Delhi High Court has granted permission for two children suffering from autism spectrum disorder to undergo stem cell therapy as part of their treatment.

The family members of the two children had approached the court with a petition, following a halt in their treatment due to a recommendation by the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC).

Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, heading the bench, highlighted that there is no existing law prohibiting the use of stem cell therapy for ASD.

Noting that the NMC is still in the process of making a final decision on the recommendation, the court said that discontinuing the ongoing treatment would not serve any beneficial purpose and permitted the petitioners to continue the therapy.

It said that this is an interim order, ensuring that treatment does not halt immediately.

However, the treatment's continuation is at the risk of the petitioners themselves.

Doctors from AIIMS, present during the proceedings, apprised that stem cell therapy is currently recognised as a treatment for blood cancer, while its application in treating ASD remains experimental.

The need for more research and clarity on the therapy's protocol was stressed on by the AIIMS doctors. They indicated that, as of now, the efficacy of stem cell therapy for treating ASD is yet to be determined.

One of the petitioners, a medical professional, said that her daughter has shown great improvement through the use of stem cell treatment. The petitioners expressed their concern over the EMRB's recommendation, stating that it hindered the treatment of their children who suffer from Global Developmental Delay with Autism, conditions impacting social and cognitive growth.

The matter will now be heard next on October 3, and the court had urged the NMC to reach a definitive decision on the recommendation.

Delhi HC permits stem cell therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder

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Washington DC, September 1

I ndian-American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and emphasised the role of India in deterring China in the Indo-Pacific region.

He also stated that the US has also been a little bit less reliable than necessary, and he would like to shore that up as the President.

Ramaswamy was speaking at the PBD podcast on the 'Valuentainment' platform, where he was asked if the Ohio-based entrepreneur has any relation with PM Modi.

Speaking at the podcast, Ramaswamy said, "I don't know him yet, but...the morning before he came for his joint session so I stuck around, one of the people had me as their guest and so I stuck around and heard his address. I have been impressed by him as a leader".

"At the same time, I think that India is going to have to step it up a little bit. They haven't really met the full level of military commitments that I'd like to see a little woefully on the trade relationship and you know understandably the US has also been a little bit less reliable than necessary. So I want to shore that up," he added.

Ramaswamy further said that having India as a reliable partner for the US is a further deterrent to Xi Jinping, adding that avoiding the war over Taiwan will be the "most important" thing in terms of foreign policy by the next US president.

"If you want to think about a conflict situation with Taiwan, what people forget, is the Indian Ocean is where the Middle Eastern Oil supplies run through to get to China and so if India is actually a reliable partner that is a further deterrent to Xi Jinping even going after Taiwan. And I think I have probably the clearest vision of anybody in this race in either party Patrick of how to deter China from going after Taiwan while avoiding war over that island. And I think it's gonna be the most important thing the next president does from the standpoint of foreign policy," he further added.

The Republican leader stated that he would "abandon" the perception that the US is the "moral arbiter" of what happens in the world and will focus on advancing the interests of the American homeland.

"I'm going to abandon the lie that I think we've told in the US at times that we're somehow a moral Arbiter of what happens in the world. What I'm going to say is the truth my job as US president is to advance the interests of the Homeland to actually take care of American citizens. I have a moral obligation to my fellow citizens to take care of them

He added, "...If I'm saying that 'oh this is about to fight for democracy' in some random nation that banned 11 opposition parties and Consolidated State media into one arm we don't care beans about somebody invading another country in Africa no it doesn't make sense...I'm in this to just Advance American interest then two parties can reach a deal that makes sense for both parties".

The Indian-American entrepreneur added that he is ready for the challenge of dealing with leaders like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, who are "off the top of their game" and have "their best days behind them" with some insecurities.

Notably, Ramaswamy has called the US support to Ukraine in the ongoing conflict with Russia "disastrous". He has advocated for ending the war on terms with Moscow retaining parts of the Donbas region and Kyiv not joining NATO.

He has pointed out the argument that Russian President Vladimir Putin must exit his military alliance with China to end the conflict, which will leave Beijing in a weaker position to invade Taiwan.

Notably, Ramaswamy had shot up sharply in GOP primary polls, standing tied with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at the second position. However, both candidates lag hugely behind former President Donald Trump who leads with 56 per cent, as per The Hill.

In another poll by RealClearPolitics, Trump is far out in front of the 2024 GOP race with 53.6 per cent support, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 13.5 per cent, and Ramaswamy at 7.3 per cent, New York Post reported.

The next US presidential election is scheduled to be held on November 5, 2024.

I've been impressed by him as a leader: Vivek Ramaswamy on PM Modi

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New Delhi, Sep 1

G overnment on Friday launched the "Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar" invoice incentive scheme, under which consumers will be encouraged to demand a GST invoice to improve tax compliance.

"After being introduced on 1st July 2017, Goods and Services Tax #GST has become a gamechanger in India's indirect tax system. As part of the overall scheme of things in #GST, #Mera_Bill_Mera_Adhikaar Invoice Incentive Scheme has been launched from TODAY to encourage the customers to demand an invoice and to improve #B2C #TaxCompliance," the Finance Ministry said in X, formerly Twitter.

The scheme is currently active as a pilot project in Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Puducherry, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also visiting a market place in Gurugram today, to encourage GST bill generation on payment.

Govt launches invoice incentive scheme to improve tax compliance

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New Delhi, Sep 1

T he word Maison has its origin from the Latin word mansio meaning abode or home; Maison D' Auraine is a name in the beauty world that has seen exponential growth since its inception.

Auraine is a conglomerate with a bouquet of the most revolutionary, innovative, premium and luxury hair, beauty and personal care products under its umbrella. With the belief of empowering definition of beauty that embraces women, catering to all age group and background, we aim at spreading beauty worldwide.

Arpit Jain, Founder & MD of Maison D'Auraine interacted with IANSlife

Maison D' Auraine is in the premium luxury beauty segment. How is the company different from existing players in the industry?

Arpit At Maison D' Auraine, we pride ourselves on being more than just a player in the beauty and personal care industry. It is our endeavor to bring leading international beauty, hair, and personal care brands to the Indian masses while delivering an exceptional experience to our valued customers. Every brand that we onboard is vetted for months from a quality and sustainability standpoint. Alongside partnering with iconic international brands, we bring a touch of luxury and excellence that is unmatched in the industry.

We have established a strong retail outreach through salons, allowing us to directly connect with our customers and provide an extraordinary hair care experience. With over a decade of experience in both offline and online channels, we have gained a deep understanding of the market and are able to anticipate and cater to evolving customer needs. Our dedication to customer journey mapping ensures that every interaction with our brand is meaningful and tailored to their preferences. Moreover, we go beyond the conventional norms of the industry by elevating it through our training academy.

You are soon about to complete a decade in the industry. How has been the company's journey so far and what are the roadblocks or challenges that you've encountered over the years?

Arpit As Maison D' Auraine approaches a decade in the industry, our journey has been nothing short of remarkable. Over the years, we have strengthened our presence as the largest player in the premium luxury beauty segment, with a strong foothold in over 10,000 salons across the length and breadth of the country. With a vision to bring the highest quality hair care products and services to India, Arpit is on a mission to make Maison D' Auraine the go-to choice for all hair, beauty, and personal care needs. However, our path has not been one without challenges. Having started out as a small company back in 2014, operating in India's dynamic market has required us to navigate regulatory complexities and manage intricate supply chain logistics while facing challenges from global giants. Yet we embrace these challenges as opportunities for growth and innovation. Our journey so far has been marked by determination and a relentless pursuit of excellence. As we continue to expand our presence in the industry, we envision India as a global destination for beauty and grooming. Through the introduction of iconic international brands and strategic collaborations, we actively contribute to this transformative vision. Our deep market understanding, robust customer journey mapping, and unwavering commitment to elevating the industry set us apart from competitors, solidifying Maison D' Auraine's position as a frontrunner in the industry.

How do you envision the future of the luxury beauty and haircare industry in terms of market trends and consumer preferences?

Arpit India is becoming a hotbed for luxury brands all over the world. In this growing phygital landscape, renowned beauty and personal care brands are looking at India to set up a base. Henceforth, I believe that the premiumisation trend is expected to continue its upward trajectory. In fact, consumers are increasingly seeking luxurious, high-quality products that offer a unique and indulgent experience. This trend is driven by the desire for exceptional ingredients, innovative formulations, and personalised solutions tailored to individual needs. Secondly, sustainability and ethical practices will play a pivotal role in shaping the industry's future. Consumers are becoming more conscious of the environmental and social impact of their purchasing decisions. They seek brands that prioritise sustainability, eco-friendly packaging, cruelty-free practices, and ethically sourced ingredients. In fact, we at Maison D' Auraine, are committed to integrating sustainable practices throughout our entire value chain, from ingredient sourcing to product manufacturing and packaging and are launching many more eco-friendly and vegan brands this year.

Additionally, the digital revolution will continue to influence consumer behavior and reshape the industry landscape. E-commerce, social media, and digital platforms have transformed the way consumers discover, research, and purchase beauty and haircare products. Moreover, inclusivity and diversity will be vital considerations for the luxury beauty and haircare industry. Consumers are increasingly seeking products that cater to a diverse range of skin tones, hair types, and cultural backgrounds.

Which international luxury and homegrown brands are you planning to launch this year? What new will we see in terms of portfolio addition?

Arpit We first strengthened our foothold in India by partnering with the world's biggest keratin-based hair care brand "GK Hair", the only brand to possess the hidden treasure of patented ingredient Juvexin. After the roaring launch of GK Hair, we launched pH in 2021, and now we are gearing up for Keune, a 100-year-old legacy brand that is big on sustainability and is a millennial-focused brand. At Maison D'Auraine, we believe in combining the best of science and beauty. In line with this vision, our plans for this year include launching some exciting international luxury and homegrown brands that resonate with our company ethos.

One notable addition to our portfolio is Keune, a renowned 100-year-old legacy brand known for its commitment to sustainability. We are thrilled to bring their high-quality and sustainable products to our discerning customers. In addition to that, we are exploring partnerships with millennial-focused beauty and personal care brands that prioritise innovation and sustainability. These new additions will enhance our already impressive lineup and cater to the evolving needs and preferences of our customers.

Can you tell us more about the exclusive launch of Keune in India in partnership with Maison D' Auraine?

Arpit We are excited to launch Keune, a 100-year-old Dutch legacy haircosmetics brand in India. Our excitement about launching Keune in India stems from its alignment with our values. Keune's commitment to sustainability and ethical business practices resonates with us. This collaboration allows us to offer Indian consumers and our salon partners a range of hair essentials that are both innovative and effective. Their avant-garde progressive hair solutions, developed using the latest technology, cater to unique needs. The entire range of Keune products is exclusively available through Maison D' Auraine at over 25,000 premium salons across India.

Can you briefly talk about your business model and how is it working for you? Do you wish to expand in the near future to additional distribution channels?

Arpit Since the company's inception, we have stayed ahead of the curve by continuously evolving and adapting to the changing market landscape to meet the needs of our discerning customers. Our business model revolves around creating an exceptional customer experience through an omni-channel approach. We have established robust partnerships with salons, serving as our retail outreach points, which enable us to directly connect with customers. This seamless integration of online and offline channels ensures a convenient and hassle-free shopping experience. Our focus remains on expanding our reach and accessibility while upholding the highest standards of quality and service that Maison D' Auraine is renowned for.

How do you see the beauty and haircare industry in the next 5 years? According to you, what will be the growth drivers of this industry?

Arpit In the next five years, the beauty and haircare industry is set to undergo remarkable transformations. Technological advancements such as AI and AR/VR will revolutionise customer engagement, with a focus on providing personalised experiences. Content-driven platforms will empower consumers with knowledge, enabling them to make informed decisions. Besides this, sustainability will certainly take the center stage, with a heightened focus on conscious ingredient sourcing and eco-friendly packaging.

Experiential marketing, increased customer engagement, and a holistic approach to well-being will be the driving forces behind the industry's growth. At Maison D' Auraine, we are committed to leading the way in these trends, staying at the forefront of innovation, and providing our customers with exceptional, sustainable solutions. Together, we will shape the future of the beauty and haircare industry, delivering unparalleled luxury and excellence.

Where do you see Maison D' Auraine in the next 5 years? With the onboarding of more international players, are you looking to explore penetration opportunities beyond metros?

Arpit Going forward, we envision ourselves to become a one-stop-shop for all premium beauty and personal care related needs across India. We intend to penetrate the deeper pockets of the country by bringing luxury brands not only to metropolitan areas but also to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India. Our aim is to establish a strong presence in untapped markets and make luxury beauty accessible to a wider audience. We are dedicated to skilling initiatives in these cities, providing training and support to hairdressers and professionals, thereby uplifting the industry as a whole. By expanding our reach and coverage to 250+ cities, we are creating opportunities for growth and empowerment, while solidifying our position as a frontrunner in the beauty industry. With our commitment to excellence, sustainable practices, and an ever-expanding portfolio of international brands, Maison D' Auraine is poised to shape the future of beauty and redefine the market.

In your industry expertise, what emerging categories or trends do you foresee shaping the future of the haircare industry?

Arpit In the ever-evolving world of haircare, the future holds great promise as emerging categories and trends shape the industry landscape. These include the clean beauty movement that has now extended to haircare, with a growing demand for products free from harsh chemicals, sulfates, and parabens. With this rise of clean and natural haircare, consumers are constantly seeking products free from harsh chemicals and embracing plant-based ingredients. Secondly, there is a growing focus on scalp health and care, with an emphasis on addressing scalp issues and promoting overall hair health. Products targeting scalp issues, such as dryness, dandruff, and sensitivity, are gaining popularity, highlighting a holistic approach to haircare.

In addition to this, customisation and personalised solutions are becoming increasingly popular, as consumers seek tailored hair care products. These personalised formulations, based on hair type, texture, and individual preferences, allow for a more targeted and effective approach to haircare and are becoming a category in demand in the entire beauty industry. Technology is also being integrated into hair care to offer cutting-edge solutions to everyday problems. With the advent of smart devices and apps, consumers can now access personalised hair analysis and recommendations. These devices utilise advanced sensors to assess hair health, moisture levels, and even scalp conditions. By providing valuable insights, consumers can make informed decisions about the products and treatments best suited for their specific needs. Lastly, multifunctional products are growing in popularity, providing convenience and efficiency in hair care routines. For example, a single product may offer cleansing, conditioning, and styling properties, eliminating the need for multiple individual products and not only saves time but also reduces clutter in the bathroom, making multifunctional products ideal for those leading busy lifestyles. These emerging categories and trends reflect the evolving preferences of consumers, creating exciting opportunities for innovation and growth in the haircare industry.

You started your entrepreneurial journey at a very young age. What is one key piece of advice for entrepreneurs and young start-up enthusiasts?

Arpit Ever since my management days, I've been deeply fascinated by the entrepreneurial landscape and the opportunity to bring the best of everything to India. Embarking on my entrepreneurial journey at a young age has been an extraordinary experience and has provided me with invaluable insights along the way. If I were to share one crucial piece of advice with fellow entrepreneurs and aspiring startup enthusiasts, it would be this immerse yourself in understanding your customers, and embrace the power of processes and collaboration while staying focused on the larger objective.

Building a successful business requires adopting a customer-centric approach where you actively listen to their needs, anticipate their desires, and consistently exceed their expectations.

In the pursuit of building a successful business, it is imperative to establish and follow well-defined processes in every function. These processes create a framework that streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and promote seamless collaboration. As an entrepreneur, never stop learning. Be curious and stay updated on industry trends, technological advancements, and business strategies. Seek out mentors who can guide you and provide valuable insights from their own experiences. Attend workshops, seminars, and networking events to broaden your knowledge and expand your professional network. Learn from your mistakes, adapt your strategies, and iterate on your ideas. The most successful entrepreneurs have faced numerous failures before achieving their breakthroughs. Use failures as learning experiences to improve and refine your business.

(IANSlife can be contacted at<a href="mailtoianslife@ians.in" data-mce-href="mailtoianslife@ians.in">ianslife@ians.in</a>)

IANSlife/tb

The ever-evolving world of haircare

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Aspirin could help cut diabetes risk by 15 per cent in over-65s: Study

Sydney, Sep 1

U se of low dose aspirin among older adults aged 65 years and older is associated with a 15 per cent lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to a study.

The effect of aspirin on incident type 2 diabetes among older adults remains uncertain.

In the study, researchers at the Monash University in Australia investigated the randomised treatment effect of low dose aspirin on incident diabetes and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels among older adults.

"Aspirin treatment reduced incident diabetes and slowed the increase in fasting plasma glucose over time among initially healthy older adults," said Professor Sophia Zoungas, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash.

"Given the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes among older adults, the potential for anti-inflammatory agents like aspirin to prevent type 2 diabetes or improve glucose levels needs further study," she added.

The findings were a follow-up of a 2018 study which showed that aspirin conferred a 38 per cent increased risk of major haemorrhage in older adults without any reduction in incidence of cardiovascular disease.

The new study enrolled 16,209 community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years or over, and free of cardiovascular disease, independence-limiting physical disability and dementia.

Patients with diabetes at the start of the study were excluded.

Participants were randomised 11 to 100 mg daily aspirin or placebo (8,086 randomised to aspirin and 8,123 to placebo). Incident diabetes was defined as self-report of diabetes, commencement of glucose lowering medication, and/or a fasting plasma glucose (FBP) level of 7.0 mmol/L or higher at annual follow-up visits.

Over a median follow-up of 4.7 years, 995 incident diabetes cases were recorded (aspirin 459, placebo 536).

Compared with placebo, the aspirin group had a 15 per cent reduction in incident diabetes and a slower rate of increase in FPG.

However, "the earlier published trial findings from 2018 showed aspirin did not prolong healthy independent living, but was associated with a significantly increased risk of bleeding, primarily in the gastrointestinal tract. Major prescribing guidelines now recommend older adults take daily aspirin only when there is a medical reason to do so, such as after a heart attack", Professor Zoungas said.

"Although these new findings are of interest, they do not change the clinical advice about aspirin use in older people at this time," she said.

The research will be presented at this year's Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) to be held in Germany in October.

Aspirin could help cut diabetes risk by 15 per cent in over-65s: Study

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A senior US diplomat will travel to Turkiye next week to meet with officials from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry to discuss arms control and security matters, the State Department said Thursday, Azernews reports, citing Anadolu Agency.

The State Department said in a statement that Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Mallory Stewart will travel to Jerusalem and Ankara between Sept. 4-9.

"In Ankara, Assistant Secretary Stewart will meet with MFA and Ministry of National Defense officials on strategic stability, risk reduction and current arms control and security matters," the statement said.

Stewart will also travel to Jerusalem, where she will meet with officials from the Israeli Foreign Ministry for discussions on "strategic stability, multilateral arms control, responsible uses of artificial intelligence and space security," said the statement.

Relations between Ankara and Washington have been strained in recent years due to a number of issues, including US support for the YPG/PKK in Syria and disagreements over Turkiyes purchase of Russias S-400 air defense system and Washington's sanctions on Ankara.

In 2019 under then-President Donald Trump, the US removed Turkiye from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program over Ankara's purchase of the S-400 system.

Ankara requested F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits from Washington in October 2021, which is awaiting approval from the US Congress. The $6 billion deal would include the sale of 40 jets as well as modernization kits for 79 warplanes already in the Turkish Air Forces inventory.
A 37-year-old Columbus man was arrested on weapons and terroristic threats charges after deputies were called to the Agricultural Park during a structure fire at noon Aug. 30.

Tyler Behnken is being held with no bond in the Platte County Detention Facility in Columbus. He is awaiting a bond review hearing before the courts.

Deputies with the Platte County Sheriffs Office were dispatched to the scene in regard to an individual on the Ag Park property, who possibly was involved with an active structure fire there, the sheriffs office stated in a press release.

The deputies were informed that the person had made threats of physical violence against employees. Deputies also were told the individual had a machete, hay hook and knife.

Deputies arrived on scene and found Behnken, who matched the description of the individual. Behnken didnt comply with commands and fled from the deputies. A foot pursuit ensued before he was successfully taken into custody. Tasers were deployed to assist in a safe apprehension, the release stated.

Behnken was transported to the Platte County facility, where he was housed on the charges of Terroristic Threats, Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony, Possession of a Weapon by a Prohibited Person, 1st Degree Trespassing, Obstructing an Officer, and 3rd Degree Assault.

During the incident, the Columbus Rural Fire Department and the Columbus Fire Department were fighting a fire on Agricultural Park property.

No people nor animals were injured in the blaze, but a horse barn was destroyed.

The investigation regarding that fire, to include possible suspects, is currently being investigated by the Nebraska State Fire Marshals Office.

The Columbus Police Department assisted the Sheriffs Office in this incident.

This incident remains under investigation by the Platte County Sheriffs Office.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Plate County Sheriffs Office at 402-564-9077 or Platte County Area CrimeStoppers at 402-563-4000.
Every year, the Columbus Area United Way sets a goal for its main campaign to help with funding affiliate programs and funds that provide a myriad of community services in the Columbus area.

This year, that goal has reached its highest total yet: $1.1 million.

Columbus Area United Way Board President Joshua Johnson said in a press release issued Sept. 1 that the organization is aware this is a large number  almost $200,000 over last year  but believes participation will help bridge that gap.

"Out of the 45,000 households in our service area, the amount we raised came from roughly 2,500 of them. If we can increase the participation from the households we service, we believe we have the opportunity to meet all our funding asks," Johnson said in the press release.

The press release also stated that, according to a recent study, one out of every five people have accessed a United Way service, which drives home how close to the community their efforts really work.

Jo Suess, development director at the Columbus Area United Way, said the funding goes directly to area groups that support education, income and health, the organization's core areas of concern.

"All of the campaigns have the same focus. All of the funds are allocated to our partner agencies and programs under our three pillars," Suess said.

They started the campaign in a way with their pacesetter companies in the beginning of August. The 17 pacesetter companies allow the United Way to come to their facilities and educate employees and staff on the organization and what it does for the sake of payroll contributions.

The organization fairly recently added A Place at the Table, the Children's Advocacy Center and the Royal Family Kids Camp to its roster of affiliate organizations.

"The newest one is A Place at the Table. They impact food insecurity. All of the money stays local. We're required to have a local board that runs all these things," Suess said.

The campaign kickoff event will take place at the Columbus Innovation Center at noon on Sept. 7. Pacesetters and United Way crew are invited to see the results of the pacesetter campaign and learn about the upcoming goals for the fall.

"Invitations went out to our pacesetter companies since they'll be recognized, as well as the board and volunteers that worked the campaign, working with our pacesetters, getting the campaigns wrapped up," Suess said. "We were able to do several (pacesetter visits) to educate employees about United Way and how it impacts local people."
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Hard freeze expected. Low 26F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Hard freeze expected. Low 26F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
In a recent article posted to the medRxiv preprint* server, researchers assess the longevity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) humoral immune responses and their kinetics after initial infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Additionally, they determined SARS-CoV-2 re-infection rates and assessed correlates of protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Study: Kinetics and durability of humoral responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. Image Credit: Dotted Yeti / Shutterstock.com

*Important notice: medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

Background

In March 2020, New York City became an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, with an exponential increase in severe COVID-19 cases that overburdened the healthcare system and led to numerous fatalities. Given the acute shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) early on in the pandemic, the risk of infection was highest among healthcare workers.

Short-term studies evaluating limited data points following peak immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection showed that messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology-based COVID-19 vaccines induced immunity waned quickly. Furthermore, the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants decreased the effectiveness of these vaccines against symptomatic disease.

There remains a lack of information on the kinetics of antibody responses, including durability and longevity, elicited in response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccination after infection, primary immunization, booster vaccination, and breakthrough infections.

About the study

The Protection Associated with Rapid Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 (PARIS) study was conducted in New York City between April 2020 and April 2023. Herein, over 8,000 biospecimen samples were analyzed, in addition to longitudinal data from 501 adults, most of whom were healthcare workers working within the Mount Sinai Health System.

The average age of the study cohort was 41 years at enrollment, 67% of whom were female. All study participants provided data, blood, and saliva samples at all study visits.

The interval between study visits was two to four weeks from initiation to week eight. After that, this interval increased to four to eight weeks after week eight.

Weekly ad hoc visits were also conducted after vaccination and other immune events, such as SARS-CoV-2 infection and re-infection. An in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein.

Study findings

All 501 PARIS participants received between two and six COVID-19 vaccine doses. Of the study cohort, 93% received mRNA vaccines, of which 342 and 111 individuals received two doses of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines, respectively. The remaining 36 participants received Ad26.COV2.S or AZD1222 vaccines.

Of the 465 PARIS participants who received primary vaccination, 366 received a booster vaccination, 97 of whom subsequently received a second booster dose. Fifteen study participants received a third booster dose, whereas only one individual received a fourth booster dose. Of the 27 recipients of two monovalent boosters, 14 opted for bivalent booster vaccination.

After primary vaccination, plasmablast-derived serum antibodies reached a high peak immediately; however, this antibody response began to wane within two weeks. These antibodies constituted the 28-34-day half-life of the short-lived component of the PARIS model; however, some antibodies, like immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1), had a half-life of around four weeks.

In the pre-Omicron era, no breakthrough infections were reported in the hybrid immune group over 11 months. Comparatively, during the Omicron era, given the robust immune evasion abilities and highly infectious nature of this variant, most of the study participants experienced breakthrough infections.

The hybrid immune group remained significantly more protected than previously naive individuals. In fact, among previously naive individuals who contracted breakthrough infections post-vaccination, breakthrough infection elicited similar antibody responses as a booster dose.

Among individuals who received two or three booster doses, breakthrough infection did not induce serum antibody responses as robustly as vaccination. This may be due to the robust pre-existing immunity restricting virus replication in these individuals; therefore, exposure to lesser antigen levels induced a lower immune response.

The PARIS cohort well-tolerated SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines, with about 67% of the cohort experiencing mild to moderate side effects. Local and systemic side effects were common in individuals with hybrid immunity. This observation is clinically relevant, as reactogenicity could increase vaccine hesitancy and reduce its uptake.

Conclusions

The current longitudinal study followed individuals from the onset of the pandemic up to three years. This allowed the researchers to perform a comprehensive analysis of the long-term kinetics of antibody responses post-primary and booster vaccination and breakthrough infections.

Antibody waning kinetics were slower after booster vaccination; however, antibody titers increasingly stabilized after each booster dose. Primary COVID-19 vaccination of previously infected individuals elicited antibody titers of about 20,000 area under the curve (AUC); however, overall antibody titers peaked at about 10,000 AUC. This apparent ceiling effect gradually lowered with repeated SARS-CoV-2 exposures and booster vaccinations.

Among groups with initially infected and initially naive individuals, booster vaccination acted as an equalizer. More specifically, vaccinated individuals with prior infection had higher antibody peak titers than individuals who were naive before the primary vaccination series.

Age and vaccine type also influenced long-term antibody titers. For example, in infection-naive individuals, mRNA-1273 induced about 1.3-fold higher antibody titers than BNT162b2.

*Important notice: medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland provides new therapy to first patient since FDA approval.

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland is the first hospital in the West to administer a newly approved gene therapy to treat beta thalassemia, a rare, genetic blood disorder that causes severe anemia, with a need for lifelong blood transfusions and the risk of fatal organ damage.

The Oakland hospital was one of three sites in the United States to host the trials for the Bluebird Bio therapy, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved in August 2022. UCSF Benioff Oakland is now one of only 15 medical centers certified to provide the gene-therapy, Zynteglo, and is among the first to treat a patient.

The 9-year-old Oakland patient received the single-infusion therapy on Aug. 15, 2023. If successful, the therapy could eliminate the need for further transfusions, enabling the child to produce healthy blood cells and lead a normal life.

"This new therapy could be a life-changer for beta thalassemia patients, who have required cumbersome and expensive, lifelong monthly blood transfusions," said Mark Walters, MD, director of the pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant program at UCSF Benioff Oakland and chief of pediatric hematology at UCSF, who led the Oakland clinical trial.

"The reason gene therapy is so exciting is that each person is their own donor," said Walters, a UC San Francisco professor of hematology. "We don't have to look for a brother or sister or alternate donor  we can use the patient's own blood stem cells."

Healthy hemoglobin in 90% of patients

Beta thalassemia is considered one of the most common rare diseases in the United States, affecting about 1,500 people nationwide. Because the disorder provides a natural resistance to malaria, it is widespread in areas of the world where malaria is prevalent and is most commonly found in individuals of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and South Asian descent.

It is normally detected by newborn screening, with treatment beginning in infants as young as 6 months old to overcome having too few red blood cells to sustain life. Patients also require regular treatment to reduce high levels of iron that result from the transfusions, potentially impacting the function of their heart, liver, and endocrine system organs like the pancreas and pituitary gland, which are needed for growth and development.

The therapy involves removing some of the patient's blood stem cells and genetically engineering them to replace the defective gene that produces little or no hemoglobin  the protein used by red blood cells to carry oxygen to tissues throughout the body.

After the corrected stem cells are prepared in the lab, the patient receives a strong dose of chemotherapy to kill existing blood cells harboring the thalassemia defect and make room for the newly rejuvenated blood. The new stem cells are then injected into the patient's bloodstream, where they will travel to the bone marrow and produce healthy blood.

The process takes several months of close clinical monitoring to track the patient's blood count and detect potential infections following chemotherapy.

In the clinical trial, which ended in March 2022, Walters and his colleagues found that the therapy produced healthy hemoglobin in 90% of patients. Since the trial ended, those patients have been able to discontinue other ongoing treatments for their condition.
A broad new strategy could hold hope for treating virtually all blood cancers with CAR T cell therapy, which is currently approved for five subtypes of blood cancer. Scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated the potential efficacy of this approach in preclinical tests.

In the study, published today in Science Translational Medicine, the researchers used engineered CAR T cells to target CD45-;a surface marker found on nearly all blood cells, including nearly all blood cancer cells. Because CD45 is found on healthy blood cells too, the research team used CRISPR base-editing to develop a method called "epitope editing" to overcome the challenges of an anti-CD45 strategy, which would otherwise result in low blood counts, with potentially life-threating side effects. The early results represent a proof-of-concept for epitope editing, which involves changing a small piece of the target CD45 molecule just enough so that the CAR T cells don't recognize it, but it can still function normally within the blood immune system.

Up to this point, we haven't had the tools to create a targeted cell therapy approach that could work across all different forms of blood and bone marrow cancers. We're excited to create a new solution that could solve a major issue in immunotherapy, which is the inability to target surface markers that are found on both cancer cells and healthy cells." Saar Gill, MD, PhD, senior corresponding author, associate professor of Hematology-Oncology

Each of the currently available cell-based immunotherapies for blood cancer is designed to work against a narrow range of malignancies based on their target antigens. For example, the first CAR T cell therapy, developed at Penn by Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, targets the CD19 protein marker on B cells, to treat B-cell lymphomas and leukemias. Four of the six CAR T cell therapies currently approved to treat blood cancers target CD19. The other two target the BCMA protein marker to treat multiple myeloma. While CAR T cell therapy has been remarkably successful, researchers at Penn and across the world are working to make it even more effective for more patients.

"One drawback of the current approach to CAR T cell therapy is that each therapy must be developed individually based on the targets for that cancer type," said June, co-senior author of the study, who also directs the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at Penn. "This study lays the groundwork for a more universal approach that could potentially expand CAR T cell therapy to all blood cancers."

Because CD45 is found on nearly all blood cells-;and is usually highly expressed on blood cancer cells-;a treatment that wipes out all CD45-bearing cells would leave patients without any blood cells, including red blood cells, platelets, plasma, and even the marrow-based stem cells that generate new blood cells. Furthermore, since T cells are blood cells and normally express CD45, CAR T cells targeting CD45 effectively would kill each other before they could be infused into patients.

The team built on previous work to overcome this challenge, using CRISPR base-editing to develop a new strategy called epitope editing. This involves the genetic modification of both the CAR T cells and blood stem cells to alter a small piece of the CD45 structure or "epitope" where the CAR T cells bind to the CD45 molecule. The altered version of CD45 still works but differs enough from normal CD45 that the anti-CD45 CAR T cells do not recognize and attack it.

"It's essentially a blood stem cell transplant paired with CAR T cell therapy," said lead author Nils Wellhausen, a graduate student in Pharmacology and a member of Gill and June's labs. "The idea is that when the engineered cells are infused, the CAR T cells kill the cancer cells that bear normal CD45, but don't kill each other or the newly engineered blood stem cells. This allows the engineered blood stem cells to begin making new blood cells."

Because the strategy results in replacing the stem cells that create new blood cells, it also has potential use as a milder form of chemotherapy conditioning, which is given to patients before a bone marrow transplant to suppress the immune system.

The researchers tested the strategy in an extensive set of experiments in cell culture and mice models. They showed that the new approach not only keeps anti-CD45 CAR T cells from attacking each other or stem cells, but also enables swift destruction of blood cell cancers. In one test, the anti-CD45 CAR T cells eliminated leukemia cells within three weeks of infusion and were still present and capable of killing leukemia cells more than two months later.

Further toxicology studies and additional modeling studies are currently underway in preparation for an investigational new drug application before it can move into Phase I clinical trials.

Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health (P01CA214278-05, U54-CA-244711 25, P01CA214278-05, R01 CA177684 06A1, U54 CA 244711) and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
Amgen today announced data from the final analysis of the Phase 2 OCEAN(a)-DOSE study of olpasiran, a small interfering RNA (siRNA) during the Late-Breaking Science Session at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Annual Meeting being held in Amsterdam. In the off-treatment extension period, olpasiran showed a lasting effect on Lp(a) reduction nearly a year after the last dose.

Results from the OCEAN(a)-DOSE Phase 2 study announced in November of 2022 showed that doses of olpasiran 75 mg Q12W reduced patients' Lp(a) by >95% at week 36. The results from the off-treatment extension period show that patients previously dosed with 75 mg of olpasiran sustained a ~40-50% placebo-adjusted percent reduction in Lp(a) nearly a year after the last dose. No new safety concerns were identified during the off-treatment extension period.

We are dedicated to reducing LDL cholesterol levels in people globally and continuing to pioneer ways to address the greatest risk factors in cardiovascular disease, including Lp(a). Worldwide, millions of people are at an increased risk of cardiovascular events due to elevated Lp(a) levels. Unfortunately, there are no approved medicines. Data from the off-treatment extension period provide additional evidence of olpasiran's lasting effect in reducing Lp(a) levels. We are quickly advancing the Phase 3 cardiovascular outcome trial." Paul Burton, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Amgen

Additionally, this study was the first to explore the effects of olpasiran on a key biomarker strongly associated with atherosclerosis, pro-atherogenic OxPL-apoB [Oxidized Phospholipids (Ox-PL) on apoB-100 (apoB)]. During the treatment period, olpasiran showed a dose-dependent reduction in pro-atherogenic OxPL-apoB.

"Additional results from the OCEAN(a)-DOSE study continue to be encouraging, as they tell us olpasiran not only robustly reduces Lp(a) levels, but that it has a long-lasting effect on this important risk factor for ASCVD," said Michelle L. O'Donoghue, MD, MPH, associate professor, Harvard Medical School, Cardiovascular Medicine and lead investigator of the OCEAN(a)-DOSE study. "Additionally, we were able to show that olpasiran reduced OxPL-apoB, further adding to the potential of RNA interference with olpasiran as a promising treatment approach to reducing elevated Lp(a)."

LDL awareness to action implementation consortium

Amgen is committed to working with stakeholders to achieve the goal of reducing cardiovascular disease globally and, this year at ESC, convened a new LDL Awareness to Action Implementation Consortium (LATAIC). LATAIC is focused on improving LDL-C testing and evidence-based treatment through identification of opportunities to accelerate efficiency and impact of the translation of evidence-based research into clinical practice. The consortium is comprised of leading CV institutions, including Duke, Harvard's BAIM Institute, Johns Hopkins, Geisinger, University of Colorado, St. Luke's, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Providence, Yale and UT Southwestern.

"I am proud to be working alongside Amgen and other cross disciplinary leaders in the cardiovascular space to increase LDL-C testing and implementation of evidence-based treatment, in order to tackle the urgent public health crisis of cardiovascular disease," said C. Michael Gibson, M.D., chief executive officer at the non-profit BAIM Institute of Clinical Research, and professor of medicine, Harvard. "We hope to enable scalable action to address unmet LDL needs, drive efficiency, and improve quality of care for patients by expanding LATAIC to include other CVD industry stakeholders."
The nation's most thinly staffed nursing homes would be required to hire more workers under new rules proposed on Friday by the Biden administration, the greatest change to federal nursing home regulations in three decades.

The proposed standard was prompted by the industry's troubled performance earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, when 200,000 nursing home residents died. But the proposal falls far short of what both the industry and patient advocates believe is needed to improve care for most of the 1.2 million Americans in nursing homes.

The proposal, by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, would require all facilities to increase staff up to certain minimum levels, but it included no money for nursing homes to pay for the new hires.

CMS estimated that three-quarters of the nation's 15,000 homes would need to add staff members. But the increases at many of those facilities would be minor, as the average nursing home already employs nurses and aides at, or very close to, the proposed levels.

"The standards are a lot lower than what a lot of experts, including myself, have called for over the years," said David Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. "There are some real positives in here, but I wish the administration had gone further."

The government said it would exempt nursing homes from punishment if they could prove that there was a local worker shortage and that the facilities had made sincere efforts to recruit employees.

"Fundamentally, this standard is wholly inadequate to meet the needs of nursing home residents," said Richard Mollot, the executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, an advocacy group based in New York.

Executives in the nursing home industry said that without extra money from Medicare or Medicaid  the two federal insurers that pay for most nursing home care  the requirement would be financially unattainable.

"It's meaningless to mandate staffing levels that cannot be met," Katie Smith Sloan, the president and chief executive of LeadingAge, an association that includes nonprofit nursing homes, said in a statement. "There are simply no people to hire  especially nurses. The proposed rule requires that nursing homes hire additional staff. But where are they coming from?"

The new staffing standard would require homes to have daily average nurse staffing levels amounting to at least 0.55 hours per resident. That translates to one registered nurse for every 44 residents. But that is below what the average nursing home already provides, which is 0.66 hours per resident, a 1:36 ratio, federal records show.

At least one registered nurse would have to be on duty at all times under the proposed plan  one of the biggest changes for the facilities, as they currently must have nurses for only eight consecutive hours each day.

The proposed rule also calls for 2.45 nurse aide hours per resident per day, meaning a ratio of about one aide for every 10 residents. While the federal government sets no specific staffing requirements for nurse aides, the average home already provides 2.22 nurse aide hours a day, a ratio of about 1:11.

"The federal minimum staffing standards proposed by CMS are robust yet achievable," the agency said in a statement. "The proposal also makes clear that the numerical staffing levels are a floor  not a ceiling  for safe staffing."

Registered nurses are at the top of the chain of command at nursing homes, overseeing assessments of residents and handling complex clinical tasks. Nurses delegate more straightforward clinical roles to licensed practical nurses.

Certified nurse assistants, often called nurse aides, are generally the most plentiful in a nursing home and help residents with basic needs like bathing, getting out of bed and eating.

On average, registered nurses make $37 an hour while licensed practical nurses earn $28 an hour, according to CMS. Aides often start at minimum wage or slightly above, earning $17 an hour on average.

"People have more choice," said Tina Sandri, the chief executive of Forest Hills of DC, a nursing home in Washington, D.C., referring to nursing home staff. "They can go to hospitals and make more and do less than they do here in a nursing home."

"We've lost staff to hospitals that had $20,000 signing bonuses," she added, "and as a nonprofit, we can't compete with that."

Nursing home officials say they cannot afford to pay higher wages because state Medicaid programs reimburse them too little. Patient advocates, however, note that some for-profit homes are providing substantial returns to investors.

Medicare and Medicaid spent $95 billion on nursing home care and retirement community care in 2021, according to CMS. The agency estimated that the new standards would cost homes another $4 billion in three years, when all homes except those in rural areas would need to comply. Rural homes would have five years.

Ellen Quirk, a retired certified nurse assistant in Hayes, Virginia, recalled that sometimes she would care for all of the residents on a single floor in the nursing home, which could be 20 or more people, by herself. It's challenging for an aide to care for more than five to seven people at a time, she said.

"If it's more than that, then things aren't done properly," Quirk, 63, said. "Things are skipped over, like a bath or changing them every couple of hours or feeding them properly."

"I've seen patients that roll over and fall out of bed," she added. "Sometimes they get bed sores because beds are saturated in urine for hours and hours."

The nursing home industry has been pressing federal and state governments to pay for a bevy of enticements to long-term care workers, including educational subsidies for those who have worked in nursing homes, loan forgiveness and career opportunities for certified nursing assistants working toward their nursing degrees.

The administration said it would offer $75 million in scholarships and tuition as part of the new proposal. The administration is accepting comments for the next 60 days before it finalizes the new standard.
London, UK: Scitegrity, a leading company in chemical regulatory compliance, is excited to announce the expanded release of its Dangerous Goods Assessor for Pharmaceutical Process Development and safety teams.

This innovative web-based system has the capability to predict whether a chemical is likely to be energetic, self-reactive, or explosive during synthesis and scale-up processes.

As pharmaceutical process development often involves scaling up chemicals from milligram to gram levels, there is a significant need to assess the risks associated with explosion, self-reactivity, and energetic properties. Dangerous Goods Assessor addresses this challenge by providing a simple and efficient tool for process safety labs to screen for potential hazards, even when limited or no material is available for testing.

Scitegrity CEO, Joe Bradley, expressed his excitement about working closely with process safety experts and Dangerous Goods Safety Advisors (DGSAs) from major pharmaceutical companies to develop this tool. Having incorporated best practices and industry learnings, Scitegrity is now proud to introduce DG Assessor to the wider industry.

About Scitegrity

Since its establishment in 2011, Scitegrity has been committed to enhancing compliance with chemical regulations through robust, accurate, and automated solutions. Today, their solutions are trusted by over half of the world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies, as well as chemical suppliers, CROs, and regulators.
Nexo Launches a Crypto-Powered Debit and Credit Mastercard for the European Economic Area (EEA)

Source: AdobeStock / AndriiKoval

In partnership with Mastercard, Nexo launched the worlds first Dual Mode Crypto Card, offering debit and credit functionalities for European Economic Area (EEA) citizens on August 31.

The future of #crypto payments is here.



Introducing the world-first Dual Mode of our pioneering Nexo @Mastercard, featuring both credit and debit capabilities.



Experience the ease of debit coupled with the power of credit, earn rewards, and spend your way.  pic.twitter.com/FuHNUrSRNO  Nexo (@Nexo) August 31, 2023

The Nexo Dual Mode Crypto Card offers users the ability to optimize tax responsibilities by utilizing Credit Mode, which avoids taxable events upon spending.

Initially introduced in April 2022 as the worlds first crypto-backed credit card in the European Economic Area (EEA), the card has now evolved to integrate debit mode functionality.

This advancement establishes the card as the worlds first crypto-backed debit and credit card for EEA countries. The debit mode not only retains spending capabilities but also enables users to generate extra income from salaries or savings.

Exclusively available for 30 countries under EEA, the Nexo card carries no monthly or inactivity fees, no foreign exchange fees up to 20,000 per month and monthly ATM withdrawal limits of 10,000.

Virtual and physical cards, compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay, are issued upon Know Your Customer verification.

The Nexo Card seamlessly extends the benefits of Instant Crypto Credit Lines, allowing users to make everyday purchases without liquidating their valuable cryptocurrencies.

Nexo offers fiat currency for spending, with crypto assets as collateral. Deposited crypto instantly backs credit lines, allowing for borrowing proportional to the deposit amount.

The retained crypto continues to appreciate as card purchases are made. Additionally, users can receive up to 2% cashback and daily interest with every card transaction.

With the new debit feature, the Debit Mode enables immediate use of EUR, GBP, or USD, facilitating quick transactions through over 100 million global merchant terminals.

This mode ensures convenient spending with local currency conversion and zero fees. Users can also earn up to 9% annual interest on stored balances.

Nexo Dula Mode Crypto Card: Fusing Cryptocurrency with Debit and Credit Features for Seamless Financial Management

The new Nexo Card from the firm comes with many customer-friendly features. It allows users to manage credit and debit modes through a single app.

Existing users can access the new debit mode by updating their app. With the Nexo card, both credit and debit transactions smoothly convert users cryptocurrency into fiat at terminals.

There are no monthly or inactivity fees, and users can benefit from no foreign exchange fees for transactions up to 20,000 euros ($21,700) per month.

Additionally, the card permits a maximum of 10,000 euros ($10,800) in monthly ATM withdrawals.

Nexos asset protection model relies on four key components within its sustainability approach. Its distinctive over-collateralization sets it apart by enforcing stringent collateral standards.

Additionally, Nexo employs collateralized lending, basis trading, and market-making to ensure liquidity and support growth.

The partnership with Ledger Vault and Bakkt adds protection, reinforced by insurers such as Lloyds of London. Nexo holds licenses and legal expertise, underscoring its commitment to compliance.

In January 2023, a surge in customer withdrawals hit Nexo after a police raid on its Sofia, Bulgaria office.

Conducted at 15 locations with over 300 investigators, the raid implicated Nexo in fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion, leading the Bulgarian Prosecutors Office to label their activities as illegal criminal activity.

During the same period, Nexo resolved US regulatory concerns by agreeing to a $45 million settlement with the SEC.

This settlement addressed the absence of registration for its Earn Interest Product (EIP) sales.

Nexo also committed to discontinuing the EIP offer and sale to US investors, as the SEC deemed the product a security, mandating registration.
TherageniX, a University of Nottingham spin out pioneering a dry powder gene therapy formulation for bone graft augmentation, and its collaborator, the University of Nottingham, have been awarded a 995,000 grant from Innovate UK, the UKs innovation agency. The funding will support the development of the Companys gene therapy in a powder, a non-viral gene delivery system to improve tissue regeneration following surgery. TherageniX will initially focus on orthopaedic applications, with the aim of improving the outcomes for patients undergoing bone grafting procedures.

TherageniXs proprietary technology allows rapid transfection of patients cells with the gene(s) of interest. Following this intra-operative procedure, the transfected cells are then implanted at the surgical site, enabling the body to produce the relevant proteins or factors for tissue regeneration. The grant awarded in response to Innovate UKs call for innovative technologies for intracellular drug delivery as part of its Transforming Medicines Manufacturing programme, will allow the Company to focus on developing its non-viral gene delivery system, transforming its liquid formulation into an enhanced dry powder gene therapy.

While any tissue can be targeted using the patented technology, TherageniX will focus orthopaedic applications first. It will combine autologous bone marrow cells from the patient with its platform technology to drive the production of genes, such as BMP for osteogenesis, helping to improve the regenerative capacity of skin, bone, muscle, and cartilage following surgery.

The transplantation of autologous bone is the gold standard bone repair strategy. However, this process has drawbacks and bone implants may fail due to poor integration or infection at the harvest site, or do not provide satisfactory functionality. This can result in delayed recovery, re-operation, poor quality of life and increased costs*. TherageniXs novel gene therapy technology** improves upon these bone-grafting procedures, utilizing the bodys cellular machinery to enhance regeneration at the surgical site. The technology easily integrates with established surgical procedures, and rapid transfection of patients cells means no additional time is required in the operating theatre. It offers a simple and cost-effective solution to help improve regeneration, leading to better functional outcomes for patients.

Dr Anandkumar Nandakumar, CEO of TherageniX, commented: Our mission is to advance treatments in repairing tissue damage and we are grateful for the support from Innovate UK at this early stage. This grant is testament to the potential of TherageniXs novel approach to tissue regeneration and will enable us to make great strides in manufacturing our powdered gene therapy.

We aim to accelerate our R&D pipeline and strengthen our team and hope to continue actively engaging prestigious funding bodies and investors that will enable us to deliver an improved solution to bone grafting that will help patients, physicians, and payors.

Dr James Dixon, Associate Professor of the School of Pharmacy and NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre at University of Nottingham, who developed the TherageniX platform, said: Adapting technology for a rapid application directly to grafted tissue within the operating theatre has been a vision for our gene delivery platform for several years. We have the opportunity here to bring regenerative medicine and gene therapy forward with innovative applications and apply it in ways we could not have envisaged only a few years ago, even to emergency medicine.

Deployment via a dry powder will allow us to overcome some of the bottlenecks for its impact. We hope that our system will generate a platform of transformative, and economically viable approaches to clinical problems that remain poorly addressed in modern medicine.

TherageniX, a healthcare start-up built by NLC, the European healthtech venture builder, was incorporated in 2022 with the support of Nottingham Technology Ventures Ltd.

For more information about TherageniXs proprietary gene therapy technology or investment opportunities, visit: www.theragenix.health

* https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2010.07.035; https://doi.org/10.1186/1749-799X-8-33

** https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2019.119277
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Friday reported its best-ever monthly sales at 22,910 units in August.

The companys total dispatches to dealers increased by 53 percent last month to 22,910 units as compared with 14,959 units in August 2022.

The company said it sold 20,970 units in the domestic market last month. Exports stood at 1,940 units last month, it added.

Strong sales volume and enhanced demand showcase customers ever-growing affinity for the brand. Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder and Innova Hycross continue to register a strong demand, TKM Vice President of Sales, and Strategic Marketing Atul Sood said in a statement.

The Innova Crysta, Fortuner and Legendar are witnessing sustained segment leadership, he added.

Encouraged by the overwhelming response to our entire portfolio, we are constantly working on expanding our product portfolio to offer customers wider choices. In-line with the same, we announced two new launches in the month of August, Sood said.

The company introduced the all new Vellfire and Rumion MPV last month.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday said 93 per cent of the total Rs 2,000 banknotes have been returned so far. In absolute terms, Rs 3.32 lakh crore worth of Rs 2000 banknotes have returned to banks till August 31, out of the total Rs 3.56 lakh crore worth of high-value currency in circulation as of May 19 this year.

The central bank had on May 19 this year announced to withdraw Rs 2000 banknotes from circulation.

According to the data received from the banks, the total value of Rs 2000 banknotes received back from circulation is Rs 3.32 lakh crore up to August 31, 2023. Consequently, Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation as at the close of business on August 31, 2023, stood at Rs 0.24 lakh crore. Thus, 93 per cent of the Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation as on May 19, 2023, have since been returned, the RBI said in a statement.

Data collected from major banks indicates that out of the total banknotes in Rs 2000 denomination received back from circulation, about 87 per cent is in the form of deposits and the remaining around 13 per cent has been exchanged into other denomination banknotes, it said.

Members of the public are requested to utilise the remaining period until September 30, 2023, to deposit and/or exchange the Rs 2000 banknotes held with them, the central bank said.
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is an Indian state-owned insurance group and investment company that provides a wide range of policies. Customers can avail themselves of several policies available and gain some benefits.

In India, the unclaimed amount under life insurance is the amount of premium that is paid for the policy but has not been claimed by the policyholder. If the policyholder does not receive any benefits from the insurer for almost 3 years or more, then it is called an unclaimed amount. It is calculated on the basis of the policys maturity date, the date from which the policyholder has stopped paying the premiums, or the date of the policyholders death.

How to Check Unclaimed Amount

Visit the official website https://licindia.in/

Visit the Online Services tab and select the Unclaimed Amount option

Provide your policy number and date of birth

Login to your account, and you will be able to view your unclaimed amount

If any problem persists, visit the LIC branch office or contact the customer care service.

How to Claim the Amount

The policyholder is required to submit a form along with the necessary documents. The documents you will require are the policy document, the premium receipt and the death certificate (if applicable). The form is available at the LIC office, or you can download it from the official website. The policyholder is required to submit the form with the proper documents. This will be further processed and the company will release the unclaimed amount.

In certain situations, the nominee is not aware of this kind of policy or the documents required. The nominee should be aware of the policies, and the policyholder should always keep the nomination policy updated.

If you choose not to claim the amount, then the company usually invests these unclaimed amounts in government securities or other approved investments and credits them to your unclaimed amount account. The account will remain in the account until the policyholder or his or her legal heir submits a claim and the amount is paid.

In certain cases, the policyholder might have forgotten about the policy or be unaware of its existence. It might also happen that they are not aware of the documents needed or, in rare cases, dont have the required documents. There are cases when the policyholder has died without making the claim or selecting a nominee. It is always suggested that you visit the official website and always update your policy.
Results for the University of Delhi (DU) UG Spot Admission 2023 Round 1 seat allotment are scheduled to be released today, September 1. Seats in this round are being assigned to ECA- II, CW II, Music II, and BFA II applicants. When the seat allocation list is made public, those who applied for the spot admission procedure can check it at du.ac.in and admission.uod.ac.in.

Note that applicants have between September 1 and September 3 to accept the designated seat. The institutions will check and approve the online registration applications between September 2 and September 4. Admission fee payments must be made before September 5 in order to be considered.

On August 30, DU announced that the online registration for the DU UG Spot Admission 2023 Round 1 had closed. The official schedule for the spot round of undergraduate admissions Round 1 was made public by Delhi University on August 28. On August 29, the registration procedure for the spot round of admissions via the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) UG 2023 commenced via the CSAS portal.

DU UG Spot Admission Round 1 2023: How To Apply

Step 1: Visit admission.uod.ac.in, which is the admission gateway for Delhi University.

Step 2: Look for and select the DU Undergraduate Spot Admission 2023 link on the website.

Step 3: On the new window, fill out the required information and click Submit.

Step 4: Complete the DU UG Spot Admissions 2023 application form and submit the required application fees.

Step 5: Click submit after completing the registration procedure.

Step 6: Your DU UG Spot admissions 2023 registration form will be submitted.

Candidates will have complete freedom to select as many courses and Delhi University colleges as they like during the DU spot round admission in 2023. The assigned seats, however, will not be subject to withdrawal or upgrading.

The option to request for degradation will be available to applicants for supernumerary quota seats. The Delhi University states that participants in the DU spot round are required to compulsorily take up their seats.

If any more vacancies exist, Delhi University may announce more spot admission rounds soon.

According to the statistics provided by Delhi University, there are 1,29,785 seats available in the first three rounds of admissions. For the remaining vacant spots in the universitys affiliated institutions, DU is arranging a spot admission round.
The Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University in Maharashtra has stirred a political controversy in the state with recent changes in the syllabus for its Master in Arts curriculum. The universitys decision to include the history of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its Masters in Arts (MA) 4th Semester syllabus and to remove the history of the Communist Party has drawn criticism from opposition parties.

The Nagpur University has decided to replace the history of the Communist Party with that of the regional parties.

Students in Nagpur Universitys MA programme, starting their fourth semester after Diwali, will now study subjects like the history of BJP and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Previously, the university taught about Jan Sangh alongside the history of Congress.

These changes have been approved by the Board of Practice of the History Department at Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University. As a result of updates necessitated by the National Education Policy, the MA History courses fourth semester underwent some modifications.

The Nagpur University, in 2019, incorporated the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) into its BA syllabus, continuing a trend of syllabus modifications.

Moreover, the course will now cover the BJPs growth after the Jana Sangh period, discussing its formation and role in providing a stable government at the Centre. This course is optional for students. The curriculum will also explore significant movements from 1980 to 2000, including the impactful Ram Janmabhoomi movement, which changed the course of Indian politics forever.

However, these adjustments have caused some disagreement, with the Congress expressing concerns about the updated syllabus.

Earlier, the Delhi University Academic Council (AC) made several alterations to elective papers in the Economics curriculum for undergraduate students. These changes involve substituting the paper Economics of Discrimination with Economic Thought of Ambedkar. The paper on Production Relations and Globalisation was passed with minor modifications, and the reading list for the Economy, State, and Society paper was revamped. This new paper will be introduced in the current academic session of 2023-24 and will become part of the universitys Economics syllabus for undergraduates.

Yogesh Singh, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi, formed a committee of six members to review the Economics syllabus. Some members of the Academic Council who disagree with the changes argue that this approach will bypass the democratic process of syllabus development.
The National Council for Educational Research and Training has been granted deemed to be university status, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Friday while addressing a gathering at the 63rd Foundation Day celebrations of the NCERT.

NCERT is already engaged in research and innovation. It is an institution of national importance and hence it has been granted the deemed to be university status, said Pradhan at the main NCERT campus in the national capital while unveiling a notification for the same.

The regional and state councils of education across the country will function as the off-campuses of NCERT, he added.

The council, a think-tank of the school education system, is the apex organisation for developing textbooks for school education in India and is also the body that is implementing the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The council is engaged in educational research, innovation, curriculum development as well as developing teaching-learning materials and pedagogy tools.

While universities have been demanding that the nomenclature deemed to be must be dropped and that these should be declared just universities, the Union Minister said that once the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill is introduced and passed, the title will change automatically.

Besides, he also asked top officials, including the Secretary of Department of School Education and NCERT director DP Saklani to develop a national curriculum framework for teacher education.

Earlier this month, the final version of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for school education was released.

Talking about developing textbooks, Pradhan said that the council must also come up with small content on recent national developments such as the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 and the effective management of Covid-19 pandemic in India.

We must have content like a booklet of about less than 10-pages on massive national developments and achievements such as landing of Chandrayaan on the moon and how we fought Covid-19, said Pradhan.

Also read| NCERT to Develop New Textbooks for Academic Year 2024-25

The minister also hinted at another important change that may be in the works on launching professional courses directly after completion of Class 10 instead of upgrading in Classes 11 and 12.

I am in talks with the department on introducing professional courses after Class 10 that are linked to the job market so that students can enrol in it directly. We are still brainstorming on whether these courses would be titled diplomas or something else. Its being worked out at the moment, but we plan to bring this crucial change in secondary education, said Pradhan.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences has postponed the NEET SS 2023 due to G20 Summit. The Board will announce fresh dates for the examination. The NEET SS exam was supposed to be executed on September 9 and 10, however, it has been postponed because of the 18th G20 Summit, which will be place in Delhi from September 8 to 10.

The updated NEET-SS 2023 nationwide schedule will soon be announced on the NBEMS website. The NEET-SS 2023 test will be conducted via computers. The examination will be conducted in two shifts morning and afternoon. NEET SS question paper will have a total of 150 questions that must be answered in two and a half hours.

Earlier, it was decided that on September 4, NBE would issue admit cards for the NEET SS candidates. However, with the postponement of the exam, admit cards can be issued at a later date. Meanwhile, students from Kashmir, who are preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Super Specialty are worried as the NBEMS has not established any exam centres within the valley.

The NEET-SS 2023 entrance test is the sole requirement for admission to Super Specialty Courses for the academic year 202324 and will consist of the following: All DM/MCh courses offered throughout the nation, including those at all private medical colleges, and institutions, universities, and deemed universities, as well as all DM/MCh programmes offered at facilities for the Armed Forces Medical Services and all DrNB super-specialty programmes (apart from direct six-year DrNB programmes).

The NEET SS 2023 was open to applicants who presently hold a recognised postgraduate medical degree or provisional pass certificate (MD, MS, or DNB), or who anticipate obtaining one by September 30, 2023.

For each group in which they opt to take the examination, candidates had paid a fee of Rs 4250. For instance, a candidate with an MD in paediatrics who decides to take the examinations for both the medical and paediatric groups would need to pay Rs 8500.
As September arrives in India, it brings along the spirit of festivity. This year, the calendar is packed with special dates, events, and festivals that colour each month throughout the country. This year, in September many schools will sync their holidays with local celebrations in their states. Therefore, students are advised to review the school holiday schedule to organise their academic activities.

According to the holiday list, students are expected to get holidays on  September 5 (Teachers Day), September 6 or 7 (Janmashtami), September 19 (Ganesh Chaturthi), and September 28 (Milad un-Nabi or Id-e-Milad).

September 5 (Teachers Day): It marks the birth anniversary of Indias second president, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was also a famous philosopher, teacher, and scholar. Teachers Day is observed in India to recall and appreciate Dr Radhakrishnans life, career, and approach towards education and students.

September 6 or 7 (Janmashtami): Every year, the holy festival of Janmashtami is celebrated with great fanfare across the country. Janmashtami commemorates the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna. This year, there is some uncertainty over the exact date of the events. Janmashtami will be commemorated on both days, according to Drik Panchang.

September 19 (Ganesh Chaturthi): Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Ganesh Chaturdashi or Vinayak Chaturdashi, honours the birth of Lord Ganesha. This sacred festival is extremely important for the Hindu community. Various states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Odisha, celebrate Lord Ganeshas birth anniversary with great zeal. The 10-day Ganesh Utsav festival will end on September 28 with the Ganesha Visarjan.

September 28 (Milad un-Nabi or Id-e-Milad): Id-e-Milad is a special occasion for Muslims to commemorate Prophet Muhammads birth. It is also known as Muhammads Birthday, Nabi Day, or Mawlid. This event is widely celebrated by the Muslim community around the world.

Furthermore, on August 23, the Delhi government issued a notification declaring a public holiday in the national capital from September 8 to 10, in honour of the G20 summit. The notification states that all banks, financial institutions, and commercial organisations in the New Delhi district will be closed.

All Delhi government and private workplaces, as well as educational institutions such as schools and colleges, will be closed for three days, according to the notification, which came a day after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accepted the public holiday plan.
The Directorate of Government Examinations (DGE) Tamil Nadu is set to announce the revaluation or retotal results for the TN HSE Supplementary examination in the near future. These results, both for the first year and second year, are scheduled to be officially unveiled on Monday, September 4, 2023. Candidates will be able to access their results by visiting the official website of DGE Tamil Nadu at dge.tn.gov.in. The release of these results is planned for Monday afternoon.

Here are the steps that candidates can follow to check their results:-

Visit the official website of DGE Tamil Nadu by going to dge.tn.gov.in.

On the homepage, locate and click on the TN+ 2 supply revaluation results option.

You will be prompted to enter your valid login details. Provide the required information, including your registration number and date of birth.

After entering the necessary details, click on the Submit button.

Your revaluation or retotal results will be displayed on the screen. You can review and verify your results.

To keep a record, download your results to your device.

Finally, its advisable to get a printout of your results and retain a hard copy for any future reference or use.

Only the students who have got their marks changed in re-admission or revaluation can register their credentials on the website. They will be asked to submit their registration number and date of birth on the website. After they enter their details they will get the statement of marks that contains their revised marks. There will be some mandatory information that will be mentioned on the mark sheets of candidates including:-

Candidate Name

Parents Name

Subjects Appeared for

Revised Marks

Qualifying Status

Remarks

Both first-year and second-year students who took the examinations will have the opportunity to check their revaluated results. The decision to retotal and revaluate the results came about because some students expressed dissatisfaction with their initially announced marks and overall outcomes. Consequently, these students were given the option to request a revaluation and retotaling of their answer sheets.

Now, after the revaluation process has been completed, the Directorate of Government Examinations (DGE) Tamil Nadu is ready to release the reassessed results. These updated results will be made available for access on the official website of DGE Tamil Nadu.
Oprah and The Rock Accept Bitcoin Donations For Maui Fire Victims  Heres the Latest

Pixabay

The Peoples Fund of Maui, a charity organization rolled out by celebrities Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne The Rock Johnson to aid victims of wildfires in Maui, appears to accept Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrency donations.

The fund launched to provide direct financial support to the community has seen the crypto community participate in multiple relief efforts.

We're honored to announce the Peoples Fund of Maui, a fund putting money directly in the pockets of those who were affected by the recent wildfires.



As @Oprah and I have seen firsthand, the impacts of these wildfires have been devastating, and were here to ensure with 100% pic.twitter.com/iH6cPwbQ3k  Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 31, 2023

According to The Rock, 100% of funds raised will go directly to displaced community members while calling for more support for the people.

Every adult resident who lives in the affected area and was displaced by the wildfires in Lahaina and Kula is eligible to receive $1200 per month to help them through this period of recovery.

In line with The Rock, Oprah added that the move will help people return to normalcy after wildfires displaced thousands from their homes. She also assured that 100% of the funds will go directly to the victims.

People being able to have their own agency, being able to make decisions for themselves about what they need and what their family needs  that is our goal.

The Peoples Fund accepts virtual currency donations alongside fiat. The platforms website reveals that relief can be donated in Bitcoin ( BTC ), Ethereum ( ETH ), Solana ( SOL ), Polygon ( MATIC ), and stablecoins.

Last month, wildfires hit Maui, a Hawaiian island causing massive damage to lives and property in the region. So far, the tragedy has spanned 2,500 acres with over a hundred confirmed deaths.

Crypto charities build up efforts

In recent years, digital asset foundations have been at the center of charitable works in several countries. Apart from industry-based foundations, traditional charities have included crypto as part of payment options for global adoption ramp-up.

The Giving Block also contributed to crypto donation efforts in the country. So far, the foundation has raised over $68,000 in digital assets and a total of $136,000 including fiat.

Olga Ruggiero who heads organizational integration at Hands and Hearts noted that crypto donations have been helpful in relief efforts so far.

Cryptocurrency donations as any other type of donations are helping to provide essential support after the devastating wildfires. The crypto industry continues to band together with communities around the world in need.

He added that the Giving Block has facilitated over $125 million in crypto donations. The disastrous earthquakes in Turkey and Syria also recorded massive cryptocurrency donations running into millions.

Firms like Binance, Bitfinex, Tether, and OKX pledged over $9 million in crypto for the victims with other community donations.

The Avalanche Foundation has donated $1M in AVAX to the disaster relief efforts, organized by @haluklevent, for the earthquake that has affected Turkey and Syria. We encourage others to join the effort. https://t.co/Inr7oLX28q  Avalanche  (@avax) February 7, 2023

Avalanche also donated $1 million in AVAX as part of relief efforts for both countries with its Foundation Executive Aytunc Yldzl stating that Turkey is close to the heart of the Avalanche Foundation and community, and the funds will help people recover faster in the wake of this tragedy.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Friday said the BJP-led Centre's move to form a committee to explore the possibility of 'one nation, one election' indicated that the ruling party has sensed it would be trounced by the INDIA alliance in the general elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is so worried due to the INDIA alliance that he and the Central government have sensed they are not going to win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the BJP's defeat is also certain in the states where assembly elections are going to be held this year," said Gehlot.

"The move (of forming the committee) was, therefore, taken deliberately to give a message to the people, he added.

Gehlot said that holding the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections simultaneously has been a matter of discussion in the country in the past as well.

Discussion (on simultaneous polls) has been held earlier too, this is not a new thing. Till 1967, the elections used to be conducted together. Holding the elections together is a matter of debate in the country, but what games they play will be known later, he told reporters in Bhilwara.

Former president Ram Nath Kovind was on Friday tasked by the Centre with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore how the country could go back to having simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, as was the case till 1967.

Commenting on the raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Rajasthan, Gehlot said such an action was expected ahead of the assembly elections.

I support if the ED, Income Tax and CBI take action against the corrupt. We will welcome this, but if targeted action due to pressure from the top is taken, this is not good, he said.

The ED on Friday conducted multi-city searches in Rajasthan as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Centre's 'Jal Jeevan Mission' in the Congress-ruled state, official sources said.

Several premises belonging to the engineers, contractors and some former state government officials in Jaipur, Alwar and a few other cities are being searched, they said.

The searches are being conducted under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Some documents and gadgets have been recovered till now, the sources said.

The money laundering case is understood to have stemmed from a Rajasthan Police FIR.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena had in June alleged a scam of Rs 20,000 crore in the implementation of the 'Jal Jeevan Mission' in Rajasthan. He had alleged that tenders worth Rs 900 crore were issued to two firms based on fake experience certificates in 48 projects of the scheme.

"A scam of Rs 20,000 crore was committed under the Centre's Jal Jeevan Mission This was done together by the PHED minister and the department secretary," Meena had alleged.
Scam 2003: The Telgi Story marks a stellar addition to the scam-verse created by Hansal Mehta, a thrilling genre that many filmmakers couldnt tap into. Just like its predecessor Scam 1992, that attained acclaim within days of its release, the new series with a different premise, a different director but with that same distinctive flavour consists of all the ingredients required to meticulously tackle a complicated and windy real-life story of a street-smart con artist. If anything, Scam 2003 offers the most unblemished blueprint for the filmmakers on how to go about making an alluring biopic. Since taut writing is one of the strong suits of the show, it entices you and sucked you into its world of nerdy financial lingos and bizarre hijinks.

Abdul Karim Telgi (played by Gagan Dev Riar) chronicles his own journey, starting right from a packed compartment of a train, where he sells fruits to the customers through his ammo of wit and gift of gab. His magnetic persona brushes off well with a passenger, who offers him a job, only if he comes to Mumbai. With poverty looming over him like a melphitic shadow, Abdul decides to take the plunge. Against his familys wishes, he moves to Mumbai and arrives at the guesthouse run by the man he met on that train. The man, upon recognising him, offers him a job.

In no time, Abdul turns the fate of the failing guesthouse by bringing in customers. Amid reveling in carrying out the operations of the guest house, he falls in love with that mans daughter, marries her and flies to the Gulf for seven years, to chase his dreams of making money. But the yearning for his wife and kids pulls him back to Mumbai. But after returning, as a side hustle, he forges peoples documents so that they can illegally go to the Gulf countries to make a living. However, this philanthropic endeavour invites the cops one day, and he lands in the jail. Still defiant, he meets an unlikely accomplice behind the bars, with whom he discovers the route to an insane amount of money, by identifying the importance of stamp papers. That marks the beginning of a new era for him, as he climbs the ladders of success by stealing and counterfeiting stamp papers. The series captures all the predicaments and challenges he encounters along the way and how skillfully he dodges the custodians of law. But in his quest to earn wealth, he puts friendship and relationships on stake. Whether he succeeds in building his empire or not is for the viewers to find out.

What really hooks you to Scam 2003 and its premise is its subito-styled screenplay, which unfolds at a break-neck speed. Due to the fast pace of the series, one barely gets the time to get distracted. Instead, youll find yourself invested in all the characters, especially Abdul. Regardless of the episodes being long,

there are many sub-plots unraveling simultaneously that retain the thrill and keep you close to the edge of your seats. From the get go, the dialogues and the interaction between all the characters forms an essential conduit between us and their motives. The credit also goes to the makers of the show for bringing forth the ease in understanding the complex, market-heavy jargons and operations, owing to copious amount of research and attention to intricate details.

Tushar Hiranandani and Hansal Mehta also deserve an applause for adding the unique flavour of realism to the story and the characters. The five-episodes series is able to live up to the legacy of Scam 1992, only because of the symbiotic relationship between real and make-believe. Its that nearly-perfect and balanced line that the makers tread, that largely adds to its brilliance. The crisp and palatable cinematography by Stanley Mudda, editing by Kunal Walve, music by Ishaan Chhabra and the casting of the actors by Mukesh Chhabra is the cherry on the cake.

Just like Pratik Gandhi became a breakthrough star after Scam 1992, for his portrayal of Harshad Mehta, Gagan Dev Riar as Abdul Telgi is the heart and soul of the show. The way he grasps even the minor quirks of the counterfeiter, is nothing short of flawless. He embodies the different phases of the character and compels the viewers to like him, empathise with him, despise hum and loath him, all, just in the span of five episodes. The effortlessness in his craft and his delivery most definitely makes him the best candidate for Abdul Karim Telgi and his arc. As phenomenal as he is, other actors too have done an incredible job. Whether its Talat Aziz Sameer Dharmadhikari, Bharat Jadhav or Sana Amin Sheikh, Shashank Ketkar or Bhavana Balsavar, they all have given their best to their characters and the story.

If you feel saturated with all the crime and revenge-dramas on your OTT platforms and want to take a dive into the financial-thriller genre, mastered by Hansal Mehta, then Scam 2003 is definitely the show for you. Its addictive, fun, binge-worthy and most importantly, its made with honest labour and hard work. The series also enlightens you about the life of a notorious man, who was embroiled in a mammoth scandal worth Rs 30,000 crores. To sum it up, Scam 2003, just like Scam 1992 deserves all the love, appreciation and acclaim.
Neeraj Pandeys The Freelancer is the latest addition to the many extraction thrillers already made. But it soars above many of them. Sure, it takes its own time to capture your undivided attention. However, you will soon get absorbed into the dreadful, dark and dastardly world created by Bhav Dhulia, who grabbed eyeballs for bringing alive the life and times of IPS officer Amit Lodha to life in Khakee: The Bihar Chapter. This time with The Freelancer, he translates pages from the book, A Ticket To Syria, for the screen. And he proves his mettle once again.

The Freelancer makes you uncomfortable right since its first sequence. We see a young Indian girl running barefoot through the narrow alleys of Turkey away from her captors. Just when she thinks she has finally escaped and left the big bad world of terrorism behind, a jeep hits her. Were then transported to Tel Aviv where a mercenary named Avinash Kamat, whos also an ex-cop from Mumbai, is paid a hefty sum of money to carry out a rendition in Afghanistan, which quickly establishes his bravado.

As for Aliyas story the young Indian girl, she meets Mohsin in Singapore and then marries him. Following the wedding, her in-laws trick her and take her to Istanbul and then Syria. Turns out, they were brainwashed by a distant relative named Farhat khala to denounce the worldly pleasures and return to the right path of Islam. In Syria, Mohsins family joins the ISIS. Avinash, who was friends and colleagues with Aliyas father, Inayat Khan, decides to go to Syria and extract her from the grips of Islamic radicalisation.

The team of writers  Pandey, Ritesh Shah and Shirish Thorat  deserves appreciation for a quick-paced and impactful screenplay. Once you get immersed into the world of The Freelancer, theres no looking back. The writing is crisp, taut and gripping peppered with ample nail-biting and bone-chilling moments, which makes it a winning thriller. Editor Kathikuloth Praveen also deserve a mention here.

Yes, the screenplay tends to get predictable many a times, but kudos to Dhulia for keeping the viewers hooked to it through and through. The predictability also stems from the fact that an Indian-bred physically fit, stout and expressionless soldier can never fail in his mission, thanks to the many patriotic Hindi thrillers weve come across over the years.

The camps, dilapidated houses and local markets in Syria have been recreated in Morocco. Cinematographers Tojo Xavier, Arvind Singh and Sudhir Palsane have captured the grey and dim atmosphere of fear and chaos with aplomb that after a point may even make you feel stifled. The portions that particularly stand out are the ones with Aliya as she struggles to keep herself afloat in a place where death is just around the corner and hope is fast dwindling. When she sits in the washroom and secretly speaks to her mother with the fear of what if her husband hears her constantly looming, you find yourself clenching your teeth and gasping for breath. The Freelancer is disturbing and entertaining in equal measures.

On the other hand, Avinashs backstory that led him to have a complicated relationship with his wife isnt properly fleshed out. The makers barely touch upon it and thats the reason why you dont empathise with him for the most part. While Mohit Raina plays this part earnestly, he doesnt really have an interesting arc to play around with. Hes brawny and well-built and can beat death in the eye but he doesnt really hit the right notes in the emotional scenes. An actor of his calibre deserves a better etched out character to display his potential and versatility.

Anupam Kher plays Dr Khan, Avinashs mentor. His character also suffers due to its undercooked treatment. By the end of it, youll be left wanting for more scenes and screen-time between him and Avinash. Sushant Singh, Ayesha Raza Mishra and the rest of the cast are good. Manjari Fadnnis and Sarah Jane Dias, however, leave you underwhelmed.

A revelation is Kashmira Pardeshi, who plays Aliya. She brilliantly slips under the skin of her character. The fear in her eyes is palpable and you want her to escape the clutches of death and destruction at any cost. Needless to say, she stands out from the rest and delivers an impressive and gritty performance. Balaji Gauri as Farhat khala and Navneet Malik as Mohsin are impressive too.

The Freelancer is unsettling and unpretentious. Its definitely not clutter-breaking or off-the-wall. Instead, it clings to every rule in the book of thrillers. The way its treated, directed and executed isnt avant garde either. Despite its shortcomings, The Freelancer deserves a watch for its spine-chilling, well-researched and gritty storytelling. Each episode ends on a cliff-hanger, which leaves you wanting for more, rendering it a very binge-worthy quality.
India will host the 18th G20 Summit in New Delhi this month, where the worlds largest economies will meet to address major issues related to the global economy.

This year, over 40 heads of state and international organisations will attend the summit in the Indian capital, making it the largest meeting of the group.

Preparations are in full swing in Delhi as the city has geared up with street art, murals, traffic arrangements and security measures.

This year, India also held the presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), comprising eight members including China, Russia and Pakistan.

India is a member of some prominent international organisations like G20 and SCO. Here is a list of international groupings and blocs that India is a part of:

World Bank

Indias association with the World Bank goes back to the pre-Independence era when it became a founding member in 1945. In 1949, India was the first Asian country to receive a $34 million loan from the Bank, which was used for a railway project.

India is a member of four of the five constituents of the World Bank Group: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).

Moreover, India is one of the founder members of IBRD, IDA and IFC, while the country is not a member of ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes).

International Monetary Fund

India became a founder member of IMF in December 1945, like the World Bank. New Delhi is not only a founder member, but for some time it was the fifth largest shareholder.

The international body was established along with the World Bank at the Conference of 44 nations held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, US, in July 1944. IMF, with 190 members at present, was created to promote international monetary cooperation, for the balanced growth of international trade, promote exchange stability and to help establish a multilateral system of payments. However, the most important functions of the body is to make loans to countries that are experiencing economic distress to prevent or mitigate financial crises.

The IMF gets its money through quotas and subscriptions from its member countries. The contributions are based on the size of the countrys economy, with the US being the worlds largest contributor.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was founded in Shanghai, China in 2001 by six countries  China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The inter-governmental organisation was an extension of the Shanghai Five Group formed on April 26, 1996 with the signing of the treaty on deepening military trust in border regions by all the countries except Uzbekistan.

The group was conceptualized as a counterweight to the influence of the US in Central Asia, some reports say. India was granted observer status in July 2005 and on June 9, 2017, India and Pakistan officially joined SCO as full-members.

This year, India hosted the virtual summit of the members while the membership of SCO has now expanded to nine.

Asian Development Bank

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) was founded in 1966 and India was a founding member of the bank and its fourth largest shareholder. It helps its developing member countries in policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance.

ADB has 68 members and its headquarters is in Manila, Philippines. India holds 6.31 per cent of shares and 5.34 percent voting rights. Japan and the US are the largest shareholders, followed by China and India.

World Trade Organisation

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is an important intergovernmental organisation that deals with international trade and commerce. India has been a member of the WTO since January 1995 and been a member of the WTOs forerunner General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) since July 1948. Currently, it has 164 members including the European Union and 23 observer countries.

WTO is the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the worlds trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.

African Development Bank

African Development Bank (AfDB) is a multilateral development finance institution established in 1964 to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries.

India joined the African Development Bank in 1982 and is a key member of the institutions 24 Non-Regional Member Countries, which support the African Development Fund (ADF). Currently, the AfDB has 81 members.

BRICS

BRICS, an economic bloc that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was formed on June 16, 2009. South Africa was added as the fifth member in December 2010.

At the latest BRICS summit in Johannesburg, the present members  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa  decided to add Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as new members of the grouping.

Currently, the five-member grouping is home to 40 percent of the worlds population which controls 26 percent of the global GDP. But with the six new members (BRICS+6), their GDP share will jump to 30 percent and share of population will go up to 46 percent.
The Narendra Modi-led BJP government has constituted a committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind over One Nation, One Polls". The development comes amid the government calling a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is not known.

Currently, the Election Commission (EC) conducts the elections for state assemblies and Lok Sabha (Parliament) as separate events. Every state holds its elections every five years, similar to the Lok Sabha, however, most of the state have their own electoral cycle. Some states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim held elections with the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

What is One Nation, One Election

The idea of One Nation, One Election refers to holding simultaneous elections across the country, which means, that the polls for Lok Sabha and state assemblies will be held together.

The committees formation over One Nation, One Election comes at a time when five states- including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are bracing for assembly elections in November-December. The assembly elections will precede the Lok Sabha elections, expected in May-June 2024. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies are scheduled to go to the polls with the Lok Sabha elections.

The governments move suggests that it might be contemplating advancing some of these elections to coincide with the Lok Sabha polls. Kovind will explore the feasibility of the exercise and the mechanism to see as to how the country can go back to having simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls.

Where Did the Idea Come from

The idea of One Nation, One Polls was proposed in the 1980s where the Election Commission suggested in 1983 that a system should be evolved so that elections to Lok Sabha and state legislative Assemblies could be held simultaneously.

The Justice B P Jeevan Reddy-headed Law Commission said in its 170th Report in May 1999 that we must go back to the situation where the elections to Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies are held at once".

However, the official discussion on the idea began under the BJP government. In a 2015 report titled Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Elections to the House of People and State Legislative Assemblies, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice recommended an alternative and practicable method of holding simultaneous elections. The idea involved holding elections in two phases, halfway into the term of Lok Sabha and at the end of the Lok Sabha term for the rest.

In June 2019, the government had invited 40 political parties to discuss one nation, one election. After the meeting, Defence minister Rajnath Singh stated that only 21 parties attended and three other parties sent their views.

In 2022, the then Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said the EC is fully prepared and capable of conducting simultaneous elections. In December the same year, the Law Commission sought the opinion of stakeholders including political parties, the EC, bureaucrats, academicians and experts on the proposal to hold simultaneous elections in the country.

How Does it Help?

The elections for the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies were held simultaneously in 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967. However, the cycle of state assemblies was disrupted due to premature dissolution of assemblies. The Lok Sabha was also dissolved early in 1970.

Experts have suggested that the idea will cut costs of conducting elections separately in the states. In 2018, the Law Commission in a report said that simultaneous elections would yield several benefits, including, cost savings, alleviation of strain on administration and security forces, enhanced efficacy in the implementation of policies, and the ability to remain focused on developmental efforts.

In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a sum of Rs 60,000 crore was spent on the elections including the amount spent by political parties fighting the polls and the spending of EC to hold elections. The 2009 Lok Sabha elections had cost the exchequer about Rs 1,115 crore, and the 2014 elections, about Rs 3,870 crore, according to a NITI Aayog report.

However, the actual money spent on the elections, including the expenditure of the parties and candidates, was several times more. The EC has estimated the cost of holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state Assemblies at Rs 4,500 crore, according to a report in The Indian Express.

There are other benefits of the move like increasing voter percentage, lesser corruption and saving time and energy.

What Has PM Modi Said on Simultaneous Elections?

PM Modi has been an ardent supporter of unifying the electoral cycles for both the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. In November, 2020, he raised the pitch for One Nation, One Election" by saying that it is the need of the country. Elections are held at different places every few months and it hampers the developmental work and all of you know about it," he said.

In January 2022, he raised the issue of one nation, one election" again on National Voters Day saying that the continuous cycle of election results in politics being seen in everything while development suffers.

The governments latest decision to nominate Kovind to spearhead the exploratory committee is seen as a confirmation of the governments earnestness to bring this concept to fruition.

The BJP has always been supporting the idea of simultaneous elections. The partys manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls said, Evolve method of holding Assembly and Lok Sabha elections simultaneously."

Who are Opposing?

Many opposition parties including the Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT) and others have opposed it. AAP, earlier in January, alleged that the BJP was proposing simultaneous elections to replace the parliamentary form of government with a presidential system.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut opposing the proposal said, The country is already one, is anyone questioning that? We demand fair election, not one nation one election. This funda of one nation one election is being brought to divert the attention from our demand of fair election."

While some Congress leaders like Bhai Jagtap have called for more discussion on the issue, others like Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo said he was in favour of the idea.

Arguments Against the Idea

In order to hold simultaneous elections, a constitutional amendment will be needed. Some critics have said that amending the constitution for simultaneous elections would fundamentally alter its democratic and federal character.

India is a Union of States and the states have their own directly elected governments. Therefore, fixing a term adversely affects this right. There are the logistics including the deployment of security forces and officials in 700,000 polling stations located across geographic and climatic conditions.

A study conducted by the IDFC Institute further suggested that there is a 77 percent chance that voters will choose the same winning party or alliance in the state assembly and the Lok Sabha if there are simultaneous elections. While,
Only weeks after the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the south pole of the moon, ISRO is all set to study the sun as the Aditya-L1 spacecraft lifts off on Saturday (September 2). The observatory mission, which will reach the Lagrange point 1, or L1, in approximately 120 days will last for more than five years.

The L1 is a vantage point  about 1.5 million km from the Earth and about 148.5 million km from the sun  where gravitational forces between the sun and the Earth are perfectly balanced. The mission has seven payloads onboard and its primary one, visible emission line coronagraph or the VELC, has been developed and designed by Prof Ramesh R and his team from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru.

In an exclusive interview to News18, the scientist explained the importance of the mission and why it will impact several aspects of life on Earth. Excerpts:

What is L1 point and why did ISRO decide on it?

ISRO and astrophysicists from India have, so far, studied the sun from the Earth. The ground-based observational studies have two limitations  they can only be done from dawn to dusk and dust particles in the atmosphere distort the findings of the study. To enable continuous study of the sun, ISRO in 2013 decided to place a payload in Lagrange point 1 in space.

When you say L1 point, if you consider the solar system with sun and Earth as massive bodies, there are five vantage points where gravitational forces between these two are perfectly balanced. These five points are called Lagrange points as they were first invented by Italian astronomer Joseph Lagrange, so L1 is in a straight line with the sun and Earth. Its a gravitational stable point with an uninterrupted view of the sun. Any scattering due to dust is also taken care of since you are going well above the earth. Thats one of the reasons why the mission was designed, Ramesh said.

Will Aditya-L1 help predict solar flares and coronal mass ejections?

A geomagnetic storm, part of the solar storm in March 1989, severely affected the power transmission system in Canadas Quebec province. Scientists have been trying to understand the circumstances leading to a coronal mass ejection (CME) and solar flares for better prediction of solar weather.

There can be violent eruptions from the suns atmosphere and they can travel towards the Earth. So, there is a need to study and monitor this on a 24-hour basis. The primary source for all these violent eruptions is the corona and our primary payload will be looking at it. We will be clicking one photo of it every minute, get 1,440 images per day, and study any small change as well. We are also flying an instrument called a polarimeter, which is going to monitor magnetic field changes. It can give a forewarning that there will be a violent solar eruption, he said.

The scientists community is hopeful that at the end of the Aditya-L1 mission there will be enough data to understand the solar signatures we should be looking for to predict a CME.

He added: Sun spots in the centre of the suns disk, if they decide to erupt due to changes in the magnetic field, will travel straight on the sun-earth line and, so, those sun spots near the solar disk are potentially more geo-effective and we need to monitor that particular database  whether the size of the sun spot is important or the appearance or polarity is important.

The CMEs are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the suns corona around the sun spots. They eject coronal material with an embedded magnetic field. Solar flares are a burst of electromagnetic radiation from the sun, which travel at a fast pace. Both can affect the functioning of satellites in space, communication and power lines on Earth.
The trainee commandos of the Delhi Police on Friday conducted a helicopter slithering exercise ahead of the G20 Summit here, officials said.

According to the officials, helicopter slithering for the second batch of commandos was conducted from 9 am to 11 am at Delhi Police Academy in Jharoda Kalan.

Delhi is gearing up to host the G20 Summit which will be held in the national capital on September 9 and 10.

As an integral part of its preparations, on Friday, the newly recruited trainee commandos of the city police demonstrated their proficiency in the helicopter slithering exercise at Delhi Police Academy (DPA) in Jharoda Kalan, officials said.

Ahead of the G20 Summit, Helicopter Slithering Exercise took place at the #DelhiPolice Academy by the 2nd batch of trainee commandos. The exercise will help the trainees boost their confidence to tackle every situation and carry out safety operations. #DPUpdates pic.twitter.com/Z7x82ahTRy Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) September 1, 2023

Nineteen sub-inspectors, including three women, and 162 constables from the Delhi Police undertook the Helicopter Slithering field tactics drill training, which was conducted using a Border Security Force (BSF) MI-17 IV helicopter here, they said.

The constables have undergone three-month commando training at DPA. This rigorous training was essential to enhance the preparedness of law enforcement ahead of the G20 Summit and was carried out under the guidance of BSF Air-Wing and commando trainers from the academy, officials said.

Slithering from a helicopter is an exceptionally perilous procedure, posing significant risks not only to the pilot but also to the individuals descending from the helicopter, due to the powerful rotor-generated wind gusts, police said.

To facilitate this training session, a dedicated helipad was meticulously prepared within the grounds of the academy, they said.

During the session, newly recruited constables and sub-inspectors successfully executed helicopter slithering from heights of 7 metres and 10 metres, showcasing their exceptional skill and determination, they said.

In the last such exercise on May 30, 90 commandos comprised of 55 men and 35 women SWAT commandos also did their helicopter slithering training. A total of 500 commandos have already been trained for this exercise, they said.

Sunil Kumar Gautam, Special Commissioner of Police (Training), said, In the last lap of training, people are trained to de-board the helicopter. Our helicopters are kept at 15 metres distance and then our commandos come down with the help of a rope. This makes them confident. In the G20 summit, these will be installed at several special places, from where they can go and operate for security operations.
Dengue-like cases among Bengaluru children are on the rise with doctors raising an alarm to handle high-grade fever symptoms with extreme caution across cities and towns. These cases are mimicking classic symptoms of dengue, including a significant drop in platelet count, but test reports are turning out to be negative for the mosquito-borne viral disease.

Some doctors believe that it could possibly be due to evolution of the dengue virus, and they are advising parents to seek immediate medical support in case of high fever. They said children run the risk of running low on platelets, which leads to a drop in blood pressure.

Medical experts treating children in Bengaluru hospitals have advised people to refrain from self-medication and over-the-counter remedies in case of fever. For instance: consumption of medicines such as pain relief pill Ibuprofen increases the risk of bleeding complications in dengue fever.

Alarming rise

Dr Narayanaswamy S, medical director at Bengaluru-based Athreya Hospital, has witnessed an alarming rise in dengue-like fever among children, especially those under the age of 10.

These fevers mirror classic dengue symptoms, including a significant drop in platelet count, accompanied by high fever but dont yield a positive result when any dengue test is done, said the doctor. Also, we have observed that these cases have surpassed the actual dengue cases at Athreya Hospitals.

He warned that the shift underscores the need for heightened vigilance and awareness, as these dengue-like fevers can also pose serious health risks for paediatric patients.

Similarly, Dr Supraja Chandrasekar, director of paediatric services at DHEE Hospitals in Bengaluru, told News18: This year, the hospital has witnessed a concerning spike in dengue cases among children marked by high-grade fever. Also, it has been observed that several dengue test results yield false negatives when done during the first three days.

Symptoms such as intense headaches, eye pain, and heightened body aches are unusually more prevalent this season, the doctor said.

Dr Supraja advised parents in other cities and towns that when a child presents with a high fever, its wise to consider dengue from the outset even if test results yield negative.

Although there is a WHO recommendation to avoid NSAIDs like mefenamic acid and ibugesic, it is challenging to control it with paracetamol alone, she added.

Another medical expert, Dr Jagadish Hiremath, who is chairman at Bengaluru-based AASRA Hospitals, echoed this experience. Recent observations have shown a concerning spike in dengue-like fever cases among children. Parents, upon observing symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting and itching, must take their child to the nearest hospital for immediate medical intervention, the doctor said.

News18 checked with multiple hospitals in Delhi-NCR, including Fortis, Holy Family and Max Healthcare. But, no such cases have been reported so far.

Dengue strain evolving?

Dr Narayanaswamy quoted the latest findings of a study by researchers at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology. They have found that dengue becomes more severe or virulent when exposed to higher temperatures. The warmer conditions expedite the virus growth within mosquitoes, potentially leading to faster transmission to humans, the doctor said, quoting the study.

The researchers found that dengue becomes more severe and hostile in animal models when its virus, DENV, while being grown in mosquito-derived cells is exposed to higher temperatures. The recent study highlights the impact of global warming on dengue severity adds another layer of complexity to this ongoing health challenge, he said.

He added: While we continue our efforts to address dengue outbreaks, its crucial that we adapt our strategies to the evolving nature of the disease.

How are such patients being managed?

According to doctors, hydration is the cornerstone of managing dengue. Parents must ensure their children receive fluids like ORS, porridge and tender coconut water, once every one to two hours, Dr Chandrasekar said.

Doctors have been following treatment protocol for dengue fever despite non-conforming results. On the third day if symptoms persist, a dengue test, preferably the ELISA, should be conducted between the third and fifth day for more definitive results, they said.

Its important to understand that the dengue reaction often starts once the fever subsides. Parents should be vigilant for warning signs and recommend them to be watchful, they added.
The Narendra Modi government has called for a special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22, making it the 13th Session of the 17th Lok Sabha and the 261st Session of the Rajya Sabha.

With the agenda of the special session not public yet, speculation has ranged from early general elections to introduction of crucial bills like the Uniform Civil Code, One Nation-One Election, Womens Reservation Bill, or even the restoration of Jammu & Kashmirs statehood. The session may also see a resolution on Indias enlarged role in the world with its G20 presidency.

The history of special sessions can be divided into two parts  proper special sessions with debates or discussions, and the midnight sessions without any debates. The agenda has been to either celebrate a historical legacy like the Indian freedom struggle and Indian Independence or to pass a bill, as in the case of the GST rollout in 2017. In that sense, they all hold a special place in the parliamentary calendar and history of democratic India.

SPECIAL SESSIONS WITH DEBATES

November 26-27, 2015: A tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversary, the two-day special sitting in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha was part of year-long celebrations to pay respects to the architect of the Indian Constitution. The theme was to discuss its politys commitment to the Constitution. The same year, the Government of India declared November 26 as Constitution Day to raise awareness on Dr Ambedkars thoughts as part of his birth anniversary celebrations.

A tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversary, the two-day special sitting in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha was part of year-long celebrations to pay respects to the architect of the Indian Constitution. The theme was to discuss its politys commitment to the Constitution. The same year, the Government of India declared November 26 as Constitution Day to raise awareness on Dr Ambedkars thoughts as part of his birth anniversary celebrations. August 26 to September 1, 1997: The special session was organised to mark 50 years of Indias independence. The agenda of the six-day session was to focus on the countrys achievements, discuss its inadequacies, and the road ahead on the path to development.

The special session was organised to mark 50 years of Indias independence. The agenda of the six-day session was to focus on the countrys achievements, discuss its inadequacies, and the road ahead on the path to development. November 1962: The Government of India, under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, called the Special Session after the then Jan Sangh Leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee pressed for it. The agenda was a discussion on India-China war situation. The special sitting was held while the war was still on with Nehrus remarks and Vajpayees scathing observations during the debate on November 8 and 9.

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL SESSIONS

August 14-15, 1947: The first session of the Indian Parliament was held on the eve of Indias independence to witness the transfer of power from the British authorities to the Indian people. India began its independent, sovereign journey after 200 years of colonialism, as reflected in Nehrus Tryst With Destiny speech.

The first session of the Indian Parliament was held on the eve of Indias independence to witness the transfer of power from the British authorities to the Indian people. India began its independent, sovereign journey after 200 years of colonialism, as reflected in Nehrus Tryst With Destiny speech. August 14-15, 1972: The session was held to celebrate 25 years of Indias independence.

The session was held to celebrate 25 years of Indias independence. August 9, 1992: The midnight session was organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the Quit India or Bharat Chhodo Movement. Mahatma Gandhi, with his do or die speech on August 8, 1942, had launched the Quit India Movement that dealt the fatal blow to British colonialism in India.

The midnight session was organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the Quit India or Bharat Chhodo Movement. Mahatma Gandhi, with his do or die speech on August 8, 1942, had launched the Quit India Movement that dealt the fatal blow to British colonialism in India. August 14-15, 1997: The midnight session was organised to mark 50 years of independence.

The midnight session was organised to mark 50 years of independence. June 30, 2017: It was the last special session organised in the Indian Parliament to mark the GST rollout across India the next day.

SPECIAL SESSIONS IN LOK SABHA OR RAJYA SABHA

Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have separately held special sessions at times. The Lok Sabha organised a special session on May 13, 2012, a Sunday, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of the Indian Parliament.

Special sessions were organised in the Rajya Sabha in 1977 and 1991 when the Lok Sabha was under dissolution to decide on the Presidents Rule. The 1977 special session, or the 99th session on February 28 and March 1, was for the extension of Presidents Rule in Tamil Nadu and Nagaland. The 158th Session on June 3-4, 1991 was centred around the approval of Presidents Rule in Haryana.
The Indian security grid is all set to deal with any kind of situation during the G20 summit and a detailed contingency plan has been prepared with the help of various foreign agencies.

According to sources, multiple safe houses have been finalised and helipads decided in case a contingency arises. Commandos will also be on standby and spotters will be deployed.

The sources added that radars, jammers, and required weaponry have been placed at strategic locations, including Lutyens Delhi. They said the commandos, who will be equipped with the most sophisticated weapons, will be able to tackle any situation and ensure a suitable way out for VVIPs in case of an attack. If such a situation arises, evacuation will be done in a few minutes and the teams will take the VVIPs to safe houses at secret locations close to hotels and venues.

Recently, security personnel of various foreign leaders also inspected the preparations for the G20 summit. The teams suggested a few changes which have been incorporated by the Indian security agencies responsible for the safety of global leaders, sources told News18.

Different teams of specialised forces will be available for aerial insertion and will look after safe evacuation in case of any untoward situation. These teams will coordinate with anti-drone teams and other forces who will be working together for the safety of leaders.

Meanwhile, NDRF teams will also be stationed with required equipment to handle and counter CBRN  Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear  threats. A bunch of spotters will be deployed who will look out for suspects as per the detailed list provided. These spotters will alert agencies concerned or forces in case they notice a suspect at pre-decided locations where VVIPs are staying or meeting.

Sources also said various foreign agencies belonging to different countries will work with their Indian counterparts for the safety of their leaders.

For the first time, National Security Guard (NSG)  Indias elite and highly equipped force  will deploy its entire range of expertise of anti-terror, anti-sabotage, anti-drone tasks, house intervention, snipers and teams handling chemical attacks, bomb disposal squads for the G20 summit in Delhi from September 9-10, sources told News18.

According to the sources, NSGs famous black cats will be deployed at several strategic locations and will react in minutes in case of any attack.
Indian Navys Mahendragiri, the last frigate under Project 17A, which was developed by the Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) was launched in Mumbai on Friday.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, along with his wife Sudesh Dhankar attended the launch of the warship as chief guests, wherein Mahendragiri was launched by Sudesh Dhankar.

The vice president said that it is befitting that the launch took place in a vibrant city like Mumbai. I am sure that Mahendragiri, once commissioned, will proudly fly the tiranga (national tricolour) across the oceans, as an ambassador of Indias maritime might, he added.

The warship  Mahendragiri  is named after a mountain peak in the eastern Ghats of Odisha.

Congratulating the Indian force, Vice President Dhankar said, I congratulate our force with full confidence. They will continue improving themselves for the security of the world at large.

He said that the Indian armed forces have made considerable strides in gender equality with a strong presence of over 10,000 women across the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The launch of Mahendragiri is a significant milestone in our maritime history, he said. It is the last of the 7 warships of the Nilgiri-class stealth frigates built under Project17A, he added.

Other then Vice President Dhankar and his wife, Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were also present at the launch ceremony.

Know All About The Warship

 This is the seventh ship under the Project 17A frigates. The first six ships have been launched by MDL and GRSE between 2019 and 2023.

 These warships  with improved stealth features, advanced weaponry and sensors  are follow-ons of Project 17 class frigates.

 These ships under Project 17A have been designed in-house by the Indian Navys Warship Design Bureau.

 The Navy said, The newly christened Mahendragiri is a technologically advanced warship and stands as a symbol of Indias determination to embrace its rich naval heritage, while propelling itself towards a future of indigenous defence capabilities.

 According to the Navys statement, in alignment with Aatma Nirbharta, a substantial 75 per cent of the orders for equipment and systems of Project 17A ships have been ordered on indigenous firms, including micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The launch of Mahendragiri is an apt testament to the incredible progress our nation has made in building a self-reliant naval force, the Navy said.

(With inputs from PTI)
At least three people were detained in connection to the murder of a man found at Union Minister Kaushal Kishores residence in Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow, who was allegedly shot with the pistol belonging to the ministers son, Vikas Kishore.

The victim, Vinay Srivastava, was also a friend of the ministers son and he was killed after he lost Rs 15,000 in gambling. The murder reportedly happened in an act of pistol snatching.

The three people who were detained were identified as  Ankit Verma, Ajay Rawat and Shamim Gaji, according to the police.

Giving more details, the police said that Ankit Verma also dialed Vikas Shrivastava, brother of the victim, to inform him about the incident.

My son was not at place of crime, says Union Minister Kishore

The union minister has reacted to the incident, and said that his son was not present at their residence during the time the murder took place, but confirmed that the pistol belonged to Vikas.

The pistol that police has recovered belongs to my son, Vikas Kishore. Police is conducting a thorough investigation. The culprits will not be spared. Vikas Kishore was not at the residence when the incident took place, he said.

Police detained his friends and the people present there when the incident took place. Vikas was extremely sad when he got to know about this, the deceased Vinay was a very good friend of my son, the minister added. Read more here

Vikas Srivastava, brother of the victim, said he did not have any idea where Vikas Kishore was when the incident took place.

The incident took place at 4.15am on Friday at Kaushal Kishores Begaria village residence under Thakurganj police station area.

Police have recovered the pistol from the incident site.

Meanwhile, the body has been sent for postmortem. Reacting to the development later in the day, BJP MP Kaushal Kishore said that his son was not present when the firing took place.
The government has formed a committee over One Nation, One Poll, which will be headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. The committees objective is to investigate the feasibility of implementing the concept of one nation, one election.

The committee will engage with state stakeholders, but it doesnt necessarily indicate that the bill will be introduced during this session. The committee plans to seek both legal and political opinions, and it is anticipated that two retired judges will also be part of the committee. This is because the proposed changes involve a constitutional amendment.

The Opposition party, however, slammed the move, calling it impractical and bit to end opposition parties.

Over the years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed strongly for the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, and the decision to task Kovind to look into it underscores the governments seriousness as a host of elections approach.

The other members, who are likely to be a part of the panel, are cabinet Secretary, ex-CJI, ex-ECI, retired judges, constitution experts and political leaders.

Assembly polls are due in five states in November-December and they will be followed by the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year.

However, the recent moves by the government have thrown open the possibility of advancing the general elections and some state polls, which are scheduled after and with the Lok Sabha contest.

How Elections Happen Now & What May Happen

Currently, state elections and General or Lok Sabha (Parliamentary) elections are conducted as separate events. Every state holds its elections every five years, as does the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament. Each state follows its own electoral cycle. However, if the one nation, one election proposal becomes law, all state elections would synchronize with the Lok Sabha polls, potentially taking place on the same day.

Should this proposal be introduced during a special session of Parliament, it would necessitate a Constitutional amendment. This amendment would require approval from 67% of Lok Sabha members, 67% of Rajya Sabha members, and 50% of state legislatures.

PMs Idea of One Nation, One Poll

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong votary for the idea of simultaneous polls, which include those at local bodies, citing financial burden caused by almost continuous election cycle and jolt to development work during the polling period.

Kovind too had echoed Modis view and expressed his support to the idea after becoming President in 2017.

Addressing Parliament, he had said in 2018, Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct. Like Modi, he had called for a sustained debate and expressed hope that all political parties arrive at a consensus on this issue.

With the Modi government approaching end of its second term, there is a view in its top echelon that it can no longer let the issue drag on and needs to move decisively to underscore its purposefulness after debating on the topic for years.

Polls Due in Five States

With the ruling BJP under Modi always animated by grander themes and big ticket ideas to rally popular support, the issue will also suit the party politically and catch the opposition off-guard, leaders in the party believe.

Assembly polls are due in five states- Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Rajasthan- in November-December and they are scheduled to be followed by the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year.

However, the recent moves by the government have thrown open the possibility of advancing the general elections and some state polls, which are scheduled after and with the Lok Sabha contest.

Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies are scheduled to go to the polls with the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP enjoys good relations with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik even though they are not formally part of its alliance.

The BJP is in power in Arunachal while Sikkim is ruled by an ally. Maharashtra and Haryana, two states where the BJP is in power with allies, and JMM-Congress-ruled Jharkhand are slated to go for polls after the Lok Sabha contest.

Special Session of Parliament

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has announced that the government has chosen to convene a Special Session of Parliament scheduled from September 18 to 22, comprising five sittings.

Special Session of Parliament (13th Session of 17th Lok Sabha and 261st Session of Rajya Sabha) is being called from 18th to 22nd September having 5 sittings. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to having fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament, Joshi said on X (formerly Twitter).

The declaration about the unexpected Special Session has caught political circles off guard, especially as parties are preparing for upcoming assembly elections in five states later this year. Traditionally, the winter session of Parliament commences in the last week of November.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament which commenced on July 20 was adjourned sine die on August 11 with 17 sittings spread over a period of 23 days.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday made its 13th arrest in the 2022 Coimbatore Islamic State (ISIS or IS)-inspired car improvised explosive device (IED) blast.

ALSO READ | Exclusive | Coimbatore Blast May Be First Attempted Suicide Attack by An ISIS Sympathiser in India

The arrested accused, Mohammed Azarudeen alias Azar, is already in jail at the Viyyur High-Security Prison in Thrissur, Kerala, in another case. He was arrested and charge-sheeted earlier in the Tamil Nadu ISIS module case and was subsequently sent to judicial custody.

Investigations revealed that Azarudeen had previously taken secret classes along with the other accused, including Jamesha Mubeen, the vehicle driver killed in the explosion. It was at these classes that the accused were indoctrinated with ISIS ideology and motivated to commit violent acts of terror.

The NIA further found that Mubeen, along with two other arrested accused, had met Azarudeen in prison. They had then hatched the Sathyamangalam conspiracy (the car bomb blast plan was concretised in the Sathyamangalam forest) to plan and prepare a terror attack to avenge Azarudeens arrest and to free him from jail.

THE COIMBATORE BLAST

Mubeens vehicle carrying IED exploded on October 23, 2022 outside an ancient temple, Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil, at Eswaran Kovil Street, Ukkadam, Coimbatore. The NIA took over the case and re-registered it on October 27, 2022.

ALSO READ | Coimbatore Blast Was Planned as Biggest ISIS Attack on Hindus: Intel Sources | Exclusive

Mubeen and his associates were inspired by the hardcore ISIS ideology to conspire and commit the act of terror after taking bayath or allegiance to its self-proclaimed Caliph Abu-Al-Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi. The accused had intended to take revenge on the Kafirs (non-believers of Islam) through this terror attack, said the NIA.

The agency has so far filed two charge sheets before the NIA Court, Poonamallee, Chennai. Six accused were charge-sheeted on April 20 and five on June 2. The 12th accused, Mohammed Idris, was arrested on August 2.
The Indian Air Forces Operation Trishul  a major training exercise in the northern sector along the borders with China and Pakistan  has been deliberately planned from September 4 and 14, keeping the G20 summit in New Delhi from September 8-10 in mind, according to top government sources.

ALSO READ | IAF To Carry Out Trishul Training Along China, Pakistan Borders From Next Week

Diversionary violence has coincided with major visits by foreign dignitaries. Cases in point  The massacre of 35 Sikh villagers on 20 March, 2000, in Chittisinghpora (Chittisinghpura) village of Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, on the eve of then US President Bill Clintons visit to India. Also, the North-East Delhi violence during then US President Donald Trumps visit in 2020.

The operation is designed to counter any misadventure along the borders. There are specific threats from these areas. China is already on high alert on the Leh-Ladakh side with heavy deployment for the past three years. The Punjab border is facing drones with weapons and drugs on a daily basis. Meanwhile, the Line of Control (LoC) is facing infiltration problem from Pakistan," said sources.

The operation has been planned with an idea that the enemies will try to show the world that India is facing major terror problems", said sources. It has been cleared by the top officials of the government and will be monitored by the National Security Advisor," said top government sources, adding, It is important for India to showcase its power and strength on all fronts."

The operation will definitely ramp up the security level during the period and we will be able to identify major strengths and weaknesses of forces before formal setting up of the Theatre Command," sources said.

ALL ABOUT OPERATION TRISHUL

All major fleets of fighter aircraft, including the Rafale, Mirage 2000 and Su-30MKIs, will participate in the drills along with heavy-lift transport aircraft and choppers, including the Chinooks and Apache, IAF officials earlier told News18.

The Garud Special Forces are also part of the drills where all elements of air power are likely to be exercised in the northern sector, including Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab," they said.

SECURITY FOR G20

News18 has reported how the Indian security grid is all set to deal with any kind of situation during the G20 summit and a detailed contingency plan has been prepared with the help of various foreign agencies.

According to sources, multiple safe houses have been finalised and helipads are ready in case a contingency arises. Commandos will also be on standby and spotters will be deployed.

The sources added that radars, jammers and required weaponry have been placed at strategic locations, including Lutyens Delhi.

They said the commandos, equipped with the most sophisticated weapons, will be able to tackle any situation and ensure a suitable way out for VVIPs in case of an attack.

ALSO READ | G20 Summit: With Helipads, Safe Houses & Commandos, Security Grid Set With Fool-Proof Contingency Plan

If such a situation arises, evacuation will be done in a few minutes and the teams will take the VVIPs to safe houses at secret locations close to hotels and venues.

Recently, security personnel of various foreign leaders also inspected the preparations for the G20 summit. The teams suggested a few changes which have been incorporated by the Indian security agencies responsible for the safety of global leaders, sources told News18.

With Agency Inputs
A 24-year-old Pakistani national was arrested for illegally entering India with the help of his in-laws and living in Hyderabad for the past 10 months using a fake identity and Aaadhar card.

The man, identified as Faiz Mohammed, was arrested from his Indian in-laws house in the Kishan Bagh area of Bahadurpura.

He was enrolled in the name of his brother-in-law Mohammed Ghouse, and his birth certificate was submitted as an ID proof of the man.

Mohammed illegally entered the country from Nepal in November last year and was residing at his wifes house in Hyderabad, South Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police P. Sai Chaitanya said.

While Speaking to News18 DCP said that Faiz was assisted by his in-laws, identified as Zubair Shaik and Afzal Begum, who received him at the border and brought him to Hyderabad.

Faiz had been living in the city with his wife, Neha Fathima, and their three-year-old son.

Neha is a Hyderabad native and the two had met while working in UAE. They got married in 2020 and have been living in Hyderabad since Neha returned to India due to health concerns in November last year.

Faiz has been charged with illegally entering India and attempting to obtain Indian nationality. His father-in-law and mother-in-law have been named as accused two and three in the case.

A case has been registered under relevant sections of IPC and the Foreigners Act against Faiz. He has been remanded and his in-laws would also be arrested, police said.

Upon investigation, a Pakistani passport and other documents were seized from his possession. The police said Faiz is being questioned and further investigation is underway.

In a statement, the police said, we are taking this matter very seriously and will take all necessary action against those involved in illegal immigration.

Other cross-border stories

Before this, Pakistan national Seema Haider had entered the country illegally from Nepal and has been staying with her husband Sachin Meena in Uttar Pradesh.

The couple met online and fell in love, but they were unable to get married in Pakistan due to Seemas familys objections. So, Seema and her children crossed the border illegally and got married in India.

In another case, the 34-year-old Anju, born in Kailor village in Uttar Pradesh was a resident of Alwar district. She became friends with the 29-year-old Pakistani national, Nasrullah on Facebook in 2019.

She travelled via te Wagah-Attari border to a remote village in the tribal province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on a valid Pakistani visa to meet Nasrullah.

A mother of two children, Anju married Nasrullah after converting to Islam on July 25. A senior officer at Moharrar City Police Station in Upper district had said that Nasrullah and Anjus marriage was solemnised and a proper nikah was performed after she converted to Islam.

(With Inputs from Mohammad Dastagir from Hyderabad)
Russian President Vladimir Putin had conveyed in a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week that he will not be coming in person for the G20 summit that India is hosting in early September. In fact, Putin has not been leaving Russia since the war with Ukraine began in February 2022. He has made some rare and exceptional trips to Belarus and other former Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries like Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. He also made one rare trip to Tehran. Putin will instead send his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to Delhi.

To add to that, Reuters reported on Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping is also unlikely to travel to New Delhi for the G20 summit. Xi has been beset by a series of economic woes back home including a slowing economy, fewer jobs for the young Chinese, and a full-blown real estate crisis with major developers being affected. It is not clear who China will send as a fill-in for Xi.

The decision of the leaders of Russia and China to skip the G20 summit hosted by India underscores the intricate global dynamics that are at play. Since the Ukraine war began there has been a growing divide between Western and non-Western powers. This move not only symbolises the geopolitical tug of war between these two sides but also highlights how major players like Russia and China are strategically manoeuvring to challenge the dominance of Western-centric forums. Moscow also put out a statement on Thursday, railing against the West for using forums like the G7 and G20 to rant propaganda against Russia and China. So, while the decisions have come separately, India still cannot rule out some degree of Sino-Russian jugalbandi at play.

Historically, the Western powers, particularly the United States and its allies, have played a pivotal role in shaping the agenda and decisions of the G20 as a forum. In fact, the very first G20 meeting happened in Berlin in 1999 as a response to the Asian financial crisis. However, it shot into the global limelight after the financial crisis of 2008. The G20 got elevated from the level of a talk shop for finance ministers and central bank governors to the premier platform for the most powerful political leaders of the world. However, Russia and Chinas leaders decision to opt out of the summit in India underscores their intent to challenge this traditional Western-aligned paradigm.

The alliance between Russia and China has strengthened in recent years, characterised by a shared vision of countering Western influence and promoting multipolarity. By coordinating their moves to avoid legitimising Western-dominated forums like the G20, Russia and China are signalling their discontent with the current global power structure. They seek to break away from the Western narrative and create alternative avenues for dialogue and decision-making that are more inclusive and representative of their interests.

This presents a predicament for countries like India that strive to maintain a neutral stance in the global arena. As the host of the G20 summit, India finds itself caught between aligning with Western powers and protecting its own interests. This dilemma exemplifies the broader challenge faced by many countries attempting to balance their diplomatic engagements without taking sides in the evolving great power competition between Washington and Beijing.

Russia and Chinas emphasis on their own forums, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the BRICS grouping that also has Brazil, India, and South Africa, demonstrates their concerted efforts to bolster alternatives to Western-dominated platforms. These initiatives aim to provide a space for emerging economies to deliberate on key issues without being subject to the dominance of Western ideologies or priorities. The recent expansion of BRICS to include countries from Africa and the Arab world was a signal to the United States that it is not the sole arbiter of power dynamics in some of the less fancied parts of the world.

By leveraging forums like the SCO and BRICS, Russia and China are effectively drawing the lines for future conflicts as well. The Ukraine war has tempered the West on how swiftly it can bring about results. Even after a year and a half, and billions of dollars of Western military help, Ukraine has not been able to push back Russia. In fact, it has lost about 20 per cent of its territory and is unlikely to regain those parts in the foreseeable future.

This also has implications for a future conflict in Taiwan. China has been closely following the Russia-Ukraine war to see how far the West can be pushed. If Russia manages to hold on, which it currently seems to be doing well, it will bolster Xi Jinpings aim to militarily attack Taiwan. Even though the US says its bound to defend Taiwan, there are no guarantees, given what has happened in Ukraine.

Hence, at this years G20 summit, India as the host country would be keen on ironing out some of these differences. But given how Russia and China have responded, it is likely that the faultlines that first got exposed in Bali will only be further exacerbated in Delhi. Not the other way around.
Russia desires improvement of relations between India and China and its ties with both countries are "very wholesome", Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov said on Friday. In an interaction with journalists, he also said the Rupee-Rouble payment mechanism between India and Russia was not working due to the "overcautious approach" of the Indian financial community.

The mechanism for trade between the two countries was established to settle dues in rupees instead of US Dollars or Euros in view of the imposition of severe economic sanctions against Moscow by the West following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

To a question on Beijing's release of a so-called "standard map" laying territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin as well as Taiwan and the South China Sea, Alipov attempted to play it down.

"For your information, there are some discrepancies on the Russia-China border as well. We do not exaggerate this issue with the Chinese side. And as we have noticed, India does not exaggerate this issue as well," he said.

Asked what will be Moscow's position in case of any hostility between India and China, the envoy said Russia would "never sacrifice" its ties with New Delhi under any circumstances.

On the boundary row between India and China, Alipov said Russia was very much hopeful of improvement of relations between the two countries.

Describing it as a bilateral issue, he said Russia has been respectful of the positions of India as well as China.

To a question, he said Russia does not have defence relations with Pakistan.

Referring to the Rupee-Rouble mechanism, Alipov said it is not working as the Indian financial community and banks are reluctant to use it fearing secondary sanctions.

"The US has no leverage to disrupt such bilateral trade transactions. Still, the banks are reluctant to do that," he said.

The envoy said the over "cautiousness" on the part of the Indian financial community is the main reason behind the mechanism not working.

"In the future, it will be a successful model," he added.
Mumbai Police received a threat call on Friday stating that two Pakistani citizens were planning to arrive in the city with the intention of blowing up iconic Taj Hotel.

On Thursday, Mumbai police received another threat call about an explosive being placed inside the Maharashtra secretariat in South Mumbai.

After bomb detection personnel along with sniffer dogs searched the high-security complex, it turned out to be a false alarm.

As per police report, the individual identifying as Mukesh Singh, was later identified through investigation as Jagdamba Prasad Singh, a 35-year-old man hailing from Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, who presently resides in Santacruz.
Indias hard talk on border issues is one of the major reasons Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend the G20 Summit in India, top government sources told News18, adding that the Chinese President could be trying to avoid a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

PM Modi had briefly met Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in South Africa last month, where, sources said, he categorically asked the Chinese leader to clarify his position on the border dispute. A visit to India for the G20 Summit without holding a bilateral meeting with the host nation would have proven to be a diplomatic disaster for Xi Jinping, which is why he may skip the crucial gathering altogether, sources said.

Such a visit would also not bode well for the Chinese President in domestic politics since India has made it clear that, like Pakistan, China would have to iron out border issues before proceeding to trade talks that Xi could have presented as a personal achievement before the Communist Party of China.

According to reports, there is a possibility that China may send Premier Li Qiang for the G20 summit to be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10.

A majority of G20 leaders, including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, have already confirmed their participation at the summit.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are also among the G20 leaders who have confirmed their participation.

Sources added that with Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping the summit given frosty ties with the West over the Ukraine war, Xi Jinping would not want to share the stage with G7 nations  Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States  in New Delhi since Beijing and Moscow enjoy cordial ties.

Xi has attended all other in-person G20 summits since becoming president in 2013 except in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic when he joined the Saudi Arabia-hosted summit by video link.

Xi, who secured a precedent-breaking third term as leader last October, has made few overseas trips since China abruptly dropped strict pandemic-induced border controls this year.

The ties between India and China have been under severe strain since the deadly clashes in eastern Ladakhs Galwan Valley in June 2020. The Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a confrontation for over three years in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) were key for normalisation of overall ties.

On its part, China has been arguing that the boundary question does not represent the entirety of the bilateral relations, insisting that the two sides should move forward on overall relations.

On Monday, China released a so-called standard map laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin drawing a strong protest from India.

The map also showed the entire South China Sea and Taiwan as part of China as it featured in the previous editions of the map.
HAPPY KAJARI TEEJ 2023: Kajari Teej, also known simply as Kajari, is a traditional Hindu festival celebrated primarily in the northern states of India, especially in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. It falls on the third day of the dark fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada (August-September), which is a few days after the festival of Raksha Bandhan. This year it will be celebrated on Saturday, September 2.

KAJARI TEEJ 2023 SHUBH MUHURAT

According to the Panchang, the third day of the Krishna Paksha of the month of Bhadrapada will begin at 11:50 PM on September 1, 2023, and will end at 8:49 PM on September 2, 2023.

7:57 AM to 9:31 AM

9:45 PM to 11:12 PM

KAJARI TEEJ 2023: 10 WISHES AND MESSAGES TO SHARE

1. Happy Kajari Teej! May you be blessed with love, happiness, and prosperity.

2. May Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati shower you with their blessings on this auspicious day.

3. Wishing you a happy and prosperous Kajari Teej!

4. May this Kajari Teej bring you joy, peace, and happiness.

5. May your prayers be answered by Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati on this auspicious day.

6. Happy Kajari Teej to all the beautiful women out there! May you be blessed with everything you desire.

7. May your love for your husband grow stronger with each passing day.

8. May your family be blessed with happiness and prosperity.

9. May you have a long and healthy life.

10. May you always be surrounded by love and happiness.

WATCH: 5 Hindu Festivals in September 2023

KAJARI TEEJ HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE

Kajari Teej is primarily a festival celebrated by women, and it holds special significance for married women. The festival is dedicated to Goddess Parvati, who is considered the epitome of marital bliss and harmony in Hindu mythology. Women observe this festival to seek the well-being of their husbands and the prosperity of their families. They fast, dress in traditional attire, and offer prayers to the goddess for the longevity and happiness of their spouses.

KAJARI TEEJ CELEBRATION

The festival is characterized by various customs and rituals, including applying henna (mehndi) on hands, dressing up in colourful traditional clothing, singing folk songs, dancing, and enjoying traditional sweets and delicacies. Women often create swings (jhulas) adorned with flowers and leaves, which they use to swing while singing and celebrating.

KAJARI TEEJ MEANING

Kajari Teej also has agricultural significance, as it marks the beginning of the monsoon season and the preparation for the sowing of new crops. The name Kajari is derived from the word Kajal, which refers to the dark colour of monsoon clouds. The festival is often associated with songs and folklore that depict the arrival of rains and the beauty of nature during the monsoon.

Kajari Teej is a festival that celebrates the bond of marriage, femininity, and the joys of the monsoon season. It is a colourful and vibrant occasion that brings together families and communities to celebrate with enthusiasm and devotion.
Throughout the year, women observe many fasts for the well-being of their husbands. One of the fasts is Kajari Teej. Married women hold a nirjala fast for their husbands on this day. According to the Hindu calendar, this fast is observed on Tritiya Tithi of Krishna Paksha in the month of Bhadra which is around August or September, which is a few days after the festival of Raksha Bandhan.

This year, Kajari Teej will be celebrated on Saturday, September 2. According to Drik Panchang, the third day of the Krishna Paksha will begin at 11:50 PM on September 1 and will end at 8:49 PM, on the following day i.e. September 2.

This Hindu festival is primarily celebrated in the northern states of India, especially in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. It is believed that women who perform Kajari Teej get blessings from Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. By following the fast, one reaps the benefits of Sadavarta and Bajpayee Yagya.

Now, Ayodhyas well-known astrologer Pandit Kalkiram told News18 that Kajari Teej is important for married women, as they worship goddess Parvati for their blissful marital life. He also shared that taking a few measures during the ritual can remove the problems in the spouses life.

If their life partner is unemployed and is being rejected from the interviews or is not getting a good placement then, during the fast, one should light a diya at Shani Temple during the evening. He also mentioned that if for some reason, there is no prosperity in the household, then one should donate to some poor or helpless people on the day. By doing this, all the financial problems may be resolved.

If your partner is having some health-related issues and is suffering from a lot of pain, then on Kajari Teej, married women should visit Radha-Krishna Temple with their spouse and offer Mishri. Their partners may get some relief.
Amitabh Bachchan never fails to shower love and extend support to his actor-son Abhishek Bachchan on social media. On Thursday night too, Big B reacted to a netizen who shared on the microblogging site X (formerly known as Twitter) that he feels sad for Abhishek not getting his due in the industry. I always feel sad for #AbhishekBachchan @juniorbachchan always underrated although he has proven his talent & given his best in #Yuva #Guru #Dhoom series #KANK #Dostana #Sarkar #BuntiBubli #BolBachchan later he goes strong with #Manmarziyan #BobBiswas #Ludo #Dasvi now in #Ghoomer, the fan wrote.

Reacting to this, Big B urged the fan not to be happy and heaped praises on his son. dont feel sad .. be happy .. the fact that he continues and excels with each endeavour .. CONTINUES, the veteran actor wrote.

dont feel sad .. be happy .. the fact that he continues and excels with each endeavour .. CONTINUES .. https://t.co/9wfbk5O4GA Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) August 31, 2023

This is not the first time Amitabh Bachchan has shared a post online, sharing he is immensely proud of his son. Recently, Big B also penned down a long note in his blog praising Abhisheks movie Ghoomer. Interestingly, Amitabh also made a special appearance in this R Balki movie.

Later, in an exclusive interview with News18 Showsha, Abhishek Bachchan opened up about his fathers appreciation post for Ghoomer and said, He (Amitabh Bachchan) has written about it. It is something very personal and cherished by me but I am eternally thankful for his love, support and encouragement. Any actor would be over the moon as am I. I am very very happy and I hope I have the ability to carry on and work even harder. Obviously, now, you have to continue and try and do a lot bigger and better than what you have already done.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Amitabh Bachchan will soon be seen in Project K with Prabhas and Deepika Padukone. He will also feature in Tiger Shroffs Ganapath. Besides this, Big B will also be reuniting with Deepika for the Hindi remake of The Intern. He is currently also hosting the 13th season of Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Korean musical sensation and BTS youngest member, Jeon Jungkook, is celebrating his 26th birthday today, on September 1, and the excitement among ARMY, the groups massive global fandom, is nothing short of extraordinary. For them, this day is not just a birthday, its a festival filled with love, dedication, and creative expressions of admiration for the vocalist. As we approach Jungkooks special day, fans worldwide have kicked off their preparations in a grand fashion. Social media platforms have been flooded with pictures and videos showcasing Jungkooks presence in iconic buildings, themed restaurants, subways, and more.

One of the most captivating birthday events in honor of Jungkook is the Hotel Seven-themed cafe celebration, named after his recent release. The dreamy atmosphere promises to make his birthday unforgettable.

Hotel Seven themed Jungkooks birthday cafe event is so dreamy pic.twitter.com/K1xpSTYIZW Jungkook SNS  (@Jungkook_SNS) August 27, 2023

In New York Citys Times Square, he graced the iconic billboard as a tribute to his Billboard record for SEVEN. This impressive display is a testament to the global reach of BTS and the immense love ARMY has for Jungkook.

Omgggg  this is so pretty?!! Our dedicated @JKGlobalWebsite organized Jungkook Birthday Ads in NYC Times Square to celebrate JK DAY, from August 31 till September 1st! pic.twitter.com/LY3gwDf5un .97 (FAN) (@maineventjeon) August 26, 2023

Indias love for Jungkook is undeniable, with billboards

showcasing the SEVEN crooner and a special tribute at a bus stop in Mulund. Delhi even boasts a Jungkook-themed cafe, where fans are hosting a party in his honor.

Jungkook birthday celebration by Indian army  pic.twitter.com/2NG1znC7Vy  (@Srikavy82084942) September 1, 2021

Indian Armys having a Jungkook themed party in celebration of his birthday in a Cafe bar in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/S7jBFcukEP  JUNGKOOK INDIA (@Jungkook__INDIA) August 30, 2022

Jungkook, often affectionately referred to as the maknae (the youngest) of BTS, consistently inspires with his wisdom and uplifting words. Here are 7 motivational quotes by him that remind us of the strength within us all:

1. You should build your own goals and dreams. I think its really sad that some people dont get a chance to build their own dreams because of outside pressure.

2. Effort makes you. Youll regret it someday if you dont try your best now. Dont think its too late but keep working on it. It may take time but theres nothing that gets worse when you practice. You may get sad, but its evidence that you are doing good.

3. Without anger or sadness, you wont be able to feel true happiness.

4. I cant just say cheer up no matter what, but in the midst of that difficulty, try to find that small happiness.

5. Theres no knowing what will come, but hard work will get us somewhere.

6. For those of you who are working: no matter how frustrating, how tough, I hope you can overcome it and become an even stronger person.

7. It may take time but theres nothing that gets worse when you practice. You may get sad, but its evidence that you are doing good.

Just ahead of his birthday, Jungkooks recent release SEVEN, featuring Latto, made history on Spotify by becoming the fastest song by a male artist to surpass 500 million streams. Beyond his musical feats, Jungkook continues to captivate with his ever-evolving style, including a new haircut that sent fans into a frenzy when he casually revealed it while dancing to Seven. Its clear that the world is celebrating not just his birthday but also his talents and influence.

Heres to wishing Jungkook a happy and memorable birthday, filled with love, joy, and success.
Shah Rukh Khans highly anticipated action entertainer Jawan is marching closer to its release date. Ahead of the same, the makers dropped the trailer on Thursday, August 31 and ever since it has become the talk of the town. It promises that the Atlee directorial will be a one-of-a-kind massy, action film comprising all the elements of thrill, suspense, masala and romance.

Hours after the Jawan trailer was released, it has now also been shown at the worlds tallest building i.e. Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Shah Rukh Khan, who earlier jetted off to the country, unveiled the same. A large number of King Khan fans gathered outside the iconic building to witness this special moment.

Director Atlee, who has maintained that hes a big fan of Shah Rukh Khan, took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, Most memorable night. I didnt even imagined this. Miracles do happen

Thank you alll. Thank you @iamsrk sirrrrrrr @RedChilliesEnt. Check out the tweet here.

Most memorable night I didnt even imagined this Miracles do happen Thank you alll Thank you @iamsrk sirrrrrrr@RedChilliesEnt pic.twitter.com/EzcxeLfJ6c atlee (@Atlee_dir) September 1, 2023

Earlier this week, Shah Rukh Khan made his way to Chennai for the audio launch of the movie. The entire cast and crew of Jawan, except Nayanthara, graced the occasion. Director Atlee took the stage to discuss his his ambitious directorial, sharing an inspiring story. In a video that is now going viral, Atlee revealed that 13 years ago, he had taken a photo in front of Shah Rukh Khans residence, Mannat. He recalled, 13 years back I took a photo standing in front of SRKs Mannat Gate and now the same gate opened for me. He also added, He is more than Father to me.

This video is enough to make u cry.Fan moment of @Atlee_dir 13 years back I took a photo standing infront of SRK's Mannat Gate & now the same open gate opened for me .He is more than Father to me.WELCOME TO CHENNAI KING SRK pic.twitter.com/D6zrt24qM4  Alia  (@Aliasays_) August 30, 2023

Jawan is set to release worldwide in theatres on September 7, 2023, in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
Kushi Review: Multilingual Kushi, helmed by Shiva Nirvana, rests on an interesting concept, though I have seen films on it years ago. Kushi is basically a debate on superstition versus logic and believers versus non-believers. But sadly, the way the plot is executed and scripted is a shame, and what a waste of what could have been a gripping narrative. Often preachy and verbose, the movie goes against the very concept of cinema. I agree that Indian cinema grew out of drama (while Western films pegged on photography to move ahead into motion and movement), but incredible as it may sound that after a hundred years we should still be making pictures that talk more and act less.

Viplav (chocolate hero Vijay Deverakonda) joins a telecom company in Chennai and pleads with his boss to post him elsewhere. He goes to Kashmir (we see similarities between Kashmir Ki Kali and Roja), where he promptly falls in love with Aaradhya (Samantha Ruth Prabhu). She pretends to be a Muslim, and tries to ward off the Brahmin boy (Viplav of course). But he is not going to take a no, and the way he woos her is juvenile, to say the least ( resembling the 1960s Bollywood pictures). And then, she gives in  and they are soon madly in love with each other.

And then, Kushi turns into gham (sorrow), and we see a Romeo and Juliet being played all over again  at least the initial scenes. The couples fathers are arch enemies, because one believes in science and logic and the other in god and religion. While Aaradhyas father, Chandrangam Srinivasa Rao (Murali Sharma) living with his family in the temple town of Tiruchendur in Tamil Nadu staunchly believes in the Almighty, the boys father, Lenin Sathya (Sachin Khedekar), pooh-poohs all this as rubbish. He is a man of reason, and feels that what the other man has is nothing but blind faith.

In a television debate, with the two men in a heated debate nearly coming to blows, Lenin rubbishes the contention that Chandrangam propagates: Do not eat or bathe during a lunar eclipse.

Finally, when the lovers decide to marry come what may, the fathers let them go but with a dark prediction. Their marriage would end in six months, but Viplav and Aaradhya promise themselves to prove their families wrong.  We will prove that we are the happiest couple in the world, they smile.

The movie has little to offer in the performance zone, except Sharma does give a power-packed piece of acting as the man who looks beyond science and believes that god does exist. The other characters seem jaded and rather unidimensional, and Samantha as well as Vijay offer very little to elevate a plot that held promise.
Malaika Arora was recently spotted dropping her son Arhaan at the airport. The young star kid is studying abroad and was here in India for his semester break. Before entering the gate, he gave the tightest hug to his mommy. The paparazzi captured them sharing a moment.

A video of the same has gone viral. One of the fans took to the comments section and wrote, Without fail every time she comes to drop him. Malaika indeed always comes to see off her son, every time, he leaves for college. She is often accompanied by her ex-husband Arbaaz Khan. Arbaaz and Malaika, even though have parted ways continue to co-parent their son.

Have a look at the video:

Back in 2022, in an interview with ETimes, Arbaaz was asked if theres a different approach in parenting Arhaan when compared to Malaika and whos more strict. He shared, I dont think shes strict either, but I am definitely not as strict as Malaika. Honestly, Malaika is somebody who can pull him up a lot more than I do. She is strict, but shes friendly and firm at the same time. She is a good mother.

He added, Im a little indulgent as a father. I pamper Arhaan and I get swayed. I just like to please him for everything. Hes the only boy we have and the only child. I just want to see him get everything he wants and be happy. Sometimes that can be a little indulgent. Its not a very good thing, though. But hes a good boy. I dont fear that Arhaan will misuse that little bit of stardom and extra attention. Hell never take advantage of the extra things that I do for him.

Malaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan got married in 1998 and welcomed Arhaan in 2002. They parted ways in 2017 but have maintained a cordial bond with each other. They often meet to spend time with their son. Malaika is now dating Arjun Kapoor whereas Arbaaz is seeing Giorgia Andriani.
Actor R Madhavan, whose film Rocketry recently earned a National Award, has been appointed as the President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Chairman of its governing council. R Madhavan, following the National Award-winning success of his directorial debut, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, has been designated as the President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

Union Minister Anurag Thakur announced the news on microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter) and sent across his best wishes to actor-director.

Heartiest congratulations to @ActorMadhavan ji on being nominated as President of @FTIIOfficial and Chairman of the governing council.Im sure that your vast experience & strong ethics will enrich this institute, bring positive changes, & take it to a higher level. My best wishes to you (sic), Thakur wrote.

The actor expressed his gratitude on social media for being nominated as the President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). Madhavan posted, Thank you so much for the honor and kind wishes @ianuragthakur Ji. I will do my utmost to meet all the expectations.

Thank you so very much for the honor and kind wishes @ianuragthakur Ji. I will do my very best to live up to all the expectations.  https://t.co/OHCKDS9cqt Ranganathan Madhavan (@ActorMadhavan) September 1, 2023

A day after the historic success of ISROs Chandrayaan-3 mission, R Madhavans directorial debut, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, a biographical drama revolving around the life of former ISRO scientist S. Nambi Narayanan, clinched the Best Feature Film at the 69th National Film Awards. The film, which also stars Madhavan in the lead role, had earlier received a ten-minute standing ovation at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, where the actor-director premiered it to a select audience.

Speaking to News18 Showsha exclusively after the win, R Madhavan said, On Wednesday, after the victory of Chandrayaan-3, I could not think I could get any happier but on Thursday, with the big win for Rocketry and a childlike-glee on Nambi Narayanan sirs face, it has been the ultimate reward! Five years of agony, pain, blood and sweat vanished in that one second when we called Nambi Sir and saw his face this morning. Im very grateful to the audience, the jury and to the public for the kind of recognition we have got. It urges me to do even better than I can. Im flattered, touched and quite speechless.
Rajinikanth has reportedly become the highest paid actor in India after the phenomenal success of his recently released movie, Jailer, which is said to have a total worldwide collection of more than Rs 564.35 crore. As Jailer became a historic success, producer Kalanithi Maran of Sun Pictures met Rajinikanth and handed over a hefty cheque to the legendary actor.

The official account of Sun Pictures shared the priceless moment on X and wrote: Mr. Kalanithi Maran met Superstar Rajinikanth and handed over a cheque, celebrating the historic success of Jailer. The picture has been going viral on social media.

Interestingly, film trade expert Manobala Vijayabalan shared on X: Info coming in that, the envelope handed over by Kalanithi Maran to superstar Rajinikanth contains a single cheque amounting Rs 100 crore from City Union Bank, Mandaveli branch, Chennai. This is a Jailer profit sharing cheque which is up and above the already paid remuneration [Rs 110 cr] of superstar for the movie. Total  Rs 210 crore. Making superstar Rajinikanth the highest paid actor in India.

Info coming in that, the envelope handed over by Kalanithi Maran to superstar #rajinikanth contains a single cheque amounting 100 cr from City Union Bank, Mandaveli branch, Chennai.This is a #Jailer profit sharing cheque which is up & above the already paid pic.twitter.com/I6TF6p4SvL  Manobala Vijayabalan (@ManobalaV) August 31, 2023

As per Sacnilk, Jailer has become the third-highest-grossing South Indian film ever in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, and is behind only KGF: Chapter 2 and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.

Jailer, released on August 10, collected a jaw-dropping Rs 500 crore worldwide within just 10 days. The film, directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, has been doing phenomenal business in India and overseas.

Meanwhile, it was recently reported that the digital streaming rights for Jailer have been secured by Kalanithi Marans production house, Sun Pictures, in collaboration with Netflix. The movie is set to be available for streaming on the Sun NXT platform. Furthermore, Sun Network has secured satellite rights for Jailer in its Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam versions.
Rajinikanth has reportedly become the highest-paid actor in India after the phenomenal success of his recently released movie, Jailer, which is said to have a total worldwide collection of more than Rs 564.35 crore. As Jailer became a historic success, producer Kalanithi Maran of Sun Pictures met Rajinikanth and handed over a hefty cheque to the legendary actor.

Read More: Rajinikanth Gets BIG Cheque of Rs 100 Cr From Jailer Profits? Know His Total Fees for Nelson Film

Shah Rukh Khans dialogue Bete ko haath lagane se pehle, baap se baat kar (Before you touch my son, deal with his father) from Jawan gained attention soon after the release of the films trailer on Thursday. Fans were quick to speculate that the line was allegedly aimed at former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chief Sameer Wankhede, who is being investigated in the alleged Rs 25 crore bribery case in connection with the drugs-on-cruise case which involved SRKs son Aryan Khan. Now, the officer shared a cryptic quote on his official social media account. I have licked the fire and danced in the ashes of every bridge I ever burned. I fear no hell from you, read the quote shared by Sameer Wankhede. Netizens are speculating whether this is Wankhedes response to Shah Rukh Khans dialogue in the Jawan trailer.

Read More: I Fear No Hell: Sameer Wankhede Shares Cryptic Post After SRKs Bete Ko Hath Line in Jawan

Actor R Madhavan, whose film Rocketry recently earned a National Award, has been appointed as the President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Chairman of its governing council. R Madhavan, following the National Award-winning success of his directorial debut, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, has been designated as the President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

Read More: R Madhavan Appointed As FTII President Days After Rocketry Won National Award For Best Film

Kushi FIRST Review Out: The early reviews of Kushi, starring Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, are finally out, they are largely positive. The audience is raving about Vijay and Samanthas on-screen chemistry in the movie, directed by Shiva Nirvana. Kushi had been in the making for several months, owing to Samanthas health issues. However, it seems the teams hard work has finally paid off, with netizens showering immense praise on the film.

Read More: Kushi FIRST Review Out: Vijay Deverakonda, Samantha Are Back With A Bang In Blockbuster Film

Ananya Panday and Aditya Roy Kapur, rumoured to be dating, were spotted at Mumbai airport, heading for a vacation last week. They arrived separately. Now, another video of the duo has gone viral. In the clip, they can be seen making their way to the Goa airport after a vacation. Both twinned in white, chic casuals as they headed to the departure gate. They hid their identities behind face masks to avoid running into fans.

Read More: Ananya Panday-Aditya Roy Kapur Return From Their Romantic Goa Trip, Video From Airport Goes Viral; Watch
Criticising the performances of actors and films is a common thing on social media. Now, the Kerala president of All India Youth Federation (AIYF) N Arun said in a media interaction that critics on social media should be controlled. His statements are currently garnering everyones attention.

In a recent interview, Arun said that a large section of film critics in the social media arena are treating Malayalam cinema as a huge disaster. In this age of social media influence, these people are trying to create followers strategically and thereby spread anything that is unrealistic, he added. Influenced by money and other vested interests, they are able to make movies that are very badly discussed among the public. Even the language and gestures used by some are culturally empty and crude, Arjun further said.

He added, Do you know how badly some reviewers have attacked Nivin Pauly starrer Ramachandra Bose and Co, directed by Hanif Adeni, which was released last week? According to me, Ramachandra Bose and Co. is a better entertainer movie than I have seen so far.

As per N Arun, some people saw Ramachandra Bose and Co and shared their reviews on social media, which impacted the film badly. Many people dont know that cinema is also a field of work that provides sustenance to the families of hundreds of workers. Criticism is used by some as a tool to destroy the film, he added. I think strict measures are necessary for such activities, Arjun stated.

Before the release of the film, those who prepare weapons to degrade should be controlled, and legal action is necessary. Arun further said that the silence of film organizations on this issue is surprising. Lastly, he also asked the film organisations to stand up for themselves.

Talking about Ramachandra Boss & Co, it is a Malayalam-language heist action comedy film, written and directed by Haneef Adeni. The film stars Nivin Pauly in the lead role, alongside Vinay Forrt, Jaffar Idukki, Mamitha Baiju, Aarsha Chandini Baiju, Vijilesh and Sreenath Babu in the supporting roles. The music for the film has been composed by Midhun Mukundan, while Vishnu Thandassery and Nishad Yusuf have handled the cinematography and editing respectively.

Ramachandra Boss & Co was released on the occasion of Onam on August 25 and received mixed reviews from critics.
Vijay Verma was recently snapped at the Mumbai airport as he returned from Maldives after enjoying a romantic vacation with his actress-girlfriend Tamannaah Bhatia. While the Darlings actor was greeted by the paparazzi, he was left visibly irritated and upset when a photographer allegedly crossed the line.

In a video that surfaced on social media, Vijay Verma is seen walking out of the airport. He sported a white shirt with light blue jeans and looked uber-cool as always. However, the actor got irritated as one of the shutterbugs said, Maldives ke samandar ke maze le kar aaye ho (Seems you had a great time in Maldives). Responding to his, Varma said, Iss tarah ki baat nahi kar sakte (You cannot talk like this). Watch the video here:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Instant Bollywood (@instantbollywood)

Earlier in the day, Tamannaah Bhatia was also snapped by the paparazzi at the Mumbai airport when she was also asked about Vijay Varma. However, the actress was left blushing and she continued to smile.

Prior to this, Tamannaah also shared a series of pictures from her Maldives getaway on her Instagram handle. In the first photo, Bhatia was seen enjoying on the beach, sporting a pink bikini and posing under an arching rainbow. In the second picture, she was seen drawing something on the sand. Some other snaps featured her resting on a hammock, enjoying delicious food, posing with a large jute hat on her head and more. While we did not see Vijay Varma in the vacation album, fans hoped that it was him who clicked the pictures.

Tamannaah Bhatia and Vijay Varmas relationship is no secret. The actress announced their romantic relationship in an interview with Film Companion earlier this year, when she said, I dont think you can get attracted to someone just because they are your co-star. I have had so many co-stars. I think if one has to fall for someone, feel something for someone its definitely more personal, its nothing to do with what they do for a living, I mean thats not the reason why this would happen.
The Narendra Modi government has formed a committee under former President Ram Nath Kovind to look at the possibility of One Nation One Poll (ONOP) in the country and the committee will hold wide consultations with political parties and states.

This shows seriousness on the part of the government to tackle the tricky issue where at least 18 states will be impacted in a major way as their state election schedule is significantly different from that of the Lok Sabha.

The route towards ONOP so far was only through the Law Commission but the government, by setting up a committee under a former President, shows it now wants to push ahead on the issue decisively. However, the ONOP Bill is not likely to come up in the Special Session of Parliament later this month. Most opposition parties are already opposing the Centres move.

The Challenge Before the Committee

Four states  Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim  go to polls along with Lok Sabha elections. Elections in five states  Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana and Rajasthan  happen about five months before the Lok Sabha elections while four other states  Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Delhi  go to polls within 5-7 months after Lok Sabha elections. It may be possible for the government to perhaps make these 13 states come on board on the idea of ONOP, top government sources have told News18.

However, the tricky part remains the 18 other states whose election schedule is very different and varied from the Lok Sabha election schedule  ranging from a difference over a year to even around four years. For instance, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat went to polls earlier this year while Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab went to polls in 2022.

Assam in fact polled in May 2021 and the government there would have completed only three years in power when the Lok Sabha elections happen. Bihar polls are next in end of 2025 while Kerala is scheduled to poll next in May 2026. West Bengal polled in May 2021 and the government there would have completed only three years by the time Lok Sabha polls are held.

Some of these 18 states are ruled by the opposition parties who may not play ball on curtailing their assembly tenures in the states. Ahead of a bitter 2024 battle, the prospects are bleak too.

The ONOP bill will also need a 2/3rd majority in both houses of Parliament and approval of 50 per cent or more state legislatures  which will be a challenging task as well. The government has also told Parliament in July that the issue requires obtaining consensus of all political parties as well as the state governments.

There are other complications too like what happens if there is a hung House after a state election and a mid-term election is needed, or if a state government falls due to a no-confidence motion as that will again disrupt the ONOP formula.
A political slugfest has started between the Trinamool Congress and BJP after raids at Kolkatas Leaps and Bounds Pvt Ltd last week, and this is now followed by a police versus police tussle. History seems to be repeating itself with the Kolkata Police starting a preliminary inquiry against officers of the Enforcement Directorate.

The central agency has been accused of downloading 16 foreign files in a computer during a search at the companys office premises. The concerned ED officer was asked to appear before the Kolkata Police to which the agency expressed its inability citing directions from the Calcutta High Court. It stated that the complainant (the company) in the matter is suspected of money laundering and it has directors, who are parents of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and brother of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

There was a series of communications between the two investigative parties after a company executive filed a complaint with Kolkata Police on August 25. While there is no FIR in the matter, the ED officer was asked to appear before Kolkata Police on August 30.

Kolkata Police, however, has started a preliminary probe into the matter, which was also referred to the Calcutta HC, a senior ED officer said. In a letter dated August 30, the ED wrote to the cyber police station of Kolkata Police stating that the high court, while hearing the matter on August 29, directed the ED to expedite the investigations.

Following HC directions, the ED said its officers are preoccupied in investigations and, hence, it is not in a position to spare them to appear at the cyber police station.

According to the senior ED officer, they have requested Kolkata Police to share details of any forensic examination of the computers or seizure after the EDs search. The central agency has further said the company is also suspected of the offence of money laundering in the biggest recruitment scam in the history of the state of West Bengal.

News 18 has copies of all related documents.

Not the first time in Bengal

West Bengal has been witness to similar showdowns between two police organisations, including the series of FIRs and counter FIRs against each other in 2019, 2020 and 2022. In the earlier instances, the FIRs were registered in connection with the ED and CBIs probes into the Saradha ponzi scam; the latest tussle has stemmed from the EDs investigation into a money laundering case and subsequent raids at the office of Leaps and Bounds Pvt Ltd.

In this case, the ED is probing the alleged teacher recruitment scam and searched the premises of the private entity. A senior source in the ED said there were five computers in the office, out of which only three were taken for examination. One of the officers in the team used one of these computers to search for hostel accommodation for his daughter and, in the process, downloaded a list of hostels inadvertently.

This is nothing illegal, but not professional. We will take this up in a departmental inquiry, said another senior officer. News 18 reached out to Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal but he was unavailable for a comment at the time of filing this report.

What is Leaps and Bounds Pvt Ltd?

The company master data accessed by News 18 shows it was incorporated in 2012, a year after Mamata came to power in the state. As per records of the registrar of companies, it has two directors  Lata Banerjee and Amit Banerjee, who are the parents of Abhishek. Lata became a director in 2012 while Amit got the position in 2014.

Intimidation trick

Reacting to such fresh raids and summons days ahead of the crucial meeting of INDIA coalition, senior Trinamool leader Sushmita Dev said this was intimidation tricks by the Modi government.

The process of investigation is punishment in itself. Such raids are conducted and repeated summons are issued to intimidate the Opposition leaders. The agencies delay chargesheet and prolong this process. Our leader Abhishek Banerjee has been requesting the agency to file the chargesheet, so that we can contest them. But they will keep delaying it. The conviction rate of ED is the lowest in country, she added.
Leaders of at least 28 opposition parties under the INDIA bloc concluded their third meeting in Mumbai and announced the resolutions and decisions jointly undertaken on Friday. In a joint press conference attended by Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Sharad Pawar and others, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi asserted that seat sharing among the different parties will be finalised soon.

The opposition front also formed a 13-member coordination committee along with a resolution to put up a united contest against the ruling BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

Some meaningful omissions from the committee list include Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. However, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was named as part of the committee.

NCP leader Supriya Sule said the next INDIA bloc meeting will take place in Delhi.

#WATCH | Mumbai | When asked where will the next meeting of INDIA alliance be held, NCP MP Supriya Sule says, In DelhiWhen do you want it to be held, we will hold it on those dates, she says when asked about dates for the same. pic.twitter.com/NIm6VspzLi  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023

Latest Updates on INDIA Bloc Meeting
Asserting that the INDIA alliance will defeat the BJP in national elections, Rahul Gandhi on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call of 'Congress-mukt Bharat' will never materialise as even the mighty Britishers had failed to finish off the party during their heydays.

Congress MP Gandhi said his party will replicate its win in Karnataka notched up a few months ago in poll-bound Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan.

Addressing party workers at the Maharashtra Congress office at Tilak Bhavan in Mumbai, he claimed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Prime Minister Modi, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are scared of the country's oldest political outfit.

People in the media said the Congress party does not have strength, but who defeated the BJP in Karnataka? Gandhi said, referring to his party's resounding victory in the assembly polls in the southern state held in May this year.

Whatever happened in Karnataka will happen in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh (where assembly polls are due in the next few months). The INDIA alliance is going to defeat the BJP in national elections and the Congress party will win the polls, he said.

The Congress MP said his party did not split in Maharashtra because it is based on ideology.

The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), both allies of the Congress, saw splits in their ranks in the state in the last one year with sections of their MLAs joining hands with the BJP.

The former Congress president asserted the BJP will be wiped out in Maharashtra, which at 48, sends the second largest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha.

The Lok Sabha member from Wayanad in Kerala termed Maharashtra as the nucleus of the Congress party as it was born in Mumbai in 1885.

Gandhi was in Mumbai to take part in the two-day conclave of the opposition bloc Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

The Wayanad MP said Modi had given a call of 'Congress-mukt Bharat', but even the then superpower England could not wipe out the party from the country.

Instead, the Congress, which spearheaded the freedom struggle, drove them away from the country, he said.

Referring to the fresh allegations against the Adani group, Gandhi said, Modi ji thinks his relation with Adani ji will finish off the Congress. He thinks Adani ji's money will finish off the Congress party." The Congress leader hit out at the Adani group over the redevelopment of Dharavi, a sprawling slum colony in Mumbai, for which the conglomerate has won a bid.

These people have not realised what Dharavi is and its people. The Congress party will explain to them what Dharavi is. They think the real India, the India of the poor can be wiped out. But it cannot be wiped out, Gandhi said.

Last year, the Adani group emerged as the highest bidder to redevelop Dharavi, which is spread across 259 hectares. The ports-to-power conglomerate quoted Rs 5,069 crore bid for the redevelopment of one of the largest slum sprawls in the world, outbidding realty major DLF, which had quoted Rs 2,025 crore.

The Congress has opposed the Adani group redeveloping Dharavi.

Gandhi said the Congress has to open mohabbat ki dukaan (shops of love) in the enemy's nafrat ka bazaar (market of hate).
Amid opposition bloc INDIAs claim of having multiple options for their prime ministerial candidate, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday drew parallels between the groupings choices and 10-headed demon king Ravan from Ramayana.

The INDIA alliance, formed to take on the BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls, finished its third meeting, hosted by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP, in Mumbai on Friday, vowing to finalise seat-sharing in an accommodative spirit.

Speaking at a meeting of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Shinde said, The INDIA bloc leaders claim that they have multiple options for the post of the prime minister. Everybody knows who used to have multiple faces  Ravan. The people of the country will not sit quietly until they burn down the Lanka of such Ravans, said the CM.

While all the INDIA bloc leaders face several corruption charges, there is not a single allegation of graft against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is dedicated to the development of the country, said Shinde.

As many as 68 leaders, including many chief ministers, from 28 political parties attended the INDIA alliance meeting here.

Without naming his partys ex-chief Uddhav Thackeray, the CM said, For so many years, he (Thackeray) was in power in BMC but roads (in Mumbai) were never made smooth and pothole-free. We will make that happen in the next two and a half years. Shinde led a rebellion last year to split the then Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and triggered the collapse of the MVA government before aligning with the BJP to become the CM.
In one of the biggest raids in Rajasthan, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday seized Rs 2.5 crore cash and 1 kg of gold bars from the homes of a serving state government officer as well as a retired one. The searches were conducted in connection with an alleged scam in the Jal Jeevan Mission.

The development came a day before the BJPs Parivartan Sankalp Yatra begins in four parts of the Congress-ruled state  the first one is being flagged off by BJP national president JP Nadda from Sawai Madhopur on Saturday. Union home minister Amit Shah will flag off a yatra from Dungarpur on Sunday while defence minister Rajnath Singh is expected to launch another one next week.

Teams from four states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, landed in Jaipur a day before the search operation. The ED teams were accompanied by at least 100 police personnel as part of protocol.

Two senior Rajasthan BJP leaders, including Alwar MP Mahant Balaknath, wrote letters to the concerned ministries alleging irregularities in the tendering process and procurement in Jal Jeevan Mission, which is a joint venture of central and state governments.

It is one of the major cash hauls in Rajasthan. We raided across 20 locations in the state today and we have seized Rs 1.5 crore in cash and a kilo of gold bars from the residence of a retired officer of Rajasthan state service. We have also seized multiple documents of property investment to the tune of crores from his house. The properties were bought in the name of his family members, a senior ED officer told News18.

In a separate search operation, we have recovered Rs 1 crore cash from the residence of a serving tehshildar of Jaipur Development Authority. Both the officers are known to be close to the principal secretary of the concerned department and two senior cabinet ministers, the officer said.

What is the case?

An FIR was registered with the anti-corruption bureau of the Rajasthan government on August 8 in connection with the Jal Jeevan Mission scam case. The allegations are related to irregularities in tendering and work process, procurement of raw materials and laying down of old pipelines. Questions were also raised about the depth of the pipe-laying work.

Balaknath wrote a detailed letter to the concerned department and the union ministry accusing state government officers, dealers and contractors of running a scam. News18 has accessed the FIR and the copy of the letter.
It was May 26, 2014. As the clock struck 6pm, then President of India Pranab Mukherjee administered the Oath of Office and Secrecy to a man who rose from Gujarats Vadnagar to the highest political office of India  Narendra Modi.

Modi swept to power  often termed the Modi Tsunami  riding on a poll plank to root out corruption, which became synonymous with Dr Manmohan Singhs UPA 2.

However, five years later, it was payback time in 2019 when Congress alleged corruption in procuring Rafale fighter jets, regardless of a three-judge Bench led by then-CJI Ranjan Gogoi having already dismissed a petition seeking a probe into the India-France deal, holding that there was no commercial favouritism. In spite of Congress regular press conferences and Rahul Gandhi making it the sole poll issue, election results showed that India stood by the goodwill of Narendra Modi. He swept back to power with a bigger mandate  303 BJP MPs.

As of this Friday, it has been exactly nine years, three months, and six days since he took oath as Indias prime minister but PM Modi still remains the most popular leader in the country. What the nation is witnessing can best be described as pro-incumbency in political terminology.

80% Indians prefer Modi

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington DC that informs the public about issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world. In their own words, they conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis, and other data-driven social science research which are considered one of the foremost unbiased and data-driven researches across the globe.

Just ahead of the G20 kicking off in New Delhi, Pew has come up with an India-centric research that says 80 per cent Indians have a favourable view of PM Modi. In fact, 55 per cent Indians have a very favourable view of Indias prime minister.

The research also says around seven in 10 Indians believe their country has recently become more influential. However, this shouldnt come as a surprise to those who have been following Indias domestic politics with videsh me desh ka naam badhaya hai being a common refrain even in Indias hinterlands of late.

Pew Research also took samples from across the world  24 countries in total  and found the public opinion of India was generally positive globally with a median of 46 per cent reporting favourable views. Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers PM Modi as his friend, has the most favourable view of India, with a whopping 71 per cent Israelis saying they view India positively.

What is very interesting is that these findings are coming in despite the Opposition stalling the entire Monsoon Session, blaming the BJP government in the state and Centre over ethnic violence in Manipur. The violence erupted on May 3 this year when the research was ongoing and concluded on May 22, which clearly shows the mood of the nation is pro-Modi. This prompted BJP to tweet from its official handle: The popularity of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi certainly remains intact!

Brand Modi vibrant even in historically non-BJP states

Modis brand image is popular even in states that dont prefer the BJP. One of the prominent examples of that is Biju Janata Dal (BJD)-ruled Odisha.

The electoral cycle has been such that assembly and general elections take place simultaneously. In 2019, the state overwhelmingly chose Naveen Patnaiks BJD with 112 seats while the BJP had to settle for just 23. However, in Lok Sabha, the difference between the two parties shrank. BJP won eight seats while the BJD  which overwhelmingly won the assembly poll  managed five extra. During campaigns, many BJD leaders reportedly told voters to trust them in the state while they can have a different view for electing those for Delhi.

Pratap Chandra Sarangi, a BJP MP from the state and a former Union minister in the Modi cabinet, told News18: This is a strange phenomenon. In spite of having favourable circumstances like demography going for it, BJPs organisation in the state failed to defeat BJD. However, it is the same state that votes for BJP in Lok Sabha. The reasons are simple  Narendra Modis image.

Another instance is the National Capital Territory, commonly known as Delhi. Arvind Kejriwals AAP crushed the BJP in 2020 as it won 62 of 70 seats. The BJP managed just eight. However, just a year before that in Lok Sabha, the AAP couldnt win a single seat and all seven went to BJP.

So what makes Narendra Modi shockproof from any signs of anti-incumbency? Pollsters say its the trend of development-oriented positive politics. They insist that when it comes to India, voters prefer a strong face who can shield the nation from external interferences while having a forward-looking agenda instead of blaming it on the Opposition.

From the ramparts of Red Fort this year, PM Modi made a clarion call for Vision 2047  something that seems to go well with aspirational New India  An India that doesnt want to be dictated by we cant because and rather prefers yes, we can.

Somehow, Narendra Modi seems to have captured the imagination of voters of this New India. His success rate, even after nine years, three months, and six days, is evidence that pro-incumbency as a thought exists.
Google is looking to find the best solution to tackle the challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI). As we all know, AI-generated images have become common on the internet, not just limited to social media. Media companies have started regulating the use of such content to avoid any possible copyright infringement. But it is safe to say that some of the AI tech can make it hard to tell whether a photo has been created using AI or manually developed from scratch.

Google wants to make that process easier for people and is using its AI division DeepMind to create a tool that can detect AI-generated images and even add a watermark to them, which helps people immediately recognise the origin of the photo.

The AI division has released the beta version of the software called Synth ID which will add a watermark to the pixels of an image that might not be visible to our eyes but the technology will be able to detect the identity of the image.

Having the software in beta version, allows DeepMind to keep testing new unreleased features with a limited group of users and companies. Google is using its extremely resourceful deep learning models to conceive the watermark tool and the company claims that adding the mark will have no implication on the quality of the image, colour levels and other aspects.

While the efforts from Synth ID is a step in the right direction, the pace at which AI tech is evolving, the industry will need more enhanced solutions to help avoid major catastrophe caused by AI misinformation, especially in cases where Deepfakes are involved. With major government elections lined up in the next 12 months, it is imperative that the beta model of Synth ID delivers on its promise and helps the world avoid the perils of using AI for wrongful practices.

Google has talked about being responsible for regulating AI but its continuous efforts to gain control of the segment will need to have other players involved for easier and faster access to products and tools like these.
The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) has written a letter to the IT Ministry, requesting the government to rethink its decision on import licensing requirement accompanied by a quota, which was extended by 3 months until October 31, fearing that this may lead to price rise in consumer electronics products as companies are not yet prepared for manufacturing PCs, laptops and servers domestically at scale.

In the letter sent to Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, MeitY, on August 22 and seen by IANS, Pankaj Mohindroo who is the Chairman of ICEA wrote that an overarching factor that should be taken into consideration in avoiding supply chain disruption till domestic production ramps up is that any reduction in supplies or even an indication will lead to hoarding and market distortion.

This, in turn, can push up consumer prices, which will adversely impact not just key stakeholders such as students, but also those who are the core of growing the digital economy, i.e. start-ups, IT and ITES firms, BPOs, he said.

It is critical that we ensure an uninterrupted supply for at least a year, till such time we can build up domestic capacity, Mohindroo noted.

The ICEA pitched that the industry seeks at least nine-month breather after the PLI for IT Hardware was launched.

The government may undertake a re-assessment of the investment pipeline and the supply situation before inviting the industry to discuss whether any further policy intervention is needed at that stage. It may be too early to assess the full implication of the new scheme before then, according to the ICEA letter.

Where servers are concerned, the ICEA has received inputs that companies in that sector seek a relook at their inclusion in the proposed intervention.

Overall, we will request the government to layer any intervention in a manner that works well for the industry as a whole, since individual companies are differently placed, at varying degrees of investments and products at this stage, the letter read.

The Central government earlier deferred its decision to restrict the import of certain categories of laptops and computers until November 1, allowing companies three-months time to import these devices.

Post November 1, no entity will be allowed to import laptops, computers, and related items without a license.

According to the ICEA, a one size fits all approach will need reconsideration by the government.

Earlier this month, top consumer electronics companies like HP, Apple and Dell urged the government to extend the November 1 deadline for the licences required for PCs, laptops and tablets by at least and year, as it will take time to configure and set up manufacturing/assembling units as per new guidelines.

The PLI 2.0 for IT hardware has garnered applications from 40 companies including global and domestic, according to the ICEA.

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday that 32 companies like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Foxconn, Acer, and Thomson, among others, have applied under the PLI 2.0 scheme for IT hardware.

The expected incremental production under the scheme is around Rs 3.35 lakh crore, according to the minister.

Several domestic companies such as Dixon Technologies, VVDN, and Netweb are among the applicants under the 2.0 scheme for IT hardware.
When people proclaim that learning knows no age boundaries, little did they realise that they were referencing this man who boldly challenged convention by choosing to return to college in his mid-30s, a rare occurrence indeed. While some might perceive it as a source of embarrassment to pursue studies at such an age, various factors like family responsibilities and job commitments often stand in the way of embarking on an educational journey. However, a recent post by an X user shed light on how his friend decided to confront these challenges and resume his studies by enrolling in a postgraduate program. Unsurprisingly, the post quickly gained widespread attention, leaving Desis inspired.

In the post shared by X user @ravihanda, he expressed, A close friend has decided to go back to college in his mid 30s. Has a job and a kid under 1. Hats off to people who can pull stuff off like this.

Also Read: This Viral Video of Crafty Student And Observant Invigilator Will Take You Back to School

Alongside the caption, he attached a screenshot of his friends acceptance letter, which read, Dear Participant, We are extremely pleased to share that you have cleared the selection process for the Post Graduate Management Program (PGEMP) at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai and your nomination to the program has been accepted.

Check it Out:

A close friend has decided to go back to college in his mid 30s.Has a job and a kid under 1. Hats off to people who can pull stuff off like this. pic.twitter.com/s3845brwPA  Ravi Handa (@ravihanda) August 31, 2023

Soon after, the post gained immense popularity for all the right reasons, with people sharing their own stories of pursuing education later in life. One user proudly mentioned, My father got a law degree at 58. Then retired at 60 and started practicing law. Another individual shared their achievement, stating, I just cleared PGEMP at 40, with a kid and a demanding job, pretty doable if priorities are well set.

Meanwhile, others showered him with praise, with one commenter advising, Ask him to enjoy his time during campus days; it is grinding. Another user simply exclaimed, So good.

Also Read: Google Engineer Finds Out College Juniors He Taught are Working at Amazon, Heartfelt Post Goes Viral

Indeed, this story serves as a perfect testament to the fact that the pursuit of knowledge knows no limits.
Fifteen people, including a three-year-old child, were killed Thursday when a fire ripped through a house used as a clothing factory in the Philippines, officials said.

The blaze broke out at around 5:00 am (2100 GMT) in the two-storey building in Manila, local fire marshal Senior Superintendent Aristotle Banaga told a news conference.

Eighteen people were inside the suburban house at the time of the inferno, local mayor Joy Belmonte said.

Three people escaped, but the rest died, including the owner of the house and business.

Video footage of the fire posted on social media and verified by AFP showed flames engulfing the building made of wood and concrete in a residential neighbourhood.

The cause of the blaze was still under investigation, Banaga said.

The building had a business permit for trading in shoes and bags, but instead was being used to make and print T-shirts, officials said. It had only three declared employees.

We saw many legal violations here, Belmonte said.

That became the reason why there is this kind of tragic incident in our city.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday hoped that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping would attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi. Biden, along with more than two dozen world leaders, is scheduled to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi next week that is being hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Recent media reports said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are not likely to attend the summit.

The answer is I hope he attends the G20 Summit, Biden told reporters Thursday when asked if he is expecting President Xi to attend the meet. Meanwhile, Farwa Aamer, Director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), said that President Xis skipping of the G20 Summit in India could be seen as evidence that China at this point of time is reluctant to cede the centre stage to India.

Perhaps the most significant development so far, which some may say was expected, has been President Xis decision to skip the upcoming G20 Summit hosted by India. This move carries multifaceted implications. Firstly, it can be inferred that China is reluctant to cede the centre stage to India, particularly within the region and the broader neighbourhood. This underscores Chinas intention to maintain its dominant role and influence, directly impacting the delicate balance of power in the region, Aamer said.

Secondly, President Xis absence serves as a reminder that achieving de-escalation at the border will require sustained and intricate diplomatic efforts. The negotiation process will be protracted, intertwined with the broader geopolitical landscape of the Himalayan region and Chinas strategic competition with the United States, she said. The absence of high-profile summits such as the G20 from President Xis schedule highlights the intricate layers of negotiations and the imperative of ensuring that domestic audiences are aligned with the diplomatic path forward, she said.

Looking ahead, it is evident that Sino-India relations are navigating complex terrain. The border issues are deeply intertwined with historical disputes, national pride, and strategic interests. As both nations vie for influence on the global stage, their interactions will be influenced by not only regional dynamics but also the overarching framework of great power competition between China and the United States, Aamer said. As for the G20 Summit, the eventual outcome will serve as a barometer of the extent to which geopolitical tensions and strategic competition are impacting global economic cooperation and multilateral diplomacy, she said.

Since the Galwan clashes of 2020, Sino-India relations have been marked by escalating tensions and unresolved border issues, she said, adding that despite multiple rounds of diplomatic discussions and the recent meeting of corps commanders, a clear and easy resolution to the border disputes remains elusive. Prime Minister Modis repeated statements that the trajectory of Sino-India relations hinges on the situation along the border highlight the significance of this issue. As it stands, the prospects of a swift settlement seem remote, at least in the near future, Aamer said.

The bilateral dynamics were enigmatic, with hints of a potential meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi during the BRICS Summit. However, the actual interaction was limited to a brief exchange, reflecting the deep-seated complexities at play, she said. Chinas subsequent release of a new map, asserting its sovereignty over the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin plateau, further exacerbated tensions. Indias strong protest, including Foreign Minister S Jaishankars labelling of Chinas claim as absurd, underscored the gravity of the situation. On its part, China employed a familiar strategy, urging all parties to remain objective and avoid over-interpreting the issue, Aamer said.
As many as four Asian countries have joined India in protesting a new Chinese map that claims Indias territory and maritime areas in the South China Sea, ahead of next weeks Group of 20 summit in New Delhi.

Vietnam was the latest to reject Beijings claims based on the nine-dash line in the disputed waters. In response to Chinas standard map 2023, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang reiterated its sovereignty over Paracel and Spratly Islands.

Images aired on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday showed people visiting a map release conference and exhibition in the Chinese capital. Media reports said that Beijing had released an official standard map wrongly showing Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as its territory.

Besides border claims, China has ramped up the development of artificial islands and outfitted some with military facilities and runways. Other Southeast Asian nations have also accused Chinese vessels of harassing their fishing boats.

Countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, have also rejected the map over expansive claims in the South China Sea. Even Taiwan publicly rejected the claims new map.

India was the first to reject the claims made in the new map on Tuesday. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar dismissed Chinas territorial claims. A day later, China urged calm after releasing a new map claiming Indian territory.

Calling the map release a routine practice in accordance with Chinas exercise of sovereignty, Beijing doubled down on the issue. On Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin urged objectivity during a news briefing in Beijing.

This row over the new map less than a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi informally spoke to Chinas President Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, where PM Modi highlighted New Delhis concerns about unresolved border issues.

The External Affairs Ministry said the two leaders agreed to intensify efforts to de-escalate tension at the border that was sparked by the deadly clash in the Ladakh region three years ago.

(With agency inputs)
US talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hollywood actor Dwayne The Rock Johnson have launched a recovery fund for the people who lost housing in the Hawaii wildfires. Two of the biggest celebrities in the United States announced the move in a video shared on Instagram on Thursday. They started the campaign by donating USD 10 million and are inviting the American public to help in the effort.

Were honored to announce the Peoples Fund of Maui, a fund putting money directly in the pockets of those who were affected by the recent wildfires, Oprah said in her post. As we have seen firsthand, the impacts of these wildfires have been devastating, and were here to ensure with 100% guarantee that your donations will go directly into the hands of Lahaina residents.

In the video, she said that the Peoples Fund of Maui will put money directly in the hands of the people who need it right now, explaining that adults who lost their primary homes in the Lahaina and Kula fires are eligible to receive $1200 a month. This includes both homeowners and renters.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Oprah (@oprah)

We are honored to start this campaign with $10 million dollars and ask for your help in donating to those who have lost their homes. We thank you in advance for your contribution, she added.

At least 115 people were killed in the fires that ripped through the historic town of Lahaina in the Maui County of Hawaii on August 8. It was the deadliest fire in the United States in over a century.

On Wednesday, US weather forecasters warned that gusty winds and low humidity increased the risk that fires could spread rapidly in the western parts of each Hawaiian island, though they were not as powerful as the winds that helped fuel the deadly blaze three weeks ago.

In the announcement, Johnson and Winfrey said they consulted with community elders, leaders and residents. They hope the fund will continue to make transfers to qualifying residents for at least six months, adding that it would be up to the American public to determine how long the fund extends, based on their donations.

According to the funds website, applicants must show a US government ID and a utility bill in their name to qualify for the Peoples Fund of Maui.
A headless bronze statue believed to depict the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius was ordered seized from the Cleveland Museum of Art by New York authorities investigating antiquities looted from Turkey.

A warrant signed by a judge in Manhattan on Aug. 14 ordered the seizure of the statue, which the museum acquired in 1986 and had been a highlight of its collection of ancient Roman art.

The warrant was secured as part of an ongoing investigation into a smuggling network involving antiquities looted from Bubon in southwestern Turkey and trafficked through Manhattan, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. No details of the investigation were provided.

The 76-inch (1.9-meter) statue dates from A.D. 180 to 200 and is worth $20 million, according to the district attorneys office.

The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported that the statue was removed from view more than two months ago and that the museum changed the description of the piece on its website, where it now calls the statue a Draped Male Figure  instead of indicating a connection to Marcus Aurelius.

Turkey first made claims about the statue in 2012 when it released a list of nearly two dozen objects in the Cleveland museums collection that it said had been looted from Bubon and other locations. Museum officials said at the time that Turkey had provided no hard evidence of looting.

The enduring dispute surrounding this matter has kept him separated from his hometown, Zeynep Boz of Turkeys Ministry of Culture and Tourism said of the statue.

In an emailed statement, Boz said the seizure provides a strong sense of hope, long-awaited, for the rectification of a willing wrongdoing.

Todd Mesek, a spokesperson for the museum, said in a statement Thursday that the museum could not comment on the Marcus Aurelius statue while it is the subject of litigation.

Mesek said the museum takes provenance issues very seriously and reviews claims to objects in the collection carefully and responsibly.

The Manhattan district attorneys office has worked in recent years to repatriate hundreds of objects looted from countries including Turkey, Greece, Israel and Italy. It was unclear who might be targeted in the investigation of the statue seized in Cleveland.

Marcus Aurelius ruled as Roman emperor from A.D. 161 to 180 and was a Stoic philosopher whose Meditations have been studied over the centuries.

The seized statue shows a man in flowing robes holding one hand in front of him in a regal pose.
More than 2.7 million Singaporeans are expected to vote in the countrys first contested presidential election on Friday in more than a decade. In a three-way contest, former Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam hopes to become the next head of state of the Asian financial capital.

The 66-year-old Indian-origin economist has made significant strides in both the public and private sectors. He has managed a distinguished career and is widely respected in his country and internationally. Tharman launched his presidential campaign this year with a pledge to evolve the countrys culture to keep it a shining spot in the world. He is among the three candidates chosen under strict criteria vying for the presidency.

With an undergraduate degree in economics from the London School of Economics and a masters degree in economics from Cambridge University, he is known for his contributions to the countrys economic development.

Tharman, who served as Singapores Deputy PM between 2011-2019, resigned from public and political posts to run for the presidency. He joined politics in 2001 and served in ministerial positions with the ruling Peoples Action Party (PAP) for over two decades. He is widely regarded as the pick of the PAP, even though the party has no official say in the voting process.

He supports his qualification to be the next president of the prosperous state by citing his experience in several fields, along with significant experience in the government. Tharman began his public service career as Trade and Industry Minister in 1987, where he worked on various economic policies and initiatives. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the Permanent Secretary of the Education Ministry in 2003.

During his tenure as the MD of Singapores central bank, he played a crucial role in steering the countrys financial sector through global economic challenges, earning praise on the way.

His political career has been marked by a series of accomplishments. He entered the political scene as a Member of Parliament in 2001 and has since served in various ministerial positions. He has held the role of Minister for Finance, overseeing Singapores economic policies and budgets, and Minister for Education, focusing on education reform and development.

During his tenure as the Deputy PM and Minister in Charge of Social Policies, he implemented policies aimed at narrowing income inequality and providing support to the vulnerable population.

His expertise in economics and his contributions to public policy have earned him global recognition. He is regarded as a prominent figure in forums, including the IMF, where he served as the Chairman of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC).

If he succeeds, he will be the third Indian-origin president. The first two presidents of Indian heritage were Sellapan Ramanathan (1999-2011) and Chengara Veetil Devan Nair (1981-1985).

(With agency inputs)
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda during his upcoming visit to China will take up the matter pertaining to the countrys newly issued map that shows Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh as Indian territories, a senior leader of the ruling coalition partner CPN- Maoist Centre said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, CPN-Maoist Centre spokesperson Agni Sapkota said that the matter relating to the map issued by China this week needs to be raised through diplomatic channels during the visit.

Prime Minister Prachanda will be leaving Kathmandu on September 15 for a visit to the USA and later to China.

Prime Minister and party chairman Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda will discuss the matter with the Chinese leadership during his upcoming visit to China. The matter relating to the map issued by China needs to be raised through diplomatic channels during the visit, he said.

Relations between New Delhi and Kathmandu were strained on several occasions after Nepal published a new political map in 2020 that showed three Indian territories  Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh  as part of Nepal.

In the same year, then-president Bidya Devi Bhandari signed a Constitution amendment bill to update the countrys new political map, which incorporated three strategically important Indian areas, hours after the Parliament approved it.

India reacted sharply, calling it a unilateral act and cautioned Kathmandu that such artificial enlargement of territorial claims would not be acceptable to it.

China on Monday issued a new edition of its national map which was rejected by several nations, including India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

India lodged a strong protest with China over its so-called standard map laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin, and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

The External Affairs Ministry also rejected Chinas claims as having no basis.
Pakistan caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar said Pakistanis will have to pay their electricity bills in full on Thursday at the Prime Ministers House.

Kakar fuelled speculation in the minds of Pakistanis when he and some of his ministers hinted towards an immediate relief. However, he told reporters that people will have to pay their outstanding bills. This will likely anger Pakistanis more because many of them missed their deadlines and now may have to pay the late fees.

In order to stem further unrest fuelled by the highly inflated electricity bills, the Pakistan PM said that neither army men, nor government officials or the judiciary enjoy discounted electricity bills when questioned about social media rumours that certain sections of the society were entitled to free units.

If someone tells me here that electricity units of judges, generals, and Wapda employees are free, should I accept that? We have to officially inquire about the factual position. It is mixed, Kakar was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

We have no ulterior motive, plan or larger-than-life grand ambitions for which we are speaking here. It is not like oppressive rulers have come to power and are sucking the blood of the poor. If someone is thinking like this, then they must shun this thought, he further added.

The common man in Pakistan will not be happy despite Kakars attempts to calm tensions. In order to buy some more time, Kakar said a fresh announcement will be made soon. We will announce a relief package for electricity consumers in two days, but I cannot share its details because people will start criticising us if we cannot fulfil our promise for any reason, Kakar said, while his ministers chose to blame the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and previous governments for the crisis.

Pakistan saw protests throughout this week across the country with people demanding relief from the exorbitant electricity bills. Protest marches were taken out and people burnt electricity bills in protest.

After failing to announce a relief plan for electricity bills, the Kakar-led government also raised fuel prices in Pakistan. A litre of petrol now costs PKR 300. The Pakistan interim government increased the petroleum levy on petrol by PKR 5 per litre.

Owing to the increasing trend of petroleum prices in the international market and exchange rate variations, the government has decided to revise the existing consumer prices of petroleum products, the Pakistan finance ministry said.
The city of Colorado Springs is studying where a new passenger rail station could be built in town to serve a line between Fort Collins and Pueblo. AP file photo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will host his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, the Kremlin said, amid hopes the two can restore a deal ensuring safe passage for grain shipments.

Russia pulled out from the UN-backed grain agreement that Turkey helped broker in July, effectively revoking safe navigation for civilian ships sailing through the Black Sea. Negotiations will indeed take place in Sochi on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

Moscows announcement came shortly after Ukraine said two more ships were sailing through a temporary corridor Kyiv had set up to ensure safe navigation.

Two vessels are sailing through a temporary corridor from Ukraines Black Sea ports to the Bosphorus, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on social media.

Kyiv announced the new maritime corridor in August after Moscow warned ships leaving Ukraines ports could be considered military targets.

Turkeys foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on a visit to Moscow on Thursday that reviving the deal to ship Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea was critical for food security.

Turkey wants the warring sides to return to the agreement and use it as a basis for broader peace talks.

Moscow says the previous agreement imposed indirect restrictions on its grain and fertiliser exports by limiting Russias access to global payment systems and insurance.

It has repeatedly said it could return to the deal if its demands are met.
President Vladimir Putin told pupils at the start of the school year on Friday that it was impossible to defeat Russia as Moscows offensive in Ukraine grinds through its nineteenth month.

I understood why we won the Great Patriotic War, Putin said, referring to World War II, adding: It is impossible to defeat this kind of nation with this kind of attitude. We were absolutely invincible. And we are the same now.

Putin spoke to the children during a lecture called Important Conversations. Thirty high-achieving schoolchildren were selected to attend Putins lecture.

Important Conversations were introduced after the start of the Kremlins assault on Ukraine to boost patriotic sentiment.

The patriotism classes combine World War II revisionism, lessons on Russian values and the Kremlins narrative about Moscows troops protecting compatriots in Ukraine.

Across Russia, schoolchildren have been encouraged to send letters to Russian soldiers in Ukraine and make camouflage nets and candles for the trenches.

During the lecture, Putin said that Russia would seek to ensure security in the four Ukrainian regions the Kremlin claimed to have annexed last year without fully controlling them.

Last year Putin travelled to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad for the start of the school year, saying Moscow sent troops to Ukraine to protect Russia.

In June, Kyiv launched its long-anticipated counteroffensive but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman will visit Pakistan in the second week of September before visiting India. His visit to Islamabad will be a very short one, people familiar with the developments said, pointing out that the visit will not be more than four to six hours.

After his visit to Islamabad on September 10, he will begin his trip to India.

People familiar with the developments said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, also known as, MBS, will meet caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir.

However, they also said that the primary objective of the meeting will be to meet the army chief and strengthen his image because Pakistan army chief Munir will be handling important issues as he will remain in-charge behind the scenes and until an elected government replaces the caretaker setup.

The people mentioned above also said that there is nothing much to read in his decision to visit Islamabad before New Delhi and it is a mere balancing act by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

Even though there is hardly any reason for Mohammad Bin Salman to visit Pakistan when a caretaker government is running the nation and one reason could be to assess if any avenues can be opened with regard to investments.

Pakistan is on sale and Saudi Arabia is one of the buyers. His visit can open more avenues, one of aforementioned people told CNN-News18.

They said that another reason is to maintain the goodwill between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

MBS wants to show his gratitude because Pakistan has handed to Saudi Arabia a major chunk of the business of the Gwadar Refinery project. Also it is important for the Saudi Arabian leader to visit Pakistan at this moment in order to not face criticism from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

There is no other reason for MBS to go when nothing is in place, one of the aforementioned people said.

The discussions between the leadership of the two countries will focus on the promotion of Pak-Saudi Arabia relations, defence ties, and joint military exercises, the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement announcing his visit.

It should be noted that Mohammad Bin Salman was also scheduled to visit Pakistan late last year but it was later postponed.
Millions living across southern China are bracing for Super Typhoon Saola as it moved towards Hong Kong and Shenzhen packing sustained wind speeds at 210 kilometres per hour.

If the typhoon makes landfall in Chinas Guangdong Province, it could be one of the most powerful typhoons to hit the region.

Super Typhoon Saola has led to cancellations of hundreds of flights, shutting business and closing schools. On Friday, the super typhoon Saola was 180 km east-southeast of Hong Kong.

Due to the oncoming super typhoon the stock market in Hong Kong cancelled trading as the city authorities issued the T8 signal  the citys third-highest typhoon warning level.

Shenzhen in Guangdong has halted work, businesses and market activity from 4 pm and said that transportation services will be halted in the evening.

Apart from emergency response personnel and livelihood protection personnel, people are advised not to go out. The city will open all shelters for the public to take refuge, the Shenzhen Emergency Department said.

Chinese state-run media predicted that super typhoon Saola would make landfall in the coastal areas stretching from Huilai to Hong Kong on Friday afternoon or evening.

Hong Kong authorities warned that it could go round 100 kilometres south of the territory, causing a storm surge around Victoria Harbour.

Residents of the city were reminded of the 2018 Typhoon Mangkhut which injured more than 300 people and water levels rose to high levels.

There is a possibility that authorities may raise the threat level to the highest T10.

Hong Kong airport authorities said that due to super typhoon Saola arriving and departing flights have basically been cancelled.

As of now, we have had 366 flights cancelled and 40 flights delayed Thanks to the support of airlines and our various service providers, we could ensure that 600 flights today operated normally, Wing Yeung, general manager of Airport Authority terminal operations was quoted as saying by AFP.

Stronger building codes and better flood management systems have reduced fatalities in southern Chinese cities which witness typhoons that form in the warm oceans east of the Philippines and then travel west in summer and autumn.

Hong Kong witnessed drizzles but wind and rain is expected to pick up later.

South Korean capital Seoul witnessed large-scale displacement of people earlier this week as Saola passed the northern Philippines, but no direct casualties have been reported.
A Russian-German man arrested earlier this week in Cyprus was charged Thursday by US authorities with seeking to export American-made electronics to Russia for military use.

The US Department of Justice said Arthur Petrov, 33, violated export controls in a scheme to procure American microelectronics for a Russian firm which provides critical electronics components to the Russian military.

Petrov used a cover company in Cyprus, telling US vendors that the electronics were to be used in Cyprus or other authorized countries for fire security systems, the Justice Department said.

The things he sought to buy were microcontrollers and integrated circuits that cannot be lawfully exported to Russia, and Petrov was aware of that, it said.

The ultimate buyer, according to the Justice Department, was a Saint Petersburg company named Electrocom VPK, which supplies electronic components for Russian weapons makers.

Petrov was arrested in Cyprus on August 26, at the request of the United States, the department said.

It did not say if a formal extradition request had been submitted.

He is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, smuggling, wire fraud, and money laundering.

Several of the charges bring up to 20 years in prison.

The United States, along with European and other democratic countries, has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered the devastating invasion of pro-Western Ukraine.

Those who evade our export control restrictions to support Putins brutal war machine will be held accountable, said Assistant US Secretary of Commerce Matthew Axelrod in a statement.
Two senior members of the Proud Boys militia were handed hefty prison sentences Thursday for their role in the 2021 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.

Joe Biggs, the Florida leader of the self-styled paramilitary group, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges, one year shy of the longest sentence given to a participant in the January 6, 2021 riot.

Zachary Rehl, leader of the Philadelphia Proud Boys arm, got 15 years in prison on the same charges.

Prosecutors called them key figures in the attack by thousands seeking to forcibly overturn Joe Bidens November 2020 election victory, after Trump repeatedly claimed without any basis that there was massive fraud in the vote.

The attack, which followed a rally at the White House in which Trump urged supporters to march to the Capitol to protest against certification of the election, broke our tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, which is one of the most precious things that we had as Americans, Judge Timothy Kelly said Thursday.

Kelly rejected prosecutors call for up to 33 years in prison, saying the attack was hardly a terrorist-like mass casualty event, and neither Biggs nor Rehl killed anybody.

Nevertheless, Kelly said, There is a need for deterrence.

Aimed to terrify officials

They were two of five Proud Boys figures, including national chairman Enrique Tarrio, convicted on May 4 for taking a leading role in the military-style assault on the Capitol.

Rehl, Biggs, Tarrio and Ethan Nordean were convicted of seditious conspiracy, while the fifth, Dominic Pezzola, was found innocent on the sedition charge.

All five were also convicted for obstruction of a congressional proceeding, impeding law enforcement and destruction of government property.

Biggs, 39, is a US Army veteran who had worked closely with Tarrio to organize the group to storm the seat of Congress.

Two months before the attack, he posted that it was time for war, referring to Trumps election loss to Biden.

After January 6, he declared on social media that the attack was a warning for the government.

Ahead of sentencing Thursday, prosecutor Jason McCullough said what Biggs and his fellow rioters had done in shutting down the Congress that day was no different than the act of a spectacular bombing of a building.

They aimed to intimidate and terrify elected officials, he said, equating the January 6 attack to terrorism.

A tearful Biggs however expressed deep regret for what had happened.

Im so sorry, he told the federal court in Washington.

I know that I messed up that day, but Im not a terrorist, he said.

Trump blamed

Norman Pattis, the attorney for both Biggs and Rehl, told the court that they followed the guidance of Trump in undertaking the attack, and questioned why Trump himself had not been charged with sedition.

Earlier this month a Justice Department special prosecutor charged Trump with separate conspiracy crimes for his role in advancing the false claim that the election had been stolen from him.

What they did is they listened to the president of the United States, Pattis told the court.

The are guilty of believing the president who told them the country was being stolen from them, he said.

Rehl, 38, a former US Marine, broke out in tears as he asked the judge for a lighter sentence.

I wasted all my time on politics for people who arent even here today, who never offered any support, and who carelessly watched as I sank further to the bottom, he said.

Over 1,100 charged

Biggss sentence was one year short of the 18-year sentence given in May to Stewart Rhodes, the founder of another far-right militia central to the Capitol siege, the Oath Keepers.

Kellys rulings Thursday suggested that Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who organized the group to go to Washington but was not at the Capitol himself, can expect a similar outcome when he is sentenced on September 5.

Prosecutors also recommended 33 years behind bars for him.

More than 1,100 people have been charged by the Justice Department in the Capitol attack.

Some 630 of them have pleaded guilty to various charges, and 110 have been found guilty at trial.

The government continues to prosecute people who took part in the insurrection, which resulted in five deaths and saw scores of police officers attacked and hospitalised.

On Thursday the Justice Department announced that two men were arrested in Virginia on charges relating to their participation in the storming of the Capitol, after being identified from open-source photographs and videos.
Prominent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was reportedly abducted from outside the latters residence in Lahore on Friday, hours after he was released in a graft case. Pakistani TV channels showed footage of men in plain clothes accompanied by uniformed Punjab police dragging the former chief minister out of his vehicle, according to Dawn newspaper.

The provincial police is yet to comment on the development and it is not clear whose custody the PTI leader is in at this point, the report said.

Moonis Elahi, a former federal minister and Parvezs son wrote on X, After the high courts orders and on the judges instructions police including court security were taking my father home. As the car entered our street, it was stopped and he was abducted.

          pic.twitter.com/NYcv4G4oh4 Moonis Elahi (@MoonisElahi6) September 1, 2023

He said that if courts were going to be ridiculed like this maybe they should officially declare it. The former Punjab CMs abduction came after a Pak court ordered the National Accountability to release the PTI president and barred authorities from arresting him in any case.

He is facing a series of arrests in a number of legal proceedings. These events followed his initial arrest on June 1, linked to alleged kickbacks in development projects.

His other cases involve various corruption charges, including alleged illegal recruitments and embezzlement in development projects. On June 20, he was implicated in a money laundering case along with his son and PTI other leaders.

Elahis arrests led to legal actions, dismissals of bail pleas, and judicial remands. Notably, the Lahore High Court ordered his release in one case, citing threats to his life.

His arrests are being seen as part of a wider crackdown on PTI leadership following the May 9 riots during protests over the partys chief and former prime minister Imran Khans removal by paramilitary personnel at Islamabad High Court premises.
Chip manufacturer Intel revealed plans to invest US$1.2 billion into its Costa Rican business over the next two years, to fuel development in next-generation technologies.

In a statement, the US chip giant detailed the investment will ensure its operations in the country stay at a high standard of remaining a giant in the semiconductor industry.

Intel added the investment affirms its commitment to developing Costa Rica and aiding the country in its digital transformation ambitions. The money will be used to update infrastructure and technical and engineering skills, push the development of future products and invest in local staffing. Intel stated it will promote job creation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The company has 3,300 staff in the LATAM country across a 26,000-square-metre plant.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly addressed rumors about threats to his safety days before his business jet fell from the sky. "For those who are discussing whether I am alive or not ... everything's OK," Prigozhin says in a short video released Thursday by a Telegram channel with ties to the mercenary leader, per the BBC . It was reportedly filmed days before Aug. 23, when Prigozhin and nine others died in a plane crash near Moscow. US and British officials believe it was a deliberate killing orchestrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in revenge for Prigozhin leading a short-lived rebellion against the country's military leadership in June, a claim Russia denies. The plane crash came two months to the day after the rebellion.

The channel that released the video, the Wagner-linked Grey Zone, claimed the Russian military shot down Prigozhin's plane, without offering evidence. The video of Prigozhin, recorded in a moving vehicle, is thought to have been recorded in mid-August, possibly Aug. 19 or 20. "For those who are discussing whether I'm alive or not, how I'm doing, right now it's the weekend, second half of August 2023, I'm in Africa," Prigozhin says in translated remarks, per the BBC. "So for people who like to discuss wiping me out, or my private life, how much I earn or whatever else, everything's OK." Prigozhin is shown wearing a camouflage top and hat, which matches what he is wearing in a video released Aug. 21, which Prigozhin claimed was also filmed in Africa, per CNN. (Prigozhin was buried on Tuesday.)
A man newly transferred to Oregon's psychiatric hospital managed to escape while fully shackled and drove off in a stolen van, the Oregon State Police said Thursday. Christopher Pray, who was previously charged with attempted murder and other crimes, was last seen driving south on Interstate 5, the Oregon State Police said on Facebook, calling him a "dangerous escapee." An employee of the Oregon State Hospital was injured during the escape, spokesperson Amber Shoebridge said, per the AP .

State Police said they were notified Wednesday night of the escape. Pray "eluded law enforcement southbound on Interstate 5," they said, without specifying how he managed to escape despite being "fully restrained with leg shackles, a belly chain, handcuffs, and a restraint connecting all three together." Pray faced charges including attempted murder, robbery, assault, and felon in possession of a firearm in Multnomah County Circuit Court, where Portland is located, but was sent on Wednesday to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem after he was found unfit to proceed with trial, according to court records.

Shoebridge said in an emailed statement that Pray had "an altercation with another patient" shortly after he was admitted and needed to be taken away for treatment, per the AP. When he was brought back to the Oregon State Hospital that night in an unmarked Oregon State Hospital van, Pray was "able to gain control of the van and drive away." Shoebridge provided no details on the staff member's injury. Pray, who was wearing a white T-shirt, maroon sweatpants and black rubber slippers, is considered extremely dangerous, police said. They asked the public to dial 911 and report any sightings of him or the white 2016 Dodge Caravan he was driving.

(Read more escape stories.)
On the eve of the celebration of the 32nd Anniversary of the Independence of Uzbekistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed a Decree On pardoning a group of people serving a sentence in the form of deprivation of liberty, who sincerely repented of their actions and firmly embarked on the path of correction", Azernews reports, citing Kun.uz news agency.

By the Decree, according to paragraph 23 of Article 109 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 286 citizens have been pardoned serving sentences of imprisonment who sincerely repented of their actions and firmly embarked on the path of correction.

Of those pardoned, 109 persons were completely released from serving the main sentence, 116 were released from serving their sentence on parole, and the punishment imposed on 25 persons was replaced with a milder one. In addition, the terms of imprisonment imposed on 36 persons have been reduced.

30 of them are foreign citizens, 39 women, 22 men over 60 years old, and 3 persons who participated in the activities of prohibited organizations.

By the Decree, responsible ministries and agencies have been instructed to return pardoned persons to their families and relatives, assist them in social adaptation, involvement in work, choosing a healthy lifestyle, and taking a worthy place in society.
As broadband service providers continue to bring higher speeds to market, many are now offering residential customers gigabit and even multigigabit speeds over fibre. But, as good as these services can be, 95% of households then rely on Wi-Fi in the home to connect their devices.

If that Wi-Fi isnt good enough, the whole customer experience suffers. In order to differentiate and be more competitive, service providers need to complement the speeds that they bring to the home with an excellent in-home Wi-Fi proposition.

This is what Nokia is seeking to do with its latest solution: Nokia Corteca. Derived from the word cortex, the idea is that this is intelligence that drives broadband devices. Nokia Corteca works end-to-end, from applications embedded in the device, through the home, and into the cloud. This end-to-end approach maximizes Wi-Fi performance at every opportunity.

The cloud component of Corteca leverages multi-tenancy platforms such as Amazons AWS, Google Cloud platform, or Microsofts Azure. This makes it particularly appropriate for providers in low-ARPU emerging markets, as they can deploy Corteca to differentiate their service offering then scale as they grow.

The first component of Corteca Cloud is the Home Controller  a cloud-based platform for managed Wi-Fi and broadband device management. It continuously optimises Wi-Fi performance by extracting data from the home network which is then assessed by algorithms. Performance parameters are then adjusted automatically as needed, for example by changing Wi-Fi channel to avoid interference. From the cloud, service providers have visibility of all neighbouring networks and can then implement the right channels in different households, boosting performance.

Transmit power can also be checked from the cloud. This is interesting as, intuitively, customers set their router to 100% thinking that this will provide the best performance. But if everyone in an apartment building does this, there will be increased interference between neighbouring networks and performance will actually suffer. By performing measurements from the cloud, providers can identify dense areas and slightly reduce the transmit power to increase performance.

The second component of Corteca Cloud is the Corteca Console, the browser interface that offers real-time insights. This is a unique solution among vendors, allowing help desk agents to assess the in-home network holistically; the network topology, the client devices connected and traffic levels are displayed in real-time. It grants network administrators a network-wide view, enabling functions like KPI reporting across a service providers entire network. Network administrators can also tweak the parameters for Wi-Fi optimisation, which itself happens automatically every five minutes as data is collected.

Nokia has also embedded Corteca software across its broadband device portfolio (FTTH ONTs, FWA and Wi-Fi Beacons). The device software also carries out Wi-Fi optimization but locally and hence in real-time. While channel selection is best handled in the cloud, band-steering and client- steering need to happen in real-time. Corteca device software enables constant spectrum scanning, allowing for immediate problem detection and mitigation.

Another unique aspect of the Corteca solution is Corteca Applications. These offer new revenue-generating capabilities, such as cyber security, gaming optimization, video streaming, Wi-Fi sensing, and many others. Service providers can try and buy these applications in the Corteca Marketplace, then offer them to customers to generate new revenues. Marketplace makes it easy for providers to install new applications on customers devices one-by-one or in bulk and manage updates.

With Wi-Fi critical to the success of a broadband service, Corteca completely redefines how it should be delivered. The features described above enable three things:

An exceptional customer experience . First and foremost, Corteca ensures that customers get the best possible performance and connectivity. Through the combination of device software and cloud-based software, problems are detected and mitigated before customers even notice. This results in a significant improvement in customer loyalty.

. First and foremost, Corteca ensures that customers get the best possible performance and connectivity. Through the combination of device software and cloud-based software, problems are detected and mitigated before customers even notice. This results in a significant improvement in customer loyalty. New revenue streams . Corteca Applications directly generate revenues and can also be bundled with higher-tier broadband subscriptions to encourage uptake among customers. Once a customer has switched to a higher tier, they are unlikely to want to switch back, so this delivers a more consistent, higher ARPU for the provider.

. Corteca Applications directly generate revenues and can also be bundled with higher-tier broadband subscriptions to encourage uptake among customers. Once a customer has switched to a higher tier, they are unlikely to want to switch back, so this delivers a more consistent, higher ARPU for the provider. Reduced operational costs. Corteca results in fewer and shorter helpdesk calls, mainly through Wi-Fi optimisation but also through the increased visibility available to helpdesk agents. The Home Controller supports TR-369, allowing providers to manage both Nokia and third-party devices.

The tagline Nokia is using for Corteca  smarter broadband for a better experience  seems appropriate. The end-to-end approach certainly brings increased intelligence and insight to in-home connectivity, which should allow providers to deliver a better broadband experience to customers while also creating new revenue and cost saving opportunities.

To find out more about Corteca, click here.
Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf says he's "done a deep dive" into a shooting that injured two women attending a White Sox game at Chicago's Guaranteed Rate Field a week ago and "I don't see any way in the world that the shots could have come from inside the ballpark." A 42-year-old woman in the left field bleachers was shot twice in the leg, while a 26-year-old woman, seated a few rows ahead, suffered a graze wound to her abdomen during the Aug. 25 game, which continued to completion 90 minutes later, per the Chicago Sun-Times . Around 7:30pm, footage shows people in the vicinity stand up and look around them before two people raise their hands to flag down security.

Gunshot detection service ShotSpotter detected nine gunshots about a mile south of the ballpark around that time, per WLS. "At this point all (interim Chicago police Superintendent Fred Waller) is prepared to say is they have not ruled out that [the shots] came from outside the ballpark," Reinsdorf told reporters Thursday, per the Chicago Tribune. On Monday, however, Waller said investigators had "almost completely dispelled" the theory that the gunfire originated outside the venue, per the Sun-Times. Police released a statement Thursday evening, saying "detectives are actively investigating every avenue surrounding the circumstances of how this shooting incident transpired."

Though attendees must pass through metal detectors and have their bags searched, there's been some speculation that one of the two women managed to get a gun through security before accidentally firing it in Section 161. A police report notes the woman shot in the leg has a valid firearm owner's identification card, per the Sun-Times. But "she denies bringing a firearm into the stadium and further denies having anything to do with the discharge of a firearm at the stadium," her attorney, John Malm, says in a statement. He adds photographic evidence, X-rays, and medical experts "confirm the gunshot wound our client sustained was not self-inflicted."

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ESPN reporter Peggy Kusinski alleged Tuesday that the woman who suffered a graze wound "snuck the gun in past metal detectors hiding it in the folds of her belly fat" before "an accidental discharge," per USA Today. A colleague of the woman found a bullet in her hoodie, per the Sun-Times. "I felt a pinch in my back ... sure enough I picked up a damn bullet," the woman said in a Facebook post that has since been deleted. "Still in shock ... but I am fine." Those women were seated a few rows in front of the victim who suffered two gunshot wounds to her right leg. "One of the bullets traveled through her thigh, and the other struck her calf and became lodged in her shin," per the Sun-Times. (Read more Chicago White Sox stories.)
Pope Francis arrived in Mongolia on Friday morning to encourage one of the world's smallest and newest Catholic communities. It's the first time a pope has visited the landlocked Asian country and comes at a time when the Vatican's relations with Mongolia's two powerful neighbors, Russia and China, are once again strained, the AP reports. Francis arrived in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar after an overnight flight passing through Chinese airspace, affording the pontiff a rare opportunity to send a note of greetings to President Xi Jinping. Vatican protocol calls for the pope to send such greetings whenever he flies over a foreign country.

Upon arrival in Mongolia, Francis was met on the tarmac by helmeted honor guards along with the country's foreign minister. His visit will include official meetings with the Mongolian president and prime minister and a speech before Mongolian government, cultural, and business leaders, followed by Francis' first encounter with the bishops, priests, and nuns who form the backbone of a tiny Catholic community of 1,450 that has only been in existence for a generation. While Christianity has been present in the region for hundreds of years, the Catholic Church has only had a sanctioned presence in Mongolia since 1992, after the country shrugged off its Soviet-allied communist government and enshrined religious freedom in its constitution.

Francis has long praised the work of missionaries and has tried to reinvigorate the missionary focus of the church at large by visiting them and encouraging their work. One of his first events in Mongolia is to preside over an encounter with missionaries Saturday afternoon at the capital's St. Peter and Paul cathedral, and he will end his visit by inaugurating a new church-run charity house to tend to Mongolia's poorest. The other main focus of Francis' four-day visit is to highlight Mongolia's long tradition of interfaith coexistence. The Mongol Empire under its famed founder Genghis Khan was known for tolerating people of different faiths among those it conquered, and Francis will likely emphasize that tradition when he presides over an interfaith meeting Sunday.

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Invited are Mongolian Buddhists, who are the majority in the nation of 3.3 million, as well as Jewish, Muslim, and Shinto representatives and members of Christian churches that have established a presence in Mongolia in the last 30 years, including the Russian Orthodox Church. (Read more Pope Francis stories.)
A Utah mom of six who became popular on her now-defunct YouTube channel for offering parenting advice has been arrested. The AP reports that 41-year-old Ruby Franke was taken into custody on Wednesday on suspicion of aggravated child abuse at the Ivins home of Jodi Hildebrandt, 54, her business partner, who was also detained for the same. Per an affidavit filed by an officer with the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, the two women were arrested after Franke's 12-year-old son escaped out of a window in Hildebrandt's home and made his way to the home of a neighbor, requesting food and water. The neighbor called the cops after spotting duct tape on the child's wrists and ankles. The boy was taken to a local hospital and was said to be "emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities," per a release from authorities cited by NBC News .

Officials say a later search of Hildebrandt's home turned up Franke's 10-year-old daughter, who was also hospitalized for malnourishment, and two other Franke children, who were handed over to child protective services. Court records show both women have been denied bail. Franke, along with her husband, Kevin, and their six kids became YouTube stars in 2015 via their 8 Passengers YouTube channel, on which Franke dispensed parenting advice. However, viewers eventually started putting up red flags on the Frankes. In 2020, for example, their then-15-year-old son said in a video he'd had to sleep on a beanbag for seven months for pranking his younger brother, per the New York Post. There were also clips of Franke noting how she'd deny her kids food for discipline, per Insider.

The 8 Passengers channel, which had almost 2.3 million subscribers, was taken down from YouTube earlier this year, though it's not clear why. Franke has also appeared in videos on Hildebrandt's ConneXions YouTube channel, where they offer parenting and relationship advice. After the women's Wednesday arrest, Franke's estranged oldest daughter, Shari, 20, who Insider notes is a student at Brigham Young University, shared a photo on her Instagram story showing a police vehicle outside of a home, with a one-word caption: "Finally." Franke's three sisters, also said to be estranged from her, issued their own joint statement.

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"For the last 3 years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children," they wrote on Instagram after Wednesday's arrests. "Behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe." They then added: "Ruby was arrested which needed to happen. Jodi was arrested which needed to happen. The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority." Meanwhile, Kevin Franke's attorney told the New York Post on Thursday that his client's "urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his fatherly care." (Read more Utah stories.)
The star attraction of the Cleveland Museum of Art's ancient Roman collection is now in the custody of New York authorities. The New York District Attorney's office says a 6-foot-4 headless bronze statue believed to represent emperor Marcus Aurelius has been "seized in place" under a state judge's order as part of an investigation of antiquities looted from Turkey and trafficked through New York, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. The statue, believed to be around 1,800 years old, was acquired by the museum in 1986. The New York DA's office said it is worth $20 million and will be transported to New York this month, reports the AP .

Turkish officials say they first informed the museum in 2012 that the statue was among around two dozen items in its collection they believe were looted from the archaeological site of Bubon and other locations, but the museum said they didn't have evidence of theft, the New York Times reports. Officials say they have "significant new evidence" proving the statue was stolen from Turkey. The statue was removed from public view two months ago without explanation. The museum has also changed the description of the statue on its website. It was previously listed as "The Emperor as Philosopher, probably Marcus Aurelius," with its origin given as "Turkey, (Bubon?", per the Times.

The museum's website now described it as "Draped Male Figure," and adds that with no head or inscription, "the identity of the figure represented remains unknown." Colgate University Professor Elizabeth Marlowe, who has studied sculptures taken from Bubon, says she is "dismayed" by the changes, the Plain Dealer reports. "It seems like the museum is pretending to know less than they really do," she says. The Times notes that Turkey's claim to the statue "hinged in part on persuading investigators that the statue in fact depicted Marcus Aurelius." Museum spokesperson Todd Mesek said the museum "takes provenance issues very seriously and reviews claims to objects in the collection carefully and responsibly." (Read more art museum stories.)
As whispers continue to circulate over the future of Mitch McConnell's leadership following his second public freeze-up , Nikki Haley is saying out loud what she thinks about aging lawmakers, and when they should realize it might be time to pack it up on Capitol Hill. Appearing on Fox News' The Story on Thursday, Haley said she thought the Senate minority leader has "done some great things, and he deserves credit," but that "you have to know when to leave," per the Hill . She noted that "no one should feel good about seeing" McConnell's condition, "any more than we should feel good about seeing Dianne Feinstein , any more than we should feel good about ... seeing Joe Biden's decline." She didn't elaborate on what she meant on Biden.

She then went on to call the US Senate "the most privileged nursing home in the country." It's not the first time Haley has addressed lawmakers who are getting up there in years. In May, the former South Carolina governor penned an op-ed in which she called for required mental competency tests for all politicians 75 and over. She has also pushed for term limits for members of Congress, and she reiterated her call for both on Thursday. "I wouldn't care if they did [the mental competency tests] over the age of 50," said the 51-year-old. "These are people making decisions on our national security. They're making decisions on our economy, on the border. We need to know they're at the top of their game."

"You can't say that right now, looking at Congress," she added, per HuffPost. Newsweek notes that Haley called for McConnell's resignation after the first time he froze up, in late July. A poll conducted specifically for the news outlet last month found that most Americans agree with her, with 64% of eligible voters surveyed indicating they believe the Senate minority leader should call it a day. "We need to start getting new faces, new voices, younger generations involved in our government," Haley said Thursday. "And we need to have everybody else understand when it's time to go." (Read more Nikki Haley stories.)
A onetime leader in the Proud Boys far-right extremist group has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol, tying the longest sentence imposed so far in the attack. Ethan Nordean was one of several members convicted of spearheading the attack to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election. Nordean was "the undisputed leader on the ground on Jan. 6," said prosecutor Jason McCullough, per the AP .

Prosecutors had asked US District Judge Timothy Kelly to sentence the Seattle-area chapter president to 27 years. They said Nordean's words and online posting grew increasingly violent leading up to Jan. 6. On that day, he led a group of nearly 200 men toward the Capitol, then moved to the front of the mob and helped tear down a fence, allowing rioters to enter the grounds, according to court documents. Defense attorneys have argued there was no plan to storm the Capitol that day and pushed back on the idea that he tore down the fence or that his rhetoric was specifically about Jan. 6.

Nordean, 33, of Auburn, Washington, says he now sees Jan. 6 as a "complete and utter tragedy." He added: "There is no rally or political protest that should hold value over human life. To anyone who I directly or even indirectly wronged, I'm sorry." The previous record for a Jan. 6 sentence belonged to Stewart Rhodes, founder of another far-right extremist group, the Oath Keepers. More than 1,100 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 600 of them have been convicted and sentenced. (Codefendant Dominic Pezzola also was sentenced on Friday.)
Real estate development is essential to growing local economies, but it's far from a simple endeavor. Developers navigate a complex web of regulations to develop land into businesses that support communities.

Quattro Development is a national build-to-suit developer that worked diligently to help its client, Take 5 Oil Change, gain approval for a new location in Batavia, New York. Quattro located the perfect site for Take 5 - an old T-Mobile retail space on the west side of the city.

Quattro was more than ready to take on the job. "Take 5 began in Louisiana and has been expanding pretty rapidly," said Quattro Development's Peter Pavek. "Now we are working on several in Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, in the major [upstate New York] cities, and we're targeting Amherst, Tonawanda, and Lockport, and now Batavia."

However, zoning regulations and concerns over green space left the project in limbo for months. Pavek and his Quattro Development consultant Evan Gefell worked to gain special use and variance requests from the city over the course of several meetings spanning May to July 2023.

The May 2023 City Planning and Development Committee Meeting

Take 5 Oil Change specializes in 15-minute oil changes that allow customers to remain in their vehicles during service. The business only offers oil changes, wiper blade changes, and air filter changes, so it can serve dozens of customers a day without inconvenient lines forming.

In May 2023, Pavek met with the Batavia City Planning and Development Committee to discuss the new Take 5 project. He asked the committee for permission to remove the existing building at the site located in Valu Plaza and renovate it to make it suitable for oil changes. The building previously housed a T-Mobile, a drive-through bank, and a jewelry exchange.

Doug Randall with Batavia's code enforcement department said the site could only include two oil bays because of zoning regulations, which Pavek agreed to.

The committee also had concerns about the removal of green space for this project. "Any additional green space you can maintain, that'd be great," shared committee member Ed Flynn. Pavek agreed to return with a more detailed site plan that accounted for more green space.

Quattro Development Returns With Detailed Site Plans

In July 2023, Quattro Development consultant Gefell returned to meet with the committee. Quattro noted the committee's concerns about green space and presented the new design. Fortunately, Take 5's unique business model actually made it easier to add green space.

"So the model of this is, you stay in your car, it's a 10-minute oil change, and then you continue on. It's a little traffic generator, it doesn't require a lot of parking, it's just kind of for the staff since the user stays in their vehicle," Gefell explained. "This allowed us to really expand the green space on site. It's increased the green space from 24% to 47%. You can see some of the trees and the buffering and landscape that we've added."

The committee did worry about long lines and traffic congestion with just two oil bays, which Quattro also accounted for in its design. "We're not concerned about queuing with the two bays. And I think some traffic or data was presented or provided, but peak hours, you know, it's not a significant amount of customers at one time for traffic generators," Gefell said.

At the end of the public hearing, the committee found that the plan wouldn't have a negative impact on the environment and granted the special use permit. "It's a good plan, lots of green space," committee Chairman Duane Preston said.

Quattro Development Proceeds With Zoning for the Take 5 Project

Over the course of several months, Quattro Development fine-tuned its design for the Take 5 Oil Change site to balance the needs of the community with Take 5's business model. While permitting is now approved, the project doesn't have the green light just yet. Quattro's team will now work with Batavia's zoning board of appeals to review the zoning variance, but the project's positive progress means Batavia could likely have a Take 5 location in the coming year.
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Spc. Kaimana McBrayer, a fire control specialist with the Hawaii Army NationalGuards 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery Regiment, pops a Shaka hand gesture while directing traffic as part of the National Guards response to the deadly Maui wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug 25, 2023. The Defense Department and the U.S. Coast Guard are supporting the FEMA-led response to the deadliest wildfire in Hawaiis history. (Photo by Master Sgt. Erich B. Smith)
Additional personnel and equipment from the U.S. Army arrive for the Joint Task Force 50 at Kahului Airport, providing equipment and refueling operations to aid in the wildfire recovery efforts in and around Lahaina, Maui, Aug. 19, 2023. (Photo by Spc. Sean Walker)
A Florida man was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly attempted to leave a business without paying for merchandise, according to police.

William Edward Blizzard, 30, of Panama City Beach, Florida, is charged with one count of third-degree robbery. His bond was set at $15,000.

According to Dothan Police, officers rushed to the 3000 block of South Oates Street after receiving reports of a theft at a local business.

Upon arrival, officials learned that the suspect, later identified as Blizzard, tried to leave the business without paying for an item. When an employee attempted to intervene, Blizzard began a physical altercation before being taken into custody without incident.








There are indications that sanity is gradually returning to gold-rich Zamfara communities, following President Bola Tinubus deployment of security forces to the area.





Abdulazeez Yari, former Zamfara State Governor, disclosed this on Thursday, while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.





For several years, the mineral rich zone has been a theatre of warfare, as illegal miners held sway within the zones, carting away the nations resources.





But Yari, who disclosed that he was at the Presidential Villa to felicitate with the president, stated that, President Tinubu has been doing his best to deal with the insecurity in the region.





I can tell you that the issues of mining and insecurity may have a relationship and I believe the president is doing his best because he has started talking with the National Security Adviser on the issue of insecurity and the many progress that had been achieved from, I think, the last month.





Now, in Shinkafi area and part of Zurmi, they are working to check insecurity also in parts of Anka and Chaffe, based on security reports that I get regularly from my colleague, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Security.





When I was there, I didnt believe that the issue of mining was one of the problems, but when I got out, I began to look at it, attending so many lectures.





There is a relationship between the people that are causing the trouble, the miners and insecurities in the area.





This insecurity is either through cattle rustling or human abduction.
A former Dothan High School math teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a student four years ago pleaded guilty to her charges Wednesday, according to court records.

Julia Michelle Engles, 33, of Kinsey, pled guilty to one count of sex act or deviant sexual intercourse with a student and was sentenced to two years probation by Houston County Judge R. Todd Derrick.

According to Dothan Police, in 2019, an investigation into Engles was launched after the department received a report from Dothan City Schools that she was engaging in sexual acts with a student.

After two students were interviewed, Engles was taken into custody in May 2019, and indicted on Oct. 1.

Court documents show that Engles must register as a sex offender and have no contact with the victim.
Bassey Otu, governor of Cross River, says President Bola Tinubu will address the appointment of Asu Okang, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member, to the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC).

Tinubu, on Tuesday, appointed board members and a management team for the NDDC.

The APC in Cross River has since faulted the appointment of Okang, who is meant to represent the state on the commissions board.

Addressing protesters in Calabar, the state capital, on Thursday, Otu said Cross River is the only state in the south-south that is under APC, hence should be in charge of the commission.





We will not allow anybody to preside or sit on what is our own sovereignty, Emmanuel Ogbeche, chief press secretary to Otu, quoted him as saying.

We will never allow it. We are the only APC state in the south-south and if there is anybody to superintend the list, not just in Cross River State but in the South-South geopolitical zone, I believe that I have the mandate.

We are not fighting anybody, but we want our rights, and I am here to assure you that Mr. President is going to look into the issue. We will not break the laws, but we want the right thing to be done.





Mr President is an astute politician, accomplished technocrat. He is going to address this matter. He hates injustice; the people that worked and toiled will get their rightful positions and take the position of our rep in the NDDC.

On his part, Effiong Nta Eke, a former mayor of Calabar municipality, said the appointment is not for the good of the Cross River people.

We have come with tears in our eyes that the trajectory that has flared up very recently is not to the betterment of the people of Cross River particularly those that were all out to fight for the APC, the leading party in the state, Eke said.

We are asking for the right thing to be done.
The police in UK say it found a body during the search for Gboyega Odubanjo, the British-Nigerian poet who went missing at a rural music festival.

Odubanjo has been missing since the early hours of Saturday morning.

The 27-year-old was last spotted at the Shambala festival in the Kelmarsh area of Northamptonshire, where he was due to perform later that day.

On Wednesday, the UK police appealed to the public for information that could help find the poet.

In a follow-up statement, the police said a body was discovered in the early hours of Thursday after a specialised search of the area.

While formal identification has not yet taken place, officers said the family of Odubajo, from Bromley in south-east London, had been informed and are being supported.

Northamptonshire police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.

A body has sadly been found during the search for a 27-year-old man reported missing in Kelmarsh, the statement reads in part.

Police officers made the discovery shortly before 9am on Thursday, August 31, in the course of a specialised search of the area.

The man had been reported missing on Sunday, August 27, having last been seen at Shambala festival early the previous morning.

While formal identification has yet to take place, the mans family has been informed and are being supported by specially trained officers.

Johnny Campbell, a detective chief inspector, urged the public not to contact the mans family and respect their privacy.

He said a file will be prepared for the coroner.

Our thoughts are with the mans family at this very difficult time, and we would ask the media and members of the public to not contact them and respect their privacy, he said.

We would like to thank all those involved in the search efforts, including the volunteer members of Northamptonshire Search and Rescue and the specialist search-trained officers from other forces who supported our efforts.

We would also like to thank all those who have supported our investigation by speaking to officers or getting in touch with information.

Officers from Northamptonshire Police will now prepare a file for the coroner.

The missing persons enquiry was led by detectives from the Forces CID. Search efforts involved the use of police search dogs, specially-trained police search advisor officers, neighbourhood and response police officers, a police dive team, and volunteer members of Northamptonshire Search and Rescue, including their trained search dogs.

Odubanjo is studying for a Ph.D. at the University of Hertfordshire. He works as an editor for Bad Betty Press and the poetry magazine Bath Magg.
The African Unions Peace and Security Council on Thursday suspended Gabon following the Wednesday overthrow of President Ondimba Ali Bongo by soldiers led by the head of the Republican guards, Gen Brice Nguema.

The continental body in a post on X, formerly Twitter, condemned the military takeover of power in the Central African country.





This came as Rwanda and Cameroon hurriedly retired 1, 029 senior officers in a surprise move against their respective militaries.





The Rwandan authorities approved the retirement of 12 generals, including two four-star generals, James Kabarebe and Fred Ibingira, two three-star generals, Charles Kayonga and Frank Mushyo Kamanzi, and several officers.





According to a Rwandan national newspaper, News Times, the government approved the retirement of 12 generals and many officers. The publication stated that the retirements were announced on Wednesday, in a statement issued by Rwanda Defence Force.





Among those retired are two four-star generals, James Kabarebe and Fred Ibingira, two three-star generals, Charles Kayonga and Frank Mushyo Kamanzi.





Kabarebe and Kayonga have previously served as Chief of Defence Staff of RDF, while the other two have been service chiefs previously





The statement partly reads, The President has also approved the retirement of 83 senior officers, six junior officers and 86 senior non-commissioned officers, 678 whose contracts ended and 160 medical discharges.





In Cameroon, President Paul Biya has also reshuffled the military with new appointments to the Controle Generale des Armees.





The new controllers are Capt Ajeagah Njei Felix Colonel and Colonel Nguema Ondo Bertin Bourger.





Appointments were also made to the positions of Technical Advisers, Bureau Commissariat, and Air Force Technical Inspector.





Disclosing its decision after a meeting of its Peace and Security Council, the AU said it decides to immediately suspend the participation of Gabon in all activities of the AU, its organs and institutions.





It said the meeting was chaired by the AU commissioner for political affairs, Bankole Adeoye of Nigeria, and the current holder of the councils rotating chair, Burundis Willy Nyamitwe.





Nguema for inauguration

In a new development, the junta in Gabon has said Gen Nguema will be sworn in on Monday as the transitional president as the opposition called for its candidate to be recognised as the winner of weekend elections.





The military in a statement on Thursday sought to reassure international donors they would respect all commitments at home and abroad and phase in transitional institutions.





The spokesman for the new regime, Col Ulrich Manfoumbi, said on state television that the swearing-in of Nguema would take place at the constitutional court.





Gabons opposition Alternance 2023 alliance had remained silent since the coup, but on Thursday called on the military leaders to acknowledge its victory in the election.





The alliance invited the defence and security forces to the discussion so as to work out the best solution, following the vote.





Led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, Alternance had earlier accused President Ali Bongo of fraud and demanded he hand over power without bloodshed.









Ossa claimed the Bongo clan remained in control and there had not been a coup but a palace revolution. Oligui Nguema is Ali Bongos cousin, he told Frances TV5 Monde.





He stated, The Bongos found that Ali Bongo had to be put aside to be able to properly pursue the Bongo system. Oligui Nguema is an underling. Behind him, its the Bongo clan keeping hold of power, he said, urging international help to restore order.





Meanwhile, a serious humanitarian crisis is looming in Niger Republic as the vulnerable population, particularly, women and children, are facing hunger and other hardships in the aftermath of the sanctions imposed on the country by the Economic Community of West African States over the July 26 overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum by the military.





This came to light as the Niger junta ordered the police to forcefully evict the French ambassador, Sylvain Itte, from the country.





Nigers foreign ministry announced that Itte had 48 hours to leave, saying he had refused to meet with the new rulers and citing French government actions that were contrary to the interests of Niger.





The visas of the French ambassador to Niamey, Sylvain Itte, and his family had been cancelled and police were instructed to expel the envoy, the junta said in a statement dated Aug. 29 and confirmed as authentic on Thursday by its communications head, according to Reuters.





The latest communique sent by Nigers Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Itte no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic staff of the embassy. The police have been instructed to carry out his expulsion.=

That said, the closure of the borders of Nigeria and other neighbouring countries has starved the francophone nation of food and other critical supplies, putting the beleaguered country on the edge of a humanitarian crisis.





To compel the junta led by Gen Tchiani Abdourahmane to restore the ousted president to power, the 15-member regional bloc imposed stringent sanctions on the Sahel nation and also threatened military intervention to restore constitutional order.





It suspended all commercial transactions with Niger, froze its assets in the regional central bank, including the assets of the state and state enterprises in commercial banks, and suspended all financial assistance with regional development banks.





A planned $51m bond issuance by Niger in the West African regional debt market was cancelled by the regional central bank following the imposition of sanctions. Niger had planned to raise $834 million from the regional debt market in 2023.





Nigeria also cut the power supply to the country on the 80mw Birnin-Kebbi line, while Ivory Coast suspended imports and exports of Nigerien goods.





West Africas regional central bank, the BCEAO, shut down its branches in Niger, citing risks to operations.





However, the Niger Country Director of the International Rescue Committee, Paolo Cernuschi, said these decisions were having disastrous humanitarian impacts on the most economically vulnerable people in the Niger Republic.









He disclosed in an opinion published by Euronews on Thursday that aid organisations cannot get critical supplies into the country.





The border closures, he noted, had further compounded the political crisis, preventing life-saving humanitarian supplies and essential aid from reaching the communities that needed them most, creating a barrier that separates people from the assistance they require to survive.





Cernuschi explained, We have en route shipments of life-saving nutritional supplements for 2,300 children that we dont know when well receive. While we have contingency stocks in place, those will eventually run out.





If border closures and sanctions persist, aid supplies running out will be all but a certainty, and the capacity of humanitarian actors to continue delivering will be jeopardised.





By some estimates, supplies in the country at the time of the coup were sufficient for two to three months of humanitarian response. With supply chains requiring from a few weeks to a couple of months to replenish stocks, we are fast approaching the point where shortages will be inevitable.





The country director said the sanctions had unintended adverse impacts on the lives of ordinary citizens who are already struggling to meet their basic needs.





He advised that humanitarian exemptions must be guaranteed to ensure continuity of humanitarian work in Niger.









He advised that The international community and regional organisations must prioritise a do no harm approach in dealing with this situation. Diplomatic efforts should focus on finding peaceful solutions that prioritise the well-being of all Nigerien citizens, regardless of their socio-economic status.





The situation in Niger calls for a coordinated and compassionate response that upholds the principles of humanitarianism and ensures that no one is left behind. And the Nigerien people deserve that and a whole lot more.





In response to the situation, the United Nations on Tuesday filed an exemption request for relief supplies to the Niger Republic to the ECOWAS.





The global organisation said sanctions on Niger were blocking vital humanitarian aid such as food and medicine.





The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative for Niger, Emmanuel Gignac, stated this at a press briefing during a visit to Geneva.





Reuters reported that trucks with food and humanitarian aid have been piling up at Nigers land borders since the military coup on July 26, driving up food prices, in a sign of the impact of the sanctions.





Gignac noted, There is no way to bring humanitarian aid into the country. The immediate goods (affected) are going to be food and then its going to be access to medicine, to drugs.









He added that a formal letter from UN aid chief Martin Griffiths had been addressed to ECOWAS for exemptions.





UN aid flights have also been reportedly grounded because they cannot get access to jet fuel because of the sanctions, complicating aid efforts in the country.





Food aid

Some agencies are using trucks, said World Food Programme regional spokesperson, Djaounsede Madjiangar, but that takes extra time.





Requests for special ECOWAS clearance for aid supplies have so far not been granted, he added.





A UNICEF spokesperson had told Reuters that the agency has about 50 containers with immunization, cold chain equipment, and therapeutic food stuck at different entry points, unable to get into the country, while more than a million doses of yellow fever and rotavirus vaccines cannot be flown in from Europe due to the airspace closure.





He added the agency was concerned about some 28 million vaccine doses stocked inside the country, with 95 percent of warehouses currently hit by power outages.





Gignac also voiced concerns about the security of Nigers population, especially among its 700,000 forcibly displaced people, describing a sharp increase in protection incidents such as kidnapping and sexual violence since the coup.









The World Food Programme said the political development in the country has made the hunger crisis critical.





The acting WFP Regional Director for Western Africa, Margot van der Velden, in an editorial on the agencys website stressed the imperative of getting aid to Nigers vulnerable population.





Our work is vital for the most vulnerable in Niger and needs to continue, particularly in the current circumstances. Whatever the political situation, continuing our humanitarian and resilience efforts is crucial at these times of crisis, she added.





In the first week of August alone, WFP said its teams delivered life-saving food to 140,000 people across the country and vital malnutrition care to 74,000 children.





As concerns about the humanitarian situation mount, Nigerians residing in Niger have called on the Federal Government to resolve ECOWAS differences with the embattled country.





Ibrahim Afolabi, who spoke with our correspondent from Taawa, said that most Nigerians living in Niger Republic were apprehensive about the situation.





He said, Although we cannot sleep with our two eyes closed, honestly, there is no form of harassment against us. The only problem we have now is the high cost of living compared to before the closure of borders at both ends.









ECOWAS needs to soft-pedal on this issue; the majority of the people of Niger Republic here support the military junta and their style in the country, so why not ECOWAS look at that aspect and resolve this issue?





Abubakar Namazo, who resides in Algadez, said the major problem they faced in Niger Republic is the high cost of foodstuffs and other items.





He said, I think its better for the Federal Government of Nigeria to extend their palliatives to our side as well. Business has gone bad here since the two countries of Niger Republic and Nigerians close their borders.





In a bid to survive, motorists now ply illegal routes through Illela on the Nigerian side to beat the closure of the borders.





Mr Samaila Abdul, a motorcycle operator, explained that security operatives extorted motorists and motorcycle operators who plied the illegal bush route.





We now use the bush (route) to get across to the other country from Nigeria. So, the expenses have been added to the cost of foodstuffs, especially those items we take to them from Nigeria and the one we buy over there (in Niger), he revealed.





Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said all diplomatic options will be exhausted with the military junta in Niger Republic before a resort to military intervention comes into the picture.









He insisted that any forceful removal of a democratic government remains wholly unacceptable, a statement by the State House said.





Receiving the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Saad Abubakar III, at the State House, Tinubu noted that the alternative of kinetic intervention in Niger Republic had not been jettisoned.





I must thank you for your several visits to Niger Republic, Your Eminence, but you will still have to go back. My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copycats will start doing the same thing until it is stopped.





We are neighbours with the Niger Republic, and what has joined Nigerians together with their great people cannot be broken. Nobody is interested in a war. We have seen the devastation in Ukraine and Sudan. But if we dont wield the big stick, we will all suffer the consequences together, the President warned.





He noted that Nigeria under General Abdulsalami Abubakar instituted a nine-month transition programme in 1998, and it proved very successful, leading the country into a new era of democratic governance.





The President sees no reason why such cannot be replicated in Niger if the junta was sincere.





Your Eminence, please dont get tired, you will still go back there. The soldiers action is unacceptable. The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger, the President affirmed.









On the hardship faced by many Nigerians post-fuel subsidy removal, the President assured that all ongoing reforms will liberate and reposition the economy, which will benefit the majority of the population in terms of opportunities, infrastructure, healthcare, and education.





Nigeria is headed for a promise. Our diversity will turn into prosperity, not adversity. We will build a country that our children will be proud of, the President assured.





The President told the delegation that the Federal Government had opened talks with state governments to provide land for the proper sustenance of animals with a view to developing pan-national animal husbandry and agro-allied production and processing facilities for mass export, job creation, and revenue generation.





He noted, If Nigeria is still looking for vaccines for basic health issues; if infant and maternal mortality is rampant, then we should examine ourselves. I will commit to consulting with other leaders, like the NSCIA, and we will meet the needs of our people.





In his contribution, Vice President Kashim Shettima said the President had budgeted N50 billion to support the ongoing rebuilding of lives and property in the North West and North East, with a new focus on dialogue to address security challenges.





The Sultan of Sokoto pledged one hundred percent loyalty to the President, affirming that a leader can only reach a position by the will of God, and not man.





The monarch assured the President that the NSCIA would be available to advise and support him to realize his dream for the country, adding that God will hold all leaders to account, in justice and fairness.





Meanwhile, trans-border traders have said that so far over 250 trucks carrying different perishable goods including, onion, pineapples, and tomatoes worth N2bn have been trapped.





The Head of Policy and Research of the Transborder Traders Association, Alhjai Salami Nasiru, said this in a chat with newsmen




Kingsley Obiora, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has been reportedly arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS).





According to a Business Day report, his arrest followed allegations of financial mismanagement under Godwin Emefiele, the suspended CBN governor.





Obiora is the Deputy Governor of the apex bank in charge of economic policy.





His arrest comes on the heels of an ongoing probe of CBN under the stewardship of Godwin Emefiele.





Recall that Emefiele has been in the custody of the DSS since June 10, 2023, a day after President Bola Tinubu removed him from office.





In July, Tinubu appointed a special investigator, Jim Obazee, to oversee the probe of the activities of the apex bank under Emefiele.





DSS and CBN spokespersons, Dr Peter Afunanya and Dr Isa Abdulmumin, respectively, have yet to respond to DAILY POSTs inquiry.
A Benue state high court in Gboko has dismissed a suit seeking to set aside the suspension of Iyorchia Ayu as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Delivering a ruling on Thursday, D.M Igyuse, the presiding judge, described the suit as an abuse of the court process.

The case was filed by one Nongo Ordue on behalf of the 17-member executive of Ayus Igyorov council ward of Gboko LGA.

Aside from seeking to void the suspension, the plaintiff also asked the court to reinstate Ayu as the national chairman of the PDP.

However, Clement Mue, counsel to the PDP, submitted that the suit constituted an abuse of the court process.

Mue said a similar case filed before a high court in Makurdi had sufficiently addressed the issues raised by the plaintiff.

In the suit marked MHC/85/2023 cited by the PDP lawyer, Maurice Ikpambese, a high court judge, held that Ayu could no longer hold the office as the national chairman having lost his membership of the party at his ward.





Mue informed the court that Ayu had since filed an appeal against the decision which is yet to be determined.

He said hearing and determining the present suit would amount to sitting on an appeal against the earlier decision of the court.

In his judgment, Igyuse pointed out that the plaintiffs had filed a similar claim in a suit marked GHC/36/2023 between themselves as plaintiffs, including Ayu who was the 18th complainant.

The judge noted that the said suit was struck out by the high court 3, Gboko, on June 27.

Consequently, the judge dismissed the case, describing it as the worst form of abuse of court process.




Embattled Manchester United forward, Mason Greenwood, could be heading to Lazio.





The England internationals future has remained unclear after Manchester United removed him from their squad list.





The player has since been rejected by several clubs, including AS Roma as United is yet to find a club willing to take him.





Now, it is claimed Lazio is considering a move for Greenwood.





The winger was arrested on suspicion of attempted rape and assault in January 2022.





All charges were dropped earlier this year.
Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), on Thursday reacted to the Appeal Courts judgement in Delta State governorship election, describing it as a victory for democracy.

Abure, in a statement by Obiora Ifoh, the Labour Partys National Publicity Secretary, said that with the Appeal Courts ruling today, LP has now been given the opportunity to prove its case at the tribunal.

According to him, it was a clear testimony that the judiciary can be effective, impartial and truly the conscience of the masses.

We are pleased with the position of the Appeal Court today.

We were shocked at the decision of the tribunal to prematurely stifle our matter.

We were not even allowed to present our matter. Justice was not served, and that made us approach the appellate court, requesting that it review the case which the tribunal had rejected.

Labour Party won the governorship election in Delta State and like in most other states, some undemocratic elements conspired to snatch the state from us and they went ahead to use the tribunal to stop us from proving that we won, the statement read in part.
President Bola Tinubu has approved a partnership between the federal ministry of healths national eye health programme and the Peek Vision Foundation to provide more than five million pairs of eyeglasses to Nigerians with sight impairments.

Tinubu made the announcement in Abuja on Friday during a courtesy visit by Andrew Bastawrous, CEO of the foundation and co-founder of the Vision Catalyst Fund.

The president said he was motivated to support the initiative because of his personal experience with eye health.

He narrated how his mother was able to see clearly again after receiving a pair of glasses but had asked him how others in her condition would manage without any support.

My first experience was with my mother of blessed memory. She was ill and she could not recognise me. When I intervened, she was treated and given a pair of glasses, the president was quoted as saying in a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, his spokesperson.

The next question she asked me was: I have you, and you are able to do this for me. What about those other women and their children who may not have somebody like you to intervene for them?





So I made a promise to her that I will pursue the mass provision of eye care vigorously and that I would provide free eye screenings and surgeries to people because of that question my mother asked me and because of her passion to see others healed.

We eventually impacted the eye health of millions of people in Lagos, and you could see their joy over the immediate sight enhancements when they were given a pair of glasses.

I am in support of this initiative, and I will encourage the mobilisation of further commitment to see this through and to reach vulnerable people all across our country. Some parents may not pay attention to this, but I will, because I am touched.

Speaking also, Bastawrous shared his personal story of how he was able to achieve his academic and professional goals because of vision care.

He said eye care is still chronically under-resourced in many countries, adding that the estimates in Nigeria show that 0.0002 percent of the health budget is spent on eye health.

The good news is that President Tinubu has an excellent team in the health sector, and some of them have demonstrated tremendous leadership in the sector, he said.

What we would like to offer is to bring our Peek Vision methodology and platform to Nigeria to help unlock resources from multiple sources.

In the countries where we have worked, Peek in Botswana unlocked 10 million dollars for the school programme, and in Kenya, 17 million Euros.

Through the Vision Catalyst Fund, we have secured a donation of 200 million pairs of glasses, and we would like a significant proportion of that to come to Nigeria.




A 20-year-old boy, simply identified as Ridwan, has confessed that he killed his biological father for money ritual in Ogun State.





He was arrested on Thursday by men of the Ogun State So-Safe Corps at Oshoku village, Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State.





The So-Safe Corps Commander, Soji Ganzallo, in a statement by the corps spokesman, Moruf Yusuf, said at about 12am on Thursday, August 31, officers of the corps on routine patrol heard a strange noise in a building at Oshoku.





The officers were said to have made their way into the building to confirm what was happening, but to the officers dismay, they found a mans body lying lifeless in a pool of his own blood and the alleged killer fled the scene, Ganzallo said.





The statement quoted Ganzallo as having instructed the Zonal Commander, Ijebu Zonal Command, Marcus Ayankoya, to get the suspected killer arrested within 24 hours.





The suspected killer was nabbed where he was hiding in a bush.





He confessed to have killed his father, Ishau with a rope tied to his neck and a knife used to remove the needed parts of his body for ritual purpose, he said.





The corps commander noted that the alleged killer told the officers of the corps during interrogation that he only removed the private part, larynx, and just four teeth of his father as requested by a ritualist he identified as Baba Kekere.





Ganzallo further revealed that when he was asked about the whereabouts of the ritualist, he refused to give details.





He stated that the alleged killer had been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force, Ogbere Divisional Headquarters, for further investigation and likely prosecution.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  Ron DeSantis scoffed when the NAACP issued a travel advisory this spring warning Black people to use extreme care if traveling to Florida.

The leading civil rights group argued that the state's loose gun laws and the Republican governor's anti-woke campaign to deny the existence of systemic racism created a culture of open hostility towards African Americans and people of color."

Just three months later, DeSantis is leading his state through the aftermath of a racist attack that left three African Americans dead. Black leaders in Florida  and across the nation  say theyre outraged by his actions and rhetoric ahead of the shooting.

Gov. DeSantis has created and pushed a narrative of division and hate that is anti-Black, said Rev. Jeffrey Rumlin, pastor of The Dayspring Church in Jacksonville, where three Black people were gunned down at a Dollar General store over the weekend by a white man with a swastika emblazoned on his assault rifle.

Rumlin criticized DeSantis for not explicitly describing the killer as a racist at a Sunday vigil in Jacksonville. DeSantis was booed at the vigil, where he called the shooter a major-league scumbag and said, We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.

The Florida governor, also responding this week to a hurricane bearing down on much of his state, has confronted multiple challenges on race since launching his presidential campaign. He has been criticized by Republican rivals on Florida's new education standards on slavery while losing ground against former President Donald Trump, the front-runner in the GOP primary.

Ever defiant, DeSantis' team rejected suggestions that he did not adequately condemn the weekend shooting and has more broadly ignored the concerns of the state's African American community. The Republican governor scored an overwhelming reelection last fall that included flipping the traditional Democratic stronghold of Miami-Dade County, which has a majority Latino population. He made modest gains among Black voters.

The tragedy cast a shadow across the Republican presidential campaign this week as candidates faced uncomfortable questions about the party's increasing appeal among white supremacists and the GOP's fight against so-called woke policies on race and gender. While DeSantis has not mentioned his war on woke in recent days, cultural issues have been the centerpiece of his campaign.

Virtually all of the candidates have embraced a similar message aimed at appealing to the GOP's white conservative base by downplaying the existence of racism in America and restricting LGBTQ rights. To win the general election next fall, the Republican nominee will likely need to appeal to a much more diverse group of voters.

Sen. Tim Scott, one of three Black Republicans running for president, called on his party to speak out against the latest tragedy as he campaigned in his home state of South Carolina.

I think we should all be standing up and saying that any act of violence against someone very purely because of the color of your skin is terrible," he told reporters. "We saw three African Americans die because of the color of their skin over the weekend. Thats devastating.

He avoided answering directly when asked if the Republican Party has done enough to denounce white supremacist violence.

The question is, have humans done enough to talk about racism and discrimination and the use of violence? And I think thats the responsibility of every single American  the Republican Party, Democrat Party, no party affiliation," Scott said.

In a radio interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley said there was no clear explanation for such violence.

Theres a lot of hate online with social media. Weve got a lot of mental health issues. And you combine that with the rhetoric that is happening in America of division and just being able to hide behind something on social media and getting angry, it causes for a bad cocktail," said Haley, who was serving as South Carolina's governor when a racist gunman attacked a Black church and killed nine people. And when you get that, people die.

Republicans have little political incentive to appeal to voters of color  in the primary phase of the presidential campaign, at least.

One-third of Americans (35%) say racism is a very big problem in the United States, according to a June poll from the Pew Research Center. Just 14% of Republicans see racism as a very significant issue compared with 55% of Democrats.

Meanwhile, one quarter of Republicans believe that being white hurts a person's ability to get ahead, according to an April study from the Pew Research Center. Republicans are about as likely to say that being Black helps (33%) a persons ability to get ahead in the U.S. as to say it hurts (34%) their ability to advance.

African American leaders have decried what they call a pattern of policy violence against people of color imposed by the DeSantis administration that reached a low point after the recent release of its public school curriculum on Black history.

DeSantis derided the NAACP's travel advisory as a political stunt back in May when he launched his presidential campaign.

On Monday, NAACP President Derrick Johnson said DeSantis deserves real blame for the weekend shooting.

What Gov. DeSantis has done is created an atmosphere for such tragedies to take place, Johnson said. This is exactly why we issued the travel advisory.
Ayodele Fayose, a former governor of Ekiti state, says he is happy with the coup that has taken place in Gabon, a country in Central Africa.

On Wednesday, the military in Gabon seized power and deposed President Ali Bongo who was just re-elected to a third term in office.

The election was reportedly fraught with irregularities.

Speaking on Hard Copy, a Channels Television programme on Friday, the former governor wondered why one individual would hold power for so long.

A former governor of Ekiti State Ayodele Fayose says he is "very happy" with developments in Gabon after soldiers seized power in the oil-rich Central African nation. While he does not like military incursion in politics, Fayose blames sit-tight syndrome for the recent wave of pic.twitter.com/sfNflfKkmK  Channels Television (@channelstv) September 1, 2023





I am very happy with what happened in Gabon. I dont like military incursions in politics but I want to say to you that Nigeria is different, we have a reasonably stabilised democracy, Fayose said

We have our flaws but you can see the uninterrupted democratic process. After four years there will be an election Nigeria has gone from one party to another party.

One person to another person within a space of time. But in a country where one man is spending 30, 40 years. You have to boot him out of the place in whatever way.

Thats different from the Nigerian setting. Nigeria has submitted but we are not there yet in the final order.

Fayose said the military incursion should pave the way for a democratic system in the country.
President Bola Tinubu has asked the military junta in the Niger Republic to replicate Nigerias previous transition plan.

Abdourahmane Tiani, Nigers self-declared head of state, had said the country would return to civilian rule within three years.

Tiani made the proposal after a meeting with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) delegation led by Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Nigerian head of state.

However, ECOWAS rejected the transition plan, saying it would no longer accept prolonged power handovers in the sub-region.

While receiving the leadership of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) at the State House on Thursday, Tinubu said Nigers junta could shorten its proposed transition plan.

Tinubu noted that Nigeria under Abdulsalami instituted a nine-month transition programme in 1998 which was successful and led the country into a new era of democratic governance.

The president sees no reason why such can not be replicated in Niger if Nigers military authorities are sincere, a statement released by Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, said.

The soldiers action is unacceptable. The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger.

Tinubu, who is also the ECOWAS chairperson, has been vocal about using diplomacy to restore diplomatic order in Niger.
Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, has congratulated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on its 25th anniversary.

In a statement issued by his media office on Friday, Abubakar, who was the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, said the party will bounce back and provide a responsive government for Nigerians.

The former vice-president said the party has had a positive impact on the nations socio-economic and political development.

He described the PDP as a progenitor of Nigerias democracy, saying the party will ensure that democracy not only survives but continues to thrive.

The former vice-president said he takes pride in being one of the founding members of the PDP and participating in the process of nurturing the party from infancy.

In the 16 years that the PDP was at the helm of affairs in our country, the party offered quality leadership through various administrations and the achievements recorded in those 16 years have remained the benchmark for positive growth in our economy and other critical areas of our national life, Abubakar was quoted as saying.

Abubakar said the PDP took a leading role in the deconstruction of military rule in Nigeria, promising that the party would rise to tackle the economic hardship and other structural deficiencies affecting Nigerians.

The PDP was founded in 1998. The party won the presidential election four times and was defeated in 2015 by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party is facing several challenges, including internal divisions and declining popularity.

Abubakar and the PDP are currently contesting the outcome of the 2023 presidential election at the tribunal.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has claimed that President Bola Tinubu inherited an economy that could be compared to a dead horse but standing.

Soludo said his position was in empathy and commiserations for Tinubus economic team.

The governor spoke on Channels Televisions Sunrise Daily, while responding to President Tinubus posture against spending 90 percent of the nations revenue on external debt service.

This government inherited, from a macroeconomic standpoint, I would say the economy was like a dead horse but standing, in macroeconomic terms and modelling through this over the coming months will be bumpy, no question about it, Soludo said.

He further praised Tinubus courageous step in removing the petrol subsidy, which he described as an obnoxious scam, and then dealing with the exchange rate.
President Bola Tinubu has recalled Sarafa Isola, Nigerias high commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK).

The notice of the recall of the high commissioner is contained in a letter by Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, dated August 31.

I have the honour to notify you of Mr Presidents decision to recall you, signalling the end of your tenure as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Kingdom, the letter reads.

By this communication, you are now expected to commence the process of winding down your affairs, and take formal leave of your host government within sixty days and to return to Nigeria by 31 October, 2023 at the latest.

On Tinubus behalf, Tuggar thanked the ambassador for his service and wished him well in his future endeavours.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Isola as the high commissioner to the UK in January 2021.

Isola had also previously held the role of minister for mines and steel development under the late former President Musa YarAdua.




President Bola Tinubu is expected to attend a G-20 summit that will be held in New Delhi, India, between September 9 and 10.

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, announced the development on Friday while speaking to reporters.

Ngelale said Tinubu seeks to attract foreign investments to the country during the summit.

He added that the president is working to ensure that Nigeria can raise private capital from around the world for the development of its public infrastructure.

He said Tinubu will meet with world leaders and heads of state in addition to industry titans, and chief executive officers of some of the most valuable corporations in the world, especially those with Indian roots.

Ngelale said his principal would host a roundtable meeting during the summit with more than 20 chief executive officers from various economic sectors.

This, he said, is to ensure that Nigeria takes advantage of their interest in investing in the nation in a way that supports the industrialisation, digitalisation, and renewable energy agenda.

We are going to make sure, under the direction of the president, that we make the most of the opportunity to add value to the nation, to create jobs for our citizens, and ultimately, to increase and generate resources for the nation to guarantee that the government can properly finance and support its forward-thinking programmes across sectors, Ngelale said.

There is a lot to cover, and when we get into Nigeria the following week, there will be live updates from India, which I will provide everyday to give Nigerians full access to what their president is doing on their behalf.




The ministry of health has debunked contents of a memo from the National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Abakaliki, Ebonyi state, alerting workers of an outbreak of a new variant of COVID-19.

The memo titled FYI: COVID is on the prowl again, caution, please said the new wave of COVID-19 is more deadly than the first.

With the new variant, BA.4 and BA.5 COVID delta, there is no cough, no fever. Its a lot of joint pain, headache, neck and upper back pain, general weakness, loss of appetite and pneumonia, the notice reads.

Sore throat that resembles strep throat, and of course, more virulent and with a higher mortality rate. It takes less time to go to extremes. Sometimes without symptoms.

This means that the virus spreads and spreads directly to the lungs, causing acute respiratory stress caused by viral pneumonia. This explains why it has become sharp, more virulent and deadly. Please, be extremely careful.

Do not keep this information to yourself; share it as much as you can, especially with your friends.

However, a statement issued on Friday by Patricia Deworitshe, spokesperson of the minister of health, said the information contained in the memo was a fabrication.

Deworitshe said Tunji Alausa, minister of state for health and social welfare, met with the management of the Fistula Centre over the purported memo.

The information from the purported internal memo emanating from National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Abakaliki, in which the Head of Clinical Services warned the staff to take caution as the Covid-19 was on the prowl again, cannot be sustained and therefore not true, the statement reads.

The public should be informed that no new Covid-19 case or infection has been detected in our Centre. No new Covid-19 patient has been presented or diagnosed in our Centre for the past one year.

There is no rise in Covid-19 cases in Abakaliki or in Ebonyi State in general.

The information contained in the said internal memo was a product of unverified and unsubstantiated flying news from social media.

The general public is therefore advised to disregard the memo and its content.

It is only the Nigerian Centre for Disease and Control (NCDC) that is statutorily empowered to release information on such matters as Covid-19.
A man charged with killing a fellow prisoner at Atlantic Countys jail was found standing over the bloodied victim in the cell they shared, according to investigators.

Detectives with the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office responded to the Atlantic County Justice Facility, located in Mays Landing, shortly after midnight on Wednesday after being notified of the killing, the office reported in a press release.

Aahznier Hayes, 22, of Westampton, is charged with first-degree murder in the beating death of his cellmate, Kenneth Raymond, 52, of Ventnor, according to the prosecutors office.

An attorney for Hayes did not respond to requests seeking comment.

A corrections officer found Raymond bloodied and unconscious on the floor of his cell with Hayes standing over him, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed with the charges.

Hayes hands and clothing were bloody and more blood was found on the cell floor and walls, investigators said.

Raymond was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Hours earlier, Hayes told Raymond that he wanted to fight him, a witness told investigators.

The same witness reported seeing Hayes later punching, kicking and stomping Raymond, according to the affidavit.

The case remains under investigation, the prosecutors office said.

Hayes was placed in the jail June 20 on second-degree counts of sexual assault and luring, and a third-degree child endangerment charge, according to court records.

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Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com.
A man who died Tuesday afternoon during an encounter with U.S. Marshals and other agencies in Essex County shot himself, according to a incident report obtained by NJ Advance Media.

The marshals, along with officers from the New Jersey State Police and the Newark Police Department, were called to West Side Park in Newark on Tuesday afternoon for a report of a man with a handgun, the report stated.

The officers commanded the man to drop the gun multiple times, but he ignored their pleas and shot himself in the head, investigators said.

After the man shot himself, one Newark police officer fired his gun in the mans direction, but the bullet did not hit him, officials said.

Neither the man who was shot nor the officer who fired his weapon were identified in the report.

The man was pronounced dead at University Hospital in Newark at 3:49 p.m.

The shooting remains under investigation by the New Jersey Attorney Generals Office. State law requires the office to investigate the death of a person who is killed during an encounter with police.

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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
A 21-year-old Essex County woman was killed and two others were injured in a crash that involved a tractor trailer on Route 139 in Jersey City early Friday morning, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.

The fatal crash is the fourth on Hudson County roadways since Aug. 13.

Jersey City police responded to the area of the Route 1&9 North ramp and Route 139 West and found that a 2018 Audi had flipped onto its roof after a collision with a tractor trailer, which was still at the scene, Suarez said.
Around 1.9 million Australians are bracing for an increase in their health insurance premiums, effective September 1.

The rise comes after a brief suspension earlier this year, as insurers typically adjust premiums annually on April 1. This deferral aimed to ease financial burdens, but escalating healthcare and treatment expenses have forced insurance providers to pass on some costs.

According to the latest data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), approximately 45% of Australians possess private hospital coverage, with more than half opting for additional private extras coverage.

Kate Browne, spokesperson for Compare Club, remarked, Over half of Australian health insurance holders are still awaiting their annual premium increase, creating a scenario where familiar April hikes become overlooked until they impact personal bank balances. This intentional confusion tends to favour insurance providers.

Amid this backdrop, some insurers have refunded members, though these reimbursements wont offset the impending premium surge as they represent owed funds from lockdown periods when coverage went unused.

If the industry reverts to the standard practice of implementing the annual premium increase on April 1, over 50% of Australians with health coverage will face two successive hikes within six months  a situation that undoubtedly pinches the pocket, warned Browne.

While you might come across an average premium increase of 2.90% for this year, this figure pertains to the collective average across all health funds, she clarified. The five largest funds, which account for over 75% of all policies in the nation, are enacting an average rise of 3.38%. Translated, this amounts to an extra $24 for family policies, as per calculations by Compare Club.

However, Browne emphasized caution in assuming that the reported average rate increase by insurers mirrored individual experiences. For instance, even though HBF declared an average surge of 4.49% in April, specific family policies saw increases of up to 15%. Your insurer would have sent you a communication, so its worth your while to take a moment to determine whether youre facing an above-average rate hike.

Amid financial constraints, the news of another premium increase by health funds lands as a heavy blow for many Australians. Browne highlighted alternatives, noting, While its understandable that many are contemplating dropping their insurance altogether, the silver lining is that there are a plethora of avenues to mitigate financial strain without parting ways with coverage.

Kate Brownes advice echoes a theme of prudent financial management. Statistics suggest that many Australians remain with the same health insurer for longer than the average duration of a marriage. While it might sound like a cliche, in the realm of health insurance, loyalty rarely pays off. If you havent reviewed your plan in the past 2-3 years, chances are high that you could switch to a health fund offering lower premiums and better value.

Drawing on tangible figures, she encouraged action, saying, If your premiums feel like an undue burden and you havent switched policies in a while, its prudent to explore other options. Our analysis indicates that individuals are saving an average of $300 annually by switching private health providers through Compare Club. Families, in particular, stand to benefit significantly, with potential savings nearing $462.90.

The intense competition among insurers vying for customers has paved the way for enticing deals for new policyholders, Browne pointed out. Whether its basic or comprehensive coverage, switching to a different provider could translate to saving hundreds of dollars each year.

Navigating the maze of health coverage options, Browne provided her top recommendations for cutting down on health coverage costs:

Ensure that youre on the most competitive deal available in the market. Switching to a different insurer could lead to both a reduced premium and enhanced value.

Reevaluate your extras coverage. Tailoring these benefits to better match your needs is a straightforward route to achieving better value.

Dont be daunted by waiting periods. If youre transitioning to a lower coverage level, you wont have to endure new waiting periods.

Even if youre upgrading your coverage, numerous funds are presently offering to waive the typical 2- and 6-month waiting periods in the lead-up to October 1.

Certain funds offer up to six weeks of free coverage when you make the switch.

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A man and juvenile have been charged in the defacing of an LGBTQ+ mural in Perth Amboy, authorities said.

Witnesses reported that on Aug. 16, at least two vehicles were performing burnouts on the mural, which is located near the intersection of Brighton Avenue and Sadowski Parkway, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone.

Videos of the incident were later posted on social media, accompanied by anti-LGBTQ+ language, authorities said.

Police arrested Alexis Reynozo, 19, of Perth Amboy, and a 17-year-old male from the Hopelawn section of Woodbridge, officials said. Reynozo was charged with bias intimidation and criminal mischief and the teen was charged with juvenile delinquency.

The Perth Amboy Police Department is asking anyone with information about the incident or similar incidents to call Detective Gina Betancourt 732-324-3868.

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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com.
For 50 years, the U.S. Postal Service has operated its own armed police force, one that is sworn, according to its charter, to protect employees, infrastructure and customers and to ensure public trust in the mail.

Numbering about 750 officers nationwide, the postal police historically has had two missions  as an in-house security force protecting U.S. Postal Service facilities, and on patrol to protect letter carriers, who are the easy targets of robbers.

But since August 2020, the postal police officers have been off the streets. U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy issued a directive that effectively ended street patrols  which, coincidentally or not, was followed by a dramatic increase in mail thefts and robberies of letter carriers, according to a U.S. Postal Service report.

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. stood in front of the Paterson Post Office to call on Congress to adopt the Postal Police Reform Act, a bill that would restore the power of postal police officers to patrol the streets.

Americans are entitled to get their mail, Pascrell said at news conference flanked by three postal police officers, including the head of the union, Frank N. Albergo. We must stop handcuffing postal law enforcement officers. Lets let police do what they do best.

Pascrell, a Democrat from Paterson, co-sponsored the bill (H.R. 3005) with Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a Republican from Long Island, New York. Pascrell said it makes no sense to keep postal police off the street when letter carriers are such easy prey.

Mr. DeJoy stopped our officers from being able to conduct any patrol outside of the physical locations of the post offices, Pascrell said. If that isnt madness, I dont know what is.

Its no cost, and its common sense, Albergo said of the legislation. But some reason, the postal service doesnt want it.

According to the U.S. Postal Service report, there were 412 robberies of letter carriers nationwide in fiscal year 2022. In the first six months of this fiscal year, there were already 305 robberies. If the current rate continues, robberies will be up almost 50 percent in fiscal year 2023.

Thefts from mailboxes are also skyrocketing. There were 25,000 mail thefts reported in the first six months of this fiscal year, compared to 38,500 in all of fiscal year 2022. At the current rate, mailbox thefts will jump 30 percent by the end of the fiscal year.

Every day, a letter carrier has a gun stuck in his face in America. That is not an exaggeration, said Albergo, who is the president of the Postal Police Officers Association. Well, postal police arent doing anything about it. Were protecting buildings. Were not protecting postal workers.

Albergo said a letter carrier was killed during a robbery in Milwaukee, and another was shot in Chicago. Postal police have always patrolled the streets, he said.

In response, the U.S. Postal Service acknowledged that postal police officers have been deployed on street patrols. But the U.S. Postal Service maintains that function is contrary to the federal statute, which states that postal police office may be deployed in connection with property owned or occupied by the Postal Service, or under the charge and control of the Postal Service, and persons on that property, including duties in areas outside the property to the extent necessary to protect the property and persons on the property.

In May, DeJoy told a congressional subcommittee that he doesnt have the power to put postal police on patrol.

I dont have the authority to patrol the streets. And they havent done that in the past, he told the House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee.

Pascrell countered with statistics that showed that in 2016, postal police conducted 3,467 patrols in New Jersey, 624 of them in Paterson.

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Richard Cowen may be reached at rcowen@njadvancemedia.com.
UPDATE: Helicopter went out of control before fatal crash in N.J., investigators say as probe continues

A pilot died after his helicopter crashed Thursday afternoon in Middlesex County, near the border of South Brunswick and Princeton in nearby Mercer County, police said.

Nobody else was inside the single-engine Robinson R22 chopper when it crashed in a canal near the Princeton Airport around 3:45 p.m., according to the FAA.

A firefighter and police who first responded to the scene lifted the helicopter, pulled the pilot from the craft and dragged him to a shoreline nearby, according to South Brunswick Deputy Police Chief Jim Ryan.

They worked their way through the water and saw the shoulder of the pilot in the water, in the helicopter upside down, Ryan said in a press briefing near the scene of the crash. The two men lifted the helicopter and pulled the pilot from helicopter, dragging him on to the shore line nearby. The pilot had suffered massive injuries, and life-saving efforts were not possible.

Firefighters checked the water where a helicopter went down in South Brunswick near the town's border with Princeton. Police said the pilot was killed in the crash.South Brunswick Police Department

The pilot was not identified Thursday evening. The cause of the crash will be investigated by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Capt. Chuck Pisano of the Kingston Fire House in South Brunswick, who was one of the two men who helped pull the pilot from the helicopter, initially spotted it flying erratically and after he saw it drop below his sight line he contacted police, Ryan said. Two other witnesses in the area also called 911.

Firefighters checked the water where the helicopter went down, but there no injuries on the ground, according to a statement from the South Brunswick Police Department.

The helicopter is listed as being owned by a company based out of Princeton Airport, according to FAA registry records.

Ryan said the helicopter took off from that airport, which is about three miles away from the crash site.

Jim Ryan, deputy chief of the South Brunswick Police Department, left , speaks with Kingston Fire Chief John Luck and South Brunswick Police Lt. Gene Rickle near the scene of a fatal helicopter crash in South Brunswick.Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Although the cause of the crash is under investigation, South Brunswick Police Lt. Gene Rickle said its possible the chopper experienced a mechanical problem.

We were able to talk to three different people (who heard the crash) and all of them seem to come to the conclusion that there was some type of malfunction, Rickle told NJ Advance Media Thursday night.

South Brunswick Deputy Police Chief Jim Ryan briefs the news media at the scene of a fatal helicopter crash on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. Officials said the pilot was killed in the crash.Phil McAuliffe | For NJ Advance Media

South Brunswick Police and the Kingston Fire Department were among the agencies that responded to a fatal helicopter crash near Lake Carnegie in which the pilot was killed on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.Phil McAuliffe | For NJ Advance Media

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NJ Advance Media staff writers Nicolas Fernandes, Vashti Harris and Patti Sapone contributed to this report.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
After a quiet summer, hospitalizations from COVID-19 are going up in New Jersey, according to the most recent state data.

The number of patients hospitalized due to the coronavirus has risen more than 50% since July, according to the latest figures from the state Department of Health.

There were 225 hospitalizations across the states 70 hospitals on July 28. On Monday, one month later, there were 362 hospitalizations across 69 of 70 hospitals in the state.

The trend will likely continue through the fall and winter, as seen in previous years, experts said.

READ MORE: Is COVID coming back? Everything to know about recent surge

Weve had a relatively quiet spring and summer, as far as COVID-19 transmission and impact to our health facilities. But, theres certainly evidence more recently, within the last six to eight weeks, weve seen a slowly rising level of transmission in the community, said Dr. Jason Kessler, interim chair of the department of medicine and section head of infectious diseases at Morristown Medical Center.

Atlantic Medical Group, a network of community physician practices part of Atlantic Health System, has also seen a slight increase in COVID-19 cases at their outpatient offices, a spokesman said.

Hospitalizations related to COVID have increased more than 50% since July statewide, as seen in the attached graph. (Photo credit NJ Department of Health)

However, hospitalizations are still at a third of what they were this time last year. On Aug. 30, 2022, the state reported 1,003 hospitalizations.

Active outbreaks in the long-term care industry have also seen an upward trend. About one in four nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the state have reported an outbreak in the past week, according to state Health Department data.

On May 16, the last day NJ Advance Media reported COVID-19 cases, there were active outbreaks at 48 facilities, with 1,406 cases among residents and 607 cases among staff.

As of Wednesday, there were active outbreaks at 158 facilities, with 1,327 current cases among residents and 534 current cases among staff.

The situation in New Jersey matches national trends. The U.S. is seeing a late summer surge in COVID-19 cases, thanks to the newest highly transmissible subvariant, Eris.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there has been a nearly 22% increase in COVID-related hospitalizations and a 21% increase in COVID-related deaths recently.

Despite the uptick, theres no expectation of lockdowns or other drastic measures. Neither Gov. Phil Murphys administration nor the Biden administration has issued any recent policy changes.

President Joe Biden announced an end to the national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 in early May, as most of the world returned closer to normalcy. New Jersey stopped reporting the number of new coronavirus infections on a daily basis the same month, more than three years after the state announced its first case.

The daily release of data in New Jersey was once a key facet of the states response to the pandemic, especially in the early days when the tri-state region became an epicenter of the crisis. In the early months, Murphy announced the numbers during live coronavirus briefings from Trenton.

But, case counts stopped being reported on the weekends and holidays in November 2022. The rate of transmission  once a closely watched metric for the spread of the virus throughout the state  was dropped from the dashboard in April.

Updates to the states vaccine coverage map also stopped, and the map was eliminated from the dashboard entirely in May.

As more people turned to at-home testing for COVID that did not get reported to the state, the state Department of Health removed the daily case counts tab from its COVID-19 dashboard as well. The dashboard has been updated to show lab-confirmed cases grouped by week, instead of daily case counts.

New data is now published weekly.

Hospital information is updated daily on the dashboard at covid19.nj.gov. Case data is updated weekly and can be found under the case and mortality summaries tab. Both also provide trend data, said DOH spokeswoman Nancy Kearney.

The type of data reported by the state has changed as the medical community shifts its focus to the impact of the virus rather than its transmission, said Kessler of Morristown Medical Center.

Thats a subtle distinction, but an important one. Thats where we are really focusing: on number of hospitalizations, the number of deaths and the number of people that are requiring critical care. Not so much the number of cases reported, because thats very difficult to track now because of the testing challenges, Kessler said.

Although hospitalizations have risen slightly, the resurgence is neither surprising nor cause for major alarm, said Dr. Suraj Saggar, chief of infectious disease at Holy Name medical center in Teaneck.

COVID is still here, its still an issue that we will be dealing with going forward, just like any other respiratory virus that we see with some seasonality, Saggar said.

Except his time around, the U.S. has a multi-layer wall of immunity made up of people resistant to the virus from natural infection, as well as vaccines and previous boosters, which provide a layer of protection against severe disease.

The population most vulnerable to serious infection are the very young, the very old, and the immunocompromised, Saggar said.

That doesnt mean that everyone should go get COVID and its not a big deal, Saggar added. That doesnt discount that some people can get very devastating and life-altering consequences of COVID, even a mild case.

Just like with the flu or respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV, our best protection now is gonna be a seasonal vaccine, said Saggar.

A rollout of new vaccines is expected in September, according to officials with the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC.

People may be over COVID, but COVID is not done with us, said Saggar.

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Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.
Authorities are continuing to investigate what caused a helicopter crash in Middlesex County that killed an Israeli man Thursday afternoon.

Josef-Ram Yitzhak, 44, was flying a single-engine helicopter that crashed at about 3:30 p.m. in a canal near a lake in South Brunswick, authorities said.

The helicopter took off from Princeton Airport in Montgomery Township at about 3:10 p.m. and flew a few miles east before it went out of control, said Aaron Carter of the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency.

The helicopter started tumbling before sustaining a catastrophic failure, said Carter, one of the agencys air safety investigators.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, he said.

Wreckage of a helicopter that crashed in a canal near Carnegie Lake in South Brunswick on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.South Brunswick Police Department

Multiple eyewitnesses saw the event and one onlooker recorded a video of the crash, Carter said. The agency is in touch with the eyewitnesses to aid the investigation, he said.

The agency is also in contact with Yitzhaks family, he said. The Israeli man was in New Jersey for flight training, Carter said.

FAA records indicate Yitzhak was certified as an airline transport pilot and a flight instructor.

The badly damaged helicopter involved in Thursdays crash remained half-submerged in the creek Friday as authorities continued to investigate.

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Camille Furst may be reached at cfurst@njadvancemedia.com.
A Middlesex Borough park will remain closed through Labor Day as authorities continue searching for a rogue alligator that has eluded capture for nine days.

State wildlife workers have deployed several traps on an island in Lake Creighton near where the alligator was reportedly last seen on Wednesday, but without success, the borough police department said in an update Friday afternoon.

Victor Crowell Park, which has been closed to the public since Monday, will stayed closed at least through Labor Day, police said. Authorities have used drones and boats as part of the search effort.

The search zone involves the park, lake and the Ambrose Brook, where a police officer spotted the alligator last Saturday night and fired a single shot at the reptile, which then immediately submerged below the surface. It is not known if the alligator was struck, police said previously.

On Friday, Middlesex Police Lt. Thomas Falk told NJ Advance Media its possible that the alligator is dead, but there is no way of knowing without recovering it.

The alligator is estimated to be three to four feet in length. It was described by police on Monday as capable of inflicting serious or fatal injuries.

There were several unconfirmed sightings Monday, including a report from a bystander who claimed that the alligator briefly surfaced on Lake Creighton and attacked a duck.

Lake Creighton is commonly known as the Duck Pond, police said, and the Ambrose Brook serves a conduit between the lake and the Raritan River.

Alligators are not native to New Jersey, and it is not known how the reptile ended up in Middlesex Borough, officials said.

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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.
Ocean Grove and the state are in a standoff over the resort towns rules limiting access to the beach on Sunday mornings as the Jersey Shore heads into the unofficial end of the summer on Labor Day weekend.

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association  the Methodist group that oversees the Ocean Grove section of Neptune in an unusual agreement with the Monmouth County township  does not allow access to the beach from the boardwalk before noon on Sundays.

The tradition stems from Ocean Groves origins as a Christian seaside resort. Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association officials said limiting beach access on Sunday mornings improves the religious and secular quality of life along its boardwalk.

That runs afoul of the states Coastal Area Facilities Review Act, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection, which sent a warning letter to the association Aug. 10 objecting to the use of chain and pad lock barriers barring beach access.

The purpose of this warning is to advise you of the above potential violation to provide you with an opportunity to voluntarily take corrective actions and to engage in discussions with the DEP. Please be advised, that the DEP may continue to monitor the site for compliance and we are available to provide guidance as needed, Robert H. Clark, a region supervisor for the state Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement, wrote in a letter.

The Sunday morning ban on beach access is enforced during the summer season, according to the Ocean Grove website. This Sunday would be the last week of 15 weeks this season when the beach entrances are chained off until noon.

Michael Badger, the president of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, confirmed the group received a letter about a potential violation and are in an ongoing discussion with the state.

Were just trying to understand the law together because there are elements of this that are applicable in this situation that I dont think have been adjudicated yet, and has been fully fleshed out, Badger said.

The nine step entrances  access points from the Ocean Grove Boardwalk onto the sand  are closed between 9 a.m. and noon on the Sundays between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

The boardwalk and pier remain open, and the beach is still accessible by walking along the sand either north from Bradley Beach or south from Asbury Park.

Beach badges are required in the summer in Ocean Grove. They sell for $12 a day  or $95 a season for adults and $50 a season for children 12 and older and seniors.

The Sunday policy is scheduled to resume on Memorial Day weekend in 2024 when beach badges would again be required to get on the beach from the steps from the boardwalk.

The outcome of the step closure enhances religious and secular quality of life experiences in Ocean Grove which society recognizes as valuable. During this 0.5% of the year, the view of the ocean from the OGCMAs boardwalk and pier is of sublime natural beauty without the visual elements of beach umbrellas, tents, and masses of people, Badger wrote in a response to state Department of Environmental Protection provided Friday to NJ Advance Media.

No fines had been issued to the camp meeting association as of Friday afternoon, said Larry Hajna, a spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The dispute over Sunday beach access is the latest in a series of controversies involving the Camp Meeting Association and some Ocean Grove residents. Ocean Groves decision to rebuild a beach pier in the shape of a cross drew objections from some residents earlier this year.

Some beach-goers have been bypassing the chained entrances and sitting on the beaches Sunday mornings this year. Shane Martins, a founder of the nonpartisan community group Neptune United, said beach-goers arriving before noon on Sundays have been confronted by defenders of the meeting associations policy.

Every Sunday, since Memorial Day, Neptune United has been raising awareness, Martins said.

Township police have been on the scene but have declined to either remove those on the beach, or take away the pad lock barriers, which Martins said is contrary to federal law protecting access for people with disabilities.

They are in direct violation of state and federal law and it is time they be held accountable, Martins said.

The states letter to the Camp Meeting Association about the Sunday beach access was shared online by Neptune United, whose members have also been some of the most vocal critics of Ocean Groves new cross-shaped pier.

Ocean Grove, referred to as Gods Square Mile by some of its residents, has about 3,000 residents. Though it is only a small section of Neptune Township, it sets some of its own rules under the Camp Meeting Association.

The Ocean Grove Meeting Association was sued in 2007 when it barred same-sex couples from using its boardwalk pavilion for civil union ceremonies. A judge later ruled that ban violated the states anti-discrimination law.

The policy to close the Ocean Grove boardwalk entrances to the beach on Sunday mornings has been in place for 154 years and this was the first season the association received complaints, Badger said.

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Additional claims were filed Thursday on behalf of 17 Bound Brook property owners who originally sued NJ Transit and Somerset County in February over a flood gate that couldnt be closed during 2021s Tropical Storm Ida.

The documents, filed Thursday afternoon in state Superior Court in Somerset County, amends the original suit filed in February. Of 150 records requested, attorneys for the property owners obtained recordings of a phone call between Somerset County and NJ Transit officials prior to the storm.
A pedestrian was struck and killed by an NJ Transit train Thursday night in Bergen County, authorities said.

The person was hit at 6:52 p.m. just west of Radburn Station in Fair Lawn by a Bergen County Line train, an NJ Transit spokesperson told NJ Advance Media. The train was on its way from Hoboken and was originally scheduled to arrive in Suffern, New York at 7:22 p.m.

The identity of the person and how they were struck were not released.

Trains in the area were subject to 30-minute delays as of 8 p.m., officials said.

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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
This weekly feature from Dynamic Business runs down the weeks top funding rounds from Australia and around the world.

Medigrowth makes waves with $3.44 million crowdfunding campaign

Victoria-based medical cannabis biotech, Medigrowth, has achieved a significant milestone by securing $3.44 million in a highly successful equity crowdfunding initiative. This campaign ranks among the largest in the sectors history, spanning six years, with a substantial influx of funds from over 2000 investors.

AI-powered startup Pearler raises $330,000 in pre-seed funding

Pearler, an innovative software startup focusing on AI-driven automation of business questionnaires, has successfully raised $330,000 in pre-seed funding. The South Australia Venture Capital Fund has been a major contributor to this funding round, supported by Artesian Venture Partners, a prominent early-stage venture capital firm in Australia.

Saudis Rewaa secures $27 million series A led by Waed Ventures

Rewaa, the pioneering omnichannel inventory management system, accounting, and POS platform in Saudi Arabias retail industry, has successfully closed a significant $27 million Series A funding round. The round was spearheaded by Waed Ventures, a venture capital fund owned by Aramco, showcasing a strong backing for Rewaas innovative solutions.

Netherlands-based Valyuu raises 2.4 million in seed funding

Valyuu, a Dutch marketplace facilitating the purchase and sale of pre-owned goods, has secured 2.4 million in seed funding. This investment was primarily led by Rubio Impact Ventures and Slingshot Ventures, signifying investor confidence in Valyuus approach to sustainable commerce.

Otto (formerly TeleVet) secures $43 million in series B funding

Otto, previously known as TeleVet, has accomplished a major funding milestone by raising $43 million in Series B funding. The company specializes in veterinary software, offering integrated practice management systems to the industry. The influx of funds will be utilized to scale operations and widen their business reach.

Context.ai raises $3.5 million

Context.ai, a burgeoning product analytics platform designed for applications powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), has secured $3.5 million in funding. Notable backers include GV (Google Ventures) and Tomasz Tunguz at Theory Ventures. This funding injection is set to fuel the expansion of Context.ais operations and market presence.

Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, D-1st Dist., was hospitalized for dehydration Friday after fainting at a Labor Day ceremony in Pennsauken, a spokesperson confirmed.

Norcross, a Democrat from South Jersey, was attending a wreath laying ceremony with Gov. Phil Murphy in Pennsauken ahead of the Labor Day weekend when he appeared to sway before collapsing, video taken at the event shows. Aids quickly rushed to his side.

A spokesperson confirmed that Norcross, 64, was taken to a nearby hospital where he is being treated for dehydration following the event.

After returning from a House Armed Services Committee congressional delegation trip from Japan late yesterday, Rep. Norcross experienced dehydration related symptoms while attending the annual Peter J. McGuire wreath laying ceremony in Pennsauken today, Jayce Genco, a spokesperson for Norcross, told NJ Advance Media.

Rep. Norcross wants to thank the first responders, medical professionals, and attendees for their quick action, care, and thoughts, Genco said.

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Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieKausch.
A man from South Jersey was convicted Thursday of fatally stabbing a friend and his dog during a 2022 robbery attempt in a Burlington County apartment, authorities said.

The investigation began the morning of Feb. 5, 2022, when officers from the Evesham Township Police Department were called to the Olympus Apartments on Baker Boulevard for a report of a possible dog attack on a resident, according to a release from the Burlington County Prosecutors Office. When officers arrived, they discovered Thomas Pierson III, 26, of Evesham, dead inside his apartment with multiple stab wounds.

Piersons dog, a Cane Corso named Django, was found dead  also with stab wounds  on a stairwell landing, the prosecutors office said.

Detectives determined that Donovan G. Hollingsworth, 26, of Evesham, had traveled to Piersons apartment with the intention of robbing him, investigators said. An altercation ensued, during which Hollingsworth stabbed Pierson and Django.

Hollingsworth fled and was later taken into custody by officers at the emergency room of Virtua Voorhees Hospital, where he had gone for treatment of minor injuries, officials said. He has been held in the Burlington County Jail since his arrest.

On Thursday, after just over an hour of deliberations, a jury found Hollingsworth guilty of murder, robbery, cruelty to animals and two weapons-related offenses, the office said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 27.

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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
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Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low 38F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low 38F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
At her Metairie restaurant Thai Zaap, Luksamee Dyer serves a lot of pad Thai, chicken satay and green curry. But this week for a community food festival, shes digging a little deeper into the trove of Thai flavors, with one specialty being hoi tod, a crispy, savory pancake studded with mussels.

Thats just one example of what youll find at the Thai Food Fair, a recurring event that turns the Wat Wimuttayaram Buddhist Temple into something approximating a Thai street food market.

This years edition is Sunday, Sept. 3, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The temple is at 1601 Stanton Rd. in New Orleans, near English Turn (but not to be confused with the Chua Bo e Buddhist temple, closer to the main road leading to English Turn).
Fat Tuesday revelers line up along the parade route to see the Knights of Revelry parade, King Felix parade, and the Comic Cowboys as the three parades move back to back down Royal Street in downtown Mobile, Ala., Mobilians like their own Mardi Gras, which is not as crowded as New Orleans. Hotels fill up quickly, especially along the downtown parade routes. (AP Photo/FILE/The Mobile Register, John David Mercer)
A rig extracts sand in the Hau River, a tributary of the Mekong, in An Giang Province. Photo by VnExpres/Cuu Long

An Giang Province authorities have requested sand miners install security cameras on their dredging rigs for inspection in wake of recent violations.

Data collected from the cameras must be transmitted to the province's Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the provincial government said.

To Hoang Mon, the department's deputy director, said An Giang was the first locality in the nation to make such a rule, which aims at controlling the amount of sand that businesses mine to ensure that they will not exploit more than permitted.

Until now, An Giang and other localities home to sand mines only require businesses to set up cameras at the mine and their warehouses to ensure barges carrying sand would not transport elsewhere but just between warehouses and local mining areas.

Last Friday, police announced an investigation into the An Giang People's Committee deputy chairman Tran Anh Thu for allegedly taking bribes of VND1.2 billion (US$50,000) to allow Trung Hau 68 to mine sand beyond the licensed levels.

The company's CEO told police that he had shared part of the money earned from selling the extra sand with several officials, including the director of An Giang's Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Prior to the investigation, the province had revoked licenses of 10 sand miners as guided by the Government Inspectorate.

In a report last December, Vietnam News Agency cited Ha Huy Anh, project manager of Sustainable Sand Management in the Mekong Delta of the World Wild Fund for Nature in Vietnam, as saying that currently, the volume of sand poured into the Mekong Delta from upstream is about 7 million tons per year and about 6.5 million tons of sand is poured into the East Sea.

Meanwhile, the amount of sand extracted from rivers in this area is between 28-40 million tons per year. This means, every year, the Mekong Delta is experiencing a sand deficit from 27.5 to 39.5 million tons, he said.

According to many experts and studies, it is the overexploitation of sand in the delta's rivers that has contributed to worsening erosion along canal and river banks in the region.
A federal appeals court on Monday opposed the citys objection to a rule to show cause hearing regarding alleged violations of the consent decree that stemmed from its handling of the Vappie probe. U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan ordered the city to defend its investigation on Aug. 31.
Lock worker Anthony Dents watches as barges are move into the Port Allen Lock to make sure everything is done with safety in mind as the barges head to the Mississippi River on Thursday, June 29, 2023 in Port Allen, Louisiana.
I haven't talked to all the Black people in New Orleans, but I'm here to tell you that people are disappointed, shocked and stunned that New O
Young Khmer women carry flowers and paper plant decorations to a pagoda for a monks-honoring ceremony in Tra Vinh Province in southern Vietnam, October 2020. Photo by Phuong Phuong

Vietnam on Thursday denied false accusations of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom organization, saying that the Khmer population in Vietnam is treated as equals and given opportunities for development in all aspects.

"The Khmer population is an inseparable part of Vietnam's 54 ethnicities, who all live in harmony as equals, and all contribute to the development and protection of the country throughout its history," spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said Thursday.

She was responding to reporters' inquiries on the Khmer Kampuchea Krom organization making false accusations about the situation of the Khmer population in Vietnam.

The Tuyen Giao magazine of the Central Propaganda Department reported that hostile forces have recently enticed bad actors to join the Khmer Kampuchea Krom organization and perform anti-state activities in many fields, especially ethnicity and religion in Tra Vinh Province in southern Vietnam, home to a large Khmer community.

They took advantage of certain events, including ethnic and religion information not included in the national ID card, to fabricate accusations that the "Vietnamese administration wants local authorities to erase Khmer culture" and to adopt "assimilation policy" against the Khmer ethnic group, the magazine said, adding that they persuade people to join the group by publishing fabricated documents, falsely accusing that Kinh people discriminate and oppress the Khmer people, and Khmer people's rights are severely limited.

Hang said the information given out by the Khmer Kampuchea Krom is baseless and untrue, adding that all ethnicities in Vietnam are treated as equals and are ensured by the state to have the opportunity to develop in all aspects.
Though Vietnam has nearly achieved its target of welcoming 8 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, its tourism recovery rate remains lower than its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Vietnam received 7.8 million foreign visitors in the first eight months of this year, reaching 98% of year's 8-million target, according to the General Statistics Office.

A report by tourism development consulting firm Outbox Company has pointed out Vietnam is in good shape with the highest rate of achieving its foreign tourist targets in the region.

However, Vietnam's 2023 target was the lowest among the five most popular destinations in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, initially set a goal of welcoming 7.4 million foreign tourists but then it revised its target up to 8.5 million this year while Thailand expects to receive 30 million foreign arrivals, including 5 million from China.

Malaysia expects to welcome 18 million foreign tourists while Singapore is set to attract 14 million.

Vietnams tourism recovery rate in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic levels is only 44%, lowest among the top five Southeast Asian countries  Thailand (75%), Singapore (73%), Malaysia (69%), and Indonesia (53%).

Explaining why Vietnam set a target of 8 million international visitors in 2023, Pham Hai Quynh, director of the Asian Tourism Development Institute, said the figure "was a safe target for recovery post reopening."

Pham Ha, CEO of Lux Group, which specializes in operating luxury cruise tourism, said Vietnams foreign tourist target was the lowest in the top five Southeast Asian countries as "Vietnam has a long tradition of setting a low goal so that it could easily achieve by the end of the year."

Hoang Nhan Chinh, secretariat director of the Vietnam Tourism Advisory Board, said Vietnam's tourism industry had received strong support from the government in relaxing visa policies.

"If the tourism industry is determined to set a higher goal, the whole industry will work together towards achieving that," Chinh added.

By the end of the year, Vietnam will welcome 12-13 million international visitors, or even more, he added.

If nothing changes and technical barriers are promptly removed, Vietnamese tourism could fully recover to pre-pandemic levels next year, he said.

To bring Vietnams tourism back to its heyday, the board proposed the tourism industry boost promotion campaigns on international media about Vietnams new visa policies.

Starting from Aug. 15, Vietnam accepts e-visa registration from citizens from all countries and territories, with the visa valid for multiple entries and for 90 days.

In addition to grating e-visas to all countries, the government also extended the duration of stays in Vietnam from 15 to 45 days for citizens of 13 countries unilaterally exempted from visas.

Currently, many websites of Vietnamese embassies in other countries have not regularly updated information about new policies, although this is the first source of information that foreign tourists look for if they want to travel to Vietnam.

"Sometimes it is not certain that tourists trust the information on the websites of local travel companies. They trust the website of the Vietnamese embassy located in their country more because it is an official source," Chinh said.

Ha said: "We don't need to look far, look at Thailand about the way they do tourism."

He said Thailand has positioned itself well as the country of golden pagodas, and the land of smiles.

Thailand has enough resources for tourism and has opened many tourism promotion offices abroad. The Tourism Authority of Thailand currently has 29 offices around the world and they deeply understand the travel habits of tourists in each region.

The peak season of international tourism season typically lasts from September until April next year as western tourists flock to Vietnam for a winter holiday break.

Industry insiders said this would be a golden chance for Vietnam to welcome a large number of European tourists to Vietnam following the relaxation of visa rules.
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Steel import permit applications totaled 2.3 million in July, according to the U.S. Commerce Departments most recent data.

Thats down 15.1% from June, according to the Washington D.C.-based American Iron and Steel Institute. Imports of finished steel products that would require no further processing in the United States totaled 1.83 million in July, a decline of 8.1%.

For the first seven months of the year, total steel imports fell 10.7% year-over-year. Finished steel imports fell 15.5% as compared to the first seven months of 2022.

Total steel imports have fallen by 13.7% and finished steel imports by 14% over the last 12 months as compared to the previous 12 months, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Imports of finished steel products grabbed 21% of the market share in July and 22% so far this year.

In July, imports of tin plate were up 26%, mechanical tubing 21%, heavy structural shapes 17% and oil country goods 14%. So far this year, imports of line pipe are up 28%, oil country goods 24 and cut lengths plates 10%.

In July, imports from Canada fell 16% to 531,000 tons, from Brazil fell 8% to 384,000 tons, from Mexico dropped 30% to 291,000 tons, from South Korea declined 58% to 158,000 tons and from Japan rose 50% to 122,000 tons

In the first seven months of 2023, imports from Canada are down 1% to 6.9 million, from Mexico down 21% to 4.5 million and from Brazil up 3% to 3.2 million.

Overall steel imports declined by 2% last year while finished steel imports rose by nearly 11%, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. U.S. steelmakers made 88.775 million net tons of steel last year, down from 94.5 million the previous year.
CROWN POINT  Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter has requested an outside investigation into the deaths of eight K-9s in July in Lake Station, according to a statement released Thursday afternoon.

A group of approximately 20 dogs suffered heat exhaustion during two-hour trip in the back of a box truck when the truck's air conditioning unit stopped working, causing the dogs to overheat.

Animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have been pressuring Lake Station police to recuse themselves from the investigation due to a pre-existing relationship between Lake Station police Chief James Richardson and the owner of the company used to transport the K-9s. PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch said she trusts state police will do their due diligence for the sake of the dogs, the public's trust and the law.

"Nothing can bring back the dogs who slowly baked to death inside an airless, hot truck, but this is a step in the right direction toward ensuring that those responsible for their terrible suffering are held accountable and that preventative measures are put in place to avoid a devastating repeat," Nachminovitch said.

The dogs were being taken from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to a facility in Michigan when the driver was delayed by heavy traffic. He was alerted to the incident when he heard the dogs barking loudly and pulled off the interstate and into a gas station parking lot in Lake Station.

Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to contact the Indiana State Police Detective Chris Eagles at 219-690-0043.
CROWN POINT  A 62-year-old motorist was last reported in critical condition after turning in front of a dump truck and being struck early Thursday on U.S. 41 at 157th Avenue, according to Lake County police.

Biker outran Portage police only to have his past catch up with him After the officer turned on his emergency lights and siren in an attempt to stop the bike, the driver reportedly looked back at police and sped away .

Police say the Lowell woman was driving northbound around 6:17 a.m. when she either attempted to turn left on to 157th Avenue or make a U-turn.

"The SUV turned in front of an oncoming dump truck," according to police. "The truck struck the passenger door of the SUV."

Attorneys want out of Porter County real estate fraud case; accused wants $150,000 refund Donald Johnson is accused of bilking former clients, co-workers and even fellow church members out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by illegally soliciting and investing their money, which went missing without investors being immediately informed, according to court records.

The driver was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said. She was the only occupant of the vehicle and no other injuries were reported at the scene.

"The Indiana State Police conducted a Department of Transportation inspection on the dump truck," according to police. "The incident is still under investigation."
The French military said on Friday that it is ready to respond if any renewed tensions in Niger target its military and diplomatic facilities in the conflict-hit West African country, Azernews reports, citing Yeni Safak.

"The French army is ready to respond to any renewed tension that would target French military and diplomatic facilities in Niger," the French General Staff told Anadolu in a written statement.

Amid tensions that have risen in the weeks following the ouster of Nigers democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, the military administration's Foreign Ministry last week gave French Ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to "leave Nigerien territory."

Ambassador Itte refused to comply and remained at his post, a move that was hailed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Niger's military authority ordered the expulsion of the French ambassador Thursday in a letter addressed to the French Foreign Ministry.

Itte "no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the embassy's diplomatic staff," the military administration said.

Niger was plunged into uncertainty on July 26 when Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, a former commander of the presidential guard, led a military intervention that ousted President Bazoum.
A large part of young people in Vietnam are reluctant to visit their families because they are ashamed they have not met their parents' high expectations.

Hong Thanh used to be her family's pride, but she is now afraid to visit her hometown and face her parents.

The 25-year-old woman was the only one of the four siblings in her family to pass the national university entrance exams. Her parents then worked as street vendors during the day and as motorbike taxi drivers at night to pay for her studies.

Feeling indebted to her parents' hard work, Thanh studied hard to ensure she would have the opportunity to find a high-paying job and send lots of money home.

She thought it would be easy, given that she was always at the top of her class, and won various scholarships and contests during her university years.

"At family gatherings, parents always talked about my academic performance and how they expected me to be even more successful in the future," Thanh said.

But she started to encounter hardships after graduation.

She struggled for a long time to find an excellent job. She got exhausted and thought about returning to her hometown to work.

"There's nothing wrong with returning to my hometown and staying with my parents after graduation," she thought to herself.

But she shut the idea down when her younger sister told her that her father stayed up all night smoking on the day she said she would quit her job and return.

"You have to carefully think everything through whenever you say anything," Thanh's younger sister said. "Our father put a lot of expectations on you, so he got very sad when you said that."

Thanh resumed her job search and has not dared think about returning to her hometown ever since.

She also intends to stay in Hanoi instead of visiting her parents in the neighboring province of Ha Nam during this year's National Day holiday.

Hong Thanh during a trip to a northern mountainous province in March 2023. Photo courtesy of Hong Thanh

She is not the only young person who does not want to visit home because of familial pressure.

A 2021 international study conducted by American polling firm Barna Group and the Impact 360 Institute pointed out that two out of every five Gen Z-ers, defined as people born from 1997 onwards, reported that they were under pressure. Their causes for pressure could be divided into two groups: external factors - including expectations set by parents and views from precedent generations, and internal factors - including self-imposed stress to be successful and perfect, which is potentially the result of external pressure.

A similar pattern has been observed in Vietnam.

A study conducted between 2019 and 2020 by Dr. Duong Minh Tam, head of the department of stress-related disorders at Bach Mai Hospitals Institute of Mental Health in Hanoi, showed that around 55% of Vietnamese youth suffer from psychological trauma, of which the most common cause is pressure from their families.

This type of pressure leads to an inner feeling of shame for not meeting their families' expectations, according to psychology expert Hong Huong. Consequently, they are reluctant to go home and face their parents.

"They don't dare visit their families as they have not achieved the ability to take care of their parents and thus, feel they do not deserve their parents' affection," the expert said.

Huong adds that psychologically speaking, "home" is largely considered a place that heals peoples wounds. Because of that, people often feel the urge to go home. If that urge is not fulfilled due to their inability to come up to their parents expectations, they are likely to feel sad and lonely.

In worse scenarios, the relationship between parents and children is injured when children blame their parents for setting elevated expectations they cannot meet.

Duy Tung, 22, of the central province of Nghe An, is an example of this.

To make his parents think he lives well, Tung borrowed money from loan sharks to purchase an automobile, clothes, and other gifts for his parents when he visited them during the 2023 Lunar New Year holiday.

"I wanted to appear at my finest in front of them," he said.

He had to sneak out of Hanoi and hideout in HCMC when debt collectors arrived at his rented room in the capital.

The young mans attitude towards his parents also soured as he blamed them for his current situation.

Dr. Pham Thi Thuy, professor at the National Academy of Public Administration, begged to differ.

She claimed that young people have total control over whether or not to fulfill their parents expectations. So, if they do so with hatred, they should blame themselves instead of their parents, she said.

On the other hand, according to Thuy, the generation gap between parents and children can cause clashes in viewpoints and priorities. The older generation can define "success" as earning a lot of money, while the younger generation may prioritize doing a job they love over a higher salary. The two generations should discuss each others views to reach a mutual and respectful understanding.

Psychologist Hong Huong also advised parents to check up on their children when they are not heard from for a long time. Parents should also show their children that they are always willing to support and help instead of only offering criticism, she said.

Thanh knows that her parents will still care about her regardless of whether she visits them or not. But she only wants to see them once she can confidently share some achievements.

Meanwhile, Tung is still trying to make money in HCMC to pay off his debts. He has no intention of contacting any member of his family.

"My parents pushed me into this situation," he said. "I dont want to see them anymore."
Gov. Eric Holcomb and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education announced in press release on Wednesday over 40,000 students have been automatically enrolled in the 2027 cohort of the 21st Century Scholars program.

The number enrolled in this years cohort is up from the 20,000 that were enrolled in the 2026 group.

The 21st Century Scholars program provides low-income students in Indiana with tuition and fees fully covered if they attend an Indiana college or university. In order to enroll, students have to be in either seventh or eighth grade.

In May, Holcomb signed into law House Enrolled Act 1449, a bipartisan piece of legislation that automatically enrolls students who are on the free or reduced price lunch program.

In the release, the CHE said it estimates over an additional 20,000 eighth-grade students will be enrolled each year.

Holcomb said in the press release the scholarship program has played a transformative role in getting more students prepared for college.

"Automatically enrolling income-eligible students into this life-changing program will lead to greater levels of educational attainment, stronger communities and a globally competitive workforce," he said.

According to the CHE's 2023 College Readiness Report, 81% of 21st Century Scholars ended up attending college in 2021, compared to 30% of low-income student who were not a part of the program.

Since its inception in 1990, over 50,000 students have earned a college degree through the 21st Century Scholars program, according to the press release.

GALLERY: The Times Photos of the Week
There were shortages of people who had kids at home, said Catherine Ruckelshaus, the general counsel of the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group. Im sure that elevated the stakes.

But Ed Egee, a vice president at the National Retail Federation, argued that labor shortages most likely cut the other way, giving low-level managers the leverage to negotiate more favorable pay, benefits and schedules. I would almost say theres never been a time when those workers are more empowered, he said. (Pay for all workers grew much faster than pay for managers from 2019 to 2021, though pay for managers grew slightly faster last year.)

Experts say the denial of overtime pay is part of a broader strategy to drive down labor costs in recent decades by staffing stores with as few workers as possible. If a worker calls in sick, or more customers turn up than expected, the misclassified manager is often asked to perform the duties of a rank-and-file worker without additional cost to the employer.

This allows them to make sure theyre not staffing any more than they need to, said Deirdre Aaron, a former Labor Department lawyer who has litigated numerous overtime cases in private practice. They have assistant managers there who can pick up the slack.

Ms. Palliser said that her normal shift at Panera ran from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m., but that she was often called in to help close the store when it was short-staffed. If an employee did not show up for an afternoon shift, she typically had to stay late to cover.
As new Covid variants gain traction, reinfections become more common and cases climb in certain areas, a few schools and businesses are reinstating mask requirements. Experts say it makes sense to increase precautions, including turning back to masks.

I tend to say, if youre going to go out, make sure you have a mask in your car, a couple masks at home or at work, so you always have something available to put on, said Andrew Pekosz, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Heres a refresher on where, when and how to mask.

When should you wear a mask inside?

Everyones risk tolerance varies, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said. But particularly if you are 65 or older, have an underlying condition that makes you more vulnerable to severe disease or are pregnant, he recommends wearing a mask whenever you are in a relatively confined, crowded indoor space. That can include stores, offices and public transportation.

Certainly every time you add another person to the room, particularly people who are within three to five feet of you, that increases your chance of getting infected, exponentially, Dr. Pekosz added.
Small armies of landscapers tend to lush grass and rolling hills, where private roads with names like Memory Lane and Baby Land lead upward past maximalist mausoleums, columbaria and replica Renaissance statuary.

At the top is the quaintly named Mount Forest Lawn, a hill housing a theater named the Hall of Crucifixion-Resurrection, built for just a single work: the Polish artist Jan Stykas 195-feet-by-45-feet The Crucifixion, one of the largest religious paintings in the world. A turn-of-the-20th-century marvel, the artwork is part of the short-lived genre of panorama painting  canvases hung in near-360 degrees that provided viewers an affordable immersive journey, often to vistas of Christendom or crowded battle sequences.

The theater and adjoining art museum are part of Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, a 300-acre cemetery that has been a Los Angeles landmark since it was founded by Hubert Eaton in 1917. A medley of architecture, art and artifacts, the burial grounds are the forever homes of Michael Jackson, Carole Lombard, Jimmy Stewart, Walt Disney and countless other stars, with flat grave markers to ensure that the emerald green hills and views of downtown Los Angeles remain unobstructed.
South Africas deadliest residential fire in years

At least 74 people, including a dozen children, died yesterday in a fire in Johannesburg that tore through a building where squatters lived, city officials said. It was one of the deadliest residential fires in South Africas history.

My colleague Lynsey Chutel, who covers Johannesburg, arrived at the scene shortly after the fire broke out. There was a real sense of chaos, she said. You could see people sitting on the sidewalk looking confused, looking helpless.

A Johannesburg city councilman, who oversees public safety, said that when he arrived at the building, people were jumping out of windows to escape. (See why the apartment was a firetrap.)

The building, once a government checkpoint for Black workers during apartheid, was most recently a womens shelter, before the nonprofit organization that ran it ended its operations there. The building is one of many that are abandoned in Johannesburg and that have been hijacked by criminal gangs, who collect rent but dont provide any services, turning them into vertical slums, Lynsey said.
What if you built a new city from the ground up? The idea has tantalized urban planners and utopian dreamers for centuries. In 2017, Jan Sramek joined their crusade.

Mr. Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader, had moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to make it in tech. He was a European immigrant smitten with the energy of local start-ups, but he preferred more walkable cities like Zurich. Soon, he began taking fishing trips to Solano County on the San Francisco Bays eastern edge.

A rural corner of the county eventually became the centerpiece of a plan hatched by Mr. Sramek to build a city from scratch. He created a company called Flannery Associates, and has spent the last few years using money from some of the wealthiest people in Silicon Valley to make his audacious idea come true, said two people with knowledge of his work who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The story of how Mr. Sramek got some of the richest people in the world to buy $900 million in farms and undeveloped land with the dream of a new city seems destined to become a Silicon Valley legend that mixes idealism  or hubris  with old-fashioned capitalism.
The New Spectrum of Wine

Here is a brief primer to help navigate these terms if you see them in a store or restaurant.

Transparent vs. Golden Whites

Transparent whites generally will have been aged in steel tanks or other containers meant to protect against contact with air. They tend to be fresh, fruity and immediate. Golden whites, meaning whites with a darker hue, would most likely have been aged in oak, which might enrich the texture and complexity of a wine without necessarily making it taste oaky, though that might be an unfortunate side effect. It might also indicate an older white or one that has been intentionally exposed to air, which would also change the flavor and texture. Wines in this style are oxidative rather than oxidized, which is a flaw.

Orange or Skin-Contact Wines

These are essentially whites that have been produced using techniques for making reds. Instead of whisking the fresh grape juice off the pigment-bearing skins, as you would a conventional white, the juice macerates with the skins, drawing out color and perhaps tannins. The longer the maceration, the darker and more tannic the orange wine will become. Those wines that have mingled a few days or maybe up to two weeks will be relatively pale. Longer soaking, which might be many months, will result in an amber-colored wine.

Pale and Dark Roses

Easy to visualize, but are their differences meaningful? A rose is essentially the inverse of an orange wine, a red made using the techniques for producing whites. The longer the juice is macerated the darker the wine becomes, particularly if the base grape is thicker skinned and darker hued. Paler roses, like typical examples from Provence, tend to be easygoing, light and fresh, while darker versions, like Cerasuolo dAbruzzo, may be savory, richer and fuller. But not always! Color offers clues but not answers. When in doubt, ask a sommelier.

Light vs. Dark Reds

Not a particularly helpful designation as color in red wines can mean little. The assumption is that the darker the color the denser and more tannic the wine, but its not true. A traditionally made Barolo is pale red, yet tannic and long-lived while any number of dark reds will be fresh and easy. Far more useful are largely self-explanatory designations like light-, medium- or heavy-bodied, which describe weight and body. One exception with color: Young reds will be brighter while well-aged wines will seem duller and paler around the edges. But unless you are blind tasting, you wont need to guess the age by the color.

Sparkling Wines

The pet-nat, traditional method and tank nomenclature refer to how the wines were made. Pet-nat stands for petillant-naturel, or ancestral method, in which wine completes its fermentation in the bottle, trapping carbon dioxide, which produces bubbles. Its both the oldest method and newly fashionable, and produces somewhat simple wines that can be fresh and delicious. Traditional method refers to Champagne-style sparklers, in which a completed wine undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle. These wines have the potential to age and become complex, but its not built in. Last is the tank method, used for inexpensive sparkling wines produced in quantity, like Prosecco. They can be fresh and likable. None of these methods should be considered a badge of quality.
At a fundamental level, China is suffering from the paradox of thrift, which says that an economy can suffer if consumers try to save too much. If businesses arent willing to borrow and then invest all the money consumers are trying to save, the result is an economic downturn. Such a downturn may well reduce the amount businesses are willing to invest, so an attempt to save more can actually reduce investment.

And China has an incredibly high national savings rate. Why? Im not sure theres a consensus about the causes, but an I.M.F. study argued that the biggest drivers are a low birthrate  so people dont feel they can rely on their children to support them in retirement  and an inadequate social safety net, so they dont feel that they can rely on public support either.

As long as the economy was able to grow extremely fast, businesses found useful ways to invest all those savings. But that kind of growth is now a thing of the past.

The result is that China has a huge quantity of savings all dressed up with no good place to go. And the story of Chinese policy has been one of increasingly desperate efforts to mask this problem. For a while China maintained demand by running huge trade surpluses, but this risked a protectionist backlash. Then China channeled excess savings into a monstrous real estate bubble, but this bubble is now bursting.

The obvious answer is to boost consumer spending. Get state-owned enterprises to share more of their profits with workers. Strengthen the safety net. And in the short run, the government could just give people money  sending out checks, the way America has done.
Mr. Cavalcante, 34, is a Brazilian national who is wanted for homicide in Brazil, the United States Marshals Service said in a notice.

Last week, Mr. Cavalcante was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of first-degree murder. The district attorneys office has said that in April 2021, he stabbed his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, to death in front of her children, ages 4 and 7. Mr. Cavalcante, who was living in Royersford, Pa., at the time, fled the murder scene and was arrested hours later in Virginia.

Before the attack, Ms. Brandao had learned of Mr. Cavalcantes open warrant for murder in Brazil and threatened to tell the police, according to the district attorneys office. Detectives determined that this was the motive for the murder, the office said in a Facebook post last week.

Mr. Cavalcante had previously assaulted and threatened to kill Ms. Brandao, the office said on Thursday. It said he is 5 feet tall and speaks Portuguese and Spanish.

Mr. Cavalcante is a former gang member who is wanted in Brazil for the 2017 murder of a man who owed him money, Ms. Ryan, the Chester County district attorney, told the Media News Group, according to a report on Thursday in one of the companys newspapers, The Daily Local News.
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a new Texas law that would restrict drag shows, a victory for L.G.B.T.Q. groups that have criticized the measure as an attack against drag performers and organizers.

Judge David Hittner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas wrote in his ruling that the law was unconstitutional because it violated First Amendment rights and that his decision would remain in effect for 14 days while he deliberates on a more permanent order.

If a permanent injunction is granted, the ruling would most likely be appealed by the state.

The law, S.B. 12, which was set to go into effect on Friday, seeks to regulate sexually oriented performances, which has been widely understood to mean drag shows, and to restrict those performances in front of minors. Republicans in the Texas Legislature who support the law said it would protect children from seeing drag shows.

In addition to criticism from L.G.B.T.Q. groups, the law has also faced pushback for being too broad in its language: It defines sexual conduct as the representation, actual or simulated, of sexual acts. Some critics wondered if touring Broadway plays, cheerleading routines and karaoke nights could also be affected by the law.
The decision by the transition government in Mali to close the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, or MINUSMA, has already triggered renewed violence on the ground, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield:

We are alarmed by a resumption of hostilities in northern Mali, including by violations of the ceasefire during the August 11th and 12th clashes at the Ber Camp and by subsequent attacks on a MINUSMA convoy on August 13th. Additionally, MINUSMAs withdrawal limits the ability of the international community to protect civilians from the predations of Wagner, whose activities contribute to greater insecurity in the country.

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield expressed her gratitude to the men and women of MINUSMA, and to the troop- and police-contributing countries for their commitment to peace in Mali in the face of grave danger.

And we strongly condemn senseless attacks on peacekeepers, which threaten to reverse years of progress toward peace and stability  and undo so many of the remarkable gains made by the UN and Malians, she said.

The Malian people deserve peace, declared Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. And further instability would open the doors to JNIM and ISIS-Sahel to spread their access and influence. It would be a recipe for disaster.

The Malian transition government and signatory armed groups, along with the UN and the international community, must demonstrate a revitalized commitment to the Algiers Accord, urged Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield:

This agreement continues to represent the best opportunity for lasting peace and stability in Mali. Plain and simple. To that end, we call on all signatory parties to immediately renew their cooperation with the International Mediation.

The United States urges the parties to settle their disputes through dialogue and engage with MINUSMA on an agreement for the safe and peaceful transfer of its camps and bases to the Malian authorities. As the situation grows increasingly volatile, these transfers must prioritize the safety and security of peacekeepers.

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield reminded the transition authorities that the Status of Forces Agreement  and its provisions ensuring MINUSMAs freedom of movement throughout Mali  remains in full effect until the missions final element has departed, which will extend beyond December 31st.

Malis leaders have an opportunity to build on MINUSMAs legacy and recommit to dialogue to settle differences rather than violence. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield urged all Malians to choose the path of peace.
When an online legal newsmagazine asked North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita S. Earls in June about a state report showing that most lawyers appearing before the court were white men, she said the court should examine the reasons for that disparity and address what she called implicit bias in the judiciary.

As a result, a state judicial commission opened an investigation  not of the issue but of whether Justice Earlss remarks had violated the states Code of Judicial Conduct. Now Justice Earls has filed a federal lawsuit alleging an ongoing campaign by the state to suppress her First Amendment rights through intrusive investigations initiated by anonymous informers.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asks the court to permanently bar the states Judicial Standards Commission from seeking to stop her from speaking on matters of public concern. On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered that the case first be heard by a mediator.

The lawsuit does not cite a reason for the harassment it claims. But its no secret that this court has been a divided court, Justice Earlss lawyer, Press Millen, said in an interview, adding that political opponents appear to be using the judicial disciplinary system to attack one of the courts most outspoken members.
That loss happened in 2016, when Mr. Roe ran the presidential primary campaign of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who came closer than any other candidate to toppling Mr. Trump.

For his 2024 rematch against Mr. Trump, Mr. Roe and his colleagues at Never Back Down are trying something that has never been done before at this scale in American politics: They are running almost every aspect of the DeSantis presidential effort out of a group that is barred by campaign finance laws from coordinating strategy with either Mr. DeSantis or his campaign team.

Super PACs are allowed to raise unlimited sums but because of the prohibition against coordination they are usually used as a piggy bank to buy advertising. Everything else thats part of a modern presidential campaign  from events, to bus tours, to the labor intensive business of calling voters and knocking on their doors  is usually handled by the campaign. But because the DeSantis campaign has relatively little cash and the super PAC has had plenty, Never Back Down has taken over all of those functions.

The unusual arrangement has necessitated an awkward tap dance around campaign finance laws. Mr. DeSantis insists he is technically separate from this super PAC even as he travels around on a bus funded by the super PAC and even as he attends his own events as a special guest of the super PAC.

In July, Mr. DeSantis laid off more than a third of his campaign staff. Donors had slowed giving as he slid in the polls and as his first campaign manager, Generra Peck, spent early and aggressively. The campaigns cash crunch has meant that the health of Never Back Down is more important to Mr. DeSantiss fortunes than the structure of his own campaign.
The shooting of Ralph, a high school marching band member, by Mr. Lester, a retiree in his 80s, led to protests in Kansas City this spring and a national outcry, with President Biden inviting Ralph to visit the White House. Many residents and politicians in Kansas City, which has a long history of segregation, believed that race played a role in the shooting, and the county prosecutor said early on that there was a racial component to the case.

But issues of race barely came up on Thursday inside Judge Angless courtroom in Liberty, a Kansas City suburb. The hours of testimony from neighbors, police officers, doctors and Ralph himself focused on the sequence of events that night, the collection of evidence from Mr. Lesters house and the surgery that removed bullet fragments from Ralphs skull.

Mr. Lester, who was 84 at the time of the shooting, is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action, both felonies, and could face life in prison if convicted. He was allowed to remain free on bond but was ordered to appear for an arraignment on Sept. 20.

The case against Mr. Lester is the rare one in which there does not seem to be much disagreement about the underlying facts.

Prosecutors and Mr. Lesters lawyer agreed that Ralph meant no harm when he rang the doorbell after mistaking the defendants home on Northeast 115th Street for the friends house, which had the same street number on nearby Northeast 115th Terrace.
The answer, the Vatican has said, is that Mongolia, like other far-flung places Francis has visited, speaks to his priorities for the direction he wants to take the church, and his mission to improve cooperation and dialogue among the worlds religions. Francis also has ambitions to be heard on the secular stage, and by two world powers with which he has rocky relations, at a time of great upheaval.

The Vatican says the principal reason for the visit is to encourage the tiny community of Catholics, in keeping with his emphasis on drawing attention to the churchs peripheries.

More than 40 percent of Mongolians say they have no religious identity, according to census data. Of those who say they are religious, some 87 percent say they are Buddhist. About 5 percent are Muslim, 4 percent identify as adherents of shamanism and barely 2 percent are Christians.

Last year, Francis stunned many in the Vatican by elevating an Italian missionary in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, who has been in Mongolia for decades, to the exalted status of cardinal, and gave him a coveted spot in the Vaticans powerful office for evangelization.

It has been a gradual and slow growth, the cardinal, Giorgio Marengo, 49, said, describing his experience in Mongolia. It has not, he said, been very sudden or significant in a way in terms of numbers, but a constant little growth.
After piercing a daunting line of Russian defenses around the southern village of Robotyne, Ukrainian forces are now seeking to take the next step in their arduous counteroffensive, waging a fierce battle a few miles farther to the east, according to Ukrainian military commanders and U.S. officials.

The intense fighting on Thursday comes amid weeks of brutal battles that have resulted in small but significant advances that Ukrainian forces are trying to exploit, with the broader goal of driving a wedge into the so-called land bridge between Russia and occupied Crimea, which is vital to the Russian militarys supply routes.

The Ukrainian brigade that is participating in the fighting in the area said that its assault units were attacking Russian positions near the village of Verbove, nine miles east of Robotyne.

The move toward Verbove is notable because it shows that Ukraine is confident enough in its hold on Robotyne that it believes its troops can try to press forward.
Visitors to the British Museum this week could be forgiven for thinking it was business as usual.

In the museums Egyptian galleries, tourists jostled to get a closer look at the Rosetta Stone. Nearby, a teenager posed for a photo in front of a huge statue from Easter Island. In another hall, art students sketched a sculpture of a centaur from the Parthenon Marbles.

But despite the air of normalcy, the worlds third-most-visited museum is in crisis.

Since news broke in August that an employee had been fired over the theft of potentially thousands of items from its storerooms, the British Museum has struggled to deal with the fallout, which is exacerbating challenges it already faced.

The museum is now deluged with renewed calls for the restitution of contested objects, and raising a huge sum for an impending refurbishment looks even more difficult. At a time when it needs leadership most, the museum is rudderless, after its director, Hartwig Fischer, resigned on Aug. 25.

Image Hartwig Fischer, who resigned on Aug. 25, had served as the museums director since 2016. Credit... Tom Jamieson for The New York Times

On top of those challenges, the institution has also recently been troubled by protests over a longstanding oil company sponsorship, shutdowns caused by striking workers and a flap over the uncredited use of a translators work in a recent show.
A rich perfume wafts through the sixth floor of the Museum of Modern Art, where the installation of Ed Ruschas full-dress survey Now Then is underway. You sense it before you see it: a room where the white walls are turning velvety brown. A chocolate room.

The McPherson family, dressed in their La Paloma Fine Arts company T-shirts, bustle around their rig. Edan McPherson dips a long squeegee into a pool of melted chocolate, draws the rubber blade across the coarse mesh. His son, Daniel, whisks the prints away, while his sister Robyn feeds fresh paper. His wife, Lynda, and daughter, Kayla, monitor double boilers of chocolate in reserve. The drying racks fill up, two tenths of a pound of dark chocolate coating each sheet. When the chocolate sets, theyll trim and hang each print, floor to ceiling, like shingles on a Craftsman house.

Chocolate Room is an oddity in Ruschas influential oeuvre. Of the 85-year-old Nebraska natives hundreds of projects  paintings, prints, and photo books; dry eulogies of Americana like SPAM cans and Mobil stations and two-lane blacktop  Chocolate Room is his only installation. Its been shown just seven times since its creation in 1970, and never before in New York.
We had an address and we got paid and shipped, said Mr. Allouche. He noted it would remain difficult for galleries to research shell companies and check government databases for every sale unless we are given easy tools to do so.

So far the U.S. government has refrained from adopting regulations like those enacted recently in Europe that require art dealers to verify not only the identities of their clients but also the sources of their wealth. Nicholas ODonnell, an art market lawyer in Boston who has been involved with efforts to get the industry to police itself without government regulation, said in the Ahmad case the market could have done a better job of reviewing its clients.

When it comes to dealing with sanctioned persons, ignorance is no excuse, he said, adding, Its not that hard to do this kind of due diligence with the publicly available database.

He meant the searchable online database of sanctioned individuals that is maintained by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control. When Mr. Ahmad was cited, the government issued a news release and his name and those of companies he was known to trade under were published on the database. Galleries can also sign up for alerts from that office, which is involved in the leveling sanctions.

The indictment cited relatives and associates of Mr. Ahmad who it said had helped him buy art in violation of sanctions and often dealt directly with the artists or galleries. Among these was Mr. Ahmads daughter, Hind Ahmad, who ran the now-shuttered Artual Gallery and Four You Gallery in Lebanon.

She has denied the accusations, saying in an interview last April that her father was not a financier of Hezbollah and that her galleries had never been used to launder money.
Norman H. Pfeiffer, a bicoastal architect who for more than a half-century restored, reimagined and created civic spaces that enhanced New York landmarks and helped revitalize downtown Los Angeles, died on Aug. 23 at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 82.

The cause was congestive heart failure, his wife, Patricia Zohn, said.

In Los Angeles, Mr. Pfeiffer, a founding partner of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, was instrumental in designing the renovation and expansion of the Los Angeles Central Library, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Colburn School of Performing Arts & Music Conservatory, and the Griffith Observatory.

In New York, he drafted plans for the restoration of Radio City Music Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Cooper Hewitt museum, the New Amsterdam Theater, as well as new homes for the Dance Theater of Harlem and the Brooklyn Childrens Museum.

His portfolio included the master plan for the campus of Soka University of America and 14 of its first 18 buildings  a dream commission that began with a blank slate of a brown, bare piece of earth, 103 acres of nothing in Aliso Viejo, Calif., he told The New York Times in 2001.
Thats Manny, as everyone calls him. He has said things like this forever, sought to share the spotlight or point it wholly elsewhere. And his modesty, which he wraps in a jesting smile and a famous bonhomie, is at the heart of his pianism and personality alike.

Whatever his musical decisions are, they are never ones that would draw attention to himself, said the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, who has known Ax for four decades and will premiere a piano concerto by Anders Hillborg with him and the San Francisco Symphony in October. So in the very, very best sense of the word, he kind of eradicates himself out of the picture.

Might that mean, though, that Ax is taken for granted? After all, how many artists have performed at his level for so long? How many have treated us so reliably to such taste and good sense as he? How many have had his ability, not unlike that of his late associate Bernard Haitink, to make music sound so simply right?

Ax ranks among the very finest of American pianists. Yet he would never admit it. As Ma put it, He doesnt go around saying, And I did this. In fact, Ma recalled, when Ax told him that this article was happening, he said, I dont know why theyre doing this.
Salt River Project ("SRP"), a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest electricity provider in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, and CMBlu Energy ("CMBlu"), a designer and manufacturer of long-duration Organic SolidFlow energy storage systems, announced a pilot project to deploy long-duration energy storage (LDES) in the Phoenix area. The 5-megawatt (MW), 10-hour-duration project, named Desert Blume, will use CMBlu's unique non-lithium technology, and the firm will build, own and operate the batteries on behalf of SRP at their Copper Crossing Energy and Research Center in Florence, Arizona. SRP is the first U.S. electric utility to implement CMBlu's batteries at this scale.

CMBlu's Organic SolidFlow battery technology uses a non-flammable proprietary mixture of solid electrolyte and water-based electrolytes with high energy density and performance. The systems are fully recyclable, free of rare metals, and housed inside buildings. CMBlu expects its battery system to cost-effectively store and deliver energy for two to three times longer per cycle than traditional lithium-ion technology, which typically targets a four-hour duration.

The project is designed to store energy for SRP's customers during daytime periods, largely from Arizona's abundant solar generation, and return that energy to the grid throughout the night. It will store enough energy to power about 1,125 average homes for 10 hours.

"We are privileged to work with CMBlu and gain experience with their extremely innovative technology," said Jim Pratt, CEO of SRP. "This resource will supplement SRP's power system helping provide stored power for longer periods, especially in times of fluctuating, high energy demand from customers in the Valley. It will be a helpful addition to SRP's significant number of renewable resources and storage projects, which generally only store energy for up to four hours."

"Desert Blume is a critical project to validate Organic SolidFlow batteries at scale and promote safe, sustainable, and secure long-duration energy storage built in the United States," said Ben Kaun, President of CMBlu Energy's U.S. division. "We're thrilled to collaborate with SRP to support their rapid clean energy transition, as well as have the opportunity to demonstrate our technology in the Southwestern U.S. Phoenix anchors one of the country's fastest growing metro areas, with abundant solar potential, making it an ideal environment for the next generation of LDES."

This pilot is part of an approved third phase of continued development at SRP's Copper Crossing Energy and Research Center in Florence. The first phase will add two flexible natural gas turbines with a total output of less than 100 MW, and the second phase will add a utility-scale advanced solar generation facility capable of generating up to 55 MW of solar energy.

SRP selected CMBlu after issuing a request for long-duration storage project proposals from emerging energy storage companies. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) will support performance monitoring of this pilot project and help validate the real-world performance of the technology in Arizona's hot and dry climate.

The SRP pilot in Florence represents the latest application of CMBlu's technology following several other project announcements this year. In July, CMBlu announced the first customer deployment of its battery with Burgenland Energie in Austria, and will also provide its LDES systems for a pilot in Milwaukee with WEC Energy.

Construction is slated to begin in early 2025, and SRP and CMBlu expect the pilot to be operational in December 2025. To learn more about the continued development at SRP's Copper Crossing Energy and Research Center, visit www.srp.net/coppercrossing. For more information about CMBlu Energy, visit www.cmblu.com.

About SRP

SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest electricity provider in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving approximately 1.1 million customers. SRP provides water to about half of the Valley's residents, delivering more than 244 billion gallons of water (750,000 acre-feet) each year, and manages a 13,000-square-mile watershed that includes an extensive system of reservoirs, wells, canals and irrigation laterals.

About CMBlu Energy

CMBlu Energy is a leading designer and manufacturer of safe, sustainable, and secure long-duration battery energy storage systems. CMBlu's patented Organic SolidFlow technology solutions are made of earth-abundant, non-lithium raw materials. The company aims to manufacture domestically at high volume, delivering energy storage solutions for a range of industrial applications from utility-scale to commercial customers. CMBlu employs over 190 people in Germany and the United States.

Media Contacts

Justin Williams

Trevi Communications on behalf of CMBlu Energy, Inc.

justin@trevicomm.com

(978) 539-7157

Erica Roelfs

SRP Media Relations

Erica.Roelfs@srpnet.com

(602) 236-2576
Sergio Ramirez has been forced into exile twice; once for his role in a revolution and once after writing, in a work of fiction, about what that revolution became. One thing hes learned in the interim: Dictators lack imagination.

When it comes to suppressing freedom and exercising absolute power, the distance between left and right is erased, Ramirez said. They want the same things.

Its not hard to see why authoritarians of varying stripes might want Ramirez to just go away. A central figure in Nicaraguan literature and politics for six decades, his reflections on the perils of power for its own sake  whether they come at a book fair or a peace conference  carry weight.

Ramirez was an intellectual leader of the Nicaraguan revolution that ousted the right wing dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. He founded his own political party after elements of the victorious Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), of which he was a part, grew increasingly anti-democratic in the 1990s. He is also the prizewinning author of dozens of novels, short story collections and works of nonfiction.
Covid cases have risen. Flu season is approaching. And new vaccines for the virus known as R.S.V. recently became available.

This swirl of developments has left many people wondering which vaccine shots they should be getting and when. Todays newsletter offers a guide.

The main message that I heard from experts is that Americans should shift how they think about respiratory viruses. For the past few cold-weather seasons (which are also when viruses spread most), we obsessed over Covid. This year, we should take a broader approach. Its not only Covid you have to think about, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert and the author of a forthcoming book, The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science.

The good news is that there are vaccines and treatments that reduce risks from all major viruses likely to circulate this season, including Covid. For the past couple of seasons, the notion was that Covid controlled us, Dr. Nirav Shah, the C.D.C.s principal deputy director, told me. The tables have turned, not just for Covid but for the others.
After a setback, Disney has changed its legal strategy in Florida, where the company is battling Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies in court for control over Disney Worlds growth plan.

Disney is not, however, heeding Mr. DeSantiss recent call to drop the lawsuit. Instead, on Friday it pushed back on two fronts  narrowing the scope of its federal case to focus on the charge that Mr. DeSantis and his allies violated its First Amendment rights, and threatening new suits to gain access to public records.

Disney and Mr. DeSantis, who is running for president, have been sparring for more than a year over a special tax district that encompasses Disney World. Angered over Disneys criticism of a Florida education law, Mr. DeSantis took over the tax district, appointing a new board and ending the companys long-held ability to self-govern its 25,000-acre resort as if it were a county. Before the takeover took effect, however, Disney signed contracts to lock in development plans  worth some $17 billion over the next decade.

An effort by Mr. DeSantis and his allies to void the contracts resulted in dueling lawsuits, with Disney suing Mr. DeSantis and the tax district in federal court and the new appointees returning fire in state court.
Dockworkers at ports along the West Coast have ratified a new contract, securing a sweeping agreement set to last six years and expected to ease tensions after cargo shipments were diverted to other regions.

The contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which operates the terminals, covers 22,000 dockworkers at 29 ports from Los Angeles to Seattle.

The contract was approved by 75 percent of members who voted, the union said late Thursday. Details of the agreement were not released publicly, and the union declined to comment. Unionized workers at the ports have average salaries in the low six figures.

The maritime association did not respond to a request for comment.

The two sides announced in June that they had reached a tentative agreement after a year of negotiations that prompted intervention from the Biden administration and coincided with a decline in the volume of cargo at several major ports along the West Coast.
Why It Matters: A messy pivot from pharmacy to health services.

Walgreens has been shifting away from pharmacy and retail to focus more on health care services, with mixed results. The companys shares sank further on Friday, dropping to near a 14-year low. The company said its profit this year would be at or near the low end of its forecasts.

The group, which previously grew through various pharmacy acquisitions, is now looking to consolidate and focus its efforts on the U.S. health care sector, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in an email. While the wisdom of this move is debatable, health care is not Ms. Brewers forte.

Before joining Walgreens, Ms. Brewer was the chief operating officer of Starbucks and previously served as chief executive of Sams Club, a division of Walmart.

In addition to opening more doctors offices inside Walgreens stores, she oversaw the complicated rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine at pharmacies and enforcement of pandemic safety standards within stores.

In a statement, Ms. Brewer said that she was proud of what she had accomplished and that the company was on track to be a leading consumer-centric health care company.

Quotable: The worst time for an executive departure.

Ms. Brewers exit was announced a little over a month after the companys chief financial officer, James Kehoe, left to become a finance chief at the technology firm FIS.

As Walgreens leans more into the health care business, it faces several hurdles, industry experts said. In a note to clients, Deutsche Banks analysts said the challenges included managing tricky pharmacy reimbursements, transforming its business model to focus on primary care and dealing with opioid liability issues.

The departure of the two key executives comes at possibly the worst time, the Deutsche Bank analysts wrote. We cannot recall a time in our coverage experience where we have seen both the C.E.O. and the C.F.O. depart a large-cap company in such a short span where there were not other issues at the company.

Whats Next: The search for a permanent successor.

Walgreens said a search for a permanent leader was underway.

Stefano Pessina, the companys executive chairman, said in a statement that Ms. Graham was the ideal person to serve as interim C.E.O. Ms. Graham was previously chief executive of Amylin Pharmaceuticals and group chairman, office of the president of Guidant. She started her career at Eli Lilly.

It is rare for a woman to replace another female chief executive. This year, gender diversity has fallen within the top ranks of retail companies. Of the 86 retail companies in the Fortune 1000, 13 had a woman as chief executive as of July, down slightly from the year before, according to Heidrick & Struggles, an executive recruiting firm.

Among the Fortune 500, there are 50 female chief executive officers, according to data from Catalyst, which works with hundreds of companies to advance the careers of women.

Ms. Brewers departure leaves just one Black woman running a Fortune 500 company: Thasunda Duckett at TIAA, the investment firm.
A four-line letter, signed by the attending physician of Congress and released by Senator Mitch McConnell on Thursday, suggested that his recent spells of speechlessness were linked to occasional lightheadedness perhaps brought on by his recovery from a concussion last winter or dehydration.

But seven neurologists, relying on what they described as unusually revealing video of Mr. McConnell freezing up in public twice recently, said in interviews Thursday and Friday that the episodes captured in real time likely pointed to more serious medical problems afflicting the longtime Republican leader.

Some of the neurologists, while cautioning that they could not diagnose the minority leader from afar, said that the letter and other comments from Mr. McConnells office appeared to fall short of explaining why he abruptly stopped speaking during news conferences in late July and again on Wednesday.

If I gave that tape to a medical student and that was his explanation, Id fail him, said Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a professor of neurology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, referring to the account given by the attending physician of Congress on Thursday. Medically, these episodes need to be taken seriously.
The nations most thinly staffed nursing homes would be required to hire more workers under new rules proposed on Friday by the Biden administration, the greatest change to federal nursing home regulations in three decades.

The proposed standard was prompted by the industrys troubled performance earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, when 200,000 nursing home residents died. But the proposal falls far short of what both the industry and patient advocates believe is needed to improve care for most of the 1.2 million Americans in nursing homes.

The proposal, by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, would require all facilities to increase staff up to certain minimum levels, but it included no money for nursing homes to pay for the new hires.

C.M.S. estimated that three-quarters of the nations 15,000 homes would need to add staff members. But the increases at many of those facilities would be minor, as the average nursing home already employs nurses and aides at, or very close to, the proposed levels.
Was there a film that inspired you?

CURTAIN The Hills Have Eyes remake. Thats a really nasty little movie, but also its quite beautifully shot. Its out in the desert and the gore is really good and theres action to it. Besides that, it was classics like Texas Chain Saw Massacre  what I think they call hicksploitation.

Thomas, why did you take this role?

THOMAS ROACH Sam and I were out having drinks when he pitched me the idea. As soon as he said lead, he had me. [Laughs] I was concerned with the extreme nature of the role and what it would take to get it done. I probably did underestimate that, because it was quite demanding in the end, physically and emotionally.

It was as grueling as it looks?

ROACH Yeah. I spent a large portion of the shoot with these big, heavy appliances over my eyes and I couldnt see at all. That was quite isolating. Between takes youre just sitting in darkness and you dont know whats going on around you. Its strange how quickly you withdraw into yourself. I found myself not really contributing to conversations around me because I didnt know where anyone was. I just sat there. I had to be taken like a toddler to the toilet.

I wanted to spend the movie acting like I was in a state of shock. I was shivering and tensed up and hyperventilating for a lot of it. Before wed start rolling, to the chagrin of everyone on set, Id go into a coughing fit and get to the edge of where I would vomit and then be like, ready to roll. You end the day sore all over.

Is there something uniquely Australian about the film?

CURTAIN The Australian characters, these big burly blokey-blokes with thick Aussie accents.

ROACH The whole Crocodile Dundee bloke  maybe outside of Australia they think everybodys like that. We wanted to turn that on its head. The archetypal characters we have in our movie are quite toxic. The landscape is also a character. The real antagonists are the elements, specifically Tasmanian.

Thomas, would you be in a movie like this again?

ROACH Would I do it tomorrow? No. Im either a glutton for punishment or an idiot, but I would do it again.
For more than a decade, the United States mostly ignored BRICS. The grouping, formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, rarely registered on Washingtons radar. When it did, the impulse  as shown by Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, recently stressing that the coalition is not some kind of geopolitical rival  was to downplay the groups significance. Western commentators, for their part, largely painted BRICS as either a sign of Chinese attempts to dominate the global south or little more than a talking shop. Some even called for its dissolution.

Such complacency looks less tenable now. At a summit in Johannesburg last week, the group invited six global south states  Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates  to join its ranks. In the aftermath of the announcement, indifference gave way to surprise, even anxiety. Yet theres no need for alarm. BRICS will never run the world or replace the U.S.-led international system.

It would be a mistake, though, to dismiss its importance. After all, any club with such a long waiting list  in this case, nearly 20 nations  is probably doing something right. BRICSs expansion is an unmistakable marker of many countries dissatisfaction with the global order and of their ambition to improve their place within it. For America, whose grip on global dominance is weakening, it amounts to a subtly significant challenge  and an opportunity.

The critics have a point: BRICS remains a work in progress. Its two major initiatives  the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement  are quite small when compared with the scale of global development lending and finance. Other initiatives such as cooperation on health research and space exploration are in their embryonic stages. Expansion could make institution-building harder, with more players in the mix. There are, for example, some differences between the way China and Russia and the global south states view the grouping.
On Friday morning, just before writing this newsletter, I spoke to a conference of the Regional Science Association in Alicante, Spain. Notice the choice of preposition: to, not at. Given family commitments, I couldnt attend in person, so this was a Zoom presentation from home  something weve all become familiar with over the past three years.

The title of my session was Is the New Economic Geography Still Alive and Well in 2023? The obvious subtext was, is it still alive and well given our ability to do what I was doing  participate in a discussion with people thousands of miles away?

Some background: Economic geography  the study of where people do stuff and why  has been around for a very long time. The new economic geography refers to a particular way of approaching the subject that makes as much use as possible of buttoned-down, formal economic models. My own most cited academic paper, Increasing returns and economic geography, published in 1991, was one of the early works in this genre.

Whats the point of formal modeling here? It helps clarify ones thinking, and quite often yields insights that should have been obvious  that can, once arrived at, be expressed easily in plain English  but that you didnt have before. Maybe the most important insight from the N.E.G. is that there is always a tension between the forces of agglomeration, which tend to make activity clump together, and centrifugal forces that tend to make it spread out. And changes in technology can push the economy to a tipping point in either direction, transforming where we work and live.
On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $10 million in funding to RayGen Resources Pty Ltd (RayGen) to progress its hi-tech solar and thermal storage technology along the commercialisation pathway towards a full utility scale deployment.

The funding will help RayGen improve the design of its technology, achieve material cost reductions and conduct a basic and front-end engineering design (FEED) of a planned utility-scale 200 MW solar and 115 MW / 1.2 GWh storage deployment of its technology in Australia.

The funding comes as RayGen officially opened its power plant in Carwarp in north-western Victoria today. The commercial project demonstrates RayGen's innovative technologies across hi-tech solar and thermal storage. Together these technologies will generate 4 MW of renewable power backed with 2.8 MW / 50 MWh of storage for around 17 hours duration.

Successful commissioning of the Carwarp site is a significant milestone in the commercialisation of RayGen's technology.

RayGen's upcoming $32.7 million project with ARENA will help to reduce the cost of dispatchable renewable energy and unlock a pipeline of opportunities in Australia and internationally.

ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the growth of RayGen's technology will help to address Australia's future dispatchable electricity and energy storage needs.

"ARENA has supported RayGen for over a decade from early design validation, through to pilot-scale and now progressing to utility-scale assets.

ARENA plays a critical role by supporting homegrown innovation by helping to validate the technical performance and commercial viability of the technology, which then gives confidence to offtakers, developers and investors," Mr Miller said.

"Given RayGen's operating characteristics and cost reduction potential at scale, its solar-and-storage technology could make a significant contribution to addressing Australia's growing need for dispatchable renewable electricity and longer duration energy storage."

"We're excited by the opportunities RayGen's renewable energy technology offers in helping us get to net zero. As we celebrate the opening of its Carwarp site, we also look forward to supporting RayGen during its next phase."

RayGen CEO Richard Payne said: "ARENA plays an essential role in supporting the technologies that drive Australia's renewable energy transition and positioning Australian manufacturing for new global export opportunities.

"RayGen would not be in the position to deliver Australian jobs and put downward pressure on energy prices without ARENA's ongoing support. We look forward to continuing our relationship with ARENA as we develop upcoming projects throughout Australia."

ARENA has supported RayGen since 2012, providing a total of $38.4 million across five previous projects as well as this newly announced project. Prior funding has included support for a pre-commercial scale pilot of their early-stage technology, development and deployment of their hi-tech solar and thermal technologies, through to the feasibility and development stage of the RayGen Carwarp project.

ARENA media contact:

media@arena.gov.au
Early on, there were cruel conjectures that people around her were pushing her to remain in the Senate for their own self-interests, which was a petty and uninformed accusation. Let me tell you something about the fear of cognitive decline: It unleashes a torrent of emotions in caregivers. There is a fear of the unknown, there is a desire to maintain the status quo, to keep everything as normal as possible, and there is the haunting awareness that everything you once relied on is falling apart.

For the people losing their cognition, terror can be a constant companion, confusion nips at their heels, and they reach desperately for the person they once were. Caregivers reach for that, too. Early on in my fathers illness, my mother took him up to their ranch north of Los Angeles  the place he once said was heaven on Earth, the place that nourished his soul. But that was no longer the case. He became agitated and frightened by the expansive green miles he once loved. Dementia narrows the boundaries of ones world; on that clear blue day when he said he wanted to go home, we learned that sad lesson.

Recently, it was revealed that Senator Feinstein has given her daughter limited durable power of attorney, something that is also familiar to many people. Its a necessary move when a loved one is showing reduced capability in dealing with legal or medical issues. Her daughter has filed a lawsuit on behalf of her mother, alleging that Senator Feinstein is the victim of financial elder abuse. The claim is that the trustees of her husbands estate are failing to contribute to the trust money that she is owed. (A lawyer for the trustees has said that his clients acted ethically and appropriately at all times.) There are milestones in the decline from health, and handing over power of attorney is one of them. Its not something that anyone looks forward to.

Sometimes a public story touches thousands of lives on a very intimate plane. Regardless of peoples condition, one thing is certain: They want autonomy over their lives. That desire is deeply rooted; its primal, and it doesnt fade easily, if at all. Whether they want to go to work, drive a car, live on their own without the intrusion of an outside caregiver, people want to maintain what feels familiar to them.

The challenges of navigating the changes that simply have to be made weigh down caregivers to the point that their own health can be affected. Hence the terms caregiver stress and caregiver burnout. Senator Feinsteins husband died in 2022; she has a daughter, a granddaughter and a rather constant companion in Nancy Pelosis eldest daughter, who all look after her.
Georgias 16 electoral votes and a voting population that has supported both Democrats and Republicans at the top of the ticket in recent years keep the state one of few true battlegrounds.

Georgia is, of course, also the place where Donald Trump called and asked a Republican to find votes. And Georgia is the place where the Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, filed criminal charges that led to the indictment of Mr. Trump and 18 others for a conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election. For all these reasons, Georgia is also home to conflicting visions about the present and future of the Republican Party, demonstrated by differing responses to the fourth indictment this year. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Mr. Trumps most enduring defenders representing one of the countrys more conservative districts, posted an image of an American flag upside down, signaling distress.

And in one second-floor wing of Georgias State Capitol, a pair of Republican executives most likely shed few tears. The offices of Gov. Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger, secretary of state, sit just off a grand rotunda of the gold-covered dome in downtown Atlanta, and in 2020 the duo found themselves at the heart of a tsunami of threats and harassment.

The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen, Mr. Kemp said last month on social media in response to Mr. Trumps claims that he would unveil a report demonstrating the states election was fraudulent. The future of our country is at stake in 2024 and that must be our focus. Mr. Raffensperger, who withstood pressure from Mr. Trump to find the votes that were not there, offered a more succinct response: The most basic principles of a strong democracy are accountability and respect for the Constitution and rule of law. You either have it, or you dont.
In a recent analysis of data from 37 American cities, the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank, suggested a hopeful trend  the pandemic-era spike in crime may have peaked. The homicide rate has dropped significantly over the last year, based on data from 30 American cities. In many places, just about all types of violent crimes are down, in some areas substantially  in Atlanta, for instance, there have been 21 percent fewer aggravated assaults, 28 percent fewer homicides and 56 percent fewer rapes than at this point in 2022, according to police department data.

But theres a glaring exception: auto thefts. According to the Council on Criminal Justice, The number of vehicle thefts during the first half of 2023 was 33.5 percent higher, on average, than during the same period in 2022  representing 23,974 more vehicle thefts in the cities that reported data. In Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Chicago, New Orleans, Buffalo and Durham, N.C., motor vehicle thefts this year have more than doubled relative to last year, according to stats collected by Jeff Asher, a crime data analyst. This week, The Baltimore Sun reported that auto thefts are on pace to more than double the total from last year, as reports through the first eight months of 2023 are already up 88 percent compared to all of 2022.

Why are so many cars getting stolen? Police departments and city officials point to this: Millions of Kias and Hyundais are ridiculously easy to steal.

For years now, most automakers have equipped most of the cars they sell in the United States with electronic immobilizers, devices that prevent cars from starting unless they detect a radio ID code associated with the cars rightful key. But Hyundai and Kia, which come under the same South Korean conglomerate, did not install this basic device in somewhere around nine million cars sold between 2011 and 2022. A couple of years ago, videos showing how to hotwire the vulnerable cars began to pop up online. I wont go into details but I will say that it doesnt require much more than a USB plug.
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nicholas kristoff

Im Nicholas Kristoff. Im a columnist for The New York Times. And Ive got a break for you. Im actually going to tell you some good news today. [MUSIC] Kids across the country are going back to school, and many of us have been worried about education in the US. A fifth of Americans struggle to read, and a majority of high school seniors are not proficient readers. This is something that holds so many millions of Americans back. And it also holds America back. So we have a real problem with education across the country. But theres a little ray of hope from the most unlikely of places, and that is Mississippi. They have figured out how to dramatically improve reading and math in the early grades. Mississippi fourth graders have risen from just about the bottom to about the middle of the country in outcomes. But if you adjust for demographics, then the results are even more phenomenal. Among kids in poverty in the United States, Mississippi fourth graders now are tied for the best in the country in reading tests and second in math. Thats particularly important because Mississippi historically was just about the worst place in the country for education, and even today, remains the worst for child poverty. To put it really bluntly, if Mississippi can do this and enjoy that kind of progress, there should be hope for all the rest of us. Earlier this year, I went to Mississippi to see in person what is happening in those classrooms.

speaker 1 What do I notice and wonder about the vegetables we eat?

nicholas kristoff

I walk into a second grade classroom in Jackson, Mississippi.

speaker 1 Prepare to listen. speaker 2 How do we prepare to listen?

nicholas kristoff

And the kids are sitting on a rug, and the teacher is taking them through a book about vegetables.

speaker 1 Potato. speaker 2 What about this?

nicholas kristoff

And the book is being projected in front of them, and the kids are reading aloud.

speaker 1 Corn.

nicholas kristoff

And theyre reading and recognizing words like vegetable and eggplant.

speaker 1 Onion. speaker 2 Is that a vegetable? speaker 1 Yes.

nicholas kristoff

And Im finding this is pretty exciting. And then they read together 

speaker 1 Where does our seafood come from?

nicholas kristoff

And I thought, wow, I had no idea that second graders, especially in a high poverty district, would recognize words like nourishing and read them so fluently.

speaker 1 Pay attention. speaker 2 You have to pay attention to what theyre saying to make sure [INAUDIBLE]

nicholas kristoff
At the end of 2001, not long after George W. Bush became president, there were 40 million people across the globe living with H.I.V./AIDS, which was usually a death sentence for those who lacked access to treatment. Most people with H.I.V. lived on the continent of Africa, where 2.3 million died of AIDS that year. There were widespread estimates that 100 million worldwide would die of AIDS in the following 20 years if something wasnt done to better distribute treatment.

To Mr. Bushs lasting credit, he did something about it. Working with Democrats and Republicans in Congress, at a time when cross-party cooperation was still happening, he instituted a program that has saved the lives of millions of people who would otherwise have died of AIDS, with broad support from evangelical Christian groups and from the Catholic Church. Twenty years later, that program and its vital work is imperiled by members of a very different Republican Party who are eager to politicize a once-bipartisan issue and exploit the countrys divisions on abortion. And while the Catholic Church maintains its support, many evangelical leaders are now fighting against it.

The program, the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, was developed by the Bush administration with medical experts like Anthony Fauci and Mark Dybul to get drugs and medical personnel to 15 countries, 12 of them in Africa, and Mr. Bush announced it in his State of the Union address in 2003. Over the next 20 years, PEPFAR became one of the most successful global health programs in modern history, multiplying the number of people on lifesaving treatment by 300 times, from 66,500 in 2004 to more than 20 million people in 54 countries in 2022. It saved 25 million lives and, by preventing mother-to child transmission, allowed 5.5 million babies to be born H.I.V.-free.
Dr. Jain and Ms. Lee first met at Alibi Room, a bar and restaurant in Los Angeles, in May 2021 after matching on Hinge. They connected over their shared love of Costco and the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. They also discovered commonalities in their upbringings.

Were from different cultures, Dr. Jain said. But we both had these immigrant stories.

It was like, What did you do on the weekends when you were young, Ms. Lee said. I drove to art class six hours away in San Diego.

I went to Korean SAT classes every weekend, Dr. Jain answered.

Ms. Lee, 33, was born in Seoul. When she was about 3, her family moved to Irvine, Calif., because of her fathers job with Kia Motors. In 2013, she received a bachelors degree in fashion design and marketing from Central Saint Martins in London before relocating to Seoul in 2014 to work at Coupang, a Korean e-commerce company. In 2015, she moved back to Los Angeles, and in 2021, began her current job as a color and material designer at Skechers.

Dr. Jain, 42, grew up in different parts of Bergen county in New Jersey; his parents immigrated from Rajasthan, India, in the 1970s. He has a bachelors degree in government from Harvard, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School.
In August 2020, Mr. McNair moved to Evanston, Ill., to attend business school at Northwestern University, while Ms. Castor went to Harvard Law School. They continued their relationship long distance, and by that fall, Mr. McNair knew he wanted Ms. Castor to be his forever. He talked to her best friend and her three sisters to plan an elaborate, multipart surprise proposal near where they had first met.

In September 2021, he told Ms. Castor that they were going to a promotional dinner event in Cambridge, Mass., where there would be photographers, so they had to dress up. When they arrived at the restaurant, he said that he had mixed up the time and that they were early. He suggested they go on a walk to while they waited.

When they walked by Ms. Castors old dorm, she pointed it out and said jokingly that they could marry in the courtyard there. And Im like, Oh, interesting, Mr. McNair recalled. They reached a bridge, where he showed her a YouTube video he had made about their love story. At the end of the video, he knelt down.

When she said yes, their families came running and cheering from across the street. It was an epic surprise, Ms. Castor said.

Ms. Castor, who grew up in Rockland County, N.Y., has a bachelors in social studies and African American studies and a law degree, both from Harvard. She is a corporate associate at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. Mr. McNair, who grew up just outside Cleveland, has a bachelors degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a masters in business administration from Northwestern. He is a director at the Chicago office of EY-Parthenon, a management consulting firm. In June 2023, the couple moved to Chicago.
When Vipin Mathew Chamakkala first spotted Amanda Elizabeth Robson at his previous companys karaoke outing in Manhattans Koreatown in May 2021, he wondered what an interloper was doing there.

Ms. Robson, who goes by Robby, had been at a business lunch with his colleagues earlier that day. When they mentioned the karaoke event, she thought it sounded fun and invited herself.

At first sight of Mr. Chamakkala that evening, she was intrigued. Her interest was further piqued when he duetted with a male colleague to Kid Rocks Picture featuring Sheryl Crow; they took turns singing both parts.

He was not friendly at first, she said. But once they started chatting and had a few beers, she felt at ease with him. They later decided to walk to Chinatown for a bite, but the restaurant was already closed, so they settled on pizza.
Meta is considering paid versions of Facebook and Instagram that would have no advertising for users in the European Union, three people with knowledge of the companys plans said, a response to regulatory scrutiny and a sign that how people experience technology in the United States and Europe may diverge because of government policy.

Those who pay for Facebook and Instagram subscriptions would not see ads in the apps, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans are confidential. That may help Meta fend off privacy concerns and other scrutiny from E.U. regulators by giving users an alternative to the companys ad-based services, which rely on analyzing peoples data, the people said.

Meta would also continue to offer free versions of Facebook and Instagram with ads in the European Union, the people said. It is unclear how much the paid versions of the apps would cost or when the company might roll them out.

A Meta spokesman declined to comment.

For nearly 20 years, Metas core business has centered on offering free social networking services to users and selling advertising to companies that want to reach that audience. Providing a paid tier would be one of the most tangible examples to date of how companies are having to redesign products to comply with data privacy rules and other government policies, particularly in Europe.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers were scouring the railways, creeks and roads in a suburban county near Philadelphia on Saturday, looking for a man who escaped from prison a little over two weeks after being convicted of first-degree murder.

The authorities said on Friday that local, state and federal officials were using helicopters, drones and dogs to find the convicted murderer, Danelo Cavalcante, who escaped from Chester County Prison on Thursday. He was last seen a little before 10 a.m. that morning by someone going to work at the prison, walking south and wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers.

We believe that he is still in the general area, said Deborah Ryan, the Chester County district attorney, at the Friday news conference. We believe that he is hiding somewhere locally and that he is alone.

Image Danelo Cavalcante, 34, was last seen on Thursday morning. Credit... Chester County District Attorney's Office, via Associated Press
FibreMax from Joure, the Netherlands, announced that the producer of the strongest cable in the world, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Entrion Wind from Houston, USA.

This collaborative venture aims to propel offshore wind energy into deeper waters literally. And will focus on combining FibreMax's specialized fibre tendon technology with Entrion Wind's innovative FRP (Fully Restrained Platform) Wind Foundation monopile design.

The FRP monopile design accommodates mooring solutions based on chain, spiral strand wire, and high strength fiber tendons.

The common goal is to extend the operating depth of established monopile industries up to 100 meters. By doing so, we aim to make wind energy more accessible and cost-effective than ever.

Under the MoU, both companies will jointly work on qualifying FibreMax's high-strength fibre tendons for the FRP design. The partners will also be developing site-specific offerings for various FRP mooring configurations. Should the technology successfully commercialize, FibreMax is poised to establish additional satellite fabrication facilities to meet local content needs.

"FibreMax is thrilled about the of the collaboration with Entrion Wind to introduce the innovative FRP technology. This FRP technology may extend the operating depth and improve the economics and supply chain of monopiles from 50 to 100 meters," says Sander van Helvoort, Director of Renewable Energy at FibreMax.

"Entrion Wind is very pleased to welcome FibreMax as a strategic partner for mooring supply for the FRP monopile technology. FibreMax's expertise, history, focus and strategy as a pioneer and a leading international fabricator of fibre cables makes the company a preferred strategic partner for Entrion Wind," adds Tomas Fertig, Vice President of Business Development.

Contact:

FibreMax: Sander van Helvoort. E: sandervh@fibremax.nl

Media Contact: Han Heilig E: han@practica.nl
Mr. Wegner, 20, was born and raised in Lahaina and used to play a snare drum during parades down Front Street, the towns once-idyllic commercial thoroughfare along the ocean. The fire on Aug. 8 turned the street into a graveyard of charred cars and burned buildings  and became the nations deadliest wildfire in a century, claiming at least 115 lives. Among them was Mr. Wegners grandmother, Lynn Manibog, who had helped raise him.

Mr. Wegner has had almost no time to grieve. Instead, he has been trying to figure out how to provide for his partner, Sabrina Kaitlyn Cuadro; their 1-year-old son and their daughter, who is due to be born on Sept. 5. Thats also the last day they can pay their monthly rent before late fees kick in.

Me and her are under a lot of stress, Mr. Wegner said.

The implosion of Mauis economy, of which tourism comprises about 40 percent, has been swift and severe. State economic officials estimate that the island is seeing about 4,250 fewer visitors each day than normal, representing a loss of $9 million a day. In South Maui, seven of every 10 hotel rooms sit empty, compared with about two in 10 during normal times.

The plummeting numbers follow contradictory pleas from Hawaiis politicians and residents. The governor and lieutenant governor issued emergency proclamations in the first days after the fire, saying that all nonessential travel to Maui was strongly discouraged.
Hard-right House Republicans are threatening to block a stopgap bill to keep the government funded unless it includes a security crackdown along the U.S.-Mexico border, escalating fears of a shutdown within weeks and injecting the supercharged politics of immigration into an already fraught stalemate over federal spending.

Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, whose demands for deep cuts have already stymied agreement on a spending package for the coming year, now say they are unwilling to support even a temporary measure to prevent a lapse in federal funding without a sweeping border measure that has little chance of making it through Congress.

The measure, which would revive policies championed during the Trump administration such as border wall construction, extended detention of asylum seekers and expedited deportation of unaccompanied minors, was so draconian that G.O.P. leaders barely managed in May to scrounge together the Republican votes needed to pass it. It has stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate and would render any spending bill that carried it dead on arrival there.

It is the latest complication for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he seeks to bridge the considerable rifts within his party over spending and prevent a shutdown that is all but certain to tarnish Republicans politically. It is slated to occur on Oct. 1 unless Congress passes a temporary funding patch to allow more time for a deal. The situation could prompt the largest mutiny Mr. McCarthy has faced from the far right since he struck a deal with President Biden to suspend the debt ceiling and avoid a disastrous federal default.
Fast-moving thunderstorms swept across the Las Vegas valley on Friday, causing flash flooding along parts of the Las Vegas Strip as the region braced for more rain into Saturday.

The National Weather Service reported that 1.14 inches of rain fell on Friday in Boulder City, Nev., about 26 miles southeast of Las Vegas. Just over an inch of rain fell near Interstate 15 at Charleston Boulevard, just north of Harry Reid International Airport, according to the Weather Service, which said a flash flood warning was in effect for the area until Saturday night.

Heavy flooding about 10 miles north of the center of the Las Vegas Strip resulted in at least one driver being rescued from a car and others abandoning their vehicles below overpasses, according to local news reports. A spokesman for the city said there were no reports of rescues or major incidents.

Early on Friday, the city of Las Vegas advised residents to be careful during the morning commute and not to drive through flooded areas or wander into flood channels or basins. One video circulating on social media showed water gushing into a channel outside the LINQ hotel and Casino on the Strip.
Two more members of the Proud Boys were sentenced to prison on Friday for their roles in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a ground commander in the far-right group, Ethan Nordean, given 18 years, and Dominic Pezzola, the man who set off the initial breach of the building by smashing a window with a riot shield, getting 10 years.

The sentences imposed on Mr. Nordean and Mr. Pezzola were the third and fourth to have been handed down this week to five members of the far-right group who were tried in May for seditious conspiracy and other crimes in one of the most significant prosecutions to have emerged from the Capitol attack.

While Mr. Pezzolas sentence was only half of the 20 years the government had requested, Mr. Nordeans was the stiffest penalty issued so far in any case related to the Capitol attack and was the same as term given in May to Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia, who was also found guilty of sedition in connection with Jan. 6.

Mr. Nordean, who once ran a Proud Boys chapter in Seattle, was granted so-called war powers in the days leading up to Jan. 6 by Enrique Tarrio, the groups leader at the time. Though less of a household name than Mr. Tarrio and some of his other top lieutenants, Mr. Nordean rocketed to fame within the Proud Boys in June 2018 when a video of him knocking out a left-wing protester in Portland, Ore., with a single punch the year before went viral.
A conviction of Mr. Bin Amin through a guilty plea would fit a strategy at the military commissions system of trying to use that approach to resolve charges against detainees formerly held at secret C.I.A. prisons known as black sites. Such cases are complicated by the fact that the agency tortured the prisoners before transferring them to military custody, and by the heavy presence of classified information.

No former C.I.A. detainee has been convicted at trial before a military commission, although one  Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani  was brought to the United States for a civilian trial, convicted in a mixed verdict, and sentenced to life in prison in 2011 for his role in the 1998 bombings of two United States Embassies in East Africa. But Congress has banned bringing any more Guantanamo detainees to the United States for trials in federal court.

In 2012, another former C.I.A. detainee, Majid Shoukat Khan, pleaded guilty before a military commission at Guantanamo; he was freed in Belize earlier this year. Last year, another such detainee, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, pleaded guilty before a commission and is expected to be sentenced next year.

The flagship cases before the military tribunal at Guantanamo have been bogged down in pretrial proceedings for more than a decade. Those include five former C.I.A. detainees accused of aiding the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and a former C.I.A. detainee accused of conspiring in the bombing of the American destroyer Cole off the coast of Yemen in October 2000.

In March 2022, prosecutors in the Sept. 11 case invited lawyers for the defendants to negotiate over a potential plea deal that would have made the maximum punishment life in prison rather than death. The defendants made certain demands, and prosecutors have been waiting over a year for the Biden administration to weigh in.
Federal agents arrested a record number of migrant families who crossed the southern border illegally in August, two officials with preliminary data said, highlighting the Biden administrations most prominent immigration challenge after rolling out new border policies this spring.

The roughly 91,000 migrants who crossed together as families exceeded the 84,486 such crossings recorded in May 2019, the height of the border crisis during the Trump administration.

While the government has been removing families who crossed the border illegally at a higher pace, many are released into the country temporarily to face immigration court proceedings and rely on local communities to provide shelter and other support, stretching many states and cities resources. The Biden administration ended the practice of detaining migrant families in 2021 for humanitarian reasons.

The number of migrant families crossing between official ports of entry started to rise in July, and illegal crossings overall in August increased from the previous month to about 177,000. There was a notable dip in June after new border measures were put in place following the expiration of Title 42, a public health order that allowed the Biden administration to rapidly expel migrants, but that drop appears to have been temporary. Illegal crossings increased by 33 percent between June and July and went up another 33 percent in August. The Washington Post earlier reported the preliminary data on the August numbers.
The State Department said U.S. diplomats in Saudi Arabia had first heard reports of a dramatic increase in lethal violence against migrants and asylum seekers by that nations border forces in the summer of last year and had immediately asked officials at high levels of the Saudi government to investigate.

The department made the disclosure in a statement on Thursday night to The New York Times in response to questions posed early this week about the U.S. governments knowledge of the reported violence and its working relationship with Saudi Arabias border forces. Those forces have been accused in recent weeks of killing hundreds or thousands of African migrants as they have tried to cross from Yemen into the kingdom.

The statement was the first time the State Department has publicly acknowledged it has known since last summer about the reported surge in killings by the Saudi forces. That contradicts a statement last weekend by the agency that the U.S. government first heard of allegations of abuses when the United Nations made public disclosures in December.

The State Department also said on Thursday that the U.S. government helped train Saudi border forces from 2015 to 2023, but insisted that was focused on water-based training for maritime guards and did not include border guards on land.
When Pope Francis spoke of a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude that opposes him within the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and, in comments that became public this week, warned against letting ideologies replace faith, some American Catholics recognized their church immediately.

He is 100 percent right, said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and commentator who is considered an ally of Francis. The opposition to Francis within the American church now, he said, far outstrips the fierceness of the opposition to Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict, the two previous popes.

When Father Martin visits Rome these days, he said, the first question many people there ask him is, What is going on in the U.S.?

Its essentially the same question that prompted the popes sharply critical remarks, which were made impromptu last month and published this week by the Vatican-approved Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica.
A Utah mother who chronicled her strict parenting style on YouTube and other social media channels was arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse this week after one of her children climbed out a window and ran to a nearby house seeking help, officials said.

Ruby Franke, 41, was arrested on Wednesday in Ivins, a city in southern Utah, at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt, her business partner, who was also arrested. Ms. Franke hosted the now-defunct YouTube channel 8 Passengers, where she posted videos about her parenting approach with her six children, including refusing them food as a form of punishment.

Ms. Franke and Ms. Hildebrandt were each charged on Friday with six counts of aggravated child abuse, according to the Washington County attorneys office. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, the attorneys office said.

According to an affidavit, Ms. Frankes 12-year-old son, identified as R.F. in the document, climbed out a window at Ms. Hildebrandts home and went to a neighbors house on Wednesday morning, asking for food and water. The child had duct tape on his ankles and wrists, as well as open wounds. He appeared to be emaciated and malnourished.
The police in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, released body-camera footage on Friday of an officer fatally shooting a pregnant Black woman through the windshield of her car in the parking lot of a supermarket last week.

The shooting of the woman, TaKiya Young, 21, led to protests and an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation into the use of deadly force by the police in Blendon Township, a town of approximately 10,000 northeast of Columbus.

The Columbus branch of the N.A.A.C.P. has called for the officer, who video shows began shooting as Ms. Young drove forward, to be fired.

Ms. Youngs family said in a statement on Friday that the body-camera footage shows that her death was not only avoidable, but also a gross misuse of power and authority.
A Phillips County judge has granted the Montana Department of Environmental Qualitys request for a preliminary injunction to restore areas disturbed on a private mining claim two years ago.

The claim, owned by Bozeman-area resident Luke Ployhar, is near the site of the old Pegasus Gold mine near Zortman in the Little Rocky Mountains. Pegasus declared bankruptcy in 1999. More than $80 million has been spent restoring the site.

Under District Court Judge Yvonne Lairds order, Ployhar must allow DEQ onto his property to reclaim six sites he dug on the land. One stipulation the judge added is that Ployhar has until Sept. 17 to provide his own expert analysis refuting the agencys arguments that the sites do not affect existing remediation efforts.

In its court filings, DEQ attorneys said the diggings were a threat because the holes  the deepest of which is 23 feet  allowed surface water to penetrate and contaminate groundwater with acid mine drainage, circumventing or adding strain to the existing drainage system that directs water to a treatment plant. Ployhar previously told the DEQ the diggings were to develop campground sites and a cabin, not for mining.

The disturbances were not authorized by DEQ and six of the eight disturbances require immediate reclamation to avoid risking damage to the groundwater and the water treatment facilities that treat acid mine drainage from the site, DEQ wrote in a press release.

On July 6, DEQ filed for a preliminary injunction to restrain Ployhar from interfering with DEQs statutory right to enter his private property and reclaim the disturbed areas.

While DEQ needs to remediate the site, we had hoped it could be resolved through a reclamation plan with the property owner, said DEQ Mining Bureau Chief Dan Walsh in a statement. Unfortunately, we were not able to resolve it directly with the property owner and had to seek a preliminary injunction.

According to the court order, Ployhar received notice from DEQ on June 2 saying if he was unwilling to reclaim the disturbances, the agency would. Ployhar responded on June 9 saying he would not permit DEQ to reclaim the areas.

When contacted by the Billings Gazette this week, Ployhar said he was obviously disappointed in the judges decision.

DEQ also filed a complaint for penalties and permanent injunctive relief in April of 2023 against Ployhar and his partner, Owen Voigt, for violations of the Metal Mine Reclamation Act.

In the complaint, DEQ seeks to hold the parties accountable for illegal mining and exploration through payment of financial penalties and assurances that no further unpermitted activity will take place, the department said in a press release. Earth Justice, representing conservation groups and the Fort Belknap Indian Community, moved to intervene on July 3. A hearing date has not been set for the case.

Since 2020, Ployhar and Voigt have applied three times for an exploration license in the area, according to previous reporting. DEQ approved their first application in February 2021, but Ployhar and Voigt failed to post the required reclamation bond.

Ployhar and Voigt applied again in March 2021 but withdrew the application in November. Their third application, submitted in July 2021, is pending. When the DEQ determined in 2022 that an Environmental Impact Statement was needed to analyze the potential impacts to areas of tribal cultural significance, Ployhar and Voigt appealed the decision to the Board of Environmental Review.
The News

The Texas Supreme Court allowed a new law banning transition care for transgender minors to go into effect on Friday, halting a range of medically-accepted treatments, including hormones and puberty blockers, in the nations most populous Republican-led state.

Background

A lower court moved last week to temporarily block implementation of the new law, finding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their challenge on state constitutional grounds. But that decision was immediately appealed by the attorney general to the Texas Supreme Court, an action that prevented the lower courts injunction from taking effect.

The states highest court has not yet ruled on the appeal, and on Thursday it denied an emergency application to block the law from going into effect on schedule on Sept. 1. The request was made by the plaintiffs, including transgender minors, their parents and several rights groups, including Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

The law was passed by the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature earlier this year and was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. It prohibits doctors from prescribing certain medications and from performing mastectomies or other surgical procedures as part of a gender transition for minors.

Under the law, doctors who provide such care would have their medical licenses revoked. The law also bars health insurance plans from covering the treatments.

The plaintiffs have argued that the law violates the Texas constitution, denies parents the right to make decisions about their childrens medical care and discriminates against transgender people with gender dysphoria by denying them treatments, like hormone therapy, that remain legally available for minors in Texas to address other needs.
Some people gathered outside a mortuary in Johannesburg on Friday, fearing the worst for missing family members. Others went to hospital after hospital, desperately searching for friends and relatives, hoping against all odds that they were safe somewhere else.

Families of the victims of a fire in Johannesburg are facing the grim struggle of trying to find out whether their relatives are alive or dead, a day after a devastating blaze tore through an overcrowded building in one of the deadliest residential fires in South African history.

The fire, which broke out in the early hours of Thursday, consumed a five-story building that was an illegal home for hundreds of families and has become a grisly symbol of official failure to address a dire housing crisis in Johannesburg. At least 74 people died in the fire, a dozen of them children, with some victims jumping to their deaths from the building and others trapped inside.
A fire that killed at least 74 people in a five-story building in downtown Johannesburg on Thursday has prompted calls for the authorities to do more to address an acute housing crisis and crack down on the citys hundreds of such derelict, overcrowded buildings.

It was one of the worst residential fires in South Africas history, and on Friday morning health officials asked family members to help identify some of the dead.

Heres what we know about the fire and the circumstances surrounding it.

What happened?

It is not yet known how the fire started, but it may have begun on the ground floor of the building, a structure that once housed offices of the apartheid government and served as a checkpoint for controlling the movement of Black workers in and out of the city.
As Tom Mandala leaned out the fifth-floor window of his burning apartment building in Johannesburg early Thursday, it felt as if the only decision left to make was how to die.

He could turn around and dash for the stairs, but he would surely be overcome by the thick smoke and scorching flames, he figured. Or he could leap out the window and end up splattered on the sidewalk below.

The second option, he thought, would be the best way to ensure that his family back in Malawi would be able to recover his body. So, after about five minutes of agonizing deliberation, Mr. Mandala, 26, jumped.

I was thinking nothing, he said of the moment when he soared through the air.

Landing square on his feet sent a rush of pain up his legs so sharp that tears began to flow, he said. His right ankle was broken, and his left leg badly injured. But he was alive.
The remnants of Hurricane Idalia were dissipating on Saturday and pulling away from Bermuda, days after it made landfall along Floridas Gulf Coast and swept across the Southeast.

On Friday, the storm, which was once a powerful Category 4 hurricane, had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone.

At 5 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, the storm was about 125 miles east of Bermuda, and tropical-storm-force winds extended up to 205 miles from its center, the Hurricane Center said in an advisory.
When Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, left China this week, it marked the end of a three-month diplomatic blitz by the Biden administration to try to stabilize ties with Beijing and arrest a free fall in the relationship that had raised concerns about the risk of conflict.

President Biden had bet that high-level dialogue could help manage an escalating rivalry over trade, technology and the status of Taiwan. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was the first to make the trip to the Chinese capital in June, followed by Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and the presidential climate envoy, John Kerry, in July.

After logging all those miles, the question now is whether China will reciprocate by sending senior Chinese ministers to Washington. The United States has publicly invited Chinas foreign minister, Wang Yi, but he has yet to accept. The last senior Chinese official to travel to Washington was Chinas commerce minister, Wang Wentao, who visited in late May.

China has much to gain from dispatching officials to the United States. It would signal to the world it was making an effort to ease tensions with Washington, particularly at a time when China needs to bolster confidence in its shaky economy. A visit could also help lay the groundwork for a potential, highly anticipated meeting between President Biden and Chinas top leader, Xi Jinping, at a forum in San Francisco in November.
Thailands king has granted a partial pardon to the ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, commuting his eight-year prison sentence to a year, just days after the politician returned to the country from 15 years of exile, the nations official journal reported Friday.

Mr. Thaksin, 74, arrived in Thailand on Aug. 22, just hours before Parliament selected Srettha Thavisin, of the Thaksin-linked Pheu Thai Party, as prime minister. He was quickly taken into custody and told by a court that he had to serve an eight-year sentence in connection with three cases of corruption and abuse of power.

Mr. Thaksin remains one of Thailands most influential politicians. He served as prime minister from 2001 to 2006 and was then ousted in a coup. Since 2001, the political parties he founded have consistently won the most votes in every election  except this year when the progressive Move Forward Party clinched a surprise victory.

For decades, Mr. Thaksins name invoked bitter divisions in Thailand. The country was split between the pro-Thaksin red shirt protesters from the rural north and the anti-Thaksin yellow shirt faction made up of royalists and the urban elite, which battled each other in the streets of Bangkok. Both the wealthy aristocrats and the military viewed him as a threat.
Qantas Airways, Australias national airline, sold thousands of tickets for flights that it had already canceled, the countrys consumer watchdog said in a lawsuit against the carrier, and left travelers scrambling to make alternative arrangements.

In a statement on Thursday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it had started legal proceedings in Australian federal court against Qantas. It said the airline had engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights scheduled from May 2022 to July 2022 that it knew it would never fly.

The airline said it took the allegations seriously and would respond to them in full in court. But, in a statement, it noted that the flights had occurred at a time of upheaval for the industry, during a challenging postpandemic return to normalcy.

In its filing, the watchdog group said tickets remained available for an average of more than two weeks and sometimes as long as 47 days after the flights had been canceled.
Algerian coast guard forces shot and killed a French citizen and detained another after they strayed on water scooters into Algerian waters from Morocco, where they were vacationing, the French authorities said on Friday.

Moroccan news outlets have reported that five men were on holiday in Saidia, a popular beach resort in northeastern Morocco, when they lost their bearings and, low on fuel, drifted into Algerian waters on Tuesday. At least some of the five had dual French and Moroccan citizenship.

Relations between Algeria and Morocco have been strained for years and their border has been closed since 1994. In 2021, with a dispute over Western Sahara still simmering and also partly in protest at Moroccos rapprochement with Israel, the Algerian government broke off diplomatic relations with its neighbor.

A French Foreign Ministry statement on Friday did not name any of those involved. But local media in Morocco identified the dead man as Bilal Kissi. His funeral was broadcast by Le 360, a Moroccan news website.
Eladio E. Celis, 29, of Billings, Montana was arrested Aug. 27, 2023, at 1785 Idaho St. for assault with a deadly weapon on a first responder, resisting a public officer with a firearm, and possession of a dangerous weapon. Bail: $200,000

Robert L. Evans, 49, of Elko was arrested Aug. 25, 2023, at 487 S. Fifth St. for fugitive felon from another state.

Samantha L. Gandolfo, 27, of Spring Creek was arrested Aug. 25, 2023, at Joes Market for possession of a stolen vehicle and felony possession of a controlled substance. Bail: $60,000

Cecelia A. Gianotti, 45, of Elko was arrested Aug. 25, 2023, at 1211 Idaho St. for indecent or obscene exposure and urination or defecation in a public place. Bail: $5,355

Spencer R. Gomillion, 46, of Pleasanton, Texas was arrested Aug. 27, 2023, on a warrant for failure to appear after bail on a felony crime and failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. Bail: $51,245

Felipe G. Gonzalez, 20, of Elko was arrested Aug. 25, 2023, at Joes Market for possessing a stolen vehicle and violation of probation or condition of suspended sentence.

Charles J. Kelley IV, 36, of Spring Creek was arrested Aug. 27, 2023, at 255 Country Club Parkway for sexual assault domestic violence; child abuse, neglect or endangerment; false imprisonment with a deadly weapon; coercion with threat or use of physical force; and domestic battery by strangulation. Bail: $850,000

Mark N. Munoz, 52, of Salt Lake City was arrested Aug. 26, 2023, at 2213 N. Fifth St. for burglary of a motor vehicle and failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. Bail: $10,445

Amanda N. Reed, 29, of Elko was arrested Aug. 25, 2023, at Spring Creek Parkway and Glen Brier Drive for felony possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. Bail: $10,640

Micah I. Sanchez, 35, of Elko was arrested Aug. 25, 2023, at Spring Creek Parkway and Glen Brier Drive for violation of probation or condition of suspended sentence, two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance, driving under the influence, and drug paraphernalia.

Jasmine D. Sullivan, 26, of Elko was arrested Aug. 26, 2023, at 1660 Mountain City Highway for use of credit or debit card without owners consent, possessing a credit or debit card without owners consent, attempted receiving property or services by unlawful use of credit or debit card, and possession of stolen property. Bail: $45,640

David Andra, 62, of Spokane, Washington was arrested Aug. 28, 2023, at 1940 Plateau Way for possession of stolen property. Bail: $10,000

Matthew J. Sinclair, 34, of Elko was arrested Aug. 28, 2023, at 961 Highland Drive for failure to appear after bail on a felony crime. Bail: $40,000

Charles K. Clouse III, 47, of Elko was arrested Aug. 29, 2023, at Panaca Street and Cortez Avenue for possessing a gun by a prohibited person and convicted person failure to register with law enforcement within 48 hours. Bail: $100,640

Hailey E. Johnson, 28, of Elko was arrested Aug. 29, 2023, at Flagstone and Granite drives for violation of probation or condition of suspended sentence, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Budge S. Stanton, 19, of Wells was arrested Aug. 29, 2023, at the parole and probation office in Elko for violation of probation.

Nicholas J. Orton, 38, was arrested at 1920 Idaho St. for fugitive from another state and assault on a protected person. Bail: $5,000

Arangorosabe Medina, 42, of Elko was arrested Aug. 30, 2023, at 5931 Justin Drive for four counts of possession of stolen property, four counts of trafficking a controlled substance, four counts of possession to sell a controlled substance, and two counts of possessing a stolen vehicle. Bail: $1,450,000

Clay D. Ryder, 18, of Elko was arrested Aug. 30, 2023, at 13th and Cedar streets for three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, and possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. Bail: $350,640

Gary J. Dennis, 66, of Spring Creek was arrested Sept. 1, 2023, on Lamoille Highway at Wells Lane for third-offense driving under the influence. Bail: $100,000

Shylow L. Hall, 47, of Wells was arrested Aug. 31, 2023, at 628 Fourth St. for failure to obey sex offender registration laws, resisting a public officer, and failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. Bail: $15,640
A high-profile investigation into the death of Adama Traore, a 24-year-old Black Frenchman who died in police custody in 2016, was officially closed on Friday without any charges against the three officers involved, according to lawyers for both parties.

Charges had never been filed against the officers over the course of a contentious multiyear investigation that involved multiple, contradictory medical opinions. The closing of the case was widely expected.

But Mr. Adamas death remains a rallying cry for those protesting discriminatory police violence in France, especially as the country grapples with the aftermath of a week of rioting in June. Those protests were set off by the deadly police shooting of Nahel Merzouk, a French teenager of North African descent.

Yassine Bouzrou, a lawyer for Mr. Adamas family, said they would appeal the investigating magistrates decision to close the case without charges. In a statement, he accused the magistrates of being biased in favor of the officers, arguing that they had dismissed the case over uncertainties that should have been debated during a public trial.
On a recent visit to Kyiv, Clement Beaune, the French transportation minister, stopped off in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa to pay homage to his Jewish forebears who fled pogroms for France around 1910, only to be deported by French authorities to Auschwitz in 1944 and murdered there by the Nazis.

This was scarcely business as usual for a minister whose habitual obligations include dealing with rail strikes and airport meltdowns. But Mr. Beaune, 42, has earned a reputation as an iconoclast driven by personal conviction, chief among them a passionate identification with the idea of a united Europe.

I have a small piece of this tormented history in me, and that is the history of all Europeans, Mr. Beaune, a man of boyish face, candid gaze and artfully unkempt beard, said in an interview. We are a continent of people, families and nations torn apart. We must recall that the European Union is a daily miracle.
The family of a British poet who disappeared last weekend from a music festival in England was in mourning after a body was found following a nearly weeklong search that drew national headlines and intense interest on social media.

The poet, Gboyega Odubanjo, 27, was last seen at the Shambala music festival in Kelmarsh, England, about 85 miles north of London, around 4 a.m. on Saturday. Mr. Odubanjo had been scheduled to perform at the festival on Sunday.

The search ended on Thursday morning, when the Northamptonshire Police said they had found a mans body, which they did not publicly identify.

The police said that the mans family had been informed and that there did not appear to be suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
When Rishi Sunak replaced Liz Truss as British prime minister last fall, White House officials said they didnt worry about his support for Ukraine because he left in place the respected soldier-turned-defense secretary Ben Wallace, who had orchestrated Britains unstinting military support of the Ukrainians.

Now Mr. Wallace has stepped down, and in his place Mr. Sunak has appointed Grant Shapps, a politically savvy Conservative Party operative and close personal ally of the prime minister, but a man with little foreign policy and no battlefield experience.

Mr. Shapps, who has held no fewer than four ministerial posts in the past year, vowed to continue the U.K.s support for Ukraine in their fight against Putins barbaric invasion. But as Britain faces a general election in 2024, the shift from Mr. Wallace to Mr. Shapps could augur a new, more politicized phase in its involvement in Ukraine.

Conservative leaders perceive him as one of their great communicators, said Jill Rutter, a senior research fellow at the U.K. in a Changing Europe, a think tank in London. It may signal that they see defense as a sort of battleground.
Reversing course from last year, the Nobel Foundation has extended an invitation to the Nobel Prize ceremonies in December to representatives from Russia and Belarus, who were not invited in 2022 because of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Several Swedish lawmakers immediately responded on Friday by declaring they would boycott the ceremony.

I looked forward to participating in the Nobel Prize ceremony and banquet, Muharrem Demirok, the leader of Swedens Center Party, wrote on social media. But as long as Russia wages its war against Ukraine I cannot participate in the same celebration as their ambassador.

Marta Stenevi, the leader of Swedens Green Party, said she would not attend either, saying there is nothing to celebrate together with Russias ambassador.
Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the secretary general of NATO, recently had his knuckles rapped when he commented on possible options for an end to the war in Ukraine that did not envision a complete Russian defeat.

Im not saying it has to be like this, but I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory and get NATO membership in return, he said during a panel discussion in Norway, according to the countrys VG newspaper. He also said that it must be up to Ukraine to decide when and on what terms they want to negotiate, which is NATOs standard line.

But the damage was done. The remarks provoked an angry condemnation from the Ukrainians; a clarification from his boss, Jens Stoltenberg; and ultimately an apology from Mr. Jenssen.

The contretemps, say some analysts who have been similarly chastised, reflects a closing down of public discussion on options for Ukraine just at a moment when imaginative diplomacy is most needed, they say.


United Help Ukraine Seeks Pro Bono PR Tue., Oct. 24, 2023 United Help Ukraine, which was formed in DC in 2014, is seeking pro bono support to build a national PR plan to increase awareness and donations to support the people of Ukraine since the invasion by Russia.
160over90 is named communications agency of record for commercial real estate finance and advisory firm Walker & Dunlop. The agency will develop and execute on public relations strategy while also developing social strategy. It will also work to amplify major corporate announcements and launches through media relations as well as spearheading executive thought leadership efforts for Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker and other senior leaders. The work with Walker & Dunlop will sit within the 160over90s newly expanded corporate communications practice led by Senior Vice President AJ Goodman. We sought an agency partner who understands our mission and can help take the lead on inserting Walker & Dunlop into the right narratives and cultural conversations to drive awareness, said Walker & Dunlop CMO Carol McNerney. We look forward to working with 160over90 and tapping into their creative capabilities and out-of-the-box thinking.

Jenerate PR expands its scope with Galpao Gaucho Brazilian Steakhouse to become national agency of record for the restaurant chain, working with all its locations in the US. following a successful performance in 2023. Galpao Gaucho has six locations including Napa, Walnut Creek, Cupertino and Roseville in California; the Las Vegas Strip; , and Charleston, SC. A new location in San Diego is scheduled to open later this year. Jenerate PR is a cut above the rest when it comes to agency partners and theyve proven time and time again, they have the creative chops to thoughtfully tell our brand story and support our marketing goals, said Galpao Gaucho director of operations Jovani Gava.

5WPR signs on as agency of record for Jackpot.com, a platform that allows lottery players to securely order official state lottery tickets from their mobile phone, tablet, or desktop. The platform recently launched in New York State. 5W will leverage its history of working with online gambling clients to develop a focused and strategic approach to supporting Jackpot.coms expansion, keeping regulatory updates top of mind. The agencys services to online gambling and lottery clients include messaging and positioning, media relations, visibility programs, content creation, partnerships and celebrity relations, digital media campaigns, event planning, thought leadership, and speaking opportunities.
THE Green Party Minister of State in Offaly, Senator Pippa Hackett, says she will contest the next general election on her record in Government.

Minister Hackett was speaking after the Electoral Commission recommended that Offaly becomes a three-seat Dail constituency on its own in the next election, which is due by early 2024 at the latest.

At the last election in 2020 Offaly was part of the Laois-Offaly five seater and the county returned just two TDs, Fianna Fail's Barry Cowen and the Independent, Carol Nolan.

I was proud to come sixth in the five-seater Laois-Offaly constituency in the general election of 2020, and I was immensely grateful to those who voted for me. I was elected to Seanad Eireann in April of 2020, and Ive enjoyed working with communities across both Laois and Offaly since, said Minister Hackett.

The senator, who runs an organic farm near Geashill with her husband, the Green Party councillor Mark Hackett, added: Whilst I am disappointed by the outcome for my own constituency of Laois-Offaly, I am fully aware that the establishment of An Coimisiun Toghchain, the Electoral Commission, represents the most important reform of the electoral system in decades.

The Green Party made a submission in favour of the greater use of larger constituencies, as we believe these promote more diversity, gender balance, and ensure all views are represented in the Oireachtas.

I fully intend to run in the next election as the Green Party candidate for Offaly  with three seats this will be an uphill challenge, but Ill dig deep, and will stand on my proven record of representing the people of the Midlands as a Senator, as a Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture and as the only Minister at Cabinet for the area.

Some politicians may wish for the people of Offaly to stay forever tied to the past. That is not my vision, nor is it the vision of the many amazing communities I have met across this county, who are fully aware of the potential that the future green economy holds for this county and region. And I am ready to deliver on those opportunities.

I believe Offaly needs that faithful and effective representation - someone who will maximise the benefits - for business, for communities, for inclusivity and for nature. Bring it on!

After the general election of 2020 Ms Hackett won a seat in the Seanad and was subsequently appointed Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture in the new Government.

Along with that, she was appointed as one of the so-called 'super junior' ministers, meaning that she sits at cabinet meetings without having the right to vote in Government decisions taken at them.

The Co Mayo native had been elected to Offaly County Council in 2019 and following her elevation to Seanad Eireann her husband was co-opted to fill the vacancy in the Edenderry Electoral Area.
ELKO  U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez, D-Nev., joined the U.S. Forest Service and local firefighters for a tour of Lamoille Canyon five years after a devastating fire burned 9,000 acres in the area in 2018.

Cortez Masto discussed her efforts to support federal firefighters and fund wildfire prevention and recovery programs across the state, including restoring Lamoille Canyon. She recently secured $57 million in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help reduce wildfire risk and improve fuels management along approximately 3.4 million acres of the Sierra and Elko Fronts in Nevada.

When I first saw the wildfire damage in Lamoille Canyon in 2018, I was heartbroken by the devastation. Five years later, its incredible to see the progress thats been made, said Cortez Masto. Wildfires hit our rural communities especially hard, and Ive made it my mission in the Senate to deliver more resources to our firefighters and the surrounding communities to prevent these disasters and support recovery efforts.

Cortez Masto said her goal was to tour the Canyon after the fire to see the growth and regeneration [and] where some of the federal funding went for that recovery, but also what else we still need to do.

Sitting under the newly completed pavilion of the Lions Club Camp, Cortez Masto said she heard from men and women at local level and at the county level that fight these fires and talk about what is happening in this canyon right now.

Cortez Masto has introduced comprehensive legislation to prevent wildfires and is pushing for permanent pay raises for federal firefighters. She secured billions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support wildfire risk reduction and recently delivered federal resources for wildfires fuels reduction in Northern Nevada.

Shes also championed legislation to protect the Ruby Mountains from oil and gas development, and called on the Biden administration to safeguard the Rubies as well as the Ruby Marshes.

Cortez Masto explained that she has toured the state speaking to firefighters, and when I first got to the Senate it was important for me to learn what challenges we have here in Nevada.

Based on those conversations, Ive introduced legislation at the federal level that focuses in three areas: funding prevention, suppression, and recovery when there are these wildland fires in our communities, she continued.

The firefighters discussed the challenges of retention stemming from low wages in comparison to higher pay from mining companies. Some described having to choose between a career they love and having to provide for their families, especially among younger firefighters who end up leaving for the mines.

Thats the conversation we had today, Cortez Masto said. Fighting fires  absolutely we need to support the men and women and make sure they have a livable wage. Wages for housing and benefits that we need to retain them and keep them safe during these fires.

But we also need to put dollars behind prevention. Part of this is fuel suppression and how we stop these fires from starting, or actually when they do start, theyre not as devastating and long and hot that we see happening right now.

That to me really is part of this comprehensive approach when we talk about shared stewardship and everybody coming together to maintain and manage these lands. It is a comprehensive approach.

Cortez Masto said she would take back to the Senate floor what she learned from the firefighters and community leaders during her visit. Its important for them to hear what I just heard from the men that are fighting these fires, but also the challenges we still need to address at a federal level.
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33-Year-Old Malayalam Actor Aparna Nair Found Dead In Thiruvananthapuram. See Her Last Social Media Post

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Malayalam actor Aparna Nair was found hanging at her residence in Thiruvananthapuram, police said on Friday.

The 33-year old actor, who has acted in a few movies and numerous serials, was found hanging inside her room at her residence near Karamana here last night, police said.

Aparna had been living with her spouse and their children, according to the police. The incident took place around 7.30 PM on Thursday.

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Authorities were informed of the situation by a private hospital where she was taken after being found hanging.

A police official informed news agency PTI, "We were notified by the hospital and have filed a case regarding her unnatural death."

She leaves behind her husband and two children. Police suspect suicide and believe that family-related issues may have been the cause behind this tragic decision. An investigation into the matter has been initiated by the police.

The actress frequently posted photos and videos of her family on social media.

Aparna had a substantial following on Instagram, with over 9,800 followers. Her most recent post was shared on August 31, featuring charming pictures of her daughter.

Aparna gained recognition for her roles in popular television series such as "Chandanamazha," "Atmasakhi," "Maithili Veendum Varum," and "Devasparsham." She also made appearances in movies like "Meghatheertham," "Muthugau," "Achayans," "Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakil," and "Kalki."

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2023, 10:45 [IST]
Biden hails Australia as "anchor to peace and prosperity" in the Pacific

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After India, 4 Other Nations Reject China's New Map

India

oi-PTI

Governments in the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan on Thursday joined India in rejecting China's new national map, issuing strongly worded statements accusing Beijing of claiming their territory.

China published a new version of its national map on Monday to correct what Beijing has in the past referred to as "problematic maps" that it claims misrepresent its territorial borders.

India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China over its so-called "standard map" laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin, and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

"Just making absurd claims does not make other people's territories yours," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said while reacting to the Chinese move.

The Philippine government on Thursday slammed China's 2023 edition of its so-called "standard map" that still shows swaths of Philippine features in the West Philippine Sea.

The Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources issued on August 28 a controversial map that includes the nine-dash line, now a 10-dash line, that supposedly shows China's boundaries in the South China Sea.

"This latest attempt to legitimise China's purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)," Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza said in a statement.

Daza said the 2016 Arbitral Award has already invalidated the nine-dashed line and called on China to abide by its obligations under UNCLOS.

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"(The award) categorically stated that 'maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the 'nine-dash line' are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of China's maritime entitlements under the Convention," Daza was quoted as saying by the official Philippine News Agency.

"The Philippines, therefore, calls on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award," she added.

Manila had already protested the publication of a Chinese national map in 2013, which also placed parts of the Kalayaan Island Group or Spratlys within Beijing's "national boundaries".

The Malaysian government said on Thursday that it will send a protest note to China over the latter's claims on the South China Sea as outlined in the 'China Standard

Map Edition 2023', which also covers Malaysia's maritime areas.

Foreign Minister Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said the move was a follow-up step

taken by the government over the matter.

"This has been our practice (when dealing with issues like this)... and based on the statement issued by Wisma Putra yesterday, the next step includes sending a protest note," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

The Malaysian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Malaysia does not recognise China's claims in the South China Sea, as outlined in the "China Standard Map Edition 2023," which also encompasses Malaysia's maritime areas.

The map holds no binding authority over Malaysia, it said in a statement.

The Vietnamese government also criticised China's latest provocation.

Vietnam strongly reiterates its consistent stance on the sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly), and resolutely rejects any maritime claims of China that are based on the "nine-dash line" in the East Sea, spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said on Thursday.

Hang made the statement while answering reporters' questions regarding Vietnam's response to China's release of the so-called "standard map 2023" which covers Vietnam's Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.

The issuance of the map as well as China's "nine-dash line" claim show a violation of Vietnam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, as well as Vietnam's sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its waters as stipulated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), she stressed.

Therefore, the sovereignty and maritime claims based on the "nine-dash line" as reflected in the map are void and violate international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS, the spokeswoman said.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday rebuked China's new "standard map" by saying Taiwan has never been ruled by the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Foreign ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu told Taiwan News that "Taiwan, the Republic of China, is a sovereign and independent country that is not subordinate to the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan. These are universally recognised facts and the status quo in the international community."

Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry indicated it was not budging on the map issue.

"China's position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear. The competent authorities of China routinely publish standard maps of various types every year, which aims to make standard maps available to all sectors of society and raise public awareness of the standardised use of maps.

"We hope parties concerned can view it in an objective and rational light," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in response to a question on Thursday when sought his comment on the protests from countries like India, Malaysia as well as the Philippines against this new Chinese map.

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2023, 10:25 [IST]
ED Arrests Bengal Minister Jyotipriya Mallick In Ration Scam: What We Know So Far

ED Arrests Founder Of Jet Airway Over Canara Bank Fraud Case

India

oi-Sushmita Halder

Naresh Goyal, founder of Jet Airways has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday over alleged Canara Bank fraud case of Rs 538 crore.

74-year-old Goyal who was questioned by the central agency for hours earlier today will likely be produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on Saturday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) got some proofs against Goyal, his wife Anita and some former company executives who were connected to the fraud case.

While investigating Goyal and his wife, the ED could gather some proofs against the couple and their associates who were allegedly connected to the fraud.

Earlier in July, the central agency had conducted aids at multiple locations in Delhi and Mumbai following which the CBI had filed an FIR regarding this in May this year.

The CBI filed an FIR after the Canara Bank lodged a complaint against the Jet Airways founder accusing that the bank had sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Limited (JIL) of Rs 848.86 crore, of which an amount of Rs 538.62 crore is outstanding.

According to a forensic audit of the company, there were fraudulent transactions that included fund diversion from the loan amount.

related to the Goyal family and other individuals involved in the scam were manipulated as expenses as paid commissions to related companies.

Reportedly, some suspicious transactions transactions related to company's financial records from April 1, 2011, to June 30, 2019 was found, however, the company denied the accusations by saying that Rs 11,152.62 crore was spent on professional and consultancy expenses.

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Story first published: Saturday, September 2, 2023, 1:28 [IST]
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INDIA Bloc Not To Release Logo Today As Leaders Seek Last-Minute Changes On Design

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Amid speculation of early elections and the establishment of a committee to explore the feasibility of 'one nation, one election,' key leaders of the INDIA opposition bloc on Friday initiated crucial discussions to give structure to their cooperation and crystallise their plans about seat-sharing and a common agenda to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

During the formal discussions in the third round of opposition meetings, it is expected that the opposition leaders will issue a joint statement and announce the formation of a coordination panel, as well as several sub-committees to delineate their electoral plans.

Leaders from across the country who have gathered for this purpose will focus on specific matters such as establishing a coordination committee, forming sub-groups to address common agendas, media strategies, joint actions, and programs.

During informal discussions over dinner on Thursday evening, leaders emphasized the urgency of finalizing seat-sharing agreements and developing a unified agenda within the next few weeks, according to sources.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has called on leaders of various parties to nominate one representative from their respective parties to be part of the coordination committee.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is also expected to unveil its logo.

On Day 1, INDIA Bloc Leaders Deliberate In Informal Setting To Set Agenda For Main Meeting

Sources added that the opposition coalition should have a team of spokespersons who can speak on behalf of the alliance. They will also discuss the appointment of a convenor for the bloc.

It was decided that a coordination committee will be formed after discussions, along with at least four sub-groups, including one focused on planning the alliance's joint agenda, another on devising an action plan and handling social media, and one on research and data analysis to challenge the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Additionally, a sub-committee will be established to outline joint campaigns and rallies.

During the informal dinner meeting, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suggested that the bloc should unveil its manifesto by October 2, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal proposed finalizing seat-sharing arrangements among parties for the Lok Sabha elections by the end of the following month.

Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party also stressed the need to swiftly settle seat-sharing arrangements between parties in states, citing the limited time left for the opposition alliance.

Kharge urged the meeting participants to prepare a common national agenda, emphasizing the need to formulate bullet points.

Discussions also took place on the abrupt convening of a special session of Parliament, with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, leader of the Janata Dal (United), suggesting that the opposition should be prepared for all possible scenarios to counter the NDA's surprise tactics and "gimmicks."

The government has scheduled a special session of Parliament for five days between September 18 and 22. The Centre has also established a committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the feasibility of "one nation, one election," which raises the possibility of advancing Lok Sabha polls so that they align with a series of state assembly contests.

Uddhav Thackeray, president of the Shiv Sena (UBT), noted that the Parliament session begins on the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi and expressed curiosity about its significance. He advocated for swift action, saying, "We should not delay our plans further and begin work at the earliest."

Most leaders agreed on the need for early finalization of electoral plans for 2024, considering the possibility of early elections, while emphasizing that time was running out and mere meetings would not suffice.

"Elections are approaching, and we must put our preparations in place and connect with the people," one leader stated.

Another leader suggested initiating action plans and reaching out to the public promptly, proposing that election rallies and protests should commence as early as the next month.

Some leaders also raised concerns about electronic voting machines and called for a discussion on this matter.

Prominent leaders participating in the discussions include Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal, RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, among others.

The discussions also involve National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, CPI (ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and SP President Akhilesh Yadav, and RLD's Jayant Chaudhary.

Before the meeting, all the leaders of the INDIA bloc posed for a group photograph.

The unveiling of the INDIA alliance's logo is now scheduled for 10:30 am. Several designs have been finalized and will be discussed, although it is uncertain whether they will be finalized on this day.

On the first day of the meeting, the leaders also deliberated on the reasons behind the Centre's call for a five-day special session of Parliament.
INDIA Bloc Resolves To Fight 2024 LS Polls Together 'As Far As Possible'

India

oi-Prakash KL

Opposition bloc INDIA on Friday resolved to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together "as far as possible" and said the seat-sharing arrangements will be concluded at the earliest in a spirit of "give-and-take".

The alliance formally adopted a resolution with the campaign theme "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India" (India will unite, India will win).

"We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible. Seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take," the resolution said. "We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to organize public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance," it said further.

Furthermore, the resolution outlined that the INDIA parties will synchronize their communication and media strategies, along with campaigns bearing the "Judega Bharat, Jiteega India" theme, catering to various languages. In a gathering held in Mumbai, leaders from several opposition parties convened to solidify their strategies. Following lengthy deliberations, they established a coordination committee to initiate seat-sharing discussions, set to commence by the end of September

Speaking at the occasion, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said that the BJP can be defeated if all parties unite.

"Today, two very big steps were taken. If parties on this stage unite, it is impossible for BJP to win elections. The task in front of us is to come together in the most efficient way. Forming a coordination committee and the decision to expedite seat-sharing discussions are two steps necessary to ensure that the INDIA alliance defeats the BJP....The nexus between the PM and one businessman is for every person to see...I am confident that the India alliance will defeat the BJP," he said at the event.

The real work in this alliance is the relationships that are forged between leaders of this alliance, Gandhi added. "The past two meetings have done a huge amount of work to build rapport and to ensure that we all work as one," he stated.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that it is not an alliance of 28 parties but an alliance of 140 crore people."Modi government is the most corrupt and arrogant government in the history of independent India. We are reading in international papers that the government of India is working only for one person who is taking money out of the country....These people have started to think of themselves above God. Some big forces will try to break the INDIA alliance. Today, no one here has come to get a post but to take India on the path of development. I am sure India will come together which will become the cause of this government's end," he added.

As many as 63 representatives from 28 political parties attended the two-day conclave of the opposition INDIA bloc held on Thursday and Friday.

Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Party Chief Mallikarjun Kharge were some of the prominent leaders who attended the two-day event.
LPG Price Cut: 19-Kg Commercial Cylinder Becomes Cheaper By Rs 158; Know Rates

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

In a major relief for LPG consumers, Public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have lowered the price of 19 KG commercial LPG gas cylinders by Rs 158, according to reports. The new prices will be effective from today i.e September 1st and the retail selling price of a 19kg commercial LPG cylinder in Delhi will now stand at Rs 1,522.

Earlier, on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, the central government had reduced the price of Domestic LPG by Rs 200, as a gesture towards the women of the country. Monthly adjustments for both commercial and domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders are made on the first day of each month, with the new rates coming into effect from September 1.

Opposition Tags Centre As 'Jumla Govt' Over LPG Price Cut

During August, OMCs had already reduced the prices of commercial LPG cylinders by Rs 99.75. In July, there had been an increment of Rs 7 in the prices of commercial LPG gas cylinders. Prior to this increase, two consecutive price reductions had been implemented for commercial LPG cylinders in May and June of this year.

In May, the price of a commercial LPG cylinder was lowered by Rs 172 by OMCs, and in June, a reduction of Rs 83 was made. Even in April, prices were decreased by Rs 91.50 per unit. Earlier on March 1 of this year, Petroleum and oil marketing companies had raised the prices of commercial LPG cylinders by Rs 350.50 per unit and domestic LPG cylinders by Rs 50 per unit.
Explained: Why Is The Call For Maratha Reservation Back In The Spotlight?

Maratha Reservation: Protest in Maha's Jalna, Several People Including Police Injured

India

pti-PTI

Several persons including 12 police personnel were injured on Friday after a protest demanding Maratha reservation in the Jalna district became violent in central Maharashtra.

Police used baton-charge and fired teargas shells to disperse a violent mob at Antarwali Sarathi village on Dhule-Solapur road in Ambad tehsil. Villagers also claimed that police fired some rounds in the air, but officials did not confirm it.

The protesters, led by Manoj Jarange, had been staging a hunger strike demanding reservation for the Maratha community at the village since Tuesday.

While Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made an appeal for peace and announced that a committee will be set up for a high-level probe into the violence, deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed that the police were forced to use baton-charge due to stone pelting.

The reservation provided by the state government for the politically dominant Maratha community was quashed by the Supreme Court earlier. The agitation turned violent on Friday as some persons targeted state transport buses and private vehicles, police said.

At least 12 police personnel and officials including deputy superintendent of police Sachin Sangle were injured in stone pelting while 20 protesters were injured in baton-charge at Antarwali Sarathi, police sources said. The chief minister had spoken to the protesters on Wednesday, urging them to end the hunger strike, but they refused to relent, officials said.

Earlier on Thursday, shops and other commercial establishments at Wadigodri village in Ambad tehsil had remained closed, while there was a massive protest gathering at Shahgadh earlier in the week. Additional police forces have been sent to Jalna, officials said.

Addressing the media over the issue, Maharashtra CM said, The state government is taking this issue seriously and we will welcome it if there are any suggestions. I appeal to the protesters to maintain peace so that the common people do not suffer. A committee will be set up for a high-level probe into the violence."

Meanwhile, Congress leader Ashok Chavan demanded that the state government make clear its stand on Maratha reservation. The baton-charge by police at Antarwali Sarathi village was unacceptable, the former chief minister added.
ELKO  Bristlecone Audubon Chapter is resuming their monthly meetings held on the first Tuesday of each month during the school year. The first meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m. in the conference room of the Nevada Department of Wildlife, 60 Youth Center Road.

Vice President Brian Iverson will be showing his PowerPoint presentation on the Birds of South Vietnam to the group. He and his sister visited Vietnam in February and March this past winter.

They had a wonderful trip, and he took hundreds of pictures of birds, and some scenery too, said Lois Ports of Bristlecone Audubon.

Please join us for some great fellowship with fellow birders and see some very colorful birds of South Vietnam.

Everyone is welcome to attend. There are no membership requirements.
BJP Issues Show Cause Notice To Bidhuri For His Objectionable Remarks Against Danish Ali In LS

Panel To Study 'One Nation, One Election' Formed Ahead of Special Parliament Session

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

The government has formed a committee on Friday led by former President Ram Nath Kovind to examine the feasibility of the 'one nation, one election' concept, according to sources cited by news agency PTI.

According to reports, Kovind will explore the feasibility of the exercise and the mechanism to see as to how the country can go back to having simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, as was the case till 1967.

He is expected to speak to experts and may also consult leaders of different political parties, they said.

The government's decision comes a day after it decided to call a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.

The term 'One Nation, One Election' pertains to the concept of holding simultaneous elections for both the Lok Sabha and various state assemblies. This concept has been proposed multiple times before and has undergone examination by the Law Commission of India.

One Nation, One Election, UCC, And Women's Reservation Bill: What To Expect In Special Parl Session?

Presently, elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies are typically conducted at the conclusion of their respective terms. This leads to two separate election cycles annually, each involving voting for different state assemblies. The One Nation, One Election proposal envisions holding elections for the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies within a single cycle, potentially on the same day.

Since assuming office in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a staunch advocate of the concept of simultaneous elections, encompassing elections at the local level. He has cited the financial strain imposed by the nearly continuous election cycle and the disruption it causes to development work during the electoral process as reasons for his support.

President Kovind, echoing Modi's stance, expressed his backing for the idea after assuming the presidency in 2017. In his address to Parliament in 2018, he remarked, ''Frequent elections not only place a significant burden on human resources but also hinder the development process due to the implementation of the model code of conduct.'' Like Modi, he called for a sustained deliberation and expressed optimism that all political parties would reach a consensus on this matter.

As the Modi government nears the end of its second term, there is a belief among its top leaders that it can no longer afford to delay action on this issue and must decisively demonstrate its commitment after years of debate.

Within the ruling BJP, which under Modi has consistently championed ambitious themes and significant policy initiatives to garner public support, this issue is also seen as politically advantageous and could catch the opposition off-guard, according to party leaders.

Five states - Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Rajasthan - are scheduled to hold assembly elections in November-December, followed by the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year.

However, recent government actions have raised the possibility of advancing the general elections and some state elections that are scheduled to occur after and in conjunction with the Lok Sabha polls.

Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies are scheduled to go to the polls with the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP maintains positive relations with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik, even though they are not formally part of its alliance. The BJP holds power in Arunachal, while Sikkim is governed by an ally.

Maharashtra and Haryana, two states where the BJP is in power with coalition partners, and Jharkhand, governed by a JMM-Congress coalition, are slated to hold elections after the Lok Sabha contest.
What Does Aditya-L1 Do & Which Rocket Will Carry It? Check Most Asked Questions On India's Solar Mission

India

oi-Prakash KL

The stage is set for the launch of India's first solar mission Aditya-L1 which will take off on September 2 at 11.50 am from the Sriharikota spaceport.

This comes at a time when the whole country is celebrating the success of India's moon mission Chandrayaan-3.

So, What Does Aditya-L1 Do and Which Rocket Will Carry It? Here are some most-asked questions about the solar mission on the Google search engine.

Aditya-L1 stands as India's inaugural solar mission with the purpose of studying the Sun from space. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has outlined its intention to position the spacecraft in a halo orbit encircling Lagrangian point 1 (L1) within the Sun-Earth system, a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.

"A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipse. This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities continuously.

The spacecraft will carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle detectors. Using the special vantage point of L1, four payloads will directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads will carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1," a statement from the ISRO states.

The suit of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide most crucial information to understand the problems of coronal heating, Coronal Mass Ejection, pre-flare and flare activities, and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, study of the propagation of particles, fields in the interplanetary medium, etc.

Which rocket will carry Aditya-L1?

The Aditya-L1 mission will be launched by ISRO's PSLV XL rocket.

Initially, the spacecraft will be placed in a Low Earth Orbit. Subsequently, the orbit will be made more elliptical and later the spacecraft will be launched towards the Lagrange point (L1) by using onboard propulsion. As the spacecraft travels towards L1, it will exit the Earths' gravitational Sphere of Influence (SOI). After exit from SOI, the cruise phase will start and subsequently, the spacecraft will be injected into a large halo orbit around L1.

How much time will Aditya-L1 take to reach the Sun?

The total travel time from launch to L1 would take about four months for Aditya-L1.

The Objectives of Aditya-L1 mission:

This research focuses on comprehensively investigating various aspects of the Sun's upper atmosphere, specifically the chromosphere and corona. It delves into the dynamics and heating processes of these regions, including the physics of partially ionized plasma, the triggers for coronal mass ejections and solar flares, and the intricacies of coronal and coronal loop plasma such as temperature, velocity, and density. Furthermore, the study encompasses in-situ observations of solar particles and plasma, shedding light on their dynamics.

Additionally, it seeks to unravel the mysteries surrounding the heating mechanisms of the solar corona, the development and dynamics of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and the sequence of events leading to solar eruptive events. The research also involves the examination of magnetic field topology and measurements within the solar corona, contributing to our understanding of the origin, composition, and dynamics of solar wind, which plays a crucial role in driving space weather.
Donald Trump Pleads Not Guilty In Georgia Election Racketeering Case

International

oi-PTI

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday and sought to sever his case from other defendants who are accused along with him of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set arraignment hearings for Trump and the 18 others charged in the case for September 6. A court filing waiving arraignment means Trump won't have to show up for that.

The decision to skip an in-person appearance averts the dramatic arraignments that have accompanied the three other criminal cases Trump faces, in which the Republican former president has been forced amid tight security into a courtroom and entered "not guilty" pleas before crowds of spectators. Georgia courts have fairly permissive rules on news cameras in the courtroom, and this step means Trump won't have to enter a plea on television.

Trump Says Vivek Ramaswamy Would Be 'Great' Vice President Pick

An attorney for Trump also asked McAfee on Thursday to separate his case from those of defendants who have asked for an expedited trial that is scheduled to start on October 23.

Giving the former president less than two months to prepare a defence against a 98-page indictment would "violate President Trump's federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law," attorney Steve Sadow said in a court filing.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she wants all of the defendants tried together, and she has asked the judge to set an October 23 trial date for everyone.

The motion adds to the pre-trial legal jousting that has dominated the two weeks since the indictment was brought, underscoring the complexities inherent in attempting to bring 19 defendants to trial at once and foreshadowing the delays ahead as judges sift through competing arguments from the defendants.

Trump and 18 others were charged earlier this month in a 41-count indictment that outlines an alleged scheme to subvert the will of Georgia voters who had chosen Democrat Joe Biden over the Republican incumbent in the presidential election.

Several other people charged in the indictment had already waived arraignment in filings with the court, saving them a trip to the courthouse in downtown Atlanta. Trump previously travelled to Georgia on August 24 to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail, where he became the first former president to have a mug shot taken.

The case, filed under Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act, or RICO, is sprawling, and the logistics of bringing it to trial are likely to be complicated. Legal maneuvering in the case has already begun.

At least two defendants have filed demands for a speedy trial and have asked to be tried separately from others in the case. The judge has set an October 23 trial date for one of them, Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who worked on the coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely stating that Trump won the state and declaring themselves the state's "duly elected and qualified" electors.

Some of the others charged are trying to move their cases to federal court. A judge on Monday heard arguments on such a request by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, but the judge did not immediately rule.

Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, has criticised the cases against him as part of a politically motivated attempt to keep him from winning back the White House.

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Story first published: Friday, September 1, 2023, 8:54 [IST]
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ELKO  Many Elko natives have gone on to make significant achievements but certainly one of the most successful was Joseph L. Henderson, who was born 120 years ago today and died in 2007 at the age of 104.

Few professionals earn so much respect that their peers collaborate to produce a book in honor of their 75th birthday. Fewer still continue working in their chosen field for another quarter-century, and publish a book after the age of 100.

The family name maintains a presence in Elko by way of the Henderson Bank Building, but Josephs fame cast a wider net through his connection with the renowned Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. Walk into any major bookstore today and you will find a copy of Man and His Symbols, for which Henderson was asked to write the first chapter (after Jungs lengthy introduction, of course).

Hendersons name draws little recognition compared some other figures he was involved with, such as Thornton Wilder, who tutored Henderson in French when they attended prep school in New Jersey; or Jackson Pollock, the abstract expressionist who became his patient before fame struck; or Charles Darwin, whose great-granddaughter Henderson married while earning his medical degree in London.

A Mormon colleague christened Henderson The Shaman from Elko, and that was the name chosen for the festschrift written in his honor in 1978. It opens with psychotherapist Gareth Hills biographical sketch of Henderson, but the bulk of the publication is a series of essays that most readers will find confusing if not downright abstruse.

Hendersons accomplishments seem far removed his roots in the pioneer history of northeastern Nevada.

When I first learned Joe Henderson had been born and raised in Elko, Nevada, I hesitated to mention it to him for fear it would embarrass him, wrote C. Jess Groesbeck, pointing out that Henderson was associated with more important places, such as Zurich and London. It seemed to me the town of his birth and early life would be of least importance to him, especially since it was such an obscure place. To my surprise, I found just the opposite was true. He told me his Elko heritage was so significant to him that it came up frequently in his dreams while in analysis with Jung.

His great-grandfather was Lewis Rice Bradley, an Elko County cattle baron who went on to become Nevadas second governor. His grandfather was Jefferson Henderson, a Missouri pharmacist whom Bradley met on a wagon train to Stockton, California, before they both moved to Elko. Jefferson had married one of Bradleys daughters in Missouri, where they gave birth to John Henderson in 1864. Eight years later they returned to Elko briefly, then moved to San Jose and eventually back to Elko.

Both sides of his family possessed the pioneer spirit of the Old West, wrote Thomas B. Kirsch in a short biography.

It was during his formative years in Elko that Joseph had his introduction to native culture. He has often related his early life impression of and contacts with the Indians of the West, wrote Groesbeck. He has told of significant dreams involving Indians in his later work and analytical development with Jung. These early impressions included a native nanny who would look after the Henderson children.

In those days Elko businesses and residences were clustered near the train depot, one of many western stops built along the transcontinental railroad line by 1868. Shoshone Indians still lived in teepees and wickiups scattered along the Humboldt River and on the northern and western edges of town. When Joe was a child, the Henderson bank was in a small building at the corner of Fourth and Commercial streets.

John Henderson did his best to groom young Joseph for a career in banking, just as his father Jefferson had done before him.

It was a great disappointment to him that I, as his eldest son, had no aptitude for the banking business and no other young man of the family could be found as a successor, Joseph later wrote. When it became clear that he had no interest in managing money, he was sent off to prep school in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

He then went to Princeton University and eventually connected with Jungs associates in California. Kirsch would later write that Henderson was the last living link to a generation who sought analysis with C.G. Jung in Zurich  and who later became analysts themselves.

He spent most of the 1930s in London. At one point he lived on a dreary street at the edge of town, which puzzled his friends until Joe explained: Why, because it reminds me of Nevada.  I can look up this vista and visualize the Ruby Mountains in the distance.

Henderson was introduced to Helena Cornford during a London tea party. They soon married and two years later had a daughter they named Elizabeth.

While in Zurich, Joe was called home to Elko, Nevada, by an illness of his fathers, wrote colleague Mary Jo Spencer in an article published in honor of Hendersons 100th birthday. While there his aunt invited him to go to the Southwest on a trip to the Indian Country.

His encounters with Hopi and Navajo tribes during that getaway proved to be the foundation for another one of his lifelong interests and inner mentors, Spencer wrote.

Later, during Hendersons two short years in New York at the end of the 1930s, he would write his first analytic paper, titled Initiation Rites. This course of study culminated in the publication of Thresholds of Initiation nearly three decades later. The book laments the state of arrested development displayed by the youth of the 1960s, and blames a lack of modern rituals marking the transition to adulthood.

He would go on to write more books and articles on topics such as the psychology of popular films like Easy Rider and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Henderson continued to work past his 100th birthday, and co-wrote Transformation of the Psyche: The Symbolic Alchemy of the Splendor Solis along with Dr. Dyane Sherwood. He died on Nov. 17, 2007, two years after he retired from psychiatry.

Henderson was hailed as the dean of American Jungian analysts for the past 50 years. His obituary appeared in The New York Times but his death went completely unnoticed in his hometown of Elko, Nevada.
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According to the "9/11 Truthers" the Trade Towers in New York were destroyed by controlled demolition. For this we hold them in contempt, as looney conspiracy theorists. The RAND Corporation on the other hand is held in great esteem for its objective research and analysis .

If the "Truthers" want to shed their stigma and have the American people consider their story, the RAND Corporation might be their sa lvatio n, because the two display an identifiable overlap.

Born after WWII as a think-tank for the Pentagon, RAND addresses today th e spectrum of public affairs. Its website lists these concern s : Children, Families, and Communities; Cyber and Data Sciences; Education and Literacy; Energy and Environment; Health, Health Care, and Aging; Homeland Security and Public Safety; Infrastructure and Transportation; International Affairs; Law and Business; National Security and Terrorism; S cience and Technology; Social Equity; and Workers and the Workplace. i

O ur confidence in RAND is well placed. The evidence of their integrity has been scrutinized by the Media Bias/Fact Check organization. Among the universe of media groups they rated RAND as "Least Biased," "High" for factual reporting, and "High" for credibility . ii The Heritage Foundation by contrast is rated far-right biased, and "Mixed" for factual reporting and credibility. iii

Of particular note at RAND is their project, Countering Truth Decay . It grew from a book published in 2018: Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life. From the Preface:

Much has been written about the growing disregard for facts, data, and analysis in political and civil discourse in the United States. Increasingly, it seem s that import ant policy debates, both within the federal government and across the electorate, are as likely to hinge on opinion or anecdote as they are on objective facts or rigorous analysis. iv

Enter the "9/11 Truthers." The "disregard for facts, data, and analysis" is their raison d'etre.

There's the overlap.

T h e " Truthers" own passion for countering truth decay is displayed in searching their websites. On every page the Bush Administration stands accused of disregarding facts and data, with particular respect to the collapse of the Trade Towers.

Scrutinizing carefully the history of the movement reveals "The Truthers" for who they are and what they have to say.

The 9/11 Truth Movement today is not a tiny isolated fringe. It is a worldwide force of tens of thousands of concerned and committed people. "Truth" organizations are found in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. v

A dozen or so national organizations are active in the U.S. and localized groups are found in 43 state s. One of the core nationwide groups is Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. Supporting it are 3,700 professional architects and engineers, and 32,900 persuaded citizens. A typical state level group is Colorado for 9/11 Truth . Serving as the Truth Movement's clearinghouse and archive is The International Center for 9/11 Justice .

The Truth Movement was borne in curiosity. Still in memory was a B-25 bomber in 1954 crashing into the Empire State Building, which withstood the collision and remained standing with only localized damage. The Trade Towers were designed to absorb the impact of a Boeing 707 flying at 600 mph. vi W hy did they cascade into rubble in a matter of 15-20 seconds?

In 2005 the National Institute of Standards and Technology published its Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers. It was the Bush Administration's explanation for the collapse of the buildings : the Trade Towers were brought down by the impacts of the aircraft and the subsequent fire s.

By this time t he 9/11 Truth Movement had its own vigorous investigation underway, and they saw in the NIST report a stupefying example of "the growing disregard for facts, data, and analysis."

T he "Truthers" knew of a contradicting history. In the roughly 100 years of steel-framed building construction, many such structures endured devastating fires; some were fully involved and gutted, but every single one remained standing. During those years, however, many cases of total collapse were recorded as well, and every one was intentional, through the use of controlled demolition in one form or another. vii

According to the NIST Final Report that's not what happened to the Trade Towers. Instead, this did: the crashing airplanes scraped the fireproofing insulation from the structural steel, causing the core columns to be weakened by the heat of the fires, causing the concrete floors to sag, causing the perimeter columns to be pulled inward, and that is when the "...top sections of the buildings tilted..and began their descent." (Th e NIST relied on computer modeling to reach this conclusion, not the scrutiny of evidence.)

And then, "Once the upper building sections began to move downward, the weakened structures in the impact and fire zones were not able to absorb the tremendous energy of the falling building sections , and global collapse ensued." viii

The top sections acted like pile drivers, pancaking the buildings to street level in a sequence of collapsing floors.

Not a single word in the Final Report supported this scenario, with "facts, data, and analysis." It was anecdotal. It was unsubstantiated opinion .

The Truth Movement rejected the pancaking scenario totally, initially by comparing it to the video images. If the floors simply collapsed vertically in sequence , what explained the boiling clouds of building debris and concrete dust blasting out laterally twice the width of the buildings? What were those energetic puffs of smoke and debris expelled from the buildings, 20 to 30 stories below the collapse front? ( In the trade, they're called "demolition squibs." ) Sections of steel girders rocketed from the buildings horizontally for hundreds of feet : in a pancaking building, wouldn't they drop straight down ? A pancaked building should result in a quadrangular pile of debris not a great deal larger than the dimensions of the building, 208 feet on a side: why were the debris piles roughly circular in shape, and six times wider than the buildings? Largely intact concrete floors should have piled up in the debris, admixed with bent and broken structural steel. But no floors survived; most of the concrete in the floors was pulverized into billowing clouds of dust, 424,000 tons of it blanketing Lower Manhattan . ix That required an input of energy far greater than pancaking floors could generate from gravity alone.

The undeniable reason to reject the NIST scenario is its violation of Newton's Third Law of Motion: since every action propagates an equal-but-opposite reaction, unidirectional, top-down pancaking is physically impossible,

Large buildings have been demolished by pancaking, without the use of explosives, by the abrupt destruction of the mid-level floor in the building. A French technique called Verinage does this, removing the vertical supports of the mid-level floor with synchronized hydraulic jacks. As equal-and-opposite actions take place the pancaking proceeds both upward and downward equally from the mid-level floor until the destruction is complete. The pancaking is bidirectional, by Isaac Newton's intractable dictum .

(YouTube videos of Verinage demolitions can be viewed here . )

The compromised floors in the Trade Towers were far above mid-level, so any (bidirectional) pancaking would cease not far below the impact zones, leaving tall smoking stumps in the Manhattan skyline.

But there were no stumps. There were mounds of rubble. Total destruction. Caused by what?

The Truth Movement argues for explosives, and to this day they are ostracized, the claim of controlled demolition still dismissed with impatient vehemence.

Is our denial based on fact, drawn from evidence and objective analysis? Or is it an example of post-truth social behavior, of truth decay ? We prefer to parrot a comfortable opinion, because the intentional destruction of the Trade Towers is a concept too ghastly to bear. It raises inescapable questions--who did it and why?--and the prospective answers are unthinkable . We scoff go on .

If this is irresponsible citizenship, can we atone by agreeing on this: we truly need to know the truth about 9/11, however painful it might be, and then act on it.

What might happen if the story of controlled demolition was delivered by a messenger of impeccable integrity? If the 9/11 Truth Movement is not to be trusted, can we ask the RAND Corporation to check their work?

i See, RAND Corporation website, here:https://www.rand.org/research.html

ii See, "Rand Corporation Bias and Credibility," Media Bias/ Fact Check website, here: Click Here

iii See, "Heritage Foundation Bias and Credibility," Media Bias/Fact Check website, here: Click Here

iv See, Jennifer Kavanagh Michael D. Rich, Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life, Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2018, p. iii.

v See, the 9/11 Grassroots website, here: Click Here

vi See, " FAQ #2: Were the Twin Towers designed to withstand the impact of the airplanes?," Architects and Engineers for 9/11Truth website, here:Click Here See also, "THE WTC WAS DESIGNED TO SURVIVE THE IMPACT OF A BOEING 767, " Indymedia website, December 2, 2002, here:Click Here.

vii See, Ted Walter, Beyond Disinformation: What Science Says About the Destruction of World Trade CenterBuildings 1,2, and 7, Berkeley: AER Publications, 2015, p. 4.

viii See, Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers, Washington: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, September, 2005, Section E.3, Summary ofFindings, pp.xxxvii-xxxviii, here: Click Here

ix See the report on the environmental effects of the buildings' collapse by the National Resources Defense Council, here: Click Here
We the People of the US must rescue the US and the world from a terrible, bad, disastrous choice by Democratic leaders to support a second term for Joe Biden. We need to find a younger, stronger, more charismatic candidate who will clearly show, in polls that he will crush any GOP challenger, whether Donald Trump or one of his mini-me lookalikes. I believe that Jon Stewart can do the job.

The problem is, he's said "No thanks." Frankly that's what the best candidate for the most powerful position and biggest responsibility should say... at first. We don't want someone hungry for power or pushed by big money backers.

"Stewart is a household name for tens of millions of people, particularly Democrats. He's very smart, and politically savvy and could run rings around any of the Republicans currently debating or not debating, such as Donald Trump. Stuart has huge charisma, something that Joe Biden (and Hillary before him) is painfully missing. That missing Biden charisma is a huge effing deal. Biden does not have an acceptable grip or attraction for people under 40. He doesn't generate enthusiasm. He might be able to squeak by Trump or DeSantis, but probably not Nikki Haley or other possible GOP candidates. And even if Biden does beat Trump, he will not help down-ticket candidates at all levels. Stewart will bring out droves of people who would not otherwise show up and that will help insure that Dems hold the Senate and give them a better chance at winning back the house, and state legislatures and judgeships throughout the ticket."

There are two main challenges. First, getting him to agree to run. Second getting the Democratic leadership to see that he is a far better candidate so they'll talk Joe Biden into stepping down. Here are some thoughts on how to do this:

Get pollsters to include head to head matches between Stewart and Trump and Stewart and any other GOP Candidate. This can't be a one-time thing. It will require momentum and making the idea a regular part of the conversation.

Build a movement to recruit Stewart. Howard Stern said he should run. He could help a lot. So could other high visibility people, probably many of those who supported Bernie Sanders.

Raise money to pay for his campaign expenses and the polling needed to convince him to run. This has been done before and can work.

Get progressive organizations involved, like Justice Democrats, Moveon, Progressive Democrats, Indivisible... and there are plenty more.

Write your own articles and op-eds about it and share the ones others write, to your social media

Create memes for people to share.

Tell people in the media that lefties watch or subscribe to that this is something you and a lot of other people want.

We can do this. Whether you likeJoe Biden or not, he is a decent man who has done good work, with the help of Democrats, whether you like them or not. That good work can be taken credit for by a Democratic Jon Stewart candidacy. But it is time for Joe to step down gracefully, and for his supporters to support the stronger candidate. Since over 75% want a different candidate, that should be east to do.

You may like RFK Jr., but he, like Hillary Clinton before him, comes with a lot of negative baggage He will never pull the polling numbers Jon Stewart can.

This may not be an easy road, but we can't risk Joe Biden losing to whatever GOP MAGA candidate they come up with. The world needs a stronger, more charismatic, sharper, and yes, more progressive candidate to keep Democracy safe from authoritarianism, fascism and billionaire-controlled Right wingers.

As one commenter on my last article said, "IF he was president, I would LOVE his press conferences."

I am going to stay on this project because it really could save the USA and the world. I can't do it alone. Will you help?
Orientation

Beliefs about the paranormal in Yankeedom

Believers in the paranormal, according to Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn in their book How to Think About Weird Things include the following statistics in a Gallup poll:

55% believe in psychic healing

41% believe in ESP

32% believe that ghosts can come back to certain places and situations

31% believe in telepathy (mind-to-mind communication)

26% believe in clairvoyance (knowing the future)

24% believe that extraterrestrial beings have visited earth at some time in the past

21% believe they can communicate with someone who died

If discovered to be correct, what parapsychology might result in

If these claims are true The Parapsychological Association has listed a number of possibilities:

The current scientific view of the universe, space, time and energy in information may be revolutionized.

Show that human capacities for perception and memory have been underestimated.

Beliefs about the mind being dependent on the brain would be wrong.

Fundamentalist monotheistic religions would have to make room for human powers it had previously dismissed as demonic.

There may be a greater, nonmaterialist spiritual world.

There may exist a nonmaterial human soul that survives death.

Paranormal historians and forecasters may obtain information by directly travelling to or viewing the past and future.

Paranormal archeologists could locate hidden treasures.

On the more practical level parapsychology could:

May enhance human decision-making

May assist in locating missing persons

May assist in psychotherapy and counseling

Paranormal market investors could help people make stock choices

Are these numbers and prospects signs that a New Age is upon us? Are the implications of how the world could be different realistic or pollyannish? For some, the amount of interest in the paranormal is troubling.

Rise of the skeptical movement

When Marxists first heard of parapsychology, they paid no attention to it. It was almost always dismissed as more capitalist distraction from political organizing. They believed that ESP, telepathy and UFO's don't exist and the whole subject is for kooks. But a number of scientists were not so cynical and although they were skeptical, they wanted to understand why parapsychology is unscientific.

Throughout the 1960s in Yankeedom, there had been a growing dissatisfaction with mainstream science, as it was perceived either as part of the capitalist system of part of a deep state apparatus to control people. Interest in the mysterious and exotic was attractive to middle class and upper middle class people who were apathetic or cynical about international and domestic politics or the "materialism" of life in Yankeedom. In the mid-1970s, interest in the paranormal phenomenon blossomed along with a larger New Age movement which promised to bring back the mysterious and the exotic without traditional religion.

At first scientists were surprised at how many highly educated people would choose the paranormal over mainstream science and its methods. A growing group of scientists and philosophers decided to fight back. Led by Paul Kurtz, a collection of skeptics began to join together to form their own organization called The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). Kurtz began a publishing house, Prometheus books, to house skeptical writers. A monthly magazine and conferences followed. Some outstanding contributors over the years included psychologists, physicists and stage magicians. James Randi, Susan Blackmore (in the cover image of this article) James Alcock, Martin Gardner, Joe Nicoll and Ray Hyman are just some of the people who developed a scientific methodology specifically for the study of the paranormal. Their story is told in the wonderful book Skeptical Odysseys edited by Paul Kurtz. This article describes their method.

In part I of this article I distinguish the difference between the paranormal and the superstitious. I then follow the lead of Jonathan C. Smith in his book Pseudoscience and the Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal and group the paranormal phenomenon into a spectrum of eight categories from the least to the most expansive claims. I then identify two types of questions skeptics ask about parapsychology. One is why believe something and the second is are there scientific explanations? Under the category of why believe something, part one reviews three topics:

Are the sources credible?

Is the logic sound?

Are the claims based on good observation?

In part II of this article, I answer the last five critical thinking questions which have to do with what alternative explanations are offered. After offering a summary table of all weaknesses in parapsychological research I identify some of the qualities of what a good scientific theory entails. I close with the reasons why believing in the paranormal can be dangerous to the individual and to society.

Difference Between Paranormal, Supernatural and Superstition

The tamest paranormal belief need not be superstitious or even supernatural provided it accept natural laws and simply claims parapsychology is just an extension of these laws that haven't been discovered yet. Other more ambiguous parapsychologists might believe that parapsychology violates natural laws of matter and energy but they may not be superstitious. Furthermore, superstitious people may be uninterested in either the paranormal or supernatural. They may be atheists. Superstitions are beliefs and actions rooted in an imaginative, invisible connection between objects, places and people. These can bring about positive or negative results and introduce predictability into unpredictable situations.

The Spectrum of the Paranormal

At the beginning of his wonderful book Jonathan Smith identifies eight types of paranormal claims. These are laid out on a horizontal spectrum moving from the least to the most challenging to science. They are:

Borderline, gratuitous paranormal claims which may or may not violate the laws of physics

These included Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster, flying saucers

Simple superstitions based on coincidence, folklore and similarities.

Examples include magic charms, rabbit's foots and, stepping on cracks. People do not find careers on the study of these things.

Paranormal patterns including secret messages and special information

Examples are palm reading, tarot cards, some astrology, numerology and the I Ching

Some people can develop a career by doing this.

Paranormal powers which clearly violate the laws of physics

ESP, psychokinesis, astral projection, out-of-body experience and dowsing

Simple energies which do not direct guide or show purpose. They lack psychological characteristics.

Examples are Chi, magnetic field therapy, homeopathy, traditional acupuncture and faith healing, karma, fate, dark energy, quantum physics.

Clearly people make a living doing this,

Intelligent forces/entities. These do direct and guide people and may have psychological characteristics and consciousness

Here we find spirits, werewolves, witches, demons.

Afterlife entities including ghosts and reincarnation

Lastly, we find the spectrum of the paranormal that claims the most extensive power. It goes beyond the paranormal and beyond challenging natural laws.

Included are organized religions which consists of hierarchies of gods, afterlife places life heaven and hell.

It includes the miraculous such as virgin birth and resurrections.

The Problem of Ontological Fusion in Parapsychology

In science there are three levels in nature.

The world of physics, material objects that have volume, occupy space and can transmit physical energy.

The world of biology in which living creatures, who require food, reproduce, transmit diseases, get sick and die.

The world of psychology where living beings have choice, make decisions and have a conscious mind.

What parapsychologists do is cross these boundaries in:

Mixing physics and psychology, claiming that rocks can have thoughts and that thoughts can move rocks.

Mixing physics with biology, claiming you might get sick by standing next to a broken rock.

Mixing biology with psychology by claiming you can make someone sick by thinking about them.

Eight Steps in Critical Thinking to Access Paranormal Claims

There are two types of questions to ask:

Why believe something?

Are there other scientific explanations?

In "why believe something" there are three kinds of support of the paranormal claim:

Are the sources credible - not hearsay, tabloid newspapers or misuse of sources?

Is the logic sound? What is true or false? What is possible or impossible?

Are claims based on observation?

Are there other scientific explanations?

Are we misinterpreting oddities of nature and the world of numbers?

Most people don't understand statistics and as a result we have mistaken ideas about what is probable and what is unlikely.

Is their potential error or trickery?

The night is a little cloudy and the city lights a bit distracting.

Is there potential for memory error?

Might the placebo effect may be at work (sugar pill)? It can effect genuine psychological and physiological changes through nothing more than suggestion. Was it just the vibrations? Perhaps it was the music that made you happy.

Are we misinterpreting sensory anomalies or hallucinations?

The human brain and nervous system is quite capable of conjuring up false percepts that appear convincingly real.

Psychology of Anomalous Experience

This is a field of psychology which focuses on extraordinary events and provides us with psychological, as opposed to parapsychological explanations. Smith gives us the following examples. Instead of haunted houses we have the normal settling of older buildings or changes in our air pressure and temperature that can cause doors to slam and walls to creak. Instead of ghosts, it actually is reflected light from passing cars or aircraft that can appear as "ghostly faces". Random patterns, especially in low-light conditions, can be construed into medium patterns through something called "pareidolia". Pareidolia involves projecting recognizable forms in an ambiguous object. Sound frequencies lower than 20 Hz are inaudible but may cause a person to sense a nonspecific presence and create anxiety, for example seeing a ghost. Cameras used to detect ghosts are notorious for producing various strange optical distortion effects. Apophenia is a term from the field of anomalous psychology where we see connections and find meaning in unrelated things.

Anyone who is serious about parapsychology must have a full command of this field and exhaust all the possibilities for anomalous experience before claiming something is paranormal. While it is reasonable to imagine that some professional parapsychologists are knowledgeable about the field of anomalous psychology, it is highly unlikely that the public who supports parapsychology knows anything about the field of anomalous psychology.

The remainder of this article addresses how well parapsychology does with the first three steps.

Questionable Sources

Ancient wisdom The field of parapsychology often has a romantic theory of history

For example, claiming astrology is true because it is 4,000 years old. Astrology has changed over the centuries, but astrologers behave as if since it is old it must be true.

It does not mean that the early priesthoods got it right the first time. We should ask - do the claims about the stars make sense in the light of our current knowledge about the stars? This is the fallacy known as appeal to tradition.

Testimonials and anecdotal evidence

One case does not prove something is true. Carroll has offered a succinct evaluation of anecdotal and testimonial evidence. Stories are prone to contamination by beliefs, later experience, feedback, and selective attention to details. Stories get distorted in the telling and retelling. Events get exaggerated and time sequence get confused. Details get muddled. Memories are imperfect and selective as we shall see in part II. They are also filled in after the fact. Some stories are delusional and there is always the possibilities of deception.

Popularity and common use

Amazon lists twice as many books for astrology as for the Ten Commandments. A Google search reveals 30 million hits for astrology. They can't all be wrong - right? In critical thinking, this is the fallacy of appeal to the people. Many interpretations can be part of a popular fad and be completely wrong.

Mass media and the internet

Standards for getting information in the mass media are lower than for professional publications. Programs about the paranormal are notorious for editing out disconfirming evidence. Paranormal topics are a thriving business. Mass media has a stake in keeping its businesses alive. They would lose money if they revealed the truth of scientific research. In drug studies, research supported by pharmaceutical companies reports more positive results than research supported by public funds. Once a study is submitted for publication, a journal has an incentive to publish positive results. There is a publication bias for positivity. Neither they nor the public are interested in failures. Journals do the same thing. This is one reason why scientific findings of negative research don't get much air time.

The Question of Individual Authorities

Things to consider in evaluating an individual expert include do have they the education and training from a relevant and up-to-date program? Are they experienced and have accomplishments in their area of claimed expertise? It is common in paranormal research that a licensed person in one field (like Deepak Chopra) will claim to be an authority in a field in which he is not trained, like physics. Is the authority up with current research? Are they respected by peers, other expertsin the area? Another common problem is that are not respected by other authorities in the same field. Because much parapsychology often appeals to the public, the public does not know what other experts think if these expects do not have a public reputation. Is there a conflict of interest in what parapsychologists have to say? In other words, are they making money from pushing false memories - as in claims of alien abductions or claims about past lives?

Further Grounds for Scientific Suspicions

The mainstream scientific community is suspicious of its claimed experts when parapsychologists:

Make exaggerated and unqualified claims full of superlatives like "breakthrough", "revolutionary" or "pioneering".

They have a record of gullibility in regard to paranormal that has been clearly shown to be fraudulent in the past.

Fail to distinguish a well-designed study from a badly designed one where there is possibility of fraud

Have a record of failing to report breaches in good design, whether their own or others. This can include an entire project that might have been conducted by relatively novice assistants.

Resort to ad hominin arguments - accusing scientists of being mean-spirited, narrow-minded and dogmatic.

How Sound is the Logic?

Confusing a necessary with a sufficient condition

As many of you know who have taken critical thinking classes, there are both formal and informal fallacies. A typical formal fallacy that parapsychologists often commit is confusing a necessary and sufficient condition. In a statement that is not fallacious such as:

If the color of ice cream is white, It is vanilla flavor, then b is true. The color of ice cream is white, it is therefore vanilla

A fallacy of confusing a necessary and sufficient condition (affirming the consequent) in parapsychology goes like this:

If the stars and the planet are aligned properly you will recover from your cold quickly. You recovered quickly form your cold. Therefore the stars and planets have been aligned properly. This ignores the fact that (you could have taken cold medication).

Here is another one:

If a psychic can read your thoughts, he can tell if you are skeptical. The psychic you are visiting correctly observed that you are skeptical. Therefore, the psychic can read your thoughts. The problem here is they could simply be reading your body language.

Fallacies in chain arguments

The typical form of chain arguments go like this:

All A is B.

All B is C.

Therefore all A is C.

In paranormal arguments one of the links in the chain doesn't follow the others. Here is an example from the relationship between subatomic particles and consciousness:

Subatomic interactions may appear at a distance far away (true). The human brain is made of atoms (true). The human thought generated from the brain follows the rules of quantum physics (true). Therefore human thoughts follows the same quantum rules as subatomic particles in the brain (not true).

Here is another one:

All atoms possess some gravity(true). Our brains are made of atoms (true). Thought are generated by in the brain (true). Thoughts travel by means of gravity (not true). Thoughts that travel to other dimensions return to our dimension instantaneously (questionable). This results in telepathic communication (questionable).

Last one:

A mysterious dark energy forces some galaxies apart (true). They travel at a speed faster than light (true). When human thoughts come into contact with dark energy they can travel at a speed faster than the speed of light (questionable). Therefore, this proves telepathy exists (not true).

Weasel words

Weasel words are very common in parapsychology. These words can make passionate claims, but in looking at their track record, there is a loophole which gives parapsychologists an out in case their claim is challenged. For example, the use of the word "some" can mean the same as "most" on the one hand and as little as one exception on the other. More specifically you might say "some" scientists believe UFOs have landed on earth, when the reality might be only 1%.

Paranormal psychologists use the word "healing" in tricky ways. Smith points out that healing generally means returning to physical health. But alternative medicine practitioners smuggle the world of psychology into what healing means. Then alternative medicine can claim to heal people when research shows only that it was because of the placebo effect (people wanted it to work). In the case of faith healers, they can wriggle out of promises. Your spirit has been healed if your body hasn't. How can you measure what a healing spirit looks like?

The words controversial and debatable are popular weasel words in paranormal literature. Usually, controversial means there is good evidence on both sides. However, parapsychologists can use controversy to bring in claims that might not have good evidence but they stir argument. Velikovsky and his followers did this in the field of astronomy. For skeptics, having sound evidence is a precondition or necessary condition for having a controversy. No claim is accepted as a candidate for a controversy if their evidence is not sound.

Equivocation

Parapsychologists use the word faith in equivocal ways. For example, the formal definition of faith is contrasted to logical truth or material evidence. It's fair to say that parapsychologists might have faith they will eventually produce evidence that is public and can be replicated. But parapsychologists claim that science is also based on faith. However, it is unfair to call scientific hope faith. What scientists have is confidence in the values of the expansion of the natural laws that have already been discovered.

Appeal to ignorance

This is an especially important one for students of the paranormal. Lack of evidence against something does not make it reasonable for something that is paranormal to be true. Absence of normal explanation does not require an extraordinary explanation. There can be many normal explanations. For example, every careful scientific exploration of dark shapes in abandoned houses has found an alternative to the ghost explanation. They can be found in shadows of objects like drapes, reflections of moving lights or the activity of rodents.

If there is no evidence that a claim is false it can mean that the claim is unfalsifiable or that currently mundane explanations don't exist yet. It could be that mundane explanations do exist, but paranormal researchers haven't heard of them. For example UFO sightings can be explained naturally as:

Reflections of the moon

Ball lightening

Aircraft

Missile Launchings

Satellite

Balloons

Searchlights

Test clouds

Flares

Elmo's Fire

Optical camera distortions

Fraud

Confusing Correlation with Cause

Just because an event came right before another event does not mean it was caused by that event. The causes of events could have occurred deep in the past and the most recent events could be surface rippling which have nothing to do with what really happened. Furthermore, if events A and B occurred at the same time, we don't know if A may have caused B or B caused A. It could also be possible that both A and B were due to chance. An example of A and B being caused by a third variable is the following. If we notice that in a city there is growth in the number of churches and the number of brothels. We could imagine that the growth of brothels caused more churches to be built. Or the growth of sex-negative Churches produced more prostitution as a reaction from desperate priests. But both the rise of prostitutes and churches could have been caused by a growth in population of a new city which causes both more houses of prostitution and more churches to be built.

The Tricks and Tribulations of Observations: How Trustworthy are the Senses?

Let us take three paranormal circumstances and see whether what is attributed to psychic phenomenon might be something else.

Channelers sit silently in a darkened room waiting for communication with the dead.

UFO watchers sit in a quiet field at night silently awaiting the arrival of spacecraft.

Haunted house investigators sit in the basement at night with the hall lights turned off.

Autokinetic effect

Ordinary neurophysiological states can evoke experiences easily misidentified as paranormal. Jonathan Smith encourages us to go outside and look at a darkness area of the sky with only one or two stars. Gaze for 5 minutes at the stars. In time, you will see it move. It isn't a flying saucer or a waking dream.

Autokinetic effect is a small point of light in a dark and featureless background. It appears to move because of minor, involuntary eye movements, eye fatigue or simple suggestion. (204)

Yet a friend may claim they can move small distant objects by simply looking at them.

Pupil dilation

Another physiological reaction of the eyes is pupil response. In darkness the pupils dilate to let in light and bright colors while they constrict to keep lights out. This protects the retina from overexposure. It may seem as if the lights were being turned down or shades drawn. Shaded areas may suddenly emerge while dark areas grow darker and seem as if they are moving. So the next time you are in haunted house and someone surprises you by whispering "look a ghost", you may well see a shadowy form emerge and move, but it's all because of a pupil response.

Coming Attractions

If you flip a coin and it comes up heads three times in a row, on the next flip is tails more likely to come up? Understanding how to reason quantitatively (gauging probability) is foundational for science. Yet psychics, like most everyone else, interpretation patterns of connection which aren't there and we underestimate the probability of rare negative events. This compromises parapsychology investigation.

Your horoscope predicts that you are conflicted about your work, feeling that some of your skills aren't being utilized. In your relationship you are happy but feel that parts of you are not understood by your partner. Emotionally you are cautiously optimistic but sometimes you have fits of demoralization. Why do so many people feel like the astrologer is very good and understands them?

Memories are like tape recorders that record everything. If a person has a traumatic experience those memories are buried as psychological protection. True or False? Both these statements are the foundation for claims of alien abduction and reincarnation. We discuss this in part II.

In the mind-body relation, how much does the body control the mind and how much does the mind control the body? Can the mind act independently of the brain? Under what conditions can we say wishing something to be true can make it so?

How might we test whether claims of ghosts, extraterrestrials and angels are real or whether they are hallucinations? Hallucinations are the result of sensory deprivation, sensory orchestration or drugs such as LSD. Which form of hallucination might go with ghosts, extraterrestrials or angels?

In spite of all the skeptical criticism of parapsychology, the sad truth is that these results do not put a dent in the public's interest in parapsychology. Why might this be? Does research uphold the parapsychologists' claim that they are more open than mainstream scientists when their claims are challenge? What is the harm of believing in the paranormal? Why not just let people believe what they want to believe? Skeptics seem so uptight and crabby. Why don't they just loosen up?

Finally after reviewing the eight steps of critical thinking tests, what are the characteristics of a good scientific theory? What are the conditions of a good experimental design? When the results come in, what are the five characteristics of an adequate theory? Do all five characteristics have to be met? Are some more important than others? All this is covered in part II.
Niger's military authority ordered the expulsion of the French ambassador Thursday in a letter addressed to the French Foreign Ministry, Azernews reports, citing Yeni Safak.

Sylvain Itte "no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the embassy's diplomatic staff," the military administration that has been in in power since July 26 wrote following the end of a 48-hour deadline set on Aug. 28.

The diplomat heed the order to leave Niger and French authorities felt he should not give credence to "illegitimate" authorities or give in to pressure.

The military authority in the West African country where deposed President Mohamed Bazoum remains detained in the presidential palace, considered Itte's approval "irrevocable."

Diplomatic cards and visas for Itte and members of his family are canceled, according to the letter.

"The police services are instructed to proceed with his expulsion," it said.
Eight Republican presidential candidates sparred on a Milwaukee stage August 23 in a Fox News-sponsored debate seen by 12.8 million viewers.

With Donald Trump ducking this first debate, GOP voters were able to hear the other candidates and assess their abilities, policies and differences. It was a very good debate.

Most commentators credit Nikki Haley with a stellar performance. The former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador had an impressive command of policy issues as well as demonstrating her convictions.

From abortion to spending to Trump, she leveled with voters.

On abortion, Haley said, correctly, that a national abortion ban at 15 weeks is politically unattainable.

She urged fellow pro-life Republicans to approach the divisive issue of abortion with more compassion and willingness to focus on consensus views at the federal level  late-term abortion, merits of adoption, the need for available contraception.

Haleys honesty didnt stop there.

Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt, she said. It isnt just Democrats who have been fiscally irresponsible.

Three-quarters of Americans dont want a rematch between Trump and Biden, Haley said. And we have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We cant win a general election that way.

This drew some disapproval from the Milwaukee audience. But saying true things in the face of booing is a mark of leadership.

Haley paints a positive vision for our country and bringing us together. Shes in former President Ronald Reagans tradition  the last Republican to defeat an incumbent Democratic president  in pointing us toward that Shining City on a Hill.

While not dominating the stage, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stabilized himself and had some solid moments  particularly in his deconstructing Bidenomics.

DeSantis did a good job in explaining his widely popular track record as Florida governor, including on his Covid policies and fighting progressive prosecutors. He said he would have sacked Anthony Fauci.

DeSantis had a steady hand throughout the debate and came across as competent, untouched, and above the fray.

A post-debate Fox News focus group and most available polling revealed DeSantis as the most popular choice among those who watched the debate and were asked to identify the winner.

Millions of voters were introduced to Vivek Ramaswamy in the debate. The 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur has a positive message about restoring Americas common purpose and identity. Hes smart, brash and guileful.

Ramaswamy seems to be running as a millennial Donald Trump with a slick stage presence. But, after a strong start, his act wore thin as he interrupted and insulted the other candidates. His personal favorability polling metrics crashed, accordingly.

He got masterfully schooled on foreign policy by Haley in a debate highlight. You have no foreign policy experience, the former U.N. ambassador concluded. And it shows.

Sen. Tim Scott had a familiar message of optimism and exhibited humor. But he stayed out of the fray most of the night and underperformed expectations.

The estimable former Vice President Mike Pence had a solid debate performance. He was good in eviscerating the glib false choice between aiding Ukraine or controlling the southern U.S. border.

He made several references to his religious faith that animates his principled pro-life position on abortion.

Unfortunately for Pence, his net favorability ratings among Republicans who watched the debate were underwater (-11). Likewise, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had positive debate moments but was also underwater (-25), according to the same Ipso poll.

Debate participants former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum are unlikely to qualify for the next GOP presidential debate scheduled for the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California on September 27.

With Trump absent, for at least one night GOP voters were able to see they have better  and more electable  choices in 2024.


Mitch McConnell by Gage Skidmore.

(Image by Wikipedia (commons.wikimedia.org), Author: Gage Skidmore) Details Source DMCA



For the second time in as many months, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 81, experienced an ... episode ... on August 30, suddenly freezing, going silent, and appearing to have broken contact with the external world while talking with reporters.

Dr. Brian Monahan, the US Capitol's attending physician, declared McConnell "medically clear" the next day, noting that "occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery." McConnell sustained a concussion after falling in March.

But among the aging American political class, McConnell's far from alone when it comes to recent public displays of something that most people think looks like senility. Two other names (not the only ones) that come to mind are US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), 90, and US president Joe Biden, 80.

All this has people talking about things like age limits, term limits, and "competency tests." Which is fine, I guess, but it seems to me that we may be better off with wandering attention spans, sudden descents into sleep, etc., than we would be with these people still at the top of their games.

"In that moment of amnesiac innocence," Australian blogger Caitlin Johnstone writes of McConnell's latest freeze-up, "you'd never be able to tell from looking at Mitch McConnell how many people he's helped kill. .... All you'd see is a man. A cute, harmless, befuddled old man."

How many people HAS McConnell helped kill? It's hard to envision any answer which doesn't include the word "million."

As a member of the US Senate since 1984 and its GOP faction's leader since 2006, he's been one of the main political figures behind deadly US military interventions around the world. He's openly backed, and whipped Republican support for, these wars of choice, and worked hard to defeat even half-hearted congressional attempts to rein them in.

In a world where justice meant anything, McConnell would probably be living out his golden years in a senior citizens' complex back in Kentucky -- specifically, FMC Lexington, a federal prison for inmates requiring constant medical attention.

Barring that -- or, better yet, eliminating his job entirely -- perhaps we're better of with him in Washington. If he retires, he'll almost certainly be replaced by someone just as evil, but still possessed of relative youth and mental acuity.

Every time Mitch nods off or freezes up at a meeting, or misses a vote to get a hip replacement or botox injection, there's at least a chance of innocent lives being spared.
Reprinted from hartmannreport.com



Donald Trump - Riding the Wrecking Ball

(Image by DonkeyHotey from flickr) Details DMCA



The merger of billionaire wealth with Republican governance the public be damned threaten the integrity and future of the American experiment"

As we learned from last week's Republican debates, the leading candidates for the GOP nomination all appear to agree on a broad plan to gut American government and replace it with a strongman president and corporate rule.

The modern administrative state, sometimes called the "welfare state" by Republicans, was largely created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to the Republican Great Depression of the early 1930s. And every day since FDR was sworn into office on March 4, 1933, the GOP has worked feverishly to dismantle his legacy.

Outside of Russia, China, and Hungary, this isn't true at all for the rest of the developed world.

Nations across the rest of Europe, South America, and Asia imitated FDR's and LBJ's America, most going beyond our simple development of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the legalization of unions to further expand opportunity and social mobility for their citizens.

For example, Taiwan has the most efficient and comprehensive single-payer healthcare system in the world; Germany requires half of the members of every large corporation's board of directors to come from the ranks of organized labor; Luxembourg has the highest national minimum wage in the world at roughly $19.50 an hour (they calculate it monthly).

All of Europe is pledged to reduce greenhouse gasses to get climate change under control, and they require chemical companies to prove their new compounds are safe before introducing them into food or the environment (the "precautionary principle").

Prisons across the rest of the developed world are committed to rehabilitation and only in America are run for profit; every other developed country carefully regulates the possession of guns; pharmaceuticals are inexpensive at least half, and sometimes a tenth of their cost here in the US in every other developed country in the world.

Republicans and the billionaires who fund them reject all of that.

They want to abandon modern ideas like prohibitions on child labor and the age of consent; worker and workplace protections and unions; free, quality public schools and colleges; civil rights and the power of women to make their own healthcare decisions.

They're dedicated to taking America back to the era before the New Deal and, as Steve Bannon said, "deconstructing the administrative state."

Over the years, the GOP has used a series of plans to reach their goal of a billionaire- and-corporate-owned-and-run America with working people turned into serfs and children in factories instead of school.

In 1971, it was the Powell Memo, written by Virginia tobacco lawyer Lewis Powell and delivered to the US Chamber of Commerce. It called for a rightwing takeover of America's schools and colleges; building out a corporate-friendly media infrastructure; packing the courts with pro-corporate, anti-labor conservatives; and the wholesale purchase of Republican politicians at both the state and federal level.

The following year Richard Nixon put Powell on the Supreme Court and over the next quarter-century he used that position to put many of his own suggestions into law. In addition to decisions gutting the powers of unions and deregulating industry, Powell's major achievement was authoring the 1978 Boston v Bellotti decision that struck down hundreds of state and federal anti-corruption laws, explicitly allowing corporations and their senior officers to bribe politicians for the first time in American history.

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The following is an exclusive interview with Sertan Aycicek, Group President of IKAR Holdings, one of the fastest growing groups in Europe. "Could you give us a short introduction into your group?" IKAR Holdings, is a multi-tiered entrepreneurial group of companies, based in London, which currently operates four vertical holdings. Each of our Holdings are chaired by either a former Prime Minister or top diplomat. We are active across multiple sectors 
Your Tours & Travels, a leading name in the travel industry, is thrilled to introduce a captivating new travel itinerary for an unforgettable journey to the breathtaking land of Sikkim. Known for its pristine landscapes, vibrant culture, and awe-inspiring views of the Himalayas, Sikkim promises an experience that will leave travelers in awe. This meticulously designed itinerary encapsulates the essence of Sikkim, catering to adventurers, nature enthusiasts, and culture aficionados alike. 
When Sophia Wolfe was laid off in June, she promptly filed for unemployment aid while starting her search for a new job. A few weeks later, she got word her application had been approved, so she watched her mail in anticipation of benefits checks.

What she got instead was a $2,700 bill from the Oregon Employment Department, which said it had overpaid the Lake Oswego woman for pandemic-era unemployment assistance and wanted that money back.
Wells Fargo plans to lay off hundreds of employees at a pair of Hillsboro call centers. The layoff comes as some workers have sought to join a union and clashed with the company over an alleged campaign against the labor drive.

The bank disclosed the layoff plans this week in a filing to state regulators and local officials. It said 316 employees would be laid off at facilities at 10500 N.E. Walker Road and 6305 N.E. Bennett St.

Employees learned of the pending layoffs last week.

Meghan Merez, who worked at the Walker Road location, was among the employees organizing the campaign to join the Wells Fargo Workers United union  and among those who learned she would be laid off.

There was really no notice at all, Merez said. I really do think that unionizing the bank would have made it a better place for me and my coworkers.

Merez worked in the remediation department and fielded high-risk customer calls. She said she was among those who handled complaints following the 2016 revelation that Wells Fargo employees opened millions of unauthorized accounts in its customers names.

Wells Fargo paid more than $100 million in fines and remains under an asset cap of $1.95 trillion imposed by the Federal Reserve in 2018 in response to the scandal.

News of the impending layoffs comes amid allegations that the bank illegally restricted unionization efforts by preventing workers from posting pro-union flyers. The National Labor Relations Board in Seattle planned to bring charges in the matter unless a settlement was reached, Bloomberg News reported.

Workers backing the union push have filed two other complaints against Wells Fargo alleging unfair labor practices. The boards website showed that all cases remain open as of Thursday afternoon.

Wells Fargo officials declined to answer questions about the union effort.

We regularly review and adjust staffing levels to align with market conditions and the needs of our businesses, a Wells Fargo spokesperson said in a statement. We work very hard to identify opportunities for employees in other parts of the company so we can retain as many employees as possible.

-- Kayla Nguyen, knguyen@oregonian.com
The campaign to change the border to allow rural Oregonians who feel more in tune with Idaho to exit the Beaver State gets more national TV attention this weekend. CBS Sunday Morning has scheduled a repeat of its special episode, A Nation Divided? which includes a segment on the Oregon/Idaho border controversy.

(No cable or satellite? Stream CBS Sunday Morning on Paramount Plus.)

The episode, which was first broadcast in October, features Lee Cowan reporting from Oregon and Idaho, covering how people in the region feel about the issue. Supporters of the idea of moving Oregons border argue that counties in Eastern and rural Oregon are generally more conservative than the left-leaning Willamette Valley.

But the greater population density of the western part of Oregon, and the power concentrated among Willamette Valley voters and lawmakers, have long left rural Oregonians feeling alienated, and that their voices and concerns arent heard.

Several eastern Oregon counties have voted to approve a measure that would allow parts of Oregon to become Idaho. However, such a move would require the support of Oregon and Idaho legislators, and would need to be approved by the U.S. Congress.

As NBC reported in June, While both sides acknowledge that redrawing the border is a long shot, supporters of Greater Idaho say they are tired of being ignored by liberal legislators in Salem and voters in Multnomah County, the most populous region in Oregon, while opponents say the movement is dangerous, sowing political and cultural clashes in an already divided state.

Ted Koppel anchors A Nation Divided?, which will examine a number of the polarizing elements that make the country feel divided. Other segments in the CBS Sunday Morning special episode include David Pogue reporting on divisions created by social media and the internet; Jim Axelrod looking at the impact of talk radio; John Dickerson reflecting on previous periods in the countrys history when divisions were stark; Ben Tracy reporting from Wyoming on the state wealth gap; and Koppel interviewing TV producer Norman Lear, who discusses his career and how comedy can be a factor in social and political change.

The CBS Sunday Morning episode, A Nation Divided? airs at 7 a.m. on KOIN-6.

More of our coverage:

The Daily Show takes a comic look at Eastern Oregonians who want to be part of Idaho

 Kristi Turnquist

503-221-8227; kturnquist@oregonian.com; @Kristiturnquist

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe
Scientists believe we are currently in the middle of earths sixth mass extinction. Unlike the previous five, this one is human caused. Humans have made unrelenting changes to our planet causing increased global temperatures, extreme weather and wildfires, rising and warming seas, habitat loss and deforestation. These changes have caused a current extinction rate of 100-1000 times higher than the pre-human normal extinction rate. A 2019 United Nations report estimates that dozens of species go extinct every day with as many as 30-50% of all species going extinct by 2050.

There is a tool we already have with a proven track record against extinction. The Endangered Species Act, enacted in 1973, is living proof that when we act, we can save a species that would otherwise be doomed to extinction. When I was growing up in the 1970s, bald eagles existed mainly in my imagination and were in danger of extinction in most of the U.S. Fast forward to today, 45 years after bald eagles were listed as endangered in most states and threatened in a handful of others. I can now see them soaring over the Oregon coast, nesting at Smith Rock and even snatching a squirrel in Beaverton.

The Endangered Species Act saved the bald eagle and countless others, but because of its effectiveness, there is constant pressure to weaken it by powerful interest groups. I want to thank Sen. Jeff Merkley for being a strong supporter of the ESA and for his continued leadership in combatting efforts to undermine it.

Jennifer Wolfsong, Beaverton

To read more letters to the editor, go to oregonlive.com/opinion.
Farahuddin and Farzana Azimi sought safety and hope when they fled Afghanistan two years ago with their five children and made a new home in Oregon.

The couples dream was shattered Friday night when their 12-year-old daughter, Manizha Azimi, was found unresponsive in an outdoor public swimming pool in Northeast Portland.

Manizha was a bright shining star in our lives, known for her sense of humor, sensitivity, leadership, and her exceptional academic achievements, the girls family wrote in a tribute shared by the Afghan Support Network, a nonprofit formed to help Afghan refugees in the Portland region. She aspired to become a doctor and had a strong determination to make a positive impact on the world.

The Azimi family said Manizha left behind a legacy of warmth, kindness and her determination that will be forever cherished by all who knew her. She lived in Portland with her parents, sister and three younger brothers.

Manizha was spotted unresponsive in the water at Montavilla Pool on Northeast Glisan Street and 82nd Avenue, just before the pool closed to the public for the night. Lifeguards performed rescue breathing and CPR before paramedics arrived to take over, according to a 911 call. Paramedics then rushed her to the hospital where she died, according to Portland Parks & Recreation.

Parks director Adena Long said her staff will partner with other city officials to investigate what we can learn from this tragic incident.

Manizhas death marked the citys first fatal swimming accident at a city-run aquatic center in nearly four decades.

Yahya Haqiqi, executive director of the Afghan Support Network, said the Azimi family is requesting privacy while they grieve.

The Azimi family is among hundreds of thousands of people who fled Afghanistan in the past two years after the United States completed its military withdrawal from the country after two decades and the Taliban took over the government.

Any time there is a loss it has a big impact, and it can be hard when youre going through an already traumatic time, Haqiqi said. This loss has been very traumatic for our community, and every time you have a loss it increases the trauma.

A fundraiser for the Azimi familys funeral expenses had raised almost $8,500 by Thursday afternoon.

-- Catalina Gaitan, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalinagaitan_

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe.
Enhancing China and Egypt economic cooperation and investment is very important and has a direct impact on the wellbeing of people and prosperity for both countries, said the Egyptian ambassador to China in Beijing on Aug 31.

Egypt has a set of new policies to encourage investment, and there is a growing Chinese interest in investment in Egypt in different sectors, said Assem Hanafi, Egyptian ambassador to China.

Hossam Heiba, president of the Egyptian General Authority for Investment & Free Zones, echoed Hanafi's opinion and said Egypt and China have been trade and investment partners for such a long time thanks to the very strong political relationship between the two countries.

It has been crowned by the invitation and approval to join BRICS, which will open a completely different horizon of investment, business and trade between Egypt and China.

"We believe that both countries can benefit from the experiences and resources that they both have," said Heiba, adding that energy will be a major sector Egypt will focus on for bilateral cooperation, together with manufacturing, chemicals, electronics and agricultural sectors.

Heiba has been amazed by the high-quality development of China and considers it definitely something Egypt is looking forward to replicating by taking the development China has experienced in the past years to Egypt.

"And we are already doing that in the new capital that you're building; actually a good part of the central business district, the CBD of the new capital, is done by China construction. So China construction is replicating and transferring the knowledge that they have done in your different CBDs of China, implementing the same in the new capital (in Egypt)," Heiba said.

This is something that the Egyptian state is very much welcoming and would love to have more and more in different sectors, he added.

Hanafi spoke highly of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China, stating that it will benefit the world and considered it quite an important initiative linking all these countries together for an optimistic and bright future.

Many Chinese companies have entered the Egyptian market and brought technology and economic benefits to the Egyptian people.

Seeds are considered the "chip" in the agricultural industry and, with seeds in hand, Jinan Xuechao Seed Industry Co Ltd entered markets in many countries along the Belt and Road, including Egypt, and brought huge economic benefits to African countries, said Zhang Xuechao, general manager of the company.

"We appreciate the Chinese technology and the Chinese industries. The economic growth plans that Egypt has for the coming ten years will definitely benefit from Chinese companies in achieving this economic growth," Heiba said.

The total trade volume between China and Egypt in 2022 was $18.19 billion, of which China imported $1.02 billion from Egypt and exported $17.17 billion to Egypt, according to the Ministry of Commerce citing data from Chinese customs.
Editors note: This story first appeared on palabra, the digital news site by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

By Rich Tenorio

Even though Cinthia B. Montas arrived in the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in 2007 speaking no English, she acclimated well to her new country. Montas graduated from high school, and then went to Miami Dade College, where she completed ESOL (English For Speakers of Other Languages) coursework and earned two associates degrees, plus, in 2020, a bachelors in science with a focus on biopharmaceutical studies.

Montas is in a dual degree program and expects to graduate next summer with a bachelors in applied health science with a concentration in physician assistant studies and a masters in health science as part of a program with Nova Southeastern University.

I think community colleges are beneficial to Latinos because they give us a starting point (for a) great education, they allow us to merge into a diverse community giving us a sense of belonging, they offer flexible schedules, and they allow us a closer commute, and also the affordability, Montas, who is 29, told palabra. Classes are smaller, while there are greater opportunities to engage with professors, she said.

Heres another benefit: Community colleges are increasingly starting to offer bachelors degrees, which often has a significant impact on their heavily Latino student population  nearly 27% of community college enrollment comprises Latino students. Miami Dade has been a pioneer in this regard, having inaugurated such programs two decades ago.

Although community colleges were originally planned to offer two-year associates degrees, a growing number are also offering bachelors programs as a lower cost option compared to traditional four-year colleges and universities.

It costs a lot less to get a bachelors degree from a community college compared to the much higher price tag from a private university (and even some of the traditional public four-year universities), which can range into the hundreds of thousands by the time a student finishes their degree.

Many underrepresented students who dont have the means to pay high university costs go to community colleges  which is an absolute equity issue, Carmen Dones, Dean of Academic Affairs at West Los Angeles College, told palabra. Now that community colleges can offer baccalaureate degrees, its a game changer for students.

Like at West LA, tuition at Miami Dade is under $20,000 a year.

Were very focused on affordability, said Miami Dade Executive Vice President and Provost Malou Harrison.

The mantra we stand by is not just affordability, but seeing to that were limiting debt to the greatest degree for our students, whether an associates degree or baccalaureate program, Harrison said in an email that only 3% of all students enrolled in the previous academic year took out federal student loans, receiving an average of $6,400.

There are currently 157 institutions in 24 states with community colleges that offer four-year degrees, and the number is growing, as is the number of Latino students taking advantage of that option.

Of the students attending community colleges that offer associates degrees, 22.4% were Latino as of the fall of 2022, according to the National Student Clearinghouse; among those at community colleges offering bachelors or baccalaureate degrees, its 30.8%. The number of Latinos attending community colleges, whether its a two- or four-year institution, is over 1.2 million nationwide.

States having the largest representation of Latinos, such as California, have a very robust community college system infrastructure, said Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit Excelencia in Education. Florida also has a robust community college system. So does Texas.

Across the country, Latino students are finding educational possibilities through about 600 bachelors programs at community colleges. Programs generally consist of students obtaining an associates degree from a community college, then staying for a more specialized bachelors program.

Additional states are coming on every year, Dones said. Its a huge movement, mostly because students  many students  cant go off to college. Theyre at home taking care of family, the older or younger generation.  Being able to stay home is a benefit for the student.

In a follow-up comment, she reflected, With the majority of students attending community college being students of color and first-generation college students, they tend to have strong family ties, adding that with baccalaureate programs at community colleges, such students can continue to live with or near their family while pursuing an education.

The reality is, community colleges are very hospitable to Latino students, Santiago added. For many Latinos, the conversation is about where they can continue to work, live at home, and go to school.

The City University of New York (CUNY) system has a unique situation. The historic institution was founded in 1847 as the first public institution in the young nation to offer a free education. Today it serves about 243,000 students. CUNY includes seven community colleges where students wishing to further their education beyond an associates degree can transfer to a four-year college within the system, such as Lehman College or the flagship Hunter College. CUNY also offers transfer programs to the Ivy League, namely the hometown Columbia University.

We have worked with a number of CUNY-wide initiatives that our chancellor has promoted, said Daisy Cocco De Filippis, president of Hostos Community College in the Bronx, where more than 50% of the students are Latino. Its really beneficial.

Almost two-thirds of community college students at Hostos  72%  take the transfer path to a baccalaureate program.

Some community colleges have bachelors programs for certain majors and transfer options for others, while others consider that the bachelors degree from a community college would be more feasible than transferring.

We at community colleges believe in all pathways for the baccalaureate degree, said Angela M. Kersenbrock, president of the Community College Baccalaureate Association. Transfer pathways are really, really important. You never want to diminish those. Theyre working great, really great, for a lot of students. However, she added, what you find, though, is theyre not for everybody. Theyre not a pathway for everyone. Take a student in college for the first time, first-generation, who may be older, may be financially strapped, all of the things you would call a high-risk student. For such a student, a community college bachelors could work better, as the transfer process might be arduous  two hoops instead of one, Kersenbrock said  and at the end, the four-year college might not accept all of the applicants community college credits.

The West LA dental hygiene program has been in existence since 1972. More recently, a number of factors, including changing workplace requirements, prompted the school to seek a baccalaureate program in that field. In 2014, West LA applied for membership in a pilot program for California community colleges seeking to offer a baccalaureate or bachelors degree. From an original pool of over 30 colleges, 15 ultimately made the cut  including West LA, which is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) where 53% of the student body identifies as Latino. (Miami Dade and CUNY are HSIs as well.) Some community colleges look at demand for particular jobs, which is exactly what West LA did when it requested to create a dental hygiene program based not only on student input, but employer demand as well. In 2016, West LA admitted its first class to that program among the others the school offers. Since then, over 200 students have graduated from the dental hygiene program.

One recent alumna is Lesly Ramos Rangel. When Ramos Rangel worked in a free dental clinic in Simi Valley, Calif. she saw the need for such services in the local Latino community.

A big portion of patients we cared for were Hispanic-based, she said. Once I was able to start treating people at that clinic, in particular, I started to realize what I was meant to do.

Ramos Rangels knowledge of Spanish helped break through the language barrier that Spanish-speaking patients can face in accessing dental care, increasing her interest in the field as a career path.

Ramos Rangel described her class at West LA as very diverse. There were a lot of Hispanic women, not necessarily just [from] Mexico, but people coming from other parts  Nicaragua, El Salvador. Being around people of different areas allowed me to also learn from their culture.

According to a recent report from California on the states community college baccalaureate programs, between 26% and 30% of enrollees in these programs are Latino. Thats similar to the 24.8% of enrollees in such programs in Florida, and much more than the 9.8% reported for Washington state.

I think the community college baccalaureate is a really viable strategy  one strategy in a constellation, but a viable strategy  to improve baccalaureate attainment rates for those who have been historically excluded, Kersenbrock told palabra.

In August, Joemichael Alvarez will graduate from Miami Dade with a bachelors in data analytics. He comes from a Cuban family and grew up in Miami. After getting an associates in computer information systems from Miami Dade, he decided to get a bachelors in a separate computer-related field. Among the opportunities its helped him achieve is an internship with the aerospace company Boeing.

Asked about his options had such a program not existed, Alvarez said, Honestly, it would kind of be limited. He mentioned computer science programs, but added that they are more focused on theory, not on practice, not anywhere near the same amount of skills Ive attained going into the job market coming out of the program I am in now.

When it comes to its bachelors programs overall, students continue to have great interest, said Harrison, executive vice president and provost at Miami Dade, where 75% is Latino. Some of our bachelors programs are more sought after than others. She added that in general, these programs have a very close association to business and industry.

One unique option for students at Miami Dade is to take ESOL classes that also serve as credits for other fields of study, including logistics and nursing.

These immigrants and new Americans learn English and get a credential at the same time, Harrison said, adding, They go to work more immediately than if they had simply taken an English-language course. A bachelors degree is tremendously important.

In general, The earning power of a bachelors degree way outstrips one year [of college], two years, high school, said Kersenbrock. The workforce is evolving. [Baccalaureate] programs ready people to enter the workforce.  Were not educating people to stay in poverty. In 2023, to do this (enter the workforce), you need a bachelors degree.

I think theres a lot of untapped potential, added Santiago. Look at the institutions where Latinos goThere are community colleges offering baccalaureate degrees in response to student needs, or there are institutions that want to offer baccalaureate degrees in order to get more resources, contribute to a students education, move up in the field of higher ed. I would say most community colleges are interested in helping students continue their education, get a degree.



Rich Tenorio is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in international, national, regional, and local media outlets. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a cartoonist.

Zaydee Sanchez is a Mexican American visual storyteller, documentary photographer, and writer from Tulare, California, in the San Joaquin Valley. She seeks to highlight underreported communities and overlooked narratives, with a focus on labor, gender, and displacement. Zaydee is an International Womens Media Foundation grantee and a 2021 USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism Fellow. Her work has been published in Al Jazeera, National Geographic, NPR, among others. She lives in Los Angeles.

Patricia Guadalupe, raised in Puerto Rico, is a bilingual multimedia journalist based in Washington, D.C. She has been covering the capital for both English and Spanish-language media outlets since the mid- 1990s. She previously worked as a reporter in New York City. Shes been an editor at Hispanic Link News Service (where she still writes political news), a reporter at WTOP Radio (CBS Washington affiliate), a contributing reporter for CBS Radio network, and has written for NBC News.com and Latino Magazine, among others. She is a graduate of Michigan State University and has a Masters degree from the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. She specializes in business news, politics and cultural issues, and also freelances.
New York, US (PAMA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has underlined support for South Africa in the wake of the deadly fire in Johannesburg on Thursday which killed at least 74 people, including 12 children
Paris, France (PANA) - Some of the worlds most iconic natural and cultural sites are also a haven for thousands of endangered species, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said on Thursday
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Thursday that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS mechanisms contribute to countering the global hegemonic system and unilateralism.

He made the remarks at a meeting with a number of Sunni clerics and scholars in the Iranian capital of Tehran, according to a statement published on the website of the president's office.

Raisi said at present, with the decline of hegemonic powers, especially the United States, the world's conditions are changing.

He added that the SCO and BRICS alike are "movements to counter the hegemonic system's domination-seeking measures and unilateralism."

On August 24, Iran, along with Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, was officially invited to join BRICS, a group of emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

In early July, Iran became a full member of the SCO at the organization's 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State.
Ruby Franke, the motherly figure behind the once-popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers, was arrested this week along with her business associate, Jodi Hildebrandt.

Both were taken into custody on charges of child abuse, casting a dark shadow over their respective online personas.

A famous parenting YouTuber has been arrested for child abuse.



She allegedly used rope&duct tape to tie up 2 of her daughters (10&12yrs), starved & abused them, leaving them emaciated. The older one escaped through a window & went to a neighbor for help.



Meet Ruby Franke. pic.twitter.com/gSztSHeq7j  dara faye (@darafaye) August 31, 2023

A Harrowing Discovery Initiates Arrests

Based on a press release from the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, as reported by Insider, the chain of events that led to the arrest of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt began when a young individual managed to escape from a home in Ivins, Utah.

The residence where the child was found belonged to Jodi Hildebrandt, Ruby Franke's business associate.

The child sought refuge at a neighboring home, requesting hydration and asked for help. Upon noticing duct tape binding the child's wrists and ankles, the concerned neighbors promptly alerted law enforcement.

The juvenile was subsequently hospitalized and received medical attention for grave injuries and signs of starvation, as per the official statement.

Following this incident, another underfed juvenile was discovered in the same dwelling, exhibiting a state of physical neglect similar to that of the first child.

Authorities took this second minor to the hospital for essential medical care.

In their official communication, the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department stated that a search of the residence yielded material evidence corroborating the children's inflicted injuries.

Consequently, four minors were transferred into the custody of the Department of Child and Family Services.

Controversy Surrounding 8 Passengers and ConneXions

Ruby Franke used to be a recognizable figure on the 8 Passengers YouTube channel, chronicling the daily activities of herself, her spouse Kevin Franke, and their six kids: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve. However, the family has been on a declining trajectory for the last three years.

Prior to being arrested, Ruby Franke enjoyed considerable fame through her YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, which had accumulated almost 2.3 million subscribers before its sudden removal from YouTube.

Jodi Hildebrandt, her business partner, operated ConneXions, a life counseling service that had faced its share of criticism for controversial parenting advice.

The service openly advocated for its "principles of truth," even if it meant overlooking the needs of one's children.

This isn't the first instance of public scrutiny for Ruby Franke or the 8 Passengers channel. In 2020, Franke faced backlash from YouTube viewers who reported her to child protective services after one of her children disclosed he had been sleeping on a beanbag for months.

Read Also: President Biden Acknowledges UNC Student Newspaper's Portrayal of Horrific Gun Violence in Recent School Shooting

Family and Legal Ramifications

Shari Franke, the eldest daughter, expressed her sentiments through her Instagram account, captioning a photo of law enforcement officers with the word "Finally."

In a subsequent Instagram Story update, Shari Franke stated, It's been a monumental day. My family and I are relieved that justice is finally taking its course.

She revealed that they have been attempting to alert law enforcement and Child Protective Services about this situation for years, and we're thankful they've at last taken action.

She went on to add that the children are now secure, although a challenging journey lies ahead. Kindly keep them in your thoughts and honor their need for privacy.

She has previously disclosed that she is not in contact with her immediate family but voiced relief that legal action is now in motion.

In the legal landscape of Utah, child abuse is a grave offense, subject to severe punishments.

The arrest of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt signifies the gravity of the situation, especially since four minors have been placed under the protection of the Department of Child and Family Services.

Both 8 Passengers and ConneXions are now under intense public and legal scrutiny.

As the investigation into Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt's alleged child abuse unfolds, their once-celebrated platforms on YouTube and ConneXions are thrown into an uncertain future. The arrest of these two figures serves as a somber reminder of the power and responsibility that come with public life, particularly when the welfare of minors is at stake.

Related Article: Ohio Supreme Court to Decide Fate of 'Unborn Child' Term in Abortion Referendum
Photo: (Photo : VICTORIA RAZO / Getty Images)

In a historic decision that reverberates across Mexico, the country's Supreme Court has taken a monumental step by decriminalizing abortion in the state of Aguascalientes.

This momentous ruling, delivered by the highest judicial body in the land, underscores the evolving landscape of reproductive rights in Mexico and sets a precedent that resonates far beyond Aguascalientes' borders.

The court's unanimous decision sends a powerful message about the importance of upholding women's rights and ensuring access to comprehensive healthcare services.

The path to this significant outcome was paved by previous legal proceedings, including the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in 2021 that declared the penalization of abortion unconstitutional.

Despite this landmark decision, numerous states within Mexico have lagged behind in adjusting their local laws to align with the court's stance.

The recent ruling in Aguascalientes serves as a testament to the tireless efforts of advocates who have been working diligently to rectify this discrepancy.

A Historic Triumph for Reproductive Rights

The Supreme Court's judgment on the decriminalization of abortion in Aguascalientes aligns closely with its previous assertions regarding the constitutionality of punitive measures against abortion.

The court expressed that the prior legislation not only criminalized healthcare professionals but also infringed upon the fundamental rights of women and individuals capable of bearing children.

By rendering these penalties unconstitutional, the Supreme Court is reinforcing the constitutional right of women to choose and safeguarding their access to healthcare, equality, and non-discrimination.

A Pioneering Step Towards Equality

The recent ruling is a testament to the progress made within Mexico's legal system. Advocacy groups, including the renowned GIRE, have been at the forefront of pushing for reform in abortion-related laws.

In early 2022, GIRE and several other rights organizations filed a lawsuit, laying the foundation for a nationwide strategy aimed at eradicating the criminalization of abortion in Mexico.

This collaborative effort, driven by a commitment to justice and equality, culminated in the landmark decision witnessed in Aguascalientes.

While the ruling was met with widespread support from women's rights groups and advocates, there are voices of dissent within the nation.

Religious group ConParticipacion voiced its disappointment, labeling the court's decision as "unfortunate" and contending that it perpetuates "pre-natal violence and discrimination."

This stark contrast in viewpoints highlights the ongoing cultural discourse surrounding reproductive rights and the intricate interplay between legal, ethical, and societal considerations.

Read Also: France Bans Abayas in Schools Stirring Debate on Muslim Identity, Laicite

The Green Wave Movement: Catalyst for Change

The ruling resonates deeply with the Green Wave movement, a potent force advocating for reproductive rights throughout Latin America.

The movement, characterized by its symbol of the green heart, signifies a collective demand for autonomy over one's body and reproductive choices.

With its roots stretching back to the early 2000s, the Green Wave movement has grown stronger, driven by impactful cases that underscore the urgency of reform, such as the tragic story of an 11-year-old girl in Argentina who was denied an abortion after being raped.

As Mexico's Supreme Court paves the way for change in Aguascalientes, the broader landscape of reproductive rights across Mexico continues to evolve.

The ruling acts as a catalyst for ongoing discussions about abortion, women's rights, and healthcare access.

As the 12th state to decriminalize abortion, Aguascalientes serves as a beacon of progress within the nation's journey towards comprehensive reproductive rights for all.

As Mexico continues to navigate these complex issues, the role of the Supreme Court remains pivotal in shaping the trajectory of women's rights and reproductive autonomy.

Related Article: Ohio Supreme Court to Decide Fate of 'Unborn Child' Term in Abortion Referendum
Photo: (Photo : Rainier Ridao on Unsplash)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent serious warning letters to three pivotal companies in the baby formula industry: Reckitt/Mead Johnson, Perrigo, and ByHeart. This move reveals a heightened state of vigilance over quality control issues that could potentially endanger infant lives. The decision to issue these letters comes in the aftermath of last year's crisis, when major recalls of baby formula at Abbott left a gaping hole in the market.

The FDA's investigation into these companies' facilities disclosed a range of quality control deficiencies, most notably involving the bacteria Cronobacter sakazakii. This bacterium is fairly ubiquitous in the environment but poses a significant health risk to infants.

The Abbott recalls last year were a result of four babies contracting infections from Cronobacter, which led to the tragic loss of two young lives. These new FDA warning letters indicate that even though Abbott was primarily in the spotlight, it wasn't the only company grappling with contamination issues.

Public and Political Pressure: Congressional Hearings and Market Repercussions

The Abbott crisis had widespread ramifications, from congressional hearings to significant market upheaval. Lawmakers pressed both Abbott and the FDA on why more preemptive action had not been taken. In this volatile landscape, these new warning letters represent a pivotal move by the FDA to put baby formula companies on notice of heightened oversight and regulation.

All three companies have 15 days to respond to the FDA's warnings, and they've already begun their public relations efforts to control the narrative. While Reckitt/Mead Johnson, Perrigo, and ByHeart have all made statements emphasizing their commitment to the highest levels of safety and quality, the FDA's reports reveal "significant violations. These include inadequate processes for investigating the source of contamination and ineffective procedures to prevent future incidents.

Perrigo, in its response, underscored the rigorous safety procedures it employs and clarified that the warning is only related to a facility in Wisconsin it acquired last year. Reckitt/Mead Johnson was also quick to assert that their safety protocols are intact and that the FDA's recent concerns are not new but stem from previous inspections.

ByHeart, while a newer player in this field, joined the chorus in commending the FDA's enhanced oversight and assuring consumers that none of its products have been found to contain contaminants. The company stressed that its manufacturing operations would continue without any disruption.

Read Also: FDA Head Delivers Good News to Parents, Says Baby Formula Shortage Should Ease Within Days

FDA Presses for Further Action on Baby Formula Safety

Despite the companies having taken some corrective measures in the past, the FDA is not satisfied and insists that more needs to be done to fully assure the safety of baby formula products. The warning letters detail several instances where finished formula batches tested positive for Cronobacter, yet the companies failed to sufficiently investigate or prevent future contamination.

While the FDA has advised that previous recalls were effective and parents need not discard or avoid purchasing baby formula for now, these new warning letters add another layer of urgency to an already concerning situation. They shine a spotlight on the need for rigorous, ongoing quality control in an industry whose products are critical for the nutrition and well-being of infants.

This episode marks a watershed moment for an industry already under intense scrutiny. It serves as a stark reminder that urgent action is required from baby formula manufacturers to meet the highest quality control standards. The stakes couldn't be higher, as the health of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens hangs in the balance.

Related Article: Abbott Laboratories Baby Formula Under Criminal Investigation Due to Illness Reports Leading to 4 Infant Deaths
Traditionalists Have a Valid Point About Bad Appointments and the Disastrous Appeasement of Theological Liberals in the Church

[originally posted 7-18-22 on Facebook]

[dedicated to those who are under the illusion that I never criticize any pope for anything]

*****

. (his words will be in blue ). This occurred on another Facebook page, with my friend and self-described traditionalist David Palm

*

Dave, with all due respect I think youre on the wrong side of this discussion. The episcopal appointments of the last few papacies have been, let us charitably say, at best mixed with a strong edge toward bad. They have been skewed by an entrenched Vatican selection apparatus from which not even the last few popes have been able to break free themselves.

*

This is a prudential matter, not without precedent in history. Pope Francis has erred even more than his immediate predecessors on the wrong side of this mix. Its an empirical matter at this point (see the blatant examples cited below, but feel free to cite the concrete counter-examples that in your view would make up for his bad appointments in major sees throughout the world and to the cardinalate.)

*

The fact that you wont even admit that JPII and Benedict made some bad and some disastrous appointments and that Francis has done worse to me is evidence of a lack of a proper feedback loop  something you and I have discussed before.

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But time and truth will out.

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To the contrary, I was gonna say that the previous two popes were also roundly criticized for their appointments, too, as a rhetorical and analogical point. But they werent made the pariah and ugly straw man that Pope Francis has been made into, with a disgraceful wholesale Americanist-type and in my mind, Protestant-mentality, quasi-schismatic ecclesiological rebellion, especially in America.

*

So I think this point of yours is actually a point in favor of my argument of the grossly unfair and wrongheaded treatment of the Holy Father. It merely repeats, in this specific sense, the treatment of the previous two popes. If Francis is bad in this sense, so were Pope Benedict XVI and Pope St. John Paul II.

*

You yourself, along with many other traditionalists, attacked Pope St. John Paul II as virtually a ranting loose cannon in his last days. And there was the famous Koran incident and alleged heterodox, indifferentist mischief at the Assisi conference . It wasnt that long ago. I remember those days well, because I defended the previous two popes, just as I defended this one from unjust attacks.

*

I would, however, largely agree with the criticisms of many appointments: of this pope and the two previous. I dont follow those things (being too busy defending Holy Mother Church), but Ill take your word for it, that they have been questionable. Its a mystery to me.

*

In my own opinion, only rock-solid, faithful, 100% orthodox men should be appointed. I have no love lost for the theologically liberal / dissident / heterodox / so-called progressive viewpoint whatsoever. I absolutely despise these views: always have and always will. In many ways I am just as traditional as you are. No one has ever proven otherwise.

*

Now its fashionable  in the rush to prove that Pope Francis is the worst in history , to pit him against the previous two popes. It wont work: at least not for those of us who remember that recent history.

*

Are you able to admit that many of the episcopal appointments of JPII and BXVI were actually bad? If not, then we cant really proceed on a common footing.

*

If you, like the rest of us, find yourself saying Why dont the bishops do something about [fill in the blank], but you dont like the rest of us acknowledge that the majority of the episcopacy has been appointed by the last three popes, then I would suggest that your feedback loop is broken.

*

Yes. I conceded a few years ago now that the traditionalist point about soft treatment of liberals was valid. Ive always been against that, but I knew from Fr. Hardon that the reason it was done was fear of schism. A while back I came to the position that this was not a good enough reason anymore and must be seen to be a tragic error. The Church must be much more firm and strict with the errors of liberals and dissidents.

*

So on this point I quite resonate with your view, I think. I was merely pointing out that this criticism also extends to JPII and Benedict. yet they are not considered raving liberals like Francis is (except among the most rabid reactionaries like Marshall, Voris, Coffin, Kwasniewski, et al).

*

I dont think any of these three popes are / were raving liberals and subversives. But bad appointments? To the extent that liberals were promoted, I am in full agreement in passionate protest against that, per the above reasoning. And Ive always held that viewpoint.

*

***

*

*

Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. Im always in need of more funds: especially monthly support. The laborer is worthy of his wages (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a full-time Catholic apologist , and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog.
If you are connected with me on social media you are probably aware of my book The A to Z of the New Testament which will be in bookshops from October but pre-orders of which will probably ship this month. My advance author copy arrived yesterday (see the photo at the end of this post). The book is designed to be fun, to offer an enjoyable way of learning what scholars know about the New Testament. Remember when learning was fun? If it hasnt been in a while, please give me the chance to convince you that it still can be even for adult learners! The promotional videos below give a taste of the feel of the book, using popular culture references to illustrate points or simply to make it more fun to do serious learning without it feeling difficult.

The book is currently on sale at Christianbook.com for only $15.99. They were formerly Christian Book Distributors. My guess is they changed their name because CBD is also an abbreviation for something else. Does anyone know for sure?

Let me make sure you dont miss my video explaining why Jean-Claude van Damme is in the book!

The second video I made about the book does something similar but with Star Wars and textual criticism (which is just a fancy term for comparing manuscripts of an ancient work when we no longer have the original, in order to deduce what the original form was like). If you never imagined that the cantina scene with Han and Greedo and the story of the woman accused of adultery could have anything in common, watch this video!

The third video I made about the book has a Friends theme:

These videos are also on TikTok and Facebook.

When you get a copy of the book and read it, I will be grateful if you would take the time to review or at least rate it online. That makes a huge difference to how places like Amazon decide what books to draw to the attention of others. Even just giving it however many stars you think it deserves is enough if you dont have time to say a few words. Thank you in advance!

Since I dont go on Goodreads regularly, I only just discovered how many great reviews there are there of some of my previous books!

Pearl Loewen wrote about What Jesus Learned from Women, What a delightful, enjoyable book! Its got to be one of my favourite reads in a while of any genre. Although my reading of Scripture isnt ultra-conservative, seeing how a historian interprets the Gospels and traditions was so valuable. Add to that the highly imaginative, at times speculative approach left me wondering if I dont need to go back to the Gospels and re-read them with different lenses. The narrative historical stories introducing each chapter and woman were also valuable in taking the reader back in time, and envisioning how the women may have told their own stories.

I dont give many books five stars, but this one deserved it. McGrath is right: there ought to be more men writing about women. I look forward to his next book on John the Baptists impact on Jesus.

Andy Hickman says that my Theology and Science Fiction is a book he has long wanted to write himself, and offers some of his favorite quotes. The book is still only $2.99 for Kindle!

Matthew Clanahan took the time to rank individual chapters in Religion and Science Fiction.

Also, dont miss Avrils story about her experience with Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith, which the publisher has at 60% off at the moment to celebrate Doctor Whos 60th anniversary. Use the coupon code TARDIF to get the discount.

When you read The A to Z of the New Testament, please share your thoughts about it on sites like Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you!

Finally, here is a photo of me taken in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies office suite at Butler University, literally minutes after the book reached me and I first held it in my hands. Im so grateful to work at a place where there is such enthusiastic support for my work not only in research but in teaching, whether the audience is our undergraduate students, the internet via my blog, or a general readership through books like this latest one of mine.
Spanning 482 kilometers, the Guiyang-Nanning High-Speed Railway started operation on Thursday morning, marking the launch of full-scale high-speed rail services in south China's Karst regions.

The railway is expected to have a positive impact on the local tourism industry and expedite the sluggish rural economy along the route.

Ecological protection was the top priority during the construction of the project because the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau slope the rail routes cross contains many rolling hills, rivers, and several scenic spots.

NANNING/GUIYANG, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Fuxing bullet train on Thursday morning departed from Nanning, the capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, marking the launch of full-scale high-speed rail services in south China's Karst regions.

Spanning 482 kilometers, the new railway connects Nanning with Guiyang, the capital of the southwestern province of Guizhou, according to China Railway Nanning Group Co., Ltd.

The Guiyang-Nanning High-Speed Railway was designed to facilitate a top speed of 350 kilometers per hour, and it is the first railway of its kind to be built in either Guizhou or Guangxi, both of which are known for their Karst landscapes.

This photo taken on Aug. 31, 2023, shows a bullet train running on the Guiyang-Nanning high-speed railway in Duyun City, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

The time it takes to travel from Guiyang to Nanning has now been reduced from over five hours to approximately three hours, greatly benefiting residents in mountainous areas and contributing to economic growth along the route.

The new railway has 13 stations, with the Guizhou section housing six of these stations and the Guangxi section housing seven stations.

GOLDEN CHANCE FOR MOUNTAINOUS AREAS

Running across two of the regions previously listed as experiencing extreme poverty due to stony desertification, the new line was designed to pass through over 30 ethnic enclaves in the mountainous areas of southwest China.

The railway is expected to have a positive impact on the local tourism industry and expedite the sluggish rural economy along the route, said He Qiaoliang, a senior engineer of China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co., Ltd.

This aerial photo taken on Aug. 23, 2023, shows a bullet train on confirming operation just exiting a 17-kilometer tunnel of the Guiyang-Nanning high-speed railway in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)

Wu Mengyao in Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, Guangxi, said the new high-speed railway will be a boon for her hometown by bringing in more foot traffic.

"I'm also confident that our products, with their unique ethnic appeal, will resonate with our customers," said Wu, who runs a workshop producing cultural and creative products inspired by local intangible cultural heritage, including ethnic wear making, bamboo weaving, and clay sculpting.

Notable for its spectacular karst formations, Libo County, situated on the steep mountainside of Guizhou, has spectacular views in abundance, but it was also mired in poverty for a long time due to its geographical isolation.

A tourist takes photos at a scenic spot of Yaoshan Township in Libo County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, July 3, 2023. (Photo by Xiao Wei/Xinhua)

After the opening of the Guiyang-Libo section of the Guiyang-Nanning High-Speed Railway on August 8, the journey time between Guiyang and Libo was cut to less than an hour.

Ye Lin, the county Party secretary, said the railway will make Libo a huge draw for tourists throughout the year. The total number of visits to Libo in 2023 is predicted to surpass 25 million, according to a local tourism official.

This aerial photo taken on Aug. 15, 2023, shows tourists visiting the Xiaoqikong scenic spot in Libo County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Yang Ying)

BALANCING ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION AND TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

The construction of this railway was not an easy ride for those involved, as the building process had been dogged by many engineering challenges due to complex and often unfavorable geological conditions. It was estimated that over 90 percent of it would have to pass through tunnels or cross bridges.

Long Zongming, one of the chief designers of the Guizhou-Nanning High-speed Railway, told Xinhua that the difficulty lies in how to minimize the ecological impact while ensuring the stability and quality of the construction.

This aerial photo taken on Aug. 31, 2023, shows a bullet train running on the Guiyang-Nanning high-speed railway in Duyun City, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Long said that ecological protection was the top priority of the project because the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau slope the rail routes cross contains many rolling hills, rivers, and several scenic spots.

According to Long, the rail route took a 10-kilometer detour in the stretch from Guiding County Station to Duyun East Station, increasing the investment by about 1.4 billion yuan (about 192.18 million U.S. dollars), to protect the scenic spot located in between.

This aerial photo taken on Aug. 31, 2021, shows a view of the Chengjiang National Wetland Park in Du'an Yao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Lu Boan)

The 15.5-km-long Chengjiang Bridge in the Du'an Yao Autonomous County of Guangxi is the longest bridge along the railway, and 2.56 kilometers of this bridge pass through the Chengjiang National Wetland Park.

Su Li, a senior engineer at China Railway Beijing Engineering Group Co., Ltd., said that only 46 piers were set up in the park area, 34 fewer than the conventional scheme, to protect the wetland.

In addition, barriers 4 meters high and 3.69 kilometers long were set up along the rail routes to block the sound and light of high-speed trains to protect birds. Construction waste and waste water were also recycled after treatment to avoid polluting rivers and groundwater.

Editor: ZAD
Weve seen Asus and Logitech take a swing, now Lenovo wants a turn at bat to take on the Steam Deck. The Lenovo Legion Go is another portable, AMD-powered, Windows-running game machine, but with some premium parts and a few tricks up its sleeve. In addition to removable left- and right-hand controllers, a la the Nintendo Switch, the design also shifts into a sort of gaming mouse setup. Lenovo will be selling an add-on set of VR-style glasses that give the gadget an immersive wearable display.

At the heart of the Legion Go is up to an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU, the same chip powering the Asus ROG Ally. Its packed with 16GB of DDR5 memory and 256GB of M.2 Gen 4 storage (upgradable to 1TB). Thats powering a relatively huge 8.8-inch 25601600 IPS screen with 144Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness  a big upgrade over both the Steam Decks 7-inch 800p, 60Hz panel and the Allys 1080p 120Hz panel at the same size.

Update: You can see our initial hands-on impressions of the Lenovo Legion Go in the video below.

But the pure numbers arent the Legion Gos true appeal. Those snap-off controllers didnt come to playwell, they did come to play, theyre for playing gamesum, theyre a big deal. In addition to the standard triggers and shoulder buttons, the left side features two extra rear programmable buttons (typically hit with the middle and ring finger). The right side has a touchpad, four extra buttons default bound to a typical mouse layout, plus a mouse wheel. Lenovo says this FPS mode is for shooters, with an optical sensor on the bottom enabled when the controllers are removed and the gadgets rear kickstand is extended. A little round stand you can slot the right controller into turns it into a sort of modified vertical mouse.

The Legion Gos right controller has a mouse sensor on the bottom, and can slot into a stand to become a vertical gaming mouse. Lenovo

Other hardware goodies include a 49.2 watt-hour battery with Super Rapid Charge that can pump it up to 70 percent in half an hour, plus a battery bypass mode that powers the unit directly from an outlet to preserve the batterys longevity and avoid unnecessary heat. At max power the system can run at 25 watts of TGP. Double USB-C ports allow for charging and plugging in accessories at the same time, with DisplayPort 1.4 handling external video duties (which should be able to output 4K TVs at high refresh rates, no problem).

Legion

Thats a lot of extras compared to the original Steam Deck design. But perhaps the biggest and flashiest add-on is the sold-separately Legion Glasses. This wearable monitor headset plugs in via USB-C to deliver a 1080p OLED video signal to each eye at 60Hz. While not as impressive or as technologically advanced as a full VR headset, it should offer similar levels of immersion to something like TCLs Nextwear or RayNeo XR, minus the augmented reality. And thanks to the USB-C video standard, itll work with other devices too, including laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Legion

The Legion Go is coming in October, starting at $699 for the base configuration, the same price as the ROG Ally but well above the $400 floor of the Steam Deck. Pricing for upgrades (because 256GB is barely enough to run Baldurs Gate III) wasnt shared, but you should be able to provide your own SSD if you want an inexpensive storage boost. Itll come with a free 30-day Xbox Game Pass code. The Legion Glasses will be a hefty $329 on top of it  most of the cost of a Meta Quest 2 headset, for context  but again, theyll work with other gadgets that can output video via USB-C.
In a bid to revolutionize the agricultural sector and tap into its immense potential, experts at the 2nd agritech symposium and exhibition held under the 9th quarterly INDAC-TED have emphasized the need to harness the power of agritech to fully transform the sector.



With a focus on the theme: Application of Agritech to improve food production, experts from the agricultural and technology sectors gathered to delve into the future of agriculture and explore the potential of agritech as a key driver for increased food production.



With a growing global population and limited arable land, they argued that there is an urgent need for innovative solutions to boost food production has become more pressing than ever. They stressed that agritech, the application of technology in agriculture, holds immense promise in meeting this challenge.



Presentations



During a presentation on the countrys agricultural sector, Vice Chancellor, Ho Technical University, Professor Ben Honyenuga, bemoaned the state at which Ghana is dependent on other countries for most of its agricultural produce. He said this poses significant threat to the nations food security agenda.



The last time I watched the news, traders from the onion market were lamenting on the lack of onions to sell and that is because there is turbulence in Niger where they import these onions. We have the human resource because each year we produce many agricultural scientists. We have fertile lands and that is why we have to leverage the right technology to improve our agriculture and not depend on other countries, he said.



Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Ho Municipal Assembly, Divine Richard Komla Bosson in his remarks reiterated the need for the youth to be involved in the agricultural sector. He added that leveraging technology will not only help make a positive impact on the environment but also tap into a market with significant financial potential.



Agritech solutions approach utilize data analytics, sensors, and artificial intelligence to optimize agricultural practices and with the required skills as youth entrepreneurs, we can make informed decisions regarding irrigation, fertilization, and pest management. This not only maximizes yields but also minimizes the use of resources, reducing costs and environmental impact, he stated.



On his part, Executive Director for the Institute of ICT Professional Ghana (IIPGH), David Gowu pointed out that the symposium forms part of the Institutes vision of building a robust technology-inclined world.



Our vision is to become the most reliable partner in transforming Ghana into a technology-driven society. And we seek to partner all organizations in achieving these objectives, Mr. Gowu noted.



He explained that the IIPGH in collaboration with AFOS Foundation and digiCAP, has been at the forefront of promoting dialogue and collaboration between industry and academia.



Project Manager for DigiCAP.gh, Hanna Schlingmann, expressed her excitement about the forum stating that the learnings will ensure that the event is not just another talk shop but one practical solutions will be unearthered.

I feel that todays topic is particularly important, why because it effects all of us and I am glad that we have come together to think about and discuss, and share our knowledge on how food production can be improved, she said.



The partnership between IIPGH and AFOS Foundation is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) within the framework of the Special Initiative Decent Work for a Just Transition via sequa gGmbH



Harnessing data and blockchain technology



Delivering the keynote remarks, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Chamber of Agribusiness, Anthony Morrison highlighted the importance of data in making informed decisions in modern farming practices.



He stressed that leveraging data analytics and advanced technologies could optimize crop management, resource allocation, and supply chain logistics. Data is the backbone of the agricultural revolution we're witnessing today. It allows us to gain valuable insights and real-time information to improve yields, mitigate risks, and optimize resource utilization. By harnessing the power of data, farmers and agribusinesses can make smarter, data-driven choices to enhance productivity and reduce waste, he added.



Panel discussion



In a thought-provoking panel discussion, Co-Founder & Business Strategy Lead for Byte Africa, Jerry Kwaku Afenyo Denou emphasized the integration of robotics and automation as a game-changer. He said: With the help of robotic systems, tasks such as planting, harvesting, and monitoring crops can be performed efficiently, reducing the need for manual labor and increasing overall productivity."



Head of Department of Agricultural Sciences and Technology at the Ho Technical University, Professor Ken Fafa Egbadzor shed light on precision agriculture.



He said with advance knowledge, farmers could employ this method to as it an approach that utilizes data analytics, remote sensing, and other advanced technologies to enable farmers to make informed decisions about crop management. Now technology has made it easier to monitoring soil conditions, weather patterns, and crop health in real-time, farmers can optimize irrigation, fertilization, and pest control, resulting in higher yields and reduced environmental impact, he said.



The panelists highlighted the potential for further advancements in this field, with the development of autonomous vehicles and drones that can monitor and manage large-scale farming operations. At the end of the panel discussion, the forum was open for students and participants to contribute by participating in the question-and-answer session.



Exhibition



The symposium also featured an exhibition that presented participants within the agricultural value chain the opportunity to showcase their array oof products and services. It also provided a network session for participant and experts within these value chain.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The High Court in Accra has dismissed the Office of Special Prosecutors application seeking to continue freezing the bank accounts and assets of former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources. Cecilia Abena Dapaah.



In a ruling today (Aug 31, 2023), the court presided over by Justice Edward Twum, held that the Office of the Special Prosecutor breached the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 Act 959 when he filed the application out of time.



Aside from that, it was the considered view of the court that the OSP was in doubt of the true ownership of the alleged tainted property found in Cecilia Dapaahs house and hence failed to convince the court that the alleged tainted properties were used in connection with a crime.



If he (OSP) is unsure as to ownership, how did he reach the conclusion that the property is tainted? the presiding judge queried.



Ownership and possession are not the same, Justice Twum added saying the application was premature as the OSP failed to establish the reasonableness of the suspicion.



It added that there was no justifiable basis for the OSP to exercise the power of seizure under Act 959.



The court has, therefore, ordered the OSP to return the confiscated assets to the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources within seven days from today (Aug 31).



The application is based on public sentiments and not based on any justifiable legal basis, Justice Twum said.







Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has filed 39 counts of fresh criminal charges at the High Court against embattled Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold Ghana Company Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah, popularly known as NAM 1.



This comes after more than 36 appearances without a trial over three years, 11 months by the accused person at the Circuit Court pending the Attorney-Generals advice.



In the new charge sheet filed at the High Court in Accra yesterday, NAM 1, together with Menzgold Ghana Company Limited (MGCL) and Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited, has been charged with a string of charges, including selling gold without licence, operating deposit-taking institution without a licence, inducement to invest and defrauding by false pretence, fraudulent breach of trust and money laundering.



According to the facts before the court, the accused persons, under false pretences, took in excess of GH1.68 billion from their customers and had since not recovered the money.



NAM 1 is expected to make his first appearance in court on September 19, this year.



Brief facts

Per the brief facts before the court, Menzgold Ghana Company Limited was first registered as Menzbank Ghana Company Limited in 2013 whereas Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited was registered in December 2016.



The two are sister companies owned by NAM 1  a director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold Ghana Company Limited and Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited.



He is also the majority shareholder of both companies.



According to the prosecution, NAM 1 operated Menzgold Ghana Company Limited as a deposit-taking business under the guise of gold trading, without the requisite licence.



On March 11, 2015, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) issued a public notice to the effect that Menzbank was an unlicensed deposit-taking institution.



It added that Nam 1, in a bid to circumvent the notice of BoG, changed the company's name from Menzbank to Menzbanc.



In 2017, the prosecution said NAM 1 further changed the company's name from Menzbanc to Menzgold Ghana Company Limited.



According to the A-G, the business module of Mensah was that Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited sold gold, gold collectibles and gold ore to the public for the purpose of investing same in Menzgold, when Brew Marketing Consult did not have a licence to sell gold.



Licence

On August 22, 2016, the Minerals Commission, the prosecution statement said, granted Menzgold a three-year licence to purchase and export gold.



The terms of the licence stipulated that Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited was to purchase gold from small-scale miners for export only.



Menzgold Company Ltd and Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited breached its restricted gold purchase and exportation licence by selling gold to persons in Ghana, the prosecution said.



In 2016, NAM 1 and Menzgold Company established what they called gold vault market which provided the public with a platform to trade in gold and gold collectibles, the A-G added.



Deposits

Additionally, the A-G said NAM 1 and Menzgold Company, in an attempt to circumvent the requirements of the law, set up Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited for the purposes of selling gold to the public to enable Menzgold Company to take the gold deposits.



Between 2017 and 2018, NAM 1 and Menzgold invited members of the public to purchase gold and gold collectibles from Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited and deposit same with it, it said.



In various forms of invitations, the A-G said the accused person, representing Menzgold Company Ltd and Brew Marketing Consult as deposit-taking businesses, invited the members of the public to deposit purchased gold and gold collectibles in return for profits ranging from seven per cent to 10 per cent.



In response to this invitation, over 16,000 members of the public deposited huge sums of money with the expectation that they were dealing with an authorised deposit-taking business which would guarantee them the returns as advertised by the accused persons, the prosecution added.



Warning

The A-G added that Menzgold and Brew Marketing Consult Ghana Limited continued with their operations, in spite of several engagements and warning notices issued by the relevant agencies.



Meanwhile, members of the public started facing challenges either with delayed payments or reduced dividends; a number of cheques issued by NAM 1 and Menzgold Company Ltd were also dishonoured, the prosecution noted in the charge sheet.



On September 7, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directed Menzgold to suspend its business for operating without a licence from the SEC.



Between November 2016 and March 2019, the A-G said many customers of the accused persons petitioned the police complaining that they had invested huge sums of money with the accused persons but were unable to realise their investments after persistent efforts by them.



Investigations revealed that the accused persons, under false pretences, took more than GH1.68 billion from their customers which they had not been able to recover.



The Attorney-General said investigations further disclosed that between 2017 and 2018, the accused person transferred huge sums of depositors funds from Menzgold Ghana Company Ltd and Brew Marketing Consult Ltd to Zylofon Media, a company related to NAM 1, adding: Huge sums of money were also withdrawn by NAM 1 or transferred into his bank account for his personal use.



Investigations have established that the money fraudulently obtained from depositors and dishonestly appropriated by the accused persons remained unpaid as Menzgold Ghana Company Ltds licence was revoked.



In the course of investigations, a number of vehicles were recovered from the accused person, which have been auctioned, and the proceeds kept in an exhibit account. Some gold bars were also recovered from the accused persons, the prosecution added.

Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Traditional Ruler for Okwabena Community, who doubles as the Kyidomhene (No. 2) for Awutu Traditional Council, Nai Ampem Darko Tetteh III, in the Awutu Senya West District of Central Region, has cautioned the youth across the country, especially those in his jurisdiction, to desist from the intake of drugs such as tramadol, marijuana, cocaine, and others.



The Divisional chief emphasizes the importance of the youth as future leaders, emphasizing their duty to lead decent lives for a brighter future.



He bemoaned the growing prevalence of evil activities among youth, such as sakawa money rituals, emphasising the importance of addressing this issue.



I want to encourage young people to be decent and responsible. They should abstain from hard drugs. They will destroy their future if they do not abstain from cocaine, wee, and other drugs. These hard drugs are extremely dangerous. My appeal to them is to concentrate on activities that will benefit them and their families, he said.



Meanwhile, the traditional leader and other opinion leaders have demanded that they be given a fair share of the national cake.



One of the main issues they raised was the lack of access to safe drinking water.



They want authorities to provide them with potable drinking water in order to prevent disease outbreaks.



The community is also calling for a health facility because they are forced to travel all the way to Bawjiase or Kasoa for treatment, which they describe as a concerning situation.





Source: rainbow radio









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Queenmother of Duori, a suburb of Wa, Pognaa Amamata Mumuni, has blamed the rampant incidence of teenage pregnancy and sexual abuse against children on poor parental control, care and child neglect.



She said some parents were shirking the responsibilities of protecting their children, especially females, from indulging in some social activities and giving them excessive freedom to stay outside of the home even during odd hours.



Most of the children get pregnant because their parents dont care for them. In our interactions with some of the girls, they say anytime they want to go out they are not prevented, and they return anytime they want.



Whether they eat or not, sleep in the house or not, their parents dont care.



Some even say men give them money to buy food, Pognaa Mumuni explained.



Sensitisation programme

The Queenmother said this in Wa at the weekend during a sensitisation programme for market women and traders at the Wa main market on the effect of child neglect.



It was organised by the Upper West Regional branch of the She Leads Social Movement (SLSM) in collaboration with the Queen Mothers Association in Wa as part of the She Leads project implementation in the region by the Community Aid for Rural Development (CARD-Ghana) in partnership with Plan International Ghana.



The sensitisation programme was also to drum home the need for parents to provide their girl children with basic needs such as sanitary pads to prevent them from seeking those needs from men.



Pognaa Mumuni particularly blamed mothers for putting their female children in harms way as some traders left their homes for days in search of money without considering the welfare of their children, which led such children to engage in sexual relationships with men.



Some mothers also push their girl children to men because those men give them GH20.



They dont care whether the girls are in school or not.



Their interest is the little money they get from the men, and this happens on the blind side of their husbands, she observed.



Good menstrual hygiene

Rufiatu Shaibu, a member of the SLSM, appealed to parents to see childcare as a collective responsibility of both parents.



She stressed the need for parents to educate their children on good menstrual hygiene management practices, especially for first-time menstruating girls.

Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Young people who get the chance to study abroad have been advised to make it a point to return home and use the skills, knowledge and expertise to help in developing the country.



This is because it was the role and responsibility of young people as children of the country to come back and share what they had learnt with those who had not benefited from their experiences.



The Chairman of the Minerals Development Fund (MDF), Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, who gave the advice, stressed that human resource was key to national development and it behoved all who got the privilege to travel abroad to build their capacity to return home and contribute their quota to nation-building.



I had no second thoughts when I completed my scholarship that I would return, and thats why years later when I was asked by the BBC to work for them in London, I turned it down.



This is my place in this world, he said.



Chevening Scholarship

Mr Sakyi-Addo, a famed and experienced journalist, was speaking at the 40th anniversary celebration of the Chevening Scholarship, the United Kingdom (UK) Governments international scholarships programme, in Accra last Tuesday.



The gathering at the event



Established in 1983, the scheme enables unique and passionate young leaders from all over the world to pursue a one-year masters degree in any course at any UK university by providing full financial support covering flights, accommodation and course fees, among others.



Ghana was one of the first countries to be part of the first recipients of the Chevening Scholarship; hence the Chevening Scholarship scheme is also 40 years old in Ghana.



The event also doubled as a farewell for 17 awardees who formed the 2023/2024 cohort of the scholarship to study programmes including human development, sustainability, global security, microbiology and fashion at universities such as Oxford, Leeds, Glasgow.



Special

Mr Sakyi-Addo described the scholars as special because out of over 5,000 applicants who wanted the opportunity to better their lives by living and studying in prestigious universities in the UK, they were the fortunate ones to be selected.



Harriet Thompson (arrowed), British High Commissioner, with the beneficiaries of the 2023 Chevening Scholarship and some officials



Youre special because you dont have to risk your lives, brace the storms of the Mediterranean or the sand dunes of the desert.



You dont have to sleep in the streets and flee at the sight of the police and immigration officers when you go to Europe, he stated.



Supporting education

The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, said at the heart of Chevening Scholarship is an intent to equip outstanding emerging leaders with the academic expertise, professional skills and the extensive network to create a better future for themselves, the country and the world at large.



She said education remained a top priority for the UKs work with the country and added that the partnership was evident in every level of Ghanas educational system; from scholarships to curriculum development, skills training and supporting quality teaching, and learning in public schools and colleges.



Over the last four decades, we have awarded over 400 scholarships to Ghanaians who have since taken up influential positions across several sectors in Ghana: civil society, academia, media, creative arts, sports, law, security, artificial intelligence, trade and business and human development, among others, she stressed.



The British High Commissioner said as the world strived to tackle issues such as climate change, poverty, access to quality and inclusive education, international cooperation was more essential than ever and that was why the scheme continued to support alumni when they returned to the country.



We believe in you; your vision for Ghanas development and your contribution to that, and thats why youve been chosen by Chevening, so please make this opportunity count, Ms Thompson added.



The Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Maamle Andrews, said the scholarships did not only foster academic excellence, but also facilitated cultural exchange and global collaboration.



We, at the ministry, are happy to see our students given the chance to further their education in various areas because as a nation, we believe that investing in education will shore up our human capital index and position us to realise our national goals, she added.

Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The body of a Missouri man was found in an Indiana County reservoir earlier this week.

State police responded to a report of a body found in Two Lick Reservoir in White Township just before 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

The Blairsville Water Rescue Team was summoned and helped recover the body from the water, and Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman Jr. pronounced the individual dead at the scene.

According to a press release, the individual has only been identified as an adult male from Grain Valley, Missouri, but officials have not released his name. However, after gathering information and conducting interviews, authorities did learn that the man had recently traveled or moved to Indiana, Pa.

State police currently dont suspect foul play, but the cause and manner of death are pending until the results of an autopsy are known, WTAJ and WJAC reported.

As the investigation continues, state police would like to speak to anyone who might have been at the Two Lick Reservoir during the late hours of Monday, Aug. 28, or early morning hours of Tuesday, Aug. 29.

Those with additional information are asked to contact Trooper Mathias Schmotzer at 724-357-1960.

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WASHINGTON  Zach Rehl, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the alt-right Proud Boys, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Thursday for his role in fomenting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The punishment  handed down at the conclusion of a two hour hearing in Washington, D.C.  fell just shy of the longest prison term imposed against any of the hundreds of people sentenced in connection with the riot so far.

It is exceeded only by the 17-year sentence U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly gave to Rehls codefendant  Joseph Biggs, a Proud Boy leader from Florida  who was sentenced earlier in the day and the 18 years given to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in May.

Still, the sentence Rehl ultimately received was half the three-decade prison term prosecutors sought for what they described as an effort to change the course of American history and impose their will on the government by force.

Rehl, choking back tears, described Jan. 6 as a despicable day, apologized to his family and disavowed any involvement in politics in the future.

Im done with all of it, he told the judge. Im done with politics. Im done peddling lies for other people who dont care about me.

From left, Brian Healion, Freedom Vy, Zach Rehl, and Isaiah Giddings pose for a photo on Jan. 6 in the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., OR), according to federal prosecutors. (U.S. District Court/TNS)TNS

Thursdays hearings for Rehl and Biggs came three months after a federal jury convicted them and two other leaders of the Proud Boys on seditious conspiracy, concluding that they spearheaded a plan that threatened the peaceful transition of presidential power by riling up the mob that disrupted Congress certification of President Joe Bidens victory.

The Proud Boys former national chairman Enrique Tarrio is scheduled to face sentencing Tuesday.

Jeremy Roebuck of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote this story.

2023 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

More:

Pa. mans indictment in Jan. 6 riot case includes dangerous weapons counts

Central Pa. man sentenced to prison for participation in Jan. 6 Capitol riot
Part of the allure of Harrisburgs riverfront celebrations like this weekends Kipona festival is the food.

Sure, the tightrope walkers, fireworks and Art in the Park are big attractions. But, lets be honest, so is the barbecue, turkey legs, ice cream, funnel cakes, etc.

If youre looking for an excuse to indulge, the festival celebrates the end of summer, and for that matter, the end of swimsuit season.

You have three days to visit the festival, which runs Sept. 2-4 at Riverfront Park in Harrisburg. It features musical performances and childrens activities as well as a Native American Pow Wow on City Island.

Luckily, with dozens of food vendors lined up to attend, plenty of choices await. You cant go wrong with any of them, but to help steer you through the concourse, here are five worth visiting.

Sherris Crab Cakes

A staple since 1996, Sherris was founded by Keith and Sherri Behney. The Camp Hill company specializes in The Worlds Greatest Concession Crab Cakes made with lump and jumbo lump crab meat mixed with signature spices.

Sherris sets up at events such as Jubilee Day in Mechanicsburg and the Pennsylvania Farm Show, and its franchises operate concession stands on the East Coast. Locally, they operate a permanent booth at the West Shore Farmers Market in Lemoyne. Sherris also ships frozen crab cakes throughout the United States.

Along with crab cake sandwiches, Sherris will be selling crab cake platters, crab mac platters, crab mac n cheese, cream of crab soup, lemonade, and iced tea. Theyll be set up at Market and Walnut streets.

Hellenic Kouzina

Opa! You dont want to miss the Greek specialties from this Mechanicsburg restaurant. Hellenics mobile kitchen is an extension of the popular Main Street eatery.

Its available to book for weddings, fundraisers, corporate events, fairs and festivals. Among the specialties are gyros in choice of lamb, chicken or signature. The truck also sells halloumi cheese, Greek fries, spanakopita and Greek salads. Check them out at Walnut and Locust streets.

Soul Lotta Empanadas

This East Shore-based food truck is out and about these days selling signature empanadas and tacos. The truck debuted last fall and is owned by Andre Young, who used to own Soul House Cafe in Harrisburg.

Soul Lottas menu features empanadas including buffalo chicken, jerk chicken and cheesesteak as well as dessert versions - apple pie and peach cobbler. As for tacos, Soul Lotta carries beef barria, catfish and Beyond beef.

The truck will be parked at Front and Liberty streets.

Schnaders Taters

Schnaders has been a fixture in central Pa. with good old-fashioned carnival foods. It specializes in concessions, from sugary sweet to greasy and salty.

At Kipona, it will sell the famous fries and chicken tenders as well as funnel cakes, deep-fried Oreos and fresh-squeezed lemonade. Find the booth at Walnut and Locust streets.

Piper Belles BBQ

The Mount Joy-based vendor sells one-of-a-kind specials such as Porky Fries made with smoked pulled pork on top of fries with cheddar cheese, bacon, and house white truffle BBQ.

The truck pulls into private events and festivals around central Pa. and customers rave about the BBQ, calling it some of the best theyve ever eaten.

Piper Belles menu features pulled pork and chicken barbecues, brisket sandwiches, loaded mac n cheese, smoked mac n cheese, smoked vegan burgers, loaded fries (porky/bourbon bacon/chicken bacon ranch) and truffle parm fries. Fun fact, they also sell their own line of homemade BBQ sauces.

Theyll be parked at Liberty and South streets.

READ MORE:
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attends the opening ceremony of the 11th national congress of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The 11th national congress of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives opened in Beijing on Thursday morning.

Leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the state including Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Han Zheng attended the event and extended their congratulations. Li Xi delivered a speech on behalf of the CPC Central Committee.

Nearly 1,200 representatives of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives from across the country and nearly 600 overseas Chinese from more than 100 countries attended the congress.

In the speech, Li Xi expressed congratulations on the congress and extended greetings to returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, overseas Chinese, and workers with the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC).

Li praised the ACFROC and its affiliated organizations for fulfilling their responsibilities and improving themselves over the past years since the 10th national congress took place.

Returned overseas Chinese and their relatives and current overseas Chinese have played their unique advantages and contributed to economic development, poverty alleviation, the fight against COVID-19, the opening up, the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, and national reunification, Li said.

Li stressed the necessity of all people of the Chinese nation at home and abroad making joint efforts to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

He called on returned overseas Chinese and their relatives and overseas Chinese to play a greater role in helping create a new pattern of development, promoting high-quality development, forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, promoting national reunification, and jointly shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation.

Models of returned overseas Chinese and outstanding individuals and groups under the ACFROC and its affiliated organizations were honored at the ceremony.

Leaders of the Communist Party of China and the state including Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng attend the opening ceremony of the 11th national congress of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives and extend their congratulations to the event at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

The 11th national congress of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

The 11th national congress of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

The 11th national congress of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Editor: ZAD
Editors note: Welcome to the world of Paranormal PA, a PennLive series that delves into Pennsylvania-grown stories of spirits (like the ghost of a murdered girl whose cries can be heard in one of Penn States libraries); cryptids (the squonk); oddities and legends (Pennsylvanias very own witch trials); and the unexplained (was this thing that flew over Kecksburg a meteor or a UFO?). Sign up here to get our Paranormal PA newsletter delivered to your inbox.

Well, this is kind of good news!

If a zombie apocalypse were to break out, theres two cities in Pennsylvania that would be safe havens from the walking dead. Ones even amongst the top 20 safest.

Lawn Love  a company that takes a high-tech approach to a traditionally low tech sector, and [is] revolutionizing the lawn care industry  conducted and published a study that laid out the bare bones of which United States cities were well-prepared in case the dead should rise.

First, researchers staked down key buckets on which to grade these cities, which were chosen because theyre the 200 biggest in the nation: Vulnerability, Hideouts, Supplies, Protection, and Mobility. Rankings for each were then calculated after relevant metrics  Number of Hunting-Gear Stores; Number of Supermarkets; and Number of Campsites within 50 Miles among them  were factored in.

Pittsburgh ended up ranked as 19th overall, solidifying it as one of the top 20 best urban sites to hole up should zombies start to shuffle around. This may not surprise people, as Visit Pittsburgh historicizes the Steel Citys steep zombie roots, being the place where Night of the Living Dead was shot and all (among other things).

Philadelphia didnt do all too bad, either, coming in at 22nd.

The absolute best city, however, to be when the deceased no longer rest in peace is purportedly Houston, Texas. Miramar, Fla., is the worst.
By SCOTT BAUER, The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP)  More than 50 years after a Vietnam War-era bombing on the University of Wisconsin campus that killed a researcher, the FBI on Thursday released age-processed photographs of a suspect who has thus far evaded law enforcement and been referred to as Wisconsins state ghost.

Leo Burt was placed on the FBIs most wanted list immediately after the 1970 bombing of Sterling Hall and remains the last fugitive sought by the FBI in connection with radical anti-Vietnam War activities.

The bombers parked a stolen van packed with fertilizer and fuel outside the universitys Army Math Research Center in Sterling Hall and lit the fuse in the early morning hours of Aug. 24, 1970. The bomb attack, which was the nations most powerful until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, killed 33-year-old graduate student Robert Fassnacht, who was doing research in the middle of the night. It also injured other people and caused millions of dollars in damage. The bombers fled to Canada.

This image provided by the FBI shows Leo Frederick Burt. More than 50 years after a bombing on the University of Wisconsin campus that killed a researcher, the FBI on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023 released age-processed photographs of Burt, a suspect who has evaded law enforcement for more than half a century. (FBI via AP)AP

Three of the four wanted men were captured in the 1970s after trying to live underground. They were convicted, served short prison terms and resumed their lives.

Burt, who grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, came to Wisconsin on an ROTC scholarship and joined the rowing team, vanished. One former prosecutor called him Wisconsins state ghost.

The FBI received tips and alleged sightings from all over the world for decades, often spiking around anniversaries of the bombing. Some theorize that Burt is dead, while others compare him to D.B. Cooper, the hijacker who disappeared after parachuting out of an airliner with $200,000. There was even a theory in the 1990s, proven untrue with Theodore Kaczynskis arrest, that he may have been the Unabomber.

The FBI continues to offer $150,000 for information leading to Burts arrest.

The FBIs Milwaukee field office on Thursday released the photos that envision Burt as a 75-year-old man. The photo was done in conjunction with the 53rd anniversary of the bombing, which was last week, said FBI spokesperson Leonard Peace.

In his photo from 1970, Burt is wearing glasses and has a full head of dark, curly hair. In the new age-processed depiction, he is mostly bald and shown with and without glasses.

Madison attorney Lester Pines, 73, was a UW student at the time of the bombing. As a young attorney in 1975 he was part of a team that defended one of the bombers.

If the FBI is correct, Leo Burts visage has changed much worse than mine has, Pines said in reaction to the updated photo simulation. I guess that Leo has not taken good care of himself, if hes even still alive.
The arrest of two union representatives at HACCs Lancaster campus Wednesday for defiant trespassing raises questions about whether they were doing anything illegal.

The states education association and a labor attorney interviewed by PennLive said the pair were engaging in protected activity. They were trying to inform other faculty members about the unions services, which is an activity protected by Pennsylvania law.
SUNBURY  Sunbury police Chief Bradley F. Hare is off the job at least temporarily and an interim replacement has been named.

That was the announcement Thursday by Mayor Josh A. Brosious following an executive session of City Council. Sgt. Travis Bremigen, who has been on the force since 2003, is serving as acting chief.

Based on the advice from a special solicitor retained for the occasion, the mayor said he couldnt comment on why Hare is not working or if he is continuing to be paid.

Sunbury police Chief Bradley F. Hare has been removed from his position, at least temporarily.

He would like to divulge more information, he said, and pledged to do so when he could.

Councilman Richard Reichner confirmed social media reports that Hare is receiving in-patient treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

This is just the latest issue involving the police department.

Council in July hired an accounting firm to conduct a forensic audit after irregularities were discovered in police reimbursable overtime payments. It is estimated $56,000 was not received over a three-year period because the required documentation was not submitted, Brosious said.

Municipal police departments often get outside money to reimburse officers overtime to conduct such things as speed and drug enforcement.

In 2015, council retained the Philadelphia law firm of Ballard Spahr to conduct an investigation related to allegations an officer was having an affair while on duty.

Its report made public in 2016 concluded the police internal investigation into the incident was conducted too quickly, missed basic investigative steps and was tainted by the inappropriate involvement of Hare.

We find Chief Hares actions to be highly questionable and unprofessional and created the appearance of bias, the report stated.

Hare had told Ballard Spahr investigators that after he confiscated the officers city-issued phone, he transferred at the officers request pictures of his sons graduation and prom to his new phone.

The phone was sanitized according to department policy before it was turned over to the Ballard Spahr investigator, Hare said.

He voluntarily stepped down as chief in December 2015 claiming councils continued interference in the day-to-day operation of the police department made it difficult to do his job and it was affecting officers morale.

Hare, who joined the force in 2001, returned to his former rank of corporal but became chief again after Timothy S. Miller resigned in July 2018.

More:

Pa. grand jury report reveals new information related to toddlers disappearance in 1986

Pa. man admits making false statements on applications to buy guns
Should we add Janelle Stelson, one of the midstates top television news anchors, to the mix of people considering a run for central Pennsylvanias most hotly-contested Congressional seat?

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Friday morning in its Clout column  a running tracker of all things political in the city and beyond  that it hears Stelson is considering making a run for the 10th District seat now held by U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican from northern York County.

The report also posts some receipts: It notes someone used Google Domains in late June to register StelsonForCongress.com and JanelleStelson.com as Website names. Neither page appears to be active at this point.

PennLive was not immediately able to reach Stelson for comment Friday. Heres what Clout said was her response to their direct question about whether she was considering a run for the seat:

In the past more than three decades that Ive been a journalist in Central PA, Ive had quite a few people ask if I would be interested in running for office ... so Im not surprised you would hear something like that, Stelson wrote in an email. And Im honored folks would mention my name.

The Clout report speculates about Stelson running in the Democratic primary. According to Lancaster County voter registration records, Stelson was registered as a Republican Party voter through 2022, but changed her registration to Democratic earlier this year.

There are some other complicating factors.

Running for election may pose a conflict with her job as co-anchor of WGALs evening newscast. The station has historically been a ratings leader in central Pa. PennLive reached out to WGAL for comment but has not yet received a response.

And secondly, Stelson does not actually live in the 10th District, comprised of Dauphin County and parts of Cumberland and York counties.

The latter point would not be a legal disqualifier. The only residency requirement for members of Congress is that they reside in the state from which they are elected. Stelson, who lives in Lancaster County, fits that bill.

But Pennsylvanias 11th District, which is anchored in Lancaster County, is a much less politically competitive district based on recent state and national election results. The 10th, meanwhile, is consistently one of the most competitive House districts in the state.

Stelson has clearly spent some time raising her profile in this part of her television market this summer.

Her personal Facebook account is full of seemingly off-duty posts touting the cheeseburgers at Carsonville Hotel in northern Dauphin County, views of the state Capitol in Harrisburg and a visit to a historic church in downtown Carlisle.

A native of the Seattle, Wash. region, Stelson, 63, has spent the majority of her broadcast television career in central Pennsylvania. She has been with WGALs news team since 1997.

Democrats are clearly interested in trying to mount a strong challenge to Perry, who emerged in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election as one of the leading Congressional cheerleaders for former President Donald Trumps efforts to challenge Joe Bidens win.

Already declared for the Democratic primary race for 2024 are 2022 nominee Shamaine Daniels, a Harrisburg city council member, and Rick Coplen, a retired Army officer who currently serves on the Carlisle School Board.

On the Republican side, Perry is expected to seek re-election to a 7th term in the House. Heres what a campaign spokesman said earlier this summer about that:

Congressman Perry fights every day on behalf of the people of south-central Pennsylvania, and hes confident that his record of accomplishment will once again be rewarded by voters when they head to the polls next November.

.
WILLIAMSPORT  The chief executive officer of the Lycoming County telecommunications firm that was the site of a workplace shooting last month has been charged with homicide.

Kenneth Richard Michaels, 65, of the Montoursville area, is awaiting extradition from New Jersey following his arrest at a property he owns in Cape May.

Along with homicide, he is charged with possession of an instrument of crime.

He is accused of the Aug. 17 shooting of John Roskowski, 69, in the lobby of Cable Services Co. in the 2100 block of Marydale Avenue in Old Lycoming Twp., just north of Williamsport.

An autopsy determined Roskowski, who was pronounced dead on arrival at UPMC Williamsport, died from a gunshot wound that damaged the aorta causing massive internal bleeding.

Roskowski is a former owner of Cable Services, and his sister is married to Michaels.

Michaels was not taken into custody immediately despite admitting being the shooter because of the need to interview Cable Services employees, First Assistant District Attorney Martin Wade said Friday.

Numerous employees said the shooting was preventable and Roskowski had no access to the building until Michaels let him in, Lycoming Regional Police said. Michaels acknowledged he could have left the lobby and locked a door behind him before the shooting, they said.

The arrest affidavit provides this synopsis of what occurred:

The day before the shooting Roskowski had driven his vehicle to the business to have it serviced as he had done in the past.

Michaels, upon learning of this, warned employees that Roskowski no longer was allowed on the property.

Roskowski returned to the business about 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 17, went to the company garage, chatted with employees and asked if his son was working. Adam Roskowski is listed as company vice president.

Roskowski became angry when told he was not permitted on the property, went to the administrative offices and began using the buzzer system at the locked front door.

Michaels could hear the continuous buzzing from his office and was advised by the receptionist that his brother-in-law was at the front door.

Prior to going to the door, Michaels took a loaded .9mm handgun for which he had a license from a desk drawer and concealed it in his left pants pocket.

He then opened the front door to allow Roskowski into the lobby. Words were exchanged, Michaels removed the gun from his pocket and shot his brother-in-law just below the breastbone.

Witnesses said Roskowski did not make any threats.

When interviewed, Michaels admitted:

Being the shooter and not offering aid to Roskowski.

Taking the gun from the desk although there was a canister of mace there.

Allowing Roskowski into the office lobby despite claiming to be afraid of him.

Confirming there was no physical contact between the two.

Seconds before the shooting Michaels directed the receptionist to call 911. Roskowski is heard on the recording of that call calling Michaels a coward.

Michaels claimed he fired after Roskowski took several steps and then lunged at him. That is inconsistent with physical evidence at the scene, including the position of Roskowskis body, police said.

There was a documented history of arguments between the two men, Wade said.
Five interconnected Cumberland County massage parlors were used as a front for sex trafficking, the district attorneys office announced Friday.

Complaints from the public about these businesses led to a year-long investigation involving more than 12 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, District Attorney Sean McCormack said in a news release.

Large amounts of cash and evidence of sex trafficking were discovered Thursday when search warrants were carried out at the massage parlors, the district attorneys office said.

Prosecutors said the five Cumberland County businesses searched Thursday were:

New Healing Hands Spa, 33 Gettysburg Pike, Upper Allen Township

149 Massage, also known as May Spa, 149 South 32nd Street, Camp Hill

Lily Spa, 305 Herman Ave., Lemoyne

Mary Spa, 3803 Gettysburg Road, Lower Allen Township

JOJO Spa, 5010 Carlisle Pike, Hampden Township

Ten massage parlors across Cumberland, Dauphin, and York counties were targeted during the investigation, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said traffickers placed victims in these businesses for the purpose of performing sex acts for money.

The names and locations of the Dauphin and York County businesses were not available.

Min Dong, 54, of Camp Hill, was arrested Thursday and charged with operating a corrupt business and dealing in unlawful proceeds. Online court records show she was unable to post $250,000 bail and is being held at Cumberland County Prison.

One thing our investigation has highlighted is the need for greater legal regulations to ensure that only legitimate massage therapy businesses are operating in our communities, McCormack said in the Friday news release. We need legislation to require massage facilities, their managers, and employees to be properly licensed and regulated.

The investigation into the trafficking ring is still underway, prosecutors said. Anyone with information can email the district attorneys office at if@cumberlandcountypa.gov.

READ MORE: Women show 2-year-old smoking vape in video titled kids starting young

Drunken driver could spend 34 years in prison for fatal central Pa. crash
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has announced that there will be around-the-clock lane restrictions next weekend on Interstate 83 between Exit 19 (Route 462/Market Street) and Exit 22 (N. George Street) in York County so a contractor can perform concrete bridge deck repairs and bituminous paving on structures south of Route 30.

Weather permitting, this work will be performed around-the-clock on two consecutive weekends from 9 p.m. Sept. 8 to 6 a.m. Sept. 11 and then 9 p.m. Sept. 15 to 6 a.m. Sept. 18.

The work will start the evening of Sept. 8 and continue until the morning of Sept. 11, and follow a similar schedule the following weekend.

A lane restriction will be in place in both directions of I-83 during work hours. Motorists should be alert and drive with caution through the work zone, a press release said.

This work is associated with a project that includes replacing the Eberts Lane bridge spanning I-83, constructing an additional span to the existing 3-lane, 2-span bridge on Sherman Street (Route 1033) spanning I-83 and Mill Creek, approach work, guide rail updates, pavement marking updates, and other miscellaneous construction.

Deblin, Inc, of Mechanicsburg is the contractor on this $10.1 million project.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional Twitter alerts.

Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties at PennDOT District 8.

More:

Penn State traffic watch: Whats happening on highways around State College

PennDOT driver license, photo centers to close for Labor Day weekend
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 | September 1, 2023

State officials continue to discuss potentially establishing the regulation of skill games. The Independent Fiscal Office has published a list of the areas with the highest tax burdens. The state Turnpike Commission has revealed the location of a new interchange. Plus, a city in Pennsylvania topped a list of the best in the U.S. for the NFL.

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.
Update: As of 4:15 p.m. I-81 has reopened and the closure at exit 5 is no longer in place.

PennDOT has shut down Interstate 81 in Franklin County after a Friday crash that killed three people in Maryland.

The crash near mile marker 10 on I-81 south in Maryland involved motorcycles, tractor-trailers and passenger vehicles, according to Fritzi Schreffler, a PennDOT spokeswoman.

The cause of the crash and identities of the people killed have not been released. Schreffler said crews from Pennsylvania were dispatched to assist at the Maryland crash scene shortly after 9:30 a.m.

I-81 south will be shutting down as of 12:30 p.m. between exit 5 toward Waynesboro/Greencastle and the Maryland border. On and off ramps will be closed at exit 3, Schreffler said.

PennDOT estimates I-81 will be closed for several hours.

READ MORE: Cumberland County massage parlors linked to human trafficking ring: prosecutors
The sugar industry of Ukraine in the 2023 season sets a record for expanding production areas to 249,900 hectares under sugar beet, with an expected production volume of 1.7 million tonnes, a potential export of 600,000 tonnes and favorable prices on the product on world markets, Acting Head of the Board of the Ukrtsukor National Association Nazar Mykhailovyn said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"This year, not only did the forecasts for production areas come true, but they also exceeded expectations. If on the eve of the sowing campaign we expected 239,000 hectares of the area under sugar beet, now, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, there are 249,900 hectares, which is more than in the pre-war 2021, when Ukraine grew crops on 220,000 hectares," he said.

Favorable weather conditions during the growing season, he said, allow us to hope for a good yield of 500-550 centners per hectare, sugar content in the range of 14.5-17%, which will make it possible to obtain a shaft of sugar beet within 13 million tonnes.

He noted that the production season of sugar making has already begun in Vinnytsia and Cherkasy regions and it will last until the first decade of 2024 due to the availability of raw materials for processing. He recalled that in 2022 the sugar-making season ended in the last days of December.

According to him, seven more plants will join last year's sugar production, three of which are in Kyiv region, two in Zhytomyr region, one each in Khmelnytsky and Ternopil regions.

Mykhailovyn recalled that at the beginning of the full-scale war, one sugar factory in Kharkiv region was under occupation. Currently, there are no sugar factories in Ukraine that were under occupation. Kharkiv region did not sow sugar beet, as there was no complete demining of the land. Consequently, the region's sugar refineries will not operate.

"According to the forecasts of world companies - leading sugar producers, traders, buyers, the world is expected to have a shortage of sugar within 2 million tonnes, with a total demand of the world market of 184 million tonnes of sugar for the period 2023/2024 MY," the expert said and added that the export potential of Ukraine in the current season will be at least 600,000 tonnes.
Intact Financial Corp. estimates that its catastrophe losses due to wildfires and other weather total about $570 million for the third quarter so far. The McDougall Creek wildfire burns on the mountainside above houses in West Kelowna, B.C., Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
FILE - Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs a bill requiring age verification before creating a new social media account as Sen. Tyler Dees, R-Siloam Springs, looks on during a signing ceremony, Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. A federal judge on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing the new law that would have required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts, preventing the state from becoming the first to impose such a restriction.(Thomas Metthe/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP, File)
A still frame showing construction of the Solar-Storage project in Summerland earlier this month. In the foreground is the battery and distribution equipment, and in the background are the mounts on which solar panels are now being installed.
Supporters rally outside court as pastor James Coates, of GraceLife Church, is in court to appeal the bail conditions, after he was arrested for holding day services in violation of COVID-19 rules in Edmonton, Alta., on Thursday March 4, 2021. Pandemic-era public health charges have been dropped against the Edmonton-area pastor and church, as well as a central Alberta man who hosted a rodeo in protest of COVID-19 restrictions.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
CSA astronaut David Saint-Jacques, left, and Dr. Gordon Osinski are shown on a field training expedition at West Clearwater Lake in northern Quebec in this 2014 handout photo. In a milestone moment for Canadian space science, planetary geologist Gordon Oz Osinski is hoping to "make Canada proud" after his appointment to a NASA team that will train the first person to walk on the moon in over 50 years. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Gordon Osinski
A photo of Kenneth Law, an Ontario man accused of selling a deadly substance online, is shown during a press conference, in Mississauga, Ont., on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. Authorities in New Zealand say they are investigating deaths that may be linked to an Ontario man accused of sending a lethal substance to those at risk of self harm.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey
We count on support of Estonia at EU level in exporting Ukrainian agricultural products to European countries  Shmyhal

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal discussed with Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas the issue of exporting Ukrainian agricultural products to European countries.

"We count on Estonia's support at the EU level in the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to European countries. As well as cooperation in the development of logistics, in particular, through the Rail Baltica project, which will improve the access of Ukrainian products to the Baltic ports," Shmyhal wrote on Facebook.

The parties also discussed support for the Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine and assistance with weapons.

"It is very important for us that Estonia supports the peace formula of the President of Ukraine, strengthens sanctions against Russia and creates a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression. We coordinate our work with partners and work for security throughout Europe," Shmyhal summed up.
The minimum wage in Ukraine from January 1, 2024 can be increased to UAH 7,100, and from July 1 to UAH 8,000 per month from the current UAH 6,700 per month, First Deputy Finance Minister Denys Uliutin said at an online meeting with Ukrainian associations of local governments and finance departments of regional state administrations and the Kyiv City Council to discuss the main indicators of the state budget.

As the Ministry of Finance reported on the website on Friday, during the budget forecasting, it is also planned an increase from January 1, 2024 to UAH 3,195 per month, of the forecast official salary of an employee of the first tariff category of the Unified Pay Scale, frozen from December 1, 2021 at the level of UAH 2,893.

And at the end of May this year, the Ministry of Economy proposed to increase the minimum wage from 2024 by 14.2% to UAH 7,651, and the salary of an employee of the first tariff category to UAH 3,443.

"In 2024, to support local governments, almost UAH 24 billion of additional subsidies from the state budget to local budgets for the most affected front-line territories will continue to be provided. The basic subsidy from the state budget to local budgets for the next year is projected in the amount of UAH 20.2 billion," Uliutin also said.

In addition, Deputy Finance Minister Roman Yermolychev indicated that from January 1, 2024, remuneration of civil servants will be based on the classification of civil service positions and the grading system. According to him, this will allow introducing transparent conditions for remuneration in the system of public authorities.

Regarding the educational subvention, he said that now the resource for it, taking into account the increase in social standards, is taken into account, but without distribution by territory, since the figures from the Ministry of Education are expected after September 5.

"Expenses in the healthcare sector will be reimbursed from the state budget, and the subvention in support of individual medical institutions will be maintained for the next year. As for the social sphere, it should be noted that we are currently working on a mechanism to determine a unified model for co-financing social services in a state of martial law and laying a resource for the social project Veteran's Assistant," Yermolychev added.

It is indicated that during the discussion, the issues of balances of funds to the accounts of local budgets, the distribution of personal income tax from the military, the features of horizontal alignment of the tax capacity of local budgets, as well as the main approaches and problems of the distribution of interbudgetary transfers under martial law were also discussed.
Enemy unsuccessfully attacks in two directions, more than 25 clashes at front over day General Staff

Over the past day, more than 25 military clashes have occurred at the front, Russian occupiers conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the areas of Novoyehorivka, Luhansk region and Novomykhailivka, Donetsk region, according to operational information on the Russian invasion as of o6:00 of Friday published on the Facebook page of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Defense Forces continue to restrain the offensive of Russian troops in Maryinka area of Donetsk region and conduct an offensive operation in Melitopol direction, consolidate on the achieved boundaries, carry out counter-battery measures.

In Volyn and Polissia directions, the operational situation has not significantly changed.
PN Pod: $20K Mistake, Negreanu Beats Polk, NAPT Returns, & Guest Tom Orpaz EPT Barcelona Heater

September 01, 2023 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

On the latest PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway, Connor Richards, and Matt Hansen catch you up to speed on what's been happening at EPT Barcelona, Daniel Negreanu defeating Doug Polk on High Stakes Duel, and the return of PokerStars' North American Poker Tour (NAPT).

They also delve into the Global Poker US Poker Open (USPO), tell you about the first winner from the the PokerStars Summer Series, cover two big hands involving pocket queens from the past week, and debate arguably the hottest topic of the week  would you pay back $20K after a player grossly misread his hand and called off on the river (which actually happened on Hustler Casino Live)?

As for a guest, Connor and Matt were at EPT Barcelona and caught up with Tom Orpaz, a high-stakes real estate entrepreneur who in his spare time can be found grinding the EPT High Roller circuit. Orpaz, who made headlines in 2020 for purchasing the most expensive apartment in the world, went on a tear at EPT Barcelona that saw him winning 25,000 No-Limit Hold'em and 50,000 Super High Roller Second Chance for two trophies and over $1 million in winnings, proving he can hold his own among the top pros. PokerNews caught up with Orpaz, who has proven to be one of the most entertaining and talkative players on the typically reserved High Roller Circuit.

Listen to those stories and more on the latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast!

Time Stamps

Tell us who you want to hear from. Let us know what you think of the show  tweet about the podcast using #PNPod, and be sure to follow Chad Holloway, Connor Richards, and Matt Hansen on Twitter.

Subscribe to the PokerNews Podcast on Apple Podcasts here!

Check Out Past Episodes of the PN Podcast Here!

Sharelines PokerNews Podcast: Tom Orpaz joins as the guest this week to talk about his #EPTBarcelona heater!
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House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is using Chair James Comers (R-KY) own words against him to justify investigating Jared Kushner.

Raskin wrote to Comer:

I write to request that you issue a subpoena to Jared Kushners investment firm, A Fin Management LLC (Affinity), to compel the production of documents regarding the extraordinary unding it received from foreign governmentsincluding billions of dollars from sovereign wealth funds controlled by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) shortly after Mr. Kushner left government service, working as senior adviser to his father-in-law, then-president Donald Trump, overseeing U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Shortly after leaving the White House, Mr. Kushner raised $2 billion from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, which is chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

On June 2, 2022, then-Chairwoman Maloney wrote to Mr. Kushner and Affinity about allegations that Mr. Kushners personal financial interests may have improperly influenced U.S. foreign policy during the Trump Administration. Yet, despite Committee Democrats repeated efforts to obtain relevant documents to understand the full scope of Mr. Kushners foreign business dealings and the legal, constitutional, and ethical problems they create, Mr. Kushner and his fund have refused to cooperate with our requests.

I am encouraged by your recent acknowledgment that what Kushner did crossed the line of ethics and your repeated assertions that our Committee is investigating foreign nationals attempts to target and coerce high-ranking U.S. officials family members by providing money or other benefits in exchange for certain actions. I therefore urge you to use the Committees subpoena power to compel Affinity to produce the information this Committee needs to conduct a full and fair investigation into whether Mr. Kushner improperly used his position as a senior government official to benefit his personal financial and business interests nformation Mr. Kushner and Affinity have unjustifiably refused to produce for over a year.

Raskin later added during an interview on MSNBC that he is seeking all documents and information related to Jared Kushners business dealings with Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations. Raskin pointed out that if the Committee can investigate Hunter Biden, who never worked in government, they can also investigate Jared Kushner who worked in the Trump administration and then got billions of dollars from foreign governments.

Raskin is using Comers own words against him, and if Comer refuses to investigate Kushner, the contrast will highlight the House Republican Hunter Bidens hypocrisy
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Trump lost it over New York Attorney General Letitia James stating in a court filing that Trump allegedly fraudulently inflated his worth by as much as $2.2 billion for a decade.

James stated in a court filing, Based on the undisputed evidence, no trial is required for the court to determine that defendants presented grossly and materially inflated asset values.

Trump took to Truth Social with an unhinged response:

IN THE NYS A.G. LETITIA JAMES CASE, I WAS TARGETED, GIVEN NO JURY, NO EXTENSIONS, NO COMMERCIAL DIVISION, NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, NO ANYTHING! THE DEMOCRAT JUDGE HATES TRUMP WITH A PASSION. THE THING I HAVE IS A GREAT CASE BASED ON PHENOMENAL NUMBERS THAT SHOW A NET WORTH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS MORE THAN SHE VICIOUSLY & FALSELY CLAIMED, VERY LITTLE DEBT, BIG CASH, A POWERFUL DISCLAIMER CLAUSE, PAID OFF LOANS, NO DEFAULTS, HAPPY BANKS, GREAT ASSETS. I WAS DEFAMED BY NYS  ELECTION INTERFERENCE!

It is telling that what Trump is blowing a gasket over is James stating that Trump inflated his wealth and is not a billionaire. Trumps self-created myth has always been centered around his claims of great wealth and success, but AG James is suggesting that those claims were built on fraud.

Trump isnt as upset about being accused of criminal activity as he is about the truth being revealed about his wealth.

It is always the same tale. The judge hates Trump. The prosecutors are out to get Trump, but the former president never provides any evidence to refute the accusations.

A lifetime of lies is crumbling around Donald Trump and all he can do is rage from the sidelines.
Matthew Perry was mourned on social media by Friends creators, co-stars and some very famous fans. They include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his mom on the hit sit-com Friends, as well as Adele. Perry played Chandler Bing on NBCs Friends for 10 seasons. He was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Saturday. Trudeau, who attended elementary school with Perry while their parents worked together, thanked Perry for the laughs. Adele, who didn't know the Friends star personally, took time at her Las Vegas show to address the loss. Others who posted online included Morgan Fairchild, Selma Blair and Wendell Pierce. Read more'Friends' creators, actors, family mourn Matthew Perry
Shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, Atul Patel cut a ribbon to celebrate the opening of his gas station and convenience store, Bapa's Food Mart, and joining the Aiken Chamber of Commerce. The gas station and convenience store is located on the corner of Richland Avenue and Beaufort Street. Read moreBapa's Food Mart celebrates opening, joining Aiken Chamber
The battle between Aiken Mayor Pro Tempore Ed Woltz and the city of Aiken over unpaid business license taxes has moved to Columbia.

Woltz recently appealed a ruling requiring him to pay the city over $13,000 in business license taxes to the South Carolina Administrative Law Court.

The South Carolina General Assembly created the Administrative Law Court in 1993. The court's purpose is to provide fair and objective hearings for people affected by the actions of state agencies or county or municipal governments. It has six judges.

Woltz's rental properties

Woltz, a Republican representing District 6 on the city council, testified June 8 that he owns 37 rental properties. Of his properties, 34 are in Aiken County. One is in Columbia. One is in Edisto Beach, and the other property is in Augusta.

He also testified that some of the properties are owned through a limited liability company, S&C Properties LLC.

He added the name of the company derives from the name of his daughter, Sara, and a college. Woltz said he and his wife, Holly, determined rental properties were the way they wanted to fund their retirement and their daughter's college tuition.

A review of the Aiken County and Richland County property tax records indicates the number of rental properties Woltz owns through S&C is 19. That number includes 18 residential rentals and one commercial property.

Woltz and his wife are the listed owners of 14 properties. Woltz alone is the listed owner of two properties, and the ownership status of the properties in Edisto Beach and Augusta is unknown.

Aiken County and Richland County property tax records indicate Woltz acquired his first rental property in 1995 and continued to acquire properties from 1999 until 2021.

The battle begins

There is a dispute over whether Woltz had a business license to operate the rental properties in the city. Several city employees have said there never has been a business license for the rental properties. But, Woltz maintains he had a license but the wrong type of license.

The licensing issue notwithstanding, the battle between Woltz and the city began Dec. 9, 2019 when the city business license administration office sent S&C Properties a letter regarding 10 properties in Silver Bluff Estates.

In the letter, the administrative office said owners of more than one residential rental property are required to obtain a business license and they couldn't find one for the properties listed. The letter also included a business license application and additional relevant information.

Woltz testified he did not fill out the application or contact the business license office. Instead, he said he went to see City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh in his capacity as a private citizen to address the problem.

He said Bedenbaugh told him he would "take care" of the issue but that Bedenbaugh didn't do so after a conversation with City Attorney Gary Smith III.

There is a dispute over how long before Woltz received another letter regarding the rental properties.

He testified he received the next letter a year later. However, the facts stipulated for the hearing in which Woltz testified indicate he received letters Jan. 29, 2020 and May 19, 2021.

Regardless, Woltz did not pay the taxes.

Woltz's appeal is denied

Business License Administrator Andrew Ridout issued a criminal summons Nov. 29, 2021 requiring Woltz to appear in city court at 8 a.m. Dec. 14, 2021 for a violation of the business license ordinance.

Violations of the business license ordinance are punishable by a fine of $500 and 30 days in jail for each day a person is convicted of violating the ordinance.

Woltz testified he then engaged Clarke McCants III to resolve the issue.

The stipulated facts say that Woltz and the city reached an agreement to resolve the criminal matter last August. The agreement required Woltz to provide tax returns by Sept. 6, 2022, complete a business license application for the properties, and pay the taxes and penalties by Sept. 15, 2022.

Woltz paid the taxes due, $11,477.63, Sept. 15, 2022. Woltz, through McCants, filed an appeal Sept. 16, 2022.

Normally, the Aiken City Council hears business license appeals. However, the city appointed North Augusta City Attorney Kelly Zier to hear Woltz's appeal Nov. 15, 2022.

Zier heard the appeal June 8.

Because of the time between Woltz's appeal and when it was heard, the taxes for 2022 came due, increasing the amount Woltz owes to $13,086.56.

McCants represented Woltz. Rob Tyson and Jasmine Smith represented the city.

Zier issued his ruling denying Woltz's appeal June 21.

Woltz appeals to the Administrative Law Court

McCants filed Woltz's appeal with the Administrative Law Court on July 19.

In his appeal, Woltz argues the city's business ordinance is unconstitutional and Zier's ruling should be overturned.

Specifically, Woltz argues the ordinances is too vague.

McCants said or implied at the hearing the way the business license ordinance is written everyone doing business in the city, even a child with a lemonade stand, is required to get a business license.

Woltz also argues the ordinance is unconstitutional because the city has a policy of not enforcing the ordinance for owners of one residential rental property. Thus, owners of many rental properties are treated differently under the law.

He argues the ordinance is unconstitutional because the city's tax assessment of Woltz includes businesses outside of the city limits.

The city's ordinance provides business license owners with the opportunity to exempt income earned outside the city if the owner shows they paid a business license tax in another jurisdiction. Which Woltz failed to do for his businesses.

He also argues the city doesn't provide business owners necessary guidance to comply.

Tripp Anderson, chief judge of the Administrative Law Court, assigned the case to himself July 26.

Tyson filled out a form with basic case information Aug. 8.

The date and time of proceedings before the Administrative Law Court is unknown. The court does not publish its hearing schedule online. It will, however, publish its final order in the matter.
Another community meeting took place Tuesday, Oct. 24, in St. Stephen about the progress of Berkeley County's Brownfield Assessment Grant. The Environmental Protection Agency defines a brownfield as a property where the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the pr Read moreThe phases of revitalization in Berkeley County
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that for people to return to Ukraine, victory and the desire of people to return are needed.

"I support our Armed Forces, our military, when they say that we are for life to return. And if life does not return to the civilian space ... everything will be difficult. It is not clear for whom we are fighting, and for what, if there are no people here," he said, answering a question during a conversation with KPI students on Thursday.

Speaking about the conditions for the return of people from abroad, Zelenskyy called "victory as the number one factor. Desire is not an empty word, but a desire to be here. This is factor number two. The maximum simplified opportunity to build your future here."

"I always emphasize that it is impossible to win this war without the people of Ukraine. Because everyone pays salaries to our military," he said.

According to him, "people who are somewhere abroad for various reasons, they should also want to return. To build a state. To be a patriot not only on the streets, but to be a patriot at work. To want to do something for Ukraine."
The South Carolina Department of Education will no longer partner with the South Carolina Association of School Librarians.

State Superintendent Ellen Weaver announced the split in an Aug. 25 letter addressed to Michelle Spires, the president of the school librarians group.

The education department will directly communicate with school librarians and media specialists, Weaver wrote, but has formally ended all partnerships with the SCASL effective immediately.

More Information The Post and Courier Education Lab is a multi-year project, employing four reporters, focused on the need for public education reform in South Carolina. The Coastal Community Foundation and Spartanburg Foundation serve as fiscal sponsors for the Education Lab, which is supported by grants from the Jolley Foundation, Intertech, anonymous donors, and generous donations on behalf of donors to The Post and Courier Public Service and Investigative Fund who designate to the Education Lab.

Weaver, a Republican elected in November, said the break was a result of the SCASLs continued lack of discernment in response to parents raising issues with educational materials.

Whether or not existing library selection and purchasing policies have properly ensured that library materials sufficiently support the instructional program of the school and are age and developmentally appropriate are valid questions for parents and all community members to ask, she wrote.

The schools chief cited testimony given by Tamara Cox, the SCASLs previous president, to the states Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force as one way the school librarians group has undermined the partnership between educators and parents.

In the testimony, Cox shared the stories of multiple school librarians working across the state who, she said, had experienced threats and harassment related to attempts to censor materials.

Weaver also pointed to an Aug. 9 letter the SCASL had sent to the South Carolina School Boards Association in which the school librarians group expressed alarm at the growing number of attempts to ban and censor materials.

The group wrote about lessons to be learned from incidents in Forsyth County, Georgia, where the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights had found the school districts removal of books had potentially created a hostile environment in violation of students civil rights.

Weaver in her letter said parents are justified in questioning if books and other materials are appropriate for students and meet the states standards.

Donate to our Investigative Fund to support journalism like this Our public service and investigative reporting is among the most important work we do. Its also the most expensive reporting we do. We cant do it without your support. Donate Now

When SCASL labels those efforts as bans, censorship, or a violation of educators intellectual freedom, the result is a more hostile environment which does not serve the needs of students, she wrote.

Weavers letter was also sent to Gov. Henry McMaster, Senate President Thomas Alexander, House Speaker Murrell Smith, Sen. Greg Hembree and Rep. Shannon Erickson.

Brandon Charochak, a spokesman for the governor, echoed Weavers sentiments, saying parental involvement should be celebrated.

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Efforts to limit a parent's role in their child's education erode public confidence and create a divide between the school and community, he said. Our school libraries should not only recognize but encourage greater parental involvement.

The SCASL board wrote another letter in response to Weavers, dated Aug. 31, asking to meet with the state superintendent to discuss her concerns and improve communication. The group highlighted how it has collaborated with the state education department over 50 years, from hosting town hall meetings to assisting in updating and developing state standards for school library resource collections.

The board wrote that they believe parents have the right to raise concerns and ask questions.

The value of our partnership cannot be overstated  together we share mutual goals and values, the letter read.

Jace Woodrum, the executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina, criticized Weaver for not reaching out to the school librarians group before announcing the split and accused the state superintendent of playing political games.

More Coverage To read more in-depth stories from The Post and Courier's Education Lab, go to postandcourier.com/education-lab.

He said Weavers had organizations, such as the SCASL, in her sights for years. He pointed to how the Palmetto Promise Institute, the conservative think tank Weaver led prior to being elected state superintendent, claims a number of education organizations indoctrinate children in schools.

Its disappointing to me as a parent of an 8-year-old that our superintendent is against the freedom to read and the right to learn, Woodrum said in a statement.

As a result of Weavers decision to sever ties with the SCASL, the education department will no longer partner with the group on professional development efforts, said Laura Bayne, the deputy superintendent of strategic engagement. She said that was their biggest partnership with the school librarians group.

Bayne emphasized that the education department still values the work of school librarians and media specialists, but ultimately they take issue with the association.

If their stance on the role of parents in their childs education was to make clear that the feedback and concerns of parents should be taken seriously in the most customer friendly way possible, that would be a sign to us that our visions for how to best propel student outcomes are aligned, Bayne said.

Reporter Seanna Adcox contributed to this report.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly described who the S.C. Department of Education will communicate with now that it has cut ties with the SCASL. According to Superintendent Ellen Weaver's letter, the department will communicate directly with school librarians and media specialists.
As Idalias storm water makes its way down South Carolinas river basins, warnings are going up for riverside communities across the state. As of the morning of Sept. 1, the National Weather Service had issued flood warnings for portions of the Edisto, Santee, Canoochee, Savannah and several other smaller rivers. Many of those warnings will last into next week, or until further notice.

In Charleston County, local officials told residents to prepare for potential flooding along the Edisto over the next few days. The weather service predicts the downstream portions of the river could be close to major flood levels on Labor Day. Charleston County Emergency Management has advised residents to monitor river levels and prepare to relocate to higher ground.

County staff will monitor conditions over the weekend, said Kelsey Barlow, the county's public information officer. Dorchester County first responders also began alerting residents along the Edisto the morning of Sept. 1.

The National Weather Service has issued issued a flood warning for portions of the Edisto River near Givhans Ferry, which is expected to last until further notice. The service anticipates moderate flooding in that area in the coming days.

River water levels near Givhans Ferry could hit more than 13 feet on Sept. 5, the NWS reports. The flood stage in that area is 10 feet. At the NWS monitoring station near Canadys, the Edisto hit almost 20 feet by Sept. 1  up more than six feet from earlier this week.

Walterboro residents brace for flooding

A small housing complex in Walterboro was bracing Aug. 31 for the heightened river levels.

The six single-story buildings sit just a few dozen feet from Ireland Creek. On the morning of Sept. 1, the river flooded the road, preventing residents from entering and exiting the neighborhood by car.

Rachel Dobbins has lived in the area for four years. She said flooding typically comes after a storm has cleared through as the creek steadily swells with runoff from higher ground.
Pop-Up Picks is a recurring series in The Post and Couriers Food Section that previews an upcoming pop-up breakfast, lunch or dinner and the chefs behind it.

Deciding which days and times to open and close is a constant discussion among Charleston-area restaurant staffers.

Many have decided that, should they, Monday is the day to close. In general, the first day of the work week is the slowest for dining out. The decision for Mondays off can be financially motivated, but owners have also started keeping a closer eye on work-life balance.

But, maybe Monday is the only night your wife has off work, or your husband is a member of the food and beverage industry. Mondays might be ideal for dinners out. If so, there are plenty of places to do so in Charleston  especially downtown on Spring Street.

Malagon, Kultura, Bon Banh Mi, Pink Cactus and Xiao Bao Biscuit all are open. Mondays at Bistronomy By Nico, located at 64 Spring St., became a favorite among regulars shortly after executive chef Jim OConnor started serving a Wilders Wagyu burger featuring two smashed patties, Gruyere cheese, caramelized onions and dijonnaise.

OConnor now drums up more excitement on Wednesdays with his French Asian take on dim sum, traditionally a set of small fried, steamed and baked Chinese dishes.

Diners can order four pieces for $14. Options include duck confit steamed buns, lobster dumplings and tempura fried octopus. OConnor said creating the small bites is a good exercise, forcing him and his cooks to condense the essence of a full dish into a couple small bites.
Claflin Univesity, its Board of Trustees, faculty, staff and alumni nationwide is pleased to announce that Captain Brandon Maurice McFadden received the Outstanding Leaders Under 40 Award on October 27, in Orangeburg. Captain McFadden is one of the recipients of this prestigious award. Read moreClaflin Univesity Outstanding Leaders Under 40 Award
On Oct. 27, CCU announced Coastal Commitment, an initiative that ensures admission and free tuition to S.C. students who graduate in the top 10% of their high school class and whose families have an annual income of less than $80,000. Read moreNew CCU program would provide free tuition to many high-performing SC students
Our society is facing many challenges, but one that seems to lie just beneath the surface is a decline in empathy. We don't understand one another. We just aren't able (as the saying goes) to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. We can't see what motivates others, what makes them tick. As sy Read moreStevens: We need more empathy, and reading more can help
Charleston voters not only will select a mayor Nov. 7, but some of them also will fill one of four contested City Council seats (in the city's odd-numbered districts), primarily in West Ashley and in a new district created on Johns Island. Read moreEditorial: Four for Charleston City Council
The Hanahan Hawks swooped in on their first football region title in five years by breaking out the brooms on all four Region 8-AAA foes this fall, completing a perfect run with a 35-24 victory over visiting Beaufort on Friday, Oct. 27. Read moreHawks swoop in on region crown
COLUMBIA  The entire South Carolina Legislature will decide if a Richland County judge who sued legislators to keep his job will be re-appointed after Gov. Henry McMaster declined to take sides between quarreling Democrats.

McMaster refused to block Master-in-Equity Joseph Strickland from serving out his term through 2027  retiring after 38 years as the judge intends  saying that decision rests with the General Assembly.

His Sept. 1 letter to re-appoint Strickland, officially setting up a legislative election in 2024, comes three weeks after the state Supreme Court sided with the judge and ordered Richland County legislators to send his name to McMaster.

"It has become obvious that the prospect of Judge Strickland's reappointment has been a source of contention among members of the delegation," McMaster wrote in a letter to Rep. Leon Howard, chairman of the Richland County legislative delegation.

"I must note, however, that no member of the delegation has presented me with any convincing evidence or credible basis upon which to conclude that Judge Strickland is not fit to continue serving as master-in-equity  a role in which he has, by most accounts, served with honor and distinction (and with little or no opposition) for more than 30 years," he continued.

The governor's letter also revealed a new wrinkle to the unprecedented legal dispute.

After Strickland was last found qualified by the Legislature's judicial screening panel in 2021, the delegation did recommend McMaster appoint someone. It just wasn't Strickland.

McMaster didn't accept that recommendation because the other candidate had neither applied for nor been screened for the job. To appoint someone not found qualified by the panel would be illegal, he wrote.

It's unclear why the delegation asked McMaster to appoint attorney Thelma Jones-Walker. Howard's two-sentence letter to McMaster in March 2021, provided Sept. 1 to The Post and Courier, gave no explanation.
De Nora, multinational company listed on the Euronext Milan, has been selected by leading Italian EPC contractor Saipem, through its subsidiary Servizi Energia Italia, for a key contract for an offshore gas production compression complex in the GCC region.

A specialist in sustainable electrochemical technologies and in the emerging green hydrogen industry, De Nora said the scope of work includes provision of its on-site hypochlorite generation technology for biofouling control to the natural gas expansion project.

The project, which aims to increase LNG production by 43% once complete next year, will include two Sealor seawater electrochlorination (SWEC) systems, providing safe and reliable water treatment without the addition of hazardous chemicals.

As the pioneer of seawater electrochlorination technology, De Nora has delivered more than 1,200 seawater installations in 60 countries.

These references, combined with its ability to meet technical and safety requirements specified in the bidding process, qualified De Nora and its Seaclor technology for the project.

The purchase order covers the supply of two Seaclor electrochlorination systems, each able to produce 32 kg of chlorine per hour, that will equip two compression platforms supplied by Saipem.

The Seaclor systems will produce sodium hypochlorite from seawater using an electric current applied to the De Nora proprietary DSA electrodes.

The technology continuously injects hypochlorite into water streams, ensuring effective biofouling control and avoiding the handling and storage of chemicals.
The U.S. Department of Defense has signed a contract with Raytheon Missiles and Defense for the supply of AMRAAM medium-range missiles to Ukraine in the amount of $192 million.

This contract provides for Raytheon purchasing fielded AMRAAM weapons from various sources. Work will be performed at Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by November 29, 2024, the Pentagon said on its website.

The number of missiles and delivery dates are not specified.

The missiles will be purchased at the expense of funds from the Security Assistance Initiative Fund in Ukraine.
Pretty much everyone now agrees that shutting down our schools during the covid epidemic, at the demand of teachers unions, was one of the most catastrophic policy decisions of modern times. As I have said before, it is unfortunate that some old and very sick people had their demises hastened by covid, but what government did to our children, for no good reason, was a crime.

Having skipped school for a year or more courtesy of the teachers unions, a great many kids have never gone back, at least not on a consistent basis. Why should they, once not showing up got the official OK? Alpha News has the distressing statistics for Minnesota. True, Minnesota is a deeply troubled state. But I doubt the numbers would be much different in other blue states:

The number of Minnesota students who consistently attend school has dropped by 15% since 2019, according to state Department of Education data released last week. The annual North Star Accountability Report tracks consistent attendance, which is defined as the number of students who attend school at least 90% of the time and are not chronically absent.

So the state says you dont have consistent attendance if you miss one day every two weeks, but of course, many of the kids we are talking about miss vastly more time than that.

Since 2019, the last time attendance data was released, the number of students with consistent attendance records has dropped from 85% to 69.8%, according to data for the 2021-22 school year.

So up to 30% of Minnesotas kids are essentially part-time students. But it gets worse:

In Minneapolis, the number of students consistently attending school that year was just 45.8%.

When fewer than half of the students in a districta large one, in this casebother to come to school consistently, anything that government does, other than sending out truant officers, is utterly irrelevant. Minnesota Democrats demand (successfully) that every year, we spend more money on public education, which at this point is opulent, if frequently unsafe. But you can spend any amount of money, and it wont help the kidsmore than half, in failing districts like Minneapoliswho dont even bother to go to school.

The fundamental problem is that public schools are not run for the benefit of students. They are run by the teachers unions for the benefit of the teachers unions. Vast amounts of money are allocated every year to compensate, in many cases extravagantly, not only teachers who dont work full-time, but a rapidly growing cadre of administrators, DEI consultants, and above all, fat-cat union officials. The students are really an afterthought. And I cant help wondering whether one reason why so many kids dont even bother with education anymore is that they know they are an afterthought.

All of this is happening in the context of an education system in which more than half of all K-12 Minnesota kids can neither read nor do math at grade level. What we are witnessing is nothing less than a civilizational collapse that is brought about by insane, and often intentionally-destructive, left-wing policies.
In the Telegraph, Michael Taube writes: Justin Trudeaus smug incompetence is making Canada a laughing stock. First the broad observation, then the specific action that prompted it:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been a mediocre, ineffective leader since coming to power in 2015. Every time you believe hes reached the lowest depths of political incompetence, he finds a new way to sink even further into the muck.

His latest fatuity:

Global Affairs Canada adjusted its international travel advisory this week to warn the LGBTQ+ community against supposed discrimination they may face in the United States. Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons, the advisory noted, and to check relevant state and local laws.

I have a preliminary question: what is with the 2S? Thats a new one on me.

But heres the point: the idea that a gay (or whatever) person traveling in the U.S. is going to face discrimination is ridiculous. There are some states where a gay tourist under the age of 18 wont be able to get a sex change operation, and there are states where a gay tourist who enrolls in a public schoolbut how could a tourist do that?wont be instructed in the wonderful multiplicity of genders. Thats it. So the Canadian government issues a travel advisory.

Having worked in a federal government, I can say with certainty that this update would have never seen the light of day unless the Liberals [Trudeaus party] had signed off on it.

***

What was the point of this? Nothing. Like many things that have come out of Trudeaus Canada the past eight years, it was completely pointless.

A reporter asked Canadas Deputy Prime Minister about this travel advisory, in the context of Canadas relationship with the U.S. It is, after all, quite extraordinary to issue such an advisory about a friendly country. Her answer was a sublime example of diplomatic nothingspeak:

Canadas Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was asked by reporters about the change to the international travel advisory. She provided a predictable non-response response with plenty of political spin. We are able to manage that relationship regardless of the choice that the people of the United States make, she said. Even as we work hard on that government-to-government relationship, every Canadian government, very much including our government, needs to put at the centre of everything we do the interests and the safety of every single Canadian and every single group of Canadians.

To me, this advisory seems like a typical instance of left-wing governments that are out of ideas when it comes to policies that will actually help their citizens, defaulting to wholly symbolic pandering to one favored group or another. But Mr. Taube sees a broader significance:

[T]hings have noticeably changed since Trudeau became Prime Minister. Canadas relationship with the U.S. quickly soured when Donald Trump was President. Ottawa wasnt invited to join the AUKUS security pact in 2021, either, and the White House has said there are no plans to change this. This means that Joe Biden, a fairly like-minded progressive, most likely has real concerns about Trudeaus leadership. They would be justified. The U.S. and rest of the world have taken notice of Canadas rapid decline as a serious, relevant international player during Trudeaus unserious, irrelevant leadership. They hope it will change when the next Canadian election is held. Many Canadians feel the exact same way.

That strikes me as an optimistic view, but I hope he is right.
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Miami's iconic jewelry brand, Artizan Joyeria, introduces its latest fall collection: 'T.R.U - The Fall Edit', a blend of elegance and rebellious design. Kicking off next week, the brand adopts a fresh approach with exclusive bi-weekly product drops, emphasizing its high fashion point of view at an accessible price point.MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Stepping into the golden aura of fall, Artizan Joyeria, Miami's iconic jewelry brand renowned for its bold embrace of individuality, proudly announces the launch of its anticipated fall collection, 'T.R.U - The Fall Edit.' Beginning this week, the brand will be introducing a new approach to product launches with a series of exclusive bi-weekly product drops, offering a fresh lens into high fashion at a democratized price.Artizan Joyeria Fall 2023 Embarking on an unparalleled journey, 'T.R.U - The Fall Edit' crafts a compelling mosaic of defiant design and rebellious aesthetics. Each piece stands as a genuine testament to a daring dance between elegance and rebellion, crafted with a boldness that summons the spirit of saints and renegades alike. The collection heralds a genuine defiance of the expected, fusing enchanting elegance with a raw, chaotic charm.Speaking on the inspiration behind this series of product drops, Keren Yoshua, Artizan Joyeria's creative director, remarks, "In the 'T.R.U' series, we're embracing the transformative power that lies within each of us. We envisioned jewelry that isn't merely an accessory but an emblem of one's audacious spirit." As we leave summer behind and the cool air of autumn sets in, Artizan Joyeria invites the public to immerse in this refreshing and unique experience. Starting next Thursday, the 'T.R.U - The Fall Edit' series will be available exclusively at artizanjoyeria.com About Artizan JoyeriaArtizan Joyeria is a Miami-based jewelry brand known for its commitment to empowering individuality and defying conventions. Established in 2008, the brand has focused on creating unique, high-quality jewelry pieces that inspire and encourage women to embrace their unapologetically authentic selves. Using exceptional quality materials and designs, Artizan Joyeria seeks to make luxury accessible to all, fostering a strong connection with its customers and continuing to grow and evolve as a beloved brand in the industry.Contact InformationSofia Medina Marketing & PR sofia@ artizanjoyeria.com Sasha Slimak DIrector wholesale@ artizanjoyeria.com +1 (305) 767-0966Related Files2023-08-30 Fall Press2.png SOURCE: Artizan Joyeria
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HONG KONG, Aug 31, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - The eighth edition of the Belt and Road Summit, jointly organised by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), will take place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) on 13 and 14 September (Wednesday and Thursday). This year's Summit comes a decade after the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative. Under the theme Prospering on a Decade of Collaboration, the Summit creates a vital platform for Belt and Road-related business exchange.Some 80 government officials and business leaders from countries and regions along the Belt and Road, as well as project owners, investors and service providers from around the world, will gather to share their Belt and Road experience over the past 10 years and explore investment and business opportunities while showcasing Hong Kong's unique advantages to the global community.Algernon Yau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the HKSAR, said: "The physical return of the Belt and Road Summit after the pandemic carries great weight as it coincides with the momentous 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. This Summit is a valuable opportunity to deepen understanding of Hong Kong's pivotal role in the Belt and Road Initiative and to foster increased business opportunities, particularly in emerging markets such as ASEAN and the Middle East. Hong Kong's internationalisation, exceptional professional services, and talented workforce have always played a critical role in connecting the global community. Leveraging our strengths in finance, risk management, accounting and taxation, architecture and engineering, legal services and commercial arbitration, construction management, logistics and more, Hong Kong actively contributes to the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative and endeavours to meet Mainland China's evolving needs." Dr Peter K N Lam, Chairman of the HKTDC, said: "Since its inception in 2016, the Belt and Road Summit has evolved into a preeminent global business platform for discussing opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative and fostering substantial cooperation. The Summit has consistently garnered high-level support from the mainland. This year, we anticipate the participation of over 5,000 distinguished guests for fruitful exchanges. The HKTDC will continue to build on the annual Summit, enhance the information platforms, and leverage our extensive network of 50 offices worldwide to assist the business community in seizing the vast opportunities presented by the initiative. These concerted efforts help reinforce Hong Kong's role as the commercial hub for Belt and Road opportunities." Connecting policy and business leaders to explore collaborationOver the past decade, more than 150 countries and regions and over 30 international organisations have signed more than 200 Belt and Road cooperation documents, covering markets accounting for 40% of global GDP and 45% of world goods trade. Hong Kong has been an active participant and contributor, helping international companies expand in Belt and Road countries and regions, fostering deeper exchanges and cooperation between nations, and promoting high-quality economic growth.The Belt and Road Summit, recognised as a crucial platform for promoting the business opportunities under the Initiative, features discussion sessions and exchange. These include the Opening Session, Policy Dialogue, Business Plenary, Thematic Breakout Sessions and Project Pitching Sessions. At the Opening Session John Lee, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, will deliver an opening address. Aset Irgaliyev, Chairman of Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms, Republic of Kazakhstan, and Rizal Affandi Lukman, Senior and Special Staff to the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs of Indonesia, will also deliver keynote addresses.Overseas officials join expanded policy dialogueThis year's Summit will feature two Policy Dialogue sessions. The first session, hosted by Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the HKSAR, is titled Tapping into the Potential of the Middle East. The dialogue aims to explore effective ways for Hong Kong and international companies to access Middle Eastern markets, fostering collaborative advantages, reciprocal benefits and collective development. Speakers sharing their insights will include Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation of Egypt; and Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy of the UAE.The second session, Belt and Road Initiative as a Catalyst for Regional Cooperation and Development, will be hosted by Mr Yau. This session, focusing on market integration and connectivity among economies, will feature high-ranking officials from ASEAN and Europe who will share their insights, including Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary; and Zambry Abd Kadir, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia.The Business Plenary on the afternoon of the first day revolves around Fostering Business Collaboration along the Belt and Road through Hong Kong. The 10-year milestone of the Belt and Road Initiative coincides with a crucial phase in the post-pandemic era, characterised by a focus on global economic improvement, where multilateral cooperation assumes paramount importance. The discussion, chaired by Antony Leung, Chairman of the Nan Fung Group and Group Chairman and Co-founder of New Frontier Group, will analyse how growth momentum in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) can propel development of the Initiative and the strategic role of Hong Kong and the GBA. Esteemed guest speakers, including Jeffrey Cheah, Founder and Chairman of Sunway Group; Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman of Schneider Electric; Wang Haihuai, Director and General Manager of China Communications Construction Company Limited; and Wang Xiangming, Chairman of China Resources Group, will share their insights.New Middle East Forum to explore collaborationIn February this year the Chief Executive led a delegation organised by the HKTDC to the Middle East. The visit proved highly successful in exploring opportunities and strengthening trade ties with the region. The Middle East Forum debuts at this year's Belt and Road Summit, focusing on opportunities, developments and collaboration the Middle East presents. Countries in the region are key Belt and Road partners and their relationship with Hong Kong is going from strength to strength. The Middle East Forum will feature Business and Investment Outlook in the Middle East Market, a business session hosted by Ronnie C. Chan, Chairman of Hang Lung Properties Limited, which will invite distinguished guests, including Nicolas Aguzin, Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited; and Hossam Heiba, President of General Authority for Investment & Free Zones, to analyse trade and investment prospects of the Middle Eastern market and further strengthen the connection between Hong Kong and Middle Eastern countries.Click here https://www.acnnewswire.com/press-release/english/86230/
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SALT LAKE CITY, UT / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2023 / In an age where businesses across the globe are pivoting towards sustainability, the solar industry is experiencing an unprecedented boom. But while many companies zero in on technological advancements and hardware, one firm, Building Tomorrow Solar, is choosing a path less traveled. Under the visionary leadership of Jordan Lally, this enterprise is addressing the heart of the matter: the homeowners.Putting Homeowners at the CoreFor many, the shift to solar remains a decision fraught with misconceptions and hesitations. The prevailing narrative often revolves around technological specifics, sidelining the crucial homeowner perspective. Building Tomorrow Solar, with Jordan at the helm, is flipping the script.The company's strategy pivots on enlightening homeowners about the less-discussed pitfalls of traditional utility services, which often entail unforeseen charges, rising rates, and veiled profit motives. By juxtaposing these pain points with the environmental and financial boons of solar energy, Building Tomorrow Solar is not just selling a service - it's cultivating an informed community of solar advocates.Harnessing the Power of AIIn a remarkable blend of tech innovation and marketing acumen, Jordan's Building Tomorrow Solar is embracing artificial intelligence (AI). By integrating AI into solar marketing, the firm is not only reaching potential clients more efficiently but also offering tailored solutions that resonate on a personal level.The application of AI hints at a future where homeowners, even before a human interaction, are presented with custom solar solutions, data-driven insights, and even real-time problem resolutions, further simplifying their transition to cleaner energy.Beyond Business: Lighting Up the WorldYet, for Jordan and Building Tomorrow Solar, the vision extends beyond profit margins. Inspired by his experiences and global travels, Jordan harbors an ambition to electrify underprivileged communities worldwide. In marrying entrepreneurial verve with a humanitarian mission, Jordan exemplifies the new-age leader - one who recognizes that true success lies not just in financial growth, but in the positive impact left in its wake.The Horizon AheadAs the solar industry propels forward, businesses that adopt a homeowner-centric approach, like Building Tomorrow Solar, are poised to lead. By coupling cutting-edge technology with a genuine desire to better the world, Jordan Lally's enterprise is not just building a brighter tomorrow but inspiring countless others to join the journey.Contact:801-810-0704Info@ buildingtomorrow.solarInstagramFacebookLinkedin SOURCE: Building Tomorrow Solar
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, a nationally recognized law firm, notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Comerica Incorporated ("Comerica " or the "Company") (NYSE:CMA) and certain of its officers.Class Definition:This lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Comerica securities between February 9, 2021 and May 29, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's site: www.bgandg.com/cma Case Details:The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose, among other things, that: (1) Comerica failed to provide meaningful oversight over the vendors to whom it contracted out day-to-day operations of the Direct Express program, a system through which it is contracted to provide federal benefits to millions of Americans without bank accounts; (2) as a result of violations in the day-to-day operations of Direct Express, including handling fraud disputes and allowing sensitive data to be handled out of a vendor's office in Pakistan, Comerica was not in compliance with the Federal Contract, and knew it was not in compliance; (3) Comerica knew and failed to disclose that it was in potential violation of Regulation E due to inadequate fraud prevention in the Direct Express program and responses to instance of fraud; and (4) as a result, Defendants' statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.What's Next?A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, you can visit the firm's site: www.bgandg.com/cma or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Law Clerk and Client Relations Manager, Yael Nathanson of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 332-239-2660. If you suffered a loss in Comerica you have until October 20, 2023, to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman:Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide.Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.Contact:Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLCPeretz Bronstein or Yael Nathanson332-239-2660 | info@ bgandg.com SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
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Rick is an advocate, mentor, and trusted advisor with national reach, and we are thrilled to welcome him to our team.LA MESA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Constellation Behavioral Health is a nationally-recognized group of private treatment centers dedicated to excellence in the treatment of substance use and mental health disorders, including research, prevention, and education. We're proud to announce the addition of Rick Hubbard to our senior leadership team. Known nationally for his integrity, character, and commitment to meaningful and effective care, Rick brings more than two decades of experience in leadership and recovery advocacy to his new role as Executive Vice President of Business Development.Rick Hubbard, Executive Vice President of Business Development at Constellation Behavioral Health Welcome, Rick Hubbard!"Rick is known in our field for his integrity, sincerity, and deep commitment to providing high-quality service to all who seek help," said Dr. Ian Wolds, President of Constellation Behavioral Health. "His vast experience working in behavioral health and exceptional leadership skills will further strengthen our organization and enhance the mission, values, and vision that drive our work." Rick's advocacy journey began in 2002. Since 2012, Rick has overseen the professional relations team at Origins Behavioral Health. His time there was impactful and meaningful for the entire recovery community. He is a board member for the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP), C4 Recovery Solutions, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Behavioral Health Symposium.Recognized for his deep commitment to both the clients he serves and the entire behavioral health community, Rick is an active member of both the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals and the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, where he continues to foster connections with professionals who share his passion for creating a positive impact on the lives of those struggling with substance use and mental health disorders.Throughout his career, Rick's primary emphasis has been on cultivating relationships while assisting families and clients seeking care. Rick's extensive background as both a leader in behavioral healthcare and a mentor in professional relationship-building equips him with a distinctive viewpoint that underscores the vital need for exceptionally personalized clinical care for everyone seeking assistance with their mental health or a substance use disorder. Rick is an advocate, mentor, and trusted advisor with national reach, and we are thrilled to welcome him to our team.Constellation Behavioral HealthFounded in 2010, Constellation Behavioral Health is dedicated to creating and operating innovative treatment programs for adults struggling with mental health or substance use disorders. We fundamentally believe that excellent treatment outcomes depend on a strong combination of best-in-class clinical and medical care.Media Contact:Drew Paxton (he, him, his)Chief Experience OfficerGalen Mental Healthm: (415) 613-4155 e: dpaxton@ galenmentalhealth.com Contact InformationDrew Paxton Chief Experience Officer dpaxton@ galenmentalhealth.com (415) 613-4155SOURCE: Constellation Behavioral Health
Russian Il-76 military transport planes at the Pskov airbase were attacked by drones launched from the territory of Russia, said Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in an exclusive interview with The War Zone.

We are working from the territory of Russia, Budanov told us, though he would not specify whether the attack was carried out by GUR personnel or Russian partisans.

He also declined to say what kind of drones were used or how many.

In his battle damage assessment of the aircraft, Budanov told us that two were destroyed and two were seriously damaged.

In addition, The War Zone project managed to get a picture from a source in intelligence, where the direct result of one of the strikes is visible. According to the ezine, the fuel on board may have been the reason that the other two completely burned down.

The War Zone believes that the images indicate that most likely the bombs were dropped from a drone or drones under local control, which corresponds to Budanov's comments that it was a strike carried out inside Russia, probably very close to the base, and not using autonomous long-range drones.

This successful attack raises additional questions about Russian force protection defenses and its ability to counter drone operations over its domestic airbase facilities, the War Zone says.

After an attack last month on the Stoltsy-2 Air Base inside Russia, GUR spokesman Andriy Yusov told us it was carried out on the GUR's behest by people inside Russia. Later, Russian officials ordered increased patrols around that base, searching for collaborators and any equipment that they could use.

IL-76s are the basis of Russian military aviation. Budanov noted that the GUR specifically targeted these aircraft, since they are in working condition and are used for transporting military cargo and paratroopers from the Airborne Forces.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-09-01 01:20:58

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CumminsCOLUMBUS, IN / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2023 / Cummins Inc. has posted its 20th annual Sustainability Progress Report, disclosing reductions in greenhouse gases (GHGs) and water consumption while establishing the foundation for progress on other 2030 environmental goals.In addition, the global power technology leader reported steady progress on the company's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, including a program addressing systemic discrimination against the Black community in the United States. The report also details the promising start to an initiative addressing the global water crisis, and the continued rebound in employee volunteerism since the outset of the global covid-19 pandemic.Cummins made these advances, and more, while also achieving record revenues of $28.1 billion in 2022, and completing the acquisition of Meritor Inc., the largest acquisition in company history. Cummins also concluded the transition from former Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger to Cummins' first female chief executive, Chair and CEO Jennifer Rumsey, earlier this year."I believe there is no company better positioned than Cummins to make a lasting positive impact on our world," Rumsey says in concluding her essay that opens the 2022-2023 report.Cummins powers some of the world's most demanding and economically vital applications, from trucks, trains, and buses to agricultural and construction equipment, watercraft, and generators providing emergency power to hospitals, data centers and more.The company has vowed to be a leader on climate action and considers the effort to decarbonize the global commercial power industry a growth opportunity. The technology leader believes diversity, equity and inclusion is critical to establishing the right work environment for success.Cummins' report, which is divided into three sections covering the Environment, Social, and Governance and Economics, is available in Cummins' Sustainability Document Archive.Visitors can also find the company's 2023 Human Capital Management Report, its 2023 report to the framework established by the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, and assurance statements on key environmental, social and governance data in the company's 2022-2023 report.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Cummins Inc. on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: Cummins Inc.Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cummins-incEmail: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Cummins Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-09-01 20:00:44

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Advanced Solar Generators for Portable and Uninterruptible Power SupplyCLEVELAND, OH / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Dory Power, a leading U.S. technology company specializing in portable solar generators, is excited to announce its expansion plans and extend an invitation to potential business partners to join its growing national business network.Dory Sentry for Picnic Portable solar generator from Dory Power used to grill steak and microwave foods at picnic.As the demand for reliable and sustainable portable power solutions continues to surge, Dory Power is responding with strategic expansion initiatives for mass productions of its portable solar generators and uninterruptible power supply systems. The company is establishing a manufacturing facility in Northeastern Ohio, a dedicated factory poised to accommodate a large production capacity of 100,000 units annually.With the establishment of the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, Dory Power is prepared to meet the growing market demand for portable solar generators in North America. Embarking on this exciting phase, Dory Power extends a warm welcome to potential business partners to collaborate and shape the future of portable power together.This expansion aligns with Dory Power's commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation and sustainability while providing reliable and sustainable portable power for diverse applications. The company recognizes the value of partnerships and invites prospective collaborators to join in its mission.Prospective business partners interested in leveraging this opportunity and becoming a part of Dory Power's national business network are encouraged to reach out. For inquiries and further details, interested parties are welcome to browse the Dory Power website and contact the Dory Power team via email at sales@ dorypower.com The expansion initiatives reflect Dory Power's dedication to enhancing accessibility to advanced solar generators, empowering individuals and businesses alike.About Dory Power:Dory Power, founded in 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio, is a leading U.S. technology company focusing on the design and manufacture of advanced lithium-ion battery power systems for energy storage and backup power supply. Dory Power develops and manufactures a range of innovative solar generators and uninterruptible power supply systems, being widely adopted and used by households, hospitals, labs, data centers, law firms, restaurants, and universities nationwide in the United States. The company's mission is to empower people with the freedom to access clean and efficient energy wherever and whenever they need it. Through continuous innovation and a customer-centric approach, Dory Power is shaping the future of portable power solutions.Contact InformationDory Power Company Solar generator manufacturer service@ dorypower.com 2163863953SOURCE: Dory Power Company
PR-Inside.com: 2023-09-01 14:25:41

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ST. PETERSBURG, FL / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Duke Energy - More than 1,400 income-eligible customers in Volusia County's DeBary neighborhood will receive a complimentary energy makeover this month for their house, mobile home or apartment as part of Duke Energy's money-saving Neighborhood Energy Saver program.Beginning August 15, Duke Energy Florida will assess the homes of income-eligible customers to determine if they qualify for free attic insulation, duct sealing and AC maintenance. Eligible customers may also qualify to receive up to 17 energy-saving improvements at no cost, including:Digital room thermometerEnergy-saving showerhead or shower wandOne-year supply of AC filtersSupply of AC/furnace filtersWater-saving kitchen and bathroom faucet aeratorsEnergy-efficient lightbulbsWater heater wraps/pipe wrapCovers for window AC unitsCaulking, weatherstripping and door sweepsInsulation upgradeBasic AC maintenanceAC duct leakage sealingThe Neighborhood Energy Saver program also teaches customers how their daily activities, habits and other factors can contribute to higher electric use and energy bills."A smarter energy future is about making smarter, more strategic choices in the way we use energy," said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. "The Neighborhood Energy Saver program is just one of many we have available to help customers use energy more efficiently and save on their bills." Eligible customers received an invitation to the Neighborhood Energy Saver launch event scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Gateway Center for the Arts, 880 N. Highway 17-92 in DeBary. Customers should contact our Neighborhood Energy Saver Customer Care Center at 855.227.2918 to reserve their spots, or to get more information if they cannot attend the launch event.A map showing eligible neighborhoods is available upon request."I would like to thank Duke Energy for working with residents who struggle with energy costs to enroll in their Neighborhood Energy Saver Program," said Mayor Karen Chasez, City of DeBary. "With Duke Energy's assistance, our residents will have the necessary resources to make their homes more energy efficient while learning how to reduce energy use in their daily activities." "Being more energy-efficient is a critical component of environmental conservation and sustainability," said Chasez. "By embracing energy efficiency, we can contribute to a healthier and more resilient city for future generations.Since 2006, the Neighborhood Energy Saver program has helped customers in more than 65 communities across Florida, installing more than 700,000 energy efficiency improvements in more than 47,000 income-eligible customers' homes.The program is available to residential customers (both homeowners and renters) living in communities identified by Duke Energy. Federal and state guidelines and census data are used to objectively select communities where the program would be most beneficial to income-eligible customers.Since 1981, Duke Energy has helped its Florida customers save nearly $1.25 billion through its energy efficiency programs, including the Neighborhood Energy Saver program. For more information on energy efficiency tips that benefit all homeowners, visit duke-energy.com/home/savings Duke Energy FloridaDuke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 10,500 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 1.9 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.Duke 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.Media contact: Audrey Stasko Media line: 800.559.3853 Twitter: @DE_AudreySView 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: 2023-09-01 05:36:26

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NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2023 / Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until October 23, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE), if they purchased the Company's securities between February 28, 2019 and August 16, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.What You May DoIf you purchased securities of Hawaiian Electric and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email ( lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com) , or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-he/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by October 23, 2023.About the LawsuitHawaiian Electric and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) the Company's wildfire prevention and safety protocols and procedures were inadequate to meet the challenges for which they were ostensibly designed; (ii) accordingly, despite knowing the degree of risk that wildfires posed to Maui, the Company's inadequate safety protocols and procedures placed Maui at a heightened risk of devastating wildfires; and (iii) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.The case is Bhangal v. Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-04332.About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCKSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.To learn more about KSF, you may visit http://ksfcounsel.com/ Contact:Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCLewis Kahn, Managing Partnerlewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com1-877-515-18501100 Poydras St., Suite 960New Orleans, LA 70163SOURCE: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC
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RADNOR, PA / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2023 / The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP( www.ktmc.com) informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed against Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. ("Hawaiian Electric") (NYSE:HE). The action charges Hawaiian Electric with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the company's business, operations, and prospects. As a result of Hawaiian Electric's materially misleading statements and omissions to the public, Hawaiian Electric's investors have suffered significant losses.CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/new-cases/hawaiian-electric-industries-inc?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=he&mktm=r LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE:OCTOBER 23, 2023CLASS PERIOD: FEBRUARY 28, 2019 THROUGH AUGUST 16, 2023CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:Jonathan Naji, Esq. at (484) 270-1453 or via email at info@ ktmc.com Kessler Topaz is one of the world's foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent.HAWAIIAN ELECTRICS'S ALLEGED MISCONDUCTThe Class Period begins on February 28, 2019 when Hawaiian Electric filed its Annual Report which stated, among other things, that the company had "appropriately responded to environmental conditions." In early August 2023, a series of severe wildfires broke out in Hawaii, predominantly on the island of Maui. The most destructive fire began in West Maui near the town of Lahaina on the morning of August 8, 2023. By that afternoon, intense winds had knocked down approximately 30 utility poles throughout Maui, resulting in at least 15 separate outages impacting more than 12,400 customers. Moreover, videos captured by local residents showed that downed power lines belonging to Hawaiian Electric appeared to have ignited at least several of the fires. Ultimately, the wind-driven fires prompted evacuations, caused widespread damage, and have killed at least 114 people, with some 850 others still missing in Lahaina.On August 12, 2023, news outlets began reporting that Hawaiian Electric lacked the proper policies and procedures to mitigate the impact of the wildfires. Specifically, it was revealed that, at the time the wildfires began, the company did not maintain a public power shutoff plan-i.e., a plan in which electricity is intentionally cut off to areas where strong wind events could cause the fires to spread. On this news, Hawaiian Electric's stock price fell $10.94 per share, or 33.76%, to close at $21.46 per share on August 14, 2023.Then, on August 16, 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hawaiian Electric is meeting with firms that specialize in restructuring advisory work and exploring options for the various financial and legal challenges that the company faces as a consequence from the Maui wildfires.Finally, on August 17, 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hawaiian Electric had for years been aware of the threat posed by wildfire but waited years to act. Specifically, the report stated that between 2019 and 2022, Hawaiian Electric spent less than $245,000 on wildfire-specific projects on Maui and did not seek state approval to raise utility rates to pay for broad wildfire safety improvements until 2022. Following this news, Hawaiian Electric's stock price fell $2.54 per share, or 17.43%, to close at $12.03 per share on August 17, 2023.WHAT CAN I DO?Hawaiian Electric investors may, no later than October 23, 2023, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff for the class, through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLPor other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages Hawaiian investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information. The class action complaint against Hawaiian Electric, Bhangal v. Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., et al., Case No. 23-cv-04332, is filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASEWHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLPKessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and 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, LLPJonathan Naji, Esq.280 King of Prussia RoadRadnor, PA 19087(484) 270-1453info@ ktmc.com SOURCE: Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) equity and bond investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now.Class Period: Feb. 28, 2019 - Aug. 16, 2023Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Oct. 23, 2023Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/HE Contact An Attorney Now: HE@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) Securities Fraud Class Action:The complaint alleges that, unknown to investors, (1) Hawaiian Electric's wildfire prevention and safety protocols and procedures were inadequate to meet the challenges for which they were ostensibly designed, and (2) accordingly, despite knowing the degree of risk that wildfires posed to Maui, the company's inadequate safety protocols and procedures placed Maui at a heightened risk of devastating wildfires.On Aug. 12, 2023 (after historic wildfires broke out in Maui, killing dozens of people and causing billions of dollars of damage), The Washington Post reported that "[b]efore the Maui wildfires, Hawaiian Electric did not have a plan - adopted widely in California and other states - to shut off power in certain lines in advance of dangerous winds." According to the Post "Hawaiian Electric was aware that a power shut-off was an effective strategy, documents show, but had not adopted it as part of its fire-mitigation plans, according to the company and two former power and energy officials interviewed by The Washington Post." Citing a former member of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, the Post reported that the decision to avoid shutting off power "is reflective of the utility's struggles to bolster its aging and vulnerable infrastructure against wildfires[.]"Then, on Aug. 16, 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hawaiian Electric is in talks with restructuring firms and is exploring options to address its financial and legal challenges arising from the Maui wildfires.The next day, the WSJ reported that, while knowing of wildfire threats, Hawaiian Electric spent less than $245,000 between 2019 and 2022 on Maui wildfire-specific projects.This news drove the price of Hawaiian Electric shares and bonds sharply lower."We're focused on investors' losses and proving Hawaiian Electric misled investors about its operational safeguards necessary to comply with state safety requirements," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.If you invested in Hawaiian Electric 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 Hawaiian Electric 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 HE@ 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.SOURCE: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP
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PETALING JAYA, Malaysia, Aug 29, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Berhad, a leading genomics and biopharmaceutical specialist, recorded a revenue of RM2.23 million for the 4th quarter ended 30 June 2023. This represents a decrease from RM6.33 million in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year, owing to a deliberate pivot from vaccines to cell and gene therapy products, focusing more on genetic screening initiatives.For the quarter under review, the Group recorded a loss before tax (LBT) of RM9.98 million compared with a profit before tax (PBT) of RM2.97 million in the same quarter of the preceding year. The change is largely attributed to the impairment of receivables amounting to RM7.54 million and the Group's expansion and product development efforts in the fast-moving consumer good (FMCG) market. The Group will continue to implement stringent credit control policy as they move forward with their initiatives, particularly with Rejuvium.For the current year-to-date, MGRC reported a revenue of RM8.36 million, a decrease from RM28.36 million in the previous year. A LBT of RM13.59 million was registered, largely due to similar factors affecting the quarterly results.While the financials mark a transitional phase for the Group, MGRC remains robust and adaptable, focusing on both the short-term improvements in revenue and long-term sustainability through product development and market expansion.Azri Azerai, Executive Chairman of Malaysian Genomics, expressed optimism about MGRC's future, stating: "MGRC achieved higher revenue in the current quarter as compared to the preceding quarter's revenue of RM0.68 million, mainly generated from cell and gene therapy products. Our state-of-the-art BSL-2 cell processing lab, cGMP approved by MOH for production of cell and gene therapies, illustrates our technological advancement. Hence, we foresee that we will obtain higher revenue from cell and gene products in the next quarter." "Furthermore, we continue to engage with private hospitals and the Ministry of Health in Malaysia to improve access to our cell and gene therapy products. Recent partnerships and our focus on novel ingredients and finished products will target a wide market of use such as for cosmeceuticals, wound healing, general wellness and genetic-based fitness improvement programs that reflect our innovative drive and commitment to enhancing healthcare solutions and more," continued Azri.Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd: 0155 [BURSA: MGRC] [RIC: MGRC:KL] [BBG: MGRC:MK], http://www.mgrc.com.my/
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Originally published by The Salvation ArmyNORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / In the second quarter of 2023, FedEx's mobile feeding units proved vital in The Salvation Army's efforts to serve their communities. The mobile feeding units were used in outreach events, disaster relief, and homeless feeding programs, and over this quarter the mobile canteens were deployed to 47 different events, with over 32,562 people served. The Salvation Army is greatly appreciative of the support of FedEx and their donation of mobile feeding units and will continue to utilize them to further support our communities.Disaster ResponseTornadoes in Indiana: On March 31st, 2023, a tornado swept across Indiana and caused significant damage in several counties. The FedEx canteen was engaged immediately to support survivors, first responders, city workers, and utility crews. In Sullivan, Indiana, the canteen was used by disaster workers for weeks after the tornado. Over 50 volunteers served 6,596 meals, 7,667 snacks, and 6,393 drinks. Additionally, disaster workers provided Bibles, blankets, comfort kits, and toys and 15 survivors were provided with Emotional and Spiritual Care by trained Emergency Disaster Services workers. Over 10,000 survivors were served with the help of The Salvation Army and the FedEx canteen.Fires in Western Pennsylvania: The Salvation Army FedEx canteens were used by Emergency Disaster Services teams to respond to 8 fires in the following counties in Pennsylvania over the course of April, May, and June (Braddock, Glassport, West Mifflin, East Pittsburgh, and Pitcarin). Salvation Army volunteers and officers spent hours at the scenes of the fires, providing support to both survivors and first responders. Emergency Disaster Services workers provided meals, drinks, blankets, and snacks, reaching over 455 individuals affected by the fires.Tornadoes in Tennessee: Beginning on March 31st and continuing through the early hours of April 1st, tornadoes blew through Tennessee, ultimately damaging dozens of homes and taking the lives of several Tennessee residents. The Salvation Army Kentucky & Tennessee Division deployed the FedEx canteen to serve those impacted, focusing their efforts on Wynne, Arkansas, and Covington, Tennessee. The FedEx canteen was used by disaster workers to serve for two days in Wynne, Arkansas and for three days in Covington, Tennessee. In Wynne, Arkansas, disaster workers partnered with the fire department to serve meals, snacks, and drinks to survivors and first responders. In Covington, Tennessee, the disaster workers partnered with the police department who were able to escort the team to the most impacted areas where they served first responders. Trained disaster workers also provided Emotional & Spiritual Care to those impacted. Over the course of a 5-day response, over 100 individuals were served by The Salvation Army with the help of the FedEx canteens.Fires in Chicago: From April to June, The Salvation Army North & Central Illinois Division responded to 6 fires in Chicago, Illinois and Aurora, Illinois. With the help of the FedEx canteen, Emergency Disaster Service workers provided 247 snacks, 447 drinks, and 29 meals to over 340 first responders actively fighting the fires.Homeless Feeding and OutreachMiami Lunch and Love Program: Since 2022, The Salvation Army of Miami-Dade, Florida has been feeding Miami's growing homeless population through its Lunch and Love program. With the use of a FedEx canteen, volunteers set up their service in one of Miami's "camp cities" for unsheltered homeless. In this quarter, volunteers engaged with 135 homeless individuals and distributed over 100 meals, 135 snack packs and drinks, and 30 first aid kits. Additionally, The Salvation Army provided 12 people with emotional and spiritual support and referred seven (7) people to additional Salvation Army services. As the number of Miami's unsheltered homeless continues to grow, the need for this service is vital; The Salvation Army of Miami-Dade hopes to increase this program from biweekly to weekly feedings.Baltimore FeedMore Program: The Potomac Division of The Salvation Army has established the FeedMore program with the use of a FedEx canteen. Every Friday, the canteen runs a route with 4 set stops throughout the city, so individuals in need know where and when to find the provided resources. 18 Salvation Army officers and volunteers have engaged with over 7,000 Baltimore residents, serving 7,514 meals and snacks, 7,801 drinks, and distributing over 3,000 hygiene kits.Baltimore Cornbread Cafe: Twice a week, The Salvation Army Baltimore Temple Corps in the Potomac Division holds a free feeding program for food-insecure residents. Using the FedEx canteens, Salvation Army volunteers and officers have served thousands of meals, snacks, and drinks, and have distributed 250 hygiene kits. This quarter, Salvation Army officers and volunteers have engaged with 1,186 food-insecure individuals in the Baltimore area with the help of the FedEx canteen.Danville Mobile Feeding Program: The Salvation Army FedEx canteen previously located in the Washington, DC area was approved for relocation to Danville, Virginia. The FedEx canteen was quickly integrated into a new mobile feeding program that serves 45 sites per week and works with multiple community partners to serve those experiencing food insecurity in the community. In Danville, The Salvation Army has formed partnerships with local churches to provide daily assistance to food-insecure individuals in the community. The FedEx canteen is used to serve community members in 45 different feeding locations and have engaged with 447 locals by providing hot meals, snacks, drinks, and hygiene kits to anyone in need.New Orleans Homeless Feeding Program: Every Tuesday and Thursday in New Orleans, Louisiana, Salvation Army disaster workers serve meals to the New Orleans' homeless population. Since April 1st of this year, The Salvation Army Alabama, Louisiana & Mississippi division has served 1,872 homeless individuals by providing thousands of meals, snacks, and drinks with the help of FedEx canteen.Trenton Mobile Feeding Program: Every Friday evening in Trenton, New Jersey, a volunteer-led team takes the canteen to multiple locations in the city to provide prepared meals, pantry boxes, and various other items to vulnerable populations. These populations include the homeless, housing and food insecure, low-income, migrants, and seniors. The Salvation Army-Trenton Corps collaborates regularly with other service providers in Trenton such as Trenton Police, interfaith coalitions, Mercer County Community Organizations Active in D
PR-Inside.com: 2023-09-01 09:15:25

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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA (SIX:RLF)(OTCQB:RLFTF)(OTCQB:RLFTY) (Relief Therapeutics), a biopharmaceutical company committed to delivering innovative treatment options for select specialty, unmet and rare diseases, today announced that Jack Weinstein, chief executive officer, will present a company overview during the H.C. Wainwright 25th Annual Global Investment Conference taking place September 11-13, 2023 at the Lotte New York Palace hotel in New York.Presentation Date: Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023Presentation Time: 12:30 p.m. EDTLocation: Lotte New York Palace Hotel, 455 Madison Avenue at 50th Street, New York, NY 10022Management will host one-on-one meetings during the event. Institutional investors who are registered for the conference can log into www.hcwevents.com to request a meeting with the company.A live webcast of the Relief Therapeutics presentation can be found at the following link: https://journey.ct.events/view/6db5b681-f490-4229-8384-6ac135554cfc and will be archived for a period of 90 days after the conference.ABOUT RELIEF THERAPEUTICSRelief Therapeutics is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing treatment paradigms and delivering improvements in efficacy, safety and convenience to benefit the lives of patients living with select specialty and rare diseases. Relief Therapeutics' portfolio offers a balanced mix of marketed, revenue-generating products, our proprietary, globally patented Physiomimic and TEHCLO platform technologies and a targeted clinical development pipeline consisting of risk-mitigated assets focused in three core therapeutic areas, which include rare metabolic, rare dermatology and rare respiratory diseases. In addition, Relief Therapeutics is commercializing several legacy products via licensing to distribution partners. Relief Therapeutics' mission is to provide therapeutic relief to those suffering from rare diseases and is being advanced by an international team of well-established, experienced biopharma industry leaders with extensive research, development and rare disease expertise. Relief Therapeutics is headquartered in Geneva, with additional offices in Balerna, Switzerland, Offenbach am Main, Germany and Monza, Italy. Relief Therapeutics is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the symbol RLF and quoted in the U.S. on OTCQB under the symbols RLFTF and RLFTY. For more information, please visit our website www.relieftherapeutics.com or follow Relief Therapeutics on LinkedIn and Twitter.CONTACT:RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SACatherine Day, Vice President, Investor Relations & Communicationscatherine.day@relieftherapeutics.com SOURCE: RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA
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NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2023 / Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until October 2, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against RTX Corporation f/k/a Raytheon Technologies Corporation (NYSE:RTX), if they purchased the Company's securities between February 8, 2021 and July 25, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.What You May DoIf you purchased securities of RTX and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email ( lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com) , or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-rtx/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by October 2, 2023.About the LawsuitRTX and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) the Company's Geared Turbofan (GTF) engine that powers hundreds of aircraft across many airlines had been affected by a quality control issue from at least 2015-2020; (ii) the quality control issue would require the Company to recall and reinspect many of its GTF airplanes, affecting customers and harming its business; and (iii) as a result, RTX's statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.The case is Peneycad v. RTX Corporation f/k/a Raytheon Technologies Corporation, et al., No. 23-cv-01035.About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCKSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.To learn more about KSF, you may visit http://ksfcounsel.com/ CONTACT:Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCLewis Kahn, Managing Partnerlewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com1-877-515-18501100 Poydras St., Suite 960New Orleans, LA 70163SOURCE: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC
According to the results of training with nuclear simulators for the Iskander missile system delivered to Belarus, the 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation recognized Belarus' complete unpreparedness for the use of such weapons, head of the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR) Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with Natalia Moseychuk.

"... Just a few days ago, the first warheads were delivered. Prior to that, large-scale training with nuclear simulators was conducted. I read the original documents on the results of training. Quite ugly documents for Belarus," the press service of the 1+1 TV channel quoted Budanov as saying.

"The Russian 12th main directorate, is a directorate, which is responsible for these funds, wrote that according to the results of training with nuclear simulators for the Iskander system, which are in small numbers in Belarus, it was recognized that Belarus was completely unprepared for the use of such weapons," the head of the GUR noted.

However, according to Budanov, "Belarusians showed the highest possible result in the possession of Tochka-U-type equipment."

As reported, on June 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had moved the first part of nuclear charges to Belarus.

On July 6, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, whom the EU and the United States do not recognize as legally elected, said that all Russian nuclear weapons planned to be moved to Belarus will arrive in the republic before the end of the year and that "most of them have been moved and are in Belarus."

At the same time, Western officials have previously stated that according to their data, Belarus has not completed the modernization of the necessary storage facilities for the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, and that the available satellite images have not shown any signs of preparation for these actions.
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NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2023 / Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until October 19, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR), if they purchased the Company's securities between November 10, 2021 and April 18, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.What You May DoIf you purchased securities of Shift4 and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email ( lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com) , or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-four/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by October 19, 2023.About the LawsuitShift4 and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.On April 19, 2023, Blue Orca Capital reported that "Shift4 [is], in reality, a roll-up of low-tech POS systems and payment processors which is substantially less profitable, generates far less cash, and is materially more levered than investors are led to believe," and that in 2022, the Company "engaged in a string of highly questionable and hyper-aggressive accounting maneuvers seemingly designed to keep the stock afloat, from cash flow manipulation to inexplicable distributor acquisitions that enabled it to capitalize a major component of COGS [cost of goods sold]."On this news, shares of Shift4 fell $5.95 per share, or 8.68%, to close at $62.59 per share on April 19, 2023.The case is O'Meara v. Shift4 Payments, Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-03206.About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCKSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.To learn more about KSF, you may visit http://ksfcounsel.com/ CONTACT:Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCLewis Kahn, Managing Partnerlewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com1-877-515-18501100 Poydras St., Suite 960New Orleans, LA 70163SOURCE: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC
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SALT LAKE CITY, UT / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / VLCM, a leading technology solutions provider today announced a pivotal change in its leadership structure, promoting Brandon Madsen, formerly the Chief Revenue Officer, to the role of President. This strategic move comes as VLCM plans for its next stage of growth and service excellence.Under his previous role as the CRO, Madsen displayed an in-depth understanding of VLCM's business dynamics, consistently showcasing a commitment to the company's mission and values. This exceptional leadership did not go unnoticed; Madsen distinguished himself on Utah Business Magazine's prestigious 2023 CXO of the Year list - an accolade recognizing the state's most impactful C-suite executives who drive their organizations forward with unwavering reliability and inventive strategy. As President, Madsen will focus on expanding VLCM's reach, overseeing daily operations, and setting the strategic direction for the company.Mike Linton, who continues his leadership as the CEO of VLCM, stated, "It is with genuine excitement and pleasure that I share this news about Brandon's new role. This promotion is not just a nod to Brandon's exceptional abilities but is also a testament to the collective dedication to customer satisfaction, relentless pursuit of excellence, and hard work of our entire team." Linton will now be intensively focusing on strategic growth areas for VLCM, which include cultivating partnerships, exploring strategic acquisitions, and capitalizing on other growth opportunities that align with the company's long-term objectives.This leadership transition signifies VLCM's unwavering commitment to not only driving growth but also to enhancing the quality of service and care provided to its customers.VLCM invites business associates, partners, and the media community to join in celebrating this new chapter in their journey.For more information about VLCM and its services, or to arrange interviews with Mike Linton or Brandon Madsen, please contact Jessica Jensen, jjensen@ vlcm.com About VLCM:Since 1983, VLCM, an accomplished enterprise IT solutions provider, has built its reputation on forging lifelong partnerships. Our strong relationships with clients and vendors underscore our commitment to delivering custom enterprise technology solutions that align with your unique business goals. We stay ahead of the curve through continuous learning, tackling complex business challenges, and offering innovative IT solutions. Our mission at VLCM transcends delivering solutions-ensuring you consistently 'Get IT Right' and nurturing your business growth. Let's collaborate to turn your IT complexities into strategic advantages for your business. Get started by visiting www.vlcm.com SOURCE: VLCM
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VZ) investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now.Expanded Class Period: Oct. 30, 2018 - July 26, 2023Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Oct. 2, 2023Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/VZContact An Attorney Now: VZ@ hbsslaw.com844-916-0895 Verizon 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, Verizon's knowledge of potential liability stemming from its sprawling network of toxic lead-sheathed cables across the U.S., and whether the company historically understated its expenses," 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 VZ 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.SOURCE: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP
An award-winning UK-based Nigerian poet, Gboyega Odubanjo, has been reported missing in Northamptonshire, UK.

Mr Odubanjo has been missing since the early hours of Saturday morning.

The Northamptonshire police recently made this known via a Twitter post.

While search efforts continue, the Northamptonshire police say they have recovered a body.

However, the Northamptonshire police said that while formal identification has not occurred, Mr Odubanjos family has been informed and supported by specially trained officers.

Disappearance

According to the Northamptonshire police report, the 27-year-old was last seen attending the Shambala festival in the Kelmarsh area of Northamptonshire.

He was scheduled to perform a reading at the festival on Sunday but has yet to arrive for his performance, leading to concerns.

He was last seen at the event around 4 a.m. on Saturday.

According to the police report, Mr Odubanjo was last seen wearing a beige bucket hat, a red and white striped gilet with black clothing underneath, black trousers and dark-coloured shoes.

A body has sadly been found during the search for a 27-year-old man reported missing in Kelmarsh. https://t.co/SnEDWHbkcK pic.twitter.com/PbyUpyZ6zC  Northants Police (@NorthantsPolice) August 31, 2023

The Northamptonshire police launched a search operation, and in a recent statement, the Northamptonshire police said a body had been found during the search for Mr Odubanjo.

The police statement

Detective Chief Inspector Johnny Campbell of the Northamptonshire Police, in a statement, said, Our thoughts are with the mans family at this very difficult time, and we would ask the media and members of the public not to contact them and respect their privacy.

We would like to thank all those involved in the search efforts, including the volunteer members of Northamptonshire Search and Rescue and the specialist search-trained officers from other forces who supported our efforts.

We would also like to thank all those who have supported our investigation by speaking to officers or getting in touch with information.

Officers from Northamptonshire Police will now prepare a file for the coroner.

Northamptonshire Police added the search involved specially trained dogs, a dive team and volunteers from Northamptonshire Search and Rescue.

Mr Odubanjos pamphlet, Aunty Uncle Poems, won the Poetry Business New Poets prize 2020.

He is currently studying for a PhD in creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire, and he was also the recipient of an Eric Gregory award from the Society of Authors and a Michael Marks pamphlet award.

His works have appeared in publications such as The Guardian, The Poetry Review and New Statesman, and his second collection is due to be published soon.

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After 16 years of marriage, famous Nollywood actor Bolanle Ninalowo has announced his separation from his wife, Bunmi.

The couple reportedly met in 2004 and got married in 2007. They have two children together, a boy and a girl.

Before this development, the actor and his wife were said to have separated over infidelity claims in 2019 but reconciled in 2021.

On Friday, the actor made his announcement via an official statement on his Instagram.

The actor admitted that it was a sad reality for him and his children, but it was necessary for a peaceful future.

He wrote, My wife and I have decided to go our separate ways and headed for an irreconcilable marriage dissolution.

Please respect our privacy and pray for us during this process as we heal and move on with our independent lives while jointly caring for what we love most: our children!

While expressing his sadness, he acknowledged that, in the end, people will all live with the consequences of their actions.

The actor also noted that now he has to be better for the sake of the same children, adding that he fought so hard never to be separated from his wife.

The journey thus far only makes me stronger as I come to terms with what I truly need and deserve for all my relentless hard work & efforts in life.

 Heartbroken but not shattered yet, I stand tall as I break this sad but true news to the same world that adores my beautiful family and me, He added.

Acceptance

Ninalowo noted that the crash of his marriage is a sad reality he has accepted, hoping that when his children are older, they will understand.

He said he hoped they would also know the pain and struggles towards them.

According to him, he has accepted reality as the end of the road and that it gives room and hope for a brighter and more fulfilling future.

Explaining why they took the hard decision, he said it was for the sake of his children, and it was necessary for a peaceful and loveable future.

A sad reality I prayed, nurtured, and worked tirelessly hard never to experience for the sake of all.A sad reality that screams that I wont live or be around forever and must take care of my health & mental state for the goodness of all. He expressed.

The actor further prayed for God to help and reward him. with all he truly deserves.

Or punish me for all I have done wrong if that be the case. He added.

Background

Before Ninalowos foray into the Nigerian movie industry, he worked as an accountant in a bank in the United States of America.

Upon relocating to Nigeria, he worked with Guaranty Trust Bank.

Ninalowos first shot in Nollywood was as a movie producer. He produced his first movie, titled Rebirth, in 2011.

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The African Unions Peace and Security Council on Friday said it has suspended Gabon from all AU activities following the recent coup.

In its communique seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the AU said it decided to immediately suspend the participation of the Republic of Gabon in all activities of the AU, its Organs and institutions until the restoration of constitutional order in the country.

Senior military officers in Gabon on Wednesday announced that they had taken over the government because elections held in the Central African country on Saturday were not credible.

Few hours later, General Brice Nguema, leader of Gabons elite Republican Guard, who was in charge of the presidents security, was named transition leader.

The African Union condemned the coup and ordered the military to immediately return to the barracks and to unconditionally return power to the civilian authority, uphold their constitutional mandate, and the principle of constitutionalism, and refrain from any interference in the political processes in Gabon.

Failure to do so will attract necessary measures including the imposition of targeted sanctions against the perpetrators of the coup detat, the Council said.

Several world leaders including Nigeria, UN, France, and EU have condemned the coup.

READ ALSO:

Additionally, the AU Council demanded the release of ousted President Ali Bongo, his family and other members of the government who have been arrested since Wednesdays take over.

Mr Bongo has been under house arrest since the coup happened and was seen in a video calling on his friends to make noise to help him.

The AU also condemned any politically motivated arrests in the circumstances, and stresses the importance of ensuring that all political detainees are processed through the judicial system as prescribed by the law of the land.

Toppling Mr Bongos government brought an end to his familys hold on the highest seat in Gabon. Omar Bongo, his father, was president from 1967 to 2009 and on his death, Ali Bongo assumed the seat and after two terms in office, he was ready to resume a third term after Saturdays election that was widely perceived as not credible.

The AU Security Council asked the chairperson of the Commission to continue to closely monitor the evolution of the situation, including through the establishment of an inclusive monitoring mechanism, comprising the AU, ECCAS and other relevant stakeholders, and to report back to the Council within 15 days from the adoption of this communique.

The Gabon coup occured about a month after a similar one in Niger. The AU also condemned the coup in Niger and suspended the West African country from all its activities.

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The vice-chancellors of some Nigerian universities, who are at the centre of the extortion scandal involving some Nigerian federal lawmakers on Friday lied on oath in what appears a poorly-designed cover-up scheme.

A PREMIUM TIMES investigation had exposed how the lawmakers demanded bribes from the vice-chancellors and other agencies in exchange for compromising the ongoing investigation.

Our investigation revealed that the vice-chancellors paid N2 million each into a Providus Bank account number provided by the lawmakers through a middleman.

The Chairman of the Committee, Yusuf Gagdi, had on Tuesday summoned the vice-chancellors to appear today (Friday) in response to this newspapers publication.

About 10 vice-chancellors and the Acting Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Chris Mayaki, appeared before the Committee at the resumption of hearing today.

In his speech, Mr Gagdi repeated his false claim that our newspaper investigated and exposed his committee in order to blackmail its members and divert attention from the ongoing probe of federal agencies accused of recruitment racketeering.

Surprisingly, when he asked Mr Maiyaki and the vice chancellors to speak, he did not put them on oath, saying the oath they took the last time they appeared before his committee remained active.

The acting executive secretary of NUC is here. You all interacted with us and took oath prior to this time, Mr Gagdi said.

In his speech, Mr Maiyaki did not address the crux of our evidence-backed story but rather asked the vice chancellor of the University of Jos, Ishaya Tanko, to speak on behalf of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU).

Mr Tanko claimed that the lawmakers did not demand any money from them and falsely accused PREMIUM TIMES of not contacting the vice-chancellors before publishing the story.

This paper contacted the Chairperson of CVCNU, Lillian Salami, as well as the alternate chairperson of the group, Sagir Abbas, who is the vice chancellor of Bayero University Kano. Our efforts to get comments from the two vice-chancellors were clearly reflected in our story. The two officials did not return calls or respond to messages sent to them.

Mr Tanko later admitted that the vice chancellors indeed paid money into the account number published by PREMIUM TIMES. However, he lied that the money was meant to buy dollars for a planned summit that some of the university vice-chancellors were scheduled to attend.

The vice-chancellors did not provide any bribe to anybody. The vice-chancellors dispersed from this committee that day.

What I recalled happened actually is that the next day, there was another workshop of the vice-chancellors and because there is another international workshop organised by CVCNU.

I remember and recall that a lot of people are looking towards getting estacodes or some foreign exchange that will enable them to travel.

I remember quite well that a lot of vice-chancellors were actually looking for where they would get an exchange rate that is more reasonable considering that it is difficult to get BTA to travel, he said, while speaking on oath.

Without mentioning the name of the planned summit, Mr Tanko claimed it is scheduled for Birmingham in the UK.

I want to confirm that this travel for the vice-chancellors is going to that place  in fact, some of them are leaving tomorrow, some are leaving next tomorrow and Monday because the training is commencing on Tuesday in Birmingham, he added.

The committee did not ask the UNIJOS vice-chancellor whether he and his colleagues had ever transferred money to a single account for the purchase of dollars and what exchange rate Ama Business Solutions offered the vice-chancellors.

But we can authoritatively report that Mr Ishaya and his colleagues lied to the committee as our subsequent reporting on this matter will show.

Indeed, PREMIUM on Thursday became aware of the falsehood the UNIJOS vice-chancellor and his colleagues had shamelessly packaged to mislead the committee in particular and Nigerians in general.

We almost published our new findings on this matter on Thursday. But after we became aware of plans by the embattled vice-chancellors to lie to Nigerians, we changed our plans to allow them to push themselves deeper into the growing bribery/extortion scandal.

The coast is now clear for us to reveal how the Gagdi-led committee sourced and procured AMA Business Solutions to receive extortion proceeds in naira on its behalf, convert it to dollars and deliver it to an agent of a member of the committee.

We urge Nigerians to watch out for this report.

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The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has begun investigation into the activities of an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives involved in a bribery scandal.

ICPCs spokesperson, Azuka Ogugua, in a statement on Friday, confirmed the commencement of the probe.

According to Ms Ogugua, the commission launched the investigation following two separate petitions by PREMIUM TIMES and the Chairperson of the Committee, Yusuf Gagdi.

A PREMIUM TIMES investigation had exposed how the lawmakers demanded bribes from the heads of federal agencies, including those of higher institutions of learning in exchange for compromising the ongoing investigation.

Our investigation revealed that the vice-chancellors paid N2 million each into a Providus Bank account number provided by the lawmakers through a middleman. Rectors of polytechnics and provosts of colleges of education paid three million each.

In the last few days, the corrupt committee and some heads of universities, polytechnics and colleges have embarked on a frantic attempt to cover up the scandal.

Earlier, the vice-chancellors, now in cahoots with the lawmakers, lied to Nigerians about their involvement in the bribery scandal. However, this paper has concluded plans to release further investigations to expose the extortion ring.

PREMIUM TIMES had on 29 August, through a letter by its Editor-In-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, petitioned the anti-graft agency to investigate the committees, the vice-chancellors and their agents.

The letter, addressed to the Chairman of the ICPC, Bolaji Owasanoye, called for a thorough investigation into the corruption scandal and also provided the anti-graft agencies with relevant information to aid the investigation.

As a characteristic of our organisation, we embarked on this weeks-long, painstaking investigation to expose the scandal in the public interest. We bear in mind that this is coming at a time of plummeting capacity of governments to adequately fund education and other social services that can positively affect the lives of a good number of Nigerians, the statement reads in part.

Mr Gagdi, after hours of denying the report and attempting to deliberately undermine the crux of the investigation, also wrote a petition to the ICPC to investigate the account provided by PREMIUM TIMES to establish if there is direct connection with members of the committee.

His petition, dated 30 August, was deliberately written to narrow the investigation to only the account number and direct connection with the members.

The investigation by PREMIUM TIMES revealed extensive involvement of middlemen by the corrupt committee, including possible collection of bribes in cash and through other third-party bank accounts.

Here are the two petitions below.

PREMIUM TIMES petition

29 August 2023.

The Chairman,

Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC),

802 Constitution Avenue,

Central Business District,

FCT, Abuja.

Dear Sir,

RE: INVESTIGATION: NIGERIAN LAWMAKERS PROBING JOB RACKETEERING ARE EXTORTING MONEY FROM AGENCIES

REQUEST FOR THOROUGH INVESTIGATIONS AND POSSIBLE PROSECUTION

We write to call your attention to our latest investigative story exposing how members of an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives set up to investigate job racketeering in federal agencies are extorting subjects of their probe, including heads of various higher institutions of learning.

We are requesting that you urgently begin a probe into this scandal with a view to prosecuting all culpable individuals and ensuring justice is served.

We also hope that your probe will help to put an immediate stop to what we believe to be an ongoing arm-twisting scheme of the lawmakers, and save the public treasury from further bleeding in this time of economic difficulties in our country.

As characteristic of our organisation, we embarked on this weeks-long, painstaking investigation to expose the scandal in public interest. We bear in mind that this is coming at a time of plummeting capacity of governments to adequately fund education and other social services that can positively affect the lives of a good number of Nigerians.

Our report, printed copy of which is attached to this letter for ease of reference, shows how the 39-member committee of the House of Representatives set up on 5 July 2023 has been intimidating heads of agencies into paying bribes to avoid being disgraced in public and indicted in a report to be issued after the ongoing hearings.

Almost all the heads of the nations federal institutions have been summoned to appear.

Our report revealed that the lawmakers held meetings with heads of federal government-owned universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education to negotiate illicit payments to them in exchange for clearance in the committees eventual report. See the link to the story here.

The vice-chancellors were given Account Number 5400495458, domiciled in Providus Bank, to pay into, and a deadline of Thursday, 24 August, to pay.

From the tertiary institutions alone, we confirmed that an estimated N267 million has been collected by the panel in the corrupt scheme.

Our investigation was able to determine that the bank account into which the extortion proceeds are paid belongs to a certain Ama Business Solutions, a company fronting for the committee as a consultant. The address of the company is given in corporate filings as Plot 2249, Zone 4 Plaza, Constantine Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.

Sir, other details that can assist your investigations are contained in the story.

Apart from the fact that the ICPC has the statutory mandate to confront public corruption of this nature, we are confident in your capacity and that of your agency to investigate and prosecute culpable persons for crimes like this that constitute a huge economic drain and injure public sensibility in times like this in our country.

We assure you that we will provide support as much as we can to assist your investigations.

Thank you sir, in anticipation of your prompt action.

Yours faithfully,

Musikilu Mojeed,

Editor-in-Chief

Gagdis petitions

The Chairman,

Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, (ICPC).

Plot 802, Constitution Avenue Zone, Central District PMB 535 Garki Abuja

REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION OF ACCOUNT RELATED TO CORRUPTION ALLEGATION.

The cyberspace was recently inundated with a news story published by the Premium Times online media, alleging extortion by the committee of the House of Representatives probing employment racketeering in federal establishments.

The story provided an account number wherein the proceeds of extortion of federal agencies were allegedly being channelled or is to be channel.

As Chairman of the Ad-hoc committee, I am constraint to reach out to your good office to launch an investigation into establishing any connections between the operators of the said account with any members of the committee for possible prosecution as raised by Premium Times.

The reputation of honourable members of the House of Representatives who are serving in this committee is currently at stake by reason of the allegations raised by the online media. It becomes imperative to meticulously investigate the account and relationship with any member of the committee with a view to prosecuting the matter, please.

The account details provided by the news outlet is:

Account Name: AMA Business Solutions.

Account Number: 5400495458

While awaiting your urgent action, you have the assurance of my warmest regards.

Signed:

Rt Hon Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, OON.

Chairman

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President Bola Tinubu has reaffirmed his support for a robust public-private sector partnership to grow the economy, saying that his administrations sustained, bold and coordinated reforms are anchored on a strong adherence to accountability and transparency.

Speaking at an audience on Thursday in Abuja with members of the Board and Management of the Nigeria Economic Support Group (NESG), the president reiterated his unequivocal resolve to fully implement the eight priority reform areas under the Renewed Hope Agenda within the next three years.

The president emphasised that Nigeria is blessed with rich human and natural resources, in addition to deficit opportunities, which can quickly be leveraged into new prosperity, calling for the urgent exploitation of Nigerias diversity for collective gain, with an eye on new think tanks in the agricultural sector and the establishment of a commodity exchange.

We have gone through the past. I will not look back. The focus of my horse and my race remains forward-looking. We have an abundance of knowledge and untapped mineral resources, and an agricultural sector that is God-given, but we tend to shy away from taking those gigantic steps that will result in prosperity for our people.

We are not exploiting our diversity for prosperity, we are at each others throats, arguing about unnecessary things, instead of thinking and doing for our people, the president said.

President Tinubu noted that he was elected on a no excuses platform for renewed hope and that he will not accept excuses from anyone in his government as they set out to deliver on his agenda.

Looking backwards is retrogressive for any reformer. Looking forward can give you the leaps that will propel you in the right direction.

We need think tanks in the agricultural sector. I dont see why Nigeria will be so blessed with good soil and not have a commodity exchange. I dont see why we have not been able to interrogate our real estate sector and propel it.

I dont see why we have not used consumer credit to build the purchasing power of our people and the capacity of our very own manufacturing sector, the president assessed.

While commending the NESG for believing in the reforms of his administration, the president said the bitter pill must be administered to an ailing nation and economy to build a better future for the country.

I am here and I believe we can do it together. No single person succeeds alone. The world is dynamic.

We are confronted with climate change and other challenges, but somewhere in the eye of the storm, there is a quiet and peaceful corner for those who can toil well. With patience and determination, we will succeed, the president assured.

The Chairman of NESG, Olaniyi Yusuf, welcomed the economic reforms announced by the Tinubu administration, specifically with respect to fuel subsidy removal, foreign exchange rate harmonisation, food security and palliatives to sub-national governments.

The NESG chairman pledged that the group would work with the newly inaugurated cabinet to achieve the eight-point agenda of the administration.

Your track record in the effective implementation of bold economic reforms as the governor of Lagos leaves those of us in the private sector without doubt that you will achieve much greater feats as our nations president, the NESG chairman said.

He used the occasion of the courtesy visit to formally request the president to declare open the NESG Summit in October, as well as to direct Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to partner with them and participate fully at the summit as part of efforts to ramp up local and foreign direct investment in Nigeria.

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The Lagos State Police Command, on Thursday, paraded 66 alleged criminals, including those it said were responsible for an attack around Airport Hotel in Ikeja, which led to the death of a police officer.

The suspects are linked to different crimes, including armed robbery, unlawful possession of arms, impersonation, cultism, murder, Idowu Owohunwa, the police commissioner told journalists at the Police Officers Mess in Ikeja.

He said they were apprehended after Operation Flush was initiated by the police last week to fight crime in the state.

The operation led to the arrest of 14 suspected miscreants on 4 August at Mile 2 and 23 others on 8 August in Apapa for allegedly extorting motorists, especially truck drivers.

It is to be noted that the operation is continuous and will be replicated in other parts of the state, the police chief said.

Mr Owohunwa said the suspects were arrested within a month.

From all these cases which we successfully cracked, we recovered a total of 14 firearms including two AK47 rifles, one of them locally fabricated, two locally fabricated toy guns, 15 live cartridges, four expended cartridges, 25 live ammunition, five machetes, 34 bags of weed suspected to be Indian hemp, six vehicles, two bags containing fake US Dollars, fake Pound Sterling note.

Two award plaques from Buccaneer fraternity, one Buccaneer banner, a pair of police camouflage uniforms, a jack knife, police identity card, two hoods, black pipes, some quantity of weed suspected to be Indian hemp and sixty-six kegs of fake Total engine oil.

Speaking about the alleged murder of a police officer in Lagos, Mr Owohunwa said six suspects were arrested in connection to the incident.

On 3rd of August 2023 at about 2200hrs, based on intelligence gathering on the armed robbery incident around Airport hotel Ikeja that led to the brutal murder of a police officer and the carting away of his rifle, operatives of the Command embarked on a discreet investigation and arrested one Salami Ahmed m aged 30, Ismaila Adio m aged 22, Toheeb Muri m aged 23, Seyi Olajide m aged 24, Nelson Sunday m aged 34 and James Nnamani m aged 24 at their hideout in Alagbado and Amikanle areas of Lagos State, he said.

One AK47 rifle with twenty-one rounds of live ammunition were recovered. This syndicate is also responsible for robbing a popular night club in Ikeja on 19th of July 2023.

On 10th of August 2023 at about 1310hrs, operatives of the Command arrested Solomon Ochohepor m aged 40 and Abu Ibrahim m aged 47 for impersonation.

The duo were impersonating as mobile police officers guarding an estate were arrested when they were trying to effect an arrest on a case reported by a lady who thought them to be genuine officers.

The police chief further said that on 18 August some suspected cultists were arrested based on intelligence gathering at their hideouts at Sabo-Yaba and Ijesha-Surulere. The suspects are Daniel Ojo, 35, and Giwa Quadri, 36.

The following items were recovered from both scenes: One pump action rifle, one locally made pistol, three live cartridges, three expended cartridges, three branded machetes, two award plaque from Buccaneer fraternity and one Buccaneer banner among other incriminating items, he said.

In an interview with journalists, one of the suspects said he was lured by his friend into robbery and deeply regrets his actions.

The police recovered a Spyder Victor Paintball Marker gun semi-auto and a machete from the suspect when he was arrested.

While speaking on cultism, the police boss said, On 17th of August 2023 at about 1700hrs, intelligence report gathered revealed that deadly, notorious, and wanted cultists known as Aleeba and Agbara who were involved in the killings of rival cult group members and innocent residents during cult related clashes in Isolo were spotted in their hideouts at Ayoobo and Atan area of Ogun state.

Police operatives of the mommand swung into action and arrested one Busayo Emmanuel aka Aleeba and Rahman Taiwo aka Agbara both aged 27.

Investigation revealed that Aleeba and other suspects are members of a cult group while Aleeba is the second in command of the group.

Investigation is ongoing to apprehend other fleeing members and recover their operational arms.

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Almost third of facilities in Kherson region not subject to restoration  Regional Administration head

As a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Kherson region, almost a third of the facilities are not subject to restoration, said head of Kherson Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin.

"Almost a third [of the facilities are not subject to restoration as a result of Russian aggression]. That is, out of 15,000 damaged civil facilities, about 5,000 houses are not subject to restoration," Prokudin said in an interview with the InterfaxUkraine news agency.

At the same time, he added that as a result of the Russians undermining the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, there are more than 1,300 such houses.

"But this number is not constant, because we are constantly updating these indicators: commissions are working, examining and describing each house, making checklists, according to which people will then compensate for their losses," the head of the Administration clarified.
The retired national leader of Afenifere, Reuben Fasoranti, has expressed sorrow over the sorry state of the eminent Yoruba socio-political group.

Mr Fasoranti handed over the leadership of the group to his deputy, Ayo Adebanjo, a few years ago, citing his advanced age.

But the stand of the new leader on national politics has pitted Mr Adebanjo against a large section of the group, leading to Mr Fasoranti having to intervene at many points.

It was against this backdrop that some national leaders of the group again gathered at the residence of Mr Fasoranti on Wednesday in Akure, PREMIUM TIMES gathered.

Mr Adebanjo and other leaders on his side were not at the meeting but it is not clear whether or not they were invited.

Those at the meeting said the group has been fractured by politics despite not being a political party.

The leaders lamented that the group no longer speaks with one voice, blaming it on its deviation from its core objectives.

They then set up a committee to reconcile feuding members and reset the groups focus.

In his welcome address at the meeting, Mr Fasoranti said since he appointed Mr Adebanjo and Oladipo Olaitan as acting

leader and deputy leader respectively about three years ago, Afenifere had gone through many challenges.

In addition to these, a noticeable drift away from our core values of consultation, brotherliness and camaraderie and traditional process of conducting the business of the organisation, upon which our collegial system of leadership is based, has been severely threatened, he said.

This threat has been further exacerbated by more recent events, culminating in a fracture of the traditional backbone of the organisation.

I am sorry to say, without mincing words, that our organisation is in a sorry state and requires urgent restoration effort to steer it away from the current trajectory.

This wasnt my vision or expectation when I appointed the acting leader and deputy leader. And to say that I am sad and disappointed at the turn of events is an understatement.

I am particularly disturbed because unless, we take urgent remedial action, the future looks very bleak and the necessary resources to revamp our organisation are being depleted by the day.

I have called you here today therefore, as leaders and responsible members of this organisation, to challenge yourself to find a lasting solution to the current impasse. I implore you to engage frankly and honestly in the spirit of comradeship and mutual respect for which we are well known and upon which this organisation is founded.

With determination and commitment, I believe you are all able to find a solution that will propel Afenifere to greater heights. I wish you fruitful and successful deliberations.

He afterwards appointed former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, to coordinate the deliberations.

Mr Falae is now traditional ruler, the Olu of Ilu Abo in Ondo State.

The fracture on the group was occasioned by partisanship during the last presidential election.

While majority of the group members, including Mr Fasoranti, favoured Bola Tinubu for president, the acting leader, Mr Adebanjo, and a few others backed Peter Obi and campaigned for him.

The development created a confusion leading to serious contentions between the two groups over their support for the two presidential candidates.

Although Mr Adebanjo was chided for taking decisions on behalf of the group without recourse to Mr Fasoranti, he continued to express political views repugnant to the majority of the members of the group.

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State has rejected the nomination of Kolade Akinjo as the states representative on the governing board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The party said Mr Akinjo has been a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and worked against the APC and its presidential candidate in the last election.

Leaders of the party, in a virtual meeting on Wednesday, however, commended President Bola Tinubu for the appointment of Ifedayo Abegunde as the Executive Director, Corporate Services of the Commission.

The resolution of the meeting was contained in a statement by the partys publicity secretary, Alex Kalejaiye, on Wednesday.

The state chairman of the party, Ade Adetimehin, presided over the emergency meeting.

The APC chieftains, who reaffirmed loyalty to the president, applauded his efforts to rebuild the economy.

We concede to Mr. President the right to appoint any qualified Nigerian to any office, having given him the popular mandate to preside over our affairs, the statement noted

We only wish to remind Your Excellency that Mr. Kolade Victor Akinjo was the House of Representatives candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the presidential election, having served two terms on the platform of the opposition party.

It is equally pertinent to aver that while Mr. Presidents desire to instill an all-inclusive governance for the good of the people, we doubt if anyone who worked assiduously for his party, the PDP, as well as his presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku on the potency of anti-APC sloganeering, fits better than our teeming members for the plum job.

It is, therefore, our fear that appointing such a man into an influential position could demoralize our members, particularly in Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency, who who contributed immensely to the overall votes from the Sunshine State.

We have no doubt, in the circumstance, that Mr President will revisit the nomination of Akinjo as the Ondo State Representative on the NDDCs Governing Board and bring on board someone known to have worked for the party.

However, the party leaders lauded the president for appointing Mr Ifedayo to the NDDC board, describing him as a committed party leader, who worked tirelessly for the party, before and during the general elections.

The leadership of the ruling party in Ondo appeals to our dear president to take a second look at the appointment of Mr. Akinjo, to avoid the unpleasant situation of Monkey dey work, Baboon dey chop', the leaders added.

President Tinubu on Tuesday announced a 17-member board of the NDDC, saying their appointment was with immediate effect.

Those appointed include Chiedu Ebie  Chairman  Delta: Samuel Ogbuku  Managing Director / CEO  Bayelsa;

Boma Iyaye  Executive Director (Finance and Admin)  Rivers; Victor Antai  Executive Director (Projects)  Akwa-Ibom; and Ifedayo Abegunde  Executive Director (Corporate Services)  Ondo.

The state representatives are Dimaro Denyanbofa  Bayelsa; Abasi Ndikan Nkono  Akwa ; Monday Igbuya  Delta; Tony Okocha  Rivers; Patrick Aisowieren  Edo; Kyrian Uchegbu  Imo; Victor Kolade Akinjo  Ondo; Dimgba Eruba  Abia; and Asu Oku Okang  Cross River.

Also in the list as zonal representatives are Nick Wende  North Central; Namdas Abdulrazak  North East and Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir  North West.

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The police in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria, said they have rescued a kidnap victim around Borromeo Roundabout in Onitsha, a community in Onitsha North Local Government Area of the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Tochukwu Ikenga, who disclosed this in a statement on Thursday night, said two suspected kidnappers were arrested during the rescue operation on Wednesday.

Mr Ikenga, a deputy superintendent of police, said the operation was carried out by police operatives attached to Area Command Headquarters in response to a distress call around 9:30 p.m.

The operatives caught up with a shuttle bus in which the kidnapped victim was held.

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The highly trained operatives professionally engaged the kidnappers in a shootout without harming the hostage who was rescued unhurt, he said.

Two suspects were arrested at the scene while others managed to escape with gunshot wounds, Mr Ikenga stated.

One Beretta pistol, nine rounds of nine mm live ammunition and the shuttle bus without number plate which was used by suspects for the crime, were recovered during the operation, according to the police.

The Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Aderemi Adeoye, has commended the operatives for the remarkable feat, Mr Ikenga said.

Mr Adeoye also charged the operatives to intensify their efforts to track down the fleeing members of the kidnap gang.

The police commissioner urged hospitals in the area to report to the police anyone with gunshot injuries.

He asked them to treat such suspects in order to save lives, but should report to the police while the treatment was ongoing.

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President Bola Tinubu, on Friday in Abuja, declared his unwavering support for a partnership between the Federal Ministry of Healths National Eye Health Programme and the Peek Vision Foundation to provide more than 5 million pairs of eyeglasses to Nigerians with sight impairments.

The President recounted how close to home his first intervention in eye health was as he made a pledge on behalf of the Federal Government during a courtesy visit by the Founder and CEO of Peek Vision Foundation and Co-Founder of the Vision Catalyst Fund, Andrew Bastawrous.

My first experience was with my mother of blessed memory. She was ill and she could not recognise me. When I intervened, she was treated and given a pair of glasses. The next question she asked me was: I have you, and you are able to do this for me. What about those other women and their children who may not have somebody like you to intervene for them?

So I made a promise to her that I will pursue the mass provision of eye care vigorously and that I would provide free eye screenings and surgeries to people because of that question my mother asked me and because of her passion to see others healed. We eventually impacted the eye health of millions of people in Lagos, and you could see their joy over the immediate sight enhancements when they were given a pair of glasses, the president fondly recalled.

Highlighting the pressing need for improved eye health services in Nigeria, President Tinubu expressed concern about the more than 24 million Nigerians grappling with varying degrees of vision impairments.

We must act now because sight and vision are critical to economic development and growth, the president said, recalling his visionary Jigi Bola programme, which was initiated during his tenure as the Executive Governor of Lagos State in 2001 and provided free eye screenings and surgeries to Lagosians while setting a new precedent for proactive eye care initiatives in West Africa.

I am in support of this initiative, and I will encourage the mobilisation of further commitment to see this through and to reach vulnerable people all across our country. Some parents may not pay attention to this, but I will, because I am touched, the president concluded.

Expressing his commitment to the cause, Mr Bastawrous said:

Good vision unlocks human potential. It improves earning, learning, and wellness for individuals, communities, and countries.

He shared his personal story and the transformative power of vision care:

When I was 12, I was told by my teachers that I was clumsy and lazy, but the results of an eye exam explained I had very poor vision. And when I put on a pair of glasses, I saw the leaves on a tree for the first time, and my life completely changed and two weeks later, I was using my first pair of free eyeglasses and I saw stars clearly for the first time. My grades improved, and the trajectory of my life completely changed, all because of a very cheap intervention that is 700 years old. Had that not happened, I would not be standing in front of you today. I would not be a professor, and I would not be involved in the work I am doing because sight gives opportunity, the Peek Foundation CEO shared.

Professor Bastawrous noted that eye care is still chronically under-resourced in many countries, adding that the estimates in Nigeria show that 0.0002 per cent of the health budget is spent on eye health.

The good news is that President Tinubu has an excellent team in the health sector, and some of them have demonstrated tremendous leadership in the sector. What we would like to offer is to bring our Peek Vision methodology and platform to Nigeria to help unlock resources from multiple sources. In the countries where we have worked, Peek in Botswana unlocked 10 million dollars for the school programme, and in Kenya, 17 million Euros. Through the Vision Catalyst Fund, we have secured a donation of 200 million pairs of glasses, and we would like a significant proportion of that to come to Nigeria, he concluded.

At the end of the event, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Mohammed Pate, was joined by the Coordinator of the National Eye Health Programme, Oteri Okolo, and the Director of Public Health, Chukuma Anyaike, as he presented a National Policy Document on Eye Health to the President.

Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

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President Bola Tinubu has congratulated Vice President Kashim Shettima on his 57th birthday.

In a statement by his media aide, Ajuri Ngelale, on Friday, Mr Tinubu extolled Mr Shettima for his undying loyalty to the nation and his steadfast resolve to improve society throughout an illustrious career, which included service in education as a lecturer at the University of Maiduguri, before moving into, and rising meteorically through the banking industry, before accepting to serve Borno State as a Commissioner in five different ministries.

The Vice President was born on 2 September 1966.

Read the statement below:

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

PRESIDENT TINUBU SALUTES VICE PRESIDENT KASHIM SHETTIMA AT 57

On behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu shares in the joy of well-deserved celebration as Vice President Kashim Shettima turns 57 on September 2, 2023.

President Tinubu joins family, friends and associates of the former Executive Governor of Borno State in thanksgiving to God for the sustained grace of wisdom, character, compassion and bold leadership demonstrated by the Vice President over his years of service to Nigeria with notable distinction in both the private and public sectors.

President Tinubu extols Senator Shettima for his undying loyalty to the nation and his steadfast resolve to improve society throughout an illustrious career, which included service in education as a lecturer at the University of Maiduguri before moving into and rising meteorically through the banking industry before accepting to serve Borno State as a Commissioner in five different ministries.

The President extols the Vice President for his unusual courage in presiding over Borno State for eight years, during which a deadly insurgency riddled large areas of the North East. This remarkable public servant defied all odds in the region with a ferociously intellectual mind and an innovative doggedness to solve dynamic problems with dynamic solutions, building high-quality leaders and institutions for the sustainably developing future of Borno State.

As the able Vice President celebrates another year of life, the President prays for the continued well-being of the quintessential political leader and his family.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

September 1, 2023

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President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said all diplomatic options would be exhausted with the military junta in Niger Republic before any military intervention.

A statement on Thursday in Abuja by presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, said Mr Tinubu also reiterated the non-acceptance of forceful removal of a democratic government.

Mr Tinubu stated this when he received the Nigeria Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, at the State House.

I must thank you for your several visits to Niger Republic, Your Eminence, but you will still have to go back. My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copy cats will start doing the same thing until it is stopped.

We are neighbours with Niger Republic, and what has joined Nigerians together with their great people cannot be broken. Nobody is interested in a war. We have seen the devastation in Ukraine and Sudan. But, if we dont wield the big stick, we will all suffer the consequences together, the president said.

Mr Tinubu noted that Nigeria, under former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, instituted a nine-month transition programme in 1998 that led the country into a new era of democratic governance.

The president said that such action can be replicated in Niger Republic if the military authorities are sincere.

Your Eminence, please dont get tired, you will still go back there. The soldiers action is unacceptable. The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger, the president said.

On the hardship faced by many Nigerians post-fuel subsidy removal, the president assured that all ongoing reforms would reposition the economy and benefit the majority of the population in terms of opportunities, infrastructure, healthcare and education.

Nigeria is headed for a promise. Our diversity will turn into prosperity, not adversity. We will build a country that our children will be proud of, the president assured.

He told the delegation that the federal government was collaborating with state governments for provision of land for pan-national animal husbandry and agro-allied production as well as processing facilities for mass export, job creation and revenue generation.

If Nigeria is still looking for vaccines for basic health issues; if infant and maternal mortality is rampant, then we should examine ourselves. I will commit to consulting with other leaders, like the NSCIA, and we will meet the needs of our people, he said.

Vice President Kashim Shettima also said that the president had budgeted N50 billion to support the ongoing rebuilding of lives and property in the North-west West and North-east.

He said that this gesture was with a new focus on dialogue to address security challenges and complement the kinetic efforts.

The Sultan of Sokoto pledged one hundred per cent loyalty to the president, affirming that a leader can only reach a position by the will of God, and not man.

The sultan assured the president that the NSCIA would be available for advice and support toward realising his dream for the country, adding that God will hold all leaders to account, in justice and fairness.

He suggested that the distribution of palliatives across the country should be monitored and augmented, where it fails to reach some of the people who remain in dire need.

I honestly believe we will come out of the challenges stronger, the Sultan said .

(NAN)

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The military coup in Zimbabwe in 2017 signalled the institutional return of military high commands to power. This was followed by the 2019 military coup in Sudan and the 2020 military coup in Mali. The military was active in assisting power takeovers in Tunisia and Algeria in 2020. The military strongman in Mali was not happy with the limited powers he was constrained to take in 2020 and he did another coup in 2021, giving himself full powers.

The coup in Gabon this week is most unlikely to be a regime change. General Brice Nguema, the head of the junta, is a relation of the Bongo family and had started his career as a body guard to Omar Bongo, the father of the deposed President, who had earlier ruled for 42 years. The coup occurred minutes after President Ali Bongo was declared as winner of a rigged presidential election. He has been incapacitated since suffering from a stroke in 2019 and the optics of a president without the capacity to govern has been an issue since his stroke. The symbolism of someone who is incapable of exercising power, rigging election after election, posed the question of how much longer the charade could last. When there was an attempted coup in January 2019, the army responded immediately, rounding up the culprits. As everyone knows, Gabon is too precious for France to allow a regime change there. In the coming days, it will become clearer who enable this coup to succeed.

Now all attention is on Cameroon, where, once again, it is clear that 90-year old Paul Biya is too old, weak and sick to govern. Immediately after the Gabon coup, significant changes were made to the military command structure in the country. With the grand return of military takeover in Africa, France might very well be engaged in cosmetic changes to its most beloved colonies that are rapidly falling out of its control. The shock of the coup in Niger was massive for France. Its lackey regime lost power in a country where the optics looked good with elections, power alternation, and the improved combat against violent extremism, but yet a coup to throw out France occurred. What does the future hold for President Ouattara of Cote dIvoire?

When the military seized power in Burkina Faso last year, ousting the countrys democratically elected President, Roch Marc Kabore, it was already public knowledge that it was coming. There were widespread conversations that the military had decided to seize power in the country and the only question was when, not if it would. The main issue was the governments failure to stem jihadist attacks that have destabilised broad swathes of Burkina Faso, displaced 1.4 million people, and caused 2,000 deaths that year. The general feeling in the country was that the time had come to try an alternative form of government. The Burkinabe coup was therefore similar to the one in Egypt in 2013, when the coup was announced on national television months before it happened. The politics of Africa has been changing dramatically in recent years, propelled by the return of the military to power, and this would clearly occupy the terrain for some time.

The military coup in Zimbabwe in 2017 signalled the institutional return of military high commands to power. This was followed by the 2019 military coup in Sudan and the 2020 military coup in Mali. The military was active in assisting power takeovers in Tunisia and Algeria in 2020. The military strongman in Mali was not happy with the limited powers he was constrained to take in 2020 and he did another coup in 2021, giving himself full powers. The same thing happened in Sudan in 2021, as the military staged another coup to take on full powers and break the bonds with their civilian collaborators. In Chad, the 2021 coup was to keep power in the family, following the killing of strongman, Idris Deby.

Post-colonial Africa has seen over 200 coup attempts, with roughly half of these seeing the civilian leaders successfully removed. The democratic transitions of 1990 to 1994 led to a dramatic decline of unconstitutional seizure of state power. This trend is now being reversed, over the past three years, with the new wave of coups detat on the continent. The current trend is however different from that of the 1970s and 1980s.

As was the case in the 1970s and 1980s, military coups in Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Niger and Gabon, have seen civilians demonstrate in favour of military rule and they have been ready to collaborate with the juntas. Clearly, there is a new generation in Africa that has no memory of the terrible impacts of military rule in the continent, and in its naivety this generation thinks military rule can be a political solution to the crisis generated by poor democratic practices.

Post-colonial Africa has seen over 200 coup attempts, with roughly half of these seeing the civilian leaders successfully removed. The democratic transitions of 1990 to 1994 led to a dramatic decline of unconstitutional seizure of state power. This trend is now being reversed, over the past three years, with the new wave of coups detat on the continent. The current trend is however different from that of the 1970s and 1980s. Today, we are witnessing the grand entry of politics by the gun. In the Sahel, as well as other parts of Africa, numerous non-military groups have acquired guns and are engaged in armed struggle for power or sometimes just armed banditry. Generalised insecurity has become the political reality in many of our countries  from Nigeria to Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mozambique, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo and so on. The military has completely failed to contain the armed combatants and reduce insecurity.

This situation has created two narratives in an emerging blame game. The military have been complaining in loud whispers that the corrupt democratic administrations have not been supplying them adequate weaponry to deal with insurgents, jihadists and armed bandits. The response is that deep corruption has also penetrated the military itself and they often misappropriate the funds given to them to execute the wars. A war economy has developed in which officers are massively enriching themselves from the war efforts and thereby sabotaging them. The winner, as it were, is corruption.

The time has come for Africans to reopen the debate on the best pathways of deepening democracy in our countries. The contemporary African must learn to read the tea leaves. Apparent democrats win elections with the promise of democratic consolidation and when they get the power, they work on dismantling the democratic system. We know from our past experience that the military cannot be the solution to our democratic and developmental needs.

The more profound narrative is that the African situation today is characterised by three types of coup detat. The first is the constitutional coup in which serving presidents recklessly tear the normative framework they had themselves developed and engage in tenure elongation beyond constitutional limits, thereby destroying the legitimacy of the political system. The second coup is engaging in massive electoral fraud to change electoral outcomes. There have been at least thirteen African countries, where the leaders have used various legal devices and political manoeuvres to extend their tenures beyond two terms since 2012.

Often, it is the experience of these forms of coup detat that creates the conditions for the third type, which is the military coup detat. The result is that Africas robust normative frameworks for deterring unconstitutional changes of government and for advancing democracy, elections and governance have been considerably weakened. The norms codified in Article 30 of the African Union Constitutive Act, 2002 and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, 2012 have gradually lost their meanings. It is for this reason that the condemnation of military coups by the African Union or by ECOWAS has very little resonance because people always ask what these institutions did when democratically elected leaders were messing up national constitutions and/or electoral systems. Democratic culture has therefore been weakened considerably through anti-democratic practices by ruling parties. Repeatedly, ECOWAS, the African Union, and the United Nations Security Council have strongly condemned coups and called on the military to reinstate the deposed leaders and restore constitutional rule with no effect. Even the imposition of sanctions has had very little effect on the emerging juntas.

The time has come for Africans to reopen the debate on the best pathways of deepening democracy in our countries. The contemporary African must learn to read the tea leaves. Apparent democrats win elections with the promise of democratic consolidation and when they get the power, they work on dismantling the democratic system. We know from our past experience that the military cannot be the solution to our democratic and developmental needs. What we need to reinforce in our political systems is early detection of democratic derailment so we can put the system back on course.

A professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, Jibrin Ibrahim is a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, and Chair of the Editorial Board of PREMIUM TIMES.

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Five gunmen suspected to be kidnappers responsible for some recent attacks in Jamaare Local Government of Bauchi State were shot and killed by security operatives, the Bauchi State Police command claimed in a statement on Friday.

The police also claimed it rescued an individual who was kidnapped and already paid a ransom of N10 million to his abductors.

The police spokesperson, Ahmed Wakili, said the operation was carried out successfully by the combined team of the security operatives on Thursday night.

The operation was carried out in conjunction with a quasi security operatives in Jamaare, where 3 AK 47 Rifles, One Sub Machine Gun (SMG) Rifle, 3 empty Magazines, 105 rounds of live ammunition and One cutlass were recovered from the gang.

The police operatives in line with the mandate of Operations Restore Peace (ORP) in collaboration with local hunters, were carrying out routine surveillance and raided the suspects hide outs when suddenly they came under gunfire attacks from a heavily armed criminal gang.

The Operatives fought back gallantly repelling the attack and subsequently neutralised five of the gang leaders while the remaining gang members fled, Mr Wakili added.

Rescued abductee

The police also said armed men numbering about 10 on Wednesday kidnapped Emeka Asogwa of Itas Gadau local government from his house.

The police said Mr Asogwa had already paid a ransom of N10 million to his abductors for his freedom.

It, however, claimed, Mr. Asogwa was rescued by detectives in collaboration with local hunters.

Investigation revealed that a group of suspected bandits are responsible for terrorising Buji, Mashema, Itas-Gadau, Gwaram, Sara, Birnin Kudu, Ningi and Burra areas of Bauchi and Jigawa states.

Investigations into these cases are ongoing, while efforts aimed at arresting other members of the gang still at large are being intensified. The command is defiantly committed to ensuring that criminals have no hiding place in the state.

It must be reemphasized here that safety and security is not the sole responsibility of security agencies alone, hence members of the public are encouraged to play a vital role towards ensuring peace by availing the police with useful information at all times, the police stated.

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The Akwa Ibom State Government has approved N2 billion in financial support for government workers and pensioners to cushion the effects of the economic hardship caused by the federal governments removal of fuel subsidy.

The approval was given at the states Executive Council meeting, chaired by Governor Umo Eno, on Thursday, in Uyo, according to a statement from the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ini Ememobong.

The financial support is to last for three months.

Prices of goods and services have continued to climb up in Nigeria and many families have been thrown into poverty and severe hardship since President Bola Tinubu announced the government withdrawal of the subsidy in May.

The Nigerian government released billions of naira to the state governments to enable the states to provide some help to the poor and the vulnerable.

The Akwa Ibom State Government said it received N2 billion and 7,200 bags of rice from the federal government.

A total of 100,000 bags of rice will be distributed statewide. Forty bags per village to the 2,272 gazetted villages and other strategic groups, Mr Ememobong said.

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Apart from the proposed financial support to workers and pensioners, the Akwa Ibom government said it had already paid N2 billion as a gratuity to both state and local government retirees.

The government, in addition, said, Fridays will become a ticket-free day for transport operators and traders in markets in all the local government areas up till December, 2023.

It also approved the payment of N10,000 bursary to undergraduate students of Akwa Ibom origin in all public tertiary institutions in Nigeria as well as the distribution of free exercise books to primary and secondary schools in the state.

Discussions on transportation means like CNG buses and electric taxis are ongoing, to ensure an effective, efficient and sustainable rollout, the commissioner said.

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A 20-year-old woman has allegedly dumped her new-born baby boy in a pit toilet in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria.

The suspect, Chidinma Nwaedoka, was said to have intentionally carried out the act on Sunday in Otuocha, a community in Anambra East Local Government Area of the state.

Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, a media aide to the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare in the state, Ify Obinabo, disclosed this in a statement Tuesday.

Ms Ikeanyionwu said the baby had been rescued from the pit toilet, which was still under construction at the time of the incident.

Ms Nwaedoka, the suspect, hails from Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, another state in the South-east.

How the baby was rescued

In a video clip attached to the statement, Esther Omesi, a farmer and a friend to the suspect, told Mrs Obinabo that the suspect, who was pregnant, had requested to stay at her place for a few days because of a farming job she got.

Mrs Omesi said, after granting her request, the suspect told her on Sunday that she had been having stomach upset and, consequently, went to her pit toilet ostensibly to ease herself, but spent a lot of time at the pit.

After some time, she came out with blood dripping out of her body. I asked her what happened to her and she told me it looked like her baby shifted. I then called a nurse and told her that I dont know what was happening to my guest.

The nurse checked her and said there was no longer a baby in her stomach. I felt the baby probably died. She (the suspect) then said she wanted to leave today (Tuesday) to tell her village people what happened, she narrated in Igbo language.

So later today (on Tuesday) when I got to the pit toilet, which was uncovered, I heard a cry like that of a baby. I was surprised. I called my niece whom I stay with to check the pit to ascertain what cried out. I then peeped into the pit and saw it was a baby and began to shout for help, Mrs Omesi stated.

She said people gathered and helped to rescue the baby from the pit, adding that the suspect, on interrogation, admitted that she dumped the baby in the pit.

Commissioners intervention

Ms Ikeanyionwu said Mrs Obinabo, the commissioner, quickly intervened when her attention was drawn to the incident.

Mrs Obinabo immediately took the newborn to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Amaku, Awka for treatment and subsequently arrested the suspect.

The commissioner, according to the statement, decried the rising rate of crime among women in the state and maintained that the latest suspect would not go unpunished.

She stressed that the administration of Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has zero tolerance for such inhuman and dastardly act and assured that her ministry would handle the case appropriately.

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In Kherson region, 330 protective structures have been equipped, suitable for long-term stay of people and to which round-the-clock access is provided, said head of Kherson Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin.

"In Kherson region there are already 330 protective structures suitable for long-term stay of people, they are equipped with everything necessary: there are beds, chairs, food, water, electricity from generators, and toilets. Roundthe-clock access is provided to these shelters," Prokudin said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

According to him, work is also underway in the region in six more storages and in 29 simplest shelters, and immediately after that, estimated documentation for the equipment of 20 more such shelters will be prepared.

"In addition, there are 198 street shelters in the region. They are installed in crowded places. Another 10 shelters will be purchased in the near future at the expense of the regional budget. We also expect 10 more protective structures during September of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society," the head of the Regional Administration added.

Prokudin also noted that in parallel, local military administrations are purchasing mobile shelters and installing them in the necessary places.
GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In late August, a delegation of China Foreign Trade Centre (CFTC), Canton Fair's organizer, has made significant strides in Southeast Asia to promote the 134th Canton Fair. The group held promotion conferences in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and Yangon. The events were attended by more than 460 guests from these three countries and attracted over 300 new buyers to register on the Canton Fair online platform to visit the exhibition virtually.

Zhang Sihong, Deputy Secretary General of the Canton Fair and Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre, invited companies from the three countries to attend the Fair onsite and online. "The 134th Canton Fair, which will be the largest international trading event in China in the second half of this year, is set to surpass previous records in scale. We are focusing on improving the exhibition structure and raising the quality of exhibitors, to make this event memorable with more highlights and new features," said Zhang.

Announced at the promotion conference in Chiang Mai, CFTC and Thai Chinese Business Association of Chiangmai have entered into a strategic partnership. The agreement will see the two parties collaborate on organizing northern Thai buyers and exhibitors to the Canton Fair, and on holding regular trade matchmaking activities.

During their promotional trip, the delegation also held productive discussions with government trade promotion departments and business organizations, including Agricultural Trade Promotion Centre of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Department of International Trade Promotion of Ministry of Commerce, Thailand, Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce & Industry, etc. The team also conducted friendly exchanges with leading retail companies such as Co.op Mart Group in Vietnam, Chia Tai Group CP ALL Company in Thailand, City Mart in Myanmar.

The 134th Canton Fair will make adjustments to some exhibition sections. Please plan your trip according to the latest exhibition sections. Visit Canton Fair's official website https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en-US/posts/646531331412942848 for more information. From this session, overseas buyers who will attend onsite must pre-register in advance. For more details, please visit: https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en-US/pages/655692320955457536

SOURCE Canton Fair
DUBLIN, Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The release of the 2024 Law Firm Hourly Rate Report is bound to shed light on the recent dispute over hourly rates charged by law firm Gibson Dunn in the Miami legal market.

This yearly report is hailed as the most comprehensive and detailed competitive intelligence and legal pricing tool available to date. Unlike other tools and surveys that often aggregate data from diverse law firms, this report gives insights into average hourly rates by individual law firms.

Key insights from the report include:

A surge in hourly rates in 2024 by most large law firms. Factors driving this increase include:

Consolidation among large law firms, resulting in expertise being concentrated among fewer entities.

Ongoing billing restrictions by Corporate Counsel, leaving hourly rate adjustments as the prime method for law firms to boost revenue.

The resilience of big law firms owing to their diversified practice areas, allowing them to better navigate economic fluctuations compared to their smaller counterparts.

Furthermore, the report details actual billed hourly rates spanning from 2019-2023. Rates projected for 2024 are derived from actual billed rates present in multi-year agreements and various estimates.

The connection to the Gibson Dunn's Miami case is particularly poignant. A recent news article dated August 9, 2023, highlighted a U.S. judge's decision to cut back a legal-fee request from law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. This was on the grounds that their hourly rates were considered "unreasonable" within the Miami legal market context. The court deemed $700 an hour as a reasonable fee for the case. For perspective, Gibson Dunn partners from other regions were billing at rates surpassing $1,700 an hour, as were many other large law firms in the US.

This scenario raises pertinent questions about the relativity of 'reasonability' when it comes to legal fees and how global firms align their rates with local markets. The 2024 Law Firm Hourly Rate Report will be instrumental for law firms, clients, and industry stakeholders in navigating these waters.

The report's table of contents features an executive summary, average rates by revenue groups, and average rates by individual firms.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/raes9t

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DETROIT, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Adell Media announced today the debut of 910 AM  Detroit's News Talk Superstation (WFDF-AM), effective Tuesday, September 5, 2023.

910 AM will broadcast a 24/7 lineup of news and conservative talk featuring industry- leading personalities. The station kicks off at 9 a.m. ET on September 5 with "The Glenn Beck Program" and the new roster includes: "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show," "The Sean Hannity Show," "The Jesse Kelly Show," "The Bill O'Reilly Show," and others. The station will also feature local news, weather and traffic from Total Traffic & Weather Network, and breaking news coverage from ABC Radio.

"For the first time in years, Metro Detroit has an alternative to WJR, with a genuinely conservative point of view," said Kevin Adell, Chief Executive Officer of Adell Media. "We're excited to launch this new talk station with the biggest names in the format. As the 2024 Presidential Election race heats up, 910 AM will be well positioned to provide all the important news and updates our community needs to stay informed on the latest hot topics and issues."

Full Programming Lineup:

5:00 a.m.  6:00 a.m. Fox News Rundown

6:00 a.m.  9:00 a.m. Justin Barclay

9:00 a.m.  12:00 p.m. The Glenn Beck Program

12:00 p.m.  3:00 p.m. The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show

3:00 p.m.  6:00 p.m. The Sean Hannity Show

6:00 p.m.  9:00 p.m. The Jesse Kelly Show

9:00 p.m.  10:00 p.m. Bill O'Reilly

10:00 p.m.  1:00 a.m. Our American Stories

1:00 a.m.  5:00 a.m. The Other Side of Midnight with Frank Morano

Visit https://www.910amsuperstation.com/ for more information.

MEDIA CONTACTS: MORT MEISNER ASSOCIATES, MORT MEISNER 248-613-0948 AND GRACE CARLISLE 248-545-2222 OR 248-565-5342

SOURCE 910AM Superstation
The Business Research Company's global market reports are now updated with the latest market sizing information for the year 2023 and forecasted to 2032

LONDON, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The market size for aerospace and defense is anticipated to reach an impressive $1076.56 billion by 2027, driven by a commendable Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.9%. In the dynamic landscape of the aerospace and defense industry, where innovation and strategic insights are crucial, understanding market trends is paramount.

To navigate this evolving sector successfully, businesses need accurate and up-to-date information that can inform their decisions. TBRC's comprehensive report on the aerospace and defense industry offers invaluable insights, analysis, and forecasts that equip businesses with the knowledge to seize opportunities, mitigate risks, and make well-informed choices to thrive in this dynamic market landscape.

View The Business Research Company's top eleven market reports in the aerospace & defense industry:

Airborne ISR Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/airborne-isr-global-market-report

The airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) market is poised for substantial growth, projected to reach $30.29 billion by 2027 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.3%. This expansion is primarily attributed to the escalating concerns surrounding the potential for terror attacks. As the threat landscape evolves, the demand for advanced airborne ISR solutions is expected to surge, as these technologies play a pivotal role in enhancing situational awareness and enabling proactive security measures.

2. Autonomous Aircraft Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/autonomous-aircraft-global-market-report

Anticipated at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.9%, the global autonomous aircraft market is forecasted to expand and reach $1.09 billion by the year 2027.

The progression of artificial intelligence stands as a significant catalyst propelling the expansion of the autonomous aircraft market.

3. Commercial Radars Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/commercial-radars-global-market-report

The aerospace sector's commercial radars market holds substantial potential through technological progress and inventive developments in surface movement and air surveillance radars. Surface movement radars, which oversee aircraft and vehicle movements within the maneuvering area, offer enhanced safety by furnishing guidance and support for the secure and effective navigation of aircraft and vehicles. This presents noteworthy prospects for the market, bolstered by these advancements, aiming to bolster safety and operational efficiency.

4. Military Helicopters Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/military-helicopters-global-market-report

The landscape of the military helicopter market is being molded by advancements in helicopter manufacturing processes. In recent times, the global helicopter industry has undergone a notable evolution driven by considerable technological progress. These advancements encompass a wide array of innovations, such as the widespread adoption of additive manufacturing, comprehensive computational structural dynamics modeling, advanced condition-based maintenance (CBM) techniques, fly-by-wire control systems, health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS), and sophisticated turbine engine programs.

5. Military Radars Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/military-radars-global-market-report

Projected at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.1%, the global military radars market is poised to expand to $79.37 billion by 2027.

The augmentation in defense expenditure by emerging economies has played a pivotal role in fueling the expansion of the military radar market. This military spending encompasses various aspects such as operational activities, maintenance, procurement of weaponry and armored vehicles, as well as research and development endeavors in the military domain.

6. Missiles Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/missiles-global-market-report

Artificial intelligence stands out as a prominent trend that is rapidly gaining traction within the missiles market. Nations worldwide are actively incorporating artificial intelligence into missile design to enable precision strikes on targets that are beyond human reach. This integration of artificial intelligence empowers missiles with the capability to engage moving targets and offers a level of accuracy surpassing that of alternative technologies.

7. Reusable Launch Vehicle Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/reusable-launch-vehicle-global-market-report

Anticipated to exhibit a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.0%, the global market for reusable launch vehicles is projected to expand to $3.38 billion by the year 2027.

The surge in satellite launches is poised to act as a driving force behind the forthcoming growth of the reusable launch vehicle market.

8. Aircraft Brake System Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/aircraft-brake-system-global-market-report

The aircraft brake system market is anticipated to witness substantial growth, reaching a size of $12.44 billion by 2027, driven by a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.8%. This growth trajectory is significantly influenced by the expanding fleet size of both commercial and defense aircraft. As the global aviation sector experiences an increase in the number of aircraft, the demand for efficient and reliable aircraft brake systems is expected to rise, thereby fueling the growth of this market segment in the foreseeable future.

9. Aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhauling Services Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/aircraft-maintenance-repair-and-overhauling-services-global-market-report

The aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services sector's market size is projected to reach $76.87 billion by 2027, experiencing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.3%.

Swift progressions in wireless technology and the practice of miniaturizationdesigning smaller equipment componentsare anticipated to stimulate innovation within the defense market, consequently propelling the market's growth throughout the forecast period.

10. Sea based Defense Equipment Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/sea-based-defense-equipment-global-market-report

Enterprises engaged in the manufacturing of sea-based defense equipment are actively creating equipment that incorporates artificial intelligence and robotics. This integration of advanced technologies is particularly evident in sea-based defense systems like submarines and warships. By leveraging these innovations, such equipment gains the capability to execute offensive actions with reduced human intervention, while also enhancing its ability to detect and assess potential threats.

11. Airport Security Global Market Report 2023

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/airport-security-global-market-report

One of the notable trends gaining traction in the airport security market is the integration of technological advancements. This trend encompasses various innovations such as RFID baggage reconciliation systems, remote check-in procedures, electronic gates (e-gates), and the advancement of sensor equipment. These technologies are increasingly gaining popularity as they play a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of airport security measures. The adoption of these advanced solutions reflects the industry's commitment to bolstering safety, streamlining processes, and ensuring a seamless travel experience for passengers.

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In Crimea, under Russian occupation, there will be no civilized and stable economy, there will be no money, there will be constant chaos, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

As he noted, speaking via video link at Italy's Forum of the European House Ambrosetti on Friday, "without Crimea, without Donbas, without our occupied territories, there will be no real sustainable peace in Ukraine, which means there will be no peace in this European area".

"Just look at what happens when Crimea is controlled by Russia. Do they have civilization? No. Do they have tourists? No. Do they have more jobs? No. Do more businesses come to them? No. Why? Since that Ukraine, being a civilized country according to all norms of international law, does not recognize Crimea as part of Russia. And the world does the same. When world politicians do not recognize this, business does not recognize it," he said.

Zelenskyy said "If business on any continent does not recognize this, it means that there will not be a stable economy, they will not have this economy, they will not have money, there will be constant chaos."

"This is exactly what Russia is striving for. There will be no this peninsula that attracts tourists. It turned into militarized, occupied piece of land. Therefore, they cannot develop in this way. So yes, it [Crimea] can be returned diplomatically. And it is also possible by military means," the head of state said.

"We are for the Russian forces to leave the peninsula without our pressure, because this will mean fewer victims. We take care of our people. Let Putin take care of his citizens," he said.
NEW YORK, Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market size is estimated to grow by USD 19.49 million from 2022 to 2027, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period. The growing demand for commercial aircraft drives the growth of the aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market. The sustainment of the year-over-year increase in air traffic requires airline operators to procure new aircraft to address the rising demand and thus, major aircraft OEMs have initiated the revamping of their existing production facilities. Hence, during the forecast period, a growing passenger aircraft fleet is set to bring additional applications of windshield wipers and washing systems on board. North America held the largest share of the global market in 2022, and the market in the region is estimated to witness an incremental growth of 40%. For more insights on the historic market data (2017 to 2021) and forecast market size (2023 to 2027) - Request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Aircraft Windshield Wiper and Washer Systems Market 2023-2027

Aircraft Windshield Wiper And Washer Systems Market - Segmentation Assessment

Segment Overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on Application (Commercial aircraft, Military aircraft, and Civil aircraft), Type (Line fit and Retrofit), and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

The market share growth by the commercial aircraft segment will be significant during the forecast period. The growth can be attributed to several factors, which, in turn, are driving the global aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market. This segment has been experiencing significant growth since 2021, owing to the post-pandemic recovery of the aviation industry, majorly due to the increasing number of air passengers since 2021. Hence, such factors drive segment growth during the forecast period.

Geography Overview

By geography, the global aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market is segmented into North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market.

North America is estimated to contribute 40% to the global market growth. The region's robust aviation infrastructure drives the regional market growth. Furthermore, the region is home to technologically advanced aerospace companies that largely cater to the regional demand for aircraft parts, systems, and components. Also, the rapid increase in the global demand for new aircraft also triggered investments in the aircraft manufacturing sector. Hence, such factors drive the regional market growth during the forecast period.

Insights on the market contribution of various segments including country and region wise, historic (2017 to 2021) and forecast market size (2023 to 2027) - Download a Sample Report

Aircraft Windshield Wiper and Washer Systems Market 2023-2027: Market Dynamics

Significant Trends

The increasing prevalence of defense aircraft is an emerging aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market trend. Various countries engage in the purchase of new airplanes, either by means of domestic R&D or technology transfer. Additionally, the augmented role of combat aircraft in a critical situation has led several countries to induct a new fleet of fighter jets in an effort to modernize their aerial defense.

Moreover, aircraft find applications in air-to-air combat and air-to-ground attacks which need air traffic control management. Hence, the growing development of defense aircraft is expected to have a positive impact on the demand for aircraft windshield wipers and washer systems during the forecast period.

Major Challenges

The operational challenges of washer fluids challenge the growth of the aircraft windshield wipers and washer systems market. Furthermore, the airline industry, aviation government agencies, and vendors are collaborating to ensure the development of environmentally friendly washer fluid fluids.

However, the deteriorating properties of washer fluids due to the failure to store them correctly affect their application during heavy snowfall. Hence, such challenges are expected to negatively impact the market in focus during the forecast period.

Insights on Market Drivers, Trends, & Challenges, historic period (2017 to 2021) and forecast period(2023 to 2027)- Request a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this Aircraft Windshield Wiper And Washer Systems Market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2023-2027

Detailed information on factors that will assist aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of aircraft windshield wiper and washer systems market vendors

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The ultralight aircraft market size is expected to increase to USD 2.61 billion from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 5.71%. Furthermore, this report extensively covers ultralight aircraft market segmentation by end-user (civil, commercial, and military) and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America). The low-cost operations and maintenance of ultralight aircraft is notably driving the ultralight aircraft market growth.

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Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation by Application

7 Market Segmentation by Type

8 Customer Landscape

9 Geographic Landscape

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

11 Vendor Landscape

12 Vendor Analysis

13 Appendix

About US

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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
300 attendees, to include 80+ speakers and 200+ delegates from around the world, including 50 youth leaders, participating at the event in AlUla, KSA from September 13-15

ALULA, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The AlUla World Archaeology Summit has announced an outstanding roster of Saudi and international speakers and delegates for its inaugural edition, taking place in AlUla from 13-15 September.

Experts who are scheduled to be among the Summit's 80+ speakers include:

AlUla was once the capital of the ancient kingdoms of Dadan and Lihyan (PRNewsfoto/Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)) The AlUla World Archaeology Summit will convene at the spectacular Maraya (PRNewsfoto/Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU))

From KSA: Manal AlDowayan, Visual Artist; Dr. Jasir Alherbish, CEO, Saudi Heritage Commission; Prof. Daif Allah AlTalhi, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology, University of Hail; Prof. Suleiman Altheeb, Professor Emeritus of Ancient Arabian Scripts and Languages, King Saud University.

From abroad: Prof. Shadreck Chirikure, Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science, University of Oxford, UK; Jyoti Hosagrahar, Deputy Director, World Heritage Center, UNESCO; Prof. Zeidan Kafafi, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology, Yarmouk University, Jordan; Prof. Toshiyuki Kono, Professor Emeritus of Private International Law, Kyushu University; Dr. Gary Martin, Founder and Senior Advisor, Global Diversity Foundation; Dr. Denise Pozzi-Escot, Director, Pachacamac Site Museum, Peru; Timothy Whalen, Director, Getty Conservation Institute; and Dennis Wuthrich, Founder and CEO Farallon Geographics, USA.

Other luminaries scheduled to appear at the Summit include Bettany Hughes, the British historian and presenter of numerous documentaries on ancient history, and Levison Wood, world-renowned explorer, writer and photographer who has written eleven best-selling books and produced several critically acclaimed documentaries.

In all, the Summit will include more than 300 attendees, who will engage with a variety of subjects intended to inspire visionary, heritage-based solutions to contemporary problems across sectors. Examples of panel discussion topics include "Archaeology Weaves an Interconnected World" and "Saving Archaeology One TikTok at a Time."

The Summit is an initiative of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), which is leading the comprehensive regeneration of AlUla as a leading global destination for cultural and natural heritage. Archaeological research and conservation are cornerstones of the project, which aims to attract 2 million visitors a year to AlUla by 2035.

Dr. Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani, Executive Director of Archaeology, Conservation and Collections at RCU, said: "The AlUla World Archaeology Summit is drawing great interest worldwide, with speakers spanning the globe from America and Australia to Jordan and Japan. We welcome them to share knowledge on the Summit's four themes: Identity, Ruinscapes, Resilience and Accessibility. Their presence aligns with AlUla's legacy as a crossroads of civilisations, where people have exchanged ideas from far and wide."

Delegates will also participate in excursions of AlUla's key heritage sites, many of which are also undergoing active archaeological excavation. Although AlUla is best known for the Nabataean tombs of Hegra, Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO World Heritage site, since 2018 project teams have recorded thousands of archaeological sites across AlUla and Khaybar. More sites are set to be explored in the region by archaeological research institutions, universities, and companies from KSA and around the world.

This autumn there are 11 projects conducting fieldwork across AlUla County and neighbouring Khaybar, involving 150 to 200 archaeologists and associated specialists, which constitutes one of the world's most active archaeological research undertakings.

The Summit will convene at AlUla's spectacular Maraya multi-purpose venue, which holds the Guinness World Record as the largest mirrored building (9,740 glass panels).

Key learnings from the Summit will be shared publicly after the event, along with selected video highlights. Visit www.worldarchaeologysummit.com to learn more and to see the full list of speakers.

For media enquiries please contact [email protected]

About the Royal Commission for AlUla

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) was established by royal decree in July 2017 to preserve and develop AlUla, a region of outstanding natural and cultural significance in north-west Saudi Arabia. RCU's long-term plan outlines a responsible, sustainable, and sensitive approach to urban and economic development that preserves the area's natural and historic heritage while establishing AlUla as a desirable location to live, work, and visit. This encompasses a broad range of initiatives across archaeology, tourism, culture, education, and the arts, reflecting a commitment to meeting the economic diversification, local community empowerment, and heritage preservation priorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 programme.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2199927/AlUla_capital_Dadan_and_Lihyan.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2199928/The_AlUla_World_Archaeology_Summit.jpg

SOURCE Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Elise Sanguinetti and Anna Mezhebovskaya obtained a $7.4 Million verdict with 45% comparative fault in San Francisco Superior Court in a case involving a man who was seriously injured when he fell through a sliding glass door in his apartment.

The man severed his ulnar nerve when he fell through the sliding glass door made of plate glass in his rented apartment on October 2, 2020. The case turned on whether the landlord was aware or should have been aware of the problem with the sliding glass door, that it lacked safety glass. After the injury, the man was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome which is one of the worst pain diagnoses you can have.

"This is a wonderful man who has suffered unbearable pain because the owners of his rental unit failed to take basic steps to make this rental apartment safe," said Elise Sanguinetti of Arias Sanguinetti. "Currently, more than 65% of people living in San Francisco rent an apartment there, and they rely on owners to abide by the law and provide a safe living environment. With some of the highest rents in the world, this should be a reasonable expectation."

The jury issued a $7.4 million verdict with a 45% reduction for fault. The final award against Franciscana Apartments was $4,072,179.20 as a result of his injuries, loss of income, medical bills and more. The trial lasted more than 2  weeks in San Francisco.

The case is AT v. Franciscana Apartments, San Francisco Superior Court, Case No. CGC-22-600176.

About Arias Sanguinetti

At Arias Sanguinetti | Trial Lawyers, we represent personal injury victims and their families who have been harmed in accidents caused by negligence. Our firm is one of the premier trial firms in the nation, having developed a long track record of success in the court room.

Contact:

Joe Marchelewski

[email protected]

SOURCE Arias Sanguinetti
HONG KONG, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

Mission and Vision

The Asia Pacific Entrepreneurs Association is commonly referred to as "APEA". APEA serves as a vital platform for young entrepreneurs to engage in dialogue, exchange ideas, and foster collaborative efforts throughout the Asia Pacific region.

APEA's primary mission is to empower its members to venture into the international trade arena, explore untapped business opportunities, facilitate seamless overseas operations, and establish global networks. Furthermore, APEA aspires to nominate outstanding entrepreneurs to participate in relevant summits and activities organized by esteemed international organizations for example PECC (Pacific Economic Cooperation Council), WEF (World Economic Forum), U.N.(United Nations). The association is committed to driving technological innovation, igniting talent and creativity, and harnessing emerging technologies as key drivers for societal advancement and economic growth. Additionally, APEA is dedicated to promoting cultural exchange and cultivating an inclusive, open, and mutually enriching platform that fosters continuous cross-cultural collaboration and innovation.

APEA operates under the expert guidance of the President of the PFGC and Chairman of PECC Antonio Basilio, who assuming the role of Chairman of APEA's Advisory Committee. His astute leadership provides clear direction and effective management for APEA's initiatives.

With its visionary goals and esteemed leadership, APEA is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping a thriving business landscape and fostering economic growth and innovation in the Asia Pacific region. The association's commitment to collaboration and progress sets the stage for a prosperous and interconnected future for young entrepreneurs and business leaders in the region and beyond.

Successful Launch Ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurs Association and Asia-Pacific Business Leaders Forum

On August 20, 2023, the launch ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurs Association and the Asia-Pacific Business Leaders Forum, organized by the Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurs Association (APEA), was successfully held. The forum welcomed esteemed guests from the business and political sectors, including Antonio Basilio, Chairman of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) in the Philippines, Xu Jinghong, Former Vice-Chairman of APEC China Business Council, Jin Xu, President of the China Society of international Trade, Liang Zhicong, former Executive Director of Oracle Corporation Asia Pacific and Chairman of Ying'an Global Business Group, Wu Shichun, Founding Partner of Plum Ventures, Zhang Jun, Founding Partner of China-Europe Capital and former Vice President of Huawei Technologies Co., and other prominent figures. Together, they discussed the new challenges and opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.

APEA (Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurs Association) was established within the overall framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Development Program, with Antonio Basilio serving as the Chairman of the Advisory Committee. Its primary focus is to assist members in entering the international trade arena, exploring new business opportunities, facilitating overseas operations, and establishing global connections. APEA also strives to promote technological innovation, inspire creative talent, and make emerging technologies an important engine for social progress and economic growth. Additionally, it is committed to fostering cultural exchanges, building an open, inclusive, and mutually learning platform, and continuously promoting cooperation and innovation across cultures.

In the current context of rapidly changing international dynamics and a once-in-a-century global transformation, new challenges and opportunities have emerged, requiring us to adopt a fresh perspective and mindset to face and seize them. As a vital component of the global economy and the most dynamic growth region, the Asia-Pacific economy injects strong momentum into regional development, with young entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region representing a new hope for sustained and robust global economic growth. Against this backdrop, the launch of APEA and the hosting of the forum will add significant impetus to strengthening communication and coordination within the region, optimizing resource allocation, and promoting sustainable and synergistic development of the regional economy.

Address by the APEA Chairmanship

In their address, Antonio Basilio and Xu Jinghong, Chairman of APEA, highlighted the impact of regional economic development on young entrepreneurs and provided guidance on how they can leverage regional economic growth to discover business opportunities and achieve personal growth and transformation.

Antonio Basilio emphasized that the Asia-Pacific region possesses a wealth of young talent who can benefit from and contribute to regional prosperity through income generation, employment opportunities, and support. APEA aims to provide these aspiring entrepreneurs with the necessary tools, support, and opportunities to thrive in the regional economic landscape. By harnessing the power of regional economic integration, APEA aims to empower young entrepreneurs to benefit from larger markets, networks, and resources. Additionally, APEA seeks to establish an ecosystem that supports youth entrepreneurship, actively collaborating with governments and businesses to create a conducive environment that encourages innovation and fosters entrepreneurial development.

In his address, Xu Jinghong pointed out that the era is filled with uncertainty and complexity. The rapid advancement of science and technology, as well as the ever-changing international relations, bring both opportunities and challenges. Xu Jinghong emphasized that the youth are the hope of the future, as they possess the greatest creativity and vitality. The establishment of the Asia-Pacific Young Entrepreneurs Council is a positive development, representing the willingness of young people to engage in exchange and exploration for a better future and to unite and collaborate effectively. As someone who has traveled a long journey in life, Xu Jinghong expressed his willingness to support the efforts of young people at this moment, using his life experience to explore the future together.

Launch of the Asia-Pacific Elite Leaders Initiative

At the conclusion of the forum, the Asia-Pacific Elite Leaders Initiative was officially launched. The program, which falls under the overall framework of economic cooperation and development in the Asia-Pacific region, is jointly initiated by the Asia-Pacific Young Entrepreneurs Association, APEC Voices, and relevant organizations from the World Economic Forum in Davos, including managers, core members, and past representatives. The program aims to identify world-class leaders from the Asia-Pacific region, accompany them in their growth journey, and inject a continuous source of engine power into the economic prosperity and sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific region.

SOURCE APEA
NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The aviation cyber security market size is set to grow by USD 38.08 billion between 2022 and 2027 and register a CAGR of 9.4%, according to Technavio's latest market research report estimates. With a focus on identifying dominant industry influencers, Technavio's reports present a detailed study by the way of synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. This report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The report is segmented by Type, Deployment, and Geography. The network security segment will be significant during the forecast period. It refers to any activity structured to protect the usability and integrity of the data and network. The aviation industry prioritizes to maintain safe, secure, and resilient operations. It plays a major role in safeguarding sensitive data from cyber-attacks and ensures that the network is usable and trustworthy. The need for technological advancements to prevent the aviation sector from cyber-attacks becomes critical because the aviation sector travels towards the autonomy of spaceflight and invests billions in developing aviation technologies. Hence, such factors boost the growth of the network security segment during the forecast period. Technavio offers in-depth market insights that assist global businesses in obtaining growth opportunities. Read Sample Report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Aviation Cyber Security Market 2023-2027

Aviation Cyber Security Market 2023-2027: Segmentation

Type

Network Security



Wireless Security



Cloud Security



Content And Application Security

Deployment

On-premise



Cloud-based

Geography

North America



APAC



Europe



Middle East And Africa



South America

Receive our market sample report now to gain access to a detailed analysis of the aviation cybersecurity market!

Aviation Cyber Security Market 2023-2027: Company Analysis and Scope

Some of the major vendors of the aviation cyber security market include Airbus SE, Astronautics Corporation of America, BAE Systems Plc, Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Fortinet Inc., General Dynamics Corp., General Electric Co., Honeywell International Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., L3Harris Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Palo Alto Networks Inc., Raytheon Technologies Corp., SITA, Thales Group, and Unisys Corp.. To help businesses improve their market position, Technavio's report provides a detailed analysis of around 15+ vendors operating in the market. To leverage the current opportunities, market vendors must strengthen their foothold in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the aviation cyber security market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile & M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

Buy the report!

Company Offerings

Airbus SE - The company offers Airbus cyber security which protects the government, defense, critical infrastructure, and enterprise from increasingly complex cyber threats.

The company offers Airbus cyber security which protects the government, defense, critical infrastructure, and enterprise from increasingly complex cyber threats. BAE Systems Plc - The company offers aviation cyber security services such as multi-domine integration, digital and data service, and AML regulatory compliance.

The company offers aviation cyber security services such as multi-domine integration, digital and data service, and AML regulatory compliance. Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. - The company offers aviation cyber security solutions such as defensive solutions, and full spectrum solutions.

Aviation Cyber Security Market 2023-2027: Market Dynamics

Key Drivers - The adoption of a hybrid model in the aviation industry

The adoption of a hybrid model in the aviation industry drives the growth of the aviation cybersecurity market.

drives the growth of the aviation cybersecurity market. Market vendors generally provide on-premises and cloud-based models of aerospace cyber security solutions.

Various industries, including small businesses, ensure on-premises data protection without the need for a skilled worker by adopting hybrid deployment models.

This helps in lowering their total cost of ownership.

Hence, such factors boost the growth of the aviation cybersecurity market during the forecast period.

Aviation Cyber Security Market 2023-2027: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2023-2027

Detailed information on factors that will assist aviation cyber security market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the aviation cyber security market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the aviation cyber security market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of aviation cyber security market vendors

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Aviation Cyber Security Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 9.4% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 38.08 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023(%) 9.1 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution APAC at 34% Key countries US, China, Japan, India, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Airbus SE, Astronautics Corporation of America, BAE Systems Plc, Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Fortinet Inc., General Dynamics Corp., General Electric Co., Honeywell International Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., L3Harris Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Palo Alto Networks Inc., Raytheon Technologies Corp., SITA, Thales Group, and Unisys Corp. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, and Market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation by Type

7 Market Segmentation by Deployment

8 Customer Landscape

9 Geographic Landscape

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

11 Vendor Landscape

12 Vendor Analysis

13 Appendix

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
MT. LAUREL, N.J., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Established by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) in 1983, Baby Safety Month celebrates its 40th anniversary this September.

"For four decades, JPMA has led the charge to provide life-saving safety information to parents and caregivers of young children through our Baby Safety Month campaign," said Lisa Trofe, executive director of JPMA. "We're proud of what we've accomplished, but we cannot stop. Each year, new people become parents, new products are introduced, and new best practices are established based on research. We are deeply committed to ensuring our members offer the safest, most trustworthy products on the market, and we will continue to provide parents and caregivers with the information they need to use these products in a safe manner."

Established by JPMA in 1983, Baby Safety Month celebrates its 40th anniversary this September. Post this

During Baby Safety Month, JPMA will focus on the following topics:

September 1-8: Choose & Use Safe Products for Baby. Every time. Everywhere.

Some products are safe to use when baby is asleep, while others are only safe when baby is awake. Learn more and find tips for choosing and using safe products for baby here.

September 9-15: Safe Sleep

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, each year in the U.S., about 3,500 infants die of sleep-related infant deaths. For this reason, it's essential for parents and caregivers to implement safe sleep practices and only use products designed and tested for safe sleep. Find tips for safe sleep here.

September 16-22: Car Seat Safety

Each day in the U.S., 445 children are injured and three are killed in car crashes according to NHTSA. Car seats can reduce the risk of crash injuries overall and can reduce the risk of fatalities by as much as 71 percent. However, mistakes in choosing, installing, or correctly using car seats can compromise the protection they offer. Find tips for car seat safety here.

September 23-30: On the Go

Using baby products correctlyboth at home and on the gois a key part of baby safety. Find tips here for on-the-go products like strollers, carriers, play yards, and hook-on chairs.

JPMA would like to thank our Baby Safety Month Ambassadors and partners for supporting Baby Safety Month. For more information about Baby Safety Month and a complete list of safety tips, visit BabySafetyMonth.org.

SOURCE Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA)
WESTMINSTER, Colo., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ball Corporation (NYSE: BALL) today announced that Charles E. Baker, 66, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, will be retiring after a 30-year career with the company. Hannah Lim-Johnson, 51, has been named senior vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary, effective Sept. 18, 2023. Baker will remain with Ball to provide counsel to support the successful completion of the proposed aerospace transaction which was disclosed last month.

"As part of Ball's long-term strategic succession planning, we are pleased to welcome Hannah to Ball, and on behalf of our entire team, we thank Charles for his numerous contributions to our company and congratulate him on his well-deserved retirement," said Daniel W. Fisher, chairman and CEO.

Baker joined Ball in 1993 as director, business development, prior to which he was a partner at the law firm of Fraser & Beatty in Toronto, Ontario. He was Ball's associate general counsel from 1999 to 2004, when he was appointed general counsel.

"Throughout his tenure, Charles has been a cornerstone of our organization, playing a pivotal role in our ongoing commitment to operating with uncompromising integrity and helping us to mitigate regulatory, compliance and other business risks every day and guiding us through a number of significant acquisitions and divestitures that have made us who we are today," Fisher said.

Lim-Johnson most recently served as senior vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Meritor, Inc. (NYSE: MTOR), a global supplier to the commercial vehicle and industrial markets, now a Cummins company. Before Meritor, she served as Chief Legal Officer at Kelly Services, and held senior leadership roles at PSEG, ADT Corporation and Tyco International. Earlier in her career, Lim-Johnson worked at a law firm in New York City and served as deputy attorney general in the Civil Division in New Jersey. She currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.

"Hannah brings a wealth of experience from a number of industry sectors, making her a valuable addition to our organization as we navigate the complex and ever-evolving commercial landscapes ahead of us. She also has a passion for sustainability which aligns with our business. We are very excited to welcome Hannah to our team this month and look forward to her contributions to the organization," Fisher added.

About Ball Corporation

Ball Corporation supplies innovative, sustainable aluminum packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 21,000 people worldwide and reported 2022 net sales of $15.35 billion. For more information, visit www.ball.com , or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter .

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," and similar expressions typically identify forward-looking statements, which are generally any statements other than statements of historical fact. Such statements are based on current expectations or views of the future and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied. You should therefore not place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, and they should be read in conjunction with, and qualified in their entirety by, the cautionary statements referenced below. Ball undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to be different are summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99 in Ball's Form 10-K, which are available on Ball's website and at www.sec.gov. Additional factors that might affect: a) Ball's packaging segments include product capacity, supply, and demand constraints and fluctuations and changes in consumption patterns; availability/cost of raw materials, equipment, and logistics; competitive packaging, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather and related events such as drought, wildfires, storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and floods; footprint adjustments and other manufacturing changes, including the startup of new facilities and lines; failure to achieve synergies, productivity improvements or cost reductions; unfavorable mandatory deposit or packaging laws; customer and supplier consolidation; power and supply chain interruptions; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; inability to pass through increased costs; war, political instability and sanctions, including relating to the situation in Russia and Ukraine and its impact on Ball's supply chain and its ability to operate in Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions generally; changes in foreign exchange or tax rates; and tariffs, trade actions, or other governmental actions, including business restrictions and orders affecting goods produced by Ball or in its supply chain, including imported raw materials; b) Ball's aerospace segment include funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts; failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals or clearances for the proposed transaction; any failure by the parties to satisfy any of the other conditions to the proposed transaction; the possibility that the proposed transaction is ultimately not consummated; potential adverse effects of the announcement or results of the proposed transaction on the ability to develop and maintain relationships with personnel and customers, suppliers and others with whom it does business or otherwise on the business, financial condition, results of operations and financial performance; risks related to diversion of management's attention from ongoing business operations due to the proposed transaction; the impact of the proposed transaction on the ability to retain and hire key personnel; and c) Ball as a whole include those listed above plus: the extent to which sustainability-related opportunities arise and can be capitalized upon; changes in senior management, succession, and the ability to attract and retain skilled labor; regulatory actions or issues including those related to tax, environmental, social and governance reporting, competition, environmental, health and workplace safety, including U.S. Federal Drug Administration and other actions or public concerns affecting products filled in Ball's containers, or chemicals or substances used in raw materials or in the manufacturing process; technological developments and innovations; the ability to manage cyber threats; litigation; strikes; disease; pandemic; labor cost changes; inflation; rates of return on assets of Ball's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; uncertainties surrounding geopolitical events and governmental policies, including policies, orders, and actions related to COVID-19; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting Ball's debt; successful or unsuccessful joint ventures, acquisitions and divestitures, and their effects on Ball's operating results and business generally; and potential adverse effects of the announcement or results of the proposed transaction on the market price of Ball Corporation's common stock.

SOURCE Ball Corporation
TAIPEI, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading industrial storage and memory provider, Cervoz Technology, introduces the T436 Family: state-of-the-art Industrial PCIe NVMe Gen3x4 SSDs. Compatible with the PCIe Gen3x4 interface, NVMe protocol, and M.2 2280 form factor, the series is a perfect fit for both booting and storage in PCs and motherboards. What sets the T436 SSDs apart is Cervoz's proprietary Power Loss Protection technology.

Cervoz pushes the boundaries of SSD performance and reliability with the introduction of the T436 NVMe PCIe Gen3x4 SSDs, epitomizing high-speed operations combined with comprehensive Power Loss Protection technology.

In an era dominated by rapid IoT and AI advancements, our dependency on data is paramount. With global energy fluctuations driven by soaring computing needs, there's more than just a call for swifter data management. It's crucial to protect our data from potential power inconsistencies.

Guarding Data Against Power Instability

The standout feature of the T436 is its advanced PLP (Power Loss Protection) technology. Power disruptions have long been a challenge for SSDs, making valuable data vulnerable to corruption or loss, threatening both data integrity and operational continuity. The T436 SSDs integrate the Powerguard technology to combat these challenges. Upon an unexpected power dip, Powerguard activates instantly, drawing additional power from tantalum capacitors, ensuring that any data within the DRAM buffer is written back to the NAND Flash. Typically, average SSDs require around 40ms of backup power discharge to complete the data write-in task, influenced by the data's complexity or size. With Cervoz's Powerguard, the buffer time from a power dip to potential failure extends impressively to 88ms, ensuring that all data has ample time to be written fully.

All of the above is just a part of Cervoz's comprehensive PLP technology. When combined with Safeguard's VDT (Voltage Detector) mechanism, Voltguard's voltage stabilization, and Circuitguard's defense against abnormal currents, Cervoz's PLP offers unrivaled protection against data loss due to power disturbances, ensuring the integrity and security of your essential data.

Uncompromised Speed and Reliability

The T436 family of SSDs is not just about speed; it's also about reliability. With features that range from compliance with NVMe 1.3/PCI Express Base 3.1 standards to the incorporation of industry-leading SSD-grade-quality TLC flash memory from Kioxia, the T436 is designed for efficiency. Moreover, the Cervoz firmware features a robust ECC algorithmLow-Density Parity Check (LDPC) decodingtogether with the End-to-End Data Protection method, ensuring data reliability and integrity.

Recognizing the heat generated by high performance, the T436 is available in a wide-temperature version that can reliably operate from -40C to 85C. Additionally, the integrated SW-HW overheating protection mechanism, complemented by an optimized heatsink, ensures effective heat dissipation, guaranteeing optimum performance at all times.

Why Cervoz T436 SSDs?

With capacities ranging from 240GB to 1920GB, a broad operating temperature range of -40C to 85C, dynamic thermal throttling, DRAM Buffer, AES 256-bit encryption, and more, the T436 family offers a comprehensive solution tailored for businesses seeking both performance and unwavering reliability. Whether the need is for rapid data access or consistent operations in power-critical situations, the T436 ensures that businesses stay at the forefront of efficiency and reliability.

Join the revolution of high-speed storage, bolstered by unparalleled reliability by visiting www.cervoz.com or contact [email protected]. With Cervoz, the compromise between speed and reliability becomes a thing of the past.

About Cervoz

Headquartered in Taiwan, Cervoz Technology supplies embedded components for the industrial PC market. The company has nearly two decades of experience designing and developing high-performing memory and storage solutions for industrial applications.

Contacts

Media: [email protected]

Sales: [email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2198466/Banner_Ads_T436_1920x1080.jpg

SOURCE Cervoz Technology Co., Ltd.
- Total of six poster presentations analyze the effects of treatment with enzyme replacement therapies in Fabry disease and alpha-mannosidosis -

- Company sponsoring symposium on advances in monitoring and management in Fabry disease -

BOSTON, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chiesi Global Rare Diseases, a business unit of the Chiesi Group established to deliver innovative therapies and solutions for people affected by rare diseases, today announced multiple presentations at the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM) Annual Symposium 2023 being held August 29 - September 1, 2023, in Jerusalem, Israel.

"There continues to be a general lack of awareness and a limited appreciation of the numerous unique challenges that people living with rare lysosomal storage diseases face every day," said Giacomo Chiesi, head of Chiesi Global Rare Diseases. "As a family business, and as a certified benefit corporation, we are focused on the long-term support of these patients and will continue to challenge the status quo by building awareness of unmet medical needs and embracing drug development risks. As we continue to significantly invest in innovation and seek opportunities to improve health outcomes, we are pleased to showcase multiple data presentations in Fabry disease and alpha-mannosidosis at the SSIEM symposium."

Four poster presentations at the SSIEM symposium feature analyses of the safety and efficacy of pegunigalsidase alfa, the company's PEGylated enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), in the treatment of Fabry disease.

In a poster, titled, "Pooled safety profile of pegunigalsidase alfa: an analysis of data from 142 patients in the pegunigalsidase alfa clinical program," John Bernat, M.D., Ph.D., University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, USA, is presenting an analysis of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs), infusion-related reactions (IRRs) during the infusion or within two hours, and premedication use in four clinical trials and three long-term extension studies. This pooled analysis showed that pegunigalsidase alfa had an overall favorable safety profile with most (95.6%) TEAEs being of mild or moderate severity.

David Warnock, M.D., The University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, is presenting a poster, titled, "Pooled analysis of the effect of pegunigalsidase alfa on renal function: Data from 113 patients in the pegunigalsidase alfa clinical trial program," that includes data from patients with more than 18 months of treatment across multiple trials. The results of this pooled analysis suggest that long-term pegunigalsidase alfa treatment provides continued renal function benefits in patients with Fabry disease.

In other Fabry disease posters, Dr. Bernat presents a post hoc analysis that found COVID-19 mRNA vaccines do not appear to increase the risk of IRRs or anti-drug antibodies in patients treated with pegunigalsidase alfa, and Ozlem Goker-Alpan, M.D., Lysosomal and Rare Disorders Research and Treatment Center, USA, describes the tolerability and safety of pegunigalsidase alfa in seven patients treated in an Expanded Access Program.

The company is also sponsoring a symposium on August 29 from 12:45-1:45pm IDT, "Creating a new roadmap: Advances in Fabry Disease Monitoring and Management," that is chaired by Dominique Germain, M.D., Ph.D., University of Versailles, Division of Medical Genetics, France. During the event, Derralynn Hughes, M.A., D.Phil., Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust and University College London, UK, is presenting an update on monitoring modalities, and Dawn Laney, M.S., Emory University School of Medicine, USA, is discussing how to incorporate the patient experience to guide monitoring and management.

In addition, two poster presentations at the SSIEM congress feature analyses of the impact of treatment with velmanase alfa in alpha-mannosidosis.

Benedicte Heron, M.D., Department of Pediatric Neurology, Reference Centre for Lysosomal Diseases, Armand Trousseau-La Roche Guyon University Hospital, France, is presenting a poster, titled, "Long-term efficacy of velmanase alfa treatment in patients with alpha mannosidosis: updated integrated analysis of data from phase I/II, III, and follow-up clinical trials," which concludes that the effect of the ERT on key efficacy outcomes appeared to be maintained over a longterm period (up to 12 years) in pediatric and adult patients (N=33 patients, observation time 0.9 to 11.9 years).

Angela Messina, Ph.D., Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy, is presenting a poster, titled, "IgG glycosylation in patients with alpha-mannosidosis and the impact of enzyme replacement therapy." The results of this study suggest that IgG sialylation/galactosylation could offer a potential new pharmacodynamic biomarker for evaluating treatment benefits in patients with alpha-mannosidosis.

Indication and Important Safety Information for Elfabrio (pegunigalsidase alfa-iwxj)

Indication

Elfabrio (pegunigalsidase alfa-iwxj) is indicated for the treatment of adults with confirmed Fabry disease.

Important Safety Information

WARNING: HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTIONS INCLUDING ANAPHYLAXIS



Patients treated with Elfabrio have experienced hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis. Appropriate medical support measures, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment, should be readily available during Elfabrio administration. If a severe hypersensitivity reaction (eg, anaphylaxis) occurs, discontinue Elfabrio immediately and initiate appropriate medical treatment. In patients with severe hypersensitivity reaction, a desensitization procedure to Elfabrio may be considered.



Prior to Elfabrio administration, consider pretreating with antihistamines, antipyretics, and/or corticosteroids. Inform patients and caregivers of the signs and symptoms of hypersensitivity reactions and infusion-associated reactions (IARs), and instruct them to seek medical care immediately if such symptoms occur.

If a severe hypersensitivity reaction (including anaphylaxis) or severe IAR occurs, immediately discontinue Elfabrio administration and initiate appropriate medical treatment.

If a mild to moderate hypersensitivity reaction or IAR occurs, consider slowing the infusion rate or temporarily withholding the dose.

In clinical trials, 20 (14%) Elfabrio-treated patients experienced hypersensitivity reactions.

Four Elfabrio-treated patients (3%) experienced anaphylaxis reactions that occurred within 5 to 40 minutes of the start of the initial infusion. The signs and symptoms of hypersensitivity reactions and anaphylaxis included headache, nausea, vomiting, throat tightness, facial and oral edema, truncal rash, tachycardia, hypotension, rigors, urticaria, intense pruritus, moderate upper airway obstructions, macroglossia, and mild lip edema.

In clinical trials, 41 (29%) Elfabrio-treated patients experienced one or more infusion-associated reactions, including hypersensitivity, nausea, chills, pruritus, rash, chest pain, dizziness, vomiting, asthenia, pain, sneezing, dyspnea, nasal congestion, throat irritation, abdominal pain, erythema, diarrhea, burning sensation, neuralgia, headache, paresthesia, tremor, agitation, increased body temperature, flushing, bradycardia, myalgia, hypertension, and hypotension.

A case of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis with immune depositions in the kidney was reported during clinical trials. Monitor serum creatinine and urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio. If glomerulonephritis is suspected, discontinue treatment until a diagnostic evaluation can be conducted.

When switching to Elfabrio from a prior enzyme replacement therapy, the risk of hypersensitivity reactions and infusion-associated reactions may be increased in certain patients with pre-existing anti-drug antibodies (ADAs). Consider monitoring IgG and IgE ADAs and clinical or pharmacodynamic response (eg, plasma lyso-Gb3 levels).

The most common adverse reactions (15%) were infusion-associated reactions, nasopharyngitis, headache, diarrhea, fatigue, nausea, back pain, pain in extremity, and sinusitis.

Please see Full Prescribing Information for Elfabrio.

Indication and Important Safety Information for Lamzede (velmanase alfa-tycv)

Indication

Lamzede (velmanase alfa-tycv) is indicated for the treatment of non-central nervous system manifestations of alpha-mannosidosis in adult and pediatric patients.

Important Safety Information

WARNING: SEVERE HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTIONS

Hypersensitivity Reactions Including Anaphylaxis

Patients treated with Lamzede have experienced hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis. Appropriate medical support measures, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment, should be readily available during Lamzede administration. If a severe hypersensitivity reaction (e.g., anaphylaxis) occurs, discontinue Lamzede immediately and initiate appropriate medical treatment. In patients with severe hypersensitivity reaction, a desensitization procedure to Lamzede may be considered.

Considerations Due to Hypersensitivity Reactions and/or Infusion-Associated Reactions (IARs)

Prior to Lamzede administration, consider pretreating with antihistamines, antipyretics, and/or corticosteroids. Inform patients and caregivers of the signs and symptoms of hypersensitivity reactions and IARs and instruct them to seek medical care immediately if such symptoms occur.

If a severe hypersensitivity reaction (including anaphylaxis) or severe IAR occurs, immediately discontinue Lamzede administration and initiate appropriate medical treatment.



In the event of a mild to moderate hypersensitivity reaction or a mild to moderate IAR, consider temporarily holding the infusion for 15 to 30 minutes, slowing the infusion rate to 25% to 50% of the recommended rate, and initiating appropriate medical treatment.

Hypersensitivity Reactions Including Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis and severe hypersensitivity signs and symptoms included cyanosis, hypotension, emesis, urticaria, erythema, facial swelling, pyrexia, and tremor.

Infusion-Associated Reactions (IARs)

The most frequent symptoms of IARs that occurred in >10% of the population were pyrexia, chills, erythema, vomiting, cough, urticaria, rash, and conjunctivitis.

Females of Reproductive Potential

Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment and for 14 days after the last dose if Lamzede is discontinued. For females of reproductive potential, verify that the patient is not pregnant prior to initiating treatment with Lamzede.

Embryo-Fetal Toxicity

Based on findings from animal reproduction studies, Lamzede may cause embryo-fetal harm when administered to a pregnant female.

Common Adverse Reactions

The most common adverse reactions (incidence >20%) are hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylaxis, nasopharyngitis, pyrexia, headache, and arthralgia.

Please see Full Prescribing Information for Lamzede.

About Chiesi Global Rare Diseases

Chiesi Global Rare Diseases is a business unit of the Chiesi Group established to deliver innovative therapies and solutions for people affected by rare diseases. As a family business, Chiesi Group strives to create a world where it is common to have a therapy for all diseases and acts as a force for good, for society and the planet. The goal of the Global Rare Diseases unit is to ensure equal access so as many people as possible can experience their most fulfilling life. The unit collaborates with the rare disease community around the globe to bring voice to underserved people in the health care system.

For more information visit www.chiesirarediseases.com.

About Chiesi Group

Chiesi is an international, research-focused biopharmaceuticals group that develops and markets innovative therapeutic solutions in respiratory health, rare diseases, and specialty care. The company's mission is to improve people's quality of life and act responsibly towards both the community and the environment.

By changing its legal status to a Benefit Corporation in Italy, the US, and France, Chiesi's commitment to create shared value for society as a whole is legally binding and central to company-wide decision-making. As a certified B Corp since 2019, we're part of a global community of businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental impact. The company aims to reach Net-Zero greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by 2035.

With over 85 years of experience, Chiesi is headquartered in Parma (Italy), operates in 31 countries, and counts more than 6,500 employees. The Group's research and development centre in Parma works alongside 6 other important R&D hubs in France, the US, Canada, China, the UK, and Sweden.

For further information please visit www.chiesi.com.

Chiesi Group Media Contacts

Chiara Travagin

Rare Communication Manager

Tel: +39 348 8818985

Email: [email protected]

Alessio Pappagallo

Press Office Manager

Tel: +39 339 5897483

Email: [email protected]

Adam Daley

Berry & Company Public Relations

Tel: +1 212 253 8881

Email: [email protected]

PP-G-1260 V1.0

SOURCE Chiesi Global Rare Diseases
NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Consolidated Edison, Inc. (Con Edison) (NYSE: ED) executives will meet with investors at the Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference in New York City on September 7, 2023.

The company executives who will attend are:

Matthew Ketschke , President of Consolidated Edison Company of New York

, President of Consolidated Edison Company of Joseph Miller , Vice President and Controller of Con Edison and Consolidated Edison Company of New York

, Vice President and Controller of Con Edison and Consolidated Edison Company of Yukari Saegusa , Vice President and Treasurer of Con Edison and Consolidated Edison Company of New York

A copy of Con Edison's investor presentation for these meetings can be found on the Presentations & Webcasts page of the company's Investor Relations website.

Consolidated Edison, Inc. is one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy-delivery companies, with approximately $16 billion in annual revenues and $64 billion in assets. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through the following subsidiaries: Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (CECONY), a regulated utility providing electric service in New York City and New York's Westchester County, gas service in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens and parts of Westchester, and steam service in Manhattan; Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R), a regulated utility serving customers in a 1,300-square-mile area in southeastern New York State and northern New Jersey; and Con Edison Transmission, Inc., which falls primarily under the oversight of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and manages, through joint ventures, both electric and gas assets while seeking to develop electric transmission projects that will bring clean, renewable electricity to customers, focusing on New York, New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and the Midwest.

SOURCE Consolidated Edison, Inc.
Farmers in Kherson region have already harvested 590 tonnes of gourds, as well as 58,500 tonnes of grain, 4,400 tonnes of rapeseed, 16,300 tonnes of potatoes and about 30,000 tonnes of various vegetables, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin has said.

"Already 590 tonnes of melons and gourds have been harvested ... We (also) have collected 58,500 tonnes of grain, 4,400 tonnes of rapeseed, 16,300 tonnes of potatoes, various vegetables - about 30,000 tonnes: these are tomatoes, and onions. Now the harvesting of grains, fully industrial crops, sunflower will start and, of course, melons and gourds will continue to be harvested," Prokudin said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

He noted that more than 67,000 of 80,000 hectares of territories of Kherson region that have been cleared to date are agricultural land.
Throughout September, UPPAbaby online sales will benefit pediatric cancer care and research at Dana-Farber

BOSTON, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has partnered with juvenile gear company UPPAbaby, which aims to improve the lives of parents through their innovative juvenile gear, to offer a new and meaningful way to support pediatric patient care and cancer research. For the month of September, UPPAbaby will donate $25,000 from product sales to Dana-Farber as part of the new "Heart & Stroll Program," taking place in celebration of both Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month and Baby Safety Awareness Month.

The "Heart & Stroll Program" aims to amplify Dana-Farber's efforts in vital pediatric cancer research, clinical trials, and treatment. Together, both brands are advancing the vision of a world without pediatric cancer. The program includes online sales of products including strollers, playards, car seats and accessories. To learn more and to browse UPPAbaby's products, visit www.UPPAbaby.com or follow UPPAbaby on Instagram (@uppababy), Facebook (UPPAbaby) and LinkedIn (UPPAbaby).

"We launched our reimagined and refreshed brand platform centered around "Parenthood, Understood." in early 2022 with the core pillars centered around understanding parenthood, child development, and family wellness in the workplace, community, and beyond. When Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund approached us earlier this year, the synergies between both brands aligned so well and we really felt that it made sense to help bring awareness to finding a cure for pediatric cancer, as well as support Baby Safety Month," said Senior Communications Manager, Mary-Catherine Wright.

"We are excited to partner with UPPAbaby on this new initiative to better understand and treat childhood cancers, especially during this year's Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month," said Alexa Woodward, assistant vice president of corporate partnerships for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. "Together, we strive to reduce the burden of cancer and provide hope for patients and families."

The proceeds support Dana-Farber's ongoing effort to prevent, treat, and defy cancer by accelerating revolutionary science, extraordinary care, exceptional expertise, today and going forward. To learn more, visit www.DanaFarber.org.

About Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is one of the world's leading centers of cancer research and treatment. Dana-Farber's mission is to reduce the burden of cancer through scientific inquiry, clinical care, education, community engagement, and advocacy. Dana-Farber is a federally designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. We provide the latest treatments in cancer for adults through Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center and for children through Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. Dana-Farber is the only hospital nationwide with a top 4 U.S. News & World Report Best Cancer Hospital ranking in both adult and pediatric care. As a global leader in oncology, Dana-Farber is dedicated to a unique and equal balance between cancer research and care, translating the results of discovery into new treatments for patients locally and around the world, offering more than 1,100 clinical trials.

About the Jimmy Fund

The Jimmy Fund, celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2023, is comprised of community-based fundraising events and other programs that, solely and directly, benefit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's lifesaving mission to provide compassionate patient care and groundbreaking cancer research for children and adults. The Jimmy Fund is an official charity of the Boston Red Sox, the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, the Pan-Mass Challenge, and the Variety Children's Charity of New England. Since 1948, the generosity of millions of people has helped the Jimmy Fund save countless lives and reduce the burden of cancer for patients and families worldwide. Follow the Jimmy Fund on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @TheJimmyFund.

About UPPAbaby

UPPAbaby is a global company with small-town roots committed to improving the lives of parents by building the smartest juvenile gear available. Our products are intuitively designed and expertly crafted, with features parents rely on. Drawing on three decades of experience, UPPAbaby was founded in 2006 to create products that make life with kids more manageable, more fashionable, and even more fun.

SOURCE UPPAbaby
MAUI, Hawaii, Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Maui attorney Lance D. Collins in association with Hawai'i attorney Harrison L. Kiehm have filed suit against Hawaiian Electric Company and its subsidiaries on behalf of fire survivors whose homes and businesses were destroyed in the August 2023 blaze.

Lance D. Collins is a widely respected Maui-based public interest litigator and appellate advocate. Along with a Hawai'i law license, Dr. Collins holds a Ph.D from the University of Hawai'i and researches on West Maui history and culture. "My clients tend to be local working people who have been ignored," said Collins. "This is not the first time big business has disregarded the safety and welfare of our community and left devastation in its wake. They must be held accountable -- to make survivors whole and to ensure this never happens again."

Harrison L. Kiehm has over twenty-five years of experience in the courtroom as an advocate for plaintiffs and, during his time as a public defender, for Hawai'i's most vulnerable litigants. He is familiar with the legal system from the inside out, having worked within the Judiciary as well as the Hawai'i legislature before entering private practice. "The Lahaina Fire is an unspeakable tragedy," said Kiehm. "I can't give people back their homes, their loved ones, or their tokens of family history. But I can stand beside them and advocate for them, which is what I do best."

Collins' and Kiehm's offices have united to form Malama Law Group (MLG). Malama Law Group represents the two offices' joint effort to seek justice for those who lost their homes, community, businesses, and loved ones. Kristine Kalama Keala (formerly Meredith), managing partner of Danko Meredith, is lending to MLG her expertise in fire and mass tort litigation, as well as the resources of her firm's preeminent fire litigation team.

Kristine Kalama Keala has been representing plaintiffs in wrongful death, catastrophic personal injury, and property damage cases for over thirty years in California. In the last twenty years, Keala has won over $1 billion in cash compensation for survivors of utility fires. When Hawaiian Electric Company devastated the same island where her family has lived for centuries, Keala, whose ancestry is rooted in the Kukahiko family, knew she had to put her vast knowledge and extensive resources to use. "My favorite childhood memories are here. I'm heartbroken and angry for the people of Lahaina, and I have spent my career responding to scenarios very similar to this one, in terms of the magnitude of suffering and damage. We are perfectly equipped to do something good for Lahaina, something that will help the town heal. I can't just sit on my hands and waste that resource."

Collins, Kiehm, and Keala make a formidable fire litigation team. With their combined experience, this legal group knows well Maui's courts, Hawai'i law, the losses and needs unique to the people of Lahaina, and what it takes to win against a profit-first corporation like Hawaiian Electric. With Keala's firm Danko Meredith providing wildfire litigation expertise, these three are poised to prevail in court and bring home the justice that their clients deserve.

"To those grieving," said Keala, "e hoomalielie i ko kakou kaumaha."

This attorney advertising on behalf of Harrison L. Kiehm (6171) of the Law Office of Harrison L. Kiehm and Malama Law Group.

SOURCE Danko Meredith
BOSTON, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DentaQuest, part of Sun Life U.S., is contributing $50,000 to several organizations across Florida to aid response and recovery in the wake of Hurricane Idalia. The contributions include $25,000 to the Florida Disaster Fund , which assists Florida's communities as they respond to and recover during times of disaster, along with $5,000 each to five local organizations in some of the hardest hit areas. In addition, the company is matching up to $750 for each employee who donates to Hurricane Idalia relief efforts.

"The state of Florida sits in the direct path of hurricanes, taking the brunt of these assaults by mother nature on our shores," said DentaQuest President Steve Pollock, "While local teams are well prepared from experience, it makes the impact no less devastating to the people and families affected. DentaQuest is pleased to support the Florida Disaster Fund and other local organizations making a difference for the thousands of Floridians dealing with the aftermath."

DentaQuest provides government dental benefits administration in the state and is working with Medicaid enrollees and dentists to help those affected by the storm get the support they need.

"Health and safety always come first during an emergency weather impact," continued Pollock. "But when the rain stops and the winds slow down, it takes significant resources to rebuild. Our support is steadfast, and we hope others join us in enabling a quick recovery."

If you are a Medicaid member or dental provider that needs support, please contact: (877) 468-5581 (Providers) or (888) 468-5509 (Members).

About DentaQuest

DentaQuest, part of Sun Life U.S., is a purpose-driven health care company dedicated to improving the oral health of all. We do this through Preventistry  our inclusive approach to quality care and expanded access built on trusted partnerships between patients, providers and payors. As one of the nation's largest and most experienced Medicaid dental benefits administrators, we manage dental and vision benefits for more than 33 million Americans through a nationwide network of providers in all 50 states. Our outcomes-based, cost-effective dental solutions are designed for Medicaid and CHIP, Medicare Advantage, small and large businesses, and individuals. At the same time, we are expanding our footprint of more than 70 oral health centers in six states to deliver direct patient care in rural and underserved populations. Learn more at www.DentaQuest.com and follow us on Facebook , Instagram and LinkedIn .

Direct Media Inquiries to:

Farrah Phillipo

[email protected]

781-654-6764

SOURCE DentaQuest, part of Sun Life U.S.
SHANGHAI, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dingdong (Cayman) Limited ("Dingdong" or the "Company") (NYSE: DDL), a leading fresh grocery e-commerce company in China, with advanced supply chain capabilities, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023.

Second Quarter 2023 Highlights:

Non-GAAP net income for the second quarter of 2023 was RMB7.5 million ( US$1.0 million ), the third consecutive quarter of non-GAAP profitability.

for the second quarter of 2023 was ( ), the third consecutive quarter of non-GAAP profitability. Fulfillment expenses for the second quarter of 2023 were RMB1,146.6 million ( US$158.1 million ), a decrease of 25.6% from RMB1,541.8 million in the same quarter of 2022; fulfillment expenses per order decreased by 7.8% year-on-year.

for the second quarter of 2023 were ( ), a decrease of 25.6% from in the same quarter of 2022; fulfillment expenses per order decreased by 7.8% year-on-year. Three consecutive quarters of stable profit for Jiangsu , Zhejiang and Shanghai regions, with Jiangsu and Zhejiang in particular recording daily order volume per station growth of 27.1% and 21.0% year-on-year.

Mr. Changlin Liang, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dingdong, stated,

"A year ago, at the height of the pandemic, we successfully met surging consumer demand by quickly adapting to difficulties across our supply chain and operations. This resulted in strong operational performance. Despite the high base effect set in Q2 2022, in this quarter, we managed to achieve a 5% year-on-year increase in monthly order frequency, surpassing four times per month for the first time. In addition, our ARPU increased by 8% year-on-year, and our member penetration rate improved greatly, with members contributing 54% of the total GMV. This is a 10-percentage point year-on-year increase. Thanks to our product development capabilities and full-chain operational capacity, we also made continuous improvements to overall order quality and user stickiness, even with the retail environment normalized post-pandemic. This reflects our commitment to optimizing operational efficiency to meet the evolving needs of our users. The strong performance reflects our steadfast commitment to our "efficiency first with due consideration of scale" approach, which has resulted in three consecutive quarters of non-GAAP profitability.

No matter how many twists and turns we may experience, we are confident in our ability to harness consumer demand for quality food services. We will deepen our penetration into existing markets and continuously tap into our users' needs to achieve profitability. At the beginning of the second half of 2023, I want to give special thanks to our users, team, partners, and shareholders for supporting each other through very challenging times and continually contributing to our business."

Mr. Song Wang, Senior Vice President of Dingdong, stated,

"In the second quarter of 2023, we generated revenue of RMB4.84 billion. The year-on-year decreases in revenue were due to the high base effect created during the same period last year when pandemic restrictions were impacting Shanghai and other regions. Given the high base effect created by the pandemic and short-term macro headwinds, we experienced a decrease in average order value (AOV) on a year-on-year and sequential basis. However, we remain confident that with the continued optimization of our product offerings and a gradually improving macroeconomic environment, AOV still has substantial room for growth. During the quarter, our frontline fulfillment stations saw a overall 2.3% increase in order volumes sequentially. Shanghai achieved overall profitability since Q1 2022, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang have achieved three consecutive quarters of profitability since Q4 2022. In terms of mature market growth, Jiangsu and Zhejiang recorded double-digit year-over-year growth in daily order volume per station. We also made progress in cutting costs and improving efficiency. For example, our average order fulfillment cost decreased by 7.8% year-on-year. We also generated a non-GAAP net margin of 0.2% during the quarter. After excluding one-time expenses, we were profitable on a GAAP basis. This demonstrates that our frontline fulfillment grid model remains highly viable and profitable, even in a post-pandemic environment. We are highly confident in our ability to achieve non-GAAP profitability in the remaining quarters and for the full year 2023."

Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Total revenues were RMB4,840.6 million (US$667.6 million) compared with total revenues of RMB6,634.4 million in the same quarter of 2022, primarily due to excessively high consumer demand in the second quarter of 2022 due to the resurgence of COVID, especially in Shanghai. As consumer demand returned to normal levels from last year's peak, order volumes also decreased. Additionally, increased traveling during the Labor Day and Dragon Boat holidays in the second quarter of 2023 also drove down the consumer demand. Total revenues for the second quarter of 2023 were also adversely affected by the Company's withdrawal from several cities in 2022 and in the second quarter of this year, due to difficulties in attaining profitability in these markets in the short term. Order volumes increased by 2.3% sequentially driven by an increase in monthly order frequency and the rapid growth of orders originating from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Product Revenues were RMB4,778.7 million ( US$659.0 million ) compared with product revenues of RMB6,554.0 million in the same quarter of 2022.

were ( ) compared with product revenues of in the same quarter of 2022. Service Revenues were RMB61.9 million ( US$8.5 million ) compared with service revenues of RMB80.4 million in the same quarter of 2022, primarily because we experienced a temporary surge in membership resulted from a series of COVID-19 restrictive measures during the second quarter of 2022.

Total operating costs and expenses were RMB4,866.9 million (US$671.2 million), a decrease of 26.6% from RMB6,634.6 million in the same quarter of 2022, with a detailed breakdown as below:

Cost of goods sold was RMB3,340.3 million ( US$460.7 million ), a decrease of 26.4% from RMB4,537.3 million in the same quarter of 2022. Cost of goods sold as a percentage of revenues increased to 69.0% from 68.4% in the same quarter of 2022. Gross margin decreased slightly to 31.0% from 31.6% in the same quarter of 2022.

( ), a decrease of 26.4% from in the same quarter of 2022. Cost of goods sold as a percentage of revenues increased to 69.0% from 68.4% in the same quarter of 2022. Gross margin decreased slightly to 31.0% from 31.6% in the same quarter of 2022. Fulfillment expenses were RMB1,146.6 million ( US$158.1 million ), a decrease of 25.6% from RMB1,541.8 million in the same quarter of 2022. Fulfillment expenses as a percentage of total revenues increased slightly to 23.7% from 23.2% in the same quarter of 2022. This ratio has continuously improved on a sequential basis in recent quarters except for the second quarter of 2022 due to the high base effect for revenue created by the resurgence of COVID-19 during the same period last year.

( ), a decrease of 25.6% from in the same quarter of 2022. Fulfillment expenses as a percentage of total revenues increased slightly to 23.7% from 23.2% in the same quarter of 2022. This ratio has continuously improved on a sequential basis in recent quarters except for the second quarter of 2022 due to the high base effect for revenue created by the resurgence of COVID-19 during the same period last year. Sales and marketing expenses were RMB89.1 million ( US$12.3 million ), a decrease of 39.3% from RMB146.7 million in the same quarter of 2022, as user acquisition cost per new transacting user decreased due to the Company's improved product development capabilities and increasingly established brand image.

( ), a decrease of 39.3% from in the same quarter of 2022, as user acquisition cost per new transacting user decreased due to the Company's improved product development capabilities and increasingly established brand image. General and administrative expenses were RMB89.1 million ( US$12.3 million ), a decrease of 42.0% from RMB153.5 million in the same quarter of 2022, mainly due to the improved efficiency of our staff.

( ), a decrease of 42.0% from in the same quarter of 2022, mainly due to the improved efficiency of our staff. Product development expenses were RMB201.7 million ( US$27.8 million ), a decrease of 21.0% from RMB255.3 million in the same quarter of 2022, primarily due to the Company's improved R&D efficiency. While advocating for energy and resource saving, the Company will continue to invest in its product development capabilities, agricultural technology, data algorithms, and other technology infrastructure, to further enhance its competitiveness.

Loss from operations was RMB49.6 million (US$6.8 million), compared with operating loss of RMB12.6 million in the same quarter of 2022.

Net loss was RMB36.6 million (US$5.0 million), compared with net loss of RMB34.5 million in the same quarter of 2022.

Non-GAAP net income, which is a non-GAAP measure that excludes share-based compensation expenses, was RMB7.5 million (US$1.0 million), compared with non-GAAP net income of RMB20.6 million in the same quarter of 2022. In addition, non-GAAP net margin, which is the Company's non-GAAP net income as a percentage of revenues, was 0.2% compared with 0.3% in the same quarter of 2022.

Basic and diluted net loss per share were RMB0.12 (US$0.02), compared with net loss per share of RMB0.11 in the same quarter of 2022. Non-GAAP net income per share, basic and diluted, was RMB0.02 (US$0.00), compared with non-GAAP net income per share of RMB0.06 in the same quarter of 2022.

Cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments were RMB5,517.8 million (US$760.9 million) as of June 30, 2023, compared with RMB6,493.0 million as of December 31, 2022.

Conference Call

The Company's management will hold an earnings conference call at 8:00 A.M. Eastern Time on Friday, September 01, 2023 (8:00 P.M. Beijing Time on the same day) to discuss the financial results. The presentation and question and answer session will be presented in both Mandarin and English. Listeners may access the call by dialing the following numbers:

International:

1-412-317-6061 United States Toll Free:

1-888-317-6003 Mainland China Toll Free:

4001-206115 Hong Kong Toll Free:

800-963976 Conference ID:

0571055

The replay will be accessible through September 8, 2023 by dialing the following numbers:

International:

1-412-317-0088 United States:

1-877-344-7529 Access Code:

6912866

A live and archived webcast of the conference call will also be available at the Company's investor relations website at https://ir.100.me.

About Dingdong (Cayman) Limited

We are a leading fresh grocery e-commerce company in China, with sustainable long-term growth. We directly provide users and households with fresh produce, prepared food, and other food products through a convenient and excellent shopping experience supported by an extensive self-operated frontline fulfillment grid. Leveraging our deep insights into consumers' evolving needs and our strong food innovation capabilities, we have successfully launched a series of private label products spanning a variety of food categories. Many of our private label products are produced at our Dingdong production plants, allowing us to more efficiently produce and offer safe and high-quality food products. We aim to be Chinese families' first choice for food shopping.

For more information, please visit: https://ir.100.me.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company uses non-GAAP measures, such as non-GAAP net (loss)/income, non-GAAP net margin, non-GAAP net (loss)/income attributable to ordinary shareholders and non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share, basic and diluted, in evaluating its operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes. The Company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures help identify underlying trends in its business by excluding the impact of share-based compensation expenses, which are non-cash charges and do not correlate to any operating activity trends. The Company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information about the Company's results of operations, enhance the overall understanding of the Company's past performance and future prospects and allow for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by the Company's management in its financial and operational decision-making.

The non-GAAP financial measures are not defined under U.S. GAAP and are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools, and when assessing the Company's operating performance, cash flows or liquidity, investors should not consider them in isolation, or as a substitute for net loss, cash flows provided by operating activities or other consolidated statements of operations and cash flows data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The Company's definition of non-GAAP financial measures may differ from those of industry peers and may not be comparable with their non-GAAP financial measures.

The Company mitigates these limitations by reconciling the non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable U.S. GAAP performance measures, all of which should be considered when evaluating the Company's performance.

For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned "Unaudited Reconciliation of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results" set forth at the end of this announcement.

Exchange Rate Information

This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars ("US$") at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from RMB to US$ were made at the rate of RMB7.2513 to US$1.00, the exchange rate on June 30, 2023 set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board. The Company makes no representation that the RMB or US$ amounts referred could be converted into US$ or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "aims," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident," "potential," "continue," or other similar expressions. Among other things, business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as Dingdong's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Dingdong may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in its interim and annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including but not limited to statements about Dingdong's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Dingdong's goals and strategies; Dingdong's future business development, financial conditions, and results of operations; the expected outlook of the fresh grocery ecommerce market in China; Dingdong's expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of its products and services; Dingdong's expectations regarding its relationships with its users, clients, business partners, and other stakeholders; competition in Dingdong's industry; and relevant government policies and regulations relating to Dingdong's industry, and general economic and business conditions globally and in China and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this announcement and in the attachments is as of the date of the announcement, and the Company undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$)







As of







December 31, 2022



June 30, 2023



June 30, 2023







RMB



RMB



US$













(Unaudited)

ASSETS



















Current assets:



















Cash and cash equivalents



1,856,187



1,528,980



210,856

Restricted cash



2,763



1,200



165

Short-term investments



4,636,774



3,988,827



550,084

Accounts receivable, net



141,468



107,093



14,769

Inventories



604,884



427,265



58,923

Advance to suppliers



83,835



77,594



10,701

Prepayments and other current assets



170,336



166,011



22,894

Total current assets



7,496,247



6,296,970



868,392























Non-current assets:



















Property and equipment, net



314,980



236,731



32,647

Operating lease right-of-use assets



1,425,117



1,290,846



178,016

Other non-current assets



145,563



130,311



17,970

Total non-current assets



1,885,660



1,657,888



228,633























TOTAL ASSETS



9,381,907



7,954,858



1,097,025























LIABILITIES, MEZZANINE EQUITY AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

Current liabilities:



















Accounts payable



1,886,689



1,357,264



187,175

Customer advances and deferred revenue



253,010



221,416



30,535

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities



810,963



638,464



88,048

Salary and welfare payable



329,104



172,996



23,857

Operating lease liabilities, current



693,496



672,125



92,690

Short-term borrowings



4,237,978



3,676,987



507,080

Total current liabilities



8,211,240



6,739,252



929,385























Non-current liabilities:



















Operating lease liabilities, non-current



678,000



592,115



81,657

Other non-current liabilities



75,000



117,865



16,254

Total non-current liabilities



753,000



709,980



97,911























TOTAL LIABILITIES



8,964,240



7,449,232



1,027,296



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (CONTINUED) (Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$)











As of







December 31, 2022



June 30, 2023



June 30, 2023







RMB



RMB



US$













(Unaudited)

LIABILITIES, MEZZANINE EQUITY AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (CONTINUED)

Mezzanine Equity:



















Redeemable noncontrolling interests



107,490



111,672



15,400























TOTAL MEZZANINE EQUITY



107,490



111,672



15,400























Shareholders' equity



















Ordinary shares



4



4



1

Additional paid-in capital



13,922,811



14,027,941



1,934,541

Treasury stock



(20,666)



(20,666)



(2,850)

Accumulated deficit



(13,580,086)



(13,673,263)



(1,885,629)

Accumulated other comprehensive (loss)/income



(11,886)



59,938



8,266























TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY



310,177



393,954



54,329























TOTAL LIABILITIES, MEZZANINE EQUITY AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY



9,381,907



7,954,858



1,097,025



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS (Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$, except for number of shares and per share data)







For the three months ended June 30,







2022



2023



2023







RMB



RMB



US$







(Unaudited)

Revenues:



















Product revenues



6,553,999



4,778,733



659,017

Service revenues



80,390



61,873



8,533













































Total revenues



6,634,389



4,840,606



667,550













































Operating costs and expenses:



















Cost of goods sold



(4,537,312)



(3,340,343)



(460,654)

Fulfillment expenses



(1,541,814)



(1,146,623)



(158,127)

Sales and marketing expenses



(146,699)



(89,098)



(12,287)

Product development expenses



(255,314)



(201,724)



(27,819)

General and administrative expenses



(153,489)



(89,067)



(12,283)























Total operating costs and expenses



(6,634,628)



(4,866,855)



(671,170)













































Other operating expenses, net



(12,388)



(23,307)



(3,214)

Loss from operations



(12,627)



(49,556)



(6,834)

Interest income



17,416



41,340



5,701

Interest expenses



(32,844)



(24,425)



(3,368)

Other income, net



191



(948)



(131)























Loss before income tax



(27,864)



(33,589)



(4,632)























Income tax expenses



(6,659)



(3,015)



(416)























Net loss



(34,523)



(36,604)



(5,048)























Accretion of redeemable noncontrolling interests



(1,965)



(2,122)



(293)























Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders



(36,488)



(38,726)



(5,341)



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS (CONTINUED) (Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$, except for number of shares and per share data)







For the three months ended June 30,







2022



2023



2023







RMB



RMB



US$







(Unaudited)

Net loss per Class A and Class B ordinary share:



















Basic and diluted



(0.11)



(0.12)



(0.02)

Shares used in net loss per Class A and Class B ordinary share computation:



















Basic and diluted



324,345,013



324,606,046



324,606,046

Other comprehensive loss, net of tax of nil:



















Foreign currency translation adjustments



127,627



98,302



13,556























Comprehensive income



93,104



61,698



8,508













































Accretion of redeemable noncontrolling interests



(1,965)



(2,122)



(292)























Comprehensive loss attributable to ordinary shareholders



91,139



59,576



8,216



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$)







For the three months ended June 30,







2022



2023



2023







RMB



RMB



US$







(Unaudited)























Net cash generated from / (used in) operating activities



217,725



(177,711)



(24,507)























Net cash (used in) / generated from investing activities



(359,578)



43,003



5,930























Net cash generated from / (used in) financing activities



865,473



(126,218)



(17,406)























Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash



22,632



5,265



726

Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash



746,252



(255,661)



(35,257)























Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at the beginning of the period



1,266,567



1,785,841



246,278

Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at the end of the period



2,012,819



1,530,180



211,021



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED UNAUDITED RECONCILIATION OF GAAP AND NON-GAAP RESULTS (Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$, except for number of shares and per share data)







For the three months ended

June 30,







2022



2023



2023







RMB



RMB



US$







(Unaudited)

Net loss



(34,523)



(36,604)



(5,048)

Add: share-based compensation expenses (1)



55,111



44,139



6,087

Non-GAAP net income



20,588



7,535



1,039























Net loss margin



(0.5 %)



(0.8 %)



(0.8 %)

Add: share-based compensation expenses



0.8 %



1.0 %



1.0 %

Non-GAAP net income margin



0.3 %



0.2 %



0.2 %























Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders



(36,488)



(38,726)



(5,341)























Add: share-based compensation expenses (1)



55,111



44,139



6,087

Non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders



18,623



5,413



746

Net loss per Class A and Class B ordinary share:



















Basic and diluted



(0.11)



(0.12)



(0.02)

Add: share-based compensation expenses



0.17



0.14



0.02

Non-GAAP net income per Class A and Class B ordinary share:



















Basic and diluted



0.06



0.02



0.00























(1) Share-based compensation expenses are recognized as follows:



























For the three months ended June 30,







2022



2023



2023







RMB



RMB



US$







(Unaudited)























Fulfillment expenses



11,139



7,717



1,064

Sales and marketing expenses



2,778



2,092



288

Product development expenses



24,880



22,498



3,103

General and administrative expenses



16,314



11,832



1,632























Total



55,111



44,139



6,087



SOURCE Dingdong (Cayman) Limited
SINGAPORE, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- XT.COM, the world's first socially infused trading platform, is thrilled to announce the listing of XRP8 on its platform in the innovation and memes zones. The XRP8/USDT trading pair will be open for trading from 2023-08-22 10:00 (UTC).

Users can deposit XRP8 for trading since 2023-08-21 10:00(UTC)

Withdrawals for XRP8 will be opened from 2023-08-23 10:00 (UTC)

About HarryPotterObamaPacMan8Inu (XRP8)

HarryPotterObamaPacMan8Inu, XRP8, is an ERC-20 token deployed on the ethereum blockchain with a total supply of 100 millions tokens. This token represents an innovative meme token that merges elements of popular culture with the dynamic realm of cryptocurrency. Embracing its distinctive "Bullish and Dumb" philosophy, the initiative has garnered swift traction, showcasing an impressive 187X surge in valuation mere days after its introduction. Backed by an involved and enthusiastic community, HarryPotterObamaPacMan8Inu is reshaping the horizons of cryptocurrency while simultaneously commemorating the lighthearted and substantial facets of blockchain innovation.

Envision a universe where the beloved personas of Harry Potter collide with the magnetic presence of Barack Obama, all while navigating the nostalgic labyrinth of Pac-Man. This imaginative amalgamation weaves an entrancing narrative that skillfully captures the defining traits of each character, cultivating a feeling of unity and inquisitiveness within the community. HarryPotterObamaPacMan8Inu has swiftly captivated the Ethereum community since its recent launch. Employing a dynamic and interactive approach, the initiative has harnessed the capabilities of blockchain technology to involve users through gamified encounters and meme-inspired content. Every transaction transforms into a chance for users to uncover concealed surprises, introducing an element of fascination to the venture. The project is also in partnership with Brother Marketing.

Albin Warin, CEO of XT.COM,, expressed his delight in welcoming a new meme token to the platform, stating, "We are thrilled to have this meme token listed on XT.com." As a visionary leader in the cryptocurrency space, Albin Warin recognizes the significance of meme tokens in capturing the attention and engagement of the community. His enthusiasm for the listing underscores XT.com's commitment to embracing innovative and diverse projects within the ever-evolving crypto landscape. Albin Warin's supportive stance highlights the platform's dedication to providing a dynamic space for both established and emerging digital assets, fostering a vibrant ecosystem that caters to a wide range of investor interests.

About HarryPotterObamaPacMan8Inu's Innovative Practicality & Incentives

Beyond the captivating storyline, HarryPotterObamaPacMan8Inu introduces inventive practicality and rewards for its holders. By possessing the token, community members are granted access to exclusive functionalities, limited-edition NFTs, and opportunities to partake in unparalleled virtual events. This fusion of meme trends and cutting-edge technology shapes a dynamic ecosystem that nurtures prolonged engagement and active involvement.

At the core of the HarryPotterObamaPacMan8Inu initiative, there resides an unprecedented and thrilling aspect of token reduction. Although meme coins are frequently regarded as playful trials, this specific token has established a novel standard by burning 10% of its overall issuance, which is valued at more than a million dollars. What truly stands out is that this reduction wasn't solely orchestrated by the project's team; the community has enthusiastically participated. Prominent holders have taken the lead by acquiring and eliminating tokens, showcasing their dedication to the project's enduring potential. This mindset of "burn it to earn it" has introduced an extra layer of exhilaration and illuminated the project's authentic progression.

Website: hpop8i.com

Twitter: twitter.com/HPOP8I

Telegram: t.me/HPOP8Inu

About XT.COM

Founded in 2018, XT.COM serves more than 6 million registered users, over 500,000+ monthly active users, 40+ million users in the ecosystem, and 1000+ trading pairs. Since then, XT.COM crypto exchange has expanded its offerings by covering a rich variety of trading categories to provide a secure, trusted, and intuitive trading experience for its large user base. One such addition is Crypto Futures Trading which includes USDT-M Futures and coin-M futures perpetual contracts, as well as prediction markets where users can conduct transactions by predicting the results of future events. Additionally, the Futures Grid allows users to automate the buying and selling of futures contracts to make profits.

Website: XT.COM

Twitter: Twitter.com/XTexchange

Telegram: t.me/XTsupport_EN

SOURCE XT.COM
The company showcases its latest developments in home security, smart cleaning, and portable power, along with whole-home solutions elevated by connectivity and sustainability.

BERLIN, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EZVIZ, a world-leading smart home company, joined the celebration of advanced technology at IFA 2023 with the theme "DREAM EASY, LIVE SMART." To elevate people's living spaces with safety, convenience, and pleasure, EZVIZ wowed the show floor with an impressive range of new launches, including 4G security cameras, smart video doorbells, robot vacuum cleaners, outdoor power solutions, and more. Customers can also explore the company's interactive booth virtually online or at IFA Hall 22 at Booth No.114.

At IFA 2023, EZVIZ demonstrates how all people can easily create their dream homes with a next-level smart experience

This year, EZVIZ's innovations go beyond individual devices. It introduces IoT connectivity technology EZVIZ Connect, and the A3 gateway that supported Matter and Apple HomeKit compatibility for greater whole-house use. Moreover, EZVIZ re-affirms its unwavering commitment to sustainability by launching environmentally-friendly product lines and advocating for its first green campaign.

"Every September, IFA represents our prime chance to showcase the progress we've made in smart home technology," said Guanlan Chen, EZVIZ's global product director. "Our evolving smart home system underscores our ability to offer leading solutions that simplify, secure, and enhance lives."

Following decades-long leadership in home security, EZVIZ is diversifying its offerings to meet varied demands in the past year. Introducing the CB5, a battery camera with built-in solar panel, and the H8c 4G outdoor battery camera cater to remote home protection needs. EZVIZ also tackled mobility needs through solar-power-supported portable stations for reliable charging during emergencies and outdoor activities.

For indoor needs, EZVIZ launches the RS20 Pro, a 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop with advanced cleaning technology and automatic dust collection. And the smart cleaning robot series includes products like RE4 and RE4 Plus that are part of the EZVIZ Green project, as they use recycled materials and part of their sales help support the company's global tree-planting plan.

EZVIZ also takes a systematic approach to smart homes, designing scalable products. The new HP7 video door phone can serve as a central hub, linking and controlling all EZVIZ devices. With EZVIZ Connect, it seamlessly integrates cameras, sensors, and locks for effortless home automation. Additionally, EZVIZ announces its plan with Matter with the new A3 Gateway and its first Apple HomeKit camera E6, enhancing cross-brand compatibility, and ensuring greater user convenience.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2187123/image.jpg

SOURCE EZVIZ Inc.
DUBLIN, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market (2023 Edition) - Analysis By Service Channel, End-User, By Region, By Country: Drivers, Trends and Forecast to 2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Customer Experience (CX) outsourcing Market is expected to generate USD 173.68 Billion by the end of 2029, up from USD 90.87 Billion in 2022. In today's consumer-centric marketplace, there is a steady increase in demand for outsourced CX services. The customer experience (CX) is increasingly prioritized in corporate plans and is still recognized as an independent company responsibility.

During the forecast period, 2024-2029, the Global Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market is expected to expand at a CAGR of ~10%. Major companies in the market have also been coming up with solutions in line with the changing requirements, which has further accelerated the growth of the CX outsourcing industry during the forecast period.

The Global Customer Experience (CX) outsourced Market has been analyzed for the historical period of 2019-2022, the estimated year 2023 and the forecast period of 2024-2029.

Demand for Outsourced CX Services is Growing Steadily in today's consumer-centric marketplace. Customer experience (CX) continues to be recognized as a distinct business function and takes centre stage in many business strategies. Companies have learned during the COVID-19 pandemic that it is more important than ever to have a comprehensive CX and a resilient contact center operation.



In recent years, the Customer Experience (CX) Outsourcing Market has experienced a profound transformation, driven by rapid technological advancements. From leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to adopting cloud-based solutions, CX outsourcing providers are capitalizing on the power of technology to revolutionize customer support services.

One of the most significant technological developments in the CX outsourcing market is the integration of AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants. These intelligent tools enable companies to provide instant responses to customer queries, 24/7, significantly improving response times and customer satisfaction. By handling routine inquiries, chatbots free up human agents to focus on more complex and high-value interactions, leading to greater efficiency and cost savings.



Technological developments have become the driving force behind the evolution of the Customer Experience (CX) Outsourcing Market. AI, automation, big data analytics, and cloud-based solutions have transformed the way businesses approach customer support services.

As CX outsourcing providers continue to embrace and leverage these innovations, they are poised to deliver even more exceptional and personalized customer experiences, further solidifying the industry's position as a crucial component of modern business strategies.

Global Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market: Historic and Forecast, (2019-2029)

Impact Analysis of Macro Economic Factors on Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market

Global Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market: Solution Mix

Global Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market: Dashboard

Global Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market: Market Value Assessment, 2019-2029 (USD Billion)

Impact of COVID-19 on Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market

Global Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market Segmentation: By Service Channel

Voice/Call Center Outsourced, By Value, 2019H-2029F (USD Billion & CAGR)

Social Media/Chat/Web Outsourced, By Value, 2019H-2029F (USD Billion & CAGR)

E-mail Outsourced, By Value, 2019H-2029F (USD Billion & CAGR)

Global Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market Segmentation: By End-user

BFSI, By Value, 2019H-2029F (USD Billion & CAGR)

Retail & E-commerce, By Value, 2019H-2029F (USD Billion & CAGR)

Travel/Hospitality & Cargo, By Value, 2019H-2029F (USD Billion & CAGR)

Healthcare, By Value, 2019H-2029F (USD Billion & CAGR)

Competitive Positioning

Companies' Product Positioning

Market Position Matrix

Client Concentration by Major Key Players : Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market

Global Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Market: Top 10 market players & Teleperformance's AI implementation experience

Market Share Analysis of Customer Experience (CX) Outsourced Screening Market

Strategic Recommendations

Handling the workforce in a B2B CX environment

Opting for an appropriate outsourcing model for B2B

Industry Ecosystem Analysis

Macro-Economic Factor Assessment

Value Chain Analysis

Porter's Five Forces Model

The companies analysed in the report include

Atento

Teleperformance SE

TTEC Holdings, Inc

Startek, Inc

Concentrix Corporation

Webhelp

Majorel

Transcom WorldWide AB

Serco

Syskes Enterprises

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8wucse

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Employment Screening Services Market Forecast to 2028 - Global Analysis By Service, End-User Industry, and Organization Size" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The employment screening services market is projected to grow from US$ 5.360 billion in 2022 to US$ 9.296 billion by 2028; it is estimated to record a CAGR of 9.9% from 2023 to 2028.



The employee screening process significantly reduces time and cost for the organization. By opting for employment screening services, organizations can save time in the long run as these services offer them clarity on responsibilities that should be taken to ensure the appropriate candidates are hired in the right way, which, in turn, increases efficiency and work quality. The employment screening services market is further flourishing due to the growing demand for time-efficient selection systems owing to the rising number of job applicants.

The integration of big data technology is further expected to create new opportunities for the employment screening services market during the forecast period. The key stakeholders in the employment screening services market are solution providers, system integrators, and end users. Solution providers are crucial stakeholders in the ecosystem of the employment screening services market.

The most prominent software providers of employment screening services are Capita; Sterling; First Advantage; Insperity; HireRight, LLC; Accurate Background Holdings LLC; AuthBridge Research Services Pvt Ltd; A-Check America Inc; and DataFlow LLC.; among others. In the market ecosystem, service providers offer various professional services, including operation and maintenance, integration, and consulting services.

System integrators engage in integrating employment screening solutions with the businesses as per the specific requirements of end users. The major end-user industries of employment screening services are IT and telecom, BFSI, government agencies, travel and hospitality, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare, among others.



Companies in the BFSI service sector are more stringent than other private-sector firms regarding pre-employment screening. The employee turnover in the BFSI sector has been rising in recent years, as the employees face employment cut-outs due to accountability in every part of their operations. As a middle or top management employee has access to confidential information about the customer's financial records, it is essential for these companies to properly scrutinize a candidate's background, criminal records, and past employment history, along with conducting other background checks.

The BFSI industry is highly regulated. The regulations precisely dictate the rules and eligibility for employees hired by financial companies. For instance, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation provides guidance for developing effective criminal background checks for bank employees. Further, it encourages these checks as an efficient risk management process to ensure and verify the information provided by prospective candidates. Such factors are propelling the employment screening services market growth in the BFSI industry.



National, state, and city government offices often require new employees on board without delays. As most of these agencies deal with confidential and sensitive information, new employees should be reliable and entrusted with verified histories. In government agencies, a proper screening of employees, involving background checks, credit risk, criminal records, education checks, etc., is a must to avoid risk.

Also, since government employees are expected to access residents' personal information, tracking the appropriate criminal background of all the candidates shortlisted for the job is essential. The demand for employment screening services in government agencies is surging due to increased fraudulent incidences. Government employers of various countries run rigorous pre-employment screening, and several other checks. Criminal background checks, international background checks, drug and medical checks, qualification checks, credit checks, and sex offender checks are among the verification parameters. Such factors are propelling the employment screening services market growth among government agencies.



The employment screening services market is segmented on the basis of service, organization size, end-user industry, and geography. Based on service, the employment screening services market is categorized into background screening, verification, and medical and drug testing. Based on end-user industry, the employment screening services market is segmented into IT and telecom, BFSI, government agencies, travel and hospitality, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and others. In terms of organization size, the employment screening services market is segmented into SMEs and large enterprises. By geography, the employment screening services market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East & Africa, and South America.



Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 225 Forecast Period 2023 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $5360.28 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $9296.65 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 9.9 % Regions Covered Global

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Demand for Time-Efficient Selection Systems Owing to Rising Number of Job Applicants

Increase in Job Immigrants Amid Globalization

Need to Mitigate Risks Associated with Fraudulent Activities of Applicants

Restraints

Concerns Related to Confidentiality of Candidate Data

Opportunities

Introduction of Big Data

Future Trends

Demand for Enterprise-Level Software and Database

Adoption of Blockchain and Other Advanced Technologies in Employee Screening

Modifications in Background Screening Processes

Companies Mentioned

Pinkerton Corporate Risk Management

HireRight, LLC

A-Check America, Inc.

Verity Screening Solutions LLC

Capita Plc

Triton

DataFlow Group

Sterling Talent Solutions

First Advantage

Accurate Background

AuthBridge

Insperity

GoodHire

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/hfqpju

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ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.



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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Hazardous Area Equipment Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Product, By End-Users, By Region, Segment Forecast, 2023 - 2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global hazardous area equipment market is on a trajectory to achieve substantial growth, with an anticipated value of USD 19.45 billion by 2032. A newly conducted study sheds light on the current market dynamics and presents an in-depth analysis of future growth trends.

Ensuring Safety in High-Risk Environments:

The hazardous area equipment market encompasses a range of products meticulously designed for usage in environments fraught with fire or explosion risks. These environments are susceptible to flammable gases, fumes, dust, fires, and airborne particles. Industries like oil and gas, chemical processing, mining, and pharmaceuticals often operate in such hazardous conditions. Thus, it is imperative to deploy specialized equipment that can withstand the risks of fire and explosions, ensuring employee safety and compliance with regulations.

Industry Growth and Regulatory Compliance:

As industrial sectors worldwide continue to expand, the demand for hazardous area equipment has surged. These industries are mandated to use equipment meeting specific standards to ensure worker safety and environmental protection, resulting in a significant market for such equipment. Governments across the globe, particularly in the oil and gas sector, have implemented stringent regulations to meet these objectives.

Innovations in Asia Pacific:

The Asia Pacific region is witnessing significant investments in research and development to engineer innovative hazardous area equipment, enhancing safety and productivity in hazardous environments. For instance, ABB introduced a new range of hazardous area motors in February 2022, including IE2 & IE3 motors, to offer energy-efficient and reliable solutions for hazardous environments. These low-voltage flame-proof motors adhere to global standards for explosive atmospheres.

Pandemic Impact and Recovery:

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the market due to reduced demand and revenue losses across industrial sectors worldwide. However, with increasing vaccination rates and the global economic rebound, the hazardous area equipment market is poised for significant growth during the forecast period.

Hazardous Area Equipment Market Highlights:

Cable Glands & Accessories Dominance: The cable glands and accessories segment is projected to hold the highest market shares due to the extensive use of flame-proof cable glands across multiple sectors.

The cable glands and accessories segment is projected to hold the highest market shares due to the extensive use of flame-proof cable glands across multiple sectors. Oil & Gas Leadership: The oil & gas segment commands the largest revenue share in 2022, driven by its increasing utilization in shale gas and oil exploration and extraction.

The oil & gas segment commands the largest revenue share in 2022, driven by its increasing utilization in shale gas and oil exploration and extraction. Asia Pacific's Rapid Growth: The Asia Pacific region is anticipated to exhibit the fastest growth rate due to increasing industrialization, leading to heightened demand for hazardous area equipment across diverse industries.

The report also provides insights into the market's segmentation based on product, end-user, and region.

Market Dynamics:

Drivers and Opportunities:

Growth in industrial safety measures, especially in process industries

Rising demand for low-cost and high light output per watt lighting solutions

Restraints and Challenges:

High initial cost

Companies Mentioned:

Federal Signal Corporation

Honeywell International

NHP Electric Engineering Products

Tomar Electronics

Patlite Corporation

Potter Signal

E2S Warning Signals

Eaton Corporation Plc

Emerson Electric

R. Stahl AG

Rockwell Automation

Siemens AG

WERMA Signaltechnik

ABB

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/a177dc

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

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SOURCE Research and Markets
During the year, 410 schools were restored thanks to funding and assistance from local budgets, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure development of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov said.

"According to the latest data from the regional military administrations, almost 1,800 schools have been destroyed to date. Over the past year, 410 schools have been restored thanks to funding from local budgets, as well as assistance from local budgets," the Deputy Prime Minister said in a press release.

He recalled that UAH 3.2 billion from the Fund for Eliminating the Consequences of Armed Aggression was allocated for the restoration of educational institutions - 66 schools and 15 kindergartens will be repaired with these funds.

In addition, 112 educational institutions will be rebuilt under the Emergency Loan Program for the Reconstruction of Ukraine and the Ukraine Recovery Program financed by the European Investment Bank (UAH 7.13 billion). Another 193 schools will be renovated with EU grant funds through the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as well as a school in Chernihiv region will be restored under the DECIDE program.
BEIJING, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Light, crunchy, refreshing and superb for summer, smashed cucumber is the go-to salad or appetizer for many people in China in hot weather. Cucumbers are generally considered ideal for detoxification and preventing dehydration and the dish is easy to make at home, as well as popular in restaurants across the country.

Yet small restaurants were finding it challenging to legally sell this dish not too long ago. The cucumbers are served cold and are not cooked, making them a type of dish with higher food safety risks, according to previous regulations.

Precipitated by the public's clear call for a change in this situation, a recently revised regulation came to the rescue.

The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, commended this change in a front-page article earlier this week.

Known as pai huanggua in China, smashed cucumber only requires several minutes of preparation. It employs a smashing technique that cracks the skin of the cucumber as it is turned into little pieces, which allows the cucumber to better absorb the rich and zingy dressing. Smashed cucumber can be garnished with toasted sesame seeds, cilantro, garlic, chili oil or Sichuan pepper. With a wide selection of flavors, there is always one adaptation of smashed cucumber for everyone.

However, many eateries had been penalized for not complying with the rules for making the cold dish, which included having a separate preparation station of at least five square meters for cold dish preparation, dedicated disinfection facilities and specialized air conditioning systems for cold dishes.

While well-intentioned, these requirements often proved costly and burdensome for small businesses.

Such a stringent approach ran the risk of painting every small restaurant with a broad brush, neglecting to consider their challenges and operating environments.

It has ignited debates and won social media buzz. One key reason for the public outcry was the apparent disconnect between common culinary practices and stringent stipulations. People wondered why a dish they frequently prepared in their home kitchens was causing such legal problems for small restaurateurs.

In a response that suggests attentiveness to public sentiment, Chinese authorities revised the regulations. Specifically, these amendments address the operational challenges faced by small restaurants, especially in selling popular cold dishes like smashed cucumber. The new guidelines, known as Management Measures for Food Business License and Filing, simplify requirements for restaurant equipment and propose more lenient penalties for minor offenses. Starting on December 1, these changes will come into effect, providing relief to small restaurant owners.

It introduces a more nuanced approach to food safety that considers both the public's demand for hygiene and the financial constraints of small eateries. This balance is particularly significant in a nation where the culinary domain is not just a matter of livelihood but also an integral part of its culture and social fabric.

The government's new regulations wisely adapt to these on-the-ground realities. From then on, simple cold dishes like smashed cucumber can be prepared and sold within more reasonable and manageable guidelines.

There's a newfound recognition that food safety doesn't necessarily demand one-size-fits-all regulations but can be maintained through practical, efficient measures tailored to various scales of operations.

While the discussion centers around cucumbers, the implications extend far beyond. The case of the cold dish regulation is an interesting look into how policy, public opinion, and practical considerations interact in modern China. In this instance, it proves that the regulators are showing a willingness to adapt and moderate its stance, responding to the needs and sentiments of both business owners and consumers.

This adjustment shows that the government isn't just listening but also acting on the people's needs. It's a reflection of the principle that governance should be flexible and thoughtful.

Flexibility allows the government to adapt its rules as societal needs change, while thoughtfulness ensures that these adaptations are done with an understanding of their impact on people's lives.

From a broader perspective, this move can be seen as part of China's continuous efforts to fine-tune its regulations and adapt them to the needs of a diverse and evolving society. By doing so, the government demonstrates its commitment to improving the ease of doing business in China and fostering a supportive environment for the private sector, including the millions of small and medium-sized enterprises that firmly support the Chinese economy.

SOURCE Global Times
BEIJING, Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his state visit to South Africa and his attendance at the 15th BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a resounding call for BRICS nations and the Global South to unite in building a more equitable world order. This call is expected to exert far-reaching influence and is widely supported by the international community.

During the summit, President Xi emphasized the importance of collaboration and solidarity among emerging economies, signaling a shift in global power dynamics and a renewed commitment to creating a fairer and more balanced international system.

"We choose our development paths independently, jointly defend our right to development, and march in tandem toward modernization," Xi said while addressing the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. This represents the direction of the advancement of human society, and will profoundly impact the development process of the world, he said.

The 15th BRICS Summit is the first in-person summit held post-pandemic, and the third held in Africa. The summit has drawn much attention since the lead-up months to its opening.

Several experts reached by the Global Times in Johannesburg hailed that Xi's trip to South Africa not only further deepens the friendship between China and Africa, but also injects new impetus and vitality to global peace and development.

At this year's summit, a historic expansion was announced, which involves Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and their membership will take effect from January 1, 2024.

Argentina's Ambassador to China Sabino Vaca Narvaja told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that he wants to especially express gratitude to China and other BRICS member states for their support.

"The strengthening of the BRICS is essential for the development of the countries of the Global South. I believe that this mechanism represents countries that have the same problems and the same needs, which is why it will be easier to work together to strengthen our development. Expanding this mechanism is the key to building a more harmonious global order where cooperation replaces confrontation," Narvaja told the Global Times.

After expansion, the proportion of the land area of BRICS countries to the world's total will increase from 26 percent to 32 percent, its combined population from 42 percent to 47 percent, its economic aggregate from 26 percent to 29 percent, and its total trade in goods from 18 percent to 21 percent.

Enhanced China-Africa ties

President Xi arrived in Johannesburg on the night of August 21 to attend the 15th BRICS Summit, and pay a state visit to South Africa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, together with South Africa's International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor, and Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, warmly greeted Xi at the OR Tambo International Airport of Johannesburg.

On the morning of August 22, the air of the Union Buildings square in Pretoria, South Africa's administrative capital was filled with fluttering national flags, representing China and South Africa. President Xi arrived at the Union Buildings in a presidential motorcade, and was warmly greeted by President Ramaphosa.

President Ramaphosa noted that it was a great pleasure to receive President Xi on his fourth state visit to South Africa. China lent precious support to South Africa during its struggles for national independence and liberation and in its pursuit of national development. China gave South Africa much-needed support in difficult times such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

China is a true friend, brother, and partner of South Africa. Both South Africa and China are pursuing national development and prosperity, and hold the same or similar positions on a number of major international affairs, Ramaphosa said.

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Africa.

During Xi's visit, the two heads of state jointly witnessed the signing of 11 cooperation documents on Belt and Road Initiative, new energy power, agricultural product, a special economic zone, an industrial park, a blue economy, scientific and technological innovation, and higher education.

The Global Times learned that the programs are much-needed in South Africa, especially in new energy power as South Africa faces a serious electricity shortage.

In Johannesburg, the Global Times reporters saw Chinese brands like Huawei and Gree have become incredibly prevalent. The local population has developed a strong preference for Chinese appliances, smartphones, and automobiles.

The economic relationship between South Africa and China is flourishing, with China currently being South Africa's largest trading partner on a global scale. Similarly, South Africa holds the prestigious position of being China's primary trading partner in Africa. Recent data from China's Ministry of Commerce reveals that bilateral trade between the two countries reached a remarkable $56.74 billion in 2022, showcasing a 5 percent year-on-year increase and reaching its highest point in eight years. This positive growth trend has continued to gain momentum in the first half of this year, with an additional 11.7 percent increase.

Professor Paul Tembe, senior lecturer at the University of South Africa, told the Global Times that every time President Xi visits South Africa, he brings not only tangible gifts, but also important intangible, symbolic gifts that expand the China-Africa relationship.

Tembe noted that the values that China advocates are widely shared by African people as what China has done is not for selfish interests, but for the survival of humankind.

"For example, the Global Civilization Initiative stresses that each and every nation in the world has its own specific civilization that could contribute to its development and the survival of mankind," he said.

David Monyae, director of the Center for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg, told the Global Times that under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Africa has benefited a lot from China's programs and investment.

"We see China playing a critical role as it has adopted a new approach to deal with Africa. China prioritizes the beneficiation needs of developing countries," said Monyae.

When the Global Times talked to locals, they also expressed the desire to further enhance ties with China and eyed cooperation with China in a number of areas especially in energy, technology, and agriculture.

The theme of this year's BRICS summit is "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism." This is of great significance for synergizing BRICS cooperation with the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the process for the adoption of the Agreement Establishing African Continental Free Trade Area.

Thabo Trevor Mohlotsane, a journalist at the South Africa Radio Voice of Wits, told the Global Times that he believed that the African and BRICS economies are going to grow for the better in the future.

Fairer global order construction

BRICS nations have upheld fairness and justice in international affairs, stood up for what is right on major international and regional issues, and enhanced the voice and influence of emerging markets and developing countries, Xi said while addressing the summit.

"BRICS nations do not barter away principles, succumb to external pressure, or act as vassals of others," he said, adding that they share extensive consensus and common goals.

He highlighted the BRICS expansion as historic. The expansion demonstrates the commitment of BRICS countries to cooperate in unity with all developing countries.

When announcing the expansion during the summit, President Ramaphosa said that BRICS has begun a new chapter in its efforts to bring about a world that is fair, inclusive and prosperous.

"We have consensus on the first phase of this expansion process and other phases will follow," he said.

In 2022, the BRICS started the expansion process during China's chairmanship. China has since been working with other BRICS members to steadily advance the expansion process.

"Many emerging markets and developing countries have given positive considerations to joining the BRICS and more than 20 countries have submitted their applications, which speaks volumes about the appeal and influence of the BRICS and the enthusiasm and aspirations of emerging markets and developing countries for cooperation," Special Envoy on BRICS Affairs and Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Li Kexin said at a media briefing on August 24, 2023.

Analysts have observed that this expansion underscores the resolve of BRICS nations to collaborate with other developing economies, which advances the shared interests of emerging markets and developing nations.

The expansion is also believed to be a new starting point for BRICS cooperation, which will enhance the momentum for global peace and development.

Experts noted that the expansion of the BRICS will greatly leverage the organization's status in global governance. It's important for global governance to include more voices from emerging markets which have long been neglected.

The inclusion of Saudi Arabia and the UAE highlights their ambition to become global heavyweights in their own right, read a Reuters report.

Monyae emphasized the necessity of the expansion of the BRICS. "I believe that developing countries aspire to strengthen their voices in determining how to manage their own economies and address climate change issues. They seek to establish a powerful presence, advocating for an equitable global order," he said.

Ethiopian scholar Balew Demissie Kebede said that the concept of "BRICS Plus" implies a big family, with a sense of solidarity, trust, and support among member countries.

"It can be seen as a strategic step toward promoting a multipolar world order, enabling BRICS countries to strengthen their presence on the world stage and advocate for their common interests in a more cohesive and coordinated manner," he said.

SOURCE Global Times
Current President and COO, Russell Klinegardner, appointed to succeed Luis Aguilar as President and CEO, Effective January 1, 2024.

HOUSTON, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Health and Safety Council (HASC), a prominent provider of training, occupational health services, and cutting-edge industry technology solutions, is delighted to introduce a strategic leadership transition as part of its ongoing dedication to sustainable expansion and innovation. Commencing on January 1, 2024, Russell Klinegardner will step into the role of President and Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Luis Aguilar. Klinegardner, currently the President and Chief Operating Officer, will also join the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors at that time.

January 1, 2024, Russell Klinegardner, MBA, CSP will step into the role of President and CEO for HASC. Post this Luis Aguilar Russell Klinegardner, MBA, CSP

Nick Anagnostou, Vice President HSSE at KBR and the present Chairman of the Board of Directors for HASC, remarks, "This transition signifies a natural progression for HASC. With Russell's exceptional leadership and extensive industry experience, the Board is fully confident that he will adeptly steer this organization as the new President and CEO. He is a skilled executive characterized by unwavering integrity and an unmatched commitment to excellence. Russell possesses a proven track record of driving success, and under his guidance, HASC will undoubtedly have a promising future marked by innovation."

Prior to joining HASC, Klinegardner played a pivotal role as a volunteer on the HASC Board of Directors, took on an elected position within the Executive Committee, and notably filled the inaugural two-year role as Chairman of the Board. His career initiation was with Dow Environmental, followed by his tenure at the Brock Group, where he dedicated 20 years to occupying various leadership roles encompassing a wide spectrum of operational and functional capacities, culminating as the Senior Vice President of HSE.

Klinegardner earned a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Tulane University. His professional achievements also include being designated as a Board Certified Safety Professional (CSP).

Since joining the company in 2016, Klinegardner has been an integral part of shaping the vision and growth of HASC. Reflecting on this, Klinegardner asserts, "It is a privilege to be designated as the forthcoming President and CEO of HASC. From my tenure on the Board of Directors to my current role within the Health and Safety Council, I am steadfastly committed to propelling innovation and sustainable expansion for HASC. I am honored to contribute to this purposeful and strategic transition into my new role as President and CEO. Together with the capable and talented HASC team, we will persist in our mission to serve and uplift industries both nationally and internationally."

Aguilar expresses confidence in Klinegardner's capacity to lead the organization in realizing its vision for growth and innovation at HASC. Aguilar remarks, "Serving as President and CEO of HASC since 2000 has been a privilege. I have collaborated closely with Russell in various capacities for over two decades, and I wholeheartedly endorse him as HASC's incoming President and CEO. It's great to see a succession plan come to fruition and I anticipate a seamless transition over the forthcoming months."

About HASC

The Health and Safety Council (HASC) is a leading training, occupational health and technology association delivering innovative solutions to the industrial sector globally. HASC's services and expertise enable industry to have access to efficient and effective safety training and quality occupational health everywhere.

Headquartered outside of Houston, Texas, HASC provides over 1.5 million services each year. HASC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit association with a mission of building safe workplaces since 1990. For more information, visit www.hasc.com and follow the Health and Safety Council on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Health and Safety Council
SINGAPORE, Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvest Integrated Research Organization (HiRO), an innovation global CRO, is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of Courante Oncology, a US-based full-service clinical research provider specializing in oncology product development.

As a reputable boutique CRO with a strong track record of delivering high-quality, expedited clinical trials in the Asia-Pacific, HiRO's acquisition of Courante Oncology marks a significant milestone in its global expansion. This strategic move further strengthens HiRO's capabilities in managing global studies, extending its presence into the US market.

Courante Oncology brings over 25 years of invaluable experience in the drug development industry. The company's expertise spans all aspects of phase 1-3 clinical trials, ranging from initial feasibility studies and protocol development to site monitoring and closeout visits. Renowned for their dedicated commitment to oncology research and clinical trial management, the Courante team has earned a remarkable reputation in the industry.

The synergy between HiRO and Courante Oncology creates a powerful partnership that will deliver successful clinical trials tailored to meet the evolving needs of the industry. Both companies possess robust clinical research networks, covering the Asia-Pacific region and the US, ensuring a seamless integration of expertise and resources.

"We are thrilled to welcome Courante Oncology into the HiRO family," said Dr. Karen Chu, Founder and CEO of HiRO. "This acquisition allows us to leverage Courante's extensive experience in oncology trials and enhance our capabilities in managing global studies. Together, we strive to deliver best-in-class cross-border solutions and relentless accountability that set us apart in the demanding clinical trial landscape. Our focus remains on accelerating the delivery of innovative medicines with simple, rapid, cost-effective clinical research solutions across the commercialization pathway."

"This marks an exciting chapter for Courante as we join forces with HiRO," said Sheri Smith, President of Courante Oncology. "We are excited to join the HiRO family and collaborate closely with their team. This integration will enable us to further expand our service offerings and functions into the US and beyond. We look forward to collaborating with our clients, to deliver effective, streamlined clinical trial solutions that meet and exceed their expectations."

The acquisition of Courante Oncology represents a significant step forward for HiRO as it continues to solidify its position as a global CRO. With a strengthened presence in the US and expanded capabilities, HiRO is well-positioned to deliver innovative and expedited clinical trial solutions to its clients worldwide.

About HiRO:

Harvest Integrated Research Organization (HiRO) is a globally oriented, innovative clinical research organization (CRO). With global operations and integration capabilities, HiRO provides a full range of cross-border solutions and services to its clients, including early pre-clinical strategic planning, clinical trial design, regulatory, pharmacovigilance, statistics, data management, end-to-end project management, and clinical and medical monitoring services.

As an emerging global CRO, HiRO strives to become a market-leading, integrated global clinical research organization that works collaboratively with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to bring new products from the laboratory to the market, providing more effective solutions for patients worldwide. For more information on HiRO, please visit www.harvestiro.com.

About Courante Oncology:

Courante Oncology is a full-service clinical research provider specializing in oncology product development. The company offers a wide range of clinical trial management and support services to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, including project management, clinical site monitoring, quality assurance, and medical writing services.

Courante Oncology believes the challenges of oncology clinical trials require a research team that is uniquely experienced and trained. The strength of Courante Oncology lies in the team's collective experience and ability to adapt to clients' specific research needs. For more information on Courante Oncology, please visit www.couranteoncology.com.

Media Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Harvest Integrated Research Organization (HiRO)
2024 Hyundai Sonata and Elantra First North American Public Appearance

IONIQ 6 Official Show Car of the 52nd Annual Miami International Auto Show

IONIQ 6 Car of the Year by the Miami Motor Media

Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program Launch

MIAMI, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor America presents the first North American public appearance of its class leading Sonata and Elantra during the 2023 Miami International Auto Show. Further capitalizing on the consumer transition to electric vehicles, the IONIQ 6 is named the Official Show Car for the 52nd annual event, and recognized as Car of the Year by Miami Motor Media. As part of its leadership in design-forward vehicles, technology advancements and advocacy, Hyundai introduces its Performance Institute Technical Student Program welcoming nearly 100 technical college and high school students from South Florida during press day.

The Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program brand immersion is photographed in Miami, Sept. 1, 2023.

The new Sonata boasts a dynamic, progressive design with low-slung, elegant proportions and more aggressive coupe-like styling along with an array of advanced safety, driver assistance and convenience features. The 2024 Hyundai Elantra includes exterior and interior enhancements, advanced safety features, and a variety of purposeful technologies, for a refined driving experience.

2024 Hyundai Sonata and Elantra YouTube news conference

"Hyundai remains committed to the sedan segment offering customers a dynamic driving experience with our beautifully updated Sonata and Elantra models," said Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America. "With award-winning design language and passion for performance, Hyundai is thrilled to introduce these two refreshed sedans in South Florida."

Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program

Hyundai reinforces its commitment to sustainable growth through the launch of the Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program, with a brand immersion and recruitment event, during the Miami International Auto Show. Students from South Florida technical colleges and high schools were invited to strengthen the roots of the talent pools available to local dealerships. Hyundai Motor America's collaboration with local schools and Hyundai dealerships is aimed at creating foundational partnerships and addressing the technician shortages.

"Hyundai is proud to help boost career opportunities in the technical field throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties for high school and college students through the launch of our brand immersion and recruitment programs," said Emanue'l King, senior manager, Technical Training Programs, Hyundai Motor America. "The invaluable unsung heroes behind bay doors responsible for customer safety and satisfaction are highly regarded at Hyundai and we strive to become their brand of choice when selecting their future career path."

The Miami International Auto Show takes place at the Miami Beach Convention Center and opens Friday, September 1st on Labor Day weekend and runs through September 10th. In addition to visiting the Hyundai display, attendees can participate in a ride along in the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 at the EV test track.

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America focuses on 'Progress for Humanity' and smart mobility solutions. Hyundai offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles. Our 830 dealers sold more than 724,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2022, and nearly half were built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. For more information, visit www.HyundaiNews.com.

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
BERLIN, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Changhong took center stage for China's consumer electronics giants at IFA 2023, unveiling their latest lineup of state-of-the-art home appliances. The event kicked off at the Messe Berlin exhibition grounds on September 1.

Regarded as one of the world's premier electronics trade shows, IFA annually draws thousands of top tech firms.

Product Spotlight: Pioneering home appliance technology to enhance user experience

Changhong consistently leads in TV innovation. At IFA 2023, its high-end smart appliance brand, CHiQ, introduced a new line of OLED TVs for international markets. The TVs boast an ultra-thin body, borderless displays, and diverse stand options. With per-pixel light control and a 10.7 billion color display, they achieve a 98.5% DCI-P3 color gamut and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, ensuring both crystal clear visuals and superior sound quality. Additionally, Changhong's latest release in China, the ARTIST series of TVs, a mere 24.9mm thick and outclassing local competitors by 10mm, made its debut at IFA, exemplifying the exquisite aesthetics for contemporary homes.

Further, Changhong is committed to enhancing its smart TV platform. Come October, Europe will see the release of several CHiQ TV models powered by the latest Roku OS.

At IFA, CHiQ rolled out its Space Pro series of refrigerators and washing machines, crafted with cutting-edge ultra-thin technology, delivering on the promise of "compact size, ample capacity." Changhong also showcased an array of new products, from Eva air conditioners and heat pumps to self-cleaning robot vacuums, drawing significant attendee interest.

In addition to hardware upgrades, Changhong also unveiled smart home data security solutions centered on household privacy protection. By leveraging blockchain and other innovative tools, these initiatives create a reliable data flow framework for smart homes. This array of offerings underscores Changhong's commitment to technological advancement.

Changhong's Strategic Push: Harnessing tech and product portfolio to conquer global markets

Building on its manufacturing prowess and brand clout, Changhong has seen robust growth in its overseas appliance sector, particularly in key markets like the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The consumer electronics giant is also gaining momentum in emerging regions like the Middle East and Africa. In the first seven months of 2023, Changhong's overseas appliance sales surged by over 30%, with TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners all hitting unprecedented sales figures.

As Changhong pivots and evolves, it's diving headfirst into burgeoning sectors like renewable energy, where it boasts a robust strategic portfolio. At IFA, Changhong unveiled a range of products geared toward sustainability and renewable energy, including polymer lithium-ion batteries. Concurrently, the company's self-developed portable near-infrared spectrometers and human monitoring sensors made their global debut.

At this year's IFA, Changhong showcased its phased achievements on the evolution from a classic home appliance firm to a modern tech company. Embracing a long-term vision is crucial for Changhong's sustained stability and ceaseless innovation in the tech arena.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2199897/DSC_9599_opq567836232_ID_3a8ff5b8ac4e.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2199898/DSC_9743_opq567836764_ID_a48085f35442.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2199900/DSC_9887_opq567838751_ID_c39e21472a03.jpg

SOURCE Changhong
TRIESTE, Italy, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- illycaffe, the first Italian coffee company to obtain the B-Corp certification and the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, a government institution to support, guide, protect and enhance the development of the coffee, tea and spice industry, have signed an agreement that aims to increase coffee quality from the plant to the cup, through training activities that will mainly be held in the Coffee Training Center in Addis Ababa, the first training center of its kind on the entire African continent created in partnership between the Italian Agency for the Development of Cooperation (AICS), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), illycaffe, the Ernesto Illy Foundation and the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority.

The Coffee Training Center aims to meet international quality coffee export standards and promote the training of competent operators who create value in this sector for the country. illycaffe will offer specialized courses to professionals in the supply chain, ranging from regenerative agriculture to coffee roasting, from sensory analysis to the preparation of coffee in the cup, with the aim of improving the production and trade of this important resource for Ethiopia. Growers, exporters, bar managers and baristas will be able to train in the classrooms of the structure or in the field, based on the type of activity proposed.

"Ethiopian coffee is considered to be the best Arabica coffee in the world. Our challenge is to enhance the offer and services of the supply chain, contributing to local economic development - explains Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffe - Through the public-private partnership with the Ethiopian Coffee Tea Authority, we want to create synergies to increase quality and therefore the sustainability of coffee communities. We will act on training that will allow small producers to increase their coffee production capacity and therefore their earnings and exporters and baristas to work with an even higher quality product".

"Ethiopia is not only the land of origin for coffee but also the potential for new flavors is limitless. This unique flavor and very high-quality nature of our coffee is widely known around the globe. So, the commitment and collaboration we made with illycaffe will strengthen our stand in the international market" commented Adugna Debela, General Director of Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority.

Aware that the challenge for a more sustainable world can only be won by joining forces, illycaffe attaches great importance to cooperation between the public and private sectors, with the aim to create economic, social, and environmental value along the coffee supply chain, respecting the individuality and cultural specificities of the suppliers with whom the company works and the environment.

illycaffe is an Italian family-owned company, founded in Trieste in 1933 which has always set itself the mission of offering the best coffee to the world. It produces a unique 100% Arabica blend composed of 9 different ingredients. The company selects only 1% of the best Arabica beans in the world. Every day 8 million cups of illy coffee are served in over 140 countries around the globe, in the cafes, restaurants and hotels, in single-brand cafes and shops, at home and in the office, in which the company is present through subsidiaries and distributors.

Since its foundation, illycaffe has oriented its strategies towards a sustainable business model, commitment that it strengthened in 2019 by adopting the status of Benefit Company and in 2021 becoming the first Italian coffee company to obtain the international B Corp certification. Since 2013 the company is also one of the World Most Ethical Companies. Everything that is "made in illy" is about beauty and art, the founding principles of the brand, starting from its logo, designed by artist James Rosenquist, up to illy Art Collection cups, decorated by over 125 international artists, or coffee machines designed by internationally renowned designers. With the aim of spreading the culture of quality to growers, baristas and coffee lovers, the company has developed its Universita del Caffe which today holds courses in 25 countries around the world. In 2021, Rhone Capital became a minority shareholder of illycaffe with the aim of contributing to the company's international growth plans.

In 2022, the company had 1230 employees and a turnover of 567,7 million. The illy single-brand network has 190 points of sale in 34 countries.

SOURCE illycaffe
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 28, 2023, Sandvik will arrange its Capital Markets Day at one of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions' largest sites, located in Tampere, Finland. The event will commence with a mingle the evening before, on November 27.

The Capital Markets Day provides an opportunity for institutional investors, financial analysts and financial media to get an update on Sandvik's strategy and key achievements.

Presentations will be held by Stefan Widing, President and CEO and Cecilia Felton, CFO as well as by business area experts and management. Sandvik will also take the opportunity to show its leading-edge technology and innovations from all business areas through guided tours.

Use the link below to register no later than October 1, 2023. The number of seats is limited, and institutional investors, analysts, financial media and other key stakeholders will be prioritized. Your participation is not confirmed until you have received an e-mail confirming your participation and a link to complete your registration.

Read more and register here: https://www.home.sandvik/en/investors/capital-markets-day/

There will be no live webcast of the event. Recordings of the presentations and the corresponding slides will be available on Sandvik's website no later than November 29.

Stockholm, September 1, 2023

Sandvik AB

For further information, contact Louise Tjeder, VP Investor relations, phone: +46 (0) 70782 6374 or Sofia Wiklund, Investor relations, phone: +46 (0) 70616 2023.

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/208/3828311/2269279.pdf Invitation Sandvik Capital Markets Day November 28 2023 - making the shift

SOURCE Sandvik
As Labor Day weekend is a time to pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers, the brand is pleased to celebrate the occasion by expressing gratitude to its loyal customers. This limited-time sale is a token of appreciation, giving everyone the chance to experience the exceptional quality and results that It's a 10 Haircare, Be a 10 Cosmetics, and Ex10sions products offer.

Aronson shared, "This Labor Day Sale is more than just a sale, it's a celebration of the hard work and dedication that each one of our customers puts into their lives every day." She continues, "Let It's a 10 help you honor yourself. Because you deserve premium products at an exclusive price point that will continue to empower and uplift you daily."

The 40% off sale will begin today, September 1st, 2023, on ItsA10Haircare.com, BeA10.com, and Hairex10sions.com. and will run until 11:59pm on Monday, September 4th, 2023. Here users can expect to shop for favorites such as It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In Conditioner, Ex10sions Tape-In's or Be a 10 Begin 2 End Primer. Discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

About It's a 10 Haircare:

It's a 10 Haircare is an established, professional hair care line offering exceptional products via salons, beauty supply stores and retailers worldwide. As one of the only female-owned professional hair care brands in the world, It's a 10 Haircare is dedicated to providing customers with the best hair experience possible. It's 10 Haircare's collections include exceptional 10-in-1 multi-purpose products perfected and simplified to one unique lineup, providing solutions to all possible hair care needs.

About Be A 10 Cosmetics:

Be A 10 Cosmetics is a high-quality makeup line offering exceptional, multi-purpose products that offer simple beauty solutions. This fully-female-owned makeup brand is dedicated to providing customers with the best makeup experience possible. From priming products, eye shadows, foundation, mascara and everything in Between, Be A 10 Cosmetics aims to be the one-stop-shop that declutters your makeup bag and create professional-quality beauty looks in 10-minutes-or less.

About Ex10sions:

Ex10sions line is designed to be long-lasting, easily reusable, higher gram weight, gentle on existing hair, and offer a wide variety of styles, colors, and lengths to take your look to new lengths.

MEDIA CONTACT:

5WPR

[email protected]

212-999-5585

SOURCE Its a 10 Haircare

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Students can now carry their university conversations in their pocket with one touch instant access.

NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kempus , an online community where students can connect and discuss the university experience anonymously, has announced the launch of its new mobile app. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store , the app brings Kempus' core offerings to mobile platforms, making it even more easily accessible for verified university students across the United States.

The Kempus mobile app is an extension of the popular web-based platform. It carries forward Kempus' promise of fostering honest dialogue among students, empowering them to share their university experiences without fear of doxxing or reprisal. The app offers students the freedom to anonymously review courses, create engaging polls, and participate in insightful discussion forums, all while ensuring their privacy.

Jae Lee, CEO of Kempus, expressed his excitement about the new app. "We're proud to bring Kempus to mobile devices. Our team has been dedicated to creating an app that brings the convenience of mobile to the student body, while keeping security at the forefront."

Kempus is dedicated to creating a space for students to connect and learn from each other's experiences. By bringing the platform to mobile, Kempus is making it easier for students to connect and share, no matter where they are. The Kempus app keeps students' safety and privacy at the forefront while fostering a vibrant and supportive community of university students.

As the Kempus community grows, the company remains committed to providing a safe and transparent environment for students. Kempus' mission has always been to enhance university experiences through open dialogue and shared experiences. With the launch of their mobile app, Kempus is one step closer to achieving this goal.

Download Kempus on iOS: https://kempus.ai/ios-app

Download Kempus on Android: https://kempus.ai/android-app

About Kempus

Kempus (Kempus, Inc.) is an online community for verified students to anonymously connect and share reviews on their course and university experiencewithout fear of reprisal. With Kempus, students can access up-to-date reports on components of the university experience at a glance, and are further encouraged to dive into deeper discussions within Kempus' platform. Additionally, the Kempus platform assists the student body with early career preparation, for further empowerment. The Kempus community is one that strengthens its members at the individual level, to facilitate the most optimal and delightful university experience that is as unique as the students themselves. For more information about Kempus, visit www.kempus.com

Contact

[email protected]

SOURCE Kempus Inc
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has allocated UAH 7 billion for the procurement of weapons and ammunition for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

Representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk said on the Telegram channel said that this decision was approved at a government meeting on Friday.

In particular, UAH 7 billion was allocated to the Interior Ministry of Ukraine, for the administration of the State Border Guard Service on a non-refundable basis from the reserve fund of the national budget to take measures for the strengthening the country's defense capacity, including the procurement of weapons and ammunition.
Rapid franchise expansion secures spot as #1 Macaron Franchise in the U.S.

SARASOTA, Fla., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Le Macaron French Pastries finds itself in the enviable position of being the #1 Macaron franchise in the country, and they know exactly who to thank for the achievement.

On Saturday, September 2, Le Macaron co-owners Rosalie Gulliem and Audrey Saba are expressing gratitude for the franchisees and dedicated owners who have worked tirelessly to make Le Macaron the #1 Macaron franchise in the United States.

The Le Macaron franchise store at Cathedral Place in St. Augustine, FL, is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. Founded in 2009, Le Macaron treats customers to a Parisian-style cafe experience with authentic, premium macarons and pastries prepared daily by French-trained chefs. The family-owned business began franchising in 2012 and currently operates nearly 70 stores nationwide.

"We are reaching out and congratulating all of our franchisees for their hard work and commitment," said Guillem. "We appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit of our franchisees, as they are integral to our success. We simply could never have achieved our ranking of the #1 macaron franchise in the country without them!"

Franchise Appreciation Day is recognized every year on the Saturday before Labor Day. The official national day is observed to educate consumers about local franchises and how they can patronize and support them. Entrepreneurs and investors also learn how to succeed in business through the power of franchising.

Founded in 2009, Le Macaron treats customers to a Parisian-style cafe experience with authentic, premium macarons and pastries prepared daily by French-trained chefs. The family-owned business began franchising in 2012 and currently operates nearly 70 stores nationwide from Florida to California. The company is creating lucrative opportunities for franchisees by targeting high traffic areas where customers can enjoy delicious, authentic macarons, gourmet chocolates, French gelato, European-style coffee, and other classic French pastries.

Le Macaron openings slated for 2023 include Columbus, Ohio, Tucson, Arizona, Long Beach, California, Sacramento, California, Pembroke Pines, Florida, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, New York, and Miami. Franchisees Natalia Mejia and Camito Beltran are preparing to open their store at RIO Lakefront in Gaithersburg, Maryland, while owners Sanjam and Karam Chawla are in the process of opening a mobile kiosk at International Plaza in Tampa. All franchisees are reaping rewards based on growing interest in macarons that is trending throughout the U.S. Pastry and bakery experts project sales of macarons will top $1.54 billion this year and more than double to $3.17 billion by 2030.

"We have nearly 20 franchises in various stages of development," stated Guillem. "We continually offer support and guidance to our owners to help them succeed every step of the way."

Guillem added that Le Macaron looks for potential franchisees who embrace the challenges of running a business and love interacting with customers. She added that franchisees say they enjoy welcoming guests and families who are vacationing, or locals who are dropping by for special occasions or to check out the latest flavors.

"At all of our locations, our goal is for guests to slow down and savor the moment by relishing the simple pleasures, such as sharing macarons or a coffee together. We deeply appreciate all of our franchisees who strive to offer their guests the Le Macaron experience," Guillen said.

Le Macaron was named to the FranServe 2022 Fran-Tastic 500 list, which recognizes the top franchises in the country. For more information, visit http://lemacaron-us.com

About Le Macaron French Pastries

Founded in 2009 by Rosalie Guillem and her daughter Audrey, Le Macaron French Pastries is an elegant French patisserie that offers guests the finest, authentic French macarons and pastries. Headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, the brand began franchising in 2012 and has since grown to more than 64 locations across the U.S. Le Macaron French Pastries is ranked on Inc. 5,000 2016, #17 on the 2019 Top Emerging Franchise List as well as ranking on the Top 100 Food and Beverage category by Entrepreneur and holds a No. 9 ranking in the baked goods category.

Contact: Rhonda Price

[email protected]

(561) 371-9407

SOURCE Le Macaron
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Horrell Company, one of the oldest commercial real estate companies serving Nashville and Middle Tennessee, today announced that Elliott Smith has acquired the company and will serve as its President. Smith succeeds Steve Horrell, who served as President and Principal Broker and worked closely with Smith in the business since 2018. Horrell Company specializes in brokerage services, tenant and landlord representation, real property development, acquisitions and dispositions, and property and asset management services in the industrial, retail and office sectors.

Smith brings to the company significant business and legal expertise, with substantial real estate, development, M&A, joint venture and finance experience across a variety of industries and markets. He joins Horrell Company from Acadia Healthcare, where he served as in-house counsel providing legal guidance, support and oversight for Acadia as it executed on strategic goals across its national footprint. Prior to Acadia, Smith was an attorney with Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis, LLP (now part of global law firm Holland & Knight), where he advised both public and private companies on M&A, joint venture, real estate, capital markets and other strategic business transactions. Smith also has a background in accounting and gained considerable experience as a forensic auditor at Coleman World Group, a premier provider of global relocation services.

Smith currently serves on the board of directors of the Sue Peters Foundation, a supporting organization for the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee. Originally from Dothan, Alabama, Smith married Nashville native Sara Darby Smith, and the couple is grateful for this opportunity to continue living and being active in the Nashville community.

Smith said, "I am honored to serve as Horrell Company's next President, and to build on its strong foundation as one of Nashville's oldest and market-leading commercial real estate companies. Horrell Company's roots in this community are strong, dating back to its founding in 1943, and I look forward to growing the legacy built in large part through Steve Horrell's leadership."

Working closely with Smith will be Ben McKnight, a 37-year veteran in the commercial real estate brokerage business. "Ben has made substantial contributions to Horrell Company and I am excited to have him serve as Horrell Company's Principal Broker," said Smith. "Ben brings the right complement of commercial brokerage and property management experience combined with a strong history of delivering best-in-class service to Horrell Company's clients," continued Smith.

"Horrell Company is thrilled to welcome Elliott. We believe his depth of experience and legal and business acumen make him a significant asset to Horrell Company. Elliott is highly respected in the industry and has a proven track record of strong leadership and sound legal guidance in his roles at Waller and Acadia. Under Elliott's leadership, Horrell Company is building significant momentum as the company advances in all key areas of its long-term growth plan," stated McKnight.

For more information, contact Horrell Company at (615) 256-7114 or visit our website.

SOURCE Horrell Company
Workers Secure Enhanced Wages, Job Protections

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leinenkugel's Brewing Company workers represented by Teamsters Local 662 voted to ratify a strong contract, ending their seven-week strike.

"Our members fought hard to win against a massive company with billions to throw around," said Tom Strickland, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 662. "They look forward to getting back to work with a fair contract."

Leinenkugel's is owned by Molson Coors. The new three-year contract includes wage enhancements and language to hold the company accountable that only came about because of the strike that began on July 10.

"There are some big wins in this contract," said Dan Boley, Local 662 Business Agent. "We look forward to building on this victory in the future."

About 40 Leinenkugel's workers were forced out on strike, in a battle that included a boycott campaign and significant community support.

"This strike has made the union stronger," said Kelly Bowe, a shipping clerk with 28 years of seniority. "These union workers are more than just coworkers  they are family. I am glad to be going back to work with my brothers and sisters."

Teamsters Local 662 represents workers in a wide variety of industries throughout central and northern Wisconsin. For more information, go to Teamsters662.com or follow Teamsters Local 662 on Facebook.

Contact:

Kara Deniz, (202) 497-6610

[email protected]

SOURCE Teamsters Local 662
HONOLULU, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With just a few taps on the phone, people across the nation can provide a comforting meal to a person in need from the Maui fire destruction.

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue (PRNewsfoto/L&L Hawaiian Barbecue)

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, an international franchise brand founded and based in Hawaii, is providing its iconic Hawaiian-style plate lunches to victims of the Maui wildfires. "Purchase a Meal" for $10 on the L&L Hawaiian Barbecue mobile app or website and help feed the Maui community in need. L&L will collect the number of meals purchased at the end of each week and the Honokowai L&L Hawaiian Barbecue staff will prepare and deliver the meals to displaced Maui wildfire victims.

"Purchase a Meal" will run from September 1 - 15, 2023. There are two ways to purchase a meal, you can download the L&L Hawaiian mobile app and click on "Purchase a Meal" or go to the L&L Hawaiian Barbecue website at hawaiianbarbecue.com.

"Your meal purchase has a double impact  it supports the Maui economy by helping local entrepreneurs and employees and also provides much-needed hot meals to people impacted by the Maui wildfires." said Elisia Flores, CEO of L&L Franchise Inc. "Quality, comfort food is at the heart of our business and with your support, we can make a difference."

On August 8, Maui's historic Lahaina district was engulfed in flames, causing numerous businesses, restaurants, and homes reduced to rubble. For those who survived the devastating losses of loved ones, homes, and businesses, the future is unclear. Visitors account for around 80% of Maui's wealth, according to the island's economic development board, and due to the recent Maui wildfires, small businesses and restaurants are struggling to survive and many local residents have lost their jobs and are displaced.

"Many of us are down to nothing  we've lost a lot, but we are here to help and give back to the community that has given us so much over the years," said Cindy Liu, owner of Honokowai L&L Hawaiian Barbecue.

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue is encouraging customers to participate in "Purchase a Meal" to nourish our Maui Ohana (family) and community. For more information, go to hawaiianbarbecue.com.

About L&L Hawaiian Barbecue

Founded in Honolulu as L&L Dairy in 1952, L&L became a popular eatery in Hawaii. The iconic L&L Hawaiian Barbecue brand in its current plate lunch restaurant iteration, was established in 1976 by Eddie Flores, Jr. and Johnson Kam. The company has grown to become the most popular restaurant franchise specializing in Hawaii cuisine throughout the world. Today, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue offers Hawaiian-style comfort food and hospitality at 224 locations throughout 15 states and Japan. For more information, visit hawaiianbarbecue.com.

SOURCE L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
Petco Love, BOBS from Skechers, and Wings of Rescue Unite in Hurricane Idalia Flight Missions



SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- National nonprofit Petco Love, BOBS from Skechers, and Wings of Rescue joined to evacuate 140+ shelter pets out of Florida to support partner animal welfare organizations in the area after Hurricane Idalia hit the state on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane.

Love Is In The Air lifesaving flight mission: Petco Love, BOBS from Skechers, and Wings of Rescue joined to evacuate a pup named Lori and 140+ shelter pets out of Florida after Hurricane Idalia. A law enforcement member of the Pasco County Sheriffs Office in Florida rescued a dog from floodwater in the wake of Hurricane Idalia.

The first flight headed out of the Tampa area, led by the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and the Pet Resource Center at Hillsborough County Animal Shelter, left early Thursday morning. Another flight from northern Florida led by Jacksonville Humane Society ("JHS"), includes cats and dogs from JHS and Columbia County shelters, will leave today, Friday. The team at the Brandywine Valley SPCA will be waiting as the plane touches down in Delaware to coordinate the adoption of these pets to families in the surrounding areas. This collaborative effort represents a shared commitment to saving pets lives during times of crisis.

Lori, a puppy from the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, was one of the pets airlifted from the devastated areas hoping to find a new, loving home. The Brandywine Valley SPCA greeted Lori, along with 81 other pets, with open arms and promised her, she and all the others, will be well cared for as they get them ready for adoption at the Brandywine Valley SPCA.

Petco Love's "Love Is in the Air" lifesaving disaster flight mission aims to alleviate the burden on Florida animal welfare organizations as they recuperate from the storm and help more pets who were injured or went missing from home in the hurricane. Every cat and dog on the flight was medically cleared by a licensed veterinarian as able to travel.

"This animal airlift operation is a testament to the remarkable power of collaboration. Working hand in hand, multiple local and national nonprofits came together to facilitate safe and efficient transport of animals to shelters in the north to create capacity at local Florida organizations to serve the community in their time of need," said Susanne Kogut, President of Petco Love.

"When disaster strikes, our mission is to save at-risk dogs and cats by delivering them to safe havens," said Ric Browde, CEO and President of Wings of Rescue. "And thanks to our partnership with Petco Love and BOBS from Skechers we are able to Let The Fur Fly and save pets in need."

"Through purchases of our BOBS from Skechers offering, we have donated $10 millionmuch of which has supported animals in crisis. There's no greater example of this than the devastating threat of natural disasters like Hurricane Idalia, and the rapid response of Wings of Rescue and Petco Love is a testament to our great impact when we all band together for good," said Michael Greenberg, President of Skechers. "As incidents like this increase in severity, we are committed to being there for local shelters across the country and the animals they care for every day."

Petco Love encourages pet parents who lost or found a pet during Hurricane Idalia to use the Petco Love Lost online database to simplify and shorten the lost pet search by using just one photo of a pet. The national lost and found pet database is fast, free, and easy to use, especially in an emergency like a hurricane. Patented image-recognition technology enables the database  populated by more than 2,500 shelter locations  to identify and reunite lost pets.

September 1st also marks the beginning of National Preparedness Month. Pet parents can ensure they are prepared for a disaster or emergency by planning ahead, including registering their pets on Petco Love Lost while they are safe in their care.

Media Contacts:

Crystal Bugary, Petco Love, [email protected]

Gene Gable, Wings of Rescue, [email protected], (707) 235-0869

About Wings of Rescue

Wings of Rescue is a donation-supported charity that transports abandoned, homeless and otherwise at-risk pets from overcrowded shelters and disaster areas to the safety of rescue facilities and animal welfare organizations where each pet is given proper care and a new home. Additionally, every year Wings of Rescue planes deliver thousands of pounds of humanitarian and veterinary aid to communities and pets in need, and the group serves as sponsors for spay/neuter programs and other life-saving practices. Since its founding in 2012, Wings of Rescue pilots have safely and efficiently flown over 68,000 pets out of harm's way and on to new lives. The nonprofit group operates hundreds of missions per year carrying thousands of dogs, cats, and other small companion animals to and from locations throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Advocating that all pets deserve a healthy and loving home, Wings of Rescue believes that responsible pet ownership enriches lives and builds stronger and more compassionate communities. For additional information visit: wingsofrescue.org/.

About Petco Love

Petco Love is a life-changing nonprofit organization that makes communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we've empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $370 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We've helped find loving homes for more than 6.7 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Join us. Visit petcolove.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we lead every day.

About SKECHERS U.S.A., Inc.

Skechers U.S.A., Inc. (NYSE:SKX), a Fortune 500 Company based in Southern California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle and performance footwear, apparel and accessories for men, women and children. Collections from The Comfort Technology Company are available in over 180 countries and territories through department and specialty stores, and direct to consumers through digital stores and over 4,700 Company- and third-party-owned physical retail stores. The Company manages its international business through a network of wholly-owned subsidiaries, joint venture partners, and distributors. For more information, please visit about.skechers.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

About BOBS from Skechers

BOBS from Skechers' charitable collection of shoes, apparel and accessories have improved animals' lives: over the past eight years, Skechers has contributed more than $10 million to help 1.9 million shelter pets, including saving more than 1.4 million rescued animals in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Japan. It all started in 2011, when Skechers launched a movement to support children impacted by natural disasters and poverty  a cause that has helped the Company donate more than 16 million new pairs of shoes to kids in more than 60 countries worldwide. To learn more about BOBS from Skechers' commitment to making a difference, visit BOBSfromSkechers.com and follow the brand on Facebook and Instagram.

SOURCE Petco Love
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 9th 2022, leaders from Lux Speed and Stonebridge Associates attended a groundbreaking at the Oakville project located in Alexandria, Virginia. Lux Speed, an industry leading fiber optic internet service provider, will bring its state-of-the-art high-speed internet service to the Oakville Community, specifically to the new multifamily residential apartment buildings. Oakville is a mixed-use development that will include 572 new apartment units, 37,000 square feet of retail space, 84 luxury townhomes, and a new Inova Medical and Emergency Facility.

Pictured: Shelby Fenton, David Cerniglia, Allison Hackel, Ed Repa

Lux Speed's smart community technology will provide the residents at Oakville with the best internet and community Wi-Fi services available in the country. The residents will receive assistance from Lux Speed's world-class domestic Technical Support Team. Lux Speed's advanced technology utilizing state of the art, enterprise grade access points will be available to everyone in the community.

"Lux Speed is proud to add the Oakville Triangle Development to our portfolio of customers", stated Michael Bertamini, Lux Speed's CEO.

The first phase of Oakville is due to be delivered in early 2024 with the entire project completion date estimated for the summer of 2024.

About Lux Speed

Lux Speed is a bulk internet provider working with Homeowner Associations, Condo Owner Associations and Property Management Companies to deliver light speed fiber-to-the-home by utilizing state-of-the-art technology. Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale Florida, Lux Speed service the contiguous United States and is the fastest growing internet service provider in 23 states.

SOURCE Lux Speed
August Marks the 11th Straight Month of Year-Over-Year Gains

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported total August sales of 30,174 vehicles, an increase of 18.7 percent compared to August 2022. Year-to-date sales totaled 244,586 vehicles; an increase of 27.6 percent compared to the same time last year. With 27 selling days in August, compared to 26 the year prior, the company posted an increase of 14.3 percent on a Daily Selling Rate (DSR) basis.

CPO sales totaled 5,752 vehicles in August, an increase of 26 percent compared to August 2022.

Sales Highlights

- Best-ever August sales of CX-30 with 6,630 vehicles sold.

- Best-ever sales of CX-90 PHEV with 1,700 vehicles sold.

Mazda Canada, Inc., (MCI) reported August sales of 5,364 vehicles, an increase of 12.8 percent compared to August last year. Year-to-date sales totaled 38,227 vehicles; an increase of 8.9 percent compared to the same time last year.

Mazda Motor de Mexico (MMdM) reported August sales of 5,532 vehicles, an increase of 8.0 percent compared to last year. Year-to-date sales totaled 46,340 vehicles; an increase of 79 percent compared to the same time last year.

Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts, and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Colombia through approximately 795 dealers. Operations in Canada are managed by Mazda Canada Inc. in Richmond Hill, Ontario; operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City; and operations in Colombia are managed by Mazda de Colombia in Bogota, Colombia. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at News.MazdaUSA.com.

Follow MNAO's social media channels through Twitter and Instagram at @MazdaUSA and Facebook at Facebook.com/MazdaUSA.

























Month-To-Date

Year-To-Date

























August August YOY % % MTD

August August YOY % % MTD



2023 2022 Change DSR

2023 2022 Change DSR























Mazda3 2,611 2,100 24.3 % 19.7 %

20,732 18,120 14.4 % 14.4 %

Mazda 3 Sdn 1,596 888 79.7 % 73.1 %

11229 7,259 54.7 % 54.7 %

Mazda 3 HB 1,015 1,212 (16.3) % (19.4) %

9503 10,861 (12.5) % (12.5) %























Mazda6 0 0 - -

0 335 (100.0) % (100.0) %























MX-5 Miata 733 752 (2.5) % (6.1) %

6,966 3,819 82.4 % 82.4 %

MX-5 347 327 6.1 % 2.2 %

3727 1,406 165.1 % 165.1 %

MXR 386 425 (9.2) % (12.5) %

3239 2,413 34.2 % 34.2 %























CX-3 - 0 - -

- 0 - -

CX-30 6,630 4,765 39.1 % 34.0 %

52378 32,532 61.0 % 61.0 %

CX-5 13,649 12,920 5.6 % 1.7 %

106113 105,733 0.4 % 0.4 %

CX-9 9 2,106 (99.6) % (99.6) %

17428 20,205 (13.7) % (13.7) %

CX-50 2,602 2,783 (6.5) % (10.0) %

28302 10,553 168.2 % 168.2 %

MX-30 6 0 - -

100 324 (69.1) % (69.1) %

CX-90 2,234 0 - -

8724 0 - -

CX-90P 1,700 0 - -

3843 0 - -

CARS 3,344 2,852 17.3 % 12.9 %

27,698 22,274 24.4 % 24.4 %

TRUCKS 26,830 22,574 18.9 % 14.5 %

216,888 169,347 28.1 % 28.1 %























TOTAL 30,174 25,426 18.7 % 14.3 %

244,586 191,621 27.6 % 27.6 %













































*Selling Days 27 26





204 204





























SOURCE Mazda North American Operations
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Moo Moo Express Car Wash recently presented Healthy New Albany Food Pantry with a check for $14,658.69. Proceeds raised celebrated the opening of the newest Moo Moo Express location in New Albany. Funds were donated by customers during "Free Wash Week" where customers were given a free signature car wash with a monetary donation to the nonprofit partner. Other offers included $50 gift cards, for only $25, with the full purchase price donated back to the Healthy New Albany Food Pantry.

The Express Wash Concepts team presenting Healthy New Albany with $14,658.69 to celebrate the opening of the newest Moo Moo Express in New Albany.

In addition, Moo Moo Express's supplier, ChemQuest , contributed $1,000 toward the total donation. ChemQuest specializes in creating quality car wash chemicals.

"Thank you to our customers for supporting our efforts to give back to the residents of New Albany. We are honored to be a part of the community," said John Roush, CEO of Express Wash Concepts .

"Thank you so much for this generous donation, it truly impacts communities in need." Said Angela Douglas, Executive Director of Healthy New Albany .

Funds will be used to stock the shelves full of necessary resources for those in need, as well as funding an upcoming capital campaign to build a new food pantry to support the increase in community members being served.

About Moo Moo Express Car Wash:

Founded in 2008, Moo Moo Express Car Wash is central Ohio's award-winning, premier express car wash with 30+ locations and growing. Moo Moo Express's fast, high-quality, and environmentally friendly car washes are 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Moo Moo Express Car Wash is proud to be an avid supporter of the central Ohio community.

About Express Wash Concepts:

Express Wash Concepts operates 90+ award-winning, express car wash locations under the following brands: Moo Moo Express Car Wash, Flying Ace Express Car Wash, Clean Express Auto Wash, Green Clean Express Auto Wash, and Bee Clean Car Wash. For more information, please visit www.expresswashconcepts.com.

SOURCE Express Wash Concepts
TOKYO, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

- Go behind Scenes of Global Logistics with New Brand Film from NIPPON EXPRESS -

NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS, INC. released a new brand movie "Finding the Way" on September 1. The short film follows NIPPON EXPRESS employees from Japan, the United States and Europe as they coordinate strategic shipments for the semiconductor industry. It goes behind the scenes of global logistics, from the routes of rural Ireland to the port of Long Beach, California, to cutting-edge, robot-powered warehouses in Japan.

Logo:

https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M103866/202308298588/_prw_PI18fl_vlxvm8eM.jpg

Film Image:

https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M103866/202308298588/_prw_PI1fl_IJ96vN7v.jpg

About brand movie

The machines that build semiconductors are fragile, complex and incredibly valuable. Such equipment -- which makes the chips that power everything from smartphones to cars -- can't be jostled, tipped or mishandled as it travels from manufacturer to chip-maker. Shipping it across the world requires a unique team of specialists.

That's where NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS, INC. comes in. The global logistics company handles some of the most fragile cargo in the world, from semiconductor equipment to priceless works of art. A new brand movie "Finding the Way" showcases the company's dedication, creativity and attention to detail as it ships essential goods across the globe.

The film also highlights the history of NX Group, which now operates in over 50 countries while maintaining its Japanese heritage and values, such as a deep commitment to customer service.

Watch "Finding the Way" on the Group's website, its YouTube channel, or its official LinkedIn account. Two versions are available: full-length (4 minutes and 30 seconds) and short (1 minute). It's viewable in three languages: Japanese, English and Chinese.

To watch the brand movie, please visit:

Website: https://www.nipponexpress.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nittsu

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nippon-express-group/

Overview of brand movie

- Title: Finding the Way

- Release date: Friday, September 1, 2023

- Formats: Full length (4 min. 30 sec.), short length (1 min.)

- Supported languages: Japanese, English, Chinese

Group Corporate Message: "We Find the Way"

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/attach/202308298588-O1-y0czMi82.pdf

Some scenes from film:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/attach/202308298588-O2-iDj33ht9.pdf

To download photos, visit:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/release/202308298588?p=images

SOURCE NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS, INC.
HONOLULU, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hawaii wildfires, which began early in August, have claimed many lives and devastated hundreds of homes and businesses. This ongoing tragedy, which has ravaged the island of Maui, including the historic town of Lahaina, is already one of the deadliest fires in recent U.S. history.

Eye In The Sky by Chris Sebo

In response to this urgent situation, Park West Gallery and Oahu-based artist Chris Sebo have raised nearly $25,000 for the Hawai'i Community Foundation's Maui Strong Fund. John Block, Executive Vice President said, "The true philanthropic nature of our collectors and artists warms my heart  in a world going through tumultuous times, they always step forward to help".

During the regularly scheduled online telecast auction on Sunday, August 20, 2023, Park West Gallery partnered with Oahu-based artist and 2021 Made in Hawaii Champion Chris Sebo to raise money for the island of Maui, its people, places, and animals. Principal auctioneer Cole Waters said, "Chris Sebo graciously made available a framed, 24x30, unique one-of-a-kind original painting on canvas titled 'Eye in the Sky." The artist appeared on video to show off and discuss his artwork during the auction, saying, "I wanted to do something to make a difference for the people of Maui," adding, "I was so happy to offer up this painting that features a fiery red and orange sky above a peaceful ocean scene lapping up on the beach, and ecstatic to be able to use my art to help people and, in partnership with Park West, raise a significant amount of money for the Maui Strong Fund, a collection of local organizations doing great work on the ground in Lahaina and beyond."

The Maui Strong Fund is working with local leaders, members of the community, and non-profit organizations to provide financial resources and, crucially, to prioritize and support the immediate and long-term recovery needs of the people, places, and animals affected by the 2023 Maui wildfires.

The winning bidder of "Eye in the Sky" is a longstanding Park West Gallery collector. They have donated $24,900 directly to the Hawai'i Community Foundation and will soon be receiving Chris Sebo's stunning work of art.

As a vital member of the greater Hawaii art community through the Park West Fine Art Museum & Gallery on the Waikiki Beach Walk in Honolulu, Park West Gallery is committed to helping the island of Maui heal from this tragedy. In addition to the art auction, Park West has donated a variety of essentials including non-perishable food, pet food, baby formula and diapers, feminine hygiene products, and more, and will continue to look for additional ways the organization can help the recovery process in the months to come.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Karen Pegg

[email protected]

248.204.6807

SOURCE Park West Gallery
The Nova Poshta group of companies has launched in Romania the opportunity to call a courier to an address to send documents and parcels up to 30 kg to Ukraine, the press service of the group reported on Friday.

According to the release, the courier can be called at any address throughout Romania from Monday to Friday, the cost of calling the courier is UAH 80, which is paid in addition to the cost of the delivery service.

To call a courier in Romania, you need to prepare the package for shipment on your own, fill out an application for calling a courier on the website, application or in the business account, pay for the order and hand it over to the courier in a closed form.

You can track the parcel using tracking on the NovaPost website and in the mobile application.

As reported, parcels can be sent from Ukraine to Romania to any address or to the NovaPost branch, which opened in June this year in Bucharest.

Currently NovaPost already works in Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania and Germany.

At the beginning of July, the Nova Poshta network in Ukraine included more than 10,000 branches and more than 14,000 parcel lockers.
FARMINGTON, Conn., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Otis Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: OTIS) Chair, CEO & President Judy Marks will participate in a fireside chat at the 11th annual Laguna conference hosted by Morgan Stanley on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 9:20 a.m. PT (12:20 p.m. ET). The presentation will be broadcast live at www.otis.com.

About Otis

Otis is the world's leading elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation and service company. We move 2 billion people a day and maintain approximately 2.2 million customer units worldwide, the industry's largest Service portfolio. Headquartered in Connecticut, USA, Otis is 69,000 people strong, including 41,000 field professionals, all committed to meeting the diverse needs of our customers and passengers in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. For more information, visit www.otis.com and follow us on LinkedIn , Instagram , Facebook and Twitter @OtisElevatorCo.

Media Contact:

Katy Padgett

+1-860-674-3047

[email protected] Investor Relations Contact:

Michael Rednor

+1-860-676-6011

investorrelations@otis.com

SOURCE Otis Worldwide Corporation
SunZia Transmission is a 550-mile  525 kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line between central New Mexico and south-central Arizona with the capacity to transport 3,000 MW of clean, reliable, and affordable electricity across Western states. SunZia will deliver clean power from Pattern's SunZia Wind project, the largest wind project in the Western Hemisphere, which will be simultaneously constructed with SunZia Transmission. Together, SunZia Wind and SunZia Transmission are the largest clean energy infrastructure project in U.S. history.

"The SunZia Transmission Project will accelerate our nation's transition to a clean energy economy by unlocking renewable resources, creating jobs, lowering costs, and boosting local economies," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. "Through historic investments from President Biden's Investing in America agenda, the Interior Department is helping build modern, resilient climate infrastructure that protects our communities from the worsening impacts of climate change."

"SunZia will have a massive economic impact in New Mexico, creating thousands of jobs in our rural communities, while also bringing us one huge step closer to meeting our climate goals and conserving wildlife habitat. That's why I fought hard for this project through a whole series of obstacles, and it's why I'm thrilled to welcome the start of construction," said Senator Martin Heinrich. "The proof is everywhere: the climate crisis is here, and it is the greatest threat we face. But solving the climate crisis by building out clean energy infrastructure like SunZia will also be the greatest economic opportunity of our lifetime."

"New Mexico is beyond proud to be the home of such monumental work by Pattern Energy that is truly powering the future -- all while creating hundreds of jobs and elevating our economy," said Gov. Lujan Grisham. "Projects like these are proof positive that climate action and economic development are not mutually exclusive."

"SunZia is the successful result of a truly collaborative approach that accomplished something many thought was impossible," said Hunter Armistead, CEO of Pattern Energy. "We're proud that SunZia is implementing industry-leading measures for environmental mitigation, including emerging technology and long-term conservation research. More than 2,000 workers will now roll up their sleeves and get to work on America's largest clean energy infrastructure project, harnessing New Mexico's powerful winds to deliver clean power to 3 million Americans."

SunZia Transmission is setting a precedent with the gold standard in environmental mitigation efforts developed hand-in-hand with key stakeholders. Throughout the development process the SunZia team worked closely with the public, BLM, landowners, ranchers, and numerous wildlife and environmental conservation groups, and others, to foster productive dialogue, listen to concerns and recommendations, and incorporate feedback. The resulting efforts range from restoring thousands of acres of wildlife habitat to investing in emerging technology and long-term conservation research. SunZia Wind has also established robust environmental best practices to reduce project impacts and study effective habitat restoration strategies in partnership with local and state experts.

"More transmission is needed to reduce climate impacts and create a cleaner future where birds and people can thrive, and the SunZia project is a significant step forward in the expansion of our nation's clean energy infrastructure," said Jon Hayes, Vice President and Executive Director of Audubon Southwest. "Audubon's collaboration with Pattern Energy exemplifies how clean energy developers and conservation organizations can work together to ensure that transmission projects use the latest data and science to minimize impacts on birds and communities."

"SunZia is a model for planning and developing critical transmission projects that will advance our transition to clean energy," said Fernando Martinez, Executive Director of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (RETA). "SunZia is our second project partnership with Pattern Energy, following Western Spirit, and together they will be unlocking vast amounts of renewable wind resources and empowering New Mexico to power the west."

SunZia Transmission will deliver clean power generated by Pattern's 3,500 MW SunZia Wind facility, which is being constructed across Torrance, Lincoln, and San Miguel Counties in New Mexico. SunZia Transmission will enable SunZia Wind to supply clean power to Western states when demand is high.

Pattern is proud to have partnered with federal and state land agencies on the SunZia Transmission route, as well as hundreds of private landowners. Federal land makes up over 30% of the total project route and includes lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. SunZia Transmission has also signed right of way agreements with the New Mexico State Land Office and the Arizona State Land Department; in each case payments to these state agencies go to support education and other public institutions.

Pattern Energy recently announced that the SunZia Transmission and SunZia Wind projects are expected to generate $20.5 billion dollars in total economic benefit, which includes over $8 billion of direct capital investment, at no added cost to ratepayers, according to the results of an independent study conducted by the research firm Energy, Economic & Environment Consultants LLC. Together, the projects will generate an expected $1.3 billion in fiscal impacts that will go to governments, communities, and schools. These benefits are generated through sales and use taxes, property taxes, community benefit payments, and land payments to federal and state agencies.

About Pattern Energy

Pattern Energy is one of the world's largest privately-owned developers and operators of wind, solar, transmission, and energy storage projects. Its operational portfolio includes 30 renewable energy facilities that use proven, best-in-class technology with an operating capacity of nearly 6,000 MW across North America. Pattern Energy is guided by a long-term commitment to serve customers, protect the environment, and strengthen communities. For more information, visit www.patternenergy.com.

Contact:

Matt Dallas

Pattern Energy

917-363-1333

[email protected]

SOURCE Pattern Energy Group LP

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PBNA, PepsiCo Foundation and its Food for Good platform donated backpacks with school supplies and healthy, shelf-stable meals to 240 students in the Newark Public Schools

PURCHASE, N.Y., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, the North Division of PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA) hosted a "Back-to-School PEP Rally" to help 240 underserved PK-8 students at the Luis Munoz Marin School for Social Justice in Newark, N.J. get a jumpstart on the school year by providing necessary school supplies, backpacks, and nutritious meals to fuel their minds and bodies. New York Giants alum Victor Cruz joined the event to get students motivated and excited for a fun and successful new school year.

PepsiCo Beverages North America Hosts Back-to-School PEP Rally Powering Newark Public School Students for a Strong Start to the New School Year

According to The National Retail Federation's 2023 back-to-school spending survey1, families with children in grades K-12 said they expect to spend an average of $890 on school items this year, about $25 more than last year. In addition, according to a report from the School Nutrition Association2, one in eight children in America live in food insecure homes. This can pose risks to a child's health and development, leading to long-term social and behavioral challenges. PBNA's Back-to-School PEP Rally events aim to address this urgent need and help provide children with the resources they need to thrive in a new school year.

Adelante, PBNA's Hispanic employee resource group, leveraged its members to volunteer at the event, providing backpacks and school supplies directly to students. In addition to the supplies, each student received a bag of shelf-stable meals provided through the PepsiCo Foundation's Food for Good program. Food for Good is the PepsiCo Foundation's global platform for advancing food security and ongoing commitment to make nutritious food accessible for more people.

"At PepsiCo, we are committed to supporting the communities where we live and work. During this pivotal back-to-school time, we want to make sure each student has what they need for a positive start to the school year," says Richard Glover, President, North Division of PepsiCo Beverages North America. "We are proud to be able to make a meaningful difference for families and hope it helps build a great school year ahead for these students."

During the Back-to-School PEP Rally held at the Luis Munoz Marin School for Social Justice in Newark, children met with New York Giants alum Victor Cruz and enjoyed food provided by a local PBNA foodservice partner in Newark.

PBNA hosted its inaugural Back to School PEP Rally backpack distribution event in Miami followed by events in the Northeast at schools in Philadelphia and Cincinnati in August 2023 and will be hosting its final event at a school Boston, Mass. to benefit more than 2,000 students overall in these high need communities by September 2023.

Stay up to date on the latest PepsiCo news and products by visiting pepsico.com and following @pepsico on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $86 billion in net revenue in 2022, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo.

About the PepsiCo Foundation and Food for Good

Food for Good is the PepsiCo Foundation's global platform for advancing food security and making nutritious food accessible. As a contributor to meeting pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) commitments, Food for Good has delivered more than 270 million meals to more than 46 million people around the world. Learn more at www.pepsicofoodforgood.com.

1 Cullen, Katherine. (2023). Back-to-Class 2023. National Retail Federation.

2 (2023). School Meal Statistics. School Nutrition Association.

Media Contacts:

Corey Manuel

[email protected]

Noelle Gorbunoff

[email protected]

SOURCE PepsiCo
MIDDLETOWN, Conn., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pieper Veterinary, a Connecticut-based family of primary, specialty and emergency care veterinary hospitals, is excited to announce they have partnered with both Mass-RI Veterinary ER in Swansea, MA and Metropolitan Veterinary Associates in Norristown, PA. These valued partnerships bring over 60 additional emergency and specialty veterinarians into the Pieper Veterinary network and supports Pieper's continuing strategy to partner with privately-owned hospitals who want to grow, expand, and share in a commitment to providing quality veterinarian-led medicine in the Northeast.

"We couldn't be happier to welcome these clients, patients, and staff into the Pieper family. As a hospital network that was started by Dr. Neil Pieper in 1937, we're honored to continue a legacy of veterinarian-led practices with Mass-RI Veterinary ER, founded by Dr. Michelle Lampe, and Metropolitan Veterinary Associates, founded by Dr. James Dougherty," says Ben Olson, DVM, DACVIM (Neurology), and Chief Medical Officer of Pieper Veterinary. "Both of these hospitals have exceptional teams with highly skilled doctors and nursing care. Together we can strengthen the veterinary care in our communities and continue to provide our clients with advanced medical services."

Opened in 2005, Mass-RI Veterinary ER's team of five emergency doctors provides 7-day emergency and urgent care for families from Swansea, Fall River, Somerset, and Providence RI. Their mission is to provide a total pet health care environment with superior customer service, ensuring that the needs of the pet, the client, and referring veterinarian are met.

Since 1986, Metropolitan Veterinary Associates (MVA) has provided the highest quality of veterinary medicine. It is their mission to enhance and improve the lives of their patients through exceptional care. MVA provides top-level care in anesthesiology, behavioral medicine, cardiology, critical care, dentistry, dermatology, emergency, internal medicine, interventional radiology, minimally invasive surgery, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, radiology, and surgery.

"The MVA team is thrilled to join Pieper Veterinary in their commitment to veterinarian-led medicine," says Executive Medical Director John V. DeBiasio, DVM, DACVIM (Internal Medicine), MBA. "This allows us to put medicine first, and to continue not only providing excellent service to our clients, but more importantly, the highest quality of care to our patients."

"We feel that the Pieper Veterinary network of hospitals is differentiated by their focus on continuing education for all staff in a commitment to providing the highest quality care," says Michelle Lampe, DVM, of Mass-RI Veterinary ER. "We appreciate their commitment to continuing the legacies and missions of the hospitals within the network."

For More Information About Becoming a Partnering Hospital Visit: https://www.pieperveterinary.com/for-practice-owners/

About Pieper Veterinary:

Pieper Veterinary is a leading full-spectrum veterinary provider with over 120 veterinarians across eight emergency, specialty, and primary care locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. With a total staff of over 650, all of Pieper's practices embody a veterinarian-led, patientfirst philosophy, and a commitment to delivering the highest quality veterinary medicine. For more information, please visit www.pieperveterinary.com.

Media Contact:

Jesse Ferguson (she/her/hers)

Director of Marketing, Pieper Veterinary

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 860-302-5992

SOURCE Pieper Veterinary
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pilot Company is kicking off Driver Appreciation month with exclusive offers all September for free drinks and discounts on meals to thank professional drivers for all they do to keep North America moving. The company will also host a celebration at one of its newly remodeled travel centers in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

Pilot Company kicks off Driver Appreciation Month with great deals just for pro drivers. Pilot Company thanks pro drivers all September long with their annual Driver Appreciation Month.

"Professional drivers go the extra mile to keep our economy running," said David Hughes, senior vice president of sales at Pilot Company. "On behalf of Pilot Company, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the professional drivers out there for your tireless efforts and dedication. We are truly honored to be able to serve you."

In September, professional drivers will be able to enjoy exclusive savings through the myRewards Plus app* at participating Pilot, Flying J and One9 travel centers, including:

Three free drinks every week on Pilot coffee, fountain drinks, and top-selling beverage brands from the cooler*

Offers on freshly prepared foods each week including 50% off pizza, burgers, salads, and more*

Food and beverage discounts of 10% for Military or Veteran Pro Drivers (after authentication through ID.me)*

Additional offers, including food and beverage buy one get one free deals throughout the month*

Canadian professional drivers will automatically receive an extra bonus point per four liters when they swipe their myRewards card*

During National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Pilot Company will also host a community celebration for professional drivers at the Pilot travel center located at 3300 AR-391 in North Little Rock, Arkansas, which was recently remodeled as part of Pilot Company's New Horizons initiative. Drivers and guests are invited to join the festivities on September 13 from 3:30  7:30 p.m. for a lawn party complete with prize giveaways, refreshments, outdoor games, and music.

For more information about Driver Appreciation Month, visit pilotflyingj.com/rewards. Download the myRewards Plus app* to find the nearest participating travel center.

*Data rates may apply. Participating locations only. Terms and conditions apply. While supplies last.

About Pilot Company:

Pilot Travel Centers LLC ("Pilot Company") keeps North America's drivers moving as one of the leading suppliers of fuel and the largest operator of travel centers. Founded in 1958 and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pilot Company has grown its network to more than 870 locations serving an average of 1.3 million guests per day and providing over 70,000 fleet customers with solutions for fuel, credit, factoring, services and rewards. Pilot Company has the third largest tanker fleet in North America with over 1,500 trucks that supply approximately 14 billion gallons of fuel per year and provide hauling and disposal services to the oil field sector. As a fuel and energy leader, Pilot Company is the largest provider of biodiesel and renewable fuels and is paving the way to the future by developing an EV charging network and low carbon fueling alternatives. Its Pilot and Flying J travel center network includes over 750 locations in 44 states and six Canadian provinces with more than 790 restaurants, 77,000 truck parking spaces, 5,500 deluxe showers, 6,300 diesel lanes and truck maintenance and tire service with Southern Tire Mart at Pilot Flying J. The One9 Fuel Network provides smaller fleets and independent professional drivers with a variety of fueling locations that offer everyday value, convenience, credit and perks. More information on locations and rewards is available in the myRewards Plus app.

Pilot Company is a majority owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. For additional information about Pilot Company, its 30,000 team members and commitment to giving back, visit www.pilotcompany.com.

SOURCE Pilot Company
NEW YORK, Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The pizza oven market size is estimated to increase by USD 149.61 million from 2022 to 2027, with a CAGR of 5.18%, according to a recent market study by Technavio. The increasing consumption of pizza in developing countries drives the pizza oven market growth. Factors such as an increase in urbanization, availability of goods, and income influence consumer spending behavior. Market vendors draw consumer interest by adding value to their products and expanding their product portfolios. Also, the nutrition calculator displays total calorie and sodium intake, total fat amount, carbohydrates, and protein. Hence, such factors boost the pizza oven market growth during the forecast period. This report also offers a 5-year historical (2017-2021) data projection of market size, segmentation, and region. Discover some insights on market size before buying the full report -Request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Pizza Oven Market 2023-2027

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of vendors has been conducted to help clients understand the wider business environment as well as the strengths and weaknesses of key market players. Data is qualitatively analyzed to categorize vendors as pure play, category-focused, industry-focused, and diversified; it is quantitatively analyzed to categorize vendors as dominant, leading, strong, tentative, and weak. The Bargaining Power of Buyers & Suppliers and the Threat of New Entrants, Rivalry, and Substitutes have also been analyzed and rated between LOW-HIGH to provide a holistic view of market favorability.

The pizza oven market report also offers information on the criticality of inputs, R&D, CAPEX, technology, and products of 15 vendors listed Below -

Ali Group Srl, BakerStone, Californo, Cuppone Srl, EarthStone Wood Fire Ovens, Fiero, Fontana Forni USA, Henny Penny Corp., Il Forno By Marco, Marra Forni, Morello Forni Italia Srl, Mugnaini Imports Inc., Peppino Cement Ornaments CC, Smeg S.p.a., Sveba Dahlen AB, Wood Stone Corp., Forno Bravo, Le Panyol, Ooni Ltd., and Italoven Download a Sample

Pizza Oven Market - Segmentation

The market is segmented by Type (Electric pizza oven, Wood-fired pizza oven, and Gas pizza oven), Distribution Channel (Offline and Online), and Geography (Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa)

The electric pizza oven segment will be significant during the forecast period. Electric pizza ovens are an attractive option for commercial kitchens. This is because they are easy to use and require less expertise than traditional wood-fired ones. Furthermore, global demand for electric pizza ovens is likely to be influenced by various factors, such as the growth in the size of the food service market. Hence, such factors drive the segment growth during the forecast period.

To procure the data - Buy report!

Pizza Oven Market - Market Dynamics

The increasing focus on customized and hybrid wood-fired ovens is an emerging pizza oven market trend.

is an emerging pizza oven market trend. The long product replacement cycle challenges the growth of the pizza oven market.

Pizza Oven Market - Regional Analysis

The market is segmented by region Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa. An analysis of key leading countries has been included.

Europe will contribute 33% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. This is one of the largest markets for pizzas due to the growing demand for customization in pizza and consumer preference for gluten-free pizzas. Furthermore, the pizza oven market in Europe witnessed a decline in 2020 due to COVID-19 but mass vaccination drives conducted by the government and the reopening of restaurants in Europe revived the growth of the regional market in 2021. Hence, such factors fuel the regional market growth during the forecast period.

For Insights on the market dynamics & segmentations VIEW PDF SAMPLE !

What are the key data covered in this Pizza Oven Market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the pizza oven market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the pizza oven market and its contribution to the market with a focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the pizza oven market across Europe , North America , APAC, South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , APAC, , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of pizza oven market vendors

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The Smart Oven Market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 14.02% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 272.65 million. This smart oven market report extensively covers market segmentation by distribution channel (offline and online), product (smart microwave oven and small wall oven), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and the Middle East and Africa). The changing lifestyles in developed and developing economies are driving growth in the smart oven market.

The residential microwave oven market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.35% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 4,313.45 million. This residential microwave oven market report extensively covers market segmentation by type (countertop microwave oven and built-in microwave oven), product (microwave oven without smart connectivity and microwave oven with smart connectivity), and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America). The increasing disposable income of consumers is driving growth in residential microwave ovens.

Pizza Oven Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 5.18% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 149.61 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 4.78 Regional analysis Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution Europe at 33% Key countries US, China, UK, Germany, and Italy Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Ali Group Srl, BakerStone, Californo, Cuppone Srl, EarthStone Wood Fire Ovens, Fiero, Fontana Forni USA, Henny Penny Corp., Il Forno By Marco, Marra Forni, Morello Forni Italia Srl, Mugnaini Imports Inc., Peppino Cement Ornaments CC, Smeg S.p.a., Sveba Dahlen AB, Wood Stone Corp., Forno Bravo, Le Panyol, Ooni Ltd., and Italoven Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

7 Market Segmentation by Type

8 Customer Landscape

9 Geographic Landscape

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

11 Vendor Landscape

12 Vendor Analysis

13 Appendix

About US

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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
- Pocketalk demonstrates new enterprise translation solutions at IFA Berlin 2023 Sept. 1 - Sept. 5

- Industry-first translation software allows for audience inclusivity

- Enable real-time translations in-person and during virtual meetings

- AI-powered solutions offer cost effective, accurate, secure translations

- Administrative panel offers monitoring and insights across organizations and translation devices

BERLIN and PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Pocketalk , the leading provider of translation solutions, cements its commitment to removing language barriers with the announcement of Pocketalk for Business , an expansion of translation solutions designed for enterprises, businesses and organizations. The brand extension will introduce new AI-powered solutions including the industry-first Geneva, a seamless digital experience, delivering instantaneous translations to audiences across any event, Sentio, a web-based solution for in-person and virtual meeting spaces, and Vox, a high-speed video translation capability. The final solution in the expansion is Ventana , an administrative panel which provides insights into translations and device management.

Pocketalk for Business: Geneva

Pocketalk for Business will comprise Geneva, Sentio, Vox and Ventana all offering accurate, fast, seamless and secure translated conversations for any scenario. The first-of-their-kind suite of solutions removes language barriers to enable communications across enterprise, healthcare, education, logistics, events and one-on-one interactions.

Having sold over one million devices since 2018, Pocketalk's business evolution to a global communication company is now accelerated with the advancement of Pocketalk for Business, providing industry-first software solutions that address the dynamic needs of modern day organizations. Today, it's not just global companies that encounter language barriers. Increasingly, smaller organizations are also utilizing foreign workforces to bridge labor shortages and are experiencing communication challenges.

Pocketalk for Business follows the announcement last month of the strategic alliance with SoftBank which will enable further innovation. The partnership agreement will focus on the sales of one million new Pocketalk handheld devices and support the suite of enterprise solutions, including those announced today at IFA. The increased access to supply and sales channels for Pocketalk will further transform communication for the global economy.

Here's what each of the new solutions will offer:

Geneva - Creating audience inclusivity

Geneva is a world-first technology set to reshape multilingual interactions in any setting that has an audience such as conferences, classrooms, and training sessions. Geneva enables, for the first time, audience accessibility to content in their own language via their smart device. For presenters, it now means that anyone can deliver content to audiences regardless of their native language, opening up endless knowledge exchange and understanding.

With a simple QR code scan, event attendees gain access to content, via audio and text, in their preferred language through a user-friendly web platform on their devices. This breakthrough solution breaks down language barriers, fostering a global exchange of ideas.

Sentio - Embrace two-way multilingual collaboration with live translation

With the global workplace expanding, so is the need for real-time translation across conversations. Sentio is a HIPAA and GDPR compliant browser-based live translation service that uses Whisper technology developed by OpenAI. It aids global collaboration by enabling users to engage in conversations in their own language during meetings or through any virtual meeting platform including Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.

Vox - Expand your content library with video translation

In an age where video reigns supreme, countless audiences remain disenfranchised due to the absence of high-speed, accurate, and secure translations, especially in underrepresented languages. Accessible via browser across PC, Mac, iOS and Android, Vox provides quality translations of video content, spanning everything from movies, training and documentaries to educational materials and social media moments.

Vox is Pocketalk's video translation solution that is highly accurate, fast, simple and cost effective. It effortlessly crafts voice-overs and subtitles, regardless of the video's original language. An hour-long video can be translated in just 15 minutes significantly reducing production costs and timelines.

Ventana - Gain control over real-time translations

With Ventana, businesses gain complete control over their Pocketalk devices from real-time translation insights and management, revolutionizing communication and breaking down language barriers like never before.

This administrative panel enables users to group Pocketalk devices, remotely manage functions and gain valuable insights into device usage. With the ability to export data on translated languages, usage frequency, businesses can make informed, data-driven decisions and maximize device usage across different areas of their organization.

"Language is the final hurdle for us to truly become a global marketplace, workforce and community. There has been a huge shift since the pandemic that has enabled the world to work closer together, more efficiently and offer better opportunities for all involved. However, without the ability to communicate it's not reaching its full potential," said Noriyuki Matsuda, President and CEO of Pocketalk.

"Pocketalk has responded to this by creating Pocketalk for Business and providing solutions that empower people to communicate with anyone simply with a device or a browser. We are so excited to see the meaningful impact that these new products will have and welcome the response to help us evolve."

Pocketalk will be previewing the new products at IFA during Showstoppers and Hall 11.2 Stand 118.

Geneva, Sentio, Vox and Ventana will all be available globally by the end of 2023. Pricing to be confirmed with availability.

About Pocketalk

Pocketalk is the global leader in connecting the world and facilitating conversation through the only translation solutions on the market that enable an authentic communication experience. Pocketalk, which is HIPAA and GDPR compliant, connects people of all backgrounds through language translation  fast, easy and most importantly, accurate translation. Developed, manufactured and distributed by Sourcenext, the largest distributor and creator of software, hardware, and IoT products in Japan, Pocketalk officially launched in the U.S. in 2018 with headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. The company offers translation solutions through the handheld Pocketalk collection, cloud-based Pocketalk App, and enterprise suite including Ventana, Sentio, Vox and Geneva. The two-way translation solutions can translate 84+ languages and be utilized anywhere in the world with an internet or data connection. To find more information or purchase Pocketalk, visit Pocketalk.com and follow us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and LinkedIn to stay in touch with our latest updates.

Contact:

Kelsey Megard

6056612584

[email protected]

SOURCE Pocketalk
TAIPEI, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Presotea was established in Taiwan in 2006, and it soon became one of the best-known bubble tea shops in Taiwan and around the world, with more than 400 franchises opening since its launch.

Presotea's global presence is expanding steadily. It boasts an extensive franchise network of 18 stores throughout Australia, where it set up business outposts over the past few decades, and Presotea is now the number one bubble tea brand in Perth.

Presotea is also making inroads in the North American markets in recent years, with 67 stores throughout Canada, and is now the most popular bubble tea brand in Montreal, Toronto, British Columbia and Alberta Province. In 2019, Presotea opened its first store in the United States and despite the onslaught of the pandemic, it has successfully established 27 stores in succession, bringing its overseas shops to over 120 and that number is still growing, making Presotea the foremost bubble tea brand overseas hailed from Taiwan.

"In the first and second quarters of 2023, Presotea welcomed its first Jordan and Dubai franchisees, and an agreement has been signed. It's expected to establish its stores in the Middle East in the third quarter," says by Jackson, overseas department vice president at Presotea.

Presotea is renowned for its commitment to delivering high-quality ingredients, freshly-brewed purity tea and endless-flavor beverages that delight the senses and elevate the tea-drinking experience.

Presotea doesn't merely follow trends; it sets them. The brand's innovation extends beyond traditional teas to include refreshing fresh fruit and inventive topping that cater to evolving tastes. The famous drinks are "Signature Fruit Tea", "Panda Pearl Milk Tea" and "Mango Slush".

Presotea's menu expresses its willingness to push the boundaries of tea. Each cup of Presotea is a testament to the brand's dedication to crafting a sensorial journey that engages all senses, from sight to taste and aroma.

As a result of Presotea's large selection of freshly made-to-order drinks, customers are able to create drinks that perfectly reflect their own style and taste, allowing them to express themselves in the best possible way.

Celebrating this new chapter of life's career by visiting: https://www.presotea.com/join.php

Key Highlights of Presotea:

From Tea Farm-To-Table for Quality:

Presotea understands that the heart of any great drinks lies in its ingredients. That's why the brand is one of the handful of tea beverage makers in Taiwan with its own tea processing factory. It's also the biggest company in Taiwan that partners with smallholders, with a tea farm sized at 500 hectares to ensure a steady supply of premium-quality tea leaves. At least 73% of the ingredients used in Presotea's products come from the company-owned factory to uphold quality consistency for consumers.

The First To Pressure Brew for Purity:

"The name, 'Presotea,' is a subtle echo of 'Espresso'," says by Founder and CEO of Presotea, Ms Chen Mei Yen. Because the perfect tea through high temperature and high pressure mastery, Presotea is a pioneer of the "espresso-style" brewing technique machine.

The adoption of a unique, espresso-style tea brewing technique that preserves pure essence of tea.

Our state-of-the-art espresso-style tea brewing system ensures cleanliness and prevents over-oxidation.

A rigorous raw material management also ensures zero waste.

60 Seconds Freshly Brewed Guarantee:

Unlike most bubble tea shops, where tea is brewed in bulk in advance, Presotea brew each tea made-to-order right in front of customers. As a result of this freshly made guarantee, customers are always assured of enjoying tea as it should taste.

For franchisee inquiries, please contact:

Overseas department Sales Manager: Doris Lin

Mobile/Whatsapp: +886 905 275 733

E-mail: [email protected]

About Presotea:

Presotea is a pioneering brand in the bubble tea industry, known for its dedication to 17 years franchisee system experiences. Presotea offers a strong customer service in the worldwide help to start your own business efficiency.

For more information, please visit PRESOTEA CO., LTD.

SOURCE PRESOTEA CO., LTD.
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Foodiq, the Nordic co-manufacturer dedicated to transforming the food industry, proudly presents its revolutionary non-dairy Multi-Layer Cooking (MLC) technology, paving the way for Plant-Based Food 2.0. With a focus on consumer well-being, innovation and sustainability, Foodiq's plant-based dairy process promises a brighter and greener future for the global food landscape.

One tank - All-in-one processing

Foodiq's MLC technology offers a unique ability to perform multiple functions simultaneously within a single tank. Mixing, homogenizing and pasteurizing all take place in one stage, eliminating the need for separate equipment. Delivering next level products as the MLC efficiently transfer ingredients to nutritional value and taste. This innovative technology is perfectly suited for both high-volume productions and quick testing of specialty products. Technology enables handling of small production batches, ensuring swift adaptation to market demands. Furthermore, the technology's versatility allows for easy upscaling when business or volume needs expand, providing an easy transition to meet growing demands.

The key points of Foodiq's Plant-Based Food 2.0 approach are:

Sustainability at the Core: Embracing a greener future, the food industry is shifting towards localized production models that substantially reduce distribution costs and CO2 emissions. By minimizing reliance on the global raw material supply chain, this approach aims to create a more sustainable and resilient food industry.

Embracing a greener future, the food industry is shifting towards localized production models that substantially reduce distribution costs and CO2 emissions. By minimizing reliance on the global raw material supply chain, this approach aims to create a more sustainable and resilient food industry. Clean-Label Delights: As artificial flavorings and sweeteners become passe, the industry is embracing the use of natural flavorings, berries and fruits. This shift ensures that clean-label products with superior taste profiles are the new norm, promoting health-conscious choices for consumers.

As artificial flavorings and sweeteners become passe, the industry is embracing the use of natural flavorings, berries and fruits. This shift ensures that clean-label products with superior taste profiles are the new norm, promoting health-conscious choices for consumers. Versatile Innovation: Foodiq's innovative technology enable the production of an array of products, ranging from fermented yogurts to spreadable cheeses and drinkable products. The versatility of these processes empowers food industry brands to cater to a broad spectrum of consumer preferences.

Foodiq's innovative technology enable the production of an array of products, ranging from fermented yogurts to spreadable cheeses and drinkable products. The versatility of these processes empowers food industry brands to cater to a broad spectrum of consumer preferences. A Capital-Light Scaling Model: Recognizing the need for agility, Foodiq's MLC process presents a capital-light scaling model with 70% lower capex than traditional processing lines. In just eight months, your MLC setup will be ready to revolutionize your plant-based food production, making swift adaptation to market demands a reality.

"We are excited to lead the Plant-Based Food 2.0 movement with our innovative Multi-Layer Cooking (MLC) technology," said Robert Savikko, CEO of Foodiq. "By combining sustainability, consumer satisfaction, and versatility, we aim to redefine the food industry, one plant-based product at a time."

Foodiq's MLC technology sets the stage for a transformative shift towards a more sustainable and flavor-rich food future. Together with partners and industry pioneers, Foodiq and Nicoya invite the world to embark on this exciting journey towards a better and more fulfilling culinary experience.

About Foodiq

Foodiq is a Finnish co-manufacturing provider that offers product development and production services for the food industry.

Foodiq vision is to build a greener future - local factories using local food and local labor.

Specializing in plant-based 2.0 food as a service, Foodiq is committed to transforming the food landscape through its innovative MLC technology.

With our MLC production line in Jarvenpaa, Finland Foodiq is pioneering Plant-Based Food 2.0, creating a sustainable, flavorful, and fulfilling world!

About Nicoya

Nicoya is a Swedish foodtech investment company driven by creating meaningful impact on people, planet and health alongside a financial return. Read more at nicoya.se.

Supporting photos

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Bb7qHBL75TBqB0yYDlluBZWtOgnRc-y0?usp=sharing

For media inquiries and more information, please contact:

Jari Karlsson, Chief Marketing Officer FOODIQ OY

+358 40 196 1744 / [email protected]

Lykke Westgren, Head of communications Nicoya AB

+46 700 926466 / [email protected]

The following files are available for download:

https://news.cision.com/nicoya-ab--publ-/i/foodiq-local-production,c3211918 Foodiq Local production

SOURCE Nicoya AB (publ)
In its 20th year, Thailand Privilege Card (TPC) has undergone a rebranding with the vision of establishing itself as a global leader in offering premium privileges to prominent individuals seeking long-term residency in Thailand.

TPC, the operator of the Thailand Elite Card Project overseen by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), has phased out the previous eight membership card options, making way for the new "Thailand Privilege Card" product, which is now available in four distinct packages.

Marking a shift from the 'Thailand Elite Card' to the 'Thailand Privilege Card,' this transformation offers comprehensive benefits of airport privileges, enriched travel experiences, leisure, accommodations, activities, business investment opportunities, and more.

This multifaceted rebranding effort involves key changes, such as contemporary logo design and new staff uniforms. Guided by the company's brand DNA, 'GRACE,' the company aims to elevate Thai product and service quality, generate revenue for the nation's economy, and reinforce the image of a global organizational leader.

Based on the "Freedom of Choices" philosophy, the packages embrace amplified privileges customised to a variety of global lifestyles. With an emphasis on pivotal markets, namely China, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and European Union nations, TPC has an ambitious projection of contributing over 10 billion Baht to the nation.

The new benefits of the Thailand Privilege Card, following the concept of 'More Choices More Freedom,' each membership category will accrue Privilege Points, enabling the redemption of exclusive privileges and extraordinary experiences. The membership cards are categorised into four packages: Reserve, Diamond, Platinum, and Gold.

'More Choices More Freedom' introduces exclusive privileges to all cardholders' preferred lifestyle, delivering premium services throughout their stay in Thailand. These privileges encompass premium airport assistance services, exclusive lounge access at the airport on both arrival and departure, limousine transfers, and personal liaison services available in four languages: English, Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese, with the potential for additional languages in the future.

Manatase Annawat, President of Thailand Privilege Card Co. Ltd, stated: We are the sole global Residency Campaign that offers Visa Privileges alongside Airport Services and Lifestyle Privileges, resulting in an accumulated income of over 50 billion baht over our 20-year journey, with a membership that exceeds 31,500 members. In the year 2023 alone, we achieved approximately 7,500 billion baht, witnessing a growth of more than 11,500 members, representing a remarkable 210% increase from the revenue of 2022.  TradeArabia News Service
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander, during which the situation on the frontline, as well as the evacuation of the wounded, were discussed.

"Today's Headquarters is only about the front. In detail  Kharkiv region, Donbas. In detail - south: Zaporizhia, the left bank of Kherson region. In detail  the evacuation of the wounded. In detail  the plans of the enemy. We are doing everything to give more strength to our soldiers," Zelenskyy said in Telegram channel on Friday.
KAOHSIUNG, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

Introducing Inca Fruit Oil Capsules

Quan Juli Int'l continues its commitment to promoting organic, locally sourced products with the launch of a new offering: Inca Fruit Oil Capsules. These capsules contain a rich blend of Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids, as well as Vitamin A and E, derived from the prized Inca fruit. By partnering with Kaohsiung City's small-scale farmers, the company is not only bringing a natural and organic product to consumers but also supporting the local agricultural community.

Inca fruit, native to the Andes Mountains, has long been revered for its exceptional nutritional value. Quan Juli Int'l has harnessed the power of this fruit by extracting its oils and encapsulating them, creating a convenient way for consumers to enjoy its benefits. These capsules boast a harmonious combination of Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids, along with Vitamin A and E - all contributing to a balanced and health-conscious lifestyle.

Quan Juli Int'l's collaboration with Kaohsiung City's small-scale farmers highlights the company's dedication to supporting local agriculture and sustainability. The Inca fruit used in these capsules is organically cultivated and harvested, ensuring a product that is free from synthetic additives and pesticides. By emphasizing the natural and organic aspect, Quan Juli Int'l not only provides consumers with a high-quality supplement but also underscores the importance of preserving the environment and promoting local economic growth.

"We are thrilled to introduce Inca Fruit Oil Capsules to the market," said, a representative from Quan Juli Int'l. "Our goal is not only to offer a premium product but to connect consumers with the dedicated farmers who make this exceptional product possible."

Kaohsiung City's Department of Agriculture praised Quan Juli Int'l's efforts in promoting locally sourced products. This partnership has not only enhanced the visibility of Kaohsiung's agricultural offerings but also bolstered the reputation of Taiwan's organic produce on the global stage.

The uniqueness of Inca Fruit Oil Capsules lies in their composition of natural, nutrient-rich ingredients. Quan Juli Int'l invites consumers to explore the benefits of these capsules, which serve as a testament to the fruitful collaboration between the company and Kaohsiung's small-scale farmers.

Inca Fruit Oil Capsules are now available for purchase, offering a taste of the region's natural bounty and the dedication of its local farmers.

Experience the Flavor of Taiwan's Honey Black Tea: A Fusion of tic

Sweetness and Traditional Oolong Craftsmanship

Taiwan's renowned tea tradition is further elevated with the introduction of "Honey Black Tea," a unique blend of the tic sweetness of honey and the artistry of black tea made using oolong tea roasting techniques. This exceptional tea offering is sourced from the tea leaves cultivated in the lush fields of Emei Town, Hsinchu County, highlighting the natural and organic cultivation practices of the region.

Honey Black Tea is the result of marrying the flavors of premium black tea with the delicate sweetness of honey. Expertly crafted using oolong tea roasting methods, this tea creates a harmonious symphony of flavors, pleasing both seasoned tea enthusiasts and newcomers alike. Each sip encapsulates the rich heritage of Taiwanese tea-making craftsmanship.

Grown in the serene landscapes of Emei Township, Hsinchu County, these tea leaves benefit from the region's fertile soil and pristine environment. Cultivated using natural and organic methods, this tea resonates with the commitment to sustainability and environmental consciousness. The collaboration between tea producers and Mother Nature results in an exquisite tea that exemplifies the purity of Taiwan's agricultural offerings.

"We are thrilled to present Honey Black Tea to tea lovers around the world," shared Mr. Lee, a representative of the local tea industry. "This tea encapsulates the essence of Hsinchu's tea heritage and natural beauty."

The Hsinchu County Government commended the tea producers for their dedication to promoting locally grown products. This partnership not only showcases the region's tea excellence but also enhances the reputation of Taiwanese tea on the global stage.

Honey Black Tea is an invitation to savor the authenticity of Taiwan's tea culture and its connection to the land. It not only provides a delightful tea experience but also supports the livelihoods of local farmers who tend to these tea fields with passion and care.

For those eager to embark on a journey of taste and culture, Honey Black Tea is now available for purchase.

About Quan Juli Int'l:

Quan Juli Int'l is dedicated to promoting organic products sourced from local farms. By partnering with small-scale farmers, the company strives to bring high-quality, organic products to consumers while supporting sustainable agricultural practices. The launch of Inca Fruit Oil Capsules and Honey Black Tea underscores the company's commitment to quality and sustainability.

SOURCE QUAN JULI International Co., Ltd.
TAICHUNG, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- JiaWenCing, Taiwan's leading and beloved beverage brand, has been making waves in the international market with its expansion into Singapore through franchised agents. With an established presence in 20 branches across Taiwan, the company is now set to conquer more international markets, bolstering its technology, capabilities, and overall conditions.

Entering Singapore and Establishing Franchised Agents

The decision to enter the Singaporean market was a strategic move for JiaWenCing, capitalizing on the country's vibrant and diverse food and beverage scene. After a successful launch in Singapore, the company has achieved remarkable growth through the establishment of franchised agents. The agents have played a crucial role in spreading the brand's signature flavors and introducing JiaWenCing to a whole new audience.

The reception from Singaporean customers has been nothing short of enthusiastic, and JiaWenCing's unique blend of traditional and innovative beverages has resonated well with the local population. Through collaborative efforts with dedicated franchise agents, the brand has managed to maintain its authenticity while adapting to local tastes and preferences, further solidifying its position in the Singaporean market.

Enhancing Technology and Capabilities

To stay ahead in the competitive global beverage industry, *JiaWenCing* understands the importance of continually enhancing technology and capabilities. The brand has made significant investments in research and development to innovate and create new, exciting flavors that appeal to a wide range of customers, both at home and abroad.

One notable emphasis is on integrating automated equipment systems, which can effectively reduce the labor costs of store sales personnel and minimize the training time required for the preparation period. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, JiaWenCing has improved its production processes, ensuring efficiency, consistency, and maintaining the highest quality standards across all its branches. With streamlined operations and improved supply chain management, the brand has been able to serve its customers better and reduce waiting times, resulting in a more satisfying customer experience.

Expanding International Presence

Buoyed by its successful venture into Singapore, JiaWenCing is now setting its sights on expanding its international presence to other markets. The brand's dedication to innovation and its ability to strike a perfect balance between traditional flavors and modern trends are what sets it apart from its competitors.

The brand's executive team has been actively conducting market research to identify potential regions for expansion. With a keen understanding of different cultures and consumer behaviors, JiaWenCing aims to adapt its offerings accordingly, ensuring it resonates with the local population.

Join the JiaWenCing Family

As JiaWenCing sets its sights on conquering more international markets, it warmly invites prospective partners and franchisees to join the JiaWenCing family. By becoming a part of this flourishing brand, franchisees will have the opportunity to work with a time-tested business model, backed by a passionate team dedicated to providing continuous support and training.

The brand's commitment to technological advancements, supply chain efficiency, and product innovation ensures that franchisees will benefit from a successful and sustainable business venture. Moreover, JiaWenCing believes in fostering a close-knit community among its franchise partners, encouraging an exchange of ideas and experiences that ultimately contribute to the collective growth of the brand.

Conclusion

JiaWenCing's foray into the international market with franchised agents in Singapore has proven to be a significant milestone for the brand. The successful expansion has paved the way for the company to set its sights on more international markets. Through continuous investment in technology, capabilities, and unwavering dedication to quality, JiaWenCing aims to bring its delightful beverages to customers worldwide.

As JiaWenCing looks forward to an exciting future, it extends a warm invitation to potential franchisees and partners to be a part of its flourishing family. With its unique blend of tradition and innovation, JiaWenCing is all set to bring more delightful surprises to its valued customers around the globe. Join the JiaWenCing family today and be a part of this extraordinary journey.

For more information about JiaWenCing and to explore its mouthwatering beverages, please visit the official website: http://www.jwc-tea.com.tw/

Cheers to a promising future and a world of flavorful sips with JiaWenCing!

SOURCE Yong Shang Yi International Trading Co., Ltd.
DENVER, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As the saga of AI-assisted art and copyright continues, digital artist Jason M. Allen responds with a bold step forward. Celebrating the defiance of creation despite legal challenges, Art Incarnate announces the timed-release of limited edition prints from the contested work, "Theatre D'Opera Spatial," available exclusively for 48 hours starting 11am Mountain time on September 13th, 2023.

Regardless of the U.S. Copyright Office's stance, I won't be silenced. This release is more than artit's a statement. Post this Limited Edition "Theatre D'Opera Spatial" prints.

Crafted on museum quality Hahnemuhle 350GSM fine art paper and measuring 40inx28inch with a 2 inch internal white border, each print will be embossed with Art Incarnate's company seal. Every piece will be hand-numbered, titled, and signed by Jason M. Allen in archival pencil. "Despite barriers and resistance, creativity flourishes," Allen remarked. "Regardless of the U.S. Copyright Office's stance, I won't be silenced. This release is more than artit's a statement."

The second refusal from the U.S. Copyright Office reaffirms its position on Allen's AI-assisted artwork, deeming it ineligible for full copyright protection. Despite his significant creative input and vision, the U.S. Copyright Office has maintained that the piece contains an "appreciable amount of AI-generated material" and is thus ineligible for full copyright protection. In the face of this decision, Allen and attorney Tamara Pester submitted a Second Request for Reconsideration. They continue their pursuit for acknowledgment of AI-assisted works under copyright law.

"Our hope is that the Copyright Office, and if necessary, the Federal Courts all the way up to the Supreme Court, will acknowledge the significant human creativity and decision-making involved in works assisted by AI tools," said Pester.

Art enthusiasts should also anticipate a forthcoming online auction later this year, exclusively featuring a 1 of 1 luxury offering of "Theatre D'Opera Spatial," aimed at supporting the ongoing legal battle. Stay tuned to Art Incarnate's official channels for details.

For a chance to own a piece of this defiant artistry, interested buyers are encouraged to visit https://artincarnate.com/ on the day of the release.

For further inquiries, please contact:

Tamara Pester, Attorney, [email protected], (303) 333-4696

Jason M. Allen, Latent Space Explorer, [email protected], (719) 930-3283

About Jason M. Allen:

Jason M. Allen is a distinguished digital artist known for pushing boundaries and exploring the intersection of technology and creativity. His innovative approach challenges conventions and serves as a catalyst for dialogues about AI's role in creative processes.

SOURCE Art Incarnate
America's Beloved Candy Store Continues Expansion Through Franchising

SAVANNAH, Ga., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Although the iconic River Street Sweets brand will always be synonymous with its flagship store in Savannah, franchising has allowed the family-owned business to expand with multiple locations on the East Coast. On Saturday, September 2, co-owners Tim and Jennifer Strickland will be celebrating the success of their franchisees with seven shops stretching from Asbury Park, New Jersey, to Key West, Florida.

The River Street Sweets location at Sunset Walk in Orlando beckons tourists and locals with tantalizing sweets and free samples. The Sweet Taste of Greenville candy wall at the River Street Sweets location in Greenville, SC is often a background for selfies and popular spot for candy lovers.

"After 50 years, our family business has grown into a legendary brand like no other candy store in America," Jennifer Strickland said. "It's a success story that resonates with our franchisees, who realize they can bring sweet memories to guests and have fun while building a great business. We are extremely grateful to our dedicated franchisees and team members who are focused on bringing the River Street Sweets Experience to visitors all over America."

For decades, locals and tourists visiting Savannah from all over the world have flocked to the "must-see" destination on River Street to watch homemade candy making at its finest. Customers are entranced by watching team members stir a fresh batch of World-Famous Pralines in a giant copper kettle or seeing premium pecans added to Chocolate Bear Claws. The spacious store offers something for everyone, including handmade chocolates, homemade ice cream, and nostalgic hard candies to satisfy any sweet tooth. Over the years, customers became fans for life, but clamored for the confections they enjoyed long after they returned to their hometowns. The Strickland's offered a robust ecommerce option, but also realized franchising was the only way to replicate the River Street Experience in other cities to satisfy customer demand. Siblings Jennifer and Tim Strickland decided to increase the brand's national footprint through franchising in 2014.

"We knew we had something unique, because unlike most candy or ice cream shops, everything at River Street Sweets has always been made on the premises," Jennifer explained. "Customers love to see us making the candy, and we offer samples to everyone who enters the store. This not only distinguishes us from competitors but is a very attractive concept for investors and franchisees."

Currently there are seven franchises operating in Pooler, GA, Key West and Kissimmee, FL, Lancaster, PA, Greenville, SC, Atlanta, GA, and Asbury Park, NJ. All franchise locations are owned and operated with the brand name River Street Sweets  Savannah's Candy Kitchen, with owners trained and supported by corporate headquarters to guarantee every store serves fresh, handmade Southern candies in a clean, fun environment. Multi-unit owner Glen Willard opened the company's first franchise store in Pooler, GA at Tanger Outlets in 2015, followed by a second location in Key West on historic Duval Street. He said his experience as a franchisee has been life changing.

"We are continuing the same family-owned tradition associated with the brand, and I see this as a legacy I will pass on to my family," Willard said. "As for prospective franchisees, the opportunities and territories are endless!"

As the brand has grown, so has the Strickland family's unwavering commitment to philanthropy. Recently they commemorated their 50th anniversary and marked their seventh year of support for Kids Cafe, a Feeding America program that originated in Savannah in 1989. The organization is the largest charity working to end hunger in the United States. This year River Street Sweets donated $14,551, which provides 72,755 meals for kids at risk of hunger. During seven years of supporting Kids Cafe, the brand has provided a total of 238,739 meals for kids in need. Franchisees are also actively involved with similar outreach projects and committed to helping the communities they serve. A heart for helping people and enriching the lives of customers is another reason Entrepreneur.com named River Street Sweets the "Second Best Candy Franchise in the Country."

"We will be bringing the River Street Sweets tradition to cities across the country with as many as 20 additional locations planned within the next five years," Jennifer Strickland confirmed. "We will continue working toward becoming the #1 candy franchise in America, and we are depending on our franchisees to help us reach this goal."

About River Street Sweets

River Street Sweets has been making memories and delighting candy lovers since 1973, when it first opened its flagship location on historic River Street. A half century later, River Street Sweets locations can be found in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, SC, Sarasota, FL, and additional locations in Savannah, on Habersham and Broughton Street. In 2014, the beloved candy company began to franchise under the merged name River Street Sweets Savannah's Candy Kitchen. For more information, visit riverstreetsweets.com and www.RiverStreetCandyFranchise.com.

Contact: Rhonda Price

[email protected]

(561) 371-9407

SOURCE River Street Sweets
BALTIMORE, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, a time to spread knowledge while also providing support to those affected. It is estimated that about 288,300 men will be newly diagnosed with prostate cancer this year and around 34,700 men will not survive  the most deaths from any cancer in men after lung cancer.

Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here:

https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8962651-aua-and-urology-care-foundation-september-is-prostate-cancer-awareness-month/

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

When caught early, prostate cancer is highly treatable, which is why the American Urological Association (AUA) and Urology Care Foundation are using September to raise awareness about the disease and encourage men to know their risk and talk to their doctor.

"Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men next to skin cancer," said Harris M. Nagler, MD, President of the Urology Care Foundation. "Cases of advanced prostate cancer are on the rise and a man's best line of defense is to get tested before a problem arises. While not all prostate cancers need treatment, early detection is still key. This month is so important because it brings to the spotlight educational tools and resources that can help men make informed decisions about prostate cancer screening, management, and treatment."

Nearly one out of every eight men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. Aside from age, risk factors for prostate cancer include family history and race. However, the odds increase to:

1 in 6 if they are African American

1 in 5 if they have a family history

The AUA suggests men ages 45 to 69, with an average risk for prostate cancer, talk to their doctor about whether prostate cancer testing is right for them. For men with a higher risk of getting prostate cancer, they should consider talking to their doctor as early as 40-54 years of age.

What You Should Know About Prostate Cancer:

This year, nearly 288,300 US men will be told they have prostate cancer. It is one of the most common cancers in men, both in the U.S. and globally.

Since 2014, the incidence rate of prostate cancer has increased by 3% per year overall and by about 5% per year for advanced-stage prostate cancer.

All men are at risk of developing prostate cancer, but the risk increases significantly as men grow older. If you are age 45 to 69, talk to your doctor about prostate screening.

Some men are at higher risk for prostate cancer. Talk to your doctor about prostate cancer screening if you are age 40 to 54 years and:

are African-American



Black men are 17x more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer and are 2.1x more likely to die from prostate cancer than white men.



have a father, brother or son who has had prostate cancer

Most men with prostate cancer do not die from it; about 1 in 41 men will die from the disease. There are more than 3.1 million men in the United States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and are still alive today.

The Urology Care Foundation acknowledges that opting for prostate cancer screening is personal. Prior to testing, consult your doctor about your risk, including your personal and family history, as well as the risks of being tested.

For everything you need to know about prostate cancer, check out the Urology Care Foundation's Prostate Cancer Info Center, and scroll through its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram platforms for free prostate cancer resources, including fact sheets, podcasts, videos and more.

About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology, and has more than 22,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. www.AUAnet.org

About the Urology Care Foundation: The Urology Care Foundation is the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation, and the official foundation of the American Urological Association. Partnering with physicians, researchers, healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, families and the public, the Foundation supports and improves urologic clinical care by funding research, developing patient education and pursuing philanthropic support. To learn more about the Urology Care Foundation and its programs visit: www.urologyhealth.org.

Contact:

Corey Del Bianco, Corporate Communications & Media Relations Manager

410-689-4033

[email protected]

SOURCE The American Urological Association and Urology Care Foundation
SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In a recent move, the Chinese government unveiled the Development Plan for Shenzhen Park of Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone. This release ushers in fresh opportunities for urban collaboration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. A wave of scientific and technological innovation is sweeping across both Shenzhen and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

The Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone is situated in the northern part of the HKSAR and the central-southern part of Shenzhen, spanning an area of 3.89 square kilometers. Its two sections are separated by the Shenzhen River, with the 0.87-square-kilometer Hong Kong Park on the southern bank and the 3.02-square-kilometer Shenzhen Park on the northern bank. These two parks are seamlessly connected through the Futian Port and Huanggang Port -- the two land gateways that facilitate a direct linkage between Shenzhen and the HKSAR.

"The City University of Hong Kong is only a thirty- to forty-minute journey away from here," said Prof. Chen Fu-Rong, director of the City University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Research Institute, who is researching electron microscopes at the Shenzhen Park. He underscored the critical significance of "eureka moments" in scientific innovation. "Whenever I come up with an idea in Hong Kong, I can promptly experiment with it in the laboratory here. This is incredibly important," he added.

Scientific and technological innovation stands as the "common denominator" that underpins the Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation. With an array of policies in play, the Shenzhen Park hones in on life sciences, information sciences, and materials sciences as focal points for industrial development. Through vigorous spatial reconfiguration, multiple policy support, and many other facilitative initiatives, the park successfully draws in resources to cultivate sci-tech innovation, thereby creating an ever more robust innovative atmosphere.

Dr. Wong Ying-ho, deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Coalition and a member of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR, expressed, "In the ever-competitive landscape of innovative technology, the HKSAR boasts prestigious universities that are appealing to global talents. Simultaneously, Shenzhen embodies a thriving culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. Collaboration between these two powerhouses is poised to yield optimal outcomes."

Given differences in legal, systemic, and regulatory frameworks, Shenzhen and the HKSAR have faced various impediments in realizing the cross-border flow of sci-tech innovation factors, open resource sharing, and cooperative advancements in the technology sector. The promulgation of the Plan injects new momentum into the Shenzhen Park, enabling it to surmount collaboration challenges and address the "growing pains" along its development.

According to the development objectives in the Plan, by 2035, a comprehensive pattern of collaborative innovation between the Shenzhen Park and Hong Kong Park will have taken shape, forming a world-class research hub with globally leading innovation capacities and a free and orderly cross-border flow of innovation factors.

SOURCE Shenzhen Park of Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone
DUBLIN, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Board-to-Board Connectors Market by Type (Pin Headers, and Sockets), Pin Headers (Stacked & Shrouded) Pitch (Less Than 1 mm, 1 mm to 2 mm, Greater Than 2 mm), Application (Consumer Electronics, Industrial Automation) and Region - Global Forecast to 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global board-to-board connectors market is poised for significant growth, with its value expected to rise from USD 11.6 billion in 2023 to approximately USD 15.4 billion by 2028. This projection signifies a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.8% during the forecast period.

Driving Forces:

The surge in demand for smaller electronic devices like wearables, portable electronics, and smart appliances is a key driver for the board-to-board connectors market. Manufacturers seek connectors that offer space-efficient designs while ensuring reliable interconnections between Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Additionally, the increasing automation in developing economies is contributing to the demand for board-to-board connectors, which are vital components in automated systems.

Key Market Segment:

The segment featuring board-to-board connectors with pitch sizes less than 1 mm is projected to experience the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The trend towards miniaturization and compact designs in various industries is driving this growth. As the demand for smaller, lighter, and more portable electronic devices increases, the need for connectors with smaller pitch sizes becomes crucial to accommodate components within limited spaces.

Dominance of Consumer Electronics:

The consumer electronics segment holds the largest market share in the board-to-board connectors market. Driven by high consumer demand and shorter product lifecycles, the consumer electronics industry focuses on large-scale production. Board-to-board connectors, being integral to consumer electronics assembly, are supplied in substantial quantities to meet the industry's requirements. The trend of creating smaller and slimmer devices necessitates the use of compact board-to-board connectors to accommodate densely packed components on PCBs.

China's Leadership in Asia Pacific:

China is set to dominate the board-to-board connectors market in the Asia Pacific region. The country's reputation as a global manufacturing hub, known for cost-effective production capabilities and large-scale manufacturing infrastructure, plays a significant role. With an extensive network of electronic component manufacturers and suppliers, China efficiently produces board-to-board connectors at competitive prices. Its manufacturing expertise and economies of scale attract both domestic and international customers.

Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

Increased Demand for Miniaturized and Compact Devices with High-Density Interconnections

Rapid Technological Advancements in Various Industries

Increasing Demand for Industrial Automation and Robotics

Restraints:

Technological Complexities Associated with Application-Specific Development

Challenges: Signal Integrity and High-Speed Data Transmission

Cost Optimization and Pricing Pressure

Opportunities:

Rising Deployment of High-Capacity Data Centers and 5G Technology in Asia-Pacific

Growing Adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge Computing Technologies

Case Studies Highlight Innovation:

Japan Aviation Electronics partnered with an automobile manufacturer to supply board-to-board connectors for Integrated Electronic Control Unit (ECU) applications. Global Connector Technology (GCT) developed a custom 54-position pin header insulator to address specific customer needs.

Companies Mentioned:

3M

ABB

Aces Electronics Co., Ltd.

AirBorn, Inc.

Amphenol Corporation

AUK

Csconn Corporation

Eaton

Emerson Electric Co.

EPT GmbH

Erni Deutschland GmbH

FIT Hon Teng Limited

Harting Technology Group

Harwin

Hirose Electric Co., Ltd.

IRISO Electronics Co., Ltd.

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd.

JST Sales America, Inc.

Kel Corporation

Kyocera Corporation

Metz Connect GmbH

Molex, LLC

Omron Corporation

Parker Hannifin Corp

Phoenix Contact

Rockwell Automation

Rosenberger

Samtec

Siemens

SMK Corporation

TE Connectivity

Yamaichi Electronics Co.

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 228 Forecast Period 2023 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $11.6 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $15.4 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 5.8 % Regions Covered Global

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kmfhc8

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.

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SOURCE Research and Markets
SMITHFIELD, Va., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Smithfield Foods is trucking 28,000 pounds of food, the equivalent of 112,000 servings, to Live Oak, Florida, to provide hot meals to communities devastated by Hurricane Idalia.

The food, which includes Smithfield bacon, pork chops, ribs and pork loins, will be delivered to Mercy Chefs, a Portsmouth, Virginia-based nonprofit that deploys to disaster zones across America. Mercy Chefs will serve free, chef-prepared, restaurant-quality hot meals to hurricane victims, volunteers and first responders in western Florida.

Mercy Chefs' mobile kitchen and smoker will be on site at Suwanee Middle School in Live Oak, Florida, to serve multiple free meals per day to anyone in the community who is in need. The team will also distribute meals up and down the western Florida coast to those unable to make it to the base of operations. To make a donation or find out how to volunteer locally, visit mercychefs.com/idalia.

"The devastation we have already seen from Hurricane Idalia has been tragic, with hundreds of thousands of families impacted by the storm," said Jonathan Toms, senior community affairs manager for Smithfield Foods. "We are proud to stand with our partners from Mercy Chefs to help these communities, and we hope that our donation of protein and the meals served will provide comfort and relief to the first responders, search and rescue teams, and neighbors affected by this hurricane."

"As we respond to Hurricane Idalia, we are immensely grateful for our friends at Smithfield Foods," said Chef Gary LeBlanc, founder and chief executive officer of Mercy Chefs. "We rely on their partnership during disasters like this one, because their support helps us reach even more people in need."

Since 2008, Smithfield has provided hundreds of millions of servings of protein in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Poland, Romania and Mexico, through its Helping Hungry Homes hunger relief program. In 2022, the company donated nearly 25 million servings of protein to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs across the U.S. To reflect its continued commitment to fighting food insecurity, Smithfield has pledged to donate 200 million servings of protein by 2025.

More information on Smithfield's ongoing work to strengthen and feed our communities is available here.

About Smithfield Foods, Inc.

Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is a U.S. food company that employs nearly 60,000 people in seven countries and partners with thousands of American farmers. As one of the world's leading vertically integrated protein companies, we are dedicated to producing "Good food. Responsibly." to feed a growing world population. We have pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including our industry-leading commitments to become carbon negative in our U.S. company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30% across our entire U.S. value chain by 2030. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs in all 50 U.S. states. Smithfield boasts a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield, Eckrich, Gwaltney and Nathan's Famous, among many others. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

About Mercy Chefs

Mercy Chefs is a 501c3 nonprofit founded in 2006 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The organization exists to provide professionally prepared, restaurant- quality meals to victims, volunteers, and first responders in natural disasters and national emergencies, and we partner with existing ministries with food service in underserved communities around the country. Since Mercy Chefs' founding in 2006, we have served over twenty million meals in response to over 150 natural disasters in 29 states and 14 countries with the help of over 15,000 volunteers. For more information, visit MercyChefs.com.

SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Pet Food Express partners with 145 rescues and shelters for 2023 Pet Fair in an effort to find forever homes for 7,500 animals during September

CONCORD, Calif., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Pet Food Express , a leading retailer and trusted partner in pet health, kicks off its 13th annual Pet Fair to find forever homes for 7,500 California rescue animals. From September 1-30, Pet Food Express will partner with over 145 rescues and shelters throughout the state to offer virtual and in-person pet adoptions, and host special pet-centric events in all 65 stores, including Gelato Sundae with your Dog, Kitten Yoga, and Kids Reading to Kittens. Educational seminars on topics such as Understanding Pet Product Labels, How to Decide Which Pet is Right for You, and Sustainability in the Pet Industry will be available 24/7 as pre-recorded videos throughout the month. In addition, September 23 and 24 mark the Pet Fair Celebration Weekend in Pet Food Express' stores with a special scavenger hunt contest and adoption events for pet lovers to meet, and fall in love with, animals from rabbits and doves to dogs and lizards. The Pet Fair website is https://petfair.petfood.express .

Pet Food Express Pet Fair (Sept 1-30) Aims to Find Homes for 7,500 Rescued Pets (CREDIT Pet Food Express)

"The entire Pet Food Express team looks forward to the Pet Fair every year because of the incredible impact we have a hand in making," said Denyelle Bruno, CEO, Pet Food Express. "This year, we've taken a new approach to help us surpass our goal of securing new homes for 7,500 rescued animals. We're partnering our product vendor sponsors with the more than 145 animal welfare organizations to amplify the exposure for the animals. Through our mix of online efforts and the over 265 store events including our big Celebration Weekend on September 23rd and 24th, we're confident we can do it!"

2023 Pet Food Express Pet Fair by the numbers:

30 days of virtual elements and 250+ in-person events; get the schedule - https://petfair.petfood.express/events

65 stores throughout California ; find a store - https://petfair.petfood.express/map

; find a store - 145 shelter and rescue partners

12,000+ pets looking for new homes

Throughout September, potential adopters can use Pet Food Express' Find a Friend search option to filter for location, species or even age as they scroll through and learn about adoptable animals from over 145 California-based shelters and rescues. Those who adopt receive a special 20% off coupon for Pet Food Express as a part of the 20/20 program. Once the coupon is redeemed, the adopting organization receives a $20 donation from Pet Food Express. In 2022, the 20/20 program donated over $295,000 to rescues and shelters.

IN-STORE PET FAIR DETAILS

September 1-30: In-Store Petcentric + Adoption Events

All 65 Pet Food Express stores will host petcentric events and a dedicated adoption weekend

Specific store event details can be found online at https://petfair.petfood.express/events

September 2 & 3, 9 & 10, 16 & 17: Fun, family-friendly events in select stores, such as Gelato Sundae with your Dog, Puppy Yoga, and Kids reading to Kittens. Get the schedule at https://petfair.petfood.express/events .

Fun, family-friendly events in select stores, such as and Get the schedule at . September 23 & 24: Celebration Weekend in all 65 stores

Pet adoptions in each store to find forever homes for lizards and dogs to doves and kittens. Event specifics to come.

in each store to find forever homes for lizards and dogs to doves and kittens. Event specifics to come.

Spot's Scavenger Hunt



Help Spot find supplies for his new forever home for a chance to win one of 10 $500 Pet Food Express gift cards during our Big Celebration Weekend!

Pet Food Express gift cards during our Big Celebration Weekend!



How to play





Grab a Spot from an associate at the register (Prefer cats? Grab Ginger instead)







Search for three signs that will be hidden around the store from Sept 23  24 that include a QR Code with a special clue

 24 that include a QR Code with a special clue





Scan the code to find the clue that will instruct you to take a specific photo with yourself and/or your pet with Spot







Once you take all three photos, upload them in one social post to your Instagram or on our Pet Food Express Facebook page (Facebook.com/PetFoodExpress) for a chance to win







Include #PFEPetFairEntry and #SpotsScavengerHunt in the caption







Winners will be announced on Monday, Sept 25 th



All Pet Food Express shoppers that attend an in-person Pet Fair event will receive a coupon to get 20% off their next in-store and online purchase at www.petfood.express .

VIRTUAL PET FAIR DETAILS

September 1-30: Virtual Pet Adoptions + Educational Seminars

Search for, virtually meet, and adopt rescued animals from 145+ California rescues. https://petfair.petfood.express/adopt

rescues. Connect with product vendors, non-profits, and more at https://petfair.petfood.express

Learn from educational seminars, pre-recorded and with 24/7 access for convenient viewing, including:

Chew School with Tasha Valentin-Jucius of Earth Animal

with of Earth Animal

Feline Behavior & Training with Micah McKechnie CPDT-KA of the East Bay SPCA

with Micah McKechnie CPDT-KA of the East Bay SPCA

Getting Involved in Pet Rescue: Fostering & Volunteering with Samantha Stronge of the San Francisco SPCA

with of the San Francisco SPCA

How to Decide What Pet is Right For You with Izzy Nidetz of Pasadena Humane

with of Pasadena Humane

Pet Nutrition with Hayley Brandy of JustFoodForDogs, Jessica Aron of Primal and Christopher Langellotti of Weruva

with of JustFoodForDogs, of Primal and of Weruva

Pint Sized Predators: Living with Cats with Amy Vargas of Pet Food Express

with of Pet Food Express

Sustainability in the Pet Industry with Gwen Cottle of Open Farm

with of Open Farm

The Importance of Dog Training & Where to Start with Nancy Frensley of Berkeley Humane Train the Bay

with of Berkeley Humane Train the Bay

Understanding Pet Product Labels with Samantha Patterson of Pet Food Express

with of Pet Food Express

Unique Challenges & Joys of Senior Pets with Kristin Hoff of Muttville Senior Dog Rescue

with of Muttville Senior Dog Rescue

Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation with Alex Elias of Peninsula Humane Society and Chris Beard of Lindsay Wildlife Experience

The 2022 Pet Fair found new homes for 7,214 animals throughout California with PFE donating $180,350 to participating shelter and rescue partners.

ABOUT PET FOOD EXPRESS

Pet Food Express is California's trusted pet expert dedicated to helping pets live longer, healthier lives. With a reimagined experience delivered by animal-loving team members, Pet Food Express sells a variety of high quality products that they trust to give their own pets, puts pets above profits, and leads the way as a committed partner to 275+ non-profit animal rescue and shelter organizations annually. Shop and learn more at PetFood.Express. Get social on Facebook and Instagram.

CONTACT: Sarah Andrus | Pet Food Express | [email protected] | 415.624.5617

SOURCE Pet Food Express
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said he had "a very productive talks" with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Friday.

"Held very productive negotiations with my colleague Sebastien Lecornu. Appreciate France's commitment to and work on providing support and assistance in building up Ukraine's defence capabilities," Reznikov said on Twitter.
Scholarship program provides financial support for underserved students as student loan debt exceeds $1.75 trillion

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Study.com today announced its largest scholarship program to date, with over $50,000 committed in 2023 to advance the academic journeys of underserved collegiate and pre-collegiate students.

"At Study.com, we are grounded in the belief that education is the ultimate equalizer in an inequitable society," said Dana Bryson, senior vice president of social impact at Study.com. "We are proud that our scholarship program helps remove financial barriers for individuals seeking to improve their lives through the life-changing impact of education."

According to the Federal Reserve, student loan debt in the United States totals $1.75 trillion, including both federal and private loans. As college tuition prices continue to soar amid the ongoing student loan crisis, the Study.com scholarship program has helped mitigate financial burdens for hundreds of students across the country. Applications for the program's 2023 spring scholarship program nearly tripled since 2022, with scholarship opportunities ranging from support for students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds to neurodiverse individuals.

"There are no words to describe how grateful I am to have been selected for [the Study.com] scholarship. I come from a family that believes no matter where you come from or what you do, you must try and make a better life for yourself. To put in the time and hard work that is required to improve not only your life but the lives of others as well. For my great-grandparents, it meant crossing the border and coming to America to pick the fields and dig ditches so that our family could eat. For my grandparents, it meant making the final journey to officially move to the US and thankfully become legal citizens a few years later," said Sofia Avila, 2023 Recipient of the Study.com Scholarship for Latin American Women and English student at Cal State University, Channel Islands. "For me, it means going to college and obtaining my education," added Ms. Avila.

Along with its spring scholarship submission cycle, Study.com provides a fall scholarship program to serve students with a variety of backgrounds and academic goals. Current scholarship opportunities for fall 2023 include:

Study.com offers 15 scholarships with a November 1st application deadline for diverse student populations, including online graduate students, single parents and nontraditional students. Additional fall scholarships are offered for specific majors, including accounting, biology, and computer science. For more information on the scholarships for diverse populations, visit here, and for more information on the scholarships for different majors, visit here.

About Study.com:

Study.com opens the door to the life-changing impact of education for over 30m learners and educators a month through K12 curriculum, college courses, tutoring, and test preparation. Used in over 10,000 school districts nationwide, Study.com is recognized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for meeting Level IV evidence standards. Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, Study.com is named on the 2022 and 2023 GSV150, a list of the world's most transformative private companies in education. The company has donated $27 million across social impact programs committed to increasing educational equity. These programs include Working Scholars, an accelerated pathway for working adults to earn a debt-free bachelor's degree, and Keys to the Classroom, which seeks to help aspiring educators prepare for and pass their teacher certification exams.

SOURCE Study.com
August marks 13 consecutive months of yearly month-over-month growth

CAMDEN, N.J., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) today reported 13 consecutive months of increased sales with 56,407 vehicles sold for August 2023, a 12.5 percent increase compared with August 2022 (50,126). SOA also reported year-to-date sales of 410,888, a 15.6 percent increase compared with the same period in 2022.

Subaru of America, Inc. Reports August 2023 Sales Increase of 12.5 Percent

"We're capping off a strong and memorable summer with August marking 13 consecutive months of increased sales thanks to the exceptional efforts of our Subaru retailers," said Jeff Walters, President and Chief Operating Officer, Subaru of America, Inc. "This was also an August to remember as Subaru and our network of retailers nationwide teamed up with AdoptAClassroom.org for our Subaru Loves Learning initiative. Together over the past three years we've supported teachers in the purchase of school supplies for more than 470,000 students across the country."

In August, Forester was once again the top performer by volume with 15,294 vehicle sales and an increase of 46 percent over the same month in 2022. Outback sales posted a 33 percent increase in August, and Crosstrek had a strong showing in the top three with 13,920 vehicle sales. Year to date, WRX posted a 72 percent increase, Impreza sales increased by 21 percent, and the BRZ carline posted an increase of 41 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

"Looking back on an incredible summer for sales, we are well-positioned for an even stronger fall as the 2024 Ascent, Forester, and Crosstrek Wilderness models arrive at retailers in the coming season," said Troy Poston, Senior Vice President of Sales. "When it comes to drivers looking for adventure, longevity and safety, our family of award-winning and trusted vehicles continues to be a top choice."

Carline Aug-23 Aug-22 % Chg Aug-23 Aug-22 % Chg

MTD MTD MTD YTD YTD YTD Ascent 4,860 5,638 -13.8 % 42,282 41,058 2.9 % BRZ 268 308 -12.9 % 3,091 2,199 40.5 % Crosstrek 13,920 15,126 -7.9 % 101,291 99,252 2.0 % Forester 15,294 10,477 45.9 % 91,108 69,151 31.7 % Impreza 2,205 3,449 -36.0 % 24,296 20,003 21.4 % Legacy 2,765 1,896 45.8 % 16,895 15,841 6.6 % Outback 14,503 10,928 32.7 % 108,336 96,907 11.7 % Solterra 915 0 0.0 % 4,645 0 0.0 % WRX 1,677 2,304 -27.2 % 18,944 11,046 71.5 % TOTAL 56,407 50,126 12.5 % 410,888 355,457 15.6 %

About Subaru of America, Inc.

Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) is an indirect 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, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube

Dominick Infante Director, Corporate Communications (856) 488-8615 [email protected] Diane Anton Corporate Communications Manager (856) 488-5093 [email protected]









SOURCE Subaru of America, Inc.
NEW TAIPEI CITY, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SunnySyrup Food Co., Ltd. is a leading supplier of high-quality raw materials for bubble tea and shaved ice products in Taipei, Taiwan. We have provided premium products and services to customers for over 60 years and have already exported to more than 100 countries.

Our factory has been proven a Food safety management system such as FSSC, ISO, HACCP, and Halal Certificate. We are also professional in OEM and ODM services and provide product customization for customers.

Our product line includes a wide range of raw materials, such as bubble tea powders, syrups, tapioca pearls, popping boba, jelly, tea leaves and related machines. All of our products are made with top-quality ingredients and undergo rigorous quality control to ensure consistency in taste and texture.

In addition to our products, SunnySyrup Food offers professional training courses for our customers to learn how to make bubble tea and snow ice, including using different types of pearls, brewing tea leaves and creating diverse shaved ice flavors. Our courses range from beginner to advanced, and are available both in-person and online to cater to customers' different needs and schedules.

SunnySyrup Food also places a strong emphasis on customer feedback and continually strives to improve its products and services. Our R&D team is dedicated to developing new products and flavors to meet customers' diverse tastes and preferences. We also provide excellent customer service and technical support to ensure customers can easily use and make their products to achieve the best taste and quality.

Overall, SunnySyrup Food is a reputable and reliable supplier of high-quality raw materials for bubble tea and shaved ice products in Taipei, Taiwan. With a diverse range of premium products and professional courses and training, we are committed to providing our customers with the best possible products and services.

If you are interested in the bubble tea and snow ice business, please search www.sunnysyrup.com or https://sunnysyrup.en.taiwantrade.com/ for more info.

SOURCE SunnySyrup Food Co., LTD
CRANFORD, N.J., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Prominently featured in The Inner Circle, Joseph P. Calderone is acknowledged as a Top Pinnacle Healthcare Professional for his contributions to the field of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Calderone began his scholarship at the College of the Holy Cross where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry. He then attended Rutgers New Jersey Medical School where he received a medical degree in 1982; completed an internship in 1983 at Albany Medical Center; and finished a residency in ophthalmology at New York Medical College in 1987.

Joseph Calderone Jr.

The doctor currently works as the Medical and Surgical Director of Better Vision New Jersey (formerly called Cranford Ophthalmology) where he has served since 1987. Board-certified in ophthalmology by the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO), Dr. Calderone notes that the ABO is an independent non-profit organization responsible for certifying ophthalmologists in the United States of America. He specializes in premium intraocular lenses and laser cataract surgery (certified in both Catalys & LenSx femtosecond cataract laser systems); and is a foremost expert in the treatment of dry eye.

The doctor is also considered an expert in cataracts and micro-incisional glaucoma, and explained that Better Vision New Jersey is a dynamic, state-of-the-art ophthalmic practice that provides patients with the highest quality of eye care possible and is housed in a building named after Dr. Calderone's father. Fully equipped with the latest ophthalmological advancements, Better Vision New Jersey was the first office in New Jersey to offer the revolutionary Lipiflow Thermal Pulsation System. According to the doctor, the physicians at Better Vision New Jersey are pioneering leaders in ophthalmology and are proud to provide the best possible eye care for patients of all ages. He says they are always excited to expand their family and strive to build strong lasting relationships with each and every one of their patients and asserts that their mission is to provide world-class eye care in a patient-friendly, comfortable environment.

A testament to his expertise in the field, Dr. Calderone is a retired Clinical Instructor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Clinical Assistant Professor at Seton Hall University School of Graduate Medical Education; Medical Director of the Specialized Surgical Center of Central New Jersey (formerly the Somerset Eye Institute); an attending physician at Overlook Hospital; adjunct staff at Trinitas Hospital; and a retired attending physician at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway where he had been a former chairman of ophthalmology.

The doctor is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology; and a member of both the New Jersey Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

Dr. Calderone would like to dedicate this honor in loving memory of his father, Joseph P. Calderone, and thanks his wife Heidi, and daughters.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE The Inner Circle
MOORPARK, Calif., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Prominently featured in The Inner Circle, Priyalal Wijewarnasuriya is acknowledged as a Pinnacle Life Member for his contributions to the field of Technology.

Inspired to pursue physics because of a fascination with mathematics, Dr. Wijewarnasuriya attended the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Physics (First Class). He then attended Illinois Institute of Technology where he obtained a Master's degree in semiconductor physics and earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Semiconductor Physics at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Dr. Wijewarnasuriya launched his career as a member of the technical staff at Rockwell Scientific Center, CA where he notes he was dedicated to the demonstration of novel, large-format infrared focal plane arrays for astronomy and tactical and strategic military applications. In his current post, the doctor serves as a project scientist at Teledyne Imaging Sensors where he began working in 2019. He explained that Teledyne Imaging Sensors is a company that offers a wide variety of imaging products, including custom products integrated with other electrical and camera systems.

Dr. Wijewarnasuriya asserts that part of his core beliefs in being a competent physicist is dependent on a strong foundation in mathematics. He has made significant contributions to the field including leading the development of the next generation of infrared materials and devices for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL); Team Leader of the "IIVI Materials and Devices Team" EO/IR Materials and Devices Branch of SEDD at the U.S. ARL; and was a scientist with the U.S. Army for more than 20 years.

A testament to his expertise, Dr. Wijewarnasuriya is the author or co-author of more than 300 papers in open technical literature; has written two book chapters; and has presented his work at numerous national and international conferences. He is a member of the board for the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers and also served on the program committee for the U.S. Workshop on Physics and Chemistry of II-VI Materials.

During his illustrious career Dr. Wijewarnasuriya has been recognized for his extraordinary accomplishments including an award from the United States Army for his work on "dislocation reduction in mercury cadmium telluride infrared materials grown on larger area scalable silicon substrates." In the future, the doctor hopes to have continued success in the field of infrared sensing and attributes his success to his dedication. Aside from his professional pursuits, he enjoys woodworking and photography.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE The Inner Circle
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Prominently featured in The Inner Circle, Randi Leigh Sessoms Lassiter is acknowledged as a Distinguished Healthcare Provider for her contributions to the field of Pediatric Surgery.

Dr. Lassiter prepared for her vocation attending the College of William and Mary where she earned a Bachelor's degree. She then attended Duke University and received a Medical Degree; completed a residency at the Medical College of Georgia; and a fellowship at Nicholas Children's Hospital.

Randi Leigh Sessoms Lassiter

Dr. Lassiter currently works at M Health Fairview Pediatric Specialty Clinic Discovery & M Health Fairview Pediatric Specialty Clinic Woodbury where she practices as a pediatric general surgeon who treats children who have an illness, injury or disease that requires surgery. Her clinical interests include congenital gastrointestinal and abdominal disorders; congenital lung lesion; management of solid tumors in infants and children; pediatric trauma; vascular access; pediatric endocrine surgery; and chest wall deformities.

A published author, the doctor maintains professional affiliation with the ACS and APSA. When reflecting on her illustrious career, Dr. Lassiter attributes her success to following her philosophy of giving her patients the highest quality of care without compromise and the support of her mentor, Dr. Robin Hatley. Among the many journals the doctor reads to stay abreast of the latest research, she most enjoys the American Pediatric Surgical Association.

Dr. Lassiter has many highlights in her career and considers becoming board certified in 2023 and finishing her fellowship as her greatest career accomplishment. She would like to dedicate this honor to her dear parents, Kaleta and Randolph Lassiter and thank them for their love and support. Aside from her medical pursuits, the doctor enjoys travel and photography.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE The Inner Circle
The PG&E Foundation Funding Will Provide Over 3.87 Million Meals to People in Need; Additional Funding from PG&E Supports Food Banks' Emergency Preparedness

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The PG&E Corporation Foundation (The PG&E Foundation) is providing $775,000 to local food banks, Meals on Wheels programs and tribal organizations to help feed individuals and families struggling with food insecurity. The contribution is the equivalent of approximately 3.87 million meals for individuals and families in need. The funding will support 48 food distribution organizations serving 47 counties in Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E) service area.

The announcement comes on National Food Bank Day (Sept. 1), the first Friday in September, meant to bring awareness to the ongoing issue of hunger in communities.

While California produces nearly half of the nation's fruits and vegetables, on average one in five residents  about 8 million people  don't know where their next meal will come from, according to the California Association of Food Banks. Communities of color face even greater levels of hunger.

"The collaboration between PG&E and our food bank is a testament to the positive change that can be achieved when businesses and community organizations come together. Together, we're making a meaningful impact on the well-being of families and individuals across our service area. With PG&E's support, we're taking strides towards a healthier and happier future for all," said Jeremy T. Tobias, CEO, Community Action Partnership of Kern.

"We're so grateful to our local food banks and food distribution partners for their ongoing work to fight hunger in our hometowns. Our local food safety net organizations fulfill a necessary and critical role helping families put food on their tables," said Carla Peterman, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, for PG&E Corporation and Chair of the PG&E Corporation Foundation Board.

Grant amounts consider county poverty and unemployment levels, using the California Department of Social Services' formula, to promote equity among counties with higher need.

Supporting 'Food ACCESS' and Emergency Preparedness

In addition to grants to local food distribution organizations, The PG&E Foundation is supporting next year's California Association of Food Banks' (CAFB) "Food ACCESS" conference. The mid-May event brings together stakeholders in food and health-hunger relief services focused on an equitable statewide safety net and ending hunger in California.

The PG&E Foundation and PG&E have been long-time supporters of CAFB and county food banks, together contributing more than $4 million over the past five years.

"While the pandemic may be behind us, food banks continue to respond to an ongoing hunger crisis and we are grateful to PG&E for their continued partnership with us and our member food banks when it's needed most," said Stacia Levenfeld, CEO of the California Association of Food Banks. "We are excited for PG&E to again be the presenting sponsor of our Food ACCESS conference and grateful that their support will establish scholarships, better enabling attendance by smaller food banks. We believe access to food is a basic human right and, collectively, we will explore and address ways to make that right a reality for all Californians at Food ACCESS 2024."

Additionally, PG&E has agreements with 25 local food banks in high fire-risk areas to provide food replacement during and up until three days after a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS). These PSPS events may be called when dry, windy weather is forecast, and PG&E may need to turn off power to prevent wildfires and keep customers safe. PG&E understands that food loss is challenging for customers, and our partnerships help provide a solution. To find a local food bank partnering with PG&E, visit pge.com/PSPSresources.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.

About The PG&E Corporation Foundation

The PG&E Corporation Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, separate from PG&E and sponsored by PG&E Corporation.

SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company
NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The short film Time Is Eternal starring, co-written and produced by Los Angeles-based model and actress Berite Labelle https://www.beritelabelle.com  will screen at Dolby Screening Room, September 7th as an official nominee of NYCIFFF.

(For additional details, see NYCIFFF.com)

Berite Labelle Starring in Time Is Eternal at NYIFFF September 7th, 2023 Berite Labelle - Starring in Time Is Eternal at NYIFFF September 7th, 2023

Time Is Eternal is co-written by Daniel Lir, who co-directed with his wife and business partner, Bayou Bennett, of Dream Team Directors. https://www.dreamteamdirectors.com/filmc343928d

"Time is Eternal" took home four awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Set Design) in July at the 13th prestigious La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival, where it was honored with 10 nominations. https://ljfff.com/iffa-award-winners-2021-2/ The film also won Best Fashion Film at the UK Fashion Film Festival, FASHFILMFETE-Phoenix and has screened across the world in Berlin, Sarajevo, Croatia, Italy, Seattle, Los Angeles, India and.

Set in present-day Los Angeles, Time Is Eternal goes inside the mind of a renowned female writer, penning her latest novel, which imagines the fictional meeting of two legendary women. Cleopatra VIII, queen of Egypt during the first century B.C., comes face to face with the English writer-women's rights activist Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley.

A powerful ode to female strength and equality, the film chronicles a soulful discussion between these two trailblazers. Both known as lovers and as warriors for a cause, the fighter and the writer contemplate their differing approaches to leadership, culminating in a shared passion that intertwines eternally.

"We wanted to highlight the power of women across history, in a previously male-dominated world," says Lir. "I strongly related to Berite's purpose to inform a younger generation about the impactful (and under-represented) contribution of these women to the creation of our culture."

Labelle deftly champions four roles in her debut film playing the writer, Cleopatra, Wollstonecraft, and a mermaid, who symbolizes swimming through another dimension in time.

"You can create anything with imagination and love," says Labelle. "I wish to create beautiful moments from my imaginary world. Gratitude, knowledge and patience are the other elements I needed to conceive Time Is Eternal. Follow me in my journey of discoveries through time in motion pictures."

Shot at The Paramour Estate in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, with opulent early twentieth century period decor, the surreal, dreamlike visuals have a fashion focus.

"I want audiences to be overwhelmed with beauty and brought into a world of magic and inspiration that helps them forget their troubles and all we have been through as a human race in the last few years," says Bennett.

Hollywood stylist and costume designer Lenov (who has worked with Saweetie, Bebe Rexha and Iggy Azalea) sourced mostly vintage pieces for the film.

"It was really cool to recreate historical moments through the fashion lens in the film," says Lenov. "Every character was about women's empowerment, and I wanted to the push the envelope and bring a fashion element to the characters and a sexier twist. I thought, 'What can we spin off in the feminine energy for Gen Z and beyond?' I really want to thank designer Michelle Hebert and Elie Madi for helping bring Mary and Cleopatra, respectively, to life as I envisioned them."

Since October 2021, Labelle has covered multiple international editions of Vogue, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar and Marie Claire. She has an Affiliate Fine Arts (AFA) degree in Acting on Camera from the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles.

Dream Team Directors has collaborated with the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Ruffalo, Bella Hadid, Juliette Lewis, Norman Reedus, Coldplay, Paris Hilton, and Chrome Hearts. Their 2019 short film, Tombstone Pillow, has drawn widespread acclaim and won 33 awards.

Twitter: @DreamTeamFilm @berite_labelle #TimeIsEternal

Instagram : @berite_labelle @dreamteamdirectors

Twitter: @NewYorkCityIFFF

Facebook: @NYCIFFF

Instagram: @NYCIFFF

Viewing links and imagery are available by request. Berite Labelle, Daniel Lir, Bayou Bennett and other nominated team members are available for interviews. Please contact Dream Team Directors: [email protected], [email protected] 917-907-2169

SOURCE Berite Labelle
Ukraine will do everything so that schools and universities can return to learning without online, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address on Friday.

"We will do everything so that it is possible to return to schools and universities throughout our land normally, without online. The program for creating shelters will be implemented," he said.

According to him, "more than 3.7 million Ukrainian children today started a new school year. Most in Ukraine, most offline or in a mixed format, when social interaction between children is still preserved."

"The smile of every child today, every flower that the children brought to school, every lesson taught by Ukrainian teachers today. And every dream that Ukrainian children have today. All this is proof that Ukraine will definitely endure. Life goes on, life is stronger. And there will be a day when September 1 will be peaceful and safe all over our land," he said.
Annual Event Celebrates, Thanks Hotel Employees

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) today recognized National Hotel Employee Day.

AHLA and the National Day Calendar established National Hotel Employee Day in 2022 to honor the nearly two million employees who work in the hotel industry. It is observed annually on September 1.

This year, National Hotel Employee Day comes as hotels across the nation are working to quickly fill nearly 100,000 open hotel jobs, according to Indeed. To attract more talent, hotels are offering current and prospective employees near-historic wages, better benefits, and more flexibility than ever before.

America's nearly 62,500 hotels are a bright spot for the nation's economy. In 2022 alone, they supported 8.3 million American jobs and paid employees more than $104 billion in wages, salaries, and other compensation. Last year, hotel guests spent a total of more than $691 billion on lodging, transportation, food and beverage, retail and other expenses.

To continue growing, however, hotels need to hire more people.

More than 80% of hotels are experiencing staffing shortages, and 26% report being severely understaffed, according to a survey of hoteliers conducted by AHLA. The most critical staffing need is housekeeping, with 40% ranking it as their top hiring need.

These staffing challenges coupled with strong summer travel demand are resulting in historic career opportunities for hotel employees. U.S. hotel wages are averaging more than $23.00 per hour this year, and hotel benefits and flexibility are better than ever.

"Employees are the lifeblood of every hotel, and we created National Hotel Employee Day to help thank America's nearly two million hotel professionals for their incredible service and dedication," said AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers. "Today and throughout the year, we are proud to celebrate hotel employees and their important work. From wedding receptions to family reunions and vacations, our workforce helps create some of Americans' most important memories. And with hotel pay, benefits, flexibility, and upward mobility all at near-historic levels, there's never been a better time to start a hotel career."

To learn about hotel career opportunities and search for jobs, visit www.thehotelindustry.com

To learn about National Hotel Employee Day, visit www.ahla.com/day

About AHLA

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is the largest hotel association in America, representing more than 30,000 members from all segments of the industry nationwide  including iconic global brands, 80% of all franchised hotels, and the 16 largest hotel companies in the U.S. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AHLA focuses on strategic advocacy, communications support, and workforce development programs to move the industry forward. Learn more at www.ahla.com.

SOURCE American Hotel & Lodging Association
Mike Tyson's award-winning cannabis brand makes Montana debut today.

MISSOULA, Mont., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Montana, known for its awe-inspiring beauty, is now home to a collaboration that will elevate the Treasure State's cannabis experience to new heights. Tyson 2.0, spearheaded by the legendary Mike Tyson and Carma HoldCo, is proud to announce its partnership with Yellowstoned in Montana.

This exciting venture will blend the jaw-dropping landscapes of Montana with an unforgettable smoking experience for consumers to enjoy. The Tyson 2.0 product line available today in Montana encompasses a range of meticulously crafted offerings that will leave enthusiasts craving more.

Mouth-watering Mike Bites edibles, full flower pre-rolls and blunts, and finely manicured flower will be powered by the Yellowstoned Group of Partners for all in Montana to enjoy. Tyson 2.0 sets the stage for a refined and immersive consumption experience, and Yellowstoned aims to make that vision a reality.

"Partnering with Yellowstoned in Montana is a huge leap for our global expansion of Tyson 2.0," exclaims Adam Wilks, CEO of Carma Hold Co and Mike Tyson's partner in their extraordinary brand.

"Montana's natural beauty serves as the perfect backdrop for our vision, and we are committed to offering residents and visitors an unparalleled cannabis experience that harmonizes with this magnificent environment."

Yellowstoned shares in this excitement as they eagerly join forces with Tyson 2.0.

"I'm so grateful for this opportunity. We couldn't be more excited to partner with The Champ and bring his brand into our home state," states Danielle Kingston, President of Yellowstoned. "Together, we aim to revolutionize the cannabis landscape in Montana by creating innovative products that celebrate the state's beauty and provide momentous experiences for residents and tourists worldwide."

The much-anticipated launch of Tyson 2.0 Cannabis in Montana is finally here, marking a turning point in the state's cannabis industry. Whether you're a proud Montana resident or a curious traveler seeking a unique experience, Tyson 2.0 and Yellowstoned invite you to discover the synergy of cannabis and the most beautiful place on Earth.

About Tyson 2.0

Tyson 2.0 launched in October 2021, founded by cultural icon Mike Tyson and serial entrepreneur Chad Bronstein. Today it is one of the fastest-growing cannabis brands in the United States. Tyson 2.0's award-winning cannabis line includes choice flower, pure concentrates, and consumables that pack a punch, all renowned for their exceptional quality, consistency, and affordable pricing.

Tyson 2.0 is available in select U.S. states and Canadian provinces through partnerships with best-in-class cannabis operators so that discerning cannabis enthusiasts can enjoy undisputed cannabis anywhere. Visit www.tyson20.com or shop merchandise at www.shoptyson20.com.

About Yellowstoned

Yellowstoned is where the essence of premium cannabis converges with the untamed spirit of the wild west. As Tyson 2.0's exclusive Montana partner, Yellowstoned is dedicated to curating strains that mirror the exceptional quality of Montana's landscapes. Discover an elevated cannabis journey with strains that embody the heart of the wild. To learn more about Yellowstoned, go to: www.goyellowstoned.com.

Media Inquiries

Brian Roberts

Chief Communications Officer, Tyson 2.0

908-616-7822

364469@email4pr.com

SOURCE Tyson 2.0
DUBLIN, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "U.S. Telehealth Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product Type (Hardware, Software, Services), By Delivery Mode (Web-based, Cloud-based, On-premises), By End-use (Payers, Patients), And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

U.S. Telehealth Industry Set to Skyrocket, Projected to Reach USD 150.1 Billion by 2030

The landscape of healthcare is undergoing a transformative shift in the U.S., with the telehealth market projected to surge to a staggering USD 150.1 billion by 2030, boasting a remarkable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.9% from 2023 to 2030. This seismic growth is driven by a confluence of pivotal factors that are revolutionizing the industry.

A Confluence of Catalysts Fueling U.S. Telehealth Expansion

Central to this transformative journey is the resounding embrace of digital health services by patients and healthcare providers alike. This burgeoning adoption is magnified by a receptive consumer base and substantial investments that are propelling the telehealth sector to unparalleled heights. Moreover, the surging demand for remote patient monitoring coupled with dynamic advancements in digital communication technology is poised to catalyze the market's meteoric rise in the imminent years.

Addressing the Physician Shortage Dilemma Through Telehealth

Beyond the technological drive, the U.S. telehealth industry is stepping into the forefront as a potent solution to address a pressing issue  the scarcity of physicians and clinicians. A notable report by the Association of American Medical Colleges underscores an impending deficit of 37,800 to 124,000 physicians by 2034, spanning primary care and specialty. As this imminent gap looms, telehealth emerges as a beacon of hope to bridge the healthcare chasm.

Pandemic-Induced Paradigm Shift: Telehealth's Meteoric Ascent

Inarguably, the tumultuous waves of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reshaped the healthcare landscape. The implementation of social distancing measures during the pandemic's height catapulted telehealth into the spotlight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documented an astounding 154% surge in telehealth visits in March 2020 compared to the same month in the preceding year, March 2019. This transformative shift ignited the industry's growth trajectory, sparking a radical change in patient-provider interactions.

Empowering Patient Savings and Healthcare Efficiency

Telehealth emerges as a dual-powered solution, heralding both economic benefits and enhanced healthcare delivery. The widespread adoption of virtual care engenders substantial cost savings for patients and healthcare systems alike. By circumventing the need for physical visits and associated expenses, such as travel and facility fees, telehealth remarkably curtails healthcare expenditures. A noteworthy study by Cigna unveiled an approximate cost reduction of USD 100 per visit through virtual care, highlighting its potential economic advantages.

Efficiency Unleashed: Streamlined Processes and Remote Monitoring

Beyond fiscal advantages, telehealth unleashes operational efficiency by curtailing wait times, optimizing appointment scheduling, and streamlining administrative operations. The crux of telehealth's prowess lies in the domain of remote patient monitoring  a sought-after service facilitating real-time interactions between patients and physicians. This intelligent integration of technology engenders a symbiotic relationship, resulting in improved clinical outcomes and elevating patient care to unprecedented levels.

Future-Proofing Healthcare Infrastructure for Telehealth Revolution

The impending surge in telehealth's prominence is triggering a profound transformation across healthcare organizations. Adapting to this revolutionary shift, healthcare entities are steadfastly reinforcing their infrastructure with a multifaceted approach. The strategic enhancement encompasses bolstering IT frameworks, integrating cutting-edge hardware and software, harnessing the power of Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, deploying scalable designs, mastering data management, and ensuring patient security.

As the tapestry of healthcare is rewoven with the threads of innovation and connectivity, the U.S. telehealth industry stands poised to redefine the patient-provider relationship and reshape the healthcare landscape for generations to come. The convergence of technology, patient needs, and healthcare innovation is fostering an era where healthcare knows no bounds  it transcends distances and brings care to the fingertips of those who need it most.

U.S. Telehealth Market Report Highlights

The market growth can be attributed to the favorable consumer base, well-equipped digital health infrastructure, and increasing awareness regarding telehealth

On the basis of product type, the services segment dominated the market in 2022 owing to the growing preference for telehealth applications in chronic disease management and real-time patient monitoring

Based on delivery mode, the web-based segment led the market in 2022 owing to the increasing use of the web-based platform for telehealth and the availability of a large number of web-based telehealth solutions

The providers end-use segment dominated the market in 2022 owing to the increasing number of providers in the U.S. and the rising adoption of telehealth platforms by providers to reduce the burden on healthcare facilities

Company Profiles

Koninklijke Philips N.V

GE Healthcare

Cerner

Siemens Healthineers

Medtronic

Teladoc Health Inc.

American Well

MD Live

Doctor in Demand

U.S. Med

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Methodology and Scope

1.1. Information Procurement

1.1.1. Purchased database:

1.1.1.1. The internal database

1.1.2. Market Formulation & Validation

1.2. Research Methodology

1.3. Research Scope and Assumptions



Chapter 2. Executive Summary

2.1. Market Outlook

2.2. Segment Outlook

2.3. Competitive Insights

2.4. U.S. Telehealth Market Snapshot



Chapter 3. U.S. Telehealth Market Variables, Trends, & Scope

3.1. Market Lineage Outlook

3.1.1. Parent Market Outlook

3.1.2. Ancillary Market Outlook

3.2. Market Dynamics

3.2.1. Market Driver Analysis

3.2.2. Market Restraint Analysis

3.2.3. Industry Challenge

3.3. U.S. Telehealth Market Analysis Tools

3.3.1. Industry Analysis - Porter's

3.3.2. PESTEL Analysis

3.4. Impact of COVID 19 on U.S. Telehealth Market



Chapter 4. U.S. Telehealth Market: Product Type Estimates & Trend Analysis

4.1. Segment Dashboard

4.2. U.S. Telehealth Market: Product Type Movement Analysis, USD Million, 2022 & 2030

4.2.1. Hardware

4.2.1.1. Hardware Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2018 - 2030 (USD Million)

4.2.1.1.1. Monitor

4.2.1.1.2. Medical Peripheral Devices

4.2.1.1.2.1. Medical Peripheral Devices Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2018 - 2030 (USD Million)

4.2.1.1.2.2. Blood Pressure Meters

4.2.1.1.2.3. Blood Glucose Meters

4.2.1.1.2.4. Weighing Scales

4.2.1.1.2.5. Pulse Oximeter

4.2.1.1.2.6. Peak Flow Meters

4.2.1.1.2.7. ECG Monitors

4.2.2. Software

4.2.2.1. Software Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2018 - 2030 (USD Million)

4.2.2.1.1. Standalone Software

4.2.2.1.2. Integrated Software

4.2.3. Services

4.2.3.1. Services Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2018 - 2030 (USD Million)

4.2.3.1.1. Remote Patient Monitoring

4.2.3.1.2. Real-time Interactions

4.2.3.1.3. Store and Forward



Chapter 5. U.S. Telehealth Market: Delivery Mode Estimates & Trend Analysis

5.1. Segment Dashboard

5.2. U.S. Telehealth Market: Delivery Mode Movement Analysis, USD Million, 2022 & 2030

5.2.1. Web-based

5.2.2. Cloud-based

5.2.3. On-premises



Chapter 6. U.S. Telehealth Market: End Use Estimates & Trend Analysis

6.1. Segment Dashboard

6.2. U.S. Telehealth Market: End Use Movement Analysis, USD Million, 2022 & 2030

6.2.1. Providers

6.2.2. Payers

6.2.3. Patients



Chapter 7. Competitive Landscape

7.1. Company Categorization

7.2. Key Company Market Position Analysis

7.3. Key Company Market Share Analysis

7.4. Recent Development and Impact Analysis, by key Market Participants



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/onwfrw

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:

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SOURCE Research and Markets
TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Air Force and Raytheon, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, successfully completed the first flight test of the AIM-120C-8  the latest international variant of AMRAAM developed under the Form, Fit, Function (F3R) refresh. The AIM-120C-8 was fired from an F-15C Eagle and downed the aerial target, meeting all primary objectives for the flight test.

Maj. Timothy Phillips from the 40th Flight Test Squadron fires an Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile during a test mission from an F-15C Eagle, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Feb. 25, 2020. The 40th FLTS executes fighter developmental test and support to deliver war-winning capabilities to the battlefield. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. John McRell)

"AMRAAM is a combat-proven missile trusted by more than 40 international partners for both air-to-air and surface-to-air missions," said Paul Ferraro, president of Air Power at Raytheon, an RTX business. "With the advancements from F3R, which updates both the missile's hardware and allows for future Agile software upgrades, we are maximizing the capabilities of this munition for allies around the world."

Under the F3R program, engineers used model-based systems engineering initiatives and other digital technologies to upgrade multiple circuit cards and advanced processors in the guidance section of the missile and to re-host legacy software in the AIM-120D-3 and AIM-120C-8 AMRAAMs.

This AIM-120C-8 flight test follows the completion of flight testing of the AIM-120D-3. Flight testing on the AIM-120D-3 was completed in just 11 months after the initial flight test and concluded with showcasing the success of the missile in a highly contested environment.

Recently, the U.S. Air Force awarded Raytheon a $1.15 billion AMRAAM contract to produce AIM-120D-3 and C-8 missiles for 19 countries.

About RTX

RTX is the world's largest aerospace and defense company. With more than 180,000 global employees, we push the limits of technology and science to redefine how we connect and protect our world. Through industry-leading businesses  Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon  we are advancing aviation, engineering integrated defense systems for operational success, and developing next-generation technology solutions and manufacturing to help global customers address their most critical challenges. The company, with 2022 sales of $67 billion, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

For questions or to schedule an interview, please contact:

Savanah Bray

rmdpr@rtx.com

SOURCE RTX
A heartfelt song in memory of the 9/11 attacks.

FUQUAY VARINA, N.C., Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Alfred Lloyd is an artist who is focused on carrying the flame of Reggae/Roots music. His sound channels his passion for redefining the very essence of this genre while staying true to its core values and sound. Whatever the subject he is singing about, he always has a story to tell. This is also true in "WAR".

With a soul-stirring commitment to challenge the norm and spread love through music, Alfred is all about the warmth, rhythm, and soulfulness that makes Reggae such a special style of music.

Alfred Lloyd Alfred Lloyd

His upcoming single, "WAR," released on ALEXSIS RECORDS LLC, is a perfect example of his vision. This song is a poignant memorial to the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

"WAR" stands as a profound testament to human resilience and solidarity, as Alfred invites listeners to reflect on the legacy of that fateful day. It is an opportunity to remember the victims and a strong statement against the pitfalls of war and terrorism. Alfred reminds us that we can't forget the horror of these realities and prompts us to consider the futility of battles and conflicts. Love is the only way, and his lyrics serve as a plea for unity and for us all to recognize our humanity.

The upcoming release date of "WAR" is set for September 11, 2023, marking 22 years since the tragic attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. Look for it on all the major streaming platforms as well as on youtube.com.

Alfred's timing is not just a mere coincidence; it's a deliberate choice designed to align the unveiling of his creation with a moment of collective global reflection on an event that should never be forgotten.

As we reflect on the events that unfolded on September 11th, 22 years ago, and on the war that followed in its wake, and as we reflect on the current conflict in the Ukraine, we cannot help but wonder if there will ever be an end to armed conflict on Earth The answer is yes, there will be peace earth-wide! And it will be a reality soon! In fact, the war in Ukraine is the last major armed conflict that the world will see before they (those warring nations) are forced to beat their "swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks" as prophesied in the bible at Isaiah chapter 2, verses 1-4. That's good news for those of us individuals who are longing to live in peace and security.

Musically, the song is just as powerful as its theme. The visuals on youtube.com will be a stark reminder for the majority and will serve as a history lesson for a whole generation, who came into existence after that fateful day. The song has a lush, atmospheric twist, and its rhythm is a perfect accompaniment to Alfred's unique vocals.

Find out more and discover Alfred Lloyd's music, which is highly recommended to fans of artists like Bob Marley, Lucky Dube, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, and Tarrus Riley, among many others.

https://www.facebook.com/alfredlloyd2

https://www.instagram.com/alfredlloyd2

https://twitter.com/acndown

https://www.youtube.com/@alfredlloyd.

https://alexsis-records.com.

Contact:

Alfred Lloyd Campbell

(860)796-1682

364700@email4pr.com

SOURCE ALEXSIS RECORDS LLC
ATLANTA, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Xebia is a leading digital transformation consultancy firm that helps organizations adopt and use cloud computing, security, machine learning, data analytics, and artificial intelligence.

The company's dedicated Google Cloud practice has over 100 certified Google Cloud experts worldwide and has the mission to be recognized as the authority in Google Cloud.

A significant milestone toward attaining this mission came in the form of the 2023 Google Cloud Sales Partner award for the Benelux region. Xebia was recognized as the 'Partner of the Year' at the 2023 Google Cloud Next Conference.

This award recognizes Xebia's outstanding performance in several areas that contribute to the growth of Google Cloud business, including customer satisfaction, technical expertise, and innovation.

"Google Cloud's partner awards recognize the significant impact and customer success that our partners have driven over the past year," said Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate Vice President, Global Ecosystem and Channels at Google Cloud. "We're delighted to recognize Xebia as a 2023 Google Cloud Partner Award winner and look forward to a continued strong partnership in support of our mutual customers."

With a proven track record as a Google Cloud partner since 2017, Xebia has successfully guided numerous customers in the Benelux region to embrace the full potential of Google Cloud. "We are honored to be recognized by Google Cloud," said Maarten Koster, Commercial Lead for Google Cloud within Xebia. "This award acknowledges our team's hard work, dedication, and passion for helping our customers succeed with Google Cloud. Over the past year, our Google Cloud revenue has tripled."

Xebia has been exceptionally successful with big enterprise customers who are digitizing their core business based on data-related initiatives and big migrations from on-premises infrastructure to the Google Cloud. "Xebia has invested heavily in expanding the team with additional Google Cloud consultants and a dedicated support organization. This has resulted in a strong foundation for sustained growth." said Maarten Koster.

The cloud is becoming increasingly complex, with an ever-increasing wide variety of services and pricing models, making it difficult for businesses to keep track of their cloud costs. Xebia has a dedicated Google Cloud team that enables clients to adopt the Google Cloud in a secure, effective, and cost-efficient way.

"Xebia is working according to the philosophy You Build it, You Run it, You Own it. Our team has the technical know-how and creates best practices to support our clients with the Google Cloud architecture improvements and Cloud Financial Management (FinOps)," said Martijn van de Grift, Google Cloud Technical Lead within Xebia. "We are proud of what we have accomplished. Our dedicated support and expertise easily saved several clients over EUR one million a year," said Martijn.

"One of the things that I admire the most about Xebia is its commitment to building a strong technical team. We have created a culture where employees are encouraged to share their knowledge and expertise about Google Cloud in the market. This has led to Xebia becoming a co-founder of the Google Cloud User Group Benelux and a leading authorized training partner of Google Cloud," said Maarten Koster.



This award is the latest in a series of recognition by Google Cloud. In 2022, Jorge Liauw Calo (Practice lead Security) was named 2022 Google Cloud Partner All-Star in Solutions Engineering & Delivery. Maarten Koster was named a Google Cloud Partner All-Star in Sales.

"We are excited to see what the future holds for Xebia and Google Cloud," said Martijn van de Grift. "We are committed to getting the most out of Google Cloud for our customers, by expanding our Google Cloud services portfolio, and we look forward to continuing our work with Google in the years to come."

About Xebia:

Xebia is a digital transformation leader, serving top-250 global companies with comprehensive IT solutions. Operating in 16 countries with development centers across the US, Latin America, Western Europe, Poland, Nordics, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, Xebia's experts specialize in Technology Consulting, Software Engineering, Product Development, Data & AI, Cloud, Low Code, Agile Transformation & DevSecOps, and Quality Assurance. Alongside top-notch IT Consulting & Software development, Xebia offers time-efficient Standardized Solutions and education through its Academy. With a 100% YoY growth rate for two years, Xebia is a driving force in the expanding digital transformation market.

For more information about Xebia, please visit Xebia.com

Media Contact:

Maureen Elsberry

[email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1883841/Xebia_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Xebia
The situation in Bakhmut direction is developing very actively, fighting continues, in particular in the area of the settlements of Kurdiumivka, Klischiivka and Andriivka, Ukrainian soldiers are making progress, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar has said.

"In Bakhmut direction, the situation is developing very actively, there are hot battles. If we talk about the territory south of Bakhmut, then we have Kurdiumivka  the epicenter of hostilities, Klischiivka and Andriivka, areas of these settlements. It is 'hot' in these areas, but our Armed Forces have some success there," Maliar said on the air of the telethon on Friday evening.

She said during active hostilities during the day, it is difficult to talk about what kind of promotion, since "combat operations are dynamics."

"It happens that in one day the position of the two sides changes several times," the deputy minister said.

Speaking about the northern flank in Bakhmut area, Maliar said the enemy continues to attack there and try to force the Ukrainian forces out of their positions there.

"But our Armed Forces are very powerfully resisting there, and the enemy is not able to do this," she said.

In Kupiansk direction, according to Maliar, today "the situation is more or less stabilized, but fighting continues there." In particular, yesterday Ukrainian soldiers repulsed at least eight enemy attacks.

According to the deputy minister, fighting is also continuing in Lyman direction, the enemy is trying to attack, but the Ukrainian forces stop them.

"As of now, the enemy is not able to advance there," she said.
Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, during a meeting with Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Harsh Kumar Jain, discussed the deepening of bilateral cooperation, the presidential press service has said.

In addition, during the meeting, the parties exchanged views on the eve of important international events, in particular in the context of the opening of a new session of the UN General Assembly.

In turn, the head of the Presidential Office thanked India for participating in consultations on the implementation of the Peace Formula of the President of Ukraine.

"It is crucial for us to maintain this open dialogue, to know the opinions and understand the position of all our friends and partners," the press service said, citing Yermak.
Baghdad, Sep 1 : The Iraqi judiciary has sentenced an Iranian citizen and four Iraqi nationals to life imprisonment for killing a US citizen in Baghdad last year, the country's Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The American, identified as Stephen Troll, was shot dead by a group of armed kidnappers while driving with his family in central Baghdad last November, Xinhua news agency reported.

The attackers were later arrested and prosecuted after they confessed to committing the crime, said the statement issued on Thursday.

It added that the intelligence team is still looking for four other suspects.

According to media reports, Troll, once an English teacher in Baghdad, was also a member of a relief organization affiliated with the United States Agency for International Development.

The statement stressed that the Iraqi security forces are capable of maintaining the country's security and stability and providing protection for citizens of all nationalities living in the country.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud has recommended the appointment of five Additional Judges as Permanent Judges of the Madras High Court.

It recommended that Justices A.A. Nakkiran, Nidumolu Mala, S. Sounthar, Sunder Mohan, and Kabali Kumaresh Babu be appointed as permanent Judges of the Madras High Court.

On 20 June, the Collegium of the Madras High Court unanimously recommended the names of these five Additional Judges for appointment as permanent judges in the high court.

The SC Collegium said that it had consulted other judges of the Supreme Court who are conversant with the affairs of the Madras High Court in terms of the Memorandum of Procedure.

"The Committee of two judges of the Supreme Court constituted by the Chief Justice of India in terms of the Resolution dated 26 October 2017 of the Supreme Court Collegium has assessed the judgments of the above- named Additional Judges," noted the SC Collegium.

It said that it has scrutinised the material placed on record to assess the merit and suitability of these Additional Judges for appointment as permanent judges.

Having considered all aspects of the matter and on an overall consideration, the Collegium resolved to recommend that these five additional judges are fit and suitable for being appointed as permanent judges of the Madras HC against the existing vacancies.

"The Chief Minister and the Governor of Tamil Nadu have concurred in the above recommendation," said the statement uploaded on the website of the apex court.
Friend of Union Ministers son shot dead in their Lucknow house. Image Source: IANS News

Lucknow, Sep 1 : Vinay Srivastava, a friend of Vikas Kishore, son of Union Minister Kaushal Kishore, was shot dead in the minister's house on Friday.

The incident took place on Friday morning in the Begaria village in Thakurganj area in Lucknow and the police were informed when neighbours heard gun shots.

The licensed pistol of the ministeras son has been found on the spot.

A team of forensic experts and senior police officials were present on the spot and four persons have been detained for questioning.

Further details are awaited.

Kaushal Kishoreas other son Akash had died in 2020 to alcohol and drugs.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : Global technology brand realme said on Friday that it has always been at the forefront of innovation and has upped its game of fast charging by introducing technology such as introducing the 'World's Fastest Charging Power of 240W' in the realme GT 3.

With the advent of smartphones and their multifunctional capabilities, charging has become a daily necessity. This shift in charging behaviour paved the way for faster and more adaptive charging technologies. Consumers now demand not only longer battery life but also quicker charging times to support their dynamic lifestyles.

The realme C Series has a massive user base of over 30 million in India and has achieved an impressive milestone in 2022 by adding 10.7 million customers.

The realme C series embodies the essence of a champion, embodying the highest standards of achievement, as signified by the letter "C". This reinforces realme's conviction that every individual holds the capacity to become a champion in their own life.

realme said it is committed to provide its users fast charging technology at an accessible price point and with every new generation, the C Series consistently fulfills this commitment through the smartphones they introduce within this category.

From fast charging, camera technology to design aesthetics, the C series has made its mark and each new range of C Series smartphones stands out to lead the segment with its unparalleled strategic upgrades in four key areas: charging, camera, storage, and design.

realme introduced the 33W fast charging in realme C55, that launched in March 2023. Strengthening its commitment of democratizing fast charging in every segment, the integration of 33W fast charging in the realme C51 is a leap in that direction. realme is set to launch the first 33W fast charge in the price segment with realme C51, said the company.

The realme C51's 33W fast charging capability is not just a technical achievement; it has significant implications for users seeking high-performance features without making a hole in their pocket.

In comparison to its predecessor, the realme C31, which had 10W charging, realme C51 has remarkably amplified its charging speed by 100 per cent, according to the global smartphone brand.

The realme C51 comes with a massive 5000mAh battery and features such as Charging algorithm and charge protection that ensures fast and safe charging for all.

The C51 challenges the notion that advanced technology comes at a premium, making top-tier charging speeds accessible to a wider audience.

With the unprecedented 33W charging capability within the under 15K price segment, the C51 sets a new standard for affordability and performance.

The demand for fast charging solutions has grown exponentially, driven by users' desire for minimal downtime and maximum productivity. The realme C51's introduction of 33W fast charging in the under 15K price segment emerges as a solution to address this need, allowing users to power up their devices conveniently.

As the C series continues to evolve, realme reaffirmed its commitment to delivering exceptional experiences to a diverse user base.

The fusion of budget friendliness, performance, and fast charging in the realme C51 sets a new benchmark. It is an exciting combination of combining powerful hardware, intelligent software, and strategic partnerships by realme.

"If you're always on the go and are seeking a smartphone that offers top-notch performance & supports your dynamic lifestyle without breaking the bank, the realme C51 deserves a prime spot on your list," said realme.
Mumbai, Sep 1 : Even as the formal meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is all set to take place here on Friday, deliberations over seat sharing, joint coordination committee and the strategy for the Parliament's 5-day Special Session is all set to come up for discussion.

A top source, related to the development, told IANS, "From today formal interaction will begin at the INDIA meeting which is being attended by 63 leaders of the 28 parties."

The source said, "During the meeting today, a deliberation will be held on the formation of the coordination panel, which will help in easing the discussions for the INDIA bloc."

"Besides the coordination panel, the leaders will also discuss the strategy for the upcoming Special Session of Parliament, on how the INDIA bloc will once again present a united face," the source said.

When asked if there will be any discussions on seat sharing issue, the source said, "Yes, the seat sharing issue will also be discussed in detail on what will be its format and how it will be decided, for example the seats or states where the regional parties are big and strong, then the Congress needs to backoff."

The source explained that the seats will not be decided, but that understanding has to be brought in the mind of all the leaders that it is necessary for defeating the BJP to stop the split in the vote share.

The source also refuted that the INDIA bloc leaders will decide the seat sharing formula by September 30 and said first we need to have the understanding on what will be its format and how it needs to be taken forward within a framework.

The source said: "The INDIA bloc leaders will first need to have understanding of the framework of the seat sharing and then a detailed discussion will be taken up on which seats which parties were first, second or third position in the last elections."

It is worth mentioning that the Congress had contested on 421 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and was in a direct fight with the BJP at 373 seats. BJP had contested the 2019 polls on 435 seats while rest of the seats were contested by its alliance partners.

However, the grand old party could manage to win only 52 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections despite former party chief Rahul Gandhi running an aggressive campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The source further said that with the Odisha's BJD, Telangana's BRS and the Andhra Pradesh's YSR Congress Party and the TDP staying away from the INDIA bloc, the party leaders will leave a decision on the Congress.

The INDIA source also said that a discussion on the Convenor post will also come up for discussion during the day.

The source said that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar are the frontrunners for the post.

The source said that RJD supremo and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had also suggested having zone wise coordinators.

Meanwhile, a Congress source said that a detailed discussion is going on in the party looking at the seats it contested directly against the BJP in 2019.

The source said that the road ahead is not much smooth as it requires a lot of serious talks which involves sacrifice in the states where the regional parties are its main rivals.

He said that the optics of posing for photos together will only work if the parties are ready for sacrifices, adjustments and seat sharing with a bigger heart, which will require very delicate deliberations.

On Friday, a new logo for the INDIA alliance is also likely to be launched.

The like-minded parties have come together to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and to stop it from winning a third consecutive term at the Centre in the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The first meeting of the joint Opposition took place in Bihar's Patna on June 23, and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18.

--IANSaks/dpb
New Delhi, Sep 1 : YouTube Music has redesigned its "Now Playing" screen with a new comments section that allows users to read and write comments directly from the app.

The redesign is currently being rolled out to iOS and Android devices globally, reports 9to5Google.

The new comments button shows existing comments from the official music video on YouTube.

Users can also type their own content, which adds a more engaging social component to the app.

The comment button is located under the cover art. When a user selects the button, a panel slides up on the screen.

Next to the comments are icons for like/dislike, save, share, download and radio, which were previously hidden and only accessible when users tapped on the album cover.

Late last month, YouTube Music rolled out a useful live lyrics feature on Android and iOS globally for music lovers.

The existing Lyrics tab in Now Playing gets upgraded with a new design and larger text that sees much better spacing. The page will refresh and move when the song jumps to the next line.

Google-owned YouTube has also announced that it is testing a new feature on Android that will allow users to search for a song on the platform by humming.

Users in the experiment can toggle from YouTube voice search to the new song search feature, and hum or record the song they are searching for over three seconds in order for the song to be identified.

--IANS

ana//
New Delhi, Sept 1 : Matrix Fight Night, India's premium mixed-martial arts promotion announced a blockbuster main event for the MFN 13, which is set to take place on October 28 at the Noida Indoor Stadium.

On the action-packed night that will feature 12 exciting bouts, India's very own Shyamanand, who has been on an impressive winning streak with 2 back-to-back KOs over two international opponents, will challenge the Featherweight Champion Sanjeet Budhwar for the title in the main event for a rematch years later.

Shyamanand, who hails from Bihar, had called out Haryana's Sanjeet after a TKO win over his opponent Mido Mohamed from Egypt at MFN 12 on July 1. His only professional loss was at the hands of Budhwar; however, has improved drastically since then, creating immense buzz around this highly anticipated Main Event.

The 'Silent Killer' Sanjeet had beaten Atabek Abdimitalipov of Kyrgyzstan in a thrilling 5 round bout for the crown in December 2022. He has remained unbeaten in his last three MFN bouts and will hope to continue his streak against Shyamanand.

Speaking on the title bout, Sanjeet said: "I feel like I am ready for any challenge that is thrown at me. Shyamanand has risen through the ranks and has earned a title shot. But while he thinks he is ready for me, he will be in for a surprise at MFN 13."

Meanwhile, throwing the gauntlet, Shyamanand added: "I have been waiting to get in the cage with Sanjeet again for a long time. Winning the MFN title means everything because it represents that you are the best among the best. I will give my all to win and become the new MFN Featherweight Champion."

On the other hand, South Asiaas biggest prospect, Afghanistan's most popular MMA star, Abdul Azim Badakhshi will make a return to MFN and will square off against Korea's Hae Jin Park (Road FCas Featherweight champion) in the Co-Main event of the night.

Addressing the MFN 13 fight card, Ayesha Shroff, Co-Founder MFN, said, "We are really excited with the MFN 13 fight card. Some of the most talented fighters are on the card this time around and matchups that fans have wanted to see for a long time have been delivered. This will truly be one of our best shows ever."
New Delhi, Sep 1 : The Supreme Court on Friday handed life imprisonment to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Prabhunath Singh in the double murder case of 1995, and also awarded a seven-year jail term for the offence of attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.

With pronouncing its judgement in the case, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S. Oka and Vikram Nath also directed a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for both the families of the deceased persons and Rs 5 lakh each for the injured.

The compensation is to be paid by the Bihar government and the convict separately.

On August 18, a special bench comprising Justices S.K. Kaul, Abhay S. Oka and Vikram Nath held the former Member of Parliament (MP) guilty in the case, reversing the acquittal decision rendered by the Patna High Court.

During the hearing on Friday, Justice Kaul said: "Life or death sentence, there are only two options."

Senior Advocate R. Basant appearing for the respondent argued that in the case of Bachhan Singh it is stated that the graver option of sentence is chosen when the lesser option is unquestionably foreclosed.

"Do you seriously think we are considering the death penalty?" Justice Oka asked the Senior Advocate Basant.

Senior Advocate A.M. Singhvi argued that with two acquittals, the presumption of innocence is enhanced and that the review is pending on the matter. However, the bench said that the review will be decided later on in chambers.

The court was apprised that Singh is now 70 years old.

"Rest is up to God, whatever he gives him," Justice Kaul said.

"Never seen a case like this before," Justice Vikram Nath remarked.

The apex court recently allowed former Bihar MP Prabhunath Singh to appear virtually through video conferencing for hearing on the quantum of sentence after it held him guilty in 1995 double murder case.

A bench headed by Justice S.K. Kaul had exempted the RJD leader from physical appearance against the top court's earlier direction asking Bihar's Home Secretary and DGP (Director General of Police) to produce him on September 1 before the apex court, when order as to the quantum of sentence will be pronounced.

"Accused-respondent no. 2 (Prabhunath Singh) is thus convicted under Sections 302 and 307 IPC for the murders of Daroga Rai and Rajendra Rai and also for attempt to murder of injured Lalmuni Devi (mother of deceased Rajendra Rai)," it had said.

In its judgement, the apex court had said that there was sufficient evidence to show that Singh murdered Rajendra Rai and Daroga Rai near a polling booth in Bihar's Chhapra in 1995.

The appeal before the top court was instituted by the brother of the deceased in 2012 against the order of the Patna High Court upholding acquittal by trial court on the ground of lack of evidence.

As per the FIR, Singh openly fired from his rifle on a group of people who did not vote for him while they were returning after casting their vote in the election in 1995.

Prabhunath Singh is currently serving life imprisonment in another murder case of Ashok Singh.

--IANS

spr/dpb
Interfax-Ukraine to host discussion 'Is it advisable, under current military-political circumstances, to plan re-elections of parliament, president next year?'

On Monday, September 4, at 12.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency will host a discussion entitled "Is it advisable, under current military-political circumstances, to plan re-elections of parliament, president next year?".

Participants include

olitical expert Oleksandr Kochetkov;

political scientist, political expert Kostiantyn Matviyenko;

political scientist and Board Chairman of the Center for Applied Political Research Penta Volodymyr Fesenko (8/5a Reitarska Street).

The event will be streamed on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot.
INDIA bloc meet begins in Mumbai: Strategy to take on BJP, convenor's post, seat sharing on agenda. Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Sep 1 : The formal meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) began on Friday here to discuss several issues to chalk out a strategy to take on the ruling BJP-led NDA at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting of the INDIA bloc started at 11 a.m. with over 60 leaders from 28 political parties in attendance.

The INDIA bloc leaders had on Monday evening informally met and discussed several issues on the first day of the two-day meeting.

In the main meeting on Friday, the INDIA leaders will discuss the seat sharing framework, candidate for the convenor post, formation of coordination panel and also to discuss the strategy for the upcoming Special Session of Parliament from September 18 to 22.

The source said that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is in the race for the post of convenor of the INDIA bloc, while some are backing Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar too.

The like-minded parties have come together to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and to stop it from winning a third consecutive term at the Centre in the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The first meeting of the joint Opposition took place in Bihar's Patna on June 23, and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18.

--IANSaks/dpb
New Delhi, Sep 1 : Government on Friday launched the "Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar" invoice incentive scheme, under which consumers will be encouraged to demand a GST invoice to improve tax compliance.

"After being introduced on 1st July 2017, Goods and Services Tax #GST has become a gamechanger in Indiaas indirect tax system. As part of the overall scheme of things in #GST, #Mera_Bill_Mera_Adhikaar Invoice Incentive Scheme has been launched from TODAY to encourage the customers to demand an invoice and to improve #B2C #TaxCompliance," the Finance Ministry said in X, formerly Twitter.

The scheme is currently active as a pilot project in Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Puducherry, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also visiting a market place in Gurugram today, to encourage GST bill generation on payment.
Kolkata, Sep 1 : Presence of Trinamool Congress is the only hurdle for All India Secular Front (AISF) to be a part of the grand opposition INDIA bloc, according to the lone AISF representative in West Bengal Assembly, Naushad Siddique.

"I personally have great admiration towards Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Had Trinamool Congress not been in the INDIA alliance, AISF would not have hesitated to join hands with the opposition forces. But the presence of Trinamool Congress is the only hurdle," Siddique said.

Political observers feel that through these comments Siddique had virtually made it clear that his party will be going alone in the big-battle of 2024 Lok Sabha polls instead of going for alliance with Congress and Left Front as it did in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls.

Already speculation is there that Siddique might himself contest from minority- dominated Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency in South 24 Parganas district, where from the sitting MP is Trinamool Congress' national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

AISF leadership is also considering fielding candidates from a number of other minority-dominated Lok Sabha constituencies in Howrah, Murshidabad and Malda districts.

As of Trinamool Congress, their stand about AISF is clear. According to the state's ruling party AISF is acting as a clandestine partner of BJP whose only aim is division in the minority votes in West Bengal to give the saffron camp a mileage.

Political observers too feel that the possible event of AISF contesting independently will be a factor of discomfort for the anti- BJP forces as it would mean a possible division in the minority voters.

"The advantage of this division in minority votes will ultimately go in favour of BJP provided how much the latter is successful in consolidating the majority voters in its favour," said a city- based political observer.
Chennai, Sep 1 : Indian insurance regulator has referred the curious case of Axis Bank and two other group companies buying shares of Max Life Insurance Company Ltd at a very low rate from shareholders/promoters of the insurer and selling them back at a very high price in a matter of few days, to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), said a senior official.

Last October, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) had penalised Axis Bank Rs 2 crore for the share transactions which was done mainly to get excess remuneration as corporate agent of Max Life than permissible under the rules.

"IRDAI had in the past imposed penalty and had shared those details with both SEBI and RBI. As independent regulators they are free to examine any aspects that may fall within their purview," a senior official in IRDAI told IANS preferring anonymity.

In a regulatory filing on August 31, 2023, Max Financial Services Ltd (a parent of Max Life) said: "SEBI had sought various details/clarifications from the Company. The requisite details have been submitted by the Company to SEBI for its consideration. The Company has not heard anything from SEBI in this regard."

"In this regard, we would like to further state that the Company had taken appropriate approvals from its shareholders in 2020 (with 99.99% affirmative voting from the shareholders) for cementing the long-term strategic partnership with Axis Bank in respect of its life insurance subsidiary, viz., Max Life which included certain transfer of shares of Max Life and that all adequate disclosures have been made by the Company," the Max Financial added.

According to IRDAI, on 29.2.2016, Axis Bank bought about 9.57 crore shares of the Max Life from Max Financial and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company Ltd  the two promoters of the life insurer- for Rs.10.79 per share for about Rs.103 crore.

Later on 22.3.2018, 18.12.2018 and 19.12.2018, Max Financial and Mitsui Sumitomo bought back about 5.73 crore shares for Rs.108.20, Rs.115 and Rs.134 per share respectively.

On March 15 and 16of 2021, Max Financial and Mitsui Sumitomo bought about 1.91 crore shares of Max Life for Rs.166 per share from Axis Bank.

Interestingly, 10 days later, on 26.3.2021, two group companies of Axis Bank - Axis Capital and Axis Securities- bought about 5.74 crore shares of Max Life (Axis Capital 3.83 crore, Axis Securities 1.91 crore) from Max Financial for just Rs.31.51 per share.

On 6.4.2021, Axis Bank bought 17.27 crore shares of Max Life from Max Financial for Rs.32.12 per share.

The issue blew up when Max Life had applied to IRDAI seeking its approval for transfer of about 9.91 crore shares held by Mitsui Sumitomo to Max Financial.

Following the correspondence with Max Life, IRDAI observed that Max Financial and Mitsui Sumitomo had a series of share sale/buy transactions with its corporate agent Axis Bank.

The IRDAI said shares of the life insurer were transferred to Axis Bank at a value which is substantially lower than the fair market value and buying it back at a substantially higher price.

IRDAI officials told IANS that this is an ingenious way of remunerating a corporate agent in excess of what is permissible under the regulations.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached atv.jagannathan@ians.in)
Islamabad, Sep 1 : Pakistani President Arif Alvi is likely to notify the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Federal Law Ministry to hold general elections in the country during November, relating his decision on the basis of constitutional binding of holding polls within 90 days of the caretaker government's tenure.

Reliable sources have confirmed that President Alvi is likely to defy the opinions of ECP and the Law Ministry, who has responded to his letters, stating that ECP was empowered to announce the date of elections and that the President's suggestion of holding elections within 90 days and announcing the date of polls immediately was irrelevant under the new electoral amendments, which give prime authority to the ECP Commissioner to announce the date of elections.

However, sources say that after the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) on holding elections within 90 days of the caretaker setup in Punjab province; President Alvi is now gearing up to write another letter to ECP and Law Ministry, notifying and announcing the date of next general elections during November 2023.

The source said that the President would be referring to the recent decision of the SCP and also to the Constitution, which authorises him to announce the date of elections after consultations with the ECP and the relevant Law Ministry.

"The President will write another letter to the ECP, suggesting a date in November for the elections," the source added.

"President Alvi has been advised by his legal team that an act of Parliament could not override the provisions of the Constitution and that Parliament might have amended the Elections Act 2017, but the Constitution was clear that polls would have to take place within 90 days," the source said.

It should be noted that President Alvi had previously invited the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on August 23, 2023, for consultations regarding setting of date for the general elections. However, the ECP wrote back to the President, highlighting that after the amendment in the Election Act 2017, by the Parliament, the President has no role in fixing the elections' date.

A similar response was also sent in response to President Alvi's letter to the interim Law Ministry as well.

However, the President is not convinced and has decided to use his power as per the Constitution and the law, the elections are supposed to take place within 90 days following the dissolution of assemblies, and write back to ECP against, directing announcement of elections during November 2023.

Moreover, the apex court is also set to take up the issue during next week as it is stated recently in its verdict on delay in elections in Punjab province, that it will not accept any steps that may be in violation of the Constitution.

The matter has become a tug of war between the ECP and the President's office, which has further spread political uncertainty over the date of next general elections.
Mumbai, Sept 1 : The rock music festival 'Independence Rock', which made its comeback last year after a nine-year hiatus is set to return with its new edition this year. Known to be India's oldest rock festival, titled Mahindra Independence Rock, it will make its way to Mumbai's Bayview Lawns in Mazgaon area on November 4 and 5.

Overlooking the Arabian Sea, the Mahindra I-Rock stage will host rock subgenres transcending geographical boundaries by stretching its soundscape across the length and breadth of the country. From the north and the northeast to the west and the south, as well as crossing borders to Nepal, Mahindra I-Rock seeks to bring and unite diverse sounds of rock to its stage.

The festival will see a confluence of genres from old-school thrash, death metal, genre-bending fusion of rock and reggae, the authentic 1980s style glam metal to the blend of Indian classical and folk sounds of the mridangam and flute with guitar riffs and pulsating drums.

Farhad Wadia, Founder of Independence Rock, said: "Since the 1980s, the festival has provided a platform to launch careers of several huge names in the rock fraternity, and it has sparked an everlasting spirit among rockers across India. This stage is where it all began."

He further mentioned, "Mahindra I-Rock is not just a festival; it has become a meaningful movement. And movements never die - they are recorded in history. They not only continue to inspire future generations but are also reborn over and over. Mahindra I-Rock is one such movement that I hope continues to inspire the new gen to express themselves uninhibitedly through rock and live on."

The festival will also nurture the growth of new and aspiring artistes in the genre with 'Tomorrow's Headliners'.
Sydney, Sep 1 : Police in the Australian state of Victoria on Friday issued an urgent road safety warning to motorists ahead of the high-risk spring period.

The announcement came after a fatal truck collision on Thursday morning killed four people on Hume highway at the intersection of Wenkes road in Chiltern, northeast Victoria.

Data from Victoria Police showed that the state has recorded 197 lives lost so far this year -- 40 more deaths than at the same time last year, Xinhua news agency reported.

"With spring a time when many recreational motorcyclists jump back on their bikes, police are urging all riders to be extra cautious and calling for other road users to pay due attention to their surroundings," said the authority.
Lucknow, Sep 1 : Development and law and order will now be reviewed separately in 68 districts of Uttar Pradesh and guidelines for this have been fixed.

According to a government spokesman, law and order and development works will be evaluated, monitored and reviewed at different levels in the state.

The development work of government departments and officers of various levels in law and order will be reviewed on the basis of information available on the Chief Minister Dashboard. Poor performing officers will be identified and their work improved.

Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra has issuedguidelinesfor review of law and order and development works.After the order of the government, the district magistrates will review the law and order in 68 districts.

On the other hand in rest of the seven districts, police commissioners will review the law and order in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra, Noida, Prayagraj and Ghaziabad under the police commissioner system.

The review of law and order and development works at the divisional level will now be separate. Divisional level meeting will have to be organized within a week of the district level review meeting.

The review meeting of development works will be chaired by the Divisional Commissioner. In the divisional headquarters where the police commissionerate system is not applicable, the law-and-order meeting will also be held under the chairmanship of the divisional commissioner.

Inspector General of Police, Deputy Inspector General and Police Captains of the districts located in the circle will be present in the meeting. Additional commissioner has been appointed as the nodal officer in the circle for revenue and development work. Deputy Inspector General of Police has been appointed as the nodal officer in the circle for law and order.

The review of development work and law and order at the district level will be different.

The development work will be reviewed in the meeting chaired by the District Magistrate. Instructions have been given to organise a meeting within a week of publishing the ranking of the CM Dashboard every month. The Chief Development Officer has been nominated as the nodal officer of the CM Dashboard to review the development works at the district level.

The Police Commissioner performance will be reviewed by the Principal Secretary Home and the DGP in the districts, including Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur where the Police Commissioner system is in force.

The law and order there will also be reviewed every month by the Principal Secretary Home and the Director General of Police.

The ranking will be released on the 15th of every month on the basis of the implementation of the services and schemes of various departments on the CM Dashboard. The performance index, data quality index and work done on flagship projects will be made the basis of ranking.
Manila, Sep 1 : Five Philippine government militiamen were killed and three others wounded in an ambush on Friday by suspected New People's Army (NPA) rebels in Quezon province, southeast of Manila, a military spokesperson said.

Dennis Cana, spokesperson of the military's Southern Luzon Command said the attack occurred around 7:00 a.m. local time while the government forces were on patrol in Tagkawayan town to investigate the presence of an undetermined number of NPA fighters, Xinhua news agency reported.

The militiamen were members of the Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit, a paramilitary force helping the military in a counter-insurgency campaign against the NPA rebels.

Additional troops were also sent to the clash site to pursue the fleeing rebels, Cana added.

NPA rebels have been fighting the government troops since 1969. They concentrate their attacks on rural areas and have skirmishes with the military.

Military data showed that the NPA is estimated to have 2,000 members, significantly lower than its peak strength in the 1980s.
Colombo, Sep 1 : Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka crossed the 900,000-mark this year on August 30, according to the latest statistics released by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

According to SLTDA, 900,708 tourists arrived in the country so far this year, which is an increase against 719,978 total arrivals reported for the entire year of 2022.

Sri Lanka's tourism industry is aiming to attract two million visitors in 2023, Xinhua news agency reported.

Tourism, as one of Sri Lanka's leading foreign exchange earners, has suffered a setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and economic and political crises in the South Asian country.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. Alkis Vryenios Drakinos has been appointed as Director, Regional Head of the Caucasus for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Bank told Trend.

He will take up his role on 1 September 2023 and will be based in Tbilisi. Drakinos will lead the Banks operations in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia.

"I am delighted to return to the Caucasus and look forward to taking on this exciting mandate, building on my previous experience of the region and track record with the EBRD. Supporting the Caucasus is a central priority for the Bank. The region has great potential for further development and integration into the global economy, and I am keen to start working with the local EBRD teams to make a tangible contribution to the success of these economies," he said.

To date, the Bank has invested more than 10 billion euros in 680 projects in the Caucasus, in the financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors, with the majority of those investments supporting private sector development.
Los Angeles, Sept 1 : The Robert Pattinson-starrer 'The Batman' had already announced its sequel for 2025. While date is likely to be pushed due to the Hollywood strikes, director Matt Reeves has revealed the villains, narrowing down the options to either Clayface or Mister Freeze.

Matt Reeves had earlier also expressed great interest in wanting to use either Clayface or Mister Freeze for the sequel, along with the Court of Owls, Professor Pyg or the Calendar Man instead of constantly focusing on the Joker.

The sequel will kick off production in March 24, 2024, instead of the originally scheduled to begin filming this November, due to the ongoing WGA strike, though a delay in release date, while likely hasnat been confirmed, Aceshowbiz reported.

aThe Batmana was noted for its dark and gritty tone, and in particular its neo-noir style of filmmaking and focusing more on the detective aspects of Batman, making it one of the more comic accurate movies.

The X (formerly Twitter) user MyTimeToShineHello who is known for keeping track of all the updates regarding aThe Batmana confirmed that Clayface has been the confirmed villain.

Earlier, Andy Serkis who played Bruce Wayneas butler Alfred in the first film had also said that Clayface was a very likely option as Matt Reeves was particularly fascinated with him, although what version of Clayface he will use is unknown.

A prominent enemy of Batman, Clayface possesses clay-like bodies and shapeshifting abilities. The character has appeared on adult animated black comedy superhero series aHarley Quinna, voiced by Alan Tudyk, and in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), voiced by Ron Perlman. Live-action versions of the character also appeared on the television series aGothama, portrayed by Brian McManamon, and aPennywortha, portrayed by Lorraine Burroughs.

Details of aThe Batman 2a are mostly kept under wraps. In April 2022, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Boss Toby Emmerich confirmed at CinemaCon in Las Vegas that the sequel has been greenlit, with Pattinson, writer/director Reeves "and the whole team" returning.

Reeves, who also made an appearance at the panel, shared at the time, "This is thrilling for me." He admitted he is a fan of Pattinson's character and "is excited to jump back into this world for the next chapter."

The first film also stars Zoe Kravitz, Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis and Paul Dano. No release date is set just yet for the sequel.
Seoul, Sep 1 : South Korea will "strongly" file a complaint against Japan with the UN maritime safety agency if Tokyo does not follow its original plan regarding the release of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, Seoul's Oceans Ministry said on Friday.

Last week, Japan began discharging radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was crippled by a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami, into the sea.

All eyes are on whether the issue will be discussed during next month's meeting on the London Convention and Protocol framework under the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korea has called for discussions on the potential impacts of the release on the marine environment under the framework, while Japan has refuted the call, claiming that such a discharge should not be seen as an act of marine dumping.

"The government is reviewing details and strategies regarding the possible discussions. We will strongly file a complaint with the IMO or seek other international dispute settlement tools if Japan carries out the release in a different way from its earlier promises," Vice Oceans Minister Park Sung-hoon said during a regular briefing on the Fukushima issue.

According to a document drawn up after a Protocol meeting in 2022, the IMO said it is "not certain" that a broad interpretation of the London Protocol would consider that such a disposal would fall within the scope of the treaty, and member nations differ on the interpretation.

The London Convention, which has been in force since 1975, is meant to promote the effective control of all sources of marine pollution and to take steps to prevent marine pollution by the dumping of waste and other matter.

In 1996, the London Protocol was agreed in order to modernise the Convention, and it prohibits all dumping, with some exceptions.

IMO Secretary-General Lim Ki-taek told a press interview in Seoul in June that parties concerned can discuss policy measures on the Fukushima issue during upcoming meetings, and the IMO, apart from that, is reviewing what it can do.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : An 85-year-old woman was allegedly raped and brutally assaulted by an unidentified man in Delhi in the early hours of Friday, a DCW official said.

The accused even punched her face, slit her lips with a blade, and tried to strangle her, the official added.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) said that they have received information of rape with an 85-year-old woman who lives in a slum in Shakurpur area of Delhi.

"She told DCW that she lives alone in her jhuggi after the death of her husband. She has alleged that on September 1, at around 4 a.m, a person forcibly entered her jhuggi and raped her. She also said that the accused punched her face, cut her lip with a blade, and tried to strangulate her. There are injuries all over her face and private parts," said a DCW official.

The Commission has issued notice to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) seeking a copy of the FIR registered in the matter, details of the accused arrested and steps taken by the Delhi Police to provide security to the woman.

The DCW has also asked police whether a list of elderly people living alone in police jurisdiction has been maintained? "Please inform us of the steps aken to protect them.

Considering the gravity of the matter, please provide the sought information to the Commission latest by September 5," it said.

"Today, humanity has been torn apart in Delhi! At 4 a.m this morning in Shakarpur, an 85-year-old woman was brutally raped inside her hut. Meeting her and seeing her wounds shook my soul. Whether it's an 8-month-old baby or an 85-year-old woman, they are all victims of barbarity. The demand for the police to issue notices and make arrests has been raised!," said the DCW chief Swati Maliwal on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Mumbai, Sept 1 : Rappers Badshah and Raftaar are all set to bring their magic to the finale of the dance reality show 'Hip Hop India'. The Top 3 on the show are ready for the ultimate dance-off in the final showdown.

Badshaah and Raftaar will join the judges Remo D'Souza and Nora Fatehi as they set the stage on fire with their astounding acts. As seen in the promo Badshah welcomes everyone for the grand finale of the show followed by glimpses of some dazzling performances by Sushant Khatri and Vartika Jha.

Talking about being a part of the show, Badshah shared: "I'm excited that 'Hip Hop India' has curated a platform that helps underground talent showcase their prowess to a wider audience. I am thrilled to be a part of this process where the undiscovered talent of our nation will get their deserving share of the spotlight. Being the ultimate Hip-hop dance reality show, this is just the first step by Hip Hop India towards contributing to a larger conversation of discovery and development of budding street dancers and helping homegrown hip-hop culture reach a wider audience."

The top 3 finalists are Divyam & Darshan, UGH, and Rahul Bhagat who secured the throne of winners in their categories.

While the top 3 participants prepare for their final showdown, Nora Fatehi turns up the heat with her performance while Remo D'Souza will return to the stage after 3 years.

Raftaar said: "Personally, I love the tagline 'Gully se Glory tak'. It really does tell the story of an artist's journey and how they fought all the odds and achieved success. 'Hip-Hop India' has well and truly given hip-hop dancers across India the perfect platform to showcase their talent to the world and take a step closer to their dreams. I have been following the show and all the participants are supremely talented. It is quite difficult to choose one favorite and I can't wait to see them perform live."

'Hip Hop India' streams on Amazon miniTV.
Nagpur, Sept 1 : Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said India is a Hindu Rashtra and a sizeable population of the country firmly believe in the concept.

He said a few people do not understand this fact and refuse to accept it, but the fact is, "India is a Hindu nation and significant people accept it."

The RSS Chief was addressing the inauguration ceremony of a new office of Shri Narakesari Prakashan Limited in Nagpur which publishes RSS's Marathi daily Tarun Bharat.

The RSS Chief said that a section of people may not accept 'India as a Hindu Rasthra' for their selfish motives. "It is a Hindu land with Hindu culture where everyone has a bond."

"Hindustan (India) is a Hindu Rashtra and this is a fact. Ideologically, all Bharatiyas (Indians) are Hindus and Hindus mean all Bharatiyas. All those who are in Bharat (India) today are related to Hindu culture, Hindu ancestors and Hindu land, nothing other than these."

Addressing the gathering at the office of the newspaper, he said reporting should cover everyone and be done fairly and based on facts while "keeping our own ideology intact."

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also joined the stage with Bhagwat and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, cited the media's influence and called it necessary for it to propagate "proper ideas".

"The media must work to raise social consciousness. The media are expected to bring positivity to the thoughts of the citizens and should aim to eliminate negativity. Thoughts are expected to get priority over business," Fadnavis said.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who was the chief guest at the ceremony, said inclusiveness should be the identity of a newspaper.

"Readers love media that are inclusive along with ideological identity."
Patna, Sep 1 : The tussle between governor house and Education department may intensify in coming days as the principal secretary to the governor of Bihar, Robert L Chongthu, has issued fresh directives to the vice chancellors of all the universities of the state to follow the decisions of the Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar.

A letter in this regard was issued from Raj Bhawan which directed all VC to follow the decisions of the Bihar governor who is also a chancellor of all universities.

The letter said that there is no need to follow the guidelines of authorities other than the Governor. The decision was taken amid additional chief secretary K. K. Pathak stopping the salaries of VC and Pro VC of BR Ambedkar Bihar University BRABU Muzaffarpur recently.

The education department had also stopped the financial transactions of the university as well.

Earlier, Bihar education department has stopped payment of BRABU Muzaffarpur and also asked the Bihar governor to define how universities of state are independent institutions if the state government is providing funds to a tune of Rs 4,000 crore every year and the money belongs to taxpayers.

The department had also issued an advertisement for the appointment of Vice Chancellors of five universities of the state on August 22.

The five universities are KDS Sanskrit university Darbhanga, Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University Muzaffarpur, Lalit Narayan Mithila University Darbhanga, Patna university Patna and Jay Prakash University Chapra.

The Raj Bhawan of Bihar viewed all this as a violation of the governor's right as he is also holding the post of Chancellor of all universities in the state.

On August 23, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met the governor and tried to cool off tension between Raj Bhawan and the education department.
Quito, Sep 1 : The fragile security situation in Ecuador was underscored by a series of car bombings and the hostage-taking of more than 50 law enforcement officers inside various prisons, just weeks after the country was shaken by the assassination of a presidential candidate.

Authorities said the brazen actions were the response of criminal groups to the relocation of various inmates and other measures taken by the country's corrections system. The crimes happened three weeks after the slaying of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, Associated Press reported.

Ecuador's National Police reported no injuries resulting from the four explosions in Quito, the capital, and in a province that borders Peru, while Interior Minister Juan Zapata said none of the law enforcement officers taken hostage in six different prisons had been injured.

The corrections system, known as the National Service for Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty, in recent years lost control of large prisons, which have been the site of violent riots resulting in dozens of deaths. It has taken to transferring inmates to manage gang-related disputes.

In Quito, the first bomb went off Wednesday night in an area where an office of the country's corrections system was previously located. The second explosion in the capital happened early Thursday outside the agency's current location, Associated Press reported.

Ecuador National Police General Pablo RamArez, the national director of anti-drug investigations, told reporters on Thursday that police found gas cylinders, fuel, fuses and blocks of dynamite among the debris of the crime scenes in Quito, where the first vehicle to explode was a small car and the second was a pickup truck.

Authorities said gas tanks were used in the explosions in the El Oro communities of Casacay and Bella India.

The fire department in the city of Cuenca, where one of the prisons in which law enforcement officers are being held hostage is located, reported that an explosive device went off Thursday night. The department did not provide additional details beyond saying the explosion damaged a car.

Zapata said seven of prison hostages are police officers and the rest are prison guards. In a video shared on social media, which Zapata identified as authentic, a police officer who identifies himself as Lt. Alonso Quintana asks authorities "not to make decisions that violate the rights of persons deprived of their liberty". He can be seen surrounded by a group of police and corrections officers and says that about 30 people are being held by the inmates.

Ecuadorian authorities attribute the country's spike in violence over the past three years to a power vacuum triggered by the killing in 2020 of Jorge Zambrano, alias "Rasquina" or "JL," the leader of the local Los Choneros gang. Members carry out contract killings, run extortion operations, move and sell drugs, and rule prisons.

Los Choneros and similar groups linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels are fighting over drug-trafficking routes and control of territory, including within detention facilities, where at least 400 inmates have died since 2021, Associated Press reported.

Villavicencio, the presidential candidate, had a famously tough stance on organised crime and corruption. He was killed on August 9 at the end of a political rally in Quito despite having a security detail that included police and bodyguards.

He had accused Los Choneros and its imprisoned current leader Adolfo MacAas, alias "Fito," whom he linked to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, of threatening him and his campaign team days before the assassination.

Ecuador's Security Secretary, Wagner Bravo, told FMundo radio station that six prisoners who were relocated may have been involved in Villavicencio's slaying.

The Mayor of Quito, Pabel Munoz, told the Teleamazonas television station that he was hoping "for justice to act quickly, honestly and forcefully".

"We are not going to give up. May peace, calm and security prevail among the citizens," Munoz said.

The country's National Police tallied 3,568 violent deaths in the first six months of this year, far more than the 2,042 reported during the same period in 2022. That year ended with 4,600 violent deaths, the country's highest in history and double the total in 2021.

The port city of Guayaquil has been the epicentre of violence, but Esmeraldas, a Pacific coastal city, is also considered one of the country's most dangerous. There, six government vehicles were set on fire earlier this week, according to authorities.
Bhopal, Sep 1 : Madhya Pradesh Congress President Kamal Nath on Friday said that the implementation of 'One Nation, One Election' won't be possible only through amendments passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha but needs approval from all the states as well.

"In BJP-ruled states like Haryana and Maharashtra, they can decide and pass a proposal in the cabinet to dissolve their respective assemblies. It has to be seen if they want to conduct Lok Sabha election along with the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and other states," Kamal Nath said during a press conference in Neemuch district on Friday.

The Modi-led government has constituted a committee headed by former president of India Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of 'One Nation, One Election'.

The government has also called for a special Parliament session between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.

Assembly polls are due in five states in November-December of 2023 which will be followed by the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year.
Berlin, Sep 1 : Global smartphone brand Honor on Friday unveiled the so-called "thinnest and lightest" foldable smartphone at the annual IFA tech show here.

Called Magic V2, the weighs only 231 grams abut still packs competitive specifications, including a huge battery, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform and 120Hz displays, according to reports.

The Honor Magic V2 will go on sale in Europe and other key markets no later than the first quarter of 2024. The price of the device is not yet revealed.

It is around 9.9mm when folded. Despite this incredibly thin form factor, it houses a 5,000mAh battery, up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB and a triple camera setup.

In contrast to the Honor Magic Vs, its predecessor, the Magic V2 also supports stylus input on both the outer and inner screen, reports Android Police.

According to the company, it used "a new generation of Silicon-Carbon-Dual-Battery" that can pack more energy in a denser form factor, along with a redesigned titanium hinge that is supposed to make the hinge more durable and robust.

According to Honor, the foldable device can withstand more than 400,000 folds.

The company also showcased the 'Magic V Purse' concept device. Like the Mate X, the Purse's big outer display wraps around the whole body of the phone, with a thicker element smoothing out the surface when it's folded.

"The Magic V Purse is a concept phone that offers a unique form factor, resembling the original Huawei Mate X," reports Android Police.

Its outer display wraps around the phone's body, and it can be transformed into a clutch using various chains and straps.
UN rapporteur for North Korean human rights to visit Seoul next week. Image Source: IANS News

Seoul, Sep 1 : UN special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights Elizabeth Salmon will visit South Korea next week to meet Seoul officials as well as defectors from the reclusive regime, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Salmon is expected to arrive here on Monday for a nine-day stay to meet foreign, unification and justice officials, along with North Korean defectors, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She is also scheduled to hold a press conference in Seoul on Sepember 12, Yonhap news agency reported.

The rapporteur will submit a report on North Korean human rights issues to the UN based on results from the upcoming visit.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. The serviceman of the Azerbaijan Army Mahammad Taghiyev was wounded as a result of fire opened by the Armenian armed forces units in Zod direction of the Basarkechar region of Armenia, Trend reports citing the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The serviceman was immediately provided with first aid and evacuated to a military medical facility, the ministry said.

"Currently, the positions of the Azerbaijan Army in the mentioned direction are being subjected to fire. The Azerbaijan Army Units are taking retaliatory measures. We declare that the entire responsibility for the consequences of the provocation committed by the Armenian side falls on the leadership of this country," added the ministry.
Kolkata, Sep 1 : A presiding officer in the recently-concluded panchayat polls in West Bengal on Friday admitted before the Calcutta High Court that he was unable to prevent election malpractices due to threat to his life.

Sumit Pande, a teacher with a Kendriya Vidyalaya in Kolkata, who was presiding officer at an election booth in Beldanga-II block in Murshidabad district made the admission in an affidavit to the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha.

The bench was hearing a CPI(M) candidate Nasima Begum's plea seeking re-election.

Earlier, Justice Sinha asked Pande, who was the presiding officer at a booth, to file what happened on the polling day in an affidavit.

In the affidavit, Pande said, "miscreants took total control of the booth where he was a presiding officer by 12 noon. They broke the CCTV camera, snatched ballot papers and started mass stamping on a particular symbol.

Pande also said that throughout that period, the miscreants constantly threatened the polling officers including him of dire consequences in case of any resistance.

He said mobile phones of polling officers were snatched so that they cannot contact the sector office to report the incident, he said in the affidavit.

After the malpractices were over and ballot boxes were sealed, the miscreants forced him to write in the report that the polling process was peaceful.

A total of 55 persons were killed in election-related violence in the recently-concluded polls for the three- tier panchayat system in the state.
New Delhi, Aug 31 : The Delhi High Court has issued a notice a plea filed by an alumnus of Jamia Millia Islamia, challenging the decision to grant a no-objection certificate (NOC) for the sale of land, over which the university holds pre-emptive rights, to a third party named Zakia Zaheer.

Justice Subramonium Prasad has sought response from the university, the Union government, the University Grants Commission (UGC), Zaheer, and three professors who are nominees of the President, who serves as the university's Visitor.

The petitioner, Harisul Haq, currently employed as a Physical Education Teacher at Jamia Middle School and the outgoing Secretary of the Jamia School Teachers Association, alleges that the university is attempting to issue an NOC for the sale of land without following due legal processes.

He claims that this action is being taken in an arbitrary and illegal manner, benefiting certain third parties.

According to the plea, the university convened a meeting on August 4 to consider the issuance of the NOC. However, the three nominees of the visitor dissented, asserting that the action was illegal.

Furthermore, Haq argues that when the draft minutes of the meeting were circulated, the nominees communicated with the university, pointing out various errors and illegalities in the process.

Despite their dissent, the university proceeded with the issuance of the NOC, claiming that it was approved in the meeting's minutes, even though the minutes had not been signed.

The plea also highlights that Jamia Millia Islamia Alumni, UAE, had offered to fund the purchase of the land and donate it back to the university.

However, the university has not responded to this offer or addressed the objections raised by the visitor's nominees.

The plea alleges that the university is progressing with the issuance of the NOC in a manner that contradicts the law and without addressing the objections raised by the visitor's nominees or considering the offer made by the alumni association.

The petition also challenges the minutes of the meeting and calls for an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the surrender of the university's rights over the land in question.

Justice Prasad noted that the visitor's nominees, who are considered neutral parties, had protested against the grant of the NOC to Zaheer, arguing that it was against the university's interests.

The court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on November 23.

--IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, Sept 1 : Kerala's two high profile daughters -- Veena Vijayan daughter of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Achu Oommen Chandy, daughter of late Congress chief minister Oommen Chandy -- have been in news for different reasons.

Veena has come under attack after a leading vernacular newspaper -- Malayala Manorama came out with a news report that her IT firm Exalogic got Rs 1.72 crores from a Kochi based mining company CMRL.

The newspaper report had attributed the source of the news to the Income Tax Department which was followed by Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnaden coming out against Veenu with more news, leaving the CPI-M and its top leadership to defend Veena.

She was trolled over social media as well.

Veena was also in news after her name got associated with Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the gold smuggling case. It was also alleged that Veena was engaged in gold and currency smuggling.

"All projects in Kerala beginning with K are literally V projects, a vehicle for Veena to make money," said Swapna. She also alleged that she was offered a job in Veena's IT firm in Bengaluru, which she did not take up.

Meanwhile, Achu who always remained away from public glare as she is settled in the Middle East with her family also came under attack, as soon as the campaign for the Puthuppally assembly by-election to elect Chandy's successor was announced.

Congress has asked Chandy's son and Achu's elder brother Chandy Oommen as the candidate.

As soon as Achu arrived to join her brother in the election campaign, a top retired government official and ruling CPI-M activist Nandakumar wrote a social media post against Achu.

After Achu expressed displeasure with the social media post against her, Nandakumar withdrew it and rendered an apology. However, Achu registered a complaint with the Cyber wing of the police and following a public outrage against the post, the police registered a case against Nandakumar with bailable charges against him.

Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan wrote to Vijayan demanding immediate ouster of Nandakumar from the job which he was given allegedly by violating all the rules.

"If you really give any significance to your repeated stand on protecting the dignity of women, you should register a criminal case against Nandakumar and oust him from the job of the administrative officer at IHRD," wrote Satheesan in a letter to the Chief Minister Vijayan.

The difference between the daughters about how they have approached their respective crises is vast. While Achu has immediately filed a complaint, Veena is yet to respond to the allegations.
Surat, Sep 1 : Gujarat BJP unit President C R Paatil on Friday welcomed the idea of implementing 'One Nation, One Election' saying that it will refine the electoral procedure and optimise the national resources.

Paatil said that the goal of the aOne Nation, One Electiona system is to consolidate the voting periods of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, and mitigate the disruptions brought about by staggered elections each year.

He said that synchronised elections would not only be economically prudent but would also minimise the incessant political canvassing that often diverts leaders from crucial administrative and developmental tasks.

Paatil said that the coordination committee, which will be headed by the former president Ram Nath Kovind, will thoroughly review the constitutional and legal prerequisites, explore potential amendments, and establish the vital framework essential for holding concurrent elections seamlessly.

The committee is expected to present its findings during the Parliament's special session scheduled later this month.

Paatil also acknowledged potential challenges in the system's practical implementation but said that the aOne Nation, One Electiona system will centralise development and governance over political maneuvers.
Mumbai, Sept 1 : Popular TV actress Falaq Naaz, who is well known for her roles in 'Sasural Simar Ka', 'Bharat Ke Veer Putra: Maharana Pratap' and 'Ram Siya Ke Luv Kush', has completed 12 years in the TV industry, calling it one of her biggest milestones.

Upon completing a dozen years, she said: "It feels good. I didn't know that I would make it till here but I am happy and truly grateful to be here. Now people know me, my audience knows me by my name Falaq and not any character's name. After 12 years, I think this should be a time to celebrate. It is a very big milestone for me."

Detailing her 12-year journey, she said: "During my journey, I will say that I have played many characters, many beautiful, beautiful characters throughout. I have always been choosy about my work, and I believe I have done good work. People remember the work I have done, and it all started with the show 'Sasural Simar Ka', which is the biggest one because it gave me recognition as Jahnvi in front of everyone."

Elaborating further, she added: "After that, I've played such beautiful characters, which means I can say that young people, especially like the character I did in 'Devki'. I really enjoyed playing that role."

Falaq Naaz also made her entry on reality show with 'Bigg Boss OTT 2', where she was seen in the house with Salman Khan and was one of the contestants and lasted for a long time, until she was later eliminated back in July 24 , after a vote-out by her fellow contestants Elvish Yadav, Jiya Shankar and Avinash Sachdev.
ED conducting searches in premises of people linked to Senthil Balaji in Karur. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Sep 1 : Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that they have attached three land parcels worth Rs 161.64 crore situated at Chesire Home Road, Pugru and Siram in Ranchi land scam case involving IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan.

ED has also filed a supplementary chargesheet in the matter.

It said that these land parcels have been mutated fraudulently in favor of land mafias in connivance with the officers of Land and Revenue Department.

The ED had initiated investigation in three land scam cases based on multiple FIRs registered by Jharkhand Police and West Bengal Police against Pradip Bagchi, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, Bhanu Pratap Prasad and others under various sections of IPC.

ED said that a huge racket of illegal change of ownership of land by mafia is going on in Jharkhand.

"These criminal elements used to forge the legacy records in Kolkata and Ranchi. Ownership records of land have also been forged by the unscrupulous government officers to extend favors to the said land mafia. Subsequently, on the basis of forged land records, such land parcels are sold to other persons," ED said.

The ED had earlier carried out 41 searches and five surveys and various incriminating evidences such as forged seals of Land and Revenue Department, forged land deeds, records of distribution of proceeds of crime among them, photographs of forgery, evidences of giving bribe to Government officials etc. were seized.

Earlier, ED had attached three land parcels worth Rs. 74.39 Crore (commercial value) in another land scam case. With the current attachment, the total attachment in land scam cases reached to Rs 236 crore.

Till date, 14 accused namely Pradip Bagchi, Afshar Ali, Saddaam Hussain, Imtiaz Ahmed, Talha Khan, Faiyaaz Khan, Bhanu Pratap Prasad, Chhavi Ranjan, IAS (Ex DC Ranchi), Dilip Kumar Ghosh, Amit Kumar Agarwal, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, Rajesh Rai, Bharat Prasad and Prem Prakash have been arrested and are presently in judicial custody.

Earlier, a prosecution complaint was filed in June.

ED said that further investigation in underway.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : The CISF official on Friday said that they have apprehended an Uzbekistan national with US dollar valued at Rs 2.52 crore at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.

A CISF personnel deployed for pre-embarkation security checks at X-BIS No. 06 of International Security Hold Area of Terminal 3, noticed the doubtful images of concealment of currency notes in a bag.

The official referred the bag for physical checking and the passenger was also stopped. On thorough physical checking of the bag, it was noticed that new packed bed sheets were in the bag.

"On strong suspicion, the bedsheets were opened and 3,07,500 US Dollar worth Rs 2.52 crore, wrapped in plastic cover and ingeniously concealed inside the bedsheets were detected. The passenger was identified as Mirjalol Juraev who was supposed to travel to Dubai by Emirates Airlines," said the official.

The official said that the currency and the cloth were made of organic material so it was difficult to differentiate between both during X-BIS screening. But due to the alertness of staff, the accused was caught.

"On enquiry, Juraev could not produce valid documents to carry such a huge amount of foreign currency. He was handed over to custom officials for further action," the official added.
Panaji, Sep 1 : Reacting to arrest of AAP Goa President Amit Palekar in Mercedes accident case, Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai on Friday said that the action has raised misgivings and the action seems to a political move.

"The arrest of Amit Palekar in connection with the Banastari accident case under a stringent non-bailable section of the IPC gives the impression of it being a political move that came as an afterthought," Sardesai, President of Goa Forward Party, said.

He said that there is a strong shadow of suspicion and doubt surrounding the motive behind this arrest by the Goa Police, which was made after considerable time had elapsed after the incident.

"This sudden, belated action has raised misgivings, especially when considered in conjunction with ongoing speculations regarding an embarrassing scandal involving the current BJP leadership. The fact that the president of the state unit of a major opposition party is being selectively targeted only aggravates these concerns," Sardesai said.

Sardesai said that the timing and nature of such actions by the Goa police does little to foster trust and confidence in the force.

"The prevailing sentiment suggests that the law enforcement agency may be employed as a tool to settle political scores. Such instances will not go unnoticed by the discerning, socio-politically conscious Goan populace," he said.

"It is crucial to underline that the people of Goa deserve transparency and fairness in all law enforcement actions and proceedings. They cannot be swayed or misled by what appears to be a tactical move designed to divert their attention," he said.

On August 6, three persons were killed and three others sustained critical injuries after a speeding Mercedes rammed into three cars and two two-wheelers while heading towards Panaji on the Banastari bridge in Ponda taluka, around 17 km from here.

After the accident, the people present at the site told reporters that a woman was driving the car.

However, the police had arrested Paresh Sinai Sawardekar (48) -- husband of the woman Meghana Sawardekar. Later, the court granted conditional bail to the couple.

Sources said that there are charges against Amit Palekar that he allegedly attempted to mislead police by planting a dummy car driver to save the owner from getting arrested after an accident took place. He was granted interim bail on Thursday late evening.
Washington, Sep 1 : The nationwide Covid hospitalisations in the US have increased by nearly 19 per cent in a single week and deaths by more than 21 per cent, as the country goes through a late-summer spike in Covid infections.

According to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, up to 10,000 people a week have been hospitalised with Covid, reports NPR.

The rising Covid cases have prompted some schools, hospitals and businesses to encourage, or even require, people to start masking up again.

CDC Director Mandy Cohen cautioned that Covid remains risky for people who are unvaccinated.

The risk is especially high for unvaccinated individuals who haven't gotten the virus before and those who are older or have underlying health conditions.

"About 70 per cent of hospitalisations are among those who are 65 and older," she was quoted as saying in the report late on Thursday.

The health officials are watching two new variants -- Omicron variant EG.5 (Eris) which is dominant in the US and BA.2.86 which is starting to spread.

The CDC warned last week that BA.2.86 may be "more capable of causing infection" in people who have previously had the Covid virus or vaccines. "All of that has driven some institutions around the country to reinstitute mask mandates, at least temporarily," said the report.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated EG.5 or Eris as a "variant of interest" as cases rise globally. "EG.5 is a descendent lineage of XBB.1.9.2, which has the same spike amino acid profile as XBB.1.5. EG.5 was first reported on February 17, 2023, and designated as a variant under monitoring (VUM) on July 19, 2023. With this risk evaluation, we are designating EG.5 and its sub-lineages as a variant of interest (VOI)," according to the WHO.

According to WHO, the largest portion of EG.5 sequences are from China (30.6 per cent, 2247 sequences). However, it believes the variant does not pose a significant risk.

--IANS

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Bengaluru, Sept 1 : Karnataka Large and Medium Industries Minister M.B Patil on Friday said that the state government has set a target of nearly doubling its defence production by 2025 and increasing defence exports to Rs 25,000 crore.

Speaking as a chief guest at the 36th National Convention of Aerospace Engineers on "SPACE - Boundless Opportunities", hosted by the Karnataka State Centre of the Institution of Engineers (India), Patil said that it has also been aimed to attract investments of Rs 45,000 crores in the aerospace and defence sector during the policy period of five years (2022-2027).

He said that it would generate 60,000 employment opportunities (including direct and indirect).

He said that the government was committed to make Karnataka the Aerospace and Defence manufacturing hub, including maintenance, repair, and operations for both the Indian market and exports.

"Though India's space programme is among the most advanced, it occupies only a small fraction of the global space economy. Recognising this, our government has initiated reforms to encourage private participation and foster growth in the space sector, thereby attempting to increase our global market share," Patil said.

Saying the trajectory of space technology has far-reaching implications, Patil said Karnataka has established a strong aerospace and defence ecosystem with 25 per cent of India's aircraft and spacecraft industry based in the state.

He said that 67 per cent of all aircraft and helicopters manufactured for defence services are done in Karnataka while contributing to 65 per cent of the country's aerospace-related exports from India.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. The Armenian armed forces have used a combat drone, Trend reports via the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

The Armenian armed forces units in Zod direction of the Basarkechar region launched combat UAVs against the Azerbaijani Army positions stationed in the territory of the Kalbajar region in the morning of September 1.

"Consequently, two more servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army were wounded. At present, the Azerbaijan Army Units are taking decisive retaliatory measures in the mentioned direction," said the ministry.
Bengaluru, Sep 1 : The fight between the BJP National General Secretary B.L. Santhosh and former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has come out in the open yet again, following the party meeting held by Santhosh.

The close confidante of Yediyurappa and former Minister M.P. Renukacharya lashed out at Santhosh and slammed him for holding the meeting in absence of Yediyurappa.

The BJP National General Secretary held a meeting of party leaders on Thursday and stressed "that in 2013, several people said the saffron party would vanish, but it won 40 Assembly seats".

BJP sources say that the reference was brought to highlight the fact that Yediyurappa had quit the BJP and formed his own party Karnataka Janata Paksha in 2013.

Santhosh also said that the BJP had managed to win 60-plus seats in this year's Assembly elections to taunt Yediyurappa as it was the first election BJP faced without projecting his leadership barring in 2013, sources said.

Renukacharya asked why the party tickets were given to 72 new faces in the last Assembly elections and alleged that the BJP National General Secretary wants to become the Karnataka Chief Minister and was trying to control the party.

"He (B.L. Santhosh) has formed a gang of leaders who never got elected from people and sidelined Yediyurappa. The party meeting was fixed on the day when Yediyurappa was away from Bengaluru to participate in the inauguration of commencement of services from the Shivamogga airport, his dream project," he further asked.

"The curse of Yediyurappa is the reason for the humiliating defeat of BJP. Those who held meetings did not build the party. He came from the Sangh parivar in 2006-07 and wants to become the Chief Minister. He is controlling the whole party. He has his own gang, they never get elected from people. They had never built the party," Renukacharya said, targeting Santhosh.

"He sidelined Yediyurappa gradually to ensure that the hold on the party rests with his (Santhosh's) proteges. He finished off Lingayat leadership in BJP. He denied ticket to former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar whose father was with the Jan Sangh. Shettar has served as the Speaker, Opposition leader and Chief Minister, though he did not face any difficulty he was denied ticket to contest."

"Former Minister K.S. Eshwarappa was the only tall leader from Kuruba community and he was denied a ticket. Former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi was also denied a ticket. Nemiraja Naik was denied a ticket, he won from JD (S). Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was regulated and controlled. The gang operated in such a way that it ensured appointments were given to meet PM Modi, Amit Shah, J.P. Nadda, only those who are opposed to Yediyurappa," Renukacharya added.

He also said: "He had told his opinion that if Yediyurappa takes charge of BJP during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party would perform well. But, the gang is indulging in watching who visits Yediyurappa's residence and who are against him."
Imphal, Sep 1 : At least 42 Special Investigation Teams (SITs) will be set up which will investigate all the violence-related cases expeditiously in Manipur, Raj Bhavan sources said on Friday.

Former Deputy National Security Adviser D. D. Padsalgikar, who was appointed by the Supreme Court to monitor and supervise cases handed over to CBI and those of SITs, met Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey and apprised her of the current crisis in the state.

Raj Bhavan sources said that Padsalgikar informed the Governor that to begin with 42 SITs will be set up and investigate all the violence-related cases in Manipur expeditiously.

The former deputy national security adviser has been recently posted to Manipur mainly to supervise the cases investigated by the CBI and SITs.

"As far as the cases in the Hills districts are concerned, Padsalgikar informed the Governor that video conferencing facilities would be provided through BSNL and NIC to get the cases investigated," the sources said.

According to Padsalgikar, the first status report of the investigation will be submitted to the concerned authority by the first week of October.

He said that he had visited many relief camps and met internally displaced people in the camps.

Padsalgikar requested the Governor to take all possible steps to extend help to the people.

The Governor stated that both the Central and state governments have already taken up necessary common programme of actions to extend help to the violence-affected people and also instructed concerned state machineries to provide help to those people and measures to be taken up to re-settle them at their respective places at the earliest possible time.

Meanwhile, the Governor while interacting about the prevailing Manipur situation with newly appointed Inspector General of CRPF, Manipur and Nagaland sector, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, said that the timely deployment of Central security forces including CRPF, could contain the situation from bad to worse.

Further, the Governor requested Singh to extend assistance to the violence affected people who have been taking shelter at different relief camps both in the Valley and Hill Districts.

The CRPF IG said that he is already well aware of the current crisis arising out of the ethnic clash.

"Further, the IG informed the Governor that he would extend his fullest cooperation from his side to restore peace and tranquillity in the state which was warmly reciprocated by the Governor," the Raj Bhavan sources stated.

Over 170 people have been killed and more than 700 injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3, when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

In view of the ethnic strife in Manipur, approximately 70,000 men, women and children belonging to different communities have been displaced and are now sheltered in 350 camps set up in schools, government buildings and auditoriums in Manipur and several thousand sought refuge in the neighbouring states including Mizoram.
Kolkata: An Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) during a voters awareness programme organised ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Kolkata, on March 19, 2019. . Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Sep 1 : Simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies had been discussed at length in a note prepared by the Lok Sabha Secretariat in 2016.

The note was prepared by B. Phani Kumar, Additional Director, Bela Routh, Joint Director of Lok Sabha Secretariat under the supervision of Kalpana Sharma, Joint Secretary and C.N. Sathyanathan, Director.

"The desirability of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas has been discussed at various levels. A considered view is that simultaneous elections will not only keep alive the enthusiasm of voters, but will also result in huge savings to the public exchequer as well as avoiding repetition of administrative effort.

"It is also expected to control the expenses of political parties. Simultaneous elections will also avoid repeated enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct which affects administrative actions by the government," the note argued.

On the history of simultaneous elections in India, it said that simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha (House of The People) and Vidhan Sabhas (State Legislative Assemblies) were held in the years 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967.

Thereafter, however, the schedule could not be maintained and the elections to the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas have still not been realigned.

On the justification for holding simultaneous elections, the note said that it was felt that holding simultaneous elections would reduce the massive expenditure incurred for conduct of separate elections every year.

Currently, the cost of holding elections for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies of States and UTs has been pegged at Rs 4,500 crore by the Election Commission.

"Elections lead to imposition of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the poll-bound state/area and as a result, the entire development programme and activities of the Union and state governments in the poll bound state would come to a standstill. Frequent elections lead to imposition of MCC over prolonged periods of time which affects the normal governance," the note said.

Frequent elections lead to disruption of normal public life and impact the functioning of essential services. If simultaneous elections are held, this period of disruption would be limited to a certain pre-determined period of time.

It would free the crucial manpower which is often deployed for prolonged periods on election duties.

For example, the 2014 Lok Sabha elections which were held along with assembly elections in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh was spread over 10 phases and 1,077 in situ companies and 1,349 mobile companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) were deployed.

This 2016 note said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken several times on considering the feasibility of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and stressed on the need for building consensus on the issue.

He is of the opinion that continuous and frequent elections take a toll on economic and human resources.

Frequent elections add to the expenses, party leaders and cadres are also perpetually involved in the electoral process, leaving them with very little time for constructive matters related to development of the country.

In 2016, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Nasim Zaidi, said that the Election Commission was ready to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and state legislative polls if certain conditions are met and more resources are provided.

The Commission can hold simultaneous election for which two things to be noted: firstly, several constitutional amendments will have to be made; and secondly, there has to be consensus among all the political parties.
New Delhi: Union Minister Rajnath Singh addresses a press conference at the BJP headquarter in New Delhi, on May 14, 2019. . Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Sep 1 : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Sri Lanka from September 2-3 to review defence ties.

During the visit, Rajnath will hold talks with Sri Lankan President and Defence Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, the Defence Ministry informed on Friday.

According to the ministry of defence the entire gamut of Indiaas defence ties with Sri Lanka will be reviewed during the meetings.

The Defence Minister will also visit Nuwara Elia in Central Sri Lanka and Trincomalee which is located in the eastern part of the country.

Rajnathas visit will reiterate Indiaas continued commitment to furthering the existing warm and friendly relations with Sri Lanka. It will be an important landmark in building the strong bonds of friendship between the two countries, the Defence Ministry official said.

Earlier, the Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, through a virtual mode addressing had called Sri Lanka as Indiaas priority partner.

He said that part of its aNeighbourhood Firsta policy, New Delhi stands committed to ensuring capacity and capability building of the Armed Forces of the neighbouring country.

Giridhar Aramane highlighted the common security challenges faced in the Indian Ocean Region such as terrorism, piracy, drugs, arms trafficking and illegal migration. He called for enhanced and active collaboration to deal with these challenges with the aim to create a safer environment.
Jaipur, Sep 1 : Two people have been arrested on the charges of trafficking a minor from Jharkhand to Rajasthan's Kota district.

The accused kept the minor and her mother locked in a room in Kota for eight days.

The victim somehow informed the Bachpan Bachao Andolan helpline which contacted Cyber Cell in-charge Pratap and Superintendent of Police, Sharad Chaudhary and informed them about the matter.

Choudhary tracked the location of the victims and rescued them from a house in Premnagar Affordable Society in Kota. The owner of the house, identified as Geeta, is mother of an accused in the case, Ravi.

The girl was brought safely to the children's room of Udyog Nagar Police Station where she was counselled.

During counselling, the girl said Rajendra Mandal alias Raju from her neighbouring village came to her house and told her mother that he would get her daughter married in Kota and would give some money in return. When her mother refused, he threatened to kill her and brought both of them forcibly to Kota, the minor added.

In Kota, accused -- Ravi and Lalit -- locked them in a room and tried to sell the minor. When the victim refused, the accused kept them hungry for four days and threatened to kill the mother-daughter duo.

On the complaint of the girl, the police registered a case under trafficking and other sections and arrested Raju and Ravi, while the third accused Lalit is on the run.

Initial investigations found that the trio is involved in human trafficking.

Raju's daughter and son-in-law live in Kota, while Geeta, from whose housethe mother and daughter were recovered, is also involved in the crime.

Geeta already has a case registered against her for selling a minor from Jharkhand in the name of marriage and currently she is on bail.

After counselling, the girl was sent to a child care home.

Manish Sharma, Director of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, said, "It is being seen that the practice of trafficking of minor girls from Jharkhand in the name of marriage and employment by organised criminal gangs is gaining momentum."
Gurugram, Sep 1 : The Gurugram Traffic Police on Friday issued a traffic advisory in view of the upcoming G20 Summit in the national capital, an official said.

The advisory noted that from 12 a.m. (September 7) to 11.59 p.m. (September 10), heavy vehicles including roadways buses of Haryana and Rajasthan will not be allowed to enter Delhi from Sarhaul toll on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway and Kapashera border.

The heavy vehicles will be diverted from IFFCO Chowk via Mehrauli-Gurugram Road towards Delhi.

However, "essential vehicles" will be operational as usual.

"Given the traffic regulations, motorists might experience longer travel times than usual and are requested to make maximum use of Metro services on September 9 and 10," DCP (traffic) Virender Vij said.

In case the air travellers opt to use the road, they should move out, keeping extra time in hand, he said.

Leela Ambience hotel on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway and Trident hotel in Udyog Vihar are proposed accommodations for various foreign guests, including officials.

The police officer further said as Gurugram is a hub of MNCs, "we appealed to them to adopt the work from home method to avoid any inconvenience".

Meanwhile, heavy vehicles coming from Jaipur towards Delhi will be diverted from Panchgaon Chowk on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway.

The officials said the movement of private vehicles will be stopped on the expressway during the movement of foreign delegations from Gurugram hotels or IGI airport in Delhi.
New Delhi, Sep 1 : The number of foreign STEM professionals in Germany increased significantly over the last decade with Indians forming the largest cohort from non-EU countries, according to a new study.

With over 30,000 in 2012 to almost 122,000 by the end of 2022, working STEM professionals from non-EU countries more than quadrupled, The Local news portal reported, citing a recent study by the Institute of the German Economy.

India emerged as a front-runner among these countries with an increase of 635 per cent -- from 3,750 in 2012 to over 27,500 skilled workers at the end of 2022.

The study, which was first published in WirtschaftsWoche magazine, said that the increase in foreign STEM professionals, with EU nations included, went up by around 190 per cent -- from around 70,000 at the end of 2012 to almost 202,000 professionals at the end of 2022.

These employees -- with jobs such as IT specialists, industrial engineers and scientists -- contribute about 16 billion euros per year to Germany, the report said, adding that Munich, Frankfurt, and Berlin attract the highest number of foreign STEM employees.

While visiting India earlier this year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had said that his government wants to ease the path for information technology experts from India to obtain work visas in the European country.

A survey by Munich-based Ifo Institute released earlier this month found the country facing an acute labour crisis with more than 43 per cent of nearly 9,000 firms polled suffering from a lack of qualified workers in July -- up from just over 42 per cent in April this year.

To streamline and ease rules for third-country employees, Germany has passed a new law to ease the entry of skilled professionals, which will come into force on March 1, 2024.

Indians were granted a total of 17,379 work visas last year, marking a significant increase compared to 2021, according to the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Sep 1 : National Investigation Agency (NIA) made a fresh arrest in connection with the IS-inspired car IED bomb blast which took place in Coimbatore, officials said on Friday.

NIA said that the accused Mohammed Azarudeen alias Azar is the thirteenth person to be arrested in the case.

Azarudeen was already in jail at the Viyyur high-security prison in Thrissur, Kerala, in another case. He was arrested and chargesheeted earlier in the Tamil Nadu IS module case and was subsequently sent to judicial custody.

"Investigations have revealed that Azarudeen had previously taken secret abayana classes along with the accused in the Coimbatore blast case, including Jamesha Mubeen, the vehicleas driver who was killed in the explosion. It was at these classes that all the accused were indoctrinated with IS ideology and motivated to commit violent acts of terror," said the official.

NIA has also found that Jamesha Mubeen, along with two other arrested accused, had met Mohammed Azarudeen alias Azar in prison. They had then hatched the Sathyamangalam conspiracy (the car bomb blast plan was concretised in the Sathyamangalam forests) to plan and prepare a terror attack to revenge Azar's arrest and to get him released from jail through a jail-attack.

The Coimbatore car bomb blast had taken place on October 23, last year in front of an ancient temple, Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil, at Eswaran Kovil Street, Ukkadam, Coimbatore. The Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosives Device (VBIED) was being driven by the deceased accused Jamesha Mubeen.

Mubeen and his associates were inspired by hardcore ISIS ideology to conspire and commit the act of terror after taking abayatha or allegiance to its self-proclaimed Caliph Abu-Al-Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi.

As per NIA investigations, the accused had intended to take revenge on the aKafirsa (non-believers of Islam) through this terror attack.

NIA has so far filed two chargesheets in the case before the NIA court, Poonamallee, Chennai. Six accused were chargesheeted on April 20, this year and five on June 2, 2023. The twelfth accused, Mohammed Idris, was arrested on August 2, 2023.
New Delhi, Aug 31 : The Supreme Court on Friday heard a petition filed by the Meitei Christian Churches Council, Manipur (MCCCM), which has raised concerns about the destruction of churches during the ongoing ethnic clashes in the region.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud considered the petition and asked the petitioner to provide a copy to both the state government and the judges' committee established by the court to look into the matter.

The MCCCM, in its petition, voiced its grievance that neither the state government nor the Centre took sufficient measures to prevent the destruction of 240 churches affiliated with the Meitei Christian community in Manipur during the communal clashes.

The petition draws attention to the destruction of religious institutions and calls for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding these incidents.

It also seeks urgent intervention to halt the desecration and repurpose of church properties in the region, while highlighting the dire situation where church properties and their grounds have been repurposed for other uses with title documents destroyed or looted during communal clashes.

The MCCCM has expressed concern that without immediate action, they may not be able to retrieve these properties and grounds, as they no longer possess the necessary documentary evidence.

The petition calls for the Meitei Christians to be allowed to gather and pray at these church properties under police protection. Furthermore, the petition underscores that despite assurances of rehabilitation and compensation schemes by State authorities, these benefits have not been extended to the affected churches.

Even directives issued by the top court to provide relief and restoration for destroyed places of worship have allegedly not been implemented by the state government.

The MCCCM claims to have previously reached out to various authorities, including the Union Home Minister and Union Home Secretary, and the Governor and Chief Minister of Manipur, informing them of the rampant looting and destruction of church property and seeking immediate intervention.

However, they allege that no response was received. In light of these circumstances, the petitioners are seeking direction to the authorities to address and implement measures for the relief, rehabilitation, and restoration of places of worship in the state of Manipur.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Sep 1 : A Delhi court has convicted two individuals, Imran alias Model and Imran, on charges of attempt to murder and rioting during the infamous 2020 northeast riots, wherein the accused persons were involved in a riotous mob that fired upon a police team and obstructed public servants from carrying out their duties near Brijpuri Pulia on February 25.

In the judgement issued against Imran alias Model and Imran, Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala said: "Both accused are held guilty and convicted for committing offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 188 (disobedience of order duly promulgated by a public servant), 307 (attempt to murder), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty) read with section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC."

The court said that the prosecution had successfully proved that both accused were part of a riotous mob that had gathered despite prohibitory orders. It was also proven that Model had fired upon the police team.

The judgement further stated: "It is within the knowledge of any normal person that a gunshot may cause the death of the person. It was a matter of chance that the shot fired by Imran alias Model did not hit Head Constable Deepak Malik at a vital body part and that it hit him on his leg."

The court also noted that both accused had used criminal force to obstruct the police officials from performing their duties.

Regarding the identification of the accused, the court found the testimonies of Head Constable Malik and another witness, Head Constable Rohit Kumar, to be consistent.

Additionally, the Medico Legal Case (MLC) and Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report corroborated Malik's gunshot injury.

In response to the defence counsel's arguments that there was no CCTV footage or photographs of Malik's injury, the court stated that it was not necessary for every incident to be captured by CCTV cameras, especially when many cameras were damaged during the riots, and also clarified that a photograph of the injury was not a mandatory requirement.

The court has scheduled the matter for filing affidavits on September 12.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. In response to the provocation of the Armenians, two servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces were killed, one was wounded, Trend reports.

The information was confirmed by the statement of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.

As a result of shelling by units of the Armenian armed forces from positions in the Zod direction of Basarkechar region, Azerbaijani army serviceman Tagiyev Mohammed was wounded.

The Armenian armed forces units in Zod direction of the Basarkechar region launched combat UAVs against the Azerbaijani Army positions stationed in the territory of the Kalbajar region in the morning of September 1. Consequently, two more servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army were wounded.
Bhopal, Sep 1 : Madhya Pradesh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to witness jolt after jolt in the run-up to the Assembly elections as several leaders continue to quit and join other parties.

A day after a sitting MLA from Kolaras in Shivpuri district resigned, two-times former MLA Girija Shankar Sharma, a strong leader from Narmadapuram, also left the party and is likely to join the Congress very soon.

His resignation from the BJP may be deemed the routine musical chairs politicians perform during the elections, but on the other hand, if he shifts into the opposition, he would be the fourth leader associated with the BJP for decades to be poached by the Congress.

Sharma resigned from the BJP, accusing the saffron party of ignoring veteran leaders and workers after the advent of new leaders in the party.

The former MLA said he would ensure that the BJP candidates donat win from the seat, as the return of the present government isnat in the stateas larger interest.

About his political future, Sharma admitted that he has recently met state Congress chief Kamal Nath and senior leader Digvijaya Singh once, but he is yet to take any final decision on joining the opposition party.

"I will support the best opposition candidate from Hoshangabad Assembly seat. But it remains to be seen whether that will be done by being inside the Congress or outside. Itas still a month and half before polls are announced, whether I'll join the Congress, the AAP or any other opposition party will be decided later," he said.

The Hoshangabad seat is one of the four seats of Narmadapuram district (earlier named Hoshangabad). All four seats were won by the BJP in 2018.

Sharma is the son of veteran BJP leader and former state assembly Speaker Sitasaran Sharma and the family have been influential in Narmadapuram since 1990.

However, Sharmaas resignation BJPas primary membership happened amid reports of possibility of the BJP denying ticket to anyone from the Sharma family on the Hoshangabad seat for the first time in 33 years.

Key sources in the BJP claimed that the Sharma family is also dejected over being ignored in the recent cabinet rejig by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Sharma is the fourth from old BJP family to get disenchanted with the party in five months.

Before him, Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav who is the son of three-time former BJP MLA (late) Rao Deshraj Singh Yadav, quit the party to join the Congress in March. In April, former BJP MP from Khargone-ST seat, Makhan Singh Solanki also quit and joined the Congress. His nephew Sumer Singh Solanki is the BJP member of the Rajya Sabha.

In May, former CM late Kailash Joshi's son and former state minister Deepak Joshi also ended his decades-long association with the BJP to join the Congress. He is keen at contesting against Chouhan from the latter's political pocket-borough Budhni in central MP's Sehore district.
Singapore, Sep 1 : Singapore's Indian-origin economist Tharman Shanmugaratnam received a resounding mandate with a whopping 70.4 per cent votes in a three-way contest to elect the city-state's ninth President on Friday.

More than 2.7 million Singaporeans voted to elect the 66-year-old leader, who had formally launched his Presidential campaign with a pledge to evolve the country's culture to keep it a "shining spot" in the world.

According to the sample count results released by the Elections Department at 10.40 p.m., Tharman was leading with 70 per cent while rival candidates Ng Kok Song and Tan Kin Lian were trailing with 16 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively.

Addressing the media shortly after the release of sample count, Tharman said he was "humbled by the strong endorsement that Singaporeans have given to me".

"I believe that the vote for me and what I stand for is a vote of confidence in Singapore. It's a vote of optimism that we can progress together," he said.

It was for the third time that Singaporeans voted for their President since the elected presidency was introduced in 1991. The first such contested election was in 1993, followed by the second one in 2011.

Close to 1,406,182 Singaporeans turned up to cast their votes as of noon at the 1,264 polling stations across the city-state, according to the Elections Department Singapore (ELD).

Among those who turned up at the polling stations early in the morning were President Halimah and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

As the head of the city-state, the Singaporean President is empowered to veto government budgets and key public appointments, authorise anti-corruption investigations, and safeguard the country's fiscal reserve.

Tharman joined politics in 2001 and has served in the public sector and ministerial positions with Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) for over two decades.

Incumbent President Halimah Yacob's six-year term will end on September 13.
Kohima, Sep 1 : The Nagaland government will move a resolution in the state Assembly denouncing the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act and the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

Government spokesperson and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Power, K.G. Kenye, said the four-day Assembly session is scheduled to begin on September 11.

The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) led coalition government in Nagaland had earlier expressed its reservation over both the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act and the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

With 12 MLAs, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also a partner of the government.

"The government held consultative meetings on Friday with apex tribal bodies and civil society organisations (CSOs) of the state and decided to move the resolution," Kenye told the media.

He said several Naga civil society groups and intellectuals expressed concern that the Forest Act might infringe upon the special rights guaranteed under Article 371A of the Constitution.

Article 371A grants special protection to the Nagas in Nagaland on traditional customary, religious and social practices and also on ownership and transfer of land and its resources.

At Friday's meeting, the tribal bodies and CSOs urged the government not to enforce the Act in the state, he said.

In July this year, the Nagaland government had requested the Law Commission to exempt the state from the purview of UCC.

The minister had earlier said that the state government officially made the submission to the 22nd Law Commission during the recent visit of a ministerial team led by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio to Delhi.

He said the team also met Home Minister Amit Shah and the latter assured that the Centre is considering exempting Christians and some tribal states from the purview of UCC.

"People of Nagaland will not accept the imposition of UCC and they are against even with the idea of such enactment of it. There are resentments from all quarters with tribal bodies and civil society organisations openly declaring not to accept the imposition of UCC," Kenye stated.
Jalna : , Sep 1 (IANS) At least 6 persons were hurt in police caning after a pro-Maratha agitation turned violent with rioting and arson in Jalna on Friday, the police said.

Thousands of Maratha activists from various groups had gathered to express solidarity with one leader Manoj Jarange who was on a hunger strike for four days.

As his health condition deteriorated, the police attempted to make him call off his fast even as the crowd became restless.

In the ensuing melee, the police resorted to caning the protesters. Some miscreants torched at least two buses on a nearby highway.

The violence -- coming after the INDIA Conclave ended -- evoked sharp reactions from the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders.

Maharashtra unit Congress president Nana Patole demanded that if the government cannot ensure the quotas to the Marathas, then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should resign.

Condemning the violence, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar urged restrain and called upon the government to act in the matter.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut also slammed the government and blamed it for the violence.

Meanwhile, some Maratha groups have given a call for shutdown on Saturday while other organisations plan agitations in some more districts to press for their demands.
New Delhi, Sep 2 : The Supreme Court, on the 14th day of the hearing of the pleas against the abrogation of Article 370 on Friday, was told that the decision to revoke the constitutional provision was not solely made by the political executive but had the backing of the Parliament.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for intervenor Ashwini Upadhyay, said that the word 'recommendation' in Article 370 indicated that the consent of the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir was not required for its abrogation.

He argued that the entire Parliament, including Members of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir, had been consulted and had given their consent to the move.

Dwivedi argued that the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir had certain limitations during the framing of its constitution, unlike the Constituent Assembly of India. He said that the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly was bound by various factors, including the Indian Constitution, the principles of justice, liberty, fraternity, and Article 1, which defined the territory of India.

He argued that Article 370 was always intended to be a temporary provision and that the speeches of Dr. BR Ambedkar, N.G. Ayyangar, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Gulzarilal Nanda indicated that the ultimate goal was the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir with other Indian states.

Dwivedi further contended that Article 370 was mentioned in the Indian Constitution as a temporary and transitional provision. He said that while the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly was dissolved after framing its constitution, Article 370 was not declared permanent, and the power to repeal it remained with the President of India, advised by the Council of Ministers accountable to Parliament.

Senior advocate V. Giri, representing the intervenor 'All India Kashmiri Samaj,' also said that Article 370 was intended to be temporary and its cessation was dependent on a Presidential Order.

"The cessation of operation of Article 370 has always been considered as dependent on a Presidential Order. Once Article 370 is abrogated, then the entirety of the constitutional provisions, including those providing for distribution of legislative power, exercise of executive authority, separation of powers among different organs of the state and provisions providing for a federal structure, would ipso facto apply," he said.

The hearing is set to continue on September 4.

--IANS

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Bengaluru, Sep 2 : Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Friday that the Congress government is open to working with the private sector.

Speaking after inaugurating the 'Manipal Ambulance Response Service - Neonatal-care on Wheels' (MARS-NOW) in Bengaluru, Rao said, aUltimately, we have to serve the people. Our main aim is to see that people are healthy. That is one big focus for us.

"The second focus is of course to get the best treatment at the lowest possible rate and also to work with private entities to see how they can contribute in terms of delivering our services more effectively.

"So, we are looking forward to working with people like Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals, and others."

ICU-on-wheels for infants is a wonderful idea, he stated.

The initiative aims to provide continuous medical support to infants who require emergency NICU care while on their way to the hospital. This transportation service will be available not only to patients visiting Manipal Hospitals, but also to those in need residing in Bengaluru and the peripheral regions of Karnataka.

H. Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals, said, "We understand that newborns deserve the best care, especially during critical times. Our Neonatal Transport Service is a seamless continuum of our neonatal care that not only showcases our capabilities as neonatal experts, but also underscores our commitment to compassionate care."
Bengaluru, Sep 2 : Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries & Infrastructure Development M.B. Patil on Friday said that the state government is mulling starting its own airline services.

Speaking to reporters on the occasion of the release of a handbook of achievements on the backdrop of completion of 100 days by the government, Patil said that earlier, the airports in Karnataka were handed over to the airport authority.

"The land of the airport also got transferred to the airport authority. In future all airports built in Karnataka would be managed by the state government. Shivamogga airport is controlled and managed by the state. The government is also seriously mulling to begin its own air service," he said.

"In a bid to propel the economic growth of Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Yadgiri, Raichur, and Koppal districts, the construction of Vijayapur Airport is progressing at a remarkable pace. All necessary measures are being meticulously executed to ensure the airport's inauguration by April 2024.

"In a significant move towards sustainable tourism, steps have been taken to establish an expansive eco-tourism park spanning 1,819 acres in Uttara Kannada through a public-private partnership model," he added.

Simultaneously, plans are afoot to create an Aero City 'Business Park' extending across 407 acres near Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, drawing inspiration from successful models like Delhi.

These initiatives aim to promote tourism, bolster local economies, and create employment opportunities, he added.

"The Bengaluru Suburban Project is set to revolutionise the region's transportation infrastructure. In its first phase, covering 149 km, the project is nearing realisation. Additionally, preparations have been initiated to expand the project to an extensive 452 km in its second phase. K-RIDE is diligently awaiting the necessary permissions from the Union Ministry of Railways to advance this critical undertaking, which will significantly enhance connectivity and mobility in the state," he said.

The 'Knowledge-Health-Innovation and Research City' has been planned to be established in an area of around 2,000 acres on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

The KHIR is poised to redefine Bengaluru's global standing by fostering the growth of cutting-edge knowledge institutions, healthcare facilities, innovation hubs, and research centers.

In its initial phase, 1,000 acres will be developed to house a world-class university, a state-of-the-art hospital, and advanced innovation and research facilities.

This strategic initiative is expected to elevate Bengaluru's stature in the international arena, Patil said.
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 27, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the General Debate of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Muzi/IANS). Image Source: IANS News

United Nations, Sep 2 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has already visited the UN once this year, is not scheduled to be at the high-level General Assembly meeting of world leaders this month and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is to speak on behalf of India, according to the latest roster of speakers.

An earlier schedule of speakers released by the UN in July had listed him as one of the speakers, but the latest version issued on Friday substituted the minister for the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Modi led the International Day of Yoga celebrations at the UN in June before his state visit to Washington.

He has a packed schedule this month with a visit to the ASEAN summit in Indonesia from Tuesday to Thursday, which will be followed by the G20 summit of major emerging and industrialised countries that he will preside over in New Delhi on September 9 and 10.

Jaishankar is set to speak on Tuesday, September 26, morning at the last session of the high-level Assembly meeting.

The draft roster released in July had listed Modi on September 23.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is to speak at the opening session on September 19.

According to Albania's Permanent Representative Ferit Hoxha, who is this month's Security Council president, Zelensky will also address an open meeting of the Council the next day.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin will not be at the high-level meetings, nor will China's President Xi Jinping.

The only leader of a Security Council permanent member to attend the high-level UN meeting will be US President Joe Biden as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and France's President Emmanuel Macron are not on the roster.

In keeping with tradition Brazil's President Lula da Silva is to be the first speaker at the opening session and he will followed by Biden.

Prime Minister Modi did not attend last year's high-level Assembly meeting either and Jaishankar took the rostrum on behalf of India.

The Prime Minister has addressed the Assembly's annual high-level meetings four times in person and remotely in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.

The speakers are arranged according to protocol, starting with heads and deputy heads of state, followed by prime ministers and their deputies, and ministers.

Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe is on the roster at the UN for September 21.

Pakistan's Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar is on the schedule next morning, along with Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh and Pushpa Kamal Dahal of Nepal.

According to media reports in India and Cuba, Jaishankar is to also represent the nation at the summit in Cuba of the G77, the group of developing countries, on September 15 and 16, just ahead of the world leaders' meetings that begin in New York with the Climate Ambition Summit convened by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on September 18 and 19.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
The majority of European real estate investors (55 percent) currently expect an annual return of 3 to 5 percent on new real estate investments. That is the finding of a recent survey of 134 property companies and institutional real estate investors in Germany, France and the UK by Union Investment.

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Ajman Department of Tourism Development (ADTD) is organising the third edition of Ajman Philatelic & Numismatic Exhibition, which will run from September 6 to 10, 2023 at Ajman China Mall, Gate H.

To be held under the patronage of HH Sheikh AbdulAziz Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of ADTD, the exhibition will showcase rare collectables, coins and stamps showcasing the rich history of the emirate and the region.

A large number of dealers, exhibitors, and enthusiasts from GCC and various parts of the world are expected to participate in the exhibition in addition to many local and resident dealers.

The exhibitions program features a series of workshops, lectures, and a special auction of stamps and coins. The Ajman Philatelic & Numismatic Exhibition honours the best collectables with a special jury which will select winners from various categories.

A contest to design the most beautiful stamp showcasing the landmarks of Ajman will be held in conjunction with the exhibition. Participants must send their designs before September 8, 2023 to win valuable prizes, and winners will be announced on September 10, 2023.

In this regard, Mahmood Khaleel Alhashmi, Director General of the Ajman Department of Tourism Development stated that the third edition of the exhibition provides visitors and enthusiasts with the opportunity to view wide collections of coins and stamps that reflect the history of Ajman and the United Arab Emirates.

He added that the exhibition comes in line with Ajman Tourism efforts to preserve the UAE heritage and consolidate Ajmans position as a leading destination for key exhibitions and events that attract a large number of visitors throughout the year.

The events sponsors and supporters include the Saudi German Hospital, Ajman China Mall, Ajman Free Zone, Emirates Post, Safi Exchange, and Gulfa Water.

Ajman Philatelic & Numismatic Exhibition opens its doors daily from 10 am to 10 pm from 6 to 10 September at Ajman China Mall, Gate H, except for Friday, when it opens from 4 pm to 10 pm.  TradeArabia News Service
AGHDAM, Azerbaijan, September 1. Negotiations on delivery of a food cargo, which was sent from Baku for the Armenian residents of Azerbaijan's Karabakh and has been remaining on the Aghdam-Khankendi road for the fourth day, continue, General Secretary of Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society Jeyhun Mirzayev told Trend's Karabakh bureau.

He said that currently a response is expected.

"We'll share information regarding the outcome of the negotiations. We'll remain here until the food cargo we brought is delivered to the residents of Armenian origin in Khankendi," he added.

The delivery from the Azerbaijani side was supposed to be picked up by another truck, from the other side of the post of the Russian peacekeepers stationed in the area, however the criminal separatist regime created by Armenia in Khankendi, doesn't allow it to take on the cargo.

On August 29, the Azerbaijani Red Crescent Society sent 40 tons of flour to residents of Armenian origin living in Karabakh. The trucks are currently waiting at the post of Russian peacekeepers on the Aghdam-Khankendi road.

An appeal was sent to the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent with a request to create conditions for the delivery of food cargo to Khankendi.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. Armenia's provocations should be condemned by the international community, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan said in a statement, Trend reports.

According to the ministry, the Armenian side once again committed a military provocation on the night of August 31 - early September 1. The Armenian armed forces units in Zod direction of the Basarkechar region launched combat UAVs against the Azerbaijani Army positions stationed in the territory of the Kalbajar region. As a result of this deliberate provocation, three servicemen of the Azerbaijani army were wounded.

"Such actions committed by Armenia in order to divert attention from the tense political and social situation in the country, as well as to mislead the international community, should be categorically condemned by the international community. The responsibility for these provocations rests entirely on the leadership of Armenia. Azerbaijan will continue to take all necessary measures to prevent such provocations," the ministry said.

As a result of shelling by units of the Armenian armed forces from positions in the Zod direction of Basarkechar region, Azerbaijani army serviceman Tagiyev Mohammed was wounded.

The Armenian armed forces units in Zod direction of the Basarkechar region launched combat UAVs against the Azerbaijani Army positions stationed in the territory of the Kalbajar region in the morning of September 1. Consequently, two servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army were wounded.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. Armenian armed forces units from the firing positions in Zod direction of the Basarkechar region using mortars are subjecting to fire the Azerbaijan Army positions stationed in the direction of the Kalbajar region, Trend reports via Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

Azerbaijan Army Units are taking the necessary retaliatory measures.
Working under the title of Keshet Germany from offices in Munich, the new company will have the same remit as the scripted division that preceded it, build on the successes of KTF - including the German adaptations of Israeli formats both distributed by KI namely Stockholm - known locally as Unter Freunden stirbt man nicht (You Dont Die Among Friends) (RTL+) and How To Dad (ARD Degeto).It will also continue to develop and produce original scripted series and films for the German and international market, such as KTFs most recent production, the award-winning 6x45 thriller Der Schatten (ZDFneo).With Stefanie Veith as head writer, Keshet Germany is developing a German adaptation of False Flag which is based on the hit Israeli thriller originally created by Amit Cohen and Maria Feldman for Keshet 12. Produced by Tender Productions, False Flag (8x60) won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Awards at Series Mania, was sold by KI and broadcast in 127 countries by FIC, and recently remade for Apple TV+ as Suspicion by Keshet UK starring Uma Thurman and Kunal Nayaar.Keshet Germany will be run by joint managing directors Axel Kuhn and Christina Christ, promoted from her current role as KTFs director of fiction programs. The company will employ all staff currently working for scripted division KTF, including producer Tina Hechinger, head of production Bernd Krause and script consultant Konstantin Kuhnle, who have all been with KTF since its inception in 2018 alongside Christ. Kuhn will continue as MD of KIs unscripted German production company Tresor TV.In a joint statement on the new move, Kuhn and Christ said: Relaunching as a standalone scripted production company demonstrates how successful our scripted strategy here in Germany has been so far, with high-quality successes like Der Schatten, Unter Freunden stirbt man nicht, and How to Dad to show for our efforts. Our focus at Keshet Germany will be on rebooting internationally recognized IP like Keshets False Flag and Dr. Mabuse, while also reimagining characters of cultural significance in Germany, like legendary pirate Klaus Stortebeker.KI CEO Keren Shahar added: I am incredibly proud of what Christina and Axel and all the team at Keshet Tresor Fiction have achieved in the five years since we launched the scripted division in Germany specifically to leverage KIs scripted catalogue there. Their hard work, determination, and sheer talent for what they do has propelled our scripted operations in Germany forward and I look forward to seeing what comes next from them and Keshet Germany.
Vidispine provides a media management backend and an object repository as the basis for turnkey asset management solutions. Users can also build their own media supply chain from media and metadata sourcing to distribution.Key components of the portfolio, such as the media management backend VidiCore and the browser-based editing solution VidiEditor , already run natively on the Google Cloud. To make the scalable, cost-transparent and modern portfolio even faster and easier to access, it has now been integrated on Google Cloud Marketplace. We are pleased to deepen our partnership with Arvato Systems and offer Vidispine products to our growing Google Cloud Marketplace ecosystem, said Dai Vu, managing director, cloud marketplace & ISV GTM Programs, Google Cloud. Arvato Systems provides extensive knowledge along the entire media supply chain, especially, cloud-based media management, which our Marketplace customers will benefit from."We are excited about this next successful step in our partnership with Google Cloud. It's a great way to offer Google Cloud customers a straightforward and fast way to leverage our multi-layered and best-in-class portfolio," added Annika Kimpel, partner manager at Vidispine.
ABC/Craig Sjodin

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 09/01/2023



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Charity Lawson had claimed she was in love with both Dotun Olubeko and Joey Graziadei on the show, and now she's revealing if she was truly in love with Joey.Charity clearly struggled throughout her finale to choose between her Final 2 suitors.Charity repeatedly cried about how she felt "torn" and "conflicted" between Dotun and Joey on the August 21 broadcast, and at one point, it seemed as though Charity was hoping her family would just make the decision for her.But the family and child therapist from Georgia ultimately dumped Joey in second place and picked Dotun as her winner."I did have a solid connection with Joey," Charity acknowledged in a joint interview with Dotun on Us Weekly's "Here for the Right Reasons" podcast.Charity admitted "she can be transparent" with fans and "talk about" her feelings for Joey, although she's now happily engaged to Dotun "I think it's kind of helpful we already did all that and worked through that," Charity said."But yeah, no, at that point, and honestly looking back on my whole journey, like, I don't want to say I envisioned or I thought it would be them two at the end, but yeah, without a doubt."She continued, "Where I was at and where I stood with Joey, I definitely was in a place where I did have so much love -- and was in love -- with him."But Charity pointed out how she and Joey had left their relationship in Fiji and then she gave her heart to Dotun."Obviously, once you see us depart, we just kind of make that shift of like, 'I will always have respect and love for you, but that doesn't mean that you're my person and I'm going to continue to be in love with you,'" Charity explained."So I think we're just both in great places and I'm obviously wishing him so much success and well wishes on his journey as the Bachelor."After America watched Charity crush Joey's heart at the Final Rose Ceremony in Fiji, The Bachelor franchise host Jesse Palmer officially announced Joey as The Bachelor star for Season 28 airing in early 2024.While Charity's heart was pulling her in different directions throughout her time on , she revealed that her first one-on-one date with Dotun was "life changing."And then Charity said she made "the executive decision" that Dotun was The One for her -- now and forever -- after their last-chance date in Fiji."Looking back on that... there were just little signs I felt along the way that kind of just gave me these little hints, like, 'Okay, this might be too crazy of a thing. But sometimes a good thing is just a good thing,'" Charity shared.Once they returned home from the show as an engaged couple, they watched about half episodes together."Most of the episode we were able to watch together in-person, and the other ones that we weren't, we FaceTimed and would still be interacting," Dotun shared.Dotun said entering the real world was "a huge hurdle" for them to overcome but Charity has managed to keep him grounded and feeling secure in their relationship."We are stronger than ever, and I am more in love with her than ever," Dotun noted.Dotun and star's speeches at the Final Rose Ceremony have been compared to wedding vows. They expressed how much they valued, respected and admired each other, and they were both deeply in love."With Dotun, it boils down to a feeling you can't really place and you can't really pinpoint; you just have it and it's there, and when it comes together, you feel alive," Charity gushed on the finale of her season."I love Dotun, and I see, so clearly, a future with him -- a future that is going to bring me the most happiness."Charity and Dotun told BachelorNation.com that they hope to have two weddings, one in the United States and one in Nigeria, probably in 2024 or early 2025.But in the meantime, couple plan to enjoy each other as a couple and simply grow in love.To help them on that journey, ABC gifted Charity and Dotun a romantic trip to Greece.Charity will also be staying in California -- where Dotun lives -- for a while as she competes on Dancing with the Stars' upcoming 32nd season this fall."Obviously you see me and Dotun's love story from start to finish, and there was never a doubt that I knew this man was also going to choose me... I felt so reassured in that sense," Charity recently said on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast.And Charity and Dotun intend to keep choosing each other while Charity is on Dancing with the Stars, which tends to have a grueling and demanding schedule.Before Joey's season of The Bachelor returns, ABC is premiering Bachelor in Paradise's ninth season as well as The Golden Bachelor starring Gerry Turner on Thursday, September 28 beginning at 8PM ET/PT.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
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The College Republicans of the University of Georgia met Wednesday to discuss the first Republican Presidential Primary Debate which took place on Aug. 23. As a critical demographic in a swing state ahead of the 2024 presidential election, attendees considered the range of candidates and their stances carefully.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. Mentioning the rights and security of the Armenian residents of Azerbaijan's Karabakh region and the "blockage" rather than the issue of the rights and return of Azerbaijanis deported from Armenia is unfair and unacceptable, the Western Azerbaijan Community told Trend.

The community made the remark, commenting on US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller's statement of August 31, 2023.

"The above, along with the fact that the Western Azerbaijan Community hasn't received a response to its letter addressed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, suggest that Washington approaches issues with double standards," the community emphasized.

The Western Azerbaijan Community has also called on the US not to use outdated narratives such as "all outstanding issues".

Miller expressed in the statement "deep concern" about allegedly "deteriorating humanitarian conditions" in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region (where Armenian residents live) "resulting from the continued blockage of food, medicine, and other goods essential to a dignified existence", and called to "immediately re-open" the Lachin-Khankendi road to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic.

Besides, Miller called officials from Baku and representatives from Khankendi "without delay to agree on the means of transporting critical provisions to the men, women, and children of Karabakhincluding additional supply routesand resume discussions on all outstanding issues".

In order to prevent the transportation of manpower, ammunition, mines, as well as other military equipment from Armenia for illegal Armenian armed groups on the territory of Azerbaijan (which weren't withdrawn contrary to the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020 signed by Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders following the second Karabakh war), and as an adequate response to the unilateral establishment of a border checkpoint by Armenia on the border with Azerbaijan on April 22 at the entrance to the Lachin-Khankendi road contrary to the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020, on April 23 at 12:00 (GMT+4), the units of the State Border Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan set up a border checkpoint in its sovereign territories, on the border with Armenia, at the beginning of the Lachin-Khankendi road.
All progress in space should excite us and encourage us to be optimists about a better future for our planet and all of us, asserts Aakar Patel.

IMAGE: India's third lunar mission -- Chandrayaan-3 -- landed near the south pole of the Moon, August 23, 2023. Photograph: Kind courtesy ISRO

The last astronauts landed on the moon 50 years ago. The last names of those Americans were Cernan, Evans and Schmitt.

These are not as familiar to us as the name Armstrong. The fact is that after the first landing happened in 1969, the space race was deemed to be over.

It is very expensive to run space programmes, and after boredom from the public the programmes of the Americans and the Russians declined in intensity and capacity and ambition after 1969.

A plan to send humans to Mars was drawn up immediately after Armstrong's success, but it was never executed.

The man who made the plan, Von Braun, a Nazi rocket scientist captured by the Americans and brought to the US to head their space programme, was put to pasture and the Apollo missions to the moon were over.

The giant rocket that took Americans there, the Saturn 5, was scrapped.

The space shuttle was a more modest, partly reusable vehicle that took astronauts into lower earth orbit. It was functional for 30 years from 1981 to 2011.

For a decade after that, America did not have the capacity to launch its own astronauts to the International Space Station (which orbits the earth at a few hundreds kilometres) till a private company called SpaceX achieved this capacity during Covid.

Till then, for a decade, NASA and European astronauts flew on Russian rockets.

The two most active space programmes in the world today are run by this company and the Chinese. SpaceX had 61 launches in 2022. China had roughly the same.

In comparison, India meaning ISRO in 2022 had four successful launches, three PSLVs and one GSLV, which is now renamed LVM.

This number should not discourage us because our budget is far lower, though in ambition India's programme matches the rest.

After the phenomenal success of India's moon mission, the next step is to put a human in orbit.

This was achieved by India in the 1980s, but on a Soviet rocket.

The astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, remains the only Indian citizen to orbit the earth, and that was 40 years ago in April 1984.

If all goes well, India hopes to send a spaceship called Ganganyaan with Indians to orbit sometime in the next two years or so.

India already has achieved the most difficult aspect of this, which is to safely send a rocket to orbit, and it has proven that it has the capacity to do this several times over since the first orbital launch some 40 years ago.

Recently we have seen that India has also mastered propulsive landing.

Meaning the ability to set a spaceship down using its own power, after slowing down from orbital velocity and through a controlled descent.

When we achieve human spaceflight, we will be only the fifth nation or entity to achieve this, after the Russians, Americans, Chinese and SpaceX.

It is very likely that we will get there and then we will push for more. What will that more be?

The ultimate aim of space programmes is not national glory, because at some point, the first to do this or that will be behind us.

Much of it already has been achieved. The first person to orbit, first person to spacewalk, to land on the moon, all of that happened 50 years ago.

There are people who have spent a year in orbit on the space station.

The only 'first' to be achieved in the next couple of decades is to land humans on Mars and perhaps to set up a permanent base there.

And so being first is not the ultimate goal, which is to further human civilisation.

If and when a spaceship from our planet leaves the solar system and enters another, it will be a messenger not from a nation but from a planet.

The International Space Station recognises this.

It is a joint effort by the US, Japan, Russia, Canada and European Union.

Note that through all the hostilities in Ukraine, with the EU and America arming them against Russia, the joint space programme continues.

It does so because achievements and progress in space is about more than nations.

China is not a member of the ISS community, but it has built its own space station and is expanding it every year.

Science generally speaking, and space in particular, tends to make us come together as a race and as a planet.

They say that all astronauts who have orbited the earth are permanently transformed.

They see our planet in a way that the rest of us cannot.

Their eyes see how thin the blue atmosphere is, and how vulnerable it is.

They see the physical form of earth from above without its artificial borders and without races, as a unified whole.

This is why all progress in space should excite us and encourage us to be optimists about a better future for our planet and all of us.

Aakar Patel is a columnist and writer and you can read Aakar's earlier columns here.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
India's role as a leader of the global south may require it to give up its ambition to serve as a bridge between the warring halves of the international community, points out Mihir S Sharma.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi at the inauguration of the bharat Mandapam in New Delhi , July 26, 2023, which will host next week's G20 Summit. Photograph: ANI Photo

Unlike in previous presidencies, when the final G20 summit was held towards the end of the year, this year India has chosen to hold the leaders' meeting in early September, weeks before the United Nations General Assembly normally kicks off the summit season.

Whatever the reason for this shift, it means that India's presidency always had a tougher task than others to move the needle on crucial policy issues.

Second, the geopolitical situation has deteriorated markedly since a tentative agreement was obtained at the last G20 summit held in Bali last November.

A joint communique with acceptable language about the war in Europe could be issued after that summit -- thanks in part to the diplomatic efforts of the Indian delegation -- but there are real fears that this achievement will not be matched in New Delhi.

Several previous meetings earlier this year have ended not with a joint communique. but with a statement by the chair.

Indian officials find this relatively comforting in a way -- they can ensure that India's priorities get some visibility.

But the sustained efforts to achieve a consensus on wording to describe the Russian Federation's war of choice in Ukraine have drained away energy and distracted Indian policy makers.

Various other parallel efforts have also taken away attention from the G20 process.

Some finance ministers did not attend the Ahmedabad summit in July, for example, because they had turned up in June to a big conference called by French President Emmanuel Macron with the aim of 'reforming the international financial system'.

Such reform is, in fact, supposed to be the core competence of the G20.

But while the issues at stake in both the G20 and Paris processes are the same -- from sovereign debt to financing poor countries' adaptation to climate change -- the participants and their priorities are different.

It should not entirely surprise us if a multiplicity of efforts does not result in greater movement.

On sovereign debt, for example -- which the Indian government has declared is reaching crisis levels in many developing countries, including in our own neighbourhood -- the G20's efforts have not panned out as expected.

Special mechanisms to help indebted countries have gone unused in some cases because developing countries fear they might be a bad signal that locks them out of private capital markets.

The structural problem slowing down debt resolution is deeper, however.

Nobody is certain how to deal with the emergence of the People's Republic of China as a major creditor to developing countries.

It seems that Beijing has neither the know-how, nor the capacity, nor apparently even the will to enter into clear and transparent mechanisms similar to those utilised by other sovereign creditors.

This has slowed down the G20 reform process.

And what has not helped here is that at the Paris conference China agreed to a side deal to restructure one particular country's debt -- Zambia's.

While that deeply stressed southern African economy clearly needed assistance, the fact is also that such case-by-case arbitrariness takes the pressure off efforts to find a solution that can be applied across the board and end concerns about a generalised sovereign debt crisis.

Reform of multilateral development banks (MDBs) such as the World Bank is another issue on which the G20 and other efforts are not running in parallel.

At the Paris conference, Ms Sitharaman was very clear that India does not believe in burdening the existing development institutions with additional mandates.

But many other participants at Paris wished to use the MDBs' assets to address problems, such as adaptation to climate change, that have not traditionally been central to their lending.

This does not mean, of course, that India should give up on efforts to utilise its G20 presidency to make a real change to how development priorities are financed at the global level.

Recent work on putting the MDBs' capital to better use, which was commissioned some years ago and presented to the Indonesian presidency last year, is one easy win for India.

However, India should also demand that this shift be accompanied by a wholesale transformation of the MDBs institutionally, particularly the World Bank.

The new head of that institution has deep experience of both the private sector and India's development priorities, and that should be leveraged.

More broadly, Indian decision-makers cannot at this stage focus all their efforts on an elusive broad consensus.

Instead, a narrower focus on India's specific priorities -- from investment to global financial reform to interlinking digital public infrastructure -- will be needed.

The government will need to be agile in restructuring, at this relatively late date, their efforts and narrowing the possible achievements for their presidency down to two or three items.

This would nevertheless be hugely consequential, especially if these items are designed to appeal also to Brazil and South Africa, the next hosts.

India's role as a leader of the global south may require it to give up its ambition to serve as a bridge between the warring halves of the international community.

If so, that is a trade worth making.

Mihir S Sharma is director, Centre for the Economy and Growth, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
'The state government, state forces, commandos, police, they are all with the Meiteis in attacking Kuki tribals.'

IMAGE: Opposition MLAs outside the Manipur assembly after the assembly was adjourned sine die amid protests on the floor of the House over the ethnic violence that broke out nearly four months ago, A, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

While two Kuki Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs from the hills refused to speak about the volatile situation in the Manipur valley citing that the situation is still fluid and developing, Letzamang Haokip, the BJP's Kuki MLA from Henglep in Churachandpur district, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com that violence has continued unabated in the valley and in the areas that abut the hills and the valley since May 3 when violence began.

Haokip says that the Kuki MLAs from the hills are still making attempts to meet Prime Minister Narendra D Modi and Union Home Minister Amit A Shah, but nobody seems to be listening to them in Delhi.

How is the situation in Manipur today almost four months after the violence first began in the state on May 3?

The situation is as dire as it were when the ethnic strife first began in early May this year.

The violence between the Meiteis and Kukis continues even as radical Meitei organisations and their volunteers with openly blatant support from the state police and the IRB (Indian Reserve Battalion) continue to target Kukis in the valley with total impunity.

The violence never stopped in the valley. It has become more strident now since the last couple of days. Even this morning I heard reports of deaths and injuries.

This Kuki and Meitei fight is a communal crisis that still continues.

The Manipur assembly session was convened two days ago. Did you attend the session?

None of us (Kuki and tribal MLAs from the hills) attended the session. It's impossible for any of us to go to Imphal (the state capital in the valley where the Meiteis dominate) because of security and safety reasons.

It's quite impossible for us to attend when these radical Meitei volunteers roam freely searching for Kukis and the state police supporting them.

We do have a security arrangement of two vehicles and 12-13 men, but that is absolutely inadequate given the environment of fear that has been unleashed against the Kukis in the valley.

Going there (to attend the assembly session), with security vehicles would attract unnecessary attention. One of our MLAs, Vungzagin Valte (the BJP's MLA from Thanton), was also with his security escort, but his security vehicles were burned (when the violence began early May) on May 4.

He was dragged out of his vehicle and beaten very badly. So badly, that he went into a coma and his still recuperating in a Delhi hospital. His driver, also a Kuki, was killed by the mob.

Mr Valte's bodyguards were a mix of Kukis and Meiteis, but they too were attacked by the mob.

The Kuki MLAs from the hills had proposed to the Union home ministry for a separate administration. But the Union home ministry has rejected that demand. What's the way forward for Kukis from the hills now?

The (Union) home ministry has rejected our proposal, but still the public voice still demands a separate administration.

The violence, as you said never stopped. So how will the situation return to normal? What needs to be done? What measures need to be taken?

Actually, the head of the government (chief minister of Manipur N Biren Singh) needs to be changed first and now it isn't a crisis just between the Meiteis and the Kukis but the state government, state forces, commandos, police, they are all with the Meiteis in attacking the Kuki tribals.

I am not saying that peace will return to Manipur as soon as the head of the government is removed, but then that can only start the process for peace.

What about the distrust and the hate that the Meiteis and the Kukis now have for each other? Do you think that distrust and hatred for each will vanish sooner?

I think this (enmity and hatred between the Meiteis and Kukis) will go a long way. The future of Manipur is totally dark. It's totally dark.

We have been making efforts to hold discussions with the prime minister and home minister, but nobody seems to be listening to our requests.
Top leaders of the Opposition bloc INDIA are expected to give shape to their poll plans for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on Friday as they gear up to take on the NDA amid expectations of an early election.

IMAGE: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and others attend the third meeting of the Opposition bloc, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), in Mumbai. Photograph: ANI Photo

The leaders, who have gathered in Mumbai from across the country, will deliberate on their strategy and move forward on specific issues like setting up a coordination committee and form sub groups to work on their common agenda, media strategy, joint actions and programmes.

During informal talks over dinner on Thursday night, the leaders stressed on the urgency to finalise seat sharing and come out with a joint agenda in a few weeks' time.

Friday is the second round of formal talks between them after which they will come out with a joint statement and will announce the coordination panel besides some sub panels to give proper shape to their poll plans.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has asked leaders of various parties to give one name from their respective parties for being part of the coordination committee.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would also unveil its logo on Friday, even though there were no discussions on it on Thursday.

The sources added that the opposition grouping should have a team of spokespersons who would speak on behalf of the alliance.

They will also discuss issues relating to having a convenor for the bloc.

The leaders would discuss the agenda during the formal meeting on Friday which will begin at 11 am, after which they would address a press conference jointly.

It was decided that a coordination committee will be formed after discussions, along with at least four sub-groups which include one to plan the joint agenda of the alliance, another on preparing the action plan and handling social media, and one on research and data analysis to take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Besides, a sub-committees would also be set up for chalking out joint campaign and rallies.

While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is learnt to have told the meeting that the bloc should come out with its manifesto by October 2, her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal called for finalising seat sharing among parties for the Lok Sabha polls by the end of next month.

Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav is also learnt to have called for finalising seat sharing between parties in states early, saying there is no time left for the opposition alliance.

Kharge is also learnt to have told the meeting to prepare a common national agenda. He told the leaders to prepare bullet points.

Discussions were also held on the special session of Parliament being convened at a short notice, with Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar saying the opposition should be ready for all contingency plans to take on the NDA's surprise element strategy and "gimmicks".

The government has convened a special session of Parliament for five days between September 18 and 22.

Shiv Sena-UBT president Uddhav Thackeray told the meeting that the Parliament session is being convened on the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi and wondered "what was cooking".

"We should not delay our plans further and begin work at the earliest," he said.

Most leaders agreed for early finalisation of poll plans for 2024 considering that there could be early elections, while stressing that there was no time left with them and mere meetings would not help.

"Elections are coming near and we have to put our things in place and reach out to people," said a leader.

Another leader said there was no point holding meetings and the alliance should initiate action plans and reach out to people while suggesting that poll rallies and agitations should begin as early as next month.

Some leaders also raised the issue of electronic voting machines and said there should be a discussion on that too.

Kharge, former Congress chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena-UBT president Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee, AAP convener Kejriwal, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, among others, are participating in the discussions.

National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, CPI (ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and SP president Akhilesh Yadav, and RLD's Jayant Chaudhary, are also among those holding hectic parleys.
In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on Friday held that children born out of invalid marriages are entitled to claim a share in the property of their parents under the Hindu succession law.

IMAGE: The Supreme Court of India. Photograph: ANI Photo

The top court, however, held that the children from such "void or voidable" marriages will not be able to inherit the ancestral properties of the coparceners other than their parents under the Hindu law.

The verdict from a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on a 2011 plea pertaining to the vexatious legal questions as to whether children, born out of annulled or invalid marriages, were entitled to a share in the ancestral property of their parents under Hindu laws.

The judgement has dealt with the question whether the share of such children is limited only to the self-acquired property of their parents under Section 16(3) of the Hindu Marriage Act.

Pronouncing the verdict, the bench explained that under Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, the interest of coparceners is defined to be the share of the property that have come to them if the partition had taken place immediately before their death.

Coparceners denote joint heir' of a Hindu undivided family (HUF) who share legal rights for inheriting property, title, and money as defined under the Hindu succession laws.

The top court held the children born out of invalid marriages are entitled to such property which would devolve upon their parents on a notional partition on their death.

The top court said that its verdict would be applicable only to Hindu joint family properties governed by the Hindu Mitakshara law.

Under the Mitakshara law, the son, grandson, and great grandson have a right to the family property through birth.

"For the purpose of ascertaining the interest of a deceased Hindu Mitakshara coparcener, the law mandates the assumption of a state of affairs immediately prior to the death of the coparcener, namely a partition of the coparcenary property between the deceased and other members of the coparcenary.

"Once the share of the deceased in the property that would have been allotted to him if a partition had taken place immediately before his death is ascertained, his heirs, including the children who have been conferred with legitimacy under Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act, will be entitled to their share in the property which would have been allotted to the deceased upon the notional partition if it had taken place," the CJI said while pronouncing the verdict.



It also said that the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act needed to be harmonised with section 16(3) of the Hindu Marriage Act which says that any child of a marriage, which is either "null and void or annulled by a court decree" will not be entitled to rights in the properties of any person other than the parents.

"Equal rights have been granted to daughters in the same manner...," it said.

The detailed judgement was awaited.

According to the Hindu law, the man and woman in a void marriage do not have the status of husband and wife. However, they have the status of husband and wife in the voidable marriage.

In a void marriage, no decree of nullity is required to annul the marriage. While, in a voidable marriage decree of nullity is required.

The legal issues were referred to a larger bench by a two-judge bench of the apex court on March 31, 2011.

"The question which crops up in the facts of this case is whether illegitimate children are entitled to a share in the coparcenary (ancestral) property or whether their share is limited only to the self acquired property of their parents under Section 16(3) of the Hindu Marriage Act," the bench had said while referring the case to a larger bench.

The court had said the provision makes it very clear that a child of a "void or voidable marriage" can only claim rights to the property of his parents, and no one else.

The bench had disagreed with the earlier findings of the top court that such children will have no right in ancestral properties of their parents.

"With changing social norms of legitimacy in every society, including ours, what was illegitimate in the past may be legitimate today. The concept of legitimacy stems from social consensus, in the shaping of which various social groups play a vital role... in a changing society law cannot afford to remain static...," it had said.
The Indian Air Force is deploying frontline fighter jets, radars, anti-drone systems and surface-to-air missiles as part of its elaborate efforts to secure the skies of Delhi and neighbouring regions for the G20 summit next week, military sources said on Friday.

IMAGE: NSG aerial insertion team carry out precision spot aerial drops on critical high-rise buildings as part of the rehearsal for the third-dimensional swift response to counter-terror contingencies ahead of the G20 summit, in New Delhi, September 1, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

The IAF has already set up a dedicated operations direction centre for coordinating various aspects of the arrangements with security agencies concerned, they said.

India is hosting the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 in its capacity as the current president of the grouping.

The assets being pressed into service to secure Delhi's airspace as well as the flight path within India of various leaders include combat jets Rafales, Mirage-2000s and Sukhoi-30MKIs, the sources said.

Indigenously-developed NETRA airborne early warning and control systems as well as high-end surveillance equipment are among the key platforms that have been deployed already, they said.

The missiles that have been deployed include Akash as well as the Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile systems.

Having a range of 70 km, the MRSAM, is a quick reaction, vertically launched missile designed to neutralise enemy aerial threats such as missiles, aircraft, guided bombs and helicopters.

The Akash, with a range of up to 25 km, is a short range surface to air missile primarily used for protecting vulnerable areas and points from air attacks.

The IAF has also put all its air bases in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir on operational readiness as part of the overall security measures.

The overall security measures are being coordinated with various other agencies concerned, the sources said.

"We are taking every possible measure to ensure full-proof security for the G20 summit," said an official on condition of anonymity.

"We are deploying assets to deal with all sorts of threats including slow-moving targets to high-speed ones," the official added.

The security of the air space of Delhi and neighbouring regions are being primarily handled by the IAF's Delhi headquartered Western Command.

However, assets of other commands are also being deployed.

A majority of G20 leaders including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have already confirmed their participation at the summit.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are also among the G20 leaders who confirmed their participation at the summit.

The G20 member countries represent around 85 percent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.
Indian Navy's warship Mahendragiri, developed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, was launched in Mumbai on Friday.

IMAGE: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar addressing the gathering during the launch of Indian Navy's warship Mahendragiri, in Mumbai, September 1, 2023. Photograph: Courtesy Vice President of India on X

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, whose wife Sudesh launched the warship, was the chief guest at the ceremony.

He said it is befitting that the launch took place in a vibrant city like Mumbai.

Named after a mountain peak in the Eastern Ghats of Odisha, this is the seventh ship of Project 17A frigates series and boasts enhanced stealth features, advanced weapons, sensors, and platform management systems.

I am sure that Mahendragiri, once commissioned, will proudly fly the tiranga (national tricolour) across the oceans, as an ambassador of India's maritime might, Vice President Dhankhar said.

I congratulate our force with full confidence. They will continue improving themselves for security of the world at large, he said.

With a strong presence of over 10,000 women across the army, navy and air force, the Indian armed forces have made considerable strides in gender equality, he said.

The launch of Mahendragiri is a significant milestone in our maritime history, he said. It is the last of the 7 warships of the Nilgiri-class stealth frigates built under Project17A, he added.

Aligning with our resolute commitment to 'Aatma Nirbharata', a substantial 75 per cent of orders for equipment and systems of the Nilgiri class have been made to indigenous firms, he said.

The launch of Mahendragiri is an apt testament to the incredible progress the nation has made in building a self-reliant naval force, Dhankhar said.

Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were present at the launch ceremony.
The Supreme Court on Friday sentenced former Lok Sabha MP from Bihar Prabhunath Singh to life imprisonment for killing two people on the day of polling for assembly elections in Bihar's Saran district in 1995.

IMAGE: The Supreme Court of India.



A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said Singh, a multiple-term former MP from Bihar's Maharajganj, and state of Bihar will have to pay Rs 10 lakh each compensation separately to the families of the two deceased and five lakh each to an injured victim of the case.

"Never seen a case like this before," the bench, also comprising Justices A S Oka and Vikram Nath, observed without elaborating.

On August 18, the apex court had convicted Singh while overturning the orders of the trial court and the Patna high court acquitting him in the case.

On Friday, the matter was fixed for hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence to be awarded to the convict.

At the outset, the bench observed, "There are two options only, there is no third option available. Life (sentence) or death, these are the only two options."

The counsel representing Singh said it is not a case where the court may consider granting death sentence.

"Do you seriously feel that we are considering death penalty?" the bench asked.

The counsel said concurrent acquittals by the courts below have been reversed by the apex court in this case and they have also filed a petition seeking review of the top court verdict convicting Singh.

The bench observed the review petition will come up for consideration in-chambers.

The apex court said it was inclined to award compensation and the state will also have to compensate the victims.

"Life sentence, 10 lakhs each for both the deceased and five lakhs for the injured, both by the respondent number two (Singh) and by the state (government) separately," the bench said, adding, "We have already announced that, the orders you will get."

On the apex court's query about Singh's age, one of the advocates said he is 70-year-old.

While convicting Singh in the matter, the apex court had observed that it was dealing with a case which was an "exceptionally painful episode of our criminal justice system".

The top court had observed there was not even an iota of doubt that Singh was instrumental in making all possible efforts to "wipe out" the evidence against him.

It had said the prosecution machinery, as also the presiding officer of the trial court, were used as a tool of his "high-handedness".

The top court had observed the three main stakeholders in a criminal trial -- the investigating officer, the public prosecutor and the judiciary -- have "utterly failed" to discharge the duties and responsibilities cast upon them.

The bench had convicted Singh, also a former MLA, for the murders of Daroga Rai and Rajendra Rai and for attempting to kill a woman.

It had noted that an FIR was registered on March 25, 1995, at Chhapra on the statement of Rajendra Rai, who said that he along with eight-nine other villagers was returning after casting their votes when a car pulled over.

It was alleged that Singh, who was then contesting the assembly elections as a candidate of the Bihar People's Party, was sitting in the car and enquired as to who they had voted for.

The FIR alleged when Rai answered that they had cast their votes in favour of another political party, Singh opened fire from his rifle and injured three people.

The offence of murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was added later as two out of the three injured, including Rajendra Rai, died during treatment.

The top court had delivered its August 18 verdict on an appeal challenging the December 2021 judgement of the Patna high court which had dismissed a revision petition and confirmed the trial court order acquitting the accused in the case.

The apex court had not disturbed the acquittal of other accused in the case, saying their names were not reflected either in the dying declaration of Rajendra Rai or in the statement of his mother, who was a court witness.

Singh is currently lodged in Hazaribagh jail after his conviction in the murder of Janata Dal MLA Ashok Singh at the latter's residence in the high-security zone of the Bihar capital in 1995.
There is consensus among the G20 nations on all issues except the Ukraine conflict and the contentious matter should be removed from the draft of the leaders' communique to pave the way for its release at the bloc's summit next week, Russian ambassador Denis Alipov said on Friday.

IMAGE: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar meets Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov, in New Delhi, May 26, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

The envoy said Russia has been "very openly" supporting India's priorities under its G20 presidency and hoped that the summit will be a "huge success" for India and the whole world.

There have been sharp differences between the Russia-China combine and the Western countries over the text to describe the Ukraine crisis.

"Obviously, the situation is complicated. There is no consensus on Ukraine (issue)," Alipov said at an interactive session with journalists at the Foreign Correspondents' Club.

India will host the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 in its capacity as the current president of the grouping.

In the text of the draft communique, two paragraphs on the Ukraine conflict were taken from G20 'leaders' Bali declaration that was unveiled in November last year.

Both Russia and China had agreed to the two paragraphs on the Ukraine conflict in the Bali declaration, but they backtracked from it this year creating difficulties for India to build consensus on the tricky issue.

There have been apprehensions that lack of consensus on how to describe the Ukraine conflict may result in the summit ending without having a leaders' declaration.

"If there is no consensus on only one issue and there is consensus on all other issues, what shall we do in this situation," Alipov asked.

"We should remove the nonconsensual issue from the agenda to agree on other very topical issues such as climate change, sustainable development, financial crisis, food crisis," he said.

Alipov suggested that there are bodies like the UN Security Council which should deliberate on the Ukraine conflict and that Russia is open for discussions.

He said the G20 was established for resolving financial and economic problems that the world faces, and not to deliberate on geopolitical issues.

"If there is no consensus then political issues should not be discussed," the envoy said.

The G20 member countries represent around 85 percent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.
As Manipur grapples with protracted ethnic strife, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre and the state government to ensure uninterrupted supply of basic commodities like food and medicines to people facing economic blockade in certain areas of the border state.

IMAGE: Members of the Christian Community take part in a peace march against the violence in Manipur, in Kolkata, September 1, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala also directed the state government to explore all options to deal with the blockades, which are disrupting essential supplies to the affected people. The court said the option of air-dropping the supplies, if needed, should be considered.

"We direct that both the Union government and the state of Manipur should ensure that basic supplies of food, medicines and other essential items continue to be distributed in the affected areas so as no part of the population suffers on account of an existing or apprehended blockade," the bench said.

It said the manner in which such blockades shall be dealt with is the matter for the law enforcement agencies to consider, but bearing in mind the humanitarian situation involved, the government should explore all possible options including air-dropping the supplies.

The court said it be apprised of the specific steps taken to ameliorate the situation.

The bench recorded the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Manipur government, that nodal officers have been appointed by the Union of India and the state pursuant to its earlier orders to facilitate the functioning of the court-appointed all-women committee of judges to oversee relief and rehabilitation in the strife-torn state.

The panel headed by Justice (retired) Gita Mittal, a former chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, also comprises Justices (retd) Shalini P Joshi and Asha Menon.

"An official communication in that regard shall be provided to the chairperson of the committee, within 48 hours. The nodal officers shall act as point of contact for facilitating the meetings and all other directions of the committee which are made on the ground," the bench ordered.

It granted Mehta time till next Wednesday to seek further instructions on the six reports filed by the committee to enable him to make statements at the next hearing.

The batch of petitions filed by various individuals, including those from Manipur and civil society groups, will be taken up for hearing on September 6, the bench said.

At the outset, senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the court-appointed committee, said it needs to be brought to the notice of the court that there are blockades in Moreh area of Manipur and people can't get even basic supplies of rations.

She said while people are starving due to blockades, information has come in about an outbreak of chicken-pox and measles in some relief camps.

"What you are saying (about), the state government can be easily apprised (of) and necessary action will be taken. Mr Solicitor General, please find a way for the committee to directly tell the government," the CJI said.

The bench directed senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared for an intervenor and claimed 642 religious places have so far been destroyed, that a note on the issue be shared with the committee and the solicitor general for appropriate action.

Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for one of the parties, said the committee could not do anything when it came to economic blockades.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, also appearing for one of the petitioners, said, "There is no food in Moreh area. The problem is the blockades in the area. The committee cannot direct the armed forces to remove the blockade."

The CJI said removing blockades was "easier said than done" as the problem was complex and required careful consideration because of the involvement of local people.

"Removing a blockade is not about directing the armed forces to do it. There are sensitive issues.... because the blockades are done by local people," the bench said.

Another counsel, appearing for one of the parties, said humanitarian aid should not be limited to Moreh area alone.

"There are blockades in various places and not only in the Moreh area. There are blockades at various places on National Highway-2 which runs from Assam to Mizoram via Manipur and Nagaland," he said.

The bench said whatever issues are being flagged the solicitor general is taking note of them and will apprise it next Wednesday.

It asked Mehta to seek instructions about bringing uniformity in awarding compensation to the victims of violence.

On being told that a large number of bodies are lying in morgues and needed to be disposed of in a dignified manner, the bench said the government will have to take a call so the unclaimed bodies don't spread diseases.

Manipur plunged into a vortex of violence in May over a high court order directing the state government to consider including the non-tribal Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes.

This order led to rampant ethnic clashes. More than 160 people have been killed and several hundred injured since ethnic violence first broke out in the state on May 3 when a 'tribal solidarity march' was organised in hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. The information disseminated by the Armenian side that the Azerbaijani army units allegedly pose a threat to the Armenian civilian population has no basis, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend.

"The units of the Azerbaijani army take the necessary countermeasures against the provocations of the units of the Armenian armed forces and open fire only on legitimate military targets," said the ministry.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam, an Indian-origin Singapore-born economist, registered a landslide victory in Singapore's presidential election on Friday, winning over 70 per cent of votes in the country's first contested presidential polls since 2011.

IMAGE: Tharman Shanmugaratnam, then deputy PM of Singapore, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, in this photograph from July 22, 2017. Photograph: ANI Photo

The 66-year-old former senior minister bagged 70.4 per cent (1,746,427 votes) of the 2.48 million votes cast, while his Chinese-origin rivals Ng Kok Song and Tan Kin Lian received 15.72 per cent and 13.88 per cent respectively, the elections department said.

The result was announced by returning officer Tan Meng Dui at past midnight local time, making Tharman Singapore's third Indian-origin president.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong congratulated Tharman, who served as Singapore's deputy prime minister from 2011 to 2019, on winning the presidential election.

"Singaporeans have chosen Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam to be our next president by a decisive margin. As head of state, he will represent us at home and abroad, and exercise custodial powers, including over the reserves and key appointments," he said.

Lee noted that in Friday's election, both voters and candidates showed a greater understanding of the roles and duties of the president, which bodes well for Singapore.

"I have every confidence that he will carry out his duties as president with distinction," he said.

Earlier speaking at Taman Jurong Food Centre where his supporters had gathered, Tharman said he is truly humbled by the strong endorsement Singaporeans have given him.

"I'm humbled by this vote -- it is not just a vote for me, it is a vote for Singapore's future, a future of optimism and solidarity. That's what it really is. My campaign was one of optimism and solidarity, and I believe that's what Singaporeans want, he said.

I will honour the trust that Singaporeans have placed in me and respect all Singaporeans including those who did not vote for me," Tharman said.

Prime Minister Lee's People's Action Party (PAP) had backed Tharman in the election.

Lee said he congratulated Tharman for his resounding victory to assure him of his government's full cooperation.

"Tharman has also declared his intention to work closely with the government. As head of state, the president has to be a unifying figure that all Singaporeans can look up to and identify with," Lee said.

Tharman formally launched his presidential campaign in July with a pledge to evolve the country's culture to keep it a "shining spot" in the world.

He joined politics in 2001 and has served in the public sector and ministerial positions with the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) for over two decades.

Over 2.7 million voters cast their ballots. The voters started casting their ballots at 8 am when polling stations opened. The polls closed at 8 pm (local time).

Incumbent president Madam Halimah Yacob's six-year term will end on September 13. She is the country's eighth and first female president.

This was Singapore's first contested presidential election since 2011.

Singapore in the past has had two Indian-origin presidents.

Sellapan Ramanathan, popularly known as S R Nathan, a Singaporean politician and civil servant of Tamil descent served as the president of Singapore. In 2009, Nathan defeated Benjamin Sheares to become Singapore's longest-serving president.

Chengara Veetil Devan Nair, better known as Devan Nair, served as the third president of Singapore from 1981 until his resignation in 1985. Born in 1923 in Malacca, Malaysia, Nair was the son of a rubber plantation clerk, who was originally from Thalassery, Kerala.
Holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies would need at least five constitutional amendments and a large number of additional EVMs and paper-trail machines costing "thousands of crores of rupees", but will yield a huge long-term saving to the public exchequer, officials said on Friday.

IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: Reuters

A parliamentary panel had examined the issue of simultaneous elections in consultation with various stakeholders, including the Election Commission.

The committee made certain recommendations in this regard, the officials said.

The matter now stands referred to the Law Commission for further examination to work out a "practicable road map and framework" for simultaneous elections, they said.

Simultaneous elections, the officials noted, would result in huge savings for the public exchequer and avoid replication of effort on the part of administrative, and law and order machinery in holding repeated elections. It would bring considerable savings to political parties and candidates in their election campaigns.

Asynchronous Lok Sabha and legislative assembly elections (including by-elections) result in prolonged enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct with its concomitant adverse impact on developmental and welfare programmes, the officials noted.

They also said simultaneous polls would require amendments in at least five articles of the Constitution -- Article 83 relating to the duration of Houses of Parliament, Article 85 relating to dissolution of Lok Sabha by the President, Article 172 relating to the duration of the state legislatures, Article 174 relating to dissolution of the state legislatures, and Article 356 relating to the imposition of President's Rule in states.

A consensus of all political parties is also required keeping in mind the federal structure of India's system of governance.

Besides, it is imperative that the consensus of all state governments is obtained.

It would also require an additional number of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and VVPATs (paper trail machines), which would cost "thousands of crores of rupees".

With the life of a machine only 15 years, this would imply that a machine would be used for about three or four times in its life span. They need to be replaced every 15 years.

Additional polling personnel and security forces would also be needed to hold the massive democratic exercise.

The department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in its 79th report had highlighted that in South Africa, elections to national as well as provincial legislatures are held simultaneously for five years and municipal elections are held two years later.

In Sweden, elections to national legislature (riksdag) and provincial legislature/county council (landsting) and local bodies/municipal assemblies (kommunfullmaktige) are held on a fixed date -- second Sunday in September for four years.

In the UK, the term of parliament is governed by the Fixed-term Parliament Act, 2011.
Over five years before being tasked with the responsibility to explore the feasibility of 'one nation, one election', Ram Nath Kovind as the country's then president had made a strong pitch for debate and consensus among all parties on simultaneous polls.

Addressing a joint session of Parliament on January 29, 2018, Kovind had said citizens alive to the state of governance in the country are concerned about the frequent elections in one part of the country or another, which adversely impact the economy and development.

"Frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct. Therefore, a sustained debate is required on the subject of simultaneous elections and all political parties need to arrive at a consensus on this issue," he had said.

Again in his address to the first joint sitting of Parliament after the election of the 17th Lok Sabha, Kovind had made a strong pitch for 'One Nation, Simultaneous Elections'.

"During the last few decades, due to frequent elections being held in some part of the country or the other, the pace and continuity of development programmes have been impacted," he had said.

Noting that the people of the country have demonstrated "their wisdom by delivering a clear verdict both on state and national issues", Kovind said that 'One Nation, Simultaneous Elections' was the need of the hour and that it "would facilitate accelerated development, thereby benefitting our countrymen".

"With such a system in place, all political parties, according to their respective ideologies, will be able to better utilise their energy towards development and public welfare. Therefore, I urge all Members of Parliament to seriously ponder over this development-oriented proposal of 'One Nation, Simultaneous Elections'," he had said.

Kovind, 77, who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022, had also told all parties at a farewell dinner organised for him at Parliament's Central Hall on July 23, 2022 to shun partisan politics to deliberate on what is essential for people's welfare with the spirit of "nation first".

Over a year after demitting office, the former President will now head a committee constituted by the government to explore the feasibility of 'one nation, one election'.

Even after demitting office as President of India, Kovind has had an active public life and has been delivering lectures and attending various functions.

Only two days back, he met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat who visited the former President's residence in New Delhi.

After the meeting, Kovind had said he had "a good conversation on various national issues".

"His insights into our nation's progress and values are truly inspiring," Kovind had said after meeting Bhagwat.

Known as someone having risen from being a grassroots-level politician to becoming the country's first citizen, Kovind in his speeches over the years has often referred to his humble background and talked about how he grew up in a mud house in a small village and that his journey to the presidency had been a long one.

Born in Paraunkh village in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district, Kovind enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1971 and served as counsel of the Union government in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979.

In 1978, he became an advocate-on-record with the Supreme Court of India. From 1980 to 1993, Kovind was the standing counsel for the Union government in the apex court.

He was elected as a member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, effective from April 1994. He served two consecutive terms of six years each till March 2006.

Kovind was appointed the governor of Bihar on August 8, 2015.

He was the second Dalit to occupy the top constitutional post after K R Narayanan, who was the first Dalit president of the country from July 25, 1997 to July 25, 2002.
The child's mom continued to sob and pray.

The Vistara staff was standing by offering as much assistance as they were capable of.

Vistara flight UK 814 had just taken off from the Kempegowda airport in Bengaluru at 9 pm, on Sunday, August 27, and was about half an hour out of the city, flying due north, when Dr Avichala Taxak, who was sitting in the emergency exit row, probably 11 E, heard a woman weeping a few seats behind her.

She recalls, "That was the first thing I heard. The mother started crying and that's when we (wondered) what is happening. How can we help? Was there anything that they need from us (as doctors)."

Minutes later there was a cabin crew announcement asking if there was 'an RMP' onboard and they urgently needed the assistance of an RMP.

"The call was announced, I think, 30-35 minutes after takeoff. They were looking for an RMP. I was like, what is an RMP? Because anybody would just be asking for a doctor, usually. I remember that very well."

It took a few minutes for Dr Avichala to fathom what they meant by an RMP -- registered medical practitioner -- and then she sprung to her feet and hurried over to the scene of the emergency.

A toddler of two had lost pulse and was no longer breathing, her face having slowly turned a grim and dangerous shade of blue or in medical terms was experiencing cyanosis.

"It was a small baby, who was pulseless, and blue.

"Then we asked for the medical records, we got to know she is a complex congenital heart disease patient, post operative."

Delhi-raised Dr Avichala, who has her roots in Haryana, is becoming a cardiovascular radiologist. She is in her final year of study towards earning her super-specialty degree at New Delhi's prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The physician had been attending an annual interventional radiology conference in Bengaluru and she, along with four other colleagues -- Dr Rishabh Jain, Dr Oishika Chakraborty, Dr Damandeep Singh and Dr Navdeep Kaur -- after the successful conclusion of the conference, were travelling back to Delhi, seated separately, that night.

After looking at the medical records, Dr Avichala and her fellow doctors -- two of whom she knew better than the others -- rapidly conferred on how to handle the high-risk patient, who was but a tiny, delicate baby.

"We had to quickly think: What next, what next. That is where the training works. We started thinking... what can we do? How can we secure the airway? What was there on the plane and how can we make use of whatever is available."

The pulse-less child was gently carried to the galley or rear pantry, at the back of the plane and laid out on a blanket on the floor as attempts to valiantly resuscitate her began.

Why did they use the galley and the floor? "So, there was some space for the five of us. One person cannot do all of it. One person has to secure the airway. One person has to give chest compressions. One person has to administer the drugs and take the IV line."

Within seconds, not even minutes, the doctors, all representing myriad specialties, none of whom were cardiac surgeons -- "Dr Navdeep was the anesthesiologist who really helped us" -- hastily pooled their knowledge.

"It did not matter which specialties we were -- the beauty about that was that we were just very focused on saving the baby. We quickly took roles, and everybody was very (good at) coordinating, and we did not (even) know each other that well, before the flight.

"We see these patients in AIIMS a lot, like complex congenital heart disease, but not in this setting."

They hastily evaluated the equipment they had at their disposal. Oxygen was in plentiful supply, it being an airplane.

The aircraft's medical kit thankfully had tubes, syringes, emergency medication and a cannula -- "the pediatric cannula (a thin tube inserted in the body) was there -- we were very happy to see that, actually, because the veins and arteries (of a baby) are very small and to cannulate them with a bigger one would have been a nightmare."

The oxygen mask was unfortunately adult-size, but nevertheless, of course, it had to pressed into service with a bit of jugaad -- "the baby was so small that it was leaking from all sides. One of us had to manually hold it the whole time."

Fifteen minutes later, wondrously, and to doctors' deep relief, the infant regained her breathing and pulse.

But then, to everyone's dismay, she lost pulse again.

"It came back after 15 minutes, and then again, she went into arrest. And we had to give AED (automated external/electronic defibrillator, a portable electronic device which stops the arrhythmia). And then it came back again. Actually, we did not have any monitors or anything. We were just relying on the pulse and the breath sounds and using the stethoscope for the heart sounds."

The child's mom continued to sob and pray. A doctor was assigned to soothing her. "One of us was calming them down: 'Just wait, let us do our job. Relax'. The father was trying to make a video. We were getting very distracted with that, so he stopped."

The Vistara staff was valiantly standing by offering as much assistance as they were capable of. "The crew was very supportive. They were giving us everything that they had, and could give on the flight, that we were asking for."

Dr Avichala remembers feeling very composed and not nervous. "We see these situations on a regular basis. Definitely, we were very calm, but very focused."

The baby regained her pulse, lost it again, got it back and this cycle began to repeat itself viciously.

This brave group of young doctors did not despair, soldiering on, fighting for the child's life, giving compressions, administering oxygen and utilising AED, till the child stayed with them, hanging onto life precariously, some 25,000 feet in the air.

"She arrested twice. Once she arrested again, we informed the captain that we wanted an emergency landing. We eventually resuscitated her again, but then we could not have continued with that till Delhi."

So, the next steps had to be immediately charted out. Where could the child be taken for further care?

Mumbai that would have excellently equipped super-specialty hospitals was too far. Nagpur was chosen, as per the parents' wishes too.

The pilot was asked to fly or divert to Nagpur.

On the ground, at Nagpur's Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar airport, the doctors requested an ambulance with pediatric endotracheal intubation equipment to meet the plane and carefully, like she was the most precious bundle in the world, took the child off the plane past a planeload of patient people.

"The passengers were very, very, cooperative. It was very nice to see that everybody cooperated so well. There was no hue and cry, nothing."

But when they descended from the aircraft, they discovered that an ambulance "that did not have adequate pediatric endotracheal intubation and certain other things" had been sent. Dr Avichala and her peers insisted they would not dispatch the child to the hospital at Nagpur till the right pediatric ambulance was called.

They kept resuscitating the baby, keeping her stable and watching her saturation levels improve, on the tarmac, till the appropriate vehicle arrived and the child was transported away to safety.

The heroic and conscientious doctors re-boarded the plane, once again regular passengers headed to Delhi, like bringing a child, miraculously, back to life was all in a day's work.

It took a few days for news of the young doctors' rescue of the toddler to percolate. The five have become national heroes, with the television channels making rounds of the hospital to hear their story, that Dr Avichala says she has repeated so many times. "A lot of media people have been coming to AIIMS. We've been telling the same story on and on -- it becomes emotional and more."

The incredible rescue aboard Flight UK-814 was definitely the toughest and most unbelievable moment of her budding career so far: "Yes, it would be one of the most challenging, because of the circumstances -- it was not an adequate setting to treat or resuscitate a patient. We all have been trained in resuscitation. But in that setting it was a tad bit critical."

She and her colleagues are very much in touch with the pediatrician in Nagpur caring for Vistara's most famous wee passenger, and, touch wood, she is healing well, but has a long road of recovery ahead of her.

"We also offered any kind of assistance that they might need from AIIMS because you know we have super-specialty care over here.

"I wish her well. I wish the baby comes out of it eventually (she gets emotional). I mean, if anybody would have been there, they would have done the same thing. It was a bridge therapy that we did. It's nothing short of a miracle, I would say, because this is something which none of us had ever experienced. I mean, that is one blessed child."

"Now when I think about it, it gives me goosebumps, and tears. And joy that we were able to put the patient before anything else."

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com

The little child, whose life was saved on board Vistara's UK 814, sadly passed away in a hospital in Nagpur on August 31 at 3.15 am at the KIMS-Kingsway Hospital, according to a press release issued by the hospital.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Light rain early. Decreasing clouds overnight. Low 33F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Light rain early. Decreasing clouds overnight. Low 33F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. The information disseminated by the Ministry of Defense of Armenia about the alleged use of UAVs by units of the Azerbaijani army in the direction of Zod is false and used for disinformation purposes, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend.
WEST ARLINGTON  Today is the last day of the year that the "OPEN" message painted by hand on the side of an A-frame sign will be turned to fa
WINDHAM  A new teaching principal at Windham Elementary is on administrative leave for reportedly showing an inappropriate music video to you
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John Ungerleider, EdD, is Director of the Greater Falls Community Justice Center in Bellows Falls and Springfield.

Submissions, from Brattleboro area residents, for future publication, not to exceed 650 words, should be emailed to: compassionstory@gmail.com or mailed to: Compassion Story of the Month, PO Box 50, Marlboro, VT 05344. Please include your name, address, phone number and email address. Earlier submitted stories will automatically be considered in subsequent months. Our website is: https://www.compassionatebrattleboro.org.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. In response to the provocation of the Armenians, four servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces were killed and one was wounded, Trend reports.

The information was confirmed by the statement of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.

On the morning of September 1, the Armenian armed forces stationed in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar region of Armenia, using combat drones, launched an attack on the positions of the Azerbaijani army in Azerbaijan's Kalbajar district.

As a result of shelling by units of the Armenian armed forces from positions in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar region, Azerbaijani army serviceman Tagiyev Mohammed was wounded. Consequently, two more servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army were wounded.
Trend News Agency's interview with Chief Rabbi Shneor Segal of the Ashkenazi Jews community of Azerbaijan

What are the specific aspects of the development of the Jewish community in Azerbaijan that you can highlight?

- Very soon, we will be celebrating the Jewish New Year. The Jewish community in Azerbaijan has had a quite successful year. I must mention the atmosphere of tolerance that prevails in Azerbaijan. This is not a mere statement; it is the reality of life here. This atmosphere exists, grows, and deepens thanks to President Ilham Aliyev, and I am not only talking about the Jewish community but all the people here. Everyone living in Azerbaijan is very comfortable and well. I am thrilled that we now have a new Mikvah under construction in the synagogue. There is significant preparation for the coming year, and this summer, we had a large Jewish summer camp here. With God's help, we pray and work for the next year to be even better.

How do you evaluate the support and protection measures provided by Azerbaijan for the Jewish community?

- I communicate with many rabbis, and I proudly tell them that we have a thriving life for Jewish community in Azerbaijan. Any request we make is met with an open heart, and they listen and try to find solutions to any issues concerning the Jewish community. They are always accommodating here. We can only pray that it is the same in other countries around the world.

How do you assess the tolerant environment and multicultural aspects in Azerbaijan?

When God sees that everyone lives together in harmony and peace in Azerbaijan, He blesses us. You know, many countries in the world are trying to develop. Many countries in the world have resources, sometimes even more than Azerbaijan. But not everyone succeeds. Of course, good leadership is needed here. The fact that a Mullah, a priest, and a rabbi meet is not a joke in Azerbaijan; it is a reality, it is life.

How do interethnic relations reflect in international relations?

When I came here, I thought that the relations between Azerbaijan and Israel are at the highest level. But these relations are getting even better. Every time, I think they have reached their peak, but they get even better.

Esteemed rabbi, do you believe that a prominent and influential movement like Chabad, which is actively engaged in Azerbaijan, should support rabbis from different countries representing various branches of Judaism who have spoken out against the demonization of Azerbaijan and the use of the Holocaust theme in Armenian propaganda?

- I believe that every Jew openly speaks about this. We talk about it at different levels, wherever we can, that it is certainly wrong when people take the Holocaust, which is a tragedy for the Jewish people, and try to compare it and use it for some political purposes. Not to mention that making such comparisons is entirely wrong. I believe no one should touch upon this topic, especially when we talk about Azerbaijan, where Jews and other peoples live peacefully and harmoniously. I tell everyone: it does not matter what religion you practice, what nationality you are; walk the streets, see how people treat you, how people react. Any person, any guest can try this, conduct such a little experiment, and see how it really is like here. So, it is definitely inappropriate, it is offensive and wrong, and I believe every Jew thinks so. Any rational Jew who evaluates the situation knows that it is wrong.

So, Chabad also should support rabbis who speak out against this propaganda...

- Yes, I believe so. Every movement and every Jew who understands the situation should support this and speak out against such misuse of the Holocaust theme.

Taking the opportunity, would you personally like to join the statements of other rabbis who have refuted the falsehoods about the "genocide" of Armenians in Karabakh and condemned the comparison of the situation in Shusha with the Holocaust, made by Armenian figures, including the Prime Minister of Armenia?

- I have joined this, and I continue to do so. I have always spoken about this and will continue to do so, not just about this. What they are saying now is a continuation of the same work on different fronts. To say such things about Azerbaijan... the Holocaust issue in general... Just look at the situation, how people are treated here. To speak such falsehoods is demagoguery. Any reasonable person understands that this is simply wrong. And I am a Jew who was born in Israel and unfortunately experienced many things. I feel that everything is repeating here. There are realities; come and see the peace that prevails in Azerbaijan, the friendship. Azerbaijan is always on the side of peace. Today, Azerbaijan is a model of tolerance, coexistence of people from different nationalities, different faiths. All of this is just demagoguery; we just need to move forward and progress.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. The Western Azerbaijan Community has appealed to the international community following the injury of four Azerbaijani servicemen as a result of shelling of the Azerbaijani army's positions in the Kalbajar district by the Armenian armed forces from the direction of Zod village of the Goycha region on September 1, 2023, Trend reports.

The Western Azerbaijan Community has vehemently condemned this provocation by Armenia and called upon the Armenian government to immediately cease these hostile actions.

"Commitment to this reprehensible provocation by Armenia from the Goycha region increases the sensitivity of the issue for the Western Azerbaijan Community. The Goycha region, including Zod village, was an area where Azerbaijanis used to live compactly," the appeal said. "The Armenian government, like other regions in Armenia, subjected the Azerbaijani population of the Goycha region to ethnic cleansing, destroying their mosques, cemeteries, and cultural monuments."

"The Zod Pass, where Armenia is conducting the sabotages, is the very place where a substantial number of Azerbaijani civilians perished while fleeing Armenia's persecution and violence during the harsh winter months," the appeal noted. "Despite numerous calls from our community for peace and reconciliation, the Armenian government refuses to permit Azerbaijanis to return to their homeland."

"The Western Azerbaijan Community urges the international community to exert pressure on Armenia to halt its military provocations and enable the ethnically cleansed Azerbaijanis to return peacefully to their homes in safety and with dignity," the appeal added.

On the morning of September 1, the Armenian armed forces stationed in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar region of Armenia, using combat drones, launched an attack on the positions of the Azerbaijani army in Azerbaijan's Kalbajar district.

As a result of shelling by units of the Armenian armed forces from positions in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar region, Azerbaijani army serviceman Mahammad Taghiyev was wounded. Consequently, three more servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army were wounded.

In response to the provocation, four servicemen of the Armenian armed forces were killed and one was wounded.
Training to be used at Job Corps centers across the country to attract and retain restaurant workers.

The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) today announced a partnership with Alaska Job Corps Center to develop and pilot career technical training curriculum and job opportunities for young workers in the restaurant and hospitality industry. The collaboration is intended to produce a standardized culinary-focused career technical training program to instruct skilled, ready-to-work students in similar Job Corps programs across the country.

The partnership will combine the NRAEF's apprenticeship programs with the Alaska Job Corps Center's culinary arts technical training curriculum, which serves Alaska adults between the ages of 16 and 24. The NRAEF will also help design a new standardized curriculum to facilitate job opportunities for Alaska students.

"Our partnership with Alaska Job Corps is a crucial step in our goal of providing a robust restaurant-industry focused technical training curriculum at Job Corps sites across the country," said Rob Gifford, president of the NRAEF. "Our industry remains one of immense opportunity, and we are optimistic this work will provide the necessary framework to help solve for future restaurant workforce needs."

Malyn Smith, The Alaska Job Corps Center Director commented, "We are so excited to begin this partnership with the NRAEF. The tourism sector in Alaska is growing substantially and the opportunities for Alaskans in the hospitality industry are at an all-time high. The Culinary Arts training at the Alaska Job Corps Center is one of our flagship trainings and this apprenticeship partnership with NRAEF will take it to a higher and unprecedented level."

As a designated Apprenticeship Ambassador by the U.S. Department of Labor, the NRAEF is at the forefront of workforce development efforts in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Launched in 2021 in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor, the NRAEF's Restaurant & Hospitality Leadership Center facilitates Line Cook, Kitchen Manager, and Restaurant Manager apprenticeship programs at 118 industry employer partners. RHLC programming currently includes:
Zhang Zhan, who reported from the emerging COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, weighs just 37 kilograms.

Zhang Zhan, a jailed Chinese citizen journalist, is scheduled for release in May 2024.

Jailed Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was recently admitted to hospital following months of intermittent hunger strikes in protest at her jailing for reporting from the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, according to fellow activists.

Zhang, 39, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment by Shanghai's Pudong District People's Court on Dec. 28, 2020, and has been eating very little, rather than refusing all food, to avoid being force-fed by tube.

Zhang, who is scheduled for release in May 2024, was admitted to hospital from Shanghai Women's Prison for digestive diseases linked to malnutrition following several months of hunger strike, fellow rights activists said.

Rights activist Wang Jianhong, who founded the Zhang Zhan Concern Group, said Zhang's illness remains life-threatening.

"Zhang Zhan's physical health is very poor, because she has been refusing to eat for a long time now," Wang said. "This semi-hunger strike has been going on for more than two years."

"The situation doesn't seem to be improving, yet she still has more than eight months of her sentence to run," Wang said, and called for Zhang's release on medical parole.

"If the authorities don't offer humanitarian treatment and nutritional supplements, she won't survive her sentence."

Repeated attempts to contact Zhang's family met with no response on Thursday.

Weighs just 37 kilograms

Gansu-based rights activist Li Dawei said he had recently spoken with Zhang's mother, who visited her daughter in prison last month, and said she was almost skin and bones.

Zhang currently weighs 37 kilograms (82 pounds), roughly half her normal body weight, Li said.

"The main issue is disorders of the digestive system," Li told Radio Free Asia. "She also has a low white blood cell count and excessive tumor markers."

Zhang appeared at her trial in a wheelchair, where she pleaded not guilty. A guilty plea is typically a prerequisite for more lenient treatment in China's judicial system.

Li said Zhang had managed to avoid force-feeding by tube by eating around half or one-third of what other prisoners are given.

"She is using this as a way to fight back and show her innocence, and that her trial and detention by the authorities were unfair," he said. "Her mentality is that of a political prisoner displaying resistance."

Jailed for allegedly fabricating news

Li said he expects Zhang to be released from prison as scheduled, but that it's unlikely she will be free.

"There's a question mark over whether or not she will be at liberty following her release," he said. "Look at me  I haven't regained my freedom since my release."

"Whenever I go out nowadays, the state security police follow me wherever I go, and my passport [and other travel documents] have all been declared invalid for no reason," Li said.

Zhang was jailed for allegedly fabricating two items in her reporting from Wuhan.

The first item was her report that Wuhan citizens were forced to pay a fee to get tested for COVID-19, and the second was that residents confined to their homes under a city-wide lockdown had been sent rotten vegetables by neighborhood committees.

Zhang said she admitted to all of the material facts of the case, but refused to plead guilty to the charge, saying that the information she posted wasn't false.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
In wake of a new China map and friction with India, Xi turns his back on leaders of worlds leading economies.

The International Convention Centre 'Bharat Mandapam' the venue for the upcoming G20 Summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi in a picture taken on August 31, 2023.

Updated on Sept. 1, 2023, at 8:10 a.m. ET

As international speculation mounts over Chinese President Xi Jinpings likely absence from the upcoming G20 Summit, Indian news sources reported on Friday that Chinese Premier Li Qiang would be taking Xis place at the international forum.

Li will fly to New Delhi for the Sept. 9-10 summit after the 43rd ASEAN summit in Jakarta, according to Indian news reports.

Indian media took note that Xi had never missed a G20 summit before the pandemic, insinuating that his absence at the Indian capital summit was a direct snub to India.

If the Chinese leader does skip the summit, he'd also be passing up the opportunity to meet U.S. President Joe Biden, who will be traveling to New Delhi, as well as other leaders of the world's leading economies.

At a press conference in Washington on Thursday, Biden said: "I hope he attends."

Four senior Biden administration officials have visited China in recent months in an attempt to manage troubled relations between the two world powers.

Tensions between China and India have also been palpable. The two countries have been locked in a sometimes-violent standoff at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, northern India, since mid-2020 and this week China issued a controversial new map that included Indian territory  Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin  within its boundary.

We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory, said Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for Indias Ministry of External Affairs.

We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question, he said.

But the news also comes less than two weeks after what Xi hailed as a historic BRICS gathering in Johannesburg that saw Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agree to allow six new members to join.

The grouping of developing countries invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join, in a move that is thought will add weight to a bloc that seeks to act as a counterbalance to the U.S.-led West.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the six nations would become full members in 2024.

Division in the ranks

Chinas President Xi will be the second world leader to decline attending the summit in India if the news is confirmed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending because of an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court and Chinas support for Russias invasion of Ukraine continues to be a divisive issue among global leaders.

According to sources who asked not to be identified discussing confidential negotiations, China has been intervening on language used in draft proposals ahead of the summit on issues such as emerging-market debt and condemning Russias war on Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, center right speaks to China's President Xi Jinping as President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula, left, and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi look on, at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug. 24, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Themba Hadebe

Tensions between China and India were visible at the recent BRICS Summit, according to some analysts. Amid expectations that Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would meet on the sidelines of the summit in Johannesburg, they in fact only met for several minutes.

Some attribute the frostiness of the relationship to festering tensions over the border dispute in the Galwan Valley, where deadly clashes broke out in 2020, leading to the deaths of 20 Indian troops and, officially, four Chinese deaths.

At a time when tens of thousands of Chinese and Indian troops are facing off on the Himalayan massif, it would have been odd had Xi visited New Delhi for G-20 summit without seeking to defuse the confrontation, wrote expert on South Asian security affairs and author of Water: Asias New Battleground Brahma Chellaney on X, formerly known as Twitter.

By skipping the summit, Xi is only advertising his intransigence, Chellaney added.

It is evident that Sino-Indian relations are navigating complex terrain, said Farwa Aamer, director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York.

She added that the tensions around G20 were illuminating to the extent they showed how strategic competition between nations were impacting economic cooperation and multilateral diplomacy.

China's President Xi Jinping speaks with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (unseen) at the G20 Leaders' Summit in Bali, Indonesia, November 16, 2022. Credit: Adam Scotti/Prime Minister's Office/Handout via Reuters

Reuters, Agence France-Presse and the Financial Times had previously cited Indian and EU officials as saying that Xi was likely to skip the global summit.

Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, claimed to have nothing to offer at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Thursday when asked if Xi or Li would attend the G20.

Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

This story has been updated to add background on Biden planning to attend the summit.
The move will keep farmers and factory technicians from studying helpful manuals, some say.

A man reads the local newspaper displayed on a stand while others browse the intranet system on computers at the Grand People's Study House in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2017.

For a country closed off from the global internet, North Korea does offer its citizens at least a few high-tech conveniences.

In the Miraewon electronic library system, for example, far-flung rural residents can visit their local library to read an electronic copy of any book in the national collection in Pyongyang.

The service was free of charge  until now.

Authorities are telling patrons that starting in September, they must pay 1 million won, or US$120, a year  a huge sum in North Korea  angering people who use it most frequently, a resident of South Hamgyong province, north of Pyongyang, told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

These measures were recently delivered to each city and county Miraewon through local party organizations, " she said.

The Miraewon, which can be translated into English as the Future Institute, has a portal in every city and county in North Korea, and residents can use it to access books housed in Pyongyangs Grand Peoples Study House via the intranet, an online system separate from the global internet.

The Grand People's Study House and the Kim Il-Sung Square in front of it are seen in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2009. Credit: Reuters

For some residents, this is the only way they can access materials on science and technology.

The system has been a godsend for agriculture students looking to read up on farming techniques, animal husbandry, or for factory technicians in search of technical manuals or ways to improve efficiency.

So the move would deprive readers of knowledge they need to more effectively do their jobs, a resident of the eastern province of South Pyongan said.

Here in Sukchon county, were an agricultural district, so there are farm technicians and students studying things like breed cultivation and wetland farming, she said. The Miraewon has physical copies of propaganda novels and the countrys masterpieces like the Complete Collection of the Works of [former leader] Kim Jong Il, but for anything related to science or technology, they must be read through the National Data Communication Network.

College students and technicians are complaining that the country prioritizes the propaganda pieces, which arent useful to their daily lives.

They complain  that the authorities are monopolizing the most important science and technology books and force them to access them only through the National Data Communication Network, and now they are even charging fees for it, she said. How can a county that hides knowledge like this ever develop economically?

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.
Named individuals and company involved in illicit financing for weapons of mass destruction programs, said Seoul.

People watch a television showing a news broadcast with a photo of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on August 31, 2023.

South Korea on Friday imposed unilateral sanctions on a North Korean company and five individuals involved in illicit financing for weapons of mass destruction programs in an effort to curtail Pyongyangs nuclear ambitions, which have posed threats to the United States and its regional allies.

New sanctions target the Ryu Kyung Program Development Company and its five officials, including the firms chief Ryu Kyong-chol, South Koreas Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

South Korea became the first nation in the world to impose sanctions on the named individuals and company, joining other nations with independent blacklists relating to North Korea's weapons program, the ministry added.

This marks the eleventh time the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration has imposed sanctions on North Korea, bringing the total to 54 individuals and institutions since October of last year.

South Korean nationals must obtain permission from the governor of the Bank of Korea or the Financial Services Commission if they wish to engage in financial transactions with sanctioned firms or individuals.

The latest measure reflects Seouls efforts in synchronizing its diplomatic stance with the U.S.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned two individuals and a company accused of helping the North Korean regime raise funds for its ballistic missile program, a move that came just a week after Pyongyangs failed attempt to launch what it described as a satellite.

The measure is expected to further tighten the international sanctions network and deepen the coordination of North Korea policy among friendly countries, South Koreas foreign ministry said.

It added that the new sanctions demonstrate the governments strong commitment to lead the international communitys efforts to prevent North Korea from developing satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles, evading sanctions, and financing its nuclear and missile programs.

Our government will continue to work closely with the United States, Japan, and the international community to ensure that North Korea learns this lesson, ceases its reckless provocations, and engages in dialogue on denuclearisation, the ministry explained.

North Korea has been ramping up its military activities over the past few weeks. The country disclosed that it had performed a scorched earth nuclear strike simulation targeting South Korea on Thursday. Earlier in the same week, Kim Jong Un characterized the heads of the U.S., South Korea, and Japan as "gang bosses," which seems to hint at their recent summit on Aug.18 in Camp David, Maryland.

Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.
President of Azerbaijan signs order on allocation of funds to Caucasian Muslims Office

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A North Korean and a Russian national have been sanctioned following Pyongyangs Aug. 23 failed satellite launch.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, watch a test launch of the Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in April 2023 from an undisclosed location in North Korea in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on May 16, 2023.

The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned two individuals and a company accused of helping the North Korean regime raise funds for its ballistic missile program, according to a statement released on Thursday.

The sanctions come in response to the DPRKs Aug. 23 attempted launch of a reconnaissance satellite into orbit, the statement says, using an acronym for the North Korean government.

They target two Russia-based individuals, Jon Jin Yong and Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov, it says, and the company that they ran, Intellekt LLC.

Russia-based Jon Jin Yong worked with Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov (Kozlov) to coordinate the use of DPRK construction workers in Russia and served as a director of one of Kozlovs companies, it says.

Kozlov has assisted Jon Jin Yong in the procurement of items commonly used in the ship-building industry. Jon Jin Yong led a team of DPRK information technology (IT) workers in Russia and worked with Russian nationals to obtain identification documents to validate the DPRK IT teams accounts on freelance IT work platforms.

Jon Jin Yong, Kozlov and their company have been added to the Treasurys Specially Designated Nationals list, which prohibits American citizens and companies from doing business with them.

The U.S. Treasury said they were being sanctioned for their role in supporting the development of weapons of mass of destruction.

The sanctions target the facilitation networks that enable the DPRKs ballistic missile and WMD programs, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, was quoted saying in the statement.

North Korea on Aug. 23 attempted to launch a spy satellite into orbit for the second time in two months. However, the launch again failed.

Amid military drills held in response by the United States and South Korea off the Korean peninsula this week, Pyongyang on Wednesday night launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast. The regime said it was to test its defense against a nuclear attack.
Another man from the same township died after being used as a human shield.

Residents shelter in Moemauk town due to fighting in Kachin state in November, 2022.

Three men from Kachin states Momauk township died on the same day after running into junta troops, locals told Radio Free Asia on Friday.

On Wednesday, a column of around 250 troops stormed Au Htan Yang village.

They stopped two men who were riding a motorcycle to the village, according to a local who didnt want to be named for safety reasons.

When the column was entering Au Htan Yang village, two young men riding down from Pang Kawng Mu village were arrested and interrogated, the local said.

One was tied up on his back and killed. The other one was killed at the garbage dump of Dawt Hpon Yan village [Yin Kwe Taung village].

The troops then took another 10 people to use as human shields, according to the local.

As they headed towards the headquarters of the anti-junta Kachin Independence Army, one man in his 40s, identified as Chit Min, was killed by a shell explosion.

The young people were crouching down when the heavy artillery landed, the local said.

Chit Min was not able to crouch and was hit. His body was found on the morning of August 31.

The other nine hostages were released on Thursday evening, the resident added.

Kachin state-based news organization 74 Media reported Friday that around 100 people from villages in the township fled to a Christian church and other safe places while the battle between the troops and the Kachin Independence Army continued.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
Heavy rains and unsafe site conditions have led to 600 deaths in the past five years.

Myanmars jade mining center of Hpakant is a lawless township where the less fortunate gather to gamble on making it big, but with little oversight, the stakes are high and losing means being swallowed up by the earth at the digging pits.

Nearly 600 people  mostly scavengers  have died in at least 10 landslides at the mines in Kachin state since 2018, according to data compiled by RFA Burmese, though residents say the death toll is likely higher because many go unrecorded.

Among the accidents over the past year, a 2020 landslide at Hpakants Hway Hkar jade mining site  located 150 kilometers (95 miles) west of the Kachin capital of Myitkyina  was the worst, claiming the lives of around 190 people.

More than 80 died in a landslide at the Hmaw Si Zar site the following year, while a similar number were killed in one at the Met Lin Chuang site in 2022.

One resident of Hpakant who, like others interviewed for this story, declined to be named citing security concerns, said that massive, unguarded piles of earth cast off by mining companies and digging pits of more than 300 meters (1,000 feet) in depth make for deadly conditions at the sites.

Scavengers must wait to enter the sites until companies suspend mining operations during the rainy season, but with the rains come even greater risks of being buried alive.

You cant stop them  they do it every year, he said. Since they cant search for jade during the operating season, people in Hpakant have to scavenge during the rainy or cold seasons. If not, there are no other jobs.

According to the U.K.-based rights group Global Witness, nearly 400,000 people in Myanmar rely on scavenging precious stones in the Hpakant region to earn a living  most of whom work under unsafe conditions.

The resident said when it rains in Hpakant, the earth is like a sea in some places, and that work in such conditions is terrifying.

Miners search for jade at a Hpakant mine dump in Kachin state, Myanmar Nov. 25, 2015. Credit: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters

Additionally, he said, several abandoned pits in Hpakant put the township at risk of flooding, as rain can build up and overflow at the sites.

Others blamed excessive use of explosives and companies failure to follow prescribed methods of mining that make sites safer and more sustainable.

On Aug. 13, a landslide triggered by heavy rains left 42 people missing at a site near Hpakants Mana village, although 33 bodies were later recovered.

Video of the aftermath of the incident, obtained by RFA, shows brown water surging up the sides of muddy embankments that circle the caldera of the mine as people look on. In the background, a steep, dark stain runs down the side of a nearby cliff, where scavengers were washed away by a torrent of moving earth.

A man who lost his cousin in the landslide said companies are partially to blame for such accidents because they leave their sites unprotected while operations are shut down.

[Mining companies in Hpakant] are all doing it without any rules and regulations, he said, adding that not all of them are legal.

Loosened restrictions under junta

Under the deposed National League for Democracy, or NLD, jade mining concessions had been suspended in Hpakant and around 90% of mining rights had expired by the end of 2020.

However, residents of the area told RFA that since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, jade companies have illegally restarted mining operations and skirted scrutiny by paying taxes to the Kachin Liberation Organization, an ethnic army in the area, and the junta.

We prohibited [mining] in dangerous places like this, said parliamentary representative Aung Hein Min, who won a seat in the legislature in Myanmars November 2020 election. We banned high piles of discarded earth  [and] we relaxed the rules outside of the rainy season. Similar measures should be adopted given the current situation.

Rescue workers carry a body shrouded in plastic sheeting, in Hpakant, Kachin state, Myanmar, July 2, 2020, after a landslide killed more than 160 people. Credit: Zaw Moe Htet/AP

An environmental conservationist in Hpakant told RFA that in the last decade the number of discarded earth piles have been growing, leading to more landslides that have made the areas rivers and creeks too shallow.

The rivers, lakes, flora and fauna have been seriously damaged and they need to be restored, he said.

Meanwhile, five of Hpakants mountains have disappeared due to excavation within the last two decades, the conservationist said.

Scavengers at risk

When asked about the dangers of mining in the township, junta Social Affairs Minister Win Ye Tun, who is also the spokesperson for Kachin state, said that the regime has been making efforts to protect residents by digging diversion channels at sites where there is a risk of landslides.

He also said those who dig illegally are partly to blame for the accidents.

Miners search for jade at a Hpakant mine dump in Kachin state, Myanmar, Nov. 25, 2015. Credit: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters

A representative of the NGO Myanmar Mine Monitoring Network said that small-scale mining companies should be given priority to dig for jade in Hpakant.

[Migrant workers] depend on excavating precious stones to earn a living, since there are no jobs, he said. The use of heavy machinery needs to be reduced and licensing also needs to be properly verified [to ensure the safety of the sites].

Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Chinas clout at the UN makes it hard to press Beijing, analysts say a year after the damning report was released.

Women hold pictures of victims and posters protesting China's crackdown on Uyghurs, in front of the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 30, 2022.

Human rights groups criticized the United Nations for failing to take concrete action against China for its repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, saying the international body has done little since releasing a damning report a year ago stating that Chinese may have committed crimes against humanity against the mostly Muslim group.

The report issued on Aug. 31, 2022, by former U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights Michelle Bachelet highlighted serious human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region amid what Beijing has described as steps to counter terrorism and religious extremism.

The report made 13 recommendations to the Chinese government, including promptly releasing those detained arbitrarily in camps, prisons or other facilities.

But the current U.N. human rights czar, Volker Turk, hasn't really been pursuing these recommendations as he has repeatedly promised, said Maya Wang, associate director in the Asia division at Human Rights Watch, or HRW.

Turk has said he would personally engage with Chinese authorities and has acknowledged the need for concrete follow-up on the reports conclusions, but he has not yet briefed the U.N. Human Rights Council on the report or on his offices monitoring of the situation in Xinjiang, HRW said in a statement Thursday.

Chinas clout at the United Nations makes taking action difficult, Wang acknowledged.

Its not due to a lack of interest or commitment, but more because, realistically, the Chinese government is a really big player at the U.N. and has over the last years, become increasingly powerful, she said. There are just realistic difficulties in holding a very powerful government accountable.

Wang said many other governments havent prioritized holding the Chinese government to account for its crimes because of their heavy trade and business ties with the country.

The United States government and the legislatures of several Western nations have declared the abuses amount to genocide or crimes against humanity, but most Muslim-majority nations have remained silent.

Need for investigations

Last years U.N. report said China should issue details about the location of Uyghurs in Xinjiang who had been incommunicado with relatives abroad, establish a safe means of communication for them, and allow travel so families can be reunited.

It also advised the Chinese government to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in the camps, including allegations of torture, sexual violence, forced labor and deaths in custody.

The international communitys response to Chinas "crimes" has been "woefully inadequate, said London-based Amnesty International.

The one-year anniversary of the U.N. report should be a call to action for the international community, said Sarah Brooks, Amnestys deputy regional director for China.

The need for states, through the Human Rights Council, to establish an independent international mechanism to investigate crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations in Xinjiang is as urgent as ever, she said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Families of those who have been arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared or mistreated want and deserve answers and accountability, not delays and compromises, she said.

Amnesty and other rights organizations have issued credible reports documenting rights violations and maltreatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, including sexual and gender-based violence.

Nothing has changed

The U.N.s rights office told Agence France-Presse on Thursday that it was still pushing for accountability for abuses in Xinjiang, after rights groups accused it of inaction.

Uyghur rights groups, which have been pushing for concrete global action to be taken against China, repeated their calls.

One year after this groundbreaking report, it feels like almost nothing has changed, Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, or UHRP, said in a statement. Uyghurs need the U.N. human rights office to be a leader in the global response to Chinas atrocities.

The upcoming 54th session of the Human Rights Council presents another opportunity to address the human rights crisis, or else the U.N. human rights office risks setting a precedent that powerful states can act with impunity while committing grave international crimes, UHRP said.

Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Uyghurs urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to set up an independent and transparent mechanism to investigate the crimes and ensure those responsible are held accountable before international courts.

Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
U.S. President Joe Biden should require Vietnam to do more to protect human rights before forging closer ties between the two countries, as is expected during his visit to Hanoi next weekend, Vietnamese diaspora groups said.

Biden is scheduled to meet with top Vietnamese leaders on Sept. 10 to upgrade bilateral ties to a strategic partnership or comprehensive strategic partnership, over the current comprehensive partnership status of the past 10 years.

But Biden should first insist that Vietnam offer greater freedoms to its people, a coalition of 37 Vietnamese diaspora pro-democracy organizations suggested in a joint open letter released last week.

Specifically, the U.S. should voice its support for freedom of expression and independent labor unions in Vietnam, as conditions for diplomatic upgrade of bilateral relationship, the letter said.

It also highlighted people detained for their religious activities or advocacy for human rights and democracy.

As of July 5, Vietnam has jailed more than 150 political prisoners according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Preoccupation with China

Without democratic freedom for the Vietnamese people, any upgraded partnership between Hanoi and Washington would be meaningless, said David Tran, a representative of the Washington-based Alliance for Vietnams Democracy, one group that signed the letter.

While the world is busy condemning China for human rights violations, Vietnam is able to fly under the radar, Tran said.

A police officer stands guard in front of the venue for the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Hanoi, Jan. 28, 2021. Credit: Kham/Reuters

While the U.S. forges a closer relationship with Vietnam for strategic reasons and goals, we believe the most sustainable ties should start from shared values, he said. No matter how strategic the ties will be, the group of dictators ruling Vietnam will not share the U.S. ideals of freedom and democracy.

The letter also implored Washington not to implicitly recognize that Vietnamese elections are free and fair, pointing out that elections in the country are not up to international standards.

The issue of free and fair elections is a matter of great importance to the Vietnamese people, in Vietnam and the U.S., the letter said. We ask that the U.S. promote verifiable free and fair elections in Vietnam as a partner in our free and open Indo-Pacific initiative.

Warning about AI

The coalition also warned against helping Vietnam develop semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

AI, in the hands of an unchecked totalitarian system, is a tool for control and censorship of our people, the letter said. On the other hand, any export of semiconductor technology to Vietnam is possibly destined to China to evade the ban on Chinese chip procurement.

Tran said that although there is no way to know how effective the joint letter would be, if the coalition of organizations had remained silent, their chances of being heard by the U.S. government would have been zero.

In a country of freedom like the U.S., raising ones voice is a civic responsibility, Tran said. If we dont speak up for our fellow countrymen, who will?

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
Lawyer and environment activist Dang Dinh Bach has been threatened in prison, according to his wife

Inmates of Vietnams notoriously harsh Prison No. 6 in Nghe An province threatened four prisoners of conscience including lawyer Dang Dinh Bach, his wife told Radio Free Asia Friday.

Bach was director of the Center for Legal Studies & Policy for Sustainable Development before being arrested in June 2021 on charges of tax evasion for a grant received from an overseas body.

He was arrested in July 2021 and later sentenced to five years in prison.

Bachs wife Tran Phuong Thao told RFA that her husband reported the news during a phone call home on Thursday. He told her that a group of men dressed as prisoners entered his cell at night shouting threats.

Bach requested my family to immediately find an international law firm in Vietnam, an international legal entity to stand up for him because he said his legitimate rights and interests are being violated. Which means he needs a lawyer to go to jail to see him, his wife said.

Another political prisoner, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, reported a similar experience.

Thuc, 57, has been imprisoned since 2009 and is serving a 16-year prison sentence for activities aimed at overthrowing the government for his activities promoting democracy and human rights.

His family received a phone call from him on Thursday which they recorded and shared with RFA Vietnamese.

We are very worried because last Friday someone came in with a knife and threatened us. Its very serious, very serious, he said.

Then Thuc stopped speaking and the next thing his family heard was: My call was just three minutes, I dont agree! I disagree! No, no, I disagree! I disagree! Then the call ended.

Thuc also asked his family to bring a lawyer to the prison.

He also asked them to contact the prison warden and ask him to take steps to ensure political prisoners safety.

Thuc and Bachs families spoke to each other on Thursday afternoon to discuss what to do next.

When RFA called the prison, nobody answered.

Since his arrest and after his conviction in January 2022, Bach has repeatedly gone on hunger strike to protest his arbitrary detention and unfair convictions.

His wife said from Aug. 8 to 25, he did not take the food provided by the prison to protest that staff had not delivered his letter to President Vo Van Thuong. They also failed to send poems and letters to his wife, and confiscated items including reading lamps, battery chargers and a bottle of balsam oil.

At the end of May, a group of six special rapporteurs from the human rights mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council sent a joint letter to the Vietnamese government, expressing their concerns about the harassment of Bach and his family.

Thuc has also been on hunger strikes several times to protest inhumane treatment by the warden and prison guards.

In August, he refused relatives visits and some food and essentials such as medicine, batteries and household health supplies. This was a protest against confiscation of his medicine in July after he demanded early release.

The two families said they were very concerned for the lives and safety of the two activists and two other inmates. They plan to go to the detention center next Tuesday to ask for an explanation of the incident.

The families also appealed to the domestic and international community to pay attention to the situation of the four activists in Prison No. 6 and to speak up to protect them.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
Move reflects Beijings strategy of rocking the tree to threaten the monkey, an observer says.

The Vietnamese fishing boat QNg 90495T is seen in port after it was attacked with a water cannon by Chinese Coast Guard vessel CCG 4201 near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, Aug. 29, 2023.

Two Vietnamese fishermen were injured when a Chinese Coast Guard vessel fired a water cannon at their boat near the contested Paracel Islands, the latest casualties in Chinas aggressive campaign to expand its control in the South China Sea.

Tuesdays incident, ahead of U.S. President Joe Bidens visit to Vietnam on Sept. 10, happened as the fishing boat was moving from Woody Island to Observation Bank in the waters surrounding the Paracels, Vietnamese state media reported.

The ships owner, Huynh Van Hoanh, 43, suffered a broken right arm while fisherman Huynh Van Tien sustained a head injury during the attack by Coast Guard ship 4201.

The Paracel Islands, known as the Xisha Islands in Chinese and the Hoang Sa Archipelago in Vietnamese, comprise about 130 small coral islands and reefs.

Claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan, they have been occupied entirely by Beijing since 1974 after the Chinese navy defeated the then-South Vietnamese navy in a brief sea battle. Triton is the closest island in the chain to Vietnam.

Researcher Nguyen The Phuong from the University of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia, said he expected to see more tensions between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea as the date of Bidens trip approached.

Regardless of whether Vietnam and the U.S. upgrade their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership or strategic partnership, China will continue its maritime strategy of rocking the tree to threaten the monkey, he said.

Marine Traffic data

Meanwhile, the same Chinese Coast Guard vessel and an unspecified Vietnamese boat, Ly Son 62908, have been chasing each other since Aug. 19 in the waters around Triton Island, where China recently built a 600-meter (2,000-foot) military airstrip.

Chinas Coast Guard in recent years has ramped up its attacks on Vietnamese fishing boats by ramming them or firing water cannons to assert Beijings territorial claims in the resource-rich waters of the South China Sea.

The Coast Guard ship was operating in the middle of the Paracel Islands on the day of the attack, according to the automatic identification system, or AIS, data from maritime analytics provider Marine Traffic. The self-reporting system lets vessels broadcast their identification information, characteristics and destination.

The Vietnamese boat Ly Son 62908 was once only 300 meters from the Chinese coast guard vessel CCG 4201 near Triton Island in the South China Sea, Aug. 25, 2023. Credit: MarineTraffic.com

Raymond Powell of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University and a former U.S. defense official, told Radio Free Asia that the position of the Coast Guard vessel coincided with the location of the attack reported by the fishing boat owner.

Marine Traffic data also indicated that the second Vietnamese ship had been moving around Triton Island. Since Aug. 19, the Coast Guard ship and Vietnams Ly Son 62908 have been following each other closely, and at one time were only 300 meters (1,000 feet) apart in distance.

On Aug. 27, the Chinese Coast Guard ship left the Triton Island area, headed northeast and arrived in the middle of the Paracel Islands, where it assaulted the other Vietnamese fishing boat, QNg 90495TS, two days later.

After the attack, the Coast Guard ship returned to the Triton Island area and continued the chasing game with Vietnams ship, Ly Son 62908. To date, the two ships are still following each other in the area.

Into the zone

Researcher Hoang Viet pointed out that China has intensified its aggressive actions since a phone conversation between U.S. President Joe Biden and Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in March and the visit to Vietnam by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in mid-April.

China had repeatedly sent its survey ship Xiang Yang Hong 10 into Vietnams exclusive economic zone, which extend 200 nautical miles (230 miles) beyond a nation's territorial sea, he said.

Powell told RFA he believed it was a small militia vessel, and that the fishing boat had gone further east than the regular route of Vietnamese Coast Guard or militia ships. He also said although Vietnam claimed sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, it rarely sent security vessels to the middle of this archipelago.

In fact, Ive never seen them do that, he said.

The attack on the fishing boat also followed an Aug. 5 incident in which a Chinese Coast Guard ship shot water cannons at a Philippine boat en route to providing food and supplies to Philippine forces on the Second Thomas Shoal.

Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
The head of Russia's Federation of Jewish Communities has called for the authorities to investigate and punish those who stormed and shut down the airport in the Russian city of Makhachkala in the predominantly Muslim region of Daghestan when they surrounded a flight that arrived from Tel Aviv late on October 29.

Dozens of protesters, angry over the situation surrounding the current war between Israel and Hamas militants, broke through doors and barriers at Makhachkala airport, with many of them chanting "Allahu akbar" (God is great) as they stormed the runway after the aircraft arrived.

Riot police and reinforcements, including National Guard units, were subsequently sent to "ensure the safety of arriving passengers, according to the Baza Telegram channel.

Officials said more than 20 people were injured -- two critically -- in the unrest, with 10 of those injured needing hospitalization, while Baza said six police officers were among the casualties.

It was not clear whether any Israeli citizens were on the plane or whether any passengers were among the injured.

The RIA Novosti news agency reported on October 30 that more than 60 people were detained at the airport.

In a statement on October 30, Rabbi Aleksandr Boroda said the incident "undermined the basic foundations of our multicultural and multinational state."

"The events of October 29 at the Makhachkala airport, as well as previous incidents...clearly show that the conflict in the Middle East has already affected the lives of people in Russia, and that anti-Israel sentiment has now turned into open aggression toward even Russian Jews," Boroda said.

The incidents Boroda referred to include a suspected arson attack on a Jewish center under construction in the city of Nalchik and reports that crowds gathered in front of two hotels in the Dagestani city of Khasavyurt demanding "refugees from Israel" leave the premises.

Russia's aviation authority closed the airport and said it would remain out of operation until November 6, but later changed its stance and as of late on October 30, air traffic had resumed.

Flights from Israel, however, were being temporarily rerouted to other cities in Russia.

The Investigative Committee, meanwhile, said it had conducted searches of the residences of some of those involved in the unrest.

"Participants in the mass unrest are being interrogated under the relevant criminal case...records from video surveillance cameras have been retrieved," the committee said.

Anti-Jewish protests have broken out in several cities in the region in the face of Israels war with Hamas, rulers of the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry on October 29 demanded that Russia protect Israelis and Jews and to apprehend anyone threatening them.

"Israel expects the Russian authorities to protect all Israeli citizens and all Jews, and to act decisively against the rioters and against incitement to violence against Jews and Israelis," a statement said.

The Kremlin blamed the unrest on "outside interference," and without showing any evidence accused Ukraine of involvement.

Ukraine rejected the accusation, saying that the Russian Foreign Ministry was attempting to "shift responsibility from a sick person to a healthy one." Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko added on Facebook that the events in Makhachkala "reflect deep-rooted anti-Semitism of Russian elites and society."

The United States also rejected the Russian accasation. "I've seen their comments about blaming Ukraine. They are absurd," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

Late on October 29, videos and photos from the scene published by RFE/RLs Caucasus.Realities indicated that protesters had stormed onto the Makhachkala runway, attempting to gain entry to the incoming plane.

Some media said the mob gathered at the airport after a Telegram channel said "uninvited guests" would be on the plane and that they should be met in "adult fashion" and forced to go elsewhere.

A local news Telegram channel reported that protesters were attempting to check the identities of arriving passengers, seeking to prevent Jews from leaving the airport, including searching police vehicles.

A protester was seen in one unconfirmed video carried a sign saying, "Child killers have no place in Daghestan."

Daghestani officials accused "enemies of Russia" of instigating the anti-Semitic sentiments after the Coordination Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus called on authorities to prevent refugees from Israel from entering the republic, according to the Caucasian Knot news website.

The Interior Ministry said that, "against the background of the situation in Makhachkala, the identities of all those who take part in the riots will be established, since video surveillance works at the airport."

"We recommend that all persons who have violated the operating procedures of the [airport] to cease the illegal actions and to not interfere with the work of airport employees," a Telegram statement said.

"It is not easy for each of us to stand and watch the inhumane massacre of a civilian population -- the Palestinian people, the government statement said.

"Still, we urge residents of the republic not to succumb to provocations of destructive groups and not to create panic in society."

Anti-Semitic rallies took place over the weekend in other cities of the North Caucasus protesting against Israels military campaign.

The Middle East conflict broke out after Hamas militants stormed Israel on October 7, killing hundreds of people and taking more than 200 hostage. Israel retaliated with a military campaign against Gaza, leading to the deaths of some 8,000 people and the destruction of much of Gaza City.

On October 28, a rally was held in Cherkessk, the capital of the Karachayevo-Cherkessia region, demanding that residents of Israel not be allowed in.

On the night of October 29, residents of Derbent in Daghestan protested after false reports of the settling of refugees from Israel in local hotels.

With reporting by AFP and RIA Novosti
UAE-New Zealand ties took major strides as trade ministers of both the countries held talks in Dubai to strengthen economic cooperation.

Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, received a trade delegation led by Damien OConnor, New Zealands Minister of Trade and Export Growth, in Dubai.

During the meeting, both countries pledged to explore deeper economic collaboration, including the pursuit of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

Al Zeyoudi hailed the strong relations shared by the two nations and reaffirmed the common vision to enhance cooperation across key sectors such as agriculture, renewable energy, and healthcare. He also briefed OConnor on preparations for the World Trade Organisations 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) which will be held in Abu Dhabi in 2024.

The UAE and New Zealand share a productive trade relationship, with non-oil trade reaching $805 million in 2022, a growth of 7% compared to 2021 and 23% more than 2020. As of 2022, the UAE is New Zealands leading trading partner in the Arab World, accounting for 2.5% of New Zealand's total foreign trade.

Al Zeyoudi said that a UAE-New Zealand CEPA would deliver a major boost to these figures. He said, New Zealand is a valued partner for the UAE in the Oceania region, and a nation that shares our firm belief in open, rules-based trade as a catalyst for sustainable economic growth. As we seek to expand our network of trading partners, exploring a potential Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement demonstrates our commitment to delivering new markets and new opportunities for our private sector. We can now look forward to establishing the parameters of a future-facing, resilient and mutually beneficial deal.

Damien O'Connor said, These exploratory discussions are an important first step toward a trade agreement with the UAE, one of our key export destinations in the region, and a valued bilateral partner for New Zealand.

The talks follow the recent visit to New Zealand by Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, where a number of bilateral agreements were signed.  TradeArabia News Service
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. Resorting to provocation against Azerbaijan for distracting population from tense situation in Armenia, and accusing Azerbaijan, that is a party promoting peace in the region, is nothing but desperate attempt to avoid responsibility, Spokesman for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Aykhan Hajizada said, Trend reports.

Azerbaijan will continue to take measures to prevent such provocations, he wrote on his page on X (Twitter) in response to the unfounded statements of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

In the morning of September 1, units of the Armenian armed forces deployed in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar region used an attack UAV on the positions of the Azerbaijani Army located in the territory of the Kalbajar region. As a result, three Azerbaijani servicemen were wounded.
Nodar Bakhturidze, born in Georgia but a citizen of Russia, was one of the estimated thousands of convicts who were conscripted into Russias military to take part in its unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Now a prisoner of war in Ukraine, Bakhturidze, said he never had any intention of fighting. His plan all along, he has claimed, was to surrender to Ukrainian forces as soon as circumstances allowed.

[I wanted] to surrender and ask for asylum in my homeland, Georgia, Bakhturidze told Ukrainian media on June 21, shortly after giving himself up.

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.

Bakhturidze said he and several other conscripted Russian convicts were captured by Ukrainian forces near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city that was pulverized by Russian forces in a monthslong assault to seize it.

He said he voluntarily gave himself up and didnt fire a single bullet at the Ukrainians, although some Ukrainians doubt those claims.

Friends and family are now pleading with Ukrainian officials not to include Bakhturidze in any potential prisoner swap, fearing he will be killed if he is returned to Russia.

They say that before surrendering, Bakhturidze was involved in a purported explosive attack on a Russian command bunker that killed an unspecified number of Russian servicemen. His supporters believe the Kremlin is aware of his role and will kill Bakhturidze should he be returned to Russia.

His family is asking Ukraine to investigate his case and let him remain there, at least for now.

Everyone is being thrown into the same pot. No one cares about Nodar, Davit Merebashvili, a niece, said in comments to RFE/RL. If he was really in combat and shooting at Ukrainians, then he should be punished as necessary. But if he is not guilty, then there isnt any sin, right? But I understand that its hard to believe all of this and who really cares about him. Probably no one will raise their voice for the sake of one man.

Born in the village of Nukriani, Bakthuridze, 50, immigrated to Russia in the 1990s after fighting for Georgia in its separatist wars with South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Four years ago, a Russian court convicted him of murder and sentenced him to 10 years in prison despite his pleas of innocence. He was serving his sentence in a prison colony in the far eastern Amur region of Russia when he was conscripted.

Thousands of Russian conscripts have been sent to fight in Ukraine, many with the Wagner mercenary group, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed on August 23 in a mysterious plane crash in Russia, exactly two months after he led an aborted rebellion.

Prigozhin, a former catering entrepreneur who served nine years in a Soviet prison for robbery and other crimes, had offered convicts a pardon if they survived six months fighting in Ukraine. On February 9, Wagner said it had stopped recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine. After that, reports emerged that the Russian Defense Minister had assumed the task.

Hundreds of ethnic Georgians are believed to be fighting in Ukraine alongside Kyiv's forces, most notably with the Georgian Legion, a force that has been active for years in Ukraine and comprises not only ethnic Georgians but other foreigners, as well.

The Georgian Legion was formed in 2014 after Russia began fomenting armed unrest in the eastern, industrial Donbas region, shortly after the Kremlin illegally annexed Crimea. The Georgia Legion was ultimately integrated into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Planning To Surrender

Zviad Nadirashvili, a friend of Bakhturidze, told RFE/RL that another convict who had served alongside him and was also now a POW had told him that before Bakhturidze surrendered he and two other ex-con conscripts had blown up a Russian command bunker on the front line where they were deployed.

According to Nadirashvili, Bakhturidze had tossed an explosive device into a vent in the bunker.

There were two cellmates with him. They were taken from Russia together to Ukraine, and one of the cellmates admitted all this during an interrogation [in Ukrainian custody]," Nadirashvili claimed. Nodar is experienced and knew what he was doing. If they return him to Russia, exchange him for Ukrainian prisoners, he will surely die there.

However, long before that moment, Bakhturidze had been scheming and planning to surrender even before being sent to Ukraine, Nadirashvili claimed.

I talked to Nodar at the beginning of May -- in 2022, while he was still imprisoned  and wished him a happy birthday. We discussed the situation and told him that if they come to the [penal] colony and his name is on the list to be taken away, that he should go over to the Ukrainian side at the first chance and that they would look after him.

At first, Wagner recruited prisoners in prison, and going to war was voluntary. However, later this process was taken over by the [Defense] Ministry and they took anyone who could hold a weapon. And that was the case with Nodar. I talked to Georgians fighting in Ukraine and asked for help, Nadirashvili recounted.

Merebashvili said she texted Vano Nadiradze, a Georgian fighting for Ukraine, on May 26 to inform him of her uncles predicament.

He is my uncle, he was caught in Russia. He was sentenced to 10 years, served five, and yesterday he decided to go to war. I cant last another five years here, and I will die here or there, so whats the point, he told me. He fought in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He has seen all the wars, Merebashvili wrote.

The response she got was not what she had hoped for.

I already know who he is. He is a Wagnerite. No one forced him. He himself wanted to go [to Ukraine] to kill us, Nadiradze responded.

Less than three weeks later, however, Nadiradze's stance appeared to have softened and he even seemed to vouch for Bakhturidze when writing to Volodymyr Zolkin, a Ukrainian blogger who has interviewed many Russian POWs and has questioned the Georgian prisoner's account.

Nadiradze told Volkin that Bakhturidze had "kept his word and most importantly, he didn't shoot at us."

In his June interview with Ukrainian media, Bakhturidze did not specify whether he was in the ranks of Wagner or the regular Russian military forces. He only said he had joined the Russian Army to escape what he considers his unjust imprisonment by surrendering to Ukrainian forces and winning extradition back to Georgia.

Volkin is skeptical of these claims, however, saying that, if Bakhturidze was really intent on surrendering, he should have notified Ukrainian officials in advance.

Thousands of Russian military personnel have sought to surrender, many taking advantage of Kyivs I want to live hotline, which offers step-by-step information on how to abandon the ranks, the blogger noted.

Initially run by Ukrainian police, the program has had a ramped-up, military-operated version in place since last September.

"Well, if neither he nor his family could inform us that he wanted to surrender, he should at least do everything he could to surrender to us: leave his trench, lay down his arms, come out wearing some white cloth, with raised hands -- that is, surrender voluntarily and not be captured in battle, as happened in this case," Zolkin told RFE/RL.

For now, Bakhturidze remains in POW limbo, with no clarity on whether he will ultimately be returned home to Georgia or repatriated to Russia.

Written by Tony Wesolowsky based on reporting by RFE/RL Georgian Services Nino Tarkhnishvili
Dozens of people were injured on August 31 after rioting broke out during a kok-boru tournament in Kyrgyzstan's Osh region to mark the country's independence day. The traditional game involves players on horseback maneuvering a goat's carcass into the opposing team's goal. The mass brawl erupted at the Toloikon hippodrome when fans rushed the field following disputed play between rival teams from the cities of Talas and Osh. They were competing in the final of the President's Cup and the event was attended by President Sadyr Japarov.
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Medical volunteers continue to travel to villages in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region to bring care to civilians near the front line. Current Time's Boris Sachalko reports.
PSKOV, Russia -- On the night of August 29, a series of explosions were heard at Pskov airport. It later emerged that four Il-76 military transport aircraft were damaged by reported drone strikes. At least two of the aircraft were destroyed. The Pskov region lies alongside NATO countries Estonia and Latvia, and Russian ally Belarus. Ukraine is some 700 kilometers away. Russian authorities have claimed the drones were Ukrainian. Kyiv acknowledged to reporters they were aware Russian planes had been destroyed in Pskov, without commenting on the nature of their destruction.

The explosions were heard just before midnight on August 29. For several hours afterward, Pskov locals watched the glow of large fires at the airfield and heard the sounds of shooting. The next day police were stationed around the entire airport perimeter. Pskov's airfield is used by both civilian and military aviation, including aircraft that have been directly involved in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Paratroopers based in Pskov took part in the notorious 2022 occupation of Ukraine's Bucha -- a byword for the brutality of the Russian invasion. Civilian aircraft from Pskov fly routes to Minsk, Moscow, Kaliningrad, and the southern city of Mineralnye Vody. The last flight before the 23:40 attacks left at 21:23 on August 29 to Moscow. The next day all flights were cancelled. Pskov airport is 15 minutes drive from the historic Pskov Kremlin.

Life in the neighborhood next to the airport seems to be carrying on largely unchanged after the drama of the night before. Yelena is sitting at the entrance to her grocery store. She slowly stands up to sell sparkling water. The room-temperature water stands on the counter, unlike the beer, which completely fills the refrigerator. Yelena didnt hear the attacks. "I don't live here, I'm a little further away," the saleswoman said, "the next morning my son called and told me about it. Well, it happened and now it's over. The authorities say they've cleaned things up in there and everything is already back to normal." When asked if she feared more attacks may take place, Yelena responded, "Well, everything has been cordoned off here, the police are everywhere, cars are inspected if the number plates aren't local. My son [with St. Petersburg plates] told me that he was checked. But I'm not at all afraid," she said. "I will continue to work like I always have."

A policeman walking near the airport perimeter assures me that flights will soon resume. "Tomorrow everything will open, don't worry, fly wherever you want!" he said. Next to his post is the gas station Gazpromneft. A worker inside named Marina says colleagues who were on duty during the night attacks were allowed to go home. "I think that's what [those behind the attack] wanted, to scare us," she said. "To this end, they terrorize, that's the goal. But we've been told it's all over, all the damage has been removed. I think that our guys won't get caught off-guard like that a second time." "What does it matter? Marina responded, when asked who she thinks may be behind the attack. "They all benefit, whether it was Ukraine or the Baltic countries, they all have one decision-making center," she said.

Auto mechanic Vasily, whose workshop is located on a highway, where the police are on duty, doesn't rule out the theory that drones could have been launched from the nearby Baltic countries. "It's like with a homeless man: at first he just wanders around, then he starts yelling, hassling passersby, and then, when he becomes totally insolent he can start a fight," Vasily said. "But one punch to the face is enough to calm him down. In this case, the bum happens to be a NATO country." The mechanic lives far from his auto-repair shop near the airport, and did not hear the nighttime explosions. "I did wake up, but only because the cars outside my place began to honk," he said.

A resident of a house just a kilometer from the airport asked to be identified with the pseudonym "Olga." She has little faith in the security teams of the airport and believes those tasked with guarding the site could have let a sabotage group slip into the airport grounds. "At first there was no shooting," the woman said, "no air defenses operating. There were three explosions, then, after some time, a fourth. I firmly believe it was sabotage from the ground. Then, in order to cover it up, the airport security began to shoot into the air. After all, not a single drone from those allegedly shot down showed up anywhere." RFE/RL's North.Realities has not seen photos of the wreckage of the numerous reported UAVs, nor did videos capture any of the drones flying over Pskov. "I immediately checked the [local social-media group] where people started to upload videos and photos. Then the moderators of the group stopped allowing posts," Olga said.
AGHDAM, Azerbaijan, September 1. Electricity was supplied to the Aghdam-Khankendi road, where a food convoy sent from Baku for the Armenian minority of Karabakh is currently stationed, Trend's Karabakh Bureau reports.

The work on laying a 1,500-meter power transmission line have been completed.

The power transmission line (110/35/10 kV) from the Aghdam-2 substation has been laid along the Aghdam-Askeran-Khankendi road to the site where the food convoy stopped.

Meanwhile, on August 29, the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society sent 40 tons of flour to residents of Armenian origin living in Karabakh. Currently, trucks are at the Russian peacekeepers' post on the Aghdam-Khankendi road.

An appeal was sent to the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent with a request to create conditions for the delivery of the food convoy to Khankendi.
Ukraine's forces in recent days have made "notable progress" against Russian troops in the south of the country, a White House spokesman said on September 1 as Ukrainian officials reported Russian missile strikes overnight.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the United States had seen progress near the Zaporizhzhya region in the last 72 hours.

"They have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses," Kirby said. He also acknowledged criticism of Ukraine's counteroffensive "by anonymous officials," saying this was "not helpful."

"Any objective observer of this counteroffensive, you can't deny...that they have made progress now," Kirby added.

The Ukrainian military in recent days has claimed success in penetrating Russian lines between the village of Robotyne and Verbove in the Zaporizhzhya region, and Western battlefield analysis have confirmed the gains.

Ukraine's military said earlier that its counteroffensive was continuing in the country's east and south.

Russian shelling killed a man in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the regional military administration said.

Three people were wounded when a private enterprise was hit by a long-range cruise missile in the early hours of September 1 in the city of Vinnytsya, a city about 200 kilometers southwest of Kyiv, Governor Serhiy Borzov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

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.

A private enterprise was struck by a long-range cruise missile in the early hours of September 1 in the city of Vinnytsya, wounding three people, Governor Serhiy Borzov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian Air Force Command said it shot down a second missile fired as part of the overnight attack. The missile was downed over the central Kirovohrad region, the local governor said on Telegram.

Russian forces fired artillery from inside Russian territory, striking the town of Seredyna-Buda in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine around 12 p.m. local time, the press service of the Prosecutor-General's Office said.

Four local residents were wounded by shrapnel, the press service said. In addition, 16 apartment buildings, 12 private households, and several other buildings were damaged.

Earlier, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defense systems had shot down a drone that he claimed was approaching the city. The drone was downed near Lyubertsy, southeast of Moscow, Sobyanin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

According to the state-run TASS news agency, flights were suspended briefly at Moscow's three main airports: Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Vnukovo.

There have been repeated disruptions to takeoffs and landings at Moscow airports in recent days because of the risks posed by drones.

Elsewhere, a drone strike was reported in Kurchatov, home to a nuclear power plant in the Kursk region, regional Governor Roman Starovoit said.

Emergency services were assessing the damage suffered by an administrative building and a residential one in the attack, he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Starovoit did not mention any potential damage to the Kursk nuclear power plant or give details of the targeted buildings.

Earlier, the local governor of the western region of Pskov said Russian air defense had "neutralized an unidentified object" there.

Governor Mikhail Vedernikov posted a video on Telegram showing fire being directed through the air. He said there had been no damage on the ground.

The Pskov region, some 700 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, was the site of a large drone attack earlier this week. On August 30, drones hit an airport there, damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, according to local reports. It was part of a barrage that day which targeted six Russian regions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on August 31 that Ukraine had developed a weapon that hit a target 700 kilometers away, in an apparent reference to the strike on the airport in Pskov.

Zelenskiy said on his Telegram channel that the weapon was produced by Ukraines Ministry of Strategic Industries but gave no other details.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's General Staff said earlier that more than 25 combat clashes had taken place across the front line over the past 24 hours.

In its daily update on September 1, Ukraines military said its forces "continue to conduct offensive operations in the Melitopol direction."

With reporting by AP and Reuters
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. Azerbaijan has sent 3,000 school kits to the region of Turkiye affected by the earthquake, the State Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan told Trend.

The humanitarian aid campaign was carried out by the Azerbaijani Diaspora Support Fund at the request of the House of Azerbaijan in the Turkish province of Hatay. School kits were given to students who will go to the first grade.

The Azerbaijani Diaspora Support Fund, together with the Federation of Turkish-Azerbaijani Associations, delivered food aid to more than 2,600 families affected by the earthquake in Kahramanmaras in April this year. Among those who received food aid were Azerbaijanis living in Kahramanmaras.

A devastating earthquake of magnitude 7.7 occurred in Turkiye on February 6. The earthquake with an epicenter in the Pazarcik district of the Kahramanmaras province lay at a depth of seven kilometers.

As a result of the earthquake, serious damage occurred in the provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Osmaniye, Malatya, Adiyaman, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana and Kahramanmaras. In addition, several more strong earthquakes occurred on the territory of the country.
Petrol and diesel

Petrol and diesel prices on Tuesday were hiked for the sixth time this month, propelling prices to cross the Rs 100-a-litre-mark

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices on Tuesday were hiked for the sixth time this month, propelling prices to cross the Rs 100-a-litre-mark in places from Nanded in Maharashtra to Rewa in Madhya Pradesh to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

Petrol price was hiked by 27 paise a litre and diesel by 30 paise per litre, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers.

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Petrol and Diesel

The increase took petrol and diesel prices to their highest-ever level across the country. In Delhi, petrol now comes for Rs 91.80 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 82.36.

This was the sixth increase in prices since May 4, when the state-owned oil firms ended an 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal.

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The price increase led to petrol rates crossing the Rs 100-mark in more places of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Petrol and Diesel

Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh.

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Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan had the costliest petrol and diesel in the country at Rs 102.70 per litre and Rs 95.06 a litre respectively. Also in Rajasthan, petrol crossed the Rs 100-mark in Jaisalmer (Rs 100.71) and Bikaner (Rs 100.70) while it neared that mark in Barmer (Rs 99.82).

In six increases, petrol price has risen by Rs 1.41 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.63.
Accused Arrested in Nuh Violence Case

Further investigation in the matter is underway

KARNAL: In a Significant Development related to the Nuh violence case in Haryana, the CIA police have achieved a major breakthrough. Authorities from Tiranga Chowk, Adbar Chowk, Nalhar Mandir Road, and the Cybercrime police station have successfully apprehended Wasim, also known as Tita, a resident of Ferozepur Namak village, who was implicated in the acts of vandalism during the unrest.

Following the outbreak of violence, the accused destroyed his own mobile phone and appropriated his wife's mobile device before embarking on a journey to Chennai in a truck. Subsequently, after a brief stay in Chennai, he made his way to Chandigarh, where he remained concealed for an extended period.

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The police have taken Wasim into custody and secured a 3-day remand for further investigation. Krishan Kumar, the police spokesperson, provided details of the operation, stating that on August 30, Nuh CIA in-charge Amit received crucial information regarding the violence that had erupted on July 31 in Nuh. During this incident, a private bus was subjected to vandalism and looting at various locations, including Tiranga Chowk, Adbar Chowk, and Nalhar Mandir Road, resulting in substantial damage.

Notably, Wasim, who is also allegedly involved in cybercrime activities targeting police stations and other incidents, was traced while he was en route from Chandigarh to his hometown, Ferozepur Namak, accompanied by his brother. Upon receiving this information, CIA in-charge Amit swiftly assembled a dedicated team, which successfully apprehended the suspect in Badshahpur. During the course of interrogation, Wasim confessed to his involvement in the acts of violence, revealing that he had collaborated with other individuals in these unlawful activities.

Moreover, investigators have uncovered that a WhatsApp group named "0011 gang" was formed prior to the violence, attracting youths from numerous villages. On July 30, a message circulated within the group, signaling an intent to confront and take action against members of the Bajrang Dal on July 31, with participants being urged to prepare accordingly.

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The Nuh CIA Police have handed over the arrested individual to Thana City and have subsequently sought a 3-day police remand from the court to further investigate the matter.
Road Accident

Victims were residents of Hisar, Haryana

BARNALA: A Heart-Wrenching tragedy unfolded on the Ludhiana-Barnala highway in Barnala, Punjab, as a road accident claimed the lives of four individuals on Friday morning. These four victims were residents of Hisar, Haryana, and were en route to Nakodar to pay their obeisance when the unfortunate incident occurred. Upon receiving news of the accident, the police promptly arrived at the scene, and the deceased bodies have been taken into custody and transported to the hospital.

The SHO of Thuliwal police station, Baldev Singh, provided details of the incident, stating that at around 5 am, a white car with registration HR-86-3358, traveling from Barnala to Ludhiana, collided with a trolley loaded with bricks on the highway. Tragically, all four occupants of the car lost their lives on the spot. They have been identified as Vikas Soni, Amritpal, Sonu, and 11-year-old Ankit.

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Notably, These four individuals hailed from the 12 Quarter Road and Patel Nagar areas of Hisar city in Haryana. Among the deceased, Vikas Soni and Amritpal were brothers-in-law, while the others were their neighbors. The Severity of the accident was such that it left the car completely mangled. The family members of the deceased have also been notified in Hisar. The post-mortem procedure will commence upon the arrival of the bereaved family members.
Kulveer Singh

Kulveer Singh Embarked on his Journey Abroad about 4 years ago for Livelihood

HOSHIARPUR: Tragedy struck when a young Punjabi man, who had ventured abroad in pursuit of employment opportunities, tragically passed away due to a heart attack. The deceased has been identified as 28-year-old Kulveer Singh, the son of Tarsem Lal and a resident of Sibochak village in Hajipur Tehsil at Hoshiarpur.

Kulveer Singh embarked on his journey abroad approximately four years ago in search of livelihood. His father, Tarsem Lal, revealed that his son had initially traveled to Dubai in February 2019 to work as a plumber for a company. However, after six months, he was compelled to leave the company due to the non-payment of his wages by the company owner. Subsequently, Kulveer Singh worked in various other places during his time abroad.

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Mohan Singh, the son of Tarsem Lal, shared that over the course of these four years, the family had repeatedly implored Kulveer Singh to return to Punjab. However, he expressed his reluctance to return, citing the need to spend two years in jail upon his return.

The devastating news of Kulveer's demise reached his family on Thursday morning when one of his friends from abroad made the unfortunate call. The heart-wrenching news left the entire family in profound grief. The family has issued an appeal to both the Punjab government and the central government, urging them to assist in the repatriation of Kulveer Singh's body to India.
European stocks were broadly higher on Friday, as investors cheered signs of more stimulus from Beijing and data showing that the downturn in euro zone manufacturing eased last month.

The Eurozone manufacturing PMI increased to a three-month high of 43.50 points in August from 42.70 points in July of 2023.

Elsewhere, U.K. house prices declined at the fastest pace in more than 14 years in August as rising borrowing costs continue to dampen housing market activity, data published by the Nationwide Building Society showed.

House prices posted an annual decline of 5.3 percent after easing 3.8 percent in July. This was the biggest fall since July 2009 and also larger than economists' forecast of 3.9 percent fall.

A cautious undertone prevailed ahead of the all-important U.S. jobs report due out later in the day that could influence the Federal Reserve's rate trajectory.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.3 percent at 459.40 and was poised for a weekly gain of nearly 2 percent.

The German DAX was marginally lower and France's CAC 40 traded flat with a positive bias while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose half a percent, led by commodity stocks after a private survey showed China's factory activity unexpectedly expanded in August.

Firmer commodity prices lifted mining and energy stocks, with Anglo American and Glencore rising around 1 percent. BP Plc rallied 2.5 percent and Shell added 1.5 percent.

Germany's copper producer Aurubis slumped 15 percent after a profit warning.

Salzgitter AG plunged 5 percent after the steel manufacturer suspended its earnings guidance for fiscal 2023 for the time being.

Johnson Matthey soared 11 percent after the investment arm of New York-based industrial firm Standard Industries doubled its stake in the British autocatalyst maker to 10 percent.

GSK was marginally higher after an announcement that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has accepted for review a supplementary new drug application for Nucala.

Electrolux fell 2.2 percent after the Swedish home appliance major called back certain Frigidaire gas cooktops citing risk of gas leak, fire hazard.

British agricultural and engineering company Camellia dropped 1.4 percent after reporting its first-half results.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Shares of Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. (EOSE) are surging more than 34% Friday morning after the company announced a $500 million expansion plan to scale up annual production.

The expansion plan called Project AMAZE  American Made Zinc Energy, is designed to increase annual production to 8 GWh storage capacity by 2026.

The company said that the Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) has issued up to $398.6 million conditional commitment for a loan guarantee, which, if the loan is finalized, is expected to fund 80% of the expansion in Pennsylvania.

EOSE, currently at $4.38, has traded in the range of $0.9550 - $5.6650 in the last 52 weeks.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Vice-Chancellor Prof Sizwe Mabizela and alumna Dr Benita Bobo

Rhodes University Durban-based alumni came out strongly to support the much-anticipated foundation of alumni chapters nationwide. This sentiment was shared during last night's alumni reunion at the Umhlanga Rocks in Durban. Proud alumni of the institution came out in numbers to reconnect with each other and get an update on important matters concerning their alma mater. Members of the media were also part of this momentous occasion.

One of the alumni who called for the formation of the alumni chapters, Dr Benita Bobo, shared a touching story on what she feels that forming alumni chapters would benefit the alumni and the students at Rhodes University. She said: When I came to study at Rhodes University in 2010, I was a part of what is called the missing middle. I was not poor enough to qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) nor rich enough to study at Rhodes University. Coming from a rural community of Ngqushwa and being raised by a single parent, it was challenging for my mother to raise funds for me to study. There was minimal initial payment where I had to pay 50% of my fees and residence. It was R50 000, and my mother could only afford to raise R15 000.

Dr Bobo said that when she arrived at Rhodes University, it was the last day to pay the fee, and she was told she would not be able to register. Michelle Burger [Personal Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor] saw me and asked what was happening. When I explained my situation, she said she would arrange for me to meet with the then Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs, Prof Sizwe Mabizela [now Vice-Chancellor], she added.

She said that when Prof Mabizela asked her why she wanted to study at the institution, she told him that she would be the first person in her family to go to university. Professor Mabizela said it was not fair that I could not study because I do not have the means to. He went to the fees office and told them that he would pay the R10 000 for me. I still have the student account fees printout that said, Prof Mabizela said he would pay the R10 000. That is how my journey started at Rhodes University, she said.

The 32-year-old Dr Bobo studied Bachelor of Social Sciences majoring in Psychology and Linguistics, honours in Psychology, Masters in Sociology and PhD in Psychology. This is the reason why I feel that it is important for us as alumni of Rhodes University to establish alumni chapters to keep the connection and support needy students. I think it is unsustainable that we only meet for Convocation and for a reunion. I think Rhodes University has equipped us in so many ways that we should contribute to those who come after us. Establishing those chapters would be a good way to start mentorship and fundraising for students like me back in 2010 who could not register. There were many students who could not see Prof Mabizela, and I could have been one of them. We have the capacity to raise funds that can help other students, she said.

Another alumnus, Lucky Mtolo, who studied Bachelor of Pharmacy at Rhodes University, echoed the sentiments of Dr Bobo. We are sending out a strong call to all the Rhodes University alumni to form vibrant alumni chapters. This is the right time as the institution is preparing to celebrate 120 years of existence next year. Having these chapters can improve the networking and would bring us together for one common purpose of how to assist the University to continue being a place where leaders learn for the next 120 years and beyond, he said.

Mtolo said the formation of alumni chapters would help sustain the partnership and connection with the University. We are where we are now because of Rhodes University, and we are being given an opportunity to contribute to the University. What I took from Professor Mabizela tonight is the message that says the institution also recognises us as alumni. We do not have to contribute monetary support, but we can offer mentorship and keep up a sense of belonging. Rhodes University is our home, he said.

Sharon Futter, who studied Journalism and Linguistics at Rhodes University, said she felt uplifted after the alumni reunion last night. The Vice-Chancellor is an amazing person. What I love about him is that he not only looks after the University but also takes an interest in what is happening in Makhanda and the country. He understands the importance of keeping Makhanda alive to keep Rhodes University going, she said.

Futter said she admires Professor Mabizelas humanitarianism, foresight, and selfless character. The idea of officially forming a chapter is fantastic because at the moment, we just wait to hear from the Alumni office inviting us to a reunion once a year. If we can have a chapter in each province, it would give a chance for more networking for Rhodents. We can do our own fundraising for needy students at Rhodes University, she added.

Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sizwe Mabizela, said the alumnis call to formalise alumni chapters is an important call for all graduates of Rhodes University. No academically-deserving student should be denied an opportunity to acquire quality and transformative education simply because they happen to have been born into a family that can not afford it. No one has any control over the circumstances of their birth. It is important that people are afforded an opportunity, and Dr Bobo is one of those who took full advantage of such an opportunity, and she is a tremendous success. The formation of alumni chapters would ensure that graduates of this fine University come together for a common purpose: to support academically-deserving students to acquire the quality education we continue to offer, said Professor Mabizela.

Rhodes University will continue with its alumni reunions across the country till the end of the year. The Convocation is meeting tomorrow, Saturday 02 September, at 10h00 to elect a new President of Convocation.
Rhodes Universitys RATT wins prestigious NRF Science Team Award

By Siviwe Mxuma

In a ground-breaking acknowledgement of excellence, the Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies (RATT) has been awarded the highly-coveted NRF Science Team Award for 2023.

Since its establishment in 2012, RATT has emerged as the global vanguard in techniques and observational radio astronomy, playing an instrumental role in advancing our understanding of the universe. This award recognises the team's unparalleled contributions to the field and their profound impact on the realms of science, technology, and cosmology.

RATT's journey began with a focused mission: to develop cutting-edge algorithms and software to enhance radio astronomy techniques. Over the years, their scope has expanded exponentially, branching into fundamental astronomy, cosmology, and astrophysics. This evolution was marked by a synergy between advanced data processing and frontiers of scientific exploration, which has propelled RATT to the forefront of global innovation.

The brainchild of RATT's first director, Prof Justin Jonas, also the Chief Technologist of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), the Centre played a pivotal role in designing and developing the MeerKAT radio telescope. This remarkable instrument now stands as the premier radio telescope in its wavelength regime and across the Southern Hemisphere. RATT's contributions were not confined to MeerKAT's hardware; they were instrumental in crafting the techniques and algorithms that facilitate MeerKAT's ground-breaking research endeavours. The marriage of innovative algorithms and transformative science has made RATT's approach unparalleled, not only in South Africa, but around the world.

Over the years, RATT's dedication to knowledge dissemination has resulted in training over 40 postgraduate students and nurturing the growth of 15 postdoctoral fellows. This commitment to education and fostering the next generation of radio astronomers underscores RATT's enduring impact on the field.

RATT's international recognition extends beyond its prolific research outputs in esteemed journals. Dr Knowles, Dr Ramatsoku, Dr Kuja, Prof. Bernardi, and Prof. Smirnov exemplify RATT's scholarly excellence with an impressive collection of papers, citations, invited commentaries, and colloquia.

The SARAO Human Capital Development (HCD) programme has been a major contributor to RATT's success. The HCD programme established the SARAO Chairs initiative, which allowed Rhodes University to attract Prof Smirnov, and funded the majority of RATT's postdocs and graduate students through the years. RATT's younger generation of researchers are all alumni of the HCD programme.

The laurels continue accumulating as the MeerKAT telescope team, which owes its existence to SARAO, was honoured by the Royal Astronomical Society with the prestigious 2023 Group Achievement Award. While RATT's fingerprints were not directly on MeerKAT's conception, their contribution to its scientific prowess is undeniable. The iconic image of the Galactic Centre unveiled during MeerKAT's inauguration, created by RATT's visiting professor Ian Heywood, stands as a testament to RATT's pioneering techniques and the software innovations developed by their brilliant PhD students.

RATT's influence transcends national boundaries. While student funding adheres to NRF regulations, attracting South African and Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Africa partner countries, RATT's postdoctoral fellows hail from across the globe, creating a richly diverse and accomplished research collective. The team's impact reverberates globally through international collaborations and initiatives such as the "3GC" workshops and their active role in the Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS) conference.

In light of these monumental achievements, the NRF Science Team Award is a well-deserved recognition of RATT's indomitable spirit, innovative prowess, and relentless pursuit of cosmic enlightenment. As the team continues to push the boundaries of radio astronomy, their legacy inspires the world to look beyond and explore the mysteries of the universe.

According to NRF, this award is made in recognition of the contributions, creativity, and achievements of a science team towards extending the boundaries of scientific research in Africa, producing science outcomes that have positively impacted society, and for the role they played in raising South Africas international stature as a world-class research destination. The award includes a research grant of R500 000.00.

Prof Jonas stated, Radio Astronomy in Africa had its origins at Rhodes University, so it is very rewarding that after five decades, RATT has been acknowledged as a world-leading centre in the field. The first radio telescope in Africa was built on the campus in 1958, located behind Prince Alfred House, between the Barratt complex and the Department of Zoology and Entomology. Since then, the Department of Physics and Electronics has gained a reputation for developing instrumentation and techniques for novel radio astronomy experiments, and staff, students, and alumni have contributed significantly to the MeerKAT and SKA telescopes. Under the research leadership of A-rated scientist Prof Oleg Smirnov, RATT has become an international hub for leading researchers, epitomising the Rhodes vision as a global research leader.

For more information on RATT, see here: https://ratt.center/
Hyundai Motor India Limited Registers Cumulative Sales of 71,435 units in August 2023

In a testament to its ever-growing presence in the Indian automobile market, Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) announced its impressive sales figures for August 2023. The company, Indias first smart mobility solutions provider and among the largest exporter since its inception, reported a total of 71,435 units sold during the month. These numbers comprise both domestic sales, which stood at 53,830 units, and exports totaling 17,605 units.

Hyundai India Sales Aug 2023  Domestic Sales Surge

August 2023 vs. August 2022 (YoY): Domestic sales saw a significant increase of 8.73%, with 4,320 more units sold compared to the same month the previous year. This reflects Hyundais ability to maintain and expand its market share.

July 2023 vs. August 2023 (MoM): The momentum from July carried into August, with a 6.17% growth in domestic sales, amounting to 3,129 additional units sold. In the domestic market, Hyundai has multiple cars and SUVs on offer  Creta, Venue, Exter, Alcazar, Tucson, Verna, i10 NIOS, i20, etc.

Hyundais exports for August 2023 were notably robust, with a remarkable 38.51% increase compared to August 2022. This translates to 4,895 more units shipped overseas, showcasing the brands global appeal. Cumulatively, Hyundai sold 71,435 units in August 2023, marking a substantial growth of 14.81% compared to August 2022. This is a remarkable achievement for the company, signifying its ability to not only retain but expand its market share.

Commenting on these impressive sales figures, Mr. Tarun Garg, COO of Hyundai Motor India Ltd., emphasized the brands growing acceptance in both domestic and export markets. He highlighted the positive onset of the festival season in India, with strong sales during Onam in the Kerala market, and expressed optimism for the upcoming festive fervor in other parts of the country.

Moreover, Mr. Garg emphasized the continued popularity of Hyundais SUV offerings, which contributed to more than 60% of the companys domestic sales in August. He also noted the overwhelming response to the EXTER, indicating that Hyundais new offerings continue to excite customers. As of now, the company has received over 65,000 bookings for this particular model, underlining the confidence that customers place in Hyundais products.

In conclusion, Hyundai Motor India Limiteds performance in August 2023 reflects its ability to cater to the diverse demands of the Indian market while also expanding its global reach through robust exports. With the festive season on the horizon, the company is well-positioned to build on this success and continue its growth trajectory in the months to come.
TVS Motor Company has reported growth in sales YoY as well as MoM in Aug 2023

In the ever-evolving landscape of the automotive industry, keeping track of sales figures is crucial for both manufacturers and consumers alike. TVS Motor Company, one of Indias leading two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturers, has released its sales report for August 2023. Lets dive into the numbers and analyze the year-on-year and month-on-month performance of the company.

Year-on-Year Performance (August 2023 vs. August 2022)

TVS Motor sold 1,53,047 motorcycles in August 2023, experiencing a slight decrease of 2.59% compared to August 2022 when they sold 1,57,118 units. Top selling TVS motorcycles include Apache, Raider, etc. Scooter sales showed a robust growth of 16.93%, with 1,42,502 units sold in August 2023 compared to 1,21,866 units in August 2022. iQube electric scooter witnessed an astonishing growth rate of 440.67%, selling 23,887 units in August 2023, compared to a mere 4,418 units in August 2022. These are highest ever sales registered by iQube.

TVS XL100 moped sales remained almost stable, with a marginal increase of 0.02%. In August 2023, TVS Motor sold 36,561 mopeds, while in August 2022, they sold 36,555 units. TVS Motors domestic two-wheeler sales saw a growth of 7.23%, with 2,56,619 units sold in August 2023 compared to 2,39,325 units in August 2022. In contrast, the companys two-wheeler exports saw a marginal decline of -0.95%, with 75,491 units exported in August 2023 compared to 76,214 units in August 2022.

Domestic three-wheeler segment performed well, exhibiting a growth rate of 26.87%. In August 2023, TVS Motor sold 1,714 units, up from 1,351 units in August 2022. However, three-wheeler exports took a hit, declining by -28.84%, with 12,024 units exported in August 2023 compared to 16,897 units in August 2022.

Month-on-Month Performance (August 2023 vs. July 2023)

TVS Motorcycle sales showed a slight decrease of -0.58% compared to July 2023, with 1,53,047 units sold in August 2023. Scooter sales surged by 16.86% compared to July 2023, with 1,42,502 units sold in August 2023. iQube electric scooter continued its impressive growth trend, with a month-on-month increase of 79.52%, selling 23,887 units in August 2023. Moped sales witnessed a modest growth of 0.38%, with 36,561 units sold in August 2023 compared to 36,424 units in July 2023.

Domestic two-wheeler sales grew by 9.09% compared to July 2023, with 2,56,619 units sold in August 2023. Export numbers dipped by -2.06%, with 75,491 units exported in August 2023 compared to 77,077 units in July 2023. The domestic three-wheeler segment saw an increase of 11.73% compared to July 2023, with 1,714 units sold in August 2023. Three-wheeler exports experienced a minor decline of -0.92%, with 12,024 units exported in August 2023.

Conclusion

TVS Motors sales performance in August 2023 shows mixed results. While the company saw remarkable growth in the electric scooter segment and domestic scooter sales, there were declines in motorcycle sales, two-wheeler exports, and three-wheeler exports.

Its important to note that the electric scooter segments outstanding performance signifies the growing demand for eco-friendly mobility solutions. This is a positive sign for TVS Motor as it aligns with the global shift towards electric vehicles. The companys overall performance remains resilient, and TVS Motor continues to be a significant player in the Indian automotive industry. As market dynamics continue to evolve, it will be interesting to see how TVS Motor adapts and innovates to stay competitive in the coming months and years.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. A criminal case has been opened in Azerbaijan, following the country's serviceman being wounded as a result of Armenian provocation, Trend reports.

Will be updated
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Sponsored Content Provided by Rad Revenue

The Instagram app lets you edit your photos with filters, trim your video clips, and view your friends and familys posts.

Instagram offers the ability to add captions or hashtags to your posts, which can help with search engine optimization. It also has a strict privacy policy, so not everyone will be able to see what you are posting. Some users are very protective of the followers they add to Instagram because they are likely to be customers or clients. Due to the small profile picture and specific username, some users may not be able to identify one another on this site, and there is little information about who they are other than what is shown on their accounts.

Various online tools are available if you own an Instagram account and want to see another persons private Instagram account. You can view a specific persons private Instagram page in a few minutes using one of them.

In this article, we reviewed the best private Instagram viewers for 2022. If you want to check someones private account, but you dont know how to find their profile or if it is private, then this listicle is for you.

Private Instagram Profile Viewer; Modern IG Viewer Sites Of 2022

Glassagram  Overall Best Insta Viewer To View Private Instagram With No Survey UMobix  Most Popular Instagram Profile Viewer Without Human Verification; Most Updated Viewer Tools mSpy  Top-Rated Insta Account Viewer Site To See Instagram Account Privately (Story & Profile) eyeZy  Advanced Instagram Viewers Tools For Seeing Private Instagram Account

Here are the detailed reviews of our top picks:

#1. Glassagram  Overall Best Insta Viewer To View Private Instagram With No Survey

Glassagram .png

Glassagram is the most popular Instagram private profile viewer app. It allows you to view anyone without them knowing! Glassagram uses technology that makes it possible for you to always have a look through another persons profile.

It gives you access to all sorts of insights that could be incredibly valuable to you as a user or business owner. You can use it to generate interest, track follower growth, and much more. In this day and age, its important to do your due diligence to build a strong brand on platforms like Instagram. With Glassagram, getting the information you need has never been easier or faster.

Glassagram is a completely free and open-source app that helps you keep your social media accounts updated automatically. It supports multi-accounts and offers real-time notifications to help you focus on another important task. The timer can be set from within the app to post at the scheduled time automatically. It also provides an option to turn off notifications for each account individually.

With this comprehensive and popular Instagram spying tool, you can see all the content uploaded by your partner without worrying about getting caught. It is a perfect tool for anyone who has difficulty tracking someone down on social media.

Features

Unlike other Instagram accounts that are hard to set up, Glassagram has a 5-minute setup process. Meanwhile, there are no restrictions, and you can now browse peoples Instagram profiles anonymously.

You can instantly download the application on your Android device and choose between our three subscription plans to suit your requirements. After making the purchase, you can set up your account and link the desired Twitter account or Instagram profile.

Your account page allows you to customize your experience and preferences. You can tailor what kinds of DMs you receive, keep a look at whos inside your private community and even get a glimpse into the lives of your favorite artists and businesses.

Glassagram allows you to check up on other people using your private account without even sweating.

The software is 100% safe, secure, and private. All data is stored on the device and never outsourced to any third party.

Pros

This is the best platform that lets you anonymously view Instagram accounts

Safe and secure

Their easy-to-use interface makes it easy to see whats happening within minutes

Cons

The IOS platform restricts the same features to access the phone data and control

#2. UMobix  Most Popular Instagram Profile Viewer Without Human Verification; Most Updated Viewer Tools

uMobix (1).png

uMobix: a smartphone tracker for modern parents. Securely track your kids phones to know where they are at all times, and let them use their devices with peace of mind. The free trial is available on the private instagram viewer app, so you may check it out before committing to a monthly fee.

The uMobix Monitoring software will help you monitor your childs activity on Instagram. With the ability to track a phones GPS location and get notified of calls, messages, and social media activity, you can relax knowing that they are safe out there in the big world. And best of all, their monitoring program is also undetectable, so your kid wont know he or she is being watched.

Use this app to keep an eye on your childrens safety from phone and account usage. The app might restrict your childs material if you dont want others to see it.

This is one of the best selections for consumers who want a private Instagram viewer. Its easy to set up and use, ensuring you can begin enjoying the benefits of this software immediately.

After making your decisions, you may begin installing and setting up your loved ones Instagram accounts, including those you cannot access.

Features

Social media platforms like Instagram are the most widely used today; teenagers and children spend a lot of time on these sites.

There are also other security features of this software. It can prevent your child from accessing inappropriate content, and keep you updated with the progress of your childs online activities. You may also have the media files transferred between your childs social media accounts, which is fascinating.

Using the browser history feature in their parental control software will show you exactly what websites your child has visited and how long theyve been there. This allows you to understand what they have seen on a given website and decide whether or not they are at risk of encountering inappropriate content.

You can monitor your childs browsing history and see the bookmarks stored on their device. Plus, you can decide the apps and websites they can access.

UMobix is a great option for securing your smartphone, depending on what youre looking for. If you find yourself in situations where you must ensure sensitive data is encrypted and secure, or if youre participating in group projects, uMobix can keep your information safe. Its also easy to set up, which is always an advantage regarding security software.

Pros

This app provides everything you need to manage your social media accounts

Everything is kept easy and intuitive with a UI

The app also has features that make it possible to block users

Easy to set up

Cons

It requires an iCloud account for IOS devices

#3. mSpy  Top-Rated Insta Account Viewer Site To See Instagram Account Privately ( Story & Profile)

mspy (1).png

mSpy is a spy application that allows you to track all direct messages on Instagram. Its one of the spy apps that help intercept Instagram direct messages. This powerful feature is perfect if you want to protect your childs privacy and ensure theyre safe on social media.

This phone application will help you protect your children from online predators. You can read their messages and links, so youll know what they are doing online. This application is easy to use, and it works on any platform. With this app, youll be able to manipulate text messages, phone calls, GPS coordinates, and a host of other things.

This app will give you all of the data you need to keep your children safe. Youll get everything you require to spy on an account at a reasonable price. The features of this app are top-notch, and the interface is simple to use.

Whenever a potential customer has a problem, mSpy is always available via live chat to help solve it. If you have any questions regarding the service, dont hesitate to reach their helpful staff. You wont have a problem using this service even if youre not a computer expert!

Features

mSpy is a popular application on Instagram that can be used to hack into another users account. It allows users to access their entire account, including images, videos, multimedia links, music, and written posts.

Using GPS technology, you can use the mSpy smartphone tracking program to track your targets smartphone. This will enable you to keep tabs on their whereabouts at all times.

Youll be able to see all of their previous phone calls and texts if you use this software. An online dashboard provides access to the data.

Know what your kids are doing, who theyre talking to, and where they spend time! Protect yourself from cyber threats and get hold of all the information on your smartphone. The Premium edition costs $199.99 a year if you want to develop its use.

View every call made and received by the target phone with mSpys call tracking feature. This powerful tool lets you see all contacts, missed calls, and texts.

The apps block feature is one of the primary functions of mSpy. It allows you to control which apps are allowed or not to run on your target device. Additionally, the apps block feature helps you remove installed apps from a target device quickly and easily.

Pros

mSpy is one of the best private Instagram viewer apps to use

Its many features make it the most affordable and easy-to-use spying app on the market

With mSpy, you can track the location of any smartphone

Free customer service 24 hours a day

You can also try out this app for free before purchasing it

Cons

This service is only compatible with rooted Android devices for tracking users Instagram activity

#4. eyeZy  Advanced Instagram Viewers Tools For Seeing Private Instagram Account

EyeZy.png

It is created as a tool for people who want to take the social media experience to the next level and for one specific purpose: to give people easy access to Instagram profiles. People can use this program to find out who else is following the owner of a private Instagram account theyd want to see more information about. It can be beneficial for various reasons, but the two most common ones are that it is free and easy to use.

There are many advantages to checking who follows someone on social media, including gaining insight into their hobbies, gauging how similar your views are to them, and finding new people to connect with. When users decide to follow another Instagram profile, they typically know the profiles owner and interests before requesting to follow them, giving them higher confidence that its a mutual interest.

The month-by-month breakdown of how often each contact has contacted you will help you easily determine who is contacting you most. In addition, the exact date and time for each message lets you easily analyze data.

Features

eyeZy allows you to keep track of a users Instagram account and the posts they share on their profile.

You may benefit from the ability to review secret messages and message requests so you can keep an eye on their communications.

You can see everything your friends post on Instagram, including their grid images and stories. Plus, youll be able to keep tabs on your conversations  from who youre talking to, when, and for how long.

The eyeZys control panel allows you to keep tabs on all the primary social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc. You can log into the panel and see what posted or deleted content is. You can also see if a post is new or an update to something previously posted.

eyeZy is much more than a basic dashboard. There are many other options available on your eyeZy dashboard besides those.

eyeZy gives you entrance to all of your friends saved files on their phones. That means you shouldnt worry about that funny photo you took or the file you left in their cloud  download it and enjoy!

Pros

This app offers a wide range of performances

It is easily accessible and has an easy-to-use user interface

The apps monitoring allows for real-time tracking and automated image captures

It also allows you to keep an eye on and block access to certain websites, log keyboard activities, and monitor the Wi-Fi system

Cons

eyeZy is currently not providing a free trial

How We Made The List Of Top IG Viewer Apps To View Private Instagram Accounts?

Weve scoured the internet to find the five reliable private Instagram viewer services. Only these providers offer the best experience and ensure that you get the best bang for your buck. Theyre all quick, easy, and affordable programs so that anyone can do them!

Read on and then choose the perfect private viewer for your needs.

Choosing The Safest Platform

When viewing private profiles, safety and security must be your top priority. When using an unreliable website, you risk your account being banned and having problems moving forward. As a result, we select a safe platform with 256-bit SSL protection.

Cost

When picking a platform, its important to consider how much it will charge for a monthly charge for a set amount of work. So we compare the costs of various platforms and choose the ones that have an affordable price.

Privacy

The websites that we avoid are those that present their services in a way that can make you doubt the effectiveness of their solution. They may claim to offer a particular function, and then after you pay for it, they reveal they cannot deliver what they promised.

If you are concerned about who can see your Instagram account and its data, then it is best to use these services from a reputable site. This way, you can protect your privacy by only giving access to your account to those who need it. A trustworthy site will never ask for your password or other account information.

Customer Service

Finding a company that offers quality customer service is part of our criteria when selecting a particular software. If you have any queries or concerns, you will want to be able to find someone who can speak with you.

A companys customer service is usually the first point of contact for any issues or questions. In addition to email addresses and phone numbers, we want to ensure that their customer service representatives promptly respond to your inquiries. The customer service team should always be available to answer your questions.

Having a physical address can be beneficial when looking for the best provider. It also serves as concrete evidence that you intend to provide honest and sincere service.

Reputation

We researched a company with a good reputation for the best results. We spent some time finding out how well-known it is. This gives us an accurate picture of whether or not to use it. Also, it can help you decide if its worth spending your money with them.

In case a company has a bad reputation, we avoid picking them.

Reading Online Reviews

Online reviews can be a great way to learn more about services and products. Many companies allow customers to leave reviews on their websites. Its more manageable to understand how they perform and what to expect when reading about them. So, we read the reviews that helped us pick the best private Instagram viewers.

Now, look at any of the best private Instagram viewers we have reviewed in the next section and see if there is one that you like. You dont want to get hacked, so looking around for a good product that can protect you during your online activities is important.

How To Choose The Best Instagram Online Viewer Programs To Watch Profiles, Stories & Followers:

Private Instagram Viewer Programs

Boosting your Instagram account can be quite a challenge. The best way is to buy Instagram followers, as it increases your visibility on the platform. There are multiple methods, but it depends on your marketing requirements and budget. If you want to go viral on social media, you can always reach out for help and buy Instagram followers to help you boost your account.

Account safety

If you want to make something safe and secure, you can use the best services available. These services will make sure that your account remains safe. You wont have to expose your password or email by giving them sensitive information. Instead, one can give them their username or the link to their Instagram account. Once they acquire these, they can easily share them with other potential followers who can follow without revealing sensitive data about you or your account.

To maintain a clean reputation and avoid suspensions on Instagram, youll need to combat any suspicious activities as soon as they start. The services that provide fake likes and followers can get you banned from this platform, so ensure your accounts security.

Refund policies

If youre skeptical about buying Instagram followers, youll probably want to have a backup plan ready. And the best way to safeguard that is through refund policies. Refund policies are great reinsurance since youll get what you paid for or get your money back in case of any issue or lack of service.

Theres nothing wrong with wanting a refund for a service that didnt deliver. Even if a service offers a refund policy, you must be very cautious and read through the slightest personal details, as there are some restrictions on when and how you can get your money back.

Price

Its important to keep in mind that not all Instagram follower apps are created equal. After all, theres a great deal of diversity among the different platforms. So, while looking to make your first purchase of Instagram followers, you should also pay attention to the price that youll have to pay. Reliable phone tracking services offer reasonable and affordable prices, but you may still encounter fraudulent platforms that overemphasize their offers and allure you into paying steep prices for their rather ordinary services.

While some services offer lower fees, this does not necessarily mean that you receive the same service level as others. To obtain the most bang for your buck, compare a couple of services and choose one with an excellent reputation that suits your needs and budget best.

Payment methods

If youre looking for a quick way to acquire more followers on Instagram, you may want to consider using a service that accepts payments. The most common payment methods for purchasing Instagram followers include major credit and debit cards. So if youre looking for something specific or one-time payment methods such as Paypal or bank transfer, youll have to dig deeper and find services that handle bank payments.

Suppose you need a no-fuss, high-security way to pay. Opt for the most common payment option of credit and debit cards. Many reliable websites offer an SSL encrypted payment gateway that guarantees a secure transaction without storing sensitive details.

Additional assistance

On social media, visual content reigns supreme. Thats why image-heavy sites, like Instagram, have taken over the internet. However, your brand or business will also benefit from being influential on platforms other than Instagram.

If your target audience is on social media, you can consider assistance with Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and any other platform your potential followers might use. And finding a single service to handle all your social media will save you a lot of time and money.

Customer support

Connect with customer service and desk assistance any time of day or night to help with questions or concerns. While you may get a little lost if youve never used these applications before, they are here to help.

When it comes to providing help, its always better to have more people on your side. The consequences of not having anyone who can assist when things go wrong are bad. There are times when you need to have someone who knows what they are talking about in this field, so make sure that the business provides this option.

If you have any questions or concerns, their team should be available to answer. They will be happy to help you with your needs and keep your storage area safe and secure.

Customer reviews

The best way to measure the quality of a companys products and services is through the feedback left by its clients. In this day and age, that way is by reading user reviews. The abundance of data such reviews provide can be staggering, but one thing you can do is determine which platforms are most important to your audience by tracking where theyre coming from in record numbers.

Reading reviews for an app will help you determine if its a good fit for your business or even if its worth the investment in the first place. After reading both positive and negative reviews, youll be able to better understand if the app can meet your needs and any potential downsides.

How To Grow On Instagram?

Social media is the new marketing hub, and Instagram is currently leading in popularity as the fastest-growing social media platform. From local, family-run businesses to large global brands, everyone wants to know how to grow their Instagram bio and get more visibility on the platform

Its easy to get overwhelmed by the exact amount of Instagram marketing services. Whats useful, and whats merely fluff? With so many companies promising effective or measurable results, it can be hard to figure out which services will help you grow your business and which are just trying to make money off your hard-earned Instagram account.

If you want to grow your Instagram page, you need more followers. But how can you get more likes and views on your Instagram posts? Weve got some tips to help you get started on the right foot.

Proven Tips to Grow Your Instagram Profile:

Growth hacking your Instagram is a crucial part of any marketing strategy. A large follower count not only looks impressive on social networks but can also provide you with opportunities to monetize your followership by collaborating and pitching to advertising brands. Instagram users are also using buy instagram followers services.

By billing per post, it means youll be able to choose the price you want to charge, with no complex tiered pricing. You can specify your asking price per post in your Instagram sponsorship proposal.

Find out how much your influencers are getting paid by simply typing their username into the calculator.

So now that you know how much you could be charging in social media posts, your mind is probably racing with ideas of what to do next. Here are some quick tips to help you make the most of your social media influence and grow your following:

Post Creative Content

Instagram is all about great visuals: Youve heard it before, but this is the golden rule of Instagram that never gets old.

Start with a great photo and caption to draw people in, then encourage them to comment on your content by adding relevant hashtags. What type of private pictures should you post? Its up to you! Whether you post scenic landscapes, cool home decor DIYs, or fun party snaps, always keep your audience in mind when choosing your subject matter. You can do this by creating different types of posts on the platform. These include photo posts, video posts, and more!

You can even create IGTV videos to reach a wider audience. Experiment with multiple content formats to appeal to a wider audience. But keep in mind your aim should be to pique their interest. For example, instead of just posting about your products and promoting them, you could create Instagram Stories around them or even launch an IGTV series or short films around your products to be more inclusive.

Use the Right Hashtags

Your targeted Instagram account has the power to reach out to an audience that isnt following you. If you want to get noticed by the right crowd, use hashtags. A tool like HashtagsForLikes can help you find the most relevant hashtags for your target account niche.

Hashtags are one of the most important social media marketing tools, especially on Instagram. This is because they help you find people with similar interests and increase the visibility of your posts. It also allows your target instagram account to go viral in a short period with the right hashtags.

Have you ever thought about how many hashtags you should use per post? In a study by Sprout Social, posts with nine hashtags got the highest engagement rates. We suggest using as many relevant hashtags as possible, but not more than 30 per post, as Instagram has set this limit on its platform.

While the exact number of hashtags to use for any marketing campaign is a debate among marketers, all of them agree on one thing: Overusing hashtags isnt a good strategy to get more Instagram followers for any business. Instead of using too many hashtags, consider using fewer hashtags that have the potential to give you more visibility and conversions.

Post at Strategic Times

Youve probably read and heard how you should post at a certain time of the day on Instagram to get more engagement and likes. And while there are studies that prove this, the key is to follow your gut. Look at your Instagram profiles Insights to determine what times work best for you.

Optimize your Instagram Bio

The bio on your Instagram profile is the most interesting part for visitors to your profile. There are only 150 characters that you can use to communicate who you are, the purpose of your account, and why they should follow you.

Your profile bio is an opportunity to tell people about yourself, your skills, and your work. Your bio should include a description of what you do, the values that you believe in, and a call to action for viewers to connect with you further. Use your bio as an opportunity to attract potential customers with relevant information about yourself and your company.

Collaborate with Influencers

To promote your products effectively on Instagram, you should look for influencers in the same niche as yours. Reach out to them and get featured on their page. Once they do, all their fans will see it, and you will reach out to them at once. Moreover, this way, you can also give influencers promo codes or discount coupons which they could feature in their tweets and posts. This will redirect their followers to your profile or website and increase sales.

Whether your IG account has little or no Instagram followers, you can still reach a wider audience by working with the right influencer. They can connect your brand with their loyal fans.

Advertise on Instagram

Are you ready to get your brand noticed on Instagram? Ads on Instagram look like regular posts, so followers wont feel like they are being bombarded with promotions. You can choose from four basic formats: Photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, and slideshow ads.

Photo and video ads are exactly like your normal Instagram posts. The only addition is the Sponsored label above the photo. Carousel ads help you organize many related posts into a single carousel.

Instagram has added several new and exciting features for Instagram Stories. Slideshow ads come in various layouts, including full-screen videos and links with an overlay button.

Lightweight ad formats are easier to load than video ads. Instagram also has a wide range of ad formats that enable you to be creative with your content while building a community on the platform. By using a mix of these ads, you can become more popular on Instagram and analyze your audiences demographics.

Add a Profile Widget On Your Site

Would you like to make a really easy and super effective Instagram marketing strategy? For that, all you need to do is help people to find you. Well, one of the easiest ways to do this is by adding a widget on your website or an email that redirects site visitors to your Instagram page. You can also add such widgets to your email footers or bios on other social media platforms.

FAQs Regarding Instagram Profile Viewer:

How can I view private Instagram profiles easily?

If you have been trying to find a way to view a private Instagram profile and have failed, you can now make the most of Glassagram. This kind of service can help you easily view a private Instagram profile, and the best part is that you dont even need to sign up for its advanced features (you can just make the most of its basic features). You must also try the best background check services available online.

Does every private Instagram viewer work properly?

You need a genuine private Instagram viewer to see private accounts and instagram messages. But, several apps and websites dont do what they claim. They only want to steal your information or money. Make sure you use a reliable service with a clean design and good rating.

Are private Instagram viewers safe?

As weve described above, many tools can help you view target private Instagram account, but not all of them are safe. We have tried our best to list only legal and secure ones. For those mentioned in this article, you can use them confidently, and rest assured that they pose no security threats to you or your private Instagram account.

Concluding  Best Insta Viewer To View Private Instagram Account In 2022:

The good news is that you now can see what your ex is saying about you on social media. Our chosen programs can show you everything your ex posts or uploads on Instagram within seconds, so you dont have to worry about them saying anything detrimental to your online reputation.

Its important to ensure that your children have a safe, good time on the internet. Strolling through the web can lead to new and exciting experiences but also present hidden dangers. That was one of the main reasons for writing this listicle. You probably learned how to protect your children from cyber predators and keep their online experience healthy, happy, and productive.

One of the easiest ways to keep on top of these two scenarios is to use the best private Instagram viewer, which will give you easy access to those Instagram private profiles that you would otherwise be restricted from. This means that no one has to know that you are checking up on their profile and browsing through their information. Dont wait!
On August 28th, the European Azerbaijan School joyfully inaugurated the commencement of the 2023-2024 academic year.

The school was filled with excitement as it greeted its beloved students, kicking off the new school year with a special opening ceremony at both of its campuses.

In EAS Primary campus opening ceremony started with the playing of the National Anthem of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Amidst an assembly of students, parents, and teachers, the school administration extended a warm welcome. Their words resonated with the essence of education, underscoring its pivotal role in shaping young lives. With sincere encouragement, they motivated students to welcome the path ahead and rise with confidence to achieve greater knowledge and personal development.

The program continued as school students took center stage, celebrating camaraderie and learning through poetry, song, and artistic performances. An exceptional guest, Hasan Zeynalov, an alumnus from the class of 2023, graced the ceremony. In a heartfelt address, he extended his best wishes to the younger students, sharing his own educational experience that led him to acceptance at Middlesex University Dubai. He thanked the school for helping him develop a strong work ethic and a genuine love for learning.

The first-grade students were very excited on their first day of school. The memory of this significant beginning would undoubtedly be etched in their minds.

Transitioning to the secondary education building, the ceremony continued with the strains of the National Anthem resounding once again. The school administration, conveyed warm regards to the students, parents, and educators, expressing delight in reuniting for another academic year. The student speeches that followed infused the gathering with a festive spirit, painting a vivid picture of the unity and enthusiasm that defined the school community.

The event took a reflective turn as a video showcased the various universities and destinations that the 2023 graduates of the European Azerbaijan School had embarked upon.

EAS 2023 graduates have achieved 100% pass rate and have gained entry into diverse universities across the globe. This remarkable accomplishment highlights the dedicated efforts of both EAS students and educators.

Focusing on the impressive achievements of the 2023 graduates, the ceremony hosted Hasan Zeynalov and Ayla Ahmadova. Hasan gained entry to Middlesex University Dubai, while Ayla pursued her studies at Concordia University. In their heartfelt speeches, they talked about their educational journeys and how the school significantly contributed to their overall growth and development. With heartfelt gratitude, they lauded the school's administration and teaching staff for their instrumental contributions to their achievements.

As the sound of the first bell echoed through the air, students made their way to their individual classrooms, signaling the start of the new academic year.

The European Azerbaijan School extended its heartfelt wishes to all its students, ushering in the new academic year with optimism and aspirations for their future success.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. Since the morning of September 1, the Armenian armed forces units in the direction of the Zod settlement of the Basarkechar region have been aggravating the situation in the region by subjecting to fire the Azerbaijan Army positions stationed in the Kalbajar direction using various caliber weapons, mortars, artillery pieces and attack UAVs, Trend reports.

"Moreover, the Armenian side is assembling additional military equipment and manpower in positions stationed in the direction of the Zod settlement of the Basarkechar region.

The Armenian side is disseminating disinformation to create prerequisites for further provocations and thereby attempting to form a false opinion in the international community.

We declare that the Armenian military-political leadership bears the entire responsibility for the current tension and its consequences," the ministry said.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. A regular field meeting of the working group on clearing mines and unexploded ordnance from liberated territories operating under the Interdepartmental Center of the Coordination Headquarters established for centralized solution of issues in the lands of Azerbaijan liberated from occupation was held in Kalbajar district, the Azerbaijani Mine Action Agency told Trend.

Chairman of the Agency's Board, head of the working group Vugar Suleymanov, authorized representatives of relevant state institutions represented in the working group, took part in the event.

Suleymanov, who made an opening speech at the meeting, informed about the progress of works carried out by demining institutions in the liberated territories in accordance with the annual work plan.

The representative of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry in the working group noted that 4719 hectares, including residential infrastructure, were cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance in Kalbajar district this year.

The meeting heard reports on mine and unexploded ordnance clearance activities, as well as on implementation of projects identified by the government in the liberated territories, discussed the issues reflected in the reports, and provided information on the equipment and machinery involved in demining operations.

The importance of implementation of information support in interagency joint projects to ensure action to combat mine threat was emphasized, and an exchange of views was held on the prospects for cooperation in this area.

Members of the working group were informed about the mine clearance project of "Yanshak Residential Plot" implemented by the Ministry of Defense and the completed project of "Kalbajar-1" small hydroelectric power plant within the framework of their visit to Kalbajar district.
Today, there are more than 8 billion human beings on the planet. Our species dominate Earths landscapes, and our activities are driving large numbers of other species to extinction. Had a researcher looked at the world sometime between 800,000 and 900,000 years ago, however, the picture would have been quite different. Using a new model called fast infinitesimal time coalescent process (FitCoal), East China Normal Universitys Dr. Yi-Hsuan Pan and colleagues analyzed present-day human genomic sequences of 3,154 individuals. Their results show that human ancestors went through a severe population bottleneck with about 1,280 breeding individuals between around 930,000 and 813,000 years ago; this bottleneck lasted for about 117,000 years and brought human ancestors close to extinction. The decline appears to have coincided with both major climate change and subsequent speciation events.

Population size history is essential for studying human evolution.

However, ancient population size history during the Pleistocene is notoriously difficult to unravel.

To circumvent this difficulty, Dr. Pan and co-authors developed the FitCoal model that looks at divergence between gene lineages and can be used to estimate past population size.

Our finding opens a new field in human evolution because it evokes many questions, such as the places where these individuals lived, how they overcame the catastrophic climate changes, and whether natural selection during the bottleneck has accelerated the evolution of human brain, Dr. Pan said.

Using the FitCoal model, the authors analyzed present-day human genomic sequences of 3,154 individuals from 10 African and 40 non-African populations.

They detected a reduction in the population size of our ancestors from about 100,000 to about 1,280 individuals, which persisted for about 117,000 years.

The gap in the African and Eurasian fossil records can be explained by this bottleneck in the Early Stone Age as chronologically, said Dr. Giorgio Manzi, an anthropologist at Sapienza University of Rome.

It coincides with this proposed time period of significant loss of fossil evidence.

The fact that FitCoal can detect the ancient severe bottleneck with even a few sequences represents a breakthrough, said Dr. Yun-Xin Fu, a theoretical population geneticist at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

An estimated 65.85% of current genetic diversity may have been lost due to the ancient bottleneck, and the prolonged period of minimal numbers of breeding individuals threatened humanity as we know it today.

This bottleneck appears to have coincided with glaciation events that led to changes in temperatures, severe droughts, and extinctions of other species, potentially used as food by ancient humans.

These findings are just the start, said Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Healths Dr. Haipeng Li.

Future goals with this knowledge aim to paint a more complete picture of human evolution during this Early to Middle Pleistocene transition period, which will in turn continue to unravel the mystery that is early human ancestry and evolution.

The results were published in the journal Science.

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Wangjie Hu et al. Genomic inference of a severe human bottleneck during the Early to Middle Pleistocene transition. Science, published online August 31, 2023; doi: 10.1126/science.abq7487
Foam pits are gymnastics equipment that are not only enjoyed by children but by adults as well. It is a box filled with foam cubes to cushion a falling jumper. Like ball pits, foam pits are believed to have therapeutic multi-sensory benefits, providing kinesthetic stimulation and relaxation. However, this equipment must be used with safety precautions since serious and catastrophic injuries can occur while playing inside the foam pit.

Foam Pit Leap Gone Wrong

In Blimea, Spain, a 27-year-old man broke his neck and got his spinal cord severely injured after jumping into a foam pit. It happened on August 28 at a newly-opened leisure and games area for children and adults in the nearby town of Colloto.

The man was accompanied by his girlfriend and friends when he got injured. Emergency services were called after the man was found unconscious following his jump. He was immediately rushed to the Central University Hospital of Asturias, but doctors fear the injury may leave him quadriplegic.

It was found that the man's spine was broken at C3, the third cervical vertebra located halfway down the neck. Although the man has undergone surgery, laboratory tests revealed that he had a complete spinal cord injury. This means the patient may be unable to move his arms or legs. He remains in the hospital and is currently on assisted ventilation.

The venue had only opened three days prior to the incident. It remains open despite the accident, with only the foam pit being closed. Authorities are investigating how the accident happened to the Blimea man.

One of the partners in the establishment stated that their facility complies with all the safety measures. They insisted the accident was not their fault since they ensured the installation was good.

READ ALSO: Brain, Spine Implants Give Clearer Communication To Human As It Let Paralyzed Monkey Walk Again

What is Quadriplegia?

Spinal cord injuries can result from damage to the spinal vertebra or by direct damage to the spinal cord. Depending on where the damage is, spine injury can lead to the paralysis of the limbs. It can also cause changes in a person's bodily strength, movement, and functions below the site of injury.

Spinal cord injuries can be incomplete, meaning the remaining nerve signals are still transmitted. As a result, there could be some other sensory function or muscle control below the injury site. Meanwhile, complete spinal cord injuries are characterized by an entirely damaged nerve, with no signals to pass below the site of injury. People who experience complete injuries may suffer from quadriplegia.

Also known as tetraplegia, quadriplegia is a form of paralysis that affects all four limbs and the torso. It can be a life-altering medical condition since the patient may not be able to move completely.

This paralysis usually results from spinal cord damage, particularly in the cervical spine between C1 and C7. The higher the spine injury, the more serious the damage. Fortunately, it is still possible to recover some bodily functions below the site of injury with rehabilitation.

RELATED ARTICLE: Implantable Device To Reanimate Paralyzed Limbs Under Development

Check out more news and information on Paralysis in Science Times.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. A framework agreement has been signed between the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan and the State Development and Reform Committee of China on strengthening production potential and investment cooperation, said Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov on X (Twitter), Trend reports.

The Minister noted that the agreement was signed at a meeting with the Chairman of the State Development and Reform Committee of China, Zheng Shanjie. According to him, the implementation of the agreement will contribute to strengthening bilateral economic ties and enhancing investment cooperation.

"At the meeting with Shanjie, we shared our views on the realized initiatives in the direction of the development of Azerbaijan-China economic relations, participation of our country in the One Belt, One Road project, promotion of mutual investments, and strengthening of cooperation," the publication of the Minister of Economy reads.

The delegation headed by Mikayil Jabbarov is currently on an official visit to China. During the visit, the opening of the Trade House of Azerbaijan in Beijing and other events are planned.
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ASIA

Afghanistan

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council will convene for its quarterly meeting on Afghanistan. The anticipated briefers are: Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Roza Otunbayeva, UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous, and a representative of civil society.

UNAMAs mandate expires on 17 March 2024.

Key Recent Developments

Afghanistan continues to face multiple crises, with the humanitarian situation in the country remaining particularly dire. According to OCHAs July humanitarian update on Afghanistan, which was published on 13 August, 29.2 million Afghansover 70 percent of the countrys populationare in need of humanitarian assistance, a significant increase from the 18.4 million people who required such assistance prior to August 2021, when the Taliban seized power. Despite the scale of the crisis, the 2023 Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan remains underfunded. At the time of writing, only 26.8 percent of the $3.2 billion required by the planan amount which was revised down from $4.6 billion in early Junehas been received.

This lack of funding has begun to negatively affect the humanitarian response in Afghanistan. OCHAs July humanitarian update notes that severe underfunding has already led to a massive reduction in the number of people targeted for food assistance each monthdown from 13 million at the beginning of the year to nine million between March and April, and five million people in May. The World Food Programme (WFP) has also said that food assistance in Afghanistan could cease entirely by the end of October due to funding constraints. Similarly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Afghanistans healthcare system is experiencing a significant funding deficiency, with eight million people at risk of losing access to essential health assistance if underfunding of the health sector continues.

The Talibans policies and practices have also complicated efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. According to OCHAs humanitarian access snapshot for July, the barring of women humanitarian staff continues to affect the reach of humanitarian assistance to women and children beneficiaries, with additional bureaucratic challenges reported by partners. The snapshot also reports that 56 programmes were temporarily suspended in July due to humanitarian access incidents, including incidents involving interference with the implementation of humanitarian activities, restriction of movement, and violence against humanitarian personnel and facilities.

The human rights situation in Afghanistan has continued to worsen, particularly for women and girls. UNAMAs latest update on human rights in Afghanistan, which covered May and June and was published on 17 July, notes that the Taliban has continued to restrict the rights of women and girls and describes several examples of steps taken by Taliban officials to enforce previously announced edicts limiting womens freedom of movement and participation in employment. On 4 July, a spokesperson for the Talibans Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced that all beauty salons, which had previously provided a source of employment for tens of thousands of Afghan women, would be closed and have their licences revoked. The announcement sparked public protests by Afghan women that were forcibly suppressed by Taliban authorities.

According to media reports, in recent weeks the Taliban has also prevented a group of Afghan women from travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to attend university and banned women from entering a national park outside Kabul. In a 15 August statement marking the two-year anniversary of the Talibans seizure of power, UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous said that the Taliban has imposed the most comprehensive, systematic, and unparalleled assault on the rights of women and girls and created a system founded on the mass oppression of women that is rightly and widely considered gender apartheid.

On 22 August, UNAMA released a report titled A barrier to securing peace: Human rights violations against former government officials and former armed force members in Afghanistan. The report, which covers the period spanning 15 August 2021 to 30 June 2023, says that UNAMA has documented at least 800 instances of human rights violations against former government officials and ex-members of Afghanistans armed forces, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture and ill-treatment. It also notes that these violations were committed despite the Talibans announcement of a general amnesty for these individuals in August 2021 and concludes that the Talibans failure to respect the amnesty and hold perpetrators accountable may have serious implications for the future stability of Afghanistan.

The threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan remains an ongoing concern. On 31 July, ISIL-K, ISILs Afghan affiliate, reportedly claimed responsibility for a 30 July suicide bombing at a political rally in northwest Pakistan that killed at least 44 people and injured over 100 more. (Council members condemned the attack in a 31 July press statement.) The latest report of the Monitoring Team assisting the 1267/1989/2253 Sanctions Committee, which was issued on 25 July, notes that member states reported that Afghanistan remained a place of global significance for terrorism, with approximately 20 terrorist groups operating in the country. The report also indicates that members of Al-Qaeda have infiltrated Afghan law enforcement agencies and public administration bodies and says that member states have assessed ISIL-K as the most serious terror threat in the region, with the group benefiting from increased operational capabilities inside Afghanistan.

On 30 and 31 July, a US delegation attended an official meeting with representatives of the Taliban in Doha. Among other matters, the US delegation voiced openness to technical dialogue on economic stabilisation and ongoing discussion on counternarcotics, while Taliban officials reportedly mentioned lifting sanctions on Taliban leaders and the return of frozen assets belonging to Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), Afghanistans central bank. According to a 21 July Reuters article, a recent US-funded audit of DAB has not changed the US Treasury Departments view that the central bank must be reformed before its frozen assets, which were seized by the US and other member states following the Talibans takeover, can be returned.

On 3 July, the UN Country Team in Afghanistan (UNCT) published the UN Strategic Framework for Afghanistan 2023  2025, which articulates the UNs approach to addressing basic human needs in Afghanistan.

Human Rights-Related Developments

On 14 August, a group of UN human rights experts released a joint statement marking two years since the Talibans takeover. It highlighted that the policies of the Taliban have resulted in a continuous, systematic and shocking rescinding of a multitude of human rights, including the rights to education, work, and freedoms of expression, assembly and association along with consistent credible reports of summary executions and acts tantamount to enforced disappearances, widespread arbitrary detention, torture, and ill treatment, as well as arbitrary displacement. The statement also emphasised the system of discrimination with the intention to subject women and girls to total domination so egregious, that the collective practices constitute gender persecution, a crime against humanity.

On 11 September, during its 54th session, the Human Rights Council (HRC) is expected to hold an interactive dialogue on the oral update of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett. On 12 September, the HRC is expected to hold an interactive dialogue on OHCHRs upcoming report on Afghanistan, which was not yet available at the time of writing (A/HRC/54/21).

Key Issues and Options

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is a significant issue for the Council. An informal meeting with humanitarian organisations working in Afghanistan could allow Council members to learn more about the problems facing those working to deliver aid in the country, particularly after the Taliban banned women from working for the UN, while also providing an opportunity to consider whether there is anything the Council can do to help manage these challenges.

The human rights situation in Afghanistan, particularly for women and girls, is another major issue. Council members could hold an informal meeting with representatives of UN Women, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and civil society to discuss how the Council can exert pressure on the Taliban regarding its practices and policies that restrict human rights.

The Council could also consider reviewing the 1988 Afghanistan sanctions regime, which, apart from the humanitarian exception established by resolution 2615, has not been updated since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Such a review could analyse whether the regime is fit for purpose and whether it should be updated in light of current circumstances.

The terrorist threat in Afghanistan is another key concern. The Council could meet with a counter-terrorism expert, which would give members a chance to discuss possible options for bolstering the Councils effort to manage the threat posed by terrorism in Afghanistan.

Council Dynamics

Although Council members are generally united in their desire to see a prosperous, peaceful Afghanistan free from terrorism and ruled by an inclusive government that respects the rights of women and girls, they are divided over how to achieve this goal. Some members, including the P3 (France, the UK, and the US) and other like-minded states, argue that the Taliban must adhere to international norms if it wants to obtain international recognition and receive economic and development aid from the international community. Several of these members tend to favour maintaining pressure on the Taliban, particularly regarding its policies and practices that violate the rights of women and girls.

China and Russia, on the other hand, have contended that the international community should provide assistance to Afghanistan without linking that assistance to other issues, such as human rights, and appear to prefer dialogue and engagement with the Taliban over increased pressure.

China and Russia have also called for Afghanistans frozen assets to be returned to the country, while other members have said that these assets cannot be transferred to Afghanistan until a properly functioning central bank has been established. These members often express concern that the funds could be used for terrorist purposes. Moreover, China and Russia regularly blame the US and NATO for the problems confronting Afghanistan, while the US and others contend that the Taliban bears primary responsibility for the issues facing the country.

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AFRICA

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council will hold a briefing and consultations on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The anticipated briefer is the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in DRC and head of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) Bintou Keita.

Key Recent Developments

Following the July 2022 anti-MONUSCO protests that led to the death of four peacekeepers, the Congolese government requested an accelerated implementation of MONUSCOs transition plan. This is aimed at fast-tracking the missions drawdown and exit after the national elections scheduled for December. Subsequently, MONUSCO engaged with the Congolese government to identify the key benchmarks that would create the minimum security conditions for the missions withdrawal. The Congolese government expressed its intention to retain only four of the 18 benchmarks contained in the transition plannamely the protection of civilians; implementation of the Demobilization, Disarmament, Community Recovery and Stabilization Program (P-DDRCS); security sector reform; and the electoral processand to transfer the remaining benchmarks to the UN country team for their implementation.

Accordingly, it seems that an understanding has been reached between the Congolese government and MONUSCO on these four benchmarks, which are also aligned with the missions priority tasks outlined in resolution 2666 of 20 December 2022. This resolution, which renewed MONUSCOs mandate, requested the Secretary-General to provide options for adapting MONUSCOs configuration. The options were expected to take into account the missions role in light of other existing international, regional, and bilateral initiatives in support of the DRC. These include diplomatic efforts spearheaded by the East African Community (EAC) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to address the situation in eastern DRC, known as the Nairobi and Luanda processes, respectively. The EAC also deployed a regional force (EACRF) in areas vacated by the M23an armed group operating in the DRCs North Kivu province that was dormant in the past decade and became active again in 2022to pave the way for a dialogue process. As described below, the South African Development Community (SADC) is also preparing to deploy troops in eastern DRC later this year.

The Secretary-General submitted his report pursuant to resolution 2666 on 2 August with a proposal to reconfigure MONUSCO with the goal of facilitating the implementation of the joint revised transition plan and supporting regional peace initiatives. The report proposes that the missions footprint in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, which continue to face persistent insecurity, be consolidated, and then gradually reduced as the Congolese government extends its authority and regional initiatives advance. In particular, the report proposes the withdrawal of all units from South Kivu (southern sector), one battalion from North Kivu (central sector), and some specialist units, military observers, and staff officers in the mission. The proposed withdrawals would reduce the missions deployed strength from 12,500 to approximately 10,500 military personnel. This consolidation would still allow the mission to focus on North Kivu and Ituri and maintain a projection capacity in South Kivu, according to the report. Additionally, the report envisages a further drawdown of all remaining units from North Kivu (central sector), which would leave MONUSCO with approximately 8,500 military personnel (no timeframe was indicated), based on the assumption that the Congolese government enhances its presence in these provinces with the support of regional security forces.

The Congolese government, frustrated by the EACRFs perceived lack of willingness to engage in combat operations against M23, has turned its attention towards the Southern African Development Community (SADC). On 11 July, the SADC Troikaconsisting of the chairperson (Namibia), the incoming chairperson (Zambia), and the previous chairperson (South Africa) of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence, and Securityheld its extraordinary summit virtually to discuss the situation in eastern DRC. The meeting was also attended by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, the current chair of SADC, and troop-contributing countries of the MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade, namely Malawi, Tanzania, and South Africa. The meeting approved the mandate and supporting legal and operational instruments for deploying the SADC Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC). According to the Chairperson of the SADC Troika, SAMIDRC is expected to be deployed by 30 September.

While Council members welcomed the various initiatives by regional mechanisms, they have underscored the need to ensure that these regional initiatives are complementary and mutually reinforcing. On 27 June, a Quadripartite Summit of the EAC, the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), ICGLR, and SADC was held in Luanda under the AUs auspices. Other participants included the DRC, Rwanda, and the UN. The meeting agreed on a joint framework that seeks to promote coherence of the existing peace initiatives of the four regional mechanisms with a clear division of responsibilities and agreed timelines.

Women, Peace and Security

On 14 July, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten briefed the Security Council at its annual open debate on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). She said that, with 701 CRSV violations, the DRC presented the highest number of UN-verified cases of CRSV in 2022. Patten added, however, that thousands more cases of sexual and gender-based violence were reported by UN humanitarian service providers, including alarming levels of sexual exploitation of children at more than 1,000 sites in and around displacement camps. Addressing the prevalence of sexual violence perpetrated against women carrying out livelihood activities around the camps, such as searching for food and collecting wood or water, Patten said that women and girls face an unacceptable choice between economic subsistence and sexual violence and between their livelihoods and their lives and underscored the importance of not underestimating how food insecurity increases the risk of exposure to sexual violence.

Key Issues and Options

Key issues for the Council in September are the Secretary-Generals options for MONUSCOs reconfiguration and the implementation of the missions transition plan. MONUSCOs revised transition plan and the Secretary-Generals report on its reconfiguration are also likely to inform the upcoming mandate renewal negotiations in December. A possible option is for the penholder to convene an expert-level informal meeting to reflect on the progress and challenges in the implementation of MONUSCOs transition plan and unpack the contents of the Secretary-Generals report and recommendations. This may not be adequately discussed by Council members in the regular briefing and consultations, and the informal meeting would provide an opportunity for the experts to gain a nuanced understanding of the transition process and the implications of the missions reconfiguration as they prepare for the upcoming mandate renewal negotiations in December.

The implementation of the revised transition plan and the missions reconfiguration depends on national elections planned for December. In this regard, Council members might be interested to learn more about the preparations for these elections.

The security situation in eastern DRC also remains a major concern, and Council members might be keen to follow up on the progress in the ongoing regional initiatives under the Nairobi and Luanda processes. A possible option for Council members is to adopt a press statement reacting to some of the regional developments, including the Quadripartite Summit.

Council Dynamics

Council members have been broadly supportive of implementing MONUSCOs transition plan in a phased and responsible manner, contingent upon the improvement of the security situation on the ground. At the last meeting of the Council on the situation in DRC on 26 June, the US in particular expressed concerns about the Congolese governments increasing calls for MONUSCO to leave following the elections in December. They argued that the minimum conditions agreed by the Congolese government and MONUSCO will not be met and warned that the missions hasty withdrawal is likely to create a security vacuum with devastating effects for civilians. The UK also underscored the need to draw lessons from previous peacekeeping closures to avoid repeating past mistakes in DRC.

Council members support ongoing regional initiatives to address the security situation in the eastern DRC, but they are likely to welcome the convening of the Quadripartite Summit and take note of its outcome, which could contribute to ensuring the necessary complementarity and coherence between these regional initiatives.

France is the penholder on the DRC. Ambassador Michel Xavier Biang (Gabon) chairs the 1533 DRC Sanctions Committee.

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In Hindsight: Five Messages of A New Agenda for Peace for the UN Security Council

Introduction

In July 2023, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released A New Agenda for Peace. It is one of 11 policy briefs connected to his 2021 report, Our Common Agenda, reflecting his vision for the future of multilateralism and intended to feed into the UNs Summit of the Future in September 2024. In keeping with UN General Assembly resolution 76/307 of 8 September 2022, the summit aspires to reinvigorate the multilateral system and to culminate in the adoption of a concise, action-oriented outcome document entitled A Pact for the Future, agreed in advance by consensus through intergovernmental negotiations.

A New Agenda for Peace represents the Secretary-Generals ideas for member states to prevent conflict and advance peace. Its relevance to the UN Security Council is self-evident, given that the Council is conferred by UN member states with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and acts on their behalf in carrying out its duties under this responsibility, under Article 24 (1) of the UN Charter.

Below are five key takeaways from A New Agenda for Peace relevant to the Security Councils work.

1. A New Agenda for Peace sets out the range and complexity of current, and coming, security challenges, with specific recommendations for the Security Council.

A New Agenda for Peace describes a much different world than its 1992 forerunner, An Agenda for Peace, which observed that the thaw in East-West relations had created new possibilitiesto meet successfully threats to common security. Declaring that the post-cold war period is over, A New Agenda for Peace finds that promoting peace and preventing conflict will require major changes by member states.[1] Member states unity of purpose has waned since the early 1990s, replaced by an emerging global order characterised by political and economic fragmentation, growing great power competition, and the rise of non-traditional security threats such as climate change, the use of uncrewed aerial vehicles, cyber threats, biorisks, and artificial intelligence. Institutions developed to manage risk, such as arms control agreements, are on the decline, and the growing distrust among nuclear powers has led to a resurgent threat of nuclear oblivion, according to the policy brief.

The New Agenda posits that a more secure world will be predicated on enhancing trust and solidarity among UN member statesas well as a more universal adherence to the norms enshrined in international law, including the UN Charter, such as respect for human rights and the territorial integrity of member states. It emphasises the importance of womens rights, with a call to dismantle the patriarchy focusing on progress on gender equality or womens full, equal and meaningful participation in political life.

The disunity described in the New Agenda is visible in the Security Council. In recent years negotiations have rarely been smooth, and in 2022, one-third of all resolutions were adopted non-unanimously. The New Agenda proposes a range of actions for the Security Council, notably a commitment to punitive measures in connection with the threat or use of nuclear weapons, improved use of sanctions, and democratized procedures.

2. Conflict prevention and mediation remain key to the Secretary-Generals vision for the multilateral system.

When Secretary-General Antonio Guterres came into office in 2017, he called for a surge in diplomacy for peace, and the policy brief calls for a commitment to the pacific settlement of disputes. It says that the underutilization of the different tools referred to in Article 33 of the Charter remains one of our greatest collective shortcomings. The Article, in Chapter VI of the Charter, names these tools as negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means that the parties may choose to pursue. Article 33 also says that the Security Council shall, when it deems necessary, call upon the parties to settle their dispute by such means.

The Council makes frequent reference to Article 33 in its work, as elements of this article can be found throughout the mandates of peace operations authorised and overseen by the Council. While not mentioned in the New Agenda, the Security Councils visiting missions draw on elements of Article 33, in that the Council frequently meets with parties to disputes, encouraging them to resolve their differences peacefully.

That the Council has undertaken only two visiting missions since late 2019 has been attributed to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, although difficult Council dynamics have played a role as well. Reinvigorating use of this instrument would be one response to the Secretary-Generals recommendations.

The policy brief advocates developing confidence-building and transparency measures with respect to nuclear arsenals. Here, the Council could play a greater role, especially given its experience on non-proliferation issues in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran and its stewardship of the 1540 Committee, which helps UN member states develop their capacities to prevent terrorist groups from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. (For more, see our In Hindsight from the September 2022 Forecast, The Security Council and Weapons of Mass Destruction.)

3. Serious reflection is needed on the direction of peace operations, in light of the complex and evolving security environment.

The New Agenda highlights the enormous challenges facing peace operations today, and calls for the Security Council and the General Assembly to reflect on the limits and future of peacekeeping in light of the evolving nature of conflict, which is marked by complex domestic, geopolitical and transnational factors.

Council members are increasingly questioning whether peacekeeping is the right tool in hostile environments in places such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali, whose government in June called for the expeditious withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping operation there. The policy brief underlines the increased need for peace enforcement, and recommends that the Council authorise multinational forces where required. The Council has a long history of authorising such forces, and may consider doing so again in the near future to restore order to Haiti, whose capital is largely controlled by violent gangs.

The policy brief recommends that the Security Council and the General Assembly reflect on the limits and future of peacekeepingwith a view to enabling more nimble, adaptable and effective mission models, leveraging the full range of civilian capacities and expertise across the UN system and beyond, with appropriate transition and exit strategies.

Topically, the New Agenda recommends support to the African Union and subregional peace support operations authorised under Chapters VII [coercive measures] and Chapter VIII [regional arrangements] of the UN Charter, with the UN footing at least part of the bill where required. African members of the UN Security Council have long called for enhanced UN resources for AU peace support operations, which has now gained greater traction. Elected member Ghana may pursue a resolution authorising support for AU peace support operations from UN-assessed contributions before the end of 2023. Early indications are that Council members, including the US, may be amenable to some form of financial backing for these operations. (For more, see our April 2023 research report, The Financing of AU Peace Support Operations: Prospects for Progress in the Security Council?)

4. A New Agenda for Peace strongly endorses the Councils work on climate change, peace and security.

The Council has grappled with climate change since 2007, with significantly heightened engagement since 2017. The Secretary-General discusses this issue under a section on Preventing Conflict and Sustaining Peace. This heading is consistent with many Council members view of climate action as a conflict prevention tool and an opportunity to build and sustain peace.

The brief recommends that the Council systematically address the peace and security implications of climate change in the mandates of peace operations and other country or regional situations on its agenda. Notwithstanding political divisions among its members, the Council has been considering the effects of climate change in mandates for several yearsincluding in the CAR, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, among other situations. Even if the worst-case scenarios are avoided, the climate crisis is likely to deepen, bringing linkages between climate-related factors and conflict into sharp relief. This may necessitate the Councils ongoing and enhanced engagement on the adverse effects of climate change in multiple contexts. (For more background on the Security Council and climate change, see our research reports: The UN Security Council and Climate Change: Tracking the Agenda after the 2021 Veto in December 2022 and The UN Security Council and Climate Change in June 2021.

5. There is an urgent need to reform the Security Council and make its working methods more democratic.

The New Agenda emphasises the urgent need for a Security Council more representative of the geopolitical realities of today, and of the contributions that different parts of the world make to global peace, as well as a genuine democratization of its working methods. This reflects long-standing concerns about the need to enhance the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Council, which have become more pronounced in recent years, at least in part due to the Councils ineffectiveness in responding to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

With regard to structural reform, the New Agenda recommends that urgent progress be made in the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) on Council reform in the General Assembly. The IGN process began in 2008 but has yet to make clear progress, with member states unable to agree to hold text-based negotiations.[2]

To complicate matters, various groups of member states have for many years pursued different and often competing reform plans, and any reform would require a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly membershipas well as ratification by two-thirds of UN member states, including all the permanent members, through their respective constitutional processesin accordance with Article 108 of the UN Charter. (For more on Security Council reform, see our In Hindsight from the October 2022 Forecast, The Long and Winding Road to Security Council Reform.)

Clearer are the recommendations for the Council to democratize its procedures, including through more burden-sharing among Council members on resolutions, in particular in situations in their region to which they are not a party. This echoes some members concern that the permanent members, in particular the P3 (France, the UK, and the US), hold the pen on the majority of situations on the Councils agenda.

There have been significant developments on this front, with a surge in co-penholding among permanent and elected members in 2022. The Ukraine crisis created new penholding needs, leading to Albania and the US co-penholding on the political aspects, and France and Mexico on the humanitarian aspects of the Ukraine war. In 2022, Mexico also shared the pen with the US on Haiti and the UK on Colombia. Mexico chaired the 2374 Sanctions Committee in 2021-2022 and served as co-penholder with France on the resolution renewing the Mali sanctions regime in August 2022. This trend has continued into 2023, with Ecuador co-penholding on Haiti with the US and on Ukraine humanitarian issues with France.

The brief also recommends promoting greater accountability for the permanent members for the use of the veto. The 2022 veto initiative led by Liechtenstein, prompted by the Council gridlock on Ukraine, is a notable effort to promote such accountability in the General Assembly. Resolution 76/262 from April 2022 requires the president of the General Assembly to convene a meeting within 10 working days of the casting of a veto by one or more permanent members of the Security Council, to hold a debate on the situation as to which the veto was cast, provided that the Assembly does not meet in an emergency special session on the same situation. It also invites the Council, in accordance with Article 24(3) of the UN Charter, to submit a special report on the use of the veto at least 72 hours before the relevant discussion in the General Assembly. Since the adoption of this General Assembly resolution (the veto initiative), vetoes have been cast in the Council on DPRK sanctions, the renewal of the cross-border aid mechanism in Syria, the referendum in four provinces in Ukraine, and the renewal of the Mali sanctions regime.

It is still unclear what impact this new initiative will have on the use of the veto, if any. But it is a mechanism that lets the General Assembly hold permanent members accountable for the use of the veto, and has also revitalised talk of Council reform. (For more on Security Councils Working Methods, see our May 2023 research report, Security Council Working Methods in Hard Times.)

Conclusion

The contentious dynamics in the Security Council are in many ways symptomatic of broader changes in an increasingly fragmented global system. Some analysts warn that the multipolar world order that is taking shape is particularly dangerous because it increases the possibility of misjudgment. [3] As the New Agenda argues, the engagement of the P5 in the day-to-day business of the Council  in close cooperation with the elected members  can be a powerful incentive for dialogue and compromise, which in turn can help rebuild trust.

[1] For an analysis of the similarities and differences between An Agenda for Peace and A New Agenda for Peace, see Richard Gowan, What New about the UNs New Agenda for Peace?, Crisis Group, 19 July 2023, https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/whats-new-about-uns-new-agenda-peace

[2] Stewart Patrick, Cutting the Gordian Knot: Global Perspectives on UN Security Council Reform, in UN Security Council Reform: What the World Thinks, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 28 June 2023, https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/06/28/un-security-council-reform-what-world-thinks-pub-90032#:~:text=In%20October%202008%2C%20the%20UN,never%20agreed%20to%20negotiate%20on

[3] Matthew Kroenig, International Relations Theory Suggests Great-Power War Is Coming, Foreign Policy, August 27, 2022, https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/27/international-relations-theory-suggests-great-power-war-is-coming/
MIDDLE EAST

Iraq (UNITAD)

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council is expected to renew the mandate of the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL in Iraq (UNITAD). The current mandate expires on 17 September.

Background and Key Recent Developments

The Council established UNITAD through resolution 2379 of 21 September 2017 for an initial period of two years, following a request by the Iraqi government. It has since renewed the mechanism annually, most recently with resolution 2651 of 15 September 2022. The team is mandated to support Iraqi domestic efforts to hold ISIL accountable for crimes it committed in the country by collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq of acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The collected evidence is intended to support investigations carried out by Iraqi authorities or by authorities in third countries at their request.

Resolution 2379 emphasised that UNITAD should be impartial, independent, and credible and act consistently with its terms of reference, the UN Charter, UN best practice, and relevant international law, including international human rights law. UNITADs investigative priorities include the development and use of chemical and biological weapons by ISIL; attacks committed by ISIL against the Yazidi community in the Sinjar district in August 2014; crimes committed by ISIL in Mosul between 2014 and 2016; the mass killing of unarmed Iraqi air force cadets from Tikrit Air Academy in June 2014; and crimes committed against the Christian, Kakai, Shabak, Shia Turkmen, and Sunni communities. Specialised thematic units are also investigating sexual and gender-based crimes, crimes against children, and the financing of ISIL.

Because UNITAD is implementing its mandate in accordance with UN best practice, it does not share evidence for criminal proceedings in which capital punishment could be imposed. At present, the international crimes that UNITAD is mandated to investigate have not been incorporated into Iraqs legal system. As a result, perpetrators who have committed acts that contravene international criminal law are usually charged with terrorism offences. Under Iraqi law, the death penalty can be imposed for these offences, which has prevented UNITAD from sharing its evidence of ISILs potential violations of international criminal law with Iraqs governmentthe primary intended recipient. In October 2020, a draft law that would incorporate international crimes into Iraqs domestic legal system was proposed in the Iraqi parliament, but the legislation has not advanced since then. On 6 March, UNITAD and Iraqi authorities announced the establishment of a joint working group to study the issue further.

UNITAD is led by a Special Adviser who is responsible for developing the teams investigative strategy, promoting accountability globally for atrocity crimes committed by ISIL, and providing biannual updates to the Council on the teams activities. On 7 September 2021, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of Christian Ritscher of Germany as the second Special Adviser and head of UNITAD, succeeding Karim Asad Ahmad Khan of the UK, who now serves as ICC Prosecutor.

During his latest briefing to the Council on 7 June, Ritscher noted UNITADs most recent achievements and outlined advances in its different areas of investigation. He described progress in the teams case-assessment reports on ISILs gender-based crimes, crimes against children, and crimes committed against the Sunni population in Al-Anbar and against the Christian communities in Nineveh. He also described the teams continued provision of capacity-building and technical assistance to Iraqi judicial authorities, including a large-scale effort to digitise ISIL records and battlefield evidence to ensure that this evidence is admissible before any competent court, whether in Iraq or in other States where prosecutions of ISIL members for international crimes are taking place. He said the effort has so far led to the digitisation of eight million pages of evidentiary material.

During the June briefing, Ritscher reiterated that the purpose of UNITADs work in Iraq is not simply to establish a record for ISIL crimes, but to hold ISIL members who committed such heinous international crimes accountable through evidence-based trials and before competent courts. He identified an appropriate legal framework as the most important element and main challenge to achieving this outcome. He underscored that UNITAD remains committed to supporting the Iraq-led process for the implementation of a legal framework that will enable the prosecution of ISILs criminal acts as international crimes before national courts, and noted the establishment of the joint working group as a positive development in that regard.

On 13 June, UNITAD, India, and Iraq hosted an event at UN headquarters in New York titled ISILs Use of Chemical Weapons: Global Threat. Speakers at the event included Ritscher; Ambassador R. Ravindra (India); Charge dAffaires Sarhad Fatah (Iraq); Ali Noaman Jabbar, Judge of the Taza Investigation Court in Iraqs Kirkuk governate; and UNITAD investigators and UN technical experts.

The Secretary-Generals latest biannual report on the threat posed by ISIL to international peace and security, dated 31 July, said that the group continued to command between 5,000 and 7,000 members across Iraq and Syria, despite sustained counterterrorism operations by Member States. According to the report, counterterrorism efforts by Iraqi forces continued to result in a reduction in ISIL activities, but the group has still maintained its low-grade insurgency, exploiting security gaps along the border of the Kurdistan region of Iraq to enable attacks and resupply its cells in desert and mountainous areas.

Key Issues and Options

The primary issue for the Council in September is the renewal of UNITADs mandate. According to resolution 2379, mandate renewals are to be decided at the request of the Government of Iraq or any other government that has requested the Team to collect evidence of acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, committed by [ISIL] in its territory. In practice, this has been interpreted to mean that UNITADs annual mandate renewals are dependent upon the Councils receipt of a letter from Iraq requesting the extension. This year, pending receipt of the letter, the UK is likely to seek another straightforward one-year extension.

Council and Wider Dynamics

Both the Council and the Iraqi government are generally supportive of UNITAD. Since the teams establishment, its annual mandate renewals have been requested by Iraq and unanimously adopted by Council members.

Differences exist, however, regarding the interpretation of UNITADs mandate. Certain members, particularly those that have abolished capital punishment in their own legal systems, remain concerned about the possibility that evidence collected by UNITAD might be used in criminal proceedings in which the death penalty could be imposed, and emphasise the need for Iraq to incorporate international crimes into its legal framework. Some of these members share the UNs view that UNITADs mandate prevents it from providing evidence to Iraqi authorities while there is still a possibility that this evidence would be used in cases that could result in the death penalty.

Others argue, however, that Iraq bears primary responsibility for determining how to prosecute those who have committed crimes on its territory and encourage UNITAD to share evidence with Iraqi authorities as soon as possible. These members tend to suggest that Iraq is intended to be the main recipient of evidence collected by UNITAD and often emphasise the importance of respecting Iraqs sovereignty when it comes to pursuing accountability for international crimes.

The Council has typically renewed the teams mandate through straightforward extensions, but during negotiations in 2022, the latter groupsupported by Iraqwas successful in calling for a new preambular paragraph underscoring the importance of sharing evidence collected by [UNITAD] with the relevant Iraqi authorities, in a timely manner, for eventual use in fair and independent criminal proceedings. To placate opposing members, however, the UK, which is the penholder on UNITAD, also included language specifying that this must be done consistent with applicable international law and the Investigative Teams Terms of Reference. It is likely that the same issue will affect negotiations over this years renewal.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) can support Azerbaijan with its green hydrogen initiatives through technical assistance focused on project preparation as well as through the Banks financial products that would be tailored to each project, the Bank told Trend.

"EBRD has already supported Azerbaijan with the preliminary assessment of potential for a low-carbon hydrogen economy in country. The preliminary market study report prepared by the international consultant was published in August 2023. It showed that Azerbaijan is more than capable to produce renewable hydrogen to support local decarbonization but also can provide cost-competitive renewable fuels to high-demand regions like the European Union," the EBRD said.

Regarding the possibility of cooperation with other international organizations in Azerbaijan on green hydrogen projects, the bank said it will be glad to collaborate.

"Partnerships are at the heart of how the EBRD works. Cooperation with others allows the EBRD to draw on the complementary skills and expertise of other international financial institutions (IFIs) and to mobilize financing, especially when commercial co-financing is unavailable," said the EBRD.

The study prepared by Advisian consulting company with support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) reveals that Azerbaijan, with its established refining, ammonia, and methanol markets, along with extensive natural gas distribution systems that could be converted to hydrogen, is poised for significant progress in the realm of low carbon hydrogen demand. Leveraging its existing expertise in ammonia and methanol, the country has the opportunity to decarbonize these industries and explore the production of both blue and green hydrogen.

With abundant renewable resources in close proximity to the Caspian Sea and eastern Azerbaijan, as well as direct access to natural gas reserves in the Shah Deniz field, Azerbaijan is strategically positioned to develop and implement green and blue hydrogen technologies. Blue hydrogen efforts will necessitate investigating CO2 storage opportunities in depleted gas fields and addressing upstream emissions. The well-established natural gas infrastructure, such as the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), could potentially facilitate hydrogen blending into the gas network for export purposes, further enhancing the country's hydrogen capabilities.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
AFRICA

Libya

Expected Council Action

In September, the Council is expected to renew the authorisation for member states, acting nationally or through regional organisations, to inspect and seize vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya that they have reasonable grounds to suspect are being used for migrant smuggling or human trafficking from Libya. The current authorisation expires on 29 September.

Key Recent Developments

At the time of writing, Council members were expecting to receive the Secretary-Generals annual report on migrant smuggling and human trafficking on the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, which was due by 29 August. The previous report, covering developments from 2 September 2021 to 29 August 2022, said the Mediterranean Sea was among the deadliest routes for refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe. During that reporting period, an estimated 1,751 migrants died or went missing on the route. More than 111,795 migrants arrived in Europe, over 36,253 of whom had departed from Libya. The EU estimated that approximately 52,537 people were rescued or intercepted in 1,125 operations by various vessels in the area of operations of the EU Naval Force military operation in the Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED IRINI). Through Operation IRINI, the EU is the only regional organisation implementing the authorisation given by the Council to inspect vessels suspected of migrant smuggling and human trafficking off the coast of Libya.

The Secretary-Generals latest report on Libya, dated 8 August, details more recent developments relevant to the upcoming reauthorisation. Citing the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the report said that between January 2022 and February 2023, the number of migrants in Libya increased from 635,051 to 706,062. The number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from the country also increased: as at 1 July, 8,496 individuals had been intercepted and returned to Libya since the start of 2023. An additional 780 people were reported dead and 944 missing during the same period. The Secretary-Generals report said that migrants and refugees who disembarked at Libyan ports to which UN humanitarian agencies have access received basic emergency relief items as well as health-care services and protection. Most of them were subsequently transferred to detention centres, to which the UN has limited access.

According to the report, [t]he humanitarian, human rights and protection situation of migrants and refugees remains of serious concern. On 1 May, Libyas Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration announced a country-wide campaign to arrest migrants. The report said that the campaign included raids on migrants at their homes and workplaces and on the streets, with thousands arrested and arbitrarily detained. Hundreds were forcibly deported across the borders into neighbouring countries without legal review.

The report described the situation of migrant children in Libya as especially concerning. It said that the UN has continued to observe childrens prolonged detentionwith no judicial process, in violation of the countrys obligations under international human rights law. The detained children were reportedly released only if they had guaranteed durable solutions, namely voluntary humanitarian return facilitated by IOM or resettlement or evacuation to a third country facilitated by UNHCR. The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) verified 24 cases of children who had been abducted from Sudan, where they had been registered as asylum-seekers and subsequently trafficked to Libya. Monitoring by UNSMIL indicated that these children were subjected to further human rights violations in Libya, including forced labour in military camps.

The Secretary-Generals report also referenced recent deadly incidents involving migrants transiting through Libya. On 14 June, a fishing boat that was carrying several hundred migrants from Tobruk in Eastern Libya to Italy capsized off the coast of Greece in what is considered one of the deadliest shipwrecks in Europe in recent years. Additionally, in July, following clashes between residents and migrants in Sfax, Tunisia, hundreds of primarily sub-Saharan migrants were forcibly transported to a deserted area on the border between Tunisia and Libya and abandoned without food or water. On 10 August, Libya and Tunisia announced an agreement to provide shelter to the stranded migrants.

Other entities have also expressed concern about the situation facing migrants in Libya. In March, the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Libyaestablished by the Human Rights Council (HRC) in 2020published its final report, which concluded that there are grounds to believe a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by State security forces and armed militia groups, with migrants, in particular, having been systematically tortured and subjected to sexual slavery. In a joint letter dated 6 March, several international human rights organisations called on the HRC to follow up on the FFMs findings by establishing an accountability mechanism to continue documenting and reporting on the human rights and impunity crisis in Libya and monitoring the implementation of the FFMs recommendations. Human rights organisations have also criticised the EU for providing support to the Libyan Coast Guard, which has been accused of human rights violations against the migrants it intercepts on the Mediterranean Sea.

Regarding the broader political situation in Libya, the country remains divided between the UN-recognised Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah, and the Government of National Stability (GNS) in Sirte, led by Prime Minister Osama Hamad and supported by the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk. Against this backdrop, both the UN and national actors have concentrated recent efforts on facilitating agreement on a new roadmap for national elections to unify the countrys divided government. Draft electoral legislation that would pave the way for elections is currently pending in the countrys rival legislatures, but several of its elements remain contested, particularly a provision to establish a new interim unity government that would be responsible for organising the elections. (For more, see our Whats in Blue story of 21 August.)

On 2 June, the Council adopted resolution 2684, renewing for one year the authorisation for member states, acting nationally or through regional organisations, to inspect vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya that they have reasonable grounds to believe are violating the arms embargo imposed on the country in resolution 1970 of 26 February 2011.

Key Issues and Options

The key issue regarding Libya in September is the expiration of the authorisation to combat migrant smuggling and human trafficking off the coast of Libya, which was most recently extended by resolution 2652 of 29 September 2022. Prior to this years reauthorisation, the Council may invite a briefer from the EU to update members on recent activities of Operation IRINI. In the past, such briefings have taken place in an informal setting during Council negotiations or in an informal interactive dialogue, which is a closed format that, unlike consultations, allows for the participation of non-UN Secretariat officials and briefers.

Council Dynamics

The Council initially established the anti-migrant smuggling and human trafficking authorisation with resolution 2240 of 9 October 2015 and has since renewed it annually through straightforward extensions. Each renewal has been unanimous, except in 2016, when then-member Venezuela abstained. It is likely that this years co-penholders will aim for another straightforward extension by unanimous adoption.

Concerning the situation in Libya more broadly, Council members remain united on the need for a Libyan-led inclusive process to lead to elections foreseen as restoring political, security, and economic stability. However, there are differences of view about the best way forward. Some members support the establishment of a new interim government prior to holding electionsas stipulated by the pending electoral legislationwhile most Western members and the UN have expressed concern that such a move would diminish stakeholders incentive to follow through on their electoral commitments, instead reinforcing the status quo. During the Councils 22 August meeting on Libya, however, both the US and Special Representative and head of UNSMIL Abdoulaye Bathily indicated potential willingness to support the establishment of a new interim government, which, according to some analysts, suggests that the dynamics on this issue may be shifting.

Geopolitical tensions still influence Council dynamics in respect to Libya. In his statement at the 22 August meeting on Libya, the Russian representative said his country was concerned by attempts of some Western countries to use the situation in Libya to address some geopolitical and economic issues, including on the hydrocarbon market, implying that these countries prioritise securing Libyas oil supply over supporting a long-term solution to the countrys challenges. Russia also abstained from the vote adopting resolution 2684, claiming that the authorisation for maritime inspectionscarried out by the EUhas not led to practical results in terms of stabilisation on the ground.

France and Malta are co-penholders for the authorisation on Libya under consideration in September.
Overview

In September, Albania is the president of the Security Council.

Albania plans to organise three signature events. The first signature event is the annual working methods open debate, which will be held under the Implementation of the note by the President of the Security Council (S/2017/507) agenda item. Ambassador Ferit Hoxha, Albanias Permanent Representative to the UN and Chair of the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions (IWG), is the anticipated briefer.

The second signature event is an open debate on Advancing Public-Private Humanitarian Partnership. The meeting is expected to focus on how to better coordinate the efforts of member states, the private sector, philanthropies, and other humanitarian actors in responding to humanitarian crises. Albanian Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Olta Xhacka will chair the meeting. The expected briefers are Cindy H. McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP); Eric Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Futuresa philanthropic venture that funds science and technology research; Michael Miebach, CEO of the payment-processing corporation Mastercard; and a civil society representative.

The third signature event is an open debate on Upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter through effective multilateralism: Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is expected to chair the meeting, which will be held during the UN General Assemblys high-level segment.

In September, the Security Council will also hold a briefing on peacekeeping reform pursuant to resolution 2378 of 20 September 2017. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix is the anticipated briefer.

Council members are also expected to hold a high-level Informal Interactive Dialogue (IID) with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (LAS), Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and members of the Arab Summit Troikaa group of three rotating countries that monitor the implementation of resolutions and commitments adopted by the LAS, which consists of the outgoing, current, and incoming Arab Summit chairs (Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain).

African issues on the programme of work in September are:

Democratic Republic of the Congo , briefing and consultations on the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO);

Libya , reauthorisation of the mandate to inspect and seize vessels suspected of being used for migrant smuggling or human trafficking;

South Sudan , briefing and consultations on the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS); and

Sudan , briefing and consultations on the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) and briefing on the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee.

Middle Eastern issues on the programme are:

There will also be a briefing and consultations on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the one Asian issue expected to be discussed in September.

Other issues could be raised in September depending on developments.
THEMATIC ISSUES

Protection of Civilians

Expected Council Action

In September, Albania is planning to convene an open debate titled Advancing Public-Private Humanitarian Partnership under the Maintenance of international peace and security agenda item. Olta Xhacka, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, will chair the meeting. The expected briefers are Cindy H. McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP); Eric Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Futuresa philanthropic venture that funds science and technology research; Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard; and a civil society representative.

No outcome is anticipated.

Key Recent Developments and Background

According to the Secretary-Generals latest annual report on the protection of civilians (PoC), dated 12 May, the UN recorded at least 16,988 civilian deaths across 12 armed conflicts in 2022, a 53 percent increase compared with 2021. Conflict situations where civilian casualties increased include Ukraine, Somalia, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, while certain contexts such as Yemen and Syria saw decreases. Harms suffered by civilians included death and injury, enforced disappearance, torture, rape, ill-treatment, psychological trauma, and forced displacement. Children remained particularly vulnerable to killing, abduction, displacement, and recruitment across a range of conflict situations, while women and girls accounted for at least 95 percent of victims of documented sexual violence. Humanitarian action continued to face overlapping impediments ranging from violence, bureaucratic hurdles, sanctions, and counter-terrorism measures to shortages and rising costs of essential supplies, including food, medicine, and fuel.

The UNs 2023 Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) July update said that $55.2 billion was required to assist 248 million people in need. The gap between financial requirements and resources was $41 billion, slightly down from the $43 billion recorded in the June update, which was the highest ever gap and more than double the entire requirements of the GHO ($20 billion) in 2016.

Against this backdrop, the concept note that Albania has prepared for the September open debate says that local, regional, and multinational private sector enterprises have become increasingly important actors in humanitarian response operations since the 2005 reform of the UN humanitarian architecture. This trend accelerated following the adoption of the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include SDG 17 on partnerships for the goals, aiming to revitalise global partnerships for sustainable development. More recently, in 2022, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Muraikhi of Qatar as his Special Adviser on Public-Private Partnerships and Islamic Social Finance. Al Muraikhi previously served as the Secretary-Generals humanitarian envoy from 2016 to 2019.

Albanias concept note highlights technology as a particularly important area of cooperation between the private sector and UN humanitarian agencies. Technological innovation driven by the private sector has created efficiencies in the humanitarian system, increasing the efficiency of donor funding to maximise life-saving interventions and scaling impact in conflict-afflicted areas. Technology sector platforms also continue to inform multilateral policy in areas such as disease outbreak data collection, climate change forecasting, and early warning systems, among others. In addition, private logistics and freight-forwarding companies are integrated into UN-led operations and routinely expedite delivery of aid in conflict settings.

The September open debate will seek to identify and advance public-private partnership solutions to promote international peace and security by addressing current and future humanitarian needs. Among other issues, it may provide member states with an opportunity to consider how private sector partnerships with UN humanitarian actors have contributed to the maintenance of peace and security; how the UN-led humanitarian response architecture can address conflict-induced humanitarian needs through enhanced public-private partnership structures; and what role private sector finance, logistics, and technology can play in scaling and improving efforts by the UN and its partners to respond to conflict-driven humanitarian needs.

While the September open debate appears to be the first Council meeting on public-private partnerships in the context of humanitarian action, in March 2022, the Council convened a ministerial-level open debate on such partnerships in relation to the women, peace and security agenda. The debate, which was convened by the UAE presidency, was titled Advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda through partnerships: Womens economic inclusion and participation as a key to building peace. (For more, see our Whats In Blue story of 7 March 2022).

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AFRICA

South Sudan

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council will hold a briefing and consultations on the Secretary-Generals 90-day report on South Sudan, which members expect to receive by 8 September.

The mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) expires on 15 March 2024.

Background and Key Recent Developments

On 4 August 2022, all signatories to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) agreed to a roadmap extending the transitional period by 24 months to implement its key outstanding tasks. (Key aspects of the roadmap relate to the unification of forces and their redeployment, the drafting of the permanent constitution, and the electoral process.) The original transitional period in the R-ARCSS ended on 22 February. In a 21 February press statement, the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) announced the beginning of the extended transition period, which is to end on 22 February 2025, with elections to be held in December 2024. The government also declared that there would be no more extensions of the timelines.

The most recent quarterly report of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the R-ARCSS, covering the period from 1 April to 30 June, was released on 22 July. It noted that the critical pending tasks outlined in the roadmap either remained unfinished or had not yet commenced, notably the passage of the 2023 National Election Bill and the reconstitution of the National Constitution Review Commission and the Political Parties Council. It said that, despite the graduation of 55,000 troops between August 2022 and January, there was no progress on the unification of the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF). The main reasons for the delayed deployment of the NUF are the unresolved unification of the middle- and lower-level command echelons and the lack of funding for deployment, the report added.

The quarterly report further noted that in light of South Sudans reliance for revenue on oil exports through Port Sudan, the RTGoNU has set up an emergency task force to monitor continuously the impact of the ongoing conflict in Sudan on crude oil exports. The South Sudanese government had also negotiated with the Sudanese warring parties to ensure the safety of the oil installations and pipelines in Sudan.

In a 2 August press conference, Special Representative and head of UNMISS Nicholas Haysom noted that the country is not currently ready for elections, but elections could be held on schedule if there is adequate political will, a practical political approach to the arrangements and commensurate resources are applied to achieving the benchmarks in the roadmap. The South Sudanese government needs to make several critical decisions, he said, including with regard to the type and format of elections, the establishment of relevant bodies and legal structures that can address election-related disputes, the census, voter registration, and the inclusion of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the election process. Other issues that need to be addressed urgently relate to transnational security arrangements, particularly the ranking of the middle echelons of the uniformed forces and the training and deployment of the NUF. Haysom added that at the request of the South Sudanese government, UNMISS, the AU, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) have presented a list of immediate decisions about elections that need to be taken by the parties to the peace agreement. (On 24 January, the South Sudanese government had requested comprehensive UN electoral assistance for the upcoming election process.)

Haysom also highlighted the impact of the conflict in Sudan on the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in South Sudan. He said that congestion in and around the border towns with Sudan and increased competition for scarce resources because of the influx of refugees from Sudan could exacerbate existing inter-communal tensions between the returnees and host communities and among some of the returnee communities. In this regard, he explained that UNMISS has intensified its patrols and reinforced its presence in Renk to mitigate and prevent outbreaks of violence.

According to data published by UNHCR, at the time of writing, a total of 229,678 individuals have crossed into South Sudan since the outbreak of fighting in Sudan on 15 April, including 16,006 Sudanese refugees, 3,435 non-Sudanese refugees, and 210,237 refugee returnees.

In a 26 July press release, OCHA requested $26.4 million to continue providing transportation until the end of the year for people entering South Sudan from Sudan so they can reach their final destinations. The press release said that without such support, more people will become stranded in and around the border towns where humanitarian services are already overstretched.

Intercommunal and subnational violence persists in many areas of the country. According to the 16 June quarterly brief on violence affecting civilians (covering January to March), UNMISS Human Rights Division documented 194 incidents of violence affecting 920 civilians. During the reporting period, the proportion of civilians killed increased by 35 percent (from 300 to 405) and incidents related to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) decreased by 78 percent (from 63 to 14) in comparison with the same reporting period in 2022, according to the quarterly brief.

On 14 August, the US Departments of State, Labor, and Commerce issued a business advisory on South Sudan, highlighting growing reputational, financial, and legal risks to US businesses and citizens conducting business or transactions with companies that have significant ties to the R-TGoNU or that are controlled by family members of government officials. A press release about the advisory said that the transitional governments continued failure to adhere to its own laws in the transparent management of its oil revenue could adversely impact US businesses, individuals, other persons and their operations in South Sudan and the region.

Peacebuilding Commission-Related Developments

On 20 June, the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, Ivan Simonovic, briefed the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) about South Sudan during an ECOSOC meeting on Transition from Relief to Development. Simonovic reiterated the importance of the full and timely implementation of the R-ARCSS. He called for investment in capacity- and institution-building to ensure the effective delivery of and access to basic social and economic services. Efficient and inclusive state institutions and governance at all levels are critical for peacebuilding and fostering the transition from humanitarian relief to long-term sustainable development, Simonovic said. Among other points, he highlighted civil societys role in advancing social cohesion, and the importance of partnerships, including with international financial institutions.

Key Issues and Options

An ongoing concern for the Council is the significant political challenges in South Sudan stemming from the delays in implementing the R-ARCSS. A key issue in this regard is what the Council can do to encourage the parties to make progress in implementing the outstanding issues of the R-ARCSS in accordance with the timelines set out in the roadmap. Council members could consider adopting a presidential statement urging the parties to implement the roadmap in a timely and inclusive manner. Another option is to hold an informal interactive dialogue (IID) with the various stakeholders of the South Sudanese political process, the leadership of UNMISS, and interested regional and subregional organisations. (The IID is a closed format that, unlike consultations, allows for the participation of non-UN officials and briefers.)

A related issue for several Council members is the need for the government to engage with civil society in relation to the roadmap and its implementation. The civil society briefer Albania intends to invite in September may provide insights on challenges to implementing the agreement and to holding elections.

Another option is to consider a Council visiting mission to South Sudan to assess the situation on the ground and engage with the various parties to the R-ARCSS. (The last Council visiting mission to South Sudan was in 2019.)

An additional key issue for Council members is the humanitarian and food security situations. An option would be to seek regular briefings on these matters from OCHA.

The impact of the conflict in neighbouring Sudan on the humanitarian and political situations in South Sudan is also an important matter for the Council.

Council Dynamics

Most Council members share similar concerns about the delays in implementing the R-ARCSS, the ongoing sub-national and intercommunal violence, the high levels of sexual violence, and the economic and humanitarian crises. Members such as the UK and the US expressed reservations about extending the transitional period in August 2022 and called on the government to demonstrate its commitment to implementing the R-ARCSS in line with the deadlines set out in the roadmap. On the other hand, in the 6 March briefing, Russia said that the decision to extend the transitional period until February 2025 is the right one under the current circumstances.

Differences of view on issues such as how to depict the situation on the ground in South Sudan, the extent to which the Council can and should apply pressure on the parties to fully implement the R-ARCSS, the utility of sanctions, and the effects of climate change on the situation in South Sudan also continue to colour Council dynamics.

The US is the penholder on South Sudan. Ambassador Michel Xavier Biang (Gabon) chairs the 2206 South Sudan Sanctions Committee.

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Status Update since our August Forecast

Colombia

On 2 August, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2694, expanding the mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia to monitor and verify the implementation of a bilateral ceasefire between the Colombian government and the guerrilla group Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN) that began on 3 August. The resolution also indicates the Councils willingness to consider mandating the mission to monitor and verify a ceasefire with the Estado Mayor Central Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejercito del Pueblo (EMC FARC-EP) when the Secretary-General confirms a ceasefire including appropriate verification protocols has been reached with the armed group.

Conflict and Food Insecurity

On 3 August, the Council held an open debate on famine and conflict-induced global food insecurity. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken chaired the debate, a signature event of the US August Council presidency (S/PV.9392). UN Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator Reena Ghelani, President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Rescue Committee David Miliband, and Navyn Salem, the founder and CEO of Edesiaa non-profit that combats malnutritionbriefed. At the session, the Council adopted a presidential statement, which highlighted the need to break the vicious cycle between armed conflict and food insecurity and the responsibility of regional and subregional organisations in contributing to international efforts to uphold the Charter and prevent famine, and conflict-induced food insecurity and malnutrition (S/PRST/2023/4). In addition, 91 UN member states signed a joint communique that the US had proposed, committing to take action to end the use of food as a weapon of war and the starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare.

Georgia

On 10 August, Security Council members discussed the situation in Georgia under any other business. Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo briefed. The meeting, which marked the 15th anniversary of the 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia, was requested by Albania, France, Japan, Malta, the UK, and the US. Following the meeting, those members delivered a joint statement at a press stakeout reaffirming their support for Georgias sovereignty and territorial integrity, and condemning Russias military presence in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia.

Sudan/South Sudan

On 9 August, the Security Council held an open briefing to discuss the situation in Sudan at the request of the UK, the penholder on the file ( S/PV.9394) . Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee and Director of OCHAs Operations and Advocacy Division Edem Wosornu briefed.

UNRCCA (Central Asia)

On 10 August, Council members held closed consultations on the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA). Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNRCCA Kaha Imnadze briefed.

Nagorno-Karabakh Region

On 16 August, Security Council members held a briefing on the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region (S/PV.9397). Armenia requested the meeting in an 11 August letter to the Council invoking Article 35 of the UN Charter (S/2023/594). Under Article 35 (1), any UN member state may bring any dispute, or any situation referred to in Article 34 [that is, one that may lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute], to the attention of the Security Council or of the General Assembly. OCHAs Director of Operations and Advocacy Edem Wosornu briefed. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkiye participated under rule 37 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure. Several Council members urged both parties to uphold the commitments established in the 2020 trilateral agreement between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. They emphasised the need to normalise relations as a foundation for a prospective peace treaty and underscored the importance of allowing humanitarian aid to reach the residents of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

DPRK (North Korea)

On 17 August, the Council convened for an open briefing on the human rights situation in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) (S/PV.9398). The meeting was requested by Albania, Japan, and the US to discuss the links between human rights abuses and violations in the DPRK and international peace and security. The briefers were UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK Elizabeth Salmon, and Ilhyeok Kim, a civil society representative. The Republic of Korea (ROK) participated in the meeting under rule 37 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure. This was the first Council open briefing on the human rights situation in the DPRK since December 2017.

On 25 August, the Council convened for an open briefing on the DPRKs failed launch of a military reconnaissance satellite on 24 August (S/PV.9406). Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Khaled Khiari briefed. The DPRK and the ROK participated in the meeting under rule 37 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure.

On 30 August, Chair of the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl (Switzerland) briefed Council members in closed consultations on the 90-day report on the Committees work.

Middle East, including the Palestinian Question

On 21 August, the Security Council convened for an open briefing, followed by closed consultations, on The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question (S/PV.9400). Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland briefed.

Cyprus

On 21 August, Security Council members held a meeting on the situation in Cyprus under any other business. The UK requested the meeting to discuss an incident that occurred on 18 August, in which Turkish Cypriot security forces attacked members of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). Colin Stewart, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprus and head of UNFICYP, briefed.

Myanmar

On 23 August, Council members held closed consultations on Myanmar. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths and Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific Mohamed Khaled Khiari briefed. The UK, the penholder on the file, requested the meeting.

The UK delivered a joint statement on Myanmar after the consultations. The statement strongly condemned the killing of civilians in Myanmar, particularly the continued use of airstrikes, and reaffirmed the need to respect international law and protect civilians. Among other matters, the statement noted with concern that there has been insufficient progress on the calls made by the Council in resolution 2669, which relate to the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained prisoners, the need to fully respect human rights and uphold the rule of law, respect for the democratic will of the people of Myanmar, swift and full implementation of ASEANs Five-Point Consensus, the need to address the root causes of the crisis in Rakhine State, and the full protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities. Every Council member except China and Russia signed the statement.

Lebanon

On 24 August, Council members held closed consultations on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Mohamed Khaled Khiari briefed.

On 31 August, the Security Council adopted resolution 2695, extending the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another year, until 31 August 2024. The resolution received 13 votes in favour and two abstentions (China and Russia). It seems that on 30 August the UAE submitted an amendment to a paragraph in the draft resolution in blue to be voted on prior to the vote on the entire draft text. The UAE, however, apparently decided shortly before the vote to withdraw its amendment; the Council therefore only voted on the entire resolution.

Counter-Terrorism

On 25 August, Council members convened for a briefing on the Secretary-Generals 17th biannual strategic level report (S/2023/568) on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) to international peace and security (S/PV.9405). The briefers were: Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism and head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) Vladimir Voronkov, Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) Natalia Gherman, and President of the Farida Global Organisation Farida Khalaf. Council members that have signed on to the shared commitments on WPS Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Japan, Malta, Switzerland, the UAE, the UK, and the USread a joint statement on the use of sexual and gender based-violence by terrorist groups following the meeting.

On 16 August, Council members issued a press statement condemning the 13 August terrorist attack at the Shah-e-Cheragh shrine in Shiraz, Iran (SC/15386). The attack was claimed by ISIL and killed two people and injured eight more.

Mali

On 28 August, the Council held a briefing (S/PV.9407), followed by closed consultations, on the Secretary-Generals plan (S/2023/611) for the transfer of tasks of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which is withdrawing from Mali by the end of this year. Special Representative and head of MINUSMA El-Ghassim Wane and Beatrice Odountan Abouya, the Acting Regional Director of Search for Common Ground, briefed in the open session. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix and Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support Atul Khare briefing during the closed consultations.

On 30 August, the Council voted on two separate draft resolutions to renew the Mali sanctions regime (S/PV.9408). Russia vetoed a draft resolution (S/2023/638) proposed by France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that would have renewed the Mali asset freeze and travel ban measures, and extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts that supports the 2374 Mali Sanctions Committee for an additional year. This draft resolution received 13 votes in favour and one abstention (China). An alternative draft (S/2023/639) that Russia proposed to extend the sanctions measures but dissolve the Panel of Experts failed to be adopted because it did not garner the requisite votes. It received one vote in favour (Russia), one against (Japan), and the remaining 13 Council members abstained. The sanctions measures were set to expire on 31 August, while the mandate of the Panel expires on 30 September.
AFRICA

Sudan

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council will hold a briefing and consultations on the Secretary-Generals 90-day report on the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), which was due by 30 August. The chair of the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee, Ambassador Harold Adlai Agyeman (Ghana), is expected to provide the quarterly briefing on the committees work.

The mandate of UNITAMS expires on 3 December.

Background and Key Recent Developments

Sudan has been grappling with the devastating consequences of fighting that erupted on 15 April between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudans military leader and chairperson of the Transitional Sovereign Council, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemeti). The fighting, which was initially centred around Khartoum, has steadily engulfed several parts of the country.

On 9 August, the Security Council held an open briefing to discuss the situation in Sudan at the request of the UK, the penholder on the file. Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee and Director of OCHAs Operations and Advocacy Division Edem Wosornu briefed. In her remarks, Pobee noted that clashes between the Sudanese warring parties continued across various parts of the country, including Khartoum, Bahri, Omdurman, and Darfur, with neither side achieving victory nor making any significant gains. She added that eastern Sudan, which has been relatively calm, has witnessed active mobilisation efforts in support of the SAF, which risks plunging the east into conflict along ethnic lines, further highlighting the fragility of the region. Wosornu provided an overview of the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in the country and described the recent efforts of the UN to provide humanitarian assistance. She noted that intense fighting and the difficult operating environment are limiting the ability of humanitarian actors to deliver aid. She emphasised the need to establish a platform for direct and regular contact at a senior level with the Sudanese warring parties on humanitarian issues to negotiate access and protect humanitarian operations in the Sudan. (For more, see our Whats in Blue story of 8 August.)

The situation in Darfur has deteriorated further with the outbreak of inter-communal fighting, with Arab militias supporting the RSF and targeting non-Arab groups. In a 4 August statement, the Troika on Sudan (Norway, the UK, and the US) condemned the ongoing violence in Darfur, especially reports of killings based on ethnicity and widespread sexual violence by the RSF and allied militias. They expressed concern about reports of a military build-up near El Fasher and Nyala. Those responsible for any atrocities against civilians, especially those including [conflict-related sexual violence] and the targeting of humanitarian relief actors, medical personnel, and other service providers, must be held to account, the statement added.

In recent weeks, the fighting has intensified in several parts of the country. In a 14 August press release, OCHA expressed concerns about reports of deadly clashes in Nyala, South Darfur. According to a 23 August OCHA Humanitarian Update, these clashes, which took place from 11 to 17 August, displaced approximately 50,000 people, killed at least 60 and injured 250 others.

On 14 August, clashes between the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) Al Hilu faction and the SAF were also reported near the Hajr Al-Maak neighbourhood in Kadugli Town, South Kordofan, forcing at least 6,700 people to flee to the towns western Al Radaif neighbourhood.

In recent months, several regional and international stakeholders have led mediation efforts aimed at resolving the crisis. The members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Quartet (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan) held their first meeting on 10 July in Addis Ababa. In a communique adopted following the meeting, the Quartet expressed concern over the spread of violence beyond Khartoum to other parts of Sudan, particularly Darfur and Kordofan. The members resolved to request the East Africa Standby Force (EASF) summit to convene in order to consider the possible deployment of the EASF for the protection of civilians and [to] guarantee humanitarian access. They further emphasised the centrality of IGAD in coordinating the different diplomatic efforts alongside the AU. In an 11 July press release, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry rejected the call for deployment of the EASF and stated that it will consider any such forces being deployed as aggressor forces.

On 19 August, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir met Kenyan President William Ruto in Nairobi. According to a 20 August Sudan Tribune article, South Sudanese Minister of Presidential Affairs Barnaba Marial Benjamin said that the situation in Sudan was a central focus of the discussions. He added that [t]he situation has progressed beyond being solely a humanitarian crisis to now encompassing broader regional dynamics.

On 13 July, Egypt hosted the Sudans Neighboring States Summit, bringing together the heads of state and governments of the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, and South Sudan, with the aim of finding a solution to the ongoing crisis in Sudan. The leaders agreed to establish a ministerial mechanism comprising foreign ministers of Sudans neighbouring states to coordinate their efforts to resolve the conflict. The first meeting of the ministerial mechanism was held in NDjamena on 7 August. The communique adopted following the meeting noted that the foreign ministers had developed a three-part plan of action: the achievement of a definitive ceasefire; the organisation of an inclusive inter-Sudanese dialogue; and the management of humanitarian issues.

Sudans humanitarian needs are significant and have been evolving rapidly. According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase (IPC) projections, around 20.3 million people, representing more than 42 percent of the countrys population, are expected to experience high levels of acute food insecurity between July and September.

Attacks on humanitarian personnel remain a major impediment to the delivery of humanitarian relief to vulnerable populations. According to OCHAs 23 August update, 19 aid workers have been killed in Sudan and 26 have been detained since 15 April. Attacks on civilian infrastructure and healthcare facilities also remain an issue of concern. At the time of writing, the World Health Organization (WHO) had verified 53 attacks on healthcare centres, staff, ambulances, and warehouses in Sudan since the conflict began.

In a 25 August statement, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths warned that the ongoing conflict, food insecurity, spread of disease, and displacement threaten to consume the entire country. He noted that food stocks are fully depleted in Kadugli, as clashes and road blockages prevent aid workers from reaching people in need. In West Kordofans capital, El Fula, humanitarian offices have been ransacked and supplies looted, he added. He further expressed concern that a protracted conflict in Sudan could engulf the entire region into a humanitarian catastrophe.

Human Rights-Related Developments

On 15 August, High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk highlighted in a press release that the disastrous, senseless war in Sudan has resulted in acts that may amount to war crimes. There are reasonable grounds to believe that the SAF and the RSF have committed serious violations of international law, he said, and noted the impact of the war on civilians, including women and children, as well as humanitarian and health workers. The statement highlighted the dire humanitarian situation, with the displacement of more than four million people due to the war. It further indicated that hundreds of people, including political activists and human rights defenders, have been detained arbitrarily and held incommunicado by both parties to the conflict.

During its 54th session, the Human Rights Council is expected to hold an interactive dialogue on 12 September on the oral update of the High Commissioner on the situation in Sudan.

Sanctions-Related Developments

On 7 August, the Panel of Experts assisting the Sudan Sanctions Committee transmitted its interim report to the Council. It appears that the report described various aspects of the ongoing conflict, including its dynamics, funding, humanitarian impact, recruitment patterns of the warring parties, the proliferation of weapons and violation of the arms embargo, and its regional impact.

On 11 August, the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee held informal consultations during which it received a briefing on the panels interim report.

Women, Peace and Security

Following the 25 August Council briefing on the Secretary-Generals 17th biannual strategic-level report on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) to international peace and security, the members that endorsed the 1 December 2021 Shared Commitments on Women, Peace and SecurityAlbania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Japan, Malta, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UK, and the USdelivered a statement on Sudan expressing grave concern regarding the continued reports of gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence in Sudans conflict. The statement referred to reports of systematic and widespread use of sexual and gender-based violence, including rape, kidnapping and sexual exploitation in Darfur and other areas of Sudan. Recalling UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turks 15 August remarks on the conflict in Sudan, the statement underscored that perpetrators must be held accountable.

Key Issues and Options

A key issue for the Security Council is how to stop the fighting in Sudan. A further issue is the situation in Darfur and the levels of intercommunal violence and insecurity across the country. The Council could consider holding an informal interactive dialogue (IID) with key stakeholders, including Sudanese civilian leaders, interested member states and regional and sub-regional organisations to discuss the search for a mediated solution to the crisis. The IID is a closed format that, unlike consultations, allows for the participation of non-UN officials and briefers.

Another issue for the Security Council is the humanitarian crisis and how to ensure continuous and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid and, at the same time, secure the safety and security of UN officials and other humanitarian actors. Periodic briefings by OCHA could help keep the Council informed of the humanitarian situation on the ground.

Considering the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in Sudan and rising incidents of sexual and gender-based violence, Council members may consider inviting Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten to brief the Council at its next meeting in September.

Council and Wider Dynamics

Most Council members share similar concerns about the political, security, human rights, and humanitarian situations in Sudan. The Council members are also supportive of the Trilateral Mechanism, which is comprised of the AU, IGAD, and UNITAMS.

Since the outset of the conflict in Sudan, the regional bodies have strived to find a resolution to the conflict. It appears that these initiatives have been riddled with complex regional dynamics, limiting their prospects. According to media reports, in a BBC radio interview on 4 June, Malik Agar, the deputy chairman of Sudans Sovereign Council, declared that Sudan is not part of the African Unions initiative, noting its suspension from the AU, which occurred following the October 2021 coup. He added that Sudan cannot even discuss [the AUs] initiative. Regarding the IGAD initiative, the Sudanese government issued a statement on 15 June rejecting the sub-regional bodys decision to appoint Kenya to succeed South Sudan in leading the mediation, accusing Kenya of adopting the positions of the rebel Rapid Support Forces. The SAF did not participate in the 10 July meeting of the IGAD Quartet, citing its objection to Kenyan President William Rutos chairmanship of the Quartet. The statement issued by the Sudanese Foreign Ministry following the meeting said that failure to respect the positions of Member States will cause the Government of Sudan to reconsider the usefulness of its membership in IGAD. (For more, see our Whats in Blue stories of 22 June and 8 August.)

It seems that Council members have diverging views on appropriate Council engagement in response to the escalation of violence in Sudan. Apparently, the three African members (Gabon, Ghana, and Mozambique, known as the A3), with the support of Russia and China, have argued that adopting a Council product could duplicate messaging and create complications at a delicate time. This also appears to reflect Sudans national position: in a 12 May press statement, Sudans Permanent Representative to the UN, Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed, noted that we do not prefer an involvement of [the] Security Council in terms of any products. He added that the Councils engagement on the ongoing situation in Sudan might undermine the AUs efforts to engage positively with the situation.

Following the Sudanese governments 8 June decision to declare Special Representative and head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) Volker Perthes persona non grata, Council members hold diverging views about Perthes continuing in this role. During the 9 August Council meeting, while some Council members, including Albania, France, Switzerland, and the US, supported Perthes efforts, Russia maintained that Perthes has lost the confidence of the Sudanese people. During the meeting, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (US) said that the Sudanese government threatened to end the UN Mission in Sudan if the SRSG [Perthes] participated in this briefing. In a press stakeout following the meeting, Ambassador Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed (Sudan) referred to his governments decision on Perthes and said that the government opposes any working relationship with the special representative.

The UK is the penholder on Sudan, and the US is the penholder on Sudan sanctions. Ambassador Harold Adlai Agyeman (Ghana) chairs the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee.

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MIDDLE EAST

Syria

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council is expected to hold meetings on the political process, the humanitarian situation, and the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Key Recent Developments

On 11 July, the Security Council failed to reauthorise the Syria cross-border humanitarian aid delivery mechanism, which was last authorised by resolution 2672 of 9 January until 10 July. It had allowed for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to north-west Syria from Turkiye through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing without requiring the consent of the Syrian government. (For more, see our Whats in Blue story of 11 July and the In Hindsight in our August Monthly Forecast.)

On 13 July, Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh (Syria) sent a note verbale to the President of the Security Council transmitting a letter announcing the Syrian governments decision to grant the UN and its specialised agencies permission to use the Bab al-Hawa crossing to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in need in north-west Syria in full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian Government for six months, starting that day. In a 14 July note to Council members, OCHA responded to the Syrian governments 13 July letter, saying the Syrian Governments permission can be a basis for the [UN] to lawfully conduct cross-border humanitarian operations via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing for the specified duration. However, it also said that the Syrian governments letter contained two unacceptable conditions: that the UN should not communicate with entities designated as terrorist, and that the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) should supervise and facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid in north-west Syria.

On 17 July, the Security Council held a private meeting, followed by closed consultations, to discuss the humanitarian situation in Syria. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths briefed the Council. He reiterated the concerns shared by OCHA in its 14 July note to Council members. Apparently, he also said that he would engage further with the Syrian authorities in a bid to clarify the provisions of the letter. (For more, see our Whats in Blue story of 16 July.)

Following weeks of bilateral engagement, the UN and the Syrian government reached an understanding on the continued use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing to deliver humanitarian aid into north-west Syria, formalised through an exchange of letters (S/2023/603). In a 5 August letter addressed to Sabbagh, Griffiths noted that [c]ooperation and coordination with the Syrian government to facilitate cross-border assistance can be undertaken in a manner consistent with the core principles and current structure and practice that comprise the UNs humanitarian response in Syria. It further stated that a version of the UN Monitoring Mechanism (UNMM) should operate to monitor UN humanitarian assistance prior to its entry into Syria. The letter added that [t]hese arrangements can be reviewed or enhanced through the involvement of others, in close coordination between the relevant sides. The letter further stated that, although neither ICRC nor SARC has a presence in north-west Syria, their involvement in this process may be explored when circumstances permit.

In a 6 August letter, Sabbagh responded, reiterating the Syrian governments 13 July decision to open the Bab al-Hawa border for a period of six months. It further announced the governments decision to extend its authorisation for the use of the Bab al-Salam and Al Raee border crossings until 13 November. It also approved the use of the Sarmada and Saraqib crossings for cross-line operationsthat is, across domestic conflict lines from Syrian government-held areas into areas outside government controlfor a six-month period, until 1 February 2024. Sabbaghs letter took note of the UNs desire to use a version of the stringent and independent monitoring arrangements for aid consignments at the borders. It said that the Syrian government would continue to engage with the UN about the possible involvement of the ICRC and the SARC in the ongoing humanitarian operations.

On 21 August, the Council again held a private meeting, followed by closed consultations, to discuss the humanitarian situation in Syria, at which Griffiths briefed. He apparently provided an update on OCHAs engagement with the other stakeholders in north-west Syria about the delivery of humanitarian aid. It appears that several Council members emphasised the importance of continued reporting on humanitarian developments and an oversight mechanism for the delivery of humanitarian aid. (For more, see our Whats in Blue story of 18 August.)

On 15 August, the Arab ministerial liaison committee that was established following Syrias readmission into the League of Arab States (LAS) on 7 May to liaise with the Syrian government and seek a solution to the Syrian crisis through reciprocal stepscomprising Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and LAS Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheitmet with the Syrian foreign minister, in Cairo. In a press statement circulated after the meeting, the leaders expressed the hope that the next meeting of the Constitutional Committee would convene in Oman with UN facilitation before the end of this year. They stressed the need to address the refugee crisis and strengthen cooperation between the Syrian government and countries hosting refugees from Syria to facilitate refugees voluntary and safe return in cooperation with the relevant UN agencies. They further expressed their aim to continue and intensify cooperation between Syria and regional countries to combat drug manufacturing and smuggling in the region.

On 21 August, Pedersen spoke by telephone with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. In a Twitter post following the conversation, Safadi noted that the discussion focused on efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis in accordance with resolution 2254 of 18 December 2015 through Arab and UN tracks. During the conversation, both sides agreed to maintain coordination for bringing an end to the conflict and addressing its consequences. The next day, Pedersen spoke to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. They discussed the outcomes of the 15 August meeting of the Arab ministerial liaison committee and exchanged views on the efforts being undertaken to address the Syrian crisis, according to media reports.

On 23 August, the Council met on the political situation in Syria. UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen and Deputy Director of Women Now for Development Lubna Alkanawati briefed. In his briefing, Pedersen gave a detailed account of the continued hostilities within Syria and called for a sustained calm to build a nationwide ceasefire and address the threats posed by proscribed terrorist groups. He welcomed the fact that reconvening the Constitutional Committee is a point of consensus among several key actors. He emphasised the importance of resuming the Constitutional Committees work and said that he continue[s] to seek to facilitate consensus to overcome the issues that have prevented the Constitutional Committee from meeting in Geneva.

The continuing hostilities in parts of Syria include Russian air strikes that hit the western outskirts of Idlib governorate on 21 August, targeting a Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) military base. (HTS is an armed opposition group that is designated by the Security Council as a terrorist organisation and that controls parts of Syrias north-west.) According to media reports, the attack killed at least eight HTS fighters and wounded several others. Later the same day, the Israel Defence Forces conducted airstrikes in the vicinity of Damascus, wounding one soldier and causing material damage, according to media reports.

Human Rights-Related Developments

During its 54th session, the Human Rights Council is expected to hold an interactive dialogue on 22 September with the Commission of Inquiry on Syria and consider its report, which was not yet available at the time of writing (A/HRC/54/58).

Women, Peace and Security

On 2 May, the Informal Experts Group (IEG) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) met on the situation in Syria. Pedersen and the Deputy Director of OCHAs Operations and Advocacy Division, Heli Uusikyla, briefed. According to the summary of the meeting issued on 3 August by Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the IEG co-chairs, together with the UK as the penholder on WPS, Council members asked questions on the humanitarian situation in the wake of the February 2023 earthquakes; gaps in humanitarian aid for women and girls, including their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights; and barriers to womens participation in conflict resolution and humanitarian planning, among other issues. UN Women, as the IEG Secretariat, recommended that in any upcoming resolution or presidential statement the Council should consider urging greater investment in local womens organisations to support grassroots peacebuilding efforts and humanitarian aid delivery, as well as the full, equal, and meaningful participation of diverse Syrian women in peace negotiations, political dialogues, discussions on confidence-building measures and national consultations on Syrias future. UN Women also recommended urging the international community to fully fund the Humanitarian Response Plan 2023, with special attention to, among other matters, addressing all forms of gender-based violence and discrimination against women and girls, and ensuring womens participation and leadership in decision-making at all levels of the humanitarian response and throughout the humanitarian programme cycle.

Key Issues and Options

A key issue for the Council is to ensure the continued flow of humanitarian aid to those in need in north-west Syria. A related and broader issue is how to alleviate the growing humanitarian needs in Syria. The deteriorating socioeconomic conditions are also an issue of concern. At the 23 August Council briefing, Pedersen noted that the Syrian pound has lost over 80 percent of its value in the past three months.

Periodic briefings from OCHA have helped keep the Council informed of the humanitarian situation on the ground. Council members could also consider inviting representatives of Syrian humanitarian aid organisations to engage with them to explore avenues for improving and expanding aid delivery mechanisms, including early recovery projects, in Syria. Another option for Council members is to continue holding informal interactive dialogues (IIDs) with donor countries, interested regional parties, and representatives of the international humanitarian agencies operating in Syria to review the progress on the cross-border and cross-line delivery of humanitarian aid and early recovery projects. (The IID is a closed format that, unlike consultations, allows for the participation of non-UN officials and briefers.)

Another key long-standing issue is finding a way to break the political impasse in Syria and to provide political support for the Special Envoys efforts in this regard. One option would be for the Council to hold a private meeting with Pedersen and interested member states with influence over the parties in Syria to discuss recent developments in his step-for-step initiative.

Council Dynamics

Over the years, Syria has been one of the most divisive files on the Councils agenda. China and Russia are supportive of the Syrian government, emphasising the need to respect the countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity and drawing connections between unilateral coercive measures on Syria and the challenging humanitarian situation in the country. In contrast, the P3 (France, the UK, and the US) and other like-minded members criticise the government for violating international humanitarian law and human rights law, arbitrarily detaining people, and not engaging meaningfully in political dialogue.

Council members hold differing opinions on whether the provision for monthly Council briefings on humanitarian developments in Syria and the reporting requirements set out by resolution 2672 remain in effect. It appears that Russia takes the position that the absence of a resolution reauthorising the cross-border aid mechanism nullifies the effect of all provisions contained in previous resolutions, including the reporting requirements. Some other Council members apparently take the view that the provision reauthorising the cross-border mechanism, and the remainder of resolution 2672, are mutually exclusivethat all provisions except the cross-border mechanism are open-ended, and thus still applicable. It seems some Council members have also argued that the reporting requirements as outlined in resolution 2139 remain in effect; these included reporting on access to besieged and hard-to-reach areas and humanitarian access for the UN and its implementing partners across conflict lines and borders.

The P3 and E10 (elected) members appear to support continued Council engagement on humanitarian developments in Syria. On the other hand, Russia seems to oppose any further Council engagement on Syrian humanitarian issues.

Council members also hold diverging views on normalising ties with the Syrian government. In the 27 April Council briefing, the US noted that it will not normalise relations with Syria and has discouraged other member states from doing so. It added that the US will not lift sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or support reconstruction in the absence of genuine, comprehensive and enduring reforms and progress on the political process. The European members of the Council hold a similar view. On the other hand, other Council members, including Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates, support the normalisation of ties with the Syrian government.

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EUROPE

Ukraine

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council is expected to hold a high-level open debate on Upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter through effective multilateralism: maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine. This meeting will be one of the signature events of Albanias Council presidency.

Key Recent Developments

Over 18 months into Russias military incursion, the war continues to have devastating consequences for civilians and far-reaching effects on the global economy. According to a 3 August OCHA situation report, 17.6 million people in Ukraine require humanitarian assistance, while approximately 11 million people in the country have been forcibly displaced by the war. That figure includes roughly 5.1 million internally displaced people and 5.9 million refugees who have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries.

Hostilities remain concentrated in the eastern Donetsk and southern Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. Since launching their counteroffensive in June, Ukrainian forces have struggled to breach Russias defensive lines, which are fortified by extensive minefields. On 22 August, however, Ukraine announced that it had recaptured the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region, potentially a milestone in its counteroffensive. Meanwhile, Russian forces continued offensive operations near the cities of Kupiansk and Lyman in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, respectively.

Russia has continued its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine, particularly targeting Ukraines grain infrastructure. Following Russias termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) on 17 July, Ukraine has relied heavily on exporting grain to Romania via the Danube River. In response, Russia has launched frequent attacks on ports and grain depots along the Danube River in Ukraine, destroying hundreds of thousands of tonnes of grain, according to Ukrainian officials. The port of Reni in the southern Odesa region, located only 200 metres from the border with NATO member Romania, has been among those targeted by air raids. As at 23 August, Russia had carried out 14 such attacks since 11 July, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).

Under significant pressure to rejoin the BSGI, Russia has sought to present itself as a viable alternative to Ukrainian grain exports and as a reliable food and grain supplier to developing countries, particularly in Africa. In a video address to the BRICS Business Forum in South Africa on 22 August, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has the capacity to replace Ukrainian grain. He further contended that the BSGI primarily benefitted high- and upper-middle income countries, while noting that Russia has extended offers to provide six African countries with 25,000 to 50,000 tonnes of Russian grain at no cost.

In addition to attacks on grain facilities, Russian missile and drone assaults have targeted other civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine. On 19 August, a Russian missile hit a central square in the northern city of Chernihiv, resulting in at least 144 civilian casualties, including seven deaths. On 23 August, a strike on a school in the north-eastern Sumy region reportedly killed four educational workers, while an attack on a hospital in the southern Kherson region prompted a halt to humanitarian aid deliveries in the area.

Moscow claims that Ukraine has been carrying out its own drone assaults on targets inside Russia. On 18 August, Russian authorities reported shooting down a Ukrainian drone over Moscow, with its wreckage causing damage to a non-residential building, according to media reports. On 23 August, a presumed drone attack targeted a skyscraper under construction in Moscow. While Ukrainian officials have not officially acknowledged launching attacks on Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said that attacks on Russian soil are an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.

On 23 August, a business jet travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed, killing all ten people on board. Russias Investigative Committeea federal authority that investigates serious crimes in the countryconfirmed on 27 August that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian private military company the Wagner Group, was killed in the crash. In late June, Prigozhin orchestrated an attempted armed mutiny against Russias military leadership. The mutiny ended on 24 June with an agreement between Putin and Prigozhin under which Prigozhin would call off the mutiny in exchange for amnesty and his exile to Belarus. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in Prigozhins death. On 25 August, Putin signed an executive order requiring all people joining volunteer units and other persons contributing to fulfilling the objectives of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and other security entities taking part in Russias special military operation to swear allegiance to Russia.

On 5 and 6 August, Saudi Arabia hosted the second meeting of national security advisors and other high-level officials to discuss fundamental principles for restoring peace in Ukraine. This followed an earlier meeting held on 24 June in Copenhagen, Denmark. The gathering in Jeddah saw participation from over 40 countries, including several that have not condemned the Russian aggression, most notably China. Russia was not invited. Attendees agreed to hold a third meeting in the coming months.

Despite a surge in diplomatic efforts over recent months aimed at reinvigorating peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, prospects for a negotiated settlement remain distant. Both sides continue to rely on military means to shape the wars outcome. Speaking at a panel event in Norway on 15 August, Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General Stian Jenssen suggested that Ukraine could concede territory in exchange for NATO membership and an end to the conflict. Facing public backlash, Jenssen retracted his comments the next day. Speaking at an event on 23 August, Zelenskyy reaffirmed that Ukraine will not exchange territories for any membership in any union.

The Security Council remains actively engaged on the situation in Ukraine. At Russias request, the Council convened on 17 August to discuss the supply of Western arms to Ukraine and their impact on prospects for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The meeting was held under the Threats to international peace and security agenda item. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu and journalist Danny Haiphong briefed. On 24 August, the Council held a briefing to mark a year and a half since the outbreak of hostilities on 24 February 2022. (For more, see our Whats in Blue story of 23 August.)

Human Rights-Related Developments

On 24 August, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Ukraine issued a press release regarding its third visit to Ukraine, which was scheduled to take place from 28 August to 4 September 2023. As part of their mandate to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian lawagainst Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the commissioners are scheduled to visit multiple locations in Ukraine, where they will meet with victims and witnesses. A press conference in Kyiv is scheduled upon the missions conclusion on 4 September.

During its 54th session, the Human Rights Council is expected to hold an interactive dialogue on 25 September on the oral update about the Ukraine COI.

Key Issues and Options

The overarching priority for the Council is to promote a solution to the conflict in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter and to facilitate dialogue among the parties to that end. The direct involvement of a permanent member in the conflict, however, continues to limit the Councils options.

Council Dynamics

The Security Council remains starkly divided on the conflict in Ukraine and the appropriate framework for achieving a peaceful resolution. Ukraine and its allies have advocated for a just peace, conditioned on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraines internationally recognised borders. Other member states have called for an immediate cessation of hostilities without any preconditions, which could freeze the front lines of the conflict, leaving Russia in control of a significant amount of territory in eastern and southern Ukraine.

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PEACEMAKING, PEACEKEEPING AND PEACEBUILDING

UN Peacekeeping

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council will hold a briefing on peacekeeping reform pursuant to resolution 2378 of 20 September 2017. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix is the anticipated briefer.

Key Recent Developments

Resolution 2378 requested the Secretary-General to provide a comprehensive briefing to the Security Council on the reform of UN peacekeeping every 12 months, to be followed by a debate. Last year, the Council held the annual meeting on 6 September in a briefing format. Lacroix briefed on progress and challenges in the implementation of the initiatives Action for Peacekeeping (A4P), Action for Peacekeeping Plus (A4P+) (which outlines the eight priorities of peacekeeping reform in 2021 and beyond), and the Secretary-Generals initiative to accelerate peacekeeping reform.

Lacroix highlighted the complex geopolitical environment under which peacekeeping missions are operating and underscored the need to preserve the space needed for United Nations peacekeeping operations, which continue to visibly manifest a multilateral system in action on the ground. He drew particular attention to the continuing critical capability gaps in UN peacekeeping missions, particularly the limited number of utility and armed helicopters, and called for the support of Council members to address these gaps. Lacroix expressed concern about the increasing number of fatalities from attacks on peacekeepers, including from explosive ordnance and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and described efforts to address this threat. He set out UN efforts to strengthen strategic communication to counter misinformation and disinformation and enhance better engagement with local communities. Furthermore, he stressed womens full, equal, and meaningful participation in peacekeeping as a key priority, and noted the progress toward achieving the Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy 2018-2028 published in 2019, which set targets for the participation of women in uniformed roles.

It has been five years since the Secretary-General launched his A4P initiative, and the third progress report on the implementation of A4P+, released in June, highlighted progress in the seven priority areascollective coherence behind a political strategy, strategic and operational integration, capabilities and mindsets, accountability to peacekeepers, accountability of peacekeepers, strategic communication, and cooperation with host countries.

On 20 July, the Secretary-General launched the policy brief on A New Agenda for Peace, which recognises the challenges posed by long-standing and unresolved conflicts, without a peace to keep, by complex domestic, geopolitical and transnational factors and the limitations of ambitious mandates without adequate political support. In this regard, it calls for a serious and broad-based reflection on the future of peacekeeping, underscoring the need to move towards nimble adaptable models with appropriate, forward-looking transition and exit strategies. The policy brief particularly recommends authorising peace enforcement, counter-terrorism, and counter-insurgency operations by regional and subregional organisations.

In February, the 36th AU summit adopted a Consensus Paper on Predictable, Adequate, and Sustainable Financing for AU Peace and Security Activities. The paper includes a description of progress in enhancing the AUs Compliance Framework (AUCF), which is one of the benchmarks set out by the Security Council, pursuant to resolution 2320 on cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organisations and resolution 2378 on peacekeeping reform, for advancing the discussion on the financing of AU-led peace support operations (AUPSOs).

The discussion about the financing of AUPSOs from UN-assessed contributions has also been revived in the Council since last year. Pursuant to a 31 August 2022 Security Council presidential statement (S/PRST/2022/6), the Secretary-General presented his report on this issue on 1 May (S/2023/303), building on his previous report on options for authorisation and support for AUPSOs. As stated in the AU Consensus Paper and the Secretary-Generals 1 May report, both the AU and the UN are of the view that two financing optionshybrid missions and a UN support officeare more feasible and can provide predictable and sustainable financing for AUPSOs.

On 12 May, the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) requested the three African members of the UN Security Council, known as the A3 (Gabon, Ghana, and Mozambique), to resume consultations with the relevant stakeholders towards the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution on financing AU-led PSOs. The US, which opposed the 2018 draft resolution on the financing of AUPSOs, now appears more amenable to a serious discussion about the matter. (For more information, see our 26 April research report The Financing of AU Peace Support Operations: Prospects for Progress in the Security Council?)

Key Issues and Options

A key issue for Council members is how to keep UN peace operations fit for purpose considering current geopolitical realities, including strong divisions among the Councils permanent membersas well as complex operating environments and the erosion of host country consent in several cases. Council members could consider convening a dedicated session to discuss the peacekeeping-related recommendations of the policy brief on A New Agenda for Peace.

Another important issue is how to advance the discussion on the long-standing request for the UN to support AU-led peace support operations through the use of assessed contributions. Ghana is spearheading A3 efforts to propose a draft framework resolution that is expected to be negotiated among Council members over the coming months. The issue could also be discussed during the annual consultation between the Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC), which is expected to take place in October in Addis Ababa.

Council and Wider Dynamics

Peacekeeping remains one of the most important tools at the Security Councils disposal in discharging its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. However, geopolitical dynamics and the changing nature of conflict have posed serious challenges to peacekeeping operations. The growing frustration among host countries and communities because of the perceived ineffectiveness of UN peacekeeping operations has also complicated the operating environment.

Following Malis request for the immediate withdrawal of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the Security Council decided to terminate the mandate of the mission. The UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) is currently undergoing transition. Following an anti-MONUSCO protest in July 2022, however, the Congolese government called for a revision of the missions transition plan to accelerate its drawdown and exit.

It has been nearly a decade since the Security Council authorised a UN peacekeeping mission. One emerging trend is the apparent desire to enhance the role of special political missions (SPMs), particularly those with a regional mandate, in light of the drawdown and exit of some of the bigger multidimensional peacekeeping operations. In terminating MINUSMAs mandate, the Security Council referred to the possible role of the UN Office in West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) in support of the Malian peace agreement. The Secretary-Generals report on MONUSCOs reconfiguration, pursuant to resolution 2666 of 20 December 2022, also proposed an enhanced role for some of the regional SPMs, such as the Office of the UN Special Envoy for the Great Lakes or the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), to support the efforts of the Congolese government and the UN country team during the transition process and reinforce ongoing regional initiatives to address the situation in eastern DRC.

This trend is likely to continue, depending on how the discussion on the financing of AUPSOs evolves in the Security Council over the coming months, with SPMs assuming a greater role in providing political and logistical support to these operations. There seems to be a desire to agree on a framework resolution on support to AUPSOs through UN-assessed contributions before the end of the year, and Council members are waiting for the A3 to propose a draft. Despite this, issues related to accountability and human rights, burden-sharing, and fiduciary responsibilities are expected to complicate the negotiations.

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THE SECURITY COUNCIL

Working Methods Open Debate

Expected Council Action

In September, the Council will hold its annual working methods open debate. Ambassador Ferit Hoxha (Albania), the chair of the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions, will brief. Ahead of the debate, Albania is expected to circulate a concept note. The debate will be held under the agenda item Implementation of the note by the President of the Security Council (S/2017/507), referring to the most recent version of the comprehensive compendium of Council working methods.

Key Recent Developments

The Council held its last working methods open debate on 28 June 2022, with a resumption the following day. Karin Landgren, Executive Director of Security Council Report and Loraine Sievers, co-author of The Procedure of the UN Security Council (4th edition), were the briefers. Thirty-five member states, other than Council members, participated in the meeting. Among the areas highlighted during the debate were the monthly assessments by Council Presidents, wrap-up sessions, implementation of Note 507, the selection of subsidiary body chairs, the need to increase the effectiveness of UN sanctions, the balance between open and closed meetings and the use of the veto. The elected members (E10) delivered a joint statement for the fourth time. Brazil and India also delivered a joint statement with a stronger focus on Security Council reform.

On 30 December 2022, the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions (IWG) adopted its first annual report. It covers the activities of the IWG in 2022 and includes an annex with selected indicators on the implementation of Note 507 and subsequent notes.

The IWG met five times in 2022. It has met four times in 2023: on 24 February, 28 April, 27 June, and 22 August. The IWG has maintained Strengthening and advancing the implementation of the Note by the President of 30 August 2017 as a standing agenda item. This gives recent presidencies the opportunity to brief on their working methods commitments. At Brazils initiative, the IWG added penholdership, penholders and co-penholders on Council resolutions, presidential statements as a standing agenda item. Recent penholders provide an assessment of their experiences in preparing and negotiating drafts.

In August 2023, the IWG agreed to presidential notes on the orderly conduct of a minute of silence and chairing subsidiary bodies if the chairs have not been agreed on by 1 January. The note on subsidiary bodies states that if by 1 January there is no agreement on the appointment of chairs and vice-chairs, the responsibilities of the subsidiary bodies of the Council during the month of January shall devolve to the President for the month of January. Members are currently discussing two draft presidential notes on penholdership.

Russia organised an Arria-formula meeting on penholdership arrangements in August 2022. Among the issues raised were the need for a more structured practice in selecting penholders and co-penholders and a code of conduct for penholders.

Arria-formula meetings continue to be widely used. By the end of July, 14 Arria-formula meetings had been held in 2023. (There were 21 meetings in this format last year.) A new development is the opposition to webcasting these meetings. In 2022, all but one of the 21 Arria-formula meetings were webcast. Three of this years Arria-formula meetings have not been webcast to date due to opposition from various members or because the organiser chose not to do so.

Since the adoption of General Assembly resolution 76/262 (the veto initiative), vetoes have been cast in the Council on the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea sanctions, the renewal of the cross-border aid mechanism in Syria in both 2022 and 2023, and the referendum in four provinces in Ukraine.

The Security Council adopted its annual report on 30 May, presenting a factual overview of the Councils work in 2022. The introduction noted the Councils return to its regular working methods after the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also documented the number and types of meetings held, areas of significant Council attention, and the key resolutions adopted in 2022.

The Council visiting mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in March marked the return to this working method after a year and a half. Due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Council members had no visiting missions in 2020. In 2021, with travel restrictions gradually easing, members undertook one visiting mission, to Mali and Niger in October. Although COVID-19 travel restrictions had largely been lifted by 2022, there were no visiting missions that year.

On 28 June, Japan, together with Albania, Kuwait and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, launched an interactive version of the Handbook on UN Security Council Working Methods based on the Green Handbook which contains the Provisional Rules of Procedure, Note 507, and all subsequent Notes of the President on working methods.

Key Issues and Options

An overarching issue is the implementation of Note 507 and the presidential notes adopted subsequently. Two positive developments are the new mechanism for tracking the implementation of working methods, and discussing the implementation of presidential notes on working methods as a standing item for IWG meetings. Future options could include identifying aspects of Note 507 that are not being addressed in commitments made by Council Presidents and discussing the obstacles to their implementation in the IWG.

An emerging issue is the politicisation of working methods and procedural matters as a result of the frayed relations between some members. Rule 37 invitations to member states and rule 39 invitations to briefers have become particularly controversial. And in August, members were not able to agree on the programme of work for the month. Such procedural wrangling is not conducive to the efficient functioning of the Council, as it requires a significant investment of time and energy. Informal guidelines on some of the more controversial issues may allow members to move past procedural squabbles to more substantive matters.

A related issue is the use of the Arria-formula meeting format to amplify and promote specific agendas. The topics of Arria-formula meetings this year have tended towards presentation of particular political perspectives, which coupled with the high number of such meetings in recent years, has brought a degree of Arria-formula meeting exhaustion. Members may wish to assess the usefulness of this format and discuss ways of restoring its credibility.

There have been some positive developments on penholderships, but unresolved issues remain, including how to allocate penholding opportunities among elected members without creating a rigid system. Among the suggestions are that the chair of a given subsidiary body be the co-penholder on the related country file, and that the Council member from the region in question would be an appropriate co-penholder. A more informal system where shadow penholders could be consulted during the drafting process appears to be emerging on some issues. Another option being floated is for a group of members to work together on drafts as Groups of Friends have in the past on issues such as Afghanistan and still do on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Members are currently discussing an E10 draft on penholders initiated by Brazil and the UAE and a French draft on a code of conduct for penholders. Brazil and the UAE held two workshops on penholdership in November and December 2022.

An issue for the Council is finding the right balance between the transparency of open meetings and the need for more private discussion in consultations. The balance between open and closed meetings has been a regular topic at working methods debates. Since 2001, public meetings have predominated, and the Councils 276 public meetings in 2022 were up some 12 percent over 2021. This can largely be attributed to the number of meetings the Council held on Ukraine, almost exclusively in open sessions.

The paucity of analysis in the Councils annual report to the General Assembly has long been an issue for some of the wider membership. Some members have called for the annual report to provide more details of the challenges faced by the Council, on resolutions that failed to be adopted, and on the use of the veto. A related issue is the inconsistent submission of assessments by Council Presidents, which are used in the drafting of the overview of the Annual Report.

A significant issue is the timely selection of the chairs of subsidiary bodies. This requires early consultations among incoming members and a willingness to be flexible during the process. Following the elections, current chairs could also use the regular E10 meetings to provide pertinent information about specific subsidiary bodies to the incoming members, deepening their familiarity with the workload and challenges of particular subsidiary bodies.

Council Dynamics

Both the COVID-19 pandemic and Russias invasion of Ukraine strained already difficult relations among permanent members. In the current environment, working methods are a highly political tool that can be used by permanent members to block the activities of other permanent members.

The elected members (E10) have generally remained united on working methods and are likely to deliver a joint statement for the fifth year. Last year, there was a small crack in the unity, when Brazil and India delivered a separate joint statement highlighting the need for reform, although they associated themselves with the E10 statement. The need for a more equitable distribution of work and greater burden sharing remains a common objective for elected members. Elected members have made clear their desire to be penholders. The years of pushing for this appear to have led the P3, who are the penholders on most issues, to accept that penholding cannot be a permanent member monopoly. Changes in the relationship between some P3 penholders and host governments may also have prompted this shift in attitude.

A number of members see working methods as a way of reforming the Council from within. In this context, there is particular interest in the veto initiative and how it can be further strengthened.

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After a successful 2023 edition, France Air Expo, in partnership with Lyon Bron Airport, will return June next year with a three-day conference that will welcome the "Skills and Training Village" again.

To be held at Lyon Bron Airport  LFLY, the international general aviation exhibition will be held on June June 6, 7, and 8, 2024, with many new events on the sidelines.

This event will showcase a complete range of aircraft and services such as aircraft, helicopters, ultralights, sustainable aviation, avionics, equipment, accessories, flight and training schools, drones, insurance, financing and maintenance.

About 15,000 visitors are expected to attend the show that will see 300 exhibitors and brands, and 80 new and second-hand aircraft on display.

The exhibition will also have dedicated space for many startups within the general aviation industry to showcase their innovations.

France has the world's second-largest general aviation aircraft fleet, and France Air Expo has become a key event for general and business aviation in Europe  an event that will be of interest to even pilots, professionals and enthusiasts. - TradeArabia News Service
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. TotalEnergies and Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR discussed the second stage of development of Absheron gas field, Trend reports.

TotalEnergies said that on the occasion of the inauguration ceremony of the Absheron gas field, whose first development phase started production in early July 2023 and is currently producing 1.5 BCMA (billions of cubic meters per year), Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, met on Thursday in Baku President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, as well as Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy and Chairman of SOCARs Supervisory Board, Parviz Shahbazov, Minister of Energy, and Rovshan Najaf, President of SOCAR.

It was pointed out that the second phase will increase the field's production to 5.5 BCMA. TotalEnergies also plans to participate in the development of the countrys renewable energy potential under the Memorandum of Understanding signed in June 2023 to assess and develop 500 MW of renewable wind and solar energies and energy storage systems for the national grid.

I am very pleased to inaugurate Absheron, alongside the national company SOCAR and our new partner ADNOC. Discovered by our exploration team, this gas field provides additional gas resources to contribute to diversifying gas supply for Europe, said Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies. In line with our multi-energy strategy, we also look forward to supporting Azerbaijan in implementing its own energy transition strategy, through an agreement to develop renewable energy combined with electricity storage.

TotalEnergies and its partner SOCAR (State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan) have recently announced the start of production of the first phase of development of the Absheron gas and condensate field in the Caspian Sea, around 100 km south-east of Baku.

This first phase connects a subsea production well to a new gas processing platform, itself linked to SOCARs existing facilities in Oil Rocks. It has production capacity of 4 million cubic meters of gas per day and 12,000 barrels a day of condensate.

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
MIDDLE EAST

Yemen

Expected Council Action

In September, the Security Council will hold its monthly briefing on Yemen in closed consultations. UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg, a representative of OCHA, and the head of the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), Major General Michael Beary are expected to brief during the consultations.

Key Recent Developments

On 11 August, the UN announced the completion of the ship-to-ship transfer of more than one million barrels of oil from the FSO Safer to the replacement vessel, the MOST Yemen (previously named the Nautica). The successful operation, which started on 25 July, ended the threat that the decrepit oil tanker, moored in the Red Sea off Hodeidah governorate, would have an oil spill or explosion, creating a major environmental and humanitarian disaster. The next step of the UN-facilitated plan, to tow and scrap the FSO Safer, can now begin, though the UN must still fill a $22 million donor funding gap to carry out this work.

Recent weeks saw increased reports of attacks by Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on Yemeni government-affiliated forces in Abyan and Shabwa governorates. On 11 August, the UN announced the release of five UN staff members of the UN Department of Safety and Security, who had been held for 18 months after AQAP kidnapped them in Abyan on 11 February 2022. According to a Secretary-Generals statement on their release, available information suggested that all five personnel were in good health. Two other UN staff, whom the Houthi rebel group arrested in Sanaa in October 2021, remain detained.

On 1 August, Saudi Arabia announced that it would provide $1.2 billion to support the Yemeni government, which has witnessed a major decrease in revenues after being forced to stop oil exports last year following a series of Houthi drone attacks on oil terminals in October and November 2022. Government revenue shortages, also exacerbated by Houthi restrictions and fees on inter-Yemeni trade, have further hindered the provision of basic services, which has caused recent protests in Aden and surrounding governorates in the wake of extensive power outages and the depreciation of the Yemeni rial in government-held areas.

The Council met on Yemen on 16 August. Omani-facilitated talks between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which leads a military coalition in support of Yemens internationally recognised government, have remained stalled. Referring to this process, Grundberg said at the 16 August briefing, The issue of salary payments [to public employees], including the question of revenue sources, remains a central issue for which the parties need to find a mutually agreeable solution. In addition to the usual engagement with Yemeni and Houthi interlocutors in Riyadh and Muscat that Grundberg holds between his monthly Council briefings, he reported on recent meetings that his office has held in Sanaa and Aden with military officials and local security actors regarding technical elements required for a future ceasefire agreement and the work of the Military Coordination Committee, which was established during last years truce to de-escalate security incidents. Though hostilities have not returned to pre-truce levels, Grundberg noted continued intermittent fighting along front lines and said that there have been public threats to return to war. He called on the parties to refrain from escalatory rhetoric.

Director of OCHAs Operations and Advocacy Division Edem Wosornu provided an update on relief efforts at the Council session. During her intervention, Wosornu called for a comprehensive investigation into the attack that killed the head of the World Food Programmes office in Taiz, Moayad Hameidi, on 21 July, and for those behind it to be held accountable.

The Council also heard a briefing by Amat al-Salam Abdullah Abdo al-Hajj, founder and president of the Abductees Mothers Association. Al-Hajj said that since 2016, her organisation has documented the abduction of 9,568 civilians by different parties to the conflict in Yemen, with the Houthis responsible for 9,130 abductions, including 130 women. Thousands who have been released have permanent injuries from torture, according to al-Hajj, who also reported that 140 people have died from torture or medical malpractice while in prisons. Saudi Arabias Ambassador to the UN, Abdulaziz M. Alwasil, also participatedonly the third time that a Saudi representative has addressed the Council on Yemen since the coalition intervened in March 2015, all of which have occurred since Alwasil became ambassador in August 2022. We reiterate our strategic initiative to end the war in Yemen and reach a comprehensive political solution, he said, in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabias continuing talks with the Houthis. He also expressed Saudi Arabias support for UN efforts to achieve a political solution as per resolution 2216, which the Council adopted in April 2015.

Key Issues and Options

A key issue for the Council is how to support ongoing peace talks and efforts to establish a formal ceasefire and political process. Houthi-Saudi talks have stalled since April, apparently over differences on the use of Yemens resources and associated revenues to pay the salaries of public employees. A related issue is the fragile relations between the various factions that make up the anti-Houthi forces and that form the Yemeni governments Presidential Leadership Council. Council members could encourage the parties to continue talks and show flexibility for a ceasefire agreement. They may further reiterate the importance of an inclusive Yemeni political process under UN mediation for a sustainable resolution of the conflict.

Yemen continues to face massive humanitarian need, which remains a key issue. An estimated 21.6 million people require aid or protection. Access constraints and interference in relief operations include the Houthis enforcement of mahram, requiring Yemeni women aid workers to be accompanied by male guardians, which has negatively affected aid delivery. Major funding shortfalls for the 2023 UN humanitarian response plan are causing relief programmes and services to be scaled back or cut. Moreover, economic conditions are exacerbating the humanitarian situation in addition to potentially undermining political efforts. At the August briefing, Worsunu also highlighted the negative impact of increasing misinformation and disinformation against humanitarians in Yemen.

Council members may highlight concerns over policies that are fuelling socioeconomic challenges and tensions. Members may further reiterate calls on all parties to facilitate the safe, rapid, and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief to all civilians in need and to protect humanitarian personnel and assets in line with their obligations under international humanitarian law. In addition, they may urge donors to support the Yemen 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan, which calls for $4.3 billion but was only 31.2 percent funded as at 18 August. Council members could similarly reiterate calls for donors to help fill the remaining funding requirements for completing the FSO Safer operation.

Council Dynamics

Council members are united in their support for the UN Special Envoys mediation efforts. Members have further welcomed the potential for the Houthi-Saudi talks to yield meaningful results. At the same time, they stress the ultimate importance of an inclusive Yemeni political process under UN auspices to achieve a sustainable resolution to the conflict. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been a leading member of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition and is active in pushing for its views, coordinated with the Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia, to be reflected in Council products. Russia has traditionally objected to language in Council products that it perceives as too critical of the Houthis or not balanced.

The UK is the penholder on Yemen. Ambassador Ferit Hoxha (Albania) chairs the 2140 Yemen Sanctions Committee.

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The eurozone manufacturing sector continued its sustained contraction in August, according to the latest HCOB/S&P Global eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers index survey released on Friday.

Despite slight upticks in the PMI and output indices, new orders were plummeting at one of the fastest rates in the survey's 26-year history.

That adverse trend was said to be putting considerable strain on production lines, leading to further declines in employment and purchasing activity across the eurozone.

The HCOB eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 43.5 in August from 42.7 in July, making for a three-month high, but still well below the 50-point mark that separates contraction from growth.

The output index followed suit, registering at 43.4, up from 42.7 in July to reach a two-month high.

Meanwhile, the new orders index dropped sharply to 39.0, prompting firms to continue lowering their prices to try to spur demand.

Countries within the eurozone experienced varying levels of manufacturing performance, with Greece and Ireland the only nations to record an improvement from July.

In contrast, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain - the zone's four largest economies - remained in a contractionary phase.

Notably, Germany and Austria were the worst performers in terms of manufacturing health, even though rates of decline eased slightly.

The survey data further highlighted a severe decline in backlogs of work, extending the current sequence to 15 consecutive months.

That rise in spare capacity had led to reduced manufacturing production, and although the decline in output was softer than in July, it was the second-sharpest fall since May 2020.

Employment levels in the sector were also affected, falling for the third consecutive month.

While the rate of job cutting was marginal, it represented a marked turnaround from the general growth trend seen from early 2021 to the first half of this year.

As firms cut back on production, there was a corresponding decrease in holdings of raw materials for a seventh straight month.

That decline was still strong, although HCOB said it eased slightly compared to July, which had seen the most significant reduction in over a decade.

Additionally, there was a substantial reduction in input costs due to excess capacity at vendors, leading to a sixth consecutive month of declining manufacturers' input costs.

Some companies were choosing to pass those cost reductions on to consumers, resulting in a fourth straight month of falling output prices.

Despite the concerning figures, optimism within the sector improved slightly in August, registering at a three-month high.

However, that sentiment remained well below long-term averages.

Positive outlooks were most strong in Ireland and Italy, offsetting more pessimistic views in Germany, France, and Austria.

These numbers aren't as terrible as they might look at first glance, said Dr Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank.

Obviously, the overall PMI manufacturing index, sitting at 43.5, suggests pretty noticeable weakness in this sector.

However, all of the 12 subindices have moved upwards or remained practically unchanged, showing that the downward trend from the past few months is starting to lose steam across the board.

Dr de la Rubia noted that businesses were still holding back from making big staff cuts, even with a substantial drop in output over five months.

This does not bode well for productivity or output per head, but provides some stability for the economy as a whole as people do not lose their income.

Looking at the PMI price indices, companies were able to keep part of the reductions of input costs for themselves since spring of this year, thereby increasing their profit margins.

However, the experience of 2020 and 2021 shows that on the way up this development tends to reverse and margins suffer.

The driver of the downturn, Dr de la Rubia said, had been the destocking cycle.

There are tentative signs, however, that this process is nearing its end as companies took their foot off the gas when it came to reducing the stock of purchases in August.

Germany remains a negative outlier among the big euro countries.

This will fuel the discussion about Germany being the sick man of Europe, even though the nation continues to be among the most diversified economies.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
Fashion retailer Superdry reported a mixed performance in its full-year results on Friday, with group revenue increasing 2.1% to 622.5m, as the brand continued its recovery efforts.

The company put the revenue boost down to robust retail growth of 14.6%, largely compensating for a 19.1% decline in the wholesale business.

It said the wholesale segment continued to face challenges, due to a more cautious outlook from partners.

The faux-Japanese brand said it saw a promising recovery in store revenues, up 14.7% in the 52 weeks ended 29 April compared to the prior year, particularly in the US and the UK.

Superdry also attributed strong peak holiday sales to this revenue uptick.

E-commerce was another bright spot, with revenue rising 14.3%, buoyed by successful third-party site performance and a record-breaking Black Friday event.

Despite the rise in revenue, the company reported a decline in gross margin by 3.2 percentage points to 52.8%.

The contraction was put down to the ongoing clearance of aged stock.

Additionally, the return to regular rent and business rates, along with a sluggish recovery in the wholesale segment, contributed to an adjusted loss before tax of 21.7m for the year.

Superdry reported a statutory loss after tax of 148.1m, largely due to non-cash impairments and other adjustments.

The company said it exceeded its sustainability targets by incorporating 62% sustainably-sourced materials into its garments, significantly surpassing the 47% goal.

On the financial front, the company said it also took several steps to improve its balance sheet, including an intellectual property sale and an equity raise, which were expected to yield around 45m after the fiscal year end.

A cost-saving programme, intended to deliver 35m in savings by the 2024 financial year, was also announced.

The retailer said it secured loan facilities with Bantry Bay Capital for up to 80m during the fiscal year, and agreed to a further 25m facility with Hilco Capital after the year ended.

This has been a difficult year for the business and the market conditions have been extremely challenging, especially in Wholesale, said founder and chief executive officer Julian Dunkerton.

Weve looked closely at how we operate and have taken decisive actions to improve our position, rebuild liquidity, and recapitalise our balance sheet, through careful preservation of cash and a re-engineered cost base.

The good news is that despite the external turbulence, the brand is in sound health and has momentum.

Dunkerton said stores and e-commerce delivered a strong sales performance, adding that he was excited by the brands collections for the autumn-winter 2023 season.

While wholesale remains very challenging, I believe the new team in place will recover this business in the medium-term.

Im really excited by our new partnership in Asia, finalised after year-end, which not only has helped rebuild our balance sheet but will ensure Superdry can achieve its potential as a truly global brand.

The start to the new financial year had, however, been tough, Julian Dunkerton added, not helped by unseasonal weather and highly promotional markets, with the CEO not expecting the consumer environment to become any easier in the short-term.

However, the actions we have taken and continue to take to ensure the health of the business, give me more confidence as we look into the future.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, September 2. Kazakhstan's KazTransOil JSC national oil transporter, has carried out work on connecting newly constructed sections of the 'Uzen Atyrau Samara' main oil pipeline, Trend reports.

According to the official source, the work was carried out on the section from 1,190 kilometers through 1235.4 kilometers of the pipeline, and the connection of the acceptance point at 1,235 kilometers.

Due to the fact that the work was carried out on the territory bordering with Russia, the Atyrau oil pipeline department agreed with 'Transneft Upper Volga' JSC on a plan of work to connect the site.

At the same time, all the necessary documents were issued for the passage and production of special equipment, transportation of equipment and personnel of KazTransOil JSC to the territory of a neighboring state, taking into account the regime of the border zone of the state border.

Furthermore, the replacement of the section of the 'Uzen - Atyrau - Samara' trunk oil pipeline was carried out in accordance with the business plan of KazTransOil JSC for 2020-2024 and is aimed at ensuring reliable and trouble-free oil transportation.

The 'Atyrau  Samara' oil pipeline is the second largest export of Kazakh oil to the world market. Oil is delivered through this pipeline and further through the Transneft Public Joint Stock Company system to the Baltic Ust-Luga terminal and the Novorossiysk Sea Port.
The new agreement with MeitY provides fresh funding for joint projects in applied research areas and builds on an Implementation Arrangement. The National Science Foundation has invested nearly USD 150 million in India in the last five years through more than 200 projects and has launched 35 joint projects in the last year alone, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. said Panchanathan traveled to India at the end of August, making stops in three cities: New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Gandhinagar.

In New Delhi, he announced a new funding opportunity between NSF and the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and signed a bilateral implementation arrangement with the Indian Department of Biotechnology (DBT). He also participated in an industry roundtable organized by the US Embassy.

In Bengaluru, he participated in a biotechnology roundtable organized by DBT, and in Gandhinagar, his last stop, Panchanathan, led the US delegation at the G20 Chief Science Advisers' Roundtable, a media release said."In the last five years, NSF has invested nearly USD 150 million in India through over 200 projects. Just this last year, we launched 35 new joint projects with India's Department of Science & Technology in emerging technologies," Panchanathan was quoted as saying by the NSF on his return from India.
Global technology brand realme said that it has always been at the forefront of innovation and has upped its game of fast charging by introducing technology such as introducing the 'Worlds Fastest Charging Power of 240W' in the realme GT 3. With the advent of smartphones and their multifunctional capabilities, charging has become a daily necessity. This shift in charging behaviour paved the way for faster and more adaptive charging technologies. Consumers now demand not only longer battery life but also quicker charging times to support their dynamic lifestyles. The realme C Series has a massive user base of over 30 million in India and has achieved an impressive milestone in 2022 by adding 10.7 million customers.

The realme C series embodies the essence of a champion, embodying the highest standards of achievement, as signified by the letter C. This reinforces realme's conviction that every individual holds the capacity to become a champion in their own life. realme said it is committed to provide its users fast charging technology at an accessible price point and with every new generation, the C Series consistently fulfills this commitment through the smartphones they introduce within this category. From fast charging, camera technology to design aesthetics, the C series has made its mark and each new range of C Series smartphones stands out to lead the segment with its unparalleled strategic upgrades in four key areas: charging, camera, storage, and design.

realme introduced the 33W fast charging in realme C55, that launched in March 2023. Strengthening its commitment of democratizing fast charging in every segment, the integration of 33W fast charging in the realme C51 is a leap in that direction. realme is set to launch the first 33W fast charge in the price segment with realme C51, said the company. The realme C51's 33W fast charging capability is not just a technical achievement; it has significant implications for users seeking high-performance features without making a hole in their pocket. In comparison to its predecessor, the realme C31, which had 10W charging, realme C51 has remarkably amplified its charging speed by 100 per cent, according to the global smartphone brand.

The realme C51 comes with a massive 5000mAh battery and features such as Charging algorithm and charge protection that ensures fast and safe charging for all. The C51 challenges the notion that advanced technology comes at a premium, making top-tier charging speeds accessible to a wider audience. With the unprecedented 33W charging capability within the under 15K price segment, the C51 sets a new standard for affordability and performance. The demand for fast charging solutions has grown exponentially, driven by users' desire for minimal downtime and maximum productivity. The realme C51's introduction of 33W fast charging in the under 15K price segment emerges as a solution to address this need, allowing users to power up their devices conveniently.

As the C series continues to evolve, realme reaffirmed its commitment to delivering exceptional experiences to a diverse user base. The fusion of budget friendliness, performance, and fast charging in the realme C51 sets a new benchmark. It is an exciting combination of combining powerful hardware, intelligent software, and strategic partnerships by realme. If you're always on the go and are seeking a smartphone that offers top-notch performance & supports your dynamic lifestyle without breaking the bank, the realme C51 deserves a prime spot on your list, said realme.
The first ship under the Diving Support Craft (DSC) project of the Indian Navy was launched onto Hooghly river at Titagarh in West Bengal. According to Defence Ministry (MoD), 'DSC A 20' is designed to undertake operational and training diving operations in harbours and coastal waters. It was part five ships being built by Titagarh Rail Systems Ltd (TRSL), Kolkata for the Navy. These are 30-metre long catamaran hull ships, with a displacement of approximately 300 tons.

All five DSC are anticipated to be delivered to the Navy in FY 2024-25. The DSC are being fitted with state-of-the-art diving equipment and tools for performing diving operations. These ships are indigenously designed and built under relevant Naval Rules and Regulation of Indian Register of Shipping (IRS), the ministry said. The hydrodynamic analysis of the ships during design stage were undertaken at Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam.

With most of main and auxiliary equipment sourced from indigenous manufacturers, these ships are proud flag bearers of 'Make in India' and 'Make for the World' initiatives of Government of India (GoI), the ministry added.

The launch ceremony was presided over by VAdm Sanjay Mahindru, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (DCNS). In keeping with the Naval tradition, his Aradhana Mahindru launched the ship with invocation from Atharva Veda. Keel of the fifth and last DSC, that is DSC A 24, was also laid along with launch of the first DSC by the Chief Guest, signifying the simultaneous construction of all five DSC for Indian Navy, the ministry said.
Business incubator for science-based startups Venture Center has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the engineering simulation software company Ansys Software to support technology startups. While Ansys will offer its simulation software licenses to eligible startups, Venture Center will provide the appropriate computing infrastructure and setup required. Venture Center is a not-for-profit technology business incubator hosted by the governments CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory.

The Ansys Startup Program has helped numerous successful startups globally to design innovative products. Startups in the program have benefited in several ways from accelerating innovation at a limited cost to securing additional funding for future projects. Engineering startups in India have demonstrated strong potential to innovate and scale up for both India and the global market, said Rafiq Somani, Area Vice President India and South Asia Pacific, Ansys.

Due to limited funding and revenue, startups find it difficult to build and test physical prototypes of their products to verify their performance which also requires significant financial and human resources other than being time consuming. These challenges restrict startups to scale fast and grow. The Ansys Startup Programme offers different simulation solutions for startups, reducing physical prototype testing. In addition, the programme also offers classroom, virtual and self-paced programmes designed to improve startups technical knowledge. According to Ansys, over 1,950 startups from 58 countries have joined the programme since its global launch in 2016 across the autonomous, high-tech, energy, aerospace & defense, automotive, communications, healthcare, and other industries.

On the other hand, since its inception in 2007, Venture Center has supported over 600 entrepreneurs and is home to over 70 resident startups, making it Indias largest science business incubator.In 2023, Pune is ranked closely with Chennai and Delhi in terms of startup funding, and Ansys multiphysics simulation software, coupled with high-performance computing, is the right technological push for early-stage startups here to be on par with the rest of the country, said Premnath Venugopalan, Director- Venture Center & Head- NCL Innovations. With Ansys multiphysics simulation software, Venture Center can provide technical mentoring and product ideation support to its incubatees during their ideation stage.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Police asked for the publics help on Friday to locate a 14-year-old girl who has been missing for more than a month from her home in West Brighton.

Georgina Manneh most recently was seen at her residence in the vicinity of West Street and Castleton Avenue on July 24 at about 11:30 p.m. She was reported missing to police two days later, according to a statement from the NYPDs Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Police described the girl as standing about 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing about 100 pounds, with a dark complexion, black hair and brown eyes.

A photo of the girl was provided to the media by the NYPD.

Anyone with information in regard to this missing case is asked to call the NYPDs 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 CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.



OTHER STATEN ISLAND NEWS:

>> NYPD: Death of 63-year-old man on Staten Island ruled a homicide

>> NYPD: Staten Island man, 31, robbed, beat gas station worker; attacked 2nd victim

>> Horrific discovery of partial human remains by animal on Staten Island: Sources

>> NYPD: 3 arrested in protests at planned migrant shelter at Staten Island school; roads blocked

>> Alleged car thieves jumped from Verrazzano to Fort Wadsworth in dramatic escape bid: Sources

>> Source: Woman suffers life-threatening injuries in fire at apartment building on Staten Island
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, September 1. Kazakhstan plans to attract foreign banks to open their branches in the country, Trend reports.

The banking sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan is represented by 21 second-tier banks, of which 12 are banks with foreign participation, including 8 subsidiary banks. Assets of the banking sector as of May 1, 2023 amounted to 44.8 trillion tenge (about $95 billion).

Meanwhile, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that the step to attract foreign banks is necessary to increase competition.

"Only a few large banks in Kazakhstan are engaged in corporate lending, that is, the financing of economic projects. Therefore, in order to increase competition in this area, the country plans to increase the number of reliable foreign banks in the country. In order to expand the access of the real sector to "long money", it is necessary to more actively apply the mechanisms of joint and syndicated lending," he said.
German prosecutors say that a 98-year-old man was present and assisted in the killing of more than 3,300 people at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, the Daily News is reporting.

The unnamed German is alleged to have worked as an SS watchman at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, located north of Berlin, the report said.

Prosecutors allege that from July 1943 to February of 1945, the man supported the cruel and malicious killing of thousands of prisoners as a member of the SS guard detail, according to the News.

Since the man was a considered a youth at the time, a juvenile court will have to decide if the case will go to trial.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Representatives from the Staten Island District Attorneys Office, NYPD, and community organizations gathered on Thursday to recognize National Overdose Awareness Day.

National Overdose Awareness Day was established in 2001 to recognize and bring awareness to those who are at risk of overdose across America.

Inside of the DAs office, nestled in between posters covered in opioid crisis statistics, Tom Ridges, the executive assistant district attorney for the investigation bureau at the DAs office, led a poignant discussion on the devastating affects illicit drugs have had on Staten Island in recent years.

Staten Islanders must embrace drug treatment, education, and recovery programs if they hope to see the end of a deadly drug epidemic that kills a borough resident almost every day.

Tom Ridges, executive assistant district attorney for investigations, NYPD Patrol Borough Staten Island Chief Joseph Gulotta, Jamie Young, senior peer mentor for Next Step Resource and Recovery Center, Allison Ameneiros, clinical director for Camelot Counseling, Troy Schafer, clinical director for Camelot Counseling, and Dayna Silvio, chaplain for Camelot Counseling, gather for National Drug Overdose Day. (Staten Island Advance/Shaina McLawrence)Shaina McLawrence

Thats the message the boroughs treatment community strove to get across during the gathering.

For those in the throws of addiction, awareness is not necessary, said Ridges. To the family members of those who have or lost loved ones to addiction, awareness is not necessary, because they live the reality day in and day out, he said.

The road to recovery is not an easy journey, but its not impossible, said Ridges. We know and we understand and we accept that failure is, unfortunately, a part of recovery. For some, that failure is not just a relapse, but death.

Attendees heard from NYPD Patrol Borough Staten Island Chief Joseph Gulotta, Jamie Young, a senior peer mentor for Next Step Resource and Recovery Center, who once faced addiction himself, and Troy Schafer, clinical director for Camelot Counseling.

A poster shares facts about the Staten Island opioid crisis. (Staten Island Advance/Shaina McLawrence)Shaina McLawrence

Gulotta said in order to raise awareness about these types of pressing issues, conversations about how drug addiction tears families apart must be had.

According to the chief, people must be vigilant and careful because whatever drug one may take that someone gives them could be secretly laced with fentanyl  potentially leading to a fatal overdose.

Fentanyl is showing up in many different places, Gulotta said. It is not just showing up in heroin-based products. We are seeing a spike among people who thought they were doing other drugs.

The chief also implored people to call 311 to get Narcan because it saves countless lives.

Narcan is an opioid antagonist that is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose by blocking the effects of the opioid on the brain and restore breathing.

Addiction doesnt ever rest, so 24-hour operation is the greatest way to combat this addiction, said Young. I was a user... in 2016 I had overdosed two times and Narcan was used on me twice and saved my life twice. In 2019, I made a change in my life and became a peer mentor.

Watching people suffering from addiction and having trouble getting treatment is tough for Young to see and really hits home for him, he said.

Troy Schafer, clinical director for Camelot Counseling, speaks during the National Drug Overdose Day event. (Staten Island Advance/Shaina McLawrence)Shaina McLawrence

Schafer lost his brother to a fentanyl overdose three years ago.

To watch my family go though that, to lose a child, that was a whole different ball of wax, so coming close to home like that made me wake up, said Schafer. Although a lot of these people dont want help, they need help.

Schafer echoed Gulottas sentiment that fentanyl is in a lot of drugs these days, adding that naive young people will use it unknowingly.

If that doesnt wake you up, I dont know what will, because there are lives hanging in the balance, said Schafer.

TREATMENT PLANS

Representatives from the DA's office teach a vendor how to use Narcan recently at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. (Staten Island Advance/Shaina McLawrence)Shaina McLawrence

As of Monday, Aug. 28, there were 168 total overdoses this year in the borough, according to city data. Sixty five of those overdoses were fatal and 103 were non-fatal, the data displays. This preliminary data is subject to change.

Since taking office in 2016, District Attorney Michael McMahons office has diverted more than 2,000 Staten Islanders who were facing minor drug possession charges to Heroin Overdose Prevention and Education (H.O.P.E.) treatment programs, a post-arrest pre-arraignment diversion initiative.

H.O.P.E. is achieved in conjunction with partners in the recovery field and the NYPD.

McMahon has also has secured sentences of over 10 years for various drug dealers, his office said.

It was this kind of dedication to a drug-free Staten Island that led to McMahons team securing the first death-by-dealer conviction brought by a local prosecutor in New York state.

As the Staten Island Advance previously reported, in 2019, Paul Van Manen was sentenced to 23 years in prison for his role as the drug dealer who peddled the heroin laced with fentanyl that authorities said caused a Staten Island mans fatal overdose in December 2017.

Since 2016, approximately 838 Islanders have died due to fatal overdoses. Nearly two-thirds of those deaths were fentanyl related.

The DAs office also implemented some boots-on-the-ground prevention tactics, such educating people at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal on how to use Narcan to help someone who is suffering from an overdose.



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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As New York City continues to see an influx of migrants and asylum seekers, one Staten Island school is going above and beyond to make sure students whove endured perilous journeys to freedom feel right at home here on Staten Island.

When the teachers started to hear from these kids about their stories -- when the kids are talking about walking over dead bodies to get to America -- we realized we couldnt even think about their instructional needs until we focused on social and emotional needs, said Andrew Greenfield, principal of Port Richmond High School.

The staff members at Port Richmond High School are no strangers to accommodating students for whom English is not their first language, with much of the surrounding neighborhoods inhabited by Hispanic residents of varied backgrounds.

In recent years, this group has grown to include members of the boroughs burgeoning migrant and asylum-seeking communities, with the school expecting to serve roughly 50 migrant students in city care during the upcoming school year.

In total, immigrant students make up roughly 14% of the schools population, the highest percentage of any high school on Staten Island.

Jhordel Chicaiza, an incoming freshman, and his mother, Estefania, migrated to the United States from Ecuador in 2021, filing for asylum upon arrival at the southern border. But more than two years later they are still awaiting approval.

Chicaiza spent the past two years at nearby I.S. 51, making friends and getting acclimated to the new culture and customs, which were markedly different than what hed grown to know back in his native country.

Like any soon-to-be ninth grader, hes very nervous to start high school, though his mother said that Port Richmond is the perfect fit due to the schools vast experience serving students just like her son.

Its a great advantage to come to Port Richmond where hell have an opportunity for growth and be able to find any additional help that he needs, she told the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com through a translator.

Rod-Marsha Guillaume, whos entering her first year at Port Richmond in the eleventh grade, got to the United States just one month ago, migrating from Haiti through a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that allows residents of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to apply to legally enter the country.

Guillaume and her mother spent five months applying and awaiting approval, which they received just in time to get her settled in the country and ready for the upcoming school year.

While excited for the opportunity to make new friends, shes also a bit nervous, with her mother noting that she can be a little shy around new people.

What both Guillaume and Chicaiza have in common is that theyll be supported by a robust staff thats been built out in recent years, and dedicated specifically to supporting and empowering students who are non-native English speakers.

Weve transformed the services that we provide to our immigrant students. Six years ago, we had two English Language Learners (ELL) teachers and half a guidance counselor dedicated to them, Greenfield said.

Now we have seven ELL teachers, a coordinator, an assistant principal, two full-time guidance counselors, a school aide and our parent coordinator. Weve realized that this school has changed over the last few years and these are our needs now, he continued.

Port Richmond provides a plethora of services during and after the school day, even providing programming on Saturdays where students can receive tutoring, work on literacy skills and play soccer with their friends.

Faculty members spoke about the emphasis placed on social and emotional learning, which they deemed just as, if not more, important than academic instruction.

The school provides crisis counselors and mental health professionals to help students acclimate to the country and cope with the experiences they endured while getting here.

Port Richmonds designation as a NYC Community School, which pairs schools with local community-based organizations, has helped provide even more resources to aid these students.

The New York Center for Interpersonal Development (NYCID) is the community-based organization that works with Port Richmond, providing a wide range of services, which include mentorship, mental health counseling, tutoring, test prep and adult education classes for parents.

The organization also supports Port Richmonds school food pantry, which staff members described as an invaluable asset to the migrant student community.

They walk out every Thursday with two full bags of canned good, boxed goods, toiletries, toothbrushes, shampoo, everything. You could tell that they really needed it and they looked forward to it, Greenfield said.

The allocation of additional resources and services in recent years seems to have paid off, with the four-year graduation rate for ELL students jumping from 48% to 82% over the past six school years.

The numbers dont lie, we can see that this program is working, Greenfield said proudly. I wish I could take the credit, but Im just the guy who gives my staff the power to do the work.
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The Walkley Foundation is undertaking a review of its sponsorship policy amid increasing industry pressure over a commercial partnership between it and fuel supplier Ampol, after it declined to introduce a standalone climate reporting category in its annual Walkley Awards.

Cartoonists are leading a boycott of the non-profit journalism foundations awards show, with past winners including The Australian Financial Reviews David Rowe and The Ages Matt Golding following the lead of The Saturday Papers Jon Kudelka, who announced his boycott in a blog post this week.

Australian cartoonists are putting the heat on the Walkley Awards.

Pointing to the role of fossil fuels in causing climate change, those boycotting the awards are calling for the Walkley Foundation to stop receiving funding from Ampol. Entries for the 68th edition of the awards closed on Thursday.

Walkley Foundation chief executive Shona Martyn declined to disclose the details of the investment made by Ampol, saying that all sponsorship arrangements were confidential.
FICTION

Life After Ted

R.D. Feneley

Echo Publishing, $32.99

When a death is untimely, families lose more than a member, they lose their equilibrium too. In his second novel, Life After Ted, R.D. Feneley explores the shock and destabilising effects of the sudden loss of a beloved figure, the eponymous Ted, whose long and interesting existence is wiped out (one could say) when he is brained by his own surfboard during a morning dip at Bondi.

We find out about him as the story continues, seeing him in the negative, as it were, through the impact his death has on those who loved him.

In R.D. Feneleys novel, the death of Ted in a surfing accident has all sorts of consequences. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

It begins three days after the funeral, with a furious and blackly funny exchange of emails between Teds 70-ish widow Connie and their almost-40-year-old son, Sebastian. Most bereaved children might be taken aback to discover their mum in flagrante with another man so soon after their fathers death, but its even harder for Seb to accept, fervently conservative and religious as he is.
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Eating outJust open The inner-west farm where you dine among barramundi and mushrooms Field & Fin in Marrickville is hoping to inspire a new generation of urban farms in Sydney. Bianca Hrovat September 2, 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

Field & Fins Grant McGregor, Daryl Byrne and Marna Eringa at their new urban aquaponics farm in Marrickville. Dominic Lorrimer A culinary oasis is opening in the Marrickville industrial estate, where the former site of a wholesale meat supplier has been transformed into an aquaponics farm and campfire kitchen. Beyond the chain-link fence, there are edible leafy greens snaking up recycled shipping containers, buckets of blooming oyster mushrooms, and ponds with floating trays of cucumbers and tomatoes growing as part of closed-loop farm Field & Fin. And at the centre of it is Campfire, a hand-built brick-fire kitchen where head chef Grant Mcgregor transforms the fresh produce (plus sustainable meat and seafood from partnering farms in Port Macquarie and the Southern Highlands) into family-style feasts. Campfire and Field + Fin prelaunch party. Yanya Boston

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The project is the realisation of a long-held dream of conservationist and landscaper Daryl Daz Byrne to bring the bush to the city, creating a place where people can gather, graze and learn about sustainable urban agriculture. The whole idea is this will become a place where people can wander in, share some good quality food over a campfire and listen to music, Byrne tells Good Food. Chef Grant McGregor working the fire kitchen at Campfire. Supplied The idea was inspired by Byrnes experiences in Papua New Guinea, where he partnered with traditional landowners to found a 20-kilometre marine sanctuary called Mwanewa, centred around a collection of remote islands in the Milne Bay province. Around 20 years ago I spent five months paddling around Australia to PNG in a kayak, and I just fell in love, Byrne says.

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It changed everything about who I was and what I wanted to do. Mushrooms growing in a climate controlled fruiting chamber at Field & Fin. Dominic Lorrimer As a self-described bushie who spent much of his life living outdoors, Byrne developed a deep appreciation for life on the Coral Sea islands, where he caught, grew, foraged and cooked his food over fire. But when COVID hit, border closures prompted him to refocus on the inner west. Ive always been hands-in-the-dirt, my whole life, and when youre in places like [the sanctuary] in PNG you have to be, he says. Now, Ive brought that to Sydney.

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The urban aquaponics farm at Field & Fin. Dominic Lorrimer In the initial stages of his urban farming project, Byrne is developing an aquaponics system using live barramundi to fertilise and grow restaurant-grade produce (including native foods and microgreens). Once established, they will become available for wholesale and retail purchase. Campfire will first open as a pop-up restaurant for dinner two to three times per week from around late September. Visitors will be able to see the farm by candlelight  plus multistorey murals by Timorese graffiti artist Tony Amaly, and projections of Mwanewa  and sample McGregors menu of charcoal-grilled chickens, pickled farm produce and old-school damper. Private catered dinners with interactive menu planning will also be available. The approved development plans include a 200-seat restaurant and bar. Supplied But the ultimate vision is far grander. The Inner West council has approved Byrnes development application for a 200-seat restaurant and bar, fully encased within a working greenhouse on the property. This is a space where movie nights, weddings and educational workshops will be held, with a portion of profits going back to the wildlife sanctuary.

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Walking into Field & Fin. Supplied Were hellbent on creating an inclusive space that models sustainable agricultural solutions and works with the community to encourage composting and growing their own food, says Marna Eringa, a freelance creative and friend of Byrne, who is also working on the project. I think urban farms could become the new microbreweries. The demand is there, we just need to encourage more people to get on board. Tickets to the pop-up dinners and produce boxes will become available for presale on the Field & Fin website this weekend.

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In the past four years, 76 NSW police officers have been charged with 336 domestic violence-related offences, including breaching AVOs, choking, and assault, data obtained under freedom of information laws shows. Most were constables or senior constables, but more than a dozen sergeants were charged with 49 offences and one inspector was charged with sexual intercourse without consent. About 90 per cent of those charged were male. The most common charges were common assault (74 offences), stalking or intimidation with intent to cause fear of harm (63 charges), and using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend (23 charges). To ensure transparency, NSW Police policy stipulates that press statements should be issued when officers are charged with offences. But an FOI request shows this was followed in just 49 of the 76 cases. A NSW Police spokeswoman said the public affairs branch could not search by category, so a manual search might not capture all relevant information. However, the statements that were released shed more light on the accusations, such as the 37-year-old senior constable charged with stalking and intimidation, as well as 15 counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend. Or the 32-year-old senior constable who faced 12 offences, including assault, intentionally choking and stalking.

One of the more common charges (41 cases) was accessing or modifying restricted data. That involves police employees using the forces computer system to look up information they had no reason to access, which is illegal. The system contains personal details, criminal histories and every contact a victim has had with police. It would be valuable information for someone who is spying on an investigation. Some of the police media releases about officers charged with offences. Research about the prevalence of family violence within law enforcement is scant, but some papers suggest officers were at least as likely, and possibly more likely, to commit an offence than the general population. As one study said, victims face particular challenges because officers are trained to control situations, their jobs are stressful (which is associated with intimate partner violence) and they have access to weapons. The Herald has spoken to multiple women who have made allegations of domestic violence against NSW Police Force employees. Some were officers themselves, and said their knowledge of the culture made them particularly nervous about making a complaint; they understood how gossipy the force could be, and how often officers shared stories across commands with colleagues. One former victim said when she reported the abuse, a record of the matter was sent to a police area command where her ex-partner had contacts and influence.

When officers are charged with any crime, the issue of their employment goes to the NSW Police Commissioner. FOI data shows only six officers out of the 76 charged between January 2019 and January 2023 were suspended without pay while awaiting trial. However, several resigned or were dismissed as the trial progressed or after a guilty verdict. The LECC report raised questions about whether someone who has been charged or convicted, or was subject to an Apprehended Domestic Violence Order, would have a conflict of interest when dealing with domestic violence cases in their line of work. The commission and the audit office were also concerned about the potential for complaints to be investigated by the alleged perpetrators present or former colleagues. No matter how impartial an investigator may be when investigating another officer who is known to them or works in close proximity to them, victims and others may perceive that such investigations will not be impartial, the audit office report said. This perception can lead to a loss of community trust ... [which] may stop some victims from coming forward and reporting domestic and family violence incidents to the NSW Police Force. The LECC said investigations should be moved to another command  which NSW Police rejected as impractical  or, failing that, a commanders decision-making process and management of conflicts of interest should be documented.

The LECC explored a 2021 Victorian solution. There, police set up a sexual offences and family violence unit dedicated to investigating offences by employees. It was prompted by recommendations from the states Family Violence Royal Commission and a landmark report that revealed a major problem with predatory behaviour in police ranks. The unit has six teams dedicated to investigating complex employee-related allegations. It also deals with sexual assault or stalking allegations against police, including cases in which an officer pursues a sexual relationship with a crime victim or witness, Victoria Police said in a statement. Less complex allegations are still dealt with by general police, although the unit provides support around the clock. The professional standards command  tasked with police integrity  oversees the choice of investigators, checks for conflicts of interest (these cases are sent to another region) and ensures policies are followed. Victims worried about the handling of their cases can also contact the unit for support. Leading the way: Victorias Assistant Commissioner Tess Walsh. Credit: Justin McManus Victorias Assistant Police Commissioner Tess Walsh, from the professional standards command, said the state was the first in Australia to devote a team to investigating accused employees.

Victoria Police has received inquiries from Australian and international jurisdictions seeking advice to assist their own response to employee-related family violence, she said. Liz Snell, the law reform and policy co-ordinator at the Womens Legal Service NSW, wants NSW to follow Victorias lead, including by issuing clear, public information about how police employee-related allegations would be investigated. This goes to the issue of building public confidence, Snell says. There are many police doing great work. But we also hear of poor police responses. Where there are allegations of domestic and family violence perpetrated by police, it is important victim-survivors are aware of their options to report with an emphasis on ensuring safety, privacy, support and accountability. This information must be publicly available and easy to access. Assistant Commissioner Joe Cassar heads NSWs professional standards command, which deals with integrity issues. He says there is no room for domestic violence within NSW Police. He meets the commissioner each fortnight to discuss disciplinary matters that could lead to the police chief losing confidence in an officer. NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Joe Cassar meets the commissioner each fortnight to discuss disciplinary matters. Credit: Edwina Pickles

The accused must go through the judicial process like everyone else, and their guilt must be proven beyond reasonable doubt, he said. But decisions about employment are made on the balance of probabilities. Some are suspended, with or without pay. Their work-related firearms are secured. When it comes to their personal firearms, they are treated like civilians. Depending on the allegations, they might have their duties restricted. Theres a big percentage where the commissioner loses confidence, Cassar said. In September last year, after the audit office and LECC reports, the force introduced a new system to address potential conflicts of interest, which could range from police investigating police in the same command to junior officers investigating superiors. Any report of domestic violence involving a serving or former police officer must be sent to the local inspector, who will oversee the process and contact the victim to ensure they are satisfied. Moving the investigation to a different command, as recommended by the LECC, would be difficult in regional areas, Cassar said. In the Broken Hill district, the borders of the whole command are the three state borders, he said. Thats why we came up with a realistic system where its a commissioned officer, a high level within the NSW Police Force, thats doing an assessment and recording their findings, making a permanent record ... a number of points covered off to make sure theres no actual or perceived conflict.
What Salehs recommendations have in common, besides delicious food and the ability to eat halal, is that the vibe is more Grandmas kitchen than fine dining. Many are little more than a hole in the wall. Salehs day job is human rights lawyer, but she is also a writer. Her poetry has been anthologised widely, and her debut novel Songs for the Dead and the Living was published on Tuesday. The lentil soup with toasted pita bread. Credit: Nick Moir The story is about a woman born in Lebanon with Palestinian ancestors who were displaced from their home when the modern state of Israel was formed. When the civil war hits Lebanon, she flees with her family to Egypt where she meets her husband, and later emigrates to Australia. The migration route is the bones of Salehs own mother and fathers story, but Saleh says the rest is fiction. She explores difficult topics such as misogyny and violence within the Middle Eastern community, and the discrimination that Palestinians face in Lebanon.

She describes the book as a love letter to the cities of Beirut, Cairo and Sydney. But she admits its sometimes more of a love-hate relationship as it can be difficult to be a Muslim woman in Sydney, feeling unrepresented in mainstream culture and simultaneously feeling a responsibility to understand the Indigenous history of the land. Saleh lives on Bidjigal country, also known as Beverly Hills in south-west Sydney. Id expected to be eating at a Lebanese or Palestinian restaurant in Bankstown, but instead Saleh has brought me to Marrickville in the inner west. I wont reveal exactly where I live, but lets just say Im on home turf. Saleh rarely eats Lebanese food in restaurants since she cooks it at home and eats it at her mothers house. Her top pick was Koshari Korner, a food truck selling Egyptian street food on the side of the car park in the Addison Road Community Organisation. There is seating under a gazebo, with colourful tablecloths and wall hangings. The mixed plate to share, with koshari, falafel, fried eggplant, salad with pickles, bread and tahini. Credit: Nick Moir Saleh chose it partly because she is friends with the owner and loves the food, and partly because Addi Road is special to her. The sprawling community hub is where she attended her first play as a first-year student at the University of Sydney, and where she later hosted her first community event, a Muslim film screening and Q&A. She is a regular at the Friends of Hebron fundraising trivia night, a hub for the Palestinian community in Sydney, and frequents the Palestine Fair Trade shop.

When I arrive at Koshari Korner, the Herald photographer Nick Moir is already sitting at a table with the Addi Road head honcho Rosanna Barbero and other staff. Theyre all waiting to say hello to Saleh, and coax me to join them. Loading She arrives and after a round of hugs, I eventually manage to peel her away for our one-on-one interview, with Saleh laughing at what must have seemed like a big fat Arab wedding (referencing the 2002 rom-com My Big Fat Greek Wedding). Saleh usually eats the eponymous koshari, a mixture of fried rice, noodles, brown lentils, chickpeas and a zesty tomato sauce. We decide instead to share a mixed plate that promises a bit of everything, including koshari, on the condition that I eat the falafel. She is, she says, a bad Arab who doesnt like falafel. We also order a hearty lentil soup, which comes with fried pita bread. She met her husband through food, in possibly the most right-on meet-cute Ive ever heard: they were both volunteers delivering festive food to Muslim detainees in Villawood Detention Centre for Ramadan nights.

They were both in so-called LGAs of concern during the 2021 Delta lockdown  Saleh took her Sunday morning runs to the soundtrack of helicopters circling overhead, while her partner was confronted by soldiers on the streets of Auburn. Fortunately, the rules allowed couples to visit each other, and the pair are now married. Sara Salehs guide to Sydney Koshari Korner, Marrickville (Egyptian)

Taste of Egypt, Bankstown

Apandim Uyghur Restaurant, Burwood (favourite for Uyghur)

Tarim Uyghur Handmade Noodles, Auburn

Banksia Bakery (Lebanese manoush)

Armani, Parramatta (Lebanese, especially the shawarma)

Al Aseel , Greenacre (Lebanese)

Misc., Parramatta Park (especially for brunch)

Bankstown Art Centre

Sweatshop Literacy Movement

Friends of Hebron Trivia with a Cause, Marrickville

Palestine Fair Trade Australia shop, Marrickville

Resolute Beach, Pittwater

Bicentennial, Centennial, Sydney and Parramatta Parks Saleh was born in Australia but picked up a North American accent when living in Dubai from age eight to 16. Her father had a job opportunity and parents wanted Saleh and her three younger siblings to experience living in the Middle East. Saleh is the first to criticise the consumer culture that prevails in Dubai, but found it frustrating to return to Australia and have people ask her if she used to ride a camel to school. She came back to Sydney on her own to live in one of the colleges at Sydney University soon after the Cronulla riots when tensions between some of Sydneys Arabic and white communities were high. She did not yet wear the hijab, but she did not drink alcohol, which made her an outsider in the college scene. Being the eldest child of immigrants with all the weight of expectations that entails, she was hyper-focused on proving herself through academic success, and wishes in hindsight that she had taken more time to relax and enjoy herself.

I ask how she understood her identity when she was growing up, and we segue into a conversation about representation on screen and Ms Marvel, the superhero whose alter ego is a Muslim Pakistani-American high school student. One of the writers for the Disney+ show was a guest on a poetry retreat that Saleh recently hosted near Wisemans Ferry. Ms Marvel is one of several recent universe-expanding shows on Disney+. Saleh says her cynical side believes diversity on screen is purely about corporate profit, but she also realises that would dismiss or erase the diverse writers, actors, directors and producers pushing for representation behind the scenes. Saleh says she has benefited from a similar trend in publishing. Saleh says she leaned into her Palestinian identity in the past, feeling a responsibility to use her voice when many family members in the Middle East cannot. Saleh visited the Palestinian occupied territories in 2017 on a study tour with politicians and journalists. She was the only person of Arab appearance in the delegation  everyone else was visibly white  and although they were all Australian citizens, she says she was treated differently to her companions. For example, she says at multiple checkpoints she was detained while everyone else in the group was allowed through, and she also had a gun pointed at her, which happened to no one else in the group.

That was really hard because it was personal and it was humiliating and undignifying, she says. Saleh is also half Egyptian. Politics in Egypt has become increasingly authoritarian, so I ask about the situation there. She sighs heavily, clarifying that it was a sigh of resignation and frustration at the situation, not at the question. With Egypt, my dad grew up really politically active, and he was punished for it as well by the state and thats part of the reason why he left, Saleh says. My grandfather, who was a journalist in Cairo, actually had said to him I know you want to get politically involved, but its dangerous. Please dont do this, youre just going to get in trouble. You need to be more secure. Get out of here. A PhD in engineering was Salehs fathers ticket to Australia, and he channelled his passion for politics into conversations around the dinner table.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Your correspondents in the No camp ask questions like why has huge amounts of funding not solved First Nations disadvantage, or how will the Voice make a difference (Letters, September 1).

After years of the most comprehensive consultation of First Nations peoples by First Nations peoples, the Statement from the Heart told us that a constitutionally enshrined Voice is what they say is needed to address these problems. So on what basis can anyone else say you are wrong, and this is not what you need? People who vote No are proving their point in the most heartbreaking way possible - that the rest of Australia still doesnt listen to them, and wants to continue deciding what First Nations peoples do and dont need. Brendan Jones, Annandale Its a date. Credit: Matt Golding When it comes to the Uluru statement from the Heart, designed to dramatically change our Constitution forever, surely every single published detail relating to this statement should be thoroughly scrutinised by every single voter, every single member of parliament and the PM himself.

Since Anthony Albanese glibly revealed he couldnt be bothered to peruse every single essential detail, from a fervent Yes voter I am now an increasingly wavering Yes voter. Sad, because I am only one of many. Rosalind Winterton, Maroubra Peter Dutton advises that people who are unsure about how to vote in the Voice referendum should donate their vote to the No camp. If you dont know, vote no. Surely, if you dont know, you should do some research so you can make an informed decision. To do less is to waste your vote and diminish the referendum process. Francis Buttle, Newport I intend to vote No in the referendum for three reasons. The first is that for the past 200 years we have worked towards making sure Indigenous people are not treated differently to the non-Indigenous community, but now we are proposing they are. Second: why would we want to give the politicians yet another committee to appoint their mates and political donors to? Third: it wont work, and it wont make any difference. We have had bipartisan political support for the Closing the Gap legislation for the past 20 years and (for many reasons) it has been a really slow process in terms of results. Does anyone think in that time, no one has thought to ask Indigenous people why it isnt working? But when we put the Voice in place and it doesnt work people will say that it is because it doesnt go far enough, that they dont have enough political power, and it will go on and on. Gordon Walker, Lane Cove Open to all I suspect I may share the age bracket of your correspondent (Letters, September 1) who boasts of the wisdom, experience and love of country that comes with advanced years. These attributes can never belong solely to one age group, and her words feel like an insult to anyone who might be considering the Yes case, regardless of how many years they have walked on this ancient land. Lorraine Hickey, Green Point

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Im old, Ive got years of experience in lots of things, I enjoy living in a democratic country and I indulge in many traditions, some good and some bad. And I am voting Yes.

I have the banner up on my veranda, Im doing my morning walk along the coast of Newcastle wearing a Yes T-shirt and I have yet to experience anything other than positive engagement.

Im guessing it is because most people still believe in a fair go, and it salves the heart to at least acknowledge that many Indigenous lives in this country have never had a fair go. Wendy Atkins, Cooks Hill Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: John Shakespeare Australia fair Six years ago, after an equally divisive campaign, we were congratulating ourselves on voting for marriage equality. We held our ground as a fair nation. Whatever happens on October 14 will determine whether we remain so. Vicky Marquis, Glebe What Qantas has in common with Basil Fawlty In trouble for selling a non-existent product, up to 49 per cent foreign owned, wholesale sackings, flight reductions, monstrous fare increases  are these emblematic of a national carrier or just another public company acting in the interest of shareholders and its executives (ACCC sues Qantas for selling cancelled flights, August 31). Does Qantas have disproportionate influence on government and might that influence reach beyond restricting its international competitors? Could protection of its golden goose Sydney-Melbourne route have prejudiced the introduction of Sydney-Melbourne high-speed rail? Harold Kerr, Millers Point Qantas has adopted the customer service playbook of Basil Fawlty: in fact, it might even be able to teach Basil a few new tricks. Today, Qantas has failed its customers yet again  having to make another back-flip on the expiry of flight credits due to public outcry, politicians protests and the threat of further legal action and scrutiny. Dragged kicking and screaming, Qantas gives the lie to its tagline The Spirit of Australia. More appropriate would be The Shame of Australia. I have vowed never to fly Qantas again  my next international flight is already booked with a competitor. Qantas has lost me forever  the airlines customer service approach needs a complete root and branch overhaul. Drop the arrogance and bluster, focus on the customers. Adrian Eisler, Eleebana

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When the squeaky-clean Albanese government blocks much needed international flights and blatantly prioritises the profits of a private company over its consumers, we start to wonder (Letters, September 1). Whether or not a cosy relationship between the government and Qantas exists is anyones guess. But if this government wants to continue to benefit from the goodwill generated by the PMs image as an honest man and working-class hero, it needs to remember whose side it is supposed to be on. Leticia Tarabay, Petersham Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: While I shall leave Alan Joyce and his people to answer most of the questions asked of the Qantas of today, its appropriate to point out that airline rights between countries have been a negotiated commodity right through aviation history. I can assure you that even that bastion of freedom and private enterprise the USA could be expected to laugh out loud if presented with a Qatar submission for an extra 20 flights a week. So lets not confuse local Australian political arguments with the realities of air services agreements between countries. Jim Eames, Gerringong I wish people would stop referring to Qantas as the national carrier. It has been a private company since 1993 and should be treated as any other company whose sole aim is to profit shareholders. Gordon Fitzgerald, Newtown But on the upside, no one lost any baggage on a cancelled Qantas flight, their on-time departure statistics are unparalleled, and the inflight meals are the airlines very best. Peter Fyfe, Enmore Power lines planned poorly could lead to blackouts NSW needs 30,000km of high voltage transmission lines by 2030 in order to link up our renewable energy production and storage. Otherwise, we could face blackouts (Transmission plan powers up as community protests continue, September 1). Planning should have been done decades ago. This whole transition could have been much cheaper and simpler if power production and distribution remained in government hands. Now the problem of getting the job done and coordinating disparate private interests is almost insurmountable. I bet WA, whose power production and distribution remains largely in government hands does not have our problems. Geoff Black, Caves Beach

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The premier may be backing the wrong horse. Extreme weather events caused by global overheating will not be kind to overhead power lines. For the sake of safety and reliability, lets keep the transmission lines underground. George Carrard, Oatley During his time in opposition Chris Bowen was a leading critic of the previous governments tardiness in converting to green energy. He has now found out, first hand, it is not so simple as connecting some solar cells, big batteries, and some rather large propellers and turning on the switch. It is about time the community realised the change to green energy will take significant time and lashings of money. In the meantime, dont be too quick to shut down the current systems if you want to keep the lights on. DArcy Hardy, North Turramurra Balance redressed For over a decade, Australian workers have suffered attacks on their rights since the Howard union- busting maritime dispute, and the threat of WorkChoices laws (Business to take IR fight to voters, September 1). The Closing Loopholes Bill will begin to redress the balance, to restore what has been lost to workers as a result of legislation, which has placed Australia in the bottom tier of countries which adequately safeguard the wages and working conditions of employees. Of course, the business community would oppose this, wouldnt they? Vanessa Tennent, Oatley Unacceptable decision Interfering with an independent recruitment process to appoint a less qualified insider is unacceptable from a probity perspective and if the government is looking to give constituents the best outcome in this critical role (Donations and 20-year friendship: revelations from Murray inquiry, September 1). Disappointingly it appears that Labor has not learnt from the missteps of the former government. This is on top of the transport ministers terrible announcement that trains would be replaced every weekend for a year on some lines, which would have caused massive inconvenience for many. Martin Cousins, Lindfield Even if Chris Minns took meaningful action now such as sacking Jo Haylen or withdrawing the appointment of Josh Murray he has clearly missed the point. This government appears to be as rotten as the previous one.

Neil Reckord, Gordon (ACT)

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Advice ignored Snowy management were told ad infinitum that the area around Lobs Hole was part of the extensive Yarrangobilly karst system and riddled with caves and soft ground (Letters, September 1). Their very expensive exploratory drilling seems to have totally missed this and the advice ignored. Hence a 2000 tonne drilling machine down a deep hole. Old Snowy hands, still proud of delivering a massive project on time and within budget, just despair of the complete incompetence displayed in Snowy 2.0. It is a politically-driven flawed project of dubious value and will remove the Tantangara Dam water out of the system which was designed to send water west to grow food. There is widespread public anger at governments who sell the family silver to companies who privatise their profits and socialise their losses. I despair for the future of my grandchildren when there are no public assets left to sell and rampant capitalism roams free without fear of any consequences. Patrick Dodd, Narrabeen Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull takes a photo of the tunnel with his iPhone during his tour of the Snowy Hydro Tumut 2 power station in 2017. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen I fear that somebody at Snowy 2.0 was asleep at the wheel when they doubled the tunnelling costs to $12 billion, but that may be understandable, as I hear that it really is a boring job. Evan Bailey, Glebe Teachers blamed Again the blame is placed on primary school teachers (Letters, September 1). This time by a person who, although having been paid to be the Secretary for the NSW Department of Education for five years, kicks teachers in the guts. No qualitative data provided. Just his say so. Isobel Lanesman, Cremorne Apparently there are primary school teachers who are maths avoiders, who put students off the subject. Unfortunately, during the four years of my primary education years ago, I never encountered any of these. Instead I was given daily exercises in maths that I rarely understood or could complete. I continued to find it difficult in high school, and I fortunately never needed it during a long career in teaching. By the way, is there anything else we can blame teachers for? Alison Waters, Leura

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And Leongatha has long been a safe town. Dunn speaks for most when he notes its a great place to raise kids. Loading Local folklore and official Victoria Police records concur that the last homicide investigation probably dates back to the 1930s and the infamous case of the schoolgirl strangler and serial killer Arnold Sodeman, who killed two of his four victims in the region. It took nearly a century for the spotlight to turn back to Leongatha, when, just over a month ago, resident Erin Patterson hosted a now-infamous beef Wellington lunch, which led to the suspected poisoning deaths of her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gails sister Heather Wilkinson. Homicide police are investigating and have confirmed Patterson is a suspect. She has strongly denied any wrongdoing. A public memorial for Don and Gail Patterson was attended by about 300 people at nearby Korumburra Recreation Centre on Thursday.

With all the elements of a page-turning whodunit set in a sleepy, rural backwater, the mushroom deaths have attracted global attention. Media from far and wide have crawled all over Leongatha and Korumburra. International outlets that have covered the story include the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, the BBC, El Mundo, The New Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and The Peninsula Qatar. Left to right: Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson all died after ingesting poisonous mushrooms. Ian Wilkinson remains in a critical condition at a Melbourne hospital. For the most unwelcome of reasons, Leongatha and  to a lesser extent  Korumburra are finally on the world map. So, how are the communities coping after the great mushroom mystery and their overnight infamy? Leongatha locals report that for the first time, theyre getting wide-eyed responses from strangers when they reveal where theyre from. Now when you tell people youre from Leongatha theres this recognition, says Dunn. Suddenly its Oh my god, thats where that mushroom lady came from.

Some are a bit fed up with pesky, overzealous reporters and over-cooked media coverage. Its been a bit insane, says longtime local historian Lyn Skillern, who came to town 50 years ago planning a brief stint teaching at the high school, but fell in love with the place and stayed. Lyn Skillern is secretary of the Leongatha Historical Society. Credit: Royce Millar She is a little peeved at some TV mispronunciations of local Indigenous town names, like Korumburra and Koonwarra. If youre going to talk about a place for gods sake, pronounce the names correctly. But other than bemusement at the international spotlight and annoyance at the media frenzy, its pretty much business as usual in ever-pragmatic Leongatha.

I dont think the mushroom saga has changed Leongatha one bit, says Dunn. Essentially, the town has a workmanlike quality, and that hasnt really changed. Among family and friends, the dark jokes about oh no, not mushrooms for lunch, or making a giant mushroom the town totem, started weeks ago. Locals in Korumburra have struggled to deal with the media attention following the tragedy. Credit: Paul Jeffers Several residents noted that, while Erin Patterson lives on the towns outskirts, few know her. Likewise, the deceased were from Korumburra, and not well-known in Leongatha. So most people here dont feel like theyve lost one of their own. Theres an anonymity factor, says Skillern. We are not hearing people in the street talking about it now.

Im sure the impact on Korumburra is a different story because they were well-known and involved in the community there. Loading Although Korumburra is just 13 kilometres down the South Gippsland Highway towards Melbourne, locals from both towns say the cultural distance between the traditional rivals has always felt much greater. Korumburra, a former coal-mining town like Wonthaggi to its south, is more blue-collar. While the fatal lunch happened in Leongatha, there is little doubt that the deaths have been felt more strongly here. Both the Patterson and Wilkinson families were active members of the Korumburra Baptist Church, where Ian Wilkinson was the pastor before falling ill. Heather Wilkinson was a former teacher who volunteered at a local Community House.

The Pattersons were former teachers and used to run the local gazette, The Burra Flyer. Anglican pastor Fran Grimes told the memorial service on Thursday that while many media stories had described the Korumburra community as tight-knit, what theyd actually experienced was a community shielding and protecting the family from speculation. Reverend Fran Grimes inside the Anglican Church of Saint Paul in Korumburra. Credit: Marta Pascual Juanola South Gippsland Mayor Nathan Hersey says some Korumburra residents have been uncomfortable with the close media attention. Losing a family member or losing a loved one is very private and for it to be played out in a public way as it has been, I think its where the frustration comes from. But he stresses that most locals are strong and very resilient. So I dont think this is something that will be dwelled on by people locally for a long time.

Back at Leongatha, the local horticultural society is busy with the final preparations for the annual Daffodil Festival, which  with the exception of one lockdown year  has been held annually since the mid-1950s. Organisers are conscious that the events timing, given the recent tragedy, is not ideal, and stress they are mindful and respectful of those mourning after the lethal mushroom meal. But daffodils wont wait to bloom. The Leongatha Daffodil Festival in 2019. The festival is something we look forward to every year and something that volunteers work hard to put together, says horticultural society committee member Wendy McDonald. Its about celebrating the coming of spring, light and colour, and the more positive aspects of life.
The government on Friday refused to say what advice it had received about covering the revenue shortfall and did not answer questions from The Age about whether it was considering additional levies. The government did, however, rule out a direct levy on homeowners  but experts say that would be the best way to pay for the project. Stapledon said the most efficient method of clawing back some growth in property values around the SRL train stations would be to impose a broad land tax. As the value of land rises, then the people who own that land start paying a bit more. But if you exclude residential you exclude the major part of the benefit, he said.

University of Sydney housing and property research fellow Cameron Murray agreed that the SRLs proposed funding measures would raise only a fraction of the $11.5 billion target. Murray said the state could raise more by developing commercial properties around the stations or by imposing a special betterment levy on all residents and businesses  a common tool used to pay for major projects globally. Suburban Rail Loop Minister Jacinta Allan. Credit: Eddie Jim Melbournes City Loop rail line, the Gold Coasts G:link light rail project and Londons Crossrail  which the SRL references as a model for using value capture successfully  were all partly funded with special levies added to council rates and paid by residents or businesses. The benefits of citywide infrastructure are actually felt not just by those who live near the train stations ... [so] I think thats a reasonable way to go about it, Murray said.

A spokesman for SRL Minister Jacinta Allan said the revenue measures were still being finalised, but ruled out anything that targeted residential property owners. Loading Suburban Rail Loop stations will attract investment to the surrounding neighbourhoods, raising the value of land, and weve been clear that large property developers profiting from SRL will help pay for it, the spokesman said. The Victorian and Commonwealth governments have already committed $14 billion for SRL East  thats more than enough for what we need to get tunnel boring machines in the ground by 2026. The SRL Authority has taken planning control over a 1.6-kilometre area around new stations at Cheltenham, Box Hill, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley and Burwood. The authority intends to develop them into denser housing and employment hubs.

It says that by 2056, the number of people living in the six precincts will more than double, from 131,00 to 306,500, and the number of jobs will almost triple to 353,500. Loading Grattan Institute transport and cities program director Marion Terrill said a narrow surcharge on commercial property sales and developer levies would discourage the type of investment the SRL was supposed to trigger, and would also undermine the states policy to remove commercial stamp duty. The government has made a case that it is city-shaping and so it makes sense for the whole state to contribute to it, Terrill said. Prosper Australia research director Tim Helm said taxing windfall gains on properties close the SRL stations was clearly fairer than hitting up the general taxpayer, but it was a mistake to exclude residential owners.

The SRL and upzoning around stations will massively boost land values - theres just no justification for letting homeowners get rich when they sell land at values massively inflated by rezoning, he said. Loading Opposition transport infrastructure spokesman David Southwick said the Andrews government needed to explain how Victorians would pay for the SRL East, be it higher ticket prices, more debt or value capture taxes. Serious questions need to be asked of the value for money and community benefit of this project, he said. Property Council Victoria executive director Cath Evans said any new taxes imposed should replace existing ones already paid by landowners, including land tax, rates and stamp duty. Properties within rezoned SRL precincts may also be liable to pay the states new Windfall Gains Tax.
If half the battle in life is showing up, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden both leave much to be desired when it comes to international diplomacy.

With the East Asia Summit and ASEAN forum to be held in Indonesia, followed by the G20 in India, next week is shaping up as the most important geopolitical moment of the year  certainly when it comes to the Indo-Pacific.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden last met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in November. Credit: AP

Yet the United States president has said he will give the Jakarta meetings a miss, despite attending last years East Asia Summit hosted by Cambodia. And it looks like his Chinese counterpart will not attend either gathering, sending his effective deputy, Premier Li Qiang, instead.

Either Jakarta or New Delhi would have provided an appropriately neutral location for the leaders of the worlds two most powerful nations to meet face-to-face for just the second time since Biden entered office.
Some advisory committees are listened to more than others. A recent standout? A new body, the Womens Economic Equality Taskforce led by businesswoman Sam Mostyn. It made six recommendations to Finance Minister Katy Gallagher for the May budget; four were accepted, even though some cost real money. A total of $9.5 billion over four years, according to the government. Which has only encouraged the taskforce  Mostyn has now handed a much bigger list of recommendations to Gallagher. While were on social policy. Theres also the respected advisory group that informed and contributed to the Albanese governments well-received National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032, a joint state and federal plan. The body, the National Plan Advisory Group, set up by the Morrison government, speaks for a wide range of research organisations, peak bodies and victim-survivors. And while were in the Social Services portfolio, theres a bit of a list of advisory groups to the minister, Amanda Rishworth, and her department  there are at least 13 more. Beyond social services, name the subject and theres an advisory group on it. On climate change, the government is advised by the Climate Change Authority and the new Net Zero Economy Agency Advisory Board.

On law reform, the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Family Law Council, both of which are approaching their half-century. On immigration, the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration, the Australian Multicultural Council and the Settlement Advisory Board. On cybersecurity, theres the Expert Advisory Board on Cybersecurity Strategy chaired by former Telstra chief Andy Penn. On submarines, the Submarine Advisory Committee. Loading Think of an obscure policy area and theres a strong chance theres an advisory committee for it. A body part, say the knee? The Hip and Knee Expert Clinical Advisory Group reports to the Health Department. A far-flung part of the world, say Africa? Thatd be the Advisory Group on Australia-Africa Relations, reporting to Penny Wong. Lets get whacky. Robots? Sure, thats the National Robotics Strategy Advisory Committee, reporting to Industry Minister Ed Husic.

Um, movies? Yes, the Film Certification Advisory Board advises Arts Minister Tony Burke on which ones should get tax breaks. Bomb-throwing? It depends  good guys or bad? Theres the Woomera Prohibited Area Advisory Board to advise on the use of the Defence Departments vast Woomera weapon-testing range in South Australia, and theres the Australia-New Zealand Counterterrorism Committee. Alright, something theyd never think of. Halal meats? The Halal Consultative Committee reports to the Agriculture Department. In fact, dont get started on food. There are dozens of advisory bodies on very specific food types  scallops, anyone?  and broader food-related areas such as Health Stars ratings and sub-Antarctic fisheries management.

OK, very interesting, but the No campaign specifically warned about the special risks of having an Indigenous advisory group offering counsel to two institutions in particular  the Reserve Bank and Centrelink. Wouldnt that be dangerously unprecedented? Loading Actually, no. Any new advisory group would have to join the queue. First, the Reserve Bank. Australias central bank has been running a small business consultation program for 20 years, according to a senior bank official. And early last year, governor Philip Lowe introduced two new consultative panels to the bank, one comprising academic economists and another market economists. The governor meets twice a year with each. Not only do those three advisory mechanisms already exist, but the Albanese governments review of the Reserve Bank this year recommended creating another. Recommendation 8: Constitute an expert monetary policy board with diverse perspectives and knowledge. This supposedly would be in addition to the existing Reserve Bank board. Treasurer Jim Chalmers accepted the recommendation in principle and the Coalition didnt quibble. So whats the big deal even if an Indigenous Voice joined the party and offered its advice? Second, Centrelink, operated by Services Australia, the federal agency that delivers government payments. It consults a bunch of community organisations already. Its main consultative mechanism, the Civil Society Advisory Group, has members from 15 peak organisations across the country, representing the young, the old, the disabled, the poor, and so on.

And the Centrelink parent agency also has an established system of regular consultation with a body representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Its called the National Indigenous Coalition. Plus it has internal Indigenous consultation processes, including its Indigenous Services Officers. Loading Is anyone screaming dysfunctional government and demanding that these advisory groups be disbanded immediately? Of course not. In truth, theres nothing so ordinary and innocuous as another advisory group. They are so plentiful that there is no central list of all of them. The ones cited here are a mere sampling. Some are obscure, a few are well known. Some are sidelined, some highly effective. They are everywhere, advising on just about everything. They are as useful as their advice is good and the recipient of their advice is interested. They are no more risky or radical than wallpaper.
Mildurians will tell you the river is better for houseboating in their neck of the woods than elsewhere along the Victorian Murray, for here, the river is wider thanks to the Mildura Weir.

Float on by ... setting sail in Mildura.

My only other houseboat experience was a couple of decades ago with people I didnt know very well in a place that was not Mildura. The vessel was little more than a floating shack, the hosts brought out their bucket bong then ran the vessel aground, and I took to my bunk with a book in abject misery.

So, its not just a wider slice of the Murray that has me surprised that I am loving houseboating in Mildura.

Its also the fact that times have changed and houseboats generally have upped their game significantly. (And so have I with my choice of company.)
Traditional Georgian cuisine worth travelling for. Credit: iStock Where is the next great foodie destination? Where is there a culture of high-quality cuisine that remains underappreciated by the hungry masses? Where are there unknown wineries with thousands of years of history? Where do these attractions exist in a place of great beauty, with verdant valleys backed by snow-capped peaks? The answer is Georgia (with its capital, Tbilisi, named in this special Traveller collection as one the worlds next big things in terms of cities). Georgias capital of Tbilisi. Credit: iStock This country, which straddles both Europe and Asia, is home to a richly complex gastronomic culture, one that takes its influence from two great continents. The wine industry dates back over 8000 years, and Georgian-style orange wine is rapidly gaining worldwide recognition. And the physical beauty? Youll have to see it for yourself. See georgia.travel Albania

Ksamil Beach: Albania was largely shut off to the rest of the world until 1990. Credit: iStock In considering the potential charms of Albania, take a look at the countrys neighbours: Greece to the south, Montenegro and Croatia to the north, North Macedonia to the east, the sparkling confluence of the Adriatic and Ionian seas to its west. This is a country with plenty of natural riches, flawless coastlines and rugged mountains, as well as ancient Greek and Roman history, plus unique modern culture and cuisine. Albania was largely shut off to the rest of the world until 1990, and has been slow to attract too many Australian travellers since, despite its affordability and off-the-beaten track allure. Surely though, that will soon change. See albania.al Peru For a terrible while there, Peru was on the precipice. Waves of violent protests swept the nation after president Pedro Castillo was ousted in early December last year, and travel to Peru all but ceased for several months. Now, however, the country is more stable, peaceful, and open for business once again. Its also a confirmed foodie hotspot. The latest iteration of the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list crowned Central, the Lima fine-diner run by chef Virgilio Martinez, number one in the world. It also ranked fellow Lima restaurants Maido at number six, Kjolle at 28, and Mayta at 47. Its not just fine-dining, either: Peru has a diverse and affordable eating culture that should attract legions of passionate foodies. See peru.travel Vietnam

The rice terraces of Mu Cang Chai in Vietnam. Credit: iStock Vietnam has been a favourite destination among Australians for some time, and visitor numbers have already returned to pre-pandemic levels. Still, theres room for more given the dramatic increase in flight services recently, with budget carriers Vietjet and Bamboo Airways joining Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar in flying direct from Australian ports to Vietnam. The country has also been investing heavily in tourism, with pushes to move visitors on from perennial favourites such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Halong Bay to the beachy likes of Con Dao in the north and Phu Quoc in the south. Wherever you go, you know the food in Vietnam will be amazing, and the country will be very good value. See vietnam.travel Chile South America has been relatively slow to bounce back from the pandemic among Australian travellers, and Chile is a case in point. In May 2019, some 1.430 Australian residents returned from short-term travel to Chile. In May of this year  the most recent figures  that number was only 680, a little less than half. This is a country, however, with a huge amount to offer tourists, from high-and-dry Atacama in the north to famous Patagonia in the south, via the colour of Valparaiso, the beauty of the Lake District, and the ever-present majesty of the Andes. With flight availability to Santiago increasing and airfares dropping, watch for Chile to gain in popularity. See chile.travel Mexico

Mexico is the land of the Maya and the Aztecs, a country littered with archaeological sites. Credit: iStock Untapped potential. Thats Mexico. This is a country with something of an image problem, one its been dealing with for several decades now  still, Mexico is one amazing place that will reward those who give it a chance with a destination that goes so far beyond the beachy goodness of Cancun and Cabo. This, after all, is the land of the Maya and the Aztecs, a country littered with archaeological sites. Its a place of great artistic and creative talent. Its a country of diverse, unique cuisines. Its a country of colour and of tradition. Its ripe for discovery by Australian travellers. See visitmexico.com Egypt Egypt is back. This perennial favourite, which slipped off many travellers radars due to the pandemic and recent political unrest, is once again shaping up as a big-hitter. It helps, of course, when Time Magazine names not one but two locations  the Pyramids of Giza, and the ancient village of Saqqara  on its list of Worlds Greatest Places of 2023. Nile River cruises, too, are surging in popularity, so much so that Egypt specialist Viking Cruises has added three ships to its fleet in the last two years to keep up with demand. And then theres the Grand Egyptian Museum, due to open in Giza later this year, an estimated $US1 billion project that will become the worlds largest museum, housing more than 100,000 ancient Egyptian artefacts. See egypt.travel Portugal

Beaches, culture, food: Portugal should be on Aussies travel hit-list. Credit: iStock When we say the next big thing here, we mean the really big next big thing. Because Portugal is already popular. People already understand that this is an Iberian destination with beaches galore in the south, rich culture in the likes of Lisbon and Porto, river cruising on the Douro, and the warmest of welcomes throughout the nation. Still, the number of Australians visiting Portugal pales in comparison to the likes of France and Italy. In May this year, just 1790 Australians returned from short-term trips to Portugal. That figure for Italy was almost 20,000. Portugal has huge potential for growth, and it can only be a matter of time. See visitportugal.com Germany Its time for Australians to spread their wings in Germany. This is already a popular country with Antipodean travellers, but the bulk of those visits are to the likes of Berlin and Munich, with occasional river-cruise wanderings along the Rhine. Theres much more to experience. What about Heidelberg, with its vibrant student population and its historic old town; or the Harz Mountains, dotted with picture-perfect alpine villages; or Saxon Switzerland National Park, with its rugged vistas; or Leipzig, following in Berlins alternative footsteps? Germany is the ideal country to avoid overcrowded destinations and yet still feel youre getting the best of Europe. See germany.travel China

The Forbidden City, Beijing. Credit: iStock China is open to tourism. But how many people are actually going? Theres movement between our two countries, but its a fraction of the numbers seen pre-pandemic, and still fewer are travelling for tourism. Thats understandable  news stories of entire cities being locked down in a flash, and long-term quarantine for COVID-19 sufferers live long in the travellers mind. That will eventually fade. It may take a year  it will probably take several. But at some point there will be a feeling among many Australians that its safe to return to China for leisure travel, to explore this vast and diverse land once again. See travelchina.org.cn Zimbabwe The inclusion of Zimbabwe in our list rests with how tensions play out after last months election. If the country remains peaceful that will boost the confidence of travellers to continue trickling into this troubled though incredibly beautiful and underrated destination. They will come, of course, for Victoria Falls, Zimbabwes best-known attraction; however, this is also one of Africas best safari destinations, where low visitor numbers and facilities ranging from adventurous bush camps to ultra-luxury lodges make this country a big hit for those in the know. See classicsafaricompany.com.au Norway

Reine, Lofoten Islands, an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Credit: iStock Its hard to know how much stock to put in the title of European Capital of Culture. There are three named every year, after all; 68 cities have held the position since 1985. Just how exceptionally cultural can they all be? Still, next year its the turn of Bodo in Norway (along with Tartu in Estonia and Bad Ischl in Austria), which is as good an excuse as any to discover a little more about this famously beautiful country. Bodo is a fishing town just above the Arctic Circle, and a gateway to the rugged Lofoten Islands  though next year the focus will be on the indigenous Sami culture and a generally creative bent. And after Bodo, the rest of Norway awaits. See visitnorway.com India Remember India? The myriad cultures, the diverse attractions, the joy, the beauty, the all-encompassing, all-pervasive humanity of the place? We remember India. Only, we dont go there so much at the moment. The rush for post-pandemic travel to countries perceived as safe  the UK, the US, New Zealand, Thailand  has left travel to India mostly to those re-establishing family connections. That, however, is already beginning to change. As travellers regain confidence, their scope of potential destinations expands with India once more enticing those up for a culture-soaked adventure. And with increased appreciation for Indias regional differences, even those who have visited before will feel the pull of this amazing place. See incredibleindia.org Morocco

Medina, Fes, Morocco. Credit: iStock Morocco is already kicking off. Tour companies are seeing plenty of interest in this destination thats perceived as adventurous, as different  and yet not too adventurous, or too different. Morocco enjoys a location very close to Western Europe, too: you can get here by ferry from Spain. On the ground, you have a diverse and fascinating country, from the time warp that is Fez, to the bustle of Marrakesh, the multiple cultures and creative history of Tangier, the heights of the Atlas Mountains and the lows of the Sahara. Morocco will continue to thrive. See visitmorocco.com Australia It will becoming increasingly important to space out long-distance travels. Pictured: Twelve Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Victoria. Credit: iStock Yes, Australia. Not just any old country, but the most important country in the world when it comes to places to explore over the next decade or so. As the effects of climate change become ever more obvious, as do the contributions made to that change by travellers indulging in long-distance travel, its going to become more and more important to space out overseas journeys with adventure closer to home. And what more excuse do you need to appreciate everything we have here? Great cities, myriad national and marine parks, the worlds best beaches, cultures that are tens of thousands of years old, and vast swathes of open space to lose yourself. See australia.com
PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in a Public meeting on September 1, 2023.

The Public meeting, which was adjourned on June 22, 2023, will be reconvened on Friday, at 13.00 hrs. in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg. The Prime Minister and Minister of General Affairs, Ms. Silveria E. Jacobs, will be in attendance.

The agenda point is:

1. Update on all matters related to TELEM (IS/169/2022-2023 dated November 7, 2022, and IS/869/2022-2023 dated June 19, 2023)

Agenda point 1 was requested by MP G.S. Heyliger-Marten, MP M.D. Gumbs and MP S.L. Duncan.

The meeting will continue with the Minister of General Affairs providing answers to the questions posed by Members of Parliament in the first round at agenda point one (1). Agenda point two (2) was closed.

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

All persons visiting the House of Parliament must adhere to the house rules.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary sessions will be carried live on TV 15, via SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the internet www.sxmparliament.org, www.pearlfmradio.sx and www.youtube.com/c/SintMaartenParliament
PHILIPSBURG:--- In a progressive discourse during a Parliament meeting held earlier this year on January 25th, MP Romou placed a strong emphasis on period poverty, asserting the pressing need to promote period equity, especially starting within our schools. Highlighting a proposal received from the Teen Times in September 2021, MP Romou advocated for the necessity of Period Poverty Legislation. The discourse illuminated the gravity of the issue, stressing the importance of understanding that period poverty isn't limited to our borders; it is a global concern.

For those unfamiliar with the term, period poverty refers to the difficult choices women and girls must make when they cannot afford menstrual hygiene products. These choices may include deciding between purchasing food or sanitary napkins, resorting to using rags, or toilet paper, or even reusing pads. MP Romou accentuated the urgency of the matter by referencing Scotland's historic move in August 2022, where they became the first country to offer free period products for all through their Period Products Free Provision Bill.

Moreover, the US has enacted sixty state laws and two federal laws related to menstrual hygiene, addressing various facets from tax elimination on menstrual products to ensuring their accessibility and safety.

Both Ministers, Ottley and Samuel, undertook extensive research on the subject, which culminated in the continuation of the period poverty meeting on Thursday, 31st August. Minister Ottley shared invaluable insights during this meeting, showcasing the successful collaboration between the ministries. This joint effort resulted in the allocation of hygiene products to numerous schools.

It's noteworthy to mention that MP Romou's advocacy in this area has been significant. Having had discussions with the minister, she has managed to advocate successfully for an annual budget of approximately 12,000 guilders for ECYS. Minister Samuel has given a nod of agreement after their meeting. This means the financial burden won't fall on schools, but rather, the budget will be provisioned directly, ensuring young girls never have to choose between education and their basic human right to menstrual hygiene.

In conclusion, heartfelt gratitude is extended to both Minister Ottley and Minister Samuel for taking this issue with the seriousness it deserves. Their willingness to engage in constructive dialogues with MP Romou ensures that funds will be allotted in the budget to tackle period poverty. With such dedication from our leaders, it's evident that period poverty will soon be a thing of the past in our nation.
Potash Mineralization Intersected in the Extension of BA-002 and Update on the Gabon Post-Election Situation and Recent Private Placement

Millennial Potash Corp. (TSX.V:MLP, OTCQB:MLPNF, FSE: X0D) (aMLPa, aMillenniala or the aCompanya)  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/millennial-potash-corp/  is pleased to report that the drilling of the extension to BA-002 is in progress and has intersected potash mineralization beyond the bottom of the historic drillhole.A In addition, Millennial is providing an update on the political situation in Gabon following elections on Aug. 26 and the status of the private placement announced on Aug. 28th.

Farhad Abasov, Millenniala?s Chair, commented aMillennial is pleased to have intersected potash mineralization in the form of beds of carnallite in the extension drilling below BA-002.A The preliminary interpretation indicates this mineralization is part of evaporite Cycle IV and adds potential expansion of the potash zone as this Cycle has not been intersected previously.A Sampling results are expected in 4-6 weeks and upon completion of this extension the drill rig will continue with the extension of BA-001. Our operations are not affected by the current political situation in the country.a

Millennial\-s Phase 2a drill programme is in progress with the extension of historic drillhole BA-002 now coring beyond the bottom of the old hole at a depth of approx. 519m (see photo below).A Potash mineralization, in the form of bright red nodular carnallite bedding was intersected and is interpreted as part of Cycle IV evaporite sequence.A Core is currently being logged and sampled and will be expedited to SRC Potash Laboratory in Saskatchewan for analysis.

Gabon conducted presidential elections on Aug. 26th and the incumbent president was declared the winner.A However, some opposition groups have contested the results and there is some uncertainty as to the current political situation within the country. A

We have received no reports of unrest or any other disturbance around our operations in the southern part of the country.A Reports from Millennial staff on the ground indicate the situation on the ground is quiet. A To date the camp area and drilling operations remain unaffected but the Company will closely monitor the situation to ensure the safety of all MLPa?s staff.

The Company also wishes to provide an update on the private placement announced on Aug. 28th. Due to the developing events in Gabon after the elections, the PP announced on Aug 28th has been cancelled pending further news on the situation in the country.

This news release has been reviewed by Peter J. MacLean, Ph.D., P. Geo, Director of the Company, and both are Qualified Persons as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101.

To find out more about Millennial Potash Corp. please contact Investor Relations at (604) 662-8184 or email at info@millennialpotashcorp.com.

MILLENNIAL POTASH CORP.

aFarhad Abasova

Chair of the Board of Directors

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 (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.A

This document may contain certain aForward-Looking Statementsa within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words aanticipatea, abelievea, aestimatea, aexpecta, atarget, aplana or \planned\, aforecasta, \intend\, amaya, aschedulea and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals including approvals of title and mining rights or licenses and environmental (including land or water use), local community or indigenous community approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, changes in laws, rules and regulations in Gabon or any other jurisdiction which may impact upon the Company or its properties or the commercial exploitation of those properties, currency risks including the exchange rate of USD$ for Cdn$ or CFA or other currencies, fluctuations in the market for potash or potash related products, changes in exploration costs and government royalties, export policies or taxes in Gabon or any other jurisdiction and other factors or information. The Companya?s current plans, expectations and intentions with respect to development of its business and of the Banio Potash Project may be impacted by economic uncertainties arising out of any pandemic or by the impact of current financial and other market conditions on its ability to secure further financing or funding of the Banio Potash Project. Such statements represent the Companya?s current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political, environmental and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.
Discovery Announces the Submission of its Environmental Impact Assessment for its Cordero Project

Discovery Silver Corp. (TSX: DSV, OTCQX: DSVSF) (aDiscoverya or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/discovery-silver-corp/ ) is pleased to announce it has formally submitted for evaluation its Environmental Impact Assessment (Manifestacion de Impacto Ambiental or aMIAa) for its Cordeo silver project (aCorderoa or athe Projecta) located in Chihuahua State, Mexico. The submission was made to SecretarAa de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (aSEMARNATa), the federal government agency responsible for evaluating MIA submissions. The MIA is one of the principal permits required for the development of Cordero and encapsulates extensive social and environmental work programs completed by the Companya?s team in Mexico since 2020 in parallel with multiple reviews by third-party consultants.

Tony Makuch, CEO, states: aThe submission of our MIA represents a major milestone for the Company. The submission is supported by comprehensive environmental and social baseline assessment work and outlines detailed plans for the responsible and sustainable development of the Cordero Project. The Project is expected to have significant positive direct and indirect socioeconomic impacts within Mexico at local, regional and national levels with an expected peak local workforce of over 1,000 employees, direct tax revenues of approximately US$1.2 billion and over US$4 billion of expected goods and services purchased locally within Mexico over its 18-year mine life as per our Preliminary Feasibility Study. We look forward to working with SEMARNAT through the permitting review process to demonstrate our full compliance with Mexican regulatory requirements alongside our overarching commitment to meet the highest industry standards for environmental protection, social responsibility and health and safety.a

CIMA Consultores Ambientales (aCIMAa), an experienced Mexico-based environmental permitting consultant, was the principal author of the MIA submission. The MIA incorporated environment and social evaluation baseline studies completed by CIMA and Vinfidem Consultants respectively, with data collected through the 2021 a 2022 period. A third-party review of the Companya?s sustainability practices was also completed by Environmental Resources Management, Inc. (aERMa), a global expert in environmental, health, safety, risk and social issues. Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc. (aAusencoa), AGP Mining Consultants Inc., Knight PiAsold Ltd., WSP Global Inc. and Blue Coast Research Ltd. also provided input in key technical areas.

The Company has demonstrated a proactive approach to date to its sustainability practices as demonstrated by the recent receipt of the prestigious Socially Responsible Enterprise (Empresa Socialmente Responsable) (ESR) distinction from the Mexican Centre for Philanthropy (Centro Mexicana para la FilantropAa) (CEMEFI) and the Great Place to Work Certification, an internationally recognized program awarded to companies that create an outstanding employee experience. The Company looks forward to building on these efforts through expanded social programs during development and operations and to realizing the sustainable benefits that come with a sizeable work force of over 1,000 employees during the construction phase and long-term direct employment of 900 people when the phase two expansion is complete. It is anticipated that a large majority of employees will come from local communities in the Parral municipality given an already significant mining industry presence in the region and the existence of a mining-focused technical university located in the town of Parral.

The development and operation of Cordero will also create significant long-term business opportunities for local, regional and national service providers and suppliers at what will be one of the largest mining projects in Mexico. In total there will be an expected US$4 billion of goods and services purchased locally within Mexico over the life of the mine. This will provide the opportunity to expand supply chains for critical strategic minerals in Mexico with the potential for sizeable volumes of long-term base metals concentrate supplies for Mexican smelters. In addition, the Project is expected to contribute more than US$1.2 billion in direct mining taxes and royalties to the Mexican government. Combined, these benefits create a strong basis for government support of long-term investment for the responsible development of Cordero to the benefit of all stakeholders.

The Company is also committed to employing global best practice standards for the management of its environmental programs over the life of the project. A reflection of this commitment is the recent receipt of the Environmental Quality Certification issued by the Federal Attorneys for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA) in recognition of the Companya?s compliance with the National Environmental Audit Program.A For Project operations, tailings storage facilities have been designed in adherence with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management requirements. Responsible water use has also been a key area of focus with the use of treated wastewater from local municipalities currently under evaluation. This is expected to result in minimal reliance on groundwater sources. A detailed closure and reclamation plan designed by CIMA in conjunction with technical input from Ausenco, Knight PiAsold Ltd. and WSP Global Inc. was also included with the submission. A A

Further information on the Companya?s current Environment, Social and Governance (aESGa) practices and priorities going forward can be found in its 2022 ESG report: Discovery Silver ESG report

Further information on the technical aspects of the Cordero project can be found in the Companya?s Preliminary Feasibility Study issued in January 2023: Cordero PFS

About Discovery

Discoverya?s flagship project is its 100%-owned Cordero project, one of the worlda?s largest silver deposits. The PFS completed in January 2023 demonstrates that Cordero has the potential to be developed into a highly capital efficient mine that offers the combination of margin, size and scalability. Cordero is located close to infrastructure in a prolific mining belt in Chihuahua State, Mexico.

Neither the TSX Exchange nor its Regulation Services ProviderA accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release is not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the a1933 Acta) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains aforward-looking informationa and aforward-looking statementsa (collectively, aforward-looking statementsa) within the meaning of the applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussion with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often, but not always using phrases such as aplansa, aexpectsa, ais expecteda, abudgeta, ascheduleda, aestimatesa, aforecastsa, aintendsa, aanticipatesa, or abelievesa or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results amaya, acoulda, awoulda, amighta or awilla be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: the anticipated use of the net proceeds from the Offering; anticipated advancement of mineral properties or programs; future operations; future growth potential of Discovery; and future development plans.

These forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business. Management believes that these assumptions are reasonable. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others: risks related to the speculative nature of the Companya?s business; the Companya?s formative stage of development; the impact of COVID19 on the timing of exploration and development work; the Companya?s financial position; possible variations in mineralization, grade or recovery rates; actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of future economic evaluations; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; fluctuations in spot and forward prices of gold, precious and base metals or certain other commodities; fluctuations in currency markets; change in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls regulations and political or economic developments; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formation pressures, cave-ins and flooding); inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability of increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); and title to properties. Such factors are described in detail in the Prospectus Supplement and the documents incorporated by reference therein.

Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. 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 and there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
Queena?s Road Capital Announces US$70 million Investment in NexGen Energy Ltd.

Queena?s Road Capital Investment Ltd. (TSX-QRC) (the \Company\ or aQRCa  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/queens-road-capital-investment-ltd/ ) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with NexGen Energy Ltd. (aNexGena) (TSX: NXE) whereby the Company will invest US$70,000,000 in a new NexGen convertible debenture.

The convertible debenture will have similar terms to the existing 2020 convertible debenture including a 5-year term and voting alignment but updated to a 9.0% coupon and will be convertible into NexGen common shares at a share price of US$6.76. The interest is payable 6.0% in cash and 3.0% in shares at the 20-day volume weighted average price prior to each interest payment date. Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Ltd. has agreed to purchase from QRC 8,700,000 common shares currently held by QRC for US$5.20 per share (or approximately US$45 million). Use of proceeds will be to fund further development and exploration of NexGena?s mineral properties and for general corporate purposes.

QRC achieves several significant milestones with this investment, including:

Largest single investment to-date: at $70 million, this investment is three times the size of the Companya?s previous largest convertible debt investment, a testament to both the growth of QRC during the 3 years since its inception and to the quality of NexGen as an investee company;

First exit of a significant investment: in connection with the investment, the Company with convert the existing 2020 convertible debenture into common shares of NexGen representing the first realisation of a significant investment by QRC since its inception; the US$45 million sale price represents a gain of 200% over the US$15 million initial investment and an IRR of approximately 50% over the duration of the investment;

US$149 million convertible debenture portfolio: as a result of this investment, QRC will cross the $100 million threshold of active convertible debenture investments with US$149 million of income generating assets under management; and

US$13+ million in annual interest income: the active convertible debt portfolio will be earning US$13.4 million of interest income annually (or a 9.0% average coupon), which will support future dividend payments to our shareholders.

Warren Gilman, Chairman and CEO of the Company commented: aQRC is delighted to increase its investment in NexGen at a time when NexGen has announced that it is on the verge of receiving final permits and begin construction at the world class Arrow uranium deposit. NexGen expects that Arrow will become the largest and lowest cost hard rock uranium mine in the world when commissioned and QRC looks forward to the continued strong partnership with the entire NexGen team.a

Completion of the investment, which is expected to occur in the next few weeks, is subject to a number of conditions, including the execution of definitive documentation and the receipt of all required regulatory approvals.

About Queena?s Road Capital Investment Ltd.

QRC is a dividend paying, leading financier to the global resource sector. The Company is a resource focused investment company, making investments in privately held and publicly traded companies. The Company acquires and holds securities for long-term capital appreciation, with a focus on convertible debt securities and resource projects in advanced development or production located in politically safe jurisdictions.

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, visit the Company\-s website at www.queensrdcapital.com or contact by email info@queensrdcapital.com or phone +852 2759 2022 A

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger

info@resource-capital.chA

www.resource-capital.ch

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this News Release, which are not historical in nature, constitute \forward looking statements\ within the meaning of that phrase under applicable Canadian securities law. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements or information concerning the Company\-s growth strategy and the Company\-s future performance. These statements reflect management\-s current assumptions and expectations and by their nature are subject to certain underlying assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be construed as investment advice. Readers should perform a detailed, independent investigation and analysis of the Company and are encouraged to seek independent professional advice before making any investment decision. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or changes in circumstances that occur after the date hereof.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. A senior advisor to Iran's foreign minister, Ali Asghar Khaji, expressed a strong sense of optimism regarding the peaceful resolution of the Arash gas field dispute with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Trend reports.

In an interview with Yemeni Al-Masirah TV, Khaji emphasized that Tehran holds a positive outlook on resolving this matter amicably. He underscored that Iran's borders with Saudi Arabia are well-defined, and there are no contentions in that regard.

He also acknowledged the historical contentiousness of demarcating the border shared by Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, yet he regarded it as a manageable issue. He emphasized that the dispute has the potential to be resolved through goodwill and diplomatic efforts.

Positioned at the maritime junction between Iran and Kuwait, the Arash gas field is a shared resource among Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. It was discovered in 1967. It began production in 2013 and produces natural gas and condensates.
NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut ever has when he tested the Manned Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU, a nitrogen jet propelled backpack, during a 1984 space shuttle mission.

If you want to become an astronaut, there are lots of ways to do it now.

The traditional path is to apply to a space agency, like NASA . But that's not the only possible way to get to space. If you can afford it, you may be able to buy a ticket with a private vendor. Or you may get lucky and win a contest to fly to space.

As of August 2023, fewer than 700 people have made it to space. But that number is expected to surge as space tourism becomes even more popular and private companies expand their space research.

Read on to learn more about how to become an astronaut.

FAQ

What do you study to become an astronaut? In general, professional astronauts need training in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), along with considerable experience working in difficult environments, like airplanes or remote expeditions.

How long does it take to become an astronaut? Most professional astronauts aren't hired until they are at least in their 30s, which means they have a decade or more of professional experience and educational experience in technical fields. Then, it takes about two years to qualify for space and several more years of mission training.

How hard is it to become an astronaut? Becoming an astronaut requires resources and determination. Many people apply for professional astronaut jobs several times before being accepted. If you can't get to space through that pathway, however, you may be able to save up for space tourism.

NASA

This article focuses on the selection process for NASA, which applies to U.S. citizens. While many of the qualifications can be generalized to astronaut programs in other countries, each space agency has its own selection process.

NASA's basic requirements include U.S. citizenship, as well as a master's degree or equivalent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The agency also wants candidates to have at least two years of relevant professional experience (teaching students counts as experience) or 1,000 hours of pilot-of-command time in an aircraft.

Astronaut candidates also must pass a long-duration physical. Generally, astronaut candidates greatly exceed these requirements and have substantial experience in isolated, confined environments similar to space. See NASA's website for more information about the qualifications and process, which opens up every few years.

NASA and most other agencies have an astronaut candidate process, in which a newly selected individual must pass a series of basic tests across two to three years of training before being qualified as an astronaut.

Even after that, astronauts may spend years or decades on the ground, waiting for a slot to open on a rocket mission. They are busy on the ground, however, supporting other space missions, working on spacecraft development and performing other agency tasks.

NASA astronauts typically fly to the International Space Station (ISS) for up to a year and are now being assigned for Artemis program missions to the moon .

International space agencies

Non-U.S. citizens in the following geographical areas should consult one of these agencies for more information on becoming an astronaut:

Like the U.S. space program, JAXA, ESA and CSA fly missions to the ISS and are expected to bring people to the moon as well. (CSA already has an astronaut, Jeremy Hansen , assigned for the round-the-moon Artemis 2 mission, alongside three NASA astronauts.)

Russia is an ISS partner, but due to geopolitical concerns from its unsanctioned 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it is building an independent space program that will begin in 2028 at the earliest. The UAE is newer to human spaceflight, but so far, the country has been working closely with NASA on missions.

Some countries are going to space independently. China runs its own space program and space station, largely due to ongoing U.S. security concerns. India is working on launching astronauts independently through its Gaganyaan spacecraft.

Space tourism

As of August 2023, the major vendors for space tourism include Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin , while SpaceX has pledged to do long-duration space missions for tourists in the future.

Both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin offer a few minutes of weightlessness in suborbital space. Blue Origin flies rockets beyond the Karman line , the internationally recognized boundary of space at 60 miles (100 kilometers) above mean sea level. Virgin Galactic flies above the U.S.' definition of space, at 50 miles (80 km) above mean sea level, using a carrier plane and space plane.

These private space tourism companies are occasionally open to ticket queries, but seats come at a hefty price. Virgin Galactic tickets cost $450,000 apiece the last time the company opened registrations. Blue Origin has not publicly released a price for its space flights yet.

You also may be able to participate as an astronaut by being employed by one of these companies, particularly in the case of Virgin Galactic. That firm has astronaut instructors who fly alongside tourists to assist them during their brief moments of spaceflight and pilots who operate the spacecraft.

Occasionally, the nonprofit Space For Humanity opens up calls for tourists to participate in Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic flights  and some have gone to space already. Space For Humanity seeks to fly individuals from regions of the world that have been underrepresented in spaceflight, like Egypt or the Caribbean. The funding comes from billionaire founder Dylan Taylor, who flew on a Blue Origin flight as a space tourist.

As space tourism expands, you may find other opportunities to fly to space through contests or other companies. SpaceX has at least two tourism missions planned for its future Starship system. These missions are funded by billionaires. One, called dearMoon , will fly eight artists around the moon along with its funder, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. On the other mission, billionaire Dennis Tito; his wife, Akiko; and eight other individuals will fly around the moon as well. No flight dates have been released for these opportunities yet.

Private companies

So far, the private companies offering flights to space are SpaceX and Axiom Space (with Axiom using SpaceX spacecraft.) Axiom Space does short-term missions to the ISS, with one of its employees (always a former NASA astronaut due to agency rules) in charge of the mission. The company has flown private individuals on these missions to conduct spaceflight research, but they have tended to be wealthy folks who have paid tens of millions of dollars for their seats.

SpaceX has pledged four missions with billionaire Jared Isaacman. One mission has already flown: Inspiration4 was a 2021 excursion to Earth orbit with Isaacman and three other individuals, who received their seats through contests or personal connections. The mission also aimed to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Isaacman is now running a private space initiative, the Polaris Program , in which he will return to space three more times if the program goes as planned. Each of these missions will also raise money for St. Jude.

The first of the three missions, Polaris Dawn , will fly Isaacman, two SpaceX employees and a long-term business associate of his on a high-altitude mission above Earth. Polaris has also offered a mission to boost the altitude of the Hubble Space Telescope , but NASA is investigating the mission feasibility and opening up the idea to other vendors as well.

Alternative pathways or substitutes

A few people have been to space through pathways that cannot easily be replicated. The North American X-15 program, for example, brought eight military pilots above the U.S. altitude of space in the 1960s. Early test flights on SpaceShipOne, the predecessor to today's Virgin Galactic ships, also flew above the U.S. boundary of space.

There are numerous options to study astronaut work on the ground, such as through private academies, research studies and analog missions. These pathways may or may not lead to space. But at the very least, they will get you doing astronaut-like activities, such as working in spacesuits, learning how to operate in remote water or land environments, and performing science research in difficult conditions.

Parabolic or zero- gravity flights will let you experience microgravity, or gravity like that on the moon or Mars , for a few seconds at a time. Private vendors Zero-G (in the United States) and Novespace (in Europe) use special aircraft that climb and fall in a pattern of parabolas. As the aircraft falls, you will experience either a few seconds of floating or a few seconds of lighter gravity, depending on the situation. These excursions are expensive (in the range of $10,000), but they are far cheaper than a ticket to space.

Some balloon companies, like World View and Space Perspective, are working on private missions that will bring tourists to the edge of space. Seats on World View, for example, are listed at $50,000 apiece. Both companies have pledged to fly their balloons high enough in the atmosphere for people to experience the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space.

Q&A: Jasmin Moghbeli, NASA astronaut

NASA astronaut Jasmine Moghbeli. (Image credit: NASAA)

Jasmin Moghbeli is a NASA astronaut and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps.

She was selected by NASA in 2017 as an astronaut candidate and is now fully qualified for spaceflight. Her first mission will be Crew-7 on a SpaceX spacecraft. Before working at NASA, she was a Marine Corps test pilot. She has a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering (with information technology) and a Master of Science in aerospace engineering.

What degrees count to be an astronaut? You need a master's degree in a STEM field, so science, technology, engineering or mathematics. There are certain degrees that don't count, such as nursing, psychology, exercise physiology or social sciences.

What do you do during training? We're constantly working on training our first two years. This week, I'm getting in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab [a big swimming pool] to practice a spacewalk. Later, I'm getting into a T-38 jet. So it's a continuous process every day.

Why do astronauts need to pass a physical? You need to be able to do spacewalks. You also need to be able to fly jets for training. So we need to make sure everyone's in their best physical condition.

This Q&A was based on a YouTube video by NASA on March 2, 2020.

Additional resources

Learn more about NASA astronauts on the agency's website. Get inspiration for your own educational pathway to space by reading the biographies of current NASA astronauts .

Bibliography

Axiom Space. (2023). "Private Astronauts." https://www.axiomspace.com/private-astronauts

European Space Agency. (n.d., accessed Aug. 16, 2023). "Parastronaut Feasibility Project." https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/ESA_Astronaut_Selection/Parastronaut_feasibility_project

European Space Agency. (Nov. 23, 2022.) "ESA Presents New Generation of Astronauts." https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/ESA_presents_new_generation_of_astronauts

NASA. (Feb. 7, 2022). "Frequently Asked Questions." https://www.nasa.gov/feature/frequently-asked-questions-0/
The new release from Armin Strom pays tribute to its first manufacture movement

I must confess  this is not the first time Ive seen the new Armin Strom One Week. Yes, it was just launched at Geneva Watch Days 2023, and its debut came at the point where the focus of the watch world was entirely on the events and happenings in this city. My first glimpse of the new One Week, however, was in July, when I was able to get a preview of the piece from Armin Stroms co-founder and master watchmaker, Claude Greisler, and was lucky enough to get a detailed breakdown of its various improvements.

The One Week is a milestone watch for Armin Strom, representing the beginnings of its era of rebirth in 2010. Back then, the One Week was the first Armin Strom watch with an in-house movement, and marked the brands transition into a verticalised manufacture with a specific horological philosophy and mechanical identity. Its long power reserve and symmetry of construction established cornerstones of watchmaking at Armin Strom  dedicated to functionality and contemporary aesthetics.

As a result, the 2023 revival of the Armin Strom One Week revisits and reinforces the horological codes that we have come to associate with the brand, but brings mechanical improvements that will resonate with those who love and appreciate the finer points of technical watchmaking.

One Week movement (back)  Armin Strom

The long power reserve continues to be the defining point of the new One Week, along with its manual-winding system. The series-connected twin barrels, however, now offer better isochronism, in that the movement torque remains more consistent over the duration of the power reserve. This may sound like a minor point, but better isochronism leads to greater stability in chronometric performance, which ultimately leads to a more reliable watch.

On the same theme, the movement now boasts a higher balance frequency, from the 2.5Hz (18,000vph) of the original One Week to 3.5Hz (25,200vph) in the current version. Once again, a higher balance frequency increases the resistance of the watch against shocks and other external perturbations, which makes the watch more robust.

These two improvements, an increased power reserve and a higher balance frequency, are actually in contradiction  watches with higher beat rates have shorter power reserves as a general rule. To have both improvements in the same watch means significant optimisation in terms of how the movement works.

One Week  Armin Strom

In terms of design, the new Armin Strom One Week leans heavily into the aesthetic that has defined the brand in recent years  open dials, geometric bridges and restrained finishing that focuses on subtle textures. On the left side of the watch, the mechanism behind the power reserve indication is revealed, from the conical cam to the ruby feeler that moves a rack to transmit information about the power reserve to the indication at 11 oclock.

For the launch edition of the new Armin Strom One Week, the watch comes with PVD-coated light-blue plates and bridges, and comes with an extended warranty of 10 years (double the usual warranty period of Armin Strom). In a 41mm diameter case, the watch is highly versatile and will accommodate a variety of wrist sizes, which is a pity that it will only be available in a series of 25 pieces  but of course, more editions will follow. The watch may be called One Week, but clearly its appeal endures far longer than that.
The company, which also owns BakeAway, a dough manufacturer based in Corby in Northamptonshire, said earlier this year that it was deeply disappointed by the CMAs outcome, and that it had big plans to invest and improve the Jus-Rol business.
But some 90% of the resident responses to a consultation over one of the developments in Ealing were negative by the deadline for comments yesterday, after John Lewis said its 35% affordable housing target would be scaled back unless it received local authority funding. A John Lewis spokesperson did not confirm whether it was set to receive the funding.
Dunkerton tried to cut an optimistic vibe. He added: The start to the new year has been tough, not helped by unseasonal weather and highly promotional markets, and Im not expecting the consumer environment to become any easier soon. However, the actions we have taken and continue to take to ensure the health of the business, give me more confidence as we look into the future.
In the second Potter film, a malevolent force has been unleashed at Hogwarts. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened and people are being - literally - petrified. Years ago it happened too, and the last time a student was even killed. And so Harry, Ron and Hermione set out to discover what is going on, all the while trying to navigate school life.
Luckily, the mood changes dramatically when we meet Agathes mother, Edith (Caroline Chaniolleau), who was barely around when Agathe was growing up. By introducing her, Sachs provides a context for Agathes addiction to Tomas. Via the script and visual clues, we notice how much Edith and Tomas have in common. Both wear wonderfully chunky jackets (big, brown, perfect for snuggling into). Both can be icily petulant.
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Princess Diana has always been a true style icon, and her fall looks are still a source of inspiration for fashion connoisseurs from all over the world. This aristocrat knew how to combine classic with modernity, comfort with elegance and simplicity with sophistication.

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We decided to show a few outfits of the Princess of Wales, which are suitable for cool weather and can be repeated today. Read more in the OBOZREVATEL material.

1. Blazer, turtleneck and high-fit pants

Lady Di combined a blazer in khaki color, a milk turtleneck and skinny jeans for shopping in London in 1994. She completed the look with a white bag with brown lines, dark brown glasses, laconic loafers and a chocolate belt. You can replace the skinny pants with flared or straight ones and use light sneakers.

2. Sweater, shirt and suit pants

The Princess of Wales often mixed different clothing styles. For example, she paired classic straight pants with vertical lines, a white shirt and a voluminous casual sweater for a trip to the polo club. That was at a time when women favored silhouette outfits! Lady Di didn't follow trends but created them herself.

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3. Fuchsia colored cardigan and plaid pants

The princess liked the fuchsia color the most. Textiles in this shade harmonized with the light blush on her face and blonde hair. Lady Di once walked near Highgrove House wearing a white blouse, a deep pink cardigan, plaid pants and white loafers. A beautiful ensemble that will still look winning today!

4. Green blazer and fuchsia-colored blouse

Lady Di never limited herself to monochrome images or a pastel palette. She knew very well how to combine bright and seemingly incompatible colors. In 1992, for example, the Princess arrived at Babington Hospital wearing a dark green blazer and a bright pink blouse. She completed her outfit with a woven bag with flowers and emerald shoes.

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5. Striped shirt and white denim jumpsuit

As the strict dress code of social events required wearing smart dresses and suits, Princess Diana preferred comfortable clothes at home. For example, she walked with her children in white denim overalls, a shirt with vertical lines and white sneakers near the Palace. It is a simple look but it also looks interesting.

Earlier OBOZREVATEL wrote about Kate Middleton's favorite shades that make her younger.

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But beyond Walters and Robinson, this series belongs to Jasmine Jobsons Jaq. Her flinty character is given an increasing emotional hinterland in this series as shes torn in different directions, by her family  as she seeks to support her struggling sister and baby nephew  and her allegiance to Sully and Dushane as one of the drug gangs key lieutenants. When the two collide, it sets up the final act to the show. This is a tour de force from an actor whose star is set to rise and rise  next she will be leading ITVX drama Platform 7, a psychological drama that will offer a very different challenge... theres little doubt she will meet it.
The draconian strike laws we have to operate under are problematic in and of itself. We cant actually stop working or we could be potentially sued, she says. Since July 14, members of the American actors union have refused to work amid ongoing disputes over pay and the threat of artificial intelligence, issues Harris believes are as critical in the UK. Ive got a cheque for eight cents before, she says, of her now depleted residual pay. And she is one of the lucky ones. Im not asking for anyone to cry for my position. I am one of the less than two per cent of this industry who are able to make a living from it. What we are fighting for really is the 98 per cent of people who [cannot].
Parole papers published later that month which detailed the decision to keep him behind bars said officials hoped to move Bronson  one of the UKs longest-serving prisoners who changed his surname to Salvador in 2014  to another prison where he can show how he manages himself in a more open unit with less restrictions on his behaviour.
Ms Boal said: Did I sit down and ask Pat that one of these hypotheses was that the officers actions were racially motivated? I didnt. I thought it was blindingly obvious to everybody. Why were we all there if this wasnt one of the key factors?
Effectively, offshoring or pushing our impacts elsewhere where they cause even more problems, is a serious concern. There are many difficult choices, which can be made easier, as the report outlines. For example, we can reduce our use of unsustainable materials and cut energy consumption that degrades the natural world.
The charity says: We call it chickenpox when we first catch it. The virus hides away in the body and can appear again at any age. When this happens, we call it shingles. This is more likely to occur as we get older.
Dom Ellis, the LFBS deputy commissioner, said: We recognise the environmental benefits they bring to travel in our city, but the stark reality is that some of these vehicles are proving to be incredibly dangerous, particularly if they have been modified with second-hand products or if batteries are used with the wrong chargers.
The Great Fire display will be an integral part of this and our new approach will help us engage more school children than ever before, as well as ensure that were telling the story of the fire in the most accurate and engaging way possible.
Among its requests are to prevent homelessness by investing in the next generation of social rented homes, as well as raising standards in the sector by introducing new and enforceable national regulations, which will apply to all properties being used as temporary accommodation.
An analysis by the Telegraph newspaper of the data found that one in four cameras across the expanded zone have been targeted, while six outer London boroughs have seen more than a third of their cameras affected.
After two months of discussions and attempts to show "sanctioned" Hollywood movies, the terrorist country of Russia has decided to "deny the distribution license for the Oppenheimer and Barbie movies. The Ministry of Culture made a statement that foreign tapes do not meet the objectives "to preserve and strengthen traditional Russian spiritual values."

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They also said that the viewers should be calm as they will be able to enjoy movies from abroad soon anyway. Russia is already preparing to purchase the rights to show movies from "friendly" Africa, Brazil and China, Russian media writes (to see the photo, scroll to the end of the page).

It should be noted that the Russians did not take the news about the censorship of Hollywood movies, which they wanted to show illegally in the country, too happily. The Ministry of Culture was reminded that the cinemas were showing the disgusting Neposredstvenno Kakha. Drugoy film not so long ago, where rape was tolerated.

Yevgeny Blazhin, a well-known Russian film columnist, mocked the position of the Ministry of Culture and asked what values cinema should carry. The Ministry was called "a bunch of clowns" in the comments.

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Disappointed viewers were offered an alternative: Russian movies. Three of them have already appeared in a year, one of which is dorky propaganda about the war.

"Russian distribution is saturated with quality domestic premieres. 2023 has already seen such big releases as the family picture Cheburashka, which became the highest-grossing film in the history of domestic cinematography, The Challenge feature film and The Witness movie on the Russian history", the deputy head of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation Andrei Malyshev said in a statement.

The Witness is directly related to Ukraine. The tape, which propagandists made about the genocide in the Kyiv region, gathered an average of 4 people in cinemas.

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Russia put up posters with the premieres of Barbie and Oppenheimer just a month ago. They were allegedly imported into the country from Armenia.

As OBOZREVATEL wrote, some Russians did not wait for the decision of the Ministry of Culture and started showing foreign tapes right on the roof. Their "ordinary" people downloaded movies from pirate sites with advertising.
He added: Drivers should not use the services advertised by these fraudsters as they will also be committing a criminal offence as well as wasting their money as their exemption will not stand. We have already removed many exemptions where we have identified or suspected them to be fraudulent.
More than half (53%) of 1,000 adults in Britain surveyed by Ipsos said they supported junior doctors  down three points since the last poll in June  while 31% are against the strikes.
It is absolutely disgraceful, and a sign of gross Government incompetence, that a few days before the start of term 104 schools are finding out that some or all of their buildings are unsafe and cannot be used

Daniel Kebede, National Education Union
The party says the recent deal struck by the EU and UK to reform the protocol  the Windsor Framework  does not go far enough to address its concerns and has made clear that it will not countenance a return to devolution until the UK government provides further assurances, by way of legislation, over Northern Irelands place within the UK internal market.
The statement said: If [the government] does not come to the table with a credible offer on pay, he will face another six months of strike action. And another six months after, and after that, if he continues to ignore us. He knows the stakes, he knows our ask, and now he knows our resolve.
Ive just come from the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union in Toledo yesterday and we had a presentation from the foreign minister of Niger and the president of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) who were describing the coup detats in that region, and in particular the Niger situation, but obviously it has been followed by Gabon, he said.
Muhammad Sharif said his son had briefly visited the family home in Jhelum earlier this month before he disappeared again. He said his son did not tell him about Saras death.
Though not confirmed, it is estimated that around 24 schools in England have been told to close entirely because of the presence of RAAC, and schools minister Nick Gibb has admitted more could be asked to shut classrooms.
Much of Europe and the northern hemisphere observe the practice, which will see one hour added on to the night in the autumn to give extra daylight at the end of the day for the winter months.
The website published a video of the funeral for Bilal Kissi on Thursday in the Moroccan border town of Bni Drar. It said Mr Mechouers family is seeking the repatriation of his body, which was recovered by Algerian forces.
The police received a message about booby-trapping of all secondary schools in Kyiv on Friday, September 1. The relevant services started inspection of educational institutions.

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This was reported by the press service of the Kyiv city RMA. Citizens were urged to remain calm.

"The police received information about booby-trapping of all secondary schools located in Kyiv. Police officers are working alone, but units of the State Emergency Service will be involved if necessary", the message said.

Kyiv RMA added that the decision to evacuate children and teachers from the premises will be taken by the administration of educational institutions and the police.

The police received a message about the booby-trapping of one of the hospitals in Kyiv on July 17. For security reasons, about 250 patients and more than 200 medical personnel were evacuated from the institution. Police officers who inspected the premises did not find any explosives.

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As reported by OBOZREVATEL, all visitors and employees were evacuated from River Mall on the Dniprovska Embankment in Kyiv in the evening on Sunday, July 23. The police received information that the building might be booby-trapped.

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At least two of Trumps co-defendants have filed demands for a speedy trial and have asked to be tried separately from others in the case, while some of the others charged are trying to move their cases to federal court.
Blood covered the floor of the al fresco terrace as firefighters worked to make the area safe and get the eight victims to hospital on Thursday morning.
German prosecutors have brought several cases under a precedent set in recent years that allows for people who helped a Nazi camp function to be prosecuted as an accessory to the murders there without direct evidence that they participated in a specific killing.
Operators Lime, Tier and Dott have begun withdrawing their estimated 15,000 rental units from the city. These scooters will be sent to other cities in Europe after repair and maintenance work.
Mr Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him have embroiled him in multiple legal showdowns. He pleaded not guilty yesterday of illegally trying to overturn the election results in Georgia  a week after becoming the first former president to have his mugshot taken by police.
She has been a widow since 1976 and had three children but one died at the age of 86. She played piano until the age of 108 but now lives in a California nursing home and communicates via a typing platform due to her hearing.
Mr Zelenky said: I had a meeting with representatives of BAE Systems. The world knows this company very well. And our warriors are already very familiar with the weapons produced by this company... Our goal is to have all the most useful weapons for defence produced in Ukraine.
Ukrainian wine production can be traced back to the 4th century BC but declined for much of the 20th century during the years of the Soviet Union. The past decade, however, has seen a renaissance in the industry, not least following new legislation between 2016 and 2018 which has allowed small winemakers to flourish. Today there are 180 Ukrainian wine producers and the country is introducing the UK and EU system for protected designation of origin.
The Glossier Stretch Concealer launched back in 2016 and was so loved by its community that, for many, it works double duty as a foundation too. While this provided instant camouflaging results, it wasnt made for the kind of longevity youd expect from a base. The brand listened to the demand for an all-over formula and after much anticipation, has unveiled its Stretch Fluid Foundation, turning the connotations of this product type on its head.

This product has been designed for movement and to be indistinguishable from your skin. Its a foundation that feels like skincare and theres a very good reason for that: the base is made from 89 per cent skincare ingredients. The texture is gel-cream and feels hydrating on the skin due to the inclusion of squalane in the formula. Theres also rosehip and plankton extract that are balancing and ensure that it can be used by all skin types.
I always used to remember on Neighbours she would come in on set, I would be slogging my way over the script the night before and Kylie would read five pages on the day and just get all the lines right, he said.
Air France will mark its 90th anniversary on October 7, 2023, by unveiling a collection of five iconic dresses that embodies the companys legendary history.

Xavier Ronze, Head of the costume design workshops at the Paris Opera ballet, has been entrusted with the creation of this collection that will interpret the different hallmarks of the airline  aircraft and technology; uniforms and fashion; its iconic posters promoting its vast network; fine dining and tableware; design and architecture.

Further, Air France has naturally chosen the Galeries Lafayette, a temple of fashion in the heart of Paris, to showcase this original dress collection as part of its anniversary celebrations. From September 28 to October 10, 2023, it will be retracing its legendary history and high-flying elegance in an aim to go forward and embrace the future in the 12 windows of the famous store.

Created from the merger of Air Orient, Air Union, Societe Generale de Transports Aeriens, the Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aerienne and Aeropostale, Air France was officially inaugurated on October 7, 1933.

Ever since, the company has continued to create its legend by promoting the French art of travel around the world. Air France today offers its customers close to 1,000 daily flights to 200 destinations with a fleet of more than 240 aircraft.

In 2023, Air France is celebrating 90 years of elegance, technology, innovation and comfort on board its aircraft; 90 years of travel, fine dining, design, haute couture, art and architecture.

Air France is also teaming up with a selection of luxury French brands  Vanessa Bruno, Delsey, Bernardaud, Brun de Vian-Tiran and Le parapluie de Cherbourg  as part of its ambition to continue to promote French know-how. This collection is exclusively available at the Galeries Lafayette.

And for the very first time in its history, Air France is offering visitors the opportunity to purchase original tableware signed by the painter Jean Picart Le Doux and used on board its La Premiere and Business cabins between 1966 and the 2000s. The proceeds from the sale of these items will be donated to the Air France Foundation, which has been committed to supporting children around the world for 30 years.

Throughout this anniversary period, Air France is offering visitors the chance to attend real fashion shows retracing 90 years of French elegance, together with Galeries Lafayette. Models dressed in the uniforms of pilots, cabin crew, airport staff and mechanics will be on show in a dedicated area of the store to retrace the company's legendary uniform heritage, past and present.  TradeArabia News Service
The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) has included two leading food companies of the world, PepsiCo (Lay's, Mirinda, Pepsi, Sandora, 7up, "Chudo", "Slovianochka", "Sadochok", "Sandoryk", etc.) and Mars (Mars, Snickers, Milky Way, Twix, Bounty, M&M's, Whiskas, Pedigree, etc.) in the list of international sponsors of war. They may face serious reputational losses at the global level.

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This was shared by NAPC itself. They noted that these companies continue to operate in Russia, despite the statements about:

reduction of their business;

cessation of advertising activities;

production.

According to available information, PepsiCo Lay's chips were found in the food rations of Russian soldiers.

"These companies pay significant taxes to the Russian budget, thus supporting the economy of the aggressor country," the report said.

PepsiCo increased revenues in Russia in the first year of the war

PepsiCo is the fourth largest food and drink company in Russia in terms of net profit, NAPC noted. At the same time, it is emphasized that the company increased its revenues in Russia in the first year of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"The revenue for 2022 rose to 2.59 billion dollars. Net profit raised by 333% to 525 million dollars compared to 2021. More than 115 million dollars were paid to the Russian budget," the agency said.

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Despite the company's statement in March 2022 on the cessation of advertising activities and production of drinks in Russia in connection with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the production of drinks 7Up and Mirinda under the brands Evervess and Frustyle resumed in August 2022. The production of Pepsi beverages under the Evervess and Favorite brands resumed in March 2023.

"In addition, PepsiCo launched a new brand of lemonade in the country called Russian Gift to replace the previous products. The company continues production and distribution of other goods as well, including chips, snacks and dairy products", NAPC said.

The lack of sincere intentions to leave the Russian market is also indicated by the fact that the company's career page lists more than 580 open vacancies in Russia. "By creating jobs, foreign companies relieve the Kremlin of the burden of unemployment payments and related social problems," the agency stated.

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Mars increased its revenues in Russia in 2022

Mars increased its Russian revenues as well. According to the NAPC, in 2022:

the company's revenue in the Russian Federation increased to 2.45 billion dollars;

net profit increased by 59% to 377 million dollars;

more than $93 million were paid to the Russian budget.

"The Russian branch of Mars LLC publishes ads for hiring staff just like PepsiCo. They have more than 100 open vacancies," the report said.

In addition, this company promised to reduce business on the territory of Russia after the start of full-scale aggression. It stated that "any profits from Russian business will be used for humanitarian purposes and the company will not import or export products." Nevertheless, Mars factories continue to operate in Russia.

What being listed as international sponsors of war means



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PepsiCo and Mars are not the first international companies to be included in the list. It already includes Philip Morris International, JTI, Alibaba Group Holding Limited, Bacardi, Unilever, Raiffeisen Bank International, Auchan, Metro, Procter&Gamble, Bonduelle, Mondelez, Leroy Merlin, Xiaomi, Geely and many others.

Companies listed as international sponsors of war are entered into the World-Check database. This does not threaten them with closure but the database is used to identify and manage financial, regulatory and reputational risks worldwide.

For example, American Mondelez International faced a boycott in Europe after it was included in the Ukrainian list of international war sponsors. Scandinavian countries joined it most actively. After that, Mondelez even announced its intention to curtail its business in Russia. However, the boycott did not stop, as the company still does not plan to withdraw from the Russian market.

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However, all these companies on the list are still operating in Ukraine, as the NAPC has no authority to close international businesses or restrict their work. If sanctions are imposed by the National Security and Defense Council against such businesses, the situation may change.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, earlier the NAPC sent letters to companies that are on the list of international sponsors of war. The Agency offers the heads of such companies to visit Ukraine and see the consequences of Russian aggression with their own eyes and discuss the withdrawal from Russia.

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European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has said that the bloc should fix a "horizon" for new members. According to him, the bloc should prepare for Ukraine to become its full member.

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He said this at a briefing after an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Toledo (Spain) on Thursday, August 31, EP reports. Borrell noted that it is necessary to establish an approximate time of accession of new members to the European Union.

The top diplomat emphasized that the issue of enlargement "has been hovering over our discussions."

"Ukraine should become a member of the EU, as should the Western Balkans, quickly. I think the war in Ukraine had the side effect of speeding up the enlargement process, which is a merit-based process: a candidate state will become a member when it fulfills all the conditions," Borrell emphasized.

However, according to the European diplomat, it is worth "fixing a political goal, a horizon, to give the political process a push."

"And (a push. - Ed.) for us, because we also have to prepare for enlargement, which could lead to ten new members," he added.

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Borrell added that the "temporary goal" of European Union enlargement could "mobilize our energy and the energy of the candidate states."

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that one of the priorities of the work of the Ukrainian authorities in September will be the accession of our state to the European Union. In particular, parliament needs to pass several bills. They have already been prepared.

The head of state also said that Ukraine is fully prepared for negotiations on membership in the European Union. They should start already this year.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, the EU is working on a plan for long-term military assistance to Ukraine, which gives a rebuff to Russian aggression. It will include, in particular, both continued support with weapons and training of our military.

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In August 2023, Ukrainian soldiers set a new record in the "demilitarization" of the Russian army. The maximum number of enemy artillery systems since the beginning of the full-scale war (700 units) were destroyed in August.

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They also almost set a record for destroyed vehicles of the Russian Armed Forces. The losses suffered by the occupants in August were analyzed by the military and political observer of the Information Resistance group Oleksandr Kovalenko.

"In August, an absolute record was set for the number of destroyed Russian artillery. 691! It was difficult to surpass the performance for June and July, but they made it," the expert wrote.

Kovalenko emphasized that the importance of such huge losses lies not only in the fact that the enemy's ability to shell Ukrainian defenders here and now is reduced. They are also important because they exceed the maximum threshold after which the Russian military-industrial complex is no longer able to compensate.

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August was not limited to record losses in artillery systems for the occupants. Ukrainian warriors also almost set a record for destroyed vehicles of the Russian Armed Forces.

"The second indicator for the entire period of full-scale war is the destruction of Russian vehicles, 685. The higher number was only in march 2022, when logistics convoys were destroyed in non-stop mode, making 865 units. Something tells me that the focus will shift to armored vehicles and tanks in the fall," Kovalenko wrote.

On average, about 422 units of automotive equipment are destroyed per month.

At the same time, journalist Roman Shraik also drew attention to the fact that 113 units of Russian special vehicles were destroyed in August, while the monthly average was 44 units. This is the third-highest result for the entire time of the full-scale war.

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In August, Ukrainian soldiers deprived the Russian army of 243 tanks (average of 235 units per month), 408 armored combat vehicles (average of 453 per month), 36 MLRS (average of 39 per month), 5 helicopters (average of 17 per month), 394 UAVs (average of 233 per month) and 98 missiles (average of 76 per month)

As of the morning of September 1, irrevocable losses of the Russian Federation in manpower reached 263,490 occupants: Ukrainian soldiers eliminated 470 occupants and destroyed 23 tanks and art systems of the enemy on the last day of summer.

It was also reported that 15 units of equipment and 6 ammunition warehouses were destroyed in the Tavriia direction alone, where heavy fighting continues.

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BNR to release silver coin marking 150th birth anniversary of famed architect Petre Antonescu

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) on September 4 will put into circulation for numismatic purposes a silver coin dedicated to the 150th birth anniversary of famous Romanian architect Petre Antonescu, according to a BNR press release, told Agerpres.

Featuring on the obverse of the coin will be Arcul de Triumf (Triumphal Arch) in Bucharest, the brainchild of architect Petre Antonescu, the inscription "ROMANIA" in an arc, the year of issue "2023", the coat of arms of Romania and the face value "10 LEI." The reverse of the coin shows the portrait and name of Petre Antonescu, and his birth and death years, "1873" and "1965."

The silver coins, housed in transparent plastic capsules, will be accompanied by leaflets featuring a presentation of the numismatic issue, as well as by certificates of authenticity, in Romanian, English and French. Each certificate of authenticity bears the signatures of the Governor and the Chief Cashier of the National Bank of Romania.

The maximum mintage is 5,000 silver coins, and the selling price, including the leaflet and the certificate of authenticity, is RON 490.00, VAT excluded.

The silver coins dedicated to 150the birth anniversary of Petre Antonescu are legal tender in Romania

The coins will be put into circulation, for numismatic purposes, at the regional branches of the National Bank of Romania in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Iasi and Timisoara.
Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Day marked by sturgeon restoration event

Public officials and school students from the Danube Delta area are expected today in Isaccea to repopulate the Danube with 5,000 diamond sturgeons under a project called "Developing a station for monitoring migratory fish: sturgeon and mackerel - Isaccea," with this being the third such activity since the beginning of the year, told Agerpres.

The event called "Come and baptise your sturgeon!" marks the 33rd anniversary of Government Decision 983/1990 under which the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (RBDD) was recognised and protected, and the idea of the activity belongs to Director of the Danube Delta National Research and Development Institute (INCDDD) Marian Tudor, unveiled at Parliament Palace in Bucharest on International Children's Day.

"This way, we tried to make a connection between the child and the student of today and the adult of tomorrow, seeing and symbolically baptising a fish before releasing it into the Danube, thinking that the fish will grow up and return to the Danube, in 10, 20 years. They will grow and mature at the same time. And maybe this child of today, the fisherman of 10-15 years from now, will keep this image and feel somehow responsible for protecting the sturgeon returned to the Danube for breeding," Tudor told AGERPRES.

"Come and baptise your sturgeon!" was selected by the Administration of the Reserve to mark RBDD Day amidst the importance of the sturgeon species.

"We are very interested in the developments in these fish species because catching any species of sturgeon has been banned in Romania since 2006. Currently, there are four species of sturgeon in the Danube Delta, one of fresh water, the sterlet, and three of salt water: the starry sturgeon, the diamond sturgeon, and the king of these species, the beluga sturgeon," according to RBDD Governor Gabriel Marinov.

The babies to be released into the Danube on Friday come from four diamond sturgeons caught in the spring of this year in the Danube near the village of Grindu by INCDDD specialists and fishermen from the Tulcea communities affected by the ban on sturgeon fishing. Three of the four sturgeons are males, resulting from a previous restoration, and there is also a wild female weighing 27 kilograms.

"The fact that there are three diamond sturgeons from a previous population is a great achievement and we are happy to be able to demonstrate that all the activities in support of population recovery have purpose, that what we do is not only at a declarative level, that we want to preserve the biodiversity of these species , but we actually have the proof that we are doing something very good for the environment and for the sturgeon species," said Marilena Maereanu a specialist in the artificial reproduction of sturgeons.

Under the European project, the repopulation of the Danube with about 4,000 baby sturgeons was included, but by September 1, when another 5,000 marked baby sturgeons are released, two more populations recoveries were made with 5,000 baby diamond sturgeons.

"When we wrote the project, we hoped to release at least 4,000-4,500 babies. We now have babies far beyond our expectations. There are almost 20,000 babies, which for the Danube and our area is a big win," said INCDDD official Mihaela Tudor, project activity coordinator.

She added that the process of getting the baby sturgeons entailed a lot of demanding activities, and Maereanu pointed to the importance of the genetic material of the female sturgeons.

"We are a team of specialists, and the results were possible thanks to that female diamond sturgeon who was very generous with us and offered us biological material of extraordinary quality and quantity, and thus we were able to produce many more babies. Because we had provided for sufficient quantities of raw materials, food and everything needed, we could have this performance and such a large number of larvae. I think we will exceed 20,000. My goal would be to bring at least 2,000-3,000 specimens to somewhere over 150-200 grams and release them at the inauguration of the mobile reproduction station," said Maereanu.

Before the third sturgeon population recovery in the river, the babies seemed impatient to reach the Danube.

"Now the babies are doing very well physiologically and I think they are looking forward to following their siblings and their parents. They are feeding very well, growing very well and have had a very good survival rate. We love them and I think that shows. It will be hard for us to part with them, but we do it with an open heart, because we know that they will end up where it will be better for them, next to their parents and siblings, first in the Danube and then in the Black Sea," added Maereanu.

While preparations are being made in Isaccea for populating the Danube with sturgeon, one of the fishing communities in the Danube Delta affected by the decision of the Romanian government of 2006, through the mayor's office and the local council of Sfantu Gheorghe, is demanding in court 100,000 euros for each fisherman who lived off the sturgeons.

"The undersigned [mayor's office and local council of Sfantu Gheorghe] understand to intervene in this case by referring to our attributions of socio-economic development of the small town of Sfantu Gheorghe, considering the precarious situation in which the majority of our population currently finds itself as a result of the indefinite perpetuation of the total ban on sturgeon fishing," reads the court filings submitted to the Tulcea Courthouse and posted on social media.

On RBDD Day, the Danube Delta Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) holds the closing conference of a project for an integrated local development plan of fishing areas, a plan that in the 2014-2020 programming period offered Danube Delta communities about EUR 10 million. The amount doubled on a large number of applications.

"More than 90 projects were funded and EUR 20 million were used up. There were 187 projects submitted and assessed by the Danube Delta FLAG, but not financed due to the lack of money. It was a success, considering the large number of applications received," said Danube Delta FLAG Chairman Andrian Ampleev.

However, only four fishermen from the county tried to access the European funds available through this entity, and of these, only one managed to complete the project, with the situation being explained both by the fishermen's lack of possibilities to support a project, because any European funding also implies a personal contribution, as well as the fact that few fishermen have the necessary knowledge to run a project.

"One of the three objectives of the plan was the promotion of social well-being, innovation and the cultural heritage of the area, and we had submitted projects for street lighting, fairs, festivals, sewage treatment plants, the development of mooring areas," said Ampleev.

The Danube Delta FLAG is now waiting for the Management Unit of Operational Programme Fisheries to issue the last necessary documents for the start of work on the new financial period and hopes that next year the activity for the new development strategy of the Danube Delta fishing zone will begin.

The project "Developing a monitoring station for migratory fish: sturgeon and mackerel - Isaccea", initiated by the RBDD Administration in partnership with INCDDD, aims to preserve biodiversity by implementing some measures from the management plan of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve for improving the conservation status of migratory fish, sturgeon and mackerel populations in RBDD.

The activities within it consisted in monitoring migratory fish species, raising public awareness of the importance of these species, and also strengthening the RBDD Administration's management ability to manage these fish species.

As part of the project, a mobile fish breeding station will be purchased, the first of its kind in Romania, according to INCDDD.

The project is funded under Operational Programme Large Infrastructure. It has an estimated total budget of RON 55.4 million and will end in late 2024.

Survivors of the era of dinosaurs, all sturgeon species are classified in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as critically endangered, and authorities and scientists are making efforts to conserve the stocks based on a regional strategy for the conservation and sustainable management of sturgeon populations in the northwest area of the Black Sea and the Lower Danube, approved in June 2013, during a CITES regional meeting in Tulcea.

The decline in sturgeon populations was caused by overfishing, the pollution of the Danube, the destruction of habitats and the damming of the river. According to INCDDD, the construction of the Iron Gates dams alone, which did not provid passages for migratory fish, halved the migration route of these species that reached beyond Bratislava (Km. 1,850 ) and Regensburg (Km. 2,400).

Lower Danube is the breeding ground where the last wild populations of sturgeon in the European Union reproduce naturally. They are indicator species for environmental quality because of the multitude of habitats they use throughout their lives.
The European Union faces the highest arrival of migrants since 2015 with record numbers of people arriving in Italy and Greece, putting reception mechanisms under severe strain. This year, member states reached a historic deal on key asylum and migration laws as deals with transit countries are struck. The EU has launched a a legal procedure against Hungary.

News of drowning migrants in the Mediterranean, arrested rescue ships and inhumane treatment of migrants, as recently in Greece, have been at the centre of media and criticism from civil society, NGOs and politicians, agerpres reports.

European intervention is needed to prevent the deterioration of the international situation from driving more and more migrants and refugees to Europe, said Italian Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani as arrivals of irregular migrants to the European Union have increased significantly in recent months with several countries in southern Europe experiencing a doubling in numbers.

'The international situation is deteriorating, pushing people to leave Africa and seek a place in Europe through the Balkan and Mediterranean routes,' Tajani said on Sunday. 'We are working to control the situation, but action is needed from the EU.' Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declared a nationwide state of emergency in April.The international situation is deteriorating, pushing people to leave Africa and seek a place in Europe through the Balkan and Mediterranean routes.Antonio Tajani, Italian Deputy Premier and Foreign MinisterA spokesperson of the European Commission said in August that the Commission was 'aware of the increase' and was working with Italian authorities to help decongest the Lampedusa hotspot. Further, 'the EU agencies Frontex, the European Asylum Agency (EUAA) and Europol have 450 people deployed in Italy.'European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for more agreements with partner countries outside the bloc to control immigration. 'We must work more closely with the countries of origin and the transit countries,' she said in July. Europe should invest more in stabilising the economies of North African countries 'and, together with them, fight more consistently against the organised crime of smugglers and traffickers', she added.Every second irregular migrant comes via Central Mediterranean RouteThe Central Mediterranean Route remains the most popular for migrants in the first seven months of 2023. Those using the route often embark in North Africa and Turkey, crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Italy. 89,047, which are more than half of the entry attempts, were registered on this route, according to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex.The agency further stated that the increased migratory pressure on this route could continue in the coming months, as smugglers offer lower prices for Mediterranean passage in the face of fierce competition among criminal groups. However, Frontex noted that the Mediterranean Sea remains dangerous, in the first seven months of this year more than 2,060 migrants went missing. According to the International Organisation for Migration, more than 1,800 people have died this year in shipwrecks on the central Mediterranean migration route, the world's deadliest.In Italy, for example, the number of migrants arriving by boat in 2023 has surpassed 100,000 in mid-August. By August 23, some 105,909 people arrived by sea according to the Italian Interior Ministry. In the same time frame last year 51,328 people arrived. The main country from where migrants depart to reach Italy in 2023 is Tunisia. Should people continue to arrive in such high numbers, the overall yearly figure could top 2016's record of 181,000.Doubling numbersThe Spanish Canary Islands have also seen an increase in boats departing on the migratory route from West Africa to the islands. In August, 2,692 people were rescued or arrived on the Canary coast according to Canarian authorities, more than double compared to July. NGOs forecast that this increase will continue over the next months, due to the good weather conditions, the political crisis in Senegal, the instability in the Sahel and famines in many African regions.The Greek Migration Ministry, too, has registered a significant increase in the number of people crossing from the Turkish Aegean coast to various Greek islands in recent weeks. According to the ministry, 6,669 migrants were living in the reception centres on the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos in mid-August. Their number has more than doubled compared to August last year when the number was 2,964.Belgium faces an acute asylum crisis as the number of people arriving in the country has rapidly risen from last year, putting pressure on an already creaking system. As a result, single male asylum seekers will no longer be given shelter after the government announced a temporary suspension on Tuesday.



The Western Balkans route remains the second most popular route to reach the EU, according to Frontex. Photo: Kemal Softic/AP/dpa

Western Balkan route still popular, EU launches legal procedure against Hungary



Frontex reported a decline along the second most popular route, the Western Balkan route - which refers to irregular arrivals to the EU via the region comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. There were more than 52,200 detections, a drop of 26 percent, largely due to tighter visa policies.



While numbers in migration camps in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina have decreased significantly, the country continues to function as a transit area for migrants on their way to the European Union. Trends forecast a continuous influx, also due to neighbouring Croatia entering the Schengen area in January 2023.



In Slovenia, the number of recorded illegal entries between January and July increased significantly compared to 2022. Data released by police showed an increase from 10,103 to 26,871. Croatia remained the main entry point for illegal entries, accounting for 25,431 of the intercepted cases compared to 8,330 in the same period last year.



Meanwhile, the situation in terms of numbers in Serbia remains unchanged. Since the beginning of the year, around 73,000 migrants passed through Serbia's reception centres.



In bordering Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government released 1,400 convicted people smugglers from prison and gave them three days to leave the country in April. Last month, the European Commission launched a legal procedure against Hungary.



EU's migration policy: a historic deal on a difficult path



The EU has taken a number of actions to tackle irregular migration. After years of fighting, EU member states struck a historic deal on two key pieces of legislation included in the New Pact on Asylum and Migration in June. The comprehensive reform of the bloc's asylum policy has been described as historic. The pact was proposed by the European Commission in 2020 in order to create a fairer, efficient and more sustainable migration and asylum process for the bloc.



According to the new plan, asylum applications would be processed within twelve weeks and all migrants must be distributed among the 27 EU states on the basis of GDP and population. The goal is to achieve 30,000 relocations per year.



The compromise sets a new solidarity mechanism and stipulates that the acceptance of refugees should no longer be voluntary, but obligatory. Countries that do not want to take in refugees would be forced to pay 20,000 Euro compensation per person. In an event of crisis, the Commission would decide whether a country needs solidarity in the case of a boom of arrivals.



The deal constitutes the basis of negotiations by the Council presidency with the European Parliament. Nevertheless, it faced a first setback on July 26, when EU member states failed to agree on a key aspect of the planned migration pact, concerning rules for migration and asylum specifically in crisis situations.



The Spanish EU presidency, supported by Italy among others, had suggested a compromise which failed to gain support from several countries (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria). Germany, Slovakia, and the Netherlands said they would abstain after expressing concerns that the standard for granting asylum might be lowered by the regulation.



Poland, which is vehemently opposing the new asylum policy is planning to hold a referendum on the same day as their parliamentary elections on October 15. The government will ask citizens to give their view on planned reforms to the EU's asylum policy, including whether it should be mandatory for member states to take in a quota of migrants. However, the outcome will have no effect on the EU reform plans.

unisian President Saied receives Dutch Prime Minister Rutte (left), President of the European Commission von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Meloni (right). High-level EU representatives travelled to Tunisia to explore closer cooperation on migration with the government there. Photo: Freek Van Den Bergh/ANP/dpa

Controversial 'model of partnership' deal with Tunisia



Besides focussing on the internal, the EU also tackles external dimensions of migration.



In July, the EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tunisian government of President Kais Saied. The European Commission wants to expand its cooperation with Tunisia in migration policy in a bid to stem the growing flow of migrants and refugees transiting through or departing directly from Tunisia en route to Europe via Italy.



While many criticise the memorandum as unethical and 'highly problematic', also due to Tunisia's inhumane treatment of migrants, others describe it as a right step to permanently reduce immigration numbers in Europe. Italian Prime Minister Meloni described the memorandum as 'a model of partnership' with the countries of North Africa.



The EU Commission wants to make 105 million Euro available for search and rescue operations and the repatriation of migrants and 150 million Euro in subsidies for the Tunisian state budget. In addition, the country can hope for cheap loans of up to 900 million Euro for long-term economic and financial stabilisation.



The five pillars of the memorandum - macro-financial assistance, economic relations, energy cooperation, migration, contacts between people - follow the Commission's strategy which includes all-round agreements that accompany cooperation in the fight against traffickers with a strong acceleration in economic and sustainable energy supply policies.



The agreement 'is an investment in our shared prosperity, stability and future generations', was the comment of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.



This article is published weekly. The content is based on news by AFP, ANSA, dpa, EFE, FENA, STA, Tanjug agencies participating in the enr
President Klaus Iohannis believes that there is no risk of Romania entering an austerity scenario, pointing out that the solution at this moment would be to increase the level of collection.

"All kinds of scenarios are being discussed. The only scenario that we refused in all the discussions with the coalition was the austerity scenario. We know that austerity does not solve problems. We had this attempt during the last crisis, 2008, 2009, 2010, and tried at the European level to fix the crisis through austerity and the results were not good. So austerity is not a solution. The solution lies in using the money that exists judiciously, so that means limiting public spending to what is necessary, not cutting from where it shouldn't, and on the other hand we still have quite a lot of money that is not collected. So the degree of collection must be increased. From my point of view, there is no risk of entering an austerity scenario, nor should we look for it, nor should it be promoted," said Iohannis, in a press conference held in far eastern Tulcea county, agerpres reports.

Asked if an increase in VAT could be a solution to consider, the president denied.

"In my opinion, it is not a solution. But, if in the short term, it is found, with the help of experts, that certain measures must be put into practice, the government can probably promote them. The increase of VAT or the decrease of VAT have been discussed many times as a whole. Now I don't think it's a solution. In my opinion, the solution consists in increasing the level of collection. That is, to collect the money that belongs to the state budget," Klaus Iohannis added.
Midia Marine Terminal completes overhaul works on offshore terminal

Midia Marine Terminal (MMT), a member company of the KMG International Group, has successfully completed the turnaround of an offshore marine terminal that supplies raw materials to the Petromidia refinery, told Agerpres.

According to a press statement released on Friday, for 24 days, the USD 4.3 million project entailed complex work, with the most important component being the replacement of all floating and submerged hoses. More precisely, it is about two floating structures of over 250 metres each, respectively two underwater structures of 33.5 metres each.

"The complexity of the work carried out required the involvement of all Midia Marine Terminal employees, and also the contracting of the best specialists at the national level. Together, we managed to complete the work within the planned execution schedule, despite the difficult weather conditions. Thus, the project was carried out without problems, in compliance with all operational, safety and environmental norms," said Ioan Taus, General Manager of Midia Marine Terminal.

Most of the equipment can be used for 8 years, but those that are subjected to an increased level of mechanical stress will be replaced in two years. Also, the parts removed from service are to be neutralised, with the support of specialised companies, according to the regulations in force.

A single section of hose can be 12 metres long, weighs around 5 tonnes, is double jacketed and is designed for a nominal pressure of 19 bar. Midia Marine Terminal operates the terminal at a pressure of 8 bar.

The parts made by the Japanese company Yokohama were specially manufactured for the terminal located 8.6 km off the Black Sea coast, respecting all the technical specifications indicated by Midia Marine Terminal.

More than 20 divers participated in the works, with nine of them being permanent employees of Midia Marine Terminal. In total, they performed 1,129 hours of diving, and the total hours worked during the project, by all personnel involved, reached approximately 19,500 hours.

The divers were assisted from the surface by teams of diving technicians, who supervised all the work done underwater, and also a doctor specialising in hyperbaric therapy, who monitored all the parameters of the divers. Additional assistance during the work was provided by the three tugs operated by MMT.

Following the completion of the turnaround of the marine terminal, crude oil unloading operations have also begun, with the first vessels being operated this week, with a total of almost 250,000 tonnes of crude oil delivered to the Petromidia refinery.

The terminal is of the Single Point Mooring type and is composed of a static part, fixed to the seabed by a system of anchors, and a second part, to which the ship is tied, which can turn freely in around the static part, with the help of a massive bearing, depending on the wind, current and waves.

The maximum operating throughput is 7,000 cu.m/h, which means that a vessel carrying between 80,000 and 160,000 tonnes can be unloaded within 24-36 hours.
Over 148,000 people enter Romania on August 31, including 14,937 Ukrainian citizens

As many as 148,089 people, including 14,937 Ukrainian citizens, entered Romania on Thursday, August 31, the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) reported on Friday, told Agerpres.

According to IGPF, at the border points nationwide on Wednesday, nearly 411,900 people, Romanian and foreign citizens, were checked both on the way in and on the way out of Romania, as well as more than 103,100 means of transport.

Starting February 10, 2022 (pre-conflict time) 5,860,499 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania.

The border police detected 58 illegal acts (30 crimes and 28 misdemeanors) in the areas under their jurisdiction - the crossing points and the green border - committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, levying about RON 42,900 in fines in the process.

Assets of an estimated value of RON 28,500 were impounded.

Twenty-eight foreign citizens who did not meet the conditions provided by the law were denied entry.

Also on Thursday, 21 Romanian citizens were not allowed to leave the country for various legal reasons.
PM Ciolacu in Brussels: I was happy to see that the health of one of our firefighters is improving

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu went to the Queen Astrid Military Hospital in Brussels on Friday morning, where he visited two of the firefighters injured in the Crevedia explosions, told Agerpres.

He told the families of the injured that the firefighters will receive the best medical care, and their families will have support, including financial support, to be with them during the treatment.

"I was happy to see that the health of one of our firefighters, a 22-year-old young man, is improving. He was extubated and is about to be released from intensive care. I talked to him and pepped him up to cope well with his tragedy. We are also waiting for good news about the state of health of the second Romanian firefighter treated at the Military Hospital in Brussels. We spoke with his wife; we encouraged her and assured her of all our support. I wish good health to our injured firefighters and we look forward to seeing them at home," said Ciolacu.

He talked with the doctors and management of the Queen Astrid Military Hospital in Brussels who are caring for the two firefighters.

"I am deeply grateful to the doctors and the entire medical team of the Queen Astrid Military Hospital in Brussels! I have congratulated them on their quick response offered to Romania, for their high professionalism, humanity and passion for patient care. Romania greatly appreciates this support and is grateful for the exemplary way in which Romanian patients are treated!" said Ciolacu.

The prime minister's visit to the Queen Astrid Military Hospital took place as part of a trip to Brussels, August 31-September 1, to meet high-ranking European officials. Twelve Romanian patients with serious burns covering between 10 and 80% of their bodies are treated in healthcare facilities outside Romania.
Ukraine will receive Slinger anti-drone systems manufactured by the Australian company Electro Optic Systems. They are capable of shooting down helicopters and kamikaze drones.

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This will contribute to meeting critical security and defense needs. This statement was made by EOS executive vice president Matt Jones.

The company has been testing the systems for three weeks near Sydney. The system was based on the M230LF 30mm cannon and MAG58 7.62mm machine gun and is mounted on a GMC Denali pickup truck.

"This technology is coming to Ukraine. The Slinger hard-hit system was acquired by the US as a gift to Ukraine. The laser technology is still under development, so it is not being used at this time," Jones said.

According to him, the war in Ukraine demonstrated that drones of any type can be encountered in future conflicts. Slinger can counteract many targets, including cheap reconnaissance drones that report troop movements in real-time and improvised kamikaze drones equipped with small explosive devices, such as Iran's Shahed 136 drones, which are widely used by Russian forces.

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It should be noted that the Slinger system is capable of tracking and pinpointing moving drones at a distance of more than 800 meters, using a unique munition that makes it suitable for use in urban environments.

The Ukrainian military received the AUDS system in July. It is designed to counter unmanned aerial vehicles in the air.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, Norway will transfer another 1,000 BNlack Hornet microdrones to the Ukrainian Defense Forces. These are very small reconnaissance drones, some of the most advanced in the world, which allow you to observe the enemy not only from a camera but also through thermal imaging.

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Only verified information we have on Telegram Obozrevatel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
PM Ciolacu: The EC President reconfirmed to me his total support for Romania's accession to the Schengen area

President of the European Council Charles Michel reconfirmed his support for Romania's accession to the Schengen Area at a meeting on Friday in Brussels with Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu .

The two officials met around 10:30hrs, being the first important moment in a series of activities that Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was carrying out in Brussels.

"The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, reconfirmed to me today his full support for Romania's accession to the Schengen area. He is one of our country's great friends and I thanked him for his constant, firm and energetic support. I agreed that a legitimate decision favouring Romania is the best antidote to de-tension the current accumulation of factors that could advance Euroscepticism in the eastern part of the continent. President Charles Michel also thanked Romania for its strong support to Ukraine and Moldova. It is proof that Romanians prove with deeds what solidarity means! Therefore, I hope that Europe will also prove, through a decision in favour of Romania on the subject of Schengen, that European solidarity also exists in reality, not only in official declarations," said Ciolacu.

Ciolacu was also scheduled to also meet President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen and President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.
PM Ciolacu's first visit to Brussels starts with meeting European Council President Charles Michel

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu's first official visit to Brussels after taking over as the prime minister began with a meeting with President of the European Council Charles Michel on Friday, told Agerpres.

The two officials met around 10:30hrs, with the meeting being the first of the important moments scheduled for the day. According to the official schedule, around noon, Ciolacu will have a meeting with director general of Recovery and Resilience Task Force (RECOVER) Celine Gauer.

Also on Friday, Ciolacu was expected to have talks with President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen and President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.
President Klaus Iohannis arrived on Friday afternoon in the Danube Delta, where he is paying a visit with his wife, Carmen Iohannis, and the Minister of Environment, Mircea Fechet.

According to the Presidential Administration, the visit takes place on the occasion of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Day, agerpres reports.

The delegation is currently visiting the Somova-Parches Lake Complex, transformed this year into a natural fish breeding pool, according to the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Administration.

"Through the great variety of flora and fauna, the Danube Delta is an objective of major interest for national and international biodiversity," says the Presidential Administration.The visit to the Danube Delta confirms President Klaus Iohannis' constant concern for issues related to the environment, biodiversity conservation and limiting the effects of climate change at national and international level, the source said."The objectives of protecting the rich flora and fauna must be harmoniously combined with the social and economic development of the communities living in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve," the Presidential Administration says.According to the quoted source, apart from plastic pollution or insufficient exploitation of natural resources from a sustainability perspective, the Danube Delta has also faced in recent years the negative impact of climate change, the consequences of which - long periods of drought, deteriorating water quality and dwindling fish stocks - endanger the unique biodiversity of the Delta as well as the well-being of the communities living in the region."From this perspective, the visit of the President of Romania has also the role to contribute to finding solutions to the challenges facing the Delta and to mobilise relevant actors in the implementation of optimal measures," the source said.In this regard, the head of state will meet in Tulcea with central and local authorities, representatives of the scientific and non-governmental environment, because "protecting the Danube Delta needs everyone's involvement, beyond political affiliations and short-term priorities." President Iohannis will also visit the Somova-Parches Lake Complex."The value of the natural heritage of the Danube Delta has been recognised by its inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List and the Ramsar Convention List. The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve is also included in the European network of protected natural areas, being a Natura 2000 site," the Presidential Administration added.
President Iohannis grants rank of ambassador to several diplomats

President Klaus Iohannis signed on Friday several decrees granting the rank of ambassador to several diplomats, according to an announcement by the Presidential Administration.

Among those to whom President Klaus Iohannis has granted the diplomatic rank of ambassador is Brandusa-Ioana Predescu, Romania's ambassador to Bulgaria.

The head of state granted the diplomatic rank of Ambassador to: Daniela Mihaela Camarasan, Daniela-Laura Popescu, Sebastian Mitrache, Brandusa-Ioana Predescu, Adriana-Loreta Stanescu, Irina-Raluca Zidaru.

According to the law, the diplomatic rank of ambassador is granted by decree, by the President of Romania, on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps of Romania may acquire the following ranks: diplomatic - ambassador, minister plenipotentiary, minister-counsellor, diplomatic counsellor, secretary I, secretary II, secretary III, diplomatic attache and consular - consul general, consul, vice-consul, consular agent.
President Iohannis paying visit to Danube Delta on Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Day

President Klaus Iohannis will pay a visit to the Danube Delta on Friday, on the occasion of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (RBDD) Day.

"Through the great variety of flora and fauna, the Danube Delta is an objective of major interest for national and international biodiversity," says the Presidential Administration.

The visit to the Danube Delta confirms President Klaus Iohannis' constant concern for issues related to the environment, biodiversity conservation and limiting the effects of climate change at national and international level, the source said.

"The objectives of protecting the rich flora and fauna must be harmoniously combined with the social and economic development of the communities living in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve," the Presidential Administration says.

According to the quoted source, apart from plastic pollution or insufficient exploitation of natural resources from a sustainability perspective, the Danube Delta has also faced in recent years the negative impact of climate change, the consequences of which - long periods of drought, deteriorating water quality and dwindling fish stocks - endanger the unique biodiversity of the Delta as well as the well-being of the communities living in the region.

"From this perspective, the visit of the President of Romania has also the role to contribute to finding solutions to the challenges facing the Delta and to mobilise relevant actors in the implementation of optimal measures," the source said.

In this regard, the head of state will meet in Tulcea with central and local authorities, representatives of the scientific and non-governmental environment, because "protecting the Danube Delta needs everyone's involvement, beyond political affiliations and short-term priorities." President Iohannis will also visit the Somova-Parches Lake Complex.

"The value of the natural heritage of the Danube Delta has been recognised by its inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List and the Ramsar Convention List. The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve is also included in the European network of protected natural areas, being a Natura 2000 site," the Presidential Administration added.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to meeting European officials in Brussels on Friday

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu is in Brussels on Friday, where he has scheduled a series of meetings with European officials, with whom he will discuss, among other things, the reforms undertaken in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), told Agerpres.

The Prime Minister will meet European Commission (EC) President Ursula Von der Leyen, European Parliament Roberta Metsola, European Council President Charles Michel, and Director General of the European Commission's SG Recover (Recovery and Resilience Task Force) Celine Gauer.

"Romania is politically and economically stable, it has the second highest economic growth among EU member states, strongly supported by foreign direct investment. We will maintain the momentum of the Romanian economy and the confidence of investors through the reforms we are making in key areas. These reforms have been undertaken both in the Government Programme and in the PNRR, which shows the Romanian Government's firm determination to implement them with the support of European partners and for the benefit of Romania and Romanians," Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said before his visit to Brussels.

On Friday morning, the PM will go to the ''Queen Astrid'' Military Hospital in Brussels, where two people injured in the Crevedia explosions were transferred for treatment.
Romania's natural gas imports down 34.7pct in H1 2023, production up 6.3pct

In H1 2023, Romania imported 696,200 tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) of usable natural gas, down 34.7% (-369,600 toe) y-o-y, according to data with the National Institute of Statistics (INS), told Agerpres.

Romania's H1 2023 domestic production of natural gas was 3.755 million toe, up 6.3% (222,700 toe) over H1 2022.

According to estimates of the National Economic Strategy and Forecasting Board (CNSP), Romania's natural gas production is estimated to rise at an average annual rate of 3.6% in 2023-2026, after a decrease by 1.1% (to 7.343 million toe) in 2022.

In the last forecast of the energy balance, CNSP predicts an increase in 2023 in gas production by 5.6% (to 7.755 million toe), by 2.3% (to 7.935 million toe) in 2024, by 2.7% (to 8.15 million toe) in 2025, and by 3.8% (to 8.455 million toe) in 2026.

As far as natural gas imports are concerned, a sharp decrease by 23.1% is forecast for 2023, a trend that will continue into 2026, with an average annual rate of 2.2%.

Imports of 1.845 million toe are estimated for 2023, of 1.79 million toe (minus 2.8%) in 2024, of 1.755 million toe (minus 2.1%) in 2025, and of 1.725 million toe (minus 1.8%) in 2026.

In 2022, Romania's natural gas imports declined 16.5% to about 2.4 million toe, while exports stood at 470,000 toe.
Scheduled events for September 1

PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION:

- President Klaus Iohannis pays a visit to the Danube Delta, Tulcea County, on the occasion of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Day

EXECUTIVE:

- Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu pays visit to Brussels

DIPLOMACY:

- Open Day at the Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of the Romanian Diplomacy Day

- Secretary of State for Relations with the Romanian Cultural Institute and Cultural Policies Andrei Novac pays working visit to Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

ECONOMICS:

- National Institute of Statistics releases data on: Gas production and imports in the first half of 2023

- Central bank releases data on August 2023 international reserves
Vicious wind and rain are battering the coast of Britains North Devon when Detective Inspector Matthew Venn and his team arrive in the village of Greystone to investigate the mysterious death of a national treasure.

Jem Roscoe  adventurer, sailor and legend, once a fixture on television but now mostly a relic  had turned up days earlier, checking into a rental cottage and telling anyone who asked that he was there to meet someone. Someone special. Im expecting them any day.

Now Jem is dead, found naked, ice cold and lifeless in a dinghy in a cove with a reputation for tragedy.

The excitement of the relentless storm, which traps Venn and his team in claustrophobic rooms in the pub, adds to the tension of this absorbing mystery. Ann Cleeves doesnt settle for a simple whodunit. Turns out Jem Roscoe had secrets that stretched deep into the past of Greystone, a community, were told, where many people were related and everyone knew their neighbors; no effort at friendliness was needed, and grudges grew unheeded.

Venn, in his third starring appearance in Cleeves Two Rivers series, also has ties to the village. The Brethren, the strict religious community in which he grew up, held meetings there, but he is revisiting it for the first time since leaving the church.

Venns childhood in the strict religious community, his loss of faith and subsequent split with both the Brethren and his parents, especially after coming out as gay, are continuing background for the Two Rivers series, which began with The Long Call and continued with The Herons Cry. (The Long Call was adapted into a limited television series.)

Although Matthew has gone on to professional success and personal happiness with husband Jonathan, he still wrestles with his own self-worth. Even he realizes he can be a pill. (Charisma wasnt a trait he desired for himself. He thought policing was about intellectual rigor and honesty, not personality.) Clouds tend to surround him, especially when hes away from the upbeat Jonathan, as he is for much of The Raging Storm.

Fortunately, Cleeves balances Venns gloom with the brisk sass of red-haired Sgt. Jenn Rafferty, divorced mother of two teens, who is as good at her job as she is terrible at relationships. Jenn is appropriately creeped out by Greystone. Shed never before been anywhere that felt so cut off from the rest of the world. ... The constant noise of the wind outside, howling like an animal in pain, added to her unease.

Rarely uneasy, and just as rarely self-aware, is the third member of Venns team. Ross May has aspirations to climb both professional and social ladders. Its a treat to see him come in from the storm: His usually gelled hair was wind swept, and it seemed hed stepped in a puddle.

If you like to rush through mysteries to see them solved, The Raging Storm may not be for you. At 400 pages, its deep in location and heavy on atmosphere, and it introduces a dozen or more important characters.

Ann Cleeves When  7 p.m. Sept. 5 Where  JCC, 2 Millstone Campus Drive How much  $35-$40, includes 1-2 tickets and copy of book More info  slcl.org; left-bank.com

Each gets a vivid description, such as Gwen, the cottage owner, who had tight gray curls and a sharp little face, which gave her the appearance of an amiable sheep, and Mary Ford, helm of a maritime rescue lifeboat, whose son is declining from a rare childhood disease, eating him away like the tide eroding a sandstone cliff. (Cleeves dedicates the book to Britains lifeboat service, which once saved her husband.)

But as with Cleeves other series, one starring crusty cop Vera Stanhope (played to perfection by Brenda Blethyn in Vera) and the other, now-ended, set in the Shetland Islands, place and people are as important here as plot. (Shetland the TV series continues even though no more books are forthcoming.)

Deep into The Raging Storm, real excitement blows in, bringing with it some alarming jeopardy. And after all is calm, readers get a little reward, setting up a future storyline that will be most welcome.

Gail Pennington is a former longtime television critic for the Post-Dispatch.
Marlon West found a photo of Elijah McClain and stared into the young mans eyes.

He drew a line on his computer  the halting start of a portrait. Then he deleted it.

McClain looked so much like he did at that age. West grew up in University City, loving films and animation. He graduated from U. City High School in 1981 and got his degree in Film Studies from Columbia College in Chicago. Now, he heads visual effects at Walt Disney Animation Studios and lives a few miles north of Los Angeles.

He never intended to draw McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died in 2019 after police stopped him walking down the street in a Denver suburb. A 911 caller had reported McClain as looking sketchy. McClain was unarmed and not accused of committing any crime. Police forcibly restrained him in a chokehold and called paramedics, who injected him with ketamine.

West didnt know if he would be able to capture McClains expression of vulnerability and sweetness.

He was the toughest, West said, of all the illustrations he made. Hes still not sure if his black-and-white drawing does McClain justice.

Its one of nearly 50 portraits West drew during the pandemic. He felt compelled to seriously draw for the first time in 30 years after seeing the video of George Floyd being murdered by a police officer in 2020. Over a year and a half, West worked on the portraits periodically on his computer from around 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. It gave him a way to channel his despair.

I found the process of drawing them to be very cathartic. I was sitting with these people for a long time doing these portraits, West said. The act of sitting there and doing this was me paying tribute to them. He initially planned to create a set of four images and share them on his social media platforms.

But these incidents kept happening, and his art became a way to express himself. So, he kept drawing.

Wests Ink Tributes portray individuals who have lost their lives at the hands of police brutality or have been targeted in other racist incidents. The subjects include George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland and Michael Brown, among others. He expanded his artistic vision to also commemorate civil rights leaders, protestors and those who stood up for themselves and others. These tributes feature iconic figures such as John Lewis, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Gloria Richardson Dandridge.

Now, the entire black-and-white collection can be viewed for free at the St. Louis University Museum of Art through the end of the year. A friend of Wests, who is a professor at SLU, saw the images on his social media and asked if he would be willing to bring this exhibition to his hometown.

West is thrilled to share his art with his family and childhood friends. Even though hes worked on the animated effects in some of Disneys biggest blockbuster films, he never imagined himself as a gallery artist.

The museums white walls are covered with large, comic-book-style portraits of ordinary people who were simply trying to live their lives or do their jobs alongside extraordinary heroes. It gives visitors a different lens through which to see the names and faces that dominated headlines as victims, stripped of their full humanity. Wests drawings capture aspects of his subjects that he felt were lacking from the general narrative.

For many of us Black nerds, Marvels characters are particularly relatable, West writes in the introduction at the beginning of the exhibition. They are aliens, or born different, or having to deal with harsh cards dealt to them. They are feared, despised, shunned and misunderstood. There isnt a more American form of portraiture than black inks over white, to honor those that faced this nations fear and loathing of the Black body.

Petruta Lipan, executive director of St. Louis University Museum of Art, said the decision to bring the exhibit to campus was made with a cognizant acknowledgment of its significance.

Engaging in dialogues surrounding racism, race-related violence and instances of police brutality is both challenging and imperative for societal progress, Lipan said in a statement. The aim is to provide a platform for contemplation and discourse, inviting students and the broader public to grapple with these complex and pressing issues.

When some of these events first happened, the names of the victims would trend on social media until they got knocked off by some other news events, West said. He notes that here, on the walls of this gallery, all of the deceased are in the space together  looking back at those looking at them  bearing witness.

If you go When  11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday Where  St. Louis University Museum of Art, 3663 Lindell Boulevard How much  Free More info  314-977-6631
Members of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces intercepted a conversation between a Russian military officer from the so-called Typhoon (Storm) unit. He complained about the attitude of his command to the personnel, in particular the fact that even wounded soldiers were forced to go into battles.

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Thus, another invader, who broke into the Ukrainian land with weapons, realized that he was just "cannon fodder" for his country. His emotions are published on the SSO YouTube channel (to listen, scroll to the end of the news).

The Russian says that his commanders sent him and his comrades to assault right in the open field somewhere near Bakhmut in the conversation that was apparently recorded for friends in a messenger. According to him, they do not pay attention to their illnesses and health restrictions.

The occupier mentioned Chernenko, who disbanded his unit (he recalls the 57th Brigade. - Ed.) and sent six sick people (him and five comrades) to the city of Brianka (Luhansk region). They were never treated but were taken back to their positions.

"The chief of staff of the 57th brigade said, 'look, we don't give a f*ck how are you feeling, you will go anyway no matter how. We don't give a f*ck. Wounded, sick or lame you will go anyway'. That's it, they gave us weapons and sent us straight to the positions. It was the first line of defense, while the Wagner soldiers were making assaults on the Bakhmut itself," the occupant was outraged.

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According to him, he knows what is said about the 57th Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces. It is said that the wounded do not even have their shrapnel taken out, they are sent to the front. He also complained that no one takes health problems into account, they just send 10-15 people dozens of times a day.

"To get from position to position you have to move through open fields, not forests. Snipers are constantly working and mortar shelling is heard all the way. I'm just lying in the field, feeling a cramp. I can't get up, I pray that I'm not f*cking killed," the invader spoke about storming Ukrainian settlements under orders.

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He admitted that he was sent to Luhansk for treatment and promised rehabilitation in Russia but he does not believe in such a "favorable" fate.

The Special Operations Forces of Ukraine emphasized that every occupant will disappear from our land whether by his own feet or carried off.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, Russian military personnel are complaining that they are just "meat" for the Russian Federation more and more. The occupiers realize that their commanders do not care about them, so this made the soldiers dig the dugouts for their still comrades.

Only verified information from us on Telegram Obozrevatel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
ST. PETERS  As the health care industry evolves to pandemic-related pressures and patients changing demands, a company operating a $75 million distribution center here has been forced to adapt in step.

Medline, a privately held company based in Northfield, Illinois, has become a giant in the medical supply industry. It reported $20.2 billion in sales in 2021, and operates an internal trucking fleet with over 1,700 drivers.

The companys recently constructed St. Peters site supplies hospitals, nursing homes, doctors offices, home health patients and surgical centers across the Midwest. Today the facility has more than 125 employees, said Steve Miller, executive vice president of supply chain at Medline.

The facility distributes thousands of different products, from surgery trays and personal protective gear to wound care supplies and lab and testing kits.

Coming off the heels of COVID-19, Miller said, the industry has been keenly focused on shoring up supply chains with redundancies and backup plans.

For instance, he said Wednesday morning, if the company needed to shut a distribution site down in the southeastern U.S. to keep employees safe during Hurricane Idalia, it could supply its customers from other locations in the region with hardly any disruption.

That is an area we have invested in heavily, he said.

As more procedures move out of inpatient hospital settings and into outpatient care, Medline sees more orders from ambulatory surgery centers. And as more people opt to age at home, rather than move into assisted living, Medline has seen more demand from home health agencies.

Health care is evolving, Miller said.

Looking to save on the costs of storing supplies, health systems often request that Medline store inventory and offer just-in-time deliveries to hospitals. Supply closets and warehouses dont make them money, said Andrew Krohn, director of operations for the St. Peters site.

The company has made that possible: In 95% of the U.S., Medline can deliver the next day, Krohn said.

More and more often, health systems are outsourcing entire pieces of their supply chain to Medline. In some cases, Medline is hired to run hospital-owned distribution centers.

The 800,000-square-foot facility at 5000 Premier Parkway in St. Peters replaces Medlines former, 300,000-square-foot site in Sauget, Illinois. The land, construction and equipment represented a $75 million investment.

The site has a payroll of more than $8 million.

The distribution center in St. Peters began operating in September of 2021. Company leaders and local officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week  a formality delayed by the pandemic, and by last summers flooding.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Several local activist groups are urging Missouri Gov. Mike Parson not to pardon a former Kansas City police officer convicted of killing a Black man.

The groups, including Its Time 4 Justice, the Kansas City Law Enforcement Accountability Project and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, gathered to speak on the issue Wednesday in front of the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals in downtown Kansas City where the former officers appeal will be heard next week.

They were joined by Aquil Bey, the stepfather of Cameron Lamb, who was shot and killed by Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere in 2019.

DeValkenaere, who is white, became the first Kansas City police officer to be convicted in the shooting death of a Black man.

If DeValkenaere is pardoned, if he is let off the hook by any other means, the people of Kansas City will not stand idly by. We are not going to let this injustice stand, said Mason Strange, one of the organizers of Wednesdays event.

A pardon from Governor Parson will send a strong message to our community that none of us are safe, and that the law will not protect us from violent criminals with a badge and a gun.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, whose office prosecuted DeValkenaere, has also urged Parson not to pardon the former officer.

DeValkenaere, who is white, was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the killing of 26-year-old Lamb. He has remained free on bond while appealing his conviction.

On Tuesday, a panel of appeals judges will hear arguments about overturning the conviction or granting DeValkenaere a new trial. Jackson County prosecutors will be allowed to defend the manslaughter conviction at Tuesdays hearing.

Baker had sought permission to speak at the hearing after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said the conviction should be overturned and that he would refuse to argue in support of the conviction.
ST. LOUIS  A St. Louis woman was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2018 death of a toddler in her care.

India Basquine, 52, pleaded guilty July 24 to first-degree manslaughter in the death of 24-month-old Jream AMia Polk. Prosecutors agreed to reduce a higher original charge of child abuse resulting in death as part of a plea deal in the case.

Tierra Townsell of University City, said in court Friday that she didnt approve of the plea deal: Im not happy with manslaughter, she said.

My life will never be the same, she said. Im broken. Im torn. Im frustrated. Im angry. But I have to be strong for my other kids.

Charging documents say Basquine was watching Jream at her home in the of the 4400 block of Labadie Avenue in St. Louis when she struck or shook the toddler, resulting in a fatal brain injury.

She originally told police that Jream was outside playing with her two brothers and another child when the toddler was hurt. Basquine also told the Post-Dispatch in 2018 that she walked into the house to grab meat for the grill, and when she turned around Jream appeared dazed and wobbly, and then collapsed. Basquine said she attempted to resuscitate the child while talking to a 911 operator on the phone.

But Jreams mother, Townsell, told the Post-Dispatch in 2018 that doctors concluded the toddlers injuries could only have come from a beating.

The injuries she had could have only come from being beaten, Townsell told the Post-Dispatch in a previous interview. She had brain injuries and she had bleeding on her brain, the doctors told me. They said the injuries could not have occurred from a fall.

Basquine said in court that she was so sorry for what happened and initially claimed she only agreed to plead guilty because she didnt want this to happen to another child. She later affirmed to the court that she did strike the toddler with an object.

Townsell told the Post-Dispatch in 2018 that Jream was a happy child advanced for her age.

She knew her ABCs, could count to 20 and knew all of her body parts and colors, she said. In every picture she is smiling, and all the videos she is happy.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Family and friends will no longer be able to order books for people incarcerated in Missouri prisons.

Missouris policy already requires loved ones to order materials to be sent directly from a bona fide vendor approved by the state.

The new, more restrictive policy goes into effect Sept. 25. Instead of ordering reading materials from an approved vendor, friends and family will need to add funds to a prisoners account. The person will then be able to order a book through the DOCs vendor.

Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said the change was made in an effort to stop drugs from entering facilities. She also said prisoners will have regular access to ordering books and that the availability of books would not change.

But incarcerated Missourians and advocates say the departments action is a punitive measure that doesnt address how drugs are actually getting in.

A prisoner at Jefferson City Correctional Center, who did not want to be identified out of fears of retaliation, said he has received books from family members over the years he has been incarcerated. Most have been religious in nature.

Reading is a good pastime, he said.

People in prisons, he continued, dont have a lot of privileges, and the state seems to keep chipping away at them.

In July 2022, the Department of Corrections stopped physical mail. Letters are sent to a facility in Tampa, Florida, where they are scanned and sent electronically.

Lauren Brinkley-Rubenstein, an associate professor at Duke University and expert on health in prison systems, previously told The Star that change was not scientific or evidence-based.

Its not stopping drugs coming in the building, she said. And its severing relationships, which has a very negative impact on peoples health.

The Kansas City-area organization Liberation Lit has been sending people who are incarcerated in Kansas and Missouri books since early 2021. Last year, prisoners received more than 400 titles they had requested based on their interests.

Co-founder Dylan Pyles said the new policy is Missouri is a de facto book ban.

Really what this does is it puts the burden on the residents themselves to get money from their loved one if they want to pay for a book, which adds to fees for sending money, he said. It makes it increasingly harder for people to access books.

Pyles added that reading materials are a lifeline as well as educational tools, and that prohibiting them to be sent for a birthday or other occasions feels cruel and unusual.

Antwann Johnson, who is also incarcerated in Jefferson City, said that when things that bring prisoners hope are taken away, theyre more likely to turn to drugs.

He also said the Department of Corrections wants to blame drugs on everything but the real situation.

A prisoner at Chillicothe Correctional Center said, Its a bad policy. Its not how most contraband gets in anyway.

Many, including groups like Missouri Prison Reform and the MacArthur Justice Center, believe prison staff should be more closely monitored when it comes to drugs getting inside facilities.

The department does not have data on how many books have been found laced with drugs. But, Pojmann said, this summer corrections officers discovered a book with blank pages that were soaked in the drug K2 and a book with 52 suboxone strips in its spine.

Since last fall, multiple cell searches have uncovered many magazine and book pages that have tested positive for synthetic drugs, including methamphetamine, she said. In some cases, they were discovered only after an offender was found unresponsive after ingesting or absorbing the substance.

Through the first half of this year, 69 people died under the Missouri Department of Corrections watch.

Of the known causes of death, 72.3% were classified as natural, 19.1% were accidental, 6.3% were a result of executions and 2.1% were suicides. All of the accidental deaths were from overdoses, Pojmann said in July.

She also said the department is addressing substance abuse issues by expanding treatment options as well as access to Narcan, which can reverse an opioid overdose.
ST. LOUIS  A man was shot to death early Friday in St. Louis Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood.

The victim was found dead in the 3800 block of Kennerly Avenue shortly about 3:40 a.m. Friday.

The man was 40 years old and had been shot in the head, police said. His name was not released.

Police have no suspects.

St. Louis has had at least 107 homicides this year, with six in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. No other neighborhood in the city has that many.
ST. LOUIS  A member of the citys civilian jail oversight board was arrested in the lobby of the facility Thursday night as they sought answers about the recent deaths of two inmates.

By Friday afternoon, city aldermen were calling for the removal of Jail Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah and pledging to make necessary legal changes to ensure the Detention Facilities Oversight Board members have the access to the jail, video and records they need to investigate complaints of wrongdoing and mistreatment.

Board vice chair Janis Mensah, 24, was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. Mensah has a summons to appear in court in October, and said they were injured in the arrest.

How can I be trespassing if its my job to be there? Mensah told the Post-Dispatch. Is this what it looks like when an oversight board tries to do its job?

Mensahs arrest came amid a series of issues at the jail. On Aug. 22, inmates took a guard hostage for several hours. The 73-year-old guard was eventually removed from the jail by the police SWAT team, and city officials said he was treated for minor injuries.

That same week, the citys chief public defender, Matthew Mahaffey, said several inmates told their lawyers they hadnt had full meals or showers in the days since the hostage situation, though these have been longstanding complaints.

Nine deaths in two years  two within two weeks  is appalling, said Board of Aldermen President Megan Green on Friday. This level of neglect and misconduct requires an immediate change in leadership at the City Justice Center (CJC) and greater oversight of our correctional facilities.

Members of the Board of Aldermens Public Safety Committee also released a statement Friday saying they could not stand by in silence. They implored Clemons-Abdullah and City Counselor Sheena Hamilton to be transparent about living conditions, practices and policy changes at the jail.

Anything less than these reasonable and humane action steps is unacceptable, the committee said. The horrific events of the last few weeks under the importance of oversight and transparency.

While none of us expected CJC to be a luxurious place, it should not be a death sentence.

Carlton Bernard died on Aug. 20. Police confirmed another person died Thursday, but have not released any other information.

Mensah said they went to the jail around 5 p.m. Thursday to seek answers about the deaths, as well as video footage from inside the jail.

Officials at the front desk refused Mensahs request, so they decided to sit in the lobby. Meanwhile, protestors gathered outside the jail.

By about 8:30 p.m., Mensah said, they were sitting alone in the lobby when officers arrived, pulled them out of a chair and wrestled them to the ground.

Mensah says they dont know exactly what happened afterward, but they woke up in a hospital and underwent a routine physical before being discharged. Mensah said they have had seizures and fainted before. They also said they were not read their Miranda rights during the arrest, their wrists bled from being handcuffed and their shoulder hurt from being pushed.

City officials maintain that Mensahs arrest was by the book. Monte Chambers, spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety, which oversees both the jail and police department, said Officers followed all processes and procedures for an individual trespassing and resisting.

Until this summer, Mensah served as chair of the jail oversight board. But they said the lack of transparency made them lose faith in the citys partnership with the board.

In April, Mensah has said, they were forcibly removed by jail staff during a scheduled visit. How that incident was handled is one reason board members want the jail commissioner, Clemons-Abdullah, fired. Board members say she has blocked them from visiting the jail and refused access to use-of-force reports.

A coalition of local civil rights organizations, including Arch City Defenders and Action St. Louis, has also issued a call to fire Clemons-Abdullah.

The citys Director of Public Safety Charles Coyle has said board members have not completed training sessions required for the oversight board.

Board members completed a 15-minute training session during their Monday meeting. All of the remaining training will be completed within the next 30 to 45 days, according to board chair Rev. Darryl Gray.

The City Justice Center, where suspects are held before trial, has long faced criticism over inmate conditions. The jail saw several inmate uprisings in 2021 for what inmates called inhumane conditions at the facility.

Rasheen Aldridge, vice chair of the Board of Aldermens Public Safety committee, said Mensahs arrest was an overreach. He and Green said they are working to draft legislation to eliminate obstacles for board members on jail reports and access to the facility.
Police were searching for the driver of a trash truck who ran off after a fatal crash Thursday night in Jefferson County.

Amanda M. Pfingsten, 37, of Imperial, died after being thrown from the vehicle, police said.

Pfingsten had been a passenger in the 1988 International trash truck, which crashed about 8 p.m. Thursday along Papin Road and Highway V.

The truck ran off the road and hit a stop sign and a ditch. It overturned and traveled across Highway V, throwing Pfingsten out of the truck.

She died at the scene.

The trucks driver was a man who a witness spotted running away after the crash, said Cpl. Dallas Thompson of the Missouri Highway Patrol. Thompson on Friday morning said police dont know who the man is.
JEFFERSON CITY  In his quest for Missouri governor, state Sen. Bill Eigel has found financial support in faraway places. One of them is Salome, Arizona, an unincorporated community nearly 100 miles west of Phoenix, where Susan Comer resides.

Comer, 59, in May donated $10 to a political action committee supporting Eigel, records show. Eigel has pointed to thousands of small donations such as Comers as evidence of grassroots support.

For every special interest check or endorsement received by my opponents, a thousand people donated to my message and cause, Eigel said in July.

But theres a problem: Comer, who said she lives on a fixed income of less than $1,000 a month, reported Thursday she has never heard of Eigel and doesnt follow Missouri politics.

I dont know who he is, she told the Post-Dispatch. I cant afford it.

Though she doesnt know what prompted her to donate to Eigel, Comer and her life partner, David Pinol, 62, said they are supporters of former President Donald Trump and complained of underhanded political fundraising tactics in a stream of messages they both receive.

An Aug. 2 email could help explain why Eigel has attracted so much small-dollar support from across the country, including from Comer.

The email, paid for by Eigels BILL PAC, solicited support for Trump, who had just been indicted for the fourth time, and asked pro-Trump patriots to Stand with Trump, sign a petition and make a donation. But the money would go to Eigels campaign, the email said in small type.

The email illustrates the nationwide battle underway for a limited number of small-dollar GOP donors, one in which digital fundraising firms can blast out pitches to masses expressing support for a certain cause  all while directing money to a specific candidate, whom the donor may not know.

They take the candidate that we are known to have supported and they use that candidates image and that candidates quotes and that candidates policy opinions and then they sneak in, you know, their own candidate in the fine print, Pinol said.

Trumps campaign in March told 10 GOP consulting firms the former president likely wouldnt endorse a candidate paying a digital fundraising vendor that routinely fundraises off of his (Trumps) name, image and likeness without his authorization, Politico reported.

Records show BILL PAC has paid one of the firms that received the letter, Arlington, Virginia-based Targeted Victory, nearly $300,000 this year for work described as consulting and project management.

When you deceive the Presidents donors and usurp his brand for your own profit, you drain him of the financial resources his campaign needs to defeat Joe Biden and Make America Great Again, the Trump campaign officials wrote earlier this year, Politico reported.

Eigel and a spokesman for Targeted Victory did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Disabled, retired give to Eigel

Many of thousands of donors to Eigels PAC, which is allowed to coordinate fundraising efforts with his campaign, appear to be living on fixed incomes.

More than 40 donors to Eigels BILL PAC this year entered disabled and/or disability in the employer/occupation fields when they made donations, according to a review of state records.

Combined, those donors have given hundreds of dollars in small donations, many of them recurring, since the beginning of January.

They arent the only group giving big amounts of small donations to the state senator: an army of thousands of retirees is also donating to Eigels PAC.

This year, Eigels political action committee has raked in more than $386,000 from people who listed retired as their employer/occupation, records show.

Those donors are the targets of emails, such as the one sent on Aug. 2. That email was sent by an account named TRUMP ARREST UPDATE and had the subject line Biden DOJ moves in for the kill.

The fundraising plea warns: At any moment, Bidens DOJ could move to put Trump in jail for the rest of his life!

The Democrats are abusing their power to take down their #1 political rival, and NO RED-BLOODED American can stand for this.

We can still do something, but we have to act NOW because prosecutors are coming down hard on Trump with everything theyve got.

Only a massive GOP response right now will work!

The email then says 500,000 names needed and presents a link that says denounce this witch hunt ... stand with Trump.

Recipients who clicked that link were directed to a page where they can sign a petition and then check a box indicating a donation amount.

Only then does it say Your contribution will benefit Eigel for Missouri.

The form goes on to ask for the persons occupation, their phone number and payment information.

Donors must uncheck a box to opt out of recurring donations. The bottom of the page says it was paid for by BILL PAC.

Deceptive

Comer, the Eigel donor from Arizona, said she would be inclined to donate to a pro-Trump cause referencing the former presidents struggle against President Bidens Department of Justice witch hunt and its moving in for the kill.

I think its extremely deceptive, said Pinol, who works as a repair man.

He called it extremely underhanded for these PACs to use the candidates name and image and words and quotes and all that.

Pinol has urged Comer to be more careful with the fundraising solicitations in her email inbox.

Since he pointed things out to me and showed me things, Im very careful now, Comer said. Every time it says a certain thing, I immediately delete it.

Eigel will face Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe in the GOP primary in 2024. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Democrat, is also running.

Originally posted at 6:15 p.m. Friday.
Nearly 40 years ago, Victoria McMullen and her husband traveled from St. Louis to Sikeston to adopt a six-year-old boy with severe developmental disabilities named Ron.

Now 44, Ron has cerebral palsy, autism and intellectual disabilities. Hes unable to live independently and for the last 23 years his parents have relied on a state service to help pay for in-home caregivers to provide the intensive assistance he needs.

The service, called self-directed supports, lets McMullen hire, train and manage the staff herself, tailoring the help to Rons needs. Caretakers, many of them local university students, work with Ron 13 hours a day, helping him go to the bathroom, do physical therapy, bathe and dress, as well as doing social activities with him like cooking.

Without that funding, McMullen would be unable to care for him, especially after a back injury left her unable to physically support or help lift him.

We could not do it without it negatively impacting our health, she said.

This year, McMullen wrote to state lawmakers urging them to put more money into pay for direct care workers who assist those with developmental disabilities.

The staff hired through self-directed supports, as well as through traditional home health agencies, desperately need a pay bump, she said, noting one of Rons caregivers works 40 hours a week, needs to buy her own insurance and rarely can afford to take time off.

She was pleased in May when the Legislature voted to raise the rates for caregivers. But the good news quickly soured.

Missouris Department of Mental Health announced in July that the program Ron and 3,030 individuals around the state rely on could be excluded from the rate increase.

Complicating matters even more, state regulators have proposed a change in how it calculates rates for the self-directed supports program, a situation advocates fear could mean rates are frozen at low levels or become unpredictable.

The proposed change in the rate calculation is open for public comment until Monday. It would remove the regulation linking the rate the state pays for direct services to the rate they pay home health agencies.

It makes it difficult to keep and maintain staff if we cant offer competitive wages, McMullen said, adding that the self-directed supports staff need higher wages than staff hired through home health agencies, because the former are not provided benefits.

The state has not offered a rationale for proposing the changes to the programs rates, beyond the procedural. Debra Walker, spokesperson for the Department of Mental Health said that Currently (self-directed supports) is the only service with rate parameters within (Missouri Code of State Regulations), and the removal of that language from the regulations will allow the state to fully align rate methodologies for all of its Medicaid home and community-based services.

Families using self-directed supports say the changes caught them completely by surprise.

If theyre going to make changes like this without our input, what other changes are they going to make? McMullen asked.

Adam Sommer, an attorney and podcaster who lives in Warrensburg and has a daughter, Clara, with a rare genetic condition called Rett syndrome, uses self-directed supports to cover her caretaker. She cant talk and uses a screen in front of her that allows her to communicate with her eyes.

He said the state hasnt told them how they plan to calculate the new rates.

What do we tell the employees who have these jobs what their future looks like? he said.

Its a very complicated system, that they are changing while no ones really looking in a way that creates more uncertainty and more complication. And that could cause some really big problems for people, Sommer said.

Why should we be treated differently?

Self-directed services are part of a national trend over the last few decades away from institutionalization and toward community-based support and integration  based on the belief that decisions about an individuals care are best made by those closest to them.

The premise of self-directed supports is that when individuals have control of their resources their quality of life will improve and the overall cost of services will decrease, according to the states manual on developmental disabilities.

In self-directed supports, someone called a designated representative, often a family member, is in charge of overseeing staff, including recruiting, hiring, training and supervising them, and has the flexibility of choosing how to allocate a yearly budget. They are not paid for the administrative work.

That representative acts as the employer. Its a task many families may not have the time or ability to do. But advocates argue that although the program is not right for everyone, its a choice that should be preserved.

McMullen said she performs an average of one hour a day administrative work, as Rons designated representative.

Larry Opinsky, a disability advocate and steering committee member of an advocacy group composed of over 700 Missouri families using self-directed supports, has been vocal in his opposition to the states proposals.

Opinskys 24-year-old daughter, Lilly, also has Rett syndrome, and is nonverbal and unable to walk. She requires full-time assistance with everything she does.

His family has been utilizing self-directed supports for around 12 years, Opinsky said, particularly drawing caregivers from local universities. The freedom for the caregivers to work within their schedules, making arrangements directly with the family and getting to know them closely gives them a better opportunity to connect with (Lilly) and create a deeper caregiving bond.

Opinsky said home health staffing agencies are often short-staffed, so theyd be unlikely to find staff that way if they tried. And they prefer finding caregivers themselves: often they are community members who may not otherwise be brought into the formal caregiving world, he said, who forge bonds with Lilly.

The service allows him and his wife to work.

Without this support, he said, without having self-directed services and this team that we were able to bring on, it would be on my wife and I . And we would be struggling to make the bills.

He said the states appearance of preference for agency-based care over self-directed services is especially concerning.

Why are they discriminating against us because we choose to self-direct? he asked. Why should we be treated differently than the providers who are doing the exact same service in the exact same locations?

The Department of Mental Health did not respond to requests for comment.

Opinsky said his group is in contact with Missouri Protection and Advocacy, the federally mandated program providing legal support to protect individuals with disability.

A staff attorney at the organization told The Independent by email that the group is aware of this issue and is monitoring and evaluating the situation.

Advocates say a rate study should be conducted before any funding is changed  so that if a change is needed, the state could determine how best to calculate the self-directed supports rate moving forward, using data.

They tried to pull this off without anybody paying attention  this needs to be done in the open with a full study, Opinsky said.

Advocates say its not necessarily true that home health care agencies need higher rates to cover overhead costs.

Families say because they cant provide employees benefits under self-directed services, but agencies can, they need to pay a higher wage to make up for it.

Our employees need to be compensated at a higher rate, because were not able to provide the fringe benefits that providers can, Opinsky said. We not only wont be able to necessarily attract the same quality employees, but well also have difficulty retaining our employees if they de-link this.

There was a rate study last year the state conducted to determine average wages for staff serving home and community-based health services  but the survey did not evaluate self-directed waiver services.

Some advocates believe that self-directed services actually save the state money, because family members do the administrative work for free and it prevents some individuals from needing more-expensive institutionalized care.

And the states manual notes an overall cost of services decrease is part of the premise of the program.

The National Association for Home Care and Hospice, which represents home care organizations across the country, said by email that although it doesnt take positions on how states should establish different reimbursement levels, states should take into account the various responsibilities of providers when calculating rates.

Many states place higher demands on homecare agencies than they do on self-directed providers, most commonly around things such as supervision, scheduling, physical office locations, quality reporting, and similar requirements, said Damon Terzaghi, director of Medicaid Advocacy at National Association for Home Care and Hospice.

When there are more stringent requirements placed on agency providers, it is appropriate to have differentiated rates that take the variable mandates into account.

Cheryl Dennison, of Chesterfield, whose son has has been using self-directed supports for around 11 years, said the staff she has hired have often stayed for years, rather than quickly turning over, and some have come to be like family to them  all of which has prevented her 27-year-old son from going into residential care.

Her son, Jake, has a brain malformation, along with a seizure disorder, cerebral palsy, and physical and intellectual disabilities.

If we couldnt take care of Jake in our home, he would move to some kind of institutional living, which costs significantly more than keeping them in our home, Dennison said. So I would think the state and federal agencies see that and that they would want to keep perpetuating that.

Its such a brilliant program. They shouldnt shoot themselves in the foot now to freeze the rates.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and X.
VALLEY PARK  In the early hours of Jan. 17, 1894, a mob lynched a 24-year-old Black man named John Buckner, hours after hed been accused of raping a Black woman and attempting to rape a white woman. Buckner was hanged from a bridge that spanned a stretch of the Meramec River just south of the historic town of Valley Park.

Now, a coalition of historians and activists wants to erect a plaque memorializing the location  now along a popular recreational trail  as part of an ongoing effort to highlight the wave of lynchings that once roiled the nation. But theres one problem: the City of Valley Park  so far  wont let them.

The city insists the lynching didnt happen in Valley Park, but south of the current municipal border on the Meramec River, in unincorporated St. Louis County. When the coalition asked to meet city officials to discuss evidence behind putting the marker in Valley Park, the city declined. Parks Director Gil DeNormandie on Monday directed the group to send any further requests to the citys attorney.

This has nothing to do with opposing the historical marker or the goal behind it. What is has to do with is accuracy, Tim Engelmeyer, the city attorney, told the Post-Dispatch in a recent interview. The reason why it was denied was theyre wanting to put a marker in a spot where it didnt even occur.

To members of Reparative Justice Coalition of St. Louis, historical documents clearly tie the lynching to Valley Park by name. And the citys refusal to meet undermines what they say is an effort to educate people about extrajudicial killings of Black men and promote dialogue about racial inequities in American society.

We think that this commemorative work is part of a reparative process that helps our community heal from this historical trauma and create a new legacy out of that process of reflection and healing, said Geoff Ward, professor of African and African American Studies at Washington University and a member of the Reparative Justice Coalition.

The discussion over placing the Buckner marker in Valley Park is the latest incident in a broader debate in the region and across the country over how to reckon with legacies of slavery and anti-Black racism. About 86% of Valley Parks 6,800 residents are white, and about 8.5% are Black, according to census estimates for 2022.

The Buckner memorial would be donated to the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit criminal justice reform group based in Montgomery, Alabama. that operates the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, focused on lynchings across the country. The Equal Justice Initiative is also partnering with local groups to place historical markers that address the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation across the country.

The city of St. Louis agreed to the Reparative Justice Coalitions request to install a marker recognizing the lynching of Francis L. McIntosh, who was tied to a tree and burned to death on April 28, 1836, in an area that is now Kiener Plaza downtown. McIntosh, a free Black man and steamboat cook, had been arrested for allegedly stabbing a sheriffs deputy to death during a scuffle on the levee before the mob took him. Elsewhere in Missouri, Boone County officials next month will unveil a marker outside the county courthouse in Columbia that recognizes the 1889 lynching of George Bush, a Black teenager accused of assaulting a white girl.

David Cunningham, chair of the sociology department at Washington University and a member of the Reparative Justice Coalition, held up the Valley Park example during an Aug. 26 meeting of the St. Louis Reparations Commission, a new panel studying how to best make up for generations of slavery and racial segregation in the city.

The responses by the cities of St. Louis and Valley Park, Cunningham said, showed the difference between a violent history that can be addressed, identified, given voice and repaired  and a violent history where silence is maintained through the efforts of elites, of people who are in the leadership of these communities that refuse to allow voice to be given to these kinds of histories.

A lynching in St. Louis County

Buckner was one of at least 68 documented Black victims of racist lynchings in Missouri between 1863 and 1950, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.

Born in 1870 to one of the earliest free Black families settling in St. Louis County, Buckner lived with his parents and siblings along Hawkins Road, roughly 3 miles south of Valley Parks modern-day border on the Meramec, in what was then largely farmland, according to the coalition.

By Jan. 18, 1894, the day after he died, newspapers had reported on the killing as a form of vigilante justice by the community around Valley Park, then a river and railroad outpost in a rural part of unincorporated St. Louis County. Valley Park was incorporated as a city in 1917.

The reports recounted how a mob kidnapped Buckner from a holding cell in Manchester, an older town a few miles north, and then traveled back south through Valley Park to the Meramec, where they hanged him from a bridge. A county grand jury later concluded there was no wrongdoing. No one was ever charged.

In 1889, at age 19, Buckner was convicted of assault with attempt to rape a Black school teacher, and served three years in prison, according to newspaper reports.

Five years later, on Jan. 16, 1894, Allie Harrison, the daughter of a white farmer for whom Buckner had worked, accused Buckner of attempting earlier that day to rape her until she fought him off. Her father, William Harrison, rode north to Manchester to seek a warrant for Buckners arrest before returning to Valley Park to assist people searching the woods for Buckner.

As the allegations spread, an older Black woman who lived near Buckners family home, Delia Mungo, also identified Buckner as the man who had raped her earlier that day. The local constable went to Buckners familys home and arrested him to take him to a judge in Manchester.

As they passed through Valley Park, they were harassed by an angry crowd that eventually dispersed at the constables pleading. In Manchester, a judge ordered Buckner taken to the county jail in Clayton, but because it was already night, it was decided Buckner would be held in a cellar until daybreak.

Meanwhile, a quiet movement to lynch Buckner was being put through at Valley Park, the Post-Dispatch reported. And in the overnight hours, a crowd of 20 to 30 people, armed, broke into the building, held guards at gunpoint and kidnapped Buckner. The mob included Black participants, newspapers reported; Mungo told a reporter her husband was among them.

Buckner was quickly hustled into a wagon which was in waiting at the door and the mob drove off toward Valley Park in high glee, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

The group moved back to Valley Park, where they arrived at 4:30 (a.m.), the Post-Dispatch said. Then they moved onto the bridge, where Buckner was hanged.

At daylight, crowds gathered to see Buckners body, the paper wrote, ... train crews passing Valley Park saw the corpse swinging with the wind and knew that swift retribution had been dealt out for the most fiendish double criminal assault in the history of St. Louis County.

A week later, a grand jury concluded there was no need to investigate. We have examined a large number of witnesses on the unfortunate lynching of the man Buckner, which lately occurred at Valley Park, and we have not been able to find any evidence sufficient to justify an indictment in the premises, the grand jury said, the Globe-Democrat reported.

To help bring awareness

Today, the Reparative Justice Coalition wants to set Equal Justice Initiatives marker in what they say is the most historically accurate and the most accessible site: at Arnolds Grove Trailhead to the Meramec Greenway within sight of where Highway 141 crosses the river. The current bridge, they said, replaced the historic wagon bridge where Buckner was killed.

Valley Park officials told the group to contact the county to instead put the marker in Buder Park. But Buder Park is less historically accurate and doesnt get as much traffic, Ward said. The nearest corner of the park within sight of the bridge is occupied by an archery range.

The Great Rivers Greenway, a nonprofit that built the Meramec Greenway and other trails connecting regional parks, supports putting the Buckner marker there. The nonprofit is also helping place the McIntosh plaque in Kiener Plaza later this year, which will be part of a planned extension of the Brickline Greenway.

The greenways are meant to provide outdoor spaces for recreation and improve habitat for wildlife and plants, but theyre also meant to connect people with the stories of places along the greenway, said community program manager Elizabeth Simons.

When Great Rivers Greenway approached Valley Park in May for a permit to install the Buckner plaque, the city declined.

According to historical records, this unfortunate crime took place on the south side of the Meramec River, DeNormandie said in an email.

He also referred to a ceremony the Reparative Justice Coalition had held in 2022, in Buder Park, recognizing Buckners killing.

You may or may not know, but the vigil was held on the south side of the Meramec River in an area near the train bridge in Buder Park, DeNormandie said. The City feels as though any marker needs to be placed on the south side of the river. We are not opposed to commemorating significant historical events, but we are concerned that any marker placed north of the river would be historically inaccurate or misleading.

In July, the Great Rivers Greenway asked Valley Park to meet with members of the Reparative Justice Coalition to discuss their reasoning behind putting Buckners marker in Valley Park instead, and sent the city newspaper reports of the event.

Some of the historians who organized the January 2022 John Buckner soil collection event provided additional information such as the attached news articles covering the event and related maps which point to the lynching occurring in Valley Park, Simons wrote in the email. If you would be willing to meet with us to discuss, wed appreciate that.

Last week, DeNormandie declined.

The city stood by its May statement, he said, and the newspaper reports indicated the lynching was perpetrated in St. Louis County, and that County authorities would not investigate Buckners killing. A Post-Dispatch artists drawing of Buckners killing, the city argued, showed the south side of the Meramec River.

He referred the group to Engelmeyer, the citys attorney.

The city is standing by its below statement and will not allow the marker to be installed on the trail, DeNormandie wrote in an email Aug. 28.

The Reparative Justice Coalition has said the 2022 Buckner ceremony was only held in Buder Park because St. Louis County officials were supportive.

Valley Park officials never responded to requests to take part, the Reparative Justice Coalition said. The ceremony instead was attended by County Executive Sam Page, Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, a representative of the Office of Racial Harmony for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and members of the Peace and Justice Ministry from Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Valley Park.

Ministry chair Jeff Schulenberg said the ceremony was an opportunity to help drive an interest in current issues of oppression, current struggles of members of our society that sometimes get overlooked.

As a Catholic parish involved in efforts along the lines of peace and justice we wanted to help bring awareness to our citys past in Valley Park, he said.

The ministry since hasnt been involved in any discussions about the historical marker. Told of the citys response, Schulenberg said it was unfortunate.

I find it a bit disingenuous to talk about the placement being in error when he was dragged off a site of Manchester Road and dragged through Valley Park to the south side of the river, he said.

Engelmeyer, in an interview, said the city reviewed newspaper reports the Reparative Justice Coalition provided in making their decision.

Im not sure that the commission or anything that our parks director has seen indicates it happened on the north side, he said. I dont think other communities would allow them to put a lynching marker in their city designating an area where an extremely ugly event occurred, when it didnt really occur there.

But Engelmeyer also said the city would consider a marker that recognized, without being specific about the location, that Buckner was lynched in the area.

If youre saying, well could we do some sort of designated area where this man may have been murdered, of course we would consider that, Engelmeyer told a reporter.

That was never relayed to the Reparative Justice Coalition, Ward said.

The groups request to the city didnt make any specific requests about what exactly the marker would say. The marker, which would be fabricated by Equal Justice Initiative, hasnt been designed yet. But Ward said the group hoped the city would meet to discuss it.

Setting aside these somewhat arbitrary municipal boundaries, Ward said, this is an issue that is relevant to greater St. Louis, to our region, to our nation.
ST. CHARLES COUNTY  Faced with an ongoing labor shortage, St. Charles County officials are rethinking how they staff their 911 dispatch center  and are spending more than $500,000 to hire out-of-state contract dispatchers as a stop-gap measure to relieve staff from sometimes working 18-hour days.

St. Charles County has struggled to replace emergency dispatchers who have resigned or retired since 2019. At one point St. Charles was short 19 dispatchers; it is now 10 openings away from being fully staffed with 44 dispatchers.

We are just in a bad situation right now and are trying to think outside of the box about what we can do, said Jeff Smith, director of the St. Charles Countys 911 center. The center, which last year received an average of 193 emergency 911 calls per day, also fielded 360-plus calls per day related to building alarms, traffic stops and ambulance transports to a hospital or nursing home.

St. Louis City and St. Louis County are facing the same emergency center staffing shortages, and are keeping close tabs on what St. Charles is doing.

St. Charles County this week approved a 6-month contract with a Colorado-based company, Moetivations Inc., that will provide up to eight certified 911 dispatchers for roughly $518,000. Those eight dispatchers will be split into pairs to work alongside county employees.

At a public meeting Monday, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann described the contract as a stop-gap measure for the dispatch center that handles calls for 10 fire protection districts, one municipal fire department, the countywide ambulance district and the St. Charles County Police Department. He said the county will continue to try and hire dispatchers.

Smith, the 911 center director, said he doesnt think it is realistic that the department will be able to hire 10 dispatchers within the next six months. Since Jan. 1, 2022, the department has hired 24 people to work as dispatchers. Of those hires, four are still in training, four work as dispatchers, one works part-time  and 15 are no longer employed there.

This is such a unique job that it is really hard to know until you are physically in the chair, staring at this panel of computer screens, and fielding calls whether or not you can handle the stress of it, said Smith, who said potential hires are allowed to sit with an on-duty dispatcher for about an hour in hopes of giving them insight into the role.

In recent months, Smith said the department has seen an uptick in applicants. He said dispatchers need to be tech savvy, able to multi-task, able to pass psychological screenings and other background checks. The starting pay for a dispatcher is near $56,000 in St. Charles County  the highest in the area.

In addition to the Moetivations contract, Smith and other department leaders continue to look for ways to bolster the countys roster of 911 dispatchers, including a pilot program allowing high school students to train while in school and be eligible to work as a dispatcher immediately following graduation.

St. Charles County is not the only place in the metro region to struggle with staffing issues. Dispatch centers across the region  and the nation  have been grappling with staffing shortages for months, if not years.

In November 2022, St. Louis officials acknowledged its 911 dispatch center was short 36 employees.

Since then, St. Louis police have been working with the citys department of personnel to cut some of the red tape to expedite the hiring process. Police spokesman Sgt. Charles Wall said he did not know if the city was considering contractor dispatchers, like in St. Charles, but said he believed the city would at the very least consider the option.

St. Louis County Councilman Mark Harder, R-Chesterfield, attended the meeting Monday in St. Charles County. In an interview Wednesday, Harder said like other places in the region, St. Louis County has a significant shortage of dispatchers.

He said the county has a number of new hires, but they are still in training and likely wont be fielding 911 calls for another several months. Officials say it can take up to eight months to train a new 911 dispatcher.

Harder declined to say if St. Louis County would seek a similar contract with Moetivations Inc., but he did say that the county should look at what we can do to combat the shortage of 911 dispatchers.

Back in St. Charles County, officials said workers there have worked more than 350 overtime shifts in the past 20 months, including 146 overtime shifts so far in 2023.

There are a lot of dangers in working someone consecutively 18 hours a day, or even 12 hours a day. Maybe you get fatigued, maybe you slow down and need to ask someone to repeat something or you struggle to put something into the computer as fast, Smith said. We know we need to make changes.

Even with the staffing shortage, Smith said there is no reason for St. Charles County residents to worry that their 911 calls will go unanswered.

Our folks that we have now are tired, they are worn out, but at the end of the day they are resilient. They continue to come through because they know the people on the other end of the line are depending on them, Smith said. They know how important this job is and they are committed.

Dana Rieck of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Ive said from Day One as attorney general that I will fight to ensure that Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children. This week, we took a huge step in that direction.

Missouri is the first state to successfully defend at the trial court a law barring gender mutilation for children. Last week, my legal team put a spotlight on the lack of evidence supporting gender transition interventions for minors. We cross-examined the so-called experts, and invited victims of the transgender enterprise to share their stories.

Because of that, the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act passed by the Legislature took effect on Monday. Our litigation strategy demonstrates that states can win in court on this issue.

Missourians have asked why I launched an investigation into a St. Louis pediatric transgender clinic after a whistleblower came forward. Theyve wondered why I issued an emergency regulation restricting the prescription of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery to minors. Theyve inquired as to why I fought so hard in court to uphold the legislatures ban on these procedures for minors.

Its simple: The science does not support irreversible, life-altering treatment for children with gender dysphoria.

For months, activists have insisted that these interventions are well-established scientifically, and too many journalists have accepted that assertion without question, but last week, a Missouri court disagreed.

Once under oath, the plaintiffs experts were forced to concede at trial that Sweden, Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom have restricted these interventions because of concerns about their safety. Finlands national health care council called these interventions on minors an experimental practice that is not evidence-based. Swedens National Board of Health and Welfare declared that these interventions suffer from a lack of reliable scientific evidence and that the risks from these procedures currently outweigh the possible benefits.

Even the sources cited by activist groups do not support their own arguments. At trial, plaintiffs were forced to concede that every one of the Endocrine Societys recommendations with respect to treating adolescents with puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones is based on data that the Endocrine Society admitted is low quality or very low quality. And they were forced to concede that the studies they cite in their favor were dismissed as very low certainty studies with a high risk of bias by independent researchers in the United Kingdom.

Even at trial, one of the plaintiffs so-called experts was forced to admit that she recently wrote a grant application admitting there is scant evidence-base currently guiding the clinical care of TGD [transgender] youth.

Their witnesses also acknowledged that all patients should receive a comprehensive psychiatric or psychological assessment before undergoing these interventions  only for the plaintiffs themselves to admit later that day that they never received one.

Yet another expert confessed to being unaware of the European health authorities sharply curtailing experimental treatment in their countries.

These so-called experts, with both financial and reputational incentives to testify, continued to push their narrative. But all of that wasnt enough to counter the overwhelming evidence, as well as the compelling stories of the detransitioners who courageously took the witness stand.

Their weak science wasnt enough to counter Chloes account of how she still bleeds every day after receiving a double mastectomy four years ago at age 15.

Their weak science wasnt enough to counter Zoes story of how she tried to obtain a double mastectomy at age 16, but her home state of Oklahoma had a law on the books that prohibited it. How, years later, thanks to being unable to receive the intervention as an adolescent, she was able to give birth to her child.

Chloes and Zoes stories, coupled with our experts testimony, raised the very important question: Why should an adolescent be able to make an irreversible healthcare decision that is not supported by science?

The judge agreed, when in a two-page order, he stated, the science and medical evidence is conflicting and unclear. Accordingly, the evidence raises more questions than answers.

This legal battle waged last week was only the tip of the spear in a much larger, nationwide fight for the soul of our country. It is far from over.

But one thing is clear: Missouris children won last week. And Im proud to have led the fight.

Andrew Bailey is the attorney general for the state of Missouri.
Last year, America entered the murky, confusing landscape formed by the Supreme Courts decision to overturn federal abortion protections. Pregnant people  and even those who could get pregnant  faced the consequences of not being able to receive abortion care if needed. Physicians faced the heartbreaking dilemma of letting their patients suffer or facing criminal charges.

Since the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health, the public has demanded Roes restoration. Roe was critical in ensuring and protecting abortion access for nearly 50 years, and mourning its overturning was understandable: its loss was catastrophic, and people in Missouri have suffered under this loss.

But Roe wasnt perfect. What we lost was highly fragile; largely penetrable; and, given how critical a role abortion plays in obstetric and gynecologic care, woefully inadequate.

Missouri was a hotbed of attacks on reproductive health, with access to abortion regularly under legislative, regulatory, and legal attack. Even under Roe, Missouris politicians did what they could to make it nearly impossible to access an abortion, and passed a law to outlaw abortion altogether, watching eagerly for the fall of Roe.

Roe provided some peace of mind. It did not provide equity, or even access for many.

In the past year, we have seen concrete and catastrophic harm. People have been unable to get abortions, even in medical emergencies. They have been forced to continue pregnancies while facing the serious risk of maternal death in a state where an average of 60 women die each year during or after pregnancy. People have been forced to suffer in pain, knowing that they will have to become sicker still before they can get the abortion they need, and many have been left unable to get pregnant again in the future as a result.

Doctors have suffered alongside patients. We have had to wait with our pregnant patients until they were deemed close enough to death for us to intervene by hospital lawyers or administrators. We have had our expertise and training ignored, our autonomy rescinded, our ethics violated. Some have been forced to stop providing care in certain areas altogether, as was the case at a rural hospital in Idaho that had to close its labor and delivery unit, citing hostile policies in abortion-restrictive Idaho that made it unsustainable for the small hospital to provide local residents with critical care.

Across the country, clinicians are leaving their communities, compounding existing challenges in parts of America that were already struggling to attract and retain a workforce. Missouri cant afford to follow suit, dwindling our medical community.

In the face of this suffering, it is easy to embrace quick fixes and simple solutions and be satisfied with restoring the rights of some when and where we can. But we cannot pursue policies that leave doors open for politicians to create new challenges, impose new burdens, or pass restrictive new laws, as history has shown us that they will. Those whose singular goal it is to prevent clinicians from providing evidence-based abortion care and keep patients from accessing needed abortion care have demonstrated over decades that if there is even the smallest crack in the armor protecting abortion rights, they will find it.

We must not give them that opportunity. There can be no compromise on abortion care, especially when compromises mean that some people will be condemned to suffer. There is no point at which one persons need for an abortion is worth more or less than anothers. Every patient needs access to the care that is right for them when they need it and where they need it, and any restrictions on the ability of a clinician to provide that care will impose certain harm.

We  physicians and patients alike  are in this position today because 50 years ago abortion opponents set their sights on a singular goal and worked with focused determination to reach that goal.

Now our only option is to be steady, strategic, and disciplined in our commitment to create and expand upon protections that are stronger, more enduring, and more universal than those that came before. We must ensure that no doctor can be told by politicians if, when, and how they can provide any facet of care. We must ensure that everyone in need can access abortion care if, when, and where they need it.

Dr. Selina Sandoval is an obstetrician-gynecologist with a specialty in complex family planning. She lives in Missouri and practices in Missouri and in Kansas. Dr. Sarah Prager is an obstetrician-gynecologist in Seattle, Washington, with a specialty in complex family planning and is co-chair of ACOG's Abortion Access and Training Expert Work Group.
As one who believes that the text of the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, it is painful to see the mess that Missouris government has made with its gun-fetish nonsense, aided and abetted by the U.S. Supreme Court and various interest groups. Were the new Wild West, without the romance.

The Second Amendments text, adopted in 1791, is short: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The right refers to a pre-existing right, not the creation of a new right. That invites an exploration of history. Fair enough, but this history  as interpreted by judges trained in the law  seems gathered from selected sources to reach foreordained results. Perhaps the first two phrases  involving militia and security  are mere distractions. Whatever those phrases mean, they make the Second Amendment our worst-written constitutional right.

The Supreme Courts focus on history, especially since the 2022 decision in a New York case, is confusing. It requires imagining what a small group of former colonial rebels believed the right to be in 1791, the year the Bill of Rights was adopted. Imagine if we interpreted our right to travel the same way and confined our laws to the horse-and-buggy era or analogies to the laws at that time. It would be absurd: No drivers licenses for horse-drawn buggies? No drivers licenses for cars.

The Founding Fathers concerns included slavery. They knew that keeping arms would discourage slave revolts, and bearing arms would help capture runaways. When the Supreme Court decided the case of Dred Scott and Harriet Scott in 1858, which led to the Civil War, the majority held that Blacks could not be considered citizens entitled to sue in federal court. One reason, the Court said, is that if Blacks were citizens, they would have the right to keep and carry arms wherever they went.

Early Americans also needed guns to protect themselves and their property  not only from criminals, but also from Indians who, to put it mildly, disputed the settlers right to lands the settlers claimed. Guns were also necessary to protect against overreaching governments  after all, some of these men had recently engaged in armed rebellion in 1776 against an established government.

The Second Amendment was adopted in an era of single-shot pistols and rifles. Given the Supreme Courts fixation on history, one might expect our right to keep and bear arms be limited to firearms similar to those available in 1791. Strangely, that is the one aspect where the Court does not concern itself with history, which enables mass shootings with modern rapid-fire weapons oftentimes by persons who have no business carrying a gun.

That defies logic and common sense, traits we attribute to our Founding Fathers. It defies common sense that we, as a people of common interests in our defense, cannot protect ourselves by enacting reasonable regulations of firearms.

Would the founders really object to our requiring background checks so that firearms are unavailable to those with histories of domestic violence and violent felonies? Would the founders object to confining the use of rapid-firing guns to those in uniforms who serve to protect us? Would our founders flinch at keeping modern guns from unsupervised minors?

I dont know what the founders would think, and neither do the justices of todays Supreme Court. But heres a modest suggestion: Let the people, through elected representatives or through direct-democracy initiative petitions, enact reasonable measures by which society can seek to protect itself from gun-bearing wrongdoers and those deranged souls who would use their right to bear arms to kill themselves and their families.

Let the legislating begin, as it has with local ordinances in St. Louis and Kansas City, and at the state level through the initiative process for the people to change our state constitution in 2024. We must leave Missouri legislators and other officials behind for the moment  most are hostages to interest groups including gun manufacturers and to their intense constituents who are not the majority on common sense firearms measures.

Fortunately, the Missouri Constitutions initiative process exists to help us protect ourselves when the Legislature will not. The majority of voters, including many gun owners, today are polling reasonable on gun rights, especially when compared to the historical extremists who dominate todays U.S. Supreme Court. Missouris voters did change our gun-rights provision for the worse in 2014  hundreds of mass shootings ago  and they can it do again in 2024, for the better. If the peoples state constitutional enactments are not good enough for todays ethically oblivious U.S. Supreme Court, its time to update the Second Amendment or to change the makeup of the Supreme Court.
The fight to restore abortion rights in Missouri faces some daunting obstacles. These include a Republican-controlled Legislature that is trying to move the goalposts on ballot referendums to make it harder for citizens to overrule their draconian new abortion ban, as well as procedural stunts by top state officials who are brazenly abusing their authority regarding the referendum process.

But a potentially bigger impediment to restoring abortion rights in this state may ultimately come from within the abortion-rights movement itself. Some activists in the movement have taken a go-for-broke attitude about what a ballot referendum should say, calling for language that would prohibit any state restrictions at any point in pregnancy.

This would be a disastrous political strategy, a sure loser at the polls and a gift to those who want to continue denying women any control whatsoever over their own bodies. Cooler heads must ensure that the ballot language is moderate enough to stand a realistic chance of passage in Missouri.

Under a Missouri law that took effect minutes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, abortion is entirely illegal here at any point in pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest, with a sole, vague exception for medical emergencies. Doctors who violate the ban can face up to 15 years in prison.

Polls consistently show that Americans, even in red states, dont favor such extremist bans. A poll last year by St. Louis University and the polling firm YouGov found that even generally conservative Missourians favor abortion rights in the early stages of pregnancy. But the same polling shows overwhelming opposition to late-term abortion.

In the real world, late-term abortion that isnt medically necessary is an almost nonexistent phenomenon; more than 90% are performed in the first trimester and fewer than 1% in the third. But opponents of abortion rights have nonetheless aggressively demagogued the issue because they know that even generally pro-choice Americans tend to oppose it later in pregnancy.

And some in the Missouri abortion-rights movement seem determined to play right into their hands.

Activists are currently debating which of 11 versions of a potential abortion-rights referendum to go with once they finally get ballot access. Some versions would use the fetal-viability standard that was in place under Roe v. Wade: Abortion was a protected right until the fetus was developed enough to viably live outside the womb. After that point, states could impose restrictions.

Thats the current standard in Illinois and most other blue states. It also jibes with what polling shows most Americans support.

But other versions of the proposed Missouri referendum contain open-ended language that appears to preclude any state restrictions at all.

As the Missouri Independent reported recently, the issue of which version to back has spawned heated debate within the abortion-rights movement. Some activists say they wont back anything other than an open-ended right with no allowance for state restrictions at any point in pregnancy.

For an idea of how well that will go over with average Missourians, consider the ballot language that Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has cynically proposed for the referendum:

Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to ... allow for dangerous, unregulated, unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth ...?

As we have noted here before, that wording is a blatant violation of Ashcrofts statutory duty to provide unbiased ballot language. (The issue is currently in litigation.) But if activists press ahead with an open-ended referendum, Ashcroft and his ilk could arguably make the case for such an inflammatory description of it.

Do these activists really believe that any measure that could be summarized like that will draw any significant support at all in most of Missouri, let alone enough support to pass statewide? Why would they give Ashcroft & Co. that kind of ammunition?

Should referendum organizers blow this one, they wont just deny biological rights to Missouri women, but will undermine an important narrative that has been building around the country since last year: Every single state so far that has taken up the issue on a statewide ballot (including several red states) has come down on the side of abortion rights. Not one has voted against them.

If Missouri ends that national momentum merely because abortion-rights activists here cant resist the urge to overreach, it will be a grave disservice to women across America.
Readers who are concerned about the climate crisis but aren't sure what to do about it should know they aren't alone. The climate movement needs everyone to do everything we can to address this crisis. Here are some ideas:

 Learn more about how our world is warming and the causes, consequences and actions that need to be taken to stop it. Start by visiting NASAs website at climate at https://climate.nasa.gov

 Talk about it with friends, family, neighbors  everybody and anybody.

 Get involved. Join a climate group or two. Donate if you have the money to do it.

 Get political. Contact elected officials, repeatedly, at all levels of government, and demand that they take action to address this crisis. They were elected to serve the people, and there is no higher service than protecting the world we live in.

 Walk the talk. Take steps to reduce emissions in everyday routines. It is very gratifying.

 Have Hope.

Ron Sadler  Springfield, Mo.
Congos ruling party, UPDS, confirmed Congo President Felix Tshisekedi will be its candidate in the 2023 election. The general election is scheduled for December 20. The announcement was a formality. Tshisekedi will also head the UDPS through 2028. The UPDS intends to solidify its hold on power. UPDS will run 495 national legislative candidates for the 500 parliament seats. Martin Fayulu is Tshisekedis chief rival and has strenuously objected to the current electoral commissions members and decision-making process. He says it is biased in favor of Tshisekedi. A substantial number of Fayulus supporters continue to dispute CENIs (Independent National Electoral Commission) decision to name Tshisekedi the winner of the December 30, 2018 presidential election. Well into 2019 Fayulu maintained he won the election outright, and several independent election observer groups agree. Congos Catholic Church had evidence Fayulu was the landslide winner with about 60 percent of the vote. Moise Katumbi is also expected to run against Tshisekedi in this years election.

Uganda is repairing and upgrading a branch of the old British-built East Africa rail network. The network ran from the Kenyan seaport of Mombasa to Uganda. Parts of the network were built in the first decade of the 20th century. It has not been used for some 40 years. China was supposed to finance the new rail network. However, earlier this year Uganda canceled a contract with a Chinese firm to build a new modern standard gauge railway (SGR). That would have cost over $2.2 billion. The upgrade will cost about $56 million. Uganda is paying for the upgrade with government funds. The government is hiring a Chinese firm to restore the railroad. The restored 382-long kilometer section will run from the town of Tororo (eastern Uganda, near the Kenyan border) and run to the town of Gulu (northern Uganda). (Austin Bay)

August 31, 2023: In the east (North Kivu province) violent protests the city of Goma against the ineffective UN peacekeeping efforts left at least 48 died, including one policeman, and 75 people wounded.

August 28, 2023: In the east (Ituri province) CODECO rebels are believed responsible for an attack on a commercial mining camp near the Ugandan border. Thirteen people were killed and nine wounded. The attackers looted the camp and carried away gold, portable equipment and several workers to carry the loot.

August 27, 2023: In the east (Ituri province) CODECO rebels attacked a church in a fishing camp and killed nine civilians and one of the soldiers on guard. Four CODECO gunmen were also killed.

August 26, 2023: In the east (North Kivu province) near the Ugandan border, Ugandan soldiers killed a much wanted leader of the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) rebels. Because ADF operates on both sides of the border, so do the Ugandan soldiers pursuing them. Congo tolerates this because the ADF is a problem on both sides of the border.

August 25, 2023: The U.S. imposed individual sanctions on six Congolese and Rwandans it accused of exacerbating violence in eastern Congo. The accused belong to militias operating in eastern Congo, with North Kivu province the primary operational area. Bernard Byamungu, chief of intelligence for the M23 (March 23 Movement) militia, is among the individuals sanctioned.

In Burundi the government continues to commit atrocities against citizens and refuses to hold perpetrators responsible. The government also refuses to allow foreigners to investigate the atrocities and interferes with those who do try to investigate.

August 23, 2023: In the east (North Kivu province) EU (European Union) began operating an air bridge to bring desperately needed supplies into the city of Goma. Eight flights from Europe will bring 180 tons of medicine and food by August 31.

Fortunat Biselele, a former private adviser to President Tshisekedi, was acquitted of espionage charges. Biselele was arrested in January 2023. The prosecution charged him with treason based on dealing with Rwandan intelligence officers. His lawyer said that the court completely cleared Biselele of the charges. Biselele favors economic cooperation between Congo and Rwanda.

August 22, 2023: Congo foreign observers report that since May 2023, the government has been targeting opposition leaders by restricting fundamental freedoms and arbitrarily arresting opposition party officials on false charges.

August 21, 2023: The Central African Republics (CAR) Constitutional Court validated the results of the July 30 constitutional referendum. The referendum ended presidential term limits. However, many CAR citizens and international observers think the referendum was rigged.

August 19, 2023: SADC (The Southern Africa Development Community) will deploy a new peacekeeping force in Congo. It will also extend its military mission in Mozambique. The announcement follows a UN statement that it will accelerate the withdrawal of peacekeeping troops serving with MONUSCO.

August 18, 2023: Congo is suffering from its worst cholera outbreak in six years. From January to the end of July 2023, Congo had 31,342 suspected or confirmed cholera cases. 230 died from the disease. North Kivu province had 21,400 confirmed or suspected cases. More than 8,000 of those cases were children under the age of five.

The Ugandan Army announced that its soldiers operating in eastern Congo have killed at least 548 ADF rebels and captured 50 while 31 surrendered. The Ugandans also rescued 156 civilians held by the ADF.

August 16, 2023: Uganda accepted 16 former LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) rebels after they were repatriated from the CAR and flown to Uganda.. The 16 arrived with their families. This is the second group of LRA fighters repatriated from the CAR. The first group of 14 arrived in July. A Ugandan government source said the fighters had denounced LRA senior commander Joseph Kony and their participation in the two decade long rebellion.

August 12, 2023: In the southwest (Kwango province, bordering Angola) Mobondo militiamen killed at least ten people in an attack on their village. The attackers used guns and machetes. The Mobondo belong to the Yaka tribe while the Ipongi are from the Teke tribe. Foreign observers believe that from June 2022 to March 2023 at least 300 people died in violence between the Teke and Yaka.

August 10, 2023: Malawi is seeking emergency funds and donations to feed more than 50,000 refugees who are crammed into the Dzaleka Camp. This is the only refugee camp in the country. Most of the refugees in Dzaleka are from Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Ethiopia and Somalia. The government says the camp will run out of food by December 2023. Foreign aid groups have already cut food supplies because of funding shortages. The government says it needs an additional $6.3 million in order to feed the refugees through June 2024. There are also about 8,000 refugees living outside the camp and are regarded as illegal migrants by the government that they are trying to relocate.

August 8, 2023: The vote count on the CARs constitutional referendum has been completed. The government said 95 percent of the voters backed all of the constitutional changes. However, evidently fewer than 10 percent of eligible voters voted. Opposition parties boycotted the election, calling it a constitutional coup. The major constitutional change: the president can run for office as many times as he likes. President Faustin-Archange Touadera has the backing of a contingent of Russian Wagner mercenaries.

August 7, 2023: in northeastern Congo (North Kivu) rebel and terrorist groups killed at least 21 people between August 4 and August 6. M23 rebels are responsible for most of the attacks while The ADF Islamic terrorists conducted at least one attack in the area.

August 2, 2023: In eastern Congo (South Kivu province) there are an estimated 10,000 local Batwa tribesmen and their families living in makeshift encampments on the edge of the KBNP (Kahuzi-Biega National Park) nature reserve. The park was created in 1970 as a protected area for gorillas. But the park is on traditional Batwa land. Because Batwa are hunter-gatherers, not dedicated farmers, they depend on KPNP land. Since 2019 the government ordered the Batwa to move to protect the gorilla population. The government promised new land, healthcare and other facilities for the displaced Batwa but nothing has happened. The Batwa are angry and moving back into the KPNP.

July 30, 2023: The EU imposed individual travel and financial restrictions on nine people, seven of them M23 members, accused of atrocities in eastern Congo.

July 29, 2023: The Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) declared an epidemic of cholera, shigellosis and salmonellosis in the city of Dolisie (western Republic of Congo). So far there are 30 confirmed and 63 suspected cases of cholera.

July 28, 2023: In eastern Congo (North Kivu province) the government accused Rwandan soldiers of launching an attack to support the M23 rebel militia.
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / CNH Industrial

CNH Industrial is committed to improving how its employees get to work by encouraging the use of public transport and eco-friendly travel options. With the company's recent release of their 2022 Sustainability Report, this commitment is demonstrated in various areas.

A mobility survey was conducted in Italy and the UK on 5,500 CNH employees to collect information about their habits, needs, suggestions and feedback regarding their commuting. The survey results will be used to develop and implement a targeted action plan in 2023.

CNH Industrial subsidized the purchase of public transit passes for employees in Modena and in San Matteo (Modena), Italy, as well as public transport costs for employees in Switzerland, all locations in Brazil, and for 100 employees in Heidelberg, Germany.

In Argentina, Brazil, China, India and Italy, shuttle services helped with employee commuting between home and the workplace. According to the report, these services benefitted 4,897 people. The service, called MYshuttle!, counted 1,600 registered profiles. With the service, CNH employees could book a shuttle ride both last minute (on demand) and in advance / periodically. Myshuttle!' represents an innovative, sustainable transport solution for employees looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

Many bike events continued at several locations throughout the 2022. During European Mobility Week in Italy and in Belgium, CNH organized Biking New Ground', a one-week event to encourage active and sustainable mobility of employees via biking to work. With the success in turnout and participation, Biking New Ground' will take place again during 2023's European Mobility Week, starting September 14th.

Employees in Antwerp and Zedelgem (Belgium) also benefitted from bike leasing programs, with 544 bikes hired. Employees in the UK were similarly offered financial incentives to purchase bicycles, e-bikes or scooters for travel to work.

Carpooling initiatives involved 250 employees in Belgium, while in Italy, it remained suspended from the prior year for local health and safety reasons.

Sustainable mobility, as reflected in the company's 2022 Sustainability Report, is a vital pillar to CNH Industrial's commitment to the environment. The company aims to continue this trend through 2023 and beyond.

Sustainable mobility, as reflected in the company's 2022 Sustainability Report, is a vital pillar to CNH Industrial's commitment to the environment. The company aims to continue this trend through 2023 and beyond.

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:
Cummins

COLUMBUS, IN / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2023 / Cummins Inc. has posted its 20th annual Sustainability Progress Report, disclosing reductions in greenhouse gases (GHGs) and water consumption while establishing the foundation for progress on other 2030 environmental goals.

In addition, the global power technology leader reported steady progress on the company's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, including a program addressing systemic discrimination against the Black community in the United States. The report also details the promising start to an initiative addressing the global water crisis, and the continued rebound in employee volunteerism since the outset of the global covid-19 pandemic.

Cummins made these advances, and more, while also achieving record revenues of $28.1 billion in 2022, and completing the acquisition of Meritor Inc., the largest acquisition in company history. Cummins also concluded the transition from former Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger to Cummins' first female chief executive, Chair and CEO Jennifer Rumsey, earlier this year.

"I believe there is no company better positioned than Cummins to make a lasting positive impact on our world," Rumsey says in concluding her essay that opens the 2022-2023 report.

Cummins powers some of the world's most demanding and economically vital applications, from trucks, trains, and buses to agricultural and construction equipment, watercraft, and generators providing emergency power to hospitals, data centers and more.

The company has vowed to be a leader on climate action and considers the effort to decarbonize the global commercial power industry a growth opportunity. The technology leader believes diversity, equity and inclusion is critical to establishing the right work environment for success.

Cummins' report, which is divided into three sections covering the Environment, Social, and Governance and Economics, is available in Cummins' Sustainability Document Archive.

Visitors can also find the company's 2023 Human Capital Management Report, its 2023 report to the framework established by the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, and assurance statements on key environmental, social and governance data in the company's 2022-2023 report.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Cummins Inc. on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Cummins Inc.

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cummins-inc

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: Cummins Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:
Originally published by The Salvation Army

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / In the second quarter of 2023, FedEx's mobile feeding units proved vital in The Salvation Army's efforts to serve their communities. The mobile feeding units were used in outreach events, disaster relief, and homeless feeding programs, and over this quarter the mobile canteens were deployed to 47 different events, with over 32,562 people served. The Salvation Army is greatly appreciative of the support of FedEx and their donation of mobile feeding units and will continue to utilize them to further support our communities.

Disaster Response

Tornadoes in Indiana: On March 31st, 2023, a tornado swept across Indiana and caused significant damage in several counties. The FedEx canteen was engaged immediately to support survivors, first responders, city workers, and utility crews. In Sullivan, Indiana, the canteen was used by disaster workers for weeks after the tornado. Over 50 volunteers served 6,596 meals, 7,667 snacks, and 6,393 drinks. Additionally, disaster workers provided Bibles, blankets, comfort kits, and toys and 15 survivors were provided with Emotional and Spiritual Care by trained Emergency Disaster Services workers. Over 10,000 survivors were served with the help of The Salvation Army and the FedEx canteen.

Fires in Western Pennsylvania: The Salvation Army FedEx canteens were used by Emergency Disaster Services teams to respond to 8 fires in the following counties in Pennsylvania over the course of April, May, and June (Braddock, Glassport, West Mifflin, East Pittsburgh, and Pitcarin). Salvation Army volunteers and officers spent hours at the scenes of the fires, providing support to both survivors and first responders. Emergency Disaster Services workers provided meals, drinks, blankets, and snacks, reaching over 455 individuals affected by the fires.

Tornadoes in Tennessee: Beginning on March 31st and continuing through the early hours of April 1st, tornadoes blew through Tennessee, ultimately damaging dozens of homes and taking the lives of several Tennessee residents. The Salvation Army Kentucky & Tennessee Division deployed the FedEx canteen to serve those impacted, focusing their efforts on Wynne, Arkansas, and Covington, Tennessee. The FedEx canteen was used by disaster workers to serve for two days in Wynne, Arkansas and for three days in Covington, Tennessee. In Wynne, Arkansas, disaster workers partnered with the fire department to serve meals, snacks, and drinks to survivors and first responders. In Covington, Tennessee, the disaster workers partnered with the police department who were able to escort the team to the most impacted areas where they served first responders. Trained disaster workers also provided Emotional & Spiritual Care to those impacted. Over the course of a 5-day response, over 100 individuals were served by The Salvation Army with the help of the FedEx canteens.

Fires in Chicago: From April to June, The Salvation Army North & Central Illinois Division responded to 6 fires in Chicago, Illinois and Aurora, Illinois. With the help of the FedEx canteen, Emergency Disaster Service workers provided 247 snacks, 447 drinks, and 29 meals to over 340 first responders actively fighting the fires.

Homeless Feeding and Outreach

Miami Lunch and Love Program: Since 2022, The Salvation Army of Miami-Dade, Florida has been feeding Miami's growing homeless population through its Lunch and Love program. With the use of a FedEx canteen, volunteers set up their service in one of Miami's "camp cities" for unsheltered homeless. In this quarter, volunteers engaged with 135 homeless individuals and distributed over 100 meals, 135 snack packs and drinks, and 30 first aid kits. Additionally, The Salvation Army provided 12 people with emotional and spiritual support and referred seven (7) people to additional Salvation Army services. As the number of Miami's unsheltered homeless continues to grow, the need for this service is vital; The Salvation Army of Miami-Dade hopes to increase this program from biweekly to weekly feedings.

Baltimore FeedMore Program: The Potomac Division of The Salvation Army has established the FeedMore program with the use of a FedEx canteen. Every Friday, the canteen runs a route with 4 set stops throughout the city, so individuals in need know where and when to find the provided resources. 18 Salvation Army officers and volunteers have engaged with over 7,000 Baltimore residents, serving 7,514 meals and snacks, 7,801 drinks, and distributing over 3,000 hygiene kits.

Baltimore Cornbread Caf: Twice a week, The Salvation Army Baltimore Temple Corps in the Potomac Division holds a free feeding program for food-insecure residents. Using the FedEx canteens, Salvation Army volunteers and officers have served thousands of meals, snacks, and drinks, and have distributed 250 hygiene kits. This quarter, Salvation Army officers and volunteers have engaged with 1,186 food-insecure individuals in the Baltimore area with the help of the FedEx canteen.

Danville Mobile Feeding Program: The Salvation Army FedEx canteen previously located in the Washington, DC area was approved for relocation to Danville, Virginia. The FedEx canteen was quickly integrated into a new mobile feeding program that serves 45 sites per week and works with multiple community partners to serve those experiencing food insecurity in the community. In Danville, The Salvation Army has formed partnerships with local churches to provide daily assistance to food-insecure individuals in the community. The FedEx canteen is used to serve community members in 45 different feeding locations and have engaged with 447 locals by providing hot meals, snacks, drinks, and hygiene kits to anyone in need.

New Orleans Homeless Feeding Program: Every Tuesday and Thursday in New Orleans, Louisiana, Salvation Army disaster workers serve meals to the New Orleans' homeless population. Since April 1st of this year, The Salvation Army Alabama, Louisiana & Mississippi division has served 1,872 homeless individuals by providing thousands of meals, snacks, and drinks with the help of FedEx canteen.

Trenton Mobile Feeding Program: Every Friday evening in Trenton, New Jersey, a volunteer-led team takes the canteen to multiple locations in the city to provide prepared meals, pantry boxes, and various other items to vulnerable populations. These populations include the homeless, housing and food insecure, low-income, migrants, and seniors. The Salvation Army-Trenton Corps collaborates regularly with other service providers in Trenton such as Trenton Police, interfaith coalitions, Mercer County Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD), and Trenton Rescue Mission for guidance on which locations to serve and to provide additional resources for clients. In the 2nd quarter alone, the Trenton mobile feeding program has served 2,685 individuals, and has distributed 272 masks, 261 socks, 200 comfort kits, and 14 toys.

San Francisco Homeless Outreach & Food Program: Every Friday night students from The Salvation Army's Culinary Training Academy prepare and serve food to San Francisco's homeless population. Most of the Culinary Training Academy's students were homeless or food-insecure previously and have found new beginnings in The Salvation Army's rehab and job training programs. This program has served 3,600 meals and drinks, reaching thousands of homeless individuals.

Special Events

Lawrenceville Police Appreciation Lunch: On June 2nd, The Salvation Army Georgia Division provided lunch for the entire police department of Lawrenceville, Georgia to show their appreciation for their service to the community. 11 Salvation Army officers and volunteers served 75 meals for the entire police force out of the FedEx canteen.

Indiana United Front 23: In Butlerville, Indiana, The Salvation Army Indiana Division provided food and hydration to the Indiana National Guardsman, firefighters, and the Israeli Defense Force during a 24-hour training exercise. The Salvation Army team used the training exercise to simulate deployment to a disaster site and train on the mobile kitchen of the canteen. Captain Vinal Lee, the Public Information Officer for this exercise, shared that "These training moments for FEMA, National Guard, and Israeli military are just as much an opportunity for us to train and exercise our personnel and resources. Our ability to deploy team members from around the state, mobilize resources, and maintain continuity of service around the state is a great opportunity for us to learn and grow as an organization." Using the kitchen of the FedEx canteen, 12 officers and volunteers served 244 meals, 931 snacks, and 305 drinks to 95 people.

National Donut Day in Pittsburgh: National Donut Day, celebrated yearly on the first Friday of June, is a holiday created by The Salvation Army in 1938. During World War II, The Salvation Army's "Donut Lassies" distributed donuts to soldiers as a morale boost and popularized the donut in the United States. The Salvation Army celebrates National Donut Day yearly, and this year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, nine (9) Salvation Army employees and volunteers distributed 35 dozen donuts to veterans at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Aspinwall with the help of the FedEx canteens.

Service Extension Camp: In Independence, Missouri, the Kansas & Western Missouri Division of The Salvation Army collaborated with their Service Extension Unit and children's camp. Three (3) volunteers served 120 meals and 150 snacks and drinks to campers and their families, also providing tours of the canteen, and demonstrating to campers and parents alike how the mobile kitchens are used.

Chicago Funerals & Wakes: In April, Emergency Disaster Services workers at The Salvation Army deployed the canteen to serve at firefighter's funerals and wakes in Chicago, Illinois and Norridge, Illinois. In May, Emergency Disaster Services used the FedEx canteen to serve drinks and snacks to first responders working and attending the wake and funeral of a Chicago police officer. Between the 5 total events, volunteers served 752 snacks and 988 drinks.

Results/Outcomes:

Total number of meals served: 26,302

Total number of snacks served: 25,983

Total number of drinks served: 29,591

Total number hygiene/comfort kits distributed: 3,731

Total number of miscellaneous items distributed (blankets, toys, socks): 291

Total Number referrals to The Salvation Army programs and Non-Salvation Army programs: 15

View original content from The Salvation Army here. Republished with permission.

Photo courtesy of The Salvation Army

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:
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2023 / Ximen Mining Corp. (TSX.v:XIM)(FRA:1XMA)(OTCQB: XXMMF) (the "Company" or "Ximen") announces that it has closed the final tranche of the private placement previously announced on August 3 and August 11, 2023, for gross proceeds of $120,000. This final tranche consisted of 2,000,000 units at a price of $0.06 per unit.

All securities issued in connection with the final tranche of the placement will be subject to a hold period expiring on December 24, 2023.

There were no finders fees payable on this placement.

The entire private placement consisted of 10 million units at a price of $0.06 per unit. Each Unit consists of one common share and one transferable common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to purchase, for a period of 60 months from the date of issue, one additional common share of the Issuer at an exercise price of $0.08 per share. The term of the warrants may be accelerated in the event that the issuer's shares trade at or above a price of $0.10 cents per share for a period of 10 consecutive days. In such case of accelerated warrants, the issuer may give notice, in writing or by way of news release, to the subscribers that the warrants will expire 20 days from the date of providing such notice.

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used by the Company for exploration expenses on the Company's British Columbia mineral properties and general working capital. The closing of the private placement financing is subject to final TSX-V approval.

Christopher Anderson a director and/or officer of the Company, participated in the Offering constituting a related party transaction pursuant to TSX Venture Exchange Policy 5.9 and Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company relied on section 5.5(a) of MI 61-101 for an exemption from the formal valuation requirement and section 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 for an exemption from the minority shareholder approval requirement of MI 61-101 as the fair market value of the transaction did not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

The Company also announces that Nicolette Keith is retiring and will be stepping down as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company effective immediately.

The Company would like to thank Ms. Keith for her vision, commitment, and dedication to Ximen Mining over the many years. The board of directors extend their best wishes to Nicolette as she embarks on this new journey.

Mr. Roy Davis, a director of the Company will assume the interim role as Chief Financial Officer.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Christopher R. Anderson"

Christopher R. Anderson,

President, CEO and Director

604 488-3900

Investor Relations: 604-488-3900, [email protected]

About Ximen Mining Corp.

Ximen Mining Corp. owns 100% interest in three of its precious metal projects located in southern BC. Ximen`s two Gold projects The Amelia Gold Mine and The Brett Epithermal Gold Project. Ximen also owns the Treasure Mountain Silver Project adjacent to the past producing Huldra Silver Mine. Currently, the Treasure Mountain Silver Project is under a option agreement. The option partner is making annual staged cash and stocks payments as well as funding the development of the project. The company has also acquired control of the Kenville Gold mine near Nelson British Columbia which comes with surface and underground rights, buildings and equipment.

This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration drilling, exploration activities and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward looking statements. 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 exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release

Ximen Mining Corp

888 Dunsmuir Street - Suite 888, Vancouver, B.C., V6C 3K4 Tel: 604-488-3900

SOURCE: Ximen Mining Corp

View source version on accesswire.com:
In today's digital landscape, ensuring a robust online presence has become imperative for businesses aiming to thrive and expand.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / August 31, 2023 / Zib Digital, the leading digital marketing agency Melbourne-wide, stands at the forefront of the digital transformation, providing businesses with advanced SEO strategies that elevate their visibility and drive growth.





Zib Digital

Zib Digital

According to Zib Digital, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) plays a pivotal role in online success. Specialising in offering tailored solutions, the agency harnesses the power of SEO to enhance its clients' digital footprint, driving organic traffic and bolstering conversion rates.

Zib Digital's comprehensive approach begins with its deep-rooted expertise in SEO Melbourne-wide. The agency understands the local market dynamics, consumer behaviour and search trends. By incorporating location-centric keywords and strategies, Zib Digital ensures that businesses gain prominence in local search results, effectively connecting them with their target audience.

As the premier SEO Agency Melbourne-wide, Zib Digital's success stories are a testament to its prowess. The agency's team of seasoned professionals employs a data-driven approach, conducting in-depth keyword research, optimising on-page elements and developing high-quality content that resonates with both search engines and users. This multifaceted strategy yields sustainable improvements in search engine rankings and a significant boost in organic traffic.

"We believe that every business is unique and its SEO strategy should reflect that," said a spokesperson from Zib Digital. "Our tailored approach ensures that we address the specific goals and challenges of each client, providing them with a competitive edge in the digital landscape."

Zib Digital's commitment extends beyond conventional SEO techniques. The agency understands that the digital realm is dynamic and ever-evolving, continuously adapting strategies to stay ahead of the curve. By staying updated with search engine algorithm changes and emerging trends, Zib Digital guarantees that its clients remain at the forefront of digital visibility.

As pioneers in the digital marketing environment, Zib Digital is an invaluable partner for businesses seeking to enhance their online presence, connect with their audience and achieve sustainable growth.

To learn more and to discuss a tailored strategy that will drive real results, visit https://zibdigital.com.au/

About Zib Digital

For over 15+ years, Zib Digital has been a leading digital marketing agency in Australia and New Zealand. Offering a comprehensive suite of services including SEO, PPC and social media marketing, Zib is dedicated to delivering results-driven campaigns that make a real impact.

Contact Information:

Zib Digital

Manager

(03) 8685 9290

SOURCE: Zib Digital

View source version on accesswire.com:
Timing and content of the news reports is mischievous and malicious, aimed at generating profits by driving down Adani Group stocks

We remain confident in the quality of disclosures and corporate governance standards: Adani Group.

AHMEDABAD, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Adani Group, Indias leading integrated business conglomerate, issued a media statement today in response to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) Report that alleged the Adani Group violated certain laws.

Adani Group vehemently denied the report. The present report is the second instance of an international organization to make meritless allegations against the conglomerate. Earlier, Hindenburg Research, a New York-based short-seller, had issued a report making similar allegations. To that, the Adani Group provided an elaborate response strongly denying its claims. Further updates on this can be accessed on the Adani Updates resource center.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court of India constituted a committee, which submitted its report and made no conclusive finding of any wrongdoing by the Adani Group. The matter is currently subjudice and is being overseen by Indias apex court and the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Adani Group issued the following statement in response to the OCCRP Report:

We categorically reject these recycled allegations. These news reports appear to be yet another concerted bid by funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report. In fact, this was anticipated, as was reported by the media last week.

These claims are based on closed cases from a decade ago when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) probed allegations of over invoicing, transfer of funds abroad, related party transactions and investments through FPIs. An independent adjudicating authority and an appellate tribunal had both confirmed that there was no over-valuation and that the transactions were in accordance with applicable law. The matter attained finality in March 2023 when the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India ruled in our favour. Clearly, since there was no over-valuation, there is no relevance or foundation for these allegations on transfer of funds.

Notably, these FPIs are already part of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). As per the Expert Committee appointed by the Honble Supreme Court, there is no evidence of any breach of the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements or manipulation of stock prices.

It is unfortunate that these publications, which sent us queries, chose not to carry our response in full. These attempts are aimed at, inter alia, generating profits by driving down our stock prices and these short sellers are under investigation by various authorities. As the Honble Supreme Court and SEBI are overseeing these matters, it is vital to respect the ongoing regulatory process.

We have complete faith in the due process of law and remain confident of the quality of our disclosures and corporate governance standards. In light of these facts, the timing of these news reports is suspicious, mischievous and malicious - and we reject these reports in their entirety.

About The Adani Group

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901616241/en/

For media queries, please contact: Roy Paul, [email protected]

Source: The Adani Group
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of a (Excellent) of Rembrandt Insurance Company, Ltd. (Rembrandt) (Bermuda), a captive (re)insurer of Vitol Holding B.V. (Vitol), a group engaged in the trading of energy-related products. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect Rembrandts balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

Rembrandts balance sheet strength is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best expects Rembrandts risk-adjusted capitalisation to remain comfortably at the strongest level, supported by low net underwriting leverage, an outward reinsurance programme that is placed with a panel of financially strong reinsurers and excellent internal capital generation. Partly offsetting factors in the balance sheet strength assessment include the captives moderate reliance on reinsurance and its concentrated asset base, with a loan provided by Rembrandt to Vitol, which represented approximately half of the captives total investments at year-end 2022. The risks associated with this loan are mitigated somewhat by its short duration and early repayment option, along with the sound financial condition of Vitol itself. In addition, Rembrandt maintains sufficient cash holdings to cover its stressed liquidity requirements.

Rembrandts strong operating performance is demonstrated by its five-year (2018-2022) weighted average return on equity of 24.2%, driven primarily by its excellent underwriting results, represented by a five-year weighted average combined ratio of 35.3% over the same period. Revenues and earnings benefitted from higher and more volatile oil and gas prices in 2022, with the companys gross written premium nearly doubling during the year and after-tax profit increasing by 195%. Profitability is expected to moderate over the medium term, as oil and gas prices stabilise.

Rembrandts business profile assessment reflects its strategic importance to its parent. The captive is embedded within Vitols risk management framework; however, it covers only part of its parents insurance needs. Rembrandt has a concentrated insurance portfolio focused on the core operations of Vitol, with approximately 90% of its premiums derived from marine cargo and liability risks.

AM Best remains the leading rating agency of alternative risk transfer entities, with more than 200 such vehicles rated throughout the world. For current Bests Credit Ratings and independent data on the captive and alternative risk transfer insurance market, please visit www.ambest.com/captive.

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/20230901485368/en/

Romeo Berti, ACA, CMA

Senior Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 0267

[email protected]

Christopher Sharkey

Associate Director, Public Relations

+1 908 882 2310

[email protected]

Tim Prince

Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0320

[email protected]

Al Slavin

Senior Public Relations Specialist

+1 908 882 2318

[email protected]

Source: AM Best
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ARCO) (Arcos Dorados or the Company), Latin Americas largest restaurant chain and the worlds largest independent McDonalds franchisee, today announced its participation in the following investor event:

Goldman Sachs 30th Annual Global Retailing Conference. This in-person event will be held in New York, from Tuesday, September 12 to Wednesday, September 13, 2023, and the Company will participate on September 13.

This information is also available in the Events section of the Companys IR website: www.arcosdorados.com/ir.

Follow us on:

LinkedIn

Twitter

About Arcos Dorados

Arcos Dorados is the worlds largest independent McDonalds franchisee, operating the largest quick service restaurant chain in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has the exclusive right to own, operate and grant franchises of McDonalds restaurants in 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories with more than 2,300 restaurants, operated by the Company or by its sub-franchisees, that together employ over 95 thousand people (as of 06/30/2023). The Company is also committed to the development of the communities in which it operates, to providing young people their first formal job opportunities and to utilize its Recipe for the Future to achieve a positive environmental impact. Arcos Dorados is listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ARCO). To learn more about the Company, please visit the Investors section of our website: www.arcosdorados.com/ir.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901693629/en/

For more information, please contact:

Investor Relations Contact

Dan Schleiniger

VP of Investor Relations

Arcos Dorados

[email protected]

Media Contact

David Grinberg

VP of Corporate Communications

Arcos Dorados

[email protected]

Source: Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc.
Provides the community with different ways to fight hunger throughout September

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

The updated release reads:

ATLANTA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK JOIN HANDS WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS ACROSS THE CITY TO AMPLIFY HUNGER ACTION MONTH

Provides the community with different ways to fight hunger throughout September

The Atlanta Community Food Bank, a leader in the fight against hunger, is calling on community members to take action in the fight against hunger for Hunger Action Month. The Food Bank is joining other Feeding America organizations to raise awareness and inspire others to participate in the nationwide movement to end hunger.

Hunger Action Month is an opportunity for us to shine a light on hunger and how our community can tackle this crisis as a collective, said Kyle Waide, President & CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. This year, we want to emphasize the importance of food and how, when people are fed, their futures are nourished, and individuals can thrive. We believe that every action, big or small, can bring us a step closer to ending hunger."

Throughout the month, the Food Bank is asking community members to take action against the hunger crisis. And, throughout the month, all donations to the Food Bank through an email and online campaign will be matched up to $55,000 thanks to a group of generous donors.

On September 15, Hunger Action Day, the Food Bank encourages everyone to Go Orange by sporting the color that represents hunger and doing what they can to help neighbors in need. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the unveiling of the art piece on September 15 has been postponed indefinitely.

On the evening of September 15, people should look to the sky to see iconic landmarks around Atlanta lit up orange. The following landmarks and companies around Atlanta have already committed to participating:

Atlantic Station  The lights around Atlantic Green will light up orange

 The lights around Atlantic Green will light up orange Colony Square  The Plaza and Colonnade lights of the mixed-use destination at the heart of Midtown Atlanta will light up orange on Hunger Action Day.

 The Plaza and Colonnade lights of the mixed-use destination at the heart of Midtown Atlanta will light up orange on Hunger Action Day. Georgia Aquarium  The location will light up the Georgia Fish logo facing Centennial Olympic Park and the East pedestrian walkway.

 The location will light up the Georgia Fish logo facing Centennial Olympic Park and the East pedestrian walkway. Georgia's Own Credit Union  The 174-foot, digital building's top sign will light up orange in support.

 The 174-foot, digital building's top sign will light up orange in support. King & Spalding  The iconic tower will light up orange on Hunger Action Day.

 The iconic tower will light up orange on Hunger Action Day. One Atlantic Center  The location will light up their fountain orange.

 The location will light up their fountain orange. Ponce City Market  The iconic market will light up orange on Hunger Action Day.

 The iconic market will light up orange on Hunger Action Day. 1105 West Peachtree  The buildings 410-foot tall exoskeleton will light up bright orange on Hunger Action Day.

 The buildings 410-foot tall exoskeleton will light up bright orange on Hunger Action Day. 1180 Peachtree St. (the King & Spalding Building)

On September 26, Atlanta Community Food Bank will also host a Lunch and Learn on Farm Bill Reauthorization with President and CEO Kyle Waide and Director of Government Affairs Megan Middleton. The event aims to educate the community on the meaning of the Georgia Farm Bill Reauthorization and the importance of Farm Bill nutrition programs. Attendees will learn how they can advocate and take action to improve policies for more food secure communities. Register at https://acfb.volunteerhub.com/vv2/.

Throughout the year, but especially during Hunger Action Month, the Food Bank encourages community members to help ensure everyone has access to the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, productive lives by donating, volunteering, or advocating.

How To Take Action

Supporters may post to social media how they will take action against hunger using #HungerActionMonth and tagging @FeedingAmerica and @ACFB to help spotlight the initiative. Participants may also volunteer with local food pantries to help package or organize food and supplies for those in need. For those who would like to contribute funds, donations may be made directly to the Atlanta Community Food Bank through their website or supporters may host fundraisers to increase their giving power.

To learn more about how you can take action, visit www.HungerActionMonth.org. For more information or to learn how you can help, visit www.acfb.org or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.

About Atlanta Community Food Bank

The Atlanta Community Food Bank works to end hunger with the food, people and big ideas needed to ensure our neighbors have the nourishment to lead healthy and productive lives. Far too many people in our own community experience hunger every day, including children, seniors and working families. Through more than 700 community-based, nonprofit partners in 29 counties, we help more than 525,000 people get healthy food every year. In 2023, the Atlanta Community Food Bank distributed its one billionth meal.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901390742/en/

[email protected]

Source: Atlanta Community Food Bank
SHENZHEN, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hytera Communications (SZSE: 002583), a leading global provider of professional communications technologies and solutions, has won the bid for the 2023-2024 Sinopec Groups industrial two-way radio equipment procurement in August 2023. Hytera is the sole winner of the bid and the scope of procurement encompasses a diverse range of products, including infrastructure of TETRA, PDT, and PoC, as well as intrinsically safe two-way radios and body-worn cameras (BWC).

As the world's largest oil refinery and the second-largest chemical company, Sinopec Group has consistently prioritized the development of its Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructure. This bid leads to Sinopec Groups first centralized framework purchase of two-way radio devices and systems. The collaboration aims at ensuring safe and efficient operations across Sinopec plants.

Hytera has proudly served many petrochemical customers across the world, prioritizing workplace safety above all else. This partnership is another testament to the industry's recognition of Hytera products and capabilities, said Mu Qiao, general manager of Hytera China, As we look ahead, we are determined to continue providing products and empower safe, reliable, and efficient operation for an even broader range of customers in the energy and petrochemical industries. This commitment drives us to push the boundaries of technological innovation and to meet the evolving needs of our clients.

Learn more about Hytera oil and gas solutions at https://www.hytera.com/en/industries/oil-and-gas.html.

About Hytera

Hytera Communications Corporation Limited (SZSE: 002583) is a leading global provider of professional communications technologies and solutions. With voice, video, and data capabilities, we provide faster, safer, and more versatile connectivity for business and mission-critical users. We make the world more efficient and safer by enabling our customers to achieve more in both daily operations and emergency response.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901150410/en/

[email protected]

Source: Hytera Communications
DEARBORN, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ford Motor Company CFO John Lawler will give background and insights on the deployment of the companys transformational Ford+ plan at Morgan Stanleys 11th Annual Laguna Conference later this month.

Lawler, in a fireside chat-style discussion with Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas, will provide further proof points of Fords plan to grow and create value in a new era of connected and electric vehicles. The event will take place at 11:05 a.m. PT (3:05 p.m. ET) on Tuesday, Sept. 12. Audio of the chat can be heard live and on replay via webcast.

Additional information is available at shareholder.ford.com.

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan, committed to helping build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. The companys Ford+ plan for growth and value creation combines existing strengths, new capabilities and always-on relationships with customers to enrich experiences for customers and deepen their loyalty. Ford develops and delivers innovative, must-have Ford trucks, sport utility vehicles, commercial vans and cars and Lincoln luxury vehicles, along with connected services. The company does that through three customer-centered business segments: Ford Blue, engineering iconic gas-powered and hybrid vehicles; Ford Model e, inventing breakthrough EVs along with embedded software that defines exceptional digital experiences for all customers; and Ford Pro, helping commercial customers transform and expand their businesses with vehicles and services tailored to their needs. Additionally, Ford is pursuing mobility solutions through Ford Next, and provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. Ford employs about 177,000 people worldwide. More information about the company and its products and services is available at corporate.ford.com.

For news releases, related materials and high-resolution photos and video, visit www.media.ford.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901683058/en/

Equity Investment Community:

Lynn Antipas Tyson

313.621.2902

[email protected]

Fixed Income Investment Community:

Christopher Conti

313.418.1673

[email protected]

Shareholder Inquiries:

1.313.845.8540 or

800.555.5259

[email protected]

Media:

Ian Thibodeau

313.268.6056

[email protected]

Source: Ford Motor Company
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Leeward Renewable Energy Operations, LLC (LREO) today announced that it has posted to its secure investor relations site key operating and financial results for the second quarter of 2023.

An investor call will be held on September 11th, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. CST. Investors who hold LREOs 4.250% Senior Notes due in 2029, prospective investors, broker-dealers, and securities analysts, are invited to join the investor call. Details to access the investor call have been posted to LREOs secure investor relations site.

For information on how to access the site, visit https://www.leewardenergy.com/request-access/ or contact Investor Relations at [email protected].

About Leeward Renewable Energy Operations, LLC

LREO is wholly owned by Leeward Renewable Energy (LRE), a leading renewable energy company that owns and operates a portfolio of 26 renewable energy facilities across nine states totaling approximately 2,700 megawatts of generating capacity. LRE is actively developing and contracting new wind, solar, and energy storage projects in energy markets across the U.S., with 1.9 gigawatts contracted and 20 gigawatts under development and construction, spanning over 100 projects. LRE is committed to providing long-term, sustainable energy solutions across all its projects that benefit its community partners while protecting and enhancing the environment. LRE is a portfolio company of OMERS Infrastructure, an investment arm of OMERS, one of Canadas largest defined benefit pension plans with C$124.2 billion in net assets (as at December 31, 2022). For more information, visit www.leewardenergy.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230831309575/en/

For more information:

FGS Global

[email protected]



Kelly Kimberly

713.822.7538



Liz James

281.881.5170

Source: Leeward Renewable Energy Operations, LLC
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: QTWO), a leading provider of digital banking and lending solutions, will participate in the following event:

Fireside Chat hosted by Citi with Q2 President Kirk Coleman, Q2 CFO David Mehok, and Q2 CTO Adam Blue on September 5, 2023

A live webcast, as well as a replay, will be accessible from the Investor Relations page of the Q2 website at investors.Q2.com.

About Q2 Holdings, Inc.

Q2 is a leading provider of digital banking and lending solutions to banks, credit unions, alternative finance companies, and fintechs in the U.S. and internationally. Q2 enables its financial institutions and fintech companies to provide comprehensive, secure, data-driven digital client engagement solutionsfrom consumers to small businesses and corporate clients. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Q2 has offices throughout the world and is publicly traded on the NYSE under the stock symbol QTWO. To learn more, please visit Q2.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and X to stay up-to-date.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901796276/en/

MEDIA CONTACT:

Jean Kondo

Q2 Holdings, Inc.

510-823-4728

[email protected]

INVESTOR CONTACT:

Josh Yankovich

Q2 Holdings, Inc.

512-682-4463

[email protected]

Source: Q2 Holdings, Inc.
MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Saint-Gobain has completed the acquisition, announced on June 12, 2023, of Building Products of Canada Corp. (Building Products of Canada), a leading manufacturer of residential roofing shingles and wood fiber insulation panels in Canada.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901413388/en/

(Photo: Business Wire)

With 460 employees working at three manufacturing plants across the country (Montreal, Edmonton, Pont-Rouge), Building Products of Canada complements CertainTeed Canadas existing operations by offering roofing materials, and will add C$435 million to its leadership position in Canada, where it already has C$1.4 billion in sales. Along with the recent acquisitions of Kaycan and GCP in 2022, this acquisition is a major milestone in establishing Saint-Gobains leading position worldwide in light and sustainable construction.

Building Products of Canada joins the CertainTeed building materials business, in the Americas Region.

Todays closing announcement follows several other North American growth investments announced by Saint-Gobain in recent months:

With over 150 manufacturing locations in United States and Canada, every current and future member of the companys team plays a vital role in achieving its sustainability goals. A current list of job openings at all Saint-Gobain locations, including throughout Canada, can be found on the companys careers website.

ABOUT CERTAINTEED

With innovative building solutions made possible through its comprehensive offering of interior and exterior products, CertainTeed is transforming how the industry builds. As leaders in building science and sustainable construction, CertainTeed makes it easier than ever to create high-performance, energy-efficient places to live, work and play, so that together we can make the world a better home.

A subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, one of the world's largest and oldest building products companies, CertainTeed has more than 6,900 employees and more than 60 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and Canada. The group had total sales of approximately $5.6 billion in 2021. www.certainteed.com

ABOUT SAINT-GOBAIN

Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The Groups commitment is guided by its purpose, MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME.

51.2 billion in sales in 2022

168,000 employees, located in 75 countries

Committed to achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2050

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901413388/en/

Media

Saint-Gobain North America :

Peter Clark

Saint-Gobain Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Source: Saint-Gobain
Techvestor co-founder and CEO Sief Khafagi is pleased to announce the new Sief Khafagi Scholarship, which will award one student $2,500 to help support their academic pursuits.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Techvestors CEO and co-founder, Sief Khafagi, is excited to announce a new scholarship that is available to high school seniors. The Sief Khafagi Scholarship is available to high school seniors who have been accepted into a U.S.-accredited college or university or are current full-time students at an accredited institution.

A $2,500 scholarship will be awarded to support students attending state-sponsored colleges or universities. The scholarship aims to foster the pursuit of higher education among students who exhibit exceptional academic achievements.

Students from all fields of study are encouraged to apply for the Sief Khafagi Scholarship. All applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.5 to be considered.

In addition to filling out an online application, students interested in applying for the scholarship must submit a 500-word essay explaining how receiving it would benefit them and how they plan to leverage their education to create a lasting, positive impact within their community. At least one scholarship will be awarded to an outstanding student applicant.

In January 2024, the scholarship team will choose a candidate with the most exceptional submission. The winner will then be notified via email and will have two weeks to accept the award. An alternate winner will be selected if the winner fails to accept in that timeframe. Once the winner accepts the award, the scholarship committee may request additional information to verify all the details the applicant provided in the application.

This scholarship fits perfectly into the mission of Techvestor and its CEO and co-founder, Sief Khafagi, an entrepreneur and real estate investor who co-founded the proptech company Techvestor, which is based in San Francisco, California.

Sief Khafagi launched his first business while he was still earning his degree at San Diego State University. The companys goal was to motivate computer science students to ace interviews they had at big tech companies.

Facebook reached out to Sief Khafagi after learning of his work, hiring him to work as a recruiter for its production engineering team. In that role, he helped the social media giant increase its pool of top talent more than tenfold.

After returning to the Los Angeles office of Facebook, Sief Khafagi came up with the idea for a new startup in the real estate field, focused on helping those in the short-term rental industry overcome the challenges they face.

He co-founded Techvestor in 2021 as an institutional-grade investment platform for short-term rental properties such as those on Airbnb.

Techvestor, Sief Khafagi, and the entire scholarship team believe in the transformative power of education, and they are committed to assisting dedicated students to achieve their academic aspirations.

Applications are open now for the Sief Khafagi Scholarship. The deadline to apply is December 12, and the award will be disbursed for the spring semester of 2024.

To apply or learn more about the scholarship, please visit siefkhafagischolarship.com.

About Techvestor

Techvestor is a tech enabled real estate firm that offers a proprietary platform for investment in short-term rental properties. Techvestor allows investors to accumulate passive income through real estate investments that are facilitated by proprietary software and managed by its team of real estate investment professionals. Techvestor was co-founded in 2021 by Sief Khafagi and Sabrina Guler.

About Sief Khafagi

Sief Khafagi is an entrepreneur, real estate investor, and co-founder of Techvestor, a remote proptech company. With more than a decade of experience in real estate and technology, Sief Khafagi and his team use industry-leading data insights to scale their short term rental portfolio alongside their investors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901875282/en/

Media Contact Information

Techvestor

(415) 650-4705

https://techvestor.com/

Remote, USA

[email protected]

Source: Techvestor
MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The MolinaCares Accord (MolinaCares), in collaboration with Molina Healthcare of Florida (Molina), is donating $250,000 to the Florida Disaster Fund, the states official fund which supports response and recovery activities in times of emergency or disaster.

Our hearts go out to all Floridians impacted by Hurricane Idalia, said Mike Jones, plan president of Molina Healthcare of Florida. The MolinaCares Accord supports programs and efforts that make a meaningful impact on the well-being of our communities. This funding does just that by putting resources on the ground where they are needed most.

While the regions directly affected by hurricane-related damage are not in Molina service areas, many members evacuated their homes in preparation for the storm. Because of this, Molina is supporting its members who need to access prescriptions at a location different from their local pharmacy. Information on this process can be found here.

About The MolinaCares Accord

Established by Molina Healthcare, Inc., The MolinaCares Accord oversees a community investment platform created to improve the health and well-being of disadvantaged populations by funding meaningful, measurable, and innovative programs and solutions that improve health, life, and living in local communities. The MolinaCares Accord funds such measures through The Molina Healthcare Charitable Foundation Inc., a 501(c)(3) established in 2020 by Molina Healthcare, Inc.

About Molina Healthcare of Florida

Molina Healthcare of Florida has been providing government-funded, quality health care since 2008. The Company serves members through Medicaid, Medicare, and Health Insurance Exchange programs throughout Florida. Through its locally operated health plans, Molina Healthcare, Inc., a FORTUNE 500 company, provides managed health care 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 of Florida, visit MolinaHealthcare.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901663605/en/

Ben Jackey, [email protected], (502) 377-9484

Source: Molina Healthcare of Florida
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wyoming-based Casper College has bolstered its commitment to accessibility by adding YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility Platform to the YuJa Enterprise Video Platform and Zoom Connector to provide a comprehensive, streamlined approach to delivering accessible, engaging video and media content to students.

The institution was seeking a robust platform that offered website accessibility features for various assistive devices and that worked well with other learning tools, including Moodle, its learning management system. YuJa Panorama is one product in YuJas suite of high-impact media solutions. The solution provides an accessibility gauge and enables content creators to pinpoint and correct issues as content is created.

In addition, instructors will benefit from the automatic generation of accessible versions of all uploaded documents, comprehensive reports at the course, instructor, and institution levels, and other tools that help build accessibility into course creation. YuJa Panorama also provides users with an LTI app and customized website accessibility profiles that can be applied to both internal and external web pages.

Casper College has been a long time user of the YuJa Video Platform. The addition of the YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility Platform will help streamline accessibility to create an inclusive, equitable, accessible educational environment for all, said Nathan Arora, Chief Business Officer at YuJa, Inc. Casper College is committed to accessibility, and were excited for them to use YuJa Panorama to help meet all their accessibility needs.

ABOUT CASPER COLLEGE

Located in Casper, Wyoming, Casper College is a public, comprehensive two-year institution with a primary focus on student success that provides learning opportunities to enrich the lives of its students and community. The college offers more than 130 academic transfer, technical and career programs to approximately 5,000 students from all over Wyoming, 35-plus states and 20 foreign countries.

ABOUT YUJA, INC.

YuJa is a leader in ed-tech solutions. Our platforms provide organizations of all sizes with the tools to educate, engage, inspire and collaborate. We serve learning enterprises within all sectors, including higher-ed, K-12, government, healthcare, non-profit and corporate. We have legal headquarters in Delaware with primary U.S. offices in Silicon Valley, California, and Canadian offices in Toronto.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901968980/en/

Hannah Johnson

1-888-257-2278

Source: YuJa, Inc.
Zevos pest control solutions will provide home protection against insects for Florida residents affected by the recent hurricane

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Procter & Gambles (NYSE: PG) Zevo has partnered again with disaster relief organization Matthew 25: Ministries (M25) to donate a variety of its Instant Action Insect Killer Sprays to residents of Florida that have been affected by Hurricane Idalia.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230831062512/en/

Zevo provides dependable protection against different types of insects for Florida residents impacted by Hurricane Idalia (Photo: Business Wire)

With hurricane season beginning in early summer and lasting through late fall, the threat of hurricanes is ongoing in the southern U.S. and impacts residents both inside and outside the home. From muggy weather conditions that can lead to a surge in bugs, to a variety of insects entering the home seeking refuge from the storm's damage, insect control is essential yet oftentimes overlooked in post-hurricane relief efforts.

Zevo aims to help Florida families stay protected from various insects. The brand has designated a portion of their $8 million donation of Instant Action Insect Killer, Ant, Roach & Spider and Instant Action Insect Killer, Ant, Roach & Fly to Matthew 25s Hurricane Idalia disaster response. Both products will help residents and their families stay protected from the potential increase in both flying and crawling insects that hurricanes like Idalia can bring about.

Post-hurricane relief and recovery efforts can be daunting to address for many people, said Tim Mettey, Chief Executive Officer, Matthew 25: Ministries. Were incredibly grateful for Zevos donation that will give Florida residents one less thing to worry about so they are able to focus on rebuilding their lives without the concern of irritating insects.

Zevo Kill Sprays offer effective protection against crawling and flying insects like spiders, roaches, ants, and flies. Zevo sprays are powered by essential oils to kill insects by targeting nervous system receptors vital to insects, not people or pets. Just spray to kill and wipe up whats left behind with a clean cloth or paper towel.

"At Zevo, we know bugs can be an unnecessary stressor in every day life for many people, especially during an aftermath of a hurricane when wet weather conditions can cause insects to become more prevalent," said Chetan Parekh, Vice President & General Manager of Zevo at Procter & Gamble. "We wanted to offer our support to the families in Florida affected by Hurricane Idalia and provide them with Zevos dependable insect control solutions, so they dont have to worry about the bugs during this critical time."

This years donation to M25 is a part of an ongoing partnership with the disaster relief organization. Since 2022, Zevo has supported communities affected by natural disasters during times of need.

Zevo products are available for purchase online at ZevoInsect.com and at various retailers across the US. To find a local retailer that carries Zevo products near you, visit Zevos store locator. For more information, visit Zevo online or connect on Facebook and Instagram. You can also learn more about Matthew 25: Ministries and how you can help their organization make a difference here.

About Zevo

Launched in 2017, Zevo provides smart insect control products that kill bugs in and around your home in a different way. Part of Procter & Gamble, Zevos suite of household insect kill sprays, plug-in trap systems, and On-Body products control crawling, flying, and stinging insects, and are made to bother bugs, not your family. Zevo products are available for purchase online at ZevoInsect.com and at all major retailers across the U.S. For more information, visit Zevo online or connect on Facebook and Instagram.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always, Ambi Pur, Ariel, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Dawn, Downy, Fairy, Febreze, Gain, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Lenor, Olay, Oral-B, Pampers, Pantene, SK-II, Tide, Vicks, and Whisper. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit https://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands. For other P&G news, visit us at https://www.pg.com/news.

About Matthew 25: Ministries

Matthew 25: Ministries rescues and reuses approximately 15,000,000 pounds of products each year and redistributes them to the poorest of the poor and disaster victims. Each year, Matthew 25: Ministries impacts the lives of more than 20,000,000 individuals throughout the United States and around the world. Matthew 25 is included on Forbes 2022 list of Americas Top 100 Charities, is a 4-star nonprofit on Charity Navigator and has earned a Platinum-Level Candid Exchange seal. Matthew 25: Ministries is accredited by the Better Business Bureau through the "Wise Giving Alliance Standards. For more information, or to schedule an interview, contact Michelle Jones [email protected] at Matthew 25: Ministries (513) 793-6256, or visit m25m.org.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230831062512/en/

Lauren McNutt, Citizen Relations

[email protected]

Caroline Zalla, Procter & Gamble

[email protected]

Source: Zevo
FILE PHOTO: Oil, miniatures of oil barrels, oil pump jack and U.S. dollar banknote are seen in this illustration taken, June 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Friday to their highest in over half a year and snapped a two-week losing streak, buoyed by expectations of tightening supplies.

Saudi Arabia is widely expected to extend a voluntary 1 million barrel per day oil production cut into October, prolonging supply curbs engineered by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies, known collectively as OPEC+, to support prices.

Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, has already agreed with OPEC+ partners to cut oil exports next month, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.

Brent crude settled up $1.66, or 1.9%, at $88.49 a barrel. Earlier it gained to a session high of $88.75 a barrel, the highest since Jan. 27.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) had risen $1.39, roughly 1.7%, to $85.02. It rose earlier to $85.81, the highest since Nov. 16.

Brent rose about 4.8% this week, the most it has increased in a week since late July. WTI advanced by 7.2% in the week, its biggest weekly gain since March.

"There is a realization the economy is not falling off the map, and signs that demand is near record highs," said Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn. "People have to face the cold, hard reality that supplies are below average."

The appetite for oil in the United States has been robust, with commercial crude inventories declining in five of the most recent six weeks, according to surveys conducted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A keenly watched U.S. report on Friday also showed a rise in the unemployment rate and moderation in wage growth, bolstering expectations of a pause in interest rate hikes.

Meanwhile, expectations for demand recovery elsewhere are growing.

A downturn in euro zone manufacturing eased last month, suggesting the worst may be over for the bloc's beleaguered factories, while an unexpected rebound in China offered some hope for export-reliant economies, private surveys showed.

Both OPEC and the International Energy Agency are depending on the world's biggest oil importer, China, to shore up oil demand over the rest of 2023, but the sluggish recovery of the country's economy has investors concerned.

The remainder of this year promises to bring supply shortage, partly owing to reasonably healthy global consumption and partly because of the Saudi determination to provide a high price floor, said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

"Unless the Chinese economy stages a confident revival next year, the mood will sour markedly," he said.

In an indication of future supply, U.S. oil rigs were unchanged at 512 this week, the measure holding at its lowest level since February 2022, energy services firm Baker Hughes said on Friday.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York, Natalie Grover in London and Sudarshan Varadhan in Singapore;Editing by David Goodman, Louise Heavens, Nick Macfie, Conor Humphries and Andy Sullivan)
The U.S. Air Force and Raytheon, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, successfully completed the first flight test of the AIM-120C-8  the latest international variant of AMRAAM developed under the Form, Fit, Function (F3R) refresh. The AIM-120C-8 was fired from an F-15C Eagle and downed the aerial target, meeting all primary objectives for the flight test.

"AMRAAM is a combat-proven missile trusted by more than 40 international partners for both air-to-air and surface-to-air missions," said Paul Ferraro , president of Air Power at Raytheon, an RTX business. "With the advancements from F3R, which updates both the missile's hardware and allows for future Agile software upgrades, we are maximizing the capabilities of this munition for allies around the world."

Under the F3R program, engineers used model-based systems engineering initiatives and other digital technologies to upgrade multiple circuit cards and advanced processors in the guidance section of the missile and to re-host legacy software in the AIM-120D-3 and AIM-120C-8 AMRAAMs.

This AIM-120C-8 flight test follows the completion of flight testing of the AIM-120D-3. Flight testing on the AIM-120D-3 was completed in just 11 months after the initial flight test and concluded with showcasing the success of the missile in a highly contested environment.
Detroit, Michigan, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions, Inc., (the Company) ( OTCPK:AITX ), a global leader in AI-driven security and productivity solutions along with its wholly owned subsidiary, Robotic Assistance Devices, Inc. (RAD), today announced that it is expected to release its Q2 FY 2024 sales unit intake results on Wednesday September 6, 2023.



"I am incredibly excited to soon share the sales results from our primary subsidiary RAD, said Steve Reinharz, CEO of AITX and RAD. "The 2nd quarter thats just closed has shown great progress and continued momentum. Weve publicized some big wins recently and I hope our amazing community of followers is as excited as I am to announce these results."

Reinharz continued, "Id like to invite everyone to check out our weekly videos where we review the weeks events and progress and I often share a glimpse of what lies ahead. Theres so much going on at AITX and RAD, its really the best way to stay informed."

Interested parties are encouraged to visit AITX on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@AITX-RAD.

AITX, through its subsidiary, Robotic Assistance Devices, Inc. (RAD), is redefining the $25 billion (US) security and guarding services industry through its broad lineup of innovative, AI-driven Solutions-as-a-Service business model. RAD solutions are specifically designed to provide cost savings to businesses of between 35%-80% when compared to the industrys existing and costly manned security guarding and monitoring model. RAD delivers these tremendous cost savings via a suite of stationary and mobile robotic solutions that complement, and at times, directly replace the need for human personnel in environments better suited for machines. All RAD technologies, AI-based analytics and software platforms are developed in-house.

RAD has a prospective sales pipeline of over 35 Fortune 500 companies and numerous other client opportunities. RAD expects to continue to attract new business as it converts its existing sales opportunities into deployed clients generating a recurring revenue stream. Each Fortune 500 client has the potential of making numerous reorders over time.

About Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions (AITX)

AITX is an innovator in the delivery of artificial intelligence-based solutions that empower organizations to gain new insight, solve complex challenges and fuel new business ideas. Through its next-generation robotic product offerings, AITXs RAD, RAD-M and RAD-G companies help organizations streamline operations, increase ROI, and strengthen business. AITX technology improves the simplicity and economics of patrolling and guard services and allows experienced personnel to focus on more strategic tasks. Customers augment the capabilities of existing staff and gain higher levels of situational awareness, all at drastically reduced cost. AITX solutions are well suited for use in multiple industries such as enterprises, government, transportation, critical infrastructure, education, and healthcare. To learn more, visit www.aitx.ai, www.radsecurity.com , www.stevereinharz.com, www.radgroup.ai, www.raddog.ai, and www.radlightmyway.com, or follow Steve Reinharz on Twitter @SteveReinharz .

CAUTIONARY DISCLOSURE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The information contained in this publication does not constitute an offer to sell or solicit an offer to buy securities of Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions, Inc. (the Company). This publication contains forward-looking statements, which are not guarantees of future performance and may involve subjective judgment and analysis. As such, there are no assurances that the Company will meet its expectations with respect to its future sales volume or becoming cash flow positive. The information provided herein is believed to be accurate and reliable, however the Company makes no representations or warranties, expressed or implied, as to its accuracy or completeness. The Company has no obligation to provide the recipient with additional updated information. No information in this publication should be interpreted as any indication whatsoever of the Companys future revenues, results of operations, or stock price. Further, the sales unit take results should not be interpreted in any way whatsoever as reflecting actual revenues or otherwise predictive of the Companys revenues.

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ATLANTA, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Booster, the countrys leading fundraising partner for K-12 schools, released its annual Impact Report, announcing the addition of $125 million raised for schools in the 2022-2023 school year. This brings the company closer to its goal of profiting schools $1 billion in five years, ending with the 2025-2026 school year. To date, Booster has raised more than $252 million toward its goal.The fundraising companys newly released report also shares updated numbers reflecting its growth and reach across the nation. Booster, which recently expanded its fundraising offerings to support high schools, teams and groups, now serves over 7,500 schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade, creating positive experiences and building community for over 16.5 million students across all 50 states. I want to express our gratitude to the administrators, teachers and parent volunteers for trusting Booster to help their schools thrive, said Stephen Murray, President and COO of Booster. We are inspired by the bravery and perseverance we have witnessed in families and school systems, especially the last few years as theyve faced significant challenges with such courage and creativity. Boosters report goes beyond numbers and showcases tangible examples of how its fundraising solutions are creating a lasting impact on schools, students and communities as well as building trust and lasting relationships.[The Booster team is] enthusiastic, theyre energetic, the kids absolutely adore them, they love them. They make connections and they do it so eloquentlyJust when you think it can't get any better, it does," said Gina Fanelli, PTO President at Blue Mountain Elementary East in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania.Blue Mountain Elementary East celebrated its 10th Fun Run with Booster during the spring. The partnership has raised more than $280,000 for the school to help fund a pavilion, specialized playground equipment, field trips, teacher appreciation, classroom supplies, technology and more.Funds raised through Booster programs this year have also helped contribute to projects such as transforming a school gym for a high school in Greer, South Carolina, giving a massive playground upgrade with funds from a Fun Run in Frisco, Texas, bringing new technology to every single classroom at a school in Littleton, Colorado and providing educational enrichment resources through Fun Run and product sale fundraisers for students in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Boosters fundraisers also directly impact students such as 21-year-old Harper Hancuff, a professional weightlifter with two world records who competes in both general competitions and the Special Olympics. Hancuff, who recently stopped by Boosters headquarters in Atlanta to visit with the team, attributes her passion for fitness to participating in Booster fundraisers as a student. You have exceeded our expectations by far. Thank you all so much. Your legacy makes a huge difference and heres proof of it, said Hancuffs father, Travis Hancuff. As the 2023-2024 school year begins, Booster remains dedicated to making a lasting impact on the lives of individual students and entire educational communities nationwide as it continues to work towards its goal to raise $1 billion for schools by 2027.

# # #About BoosterBooster is the leading school fundraising company in the U.S. As the son of an educator, founder Chris Carneal created Booster in 2002 to help strengthen schools. Since then, Booster has offered ever-expanding fundraising services such as school fun runs, fundraising technology, spirit gear and promotional products, product sales and more to help schools thrive by increasing funds and inspiring students through fitness and character-building experiences. More than 800 team members serve 7,500 K-12 schools nationwide and have helped schools, groups and teams profit more than $600 million. Based in Georgia, Booster embraces the virtues of gratitude, wisdom, care, courage, grit, and celebration. These virtues guide every aspect of its business, from client care, leader development, product development and technical support, to sales and marketing. Learn more at choosebooster.com.

Attachment

Jenni Dewitt Booster 6628011413 [email protected]

Source: Booster
Highlights

Prospect Resources completes Phase 1 earn-in at Osinos Omaruru Lithium Project, Namibia.

Assay results outlined a significant extension and thickening of the Karlsbrunn Main deposit root zone feeder system from surface, which remains open at depth to the northeast. Significant strike extension potential to the north of Brockmans requires follow- up. Intercepts from latest drilling include: 35m @ 0.85% Li 2 O from surface, including 5m @ 1.03% Li 2 O from 1m and 13m @ 1.04% Li 2 O from 12m (Karlsbrunn Main) 18m @ 0.88% Li 2 O from surface and 13m @ 0.79% Li 2 O from 21m (Karlsbrunn Main) 7m @ 0.84% Li 2 O from 16m, including 2m @ 1.46% Li 2 O from 16m and 2m @ 1.21% Li 2 O from 21m (Bergers NE)

Prospect has now earned a 40% project interest and will proceed with the Phase 2 earn-in at Omaruru.

Osino has the option to retain a 49% interest in the project through pro-rata equity contributions and regardless will be carried as a 15% holder in the event of non-funding, until DFS.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Osino Resources Corp. (TSXV: OSI) (NSX:OSN) (FSE: RSR1) (OTCQX: OSIIF) ("Osino or the Company) is pleased to report the completion of the phase 1 earn-in (Phase 1) on its majority-owned Omaruru Lithium Project (Omaruru or the Project) in Namibia by Prospect Resources Limited (ASX:PSC) (FRA:5E8) (Prospect) and announces that Prospect will proceed with the phase 2 earn-in (Phase 2).

Osino entered into an Earn-In and Shareholder Agreement (the Agreement) with Prospect in Q4 2022 whereby Prospect had the right to earn into a 40% interest in the Project upon completion of Phase 1 and can earn a 51% interest upon completion of Phase 2. Prospect can earn up to 85% interest in the Project with Osino carried until completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study (see Osino press release dated September 30, 2022). Omaruru is located 20km southeast of Osinos flagship Twin Hills Gold Project.

Heye Daun, Osinos President and CEO commented: We are encouraged by the results of the Phase 1 program on our Omaruru Lithium Project. Prospect Resources recently completed drilling program has expanded the known lithium mineralisation in the area and identified several drill targets that were previously under cover. The success of the Phase 1 program sets the stage for potential new discoveries during the Phase 2 drilling campaign planned for Omaruru. We look forward to Prospects upcoming Phase 2 exploration activities and results as they become available into the next quarter. Osino shareholders will continue to benefit from exploration success at Omaruru while the Company remains focused on fast tracking its flagship Twin Hills Gold Project to production.

Project Background

The Omaruru Lithium Project is centred on the village of Wilhelmstal, east of Karibib in Namibia and covers 175 square kilometres (see Figure 1). The tenement is located near several advanced mining projects including Lepidicos Karibib Lithium Project and Osinos Twin Hills Gold Project.

Osino undertook an initial evaluation of the lithium potential of the Project from 2019-2021. This work included mapping, rock grab sampling and a 16 hole (1,942m) RC drill program in 2020. Prospect has advanced the Project since entering the Agreement with Osino in 2022, recently announcing a new lithium discovery from phase 1 drilling results (see Osino press release dated March 31, 2023).

Omaruru contains 60 visible outcropping LCT pegmatites, with historical artisanal workings for gemstones common throughout the tenement and considerable prospectivity for the identification of further lithium-enriched deposits occurring below cover in the region (see Figure 2).

The Project offers excellent potential to delineate a maiden lithium Mineral Resource and identify new deposits to build a project of sufficient scale, as well as establishing a strategic position in Namibia, providing an attractive growth pipeline in the battery minerals sector and continued investment in a desirable jurisdiction of sub-Saharan Africa.

Figure 1: Omaruru Lithium Project location relative to the Twin Hills Gold Project, other Osino projects and mines and deposits in the area.

Follow-Up Phase 1 RC Drilling Program

Prospect completed its follow-up Phase 1 RC drilling programme at Omaruru (focussed on Karlsbrunn, Brockmans and regional prospects) in late June, with 27 holes completed for 1,839 metres. All assay results from this drilling have now been received and are reported in this release.

Karlsbrunn Main

Figure 2 shows the location of the RC drill holes completed at Karlsbrunn Main to date and the surrounding site infrastructure, including surveyed underground adit locations (yellow), outline of the mapped pegmatite for the lithium deposit, the historical surface disturbance and the interpreted strike of the mineralised root zone (the dashed purple line shows strike direction to the northeast).

It also outlines the anomalous lithia intersections returned from the vertical adits (in green text) that were recently reported by Prospect (refer ASX Announcement dated 26 April 2023), which outline the extent of high-grade mineralisation (~1% lithia) over a significant distance at Karlsbrunn Main.

Figure 2: Location map showing completed RC drill holes at Karlsbrunn Main

Five holes for 345m of drilling (OMR045-OMR049) were completed at the deposit as part of the follow-up Phase 1 program (two holes were abandoned). Significant intersections returned include:

35m @ 0.85% Li2O from surface, including 5m @ 1.03% Li2O from 1m, and 13m @ 1.04% Li2O from 12m (OMR046)

18m @ 0.88% Li2O from surface and 13m @ 0.79% Li2O from 21m (OMR045)

The drilling was aimed at extending the deposits main root zone feeder system to the northeast. Drillholes OMR045 and 046 indicated a thickening of mineralization in this location and returned excellent widths of higher-grade lithium, with the system still open in that direction. Additional soil geochemical sampling in this corridor to the northeast will be undertaken as part of the Phase 2 exploration program, and drilling will then be employed to target potential buried extensions of the root zone in that region.

The lithium mineralization at Karlsbrunn Main appears zoned either side of an unmineralized quartz core, is dominated by lepidolite and petalite, and is hosted in a folded rock sequence of marbles and calc-silicates.

Bergers

The Bergers deposit is located about 4.5 km to the east of the Karlsbrunn Main deposit and consists of a central area of subdued outcropping lithium mineralization (see Figure 3). On 26 April 2023, Prospect announced the results of a geochemical soil sampling program over Omaruru, which included grids over interpreted, concealed pegmatites at Bergers NE and Bergers SW. The soil sample results were very encouraging and showed strong, cohesive anomalies in LCT pathfinder elements over both the geochemical grids at Bergers.

During the follow-up Phase 1 program, 431m of first-pass exploratory scout drilling was completed in seven (7) holes covering the Bergers NE and Bergers Central areas. The Bergers SW area was found to be too challenging to drill with a conventional RC rig and is planned to be targeted in Phase 2 using a more suitable machine for the hilly terrain.

The maiden drilling program completed over Bergers produced positive results, including 7m @ 0.84% Li2O (OMR032) from only 16m depth (at Bergers NE), where no pegmatite outcrop was visible, but had been inferred from the overlying soil geochemical anomalies (Figure 4).

This downhole intersection included two separate higher-grade zones of lithium mineralization in the form of petalite, that returned 2m @ 1.46% Li2O from 16m and 2m @ 1.21% Li2O from 21m. Further drilling is required down dip of OMR032, to determine continuity and widths of the high grade mineralization.

In addition, drillhole OMR037 at Bergers Central, generated 3m @ 0.71% Li2O from 25m, interpreted to be petalite mineralization. It also remains open at depth and will be targeted during the planned Phase 2 exploration program.

The limited scout drilling program completed for Bergers demonstrates the broader high-grade lithium potential for the Omaruru Project. It also shows that the geological mapping and follow-up soil geochemical sampling completed by the Prospect exploration team here were very effective first-pass lithium exploration techniques for wider use at Omaruru.

Figure 3: Detailed map showing location of mapped pegmatite occurrences at Omaruru

Figure 4: Regional Map showing encouraging first pass assay results at Bergers

Brockmans

The Brockmans area was targeted by 10 holes for 712m during the follow-up Phase 1 program, with 7 holes positioned close to the previous high-grade intersection in drill hole OMR018 (6m @ 1.30% Li2O from 13m; see Prospect ASX Announcement dated 28 March 2023).

The drilling failed to extend the zone laterally, with only one hole (OMR027) returning an anomalous intercept of 2m @ 0.67% Li2O from 21m. This may indicate that that the higher-grade zone in OMR018 resulted from a thickening or flexure in the pegmatite intrusive there.

There remains a 500m section north of OMR018 at Brockmans that has not been drilled comprehensively to date and this area is considered a lithium target based on the thick pegmatite mapped in that locality.

The other three holes completed at Brockmans did not intersect anomalous grades of lithium, although holes OMR024 and 025, completed to test a geochemical soil anomaly at Brockmans SW, cannot yet be considered a definitive test of the prospectivity given the anomaly stretches over at least 200m of strike.

Karlsbrunn NE

Four short RC holes for 270m targeted a diffuse geochemical soil anomaly at this prospect, with two holes collared into the hanging wall marble host rock and two clipping the edge of the soil anomaly producing low-grade results.

The Karlsbrunn NE soil grid is planned to be extended in Phase 2 to better define that anomaly (for future drilling), which is located just over a 1 km northeast of Karlsbrunn Main (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: Regional Map showing recent drilling (yellow dots) and proposed Phase 2 Exploration

Geological Mapping

During the Phase 2 program, the area adjacent and southeast of Karlsbrunn Main is set to be geologically mapped and sampled in more detail, with early reconnaissance and satellite imagery over that region indicating the presence of numerous pegmatite swarms with potential petalite mineralization present (target location is delineated in Figure 5).

Geochemical Soil Sampling

Prospect completed detailed soil geochemical sampling at Omaruru over eight separate grids in January (results were reported in Prospect ASX Announcement dated 26 April 2023).

Follow-up drilling of lithium targets delineated from that work has proved that this early-stage exploration technique has been effective for Omaruru, using the LCT pathfinder elements analyzed.

The identification of blind, concealed lithium mineralization as petalite at Bergers NE and Bergers Central during the current drilling campaign is testament to its value being more widely employed at the Omaruru Project.

As such, the upcoming Phase 2 exploration work is set to expand and infill soil sample grids northeast and south of Karlsbrunn Main, and northeast of the original Spirit SW grid, where it adjoins the historical Spirit mine workings and has previously generated an intercept of 6m @ 0.72% Li2O (KBR010) in RC drilling completed by Osino Resources Corp. (see Prospect ASX Announcement dated 29 September 2022). A 700m section of intermittent pegmatite strikes NE-SW in this region and surface lithium mineralization is prevalent.

The new soil sampling work planned adjacent to Spirit is aimed at generating new concealed lithium targets in blind pegmatite deposits. Locations of the newly proposed soil sampling grids adjacent to Karlsbrunn Main and Spirit are shown on Figure 5 above.

Phase 2 Program

With completion of the Phase 1 earn-in to 40% of the Omaruru Project, the decision to move forward into Phase 2 earn-in has been taken by Prospect.

Planned Phase 2 exploration activities include:

Expand and infill geochemical sample grids at Karlsbrunn NE and Spirit.

Detailed geological mapping and sampling of the prospective region SE of Karlsbrunn Main.

Follow up mixed RC/RAB drilling of targets at Karlsbrunn NE after soil survey extensions.

RAB/light RC drilling infilling and extending anomalous results located at Bergers Central.

RC drilling to the north of Brockmans, where 500m of strike remains lightly tested.

Other drilling targets exist at Karlsbrunn Main to the northeast, where higher-grade lithium was recently identified in a root feeder zone in holes OMR045-046.

Bergers SW is a prospective target, but hilly terrain needs an alternative drilling solution (light RAB). Similarly, Petalite SW was also identified as a target by soil sampling but is yet to be drilled.

The main objective of the Phase 2 exploration program is to continue proving up strike extensions of existing or new, coherent indications of lithium-enriched LCT pegmatite deposits, with a focus on targeting higher grades and potential delineable Mineral Resources across the district within EPL 5533.

Earn-in Agreement Terms

Under the Agreement, Prospect has earned a 40% interest in the Project with a US$1M investment (Phase 1) and can earn a further 11% interest through a US$560,000 investment (Phase 2), totalling a 51% ownership in the Project.

Upon the completion of Phase 2 and having earned 51%, development funds are to be contributed on a pro-rata basis. If one party fails to contribute their pro rata share, their shareholding will be diluted. The minority shareholder will be diluted down to 15%, at which point their interest shall be free carried until the completion of the DFS.

During phase 3 of the Agreement (Phase 3"), if Prospects spending does not reach a minimum of US$500,000 within the 12-month period following Phase 2, either party will have the option to purchase the other partys interest for an agreed sum.

Qualified Persons Statement

David Underwood, BSc. (Hons) is Vice President Exploration of Osino Resources Corp. and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release and is a registered Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (Pr. Sci. Nat. No.400323/11) and a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101

About Prospect Resources

Prospect is an ASX listed company focused on the exploration and development of opportunities in battery and electrification metals in the sub-Saharan African region. The team at Prospect has a proven track record of value creation and systematic de-risking of early-stage projects. Prospect successfully advanced its flagship Arcadia Lithium Mine Project in Zimbabwe from exploration through to resource definition, early-stage economic valuation, definitive studies, offtake agreements and strategic project financing process. Arcadia was discovered by Prospect in 2016 and was ultimately sold to Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in early 2022, for approximately US$378M in cash.

About Osino Resources

Osino is a Canadian gold exploration and development company focused on the fast-tracked development of our wholly owned, Twin Hills Gold Project in central Namibia. Since its grassroots discovery by Osino in August 2019 the Company has completed more than 225,000m of drilling and has completed a suite of specialist technical studies culminating in the recently published Twin Hills Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") dated effective June 12, 2023. The DFS describes a technically simple and economically robust open-pit gold operation with a 13-year mine life and average annual gold production of over 169koz per annum.

Osino has a commanding ground position of approximately 8,000km2 located within Namibia's prospective Damara sedimentary mineral belt, mostly in proximity to and along strike of the producing Navachab and Otjikoto Gold Mines. The Company is actively exploring a range of gold prospects and targets along the belt by utilizing a portfolio approach geared towards discovery, targeting gold mineralization that fits the broad orogenic gold model.

Our core projects are favourably located north and north-west of Namibia's capital city Windhoek. By virtue of their location, the projects benefit significantly from Namibia's well-established infrastructure with paved highways, railway, power and water in close proximity. Namibia is mining-friendly and lauded as one of the continent's most politically and socially stable jurisdictions. Osino continues to evaluate new ground with a view to expanding our Namibian portfolio.

Further details are available on the Company's website at https://osinoresources.com/ and under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

On Behalf of The Board of DirectorsHeye Daun, President & CEO

CONTACT INFORMATIONOsino Resources Corp.Yaron Conforti, Corporate Development[email protected]+1-604-687-2038

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 press release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the use of proceeds from the Company's future plans or prospects of the Company, including prospects for economic recoverability of mineral resources. 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 state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company does not undertake to update any forward- looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Figure 1 Omaruru Lithium Project location relative to the Twin Hills Gold Project, other Osino projects and mines and deposits in the area. Figure 2 Location map showing completed RC drill holes at Karlsbrunn Main Figure 3 Detailed map showing location of mapped pegmatite occurrences at Omaruru Figure 4 Regional Map showing encouraging first pass assay results at Bergers Figure 5 Regional Map showing recent drilling (yellow dots) and proposed Phase 2 Exploration

Source: Osino Resources Corp.
Washington, D.C., Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) announced that the Cano Martin Pena Comprehensive Infrastructure Master Plan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, by the landscape architecture firm OLIN and their client Corporacion del Proyecto ENLACE del Cano Martin Pena has won the ASLA/IFLA 2023 Global Impact Award.

The ASLA/IFLA Global Impact Award is presented to a project in the Analysis and Planning category of the annual ASLA Awards. The award is given to a work of landscape architecture that demonstrates excellence in addressing climate impacts through transformative action, scalable solutions, and adherence to ASLAs and IFLAs climate action commitments.

This project is so deserving of the inaugural ASLA/IFLA Global Impact Award because it showcases the full range of expertise in landscape architecture, said Emily OMahoney, President of ASLA. Community engagement and data-driven decision-making inform a design that will address chronic flooding in a way that creates healthy green spaces, improving both mental and physical wellbeing of the neighborhood.

As the impacts of climate change increase, so does the importance of the work of landscape architects, said Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO of ASLA. The residents of Cano Martin Pena have a long history of taking action to address needs in their community. For this plan, they knew they needed a visionary problem-solving partner and they found that in OLIN.

This project stands as an inspiring statement to the pivotal role of landscape architecture as the profession of the 21st century  a profession adeptly poised to navigate the challenges that will define new ways of living and designing for future generations, said Dr. Bruno Marques, President of the International Federation of Landscape Architects. Anchored in a profound comprehension of the natural environment, the built environment, and the interface between them, this project not only protects the only tropical estuary in the United States but also provides a comprehensive infrastructure master plan that caters for the communitys health and wellbeing. Within this myriad of complexities, design solutions that address climate resilience, biodiversity, flooding, housing and nature-based solutions are meticulously explored. Projects like this one call upon landscape architects to raise their voices and share their insights so we keep raising the profile of the profession.

"OLIN is delighted to see the Cano Martin Pena Comprehensive Infrastructure Master Plan recognized! If we are to respond to climate change justly, it has to be led by the voice of the community, said Richard Roark, Partner at OLIN. The plan reimagines traditional infrastructure systems as a force for rebuilding social capital and environmental equity. Everything we planned for comes from understanding a community's relationship to their neighbors, to the estuary they live beside and the shared resources between them."

Corporacion del Proyecto ENLACE del Cano Martin Penas reaction to the award news:

"This award is a recognition of the ongoing participatory planning process that for many years has been led and implemented by the G-8 Inc. in collaboration with the Proyecto ENLACE Corporation and the Cano Martin Pena Community Land Trust as a social and environmental justice project, addressing the communitys needs and aspirations as well as climate change challenges in a sustainable, inclusive and innovative manner," said Mario Nunez Mercado, Executive Director of ENLACE.

Grupo de las Ocho Comunidades Aledanas al Cano Martin Pena or G-8 Inc.s reaction to the award news:

"The creation and implementation of the plan culminates the hard work of a team who fought to transform this great community for current and future residents. Showing the country that when there's passion, anything is possible. This award shows us we have done things right and we hope to be a beacon for other communities in pursuit of accomplishing their goals, said Lucy Cruz Rivera, President of G-8 Inc.

The Global Impact Award was announced as part of the ASLA 2023 Professional Awards. This year, thirty-four winners in multiple categories showcase innovation and represent the highest level of achievement in the landscape architecture profession. Read more about all of the award winners here. Award recipients and their clients will be honored in person at the awards presentation ceremony during the ASLA 2023 Conference on Landscape Architecture in Minneapolis, MN., October 27-30. Media are invited to attend; please email [email protected] for credentials. For more information visit: www.aslaconference.com.

Members of the media please contact [email protected] to request hi-res images.

The 2023 Professional Awards Jury includes:

Jury 1- General Design, Residential Design, & Urban Design

Chair: Kimberly Garza, ASLA, ATLAS Lab Inc.

Michel Borg, AIA, Page ThinkShuyi Chang, ASLA, SWA Chingwen Cheng, PhD, ASLA, Arizona State University Jamie Maslyn Larson,FASLA, Tohono Chul Garry Meus, National Capital CommissionJennifer Nitzky, FASLA, Studio HIP

Jury 2 - Analysis & Planning ASLA / IFLA Global Impact Award, Research & Communications

Chair: Maura Rockcastle, ASLA, Ten x Ten

Camille Applewhite, ASLA, Site Design Group Stephanie Grigsby, ASLA, Design Workshop, IncMitchell Silver, Hon. ASLA, McAdamsMichael Stanley, FASLA, Dream Design International, Inc.Michael Todoran,The Landscape Architecture PodcastYujia Wang, ASLA, University of Nebraska

Joining the professional awards jury for the selection of the Analysis & Planning  ASLA / IFLA Global Impact Award category will be a representative on behalf of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA).

Monica Pallares, IFLA Americas

Also, joining the professional jury for the selection of the Research Category will be representatives on behalf of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA).

Sohyun Park, ASLA, University of Connecticut, CELA RepresentativeJenn Engelke, ASLA, University of Washington, LAF Representative

About ASLA and the ASLA Fund

Founded in 1899, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is the professional association for landscape architects in the United States, representing more than 15,000 members. ASLA Mission: Empowering our members to design a sustainable and equitable world through landscape architecture. ASLA Fund Mission: Investing in global, social, and environmental change through the art and science of landscape architecture.

###

Attachment

Press Office American Society of Landscape Architects 973-902-9298 [email protected]

Source: American Society of Landscape Architects
ERLANGER, Ky., Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StandUp Wireless has announced a partnership with DAV (Disabled American Veterans), an organization dedicated to empowering veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity.

Based in Newport, Kentucky, StandUp Wireless provides the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and Lifeline wireless services across the United States. Lifeline and ACP are government benefit programs that provide discounts on monthly telephone and internet service for eligible subscribers. Veterans on government assistance programs, such as Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance, or the Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit, can receive a free smartphone, monthly service and discounted tablets.

Today, were pleased to stand up for Americas heroes by supporting DAV, said Nathan Stierwalt, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer for StandUp Wireless. DAV is a well-respected organization with a long history of connecting veterans, transitioning service members and their families with valuable resources. We are proud to support this deserving mission and hope to bridge the digital divide for veterans.

"Many of our nations veterans benefit from StandUp Wireless program to provide a free smartphone and plan," said DAV National Adjutant and CEO Barry Jesinoski. "Its an honor to partner with them to continue servicing the veteran community.

More about the StandUp Wireless program can be found here at standupwireless.com.

About DAVDAV empowers veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity. It is dedicated to a single purpose: keeping our promise to Americas veterans. DAV does this by ensuring that veterans and their families can access the full range of benefits available to them, fighting for the interests of Americas injured heroes on Capitol Hill, providing employment resources to veterans and their families, and educating the public about the great sacrifices and needs of veterans transitioning back to civilian life. DAV, a nonprofit organization with more than 1 million members, was founded in 1920 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1932. Learn more at DAV.org.

About StandUp WirelessFor nearly 20 years, StandUp Wireless has connected hundreds of thousands of customers to what matters most, serving as a lifeline to family, employment opportunities, friends, healthcare providers and more. Licensed by the Federal Communications Commissions Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Program in 44 states and Puerto Rico, StandUp Wireless operates on the nation's largest and fastest 5G network to bring free wireless cellphone and internet services to low-income Americans. Learn more at standupwireless.com.

Victoria Short DAV (Disabled American Veterans) 859-442-2048 [email protected]

Source: DAV (Disabled American Veterans)
Preliminary data from ongoing preclinical study include rapid, durable chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell generation in vivo after a single infusion of VivoVec particles

Additional data to be presented at future medical conferences

SEATTLE, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Umoja Biopharma, Inc., a transformative immuno-oncology company creating off-the-shelf treatments for solid and hematologic cancers, today announced new data from an ongoing non-human primate (NHP) study demonstrating effective, durable, and well tolerated in vivo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell generation using the Companys VivoVec platform technology at the 8th CAR-TCR Summit taking place in Boston, MA, August 29 - September 1, 2023.

The data include results from the first four NHPs treated in an ongoing study and demonstrate rapid and efficient in vivo generation of anti-CD20-targeting CAR T cells following a single infusion of Umojas multidomain fusion (MDF) VivoVec particles without the administration of pre-conditioning lymphodepleting chemotherapy. Additionally, these data suggest that the CAR T cells generated in vivo demonstrated on-target activity and persistent T cell memory.

In vivo CAR T technology has the potential to transform the cell therapy paradigm by providing an off-the-shelf, patient-specific solution for those with serious conditions, including cancers, said Andy Scharenberg, M.D., co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Umoja. These data highlight the incredible progress Umoja has made and the potential of our unique delivery platform to effectively generate CAR T cells in vivo. Beyond a single therapeutic, our platform could enable the delivery of virtually any CAR construct, creating the opportunity for Umoja to address a broad range of cancers and unlock the true potential of CAR T cell therapies.

Executive Vice President of Discovery Research & Vector Biology, Byoung Ryu, Ph.D., added, These results build on our previously presented preclinical data and highlight the ability of our VivoVec particles to efficiently generate CAR T cells in vivo. Beyond the generation of CAR T cells, we are observing on-target CAR activity and durable cell survival, which could potentially translate to significant clinical benefits for patients. We look forward to providing updates on this study at a future medical conference.

Key results include:

Following a single VivoVec administration, anti-CD20 CAR T cells were generated in vivo with peak levels of CAR T expansion occurring between days 7-10

CD20 CAR T demonstrated on-target activity resulting in durable B-cell aplasia

In three animals treated at the planned clinical doseand without preconditioning chemotherapy peak CD20 CAR+ cells comprised ~40-60% of total circulating T-cell volume, including the demonstration of central memory T-cell responses

In the first animal, additional independent CAR T cell expansions were observed after day 30

No toxicity was associated with VivoVec administration

About Umoja BiopharmaUmoja Biopharma, Inc. is an early clinical-stage company advancing an entirely new approach to immunotherapy. The Company is a transformative multi-platform immuno-oncology company founded with the goal of creating curative treatments for solid and hematological malignancies. Founded based on pioneering work performed at Seattle Childrens Research Institute and Purdue University, Umojas novel approach is powered by integrated cellular immunotherapy technologies including the VivoVec off-the-shelf in vivo delivery platform and the RACR/CAR in vivo cell expansion/control platform. Designed from the ground up to work together, these platforms are being developed to create and harness a powerful immune response in the body to directly, safely, and controllably attack cancer. Umoja believes that its approach can provide broader access to the most advanced immunotherapies and enable more patients to live better, fuller lives. To learn more, visit http://umoja-biopharma.com/.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements about Umoja Biopharma, Inc. (the Company, we, us, or our). The Company has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about future events and financial trends that it believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to vary materially, including, among others, the risks inherent in drug development such as those associated with the initiation, cost, timing, progress and results of the Companys current and future research and development programs, preclinical and clinical trials, as well as any economic, market and social disruptions. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Umoja Media Contact:Karissa Cross, Ph.D.LifeSci Communications[email protected]

Source: Umoja Biopharma, Inc.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vortex Energy Corp. (CSE: VRTX | OTC: VTECF | FRA: AA3) ("Vortex or the "Company") is pleased to announce, further to its news releases on April 28, 2023, June 23, 2023 and July 21, 2023 that it has further extended its engagement of Financial Star News Inc. (FSN) (address: 701 West Georgia Street, Suite 1500, Vancouver, British Columbia V7Y 1C6; email: [email protected]) for marketing services for an additional 60 days commencing on September 5, 2023, provided that the term of the marketing services may be extended or shortened at the discretion of management depending on, amongst other things, the efficiency of the marketing services.

As previously disclosed, FSN has and shall continue to, as appropriate, create campaigns, ad groups, text ads, display ads, perform detailed keyword research, setup and manage remarketing campaigns, optimize keyword options, coordinate online advertisers and marketers corresponding to online marketing targets, create landing pages for ad campaigns and generally bring attention to the business of the Company. The promotional activity undertaken by FSN will occur on theFinancialStar.com and by email, Facebook and Google.

The Company will pay a fee of USD $500,000 (plus GST) for the extension. The Company will not issue any securities to FSN as compensation for its marketing services. As of the date hereof, to the Companys knowledge, FSN (including its directors and officers) does not own any securities of the Company and has an arms length relationship with the Company.

About Vortex Energy Corp.

Vortex Energy Corp. is an exploration stage company engaged principally in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in North America. The company is currently advancing its Robinson River Salt Project comprised of a total of 942 claims covering 23,500 hectares located approximately 35 linear kms south of the town of Stephenville in the Province of Newfoundland & Labrador. The Robinson River Salt Project is prospective for both salt and hydrogen salt cavern storage. The company is actively evaluating technologies to efficiently store hydrogen or energy in salt caverns. Vortex Energy Corp. also holds the Fire Eye Project, which is located in the Wollaston Domain of northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Paul Sparkes Chief Executive Officer, Director +1 (778) 819-0164[email protected]

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words could, intend, expect, believe, will, projected, estimated and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Companys current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the expected term of the marketing activities contracted for by the Company.

Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information, including, in respect of the forward-looking information included in this press release, assumptions regarding the efficacy of the Companys marketing program.

Although forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions of the Companys management, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among other things, the risk that the Companys marketing program may not be as effective as anticipated by the Company and that the budget for the Companys marketing program may not be sufficient to permit the marketing activities to continue for the anticipated term. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this press release.

Source: VORTEX ENERGY CORP
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - IberAmerican Lithium Corp. ("IberAmerican" or the "Resulting Issuer") (formerly 1317198 B.C. Ltd. ("131")) is pleased to announce the completion of its previously announced reverse takeover transaction (the "Transaction") with IberAmerican Lithium Inc. ("ILI"), a privately-held lithium exploration and development company. The Resulting Issuer has also received conditional approval to list its common shares (the "Resulting Issuer Shares") on the Neo Exchange Inc., operating as Cboe Canada ("Cboe").

The Resulting Issuer Shares are expected to commence trading on Cboe under the symbol "IBER" on or about September 11, 2023. A further press release will be disseminated once trading has commenced.

The Transaction

The Transaction was completed according to the terms of an amended and restated business combination agreement dated August 18, 2023 (the "Business Combination Agreement"). Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, ILI and 1000513020 Ontario Inc. ("131 Subco") (a wholly-owned subsidiary of IberAmerican incorporated under the laws of the Province of Ontario for the purpose of completing the Transaction) amalgamated today in accordance with the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (the "Amalgamation") and continued operating under the name "IberAmerican Lithium Inc." ("Amalco").

In connection with the Transaction: (i) holders of the 104,450,488 issued and outstanding common shares of ILI (the "ILI Shares") received one common share of IberAmerican (each a "Resulting Issuer Share") for each ILI Share held; (ii) as consideration for the issuance of the Resulting Issuer Shares to effect the Amalgamation, the Resulting Issuer received one common share of Amalco for each Resulting Issuer Share issued to holders of ILI Shares; and (iii) each common share in 131 Subco issued to the Resulting Issuer on incorporation was cancelled.

Additionally, the Resulting Issuer issued approximately 18,225,244 replacement common share purchase warrants (the "Resulting Issuer Warrants") to existing holders of common share purchase warrants in ILI on a 1:1 basis. Each Resulting Issuer Warrant is exercisable for one Resulting Issuer Share at an exercise price of $0.40 per share until September 1, 2026.

Prior to the Amalgamation, 131 split its shares on a 1.29032258065:1 basis (the "Stock Split") and completed the 131 Financing (as defined below). Prior to the Amalgamation, 131 received shareholder approval for the Stock Split to result in a total of approximately 5,000,000 131 Shares being held by existing 131 shareholders.

In the near future, IberAmerican plans on filing articles of continuance to continue from the Province of British Columbia into the Province of Ontario, subject to regulatory approvals.

A summary of material changes resulting from the Transaction are provided herein. For further information, readers are referred to the filing statement of the Resulting Issuer dated August 31, 2023 (the "Filing Statement"), which was prepared in accordance with the requirements of Cboe and filed under IberAmerican's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Included in the Filing Statement is a summary of the National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") technical report prepared pursuant to NI 43-101, prepared by Resource Development Associates Inc. (RDA) consultant Scott E. Wilson, S.M.E., CPG, titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Alberta II Lithium and Rare Metals Deposit, Ourense Province, Galicia Spain" with an effective date of March 25, 2023 (the "Alberta II Project Technical Report"). The full version of the Alberta II Project Technical Report is available on the Resulting Issuer's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

Concurrent and Prior Financings

On August 24, 2023, ILI completed a concurrent best-efforts private placement of 36,450,488 subscription receipts ("ILI Subscription Receipts") at a price of $0.25 per ILI Subscription Receipt (the "Concurrent Financing") for aggregate gross proceeds of $9,112,622. PowerOne Capital Markets Limited ("PowerOne") and Canaccord Genuity Corp. ("Canaccord" and, together with PowerOne, the "Agents") entered into an agency agreement (the "Agency Agreement") with ILI and 131 and acted as Agents for the Concurrent Financing.

Pursuant to the Agency Agreement, IberAmerican paid to the Agents a 6% commission on the brokered portion of the Concurrent Financing, and additionally issued to the Agents an aggregate of 1,838,676 ILI broker warrants (the "ILI Broker Warrants"), representing 6.0% of the aggregate number of ILI Subscription Receipts issued pursuant to the brokered portion of the Concurrent Financing. Upon completion of the Amalgamation, each ILI Broker Warrant was exchanged for one Resulting Issuer broker warrant (a "Resulting Issuer Broker Warrant") exercisable until September 1, 2026 to purchase a Resulting Issuer unit, comprising one Resulting Issuer Share and one-half of one Resulting Issuer Warrant, at a purchase price equal to $0.25 per Resulting Issuer Broker Warrant.

The net proceeds from the Concurrent Financing are expected to be used for (i) exploration of the Alberta II Project, located in Spain; (ii) general working capital purposes; and (iii) payment of expenses incurred in connection with the Transaction.

Prior to the Transaction and the Concurrent Financing, ILI completed a private placement of 28,000,000 ILI Shares on a non-brokered basis at an issue price of $0.10 for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,800,000 (the "ILI Seed Financing"). The ILI Seed Financing closed in three tranches on December 28, 2022, February 13, 2023 and March 1, 2023, respectively, the proceeds of which were used (a) to acquire a 70% interest in the investigation permit No 5186 and the application for investigation permit No 5191 related to the Alberta II and Carlota lithium projects, respectively, located in Spain and (b) for working capital purposes.

131 Financing, Name Change, Stock Split and Board and Management Changes

Completion of the Transaction was subject to a number of conditions that are customary for a transaction of this nature. Immediately prior to the completion of the Transaction, 131 completed a non-brokered private placement of 50,000 131 Shares at a price of $0.25 per 131 Share for aggregate gross proceeds to 131 of $12,500 (the "131 Financing"), effected the Stock Split, changed its name to "IberAmerican Lithium Corp.", reconstituted its Board to consist of nominees of ILI, and all existing officers of 131 resigned and were replaced by nominees of ILI.

Consolidated Capitalization

After giving effect to the Transaction and the Concurrent Financing, there are (i) 109,500,488 Resulting Issuer Shares issued and outstanding; (ii) 18,225,244 Resulting Issuer Warrants issued and outstanding, with each warrant being exercisable for a Resulting Issuer Share at an exercise price of $0.40 and having an expiry date of September 1, 2026; (iii) 1,838,676 Resulting Issuer Broker Warrants, (iv) and no Resulting Issuer options.

Escrowed and Locked-up Securities

Pursuant to the requirements of Cboe, upon listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares, all securities of the Resulting Issuer that are held by "principals" of the Resulting Issuer (as well as certain other founding shareholders of ILI) (collectively, the "Escrowed Shareholders") will be placed into escrow. Upon the date on which the Resulting Issuer is listed on Cboe (the "Listing Date"), there will be an aggregate of 18,253,846 Resulting Issuer Shares and 1,200,000 Resulting Issuer Warrants held pursuant to a Security Escrow Agreement (collectively, the "Escrowed Securities") entered into among the Odyssey Trust Company (as escrow trustee), the Resulting Issuer and the Escrowed Shareholders. The Escrowed Securities will be released as follows:

On the Listing Date 10% of Escrowed Securities 3 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 6 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 9 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 12 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 15 months after the Listing Date 15% of Escrowed Securities 18 months after the Listing Date of the remaining Escrowed Securities

All of the directors and officers of the Resulting Issuer identified by the Agents prior to the closing of the Concurrent Financing (collectively, the "Locked-Up Persons") are subject to a contractual lock-up period pursuant to which each of the Locked-Up Persons will not, until the date which is 180 days following the Listing Date, in each case without the prior written consent of the Agents, directly or indirectly, offer, sell, contract to sell, grant or sell any option to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, hypothecate, pledge, transfer, assign, lend, swap, or enter into any other agreement to transfer the economic consequences of, or otherwise dispose of or deal with (or agree to or publicly announce any intention to do any of the foregoing) whether through the facilities of a stock exchange, by private placement or otherwise, any common shares or other securities of the Resulting Issuer convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable to acquire, common shares, directly or indirectly, subject to customary exemptions from such restrictions, unless (i) they first obtain the prior consent of the Agents, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed, or (ii) there occurs a take-over bid or similar transaction involving a potential change of control of the Resulting Issuer.

Further, upon completion of the Transaction an aggregate of 73,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares were locked-up as follows:

40,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares issued to certain founders of ILI at $0.001 will be completely locked-up until 18 months following September 1, 2023 (the "Closing Date").

28,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares issued to shareholders of ILI in the ILI Seed Financing will be locked-up as follows:

10% (2,800,000) of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released on the Closing Date; 15% (4,200,000) of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 3 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 6 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 9 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 12 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 15 months following the Closing Date; and 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 18 months following the Closing Date.

5,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares Issued to shareholders of 131 in connection with the Transaction will be locked-up as follows:

10% (500,000) of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released on the Closing Date; 15% (750,000) of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 3 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 6 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 9 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 12 months following the Closing Date; 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 15 months following the Closing Date; and 15% of such Resulting Issuer Shares shall be released 18 months following the Closing Date.

Directors and Officers

In connection with the Transaction, the following individuals were elected to serve as members of the board of directors of the Resulting Issuer or appointed as officers. The following information is as furnished by such directors and officers.

Campbell Becher, Chief Executive Officer and Director 50 years old

Mr. Becher has extensive experience in the capital markets industry. He was a Managing Director of Haywood Securities Inc. from 2016 to 2020. He also spent eight years in retail at RBC Dominion and BMO Nesbitt Burns before pursuing merchant banking for six years with Bearbeech Capital and Becher McMahon. From 2008-2014, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Bryon Capital Markets and has been President of Orchid Capital Partners Corp. since 2014. Since February 2021, Mr. Becher has also held the position of President at Becher Family Holdings. Mr. Becher currently serves as a director of many publicly listed companies including Strategic Minerals Europe Corp., Imperial Helium Corp., Royal Helium Ltd., Draxos Capital Corp., CENTR Brands Corp. and Trees Corporation.

Eugene McBurney, Chair and Director 74 years old

Based in the Bahamas, Eugene McBurney brings deep international relationships and experience developed over an investment banking career which spans more than 25 years. He has spent several years establishing a dedicated investment banking practice to serve the Caribbean and Latin American regions and has established an enviable track record of providing advice and services for his clients in the resource and non-resource sectors. Over the course of his career, he has led a number of landmark transactions in the mining and natural resources sectors.

Prior to joining Canaccord Genuity in 2020, Mr. McBurney was co-founder of one of Canada's most entrepreneurial and long-standing independent investment dealers. Before launching his career in investment banking, Mr. McBurney spent several years as a partner with a leading Canadian law firm.

Jeffrey Holmgren, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary 49 years old

Jeffrey Holmgren has an extensive background in corporate finance beginning in 2003 with Ernst & Young LLP, where he provided advisory services to a diverse range of private and public companies around the globe. In 2008, Mr. Holmgren took a senior financial advisor role with Progress Energy Trust where he participated in numerous capital raises in excess of $200 million. In 2008, Mr. Holmgren assumed the role of CFO for Rodinia Oil Corp. where he was instrumental in listing the company on the TSXV. In 2011, Mr. Holmgren became CFO of Westfire Energy Ltd., and navigated its sale to LongRun Exploration for approximately $400 million. In 2013, Mr. Holmgren cofounded Kaisen Energy Corp and served as the CFO until his departure in 2018 when he joined NewLeaf Cannabis as CFO in the early phase of its ascent to becoming Canada's largest cannabis retail company prior to its sale in September 2018 to Meta Growth Corp. Soon after he co-founded OCH, and on March 1, 2021, in connection with the closing of the amalgamation of Trees SubCo and OCH, Mr. Holmgren assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer and director of Trees Corporation and on February 7, 2022 Mr. Holmgren assumed the role of President of Trees Corporation.

David Young, Director 43 years old

David Young serves as Chief Financial Officer and President of CENTR Brands Corp. Mr. Young brings more than 20 years of executive and financial leadership, drawing on roles in both industry and private equity settings. David's previous roles included Principal at global investment firm The Carlyle Group and other leading investment institutions including Perella Weinberg Partners, and as a director of private equity firm Talara Capital Management. Mr. Young is a distinguished alumnus of the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce.

Robert Metcalfe, Director 83 years old

Robert Metcalfe is a lawyer and has served as President, Chief Executive Officer, Lead Director, Chairman and committee member on numerous publicly listed natural resource and industry company corporate boards in Canada, the USA, England, South America and Africa. He was a senior partner with the law firm Lang Michener LLP for 20 years. He is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Armadale Properties and counsel to all of the Armadale Group of Companies, with significant holdings across numerous industries including finance, construction of office buildings, airport ownership, management and refurbishing, land development, automotive dealerships as well as newspaper publishing, radio and television stations.

Mr. Metcalfe is currently a director of various publicly listed companies including Blue Star Gold Corp. since May 5, 2015, Pasofino Gold Limited since December 21, 2020, Orvana Minerals Corp. since February 28, 2023, BetterLife Pharma Inc. since January 21, 2020 and Strategic Minerals Europe Corp. since June 19, 2023.Mr. Metcalfe was a director of Canada Lands Company Limited, one of the largest real estate corporations in Canada, and was a director and Chairman of the Board of CN Tower Limited, the tallest communications structure in the world. Throughout his career Mr. Metcalfe has served as a director of public and private corporations including publicly listed Radiant Energy Corp. (airplane deicing company operating in the US), Alberta Oil Sands (Chairman of the Board)~ LeadFX (in Australia), Director and Chairman of the Board, and member of the Audit Committee~ PetroMagdalena Inc. (oil and gas in Colombia, South America)~ LSC Lithium in Argentina; Gran Colombia Gold Corp., (Lead Director and Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee as well as a member of the Audit Committee)~ WPC Resources Limited (a gold mining company in Nunavut). As a director and shareholder, Mr. Metcalfe has been engaged in numerous acquisitions, divestitures, corporate reorganizations, financings and corporate improvements, as well as serving on numerous special committees across many sectors. He is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and a member in good standing of the Law Society of Ontario.

Serafino Iacono, Director and Executive Director 62 years old

Serafino Iacono is Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Denarius Metals Corp. and is currently the Chief Executive Officer of NG Energy International Corp. since June 3, 2019. He was formerly Executive Chairman of GCM Mining Corp. from March 27, 2019 to September 26, 2022 and served as Executive Co-Chairman of such board from August 20, 2010 to March 27, 2019. Mr. Iacono served as Interim Chief Executive Officer of Aris Gold Corporation from February 25, 2020 to February 4, 2021. Mr. Iacono was also the Executive Co-Chair of the board of Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation from January 23, 2008 to November 2, 2016. Mr. Iacono has been a director of Aris Mining Corporation since February 28, 2020 and the Executive Chair of Western Atlas Resources Inc. from June 15, 2018 to January 16, 2023.

Miguel de la Campa, Director 78 years old

Miguel de la Campa is the Executive Chair of Strategic Minerals Europe Corp. and has served as a director of the company since December 6, 2021. Mr. de la Campa also served as the Vice Chair of the GCM Board and was the Executive Co-Chair of the GCM Board from August 20, 2010 to March 27, 2019. Mr. de la Campa was also on the board of directors of Western Atlas Resources Inc. and was the Executive Co-Chair of the board of directors of Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation from January 23, 2008 to November 2, 2016.

Previously, Mr. de la Campa was the President and co-founder of Bolivar Gold Corp., a director of Petromagdalena Energy Corp. and a co-founder of Pacific Stratus Energy.

Mr. de la Campa has a BSFS in International Economics and an MA in Political Economics from Georgetown University.

Cboe Exchange Approval

131 was an unlisted reporting issuer and the Resulting Issuer Shares, subject to the following, are expected to be listed for trading on Cboe on or about September 11, 2023. The Transaction remains subject to final approval by Cboe and fulfillment of all of the requirements of Cboe in order to obtain such approval including, among other things, submission and acceptance of all documents requested by Cboe in its conditional acceptance letter and payment of all outstanding fees to Cboe. Upon listing, the Resulting Issuer Shares will trade on Cboe under the symbol "IBER".

Investor Relations and Market Arrangements

The Resulting Issuer will initially implement an annual investor relations budget of approximately $1,700,000, which will be used to prepare a written investor relations strategy and to provide information through digital and video platforms which facilitates informed investment decisions. This will be implemented through, among other things, a one-year contract with Gold Standard Media, LLC ("GSM"), to create and develop digital marketing campaigns and other related services to assist IberAmerican in enhancing its online profile with the global investment community.

GSM is a limited liability company existing under the laws of the State of Texas with an office at 1102 S. Austin Ave, #110-283, Georgetown, Texas, USA, and is headed by Kenneth Ameduri, who manages a marketing team and has been successfully marketing for a broad range of companies listed on exchanges from the TSX Venture Exchange to the New York Stock Exchange since 2010. GSM uses affiliated entities such as Future Money Trends and Portfolio Wealth Global LLC for the purpose of these marketing activities. To the knowledge of the Resulting Issuer, Wallace Hill Partners Ltd., an affiliate of GSM, owns 4,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares. GSM will be paid US$1,250,000 up front for these services. Pursuant to the agreement, GSM will help raise public awareness of the Resulting Issuer and help promote IberAmerican's business.

IberAmerican will also engage the services of Yabucoa Partners dba Street Smart and FeMax Publishing and Consulting to engage with potential investor bases.

The Resulting Issuer will engage the services of ICP Securities Inc. ("ICP") to provide market-making services in accordance with Cboe policies. ICP will trade shares of the Resulting Issuer on Cboe and all other trading venues, using its own capital resources to fund the market making activities, with the objective of maintaining a reasonable market and improving the liquidity of the Resulting Issuer Shares. ICP is a Toronto-based CIRO dealer-member that specializes in market making and liquidity provision. Established in 2023, with a focus on market structure, execution and trading, ICP has leveraged its own proprietary technology to deliver high quality liquidity provision and execution services to a broad array of public issuers and institutional investors.

Under the agreement, ICP will receive compensation of $7,500 per month in advance. The agreement is for an initial term of four months and will renew for additional one-month terms unless terminated. The agreement may be terminated by either party with 30 days' notice. There are no performance factors contained in the agreement and ICP will not receive shares or stock options as compensation for its market-making activities. ICP does not own any shares of IberAmerican. ICP and IberAmerican are unrelated and unaffiliated entities.

Early Warning

In connection with the Transaction, each of Serafino Iacono and Delbrook Capital Advisors acquired ownership, control, or direction over Resulting Issuer Shares requiring disclosure pursuant to the early warning requirements of applicable securities laws.

Mr. Iacono, in exchange for his holdings of ILI Shares, acquired 11,550,000 Resulting Issuer Shares representing approximately 11% of the Resulting Issuer's issued and outstanding shares on a non-diluted basis. Mr. Iacono indirectly owns or controls all of his Resulting Issuer Shares and Resulting Issuer Warrants through Brockville International Holdings Ltd., a company over which he exercises control. Mr. Iacono also, in exchange for his holding of warrants in ILI, acquired and indirectly owns or controls 500,000 Resulting Issuer Warrants, which represent approximately 3% of the Resulting Issuer's issued and outstanding warrants on a non-diluted basis.

In exchange for its holdings of ILI Shares, Delbrook Capital Advisors, through a number of affiliated funds, acquired 17,500,000 Resulting Issuer Shares representing approximately 15.99% of the Resulting Issuer's issued and outstanding shares on a non-diluted basis. Delbrook Capital Advisors also, in exchange for its holding of warrants in ILI, acquired 6,000,000 Resulting Issuer Warrants, which represent approximately 32.92% of the Resulting Issuer's issued and outstanding warrants on a non-diluted basis.

The securities of the Resulting Issuer acquired by each of Mr. Iacono and Delbrook Capital Advisors are presently being held only for investment purposes. Subject to regulatory approval, each holder may from time to time in the future increase or decrease their ownership, control, or direction over securities of the Resulting Issuer held by each of them, through market transactions, private agreements or otherwise, the whole depending on market conditions, the business and prospects of the Resulting Issuer and other relevant factors.

A copy of each early warning report (the "Early Warning Report") will be filed by each of the parties pursuant to applicable securities laws in connection with the completion of the Transaction. A copy of each Early Warning Report to which this press release relates will be available under the Resulting Issuer 's profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca.

The Resulting Issuer Shares and Resulting Issuer Warrants acquired by Mr. Iacono are held in escrow as described above under "Escrowed and Locked-Up Securities". Additional information on IberAmerican can be found by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca.

IberAmerican Lithium

IberAmerican Lithium is a hard-rock lithium exploration company focused on advancing its 70% owned Alberta II & Carlota Properties located in the Galicia region of northwestern Spain. IberAmerican Lithium's properties are located in a favorable lithium district with world class infrastructure and a supportive and proactive mining jurisdiction.

Additional information on IberAmerican Lithium is available at www.iberamericanlithium.com and by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca.

Qualified Person

IberAmerican engaged Scott E. Wilson, S.M.E., CPG (the "Author") to prepare the Alberta II Project Technical Report. The Author is a "qualified person" and considered "independent", as such terms are defined in NI 43-101. All of the scientific and technical mining disclosure contained in this news release and the Filing Statement regarding the Alberta II Project has been reviewed and approved by the Author. The materials Part IV Information Concerning IberAmerican - Material Mineral Project Lithium Alberta Project" in the Filing Statement comprise the "Summary" section of the Alberta II Project Technical Report.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

Cboe has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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 statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of IberAmerican to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the caption "Risk Factors" in IberAmerican's Filing Statement dated August 31, 2023, which is available for view on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca. These risks include but are not limited to, the risks associated with the mining and exploration industry, such as operational risks in development or capital expenditures, the uncertainty of projections relating to production, and any delays or changes in plans with respect to the exploitation of the site. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release, and IberAmerican Lithium disclaims, other than as required by law, any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, results, future events, circumstances, or if management's estimates or opinions should change, or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

For Further Information, Contact:

Campbell Becher

Chief Executive Officer

(647) 404-9071

[email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179373
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Legend Power Systems Inc. (TSXV: LPS) (OTCQB: LPSIF) ("Legend Power" or the "Company"), a global leader in commercial electrical system solutions, has approved, subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange, the grant of 1,850,000 incentive stock options (the "Options") to acquire common shares in the capital of Legend Power (each a "Common Share"). 200,000 of the Options were granted to an investor relations consultant and the remainder to the directors of the Company. The Options are non-transferable and exercisable until September 1, 2028, at $0.18 per Option, subject to vesting provisions, with one-sixth vesting six months from the date of grant and one-sixth vesting every six months thereafter.

About Legend Power Systems Inc.

Legend Power Systems Inc. (https://legendpower.com) provides an intelligent energy management platform that analyzes and improves building energy challenges, significantly impacting asset management and corporate performance. Legend Power's proven solutions support proactive executive decision-making in a complex and volatile business and energy environment. The proprietary and patented system reduces total energy consumption and power costs, while also maximizing the life of electrical equipment. Legend Power's unique solution is also a key contributor to both corporate sustainability efforts and the meeting of utility energy efficiency targets.

For further information, please contact:

Jonathan Lansky, Director

+1 416 417 7664

[email protected]

Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations

+ 1 647 503 1054

[email protected]

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This Press Release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities or performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Such risks, uncertainties and factors are described in the periodic filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including the Company's quarterly and annual Management's Discussion & Analysis, which may be viewed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results to not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements other than as may be required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179336
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Radio Fuels Energy Corp.(CSE: CAKE) (OTCQB: CKEFF)(the "Company")is pleased to announce that the board of directors has appointed Bassam Moubarak as Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

Mr. Moubarak is a seasoned senior executive with over 15 years' experience in the mining industry. Mr. Moubarak currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Palisades Gold Corp, Chief Financial Officer and Director of Freeman Gold Corp and Chief Financial Officer of Nevada King Gold Corp.

Mr. Moubarak was Executive Vice President, CFO and Director of Gold X Mining Corp where he played a pivotal role in the sale of the company to Gran Colombia Gold Corp for $365 million and in raising over $35 million to acquire the option on the Toroparu project. Prior to that, Mr. Moubarak was CFO of Lithium X Energy Corp. where he played a key role in its sale to NextView New Energy Lion Hong Kong Limited for $265 million. Prior to that, Mr. Moubarak was CFO of Goldrock Mines Corp. where he was instrumental in its sale to Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. for $180 million. He was CFO of Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. where he was responsible for raising more than $120 million to develop and bring into production the Molejon Gold Mine. He also played a major role in the sale of Petaquilla Copper Ltd. to Inmet Mining Corporation for $400 million and negotiated the sale of Golden Arrow Resources Corporation's 1% net smelter royalty on Gualcamayo Gold Mine to Premier Royalty Inc. for $17.75 million. Furthermore, Mr. Moubarak has advised on several structuring transactions which include private company mergers and acquisitions, go public transactions and launching new mining ventures.

Mr. Moubarak is a Chartered Professional Accountant and was previously a senior manager with the international accounting firm Deloitte LLP, where he led audits of public companies and oversaw SOX 404 implementations with specific emphasis on the mining industry.

The appointment of Mr. Moubarak follows the resignation of Arvin Ramos as Chief Financial Officer. The Company would like to thank Mr. Ramos for his contributions and wishes him well on his future endeavours.

About Radio Fuels Energy Corp.

The Company is a junior natural resource company focused on providing exposure to uranium and other commodities through the investment, acquisition, exploration, and development of projects and companies.

For further information, please contact:

Cejay Kim

President & Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (778) 886-1826

Email:[email protected]

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179294
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Rome Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RMR) (FSE: 33R) ("Rome" or the "Company") announces that it has entered into a shares for debt agreement with an arms-length creditor (the "Creditor") to settle $99,425 in debt (the "Debt") owed to the Creditor.

In settlement and satisfaction of the Debt, the Company has agreed to issue to the Creditor an aggregate of 485,000 common shares in the capital of the Company (the "Debt Shares") at a deemed issue price of $0.205 per Debt Share (the "Debt Settlement"). The issuance of the Debt Shares is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

All Debt Shares issued in connection with the Debt Settlement are subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance of the Debt Shares in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

About Rome Resources

Rome Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that has entered into two option agreements and a binding term sheet to acquire direct and indirect interests in two contiguous properties situated in the Walikale District of the North Kivu Province in eastern DRC, which are collectively referred to as the "Bisie North Tin Project". Rome has completed an initial phase of drilling on the project where it is responsible to fund exploration up to the completion of a definitive feasibility study.

Contacts

Investors / Shareholders

Mark Gasson

President, CEO & Director

P: (604) 687-6140

Media

E: [email protected]

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179369
Kelowna, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Strathmore Plus Uranium Corporation (TSXV: SUU) (OTCQB: SUUFF) ("Deep-South" or the "Company") ("Strathmore Plus" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") for the sale of up to 1,818,182 units of the Company (each, a "Unit") at a price of C$0.55 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to C$1,000,000. Red Cloud Securities Inc. will be acting as a finder in connection with the Offering.

Each Unit will be comprised of one common share of the Company (each, a "Common Share") and one half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at a price of C$0.80 for a period of 24 months from the issue date of the Unit.

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for general working capital purposes.

The closing of the Offering is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including for the approval of the listing of the Common Shares issuable from the sale of the Units on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Common Shares issuable from the sale of the Units and upon the exercise of the Warrants will be subject to a hold period ending on the date that is four months and one day from the issue date of the Unit in accordance with applicable securities laws. A finder's fee may be paid on a portion of the proceeds from the Offering.

This news release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and such securities may not be offered or sold within the United States absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from U.S. registration requirements.

About Strathmore Plus Uranium Corp.

Strathmore Plus has three uranium projects in Wyoming, including Beaver Rim, Agate, and Night Owl. The Night Owl property is a former producing mine that was in production in the early 1960s. The Agate and Beaver Rim properties contain uranium in Wyoming-type roll front deposits based on historical drilling data. Strathmore has received an exploration permit for both Beaver Rim and Agate projects and is now waiting for the exploration/drilling permit approval for Night Owl.

Strathmore Plus Uranium Corp.

Contact Information:

Investor Relations

Telephone: 1 888 882 8177

Email: [email protected]

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Dev Randhawa"

Dev Randhawa, CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179330
Seoul, South Korea--(Newsfile Corp. - August 31, 2023) - Vine Strategy, a leading investment firm based in South Korea, today announced the launch of a new green energy and sustainable investment strategy. The new strategy will focus on investing in companies that are developing and commercializing new technologies in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and environmental protection.

"We are excited to launch this new strategy and to help our clients invest in companies that are making a positive impact on the environment," said Martin Rotheram, Chief Financial Analyst of Vine Strategy.

The new strategy will invest in a variety of companies across the green energy and sustainable sectors, including:

Renewable energy companies that are developing and commercializing new technologies in solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources. These companies are working to make renewable energy more affordable and accessible, which will help to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and combat climate change.





Energy efficiency companies that are developing and marketing new technologies to help businesses and consumers reduce their energy consumption. These companies are creating innovative ways to save energy in homes, businesses, and transportation systems.





Environmental protection companies that are developing and providing solutions to address environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution, and water scarcity. These companies are working to protect the planet and make it a more sustainable place to live.

Vine Strategy will use its in-depth research capabilities and extensive network of contacts to identify potential companies in the green energy and sustainable sectors. The firm will also provide its clients with access to a team of experienced investment professionals who can help them make informed investment decisions.

The launch of the new green energy and sustainable investment strategy is a significant milestone for Vine Strategy. The firm is committed to helping its clients achieve their investment goals while also making a positive impact on the environment.

In addition to its focus on new technologies, Vine Strategy's green energy and sustainable investment strategy also emphasizes the importance of social and governance factors. Vine Strategy's green energy and sustainable investment strategy is a unique offering in the South Korean market.

The launch of the new green energy and sustainable investment strategy is a testament to Vine Strategy's commitment to innovation and its dedication to helping its clients achieve their financial goals. The firm is confident in this new strategy and intends to make a positive impact on the environment.

About Vine Strategy

Vine Strategy is a member of the CFA Institute and the Korean Financial Investment Association. The firm is also regulated by the Financial Services Commission of South Korea. Vine Strategy is committed to providing its clients with the highest level of ethics and professionalism.

Vine Strategy

Phone No.: +822-180-276-2983

Email: [email protected]

World Trade Center, 511 Young Dong St, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Website: https://vinestrategy.com

Contact: David Greenfield

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178828
Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

Florist business educator and consultant, Althea Wiles with J Althea Creative, is available for florist convention inquiries regarding attendance, speaking and teaching opportunities.



Althea Wiles with J Althea Creative is on a mission to help those who are passionate about creating stunning floral arrangements but find themselves struggling with the business side of things. As a dedicated florist business educator, Wiles understands the unique challenges florists face in running a successful floral design business with a 30-year florist career under her belt. Whether it's managing finances, streamlining operations or enhancing customer experiences, she has the knowledge and expertise to guide florists towards success. For these reasons, Wiles is available for florist conventions everywhere seeking florist business consultants to attend their events, speak to audiences or teach for their programs.



Floral designers can have a trusted partner by their side, sharing proven strategies and customized solutions that will not only improve their business acumen but also give them the freedom to focus on their true passion - floral design.



With J Althea Creative consulting services, special care is taken to work closely with clients to assess specific needs, goals and pain points. Together, Wiles and each client will develop personalized strategies and practical solutions to overcome obstacles and optimize florist business performance.



Wiles approach is rooted in fostering long-term relationships built on trust, support and collaboration. One-on-one consultations take place over Zoom or phone and can be scheduled around other commitments.



Utilizing J Althea Creatives services can unlock the true potential of any floral design business and pave the way for growth and profitability. Complimentary consultations are offered at florist conventions. Florist convention organizers can contact Althea Wiles via the J Althea Creative websites contact form with inquiries about her involvement to attend, speak or teach attending florists.



More offerings by J Althea Creative:

Webinar, workshop and convention partnerships

Private mentoring and training

Special occasions complimentary online workshops

Staff training either virtually, on location or at the J Althea Creative training site

Speaking opportunities

Participating vendor at shows

Instructor for florist programs and events



About Althea Wiles: Althea Wiles is the owner and creative director of Rose of Sharon Floral Design Studio in the Ozark Mountains region of the United States. She is also the founder and education director of J Althea Creative, a florist education consulting program. Wiles earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hendrix College and then completed her Arkansas Master Florist Certification. After 25 years in business, her design studio takes part in 75-100 weddings and events annually. Recognized by local and national publications, she has been featured on The Knot, The List, amongst others, and in a wide range of magazines. Wiles continues gaining recognition by participating as a regularly featured artist for the Art in Bloom gallery exhibits chosen and hosted by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Wiles is also a recurring instructor in the horticulture department at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.





About Us: J Althea Creative is owned by master floral designer and florist business educator, Althea Wiles, based in the Ozark Mountains serving clients anywhere in the world.

Contact Info:

Name: Meredith Corning

Email: Send Email

Organization: J Althea Creative

Website: https://www.jaltheacreative.com/



Video URL: https://youtu.be/oTifH2Uaw54?si=6XTdWerdPxdedacn

Release ID: 89106397

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HEIHE, China , Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, an Agro-product Geographical Indications exhibition organized by Heihe Municipal Government was held in Heihe City, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province , showcasing high-quality agricultural products from Heilongjiang Province to customers of the world.

Over 200 companies attended the exhibition, with more than 1,000 commodities ranging from grain and fruits to meat and mountain specialties. The on-site signing totaled 1.25 billion yuan .

Heihe City has strived to produce greener, safer, and better quality food and imp the influence of local agricultural products. Located on one of the world's three major black soil belt, the city is blessed with fertile soil and rich natural resources.

Based on these advantages, Heihe has promoted the development of three industrial clusters, which includes mineral development and processing, agricultural and forestry products and processing, and import and export processing. The city has also endeavored to support its three advantageous industries of cultural tourism, alpine testing, and green energy, forming a momentum for its digital economy, bio-economy, ice and snow economy and creative design industry. In recent years, numerous key industrial projects in Heihe have already been completed, with more of them under construction.

Photo: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=441959

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SOURCE Heihe Municipal Government
- Total of six poster presentations analyze the effects of treatment with enzyme replacement therapies in Fabry disease and alpha-mannosidosis -

- Company sponsoring symposium on advances in monitoring and management in Fabry disease -

BOSTON , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chiesi Global Rare Diseases, a business unit of the Chiesi Group established to deliver innovative therapies and solutions for people affected by rare diseases, today announced multiple presentations at the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM) Annual Symposium 2023 being held August 29 - September 1, 2023 , in Jerusalem, Israel .

"There continues to be a general lack of awareness and a limited appreciation of the numerous unique challenges that people living with rare lysosomal storage diseases face every day," said Giacomo Chiesi , head of Chiesi Global Rare Diseases. "As a family business, and as a certified benefit corporation, we are focused on the long-term support of these patients and will continue to challenge the status quo by building awareness of unmet medical needs and embracing drug development risks. As we continue to significantly invest in innovation and seek opportunities to improve health outcomes, we are pleased to showcase multiple data presentations in Fabry disease and alpha-mannosidosis at the SSIEM symposium."

Four poster presentations at the SSIEM symposium feature analyses of the safety and efficacy of pegunigalsidase alfa, the company's PEGylated enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), in the treatment of Fabry disease.

In a poster, titled, "Pooled safety profile of pegunigalsidase alfa: an analysis of data from 142 patients in the pegunigalsidase alfa clinical program," John Bernat , M.D., Ph.D., University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, USA , is presenting an analysis of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs), infusion-related reactions (IRRs) during the infusion or within two hours, and premedication use in four clinical trials and three long-term extension studies. This pooled analysis showed that pegunigalsidase alfa had an overall favorable safety profile with most (95.6%) TEAEs being of mild or moderate severity.

David Warnock , M.D., The University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA , is presenting a poster, titled, "Pooled analysis of the effect of pegunigalsidase alfa on renal function: Data from 113 patients in the pegunigalsidase alfa clinical trial program," that includes data from patients with more than 18 months of treatment across multiple trials. The results of this pooled analysis suggest that long-term pegunigalsidase alfa treatment provides continued renal function benefits in patients with Fabry disease.

In other Fabry disease posters, Dr. Bernat presents a post hoc analysis that found COVID-19 mRNA vaccines do not appear to increase the risk of IRRs or anti-drug antibodies in patients treated with pegunigalsidase alfa, and Ozlem Goker-Alpan , M.D., Lysosomal and Rare Disorders Research and Treatment Center, USA, describes the tolerability and safety of pegunigalsidase alfa in seven patients treated in an Expanded Access Program.

The company is also sponsoring a symposium on August 29 from 12:45-1:45pm IDT, "Creating a new roadmap: Advances in Fabry Disease Monitoring and Management," that is chaired by Dominique Germain , M.D., Ph.D., University of Versailles, Division of Medical Genetics, France . During the event, Derralynn Hughes, M.A., D.Phil ., Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust and University College London, UK , is presenting an update on monitoring modalities, and Dawn Laney , M.S., Emory University School of Medicine, USA, is discussing how to incorporate the patient experience to guide monitoring and management.

In addition, two poster presentations at the SSIEM congress feature analyses of the impact of treatment with velmanase alfa in alpha-mannosidosis.

Benedicte Heron , M.D., Department of Pediatric Neurology, Reference Centre for Lysosomal Diseases, Armand Trousseau-La Roche Guyon University Hospital, France , is presenting a poster, titled, "Long-term efficacy of velmanase alfa treatment in patients with alpha mannosidosis: updated integrated analysis of data from phase I/II, III, and follow-up clinical trials," which concludes that the effect of the ERT on key efficacy outcomes appeared to be maintained over a longterm period (up to 12 years) in pediatric and adult patients (N=33 patients, observation time 0.9 to 11.9 years).

Angela Messina , Ph.D., Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy , is presenting a poster, titled, "IgG glycosylation in patients with alpha-mannosidosis and the impact of enzyme replacement therapy." The results of this study suggest that IgG sialylation/galactosylation could offer a potential new pharmacodynamic biomarker for evaluating treatment benefits in patients with alpha-mannosidosis.

Indication and Important Safety Information for Elfabrio (pegunigalsidase alfa-iwxj)

Indication

Elfabrio (pegunigalsidase alfa-iwxj) is indicated for the treatment of adults with confirmed Fabry disease.

Important Safety Information

WARNING: HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTIONS INCLUDING ANAPHYLAXIS



Patients treated with Elfabrio have experienced hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis. Appropriate medical support measures, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment, should be readily available during Elfabrio administration. If a severe hypersensitivity reaction (eg, anaphylaxis) occurs, discontinue Elfabrio immediately and initiate appropriate medical treatment. In patients with severe hypersensitivity reaction, a desensitization procedure to Elfabrio may be considered.



Prior to Elfabrio administration, consider pretreating with antihistamines, antipyretics, and/or corticosteroids. Inform patients and caregivers of the signs and symptoms of hypersensitivity reactions and infusion-associated reactions (IARs), and instruct them to seek medical care immediately if such symptoms occur.

If a severe hypersensitivity reaction (including anaphylaxis) or severe IAR occurs, immediately discontinue Elfabrio administration and initiate appropriate medical treatment.

If a mild to moderate hypersensitivity reaction or IAR occurs, consider slowing the infusion rate or temporarily withholding the dose.

In clinical trials, 20 (14%) Elfabrio-treated patients experienced hypersensitivity reactions.

Four Elfabrio-treated patients (3%) experienced anaphylaxis reactions that occurred within 5 to 40 minutes of the start of the initial infusion. The signs and symptoms of hypersensitivity reactions and anaphylaxis included headache, nausea, vomiting, throat tightness, facial and oral edema, truncal rash, tachycardia, hypotension, rigors, urticaria, intense pruritus, moderate upper airway obstructions, macroglossia, and mild lip edema.

In clinical trials, 41 (29%) Elfabrio-treated patients experienced one or more infusion-associated reactions, including hypersensitivity, nausea, chills, pruritus, rash, chest pain, dizziness, vomiting, asthenia, pain, sneezing, dyspnea, nasal congestion, throat irritation, abdominal pain, erythema, diarrhea, burning sensation, neuralgia, headache, paresthesia, tremor, agitation, increased body temperature, flushing, bradycardia, myalgia, hypertension, and hypotension.

A case of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis with immune depositions in the kidney was reported during clinical trials. Monitor serum creatinine and urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio. If glomerulonephritis is suspected, discontinue treatment until a diagnostic evaluation can be conducted.

When switching to Elfabrio from a prior enzyme replacement therapy, the risk of hypersensitivity reactions and infusion-associated reactions may be increased in certain patients with pre-existing anti-drug antibodies (ADAs). Consider monitoring IgG and IgE ADAs and clinical or pharmacodynamic response (eg, plasma lyso-Gb3 levels).

The most common adverse reactions (15%) were infusion-associated reactions, nasopharyngitis, headache, diarrhea, fatigue, nausea, back pain, pain in extremity, and sinusitis.

Please see Full Prescribing Information for Elfabrio.

Indication and Important Safety Information for Lamzede (velmanase alfa-tycv)

Indication

Lamzede (velmanase alfa-tycv) is indicated for the treatment of non-central nervous system manifestations of alpha-mannosidosis in adult and pediatric patients.

Important Safety Information

WARNING: SEVERE HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTIONS

Hypersensitivity Reactions Including Anaphylaxis

Patients treated with Lamzede have experienced hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis. Appropriate medical support measures, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment, should be readily available during Lamzede administration. If a severe hypersensitivity reaction (e.g., anaphylaxis) occurs, discontinue Lamzede immediately and initiate appropriate medical treatment. In patients with severe hypersensitivity reaction, a desensitization procedure to Lamzede may be considered.

Considerations Due to Hypersensitivity Reactions and/or Infusion-Associated Reactions (IARs)

Prior to Lamzede administration, consider pretreating with antihistamines, antipyretics, and/or corticosteroids. Inform patients and caregivers of the signs and symptoms of hypersensitivity reactions and IARs and instruct them to seek medical care immediately if such symptoms occur.

If a severe hypersensitivity reaction (including anaphylaxis) or severe IAR occurs, immediately discontinue Lamzede administration and initiate appropriate medical treatment.



In the event of a mild to moderate hypersensitivity reaction or a mild to moderate IAR, consider temporarily holding the infusion for 15 to 30 minutes, slowing the infusion rate to 25% to 50% of the recommended rate, and initiating appropriate medical treatment.

Hypersensitivity Reactions Including Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis and severe hypersensitivity signs and symptoms included cyanosis, hypotension, emesis, urticaria, erythema, facial swelling, pyrexia, and tremor.

Infusion-Associated Reactions (IARs)

The most frequent symptoms of IARs that occurred in >10% of the population were pyrexia, chills, erythema, vomiting, cough, urticaria, rash, and conjunctivitis.

Females of Reproductive Potential

Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment and for 14 days after the last dose if Lamzede is discontinued. For females of reproductive potential, verify that the patient is not pregnant prior to initiating treatment with Lamzede.

Embryo-Fetal Toxicity

Based on findings from animal reproduction studies, Lamzede may cause embryo-fetal harm when administered to a pregnant female.

Common Adverse Reactions

The most common adverse reactions (incidence >20%) are hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylaxis, nasopharyngitis, pyrexia, headache, and arthralgia.

Please see Full Prescribing Information for Lamzede.

About Chiesi Global Rare Diseases

Chiesi Global Rare Diseases is a business unit of the Chiesi Group established to deliver innovative therapies and solutions for people affected by rare diseases. As a family business, Chiesi Group strives to create a world where it is common to have a therapy for all diseases and acts as a force for good, for society and the planet. The goal of the Global Rare Diseases unit is to ensure equal access so as many people as possible can experience their most fulfilling life. The unit collaborates with the rare disease community around the globe to bring voice to underserved people in the health care system.

For more information visit www.chiesirarediseases.com.

About Chiesi Group

Chiesi is an international, research-focused biopharmaceuticals group that develops and markets innovative therapeutic solutions in respiratory health, rare diseases, and specialty care. The company's mission is to improve people's quality of life and act responsibly towards both the community and the environment.

By changing its legal status to a Benefit Corporation in Italy , the US, and France , Chiesi's commitment to create shared value for society as a whole is legally binding and central to company-wide decision-making. As a certified B Corp since 2019, we're part of a global community of businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental impact. The company aims to reach Net-Zero greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by 2035.

With over 85 years of experience, Chiesi is headquartered in Parma (Italy ), operates in 31 countries, and counts more than 6,500 employees. The Group's research and development centre in Parma works alongside 6 other important R&D hubs in France , the US, Canada , China , the UK , and Sweden .

For further information please visit www.chiesi.com.

Chiesi Group Media Contacts

Chiara Travagin

Rare Communication Manager

Tel: +39 348 8818985

Email: [email protected]

Alessio Pappagallo

Press Office Manager

Tel: +39 339 5897483

Email: [email protected]

Adam Daley

Berry & Company Public Relations

Tel: +1 212 253 8881

Email: [email protected]

PP-G-1260 V1.0

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SOURCE Chiesi Global Rare Diseases
Current President and COO, Russell Klinegardner , appointed to succeed Luis Aguilar as President and CEO, Effective January 1, 2024 .

HOUSTON , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Health and Safety Council (HASC), a prominent provider of training, occupational health services, and cutting-edge industry technology solutions, is delighted to introduce a strategic leadership transition as part of its ongoing dedication to sustainable expansion and innovation. Commencing on January 1, 2024 , Russell Klinegardner will step into the role of President and Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Luis Aguilar . Klinegardner, currently the President and Chief Operating Officer, will also join the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors at that time.

January 1, 2024 , Russell Klinegardner , MBA, CSP will step into the role of President and CEO for HASC.

Nick Anagnostou , Vice President HSSE at KBR and the present Chairman of the Board of Directors for HASC, remarks, "This transition signifies a natural progression for HASC. With Russell's exceptional leadership and extensive industry experience, the Board is fully confident that he will adeptly steer this organization as the new President and CEO. He is a skilled executive characterized by unwavering integrity and an unmatched commitment to excellence. Russell possesses a proven track record of driving success, and under his guidance, HASC will undoubtedly have a promising future marked by innovation."

Prior to joining HASC, Klinegardner played a pivotal role as a volunteer on the HASC Board of Directors, took on an elected position within the Executive Committee, and notably filled the inaugural two-year role as Chairman of the Board. His career initiation was with Dow Environmental, followed by his tenure at the Brock Group, where he dedicated 20 years to occupying various leadership roles encompassing a wide spectrum of operational and functional capacities, culminating as the Senior Vice President of HSE.

Klinegardner earned a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Tulane University. His professional achievements also include being designated as a Board Certified Safety Professional (CSP).

Since joining the company in 2016, Klinegardner has been an integral part of shaping the vision and growth of HASC. Reflecting on this, Klinegardner asserts, "It is a privilege to be designated as the forthcoming President and CEO of HASC. From my tenure on the Board of Directors to my current role within the Health and Safety Council, I am steadfastly committed to propelling innovation and sustainable expansion for HASC. I am honored to contribute to this purposeful and strategic transition into my new role as President and CEO. Together with the capable and talented HASC team, we will persist in our mission to serve and uplift industries both nationally and internationally."

Aguilar expresses confidence in Klinegardner's capacity to lead the organization in realizing its vision for growth and innovation at HASC. Aguilar remarks, "Serving as President and CEO of HASC since 2000 has been a privilege. I have collaborated closely with Russell in various capacities for over two decades, and I wholeheartedly endorse him as HASC's incoming President and CEO. It's great to see a succession plan come to fruition and I anticipate a seamless transition over the forthcoming months."

About HASC

The Health and Safety Council (HASC) is a leading training, occupational health and technology association delivering innovative solutions to the industrial sector globally. HASC's services and expertise enable industry to have access to efficient and effective safety training and quality occupational health everywhere.

Headquartered outside of Houston, Texas , HASC provides over 1.5 million services each year. HASC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit association with a mission of building safe workplaces since 1990. For more information, visit www.hasc.com and follow the Health and Safety Council on LinkedIn.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/health-and-safety-council-announces-ceo-succession-plan-301916234.html

SOURCE Health and Safety Council
The fifth annual fundraising campaign unites over 200 content creators to bring happiness to hospitalized kids

LOS ANGELES , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Starlight Children's Foundation , a nonprofit dedicated to delivering happiness to hospitalized kids and their families, "presses start" on its fifth annual Stream for Starlight (S4S).

The month-long virtual fundraising campaign, which takes place in September honoring Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, invites content creators to stream and raise critical funds for Starlight.

"Hospitalization can be scary and stressful for kids, often isolated from friends and families. That's why we strive to transform hospital experiences by providing young patients with Starlight programs that provide them with play, positive distraction and a sense of normalcy to help young patients feel more cheerful and supported during hospital stays," said Adam Garone , CEO of Starlight Children's Foundation. "We're incredibly thankful and humbled by the number of streamers returning this year, utilizing their online platforms to raise funds to help us advance our mission of bringing happiness to hospitalized children and their families. We're also grateful for the support of Razer as a returning sponsor, helping our amazing charity streaming community thrive."

Stream For Starlight aims to raise $250,000 to help fund comfortable, fun Starlight Hospital Gowns and entertaining Starlight Gaming Stations, Starlight Virtual Reality and Toy Deliveries to children's hospitals and facilities nationwide. Since 2019, Stream For Starlight has raised more than $1.8 million .



Over 200 streamers from all categories on Twitch are joining the campaign  including LEGO building with Amish_Ace, gaming with Smirky, crocheting and crafts with NinePointFive, and many more.

The "Press Start" Event will kick off Stream For Starlight on September 1st at 4 p.m. PDT on Starlight's Twitch channel. Viewers will have the opportunity to meet the 2024 Starlight Ambassadors.

With events happening daily, fans can always find something engaging to watch directly from Starlight's streaming calendar. To bring happiness to seriously ill children in your area, community members can donate by visiting starlight.org/donate.

Recognized as the country's broadest-reaching charity focused on sick kids, Starlight is integral to the total care of hospitalized kids. Starlight's vital programs are offered free of charge to pediatric facilities that are part of Starlight's healthcare network and utilized by healthcare professionals to distract and educate patients during challenging procedures and treatments, helping make their journey toward recovery a little brighter.

About Starlight Children's Foundation

No matter the length, hospital stays can be lonely, stressful, and scary. That's why Starlight exists. Founded in 1982, Starlight Children's Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization that aims to deliver happiness to hospitalized children and their families. Carefully crafted to address the unique needs of pediatric patients, Starlight's vital programs  including Starlight Gaming, Starlight Virtual Reality, Hospital Gowns, and Starlight Toy Deliveries  are donor-funded and offered free of charge to hospitals within its nationwide network to provide comfort, distraction, and a sense of normalcy to kids coping with hospitalization, procedures and treatments. The impact of these programs reaches even further to the families and caregivers, creating a supportive community that nurtures kids when they need it most.

To learn more and to help Starlight deliver happiness to hospitalized kids, visit www.starlight.org and follow Starlight on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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SOURCE Starlight Childrens Foundation
2024 Hyundai Sonata and Elantra First North American Public Appearance

IONIQ 6 Official Show Car of the 52nd Annual Miami International Auto Show

IONIQ 6 Car of the Year by the Miami Motor Media

Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program Launch

MIAMI , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor America presents the first North American public appearance of its class leading Sonata and Elantra during the 2023 Miami International Auto Show. Further capitalizing on the consumer transition to electric vehicles, the IONIQ 6 is named the Official Show Car for the 52nd annual event, and recognized as Car of the Year by Miami Motor Media. As part of its leadership in design-forward vehicles, technology advancements and advocacy, Hyundai introduces its Performance Institute Technical Student Program welcoming nearly 100 technical college and high school students from South Florida during press day.

The new Sonata boasts a dynamic, progressive design with low-slung, elegant proportions and more aggressive coupe-like styling along with an array of advanced safety, driver assistance and convenience features. The 2024 Hyundai Elantra includes exterior and interior enhancements, advanced safety features, and a variety of purposeful technologies, for a refined driving experience.

2024 Hyundai Sonata and Elantra YouTube news conference

"Hyundai remains committed to the sedan segment offering customers a dynamic driving experience with our beautifully updated Sonata and Elantra models," said Randy Parker , CEO, Hyundai Motor America. "With award-winning design language and passion for performance, Hyundai is thrilled to introduce these two refreshed sedans in South Florida ."

Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program

Hyundai reinforces its commitment to sustainable growth through the launch of the Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program, with a brand immersion and recruitment event, during the Miami International Auto Show. Students from South Florida technical colleges and high schools were invited to strengthen the roots of the talent pools available to local dealerships. Hyundai Motor America's collaboration with local schools and Hyundai dealerships is aimed at creating foundational partnerships and addressing the technician shortages.

"Hyundai is proud to help boost career opportunities in the technical field throughout Miami-Dade , Broward and Palm Beach counties for high school and college students through the launch of our brand immersion and recruitment programs," said Emanue'l King, senior manager, Technical Training Programs, Hyundai Motor America. "The invaluable unsung heroes behind bay doors responsible for customer safety and satisfaction are highly regarded at Hyundai and we strive to become their brand of choice when selecting their future career path."

The Miami International Auto Show takes place at the Miami Beach Convention Center and opens Friday, September 1 st on Labor Day weekend and runs through September 10 th. In addition to visiting the Hyundai display, attendees can participate in a ride along in the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 at the EV test track.

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America focuses on 'Progress for Humanity' and smart mobility solutions. Hyundai offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles. Our 830 dealers sold more than 724,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2022, and nearly half were built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. For more information, visit www.HyundaiNews.com.

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

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SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
RALEIGH, N.C. , Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lennar, one of the nation's leading homebuilders, is debuting its first community  Maple Ridge  with large, tree lined homesites located in the historic city of Franklinton to meet rising demand for affordable high-quality new homes within an easy commute to Wake Forest and US-401.

Maple Ridge offers three spacious and inviting single-family floor plans ranging from 2,476 to 3,000 square feet, with prices starting from the high $300s. Located just minutes from the shops and restaurants of Franklinton and Wake Forest , the Maple Ridge community includes a dog park and recreational trails.

" Maple Ridge gives homebuyers the unique opportunity to own a new home in a quiet community, minutes from employment centers and within a highly rated school district." said Robert Smart , Lennar Raleigh Division President. "These thoughtfully designed homes make it easy to entertain or work from home with free-flowing floor plans, smart home technology and quality construction."

All Maple Ridge homes incorporate the latest technology with conveniences such as Ring video doorbells, keyless entries, and smart thermostats. They are part of Lennar's signature Everything's Included program, where popular options and a host of other carefully curated interior details and designer fixtures are included in the home price. Homebuyers can select homes with a wide range of popular exterior features, including screened porches.

Maple Ridge's three floor plans  Madison, Leighton and Tessa  include four to five bedrooms and three to four bathrooms. All plans include a first-floor guest suite and formal dining. The Madison plan includes a study while the Leighton and Tessa plans include a second-floor game room.

Maple Ridge is open by appointment only. For more information on these new Franklinton homes, call 919-516-9130 or visit https://www.lennar.com/new-homes/north-carolina/raleigh/franklinton/maple-ridge.

About Lennar Corporation

Lennar Corporation, founded in 1954, is one of the nation's leading builders of quality homes for all generations. Lennar builds affordable, move-up and active adult homes primarily under the Lennar brand name. Lennar's Financial Services segment provides mortgage financing, title and closing services primarily for buyers of Lennar's homes and, through LMF Commercial, originates mortgage loans secured primarily by commercial real estate properties throughout the United States . Lennar's Multifamily segment is a nationwide developer of high-quality multifamily rental properties. LENX drives Lennar's technology, innovation and strategic investments. For more information about Lennar, please visit lennar.com.

Contact: Danielle Tocco

Vice President Communications

Lennar Corporation

[email protected]

Direct Line: 949.789.1633

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SOURCE Lennar Corporation
NEW YORK , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- OUTFRONT Media Inc. (NYSE: OUT) announced today that Jeremy Male , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is scheduled to present at Citi's 2023 Global Technology and GEMS Conference on Thursday, September 7, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time . A live and replay audio webcast will be available on the investor relations section of the Company's website at www.outfront.com.

About OUTFRONT Media Inc.

OUTFRONT leverages the power of technology, location, and creativity to connect brands with consumers outside of their homes through one of the largest and most diverse sets of billboard, transit, and mobile assets in North America . Through its technology platform, OUTFRONT will fundamentally change the ways advertisers engage audiences on-the-go.

Contacts:

Investors

Media Stephan Bisson

Courtney Richards Investor Relations

Communications & Event Manager (212) 297-6573

(646) 876-9404 [email protected]

[email protected]

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SOURCE OUTFRONT Media Inc.
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pieper Veterinary, a Connecticut-based family of primary, specialty and emergency care veterinary hospitals, is excited to announce they have partnered with both Mass-RI Veterinary ER in Swansea, MA and Metropolitan Veterinary Associates in Norristown, PA. These valued partnerships bring over 60 additional emergency and specialty veterinarians into the Pieper Veterinary network and supports Pieper's continuing strategy to partner with privately-owned hospitals who want to grow, expand, and share in a commitment to providing quality veterinarian-led medicine in the Northeast.

"We couldn't be happier to welcome these clients, patients, and staff into the Pieper family. As a hospital network that was started by Dr. Neil Pieper in 1937, we're honored to continue a legacy of veterinarian-led practices with Mass-RI Veterinary ER, founded by Dr. Michelle Lampe , and Metropolitan Veterinary Associates, founded by Dr. James Dougherty ," says Ben Olson , DVM, DACVIM (Neurology), and Chief Medical Officer of Pieper Veterinary. "Both of these hospitals have exceptional teams with highly skilled doctors and nursing care. Together we can strengthen the veterinary care in our communities and continue to provide our clients with advanced medical services."

Opened in 2005, Mass-RI Veterinary ER's team of five emergency doctors provides 7-day emergency and urgent care for families from Swansea , Fall River , Somerset , and Providence RI. Their mission is to provide a total pet health care environment with superior customer service, ensuring that the needs of the pet, the client, and referring veterinarian are met.

Since 1986, Metropolitan Veterinary Associates (MVA) has provided the highest quality of veterinary medicine. It is their mission to enhance and improve the lives of their patients through exceptional care. MVA provides top-level care in anesthesiology, behavioral medicine, cardiology, critical care, dentistry, dermatology, emergency, internal medicine, interventional radiology, minimally invasive surgery, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, radiology, and surgery.

"The MVA team is thrilled to join Pieper Veterinary in their commitment to veterinarian-led medicine," says Executive Medical Director John V. DeBiasio , DVM, DACVIM (Internal Medicine), MBA. "This allows us to put medicine first, and to continue not only providing excellent service to our clients, but more importantly, the highest quality of care to our patients."

"We feel that the Pieper Veterinary network of hospitals is differentiated by their focus on continuing education for all staff in a commitment to providing the highest quality care," says Michelle Lampe , DVM, of Mass-RI Veterinary ER. "We appreciate their commitment to continuing the legacies and missions of the hospitals within the network."

For More Information About Becoming a Partnering Hospital Visit: https://www.pieperveterinary.com/for-practice-owners/

About Pieper Veterinary:

Pieper Veterinary is a leading full-spectrum veterinary provider with over 120 veterinarians across eight emergency, specialty, and primary care locations in Connecticut , Massachusetts , and Pennsylvania . With a total staff of over 650, all of Pieper's practices embody a veterinarian-led, patientfirst philosophy, and a commitment to delivering the highest quality veterinary medicine. For more information, please visit www.pieperveterinary.com.

Media Contact:

Jesse Ferguson (she/her/hers)

Director of Marketing, Pieper Veterinary

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 860-302-5992

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SOURCE Pieper Veterinary
SHENZHEN, China , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In a recent move, the Chinese government unveiled the Development Plan for Shenzhen Park of Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone . This release ushers in fresh opportunities for urban collaboration in the Guangdong- Hong Kong -Macao Greater Bay Area . A wave of scientific and technological innovation is sweeping across both Shenzhen and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

The Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone is situated in the northern part of the HKSAR and the central-southern part of Shenzhen, spanning an area of 3.89 square kilometers. Its two sections are separated by the Shenzhen River , with the 0.87-square-kilometer Hong Kong Park on the southern bank and the 3.02-square-kilometer Shenzhen Park on the northern bank. These two parks are seamlessly connected through the Futian Port and Huanggang Port -- the two land gateways that facilitate a direct linkage between Shenzhen and the HKSAR.

"The City University of Hong Kong is only a thirty- to forty-minute journey away from here," said Prof. Chen Fu-Rong , director of the City University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Research Institute, who is researching electron microscopes at the Shenzhen Park . He underscored the critical significance of "eureka moments" in scientific innovation. "Whenever I come up with an idea in Hong Kong, I can promptly experiment with it in the laboratory here. This is incredibly important," he added.

Scientific and technological innovation stands as the "common denominator" that underpins the Shenzhen - Hong Kong cooperation. With an array of policies in play, the Shenzhen Park hones in on life sciences, information sciences, and materials sciences as focal points for industrial development. Through vigorous spatial reconfiguration, multiple policy support, and many other facilitative initiatives, the park successfully draws in resources to cultivate sci-tech innovation, thereby creating an ever more robust innovative atmosphere.

Dr. Wong Ying -ho, deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Coalition and a member of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR, expressed, "In the ever-competitive landscape of innovative technology, the HKSAR boasts prestigious universities that are appealing to global talents. Simultaneously, Shenzhen embodies a thriving culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. Collaboration between these two powerhouses is poised to yield optimal outcomes."

Given differences in legal, systemic, and regulatory frameworks, Shenzhen and the HKSAR have faced various impediments in realizing the cross-border flow of sci-tech innovation factors, open resource sharing, and cooperative advancements in the technology sector. The promulgation of the Plan injects new momentum into the Shenzhen Park , enabling it to surmount collaboration challenges and address the "growing pains" along its development.

According to the development objectives in the Plan, by 2035, a comprehensive pattern of collaborative innovation between the Shenzhen Park and Hong Kong Park will have taken shape, forming a world-class research hub with globally leading innovation capacities and a free and orderly cross-border flow of innovation factors.

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PromCon Europe is the eighth conference fully dedicated to the Prometheus monitoring system

SAN FRANCISCO , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cloud Native Computing Foundation  (CNCF), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, released the two-day schedule for the single-track PromCon Europe 2023 conference happening in Berlin, Germany from September 28 to September 29, 2023 . Attendees will be able to choose from 21 full-length (25min) sessions and up to 20 five-minute lightning talk sessions spanning diverse topics related to Prometheus .

Now in its 8th installment, PromCon brings together Prometheus users and developers from around the world to exchange knowledge, best practices, and experience gained through using Prometheus. The program committee reviewed 66 submissions that will provide a fresh and informative look into the most pressing topics around Prometheus today.

"We are super excited for PromCon to be coming home to Berlin . Prometheus was started in Berlin at Soundcloud in 2012. The first PromCon was hosted in Berlin and in between moved to Munich . This year we're hosting around 300 attendees at Radialsystem in Friedrichshain, Berlin . Berlin has a vibrant Prometheus community and many of the Prometheus team members live in the neighborhood. It is a great opportunity to network and connect with the Prometheus family who are all passionate about systems and service monitoring," said Matthias Loibl , Software Engineer at Polar Signals and Prometheus team member who leads this year's PromCon program committee. "It will be a great event to learn about the latest developments from the Prometheus team itself and connect to some big-scale users of Prometheus up close."

The community-curated schedule will feature sessions from open source community members, including:

For the full PromCon Europe 2023 program, please visit the schedule .

Registration

Register for the in-person standard pricing of $350 USD through September 25 . The venue has space for 300 attendees so don't wait!

Thank You to Our Sponsors

PromCon Europe 2023 has been made possible thanks to the amazing community around Prometheus and support from our Diamond Sponsor Grafana Labs , Platinum Sponsor Red Hat , and Gold sponsor, O11y . This year's edition is organized by Polar Signals and CNCF.

About Cloud Native Computing Foundation

Cloud native computing empowers organizations to build and run scalable applications with an open source software stack in public, private, and hybrid clouds. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) hosts critical components of the global technology infrastructure, including Kubernetes, Prometheus, and Envoy. CNCF brings together the industry's top developers, end users, and vendors, and runs the largest open source developer conferences in the world. Supported by more than 800 members, including the world's largest cloud computing and software companies, as well as over 200 innovative startups, CNCF is part of the nonprofit Linux Foundation. For more information, please visit www.cncf.io.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds .

Media Contact

Jessie Adams-Shore

The Linux Foundation

[email protected]

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SOURCE Cloud Native Computing Foundation
A roundup of the week's most newsworthy energy industry press releases from PR Newswire, including a new curriculum for training the energy workforce.

NEW YORK , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the energy and natural resources industry stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

Read more of the latest energy-related releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNenergy on Twitter.

Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News

These are just a few of the recent press releases that consumers and the media should know about. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists.

Once they're signed up, reporters, bloggers and freelancers have access to the following free features:

Customization: Create a customized newsfeed that will deliver relevant news right to your inbox. Customize the newsfeed by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more.

Create a customized newsfeed that will deliver relevant news right to your inbox. Customize the newsfeed by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more. Photos and Videos: Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include with your next story.

Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include with your next story. Subject Matter Experts: Access ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in your articles.

Access ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in your articles. Related Resources: Read and subscribe to our journalist- and blogger-focused blog, Beyond Bylines, for media news roundups, writing tips, upcoming events, and more.

About PR Newswire and PR Newswire for Journalists

For more than 65 years, PR Newswire has been the industry leader with the largest, most comprehensive distribution network of print, radio, magazine, television stations, financial portals and trade publications. PR Newswire has an unparalleled global reach of more than 200,000 publications and 10,000 websites and is available in more than 170 countries and 40 languages.

PR Newswire for Journalists (PRNJ) is an exclusive community that includes over 20,000 journalists, bloggers and influencers who are logging into their PRNJ accounts specifically looking for story ideas. PR Newswire thoroughly researches and vets this community to verify their identity as a member of the press, blogger or influencer. PRNJ users cover more than 200 beats and verticals.

For questions, contact the team at [email protected].

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SOURCE PR Newswire
ATLANTA , Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Xebia is a leading digital transformation consultancy firm that helps organizations adopt and use cloud computing, security, machine learning, data analytics, and artificial intelligence.

The company's dedicated Google Cloud practice has over 100 certified Google Cloud experts worldwide and has the mission to be recognized as the authority in Google Cloud.

A significant milestone toward attaining this mission came in the form of the 2023 Google Cloud Sales Partner award for the Benelux region. Xebia was recognized as the 'Partner of the Year' at the 2023 Google Cloud Next Conference.

This award recognizes Xebia's outstanding performance in several areas that contribute to the growth of Google Cloud business, including customer satisfaction, technical expertise, and innovation.

"Google Cloud's partner awards recognize the significant impact and customer success that our partners have driven over the past year," said Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate Vice President, Global Ecosystem and Channels at Google Cloud. "We're delighted to recognize Xebia as a 2023 Google Cloud Partner Award winner and look forward to a continued strong partnership in support of our mutual customers."

With a proven track record as a Google Cloud partner since 2017, Xebia has successfully guided numerous customers in the Benelux region to embrace the full potential of Google Cloud. "We are honored to be recognized by Google Cloud," said Maarten Koster , Commercial Lead for Google Cloud within Xebia. "This award acknowledges our team's hard work, dedication, and passion for helping our customers succeed with Google Cloud. Over the past year, our Google Cloud revenue has tripled."

Xebia has been exceptionally successful with big enterprise customers who are digitizing their core business based on data-related initiatives and big migrations from on-premises infrastructure to the Google Cloud. "Xebia has invested heavily in expanding the team with additional Google Cloud consultants and a dedicated support organization. This has resulted in a strong foundation for sustained growth." said Maarten Koster .

The cloud is becoming increasingly complex, with an ever-increasing wide variety of services and pricing models, making it difficult for businesses to keep track of their cloud costs. Xebia has a dedicated Google Cloud team that enables clients to adopt the Google Cloud in a secure, effective, and cost-efficient way.

"Xebia is working according to the philosophy You Build it, You Run it, You Own it. Our team has the technical know-how and creates best practices to support our clients with the Google Cloud architecture improvements and Cloud Financial Management (FinOps)," said Martijn van de Grift , Google Cloud Technical Lead within Xebia. "We are proud of what we have accomplished. Our dedicated support and expertise easily saved several clients over EUR one million a year," said Martijn.

"One of the things that I admire the most about Xebia is its commitment to building a strong technical team. We have created a culture where employees are encouraged to share their knowledge and expertise about Google Cloud in the market. This has led to Xebia becoming a co-founder of the Google Cloud User Group Benelux and a leading authorized training partner of Google Cloud," said Maarten Koster .



This award is the latest in a series of recognition by Google Cloud. In 2022, Jorge Liauw Calo (Practice lead Security) was named 2022 Google Cloud Partner All-Star in Solutions Engineering & Delivery. Maarten Koster was named a Google Cloud Partner All-Star in Sales.

"We are excited to see what the future holds for Xebia and Google Cloud," said Martijn van de Grift . "We are committed to getting the most out of Google Cloud for our customers, by expanding our Google Cloud services portfolio, and we look forward to continuing our work with Google in the years to come."

About Xebia:

Xebia is a digital transformation leader, serving top-250 global companies with comprehensive IT solutions. Operating in 16 countries with development centers across the US, Latin America , Western Europe , Poland , Nordics, Middle East , and Asia Pacific , Xebia's experts specialize in Technology Consulting, Software Engineering, Product Development, Data & AI, Cloud, Low Code, Agile Transformation & DevSecOps, and Quality Assurance. Alongside top-notch IT Consulting & Software development, Xebia offers time-efficient Standardized Solutions and education through its Academy. With a 100% YoY growth rate for two years, Xebia is a driving force in the expanding digital transformation market.

For more information about Xebia, please visit Xebia.com

Media Contact:

Maureen Elsberry

[email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1883841/Xebia_Logo.jpg

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SOURCE Xebia
BERLIN (Reuters) - Major naval drills about to start in the Baltic Sea involving some 30 ships and more than 3,000 Western service members will for the first time practice how to respond to a Russian assault in the region, Germany's navy chief said on Friday.

"We are sending a clear message of vigilance to Russia: Not on our watch," Vice-Admiral Jan Christian Kaack told reporters in Berlin. "Credible deterrence must include the ability to attack."

The two-week Northern Coasts exercise, set to start Sep 9, will see troops from all NATO countries on the Baltic Sea, plus soon-to-be member Sweden and non-Baltic allies the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, train side by side. They will practise amphibious operations and strikes from sea to land.

The U.S. navy will send the Mesa Verde into the drills, Kaack said, a ship of more than 200 metres (656 ft) length, designed to transport and land some 800 marines in an amphibious assault.

Securing the sea routes through the Baltic Sea is another focus of the exercise that will take place off the coasts of Latvia and Estonia.

"Finland and the Baltic states depend to almost 100% on the maritime supply routes through the Baltic Sea," Kaack noted.

"Should the Suwalki Gap be blocked - and this can be done easily as there are only two roads and one railroad line - then we are left with the sea routes only, and that's where we will then have to make our way through."

The Suwalki Gap, a narrow land corridor of some 65 kilometres (40 miles), is the only connection linking the Baltic states to Poland and NATO's main territory in Europe.

It will be the first exercise of this size that the German navy, the biggest navy on the Baltic Sea according to Kaack, will command from its new maritime headquarters in Rostock which just reached operational readiness.

Germany aims to provide the facility to NATO as a regional maritime headquarters, capable of leading the alliance's operations in the Baltic Sea in case of a conflict.

"Our notification is on the way to SACEUR," Kaack said, referring to NATO's supreme allied commander, adding he expected a positive response by the alliance soon, thus beating Germany's competitor Poland to the task.

Finland joined NATO this year, and Sweden's application to join is expected to be approved soon, both moves coming in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This has radically altered the strategic posture along the Baltic Sea, where much of the coast had belonged to neutral states since Napoleonic times; apart from Russia's own small stretches of coast, the entire seashore will soon belong to NATO members.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Peter Graff)
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian and relief efforts as he visits Fisherman's Wharf while touring hurricane-damaged areas, joined by first lady Jill Biden, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his wife

By Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Florida on Saturday to survey damage from this week's Hurricane Idalia, but a visit with the state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, is not scheduled, despite the president's assertion that they would meet.

Biden, a Democrat who is running for re-election next year, told reporters at the White House on Friday that he would see DeSantis, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination to challenge Biden in 2024, during the trip.

DeSantis's spokesman Jeremy Redfern said that was not the case.

"We dont have any plans for the Governor to meet with the President tomorrow," Redfern said in an email. "In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts."

The White House said Biden and his wife, Jill, would meet with members of the community affected by the storm.

"Their visit to Florida has been planned in close coordination with FEMA as well as state and local leaders to ensure there is no impact on response operations," White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said in a statement.

The White House said Biden informed DeSantis on Thursday before visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington that he would be coming to Florida, and the governor did not express concerns at the time.

The back-and-forth suggests politics could be creeping into the storm response.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is also running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, drew criticism for his praise of President Barack Obama in 2012 when the Democrat visited his state in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy.

Biden said earlier this week that politics had not affected his conversations with DeSantis.

"I think he trusts my judgment and my desire to help. And I trust him to be able to suggest that hes -- this is not about politics. This is about taking care of the people of his state," Biden told reporters on Wednesday. The two men have spoken regularly this week.

Biden has asked for billions of dollars in additional emergency funding following a string of severe weather events.

He plans to visit Florida before flying to his home state of Delaware for the weekend. The president regularly visits states that have been affected by natural disasters.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt; additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Oatis)
FILE PHOTO: A sign for the Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto, Ontario, Canada December 13, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio/File Photo

By Nivedita Balu and Manya Saini

(Reuters) -Canada's Competition Bureau said on Friday that Royal Bank of Canada's (RBC) C$13.5 billion ($10 billion) offer to buy HSBC's domestic unit was unlikely to hurt competition, clearing the way for the country's largest bank to push ahead with its biggest acquisition.

Still, the regulator found that the deal would "result in a loss of rivalry between Canada's largest and seventh-largest banks."

The bureau said HSBC Canada's competitive impact was limited when compared to other financial institutions and found that the unit of the British bank had achieved limited market penetration in most financial services.

The deal is expected to help RBC consolidate its leading position in one of the world's most concentrated banking markets, where the top six lenders control about 80% of banking assets.

RBC said the bureau's opinion is a key milestone in the approval process for the deal, which was announced in November 2022, and that it would collaborate with ongoing reviews by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and Canada's finance ministry.

"We welcome the competition bureau's decision, bringing us one step closer to regulatory approval on this transaction," HSBC Canada said.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024.

The favorable regulatory view is a big boost for RBC and was announced against the backdrop of growing resentment among consumer activists against the country's concentrated banking sector.

"Typically the bureau's reports are not as positive as the one that was released today ... That's a good sign for RBC," said Joshua Krane, a lawyer who focuses on competition, antitrust and foreign investment matters at McMillan.

The last time a deal of this size was attempted in Canada was in the early 1990s, when RBC wanted to acquire rival Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO). That acquisition was blocked by regulators.

The highly regulated Canadian banking sector is active in the mergers and acquisition space as banks seeking growth opportunities look to expand into the United States. Laurentian Bank, a smaller Canadian bank, is said to be looking at a potential sale.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru and Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
FILE PHOTO: Suntory Holdings Ltd's President and CEO Takeshi Niinami speaks during an interview with Reuters at the company headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, October 26, 2015. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

By Mayu Sakoda and Yukiko Toyoda

TOKYO (Reuters) - China's economy is in a "extremely difficult" situation, which may be contributing to a rising backlash against Japan over the release of treated Fukushima water into the ocean, the head of Suntory Holdings said.

Even so, the global spirits giant is planning to stick to its investment plans in the world's second-largest economy, although that could change if the issue becomes prolonged, Chief Executive Takeshi Niinami told Reuters.

The comments from Niinami, head of a major business lobby, echo the concern of the country's fishing industry about the situation on the Chinese mainland and the government's desire to maintain deep ties with its neighbour.

Japan's engagement with China, already fraught from disputes over chip export controls and the Taiwan Strait, soured further this month after Tokyo's decision to release treated water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.

Niinami backed Japan's decision to release the water, saying it was based on international standards. Outrage in China, manifested in bans on Japanese seafood and harassing phone calls, is out of step with the response from other countries and may have more to do with unrest at home, he said.

"This public sentiment could be affected by the stresses that China is under, such as the extremely difficult economic situation and the difficulty of young people finding jobs," Niinami said in an interview on Thursday.

"So it may be that this kind of stress is being vented externally, perhaps toward the current issues in Japan, since this stress itself can't be resolved in the short term."

China is grappling with a broad slowdown in growth, a worsening crisis in its property sector and insecurity among consumers as youth joblessness reaches record highs above 21%.

China has said Japan had not proved the water would be safe. It has also said its embassy and consulates in Japan have received "nuisance calls from Japan".

ATTRACTIVE MARKET

The Fukushima issue has had some impact on Suntory's business in China, where the company produces domestically as much as possible and complies with safety certification from any goods shipped from Japan, Niinami said.

He said China remains a "very attractive" market for Suntory and hopes Beijing will make tax cuts and other reforms to help revive the private sector and fend off the prolonged stagnation that Japan has lived through.

China remains a major market for many Japanese companies, with many manufacturers having extensive supply chains there.

A Reuters survey of major Japanese companies showed 82% expect China to remain at least as important to their business in future as it is now. That compares with views among many American firms, cited by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in a trip to Beijing this week, that China is "uninvestible".

As for Japan, Niinami said the government wasn't doing enough to help small businesses thrive so that they can raise wages and reskill a shrinking pool of workers for sectors such as green technology and healthcare.

"I think the government's role is to open up such opportunities," he said. "Until now, companies have been rescued, but going forward, we need to focus on saving people instead."

(Reporting by Mayu Sakoda, Yukiko Toyoda and Rocky Swift; Editing by David Dolan and Edwina Gibbs)
Fabian Pina, Cuban marine biologist and expedition co-leader, together with other scientists and crew members of the "Bojeo a Cuba" study prepare to release camera traps to photograph sharks near the coast of Cienfuegos, Cuba, August 31, 2023. REUTERS/Ale

By Dave Sherwood and Alien Fernandez

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba (Reuters) - Cuban marine biologist Ariandy Gonzalez emerges uneasy from the sun-speckled Caribbean sea off a remote stretch of Cuba's south coast. Something is not right.

The sea floor, once a mosaic of colorful corals, is now marred by patchy white splotches. That is evidence of heat-related coral bleaching, where stressed corals expel their colorful algae symbionts, leaving them pale and vulnerable.

"I think this is the worst bleaching we've seen yet," Gonzalez told five fellow scientists, hoisting himself into a small diveboat that heaved in churning seas.

Gonzalez is among 18 scientists and crew members who for nearly two months have circumnavigated Cuba in the M/V Oceans for Youth ship to hunt for clues that could help researchers across the globe protect reefs in the face of warming waters, over-fishing, pollution and other threats.

The ongoing "Bojeo a Cuba" study is a snapshot in time of the health of Cuba's reef, fish and sea life, the first of its kind across such a large area of the island's waters, said Dr. Fabian Pina, a Cuban marine biologist and expedition co-leader who initiated the project nearly two years ago.

The project has received funding from the Cuban government and international partners, Pina said.

Preliminary observations - the voyage is still about a week from completion - suggest both good and bad news, the scientists told Reuters in interviews at sea.

The water here, off the island's little developed south-central coast, is a sweltering 90F (32C), and elsewhere even warmer, the scientists said.

Sea surface temperatures globally have broken records this year. In Florida, just 90 miles (145 km) from Cuba, temperatures soared to hot tub levels, prompting U.S. scientists to warn of the potential for catastrophic bleaching.

Pina said the expedition's scientists were also disappointed to find few larger specimens of fish like grouper, snapper and sharks even on Cuban reefs that appeared otherwise healthy.

Communist-run Cuba, which faces ongoing food shortages, has struggled to regulate its fisheries, leading to declines in many species and the 2019 passage of a law to bring order to its fishing industry.

But Pina said there was plenty of good news, too.

"We are finding natural wonders almost everywhere we go," the biologist said, noting that many of Cuba's keys and mangrove forests are far more intact than in Florida and some Caribbean neighbors.

That could give Cuba's reefs, some of which are thought by scientists to be among the world's most pristine and resilient, an advantage in a changing climate.

"It's still an open question," Pina said. "But the expedition now provides a baseline, so we can come back and check on these reefs and see, for example, if they have recovered from the bleaching they are experiencing."

GLIMMERS OF HOPE

The team faced challenges - scarce internet, intense heat and a hurricane at sea - but also, glimmers of hope along the 3,541-mile (5,700 km) circumnavigation of the island.

Expedition divers observed an unusually large school of exotically-colored triggerfish in eastern Cuba, and a kaleidoscope of vibrant corals along the ocean floor near the densely-developed tourist destination of Varadero.

And off Guanahacabibes national park in far western Cuba, scientists used camera traps to photograph big, ocean-going sharks, mostly absent across hundreds of miles of coastline the team had already traveled, said Dorka Cobian, an expedition biologist and a researcher at the park.

Cobian said she held hope that the peninsula's reefs would bounce back from the recent bleaching, which she said had affected 60-80% of corals in the area.

"This reef is very resilient," she said. "We've suffered many bleaching events, and in general, they have recovered."

Expedition leader Pina said it was still too early to draw anything but preliminary conclusions from the reams of data, video footage and observations collected by the team.

But the biggest lesson was already lying in plain sight, he said.

"Our ecosystems are in general well conserved," he said, struggling to choose a favorite site among so much splendor. "We must find a way to take advantage of the enormous opportunity that provides."

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood and Alien Fernandez, additional reporting by Mario Fuentes, Alexandre Meneghini; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
FILE PHOTO: Mexican Senator Xochitl Galvez speaks during a private event as she pursues the opposition alliance's candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, in Monterrey, Mexico, August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril/File Photo

By Dave Graham

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - When Xochitl Galvez lumbered onto the floor of Mexico's Senate last December dressed in an inflatable green dinosaur suit to protest a ruling party bill, even the flustered leader of the upper house trying to rebuke her could not suppress a smile.

The stunt by Galvez, who crashed the rostrum holding a card reading "Jurassic Plan" to criticize legislation from the ruling leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) as retrograde, is one of many that made her famous before she won the 2024 presidential candidacy of the main opposition alliance this week.

Her snubs to convention, gift for political theater and ability to connect with voters are traits that echo President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, an anti-establishment veteran who was finally elected in 2018. Now he is trying to thwart her bid.

"They're similar in how they talk, their informality, their irreverence, their connection with poorer Mexicans," said Francisco Abundis, head of polling firm Parametria.

"She has a lighter touch than the president, and that may even be an advantage for the campaign."

The business-friendly Galvez seized the candidacy of the opposition Broad Front for Mexico after the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Mexico's longtime rulers, dropped its own contender to back her in the June 2, 2024 election.

MORENA is due to announce its candidate on Sept. 6 after national polling, with voter surveys suggesting the likely winner will be former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.

The ruling party's commanding lead in polls has been forged around the personal popularity of Lopez Obrador, who under Mexican law can only serve a single six-year term.

The 69-year-old president regularly pillories the opposition at his daily press conferences, and his would-be MORENA successors have all pledged to continue his political legacy, giving him enormous weight in the campaign.

Galvez, 60, has long poked fun at the party's dependence on Lopez Obrador, posting a video during the 2018 general election campaign in which she dressed as him and mocked his ubiquity in MORENA candidates' promotional photos.

"I don't need a godfather," she quipped. "I can get ahead by myself."

CHEERFUL

Irrepressibly upbeat and a keen bicycle rider, Galvez has described her political roots as Marxist, though she sits in Congress for the center-right National Action Party (PAN) and had a career in business before entering politics.

Both she and Lopez Obrador worked to improve the lives of indigenous communities; she led a national commission for indigenous people under former President Vicente Fox, while he headed the Tabasco state indigenous affairs bureau in the 1970s.

Lopez Obrador has governed as a defender of the poor, upping welfare spending and denouncing corruption and corporate greed as hallmarks of a privileged elite he dubs "fifi."

Galvez, who has pledged to uphold his welfare programs, has framed her life story as one of triumph over adversity, in which she grew up in an impoverished family with indigenous roots to become a successful businesswoman.

Lopez Obrador this year called Galvez "tenacious" during a headline-grabbing bid by her to get into his morning news conference. After she announced her presidential run, he began lambasting her, branding Galvez an "employee of the oligarchy."

She dismisses such barbs. She told Reuters earlier this year: "They can't call me fifi," pointing to her origins.

Galvez's tale of self-made success stands in stark contrast to the president's paternalistic model, said Ernesto Ruffo, a PAN stalwart working on her presidential campaign.

"This is why Lopez Obrador is really worried," said Ruffo, whose 1989 gubernatorial victory over the PRI in Baja California heralded the beginning of the end of one-party rule in Mexico.

Galvez faces a steep challenge in ending MORENA rule, with some polls giving the ruling party far more support than all opposition groups combined. One major opposition party, Citizens' Movement, remains outside the alliance.

Moreover, the process of anointing Galvez has looked chaotic, Parametria's Abundis said. Many PRI loyalists were stunned by the way in which the party dumped its own contender.

To mount a real challenge, Galvez will need to be disciplined and ensure she does not overplay her hand, he said.

"Being laid-back and irreverent is a very fine line to walk," Abundis said. "Because people also like you to be serious and have gravitas, and not to trivialize politics."

(This story has been refiled to fix a typographical error in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Paul Simao)
By Kirsty Needham and Dan Williams

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea will join a handful of countries to open an embassy in Jerusalem, a decision long sought by pro-Israel church groups in the deeply Christian Pacific nation, and as Prime Minister James Marape seeks to boost foreign investment.

Marape has pledged to voters to make Papua New Guinea (PNG), a resource-rich but largely undeveloped nation north of Australia, the "richest black Christian nation".

He previously told parliament Israel was important because of its agriculture technology, however church groups have long lobbied for a Jerusalem embassy.

Marape announced he would travel to Israel for the embassy opening on Sept. 5 in a speech on PNG's national holiday for prayer, Aug. 26, when he also said a law would be introduced to officially declare PNG a Christian country.

A delegation of pastors is travelling to Israel for the opening, PNG government and church officials said.

"We have to have the relationship with Israel. This is what the people have been dreaming of," Pastor Peter Harut, PNG delegate for International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, a Christian Zionist group, said in a telephone interview.

The majority of countries with an official diplomatic presence in Israel have their embassies in Tel Aviv, with only the United States, Kosovo, Guatemala and Honduras basing theirs in Jerusalem.

Citing Jewish biblical roots, Israel deems Jerusalem its indivisible capital. That status has not won wide recognition abroad, and Palestinians want the east of the city - which Israel captured in a 1967 war, and is the site of major Jewish, Christian and Muslim shrines - as capital of their hoped-for future state.

A Florida-based Zionist group with pastors in PNG, United Nations for Israel, wrote to Marape to congratulate him.

In the letter viewed by Reuters, the group's president Dominiquae Bierman, who has visited PNG several times to preach, said she was "very involved in bringing the Biblical Message to your nation about the importance of honouring Israel".

"This includes positioning the embassies of all the nations in the eternal capital of Israel, Jerusalem," Bierman said.

'FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA'

Israel has yet to formally announce the embassy opening, but an Israeli official told Reuters Marape's visit would be on Sept. 4-6, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attending the Sept. 5 opening.

The visit will allow Netanyahu to burnish his statesman credentials amid diplomatic deadlock on other fronts for his hard-right government.

An Israeli official who requested anonymity said the PNG embassy would have 200 square metres of floorspace and can expect to get a discount of abound 70% on municipal property tax as part of standing policy meant to draw embassies and corporations to Jerusalem.

The office space was previously used by an Israeli government ministry in south Jerusalem, next to the city's biggest mall. An assessment of a property of comparable size in the same building suggests PNG will pay a monthly rent of about $20,000.

PNG-Israel Jewish Council chairman, businessman Douveri Henao, will attend the ceremony, he said on social media.

Henao is on PNG's six-person Foreign Policy White Paper drafting team, tasked with "shaping Papua New Guinea's foreign policy agenda", Marape's office said in a statement last month.

The council said in January a close relationship with Israel was "essential" for PNG's economic goals in agriculture, health and technology, and a mission in Jerusalem recognised "Israel's claim to Jerusalem as its capital based on biblical and secular history".

Marape is seeking to widen PNG's international links, and this year hosted visits by the leaders of India, France and by the U.S. secretaries of state and defense.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; editing by Robert Birsel)
A view of a damaged house after the arrival of Hurricane Idalia, in Cedar Key, Florida, U.S., August 31, 2023. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Noor Zainab Hussain, Manya Saini and Matt Tracy

(Reuters) - Florida-only insurers such as Citizens Property Insurance anticipate fewer losses from Hurricane Idalia than from previous storms in the state, even as industry experts expect further insurer pullback from the market.

Idalia plowed in to Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday, leaving three confirmed deaths and forcing dozens of deep-water boat rescues, but wreaking less destruction overall than feared.

While Citizens' preliminary loss projections are not yet available, the insurer projects it will receive fewer than 10,000 claims stemming from Idalia-related damage, a spokesman told Reuters. That amount is far fewer than the 68,000 claims that Citizens received after Hurricane Ian in September 2022.

"Idalia went through a very rural region of the state, missing metropolitan areas in Tampa Bay and Jacksonville," the spokesman said.

Citizens and other Florida-only insurers were expected to face claims for billions of dollars from the storm, according to a report by Moody's on Wednesday, adding to a challenging year for the industry that could result in higher premiums for customers.

In Florida, UBS estimated average insured losses of $9.36 billion with a 50% chance of losses of over $4.05 billion and a 10% likelihood of losses of $25.6 billion, based on Aug. 28 data. The wide range reflected potential changes in the storm's intensity and path.

Losses will be pushed higher by construction costs, which increased significantly during the pandemic, and a rise in demand for construction labor and materials following the hurricane, Moody's noted.

The top 10 Florida-only insurers, which provide cover to 44% of the state's homes, are more vulnerable than others given their geographic concentration, Moody's said.

Despite this, the Insurance Information Institute, an industry research group, told Reuters that insurers' "adequate levels of reinsurance" makes insurers well-capitalized to pay claims from Idalia.

"This certainly will not help with ongoing challenges to Florida's insurance market, but it could have been a lot worse," said Steve Bowen, chief science officer at reinsurer broker Gallagher Re.

Citizens, Florida's nonprofit, state-backed insurance provider that is seen as an "insurer of last resort," has been gaining market share since 2022 as primary insurers reduce their exposure to the Florida market.

"As insured values have grown, more of Florida's risk exposure has transitioned from larger nationwide insurance carriers to Citizens and smaller Florida domestic insurers, placing more strain on the state's insurance market structure," Moody's said in the note.

Regardless, some insurance firms including Farmers Insurance, Bankers Insurance and Lexington Insurance, a unit of AIG, have pulled out of Florida because of the risk of heavy losses, according to a July report in USA Today.

Farmers' exit would apply "only to policies issued through our exclusive agency distribution channel" and 70% of its Florida policies in force would not be impacted, a spokesperson told Reuters via email.

Bankers and Lexington did not immediately return requests for comment.

The top 10 U.S. homeowners insurers such as State Farm and Allstate Corp average only about 4.1% of their premiums in Florida, Moody's said.

The exit of insurers from Florida comes amid a broader pullback from the market, including from reinsurers, according to an Aug. 24 Fitch report.

"Natural catastrophe business has become largely loss-making in recent years as prices have failed to keep pace with increasingly frequent, severe and volatile weather-related losses due to climate change," Fitch said.

Insurers were hit by losses of up to $53 billion from Hurricane Ian in Florida and South Carolina last year, and industry experts expected insurers to go into bankruptcy and insurance to become less accessible in regions like Florida.

Six insurers became insolvent in 2022, and more than a dozen others either left the state or placed moratoriums on writing new business, Reuters reported in July, citing the Insurance Information Institute.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Manya Saini in Bengaluru and Matt Tracy in Washington; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Megan Davies and Matthew Lewis)
FILE PHOTO: man carries an elderly man as they flee their neighbourhood Carrefour Feuilles after gangs took over, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti August 15, 2023. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo

By Harold Isaac

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -Thousands of Haitians prepared to sleep in schools and a theater around the main square of Port-au-Prince on Friday, after fresh attacks by armed gangs pushed already displaced people downtown to seek shelter wherever they could.

The Gran Ravine gang, led by Renel Destina, has besieged the densely populated neighborhood of Carrefour Feuilles for weeks, forcing aid workers to withdraw and thousands of people to flee their homes. Under-resourced police have struggled to contain the violence.

Dailove Pompilus, who was nine months pregnant, said she had no choice but to come to the Champ de Mars square after the gang attacked her home in Carrefour Feuilles, killing her 3-year-old son.

"My first child," she said. "They burned down the house with him inside."

Sophia Jean, another resident, fled with her 8-month-old baby and the clothes on her back. "I did not have time to take anything," she said.

By nightfall, people took refuge at nearby schools and the Rex theater.

Yves Penel, a theater manager speaking at the main square, said hundreds of people had arrived overnight on Thursday and they had created committees to manage food, water and hygiene.

"I grew up in Carrefour Feuilles," said Penel. "We will do what we have to do."

The United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been displaced in the last two weeks alone.

Thursday night marked the first time since the catastrophic 2010 earthquake that people have camped in the Champ de Mars, the capital's main square that is home to historical monuments honoring heroes of the Haitian Revolution.

'NOWHERE TO GO'

"They shot at us," said Clerina Coffy, who ran from Place Jeremie, a makeshift camp roughly 1 mile (1.5 km) away, with her three children during Thursday night. "We are here because we have nowhere to go with the kids."

Local reporters said some people looking to leave the city had gathered at a bus station while elsewhere civil defense groups reinforced barricades.

With school classes set to resume this month but many now hosting displaced people, the education ministry called for the buildings to be protected.

Haiti's gang warfare has left some 2,500 dead and 1,000 injured since January, according to the U.N., amid widespread kidnappings, lynchings and sexual violence.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on a plan to send international security assistance, which Haiti's unelected government requested last October. A Kenyan delegation met with police chiefs last month but countries have been wary and a multinational force has yet to materialize.

(Reporting by Harold Isaac, Jean Loobentz Cesar and Ralph Tedy Erol in Port-au-Prince and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Rosalba O'Brien and William Mallard)
FILE PHOTO: JPMorgan Chase Bank is seen in New York City, U.S., March 21, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs//File Photo

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer for the U.S. Virgin Islands said on Thursday that JPMorgan Chase told U.S. authorities it processed more than $1 billion for Jeffrey Epstein over 16 years.

JPMorgan reported the transactions as suspicious to the U.S. Treasury Department following Epstein's suicide in 2019, Mimi Liu, a lawyer for the territory, said at a hearing concerning its lawsuit against the largest U.S. bank.

Reuters did not view the bank's disclosures to the Treasury, which are not public. A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment.

Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013, when the bank fired him. The disgraced financier had been awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges at the time of his death.

The U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two private islands, is suing JPMorgan for at least $190 million and likely much more, saying it ignored red flags that Epstein was running a sex trafficking operation because he was a lucrative client.

JPMorgan has denied knowing that Epstein was running a sex trafficking operation, and has faulted the territory for having a cozy relationship with him.

Liu mentioned the $1 billion amount, which had not been previously disclosed, in arguing that U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan should find before the case goes to trial that the bank participated in Epstein's sex trafficking.

She said no reasonable juror could find that JPMorgan was in the dark about its jet-setting client.

"JPMorgan was a full service bank for Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking," Liu said.

Felicia Ellsworth, a lawyer for JPMorgan, said it was not appropriate for the judge to determine the question of the bank's knowledge before trial, because current and former employees have testified that they were unaware of Epstein's sex trafficking.

She said JPMorgan notified the Treasury Department at least six times about Epstein's transactions, including as early as 2002.

Ellsworth also disputed the U.S. Virgin Islands' claim that JPMorgan obstructed investigations into Epstein, saying the bank had asked federal authorities about their own probes into his conduct.

That is "the polar opposite of trying to obstruct," she said.

An Oct. 23 trial is scheduled. Rakoff said he would decide by the end of September whether to resolve major legal disputes sooner.

In June, Rakoff preliminarily approved JPMorgan's $290 million settlement with women who say Epstein abused them.

Deutsche Bank, where Epstein was a client from 2013 to 2018, had earlier reached a $75 million settlement with his accusers.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Grant McCool)
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Armed forces in the Libyan capital mobilised a massive security presence on Friday, apparently to prevent any further protests over the interim government's meeting with Israel last week.

Dozens of military vehicles, some armed with heavy weapons, lined major roads and traffic intersections while convoys belonging to powerful armed factions patrolled the city, Reuters journalists said.

The security presence came after activists called for new protests against the interim Government of National Unity (GNU) and Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah over its foreign minister meeting her Israeli counterpart.

During protests on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights, more than 16 demonstrators were detained by the security forces in Tripoli though most of them are to be released on Saturday said Omar Tarban, head of the Beltrees activist group.

The arrests, and Friday's heavy security presence, underscore the increasingly precarious position of the GNU amid a concerted push by Libyan factions to replace it with a new administration.

In a noticeable shift last week, the United Nations envoy said a unified government was a prerequisite for elections in Libya, moving from its previous stance that a national vote should go ahead without changing the administration.

Libya has had little peace or stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and it split in 2014 between warring factions that had rival governments and legislative bodies.

Major warfare paused in 2020 but a political process to unify Libya and hold elections has stalled, with the eastern-based parliament and other parts of the political system rejecting the GNU's legitimacy.

Powerful armed factions in Tripoli have continued to back Dbeibah and they stopped a rival government appointed by the parliament from taking office in the capital during a day of fighting last year.

However, clashes last month between those same factions in Tripoli that are aligned with Dbeibah underscored the risk of further warfare without a stable political settlement.

Anger against Dbeibah and the GNU flared late on Sunday when Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said he had met Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush in Rome and they had discussed future cooperation.

Libya does not recognise Israel and it backs the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

After protests in several cities and expressions of outrage from across Libya's political spectrum Dbeibah dismissed Mangoush. The GNU Youth Minister Fathallah al-Zuni said on Thursday he had declined to take the post.

Dbeibah said in cabinet on Thursday that he rejects any normalisation with Israel and that the facts about Mangoush's meeting with Cohen would be made public and required "a harsh response", but he did not specifically deny knowledge of it.

Analysts say Dbeibah and other Libyan leaders have attempted to build ties with Israel in the hope that the United States, which sees Arab normalisation with Israel as a priority, would support them in Libya's internal political standoff.

(Reporting by Reuters Libya newsroom; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Frances Kerry)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Meta Platforms' business group is seen in Brussels, Belgium December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

(Reuters) -Meta Platforms is considering paid versions of Facebook and Instagram with no advertisements for users residing in the European Union (EU) as a response to scrutiny from regulators, the New York Times reported on Friday.

Those who pay for the subscriptions would not see ads while Meta would also continue to offer free versions of the apps with ads in the EU, the report said, citing three people with knowledge of the plans.

The report added that the possible move may help Meta combat privacy concerns and other scrutiny from the EU as it would give users an alternative to the company's ad-based services, which rely on analyzing people's data.

Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The social media behemoth has been in the crosshairs of EU antitrust regulators and lost a fight in July against a 2019 German order that barred it from collecting users' data without consent.

It is unclear how much the paid versions of the app would cost, the NYT report said.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Maju Samuel)
FILE PHOTO: Polands Deputy Prime Minister and ruling party Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc) leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski speaks during a press conference a week before the National Army Day Parade, at Wesola military base in Warsaw, Poland, August

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party will not take part in election debates organised by private broadcaster TVN 24, it said on Friday, accusing the Warner Bros-owned station of bias in favour of the opposition.

The refusal comes as Donald Tusk, the leader of the largest opposition party Civic Platform (PO), has called on PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski to face him in person ahead of the closely contested Oct. 15 parliamentary election.

"This station has shown that it actively takes sides in the political debate in Poland, de facto campaigning for politicians connected with Donald Tusk," PiS said in a statement posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

TVN 24, Poland's biggest private news channel, said in a post on X that PiS was showing a "disregard for voters" by refusing to participate.

"The arguments used are an attempt to limit the independence and freedom of the media, and to avoid answering journalists' substantive questions," it said.

Media freedom is a closely watched issue in Poland with observers saying parties compete on an uneven playing field and accusing PiS of having used its eight years in power to turn public broadcasters into a party mouthpiece.

Poland scores second to last among its European Union peers, just before Hungary, on a press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

PiS says it is foreign-owned outlets such as TVN 24, not public media, that distort debate in Poland and act against the country's interests.

In 2021, the party angered the United States with a bill, eventually vetoed by President Andrzej Duda, that would have tightened rules around foreign ownership of media. Critics said the law was designed to allow the party to take control over TVN, an accusation PiS denied.

Kaczynski, who launched PiS in 2001 with his twin brother Lech, and Tusk, a former European Council president, last met in a public debate in 2007. Many political observers have said that meeting was a turning point that cost PiS government in that year's election.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Marek Strzelecki; Editing by Conor Humphries)
Cranes are seen at Pyeongtaek port in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, July 9, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

By Jihoon Lee

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's exports fell at a less steeper pace in August than in the previous month and market expectations, raising some hopes that the key trade engine of the economy is starting to turn a corner though doubts remain over weak demand in China.

Overseas sales from Asia's fourth-largest economy fell 8.4% year-on-year to $51.87 billion in August, trade data showed on Friday, after a 16.4% drop in July - the worst in six months.

The August figure was better than the median forecast for an 11.6% decline in a Reuters survey of economists, beating all but one of 22 estimates.

The decline in China-bound exports softened to 20% from 25% the previous month, while shipments to the United States rose 2% after four months of decline. Those to the European Union also swung back to positive with a 3% rise.

Exports of semiconductors fell 21%, milder than the 34% fall of the previous month, and petrochemical products lost 12%. However, automobiles rose 29% and ships jumped 35%.

"The data suggests that exports have already hit the bottom in July," said Stephen Lee, chief economist at Meritz Securities.

"Poor external conditions are improving little by little, but there still is uncertainty over the Chinese economy, with a possibility of real estate troubles dragging down domestic demand."

It was the 11th consecutive month South Korea's exports fell on an annual basis, the longest period since January 2020. The government expects exports to swing to growth from October.

"Despite the seasonal factor of summer vacations, the trade balance remained in surplus on robust exports of major products, such as automobiles and machineries, and an improvement in semiconductor exports," Trade Minister Lee Chang-yang said.

Imports fell 22.8% to $51 billion, after a 25.4% drop the month before. Economists had expected a 23.2% decline.

As a result, South Korea posted a trade surplus of $0.87 billion in August - after a surplus of $1.65 billion in July and $1.15 billion in June - in contrast to most economists' predictions for a deficit.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Shri Navaratnam)
FILE PHOTO: A man looks at a Polestar Precept car at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, or Auto China show, in Beijing, China September 26, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

By Marie Mannes

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish electric vehicle (EV) maker Polestar's operating loss narrowed in the second quarter as the auto industry slowly recovers from pandemic-related supply chain bottlenecks.

The cash-strapped carmaker, founded by China's Geely and Volvo Cars, on Thursday posted an operating loss of $274.4 million, down from $627.3 million a year ago, while revenue rose to $685.2 million from $589.1 million.

Polestar said it delivered 15,765 vehicles during the quarter, and reiterated its forecast to deliver between 60,000 and 70,000 cars in 2023 and achieve a gross margin of 4%.

The company had cut the delivery target from 80,000 in May.

Delayed production starts, job cuts and mounting competition from new Chinese rivals have meant a tough year for the company.

It has also faced increased competition from more established EV makers. While some have cut prices to boost demand from consumers grappling with higher living costs, Polestar has maintained its premium pricing.

Although the firm has inched closer to profitability, Polestar, like its rivals, continues to struggle with previously high raw material prices that - due to a lag - put pressure on the second quarter margin, despite prices on materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel falling.

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath told Reuters he expected lower raw material prices to have a positive impact on the second half of 2023, supporting the company's 4% gross margin forecast.

The company posted a net loss per share of $0.14 in the quarter, compared with $0.12 a year ago.

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter were $1.06 billion, compared with $884.3 million in the preceding three-month period.

Its U.S.-listed shares were down about 12% at $3.41.

(Reporting by Marie Mannes in Stockholm and Arsheeya Bajwa in Bangalore; Editing by Alexander Smith and Mark Potter)
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., June 13, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer on Friday said House Republicans would be to blame if lawmakers are unable to reach a deal to keep the government funded past Sept. 30, triggering the fourth partial shutdown of federal agencies in a decade.

KEY QUOTE

"We cannot afford the brinkmanship or hostage-taking we saw from House Republicans earlier this year when they pushed our country to the brink of default to appease the most extreme members of their party," Schumer said in an open letter to colleagues on Friday.

"When the Senate returns next week, our focus will be on funding the government and preventing House Republican extremists from forcing a government shutdown."

THE TAKE

The Senate returns to Washington on Tuesday with the House of Representatives coming a week later, leaving lawmakers little time to agree on a deal to keep the federal government funded past the months' end. Republicans say sharp cuts in spending are needed to stem the nation's growing $31.4 trillion national debt.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives, bending to the will of a small group of hardline conservatives, is pushing to cut discretionary spending to a fiscal 2022 level of $1.47 trillion, $120 billion less than top House Republican Kevin McCarthy and Democratic President Joe Biden agreed to earlier this year.

CONTEXT

* The White House on Thursday urged Congress to hammer out a short-term funding measure called a "continuing resolution" to avoid a shutdown starting Oct. 1.

* There is disagreement within the House Republican caucus about the depth of the proposed cuts, with one moderate Republican likening them to a "root canal."

* Goldman Sachs analysts said earlier this month that they view a shutdown as "more likely than not."

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)
FILE PHOTO: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for former President Donald Trump during challenges to the 2020 election results, exits U.S. District Court after attending a hearing in a defamation suit related to the 2020 U.S. president

(Reuters) - Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, has waived a formal arraignment and pleaded not guilty in the Georgia election subversion case, according to a court filing on Friday.

Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor and New York City mayor, was charged last month along with former U.S. President Trump and 17 co-defendants with trying to overturn Trump's 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.

Giuliani is accused of making false statements about election fraud to officials in several states in a failed bid to convince them to approve an alternative slate of electors in the formal congressional certification of the election results to keep Trump in power.

Giuliani and other Trump allies are also accused of making false statements to Georgia lawmakers about the election.

Trump waived a formal arraignment and pleaded not guilty on Thursday. The latest charges mark Trump's fourth indictment since launching his reelection campaign for president.

In a separate case, a U.S. judge in Washington ruled on Wednesday that Giuliani is liable for defaming two Georgia election workers who were the target of vote-rigging conspiracy accusations following the 2020 presidential election. Giuliani will now face a civil trial in federal court in Washington to determine how much he will have to pay.

(Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
Los Angeles County firefighter holds back the flames to save homes Saturday morning from the Bobcat Fire in Juniper Hills, California, U.S., September 19, 2020. REUTERS/Gene Blevins

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) -The U.S. government on Friday sued Southern California Edison, accusing the Edison International unit of negligence that caused the 2020 Bobcat Fire, which burned close to 180 square miles (466 sq km) in one of the largest wildfires ever in Los Angeles County.

In a complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, the government said the fire began on Sept. 6, 2020 when a poorly maintained tree contacted power lines, igniting vegetation on a branch that then fell to the ground, spreading the fire.

SCE and Utility Tree Service, a contractor also named as a defendant, knew for "months" before the fire that the tree posed a danger but did nothing to address it, the complaint said.

The government is seeking to recoup more than $121 million, representing property and natural resources damages and costs to fight the fire, and double or triple damages for harm to timber, trees and underwood.

SCE said it would be inappropriate to discuss the case outside of court. "Our thoughts remain with the people who were affected by the Bobcat Fire, who lost homes and vehicles and were evacuated," spokesman Reggie Kumar said.

Utility Tree Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Located in and around the San Gabriel Mountains and the Angeles National Forest, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Los Angeles, the Bobcat Fire and was among the larger fires in California's record-setting 2020 wildfire season.

It burned more than 114,577 acres (46,368 hectares), destroying 171 structures and 178 vehicles and before being contained after about 2-1/2 months.

The government said many campgrounds and more than 100 miles of trails remain closed to the public.

It is common for utilities to be sued over wildfire damage, though many lawsuits are filed privately.

Pacific Gas & Electric filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 after being blamed for a series of northern California wildfires in 2017 and 2018.

Hawaiian Electric, meanwhile, now faces multiple lawsuits over last month's Maui wildfires.

The case is U.S. v Southern California Edison Co et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 23-07254.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)
Dominic Pezzola, also known as "Spaz," who was indicted after prosecutors said they have evidence to suggest that he and another alleged Proud Boy, William Pepe, conspired to impede police from defending the U.S. Capitol, poses for an undated New York Sta
By Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta

HAVANA (Reuters) - Representatives of 14 western creditor nations, grouped in the Paris Club, were in Cuba this week to salvage a debt agreement with the import dependent country which is expected to default on payments for a fourth consecutive year.

The discussions enabled us to come closer to finding a solution to delays in meeting (Cubas) obligations ... negotiations will continue to establish a new payment plan agreeable to both sides, a brief statement released on Thursday evening said.

William Roos, co-chairman of the Paris Club, had said on Wednesday that he proposed a plan which apparently was rejected.

Thursdays statement said Foreign Investment and Cooperation Minister Ricardo Cabrisas had expressed the Communist-run governments determination to meet its obligations as soon as conditions permitted.

Cabrisas was seen on state television during the talks blaming tough new U.S. sanctions on top of the decades old trade embargo and the pandemic for the payment delays.

The 2015 Paris Club agreement forgave $8.5 billion of the $11.1 billion in sovereign debt Cuba defaulted on in 1986. Cuba agreed to repay the remainder in annual installments through 2033.

The countrys foreign exchange earnings used to import goods and pay debt have fallen by more than 50% since the deal was signed, according to official statistics.

Gross domestic product is eight points short of its 2019 pre-pandemic level, the government reported.

Reuters, which has seen the agreement, estimates Cuba has failed to pay the creditors more than $500 million as it struggles with shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and other basic goods amid rising social tensions. The estimate includes money due by November.

Cuba, which last reported foreign debt of $19.7 billion for 2020, has restructured debt with Russia, China and some other creditors since then. The Caribbean island nation is not a member of the International Monetary Fund nor the World Bank.

The Cuba group of the 22-member Paris Club, which manages old sovereign debt, comprises Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
LUSAKA (Reuters) - A Zambian court freed five Egyptians and one Zambian on Friday, after prosecutors dropped espionage charges against them three weeks after they arrived on a private plane with guns, bullets, cash and fake gold.

Two of the Egyptians would be rearrested on unspecified lesser charges and freed on bond, Zambia's Drug Enforcement Commission said. Five other Zambian nationals were not freed and will still face trial at the high court on charges of entering a forbidden part of the airport, a magistrate said.

The 11 men were charged on Monday by a magistrates court in the capital Lusaka in a case that has captured public attention in both Egypt and Zambia.

Zambia's Drug Enforcement Agency had found about $5.7 million in cash, five pistols, 126 rounds of ammunition and 602 suspected gold bars weighing around 127 kilograms on a plane during a search on Aug. 13.

Zambia subsequently said laboratory analysis showed the metal bars contained no gold and were mainly copper and zinc, fuelling media speculation that some of the suspects might have sought to swindle gold buyers in a fake bullion scam.

"The DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) has entered a nolle prosequi with respect to the... individuals," state prosecutor Gracilia Mulenga told the court, referring to a legal term in which a prosecutor declines to pursue charges.

The prosecutor did not provide reasons for dropping the charges.

"This is not the time to mention anything. We knew from day one that we were clean," one of the freed Egyptians told journalists outside the court.

While the initial charge sheet did not mention the aircraft or seized goods, lawyers for the defendants had said earlier that those arrested were on the plane.

Two Egyptian security sources had said the plane seized in Zambia had been inspected by authorities before leaving Cairo, but that one of the arrested Egyptians was able to board with bags that were not searched, which is now under investigation.

(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Peter Graff)
Item 8.01 Other Events.

Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (the Company) issued an update on its litigation proceedings against Shoreline Biosciences, Inc. and certain of its founders and officers (Shoreline). On May 13, 2022, the Company initiated litigation against Shoreline in San Diego Superior Court for breach of contract, fraud and deceit, and tortious interference (the State Case) and in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California for patent infringement (the Federal Case).

State Case Update

Litigation in the State Case is pending, and fact and expert discovery is ongoing. A trial in San Diego Superior Court has been scheduled for January 2024.

Federal Case Update

The Federal Case alleged infringement of certain U.S. patents expiring in November 2024, which are exclusively licensed to the Company by Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (the Whitehead Patents). The Whitehead Patents include certain composition of matter patents, including U.S. Patent No. 8,071,369 issued on December 6, 2011, as well as certain method of use patents relating to methods of making a somatic cell more susceptible to reprogramming to a pluripotent state by introducing at least one exogenous nucleic acid encoding Oct4.

During the Courts construction of the claims, the composition claims were construed to embody a somatic cell that comprises an exogenously introduced nucleic acid encoding an Oct4 protein, which the Company believes is a foundational composition for the practice of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology. With respect to the claim construction of the method patents, the Company strongly disagrees with the Courts claim construction that the method claims do not cover the direct reprogramming of somatic cells to iPSCs.

On August 28, 2023, the Court conducted a hearing to consider the parties cross-motions for summary judgment. Shoreline represented throughout the case that it does not itself reprogram somatic cells or manufacture iPSCs, and that its therapeutic business is founded on the purchase and use of iPSC lines from third parties, including primarily an iPSC line that Shoreline claims was originally manufactured by Lonza almost 10 years ago for the National Institute of Health (NIH) and made generally available to the research community. On August 30, 2023, the Court granted Shorelines motion for summary judgment of non-infringement and denied the Companys, ruling that Shoreline did not infringe the Whitehead Patents through its purchase and use of the third-party iPSC lines. The Company strongly disagrees with the Courts ruling.

The Courts ruling does not bear on either the validity or the enforceability of the Whitehead Patents. The Company intends to consider all options at its disposal with respect to Shoreline, including an appeal of the Courts decision and continued enforcement of the Whitehead Patents and other intellectual property owned or controlled by Fate.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth is pictured at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, in January 2023. Wormuth issued orders Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, adopting a new policy in the 2021 Brandon Act, which sought to allow service members to confidentially and quickly request a mental health evaluation to stem military suicides. (U.S. Army)

The Army this week implemented new Congress-mandated mental health rules that allow soldiers to request access to care for any reason, the service announced Friday.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth issued orders Tuesday adopting the new policy Congress mandated in the 2021 Brandon Act, which sought to allow service members to confidentially and quickly request a mental health evaluation to stem military suicides. The Armys announcement comes more than a month after the Pentagons other military departments adopted the Brandon Act and amid pressure from the parents of the laws namesake, Brandon Caserta, who accused the service of slow walking the policy and railroading their requests for information on suicides.

The Pentagon in May announced it had adopted the Brandon Act policies, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021, and it gave the military departments 45 days to adopt them for active-duty troops. The Department of the Navy, which oversees the Navy and Marine Corps, adopted Brandon Act polices on July 11, and the Air Force Department, which oversees the Air Force and Space Force, adopted the new polices on July 28.

I call on leaders to continue making it clear that taking care of your mental health and your family is encouraged, Wormuth said in a statement issued Friday on the policys adoption. We must constantly look for additional ways to connect our soldiers with the necessary resources for their well-being, and the Armys new policy to implement the Brandon Act gives soldiers another tool to seek help while honoring the legacy of Petty Officer Caserta.

Caserta was a 21-year-old naval squadron flight electrician who died by suicide at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., in 2018 after years of alleged bullying. His parents, Teri and Patrick Caserta, founded the Brandon Caserta Foundation after his death and have spent years lobbying for improve mental health care in the military, including co-authoring the Brandon Act.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Caserta, 21, died by suicide June 25, 2018, at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. (Defense Department)

The couple in recent weeks accused the Army of failing its soldiers amid a recent spike in suicides at Fort Cavazos, the former Fort Hood, in Texas.

The Army public relations always says, One suicide is too many. There were three in two weeks, and you are silent, Teri Caserta, president of the foundation, said in a statement this week addressing Wormuth and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after reports emerged of three recent suicides at the large Army post. Not having the Brandon Act implemented is completely irresponsible. These deaths are on you both.

Army officials earlier this week said the service had been working diligently to implement the new policies. The Casertas on Friday thanked the Army for adopting the Brandon Act policies.

We did not want our son to die in vain, Patrick Caserta, a retired Navy senior chief and a combat veteran, said in the statement issued by the Army. We are in the lifesaving business, and we will remain in this business the rest of our lives. We thank the secretary of the Army and her staff for implementing this policy.

The military has grappled with service member suicides for years. The number of suicides among active-duty troops rose from 75 in the first quarter of 2022 to 94 in the first quarter of 2023, according to the most recent data from the Defense Departments Suicide Prevention Office.

The Army, the largest military service, is most affected. Almost 50 service members died by suicide in the first three months of 2023 compared to 37 service members in the first three months of 2022, according to the office.

Army officials said Friday that they hoped the new policies would help cut suicides among its soldiers.

The new policies allow any active-duty soldier or member of the Army Reserve or National Guard on active-duty for more than 30 days to request a mental health evaluation through their commanders or supervisors in the rank of staff sergeant and above for any reason, according to the service. It mandates those commanders or supervisors to quickly and confidentially connect soldiers with resources.

Soldiers will not be required to provide a reason or basis to request and receive a referral, according to the Army. Mental health providers will conduct the mental health evaluations as soon as possible and will provide necessary clinical care.

Service members, veterans and family members who need help can call the Military Crisis Line/Veterans Crisis Line at 988, chat at veteranscrisisline.net or text to 838255.

dickstein.corey@stripes.com

Twitter: @CDicksteinDC
(Joe Kalamick/Stars and Stripes)

Black Virgin Mountain, South Vietnam, Oct. 14, 1969: A patrol is about to depart on a mission outside the mountain tops perimeter wire in search of enemy activity. Multi-service forces had been holding the top of the mountain ever since Special Forces assaulted the mountain in May 1964, pushing the Viet Cong off of its peak and establishing a camp at 3,200 feet. The camp commander estimated in October 1969 that there were some 1,500 Viet Cong underneath the craggy hill in caves that open in crags and crevices in the brush and black granite on the mountains side.

Read the article on the high elevated outpost and see another photo here.

Looking for Stars and Stripes coverage of the Vietnam War? Subscribe to Stars and Stripes historic newspaper archive! We have digitized our 1948-1999 European and Pacific editions, as well as several of our WWII editions and made them available online through https://starsandstripes.newspaperarchive.com/
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In West Africa, the dominoes keep falling.

Barely more than a month has passed since the presidential guard in Niger toppled the country's democratically elected government, triggering a tense standoff between a usurping junta and the international community.

Then, this week, the top brass in Gabon unseated the country's long-ruling President Ali Bongo in the wake of a controversial election. The ouster of the Gabonese president, who is currently believed to be under house arrest, marked the seventh coup in the region in the space of three years - including putsches in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.

The wave of military coups has led to widespread hand-wringing that a form of political "contagion" risks destabilizing a whole swath of the African continent.

"My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copycats will start doing the same thing until it is stopped," Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who chairs ECOWAS, West Africa's main regional body, said Thursday.

There are many contextual differences between the various putsches, but they share an apparent and inescapable common denominator: the prevalence of anti-French sentiment driving a rejection of the political status quo. In much of West Africa - and in all the countries in the region that experienced these recent anti-democratic takeovers - France is the old colonial power. The juntas that have swept aside the previous regimes have weaponized resentment of Paris's deep and complicated imperial legacy, much to the opportunistic glee of Russia, which has offered both rhetorical and, in some instances, substantive support to the coup-plotting regimes.

That was the case in Burkina Faso and Mali, where French peacekeepers were compelled to withdraw after the juntas made it clear their presence was unwanted. And in Niger, long the centerpiece of France's counterterrorism efforts in the restive Sahel, anti-French rhetoric abounds. On Thursday, the country's junta ordered police to expel the French ambassador - a move officials in Paris, which only recognizes the authority of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, said they did not consider legitimate.

For French President Emmanuel Macron, the situation must be particularly vexing. Over multiple visits to Africa during his time in office, he has delivered speech after speech hailing the advent of a new relationship with the continent, one that would dispel the weighty baggage of the past. In 2017, in the capital of Burkina Faso, Macron called on a renewal of "partnerships" with the region, expressing hopes to invest in the education and aspirations of the continent's youths. Half a year ago, during a trip that included a stop in Gabon, Macron declared that "the days of la Francafrique are well and truly over" - an implicit reference to a long history of France prioritizing its commercial interests and backing unsavory regimes in its former colonies.

Macron also pointed to a concrete shift in security strategy, laying out how French forces deployed in the region would now exclusively operate alongside local forces. "We have reached the end of a cycle of French history in which military questions held preeminence in Africa," he said in the Gabonese capital, Libreville, another expression of his desire to change the atmosphere in relations with the African states.

On Monday, as tensions continued to mount over what to do about the Nigerien junta, Macron spoke to a gathering of French diplomats and lamented the "epidemic" of coups roiling the region. For that reason, he argued, his government had to defend Niger's fledgling democracy. Less than 48 hours later, the coup in Gabon took place. The putschists justified their move as a response to a disputed election this past weekend that saw Bongo, whose family has been in power for more than half a century, claim a new mandate.

A British pollster working in Gabon told reporters that Bongo was on path to a clear, if modest, victory. But the firm also noted the prevalence of a strikingly anti-French attitude in Gabon across all age groups, with the exception of the country's pro-Paris upper class.

Gabon, in theory, has little in common with Niger. The latter is one of the poorest nations in the world; the former, buoyed by oil wealth, is among the richest per capita countries in Africa, though much of those riches are concentrated among a coterie of political and economic elites.

"The putsch in Gabon has further weakened France's position in its old African stomping grounds, even if the situation is different in this Central African country, ruled for over five decades by the Bongo family," reported Le Monde, a leading French daily. "Paris wants to believe that the soldiers behind the coup do not share the anti-French rhetoric of their Nigerien counterparts."

But France is deeply associated with the entrenched status quo of the Bongo dynasty and the alleged corruption that underpinned its rule. This legacy of accommodation throughout West Africa, including support to earlier coup-plotters and juntas, undercuts Macron's political convictions and advocacy of democratic order.

"France's tight post-independence links to local elites, and its past willingness to act as a regional gendarme to prop up leaders, bound up its fortunes in theirs," noted the Economist. For that reason, it added, "the failures of unpopular rulers today, to reduce poverty or curb violence, are readily blamed on their proximity to France."

In some ways, France is an easy scapegoat for cynical army men. But, argued Michael Shurkin of the Atlantic Council, "whether this anti-French sentiment is fair or not is entirely beside the point. Ties with France have now become a kiss of death for African governments."

Decades of Western-led development projects have also proved largely ineffectual. "The problem for France and its Western allies, including the US, is that their enormous aid programmes - some $2 billion a year in development assistance to Niger alone - have not made them any more popular," the French Algerian journalist Nabila Ramdani wrote in an op-ed. "Massive youth unemployment and an illiteracy rate of 60 per cent are just some of the endemic problems that are blamed on former colonial masters and their associates."

For some onlookers, the events of recent weeks offer a rude awakening. A clutch of center-right lawmakers in the French Parliament wrote a letter to Macron in August, urging him to reconsider France's role in Africa as its clout wanes. "Today, the Francafrique of yesterday is replaced by military Russafrique, by economic Chinafrique or diplomatic Americafrique," they said, lamenting how "Africa, a friendly continent, no longer seems to understand France, and is increasingly contesting its role and its presence."

Some analysts wonder whether its worth it for France to maintain its footprint at all. It's no longer the dominant economic player in the region - in Gabon, for example, China has supplanted it as the biggest trading partner - and is operating in a crowded geopolitical field that includes world powers such as the United States, Russia, China, Turkey and others. "Pulling out of Africa would, to some degree, diminish France's global stature, but the reality is that France - much like Britain - has plenty of strengths and, frankly, other priorities that better reflect its interests," Shurkin wrote.
NEW DELHI  India has responded angrily to a new map published by the Chinese government showing Beijing's claims to contested territory, as the dispute threatens another flare-up in relations between the two Asian giants at a key diplomatic juncture.

While the map did not illustrate any new Chinese territorial claims, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said Tuesday that India has lodged an official diplomatic protest. China's so-called "standard map" is released annually by the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources and usually shows Arunachal Pradesh, a state in India's far northeast, as part of China. Arunachal, governed by India but long claimed by China as "southern Tibet," was the site of fighting during a 1962 war between the two nations.

Two other Asian governments, Malaysia and Taiwan, joined in Wednesday to criticize China's claims over nearly the entire South China Sea and over self-ruled Taiwan. The Philippines said Thursday it also "rejected" the map's depiction of Chinese maritime claims.

Speculation has mounted in recent weeks that Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may seek a settlement of a border dispute that has persisted since 2020 and led to military clashes and a costly buildup by both sides. The two leaders met last week in South Africa at a summit of the BRICS bloc of major emerging economies  including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa  and pledged to intensify efforts to settle the dispute, which is being negotiated by high-ranking officers from the Indian and Chinese armies.

But the new edition of China's map, which had "no basis," would complicate those negotiations, Bagchi warned. At a Wednesday briefing with reporters, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded by saying the maps were released on a "routine" basis and asked India to "stay objective and calm."

Happymon Jacob, a professor at the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the map's claims were not surprising.

But "the timing, immediately after the BRICS summit and shortly before the [Group of 20] summit, is surprising though," he added. "Both the act and the timing underline the harsh reality that China is inflexible about its revisionist claims and that it is unlikely to stop."

In what could be another blow to bilateral relations, Xi is expected to skip the G-20 summit to be held next week in New Delhi, Reuters reported Thursday, citing unnamed officials from India and other countries.

The Chinese Communist Party leader has never missed a G-20 summit since he became president in 2013, and his absence will be seen as a snub to India, which has invested heavily in promoting the event to showcase its rising clout and frame Modi as an influential international broker who can straddle both the U.S.-led Western alliance and other blocs.

The Modi government's diplomatic push has fallen short this year, however, with officials from G-20 countries failing to reach consensus on issues ranging from the Ukraine war to fossil fuels during a series of meetings hosted by India. This month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin would also skip traveling to New Delhi due to his "busy schedule."

Top leaders including President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have confirmed their attendance at the two-day summit, which will take place Sept. 9-10.
Navy veteran Kenny Jary, 81, looks at Kennys Bright Red Scooter for the first time in this screenshot from his TikTok account, @PatrioticKenny (Amanda Kline)

A Navy veteran whose TikTok videos reached millions of followers will be featured in a childrens book scheduled for release on Nov. 11, Veterans Day.

Kenny Jary, 81  known as Patriotic Kenny on TikTok  had his first look at Kennys Bright Red Scooter on Aug. 16 at his home near St. Paul, Minn. The book is authored by Jarys friend and neighbor Amanda Kline.

The book has two messages that go throughout the whole story, Kline told Stars and Stripes by phone Aug. 27. One is showing kindness to people you would never know, she said. The second is showing honor to our veterans, people who have served and people who are currently serving.

The book follows the true story of Jary finding out that his American flag-adorned mobility scooter was beyond repair, which took away his ability to travel.

He often wears a hat bearing the logo of the USS Okinawa, the amphibious assault ship he served aboard as a helicopter refueler in the early 1960s.

The book is outstanding, and I love it, Jary told Stars and Stripes by phone Aug. 27. It's easy to read, and it gets right to the point.

Kline, who makes educational videos for deaf children, had begun posting videos of Jary on TikTok a few months before his scooter broke down in September 2021. Those early videos show Jary learning American Sign Language to better communicate with a deaf buddy.

Navy veteran Kenny Jary, 81, looks at Kennys Bright Red Scooter for the first time in this screenshot from his TikTok account, @PatrioticKenny (Amanda Kline)

After Kline posted a video of Jary talking about the demise of his beloved scooter, he was flooded with support and donations. Not only did Jary obtain a new scooter, but the leftover donations bought mobility scooters for other veterans in need.

Its really crazy how life changing a mobility scooter can be, Kline said. It's not just the veteran, it's the spouse, it's their kids, it's everybody who's been caretaking for them, who also is so emotional and so thankful.

Afterward, Jary and Kline established the nonprofit Patriotic Kenny Foundation.

So far, we've given away 66 scooters, Kline said. And we're giving away one more in two weeks.

Kline said the foundation receives about 50 nominations for scooters each day. We can't keep up with all that, she said. So, it's a big need out there.

Kline said a portion of the book sales will go directly to the Patriotic Kenny Foundation to help buy more scooters for veterans.

The hardest part was making the story of the last year and a half into 32 pages of a children's book, she said. Kenny is so vibrant and such a big personality. And the illustrator really did amazing.

Kennys Bright Red Scooter, published by Morgan James Kids, will be available for $9.95 from most major booksellers.
People gather at the Officers' Club for a town hall meeting on the Military Health System Genesis recordkeeping system at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan  The new electronic system for health care records coming to Indo-Pacific bases has its shortcomings but is otherwise an improvement over its predecessor, Air Force doctors said at a town hall Thursday.

Military Health System Genesis will allow patients to access their health records, provide more efficient management of complex health conditions and allow patients to communicate directly with providers, according to information from Yokotas 374th Medical Group.

However, medicals for children ages 13-17 will not be available online, Dr. Matthew Bezzant, an Air Force major and chief medical information officers for the medical group, told about 50 people gathered at the Officers Club.

So, there's this weird dead zone as of right now with the portal, with children 13 to 17 you can't see their medical information and your kid cannot create a login because they're not 18 yet, he said.

Yokota, the headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo, recently warned its community to expect longer-than-normal wait times for medical care, including prescription refills, when MHS Genesis comes online. The system is scheduled to be running Oct. 28.

Bezzant said privacy laws prevent even parents from seeing health care records of children between 13 and 17, who coincidentally cannot create their own Genesis accounts.

Its poor programming and a combination of issues, but they are trying to fix it, he told the gathering.

Dr. Gregory Richert, an Air Force colonel who serves as commander of the 374th Medical Group and command surgeon for 5th Air Force and U.S. Forces Japan, explains the Military Health System Genesis system during a town hall meeting at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)

In the meantime, parents will have to make office appointments for their children, Bezzant said.

Making an appointment for his 13-year-old daughter is already a slow process, said Lester Farley, a Defense Department civilian employee and Air Force retiree at Yokota.

I have to call now, he said after the town hall. And I believe there's already a shortage of pediatrics, so it's already a slow process to get her an appointment.

Military bases in the Indo-Pacific are the last wave of the MHS Genesis changeover, said Dr. Gregory Richert, an Air Force colonel, commander of the 374th Medical Group and the command surgeon for 5th Air Force and USFJ.

MHS Genesis issues processing prescription refills results in longer wait times at the pharmacy, Richert told the 45-minute town hall. This is his first experience with the new electronic recordkeeping system, he said.

My recommendations are, as you have long-term chronic medications, to try to fill that before mid-October so that you don't run out early November, Richert told the audience.

The Defense Health Agency is sending a team of medical professionals to train medical staff on the system, Richert told Stars and Stripes after the town hall. Theyve been using MHS Genesis at their commands for about a year, he said.

DHA installed MHS Genesis at military bases in the Pacific Northwest in 2017, followed by 25 military hospitals and clinics in other parts of the United States, according to Health.mil.

Despite its problems, MHS Genesis has positive aspects, Richert told the town hall. It is a standard program for all military facilities, so a service member arriving at an Air Force base from a Navy base, for example, will have their records available quickly.

Genesis keeps it simple so that we keep people standardized, he said.
U.S. soldiers from the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division conduct medical evacuation training during the Super Garuda Shield exercise in Puslatpur, Indonesia, Aug. 30, 2023. (Wyatt Moore/U.S. Army)

The United States and Indonesia are conducting more complicated drills as part of an expanded version of an annual exercise that this year includes forces from Australia, Japan, Singapore, France and the United Kingdom.

Super Garuda Shield, which runs in East Java until Sept. 13, involves 5,000 troops from the seven nations and observers from a dozen other countries, according to New Zealand army Col. Paul Hayward, a deputy commander with the U.S. 25th Infantry Division, which has provided most of the American soldiers for the exercise.

This year we are seeing really significant expansion, not only across participating nations  but, in the breadth and complexity of the training we are conducting across Indonesia, Hayward said by phone Thursday from Puslatpur Marine Base, East Java.

U.S. soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division and Australian troops conducted medical evacuation training during the Super Garuda Shield exercise in Puslatpur, Indonesia, Aug. 30, 2023. (Wyatt Moore/U.S. Army)

Last years Super Garuda Shield involved 4,000 U.S. and Indonesian troops training mostly on Sumatra. Its organizers called it the largest ever in the exercises 16-year history.

It included an amphibious operation near a key gateway to the South China Sea, where China has territorial claims that Indonesia does not recognize. The two nations have clashed over fishing rights in recent years.

Indonesias Natuna Islands, northeast of Singapore, are close to a part of the South China Sea claimed by China. However, Hayward said none of this months Super Garuda Shield training will take place near that area.

U.S. forces involved in the drills include the amphibious transport dock USS Green Bay from Sasebo Naval Base, Japan; aircraft from Pacific Air Forces; National Guard troops from Oklahoma, California and Florida; and members of the U.S. Marine Rotational Force - Darwin deployed to Australias Northern Territory, Hayward said.

Super Garuda Shield 2023 builds on last years tremendous success, Gen. Charles Flynn, U.S. Army Pacifics commander, said in a statement posted Tuesday by the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. This joint, multinational training exercise displays our collective commitment and like-minded unity, allowing for a stable, secure, and more peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific.

Australia has deployed M1 Abrams tanks to Indonesia to join the drills for the first time, Hayward said.

The training will include rapid insertion of a U.S. Army High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, onto an airfield, an amphibious landing involving U.S. Marines, and an airborne operation involving paratroopers from the U.S. Armys 11th Airborne Division.

There will be a multinational live-fire event at Puslatpur on Sept. 11, Hayward said.

Nations observing the exercises include Brunei, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Korea and Timor Leste, according to the embassy statement.

The expanded exercise in Indonesia mirrors whats happening across the Western Pacific, according to Paul Buchanan, an American security expert based in New Zealand.

It is clear that there has been an increase in both the number of exercises as well as the number of participants in them, including some who have not participated in such exercises before, he said by email Friday. The size and tempo of the exercises has increased, as has the complexity of the operations conducted within them.

The training sends a clear message to hostile actors in the region that there is common resolve, improved professionalism, and increased coordination between regional security partners, Buchanan said.

That should give would-be adversaries pause when contemplating the use of force in the region, if not deter them from behaving aggressively in specific instances, he said.
A Romanian F-16 Fighting Falcon lands at Borcea Air Base, Romania, in October 2021, during operation Castle Forge. An F-16 training center will be set up at Borcea, a joint effort between Lockheed Martin and the governments of Romania and Poland. It could eventually host Ukrainian trainees. (Andrew Layton/U.S. Air Force)

STUTTGART, Germany  A new training center for F-16 pilots will be launched in Romania, which could eventually host Ukrainian aviators learning to fly the American warplane, officials said this week.

The initiative, which has been in the works for several months, is a joint effort between Lockheed Martin and the governments of Romania and the Netherlands. An opening date hasnt been announced.

The center will be located at a Romanian base in Borcea, about 50 miles west of the Black Sea air base at Mihail Kogalniceanu that serves as a hub for U.S. forces in Romania.

We will train pilots from Ukraine, provided they express their wish, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said Friday.

U.S. F-15E Strike Eagles from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina taxi alongside Romanian F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft during training at Borcea Air Base, Romania, in October 2021. An F-16 training center will be set up at the air base and could eventually host Ukrainian trainees. ( Andrew Layton/U.S. Air Force)

Still, any training of Ukrainian troops on the base will take time, Tilvar told the Defense Romania news outlet. In the meantime, the training of Romanian pilots will be the top priority, he said.

OJ Sanchez, a Lockheed vice president, said the center will initially focus on ensuring the effectiveness of Romanians flying the F-16, but eventually other nations will be incorporated.

Once details are finalized, we are confident the training center will ultimately benefit Romania and other regional F-16 operators, including potentially Ukraine, Sanchez said in a statement Thursday.

The F-16 is used by numerous countries in the NATO alliance. The aircraft also has been at the top of Ukraines wish list for weaponry in its fight against Russias full-scale invasion, which began Feb. 24, 2022.

The Netherlands and Denmark have been leading NATO efforts to lay the groundwork for training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16s and delivery of the aircraft to Kyiv.

For months, the U.S. wavered on whether to back Ukraines push for the warplane. But earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. was giving the green light to allies to deliver it.

The Netherlands and Denmark have pledged around 60 F-16s to Kyiv, though the U.S. has not offered any of its own.

Still, Ukraine is not expected to receive any of the planes until next year, and pilots will need several months of training before being cleared to fly.

The Pentagon said last week that it is ready to assist efforts to prepare Ukrainian pilots, with training in the U.S. expected to begin as early as this month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy heads to a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 24, 2023. According to reports on Friday, Sept. 1, Zelenskyy claims that Ukrainian-made missiles have hit targets more than 400 miles away. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)

White House Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Friday that Ukraine has achieved "notable progress" in recent days in its counteroffensive to retake territory in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. "They have achieved some success along that second line of Russian defenses," he said at a news conference. It "is not beyond the realm of the possible that Russia will react" to Ukraine's push, he said.

Kirby declined to comment on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's claims overnight that Kyiv had used new domestically made long-range missiles to hit a target at some 435 miles distance. Zelenskyy did not offer specifics, including whether they were used in a test or against an enemy target.

Hours later, the head of Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, said that Moscow's new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, had after months of delay been put on combat alert.

Here's the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

Key developments

 Ukraine's apparent advance come after several weeks of near stalemate, which has prompted concern, including within the administration, about Ukraine's military strategy.

 Russia's Ministry of Justice branded Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov a "foreign agent" on Friday. Muratov, the editor in chief of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, has been a frequent critic of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The "foreign agent" designation imposes rules and restrictions relating to finances and public disclosures. The underlying law has been used to harass and burden human rights organizations and journalists in Russia.

 Zelenskyy said Kyiv's new long-range weapons were produced by the Ministry of Strategic Industries and, according to Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, have been under development since 2020. The Washington Post could not immediately verify the Ukrainian claims. Kirby referred all questions about Ukrainian capabilities to Kyiv and reiterated the administration's policy of not encouraging or enabling Ukrainian strikes inside Russia's borders. "We are focused on making sure Ukraine can win back its own territory," Kirby said.

 Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia's Roscosmos, announced the deployment of the Sarmat missile complex on Friday, three months after Russsian President Vladimir Putin initially said it would be ready, Russian state news agency Interfax reported. The Kremlin, which has claimed that it can breach "any missile defense" system, successfully test-launched one of the intercontinental ballistic missiles in April. At the time, Pentagon said it was not a significant threat to the United States or its allies.

 Russia said Friday that any weapons facilities in Ukraine could become a target, a day after Zelenskyy's office announced that Britain's largest defense contractor, BAE Systems, will open an office in Kyiv to streamline support for Ukrainian forces. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the development would not "fundamentally change the situation," but warned: "Any weapons production facilities, especially if these weapons are fired at us, become the object of special attention by our military forces." BAE has been providing Ukraine with weapons such as the L119 and M777 artillery systems, Zelenskyy said.

 Putin said Friday that he would meet "soon enough" with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who the Russian president called "his friend" and "a person who does a lot for the development of Russian-Chinese relations." The two leaders most recently met in March and held three days of talks in Moscow - a symbolic joint stand against the United States and its Western allies. Xi and Putin agreed to expand economic ties, which have become a lifeline for Russia under Western sanctions.

Battleground updates

 Moscow's mayor reported early Friday that drones were shot down outside the city. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, according to a Telegram post from Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Moscow's Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports were temporarily closed in what has become a nightly occurrence. Ukrainian drones targeted two other western regions of Russia: Kursk, where local officials reported one building was damaged, and Belgorod.

 A Russian missile hit a private enterprise in the central Ukrainian region of Vinnytsia overnight, according to a local official. Regional governor Serhiy Borzov wrote on Telegram that three civilians were injured and that property and private cars were damaged. Another missile was shot down, he said. Four other civilians were injured by Russian artillery that hit Seredyna-Buda, a city in Ukraine's northeast Sumy region, according to Ukraine's General Prosecutor's office, who said law enforcement also received more than 100 reports of damage to civilian properties.

 Russia has created an underwater barrier of submerged ships and floating barriers to prevent attacks on the Crimean Bridge, the British Defense Ministry said Friday. According to the ministry's daily update, Russia is also using smoke generators and air defense systems "to strengthen the survivability of water crossings and minimize damage from future attacks" in light of the strategic and symbolic importance of the bridge, which connects mainland Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula. In July, Russian and Ukrainian officials said that Kyiv's military and security services carried out a deadly attack on the bridge, which was also the site of an explosion in October.

 Early voting opened Friday in what Ukraine and its supporters say are sham elections organized by Russian-appointed officials in illegally annexed parts of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Voting for the Russian-run local councils and legislative bodies - elections that are illegal under international law - ends Sept. 8. Kyiv has called on Ukrainians to boycott and accused Russian officials of intimidating people to participate. Also on Friday, authorities in Russian-occupied Donetsk said Ukraine shelled the city's central district, injuring more than 10 people and killing a six-year-old girl.

Global impact

 Ambassadors from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to attend this year's Nobel Prize award ceremony and banquet, after the foundation behind the prize said it would invite all countries with diplomatic representation in Sweden. Both countries were uninvited from last year's ceremony in Stockholm - which awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to a trio of Kremlin critics and human rights defenders in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia - following the invasion of Ukraine. "The achievements recognised by the Nobel Prize require openness, exchange and dialogue between people and nations," the organization wrote in a statement Thursday, adding that it wished to reach out "even to those who do not share the values of the Nobel Prize."

 A Pentagon spokesman, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, urged North Korea not to negotiate with Russia or provide it with arms, describing the arms in question as "essentially artillery ammunition" in a briefing with reporters. The previous day, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russia and North Korea are "actively advancing" negotiations for weapons that would be used in the war in Ukraine.

 Putin will meet his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday. The announcement comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. are expected to meet in Moscow to discuss a proposal to send Russian grain to Turkey with the financial help of Qatar, as an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal. The grain would be processed in Turkey and exported to countries "in need," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

 Military exercises involving more than 2,500 soldiers from Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan began Friday in Belarus, and are set to last through Sept. 6. Armenia, which is part of the same military alliance of post-soviet states, declined to participate. Ukraine and Poland said they were strengthening protections at their shared borders with Belarus. Poland's internal affairs minister, Mariusz Kaminski, said that all Belarusian crossings with the European Union will be immediately closed should any provocations arise.
A member of the Florida National Guard conducts wellness checks to support the Hurricane Idalia recovery effort in Steinhatchee, Fla., on Aug. 30, 2023. (U.S. Army)

More than 5,500 National Guard troops were on duty Thursday in three states impacted by Hurricane Idalia, which struck north Florida as a Category 3 storm before dumping heavy rains and damaging wind on parts of Georgia and North and South Carolina.

The entire Florida Army and Air National Guard was deployed Thursday, with some 5,300 troops aiding in recovery efforts across that state, which took the brunt of Idalias force, said Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagons top spokesman. Nearly 100 National Guard members were on duty in South Carolina and another 128 Guard troops were operating in North Carolina on Thursday, he said.

The [Defense Department] will remain in close coordination with [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], state officials and other supporting agencies as the cleanup and recovery options continue to develop, Ryder said at the Pentagon.

Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning near rural Taylor County in Floridas Big Bend region as the most powerful storm to strike that area in more than a century. The hurricane boasted 125 mph sustained winds as it slammed into Floridas Gulf Coast, remaining a hurricane as it crossed into southeast Georgia and downgrading to a tropical storm as it continued late Wednesday into Thursday across the Carolinas, according to the National Weather Service.

The hurricane dropped heavy rains along its path resulting in a 5-foot storm surge along Floridas north coast, including Tampa, some 90 miles south of where Idalia made landfall, which saw near-record water levels, the National Weather Service said. The storm also left high water levels in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, where storm surge neared 3 feet, the service said.

Florida National Guard soldiers clear debris in Steinhatchee, Fla., on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, after Hurricane Idalia swept the state. (U.S. Army)

In its path, Idalia left a stream of flooded roads, downed trees and damaged homes and buildings. Photos shared by the Florida National Guard showed troops meeting Wednesday with residents amid tree debris and standing water. The storm dropped more than 8 inches of rain in locations in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, according to the weather service.

The Florida Guard said Thursday that they had some 2,400 high water vehicles operating to help clear paths and reach isolated people. It also had personnel from its Air National Guards Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron, or REDHORSE, working to clear vital routes for first responders to conduct door-to-door wellness checks, the Guard said.

The state also had 14 Army National Guard helicopters and 23 boats on duty to aid in search and rescue or medical evacuation operations, officials said. Guard forces were also helping with humanitarian assistance, traffic control and security operations across the impacted areas of Florida, the Guard said.

Meanwhile, military installations along the Idalias path largely appeared to be spared of major damage, officials said. While more than a dozen military installations across the region were impacted by Idalia, none of the posts reported extensive infrastructure problems, as of Thursday afternoon, though several indicated they were still surveying their grounds. Officials at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Ga., said the installations remained closed Thursday afternoon.
An undated photo of an entrance sign to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. (Abner Guzman/Air Force)

An Army doctor at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash, was charged this week in up to 23 incidents of sexual assault and indecent conduct, Army officials at the base said Thursday.

Maj. Michael Stockin, 37, an anesthesiologist at Madigan Army Medical Center at the installation, was formally charged Tuesday, according to Lt. Col. Jennifer Bocanegra, a JBLM spokeswoman.

"The general nature of the charges include abusive sexual contact and indecent viewing in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice," she said.

The charges cap 18 months since Stockin was ordered to cease contact with patients in February 2022.

Bocanegra declined to release the charge sheet against Stockin or whether all the allegations were related to his time at JBLM. She did say Stockin has not been arrested and he is performing administrative duties. However, the Army does not provide details about ongoing investigations, she said.

"The charges will now be reviewed for legal sufficiency by an independent officer at a pretrial preliminary hearing pursuant to federal law," Bocanegra said. "Charges are merely accusations, and the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty."

She did not have a timeline for when a decision on the charges would be announced.

Stockin has hired Robert Capovilla, a former Army officer with the judge advocate generals corps whose firm in Woodstock, Ga., includes other former military lawyers. The firm's website promotes defense against accusations of sexual misconduct by military service members as an area of expertise.

Capovilla on Thursday criticized the Army for what he said were possible leaks of investigative information to the media and pressure put on at least one potential witness to refuse to talk to defense investigators.

"Charges alone are not evidence," he said. "We expect the Army to ensure that Maj. Stockins constitutional right to a fair defense is honored at all stages of the process.

Capovilla said defense lawyers have been given little opportunity to review the investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division.

Stockin has served in the Army since May 2013, the service said. He deployed to Iraq from October 2020 to February 2021. Other assignments include Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu from June 2013 to July 2014 and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., from July 2014 to July 2019.

He has been assigned to Madigan Army Medical Center at JBLM since July 2019.

The allegations were first reported Aug. 26 by The Washington Post.

Ryan Guilds, an attorney who said he represented several alleged victims who accused Stockin, told the Post that he was deeply concerned about a lack of communication from the Army about the case.
This photo provided by Bollinger Shipyards shows the USNS Navajo, the Navys first Navajo-class, multimission, common-hull platform, that was christened Aug. 26, 2023, during a pierside ceremony at Bollinger Shipyards in Houma, La. (Derick Hingle)

The Navy recently christened the first of a new class of towing, salvage and rescue vessels designed to put two other ship types into retirement.

The USNS Navajo  the services first Navajo-class, multimission, common-hull platform  was christened Aug. 26 during a pierside ceremony at Bollinger Shipyards in Houma, La. The ceremony was attended by senior Navy officials and Bollinger representatives, according to an Aug. 29 company news release.

Every weld, every beam, every system on this ship was crafted with the thought of the warriors that inspired its name. It is an honor beyond words for Bollinger to partner with the Navy, company president Ben Bordelon said in the release.

Gulf Island Shipyard designed and built the Navajo on a $63.5 million contract awarded in March 2018, according the Times of Houma and Thibodaux in November 2019.

On behalf of the Navajo Nation, ship sponsor Jocelyn Billy-Upshaw broke a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow. She practiced by breaking two bottles of sparkling wine the day before the ceremony, according to the Navajo Times on Thursday.

I want to say thank you to the Department of Defense and the entirety of the United States government for recognizing the Navajo veterans, their families and their communities, Billy-Upshaw, a Dine Development Corp. executive and former Miss Navajo, said during the ceremony.

The Navajo recognizes its namesake tribe and the Dine peoples contributions throughout American history, according to Bollingers release. The ship replaces the Powhatan-class T-ATF tugs and Safeguard-class T-ARS ships, which began reaching the end of their service period in 2020.

The Navajo will be operated by the Navys Military Sealift Command and perform other missions including humanitarian assistance, oil-spill response and wide-area search and surveillance operations using unmanned underwater vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a Department of Defense release Aug. 25.

The ship is expected to deploy early next year, the Navy said in an Aug. 18 news release that did not specify where it will be based.

Contracts have been awarded for nine more Navajo-class ships, according to the Navy.

The trust bestowed upon us to construct a new class of vessel is both a responsibility and a privilege that we hold dear, Bordelon said.
The Pentagon is seen on Oct. 21, 2021. (Robert H. Reid/Stars and Stripes)

WASHINGTON  The Pentagon on Thursday launched a website that will display elements from completed UFO investigations and allow troops and civilian workers in the Defense Department to report sightings, defense officials said.

This website will provide information including videos and photos on resolved [unidentified anomalous phenomena] cases as they are declassified and approved for public release, said Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the top Pentagon spokesman. The department is committed to transparency with the American people.

The website is run by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which was established at the Pentagon a year ago to investigate, understand and resolve unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, amid a rise in military-related sightings.

An intelligence report released in January showed the number of UAP sightings involving the U.S. military has increased in recent years.

Our team of experts is leading the U.S. governments efforts to address unidentified anomalous phenomena using a rigorous scientific framework and a data-driven approach, AARO chief Sean Kirkpatrick states on the new website. Since its establishment in July 2022, AARO has taken important steps to improve data collection, standardize reporting requirements and mitigate the potential threats to safety and security posed by UAP.

Ryan Graves, left to right, David Grusch and retired Navy Cmdr. David Fravor are sworn in Wednesday, July 26, 2023, at a House Oversight and Reform subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill about unidentified anomalous phenomena. (Joe Gromelski/Special to Stars and Stripes)

The Pentagon said the website will be a one-stop shop for all things related to federal investigations of UAP sightings. The site is still being built, but Ryder said the next phase will allow military service members and civilian workers in the Pentagon to report sightings. He said thats expected to happen in the near future.

AARO said it will also investigate sightings dating to 1945 reported to the site by current and former federal government employees and contractors. It is not yet known if the site will eventually accept sightings from the American public.

That is something we will look to do in the future, but I dont have an estimate right now in terms of when, Ryder said.

As the government sees it, unidentified anomalous phenomena does not exclusively refer to flying objects. The Pentagon said mysterious objects submerged in water and those that can travel between different domains also fall into the UAP category.

In July, three military veterans who claim to have seen UAPs appeared at a hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and cautioned lawmakers that such mysterious objects are a threat to national security. One of the veterans  former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch  claimed the government is hiding proof of extraterrestrial life from past UFO crashes. The Pentagon has denied the claim.

Posted to the AARO website on Thursday was an information graphic with data on UAP reporting trends. According to the graphic, most UAP objects sighted between 1996 and 2023 were seen at an elevation of about 20,000 feet. The objects are often round in appearance and white, silver or translucent in color.
People walk down 3 Maja, a shop-lined street in Rzeszow, Poland, in February 2022. None of the roughly 1,500 American service members and civilians supporting U.S. operations in southeastern Poland have been affected by an outbreak of Legionnaires disease, according to the U.S. military. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

None of the roughly 1,500 American service members and civilians in southeastern Poland have been affected by a Legionnaires disease outbreak that has claimed at least 18 lives, American and Polish officials said.

The American military presence concentrated in Rzeszow remains untouched by the spread of the severe form of pneumonia, Col. Martin ODonnell, a spokesman for U.S. Army Europe and Africa, said Friday in response to a Stars and Stripes query.

Exercises and operations havent been impacted either, ODonnell said.

The citys airport, about 50 miles from the border with Ukraine, has become a key transit hub for military and humanitarian aid to the war-torn country following Russias full-scale invasion last year.

Legionnaires disease is a bacterial lung infection that is fatal in about 10% of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People often contract it when they breathe in small water droplets containing the bacteria. Drinking water containing the bacteria isnt normally considered dangerous when it enters the digestive system. However, if the water accidently gets into the lungs it can result in sickness, according to the CDC.

On Friday, the Polish government said at least 18 people had died from the disease since the outbreak began last month, adding that all the deaths were among people over 50 with previous health conditions.

Some 160 people have been hospitalized as a result of the outbreak, according to government data, which show most cases have been in Rzeszow.

Investigators have been trying to determine the source of the outbreak. The Polish Health Ministry said Monday that it most likely can be traced to the municipal water network.

An inquiry by the countrys Internal Security Agency is focused on determining whether any foul play, including Russian involvement, can be ruled out Polskie Radio reported last week.

The United States is not assisting with any investigation into the outbreak, ODonnell said.

The American Consulate in Krakow has advised U.S. citizens in Rzeszow and surrounding areas to follow guidance issued by local authorities.

Most of the U.S. service members and civilian employees in the area support the Army, ODonnell said, adding that roughly 10,000 U.S. troops are deployed throughout Poland.
Graduation ceremony in 2008 at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill. (Scott Thornbloom/Navy)

Two recent graduates of the Navys basic training have been charged with negligent homicide and each face a court-martial over allegations that they provided a lethal dose of fentanyl to a fellow sailor at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., and moved the body instead of calling for help, according to court records.

Seaman Brandon R. Ledesma and Seaman Recruit Caleb J. Taper are each charged with negligent homicide, manslaughter, obstruction of justice and distributing and using illegal drugs in connection to the 2021 overdose death at the Navys boot camp in Illinois, according to court records.

At the time of the death on Nov. 6, 2021, Ledesma and Taper were assigned to Naval Station Great Lakes and awaiting orders to attend Naval Submarine School in Groton, Conn., according to Katie Hewett, spokeswoman for Navy Region Mid-Atlantic.

The charges come as overdose deaths in the military from fentanyl have increased steeply in the past five years. The drug was involved in 88% of military overdose deaths in 2021, according to Defense Department data provided to Congress earlier this year. Five years earlier, fentanyl was only involved in 36% of overdose deaths.

Fentanyl, an approved pain medication being produced and sold illegally, killed nearly 70,000 Americans in 2021, according to the National Safety Council, a nonprofit safety advocacy group that tracks preventable deaths and injuries.

A photo of Building 1 at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill. , in December 2021. (Joseph E. Montemarano/Navy)

The Navy saw the number of sailors who died from an illicit drug overdose rise from 11 in 2017 to 17 deaths in 2021, according to the Defense Department, which made the data available in February after members of Congress requested it.

Ledesma and Taper are accused of providing another sailor with fentanyl, according to court documents. The three sailors were all in training together and lived in the same barracks building, Hewett said. She declined to offer further information on the victim, whose name was redacted from the charge sheets.

When the sailor collapsed, Ledesma and Taper did not call emergency services. Instead, they moved the sailor from one location to a bed within the same building because they feared criminal charges, according to the charge sheets.

The location where the incident occurred was redacted from the charge sheets.

The court documents also accuse the two men of distributing, using and introducing to the base illegal drugs, including fentanyl, LSD, cocaine and delta-9. Ledesmas drug charges stretch from March 2021 to August 2022, while Tapers are spread across a nine-month period from October 2021 to July 2022.

Ledesma, who was at a temporary holding unit in Great Lakes at Naval Service Training Command, had a pretrial hearing Thursday and his court-martial is scheduled for Sept. 25, Hewett said. Additional charges against him are conspiracy, violation of a lawful general order, false official statement and involuntary manslaughter. He is also charged with larceny for stealing more than $500 worth of video games, clothing and hygiene items from a base store Feb. 7, according to his charge sheet.

Taper is charged with larceny and fleeing arrest from an on-base store for stealing more than $150 worth of video games and a teeth-whitening pen Feb. 8, according to his charge sheet. He was detained Thursday in the Lake County Sheriffs Office because the Navy does not maintain a brig in the Great Lakes area, Hewett said.

Tapers next court appearance is Sept. 13 with a trial set to begin Oct. 9. He is also charged with accessory after the fact, conspiracy, breach of restriction, failure to obey order or regulation and involuntary manslaughter.
Then-1st Lt. Larry Taylor sitting in a UH-1 Huey helicopter in an undated photo. After completing flight training, Taylor was assigned to one of the Armys first Cobra helicopter companies in Vietnam where he served from August 1967 to August 1968. (Larry Taylor and the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center)

WASHINGTON  Larry Taylor will become the newest recipient of the militarys highest award for valor in battle when President Joe Biden presents the Vietnam veteran with the Medal of Honor on Tuesday, more than 55 years after his heroic actions in combat.

Taylor, who retired as a captain, was an Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War and led a rescue mission in 1968 to save a small group of soldiers trapped in a rice field by enemy troops.

I was doing my job. I knew that if I did not go down and get them, they would not make it, said Taylor, now 81 and living in Tennessee.

David Hill, now 75, was a sergeant with the Army Rangers serving as part of a four-man reconnaissance unit on June 18, 1968. He said Monday that if it wasnt for Taylors actions that day, he and the three other men would not have lived.

Hell, we were dead, Hill said. The fortunes of war had turned against us that night.

Hills unit was on a night mission near a village northeast of Saigon when they were surrounded in a rice paddy by a North Vietnamese force. The unit leader could see using a starlight scope that enemy troops were closing in on three sides. But they thought the Vietnamese troops had not surrounded them yet and they could escape back in the direction that they entered the paddy.

They tried to make it back to a tree line, but Hill said he was tapped on his shoulder and told to get down because they had been cut off from getting out.

We were in a Custer-like situation, he said.

Larry Taylor, in an undated photo, served in the Army from 1967-1971. He will receive the Medal of Honor next Tuesday for his actions on June 18, 1968, when he rescued a four-man reconnaissance team during the Vietnam War. (Larry Taylor and the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center)

Taylor, who was a first lieutenant at the time, got a call on the radio about a four-man unit in trouble. He and another pilot each took a Cobra helicopter and went out looking for the team. Taylor wasnt certain he would be able to find them because it was such a dark night. But using radio equipment and direction finders, Taylor was able to spot them.

Taylor said the first problem with getting to the trapped soldiers was poor visibility.

Its difficult to support you because I cant see you and I cant see the bad guys. Im afraid if I start throwing some rockets out here, Im going to kill one of you all, he recalled telling them over the radio.

Taylor instructed the four soldiers to mark their location with flares. Using the flares as a reference point, Taylor and his wingman strafed the North Vietnamese positions with multi-barreled rotary machine guns and rockets.

For nearly 30 minutes, the two American helicopters attacked the enemy troops, expending all their rockets and nearly 16,000 machine-gun rounds.

At that point, Taylor directed the other helicopter pilot to fire his remaining machine gun rounds along the eastern flank of the American patrol and then return to base camp. Taylor fired his own remaining rounds along the units western flank, using his Cobras landing lights to draw the enemys attention while the U.S. soldiers moved southeast toward a nearby extraction point that Taylor had designated.

We were finally able to make a breakout because he directed us to the very weakest portion of the enemy envelopment, Hill said.

There wasnt time or room in the helicopter for the four soldiers to get inside the two-seat Cobra. When Taylor moved the helicopter into a close position, the soldiers grabbed onto the rocket-pods and skids.

They beat on the side of the ship twice, which meant haul ass. And we did, Taylor said.

Hill, who is the last surviving member of the reconnaissance team, and Taylor became friends following the rescue.

Taylor grew up in Chattanooga, Tenn., and graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1966. While there, he enlisted in the Army ROTC and became a second lieutenant. Taylor began ground training at Fort Knox, Ky., before deciding he needed a change.

If you were on the ground, in the jungle, and there was Charlie behind every other tree, and they shot at you 24 hours a day and mortared you at night. But you had the chance to get in a Cobra  Id rather be an ass-kicker than have my ass kicked, Taylor said.

He attended flight training and was assigned to one of the Armys first Cobra helicopter companies in Vietnam.

Taylor served in Vietnam from August 1967 to August 1968. With the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, he flew more than 2,000 combat missions in the UH-1 and Cobra helicopters. He concluded his military service in 1971 as a captain in the 2nd Armored Cavalry in what was West Germany at the time.

Taylor was awarded 61 combat decorations, including the Silver Star, 43 Air Medals, a Bronze Star and two Distinguished Flying Crosses. He also received the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with the Bronze Star.

Hill started a seven-and-a-half-year process serving as Taylors nominator to get his Silver Star upgraded to the Medal of Honor. Hill and a couple of his fellow Army Rangers believed the Army and Taylors commanders at the time had failed in not getting him the highest military honor. They felt it was an injustice.

We looked, Yeah, we did this and you do that. But look at what Larry Taylor did,  Hill said. Its not in the same ballpark  with what the rest of us did. Larry not only did his job. He went way, way above the call of duty.

Then-1st Lt. Larry Taylor flying a Cobra in the mid-to-late 1960s. He flew more than 2,000 combat missions during his time as an Army aviator during the Vietnam War. (Larry Taylor and the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center)

Mike Holden, a family friend of Taylors, served as an infantry platoon sergeant in Vietnam for two years. He said as part of the rules for receiving the Medal of Honor, a persons commanding officer must recommend the soldier for the award. In Taylors case, his commander Gen. Keith Ware died in battle.

So that just put it in the closet, in the background. It was forgotten, Holden said.

But Hill worked with multiple people and groups. He started by writing a letter to then-Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., telling him about a constituent from Signal Mountain who deserved the Medal of Honor.

Hill, Holden and others working on the submission struck out twice with the Army. Following the second attempt, the Army said it would not override the original decision unless new or substantiating evidence came to light, Hill said.

Retired four-star Army Gen. B.B. Bell had started working with the team about two years ago and encouraged them not to give up. Bell retired in 2008 but serves on the board of the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga. Hill submitted an appeal to the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records, or ABCMR.

The board rejected that submission. But Hill and the group discovered commanders never interviewed other soldiers who witnessed the rescue that night in 1968. That information was included in a third submission, and it worked.

After all these years, two weeks later the ABCMR sent a letter back to me saying, You have prevailed,  Hill said. As Larry would say, It worked out finally.

Taylor said he got a call last month from Biden informing him that he would be the newest soldier to receive the medal. More than 41 million men and women have served in the U.S. military, and slightly more than 3,500 medals have been awarded.

Taylor said he is proud to receive the Medal of Honor  the ultimate award. But he also said he is most proud that he followed the military motto that he had requested for his Medal of Honor challenge coins that recipients design  leave no man behind.
Two years have passed since Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a supporter of Pakistan's accession to the occupied state of Jammu and Kashmir and a prominent Kashmiri leader, left the world two years ago. But there is a shutter down strike in the occupied valley.

The powerful voice of Azadi Kashmir movement, the elder Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani was born on September 29, 1929 in Zari Manj village of Bandipora district of Occupied Kashmir.

Syed Ali Geelani also laid the foundation of active organizations like Hurriyat Conference and Tehreek Hurriyat to gain independence from India.

Father of Hurriyat Syed Ali was elected three times assembly member from Soopor constituency in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Syed Ali Gilani spent more than two decades in Indian prisons. He also wrote the book "Rudad Qafs" containing his memoirs during his captivity.

The deceased was detained for 11 years following the orders of the usurping Indian governments died on September 01, 2021 in Hyderpura, Srinagar, while his body was wrapped in Pakistani flag and lowered into the coffin.

On his death, the funeral prayer was held in absentia and the national flag was hoisted at half-mast in the National Assembly.

On the occasion of Pakistan's 73rd Independence Day, the Government of Pakistan honored him with national honors like Nishan-e-Pakistan as a tribute to his services for the Kashmir Azadi Movement.

Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik's wife Mashaal Malik has paid homage to the great Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani.

Special Assistant Mashaal Malik said in her message on the second anniversary of Syed Ali Geelani that his life is a beacon for us, our morale is high.

Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik's wife said: Despite atrocities, India could not suppress Kashmir's freedom movement.
Ali was sentenced to a minimum of 13 years behind bars for the shocking murder of 11-month-old Hunter McGleenon on November 26, 2019

Granting an appeal by Sharyar Ali at Newry County Appeal Court, Judge Gordon Kerr KC ruled out a confession by the 35-year-old because he was not properly cautioned by the police.

"It is absolutely clear from the tenor and tone of the questioning throughout the interview, taken as a whole, that this was an offence which was suspected by the police from the outset and one, which in those circumstances, he should have been cautioned for.

"Not only should he have been cautioned for it, but upon admission, he should have been cautioned again and asked to repeat the admission concerned.

"These cases can be a fine line between whether cases should proceed or not proceed. In this case I consider it falls in line of exclusion....it's accepted by the prosecution that the appeal must be successful because the evidence is not sufficient to justify the conviction in this case, and accordingly, I allow the appeal."

Appearing on behalf of Ali, defence counsel Michael Halleron had argued that the Crown couldnt prove when the Pakistani national had entered the UK, a vital ingredient of the offence against him.

The heartbroken mum of baby Hunter, Nicole McGleenon

He also argued that any confession should be ruled out as Ali, who at the time was being questioned by murder detectives about the shocking killing of infant Hunter McGlennon, had not been properly cautioned.

A PPS lawyer had argued however that on 26 November, Ali had the care of little Hunter and highlighting that Ali is serving a life sentence for the murder, she told the court that during police interviews under caution, he admits that he came here on the 26 November with the baby and the baby was murdered on 26 November when the baby had been in his care.

Ali told police he had crossed the border to a casino in Monaghan and the lawyer argued that on the day Hunter died, he came back north and took the baby back to Keady so he had to enter NI illegally.

Last October Ali, now with an address as Maghaberry prison but previously from Westerna Terrace in Monaghan, was sentenced to a minimum of 13 years behind bars for the shocking murder of 11-month-old Hunter McGleenon on November 26, 2019.

The Pakistani national had been in a relation with Hunter's mother Nicole and had been caring for the baby while she went to visit a sick relative in November 2019.

He was about to go on trial at Newry Crown Court in April last year when, with Hunters grieving mummy and relatives sitting just a few feet from him, he confessed that he was guilty of murder.

Sentencing Ali last October, Mr Justice McFarland outlined how Hunters death was caused by "blunt trauma to the head" and that it was "crystal clear" they were not due to the baby falling off the sofa, as Ali had originally claimed.

He told the court medical evidence confirmed there were 19 areas of head and neck injury to Hunter that "may not relate to 19 separate episodes of trauma, but it does reflect multiple injuries to this area nonetheless".

The judge also said it was the opinion of the assistant state pathologist those injuries had been caused by "either direct trauma, or blows or kicks and/or by shaking of Hunter".

Initially, Ali was ordered to serve a minimum of 13 years behind bars but the PPS appealed that as unduly lenient given the vulnerabilities of his victim and accordingly, the Court of Appeal increased the killers minimum tariff to 16 years.
Robert OConnor was discovered by prison officers lying on the floor of a cell in a pool of blood.

Robert O'Connor was beaten to death in Mountjoy Jail

Four men are due before court later this morning after being charged in connection with the fatal assault of an inmate in Mountjoy Prison.

Robert OConnor, from Darndale, was attacked in a call on the C-wing of the Dublin prison on 29 July 2022.

He was rushed to the Mater Hospital where he was pronounced dead on August 1.

It is understood Mr OConnor died from injuries received to the head.

Following a lengthy investigation, four men have now been charged in connection with his death and are due in court later today.

A garda spokesman said: Gardai investigating the fatal assault of a man (aged in his 30s) and related violent disorder in Mountjoy Prison on Friday, 29th July 2022, have charged four men this morning, Friday 1st September 2023.

All four men (aged in their 20s and 30s) are due to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice this morning, Friday 1st September 2023.

Robert OConnor was discovered by prison officers lying on the floor of a cell in a pool of blood.

He had also been the victim of a separate assault within the prison just two days before the fatal attack when he was struck on the head with a kettle.

He was subsequently moved to the prisons C wing

At Mr OConnors funeral, his father had issued a plea for no further retaliation over his sons death.

Earlier this month, his partner paid tribute to Mr OConnor in a social media post.

A whole year, we think of you every day it is heartbreaking, his partner wrote.

The couple have a child together who was described as thinking about and loving her father all the time.

Tributes also said how his family Love and miss (him) always.

Back in May, Mr OConnors partner celebrated his birthday when she wrote: Biggest happy birthday to the brightest star, not a day goes bywe love and miss you more than youll ever know, have the best one up there.
Just to double check, the board said we cant have parties because we are Travellers? to which the staff member replied: Yeah.

An Irish man in the UK has been awarded a large sum of money after a Conservative club in Cardiff refused his familys christening for their baby daughter last year, citing cocaine use in the toilets and chewing gum on the floor.

The man involved has decided to remain anonymous after winning his legal case based on racial discrimination, owing to his Traveller heritage, which was used against him in March 2022.

To be told we were banned from booking this venue to celebrate my daughters christening just because we are Irish Travellers was deeply upsetting for our family, the father said.

Legal documents from the case revealed conversations between the victim and a staff member at Park Conservative club in Cardiff, the Guardian reports.

Just to double check, the board said we cant have parties because we are Travellers? to which the staff member replied: Yeah.

Poster

Irish Travellers were apparently banned from hosting parties in the venue because of concerns about how they would behave.

When the victim suggested to staff that it was unfair to ban an entire ethnic group based on generalities, he was told management had voted to exclude all Irish Traveller customers because of reported cases of drug-taking, abuse of workers and damage to property.

When the Irish man said this was "not right the staff member reportedly replied:

We are not stupid, lets be open about it, OK we know the coke that goes on in the toilets, the men are constantly chewing gum and they are spitting it out and its ingrained in all the carpets in the club.

The staff member involved apparently even disagreed with the decision of his bosses.

I totally agree its like saying one black man comes in here, caused trouble, all black men are banned, he said, in the recorded conversation.

No, that wouldnt happen, but why is the board saying that it is OK to ban every Traveller based on the actions of a few individuals? the Irish man responded.

An offer was set up to meet with the management of the club but they never followed through on the arrangement. The Irish man ended up booking another venue at considerable extra expense.

Its not right that people like me are treated so unfairly, often on a daily basis. I hope by bringing this case we can help bring this type of discrimination to an end so our community can enjoy the same rights as everyone else, the victim added.

In the end, Park Conservative club did not agree to an admission of liability. Instead, staff were sent on cultural awareness training and money was paid to the victim and his daughter.

A spokesperson for the club said it was sincerely apologetic for the incident and that an error had occurred.

No one should be discriminated against because of who they are, and members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities can often face harassment and discrimination due to negative stereotypes and deeply ingrained prejudices, said Kishwer Falkner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Kate Egerton, a solicitor at the law firm Leigh Day, which brought the case, added: Unfortunately, many Irish Travellers continue to encounter persistent race discrimination. Staff at Park Conservative club openly admitted it had banned Irish Travellers from holding events at the venue. Their actions displayed both commonly held prejudice and negative stereotypes, which are unfair and discriminatory.
He was rushed to the Mater Hospital but died from his injuries three days later.

Robert O'Connor died after suffering serious injuries in Mountjoy Prison

A MAN has been charged with murdering a prison inmate who died following an alleged attack in Mountjoy jail.

David Dunne (39) appeared in Dublin District Court today charged over the killing of Robert OConnor (34) last year.

Mr OConnor, from Darndale in Dublin, suffered a serious head injury in an alleged assault in a cell in Mountjoy on July 29, 2022.

He was rushed to the Mater Hospital but died from his injuries three days later.

This morning, Detective Sergeant Fergus Finnegan told Judge Bryan Smyth he arrested Mr Dunne for the purpose of charging him at the Criminal Courts of Justice at 10.19am.

He was charged subsequently with Mr OConnors murder and made no reply after caution, the court heard.

Mr Dunne, of Boroimhe Birches, Swords, Co Dublin was handed a copy of the charge sheet.

Defence solicitor Danica Kinane consented to the accused being remanded in custody for a week. No bail application was made on Mr Dunnes behalf as bail can only be granted on a murder charge at High Court level.

The judge adjourned the case to Cloverhill District Court on September 8, when Mr Dunne will appear by video link.

Making a legal aid application, Ms Kinane submitted a statement of her clients financial means and said he was not in receipt of any income and had no assets.

There were no garda objections and the judge granted free legal aid.

The accused, dressed in a light grey tracksuit, sat in the dock with his arms folded at times and was not required to speak during the brief hearing.

He has not yet indicated how he intends to plead to the charge.

At the time of the incident, Robert OConnor was serving a sentence in Mountjoy for firearms offences.

An inquest was adjourned last year after hearing a post-mortem examination found Mr O'Connor died from blunt force trauma to his head.
Judge Bryan Smyth adjourned their cases for the accused to decide how they intend to plead to the charges.

THREE men have been charged with violent disorder in prison while they were inmates at Dublins Mountjoy jail.

Scott Capper (29), William Ward (31) and Dylan Jones (22), appeared in Dublin District Court today charged over an incident at the prison last year.

Judge Bryan Smyth adjourned their cases for the accused to decide how they intend to plead to the charges.

Mr Capper, of Cappagh Green, Finglas, Dublin; Mr Ward, with an address at Grantstown Mews, Waterford and Mr Jones of Beech Drive, Greenfields, Waterford are charged with using or threatening to use violence at Mountjoy on July 27 last year.

Detective Garda Raymond Lee told the court Mr Ward was charged at 10.45am today and made no reply after caution. He was handed a copy of the charge sheet. Det Gda Deirdre Gill said Dylan Jones was charged before the court sitting and also made no reply when charged.

Det Gda Niall Hodgins said he arrested Scott Capper at 10.20am for the purpose of charging him.

Mr Capper was handed a copy of the charge sheet, Det Gda Hodgins said.

Judge Smyth granted disclosure of prosecution evidence to the defence, to include any CCTV evidence. Defence solicitor Brian Tunney said the order was complied with and he had received the material.

Gardai had no objections to bail for any of the accused. Judge Smyth granted them bail in their own bonds of 200 each with no cash lodgements required.

Under conditions, Mr Ward is to live at the given address, sign on twice weekly at Waterford garda station and provide a contact mobile phone number.

Mr Capper must sign on three times per week at Finglas garda station between 9am and 9pm. Under bail conditions, the accused must be of good behaviour and commit no offences.

The court heard the Director of Public Prosecutions consented to the cases being dealt with at district court level on guilty pleas only. This means the accused will be sent for jury trial to the circuit court if they are pleading not guilty.

Free legal aid was granted to all three after Mr Tunney made applications and said the accused had no income or assets.

There were no garda objections to legal aid. They were all remanded on bail on the charges to appear in court again on October 6.
Gilligan (71) is set to claim in a Virgin Media series that he did not order a hit on the crime reporter.

SNEERING gangster John Gilligans shameless boasting about his various crime methods in an explosive upcoming TV documentary series was last night blasted by crime journalist Veronica Guerins brother Jimmy.

Im hugely disappointed that a respected TV station, and indeed some of those involved in the production, would give somebody of Gilligans standing three hours of interview time, Jimmy said.

"Of course Im disappointed,

Was I asked to participate? Of course I was. On more than one occasion. Did I decline to participate, of course I did.

"Was I asked did I want to see it, of course I was. Did I say I wanted to see it, no I didnt.

He adds: I wouldnt be placing an awful lot of concern about anything that Gilligan would say. Naturally Id be surprised hed be getting so much airing.

Gang boss John Gilligan

In a statement issued today, Jimmy Guerin also says:

I have received numerous requests from the media in relation to the upcoming documentary series to be broadcast on Virgin Media titled Confessions of a Crime Boss, along with a new book The Gilligan Tapes.

"The allegations of an amoral individual and a convicted criminal do not merit any rebuttal.

" These issues were covered in detail over twenty years ago in the cases I attended. They were appropriately dealt through the Irish judicial system, which the programme and the book are an insult to.

I was invited to participate in the making of the documentary and declined. I further declined to attend a preview screening, as I strongly believe providing recognition for this series is entirely inappropriate

Crime lord Gilligan (71) is set to claim in a Virgin Media series that he did not order a hit on the crime reporter.

John Gilligan

Asked in the three-part documentary series if hes likely to go to hell, the drug trafficker replies: If there is one, yeah.

Gilligan  whose gang was responsible for the murder of crusading crime journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996 - tells interviewer Jason OToole that hes going to tell my side of the story, what exactly happened.

In 2002, Gilligan was acquitted of the murder of Veronica Guerin, who had earlier been assaulted by the gangster while investigating his activities.

Gilligan is described on the Virgin Media show as the first big drug trafficker in Ireland and it details how he became one of the countrys richest criminals.

The crime boss is also described in the programme as a dangerous psychopath who took on the institutions of the state and lost.

"john Gilligan was a big player at the time in the mid-90s, but he wasnt as smart as he thought he was, observers former Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael OSullivan.

'Sunday Independent' journalist Veronica Guerin

Gilligan admits on Confessions of a Crime Boss: I wanted to be high profile, not to be known.

Assistant Commissioner OSullivan adds: That all changed with Veronica Guerin.

Gilligan was given a 28-year prison sentence for the drug trafficking, but on appeal this was reduced to 20 years.

In October 2013 he was released after serving 17 years
In 2016 Thaxter was convicted of Groome's murder- his mothers boyfriend - and conspiracy to prevent his burial.

A man who murdered an Irish man was found dead in his prison cell last month after taking his own life.

An inquest into the death of Jason Thaxter (46) in a prison in Cambridgeshire, UK, has been opened and adjourned with a provisional cause of death.

Thaxter was serving a 30-year prison sentence for the murder of Irish man, Thomas Groome (54), who himself knifed his own child to death in a drunken row in 1999

In 2016 Thaxter was convicted of Groome's murder- his mothers boyfriend - and conspiracy to prevent his burial. The Offaly native was last seen on New Year's morning in 2010 as he left a family members house in Thorne, South Yorkshire. Groomes body has never been found.

His family thought he had gone to Portugal but reported him missing when he disappeared.

Thaxter and his mother, June Buttle, were arrested a year later for the Leinster mans murder. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter of her boyfriend, conspiracy to prevent a burial and fraud charges and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Thomas Groome

Back in 2004, Groome himself had received a seven-year sentence for the manslaughter of his own son, during a drunken row.

Christopher Groome (19) died from a fatal stab wound to the chest during a "tussle" in a caravan at Churchview Heights, Edenderry, Co Offaly, on November 15th, 1999.

The jury heard during the trial that an underlying tension between father and son erupted when Christopher got into bed fully dressed after a family night out. An argument ensued during which Groome stabbed his son.

"I picked up the knife on the draining board. In the struggle Christy and I fell backwards towards the door. It was after him falling straight on top of me that I stabbed him," Groome told gardai.

June Buttle

Eleven years later, during Groomes murder trial, his girlfriend Ms Buttle reportedly hit Groome over the head with a piece of wood before dismembering his body.

She then posed as him on Facebook, updating posts and sending messages to his family in Ireland.

The court heard that Buttle attempted to access Groomes bank accounts where he had 150,000 stored.

The court was told that Buttle admitted on two occasions to dismembering his body. She has never named her accomplice.

That accomplice turned out to be her son, who has now died in prison.

Groomes sister Bridget previously described her brother as a much loved dad, son, brother, partner, grandad and uncle.

We are devastated that we have been unable to lay him to rest in a place where we can visit and remember him and give him the funeral he deserves.

Bridget told a court his body had still not been found.
The group has been building an intelligence file on the countrys major and minor dealers.

The Sunday World can reveal that a group of ex-loyalist paramilitaries have set up an organisation with the sole aim of targeting drug peddlers.

Dealers from the bottom of the food chain to the top are in the sights of the group members who say they will strike without warning and claim they are prepared to take lives.

It is understood the group has been holding meetings over a long period of time and has been building an intelligence file on the countrys major and minor dealers  no one is exempt.

The group is made up of veteran loyalist paramilitaries, mostly from the UVF and the dormant Ulster Resistance.

The anti-drug purge is the brainchild of a farmer/landowner from mid Ulster, and the organisation has bypassed the current paramilitary leadership. UVF Chief of Staff John Bunter Graham and UDA godfather Jackie McDonald have been vocal in their opposition to the drugs trade but have failed to curb the spread of drug abuse and have turned a blind eye as paramilitaries make money from the illicit trade.

John 'Bunter' Graham

Sources close to the new group say they have no allegiance to any loyalist paramilitary organisations and claim their only motivation is to rid the country of drugs.

Jackie (McDonald) once said that youre not a loyalist if youre a drug dealer, well hes failed to deliver.

The UDA and the UVF are up to their necks in it, something needs to be done, one source said.

Drugs have done more damage to loyalist communities than republicans ever did.

Drug abuse in Northern Ireland has hit epidemic levels. The influx of organised crime gangs from across the border and Europe has made the North a lucrative hunting ground.

Jackie McDonald

In the past vigilante groups such as the IRA-backed Direct Action Against Drugs (DAAD) waged war on dealers carrying out a series of assassinations.

It murdered high-profile dealers including Brendan Campbell and Brendan Speedy Fegan  but failed to stem the flow of drugs.

However, this latest movement believes it can dent the profits and stem the flow of drugs.

We are not talking about a bunch of gather-ups  the guys behind this are seasoned paramilitaries and committed loyalists, said our source.

He likened the group to an evangelical movement dedicated to the eradication of drugs.

DUO: Brendan Speedy Fegan, left and Brendan Campbell

The Sunday World understands the movement started in mid Ulster and has spent the last few months gathering intelligence on potential targets.

They have reached out to veteran paramilitaries via Orange Order lodges and loyalist bands.

This is not a reflection on the Order but more a reality. They cant go through the UDA and UVF leadership, so its a case of touching base by other means.

"The people behind this are deadly serious, they see it as a God-given mission to rid the country of drug dealers.

We can reveal that at a recent meeting in Belfast, guns  in the shape of two Browning 9mm pistols  and a bundle of cash were put on the table.

That was when it stopped being a talking shop, the people behind this are saying they have access to guns and cash if anyone needs a car, clothes, whatever they need  the money is there for them.

Our source said low-level dealers will be kneecapped but their main focus is on suppliers who they say will be shot dead.

Their main intention is the protection of loyalist communities  they will target anyone whether they are dissidents or foreign gangs. If theyre dealing in loyalist communities they are fair game.

The source said they had access to a significant cache of weaponry.

It is known the secretive Ulster Resistance retains an arsenal of weapons hidden in arms dumps across Northern Ireland.

They got a slice of a huge arms shipment from South Africa which was to be divided with the UVF and UDA  the majority of the 1988 shipment was intercepted but an estimated third of it fell into Ulster Resistance hands.

The guns have never been used and were buried in dumps across rural Northern Ireland with the intention of breaking them out in a doomsday scenario.

A large part of the cache were Browning 9mm handguns  the very gun produced at the Belfast meeting in the last few weeks.

Ulster Resistance went to sleep after the Good Friday Agreement, their members, many of whom had been in the UVF, went back to their lives but now theyve woken up, our source said.

The source said the organisation would not have a name, that targets will be carefully selected and there will be no warning.

It has taken some time for them to get to this position but with careful and deliberate planning they are now ready to go.

It will not be an all-out blitz and it might take months for them to strike but strike they will. They are determined.

He said the majority of members are from outside Belfast.

There is no membership as such, its a loose coalition of like-minded people.
Georgia Lilliss former Bond girl mother Celine Cawley (46) was killed by her father, Eamonn Lillis,at their Dublin home in 2008.

Georgia Lillis has set up a GoFundMe page to keep the therapy horses near the children she cares for

A woman whose father killed her mother when she was a child has told how her dogs and horses became my family as she tried to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy.

Georgia Lilliss former Bond girl mother Celine Cawley (46) was killed by her father, Eamonn Lillis,at their Dublin home in 2008. Now 30, Georgia says her animals helped get her through the lonely times after her mothers death as she grew up in the family home largely on her own.

She is now desperately searching for new premises for her therapeutic equine centre for children and said: Horses have kept me sane and on this earth through dark times.

Georgia has five months left to find alternative accommodation before she has to leave her rented five-acre Royal Stables therapeutic riding centre in Skerries, Co Dublin. In the last month she has had to turn down a number of offers of land from people in nearby counties, but is intent on staying in the north Co Dublin area.

This is for the sake of the children she works with, most of whom have no transport to travel farther afield and many of whom are not eating or sleeping since learning of the possible closure.

She has a few suitable sites to look at in the area, but needs funds to help her realise the dream for her and the children, many of whom are on the autism spectrum, and so is appealing for donations through a GoFundMe campaign.

Parents say they have seen their children blossom under the guidance of Georgia, who has developed the five-year-old centre into a close-knit, caring community for the children.

I didnt want to go down the GoFundMe route, but its important to have the money in place so we can be ready to go for any suitable land, she said.

Celine Cawley

We will also have to build stables and an arena to facilitate our sessions and house our horses. We did not plan on this move, so we do not have the funds readily available. Our hand has been forced. I wanted to try and fund it all myself, but the repayments on the bank loans were astronomical.

Georgia said she needs to stay near the children who currently come to her centre.

Im not leaving them behind, she said. Some of the children have shut down completely and have removed themselves from conversations with us. 

The therapy helps with social inclusion, conversation, sensory issues, emotional regulation, self-esteem and so much more.

Georgias film producer mother Celine, who appeared as an actress in 1985 Bond film A View To A Kill, was killed by her Eamonn Lillis in their Howth home.

He went on trial accused of murder, but was convicted of manslaughter by a jury and sentenced to six years and 11 months in prison. With remission, he was released in April 2015.

Georgia has not been in contact with her father since his imprisonment in February 2010 and says she does not want to ever see him again.

I have dyslexia and ADD [attention deficit disorder] so I know how incredibly powerful horse therapy can be. Horses dont judge people, they just care about you and they are good at reading people, she said.

My mum had dyslexia too and always told me that there was no point in sitting in a corner, to get up and do it. She was amazing and always said there was nothing I couldnt do. Its not off the ground that I licked it.

I was 16 when she passed, but Im pretty sure that she would be so proud of me today, and thats why I have to fight and find somewhere else for these children.

Im an only child and Ive been around horses and dogs since I was four. They became and are still my family.

Georgia said she still has Bella, her 22-year-old pony. Shes an old showjumping mare and mum got to see her and try her out the day before she died, she said.

So shes very special. I tried amateur showjumping and dressage and all of that and my mum was worried sick when I used to go showjumping.

Georgia said she worries about what will happen to her ponies if she cannot find a new home for them.

Im close to my cousins and my mums family but I lived with my dogs and horses and developed such a strong bond with them and all animals since, she said.

If it wasnt for the healing power of horses, I dont know where Id be right now.

Thats another reason to find a new home. I have a lot of ponies who are in their 30s  I dont want to even think what could happen to them if I dont.
If the state is continuing to go after army veterans like Soldier F then theres no reason why it shouldnt go after IRA men like Father Patrick Ryan

The Padre chronicles Fr Ryan's role in arming the IRA with Libyan money

South Armagh-based cleric Pastor Barrie Halliday says the 94-year-old former Pallottine Order priest should be extradited from his bolthole in the Republic of Ireland.

And he wants PSNI detectives to quiz Ryan about the contents of a new book by award-winning BBC Spotlight reporter Jennifer OLeary.

The Padre  The True Story Of The Irish Priest Who Armed The IRA With Gaddafis Money lifts the lid on Ryans remarkable role as an IRA fixer who jetted around the globe in pursuit of bombing perfection.

And following the launch of the book in Belfast this week  and the startling revelations it contains  Pastor Halliday is demanding immediate police action.

He said: If the state is continuing to go after army veterans like Soldier F then theres no reason why it shouldnt go after IRA men like Father Patrick Ryan.

He should be extradited immediately and brought north to stand trial. The aftermath of his lifes work is all around us.

The Padre chronicles Fr Ryan's role in arming the IRA with Libyan money

In Jennifer OLearys new book, not only does Ryan tell us what he did for the IRA, he also tells us how proud he felt about doing it.

Pastor Halliday added: Age should not be a barrier to a murder charge. Murder is murder and Ryan was up to his neck in it.

By his own admission in The Padre, Fr Ryan played major roles in the pre-planning of a number of headline-grabbing IRA atrocities:

Four members of the Household Cavalry died along with seven of the regiments horses when, in 1982, the IRA detonated a timing device bomb in Londons Horse Guards Parade.

The aftermath of the Hyde Park bomb

And two hours later, seven Royal Green Jackets musicians lost their lives and 24 were injured when an IRA bomb rocked the bandstand during a free concert for the public in Regents Park.

Tipperary-born Fr Ryan also supplied some of the technology the IRA used in the infamous Brighton bomb, which killed five people during the Tory Party conference in 1984.

At her book launch in Belfast this week, Jennifer OLeary said Ryan had no qualms about his decision to turn his back on the priesthood in order to become a top IRA aide.

His only regret is that he hadnt been more effective, she said.

For 20 years, Fr Ryan was a key figure for the IRA on the international stage.

Pastor Barrie Halliday

He managed to stay one step ahead of the intelligence agencies and when eventually detained, he evaded extradition to the UK in a controversial case in 1988.

He once famously told the BBC he was one hundred per cent involved in IRA bomb-making.

The new book is the detailed account of a career in international terrorism.

Based on the back of years of meetings and interviews between the author and the clergyman, it is the story of one mans war against the British state.

The aftermath of the Brighton bomb

It portrays a ruthless man who was wholly committed to the paths he chose in life  in the first instance to join the priesthood, travelling to the missions in east Africa where he worked in Tanganyika, and then as an impassioned physical force Irish republican.

His return to Ireland from Africa in 1969 coincided with the outbreak of the Troubles and it awoke a deeply-held republicanism instilled in him by his mother.

He is a man of contradictions, he went to east Africa in the pursuit of something positive. Had he stayed none of this would have happened, said Jennifer.

He is the sort of character that whatever he applies himself to he does it wholeheartedly, I would say resourcefulness and cunning are his chief traits.

Ryans role on behalf of the IRA was known only to an elite few. IRA bomb-makers carefully constructed increasingly sophisticated devices without ever knowing that a one-time priest, a so-called man of God, had sourced their key component: the Memo Park timer.

The gadget designed by Ryan was adopted by the IRA as a reliable and accurate bomb detonation timer, with devastating results.

The component was used in the Brighton bomb in 1984. It was planted under a bath in a room at the Grand Hotel and timed to go off late at night when members of Thatchers government and Tory party were in their beds.

He sourced microswitches in Colonel Gaddafis Libya, shipping them home to a grateful IRA who put them to devastating use.

Its impossible to say how many deaths the IRAs priest was either directly or indirectly involved in.

In writing the book I was conscious it will cause as much distress as interest which is why Ive detailed the many awful tragedies caused by the IRA throughout the Seventies and Eighties, said Jennifer.

His involvement, as a Catholic priest, will also be very hurtful to many people.
I would have days where it was very hard to do anything.

Cool bassist and Malahide man, U2s Adam Clayton, is gearing up for his bands historic American shows next month but has taken time to reveal the dangers of alcohol and depression to radio listeners.

U2 play their first gigs in front of an audience in four years when they undertake a 25-night residency in Las Vegas with U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At the Sphere, but Adam spoke this week on the Ray DArcy show about struggling with sadness.

"There were a lot of good years in my life, but the secret was that I was incredibly unhappy and unable to deal with it and accept it, Adam said.

The musician dealt with his melancholy by self-medicating with alcohol but he says this is not the way forward for people dealing with mental health issues.

"I thought alcohol was the way forward and that it would solve all my problems but in the end, of course, it didnt so I eventually went into treatment and turned things around.

Adam Clayton finds comfort from being close to nature. Photo: Maud Gibney

"At the time, not many musicians were talking about that. Eric Clapton was very public about his recovery, and he was a support to me and was an example.

"Many people have crashed and burned through alcohol or other addictions and it plays into mental health issues.

"For me it always came from a melancholy and a low-level depression, and I know people suffer from very extreme forms of depression where they cant get out of bed.

"I would have days where it was very hard to do anything. If I was working I could make myself do things and I could get over it but if I wasnt working it was hard to get motivated. For me I had to find good coping mechanisms. Everyone has to find their own way but seeking help is the first step, Adam added.

U2s drummer, Larry Mullen, will not be performing at their Vegas shows as he is recovering from back surgery and Bram van den Berg of Dutch band Krezip will be behind the kit.

Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr and Bono of U2 perform on stage. Photo: Simone Joyner/Getty Images

"The whole band and the audience are going to be very sad and miss Larry," Adam said.

"But I think hes doing what Larry does and thats taking his health very responsibly and he wants to come back, he wants to be able to have a long career and continue his drumming so hes taking care of those injuries.

"He's very much behind the idea of us going on stage with Bram. Im sure for Larry its a difficult moment to know that your band are going on stage and youre not with them but sometimes life deals these things and there was a time a few years ago when Bono couldnt perform with us, so Bruce Springsteen stepped in which was quite a strange one and Chris Martin did a turn as well.

"It does happen in the life of bands and there was certainly a concert I missed a long time ago as well.

"Larry realises that he has to get his health back together again, but Bram has bravely taken the seat and hes really put in the hours learning the tunes and I think its going to be a pretty fearsome band hitting the stage in Las Vegas," Adam concluded.
Ryan posted a video of himself trekking the Diamond Hill, which is an isolated peak overlooking the village of Letterfrack, looking cool in dark sunglasses

They say that nature is the best medicine and that certainly seems to be the case for Ryan Tubridy this week, as the former RTE man posted some happy images on social media whilst enjoying hiking and a boat trip out west.

It has obviously been a difficult period for the former Late Late host recently, but Ryan is clearly now enjoying a fresh start, as he holidays in Galway.

Ryan posted a video of himself trekking the Diamond Hill, which is an isolated peak overlooking the village of Letterfrack, looking cool in dark sunglasses.

The Diamond in Letterfrack nature at its most wonderful, he said.

Ryan also took a boat to the Friar Island, explaining: Friar Island, a hidden gem off the Clifden/Cleggan/Claddaghduff coast.

Boat trip

The JFK in Ireland author could be heard sailing around the island in a motorboat with birds in the background and beautiful, scenic views all around.

Just last week, Ryan posted an encouraging video for leaving Cert students around Ireland, as he continues to move on from the drama that dogged his final tenure at the national broadcaster.

Cliff view

Leaving Cert people of Ireland, if you got what you wanted in your points and results, congratulations. You did well, he said.

"If you didnt, dont worry. This is the most important part because its something in the cosmos, the universe, who knows, nudging you somewhere where you werent expecting to be.

Now, take it from somebody who knows about this a little bit, the old guy. If that happens, embrace it, run into it, and take it somewhere exciting and interesting because thats where you were obviously meant to be, okay?

"So, don't panic. Take it on. Remember, family and perspective - more important than any points in the whole world.

Now, go and have some fun tonight, and then get on with the rest of your life and have fun getting there. Well done, Ryan added.
A new NIWA study in Wellington Harbour will help scientists find untapped drinking water around the world.

For the first time, NIWA used several techniques to map and understand the Waiwhetu Aquifer. This is a reservoir of drinking water that lies beneath the Hutt Valley and Wellington Harbour, and it releases freshwater from deep under the seabed via natural springs.

NIWA Marine Geoscientist Dr Joshu Mountjoy designed the study. He says it was motivated by the lack of knowledge about large coastal aquifers around New Zealand, with Wellington Harbour being the perfect test site.

"Up to 70 per cent of Wellingtons drinking water comes from the Waiwhetu Aquifer. A lot of work has been done over the years to understand where the aquifers are and where the freshwater is, but until now, we didnt know where in the seabed the freshwater was leaking through.

"Due to Wellingtons vulnerability to earthquakes, ensuring access to drinking water is a priority in case a source is cut off or damaged, and the Waiwhetu Aquifer is a critical resource for our resilience.

Natural freshwater springs are located in the ocean as well as on land. They provide a window into submarine aquifers but finding them is challenging.

To bypass costly drilling, NIWA showed that other techniques can be harnessed to track ocean-based freshwater springs and sample the water, helping scientists to understand a huge amount about submarine aquifers.

"We used every tool we had available to understand the nature of these natural springs, including acoustic measurements, seafloor samples, remotely operated vehicles, and seawater sampling. We wanted to see which techniques worked best with a mind to apply them to other locations in the future," says Dr Mountjoy.

Through many novel methods, NIWA recorded video footage and acoustic soundings of freshwater flowing out of various pockmarks in the Harbour. There are several hundred of these, the largest of which are over 100m across.

"We managed to create a detailed map of freshwater springs in the Harbour, which will be important for managing the aquifer as a drinking water resource for Wellington.

"We can start applying the techniques we used here to find freshwater leaking out of other aquifers, such as in Marlborough, Canterbury, and Hawkes Bay. These are barely understood beyond the coastline but are vitally important.

"We are at the beginning of understanding offshore groundwater systems around the world, which that might be the most important resource some countries have. The implications are huge, especially for drought prone and water scarce areas.
Pharmac is taking steps to ensure people with type 2 diabetes who take dulaglutide - branded as Trulicity - can continue to access the treatment while New Zealand experiences further supply chain issues on top of a global shortage.

Dulaglutide is a medication injected once a week for the treatment of type 2 diabetes while also reducing the risk of heart attack for this population.

We want to reassure people taking dulaglutide that we are doing all we can to make sure they can access a treatment, says Pharmacs Director, Pharmaceuticals Geraldine MacGibbon.

Since March we have funded an alternative treatment called liraglutide (brand name Victoza) which is a similar medicine to dulaglutide and there is plenty of stock available.

Were encouraging healthcare practitioners to prescribe this treatment to new patients. Liraglutide requires a different Special Authority approval from dulaglutide."

Another step we are taking is reducing the dispensing frequency for dulaglutide from three monthly to monthly from Friday, September 1. We appreciate this will mean people will need to visit their pharmacy more often.

Earlier in 2023, Pharmacs Diabetes Advisory Committee advised that prioritising available stock for those already on dulaglutide is important and that an alternative diabetes treatment needed to be available.

The new currently funded alterative, liraglutide, requires a daily, rather than weekly self-administered injection.

The supplier of dulaglutide, Eli Lilly, has advised Pharmac that more stock is on its way to New Zealand and expects it to be available from mid-September.

We are working hard to make sure people with type 2 diabetes can continue to access this important medicine and we will continue to keep a close eye on supplies, says Geraldine.
This month marks the 40th anniversary of one of New Zealands most enduring murder mysteries - the disappearance of Napier schoolgirl Kirsa Jensen.

Fourteen-year-old Kirsa went missing while riding her horse Commodore after school along the beachfront in Awatoto, Napier, on September 1, 1983.

Her disappearance sparked a large Police investigation.

She was last seen with her horse at an old gun emplacement on Napier's waterfront.

Kirsas body has never been found and no-one has ever been charged in relation to her disappearance.

Then-Detective Inspector Ian Holyoake with District Commander Kevin Ford and Commissioner Bob Walton at the gun emplacement on September 22,1983.

The file remains open and is held by Detective Sergeant Daryl Moore.

He says they still receive information about the case from members of the public two to three times a year.

Someone might think of something, or finally come forward after feeling like something doesnt sit right with them," he says. "We investigate all the information to see if it helps the case."

Three years ago, Kirsa's file, along with several other cold cases, were digitised by Eastern District Police.

Daryl says putting all the data in an investigation into the Information Management Tool saves it in one place for centralised access.

We can then easily cross-reference new information to see if it is in fact new, or links to other information we already have."

Retired Assistant Commissioner Ian Holyoake led the inquiry and from time to time visits the memorial to Kirsa at the last place she was seen. He still looks around, wondering if theres anything he missed.

Reconstruction of Commodore tied to the gun emplacement.

Ian, along with Daryl, Detective Inspector Ross Pinkham, who was OC Suspects, and other officers who worked on the case plan to meet at the memorial today (1 September) to remember Kirsa. Her mother Robyn has joined them in the past, and this year members of the Jensen family may attend.

Ian says it is a case that has really affected him.

I have never forgotten Kirsa Jensen, and I never will. I always live in hope that someone, someday will say something that will lead us to where she is, which would bring some relief and closure for the family."

Former Assistant Commissioner Ian Holyoake (right) and retired Detective Inspector Ross Pinkham with Kirsa's mother Robyn Jensen.

-Police Ten One Magazine.
Renowned archaeologist Zahi Hawass has urged UNESCO to collaborate with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on repatriating Egyptian artefacts long-housed at the British Museum.

Hawass made the appeal for the repatriation of the Egyptian artefacts at the British Museum, chief among them the iconic Rosetta Stone, in the wake of a recent revelation that around 2,000 artefacts had been stolen from the museum.

Recovery efforts for the stolen artefacts, which include gold jewellery and gems, are ongoing, said George Osborne, the museums Chair of Trustees, on earlier this week.

Hawass, a former minister of antiquities in Egypt, described the thefts as nothing short of a global catastrophe and a grievous crime against world heritage.

He asked the international community to rally behind his cause, asserting that the British Museum did not merit the honour of safeguarding these priceless antiquities.

He urged both UNESCO and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to organize an international conference to discuss both the risks of keeping valuable artefacts in the British Museum and steps to repatriate them to their rightful homelands.

Hawass has been campaigning for decades for the return of Egyptian artefacts from museums in former colonial countries.

In 2022, Hawass started a petition calling for the return of the two iconic ancient Egyptian artefacts, including the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum and the Dendera Zodiac at the Louvre Museum in Paris, to Egypt.

In 2005, during his tenure as secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Hawass lobbied for the return of five key Egyptian artefacts with the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin.

More than a stone!



The Rosetta Stone was stumbled upon by officers in the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt 1799-1801 in the Nile Delta town of Rosetta.

A major discovery of historic proportions, the stone is inscribed with a 196 BC decree scripted in hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts and ancient Greek. allowed the world to decipher ancient Egyptian language.

In 1801, a defeated French army surrendered the one-of-its-kind find to a victorious British army, who sent it to the British Museum in London.

The Rosetta Stone remains the most-visited exhibit at the museum.

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New Zealands Paul Coll has defeated Egypts Tarek Momen 3-0 in a 60-minute tussle for a place in the semi-finals of Paris Squash 2023.

Coll was measured throughout the hour-long battle with the former World Champion, with plenty of errors coming from Momens racket in the first game while Coll remained steady with some solid defensive work.

More errors from Momen in the second game were pivotal along with Coll maintaining his exemplary defensive play. Momen saved game ball to send the second into a tiebreak, but Coll converted game ball at the second attempt to round off a 25-minute game.

It was close once again in the third but Coll, whos beaten Momen 11 times from their 17 previous meetings, closed it out 11-8 to confirm his place in the last four.

I was happy with that, says Coll.

The court played a bit different to how it played the first match I played on it. The temperature is a bit colder.

It was a bit dead and I had to be careful with because you know what hes [Tarek Momen] like with his soft drops and poking it around. I was very happy to get off 3-0 without dropping a set.

The court was quite dead today so if I let him do what he wants then I was going to be in trouble. I told myself to go for it a bit more and volley it a bit more and put it in quickly when I had the opportunity I put in maybe four winners at the back of the third and that was enough to close it out.

Coll will meet World Number One Ali Farag in his semi-final overnight NZT.

Result:

[4] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [8] Tarek Momen (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 (60m)

Joelle King was also in action, giving up a two-game lead to be defeated by the USAs Amanda Sobhy in her quarter final.

Sobhy, who had only beaten King twice previously on the PSA World Tour in their 12 encounters, made a slow start to the first two games. King was impeccable and solid with her shot selection, taking a commanding two-game lead with 11-3 and 11-8 wins.

Sobhy turned the tide in a vital third game for the American, who was finding more depth in the court and having King cover a lot of ground.

Having won the third 11-6, the confidence from Sobhy was flowing while King seemed to be struggling physically. Sobhy capitalised to level the match before sealing the win with an 11-2 final game over King.

Result

[7] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [4] Joelle King (NZL) 3-2: 3-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2 (48m)
Denise Bush Villanueva del Trabuco Compartir Copiar enlace

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Tucked away in the beautiful countryside to the north of Malaga, sheltering below an impressive mountain range, is the sprawling village of Villanueva del Trabuco.

It has much in common with many rural locations in Andalucia, predominately agricultural with an unassuming populace made up of mainly Spanish with a smattering of other nationalities mixed in. However, it has now become a little more exotic with the opening of an Indonesian restaurant in an old mill in the heart of the countryside.

It was here that, only a few months ago, Charmaine Kohlbrugge, her daughter Fleur Der Meer and her daughter's partner, Thom De Jong, decided to relocate from Alkmaar in the Netherlands. Charmaine admits that her main reason was to find "a warmer climate".

Her father was a soldier in the Knil, the Dutch army, stationed in Jakarta, Java. during the Second World War, and her mother was a teacher of Indonesian descent.

His story alone is one that could be made into a film. Captured by the Japanese during the occupation, he was loaded onto a ship with thousands of other prisoners of war which was then torpedoed by the British. The Japanese were able to rescue only a few hundred men and took them to a camp in Sumatra. After his release, he returned to Java and continued to serve in the army. However this was a time of great unrest and bloodshed in the country; the Japanese had promised the Indonesians independence and believing the Dutch would regain control, Indonesian separatists began targeting the Indo-European population.

The family decided to return to the Netherlands and safety in 1958, when Charmaine was just two years old.

Although relocated in the Netherlands, her family continued to enjoy Indonesian-style cuisine and Charmaine learned the recipes and techniques from her mother. Her daughter, Fleur, also enjoyed cooking and worked in restaurant kitchens, including a Spanish-style tapas bar, while she was taking hospitality and business studies at college.

The family had visited Andalucia on various occasions and loved the area so they decided to take a big step and move to Spain to open an Indonesian-style restaurant.

Charmaine had seen an advertisement for Molino Jabonero, an old olive mill that had been converted into a restaurant in Villanueva del Trabuco, so they headed there first to take a look, their original idea being to stay just three months to look around. The idyllic location and the rustic old mill close to a small stream was perfect for what they had in mind.

Contracts signed, they had just seven weeks to move over, bringing two horses and two cats with them. Thom, who worked in the Netherlands as a student guidance counsellor, came too to be 'front of house'.

All agree that the move has been a massive culture shock: first and foremost has been the language, followed by the Spanish way of doing things. The licences, food hygiene and health and safety courses have all been completed in record time and the trio say they that have been helped enormously by the Dutch, English and Spanish in the village.

Another headache was designing a menu that would appeal to all tastes, with some 'low heat' options for those who like less spicy food. The menu changes regularly but at the moment there are mouthwatering dishes such as satay pork, spicy steamed beef and chicken in coconut and lemon sauce among many others. There are also vegetarian dishes and all are served with rice or potatoes. Desserts feature the traditional Dutch apple pie as well as a luxurious chocolate mousse.

Charmaine, Fleur and Thom may have only been in business for only four weeks but they already have great plans for the future with a menu that will change weekly and include Indonesian specialities. They are also looking into having a live music night and celebrating Halloween and Christmas by offering a special menu to attract group bookings. And when asked about how they were liking the 'warmer' climate, I think Thom spoke for us all, "I really like this climate because life is spent more outside. But the 40 degrees can be too much for me sometimes!"

Find them on Facebook. Meson Molino Jabonero
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The families of Emmanuel and Maxi, the two Argentinean friends who disappeared on Sunday 27 August when they went out paddle board surfing, are convinced that the two young men were filmed as they left Misericordia beach in Malaga, on the Costa del Sol. They have released the video taken by a tourist early that Sunday morning who was on the Paseo Maritimo in Malaga city, in the hope of keeping interest in the story and the search operation alive.

A wide-ranging search air, sea and land to try to locate Emmanuel and Maxi has so far been unsuccessful, despite the fact that it was extended from Malaga city to the border with Granada province and, since Wednesday, also to the entire area of the Alboran Sea.

However, the paddle board they were on was found at around 6.30 pm on Monday. A Helimer 207 helicopter located it from the air, verifying that it was identical to a photograph provided by the relatives. It was drifting about 15 nautical miles southeast of Malaga city, and believed to have been blown there by the strong westerly wind that blew on the day of the friends disappearance.

The empty paddle board was found on Monday. SUR

A sailing boat passing through the area recovered the board, which still had a thermos with water used for drinking 'mate', the tea beloved by Argentineans. For the authorities, it was the definitive confirmation that the paddleboard was the same one on which the two friends had set off, as both had announced to their families that they were going to watch the sunrise from the sea, sharing this drink.

Their disappearance was noted from 4pm on the fateful Sunday when Maxi did not turn up at the ice cream parlour where he works. His relatives and his bosses called him repeatedly on the phone without receiving an answer. The same happened with Emmanuel, who was on holiday in Malaga.

Emmanuel's brother, Santiago Soria, told SUR that they had only been paddle surfing for a short time  they bought inflatable boards online  and had been out to sea three or four times. The day they disappeared there were yellow (risk) warnings issued by Aemet, Spain's state weather agency, for gusts of wind of more than 50 kilometres per hour and high waves.

A search operation led by Spain's coastguard and martime rescue service, also involves the Guardia Civil and the National Police to try to locate the pair. It consists of a Helimer 207 helicopter, four boats, Frontex and Guardia Civil helicopters, and an Air Force plane.

On Tuesday 29 August, two bodies were found floating in the sea and recovered eight miles from the shore in Fuengirola, according to authorities, which said that they were the lifeless bodies of two North Africans. Sources from the investigation confirmed to SUR that they were not the two missing Argentineans.
Tainted Minjoo Party leader Lee Jae-myung began a hunger strike on Thursday, ostensibly in protest against an "inept and violent administration."

But the ruling People Power Party accused Lee of trying to divert attention from the corruption charges that are closing in on him.

At a press conference marking his first anniversary as the party's chief, Lee said, "We were unable to prevent a regressive regime from taking power and failed to stop the ineptitude and recklessness of this regime. I must take responsibility for that."

"Determined to die if necessary, I will stop the destruction of democracy," he added.

Lee's smorgasbord of demands includes an apology from President Yoon Suk-yeol for "destroying the people's livelihood and damaging democracy" and a sweeping Cabinet reshuffle. He also wants the government to take the question of Japan's discharge of wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant to the International Tribune for the Law of the Sea.
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LaFayette, N.Y.  A priest in the Syracuse Catholic Diocese has been charged with forcibly touching a minor over several years, deputies said.

Rev. Nathan Brooks, 36, of LaFayette, is accused of touching the minor between 2019 and 2021 in the town of Homer and in the city of Cortland, Cortland County Sheriffs Office deputies said in a news release Friday.

Brooks is an administrator at the Church of the Nativity at St. Joseph in LaFayette, Immaculate Conception in Pompey, St. Leo in Tully and St. Patrick Mission in Otisco.

Brooks was ordained in 2019 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse. He graduated from Bishop Grimes High School in 2005 before attending St. Marys Seminary & University in Baltimore, according to The Catholic Sun.

Brooks has been suspended from all priest duties as the criminal investigation plays out, the diocese said in a news release.

The diocese released a statement from Bishop Douglas J. Lucia:

This is distressing news, most certainly to me, and to all of you, the bishop said. As a Catholic family, we have been on a journey of trying to make amends for the great harm that was caused in the past and now we are faced with this situation.

The diocese will continue to fully cooperate with the Cortland County District Attorneys Office, he said.

The diocese said it would have no further comment.

Brooks was charged with forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree sex abuse, all misdemeanors, deputies said.

He was arraigned in Cortland County CAP Court and has been released. Hes scheduled to appear in Homer town court Sept. 5 and in Cortland city court Sept. 6.

The diocese in July agreed to pay $100 million to sex abuse survivors as part of a bankruptcy settlement.

The diocese filed for bankruptcy days after 38 people filed lawsuits against the diocese alleging sex abuse by priests.

The settlement is the second largest sex abuse payout by a Roman Catholic institution and its affiliates in any Roman Catholic bankruptcy case, according to a law firm that represents over 120 sex abuse survivors in the Syracuse diocese.

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, NY  St. Josephs Hospital Health Center has reimposed a mask mandate for all emergency patients and visitors as state health officials monitor an uptick in Covid-19 cases.

The Syracuse hospital joins Upstates University and Community General hospitals as the biggest Central New York hospitals to require large-scale masking in the past several weeks. Upstates masking requirement, announced Aug. 17, extends beyond emergency rooms to all clinical areas of its two hospitals.

In addition, Oswego Hospital and Auburn Memorial Hospital have also reimposed mask mandates, according to their websites.

As of Friday, neither Crouse Hospital nor Syracuses Veterans Administration hospital have reimposed mask mandates, spokesmen for those two hospitals said.

St. Josephs mask mandate applies only to its emergency department for now. Emergency department employees must wear N95 masks, while patients and visitors must wear standard surgical masks, spokesman Jamie Arnold said.

Patient and staff safety is our top priority and we are monitoring the situation closely to determine the best course of action, Arnold said.

Even though testing data has not shown a significant spike in Covid-19 cases, hospitals are reporting more Covid-19 cases in recent weeks. Most people dont test for Covid-19 anymore, so infections are not routinely reported. Theres also an increase in Covid-19 found in wastewater, including around Syracuse, according to state data.

Even so, infections have not reached levels seen in previous spikes and Syracuse hospitals still have enough capacity to handle Covid-19 patients, according to state data.

Theres also a new variant of Covid-19 that is causing concern due to its potential ability to avoid protection from vaccines. The BA.2.86 variant has been confirmed in several states, though not yet in New York.

Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-6070.
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This guest column is from Cynthia Saarie, a cannabis advocate and CEO of All SEO Copy Agency. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of NY Cannabis Insider.



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Dear Governor Hochul,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express my concerns regarding the current policy that prohibits the consumption of cannabis and tobacco products within the NYS Fairgrounds. While I appreciate your intentions to protect individuals under the age of 21 from exposure, I believe that the current treatment of cannabis industry dispensaries and growers at the NYS Fair is inequitable and discriminatory.

The principle of equality is fundamental in ensuring that all industries are treated fairly and justly. I believe the current policy unfairly targets the cannabis industry while allowing the alcohol industry to operate without similar restrictions. I understand that the safety and well-being of young individuals are paramount, but a more balanced approach could be employed to achieve the desired outcome.

If alcohol, beer, and wine can be served in various tents across the fairgrounds, I urge you to consider implementing a similar system for cannabis products. Creating a designated area, cordoned off from minors and overseen by age verification measures, would ensure that individuals of legal age can enjoy these products responsibly while preventing access by those under 21. This approach would promote fairness and equality among all industries at the fairgrounds, although I believe this idea would not be acceptable to beer and wine vendors.

It is important to note that the cannabis industry has the potential to contribute significantly to the states revenue through taxation. By allowing legitimate cannabis businesses to participate fully in events like the NYS Fair, you could tap into a new source of revenue that would benefit both the state and local communities.

I understand that this issue is complex, and decisions must balance the interests of various stakeholders. However, I believe that equitable treatment of all industries at the NYS Fairgrounds would be just and economically beneficial.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my perspective. I hope that you will review the current policies and work towards a solution that embraces fairness, equality, and the best interests of New York State.
Join NY Cannabis Insider for our next full-day conference on Sept. 21 at the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery in Buffalo. Tickets will sell out.

This guest column is from Cam Nichols, founder of InTegridy Farms in Rotterdam. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of NY Cannabis Insider.

When it was announced that New York would legalize cannabis use, I remember an air of excitement. Everyone I knew who loved the plant still felt a slight discomfort about it publicly, but the inherent shame that so many associated with cannabis use began to lift.

We started to feel like just another part of the family, or friend group, or society  rather than these outcasts. Fast-forward to Aug. 26, 2023, and we were sitting in a plaza in Brooklyn, and being a cannabis consumer was the norm rather than the exception. It was a place where people of all different backgrounds got together and shared only one true common denominator across the board, the love for cannabis and/or the industry.



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That event was special. The Revelry Block Party at Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn really highlighted what I believe to be the most important aspect of the beauty of this industry as it is currently operating. There was a massive sense of community among individuals who again represented so many backgrounds and histories but were brought together by this passion for one common thing, and were finally able to celebrate that out in the open here in New York State.

Every courthouse event I went to, I didnt see 100+ individual people. I saw a family (which is ironic, because later an incredible human intending to open a dispensary in Albany took me under her wing and explained to me how they were a family).

Christine Richardson proceeded to invite me out to lunch, and we developed a pretty good working relationship that I have never found in corporate America. This gave me so much hope. I saw an industry that truly operated like a family. An industry that operated on mutual respect and a sense of loyalty, rather than corporate politics and cut-throat tactics. We stayed in touch and still do to bounce industry things off one another. She also picked me out of the crowd at the second hearing and invited me to tour some farms. She is truly just a warm and kind soul. I am grateful for her and her friendship, and for that reason I consider her a personal hero within this industry. Each one  Teach one

At the second hearing, I ran into Shanduke McPhatter. I had done some research on him after a quick Instagram conversation, and really admired what Shanduke stood for. Although he had a troubled past by his own admission, he decided to take his lifes work and turn it into a nonprofit to help local children find a path to a better life. His nonprofit organization still hasnt received a dispensary license, which is a whole other discussion. Point being the passion and reasoning behind Shandukes aspirations for a dispensary are nothing short of incredible and heartwarming. He truly is a local hero to his community. THAT is someone who deserves to open a dispensary and help spread that generational wealth throughout their community.

At the same hearing, I also met another entrepreneur who will remain unnamed. We didnt have a ton of time to go into his history, but I could sense a man who wanted nothing other than to provide for his family and create generational wealth through legitimate means to provide for his daughter. A recent Instagram post solidified my thoughts on him. In the post, he seemed to admit that he has learned many lessons in his life, some that maybe he wished he didnt have to learn. Lessons he wants to protect his daughter and other children in their community from having to learn by helping that same local community come up. Again, another local hero.

Coss Marte. I havent chatted personally with Coss, but I understand his mission and I admire it. Convicted felons can have a tough time finding employment after prison, and Coss is trying to give those disadvantaged individuals a way back into the system that cast them out. A leg up with a chance to earn a reasonable income and work your way back into society.

I have heard so many stories like this, and I believe that getting each persons story out there would be nothing but beneficial. I believe in all of the people I listed earlier, and I believe in the CAURD program as a whole. I wish I could just list off every single person that has met me with nothing but warmth, even as they are literally having their livelihoods dragged through the mud on a daily basis. I do not understand how, but I applaud the way these individuals have maintained their public composure while still radiating positivity and kindness to others.

This extends to brands as well. I would be doing some a disservice if I didnt also recognize the loyalty there in this industry. The kind of collaboration taking place among small business brands is incredible. Colin over at 7Seaz (@7seazco) and HeadyTree (@HeadyTree) have also been incredible teachers. Both have shown nothing but kindness and being so willing to teach and pass on knowledge Even some larger brands have been nothing but kind in my experience in this industry, but Rove is an incredibly involved brand within the cannabis community.

They have all helped me significantly in my personal journey, but have also really made an effort to engage with the community. That is not normal corporate cannabis.

The farmers markets demonstrate this perfectly. We have processors, cultivators, and several brands all attending and running the same events in collaboration. I do not believe that will be the case if we allow big cannabis to enter this market before the social dynamic of the industry has a chance to develop.

Where else are you going to find that? Where else can you have that sense of loyalty and comradery? Corporate America is ruining this country. Look at the songs that are hitting #1, and it demonstrates this exact point.

One other point I wanted to bring up and make super clear, because I dont think this is understood: This is the definition of corruption and corporate greed. These lawsuits are stopping the market from opening up at the intended rate, creating surpluses of product. This is causing pain to local farmers who were promised the Green Rush and are now sitting on tons of product that they are unable to sell because the market is so skinny with so few dispensaries open and operating. This is bottlenecking the supply chain.

This also means that price competition will eventually need to happen amongst all smaller brands, processors, growers, and distributors to compete with the larger brands entering the market. This will lead to a consolidation of power in the cannabis industry, and only the players with the largest amounts of money will be able to survive (MSOs and massive state players, or brands that partnered with very large state players).

The state promised these individuals a chance, and many of them took significant action with their own money to begin creating their dream. That chance is now seeming to fade from reality, and many of these individuals just no longer have the energy. It is heartbreaking to see. It is also not just these individuals finances that are at play, it is YOUR tax dollars. These programs were funded through your tax dollars, and there is fear the programs will not survive without your help, and the true reason it is all happening is simple. Corporate Greed.

TLDR: All of the smaller businesses that started with people investing their life savings will likely be priced out of the market because the first chance they were promised was a complete flop and larger brands will come in and work with larger processors and drop the prices, making it incredibly difficult to be profitable.

Please come help us protest for the rights of these individuals who have invested so much time and personal money, along with your tax dollars.

Help us tell Corporate America, enough is enough and this is our industry to have for now. These tax dollars are going back into OUR communities.

Next Cannabis Control Board Meeting:

Tuesday, September 12, 2023 @ 10:15 A.M.

Empire State Plaza Convention Center

Meeting rooms 2 & 3

Albany, NY 12242

Pre-Register to attend the meeting

Submit written public comment for the meeting

Read the meeting notice
One of Central New Yorks most disturbing crimes took place on this day 27 years ago.

Carol Ryan, 42, was found naked and severely wounded on Sept. 1, 1996 by a local fisherman in the driveway of the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency in Jamesville, across the street from the reservoir.

The fisherman ran to a nearby security office to call 911. Carol was rushed to Upstate University Hospital and underwent emergency surgery, but her injuries were too traumatic. She died five hours after she was found.

Carol had been wounded in a horrific way: Someone had inserted an explosive device into her vagina and detonated it.

Her murder remains unsolved.

However, police have investigated several persons of interest in this case, former and current Onondaga County sheriffs told syracuse.com. Some have died. But at least one main suspect is still alive. He is living outside of New York state.

A batch of long-stored evidence could still yield results with advancements in forensic technology. Investigators have resubmitted samples to the Onondaga County Center for Forensic Sciences in hopes of finding a DNA match.

Shawn Hamilton is the only son of Carol Ryan, who was murdered on Sept. 1, 1996. Her homicide was never solved. This is something that no family should ever have to go through, Hamilton said. (Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.com)

She loved to dance

The New York State Fair brings back bittersweet memories for Carols only son, Shawn Hamilton.

One of his last memories with his mother was attending a Jethro Tull show together at the Fairs Grandstand, five days before she was attacked. He still has the concert ticket stub.

I still remember that day like it was yesterday, Hamilton told Syracuse.com. She just looked at me that day with, you know, with pride in her eyes.

Carol loved rock music and loved to dance. Bob Seger, Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd were some of her favorite performers.

She liked to have a good time, Hamilton said. Most of the time at the bar, you wouldnt find her at the bar, youd find her on the dance floor. Even if she was the only one dancing. There wasnt a shy bone in her body. Shed dance her soul out.

The last time Shawn Hamilton spent time with his mother Carol Ryan was at the Jethro Tull concert at the New York State Fair on Aug. 27, 1996. Five days later, she was attacked and killed. Her homicide was never solved. (Provided photo)

Hamilton was 25 when Carol died. He speaks to his children about their grandmother and keeps photos of her around his home. He keeps one photo of Carol next to his coffee pot -- ensuring the first thing he does every day is say good morning to his mother.

This is something that no family should ever have to go through, Hamilton said.

Carols case is one of a handful of unsolved homicides in the Onondaga County Sheriffs Office. Sheriff Kevin Walsh led the department when it happened in 1996.

The case remained cold throughout the tenures of three different sheriffs in Onondaga County: Kevin Walsh, Eugene Conway and Toby Shelley. They all still believe this case can be solved.

Syracuse.com interviewed each sheriff about Carols case.

A file photo of Sheriff Kevin Walsh, photographed on Oct. 31, 2002, by Li-Hua Lan of The Post-Standard.

Sheriff Kevin Walsh

In 1996, Kevin Walsh was two years into his career as Onondaga County Sheriff when Carol Ryans murder shook the Central New York community.

One of the first things Walsh remembers about the case was that Carol was still alive when she was found.

It was a very heart-wrenching case from the start, Walsh told syracuse.com. Im still praying that sooner or later, well have a solution.

Walsh said the only regret he had about Carols case was that his department didnt have the technology in 1996 that they have today.

We barely had knowledge of DNA in those days, Walsh said. We certainly didnt have the specificity of DNA testing that they can do today. The big hope is that, with ever-improving technology, we may be able to really pin it down in the future.

Walsh remembered how Carols only son, Shawn, helped investigators seek justice for his mother. He distributed posters and worked tirelessly to ensure her death was not forgotten.

I cant really have many comforting words at this point, Walsh said. I know hes been through a lot. Im praying Shawn will be able to get the satisfaction of knowing that his mothers killer is either no longer with us or is put behind bars.

Walsh retired in 2014, after 20 years as the county sheriff.

Sheriff Eugene Conway is photographed on July 21, 2022 before his retirement. The 27-year-old unsolved case of Carol Ryan was one case he never forgot. Carol Ryan was found near death along Route 91 across from the Jamesville Reservoir on Septt. 1, 1996. An explosive device was detonated inside of her, and a suspect has never been identified. (N. Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.com)

Sheriff Eugene Conway

Former Onondaga County Sheriff Eugene Conway was the captain of the Criminal Investigations Division in 1996.

He vividly remembers the case of Carol Ryan, and said many details still bother him.

I have never forgotten September 1, Conway told Syracuse.com. To me, its unfinished business.

Conway said a major challenge of the investigation was an imperfect outdoor crime scene. Carol was found alive, so emergency professionals had to rush her from Jamesville to the hospital. Potential evidence on or around Carols body couldve been lost during the transport.

Some of the evidence may have been compromised or actually may be even lost, Conway said. Its not criticism, its just the situation that youre presented with... Hindsights a wonderful thing, but medical aid treatment is always first. And then you deal with what you have later.

Another big challenge for investigators was witness memory. Many witnesses who saw Carol at the bars the night prior had also been drinking.

Obviously, you have alcohol and you have people having their abilities impaired to recall things, Conway told Syracuse.com. Those are real things that work against you.

Carol spent her last night alive at the now-shuttered East Room bar in Eastwood. (The building now houses Sinbad Restaurant, a Middle Eastern eatery.)

She stayed until it closed at 2 a.m. and left the bar alone, Conway said.

Witnesses saw Carol walking on James Street, alone, after 2 a.m. She was wearing a silver shirt, black jeans, black boots, silver jewelry, and a black jacket with fringe.

About four hours later, she was found fatally wounded near the OCCRA site off Route 91. Her clothes, shoes and silver necklace were never found.

Detectives had to identify Carol using her fingerprints.

Is this person, or people, responsible for other cases like this? Conway said. Them getting away with it obviously really eats away at me.

Conway retired as sheriff in 2022 after 45 years in law enforcement.

Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley in his office at the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department in Syracuse, N.Y., May 17, 2023. (N. Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.com)

Sheriff Toby Shelley

Sheriff Toby Shelley remembers Carol Ryans murder in 1996. He was a young patrol deputy then, posted in the towns of Geddes, Camillus, Elbridge and part of Van Buren.

Last November, Shelley was elected as the new Onondaga County sheriff.

The sheriffs office hasnt forgotten this case by any means, Sheriff Shelley told syracuse.com. Its an extensive case to review. To leave a person on the side of the road in the condition she was in... Who does that? What type of mind does that?

Detectives chased down hundreds of tips and conducted multiple interviews with the same leads, to fact-check statements and narrow down persons of interest.

A few hot leads early in the investigation were eventually ruled out.

Theres still hope with it, Shelley said. Part of the challenge is what little bit of DNA can be tested might be a one shot deal for testing.

Shelley plans to launch a new cold case unit in the sheriffs office this fall to focus on cases like Carols.

This one has solvability still, Shelley said. If that killers still alive, it sure would bring satisfaction to bring them to justice. If I knew who did this, Id go out and put cuffs on em.

Alexander Hebert took over as the lead detective on Carols case in 2021.

Were doing everything that we can, following every lead that comes in, Hebert told syracuse.com. It really comes down to the science behind physical evidence left on scene.

Last summer, Hebert resubmitted a pack of evidence and DNA samples from Carols case to the Onondaga County Center for Forensic Sciences.

I definitely think theres a potential suspect that will eventually be brought to justice when this testing hopefully gets done, Hebert said. Ideally, we would be able to find the person before they pass, and hold them accountable for their actions.

Shelley said the pack included fingernails and other evidence. No matches have been found, as of mid-August 2023.

But Hebert says the DNA retesting has not been completed.

They do a great job over there, but its just a slow-moving process, so it can be frustrating, Hebert said. This is my front-seat case, but the lab has to prioritize different things.

DNA analysis at the Onondaga County Center for Forensic Sciences. Wednesday, Aug 3, 2022. (Katrina Tulloch | ktulloch@syracuse.com)

No statute of limitations

Murder is a Class A felony in New York with no statute of limitations.

If alive, Carols killer could be convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

William Fitzpatrick was the Onondaga County District Attorney in 1996 when Carol was murdered, and he is still the DA today. He is deeply familiar with her case.

My confidence is diminished by the sands of time, but my earnestness is not diminished at all, Fitzpatrick told syracuse.com in 2022. This is a case that just screams out for justice.

Fitzpatrick said its unlikely the main suspect will come forward himself. He said Carols case will most likely be solved using new advancements in DNA technology, or using new details provided by the public.

But the promise of DNA technology doesnt mean much to Carols son anymore, who has waited 27 years for a break in the case. He has heard that line over and over from detectives.

Ive been living on this DNA stuff for so long, and theres still nothing after all this time, Hamilton said. Theyre refusing to tell me anything at all. I dont know what to believe anymore.

Its like a never-ending nightmare.

How you can help

Your information, no matter how small, could help solve this case.

If you have any details about this case, contact the Onondaga County Sheriffs Office at 315-435-3051. To submit an anonymous tip to the Sheriffs Office, text TIPONON and your tip to 847411.

The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com continue to investigate Carol Ryans case. If you have information to share about Carol, call reporter Katrina Tulloch at 518-810-5022 or email ktulloch@syracuse.com.

Reporter Samantha House contributed to this story.

Katrina Tulloch shoots videos and writes news stories for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact her anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 518-810-5022

More coverage on Carol Ryans cold case

 Carol Ryans cold case: Horrific Syracuse murder remains unsolved 26 years later

 After 20 years, CNY womans brutal murder remains unsolved
NEW YORK (AP)  Those attending outdoor parties or barbecues in New York City this weekend may notice an uninvited guest looming over their festivities: a police surveillance drone.

The New York City police department plans to pilot the unmanned aircrafts in response to complaints about large gatherings, including private events, over Labor Day weekend, officials announced Thursday.

If a caller states theres a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, were going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party, Kaz Daughtry, the assistant NYPD Commissioner, said at a press conference.

The plan drew immediate backlash from privacy and civil liberties advocates, raising questions about whether such drone use violated existing laws for police surveillance

Its a troubling announcement and it flies in the face of the POST Act, said Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, referring to a 2020 city law that requires the NYPD to disclose its surveillance tactics. Deploying drones in this way is a sci-fi inspired scenario.

The move was announced during a security briefing focused on Jouvert, an annual Caribbean festival marking the end of slavery that brings thousands of revelers and a heavy police presence to the streets of Brooklyn. Daughtry said the drones would respond to non-priority and priority calls beyond the parade route.

Like many cities, New York is increasingly relying on drones for policing purposes. Data maintained by the city shows the police department has used drones for public safety or emergency purposes 124 times this year, up from just four times in all of 2022. They were spotted in the skies after a parking garage collapse earlier this year and when a giveaway event devolved into teenage mayhem.

Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, has said he wants to see police further embrace the endless potential of drones, citing Israels use of the technology as a blueprint after visiting the country last week.

But as the technology proliferates, privacy advocates say regulations have not kept up, opening the door to intrusive surveillance that would be illegal if conducted by a human police officer.

One of the biggest concerns with the rush to roll out new forms of aerial surveillance is how few protections we have against seeing these cameras aimed at our backyards or even our bedrooms, said Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP).

The NYPD did not respond to an email seeking further information about its drone policies.

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Mayor Adams shared a link to new guidelines that make it easier for private drone operators to fly in the city, but which do not address whether the NYPD has any policies for drone surveillance.

Around 1,400 police departments across the country are currently using drones in some form, according to a recent report from the American Civil Liberty Union. Under federal rules, they are generally limited to flying within the operators line of sight, though many departments have requested exemptions. The report predicted the use of drones was poised to explode among police departments.

Cahn, the privacy advocate, said city officials should be more transparent with the public about how police are currently using drones, with clear guardrails that prevent surveillance overreach in the future.

Clearly, flying a drone over a backyard barbecue is a step too far for many New Yorkers, Cahn said.
Seoul Paik Hospital, one of the biggest hospitals in downtown Seoul, closed its doors for the last time on Thursday after 82 years of tending to the sick.

The board of directors of operator Inje University decided in June to close the hospital, which has been losing vast amounts of money.

On Thursday the lobby was teeming with people trying to get their medical records before the closure, though the hospital said it will continue issuing them for the time being.
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Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,742 Thanked: 17,500 Times

USA: Chicago city sues Hyundai & Kia over the rise in vehicle thefts due to lack of immobilisers



Reports state that the Circuit Court of Cook County has filed a lawsuit against Kia Corporation, Kia America, Hyundai Motor Group & Hyundai Motor America, after they failed to equip their cars manufactured in the USA, between 2011 and 2022 with immobilisers. The city of Chicago wants the court to levy fines, make the car brands pay for the damages and issue an injunction to prevent them from advertising that their cars come fitted with key safety features.







The city of Chicago is said to have witnessed 21,425 car thefts last year, 41% of which were Hyundai & Kia models. This is despite them accounting for just 7% of the total cars on local roads. This year, the number of thefts is already up by 100% from what they were this time last year & models from the two South Korean car brands account for 50% of the cars stolen.



Mayor Brandon Johnson said, "The failure of Kia and Hyundai to install basic anti-theft prevention technology in these models is sheer negligence, and as a result, a citywide and nationwide crime spree around automobile theft has been unfolding right before our eyes."



The city also stated that with Hyundai & Kia cars being "entry-level models", the thefts are mostly impacting the low-income residents of Chicago. Further, concern also arises that the stolen cars can be used to commit other crimes like armed robbery or reckless driving.



Kia has released a statement mentioning that the lawsuit is "without merit". The carmaker stated they have introduced software updates to rectify the issue and also offered free steering wheel locks to over 19,000 owners.



Source:



Link to Team-BHP news According to media reports, Chicago has sued South Korean car brands Hyundai and Kia in response to the steep rise in vehicle thefts across the city.Reports state that the Circuit Court of Cook County has filed a lawsuit against Kia Corporation, Kia America, Hyundai Motor Group & Hyundai Motor America, after they failed to equip their cars manufactured in the USA, between 2011 and 2022 with immobilisers. The city of Chicago wants the court to levy fines, make the car brands pay for the damages and issue an injunction to prevent them from advertising that their cars come fitted with key safety features.The city of Chicago is said to have witnessed 21,425 car thefts last year, 41% of which were Hyundai & Kia models. This is despite them accounting for just 7% of the total cars on local roads. This year, the number of thefts is already up by 100% from what they were this time last year & models from the two South Korean car brands account for 50% of the cars stolen.Mayor Brandon Johnson said, "The failure of Kia and Hyundai to install basic anti-theft prevention technology in these models is sheer negligence, and as a result, a citywide and nationwide crime spree around automobile theft has been unfolding right before our eyes."The city also stated that with Hyundai & Kia cars being "entry-level models", the thefts are mostly impacting the low-income residents of Chicago. Further, concern also arises that the stolen cars can be used to commit other crimes like armed robbery or reckless driving.Kia has released a statement mentioning that the lawsuit is "without merit". The carmaker stated they have introduced software updates to rectify the issue and also offered free steering wheel locks to over 19,000 owners.Source: CarScoops Last edited by RahulNagaraj : 30th August 2023 at 16:38 .
A hot potato: Look! Up in the Sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a police drone spying on our backyard barbecue? For New York City residents celebrating the Labor Day holiday this weekend, this could be a very real scenario.

The New York City police department has announced plans to put drones in the sky this holiday weekend to monitor backyard parties that could get out of hand.

"If a caller states there's a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, we're going to be utilizing our assets to go up and go check on the party," said assistant NYPD Commissioner Kaz Daughtry at a recent press conference.

Naturally, the admission attracted the attention of privacy and civil liberties advocates who questioned if the department's plans violate existing laws governing surveillance in the area.

"Deploying drones in this way is a sci-fi inspired scenario," said Daniel Schwarz, a technology and privacy strategist with the New York Civil Liberties Union. It is a troubling announcement, Schwarz added, that flies in the face of the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act.

In its unmanned aircraft systems (UAS): Impact and use policy from 2021, the NYC police department said drones would not be used in areas where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy without a search warrant, except in exigent circumstances. Are backyard parties really all that pressing?

Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), shared similar sentiments. "One of the biggest concerns with the rush to roll out new forms of aerial surveillance is how few protections we have against seeing these cameras aimed at our backyards or even our bedrooms," Cahn noted.

As the Associated Press highlights, drone use by NYC police has increased exponentially this year. City data reveals that drones were used for public safety or emergencies just four times in 2022. So far this year, they have been deployed 124 times, and that figure is sure to rise over the looming holiday weekend.

The issue is not limited to New York City, either. According to a July 2023 report from the ACLU, more than 1,400 police departments across the US are already using drones. Most are not allowed to operate drones beyond their visual line of sight although some departments have filed for and been granted special exemptions, which allow them to carry out drones-as-first-responder flights.

Image credit: Adika Budiman, Mario Cuadros
In a nutshell: Meta might be gearing up to pilot ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram in the European Union. Insiders have leaked that the social media giant plans to offer subscriptions to its two platforms to remove ads and keep users' data confidential.

Three anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times that Meta will soon roll out subscription plans for EU Facebook and Instagram users. The subscription prices are unknown but would allow paying users to keep their data confidential. The move is in response to recently enacted EU privacy laws and policies targeting social media. Meta hopes that offering Europeans a paid alternative will be enough to keep officials off of its back. However, regulators may still view the ad-based versions as being too intrusive.

Since Meta is using the options to placate EU governing bodies, it will likely not offer subscriptions in the US, but you never know. Lawmakers in the US talk a big game about privacy, but it doesn't seem like they do much about intrusive social media advertising or internet scraping. Congress has held multiple hearings over the years, particularly after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but has taken minimal action.

Unsurprisingly, Meta declined to comment on the leak.

Although it is not the first time a social media website has offered a subscription, it is a big move considering Facebook and Twitter's size. As of August 11, Facebook had over 2.9 billion monthly active users. Likewise, Instagram users totaled 2.35 billion. These numbers are global counts, but we can still get an idea of how much Meta stands to earn from paid accounts if only a minimal percentage takes up the offer.

The EU is comprised of 450 million people across 27 countries. Suppose only a third of the population (150 million) opt for subscriptions, and Meta conservatively charges $10 monthly for a Facebook/Instagram bundled subscription. That's a potential $1.5 billion monthly revenue stream. It's a far cry from the $7.3 billion per year that Meta makes from advertising in the EU, but that's not going entirely away.

If past hoaxes about Facebook charging users are anything to go by, most users will balk at paying for Facebook and Instagram and stay on the ad-supported version, privacy be damned. Plus, these are just rough conservative guesstimates. Current subscription trends swing a Facebook/Instagram bundle more toward the $15-per-month mark. Rest assured that Meta's beancounters will have the subscription tiers dialed in to limit advertising losses as much as possible.
Google Maps is reportedly testing out a brand new color palette for its background map layer. In seeing the latest changes, one can't help but notice that the new color scheme makes it more similar to Apple Maps.

Google to Change the Color Setting of Its Google Maps App to Make It More Similar to Apple Maps

According to 9to5Google, the new changes would cause the color of water, which is blue, to become lighter than it used to be with a little bit of green added. That, in itself, already makes it very similar to what Apple Maps offers.

If users live near the ocean, lakes, or other water locations, the changes would be more noticeable since the color will be more vibrant.

The Yellow or Beige Color Used to Highlight Busy Areas Will Still Remain in the New Color Palette

As explained by the outlet, in the opposite direction, Google has decided to make nature areas a darker green as some places would become blue.

It will reportedly be applied to parks, forests, and other locations. As for the roads, a new gray color is a huge change compared to the previous white. Freeways will be in dark gray instead of yellow, which Apple already applies to its Apple Maps.

It was also reported that the yellow or beige colors would still be used when highlighting busy areas. However, the changes won't be applied in the dark version as the Google Maps tones and palettes would be the same, which is reportedly darker compared to the Apple Maps version.

Other Places of the UI Show a Darker Shade of Green, But the Changes Might Not Stand Out That Much

It was reported that in other places of its UI, the directions use green but in a much darker shade, which will be applied to the most important information. However, 9to5Google noted that the changes didn't seem to stand out that much.

Although the color tweaks might not be as massive as before, it was reported that Google Maps still looks different compared to the past version. The update when it comes to water and roads had the most changes when compared to Apple Maps.

Read Also: YouTube Music Gradually Launches Updated Design for 'Now Playing' Tab, You Can Add Comments

No Official News Has Been Given As to When the Changes Will Roll Out to a Wider Audience

According to reports, the new Google Maps version comes with what was described as a "short Material 3 bottom bar" but has no dynamic color. As highlighted by 9to5Google, there are many reports about the new changes rolling out today on Android, but it was not widely available on any device.

So far, the new changes could still be in the testing phase. Google is likely preparing it for a wider launch. However, it remains unknown when this will happen or if the changes will become official as Google makes its colors more similar to those of Apple Maps.

Related Article: Elon Musk Teases Job Listing Feature for X to Substitute 'Cringy' LinkedIn

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President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit Indonesia and India next week to attend the ASEAN and G20 summits, the presidential office said Thursday.

His first destination will be Jakarta, where he will meet Korean expats and then take part in ASEAN meetings. On Sept. 6, he will attend the Korea-ASEAN Summit and the ASEAN+3 Summit with China and Japan, where he will lay out his vision for cooperation between Korea and the 10-member bloc.

The East Asia Summit (EAS) follows the next day.

On Sept. 8 Yoon meets with Indonesian President Joko Widodo to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and takes part in a business seminar along with around 40 CEOs from major companies in both countries.

He then travels to New Delhi for the G20 summit, where he is expected to explain Korea's proposals for the global climate crisis. Yoon also hopes to drum up support from other leaders for Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030 -- a tall order after the recent debacle of the World Scout Jamboree.

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend the G20 summit, so there will be no meeting between the two leaders.
New research presented at the British Academy of Management 2023 conference reveals that consumers are equally inclined to purchase products endorsed by AI-created models as they are by human influencers.

According to TechXplore, this study indicates the emergence of a novel form of marketing led by AI influencer models, potentially reducing the reliance on human influencers.

AI Models Advertise Prominent Brands

The study's researchers, Dr. Abida Ellahi and Main Shakeel Ahmad from the Abbottabad University of Science and Technology in Pakistan, examined online videos advertising products from prominent brands like Versace, Dior, Samsung, and Gucci on Instagram.

These advertisements featured AI-created models known as Noonoouri, LilMiquela, and Imma. The researchers analyzed the comments left by viewers on the web pages beneath these AI model advertisements and compared them to the comments on similar ads featuring human models.

The results revealed that 78% of comments posted on Instagram below the AI advertisements were positive, with 17% being neutral and 5% negative. In contrast, the figures for advertisements featuring human models stood at 75%, 19%, and 6%, respectively.

Commentators frequently used words like "love," "beautiful," and "gorgeous" when discussing the AI models, who resemble humans but are unmistakably non-human.

Ellahi, speaking at the British Academy of Management conference at the University of Sussex, emphasized the emergence of a new category of influencers in the marketing landscape, the AI-created model.

She pointed out that there were no clear differences in terms of follower engagement or liking between AI and human models, suggesting that consumers are equally willing to follow influencers who use AI or those who are human.

"This shows that consumers might be as willing to follow an influencer who uses AI or a human being," Ellahi said in a statement. "This implies that AI influencers can function in a manner that is fundamentally comparable to that of human influencers."

Read Also: Users Hold AI Responsible for Outcomes Despite Serving as Tool in Decision-Making, Study Reveals

Are AI Models Similar to Human Influencers?

This insight indicates that AI influencers can function similarly to human influencers, a significant finding for the marketing industry.

Ellahi also speculated that, in the future, marketing departments could create AI models tailored to appeal to specific target audiences for each product.

The study highlights the potential benefits of AI influencer advertisements, as they can offer brands more personalized and cost-effective marketing strategies.

While AI influencers can effectively showcase innovative products and foster positive brand perception, an overreliance on AI models might raise authenticity concerns. The research suggests that a blend of human and AI models could be the most effective approach.

This study challenges the notion that consumers find AI models increasingly unsettling as they become more human-like. It indicates that AI models can play a crucial role in marketing, providing brands with opportunities for targeted and personalized marketing campaigns.

Related Article: US Copyright Office Launches Public Comment Period on AI and Copyright to Address Key Questions

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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North Korea has been staging a command post exercise to practice occupying South Korean territory in an all-out war, state media said Thursday.

The drill seems to be a computer-simulated war game rather than a field exercise. It is the first time the regime has publicly announced such a drill.

The announcement came in an apparent response to the joint South Korea-U.S. Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise that had been conducted from Aug. 21 to Thursday.
Reactions have been mixed to the government's decision to designate Oct. 2 as an extra public holiday to make this year's Chuseok holiday last a whole week.

The travel and retail industries as well as many small businesses welcomed the long holiday that is likely to put some money in their pockets, but small and midsize manufacturers are worried about the long disruption to their production.

The announcement resulted in an immediate spike in travel bookings.

According to Very Good Tour Thursday, 361 people booked overseas trips starting Sept. 29 or 30, up a whopping 99 percent from a week earlier. Travel bookings at Hana Tour also jumped 24.6 percent.

Department stores, superstores and duty-free shops have kicked off sales promotion. A Lotte Department Store executive said, "We're planning a big post-Chuseok sale as we expect that the number of customers will likely double during the Chuseok holiday."

An E-mart executive said, "We expect that there'll be a large number of customers who'll come to shop at their leisure after visiting their ancestral hometowns."
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A right-wing networks phone interview with Donald Trump went so poorly that social media users are speculating the voice on the line was an AI impersonator.

Real Americas Voice aired an exclusive interview with the former president on Thursday - but it didnt exactly go to plan.

The 17-minute call with hosts John Soloman and Amanda Head was plagued by consistent cut-outs as the stiff voice purported to be Mr Trump shifted dramatically.

When Real Americas Voice shared a clip of the interview on X, users were quick to speculate that Soloman and Head had been duped by a prank caller or a fake, artificially intelligent version of Mr Trump.

A fringe, far-right tv news network tried to pass off a fake AI Trump tonight to their viewers as a legitimate interview with the disgraced former president, William Legate wrote.

LOL/BREAKING: Real Americas Voice fooled by Trump Impersonators Voice, broadcaster Keith Olbermann said.

This sounds more like a prank caller than like Trump, what on earth? John Hasson said.

Uh.. either this is a prank call or President Trump is not doing well. Whats going on with his voice here? GOP communicator Matt Whitlock added.

Mr Soloman, however, was insistent that nothing nefarious was afoot.

Its not AI, it was President Trump, Mr Solomon told The Daily Beast.

You can call the staff and check with them yourself. It was definitely President Trump without any doubt, he added.

Mr Solomon said that he had organised the interview with Mr Trumps aides, outlined the issues that would be discussed with his staff, and that he called them at the right location.

But on Friday morning, The Daily Beast senior media reporter Justin Baragona tweeted an important update on this story.

Real Americas Voice is now saying that the person claiming to be owner Robert Sigg, who told our reporter that he would be investigating whether the network was duped by a fake Trump interview, is not Sigg, he said.

The apparent update came after Mr Trump shared a clip of the interview himself on Truth Social just after midnight on Friday, writing: Crooked Joe Biden is the most incompetent President in history, and hes the most corrupt President in history

In an emailed statement to The Independent on Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for Real Americas Voice insisted that it was indeed Mr Trump on the air, providing his customary insights and wisdom for our millions of viewers.

Referring to the comments that The Daily Beast initially reported as being from Mr Sigg, the Real Americas Voice spokesperson said it was a fake quote that The Daily Beast never received from our network.

The Independent has reached out to The Daily Beast for comment.
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. All opinion articles written by individuals from outside the staff of EL PAIS shall feature, along with the authors 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

When one thinks of medieval sex, images from classic movies tend to come to mind: John Boormans Excalibur, where a sexy Morgana Le Fay (Helen Mirren) in a breastplate seduces Arthur, Sir Gawain (Liam Neeson) and Merlin; Adso the novices (Christian Slater) first time with Valentina Vargass peasant girl in The Name of the Rose; the torrid relationship between the Norman Chrysagon de la Cruz (Charlton Heston) and the maiden Bronwyn, who captivated Cirlot, in The Warlord; Eric (Tony Curtis) tearing Janet Leighs dress so she would row better in The Vikings.; and the student Heron of Foix (Assi Dayan) and the noble Claudia (Anjelica Huston) consummating their (free) love in a deserted abbey amid the jacquerie in the rapturous A Walk with Love and Death, a curious mixture of marxism and hippie culture (it was released in 1969).

For better or for worse, some recent films  Kingdom of Heaven and The Last Duel come to mind  have probably made us reflect on what Middle Age sexuality was like. In the former movie, the amorous encounters of Balian of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom) with the Orientalized Sibyl of Jerusalem (Eva Green) were a paean to the fusion of cultures, while the violence that the latter movie radiated, in which the contest seemed to begin in bed, made one think that people always wore armor during the medieval period, even when they were at home.

In reality, we only have vague and contradictory ideas about sex in medieval times. Thats why British historian Katherine Harveys book The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages is so interesting. Harvey begins by debunking some persistent myths about sex in the Middle Ages, such as beliefs that medieval times resembled a Game of Thrones-like anything goes scenario; that the period was defined by the droit du seigneur (as in Warlord); or that it was governed by the chastity belt (which calls to mind Monica Vitti in On My Way to the Crusades I Met a Girl Who. In the scene, she sits down in a rage with a clanging sound after her husband  who is leaving to join the Crusades  puts the contraption on her. But the historian also warns that it would be a mistake to believe that Europeans between 1100 and 1500 had sex in the same way we do, even if sex is a universal human impulse. While the human body and its physical capabilities have not changed much over the past millennia, she argues that there have been significant transformations in how people view, understand and experience sex.

One fundamental distinction is the medieval tendency to emphasize active (implicitly male) and passive (female) sexual roles. Sex was something that men did to women. That doesnt mean that the medieval woman was just expected to lie on her back and think of England, although it was significant that the man did the penetrating while the woman was penetrated. In fact, sex between women was only considered to be sex if one of them used an object to penetrate the other. Other forms of sex between women were legally unknown, and it appears that many people did not really understand what they could do with each other.

An image from 'A Walk with Love and Death'

Back then, people knew less about sex than we do now. These days, we have the internet. In the Middle Ages, men had yet to discover the clitoris (they found it during the Renaissance period). Apparently, people masturbated very little during the Middle Ages; there is almost no evidence of it (although one cannot imagine Ivanhoe or Richard the Lionheart talking about such things).

Other sexual practices that are relatively commonplace today are similarly absent from the historical record, indicating that they were very rare during the Middle Ages. Harvey notes that there are no traces of oral sex in the documents. It may be that it seemed especially repugnant to a society that associated the upper body with God and morality, while the lower body was linked to filth and sin. To put the mouth in direct contact with the genitals was to defile an organ [the mouth] made for better things. It is possible that a lack of hygiene played a role here. It seems that interfemoral intercourse  sex with the penis between the womans legs but without penetration  was very popular. That method, however, was frowned upon in homosexual male sex: in 1357, Nicletus Marmanga and Johannes Braganza were sentenced to death at the stake for engaging in the practice.

A medieval sex scene on a fresco from Piedmont

Informed by Roman Catholic Christianity and Galenic medicine, medieval sexual knowledge was concerned about questions such as whether Adam and Eve had sex in paradise, whether she menstruated before the Fall, and whether he had wet dreams. These werent minor issues; they were of great concern to the abbess and scholar Hildegard of Bingen and especially to St. Augustine, who believed that all sex was sinful, and that orgasms made you stupid. The obsession with (female) virginity was such that the mystic Margery Kempe thought only of being a virgin, despite having birthed 14 children. However, from a health perspective, it was thought that some sex was good for a woman. According to the medieval theory of humors, women were cold by nature, and sex provided a woman with warmth. Defloration was a critical moment. Women were subject to virginity tests, and women devised ingenious methods to bypass them, such as putting leeches in their vagina the day before the wedding to deceive their husbands with the flow of blood that night.

If properly performed, marital sex was not considered an obstacle to salvation; wisely, it was understood that total abstinence would mean the end of the human race. But there were certain rules people needed to obey. For instance, men had to avoid excessive effort during sex; that was considered adultery with ones own wife. Women had to comply with their marital duties and could only refuse sex in certain cases, such as when the husband was crazy, to avoid having intercourse in a sacred place (if one had sex in a church, one had to re-consecrate it), or when the husband wanted to commit sodomy. If a womans husband was crazy and wanted to take her from behind in a church, the law supported her decision not to participate. However, if a womans husband was a leper, she had no excuse for not meeting his sexual needs. The concept of marital rape did not exist in the Middle Ages.

Janet Leigh, in The Vikings

Harvey notes that the confluence of all these ideas must have caused many women to suffer. For example, the author cites a special dispensation to remarry that Pope Alexander III gave one man after he hurt his wife so badly on their wedding night that she was rendered permanently unable to have sex again.

Surprisingly, penalties for sexual violence did exist in the Middle Ages, but, as Harvey emphasizes, they were not widely enforced. For example, in many jurisdictions, rape was punishable by death. However, there are no known cases of any Englishman being executed for that crime during medieval times. In fact, marriage between the rapist and the victim was regarded as a good solution.

Medical theory considered women to be defective men. Menstruation was seen as disgusting and dangerous, but menopause was even worse; it was widely believed that bad substances remained in the body after womens periods ended. For its part, semen was associated with brain matter.

Magic was thought to make men impotent, a matter the authorities took very seriously. Indeed, in 1390, two Parisians, Margot de la Barre and Marion la Droituriere, were sentenced to be burned at the stake for rendering the latters former lover useless with his new wife.

Jean Bourdichons 'Bathsheba Bathing'

People generally believed that women could only get pregnant through sex in the missionary position. It was commonly suggested that a man should stay on top of the woman for at least an hour, even if he (or she) was bored. Women were believed to produce a seed when they orgasmed. Common wisdom in the Middle Ages held that men and women needed to climax almost simultaneously (ladies first) for conception to occur.

More interesting positions during sex could cause physical defects in the babies; some circumstances could even cause a woman to give birth to a toad. Sex with the woman on top and sex from behind were regarded as particularly egregious positions; the latter was associated with animals. Women who had twins were believed to have been with two men. Sometimes, adultery was punished with severe penalties, including death.

In the early Middle Ages, bestiality was considered a minor crime, the equivalent of masturbation. But as the belief in witches and their dealings with the devil in the form of an animal became official thought, sex with an animal came to be both a sin and a crime of heresy. At that point, it was customary to execute both the sinner and the animal.

For example, Harvey cites the interesting case of a Venetian artisan who was accused of having carnal relations with his goat. To mitigate his guilt, the man claimed that an accident had left him unable to have intercourse with a woman or masturbate. A team of doctors examined him, while a judge authorized two prostitutes to perform a number of experiments on him. Between them, they concluded that he could get erections but did not feel anything from them. He was declared to be a sodomite with extenuating circumstances. He was branded, bludgeoned and had a hand cut off but escaped the death penalty. Harvey notes that the fate of the goat is unknown.

Medieval Europe had clear ideas about feminine beauty: among the desirable features were blond hair, fair skin, rosy cheeks, a small red mouth, long limbs and a narrow waist. Although some have suggested that the bosom was purely maternal, evidence shows that people saw breasts in sexual terms: the aesthetic ideal was small, round, firm breasts. For example, Bathsheba - with whom King David committed adultery after he saw her bathing - represented the periods ideal of female beauty; she was depicted with those characteristics. In contrast, an ample bosom gave women a bad reputation. Medieval medical texts explain methods for reducing breast size, such as rubbing it with blood from piglet testicles, but they never offered strategies for becoming more buxom. Additionally, evidence shows that medieval women wore undergarments that made their breasts appear smaller.

An image from 'The Last Duel.'

The ideal man was tall, strong, well-proportioned and pale-skinned. Hair was considered a sign of virility to such an extent that some men wore false beards and few shaved. It was generally assumed that women liked well-endowed men, and literature is replete with ladies obsessed with male genitalia.
The St. James Solar farm in Vacherie collects the rays of the sun and turns them into power for the New Orleans area on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The Sulphur area could become the home for a $244 million solar farm, according to filings with Louisiana Economic Development.
Alena Maschke writes for The Acadiana Advocate as part of a health collaborative with The Current, supported by the Schumacher Family Foundation, Pugh Family Foundation, Pinhook Foundation and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana. Email her at alena.maschke@theadvocate.com. You can read her work at thecurrentla.com and theacadianaadvocate.com.
Companies are pressing people to come back into the office, but it is not all-or-nothing, said Mokhtarian, the professor. Theyre not saying, You need to be here five days a week, or even, You need to be here eight hours a day. That 9-to-5 straitjacket is gone. Loading Hend Alhakam, who dispatches vehicles for a company near Detroit, goes to the office every weekday. But she leaves at 3pm to pick up her 10-year-old son from school. She finishes the day remotely, sometimes pulling over on the highway to answer an email or take a call. That is an arrangement she says would have been far less likely before COVID-19 upended long-held norms. As a single parent, it can be difficult to manage my time, to fit in everything I need to do in one day, Alhakam said. But the pandemic opened this door that we, as employees, did not even know was available. More fluid work schedules are also reshaping transportation patterns by pushing the morning rush later. Fewer people are commuting between 5am and 8am than they were in 2019, while the proportion of people hitting the road after 9am has picked up, according to an analysis of INRIX transportation data by Nicholas Bloom and Alex Finan at Stanford University.

Its not just that people are travelling less, its that theyre spreading out their travel, said Bloom, an economics professor. If you want to take a morning call from home and go in a bit later, pre-pandemic, people would make jokes, asking whether youd been out late drinking, but now its completely fine. As a result, weve reduced peak loading on freeways and public transport. Were reducing congestion, which is a very good thing. But just because people are swiping in later or heading home earlier does not mean they are working less. Instead, white-collar employees with hybrid schedules are increasingly working around-the-clock and on weekends, according to a 2022 study. On average, professional and business services employees worked 36.5 hours a week in July, up from 36.1 hours four years ago, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists caution that it is especially difficult to capture the effect of hybrid work on productivity, especially with so many employees working from multiple locations in a single day. Even so, overall labour productivity in the US rose at an annual rate of 3.7 per cent in the second quarter, the fastest pace of growth since 2020, the data shows. Annie Tsai, chief operating officer of Interact, a software company in San Francisco, said its 11 employees work at all hours of the day or night, depending on what works best for them. Tsai, who has two children, sometimes spends the afternoon painting murals at her sons school and catches up on work after bedtime.

I truly do not mind logging into work after my kids go to sleep, Tsai, 44, said. What I do mind, though, is someone judging me for having to take my kid to a doctors appointment at 2 oclock. Theyre not saying, You need to be here five days a week, or even, You need to be here eight hours a day. That 9-to-5 straitjacket is gone. Patricia Mokhtarian, Georgia Institute of Technology The number of people who work from home tripled between 2019 and 2021 to an all-time high of nearly 28 million workers, according to US census data. In all, about 1 in 3 private-sector workers telework at least sometimes, US Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows, but they also tend to be the highest-paid office workers. Now, as white-collar employees reacclimatise to the office, it has become clear they want the option to work around their personal lives. In a survey of desk workers worldwide, 93 per cent said they wanted to set their own hours, compared with 81 per cent who wanted location flexibility, according to a February report by the Future Forum, a consortium led by workplace communication platform Slack. No more late nights in the office: As white-collar employees return to the office, it has become clear they want the option to work around their personal lives. Credit: Paul Rovere

Working parents are generally leading the charge, according to Benjamin Granger, chief workplace psychologist at data analytics firm Qualtrics. After working from home during the pandemic, often with little childcare, many parents have begun prioritising school drop-offs and pickups, as well as other obligations. Most employers, Granger said, have so far been happy to accommodate them. The pandemic changed a lot of peoples expectations about what flexibility actually means, he said. And now companies are having to shift their approach to keep up. But some employers are starting to push back against the notion that workers can flow in and out as they please. Loading Last month, after several failed attempts to get people back into the office, Redfin chief executive Glenn Kelman implemented new rules: Corporate employees must show up for a full day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It was an uncomfortable decree, he said, but a necessary one if the company were to preserve its tradition of collaboration and free-flowing gatherings. What we were trying to avoid is a drop in, where someone comes in for a few hours, has lunch and goes back home, he said. Im not one to take attendance or mark people for tardies, but we really want people to settle in and do their work here.

Kelman insisted he is not keeping tabs on employees but also said he believes the plan has generally worked. People come in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and crucially, stick around even after chowing down on free lunches of tacos, sushi or fried chicken. We didnt do this because we thought everyone was secretly going to Disney World during the workweek, Kelman said. We just felt our culture wasnt working as well as it could have. But of course, if you have a dentist appointment at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, or a parent-teacher conference, by all means, go. Loading These new patterns in work hours are changing the equation for downtown businesses that rely on the rhythm of office workers. As workers settle into new commutes, their spending habits change accordingly: They are grabbing their morning coffee later, or their post-work beers earlier. The shift in hours worked in the office portends a broader change in the way people think about work, particularly in the tech industry, where free meals, lavish game rooms and an arsenal of around-the-clock snacks and drinks were meant to keep workers in the office at all hours. Now those perks have lost their lustre, with many employees realising they would much rather eat and play video games and yes, work, at home.
Graham is among a group of activists, ecologists and environmental groups who believe that having promised to deliver a Great Koala National Park the new Labor government is overseeing a massive ramp up of logging within its boundaries before it is created. Some even believe the state-owned logging agency Forestry Corporation NSW is deliberately targeting the most critical conservation areas first for fear that they will soon be locked out due to Labors commitment to combine and link a series of state forests and national parks critical to the survival of the koala around Coffs Harbour. The tempo, the scale, the intensity of logging has all ramped up since labor was elected. It is a pillage. Its a smash-and-grab operation by a loss-making Crown corporation. They are jamming boiled lollies in their mouth as they bolt down the street, say Graham, who feels let down by Labor. When I see the destruction [of forests] at Moonpar, Boambee and Orara East, I feel outraged. I feel indignant. I feel angry, I feel ripped off. I feel deceived as somebody who advocated for a change in government, with a view to there being fundamental reform in the management of the public forest estate, and in particular, as somebody who really, really wants the Great Koala National Park to be made.

Graham is one of many activists who want to see an immediate moratorium on logging within the boundaries of the proposed park, and a plan to end native forest logging in NSW, bringing the state into line with Western Australia and Victoria. Loading Not surprisingly Andrew Hurford, a third-generation timber miller whose family business owns four mills in the north of the state, disagrees. Closing public land to the state-owned Forestry Corporation would not end demand for a product that is already in short supply, says Hurford, who also serves as president of the industry group Timber NSW. There is a whole value chain there of the local engineering services, transport, fuel chainsaw maintenance, etc, etc. All those things would disappear, I guess. And yeah, the community would be a little bit poorer for it.

Dr Brad Smith, acting chief executive of the states largest conservation group, the Nature Conservation Council describes Forestry Corporation as a rogue agency. Theres a clear risk here that Forestry Corp has an economic incentive to flatten those koala forests which are most likely to be protected. Forestry Corp knows this national park is coming, and were concerned it is ramping up operations within the park boundaries to extract as much timber from it as possible. According to an NCC analysis based on Forestry Corps online portal, over the coming year 165 compartments (around 30,000 hectares total harvest area) of state forests in the proposed Great Koala National Park are in the logging schedule. In the 2021-22 financial year, 34 compartments were logged within the GKNP proposal area and 2020-21, only 16 compartments. This means Forestry Corporation NSW plans to log three times more compartments of state forest within the proposed Great Koala National Park over the next year than they did over the last two years combined, says Smith.

The NSW government committed to protecting koalas by creating the Great Koala National Park, but Forestry Corps plans to log nearly 20 per cent of the park completely undermine this good intention. Its nonsensical to trash the forest before its protected. The Great Koala National Park proposal was developed by leading scientists, ecologists and local environmental groups, including the National Parks Association, who identified the most important areas of koala habitat in NSW. All of these areas need to be protected if we are to ensure the survival of koalas in the wild. Koalas are in a perilous position on the east coast of Australia. Credit: Wolter Peeters Greens MP Sue Higginson, a former environmental lawyer, says it is telling that under the previous government, which had no policy to support a Great Koala National Park, critical forests like those at Newry and Oakes remained untouched, but are now being hit. Labor maintains it never promised to declare a moratorium on logging as it went about the process of community consultations before the park is declared.

Higginson doesnt buy the line. I think you really are looking down the barrel of political failure there. I dont think anybody thought the government meant when it said it was going to create the national park that would actually mean that its going to log the heart of it first. Asked if logging was increasing inside the boundaries of the proposed park, Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said, Saving koalas from extinction with the creation of the Great Koala National Park is Labors largest single environmental election commitment. Penny Sharpe says Labor is working to establish the koala national park as soon as possible. Credit: James Brickwood I understand some people are very concerned about the impact of current harvesting operations. The government is working to address those concerns and get the park established as soon as possible. Agriculture Minister Tara Moriaty said, When it comes to logging and the timber industry, I am working with my colleagues, my departments and stakeholders to get the balance right, she said. We need a truly sustainable timber industry in NSW, as well as strong protection for crucial habitat.

Former NSW Labor environment minister Bob Debus says the apparent targeting of key conservation zones is happening elsewhere in the state too. I share the perception that the Forestry Corporation is operating strategically to move into areas that have the highest conservation value and therefore most likely to be removed from the forest estate by new state government policies, says Debus, now chair of the group Wilderness Australia. As an environment minister for 12 years, Bob Debus has a long acquaintance with Forestry Corp. Credit: SMH He believes that Forestry Corp, and the Department of Primary Industries that is responsible for it, do not share the conservation priorities of the Department of Environment and Heritage. I have had a long experience of the forestry agency, and it has never been a happy one. I believe they see their role as to extract as much timber as they possibly can, and they are more indifferent to other values altogether.

They are now century-old organisations that began at a time when there was simply no idea of nature conservation, where they were set up to exploit a natural resource. I think they carry their history with them. Loading Debus says he fully supports the policy of the current Environment Minister, Penny Sharpe, to establish the new national park, and he is impressed with the way the states environment watchdog, the Environment Protection Authority, issued a stopwork order on Wednesday evening over logging in a forest just south of Canberra after an endangered greater glider was found dead within 50 meters of logging operations. But he says even if the government does not declare a general moratorium in the boundaries of the proposed park, it should order Forestry Corp to end logging in critical habitat zones as work continues on its creation. The situation is particularly dire at present, he says because so much of the states forests were destroyed in the Black Summer bushfires. On Crown land where native forest logging continues there is a competition between the industry and surviving animals for the large old stands of tall trees that provide the best habitat and the best wood resource to fulfil Forestry Corps contracts to provide wood to the millers.

Forestry Corp said in a statement on Friday: There has been no increase in Forestry Corporations timber harvesting operations on the north coast. An annual plan of operations is published on our website. Some operations on the plan have been brought forward because others have been suspended before completion; however, this has not changed the area and volume to be harvested. The volume of timber committed in supply contracts on the north coast is well within the independently verified level which can be sustainably harvested and regrown. The Black Summer fires have made it harder to source timber from state forests. Credit: Getty Images Timber supply on the north coast has been lower than contracted over the past two years due to extreme wet weather and flooding impeding access to the forest. Forestry Corporation is currently supplying in line with its commitments. Forestry has long been contentious in Australian native forests. Both the Coalition and Labor are divided on the issue. When some Liberals have sought to rein in the industry in NSW, Nationals have rebelled. Labor faces opposition from unions.

Under pressure from activists and after fires obliterated much of the states timber, the Victorian government brought forward an end to native forest logging in that state to December this year, following a similar decision by Western Australia. Loading What frustrates opponents of the industry so much is that native forest logging now runs at a loss in NSW  taxpayers are effectively being charged to cut down their own trees. The economic and scientific evidence demonstrating the poor viability of native forest logging is overwhelming, says David Cross, director of the free market think tank the Blueprint Institute. In the last two years alone FCNSW has sustained losses in its hardwood division of $28.6 million. Contrary to the NSW governments claims, FCNSW has endured long periods of financial losses well before the Black Summer bushfires that contributed to these losses. Between 2010 and 2014, the hardwood division [hardwoods are extracted from native forest logging, softwoods from plantations] lost $55.8 million. Nor is the industry a significant employer, according to a Blueprint analysis.

According to the latest census data, the percentage of people employed in the forestry and logging sector [which includes activities related to forest management, growing and harvesting] within the relevant local government areas is between just 0.1 per cent and 1.4 per cent. The corresponding figure for people directly employed in wood product manufacturing [which includes those working in sawmills] is between 0.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent. FCNSW only has about 235 employed directly in its hardwood division. Suggestions that native forest logging contributes almost 10,000 full-time positions to the economy are provably false. The Victorian government has brought forward the end of logging in native forests. Blueprint estimates that if hardwood logging was ended tomorrow the NSW taxpayer would benefit to the tune of $260 million, or should the government provide transition support to workers, around $40 million. Naturally, the industry disagrees. An EY report commissioned by the North East NSW Forestry Hub, an industry body, estimates that total jobs supported by the broader industry and the economic activity it supports to be 8900. It estimates the total contribution of northern region logging to the state economy to be around d $1.8 billion in gross revenue.

Hurford says most Crown forests are protected from logging, and of the 12 per cent that is only 0.3 per cent is logged each year. (The NCC challenges this figure, saying it only includes the amount of canopy lost, not the impact to the forest around nor the bulldozed through the forest to reach the trees; and it does not reflect that each area logged takes 50 or more years to recover.) Hurford adds that Australia already faces a shortage of hardwood, which is used in construction, for fencing and phone poles, for furniture and floors and for woodchips. I see what happened in Victoria as tragic, he says. There are companies down there that were producing a high-quality product [like] glue laminated post beams for high-rise buildings and sporting stadiums, and theyre now importing the timber to continue. Hurfurd and the activists agree that the government should be doing more to support the expansion of hardwood plantations, but says that even if there was sudden expansion of them it would take 40 or 50 years for them to mature. He adds that without logging the government would have to pay to care for state forests without forestry income.

This might once have been the case, but it ignores the growing value of carbon trading, in which industry must buy carbon credits to offset their excess emissions, says Cross. The reality is that even when a small operating profit is turned, it is far more profitable to conserve native forest and use it for carbon sequestration and tourism. I havent spoken to a single economist who does not think that we are logging an asset that is about to exponentially grow in value. Either way activists remain determined to kill the industry. Dailan Pugh, a veteran activist with the North East Forest Alliance, explains that across legal challenges to the various exemptions to federal environment laws the industry relies upon are being heard or awaiting judgment.

Should some or all succeed the impact might be profound, which is where that dead sugar glider comes back into the story. Loading One of the reasons the Victorian industry was eventually closed was because citizen scientists proved the state loggers were not properly protecting greater gliders. The failures cost VicForests millions of dollars in fines and access to forests it needed. As the legal challenges wind their way through the courts, the NCC is about to ramp up the pressure by announcing the creation of Breachwatch, a network of volunteers trained and equipped to monitor, record and report evidence of Forestry Corp breaches. All the opponents of industry who spoke for this story are convinced that it is in terminal decline in its current form. What is less clear, says Cross, is how much more habitat it will take with it.
Now that Im back in Melbourne a couple of nights a week, my kids come over for Thursday dinners cooked by mum. We squash into our flats sitting room for bread, beetroot dip and a glass of wine, then have pork sausage pasta in the kitchen. When the gang heads home, I wash dishes and sing daggy songs, rapt to have adult children.

Two weekends ago was a farewell party for our god-daughter Maisie, off to Wales to become a doctor. The afternoon was a blur of heating quiches with Maisies Oma and reminiscing with her parents about shared Sorrento summers back in the day. Lovely.

Harry and Meghan promote the Invictus Games last year. Credit: AP

Last Saturday, my daughter Sadie was concussed in a roller derby final. Chris and I saw the hit via a live feed on a laptop in a Hobart bar. Sadies dad was in the stands with my parents. We swapped texts. Ill make sure shes safe, he said. Minutes later we saw him in the background, ducking off to check on our girl and get coffee for his ex-in laws.

Family. How unreal is it? Not always linear and neat, but with deep roots that anchor us and make us belong together in our little tribes, built through community and friendships as much as shared bloodlines.
Making new friends is often considered one of the most difficult parts of the adult experience. As such, its become a common topic of conversation when it comes to friendship.

But after more than a decade of reading about the delicate art of making new friends, Ive found that much of the advice shared in magazines, books and articles has turned stale. The common advice  to take up a hobby or strike up a conversation in the office kitchen  now feels akin to wellness stories that simply tell you to get more sleep, drink plenty of water and wash your face before bed. At a certain point, obvious advice begins to feel redundant.

Sophie McIntyre launched Club Sup after hosting dinner parties with friends. Credit: Chris Hopkins

Modern friendships have modern issues. Sports and hobbies cost both money and time. And as physical workplaces change, so do the relationships that once existed within them. For many reasons, a significant chunk of the most regurgitated friendship advice no longer cuts it  and young people are now lonelier than ever.

Thankfully, modern issues can also have modern solutions.
Of all the industries struck down by the global pandemic, few suffered as big a hit as aviation. In 2020, with airlines having to ground most of their fleets, the financial losses for the aviation industry worldwide rapidly escalated to an eye-watering $355 billion. In a frantic bid to keep airlines afloat, governments were forced to step in to stem the flow of red ink. It did not come cheap.

The American government handed over nearly $50 billion to US airlines, while the Singaporean government gave $15 billion to its local carrier in return for an equity stake. In Australia, the Morrison government provided a $4.4 billion lifeline to the industry, with an additional $1.2 billion in JobKeeper payments. Securing more than $2 billion, Qantas was, by a healthy margin, the largest recipient.

Alan Joyce has struggled to defend Qantas reputation. Credit:

At the time, it made economic sense. The aviation sector contributed about $20 billion to the Australian economy. Qantas share price had plummeted by more than 60 per cent as the full impact of the pandemic became apparent. Most of its planes were flown to the Californian desert for long-term storage. The company was in free fall.

How times have changed. In a remarkable turnaround, just over a week ago outgoing Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce unveiled a record profit of $2.47 billion on the back of increased fares and cost-cutting. With the share price having rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels, shareholders were happy.
The image that opens this article is a work by Sandra Gamarra, 41, a Peruvian artist who has lived in Madrid since 2002 and will be featured in the Spanish pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale in 2024. It will be the first time this commission goes to a person who was not born in Spain. This piece is part of the series Querian brazos y llegamos personas [They wanted arms and we came as people] (2020), which using the caste painting  a genre typical of colonial art in Latin America, which sought to illustrate miscegenation among Spaniards, Indigenous peoples and Africans  as a starting point. The Lima-born Gamarra has a solid international trajectory. She highlights the characters arms and fruit species, in an allusion to the material objectives of colonial domination. The artist confesses to being surprised that these themes continue to create a stir. We are all immersed in this coloniality, our way of life depends on the production of raw materials and labor force from other countries, which we pay for with progress, the same [thing] that has brought us to the current climate crisis, for example. It causes discomfort, of course, because we thought we were doing well, Gamarra says in an e-mail.

The works that Gamarras art recreates belong to a set held by Spains National Museum of Anthropology, which is engaged in some soul-searching after announcing the removal of human remains from a public exhibition. Last May, there was also a change in leadership at the Museum of America, founded during dictator Francisco Francos regime to extol the concept of Hispanic culture. The new director, Andres Gutierrez, has announced his intention to reformulate the collections in order to offer a broader and more critical view of Spains relationship with Latin America. In 2022, when Minister of Culture Miquel Iceta wondered how to decolonize a museum, he may not have suspected that the answers would begin to follow. It is incredible, for example, that an exhibition of the Baroque painter Juan de Pareja has not yet been held here and the Metropolitan Museum of New York has had to do it, in what will surely turn out to be one more neocolonial operation, explains Sergio Rubira, a professor of Art History at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. It is evident that here it is uncomfortable to point out that there were enslaved people during the Golden Age, which has been constructed as a myth.

Diego Velazquezs Portrait of Juan de Pareja. Alamy

The exhibition of Pareja, a Moorish artist who was a contemporary of Velazquez, is an example of the constant re-reading process, which involves thinking about art history today. It seems clear that, in Spains case, settling accounts with the colonial past is an unresolved issue. But it isnt the only one. In 2023 it is impossible to think of museums ordered and closed in aeternum, as Manuel Borja-Villel knew well. During his time at the helm of the Reina Sofia Museum, Borja-Villel drastically rearranged the collection to give greater visibility to gender and different political discourses. There are many unresolved issues, and some that are considered to be resolved are not, Rubira adds. Thats obvious in the case of female artists. There are still group exhibitions in which they are either not included or are a minority, and there are museums where individual exhibitions of women artists are not planned and women curators are not called in.

In the latest edition of ARCOmadrid, over half of the works that the Ministry of Culture acquired for the Reina Sofia were done by female artists. Among them was a piece from the series Cuanto rio alla arriba [So much river upstream] (2020), by Asuncion Molinos Gordo, one of the young creators who best articulates the ethical crossroads at which contemporary art finds itself. Indeed, that piece is a nod to the water issue in rural communities in both Spain and Latin America; as such, it was part of Abundant Futures, the exhibition that TBA21, Francesca Thyssen-Bornemiszas foundation, showed at the C3A in Cordoba last year.

One of the pieces from Asuncion Molinos Gordos 'Cuanto agua alla arriba' (2020). Cortesia de Galeria Travesia Cuatro

In any case, these are not recent problems; they are part of the very genesis of contemporary art, the origin of which is usually dated back to the 1960s, as Tania Pardo, advisor to Plastic Arts of the Community of Madrid and deputy director of CA2M Centro de Arte 2 de Mayo in Mostoles, Spain, explains. That art was already a response and a convulsion that catered to minority movements, the second wave of feminism, gender issues, racial movements, LGTBI and social progress, notes the curator. She highlights the role of creators when it comes to questioning dominant narratives. Art must generate more plural and egalitarian discourses and pay attention to and restore everything that has been left out of the hegemonic discourse, she adds. Hence, the effort and interest in paying attention to movements rooted in popular culture, in issues related to racial, decolonial and gender [themes] [and] discourses centered on class consciousness, functional diversity, ecofeminism and education. There is not one scene; there are several.

If we had asked art aficionados about the most representative works of Spanish art from the 1990s, they probably would have mentioned Miquel Barcelo's cyclopean paintings. Today, however, few doubt that the work of Pepe Espaliu, a gay artist who narrated his experience of HIV through performances, sculptures and works using different techniques, is as relevant in Spain as that of Felix Gonzalez Torres internationally. Curator and former gallery owner Joaquin Garcia Martin  whose own gallery recovered Espaliu's forgotten works and who exhibited Cuestion de ambiente [A Question of Environment], a show dedicated to Madrids sexual diversity in the 1920s at CentroCentro (Madrid, Spain)  knows this issue well. In the case of sexual dissidents and women artists, their current presence is the result of a lot of work, as well as the enormous quality of their work, which has managed to break down that barrier, he points out.

In other countries, this reclamation work has taken the form of initiatives like New Yorks Museo del Barrio, which includes the Latino and non-white presence in U.S. art. Would something similar be possible in Spain? Are there large groups that are systematically forgotten? These international institutions respond to places with a strong migrant presence, which is a relatively recent phenomenon in Spain. But that doesnt mean they didnt exist [here], and we have to recognize what there was and see what we can do with it, explains Garcia Martin. But, he says, before discussing their place in museums, detecting them must be the priority. We dont know what all those gender-dissident, women and migrant artists were doing. Its like a DNA chain with missing pieces because they have been hidden from us. First we have to investigate who these people were [and] what became of them and their work. But before that we have to find them, because their existence has been denied to us.

A 1990 portrait of artist Pepe Espaliu. Frank Martin, en deposito en el Centro Pepe Espaliu de Cordoba

Curator Chus Martinez  whose impressive career includes work at renowned contemporary art museums like Frankfurters Kunstverein, the Museo del Barrio, Kasels Documenta and, for years now, Basels Institute Art Gender Nature (FHNW)  addresses those gaps. As to the question of whether we are leaving communities out, the answer is always yes, she replies. For example, the Roma communitys cultural production is very understudied, maybe not in music or film, but in the visual arts, she adds. That said, I think that in Spain we have generally done our homework well. There is a lot of awareness of the need to recover, pay attention and achieve coherence that may even be greater than in other countries. It is a path on which we must always continue.

The rewriting continues: as the voices of the first generations of people of Asian-, African-, Arab- or Latin American-descent raised in Spain have been heard in recent years, historians are trying to recompose the puzzle of Spanish society with the missing pieces. The CA2M in Mostoles has dedicated exhibitions to textile art, feminism, migration-related themes and the roots of inequality. Manuel Segade, the director until June 2023, when he begins his appointment as director of the Reina Sofia Museum, is used to dealing with complexity. The challenge of contemporary art museums is the same one we have in society: not so much inclusion but rather achieving the co-participation of those who seem marginalized. Representation falls short; we must do work to allow each community to access the cultural production of its own story, without forcing [the action, like]a ventriloquist for the other, he wrote a few weeks before the start of his new appointment.

Chus Martinez agrees with this idea. We have artists from several generations around us, and we must understand what theyre doing, how theyre doing it and the contexts in which theyre doing it. And [we have] to weave other types of narratives that are not reduced to exhibiting them because they have not been exhibited, or doing a book because they didnt have one. We need a more complete explanation of what it means to tell our stories. Sandra Gamarra concurs; sometimes an exhibition is not enough. I think different communities are increasingly visible, but perhaps what is still needed are spaces that can be created, organized, directed by those communities, not to become totally absorbed and create ghettos, but because I think there are different ways to organize that are equally important for action beyond exhibiting their work, the artist explains. In this context, it seems logical to think that the unfinished business of art is also the unfinished business of society itself. Beyond the works exhibited, we have to think about the people who work in museums and the positions they hold, Segade says. We can find migrants or racialized people working in the halls, but it is still rare to see them working in the exhibition or collection departments.

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Police believe a car driver made an error, causing a collision with a truck at a notorious intersection, which claimed the lives of four people on the Hume Freeway near the Victoria-NSW border on Wednesday.

The car and the B-double truck crashed into each other just before 10.30am on Wednesday near Chiltern, about 30 kilometres west of Wodonga.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said on Friday the victims were two married couples in their 70s, all from central NSW.

They had stopped in Chiltern for a coffee break as they were driving to Melbourne to see family. The crash occurred as they continued their journey.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Tony Badawi used to meet a handful of Melburnians experiencing homelessness, mental illness or drug dependence each morning outside his little cafe on Spencer Street and give them a coffee and sandwich. He felt for people sleeping rough, especially when it was cold. A few often huddled in a parking area near the Spencer Outlet Centre, rubbing their hands together in the morning frost. Tony Badawi inside his Spencer Street cafe, Coffee Rush. Credit: Wayne Taylor It was a daily communion of respect between neighbours of a nascent community near Southern Cross Station, the manifestation of a $700 million experiment and vision to convert the area from commuter corridor to destination. Loading But now Badawi is more cautious. One day, someone broke his tables. Then his son was attacked. Their window was kicked in by someone he suspects was experiencing a mental health episode. They can go from zero to 100 in three seconds, he says, walking down Spencer Street outside Coffee Rush. He thinks the community should be helped, not feared. They need someone to look after them. They cant be left on the street.

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His experience isnt unique. What was a fledgling city community has fractured  broken by existing inequality exacerbated by the pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis, and government support that has dried up. Business occupancy in the area has dropped, especially inside the station. Shattered windows litter the street-level shops. Traders have installed metal cages and perspex panels to stop kids grabbing lighters and running off. Outside, people who sleep rough orbit the station, as tourists lug suitcases out of the SkyBus terminal, trams ding pedestrians, fanatics pass out brochures of obscure religions, and a speaker amplifies the distorted lyrics of a busker. Police respond to an incident on Spencer Street on August 31. Credit: Darrian Traynor The Age has spent the past week speaking with traders, not-for-profits, social workers, station management and town planners. The unmistakable view of many is that, almost 20 years since the station was completed, the grand plan for the Spencer Street precinct is on the precipice of failure. When tourists step foot in the CBD for the first time, fresh from a bus or train that arrives at Southern Cross Station, they are met with a landscape which, despite being on the Hoddle grid, feels bleak and culturally arid. The problems that accompany declining amenity are compounded by a nebulous and at times inconsistent vision which has rendered the area unimpressive and desolate.

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Its the worst thing they can see, says a trader who doesnt want to be named. I get quite depressed about it because its the worst thing they can see, for Melbourne. Despite the best efforts of multiple generations of city planners and politicians, the precinct has never become the major attraction visionaries had in mind. It remains a place people are never going to, only passing through. On the edge The area of Spencer Street with the most pedestrian traffic is book-ended by Melbourne landmarks. At the top, on the La Trobe Street intersection, sits Victoria Police headquarters and the Melbourne Assessment Prison (nicknamed The Map). The shopping outlet runs the length of the street, culminating at the undulating roof of Southern Cross Station. Cohealths Danny Jeffcote says its common for people when they first become homeless to gravitate towards public infrastructure. People new to the street seek out community, familiarity and proximity to social services. Train stations are an obvious and sensible choice given that homeless Melburnians are victims of crimes at a higher rate than the mainstream population: theyre well-lit, have CCTV and are safer.

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Cohealth, a community health service, has seen client contacts triple in just 12 months, and observed that recipients are often presenting with complex health needs, reporting histories of family violence and childhood trauma, drug addiction and chronic mental health conditions. In July 2022, their street team made contact with 100 people sleeping rough. By June this year, that figure was above 300. Loading Youve only got to walk through the streets of Melbourne to see it, says Jeffcote, who runs the City Street Health program, where staff roam the city helping people sleeping rough. We put a lot of effort during the pandemic into offering hotel accommodation to protect people  Now that weve come out of that, some people are returning to the streets. The state government ran the Homelessness to a Home program, which helped some transition into permanent housing, but many fell through the cracks.

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Everyone deserves safe and stable housing  and were working closely with specialist agencies to support and provide housing to people who are at risk of homelessness, a Victorian government spokesperson said, adding that $134 million had been put towards homelessness programs in this years state budget. We know theres no more important issue anywhere in the state right now than housing  thats why were working hard on a housing package and will have more to say in the coming weeks. Loading Crime statistics for the last 15 years, since the establishment of the station, have peaked at two points: after the global financial crisis in early 2011, and again in 2021 when people were laid off during the pandemic. Each coincided with periods of high unemployment. On Thursday, The Age witnessed a significant police presence in the area that appeared to focus on younger people at the station. Three teenagers were cuffed and walked out of the station early in the evening. Later, around a dozen protective service officers arrested a young man after he attempted to assault them, according to police.

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A Perth man has been sentenced to life in prison over the violent murder of his ex-wife late last year.

Paul Cannon, 55, stabbed his 51-year-old ex-wife Lynn to death in their Landsdale home on December 5 before attempting self-harm, the Supreme Court of Western Australia heard on Friday.

Lynn Cannon, 51, was murdered in December 2022.

Justice Anthony Derrick said he was satisfied Paul had intended to take Lynns life on the night of the murder, but that it was not premeditated or planned.

At a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, the court was told how, after decades of emotional abuse and an eventual separation, Paul had sent threatening texts to Lynn in the months and days leading up to her death.
There was a combination of factors that have caused this [blowout] and absolutely one of them was design immaturity, he says. Florence is one of three giant tunnel-boring machines working on Snowy 2.0  the others are named Kirsten and Lady Eileen Hudson. Florence got stuck at the start of its 15-kilometre stretch of tunnel when it hit unexpectedly soft rock, opening a sinkhole to the surface. The incident exposed the project to fresh scrutiny. Its fair to say that there were a few things around geology, site conditions and design where more work could have been done and that has absolutely contributed to the cost and schedule increase, Barnes says.

Florence, weighing 2400 tonnes and measuring 143 metres in length, has been at a standstill for at least 10 months, although authorities say the machine will be back on track as soon as the environmental paperwork is ticked off. Snowy Hydro uses surplus electricity to pump water uphill and then releases it to spin turbines at times of high demand. Snowy 2.0 is a massive upgrade to the existing Snowy scheme  taking total generation capacity to 375,000 megawatts hours, or enough to power 3 million homes for a week  that will back up renewables when the wind isnt blowing and the sun isnt shining. Loading When the project was announced, Turnbull and his energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, were developing their National Energy Guarantee (known as the NEG). The unprecedented expansion will help make renewables reliable, filling in holes caused by intermittent supply and generator outages, Turnbull said in 2017.

The project and the NEG were developed with twin aims  to bridge the divide between the Coalitions anti-renewables faction and the need to reduce emissions and upgrade the ageing energy grid. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen does not face the same ideological challenge; his party is firmly committed to doubling the proportion of renewables in the grid to 82 per cent by 2030. But he still needs to upgrade the infrastructure and says Snowy 2.0 is critical to making that happen, pointing out taxpayers would lose billions of dollars of value if it is cancelled. Theres still $3 billion net value, and of course [it] is 40 per cent built, so it would be a huge waste of money to cancel it at this point, Bowen said this week.

Proponents for the project say Snowy 2.0 will act as a gigantic battery, charging up with power when renewables are firing and storing it to be released when needed. The urgency of the project was underscored this week when the independent energy market operator said any further delays to energy projects and the transmission lines that link them to the grid would increase the risk of power outages as soon as this summer. But some experts say Snowy 2.0 is a white elephant that is sucking money away from better options. Ted Woodley, a former managing director of EnergyAustralia, PowerNet, GasNet, and China Light & Power Systems (Hong Kong), says it was obvious from the start that this project would never stack up, arguing that it just had all of the credentials for a great political announcement.

The 27 kilometres of tunnels that connect Snowy 2.0s reservoirs were unheard of at pumped hydro projects around the world, Woodley says. Loading The problem with that is the extra costs, obviously, but also the higher friction losses. Most large pumped hydro systems in the world have their reservoirs no more than a couple of kilometres apart. Woodley says while he wants to wean the electricity grid off fossil fuels as quickly as possible, Snowy 2.0s cost of construction and operation makes it so inefficient that the project will probably be the last storage to charge and it will be the last to generate electricity. I wouldnt have said this five years ago, but now batteries are cheaper, he says.
Newly promoted Victorian Liberal MP Evan Mulholland says a crop of Millennial MPs are renewing the party after he was elevated to the shadow ministry.

It came as Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the party had had a strong week despite internal ructions.

Evan Mulholland speaks alongside the Liberal leadership team. Credit: AAP Image / James Ross

Mulholland, a first-term upper house MP, will take up the shadow cabinet spot being vacated by Matt Bach, a senior member of the oppositions leadership team.

Pesutto used a snap meeting on Thursday, called to discuss whether the party should help defend MPs defamation suits, to announce Bachs planned departure. Mulholland was elected unopposed.
Render of (This is) Air by Nic Brunsdon, Credit: VIC NGV Spheres are hot property in the architecture world, and this years Architecture Commission by Melbournes NGV International is a giant inflatable sphere. Titled (This is) Air, and open to the public on December 3, the 14-metre sphere breathes throughout the day, inflating and deflating with the rhythm of the day. Designed by West Australian architect Nic Brunsdon, the recyclable textile is also portable, giving it longevity, and a chance of life beyond the NGV commission.

See ngv.vic.gov.au Digging deep With China open again after three long pandemic years, visitors can explore the abandoned volcanic rock quarries of Zhejiang Province, recommends Tony Giannone, past national president of the Australian Institute of Architects. Three hand-cut quarries have been softened into performance spaces, a library and social spaces by Beijings DnA (Design & Architecture) studio. Lead architect Xu Tiantian describes the work as a move from economic exploitation to ecological reuse in the mountainous Jinyun County, without any Disneyfication of nature. Concrete steps, and seats made from steel and pressed bamboo link the cathedral-like quarries in the Xiandu Valley, 400 kilometres south of Shanghai.

See cnto.org.au Sexing up sustainability

Eco-architecture goes luxe at the Mandarin Orientals new Greek property, Costa Navarino. Eco-architecture goes luxe at such resorts as the new Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino, on the Peloponnese, in Greece. Designed by Athens-based K-Studio and Alexandros N Tombaziz Architects & Associates, the propertys earth-sheltered villas are cut into a hillside, echoing the peninsulas traditional mandria dry-stone animal shelters that are hand built by local farmers. Going back to the original source, the five guestrooms of the new Dar Tantora [Dar Tantora] eco-hotel are set in the mudbrick houses of AlUlas [AlUla] Old Town, an oasis town in northern Saudi Arabia. The project uses traditional construction techniques to restore the mudbrick buildings, with thatched date palm roofs and raw beams overhead, as seen throughout Arabia.

See mandarinoriental.com; experiencealula.com Bathing beauties Bathhouses are hot property in Australia, and Victoria leads the charge with new properties including Alba and Aurora Spa on the Mornington Peninsula, and Sense of Self (SOS) in Melbourne. The latest arrival to the pool party is Sol Elements on Tamborine Mountain in the Gold Coast hinterland, set to open in the first quarter of next year. A mature sacred fig, or bodhi tree, rehomed from another site, is the linchpin of the circular design by local firm Design Artisan, which incorporates onsens, plunge pools, saunas and a Himalayan salt cave.

See albathermalsprings.com.au; auroraspa.com.au; sos-senseofself.com; solelements.com.au Star performer

Snhettas planetarium and observatory in northern France inspired by the elliptical and continuous movement of the stars. Norwegian architecture group Snohettas inspiration for a new planetarium and observatory in Douai, northern France, was the elliptical and continuous movement of the stars. The firm, best known for the Oslo Opera House and its redesign of New York Citys Times Square, uses a curved ramp to convey a sense of motion, while the buildings temperature is maintained by geothermal energy and sensor-operated vents. The planetariums two domes top the building, the roof planted with wild grasses visible from inside. Reflected in the nearby River Scarpe, the planetarium, which opened in May, sits alongside the Arkeos archaeological museum.

See planetarium-orionis.com Everything old is new again As buildings purposes end, their use as a structure does not  do we reduce to rubble and start afresh? Adaptive reuse is the practice of repurposing an existing building for new life, a hot trend in hospitality; key Australian examples are the former NSW Department of Education, which Sydneys Make Architects reimagined into the new Capella Sydney, and in Melbourne, the HM Pentridge Prison, which now includes the 19-room The Interlude Hotel by architects including Melbourne-based Konzepte. This global trend sees everything from former geisha training houses to lighthouses, grain silos and train stations wrought into new hotels  their success tied to the architects incorporation of the original buildings purpose into its new life.

See capellahotels.com; adinahotels.com Gimme shelter
Give the Cooks a closer look Where is this? Most Australians dont know where to find Rarotonga in the Pacific. Credit: iStock Less than one in every 100 Australians know where Rarotonga it  and for that matter, the rest of the Cook Islands  actually are with less than 30,000 Australians visiting each year. Until now, that is. Jetstar has introduced three direct flights per week from Australia  the most direct flights from Australia ever offered (and the first time a budget carrier has flown there non-stop). Australians will discover Rarotonga is the South Pacifics most complete destination; offering true immersion with locals, a barrier reef encircling the island offering sheltered swimming lagoons, the Pacifics best sunset bars and restaurants, world-class diving and a mountainous hinterland for adventurers. See cookislands.travel; jetstar.com Teardrop islands comeback Pidurangala Rock in Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. Credit: iStock

After its worst economic crisis in decades last year  which caused severe political instability and shortages of everything from basic food to electricity  2023, at the time of writing, is proving a far more forgiving year for Sri Lanka. The travel industry is back on its feet with depreciation of the rupee meaning our dollar goes a lot further, while hotels are offering specials to entice tourists back (and keeping prices at pre-pandemic levels). Sri Lanka has everything from the best wildlife safaris outside of Africa to surf beaches and hill country dubbed Little England. One in eight families depend on tourism, being there is a good way to aid their recovery. See srilanka.travel Shell out for the Seychelles Keen to reduce your carbon footprint? Then stay on Alphonse Island, arguably the worlds most sustainable isle. In an era of unprecedented climate change, theres nothing hotter than a holiday on an island entirely powered by the sun and fuelled by plant-based foods. Located on a tiny island in the Seychelles with no cars (or roads to drive them on), sleep in a bungalow or suite right on the beach, beside one of the Indian Oceans best diving sites, home to turtles, eagle and manta rays, spinner dolphins and an almost untouched fish population. Located 1500 kilometres east of Africa, these are considered some of the worlds most pristine islands. See alphonse-island.com Arise, the Galapagos of South-East Asia Raja Ampat offers the richest marine biodiversity on Earth. Credit: iStock

Dubbed the worlds last true paradise, the Raja Ampat group of islands in eastern Indonesia is credited as offering the richest marine biodiversity on Earth, with over 1500 species of fish and more than 75 per cent of the worlds coral species, all cocooned within a four million hectare marine protection zone. While difficult to access from Australia by plane, its fast becoming the hottest destination in South-East Asian cruising. Australian cruise companies from True North to Coral Expeditions now offer departures from Darwin deep into Raja Ampat. Once beset by bomb and potassium cyanide fishing, its become an Asian ecotourism hot-spot, particularly for divers. See indonesia.travel Easy being green Salina, Italys greenest island. Credit: iStock With Italy experiencing a record-breaking summer for tourists in both 2022 and 2023 (post-pandemic, and post-White Lotus), those preferring to escape the crowds are now discovering Italys Aeolian Islands. Most head to chic celeb hang-out, Panerea, but there are seven volcanic islands rising dramatically from the ocean accessible by ferry from Sicily. While each offers unique attractions  from dormant volcanoes to spectacular beaches  the greenest island, Salina, is the next big thing. Eat in piazzas by the waterfront among wine bars at picturesque main port, Santa Marina, before visiting vineyards spread across the island. Or better yet, charter your own yacht from Sicily and anchor offshore. See visitsicily.info Killer whale of a time
Brasilia: Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and his wife Michelle chose to remain silent when they appeared before the countrys federal police to testify in an investigation into rich jewellery gifts they received from Arab heads of state and never declared.

They were called to testify at police headquarters in the capital Brasilia on Thursday (Friday AEST), along with Bolsonaros former aide-de-camp Mauro Cid, his father, a retired army general, and another military officer who was a presidential aide.

Saudi Arabia gifted jewellery to Michelle and Jair Bolsonaro via a government representative in 2021. Credit: AP

To justify their silence, Bolsonaros defence team argued that the case should be heard in Sao Paulo, where some of the jewellery was seized by customs agents at Guarulhos Airport when Bolsonaro representatives returned from official talks in the Middle East, and not in the jurisdiction of Brasilia.

The gifts of jewellery, expensive watches and gold-plated statuettes from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were never declared, and only came to light when Bolsonaro tried to recover a batch seized by customs, police investigations showed.
Lucid will participate at the International Motor Show (IAA Mobility) for the first time and debut its limited-production Air Midnight Dream Edition

AMSTERDAM, Sept. 1, 2023 -- Lucid Group, Inc. , setting new standards for luxury electric experience with the Lucid Air, winner of the 2023 World Luxury Car Award, today announced that it will present the Lucid Air luxury electric sedan for the first time at the International Motor Show (IAA Mobility) in Munich and debut the limited-production Air Midnight Dream Edition on 5 September, 2023.

A Dream in Black: The Lucid Air Midnight Dream Edition

The Lucid Air Midnight Dream Edition is a new darkly styled configuration of the Lucid Air that has never before been produced. An Air Dream Edition with Lucid's sinister Stealth theme, it features finely finished, dark polished exterior trim and 21-inch Aero Dream wheels with satin black inserts. It is fitted with a darker, more enigmatic interior inspired by the nighttime Mojave Desert. This exclusive, limited-production luxury electric sedan was created with the European market in mind and will not be available in the U.S.

The Lucid Air Midnight Dream Edition in numbers

Combined range of up to 799 kilometers according to WLTP

Combined power consumption: 16.6 kWh/100km according to WLTP

CO 2 emissions: 0g/km

Meet the Lucid Air Lineup

The Lucid Air Midnight Dream Edition will be available for viewing at the Studio located at Odeonsplatz 2, 80539 Munich, during IAA. On Tuesday, 5 September, and Wednesday, 6 September, the Studio will only be open to the media and invited guests. Starting 7 September, the Studio will be open for public viewing of the Air Midnight Dream Edition.

The Lucid Air Pure, the company's most accessible model, will celebrate its premiere on the European stage at Lucid's pop-up studio located at Konigsplatz 1, 80333 Munich. The Air Touring and Air Grand Touring models will also be on display in this area. The Konigsplatz studio is open daily from Tuesday, 5 September, to Sunday, 10 September, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The studio will also offer short test drives on the adjacent Arcisstrae 1, 80333 Munich.

The Lucid Air Pure in numbers

Combined range of up to 725 kilometers according to WLTP

Combined power consumption: 14.1 kWh/100km according to WLTP

CO 2 emissions: 0g/km

The Lucid Air Touring in numbers

Combined range of up to 725 kilometers according to WLTP

Combined power consumption: 14.1 kWh/100km according to WLTP

CO 2 emissions: 0g/km

The Lucid Air Grand Touring in numbers

Combined range of up to 839 kilometers according to WLTP

Combined power consumption: 14.9 kWh/100km according to WLTP

CO 2 emissions: 0g/km

Lucid's mission is to inspire the adoption of sustainable energy by creating advanced technologies and the most captivating luxury electric vehicles centered around the human experience. The company's first car, the Air, is a state-of-the-art luxury sedan with a California-inspired design. Assembled at Lucid's factory in Casa Grande, Arizona, deliveries of Lucid Air are currently underway to customers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Middle East.
Hyundai Shows Sedan Love At Miami Auto Show<







2024 Hyundai Sonata and Elantra First North American Public Appearance

IONIQ 6 Official Show Car of the 52nd Annual Miami International Auto Show

IONIQ 6 Car of the Year by the Miami Motor Media

Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program Launch



Miami, Sept. 1, 2023  Hyundai Motor America presents the first North American public appearance of its class leading Sonata and Elantra during the 2023 Miami International Auto Show. Further capitalizing on the consumer transition to electric vehicles, the IONIQ 6 is named the Official Show Car for the 52nd annual event, and recognized as Car of the Year by Miami Motor Media. As part of its leadership in design-forward vehicles, technology advancements and advocacy, Hyundai introduces its Performance Institute Technical Student Program welcoming nearly 100 technical college and high school students from South Florida during press day.

The new Sonata boasts a dynamic, progressive design with low-slung, elegant proportions and more aggressive coupe-like styling along with an array of advanced safety, driver assistance and convenience features. The 2024 Hyundai Elantra includes exterior and interior enhancements, advanced safety features, and a variety of purposeful technologies, for a refined driving experience.

Hyundai remains committed to the sedan segment offering customers a dynamic driving experience with our beautifully updated Sonata and Elantra models, said Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America. With award-winning design language and passion for performance, Hyundai is thrilled to introduce these two refreshed sedans in South Florida.

Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program

Hyundai reinforces its commitment to sustainable growth through the launch of the Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program, with a brand immersion and recruitment event, during the Miami International Auto Show. Students from South Florida technical colleges and high schools were invited to strengthen the roots of the talent pools available to local dealerships. Hyundai Motor Americas collaboration with local schools and Hyundai dealerships is aimed at creating foundational partnerships and addressing the technician shortages.

The Hyundai Performance Institute Technical Student Program brand immersion is photographed in Miami, Sept. 1, 2023.

Hyundai is proud to help boost career opportunities in the technical field throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties for high school and college students through the launch of our brand immersion and recruitment programs, said Emanuel King, senior manager, Technical Training Programs, Hyundai Motor America. The invaluable unsung heroes behind bay doors responsible for customer safety and satisfaction are highly regarded at Hyundai and we strive to become their brand of choice when selecting their future career path.

The Miami International Auto Show takes place at the Miami Beach Convention Center and opens Friday, September 1st on Labor Day weekend and runs through September 10th. In addition to visiting the Hyundai display, attendees can participate in a ride along in the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 at the EV test track.

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America focuses on Progress for Humanity and smart mobility solutions. Hyundai offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles. Our 830 dealers sold more than 724,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2022, and nearly half were built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. For more information, visit www.HyundaiNews.com.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank have the same mission: to promote development. The two financial organizations overlap in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the IDB exclusively operates. Despite their common goals, they have a tradition in which they have frequently acted as competitors, with deep suspicion of each other. However, the two new presidents of these organizations  Ilan Goldfajn of the IDB and Ajay Banga of the World Bank  have decided to join forces in the region.

Goldfajn and Banga signed a memorandum of understanding this past Tuesday at the IDB headquarters in Washington. The alliance will initially be for four years and will cover three areas: the protection of the Amazon, the strengthening of the Caribbeans capacity to face natural disasters and the reduction of the digital divide throughout Latin America and the Caribbean (with a special focus on education).

Beyond the signing of the agreement, Banga and Goldfajn are friends. They know each other from the private sector, as well as from when Banga was in the financial sector and Goldfajn was the governor of the Central Bank of Brazil. Both have assumed their posts in the last year and, in both cases, they arrive with the mandate to work in a different way.

Even before this memorandum, the two men started working together. Last June, both visited Peru and Jamaica, where they met with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. It was a historic trip. The first time that the two presidents [of these organizations] traveled together to the region, Goldfajn emphasized.

At some point during that trip  while the president of the IDB was having coffee and the president of the World Bank was having a glass of wine  they began to talk about the need to collaborate more closely. And, during their conversations on the trip, they thought that the best way to put those good wishes into practice was to choose some topics that were important to both organizations. A few months later, the alliance in Washington was formalized.

Goldfajn and Banga have alluded to the magnitude of the challenges that lie ahead. You cant win alone. You have to join forces and not only with multilateral banks, or with governments, but with civil society, philanthropy and the private sector, Banga notes, explaining that both the problems and the possibilities of cooperation are intertwined.

The reform of the multilateral banks is an opportunity to increase the impact on development, Goldfajn affirms. We have to focus on implementation. There are too many conferences, too many seminars. He has called for a cultural change  one that consists of moving from words to actions. Goldfajn also wants there to be less importance attached to the amount of money put into projects and more on the impact generated.

In the Amazon, under the agreement signed, the organizations will combine their experience to support countries in their transition towards zero net deforestation, contribute to people obtaining better livelihoods and, at the same time, preserve the ecosystem. In the Caribbean, the agreement will result in increased support for countries to manage disasters and climate shocks, while allowing them to develop financial protection mechanisms should catastrophe strike.

The organizations have also committed to working together to promote digital development in the region. The action plan proposes that, through this collaboration, digital infrastructure and connectivity can be effectively expanded to help accelerate socio-economic development. Through the Connected Schools for All initiative, the World Bank and the IDB will develop plans to close the digital divide in education, ensuring that young people have the necessary skills for the economy of the future. An innovative pilot program will bring connectivity to underserved areas of the region, helping more people gain internet access, so as to expand opportunities.

In addition to the coordination agreement between the IDB and the World Bank, IDB Invest  the private sector arm of the IDB  and MIGA  the political risk insurance arm of the World Bank  have agreed to collaborate to mitigate political risk in the region. The two agencies will work together with the World Banks International Finance Corporation (IFC) to attract more private sector investment to the region.

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How the Calty Design Research Team Brings Tacoma-ness to Life in the All-New 2024 Toyota Tacoma +VIDEO





The All-New 2024 Toyota Tacoma is designed to meet most off-road driving requirements, but off-roading is inherently dangerous and may result in personal injury or vehicle damage. Toyota encourages responsible operation to help protect you, your vehicle and the environment.

For 50 years, Toyotas Calty Design Research studio has provided innovative vehicle designs for the Toyota and Lexus brands. According to Adam Rabinowitz, Caltys exterior chief designer of the all-new 2024 Tacoma, the next-generation truck is another great product designed by the team.

Usually, in the push and pull between design and engineering, there are compromises, Rabinowitz says. The standard definition of compromise is that no one comes away happy. But with this Tacoma, we are all very happy with the end result.

Calty Design Research is Toyotas North American-based design studio. Originally established in California in 1973, Toyota opened another location in Michigan in 2003. Today, Calty has over 100 employees across the two studios, with the California studio focusing on future innovation and creativity, and the Ann Arbor location focused on production design development for North America.

As a chief exterior designer, my purpose is to support a fantastic team so we produce a great product, he says. A key part of that is to put in place enough guardrails to make sure everyone is going down the same road. Yet at the same time, you need to give everyone the flexibility they need to create the best product possible.

In his nearly 14 years with Calty in Ann Arbor, Rabinowitz is a part of a team that has worked on the brands four brothers: Tundra, Tacoma, 4Runner and Sequoia, as well as other iconic vehicles. The new truck has a clear family resemblance, sharing design cues with its brothers, while still being uniquely Tacoma.

There is a pressure to live up to the Tacomas tremendous history, he says. Were talking about the number one seller in the segment for seemingly forever. Those are some big shoes to fill. It has definitely been a stressful journey to get here, but we believe we have hit a home run.

Bringing Design to Life

Inspired by Baja trucks that race in the desert, the 2024 Tacoma has an authentic off-road feel, featuring an ultra-rugged stance, high lift, and big tires.

I look at this Tacoma and I think, We got everything. So, Im anticipating a lot of positive feedback, Rabinowitz added.

Customers were at the forefront of the overall design of the 2024 iteration. The Calty team knew Tacoma drivers typically modify their vehicles, so accessories played a big role in the design process. Rabinowitz says it was extremely important that the truck was accessory-ready, so the team co-developed many of the Genuine Toyota accessories for drivers to make the trucks their own.

Seeing someone interact with what you have dedicated years to develop is a really great feeling, he says.

The Importance of Collaboration

Throughout the development process, Rabinowitz says it was important for his designers at Calty to work closely with every team that touched the all-new Tacoma, including the entire CAD [computer-aided design] staff, clay modelers, and the research and development engineers.

Collaboration was critical, he says. What engineering came up with, and what we ran with, was the concept of a badass adventure machine. When we first heard that, we said, Well, we can work with that! And we did.

With a project of this complexity, Rabinowitz says that he felt very supported by the chief engineer, Sheldon Brown, because there was mutual respect between the two teams.

Sheldon often said, Styling sells our trucks. And we looked at his group and said, Well, capability is what makes our trucks great. It really was a case where everyone got what they wanted, Rabinowitz says. When I look at this Tacoma, I see a ton of successful battles where both teams won.
On September 1, 2022, a man pointed a gun at the head of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. The weapon failed to fire. The attack that put Argentinas democracy on the ropes took place outside the vice presidents house and was recorded on a video that went around the world. A Brazilian national named Fernando Sabag Montiel, then 35, had infiltrated the crowd of Kirchner supporters gathered around their leader during the final stretch of the first trial she was facing for corruption. Sabag approached her as she got out of the car and pulled the trigger, but the plan failed and he was arrested. A year later, Kirchner remains silent and Argentina awaits the start of the trial against the three defendants: Sabag Montiel, his girlfriend Brenda Uliarte and Nicolas Carrizo, who employed the couple as street vendors. Sabag Montiel maintains that he acted alone. The vice president, on the contrary, suspects that there is someone behind it and has stated that the judicial investigation was characterized by an aversion to learn the truth.

I feel that I am alive because of God and the Virgin Mary, Kirchner said after the attack. She said that she realized Sabag Montiel had intended to kill her when she arrived home and saw the images repeated in a loop on television screens and cell phones across a shocked country.

For the former president (2007-2015), the most serious thing about the assassination attempt was that it broke a social agreement that had existed since 1983, when Argentina left behind the bloodiest dictatorship in its history. I feel that the recovery of democracy was not only about being able to vote again or elect our authorities. Recovering democracy was also about recovering life and rationality, the ability to discuss politics, she added.

The attack occurred at a time of maximum political tension in Argentina. Days earlier, federal prosecutor Diego Luciani had accused Kirchner of being the head of the largest corruption scheme ever known in the country. The statement was tied to an investigation into Kirchner for allegedly defrauding the State in the execution of roadworks in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, the cradle of Kirchnerism, and for which months later she was sentenced to six years in prison. I am facing a judicial media firing squad, the former president responded to the prosecutors accusations. Dozens of supporters then began a vigil in front of her home as a sign of support.

The tense mood was also reflected in the reaction to the attack on the most important political leader of recent decades in Argentina. The majority of the political class condemned it and highlighted how serious it was for Argentinean democracy. But among the exceptions were individuals who today lead the two main opposition bids for president in the October 22 election: the ultraliberal Javier Milei and the conservative Patricia Bullrich. Instead of a message of repudiation, Bullrichs first response was to criticize the holiday decreed for the following day. The president is playing with fire: instead of investigating a serious incident, she accuses the opposition and the media, and decrees a national holiday to mobilize supporters. It turns an act of individual violence into a political move, she tweeted.

Milei opted for silence, although only a day earlier he had expressed solidarity with Jair Bolsonaro after the attempted attack he suffered during a motorcade.

Opposition supporters even spread the theory that it was a toy weapon and that the attack had been faked to divert attention from the judicial cases affecting the vice president. But the case shocked a large part of Argentinean society and the next day there was a massive demonstration against violence and the attack on democracy perpetrated just as the country was approaching the 40th anniversary of the end of the dictatorship.

Awaiting trial

The case, classified as premeditated homicide, is expected to go to trial. The first hypotheses linked Sabag Montiel with the Federal Revolution, a far-right group that criticizes Kirchnerist politicians and has called for anti-government demonstrations with torches and wooden guillotines. However, the only three individuals prosecuted to date are Sabag Montiel, his girlfriend Uliarte and their employer Carrizo. All three are known in Argentina as the banda de los copitos for having been cotton candy sellers before their arrest.

Kirchners team insists that it is necessary to expand the radius of action and search for possible intellectual authors and financial backers of the attack. It has asked the Justice Department to investigate the alleged links between the accused and their neighbor Ximena de Tezanos Pinto, as well as the journalist Delfina Wagner. Previously, Kirchner also targeted Congressman Gerardo Milman, of the opposition coalition Together for Change headed by Bullrich, claiming political ties to the attack. A year later, the prosecution has found no evidence to support this hypothesis.
A book with homophobic, xenophobic, racist and sexist content written by Italian army general Roberto Vannacci has transformed into the political saga of the summer in Italy. It has also jeopardized the harmony between the right-wing coalition government, creating a rift between the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini.

The minister of defense, Guido Crosetto, one of the members of the government closest to Meloni, has expressed his criticism of the military man and has supported his dismissal as head of the Italian Military Geographic Institute. Meanwhile, Salvini has welcomed his ideas and has even invited him to join his party in the European elections next June, but Vannacci declined the offer to enter politics. I appreciate it, but I will remain a soldier for now, he said.

A few weeks ago, Vannacci, a decorated Italian army general and former head of the paratroopers of the Brigade Folgore, released his self-published book Il Mondo al contrario [The world upside down], in which he attacks the likes of homosexuals, feminists, immigrants and climate activists. The publication  which tops Amazons bestseller list, and thanks to its numerous offensive passages, has sparked considerable controversy in Italy and in the government  has resulted in the generals dismissal as head of the Italian Military Geographic Institute, a state agency responsible for cartography.

The author argues that minorities, such as those in the LGBTQ+ community and Italians of foreign origin, force new rules on the majority that are not shared. He refers to contemporary debates on civil rights as brainwashing by those who wish to favor the elimination of all differences, including those between ethnic groups, so as to avoid calling them races and defends his opinions as objective truths resulting from wisdom. He also lashes out at some Black Italian sportswomen because their features do not represent Italianness and says that homosexuals are not normal. He also denounces the existence of an alleged international gay lobby that has concocted a plot to normalize homosexuality. And he laments the banning of terms that until recently were in our dictionaries such as invert, faggot, pansy or little lady.

The minister of defense  a very close ally of Meloni, with whom he founded Brothers of Italy  described Vannaccis opinions as personal outbursts and explained that the army, which has distanced itself from the generals opinions, will open disciplinary proceedings against him.

However, Salvini, deputy prime minister and leader of the Lega Nord, has clashed sharply with his allies in the government and has jumped to the military mans defense on several occasions. He must be judged by what he does while serving, he has said, instead of by his opinions. Salvini telephoned Vannacci to express his solidarity and to assure him that he would buy his book. Andrea Crippa, deputy secretary of the Lega Nord, has publicly praised Vannacci, with whom he says he agrees on 80% of his opinions and that the partys doors are wide open to him.

Competition for the far-right vote

Since becoming prime minister, Meloni has considerably toned down her aggressive approach and has moderated her extreme positions, but she has not yet spoken about the issue. Her position is complicated, as, on the one hand, she does not want to lose support among far-right voters. But, on the other hand, she must ensure the political and institutional integrity her position demands and also avoid a clash with the presidency of the Republic. Those close to her assure that she is annoyed with Salvinis actions, which have been interpreted by the opposition and among her own allies as a maneuver to undermine the minister of defense.

Meloni did not like the fact that while a state institution such as the army places one of its most reputable members under scrutiny, Salvini, the number two in the government, acted in such a way, without waiting for the outcome of the disciplinary process. The prime minister recently met privately with her deputy to discuss the issue and, according to media reports, the two leaders agreed to avoid disloyal competition on future occasions, especially in light of the negotiation of next years budget and the European elections.

The third branch of the government coalition, the conservative Forza Italia, has sided with the minister of defense.

In Italy, some perceive that there is a Russian hand behind the generals book with the aim of destabilizing and splitting the right wing in the run-up to the upcoming European elections. This was denounced by former conservative senator Fabrizio Cicchitto: Be careful, when it comes to foreign policy, things go from grotesque to serious. Behind the general there is a Russian hand out to divide the right. In an interview with La Repubblica he went on to say: The aim is to introduce elements opposed to Atlantic orthodoxy in the next European Parliament. Lets not forget that Putin was the first world leader to grasp the ability to influence and destabilize liberal democracies through the unscrupulous use of the Internet.

Bruno Vespa, the presenter of Italian public television channel, Rai, has suggested that Vannacci, a decorated commander and experienced in high-level international missions, was transferred to the Italian Military Geographic Institute because of his alleged sympathies toward the Kremlin, which developed during his time as military attache at the Italian Embassy in Moscow. A NATO nation as exposed as ours in favor of Ukraine cannot afford to have such ambiguities in a high military post, the presenter said.

In an interview with Il Corriere della Sera, Vannacci rejected these accusations, though he defended, as he also does in his book, that Moscow is an ultra-safe city and that in Russia there is work, life is rather good and there is no illegal immigration.

Vannacci, 54, served as a commander in the Afghanistan war, as well as during the Iraq war, and has commanded the Italian Armys main paratrooper brigade. He has been awarded numerous medals, including the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

His book contains an array of ideas that are widespread among extreme right-wing advocates, such as the denial of climate change, or the rejection of parenthood for homosexual couples. The author is aware that his incendiary writing could inspire violent or aggressive behavior, since in the first pages he states that he disassociates himself from any type of illicit behavior that could derive from the interpretation of his words. In addition, the general admits that his message is laden with hatred and contempt, which he claims as rights. As execrable as it is, hatred is a feeling, an emotion that cannot be repressed in a courtroom. If we are in the age of rights, then, as Oriana Fallaci did, I too assert out loud the right to hate and contempt and to be able to express them freely in the appropriate tone and form, he writes in his book.

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Nigers minister of foreign affairs and acting president, Hassoumi Massoudou, before the interview on August 31, in Toledo, in a photo taken by the Spanish Foreign Ministry.

Hassoumi Massoudou, the 65-year-old minister of foreign affairs for Niger, has been acting head of state since the July 26 coup detat staged by a military junta. On that day, President Mohamed Bazoum was held by coup perpetrators who demanded the withdrawal of the French ambassador and 1,500 French soldiers who were supporting the legitimate government in its battle against the jihadists. The European Union is progressing with a proposal to apply sanctions against the military junta, but at this stage it is not considering supporting a military intervention. European authorities regard the coup in Niger  and also the coup in Gabon  to be an African problem requiring African solutions. For this reason, the EU has chosen to adopt the same approach as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The organization, which comprises 15 countries and was founded in 1975, is currently pursuing the diplomatic route, although military intervention has not been ruled out.

Massoudou, who understands some Spanish because he studied it as a third language at school, attended the informal meeting of European foreign ministers being held in Toledo on Thursday as a guest, under Spains rotating presidency of the EU.

Question. What effect might the sanctions on the coup perpetrators being considered by the EU have on the military junta?

Answer. This is about putting pressure on the military junta. Because it was the head of the presidential guard, who was supposed to guarantee the security of the president [General Omar Tchiani], who took him hostage. From that point, the ECOWAS decided to impose economic sanctions. And it asked our partners, in particular the EU, to support it and to apply pressure as well. The ECOWAS heads of state have seen four coups detat in just two years [in countries belonging to the organization] and have said enough is enough.

Q. What is the presidents health situation and is he standing by his decision not to resign?

A. I am in contact with him and his state of health is acceptable, despite being held hostage in his own house, together with his wife and son, and having their electricity cut off. There is no refrigerator to preserve food and it is quite hot. It is now over 40 degrees [Celcius] in Niger. There are a lot of mosquitoes and they are having difficulty sleeping. They have all had malaria because of the mosquitoes. Their living conditions are quite tough, but they are in good spirits, they are resilient and fighting.

Q. So hes not intending to resign?

A. Absolutely not. There is no reason for him to do so. There has been no political crisis or social crisis. With respect to the fight against terrorism, our country is doing the best in the region. We have contained Boko Haram in the east, around Lake Chad. We have also contained terrorists in Mali and Burkina Faso. Niger is a hub of stability and success in the fight against terrorism. So there was no reason for this coup to take place. That is why we call it a coup detat of personal convenience by the head of the presidential guard. It was simply an act of tyranny.

Q. Is there a possibility of reaching an agreement with the coup perpetrators?

A. Economic sanctions from the ECOWAS will be accompanied by a military intervention if the coup perpetrators do not renounce their positions. They must therefore surrender power and reinstate President Bazoum as president. From that point, everything is negotiable. His departure conditions can be negotiated. But there will be no solution without the return of Bazoum to the presidency of the Republic. The only compromise with the coup perpetrators is that they must leave.

Q. To what do you attribute the anti-French sentiment in Niger?

A. A new phenomenon has arisen in Africa in recent years. This is Wagner, a mercenary organization operating on behalf of Russian diplomacy. In addition to their military side, they mainly have a large disinformation machine focused on criticizing France. Their message has spread to the big African cities, where they stir up Frances colonial past. But it has not resonated with the broader masses of the population, but rather with unemployed young people who live in the cities, are idle and susceptible to any kind of rhetoric. Scapegoating the former colonial power will not work for very long. Because France is our primary economic partner and our main partner in the fight against terrorism. For that reason, we are successful. We have an intelligent relationship with France and the United States. But Russia has nothing to offer. It only has a military dictatorship that fights any democratic model. Russian-backed military dictatorship regimes are failures on all fronts, including the military front.

Q. How does this message reach young people in the cities?

A. Through social media channels. Without them this would not exist.

Q. What is your opinion regarding ECOWASs doubts, including those of Nigeria, about a possible military intervention in Niger?

A. The ECOWAS is determined to carry out the military intervention. So far it has favored the diplomatic route, which is normal. But if all negotiations fail, the ECOWAS can only propose a military decision. It was all the ECOWAS heads of state, including Nigeria, who decided on this resolution. Nigeria currently chairs ECOWAS and is as committed as the others. It is now a matter of time. Intervention is being put in place and the only way to prevent it is for the junta coup perpetrators to leave.

Q. The coup junta accuses the ECOWAS of being an organization on a French payroll.

A. Do you honestly believe that Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which are not former French colonies, are being influenced by France? Is that reasonable? That is exactly what this galaxy around Wagner is saying. That is the campaign against France. And the France of today has nothing to do with the France of yesterday, which has not existed for such a long time. To think that Nigeria or Ghana will be run by the French is nonsensical. In a sense, it is racist.

Q. What is the reason for the coup? You previously mentioned personal interest.

A. Yes. That is the only one. [The head of the personal guard] revolted because he thought he was going to be relieved, because he had not been appointed by President Bazoum, but by his predecessor. Secondly, he lives poorly and there is a question of money, that is what has been leaked. But we did not see real reasons, we were surprised. In other places there are social movements, political conflicts, electoral crises. But President Bazoum was elected two years ago and there were no problems.

Q. If the coup proves successful, will the military junta allow Wagners mercenaries to enter Niger?

A. I think that is the path they would follow. What is more serious is that if the coup succeeds, which seems very unlikely to me, is that the fight against terrorism will be abandoned. The terrorists will advance because our whole strategy will be thwarted. Secondly, they are weakening national cohesion and that would entail a disintegration of the country as a whole, particularly in the north. And there would be a boom in all criminal activities, especially migrant smuggling. Because what is reducing this traffic to Europe today? Two states are resisting: Niger and Algeria. Niger borders Libya, Chad and Sudan. We are the last stronghold [against irregular migration]. And obviously that is why this coup should also be of concern to Europe.

Q. Is the Sahel becoming a second stage, after Ukraine, of the conflict between the West and Russia?

A. I dont know. But I do know that the generation of the various coups is a fundamentally anti-democratic one, which detests Western values. And they have found that in Russia there is a way to secure their power by means of mercenaries. And we cannot accept that our country and this region fall and surrender democracy, surrender freedom, that our people are taken hostage.

Q. What do you think will happen in the next few days?

A. I think that in the coming days military pressure will continue to be exerted on the junta. And I think the only solution they have to avoid military intervention is to leave.

Q. And will they leave?

A. If they do not, they will leave through force.

Q. To what do you attribute there being up to 10 successful coups in Africa in the last four years?

A. There is a new phenomenon [in reference to Wagner]. There is also an economic issue and a security issue. In Mali, the democratic government could not handle the partition of the country in the north. Islamist movements took advantage of the security void. This in turn led to political and social protests. But things have been completely different in Niger, because we have managed the security on the borders with Chad and Mali very well. We are a democracy with an alternation of power. Niger is the counterexample that impedes the existence of a single model. The military regimes in Mali and Burkina have not been as successful in the fight against terrorism as Nigers democracy has been. So this poses problems for these regimes and their protectors, such as Wagner. They dont want a democratic model that is more successful than the authoritarian version. And this man who took the president hostage was looking for an ideological outfit to wear, something other than his own personal convenience. When he took the president hostage, the outfit was there, mass-produced and ready to wear. It was the anti-French discourse and the whole rhetoric of Wagner.

Q. Do all these coups have a common component?

A. Yes, the new phenomenon has been Wagner. They have offered a mass-produced ideological outfit for a large number of people to wear.

Q. What do you think about the position of the United States, which has yet to call the removal of President Bazoum a military coup?

A. They did not call it a coup detat because, in their opinion, that would mean the removal of the government from power. It is just a question of their legal mechanisms. They believe that the coup did not take place and that the legal and legitimate president remains Bazoum. In addition, they condemn what happened and support the decisions from the ECOWAS, therefore they are on the same line as the whole international community.

Q. Where were you on July 26, the day of the coup?

A. In Niger, in Niamey. I found out quite early in the morning. The first day I was arguing with the chief of staff to negotiate and get the head of the presidential guard to prevent the coup. When I saw that he was determined to stay, I had to go into hiding and I realized that action had to be taken quickly from the outside to put an end to this affair. I went to Nigeria to attend the ECOWAS summit on August 3 or 4, where the sanctions regime was approved. Since then, I have been in Nigeria and I am following everything that is happening in the ECOWAS.

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For South African-born tycoon Elon Musk, inflammatory statements are his daily bread and butter. But talking about a supposed extermination of the white race is excessive even for the owner of X (formerly Twitter) and Tesla. They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa, he wrote in July as a comment to a video posted on his social network. In it, Julius Malema, leader of the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, the third largest force in the South African Parliament, is seen singing the anti-apartheid song Kill the Boer  kill the farmer  at a rally in front of 100,000 people. The word boer comes from Afrikaans and can also refer to white people in general.

Musk called on the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, to comment on the matter and also called for a boycott of The New York Times for having published an article in which South African historians were cited who claimed that the lyrics of the song were not to be interpreted literally.

The song is not about a person or a racial group, but about the system, says Susana Molins-Lliteras, a historian at the University of Cape Town. The Spanish scholar clarifies that, although historians do not share a common position on the exact origin of the song, it achieved widespread popularity in 1993 with the assassination of Chris Hani, leader of the South African Communist Party, by a white right-wing extremist.

In the 1990s, the song did not cause controversy, according to the historian. It was in 2010 when Kill the Boer generated the debate that continues to this day. That year, Malema began singing it at rallies of the African National Congress, a party whose youth group he presided over. This, explains Molins-Lliteras, angered right-wing groups who said that the song was no longer appropriate and associated it with the violence that was taking place against white farmers. Malema was taken to court. He was never sentenced, although the court prohibited the song from continuing to be sung, a decision that last year was reversed by the Johannesburg Equality Court, protecting freedom of expression. The court said that it was not discriminatory and that it did not incite violence because the song had to be analyzed in its historical context, clarifies Molins-Lliteras.

Malema has never stopped singing Kill the Boer and he has not remained silent in the face of Musks claims. In his social media accounts he has called him illiterate and crazy with money. The discussion seemed to be confined to Musk and Malema until the conservative Democratic Alliance party, the second largest political force, announced that it intends to file charges before international justice against the EFF leader and against the African National Congress  which has governed South Africa since 1994  for encouraging hatred with the song, although the ruling party agreed in 2012 to no longer perform it at its rallies.

With this decision the issue seemed settled, but Musk, with his media power, has brought Kill the Boer back to the center of the debate. The historian from the University of Cape Town believes that Musks statements align with the conspiracy theories propagated by the far right: In South Africa there is a lot of violence and there are white farmers who are murdered, but if you look at the numbers, you will see that every year the majority of homicide victims are Black people.
Proud Boys members including Zachary Rehl, left, Ethan Nordean, center, and Joseph Biggs, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.

A former organizer of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Thursday to 17 years in prison for spearheading an attack on the U.S. Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.

The sentence for Joseph Biggs is the second longest among hundreds of Capitol riot cases so far, after the 18-year prison sentence for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes.

Federal prosecutors had recommended a 33-year prison sentence for Biggs, who helped lead dozens of Proud Boys members and associates in marching to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Biggs and other Proud Boys joined the mob that broke through police lines and forced lawmakers to flee, disrupting the joint session of Congress for certifying the electoral victory by Biden, a Democrat.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said the Jan. 6 attack trampled on an important American custom, certifying the Electoral College vote.

That day broke our tradition of peacefully transferring power, which is among the most precious things that we had as Americans, the judge said, emphasizing that he was using the past tense in light of how Jan. 6 affected the process.

Biggs acknowledged to the judge that he messed up that day, but he blamed being seduced by the crowd of Trump supporters outside the Capitol and said hes not a violent person or a terrorist.

My curiosity got the better of me, and Ill have to live with that for the rest of my life, he said, claiming he didnt have hate in my heart and didnt want to hurt people.

Prosecutors, though, defended their decision to seek 33 years behind bars for Biggs, saying it was justified because he and his fellow Proud Boys committed among the most serious crimes that this court will consider, pushing the U.S. government to the edge of a constitutional crisis.

There is a reason why we will hold our collective breath as we approach future elections, prosecutor Jason McCullough said. We never gave it a second thought before January 6th.

The judge who sentenced Biggs also will separately sentence four other Proud Boys who were convicted by a jury in May after a four-month trial in Washington, D.C., that laid bare far-right extremists embrace of lies by Trump, a Republican, that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Enrique Tarrio, a Miami resident who was the Proud Boys national chairman and top leader, is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday. His sentencing was moved from Wednesday to next week because the judge was sick.

Tarrio wasnt in Washington on Jan. 6. He had been arrested two days before the Capitol riot on charges that he defaced a Black Lives Matter banner during an earlier rally in the nations capital, and he complied with a judges order to leave the city after his arrest. He picked Biggs and Proud Boys chapter president Ethan Nordean to be the groups leaders on the ground in his absence, prosecutors said.

Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described Proud Boys organizer. He served in the U.S. Army for eight years before getting medically discharged in 2013. Biggs later worked as a correspondent for Infowars, the website operated by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Biggs, Tarrio, Nordean and Proud Boys chapter leader Zachary Rehl were convicted of charges including seditious conspiracy, a rarely brought Civil War-era offense. A fifth Proud Boys member, Dominic Pezzola, was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but was convicted of other serious charges.

Prosecutors also recommended prison sentences of 33 years for Tarrio, 30 years for Rehl, 27 years for Nordean and 20 years for Pezzola. The judge is scheduled to sentence Rehl later on Thursday. Pezzola and Nordean are scheduled to be sentenced on Friday.

Defense attorneys argued that the Justice Department was unfairly holding their clients responsible for the violent actions of others in the crowd of Trump supporters at the Capitol.

More than 1,100 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 600 of them have been convicted and sentenced.

Besides Rhodes, six members of the anti-government Oath Keepers also were convicted of seditious conspiracy after a separate trial last year.

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Waterford Distillery in partnership with Lestrange

Waterford Distillery has announced a new partnership with London-based B Corp certified menswear brand, Lestrange.

As part of a limited collection and designed with the environment in mind, the bespoke capsule will include the Lestrange 24 overshirt and Lestrange Heavyweight 24 Trouser made from fully-traceable, regenerative cotton.

The clothing takes inspiration from Waterford Distillerys unique terroir methodology, including signature detailing to celebrate the brands complex flavours found in its whiskies.

Waterfords commitment to regenerative agriculture is underscored by its position as one of the worlds largest producers of organic and biodynamic whiskies. They work closely and exclusively with Irish farmers to create healthy soil conditions for the growth of barley.

Speaking on the collaboration, Waterford Distillerys head of brand Mark Newton said: Waterford Distillery and Lestrange are kindred spirits. We are both visionaries that take regenerative farming seriously and understand its positive impacts. For us, it helps to create the most flavoursome whisky, and for Lestrange it contributes to a unique sense of style. We are excited to bring a fresh take to Lestranges bestselling signature items and highlight our shared focus on quality, innovation, provenance and traceability.

Will Green and Tom Horne, co-founders of Lestrange, added: When we first came across Waterford Distillery, we were captivated by their innovative and radically unique approach to distilling whisky. Both of our industries are opaque and weve come together in our shared values of pioneering transparent farming practices that benefit the soil and the planet. The capsule blends timeless style with inspiration from nature which is what we always strive for at Lestrange.

The two garments will be on sale to customers online and will include 100ml sample of Waterfords Organic: Gaia 1.1 from its Arcadian Farm Origin series. 1% of sales proceeds will be given to the DIRT charity, an organisation dedicated to supporting regenerative agriculture in the UK.

1 September 2023 - Bradley Weir
Cultural threads uniting nations





By Vaishnavi Pillay

Wherever we travel, threads of culture find a common space. The power of art transcend boundaries, said A P Nivedita, a renowned Kuchipudi dancer from Nagpur in an interview with The Hitavada, sharing her experiences of connecting cultures and the profound impact of international festivals on professional dancers. A P Nivedita performed and represented India in the Namaste Vietnam Festival 2023, a remarkable cultural exchange event. The festival, held from August 12 to 20 at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, became a platform for cultural fusion. She took center stage to weave a spellbinding narrative of culture, unity, and artistry during her performances in the festival.

Nivedita candidly shared, Kuchipudis vigor traditionally stems from male strength, presenting a unique challenge for female dancers. My affinity for jumps became my strength. She fondly acknowledged her gurus role in her journey. My grasp of nritta is indebted to his meticulous corrections and teachings, she expressed. Whereas her maternal aunt infused her with the essence of bhava(expression). This dual influence now manifests in her performances.

Niveditas voyage into the world of Kuchipudi began with a family connection, rooted in her mothers aspiration. Originally from Ponnur, Andhra Pradesh, she is residing in Nagpur from the age of six. It was her maternal aunt, Dr P Rama Devi, one of her gurus, who initiated her into the world of dance with Bharatnatyam. Alongside, she took training under her guru Padmashree Jayarama Rao and his wife Vanasri, who used to visit the city from Delhi. At the age of 16, she met with an accident which fractured the bones of her left leg. The initial medical intervention fell short of providing a complete remedy, leaving her in a state of distress. The overlapping of broken bones resulted in the difference of few inches between her legs. Seeking a ray of hope, she turned to Dr Narendra Saxena, whose surgical expertise became her beacon. With the doctors guidance and motivation, Nivedita began the arduous journey of recovery. Reflecting on her experience in Vietnam, Nivedita described it with great admiration. Her initial uncertainty faded when she realised her dance was being understood by everyone in the audience. Performing solo, she represented India alongside fellow artists.
Opposition has come together to save Constitution, democracy





MUMBAI :

TOP leaders of the I.N.D.I.A bloc began hectic parleys in an informal setting here on Thursday evening to chart out a concrete roadmap and evolve a structure for cooperation among the alliance partners to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Ahead of dinner hosted by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the INDIA bloc leaders met informally and are understood to have deliberated on fixing the agenda of the formal meeting on Friday when key decisions about the alliances future strategy would be taken. The run-up to the meeting saw the Adani issue take centre stage with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi holding a press conference in the premises of Grand Hyatt hotel, where the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) leaders have gathered. Before the start of the informal meeting, Gandhi was also seen interacting with Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders, such as Aditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut, as well as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders Supriya Sule and Jayant Patil. Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar were also seen engaged in a conversation and sharing light moments ahead of the meeting. Chief Ministers of different States and senior leaders, (Continuations) including West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and former Jammu and Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah had arrived here earlier. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary, among others, arrived in the countrys financial capital on Thursday.

The I.N.D.I.A bloc is likely to announce a coordination committee as well as unveil a logo for the alliance. Ahead of the crucial third round of discussions, the alliance on Wednesday exuded confidence that it would provide a formidable alternative to bring a political change in the country and asserted that it has several prime ministerial faces, unlike the BJP. The Opposition alliance has claimed that it has expanded its ambit to 28 parties by including two regional outfits - the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP), a Marxist political party in Maharashtra, and another outfit, on whose name there was no clarity. Sources said expansion of the bloc will be discussed and there is a request from three northeast parties  Asom Jatiya Parishad, Rajor Dal, Anchalik Gan Manch-Bhuyan  to join the alliance and this would be discussed by the Opposition bloc. The leaders have gathered for the third meeting of the alliance here, after Patna and Bengaluru, to chalk out their common campaign strategy to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Opposition alliance is likely to announce a coordination committee, which could consist of 11 members from principal Opposition parties, and will unveil a logo for the bloc. It is also likely to hold discussions on whether to have a convenor or not and whether there will be some sub-groups to handle seat sharing, agitational joint programmes, communication strategy and chalk out the common minimum programme. Earlier in the day, several INDIA bloc leaders reached the venue early and expressed their views on the parties coming together to take on the NDA in 2024. Several leaders of the alliance said they have come together to save the Constitution and democracy in the country, and would evolve a common programme as they prepare to take on the ruling BJP. Former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav said the need of the hour is to strengthen the unity and sovereignty of the country, and to protect the Constitution and democracy. The Modi Government has failed to address the issues of poverty, unemployment and welfare of farmers. At the INDIA alliance meet, we will work on evolving a common programme. We have to contest elections one-on-one (put up common candidates against the BJP), the RJD leader said. Yadavs son and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav said the Maha Gathbandhan (grand alliance) came to power in Bihar last August and Lalu Prasad Yadav and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar decided to work on getting all like-minded parties on board for a larger Opposition alliance. A year later, we are meeting in Mumbai for the third time as an I.N.D.I.A alliance, he said.

People wanted a proper alternative and the I.N.D.I.A alliance is offering it, Tejashwi Yadav said, adding that people will give a befitting reply to those who divide society. People will not forgive us if we dont meet their expectations, the RJD leader added. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti said the youth were the strength of the country. Leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh worked to give a direction to the youth and set up institutions like JNU, IIMs, ISRO, she said. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha claimed that the BJP fears the INDIA alliance. They have hatred for the word INDIA and are even linking the name to a terror outfit.

It is not just hatred but also fear about (what) if the alliance succeeds, he said. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said the INDIA alliance leaders have come together to protect democracy and the Constitution. RJD leader Manoj Jha said the alliance is working to unite the country. It is not just a coalition of parties but that of ideas, he said. The country needs healing, and this coalition is for rebuilding the nation and showing mirror to the ruling party, Jha added. CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury claimed that peoples response to I.N.D.I.A has unnerved the Prime Minister and the BJP. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP and Congress has formed several committees to plan various aspects of the meeting of the opposition bloc. This is the first meeting of the opposition I.N.D.I.A alliance in a state where none of the bloc members are in power. Unity would be the key focus of the meeting.
38 criminals held with sharp-edged weapons, firearms in last 24 hours





Staff Reporter

Jabalpur police obtained major success in view of upcoming Assembly Election and nabbed 38 criminals with sharp-edged weapons and fire arms in last 24 hours. They seized 02 country-made pistols, 02 country-made revolvers, 04 live cartridges, 32 sharp-edged weapons and 02 swords from their possession, informed Tushar Kant Vidyarthi, Superintendent of Police, Jabalpur. SP Vidyarthi was interacting with media during a conference called on Thursday to disclose about police action to maintain law and order situation in the city and arrest of habitual criminals. According to him, all the gazette officers and TIs are especially instructed to identify anti-social elements and criminals carrying arms and weapons and take stern action against them.

Following the orders, teams from different police stations led by ASP (City), Priyanka Shukla IPS, ASP (Crime), Samar Verma, ASP (City South), Kamal Mourya, ASP (City North/Traffic), Pradeep Kumar Shende, ASP (Rural), Suryakant Sharma and Sonali Dubey, arrested 38 criminals and anti-social elements with lethal weapons. Under which, Khamariya Police arrested 19-year old Raj Sonkar, a resident of Bhantallaiya wanted under Section 34(2) Excise Act, with a country-made pistol and 01 live cartridge from Westland. Khamariya police initiated action under Sections 25 and 27 Arms Act. The joint team of Crime Branch and Garha police station arrested 24-year old Dhananjay Chakraborty, a resident of Sharda Chowk, Bedi Nagar, under Sections 25 and 27 of Arms Act after seizing 01 country-made revolver and 01 cartridge from him. Garha Police arrested 27-year old Sadan Upadhayay, son of Ramkumar Upadhayay residing at Mahgawan Pariyat under Panagar police station from Medical ground with 01 country-made pistol and 01 cartridge.

Police registered a case under Sections 25 and 27 of Arms Act. Hanumantal police acted on a tip off, arrested 39-year old Mehandi Hasan Ansari from behind Dadamiya Mazaar, with a country-made revolver loaded with 01 live cartridge and booked him under Sections 25 and 27 of Arms Act. Police also arrested 34 anti-social elements and criminals with 32 sharp-edged weapons and 2 swords under different police stations.
73 killed in Johannesburg building fire





Medics and emergency works at the scene of a deadly blaze in downtown, Johannesburg on Thursday. (AP/PTI)

By Fakir Hassen

JOHANNESBURG

AT least 73 people were killed and 52 others injured after a massive fire broke out on Thursday in a multi-storey building occupied by migrants in the central business district here in South Africas biggest city, emergency services said. Authorities said it was unclear what sparked the blaze at the five-storey building in the city centre. City of Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said firefighters were alerted to the fire in a building on the corner of Delvers and Alberts streets at about 1:30 a.m. Dozens of emergency and rescue workers are still on the scene as bodies continue to be brought out. We managed to evacuate the people who were inside the building as soon as we arrived while we were conducting firefighting operations, Mulaudzi said, adding that most of those treated for injuries had suffered smoke inhalation or minor injuries. Mulaudzi said arrangements were being made to accommodate those who had been left homeless by the incident. The fire gutted the five-storey building. A total of 73 bodies were recovered and 52 were injured in the fire, Mulaudzi said.

A video posted by Mulaudzi on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed fire trucks and ambulances outside the building with burnt-out windows. A toddler was among the deceased. Of the injured, some suffered smoke inhalation with others sustaining minor injuries. Mulaudzi said the fire had been contained and that they were busy with damping down as well as search and recovery operations. He said the death toll may increase because there was an informal settlement inside the building which may have resulted in people being trapped while trying to flee. Every floor has an informal settlement, and those that were trying to evacuate were trapped because of the structures between the floors, the News24 website quoted Mulaudzi as saying. We have informed people who are at the scene looking for their relatives that chances of finding them alive are very slim. The building is one of many in the once bustling district of Johannesburg that has been hijacked by criminal elements who then let them out to desperate migrants, both legal and illegal, who need accommodation. Often, this is despite there being no electricity, water, or sanitation services as the municipality discontinues these in abandoned buildings in an attempt to make them safer.

There are dozens of shacks inside this building and there must be a few hundred people living in small shacks into which the five floors have been divided, said a resident from Tanzania, who lives next to the building and refused to be identified as he said he was still struggling to get refugee status. He said most of the residents in several buildings in the area were illegal migrants from African states who came to the economic heart of South Africa in search of jobs, but most had to struggle to make ends meet as these were very scarce. He said there were also South Africans from rural areas who did that and who were also exploited by unscrupulous criminal syndicates who have hijacked the buildings. Most of us are forced to use candles for light and cook on small paraffin stoves and some even use boulas (open fires made in old steel drums), which are very dangerous in closed buildings. Im not sure how this fire started, but last night was cold and it could have been something like that, he said.

He added that there were some families with small children living in the building. I dont see much hope for anyone else coming alive out of that building now. We just see firemen bringing out bodies one by one. Its very sad!, said another woman, who also lives in a shack nearby, again refusing to be identified. Hundreds of economic migrants live in makeshift homes on empty land and even some streets or converted small sections of buildings in the suburbs surrounding the centre of Johannesburg. Those injured in the blaze were taken to hospital. Officials from the City of Johannesburg disaster management have been activated to facilitate relief for affected families.
BPRD studying Gadchiroli community policing model





By Kartik Lokhande

A good step in right direction makes all the difference when it comes to creating a positive atmosphere. Such step becomes a benchmark for others to follow. Police Dadalora Khidki is one such initiative of Gadchiroli Police that has won praise from the beneficiaries and awards at national and international levels. Now, Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs is studying this model of community policing. The Police Dadalora Khidki is a unique initiative launched by Gadchiroli Police in the year 2021. Ankit Goyal, the then Superintendent of Police (SP), Gadchiroli, (now SP in Pune Rural), has won several honours for the initiative. These include Arun Bongirwar Public Service Excellence Award-2021, FICCI Smart Policing Awards-2021, Dr S S Gadkari Memorial Award, Maharashtrian of the Year Awards-2022, the coveted International Association of Chiefs of Police Award for the year 2022, and the best unit in community policing award amongst all districts of Maharashtra.

Under the said initiative, the first help-desk or assistance kiosk by the name Police Dadalora Khidki (Window set up by Police Brother) was first started at Bhamragarh sub-division office. Over time, it has proven to be a boon for the tribals in remote, Naxal-affected parts of Gadchiroli district. At present, such kiosks are functional at 54 police stations, sub-police stations, and armed out posts. At these kiosks, people in various parts of this tribal-dominated district visit for different works. They submit applications for issuance of various certificates, benefit of different welfare schemes, job card, or even applications for opening bank accounts, Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, filing applications online on MahaDBT portal for direct benefit transfer, etc. The cops process applications to respective departments and with effective inter-department co-ordination, many of the applicants get the documents or benefits of schemes.

Gradually, the initiative has expanded covering more utility functions and more areas. In fact, this civic action programme of Gadchiroli Police has proved to be a game-changer in fight against Naxalism in this hyper-sensitive Left Wing Extremism theatre, Neelotpal, Superintendent of Police, Gadchiroli, told The Hitavada. According to him, Gadchiroli Police have been able to reach out to more than 2.19 lakh beneficiaries in 2022 alone through the community policing initiative. The cops have delivered the benefits of several Government schemes at the doorstep of tribals and citizens in deeper pockets of the district. Police Dadalora Khidki built the image of Gadchiroli Police as handholder in times of need, among the people. The most effective part, as far as weaning away the support of Naxalites/Maoists is concerned, has been Jan Jagaran Melawa. In 2022, the cops organised 240 Jan Jagaran Melawa in which 71,202 tribals participated. Besides, four Maha Jan Jagaran Melawa were organised at armed out-posts in sensitive areas like Gyarapatti, Katezari, Dhodraj, and Kotmi. Jan Maitri Melawa and peace rallies were organised on specific occasions observed or celebrated by Maoists to engage the identified members of Area Rakshak Dal (ARD) and Gram Rakshak Dal (GRD) and Naxal sympathisers so as to prevent them from committing offences and causing damage to public property or attacking security forces. Due to these meetings and rallies, zero incidents were reported during Naxal weeks in 2022, Neelotpal said with pride. According to him, the community policing initiatives have proved that development and mainstreaming alongside anti-Naxal operations form two-pronged approach in fight against Left Wing Extremism.
The fentanyl crisis in the United States has altered the list of the most-wanted criminals. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has dispensed with historical drug lords at the top of its list of fugitives. These positions have instead been filled by Mexican operators  who are helping the Sinaloa Cartel introduce fentanyl, the potent synthetic opioid, into the North American country  and by Chinese criminals shipping the substance from Asia. The DEA is particularly focused on the criminal group belonging to the sons of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, who are known in Mexico as Los Chapitos. El Chapo is currently serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado.

At the head of the list is Oscar Noe Medina Gonzalez, the right-hand man of Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, one of the sons of the jailed leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. According to the American government, Medina Gonzalez  a seasoned hitman who goes by the nickname Panu  is charged with protecting the export routes of fentanyl, assassinating rivals from other organizations, expanding new drug-trafficking territory and coordinating attacks against the security forces. Washington is offering $4 million to anyone who can assist in his capture.

In second place is Kun Jiang, a Chinese citizen who supplies the Sinaloa Cartel with chemical precursors that are used in the clandestine manufacturing of fentanyl. Jiang  who has a million dollar reward hanging over his head  works at the pharmaceutical company Suzhou Xiaoli, a company that sent 25 kilos of chemical precursors to Guadalajara, Mexico, in September 2021. The illegal substances were then seized by Mexican officials. The DEA believes that the Sinaloa Cartel made the purchase.

Washington blames two large Mexican criminal organizations  the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel  for flooding dozens of communities with the powerful opioid. Los Chapitos, however, have questioned this accusation in a letter that was made public by their lawyers in May: We have never worked with fentanyl, they state in the document, where they claim that they are victims of persecution.

Fentanyl has caused an epidemic that, last year alone, left over 107,000 people dead from overdoses in the United States. In May, the DEA reported the results of a year-long operation that resulted in 3,330 detainees and the seizure of 44 million fentanyl pills, as well as two tons of precursors. This is enough to make fatal doses for 193 million people.

The DEAs most-wanted list intends to target all angles of fentanyl trafficking, from its origin in China to the bosses who operate the routes that carry the drug into the United States. Following this transportation process, the doses are sold through traffickers, who are attached to local gangs.

One of the main traffickers on the list is Liborio Nunez Aguirre, known in the underworld as El Karateca. The karate fighter  who belongs to the Sinaloa Cartel  is one of the main fentanyl traffickers. Hes able to bring up to half-a-million doses into the country in just a single operation. Between March and April 2022, according to the authorities, he negotiated a shipment of 70,000 pills that belonged to Los Chapitos. These entered the U.S. through Oceanside, north of San Diego, where they were seized by DEA agents.

San Diego is a popular port of entry for traffickers. Luis Javier Benitez Espinoza  alias El Catorce  uses the city to introduce thousands of doses of the drug into the United States. The American government is offering a million dollars to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of Espinoza, who is also under the orders of Los Chapitos and appears on the DEAs most-wanted list. The same is true of Alan Gabriel Nunez Herrera, who operates in the Los Angeles area.

Others on the list have already been captured, thanks to the extensive deployment of law enforcement agents by the United States to reduce the amount of drugs that reach American streets. One of those who have fallen is Carlos Omar Felix Gutierrez, who operated the clandestine laboratories that the Sinaloa Cartel used to convert chemical precursors into fentanyl. Gutierrez was detained in March of this year by Colombian authorities, just minutes after landing in Bogota from Mexico. During that month, the DEA captured seven members of Los Chapitos in joint operations carried out in Guatemala and Greece.

The U.S. authorities affirm that Los Chapitos use social media as a tool to move drugs into American cities. Its alarming, said Anne Milgram, the director of the DEA, this past May. The cartels use these outlets and other encrypted platforms to conduct their operations and reach victims. When their products kill Americans, they just move on. Among the social media sites used by traffickers are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Wire and Wickr.

The DEAs most-wanted list is a reflection of the new era in the war on drugs. In the past, capos such as Ismael El Mayo Zambada  one of the old criminals from the Sinaloa Cartel  were the priority of U.S. agents. As was Nemesio Oseguera  known as El Mencho  the leader of the bloody cartel that operates in Jalisco and is responsible for much of the violence in that state and throughout western Mexico. These criminals havent left the list: they still appear among the 600 top targets for American law enforcement. But they have recently been displaced by a more urgent crisis.

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OCCRP alleges Mauritius-based opaque funds invested in Adani stock; company denies





NEW DELHI :

THE Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on Thursday trained its guns on billionaire Gautam Adanis group, alleging hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks through Mauritius-based opaque investment funds managed by partners of promoter family, charges the conglomerate denied vehemently. The fresh allegations by an organisation funded by likes of George Soros and Rockefeller Brothers Fund come months after a US short seller wiped away close to USD 150 billion in value of Adani group stocks with allegations of accounting fraud, stock price manipulation and improper use of tax havens by the ports-to-energy conglomerate run by billionaire Gautam Adani. Adani Group has denied all Hindenburg allegations. Citing review of files from multiple tax havens and internal Adani Group emails, OCCRP said its investigation found at least two cases where the mysterious investors bought and sold Adani stock through such offshore structures. The two men, Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling, who OCCRP claimed have longtime business ties to the Adani family and have also served as directors and shareholders in Group companies and firms associated with Gautam Adanis elder brother Vinod Adani, spent years buying and selling Adani stock through offshore structures that obscured their involvement - and made considerable profits in the process.

The documents show that the management company in charge of their investments paid a Vinod Adani company to advice them in their investment, it alleged. Adani in a statement categorically rejected what it called as recycled allegations, calling them yet another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report. These claims are based on closed cases from a decade ago when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) probed allegations of over invoicing, transfer of funds abroad, related party transactions and investments through FPIs. An independent adjudicating authority and an appellate tribunal had both confirmed that there was no over-valuation and that the transactions were in accordance with applicable law. The matter attained finality in March 2023 when the Supreme Court of India ruled in our favour. Clearly, since there was no over-valuation, there is no relevance or foundation for these allegations on transfer of funds, it said. The foreign portfolio investors named in the OCCRP report are already part of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), it said.

As per the Expert Committee appointed by the Honble Supreme Court, there is no evidence of any breach of the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements or manipulation of stock prices. These attempts are aimed at, inter alia, generating profits by driving down our stock prices and these short sellers are under investigation by various authorities. As the Supreme Court and SEBI are overseeing these matters, it is vital to respect the ongoing regulatory process, it said. We have complete faith in the due process of law and remain confident of the quality of our disclosures and corporate governance standards. In light of these facts, the timing of these news reports is suspicious, mischievous and malicious - and we reject these reports in their entirety. PTI had on August 24 reported that the Soros-funded organisation, which calls itself an investigative reporting platform formed by 24 non-profit investigative centres... Spread across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, is planning publication of fresh allegations against a top Indian corporate. OCCRP asked if Ahli and Chang should be considered to be acting on behalf of Adani promoters. If so, their stake in the Adani Group would mean that insiders altogether owned more than the 75 per cent allowed by law, it said, adding this violated Indian listing law.

It went on to state that there was no evidence Chang and Ahlis money for their investments coming from the Adani family, but said its investigation showed there is evidence that their trading in Adani stock was coordinated with the family. The Adani Groups rise has been staggering, growing from under USD 8 billion in market capitalization in September 2013 -- the year before Modi became prime minister -- to USD 260 billion last year, it said. The conglomerate is active in a dizzying array of fields, including transportation and logistics, natural gas distribution, coal trade and production, power generation and transmission, road construction, data centres, and real estate.
Simulated N-attacks on S Korea: N Korea





By Hyung-Jin Kim :

SEOUL (South Korea)

NORTH Korea said on Thursday its latest missile launches simulated scorched earth nuclear strikes on South Korea and that its also been rehearsing an occupation of its rivals territory in the event of conflict. Pyongyang has previously tested nuclear-capable missiles and described how it would use them in potential wars with South Korea and the US But the Norths disclosure of detailed war plans reaffirmed its aggressive nuclear doctrine to intimidate its opponents, as it escalates its protest of the ongoing South Korean-US military exercises that it views as a major security threat, observers say.

North Koreas military said it fired two tactical ballistic missiles from the capital on Wednesday night to practice scorched earth strikes at major command centres and operational airfields in South Korea, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas poses for the official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, in October 2022.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledged Thursday that he took three trips last year aboard a private plane owned by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, even as he rejected criticism over his failure to report trips in previous years.

Its the first time in years that Thomas has reported receiving hospitality from Crow. In a filing posted on the federal judiciarys website, the 75-year-old justice said he was complying with new guidelines from the federal judiciary for reporting travel, but did not include any earlier travel at Crows expense, including a 2019 trip in Indonesia aboard the yacht owned by the wealthy businessman and benefactor of conservative causes.

The report comes amid a heightened focus on ethics at the high court that stems from a series of reports revealing that Thomas has for years received undisclosed expensive gifts, including international travel, from Crow.

Crow also purchased the house in Georgia where Thomass mother continues to live and paid for two years of private school tuition for a child raised by Thomas and his wife, Ginni.

The reporting by the investigative news site ProPublica also revealed that Justice Samuel Alito failed to disclose a private trip to Alaska he took in 2008 that was paid for by two wealthy Republican donors, one of whom repeatedly had interests before the court.

The Associated Press also reported in July that Justice Sonia Sotomayor, aided by her staff, has advanced sales of her books through college visits over the past decade.

Supreme Court justices do not have a binding code of ethics, and have resisted the idea that they adopt one or have one imposed on them by Congress. In the spring, all nine justices signed a statement of ethics that Chief Justice John Roberts provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Roberts has acknowledged that the justices can do more to address ethical concerns.

But neither the statement nor Roberts comments assuaged Senate Democrats. The Democratic-controlled committee approved an ethics code for the court in July on a party-line vote. The legislation has little chance of passing the Senate  it would need at least nine GOP votes, and Republicans have strongly opposed it  or the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Elliot Berke, a lawyer representing Thomas, issued a blistering statement defending the justices conduct and taking aim at his critics.

The attacks on Justice Thomas are nothing less than ridiculous and dangerous, and they set a terrible precedent for political blood sport through federal ethics filings, Berke said. Justice Thomass amended report answers  and utterly refutes the charges trumped up in this partisan feeding frenzy.

But two ethics experts who have advised justices or nominees to the high court said it has been clear to them for years that travel on private planes must be reported.

You report the free trips on the jets, the private jets, if you take them. I dont get this idea that, Gee, the rules changed on us. Thats just a lot of hogwash, said Richard Painter, who was the White Houses chief ethics lawyer when Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts were nominated to the Supreme Court. Painter now believes the court needs its own ethics lawyer, as well as an inspector general to investigate possible judicial misconduct.

Stephen Gillers, whose advice has been sought by now-retired Justice Stephen Breyer, said in an email, The failure to report private plane travel paid by a corporate donor has always been a glaring omission in the Thomas filings.

One trip Thomas reported was to Crows lodge in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. ProPublica has reported that Thomas visits there every year.

The other two trips were to Dallas, where he spoke at conferences sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

Thomas noted that court officials recommended that he avoid commercial travel for one of the trips, in mid-May, because of concerns about the justices security following the leak of the courts draft abortion opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade.

The justice also belatedly acknowledged that Crow had purchased the home in Savannah, Georgia. Thomas and other family members owned the house, along with two neighboring properties. The sale was completed in 2014, but Thomas said he erroneously thought he didnt have to report it because this sale resulted in a capital loss.

In reporting that he and his wife have assets worth $1.2 million to $2.7 million, Thomas also corrected several other mistakes from earlier reports. These include the omission of accounts at a credit union that last year were worth $100,000 to $250,000 and a life insurance policy in his wifes name that was valued at less than $100,000.

Thomas is considering whether to amend prior reports, he noted.

The annual financial reports for Thomas and Alito were released Thursday, nearly three months after those of the other seven justices. Thomas and Alito were granted 90-day extensions.

Alito reported assets worth $2.8 million to $7.4 million. While most of his holdings are in mutual funds, Alito retains shares of stocks in energy and other companies that sometimes force his withdrawal from Supreme Court cases.

Alito, in an unusual column in the Wall Street Journal, said he was under no obligation to report the Alaska trip or step aside from any cases involving the benefactor.

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Shares of a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp. (NYSE:AKA  Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of Hold by the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $1.65.

Several research analysts have commented on AKA shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of a.k.a. Brands from $3.00 to $0.75 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price objective on a.k.a. Brands from $2.00 to $1.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on a.k.a. Brands from $2.00 to $1.50 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 10th.

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a.k.a. Brands Stock Performance

Institutional Investors Weigh In On a.k.a. Brands

Shares of AKA stock opened at $0.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. a.k.a. Brands has a 12-month low of $0.30 and a 12-month high of $3.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $0.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $61.69 million, a PE ratio of -0.33 and a beta of 1.24.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AKA. Shay Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of a.k.a. Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of a.k.a. Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of a.k.a. Brands by 24.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,254 shares of the companys stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 4,538 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of a.k.a. Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $119,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of a.k.a. Brands by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 85,100 shares of the companys stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.44% of the companys stock.

a.k.a. Brands Company Profile

(Get Free Report

a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp. operates a portfolio of online fashion brands in the United States, Australia, and internationally. It offers apparel, footwear, and accessories through its online stores under the Princess Polly, Culture Kings, Petal & Pup, and mnml brands, as well as operates physical stores under the Culture Kings brand name.

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Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Antero Midstream Co. (NYSE:AM  Free Report) by 109.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,733 shares of the pipeline companys stock after purchasing an additional 13,979 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLCs holdings in Antero Midstream were worth $280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Credit Suisse AG boosted its position in shares of Antero Midstream by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 366,604 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $3,846,000 after purchasing an additional 18,055 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Antero Midstream by 0.6% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 237,557 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $2,492,000 after buying an additional 1,364 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Antero Midstream by 0.9% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,325,447 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $13,904,000 after buying an additional 12,020 shares in the last quarter. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Antero Midstream by 264.5% during the first quarter. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 83,903 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $880,000 after buying an additional 60,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Antero Midstream during the first quarter valued at about $161,000. Institutional investors own 52.02% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sheri Pearce sold 16,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.05, for a total value of $200,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 138,667 shares in the company, valued at $1,670,937.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Antero Midstream news, insider Sheri Pearce sold 16,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.05, for a total transaction of $200,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 138,667 shares in the company, valued at $1,670,937.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Brooks J. Klimley sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.01, for a total value of $60,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 71,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $853,274.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Antero Midstream Price Performance

NYSE AM opened at $12.12 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31 and a beta of 2.36. Antero Midstream Co. has a 52-week low of $8.80 and a 52-week high of $12.32.

Antero Midstream (NYSE:AM  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The pipeline company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Antero Midstream had a net margin of 34.36% and a return on equity of 18.13%. The business had revenue of $258.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $267.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Antero Midstream Co. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Antero Midstream Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 26th were issued a $0.225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 25th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.43%. Antero Midstreams dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Antero Midstream from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Antero Midstream from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Antero Midstream in a research note on Wednesday, May 10th. They set a buy rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Antero Midstream in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a hold rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $12.25.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on AM

Antero Midstream Profile

(Free Report)

Antero Midstream Corporation owns, operates, and develops midstream energy infrastructure in the Appalachian Basin. It operates through Gathering and Processing, and Water Handling segments. The Gathering and Processing segment includes a network of gathering pipelines and compressor stations that collects and processes production from Antero Resources' wells in West Virginia and Ohio.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Antero Midstream Co. (NYSE:AM  Free Report).

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President Joe Biden delivers remarks during an event on lowering health care costs at the White House in Washington, on August 29, 2023.

The White House said Thursday that Congress should pass a short-term funding measure to ensure the government keeps operating after the current budget year ends Sept. 30.

An official with the Office of Management and Budget said lawmakers would very likely need to pass a temporary spending measure in September to prevent a potential partial shutdown. The official was not authorized to discuss the administrations plans and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Without such congressional approval, parts of the federal government could shut down when the new budget year begins Oct. 1. That would jeopardize federal programs on which millions of U.S. households and businesses rely. The shutdown is a risk because of disagreements on the annual spending bills to be passed by the Republican-led House and Democratic-majority Senate. Neither side wants a shutdown despite their differences.

House Republicans are insisting on sharp cuts to many programs, reopening a tense debate about government finances from earlier this year when the White House and Congress reached a compromise in June to extend the governments legal borrowing authority through January 2025.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre outlined the administrations two-front push on government funding at Thursdays briefing. On August 10, the administration sent Congress a request for supplemental funding that would include money for disaster relief, aid to Ukraine and programs to address fentanyl addiction. The supplemental is separate from Thursdays request for a short-term funding plan to keep the government open.

As part of the request for short-term funding, the White House Office of Management and Budget is seeking additional adjustments to avoid possible disruptions to food aid for women, infants and children. Without the adjustments, states could put recipients on wait lists and cause them to go hungry, Jean-Pierre said.

This is something that Congress can do  they can prevent a government shutdown, Jean-Pierre said. They need to prevent a government shutdown.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News on Sunday that he would actually like to have a short-term funding measure because a shutdown hurts the American public. He suggested an extension would allow the House to pass its own spending plans and improve its leverage in talks with the Senate.

The Washington Post first reported on Thursday that the White House said Congress should pass a short-term funding measure.

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG  Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at Argus from $232.00 to $264.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a buy rating on the financial services providers stock. Argus price target indicates a potential upside of 14.54% from the stocks current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Raymond James raised their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. VNET Group reiterated a maintains rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd. StockNews.com started coverage on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a hold rating for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $212.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Friday, June 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $247.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $231.54.

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

AJG opened at $230.48 on Wednesday. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $219.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 1 year low of $167.93 and a 1 year high of $232.41. The firm has a market cap of $49.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.93, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.70.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 18.65% and a net margin of 12.11%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 2,750 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total transaction of $561,632.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,023 shares of the companys stock, valued at $413,157.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Joel D. Cavaness sold 2,750 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.23, for a total value of $561,632.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,023 shares in the company, valued at $413,157.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.40, for a total value of $216,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 46,538 shares in the company, valued at $10,070,823.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,638 shares of company stock valued at $9,354,279. Company insiders own 1.40% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 89.9% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 131 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party property/casualty claims settlement and administration services to businesses and organizations worldwide. It operates in Brokerage and Risk Management segments. The Brokerage segment offers retail and wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerage services; assists retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers in the placement of specialized and hard-to-place insurance; and acts as a brokerage wholesaler, managing general agent, and managing general underwriter for distributing specialized insurance coverages to underwriting enterprises.

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Air Lease (NYSE:AL  Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at Bank of America from $65.00 to $60.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a buy rating on the transportation companys stock. Bank of Americas target price would indicate a potential upside of 47.24% from the companys current price.

AL has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Air Lease in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Air Lease from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Air Lease presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $53.80.

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Air Lease Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:AL opened at $40.75 on Wednesday. Air Lease has a one year low of $30.08 and a one year high of $46.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.49.

Air Lease (NYSE:AL  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The transportation company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $672.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $657.68 million. Air Lease had a net margin of 20.91% and a return on equity of 7.72%. Equities analysts anticipate that Air Lease will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Air Lease

In other Air Lease news, EVP Alex A. Khatibi sold 25,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 89,266 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,570,640. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Air Lease

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in Air Lease by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 8,962 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL purchased a new position in Air Lease in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,322,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Air Lease by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 290,391 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $12,153,000 after purchasing an additional 10,635 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Air Lease by 1,222.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,116 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Air Lease by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 49,917 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $2,089,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. 88.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Air Lease Company Profile

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Air Lease Corporation, an aircraft leasing company, engages in the purchase and leasing of commercial jet aircraft to airlines worldwide. It also sells aircraft from its fleet to third parties, including other leasing companies, financial services companies, airlines, and other investors. In addition, the company provides fleet management services to investors and owners of aircraft portfolios.

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StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Barnwell Industries (NYSE:BRN  Free Report) in a research report report published on Monday. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock.

Barnwell Industries Trading Up 10.8 %

Shares of Barnwell Industries stock opened at $2.67 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $26.68 million, a P/E ratio of -29.67 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $2.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.56. Barnwell Industries has a 1-year low of $1.89 and a 1-year high of $3.33.

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Barnwell Industries (NYSE:BRN  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter. Barnwell Industries had a negative return on equity of 5.28% and a negative net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $5.68 million for the quarter.

Barnwell Industries Announces Dividend

Insider Buying and Selling at Barnwell Industries

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 24th will be issued a $0.015 dividend. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 23rd. Barnwell Industriess payout ratio is -66.67%.

In related news, major shareholder Ned L. Sherwood acquired 20,676 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $2.75 per share, with a total value of $56,859.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,231,253 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,135,945.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Ned L. Sherwood acquired 20,676 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.75 per share, for a total transaction of $56,859.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 2,231,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,135,945.75. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ned L. Sherwood bought 38,297 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.57 per share, for a total transaction of $98,423.29. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 2,205,709 shares in the company, valued at $5,668,672.13. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 16.30% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barnwell Industries

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new position in Barnwell Industries during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Susquehanna International Group LLP bought a new stake in Barnwell Industries during the first quarter worth $75,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Barnwell Industries in the 1st quarter valued at $78,000. EA Series Trust bought a new position in Barnwell Industries during the 2nd quarter valued at $88,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Barnwell Industries by 145.1% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 40,745 shares of the companys stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 24,118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.38% of the companys stock.

About Barnwell Industries

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Barnwell Industries, Inc acquires, develops, produces, and sells oil and natural gas in Canada. It operates through three segments: Oil and Natural Gas, Land Investment, and Contract Drilling. The company acquires and develops crude oil and natural gas assets in the province of Alberta; and invests in land interests in Hawaii.

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Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN  Get Free Report) and The Seibels Bruce Group (OTCMKTS:SBBG  Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Horace Mann Educators and The Seibels Bruce Groups net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Horace Mann Educators -0.77% 3.24% 0.26% The Seibels Bruce Group N/A N/A N/A

Volatility and Risk

Horace Mann Educators has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Seibels Bruce Group has a beta of 0.18, meaning that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

Valuation and Earnings

99.3% of Horace Mann Educators shares are held by institutional investors. 3.6% of Horace Mann Educators shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 55.4% of The Seibels Bruce Group shares are held 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.

This table compares Horace Mann Educators and The Seibels Bruce Groups revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Horace Mann Educators $1.38 billion 0.85 -$2.60 million ($0.27) -106.14 The Seibels Bruce Group N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

The Seibels Bruce Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Horace Mann Educators.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Horace Mann Educators and The Seibels Bruce Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Horace Mann Educators 0 1 0 0 2.00 The Seibels Bruce Group 0 0 0 0 N/A

Horace Mann Educators presently has a consensus target price of $36.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.61%. Given Horace Mann Educators higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Horace Mann Educators is more favorable than The Seibels Bruce Group.

Summary

Horace Mann Educators beats The Seibels Bruce Group on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Horace Mann Educators

(Get Free Report)

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an insurance holding company in the United States. The company operates through Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement, and Supplemental & Group Benefits segments. Its Property & Casualty segment offers insurance products, including private passenger auto insurance and residential home insurance; and provides auto coverages including liability and collision, and property coverage for homeowners and renters. The Life & Retirement segment markets tax-qualified fixed, fixed indexed, and variable annuities; and internal revenue code for educator, which allows public school employees and employees of other tax-exempt organizations, such as not-for-profit private schools, to utilize pretax income to make periodic contributions to a qualified retirement plan. Supplemental & Group Benefits segment offers employer-sponsored products including accident, critical illness, limited-benefit fixed indemnity insurance, term life, and short-term and long-term disability, as well as worksite direct products, such as supplemental heart, cancer, disability, and accident coverage. The company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois.

About The Seibels Bruce Group

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The Seibels Bruce Group, Inc. provides processing, technology, and claims solutions to the property and casualty insurance industry. The company offers processing solutions for coastal markets; business process outsourcing; claims administration solutions; information technology outsourcing; and professional services. It also provides technology solutions, such as IPX enterprise insurance suite, CPX claims management system, FNOL first notice of loss, and reinspection processing xpert solutions; and claims solutions, including third party administration, catastrophe management, first notice of loss, multi-line adjusting and examination, reinspection, and subrogation/salvage services. The company was founded in 1869 and is based in Columbia, South Carolina.

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Embraer S.A. (NYSE:ERJ  Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy by the six ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $19.17.

ERJ has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on Embraer from $15.75 to $16.50 in a report on Tuesday, June 13th. StockNews.com raised Embraer from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, August 24th.

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Embraer Stock Down 0.9 %

Institutional Trading of Embraer

ERJ stock opened at $15.64 on Friday. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $15.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.90. Embraer has a fifty-two week low of $8.52 and a fifty-two week high of $17.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.30.

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its stake in Embraer by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 18,484,175 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $302,586,000 after purchasing an additional 2,764,894 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Embraer by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,935,642 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $64,426,000 after buying an additional 72,348 shares in the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Embraer by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,392,616 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $37,081,000 after buying an additional 23,401 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Embraer by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,238,946 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $53,022,000 after buying an additional 860,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda raised its position in shares of Embraer by 39.5% during the 4th quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 3,138,792 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $34,307,000 after buying an additional 888,976 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 34.65% of the companys stock.

Embraer Company Profile

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Embraer SA designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aircraft and systems in North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Brazil, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Commercial Aviation; Defense & Security; Executive Aviation; Services & Support; and Other segments. The Commercial Aviation segment designs, develops, manufactures, and sells commercial jets, as well as leases aircraft.

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Green Dot (NYSE:GDOT  Get Free Report) and Vanquis Banking Group (OTCMKTS:FPLPF  Get Free Report) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Green Dot and Vanquis Banking Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Green Dot 0 4 1 0 2.20 Vanquis Banking Group 2 0 1 0 1.67

Green Dot presently has a consensus price target of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 54.99%. Vanquis Banking Group has a consensus price target of $310.00, indicating a potential upside of 23,208.27%. Given Vanquis Banking Groups higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vanquis Banking Group is more favorable than Green Dot.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

Profitability

92.1% of Green Dot shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.3% of Vanquis Banking Group shares are held by institutional investors. 11.8% of Green Dot shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

This table compares Green Dot and Vanquis Banking Groups net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Green Dot 3.21% 10.25% 1.78% Vanquis Banking Group N/A N/A N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Green Dot and Vanquis Banking Groups gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Green Dot $1.47 billion 0.53 $64.21 million $0.90 16.49 Vanquis Banking Group N/A N/A N/A $1.12 1.19

Green Dot has higher revenue and earnings than Vanquis Banking Group. Vanquis Banking Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Green Dot, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Green Dot beats Vanquis Banking Group on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Green Dot

(Get Free Report)

Green Dot Corporation, a financial technology and bank holding company, provides various financial services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Consumer Services, Business to Business Services, and Money Movement Services. The company offers deposit account programs, including consumer and small business checking account products, network-branded reloadable prepaid debit cards and gift cards, and secured credit programs. It also provides money processing services, such as cash transfer services that enable consumers to deposit or pick up cash and pay bills with cash at the point-of-sale at any participating retailer; and simply paid disbursement services, which enable wages and authorized funds disbursement to its deposit account programs and accounts issued by any third-party bank or program manager. In addition, the company offers tax processing services comprising tax refund transfers, which provide the processing technology to facilitate receipt of a taxpayers' refund proceeds; small business lending to independent tax preparation providers that seek small advances; and fast cash advance, a loan that enables tax refund recipients. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Vanquis Banking Group

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Vanquis Banking Group plc provides personal credit products to the non-standard lending market in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It offers credit cards products, and unsecured personal loans products. The company also provides vehicle finance for cars, motorbikes, and light commercial vehicles. The company was formerly known as Provident Financial plc and changed its name to Vanquis Banking Group plc in March 2023. Vanquis Banking Group plc was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Bradford, the United Kingdom.

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StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE:GHL  Free Report) in a research report report published on Tuesday. The firm issued a hold rating on the financial services providers stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on GHL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. TheStreet cut shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. from a c rating to a d+ rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 31st. Finally, JMP Securities cut shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $11.83.

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Read Our Latest Report on Greenhill & Co., Inc.

Greenhill & Co., Inc. Price Performance

GHL stock opened at $14.75 on Tuesday. Greenhill & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $5.64 and a 52 week high of $14.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $277.34 million, a P/E ratio of 26.34 and a beta of 1.12.

Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE:GHL  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 9th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $71.44 million during the quarter. Greenhill & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 24.40%.

Greenhill & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 13th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 12th. Greenhill & Co., Inc.s payout ratio is currently 71.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in Greenhill & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,267,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $659,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in Greenhill & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $476,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 1,170.1% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 288,723 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,230,000 after buying an additional 265,991 shares during the period. Finally, Capula Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $693,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.26% of the companys stock.

About Greenhill & Co., Inc.

(Get Free Report)

Greenhill & Co, Inc, an independent investment bank, provides financial and strategic advisory services to corporations, partnerships, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. The company offers advisory services related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, financings, private capital raising, and other similar transactions.

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Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE  Free Report) by 285.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 624 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLCs holdings in Intercontinental Exchange were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 43.4% during the 1st quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,749,725 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,153,922,000 after purchasing an additional 831,985 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Capital Management raised its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 43,198 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,505,000 after purchasing an additional 4,198 shares during the last quarter. RMB Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. RMB Capital Management LLC now owns 11,336 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Intercontinental Exchange by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 400,852 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $41,784,000 after purchasing an additional 94,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.91% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ICE shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $128.00 to $122.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Citigroup raised shares of Intercontinental Exchange from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, August 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $130.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Intercontinental Exchange in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $132.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Intercontinental Exchange news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.99, for a total transaction of $182,384.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,097,643.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Intercontinental Exchange news, SVP Douglas Foley sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.99, for a total transaction of $182,384.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 18,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,097,643.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Benjamin Jackson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.54, for a total transaction of $346,620.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 125,647 shares in the company, valued at $14,517,254.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,136 shares of company stock valued at $1,034,539. Company insiders own 1.10% of the companys stock.

Intercontinental Exchange Stock Performance

NYSE:ICE opened at $117.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.20, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $114.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.75. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.60 and a fifty-two week high of $118.79.

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.89 billion. Intercontinental Exchange had a net margin of 17.64% and a return on equity of 13.11%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.32 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. will post 5.65 EPS for the current year.

Intercontinental Exchange Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Intercontinental Exchanges payout ratio is currently 55.81%.

Intercontinental Exchange Profile

(Free Report)

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of market infrastructure, data services, and technology solutions for financial institutions, corporations, and government entities in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Singapore, India, Abu Dhabi, Israel, and Canada.

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Shelton Capital Management trimmed its holdings in The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV  Free Report) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,447 shares of the insurance providers stock after selling 67 shares during the quarter. Shelton Capital Managements holdings in Travelers Companies were worth $248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TRV. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Travelers Companies by 569.0% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,579,476 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $60,732,000 after buying an additional 2,193,923 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Travelers Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $239,875,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Travelers Companies by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,820,386 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $1,466,244,000 after purchasing an additional 829,918 shares during the last quarter. Prostatis Group LLC bought a new stake in Travelers Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $839,000. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Travelers Companies by 17,864.0% in the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 698,799 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $119,781,000 after buying an additional 694,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.12% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Travelers Companies

In other news, EVP Michael Frederick Klein sold 10,000 shares of Travelers Companies stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.05, for a total value of $1,750,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,080 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,464,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.29% of the companys stock.

Travelers Companies Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of TRV stock opened at $161.23 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.94. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.65 and a 52-week high of $194.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33.

Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV  Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($1.99). Travelers Companies had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 10.75%. The business had revenue of $10.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.57 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 12.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Travelers Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 7th. Travelers Companiess payout ratio is currently 42.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TRV. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $183.00 to $185.00 in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Travelers Companies from $183.00 to $180.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. StockNews.com began coverage on Travelers Companies in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of Travelers Companies in a report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $208.00 to $176.00 in a report on Thursday, July 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Travelers Companies presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $196.08.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Travelers Companies

About Travelers Companies

(Free Report)

The Travelers Companies, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Business Insurance, Bond & Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance.

Further Reading

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U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW  Free Report) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 463 shares of the information technology services providers stock after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in ServiceNow were worth $215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Hampshire Trust boosted its position in ServiceNow by 4.0% during the first quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 599 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 1,666 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $774,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 2,454 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC now owns 928 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirova lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirova now owns 2,525 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $980,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.14% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NOW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $660.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on ServiceNow from $549.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on ServiceNow from $518.00 to $657.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on ServiceNow from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on ServiceNow from $500.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $591.38.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

NOW stock opened at $588.83 on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average is $565.00 and its 200-day moving average is $506.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $119.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 1.02. ServiceNow, Inc. has a twelve month low of $337.00 and a twelve month high of $614.36.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The information technology services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 17.76%. Equities research analysts forecast that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul John Smith sold 355 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.16, for a total value of $200,631.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,576,231.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 1,486 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $544.95, for a total value of $809,795.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $809,795.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul John Smith sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.16, for a total value of $200,631.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,789 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,576,231.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,451 shares of company stock valued at $6,889,477 in the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ServiceNow Profile

(Free Report)

ServiceNow, Inc provides enterprise cloud computing solutions that defines, structures, consolidates, manages, and automates services for enterprises worldwide. The company operates the Now platform for workflow automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic process automation, process mining, performance analytics, electronic service catalogs and portals, configuration management systems, data benchmarking, encryption, and collaboration and development tools.

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Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz celebrates after the race was called for her during her election night watch party in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., April 4, 2023.

Even before the newly elected justice who gave liberals a one-seat majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court has heard a case, Republican lawmakers are talking about taking the unprecedented step of impeaching and removing her from office.

And they have the votes to do it.

Republicans worry that the legislative districts they drew 12 years ago, which are widely viewed as among the most gerrymandered in the country, will be undone in one of the courts first actions under liberal control. Its a legitimate concern, as Democratic-friendly groups brought two lawsuits in the first week of newly elected Justice Janet Protasiewiczs term asking the new liberal-controlled court to toss the maps.

They waited to bring the challenges until after Protasiewicz started her 10-year term the the court Aug. 1, flipping majority control to 4-3 liberals for the first time in 15 years.

The moves came after Protasiewicz said during her winning campaign that the maps are rigged, unfair and should be reviewed. Those comments, along with her receiving nearly $10 million in donations from the Wisconsin Democratic Party, provided the lynchpin for Republican arguments that she cant fairly hear the redistricting lawsuits.

When youre saying that one side has rigged maps, you have made a decision that maps in her opinion are biased, which is the point of the whole case, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told The Associated Press on Thursday. She shouldnt have said what she did, but she did. And now she has to own it.

Vos and fellow Republicans who control the Legislature asked to intervene in the redistricting lawsuits, arguing that Protasiewicz must recuse herself because she has prejudged the cases. Those who brought the lawsuits argue that Republicans are trying to nullify the results of the election, which Protasiewicz won by 11 percentage points.

Those who unconstitutionally locked themselves into control over the legislature are apoplectic that they cannot gerrymander the court, attorney Jeffrey Mandell, who is part of a coalition that filed one of the lawsuits, posted on social media Thursday. Theyre trying, again, to undo the will of Wisconsin voters and preserve their illegitimate power at all costs.

The goal is about having an unbiased judiciary, not overturning an election, Vos said.

Protasiewicz did not make any pledges or promises about how she would rule, which would require recusal, attorneys in the other redistricting lawsuits argued this week in a filing that seeks to keep her from stepping aside.

Even as Vos and other lawmakers talk about impeachment, Vos said Thursday he still hasnt decided whether to proceed.

I want to do legal research and see if this is unprecedented, he said. Im not saying its definitely happening. But we have to take a look at it.

Republicans have a 64-35 majority in the Assembly and it would only take 50 votes to impeach. They control 22 of the 33 seats in the state Senate, giving them exactly the number theyd then need to convict and remove Protasiewicz from office.

If the Assembly impeached her, Protasiewicz would be barred from taking any actions as a justice until the Senate acted. That could effectively stop her from voting on redistricting without removing her from office and creating a vacancy that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would fill.

The day after Protasiewicz was elected, Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu seemed to cast doubt on the Senate moving ahead with impeachment.

To impeach someone, they would need to do something very serious, LeMahieu told WISN-TV. We are not looking to start the impeachment process as a regular occurring event in Wisconsin.

LeMahieu has kept quiet about the matter of late even as other lawmakers have spoken out about the impeachment possibility. He did not respond Thursday to a request for comment.

The Legislature has voted only once to impeach a state judge. It happened in 1853, just five years after statehood, and the state Senate did not convict. The Wisconsin Constitution limits the reasons to impeach a sitting officeholder to corrupt conduct in office or the commission or a crime or misdemeanor, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Council, nonpartisan attorneys who advise the Legislature.

Given the lack of precedent, its super hard to predict, what might happen in this case, said Chad Oldfather, a Marquette University Law School professor.

Theres so much unchartered territory thats involved in this, he said. Its unclear what the standards are.

For example, Oldfather said, legal challenges could be brought in state or federal court over what is an impeachable offense and whether whatever action the Legislature takes is legal. Mixed in are political calculations on whether and how to proceed, he said.

Its a mess, is what it is, Oldfather said.

The fight over redistricting, and possible impeachment, comes amid public and private fighting among the justices. In their first week in power, liberal justices fired the conservative state court director and weakened the powers of conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler, which she said amounted to an unconstitutional coup.

The court has yet to hear its first case of the term. Oral arguments in that case, over whether a couple must be married to adopt a child, are set for Sept. 11.

The state Supreme Court has yet to decide whether it will hear the redistricting challenges.

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That release could not be found.
Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has said that inadequate integration of technologies in the agricultural sector in Africa has contributed to low yields and increased post-harvest losses.

Dr. Jonathan said this during his official unveiling as AATF Goodwill Ambassador at a ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria, in August 2023.

The use of modern technology has increased productivity in many countries in the world. With technology, smallholder farmers are guaranteed quality harvests and increased yields. For instance, yield increases can be achieved through technologies that protect the crop from insect damage, thus allowing the plants full yield potential to be realised, said Dr. Jonathan.

I am pleased to be speaking with you today in my capacity as AATF Goodwill Ambassador for Agriculture Technologies in Africa. I am a firm believer in sustainable development and enhancing the prosperity of farmers in Africa through the use oftechnologies, he noted.

Former President Dr Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi Sabi.

The former President said that he agreed to serve as the AATF Goodwill Ambassador for agricultural technology in Africa because of his deep belief in the fact that agriculture is the backbone of Africas economy, and that technology can contribute enormously to progressing Africas agriculture.

Agriculture lies at the heart of our economies, our cultures, and our livelihoods, he said, adding that by extension, agriculture provides Africa with the chance to play a key role in feeding the world's growing population because it boasts the largest share of arable land globally.

According to him, it is through advancement in agriculture that Africa can attain food and nutrition security, and poverty reduction. He noted that central to this endeavour are the smallholder farmers who feed all, and the promise that agriculture offers to uplift their lives. He called for the need for smallholder farmers to benefit from their sweat and investment in agriculture to live a fulfilling, and a healthy life.

The AATF Ambassador noted that technologies offer new opportunities. For example, by using satellite imagery and drones, precision agriculture is helping in the management of pests and diseases. The timely response through early detection enables farmers to overcome such challenges. When technologies are used in agriculture, they make a difference across humanity and social strata, impacting people, communities and economies.

Earlier, Dr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive Director, AATF, said that the unveiling of Dr. Jonathan as AATFs Goodwill Ambassador signifies a pivotal moment in the journey towards a brighter future for Africas agriculture.

Executive Director AATF, Dr Canisius Kanangire, President Goodluck Jonathan and Prof. G. SHarubutu, Executive Secretary, ARCN

AATF has long been at the forefront of driving positive change in Africa's agricultural sector. Through its innovative approach to bridging the gap between science, technology, and farmers, the foundation has demonstrated its commitment to enhancing food security, improving livelihoods, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

Today, we are privileged to welcome a leader of exceptional caliber into the AATF family. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan's tenure as the President of Nigeria showcased his unwavering dedication to fostering socio-economic growth and development. This appointment reinforces our belief that by working together, we can harness the power of science and technology to drive progress and prosperity across our continent, he pointed out.

The ceremony was attended by high government officials, members of the diplomatic community, the agricultural research system in Nigeria and farmers.

About AATF (www.aatf-africa.org):

AATF is an international not-for-profit organization that is empowering smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa with a wide choice of agricultural innovations that contribute to food and nutrition security to generate health and wealth for their families and communities. Established in 2003 as an African-led entity, AATF works with public and private partners across the full food value chain to access, develop, deliver and commercialize innovative technologies that bring meaningful change to Africas agriculture. AATF is driven by a vision of a prosperous and food-secure Africa, one where millions of smallholder farmers can transform African agriculture with the same innovations that are transforming food production around the world. AATF believes the farmers in Africa will become globally competitive through the use of the best technology, optimal agricultural practices, strategic product value addition and boosted access to efficient markets within and outside Africa.

For further information and Pictures contact:

Alex Abutu,

AATF Communication Officer (West and Central Africa)

+2348068701960

[email protected]


August has just ended, but the month is a record-breaking one in terms of illegal immigration in the United States. The number of immigrant crossings skyrocketed in recent weeks, according to figures from the Department of Homeland Security. This bucks a downward trend that President Joe Bidens administration had achieved through the end of Title 42, which allowed border authorities to impose tougher penalties for those who entered the country illegally. Figures from immigration authorities indicate that there is a significant upturn in the number of families making the treacherous journey north. The month that just ended yielded the highest number of detentions at the border with Mexico for this cohort since May 2019, at the height of the Donald Trump presidency.

At least 91,000 family members (one parent with at least one child) were detained at the U.S. southern border in August, according to preliminary figures from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as reported by The Washington Post. The figures for August, although still awaiting official confirmation, represent an increase from the 86,200 detentions of families recorded in July. Previously, one needs to go back to December 2022 to find a month with more than 70,000 arrests in the area.

The number of families who have crossed the border illustrates only part of the problem facing the Biden administration. The White House is struggling to reduce illegal immigration in the lead-up to an election year when border security will be one of the most critical issues for Republican voters. Coupled with the number of unaccompanied minors and unaccompanied adults, the situation is even more complex.

If the figures reported by The Washington Post are true, 45,000 more people may have entered the country irregularly in August than in July. At that time, the Border Patrol detained 132,600 immigrants, of which 60,000 were family members. The treacherous journey of thousands of people, primarily from Central Americas Northern Triangle, was made in one of the hottest months of 2023. In the Tucson Sector (Arizona), more than 1,100 rescues were made of immigrants who could not endure the soaring July temperatures. Unfortunately, mortal remains were also found, says the CBP.

A Homeland Security spokeswoman told the U.S. capitals daily newspaper that authorities increased the number of deportation flights of migrant families last month. The agency says that since May, 17,000 family members have been deported (out of a total of 200,000 expulsions).

The Biden administration said in 2021 that it does not detain or deport women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. This was one of the decisions intended to distance itself from the Trump years, when families were intentionally separated at the border as a means of discouraging illegal crossings. President Biden abolished this measure when he came to the White House and promised to restore humanity to immigration policy, but the spike in illegal crossings forced him to reinforce the measures.

Increase of Hondurans

In June, the number of Border Patrol detentions in the area remained below 100,000. A month later, illegal crossings increased to over 132,000. The main increase was with families from Honduras. In May and June, U.S. authorities detained between 4,000 and 5,000 Hondurans per month in the area. In July, the figure jumped to more than 16,000 citizens of the Central American nation. Something similar is happening with migrants from Guatemala. More than 13,600 nationals belonging to Guatemalan families were detained in July. This represents a monthly increase of more than 350% over June, when fewer than 4,000 arrests were made. From Mexico there were 10,324 detentions, up from the 6,000 averaged in the previous three months.

August will post record numbers, but despite this, there are some offices along the bustling border that have reported a decrease in the flow of migrants. This is the case in the El Paso sector, which processes approximately 800 immigrants every day under Title 8, which allows an immigrant to be detained, taken to a detention center for deportation and barred from entering the country for up to five years. In the first months of the year, when Title 42 was still in effect, agents in this Texas city processed some 2,700 people per day. Most of the arrests in that sector are of unaccompanied men (255,000 since October of last year). Family members detained in the region total 88,900. There have also been 20,000 unaccompanied minors registered in the last nine months.

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When called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984, the Learned Silk, Prof. Tahir Mamman would have hardly envisaged that he would be marking his 39th year at the Nigerian Bar and 8th year at the Inner Bar (as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria) as the Honourable Minister of Education of the largest republic in Africa.

A Lecturer of excellence, a distinguished administrator, a legal juggernaut, an academic of repute, as we say, a very round peg in Nigeria's round hole. However, the task of overseeing the education system of over 200 million Nigerians is a first-of-its-kind task in the curriculum vitae of the learned silk. Hence, expectations are high, but the challenges are higher, coupled with the fact that in Africa, the bar of Nigeria's Education system requires to be raised the highest.

Despite the influx of technology and new media innovations that has seen an unprecedented influx of creativity in the Nigerian, African and Global space. It appears like a skit that creativity and education in Nigeria seem to be oil and water, creating an immiscible but not irredeemable situation for Nigeria in the 21st Century global landscape.

Social Media is fast becoming the new classroom where traits of creative learning inherent in the average student stakeholder of the Nigerian education space are being unbundled, and traditional learning is being tied up.

The Blacks Law Dictionary defines Creativity as the degree to which a work displays imaginativeness beyond what a person of very ordinary talents might create. Albert Einstein defines it as seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought. Oxford Dictionary of Education describes creativity as an area of proficiency not currently measured in schools by existing methods of testing or measures of progress, but which might manifest itself in abilities and skills such as self-confidence, risk-taking, resilience, teamwork, questioning, and challenging. It further says that creativity skills are sometimes referred to as soft skills, which some employers are eager to acknowledge as part of pupil assessment.

Many factors seem to be drowning the powerful voice of creativity in the Nigerian classroom learning experience, ranging from low or no creative learning materials, absence of creativity infrastructure in schools and overstretching of the Nigerian Education workforce amid unemployed hands which can provide massive human capital to meet Nigerian educational needs.

One bane of creativity in Nigeria's Education system is the absence of a strong political will to stay on the creative courses while strengthening the traditional learning experience. As rightly noted by a global leadership speaker and education expert John C. Maxwell, everything rises and falls on leadership. I dare say if Nigeria's Education system will take her seat in the 21st-century ride of development, the Learned Silk, the captain of Nigerias Education ship is the compass.

Where the Honourable Minister of Education brings the force of political will to taking education to the next level en route of creativity, the responsibility is then shared with other stakeholders, including but not limited to teachers and parents to maximize such leadership force, vigorously engaging developed initiatives for transforming various educational establishments across the country.

Recent events in the Nigerian education space which coincided with the selection, screening and swearing-in of Prof. Tahir Mamman as Honourable Minister of Education have proven that creativity cannot be an obiter dictum in Nigeria's educational policy. The news item evidence from the building of an artificially intelligent robotic system by students of Federal Government Girls College, Sagamu, to the selection of top-rated tertiary institutions by the European Union for a grant to start a Master's degree in artificial intelligence has surely proved, say, beyond all balance of probabilities and reasonable doubts that the Learned Silk has a learned task of institutionalising creativity within the four walls of Nigeria's educational ecosystem.

Experience they say is the best teacher, but if the experience is made to be learned after schooling, it becomes a taskmaster rather than a class master. Thus, there has to be intentionality in ensuring that education is not just taught but experienced. If education is to be experienced, then, student-based learning and hands-on-practical learning must go along with the traditional system of imparting knowledge. This becomes a controlled environment that cultures creativity, ensuring its widespread effects on the Nigerian education space.

Many things are fast becoming off-interest in the Nigerian education space. No need to call to witness the state of the educational system, the facts speak for themselves. But a new fact, which we all look forward to speaking louder and changing the narrative is that of the new leadership of the Federal Ministry of Education. The fact that the Nigerian Education system needs to be called to the Bar of Creativity is a noble learned task of great magnitude before the learned Silk and his team. Concluding with the very words of Edward De Bono, There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.

I eagerly look forward and wish Prof. Tahir Mamman, SAN, successful tenure as Honourable Minister of Education and Mr Tanko Sununu as Honourable Minister of State for Education.

Emmanuel Opeoluwa Sonuga is an Associate at Prof. JOE-ABUGU, SAN & CO. Lagos, Nigeria.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to emback on a two-day warning strike by next week.

The warning strike will commence on Tuesday, September 5 and Wednesday September 6, 2023.

The decision was reached after the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Congress on Thursday.

Joe Ajaero, President of NLC, who briefed journalists on Friday while reading the resolution of the union, said: NEC in session of NLC resolved to embark on a total and indefinite shutdown of the nation within 14 working days or 21 days from today until steps are taken by the government to address the excruciating mass suffering and the impoverishment experienced around the country.

To commence a two-day warning strike on Tuesday and Wednesday, 5th and 6th September 2023 to demonstrate our readiness for the indefinite strike later in the month and to also demand that the state vacates the illegally occupied national headquarters of the National Union of Road Transport Workers. 

The NLC also resolved to embark on a mass protest and rally in Imo State within September.

The NLC raised the alarm over what it described as renewed onslaught by the government and its agents against labour unions.

Ajaero explained that the proposed strike action was necessitated as a result of the government deliberate neglect and disregard to engage the relevant stakeholders through the channel of social dialogue.

He said the Federal Government has refused to engage and reach an agreement with the organized labour on critical issues on the consequences of the unfortunate hike in prices of Petroleum which has unleashed massive suffering on Nigerian workers and masses.

He said, There is a renewed onslaught against trade unions and its leadership by the states and its agents across Nigeria. The Police under the instruction of certain forces peddling the name of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gave invaded and occupied illegal the national headquarters of the National Union of Road Transport Workers headquarters seeking to install its own executive
As the market is set for new capacity, Nigeria and other African countries are ready for a boom in floating liquified natural gas (FLNG).

According to a new report by Wood Mackenzie, the development would specifically enable Nigeria to monetise its stranded offshore gas resources.

The current challenges facing Nigeria LNG Limited had caused the Nigerias revenues from LNG exports to declined in the first quarter of 2023 to the lowest in five quarters as security, especially theft, resulted in a drastic drop in associated natural gas production at oilfields.

The data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Nigerias earnings from liquefied natural gas exports went down by 18 per cent between January and March this year when compared to the third quarter of 2022 and stood at $1.3 billion (622 billion Nigerian naira).

In July this year, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited with UTM Offshore has signed a deal for the construction of what is claimed to be the countrys first indigenous floating LNG (FLNG) project.

It was disclosed by the Global FLNG Overview 2023 of Wood Mackenzie that 8.5 million tonnes per annum (mmtpa) of FLNG capacity was sanctioned in 2022 making it clear that after several years in the project doldrums, investor interest in floating is back.

Senior Gas Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, Fraser Carson also noted that, There are 12.5 mmtpa of FLNG projects currently under construction and by 2026, almost 25 mmtpa of floating supply will be operational. With international oil companies (IOCs), upstream producers and midstream specialists all moving projects towards final investment decisions that could push capacity even higher by 2030.

"FLNG is proving to be a reliable commercialisation option, adding that the utilisation of FLNG facilities in Cameroon and Malaysia has been strong over the last year, with the units producing at close to or above 100 per cent of available capacity.

In the report, Africa is the centre of the current boom in FLNG projects as several resource-rich countries look for solutions that would allow them the option of exporting any gas not utilised on their respective domestic markets.

The report also noted that within the last year, experienced FLNG developers Eni and Perenco have sanctioned a two-phase floating development in Congo and a barge-based project in Gabon, respectively.
Free visas not enough for Chinese revival

BANGKOK: Though the government is mulling offering free visas to Chinese tourists to rev up demand, the market has been hammered by economic woes and a weak currency, which when coupled with flight and staff shortages could mean the scheme will have little impact, says the Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta).

tourismChineseeconomics

By Bangkok Post

Friday 1 September 2023 09:59 AM

Chinese tourists arrive at Suvarnabhumi airport last month. Photo: AOTGA

Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of Atta, said the Federation of Thai Tourism Associations and the Tourism Authority of Thailand are drafting a white paper they plan to submit to the premier and Cabinet later this month, reports the Bangkok Post.

He said the urgent issues include attracting more tourists and reaffirming that Thailand is a safe destination for travellers.

Adith Chairattananon, honorary secretary-general of Atta, said there are two methods of implementation for the Chinese visa policy.

The first method is to allow Chinese visitors to enter without a visa, within a certain period of three to six months, which will immediately boost this market. The second way is to waive the visa fee but still require travellers to apply for a visa, which is more appropriate for security.

If the government chooses either way, this would help entice Chinese people who travel via neighbouring countries and use visa-on-arrival, as well as groups with 100-1,000 travellers.

However, this policy alone could not help stimulate this market as many Chinese travel companies have yet to recover due to a lack of workers and higher operating costs, unlike big firms that can rapidly adjust their businesses.

He said even though Chinese travel agents are optimistic about policies from the new government, they are awaiting more clarity about tourism measures, such as those regarding visas.

Demand among Chinese tourists to visit Thailand has not been strong, compared to domestic travel, as they are concerned about taking overseas trips due to economic pressure and the weak yuan, though the currency might not be a critical concern as the baht has also weakened.

Negative images of Thailand are circulating on Chinese social media, particularly regarding safety, which makes them reluctant to travel, said Mr Adith.

Recruiting more staff to return and adding flight capacity to Thailand will take some time to reach normal levels.

Mr Adith said he expects the visa plan to come with relevant tourism policies, including increasing flight capacity. The government should accelerate this agenda before mid-September to boost the Chinese market to 5 million by the year-end.
More heavy rain forecast for Phuket

PHUKET: Heavy to very heavy rain and strong winds have been forecast for today through Tuesday (Sept 1-4), reports the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) Southern Western Meteorological Center, based near Phuket airport.

weather

By The Phuket News

Friday 1 September 2023 11:27 AM

The increased intensity of the southwest monsoon will affect the entire Andaman coast, from Ranong to Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun, said Weera Samali from the Southern Western Meteorological Center in an advisory issued earlier today.

People are asked to be careful of the dangers of heavy to very heavy rain during this period, he wrote.

Waves are expected to avergae up to two metres tall, reaching up to three metres tall in thundershower areas. Winds gusting up to 40mn/h are also forecast during the period.

All boats operating in the area are urged to exercise caution when putting to sea and are to avoid sailing during thunderstorms.

Small boats should refrain from leaving the shore during this period, Mr Wirote advised.

Phuket Marine Office Chief Nachapong Pranit yesterday (Aug 31) issued yet another order for all boats in the area to observe all safety regulations, including ensuring that all passengers on board wear life jackets at all times.

Marine officials are conducting checks at the major piers, Mr Nachapong noted.
KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2023 - 15:05 | All, Japan

Japan on Friday marked the centenary of the Great Kanto Earthquake that devastated the capital and surrounding areas, killing an estimated 105,000 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the country's history.

Ceremonies were held across the country to honor those who lost their lives in the magnitude-7.9 temblor and ensuing conflagration, as well as separate events to commemorate the Koreans and others who were massacred in the chaos following the disaster.

The quake not only caused buildings to collapse but also triggered fires in which about 90 percent of the casualties died along with tsunamis and mudslides.

The government designates Sept. 1 as Disaster Prevention Day, with drills held across the country every year to raise public awareness and disseminate disaster prevention knowledge.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took part in a central government drill in Tokyo based on the scenario that a magnitude 7.3 quake occurred at around 7:10 a.m.

Kishida and other Cabinet ministers walked to the prime minister's office and held a mock emergency meeting to gather information on damage and necessary relief supplies.

"Please evacuate to a safe location and take action to save lives," Kishida said at a press conference held as part of the drill. "Remain calm to minimize the economic and social effects (of the earthquake)."

A memorial service was held at a memorial hall in the capital's Yokoamicho Park in Sumida Ward where 38,000 people died due to a fire whirlwind, joined by around 130 people including the families of the victims, Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko.

"We pledge that we will hand down to future generations a safe and peaceful Tokyo," said Rinji Nakamura, deputy governor of Tokyo, as he read out a statement by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike.

The site was visited by people from the morning to pay their respects to the victims.

Hideo Kobayashi, 87, spoke about how his father lost an ear and suffered burns across his back in the blaze. "He told me how the 'fires were running, chasing after me.' I came to visit for the first time in a while for the anniversary."

According to the Cabinet Office, the Great Kanto Earthquake caused around 5.5 billion yen ($37.8 million) in economic damage, equivalent to some 37 percent of Japan's gross national product at the time.

Separate ceremonies for those massacred in the aftermath were also held in and around Tokyo. Koreans and Chinese people were killed by the military, police and vigilante groups amid false rumors that they planned to stage an uprising or, in the case of Koreans, that they were poisoning wells.

According to a report by the government's council on disaster management, massacre victims made up from 1 to several percent of those who died in the disaster.

While previous Tokyo governors had paid tribute to the Korean victims every year, Koike has mostly refrained from doing so on grounds that her condolence message commemorates all victims.

That stance has led to her being accused by groups organizing the event of turning her back on history.

"In order for us to ensure that such things never happen again, we must know the facts, receive apologies for those facts, and people must be informed," Lin Boyao, co-chair of the Executive Committee for the 100th Anniversary of the Korean and Chinese Massacre after the Great Kanto Earthquake, said during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday.

The Japanese government has avoided issuing an apology and has not provided compensation to the massacre victims due to a "lack of records" that refer to the killings.

While the country has made efforts to make buildings more resilient to earthquakes and fires over the last century, there are still regions with many wooden structures, while the increase in high-rise buildings is expected to create new issues in the case of an emergency.

The population of Tokyo has ballooned from about 4 million at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake to around 14 million today, raising fears that a major disaster in the capital will leave many people stranded.

Related coverage:

FEATURE: Great Kanto quake documentary unearths Japan's 1st "disaster footage"

Rare artwork found showing elephant rescue in 1923 Kanto quake chaos
Por brothers wave their goodbyes

BANGKOK: The military trio regarded as the most powerful players in Thai politics over the last nine years literally waved goodbye to the political arena yesterday (Aug 31) on their last day in office as key members of the outgoing cabinet.

politics

By Bangkok Post

Friday 1 September 2023 08:39 AM

Goodbyes at Government House: Outgoing prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, surrounded by his team of government spokespersons and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (third left), gestures before tucking into a farewell lunch with reporters at Government House yesterday (Aug 31). Photo: Chanat Katanyu

Outgoing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon and outgoing Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda have frequently been referred to by Government House reporters as the three Por brothers or the three Por Generals, reports the Bangkok Post.

The three Por brothers title stemmed from Gen Prayuts and Gen Prawits first initial, P, while Gen Anupongs P comes from the first letter of his nickname, Pok.

They are called brothers because they have spent years working closely together in the military and forged a strong bond that still lasts.

Gen Prawit, the eldest of the three, said yesterday he will resign as an MP but will remain as Palang Pracharath Party leader. Speaking to reporters before chairing a meeting of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand yesterday, Gen Prawit said: Dont ask me about politics. I will soon only be the party leader and will no longer be politically active.

Asked to elaborate, he said, I will resign soon, but did not say when.

Asked whether he would only remain as party leader, he said, Thats right.

Next in line behind Gen Prawit on the PPRP party list is Santi Prompat, who has been tipped to become deputy public health minister in the Pheu Thai-led government. Mr Santi would replace Gen Prawit as an MP in the event he resigns.

Gen Prawit was all smiles yesterday and appeared in a good mood. He said: Good luck to everyone before walking into the reception room.

He also revealed that the Five Provinces Bordering Forest Preservation Foundation located at the 1st Infantry Regiment, dubbed by the media as his political war room, has already been closed and will be operated as a non-political foundation.

Gen Prawit said he still feels energetic working in the field of sports. As for politics, he said he would rather leave it to other people, adding, I have done a lot already. Now I want to do it for the party.

Gen Prayut also said yesterday that it was his last day of work at Government House, but he would continue to serve in his caretaker role until the new cabinets inauguration.

After paying respects to the shrines at Government House yesterday morning, Gen Prayut told reporters that he would leave Government House for the sake of appropriateness.

Gen Prayut said he wished for blessings upon all and the nations peace and prosperity.

I wish today is a good day for you, Gen Prayut told reporters at Government House.

Gen Prayut, the then-army chief, staged a coup on May 22, 2014, amid unrest between pro- and anti-Yingluck Shinawatra government demonstrators. Days earlier, he imposed martial law. He was appointed prime minister in August of the same year.

Following a general election on March 24, 2019, Gen Prayut was elected prime minister by parliament.

Gen Prayut announced to decision to quit politics in July. Last week he outlined his administrations achievements.

Gen Anupong, who has also declared an end to his political career, told reporters about his sincere belief in the power of the media in shaping and changing society, saying he would encourage members of the media to keep holding those with influence accountable no matter how Thai society evolves.

As for him, he said, it was time to take better care of his health and spend as much time as possible travelling to places where he had always wanted to go.

He said he would start with a trip to Japan.

Some have told me its time for me to help raise a grandchild. But I dont have any. My children are married, but theyve refused to have kids, he said.
Rain cannot dampen spirits at Hungry Ghost Parade

PHUKET: Despite heavy weather, the annual Por Tor Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, continues in Phuket. Hundreds of local residents gathered today (Sept 1) in Phuket Old Town for the first Por Tor Parade, one of the festivals highlights. The second parade is scheduled for Sunday (Sept 3).

Chinesecultureweather

By The Phuket News

Friday 1 September 2023 05:07 PM

Municipal workers had to reinforce some structres at Por Tor Kong Shrine on Sept 1. Photo: Phuket City Municipality

Municipal workers had to reinforce some structres at Por Tor Kong Shrine on Sept 1. Photo: Phuket City Municipality

The festivals main event was preceded by a cultural show on stage at Queen Sirikit Park on Thalang Rd. For foreign attendees, English commentary was provided.

At around 11.40am, Phuket City Mayor Saroj Angkanapilas officially launched the parade, which proceeded from the Golden Dragon Statue to the Central Market on Ranong Rd.

The celebrations continued at the Central Market with traditional rituals to honour Por Tor Kong and an abundance of food for both the spirits of the ancestors and their living descendants.

A small incident occurred at the Por Tor Kong Shrine on Takua Thung Rd where the wind damaged several structures installed for the festivities. Workers promptly conducted necessary works and made sure nothing would happen at the location at the time of ceremonies.

The Por Tor Festival, also known as the "Hungry Ghosts Festival," is held in the seventh lunar month of the Chinese calendar. It is believed that during this time, the gates of Hell open, allowing spirits to wander the Earth and revisit homes.

Throughout the festival, people bring food and decorated fruits to offer to the God of the Demons, Por Tor Kong, for him to pass along to the spirits.

An essential offering for the festival is a red turtle-shaped cake called Ang Ku, which comes in various sizes and is made from wheat flour and sugar.

Turtles symbolize longevity for many Chinese, and consuming Ang Ku cakes is believed to bring good fortune and joy.

The schedule of remaining events for the Hungry Ghost Festival 2023 in Phuket Town is as follows:

Saturday, Sept 2: 1:00 pm - 10:00pm at Phuket Fresh Market Building (3rd floor), Ranong Rd.

Sunday, Sept 3: 6:00am - 00:00am (midnight) at Por Tor Kong Bang Neaw Shrine, Takua Thung Rd (festivities held each day until Sept 14).

Monday, Sept 4: 10:00am - 00:00am (midnight) at Phuket Thai Hua Museum, Krabi Rd.

Tuesday, Sept 5: 10:00am - 10:00pm at Ao Ke Community, Takua Pa Rd.

The second street procession in Phuket Old Town will be held on Sunday (Sept 3) from 4pm through 6pm. The participants will walk this time from the Golden Dragon statue to Por Tor Kong Shrine on Takua Thung Rd.
Feeding lies and more lies Understanding the lies

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Nobody knows how long the clash and state of unrest will continue. This is despite New Delhi having already said what ought to be said. Just recall what Union Home Minister Amit Shah had to say during the monsoon session of Parliament and how Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than backed the stand of the Home Minister by sticking to the line, The Home Minister has said what ought to be said. Given that it was the popular demand of the people on either side of the clash divide for Delhi, read the Prime Minister, to speak out, this should have been more than enough, but no the lie continues. Firing at unarmed farmers tilling the soilat the foothill areas-this is the line that has been maintained for long, and reality that is happening at the area that lies between Churachandpur and Bishnupur district under Moirang police station becomes clear. At least five/six or seven killed in the last three days and this is the story that has panned out in the last couple of days. As stated many times, Delhi and Imphal just do not seem to know how to tackle the situation and no one seems to have put in any concerted efforts to work out a formula that may bring the two warring sides to the negotiating table. It is obvious that the ground is well prepared for lies and more lies to continue bombarding the people with the victim story- a tale that has been so deftly sold by those who have stuck to the separate administration line. And it has been like this from the moment the All Tribal Students Union, Manipur announced the Tribal Solidarity March on May 3. After nearly 120 days and one wonders why those who organised the Tribal Solidarity March on May 3 now no longer talk why the March was held in the first place. Does not need rocket science calculation to work out that the ST for Meiteis demand was just a cover to take along all those who come under the ST tag but that it did not happen is there for all to see. Just recall what the United Naga Council, the Tangkhul Naga Long and other Naga bodies have had to say after the Kukiland demand was given more push by the 10 Kuki legislators. Those who stand by the idea of Manipur as a distinct geo-political reality should also wisen up to the machination that is at play to drag in other groups in the stand off and from a clash between the Meiteis and the Kukis, the efforts to drag in others by rechristening it as one between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zomi group is unmistakable. Apparent that minute details have been worked out to drag in others in the clash and portray the Meiteis as the aggressor.

Stages may be read into the efforts to tell a story that would earn the sympathy from all. First was obviously the fanstastic story of setting on fire the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate situated about 7 kilometres from Churachandpur town on May 3 by unknown miscreants, the day Chura-chandpur was bristling with tension with gun wielding elements raising the war cry during the Tribal Solidarity March. A complete silence on how Torbung was attacked, numerous houses set on fire and many forced to flee after the Tribal Solidarity March and how Imphal and the valley districts retaliated only after the attack and arson at Torbung spread like wildfire is an important part of the silence in the misinformation campaign to realise the aspiration of a Zalengam. The complete silence on how the Meitei localities at Chura-chandpur have been levelled to the ground using bulldozers is a story which all the pen pushers who parachuted into Manipur and Churachandpur have decided to overlook. Side by side with the selective stories that have been hawked, came the attempt to give a religious colour to the clash, never mind the fact that it was the Meitei places of worship that were first desecrated and razed to the ground at Churachandpur, Moreh and Kangpokpi. The finesse with which the false narratives have been sold to the outside world should not be lost on anyone and in noting this, it is necessary to remember that Manipur is up against a foe which had everything planned, starting from planting their stories across the country and getting media persons from outside India to station themselves at Churachandpur days before May 3. A point which New Delhi must have taken note of.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has filed a case against Jadavpur University after mosquito larvae were found at different places inside the university campus.

A similar case was also filed against the West Bengal Uni- versity of Animal and Fisheries Sciences, Belgachia.

The KMC team had visited both the premises and found that garbage was piled up in several places and the waterbodies inside the university premises have not been cleaned up. Mosquito larvae were found and initially notices were served but as the university did not follow the instructions of the civic body, cases have been filed against them.

Earlier, cases were filed against the central government premises if mosquito lar- vae were found and notices were served on the state government premises.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has instructed the civic bodies across the state that no properties, whether owned by the central government or state government, will be spared if mos- quito larvae were found in their premises.

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A senior civic official said the World Health Organization has predicted a rise in dengue cases across the globe because of climate change. He said in July 2022, rain was more than July this year whereas in August 2023, rain was more than August 2022. The discomfort factor went up and this is the ideal condition for the mosquito larvae to mul- tiply.

To combat the situation, KMC has launched an awareness campaign from January. Health, conservancy and building department workers visited the premises and if mosquito larvae were found, notices were served requesting the owner to take appropriate steps to clean garbage and cover the overhead tanks and underground reservoirs. The residents have been asked to clean the contain- ers, where water is stored once a week.

From March, awareness campaigns have been conducted in every ward, twice a week, while from August to November, awareness campaigns in every ward will be held four times in a week. Civic employees will visit the wards and make people aware of the dos and donts through a public address system.

He said in 2020 and 2021, dengue cases fell globally as people did not move from one place to another because of the pandemic. The official said WHO has categorically said that to stop the spread of dengue, cooperation between government agencies and people is require
KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2023 - 15:19 | All, World

Japan, the United States and South Korea have imposed additional sanctions on North Korea, such as asset freezes on individuals and organizations, in response to Pyongyang's failed attempt to launch a military satellite last week.

Japan's Cabinet on Friday decided to designate four individuals -- a British man, a Chinese man and two men from North Korea -- and three groups, including North Korean hacking group Andariel, as new asset freeze targets.

South Korea also announced sanctions on a North Korean firm linked to weapons development programs and five individuals. Seoul suspects the five have been involved in raising funds for the North's nuclear and missile activities.

The two countries are security allies with the United States, and the measures imposed are in step with punitive U.S. measures announced on Thursday.

Washington rolled out additional sanctions on two further individuals, a North Korean man and a Russian man, as well as on Intellekt LLC of Russia, alleging that they helped finance North Korean efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.

The measures follow Pyongyang's firing of a rocket carrying a reconnaissance satellite on Aug. 24, which did not go into orbit due to an error in its emergency blast system. It was the second North Korean military satellite launch to fail following the one in May.

Japan, South Korea and the United States have criticized North Korea's attempted satellite launches as violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit North Korea from activities using ballistic missile technology.

"North Korea continues to act provocatively," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference on Friday when speaking on the country's recent ballistic missile tests and the satellite launch.

"We demand that North Korea take concrete steps toward resolving issues" causing regional instability, including its nuclear program, Hayashi added.

The U.S. Treasury Department has said the new measures are aimed at curtailing efforts to generate revenue for Pyongyang's "unlawful development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles."

The department alleged the North Korean man worked as an executive of a separate Russian company that was owned by the Russian man and made North Korean construction laborers work in Russia.

The North Korean also led a group of information technology workers from his country and helped them obtain documents so they could legally work as freelancers, it alleged.

Intellekt was awarded a contract for a construction project in Moscow which was coordinated by the North Korean man, the department said.

Related coverage:

North Korea launched 2 ballistic missiles late on Aug. 30: KCNA

North Korea's Kim says nuclear weapons to be deployed to navy

North Korea fails in military satellite launch,vows to try again in October
Leader of the Opposition of West Bengal Legislative Assembly Suvendu Adhikari today asked the people in Dhupguri to stop election if the state police come with in 200 metre of a polling station.

Addressing a political rally at Barogharia in Dhupguri Assembly segment, the BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said: Central forces will be deployed in all polling booths. You will stop election if the state governments police come within 200 metre of a polling station. Election Com- mission from Delhi will keep monitoring the by election in each polling booth with the help of CC Tv cameras. We want election will be con- ducted here peacefully.

Notably, Mr Adhikari had asked the people to throw ballot box to avoid rigging before three tire panchayat polls.

Mr Adhikari came to Dhupguri yesterday and cam- paigned for his party candidate Tapasi Roy in last two days. He also lodged with general observer against police and government officials, who were allegedly involved in malpractices in rural polls and counting halls in Dhupguri segment.

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As the Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury and the CPIM state secretary Md Salim both are scheduled to campaign in Dhupguri tomorrow, Leader of the Opposition Mr Adhikari today urged the people to ask them why they wanttodivideantiTrinamul Congress vote bank.

Bhaipo Abhishek held a meeting with Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. CPIM and Congress joined hands with the Tri- namul Congress in Mumbai meet today to beat the BJP. Why are Adhir Chowdhury and Md Salim coming here to divide anti BJP vote bank?You will ask them what is their plan to divide anti TMC vote bank in Dhupguri? Why dont they support the TMC directly, Mr Adhikari asked.

To retain the Dhupguri Assembly seat, the BJP lead- ers have banked on Rajban- shi and Matua communities and the BJP has showcased a statement of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and made it an issue in Dhupguri bypoll campaigning.

Notably, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nishit Pramanik yesterday pointed out it during election campaigning and criticized CMs comment. Miss Banerjee compared

Rajbanshi community as her leg to express her feelings in good sense about the people belonging to different communities.

Rajbanshi leader Banshi Badan Barman demanded that CM should apologise for her comment.

Today, Suvendu Adhikari also pointed out the issue and claimed:  Mamata Banerjee compared Rajbanshi as her leg and he wanted to compare Matua as her another leg but

realising her mistake sud- denly changed her language. The BJP leader also claimed: Tapasi Roy is Prime Minister Narendra Modis candidate. You will cast vote for Tapasi in the name of Modi ji. If you vote for TMC candidate Nirmal Roy , it would go to corrupt educa- tion minister Partha Chatterjee and another corrupt TMC leader Anubrata Mandal. If you vote TMC it means you are supporting the police Mojaffar, who killed Mrityunjay Barman in Kaliaganj recently. If Nirmal Roy wins, it means corruption wins. Showcasing the Central governments schemes including Ayushman Bharat and non cooperation of the state government for its implementation, Mr Adhikari highlighted the decision of Prime Minister to reduce the price of LPG cylinders.

At a time when the Dhupguri people are waiting for TMCs national general secretary Abhishek Banerjees visit to Dhupguri and whether he would declare Dhupguri as sub division, the Leader of the Opposition Mr Adhikari said: Tapasi Roy, after win- ning the Dhupguri bypoll, will start demanding sub division status for Dhupguri. Party sources said Abhishek Banerjee is scheduled to cam- paign Dhupguri bypoll on 2 September.The bypoll will be held on 5 September.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that on September 1, 93 per cent of Rs 2000 currency notes in circulation returned to the banking system. This amounts to Rs 3.32 lakh crore worth of these banknotes.

At the close on August 31, Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation stood at Rs 0.24 lakh crore.

Of the total notes received, about 87 per cent were in the form of deposits and the remaining 13 per cent were exchanged with lower denomination bills, the central bank said.

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It further urged the public to utilise the remaining time period to exchange or deposit Rs 2,000 notes.

In pursuance of the Clean Note Policy, the RBI had announced on May 19 the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency bills from circulation.

As per the data shared by RBI, about 89% of the Rs 2000 denomination banknotes were issued prior to March 2017 and are at the end of their estimated life-span of 4-5 years.

The total value of these banknotes in circulation has declined from Rs 6.73 lakh crore at its peak as on March 31, 2018 (37.3 per cent of Notes in Circulation) to Rs 3.62 lakh crore constituting only 10.8 per cent of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023.

The RBI has also observed that this denomination was not commonly used for transactions, and the stock of banknotes in other denominations continues to be adequate to meet the currency requirement of the public.

To complete the exercise in a time-bound manner and to provide adequate time to the members of public, RBI said all banks shall provide deposit and/or exchange facility for Rs 2000 banknotes until September 30, 2023.
The Delhi Police have geared up for the upcoming G20 Summit with comprehensive security arrangements.

The summit is scheduled to be held in the national capital from September 9 to 10.

Speaking about the preparedness of the police force for the big event, Special Commissioner of Police, Security, Madhup Tiwari said the summit comprehensive security arrangement steps including securing places like airport and summit venue have been taken. He said there would be a high alert in the entire Delhi during the summit, which he said was going to be the biggest multi-lateral event in India since Independence.

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Madhup Tiwari, The dimensions of security arrangements are more for a mega event like G20. The multi-dimensional security has been well planned. With the help of capacity building, repeated rehearsals, and briefings, we have ensured that the plan is well replicated on the ground as well More than half of the Delhi Police is involved in this event and we have received assistance from CAPF and armed forces

The police have taken several steps including anti-terror measures with precision to ensure that the citizens do not have to face undue hassles during the course of the summit.

At every venue, a special CP-level officer has been deputed as venue commander. A DCP-level officer will be deployed as camp commander at the hotel. At the important venues, a Special CP-level office will supervise and under them, there will be DCP-level zonal commanders present and to assist them joint CP, Additional level CP officers have also been deployed, he added.

Tiwari said special arrangements have been made to ensure that there is no terrorist activity.

He said, Delhi Police has limited manpower, we are getting help from CAPF in the form of staff and equipment. All our staff is ready for this event and they have received role-based micro functional level training. All the arrangements have been confirmed. They have been briefed and rehearsals have been done. We are getting help from NSG and the armed forces. There will be high alert in the entire Delhi.

In view of the Summit, full-dress rehearsals will be held on Saturday and Sunday from 8 am onwards as carcades will move from different parts of Delhi towards Central and New Delhi Districts, a Delhi Traffic Police official said.

According to traffic police, on Saturday, rehearsals will be held from 8:30 am to 12 pm, 4:30 pm to 6 pm and 7 pm to 11 pm while on Sunday, these will be held from 8 am to 9 am, 9:30 am to 10:30 am, and 12:30 pm to 4 pm.

Commuters may experience more than normal traffic on Mahatma Gandhi Marg, IP Flyover, Rajghat Chowk, Shanti Van Chowk, Saleem Garh Bypass, Bhairon Road-Ring Road, Mathura Road, Shershah Road, CHexagon, roundabout of Mansingh Road, Teen Murti, 11 Murti, Sardar Patel Marg, Janpath, Kartavyapath, Zakir Hussain Marg, Barakhamba Road and among others, said the traffic advisory released on Thursday.

Commuters are requested to plan their journey in advance accordingly and avoid the above-mentioned roads and junctions during the specified time slots. However, if the journey is unavoidable, commuters are advised to make maximum use of Metro services, it said.

Passengers going towards railway stations will be able to use their private vehicles, auto-rickshaws, taxis for travelling to New Delhi and Old Delhi railway stations. However, in case of road journeys, they may face some congestion and consequent delays. Therefore, they are advised to keep sufficient time at hand. For easier and more convenient access to railway stations, passengers are advised to make maximum use of Metro services, it said.

The traffic advisory also said that passengers going towards the airport are advised to make maximum use of Metro services, especially the Airport Express Line connecting New Delhi Station to Dwarka Sector 21 station via IGI Airport T3.

City bus services will not be affected at large. However, they may be diverted from certain road stretches in New Delhi district depending upon the real time traffic situation, it said.

Motorists are requested to have patience, observe traffic rules & road discipline and follow directions of Traffic Police personnel deployed at all intersections. People are also requested to plan their journey in advance with sufficient time at hand to avoid inconvenience, it added.

The G20 Summit will be held at the newly-built Bharat Mandapam convention centre in Delhis Pragati Maidan under Indias presidency.
Bigg Boss OTT 2 has been hailed as a triumphant season, thanks to its remarkable viewership on JioCinema. With prominent figures such as Pooja Bhatt, Abhishek Malhan, Jiya Shankar, and Manisha Rani, Salman Khans reality show made waves like never before and remains a hot topic of discussion, consistently drawing attention. One of them is the Abhiya duo.

The dynamic duo of Abhishek Malhan and Manisha Rani earned the title of Abhisha from their devoted fanbase. With the conclusion of Bigg Boss OTT Season 2, the audiences attention shifted to the heartwarming connection between Abhishek Malhan and Jiya Shankar, affectionately dubbed Abhiya.

Within the confines of the Bigg Boss OTT 2 house, Abhishek and Jiya shared an endearing bond, delighting fans with their playful banter and camaraderie.

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About the video:

On August 31st, a video showcasing Abhiyas sweet moments from the show was prominently displayed on Times Square in New York City, accompanied by the trending hashtag #AbhiyaForever. Concurrently, #ABHIYAONTIMESSQUARE is currently gaining traction in India on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Abhiya has recently made a prominent appearance on a Times Square billboard in the bustling heart of New York City. The internet is buzzing with excitement as a video capturing this moment has gone viral, causing fans to erupt with joy. The video, widely circulated by The Khabri, a Twitter account dedicated to providing regular updates on Bigg Boss and its participants, features captivating snippets of Malhan and Shankar from their time in the BB OTT 2 house, accompanied by the heartwarming hashtag #AbhiyaForever displayed on the screen.

Shortly after the video went viral, fans of Abhiya took to Twitter to share their happiness. One fan wrote, Beautiful bond forever. Another fan commented, Honey, you look so good sharing positive things. Yet another fan stated, Abhiya is getting what they deserve.

Abhiya is getting what they deserve

ABHIYA ON TIMES SQUARE

Hype I am busy in work but I am so excited bro  #Abhiya  ABHIYA ON TIMES SQUARE

Beautiful bond forever

ABHIYA ON TIMES SQUARE

Abhishek Malhan and Jiya Shankar are starring in an upcoming romantic music video with the Desi Music Factory. The talented Yasser Desai is lending his vocals to the song, and filming for this project is already underway. The internet is abuzz with images and videos from the shoot, featuring the beloved duo Abhiya.
The egg task in Roadies is complete, and in a bizarre twist, every single Gang has got one golden egg, meaning each Gang member who didnt get a golden egg, had their heads decorated with smashed eggs. The two biggest egg smashers this time were Prem and Himanshu.

Prem from the Prince Narula Gang took to smashing eggs on pretty much everyones heads, as he was tasked to do, decorating everyones hair yellow and white.

People became slightly hostile to this gesture, though Prem being the somewhat happy-go-lucky guy he is, just said that it was a task that he was ordered to do, so animosity in the field was not needed.

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He also proceeded to joke about how God has a lot of prem towards Prem which led to him being spared the egg smashing. The rest of the contestants were also quite enjoying themselves, though still had some revulsion.

After all, no one likes egg smashing. Apart from that, Himanshu also came up to paint up peoples heads with eggs as he was one of the winners, but it seems that Prem really is loved by God, because when his time came, the egg slipped from Himanshus hand and broke while nothing happened to Prem.

Himanshu too ended up joking about it, how Prem really seemed to be the luckiest one in the whole roster of Roadies contestants, because nothing much bad has really happened to him. Not to mention, he was able to smash eggs and did not suffer any repercussions.

Right now, things are headed off to an interesting start as the reigns of victory have slipped from the Prince Gang to the Gautam Gulati Gang, and nobody really knows what to expect.

But even amidst such unpredictability, at least everyone is still in a good mood.

MTV Roadies: Karm Ya Kaand airs on MTV and JioCinema.
A BJP worker was shot dead inside Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishores residence in Dubagga area of the state capital on early Friday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Vinay Srivastava and a close associate of Vikas Kishore, the son of the Union Minister.

Police said that Vinay, 24, was shot in the head. The pistol used in the incident is of MPs son Vikas Kishore.

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DCP West Rahul Raj said the family members of the deceased have accused six people of murder, out of which three accused have been detained by the police.

Police said that Vinay was shot dead in the head with a pistol at around 4 am on Friday morning. The body was lying on the ground near the bed.

Arun Pratap Singh alias Bunty, Shamim Baba, Ankit Verma, Ajay Rawat and two other unknown people were present on the spot.

The family members have filed a complaint accusing Ajay, Ankit and Shamim of murder.These 3 have been taken in custody by police.

Union Minister Kaushal Kishore has said that his son was not present here at the time of the incident and was in Delhi.

Kaushal Kishore said that four to five people were present in the house when the incident occurred.

When I came to know, I contacted the Commissioner. The pistol is my sons and the deceased Vinay has been with my son since 2017, he said.

The Union Minister said the victim was a good boy and there is no pressure on the police. Police should take strict action against whoever is guilty.

My son Vikas has been present in Delhi since 4.30 pm yesterday. He is going to return to Lucknow in a while. I want the police to solve the murder case, he said.

However, the ministers son Vikas Kishore has posted a photo of himself and the air ticket sitting in the flight on social media. It is claimed that he had left for Delhi on the evening of August 31.

Meanwhile, family members are protesting and demanding justice. They have blocked the Kanpur highway. The body has been handed over to the family after postmortem examination for cremation.
Sounding poll bugle two months ahead of assembly elections in the state, BJP is all set to launch its four-pronged Parivartan Yatra (change of government) in Rajasthan tomorrow at Trinetra Ganesh Temple on the hills of Ranthambhore.

BJP National President J P Nadda will flag off the yatra to be taken out on especially-designed vehicles at Trinetra Temple at noon tomorrow. The yatra that will cover 1,857 km of two divisions of the Bharatpur, Jaipur and Tonk districts will witness participation by leaders and workers of 47 assembly segments.

Union Home MInister Amit Shah will flag off the second yatra from Baneshwar Dham in Dungarpur district on September 3. It will travel 2,433 km in 18 days to cover the two divisions of Kota and Udaipur, and Bhilwara district to woo voters in 52 assembly constituencies.

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Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will flag of third Yatra from Ramdeora in Jaisalmer district on September 4 to cover 51 assembly constituencies of divisions of Ajmer, Jodhpur, and Nagaur districts in 18 days by travelling on 2,574 km.

On September 5, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will start BJPs fourth Yatra from Gogameri covering 2128 kms in 50 assembly constituencies of Bikaner Division and Jhunjhunu, Sikar and Alwar districts.

Finally Yatra will culminate at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyays birth place Dhankya near Jaipur on September 25 where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the party workers, the BJP State Media Coordinator Pramod Vashishth told The Statesman today.

Scores of specially designed Rath vehicles and saffron bearing color vehicles moves on roads, and partys leaders will hold nukkad sabha, rallies, and meetings with the public to bring a change in government by defeating the misruled Gehlot government on all fronts, Ramlal Jat, an MLA and senior party spokesman said.

Narayan Pancharia, the convener of the election management committee, said the Yatra will be under the collective leadership of the state leaders. Four prominent leaders state BJP President C P Joshi, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, and former state President Satish Poonia have given different charges for successful completion of Yatra, he said.
A day after calling for a surprise five-day special session of Parliament, the Narendra Modi-led central government has formed a committee to explore possibilities of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. The committee will be chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind. Hours after formation of the committee, BJP national president JP Nadda met former President Kovind at his residence in Delhi.

The Narendra Modi government has long been trying to push for simultaneous state and national elections and the decision to form a committee has come at a time when assembly polls in five states are due in the next three months.

Earlier this week, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee claimed that the central government is planning to hold early elections. Odisha Chief Minister, an ally of the BJP-led NDA, has also reportedly asked his part workers to be prepared for early polls.

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The issue of early polls was also discussed during the INDIA alliance meeting in Mumbai and they have reportedly fast-tracked their seat sharing pact.

Opposition leaders also objected to the governments decision to appoint Kovind as the chairman of the committee. Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav said a former president should not be appointed to any post and that the government should consult the Opposition before taking any action.

Traditionally, former President should not be appointed to any post, if they (govt) have done it then it is wrong. First discussion should be done on One Nation One Election and then a decision should be taken, Yadav said.

Given the Centre has not announced its agenda for the special session of Parliament, it is also being speculated that One Nation One Election could be governments motive. Besides, Uniform Civil Code and Womens Reservation Bill could also be introduced in Parliament during the five-day special session starting from September 18 to 22.

Lok Sabha and Assembly elections used to be held simultaneously in India until 1967. However, some states assemblies were dissolved prematurely in 1968 and the practice was stopped. One Nation One Elctions was also part of the ruling BJPs 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto.
The agricultural products from Uttar Pradeshs fertile soil are consistently gaining popularity abroad. For the first time, as much as 29 MT of potatoes from Aligarh have been exported to Guyana in South America through FPO.

While the Yogi Government is claiming to double the income of farmers by removing middlemen, farmers are becoming exporters through FPO.

Dr. C B Singh, deputy general manager of APEDAs regional office in Varanasi, said here on Thursday that 29 metric tonnes of potatoes from Aligarh have been exported to Guyana in South America for the first time through sea route.

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Potatoes for this consignment have been purchased from the local FPO of Aligarh and packed in cold storage. Keeping in view the possibilities of potato production in this region, APEDA is taking the initiative to set up an agricultural export center for potatoes which will open employment opportunities for farmers of Aligarh and nearby areas.

The double-engine government has been organising several programs on training, capacity building, etc. from time to time, focusing on promoting FPOs, and farmers groups toward international trade. Following the meaningful initiative of APEDA in Uttar Pradesh, Komalika Farmer Producer Company Limited has been directly linked to exports.

The state government has also made financial assistance available to the FPOs in order to improve their infrastructures capacity. APEDA is formulating strategies for country-specific export promotion programs and organizing International Buyer-Seller Meets for European Union countries, Middle East and South East Asian countries to tap export potential in new markets.
The flood situation in Assam remained grim with more than four lakh people affected as water levels in the Brahmaputra River continued to rise in multiple areas, as per an official report.

Meanwhile, a person was swept away by floodwaters in the Golaghat district. With this new fatality reported on Friday the death toll in the floods rose to 16.

The Brahmaputra is flowing above danger mark in different locations, including Dhubri, Goalpara, Guwahati, Tezpur, and Nematighat, according to the bulletin issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).

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The total number of people affected by the floods has risen to 4,03,313 across 19 districts from the previous days figure of 3,40,937 across 22 districts. Darrang is the most severely affected district with 72,852 individuals affected, followed by 72,427 in Nalbari, 61,238 in Majuli, 57,420 in Golaghat, and 44,181 in Morigaon.

A total of 3,031 individuals have sought refuge in 125 relief camps, while the authorities in the affected districts are providing relief through 116 distribution centers. In the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, ten camps have been submerged by floodwaters, according to the forest department.

The bulletin also reported that 2,31,088 animals have been impacted by the current wave of flooding. Furthermore, 25 roads have been damaged in Bongaigaon, Dhubri, Majuli, Morigaon, and Udalguri districts. Extensive erosion has also been observed in Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dibrugarh, Kamrup, Majuli, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Tinsukia, and Udalguri districts.
KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2023 - 11:45 | All, Feature, Japan

A century on from the Great Kanto Earthquake, movements are ongoing to commemorate the massacres of Korean residents unjustly targeted in its wake by baseless rumors, alongside other innocent lives lost in the witch-hunt.

Near the banks of the Arakawa River in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, a monument engraved with the Chinese character meaning "mourn" was erected by a citizens' group in 2009 after they gathered accounts from around 100 eyewitnesses to unearth historical truths.

"Words alone float away and disappear. We must leave something visible behind," said one of the group's founding members ahead of the anniversary of the quake, which left about 105,000 people dead or missing in Tokyo and surrounding areas.

In the aftermath of the magnitude-7.9 temblor that rocked the metropolitan region on Sept. 1, 1923, many Korean residents were massacred by the military, police and vigilante groups over false rumors that they were causing riots or poisoning wells.

While the total number of deaths remains unclear to this day, a Japanese government report said in 2009 that "a thousand to several thousands" of Koreans died and that "the expression 'massacre' was appropriate."

Shin Min Ja, the director of Hosenka, the nonprofit organization that manages the memorial, said she was fearful when she first learned about the massacre in her 20s, and, as a Korean resident herself, wondered what might happen to her in similar circumstances.

The 73-year-old got acquainted with young people vising the memorial, leading to the launch in spring last year of a group calling itself "Penyeon," which means "100 years" in Korean. They started gathering monthly to hold study sessions and read testimonies at the site of the massacres.

"I feel (the massacres) are a problem closely related to racism today. Learning about it is also a form of resistance," said Satsuki Nakai, 29, one of around 20 active members of the group.

Meanwhile, a director known for his documentary film on the AUM Shinrikyo cult that was behind crimes including the 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system, released a new film Friday based on a murder incident that occurred five days after the quake.

In the feature film "September 1923," Tatsuya Mori sheds light on a buried piece of history about the killing of nine Japanese, including children and a pregnant woman, by vigilantes in the village of Fukuda -- now known as Noda -- in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo.

It is believed the vigilantes mistook the traveling group of 15 merchants from Kagawa Prefecture for Koreans, as they could not understand the western Japan prefecture's dialect.

The 67-year-old director first learned about the incident through a small newspaper article on a movement to establish a memorial to the victims, but recalls that he soon found that hardly any records remained.

He later discovered that the nine Japanese individuals who were mistaken for Koreans and killed were actually from severely ostracized "buraku" communities.

"The situation was complex and not straightforward. There are hardly any people who will talk about it," Mori said.

The 54-year-old president of a neighborhood association in one of the victims' hometowns speculates that the six surviving members of the group and their families likely "gave up on speaking out as they felt it wouldn't make a difference," due to the discrimination against their community.

While many people in his community believe that the incident has not been resolved as there were no apologies from the assailants, the association president said he does not want the issue to draw attention, saying the nine were not killed because of discrimination against buraku.

"Digging up the incident might lead to younger generations experiencing discrimination against our community once again. We don't want our children to experience the discrimination we went through," he said.

A producer invited Mori to join the film project after learning of his interest in the incident, and many well-known actors also agreed to take part in the film despite its sensitive nature.

"It was an incident where distortions and contradictions of the modern era were condensed, and should be remembered properly. Japan had a tendency to turn away from inconvenient history. Even now, nothing has changed," Mori said.

Related coverage:

Japan marks centenary of Great Kanto Earthquake disaster

Rare artwork found showing elephant rescue in 1923 Kanto quake chaos

Hokkaido startup aims for the stars with high-altitude balloon trips
Police have unravelled the enigmatic murder case of a woman whose decomposed remains were discovered partially buried along a seashore in Kutch. Shockingly, the culprits behind this heinous crime turned out to be none other than the victims 17-year-old daughter and her mothers romantic partner. Here is what the Gujarat teen did.

Upon thorough investigation, it was revealed that the teenage girl was also involved romantically with the same man, and together they conspired to eliminate her mother, Laxmi Bhatt, who vehemently opposed their relationship.

The Mundra Marine police apprehended the minor, her lover Yogesh Jotiyana (37), and his associate Naran Jogi (35), all of whom hail from Madhapar village near Bhuj.

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How did they discover it?

The grim discovery of the womans decaying corpse was made on July 13, in an isolated area near the seashore close to Hamirmora village, approximately 55 km from Madhapar. Unfortunately, the forensic postmortem did not provide any definitive information about the womans identity or the precise cause of her death. However, it was evident to the authorities that there was some foul play.

This perplexing case posed a significant challenge for the police. There was no missing persons report with any police station. The only certainty was that a murder had taken place.

To crack the case, the police embarked on an initiative to disseminate pamphlets describing the deceased womans appearance in GSRTC buses, private vehicles, villages, and various public locations, urging anyone with information to come forward.

An officer noted, The location where the body was lying was far-off. It was familiar to very few individuals, such as local fishermen and cattle breeders. Consequently, there was a strong suspicion of involvement by a local resident.

In their subsequent efforts, the police cultivated trust among individuals residing in nearby villages, enlisting them as informants to determine if any outsiders had recently visited the seashore or the village.

More about the Gujarat teen:

In due course, local residents informed the police that four individuals had arrived in Hamirmora roughly a month and a half prior to attend a social event. Armed with this information, the authorities obtained the date of the function and procured call detail records for that day, which revealed Jotiyanas presence near the crime scene.

The police then traced Jotiyana to his address and detained him for questioning, during which he confessed to the murder.

Further investigation uncovered that the three perpetrators had hatched a plan to bring Lakshmi to the social function with the intention of killing her. On July 13, they arrived in Hamirmora, and as part of their scheme, they ventured to the seashore. It was here that Jotaniya brutally attacked Lakshmi with a blunt weapon, resulting in her demise. Subsequently, they buried her lifeless body in an isolated location and departed the scene.

Seven years in the past, Lakshmi entered into matrimony with Jitendra Bhatt, marking her second marriage. She, along with her sole daughter from her initial marriage, moved in with him in Madhapar. Approximately six months ago, Lakshmi became romantically involved with Jotiyana, a painter by trade. Despite the heated conflicts that ensued between Lakshmi and her husband once he became aware of their liaison, Jotiyana continued to frequent her residence in his absence.

In the interim, around three months back, the 17-year-old daughter began working alongside Jotiyana in painting jobs, and a mutual affection blossomed between them. Lakshmi eventually discovered their romantic involvement, leading to turbulent disputes with her daughter. These discordant circumstances ultimately laid the groundwork for the sinister plot to end her life, as reported by the police.
The monsoon rain, floods and landslides have led to the uprooting of hundreds of trees in the north Indian hill town Shimla. A large number of nearly 1000 Deodar trees were uprooted, over 500 dangerous trees were removed and nearly 800 such dangerous trees are still pending in the dangerous tree list of the Shimla Municipal Corporation pending application data.

The environmentalists, local residents, former mayors and deputy mayors of Shimla City accused the authorities of removing trees illegally in the name of removing dangerous trees.

Environmentalist and former deputy mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation, Tikender Singh Panwar said that there is a need to ensure five times extra plantation from the removed trees.

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The point is who made these trees dangerous? We have made it vulnerable as human activity and construction have led to land erosion. There are some people who are trying to remove trees in the name of dangerous trees, Tikender Singh Panwar said.

It needs to be ensured that no building is constructed in the areas where these trees are being removed. It needs to be ensured that the green cover is increased and there is a need for Systemic silviculture in the city he added.

As we have been talking about the city resilience index, the temperature will increase which will be dangerous. Not even a single person died due to the uprooting of trees in Shimla. Now in the receding monsoon, the lopping of trees needs to be done. We are reducing the green cover and as the scientists say we need to increase the green cover, Tikender Singh Panwar said.

Former Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation, Sanjay Chauhan said, The beauty of Shimla lies in the greenery of the forests, the oak trees and also the Deodar trees. The British also selected Shimla and they built some important good buildings.

The forest rights since then lie with the Municipal Corporation of Shimla under the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Act 1994. We have learnt from 2012 to 2017 that the right of the forest is with the Shimla Municipal Corporation. The Mayor as Chairman needs to constitute the tree authority committee, Sanjay Chauhan said.

We used to remove dangerous trees as per proper demand and committee recommendation so that uprooting does not happen in the rainy and snow season. The uprooting of trees this year has happened due to mismanagement. The Tree Authority Committee has not been constituted even six months after the Shimla Municipal Corporation was elected to power, the former Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation said.

Some influential people are trying to remove trees; we demand that Action should be taken against those who are doing it. Under the Act, there is a provision that there is a need to plant five trees if one tree is axed as a dangerous tree. A white paper needs to be brought for this to show how many trees were uprooted and how many have been removed. There is a committee of experts from the Department of Forest, Horticulture and other experts who recommend and remove such trees. Some people are trying to remove such trees illegally and that needs to be looked into seriously, Chauhan added.

The mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation Surender Chauhan said that thousands of trees were uprooted and removed during the rain and subsequent floods in Shimla City. He said that for those who are illegally removing trees, action will be taken against them.

He also said that it will be ensured that no map is passed for building construction in such areas where trees are being removed under dangerous category. He also said that the Municipal Corporation for the next week has targeted to plant over 5000 trees to compensate for the trees that have been removed.

Due to the landslides and rain floods, thousands of trees have been uprooted in Shimla, We are ensuring that trees are not removed illegally. We have issued notice in two cases and action will be taken against those who have removed trees in the name of dangerous trees. We shall ensure that no building map is passed in such an area, the Shimla Municipal Corporation mayor said.

We are starting a week-long plantation drive with a target of planting over 5000 trees. We shall try to plant 10,000 trees during the next one week, Surender Chauhan said.
INDIA Alliance Mumbai Meeting: The third meeting of the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was held in Mumbai on Friday. Opposition leaders of at least 28 parties gathered in the financial capital to plan their strategy and roadmap for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. During the meeting, the INDIA alliance bloc resolved to fight the next years general elections together as far as possible.

We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible, the resolution of the INDIA alliance said.

Amid the buzz over One Nation One Election, the Opposition leaders also resolved to reach a seat sharing pact in a collaborative spirit of give and take. The Modi government Friday formed a committee to explore the possibilities of simultaneous state and Lok Sabha elections. While the leaders of INIDA bloc denounced the move, they decided to fast track their seat sharing arrangement.

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Seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take, said the resolution.

Public rallies of INDIA alliance to start soon

The resolution taken during the Mumbai meeting also said that the parties will organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance.

The them of their campaign will be Judega Bharat, Jiteega India. It was also decided in the resolution that INDIA alliance partners will coordinate among themselves on political communication and media strategies.

We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to coordinate our respective communications and media strategies and campaigns with the theme in different languages, the resolution said.

Opposition slams Centre over sudden special session of Parliament

INDIA alliance partner and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the Narendra Modi government for its sudden decision to call a special session of Parliament without informing the Opposition and announcing agenda of it. Kharge said that a special session was not called at the time of migrant crisis or when Manipur was burning but it has been called now.

Today, without asking anyone, the opposition, a special session of Parliament has been called. A special session of Parliament was never called even when Manipur was burning, during the COVID-19 pandemic, on the issue of China or over issues of demonetisation and migrant labourers. I dont what is the agenda now. This is not the way to run the country. We are slowly going towards dictatorship, Kharge said.

In the absence of any official agenda for special session, there are speculations that the government is planning to dissolve the Parliament and go for early elections. However, the Centre has neither confirmed nor denied it.
INDIA Alliance Mumbai Meeting Latest Update: Leaders of 28 Opposition parties met under the banner of Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in Mumbai on Thursday. During the meeting, the Opposition INDIA bloc discussed their strategy to counter the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.

They agreed to finalise a seat sharing pact by September 30 amid buzz of early polls after the Centre called for a five-day special Parliament session. Earlier there were reports claiming the decision on seat sharing pact will be left for next meeting and only structure, campaign strategy, slogans and logo will be finalised during the two-day Mumbai meeting.

The issue of special session dominated the INDIA bloc meeting with many opposing the decision saying they were not informed officially about the agenda of the session.

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Earlier yesterday, the government made an unexpected announcement and called a special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22. The agenda of the session was not revealed in the governments announcement made on X, formerly Twitter, by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.

The meeting was attended by top Opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav among others.

On the day one of the meeting, these leaders only discussed their strategy going into polls and tried to build a consensus on who will lead the bloc. Congress chief Kharge is said to be among the front runners. They also finalised a logo and a new theme song to be used in the elections.

However, a formal announcement on decisions taken during the Mumbai meeting will be made on Friday.
The governments of the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan joined India on Thursday in denouncing Chinas new national map and accused Beijing of showing their land as Chinese land in stern declarations.

To address what Beijing has previously referred to as problematic maps that it alleges distort its territorial borders, China released a revised edition of its national map on Monday.

On Tuesday, India strongly objected to Chinas so-called standard map that claimed Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region, saying that such actions simply made the boundary dispute more difficult to resolve.

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Chinas assertions were likewise denied by the Ministry of External Affairs as having no basis.

In response to the Chinese action, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, Just making ridiculous claims does not make other peoples territories yours.

The West Philippine Sea still contains large portions of Philippine land features, according to the Philippine governments criticism of Chinas so-called standard map from 2023.

The nine-dash line, now a 10-dash line, that purportedly depicts Chinas limits in the South China Sea was included on a contentious map released by the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources on August 28.

Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza issued a statement saying, This latest attempt to legitimise Chinas purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The nine-dashed line has already been declared unlawful by the 2016 Arbitral Award, according to Daza, who also urged China to uphold its UNCLOS duties.

According to the award, maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the nine-dash line are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of Chinas maritime entitlements under the Convention, according to Daza, who was quoted by the official Philippine News Agency.

The Philippines, therefore, has asked China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award, she continued.

A Chinese national map that included the Spratly Islands and portions of the Kalayaan Island Group as national boundaries was published in 2013, and Manila objected to it.

The Malaysian government announced on Thursday that it would write a letter of protest to China in response to that countrys statements made in the China Standard about the South China Sea. The action, according to Foreign Minister Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir, was a follow-up measure.
Dismissing reports claiming that the Nair Service Society (NSS), the powerful organisation of the Hindu Nair Community, has decided to support the BJP in Puthuppally bypoll as baseless, general secretary G Sukumaran Nair said the organisation wont give up its decade-old equidistant policy.

NSS will uphold its equidistance policy in Puthuppally too. Reports claiming that NSS has decided to support BJP in Puthuppally bypoll are baseless, NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair said in a press release on Friday.

The NSS has a politically equidistant stance in the Puthupally bypoll as well. NSS activists are free to believe in their brand of politics and exercise their franchise. However, the NSS wont back any political party, Sukumaran Nair further said in the press release.

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There were reports in the media that in the backdrop of Assembly Speaker AN Shamseers controversial remarks on Lord Ganesha, the NSS has decided to support the BJP in Puthuppally bypoll to be held on 5 September.

Speaker Shamseer has been accused of insulting Hindu god, Lord Ganesha. During the inauguration of the Vidyajyothi programme held at a school at Kunnathunadu in Ernakulam district last month, Shamseer termed Hindu god Ganesha as myth which lack scientific facts.
The decision to withdraw notification for dissolving panchayats prematurely and suspend two IAS officers for this goof-up has left Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led AAP government red-faced with Opposition parties accusing it of making the officers scapegoats after a leaked document showed that both Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar and Chief Minister Mann had signed on the decision.

As per the leaked file noting, the file for dissolving over 13,000 Gram Panchayats prematurely was signed by Mann and Minister Bhullar on 7 August. This was after Director of Rural Development and Panchayats Gurpreet Singh Khaira approved the file on 3 August. Principal Secretary DK Tiwari signed the file on 4 August.

Facing judicial rap in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for dissolving panchayats prematurely, the Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday withdraw the August 10 notification and suspended 1994-batch IAS officer Tiwari and 2009-batch officer Gurpreet Singh Khaira for taking a technically flawed decision regarding the dissolution of panchayats.

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AAP chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang blamed the officers for the decision to dissolve panchayats prematurely. He said the panchayats department had moved the controversial proposal and the government has now done the course correction by withdrawing the notification for dissolving panchayats prematurely. The CM was misguided by the officers. But we were not adamant. We have reviewed the decision and withdrawn the orders, he said.

The Opposition, however, blamed the CM and rural development minister for the decision. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said the two officers were made scapegoats. He demanded the resignation of both the ministers.

The decision to dissolve the panchayats was a political move of the Aam Aadmi Party and CM Bhagwant Mann. If anyone is to be held accountable it should be Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann and panchayat minister Laljit Bhullar. Kejriwal, CM and panchayat minister should be dismissed with immediate effect. Action cant be taken against senior IAS officers for implementing the political agenda of AAP, he said.

Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira said the two IAS officers have been made scapegoats for the foolish actions of the CM and the panchayat minister.

Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, said it is shameful that Bhagwant Mann who signed off on the decision to dissolve the panchayats has tried to scapegoat two bureaucrats to protect himself and his minister. If CM had any morals, it is he who should own moral responsibility and resign forthright, he said.

Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Sunil Jakhar said the decision to dissolve panchayats was not of the officials but CM Bhagwant Mann had taken this decision on the directions of his boss in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal (AAP chief). He said how it is possible that CM Bhagwant Mann didnt know which file he was signing.
A man identified as Vinay Srivastava was shot dead at the house of Union Minister Kaushal Kishore in Lucknows Thakurganj area, the Police said. The incident took place at around 4:15 am on Friday. The police have recovered a pistol belonging to the Union ministers son Vikas Kishore. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Lucknow) Rahul Raj said that the victim suffered bullet injuries.

The minister has claimed that his son was not present in the house at the time of the incident. He said, the police have detained those present there when the shooting took place. He, however, confirmed that the pistol recovered by the police belonged to his son.

Who was Vinay Srivastava?

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Vinay Srivastava was a friend of Union Minister Kaushal Kishores son Vikas. He was a worker of the BJP. He had gone to the ministers house to party. According to reports, the victim had dinner with five other friends at the ministers house. However, it was not clear whether Vikas was present there. The minister has claimed his son had gone to Delhi to look after his wife, who is admitted to a hospital.

The pistol recovered by the police belonged to Vikas. The police have reportedly made some arrests. The victims brother has claimed foul play and said that the clothes of his brother were torn away, indicating a scuffle. The police have started an investigation and exact details will only be revealed once the probe is completed.

What did the minister say?

The pistol that police has recovered belongs to my son, Vikas Kishore. Police is conducting a thorough investigation. The culprits will not be spared. Vikas Kishore was not at the residence when the incident took place. Police detained his friends and the people present there when the incident took place. 

The deceased body has been taken for post-mortem. Vikas was extremely sad when he got to know about this, the deceased Vinay was a very good friend of my son, he said.
The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the skills-jobs ecosystem, especially after the advent of ChatGPT, has been powerful. A consensus is emerging among policymakers, educationists, and other stakeholders that employers are moving away from standard indicators of potential employee success such as higher education degrees and experience in favour of according a premium to tangible skills. Concurrently, the rise in AI bots that can write like Shakespeare and win art competitions, as it were, has led to concerns that technology will make many current jobs obsolete. In sum, say the experts, these changes represent a seismic shift in the future of the workplace.

Examining how human beings can approach this impending disruption at scale, educa- tion experts Natalie Evans, Jamie Jirou, and Kathy Hirsh-Pasekt of the Brookings Institute suggest in a new paper that rather than job specific knowledge and skills, students will need to do what AI bots cant do ~ be curious and creative. Pedagogically speaking, this perhaps needs to be the top priority to prepare students for a fast unfolding new reality. But there are no signs that work has begun on policy design, forget implementation, anywhere in the world. For example, underline the authors, even three decades ago surveys in the USA had revealed that kindergarten teachers knew that curiosity and creativity were even more predictive of later academic success than was teaching the alphabet or teaching how to count; and a more recent study provided evidence for this intuition.

Yet, children across America report that curiosity is inconsistent with what they are expected to do in school, and observations of preschool and elementary classrooms support this report. In developing countries where educational infrastructure and funds are severely limited, the problem is likely to be even more acute. Thus, a creativity and curiosity gap has emerged in schools which will prove highly consequential for the skills required for the workplace of the future. As the authors put it, curiosity occurs when a student experiences a gap in knowledge that motivates them to seek information to resolve their uncertainty; creativity occurs when students generate novel and useful ideas or products. In both adults and children, evidence suggests that curiosity and creativity are related. Students who are more curious will also be more creative. Research also suggests specific actions that can be implemented in school classrooms to promote curiosity and creativity in students. There are, of course, teachers who encourage students curiosity and provide the time and space needed to learn creatively.

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Such agents, however, are not only few and far in between but also almost exclusively found in the pri- vate sector which has the resources to shape learning for tomorrows challenges. Going forward, this state of affairs will lead to issues of equity: Between richer and poorer nations, between private and state education, and other societal cleavages. Our children deserve better.
Russias invasion of Ukraine is a reminder of how autocracies care little about causing death and destruction. The war is a gross violation of human rights and the principle of peaceful settlement of international disputes as codified in the United Nations Charter, which has helped maintain the rules-based international order and kept the world in relative peace since the end of the Cold War.

The wars humanitarian and economic fallout has also shown that in a globalized world, crises cannot be contained within national borders. It is therefore imperative to deter similar threats to global security from happening elsewhere. Taiwan a democracy that is home to over 23 million people and that I proudly represent continues to confront enormous chal- lenges posed by China.

Since the mid-20th century, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has vowed to take control of Taiwan and refused to renounce the use of force, despite never having ruled Taiwan. For decades, the people of Taiwan have remained calm in safeguarding the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

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However, as Chinas economic and military might has grown stronger, it becomes increasingly aggressive in flexing its military muscle to intimidate Taiwan, thereby threatening our democratic way of life. This includes sending warplanes and ships across the median line of the Taiwan Strait and encroaching into our air defense identification zones. It has also intensified grey zone tactics, such as disinformation and economic coercion, in an attempt to wear down our will to fight.

The PRCs expansionism does not stop at Taiwan. Chinas use of grey-zone activities in the East and South China Seas are designed to expand its power and substantiate its hawkish territorial claims. In addition to signing a security agreement with Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, the PRC has been securing ports for future military use in the Indian Ocean. All of these maneuvers are causing grave concerns that peace is becoming more difficult to maintain.

Ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is in everyones best interest. Half of the worlds commer- cial container traffic passes through the Taiwan Strait each day. Taiwan produces the majority of the worlds semiconductors and plays a key role in global supply chains. Any conflict in the area would have disastrous consequences for the global economy.

In recent years, bilateral and multilateral forums have repeatedly emphasized that the peace and sta- bility over the Taiwan Strait is indispensable to global security. While we can all agree that war must be avoid- ed, how to best do so requires inclusion, dialogue, and, most of all, unity.

The United Nations remains the best platform for global discourse. UN officials speak often of joint solutions, solidarity, and inclusion in tackling the pressing issues of our time. Tai- wan is more than willing and able to take part in these efforts.

However, Taiwan continues to be excluded from the UN due to Chinas distortion of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758. This resolution neither states that Taiwan is a part of the PRC nor gives the PRC the right to represent the people of Taiwan in the UN and its specialized agencies. In fact, the resolution only determines who represents the member state China, a fact that the international community and China itself recognized following the relevant vote in 1971. The subsequent misrepresentation of Resolution 2758 contradicts the basic princi- ples upheld by the UN Charter and must be rectified.

The 78th session of the UN Gen- eral Assembly, which will centre on the theme rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity, is timely in light of a number of broad global challenges. For example, the UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were designed as a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity. Yet the most recent SDG progress report showed

that just 12 per cent of SDG targets were on track, while progress on 50 per cent has remained insufficient. And on more than 30 per cent, we have stalled or even regressed.

While there are no easy answers, the first step is dialogue. As a truly global institution, the UN can serve as a champion of progress. We call on the UN to uphold its principle of leaving no one behind by allowing Taiwan to participate in the UN system, rather than excluding it from discussions on issues requiring global cooperation. A good first step would be to allow Taiwanese individuals and journalists to attend or cover relevant meetings, as well as ensure Taiwans meaningful participation in meetings and mecha- nisms regarding the SDGs.

Ukraines incredible bravery and resilience have inspired countries around the globe. The war there has forged a new sense of togetherness in the world. Unity is crucial to pushing back against Russias aggression and to preserving universal values, such as human rights and global peace, more broadly.

It is vital to make China and other authoritarian governments aware that they will be held accountable and to urge them to settle differences through peaceful means. Allowing Tai- wan to meaningfully participate in the UN system would benefit the worlds efforts to address pressing global issues. This would also demonstrate the UNs determination to unite for global peace at a critical juncture when the future of the world is at stake.

We are stronger together. Now is the time to act on this fundamental principle by including Taiwan.
KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2023 - 08:25 | All, World

The South Korean and Chinese foreign ministers agreed Thursday to enhance talks with Japan, both governments said, as Seoul is seeking to host a trilateral summit by the end of this year.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin talked with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi over the phone after his country's ambassador to the United States said in Washington that Seoul, as the chair of the three-way dialogue, has been working to realize their first trilateral summit in about four years.

Wang told Park that China supports South Korea playing an active role "in promoting trilateral cooperation," according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The leaders from the three neighboring countries last met in China in December 2019.

South Korea has served as chair since 2020, but the three countries have failed to hold a summit due mainly to tensions and disputes over issues related to Japan's past colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula and China's naval activities in the East China Sea.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said Park and Wang also agreed to realize regular reciprocal visits by the foreign ministers to each other's country and bilateral dialogues focusing on diplomatic and security issues.

Park told Wang that North Korea has launched ballistic missiles in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and expressed hope China will help denuclearlize the country, it said.

Related coverage:

Leaders of China, Japan, South Korea seeking to meet by year-end

FOCUS:Japan-South Korea-U.S. summit symbolic but judgment of history awaits

Japan, South Korea agree on restart of high-level talks by year-end
The Supreme court will hold hearing on September 6 on claim and counter claim by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on the release of Cauvery river water in pursuance to the Cauvery Water Tribunal Award as modified by the top court by its February 16, 2018.

As the matter was posted for hearing on September 6, a bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra was informed that in pursuance to its (top court) August 25, direction, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) has submitted its report relating to the compliance of Authoritys August 11, direction by Karnataka to release water so that 10,000 cusecs of water is realized at Biligundulu, Tamil Nadu.

Telling the bench that CWMA has already filed its report and in its August 29, meeting, the CWMA, has also directed the Karnataka to release 5000 cusecs of Cauvery water to be released at Biligundulu for next 15 days starting August 29 (08.00 AM), senior advocate Shyam Divan urged the bench to list the matter on September 11.

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Divan appeared for Karnataka.

However, this was opposed by Tamil Nadu with senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Tamil Nadu, requesting the bench to hear the matter on Tuesday  September 5 or Wednesday  September 6.

Justice Gavai is part of a five-judge constitution bench that is hearing a batch of petitions challenging abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union territories  J&K and Ladakh.

The constitution bench is likely to conclude the hearing by lunch on September 6. Thus, the court posted for hearing the Cauvery water allocation row on September 6.

The Cauvery Water Management Authority has on Thursday  August 31  told the Supreme Court that Karnataka has complied with its August 11, 2023, direction by releasing a total of 149898 cusecs of water at Biligundulu from August 12 to August 26.

The CWMA has said this in an affidavit in response to August 25 Supreme Court direction asking the Authority to submit a report whether Karnataka has complied with its August 11, 2023, direction to release 10,000 cusecs of Cauvery River water to Tamil Nadu or not.

The CWMA has also informed the Supreme Court that as per the decision taken in its 23rd meeting held on August 29, Karnataka has been directed to ensure the realisation of the flows at Biligundulu at the rate of 5000 cusecs, starting from 29.8.2023 (08.00 AM) for the next 15 days.

In the last hearing held on August 25, while Karnataka has sought reduction in the allocation of water to Tamil Nadu citing distress on account of inadequate rainfall and Tamil Nadu has sought enhancement in its allocation to irrigate and save its standing crops.

Opposing the Tamil Nadus application for the release of Cauvery water to realise its share of allocation for the second half of August (August 14 to August 31), the Karnataka government has said that the Tamil Nadus application is based on the assumption that this year the rain fall was normal but that was not so.

Karnataka government has said that Tamil Nadu seeking direction for the release of 36.76 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water in September has no legal foundations as the release of such quantity of water is stipulated only in a normal water year and not in a distress water year  which this year is.

Stating that the Tamil Nadu application is based on erroneous assumption that this year is the normal rain water year, Karnataka government has told the top court that upto August 9, the shortfall in the rains is by 25%, consequently the inflow of water in four reservoirs in the State was lesser by 42.5 per cent as recorded by the

Cauvery water Management Authority.

During this water year, the south-west monsoon has largely failed so far. Due to the failure of the southwest monsoon, the distress condition has arisen in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka. Karnataka, therefore, is not obliged to and it cannot be compelled to ensure water as per the stipulated releases prescribed for the normal year, states the affidavit by Karnataka government.

Besides seeking direction for the release of 24,000 cusecs of water at Biligundulu, Tamil Nadu has sought direction to Karnataka government to ensure the stipulated releases of 36.76 TMC of water for September 2023 as per the Cauvery Water Tribunal Award as modified by the top court judgment of February 16, 2018.

Tamil Nadu has sought further direction to Karnataka government to make up for the shortfall of 28.849 TMC of water for the current irrigation year starting from June 1, 2023 to July 31, 2023.

It has further sought direction to the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to ensure that the quantum of Cauvery water that Karnataka has to release to Tamil Nadu are fully implemented and the stipulated monthly releases during the remaining period of the current water year are fully given effect.

Tamil Nadu in its application has said that the deficit in supply at Biligundulu as on 09.08.2023, which was 37.971 TMC has to be ensured in addition to the demand of around 24,000 cusecs, in the month of August, 2023, is required to save the standing crops.

Pointing out that the CWRC in its 84th meeting on August 10, 2023, had directed Karnataka to release from its reservoirs so that 15,000 cusecs of water is released at Biligundulu from August 11, 2023 f(from 08.00 am) or next 15 days, Thamil Nadu said that Unfortunately, even this quantum of water was arbitrarily reduced to 10,000 cusecs by the CWMA in its 22nd meeting held on 11.08.2023, at the instance of Karnataka.

Regretfully, even this amount of 10,000 cusecs to be ensured at Biligundulu by releasing such quantum of water from the KRS and Kabini reservoirs has not been complied with by the State of Karnataka, says the petition by Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu has stated that Karnataka is duty bound to release the Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as per the Final Order passed by the Tribunal as modified by this Honble Court. Karnataka has been directed daily/monthly release during the months of June to January and thereafter from February to May for meeting the environment flows. In the current water year.
Kathmandu Mayor, Balendra Shah, known as Balen, has opted to postpone his planned visit to China due to his strong disapproval of Chinas recent map release. The Chinese map notably omitted some of Nepals parts, a move that didnt sit well with Balen. The new map versus the world has created some debate on social media.

Taking to social media, Mayor Shah expressed his grievance, stating, Nepal introduced a fresh map featuring Lipulek, Limpiyadhura, and Kalapani. Yet, Chinas Ministry of Natural Resources recently unveiled a map of Nepal devoid of these regions, adhering to the prior map. We consider this a breach of our sovereignty, as it depicts Nepali territory as part of India without any consultation with Nepal. Consequently, I have made the ethical choice today to cancel my five-day visit to China, which was extended as a courtesy.

Initially, Balen had been gearing up for a five-day visit to China, an invitation he received from the Chinese authorities. However, he abruptly canceled his trip, citing ethical concerns. The root of his decision lies in Chinas acknowledgment of the old map on its official map, all while retaining Nepals new map, which encompasses regions such as Lipulek, Limpiyadhura, and Kalapani.

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Other controversies:

Balen Shah consistently remains in the spotlight due to various reasons. Initially he was a rapper. He gained considerable support in the 2022 local elections in Nepal. That helped him win as the Mayor of Kathmandu.

In a separate incident involving maps, he made a symbolic protest by displaying a map of Nepal that included regions from West Bengal to Uttarakhand, parts that are historically contentious with India, in his office.

However, recent protests have erupted against him and his team, stemming from the demolition of street vendor shops, depriving them of their livelihoods. This action has generated significant criticism from civil society.

Mayor Shah is the same individual who made headlines for banning Hindi movies in Kathmandus multiplexes, citing concerns over the depiction of Sitas birthplace in India in the movie Adipurush.
Saint-Laurent, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Evening clouds will give way to clearing overnight. Low near 30F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Evening clouds will give way to clearing overnight. Low near 30F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2023 - 17:52 | Arts, All, Japan

Japanese actor Kento Nagayama was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for three years, on Friday for possession of cannabis.

Nagayama, 34, pleaded guilty during the first hearing earlier this week at the Tokyo District Court. Prosecutors sought a prison term of six months.

He was found in possession of 1.694 grams of cannabis at his home in Tokyo on June 15, according to the ruling.

According to prosecutors, Nagayama first used cannabis when he was in his second year of junior high school at a summer music event. He then smoked it again at 18 or 19, and continued using it to help him sleep.

Nagayama started his career in 2007. He was cast for a role in NHK's yearlong period drama for 2024, but following the scandal the broadcaster dropped him.

Related coverage:

Student arrested for alleged possession of cannabis, stimulant drug
KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2023 - 15:29 | All, Japan

Tohoku University has been selected as the first candidate for substantial government research grants aimed at elevating Japanese research institutes to the top of the global rankings, the education ministry said Friday.

The national university in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Miyagi is set to be formally selected as early as fiscal 2024 as a recipient of annual financial support for up to 25 years from fiscal 2024, starting with around 10 billion yen ($69 million) in the initial year.

Under the new Universities for International Research Excellence program, the grants will be paid out of profits generated from a 10 trillion yen fund.

Tohoku University will be officially designated if it meets requirements set by an expert panel, including regarding structural reorganization, the ministry said.

The government is planning to raise 300 billion yen every year to provide tens of billions of yen in annual support to each of the designated universities.

A total of 10 universities, including the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, have applied for the first round of accreditation launched in December last year.

Tohoku University has been rated highly for its large number of research paper citations, and measures to strengthen its research capabilities and reform its management, the ministry said.

The university has presented concrete steps to improve its research environment and further enhance internationalization, including by setting goals for the proportion of foreign researchers, it said.

But as the university needs to work out issues such as ways to increase its revenue, the ministry is calling for further improvements before its official designation.

The 10-member expert panel has been evaluating the applications of the 10 universities since April by holding interviews and examining documentation, with on-site inspections conducted at Tohoku University, the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University.

The ministry plans to open the next round of applications in fiscal 2024 ending March 2025 for a limited number of designations in stages.

Japanese universities have fallen behind overseas institutions in recent years.

The University of Tokyo dropped from 35th to 39th place and Kyoto University fell from 61st to 68th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023. The two universities were the only Japanese institutions in the top 200.
Job Title: Consular Associate (Fresher Admin High School Diploma Jobs)

Organisation: United States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

Salary: USD $40,488

Position Number: Kampala-2023-070

About US Embassy:

The United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has enjoyed diplomatic relations with Uganda for over 30 years. Ambassador Natalie E. Brown currently heads the U.S Mission to Uganda. The Mission is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador.

Among the offices operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are:

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Peace Corps

Job Summary: Under the direct supervision of the Consular Officer, the Consular Associate is assigned a wide range of responsibilities in the American Citizen Services (ACS) Unit, Nonimmigrant Visa (NIV) Unit, Immigrant Visa Unit, and Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU). The jobholder provides consular services to U.S. citizens, conducts non-adjudicatory visa processing, and assists in investigation and validation studies. Incumbent also handles correspondence with the public, attorneys, U.S. and host governments, Congress, and other parties. Must be able to secure and maintain a Secret level security clearance.









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

NOTE: All applicants must address each selection criterion detailed below with specific and comprehensive information supporting each item.

The applicants for the United States US Embassy Consular Associate job opportunity should have completed High School. Required.

At least two years of office administration.

Must be able to input data in consular systems with minimum errors, and spot and correct errors made by others (applicants and fellow staff).

Demonstrated skills in MS Office Suite and general computer skills including information and database management.

Organizational skills, including task management and filing skills; communication skills including writing skills appropriate for drafting official correspondence and reports.

Ability to obtain and maintain a DOS Secret Security clearance.

Tact and good judgment in dealing with the public, often under difficult and sensitive circumstances.

Sensitivity in evaluating evidence and applying complex regulations correctly.

Ability to learn applicable U.S. and host country laws, regulations, legal precedents, and court decisions.

Good interpersonal skills.

Language: Level IV (Fluent) Speaking/Reading/Writing of English is required.

How to Apply:

All those interested in working with the United States Embassy, US Mission in Kampala should send their applications online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 22nd September 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
The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation, composed of 73 districts and 116 colleges serving 1.8 million students per year. California community colleges provide career education and workforce training; guaranteed transfer to four-year universities; and degree and certificate pathways. As the states engine for social and economic mobility, the California Community Colleges supports the Vision 2030, a strategic plan designed to improve student success outcomes, increase transfer rates and eliminate achievement gaps. For more information, please visit the California Community Colleges website or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
A new report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has alleged that mining and oil giant Vedanta ran a covert lobbying campaign to weaken key environmental regulations during the pandemic.

The report comes a day after OCCRP published a report alleging the Adani Group of "brazen stock manipulation" which the conglomerate vehemently denied.



In the new report against Vedanta, the OCCRP, funded by billionaire George Soros and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, claims that Anil Agarwal, chairman of the energy and mining giant Vedanta Resources Ltd, took advantage of the pandemic situation when the economy was on a standstill to weaken key environmental regulations. Agarwal wrote to the then Environment minister Prakash Javadekar in 2021 that the government could add "impetus to Indias rapid economic recovery by allowing mining companies to boost production by up to 50 per cent without having to secure new environmental clearances," the report said.



His letter was met with a positive response from Javadekar, who directed the secretary of his ministry and the director general of forestry to discuss the policy issue. "In early 2022, after a series of closed-door meetings, Indias environment ministry loosened regulations to allow mining companies to increase production by up to 50 per cent without needing to hold public hearings, which many in the industry considered the most onerous requirement of the environmental clearance process," the OCCRP report added.



The environment ministry then changed the regulations by publishing an office memo  meant to be used for inter-office communication  on its website. "Modifying important regulations using instruments like office memos, without any public debate, the government may also have skirted the law," the report alleged.



Besides weakening environmental regulations for miners, one of Vedanta's subsidiaries, Cairn Oil & Gas, had also lobbied to scrap public hearings for oil exploration projects. "As with mining, the government quietly amended the law with no public consultation. Since then, at least six of Cairns oil projects in the northern deserts of Rajasthan have been greenlit for development," the report said, warning that the decision would have "broader environmental ramifications".



Vedanta is one of Indias most powerful companies, reporting more than $18 billion in revenues last year. The company has not yet offered any comments about the report.


Popular actor R. Madhavan has been nominated as the new president of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and chairman of its governing council. He will replace noted filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.

Union minister Anurag Thakur took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the appointment and congratulate the actor-director.

"Heartiest congratulations to @ActorMadhavan ji on being nominated as President of @FTIIOfficial and Chairman of the governing council.I'm sure that your vast experience & strong ethics will enrich this institute, bring positive changes, & take it to a higher level. My best wishes to you (sic)," he wrote.

Replying to the Union minister's tweet, the actor said he will do his best to live up to the expectations.

"Thank you so very much for the honor and kind wishes @ianuragthakur Ji. I will do my very best to live up to all the expectations," he wrote.

Madhavan's directorial debut, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, had won the Natonal Award for the best feature film recently.
This AI-powered innovation could transform how we understand and manage our health. It opens up new possibilities for early disease detection and could help doctors provide more tailored care!

Scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University have unveiled an extraordinary AI-powered system that has the potential to revolutionise our understanding and management of health. This innovation opens up a world of possibilities for early disease detection and offers a pathway for doctors to provide more personalised and tailored care to patients. Astonishingly, it challenges the traditional notion of age determination, as it enables us to determine our age not by simply looking at our faces, but by analysing our chests!

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, this groundbreaking system utilises chest X-rays to accurately estimate a person's actual age and, remarkably, identifies potential health issues that may be concealed beneath the surface. The implications of this technological advancement are immense, as it holds the promise of uncovering vital insights about an individual's well-being that were previously hidden from view.

Imagine a future where a routine chest X-ray could reveal more than just an anatomical snapshot. By delving deeper into the intricate details captured within these images, this AI-driven system has the potential to provide invaluable information that could lead to early intervention and more effective treatment plans. It has the power to empower doctors and healthcare professionals with the knowledge necessary to deliver targeted and precise care, ultimately improving patient outcomes and transforming the healthcare landscape.

Here's how it works: The research team, led by Yasuhito Mitsuyama and Dr. Daiju Ueda, created a smart AI that learns to guess a person's age from chest X-rays. They trained it using data from over 67,000 X-rays taken between 2008 and 2021 from healthy individuals. The AI's age estimates were impressively close to the real ages, with a strong correlation.

But here's the exciting part: When they tested the AI on X-rays of people with known health problems, they discovered something fascinating. The AI's age estimates often differed from the actual age, and these differences were linked to various chronic diseases like high blood pressure, hyperuricemia (a condition related to gout), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (a lung condition). In simple terms, if the AI guessed you were older than you really are based on your chest X-ray, it could mean you're at risk for certain health issues.

Yasuhito Mitsuyama, one of the researchers, explained, "Your age isn't just a number; it's crucial in healthcare. Our findings suggest that this chest X-ray-based age estimate might reveal more about your health than your actual age. We're excited to keep working on this to help predict disease severity, life expectancy, and potential complications during surgery."
Poor rainfall across the state during the month of August  the main rainy month in central India  has left half of Madhya Pradesh districts rain deficient, making farmers worried.



Though the Met office has predicted a spell of heavy showers in the second week of September, this might be too late to save the crops as the Kharif season is now well advanced.



While the state is 16 per cent rain deficient overall as on September 1, at least 26 of the 52 districts have received over 20 per cent deficient rain, and nine of them including capital Bhopal are over 30 per cent deficient, data released by the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Bhopal, shows.



The state has received an average of 662 mms of rainfall between June 1 and September 1, while the normal rainfall in this period should have been 791.7 mm.



The situation has developed because during the month of August, the state, on average, received as much as 40 per cent less rainfall than expected; with 28 districts reporting between 40 to 94 per cent of deficit, the data shows.



In August, the state should have received an average 334.2 mm of rainfall but managed to have only 201.7 mm given the fact that only about eight properly rainy days were recorded during the month. Districts like Shajapur and Neemuch received 94 and 90 per cent deficit rainfall. Five more districtsKhandwa (-85pc), Mandsaur and Ujjain (-84 pc), Agar-Malwa (-84 pc) and Rajgarh (-80 pc) are among the worst hit.



This rainfall situation is very detrimental for the Kharif crops in the state, including rice, soybean, maize, jowar, groundnut and pulses.



Farmers are already very anxious about the situation and the Met office has added to the worry by predicting practically no rainfall over the next one week.



State unit chief of the Congress Kamal Nath, who was in Neemuch to hold a public meeting on Friday, took up the issue of deficient rainfall and its impact on the crops. It is a matter of worry that due to deficit rainfall, crops like soybean and maize have been damaged in Neemuch and other parts of the state, but the state government is not paying attention to the situation. This area of the state is agriculture-based and an impact on the economic condition of the farmers will adversely impact the economic activities in the entire region and the state, Nath said at a press conference.



He demanded from the state government that the farmers should be paid immediate compensation to tide over the situation. He mentioned that only 15-20 per cent of the farmers get crop insurance money because of a scam being undertaken in connivance with insurance companies.



Nath also mentioned that when he was the chief minister, farmers of the area were paid compensation for crop damage due to heavy rain within seven days. He promised that if the BJP government failed to compensate the farmers, the Congress will resolve the issue as soon as its government is formed (following assembly polls).



Heavy rain likely from 7-14 Sept



The Met office has predicted a major spell of rainfall between September 7 and 17 in most parts of the state under impact of a low pressure area that is likely to develop over northern Bay of Bengal over the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.



Senior scientist with RMC, Bhopal, Ved Prakash Singh told THE WEEK that the current dry spell will continue up to September 6, and from September 7 rainfall will start in eastern Madhya Pradesh  mainly Rewa, Shahdol, Jabalpur and Sagar divisions. From September 9, the rainfall will extend to western MP too with districts of Gwalior, Chambal, Bhopal, Inodre, Ujjain and Narmadapuram (Hoshangabad) covered.



We are expecting that between September 7 and 14, every district in the state should receive an average 20 to 25 mm of rainfall. This should wipe out the overall deficit in the state and the sub-division level deficit. However, some districts like Mandsaur, Dhar, Khandwa, Khargone, Rewa, Sidhi, Singrauli, Guna, Ashoknagar might not be able to recover, Singh said.



Rain deficit



Madhya Pradesh  16 pc



East MP  13 pc



West MP  20 pc



Satna  45 pc



Ashoknagar  40 pc



Mandsaur  39 pc



Khargone  37 pc



Bhopal  36 pc



Khandwa  35 pc



Sidhi  34 pc



Guna  32 pc



Shajapur  30 pc
KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2023 - 18:34 | All, Japan

Japan's fisheries minister apologized Friday for calling treated radioactive wastewater being released from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant "contaminated," with the opposition bloc urging him to step down.

The remark by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tetsuro Nomura came as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government has been striving to dispel reputational damage to marine products from the sea around the northeastern Japan prefecture.

The term "contaminated water" is used by China, which has strongly opposed the discharge and imposed a blanket import ban on Japanese seafood.

The 79-year-old veteran lawmaker, who has received harsh criticism from Fukushima residents, retracted his use of the term "contaminated water" hours after using it when responding to questions from reporters on Thursday.

On Friday, Nomura said at a press conference that he was "very sorry for making Fukushima residents and related people feel uncomfortable." He ruled out resigning, saying he wanted to fulfill his duties to support the fisheries industry.

At a separate news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the top government spokesman, said Nomura's comment was "regrettable," expressing hope that he will do whatever he can to assist fisheries businesses "with utmost determination."

But Kenta Izumi, the leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, lambasted Nomura, saying he is "not qualified" to serve as the minister in charge of relief measures for the fisheries industry.

Speculation, meanwhile, has been rife that Kishida may reshuffle his Cabinet later this month to freshen up the image of his government and might replace Nomura on the occasion.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Friday Nomura's reference to contaminated water is "nothing but mentioning the truth."

Wang told a press conference Tokyo's use of the term treated water "ignores objective facts" and it is "only an attempt by Japan to cover up the harm" of the ocean discharge and misguide the public and international opinion.

Massive amounts of wastewater have been generated in the process of cooling reactor fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which suffered core meltdowns in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Japan, however, claims that most radionuclides, except tritium, are removed from the water after going through the Advanced Liquid Processing System. On Aug. 24, the country began discharging the water into the Pacific.

The Japanese government describes it as "ALPS-treated water," using the acronym for the purification system. The radiation levels of samples of seawater collected by the Environment Ministry since the discharge started have stayed below detectable limits.

Related coverage:

Japan PM unveils relief package for fishery sector amid China ban

China defends seafood import ban as Japan hints at complaint to WTO

Japan PM eats Fukushima seafood with ministers to dispel concerns
As the G20 summit is taking place, it is advisable to minimise travel to Delhi on the 8th, 9th, and 10th. Unprecedented security measures have been implemented in Delhi during these three days. Additionally, a curfew has been imposed in New Delhi until September 12th. If you must travel to Delhi during this time, please take note of these restrictions and plan accordingly.

Road Travel:

From the 8th to the 10th, there will be traffic restrictions in places across Delhi. It is advisable to plan car trips in advance. In the New Delhi district, strict restrictions will be enforced, allowing only essential vehicles to pass through multiple locations. Additionally, there will be an increased police presence and checkings. To find routes with fewer restrictions, please refer to the Delhi Police website bit.ly/g20advisory.

Offices and Shops:

On the 8th and 10th, all Government and private institutions will be closed. Individuals planning to visit the city for any official purposes during these dates are advised to choose alternative dates. On the 8th and 10th, all banks and businesses in Central Delhi (New Delhi Police District, which include the Parliament and the Rashtrapati Bhavan), will be closed.

Delhi Metro:

There will be no disruption in Delhi Metro services, so it is recommended to avoid road trips and instead use the metro for transportation. However, the Supreme Court Metro Station near Pragati Maidan will be closed on the 9th and 10th. All other stations will remain operational. To purchase tickets for the Airport Line, simply send a message saying "Hi" on WhatsApp. You can also use the DMRC Travel app to book tickets on other lines.

Auto and Taxi:

Taxis and autos will not be allowed in the New Delhi district on the 9th and 10th. Tourists staying in hotels outside the New Delhi district can use taxis in that specific area. In all other areas, there will be no disruption to transportation services.

Airport:

Traffic restrictions will be in place for routes to and from Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport from the 8th to the 10th. It is advisable to stay updated with airline announcements, as there may be cancellations of domestic flights. To minimise travel disruptions, it is recommended to use the Airport Express Metro Line (Orange Line). For passengers arriving at Delhi T3 and T2 terminals, the feeder bus can be used to reach IGI Airport Metro Station. For those arriving at T1, Delhi Aerocity Metro Station is the recommended option. Additionally, passengers can directly reach New Delhi Railway Station using the Airport Line.

Railway Station:

Delhi Police has recommended fixed routes on its website to ease road travel to New Delhi and Nizamuddin railway stations. To manage the situation, traffic from Ajmeri Gate to New Delhi station will be completely halted until noon on September 10th. Commuters are advised to utilise the New Delhi Metro Station for their travel to and from the railway station.

Bus Services:

City bus services in New Delhi will be suspended from the 8th to the 10th. However, interstate buses will still be allowed to enter Delhi but will terminate their journey at the Outer Ring Road. If you plan to book a bus from Delhi to other states, it is advised to get in touch with travel agents to confirm the precise pick-up location.

Hotels:

Due to the presence of G20 delegates and VIPs, it is highly unlikely to find any available rooms in major hotels. It is recommended to consider looking for hotels in outer Delhi instead. It is important to note that advance bookings may be subject to cancellation, so it is advisable to contact the hotels.

Tourist Centres:

Restrictions are expected to be in place at tourist destinations, leading to many tour operators currently not accepting bookings.
The Karnataka High Court on Friday declared the election of the lone Janata Dal (Secular) MP from Hassan, Prajawal Revanna, as null and void for filing false information in his election affidavit during the May 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Interestingly, Prajwal (33), grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda and son of former Karnataka minister H.D. Revanna has been disqualified based on a petition filed by former minister A. Manju, who is now the JD(S) MLA from Arkalgud in Hassan district.

During the 2019 elections, Devegowda had vacated the Hassan seat for his grandsons debut in electoral politics and shifted to Tumakuru Parliament constituency. While Prajwal managed to win the seat, Devegowda suffered a humiliating defeat.

In the May 2019 Parliament polls, Prajwal had won 6,76,606 votes against BJP nominee A. Manju, who had polled only 5,35,282 votes. On September 30, 2019, the High Court had issued summons to Prajwal over the incomplete election affidavit filed along with his nomination papers based on a petition filed by A. Manju and a lawyer G. Devarajegowda.

However, High Court Justice John Michael D'Cunha on January 17, 2020, dismissed Devarajegowdas petition on the grounds that he had not followed due procedure under Section 81(3) of the Representation of Peoples Act. Manjus petition was also dismissed on technical grounds that he had failed to file the mandatory affidavit in the prescribed format that enumerated instances of corrupt practices as alleged against Prajwal.

Following Manjus appeal against the high court order, the Supreme Court, in December 2021, directed the high court to examine the petitions afresh, while observing that any violations of procedure in filling of the petitions would be a matter to be considered at the stage of trial.

As per an inquiry conducted by the state Election Commission, based on the information furnished by the then deputy commissioner of Hassan (also returning officer) Priyanka Mary Francis, the affidavit was allegedly incomplete. The candidate had mentioned a vacant site in Holenarasipur, but the site had a building and a cinema theatre. He had failed to mention the transactions and revenue earned over the last five years. Prajwal had mentioned a loan amount of Rs 26 lakh as borrowed from his grandfather H.D. Deve Gowda, which was not mentioned in the affidavit filed by the latter.

On Friday, High Court Justice K. Natarajan, who declared the election of the returned candidate (Prajwal) as null and void, also rejected the prayer to declare A. Manju, the runner-up as the returned candidate citing findings that he was found to be involved in corrupt practices, as alleged by Prajwal Revanna in his counter petition.

Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said the HC verdict was a warning bell to all the elected representatives and that he could comment only after going through the judgement copy in detail.

An embarrassed Manju said, I had filed the case in 2019 alleging that Prajwal had furnished wrong information in his affidavit and the court has ruled in my favour. I thank the court for it. It is a peculiar situation. When I filed the case, I was in a different party. But today, I am in the JD(S) and I will discuss with my party leaders Devegowda, Kumaraswamy and Revanna as our party MP has been disqualified. 

One of the petitioners, Devarajegowda, while speaking to reporters said that the court had also barred Prajwal from contesting in any election  from Gram Panchayat to the Parliament, for the next six years.
A man has been found dead under suspicious circumstances at the house of Union Minister Kaushal Kishore in Lucknow. The deceased, identified as Vinay Srivastava, was the friend of the minister's son Vikas Kishore.

The gun was licenced and belonged to Vikas, said reports. The incident happened around 4.15 am at Kishore's house in Begaria village under the Thakurganj police station area.



Police have taken into custody four people in connection with the matter and the forensic team is on the spot. DCP West, Lucknow, Rahul Raj said the dog squad, crime branch and forensic teams are at the spot for investigation. "A person named Vinay Shrivastave was shot dead. A pistol has been recovered which belongs to Vikas Kishore. Further investigation is underway. A forensic team has also arrived and we are also searching CCTV visuals. An FIR has also been registered in this case," Rahul Raj told reporters.



The minister has expressed shock and concern over the incident and has promised all help for the investigation. "This is a matter of investigation. Forensic teams and police have started the investigation. The person involved will not be spared. We are standing in support of the family members of the deceased. I have no idea who was at the residence when the incident took place," he said.



However, local media reports said the deceased and the four men in custody had shared meals and drinks before the incident. However, an altercation erupted between them resulting in the shooting.


The All India Hindu Mahasabha president, Swami Chakrapani Maharaj has suggested that if the INDIA alliance wants to win over Hindus, it must organise gau mutra (cow urine) parties and also consume the same.

He pointed out that all the parties that had come together to form the alliance were anti-Hindu. Bihar has stopped school holidays on Hindu festivals (including Durga puja); in West Bengal, Hindus are being killed, Swami Prasad Maurya (Samajwadi Party) makes comments against Hinduism, Rahul Gandhi constantly targets sanatan and the Congress has said that Lord Ram did not exist while in Delhi maulvis get wages but not pujaris, he said.



Chakrapani Maharaj said there was no reason for Hindus to trust the alliance, yet it could prove its worthiness by responding to an inner voice and throw such parties in which the leaders consume gau mutra.



You throw and attend so many iftar parties, why not a gau mutra party too, he said.



When COVID-19 first struck India, Chakrapani Maharaj had organized such parties, insisting that gau mutra had the power to protect from any disease.



The cow is our mother. It is the mother of the whole world. In the cow live all our Gods and Goddesses. It is because of its blessings that the world got rid of COVID, he said.



He also linked it to the other great cause that the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) espouses- the Ram Mandir.



What have you done for the Ram Mandir? We were the appellants: we fought for the cause. Why must Hindus believe that if you were to come to power you will not discriminate against them and appease Muslims?, he said.



He also suggested that the alliance take a pledge to formulate a law for projection of cows if and as soon as it came to power.


In a late evening development on Friday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singhs visit to Sri Lanka, where he was to review the entire gamut of defence ties with the island nation, has been put off with no later date being declared.



A defence ministry release said the visit has been put off due to unavoidable circumstances and that the minister remains committed to strong bilateral cooperation between India and Sri Lanka.



He looks forward to visiting the island nation at the earliest possible time frame, the release added.



Singh was to visit Sri Lanka for two days beginning Saturday. His schedule included meetings with the Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the countrys defence minister, and also Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.



The development acquires significance in the backdrop of Colombos reported approval to the docking of the Chinese research vessel Shi Yang 6 in the Colombo and Hambantota ports for 17 days beginning October 26 although it is still not clear in which area in Sri Lankas vicinity the Chinese vessel will operate in.



A top source in Indias military establishment had told THE WEEK that the Shi Yang 6s visit is meant to engineer a crack in the bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka.



While the Shi Yan 6 may be categorised as a research and survey vessel, most such Chinese ships are dual-use vessels with both civilian and military uses. In this effort, the Chinese are partnering with Sri Lankas National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).



Chinese research and survey ships operating near Sri Lankan waters have been controversial because of vehement opposition by India which suspects military intentions.



In November 2022, India protested forays by the China spy ship Yuanwang 6 into the waters of the Indian Ocean Region as the ships movement was suspected to be linked to planned ballistic missile tests by India.



In August 2022, ignoring Indian protests, another ship, the Yuanwang 5, had dropped anchor for a week-long stay from August 16 to 22 at the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota.



In deep economic distress, Sri Lanka is delicately positioned between India and China neither of whom Colombo can afford to displease. China is Sri Lankas biggest single creditor while it was India that bailed out the island nation from the economic chaos with a $4 billion handover in 2022.
A sense of urgency was clearly evident in the proceedings of the opposition's Mumbai meeting in the wake of the Modi government calling a special session of Parliament and reviving discussions on simultaneous elections. The INDIA alliance, as it wrapped up its two-day discussions, resolved to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible, initiate seat-sharing arrangements immediately, hold public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country and coordinate their communications and media strategies.



The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) also finalised the formation of joint committees and working groups, the most important being a 14-member coordination and election strategy committee that will facilitate a coordinated approach of the various parties with regard to their electoral strategy, joint programmes, and messaging. The anti-BJP bloc also formed a campaign committee and three working groups that will deal with the subjects of social media, traditional media and research, respectively.



The coordination committee comprises K.C. Venugopal of the Congress, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, DMK leader T.R. Baalu, JMM leader Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejasvi Yadav, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, JD(U) chief Lallan Singh, CPI general-secretary D. Raja, NC's Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. The CPI(M) will nominate its member to the panel later.



According to sources, the parties will release a vision document at Rajghat in Delhi on October 2. This will mark the beginning of the public outreach of these parties. They plan to hold five to six joint rallies in major cities and then move to smaller centres. Amongst the issues that will be included in the vision document are the need to save democracy, price rise, unemployment and farmers' woes. It is learnt that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said at the meeting that there is no time to waste since the Modi government could advance the Lok Sabha elections. She said that a manifesto should be finalised at the earliest and released on October 2. This idea was taken on board by the other parties and it was decided that a common manifesto in the form of a vision document will be placed before the people.



Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is learnt to have said in the meeting that the alliance needs to bust the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said there are misconceptions about the prime minister that are being propagated by his PR machinery, and those should be countered by the INDIA bloc with the help of facts and figures. According to sources, he said the perception about Modi that he is non-corrupt, has improved the image of India abroad and is a savior of the other backward castes is not the real picture. It was agreed in the meeting that the working group on research could work out a plan to counter Modi's image.



It is learnt that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was extremely vocal about concluding seat-sharing discussions at the earliest. He is learnt to be keen that the seat-sharing adjustments are finalised by the end of September.



Rahul Gandhi too is learnt to have stressed on speeding up the seat-sharing arrangements between the parties. He said it would have to be done state-wise and assured the other parties that the Congress is willing to make maximum adjustments.



As per a senior Congress leader, the effort of the parties will be to have an understanding on around 440-450 seats. In states such as Kerala and Punjab, where the BJP is not in contention, the parties could have friendly fights.



The alliance, however, refrained from dealing with the tricky issue of naming a convenor for the grouping. According to a senior opposition leader, it is a topic that could result in an intense debate and irreconcilable differences coming to the fore. The leader said it will not be easy to form a consensus on a name for the convenor's post since every party has its own aspirations and the person who becomes the convenor is likely to be seen as a prime ministerial probable.



Also, the logo of the alliance was not released although it was listed in the schedule of the meeting. According to sources, views of the public will be invited for the logo of the alliance. It is also learnt that some parties had reservations with regard to a logo for the alliance.



Amongst the resolutions passed at the meeting is having seat-sharing arrangements in different states which will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take. It was also resolved that public rallies will be organised at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance.



An issue discussed at the meeting was the need to pool in the resources of the various parties with regard to their communications and media outreach. It was resolved that the parties will coordinate their respective communications and media strategies and campaigns with the theme 'Judega Bharat, Jitega Bharat' in different languages.



According to a senior Congress leader, the message being conveyed from the Mumbai meeting is that they are ready for elections. A decision on when and where the next meeting of the opposition parties will be held has been left to the Congress and two possible venues are Bhopal and Hyderabad, a party leader said.
The planned docking of the Chinese research vessel Shi Yang 6 in the Colombo and Hambantota ports is meant to engineer a crack in the bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka, a top source in Indias military establishment told THE WEEK.

"The move to dock the Shi Yan 6 in the Sri Lanka ports with due approval from the island authorities is a huge smart strategic move by China and should be seen by India as such,' the source said on condition of anonymity.



"For China, the Shi Yan 6with its planned underwater and hydrographic surveywill be able to collect all sorts of data required for any future operation, including movement by Chinese submarines by mapping the terrain on the sea bed."



"On the other hand, Sri Lanka is looking at data on sediment thickness of the continental shelf so that its sea territorial claims can be made before the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS)."



"At the moment, Sri Lankas territorial claim on the seas is excessive and is therefore on the lookout for sedimentation data which it hopes the Shi Yan 6 will be able to provide," the source added on condition of anonymity.



In variance with past practices, the Chinese ship has this time sought the permission of the Sri Lankan defence ministry which has been granted although the area of operation of the Shi Yan 6 is yet to be finalised.



The Shi Yan 6 is expected to arrive in Colombo port on October 26 and operate in the vicinity of the island nation in its stay for 17 days until November 10. The ships considerably long presence so very close to Indias coastline is fraught with security implications.

According to UN laws, one of the ways in which a coastal state may establish the outer limits of its juridical continental shelf wherever the continental margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles is by establishing the commonality of sediments.



While the Shi Yan 6 may be categorised as a research and survey vessel, most such Chinese ships are dual use vessels with both civilian and military uses. In this effort, the Chinese are partnering with Sri Lankas National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).



Chinese research and survey ships operating near Sri Lankan waters have been controversial because of vehement opposition by India which suspects military intentions.

In November 2022, India protested forays by the China spy ship Yuanwang 6 into the waters of the Indian Ocean Region as the ships movement was suspected to be linked to planned ballistic missile tests by India.



In August 2022, ignoring Indian protests, another ship, the Yuanwang 5, had dropped anchor for a week-long stay from August 16 to 22 at the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota. Partly owned by Chinese state-owned companies, Hambantota is a deep sea port that is strategically located in the southern coast of the island nation.

In deep economic distress, Sri Lanka is positioned between the two powers India and China both of whom Colombo cannot afford to anger. While China is Sri Lankas biggest single creditor, it was India that bailed out the island nation for economic chaos with a US$ 4 billion handover in 2022.


Russian President Vladimir Putin will host Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.



His remarks came after weeks of speculation about when and where the two leaders might meet next.

"It is true that the talks will be held on Monday. They will be in Sochi in the middle of the day," TASS quoted Peskov as saying.

Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hosted his Turkish counterpart for talks in Moscow.

Turkey, together with the United Nations, brokered a deal in July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports. A separate memorandum between the UN and Russia, agreed at the same time, pledged to overcome obstacles to Moscow's shipment of food and fertiliser to world markets.

However, Russia pulled out of the deals earlier this year, claiming that its conditions hadn't been met.
Indias Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be in Colombo for two days beginning Saturday in a mission to review the entire gamut of defence ties with the island nation.



The defence ministers visit will coincide with the docking of INS Delhi on Friday in the Colombo deep sea port. Singh is scheduled to meet the Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the countrys defence minister, and also the PM Dinesh Gunawardena.

INS Delhi, Indian Navys first indigenously designed and built guided missile destroyer, is equipped with the latest weapons and sensors that are capable of undertaking all facets of maritime operationson surface, air and underwater domains.

The Indian defence ministers visit is taking place in the backdrop of Colombos reported approval of the docking of the Chinese research vessel Shi Yang 6 in the Colombo and Hambantota ports for 17 days, beginning October 26, although it is still not clear in which area in Sri Lankas vicinity the Chinese vessel will operate in.

A top source in Indias military establishment had told THE WEEK that the Shi Yang 6s visit is meant to engineer a crack in the bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka.

For China, the Shi Yan 6with its planned underwater and hydrographic surveywill be able to collect all sorts of data that is required for any future operation including movement by Chinese submarines by mapping the terrain on the sea bed.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka is looking at data on sediment thickness of the continental shelf so that its sea territorial claims can be made before the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).

At the moment, Sri Lankas territorial claim on the seas is excessive and is therefore on the lookout for sedimentation data which it hopes the Shi Yan 6 will be able to provide, the source had said. According to UN laws, one of the ways in which a coastal state may establish the outer limits of its juridical continental shelf, wherever the continental margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles is by establishing the commonality of sediments.

In deep economic distress, Sri Lanka is delicately positioned between India and China, none of which Colombo can afford to displease. China is Sri Lankas biggest single creditor while it was India that bailed out the island nation for economic chaos with a US$ 4 billion handover in 2022.
Kushi movie leaves you with moments of happiness only till snow-clad peaks, valleys and streams of Kashmir form the postcard backdrop of the actors, Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha. Once the movies locales are shifted down south, the level of interest of the audience also goes downhill.

The movie garnered interest as Samantha broke away from the cycle of acting in heroine-oriented roles to play a lead in a romantic commercial flick. Vijay, who also enjoys a huge fanbase is desperate for a hit after his pan-Indian action movie, Liger, died out with a whimper.

Coming to the story, Viplav (Vijay) is a central government employee who opts to work in an exotic location, away from the monotonous life in Hyderabad. He is posted to Kashmir peaking his excitement until he encounterson the border area, poor facilities and hardships of curfews. On the brighter side, he spots Aradhya (Samantha) on a houseboat and falls for her, mistaking her to be a Kashmiri Muslim due to her Burkha attire. To get him off his back, Samanthas friend lie about their identity of being Pakistanis searching for a lost family member.

Viplav is shown as a liberal character subtly through his choice of being fine with marrying a Pakistani or offering her beef biryani. Only later is the truth revealed to him that she is an orthodox Brahmin from Kakinada who is on an office vacation in the hill station.

Both express love for each other and decide to take their relationship forward. The only hitch? Viplavs father is a well-known atheist and Samanthas father is a popular Hindu scholar. Poles apart in ideologies, both even get into fights on TV news debates. With the characters now moving back to Hyderabad and Kakinada, how the lovers handle their belief systems and their respective fathers stubbornness forms the second half.

Except for the song Na Roja Nuvve, others look misplaced and sometimes, unnecessary, just like the action sequences which are cliche. Even some characters like Zoya and Thomas, a Malayali inter-faith couple dont have much significance except to try and add novelty which falls flat. The first half is at least fresh and teases the audience with something unique but the second half is nagging, dragging and unnecessarily gloomy.

The director, Shiva Nirvanas attempt to highlight post-marriage issues that crop up between couples leaves Samantha with very less scope for acting as she is reduced to weeping scenes. Vijay and Samantha look good on screen and being seasoned actors, have put up a good show but clearly remind the audience of uncanny resemblance to their past roles. The dialogues are average and on expected lines. The movie has some funny scenes which is the saving grace of this product that doesnt exactly give any Kushi to the audience.

Cast: Vijay Deverakonda, Samantha, Murali Sharma, Sachin Khedekar, Vennela Kishore, Rahul Ramakrishna

Director: Shiva Nirvana

Rating: 3/5
Participants from Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy arrive at the joint naval training site in Thailand, Aug. 31, 2023. A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September.(Photo by Gao Guojing/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September.

Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, noted the training will cover sniping tactics, jungle survival, maritime search and rescue, and cross-deck helicopter landing.

The training aims to improve training levels and coordination abilities of participating troops, enhance practical cooperation between the two navies, and strengthen their capabilities of jointly addressing regional security threats, said Wu. 

Participants from Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy arrive at the joint naval training site in Thailand, Aug. 31, 2023. A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September.(Photo by Sun Xingwei/Xinhua)

Participants from Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy arrive at the joint naval training site in Thailand, Aug. 31, 2023. A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September. (Photo by Li Hao/Xinhua)

Participants from Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy arrive at the joint naval training site in Thailand, Aug. 31, 2023. A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September.(Photo by Gao Guojing/Xinhua)

Participants from Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy arrive at the joint naval training site in Thailand, Aug. 31, 2023. A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September.(Photo by Gao Guojing/Xinhua)

Participants from Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy arrive at the joint naval training site in Thailand, Aug. 31, 2023. A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September.(Photo by Li Hao/Xinhua)

Participants from Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy arrive at the joint naval training site in Thailand, Aug. 31, 2023. A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September. (Photo by Sun Xingwei/Xinhua)

Participants from Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy arrive at the joint naval training site in Thailand, Aug. 31, 2023. A Chinese defense spokesperson on Thursday said China and Thailand will hold "Blue Strike-2023" joint naval training in the Gulf of Thailand and Sattahip in early September. (Photo by Li Hao/Xinhua)
Abdul Karim Telgi.... This name may hardly ring a bell among the Gen Z. But for most others, this name became synonymous in the early 2000s for what would become the biggest stamp paper scam in India. It is this scam involving Telgi that Hansal Mehta's latest web series Scam 2003 on Sony LIV throws light on.

In 2020, Mehta released Scam 1993, which told the story of small time stock broker Harshad Mehta who makes it big on the Dalal Street only to be eventually caught for his illegal insider trading means he used to make crores.

Scam 2003 is based on the book Telgi Scam: Reporters Diary. It starts off in a nondescript hamlet of Khanapur in Karnataka where Abdul Karim Telgi, makes a living by selling fruits on the train, despite being a graduate. Living by the side of the tracks in a shanty, he dreams of one day having a firm roof over his head.

A chance encounter with an individual on the train lands him in Mumbai, the city of dreams. And it is here that Telgi chases his dreams, from starting off as a manager of a guest house to eventually becoming the kingpin of what would become the country's largest stamp paper scam that burnt a hole worth thousands of crore in the government's exchequer and led to the resignation of then deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal.

Telgi always wants to do bigger things in life. And despite his initial setbacks, his confidence doesn't seem to have shaken. As he says on several occasions, mujhe paise kamane nahi hain, banane hain (I dont want to earn money, but make money). How he goes about it and eventually makes crores selling fake stamp papers, making friends along the way and managing the system including bureaucrats, politicians and ministers alike is the story of Scam 2003.

Overall the web series makes for a gripping tale. But, it is quite slow to take off. The story begins with the shot of Telgi undergoing a narco analysis test. But, from there the directors Mehta and Tushar Hiranandani transport us to Khanapur and the first couple of episodes slowly revolve around Telgi's life in the village, his move to Mumbai and his initial struggles there. The story picks up pace from the third episode (there are five) and will make you want to watch further how the scam unfolds and how Telgi manages to keep everyone from the corridors of Mantralaya to the government's printing press in Nashik happy.

The web series has fine performances from actors like Bharat Jadhav, Mukesh Tiwari, Shashank Ketkar, Sameer Dharmadikari, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Nandu Madhav and Bhavana Balsawar. They shine in the limited screen time they get. But they are all side shows.

The story is all about the protagonist Abdul Karim Telgi played by Gagan Dev Riar. Even his wife played by Sana Amin Sheikh has little to do. He features in almost every scene in the web series and has done a brilliant job portraying Telgi. Never once do we feel he is going overboard or over acting as he goes about thinking about the next big thing.

The catchy music, we first heard in Scam 1993, also features here and keeps us hooked to the tale.

This web series is told from the eyes of Abdul Karim Telgi and should be on your watch list. You may feel bored, especially in the initial episodes. But hang in there and eventually it will keep you engrossed and intrigued on what comes next.

Show: Scam 2003: The Telgi Story

Directed by: Tushar Hiranandani and Hansal Mehta

Streaming on: Sony LIV
Kolkata, Sep 1 (PTI) The real estate sector in West Bengal is in good shape, with no major projects currently stalled mid-way, Credai West Bengal President Sushil Mohta said on Friday.

Mohta announced that STATECON 2023, a real estate event, will be held on September 4 in Kolkata with the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The event aims to showcase the real estate opportunities in the state to top realty companies from across the country.

"The state's real estate sector is expected to grow at a faster pace in the coming years due to factors such as increasing urbanization, rising disposable income, and government support," Mohta said, reacting to the Amitabh Kant Committee report.

The Amitabh Kant Committee, formed by the Centre, recently recommended a series of concessions and exemptions for builders on stalled projects across the country.

Mohta announced that STATECON 2023, a real estate event, will be held on September 4 in Kolkata with the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The event aims to showcase the real estate opportunities in the state to top realty companies from across the country.

Real estate contributes about 10 per cent to the state's GDP.

Mohta said that the state government has taken several initiatives to promote the real estate sector, such as providing incentives to developers and streamlining approval processes.

This year's STATECON 2023 theme is 'Showcasing Real Estate & Urbanization as Drivers of Economic Growth and Employment.'

The event will witness the participation of domain experts, thought leaders, industry stalwarts, as well as key government officials, who will deliberate and discuss upcoming opportunities and challenges in the real estate sector.

Sidharth Pansari, a CREDAI functionary, said, "It is expected that the rate of urbanization in Bengal will increase to 42 per cent in the state from the current 36 per cent over the next few years, resulting in the addition of almost 8 million people to urban West Bengal in this period."

"Bengal promises to be Eastern India's gateway. Its population is predicted to touch 103 million by 2036, with an increase of 15 million people in urban areas. The urbanization rate in West Bengal is higher than that of the country," Mohta added.

The 2023 event is expected to attract over 1,000 participants nationwide.
Talgajarda (Gujarat) [India], September 1: For the last several days, the hill state of Himachal Pradesh has suffered immense loss of life and property because of heavy rainfall. The continuous rains have led to the unfortunate deaths of hundreds of people and animals. Moreover, multiple landslides have resulted in challenging conditions for many people by affecting properties and other assets. According to an estimate, the resultant losses are to the tune of Rs. 72,000 crore in just Himachal Pradesh.





In July, noted spiritual leader and Ramcharitmanas exponent Morari Bapu announced financial assistance of Rs. 25 lakh for Himachal Pradesh and other north Indian states. Morari Bapu was in Boston, US, for Ramkatha at the time and had announced the assistance along with some ardent Ramkatha followers.



As a token of Morari Bapus compassion, Shree Chitrakutdham Trust, Talgajarda, has donated Rs. 25 lakh to Seva Bharati, which is dedicated to various social causes and undertakes a host of humanitarian services in Himachal Pradesh. The funds will be dedicated to further Seva Bharatis social activities in remote areas of Himachal Pradesh. Seva Bharati has extended sincere gratitude to Morari Bapu and Shree Chitrakutdham Trust for their support.



(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PNN and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR

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JAIPUR, India, August 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On the first day of orientation, Amity University Rajasthan hosted a Special US Cranberries Culinary Training Program on August 28, 2023, at Amity University Rajasthan with seven celebrity chefs including Padma Shree Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, Chef Rakhee Vaswani, Chef Vicky Ratnani, Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi, Chef Nishant Choubey, Chef Yogesh Uteker and Mixologist Shatbhi Basu. The widely admired chefs demonstrated and prepared various cuisines with US Cranberries that infused flavour and creativity into every dish.



The event commenced with the welcome address by Prof. G.K. Aseri Pro-Vice Chancellor, Amity University Rajasthan, who stated that the training program will offer a wealth of information on the art and craft of cooking.



Prof. (Dr.) Amit Jain, Hon'ble Vice-Chancellor, Amity University, Rajasthan said, "The possibilities are endless, and I am sure that this training program will inspire students and unveil new, exotic and healthy dishes."



Dr Sanjeeb Pal, Director , Amity School of Hospitality, Amity University Rajasthan the patron of the event introduced all the star chefs and stated that cranberries are known for the dark red color of the fruit, a sweet tangy taste and numerous health benefits.



During the training program, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor demonstrated how to make a 'Besan and Cranberry Burfi' while Chef Rakhee Vaswani showed the audience how to make 'Cranberry Kalakand Ghevar' and Mixologist Shatbhi Basu prepared and presented 'Scarlet Mist' & 'Crantastic Sour'. Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi prepared 'Millet Cranberry Tikki' and 'Beetroot Cranberry Paratha', and 'Berry & Red Masala Grilled Prawns'. Chef Vicky Ratnani made 'Garlic Mint & Cranberry Yoghurt' and Chef Nishant Choubey presented 'Cafreal Spiced Grilled Fish/Tofu with Cranberry Malai Curry'.



With the primary goal of educating Amity University Rajasthan's aspiring chefs, the US Cranberries Culinary Training improved students' culinary abilities and prepared them for the industry while also providing an unforgettable journey into the world of gastronomy by well-known Indian chefs who are the pride of India and are recognized internationally for their expertise. The training workshop was incredibly illuminating, educational, and enjoyable. The event was coordinated by Chef Dr. Saurabh Sharma, Head Culinary & Food Production, Amity School of Hospitality along with the support of Amity School of Communication.



About Amity University Rajasthan:



Amity University, Rajasthan, is a clean green 150-acre picturesque campus, situated amidst the Aravalis, offering undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. courses across various disciplines. The university is a fully residential and hi-tech institution with air-conditioned amphitheater-style classrooms. Amity University has hi-tech labs for multiple programs, as well as a Food Production Lab, Bakery and Confectionary Lab as well as a Food & Beverage Service Lab furnished with the necessary equipment to prepare and train Hospitality students.



Established by Amity University Rajasthan Act 2008, notified by Government notification No F.2 (10 ) vidhi/2, the university believes in nurturing student talent in a way that complements their academic pursuits.



The university has a well-connected and established alumni network, with Amitians being placed in premier national and international companies such as Thomson Reuters, Wipro technologies and the Trident Group.



The university was awarded by ASSOCHAM for 'Best University Campus' in 2014 and has recently been featured among the top universities in the world in THE IMPACT Rankings 2023 under sustainable development goals (clean water and sanitation (201-300), affordable and clean energy (401-600) and climate action (401-600)).



Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2198961/AmitySchoolTeam.jpg



Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2198964/AmityUniversityRajasthanNEWLogo.jpg



(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR

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 WHO's prioritisation of science-based strategies to reduce tobacco health impairment will hugely benefit users



 Safer alternatives underscore human rights, respect & dignity of over 1 billion smokers



NEW DELHI, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In line with the upcoming Tenth session of the Conference (COP10) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) delegation, later this year; The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has recently submitted a 'Shadow Report' to the Secretariat to provide alternate information and perspectives on the state of the implementation, particularly in the Asia Pacific and India.



A review of the biennial progress submissions, including the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, show the inattention to safer alternatives in remedying tobacco harm. A key reveal is that while countries like India are considered as 'model countries' for tobacco control, yet, despite dedicated efforts by the government, the country has not seen a significant decline in smoking prevalence, making the government's objective of 30% relative reduction in prevalence of current tobacco use by 2030 unrealistic. This marks an important discussion focus on the COP 10'23 table, with policy makers across the world.



Hence, the Indian delegation should consider these essentials while representing the country at the forum:



The State of Tobacco Control in India & Southeast Asia Pacific



Smoking of tobacco is a major public health concern worldwide, causing numerous diseases and premature deaths. According to the latest WHO numbers, it kills close to a staggering 9 million users each year.



Despite global & country specific interventions there are still over 1 billion smokers, today  the number largely remaining stagnant over the last decade. The economic impact of patient 'cure' through direct & indirect costs of smoking-related disease, is nearly $2 trillion annually.



WHO's data itself corroborates that smoking is an alarming, persistent issue in Southeast Asia, whereby the Asian Region has the highest rates of tobacco use - more than 45% of the population. Indian itself has more than one hundred million smokers, with no reduction in recent years. This sadly reflects, in spite best efforts by countries at large - the inefficiency of the current tobacco control policies.



The Limits of WHO's MPOWER



WHO launched 'MPOWER,' a 'policy package to reverse the tobacco epidemic' which establishes regulatory recommendations against which progress is monitored. However, the shadow study could not find evidence that adoption & implementation has reduced the rate of global cigarette consumption per adult.



The Untapped Weapon in the Tobacco Control Arsenal



Safer alternative as a concept is already in circulation. The global policy defines tobacco control as a range of supply, demand, and harm reduction strategies. This approach takes into consideration that smokers who cannot quit, can reduce their health risks if they completely switch from cigarettes to significantly less harmful alternatives.



Governments around the world including the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada are already using this approach. Safer alternatives are rooted in human rights and respects the dignity of the over one billion current smokers that the WHO treaty is designed to help. It focuses on helping smokers quit and, for those who do not, empowers them to make better decisions for themselves and for public health.



In their recommendations, the authors have advised WHO and policy makers from member states to prioritise science-based, inclusive policy making on Tobacco Control. They argue that it is essential to make policies on accurate & empirical evidence. By including better and safer alternatives and focusing on reducing smoking prevalence, they believe that the WHO can make progress towards its goal of reducing the global burden of tobacco related diseases and deaths.



About CAPHRA :



CAPHRA is an alliance of civil society groups particularly among Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates and their respective organizations in the Asia Pacific region. Comprised of adults who formerly smoked and now vape, their mission is to educate, advocate and represent the right of the at least fifteen million adult alternative nicotine consumers in the Asia Pacific region to access and use of products that reduce harm from tobacco use.



Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2198985/CAPHRA.jpg



(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR

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Colombo, Sep 1 (PTI) Sri Lanka has formally announced an end to the fuel rationing scheme imposed one year ago during the height of the unprecedented economic crisis, a senior minister said on Friday, hinting at an improvement in the island nation's economy.

Energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the QR-based fuel rationing system, imposed in August 2022, when Sri Lanka plunged into its worst economic crisis since 1948, would be discontinued from Friday.

Under the rationing system, registered consumers at filling stations were guaranteed a weekly quota.

Sri Lanka announced its first-ever sovereign default in April 2022 and faced its worst economic crisis in history due to a shortage of foreign exchange reserves.

The unprecedented forex shortages meant that the imports of fuel and essentials became harder, causing miles-long queues.

More than 20 people died from exhaustion at fuel queues when the rationing began.

The QR-coded rationing system came into effect in August last year.

It was priced to be an instant success, with queues disappearing with the demand dropping.

The authorities then blamed stockpiling as the reason for long queues leading to an unscrupulous black market.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka was then solely dependent on Indian supplies of fuel through an Indian credit line. The Indian credit lines for fuel and essential imports provided relief to the public protesting against the government for its mishandling of the nation's economy.

The forex crisis hampered the state oil entity Ceylon Petroleum Corporation's (CPC) ability to pay for oil imports.

The Lankan subsidiary of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was running continuous supplies as the pumps of the state fuel entity ran dry.

Since then, the Sri Lankan governments urgent reform measures in the power and energy sector saw the third player, Chinese Sinopec Oil, enter the retail market.

Sinopec coincidentally started its retail operations this week.

In March, the International Monetary Fund extended a nearly USD 3 billion bailout facility to debt-ridden Sri Lanka to help stabilise the country's economy after it was jolted by the devastating economic crisis last year.
Islamabad, Sep 1 (PTI) Claiming that there was a huge appetite for investment in Pakistan, Interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Friday said an estimated USD 60-70 billion foreign investment was expected in the country over the next three to five years.

The investment was expected under the governments new initiative of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a civil-military joint initiative launched by the previous government, Kakar told journalists.

There are also pledges and promises of additional investments the country can receive totalling nearly the same amount  we have to design and submit the diversified projects, he said, adding, There was a huge appetite for investment in Pakistan.

According to some estimates, he said, Pakistan has mines and minerals worth USD 5-6 trillion.

The reserves at Reko Diq in Balochistan alone have a worth of USD 700 billion, he said, adding, We are moving towards realizing this potential.

The caretaker prime minister said there was a plan to exploit the vast potential in the agriculture sector. He also talked about the potential in the IT sector and defence production.

Kakar said the SIFC has also developed a website where updated information is available about current joint ventures, as well as where the potential for future investments lies.

The initiative would help to realise the potential in areas such as mines and minerals, agriculture, Information Technology and defence production. We took the initiative of SIFC to realise this potential and we are going in the right direction as far as scientific methods and financial models are concerned, he said.

He highlighted that Pakistan had huge land that could be used for agricultural purposes and could serve half of the Asian population's food requirements. He rejected the impression that there was a shortage of water to irrigate the barren land across the country.

The core responsibility of the caretaker government was to facilitate elections across the country, he said and declared, But, the government would also try to improve the taxation mechanism and address other economic challenges.

Asserting that the economic migration was not a new phenomenon and that people were leaving the country for a better future, Kakar said, They would also contribute to Pakistans economy in future. Therefore, it should not be considered a brain drain.

He also said the government minutely looked into the problem of inflated electricity bills and would come up with a solution within the next 48 hours.

He pointed out that the power sector had been a very challenging issue since the 1990s and the governments of that time signed agreements with independent power producers to overcome load shedding, which proved costly for consumers.

He also made it clear that the government would fulfil its agreements with international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.

The PMs media interaction came as the foreign ministry held a session for the resident Diplomatic Missions in Islamabad on the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), according to the Foreign Office (FO).

Dr Jehanzeb Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Government Effectiveness, made a detailed presentation informing the diplomatic corps on the establishment and various aspects of the Council. He particularly highlighted investment opportunities in Pakistan in four key areas: IT, Agriculture, Energy and Mining.

The participating diplomatic missions were requested to brief and encourage their countries to profit from the promise of Pakistan being a resource-rich country, FO said.

It said that Pakistan recently constituted SIFC to serve as a One-Window platform to fast-track decision-making and promote as well as facilitate Foreign Direct Investment in the country.
New York, Sep 1 (PTI) Former US president Donald Trump has lavished praises on Indian-American presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy, calling him a "smart, young guy" days after he caught the attention of the American media following his maiden Republican presidential primary debate.

Trump made the remarks on Glenn Beck's show on Tuesday, after he was asked whether he's considering a "Vice President Ramaswamy".

"He could be some form of something, I'd tell you. I think he'd be very good. I think he's very good. I think he's really distinguished himself," Trump, the frontrunner among the Republican candidates vying for the 2024 presidential nomination, said.

Trump, 77, described 38-year-old Ramasawmay as being a "smart," "young guy" and a "very intelligent person" who has "a lot of talent" and "good energy."

He also advised him to be "a bit more careful" with what he says.

Ramaswamy has garnered attention after his maiden Republican presidential primary debate held on August 23.

Following the debate, The Wall Street Journal wrote that Ramaswamy is not a nobody anymore and that the other candidates have taken notice of him.

"The 38-year-old outsider who started the race polling at 0 per cent has moved up in polls for his unconventional ideas. Several of the candidates took a shot at him, it had said.

The entrepreneur-turned-politician is one of the wealthiest Americans under the age of 40.

He studied biology at Harvard before obtaining a law degree from Yale and was briefly a billionaire before a downturn in the stock market shrunk his wealth to just over USD 950 million, according to Forbes.

Trump, who is running for the presidential election scheduled for November 5, 2024, will be contesting against two other Indian-American GOP candidates apart from Ramaswamy.

Hirsh Vardhan Singh, an Indian-American engineer and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley are the Republican candidates vying to become US President in 2024.
Washington, Sep 1 (AP) In response to North Korea's failed launch of a spy satellite last week, the US on Thursday imposed sanctions on two men and a Moscow-registered firm accused of supporting North Korea's ballistic missile programme.

The action was taken a day after the White House said it had new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea to supply more munitions for the war in Ukraine.

Treasury sanctioned Russia-based Jon Jin Yong and Sergei Kozlov, who it said worked together to coordinate the use of North Korean construction workers in Russia. It said they directly supported or helped generate revenue for North Korean organisations linked to the the development of weapons of mass destruction, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

The US said Jon led a team of North Korean IT workers in Russia and worked with Russians to procure identification for the workers. Some of the identity documents were from family members or Russian employees of Kozlov, Treasury said.

Treasury also sanctioned Moscow-registered firm Intellekt LLC, described as being owned or controlled by Kozlov and connected with a Moscow-based construction project coordinated by Jon.

The latest sanctions action was taken in coordination with the South Korean and Japanese governments.

Brian E. Nelson, Treasury's undersecretary of terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement that the US will continue to coordinate closely with both countries to combat North Korea's unlawful and destructive activities.

The Biden administration has said Russia has increasingly turned to North Korea and Iran for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine. In March, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Russia was offering North Korea food in exchange for munitions.

North Korea has failed twice in recent months to launch a spy satellite into orbit. The nation's National Aerospace Development Administration said it would make a third attempt in October.

UN Security Council resolutions ban any launches by North Korea using ballistic technologies. (AP) SMN

SMN
Lahore, Sep 1 (PTI) A Pakistani court on Friday ordered the immediate release of the president of former prime minister Imran Khans party, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, from the custody of the anti-graft agency in a corruption case, and warned it against arresting the former Punjab chief minister in any other case, according to media reports.

Justice Amjad Rafiq of the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered the release of the President of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) failed to produce Elahi in the court on one pretext or another despite strong orders issued by the Court, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

"The LHC has ordered authorities to immediately release former Punjab chief minister Pervez Elahi," the report said.

Expressing displeasure over the NAB and the Punjab provincial government's conduct, Justice Rafiq remarked that the high court is being undermined.

"Stop playing ping-pong with the court," he said in the order and instructed an inquiry to be conducted into his arrest in violation of court orders.

Elahi, 77, is among several PTI leaders and workers who have been arrested amid the states crackdown on the PTI leadership following the May 9 riots during protests over party chief Khan being whisked away by paramilitary personnel at the Islamabad High Court premises.

He was first arrested on June 1 but was deprived of his freedom repeatedly and dragged in on several graft cases.

The PTI presidents most recent arrest, by the NAB on August 14, was in a case of allegedly receiving bribes/kickbacks in exchange for getting the contracts of road schemes of Gujrat Highways Division awarded to favourite/hand-picked contractors. His custody was extended till September 2.

During the proceedings on Friday, Additional Advocate General Ghulam Sarwar Nihung initiated his argument by stating that they could not obtain the court order passed to present Elahi in the court and then read a letter from the provincial caretaker government, wherein the court was informed that the armed forces and the Punjab Police were busy with anti-terrorism operations.

He further said that armoured vehicles are also not available and added that the CTD had reported that there are threats to the lives of the politicians, including Elahi's.

Following the court's order, Elahi was released from the custody of NAB.

Talking to reporters after his release on Friday, Elahi held the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) responsible for the current state of the economy.

All of them have run off to London after ruining the economy, he was quoted as saying in a report by the Dawn news website

They have kept me inside, I dont even know what is happening in the country, the PTI president added.
This photo taken on Aug. 31, 2023 shows a view of Shougang Park in Beijing, capital of China. The China International Fair for Trade in Services 2023 (2023 CIFTIS) is scheduled to take place in Beijing from Sept. 2 to 6. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

These developments in the Chinese economy and their reflections on international trade suggest that the world will get more high-value trade in the coming years, he said.

ISTANBUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will provide a solid platform to introduce some innovative projects to boost high-quality international trade, a Turkish scholar has said.

Selcuk Colakoglu, director of the Ankara-based Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, told Xinhua recently that the CIFTIS would help shape the future of several industries, including carbon neutrality, artificial intelligence (AI), and the metaverse.

"For sustainable development, green development has become very important, so the fair also focuses on green development for creating zero carbon emissions for productions in particular," Colakoglu said. "In that regard, the fair's main agenda on green development is also important to create more sustainable development in the global economy in general."

This photo taken on Aug. 31, 2023 shows a view of Shougang Park in Beijing, capital of China. The China International Fair for Trade in Services 2023 (2023 CIFTIS) is scheduled to take place in Beijing from Sept. 2 to 6. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

The CIFTIS is also expected to focus on new developments in AI and the metaverse and their integration into different sectors, Colakoglu said.

AI has become a major topic of economic activities as it has created many new creative fields for production or trade with increasing popularity, he said, adding that AI is a very timely focus of the fair in terms of the rising trend in the global economy.

The expert also said that China has made tremendous contributions to the post-pandemic recovery of the global economy and its development.

"Particularly, China has also been transforming to achieve a more high-tech capacity, more value-added capacity production, and trade," he said.

"China is giving more importance in recent years to get more high-quality development focusing more on high-tech industries, green development, and more AI-related production," Colakoglu said.

Volunteers attend a training session for the China International Fair for Trade in Services 2023 at Shougang Park in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2023. The China International Fair for Trade in Services 2023 (2023 CIFTIS) is scheduled to take place in Beijing from Sept. 2 to 6. (Xinhua/Chen Shuo)

These developments in the Chinese economy and their reflections on international trade suggest that the world will get more high-value trade in the coming years, he said.

This year, the CIFTIS, one of the world's largest and most comprehensive fairs for trade in services, is scheduled to take place in Beijing from Sept. 2 to 6.

With the theme "Openness leads development, cooperation creates a win-win future," the CIFTIS 2023 is expected to host 202 diverse events, including forums, negotiations, and summits.
Stockholm, Sep 1 (AP) The United States House Foreign Affairs chair said Friday that a partnership of the Russian and Chinese leaders worried him, adding, We have never seen a threat this large-scale to Europe and the Pacific, I would argue, since World War II.

The alliance of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin "provides a very big challenges I think for the free world in this great power competition that we find ourselves in," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, during a visit to Sweden.

Earlier in the year, the Biden administration warned Xi's government of unspecified consequences if it supports the Kremlin's war effort in Ukraine. A United States intelligence report said Beijing possibly provided equipment used in Ukraine that might have military applications.

The report cited Russian customs data that showed Chinese state-owned military contractors supplied navigation equipment, fighter jet parts, drones and other goods, but didn't say whether that might trigger U.S. retaliation.

China has stepped up purchases of Russian oil and gas, which helps Putin's government offset lost sales after the United States, Europe and Japan cut off most purchases of Russian energy. Beijing can do that without triggering Western sanctions on its own companies, but Washington and its allies are frustrated that it undercuts economic pressure on Moscow.

China rejects Western trade and financial sanctions on Russia because they weren't authorized by the United Nations Security Council, where Beijing and Moscow have veto power. However, China has appeared to avoid directly defying those sanctions.

McCaul, who was part of a U.S. Congressional Delegation visiting Sweden and met with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, said he expects the Nordic country to join NATO by October.

Long-neutral Sweden applied for NATO membership together with neighbouring Finland in 2022. New entries must be approved by all existing members, and as NATO leaders met for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sweden was missing the green light from two: Turkey and Hungary.

Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with Russia  more than doubling the size of NATO's border with Russia  became the 31st member of the world's biggest military alliance in April. But it wasn't until a NATO summit in July that Turkey's president agreed to send the accession documents to the Turkish Parliament for approval, something he had refused to do for more than a year.

By having Finland and Sweden in NATO, I think it's been will achieve the exact opposite effect that Mr. Putin wanted to achieve, and that was to weaken and divide NATO, McCaul said. With the two Nordic neighbours in NATO, the alliance has never been stronger and more united.

The visiting U.S. Congressional Delegation also included Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.; Ann Wagner, R-Mo.; Gerry Connolly, D-Va.; Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.; Thomas Kean, R-N.J.; and Bill Huizenga, R-Mich. After Stockholm they were to travel to the Netherlands for bilateral meetings with Dutch government officials and members of parliament, among others.

The delegation's Europe visit aimed to bolster ties with U.S. strategic allies and to discuss support for NATO; ways to further support Ukraine  the Netherlands and Denmark have said they will donate fighter jets  and ways to hold Russia accountable for its crimes against the people of Ukraine; and how to confront shared threats from China. (AP)



MRJ

MRJ
Peshawar, Sep 1 (PTI) A suicide attack by the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on a security forces convoy has killed nine soldiers and injured five others in Pakistan's restive northwest, the military said.

A bike-ridden bomber hit the convoy on Thursday in the Bannu district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Inter-Services Public Relations, the military's media wing, said.

The bomber rammed his bike into a vehicle in the convoy, killing nine soldiers and injuring five others, the statement said.

The banned TTP has accepted responsibility for the attack.

Following the incident, law enforcers rushed to the blast site and cordoned off the entire area. A massive search operation was launched to arrest the perpetrators of the blast, it said.

Taking to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar condemned the attack. He called such acts utterly reprehensible and said his thoughts were with the families of those killed and injured.

Recently, Pakistan has been hit by a wave of terrorist activities orchestrated by the outlawed terror outfit.

The TTP was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007.

Last month, two policemen were killed and as many injured when TTP militants attacked a police checkpoint in the country's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

On January 30, a Pakistan Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up during the afternoon prayers in a mosque in Peshawar, killing 101 people and injuring more than 200 others.

In February, TTP militants stormed the Karachi Police chief's office in Pakistan's most populous city, sparking gunfire that killed three rebels and four others, including two police constables.

The outfit, which is believed to be close to Al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

The TTP also orchestrated the heinous Army Public School attack in Peshawar in 2014, in which over 130 students were killed.
Raipur, Sep 1 (PTI) Ten men including the son of a local BJP leader were arrested on Friday for allegedly raping two sisters in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district, police said.

The incident took place on Thursday night near Bhansoj village when the sisters, accompanied by a man, were returning after celebrating Rakshabandhan festival, said Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prashant Agrawal.

The survivors, aged 19 years and 16 years, lodged a complaint at Mandir Hasaud police station around 1 am on Friday, following which the police swung into action and nabbed the accused, he said.

The survivors were returning to Raipur from Tumgaon village with a male friend on a motorcycle when three of the accused intercepted them near Bhansoj.



The trio allegedly robbed them of cash and mobile phones. The other seven accused reached the spot on four motorcycles in the meantime, as per the complaint.



The accused took the two sisters to an isolated place away from the main road and allegedly raped them.They also thrashed the man accompanying them, the SSP said.



Multiple police teams were constituted, and as per the description of the accused provided by the victims and other information, all ten accused were identified and arrested by morning, Agrawal said.



The accused were booked under sections 376 D (gang rape), 376 DA (gang rape on woman under sixteen years of age) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the official said, adding that further investigation was underway.

Of the arrested men, Poonam Thakur, who is a habitual offender, is the main accused in the case. Five cases were registered against him at Mandir Hasaud and Arang police stations in the past. He was arrested in 2019 and 2022 on the charges of murder and rape, respectively. He had got bail only last month, the SSP said.



According to police, Thakur's father Laxminarayan Singh Thakur is a local BJP functionary based in Mandir Hasaud.
Jalna, Sep 1 (PTI) A protest for Maratha reservation in Jalna district of central Maharashtra turned violent on Friday leading to dozens of persons including police personnel getting injured, officials said.

Police used baton-charge and fired teargas shells to disperse a violent mob at Antarwali Sarathi village on Dhule-Solapur road in Ambad tehsil. Villagers also claimed that police fired some rounds in the air, but officials did not confirm it.

The protesters, led by Manoj Jarange, had been staging a hunger strike demanding reservation for the Maratha community at the village since Tuesday.

The reservation provided by the state government for the politically dominant Maratha community was quashed by the Supreme Court earlier.

The agitation turned violent on Friday as some persons targeted state transport buses and private vehicles, police said.

At least 18 police personnel and officials including deputy superintendent of police Sachin Sangle were injured in stone pelting while 20 protesters were injured in baton-charge at Antarwali Sarathi, police sources said.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had spoken to the protesters on Wednesday, urging them to end the hunger strike, but they refused to relent, officials said.

On Thursday, shops and other commercial establishments at Wadigodri village in Ambad tehsil had remained closed, while there was a massive protest gathering at Shahgadh earlier in the week.

Additional police forces has been sent to Jalna, officials said.
Mumbai, Sep 1 (PTI) Opposition alliance INDIA on Friday passed a resolution hailing ISRO's successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 mission, and asserted that it took six decades to build, expand and deepen the space agency's capacities and capabilities.

It also hoped that its extraordinary accomplishments will strengthen the spirit of scientific temper in society and give youth the inspiration to excel in science.

The resolution adopted by the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) on ISRO's successful Chandrayaan-3 mission said the world is looking eagerly to the launch of Aditya-L1 mission on Saturday.

"We, the INDIA parties congratulate the entire ISRO family - present and past for its outstanding achievements which have made our country proud. It has taken six decades to build, expand and deepen ISRO's capacities and capabilities," the resolution said.

It said the Chandrayaan-3 has thrilled the world, which is looking eagerly to the launch of Aditya-L1 on Saturday.

Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed for providing remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the earth.

It will be the first dedicated Indian space mission for observations of the Sun to be launched by the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency.

"We hope that the extraordinary accomplishments of ISRO strengthen the spirit of scientific temper in our society and give our youth the inspiration to excel in fields of scientific endeavour," the resolution adopted by INDIA bloc said.

Leaders of several opposition parties have gathered here and are deliberating on their strategy to take on the NDA in 2024 Lok Sabha elections amid speculation of early polls and formation of a panel to explore possibility of "one nation, one election".
New Delhi, Sept 1 (PTI) Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Friday alleged that the Delhi governments finance department held up a proposal for his visit to Ghana to attend a conference.

The Delhi Assembly Speaker alleged that the department is holding a proposal for his visit to Ghana to attend the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, saying approval of the LG was required for it.

Goel also alleged in a press conference at the Delhi Assembly that the officers of the services department summoned Vidhan Sabha section officers and "threatened" them to seek confidential information.

He has also written to LG VK Saxena seeking disciplinary action against officers concerned for alleged "misuse" of their power and seeking confidential information about a probe of the OBC welfare committee of the Assembly into a complaint against special secretary vigilance.
Chandigarh, Sep 1 (PTI) As many as 23 students of Punjab government schools Friday took a flight from here to Sriharikota to attend ISRO's Aditya L1 launch event.

As India aims for the Sun on Saturday with its maiden solar expedition, ISRO's PSLV C57 will carry the Aditya L1 mission on a 125-day voyage to the Sun. The 23.10 hour countdown for the launch commenced at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Friday, ISRO said.

Students of Punjab government schools took a flight from here on Friday to witness the launch event.

Punjab School Education minister Harjot Singh Bains said on Friday that the state government will bear all the expenses of the students visiting Sriharikota in Andhra

Bains said this step was aimed at raising the interest of governemnt school students in science.

Earlier, two batches of students went to Sriharikota during the launch of Chandrayaan 3 and PSLV-C56.

About the solar expedition, ISRO Chairman S Somanath has said the Sun mission will take 125 days to reach the exact radius.

Aditya L1 is designed for providing remote observations of the solar corona and conduct in-situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth.
Westerly, RI (02891)

Today

Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 39F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 39F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday extended congratulations to faculty, students, and alumni of National University of Defense Technology as the university marks its 70th anniversary.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent a congratulatory letter to the university. 




As former President Donald Trump dominates the Republican presidential primary, some liberal groups and legal experts contend that a rarely used clause of the Constitution prevents him from being president after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The 14th Amendment bars from office anyone who once took an oath to uphold the Constitution but then engaged in insurrection or rebellion against it. A growing number of legal scholars say the post-Civil War clause applies to Trump after his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and encouraging his backers to storm the U.S. Capitol.

Two liberal nonprofits pledge court challenges should states election officers place Trump on the ballot despite those objections.

The effort is likely to trigger a chain of lawsuits and appeals across several states that ultimately would lead to the U.S. Supreme Court, possibly in the midst of the 2024 primary season. The matter adds even more potential legal chaos to a nomination process already roiled by the front-runner facing four criminal trials.

Now Trumps very ability to run could be litigated as Republicans are scheduled to start choosing their nominee, starting with the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15.

Theres a very real prospect these cases will be active during the primaries, said Gerard Magliocca, a law professor at Indiana University, warning that there could be different outcomes in different states before the Supreme Court makes a final decision. Imagine you have an opinion that says hes not eligible and then theres another primary where hes on the ballot.

Though most litigation is unlikely to begin until October, when states begin to set their ballots for the upcoming primary, the issue has gotten a boost from a recently released law review article written by two prominent conservative law professors, William Baude and Michael Paulsen. They concluded that Trump must be barred from the ballot due to the clause in the third section of the 14th Amendment.

That section bars anyone from Congress, the military, and federal and state offices if they previously took an oath to support the Constitution and have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

In their article, scheduled to be published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Baude and Paulsen said they believe the meaning is clear.

Taking Section Three seriously means excluding from present or future office those who sought to subvert lawful government authority under the Constitution in the aftermath of the 2020 election, they write.

The issue came up during last weeks Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, when former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson warned that this is something that could disqualify him under our rules and under the Constitution.

In 2021, the nonprofit Free Speech For People sent letters to the top election official in all 50 states requesting Trumps removal if he were to run again for the presidency. The groups legal director, Ron Fein, noted that after years of silence, officials are beginning to discuss the matter.

The framers of the 14th Amendment learned the bloody lesson that, once an oath-breaking insurrectionist engages in insurrection, they cant be trusted to return to power, Fein said.

Ahead of the 2022 midterms, the group sued to remove U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene and then-Rep. Madison Cawthorn, both Republicans, from the ballot over their support for the Jan. 6 protest. The judge overseeing Greenes case ruled in her favor, while Cawthorns case became moot after he was defeated in his primary.

The complex legal issues were highlighted on Wednesday when the Arizona Republic reported that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said his hands are tied because of a ruling by that states high court that only Congress can disqualify someone on Arizonas presidential ballot. Fontes, a Democrat, called the ruling dead, flat wrong in an interview with the Republic but said he would abide by it.

If Trump appears on the Arizona ballot, those who believe hes not qualified can still sue in federal court to remove him.

Other secretaries of state are warily navigating the legal minefield.

In a radio interview earlier this week, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said there are valid legal arguments being made for keeping Trump off the ballot and that its something she is discussing with other secretaries of state, including those in presidential battlegrounds.

Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state in Georgia who withstood pressure from Trump when he sought to overturn the 2020 results in the state, suggested the issue should be up to voters.

As Georgias Secretary of State, I have been clear that voters are smart and deserve the right to decide elections, he said in an emailed statement.

Trump argues that any effort to prevent him from appearing on a states ballot amounts to election interference  the same way he is characterizing the criminal charges filed against him in New York and Atlanta and by federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and Florida.

And I think whats happening is theres really been a backlash against it, Trump told the conservative channel Newsmax.

Indeed, the New Hampshire secretary of states office was flooded with messages about the issue on Monday, said Anna Sventek, a spokeswoman. Earlier in the day, a conservative personality had falsely claimed the state was about to strike Trump from the ballot.

On Wednesday, a long-shot Republican presidential candidate, John Anthony Castro, of Texas, filed a complaint in a New Hampshire court contending the 14th Amendment barred Trump from that states ballot.

The eventual, bigger court challenges are expected to draw greater legal fire power. But Michael McConnell, a conservative law professor at Stanford University who is not a Trump supporter, said the case is no slam dunk.

McConnell questions whether the provision even applies to the presidency because it is not one of the offices specifically listed in the 14th Amendment  which instead refers to elector of president and vice president. He also said its unclear whether the Jan. 6 attack constitutes an insurrection under the law or simply a less legally fraught incident such as a riot.

But McConnell also worries about the political precedent if Trump is ultimately removed from any state ballot.

Its not just about Trump. Every election where someone says something supportive of a riot that interferes with the enforcement of laws, their opponents are going to run in and try to get them disqualified, he said.

Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment helped ensure civil rights for freed slaves  and eventually for all people in the U.S.  but also was used to prevent former Confederate officials from becoming members of Congress and taking over the government they had just rebelled against.

The clause allows Congress to lift the ban, which it did in 1872 as the political will to continue to bar former Confederates dwindled. The provision was almost never used after that. In 1919, Congress refused to seat a socialist in Congress, contending he gave aid and comfort to the countrys enemies during World War I. Last year, in the provisions first use since then, a New Mexico judge barred a rural county commissioner who had entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 from office under the clause.

If any state bars Trump from running, his reelection campaign is expected to sue, possibly taking the case directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. If no state bans him, Free Speech For People and another nonprofit, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, would likely challenge his presence on the ballot.

Its critical that the high court settle the issue before the general election, said Edward Foley, a law professor at The Ohio State University. His fear is that if Trumps qualifications are not resolved and he wins, Democrats could try to block his ascension to the White House on Jan. 6, 2025, triggering another democratic crisis.

Those pushing to invoke the amendment agree and say they think the case is clear.

This isnt a punishment. Its like saying a president needs to be 35 years old and a natural born citizen, said Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. You also need not to have helped organize an uprising against the government.

(AP)




Grant Shapps, one of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks staunchest Cabinet allies, was named U.K. defense secretary on Thursday as Sunak began a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of a general election that is expected to take place next year.

The move came after Ben Wallace formally submitted his resignation earlier in the day, honoring a promise made last month. Wallace was defense secretary for four years, overseeing Britains military response to the war in Ukraine.

Shapps, who supported Sunak during his campaign to become Conservative Party leader and prime minister last year, has been a Cabinet member since 2019, most recently serving as secretary of state for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

Wallace used his resignation letter to press for increased funding for the military, long his primary issue.

I genuinely believe that over the next decade the world will get more insecure and more unstable, Wallace wrote in his letter to Sunak. We both share the belief that now is the time to invest. Ever since I joined the army, I have dedicated myself to serving my country. That dedication, however, comes at a personal toll to me and my family.

Shapps is known as a gifted communicator, a key attribute ahead of what is likely to be a bruising general election campaign. But he has no experience in the fraught and complicated world of defense, which the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has complicated.

As I get to work at @DefenceHQ I am looking forward to working with the brave men and women of our Armed Forces who defend our nations security,  Shapps said, adding he would continue the UKs support for Ukraine in their fight against (Vladimir) Putins barbaric invasion.

Shapps visited Kyiv last week, visiting a power plant undergoing repairs following a Russian bombing.

The visit was billed as part of government actions to back supplies of fuel for Ukraines nuclear power plants. Shapps pledged a 192 million pound ($243 million) loan guarantee to help power Ukraine through the winter and to end its reliance on Russian supplies.

Replacing Shapps as energy secretary is Claire Coutinho, who was elected to Parliament in 2019 and most recently served as minister for children, families and well-being. A low-profile figure, Coutinho is also considered a staunch Sunak loyalist.

The energy post is seen as a critical job since escalating fuel and utility costs arising from the war in Ukraine has aggravated a cost of living crisis that is causing the suffering of many.

The new energy secretarys inbox is already groaning under the weight of vital decisions which need to be made to reform Britains broken energy system, Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said. Energy bills remain at record levels with every unit of energy costing double what it did in winter 2020/21, with daily standing charges also increasing and customers in record levels of energy debt.

(AP)




The Biden administration has approved the first-ever U.S. military transfer to Taiwan under a program generally reserved for assistance to sovereign, independent states.

The State Department notified Congress of the sale on Wednesday. It said the material would be used to strengthen Taiwans self-defense capabilities through joint and combined defense capability and enhanced maritime domain awareness and maritime security capability.

The package is modest  only $80 million of what Congress had set aside as a potential $2 billion  but the implications of using the so-called Foreign Military Financing program to provide it infuriated China.

Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of force to reunite it with the mainland and vociferously protests all U.S. arms sales to the self-governing island.

Chinas foreign ministry immediately lashed out at the move, calling it a violation of U.S. commitments under its one-China policy and a number of subsequent agreements in which Washington pledged not to support Taiwanese independence.

This severely violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing on Thursday. China deplores and firmly opposes it.

Previous arms sales to Taiwan have been approved under other authorities that do not necessarily imply statehood. U.S. officials were quick to say that the provision of FMF funding to Taiwan did not represent a change in policy.

In explaining the change, two U.S. officials said: The United States has provided Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Taiwan for years. FMF simply enables eligible partner nations to purchase U.S. defense articles, services, and training through either FMS or, for a limited number of countries, through the foreign military financing of direct commercial contracts (FMF/DCC) program. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

But the language used implied that Taiwan is or could be compared to a nation or a country  something China has fervently opposed, blocking Taiwans full membership in any number of U.N. and other international organizations unless it is identified as part of China.

The only other time the U.S. has provided a non-nation-state with military assistance under FMF was to the African Union, an organization of sovereign states based in Ethiopia, according to American officials.

The notification, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, did not specify what military equipment or systems would be paid for under FMF, which commits U.S. taxpayer dollars to pay for the supply of materiel to foreign countries.

But it said items that could be covered would include: air and coastal defense systems, armored vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles, drones, ballistic missile and cyber defenses, and advanced communications equipment. It added that protective gear, an array of small, medium and heavy weapons systems, ammunition, armored and infantry fighting vehicles could also be included.

In addition to equipment, FMF may also be used to support training for Taiwanese military forces.

The move drew strong bipartisan support from U.S. lawmakers in both the House and Senate.

In the face of increasingly aggressive Peoples Republic of China military actions in the (Taiwan) Strait, the United States must move quickly to provide support for Taiwans defense, said Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also welcomed the FMF being provided to Taiwan.

These weapons will not only help Taiwan and protect other democracies in the region, but also strengthen the U.S. deterrence posture and ensure our national security from an increasingly aggressive CCP, he said in a statement, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

(AP)




Democratic Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday activated up to 250 members of the Massachusetts National Guard to assist at shelters and hotels as the state struggles with a flood of migrants.

The move comes after the governor declared a state of emergency several weeks ago because of the strain on the shelter system.

Massachusetts is in a state of emergency, and we need all hands-on deck to meet this moment and ensure families have access to safe shelter and basic services, Healy said in a statement.

There are currently about 6,000 families, including pregnant women and children, in emergency shelters in Massachusetts.

The National Guard will help the state ensure that emergency needs including food, transportation, medical care and education are met at the states shelters while the state seeks a permanent solution.

Last week, Healy and her team met with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to discuss the growing number of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts and to make a plea for expedited work authorizations to allow the newcomers to work. The city of Boston recently received a $1.9 million grant from Federal Emergency Management Agency to help migrants with shelter and transportation.

All told, there are more than 20,000 people, many of them migrants, in state shelters. Many of the migrants are arriving by plane from other states, and the timing coincides with a housing crunch.

(AP)




Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday offered his strongest denunciation to date of efforts by his fellow Republicans to go after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, dismissing the moves as political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment.

Some Republicans in Washington and Georgia have been attacking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis since even before she announced the indictment of former President Donald Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Kemp said that any calls for a special session to impeach Willis or defund her office were wrong and that she had done nothing to merit removal.

A special session, the second-term governor said, would ignore current Georgia law and directly interfere with the proceedings of a separate but equal branch of government.

The bottom line is that in the state of Georgia, as long as Im governor, were going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms politically, a clearly agitated Kemp said at a news conference in the states capital.

In Georgia, we will not be engaging in political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment, Kemp added.

The remarks are a reflection of the divide that remains between Kemp and some other Republicans following the governors refusal to endorse Trumps false claims about the 2020 election and help him try to overturn his narrow loss in the state. Willis has charged Trump and 18 others, including the former state Republican Party chair, with crimes related to the effort.

Trump, meanwhile, has kept up a withering assault on both Willis and Kemp.

Governor Kemp of Georgia is fighting hard against the impeachment of the crooked, incompetent & highly partisan D.A. of Fulton County, Fani Willis, who has allowed murder and other violent crime to MASSIVELY ESCALATE, the former president wrote Aug. 21 on his Truth Social platform. Crime in Atlanta is WORST IN NATION. She should be impeached for many reasons, not just the Witch Hunt (I did nothing wrong!)

Theres little evidence to support Trumps claim that crime is escalating  the number of homicides has fallen sharply in Atlanta this year.

Other Georgia Republicans didnt hesitate to assail Willis, with some joining Trump in the call to impeach the Atlanta-based prosecutor.

Fani Willis should be ashamed of herself and shes going to lose her job, said Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Well make sure of that.

Greene spoke to reporters last Thursday outside the Fulton County Jail, shortly before Trump arrived by motorcade to submit to booking and a mug shot. That same day, House Republicans in Washington announced their own investigation of Willis.

By then, a few GOP lawmakers in Georgia were calling for a special session to impeach and remove Willis or defund her office. Others proposed amending the state constitution to let Kemp pardon Trump.

Both are long-shot prospects.

Georgias General Assembly hasnt impeached anyone in more than 50 years, and with Republicans holding less than the required two-thirds state Senate majority to convict Willis, they would have to persuade Democrats.

Colton Moore, a Republican state senator whose purist brand of conservatism wins him few allies, launched a petition for lawmakers to call themselves into special session, requiring signatures by three-fifths of both houses. That too would require some Democratic support. Kemp on Thursday described Moores efforts, backed by Trump, as some grifter scam to raise campaign contributions for Moore.

Georgia voters amended the state constitution to shift pardon power from the governor to a parole board in the 1940s after a governor was accused of selling pardons. It would take a two-thirds vote of both houses to put a measure before voters to change that status, again requiring Democratic support.

And its not clear Kemp would pardon Trump even if he had that power. Kemp and Trump were on bad terms even before Kemp spurned Trumps calls to overturn Georgias 2020 presidential election. And relations grew icier after Trump recruited former Sen. David Perdue for an embarrassingly unsuccessful Republican primary challenge to Kemps reelection in 2022. Kemp, like some other Republican governors, now openly argues that his party needs to move on from Trump.

At least one other top Georgia Republican, state House Speaker Jon Burns, is siding with Kemp in opposing a special session. In a letter Wednesday to fellow Republicans, he squelched talk of a special session for a second time, saying its impossible to take away the state money that partially funds Willis office without also taking away money from Georgias other 49 district attorneys.

Targeting one specific DA in this manner certainly flaunts the idea of separation of powers, if not outright violates it, Burns wrote, arguing that such a move would violate lawmakers oaths to uphold the U.S. and Georgia constitutions.

We trust that our criminal justice system will deal with this matter impartially and fairly, and we will not improperly intercede in this matter in direct contradiction to the oaths we took, Burns continued.

Looking for other options to go after Willis, some Georgia Republicans are coalescing around a plan to seek her removal by a new state prosecutorial oversight commission that begins work on Oct. 1.

The Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission was created with the aim of disciplining or removing wayward prosecutors. Republicans fought hard for the law because they said some Democratic prosecutors were incompetent or coddling criminals, improperly refusing to prosecute whole categories of crimes, including marijuana possession.

Democrats retorted that Republicans were the ones politicizing prosecutions, and some viewed the law as Republican retribution against Willis. She criticized the measure as a racist attack after voters elected 14 nonwhite DAs in the state.

Kemp, Burns and Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones name the commissions five-member investigative panel to examine complaints. They also name a three-member hearing panel that decides on charges filed by the investigative panel.

Some district attorneys, not including Willis, are already suing to overturn the law. Barring court intervention, people can begin filing complaints on Oct. 1 for alleged misconduct occurring after July 1.

Such complaints could relieve political pressure on Georgia Republicans. But while Kemp said he thought the timing of the Trump indictment  coming as the 2024 presidential campaign is underway  sows distrust and provides easy pickings for those who see the district attorneys action as guided by politics, he didnt believe Willis should be removed.

I have not seen any evidence that DA Willis actions or lack thereof warrant action by the prosecuting attorney oversight commission, Kemp said. But that will ultimately be a decision that the commission will make.

(AP)




More than 50 years after a Vietnam War-era bombing on the University of Wisconsin campus that killed a researcher, the FBI on Thursday released age-processed photographs of a suspect who has thus far evaded law enforcement and been referred to as Wisconsins state ghost.

Leo Burt was placed on the FBIs most wanted list immediately after the 1970 bombing of Sterling Hall and remains the last fugitive sought by the FBI in connection with radical anti-Vietnam War activities.

The bombers parked a stolen van packed with fertilizer and fuel outside the universitys Army Math Research Center in Sterling Hall and lit the fuse in the early morning hours of Aug. 24, 1970. The bomb attack, which was the nations most powerful until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, killed 33-year-old graduate student Robert Fassnacht, who was doing research in the middle of the night. It also injured other people and caused millions of dollars in damage. The bombers fled to Canada.

Three of the four wanted men were captured in the 1970s after trying to live underground. They were convicted, served short prison terms and resumed their lives.

Burt, who grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, came to Wisconsin on an ROTC scholarship and joined the rowing team, vanished. One former prosecutor called him Wisconsins state ghost.

The FBI received tips and alleged sightings from all over the world for decades, often spiking around anniversaries of the bombing. Some theorize that Burt is dead, while others compare him to D.B. Cooper, the hijacker who disappeared after parachuting out of an airliner with $200,000. There was even a theory in the 1990s, proven untrue with Theodore Kaczynskis arrest, that he may have been the Unabomber.

The FBI continues to offer $150,000 for information leading to Burts arrest.

The FBIs Milwaukee field office on Thursday released the photos that envision Burt as a 75-year-old man. The photo was done in conjunction with the 53rd anniversary of the bombing, which was last week, said FBI spokesperson Leonard Peace.

In his photo from 1970, Burt is wearing glasses and has a full head of dark, curly hair. In the new age-processed depiction, he is mostly bald and shown with and without glasses.

Madison attorney Lester Pines, 73, was a UW student at the time of the bombing. As a young attorney in 1975 he was part of a team that defended one of the bombers.

If the FBI is correct, Leo Burts visage has changed much worse than mine has, Pines said in reaction to the updated photo simulation. I guess that Leo has not taken good care of himself, if hes even still alive.

(AP)




Never Back Down, the Super PAC supporting the presidential bid of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has dropped its door-knocking operations in several crucial primary states as both the DeSantis campaign and the PAC grapple with financial constraints and the persistent dominance of former President Donald Trump in polling data.

The Super PACs representatives confirmed that they have halted their door-to-door canvassing efforts in Nevada, California, North Carolina, and Texas. These states hold immense importance due to their sizable delegate counts, with Nevada poised as the third state on the GOP calendar, and all four playing a significant role in the Super Tuesday contests scheduled for March 5, 2024.

The retreat from these critical states marks a notable setback for the DeSantis campaign, which has weathered a challenging summer. The governors stance on the so-called war on woke has drawn criticism from donors and failed to divert Republican primary voters from the allure of Trump. The campaigns response included a substantial reduction in staff, including the replacement of the campaign manager, further compounded by consistent critiques and ridicule aimed at DeSantis personality.

Numerous reports have surfaced highlighting extravagant spending, including private jet travel, adding to the perception of an overly expensive and unwieldy campaign effort. Additionally, a leaked Super PAC memo aimed at advising DeSantis on debate strategies cast further doubt on the overall efficiency of the operation. This marks a stark contrast to the initial positive press the PAC had garnered, where reporters were invited to observe the door-knocking training conducted earlier this year in Iowa, featuring hundreds of canvassers as part of a lofty $100 million, multi-state initiative aimed at narrowing Trumps lead.

As the DeSantis campaign grappled with financial turmoil and a shrinking team, the Super PAC took on a controversial role by providing event planning and transportation services for the candidate himself. This move, however, sparked ethical concerns and drew criticism from ethics watchdogs, as federal regulations prohibit coordination between candidates and PACs. Beyond the ethical concerns, it significantly drained the PACs resources, leaving limited funds for on-ground mobilization efforts.

According to reports, the PACs peak workforce numbered over 250 field staffers across the aforementioned states. Some of these personnel will now be redirected to states like Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina, where the DeSantis campaign seeks to regain its footing.

In response to the withdrawal from the four key states, Erin Perrine, a spokesperson for the Super PAC, framed the decision as a strategic reinvestment in the early primary states. She emphasized the campaigns commitment to the first three primary statesnamely Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshireas they are poised to set the tone for the subsequent contests. Polling averages from Real Clear Politics indicate a substantial lead for Trump in these states, with DeSantis trailing by significant margins.

Despite the setback, the PACs Chief Operating Officer, Kristin Davison, remained optimistic about future efforts in the Super Tuesday states, assuring that the group would resume its activities closer to the primary dates in March.

Well re-engage with the March primary states as we approach the New Year, stated Davison. Our plan is to gradually rebuild efforts in those regions.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




Florida Governor Ron DeSantis emerged as the victor over former President Donald Trump in a straw poll organized by the Young Republicans, causing a meltdown in MAGA world.

The Young Republicans National Convention, held in Dallas, saw active participation from members across the nation. At the end of the event, the organization shared the results of a poll taken of attendees.

Straw Poll Results Are In! YRs across the country participated in a straw poll at YRNC Dallas. And its clear that YRs are divided between two contenders. Ron DeSantis comes in with 36.6% of the support, closely followed by Donald Trump at 35.4%.

The tweet triggered an immediate and foaming-at-the-mouth backlash from the MAGA movement. Laura Loomer, a borderline insane and prominent Trump supporter, denounced the Young Republicans choice of DeSantis.

Future uniparty shills coming out strong for a failed candidate who was just rejected by his own PAC today for being too much of a rookie, Loomer wrote.

No statement on the politicized arrest of President Trump but they had time to publish a pro-DeSantis straw poll with no sample size, whine Gavin Wax, another prominent Trumpster.

Up and down the interwebs, Trump supporters moaned and groaned about DeSantis winning a single straw poll despite Trump leading in every national poll.

This of course begs the question: Why are they so scared? Is there something they know that we dont?

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




In an interview with Fox News, former Attorney General Bill Barr asserted that Trumps claim that his indictments are political interference are silly, backing up a similar sentiment expressed by Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

I mean, the basic principle in the criminal justice system is if a prominent person commits a crime and is seeking office, that doesnt give them immunity, Barr told host John Roberts.

Barr continued: If theres enough time to have it resolved before the election, it should be resolved. The idea that, Oh, okay. Well, Im sorry, well let you get to run in the election and then after will address it. Thats not a principle of the criminal system.

I mean, just think some mayor charged, you know, charged with massive embezzlement and he says, Well, you know, its a year and a half to the election. Lets put that on hold. While I run for reelection. Its silly. Its silly. Now, you can argue about whether he should have been charged and so forth. But the idea that this is interfering with the election is simply wrong.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
U.S. President Donald Trump leaves for Florida at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Jan. 23, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Trump's lawyers asked the judge to separate his case from some of his co-defendants who sought a speedy trial in the case.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of attempting to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat in the southeastern state of Georgia.

"As evidenced by my signature below, I do hereby waive formal arraignment and enter my plea of NOT GUILTY to the Indictment in this case," Trump said in a court filing in Fulton County Superior Court.

Trump and 18 others were indicted on Aug. 14 over alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Trump was charged with 13 counts, including violating the state's racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate his oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree, and conspiring to file false documents.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set arraignment hearings for Trump and other defendants charged in the case for Sept. 6. That plea means the former Republican president will not appear in person in court next week to face the charges.

Trump's lawyers also asked the judge to separate his case from some of his co-defendants who sought a speedy trial in the case.

Last week, Trump turned himself in at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta, Georgia, becoming the first former president to have a mug shot taken.

Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, has been indicted in four criminal cases -- two by the Justice Department, and two by state prosecutors in New York and Georgia, seperately. The Georgia case is the fourth criminal case to be brought against him.

Trump has criticized the cases against him as part of a politically motivated attempt to keep him from recapturing the White House. 




HaMashgiach HaRav Don Segal flew last week to the US for a chizzuk visit ahead of the Yamim Noraim.

HaRav Segal first went to Lakewood, where he addressed thousands of Bnei Torah. The Mashgiach spoke words of chizzuk for Elul, saying that in a Beis Din on earth, there are two sides, one right and one wrong. But in the Beis Din above, there arent two sides  the viewpoint of Shamayim is always to find the tzidkus  even if a person is chas vchalilah on a path of rishus, Hashems ratzon is for the person to become a tzaddik. Therefore Hashem, in His great mercy and chessed, gave us these days of kedushah every year because Shamayim desires our tzidukus  out of HaKadosh Baruch Hus great love for us  Ani LDodi VDodi Li.

And a person himself should also have this viewpoint, to finds the tzidkus within him, HaRav Segal said. These days of elevation are in order for a person to uplift himself, to introspect and find his positive points, the goodness within, and utilize it as the foundation for a new year, a foundation of spiritual elevation.

The Mashgiach spent Shabbos in Boro Park with many close talmidim and then traveled on Sunday to Monsey, where thousands flocked to hear his words. On Monday, thousands of yeshivah bochurim from dozens of mesivtos in Lakewood gathered to hear the Mashigachs divrei chizzuk. On Tuesday, the Mashgiach traveled to Cleveland, where the residents gathered at Telz Yeshivah.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




A leftist held a sign with a photo of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu under the words Mein Kampf, the book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, at a protest on Thursday.

The protest, held in support of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, took place outside her office in Tel Aviv. Baharav-Miara is waging a battle against the government despite the fact that the duties of her position call for her to serve as a legal adviser for the government.

Another protester held a sign with photos of Baharav-Miara and Supreme Court President Esther Hayut with the words Eishes Chayil Mi Yimtza and the last fortress.

Interior and Health Minister Moshe Arbel said: The comparison of the Prime Minister of Israel to Hitler is grave and terrible and not protected under freedom of speech. I expect the Attorney-General to act to prevent these serious phenomena.

The anarchists comparison of Netanyahu and members of the government to Hitler or other evil dictators is becoming increasingly common. Earlier this week, a leftist held a sign comparing Education Minister Yoav Kisch to Hitler and ex-prime minister Ehud Barak shared a video comparing Netanyahu to Hitler.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
Sponsored Content





Tishrei for Medical Professionals A Special Series co-sponsored by by Shaarei Zedek Medical Center, Beis Medrash Govoha for Medical Halacha and Touro University.

Doctors and other medical professionals face unique challenges during the month of Tishrei. This year, their concerns and issues will be addressed in a special series presented by Rabbi Yossi Sprung, founder of the Beis Medrash Govoha for Medical Halacha, and Rav of Sharei Tzedek. Rabbi Sprung is a leading authority on medical halacha, renowned for his expertise and leadership in addressing complex medical halacha from across the Jewish world.

Topics include Rosh Hashanah davening, prioritizing between shabbos and chaggim, fasting considerations for clinicians, staff, patients and new mothers, as well as zman for lulav and intricacies of the sukkah. Physicians and medical professionals will gain valuable insights to navigate Yomim Noraim and clinical responsibilities.

Rosh Hashana  Hataras Nidarim and Shofar

September 3, 2023 10:00AM ET

Serving as a medical resident on or around Rosh Hashana requires a nuanced understanding of various religious practices in settings without immediate access to a shul or religious leaders. It is crucial to understand the intricacies of these practices, such as the minimum requirements and optimal time for shofar blowing, and what to do if one cannot perform the mitzvah according to these requirements. This knowledge is not just for the clinicians benefit but is also a valuable resource for patients who may find themselves in similar circumstances and who look to their healthcare providers for guidance.

Switching Calls  Prioritizing Between Shabbos and Chaggim

September 7, 2023 3:00PM ET

While in training, and sometimes when practicing medicine, a medical professional is required to work on Shabbos and Yom Tov. Does halacha offer guidelines about whether not working on a Shabbos should be prioritized over not working on the High Holidays or vice versa, when one has to choose between the two?

Fasting  Considerations for Clinicians, Patients and New Mothers

September 10, 2023 10:00AM ET

One of the frequently-encountered inquiries in the realm of healthcare during the High Holiday season pertains to identifying individuals obligated to observe fasting. A healthcare provider might be approached for guidance concerning fasting, and in collaboration with a Rabbinic authority, a determination can be reached. When it comes to individuals with medical conditions or new mothers in the early post-partum period, theres often a query about the extent of their permissible food consumption.

Sukkos  The Zman for Lulav and Intricacies of the Sukkah

September 21, 2023 3:00PM ET

Numerous students, residents and medical professionals commence their work shifts quite early in the morning, which leads to many questions regarding observance of Sukkos. What is the earliest permissible time to fulfill the mitzvah of shaking lulav and esrog? And if one shakes the lulav and esrog very early, is there a need to repeat the ritual later in the day? Additionally, when an individual is on duty in a hospital, where their primary focus is tending to patients, they may encounter challenges in accessing or utilizing a sukkah for meals. What foods can or cannot be consumed outside the sukkah in such circumstances?

Register on Zoom

Add to your calendar

The series is presented by Shaarei Zedek Medical Center, Beis Medrash Govoha for Medical Halacha and Touro University.

For questions, contact: Marc Ganz at [email protected]
The approach for my opinion from the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation was, to say the least, surprising.

It wanted a British view on whether the collapse of Credit Suisse and subsequent rescue by rival UBS had damaged Switzerlands reputation as a bulwark of stability in a turbulent world.

Switzerland and its bankers always have exuded supreme confidence and were not in the habit of seeking outside views. The country has been the home of discreet banking for centuries.

It was a nation where autocrats, billionaires and financial rascals have been able to deposit their funds without concern for safety or disclosure of their holdings.

It is only in recent decades, under pressure from hunters for Nazi cash and US tax authorities, that privacy has been diluted.

Misleading: UBSs profit is an accounting quirk. It consists of the difference between the value of Credit Suisses assets and the modest price that UBS paid for them

Then this year Credit Suisse imploded, after a crisis of confidence that began in San Francisco reached Europe.

It experienced an extraordinary run on its investment funds after a series of executive blunders, and was swallowed by rival UBS.

Quarterly results from UBS provide insight into the changing face of Swiss banking. At first glance UBSs report of a pre-tax profit of 23billion makes it look as if it completed the deal of the century when it rescued Credit Suisse.

After all, this is the biggest quarterly earnings of any global bank since JP Morgan chalked up 11.4billion in 2021.

UBSs profit is an accounting quirk. It consists of the difference between the value of Credit Suisses assets and the modest price that UBS paid for them. It has little to do with underlying performance.

Of more importance to the future and reputation of Swiss banking is what happens next. New boss Sergio Ermotti has decided to hang on to the Credit Suisse domestic business, allowing his bank to dominate the Swiss banking landscape.

Costs are to be squeezed and thousands of jobs lost in Zurich and across the country. When Lloyds bought HBOS in the great banking crisis it revived and invested in the Halifax brand. UBS plans to rid itself of the tainted Credit Suisse name.

Presumably it fears that its core wealth management arm could be contaminated.

Yet competition authorities and legislators are concerned about the country being at the mercy of a banking monolith which by definition will be too big to fail, as the last commercial bank standing.

There is no shortage of smaller Swiss private banks. The idea that one of the worlds most trusted financial centres being at the mercy of one behemoth, with no major competition, is more typical of an autocracy than a vibrant democracy.

The 26 regional cantons provide Swiss citizens with the right to vote on anything from transgender rights to Covid prevention and multinational tax deals.

UBS has remade itself as a wealth management colossus. Yet it is far from the perfect bank. Investment banking was wound down after dollops of money were lost in the financial crisis.

The Americans have been on its case over the way it shielded US citizens from tax scrutiny.

The rush to integrate Credit Suisse may be good for shareholders and executives.

But it could be like a red rag to a bull for regulators wanting to keep the illusion of competition alive.

Super-proud

Many companies abandon the stress of quarterly reporting, arguing that it encourages short-term thinking, is administratively disruptive and occupies too much executive time.

Buy now, pay later pioneer Klarna has adopted an alternative model.

The groups chief executive, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, is declaring victory over misconceptions around the business model. He points to a profitable month in February 2023 well ahead of target.

It is terrific that against a background of a cost of living crisis Klarna is bucking the trend. It reports gross merchandise value of its trading is up 14 per cent globally.

Nevertheless, the groups decision to focus on one month will not necessarily inspire confidence.

Chipped marble

Marks & Spencer is declaring legal war on the Government over its decision to reject its new store proposal at Marble Arch in Londons West End.

Wouldnt it be better to go back to the drawing board to preserve the existing facade or make the building work better  as Selfridges does next door  rather than diluting political capital and wasting money in the courts?
Revolution Beauty has appointed a new chief executive as it published annual results showing losses fell amidst a turbulent period for the company.

Lauren Brindley will become the cosmetics firm's boss on 18 September, having most recently been in charge of beauty and personal care at the American pharmacy giant Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Brindley also spent many years at Boots, where she was the head of its prestige beauty and fragrance division and the No.7 skincare brand.

Improvement: Revolution Beauty revealed pre-tax losses fell from 45.9million the previous year to 33.9million thanks largely to a drop in freight costs and stock provision charges

She replaces Bob Holt, who agreed earlier this summer, along with chairman Derek Zissman, to stand down following a row with online retailer Boohoo.

Boohoo, which is Revolution's largest shareholder, was among the majority of investors who voted to remove the pair, as well as finance chief Elizabeth Lake, at an annual general meeting in June.

However, the three were reinstated hours later by an independent director, although Boohoo subsequently reached a deal that meant Holt and Zissman departed.

Alistair McGeorge, executive chairman of Revolution Beauty, said: 'Lauren's extensive knowledge of the beauty and retail industries, and proven track record of driving meaningful results, will be critical as we build Revolution Beauty into a global beauty leader.'

Brindley faces the major challenge of reviving a business that has struggled with slowing trade since going public on the London Stock Exchange two years ago.

Revolution reported on Thursday that its revenue only increased by 3.2million to 187.8million for the 12 months ending February.

Stronger store demand from rolling out new products in Boots and Walgreens stores helped offset declining turnover from digital partners caused by customers reducing stock levels.

Yet pre-tax losses fell from 45.9million the previous year to 33.9million thanks largely to a drop in freight costs and stock provision charges.

Following the announcement, Revolution Beauty Group shares had plummeted 17.1 per cent to 28.4p by Thursday afternoon.

Trading in the Kent-based firm's shares was suspended last September when the group failed to publish accounts for the 2022 financial year on time.

An accounting probe found Revolution had inflated sales figures by 9million to meet its annual targets, while co-founder Tom Allsworth and former CEO Adam Minto provided loans or other investments without the board's knowledge.

Revolution's shares were eventually allowed to start trading again in late June.

Since then, though, the Financial Conduct Authority has launched an investigation into the business over suspected breaches of market abuse.

The company said it was 'cooperating fully' with the inquiry and would update the markets 'in due course.'

Revolution has reported a bumper trading performance, with revenue soaring by 60 per cent in the first quarter.

The challenging economic backdrop could even benefit the firm, according to Julie Palmer, a partner at corporate restructuring specialist Begbies Traynor.

She said this was because, during such times, consumers tend to purchase cheaper luxuries instead of big-ticket items - a phenomenon known as the 'lipstick effect.'
Slump: Victoria's Secret posted a second-quarter loss of 1m

Victoria's Secret dipped into the red ahead of a return of the lingerie firm's televised fashion show next month.

The US company posted a second-quarter loss of 1million, in a dismal change of fortunes versus a 55million profit last year. Sales also dropped to 1.1billion.

Chief executive Martin Waters explained trading had been 'particularly challenging' in North America, amid the economic downturn.

Gloomy financial figures came as the company is set to host its blockbuster runway show again, after a four-year hiatus.

The show will broadcast on Amazon's streaming platform Prime Video this month and include stars such as Hailey Bi
Marks & Spencer has launched legal action against the Government over a decision to block a demolition of its flagship store on Oxford Street.

The announcement was the latest instalment in a bitter row between M&S chief Stuart Machin and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove.

Sacha Berendji, operations director at M&S said: We have done this because we believe the Secretary of State wrongly interpreted and applied planning policy, to justify his rejection of our scheme on grounds of heritage and environmental concerns.

It is hugely disappointing that after two years of support and approvals at every stage, we have been forced to take legal action to overcome a misguided agenda against our scheme, and we will be challenging this.

In July Gove denied the retailer permission to raze the 1929 art deco building near Marble Arch and build a much larger 10-storey retail and office block.

Blocked: In July Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove denied M&S permission to raze the 1929 art deco building near Marble Arch and build a much larger 10-storey retail and office block

M&Ss plan had support from local authorities, neighbouring businesses and inspectors.

The Governments stance is that benefits from rejuvenating the store are offset by potential damage to the areas heritage.

Gove disagreed with an experts view that demolition of the site was the only realistic option.

He also said it was a commercial decision for M&S whether or not it wanted to abandon the store, responding to threats from the retailer to shut up shop.

Last month Machin labelled the decision utterly pathetic. He accused Gove of taking an anti-business approach, choking off growth and denying Oxford Street hundreds of thousands of new quality jobs.

He said the retailer was left with no choice but to review its future position on Oxford Street on the whim of one man, after almost a century at Marble Arch.

Although M&S insisted that there was asbestos throughout the building and that it was a maze for staff, there has been a passionate backlash from heritage campaigners.

Some of Britains leading architects, including London Eye designer Julia Barfield and Grand Designs TV presenter Kevin McCloud, opposed the plan.

Sparks fly: M&S chief executive Stuart Machin, left, and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, right

Critics wanted to protect the buildings architectural grandeur and urged M&S to retrofit it instead of razing it.

M&S has been defended by local business groups and neighbours, including the luxury department store Selfridges which said Goves decision was a highly disappointing outcome.

It comes as businesses are battling a scourge of tacky candy shops in the area while big names such as Topshop have shut.

Hopes that an Ikea store would open this autumn were dashed when the furniture seller said it had been forced to push back its plans to next year.

Dee Corsi, chief executive of New West End Company, which represents hundreds of businesses, said: The Governments decision to refuse Marks & Spencers redevelopment was a missed opportunity to accelerate the growth of the West End and capitalise on the positive momentum that the district is experiencing.

The proposed redevelopment of the Marble Arch store should absolutely be part of Oxford Streets future growth and we are supportive of Marks & Spencers launch of an appeal this week.
Superdry has slumped to a near-22million loss in a 'difficult' year for the retailer as the cost-of-living crisis and reduced spending power led to lower sales 'across all territories'.

The fashion brand also warned that it will see little revenue growth this year, blaming 'unseasonable weather' for an 18.4 per cent drop in sales in its first quarter that ended in July.

Superdry, which this week had to suspend its shares after delaying the publication of its results, reported a pre-tax adjusted loss of 21.7million for the year to the end of April, compared to a profit of 21.6million in the year before.

Full-year revenues rose 2.1 per cent to 622.5million.

Blame it on the weatherman: Superdry said the bad weather hit sales of its spring summer collections, although its autumn winter collection is selling better than usual

'This has been a difficult year for the business and the market conditions have been extremely challenging, especially in wholesale,' founder and chief executive Julian Dunkerton said.

'The consumer retail market continues to remain challenging and unpredictable,' the company added.

'The extreme weather events across the UK and Europe have had a negative impact on our Spring Summer collection.'

However, its autumn/winter range is selling better than usual, according to the business.

Superdry, which is known for its hoodies and jackets once flaunted by David Beckham and Idris Elba, said store sales fell by 3.7 per cent in the first quarter, while online sales tumbled by 12.6 per cent.

The company has also been grappling with weak orders from wholesale partners, who have been cautious on stock levels and liquidity amid economic uncertainties, with sales down 50.3 per cent in the period.

'For the full year, we don't expect to see significant revenue growth as we focus on cost savings and margin improvement,' it told shareholders.

Last month, Superdry secured 25million of fresh funding from restructuring and refinancing specialist Silco to push ahead with its turnaround plan.

The company already had a borrowing agreement with London-based specialist lender Bantry Bay Capital, which in April agreed to increase its 80million loan.

In March, Superdry also sold its intellectual property assets in much of the Asia Pacific region to South Korea's Cowell Fashion Company for $50million, giving it a much-needed cash boost.

Superdry shares, which lost around 55 per cent of their value in the last year, were still suspended on Friday.
Johnson Matthey shares have jumped more than 10 per cent after a US investor doubled its stake in the chemicals giant, renewing speculation of a possible foreign takeover.

Standard Latitude Master Fund, which is controlled by Standard Investments - the investment arm of New-York based conglomerate Standard Industries - increased its stake to 10.1 per cent, having built a 5.2 per cent stake in April last year.

The US fund is now the company's biggest shareholder, according to LSEG data.

Johnson Matthey currently makes most of its money by selling catalytic converters

The company, which traces its origins back 200 years to the industrial revolution, saw shares rocket 30 per cent in April last year when Standard Latitude bought its first stake.

The latest investment sent Johnson Matthey shares rising 11 per cent to 18.12 on Friday, trimming losses to 15 per cent since the start of the year.

But the jump comes just a couple of days too late to stop the company being demoted from the FTSE 100.

Johnson Matthey currently makes most of its money by selling catalytic converters to clean the fumes spewed out by combustion engines.

But looming bans on sales of traditional cars mean Johnson Matthey has been looking for new places to gain a foothold.

In May, it signed a three-year supply agreement with Norway's Hystar to ramp up green hydrogen production.

The partnership followed a similar deal earlier in the year with Plug Power, a US company focused on green hydrogen.

The deals follow its controversial decision in 2021 to pull the plug on its pioneering electric car battery materials business.

It scrapped almost a decade of research and development on the project, claiming it had fallen too far behind competitors in China and Korea which were already making batteries on a huge scale.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is a prominent American supplier of scientific instrumentation, reagents, consumables, and software services. The company was formed in 2006 through the merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific, established players in the scientific and laboratory equipment industry. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Thermo Fisher Scientific operates in the life sciences, healthcare, and analytical technologies sectors.

The company's history dates back to 1956 when Thermo Electron was co-founded by George N. Hatsopoulos and Peter M Nomikos, focusing on analytical and laboratory products. Fisher Scientific, founded in 1902 by Chester G. Fisher, supplied laboratory equipment, chemicals, and services. The merger in 2006 created Thermo Fisher Scientific, combining their expertise and product portfolios to provide comprehensive solutions to scientific and healthcare communities.

Thermo Fisher Scientific's mission is to enable customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer through its innovative products and services. They strive to advance research, enhance healthcare and support analytical applications globally. The company offers a wide range of products and services under the brand names of Thermo Scientific, Fisher Scientific, and others. Their offerings include advanced instruments, consumables, reagents, software, and services tailored for research, diagnostics, and industrial applications. Thermo Fisher Scientific's products are utilized by academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, healthcare providers, and research organizations worldwide.

Thermo Fisher Scientific's management team is led by Mr. Marc N. Casper, who serves as Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, the company has grown remarkably and expanded its global footprint.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has exhibited strong financial performance in recent years. The company's annual revenue and net income have been increasing yearly. The net profit margin stands at over 10%, demonstrating the company's ability to convert revenue into profit efficiently. The company maintains a healthy financial position with a debt-to-equity ratio indicating that it relies less on debt financing and holds a strong balance sheet confirming its financial stability and ability to meet short-term obligations.

Thermo Fisher Scientific's valuation metrics show positive signs. The market has expressed confidence in the company's future earnings potential, and that confidence is reflected in its valuation metrics. This indicates that investors are optimistic about the company's future growth prospects. Thermo Fisher Scientific's stock has demonstrated solid performance, which suggests investors' positive sentiment toward the company. However, various factors, including macroeconomic conditions, industry trends, and company-specific developments, can influence market performance.

Thermo Fisher Scientific operates in the measuring and controlling devices industry, specifically life sciences tools and services. The company is a dominant player in this industry, benefiting from its vast product portfolio and global reach. Its comprehensive offerings and strong customer relationships provide a competitive advantage over peers. With a diverse customer base and innovative solutions, the company is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for advanced scientific and healthcare products. Thermo Fisher Scientific enjoys a competitive edge in the industry due to its extensive product range, technical expertise, and established market presence. The company's continuous investments in research and development enable it to introduce cutting-edge products that cater to evolving customer needs. Additionally, strategic acquisitions have expanded its capabilities, strengthening its competitive positioning.

The company has numerous growth opportunities in the life sciences, healthcare, and industrial sectors. The rising demand for innovative research tools, diagnostic solutions, and analytical instruments presents attractive prospects for Thermo Fisher Scientific. The company's strong global presence allows it to tap into emerging markets and cater to a diverse customer base. Thermo Fisher Scientific possesses several competitive advantages, including its vast product portfolio, research capabilities, and established reputation in the industry. Its ability to provide end-to-end solutions across multiple sectors sets it apart from competitors. Moreover, strategic partnerships and acquisitions have facilitated access to new technologies and expanded its customer base, bolstering its competitive position.

Despite its strengths, Thermo Fisher Scientific faces certain risks and challenges. Market competition from established players and emerging companies could impact market share and pricing power. Global economic conditions and regulatory changes may influence the company's operations and profitability. Moreover, unexpected events like supply chain disruptions or technology shifts could pose challenges. Thermo Fisher Scientific employs robust risk management strategies to mitigate potential risks. These include diversifying its product portfolio, investing in research and development, and maintaining financial stability. The company continuously monitors market dynamics to adapt to changing trends and demands. Additionally, strong governance and compliance practices ensure adherence to regulatory requirements.
SYDNEY, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- New single-use plastic bans came into effect from Friday in the Australian state of Queensland, following those introduced in September 2021.

According to the Queensland state government, the list of banned plastic items has been extended to include cotton buds with plastic stems, expanded polystyrene loose packaging, plastic microbeads in rinseable personal care and cleaning products, as well as the outdoor release of lighter-than-air balloons.

Extra requirements on plastic shopping bags were also introduced, under which non-woven plastic shopping bags of 35 microns or more thickness need to pass reusability tests for 125 uses and, for the non-compostable ones, contain a minimum of 80 percent recycled content.

"Plastic products are useful parts of our everyday lives, providing many positive benefits, but plastic pollution is a growing problem when it ends up in the wrong place, impacting the health of our communities, our environment, and wildlife," said Leanne Linard, Queensland's minister for the environment and the Great Barrier Reef.

"We are working towards Queensland becoming a zero-waste society, where waste is avoided, reused, and recycled to the greatest extent possible," the minister noted.

On Sept. 1, 2021, Queensland commenced its ban on the supply of single-use plastic items, including straws, stirrers, plates, bowls, cutlery and expanded polystyrene takeaway food containers and cups.

Data from World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia showed that there are 3.5 million tonnes of plastic consumed annually across Australia, of which 130,000 tonnes leak into the marine environment.

The conservation organization estimated that 1 million tonnes of Australia's annual plastic consumption stem from single-use plastics, which "are beneficial for only a few hours to a few days, but if not recovered and recycled, last hundreds to thousands of years in the environment." 
The Coca-Cola Company is one of the worlds most recognized brands. Founded in 1886, the company today is vastly different from its creator's original intent. The original formula was invented by John Stith Pemberton as a health drink, energy boost, and patent medicine following his time in the Civil War. The name is derived from two of the original ingredients coca leaves and kola nuts, although those ingredients are not used today, and was intended to be sold in pharmacies.

Pemberton sold his formula and brand in 1889 to Asa Griggs Candler who then embarked on a nationwide advertising campaign. By 1895 Coca-Cola was being sold in every state in the union and it wouldnt be long before the beverage was being enjoyed worldwide. By 1889 the company was operating under a franchised distribution system that is still in effect today.

Today, the Coca-Cola Company primarily makes syrups that are shipped to bottler/distributors who command exclusive territories. The Coca-Cola Company retains ownership of the largest US bottler, Coca-Cola Refreshments but there are many others around the world. Coca-Cola Femsa, of which The Coca-Cola Company owns 28%, is located in Mexico and is the worlds largest bottler of Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and operates as a beverage company worldwide with sales in over 200 countries. The company manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages and has expanded well beyond soda and pop. After years of expansion and acquisitions, The Coca-Cola Company is represented in verticals from sparkling soft drinks to flavored water, enhanced water, sports beverages, juice, dairy, tea, and coffee. Brands under the Coca-Cola umbrella include Fanta, Fresca, Schweppes, Sprite, Dasani, Gold Peak, Minute Maid, Simply, BODYARMOR, FUZE TEA, and Powerade brands.

The Coca-Cola Company first went public in 1919 and it began paying a dividend in 1920. The company has raised its dividend every year since 1962 making it a Dividend King. To put the companys growth and scale into perspective, one share of KO purchased at the IPO price of $40 was worth nearly $10 million in 2012 and the stock price has nearly doubled since then. Underwriters of the original IPO received $100,000 worth of shares in compensation for the deal and were able to sell it for $2 billion at that time. The Coca-Cola Company is also a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average holding its position from 1932 to 1935 and from 1987 to the present.
Dell Technologies Inc., founded in 1984, is a multinational computer technology company headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. The company designs, develops, sells, and supports personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and other related technologies. Consumers, small businesses, and large enterprises worldwide use Dell Technologies Inc.'s products and services.

Dell Technologies Inc. has achieved many key highlights and achievements throughout its history. In 2016, the company completed the most significant tech merger in history by acquiring EMC Corporation for $67 billion. Additionally, Dell has been recognized for its sustainability efforts, including being named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for several consecutive years.

Michael Dell is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dell Technologies Inc. He has been with the company since its inception in 1984, leading it through many changes and challenges. Jeff Clarke is the Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, responsible for global operations, customer support, and supply chain management.

Dell Technologies Inc. has reported healthy financial results in recent years. With average revenue in the billions of dollars and a 1 - 3% increase yearly for several years. The company's average gross profit margin stays between 25 to 35%. Depending on the year, Dell Technologies Inc. maintains debt levels either slightly below or above its current assets. Dell Technologies Inc.'s price-to-earnings ratio and price-to-book ratios are slightly below the industry average, indicating that Dell Technologies Inc.'s stock is undervalued compared to its peers. Dell Technologies Inc.'s stock performance has been strong recently but became volatile in Q1 of 2022 amid investor fears of a recession. Despite these issues, Dell Technologies Inc.'s stock price is still positive, over 80% in a five-year timeframe. Dell Technologies Inc.'s stock has also outperformed the broader market, with the S&P 500 increasing by approximately 60% over the same period.

Dell Technologies Inc. operates in the highly competitive computer technology industry. The industry is characterized by rapid technological advancements, changing consumer preferences, and intense competition. Dell Technologies Inc.'s main competitors include HP Inc., Lenovo Group Limited, and Apple Inc.

One trend that is impacting the industry is the shift toward mobile computing. Consumers are increasingly using smartphones and tablets instead of traditional personal computers. This trend has led to declining sales of personal computers and increased competition in the mobile computing space.

Another trend impacting the industry is the increasing importance of data privacy and security. Consumers are becoming more aware of the risks associated with data breaches and are demanding more secure devices and services. This trend has led to increased investment in cybersecurity by companies in the industry.

Dell Technologies Inc. has several potential growth opportunities. One area of focus is the Internet of Things (IoT). Dell Technologies Inc. has developed a suite of IoT solutions and services that help customers manage and analyze the data generated by connected devices. This market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.

Another growth opportunity for Dell Technologies Inc. is the expanding market for cloud computing. The company has invested heavily in cloud infrastructure and services and has partnered with major cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. As more businesses move their computing infrastructure to the cloud, Dell Technologies Inc. is well-positioned to benefit from this trend.

Despite its many strengths, Dell Technologies Inc. faces several potential risks and challenges. One key challenge for the company is the ongoing decline in the personal computer market. As consumers shift towards mobile devices, sales of personal computers are likely to continue to decline. Dell Technologies Inc. will need to adapt to this changing market to remain competitive.

Another risk for Dell Technologies Inc. is the intense competition in the computer technology industry. The company faces competition from established players like HP and Lenovo and newer entrants like Google and Apple. To remain competitive, Dell Technologies Inc. must continue to invest in research and development and develop new products and services.

Dell Technologies Inc. faces potential risks from changing regulatory and political environments. The company operates in many countries worldwide, and changes in regulations or political instability in key markets could impact its operations. Dell Technologies Inc. may also face increased regulatory scrutiny regarding data privacy and cybersecurity issues.
Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company specializing in developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide range of healthcare products. The company has its headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois and operates in more than 160 countries worldwide.

The company was founded in 1888 by Dr. Wallace C. Abbott, and it has since grown to become one of the world's largest and most respected healthcare companies. Abbott Laboratories has a diverse portfolio of products, including medical devices, diagnostic tests, nutritional products, and branded generic pharmaceuticals. The company is committed to developing innovative products that improve the quality of life for people worldwide.

Robert B. Ford is the current President and CEO of the company. He was appointed to this position in 2020 after serving as the company's Chief Operating Officer. He has been with Abbott Laboratories since 1996 and has held various leadership positions.

Abbott Laboratories has delivered strong financial performance, declining as investors seek growth. The company's net earnings have been increasing steadily. Abbott Laboratories has a solid balance sheet with a low debt-to-equity ratio. The company has consistently delivered strong cash flow, allowing it to invest in research and development and return value to shareholders. Abbott Laboratories has a higher price-to-earnings ratio than the industry average, and the company's price-to-book ratio is also higher than the industry average. These metrics suggest that the market has a positive outlook on Abbott Laboratories and is willing to pay a premium for the company's shares. Over the past year, Abbott Laboratories' stock has declined as consumers seek to see what the company will do post-pandemic. The company's shares have experienced some volatility, but overall, they have outperformed the broader market.

Abbott Laboratories operates in the healthcare industry, which is highly regulated and complex. The industry is characterized by rapidly evolving technology, changing regulatory requirements, and shifting consumer preferences. Abbott Laboratories competes with other large healthcare companies such as Johnson & Johnson.

Abbott Laboratories' robust product pipeline is expected to drive growth in the coming years. The company is focused on developing innovative products that address unmet medical needs and improve patient outcomes. In addition to its core businesses, Abbott Laboratories is expanding into new markets and investing in digital health technologies.

Like any company, Abbott Laboratories faces a range of risks and challenges. One of the most significant risks facing the company is regulatory uncertainty. Changes in regulatory requirements could impact the company's ability to bring products to market and could also increase the cost of doing business. Another risk facing the company is the threat of competitive pressures. The healthcare industry is highly competitive, and Abbott Laboratories faces competition from established companies and new entrants. Changes in consumer preferences could also impact the company's performance, particularly in the nutritional products segment.

Additionally, Abbott Laboratories is exposed to geopolitical risks, such as changes in trade policies or political instability in key markets. The company's international operations also expose it to currency fluctuations, which could impact its financial performance.
Eagle Materials Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells heavy construction materials and light building materials in the United States. It operates in four segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, and Recycled Paperboard. The company engages in the mining of limestone for the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of Portland cement; grinding and sale of slag; and mining of gypsum for the manufacture and sale of gypsum wallboards used to finish the interior walls and ceilings in residential, commercial, and industrial structures. It also manufactures and sells recycled paperboard to gypsum wallboard industry and other paperboard converters, as well as containerboard and lightweight packaging grades. In addition, the company engages in the sale of ready-mix concrete; and mining, extracting, production, and sale of aggregates, including crushed stones, sand, and gravel. Its products are used in commercial and residential construction; public construction projects; and projects to build, expand, and repair roads and highways. The company was formerly known as Centex Construction Products, Inc. and changed its name to Eagle Materials, Inc. in January 2004. Eagle Materials Inc. was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Mister Car Wash, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides conveyorized car wash services in the United States. It offers express exterior and interior cleaning services. The company was formerly known as Hotshine Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Mister Car Wash, Inc. in March 2021. Mister Car Wash, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.
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. The Specialty segment provides professional and executive Lines, marine, and surety and other, as well as specialty P&C, such as program business, specialty industrial and commercial property, excess and surplus lines, and specialty general liability coverage. The Personal Lines segment offers personal automobile and homeowner's coverages, as well as other personal coverages, such as personal umbrella, inland marine, fire, personal watercraft, personal cyber, and other miscellaneous coverages. The Other segment markets investment management services to institutions, pension funds, and other organizations. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. markets its products and services through independent agents and brokers. The company was formerly known as Allmerica Financial Corp. and changed its name to The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. in December 2005. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts.
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. provides reinsurance and insurance products around the world. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Bermuda with offices in Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, Singapore, and the US.

The company operates through two segments that include multiple underlying businesses and investment vehicles. The two main segments are Property and Casualty & Specialty. The company operates through intermediaries that include DaVinci Resinsurance Inc, Top Layer Reinsurance LTD, and RennaisanceRe Syndicate 1458 among others.

Top Layer Re is the first major venture and was started in 1999. It is a joint venture with State Farm targeting high layers of the US reinsurance business. DaVinci Re was formed in the wake of 9/11 to assist with capacity and it was given added capacity in the wake of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Medici was formed in 2009 and is an open-ended fund intended to spur investment in the catastrophe bond market.

The Property segment writes catastrophic insurance policies to insure insurance and reinsurance companies against natural and man-made catastrophes. These include but are not limited to hurricanes, floods, freezes, and terrorism.

The Casualty & Specialty segment provides a wide range of consumer products including business insurance, malpractice insurance, liability insurance, workers' compensation, mortgage insurance, and health insurance among others.

Among RenaissanceRes Specialty businesses is capital management. The firm offers 6 investment vehicles and has more than $11 billion under management making it the #1 ILS or insurance-linked asset manager in the US. In regards to its credit ratings, the firm and all of its vehicles carry an A or better rating from every credit rating agency.
The following companies are subsidiares of Centene: AT Learning Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, AT Medics Holdings LLP an English and Welsh LLP, AT Medics Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, AT Technology (Private) Ltd. a Pakistan private company, AT Technology Services Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, AWC of Syracuse Inc. a New York corporation, Absolute Total Care Inc. a South Carolina corporation, AcariaHealth Inc. a Delaware corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #11 Inc. a Texas corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #12 Inc. a New York corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #13 Inc. a California corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #14 Inc. a California corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #26 Inc. a Delaware corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy Inc. a California corporation, AcariaHealth Solutions Inc. a Delaware corporation, Access Medical Acquisition LLC a Delaware LLC, Access Medical Group of Florida City LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Hialeah LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Lakeland LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Miami LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of North Miami Beach LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Opa-Locka LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Perrine LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Tampa II LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Tampa III LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Tampa LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Westchester LLC a Florida LLC, Accountable Care Coalition Direct Contracting LLC a Florida LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Chesapeake LLC a Maryland LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Community Health Centers II LLC a Texas LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Community Health Centers LLC a Texas LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers II LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers III LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers IV LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers LLC a Hawaii LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers V LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers VII LLC an Arizona LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Florida Partners LLC a Florida LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Georgia LLC a Georgia LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Maryland LLC a Maryland LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Maryland Primary Care LLC a Maryland LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of New Jersey Inc. a New Jersey corporation, Accountable Care Coalition of North Texas LLC a Texas LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Northeast Georgia LLC a Georgia LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Northeast Partners LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Northwest Florida LLC a Florida LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Prime Health LLC an Oregon LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Quality Health II LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Quality Health III LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Quality Health LLC an Oregon LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Partners LLC a Georgia LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Physician Partners LLC a South Carolina LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Wisconsin LLC a Wisconsin LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Tennessee LLC a Tennessee LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Agate Resources Inc. an Oregon corporation, AirLogix, Ambetter of Magnolia Inc. a Mississippi corporation, Ambetter of North Carolina Inc. a North Carolina corporation, Ambetter of Peach State Inc. a Georgia corporation, America's 1st Choice California Holdings LLC a Florida corporation, American Progressive Life and Health Insurance Company of New York a New York corporation, Apixio, Apixio Inc a Delaware corporation, Arch Personalized Medicine Initiative LLC a Missouri LLC, Arkansas Health & Wellness Health Plan Inc. an Arkansas corporation, Arkansas Total Care Holding Company LLC a Delaware LLC, Arkansas Total Care Inc. an Arkansas corporation, B2B Gestion Integra S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., B2B Salud S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., BMI Healthcare Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, BMI Hospital Decontamination Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, BMI Imaging Clinic Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, BMI Southend Private Hospital Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, BMI Syon Clinic Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Bankers Reserve Life Insurance Company of Wisconsin a Wisconsin corporation, Bishopswood SPV Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Bridgeway Health Solutions LLC a Delaware LLC, Bridgeway Health Solutions of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, Buckeye Community Health Plan Inc. an Ohio corporation, Buckeye Health Plan Community Solutions Inc. an Ohio corporation, CCTX Holdings LLC a Texas LLC, CEF Holding Company Limited a limited liability Malta company, CMC Real Estate Company LLC a Delaware LLC, CT Poprad s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., CT Presov s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., California Health and Wellness Plan a California corporation, Cantina Laredo Clayton LP a Delaware limited partnership, Cardium Health Services, Care 1st Health Plan of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, Care1st Health Plan Administrative Services Inc. an Arizona corporation, Carolina Complete Health Holding Company Partnership a Delaware partnership, Carolina Complete Health Inc. a North Carolina corporation, CeltiCare Health Plan Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC, CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts Inc. a Massachusetts corporation, Celtic Group Inc., Celtic Group Inc. a Delaware corporation, Celtic Insurance Company an Illinois corporation, Cenpatico Behavioral Health LLC a California LLC, Centene Center I LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene Center II LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene Center LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene Company of Texas LP a Texas limited partnership, Centene Europe Finance Company Limited a limited liability Malta company, Centene Health Plan Holdings Inc. a Delaware corporation, Centene Institute for Advanced Health Education LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene International Financing Company Limited a limited liability Malta company, Centene International Ventures LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene Management Company LLC a Wisconsin LLC, Centene Technology Europe S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Centene Technology UK Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Centene Venture Company Alabama Health Plan Inc. an Alabama corporation, Centene Venture Company Florida Inc. a Florida corporation, Centene Venture Company Illinois Inc. an Illinois corporation, Centene Venture Company Indiana Inc. an Indiana corporation, Centene Venture Company Kansas Inc. a Kansas corporation, Centene Venture Company Michigan Inc. a Michigan corporation, Centene Venture Company Tennessee Inc. a Tennessee corporation, Centene Venture Insurance Company Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Centro Inmunologocia De La Comunidad Valenciana S.L. a Spanish S.L., Centurion Correctional Healthcare of New Mexico LLC a New Mexico LLC, Centurion Detention Health Services LLC a Delaware LLC, Centurion LLC a Delaware LLC, Centurion of Arizona LLC an Arizona LLC, Centurion of Delaware LLC a Delaware LLC, Centurion of Florida LLC a Florida LLC, Centurion of Indiana LLC an Indiana LLC, Centurion of Kansas LLC a Kansas LLC, Centurion of Minnesota LLC a Minnesota LLC, Centurion of Mississippi LLC a Mississippi LLC, Centurion of New Hampshire LLC a Delaware LLC, Centurion of Pennsylvania LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Centurion of Tennessee LLC a Tennessee LLC, Centurion of Vermont LLC a Vermont LLC, Centurion of West Virginia LLC a West Virginia LLC, Centurion of Wyoming LLC a Wyoming LLC, Chrysalis Medical Services LLC a New Jersey LLC, Circle Birmingham Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Clinical Services Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Harmony Health Ltd. a Hong Kong private company, Circle Health 1 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health 2 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health 3 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health 4 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health Holdings Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Holdings Ltd. a Jersey private company, Circle Hospital (Reading) Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle International an English and Welsh PLC, Circle Nottingham Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Rehabilitation Services Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Clinica Santo Domingo De Lugo S.L. a Spanish S.L., Collaborative Health Systems IPA LLC a Florida LLC, Collaborative Health Systems LLC a New York LLC, Collaborative Health Systems of Maryland LLC a Maryland LLC, Collaborative Health Systems of Virginia LLC a Virginia LLC, Community Medical Group, Community Medical Holdings Corporation a Delaware corporation, Comprehensive Health Management Inc. a Florida corporation, Coordinated Care Corporation an Indiana corporation, Coordinated Care of Washington Inc. a Washington corporation, DELMARVA Collaborative Care LLC a Delaware LLC, Discare CZ a.s. a Czech Republic A.S., District Community Care Inc. a Washington D.C. corporation, Dr Magnet s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., Elche-Crevillente Salud a Spanish S.A., Envolve Benefits Options Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Dental IPA of New York Inc. a New York corporation, Envolve Dental Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Dental of Florida Inc. a Florida corporation, Envolve Dental of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Envolve Health, Envolve Holdings Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Optical Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve PeopleCare Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Pharmacy IPA LLC a New York LLC, Envolve Pharmacy Solutions Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Total Vision Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Vision Benefits Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Vision IPA of New York Inc. a New York corporation, Envolve Vision Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Vision of Florida Inc. a Florida corporation, Envolve Vision of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Essential Care Partners LLC a Texas LLC, Fidelis Care, Forensic Health Services LLC a Delaware LLC, Foundation Care LLC a Missouri LLC, GHG (DB) Pension Trustees Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, GHG Healthcare Holdings Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, GHG Intermediate Holdings Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, GHG Leasing Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, GHG Mount Alvernia Hospital Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, General Healthcare Group Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, General Healthcare Holdings 2 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, General Healthcare Holdings 3 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Generale de Sante International Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Golden Triangle Physician Alliance a Texas not-for-profit corporation, Granite State Health Plan Inc. a New Hampshire corporation, HHS Texas Management Inc. a Texas corporation, HHS Texas Management LP a Texas limited partnership, HLM Strategic Investment Fund L.P. a Delaware limited partnership, Hallmark Life Insurance Company an Arizona corporation, Harmony Health Management Inc. a New Jersey corporation, Harmony Health Plan Inc. an Illinois corporation, Harmony Health Systems Inc. a New Jersey corporation, Health Care Enterprises LLC a Delaware LLC, Health Net Access Inc. an Arizona corporation, Health Net Community Solutions Inc. a California corporation, Health Net Community Solutions of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, Health Net Federal Services LLC a Delaware LLC, Health Net Health Plan of Oregon Inc. an Oregon corporation, Health Net LLC, Health Net LLC a Delaware LLC, Health Net Life Insurance Company a California corporation, Health Net Life Reinsurance Company a Cayman Islands corporation, Health Net of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, Health Net of California Inc. a California corporation, Health Plan Real Estate Holdings Inc. a Missouri corporation, HealthSmart Benefit Solutions Inc. an Illinois corporation, HealthSmart Benefits Management LLC a Texas LLC, HealthSmart Care Management Solutions LP a Texas partnership, HealthSmart Information Systems Inc. a Texas corporation, HealthSmart Preferred Care II LP a Texas partnership, HealthSmart Preferred Network II Inc. a Delaware corporation, HealthSmart Primary Care Clinics LP a Texas partnership, HealthSmart Rx Solutions Inc. an Ohio corporation, Healthy Louisiana Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC, Healthy Missouri Holdings Inc. a Missouri corporation, Healthy Washington Holdings Inc. a Delaware corporation, Heritage Health Systems Inc. a Texas corporation, Heritage Health Systems of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Heritage Physician Networks a Texas not-for-profit corporation, Home State Health Plan Inc. a Missouri corporation, HomeScripts.com LLC a Michigan LLC, Hospinet S.L. a Spanish S.L., Hospital Polusa S.A. a Spanish S.A., Hospital Povisa S.A. a Spanish S.A., Illinois Health Practice Alliance LLC a Delaware corporation, Infraestructuras y Servicios de Alzira S. L. a Spanish S.L., Integrated Mental Health Services a Texas corporation, Interpreta Holdings Inc. a Delaware corporation, Interpreta Inc. a Delaware corporation, Iowa Total Care Inc. an Iowa corporation, Kentucky Spirit Health Plan Inc. a Kentucky corporation, LifeShare Management Group LLC, LifeShare Management Group LLC a New Hampshire LLC, Louisiana Healthcare Connections Inc. a Louisiana corporation, MH Services International Holdings (UK) Limited an English and Welsh private company, MHM, MHM Correctional Services LLC a Delaware LLC, MHM Health Professionals LLC a Delaware LLC, MHM Services Inc. a Delaware corporation, MHM Services of California LLC a California LLC, MHM Solutions LLC a Delaware LLC, MHN Government Services LLC a Delaware LLC, MHN Services LLC a California LLC, MHS Consulting International Inc. a Delaware corporation, MHS Travel & Charter Inc. a Wisconsin corporation, MR Centrum Melnick s.r.o. a Czech Republic S.R.O., MR Poprad s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., MR Zilina s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., Magellan Health Inc, Magnolia Health Plan Inc. a Mississippi corporation, Managed Health Network LLC a Delaware LLC, Managed Health Network a California corporation, Managed Health Services Insurance Corporation a Wisconsin corporation, Marina Salud S.A. a Spanish S.A., Maryland Collaborative Care LLC a Maryland LLC, Maryland Collaborative Care Transformation Organization Inc. a Delaware corporation, Mauli Ola Health and Wellness Inc. a Hawaii corporation, Medicina NZ spol s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., Meriden Hospital Advanced Imaging Centre Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Meridian Health Plan of Illinois Inc. an Illinois corporation, Meridian Health Plan of Michigan Inc. a Michigan corporation, Meridian Management Company LLC (a/k/a Meridian Administration Company LLC) a Michigan LLC, Meridian Network Services LLC a Michigan LLC, MeridianRx IPA LLC a New York LLC, MeridianRx LLC a Michigan LLC, MeridianRx of Indiana LLC a Michigan LLC, Michigan Complete Health a Michigan corporation, Mid-Atlantic Collaborative Care LLC a Maryland LLC, Mount Alvernia PET CT Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Nations Healthcare Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Nebraska Total Care Inc. a Nebraska corporation, Network Providers LLC a Delaware LLC, New York Quality Healthcare Corporation a New York corporation, Next Door Neighbors Inc. a Delaware corporation, Next Door Neighbors LLC. a Delaware LLC, North West Cancer Clinic Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Northern Maryland Collaborative Care LLC a Maryland LLC, Novasys Health Inc. a Delaware corporation, OB Care a Czech Republic S.R.O., OB Klinika a.s. a Czech Republic A.S., Ohana Health Plan Inc. a Hawaii corporation, Oklahoma Complete Health Holding Company LLC a Delaware LLC, Oklahoma Complete Health Inc. an Oklahoma corporation, One Care by Care 1st Health Plans of Arizona Inc an Arizona corporation, Operose Health (Group) Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Operose Health (Group) UK Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Operose Health Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, OptiCare Health Systems - Managed Vision Business, PANTHERx Rare Pharmacy, PRIMEROSALUD S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Panther Pass Co LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Panther Specialty Holding Co LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Pantherx Access Services LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Pantherx Specialty LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Parker LP LLC a Nevada LLC, Peach State Health Plan Inc. a Georgia corporation, Penn Marketing America LLC a Delaware LLC, Pennsylvania Health and Wellness Inc. a Pennsylvania corporation, Preamed s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., Premier Marketing Group LLC a Delaware LLC, Primary Care Partners Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Pro Diagnostic Group A.S. a Slovakia A.S., Pro Magnet CZ s.r.o. a Czech Republic S.R.O., Pro Magnet s.r.o a Slovakia S.R.O., Pro Nuclear a.s. a Slovakia A.S., Pro RTG s.r.o a Slovakia S.R.O., Progress Medical A.S. a Czech Republic A.S., Prowl Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC, QCA Healthplan Inc. an Arkansas corporation, Qualchoice Life and Health Insurance Company and Arkansas company, Quincy Coverage Corporation a New York corporation, Rhythm Health Tennessee Inc. a Tennessee corporation, Ribera Diagnostics S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Healthcare S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Lab S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Management S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Salud II a Spanish UTE, Ribera Salud Proyectos S.L. a Spanish S.L., Ribera Salud S.A. a Spanish S.A., Ribera Salud Tecnologias S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Slaud Infraestructuras S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera-Quilpro UTE a Spanish UTE, Runnymeade SPV Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Salus Administrative Services Inc. a New York corporation, Salus IPA LLC a New York LLC, Secure Capital Solutions 2000 S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., SelectCare Health Plans Inc. a Texas corporation, SelectCare of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Servicios De Mantenimiento Prevencor S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Shanghai Circle Harmony Hospital Management Limited a Chinese private company, SilverSummit Healthplan Inc. a Nevada corporation, Social Health Bridge LLC a Delaware LLC, Social Health Bridge Trust a Delaware trust, Specialty Therapeutic Care GP LLC a Texas LLC, Specialty Therapeutic Care Holdings, Specialty Therapeutic Care Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC, Specialty Therapeutic Care LP a Texas limited partnership, Sunflower State Health Plan Inc. a Kansas corporation, Sunshine Health Community Solutions Inc. a Florida corporation, Sunshine Health Holding LLC a Florida LLC, Sunshine State Health Plan Inc. a Florida corporation, Superior Health Management Advisors LLC, Superior HealthPlan Community Solutions Inc. a Texas corporation, Superior HealthPlan Inc. a Texas corporation, TKH Holding Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Terapias Medicas Domiciliarias S.L. a Spanish S.L., The Pavilion Clinic Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, The Practice Properties Limited an English and Welsh private company, The WellCare Management Group Inc. a New York corporation, Three Shires Hospital LP an English and Welsh limited partnership, Torrejon Salud S.A. a Spanish S.A., Torrevieja Salud S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Torrevieja Salud UTE a Spanish UTE, Transplant Health Solutions IPA Inc. a New York corporation, Trillium Community Health Plan Inc. an Oregon corporation, UAM Agent Services Corp. an Iowa corporation, US Script, Universal American Corp. a Delaware corporation, Universal American Financial Services Inc. a Delaware corporation, Universal American Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC, Vivamed s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., WCG Health Management Inc. a Delaware corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of America an Arkansas corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Kentucky Inc. a Kentucky corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Louisiana Inc. a Louisiana corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Nevada Inc. a Nevada corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of New Hampshire Inc. a New Hampshire corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of New Jersey Inc. a New Jersey corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Oklahoma Inc. an Oklahoma corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Washington Inc. a Washington corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Connecticut Inc. a Connecticut corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Hawaii Inc. a Hawaii corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of New York Inc. a New York corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of North Carolina Inc. a North Carolina corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Southwest Inc. an Arizona corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Tennessee Inc. a Tennessee corporation, WellCare Health Plans, WellCare Health Plans Inc. a Delaware corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Kentucky Inc. a Kentucky corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Massachusetts Inc. a Massachusetts corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Missouri Inc. a Missouri corporation, WellCare Health Plans of New Jersey Inc. a New Jersey corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Rhode Island Inc. a Rhode Island corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Vermont Inc. a Vermont corporation, WellCare National Health Insurance Company a Texas corporation, WellCare Prescription Insurance Inc. an Arizona corporation, WellCare of Alabama Inc. an Alabama corporation, WellCare of Arkansas Inc. an Arkansas corporation, WellCare of California Inc. a California corporation, WellCare of Connecticut Inc. a Connecticut corporation, WellCare of Georgia Inc. a Georgia corporation, WellCare of Illinois Inc. an Illinois corporation, WellCare of Indiana Inc. an Indiana corporation, WellCare of Maine Inc. a Maine corporation, WellCare of Michigan Holding Company a Michigan corporation, WellCare of Mississippi Inc. a Mississippi corporation, WellCare of Missouri Health Insurance Company Inc. a Missouri corporation, WellCare of New Hampshire Inc. a New Hampshire corporation, WellCare of New York Inc. a New York corporation, WellCare of North Carolina Inc. a North Carolina corporation, WellCare of Ohio Inc. an Ohio corporation, WellCare of Oklahoma Inc. an Oklahoma corporation, WellCare of Pennsylvania Inc. a Pennsylvania corporation, WellCare of South Carolina Inc. a South Carolina corporation, WellCare of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, WellCare of Virginia Inc. a Virginia corporation, WellCare of Washington Inc. a Washington corporation, Western Sky Community Care Inc. a New Mexico corporation, Windsor Health Group Inc. a Tennessee corporation, Winning Security S.L. a Spanish S.L., and Worlco Management Services Inc. a New York corporation.

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Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. manufactures, and distributes life science research and clinical diagnostic products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. The company operates through Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics segments. The Life Science segment develops, manufactures, and markets reagents, apparatus, and laboratory instruments that are used in research techniques, biopharmaceutical production processes, and food testing regimes. It focuses on selected segments of the life sciences market in proteomics, genomics, biopharmaceutical production, cellular biology, and food safety. This segment serves universities and medical schools, industrial research organizations, government agencies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, biotechnology researchers, food producers, and food testing laboratories. The Clinical Diagnostics segment designs, manufactures, sells, and supports test systems, informatics systems, test kits, and specialized quality controls for clinical laboratories in the diagnostics market. This segment offers reagents, instruments, and software, which address specific niches within the in vitro diagnostics test market. It sells its products to reference laboratories, hospital laboratories, state newborn screening facilities, physicians' office laboratories, and transfusion laboratories. In addition, the company offers products and systems to separate complex chemical and biological materials, as well as to identify, analyze, and purify components. The company offers its products through its direct sales force, as well as through distributors, agents, brokers, and resellers. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Hercules, California.
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.
TAIPEI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The streets of Taipei are beaming a festive vibe in July on the Chinese lunar calendar, which runs from the middle of August to early September this year.

In front of shops and at the doors of residential buildings, altars are set up, food and gifts presented and incense burned. For the whole period people of Taiwan will be joining folks in the rest of China in celebrating the Zhongyuan Festival, also known as China's ghost festival.

"The Zhongyuan Festival is not strictly religious. We are not worshipping gods but the spirits of our ancestors," said Hsieh Yuan-chang, a local artisan who is in his seventies.

Hsieh is familiar with the Zhongyuan rituals because his father used to be a head chef for banquets during the festival and he himself specialized in producing rice-based offerings for the festival.

"Most rituals of the Zhongyuan Festival were brought here by our ancestors from the mainland. By practicing them we know where we come from," said Hsieh. He is the 18th generation of a family that migrated from Zhangzhou in Fujian Province to Taiwan.

The port city of Keelung in northern Taiwan is known for its grand celebration of the Zhongyuan Festival.

On the evening of July 14 on the lunar calendar this year, which fell on Tuesday, a large parade drew a huge crowd from across the island to see dragon and lion dances, walks on stilts, and particularly colorful floats sponsored by prominent families in the local community.

Each family showcased its glorious past through the decorations of their float. For instance, the family of Guo emphasized the legacy of Guo Ziyi, a well-known general during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

The peak of the parade was reached at 11 p.m. when lit paper lanterns of various shapes were pushed into the sea, carrying people's best regards to the other world.

Following all the impressive celebrations Tuesday, the main ceremony of the Zhongyuan Festival occurred on Wednesday evening, which was July 15 on the lunar calendar.

A four-floor-high altar was erected on a small hill in the city's downtown area. In the square at the foot of the altar, long tables were set up and meat dishes, vegetables, fruits and other offerings served. All 15 prominent families of Keelung set up display boards introducing their hometowns on the mainland and recalling how they migrated to Taiwan.

Li Yi-lung, an 80-year-old Keelung native, traveled from Taipei to attend the ceremony.

"The Zhongyuan Festival has been celebrated this way for generations. I do hope younger generations will carry forward this tradition, and keep in mind our cultural roots," he said. 
The Charles Schwab Corporation is a financial services company that offers a wide range of investment services, including brokerage, banking, and financial advisory services. Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Westlake, Texas, the company operates through two main segments: Investor Services and Advisor Services. The Investor Services segment offers individual investors retail brokerage and banking services, while the Advisor Services segment provides custodial, trading, and support services to independent investment advisors. In 2020, the company completed its acquisition of TD Ameritrade, further expanding its client base and offerings.

Charles Schwab Corporation's management team is led by Walt Bettinger, who has been the company's President and Chief Executive Officer since 2008. Mr. Bettinger joined the company in 1995 and has held various leadership roles, including Chief Operating Officer and Head of Schwab Institutional.

Over the past few years, Charles Schwab Corporation has experienced steady growth in its key financial metrics. It is reporting increased revenue and increased profit margin. Charles Schwab Corporation's valuation metrics are generally in line with industry peers. The company's price-to-earnings ratio is slightly lower than the industry average, and the company's price-to-book ratio is also somewhat lower than the industry average. Charles Schwab Corporation's stock has generally performed well over the past few years, with some fluctuations in response to broader market conditions and regulatory changes. The company's stock price has outperformed the S&P 500 for several years. The company has also experienced increases in trading volume in response to changes in market conditions and regulatory changes.

Charles Schwab Corporation operates in the financial services industry, which has experienced significant growth and transformation over the past few years. The industry has been impacted by a range of factors, including advances in technology, changing consumer preferences, and regulatory changes. Charles Schwab Corporation competes with other financial services firms, including traditional brokerage firms, online investment platforms, and banks.

Charles Schwab Corporation has a range of potential growth opportunities, including expanding its offerings to meet the evolving needs of its clients. The company has been investing in technology and digital platforms to improve its services and attract new clients. In addition, the company's acquisition of TD Ameritrade has provided new opportunities for growth and expansion. The company also focuses on expanding its international presence and exploring new markets.

Charles Schwab Corporation faces a range of potential risks and challenges, including changes in regulatory and political environments that may impact the company's operations and profitability. The financial services industry is subject to a wide range of regulations, and changes in these regulations could significantly impact the company's operations. In addition, the industry is subject to intense competition, which could affect the company's ability to attract and retain clients.

Another potential risk is the impact of market volatility on the company's operations. Charles Schwab Corporation generates a significant portion of its revenue from commissions and fees, which are impacted by changes in market conditions. In periods of market volatility, clients may reduce their trading activity, which could affect the company's revenue and profitability.

The company also faces risks related to data security and privacy. The company collects and stores sensitive financial and personal information on its clients. Any breach of this data could significantly impact the company's reputation and financial performance.

To address these risks and challenges, Charles Schwab Corporation is focused on maintaining a robust regulatory compliance program and investing in data security and privacy measures. The company is also focused on diversifying its revenue streams and expanding its offerings to meet the evolving needs of its clients.
Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May, 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.61. The real estate investment trust had revenue of $445.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $452.70 million. Vornado Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 20.40% and a positive trailing twelve-month return on equity of 2.40%. The business's revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share.

Read the conference call transcript.


AT&T Inc. is the worlds largest telecommunications company by revenue and the 3rd largest operator of mobile communications in the US. The companys F2022 revenue was enough to earn it the 13th position on Forbes Fortune 500 list where it has resided for many decades.

The company that we know today is the result of many mergers, breakups, and acquisitions that began with Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. Mr. Bell founded the Bell Telephone Company in 1877 shortly after patenting the telephone. Within a few years, the Bell Telephone Company had become the American Bell Telephone Company, to distinguish it from other operations, and in 1885 the AT&T or American Telegraph and Telecommunications subsidiary was launched.

The AT&T subsidiary was so successful that it outgrew and took over its parent. Between 1899 and 1913 the company built a massive network of telephone lines under government authorization. The monopoly earned it the nickname Ma Bell and led to antitrust proceedings and the establishment of todays telecommunications legal system. The network was the primary mode of communication in America until 1982 when the company was forced to break up. The agreement allowed AT&T to keep its name and the long-distance service but split the local companies into 7 Baby Bells Oddly enough, AT&T will later merge with Southern Bell in 2005, then known as SBC Communications, to become the company it is today.

Now, AT&T provides telecommunications, media, and technical services worldwide. The company operates in two primary segments with several sub-segments. The two primary segments are AT&T Communications and AT&T Latin American. AT&T Communications has three sub-segments which include Mobility, Business Wireline, and Consumer Wireline. The Mobility segment, which is the largest segment by far, offers a range of devices and service plans through a network of distributors and vendors while the Business and Consumer Wireline segments cater to the needs of businesses, families, organizations, and institutions. The Latin America segment provides wireless services in Mexico under the AT&T and Unefon brand names.

AT&T is a leader in the switch to 5G. Its 5G service comes in three tiers that seek to unlock the full potential of the technology. The base AT&T 5G uses the low band for wider coverage and is able to reach 281 million people in 22,000 cities. The high-end 5G+ using millimeter wavelength is available in more than 45 major metropolitan areas, stadiums, and high-traffic areas. The 5G+ using C-band is a blend of the two offering the highest speeds with the widest coverage.
Digital Realty is a real estate investment trust focused entirely on data centers. The company owns, acquires, develops, and operates a network of global data centers and the cloud-based solutions cloud service providers need to access and maximize them. The company has set itself apart from the traditional data center REIT by unifying its holdings across one digital platform called PlatformDIGITALR which provides seamless control of data flow.

The company was formed in 2004 when GI Partners contributed 24 newly acquired data centers to help form the business. Later that same year, the company went public through an IPO that provided the capital to begin a campaign of acquisition. The company has been steadily adding square footage and new locations to its network ever since and it is still not done. The expansion has helped to deliver a 10% FFO CAGR and fuel a steadily rising dividend distribution. The company made its 16th consecutive annual dividend increase in 2022 and additional increases are expected each year.

Digital Realty's global footprint provides access to connected businesses in more than 284 facilities in 23 countries. As of mid-2022, it had more than $53 billion in assets and was listed as the US 8th largest publicly traded REIT.

Digital Realty supports the world's IT infrastructure by providing a full range of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. Businesses can choose to rely solely on Digital Realty for their data center needs or use Digital Realtys propriety cloud-based solutions to interconnect multiple data centers, and clouds, or connect to a private network.

PlatformDIGITALR is the company's global data center platform. It provides customers with a proven solution for operating on the cloud, scaling a digital business, and managing its data flow. The platform allows for seamless connection to providers and services that are in demand by todays rapidly changing digital businesses.

Digital Realty Trust is a key member of the Green Grid, a consortium of industry insiders and policy makers focused on making data centers more efficient and sustainable. Digital Realty Trust offers industry-leading efficiency alongside its world-class quality data centers. Digital Realty Trust data centers require fewer building materials and provide industry-leading power usage levels or PUEs.
Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. is a financial technology company that provides software, services and solutions to financial institutions, merchants and other businesses worldwide. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, with operations in more than 110 countries. FIS is a Fortune 500 company and is one of the largest global providers of banking and payment technologies.

FIS offers a wide range of products and services, including core banking and payment processing solutions, risk management, fraud detection, compliance services, mobile banking, digital wallets and other consumer-facing products. The company serves diverse customers, including banks, credit unions, merchants, governments and corporations.

Stephanie Ferris is the CEO and President of FIS. She joined the FIS team after FIS purchased WorldPay. At WorldPay, she specialized in revenue synergies and long-range strategic planning. Other notable team members include John Durrant, the President of Banking Solutions. John has focused on enterprise payment systems, product experience and small-business banking for over a decade.

Over the past few years, FIS has seen a weak financial performance. The company has been reporting losses for approximately three years. FIS's debt levels have increased in recent years due to the company's acquisition of Worldpay in 2019, which added roughly $16 billion in debt to FIS's balance sheet. Since 2019 FIS has maintained a debt level of around $35 billion. With a price-to-earnings ratio higher than the industry average and a price-to-book ratio lower than the industry average, FIS's valuation metrics suggest that the company is trading at a premium compared to its peers. FIS's stock price has performed poorly in recent years, consistently falling since Q2 of 2020.

FIS operates in the financial technology industry, which is experiencing significant growth and disruption. The rise of digital banking and payments has led to increased competition, innovation in the industry and regulatory and cybersecurity challenges.

FIS's primary competitors include global financial technology companies like Fiserv, Square and PayPal. In addition, FIS competes with traditional banks and payment processors investing in digital technology.

FIS has several growth opportunities, including new product launches, acquisitions and expansions into new markets. In 2020, the company launched several new products, including a real-time payments solution and a digital wallet. FIS also acquired the payments technology company Worldpay for $43 billion in 2019. The acquisition has positioned FIS as one of the largest payment processors in the world and has expanded the company's global footprint. It is important to note that in 2023 FIS began discussing spinning WorldPay off into a separate entity.

FIS is also exploring opportunities to expand into new markets, particularly in emerging economies such as Asia and Africa. The company has partnered with regional financial institutions to provide digital banking and payment solutions.

While FIS has seen strong financial performance and growth opportunities, the company has several potential risks and challenges. One significant risk is the increasing competition in the financial technology industry, particularly from new entrants and non-traditional players such as tech companies and fintech startups.

In addition, regulatory and compliance challenges could impact FIS's operations and growth. The financial technology industry is highly regulated, and changes in regulations or compliance requirements could increase costs and limit growth opportunities for FIS.

Cybersecurity threats are another significant risk facing FIS and the financial technology industry. As the company processes and stores sensitive financial data, any breaches or cyber-attacks could significantly damage FIS's reputation and financial performance.

Changes in consumer preferences and behavior could impact FIS's growth and profitability. As digital banking and payment solutions evolve, consumers may prefer alternative solutions, such as cryptocurrency or blockchain-based systems, which could impact FIS's traditional business model.
Elastic N.V., a data analytics company, delivers solutions designed to run in public or private clouds in multi-cloud environments. It primarily offers Elastic Stack, a set of software products that ingest and store data from various sources and formats, as well as performs search, analysis, and visualization on that data. The company's Elastic Stack product portfolio comprises Elasticsearch, a distributed, real-time search and analytics engine, and data store for various types of data, including textual, numerical, geospatial, structured, and unstructured; Kibana, a user interface, management, and configuration interface for the Elastic Stack; Elastic Agent that offers integrated host protection and central management services; Beats, a single-purpose data shippers for sending data from edge machines to Elasticsearch or Logstash; and Logstash, a data processing pipeline for ingesting data into Elasticsearch or other storage systems from a multitude of sources simultaneously. It also provides software solutions on the Elastic Stack that address cases, including search applications, workplace search, logs, metrics, application performance monitoring, synthetic monitoring, security information and event management (SIEM), endpoint security, extended detection and response, and cloud security. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Lawmakers of South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party held an overnight rally against Japan's dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean.

The legislators gathered in the National Assembly building on Thursday night to participate in the protest rally that continued until Friday morning.

The participants shouted slogans of "The Japanese government must immediately stop dumping Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean" and "The ocean of life and the ocean of everyone, let's protect it," urging the South Korean government to take actions against it.

Against the backdrop of a placard that read "Stop marine dumping of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater," Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, denounced Tokyo for causing troubles to innocent people.

"Nuclear-contaminated wastewater is spreading in the Pacific Ocean. Something unprecedented in human history is happening. None of our fishermen and people have done anything wrong and been responsible, but the damage is ours," Lee said during the rally.

The Democratic Party has pushed for a set of bills to ban the import of all aquatic products feared to be exposed to the radioactive wastewater, including seafood from Fukushima and other regions.

Under the bills, the country-of-origin regulation would be strengthened to prevent processed food, made of seafood from Fukushima and other dangerous regions, from being distributed here, while recognizing radioactive wastewater damage as a fishing disaster to support the fishing industry.

The bills also sought to legislate the right to indemnity claims against the Japanese government by creating a fund first to support the affected, such as fishermen, merchants and those processing and distributing fishery products, and demanding reimbursement from the Japanese government later.

Struck by a massive earthquake and an ensuing tsunami in March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered core meltdowns and generated a massive amount of water tainted with radioactive substances from cooling down the nuclear fuel.

Japan started discharging the first batch of radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 24. 
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib (R) and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian attend a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 1, 2023. Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Beirut Thursday for an official visit to Lebanon after wrapping up his tour in Syria, Lebanon's National News Agency reported. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich)

BEIRUT, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Friday voiced concerns about a new wave of illegal border crossing from Syria, the Elnashra news website reported.

Following a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beirut, Bou Habib said he had talked about this issue with the latter, who also discussed this matter with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to find solutions, said the report.

Bou Habib cited worsening economic problems in Syria as a major factor behind the recent influx of Syrian refugees.

Last month, the Lebanese army announced that it thwarted the illegal entry attempt of around 1,550 Syrian nationals in two weeks.

The Lebanese security forces have been trying to crack down on human smuggling in areas bordering Syria.

With an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees residing within its borders, Lebanon bears the weight of hosting the largest number of refugees per capita. The large presence of Syrian refugees has put a strain on Lebanon's resources and created widespread discontent among its citizens. 
[August 31, 2023] ACAMS Assembly Conference Bolsters Japan's Financial-Crime Fight with Expert Guidance on Corporate Transparency, Sanctions, and More Tweet

The 2-day gathering will address efforts to meet FATF's standards for banks, cryptoasset companies, non-bank businesses, and other firms TOKYO, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ACAMS, a leading international membership organization dedicated to the fight against illicit finance, will host a unique 2-day educational conference and networking event beginning on September 20th at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo in support of Japan's anti-financial crime (AFC) regime and its efforts to clamp down on money laundering, sanctions evasion, fraud and other criminal activity. In line with the conference theme of public-private partnerships, The Assembly Japan 2023 will feature a special presentation by Scott Rembrandt, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as well as insights from representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Financial Services Agency, Cabinet Office, Cabinet Legislation Bureau, Japan Financial Intelligence Center, National Defense Academy of Japan, MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Hiroshima Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, Resona Holding, PayPay Corporation, and other stakeholder organizations. Rick McDonell, ACAMS Executive Director and the former Executive Secretary of the Financial Action Task Force (FTF), and Dr. Justine Walker, ACAMS Global Head of Sanctions, Compliance and Risk, will moderate high-level discussions on pressing compliance topics, including:



Discussing the Latest FATF Priorities and Implications for Japan

Speaking to the Experts about Sanctions Implementation and Evasion

FATF and Japanese Authorities' Responses and Industry Initiatives Mitigating the Crypto Asset Risks "As Japan continues to strengthen its AFC regime in line with FATF's recommendations, it's critical that the public and private sectors come together to share their knowledge on the best path forward," said ACAMS CEO Scott Liles. "By convening leading experts in illicit finance, The Assembly Japan will drive impactful conversations, forging strong partnerships to effectively combat criminal networks." In addition to having opportunities to pose their compliance questions directly to speakers, attendees will also have the chance to network with industry peers, experts, and other stakeholders.

For more information on The Assembly Japan, including access to the agenda and registration portal, please visit: https://www.acams.org/en/events/the-assembly/the-assembly-japan. About ACAMS ACAMS is a leading international membership organization dedicated to providing opportunities for anti-financial crime (AFC) education, best practices, and peer-to-peer networking to AFC professionals. With over 100,000 members across 180 jurisdictions, ACAMS is committed to the mission of ending financial crime through the provision of AFC and sanctions knowledge-sharing, thought leadership, and platforms for public-private dialogue. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2091157/4245423/ACAMS_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/acams-assembly-conference-bolsters-japans-financial-crime-fight-with-expert-guidance-on-corporate-transparency-sanctions-and-more-301913465.html SOURCE Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS)

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[August 31, 2023] ZeroPay Introduces Alipay+ at 1.7 Million Merchants in South Korea, Promoting Convenient Experience for Asian Tourists Tweet

Korea Easy Payment Foundation, the official operator of ZeroPay, announced the introduction of Alipay+ global cross-border digital payments and marketing solutions at over 1.7 million merchants across South Korea, in a move to further ensure a smooth and convenient experience for Asian tourists. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230831026956/en/ Starting from today, users of six digital payment apps including Alipay, AlipayHK, MPay, TrueMoney, and Touch 'n Go eWallet will be able to travel and shop cashless in the country, by simply scanning the ZeroPay QR placed at the merchant's counter with their home e-wallet apps (Photo: Business Wire) Starting from today, users of six digital payment apps including Alipay, AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR China), MPay (Macao SAR, China), TrueMoney (Thailand), and Touch 'n Go eWallet (Malaysia) will be able to travel and shop cashless in the country, by simply scanning the ZeroPay QR placed at the merchant's counter with their home e-wallet apps, entering the amount of payment and confirming the transaction. More Alipay+ partner e-wallets will join onboard in the coming months.



The tie-up between Alipay+ and ZeroPay through ICB is expected to enable Korean merchants, especially smaller ones, to offer a hassle-free payment experience for international tourists and increase their potential outreach to over 1.4 billion customers from China and Southeast Asia. Introduced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, ZeroPay is South Korea's public QR-code based digital payment service designed to help small businesses, with a direct transaction system that enables zero-fee settlement for merchants and digital payments through e-wallets for consumers.

Commenting on the new partnership with ZeroPay, Danny Chung, General Manager of Ant Group in Korea, Australia and New Zealand, said, "We've been striving to enhance the convenience of seamless payment services for Asian tourists visiting South Korea by connecting Korean merchants with a variety of mobile payment methods that their customers are most familiar and comfortable with. By partnering with ZeroPay, we are looking forward to driving more growth opportunities for local businesses and together playing a share to further solidify Korea's position as one of the most popular destinations with its unique offerings and convenient experience." Hanyong Lee, CEO of ICB, said, "Through providing this service, we will help to revitalize inbound travel, which was dampened by COVID-19, creating an environment where more overseas tourists can pay with convenience in Korea. We expect that small businesses, which account for 94% of ZeroPay merchants, will pave the way in attracting foreign tourists through Alipay+." Introduced by Ant Group, Alipay+ is a suite of global cross-border digital payment and marketing solutions designed to enable businesses to process a wide range of mobile payment methods and better serve regional and global consumers through simple technical adaption. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230831026956/en/

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[September 01, 2023] Resilience, Sustainability, and Digitalisation Form Common Thread for transport logistic Southeast Asia and air cargo Southeast Asia Tweet

SINGAPORE and MUNICH, Sep. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Supply chain resilience, digitalisation and sustainability are undisputedly the logistics topics of 2023 and are likely to have a lasting impact on the industry for years to come. Consequently, they are the main focus of the conference program of transport logistic Southeast Asia and air cargo Southeast Asia, which will be held in Singapore from November 1 to 3, 2023. The opening address will be given by Alvin Tan, Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Trade and Industry (Singapore), and Oliver Luksic, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport (Germany). From November 1-3, 2023, global and regional logistics decision makers will meet at transport logistic Southeast Asia and air cargo Southeast Asia, the international trade fair for transportation, logistics and air cargo which will be held for the first time this year in Singapore. With nearly 50 sessions in the conference program, daily exhibitor events and the special project cargo conference, the conference program offers the perfect opportunity to get up to date on the latest developments in the industry. The conference program kicks off with a keynote speech on supply chain strategies by author and logistics expert Mark Millar. After the Covid 19 pandemic, the Suez Canal average and the Ukraine war, supply chains came under severe strain three times in quick succession, making rethought and crisis-proof strategies increasingly essential for companies. Other highlights in the program include country sessions by Singapore, Germany, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, which will take place on the first two days of the fair. On the Exhibitor Stage, companies from the logistics, sea and air freight sectors, such as DHL, dnata, Gebruder Weiss, Incheon International Airport, Jettainer and Singapore Airlines will provide practical insights into their sustainability and digitalisation strategies, among other things. Another highlight of the trade fair is the Project Cargo Conference, which will take place on November 3, 2023, in parallel with transport logistic and air cargo Southeast Asia. It will focus on the trends, challenges and opportunities in general cargo and heavy lift in Southeast Asia. "With transport logistic and air cargo Southeast Asia, we have created a platform that promotes the development of logistics networks as well as business relationships between Southeast Asia and key global markets. In addition, the multi-faceted conference program we are organizing with our partners offers interesting insights into the Southeast Asian logistics market," says Michael Wilton, Managing Director of MMI Asia, Messe Munchen's regional subsidiary, adding, "With the Project Cargo Conference, we are also taking into account the fast-growing general cargo and heavy lift market in the region." The events in the conference program are free of charge for all exhibitors and visitors of transport logistic and air cargo Southeast Asia. For an overview and more information on the conference program, visit https://transportlogisticsea.com. About MMI Asia Pte. Ltd

A full subsidiary of Messe Munchen GmbH, MMI Asia established in Singapore in 1992, is now embarking on a significant growth and expansion program, bringing some of Messe Munchen's world leading brands to the Southeast Asia market. transport logistic and air cargo Southeast Asian editions are organized by MMI Asia Pte Ltd. transport logistic exhibitions

The international industry network of transport logistic exhibitions consists of twelve events. In addition to the leading international trade fair transport logistic in Munich, transport logistic China is held every two years, alternating with it in Shanghai, China. In Turkey, Messe Munchen and EKO Fair Limited organize the logitrans International Transport Logistics Exhibition in Istanbul every year. Messe Munchen is organizing transport logistic Americas, which will be held every two years in Americas started in 2022 . From November 2023, transport logistic Southeast Asia will also be held in Singapore for the first time. At all trade fairs, the air cargo sector plays an essential role. As part of transport logistic in Munich, air cargo Europe is the world's largest air cargo trade fair, while air cargo China is the leading event in Asia, in addition, air cargo Southeast Asia is focusing on this segment in Singapore. air cargo India and air cargo Africa are independent trade fairs for the industry. Messe Munchen

Messe Munchen is one of the leading exhibition organizers worldwide with more than 50 of its own trade shows for capital goods, consumer goods and new technologies. Every year, a total of over 50,000 exhibitors and around three million visitors take part in more than 200 events at the exhibition center in Munich, at the ICM  Internationales Congress Center Munchen, the Conference Center Nord and the MOC Veranstaltungscenter Munchen as well as abroad. Together with its subsidiary companies, Messe Munchen organizes trade shows in China, India, Brazil, Singapore, South Africa and Turkey. With a network of associated companies in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, and with around 70 representatives abroad for more than 100 countries, Messe Munchen has a truly global presence.







Contact: Crystal Wang Marketing Manager transport logistic Southeast Asia / air cargo Southeast Asia [email protected]



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[September 01, 2023] Interactive Whiteboard Market to grow by USD 692.41 million from 2022 to 2027 | North America to contribute 33% of the market growth - Technavio Tweet

NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The interactive whiteboard market size is expected to grow by USD 692.41 million from 2022 to 2027, progressing at a CAGR of 6.66% as per the latest Technavio market research report. North America is estimated to account for 33% of the global market during the forecast period. Technavio's analysts have elaborately explained the regional trends and drivers that shape the market during the forecast period. Across North America, the easy accessibility of gadgets such as e-book readers, tablets, and laptops, along with enhanced and uninterrupted Internet connectivity, has led to the extensive embrace of digital classrooms and e-learning. Furthermore, the United States holds a prominent status as the world's largest technology market, contributing around 30% of the global tech market share in 2021, with continued growth projected in the upcoming period. This flourishing tech landscape, combined with the progression of the education sector within the region, is expected to propel the growth of the interactive whiteboard market in North America. For more insights on the market share of various regions- Download a sample report in MINUTES Interactive Whiteboard Market: Increasing use of advanced technologies in the education sector to drive growth The increasing use of advanced technologies in the education sector is notably driving market growth. Across the globe, educational institutions are progressively incorporating advanced technologies to bolster the efficiency and efficacy of their educational systems. Educators are leveraging tools like interactive whiteboards, touchscreen tablets, flat-panel technology, and 3D projectors to facilitate dynamic and engaging lessons. Moreover, visual elements such as images and graphs are presented with heightened precision and clarity compared to conventional teaching methodologies. With the rising technological acumen of the contemporary learner cohort, educational establishments acknowledge the significance of embracing innovations like interactive whiteboards. Consequently, there is a mounting worldwide demand for interactive whiteboards within the educational sector, propelled by the infusion of cutting-edge technologies aimed at enriching the learning experience. Interactive Whiteboard Market: Increased Adoption Of Gamification Increased adoption of gamification is an emerging trend shaping market growth. The worldwide interactive whiteboard market is observing a notable uptick in the adoption of gamification within the realm of education. This trend is particularly pronounced within primary and secondary education, where educators are incorporating gamified content to proficiently manage their classrooms. Gamification assumes a pivotal role in fostering collaborative learning among students, proffering interactive sessions, and fostering an enjoyable educational journey. Consequently, market vendors are placing heightened emphasis on integrating gamification elements into their classroom management system solutions. In parallel, Course Hero, another platform, focuses on amplifying learning outcomes by facilitating document sharing, tutoring services, and a platform for seeking answers. Its primary focus is on the high school and higher education sectors. The infusion of gamification into the learning process is projected to spark greater student engagement in classroom activities, potentially catalyzing the expansion of the global interactive whiteboard market during the forecast period. To know about more drivers, trends along challenges - Download a sample now! Some of the key Interactive Whiteboard Market Players: The interactive whiteboard market is fragmented and the vendors are deploying organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market. Some of the companies are mentioned below: Alphabet Inc., Boxlight Corp, Cisco Systems Inc., Delta Electronics Inc., Genee World Ltd, Hitachi Ltd., Leyard Group, LG Electronics Inc., Microsoft Corp., Newline Interactive Inc., Panasonic Holdings Corp., Promethean World Ltd., Qisda Corp., Ricoh Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., Sharp NEC Display Solutions of America Inc., SMART Technologies ULC, Steelcase Inc., and ViewSonic Corp. Interactive Whiteboard Market: Segmentation Analysis This market research report extensively covers market segmentation by end-user (education sector and corporate sector), technology (resistive, capacitive, infrared, electromagnetic pen, and others), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa). Based on end-users, the market share growth by the education sector segment will be significant during the forecast period. Developed nations like the US and Canada are observing substantial uptake of interactive whiteboards. In the US, companies centered around e-learning technology are pursuing mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships to enhance their market penetration and customer outreach. Given these collective influences, the adoption of interactive whiteboards within the educational sphere is gathering momentum, consequently propelling the anticipated growth of the global interactive whiteboard market throughout the forecast period. For additional information on the market contribution of each segment - Grab an Exclusive Sample Report Gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Related Reports: The corporate education technology (EdTech) market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 22.96% between 2022 and 2027 and the size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 55,495.96 million. This report covers market segmentation by deployment (on-premise and cloud-based), end-user (IT, manufacturing, healthcare and life science, finance and banking, and others), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and the Middle East and Africa). Augmented digitization of business processes is the key driver notably driving the growth of the global corporate education technology (EdTech) market growth. The smart education market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 17.98% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 353.17 billion. The report includes historic market data from 2017 to 2021. The report also extensively covers market segmentation by end-user (academics and corporate), component (service, software, and hardware), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa).







Interactive Whiteboard Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 6.66% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 692.41 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 6.0 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 33% Key countries US, China, Japan, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Alphabet Inc., Boxlight Corp, Cisco Systems Inc., Delta Electronics Inc., Genee World Ltd, Hitachi Ltd., Leyard Group, LG Electronics Inc., Microsoft Corp., Newline Interactive Inc., Panasonic Holdings Corp., Promethean World Ltd., Qisda Corp., Ricoh Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., Sharp NEC Display Solutions of America Inc., SMART Technologies ULC, Steelcase Inc., and ViewSonic Corp. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of contents 1 Executive Summary 2 Market Landscape 3 Market Sizing 4 Historic Market Size 5 Five Forces Analysis 6 Market Segmentation by End-user 7 Market Segmentation by Technology 8 Customer Landscape 9 Geographic Landscape 10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 11 Vendor Landscape 12 Vendor Analysis 13 Appendix About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contacts

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

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[September 01, 2023] LONGi attends the ASEAN-China Low Carbon Investment Cooperation Workshop in Indonesia Tweet

BALI, Indonesia, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LONGi attended the ASEAN-China Low Carbon Investment Cooperation Workshop in Indonesia on August 25th, 2023. As one of the parallel sessions of the 41st ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM), this workshop aimed to promote green and low-carbon investment cooperation between China and ASEAN countries. During the workshop, LONGi emphasized its commitment to technology leadership and innovation in the solar industry. Over the years, LONGi has contributed to the reduction of the cost of solar power generation and provided efficient products for various applications, including power plants and industrial and commercial users. The company has also entered the green hydrogen business and has established itself as a leading provider of large-scale green hydrogen equipment and solutions. Southeast Asia is heavily reliant on traditional energy sources, with fossil fuels accounting for 83% of the region's energy structure. LONGi understands the critical need for energy transformation in ASEAN countries ad aims to provide efficient and diversified products to cater to various energy needs.



The cost of renewable energy has significantly decreased over the past decade, making it an accessible option for electricity generation. Solar photovoltaic (PV) power has grown in popularity, with many countries along the Belt and Road announcing plans for renewable energy installations. LONGi actively supports the Belt and Road Initiative and has established a manufacturing base in Malaysia to promote the adoption of solar PV technology in the region. As a responsible major country, China is committed to achieving its own carbon neutrality goals and supporting the development of global green industries. LONGi, as a key player in the renewable energy sector, is dedicated to collaborating with local partners in ASEAN countries to optimize their energy structures and assist in energy transformation.

About LONGi Founded in 2000, LONGi is committed to being the world's leading solar technology company, focusing on customer-driven value creation for full scenario energy transformation. Under its mission of 'making the best of solar energy to build a green world', LONGi has dedicated itself to technology innovation and established five business sectors, covering mono silicon wafers cells and modules, commercial & industrial distributed solar solutions, green energy solutions and hydrogen equipment. The company has honed its capabilities to provide green energy and has more recently, also embraced green hydrogen products and solutions to support global zero carbon development. www.longi.com/en View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/longi-attends-the-asean-china-low-carbon-investment-cooperation-workshop-in-indonesia-301915598.html SOURCE LONGi

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ANKARA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) killed a senior member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in a cross-border operation in northern Iraq's Sulaymaniyah region, the state-run TRT broadcaster reported Monday.

The "neutralized" PKK member, Rezan Gungen, codenamed "Rezan Botan," was allegedly trained in Sulaymaniyah for assassination attempts against Turkiye's security forces, the TRT reported, citing unnamed security sources.

Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralized" in their statements to imply the "terrorists" in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

In the operation, close relatives of Rezan Gungen were also "neutralized."

MIT has intensified cross-border operations in Iraq since last year and killed several other senior PKK members over the past months.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States, and the European Union, has rebelled against the Turkish government for more than three decades. 
[September 01, 2023] Huawei Cloud Reaffirms Commitment to the Philippine Finance Industry With Huawei Cloud Finance Summit Philippines 2023 Tweet

MANILA, Philippines, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In pursuit of its ambitious vision to revolutionise the financial landscape in the digital age within the Philippines, Huawei hosted the prestigious Huawei Cloud Finance Summit Philippines 2023 at the exquisite Shangri-La The Fort, situated in the heart of Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Manila. This summit served as a dynamic convergence point for prominent figures and forward-thinking innovators in the Philippine finance sector, fostering deep discussions on propelling the industry forward through groundbreaking innovations. Sylvia Wang, CEO at Huawei Cloud Philippines, kicked off the event with a welcome address, where she emphasised the encompassing benefits of digital transformation in the world of finance and why it needs to be foundational to the finance industry moving forward. Wang also observed that the financial industry stands as the vanguard for the most advanced technologies, often serving as the pioneering frontier where numerous innovations take root. This further emphasises the imperative for all stakeholders, ranging from business leaders to financial institutions and intermediaries, to actively explore the digital solutions now accessible within the industry. Bridging the Digital Gap in the Finance Sector Huawei has established itself as one of the provider of fintech solutions worldwide. Today, Huawei remains steadfast in maintaining this position and aims to assist an expanding network of financial industry players in harnessing innovation to deliver essential services and promote comprehensive financial inclusion for all. "Over the past years, we have tried our best to provide the best solutions and services to serve all our industry customers," Wang noted about the breadth of Huawei's client base. This client base currently includes 300 financial customers globallyincluding those in Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines, where Huawei has been in business for over two decades now. "Huawei has already been in business in the Philippines for 21 years," Wang pointed out proudly. "In the past 21 years, Huawei has accumulated a lot of localised experience and has been giving its best cloud services to support local enterprises. We have gained various certifications and professional recognitions, and also comply to the BSP regulation in Philippines as well. Meanwhile, we are also expected to have our local region in the Philippines in the near future." Wang added that in this era dominated by cloud-first strategies, Huawei is diligently ensuring that stakeholders within the financial industry have the seamless capability to transition to the cloud and fully capitalise on its advantages. Huawei Cloud 20-fold Growth in 4 Years, Fastest-Growing Cloud Presence in APAC Huawei Cloud is, indeed, at the forefront of the cloud revolution in fintech, particularly in the greater APAC region. In his keynote, "HUAWEI CLOUD: Building a Trusted, Innovative Cloud for the Financial Industry", Huawei Cloud APAC President Zeng Xingyun detailed the unprecedented growth of Huawei Cloud in APAC, where it has seen an 86% growth in revenue over the past four years, along with a 62% increase in its customer base and an 80% increase in the number of its partners. These impressive gains should come as no surprise as Huawei Cloud, according to Zeng, puts the customers' needs above all else. This customer-centric approach is facilitated by Huawei Cloud's extensive network of 14 Availability Zones (AZs), set to expand o 17 with the imminent. Additionally, Huawei Cloud ensures robust local support through a dedicated team of over 30 local experts, ready to provide round-the-clock assistance to its valued customers.



In financial markets, meanwhile, Huawei Cloud saw its revenue increase by 170% last year, thanks to an additional 26 new customers, including some VIP customers such as SCB, KTB, and KTC Bank in Thailand; GLDB Bank and APEX in Singapore; BNC Bank in Indonesia; KBZ Bank in Myanmar, Tune Insurance in Malaysia; and Akulaku in the Philippines.

Why Cloud-Native Is the Way Forward Undoubtedly, the cloud has taken a primordial role in the finance sector, and Wu Shiwei, CTO at Huawei Cloud APAC, touched on why this is the case in his keynote, "Financial Cloud: Everything as a Service, Building Agile and Smart Finance Together." Wu highlighted that enterprises have made the strategic choice to adopt cloud-native infrastructure as the cornerstone of their digital transformation efforts. This decision signifies that those already integrated into the cloud ecosystem will have the initial and more streamlined access to cutting-edge innovations, while those yet to migrate or are in the midst of the transition may find it challenging to access the latest technological advancements in a timely and convenient manner. Additionally, Wu introduced a few of Huawei Cloud's cloud-native core banking solutions, starting with its GaussDB database, which replaced more than 600 sets of Oracle databases in Huawei-owned IT systems. Wu also introduced Huawei's data-AI convergence, which optimises an institution's decision-making by enhancing its competence and capability to maximise the value of its data. The first thing to do in this case, Wu explained, is to converge the data wherever it is residing, before integrating the data into machine learning operations and DevOps. Expanding on this pivotal concept, in his keynote "Banking in the Digitalisation Era," Huawei's Chief Digital Transformation Officer of Global Digital Finance, K.T. Chen, delved deeper into how exactly cloud-native is accelerating the digitalisation of the financial sector that is now entering a well-connected world. Chen, in particular, highlighted technology's growing role in the digital economy and how it is shaping finance in the Philippines with trends such as digital customer experience, big data and AI, and digital currency. Given this, Chen implored the attendees to always provide customers with "the best-class digital experience with your financial services." Driving Finance Forward in the Philippines via the Cloud Notably, Wang made sure to emphasise in her opening address Huawei's commitment to enhancing the Philippines' financial sector through its diverse cloud and innovation solutions. "As we are already part of the Philippines, we trust that we can bring the most valuable cloud to the nation as we know how to translate our technological capabilities and solutions to meet the specific requirements and scenarios in the Philippines," said Wang. "We have a dedicated team and dedicated resources right here, and in the very near future, we'll establish availability zones here in the Philippines. We're committed to harnessing all our capabilities and resources to ensure that Huawei Cloud doesn't just soar in the digital skies but stays firmly grounded, close to you!" In summary, the Huawei Cloud Finance Summit Philippines 2023 was an unequivocal success, leaving a lasting impact on the Philippine financial industry. As the summit came to a close, it was evident that this dynamic collaboration had set the stage for a new era of financial excellence in the Philippines, driven by the power of the cloud. Speakers Quotes Chester Velasco, Vice President, Head of IOCS, UnionBank "Our journey with Huawei Cloud is not just about immediate gains; it's about building a foundation for long-term success. The hybrid cloud approach offers the scalability required to accommodate future growth, ensuring Unionbank remains agile and responsive as customer needs evolve." Samuel Tan, Country Manager, Philippines at Sunline "Through a dual-core transformation strategy integrating legacy and digital cores, enhanced by cloud hosting, banks can now revolutionise digital finance to meet customer demands securely and efficiently." Mary Cheung, Vice President, Business management, Akulaku "It is a epitome of technology aiding creativity, a testament to the power of partnership, and a collaboration that we can learn, grow and inspire together." Michael Calma, Country Manager, Philippines, AdvanceAI As a young, but amply funded start-up, we need to relentlessly focus on product-market-fit if we are to be successful in a fast growing market such as the Philippines. As Advance.AI, this involves customer-focused innovation and partnerships in localizing global AI technology and best practices into the Philippine context. Haekal Aufar Amriel, Technical Consultant Manager at Seclron "In this interconnected world, let's prepare today to secure tomorrow. Mobile app usage has accelerated over the years, and it is now time to help everyone safeguard against the evolving cybersecurity threats in the digital landscape." Elaine Cheong, Head of Marketing at TrustDecision "In an era of abundant information but scarce trust, we stand as a beacon of reliability and authenticity. We build a global trusted intelligence network for businesses to combat fraud, deliver comprehensive credit risk analytics and ensure compliance with regulations." Clarisse Raymundo, Fintech Account Head, Philippines at Wiz.AI "Harness AI-powered omnichannel customer engagement that impacts customer experience, agent performance, and overall business outcomes with Wiz.AI." About Huawei Cloud Huawei Cloud is a global cloud service provider based in China, offering on-demand cloud computing and APIs to individual customers, businesses, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go system. Huawei Cloud leverages over three decades of Huawei's expertise in ICT and digitalisation. We work with our customers, partners, and developers to dive into the digital realm and provide Everything as a Service. Together, we are building the cloud foundation for an intelligent world. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/huawei-cloud-reaffirms-commitment-to-the-philippine-finance-industry-with-huawei-cloud-finance-summit-philippines-2023-301915642.html SOURCE Huawei Cloud Philippines

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[September 01, 2023] Tuya Successfully Holds 2023 TUYA Developer Summit in Singapore, Embodying Nation's 3C Concept to Advance Sustainable Development Tweet

SINGAPORE, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tuya Smart (NYSE: TUYA, HKEX: 2391), a global IoT developer service provider, today held the TUYA Developer Summit (Singapore), the summit's first overseas stop, to give developers advanced knowledge and share practical experience. The event featured a wide range of cutting-edge technology, products, and solutions in partnership with global business leaders. Singapore is entering a new stage of intelligence-driven development, as characterized by the Singapore government's announcement of the "Smart Nation 2025" 10-year plan in 2014. The development of Singapore's smart city continues to evolve, with intelligence encompassing all facets of life, such as outdoor travel, education, etc., embodying Singapore's "3C concept" of Connect, Collect, and Comprehend. With its strong technical foundation and open platform, Tuya, as an IoT industry practitioner and pioneer, will support the "3C concept" in maximizing the value of its "intelligence" in real-world interconnection and application scenarios, further investigate how to create an AI-powered smart city. The TUYA Developer Summit provided the chance to learn more about the development of smart cities in the age of AI. The TUYA Developer Summit (Singapore) featured Tuya's PaaS2.0, integrated hardware and software solutions, and HEMS, all of which embrace the "3C concept" and address the pain points faced by the global industry in smart transformation. Summit guests included: Jerry Huang , Managing Director of APAC Business Affairs of Wi- Fi Alliance

, Managing Director of APAC Business Affairs of Wi- Apirut Vancha-am, Chief Digital Officer of Siam Cement Group (SCG)

Jai Mirpuri , Country Head of Singapore (Development) & Thailand of ESR

, Country Head of (Development) & of ESR Spike Choo , General Manager of Sustainability and Industry Ecosystems of M1 Enterprise Services

, General Manager of Sustainability and Industry Ecosystems of M1 Enterprise Services Clement Koh , Founder of AutoLifeTech

, Founder of AutoLifeTech JingXian Wu , Data Scientist of Meta

, Data Scientist of Meta Alex Yang , Co-Founder and COO of Tuya Smart

, Co-Founder and COO of Ross Luo , General Manager of Asia Pacific Region of Tuya Smart

, General Manager of Asia Pacific Region of Daniel Shan , Product Director of Intelligence Business Group of Tuya Smart Ross Luo, General Manager of Tuya Smart's Asia Pacific Region, gave an opening keynote address on the theme of "Everything Connected, Everyone Sustainable." "The Smart Nation with its 3C concept that is linked to the IoT ecosystem, will give Singapore stronger resilience and to better practice sustainable development, which also means that the global IoT industry has entered the next stage," Luo said in his keynote address. "For Singapore's Smart Nation program, Tuya focuses on developing an open and neutral smart ecosystem, which ensures that devices of various categories and brands can be connected seamlessly, developing its own IoT platform at a high efficiency and low cost, and guaranteeing the arrival of smarter applications by fusing AI and other technologies to give customers full-process autonomy for IoT. Teaming up with intelligence has become vital, and Tuya is keen to collaborate with global developers to discover a better, greener, and more intelligent way of life." Next, Tuya and many other well-known industry leaders gave excellent remarks to the audience, focusing on the three main subjects of "interconnection," "application," and "AI+IoT." I. Interconnection: Forging a new IoT ecosystem Developers are in urgent need of a secure, effective, and scalable platform to enable device interconnection between a variety of brands of devices under different connectivity protocols. The sharing of Tuya and its partners at the Summit showed the possibility of creating effective interconnection of devices. Alex Yang, Co-Founder and COO of Tuya Smart delivered a keynote speech entitled "PaaS2.0:The Productivity Hub For Sustainable Application Scenarios". "The progress of smart cities encounters a lot of challenges, among which data security and rapid development of personalized scenario applications are crucial," Yang said in his keynote address. "The security compliance capabilities of PaaS2.0 have once again advanced to a new level thanks to collaboration with the third-party auditing organizations and law firms. The Tuya Mini App offers comprehensive development frameworks, components, and APIs that can assist developers in creating individualized scene applications that are equivalent to the original App experiences with low entry barriers and great efficiency. Additionally, the development of AI algorithms and other personalization tools will raise the value of scene Apps even further. For instance, the energy-saving kit from Tuya for Singapore households can connect body sensors, infrared remote controls, smart fans, smart air conditioners, and more with the Mini App for home energy management to control the devics by the user's preferences and lower power usage."



Wi-Fi Alliance

Jerry Huang: Wi-Fi: Inherent Strengths Enabling IoT Ecosystems Jerry Huang, Managing Director of APAC Business Affairs of Wi-Fi Alliance said, "The Wi-Fi Alliance is dedicated to delivering an exceptional connectivity experience to our global industry partners, and standards-based interoperable technology is Wi-Fi's primary strength. The Internet of Things is established and developed among a variety of device manufacturers, while Wi-Fi offers a common platform to fit different devices' performance, power, and latency requirements and is simple, effective, and affordable to implement, providing end-users the confidence of a quality experience."

II. Applications: Unlock smart scene applications How can developers effectively address the application needs of these smart industrial systems given the sheer number of systems involved in the smart industry? At the Summit, Tuya's "modular" software combination capabilities and rich hardware ecosystem provide developers with new ideas to break the ice. Daniel Shan, Product Director of the Intelligence Business Group of Tuya Smart, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Business Value Creation under Technological Evolution". "According to a Transforma Insight analysis, there will be 15000 million IoT device connections worldwide in 20 different industries, including education, community service, and many other industries, by 2023," Shan said. "This also implies that different industries require distinct things from business scene upgrades. The "modular" software combination capabilities of Tuya and its robust hardware ecosystem can support the quick implementation of smart scenarios by developers. Considering Tuya House & Real Estate SaaS, when multi-brand and cross-industry intelligent devices, like security management, access control intercom, parking gate, etc., are connected to Tuya's ecosystem through its industry solutions, they can work together with Tuya-enabled hardware devices to realize a smart scene. In addition, developers can quickly put community applications in use through Tuya's user-side application matrix, providing residents with distributed entrances such as App, Mini App, and smart terminals on the user's side, so that users can feel the convenience brought by the application of intelligent scenes at every entrance. On the property management side, managers can carry out regional operation and maintenance of the community through the property management App, and the utilization rate of space resources will be greatly enhanced. Tuya's integrated hardware and software solutions will help global industry customers to expand more industry scenarios and develop their own sustainable development path." SCG, the largest cement and construction materials producer in Southeast Asia

Apirut Vancha-am: Five Secrets to Making Smart-home a Consumer-friendly, Inclusive and Sustainable Solution for Everyone SCG has made significant contributions to the advancement of the nation's infrastructure initiatives for more than a century, operating over 300 subsidiaries. SCG has divided its core businesses into five segments: cement-building materials, papermaking, chemicals, packaging, and commerce. Its operations span many Southeast Asian countries and regions, including Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, and Myanmar. Apirut Vancha-am, Chief Digital Officer of SCG, said, "Comprehensive platform technological capabilities, open and sustainable IoT solutions, and ecosystems are crucial for constructing intelligent scenarios. SCG is collaborating with Tuya Smart to launch the 'MIND' smart home brand. Leveraging Tuya's rich ecosystem of hardware and Cube Solution capabilities, SCG is dedicated to creating consumer-oriented smart homes. By exploring five key secrets, SCG aims to make smart homes a highly inclusive and sustainable solution for the general public." ESR, a large-scale new economy real estate platform in the Asia Pacific region

Jai Mirpuri: Green Technology Investments in Real Estate ESR is Asia Pacific's largest new economy-driven real estate management company and the world's third-largest publicly listed real estate investment management company. It has a strong footprint in key markets in the Asia Pacific region and is expanding its presence in Europe and the United States. Jai Mirpuri, Country Head of Singapore (Development) & Thailand of ESR, said, "Global climate issues are a serious challenge today. According to several reports from the IEA, Global ABC, and other sources, 28% of global CO2 emissions come from the building construction industry. The sustainability transformation of the real estate industry is a matter of urgency. Integration of IoT devices has become increasingly common in buildings, covering lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, where these systems monitor and control all aspects of building operations to minimize energy waste. IoT technology plays a key role in driving the green real estate revolution." III. AI+IoT: to help intelligent transformation The upgrading of AI technology also advances the development of IoT. What new changes will the combination of the two bring to the global industry? At the TUYA Developer Summit, Singapore's local enterprises brought new inspiration of IoT and AI to global developers based on their own experience of cooperation with Tuya. M1 Enterprise Services, Singapore's leading digital network operator

Spike Choo: Driving Sustainable Growth through Smart Energy Solution As the first digital network operator in Singapore, M1 provides a suite of communication services including mobile, fixed-line, and fiber offerings to over two million customers,. M1 launched commercial services in 1997. It was the first operator to offer nationwide 4G services in Singapore; it has also been awarded one of Singapore's two nationwide 5G standalone network licenses. With robust growth in recent years, M1's Enterprise Business provides an extensive suite of services and solutions to corporate customers which includes symmetrical connectivity solutions of up to 10Gbps, managed services, cloud solutions, cybersecurity solutions, Internet of Things and data centre services. Furthermore, M1 has been actively embedding ESG solutions into strategy to elevate the sustainability and ethical standards of businesses across various industry chains. Spike Choo, General Manager of Sustainability and Industry Ecosystems of M1 Enterprise Services, said, "M1 is pleased to partner with Tuya to offer cutting-edge Smart Workspace and Smart Building solutions to help enterprises and building owners become more energy efficient while improving occupancy comfort and productivity. By leveraging Connectivity, IoT and AI-based analytics, facility managers and building owners can easily control, calibrate and optimize the various equipment and devices to achieve the most ideal working conditions throughout the day and in different weather conditions." AutoLifeTech

Clement Koh: Application of AI to Home Energy Saving Systems AutoLifeTech is an IoT research and integration company. Its specialty is to create fine user interfaces and have customers' products integrated into one platform to further create desired automation, including those that are technically difficult to realize. Clement Koh, Founder of AutoLifeTech, shared two case studies during his speech, saying: "AI technology is critical in energy conservation, it enhances the Home Energy Management System through predictive analytics. Our collaboration with Tuya successfully transformed traditional households into smart ones, realizing real-time information analysis for personalized energy usage demands, and dynamic control of home appliances for optimal energy usage. We are keen to leverage Tuya's IoT and of AI-driven energy management capabilities to shape home users' behaviors and habits for eco-conscious living." Meta, a globally recognized meta-universe enterprise

JingXian Wu: AI & LLMs Impact on the IoT Industry Jingxian Wu, Data Scientist of Meta, said, "The integration of AI and IoT will bring inspiration for global industries. All software and industries will be able to reshape with big models, developing comprehensive smart hardware. For example, the original equipment could only recognize a single scene, which would not preform ideally in real-life scenarios. With the multi-modal ability of the large language model, the equipment can perform analysis and association with changing scenes, alerting users in real time. Thus, I think application based on big models will become the next trend." The TUYA Developer Summit (Singapore) unveiled many innovative Tuya-enabled products and integrated software and hardware solutions, which triggered heated discussions among the industry leaders and also presented a wonderful collision of viewpoints for developers. In the future, the TUYA Developer Summit will be held in various major cities and overseas in 2023. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/tuya-successfully-holds-2023-tuya-developer-summit-in-singapore-embodying-nations-3c-concept-to-advance-sustainable-development-301915736.html SOURCE Tuya Smart

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[September 01, 2023] Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Portfolio Company Global Loan Agency Services To Acquire Pristine Tweet

Global Loan Agency Services ("GLAS"), a portfolio company of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners ("LLCP"), announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Pristine SAS ("Pristine"). Headquartered in London, UK with offices in France, Germany, the United States, and Australia, GLAS is a leading provider of loan administration, agency, and trustee services globally. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Paris, France, Pristine is a leading asset and trust management firm. It provides a range of services supporting restructuring and asset management teams within both global and domestic financial institutions and asset managers. This transaction would represent GLAS' first acquisition following LLCP's investment and is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Mia Drennan and Brian Carne, Co-Founders of GLAS, commented, "We are delighted to partner with Pristine as the firms offer complementary services that will be highly valued by our enlarged client base. Pristine's capabilities in fiducie and management company services will be very relevant for our clients. We are excited to welcome the Pristine team into the GLAS famiy."



Josh Kaufman, Head of Europe at LLCP, added, "We are thrilled to support GLAS' acquisition of Pristine, which is a highly strategic and important initiative for GLAS. The addition of Pristine's unique service offering is complementary and additive to GLAS and will allow the company to further support and grow with its clients across the European market. We look forward to continuing to support the GLAS management team as the company continues on its impressive growth journey both organically and through M&A." GLAS is a portfolio company of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Europe II.

LLCP was advised by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Simmons & Simmons LLP. About Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, LLC is a middle-market private equity firm with a 39-year track record of investing across various targeted sectors, including Franchising & Multi-unit, Business Services, Education & Training and Engineered Products & Manufacturing. LLCP utilizes a differentiated Structured Private Equity investment strategy, combining debt and equity capital investments in portfolio companies. LLCP believes that by investing in a combination of debt and equity securities, it offers management teams growth capital in a highly tailored, flexible investment structure that can be a more attractive alternative than traditional private equity. LLCP's global team of dedicated investment professionals is led by nine partners who have worked at LLCP for an average of 19 years. Since inception, LLCP has managed approximately $13.3 billion of institutional capital across 15 investment funds and has invested in over 100 portfolio companies. LLCP currently manages $8.7 billion of assets and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, London, Stockholm, The Hague and Frankfurt. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230831460542/en/

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[September 01, 2023] Tokens.com Announces Change of Auditor Tweet

Tokens.com Corp. (NEO Exchange Canada: COIN)(Frankfurt Stock Exchange: 76M) (OTCQB US: SMURF) ("Tokens.com" or the "Company"), a publicly-traded company that invests in web3 assets and builds web3 businesses, today announces that its board of directors (the "Board") has approved a change of the Company's auditor. The Company's former auditor, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton LLP (the "Former Auditor" or "RCGT"), was not reappointed by the Board, effective as of August 3, 2023. The Board and the audit committee of the Board (the "Audit Committee") have appointed Davidson & Company LLP (the "Successor Auditor" or "Davidson") as the successor auditor of the Company, effective as of August 3, 2023. "Tokens.com is grateful for the services provided by RCGT for the past two years," said Andrew Kiguel, CEO. "The Company is looking forward to a smooth transition with the Davidson team and planning for a successful FY2023 audit term." There were no disagreements or unresolved issues with the Former Auditor on any matter of the audit scope or procedures, accounting principles or policies, or financial statement disclosure. There have been no "reportable events" (as defined in National Instrument 51-102 - Continuous Disclosure Obligations) between the Company and the Former Auditor. The Former Auditor did not provide a modified opinion in their auditor's report for the financial statements of the Company fiscal years ended September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021. A Notice of Change of Auditor (the "Notice"), together with the response letters from the Former Auditor and Successor Auditor have been reviewed by the Audit Committee and the Board and have been filed on www.sedar.com. About Tokens.com Tokens.com Corp is a publicly traded company that invests in web3 assets and builds web3 businesses. The Company focuses on three operating segments: i) crypto staking ii) the metaverse and, iii) play-to-earn crypto gaming. Tokens.com owns digital assets and operating businesses within each of these categories.



Staking operations occur within Tokens.com. Metaverse operations occur within a subsidiary called Metaverse Group. Metaverse Group wholly-owns a subsidiary called cocoNFT, a platform that allows Instagram users to mint and sell NFTs easily. Additionally, Metaverse Group is a strategic investor in Metaverse Architects, a leading 3D modeling and game development studio. Web3 gaming operations occur within a subsidiary called Hulk Labs. All our businesses are tied together by the utilization of blockchain technology and are linked to high-growth macro trends within web3. Through sharing resources and infrastructure across these business segments, Tokens.com is able to efficiently incubate these businesses from inception to revenue.

Visit Tokens.com to learn more. Keep up-to-date on Tokens.com developments and join our online communities on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes certain forward-looking statements as well as management's objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. Forward looking statements are frequently identified by such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend" and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements 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 cryptocurrencies, as described in more detail in our securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and we caution against placing undue reliance thereon. We assume no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901289466/en/

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[September 01, 2023] Recce Pharmaceuticals Provides Additional Positive Update on Patients Treated Under "Special Access Scheme" Tweet

RECCE  327 as a gel formulation (R327G) demonstrated a positive clinical response in the treatment of multiple antibiotic-resistant infections under the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Special Access Scheme (SAS) Category A



327 as a gel formulation (R327G) demonstrated a positive clinical response in the treatment of multiple antibiotic-resistant infections under the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Special Access Scheme (SAS) Category A Five total patients treated with R327G under the TGA SAS Category responded well to treatment with complete eradication of antibiotic-resistant infections

Clinical trial preparations are underway for the use of R327G as a topical application

SYDNEY, Australia, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: RCE, FSE: R9Q), (the Company) developing a new class of synthetic anti-infectives, is pleased to report further patient case studies utilizing its lead anti-infective candidate, RECCE 327, as a gel formulation, or RECCE 327 Gel (R327G), by a qualified medical practitioner in patients with antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial infections under the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Special Access Scheme (SAS) Category A, a compassionate-use provision. We are thrilled to see R327G having a real-life impact with patients, especially those not responding to commonly used antibiotics thanks to the TGAs special access scheme, said James Graham, Chief Executive Officer of Recce Pharmaceuticals. We look forward to building upon these successes among the present and future clinical trials ahead. Patients have been treated under the SAS-Category A, a notification pathway that health practitioners can access on behalf of a prescribing medical practitioner for patients who are seriously ill with a condition from which death is likely to occur within a matter of months or from which premature death is expected to occur in the absence of early treatment and does not constitute a clinical trial.1 R327G is an experimental compound, not market-approved for use in humans, with safety and efficacy to be determined by current clinical studies. The results shown below must be considered anecdotal; however, they are presented in the interest of continuous disclosure obligations and are not part of any current clinical trials. Patient Case Study Example C

A 51-year-old female with a significant wound infection following an ankle infusion surgery was diagnosed with arthritis in her right ankle due to talar avascular necrosis, which is the death of bone tissue from lack of blood supply.2

A pre-treatment wound swab on day 0 showed a growing culture of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacilli, a deadly pathogen that produces spores that can survive in environments for many years.3 Patient As slow-healing wound was unresponsive for 5-6 weeks to two widely used antibiotics globally4 for bacterial infections  Augmentin (Amoxicillin) and Keflex (Cefalexin). On Day 7, following treatment with R327G, the initial redness and swelling of the wound had minimized and was found to be drying up. On day 14, there were no signs of bacterial growth surrounding the wound, and on day 21, it had successfully healed, closed, and dried up with no signs of bacterial infection. R327G treatment was shown to be well-tolerated when applied daily. Patient Case Study Example D

A 51-year-old male involved in a motorbike accident in 2017 was required to have an amputation above the knee. In 2018, the patient received osseointegration, a bone ingrowth metal implant, had a recurrent infection on the left femoral (thigh), and was not responding to oral and intravenous antibiotics.

Prior to treatment with R327, the patient showed significant bacterial infection, redness, and swelling around the implant in the upper left thigh. Three days after applying R327G, the initial redness and swelling had minimized, with the wound healing and drying up. On day 14, the wound dried up and had improved with no signs of redness or swelling. When applied daily, R327G treatment was shown to be well tolerated.



Patient Case Study Example E

An 84-year-old male with osteomyelitis, a serious infection of the bone, on his left big great toe, was not responding to antibiotics.



On day 1, pre-treatment X-rays showed an infection deep within the underlying bone, tissue, and around the nail, with signs of initial biofilm formation. After three days of R327G treatment, the wound dried up with the infection clearing, and the toe responded well to treatment. On day 7, the wound completely dried up, with no signs of biofilm surrounding the toenail, and swelling had significantly reduced. Surgical intervention was averted, such as limb amputation, which is common in patients with diabetes. About Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: RCE, FSE: R9Q) is developing a New Class of Synthetic Anti-Infectives designed to address the urgent global health problems of antibiotic-resistant superbugs and emerging viral pathogens. Recces anti-infective pipeline includes three patented, broad-spectrum, synthetic polymer anti-infectives: RECCE 327 as an intravenous and topical therapy that is being developed for the treatment of serious and potentially life-threatening infections due to Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria including their superbug forms; RECCE 435 as an orally administered therapy for bacterial infections; and RECCE 529 for viral infections. Through their multi-layered mechanisms of action, Recces anti-infectives have the potential to overcome the hypercellular mutation of bacteria and viruses  the challenge of all existing antibiotics to date. The FDA has awarded RECCE 327 Qualified Infectious Disease Product designation under the Generating Antibiotic Initiatives Now (GAIN) Act  labelling it for Fast Track Designation, plus 10 years of market exclusivity post approval. Further to this designation, RECCE 327 has been included on The Pew Charitable Trusts Global New Antibiotics in Development Pipeline as the worlds only synthetic polymer and sepsis drug candidate in development. RECCE 327 is not yet market approved for use in humans with further clinical testing required to fully evaluate safety and efficacy. Recce wholly owns its automated manufacturing, which is supporting present clinical trials. Recces anti-infective pipeline seeks to exploit the unique capabilities of its technologies targeting synergistic, unmet medical needs. Corporate Contact

James Graham

Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd

+61 (02) 9256 2571

[email protected] Media & Investor Relations (AU)

Andrew Geddes

CityPR

+61 (02) 9267 4511

[email protected] Media (USA)

Jordyn Temperato

LifeSci Communications

[email protected] Investor Relations (USA & EU)

Guillame van Renterghem

LifeSci Advisors

[email protected] 1 https://www.tga.gov.au/sites/default/files/special-access-scheme-guidance-for-health-practitioners-and-sponsors.pdf

2 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/avascular-necrosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20369859

3 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470553/

4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538164/ Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/44d624e9-07c6-4418-a66e-77e5426eb0e4 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b171e4e6-6e63-419f-89a3-21b7e7d18a62

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d9c9317d-b059-4ae1-8bd0-6f15da8e00b1



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[September 01, 2023] Verecan Capital Management Inc. Launches Across Canada Tweet

Verecan Capital Management Inc. ("Verecan Capital"), a natural evolution from its predecessor White LeBlanc Wealth Planners ("WLWP"), is pleased to announce its official launch, following its registration with the securities commissions across Canada. "Since its inception, the team has strived to always prioritize our clients' best interests and act independently of external influences," said Colin White, President & CEO at Verecan Capital Management Inc. "By removing ourselves from the corporate agenda that is inherent in the more traditional broker-dealer model, our team can now focus on the work we want to do for our clients." While Verecan Capital is embracing independence, the firm's commitment to meeting and exceeding the expectations and regulations of the securities commissions in the provinces where it operates remains unchanged. In addition to maintaining this commitment as well as the current suite of services, Verecan plans to expand its offerings over time to provide clients with more comprehensive and tailored solutions through the Verecan Group of Companies. "This strategic change represents a significant milestoe for Verecan Capital," adds White. "We are excited to embark on this journey of independence, allowing us to place an even greater emphasis on serving our clients' best interests. We remain dedicated to providing exceptional service and value, expanding our offerings, and ensuring the utmost safety and security of our clients' assets."



One of the immediate benefits of this transition is the reduction in the cost of investment pools, which has lowered client fees. The firm expects to identify further cost-saving opportunities with its new structure, enabling it to pass those savings on and enhance overall returns for their clients. Verecan Capital has chosen Advisor Solutions by Purpose (ASP), a firm with shared values, including a dedication to delivering an exemplary client experience, to provide the cutting-edge technology and support needed to operate in a truly independent environment.

To ensure the safety and security of clients' assets, Fidelity Clearing Canada (FCC) has been selected to be the firm's custodian. FCC, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments, has over $69 billion in assets under administration in Canada as of January 2023. Backed by Fidelity Investments' global expertise and strength, FCC provides additional technological capabilities and robustness to safeguard clients' assets. Its membership in regulatory bodies further underscores its commitment to maintaining the highest industry standards. About Verecan Capital Management Inc.: Verecan Capital Management Inc. is composed of the team formerly known as White LeBlanc Wealth Planners and is an investment portfolio management firm dedicated to helping clients achieve their financial goals. With a client-centric approach and a commitment to integrity, Verecan Capital Management Inc. and the Verecan Group of Companies offers a range of comprehensive solutions tailored to meet clients' individual needs. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901719139/en/

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[September 01, 2023] Fulbright University Vietnam and Nuoc.Solutions Receive Grand Challenges Grant for Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tweet

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fulbright University Vietnam and Nuoc.Solutions announced today that they are a winner of the Grand Challenges grant  an innovation initiative to solve pressing global health and development problems funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The two organizations will pursue an innovative AI project, titled Nu?cGPT: Decoding Mekong Delta Salinity. When harnessed equitably and responsibly, AI has incredible potential to help solve some of the world's toughest challenges and reduce global inequity. The team of AI and environmental experts from both organizations will create a conversational interface "Nu?cGPT" (Nu?c means water in Vietnamese) that combines cutting-edge AI tools with a user-friendly interface in the local language to support the management of salinity intrusion in the Mekong Delta. This region, home to 21.5 million people in Vietnam, is suffering from increased saltwater intrusion due to multiple factors, including climate change. The team will utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) using data in English and Vietnamese collected from diverse sources, including published data, local reports, peer-reviewed literature, and field studies of water-related problems. This will bridge the gap between complex scientific knowledge and practical decision-making, empowering users, such as local officials, farmers, and business owners, to make informed choices. The team also like to express their sincere appreciation to Vietnam's Department of Water Resources Management and Vietnam's National Innovation Center (NIC) for the invaluable support throughout the process. About Grand Challenges Grand Challenges stem frm the idea that crowdsourcing a defined set of unsolved problems can spark innovation and accelerate progress. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its Grand Challenges funding partners use Challenges  launched in 2003 as open requests for grant proposals  to focus attention and effort on solving pressing global health and development problems for those most in need. Together they have awarded over 3,600 grants engaging a diverse pool of problem solvers in over 100 countries and fostering a global innovation ecosystem where it will have the most impact. The foundation and its Grand Challenges partners will continue to launch RFPs to support innovators from around the world in tackling the hardest, most urgent, Grand Challenges. To learn more, visit grandchallenges.org.



About Nuoc.Solutions Nuoc.Solutions is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Silicon Valley. We aim to create and foster innovative, sustainable, and efficient solutions to pressing water problems in Vietnam, from salinity intrusion to sustainable water management. With cutting-edge technology like AI and strong local partnerships, we strive to create lasting impact, covering both immediate relief and long-term sustainability.

But we cannot do it alone. You can be part of the solution. Your support, whether financial or volunteer time, accelerates our mission and magnifies our impact. Your donation can catalyze groundbreaking research. Volunteering with us offers you a chance to be on the front lines of water innovation and community betterment. Together, we can create a future where clean, accessible water is not just a privilege, but a reality for all. Join us at https://nuoc.solutions. About Fulbright University Vietnam Fulbright University Vietnam is Vietnam's first independent, not-for-profit, liberal arts university. Comprising a growing global team of educational pioneers deeply connected within Vietnam and worldwide educational affiliations, we champion collaborative, transdisciplinary thought and boldness. Placing students at the core, we embrace the synergy of global integration and local immersion. Employing cutting-edge approaches in institutional design, pedagogy, technology, and more, we forge an innovative, globally significant institution. To learn more, visit https://fulbright.edu.vn/. Media Contact:

Minh-Tue Vo

408-475-5460

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fulbright-university-vietnam-and-nuocsolutions-receive-grand-challenges-grant-for-catalyzing-equitable-artificial-intelligence-ai-301915161.html SOURCE Nuoc.Solutions

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[September 01, 2023]

Fortune Media and Great Place To Work Name FloQast to 2023 Best Medium Workplaces List

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, FloQast , a provider of accounting workflow automation software created by accountants for accountants, announced it has been selected by Great Place To Work and Fortune magazine for the 2023 Fortune Best Medium Workplaces List . This is FloQasts first time being named to this prestigious list, coming in at number seven. Earning a spot means that FloQast is one of the best companies to work for in the country.



To determine the Best Medium Workplaces list, Great Place To Work analyzed the survey responses of over 210,000 employees from Great Place To Work Certified companies with 100 to 999 U.S. employees.

"We are honored to be named to Fortune's Best Medium Workplaces list, said Adey Tadesse-Heath, Vice President of Human Resources at FloQast. This recognition is a testament to the culture we have built at FloQast, where we believe that everyone has a voice and can make a difference. We are committed to creating a workplace where our employees feel valued, respected, and supported, and we are proud to be recognized for our efforts.

The Best Medium Workplaces list is highly competitive. Great Place To Work, the global authority on workplace culture, determines its lists using its proprietary For All methodology to evaluate and certify thousands of organizations in Americas largest ongoing annual workforce study, based on over 1.3 million survey responses and data from companies representing more than 7.5 million employees this year alone.

Survey responses reflect a comprehensive picture of the workplace experience. Honorees were selected based on their ability to offer positive outcomes for employees regardless of job role, race, gender, sexual orientation, work status, or other demographic identifier.

Any organization can be great, no matter the size of their payroll or the size of their bottom line, says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work. These remarkable companies know that the high-trust culture theyve built can compete with companies of any size.

Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell says, "Fortune congratulates the companies on the 2023 Best Medium Workplaces List, whose business practices prove that it doesnt take a big headcount to make a big impact."

This honor is the latest in several accolades and milestones for FloQast. Earlier this month, it made its debut on the Inc. 5000 list . This year, it also ranked among the highest-scoring businesses on Inc. Mgazines Annual List of Best Workplaces for 2023 and was named a Great Place to Work  in both the US and UK. In January, it was named to Built Ins Best Place to Work List . The company was recently named a Best Place to Work by the Los Angeles Business Journal for the seventh straight year. The award also comes alongside continued momentum for FloQast, including the launch of an all-new brand strategy and expansion to Australia and New Zealand .







For information about open positions at FloQast, visit the company careers page and follow FloQast on LinkedIn .

About FloQast

FloQast, a provider of accounting workflow automation software created by accountants for accountants, delivers an Accounting Operations Platform that enables organizations to operationalize accounting excellence. Trusted by more than 2,300 accounting teams  including Twilio, Los Angeles Lakers, Zoom, and Snowflake  FloQast was built by accountants, for accountants to enhance the way accounting teams work. FloQast enables customers to streamline and manage the Financial Close, Finance and Accounting Operations, and Compliance Programs. With FloQast, teams can manage every aspect of the month-end Close, reduce their compliance burden, stay audit-ready, and improve accuracy, visibility, and collaboration throughout the financial function. FloQast is consistently rated #1 across all user review sites. Learn more at FloQast.com.

About the Fortune Best Medium Workplaces List

Great Place To Work selected the Fortune Best Medium Workplaces List by surveying companies employing 7.5 million people in the U.S. with 1.3 million confidential responses received. Of those, more than 210,000 responses were received from employees at companies eligible for the Best Medium Workplaces list and this ranking is based on that feedback. Company scores are derived from 60 employee experience questions within the Great Place To Work Trust Index Survey . Read the full methodology .

About Great Place To Work

As the global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work brings 30 years of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Its proprietary platform and For All Model helps companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming Great Place To Work Certified or receiving recognition on a coveted Best Workplaces List.

Follow Great Place To Work on LinkedIn , Twitter , and Instagram or visit greatplacetowork.com and sign up for the newsletter to learn more.

About Fortune

The Fortune mission is to change the world by making business better. We achieve that by providing trusted information, telling great stories, and building world-class communities. We measure performance by rigorous benchmarks. And we hold companies accountable. Our goal is to make Fortune a force for good through its second century and beyond. For more information, visit www.fortune.com .

Contacts:

Kyle Cabodi

FloQast Director of Corporate Communications

[email protected]
[September 01, 2023] Atlanta Community Food Bank Join Hands with Community Partners Across the City to Amplify Hunger Action Month Tweet

The Atlanta Community Food Bank, a leader in the fight against hunger, is calling on community members to take action in the fight against hunger for Hunger Action Month. The Food Bank is joining other Feeding America organizations to raise awareness and inspire others to participate in the nationwide movement to end hunger. "Hunger Action Month is an opportunity for us to shine a light on hunger and how our community can tackle this crisis as a collective," said Kyle Waide, President & CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. "This year, we want to emphasize the importance of food and how, when people are fed, their futures are nourished, and individuals can thrive. We believe that every action, big or small, can bring us a step closer to ending hunger." Throughout the month, the Food Bank is asking community members to take action against the hunger crisis. And, throughout the month, all donations to the Food Bank through an email and online campaign will be matched up to $55,000 thanks to a group of generous donors. On September 15, Hunger Action Day, the Food Bank encourages everyone to Go Orange by sporting the color that represents hunger and doing what they can to help neighbors in need. At noon on Hunger Action Day, the Atlanta Community Food Bank will unveil a new mural by local artist Salvador Iglesias at Ponce City Market. The piece entitled Thanks a Billion is an expression of gratitude to the community for their commitment to fighting hunger, helping the Food Bank distribute 1 Billion meals since its founding, a milestone the Food Bank reached earlier this year. The interactive art piece will be on display at Ponce City Market until early October and then move to other locations throughout the city. On the evening of September 15, people should look to the sky to see iconic landmarks around Atlanta lit up orange. The following landmarks and companies around Atlanta ave already committed to participating:



Colony Square - The location will light up orange on Hunger Action Day.

- The location will light up orange on Hunger Action Day. Georgia Aquarium - The location will light up the Georgia Fish logo facing Centennial Olympic Park and the East pedestrian walkway.

The location will light up the Georgia Fish logo facing Centennial Olympic Park and the East pedestrian walkway. Georgia's Own Credit Union - The 174-foot, digital building's top sign will light up orange in support.

- The 174-foot, digital building's top sign will light up orange in support. Ponce City Market - The iconic market will light up orange on Hunger Action Day.

- The iconic market will light up orange on Hunger Action Day. King & Spalding - The iconic tower will light up orange on Hunger Action Day.

- The iconic tower will light up orange on Hunger Action Day. One Atlantic Center - The location will light up their fountain orange.

- The location will light up their fountain orange. Google HQ at 1105 West Peachtree

1180 Peachtree St, (the King & Spalding Building) On September 26, Atlanta Community Food Bank will also host a Lunch and Learn on Farm Bill Reauthorization with President and CEO Kyle Waide and Director of Government Affairs Megan Middleton. The event aims to educate the community on the meaning of the Georgia Farm Bill Reauthorization and the importance of Farm Bill nutrition programs. Attendees will learn how they can advocate and take action to improve policies for more food secure communities. Register at https://acfb.volunteerhub.com/vv2/. Throughout the year, but especially during Hunger Action Month, the Food Bank encourages community members to help ensure everyone has access to the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, productive lives by donating, volunteering, or advocating.

How To Take Action Supporters may post to social media how they will take action against hunger using #HungerActionMonth and tagging @FeedingAmerica and @ACFB to help spotlight the initiative. Participants may also volunteer with local food pantries to help package or organize food and supplies for those in need. For those who would like to contribute funds, donations may be made directly to the Atlanta Community Food Bank through their website or supporters may host fundraisers to increase their giving power. To learn more about how you can take action, visit www.HungerActionMonth.org. For more information or to learn how you can help, visit www.acfb.org or follow them on Facebook or Instagram. About Atlanta Community Food Bank The Atlanta Community Food Bank works to end hunger with the food, people and big ideas needed to ensure our neighbors have the nourishment to lead healthy and productive lives. Far too many people in our own community experience hunger every day, including children, seniors and working families. Through more than 700 community-based, nonprofit partners in 29 counties, we help more than 525,000 people get healthy food every year. In 2023, the Atlanta Community Food Bank distributed its one billionth meal. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901390742/en/

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[September 01, 2023] Unveil FameEX's Vision: From Honorable Reputation to a Fair, Free Global Crypto Ecosystem Tweet

Melbourne, Australia, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FameEX , a global and secure derivatives trading platform, has updated its new global affiliate program to attract more influencers to build this crypto ecosystem together. Derived from the blend of "Fame" and "Exchange", the FameEX brand signifies "honor" and "prestige". The company aspires to stand as an exchange that steadfastly defends users' rightful interests, striving for a legacy that emphasizes fair, transparent operations and ultimately thriving as a trusted brand for generations to come. Its ultimate goal is to foster a global crypto environment grounded in fairness and freedom.

Lee BoonGin, the founder of FameEX, articulated the company's philosophy, expressing that the crypto domain will inevitably evolve from its current chaotic state to structured growth, in alignment with the principles of long-term financial evolution. The envisioned endgame is a global panorama of equitable and free commerce, aligning with the decentralized ethos championed by crypto enthusiasts. For Lee, the crypto landscape requires unified leadership, especially during challenging times, to safeguard the interests of its believers. He passionately conveyed that FameEX is dedicated to channeling the collective strength of crypto frontrunners to benefit all enthusiasts, ensuring that every participant in this vision sees tangible value and reaps significant benefits.

An Unparalleled Opportunity for Influencers and Promoters Worldwide FameEX new Global Affiliate Program, offering an unprecedented array of benefits fr its partners. With minimum thresholds, FameEX affiliates are eligible for commissions from their very first invite. There is potential to earn up to an astounding 85% commission rate for all the affiliates. As partners grow their referrals, the rewards only amplify, with no cap on how much one can earn. Furthermore, To ensure transparency and track success, a real-time data dashboard is at each affiliate's disposal, providing a detailed breakdown of campaign metrics. This incredible opportunity simply fills out an application form and awaits the FameEX team's response. Once on board, affiliates can promote FameEX through their referral links, sharing on community platforms, social media, and other avenues. As users sign up through these links, affiliates can watch their commissions roll in. This is open to those who own social media accounts with 5,000+ followers, manage communities with over 500 members, operate their own websites and platforms, or have other effective promotional strategies. Apply now and soar to new heights with FameEX.



For FameEX, these endeavors are not short-term reactions but carefully thought-out, long-term strategic blueprints. While charting a bold path for the future of crypto, even in the face of market headwinds, the company's concrete measures underscore its commitment. As the crypto winter continues, all eyes are on FameEX, anticipating a brighter horizon they promise to deliver. About FameEX



Launched in 2020. FameEX is a global cryptocurrency exchange that currently provides fiat-crypto, crypto-crypto, grid trading, futures, options, margin, spot and a hugely popular referral and affiliate program. With more than 1,050,000 registered users across 50 countries and regions. FameEX provides a secure, stable and efficient 24/7 trading platform. In addition, FameEX keeps pushing the boundaries of the crypto exchange industry, exploring frontier growth opportunities and strengthening core competencies, expanding into adjacent product offerings and developing innovative business models that lead the way in bringing Web3 solutions into the crypto ecosystem including recruiting more Web3 developers and researchers to enrich the Web3 product that will support those visionary traders. Find FameEX on: Website: https://www.fameex.com/

X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/FameEXGlobal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FameEX

Telegram: https://t.me/fameexgroup

Discord: https://discord.gg/V8yvKPxVCk

Trade on-the-go with the FameEX app ( iOS/Android )

Mia Shi FAMEEX mia-at-fameex.com

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SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- More than seven out of 10 South Koreans expressed their opposition to Japan's dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean, a poll showed Friday.

According to the Research View survey of 1,000 adults for two days through Aug. 30, 72.4 percent said they opposed Japan's marine dumping of Fukushima radioactive wastewater while 20.4 percent were in favor.

Among those who identified themselves as liberal voters, 83.8 percent were against the marine discharge, while 61.3 percent of conservative voters objected to the wastewater release.

The pollster said the public opposition was high in the range of 60-80 percent regardless of gender, age and region, noting that it showed great public concern about the dumping.

The results had plus and minus 3.1 percentage points in margin of error with a 95-percent confidence level.

Those who replied that the South Korean government was actually in favor of the wastewater release reached 77.7 percent of the total respondents, while only 9.2 percent said Seoul was actually opposed to it.

The government has maintained a position that it was neither in support of nor against the marine dumping.

A total of 78.3 percent of respondents said South Korea should prohibit the import of all Japanese fishery products, while 18.5 percent were against the import ban.

As for the rising view that South Koreans should boycott Japanese products together with the international society, 67.4 percent agreed to it while 28.1 percent opposed it.

Struck by a massive earthquake and an ensuing tsunami in March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered core meltdowns and generated a massive amount of water tainted with radioactive substances from cooling down the nuclear fuel.

Japan started dumping the first batch of radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 24. 
[September 01, 2023] AM Best Downgrades Issuer Credit Rating, Affirms Financial Strength Rating and Assigns National Scale Rating to Malayan Insurance Co., Inc. Tweet

AM Best has downgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to "bbb" (Good) from "bbb+" (Good), as well as affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and assigned the Philippines National Scale Rating (NSR) of aa+.PH (Superior) to Malayan Insurance Co., Inc (Malayan) (Philippines). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. These ratings reflect Malayan's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. In addition, the ratings factor in the neutral impact from the company's ultimate owner, Pan Malayan Management and Investment Corp. The downgrade of the Long-Term ICR reflects Malayan's weakened balance sheet strength fundamentals. The company's risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), has weakened in recent years due to heightened credit risk following recent catastrophe events. Prospective capital adequacy is expected to remain under negative pressure with the increase in its net retention and the company's heightened sensitivity to natural catastrophes following changes to its reinsurance programme in 2023. Additionally, Malayan maintains an elevated exposure to counterparties that are non-rated on an international credit rating scale. Malayan's balance sheet strength also remains exposed to notable investment risk arising from its sizable equity investments; however, the company has made ongoing progress to de-risk its investment portfolio in recent years. AM Best views Malayan's operating performance as adequate. The company reported a five-year average combined ratio and return-on-equity ratio of 102.8% and 3.8% (2018-2022), respectively. Overall underwriting performance has exhibited moderate volatility, driven by catastrophe and large loss events, which negatively impacted the company's fire and engineering lines in 2022. Nevertheless, good technical rsults for its motor business have helped to partially mitigate the deterioration in underwriting results. Investment income continues to be the principal contributor to Malayan's overall earnings. AM Best expects prospective underwriting performance to be supported by ongoing portfolio remediation measures, as well as business growth in more profitable retail segments.



The business profile assessment of neutral reflects Malayan's position as the largest non-life insurance company in the Philippines based on gross premium written in 2022. The company benefits from its affiliation with the Yuchengco Group of Companies, a large conglomerate in the Philippines, in terms of branding and distribution. Malayan continues to demonstrate a strong commitment toward digital transformation, which is an important pillar of its long-term strategy for retail business development. 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 Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings & Assessments. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901047261/en/

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[September 01, 2023] Calm Waters AI Named Finalist for 2023 Technology Startup Award Tweet

Calm Waters AI-an AI-driven technology solution that optimizes Evaluation and Management (E/M) coding for healthcare providers-has been named a finalist for the 2023 NEXT Award for Technology Startup of the Year from the Nashville Entrepreneurial Center. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901788077/en/ Calm Waters AI seamlessly integrates into providers' electronic health record (EHR) systems, then leverages artificial intelligence to autonomously level E/M coding on patient charts in milliseconds. The system saves time and optimizes chart accuracy, reducing the risk of costly audits and claims denials by payors. "We are thrilled to be named as a finalist for this honor," said Joe Ferro, CEO of Calm Waters. "It provides important validation of the need for this type of healthcare ops technology in addition to the high demand we've seen for Calm Waters AI from provider groups across the U.S." E/M coding, noted Ferro, has long been a pain point for physician groups because the traditional manual process is time-consuming and prone to human error. As a result, providers often practice "defensive coding," leaving billable revenues unclaimed out of fear o costly audits and resubmissions.



"Calm Waters AI is a game-changer that achieves 97% chart accuracy while saving each physician up to one hour per day they previously had to spend on documentation," Ferro said. "It also speeds up billing and enables providers to capture revenues for all documented services. Calm Waters AI is part of a growing platform of AI-driven solutions powered by Montecito Medical that enable physicians and provider groups to increase revenues, decrease costs and build wealth.

"Our company exists to help physicians thrive," said Chip Conk, CEO of Montecito Medical. "After building a reputation for helping providers build wealth and stronger practices through medical real estate, we have created a powerful technology platform that extends our mission by helping physicians increase revenue, reduce costs and build wealth." Other solutions in Montecito's platform include Winnow, which supercharges clinician recruitment for providers, and Scout Insight, a customized, AI-powered decision support engine that helps providers make important decisions about growth and expansion with greater speed and confidence. Winnow received the NEXT Award for Healthcare Startup of the Year in 2022. The NEXT Awards are bestowed as part of an annual ceremony that recognizes entrepreneurs who are transforming industries and strengthening the Middle Tennessee community and beyond. The program honors businesses across different sizes and industry categories. The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (NEC) is a non-profit founded by business leaders who wanted to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and celebrate the spirit and tenacity of the Nashville entrepreneurial community. About Calm Waters AI Calm Waters AI, a subsidiary of Montecito Medical, exists to take care of the providers who take care of all of us by simplifying and expediting the E/M coding process leveraging AI technology. Calm Waters AI is a part of a platform of solutions offered by Montecito Medical that enable providers to increase revenue, decrease costs and build wealth. Learn more about Calm Waters AI at www.calmwatersai.com. Learn more about Montecito Medical at www.montecitomac.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901788077/en/

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[September 01, 2023] Highline celebrates the completion of construction in the Thumb! Tweet

Highline, Michigan's premier Internet Service Provider, is pleased to announce the completion of construction of "The Thumb" service area, now offering fiber broadband to over 8,000 households in Sanilac, Tuscola, Lapeer, and St. Clair counties. Highline's state-of-the-art 823-mile fiber optic network was built with a combination of private investment backed by ITC Capital Partners and the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund grant program. While representing fourteen percent of Highline's total RDOF location commitment, Highline was able to complete this geographic portion of the network in two years rather than by the end of 2027. Highline's service is now changing the lives of families that have long suffered from a poor internet connection and fulfills the FCC's stated objective of creating networks that will stand the test of time by prioritizing higher network speeds and lower latency so that those benefitting from these networks will be able to use tomorrow's Internet applications as well as today's. "Our construction seasons in Michigan are short, but we are fortunate to have the unwavering support from the County Road and Drain Commissions, the Michigan Department of Transportation, along with the City, Village, and Township leaders of the Thumb." Moore continued, "A special thank you to our construction partner YCOM/AEG and their talented people who designed and built our network." said Bruce Moore, Highline's President and General Manager Midwest. "This milestone is representative of our ability to execute building fiber networks and delivering an exceptional experience to our customers. Highline is proving we are good stewards of grant dollars, and dspite all of the challenges in our industry today, our team is delivering on the commitment to serve rural America."



"Today's experience was fantastic, and Jonavon experienced the real household of me being a momma to 3 different age boys that are wonderful needy boys, and the busy lifestyle of the daily needs our brand, new high-speed internet service now allows." Anita B, Thumb customer. Please join us Thursday, September 7, at Woodland Hills Banquet Center in Sandusky between the hours of 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. and celebrate the completion of this major milestone in Michigan!

For more information, please go to www.highlinefast.com or call our talented customer service team at 1-888-212-0054. About Highline: Highline's mission is to provide an exceptional internet experience, empowering our customers to work, play, and thrive in a connected world. We believe everyone should have access to the most reliable, fastest internet service at a fair price, regardless of where you live and work. Highline's heritage companies have been in the telecommunications business for more than 126 years and have built, owned, and operated fiber networks for more than 27 years. Highline currently serves residents' and businesses' communication and internet needs in Michigan, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas. Highline is building 10G state-of-the-art, Fiber-to-the-Premise, lightning-fast networks to provide Gigabit internet service to tens of thousands of homes and businesses across the country that are currently unserved, underserved, and unhappily served. About ITC Capital Partners, LLC It was formed based upon the successful investment history of the ITC Holding Company, LLC , founded in 1896. ITC Capital Partners, LLC invests in entrepreneurs whose ideas and values are consistent with those of our founders. We partner with innovative leaders with unique ideas and strong management teams and demonstrate the ability to assist us in achieving our strategic goal of a minimum long-term return to our shareholders of 20% annually. Our success results from a well-defined strategic vision, informed analysis, and experienced management. Providing equity investments and professional management from within our own family of investors, ITC Capital Partners has a solid, proven track record and a bright future. About Y-COM Y-COM's business is focused on providing full service to the utility industry and is dedicated to delivering projects on time, within budget, and to our customers' complete satisfaction. Y-COM continues to "set the standard" for excellence. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901836409/en/

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[September 01, 2023] AGCO Welcomes Agri-Service Dealership Expansion in Northern Idaho Tweet

AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO), a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of agricultural machinery and precision ag technology welcomed Agri-Service's acquisition of Blue Mountain Agri-Support, Inc. in Lewiston and Moscow, Idaho. Agri-Service, now a 13-location AGCO dealership serving Idaho, southeast Washington, and parts of Oregon, will maintain existing management and staff for seamless continuity of sales and services to Blue Mountain Agri-Support's customers. Agri-Service's expansion will provide sales and services for AGCO's full lineup of popular brands and equipment, including Fendt, Gleaner, Massey Ferguson and Hesston by Massey Ferguson. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901181974/en/ On September 1, 2023, AGCO welcomed Agri-Service's acquisition of Blue Mountain Agri-Support, Inc. in Lewiston and Moscow, Idaho. (Graphic: Business Wire) "Blue Mountain Agri-Support has been an integral dealer in the Northern Idaho region for over 30 years, providing loyal Gleaner and Hesston product support," said Ruchir Patel, AGCO VP, Global Distribution Management. "This strategic acquisition provides farmers in the region with expanded access to AGCO's world-class brands and products and additional support. We are grateful to Blue Mountain for its years of service, and we're excited for the region's future wit Agri-Service serving our farmer-first mission."



"This expansion allows Agri-Service to consolidate coverage for the entire AGCO portfolio of equipment in northern Idaho and southeast Washington," said Kevin Vivian, president, Agri-Service. "Adding the Gleaner and Hesston expertise of Blue Mountain Agri-Support's dedicated employees to our team increases our ability to provide top-tier parts, service and sales to the area's customers. Agri-Service is excited to continue our investment in the Pacific Northwest, grow our brand and provide a high level of customer service." AGCO embarked on an ambitious growth plan in North America in 2022 to transform and expand its North American dealership network to meet growing farmer demand and ensure comprehensive access and superior customer experiences of its brands and services across North America. Recent dealership news in Nebraska, Indiana, North Carolina, Manitoba, and now Idaho and Washington are part of that strategy. Today's announcement regarding Agri-Service is a key component of AGCO's plan to meet those goals and deliver access to its well-known products and services to Idaho and Washington farmers.

For more information about Agri-Service, go to www.agri-service.com. Fendt, Gleaner, Massey Ferguson, and Hesston by Massey Ferguson are registered trademarks of AGCO. About AGCO AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) is a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of agricultural machinery and precision ag technology. AGCO delivers customer value through its differentiated brand portfolio, including core brands like Fendt, GSI, Massey Ferguson, Precision Planting, and Valtra. Powered by Fuse smart farming solutions, AGCO's full line of equipment and services help farmers sustainably feed our world. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, USA, AGCO had net sales of approximately $12.7 billion in 2022. For more information, visit www.AGCOcorp.com. For company news, information, and events, please follow us on Twitter: @AGCOCorp. For financial news on Twitter, please follow the hashtag #AGCOIR. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901181974/en/

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[September 01, 2023] Midea's PortaSplit Receives Prestigious Award at IFA, Showcasing Innovation and User-Centric Approach Tweet

Midea, a leading brand in smart home appliances, has once again demonstrated its commitment to innovation and user satisfaction by winning the 2023 Global Product Technical Innovation Award at the renowned IFA event - a prestigious industry exhibition that takes place from 1-5 September 2023 in Berlin, Germany. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901493432/en/ Midea's PortaSplit Receives Prestigious Award at IFA, Showcasing Innovation and User-Centric Approach (Photo: Business Wire) Midea's groundbreaking product, the PortaSplit, won the Room Comfort Technology Innovation Gold Award, solidifying its position as a leader in innovative air-conditioning solutions. This product exemplifies the company's goal to address user needs through insightful engineering and design. This accolade, a clear testament to Midea's dedication to excellence, was presented by IDG, Europe Digital Group and Asia Digital Group, and highlights Midea's ongoing pursuit of new technologies and improvements in user-centric solutions. Award-Winning Smart AC Redefines Cooling Efficiency and Flexibility The spotlight fals on Midea's PortaSplit, a smart air conditioner that combines cutting-edge cooling technology with unprecedented flexibility. This innovative home appliance is set to make its market debut in 2024 and Midea is proud to unveil the product at IFA 2023.



Unlike conventional AC units, the Midea PortaSplit seamlessly merges the portability of a portable AC with the superior cooling capacity and efficiency of a split AC. This unique fusion delivers powerful and tranquil cooling comfort, defying the limitations of existing cooling solutions. Notably, Midea's PortaSplit is a direct response to the needs of modern consumers. It has been a longstanding challenge in balancing cooling efficiency, energy conservation, flexibility, and ease of installation. "With a permanent split air conditioner, an installer is necessary. However, there are often long waiting times of up to four months due to high demand. If you don't inquire early enough, you'll miss out on having it installed for the summer. Cost is another concern, as installation alone can be around 2000 euro not including the price of the air conditioner. The Midea PortaSplit offers a more affordable option," said Manuel Seethaler, Head of Public Relationship and Strategy at Midea Germany Research Center in Stuttgart.

The PortaSplit introduces two key innovations. It's the first plug-and-play split AC without the need for fixed installation. Another remarkable feature of the PortaSplit is its outstanding cooling performance. It is a portable AC that has the same efficiency as a conventional split AC, with a strong cooling capacity of 3.5 kW and a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating (SEER) of 6.1, surpassing all other portable ACs in the market. In fact, the PortaSplit significantly outperforms a conventional portable AC in terms of cooling capacity and energy efficiency. According to StiWa test conditions, the PortaSplit performed four times better in cooling capacity and had three times higher energy efficiency compared to a conventional portable AC. Furthermore, the PortaSplit's heat exchange system enables whole-room cooling without venting air out, improving cooling performance and maintaining constant air pressure. PortaSplit is able to cool a room down in simply 15 minutes. Based on typical weather patterns in Germany, the estimated running cost is only 26 per month for the complete cooling season. Energy saving is another crucial aspect of PortaSplit. Midea's improved AI algorithm provides up to 15% additional energy savings. It ensures a continuous and efficient cooling experience by adjusting performance according to the changing environmental conditions and enhanced predictive models. Lastly, PortaSplit was engineered with advanced soundproofing technology, allowing the air conditioner to operate at a mere 39dB in silent mode. This ensures restful sleep while maintaining optimal comfort. Midea's PortaSplit is a game-changer in the world of smart home appliances. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901493432/en/

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[September 01, 2023] LICT Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2023 Results and August 31 Spin-off of Michigan Property - 150 Shares of MachTen Per One Share of LICT Corporation Tweet

LICT Corporation ("LICT" or the "Company"; OTC Pink: LICT) reports unaudited, financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. Driven by broadband sales, non-regulated revenues for the second quarter of 2023 increased 3.7%, to $18.4 million from the prior year's second quarter $17.7 million. Non-regulated EBITDA was $7.6 million, versus the $7.5 million earned in the same period last year. Regulated revenues were $14.7 million in the second quarter of 2023 versus the prior year's second quarter of $15.0 million. Regulated EBITDA was $6.4 million compared to $7.2 million last year. Total revenues in the second quarter of 2023 were $33.1 million compared to $32.7 million for the corresponding quarter in 2022. EBITDA was $14.0 million in the second quarter of 2023 as compared to $14.6 million in 2022. The reduction is driven by labor and material costs. Other Income (Expense) - Other income/expenses were $500,000 in the second quarter of 2023, versus $400,000 in the prior year's second quarter. Due in part by $483,000 higher interest expense. EARNINGS PER SHARE - Earnings per share from operations for the second quarter of 2023 were $294 per share as compared to $336 per share in 2022. MICHIGAN SPINOFF - As previously announced the Spin-Off of our Michigan entity, MachTen (OTC Pink: MACT) occurred on August 31, 2023. At the time of the spin-off each shareholder of LICT received 150 shares of MachTen per one share of LICT. The Company will maintain a 19% stake in MachTen or approximately 605,980 shares. In addition, the Michigan operations declared a $15 million dividend due to LICT. On August 29, 2023, Mach Ten posted a Press Release detailing information regarding the spin-off. The proforma LICT net debt just after the spin-off is expected to be approximately $8.1 million. ALTERNATIVE - CONNECT AMERICA COST MODEL ("A-CAM") PROGRAM - All LICT telephone companies participate in the Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC's") A-CAM and A-CAM II programs. The A-CAM program is designed to increase broadband speed and expand the deployment of broadband capabilities throughout the nation's rural areas with mandatory build-out requirements for receipt of support. LICT received $8.0 million in each of the second quarters of 2023 and 2022 for A-CAM and A-CAM II revenues. LICT is actively building and expanding broadband facilities. On July 24, 2023, the FCC released a voluntary Enhanced A-CAM program which would extend through 2038 with increased A-CAM revenues and the requirement to build-out at least 100/20 Mbps by 12/31/2028 to all locations in the ILEC area that cannot receive 100/20 Mbps. The Company has commenced analyzing the FCC's Enhanced A-CAM program on a state-by-state basis with an FCC deadline to elect Enhanced A-CAM of October 1, 2023. Additionally, the Company is preparing for the final announcement regarding the next round of FCC support, Enhanced ACAM. AFFORDABLE CONNECTIVITY PROGRAM - LICT continues to be active participants in the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program ("ACP") to support our ongoing commitment to provide affordable broadband to the rural communities we serve and help close the digital divide. This program provides consumers who are eligible, a broadband credit of up to $30 per month (up to $75 for households on Tribal Lands) towards their qualifying internet plan. We offer a variety of broadband options that qualify under the ACP. The FCC recently proposed increasing the $30 monthly credit to $75 for certain qualifying consumers. The Company will closely monitor the implementation of the enhanced ACP $75 credit, when and if it occurs. CAPITAL EXPENDITURES - In the second quarter of 2023, capital expenditures were $11.0 million as compared to $8.9 million in the second quarter of 2022. Our capital spending will enable us to offer enhanced broadband speeds, increase the overall fiber route miles in our network and meet and exceed our A-CAM requirements. The Company expects this broadband growth to accelerate as we deploy additional Fiber-To-The-Home ("FTTH") to more locations, including locations being built partially or completely with grant funding. As of June 30, 2023, LICT owns and operates 6,864 miles of fiber optic cable, 11,164 miles of copper cable, 942 miles of coaxial cable and 87 towers. An additional 784 miles of fiber optics were built since the second quarter of 2022. As previously announced, LICT has been awarded $157.5 million for seven United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ReConnect III and ReConnect IV grants to build fiber with a total project cost of $171 million. This excludes three grants awarded to our Michigan operations. The Company is actively working on obtaining environmental clearance on six of the seven grants that have been awarded. Five of these grants provide 100% funding to build fiber projects totaling $117 million in our New Mexico and California operations. The Company has also been awarded grants Kansas and New Mexico in which we will receive 75% funding totaling $55 million and LICT is required to match 25% or $14 million of the total project. We have commenced an $8.4 million project in Kansas to build fiber to provide 1 Gig broadband service. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission has recently accepted our notice to withdraw from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support program for both Cuba City and Cal-Ore Communications. The decision to withdraw from this program is due to substantial cost increases and other significant changes within the organization since we first participated and won in the RDOF public auction. SHARE REPURCHASES - During the six months ended June 30, 2023, the Company repurchased 176 shares for $3.3 million, with an average price of $18,954 per share. On June 30, 2023, 17,165 shares were outstanding. OPERATING STATISTICS/BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT - As of June 30, 2023, the Company's broadband penetration in its franchised telephone service territories, based on its total Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier ("ILEC") voice lines, was 100%, as compared to 99.1% at December 31, 2022. During 2023, the Company's broadband lines grew by 2.9% to 47,306 from 45,966 units on December 31, 2022.







June 30, December 31, Percent Increase Increase 2023 2022 (Decrease) (Decrease) Broadband lines 47,306 45,966 1,340 2.9% Voice Lines ILEC 21,909 22,655 (746) (3.3%) Out of franchise 6,939 6,943 (4) (0.1%) Total 28,848 29,598 (750) (2.5%) Video Subscribers 3,412 3,670 (258) (7.0%) Revenue Generating Units 79,566 79,234 332 0.4%

This release contains certain forward-looking information 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, including without limitation anticipated financial results, financing, capital expenditures and corporate transactions. It should be recognized that such information is based upon certain assumptions, projections and forecasts, including without limitation, business conditions and financial markets, regulatory and other approvals, and the cautionary statements set forth in documents filed by LICT on its website, www.lictcorp.com. As a result, there can be no assurance that any possible transactions will be accomplished or be successful, or that financial targets will be met. Such forward-looking information is subject to uncertainties, risks and inaccuracies, which could be material. LICT Corporation is a holding company with subsidiaries in broadband and other telecommunications services that actively seeks acquisitions, principally in its existing business areas. LICT Corporation is listed on the OTC Pink under the symbol LICT. For further information visit our website at http://www.lictcorp.com. LICT CORPORATION Statements of Operations (In Thousands, Except Per Share Data) STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2023 2022 2023 2022 Revenues $33,073 $32,728 $65,949 $65,193 Cost and Expenses: Cost of revenue 15,962 15,114 32,232 30,349 General and administrative costs at operations 3,100 2,970 6,084 6,193 Corporate office expenses 1,286 1,219 2,505 2,353 Charitable contributions - - - 141 Depreciation and amortization 5,199 4,912 10,999 10,073 Total Costs and Expenses 25,547 24,215 51,820 49,109 Operating profit 7,526 8,513 14,129 16,084 Other Income (Expense) Investment income 171 29 1,013 923 Interest expense (629) (285) (1,266) (576) Equity in earnings of affiliated companies 24 23 24 73 Other (49) (182) (110) (111) Total Other Income/(Expense) (483) (415) (339) 309 Income Before Income Tax Provision 7,043 8,098 13,790 16,393 Provision for Income Taxes (1,977) (2,204) (3,624) (4,327) Net Income $5,066 $5,894 $10,166 $12,066 Capital Expenditures $11,043 $8,852 $23,362 $16,585 Weighted Average Shares- Basic and Diluted 17,224 17,560 17,267 17,672 Actual shares outstanding at end of period 17,165 17,513 17,165 17,513 Earnings Per Share $294 $336 $589 $683 LICT CORPORATION Balance Sheet (In Thousands) June 30,

2023 December 31, 2022 ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $17,216 $27,257 Accounts receivable, less allowances of $152 and $169, respectively 7,413 7,609 Material and supplies 14,567 11,307 Prepaid expenses, and other current assets 5,001 4,514 Total current assets 44,197 50,687 Property, plant, and equipment 161,577 151,789 Goodwill 42,348 42,348 Other intangibles 29,722 29,712 Investments in and advances to affiliated entities 2,738 2,318 Other assets 11,088 10,892 Total assets $291,670 $287,746 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY Current liabilities: Trade accounts payable $5,729 $8,962 Accrued interest payable 205 11 Accrued liabilities 7,068 6,145 Current maturities of long-term debt 366 372 Total current liabilities 13,368 15,490 Long-term debt 37,922 38,252 Deferred income taxes 29,307 29,418 Other liabilities 8,643 8,983 Total liabilities 89,240 92,143 Total shareholders' equity 202,430 195,603 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $291,670 $287,746 LICT Corporation Selected Balance Sheet Data-Continued (In Thousands, Except Per Share Data) SELECTED BALANCE SHEET DATA June 30, December 31, 2023 2022 Cash and Cash Equivalents $17,216 $27,257 Long-Term Debt (including current portion) (38,288) (38,624) Net Debt ($21,072) ($11,367) Shareholders' Equity $202,430 $195,603 Shares Outstanding 17,165 17,341 EBITDA EBITDA is an established measure of operating performance and liquidity that is commonly reported and widely used by analysts, investors, and other interested parties in the telecommunications industry because it eliminates many differences in financial, capitalization, and tax structures. We believe that EBITDA trends are a valuable indicator of whether our operations can produce sufficient operating cash flow to fund working capital needs, service debt obligations, and fund capital expenditures. EBITDA is calculated as Operating Profit from Continuing Operations plus depreciation and amortization expense and charitable contributions. Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, 2023 2022 2023 2022 EBITDA Reconciliation: Operating Profit from Continuing Operations $7,526 $8,513 $14,129 $16,084 Additions: Corporate expenses 1,286 1,219 2,505 2,353 Charitable contributions -- -- -- 141 Depreciation and amortization 5,199 4,912 10,999 10,073 EBITDA from Operations Before Corporate Expenses 14,011 14,644 27,633 28,651 Corporate Expenses (1,286) (1,219) (2,505) (2,353) Charitable contributions -- -- -- (141) EBITDA $12,725 $13,425 $25,128 $26,157 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901841207/en/

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Right now American icon Pamela inspires our peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Today's Excuse To Stop Mowing Your Lawn

As more Kansas Citians embrace native lawns, local codes try to keep up European-style turf lawns have long been the standard in Kansas City neighborhoods. But ecologists say native landscaping can require less work and better support local wildlife.

Sound Of Kansas City

Saxophonist Matt Otto releases Umbra, his third album of the summer. Saxophonist Matt Otto releases Umbra, his third album of the summer.

First Responder Testimony

'Indescribable': Kansas City fire captain shares experience from responding to hurricanes Two rescue specialists from the Kansas City Fire Department (KCFD) were deployed as part of the Missouri Task Force.

Fish Tank Anticipation . . .

Kansas City Zoo's new aquarium set to open: Take a look inside Animal lovers in the Kansas City area are ready to go under the sea. The Kansas City Zoo's new Sobela Ocean Aquarium opens Sept. 1.

Old School Reviewed . . .

Tim Finn Review: The Chicks - IN Kansas City Magazine In March 2003, the three ladies formerly known as The Dixie Chicks suffered punishment that far exceeded the offense, which was speaking out against an impending war and the president who was about to launch it. For that, they were blacklisted by the country-radio world that had propelled them into superstardom, pilloried on all media...

Pammy Against Cruelty

Pamela Anderson shines for Pandora lab-created diamonds The blonde bombshell - who had a comeback this year with her tell-all book Love, Pamela - is part of the campaign for the lab-created diamond jewelry alongside Vogue editor Grace Coddington.

Prez Backs GOP Rival

Biden downplays McConnell health concerns, says 'he was his old self' on the phone President Biden said Thursday he has spoken to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell after McConnell froze up in front of reporters Wednesday.

MAGA Declaration Today

Trump pleads not guilty in Georgia election subversion case | CNN Politics Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty in the sprawling Fulton County election interference case, according to a new court filing.

Hard Time After Insurrection

Proud Boy leaders Joe Biggs, Zachary Rehl to be sentenced for role in Jan. 6 Capitol attack Two leaders of the Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy are set to be sentenced Thursday for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Drone Wars Cont'd

Ukraine war: Kyiv confirms drone attack on Russia's Pskov airbase A number of transport planes are said to have been damaged or destroyed in the attack.

Far East Flexing

China says it 'deplores' US military transfer to Taiwan China is lashing out at the Biden administration's approval of the first-ever U.S. military transfer to Taiwan using a program usually saved for sovereign nations. Beijing, which views Taipei as its own territory and has repeatedly threatened to bring it under its control using force, on Thursday claimed the U.S.

It Always Ends Badly . . .

Kevin Costner accuses ex-wife Christine of 'relentless jihad' The ongoing child support battle between Kevin Costner and ex-wife Christine Baumgartner continued on Thursday as they both got emotional and upset in court.

Hipsters: Local Underground Music Scene Endures

Flushed Away: LFK's Toilet Bowl comes to a clog, leaks success for local DIY scene Photo by Maura Dayton Editor's note: First names will be used in this article to refer to those running The Toilet Bowl, in service of privacy. Flooding your basement usually spells the end of a well-furnished subterranean hangout spot, but for Lawrence's DIY concert venue, The Toilet Bowl, it was just the flush they needed to cement their legacy as...

Labor Day Weekend Forecast . . .

Sunny skies and low humidity to last through Sunday Kansas City is mostly clear with lows with lows near 60 overnight Thursday

And this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
Something that most of our local activists and newsies might not understand . . .

LISTEN CLOSELY TO MAYOR Q AT TODAY'S LGBT PROTEST . . . HE BASICALLY ADMITS THAT KANSAS CITY ISN'T REALLY A TRANS SANCTUARY IN ANY MEANINGFUL SENSE!!!

Truth be told . . .

Over the years local streets have been quite dangerous for trans people and urban communities aren't as "welcoming" as our progressive friends would, mistakenly, like to believe.

Still . . . This quote from Mayor Q rightfully acknowledges any lack of legal protections for so-called "gender-affirming" care in Kansas City . . .



We understand that there are many providers who face fear of revocation of licenses, face criminal penalties and beyond, in connection with legislation that has been passed in Missouri, Lucas says. We cannot be a safe haven in those situations.



Lucas gave gratitude to Kansas Governor Laura Kelly for her vetoes on four anti-trans bills back in April, mentioning that gender-affirming care for Kansas City minors still remains available in the state of Kansas.



Within his opening speech, Lucas also stated that the city will ensure that safety net providers under contract with the city will not participate in procedures that marginalize the trans community.



As part of our contractual negotiations with law firms, well make sure that they give the affirming care and response that is necessary for all, he says. We will make that an essential part of our contracts with all of our safety net providers that work with Kansas City.



He also stated that Kansas City will continue to support and contribute to litigation efforts that provide access for all.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
Lots of info to catch up on this afternoon was we check recent crime reporting, homicide updates and ongoing investigations.

Unofficially, our KCMO homicide count now spikes to #132.

Check TKC news gathering . . .

Kansas City shooting ruled a homicide months later Kansas City police say a July deadly shooting near 54th Street and Westridge Road has been ruled a homicide.

Independence police release photos of shooting, burglary suspect after manhunt proves unsuccessful Do not approach the suspect, call authorities immediately.

Kansas City police give permission to ignore calls from this 'officer' Kansas City Police Department warns about a scammer posing as an officer trying to convince people to pay fake fines over the phone.

Overland Park, Kansas man sentenced to life in prison after convicted of sex crimes against a child Carl Reed, of Overland Park, was charged in March 2020 with the rape of a child under 14 and other crimes.

Clay County Sheriff's Office to host free community shredding event, prevent identity theft Kansas City residents who want to prevent their identities being stolen, Clay County Sheriff's Office will host a free community shredding event on Saturday, Sept. 2.

61-year-old dies in rollover crash in Overland Park Police are investigating a deadly crash Friday morning near W. 135th Street and Nieman Road in Overland Park.

Overland Park Police announces trust building campaign between residents & law enforcement The Overland Park, Kansas Police Department announced their completion of a pledge to enhance trust between law enforcement and the surrounding community.

Developing . . .
To start . . . A recent tweet from KCPD with more info on new threads . . .

"Twenty officers are testing out new uniforms & you may see them around town."

And now . . .



In this post we take a moment to catch up on crime reporting, police action and ongoing investigations as we hope locals have a peaceful & safe Labor Day weekend.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Evergy issues warning after scammer shows up at customer's door Evergy is warning customers about new scams that target customers by phone and in person, including scammers entering a business for payment.

One in custody after two bicyclists struck by vehicle on 83rd and Woodland in Lenexa Lenexa police are investigating after two bicyclists were hit near 83rd Street and Woodland Drive.

Suspect arrested, charged in Merriam road rage incident A man who Merriam police were searching for following a road rage incident was arrested and charged with two felonies

Mother of fentanyl overdose victim warns of drug's impact Shannon Earnshaw never thought her son would be a victim of the fentanyl overdose crisis until one year ago.

Fake temp tag from fake dealership tricks Kansas City car buyer A Kansas City area woman encountered a host of problems when she discovered a car she bought had a fake title from a fake dealership

'I'm not Stephanie no more': Woman stabbed during man's deadly crime spree in KCK continues recovery Stephanie Perez says the last six weeks have been filled with pain, recovery and reflection. Perez has been left recovering after being stabbed by a stranger during a crime spree.

Opinion: Claiming a 'computer crime' shouldn't give police a free pass to raid newspapers Computer crime laws are dangerously broad, but lawmakers can rein them in to prevent violations like the recent raid on a newspaper in Marion, Kan.

Developing . . .
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) renewed a yellow alert for rainstorms on Friday.

From 2 p.m. Friday to 2 p.m. Saturday, heavy downpours and rainstorms are forecast in Fujian, Guangdong, Yunnan and Sichuan, according to the NMC.

Some parts of these regions are expected to experience heavy rainfall, with maximum hourly precipitation surpassing 60 millimeters, accompanied by thunderstorms and gales.

The center has advised local governments to prepare for rainstorms. Traffic management departments should take appropriate traffic control measures on road sections with heavy rainfall and guide traffic in waterlogged sections.

The center has also suggested disconnecting risky outdoor power supplies and suspending outdoor operations in open areas.

China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. 
A garbage take offers a preview of an upcoming trial now confronting the metro and the nation.

CHECK THIS KANSAS CITY STAR SCRIBE ATTEMPTING TO REHASH RACIALLY CHARGED RHETORIC AMID THE TRIAL OF AN ELDERLY SHOOTING SUSPECT!!!

The argument is sophomoric and it's still hard to believe this lady almost won a Pulitzer.

Here's the crux of her debate that ALMOST realizes the ridiculousness of her screed . . .



"So am I implying that the cops who arrived at Lesters Northland home on April 13 of this year should have thrown the octogenarian on the ground? No. But I am saying that if more suspects were handled with such deference, well, to state the obvious, a bunch of dead Black people and also quite a few folks suffering from a mental illness would still be alive. "

Okay . . .

SO WHAT IS SHE ADVOCATING?!?! ROUGHING UP THE OLD CODGER A BIT SO THAT HIS TRIAL WOULD BE TAINTED?!?

This isn't a column, it's not even a decent social media post . . . This kind of screed represents the newspaper giving up on opinion & analysis and instead joining the mob of protesters powered by emotion rather than any semblance of understanding about law, politics or culture and how it impacts our world.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
Rude.

Also . . . There's a hope that our neighbors are stuck in the past and modern day sewage treatment plants aren't as stinky as they might remember . . . Here's a bit of hope . . . Take a whiff . . .



Engineers, designers, and KCMO water treatment staff explained that the new, far more modern style of treatment plant would be a lot less noticeable to the nose.



They said the most odoriferous parts of the process would be covered or non-existent.



Neighbors say they'll believe it when they smell it.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Platte County residents express concern over Kansas City's new water treatment plant plans Tensions flared in Platte County as residents voiced their discontent with Kansas City's proposal to construct a new water treatment plant.

Platte County neighbors say Kansas City's sewage plan stinks Platte County neighbors say Kansas City, Missouri's, newest plan to build a new wastewater plant in the area stinks.

Residents criticize plan for Platte County wastewater facility A proposal for a new sewer plant in KC is getting pushback from people who live nearby.

Developing . . .
Scarborough Southwest is not the place Gary Crawford, whose resignation as councillor has sparked a Nov. 30 byelection, saw as he first took the office in 2010.

Birch Cliff and Cliffside in the old 36th ward were sleepy neighbourhoods where, Crawford said at the time, residents might head west on Friday nights to enjoy a fine restaurant. People opposed new sidewalks because they didnt fit the areas country feel.

Crawfords council colleague, Michelle Holland, had some of Scarboroughs poorest areas to the north, in the old Ward 35, and complained her pool of Section 37 money  bonuses, available for community improvements, that developers paid the city for building extra density  was unjustly small.

Even as the two wards merged into Ward 20 in 2018, projects growing Scarborough Southwests population remained uncommon.

Not anymore.

The Golden Mile along the wards north boundary is about to explode with growth, new communities are coming to Birch Cliffs Quarry Lands and Scarborough Junction, mid-rises are sprouting along Kingston Road and multiplexing on house lots is suddenly legal.

Scarborough Southwest, over two decades, will get tens of thousands of new residents.

Many there fear the loss of what made their neighbourhoods livable, from grocery stores to affordable low-rise apartments. Just how shaken residents are became apparent in the 2022 election when Parthi Kandavel, local public school trustee, finished second to Crawford.

At the recent Feed Scarborough event, Anna Dewar Gully, former chairperson of Birch Cliff Village Community Association, spoke about predatory developers buying up affordable housing stock in the ward.

Tenants of those buildings are being tick-boxed and ignored; theres nowhere they can go, she said.

Almost every affordable housing unit is slated for demolition.

As the Sept. 7 opening of byelection nominations approached, prospective candidates all stressed their commitment to listen to residents during a time of change.

Suman Roy, founder of Feed Scarborough, is expected to run for councillor in Scarborough Southwest (Ward 20) in a fall byelection.| Mike Adler/Metroland

My personal mission as councillor will be finding meaningful ways to connect to the community, said Suman Roy, executive director of Feed Scarborough (also called the Scarborough Food Security Initiative), a food bank that has expanded across southern Scarborough.

Roy said the duty to consult would include parents of young children who cant show up for 7 p.m. meetings and not just current residents, but the community that wants to make Scarborough Southwest their home.

The city needs to build affordable housing  redefined to be actually affordable  and stop losing local employment land for handfuls of often precarious jobs, Roy said. How many people is a storage unit employing?

Parthi Kandavel, former Toronto District School Board trustee for Scarborough Southwest, is expected to run for councillor in the Ward 20 byelection.| Metroland file photo

Kandavel, also committed to run, said his eight years as trustee proved to constituents hes a strong communicator.

Theres a necessity to build, he said of development in the ward, but its important to ensure communities are better off afterwards, that they can access services and keep amenities people cherish and use.

Thats what makes a vibrant, livable city, said Kandavel, who said getting the province to pay for a replacement busway along the Scarborough Rapid Transit route is another priority for him.

Kevin Rupasinghe, a transportation planner who came in third against Crawford in 2022, will run again, too, and by email said after more than a decade of inaction, the challenges and opportunities facing Scarborough remain.

Sudip Shome, an entrepreneur who also said he will be a candidate, wrote residents have not always felt properly consulted about changes in the community.

I know how they feel; I feel the same way. Everyone just wants to be heard and respected, he said in a statement.

We want to know when we call our councillor, he or she will be responsive, and that is what I promise to bring to this office.

Sultana Jahangir, head of the South Asian Womens Rights Organization (SAWRO), said candidates often show shallow knowledge of her Bangladeshi immigrant community in the ward, which is crowded, underserved and recovering slowly from the pandemic.

The community needs social housing, child care and a councillor who understands social justice, said Jahangir, who suggested issues such as bike lanes  2024 may be the year a complete streets project extends along Scarboroughs Danforth Avenue and Kingston Road  distract from the larger issue of getting people out of poverty.

Lorenzo Berardinetti, the areas former MPP and a former Scarborough councillor who attempted a political comeback against Crawford last year, confirmed he wont run.

Crawford has said he wont endorse any candidate.
Here is your morning roundup on transit, weather and road closures in Toronto.

Weather: Expect sunny conditions with a high of 25 C. More information is available here.

TTC: Detours are reported this morning on streetcar route 511 and bus routes 7, 25, 72, 81, 88 and 100. Line 3 is permanently closed between Kennedy and McCowan stations. Service on Line 3 will not restart following the July 24 derailment. Starting Sept. 3, current Line 3 shuttle service will be replaced with express bus service between Kennedy and Scarborough Centre station. All other Line 3 stations will close permanently. Visit the TTC webpage for latest updates on subway, streetcar and bus service delays.

GO Transit: Delays are reported this morning on the Milton train line. There are train service adjustments for the CNE until Sept. 4 on multiple train lines. GO has also added more weekday and weekend train service on the Barrie and Stouffville lines. Click here to get information on GO service delays.

Road closures and traffic: Highway 427 northbound ramp at Campus Road/Fasken Drive is closed due to long-term construction. Highway 427 southbound on-ramp at The Queensway is closed due to construction. Highway 401 eastbound ramp at Dixon Road/Martin Grove Road is also closed due to construction. Visit the City of Toronto's webpage for traffic updates. For live highway traffic updates, click here.

Here's what the MTO is reporting for planned road closures this morning:

 Highway 401 westbound on-ramp at Kennedy Road -Scarborough, Toronto: all lanes closed until Dec. 22 at 6 a.m.

 Highway 427 northbound express off-ramp at Campus Road / Fasken Drive, Toronto: all lanes closed until Dec. 5 at 12:59 a.m.

 Highway 401 eastbound off-ramp at Dixon Road / Martin Grove Rd, Toronto: all lanes closed until Dec. 4 at 7 a.m.

 Highway 401 westbound on-ramp at Allen Road, Toronto: all lanes closed until Dec. 15 at 6 a.m.

 Highway 401 westbound on-ramp at Dixon Road / Martin Grove Rd, Toronto: all lanes closed until Dec. 4 at 7 a.m.

 Highway 401 westbound on-ramp at Kennedy Road -Scarborough, Toronto: all lanes closed until Dec. 22 at 6 a.m.

 Highway 427 northbound express off-ramp at Campus Road / Fasken Drive, Toronto: all lanes closed until Dec. 5 at 12:59 a.m.

Gas prices: Click here to see the lowest gas prices across the Toronto area from gasbuddy.com.

Top stories from our newsroom:

Taste of North York to feature more than 50 diverse food vendors

Scarborough Walk of Fame seeks fresh nominations for Scarborough's ultimate honour roll until Oct. 15

Man dead in two-alarm blaze at Scarborough highrise
Transport Canada is alerting drivers to recalls on several makes and models due to various safety concerns.

General Motors is recalling multiple vehicles because of faulty headlamps. The following vehicles may be affected, sorted by year:

2021

Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe

GMC Yukon and Yukon XL

Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV

2022

Chevrolet Silverado, Tahoe and Suburban

GMC Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL

Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV

2023

Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV

GMC Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL

Chevrolet Silverado, Suburban and Tahoe

2024

Chevrolet Silverado and Silverado HD

GMC Sierra and Sierra HD

On certain vehicles, the automatic headlamps may not turn on soon enough as it becomes dark outside. Canadian regulations require automatic headlamps to turn on when the ambient light level drops below a certain point (1,000 lux), Transport Canada said.

Headlamps that don't turn on as it becomes dark outside could reduce visibility and increase the risk of a crash.

General Motors will inform owners by mail and send a wireless over-the-air software update to eligible vehicles to update the body control module (BCM) software. Owners can also schedule an appointment to have the update performed at a dealership.

Visit Transport Canadas Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database to view the original recall.

Hyundai is recalling its 2021 to 2023 Elantra because on certain hybrid models, the car could slowly accelerate after releasing the brake pedal. Note that this problem can only happen under certain conditions after the vehicle has entered fail-safe mode.

A vehicle that accelerates on its own could create the risk of a crash, said Transport Canada.

Hyundai will notify owners and advise them to take their vehicle to a dealership to update the motor control unit (MCU) software.

View the original recall on Transport Canadas Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database.

Honda has recalled one 2023 CR-V Hybrid because of damaged wiring in the transmission due to a broken part. This could cause the vehicle to not work in hybrid mode, resulting in a loss of power to the wheels.

A sudden loss of power to the wheels could increase the risk of a crash, Transport Canada warned.

Honda will notify the owner to take the vehicle to the dealership to have the transmission replaced.

View the original recall at Transport Canada's Motor Vehicle Recalls Database.

Ford is recalling the 2012 and 2013 Explorer as well as the 2013 Explorer Police Interceptor Utility.

On certain vehicles that have had one or both of the rear wheel knuckle(s) replaced, the outer ball joint for the rear suspension toe link could seize. If this occurs, the toe link could break while driving, causing a sudden loss of vehicle stability. Note that this recall only affects vehicles equipped with a rear ball joint manufactured by ZF.

A sudden loss of stability could cause the vehicle to lose control, increasing the risk of a crash.

Ford will notify owners by mail and instruct you to take your vehicle to a dealer to inspect if it has had ball joints installed to replace the original bushings in the rear suspension, said Transport Canada.

If so, the ball joints will be inspected. If a ball joint requires replacement, the dealer will replace the rear suspension knuckle and toe link, as necessary.

Visit Transport Canadas Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database for the original recall.

Porsche has recalled the 2020 911 Carrera, Taycan and Taycan Turbo as well as the 2021 911 Carrera and Taycan.

On some vehicles, the seatbelt reminder chime may not alert that the front passenger seatbelt isn't buckled. Canadian regulations require both a seatbelt reminder sound and visual telltale when the vehicle is switched on, and the passenger isn't wearing a seatbelt.

A seatbelt warning that doesn't work correctly may not remind you to ensure that your passenger is buckled, Transport Canada said. Not wearing a seatbelt can increase the risk of injury in a crash.

Porsche will instruct owners to take their vehicle to a dealership to reprogram the instrument cluster software.

Visit Transport Canadas Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database to view the original recall.

BMW is recalling the 2019 3 Series because on some vehicles, the seatbelt reminder chime might be delayed if driving and the seatbelt is not buckled.

Canadian regulations require both a seatbelt reminder sound and visual aid when a driver is not wearing their seatbelt.

A seatbelt warning that doesn't work correctly may not remind you to buckle your seat before driving. Not wearing your seatbelt can increase the risk of injury in a crash, said Transport Canada.

BMW will notify owners by mail and advise you to take your vehicle to a dealership to update the Receiver Audio Module software.

View the original recall on Transport Canadas Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database.

Mercedes-Benz has recalled the 2022 and 2023 EQS Class because of a software problem that could cause the electric drive system to shut down unexpectedly while driving. If this occurs, there could be a loss of power to the wheels.

A sudden loss of power to the wheels could increase the risk of a crash, said Transport Canada.

Mercedes-Benz will notify owners by mail and advise you to take your vehicle to a dealership to update the electric drivetrain software.

Visit Transport Canadas Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database for the original recall.
Two women were hurt after a fire broke out at a Scarborough home early Friday.

Fire crews were called to the home, on Homestead Road, at 2:29 a.m. for reports of a house fire.

"Upon arrival, crews noticed a fire on the back deck, so it looked like a back patio fire that may have made its way into the house," Toronto Fire Services Capt. Bill Papakonstantinou said. "Crews extinguished the fire, and two occupants of the home self evacuated."

Toronto Paramedics Services deputy commander Shawn Staff said two women were taken to hospital in stable, non-life-threatening condition.

Ten fire trucks were dispatched to the single-alarm blaze. Firefighters remain on scene conducting a fire watch, Papakonstantinou said shortly after 8 a.m.
When Dr. Carl E. Hill, then 27, was appointed North Yorks first medical officer of health in 1922, the year North York became independent from York Township, the population was 6,500 and his staff consisted of himself and a part-time inspector. When he retired 43 years later at age 70 in 1965, the department had a staff of 160 and the population was 350,000.

Reeve (Mayor) James Service said: Dr. Hill has looked after the health of the municipality from its infancy through its adolescence to its maturity as a major metropolis. Hill was Torontos second-longest-serving medical officer of health; the longest was Scarboroughs Dr. C.D. Farquharson, for 45 years. He retired the year before Hill.

Hill, born in Richmond Hill, moved with his new bride to North York in 1921. He set up practice in their home near Yonge and Sheppard. When a fire broke out in a nearby house, he stopped it from spreading to his and other houses by pumping water from a well for a neighbourhood bucket brigade to douse the flames.

He was one of the first to use diphtheria toxoid on a large municipal basis. Following a smallpox epidemic in 1927, he created a community preventive smallpox vaccination program.

In 1931, he proposed a novel idea to help North Yorkers made jobless by the Great Depression. According to the book Pioneering in North York by Patricia W. Hart, 1968: Estimates of the number of wage earners unemployed in the municipality ranged from one third to more than forty per cent. Dr. Hill suggested that it was very demoralizing for these men to sit around their houses day after day without hope or activity and requested Council to insist that they work for their relief money. Shovels and rakes were provided for them to clean out the ditches along the streets for water mains. Each had so many feet to dig in a week to be eligible for their payment.

The program didnt last because it cost more than straight relief and was driving the Township toward bankruptcy.

He died in 1968, three years after retiring.

Susan Goldenberg is a director and membership chair of the North York Historical Society, which preserves North York's heritage. The author of nine books, her latest being Deadly Triangle: The Famous Architect, His Wife, Their Chauffeur, and Murder Most Foul, she has won both a Canadian Author's Award and a Canadian Business Press Editors' Award.
URUMQI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- As the alleyways slowly awaken from slumber in the early morning, Ablet Abdushukur hurried to his musical instrument store at the renowned Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, gearing up for another busy day.

By 9:30 a.m., the doors of the bazaar sprang open, transforming the pedestrian street into a lively canvas of tourists taking selfies and posing for group photos.

Seated in his shop, Ablet Abdushukur picked up a brightly colored hand drum, playing cheerful beats while beckoning passersby.

The term "bazaar" translates to "market" in Uygur. As a local landmark in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the grand bazaar sprawls across 100,000 square meters, hosting over 3,000 shops.

It stands as a captivating tourist attraction, featuring distinctive architecture, folk customs and delectable cuisine. The current peak season sees over 100,000 visitors flocking here every day.

"Xinjiang is truly wonderful. Its cultural tapestry is rich and diverse," said Zheng Ying, a tourist from east China's Jiangxi Province who is on a 20-day trip to the region.

The bazaar's charm takes center stage as the day progresses. Around noon, the mingled scents of roasted whole lamb and melons permeate the air, as tourists are enthralled by songs and dances, along with a variety of ethnic handicrafts.

Amidst all the hustle and bustle, Pakistani merchant Akhtar Hussain and his wife, who own a shop here, began their livestreaming session.

"Our shop features handcrafted goods from Pakistan, India, Turkiye and Iran. Our products have found their way to every corner of China, propelled by soaring sales," said Hussain, who boasts over a decade of trading experience at this bazaar.

In front of a traditional log cabin, tourists donning ethnic costumes gathered for photo sessions. Inside, a diverse collection of handicrafts, including embroidery and felt creations, enraptured many.

"In previous years, the tourist peak season would commence in the summer, but this year it started early in April," said Lin Xiaorong, who is in charge of the wooden house.

Lin added that the cultural and creative products hold particular allure, with daily sales exceeding 10,000 yuan (about 1,378 U.S. dollars).

Bazaars are a common sight in Xinjiang, found throughout urban and rural areas in Urumqi, Kashgar, and Turpan, among others. They serve as a reflection of the region's economic vitality.

In the first half of 2023, the gross domestic product of Xinjiang totaled over 854.2 billion yuan, up 5.1 percent year on year.

As dusk approached, gourmands began indulging in the culinary avenue of the grand bazaar, enamored by an array of delights, ranging from kebabs and grilled fish to yogurt rice dumplings and milk tea.

Abdulm Abdurahman, who owns an eatery, was fully engaged in preparing his specialty dish, deftly grilling the fish for a long queue of eager customers. "We sell nearly 300 fish daily. Although busy, it's very gratifying," he said.

As the clock struck 11 p.m., the night charm of the bazaar burst forth with vibrancy. Enveloped in a gentle breeze, people swayed to joyous music beneath the towering vantage point.

Hassan Shah, a Pakistani businessman, joined the crowd to shake a leg. "People are so warm-hearted. I really love it here," he said.

This year, the Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar has unveiled a range of activities involving intangible cultural heritage and cultural performances, which have been well received by visitors, said Liu Bo, an official with the grand bazaar subdistrict.

"A batch of new stores is poised for debut, ensuring that the bazaar remains a source of excitement for tourists," Liu added. 
A Lao trainee takes notes during a Chinese language class at the Confucius Institute of the National University of Laos in Vientiane, Laos, July 15, 2020. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

China's growing investment in Laos requires a bilingual workforce who understands both Lao and Chinese cultures, said Khamhoung Chanthavong, director of the Confucius Institute at the National University of Laos.

VIENTIANE, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Interest in Chinese language studies has been growing steadily in Laos, with the number of students taking Chinese courses in the Southeast Asian country increasing significantly.

Many Lao students are interested in learning Chinese and applying for a Chinese scholarship, which will be a great help in bolstering their Chinese language proficiency and cultivating better career skills.

The Chinese government has awarded 350 scholarships to Lao students in the 2023-2024 academic year for doctorate's, master's and bachelor's degrees in China.

Lao students prepare to board the EMU train on the China-Laos Railway in Vientiane, Laos, June 21, 2023. (Photo by Tamon Huengmeexay/Xinhua)

Aliya Xabphaysarne, an 18-year-old student from Savannakhet province, who was awarded the scholarship and chose to study medicine, told Xinhua that she has been learning Chinese since she was young, and she believes that she will be able to bring medical knowledge and techniques from China back to Laos.

"I decided to study in China because I want to develop my knowledge and deepen bilateral ties between China and Laos," said Praveena Insisiengmay, who was awarded a master's degree scholarship.

Meanwhile, the number of candidates applying for the bachelor's program in Chinese Language at the Confucius Institute at the National University of Laos (NUOL) has nearly tripled in the past two years to 562 in 2023 from 193 in 2021.

Director of the Confucius Institute, Khamhoung Chanthavong, told the media that the number of candidates for the entrance exam has been increasing steadily since the program was launched in 2021.

Khamhoung said China's growing investment in Laos requires a bilingual workforce who understands both Lao and Chinese cultures.

The Chinese Language Teaching course is designed to train Lao youth to support the development of the Laos-China economic cooperation, he added.

Wang Chang (L), charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Laos, hands over an admission letter to a Lao student at a farewell party for the Lao students who were awarded the Chinese government scholarship for the 2023-2024 school year in Vientiane, Laos, Aug. 24, 2023. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

At the entrance exam for the NUOL on Aug. 12, the Department of Chinese Language received over 2,000 student enrollments, the most for any subject this year.

In addition, the Lao railway vocational technical college in the Lao capital Vientiane is ready to train 360 students in its first academic intake in 2023, which would help prepare skilled workers to be employed on the China-Laos Railway.

The increasing popularity of Chinese language studies among Lao students is the result of a growing number of Chinese tourists and investors in the country neighboring southwest China, which also creates more job opportunities in related industries. 
Getting to Utila from Caye Caulker, and onwards to Nicaragua

Getting to Utila from Caye Caulker, and onwards to Nicaragua

Hello,

my next stop after Caye Caulker will be Utila, and I'm struggling a little to find an efficient way to get there. It's my understanding that despite the short distance, there isn't any ferry (private or public) from Caye Caulker (or even Belize City) directly to Utila. After Utila, I need to make my way to Grenada in Nicaragua. At this stage, I am thinking I'll travel as follows:

Day 1: Early ferry Caye Caulker to Belize City, then a flight from Belize City to Roatan. Overnight on Roatan.

Day 2: spend the day in Roatan, then take afternoon ferry to Utila.

Day 3: full day Utilla

Day 4: full day Utila

Day 5: early Ferry to Puedro Cortes, taxi to San Pedro Sula airport, fly to Managua, drive to Granada

Is there a better way to do this? Budget isn't so much of an issue, but am quite time poor so if there is a fasting option that costs more, I am happy to consider.

Thanks in advance for any tips!
Lakes hold signs of past earthquakes

Photo by Peter Haeussler.

From left, Peter Haeussler, Gerry Hatcher and Drake Singleton carry a boat motor one-quarter mile to a lake they will study for signs of past earthquakes.

ALLISON LAKE, ABOVE VALDEZ  Three men dressed in full raingear crept like ants across a bumpy green landscape on Aug. 25, 2023. Using a metal pole that was part of a boat frame, together they lugged a four-stroke outboard motor above the wet greenery.

The three men were scientists who were curious about what a nearby lake could tell them about past earthquakes. Rainy weather  with no break promised by the forecast  had transformed them into pack mules.

They had hoped to charter a helicopter from the town of Valdez, less than 10 miles away, to shuttle their weighty equipment by sling load from a gravel road that ended one-quarter mile from Allison Lake.

They had targeted the lovely mountain lake because another scientists work made them confident its depths held the granular evidence of large earthquakes that have rattled this alpine landscape many times in the past.

But a day before, each time Peter Haeussler had squinted outside the flap of their Arctic Oven tent, he saw nothing but gray fuzz in the V cut by Allison Creek. A few miles beyond where the creek flowed into the salt water of Port Valdez, a helicopter waited at the airport.

Along with what the scientists were seeing beyond the tent, the weather forecast promised no holes in the clouds for days.

Photo by Ned Rozell

Gerry Hatcher, left, and Drake Singleton drag a deflated boat pontoon over wet vegetation to reach Allison Lake near Valdez.

Illustration by UAF Geophysical Institute

A star indicates the location of Allison Lake.

That prompted Haeussler, Drake Singleton and Gerry Hatcher to hump 700 pounds of pontoon boat, sound-wave producing instrument, portable generator and gas cans one-quarter mile from their campsite to the lake edge.

Haeussler is a geologist and Alaska coordinator for the Earthquake Hazards Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. He had driven a truck and a trailer loaded with equipment from his headquarters at the USGS Alaska Science Center in Anchorage to near this lake 1,300 feet high in the Chugach Mountains. Riding with him were two men who know a lot about finding old earthquake evidence underwater and how to design and fix equipment. Singleton and Hatcher both work at the USGS office in Santa Cruz, California.

At the end of their carry, the trio gently set the 9.9-horsepower motor down on a green plateau steps from the lake. They exchanged wet high-fives. The heaviest piece of their puzzle was where it needed to be.

A day-and-a-half later, after absorbing near-constant rainfall on many round trips, they had succeeded in assembling a boat that floated on two pontoons, each the length of a pickup truck.

Photo by Gerry Hatcher.

Drake Singleton, left, and Peter Haeussler install a sound wave-generating device onto a pontoon boat they carried to Allison Lake near Valdez.

They launched the craft on glacier- and rainfall-fed Allison Lake, which has the shape of a bathtub and is more than 100 feet deep.

With Haeussler steering the boat in a tight grid back and forth over the lake surface, Singleton monitored the sound waves that bounced off the bottom and penetrated the sediment of the lake.

His computer screen generated a real-time map of the lake floor and what was beneath it. On it, Singleton saw evidence of underwater landslides caused by earthquakes shaking the basin. Those were the nuggets they were hoping to pan: lacustrine slump deposits.

This earthquake-detection technique is fairly new. Haeussler has spent much of his long career on quiet mountainsides and Alaska islands looking for more visible evidence of past earthquakes, such as ancient rips in the surface and offset streambeds. A little more than a decade ago, he attended a conference in Chile at which other scientists showed how turbidites, distinctive layers of sediment shaken to the bottom of lakes by earthquakes, were a valid record of past shakes.

Those lake deposits sometimes show a record of intraslab earthquakes, such as the 2018 magnitude 7.1 earthquake that rocked Anchorage. Those earthquakes, often damaging to structures and roads, dont leave the surface wound of megathrust or crustal earthquakes, making them much harder to detect after the event. Knowing where and when they struck in the past helps scientists predict how often large earthquakes happen in a region, which is useful information when formulating building codes.

Photo by Ned Rozell.

A steady rain falls on Allison Lake in a basin perched above Valdez in the Chugach Mountains.

Intrigued, Haeussler recruited Rob Witter, whom he met at the Chile conference, to join his team at the USGS Science Center in Anchorage. (Witter was to be part of the team at Allison Lake but suffered a broken collarbone in a recent mountain bike crash).

At Allison Lake, after acquiring a fantastic grid of mini seismic data all over the lake, the scientists hiked back to their Arctic Oven for the night.

The rain did not stop. It got so heavy that Haeusslers Valdez contact called him and recommended his team leave their campsite as soon as possible. The steep gravel road to the highway was eroding so much it would become undriveable soon, he warned.

With night falling, Haeussler and the team decided to leave the next morning after securing their gear by the lakeside for retrieval later.

The next day, creeping along in the truck, they made it back to the Valdez highway, and after seven hours, back to Anchorage. With them was a laptop with information about the old and ancient earthquakes that rocked Allison Lake and maybe all of Prince William Sound.

With that evidence, and that from other lakes they have probed such as Eklutna and Skilak, they are writing a history of Alaska earthquakes, old and new.



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.
By Janice Phelan, September 1, 2023



Blake Sullivan, a Missouri Innovation Campus student, is participating in a paid internship with Lead Bank while attending high school. This will help him to become job ready when he completes his four-year college degree nearly two years earlier than most students his age.





Reshaping the typical college internship has long been an important aspect of the University of Central Missouris nationally recognized Missouri Innovation Campus program. Strengthening the internship commitment was recommended by the MICs business partners when the program began in 2012 and has continued to be a key advantage for both students and companies.



Instead of simply hosting a college intern during the summer between students junior and senior years, the business partners recommended that internships begin the summer before students junior year in high school. Business partners and students also commit to three-year, year-round paid internships.



"Their reasoning for this type of internship was two fold, said Stan Elliott, MIC program director. One, it would give them more time to deliver their proprietary competencies so they could eliminate the skills gap and two, there would be more time that they could see if the intern was going to fit into their company culture and to be sure that the intern would want to be hired full time by them.



Since the programs launch, keeping IT and engineering talent in the Kansas City region has been paramount, Elliott said.



Ten years later, there is one telling metric that indicates the program is meeting that goal, he added, and that is that 90 percent of our graduates go to work full time for the company they interned with for those three years.



The Missouri Innovation Campus program is a partnership involving the Lees Summit R-7 School District, Metropolitan Community College, the University of Central Missouri and around 65 industry-leading business partners.



The MIC program remains a one-of-a-kind opportunity as it combines the enhanced internships with students ability to start their bachelors degree program the summer after their high-school sophomore year. This allows MIC program students to graduate with a Bachelor of Science just two years after high-school graduation.



Also, since UCM pays their first two years of college tuition and there are no room and board costs as well as the paid internship, most of our students graduate with little to no debt, Elliott said.



MIC program participants begin this accelerated bachelors degree program at the Lees Summit R-7 School Districts Summit Technology Academy where they are enrolled in one of these capstone courses  Big Data and Business Analytics, Cybersecurity, Digital Electronics/Engineering Technology/Design and Drafting, Software Development/Computer Science, Software Engineering and Computer Information Systems.



For more information about the MIC program, visit this webpage.
Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
From February 24, 2022 to August 31, 2023, the Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated about 263,020 Russian military personnel, including 610 soldiers over the past day.

This is stated in the report by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine published on Facebook.

Moreover, the Ukrainian troops destroyed 4,436 (+13 over the past day) enemy tanks, 8,604 (+8) armored combat vehicles, 5,507 (+31) artillery systems, 734 (+1) MLRS, 500 air defense systems, 315 aircraft, 316 helicopters, 4,417 (+22) operational-tactical UAVs, 1,445 (+26) cruise missiles, 18 ships/boats, 7,976 (+23) vehicles and fuel tanks, 830 (+5) special equipment units.

The data are updated.

As reported, over the past 24 hours, the aviation of the defense forces launched 10 strikes on personnel clusters and four strikes on enemy anti-aircraft missile systems.

Missile and artillery units hit an enemy personnel, weapons and military equipment cluster, a command post, and an EW station.
Fierce battles are being fought in the eastern direction, the enemy uses all possible weapons. In particular, 110,000 enemy troops are concentrated in LymanKupyansk section.

"Fierce battles are currently taking place in the eastern direction, the enemy uses the entire range of its aviation and artillery equipment. The Russian occupiers do not have an ammunition shortage. They daily fire tens of thousands of shells at the positions of our defenders in the eastern direction," Captain Illia Yevlash, the head of the press service of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said during the United News telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to him, the enemy fired 495 shots and launched 15 airstrikes in Lyman direction over the past day.

The spokesman noted that LymanKupyansk direction remained the most difficult as 110,000 Russian servicemen are concentrated here, trying to break through the defense lines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "But thanks to the titanic efforts of our infantry, artillerists, tankers, pilots, and all other defense forces, we manage to hold back [the enemy]," he emphasized.

In this direction, according to Yevlash, 13 combat engagements took place during the day, 11 of them near Novoyehorivka. Ukrainian defenders, thanks to the successful work of counter-battery units and reconnaissance, destroyed many enemy artillery systems. In total, during the day, seven UAVs were destroyed, in particular six Lancet drones, and 141 occupiers were eliminated.

In Bakhmut direction, the enemy launched 471 strikes on the Ukrainian military positions, the spokesman said. In the north of Bakhmut, the enemy continues to defend itself and uses assault tactics, while the offensive operation of Ukrainian forces continues on the southern flank.

As reported, the Defense Forces of Ukraine continue offensive operations in Bakhmut and Melitopol sections and had success in the areas of Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka.
In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky met with representatives of BAE Systems, a multinational company operating in the arms, security and aerospace sectors.

The President thanked the company's CEO Charles Woodburn and the BAE Systems team for the visit and the decision to open a representative office in Ukraine, Ukrinform reports citing the Presidential Office.

"We highly appreciate when private companies open their offices in our country at such a time. First of all, this is a very important signal of support for our people, Ukrainian citizens," Zelensky said.

The President noted that the weapons manufactured by BAE Systems, in particular L119 and M777 artillery systems, CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, are already actively operating in Ukraine, helping to bring victory in the confrontation with the Russian aggressor closer and receiving extremely positive feedback from the Ukrainian military.

According to him, Ukraine seeks to be a co-creator of a new effective system of European and global security, which is impossible without a powerful defense industry, for which the state wants to attract leading defense companies from allied countries.

Following the meeting, in the presence of the President and CEO of BAE Systems, the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine and BAE Systems signed a cooperation agreement on localization of BAE Systems arms production.

A Framework Agreement was also signed between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and BAE Systems on cooperation in the repair, spare parts, and production of new L119 light guns.

At the end of the meeting, Woodburn presented Zelensky with a commemorative certificate dedicated to the opening of the BAE Systems Ukraine office and the start of the company's cooperation with the country. According to the Presidential Office, it marks BAE Systems' commitment to sustained support for the Ukrainian people.

BAE Systems plc is a British multinational company specializing in the defense and aerospace industries, as well as information security. The company is headquartered in London.
In the temporarily occupied Mariupol, teenagers tried to remove the Russian flag near the occupiers' base, and now the Russian special services are looking for them.

This was reported on Telegram by the Mariupol City Council, according to Ukrinform.

"In the temporarily occupied city, teenagers wanted to tear down the flag of the aggressor state right next to the Russian base. Now the Russian special services are looking for the Mariupol residents," the statement reads.

The invaders have posted photos of the teenagers on many propaganda channels and call for information about their whereabouts.

The city council noted that Mariupol residents have repeatedly shown their true attitude toward the Russian occupiers: burning the Russian flag, singing and playing Ukrainian songs. "Russia is not welcome here!" - the city council emphasized.

As reported, Russia's aggression has caused one of the largest humanitarian disasters in Mariupol. The city is almost 90% destroyed as a result of shelling, and there is no normal supply of electricity, water or gas. The invaders are demolishing damaged buildings to hide the traces of their crimes.
WELLINGTON, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand paleontologists have discovered a remarkably intact fossil of one of the earliest ancestors of a group of birds now restricted to the tropics, which indicated the origin of the birds as Zealandia.

Zealandia is a submerged continent in Oceania, and New Zealand is the largest part of Zealandia that is above sea level.

The study was published on Friday in the Australian journal "Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology."

Paul Scofield, senior curator of the Canterbury Museum, said this latest finding demonstrates that the groups of birds, which were once thought to be evolved in the Northern Hemisphere, actually might have evolved in the seas around Zealandia.

The specimen discovered, dubbed as the Zealandian Tropicbird, is the first tropicbird fossil to be found in the Southern Hemisphere, and is believed to be around 62 million years old, making it the most ancient tropicbird species ever described, according to the study.

"The extinction of dinosaurs and other land and aquatic vertebrates 66 million years ago, left vacant a vast array of habitats that birds were able to conquer," said Vanesa de Pietri of the University of Canterbury.

Through all these bird fossils found, researchers discovered Zealandian shores played a key role in the early evolutionary history of many seabirds, said Pietri, an author of the study.

"Worldwide, the fossil record of birds this age is poor, which makes these Canterbury finds so significant in understanding what was happening with birds during the first 5 million years following the extinction of the dinosaurs," she said. 
In the south of Ukraine, the offensive operation of the defense forces continues. Certain successes have been achieved, in particular in NovodanylivkaNovoprokopivka section.

Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar posted this on Telegram.

According to her, "the offensive operation of our troops continues in the southern directions. There are certain successes, in particular in NovodanylivkaNovoprokopivka section."

As Maliar emphasized, "now our troops gain a foothold on the achieved boundaries."

As reported, Andriy Kovaliov, the spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the Ukrainian troops continue carrying out the offensive operations in Bakhmut and Melitopol directions and had success in the area of Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka.
Germany handed over to Ukraine another batch of military aid.

The list of defense assistance, posted on the website of the federal government, was updated on the last day of summer, reports Ukrinform.

According to the list, the latest batch includes 10 Leopard 1 A5 main battle tanks (the same number was transferred earlier), a TRML-4D* radar (in total, the Armed Forces received three such units); and 16 VECTOR reconnaissance drones (in addition to the 88 previously delivered).

Also, four 8x8 HX81 tractor units and the same number of semi-trailers were delivered to Ukraine (previously: 42 and 37 were delivered, respectively).

In addition, Germany supplied more than 13 million firearms rounds and a field hospital.

It should be recalled that Germany is the worlds second-largest military aid partner of Ukraine.
Twenty-five combat engagements have occurred between Ukraines Defense Forces and Russian occupiers in the past 24 hours.

The relevant statement was made by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Russian troops have launched one missile strike and 31 air strikes, and opened fire with multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) on Ukrainian positions and settlements 52 times over the past day. Following Russian terrorist attacks, casualties among civilians were reported, as well as the damage caused to residential houses and other civil infrastructure.

The threat of Russian missile and air strikes is persisting all over Ukraine, according to the General Staff.

In the Volyn and Polissia directions, the operational situation remained rather unchanged.

In the Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions, over 20 settlements were affected by Russian mortar and artillery strikes in the Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

In the Kupiansk direction, Russian invaders launched an air strike near the Kharkiv regions Kotliarivka. Such settlements as Borova, Kupiansk and Kyslivka were affected by enemy artillery and mortar strikes.

In the Lyman direction, Russian occupiers launched air strikes near the Kharkiv regions Cherneshchyna; and the Luhansk regions Novoiehorivka and Bilohorivka. Over 10 settlements were affected by enemy artillery strikes.

In the Bakhmut direction, Russians conducted launched air strikes near the Donetsk regions Bila Hora and New York. Over 15 settlements were affected by enemy artillery strikes.

In the Avdiivka direction, Russian artillery and mortar strikes affected the Donetsk regions Oleksandropil, Novokalynove, Avdiivka, Sieverne and Pervomaiske.

In the Marinka direction, Ukrainian forces continue holding back Russias onslaught near the Donetsk regions Marinka. The enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive actions near Novomykhailvka, and launched an air strike near Krasnohorivka. Russian artillery strikes affected Krasnohorivka, Marinka, Pobieda, Kurakhovo, Novomykhailivka and Katerynivka.

In the Shakhtarske direction, Russian invaders launched air strikes near the Donetsk regions Vuhledar and Staromaiorske. Such settlements as Vodiane, Bohoiavlenka, Prechystivka, Blahodatne and Urozhaine were affected by enemy artillery strikes.

In the Zaporizhzhia direction, Russian occupiers launched air strikes near the Zaporizhzhia regions Novodanylivka, Orikhiv and Robotyne. Over 15 settlements were affected by enemy artillery strikes.

In the Kherson direction, Russians launched artillery and mortar strikes on Stanislav, Veletenske and Antonivka.

Meanwhile, Ukraines Defense Forces continue the offensive operation in the Melitopol direction, where they are gaining a foothold within the recaptured frontiers and carrying out counterbattery measures.

In the past 24 hours, Ukraines Air Force has launched 12 strikes on Russian personnel clusters, and four strikes on enemy surface-to-air missile systems.

Ukrainian missile and artillery units hit one enemy artillery system in firing position and two radar systems.
In a phone call, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi briefed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark A. Milley on the course of Ukraines offensive operation.

The relevant statement was made by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Within the framework of continuous dialogue with partners, I spoke via phone with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley. During the conversation, I informed General Milley about the operational situation along the frontline and told him about the course of our offensive operation, Zaluzhnyi wrote.

In addition, the parties discussed the supply of weaponry and ammunition, and the strengthening of Ukraines air defense.

Zaluzhnyi thanked for another security assistance package, which had recently been announced by the United States, as well as for the allies efforts to provide the F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
More than 25 combat clashes have taken place at the front in the past 24 hours.

In the past 24 hours, 25 combat clashes have occurred, the General Staff said.

Last night, the Russian Federation launched another missile attack on the territory of Ukraine. Information on the consequences of this terrorist attack is being clarified.

According to the General Staff, in the past day, the enemy launched one missile attack and 44 airstrikes, carried out 70 MLRS attacks on the positions of Ukrainian troops and populated areas. Unfortunately, as a result of the Russian terrorist attacks, there are dead and wounded among the civilian population. Damage was caused to residential buildings and other civil infrastructure.

Read also: Pentagon orders AMRAAM missiles for Ukraine

The threat of the enemy launching further missile attacks and airstrikes on Ukraine remains high.

In the Volyn and Polissia directions, the operational situation has not changed significantly.

In the Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna directions, the enemy launched an air strike in the area of Kozacha Lopan of Kharkiv region, carried out mortar and artillery attacks on more than 20 settlements, including Sosnivka, Karpovychi of Chernihiv region, Seredyna-Buda, Volfyne, Romashkove, Shalyhyne, Nova Sloboda of Sumy region and Vovchansk, Khrypuny, Karaichne, Mala Vovcha, Bolohivka, Budarky of Kharkiv region.

In the Kupiansk direction, the enemy launched an airstrike in Kotliarivka area of Kharkiv region. The settlements of Borova, Kupiansk, Kyslivka of Kharkiv region were subjected to enemy artillery and mortar attacks.

In the Lyman direction, the enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive operations in Novoyehorivka area of Luhansk region. Russians launched airstrikes in the districts of Cherneshchyna of Kharkiv region, Novoyehorivka and Bilohorivka of Luhansk region, Rai-Oleksandrivka of Donetsk region. More than 15 settlements came under artillery shelling, including Nevske, Bilohorivka, Tverdokhlibove of Luhansk region and Rozdolivka, Nykyforivka, Verkhniokamianske, Fedorivka of Donetsk region.

In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy launched airstrikes in the areas of Bila Hora and New York of Donetsk region. More than 15 settlements, including Minkivka, Bohdanivka, Ivanivske, Oleksandro-Shultyne, Druzhba, Severne of Donetsk region, were came under enemy artillery fire.

In the Avdiivka direction, the enemy launched artillery and mortar attacks on the settlements of Oleksandropil, Novokalynove, Avdiivka, Severne, Orlivka, and Pervomaiske of Donetsk region.

In the Maryinka direction, the Defense Forces continue to hold back the advance of Russian troops in the Maryinka area of Donetsk region. The enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in Novomykhailivka area. Russians launched an airstrike in the area of Krasnohorivka. The settlements of Krasnohorivka, Pobieda, Maryinka, Kurakhove, Novomykhailivka, Katerynivka, Kostiantynivka, Antonivka of Donetsk region came under artillery fire.

In the Shakhtarske direction, the enemy carried out airstrikes in the areas of Vuhledar and Staromaiorske of Donetsk region. The settlements of Vodiane, Vuhledar, Bohoiavlenka, Prechystivka, Zolota Nyva, Blahodatne, and Urozhaine of Donetsk region were subjected to enemy artillery shelling.

In the Zaporizhzhia direction, the enemy launched airstrikes in the areas of Novodanylivka, Robotyne, Malaya Tokmachka, Orikhiv of Zaporizhzhia region. More than 20 settlements, including Novodarivka, Mali Shcherbaky, Olhivske, Chervone, Charivne, Huliaipole, Lobkove, and Plavni of Zaporizhzhia region, came under enemy artillery shelling.

In the Kherson direction, the enemy carried out airstrikes in Mykolaivka and Olhivka districts of Kherson region, fired artillery and mortars at the settlements of Stanislav, Olhivka, Poniativka, Veletenske, Antonivka of Kherson region.

At the same time, the Defense Forces of Ukraine continue offensive operations in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, getting entrenched in the regained positions and carrying out counter-battery measures.

The Air Force of Ukraine launched 14 strikes on one enemy personnel cluster, as well as four strikes on anti-aircraft missile systems of the invaders.

For their part, Ukrainian missile and artillery forces struck one artillery unit in firing position and two radar stations of the enemy.

As reported by Ukrinform, the Defense Forces of Ukraine from February 24, 2022 to August 31, 2023 eliminated about 263,020 Russian invaders, including 610 occupiers in the past day alone.
Sweden supports Ukraine's full membership in the EU and NATO and is ready to join the implementation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky's Peace Formula.

This was stated by the Head of the Department for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Peter Eriksson, and the Head of the Security Policy Department at the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Johan Frisell, during a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Yevhen Perebyinis, Ukrinform reported citing the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

It is noted that the parties discussed a wide range of issues, in particular in the context of the implementation of the agreements reached during the recent visit of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to Sweden, as well as joint activities that will promote close and fruitful cooperation between our countries.

"Peter Eriksson and Johan Frisell reaffirmed Sweden's firm support for Ukraine's full membership in the EU and NATO, as well as its readiness to engage in the implementation of President Zelensky's Peace Formula," the Foreign Ministry said.

As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson signed a joint statement on August 19 on enhanced cooperation on the CV90 platform.
The Federal Agency for Technical Relief of the German Ministry of the Interior will provide Ukraine with 10 refrigerators to store the bodies of fallen soldiers.

The Office of the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances reported this on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.

"Today, the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances Oleh Kotenko held an online meeting with representatives of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) of the German Ministry of the Interior and representatives of the German Bureau of Forensic Medicine," the statement said.

The meeting was also attended by Ihor Rozovyk, director of the Main Bureau of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, and Kostiantyn Voroshylov, director of the Kyiv Regional Bureau of Forensic Medicine.

The participants discussed the possible assistance of international partners in the work of the Commissioner and other responsible structures that facilitate the search and identification of missing persons.

The Commissioner's Office noted that the Federal Agency for Technical Relief will provide Ukraine with 10 refrigerators (containers and refrigerated trucks) to store the bodies of fallen heroes.

Kotenko thanked the international donors who continue to support the humanitarian mission of the Ombudsman's Office and other related structures.

"This assistance is extremely important for our country. We hope that other partners will also contribute to this crucial task. We really appreciate everyone who supports us in this difficult time for our country," the Commissioner emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on August 29, the bodies of 84 fallen soldiers were returned to Ukraine from the territories temporarily occupied by Russia.
In Finland, the Central Criminal Police (KRP), together with other agencies, conducted an investigation into procurement and logistics operators suspected of involvement in the export of high technology through the country to Russia.

This was reported by Yle, Ukrinform reported.

The investigation into the Helsinki-registered company was launched in 2019.

The company is suspected of violating EU sanctions legislation. According to law enforcement, various goods, including electronics, were exported to Russia through the company. The alleged crimes took place mainly in 2016-2020.

According to the investigation, the company's activities are led by a person whose name is on the US sanctions list on suspicion of supplying technology to the Russian Armed Forces or related entities. This person, however, does not play any official role and does not own shares in the Helsinki company.

The investigation materials have been transferred to the prosecutor's office, but no decision has been made on whether to press charges.

The day before, Yle reported that a man accused of espionage in Sweden organized the supply of sanctioned goods to Russia through Finnish companies. In particular, it is about the supply of illegal equipment through a Finnish electrical company.

As reported, a citizen of the Russian Federation and Germany was arrested in Cyprus on August 26 at the request of the United States for the illegal export of secret US military microelectronics to Russia.
In Russia, operations to eliminate President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky were carefully prepared several times.

The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Kyrylo Budanov, said this in an interview with journalist Nataliya Moseichuk, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Several times they seriously prepared certain operations. Very seriously, carefully planned, preparatory measures were carried out. And in the end, you see that the Ukrainian agencies work quite efficiently, because this never happened," Budanov said.

As reported, in March 2022, the Presidential Office noted that President Zelensky had already survived more than 10 attempts on his life.
Head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov believes that the war should be transferred to the territory of the aggressor state.

"Its a great idea, in my opinion. The war should be transferred to another territory, which, of course, is the Russian Federation," he said in an interview with journalist Natalia Moseychuk, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

When asked whether these should be targeted strikes, acts of sabotage, etc., Budanov stated that the wider those operations were, the better.

According to him, Russia has long gone down the path of strategic defeat. "Now it's like in chess  zugzwang: no matter what they do, they will still suffer a strategic loss. And on the contrary, understanding this, a strategic loss of Ukraine is no longer possible. This is unreal," Budanov said.

He emphasized that Russia had turned into a diplomatic outcast. According to him, the Russian economy is "not in a very good condition", and the military machine turned out to be a "soap bubble".

No one in the world is afraid of Russia, the military intelligence chief added. "They debunked the myth about everything, they simply destroyed faith in Russian weapons. It is becoming cheaper in the world," Budanov said.

In his opinion, the international community should "return to the language of numbers and facts" and admit that many fears about the Russian Federation and its place and role in the world are a myth. "And you need to talk to them based on who they are, they are a cheap resource and raw-material appendage of the world," Budanov said.
Since 2020, Ukraine has been working on two strategic directions  domestic missile program and the use of drones. Therefore, hitting targets in the territory of the aggressor state, even at a distance of 1,500 km from Ukraine, is no longer a problem.

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said this on the air of Ukrainian Radio, Ukrinform reports.

At the same time, he noted that the Ukrainian army attacked only military facilities of the Russian Federation, while blowing up oil refineries or other facilities was the work of Russian partisans which Ukraine did not control.

"The origin of weapons used against the territory of the Russian Federation is Ukrainian. There are two areas that have been developed for a certain period of time  the missile program, which was approved back in 2020 to create our own Ukrainian missiles, and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, which are very powerfully deployed in our country today with the involvement of a large number of private companies. All this will bring its results, given that we do not attack civilian objects of the Russian Federation  schools, kindergartens  as the terrorist state does. We attack either factories or military production facilities  the components that kill our children. We must put an end to this," Danilov said.

As for the distance at which Ukrainian troops can hit objects, 700 and 1,0001,500 km will no longer be a problem, the NSDC Secretary noted.

"A huge number of professional people worked for this, and all this is happening so that we can protect our country. Legitimate goals in this war are determined by the military leadership. However, if there are any partisans in the Russian forests who are dissatisfied with the regime established in the territory of Russia by a modern Hitler named Putin, then they have the right to use the appropriate means of destruction from their territory. We cannot control what will be affected  oil refineries or other things. This is a separate direction of work in the territory of the Russian Federation carried out by Russian citizens," he added.
As part of the new project launched by the World Bank, more than 100,000 families in Ukraine will receive aid to make urgent repairs to homes damaged by Russian attacks.

The relevant statement was made by the World Bank, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The Housing Repair for Peoples Empowerment Project (HOPE) will enable homeowners to make light repairs, such as replacing broken windows or fixing damaged roofs. It will also provide repair funds to owners of multifamily residential buildings that are moderately damaged but do not require structural repairs, the report states.

A reminder that, since the Russian invasion started, Ukraine has received more than USD 22 billion through the World Bank's mechanism.

In the first quarter of 2023, international partners reimbursed priority expenditures of the Ukrainian budget in the amount of USD 4.3 billion within the framework of the World Banks project Supporting public expenditures to ensure sustainable public administration in Ukraine (PEACE in Ukraine).

Photo: illustrative
The bulk carriers ANNA-THERESA (flag of Liberia) and OCEAN COURTESY (Marshall Islands) left Ukraine's Pivdennyi port and are moving along the established corridor towards the Bosphorus.

According to Ukrinform, the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine reported this.

The vessels transport 56,000 tonnes of pig iron and 172,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrate.

Both bulk carriers are operated by a Singaporean shipping company and were in Pivdennyi port before Russia's full-scale invasion. The ANNA-THERESA bulk carrier has been in the port since February 22, 2022, and the OCEAN COURTESY since February 16, 2022.

The ministry reminds that the corridor established by the navigational order of the Ukrainian Navy is primarily used to evacuate ships that were in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi at the time of Russia's full-scale invasion. Since August 15, four vessels have already used the temporary corridor.

The container ship JOSEPH SCHULTE and the bulk carrier PRIMUS were the first to use this route on August 16 and 27.

As reported, according to navigation order No. 6 of the Ukrainian Navy, temporary routes for civilian vessels to and from the Black Sea ports of Ukraine came into effect on August 8, 2023. Ukraine proposed this route in its application to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The IMO Council recognizes Ukraine's international right to free commercial navigation and calls on Russia to stop any threats and to comply with international conventions.
The decentralization reform in Ukraine did not stop during the full-scale war, an important issue now is the regulation of control and monitoring of the decisions of local self-government bodies.

"Ukraine not only can but continues the development of the reform in the conditions of the full-scale invasion. To date, Ukraine has raised the bar high, particularly in front of international partners. An important issue of completing the reform is the issue of control and monitoring of decisions of local self-government bodies. Primarily, control from the public is needed. And we have to take this into account in our legislative acts because it is the public that is a direct participant in the political events that take place in local government. Of course, this does not exclude the presence of control by central authorities. And this also needs to be legislated," Deputy Head of the Presidents Office Oleksiy Kuleba told Ukrinform in an interview.

Kuleba noted that the dialogue on the decentralization reform continued, consultations were being held, the Ministry of Restoration cooperated with the specialized committee of the Verkhovna Rada.

As reported, the Ministry of Restoration held the first meeting of the Coordination Council on regional policy and decentralization reform on July 20 where it presented plans for community support to international partners.
Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, held a meeting with the delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden.

According to the President's Office, the parties focused on the implementation of agreements following President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent visit to Sweden.

Separately, the parties discussed the situation in Ukraine and ways to restore its territorial integrity in view of Russia's ongoing full-scale armed aggression against our country. In this context, the interlocutors discussed in detail the security component of bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Sweden, the report says.

Also, Zhovkva thanked for the significant comprehensive assistance to Ukraine, especially noting the leadership in creating the CV90 coalition, as well as the opportunity for Ukrainian pilots to test the Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets.

"We are grateful to Sweden for 13 defense assistance packages and the transfer of several dozen CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, which have already proven to be highly effective on the battlefield. We look forward to expanding their supply to the Ukrainian defense forces, as well as launching joint production of these vehicles in accordance with the joint Statement of Intent on enhanced cooperation on the CV90 platform recently signed by the leaders of the two countries," the President Office deputy head emphasized.

The interlocutors also discussed the concept of providing Ukraine with security guarantees from Sweden until Ukraine joins the North Atlantic Alliance.

In this context, Zhovkva thanked Sweden for joining the Joint Declaration of the G7 leaders on support for Ukraine (security guarantees) and expressed hope for its active participation in the restoration of Ukraine.

Photo: Presidents Office
In an address to participants of Ambrosetti Forum held in Cernobbio, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he was positive that Italys presidency in G7 will provide strong solutions for global security.

Thats according to the Presidential press service, Ukrinform reports.

Next year is the time of Italy's presidency in G7. And I have no doubt that this time will bring strong solutions not only for our common security, not only for our whole Europe, but also globally, said Zelensky.

He recalled an important truth, namely, how important the power of a decision is. Both political and business. Real power.

When you see what needs to be done. When you dare to act. And when you act in such a way that your leadership enables others to be more of a leader.

And when I say that, I'm talking about Italy in particular. Because not a single day when we cooperated with you, with your state, with your government, with Giorgia, with Italian companies, I had no doubt that the Italian decisions would be strong, said Zelensky.

He recalled that Italy supported Ukraine in defense, in particular with a very important air defense system, a powerful SAMP-T; supported Ukraine politically, in particular in the EU, supported Ukraines candidate status, and supported Ukraine with security guarantees, in particular, by signing a declaration on Ukraine together with the entire G7.

And we all see why and whom we oppose. Whom our and your strength has to deal with. On that side, beyond our front line, there is no strength, there is only meanness and stockpiles of weapons. Is there any strength in the fact that Russia fires missiles at peaceful cities? Or drops guided aerial bombs on schools? Zelensky said.

According to the president, Russia is not demonstrating its strength by this: Vice versa. These are the crimes of someone who fears that he has already lost everything. Who realizes this. But he does not admit it yet.

Is there any strength in hitting a plane with your rival by a missile? And at the same time, be afraid to fly out of Russia's territory to any country. And travel around your country exclusively on an armored train. Although this is a regularity. Because if one terrorist kills another terrorist in such a state, there will be a third one, Zelensky noted.

He added that when the world looks at Russia after all this, we see nothing but weakness.

And even now, the president said, when they are trying to add chaos to Africa, they are not showing their strength. Russian mercenaries in Africa are an attempt to distract the world from what today's Russia has become.

Terror does not hide weakness  it only hurts. Strength does something completely different. Strength always removes chaos. It does not multiply it. Strength always defends its land, and does not grab someone else's. Strength is that you respect yourself, and you are really respected by others, you are respected by your people, you are respected by other nations. And they communicate with you because of this, because of this respect, and not because you have nuclear weapons, the head of state stressed.

Strength  when it is real  does not bring war, but peace. Peace will be our result with you. Because we have strength, Zelensky emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the head of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, emphasized in May that Italy would not call peace anything that resembles aggression, and that it will do everything possible to ensure that an unjust peace is not imposed on Ukraine.

Photo: Presidents Office
Having researched media landscapes of the countries of the world, the Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security has analyzed the main trends in the spread of Russian narratives in the countries of the Global South.

Conflicting messages

One of the features of the dissemination of Russian narratives identified during the monitoring is a combination of conflicting messages aimed at one country.

For example, in the online media of Turkey and Egypt, on the one hand, a narrative was spread that Western countries supply Ukraine with weapons that continue to escalate the war on the part of Russia, on the other hand, Western countries refuse to supply weapons. The same trend was observed in African countries.

Messages of global narratives gained local context

For example, this concerns the development of hostile attitudes towards Europe in the online media of Indonesia because of the topic of religion (such as: anti-Islamic rhetoric is growing in Europe). Such an emphasis in Indonesia is understandable because it is the largest Muslim country.

Other examples are linking the consequences of sanctions to the impact on the internal spheres of the countries of the Global South (food sector, economy, etc.), whereas hostility towards Ukraine is provoked by information attacks on Ukrainians disliking the population of African countries.

Russian propaganda looks for vulnerable topics

Russian propaganda, as is typical of any propaganda, looks for vulnerable topics to make it easier to manipulate the audience.

For example, blaming Ukraine for the food crisis in the online media of African countries, since Ukraine is an important food supplier for these countries.

Considering historical features of regions and countries

Another factor is the historical features of regions and specific countries, for example, the spread of anti-Western narratives in Africa and hostile narratives about the United States in Latin America.

Adaptability of narratives to the relevance/importance of events

An analysis of the information landscape of 2023 shows that African online media continue to disseminate, as well as intensify, new messages about military assistance to Ukraine. This trend has become quite common since January 2023 in many regions of the world (not only in Africa or the Middle East).

In addition, messages that intimidated the audience with the prospect of Russias use of nuclear weapons in the event of continued arms supplies to Ukraine intensified. Such reports assumed that Europe would turn into a radioactive cemetery, and the consequences for the West for supplying weapons to Ukraine were called global catastrophe, apocalypse, and World War III.

The narrative that Ukraine/The USA create/plan provocations against Russia was actively spread. For example, Kyiv troops are preparing to blow up granaries in Kharkiv to carry out a provocation against Moscow or The U.S. is preparing a provocative poison attack in Ukraine to blame Russia. This narrative was also noted in the Middle East.

Development of some messages in their history

Systemic monitoring of media landscapes shows the development of some messages in their history according to the cause-effect scheme. For example, new variations or a combination of several previously separate messages emerge. If in 2022 the narrative Russia accuses the West of a nuclear threat prevailed in the online media of Latin America, then in 2023, the message blackmail with the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in case it is defeated dominated the information landscape. Another example is the dissemination of the narrative the conflict is fuelled by a large supply of weapons to Ukraine from the West in the online media of Africa in 2022; in 2023, it intensified  new weapons for Kyiv will lead to a global catastrophe.

Russian propaganda seeks vulnerable audiences

In some cases, the dissemination of a particular narrative does not depend on the purpose of convincing someone, but on the audience that believes this narrative.

Read more about Russian narratives in online media of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and India and Indonesia.

Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security
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Published September 1, 2023

CAPTION: Students from Neville and Carroll high schools pose with ULM TRIO staff (L-R) Dr. Mystee Burrell, Tammy Anderson, Debbie Upshaw, and Tommie Nelson

MONROE, LA  In June 2023, University of Louisiana Monroe TRIO Educational Talent Search (ETS) participants from Carroll High School, Neville High School, and Richland Parish were accompanied by ULM TRIO staff Dr. Mystee Burrell, Tammy Anderson, Debbie Upshaw, and Tommie Nelson on a visit to the Laster Inferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in Livingston, La.

TRIO Talent Search is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The program provides a full spectrum of services to students from disadvantaged backgrounds who have the potential to succeed in higher education.

The ULM TRIO ETS participants had an eye-opening experience on this field trip. Science research advances knowledge, enhances education, and improves the quality of our lives, said Tommie Nelson, Retention Outreach Coordinator for ULMs TRIO programs.

The Louisiana LIGO site is one of two in the US and one of six worldwide. The research facility is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. This scientific work has been deemed as one of the most ambitious scientific research projects in the world. LIGO was designed to open the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational waves predicted by Einsteins General Theory of Relativity. LIGOs multi-kilometer-scale gravitational wave detectors use laser interferometry to measure the minute ripples in space-time caused by passing gravitational waves from cataclysmic cosmic events such as colliding neutron stars or black holes, or by supernovae.

The LIGO scientists and engineers challenged the TRIO Participant generation to further existing scientific discoveries in the future. TRIO participants were given a tour of the research facilities as well as the LIGO Science Education Center. The Educational Center used hands-on exhibits as a foundation for their programs. The exhibits stressed physical science topics like pendulums, light, waves, resonance and gravity.
| By Brittney Brookins

The University of Maryland School of Social Works (UMSSW) Center for Restorative Change is poised to revolutionize school-based mental health services with a $5.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will significantly expand the training of mental health service providers in high-need school districts across Central Maryland.

A news conference was held Aug. 24 at UMSSW to highlight the University of Maryland, Baltimore's (UMB) Fellowship for School-Based Mental Health, which serves as a conduit for nurturing and developing the next generation of social work professionals and placing them directly within Maryland schools to provide top-tier mental health support to students and their families.

Dean Judy Postmus speaks in front of the School of Social Work building during the Aug. 24 news conference to announce a $5.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

It is of paramount importance that we cultivate and empower the next generation of school-based mental health service providers, said UMSSW Dean Judy L. Postmus, PhD, ACSW. Through this program, in collaboration with esteemed partners across the state, we will ensure the provision of top-tier training and amplify accessibility and affordability for future students, especially students of color. This initiative comes at a crucial time when we are confronted with a pressing shortage of experts in this pivotal field.

With the support of multiple schools and entities, the program aims to serve six local educational agencies, hire 50 providers, and reach 10,000 students. It prioritizes targeted training for social work students, equipping them with the skills necessary to meet the diverse needs of students in these communities.

As the new school year gets underway, schools will have a robust network of trained mental health professionals ready to provide crucial support. This new school year will not just be about academic growth, but also about fostering emotional well-being, resilience, and mental health among students.

With proper funding, we expect that schools will feed children healthy meals, provide opportunities for socio-emotional development through arts and after-school programming, and deliver developmentally appropriate curricula, said Ariya Hayes-Lawson a UMSSW student and program fellow. Given the impacts of the pandemic on childrens academic proficiency and mental well-being, it should follow that their mental health needs also be met within schools.

This forward-thinking program also strives to address the lack of diversity in the field of social work. Recent research shows that 63 percent of new social workers are white. With this in mind, the project aims to break down barriers for people of color who may lack resources to pursue their social work education, thereby enhancing diversity among highly qualified trained mental health providers.

The greatest barrier for most prospective students of color to attending graduate school is financial, said Wendy Shaia, MSW, EdD, executive director of the Center for Restorative Change and principal investigator for the grant. Another big barrier for social workers of color is passing the social work licensing exams, which have demonstrated huge racial disparities  not because exam takers are unprepared, but because the test is deeply flawed. This fellowship will support students in overcoming both of those barriers.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the urgent need for quality mental health providers in schools, with nearly 143,000 children in Maryland developing anxiety and/or depression due to the crisis. This project also aims to mitigate this issue by increasing the number of trained service providers.

In collaboration with Coppin State University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), the center will spearhead the recruitment, training, and development of 105 social work students per year. These students will mirror the diverse backgrounds of those in UMSSWs partner schools, ensuring an inclusive approach to mental health service provision.

We are excited to be able to provide our baccalaureate social work students this opportunity to receive training and experience with in-school social work, said Shelly A. Wiechelt, PhD, LCSW-C, associate dean and chair of social work at UMBC. They will be prepared to advance their skills further in the MSW [Master of Social Work] program. Ultimately, they will become part of the school social worker workforce and will make a difference in the mental health of children and adolescents.

The UMB Fellowship for School-Based Mental Health offers a unique professional pathway for students interested in school-based mental health services, providing stipends from the Bachelor of Social Work degree through the MSW degree.

I anticipate this grant will be beneficial not only financially, which will allow me the freedom to use my time developing my clinical skills, but also providing opportunities for hands-on learning, said Faith Rogers, a social work student at Coppin State University. I believe the mission of this grant aligns with my career goal to provide culturally responsive access to mental health care for African American youth.

Find more information about the Center for Restorative Change.
08/31/2023

Wednesday saw Canada, a longstanding U.S. ally, issue a travel warning for LGBTQ+ individuals visiting the United States. Tourists visiting certain areas were cautioned in the wake of recent hate crimes, legislation and countless examples of discrimination.

Historically, we have seen these types of travel advisories coming from the U.S. government, said Associate Professor Cheryl Llewellyn , an expert in gender, sexuality and migration. Canadas newest advisory makes a very targeted comment about homophobia in the United States and exposes the hypocrisy of claims that the U.S. is a progressive place for trans and queer rights.

She points to bans on drag performances, Dont Say Gay bills, and restrictions on necessary and life-affirming care for transgender individuals as rationale for Canadas action.

Chair of the UMass Lowell sociology department, Llewellyn studies individuals seeking asylum in the United States on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. A main theme in her analyses is an imperception of the U.S. as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ individuals. She has found, while many asylees say they feel safer in the U.S., they do not necessarily feel welcome, nor do they perceive themselves as completely protected from violence.
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently sent a congratulatory message to Emmerson Mnangagwa on his reelection as president of Zimbabwe.

In his message dated Wednesday, Xi said China and Zimbabwe enjoy a traditional friendship, and have in recent years, under the guidance of the two presidents, continuously deepened political mutual trust, achieved fruitful results in practical cooperation, and firmly supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns.

Xi said he highly regards the development of bilateral relations, and stands ready to work with Mnangagwa to push for new progress in the China-Zimbabwe comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and safeguard international fairness and justice as well as the common interests of developing countries. 
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) on Friday evening renewed a yellow alert for rainstorms.

From 8 p.m. Friday to 8 p.m. Saturday, heavy downpours and rainstorms are forecast in Fujian, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and Yunnan, according to the NMC.

Parts of these regions are expected to experience heavy rainfall, with maximum hourly precipitation surpassing 60 millimeters, accompanied by thunderstorms and gales.

The center has advised local governments to prepare for rainstorms. Traffic management departments should take appropriate traffic control measures on sections of roads experiencing heavy rainfall, and guide traffic on waterlogged sections.

The center has also suggested that at-risk outdoor power supplies should be disconnected and outdoor operations in open areas should be suspended.

China has a four-tier weather-warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. 
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Niamey, Niger, Sept 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Sep, 2023 ) :Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Thursday floated the idea of a transition back to democracy in neighbouring Niger similar to the nine-month period his country underwent in the late 1990s.

The Economic Community of West African States has imposed sanctions on Niger after troops ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in a coup on July 26 and the bloc threatened military intervention as a last resort if talks fail to restore civilian rule.

In a statement on Thursday, the bloc insisted it wanted Bazoum back in power right away.

"The military authorities in Niger must restore constitutional order immediately by liberating and reinstating... President Mohamed Bazoum," it said.

Niger's new military leaders have dug in, saying they want a maximum three-year transition period to restore constitutional order and have ordered police to expel France's envoy as tensions build with a key partner in Niger's anti-jihadist fight.

Late on Thursday, Niger's interior ministry announced it was stopping UN agencies, NGOs and international organisations from working in military "operation zones".

It did not specify which regions were affected, but said the measures were "due to the current security situation".

"All activities and or movements in the zones of operations are temporarily suspended," it said.

Tinubu said Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 after a nine-month transition period instituted by former military head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who has also headed delegations to meet the Niger junta.

"The president sees no reason why such cannot be replicated in Niger, if Niger's military authorities are sincere," the Nigerian presidency said in a statement.

Algeria, Niger's influential northern neighbour, has met with West Africa leaders in a bid to avoid any military intervention in Niger and has proposed a six-month transition.

But Tinubu's statement said there would be no relief from sanctions imposed by ECOWAS, of which he serves as chair, until the regime made "positive adjustments".

"The soldiers' action is unacceptable.

The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger," it said.

The overthrow of Niger's government has triggered concern around West Africa where Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso have all been taken over by the military since 2020.

Fears of contagion have deepened with this week's military rebellion in Gabon to overthrow President Ali Bongo, toppled moments after being declared winner of a highly disputed weekend election.

Niger's new military rulers have also been engaged in a political battle with Paris, and stripped France's ambassador of diplomatic immunity and ordered police to expel him, according to a letter seen Thursday by AFP.

The envoy "no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as member of the diplomatic personnel in the French embassy," according to their letter, dated Tuesday, to the foreign ministry in Paris.

Relations with France spiralled downwards after the July coup when Paris stood by Bazoum and refused to recognise Niger's new rulers.

Last Friday, the authorities gave French envoy Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country.

France refused the demand, saying the military rulers had no legal right to make such an order.

French military spokesman Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere on Thursday warned that "the French military forces are ready to respond to any upturn in tension that could harm French diplomatic and military premises in Niger".

France has around 1,500 troops in Niger, many of them stationed at an airbase near the capital, to help fight a jihadist insurgency in Niger.

On August 3, Niger's new rulers denounced military agreements with France, a move that the government in Paris has also ignored on the grounds of legitimacy.

An organisation set up after the coup named the Patriotic Front for Niger Sovereignty (FPS) has led public demands for the coup leaders to take a hard line.

It is calling for a "massive" march next Saturday on the French base, followed by a sit-in until the troops leave.
Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Sep, 2023 ) :Two senior members of the Proud Boys militia were handed hefty prison sentences Thursday for their role in the 2021 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.

Joe Biggs, the Florida leader of the self-styled paramilitary group, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges, one year shy of the longest sentence given to a participant in the January 6, 2021 riot.

Zachary Rehl, leader of the Philadelphia Proud Boys arm, got 15 years in prison on the same charges.

Prosecutors called them key figures in the attack by thousands seeking to forcibly overturn Joe Biden's November 2020 election victory, after Trump repeatedly claimed without any basis that there was massive fraud in the vote.

The attack, which followed a rally at the White House in which Trump urged supporters to march to the Capitol to protest against certification of the election, "broke our tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, which is one of the most precious things that we had as Americans," Judge Timothy Kelly said Thursday.

Kelly rejected prosecutors' call for up to 33 years in prison, saying the attack was hardly a terrorist-like mass casualty event, and neither Biggs nor Rehl killed anybody.

Nevertheless, Kelly said, "There is a need for deterrence." - 'Aimed to terrify officials' - They were two of five Proud Boys figures, including national chairman Enrique Tarrio, convicted on May 4 for taking a leading role in the military-style assault on the Capitol.

Rehl, Biggs, Tarrio and Ethan Nordean were convicted of seditious conspiracy, while the fifth, Dominic Pezzola, was found innocent on the sedition charge.

All five were also convicted of obstruction of a congressional proceeding, impeding law enforcement, and destruction of government property.

Biggs, 39, is a US Army veteran who had worked closely with Tarrio to organize the group to storm the seat of Congress.

Two months before the attack, he posted that it was time for "war," referring to Trump's election loss to Biden.

After January 6, he declared on social media that the attack was a "warning" for the government.

Ahead of sentencing Thursday, prosecutor Jason McCullough said what Biggs and his fellow rioters had done in shutting down the Congress that day was "no different than the act of a spectacular bombing of a building.

" "They aimed to intimidate and terrify elected officials," he said, equating the January 6 attack to terrorism.

A tearful Biggs however expressed deep regret for what had happened.

"I'm so sorry," he told the Federal court in Washington.

"I know that I messed up that day, but I'm not a terrorist," he said.

- Trump blamed - Norman Pattis, the attorney for both Biggs and Rehl, told the court that they followed the guidance of Trump in undertaking the attack, and questioned why Trump himself had not been charged with sedition.

Earlier this month a Justice Department special prosecutor charged Trump with separate conspiracy crimes for his role in advancing the false claim that the election had been stolen from him.

"What they did is they listened to the president of the United States," Pattis told the court.

They are "guilty of believing the president who told them the country was being stolen from them," he said.

Rehl, 38, a former US Marine, broke out in tears as he asked the judge for a lighter sentence.

"I wasted all my time on politics for people who aren't even here today, who never offered any support, and who carelessly watched as I sank further to the bottom," he said.

- Over 1,100 charged - Biggs's sentence was one year short of the 18-year sentence given in May to Stewart Rhodes, the founder of another far-right militia central to the Capitol siege, the Oath Keepers.

Kelly's rulings Thursday suggested that Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who organized the group to go to Washington but was not at the Capitol himself, can expect a similar outcome when he is sentenced on September 5.

Prosecutors also recommended 33 years behind bars for him.

More than 1,100 people have been charged by the Justice Department in the Capitol attack.

Some 630 of them have pleaded guilty to various charges, and 110 have been found guilty at trial.

The government continues to prosecute people who took part in the insurrection, which resulted in five deaths and saw scores of police officers attacked and hospitalized.

On Thursday the Justice Department announced that two men were arrested in Virgina on charges relating to their participation in the storming of the Capitol, after being identified from open-source photographs and videos.
MOSCOW, Sep 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Sep, 2023 ) :Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed bilateral relations, a potential revival of the Black Sea grain deal, and Moscow's alternative to the agreement, during talks with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Moscow on Thursday.

The Russian foreign minister said they discussed the current challenges that have emerged following the termination of the Black Sea grain export deal.

"We conveyed to our Turkish partners our understanding of what needs to be done in the West ... to restore the viability of the initiative," Lavrov said, adding that Russia would return to the deal as soon as its demands are met.

Fidan in turn noted that negotiations were underway to renew the Black Sea grain agreement, with the active participation of the United Nations. Russia's requirements are being carefully studied, according to the Turkish diplomat.

He noted that Turkey and the United Nations are preparing a new package of proposals, which can become a solid foundation for the deal's revival.

Lavrov and Fidan discussed Moscow's initiative to supply up to one million tons of Russian grain to Turkey at a discounted price for it to be further sent to countries in need. This initiative would be carried out with Qatar's financial support, according to the Russian foreign minister.

Lavrov further pointed to the "dynamic development" of bilateral ties, and announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan would meet within the framework of an informal summit in the near future.

Lavrov also noted the rapid development of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, and said both diplomats discussed joint strategic projects in the energy sector. Lavrov said Russia is ready to increase gas exports to Turkey, and work on the construction of a gas hub in the country.
Hong Kong, Sept 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Sep, 2023 ) :Tens of millions of people across southern China hunkered down Friday as Super Typhoon Saola swept towards the megacities of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, forcing the cancellations of hundreds of flights, shutting businesses and closing schools.

Packing sustained wind speeds at 210 kilometers (130 miles) per hour as it moved toward Hong Kong, Saola could be one of the most powerful typhoons to hit Guangdong if it makes landfall in the province.

By 11 am (0300 GMT), it was 180 km east-southeast of Hong Kong, where the stock market cancelled trading because of the T8 signal -- the city's third-highest typhoon warning level.

By late morning, neighbouring Shenzhen in Guangdong announced the suspension of work, businesses, and market activity from 4 pm, while transportation will be halted in the evening.

"Apart from emergency response personnel and livelihood protection personnel, people are advised not to go out," said the emergency response department of Shenzhen, a city of 17.7 million.

"The city will open all shelters for the public to take refuge.

" Authorities had already issued the highest typhoon warning for the storm, which Chinese state media said would make landfall "in the coastal areas stretching from Huilai to Hong Kong" on Friday afternoon or evening.

Across the mainland border in Hong Kong, the city's weather observatory warned that Saola could skirt within 100 kilometers south of the territory, causing a storm surge around Victoria Harbour.

"There may be serious flooding," it said, adding that the eastern coastal areas could see water levels reach the heights of 2018 when Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong and injured more than 300 people.

Streets were deserted as a drizzle blanketed Hong Kong Island, with wind and rain expected to pick up later.

Businesses and homes around Hong Kong duct-taped glass displays and windows, while office buildings near the harbour barricaded their entrances to prevent water damage.

Surfers took advantage of the high winds -- expected to reach 63 kilometers per hour -- and tackled the huge waves generated by the coming typhoon at a Hong Kong beach.
(@FahadShabbir)

Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi on Friday said the caretaker government was duty-bound to respect the law and the judiciary, which functioned freely in the country

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Sep, 2023 ) :Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi on Friday said the caretaker government was duty-bound to respect the law and the judiciary, which functioned freely in the country.

"As a responsible government, it is our duty to respect the judiciary and the law. The matter of Pervez Elahi's arrest falls within the jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and the judiciary," the minister said while talking to a private channel.

The LEAs obeyed the law, he said, adding the media and the judiciary worked independently in the country.

He said every citizen had freedom of speech and a right to criticize that could not be taken away, but at the same time "we also have the right to present the facts without any fear".

To a query, the minister said efforts were underway to provide relief to the masses in electricity bills and its details would be announced in the shape of decisions.

"Our limited tenure and the Constitution and law allow us to take decisions in the best interest of the country," he said, vowing that best decisions would be made keeping in view the national interests.

The caretaker government would own and stood by its decisions, he added.

Solangi said his interview with the BBC was presented out of context. "I am in contact with them and in my view, it will be appropriate for them to clarify." The Election Commission of Pakistan had expedited the process of delimitation of Constituencies, he said while responding to another query.

He said the government would provide all assistance to the ECP to ensure that the election would be held in accordance with the schedule.
WELLINGTON, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- John Yi Jiang never thought of his life would be closely linked to lavender, an exotic plant for most Chinese.

A highly experienced traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and owner of New Zealand's largest lavender farm and the largest organic lavender farm in the Southern Hemisphere, Jiang's encounter with the purple flower is full of serendipity.

One day in 2016, an advertisement for sale of a lavender farm in New Zealand aroused Jiang's curiosity. After comparison of various species of lavender, Jiang found that New Zealand's special variety Lavandula angustifolia "Avice Hill" was one of the rarest sort.

After purchasing the farm, Jiang carefully researched lavender's healing and soothing effect. The award-winning lavender essential oil produced by Jiang's farm have been sold well globally. The farm itself has been a nature escape for locals and tourists.

Every summer over 110,000 Lavandula angustifolia "Avice Hill" plants turn Jiang's 20-hectare Canterbury farm purple with a spectacular show of flowers in New Zealand's South Island, nurtured via a complex underground watering system, hand-weeding and spray-free environment, Jiang said.

Aperahama Kipa, a Maori worker at the farm, cherished the opportunity to work "in the nature."

"It's not worked rigorously like all the other farms around here; it's worked with nature," Kipa said, adding that the lavender farm has provided calm and a sense of healing for him.

Although lavender is an introduced plant in New Zealand, it is today "very recognizable with Maori people," Kipa told Xinhua.

Through lavender, Kipa said he had learned about the ways of healing the body and skin. Kipa also decorated his home with lavender flowers and created his own oils with the flowers.

Learning about the lavender landscape in Ili, China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Kipa said he looks forward to visiting the lavender farms there in the future.

Leonie Maunder, Jiang farm's lavender products sales manager, told Xinhua, "None of us were prepared for being lavender farmers and whatever came with it. However, it was the right step."

The lavender plants here have all been individually watered from the water of the Southern Alps, which has promoted the quality of the lavender with its purity and distinctiveness, Maunder said. 
(@Abdulla99267510)

The PTI president thanks judge and all those who prayed for him during these difficult times.

LAHORE: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Sept 1st, 2023) The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday ordered National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to release Parvez Elahi, the President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

This decision came after Parvez Elahi filed a petition challenging his arrest by NAB in a corruption case.

Justice Amjad Rafiq of the LHC announced the verdict after Elahi's appearance in court.

During the proceedings, Justice Rafiq cautioned NAB, stating that a warrant would be issued against the Director-General if Parvez Elahi was not produced promptly.

Justice Rafiq also emphasized that a thorough investigation into his arrest would be conducted and promptly ordered Parvez Elahi's release.

Following the hearing, Parvez Elahi expressed his gratitude, saying, "I am thankful to God for the judge's decision to release me, and I extend my gratitude to everyone who prayed for me.

"

It's worth noting that on August 29, PTI leader Parvez Elahi approached the court to challenge his detention, arguing that it violated previous LHC orders preventing his arrest in undisclosed FIRs or pending inquiries. NAB had accused him of receiving over Rs1 billion in kickbacks through intermediaries in more than 200 development projects in Gujrat district during his second term as Punjab's chief minister.

Parvez Elahi was initially arrested on June 1 in connection with a Rs70 million graft case related to the misappropriation of development funds allocated for Gujrat district. He had faced multiple arrests and releases on court orders during the past two and a half months. His initial arrest occurred during a crackdown on PTI leadership following the May 9riots.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Friday, underscoring the close fraternal relations between Pakistan and Iran, reaffirmed the country's strong commitment to further strengthen and deepen the bilateral ties

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Sep, 2023 ) :Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Friday, underscoring the close fraternal relations between Pakistan and Iran, reaffirmed the country's strong commitment to further strengthen and deepen the bilateral ties.

The prime minister, in a meeting with Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghaddam, who called on him, stressed the need to focus on enhancing cooperation in the economic and security domains.

He highlighted that the recent inauguration of Mand-Pishin border marketplace would not only contribute to the economic uplift of the border areas but also serve as a manifestation of the collective commitment to work for the betterment of the two peoples.

He noted that President Raisi's policy of 'Neighbourhood First' was fully aligned with Pakistan's vision for regional development and connectivity.

The prime minister stressed the importance for both countries to leverage their unique geographical location to promote shared objectives of regional peace and prosperity through greater trade and enhanced regional connectivity.

The Iranian ambassador said that Iran was keen to build on the recent positive trajectory of the bilateral relationship, especially in areas of economy, energy and security.
Four Armenian servicemen were killed and three Azerbaijani soldiers wounded on Friday, the two countries said

Yerevan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Sep, 2023 ):Four Armenian servicemen were killed and three Azerbaijani soldiers wounded on Friday, the two countries said.

Tensions between Baku and Yerevan have escalated sharply in recent months, as both sides accuse the other of cross-border attacks.

"As a result of an Azerbaijani provocation, four servicemen were killed and one wounded on the Armenian side," Armenia's defence ministry said, after earlier reporting two were killed.

The ministry said earlier that Azerbaijan had fired at Armenian positions near the town of Sotk, less than ten kilometres (six miles) from the Azeri border.

Azerbaijan said two of its soldiers were injured by an Armenian drone strike in the region of Kalbajar, on the other side of the border, while another was injured in cross-border fire.

"We declare that all responsibility for the tension and its consequences lies with the military-political leadership of Armenia," Baku's defence ministry said.
Don Jarvis

Longtime University of Wyoming Department of Molecular Biology faculty member Don Jarvis has been honored by the Society for Glycobiology (SFG) with its 2023 Rosalind Kornfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Glycobiology.

The award is given by the society to scientists who have, over their professional lifetimes, made significant contributions with important impact on the field of glycobiology.

SFG President Susan Bellis says the organization recognizes and appreciates Jarvis outstanding scientific contributions to the field and notes his service to the glycobiology community in the form of leadership positions within SFG, as well as his extensive mentoring of junior scientists.

Bellis will host Jarvis Rosalind Kornfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Glycobiology Lecture at the 2023 annual SFG meeting in the Hawaiian Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort Big Island in November. The lecture is designed for the awardees to give overviews of the contributions their research has made over their careers.

Jarvis says he looks forward to the chance to wax poetic over the lifelong contributions of my lab in a 30-minute talk in front of the worlds experts in the field.

Earlier this year, Jarvis was selected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the worlds largest general scientific society.

Jarvis, who joined the UW faculty as an associate professor in 1998 and became a professor in 2000, is internationally renowned for his work on using genetically engineered insect cells for manufacturing vaccines, diagnostics or therapeutics for use in human and veterinary medicine.

In 2011, Jarvis founded a new company, GlycoBac, that is working to produce glycoprotein drugs using insect cells. The company has commercialized his academic laboratory groups research and helped diversify Wyomings economy as it works to help find treatments for human diseases.

Jarvis earned his bachelors and masters degrees in microbiology from Idaho State University before receiving his Ph.D. in virology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, in 1986. Before coming to UW, he worked as a research scientist, assistant professor and associate professor at Texas A&M University.
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A public prosecution has been initiated against Ji Guogang, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress, due to suspected bribery and abuse of power.

The Chengdu Municipal People's Procuratorate in Sichuan Province recently filed a lawsuit against Ji with the Intermediate People's Court of Chengdu, an official statement said Friday.

The lawsuit follows the conclusion of an investigation by the National Commission of Supervision into Ji's case.

The procuratorate charged Ji with taking undue advantage of his official authority or position to seek gains for others and illegally accepting a huge amount of bribes in the form of money and valuables in return.

Ji was also found to have practiced favoritism, falsification, and abuse of powers, causing especially heavy losses to the interests of the state when he previously served as chairman of a state-owned development and investment group company in the Tibet Autonomous Region, according to public prosecutors. 
Russia will block the final declaration of this month's G20 summit unless it reflects Moscow's position on Ukraine and other crises, leaving participants to issue a non-binding or partial communique, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

Lavrov, who has served as President Vladimir Putin's foreign minister since 2004, is due to represent Russia at the Sept. 9-10 meeting of the Group of 20 leading industrialized and developing countries in New Delhi.

Putin is not known to have traveled abroad since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March on suspicion of war crimes in Ukraine.

"There will be no general declaration on behalf of all members if our position is not reflected," Lavrov told students at the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

The Kremlin casts the Ukraine war, which began when Russia invaded in February 2022, as an existential battle with an arrogant West that Putin says wants to dismantle Russia and take control of its vast natural resources.

The West denies any such intentions but says it wants Ukraine to defeat Russia on the battlefield and has imposed several rounds of sweeping economic sanctions in response to the invasion, which Russia calls a "special military operation."

Other leading powers such as China, India and Brazil have called for peace but also reserved the right to determine their own relationship with Moscow. China has accused the West of fanning the war by supplying Ukraine with weapons.

Lavrov said the West had raised Ukraine in meetings preparing for the summit, to which Russia had replied that "the issue is closed for us."

He accused the West of undermining international institutions by pushing its own agenda and suggested that, if consensus could not be reached at the G20 meeting, a non-binding communique could be issued by the G20 presidency.

"Another option is to adopt a document that focuses on specific decisions in the sphere of G20 competences, and let everyone say the rest on their own behalf," Lavrov said.
The new leader of Gabon's junta is due to be sworn in as president of the central African republic on Monday, but the opposition is asking for power to be handed over to civilians.

Gabon is the latest country to fall into the hands of a military junta, adding to a record-setting nine coups in three years in subSaharan Africa.

While the coups bear some similarities, this latest one has notable differences, according to Sean McFate, professor at the National Defense University.

"The major difference is that Gabon is close to Paris unlike, say, Mali or Burkina Faso where there is a lot of anti-French sentiment in the population and in the government," McFate said. "Another thing that is different is that the president really isn't ... it's questionable about the validity of his elections. You've had one ruling family there since 1967."

The military junta, under the leadership of Brice Oligui Nguema, annulled last week's election results that would have handed a third term to President Ali Bongo, who's under house arrest.

"This is not the Niger coup, where you have a democratically elected president who has been removed in a scenario that appears that the coup makers were advancing personal interest rather than national interest," said Kwaku Nuamah, a senior lecturer at American University's School of International Studies. "In the Gabonese case, you have someone whose family has dominated the country, for a long time has misruled and is not popular."

Bongo's family has been in power for 56 years in the manganese, timber, and oil-rich central African country of Gabon.

Some of the countries bordering Gabon, including Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo, have some of the longest-sitting presidents on the continent.

"There is a likelihood we can see contagion in other places where the military has to step in to remove long-serving civilian rulers who are under performing. That's the danger," Nuamah said.

The African Union suspended Gabon's membership on Thursday. The Economic Community of Central African States condemned the coup as well, saying it will convene a special session to discuss this most recent military takeover in the region.

But Nuamah said he hopes the meeting won't be one of issuing unenforceable ultimatums  which was the case recently with Niger versus the West African economic bloc.

The coup in Gabon was unexpected, he said, but given the past three years, it shouldn't come as a surprise.

"It appears as if the regional and continental measures for resolving these coups or preventing them are not working. Everybody is watching how ECOWAS handles Niger," Nuamah said. "Mali has resisted pressures to return to constitutional rule, Burkina Faso, so they look around and see the international community is unable to punish coup makers, so they plan their coups."

ECOWAS slapped heavy sanctions and gave the Niger junta one week to hand over power or face possible military intervention. But for now, the organization says it's giving diplomacy a chance.

For McFate, military coups are a dangerous trend for the continent, and he questions the response or lack thereof from some international organizations.

"In the world of international diplomacy, credibility is your only currency and ECOWAS blew it badly," he said. "Also, where is the United Nations in all of this, where is the African Union? Beyond strongly worded condemnations, they are absent, they are AWOL."

McFate and Nuamah also say democracy has recently taken a hit in many countries around the world. And while some countries like Niger and Gabon might be temporarily embracing their military juntas, the analysts say it's no indicator the future will be better.
The ouster of Gabon's president by mutinous soldiers appears to have been well organized and capitalized on the population's grievances against the government as an excuse to seize power, analysts said.

Soldiers on Wednesday ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled the oil-rich country in Central Africa for more than five decades. The coup leaders accused Bongo of irresponsible governance that risked leading the country into chaos and said they put him under house arrest and detained several Cabinet members.

Meanwhile, the African Union Peace and Security Council met Thursday and announced the immediate suspension of Gabon from "all activities of the AU, its organs and institutions" until the country restores constitutional order.

The head of Gabon's elite republican guard, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, was announced on state TV as the nation's new leader hours after Bongo was declared the winner of a weekend presidential election that observers said was marred with irregularities and a lack of transparency.

While there were legitimate grievances about the vote and Bongo's rule, his ousting is just a pretext for the junta to claim power for themselves, Gabon experts say.

"The timing of the coup, following the announcement of the implausible electoral results, and the speed with which the junta is moving suggests this was planned in advance," Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said. "While there are many legitimate grievances about the vote and Bongo's rule, that has little to do with the coup attempt in Gabon. Raising those grievances is just a smokescreen."

In an announcement on state TV on Thursday a spokesperson for the junta said Oligui would be sworn into office on Monday before the constitutional court. It encouraged people to go back work and said it would restore domestic flights.

Also Thursday, Gabon's political opposition called for elections to resume "under the supervision" of the armed forces," to allow the main opposition candidate, Albert Ondo Ossa, to assume the presidency, said his campaign manager Mike Jocktane.

Gabon's coup is the eighth military takeover in Central and West Africa in three years and comes roughly a month after Niger's democratically elected president was ousted. Unlike Niger and neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, which have each had two coups apiece since 2020 and are being overrun by extremist violence, Gabon was seen as relatively stable.

However, Bongo's family has been accused of endemic corruption and not letting the country's oil wealth trickle down to the population of some 2 million people.

Bongo, 64, has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years, and there has been widespread discontent with his reign. Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in 2019 but was quickly overpowered.

The former French colony is a member of OPEC, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few  and nearly 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank. Its oil export revenue was $6 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Gabon's coup and the overturning of a dynastic leader, such as Bongo, appeared to have struck a nerve across the continent that coups in more remote, volatile West Africa previously hadn't.

Hours after soldiers in Gabon announced the new leader, the president of neighboring Cameroon, Paul Biya, who's been in power for 40 years, shuffled his military leadership, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame "accepted the resignation" of a dozen generals and more than 80 other senior military officers. Even Djibouti's Ismail Omar Guelleh, in power in the tiny former French colony in the Horn of Africa since 1999, condemned the coup in Gabon and denounced the recent trend of military takeovers.

Still, on Wednesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it was too early to call the attempted coup in Gabon a trend.

"It's just too soon to do a table slap here and say, 'yep, we've got a trend here going' or 'yep, we've got a domino effect,'" he said.

In a statement, the Commission of the Economic Community of Central African States, a Central African regional bloc, said it "firmly condemns" the use of force for resolving political conflicts and gaining access to power. It called for a return to constitutional order.

Since Bongo was toppled, the streets of Gabon's capital, Libreville, have been jubilant with people celebrating alongside the army.

"Today we can only be happy," said John Nze, a resident. "The country's past situation handicapped everyone. There were no jobs. If the Gabonese are happy, it's because they were hurting under the Bongos."
Britains Education Department has ordered more than 150 schools to shut down buildings constructed with RAAC, a type of concrete that is prone to collapse. The decision came just days before the fall term is set to start, drawing ire from parents, teachers and politicians.

A roof beam gave way over the summer, prompting the British government to examine the risks of RAAC, Schools Minister Nick Gibb told the BBC recently. The past few months have seen a number of instances where buildings containing RAAC suddenly failed, both at schools and elsewhere.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, or RAAC, is lightweight and was used in construction until the mid-1990s. RAAC has a lifespan of about 30 years.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan described the governments decision as a cautious approach. She reassured the public that most affected schools would remain open because the faulty concrete was found in limited areas.

But some campuses face total closure, sending teachers and parents scrambling for alternatives from relocating students to neighboring schools to reviving coronavirus-era distance learning.

Part of the shock of the governments announcement is that it has long known about the risks of RAAC. More than 50 school buildings with RAAC have been closed in the past over safety concerns.

In June, the watchdog group National Audit Office reported about the dangers that school buildings constructed with RAAC pose to students and teachers. It cited a strong likelihood of injury or death from a building imploding.

These developments follow six months of teachers strikes across the United Kingdom spurred by charges of underfunding and poor government outreach.

Critics from all sides describe the mass closures as a debacle. Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said in a statement that the situation reflected gross government incompetence ... 

In the run-up to the general election expected in 2024, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will have to consider how to win the publics confidence and counter ridicule over his efforts in infrastructure and education.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
New measures handed down by the Chinese Communist Party that it says will strengthen the regulation and management of religious venues appear to be further restrictions on religious freedom and go into effect Friday.

The Administrative Measures for Religious Activity Venues requires religious venues to "support the leadership of the CCP, support the socialist system, and thoroughly implement Xi Jinping's new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics."

The new rules prohibit organizations and individuals from using religious venues to endanger national security or to disrupt social order, public interests or citizens' legal rights, among other activities.

Bitter Winter, a website that tracks religious freedom and human rights in China, wrote last week that the new edict "confirms that religious activity venues should actively broadcast CCP propaganda, or face liquidation."

It continued to report, "There are stricter provisions for including propaganda content in sermons, and establishing study groups of CCP documents in all places of worship. It is also specified that 'It is prohibited to build large open-air religious statues outside of temples and churches,' and the prohibition also applies to private citizens or donors."

Before the release of the 2022 International Religious Freedom Report on May 15, a senior official of the State Department told the press that China is one of the most serious violators of human rights and religious freedom in the world.

Chinese Embassy Spokesperson Liu Pengyu told VOA Mandarin in an email that "the formulation of the policy guidelines will help further improve the standardization and institutionalization of the administration of venues for religious activities, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of venues for religious activities and believers."

Liu wrote "Chinese government protects citizens freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law. People of all ethnic groups in China are fully entitled to the freedom of religious belief as prescribed by law... We urge relevant parties to stop using the so-called religious issues to meddle in Chinas internal affairs."

Liu Fenggang is the former pastor of Holy Love Fellowship, a Christian house church in Beijing, who now lives in Canada after spending years in detention for his activism on religious freedom.

He said that under the new measures, if Christians must support the Communist Party and socialism, Christians "should just join the Party."

Chen Jiangang, a Chinese human rights lawyer now living in the U.S., said this is the first time religious personnel are being required to adhere to "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era."

He added that the regulations have completely deprived the Chinese people of their religious freedom, saying, "the recent religious regulations issued by the CCP have almost deprived us of all freedom in the religious field."

According to a Pew report released Aug. 30, Measuring religion in China, Beijing recognizes five religions  Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and Taoism  and "closely monitors their houses of worship, clergy appointments and funding. Many activities that could help to maintain or expand these five zongjiao groups are banned, including proselytizing and organized religious education for children, such as Sunday schools or religious summer camps. Enforcement has varied over time and by province, but since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, local officials have been less likely to overlook such activities."

Controls have increased since 2018, when Beijing issued the Regulations on Religious Affairs.

In early 2021, China's State Administration for Religious Affairs promulgated the Measures for the Administration of Religious Clerical Personnel, which came into effect on May 1, 2021.

Last year, on June 21, the Financial Management Measures for Places of Religious Activities, came into effect.

Liu said that the latest move indicates that the CCP's control over religious freedom is getting tighter and the measures are written to sinicize Christianity.

Chen believes that the various regulations on religious activities, personnel and property listed in the "Measures" do not protect religious freedom but rather enshrine the CCP's strict control over religion.

The new measures refer to monasteries, mosques, churches and other fixed religious activity sites registered in accordance with previous regulations including Regulations on Religious Affairs.

The Measures do not seem to apply to underground churches or house churches that are not officially registered and usually do not have a fixed place of activity.

"They directly characterize [house churches] as illegal, with illegal personnel, illegal gatherings, and illegal property donations," said Chen. "The places are banned and closed, and the personnel are punished, arrested, and sentenced. For property, it is basically confiscated."
Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip a summit of G20 leaders in India next week, sources familiar with the matter in India and China told Reuters, a development that would dash chances of a meeting there with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Xi's absence also could be a shot at host India, according to some analysts, who see it as a signal China is reluctant to confer influence on its southern neighbor that boasts one of the fastest growing major economies as China's slows.

Two Indian officials, one diplomat based in China and one official working for the government of another G20 country said Premier Li Qiang is expected to represent Beijing at the Sept. 9-10 meeting in New Delhi.

Spokespersons for the Indian and Chinese foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment.

Li is also likely to attend a summit of East and Southeast Asian leaders in Jakarta, Indonesia on Tuesday to Thursday, according to a report from Kyodo.

The summit in India had been viewed as a venue for a possible meeting between Xi and Biden, who has confirmed his attendance, as the two superpowers seek to stabilize relations soured by trade and geopolitical tensions.

Xi last met Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia last November.

"I hope he attends," Biden told reporters Thursday in Washington.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already said he will not be traveling to New Delhi and will send Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov instead.

One senior government official from India told Reuters that "we are aware that the premier will come," in place of Xi.

In China, two foreign diplomats and a government official from another G20 country said Xi will likely not be traveling for the summit.

Two of these three sources in China said they were informed by Chinese officials, but they were not aware of the reason for Xi's expected absence.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The G20 summit is seen as an important showcase for India, with the country coming off a successful lunar landing and touting itself as a rising power with attractive markets and a source for global supply chain diversification.

But relations between the G20 host and China have been troubled for more than three years after soldiers from both sides clashed in the Himalayan frontier in June 2020, resulting in 24 deaths.

Farwa Aamer, director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) in New York, said Xi skipping the summit could be read as China being "reluctant to cede the center stage" to India.

"China doesn't want India to be the voice of the Global South, or to be that country within the Himalayan region to be hosting this very successful G20 summit," she said.

Eyes on APEC

Anticipation of a meeting between Xi and Biden had been fueled by a stream of top U.S. officials visiting Beijing in recent months, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo earlier this week.

Chinese and U.S. officials, however, have told Reuters they are looking toward November's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting in San Francisco as the main potential venue for a Xi-Biden meeting this year, and had downplayed expectations for any major talks between the two at the G20.

Still, no meetings or formal attendance plans for APEC have been announced.

Xi has attended all other in-person G20 summits since becoming president in 2013 except in 2021 during the COVID pandemic when he joined by video link. The 2020 G20 meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia was conducted virtually due to the pandemic.

Xi, who secured a precedent-breaking third term as leader last October, has made few overseas trips since China abruptly dropped strict pandemic-induced border controls this year.

\While he played a prominent role at a meeting in South Africa last week of leaders of the BRICS group of major emerging economies, the Chinese government gave no reason for his absence at a business forum there.

His scheduled speech was delivered instead by China's commerce minister.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rare conversation with Xi on the sidelines of that BRICS summit and highlighted concerns India has about the border dispute between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

Several G20 ministerial meetings in India ahead of the summit have been contentious as Russia and China together opposed joint statements which included paragraphs condemning Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine last year.
On August 28, Beijing released the 2023 edition of its standard map, sparking outcry throughout South and Southeast Asia.

India, Malaysia and the Philippines all filed diplomatic protests over what they said was Chinas inclusion of their territory or maritime areas within Chinas borders.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the uproar over the release of the map was much ado about nothing.

[Releasing the map] is a routine practice in Chinas exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law. We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm, and refrain from over-interpreting the issue.

That is misleading.

The map shows two large Himalayan border areas disputed by India and China as Chinese territory. They are Aksai Chin  which is the easternmost part of the Kashmir region and mostly controlled by China  and Arunachal Pradesh  a state in northeastern India that New Delhi largely controls but Beijing claims is part of Tibet.

China seized control of Tibet after invading the region in 1950, and annexed it in 1951.

The United States recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as a part of India.

Indias Foreign Ministry said it lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side over the map, adding that such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

India and China have been locked in a decades-long border dispute along the so-called Line of Actual Control, a roughly 3,500-kilometer notional demarcation line between Indian-controlled territory and Chinese-controlled territory that was drawn following a 1962 war.

After a brief eruption of violence in 2020, resulting in the first reported deaths along the Line of Actual Control since 1975, tensions have periodically flared. Another non-fatal skirmish occurred in December 2022.

In recent years, China has built settlements in territory claimed by India in the region, including in Arunachal Pradesh, a 2021 Pentagon report to the U.S. Congress said.

Less murky in the eyes of international law are the territorial claims that China demarcated on the map usiing 10 dashes, covering most of the South China Sea and Taiwan.

The dashes encompass maritime areas falling within the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China ratified in 1996, recognizes an EEZ as the 370-kilometer stretch of sea from the coast of a state.

In 2009, China laid claim to most of the South China Sea and its land features.

The Philippines challenged Chinas claims at the International Permanent Court of Arbitration, and in 2016, the court largely found in the Philippines favor. China has dismissed that ruling and continued aggressive actions against the Philippines.

On August 5, the China Coast Guard used water cannons to stop Filipino vessels from delivering supplies to a ship moored off the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, which fall within the Philippines' EEZ.

It was not the first time China has used force to stop Philippines ships from approaching the shoal.

The mapped claims also include parts of Malaysia's EEZ near Sarawak and Sabah, which are Malaysian states on the Island of Borneo, and Brunei, which is embedded in Sarawak and shares a 161-kilometer coastline along the South China Sea.

Malaysia, like the Philippines, filed a diplomatic protest over Chinas map.

Indonesias Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said territorial lines and claims must be consistent with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Vietnam said it resolutely opposes all Chinas claims in the South China Sea based on the dotted line.

Taiwan, a self-governing island which the communist-ruled mainland views as a breakaway province, also denied Beijings claims.

[Taiwan is] absolutely not a part of the People's Republic of China, said Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu.

"No matter how the Chinese government twists its position on Taiwan's sovereignty, it cannot change the objective fact of our country's existence," he told a press briefing.

The map also appears to show China with complete control over Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island, located at the confluence of the Amur and the Ussuri rivers on the border between Russias Far East and northeastern China.

In 2008, China and Russia agreed to divide the island after a long-standing dispute.

The Russian news outlet RBC said it had sent a request to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment regarding the map, which had not been answered at the time of publication.

Beijng and Russia announced a no limits partnership weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, and Chinas support is viewed as critical to that war effort.

Mark Kat, a professor at George Mason Universitys Schar School of Policy and Government, told Newsweek magazine that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is not in a position to loudly complain about the map, given Russias economic dependence on China following Western sanctions over Moscow's war in Ukraine.

Chinas map claims follow the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, last month. Beijing hopes to use BRICS as a counterweight against the West.

It also comes ahead of the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, India, scheduled for September 9 -10, which Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to attend, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, set for September 5-7.
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Ukraine launches drone attacks, deep inside Russia. We watch ships in Istanbul as the UN Secretary General attempts to revive the Black Sea Grain Deal. Plus we meet a woman whose husband was held captive in Moscow. And school begins amid bomb threats in Kyiv.
COPENHAGEN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Under a new financial aid package, Denmark aims to increase its aid to Ukraine and its eastern neighbors from 1.2 billion Danish kroner (DKK, 174.8 million U.S. dollars) to 1.5 billion Danish kroner, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.

This would make Ukraine the largest recipient of Danish foreign aid for the second year in a row.

Denmark's assistance would contribute to the provision of emergency aid for victims of the conflict and also for the early reconstruction of the country, according to Dan Jorgensen, minister for development cooperation and global climate policy.

The aid would be channeled through the Ukraine Foundation, which was established in 2023 to finance civil efforts in Ukraine and its eastern neighbors.

The aid is divided into two parts. Early recovery and reconstruction aid to Ukraine would total 1.2 billion Danish kroner, and regional efforts aid would be 306 million Danish kroner. (1 DKK = 0.15 U.S. dollar) 
At least three freelance journalists have been denied entry to Hong Kong in the past eight months.

The journalists had all covered the 2019 pro-democracy protests, which has led media watchdogs to question whether past coverage was a factor in authorities denying entry.

All three journalists said they were questioned about their past coverage before being turned away.

Denial of entry is a method routinely used by the Chinese regime to punish foreign reporters seen as too critical. It is now spreading to Hong Kong amidst other violations of the right to information, Cedric Alviani, the director of the Reporters Without Borders Asia bureau, said in a Friday statement.

We urge democracies to build up pressure on the Hong Kong government and demand the restoration of full press freedom, Alviani said.

The most recent entry issue came on August 16 when American freelance photojournalist Matthew Connors was denied entry to Hong Kong. He had also been blocked from entry in January 2020.

Freelance journalist Yoshiaki Ogawa was detained overnight and questioned when he attempted to enter Hong Kong in June. He was forced to return to Japan on June 29.

And freelance photojournalist Michiko Kiseki was detained overnight and questioned before being turned away on December 30, 2022.

In a social media post at the time, she said authorities questioned her about an exhibition of her work, centered on the protests, that had been shown in Japan.

In Ogawas case, no reason for the denial of entry was given, according to reports.

VOA reached out to Hong Kongs National Security Bureau for comment late Friday but as of publication had not received a response. But the citys authorities have previously said that they adhere to laws and policies.

Following Ogawas case, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said that the journalist was returning to Hong Kong to report on how the introduction of the national security law had shaped the city.

Commenting on the case in June, CPJs Iris Hsu said in a statement, Blocking access to foreign journalists reflects Hong Kong authorities shameful attempts to stifle critical reporting.

Enacted in 2020, the national security law criminalizes any act deemed to constitute secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces.

In the three years since the law came into effect, Hong Kong's once-vibrant media scene has become a shell of its former self, media watchdogs and journalists have said.

Hong Kong authorities have dismissed concerns about the laws effect on media freedoms.

But since it was enacted, around a dozen media outlets have shuttered, with many citing the law as the reason, and several media workers and press freedom advocates have been detained.

And Hong Kong has fallen 67 places on the global Press Freedom Index. It currently ranks 140th out of 180 countries, where 1 indicates the best media environment. In 2019, it ranked 73rd.
In July, a group of 56 European and American lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, demanding a tougher Western policy toward Serbia, primarily regarding its relations with Kosovo.

We are asking for balance and proportionality to return in dealing with Kosovo and Serbia, the Western officials wrote, adding that the current approach is not working.

Serbia does not recognize Kosovos independence, which it declared in 2008, and tensions have been a constant between the two countries since then. This year, there have been several flare-ups in northern Kosovo, where the ethnic Serbs are a majority of the population.

The letter was followed by articles in U.S. and German media outlets, such as CNN and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, criticizing the West for perceived appeasement of Serbia, a Western Balkan country that the United States and its allies hope to persuade to join in sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

For Richard Kraemer, a fellow at the U.S. Foreign Policy Research Institute, the Western media coverage is no surprise: These modest displays of discontent with Belgrade indicate that certain Western leaders are fed up with [Serbian President Aleksandar] Vucics manipulative shenanigans.

On the other hand, Bodo Weber, political analyst and senior associate at the Democratization Policy Council in Berlin, said he does not see the letter as evidence that the West is changing course toward Serbia or Vucic.

That change would be welcome, but unfortunately, we don't see such a turnaround in sight. Rather, the letter of a few Western parliamentarians attracted the attention of the Western media, which normally rarely write about the region," Weber said in a written response to questions from VOA.

During a press conference in Belgrade at the beginning of August, Vucic claimed that he personally  and not the country  is being criticized for not recognizing the independence of Kosovo and for defending the interests of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade Christopher Hill defended the U.S. approach to relations with Vucics government in an exclusive interview with VOAs Serbian Service.

You have policies not just for success but because they are the right policies to have, Hill said. We weigh our interest in formulating a policy, and we proceed with it on the idea that this is the right thing for our government to do.

Belgrades ties with Russia

Serbia is formally seeking EU membership and has condemned Russias invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations, yet it has maintained its historically friendly relations with Moscow.

Everyone should join sanctions, certainly countries aspiring to join Europe, Hill said. We think that is the right thing to do and would like to see Serbia do the same and march toward Euro-Atlantic systems.

In a statement provided through a Washington public relations firm, Serbian Ambassador to Washington Marko Djuric stressed his countrys commitment to playing a positive role in the region, and to improving our ties within these alliances.

Serbia is devoted to becoming a member of the European Union and has repeatedly voted for United Nations resolutions condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and affirming the latter's territorial sovereignty, the statement said.

Johanna Deimel, a German expert on the Balkans, pointed to published reports, based on a leaked U.S. intelligence document, that Serbia has quietly agreed to provide arms to Ukraine for its defense against the Russian invasion.

On one hand, Belgrade has been criticized for refusing to join the EU sanctions against Russia, and on the other hand, it seems that, for example, arms deliveries to Ukraine are helping to turn a blind eye elsewhere," she said.

She also said efforts to align Serbia more closely with the West are complicated by Russian influence in the regions media and its investments in the energy sector in the Balkans.

Kraemer noted that Serbia is almost entirely dependent on natural gas supplies from Russia and maintains trade and military ties with Moscow, while pro-Russian sentiments are high in the country.

The West "has bent over backwards to try and lure Belgrade into the transatlantic fold with carrots while looking from the sidelines at Serbias proxy status vis-a-vis the Kremlins Balkan agenda, he said.

Why they thought this would work, considering Vucics overt refusal to get on board concerning Ukraine, remains a mystery to me.

In the July letter, the U.S. and EU lawmakers criticized Vucic for close ties and support to Milorad Dodik, the nationalist president of the Republic of Srpska in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik has been sanctioned by the United States for undermining the Dayton peace accords, a U.S.-sponsored agreement that ended the Balkan war in the 1990s.

Another obstacle to better relations between Belgrade and the West is the pro-Russian stance of Serbian spy chief Aleksandar Vulin, who has been sanctioned by the United States for alleged involvement in illegal arms shipments, drug trafficking and misuse of public office.

The Treasury Departments sanctioning of Vulin  unprecedented as he is a sitting Serbian government official  can be rightly interpreted as a warning, Kraemer said. It remains to be seen whether Washington and its partners have the gumption to sanction others of similar ilk to Vulin.

In his interview with VOA, Hill said the dispute over Vulin, whom Vucic has refused to sack, has not derailed the Western outreach to Belgrade.

Our sanctions are not against the institutions but on the individual. We continue to work with Serbia in areas where we can find agreement, he said.

The issue of Kosovo

U.S.-Serbian relations are also troubled by Belgrades refusal to recognize the sovereignty of Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after U.S.-led NATO forces intervened to stop the ethnic cleansing of ethnic Albanians by the Serbian government.

A U.S. State Department study concluded that at least 6,000 Kosovar Albanians had been the victims of mass murder by Serbian forces in 1999.

The latest tensions flared in April when ethnic Serbs boycotted local elections held in northern Kosovo, where they are a majority. That led to the election of ethnic Albanian mayors, who moved into their offices with the help of Kosovos riot police.

Serbs tried to prevent the new mayors from taking over the premises, but the police fired tear gas to disperse them. Serbs engaged in fierce clashes with NATO peacekeepers, leaving more than 50 rioters and 30 international troops injured.

The election boycott followed a collective resignation by Serb officials from the area, including administrative staff, judges and police officers, in November 2022.

During EU-mediated talks between Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the two were reported to have reached an agreement in Ohrid, a lake town in neighboring North Macedonia, to normalize their relations.

However, this agreement has not been implemented, and each side accuses the other of stalling the process.

According to Deimel, the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina needs a complete reset.

"It is incomprehensible to me why Josep Borell, the head of European diplomacy, and others praised the 'Ohrid Agreement' so much, Deimel said. It was a serious attempt, a concrete German-French proposal on the table, and then Vucic walks out the door and says that he did not sign the agreement.

Hill said that the Kosovo issue is of some urgency and that progress toward its resolution is necessary.
Prisoners at a penitentiary in the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca are holding hostage 50 guards and seven police officers, Interior Minister Juan Zapata said Thursday.

"We are concerned about the safety of our officials," he said at a press conference in the capital, Quito.

The mass hostage-taking came a day after hundreds of soldiers and police officers carried out an operation to search for weapons, ammunition and explosives in one of the country's main penitentiaries, in the Andean city of Latacunga in the south.

SNAI, the state office in charge of prisons, said earlier in the day that the hostage-taking was a reprisal for that operation. But authorities later said it was in protest at the transfer of inmates to other prisons.

Ecuador's prisons have been the location of massacres by rival gangs with links to Colombian and Mexican cartels that have led to more than 430 inmate deaths since 2021, often leaving a trail of burned and dismembered bodies.

The country, until a few years ago a peaceful South American haven nestled between the world's largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, has recently descended into violence as it has itself become a hub for drug trafficking.
The United Nation's International Organization for Migration  the IOM  said Friday that border closures and airspace restrictions caused by the July 26 coup in Niger have disrupted migration patterns in the nation, putting hundreds of thousands of migrants and displaced persons at risk.

The coup by Niger's military leaders overthrew democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and put him under house arrest.

At a news conference in Geneva on Friday, IOM West and Central Africa Regional Director Chris Gascon said there are 710,000 displaced persons in Niger, including refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons.

He said the agency is hosting 4,800 migrants at seven transit centers in Niger, with an additional 1,400 awaiting help outside the centers. Gascon said the agency is 40% over capacity.

Gascon appealed to the international community for resources to allow the agency to continue providing essential services to the stranded migrants. He said the IOM is also calling for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor so migrants can safely return to their countries of origin.

Meanwhile, officials with the Economic Community of West African States  ECOWAS  attended an informal meeting of European Union foreign ministers Thursday in Toledo, Spain, asking for their support.

The regional bloc has been dealing directly with Niger coup leaders and has leveled economic sanctions against them. The bloc has indicated it would use military force if coup leaders did not restore constitutional order.

Following the meeting, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said the EU foreign ministers agreed to "initiate a process for the establishment of a legal framework for individual sanctions" against coup leaders, but reserved judgment on the use of military force.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Thursday floated the idea of a transition back to democracy in neighboring Niger similar to the nine-month period his country underwent in the late 1990s.

The Economic Community of West African States has imposed sanctions on Niger after troops ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in a coup on July 26 and the bloc threatened military intervention as a last resort if talks fail to restore civilian rule.

In a statement Thursday, the bloc insisted it wanted Bazoum back in power right away.

"The military authorities in Niger must restore constitutional order immediately by liberating and reinstating ... President Mohamed Bazoum," it said.

Niger's new military leaders have dug in, saying they want a maximum three-year transition period to restore constitutional order and have ordered police to expel France's envoy as tensions build with a key partner in Niger's anti-jihadist fight.

Late Thursday, Niger's interior ministry announced it was stopping U.N. agencies, NGOs and international organizations from working in military "operation zones."

It did not specify which regions were affected, but said the measures were "due to the current security situation."

"All activities and or movements in the zones of operations are temporarily suspended," it said.

Transition period

Tinubu said Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 after a nine-month transition period instituted by former military head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who has also headed delegations to meet the Niger junta.

"The president sees no reason why such cannot be replicated in Niger, if Niger's military authorities are sincere," the Nigerian presidency said in a statement.

Algeria, Niger's influential northern neighbor, has met with West Africa leaders in a bid to avoid any military intervention in Niger and has proposed a six-month transition.

But Tinubu's statement said there would be no relief from sanctions imposed by ECOWAS, of which he serves as chair, until the regime made "positive adjustments."

"The soldiers' action is unacceptable. The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger," it said.

The overthrow of Niger's government has triggered concern around West Africa where Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso have all been taken over by the military since 2020.

Fears of contagion have deepened with this week's military rebellion in Gabon to overthrow President Ali Bongo, toppled moments after being declared winner of a highly disputed weekend election.

Diplomatic battle

Niger's new military rulers have also been engaged in a political battle with Paris, and stripped France's ambassador of diplomatic immunity and ordered police to expel him, according to a letter seen Thursday by AFP.

The envoy "no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as member of the diplomatic personnel in the French Embassy," according to their letter, dated Tuesday, to the foreign ministry in Paris.

Relations with France spiraled downwards after the July coup when Paris stood by Bazoum and refused to recognise Niger's new rulers.

Last Friday, the authorities gave French envoy Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country.

France refused the demand, saying the military rulers had no legal right to make such an order.

French military spokesperson Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere on Thursday warned that "the French military forces are ready to respond to any upturn in tension that could harm French diplomatic and military premises in Niger."

France has around 1,500 troops in Niger, many of them stationed at an airbase near the capital, to help fight a jihadist insurgency in Niger.

On Aug. 3, Niger's new rulers denounced military agreements with France, a move that the government in Paris has also ignored on the grounds of legitimacy.

An organization set up after the coup named the Patriotic Front for Niger Sovereignty (FPS) has led public demands for the coup leaders to take a hard line.

It is calling for a "massive" march next Saturday on the French base, followed by a sit-in until the troops leave.

Dispatch of troops

A landlocked former French colony in the heart of the Sahel, Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies -- a spill over in southeastern Niger from a long-running conflict in neighboring Nigeria, and an offensive in the southwest by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.

Bazoum came to office in 2021 after democratic elections -- a watershed in a country that had had no peaceful transition of power since independence from France in 1960.

He suffered two attempted coups before finally being toppled by members of his own guard.

ECOWAS responded by warning it could intervene militarily to restore civilian rule if efforts to end the crisis diplomatically fail.

Swift to support their military comrades in Niger, Mali and Burkina have said that any such operation would be deemed a "declaration of war" against them.

Burkina Faso has approved a draft law authorizing the dispatch of troops to Niger, according to a government statement in Ouagadougou on Thursday.
The attending physician to Congress said Thursday that he had cleared Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to continue with his planned schedule after evaluating an incident in which McConnell appeared to freeze up at an event in Kentucky.

But the health episode  his second in public this summer  has fueled quiet concern among Republican senators and intense speculation about his ability to remain as leader. The famously guarded McConnell called several of his deputies in leadership after the Wednesday health episode. But the longest-serving Senate party leader is still revealing little about his health condition, even to his closest colleagues.

McConnell, 81, appeared to freeze up and remained silent for about 30 seconds during a news conference Wednesday, almost a month after a similar incident in Washington. In March, McConnell suffered a concussion and broke a rib after falling and hitting his head after a dinner event at a hotel.

The Kentucky Republican's office released a statement from Dr. Brian Monahan saying that he had consulted with McConnell and his neurology team and cleared the senator to continue with his schedule. He did not say if he had examined McConnell personally, and he did not provide any additional details or a diagnosis.

"After evaluating yesterday's incident, I have informed Leader McConnell that he is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned," the short statement read. "Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration."

Similar incident

McConnell's office has only said that he was feeling "momentarily lightheaded" when he froze up on Wednesday. An aide eventually came to his assistance and repeated questions for him, and he gave brief answers before leaving the room. The episode was strikingly similar to the incident in July, when he froze in midsentence for around 20 seconds before fellow Republicans and an aide came to his assistance and led him back to his office. He then returned to the news conference and answered additional questions.

President Joe Biden said he spoke to McConnell on Thursday and the senator "was his old self on the telephone."

"It's not at all unusual to have a response that sometimes happens to Mitch when you've had a severe concussion," the president said during a visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "It's part of the recovery, and so I'm confident he's going to be back to his old self."

The Senate is scheduled to convene next week after the monthlong August break, and there are certain to be questions from McConnell's colleagues about his health, which has visibly declined since the concussion in March. His speaking has been more halting, and he has walked more slowly and carefully.

Possible successors

The lack of information from McConnell and his doctors has prompted more questions on Capitol Hill about whether he will run for reelection in 2026 and who may succeed him as GOP leader. But the discussion has remained behind closed doors, for now, with most fellow Republican senators publicly supportive.

"I talked to Senator McConnell yesterday and he seemed to be doing fine," said Texas Senator John Cornyn on Thursday after an event in his home state. "I don't know what the underlying issue is, but we all wish him well. We know he's had a fall, and a concussion, and I think this may be part of the recovery process from that. But I served with him for a long time now, he's been my mentor, and basically everything I've learned about the United States Senate I've learned from him."

Cornyn added that he expects McConnell "will continue as long as he can and wants to."

As McConnell's former top deputy, Cornyn is one of several senators who could be in the running to replace him. Speculation has also centered around South Dakota Senator John Thune, who is currently McConnell's No. 2, and Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, who is the No. 3 Republican and the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

McConnell called all three men on Wednesday after the episode, along with West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Montana Senator Steve Daines, who also serve on McConnell's leadership team.

In the calls, McConnell gave the senators reassurances about his health. A spokeswoman for Cornyn, Natalie Yezbick, said McConnell "shared that he was doing well." A spokesman for Thune, Ryan Wrasse, said McConnell "sounded like his usual self and was in good spirits."

Longtime McConnell friend and adviser Scott Jennings says he spent much of August with McConnell in Kentucky and noted that the GOP leader has kept a robust schedule, speaking frequently to the public and press. McConnell had just given a 20-minute speech with no issues before he froze up on Wednesday in response to a reporter's question about whether he would run for re-election in 2026.

Jennings said McConnell is "relatively private person when it comes to personal matters like that" and always has been. He pushed back on critics who say McConnell is too old to serve in his position.

"Two things are being conflated - his age and his recovery from this concussion," Jennings said.

Still, many of his colleagues want more information. After McConnell's first public freeze-up in July, Republican Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said the job of leader calls for more transparency than it would for others.

"We should find out, you know, fairly soon what happened and how serious it is," Cramer said then. "But I don't have to tell you, Mitch is also, as an individual, a pretty private guy. So we'll see."

McConnell was elected to the Senate in 1984 and as GOP leader in 2007. He became the longest-serving party leader in the Senate at the beginning of the year.

He had polio in his early childhood and he has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in climbing stairs. In addition to his fall in March, McConnell also tripped and fell four years ago at his home in Kentucky, causing a shoulder fracture that required surgery.
Pope Francis arrived in Mongolia on Friday morning on a visit to encourage one of the world's smallest and newest Catholic communities.

It's the first time a pope has visited the landlocked Asian country and comes at a time when the Vatican's relations with Mongolia's two powerful neighbors, Russia and China, are once again strained.

Francis arrived in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar after an overnight flight passing through Chinese airspace, affording the pontiff a rare opportunity to send a note of greetings to President Xi Jinping. Vatican protocol calls for the pope to send such greetings whenever he flies over a foreign country.

In his message to Xi, Francis expressed "greetings of good wishes to your excellency and the people of China."

"Assuring you of my prayers for the wellbeing of the nation, I invoke upon all of you the divine blessings of unity and peace," Francis said.

Upon arrival, Francis, who uses a wheelchair, was met on the tarmac by helmeted honor guards along with Mongolia's foreign minister and was offered a taste of dried yoghurt from a woman in traditional dress, in a sign of welcome. He made no public comments. Along with priests and others gathered on the tarmac, several dozen watched his arrival from the airport terminal.

Speaking to reporters en route to Mongolia late Thursday, Francis said he was looking forward to visiting a country that has just a few people, but with a culture that you need your senses to understand.

"There are only a few inhabitants  a small people, but a big culture," he said aboard the ITA charter plane. "I think it will do us good to try to understand this long, big silence, understand what it means but not intellectually, but with senses." He added: "Mongolia, you understand with your senses."

On tap are official meetings with the Mongolian president and prime minister and a speech before Mongolian government, cultural and business leaders, followed by Francis' first encounter with the bishops, priests and nuns who form the backbone of a tiny Catholic community of 1,450 that has only been in existence for a generation.

While Christianity has been present in the region for hundreds of years, the Catholic Church has only had a sanctioned presence in Mongolia since 1992, after the country shrugged off its Soviet-allied communist government and enshrined religious freedom in its constitution.

The Holy See and Mongolia have had diplomatic relations ever since, and a handful of missionary religious orders including Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity have nurtured the tiny community through its first three decades of life.

Four Missionaries of Charity sisters  Jeanne Francoise from Rwanda; Chanmi from South Korea; Viera from Slovakia and Suder from India  run a nursing home on the northern outskirts of Ulaanbaatar with a capacity of 30 beds. There, they provide care for elderly people with mental or physical disabilities, or who are homeless, undocumented, or otherwise ostracized by their families.

Sister Jeanne Francoise said it was an honor that Francis was coming to Mongolia, saying she had seen him once before when she was living in Rome but that it was never as "close" as it would be in Mongolia.

Francis has long praised the work of missionaries and has tried to reinvigorate the missionary focus of the church at large by visiting them and encouraging their work. One of his first events in Mongolia is to preside over an encounter with missionaries Saturday afternoon at the capital's St. Peter and Paul cathedral, and he ends his visit by inaugurating a new church-run charity house to tend to Mongolia's poorest.

"I want people to know that the Catholic religion, the Catholic Church, and Catholic believers also exist in Mongolia," the Rev. Sanjaajav Tserenkhand, a Mongolian priest, said outside the cathedral. He said he hoped that Francis' visit would also show Mongolians that Christianity isn't a "foreign religion," but is also rooted in the country.

The Argentine pontiff has long prioritized visiting Catholic communities in what he calls the peripheries, staying away from the global centers of Catholicism to minister instead to small churches where Catholics are often a minority. He has made cardinals out of their leaders to show the universal reach of the 1.3-billion strong Catholic Church, including the head of the Mongolian church, Cardinal Giorgio Marengo.

"His heart burns with love for the universal church, and especially the church where she lives in a minority context," Marengo told journalists during a recent visit to Rome. "And that is the wonderful meaning of his coming all the way to Mongolia."

The other main focus of Francis' four-day visit is to highlight Mongolia's long tradition of interfaith coexistence. The Mongol Empire under its famed founder Genghis Khan was known for tolerating people of different faiths among those it conquered, and Francis will likely emphasize that tradition when he presides over an interfaith meeting Sunday.

Invited are Mongolian Buddhists, who are the majority in the nation of 3.3 million, as well as Jewish, Muslim and Shinto representatives and members of Christian churches that have established a presence in Mongolia in the last 30 years, including the Russian Orthodox Church.

That encounter could enable Francis to once again offer greetings to the Moscow patriarchate, which has strongly supported the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. Francis has tried to steer a diplomatic tightrope in not antagonizing Moscow, consistent with the Vatican's tradition of diplomatic neutrality in conflicts.

Days before his visit, he sparked outrage in Ukraine over his praise of Russia's imperial past, comments that the Vatican insisted were by no means an endorsement of Moscow's current war of aggression in Ukraine.

While the Vatican has insisted Francis is going to Mongolia  not China or Russia  the China question will be ever-present: A group of Chinese Catholics, as well as Russian Catholics, are expected to attend Francis' Mass on Sunday in the Steppe Arena, but Beijing's crackdown on religious minorities remains the backdrop to the trip.

In addition, China's opposition to the Dalai Lama could come to the fore as Mongolian Buddhism is closely tied to Tibet's strain and traditionally reveres the Dalai Lama. Francis has made a hallmark of meeting with religious leaders from around the world, but he has so far refrained from meeting the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, for fear of antagonizing Beijing.

Communist Party leader Xi has demanded that Catholicism and all other religions adhere strictly to party directives and undergo "sinicization." In the vast Xinjiang region, that has led to the demolition of an unknown number of mosques, but in most cases it has meant the removal of domes, minarets and exterior crosses from churches. At the same time, Xi has shown no more desire to reconcile with the Vatican than his predecessors.

The Vatican and China did sign an accord in 2018 over the thorny issue of bishop nominations, but Beijing has violated it. Most recently Francis was forced to accept the unilateral appointment of a new bishop of Shanghai, whose predecessor disappeared into a monastery almost immediately after announcing his withdrawal from the party-controlled Patriotic Catholic Association.

That said, Hong Kong's newly appointed Bishop Stephen Sau-yan Chow visited Beijing in April, the first visit to the Chinese capital by the city's bishop in nearly three decades.

Chow, who is to be made a cardinal by Francis in September, said he invited the state-appointed archbishop of Beijing Joseph Li to visit Hong Kong in a symbolic gesture that experts said could strengthen the fragile relationship between China and the Vatican.
A Peruvian journalist who covers illegal gold mining in the La Pampa region has been speaking out about the threats he receives over his reporting.

For more than 10 years, Manuel Calloquispe Flores has covered tensions between local government and groups involved in illegal gold mining in the region, as well as political and social issues in the Peruvian region of Madre de Dios. The journalist works for media outlets including Latina television, El Comercio and Inforegion Peru.

In a call with VOA on Friday, Calloquispe recalled how a group of people tried to intimidate him while he was on assignment in July. At the time, the journalist was accompanying a group from National Geographic to the Interoceanic Highway near La Pampa.

"A group of people showed up where I was working, people I identified in an article I wrote a few days back. I had never seen them before, but I could tell it was them because I saw their identification cards while investigating and writing the story," he told VOA. "They didn't say anything to me, but they wanted me to know they were there."

The story Calloquispe had published was on the killing of a police officer at the Interoceanic Highway. In that investigation, he identified a possible criminal group.

Covering criminal elements linked to environmental issues in that region is a line of reporting that has brought repeated risks for Calloquispe.

In January, Calloquispe was reporting live on TV about a protest in Madre de Dios when a crowd gathered, making hostile remarks about the press and pointing out where he lived.

Calloquispe described that incident in an interview with the "Latina Noticias" telecast, recalling how he was warned to leave.

"Minutes later I received a call by the Ministry of Interior telling me that I had to go as fast as I could to the nearest police station," Calloquispe said. He and his son, who works as his cameraman, left quickly.

The International Federation of Journalists said that after the incident in January, Calloquispe stayed for a few weeks in Lima while tensions eased.

Media organizations say that Calloquispe is a rare voice in reporting on the exploitation of natural habitat in the Amazon and how illegal gold mining among criminal groups brings poverty, human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women.

Zuliana Lainez, head of the National Association of Journalists of Peru, said in a statement, "With Manuel, one of the things that I fear the most is that when he has to leave Madre de Dios, we will probably lose the only voice that dares to speak of organized crime, about the mafias and what is happening in Madre de Dios. And that's sad, because in the end you see local journalism totally gagged."

Other journalists also have commended his work.

"What struck me about Manuel is that he is one of the few journalists in the region strongly opposed to the industry," Ricardo Leon, weekend editor at El Comercio, said during an interview with the Committee to Protect Journalists.

For now, when Calloquispe experiences threats or publishes a sensitive story, he leaves his home for a couple of weeks, as a safety measure. But he has said he plans to save up to buy protective equipment and a pistol.

"I was born here; I grew up in this forest and saw what it was like," he told VOA. "I have seen how it has changed, but what has affected my life the most is that I have seen innocent people who come here looking for an opportunity to work and they become criminals. I have seen how entire families get killed, innocent people."

That is why, Calloquispe said, he will keep reporting despite the threats. "I know I have to keep doing this," he said. "I'm the only one who can do it."
Russia said early Saturday that it had thwarted a naval drone attack on a bridge that links the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula.

In messages posted to Telegram, the Russian Defense ministry said three semisubmersible unmanned boats, "sent by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge," had been destroyed in the Black Sea  one late Friday and two early Saturday.

The bridge was built after Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Completed in 2018, the bridge has been targeted throughout Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including an attack in July that caused major damage to the bridge and killed two people.

Ukraine claimed responsibility for the July strike but has so far not commented on Russia's claim it prevented another attack.

Ukraine anti-corruption efforts

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Friday with the heads of Ukrainian anti-corruption institutions and discussed the progress Kyiv has made in combating graft and in safeguarding the autonomy of crucial government institutions, the White House said.

The officials discussed the progress Ukraine had made in combating graft and in safeguarding the autonomy of crucial government institutions.

Sullivan stressed the importance of independent, impartial law enforcement and judicial institutions to any democratic society. He also reiterated Washingtons steadfast support for anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine and for Ukraines brave defense of its democracy against Russian aggression.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to participate at the annual U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine in New York this month, Albanian Ambassador to the U.N. Ferit Hoxha told reporters Friday.

Albania is president of the 15-member council for September. World leaders will begin gathering in New York on September 18. The Security Council meeting on Ukraine will be held September 20.

Zelenskyy said in his daily address that he was emotional Friday because it marked the first day of the school year.

Nearly 4 million students returned to the classrooms, he said. Most of them are offline or in a mixed mode, where social interaction between children is still preserved, he said.

"The smile of every child today, every flower that children brought to school, every lesson that Ukrainian teachers conducted today, and every dream that arose today in Ukrainian children are all proofs that Ukraine will definitely endure," he said. "Life goes on. Life is getting stronger."

Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry said Saturday that Ukraine is continuing "to take offensive action" on the Orikhiv axis in southern Ukraine, where units have reached "the first Russian main defensive line."

Grain deal talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to hold talks Monday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in an effort to revive the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia exited the accord in July, saying its main terms had not been honored for the Russian Agricultural Bank to be reconnected to the SWIFT international payments system. Moscow followed with a series of attacks on Ukraines ports and grain infrastructure.

The Black Sea grain deal was forged more than a year ago to combat the global food crisis that the U.N. said had worsened since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on Friday to discuss grain exports ahead of the meeting set for Erdogan and Putin.

Shoigu said it was not Russia's fault the grain deal had failed, reiterating the Russian stance that Moscow would return to the deal if all the promises made to Russia were honored.

"Here we can say only one thing, that if everything that was promised to Russia is fulfilled, the deal will be extended," Shoigu said in a statement released by the defense ministry.

Russia has complained that restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have hindered shipments of its own food and fertilizer exports.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that he had reached out to Russia with concrete proposals to renew the collapsed grain deal.

"The proposal is relating to the need to reestablish the Black Sea initiative," Guterres told reporters during a news briefing. "At the same time, we have some concrete solutions for the concerns allowing for more effective access of Russian food and fertilizer to global markets at adequate prices."



He did not go into detail on the proposal, saying only that it addressed some of Moscow's concerns. But he cautioned that any revival of the initiative must be stable.



"We cannot have a Black Sea initiative that moves from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension," Guterres said. "We need to have something that works, and that works to the benefit of everybody."

For nearly a year, the initiative helped facilitate the export of nearly 33 million tons of grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine via the Black Sea, helping bring down global food prices that spiked after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Russia was also receiving help in facilitating its own grain and fertilizer exports.



Ukrainian troops advance

On Friday, Ukraine said its troops pierced through Russia's first line of defense in several places, advancing in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukrainian forces made gradual gains in southern Zaporizhzhia over the past 72 hours, the White House said Friday.

"We have noted over the last 72 hours or so some notable progress by Ukrainian armed forces  in that southern line of advance coming out of the Zaporizhzhia area, and they have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kirby said Ukrainians are well aware there are tough battles ahead.

"That is not to say  that they aren't mindful that they've still got some tough fighting ahead of them as they try to push further south" or that Russia could launch a countereffort, he added.

Kirby also said he could not confirm reports Friday that Russia's nuclear-capable Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles had been put on combat duty.

Kyiv's troops, who have been battling to advance through heavily mined areas for almost three months, have now run into major defensive Russian fortifications, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Friday.

"Where we have already moved to the next line ... the enemy is much more fortified there and, in addition to the mining, we also see concrete fortifications - for example, under the main commanding heights - and our armed forces have to overcome a lot of obstacles in order to move forward," she noted.

A Russian missile struck a private business in the central Ukraine region of Vinnytsia overnight, wounding three people, Ukranian authorities said Friday.

In a post on Telegram, Governor Serhiy Borzov said, "Unfortunately, there are victims  three civilians. They are being provided with all necessary assistance." He added that property and cars had been damaged.



Drone strikes town in Russia

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone hit a town early Friday in western Russia that is home to one of the country's largest nuclear power plants.

Russian officials said there were no reports of damage to the plant itself, located in Kurchatov, but at least one building was damaged.

The Kursk nuclear plant has the same graphite-moderated reactors as the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the site of the world's largest nuclear accident in 1986 that spread nuclear radiation across Europe.

The British Defense Ministry said Friday in its daily intelligence update on Ukraine that Russia was now using "a range of passive defenses" to ensure the survival of crossings across the Kerch Strait, including the Crimean Bridge.

The ministry said the defenses included smoke generators and underwater barriers constructed of submerged ships and containment booms to protect against attacks by drone boats.

"The bridge's importance for both logistics and symbolism of Russian occupation mandates these extensive protection measures," the report said.

VOA's U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Despite evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, major international travel companies are continuing to offer tours to the northwestern Chinese region, a new report found.

Those trips risk bolstering Beijings destruction and co-optation of Uyghur culture and reinforcing the propaganda narrative that all is well in the region, according to the report released Wednesday by the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP).

The report identifies at least seven travel companies that currently offer tours to the region China calls Xinjiang, which the report and many Uyghurs prefer to describe as East Turkistan.

Despite the well-documented abuses, companies like U.S.-based Abercrombie & Kent, U.K.-based Bamboo Travel and Canada-based Laurus Travel continue to offer trips to historic cities like Kashgar and Urumqi, the regions capital.

Henryk Szadziewski, the reports author, urges all travel companies to immediately stop offering tours to the region.

By taking organized tours to the Uyghur Region, you really do run the risk of complicity with the genocide, Szadziewski told VOA from Hawaii, where he is based.

The optics of turning a profit while organizing tours to a region that has ongoing crimes against humanity and genocide are terrible, said Szadziewski, who is also the UHRPs research director.



Since the report was released, two companies  Canada-based Goway Travel and Australia-based Intrepid Travel  have said they would no longer offer tours to Xinjiang, according to the UHRP.

Intrepid Travel has not operated this itinerary since 2019 and it has recently been removed, company spokesperson Nicole Powell told VOA in an emailed statement.

The United States and several other countries have accused Beijing of committing widespread human rights abuses  including genocide and crimes against humanity  against Uyghurs and other majority-Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang. A 2022 report from the U.N. human rights office determined that abuses in the region may constitute crimes against humanity.

Travel companies respond

Of the tour companies mentioned in the report, U.K.-based company Wild Frontiers said in a statement to VOA, We do not believe that travelling to a destination represents an endorsement of government policy.

Wild Frontiers added that it has not operated tours to Xinjiang since 2019, and it will conduct an investigation into its tours to the region to ensure that potential future visits are done as sensitively as possible.

Tim Milner, director of Bamboo Travel, said, whilst this report may advocate avoiding all travel to Xinjiang, this is not an approach we would currently consider, in an email statement to VOA.

Bamboo Travel does not support the Chinese Government in their suppression of the Uyghur people, Milner also said, adding that Bamboo Travel has not operated tours in Xinjiang in five years.

Laurus Travel, Goway Travel and Amercrombie & Kent did not reply to VOAs requests for comment.

Xi Jinpings Xinjiang Policy

In a statement emailed to VOA, the spokesperson for Chinas Washington embassy rejected accusations of genocide and other human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

The door to Xinjiang is always open. We welcome people with no bias from all countries to visit Xinjiang, Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson, added.

In a speech during a surprise visit to Xinjiang just days before the release of the UHRP report, Chinese President Xi Jinping said a top priority should be maintaining social stability and that enhancing the rule of law can achieve that, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Xi also reportedly urged officials to more deeply promote the Sinicization of Islam and effectively control illegal religious activities. Most Uyghurs are Muslims.

Beijing regularly says its policies in the region are for counterterrorism purposes. In his speech in Xinjiang, Xi said, the fight against terrorism and separatism should be integrated with law-based and constant work of maintaining stability, Xinhua reported.

Xi was also quoted saying he encourages domestic and overseas tourists to visit Xinjiang, where the regions doors will be opened more widely for them.

Uyghurs reality in Xinjiang

Policing Uyghurs movements has become a fundamental component of the Chinese governments policy in the region.

They dont have any space to breathe, said Zubayra Shamseden, a Uyghur exile who works at the UHRP. Shamseden pointed to the irony that Uyghurs movements in Xinjiang are tightly controlled but travel companies continue to offer tours to the region.

Xinhua also quoting Xi talked about the importance of strengthening the protection and use of cultural relics and heritage. But that rings hollow for exiled Uyghurs, who accuse Chinese officials of cultural destruction.

They say the government has outlawed huge swathes of Uyghur culture while allowing other elements that are deemed unthreatening to be turned into tourist attractions.

What the Chinese state has left of public expressions of Uyghur identity has remained for commodification and exploitation, Szadziewski wrote in the report.

These tours reinforce Beijings stereotypical presentation of Uyghurs as an exotic people who like to sing and dance, he said. Through these tours, you really are supporting what the Chinese government has presented to you as a picture of Uyghur-ness, Szadziewski added.

The companies also advertise opportunities to visit Uyghurs homes, which Szadziewski finds disturbing and called a violation of privacy and a continuation of the governments surveillance programs. There has not been any evidence that Uyghurs receive any financial benefit from the tourism, he added.

These kinds of tours also buttress Beijings propaganda narrative that everything is all right in Xinjiang, Shamseden said. Xi Jinping is trying to normalize the genocide, she said. Theyre normalizing repression.

As a Uyghur, Shamseden said it is particularly painful to watch the travel companies offer visits to the region while she and other Uyghurs are unable to return to their homeland or even speak with family and friends still there.

Theyre trading human rights for money, she said. The Uyghurs became a toy for them  an exhibit.
NEW DELHI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and 18 others injured in India's northeastern state of Manipur over the past three days, local media reported on Friday.

The casualties were reported in Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts, where a gunfight is underway between rival tribes over the past three days.

Manipur has been restless since May when large-scale violence broke out in the state during a tribal protest. The ongoing violence has so far killed over 160 people in the state.

The mobs in the state have been resorting to vandalism and arson during which hundreds of houses and shops were gutted. A large number of weapons have been looted from police stations and armories during the violence. 
The case of a Chinese man who reportedly rode his personal watercraft into the muddy shores of South Koreas western port city of Incheon could pose a dilemma for Seoul, experts said.

Kwon Pyong, a 35-year-old ethnic Korean believed to be an activist known to speak against the authoritarian government of China, reportedly crossed more than 300 kilometers of the Yellow Sea from the Chinese province of Shandong, apparently seeking asylum in South Korea.

He was arrested for illegal entry on Aug. 16 when he arrived at a beach in Incheon, wearing a life vest and helmet and equipped with a compass, binoculars and fuel canisters, the South Korean Incheon coast guard said in a statement released on Aug. 20.

Kwon is being held at the Incheon District Prosecutors Office while undergoing investigation, the South Korean Incheon coast guard authorities told VOAs Korean Service on Thursday.

The coast guard authorities in Incheon also told VOAs Korean Service that Kwon "did not mention about seeking asylum or refuge" during their investigations.

South Koreas Ministry of Justice told VOAs Korean Service on Thursday it is inappropriate to provide information about an ongoing investigation.

The Justice Ministry also said information about whether Kwon has applied for asylum "cannot be disclosed" based on international refugee law.

Experts said if Kwon is seeking asylum in South Korea or requesting South Korea to allow him to go to an asylum-providing country, it could put Seoul in an awkward position, possibly further straining its ties with Beijing.

China has been unhappy about Seouls trilateral economic and security agreements made with Washington and Tokyo at the Camp David summit in August.

Andrew Yeo, the SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies at the Brookings Institution, said, If the ROK government gives asylum to Mr. Kwon, it will certainly face some form of diplomatic backlash from Beijing with Beijing interpreting Seouls move as a violation of [its] own sovereign domestic law. South Koreas official name is the Republic of Korea (ROK).

When Kwon arrived in Incheon, he was reportedly still under Beijings exit ban, which was placed on him in 2018 when he was released from prison in China.

VOA's Korean Service contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry for comment on Kwon's arrival in Incheon but did not receive a reply.

Robert Rapson, who served as charge daffaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018-21 said, "This case potentially could be very awkward for the ROK depending on how big an issue Beijing wants to make of it."

Rapson continued, "However, given the Yoon administrations strong value-based policy, I see little chance that Kwon will be returned to China, assuming he qualifies as an asylum seeker" and if he is seeking refuge.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol prioritizes a rules-based international order and democratic values of freedom and human rights in his governments national security strategy.

Evans Revere, who served as the acting assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs during the George W. Bush administration, said, "If Mr. Kwon is actually a rights activist and genuinely wishes to seek political asylum, then I think that the Korean government should treat his application without reference to any possible diplomatic repercussion it may have for relations with the PRC." Chinas official name is the Peoples Republic of China (PRC).

The U.S. immigration office told VOAs Korean Service that it "provides protection to certain persons who have been persecuted or have a well-found fear of persecution."

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada also told VOAs Korean that "Canada has a strong tradition of offering protection to those who are vulnerable and in need."

According to South Korean human rights activist Lee Dae-seon, who has known Kwon since 2019 and was allowed to speak with him on Aug. 22 while he was held by the coast guard, Kwon is seeking political asylum in countries such as the U.S., U.K., or Canada, as reported by The Washington Post.

Lee posted on Facebook on Aug. 21 saying he received a message from Kwon on Aug. 14 revealing his plans to go to South Korea. Lee continued that when Kwon arrived in Incheon, he called 119, the South Korean equivalent of 911, to report that he had entered South Korea.

Lee also said that Kwon was born in Chinas Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in 1988. This is an enclave of ethnic Koreans in Jilin, a northeastern Chinese province bordering North Korea and Russia.

Lee added that Kwon graduated from Iowa State University in the U.S. in 2012. When Kwon returned to China after his studies, he began lodging complaints against the Chinese governments political surveillance system, Lee said on Facebook.

According to Frontline Defenders, a human rights organization in Dublin, Kwon was imprisoned in China for 18 months for "inciting subversion of state power" with his activism work including posting on his social media speeches, images and video "insulting state authority and the socialist system." He was released in 2018, according to the group.

Kwon was reportedly banned from leaving China after his release.

Gu Yi, a Chinese activist and doctoral student at the University of Georgia who said he knows Kwon, told VOAs Mandarin Service that Kwon had said he "was continuously monitored and intimidated by the Chinese government."

Yi continued, "Im actually still worried because although he has already arrived in South Korea, he still needs to go through certain legal procedures."

Yi added, "He is a well-known dissident who once paid the price of his freedom for criticizing an authoritarian regime."

The South Korean Justice Ministry told VOAs Korean Service that a person is interviewed extensively after applying for a refugee status.

"A decision to grant a person a refugee status will be considered after evaluating the reliability of the persons testimony made during interviews to see whether or not the person actually has been persecuted and will be persecuted upon a return to his or her own country," said the ministry.

Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, a legal analyst at the Transitional Justice Working Group in Seoul, said, "Whether he is actually granted the refugee status or humanitarian sojourner status will depend on the asylum-seeking process under South Korean law although he appears to have a strong case," if Kwon is in fact seeking asylum.

A humanitarian sojourner under the Refugee Act of South Korea is a foreigner who is "granted a stay permit from the Minister of Justice as prescribed by Presidential Decree as a person who has rational grounds for recognizing that his or her life, personal liberty, etc. is very likely to be infringed by torture or other inhumane treatment."

Shin continued, "Usually, a foreigner entering South Korea without a visa or other legal authorization is a criminal offense under the Immigration Act." However, he said, "The Refugee Convention prohibits punishment for the unlawful entry of a refugee."

Shin said that in March, the South Korean Supreme Court upheld the Refugee Convention and quashed a criminal conviction against an Iranian refugee who had forged travel documents to enter South Korea.

Stella Hsu of VOA Mandarin and Eunjung Cho of VOA Korean contributed to this report.
As Typhoon Saola barrels toward China, expected to make landfall late Friday, authorities there say more than 460,000 people have been evacuated in southern Guangdong province, and schools, businesses and financial markets have been closed in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Forecasters say that although Saola lost super typhoon status as its top winds dropped from 240 kilometers per hour to 220 kph, it remains the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. Power outages, wind damage and coastal flooding due to storm surge are expected.

Chinese officials said the storm could be one of top five strongest ever to hit the province.

Chinas state-run Xihua news agency reports nearly 85,000 fishing vessels in Guangdong province have returned to their harbors, and 82 coastal resorts have been temporarily closed.

Hundreds of flights were expected to be canceled in Hong Kong ahead of the storm.

Xinhua reports Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport canceled 60 flights Thursday, while another airport in the province, Huizhou Pingtan Airport, plans to cancel 21 flights on Friday.

The Hong Kong Observatory raised a No. 8 typhoon signal, the third-highest warning under the citys weather system, early Friday.

According to the observatory, Saola will pass within 50 kilometers of Hong Kong late Friday and make landfall in Guangdong province early Saturday.

The storm is expected to weaken as it moves south along the coast Saturday into Sunday.

Forecasters say a second Pacific typhoon, Haikui, is expected to make landfall in eastern China, south of the city of Wenzhou, on Sunday.

Some information for this report was provide by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Editor's note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

UN chief reaches out to Moscow on grain deal revival

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that he had reached out to Russia with concrete proposals to renew the collapsed grain export deal Moscow pulled out of in July and then followed with a series of attacks on Ukraines ports and grain infrastructure. He did not go into detail on the proposal, saying only that it addressed some of Moscows concerns.

Mali peacekeeping drawdown enters new phase

The United Nations entered the second phase of drawing down one of its largest peacekeeping missions, after military authorities in Mali announced in June that they wanted the mission out by the end of this year. The mission, known as MINUSMA, has until December 31 to carry out the Herculean task of repatriating more than 12,000 international peacekeepers and separating from 4,300 civilian staff, against the backdrop of continued instability and threats from armed groups. On Wednesday, Russia vetoed a one-year renewal of the sanctions regime and panel of experts on Mali.

Secretary-general calls for peaceful resolution over Zimbabwe election results

Guterres called for peaceful and transparent resolutions to any challenges to the legitimacy of Zimbabwes presidential election that returned Emmerson Mnangagwa to office. In a statement, he expressed concern about the arrest of observers, reports of voter intimidation, threats of violence, harassment and coercion.

War depriving Ukrainian children of education

The U.N. Childrens Fund said millions of children across Ukraine and in seven neighboring asylum countries were being deprived of an education and the skills needed to help Ukraine recover from the devastation caused by Russias invasion. An assessment by UNICEF and the Ukrainian Ministry of Education found that Russian attacks had destroyed more than 1,300 schools, and that others were damaged and not ready to open for the academic year, which began this week.

In brief

 U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths released an additional $20 million on Tuesday from the Central Emergency Response Fund to assist people in Sudan. Humanitarian needs continue to rise as more than 4.5 million people have been displaced by the violence sparked by rival generals in mid-April.

 UNICEF and the World Food Program said Friday that nearly a quarter of Mali's population was suffering from moderate or acute food insecurity and that almost a million children under 5 years old were at risk of falling into acute malnutrition by December. And for the first time in Mali, the agencies warned that more than 2,500 people were at risk of famine in the Menaka region, many of them children.

 The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees said Sunday that nearly 300,000 Palestinian refugee children were back in school in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA opened three new schools this year to accommodate a growing student population. But the agency, which faces chronic funding shortages, said it would not be able to continue operations in its schools beyond September without a cash injection of nearly $200 million.

 Tuesday was the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. August 29 marks the day in 1991 when Kazakhstan closed the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. The former Soviet Union used the facility between 1949 and 1989 to carry out more than 450 underground and atmospheric nuclear tests, which caused lasting environmental and health impacts. U.N. disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu urged countries that have not yet signed or ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to do so. Since it was agreed upon in 1996, the treaty has 186 signatories and 178 states have ratified it. North Korea is the only country to have carried out nuclear tests in the 21st century.

Quote of note

Many countries face deep-seated governance challenges. But military governments are not the solution. They aggravate problems. They cannot resolve a crisis; they can only make it worse.

 Guterres to reporters Thursday on the coup in Gabon. The African continent has seen nine coups since 2020.

Did you know?

September starts a marathon month of diplomacy. There will be meetings of major groups, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the G20 and the G7 plus China. Guterres will be attending all of these gatherings. The month will be capped off by a high-level week at the U.N. General Assembly, which gets underway in the third week in September and is expected to draw a large number of world leaders.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield will head to the border of Chad and Sudan on Tuesday to meet with refugees from the war in Sudan and the humanitarians who are assisting them.

With new horrific reports of ethnically motivated mass killings and conflict-related sexual violence in West Darfur, the Sudan conflict risks ongoing mass atrocities and requires an urgent international response, a senior administration official told reporters Friday.

The official added that the United States continues to work on accountability measures aimed at those responsible for such horrific acts and that the ambassador would have more to say about that on her trip. Washington has repeatedly called for an end to the fighting.

Since hostilities erupted in mid-April between rival generals from the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Security Forces, more than a million people have fled to neighboring countries. Fighting has been fierce in the capital, Khartoum, and in parts of the Darfur region, particularly in West Darfur.

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.

Sadly, this situation is reminiscent of events that led the United States to make a genocide determination in 2004, the U.S. official said. We want to call global attention to what is happening, as we continue to work to rally action in response.

Thomas-Greenfield, who is a member of President Joe Bidens Cabinet, will meet with Chads transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Deby, to discuss how the conflict is affecting his country, which already hosted some 400,000 Sudanese refugees before the latest violence. She will also meet with members of civil society.

The U.S. official said Thomas-Greenfield is expected to announce new humanitarian assistance during her trip.

The ambassador will also stop in Cape Verde to meet with government officials on a range of bilateral and regional issues and meet with alumni of the Young African Leaders Initiative program.
The United States, South Korea, and Japan are imposing new sanctions on individuals and companies that facilitate North Koreas weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, following Pyongyangs failed launch of a spy satellite last week  the second attempt this year.

The move also came after North Koreas military exercise that rehearsed occupying all South Korea territory and a tactical nuclear strike drill earlier this week.

South Koreas Foreign Affairs Ministry said Friday it has sanctioned North Koreas Ryu Kyong Program Development Company and five individuals associated with that firm, including its chief, Ryu Kyong-chol, and four others from branch offices in China.

South Korea was the first country to sanction the named individuals and the company, according to the ministry, for activities that include helping North Korea to develop satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Japans foreign ministry said Friday it has imposed sanctions on three groups and four individuals involved in North Korea's nuclear and missile development.

Japans chief Cabinet secretary, Matsuno Hirokazu, told reporters after a Cabinet meeting his government would continue to seek North Koreas denuclearization and closely coordinate with the United States and South Korea.

In Washington, the U.S. Treasury Department Thursday targeted two individuals and one entity, Russia-based Jon Jin Yong, Sergey Mikhaylovich Kozlov, and Intellekt LLC in a separate sanctions announcement.

They were cited for involvement in "generating revenue for the Democratic Peoples Republic of Koreas (DPRK) unlawful development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missiles." DPRK is the abbreviation for North Koreas official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

The three countries pledged to continue working with allies to counter North Koreas destabilizing activities, citing its use of ballistic missile technology as a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

North Korea watchers alarmed

Some analysts warned North Koreas missile launches in recent months indicated significant technological advancement.

In July, North Korea successfully tested its newest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-18. It marked North Korea's second solid-propellant ICBM launch following its first test-firing on April 13.

"A solid propellant rocket can be moved around as an individual missile, it doesn't need any support vehicles. It could be launched in less than a minute probably. So even if you have found it and might be tracking it, you may not be able to destroy it [in time]," said Theodore Postol, professor emeritus of science, technology, and national security policy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"This is a very reliable means for attacking the United States or Europe," Postol told VOA.

But how did North Korea make such a significant breakthrough?

Go Myong-Hyun, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a Seoul-based think tank, said many experts suspect North Korea received the solid-fueled propellant technology from a third party.

"North Korea is a resource poor country. And there are other things North Korea would need to use the time, resources, or the manpower to reinvent. Regarding the solid-fueled rocket engine, there's no need for North Korea to reinvent the wheel," he told VOA on Friday.

"The examination and analysis about open-source data show that there's a lot of commonalities between North Korean missiles and the Russian systems, especially Hwasong-18," Go said.

US, South Korea, Japan in solidarity

On Aug. 18, the U.S., South Korea, and Japan issued Camp David Principles after their leaders first trilateral summit, where the three allies said they "stand united" in commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea under the U.N. Security Council resolutions, but "remain committed to dialogue with the DPRK with no preconditions."

Cooperation among the three countries can be very effective in preventing illegal money flowing into North Korea, according to regional experts.

Seoul-based Park Won-gon who is the director of Institute of Unification Studies at Ewha Womans University told VOA that South Korea and the United States have made significant progress over the past years in "preventing DPRK from cashing in through its IT personnel, cryptocurrency and illegal hacking."

"This is indeed [North Korea leader] Kim Jong-un's money to govern," said Park Won-gon. "If the money to govern is interrupted, North Korea will have less money to spend on its nuclear and missile programs and overall economy, which could be the motivation for the North to come to the negotiating table."

Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
The United States will continue to push back against Beijings false maritime claims, said John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, in response to Chinas newly released 2023 map that has drawn the ire of India, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines.

In an interview with VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara on Friday, Kirby spoke about expectations for President Joe Bidens upcoming trip to the G20 summit in New Delhi, followed by a visit to Hanoi, where the U.S. is expected to upgrade bilateral ties with Vietnam. He also previewed Vice President Kamala Harris upcoming engagement with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: We are hearing that [Chinese] President Xi Jinping may not be attending the G20. President Biden said that he hopes that he will still attend. Is there a sense that the president's disappointed? Was there a Biden-Xi meeting that is now not going to happen?

John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator: As far as I know, there hasn't been a formal decision made by the [Peoples Republic of China]. We'll certainly leave it to them to talk about his attendance plans. As the president said, we certainly hope that President Xi would attend.

G20 is an important forum, and this year theres a focus on improving economic cooperation around the world. So clearly, there will be a role for the PRC, and we would hope that he will take advantage of that.

VOA: China just released its annual map that seems to be more expansive. It's not just the nine-dash line, its now the 10-dash line. How does the administration feel about this?

Kirby: We have been very, very consistent about pushing back on these false maritime claims of the PRC. This map doesn't change that policy. But it's not just what lines they draw on the map. It's about their coercive behavior. It's about the way they intimidate [their] neighbors and some of our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, to try to advance these false maritime claims.

VOA: Do we expect the vice president to be that forward leaning as you have laid out when she visits the region? Last year she went to Palawan Island. Can we expect that kind of a pushback this year?

Kirby: The vice president's very much looking forward to her participation at the ASEAN summit. She will not shy away from talking about our responsibilities as a Pacific power. She will not shy away about talking about how seriously we take our security commitments to our allies and partners throughout the region. Five of our seven treaty alliances are in the Indo-Pacific region.

VOA: One of the proposals that the president will bring to New Delhi is to bolster the capacity of the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and the World Bank to provide lending for global development projects as an alternative to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative.

There is already a Western push for this. It was initially called Build Back Better World, B3W, and then the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, PGII and now this push to move together with the World Bank and the IMF. Is there a change of strategy or perhaps a scaling down of ambition here?

Kirby: Not at all. In fact, it's quite consistent with everything the president has been saying since he took office. The data show that his approach to economic prosperity, building from the bottom up and the middle out  Bidenomics  works here at home. The president believes that that same approach can work globally. One of the ways is through revitalizing multilateral development investment. That's why he has asked Congress for another $25 billion to reshape the World Bank. That's why he has appointed the new head of the World Bank.

And it's why the president  as you rightly said  also launched a couple years ago the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, which is already starting to pay dividends. The PGII won't necessarily be on the agenda at the G20. But we're certainly hoping that well get a chance to talk about it.

VOA: So, this is in addition, not in place of the PGII program?

Kirby: The PGII is something separate and distinct from what we're trying to do in terms of the World Bank.

I think it's important to keep all this in context. Developing countries are looking for alternatives to the high interest loan programs that the PRC is putting out. What the president and the G7, G20 leaders wanted to put in place are alternatives to that so that developing countries who have been affected by the war in Ukraine can address those problems.

VOA: Is the president disappointed that  unlike in G20 Bali  this time around the G20 chair, India, is not inviting [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to speak?

Kirby: That's really up to the G20 chair. President Zelenskyy had a chance to address NATO allies in Vilnius not too long ago. He certainly has had multiple opportunities to speak with foreign leaders on his own. We believe that it's important that people stay focused on supporting Ukraine to the degree they can, but as far as an invitation, Id refer you to the Indians.

VOA: Can we get some more clarity on a possible Biden - [Saudi Crown Prince] MBS [Mohammed bin Salman] meeting? Would this be a good opportunity to forward the agenda of a Saudi-Israel normalization?

Kirby: The president believes strongly that our strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia is important. That's why we continue to work on that partnership and see it starting to bear fruit, in terms of the truce in Yemen.

In trying to encourage progress towards normalization with Israel, there's been a lot of good work with Saudi Arabia. The president looks forward to any opportunity to try to advance that, I just don't have anything on the schedule.

VOA: Our diplomatic sources say that Vietnam is interested in upgrading ties to not just a Strategic Partnership, but to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which would be a really big deal. Can you confirm this?

Kirby: I'm not in a position to confirm. We very much value the growing partnership that we have with Vietnam. Some of our interests are merging in ways that 10 to 15 years ago you couldn't even imagine.

The Vietnamese are of course concerned about PRC activities in their part of the Indo-Pacific. There's an awful lot of shared common interests here, and the president's looking forward to discussing how we can advance those interests. But I won't get ahead of specifics.

VOA: An op-ed in The Jakarta Post said that ASEAN matters little if at all enough for Biden to skip the annual gathering, even though he will be in the neighborhood around that time. Does ASEAN matter to the U.S. beyond officials such as yourself repeating statements of ASEAN centrality?

Kirby: Of course, it does. The president hosted a summit here in Washington, the first ever for ASEAN, and has engaged with ASEAN leaders on numerous occasions in person and, of course, virtually over the last two and a half years. And the vice president also believes strongly in the vibrancy of ASEAN and in our Indo-Pacific relationships.

The first two foreign leaders that President Biden invited to the White House were from Japan and South Korea. The first trip that the Secretary of Defense [Lloyd Austin] and Secretary of State [Antony Blinken] took together, was to the Indo-Pacific region. The president revitalized the Indo-Pacific Quad. The president was responsible for putting together AUKUS [Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States strategic partnership] which will allow us in concert with the United Kingdom to help Australia build a nuclear-powered submarine capability.

We are looking forward to participating in this ASEAN summit because ASEAN is an important forum for discussion and pursuit of these common interests and shared values, as well as addressing the challenges that those countries face. The United States wants to be part of that discussion. We have been with ASEAN since the very beginning of this administration, and we will certainly be going forward.
The British government says Zimbabwes just-ended general elections were not free and fair.

In a statement the Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, said, We share the view of the Election Observation Missions preliminary statements that the pre-election environment and election day fell short of regional and international standards.

Mitchel said some of the problems included limited transparency from the electoral commission, the lack of level playing field, the passing of repressive legislation, long delays in the opening of some polling stations, and reports of intimidation of voters.

Mitchel noted that the UK takes note of the announcement by the Chair of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission of results on 26 August. However, we are concerned by a lack of transparency in the tallying of results, as well as the arrests of domestic observers. We urge all parties and citizens to continue to follow constitutional processes in the coming weeks, allow space for inclusive dialogue, and act with restraint.

Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, and information secretary Nick Mangwana were unavailable for comment as they were not responding to calls on their mobile phones.

The African Union, Southern African Development Community, European Union and other organizations too a swipe at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, noting that the elections fell short of normal poll standards.

The Zimbabwean government has reacted angrily to the observer missions sharp rebuke of the electoral body, claiming that the elections were free and fair.

ZEC has already passed into the law the election of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has started executing state duties.

The largest countrys opposition  the Citizens Coalition for Change led by Nelson Chamisa, is demanding free elections. It described the elections as a gigantic fraud.

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa on Thursday threatened to lock up opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activists planning to engage in public protests over the outcome of last weeks disputed elections.

Addressing Zanu PF supporters at the official opening of Sabi Star Lithium Mine, Mnangagwa said, We are going forward with our development program, we will not stop our development programs because of some little boys. I warn anybody who may want to bring any chaos in this country we are ready. Whoever shall preach hate speech will be responsible for their hate speech our Prisons are not full."

According to the Ministry of Information, Mnangagwa said state security agents are ready for anyone who wants to cause chaos in the country.

He is quoted as saying, ... Those who want to contest do so peacefully. ZANU PF has a DNA of winning. No other party shall govern in this country Your leadership is endorsed here on earth and in heaven.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced Saturday night that Mnangagwa got 52.6% of the total votes cast while opposition CCC interim leader, Nelson Chamisa, amassed 44%.

Chamisa has described the elections as a gigantic fraud and called for fresh elections under the supervision of neighboring nations in the Southern African Development Community. CCC is planning a 30-day public push for fresh elections.

A SADC Election Observation Mission also said the elections fell short of local and international standards.

Reacting to Mnangagwas threats, CCC interim spokesperson Promise Mkhwanazi said Mnangagwas remarks are an indication that he lost the presidential poll.

Mkhwanazi said, There is no need for Mr. Mnangagwa to issue threats to the people of Zimbabwe if he knows that he truly won the elections. The threats are a clear indication that he did not win the elections and is prepared to use force to stay against the will of the people of Zimbabwe. We are a peaceful and non-violent party.

We intend to challenge Mr. Mnangagwa's false assertions that he won the elections using peaceful, lawful and non-violent means. We will do everything permissible in a democratic society to reverse Mr. Mnangagwa's false win so that we can have fresh elections under the supervision of SADC and a reformed ZEC.

VOA's Gibbs Dube contributed to this article
SOUTH AFRICA (REUTERS) - Eighteen suspected robbers were shot and killed during a shootout with police in South Africa's Limpopo province, the police said on Friday.

Police video showed officers walking near a cordoned off area, some wearing protective suits.

Speaking from the scene in Makhado in South Africa's northernmost province, national police commissioner Fannie Masemola said the suspects were planning a cash-in-transit (CIT) heist and were responsible for similar crimes in other provinces.

One police officer was injured in the shootout, which lasted about 90 minutes, he added.

(Production: Jacqueline Clyne)
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese lawmakers on Friday voted to adopt a revised Law on Administrative Reconsideration aimed at enhancing the resolution of administrative disputes.

The revised law specifies the principles, responsibilities, safeguards and scope of administrative reconsideration.

It introduces measures to facilitate administrative reconsideration applications, strengthens the capacity of administrative reconsideration to address and resolve administrative disputes, refines the procedures for accepting and reviewing cases, and strengthens the supervision of administrative law enforcement.

Under this revised law, administrative reconsideration will serve as the main channel for resolving administrative disputes, which is conducive to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the people, advancing law-based governance, and promoting social fairness and justice.

The revised law, passed at a session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024. 
Hurricane Rosie is available to stream now via Paramount+ with Showtime. It will make its Showtime debut on Sunday, September 3, at 8 p.m. ET.

Billions stuck us with another formulaic episode this week  no Axe; finance bros skirting the law, etc.  but at least Hurricane Rosie and its two main story lines are moving toward some semblance of cohesion. Chuck and Mike Prince are finally back in each others orbit, as Chuck tries to indict Prince after he learns the billionaire is intertwined with a Taiwanese mogul whose son is an NFT scammer. (So the whole fake Super PAC investigation from last week is on hold now, or what?) Meanwhile, with no clear plan to destroy Prince from the inside, Wags goes rogue and sabotages a hurricane categorization, making Prince look like an insurance fraudster. The problem with this particular scheme is it has Wagss fingerprints all over it, putting Wags in a precarious position at MPC. The last thing Wendy needs is to lose her top ally, so she gives him a necessary dressing-down before they regroup.

What Hurricane Rosie did give us, though, was an opportunity to think more about whats going on behind the scenes of these main-stage story lines. Well, that and a lot of Grosse Pointe Blank references. Case in point: I found myself far more affected by the Scooter conductor subplot than Chucks attempts to arrest Prince for aiding a global fugitive.

Prince arranges for Scooter to conduct the New York Philharmonic, with Leonard Bernsteins baton, no less! We already know from last season that Scooter gave up his aspirations to be a conductor long ago, so this is a really big deal. But at the last minute, following Princes international incident entanglement  and Bradford Lukes insistence that Princes affiliation with hoity-toity orchestral music  will be a major voter turnoff, the guest-conductor shot is canceled. Once again, Scooters dreams are snatched away because he must always be a martyr for Mike Prince. But Im still asking why? on this one. What has Prince promised Scooter that hes agreed to a life sentence of minion-hood? (Example: A shattered Scooter represses so much of his own self that after the conductor offer is rescinded, he feeds Prince this piece of cringe: You said you had a good day today. Then so did I.) We dont get enough of Scooters backstory to understand his mind-set, but I do feel awful for him. Will this latest sacrifice loosen his resolve enough for Wendy and Wags to get him to join their side?

To be fair, I did think this orchestral-music-is-elitist subplot was a terrific commentary on the assume all Americans are stupid attitude that most politicians think they must adopt so they can get elected.

Im also growing more skeptical of Dr. Mayers true intentions. Wendys new psychiatrist unloaded all her Prince Cap clients so she can help Wendy figure out how shes going to annihilate Mike Prince? That doesnt make her too good to be true, it makes her extremely suspicious. Especially when she invites Wendy to start naming the people at MPC she knows shes going to hurt. Like her current in-office adversary, Bradford Luke.

Something doesnt feel kosher about this. Then again, Ive learned to be skeptical of everything that happens on Billions. Still, I do feel that Dr. Mayer being so amenable is a red flag. Shes got to be reporting back to someone.

The Chuck-Prince story line this week progresses and ends in conventional fashion: With Chuck and Prince each thinking theyve won, even though theyve both landed back at square one. Once Chuck finds out the previously mentioned NFT scammer hitched a ride back to Taipei on one of Princes jets, he has to move heaven and earth to get the plane back into U.S. airspace. Prince, in all fairness, had no idea the jet was for his Taiwanese mogul pals son, but he does know that Chuck is behind this latest arrest warrant, so he tries to keep the plane in the air for as long as possible.

Eventually, Prince gives Chuck what he wants, but, of course, on his terms. He orders the plane to land back in New York, and, in exchange for throwing the Scammer Son under the bus, he makes several outrageous promises to Mogul Daddy. Prince assures Mogul Daddy that, once hes president, Scammer Son will be out of prison and fully pardoned. To sweeten the deal, he also assures Mogul Daddy of excellent Taiwan-U.S. relations, along with certain trade protections worth billions to Mogul Daddy personally. Even Bradford Luke gives him a look that says, Puh-leeze dont do that, sir.

At the airport, Chucks big, sweeping arrest is upstaged by Princes arrival and Scammer Sons surrender. Prince delivers an obsequious speech about the importance of obeying the law and publicly thanking Chuck for alerting him to his jet being taken under false pretenses. Chuck, however, isnt fazed by all the great PR Prince will get from this incident because now Prince knows the authorities have their eyes on him.

Hard to march toward the presidency when youre always looking over your shoulder, says Chuck.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Who knew Chuck Rhoades was such a comedian?

As for the hurricane story line, Im always game for more Wags-ian mischief, though after this episode its likely been curbed for the time being. While the MPC crew eagerly watches Hurricane Rosie wreak havoc along the American South, Taylor and Philip arrive to put the kibosh on the hurricane betting (the spelling of Rosie, whether it reaches Category 5). If this storm is deemed a Category 5, its going to hurt everyone in the pocketbook because Mike Prince holds several billion dollars worth of catastrophe bonds issued by one of the Souths main insurance companies.

Fortunately, everyones investments are safe because the storm is given a Category-4 rating  all thanks to Wags chatting up Al Roker for some hurricane intel and then paying off the hurricane grader.

The trouble is, now Mike Prince looks like a Wall Street scammer. (Dude, thats what happens when you keep actual Wall Street scammers like Michael Wagner on staff!) Thousands of homes across the South have been annihilated, but Prince somehow walked away from this climate-change disaster with his portfolio intact. The optics, especially for a guy running for president, are abominable, placing an unrepentant Wags in deep trouble. We now know this was exactly what Wags wanted to happen, and it was only thanks to Wendys rapid-fire thinking  and the fact that Prince trusts her  that Wags is still employed by MPC. She persuades Wags to accept blame for his actions, and pushes Prince to leave it at that because she cant lose her best collaborator.

Prince then does the predictable image quick fix: Pays for the Indiana National Guard to offer relief to the people hit hardest by the hurricane. Bradford then advises that he close his ranks ASAP, or else shutting down international incidents and suspected insurance fraud will become a daily occurrence.

*taps microphone* Um, excuse me, Mr. Luke? Hi, Sarene Leeds here, devoted Billions recapper. Yeah. International incidents and fraud are the lifeblood of these characters, and they have been for seven seasons. Good luck getting that to change 

Now that Prince is closing his ranks even tighter, Wendy turns to her nighttime Grosse Pointe Blank screenings for guidance. Viewing herself as no different than John Cusacks professional assassin, her big fear is how a clean kill can turn very messy. Wendy Q. Blank is fully aware that what lies ahead for her  and Wags, whom she corners later that night  is going to be difficult and chaotic.

Well, good. Easy and organized are boring.

I still love that Wendy is one of the few people Wags will listen to (other than Axe)  and that it doesnt take much for Wags to agree to her terms: Get your impulses under control and lets work together.

It sounds like a great start, but these two are going to need a lot more confidants if they really think they can topple Mike Prince. Who do you think will join the Rebel Alliance next?

Loose Change

 Billionss self-awareness is almost as much fun as its constant pop-culture references: Dr. Mayer mentions to Wendy how, through treating so many Prince Cappers, I have gotten to revisit so many fine films!

 If you were disappointed by Al Rokers lackluster cameo, theres always this classic Hurricane Wilma footage (which likely inspired the episodes own weatherman-versus-the-wind moment). And dont forget Rokers amusing Sharknado 2 appearance (TW: Matt Lauer also appears in the clip).
This last installment feels tired, but Washington still brings the goods, i.e., the air of a local oddball who just happens to be incredible at murder. Photo: Stefano Montesi

Robert McCall, the character played by Denzel Washington for three movies now, is a pathologically American action hero. Hes retired from his job for the DIA, but he still works  at a Home Depotesque hardware store, or as a Lyft driver  just to have something to do. He knows that violence is always the answer, for all that he occasionally seems to want to atone for a life spent as a government assassin. And he has a feeling he could have a better, more fulfilling life in Europe  say, somewhere on the Amalfi Coast, which is where he finds himself in The Equalizer 3 after exterminating a bunch of baddies in Sicily and then passing out from blood loss after driving off the ferry. Before you can say prego, Robert has been taken in by the residents of an idyllic small town who spend their days hanging out in the piazza, navigating the narrow streets up and down the hills, and eating authentic food down by the waterfront. What weary American, accustomed to a life of big-box stores and gig work, wouldnt be charmed by the opportunity to while away the hours at a table at an outdoor cafe instead of one in an all-night diner? All Robert has to do is slaughter a few dozen members of the Camorra who are terrorizing the place.

According to Antoine Fuqua, who has directed all three big-screen Equalizers, this third effort will be the last in the series for him and for Washington. It does feel like a story thats run out of places to go, an issue that crossing the Atlantic doesnt remedy. When your main character is such an incredible killing machine, theres little mystery about whats going to happen or whether hes going to succeed, and The Equalizer 3 barely even tries to pretend that Robert will have trouble going up against the organized criminals who want to seize local assets for themselves. The only suspense comes from the question of whether Robert will stay in Italy, where he stumbles into incredible housing with the kindly doctor, as well as a possible love interest, and finds some instant community from everyone else nearby. Fuqua gives the film a gray-blue action-movie wash that seems intended to emphasize his main characters seriousness, and it still cant overcome the absurd beauty of the setting. At a certain point, after Roberts finished recovering from his wounds, he packs up his bags as though ready to leave, and you want to scream, No, for the love of God, why would you ever want to go back to Boston? Fortunately, Roberts presence is required for some equalizing on an international stage.

The Equalizer 3 has a worn-out haphazardness to it that extends to a story line involving a junior CIA agent played by Dakota Fanning, a whole plot thread that could be snipped without any effect on the movie except to maybe leave it under standard feature length. Still, it delivers the goods, thanks to Washingtons performance and Fuquas zest for going graphic. The Equalizer series falls into the still-thriving subgenre of older-man action movies dominated by Liam Neeson, but Washington actually plays his character like a weird uncle who just happens to be incredible at murder. He makes endearingly odd choices for a major movie star, biting his lip to scrunch his mouth to the side, putting an emphatic T at the end of an exclamation of touche, and letting out a booOOOoo when told by Fannings character that a search of his name reveals hes effectively a ghost. He doesnt come across as a guy whos searching for redemption after years of brutality but as a local oddball whos just looking for a place to drink his tea in peace.

Peace isnt easy to come by, though the motorcycle thugs who swing by to bully the locals and squeeze money out of the businesses dont offer much resistance. Nor do the mobster higher-ups they report to, who soon find their snapped bones protruding through their flesh and the muzzles of their guns smashed into their eye sockets. The violence in the movie is so gleefully over-the-top, and so effective at solving issues, that it verges on comedy. But the funniest thing about The Equalizer 3 is that the Camorras end goal is to intimidate people into giving up their property so that the gangsters can build hotels, casinos, and other tourism-related businesses. Robert is not just fighting on behalf of the people of his impossibly charming Italian town; hes inadvertently fighting to keep the place unspoiled and free of development. To try to achieve the idealized vision of living abroad, with yourself as the only outsider  isnt that just like an American?
Eiichiro Oda was 21 when he wrote the one-shot manga that would later become One Piece, which was published just a year after Odas idol and biggest influence, Akira Toriyama, finished his epic manga Dragon Ball. The idea of generational clashes and the passing of the torch is pivotal to the world and story of One Piece. Shanks literally gives a piece of himself to save Luffy, who represents the next generation of pirates. Garp heavily mentors Koby. In the background of the main story, the world of One Piece is rapidly changing, and its up to the new kids to shape it.

This episode, we get another example of this in Sanji, the cook we met last episode. Guess what? He too has a rather sad backstory, arguably the saddest one yet. Turns out young Sanji was a small-time cook in a ships galley until Zeffs Cook Pirates raided the ship. The old man took an interest in Sanjis cooking, particularly Sanjis talk of the All Blue. Unfortunately, there was a shipwreck, and they were the only two survivors, stranded on a tiny island together. Zeff split their limited amount of food in two and decided they were to stand watch on opposite ends of the island until help arrived. After 70 days, Sanji, half-dead and with food long gone, decided he was going to take some of the old mans food. But, much to his surprise, Zeff had only a big bag of treasure and no food  he had given it all to Sanji in the first place. How did Zeff survive? He cut off his own leg and ate it! Like Shanks, Zeff literally sacrificed a limb to save a child he owed nothing to.

More than Shankss big moment, this scene is given more time to marinate and for the audience to feel the emotional weight behind it, so it hits harder. Turns out Zeff had also searched for the All Blue his whole life, but now hes too old and says its time for the young. Zeff tells Sanji the All Blue is real and Sanji has to find it to fulfill both of their dreams.

In the present, the Straw Hats are in shock over Zoros defeat. Nami takes charge and tells Luffy to find a doctor while she stops the bleeding. He finds Zeff, who uses his skills learned from cooking to stitch Zoro up, but Zoros still caught between life and death after losing so much blood. While the episode still finds moments of levity, we get a surprisingly emotional and somber moment with Luffy, who cant find the words to say to Zoro when we know he usually cant stop talking (Inaki Godoy is excellent at not just the goofier side of the Straw Hat but the vulnerable side too). Sanji tells Luffy that being captain is the toughest job because of the hard choices you have to make, like those Zeff did when they were castaways. Nami tells him the same, still angry that Luffy could have prevented this and did nothing, but Luffy repeats that he simply cannot stand in the way of someones dreams. For the first time since Shanks lost an arm to save him, Luffy realizes the cost of a life at sea, of having people depend on you.

The fishmen we met in a previous episode arrive at the restaurant with Buggys disembodied head in a bag and Arlong the Saw leading them. This episode clearly uses the fishmen as an allegory for people of color with Arlong talking about how they are second-class citizens on the surface, forced to do manual labor for humans, who think themselves superior. As he argues, fishmen are superior  stronger and faster (and given the world of the show is mostly water and small islands, he has a point here).

The moment Nami hears about the fishmen, she panics and begs Luffy to run away, to protect his own and leave. But Luffy cant do that. He cant leave innocents to suffer because of him, as Arlong is threatening to kill people until he finds Luffy. This is the last straw for Nami, who already warned Luffy to make the tough choices. If he doesnt listen, Namis going to make her own tough choice. The navigator, who has mostly acted as the captain so far, goes over to Arlong and reveals she has been part of his crew for years. She was always going to betray Luffy and hand over the Grand Line map.

Or was she? After all, she was begging Luffy to run away with her onboard, so for a brief moment, her friends mattered more than whatever loyalty she has for Arlong. Except Luffy broke her trust, and now its too late. Luffy tries to fight the fishmen, but Arlong is too strong and nearly kills him. Only Nami and Sanjis intervention saves him. The Straw Hats are now without a full crew and without a map.

After Namis betrayal, Luffy finally finds the words to say to Zoro. He talks about the fight Zoro missed out on before confessing that he messed up everything because of how much fun they were having and now theyve lost so much. He knows what to say now, and its so simple: I need you, Zoro. And, of course, that does it. The swordsman lives, and he awakes, telling Luffy he didnt do anything wrong  he did act like a captain. While Ive talked about how Zoro seemed to just be along for the ride, never truly disagreeing with Luffy but also not truly committed to his cause, that changes here. Zoro vows to stand by Luffys side, as his first mate, until they find the One Piece or die trying. Hes finally an official nakama. As is Usopp, who lightens the mood with his tall tales.

But they wont be alone in their mission to rescue Nami. Sanji is joining too  after Zeff once again makes the tough choice as a captain and Old Yellers Sanji into leaving, knowing he stayed with him out of a sense of obligation for Zeffs sacrifice but also recognizing hes wasting that sacrifice by not following their dream. Maybe its the fantastic acting by Craig Fairbrass and Taz Skylar, or maybe its that these two episodes have had a bit more breathing room than the others, but Sanjis and Zeffs story was beautifully told and makes more of an impact than the other backstories so far. The good-bye between Sanji and Zeff, two stoic men who try their best not to show emotion but still do, is rather impactful.

Meanwhile, Mihawk confesses to Garp that he let Luffy go because hes curious to see what happens. He might be a Warlord of the Sea, but he still wont listen to orders. Garp, of course, is furious. Koby tries to defend Luffy, arguing that it didnt matter what Garp tried to do with his grandson  maybe Luffy was always built to be a pirate and nothing was going to change that. The old vice-admiral agrees and decides to change tactics, taking the gloves off and setting out to really bring Luffy to justice this time.

X Marks the Spot

 Its a small detail, but the fact that the live-action adaptation keeps giving the crew different outfits is pretty cool  and hopefully means the Straw Hats bathe more frequently than in the manga.

 Sanji may not have a curled eyebrow like his cartoon counterpart does, but the episodes logo has one!

 This may be an American production shooting in South Africa, but its neat to see so much Japanese food in the show, from talk of sashimi, to Sanji making onigiri  best known as jelly doughnuts in the U.S.  for the crew.

 Once more, One Piece pulls details from the larger story, making things feel connected and fleshed out even if theyre out of order a little bit. While trying to tell Zoro stories to see if he wakes up, Nami reads from the story of Mont Blanc Noland, a historical figure in the One Piece world who will feature in a later story arc. Of course, shed know the story; we know several of the crew members know it by the time it becomes relevant. Whats more, Luffy already interprets the story a bit differently, believing Noland did find the city but lost it.

 This is probably nothing, but we see a guy with a spotted cow hat in the background in the Baratie. Trafalgar?
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The 11th National Congress of Returned Overseas Chinese and Their Relatives commenced at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday morning. Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Han Zheng and other senior leaders of the Party and the state attended the event. Li Xi, on behalf of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, delivered a speech.

The atmosphere was solemn and warm in the main hall of the Great Hall of the People. The logo of the congress hangs above the rostrum, while in the middle of the backdrop is the emblem of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC), which symbolizes that overseas Chinese from across the globe love their motherland from the bottom of their hearts. On both sides of the emblem stand 10 red flags. A gigantic streamer hung outside the balcony of the second floor reads "Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress, and unite with returned overseas Chinese, their relatives and overseas Chinese abroad to strive for a modern socialist country in an all-round way and advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts!" Some 1,200 representatives of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives from all around the country, as well as nearly 600 overseas Chinese as special guests from over 100 countries, gathered joyfully at the congress.

At 10:00 a.m., Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, together with others, walked into the venue amid a round of enthusiastic applause.

The congress opened in the singing of the majestic national anthem.

Li Xi, on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a speech titled "Forging a United and Striving Mighty Force of Overseas Chinese for the Building of a Strong Country and National Rejuvenation." Li extended warm congratulations to the convening of the congress and sincere greetings to the vast number of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, as well as overseas Chinese abroad and workers of the ACFROC.

Li said in his speech that under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, since the 10th National Congress of Returned Overseas Chinese and Their Relatives, the ACFROC and overseas Chinese organizations at various levels under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, have fully implemented Xi's important ideas on overseas Chinese affairs and mass organizations work, adhered to the principles of serving the overall situation and overseas Chinese faithfully, and fully performed their duties. As a result, the political and advanced nature of the ACFROC has been improved. It became more engaged with the people, and its organization and influence continues to enhance.

The vast number of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives as well as overseas Chinese abroad, have always moved forward together with the motherland and its people. They have been playing a unique role in and made great contributions to the country's economic development, poverty alleviation, fight against the Covid-19 epidemic, opening-up, maintaining long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao, and promoting national reunification.

Li noted that it is the central task of the CPC to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. The fulfillment of the task requires joint efforts from all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation at home and abroad. He expressed the hope that all the returned overseas Chinese and their relatives and overseas Chinese abroad could proactively respond to the call of the Party and the people, make greater achievements in helping create a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development, make greater contributions to forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and promoting national reunification, and play a greater role in promoting fine Chinese culture and building a human community with a shared future. They are also hoped to better themselves in the development of their motherland, ancestral homes and the countries they are living in, so as to forge a united and striving mighty force, and make new and greater achievements in jointly shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation and sharing its glory.

A Dong, first secretary of the Secretariat of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), delivered a congratulatory speech to the congress on behalf of All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the CYLC Central Committee, All-China Women's Federation, China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Chinese Writers Association, China Association for Science and Technology, All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, and China Disabled Persons' Federation. He noted in his speech that people's organizations should remain true to our original aspiration, keep our mission firmly in mind, learn from one another, cooperate closely, carry forward good traditions, and leverage our respective strengths to break new ground in Party-led mass organizations work on the new journey of the new era.

A series of award decisions were announced at the meeting, including a decision on awarding outstanding overseas Chinese and advanced returned overseas Chinese and relatives of returned overseas Chinese by the ACFROC and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, a decision on awarding advanced collectives and workers in departments related to affairs of overseas Chinese by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the ACFROC, and a decision on awarding advanced organizations and individuals in departments related to affairs of overseas Chinese by the ACFROC. Awards were presented to winners at the meeting.

On behalf of the 10th Committee of the ACFROC, Wan Lijun, executive chairman of the presidium of the congress, delivered to the meeting a work report titled "Unifying Returned Overseas Chinese, Their Relatives, and Overseas Chinese Abroad to Strive for Building a Modern Socialist Country in All Respects under the Guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era."

Wang Yi, Shi Taifeng, Li Ganjie, Li Shulei, Chen Wenqing, Wang Xiaohong, Losang Jamcan, and Xian Hui attended the meeting.

Also present were leading officials from relevant central Party and government departments, people's organizations, military units, leading officials of the Beijing municipal government, and leading members from central committees of the other political parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, as well as representatives of overseas Chinese residing in Beijing. 
PHNOM PENH, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian authorities had arrested 12,356 drug-related suspects, including 254 foreigners, during the first eight months of 2023, the country's Anti-Drug Department said in a report on Friday.

Some 49 percent of the suspects were drug users, and the rest were drug traffickers, manufacturers and transporters, the report said.

"A total of 2.62 tonnes of illicit drugs, 43.5 kg of dry marijuana, and 23,816 marijuana plants were seized in the suspects' possession during the January-August period of 2023," the report said.

The authorities had also impounded 30 homemade rifles, 25 pistols, 105 cars, 1,142 motorbikes, 3,518 telephones and 257 scales, as well as some cash and properties, the report said.

Most of the seized drugs were ketamine, heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine pills, and cathinone.

The Southeast Asian country has no death sentence for drug traffickers. Under its law, someone found guilty of trafficking more than 80 grams of illicit drugs could be jailed for life. 
Killing of mother bear is disaster for Italy's critically endangered Marsican bears.

An investigation is underway after a female Marsican bear known as Amarena was shot dead in Italy's central Abruzzo region on Thursday night, park authorities announced.

The killing of Amarena, a much-loved symbol of Abruzzo, is a serious blow to the survival of Italy's critically endangered Marsican bears which only number about 60.

The bear, mother to two young cubs, was killed near San Benedetto dei Marsi, outside the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise (PNALM), a vast protected area home to the last remaining Marsican bears.

The park's emergency veterinarian team rushed to the scene but the animal, which was under surveillance, was already dead.

The man who shot Amarena was identified by park rangers and was handed over to carabinieri police.

The image released by park authorities of Amarena after being shot.



Park authorities condemned the "very grave" killing, stating that it "causes enormous damage to the population of about sixty specimens, affecting one of the most prolific females in the history of the Park."

Officials also noted that there are "obviously no reasons whatsoever to justify" the killing of Amarena, an animal that "had never created any type of problem" for people.

Authorities are now evaluating what to do with the two young cubs - currently missing - that Amarena left behind.

"The damage is irreparable and incalculable", Luciana Di Tizio, president of WWF Italia, told La Repubblica newspaper, noting that Amarena was "a prolific animal who knew how to take care of her litters."

Di Tizio said that the park is now presented with a serious problem in how to take care of the cubs, which rangers are attempting to track down and save.

"Doing so won't be easy, because you can't use tranquilisers, which would be dangerous, and with traps it's just as complicated" - Di Tizio said - "In short, you risk that the dead bears become three. The cubs are not able to survive on their own, stray dogs would be enough to kill them."

Earlier this week the family of bears delighted onlookers by rambling through San Benedetto dei Marsi, with video footage of the unexpected encounter shared widely on social media.

L'orsa Amarena e i suoi cuccioli attraversano un borgo in Abruzzo. A San Sebastiano dei Marsi, davanti a un gruppo di persone che osserva e riprende con gli smartphone #ANSA https://t.co/8wDZpwYzwi pic.twitter.com/NEq48Xoqk5  Agenzia ANSA (@Agenzia_Ansa) August 29, 2023

Amarena was also the mother of four-year-old Juan Carrito, killed after being hit by a car at the start of this year.

Juan Carrito was famed for his appetite and made international headlines two years ago after breaking into a bakery for a late-night feast of biscuits.

A subspecies of the brown bear, the orso bruno marsicano is protected by Italian and European legislation, and its population has dwindled from around 100 in 1980 to about 60 today.

The main threat to the bears' survival is man, with direct and indirect risks including poaching, poisoning, deforestation, cattle grazing and road accidents.

Also known as the Apennine brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus), the animal is the largest land creature in the wild in Italy.
Italy's president travelled to scene of tragedy at Brandizzo.

Italian trade unions representing rail workers have called a four-hour nationwide strike after five maintenance workers were killed while fixing railway tracks near Turin on Wednesday night.

The strike action involves employees of Italys train network infrastructure manager Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) in response to the tragedy at Brandizzo station on the main Milan-Turin railway line.

"Indignation and condolences are no longer enough, it is time to act, this massacre must be stopped immediately", the general secretary of the CGIL union Maurizio Landini stated.

Investigations are underway after a train, travelling at 160 km/h, hit and killed the five workers as they carried out overnight maintenance on Wednesday. Two other workers were injured.

Italian president Sergio Mattarella, who on Thursday visited the scene of the tragedy, said that "dying at work is an affront to the values of coexistence".

Prime minister Giorgia Meloni offered her "deepest condolences" and called for full light to be shed into the dynamics of the incident.

Claudio Tarlazzi, the general secretary of transport union Uiltrasporti, said the accident was "shameful and unworthy of a civilised country".

RFI expressed its dismay and deep sorrow and sent condolences to the families of the deceased workers, who were aged between 22 and 53 and were all employees of the Sigifer company.

FS News reported on Thursday that the train was permitted to reach a speed of up to 160 km/h on that stretch of track but specified that "the works - according to the procedure - should have started only after that train had passed."

A statement published on the Trenitalia website on Friday morning read: "At the moment, the railway traffic is regular on the whole national network."

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The bottom line in the state of Georgia, as long as Im governor, were going to follow the law and the constitution regardless of who it helps or harms politically, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said at a news conference Thursday. Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend. ArrowRight Kemps statement of fidelity to the law and state constitution was noteworthy, of course, for only one reason: Kemp is a Republican. The frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president is eager for fellow Republicans to break laws and shatter constitutions to shield him and his minions from the consequences of criminality, and to wreak vengeance on the forces of law and order that seek to constrain him.

It was precisely such an attack on the law that inspired Kemps statement. MAGA legislators in the state have been searching for extra-legal means of releasing Donald Trump from a criminal indictment stemming from his efforts to overthrow the republic. Seemingly lacking faith in Trumps claims of innocence, they have called instead for the removal of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. If they can shut down the trial before a jury  and the world  can hear sworn testimony and evidence of Trumps actions, perhaps the king of Mar-a-Lago and his criminal confederates can be spared consequences.

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But Kemp is not cooperating with calls for Willis to be removed by an oversight commission. Nor is he supportive of a proposed special session of the legislature dedicated to placing Trump beyond the reach of the law.

There have been calls by one individual in the General Assembly and echoed outside of these walls by the former president, for a special session that would ignore current Georgia law and directly interfere with the proceedings of a separate but equal branch of government, Kemp said. A special session of the General Assembly to end run around this law is not feasible and may ultimately prove to be unconstitutional.

The phrase separate but equal, delivered with a Georgia drawl, has perhaps never been applied to such honest ends.

Kemp is not unique. But he is rare. The names of other conservatives who refused to sanction Trumps crimes are well known. Many lost their offices as a direct result of their integrity. Former Representative Liz Cheney. Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who lost his campaign for a state senate seat after refusing to treat Trumps stolen election claims as anything more than the lies they obviously were. The small band of Republican House members who voted with the constitution and their consciences to impeach Trump was mostly obliterated by GOP backlash.

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I try to be mindful of political science and the imperatives of incentives in driving political conduct. Yes, Kemp, like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, governs a purple state with emerging bluish tints in the suburbs. But that doesnt really explain their conduct in rebuffing Trump and following the law. Republicans in Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania were all in purple states. Many of them went off the rails.

Ultimately, Kemp, Raffensberger, Bowers, Cheney and the others, all of whom will be heroes of this sordid passage of American history, made moral decisions. They refused to sink in the moral squalor engulfing their party, while others, such as Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, who supplanted Cheney in the House leadership, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, decided to dive deep.

Kemp and Raffensberger survived Trumps attacks and were easily reelected in Georgia. They appear to have paid a minimal political price for acting with integrity. But they didnt know that would be the outcome when Trump and his cronies came looking to subvert democracy in late 2020. The political future was unknown. Whatever you think of their politics, they are moral men. It turns out that the old conservatives were correct: Character counts.

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GOP Threats to Punish Trump Prosecutors Are Misguided: Jonathan Bernstein



Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson: A Love Story: Timothy OBrien

 Make America Great Again Doesnt Include All: Francis Wilkinson

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Francis Wilkinson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering U.S. politics and policy. Previously, he was an editor for the Week, a writer for Rolling Stone, a communications consultant and a political media strategist.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra and his family have dominated Thai elections for much of the past two decades. A royalist establishment long saw the clan as a threat to its political power, and Shinawatras were ejected from office twice in military coups. In August, however, the bitter rivals buried their differences, Thaksin returned from self-imposed exile and the Pheu Thai party he backs joined with pro-military groups in a new coalition government. The about-turn was a response to the growing clout of a younger pro-democracy party, Move Forward, which campaigned harder than Pheu Thai against military rule and advocated changes to a law forbidding criticism of the monarchy. The deal ended a political vacuum thats been destabilizing Thailands economy. But many Thais were left wondering what the Shinawatras now stand for.

1. Who are the Shinawatras?

Descendants of a Chinese immigrant who married a Thai woman in the late 19th century, the Shinawatras are Thailands most prominent political dynasty, with two of its members occupying the countrys top political office at different times in the last 22 years. The 74-year-old Thaksin has been a polarizing but enduring figure in the nations politics since he first became prime minister in 2001. A landslide victory for his Thai Rak Thai Party in 2005 won him a second term in office, which ended abruptly a year later in a military coup. Thaksin left Thailand in 2008 to avoid corruption charges he said were politically motivated. His sister Yingluck faced a similar fate after her Pheu Thai Party won an election in 2011 and made her Thailands first female prime minister. She was ousted by judicial order in 2014 and weeks later her government was toppled in yet another coup. In May this year, after almost nine years of military-backed rule, Thaksins youngest daughter, 37-year-old Paetongtarn, ran for prime minister. Pheu Thai came second in the election, behind the progressive Move Forward Party thats popular among young and urban voters.

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2. How did the Shinawatras make their fortune?

Thaksin has portrayed himself as a self-made man from rural origins, but the family was already relatively wealthy when he was growing up. The origin of their fortune was a silk business his ancestors established in the north of the country in the early 20th century. During a 14-year career in the police force, Thaksin started dabbling in silk retail, cinemas, real estate and computer leasing  with little success  before striking it rich in the technology boom of the 1980s and 1990s. His head start in the computer business and his political connections allowed him to snap up government concessions to operate paging and mobile phone services, cable TV subscriptions, data networks and satellites. At the height of his success, his Shin Corporation, now called Intouch Holdings, owned Thai mobile operator Advanced Info Service and satellite firm Shin Satellite (now Thaicom). Shin Corp was sold to Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte in 2006. Today, Shinawatra family members including Thaksins ex-wife and three children  Panthongtae, Pintongta, and Paetongtarn  hold majority or controlling interests in companies spanning real estate to healthcare and hospitality. Some of those firms are listed on the Thai stock exchange, including property developer SC Asset, run by Thaksins son-in-law Nuttaphong Kunakornwong.

3. Why did the Thai establishment resent the Shinawatras?

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The Shinawatras electoral and financial clout made them a formidable rival to the traditional elite made up of army generals, judges and senior civil servants thats dominated Thailands powerful state institutions since the era of absolute monarchy ended in 1932. Thaksins entrepreneurial success and his credo of personal ambition and dignity echoed the American Dream and resonated with many ordinary Thais who had grown discontented with the paternalistic style of previous political leaders. While many wealthier, well-educated and city-dwelling Thais accused Thaksin of cronyism, reckless populism and corruption, he enjoyed wide support among poorer and working-class voters in the countrys north and northeast who made up the majority of the Thai electorate and benefited from his big-ticket economic programs that came to be known as Thaksinomics. The groundswell of support for Thaksin was seen by the establishment as a threat to the countrys social hierarchy, in which the monarchy is perceived to sit at the top.

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4. Why are the Shinawatras still popular?

In the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Thaksin spent heavily on grassroots measures designed to stimulate domestic demand such as debt moratorium plans for farmers, low-cost housing projects and loans for small and medium-sized enterprises. His flagship universal healthcare initiative of 2002 revolutionized access for poor people to medical care and has benefited millions of Thais two decades later. Its gold card is held by 47 million Thais, or 70% of the population. The loyalty this inspired among less affluent voters helped political parties linked to Thaksin to win the most parliamentary seats in four successive elections between 2001 and 2019, only for them to be dissolved by the constitutional court or removed from power by force. Thaksins supporters formed the pro-democracy Red Shirt movement in 2007 to protest against his removal, and often clashed with the rival royalist Yellow Shirt group that sought to eradicate the Shinawatras from Thai politics.

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5. Why did Thaksin and Yingluck go into exile?

Opponents accused Thaksin of abusing his power to promote his familys business interests. The sales of the Shinawatras majority stakes in Shin Corp to a foreign company were seen as the final straw, and mass protests by the Yellow Shirts eventually led to his downfall. Thaksin claimed assassination attempts were made against him before and after the 2006 coup, making him fear for his safety if he remained in Thailand. His then-wife Pojamarn Damapong was sentenced to jail for tax evasion linked to a transfer of Shin Corp shares, and Thaksin decided to flee in 2008 to avoid corruption charges. Hes spent the intervening years shuttling between Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and London, and been found guilty in absentia in four graft cases. The offenses included illegally concealing shares in Shin Corp and conflicts of interest over a state bank loan to Myanmar that benefited Shin Satellite. Thaksin was ordered to serve eight years in prison after he returned to Thailand. He pleaded for a royal pardon and King Maha Vajiralongkorn later commuted the sentence to one year. Yingluck fled in 2017 and a court later sentenced her to five years in prison for criminal negligence in a rice subsidy program that cost the state billions of dollars.

6. Why did the Shinawatras make peace with the conservative elite?

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Thaksin had tried to return to Thailand several times over the years, but his plans never came through or went awry. In 2013, Yinglucks government introduced an amnesty bill that would have paved the way for him to come home and avoid jail, but it sparked mass protests that eventually led to the 2014 coup that toppled her government. What eventually sealed his return was the rise of the upstart political movement Move Forward and its resounding win in the May election. The party pushed for changes to the law that restricts what can be said about the nations powerful monarchy and won support from many younger Thais disillusioned with the status quo. Pro-establishment parties were handed a decisive defeat and the conservative elite needed an ally to block Move Forward from taking power. The Shinawatras also had an interest in thwarting Move Forward, whose pledge to improve living standards with large-scale social welfare programs challenged Pheu Thais status as the party of the working class. So the long-time rivals forged a deal that would let Thaksin come home and allow the conservatives to be in a new Pheu Thai-led government. The truce may mark an end to the cycle of coups and deadly street protests that have eroded the nations competitiveness as a Southeast Asian manufacturing destination since the turn of the century.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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Two years ago, one of the most recognised voices on Melbourne radio said there was nothing he would rather be doing than sitting behind the microphone hosting Mornings at 3AW.

On Friday morning, veteran radio host Neil Mitchell announced through that microphone he would retire after 33 years, ending weeks of speculation.

Neil Mitchells final broadcast will be on December 1. Credit: Jason South

Scribbling notes, some muttering, a last-minute chat with his producer and a sip of water, Mitchell, 71, composed himself before telling his listeners, Its time to go, broadcasting live from the middle of Southern Cross Station in Melbournes CBD on Friday morning.

Im out with the real people, thats what 3AW does.
Qantas outgoing boss, Alan Joyce, has pocketed more than $10 million in shares for meeting the airlines COVID-19 recovery goals, even as the consumer watchdog seeks to punish Qantas for allegedly selling tickets to flights that were already cancelled.

The airline on Friday disclosed to the sharemarket that Joyce had been issued 1.7 million Qantas shares, worth more than $10 million, for hitting key financial targets. The reward was part of Joyces bonuses from 2020, 2021 and 2022, and a separate incentive scheme the airline unveiled during the pandemic.

The payment comes as the head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said Qantas should be fined hundreds of millions of dollars if found to have breached consumer laws, and influential advisory groups ramped up pressure on Qantas board over the payment of bonuses.

The ACCC this week alleged Qantas had falsely advertised sales on 8000 flights weeks after theyd been cancelled, and Cass-Gottlieb on Friday signalled the regulator wanted to extract a hefty penalty.
Peak summer in China  the first in four years without harsh COVID restrictions. Tickets for attractions like the Forbidden City in Beijing are selling out in minutes. Streets are crowded and subway stations are even more packed than usual. Foreign tourists, however, are few.

For many, China is a step too far. The pandemic is gone, but the memory of how it was handled remains  images of deserted streets and barricaded buildings are hardly fodder for holiday brochures and tourism campaigns. Visa hassles, a lack of flights, idiosyncratic payment systems and the language barrier also limit Chinas appeal to tourists from places such as North America and Europe.

Chinas domestic travel numbers are booming, but its a different story for international figures, both inbound and outbound. Credit: Getty Images

If you go to the Forbidden City these days and find 20 or 30 foreigners, that would be a lot, said Jay Li, a tour guide in Chinas capital. Most people come to China for business reasons and maybe tour around a bit. Its certainly not comparable with the situation before COVID  foreign tourists are probably only about 20 per cent of that level.

Even a plan to increase international flights wont result in a sudden rush of tourists, or bring numbers anywhere near to pre-pandemic levels when China received about 136 million visitors a year on average. China and the US have agreed to raise the number of round-trip flights to 24 a week by the end of October. Previously, the number of weekly flights between the two was 340.
This photo taken on Aug. 29, 2023 shows the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkiye. After two years of arduous restoration and consolidation, the Basilica Cistern, a 1,500-year-old Byzantine underground reservoir, finally has its hidden beauties and the stories behind its formation brought to light.

Known for a huge underground chamber supported by marble columns, the cistern, also known as the Sunken Palace, is located on the ancient Istanbul peninsula, once the Byzantine Empire's capital.(Photo by Omer Kuscu/Xinhua)

by Zeynep Cermen

ISTANBUL, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- After two years of arduous restoration and consolidation, the Basilica Cistern, a 1,500-year-old Byzantine underground reservoir, finally has its hidden beauties and the stories behind its formation brought to light.

Known for a huge underground chamber supported by marble columns, the cistern, also known as the Sunken Palace, is located on the ancient Istanbul peninsula, once the Byzantine Empire's capital.

The cistern spanning over 10,000 square meters was built on the order of Emperor Justinian I, who was desperate to solve the city's water problem, Berk Alparslan, an archaeologist with the Istanbul Municipality Cultural Heritage Department, told Xinhua.

"Justinian, known as the 'Emperor who never sleeps' because of his enthusiastic working habits, wanted the cistern to be completed as soon as possible as Istanbul was under constant threat of drought," said Alparslan, recounting the challenges of the construction of the gigantic structure.

Marble for its columns had to be brought from the nearby island of Marmara.

"However, in the conditions of that time, the boats carrying the marbles were often either sunk or delayed to deliver the loads due to bad weather conditions. The emperor, hurrying to finish the construction, demanded some of the columns to be taken from other structures," he explained.

Following his order, 336 marble columns, collected from across the city and each 9 meters high with distinct stunning Corinthian and Doric-style decorations, came together to support a reservoir of nearly 100,000 tons of water when fully filled.

"Since it was an underground structure, it carried the weight of the city on its columns," Merve Gedik, project director at Istanbul Municipality's Cultural Heritage Department, told Xinhua.

The cistern, however, fell into disuse after the 10th century due to its costly and laborious maintenance, Alparslan said.

Over time, the cistern along with its stories was covered with tons of mud and faded into oblivion among the locals, until it was rediscovered, and later, consolidated several times starting the 18th century.

Following a two-year-long extensive restoration works between 2020 and 2022 led by the municipality, the Sunken Palace has become the city's pearl, luring nearly 15,000 visitors daily, according to Gedik.

After the cleaning works, the beauty of all the columns was revealed and the seals of the brick masters on the Byzantine bricks used in the floor covering were clearly visible, Gedik added.

The two gigantic Medusa heads from the 4th century, which decorate the lower parts of two opposite columns, and a theater mask from the 3rd century on the upper part of another column are the highlights.

The "weeping column" has become another attraction. According to a myth, the patterns of tears carved on the column symbolized the workers' efforts to complete the cistern on time.

"It is truly like an underground forest. Those columns are like trees, and we feel lost in a maze," Gedik marveled. "The fact that it has an atmosphere that isolates us from the world above is what impressed us the most."

In order for the neighborhood to have easy access to water, the Byzantines had also dug wells above the cistern, and the holes from these wells in the ceiling were also revealed in the restoration work, she added.

The cistern, now shrouded in the artistic lighting tailored by Italian lighting designer Adriano Caputo, also hosts contemporary art shows, performances, and concerts. 

This photo taken on Aug. 29, 2023 shows marble columns at the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkiye. After two years of arduous restoration and consolidation, the Basilica Cistern, a 1,500-year-old Byzantine underground reservoir, finally has its hidden beauties and the stories behind its formation brought to light.

Known for a huge underground chamber supported by marble columns, the cistern, also known as the Sunken Palace, is located on the ancient Istanbul peninsula, once the Byzantine Empire's capital.(Photo by Omer Kuscu/Xinhua)

This photo taken on Aug. 29, 2023 shows tourists visiting the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkiye. After two years of arduous restoration and consolidation, the Basilica Cistern, a 1,500-year-old Byzantine underground reservoir, finally has its hidden beauties and the stories behind its formation brought to light.

Known for a huge underground chamber supported by marble columns, the cistern, also known as the Sunken Palace, is located on the ancient Istanbul peninsula, once the Byzantine Empire's capital.(Photo by Omer Kuscu/Xinhua)

This photo taken on Aug. 29, 2023 shows marble columns at the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkiye. After two years of arduous restoration and consolidation, the Basilica Cistern, a 1,500-year-old Byzantine underground reservoir, finally has its hidden beauties and the stories behind its formation brought to light.

Known for a huge underground chamber supported by marble columns, the cistern, also known as the Sunken Palace, is located on the ancient Istanbul peninsula, once the Byzantine Empire's capital.(Photo by Omer Kuscu/Xinhua)

This photo taken on Aug. 29, 2023 shows marble columns at the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkiye. After two years of arduous restoration and consolidation, the Basilica Cistern, a 1,500-year-old Byzantine underground reservoir, finally has its hidden beauties and the stories behind its formation brought to light.

Known for a huge underground chamber supported by marble columns, the cistern, also known as the Sunken Palace, is located on the ancient Istanbul peninsula, once the Byzantine Empire's capital.(Photo by Omer Kuscu/Xinhua)

This photo taken on Aug. 29, 2023 shows the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkiye. After two years of arduous restoration and consolidation, the Basilica Cistern, a 1,500-year-old Byzantine underground reservoir, finally has its hidden beauties and the stories behind its formation brought to light.

Known for a huge underground chamber supported by marble columns, the cistern, also known as the Sunken Palace, is located on the ancient Istanbul peninsula, once the Byzantine Empire's capital.(Photo by Omer Kuscu/Xinhua)
Elizabeth Buchanan, owner of Cleaner Living NW and Nurturals Natural Products in Oregon, has been cleaning homes professionally for nearly two decades. She says the easiest way to tackle any room is to clean from top to bottom, working in sections left to right. If you walk into a room and follow that order, starting from the left and going in a circle, you wont miss anything. Amaro echoes this, especially when it comes to the top-to-bottom part. This way, you can make sure any dust lingering on high surfaces will make its way to the floor [by the time] you do a final vacuum. Declutter, then dust Before you can really clean, you must declutter. Do this in every room  dishes out of the sink, toys off the ground, that mountain of clean laundry folded. You cant attack dirt and grime properly if its concealed beneath a messy pile. And if you have to keep interrupting your dusting or vacuuming to put things away, youll only waste time. Once youve decluttered, Buchanan prescribes a three-step process to eliminate dust: go over surfaces with a dry duster, then hit them a second time with a damp microfibre cloth. Finally, buff them with a dry microfibre cloth. As Buchanan notes, dont waste time worrying about pushing crumbs and other debris onto the ground as you go  youll vacuum those up later.

Tackle the kitchen In Buchanans experience, the kitchen is the messiest part of most peoples homes. For that reason, she suggests getting it out of the way early. She begins by wiping down the fronts of cabinets with a microfibre cloth and the appropriate spray cleaner, following the top-to-bottom method. Loading If youve got stainless steel appliances, Bronner suggests microwaving a damp microfibre cloth for a few seconds, then using it to wipe them down. The hot cloth will help loosen grease, without leaving any streaks behind. For especially tough messes on a stove top, Buchanan suggests scrubbing with a paste of equal parts Bar Keepers Friend and dish soap. Amaro uses a dual-sided scraper to lift the crust up before spraying and wiping down the surface with a degreaser.

Finally, zero in on your sink, an area particularly prone to grime and germs. Buchanan uses a small scrubbing brush to get inside and around the drain. She swears by a wet Magic Eraser to wipe down the sink basin because you can feel if the surface is smooth and therefore clean. (Magic Erasers work on other smooth surfaces, too, she says, such as bathtubs or even light switch plates. Just avoid painted surfaces, as they can take the finish off. Then tackle the bathrooms Next, move on to the bathrooms. If you have more than one, Buchanan advises starting with the primary because it is often the largest and therefore feels the most daunting. First, spray every hard, non-glass surface  countertop, toilet, tub, sink  with an all-purpose bathroom cleaner suited to eradicating mould, mildew and germs. Let the cleaner sit for at least a few minutes to work correctly. Empty the garbage as you wait. When the time comes, wipe the cleaner off those hard surfaces with a wet microfibre cloth, then dry with a fresh cloth so that everything is shiny and streak-free. Buchanan uses her wet Magic Erasers for scrubbing showers, tubs and tile. Save mirrors and glass shower doors for last, spraying those with Windex (or a similar product), or white vinegar diluted with water. Amaro suggests turning off any lights directly above the mirror, because the heat of the lightbulb can evaporate your cleaning solution and cause streaks.
But Peter Sharp was not about to let it go. He has spent years uncovering the evidence for his contention that his great-grandfather, considered a social progressive who was instrumental in creating modern Australia, was also responsible, more than virtually anyone else, for policies designed to demolish Aboriginal Australia. Peter Sharp (far left), great-grandson of Alfred Deakin, with Gunditjmara man Reg Abrahams and First Nations women Erin Fahy and Nikki Whitfield. Credit: Justin McManus Deakin, he says, was determined to create a continent reserved for Anglo-Saxons only, which necessitated ensuring the elimination of the Aboriginal population. The vision of a white Australia was mainstream in Deakins time, of course.

But Deakin, a journalist with The Age as a young man, was also a mystic and spiritualist who was obsessed with signs and prophecies, as historian Dr Al Gabay makes clear in his 1992 book of Deakins secret written thoughts, The Mystic Life of Alfred Deakin. Put simply, Deakin believed he had a divine destiny to create a nation for whites only. In 1884, aged just 28, he wrote one of the numerous prayers that would guide him: Make me Thy servant and the servant of my race, and grant to me greatness and thoroughness of service though at every step I must sacrifice myself. He would, as Australias first attorney-general in 1903, rule in the service of his race that people of mixed Aboriginal and white blood were not Aboriginal at all.

The only real Aboriginal people, he asserted, were full bloods, and they were dying out. It was an attitude he had made law in Victoria in 1886, leading to catastrophe for Aboriginal communities. Loading It was a view that informed his arguments while helping shape the Constitution, which excluded Aboriginal people (that is, those with a preponderance of Aboriginal blood) from being fully counted within the Australian population, and which forbade the federal parliament making laws for Aboriginal peoples. These provisions remained in the Constitution until 1967, when by referendum, more than 90 per cent of Australians voted to remove them.

Now, as Australia is impelled to its first referendum of the 21st century, its citizens required to decide whether Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be granted what they have always been denied  a Voice to parliament enshrined within the Constitution  Sharp has decided it is time to pull the curtain on what he believes were his great-grandfathers efforts to try to make Aboriginal Australia disappear. Sharp worried for years that despite his extensive research, he was nothing but an amateur historian. But he became heartened to discover that in recent years, his views have the support of a growing number of historians. He points to a long study of Deakins racial attitudes, published in 2018 by Dr Fred Cahir and Dr Dan Tout of Federation University, which reaches similar conclusions to his. The academic paper finds the racialist legacies of Deakin have not been given the attention they deserve by most historians, and that the truth had been consigned, wrongly, to the Great Australian Silence.

In 2020, a group of 16 academics from Deakin University issued a challenge to discuss the fact their university was named after a racist. We need to talk about Alfred Deakin and his ideal of a White Australia, they called their seminar. Arguably, they wrote, [Deakins] most infamous statement regarding race is the prediction [in 1901] that: In another century the probability is that Australia will be a white continent with not a black or even dark skin among its inhabitants. The Aboriginal race has died out in the south and is dying fast in the north and west, even where most gently treated. Other races are to be excluded by legislation if they are tinted to any degree. The yellow, the brown, and the copper-coloured are to be forbidden to land anywhere. Deakin University was named after Alfred Deakin. Credit: Vicky Hughson From our experience, when staff and students at Deakin University hear this quote and the many others like it for the first time, they are shocked. Some ask why a university would be named after someone whose values are so incompatible with those embodied in the university today, the academics wrote. Sharp, however, does not urge a changing of the universitys name. Instead, he says he wants the truth to be told about Deakin, and hopes Australians will change the Constitution at the referendum.

Loading He admits that when he first discovered Deakins personal role in denying mixed-race Aboriginal people their very identity it was of course a great shock, and will affect me for the rest of my life. But quite quickly I realised, first, that the shame I felt was more as a citizen than a descendant, and second, that I would have most shame if I did not try to bring it into the light. His shock, he says, came in 2017 when reading Professor Judith Bretts biography of his great-grandfather, The Enigmatic Mr Deakin. Within its pages he discovered it was Deakin, as chief secretary of Victoria, who shoved through the Victorian parliament in the dead of night on December 15, 1886, an act that remains infamous as the Half-Caste Act.

Its official title, in the grand tradition of political forces reversing the meaning of their intention, was an amendment to An Act to Provide for the Protection and Management of the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria. Its effect was calamitous to Aboriginal communities. It meant Aboriginal people of mixed descent (known as half-castes at the time) were no longer classified as Aboriginal, and were to be expelled from the reserves on which they lived.

Only those classified as full-blood Aboriginal natives and their long-term spouses aged more than 34 could remain. Its effect, beyond breaking up the reserves, was to extend the power of authorities to remove children from their families. Other states followed quickly with similar legislation. William Barak in 1866. Credit: Alamy Families and communities were ripped apart, and a whole class of people formerly considered Aboriginal were consigned to the far edges of Australian society, neither Aboriginal in the view of officialdom, nor white in the eyes of the wider population. It was not until 1910 when a kinder premier, John Murray, re-established through The Aboriginal Act the right of those who were half-caste to be considered Aboriginal again. But it did not stop the removal of children from their families, which continued for much of the 20th century.

The so-called Half-Caste Act was long considered to have been driven by the Aboriginal Protection Board, which wanted to reduce the cost of maintaining Aboriginal people on publicly funded reserves. But this doesnt properly explain Deakins personal interest in seeing it passed into law, nor his choice to ram it through parliament around midnight just before Christmas 1886, Sharp says. Deakin was a famed orator who regularly spoke for hours, but this time he spoke for no more than 10 minutes, omitting to say that the definition of those who were to be defined legally as Aboriginal was to be turned on its head. An engraving of Coranderrk Station, the government-run Aboriginal reserve near Healesville where William Barak lived. Credit: Alamy Nor did he mention the act would not only allow, but enforce the removal of mixed-ancestry infants able to earn his or her living, nor that orphans be removed to the department of neglected children.

Sharp sees Deakins behaviour as an early indication of what would become his deeper and darker beliefs and intentions. He believed, and regularly stated, that Aboriginal people were destined to die out. By defining those of full blood as the only native Aboriginals in 1886, white Australia under this theory would soon enough be rid of them. But figures at the time showed the population of Aboriginal people to be rising, which undercut Deakins claim. Loading By redefining those of mixed ancestry as half-castes, and even personally removing the word Aboriginal in the legislation from what had previously been the term half-caste Aborigine, he was drastically reducing the number of people who could be called Aboriginal. He was at the time aged just 30, and had attained the high office in the cabinet of the chief secretary of Victoria.

And yet, earlier in his life Deakin had maintained ostensibly friendly relations with Aboriginal elders. Loading The highly respected Aboriginal leader William Barak trusted Deakin enough to make personal representations to him. In 1882 Deakin drafted a petition to parliament opposing the closure of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve, 60 kilometres east of Melbourne, where Barak and his people lived. Yet Deakin ended the petition with telling words that would become his mantra. They are the last remnant of a dying race which in a few years will have passed from the continent we have colonised and all we desire is that  they may be enabled to end their days in peace, he wrote.

One of Peter Sharps earliest memories, while visiting his grandmother, Deakins daughter Vera, was standing on what he believes may have been a possum-skin rug given as a gift to his great-grandfather by Barak. But after becoming chief secretary of Victoria in 1886, Deakins attitude towards Indigenous people hardened alongside his political ambitions, Sharp says. William Barak walked 60 kilometres from Coranderrk to Melbourne to plead with Deakin about the harshness of the 1886 act, but his voice was ignored, he says. By then, Alfred Deakin was on his own march. To keep Australia white.
Beams of light will be projected onto the Shrine of Remembrance this weekend as part of an artwork for the Now or Never festival, marking 100 years since a design was conceived for the memorial.

While the use of the Shrine as part of the festival is expected to be controversial, the Shrines chief executive Dean Lee says debate over what the building should be like and how it should be used has raged since it was first conceived.

The Shrine of Remembrance is lit up by 3D mapping artist Laszlo Bordos on Thursday night. Credit: Darrian Traynor

I guarantee some people will think its inappropriate for the Shrine to be lit in this way, he said. I dont think thats any different to the origins of this place, where people have argued about what it should be and what it shouldnt be from the very beginning.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the community was divided for some time about how it should commemorate the service and sacrifice that occurred during the conflict.
Workers at Chevrons Gorgon and Wheatstone gas plants have emphatically rejected a proposed employment agreement from the company as it attempts to avoid costly work stoppages planned for next week.

Just three out of a total of 461 employees at the Gorgon and Wheatstone downstream facilities voted supporting Chevrons proposed enterprise agreements put to them last week.

Chevrons Gorgon LNG plant on Barrow Island off Western Australia.

The Offshore Alliance union described the agreements as substandard and dodgy, and labelled the negotiations a train wreck.

The Chevron genius who thought up the idea to postpone bargaining with the union to put a dodgy EA out to vote with zero prospect of it being voted up is odds on favourite to be awarded HR manager of the year by the Offshore Alliance when we present our annual awards to the oil and gas corporations and contractors, the union said on its Facebook page.
Even there, however, theres arguably too much secrecy  and thats leaving aside the minimalist approach to public hearings specified in the NACC legislation. Surely it will be a problem if we are not told what inquiries the NACC is pursuing. Serious allegations demand investigation, but if its not known whether the NACC has taken the matter up (or passed it to another agency), what can a government do? It can hardly set up another inquiry, given this information vacuum. Once the NACC has decided on an investigation, theres a solid case for it to say so  which it has the discretion to do.

Whatever one thinks of secrecy around the NACC, there are plenty of other areas where it is clearly excessive. Rex Patrick is a former senator who started with the Nick Xenophon Team and later became an independent. He lost his seat in 2022. While in parliament, Patrick fought the Coalition governments secrecy; out of parliament he is in full pursuit of its Labor successor. Hes able to devote himself to poking numerous bears thanks, in part, to financial backing from business figure Ian Melrose. Independent Senator Rex Patrick is pursuing the government over its secrecy. Credit: Rohan Thomson Patrick defeated, in a legal judgment, the Morrison governments attempt to keep secret all the documents of the National Cabinet. After the election, he was still given the runaround, but finally hes nailed that one. National Cabinet documents are now treated according to ordinary freedom of information provisions. Currently, Patrick is after Anthony Albaneses official diary, Treasurys briefing to Treasurer Jim Chalmers on the Stage 3 tax cuts, material on AUKUS and much else besides.

The PMs diary is particularly interesting. In opposition, then shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus sought then attorney-general George Brandis diary and finally, after some trouble, extracted it. Loading But Patricks attempt to peek more deeply into Albaneses schedule was blocked, as was another application from The Australian Financial Review. In a submission to the Senate FOI inquiry, Patrick noted the reason given was that processing would unreasonably divert staff resources and also unreasonably interfere with the PMs work. Patrick said this flew in the face of the Federal Court decision in the Dreyfus case, in which more days of the relevant diary were sought (causing more work for fewer staff). The matter has gone to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The reluctance to publish the PMs diary is at odds with the release of those of most ministers (including Chalmers and Foreign Minister Penny Wong). Why should we have leaders diaries? Among other reasons, because they show who has access to a governments top decision-maker. In Albaneses case, it might even yield the odd clue about his relationship with Alan Joyce  who, incidentally, has been asked by those pesky senators to supply dates of any Qantas contact with the PM over the Qatar matter. Meanwhile, Greens senator David Shoebridge is trying to get hold of a report on the national security threats global warming poses. Albanese before the election promised an inquiry into this, and later commissioned one from the Office of National Intelligence. Now, apparently even a redacted version is too sensitive to release  because of national security. Greens senator David Shoebridge is seeking access to a government report on the impacts of climate change. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Other crossbench senators, including independent David Pocock, have been interested in this report too. But a move in the Senate to force the issue was stymied by a cosy alliance of government and Coalition. Interesting companionships can be formed in the name of confidentiality.

Separate efforts in the Senate by Shoebridge and One Nations Malcolm Roberts to obtain documents relating to the March ditching of a Taipan helicopter at Jervis Bay failed. The government said there was an inquiry, which we havent seen. Subsequently, another Taipan crashed off the Queensland coast, with multiple fatalities. Then theres the politically delicate issue of the passenger manifests of VIP flights. Once, destinations and passenger lists of these flights were routinely made available by governments. That stopped under the Morrison government, and the suppression remains. A review, chaired by the Australian Federal Police and launched in 2022, recommended continued secrecy. Loading Again, national security is the excuse. But its not convincing, review or not. Knowing, well after the event, that a PM took a couple of mates, relatives or political contacts on a flight can give insights into a leaders use of their privileges, or reveal whos in a PMs ear. To some extent, this secrecy has been stymied. Passenger lists might not be available but destinations of VIP flights are, through tracking apps. At present Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles is under criticism for taking VIP flights to Avalon, near his Geelong base, rather than catching a commercial flight to Melbournes Tullamarine airport.
This is part of a series of opinions featured during the historic referendum campaign for an Indigenous Voice to parliament.

Watch out for the small tricks and big lies of the final campaign to decide the Indigenous Voice. The arguments about the Voice have been marked by misinformation and outright falsehoods for most of this year, and those lies will be fired with rocket fuel now that voting day is so close.

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes, says the quote often attributed to Mark Twain, although he probably never said it. The trouble is that challenging a false claim can help it travel even faster, especially when it is based on a half-truth that can be found in the news or on a government website. But that is no reason to greet a falsehood with a shrug.

Illustration: Simon Letch Credit:

The referendum campaign is now in its final and most crucial phase, which means Australians need to know when a claim is questionable or false.

Peter Dutton is off to a quick start with dubious claims. He is using tricky language to feed anxiety about a powerful, elitist threat from the Voice. The Yes campaign has $100 million to spend, he said on Monday. Pure speculation, and totally rejected by the Yes camp, as we reported on Thursday.
This photo taken on Sept. 1, 2023 shows an interior view of the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China.(Xinhua/Hao Jianwei)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will bring huge business opportunities to enterprises from home and abroad seeking to tap into the vast Chinese market with their products and services.

With the theme "openness leads development, cooperation creates a win-win future," the fair is scheduled to take place in Beijing from Sept. 2 to 6. The event has attracted over 2,200 enterprises and representatives of 75 countries and international organizations, with the proportion of international participants exceeding 20 percent.

The CIFTIS, one of the world's largest and most comprehensive fairs for trade in services, has demonstrated China's active role in working with other countries to promote trade in services and drive global economic recovery.

"Against the backdrop of the volatile international situation and fragile world economic recovery, the CIFTIS offers the Chinese opportunities for the global services industry and trade in services," said Bai Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.

For the first time, the fair will host an investment promotion event on the further opening-up of the services industry to share Chinese growth opportunities with global businesses.

China's services industry has provided crucial support for high-quality economic development and opened up new space for economic and trade cooperation.

In 2022, China's services imports and exports grew 12.9 percent year on year to reach a record high of nearly 6 trillion yuan (about 835.8 billion U.S. dollars), ranking second in the world for the ninth consecutive year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

China's continuous opening up and optimization of its business environment, and active promotion of the digitalized and green development of trade in services are of great benefit to both domestic and foreign businesses, said Gu Fan, general manager of Growth Acceleration, Amazon Web Services Greater China.

Gu said his company will continue to tap into the Chinese market with further investment, and he is looking forward to assisting more companies with their sustainability visions.

The green and low-carbon drive is a major feature of the event, which has several related themed forums and exhibitions of cutting-edge green services, technologies and business models.

People in fields such as supply chain, IT, construction and finance are closely watching opportunities brought by the global low-carbon scenario, especially the vast opportunities brought by China's dual carbon targets, said Qin Hu, vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and chief representative of EDF's Beijing Representative Office.

Green and low-carbon services are becoming new growth drivers of global trade, Qin said.

Eyeing the business opportunities in China, Ajlan & Bros Group, one of the largest enterprises of Saudi Arabia in China, is attending the fair for a second straight year.

Mohammed Al Ajlan, deputy chairman of Ajlan & Bros Group, said the company will this year further tap bilateral economic and trade cooperation potential and help investors from the two countries achieve higher-level cooperation and win-win in emerging fields such as 5G, AI, and financial technology.

China's continuous opening up in trade in services will help unleash further opportunities for global investors.

The Ministry of Commerce said in August that it would promote the introduction of negative lists for cross-border trade in services and cultivate new business modes and models for trade in services and create new growth drivers for services exports.

"China's trade in services still has great growth potential and opportunities," said Liu Chunsheng, an associate professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics. 
Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva here Friday. The two sides pledged to further strengthen cooperation.

Noting that the Chinese economy has maintained a sustained recovery trend this year, Li said China will further strengthen policy coordination and promote economic growth while sticking to reform and opening-up.

China will optimize the development environment for private enterprises, improve the scale and structure of foreign trade, and make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign capital, according to the premier.

The country is confident and capable of promoting sustained and sound economic development, he said.

Li said China is willing to deepen cooperation with the IMF and support the IMF in continuing to play a significant role in global governance. He voiced hope that the IMF's 16th general quota review will achieve meaningful outcomes.

He expressed the hope that the IMF will stand against protectionism and any form of decoupling and chain-breaking, protect economic globalization and free trade, maintain the stable and smooth flow of global industrial and supply chains, and improve the representation, voice and influence of emerging markets and developing countries in international affairs.

China will continue to support the IMF in playing its role in debt issues, and hopes that all parties will meet each other halfway and support developing countries with concrete actions, said Li.

With China contributing one third of the world's economic growth, Georgieva said the IMF appreciates the solid efforts taken by China to promote economic growth, and values China's leading role in helping the vulnerable as well as low- and middle-income countries develop and realizing global economic growth.

The IMF is willing to further cooperate with China, said Georgieva. She called on all parties to keep global supply chains steady and smooth to prevent fragmentation risks, saying that the IMF will work to achieve positive outcomes in the general quota review. 
ISTANBUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Fishing in Turkiye's waters resumed Friday after the end of an over four-month seasonal fishing ban, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The ban, issued on April 15 to rebuild fish stocks, required the fishermen to pull their boats ashore, and those violating the ban could be fined, said the report.

In an address on the occasion of the opening of the fishing season, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised the fishermen for their contributions to the national economy, according to a press release from the Turkish presidency.

"We appreciate the contributions to our economy of our brothers who earn their living from the sea," Erdogan was quoted as saying.

Regarding the fishing suspension of four and a half months, the president said that "it's our duty to ensure sustainability in the seas as nature never forgives mistakes and negligence."

"The more we care for our seas, the more our seas serve us with fish and other products," he added. 
Weather Alert

Bulletin: ...FROST ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM TO 9 AM EDT TUESDAY... * WHAT...Temperatures as low as 33 will result in frost formation. * WHERE...In New Jersey, Sussex and Warren. In Pennsylvania, Berks, Lehigh and Northampton. * WHEN...From 4 AM to 9 AM EDT Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...A widespread freeze is expected to occur Wednesday night. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants and vegetation from the cold. Potted plants should be brought inside. &&

Info:

Type: Frost Advisory

start_time_local: 2023-10-31T04:00:00-04:00

end_time_local: 2023-10-31T09:00:00-04:00

county_name:

state: NJ

headline: Frost Advisory from TUE 4:00 AM EDT until TUE 9:00 AM EDT

county_fips:

category: Met

url:

urgency: Expected

severity: Minor

certainty: Likely

geographicname: Warren County

state_name: New Jersey
NIAMEY, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Niger's police has been instructed to proceed the expulsion of French Ambassador to Niger Sylvain Itte, after the expiration of the 48-hour ultimatum granted to him, said an official statement broadcast on national radio on Thursday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Niger's junta has informed the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the decision, according to the statement.

"The diplomatic cards and visas of the former ambassador of his country to Niger and his family are invalidated," the statement said.

As a result, at the end of the 48-hour given to the French diplomat to leave Niger, which expired on Aug. 28th, the individual no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic personnel of the embassy, the statement said.

Last Friday, Niger's junta ordered the French ambassador to leave the country within 48 hours, following several actions contrary to Niger's national interests, according to a statement issued by Niger's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said later that they would not accept the request of Niger's junta, saying that "the military government does not have the authority to order France to withdraw its envoys." 
SPRING TWP., Pa.  A 21-year-old woman was arrested last weekend after authorities say she fled from police in Spring Township, Berks County.

According to the Spring Township Police Department, Keanna Czimcharo was pulled over on Paper Mill Road for not using a turn signal on Sunday, Aug. 20.

When asked to identify herself. Czimcharo provided a false name because she had an active warrant for probation violation, police said. Upon discovering this, police asked Czimcharo to call someone to pick up her child  who was in her car at the time of the traffic stop.

But as soon as a friend arrived to pick up the child, Czimcharo got out of her car and fled the scene on foot. She ignored officers' commands to "stop running," police said.

Czimcharo was eventually taken into custody and charged with escape, police said.
READING, Pa.  It has been a very long week for the little four-legged friends that arrived at Humane Pennsylvania in Reading on Thursday night.

First, they went through Hurricane Idalia while housed at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. Then, they got off a plane and made their way to their new temporary home at the Berks shelter.

"Down in Tampa  they weren't directly hit from Hurricane Idalia, but the surrounding areas were, so what's happening is Tampa Bay is going to try to empty their shelter," said Aida May, adoptions program manager for Humane Pennsylvania.

May said Tampa Bay's shelter will serve a different purpose for now.

"Clearing out their shelters down there opens up their kennels to be able to house lost pets until they can make their way home, or even house pets for a little bit longer time until their families can get back on their feet and they can go home," she said.

The operation was orchestrated by the Brandywine Valley SPCA, and the animals are being relocated to several other shelters. The Berks location is taking 15 cats and six dogs, but some of the cats will be relocated to Lancaster County.

May said this type of partnership is common.

"It's honestly, unfortunately, probably at least once a year that there's either a hurricane or tornadoes," May said. "There's all parts of the United States that we end up having to pull from these mass events."

The cats and dogs will now be checked out by the veterinarian and will be given the proper vaccinations.

The animals are not displaced due to the hurricane; they were up for adoption in Tampa Bay, and now they're going to be up for adoption in Berks.

"All these dogs  once they're clear for adoption  they're going to be just like any of our normal adoptions."

Reach out to Humane Pennsylvania to learn more about the adoption process.
READING, Pa.  Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) are seeking a "well dressed" man who they say committed credit card frauds totaling more than $10,000 at Berks County home improvement stores.

Police said the man was involved in the thefts at separate Lowe's and Home Depot stores between July 20 and 27. He was driving a black Lincoln MKS, according to police.

The suspect is a Black man between the ages of 30 and 40, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Trooper Jacob Luckenbill of PSP-Reading Barracks, or submit a tip to Crime Alert Berks County.
The plan to knock down and replace Bethlehem's Walnut Street Garage faces a second review on Wednesday, Sept. 6.

The city's Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) discussed the proposal Aug. 2. It declined to vote then on whether the plan is appropriate until it received more details about the amount of parking and the impact on the neighborhood.

The garage at 33 W. Walnut St., near Main Street and Broad Street, was built in 1976. Bethlehem Parking Authority Executive Director Steven Fernstrom said at the last HARB meeting that the building is "past its useful life."

The deck is not only old, but ugly, Fernstrom said. On top of that, he said it "totally sucks the energy out of our downtown."

The parking authority has proposed to replace it with a 591-space garage and retail space. The current deck was designed to accommodate 770 vehicles, but Fernstrom said it is only about 35% to 45% occupied.

At the Aug. 2 HARB meeting, residents raised concerns about how the demolition may affect adjacent buildings, and about whether building a new garage with fewer spaces is a good idea in a city that relies on tourism and festivals to draw people downtown.

The historic board is an advisory body that can issue certificates of appropriateness based on community standards, but final decisions are made by City Council.

The BPA's plan is for displaced drivers to park at the North Street Garage and the Broad Street, Old York Road and Spring Street lots during construction.

In response to HARB's request for details, the Bethlehem Parking Authority submitted 30 pages of information for the Wednesday meeting.

"The parking facility is in poor to dangerous condition and has reached the end of its service life," BPA said, including several photographs of deteriorating steel and concrete.

The authority said it intends to give the job to the "lowest responsible bidder." Based on the timeline provided Aug. 2, construction of a new garage could start in June 2024.

The Historical Architectural Review Board will meet at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 6, in Bethlehem's Town Hall. The meeting is open to the public and a link to the agenda and YouTube broadcast is available on the HARB website.
POCOPSON TWP., Pa.  A 34-year-old Brazilian man who was convicted of first-degree murder escaped from Chester County Prison on Thursday morning  just 15 days after he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Prison officials said Danelo Cavalcante escaped from the prison in Pocopson Township around 8:50 a.m.

Cavalcante was last seen walking on Wawset Road around 9:40 a.m. and wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers, Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said.

"If you see him do not approach him," Ryan said during a press conference. "We ask that you please contact 911...he is considered extremely dangerous."

Cavalcante was convicted of first-degree murder on Aug. 16 for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend in April 2021. Authorities say the victim was stabbed 38 times, with her young children nearby.

The escaped inmate is also wanted for a 2017 murder in Brazil, Ryan said.

As for how he escaped?

"I'm not going to answer any questions about how or why this happened... that's all under investigation," said Howard Holland, interim warden of Chester County Prison. Authorities say all proper protocols were immediately followed. The prison was closed, and people in the area were notified.

Cavalcante was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers. He is described as a "light-skinned" Brazilian man who speaks Portuguese and Spanish fluently, speaks a little bit of English, stands 5 feet tall and weighs 120 pounds, police said. Cavalcante has "shaggy black curly hair" and brown eyes, officials said.

Police in southern Berks County were notified about the escape by the state police. A search of the surrounding area is currently being conducted, and all residents within a 6-miles radius of the prison have been notified of the escape.

"We are doing everything we can to find the individual and make sure that everyone in town here is safe," said Sgt. Matthew Menna with the Caernarvon Township Police Department.

The Chester County District Attorney's office issued the following statement just before 11 a.m. Friday:

"The search for prison escapee Danelo Cavalcante continues with detectives and hundreds of police officers using every means available, including search helicopters and dogs. We are following up on every lead. There is a $10,000 reward, posted by the Chester County Commissioners and the U.S. Marshals, for any information that leads to the capture of Cavalcante. If anyone knows or sees anything at all that they suspect may involve this man, please call 9-1-1 or the U.S. Marshal tipline at 1-877-WANTED2 (1-877-926-8332) immediately.

We will report any new information as we have it."
Air Products' Chief Operating Officer to Discuss the Emergence of

Hydrogen Supply and Demand Centers Across Asia and Beyond

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Products' (NYSE:APD) Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Samir J. Serhan, will take part in a global business leadership panel titled "The Emergence of Hydrogen Supply and Demand Centers Across Asia and Beyond: How are Hubs Driving Global Hydrogen Trade" at Gastech 2023, which is from September 5-8 at the Singapore Expo in Tampines, Singapore.

"Hydrogen is essential if the world is to meet its sustainability goals. We need to recognize that every second of delay is a missed opportunity to drive decarbonization," said Dr. Serhan. "For hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, heavy transportation and chemicals, hydrogen is the clean energy solution. That is why Air Products will commit at least $15 billion of investment in clean hydrogen projects by 2027 to accelerate the energy transition. From a green ammonia project in NEOM in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to our net-zero hydrogen energy complex in Alberta, Canada, to our sustainable aviation fuel project in California, U.S.A., Air Products is taking action to generate a cleaner future." The global business leadership panel is scheduled from 11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (GMT+8) on Wednesday, September 6.

Dr. Serhan is one of several Air Products' leaders who will participate in Gastech 2023. Air Products' Wilbur Mok, President, Asia, will take part in a strategic leadership panel titled "Structure and Scale: Accelerating Global Hydrogen Demand Growth." The session, which will include five additional industry leaders, is scheduled from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. (GMT+8) on Tuesday, September 5.

Air Products' Executive Director of Global Technology, Roger Dewing, will serve as moderator on a "Hydrogen Technologies" panel. Topics of the panel will include: upscaling the global hydrogen value chain, the use of 100 percent hydrogen-ready gas turbines for decarbonizing energy industries and the production of carbon-negative hydrogen via methane pyrolysis. The panel, which will include three additional industry leaders, is scheduled for 3:30 to 5 p.m. (GMT+8) on Thursday, September 7. Additionally, Air Products is a Hydrogen Host Sponsor for the event.

Air Products' industry specialists also will be on hand at Air Products' Exhibition Booth A250 at Gastech 2023 in the Singapore Expo to share information on a wide range of products and technologies for clean hydrogen, liquefied natural gas (LNG), membrane solutions and turbomachinery, including models of LNG modularized product offerings and a Membrane Solutions hydrogen recovery system.

Air Products' areas of expertise include:

Clean Hydrogen: With over 60 years of global hydrogen experience, Air Products is the world leader in the production of hydrogen, and works across all facets of the hydrogen value chain, including production, liquefaction, transport, storage and refueling applications.

Air Products has made significant investments in several hydrogen megaprojects around the world as part of its growth strategy to be the leader in the production of green hydrogen based on renewable resources and blue hydrogen, which is the production of hydrogen from hydrocarbons combined with carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture.

LNG: The majority of total worldwide LNG is produced with Air Products' technology. In support of the LNG industry, Air Products provides process technologies and key equipment for the natural gas liquefaction process for large export plants, small and mid-sized LNG plants, floating LNG plants and LNG peak shavers. Upstream, Air Products provides both nitrogen and natural gas dehydration membrane systems for offshore platforms. Downstream, Air Products provides membrane nitrogen generators for LNG carriers and land-based membrane and cryogenic nitrogen systems for LNG import terminals and baseload LNG plants.

Membrane Solutions: Air Products Membrane Solutions specializes in the development of hollow fiber membrane separators and systems for onsite gas generation. Air Products designs, engineers, manufactures and markets a full portfolio of PRISM Membrane Separators, Marine Systems and Engineered-to-Order Systems to protect lives and goods at sea, on land and in the air, create more sustainable energy sources and raise productivity across a variety of industries and applications.

Turbomachinery: Specialists from Rotoflow, an Air Products' business, will also be at Air Products' booth to discuss turbomachinery needs. Rotoflow works with Air Products' LNG equipment and cycle experts to provide seamless product development and optimal liquefier performance for end users. Rotoflow is one of the industry's most trusted names in turbomachinery and has been designing, building and operating turbomachinery for over 125 combined years, resulting in superior equipment performance, reliability, safety and value.

To learn more about all of Air Products' activities at Gastech, visit https://www.airproducts.com/gastech2023.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE:APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 80 years focused on serving energy, environmental, and emerging markets. The Company has two growth pillars driven by sustainability. Air Products' base business provides essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food. The Company also develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world's largest industrial gas and carbon-capture projects, supplying world-scale clean hydrogen for global transportation, industrial markets, and the broader energy transition. Additionally, Air Products is the world leader in the supply of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment, and globally provides turbomachinery, membrane systems and cryogenic containers.

The Company had fiscal 2022 sales of $12.7 billion from operations in over 50 countries and has a current market capitalization of about $65 billion. More than 21,000 passionate, talented and committed employees from diverse backgrounds are driven by Air Products' higher purpose to create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and reimagine what's possible to address the challenges facing customers, communities, and the world. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook or Instagram.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-products-to-showcase-clean-hydrogen-and-energy-transition-solutions-liquefied-natural-gas-membrane-solutions-and-turbomachinery-at-the-gastech-exhibition-and-conference-in-singapore-301915178.html

SOURCE Air Products
Mohammad Nasim, a former Guantanamo prisoner in Afghanistan, said that he has not lived a good life since his release from the notorious prison, calling for compensation for the inhumane treatment he suffered.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




A storm tattered American flag lies wrapped around its downed pole in the front yard of Herman Neely, a retired corrections officer known by the nickname "Pork Chop," after storm surge from Hurricane Idalia shifted Neely's home from its blocks and punched holes through the inside walls, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, one day after the storm's passage. Neely, 78, said he initially decided to ride out the storm in his house, but when water reached his truck bumper around first light, he drove out of town, picking his way through flooding and past floating debris. Now, he says, the three bedroom home built for his parents and their eight children in 1962, will have to be demolished and he'll only be able to afford to live in a camper on the property, due to rules requiring new homes to be built on stilts.
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Beninese counterpart, Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon, announced the establishment of a China-Benin strategic partnership on Friday.

The announcement was made when Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

During their talks, Xi noted that China-Benin relations have enjoyed a sound development momentum in recent years, with solid progress achieved in practical cooperation.

The two countries have provided support for issues related to each other's core interests and major concerns, and maintained sound communication and coordination in multilateral events, Xi said.

"China attaches great importance to developing relations with Benin, and is willing to maintain closer exchanges at all levels, deepen friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and push bilateral relations to a new level," Xi said.

Expounding on the essential connotations of Chinese modernization, Xi said that China has embarked on a modernization path different from that of the West. He noted that the key lies in always adhering to China's national conditions and the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

China supports Benin in independently exploring a development path suited to its actual conditions, and stands ready to strengthen exchanges of governance experience with Benin, share experience in reform and development, firmly support each other, and achieve common development, Xi said.

He said China encourages its enterprises to invest in and cooperate with Benin, and welcomes Benin to promote the entry of its high-quality products with unique features into the Chinese market, by making full use of such large-scale events as the Global Trade in Services Summit and the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.

Xi also underlined bilateral cooperation in education, health care, and the construction of the Luban Workshop, a project named after the ancient Chinese craftsman Lu Ban to provide vocational skills training for local people.

He called on the two sides to strengthen counterterrorism and security cooperation, work closely to coordinate in international affairs, safeguard the common interests of developing countries and international fairness and justice, and safeguard regional and global peace and development. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon at the square outside the east entrance of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon at the square outside the east entrance of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon at the square outside the east entrance of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for Beninese President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon at the square outside the east entrance of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2023. Xi held talks with Talon, who is in China for a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)
Bridging the energy gap with AI

Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) can help catapult South Africas energy distribution into the future.

Across the globe a new generation of energy production plants is coming online that is smarter and more efficient, thanks to Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technology.

With smart devices, sensors, and 4IR tech, these new power utilities are enabling consumers and producers to interact in real time resulting in better resource management.

Bundled in this technology is AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), real time big data, robotics and machine learning, which enable the energy sector to do stuff it was unable to do just a few short years ago.

Robots, microchips, predictions

In China, robots now monitor coal power stations, going into places considered too dangerous for humans. 4IR technology has enabled countries like Germany, China, Australia, the Netherlands, and Japan to introduce systems that allow computer chips installed in households to control their energy grids and distribution via the internet. This tech is also helping humans peer into the future and make better decisions.

Certain types of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms can be used to predict the usage and generation of power. You can predict what is going to happen in one, two or three-hours time, says Professor Bruce Mellado, a physicist in the Wits School of Physics and iThemba LABS. The use of AI could even help in optimising the efficiency of loadshedding.

Machine learning is being used to better forecast solar radiation and allow solar plants to optimise productivity. While this new technology is available, its use and promotion are not uniform across the world. This was shown in a recent study by Wits PhD candidate, Nadya Bhagwan, and Dr Mary Evans, both from the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at Wits.

4IR tech application in South Africa, Germany, China

The two researchers assessed the use of 4IR technology amongst 26 energy companies in South Africa, Germany, and China. Nine of these companies were Chinese, with five based in South Africa and four in China. Eight of the other firms were German and nine South African.

The study, published in the May 2022 issue of the Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, investigated what renewable energy companies understood by 4IR and their use of these technologies.

All the companies told the researchers that 4IR was important and they ranked real time big data as the most important to the global energy grid. Most of the companies were using 4IR technologies to collect and access plant data remotely using drones or the IoT. This was then analysed using various data management systems.

This fed into the development of drones, fast and more reliable mobile networks, and the creation of huge data storage facilities in the cloud.

The 4IR technologies recognised by South African firms all related to the collection, access, and analysis of real time big data. The least important 4IR technologies, according to the companies surveyed, were robotics and machine-human integration.

Most of the technologies used originated from the US, Europe and China, and the research also showed that South Africa was lagging in the use and adoption of these new technologies, just as China surges ahead.

So, what emerged  and I found this not only through the survey but in subsequent interviews with companies in China, Germany, and South Africa  is that there is a push and strategic thrust in China to promote the use of 4IR technology and to develop these technologies themselves within a time frame, explains Bhagwan, lead author of the research paper.

SA insights from 4IR in China

Bhagwan believes that if South Africa looked at how China was using 4IR, it would provide a smarter electrical grid that was more efficient.

She added that in the next five to 10 years, China will be way ahead of other countries, while South Africa has been pulled back by political uncertainty arising from the stranglehold of the state-controlled energy sector.

This technology is not cheap, and it is not easily accessible and if you are going to take the risk, there must be some guaranteed benefit for you and your company for that investment, says Evans.

With South Africas energy crisis, independent power producers believe that there is no political will to support them.

Energy companies are saying, we can do it  assist us by providing us with incentives and we can produce this energy, and we can invest in these technologies. But theres no way theyre going to do that without better, clearer direction in terms of how we are going to benefit and what the role of the state will be, adds Bhagwan.

Most of these local independent energy producers are providing electricity to smaller communities and not into the grid. With some investment, and the use of 4IR technology, Evans believes that South Africa could follow the path led by Germany and China and see positive changes to South Africas energy sector.
Leadership change at WSG

Adjunct Professor Themba Maseko is now the interim head of the Wits School of Governance, following Professor Mzukisi Qobo's departure.

Qobo will be leaving Wits University to take up a new position in the public service. He started his position in May 2020, during the challenging Covid-19 period. His management of the transition to online learning allowed the School to continue providing quality education under difficult circumstances. Under Qobos leadership, the school charted a new strategy direction as Africas leading school of governance with emphasis on contributing to building state capacity. He also initiated new research initiatives, including the Tayarisha Centre for Digital Governance and the Just Transition Research Consortium.

Qobo strengthened the relationship with the alumni through Town Hall-style engagements, using the feedback to improve the delivery of academic programmes and executive courses. He will remain a visiting professor at the School.

Maseko joined the School in January 2022 as Director of Executive Education, bringing with him a wealth of public sector and management and higher education experience. The former government communicators leadership has been invigorating, strategically driving a team of highly professional short course administrators and business development staff to offer relevant courses.

His ability to make different teams work together in the school has had a tremendous impact on the quality and delivery of short courses offered. Under his leadership, innovative courses have been introduced in the field of digital governance and civic tech. The schools short courses graduations have become illustrious events, attracting vital keynote speakers including, the Auditor-General of South Africa, Tsakani Maluleke.

Maseko is also leading a project on the State Capture Report, which will comprise public events and a book.

More on Maseko:

Maseko holds a BA LLB (Wits University) and an MBA (De Montfort University).

His career in the public service includes roles as the former CEO of the Government Communication and Information Service and Government Spokesperson; Director General in the Department of Public Service and Administration; National Department of Public Works, and he was the first Superintendent-General in the Gauteng Department of Education and a member of Parliament in 1994.

His private sector experience includes short stints as Managing Director of the Damelin Education Group, independent management consulting, and Communications Director at the Business Leadership South Africa.

Professor Maseko left the public service after 17 years after speaking out against state capture. He has authored a book titled For my Country. He is a Trustee of the Board of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and also serves on the boards of Corruption Watch, the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution and Chapter Zero.
A man inspects a damaged building after clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the town of Aqaba in the West Bank city of Tubas, on Sept. 1, 2023. A young Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank city of Tubas, Palestinian security and medical sources said Friday. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

RAMALLAH, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A young Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank city of Tubas, Palestinian security and medical sources said Friday.

"Abdul Rahim Ghannam, 36, was killed by a live bullet fired by an Israeli soldier," the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a brief statement without providing further details.

Palestinian security sources and local eyewitnesses told Xinhua that Israeli armed forces stormed the town of Aqaba in northern Tubas and surrounded a house, demanding a young man inside surrender himself.

Dozens of locals hurled stones and clashed with the Israeli soldiers, who responded by firing live bullets at the stone-throwers.

Local militants also exchanged heavy fire with the Israeli soldiers as the residents heard the sound of gunshots.

Israeli media outlets reported that the Israeli forces surrounded the house of Ahmed Abu Arra in the town of Aqaba, a wanted man who was involved in committing a shooting attack and wounding an Israeli woman recently.

The Israeli military fired two missiles toward the house, causing heavy damage to it, said the Israeli media reports, adding that several other suspects belonging to the "Palestinian terrorist groups" were arrested.

To detain Palestinians involved in carrying out or planning attacks against Israel, the Israeli military has been carrying out daily raids on various cities and towns in the West Bank. 

Smoke rises during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the town of Aqaba in the West Bank city of Tubas, on Sept. 1, 2023. A young Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank city of Tubas, Palestinian security and medical sources said Friday. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)
The following companies are subsidiares of MINISO Group: Acyclica, Aerius Photonics, Aeryon Labs, Agema, Agentase LLC, Altavian, Armasight, Cedip Infrared Systems, DVTel, Digimerge Technologies, Directed Perception Inc., Endeavor Robotic Holdings Inc., Endeavor Robotic Holdings Inc. , Extech Instruments, Extech Instruments Corporation, FLIR Integrated Imaging Solutions Germany GmbH, FLIR Integrated Imaging Solutions Inc, FLIR LLC, FLIR MARITIME ASIA PTY LTD, FLIR NETWORKED SYSTEMS SL, FLIR Outdoor and Tactical Systems Inc., FLIR SYSTEMS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FLIR SYSTEMS BRASIL COMERCIO DE CAMERAS INFRAVERMELHAS LTDA., FLIR SYSTEMS COMPANY LIMITED, FLIR SYSTEMS ESTONIA OU, FLIR SYSTEMS FRANCE, FLIR SYSTEMS JAPAN K.K., FLIR SYSTEMS SRL, FLIR Systems AB, FLIR Systems B.V, FLIR Systems GmbH, FLIR Systems Holding AB, FLIR Systems Korea Co. Ltd, Flir Belgium, Flir Belgium BV, Flir Commercial Systems AB, Flir Detection Inc, Flir Government Systems Inc., Flir Government Systems Pittsburgh Inc., Flir Integrated Imaging Solutions U.S.A. Inc., Flir Integrated Systems Inc., Flir Intelligent Transportation Systems, Flir Maritime Us Inc, Flir Motion Control Systems Inc., Flir Radars Inc, Flir Radiation Inc., Flir Security Inc., Flir Systems Trading Belgium, Flir Systems Trading Bvba, Flir Systems-Boston Inc., Flir Unmanned Aerial Systems AS, Flir Unmanned Aerial Systems LLC, ICx Technologies, Icx Transportation Group Inc., Ifara Tecnologias S.L, Indigo Systems, Inframetrics, Ion Optics Inc., Keystone Applied Technologies Inc., Lorex Technology, Lorex Technology Inc, Noiseless Acoustics Oy, OmniTech Partners Inc., Optical Systems Technology Inc, Point Grey Research Inc., Prox Dynamics, RAYMARINE HOLDINGS LIMITED, RAYMARINE ITALIA SRL, RAYMARINE TECHNOLOGIES LTD, RAYMARINE UK LIMITED, RIHL LIMITED, Raymarine Deutschland GmbH, Raymarine Holdings, Raymarine Norge AS, Raymarine Sverige AB, Salvador Imaging Inc., Scientific Materials Corporation, Seapilot AB, Sensor Technologies & Systems Inc., Teledyne Flir Commercial Systems Inc., Teledyne Flir Detection Inc, Teledyne Flir Eoc LLC, Teledyne Flir Surveillance Inc., Teledyne Flir Unmanned Ground Systems Inc., and Traficon International NV.

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American Express Company is a multinational financial services company based in New York City. The company provides credit cards, charge cards, traveler's cheques and other financial services to individuals and businesses worldwide.



Founded in 1850, American Express has been a pioneer in the credit card industry and has developed a reputation for offering premium products and services that cater to high-income consumers. The company operates in over 130 countries and employs over 75,000 people globally.

Stephen J. Squeri has served as American Express Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 2018, succeeding Kenneth I. Chenault. Squeri joined the company in 1985 and has held various leadership positions.



He is credited with leading the company's digital transformation and developing new partnerships with technology companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon. Other key management team members include Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey C. Campbell and Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster.

American Express has consistently generated strong financial results, with revenue increasing consistently over the past few years. The company's net income has also grown during this same time frame. The company's profit margin has remained relatively stable at around 14%.



American Express has maintained a strong balance sheet, with a debt-to-equity ratio and a price-to-book ratio consistent with industry averages. Over the past couple of years, American Express' stock has performed well, leading its industry peers.

The credit card industry is highly competitive, with a few prominent players dominating the market. American Express competes with other major credit card companies, such as Visa and Mastercard and banks that issue private-label credit cards.



The industry has been growing steadily, with global credit card transactions expected to reach $8.8 trillion by 2025. However, the industry faces several challenges, including increasing regulatory scrutiny and the threat of disruption from fintech startups.

American Express has several growth opportunities, including expanding its presence in international markets and developing new partnerships with technology companies. The company has made significant progress in these areas, with global revenue growth from 2016 to 2022.



American Express has also partnered with companies such as Uber, Marriott and Delta Airlines to offer unique benefits to its cardholders. Additionally, the company has been investing in its digital capabilities by launching its digital wallet and mobile app.

Despite its stable financial performance and growth opportunities, American Express faces several risks and challenges. The company's high-end products and services may be vulnerable to changes in consumer preferences, and the company may need help to appeal to younger generations who prefer debit cards and mobile payments.



Additionally, American Express is subject to increasing regulatory scrutiny, with regulators monitoring the company's anti-money laundering practices and compliance with consumer protection laws. The company's debt levels and dependence on the global economy also pose risks, as a recession or economic downturn could impact its profitability.

Another major challenge for American Express is the increasing competition from fintech startups, disrupting the traditional credit card industry by offering innovative products and services. These startups are often more agile and adaptable than established companies like American Express and may be able to offer more attractive rewards and lower fees to customers.



To stay competitive, American Express must continue to innovate and develop new products and services that cater to changing customer preferences.
Accenture plc is a global professional services company that operates in various industries worldwide. With a mission to provide exceptional strategy and consulting, interactive technology, and operation services, Accenture has established itself as a leader in the professional services sector. The company's headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland.

Accenture offers its diverse client base a wide range of products and services. Its application services cover areas such as agile transformation, DevOps, software and quality engineering, data management, and intelligent automation. The company also provides strategy and consulting services, focusing on data and analytics, metaverse, sustainability, and HR transformation. Accenture's technology services encompass cloud infrastructure management, AI, and technology consulting. Additionally, the company offers engineering and R&D digitization, business process outsourcing, and various services related to technology innovation.

Accenture is led by a highly experienced and accomplished management team. Julie T. Spellman Sweet serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Accenture, bringing her expertise in driving growth and delivering strategic value to clients. Kathleen R. McClure is the Chief Financial Officer overseeing the company's financial operations. Gianfranco Casati serves as the Executive Chairman of Growth Markets, and Jean-Marc Ollagnier leads as the Chief Executive Officer of Europe. James O. Etheredge holds the position of Chief Executive Officer of North America. These executives bring a wealth of knowledge and industry experience to their respective roles, contributing to Accenture's success.

Accenture has consistently delivered strong financial performance over the years. The company has reported substantial revenue, impressive earnings, and healthy profit margins. Accenture's financial performance reflects its ability to generate significant income and maintain a strong market position. Furthermore, the company has effectively managed its debt levels, ensuring financial stability and flexibility.

Accenture's valuation metrics, such as price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratio, are generally favorable compared to industry peers. The company's strong financial performance, market leadership, and growth potential contribute to its favorable valuation. Investors recognize the company's value and prospects, which may be reflected in the stock's performance.

Accenture operates in the broader professional services industry, which is characterized by intense competition and evolving trends. The industry's landscape is constantly changing due to technological advancements, regulatory changes, and shifts in client demands. Accenture competes with other major professional services firms, each vying for market share and differentiation. Its strong reputation, global reach, and comprehensive service offerings give it a competitive advantage. Moreover, Accenture's ability to leverage emerging technologies and provide innovative solutions positions it well in the industry.

Accenture has numerous growth opportunities in various areas. The company can leverage its expertise in emerging technologies such as AI, data analytics, and automation to drive innovation and expand its service offerings. Additionally, Accenture can explore new markets, capitalize on digital transformation initiatives and pursue strategic acquisitions to enhance its capabilities. The company's strong relationships with key customers and ability to provide tailored solutions enable it to seize growth opportunities effectively.

While Accenture has demonstrated resilience and adaptability, it faces certain risks and challenges. Changes in consumer preferences, technological disruptions, and evolving regulatory landscapes pose potential dangers to Accenture's business. Consumer preferences can shift rapidly, requiring the company to stay agile and continuously innovate to meet changing demands. Moreover, technological disruptions, such as advancements in artificial intelligence or automation, can impact the traditional service offerings of professional services firms. Accenture must stay at the forefront of emerging technologies and adapt its services to remain relevant and competitive.

Additionally, regulatory changes can introduce uncertainties and compliance challenges. As governments worldwide implement new regulations and policies, Accenture must navigate the evolving landscape to ensure compliance while providing valuable services to clients. Close monitoring of regulatory developments and proactive engagement with relevant stakeholders is essential for the company to mitigate potential risks.

Despite these challenges, Accenture's robust risk management strategies and ability to anticipate and respond to market dynamics position it well to address potential risks. The company's focus on innovation, investment in talent development, and strategic partnerships contribute to its ability to overcome challenges and sustain its growth trajectory.
Pfizer Inc. is a US-based multinational biotech company. The company operates as a research-based pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, production and marketing of medicines and vaccines. It is the 2nd largest drugmaker globally by revenue and is ranked 64th on the Fortune 500 list. The companys avenues of research include Immunology, Oncology, Cardiology, Endocrinology and Neurology.

Regarding its product line, the company has at least ten blockbuster drugs producing more than $1 billion in avenue revenue each. The company brought in over $81 billion in total revenue in 2021. The US is its main market and represents roughly 50% of all revenue. China and Japan make up roughly 12% of the business, while the rest come from the rest of the world. It employs roughly 79,000 people and is headquartered in New York state.

Pfizer Inc. was founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer Sr. and his cousin Charles Earhart. The two were German immigrants and chemists that set up shops outside New York City to make medicinal compounds. The first major success was an antiparasitic called santonin, and the commercialization of citric acid-making technologies quickly followed that up. Their success with citric acid led to the companys expansion and other major discoveries.

World War I caused a shortage of materials for making citric acid and forced the company to seek alternatives. The one they latched on to was the fermentation of certain fungi known to produce citric acid naturally. This led to the advancement of fermentation technology that was later used in the commercial production of penicillin and then the advancement of antibiotics in general.

Pfizer Inc was incorporated on June 2nd, 1942 in Delaware, and another period of expansion began. The postwar drop in demand for penicillin led to the discovery of newer, more marketable antibiotics and cemented the companys role in modern medicine. By the time he 80s rolled around, the company was trading on the New York Stock Exchange and on the path to developing todays blockbuster lineup.

The companys top seller in 2021 was Comirnaty, a COVID-19 vaccine. It generated nearly $37 billion in 2021 and was followed by Prevnar, Ibrance and Eliquis with just over $5 billion in sales each. Other blockbuster names on Pfizers list include Xeljanz and Enbrel, each bringing in $3.5 billion. Pfizer operates 39 research and production facilities worldwide and sells its products in 125 countries.

As of 2022, the company had a robust pipeline of potential treatments, with more than 220 in some stage of clinical trials. Among its leading candidates is a vaccine for RSV, a life-threatening respiratory disease affecting children. 2021 highlights include 8 FDA approvals, four new regulatory submissions and 13 new trial startups. Pfizer is also a well-known dividend payer and has returned more than $8.7 billion to shareholders since going public.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited provides banking and financial products and services to retail customers and small to medium sized businesses in Australia. The company operates through Consumer, Business and Agribusiness, and Corporate segments. It offers a range of products and services, including personal and business banking, financial planning, commercial mortgages and unsecured loans, investment products, insurance, and superannuation. The company also provides retail banking products and services; home loans for the mortgage broker and mortgage manager market; rural bank products and services; wealth management services; investments and funds management services, commercial loans, access to funeral bonds, estates and trusts management services, and corporate trustee and custodial services; and banking products and services to agribusiness participants. It operates under the Bendigo Bank, AdelaideBank, Rural Bank, Community Bank, Up, Leveraged, Sandhurst Trustees, Community Enterprise Foundation, Homesafe Solutions, and Allance Bank brands. The company was founded in 1858 and is headquartered in Bendigo, Australia.
Boston Scientific Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices for use in various interventional medical specialties worldwide. It operates through MedSurg and Cardiovascular segments. The company offers devices to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions; devices to treat various urological and pelvic conditions; implantable cardioverter and implantable cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators; pacemakers and implantable cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemakers; and remote patient management systems. It also provides medical technologies to diagnose and treat rate and rhythm disorders of the heart comprising 3-D cardiac mapping and navigation solutions, ablation catheters, diagnostic catheters, mapping catheters, intracardiac ultrasound catheters, delivery sheaths, and other accessories; spinal cord stimulator systems for the management of chronic pain; indirect decompression systems; and deep brain stimulation systems. In addition, the company offers interventional cardiology products, that uses in the treatment of coronary artery disease and aortic valve conditions. Further, it provides stents, balloon catheters, guidewires, atherectomy, and thrombectomy systems to treat arterial and venous diseases; and peripheral embolization devices, radioactive microspheres, cryotherapy ablation systems, and micro and drainage catheters to treat cancer. The company was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. distributes industrial motion, power, control, and automation technology solutions in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. It operates in two segments, Service Center Based Distribution, and Engineered Solutions. The company distributes bearings, power transmission products, engineered fluid power components and systems, specialty flow control solutions, advanced automation products, industrial rubber products, linear motion components, automation solutions, tools, safety products, oilfield supplies, and other industrial and maintenance supplies; and motors, belting, drives, couplings, pumps, hydraulic and pneumatic components, filtration supplies, valves, fittings, process instrumentation, actuators, and hoses, filtration supplies, as well as other related supplies for general operational needs of customers' machinery and equipment. It also operates fabricated rubber shops and service field crews that install, modify, and repair conveyor belts and rubber linings, as well as offer hose assemblies. In addition, the company provides technical support services; engages in the distribution of fluid power and industrial flow control products; advanced automation solutions, including machine vision, robotics, motion control, and smart technologies. It distributes industrial products through a network of service centers. The company serves various industries, including agriculture and food processing, cement, chemicals and petrochemicals, fabricated metals, forest products, industrial machinery and equipment, life sciences, mining, oil and gas, primary metals, technology, transportation, and utilities, as well as government entities. The company was formerly known as Bearings, Inc. and changed its to name to Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. in 1997. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.
Comba Telecom Systems Holdings Limited, an investment holding company, engages in research, development, manufacture, and sale of wireless telecommunications network system equipment and related engineering services. It operates through two segments, Wireless Telecommunications Network System Equipment and Services, and Operator Telecommunication Services. The company provides base station antennas and subsystems; network system products, and open RAN products, as well as in-depth coverage solutions; and technical support, value-added, and repairing services. It also engages in the trading and marketing of wireless telecommunications network system equipment; manufacture and sale of intelligent machinery; research and development, and trading of digital microwave system equipment; and provision of hardware and software solutions and services. The company serves the airport, education, government and public safety, healthcare, hospitality, retail, stadium, and transportation industries. It operates in Mainland China, rest of Asia Pacific, the Americas, the European Union, the Middle East, and internationally. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Tai Po, Hong Kong.
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday offered condolences to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa over a deadly fire that took place in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Noting that a building fire in Johannesburg has caused heavy casualties, Xi expressed deep condolences over the victims and offered sincere sympathies to the bereaved families and the injured on behalf of the Chinese government and people.

Xi said that in the face of the disaster, the Chinese side stands firmly by the South African government and people.

Under the strong leadership of President Ramaphosa and the South African government, the South African people will surely be able to overcome the difficulties, he noted. 
Founded in 1971, Southwest Airlines Co. is one of the world's most respected and awarded airlines. The company is known for offering customers great value and excellent service. Currently, Southwest Airlines Co. services 121 airports in 11 countries. The year 2021 marked the company's 51st anniversary, and it continues to work toward democratizing the sky by providing a reliable, low-cost air travel experience. More air travelers flying nonstop in the U.S. fly Southwest Airlines Co. than any other major airline.



Southwest Airlines operates a large fleet of 771 Boeing 737 aircraft, making it the largest owner and operator of 737s in the world. It has traditionally only flown Boeing 737s, though it has leased other Boeing models for profitability and route testing. Southwest Airlines Co.'s fleet serves 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as in 10 other countries, including Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.



Southwest Airlines Co. is based in Dallas and is famous for its employee-first corporate culture. The company has maintained an unprecedented record of no involuntary furloughs or layoffs in its 51-year history, providing employees stability and pride in their employer. Southwest Airlines Co. has led the industry with 47 consecutive years of profitability and growth.



Southwest Airlines Co. uses humor in its marketing, with slogans like "Love Is Still Our Field," "The Somebody Else Up There Who Loves You," "Just Plane Smart" and "You're Now Free to Move About the Country." To increase customer loyalty, the company launched a rewards program in 2011 that awards points for flights, hotel stays, car rentals and purchases at partner retailers, which consumers can redeem for free flights.



Southwest Airlines Co. has significantly influenced other low-cost carriers and the aviation industry as a whole. Its competitive strategy is to increase aircraft and employee productivity to reduce turnaround time at the gate. Ryanair and EasyJet have mirrored this rolling hub or point-to-point network strategy.



Southwest has also had a lot of industry influence through its lobbying efforts, primarily to lobby against the development of high-speed rail systems in favor of providing more point-to-point flights between major cities. However, in recent years, Southwest Airlines Co. has been affected by customer lawsuits, flight delays and cancelations and system disruptions due to not investing in newer technologies.



Southwest Airlines Co. has provided value to its shareholders for many years, having returned more than $12.9 billion through stock repurchases and dividends as of March 2020. However, in the first quarter of 2020, the company had to suspend its dividend payments due to the uncertain market and COVID-19. On December 6, 2022, the board of directors decided to reinstate its quarterly cash dividend at 18 cents per share. This reinstated dividend equaled the expected dividend when it disappeared in 2020.



Southwest Airlines Co. is a leader in the aviation industry, providing great customer service, hospitality, employee stability and value to its shareholders.
Evolent Health, Inc., a healthcare company, through its subsidiary, Evolent Health LLC, offers clinical and administrative solutions to payers and providers in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Evolent Health Services and Clinical Solutions. The Evolent Health Services segment provides an integrated administrative and clinical platform for health plan administration and population health management. It offers financial and administrative management services, such as health plan services, risk management, analytics and reporting, and leadership and management; and Identifi, a proprietary technology system that aggregates and analyzes data, manages care workflows, and engages patients. The Clinical Solutions segment offers specialty care management services support a range of specialty care delivery stakeholders during their transition from fee-for-service to value-based care, independent of their stage of maturation and specific market dynamics in oncology, cardiology, and musculoskeletal markets; physician-oriented total cost of care solutions; and holistic total cost of care improvement. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a publicly traded mining company that operates primarily in North and South America. The company is in the top ten of the world's largest producers of copper, gold and molybdenum, and its operations include mines, smelters and refineries.

Freeport-McMoRan was founded in 1988 when Freeport Minerals Corporation merged with McMoRan Oil & Gas Company. Both companies had a long history in the mining industry, with Freeport Minerals founded in 1912 and McMoRan Oil & Gas in 1969.

The merger of the two companies created a vertically integrated mining company that could control every aspect of the mining process. The union of the two companies allowed Freeport-McMoRan to become one of the world's largest producers of copper, gold and molybdenum.

Freeport-McMoRan's operations are primarily in North and South America, with mines in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Chile. The company also owns a 48.76% stake in the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, the largest gold mine in the world and the second-largest copper mining operation in the world.

The Grasberg mine is a significant source of revenue for Freeport-McMoRan, accounting for approximately 30% of the company's copper production and 40% of its gold production. The mine has operated since the 1970s and has significantly expanded recently.

Freeport-McMoRan's other major operation is the Cerro Verde mine in Peru, one of the world's largest copper mines. The mine was established as a joint venture between Freeport-McMoRan, Buenaventura and Sumitomo Corporation, with Freeport-McMoRan owning a 53.56% stake.

In addition to its mining operations, Freeport-McMoRan owns and operates smelters and refineries in the United States and South America. This allows the company to process the ore from its mines into finished products, such as copper cathodes and gold bars.

Freeport-McMoRan has a track record of financial performance. The company's revenues have steadily grown over the past decade, driven by increasing demand for copper and other essential metals.

Freeport-McMoRan's strong financial performance has allowed the company to invest in new projects and expand its operations. The company has recently focused on developing new mining projects in North and South America, including the Lone Star copper project in Arizona and the Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 copper project in Chile.

Freeport-McMoRan has a solid commitment to sustainability and responsible mining practices. The company has implemented a comprehensive environmental management system designed to minimize its impact on the environment while supporting the communities in which it operates.

One of the critical components of Freeport-McMoRan's sustainability strategy is its focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The company has set a target of reducing its carbon footprint by 10% by the end of 2023, compared to its 2018 baseline.

Freeport-McMoRan has also implemented a water management program, which aims to minimize the use of fresh water in its operations and promote water conservation. In addition, the company has invested in technologies that allow it to recycle and reuse water, and it has also partnered with local communities to implement water conservation projects.

In addition to its environmental initiatives, Freeport-McMoRan is committed to supporting the communities in which it operates. The company has implemented a social responsibility program, which includes initiatives to improve education, healthcare and economic development in the communities near its mining operations.

Freeport-McMoRan has also committed to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The company has established a DEI council and has implemented training programs to promote a more inclusive workplace. In addition, Freeport-McMoRan has set a target of achieving gender parity in its workforce by 2030.

The company is not without its risks. One of the main risks is the volatility of metal prices. Copper and gold prices can be highly cyclical and are influenced by various factors, including global economic conditions, geopolitical events and supply and demand dynamics. As a result, a significant decline in metal prices could harm Freeport-McMoRan's financial performance.

Another risk to consider is the regulatory environment. Mining companies are subject to various environmental and safety regulations, which can impact their operations and financial performance. As a result, changes in laws, or increased enforcement of existing regulations, could increase the cost of doing business for Freeport-McMoRan.
Gerdau S.A., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer company. It operates through Brazil Business, North America Business, South America Business, and Special Steel Business divisions. The company provides semi-finished products, including billets, blooms, and slabs; common long rolled products, such as rebars, wire rods, merchant bars, light shapes, and profiles to the construction and manufacturing industries; drawn products comprising barbed and barbless fence wires, galvanized wires, fences, concrete reinforcing wire mesh, nails, and clamps for manufacturing, construction, and agricultural industries; and special steel products used in auto parts, light and heavy vehicles, and agricultural machinery, as well as in the oil and gas, wind energy, machinery and equipment, mining and rail, and other markets. It also offers flat products, such as hot-rolled steel coils and heavy plates; and resells flat steel products. In addition, the company operates three mines that produce iron ore located in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It sells its products through independent distributors, direct sales from the mills, and its retail network. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
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PulteGroup, Inc., through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the homebuilding business in the United States. It acquires and develops land primarily for residential purposes; and constructs housing on such land. The company also offers various home designs, including single-family detached, townhomes, condominiums, and duplexes under the Centex, Pulte Homes, Del Webb, DiVosta Homes, American West, and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods brand names. As of December 31, 2022, it controlled 211,112 lots, of which 108,848 were owned and 102,264 were under land option agreements. In addition, the company arranges financing through the origination of mortgage loans primarily for homebuyers; sells the servicing rights for the originated loans; and provides title insurance policies, and examination and closing services to homebuyers. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Bank of America has a rich history dating back to 1800 and even earlier. It was begun by immigrants as a group of separate and unrelated banks that, over the years, merged and grew together. One such is the Bank of Italy which was founded in 1904 by Amadeo Giannini to serve Italian immigrants that were facing discrimination. He later buys out the Banca de America e de Italia (Bank of America and Italy) which was also located in San Francisco. Over the years additional mergers and changes in Federal banking legislation, as well as the boom brought on by WWI and then WWII, helped boost the bank to national prominence.

Things turned sour, however, in 1998 with a major bond default that led to yet another merger, this time with Charlotte, NC-based Nations Bank to officially become the Bank of America that exists today. At the time, the merger was the largest bank merger in history and the company has only grown in the time since.

Other additions to the new Bank of America include MBNA (a major credit card operator), Fleet Boston (then the US 7th largest and one of its oldest banks), and Merril Lynch, now Merril, which was added to the group in 2008 to provide an investment banking branch. Together the company dominates as one of the Big Four Banks in America. Bank of America lays claim to nearly 11% of all US deposits which ranks in line with its peer group and Bank of America Securities is listed as the worlds 3rd largest investment bank.

Today, Bank of America Corporation provides banking and financial services for individuals, small businesses, institutions, corporations, and governments worldwide. The bank operates in three segments Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management, and Global Banking bringing in a combined revenue greater than $90 billion in 2022.

As of 2022, Bank of America serves approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,200 retail financial centers. The bank also operates more than 16,000 ATMs and digital banking platforms with approximately 41 million active users.

Its Consumer Banking segment offers traditional banking and investment products for retail clients. These range from deposit accounts to savings, credit cards, consumer loans, and IRAs. The Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment and wealth management solutions including, brokerage, banking, and trust and retirement products. The Global Banking segment provides lending products and services, including commercial loans and leases for businesses of all varieties. The Global Markets segment offers market-making, clearing, settlement, and custody services, as well as risk management, derivatives, and FX exchange services.
Greenhill & Co., Inc., an independent investment bank, provides financial and strategic advisory services to corporations, partnerships, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. The company offers advisory services related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, financings, private capital raising, and other similar transactions. It also advises clients on strategic matters, including activist shareholder defense, special committee projects, licensing deals, and joint ventures; and valuation, negotiation tactics, industry dynamics, structuring alternatives, and timing and pricing of transactions, as well as financing alternatives. In addition, the company provides restructuring advisory services to debtors, creditors, governments, and other stakeholders, and acquirers of distressed companies and assets; and advice on valuation, debt capacity, liability management, restructuring and financing alternatives, capital structures, and M&A in both in-court and out-of-court processes. Further, it advises on private placements of debt and structured equity, refinancing of existing debt facilities, negotiating the modification, and amendment of covenants, as well as acts as an independent advisor. Additionally, the company offers financial advisory services to pension funds, endowments, and other institutional investors on transactions involving alternative assets; and advice to alternative asset fund sponsors for private capital raising, financing, restructuring, liquidity options, valuation, and related services. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Hersha Hospitality Trust (NYSE:HT) pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.02%. The dividend payout ratio is 6.45%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, HT will have a dividend payout ratio of 21.98% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Read our dividend analysis for HT.
NEW DELHI, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government has set up a committee to explore the possibility of "one nation one election" in the country, local media reported on Friday.

The committee will be headed by former Indian President Ram Nath Kovind to study the issue and submit a report to the government.

"One nation, one election" refers to the holding of India's general election and local elections in its states simultaneously, and it was part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto in the 2014 general elections.

The move came a day after the Indian government announced that a special session of the parliament would be convened from Sept. 18 to Sept. 22.

The recently concluded monsoon session of the Indian parliament held between July 20 and Aug. 11 witnessed acrimonious exchanges between the BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance and the new opposition alliance Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance spearheaded by Congress. 
Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to retail clients, institutional clients, high-net worth clients, public entities, corporations, unions, non-profit organizations, endowments, foundations, pension funds, financial institutions, and sovereign wealth funds. It manages separate client-focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm also launches equity, fixed income, commodity, multi-asset, and balanced mutual funds for its clients. It launches equity, fixed income, multi-asset, and balanced exchange-traded funds. The firm also launches and manages private funds. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. The firm also invests in alternative markets, such as commodities and currencies. For the equity portion of its portfolio, it invests in growth and value stocks of large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap companies. For the fixed income portion of its portfolio, the firm invests in convertibles, government bonds, municipal bonds, treasury securities, and cash. It also invests in short term and intermediate term bonds, investment grade and high yield bonds, taxable and tax-free bonds, senior secured loans, and structured securities such as asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. The firm employs absolute return, global macro, and long/short strategies. It employs quantitative analysis to make its investments. The firm was formerly known as Invesco Plc, AMVESCAP plc, Amvesco plc, Invesco PLC, Invesco MIM, and H. Lotery & Co. Ltd. Invesco Ltd. was founded in 1935 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia with an additional office in Hamilton, Bermuda.
Jacobs Solutions Inc. provides consulting, technical, scientific, and project delivery services for the government and private sectors in the United States, Europe, Canada, India, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Mexico, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through three segments: Critical Mission Solutions, People & Places Solutions, and PA Consulting. The company offers cybersecurity, data analytics, systems and software application integration and consulting, enterprise and mission IT, engineering and design, nuclear, enterprise level operations and maintenance services; software development, testing, mission integration, program management, research, development, test, evaluation services, training, and environmental remediation services; and other technical consulting solutions, as well as construction management services. It also provides consulting services for consumer and manufacturing, defense and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government, health and life sciences, and transport industries. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 0.99%. The company has been increasing its dividend for 10 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 39.42%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, FNV will have a dividend payout ratio of 37.99% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Read our dividend analysis for FNV.
Donaldson Company, Inc. manufactures and sells filtration systems and replacement parts worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Mobile Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Life Sciences. Its Mobile Solutions segment provides replacement filters for air and liquid filtration applications, such as air filtration systems; liquid filtration systems for fuel, lube, and hydraulic applications; exhaust and emissions systems and sensors; indicators; and monitoring systems. This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the construction, mining, agriculture, aerospace, defense, and transportation markets; and to independent distributors, and OEM dealer networks. The company's Industrial Solutions segment offers dust, fume, and mist collectors; compressed air and industrial gasses purification systems; and hydraulic and lubricated rotating equipment applications, as well as gas and liquid filtration for industrial processes. This segment sells its products to various distributors, OEMs, and end-users. Its Life Sciences segment provides micro-environment gas and liquid filtration for food, beverage, and industrial processes; bioprocessing equipment, that includes bioreactors and fermenters; and bioprocessing consumables, such as chromatography devices, reagents and filters, and polytetrafluoroethylene membrane-based products, as well as specialized air and gas filtration systems for applications, including hard disk drives, semi-conductor manufacturing and sensors, battery systems, and powertrain components to OEMs and various end-users. The company was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Wells Fargo & Company is a multinational financial services company that has established itself as a prominent player in the global financial industry. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Wells Fargo operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. Its rich history and successful mergers and acquisitions have contributed to its significant global presence.

As a comprehensive financial services provider, Wells Fargo offers a wide range of banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer financial services. The company's mission is to satisfy its customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially. Wells Fargo aims to achieve this by providing exceptional service, acting with integrity, fostering diversity and inclusion, and contributing positively to the communities it serves.

Wells Fargo's extensive product and service portfolio caters to various market segments. The company serves individual consumers, small businesses, corporations, and institutional investors. Its key customers encompass a broad spectrum, ranging from everyday banking customers to high-net-worth individuals and large corporations. Wells Fargo aims to meet the diverse financial needs of its customers through personalized solutions and innovative offerings.

The company has achieved several notable milestones and received recognition for its contributions to the financial industry. Wells Fargo has been ranked as one of the "Big Four Banks" in the United States, alongside JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup. It is also recognized as one of the largest banks in the country by total assets, deposits, and market capitalization. Wells Fargo's commitment to delivering quality financial services has earned it a position among the most valuable bank brands.

Wells Fargo is led by an experienced and capable management team that guides the company's operations and strategic direction. The leadership team consists of individuals with diverse backgrounds and extensive finance, banking, technology, risk management, and customer service expertise. The Chief Executive Officer and President of Wells Fargo is Charles W. Scharf, who brings a wealth of experience in the financial industry. The management team also includes key executives such as Michael J. Santomassimo as the Chief Financial Officer and Scott Powell as the Chief Operating Officer. Each management team member contributes their professional background, accomplishments, and expertise to ensure the company's success.

Wells Fargo has demonstrated consistent financial performance over the years, driven by its diverse business segments and strategic initiatives. The company has reported steady revenue growth, reflecting its ability to attract and retain a large customer base. Wells Fargo's revenue metrics indicate its success in generating income through its various financial services and product offerings.

Earnings metrics illustrate the company's profitability and stability. Wells Fargo's focus on prudent risk management practices and diversified revenue streams contributes to its ability to generate sustainable earnings. Profit margin metrics showcase the efficiency of Wells Fargo's operations. The company's ability to manage costs effectively while generating revenue is key to maintaining healthy profit margins. Debt levels play a significant role in evaluating the company's financial position. Wells Fargo's management strives to maintain a conservative approach to managing debt, ensuring a strong balance sheet and financial stability.

Wells Fargo's valuation metrics are influenced by a range of factors, including its market position, financial performance, growth prospects, risk profile, and investor sentiment. Factors driving Wells Fargo's valuation include its brand recognition, customer base, diversified business segments, and ability to generate consistent earnings. Changes in investor sentiment, market conditions, and regulatory developments can also impact the company's valuation over time.

Investors closely monitor Wells Fargo's stock performance, assessing its ability to deliver value over the long term. The stock has had issues in the past due to news or events that have affected the company's share price, such as regulatory actions, the global pandemic, and strategic initiatives. These factors should be considered in analyzing its market performance.

Wells Fargo operates in the highly competitive financial services industry, which is subject to evolving regulatory frameworks and technological advancements. Understanding the broader industry in which the company operates is crucial to assessing its competitive positioning.

Wells Fargo competes with other major banks and financial institutions domestically and internationally. The company leverages its brand recognition, extensive product and service offerings, customer relationships, and technological capabilities to gain a competitive advantage. However, it also faces challenges such as regulatory compliance, changing customer preferences, and disruptive market forces.

Wells Fargo has identified several growth opportunities within its diverse business segments. The company aims to deepen relationships with existing customers, attract new customers and expand its presence in key markets. In consumer banking, Wells Fargo focuses on enhancing digital capabilities, improving customer experience, and providing innovative solutions to meet evolving customer needs. The company seeks to leverage its strong brand and customer base to drive growth and increase customer loyalty. In wealth and investment management, Wells Fargo aims to capitalize on the growing demand for comprehensive financial planning and advisory services. The company's expertise in wealth management positions it well to capture opportunities in an increasingly complex investment landscape.

As with any financial institution, Wells Fargo faces various risks and challenges. It is important to comprehensively analyze potential risks and challenges to understand their potential impact on the company's performance. Factors such as regulatory changes, cybersecurity threats, economic downturns, and reputational risks pose challenges to Wells Fargo's operations. The company has implemented robust risk management strategies, invested in technology and security measures, and enhanced compliance frameworks to mitigate these risks. Ongoing efforts to prioritize ethical conduct, transparency, and stakeholder trust are integral to managing risks effectively.
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. operates and licenses convenience stores in North America, Europe, and Asia. Its convenience stores sell tobacco products and alternative tobacco products, grocery items, candies and snacks, beer, wine, beverages, and fresh food offerings; road transportation fuels and electric vehicle charging solutions; and aviation fuels, as well as energy for stationary engines. The company operates its convenience stores chain under the Circle K, Couche-Tard, Holiday, Ingo, and Mac's brands. It is also involved in the sale of lottery tickets, calling and gift cards, postage stamps, and bus tickets; and provision of automatic teller machines and car wash services. In addition, it operates and licenses stores operated under the Circle K banner in Cambodia, Egypt, Guam, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Macau, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. The company was formerly known as Actidev Inc. and changed its name to Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. in December 1994. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Laval, Canada.
The following companies are subsidiares of Lennar: 360 Developers LLC, Alliance Financial Services Inc., Ann Arundel Farms Ltd., Aquaterra Utilities Inc., Arbor Mill Veteran Project 2018 LLC, Asbury Woods L.L.C., Astoria Options LLC, Autumn Creek Development Ltd., Aylon LLC, Azusa Associates LLC, B2 Milpitas LLC, BB Investment Holdings LLC, BCI Properties LLC, BMR Communities LLC, BMR Construction Inc., BMTD LLC, BPH I LLC, Bainebridge 249 LLC, Bay Colony Expansion 369 Ltd., Bellagio Lennar LLC, Belle Meade LEN Holdings LLC, Belle Meade Partners LLC, Black Mountain Ranch LLC, Blue Horizons Estates LLC, Bonterra Lennar LLC, Bramalea California Inc., Bressi Gardenlane LLC, Breton Park Lennar LLC, CAP IL 1 LLC, CL Ventures LLC, CML INACTIVE LLC, CML-MO HAF LLC, CML-MO HAF PARKING LLC, CP Block 6aS LLC, CP Block 8aS LLC, CP Block 9aS LLC, CP Center Apartments LLC, CP Center Garage LLC, CP Red Oak Partners Ltd., CP Vertical Development Co. 1 LLC, CP/HPS Development Co. GP LLC, CP/HPS Development Co.-C LLC, CPFE LLC, CPHP Development LLC, CalAtlantic Financial Services Inc., CalAtlantic Group, CalAtlantic Group Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Arizona Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Georgia Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Texas Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Washington Inc., CalAtlantic Mortgage Inc., CalAtlantic National Title Solutions LLC, CalAtlantic Title Agency LLC, CalAtlantic Title Group LLC, CalAtlantic Title Inc., CalAtlantic Title LLC, CalAtlantic Title of Maryland Inc., Camarillo Village Park LLC, Cambria L.L.C., Candlestick Retail Member LLC, Cardiovascular Medical Specialists LLC, Carolina Blue LLC, Carson 175 LLC, Cary Woods LLC, Casa Marina Development LLC, Central Park West Holdings LLC, Cherrytree II LLC, Club Bonterra Lennar LLC, Coco Palm 82 LLC, Colonial Heritage LLC, Columbia National Risk Retention Group Inc., Commonwealth Incentive Fee LLC, Concord Station LLP, Coventry L.L.C., Creekside Crossing L.L.C., Crest at Fondren Investor LLC, DBJ Holdings LLC, DCA Financial LLC, DTC Holdings of Florida LLC, Darcy-Joliet L.L.C., Durrell 33 LLC, EL Ventures LLC, EV LLC, Eagle Bend Commercial LLC, Eagle Home Mortgage LLC, Estates Seven LLC, Evergreen Village LLC, F&R QVI Home Investments USA LLC, FLORDADE LLC, Faria Preserve LLC, Fidelity Guaranty and Acceptance Corp., Fidelity Land LLC, Fox-Maple Associates LLC, Friendswood Development Company LLC, GDI MANAGER LLC, Garco Investments LLC, Greystone Construction Inc., Greystone Homes of Nevada Inc., Greystone Nevada Holdings LLC, Greystone Nevada LLC, Greywall Club L.L.C., HCC Investors LLC, HPS Development Co. LP, HPS Vertical Development Co. LLC, HPS Vertical Development Co.-B LP, HPS Vertical Development Co.-D/E LLC, HPS1 Block 1 LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3B LLC, HPS1 Block 50 LLC, HPS1 Block 51 LLC, HPS1 Block 52 LLC, HPS1 Block 53 LLC, HPS1 Block 54 LLC, HPS1 Block 55 LLC, HPS1 Block 56/57 LLC, HSP Arizona Inc., HTC Golf Club LLC, Hammocks Lennar LLC, Harbor Highlands Group LLC, Harveston LLC, Haverton L.L.C., Heathcote Commons LLC, Heritage Pkwy East Holdings LLC, Heritage of Auburn Hills L.L.C., Hewitts Landing Trustee LLC, Hingham Properties LLC, Huntley Venture L.L.C., Inactive Companies LLC, Independence L.L.C., Independence Orlando LLC, Isles at Bayshore Club LLC, KMC Real Estate Investors LLC, Kendall Hammocks Commercial LLC, Kentuckiana Medical Center LLC, Kingman Lennar LLC, LB/L  Duc III Antioch 330 LLC, LCD Asante LLC, LCI Downtown Doral Investor LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor GP LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor LP LLC, LEN - Belle Meade LLC, LEN - OBS Windemere LLC, LEN - Palm Vista LLC, LEN BPT Investor LLC, LEN Mirada Investor LLC, LEN Notarize Investor LLC, LEN OT Holdings LLC, LEN Paradise Cable LLC, LEN Paradise Operating LLC, LEN-CG South LLC, LEN-Cypress Mill LLC, LEN-Ryan 1 LLC, LEN-Touchstone LLC, LENH I LLC, LENNAR HOMES OF TENNESSEE LLC, LFS Holding Company LLC, LH Eastwind LLC, LHI Renaissance LLC, LMC 10th & Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 144th and Grant Investor LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Holdings LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Investor LLC, LMC 360 Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 410 S Wabash Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Investor LLC, LMC 8th Avenue Apartment Investor LLC, LMC 990 Bannock Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Investor LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Holdings LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Investor LLC, LMC Block 42 Holdings LLC, LMC Build to Core III Investor LLC, LMC Build to Core III LLC, LMC Burnside Holdings LLC, LMC Burnside Investor LLC, LMC Chandler and McClintock Holdings LLC, LMC Charlestowne Holdings LLC, LMC Charlotte Ballpark Developer LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Holdings LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Investor LLC, LMC Cobalt Holdings LLC, LMC Costa Mesa Holdings LP, LMC Crest at Park West Holdings LP, LMC Denver Gateway I Investor LLC, LMC Denver Gateway II Holdings LLC, LMC Development LLC, LMC Downtown Doral South Holdings LLC, LMC Durham Gateway Holdings LP, LMC Evans School Holdings LLC, LMC Gateway Investor LLC, LMC Gateway Venture LLC, LMC Gilman Square Investor LLC, LMC Horton Street Holdings LLC, LMC Huntington Crossing Holdings LLC, LMC Inactive Companies LLC, LMC Lakeside Holdings LP, LMC Leya Holdings LLC, LMC Living Illinois LLC, LMC Living Inc., LMC Living LLC, LMC Living TRS LP, LMC Millenia Investor II LLC, LMC NE Minneapolis Lot 2 Holdings LLC, LMC New Bern Investor LLC, LMC North Park Holdings LP, LMC Parkfield Holdings LLC, LMC Parkfield Investor LLC, LMC Righters Ferry Holdings LLC, LMC River North Holdings LLC, LMC Spring Street Investor LLC, LMC Stonewall Station Investor LLC, LMC Triangle Square Investor LLC, LMC Venture Developer LLC, LMC Verbena Holdings LLC, LMC West Loop Investor LLC, LMCFX Investor LLC, LMCPNW Marymoor Holdings LLC, LMI - Jacksonville Investor LLC, LMI - South Kings Development Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle Holdings LLC, LMI - West Seattle Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle LLC, LMI Cell Tower Investors LLC, LMI City Walk Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale LLC, LMI Contractors LLC, LMI Glencoe Dallas Investor LLC, LMI Lakes West Covina Investor LLC, LMI Largo Park Investor LLC, LMI Las Colinas Station LLC, LMI Naperville Investor LLC, LMI Pacific Tower LLC, LMI Park Central Two LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners Investor LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners LLC, LMI-JC Developer LLC, LMI-JC LLC, LMV 1640 Broadway REIT-DC LP, LMV 1701 Ballard REIT-DC LP, LMV 19H REIT-DC LP, LMV 2026 Madison REIT-DC LP, LMV 85 South Union REIT-DC LP, LMV ATown REIT-DC LP, LMV Annapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Apache Terrace REIT-DC LP, LMV Block 42 REIT-DC LP, LMV Bloomington REIT-DC LP, LMV Bolingbrook REIT-DC LP (DE), LMV Central at McDowell REIT-DC LP, LMV East Village I REIT-DC LP, LMV Edina REIT-DC LP, LMV Fremont WS I REIT-DC LP, LMV Glisan REIT-DC LP, LMV Grand Bay REIT-DC LP, LMV II Grand Bay Pod V Holdings LP, LMV II Kierland Holdings LP, LMV II NoMo Holdings LP, LMV II Venture Developer LLC, LMV II Wynwood Holdings LP, LMV Kirkland REIT-DC LP, LMV Little Italy REIT-DC LP, LMV M Tower REIT-DC LP, LMV Millenia II REIT-DC LP, LMV Milpitas REIT-DC LP, LMV NE Minneapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Oak Park REIT-DC LP, LMV One20Fourth REIT-DC LP, LMV QR Build to Core Manager LLC, LMV Rio Bravo REIT-DC LP, LMV Scottsdale Quarter REIT-DC LP, LMV Tysons REIT-DC LP, LMV Vallagio III REIT-DC LP, LMV Victory Block G REIT-DC LP, LMV Warren Street REIT-DC LP, LNC Communities II LLC, LNC Communities IV LLC, LNC Communities V LLC, LNC Communities VI LLC, LNC Communities VII LLC, LNC Communities VIII LLC, LNC Pennsylvania Realty Inc., LNC at Meadowbrook LLC, LNC at Ravenna LLC, LS College Park LLC, LS Terracina LLC, LV Opendoor Investor LLC, LV Opendoor JV LLC, LW D'Andrea LLC, Lagoon Valley Residential LLC, Lakelands at Easton L.L.C., Legends Club LLC, Legends Golf Club LLC, Len - Little Harbor LLC, Len FW Investor LLC, Len Paradise LLC, Len-Angeline LLC, Len-Hawks Point LLC, Len-Land LLC, Len-Land West LLC, Len-MN LLC, Len-Verandahs LLP, LenCom LLC, LenFive LLC, LenFive Opco GP LLC, LenFive Sub III LLC, LenFive Sub LLC, LenFive Sub Opco GP LLC, Lenalto CMBS LLC, Lencraft LLC, Lennar Aircraft I LLC, Lennar Arizona Construction Inc., Lennar Arizona Inc., Lennar Associates Management Holding Company, Lennar Associates Management LLC, Lennar Avenue One LLC, Lennar Berkeley LLC, Lennar Bevard LLC, Lennar Bridges LLC, Lennar Buffington Colorado Crossing L.P., Lennar Buffington Zachary Scott L.P., Lennar Carolinas LLC, Lennar Central Park LLC, Lennar Central Region Sweep Inc., Lennar Chicago Inc., Lennar Cobra LLC, Lennar Colgate Urban Renewal Development LLC, Lennar Colorado LLC, Lennar Colorado Minerals LLC, Lennar Commercial LLC, Lennar Communities Development Inc., Lennar Communities Inc., Lennar Communities Nevada LLC, Lennar Communities of Chicago L.L.C., Lennar Concord LLC, Lennar Construction Inc., Lennar Cory Road LLC, Lennar Courts LLC, Lennar Developers Inc., Lennar Ewing LLC, Lennar Financial Services LLC, Lennar Flamingo LLC, Lennar Fresno Inc., Lennar Gardens LLC, Lennar Georgia Inc., Lennar Greer Ranch Venture LLC, Lennar Heritage Fields LLC, Lennar Hingham Holdings LLC, Lennar Hingham JV LLC, Lennar Homes Holding LLC, Lennar Homes LLC, Lennar Homes NJ LLC, Lennar Homes of Arizona Inc., Lennar Homes of California Inc., Lennar Homes of Indiana Inc., Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction Ltd., Lennar Homes of Texas Sales and Marketing Ltd., Lennar Homes of Utah Inc., Lennar International Holding LLC, Lennar International LLC, Lennar Lakeside Investor LLC, Lennar Layton LLC, Lennar Living LLC, Lennar Lytle LLC, Lennar MF Holdings LLC, Lennar MPA LLC, Lennar MPA WIP LLC, Lennar Mare Island LLC, Lennar Marina A Funding LLC, Lennar Massachusetts Properties Inc., Lennar Middletown LLC, Lennar Monmouth Redevelopers LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Victory Block G Mezz LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily Builders LLC, Lennar Multifamily Communities LLC, Lennar Multifamily Venture DC LP, Lennar New Jersey Holdings LLC, Lennar New Jersey Properties Inc., Lennar New York LLC, Lennar Northeast Properties LLC, Lennar Northwest Inc., Lennar OHB LLC, Lennar PI Acquisition LLC, Lennar PI Property Acquisition LLC, Lennar PIS Management Company LLC, Lennar Pacific Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Management Inc., Lennar Plumsted Urban Renewal LLC, Lennar Point LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core GP LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core LP LLC, Lennar Realty Inc., Lennar Reno LLC, Lennar Riverwalk LLC, Lennar Sacramento Inc., Lennar Sales Corp., Lennar Sierra Sunrise LLC, Lennar Spencer's Crossing LLC, Lennar Sun Ridge LLC, Lennar Texas Holding LLC, Lennar Ventures LLC, Lennar West Valley LLC, Lennar Winncrest LLC, Lennar at Franklin LLC, Lennar at Jackson LLC, Lennar at Marlboro 79 LLC, Lennar at Monroe LLC, Lennar.com Inc., Longleaf Acquisition LLC, Lori Gardens Associates II LLC, Lori Gardens Associates III LLC, Lori Gardens Associates L.L.C., Lorton Station LLC, Lyons Lennar Farms LLC, Madrona Ridge L.L.C., Madrona Village L.L.C., Madrona Village Mews L.L.C., Majestic Woods LLC, Maple and Broadway Holdings LLC, Menifee Development LLC, Mid-County Utilities Inc., Miralago West Lennar LLC, Mission Viejo 12S Venture LP, Mission Viejo Holdings Inc., Motomic Diagnostics LLC, Multibank 2009-1 CML-ADC Venture LLC, Multibank 2009-1 RES-ADC Venture LLC, NC Properties I LLC, NC Properties II LLC, North American Asset Development LLC, Northbridge L.L.C., OHC/Ascot Belle Meade LLC, One SR L.P., PD-Len Boca Raton LLC, PG Properties Holding LLC, POMAC LLC, PT Metro LLC, Pace Drive Holdings LLC, Palm Gardens At Doral Clubhouse LLC, Palm Gardens at Doral LLC, Palm Springs Classic LLC, Palm Vista Preserve LLC, Patuxent Infrastructure Inc., Pioneer Meadows Development LLC, Pioneer Meadows Investments LLC, Plaza Condominium Ventures LLC, Portside Marina Developers L.L.C., Portside SM Associates L.L.C., Portside SM Holdings L.L.C., Portside Shipyard Developers L.L.C., Prestonfield L.L.C., Quail Roost Lennar LLC, RCCF GP II LLC, RCCF GP III LLC, RCCF GP IV LLC, RCCF GP LLC, RES-FL EIGHT LLC, RES-FL SEVEN LLC, RES-FL VISION ONE LLC, RES-FL VISION TWO LLC, RES-GA CASCADE LLC, RES-GA DIAMOND MEADOWS LLC, RES-GA KAP LLC, RES-GA SOUTHERN PLANTATION LLC, RES-GA THIRTEEN LLC, RES-GA TWELVE LLC, RES-GA WEST LLC, RES-IL ONE LLC, RES-NC ONE LLC, RES-PA LSJ LLC, RES-PA POM LLC, RES-TX BOULEVARD LLC, RH Insurance Company Inc., RH MOA BBCMS 2017-C1 LLC, RH MOA CF 2017-C8 LLC, RH MOA LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C4 LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C6 LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 CLASS B LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 LLC, RL BB FINANCIAL LLC, RL BB INACTIVE LLC, RL BB-AL LLC, RL BB-FL ALHI LLC, RL BB-GA LLC, RL BB-GA RMH LLC, RL BB-IL LLC, RL BB-IN AA LLC, RL BB-IN KRE LLC, RL BB-IN KRE OP LLC, RL BB-IN KRE RE LLC, RL BB-MS LLC, RL BB-NC LLC, RL BB-OH LLC, RL BB-SC BROOKSA LLC, RL BB-SC CLR II LLC, RL BB-SC CLR III LLC, RL BB-SC CLR IV LLC, RL BB-SC CLR LLC, RL BB-SC CRRC LLC, RL BB-SC RACEDAY LLC, RL BB-TN BRISTOL LLC, RL BB-TN LLC, RL BB-TN RACEDAY TOWER LLC, RL BB-TX LLC, RL BB-WV LLC, RL CMBS Holdings LLC, RL CML 2009-1 Investments LLC, RL REGI ARKANSAS LLC, RL REGI Alabama LLC, RL REGI FINANCIAL LLC, RL REGI Florida LLC, RL REGI GEORGIA LLC, RL REGI INACTIVE LLC, RL REGI KANSAS LLC, RL REGI MISSISSIPPI LLC, RL REGI MISSOURI LLC, RL REGI NORTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI SOUTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI TENNESSEE LLC, RL REGI VIRGINIA LLC, RL REGI-AL HP LLC, RL REGI-AL VRC LLC, RL REGI-FL CRC LLC, RL REGI-FL ESH LLC, RL REGI-FL FT. PIERCE LLC, RL REGI-FL GDL LLC, RL REGI-FL ITALIA LLC, RL REGI-FL MRED LLC, RL REGI-FL RDI LLC, RL REGI-FL SARASOTA LLC, RL REGI-FL TPL LLC, RL REGI-FL VARC LLC, RL REGI-GA DRAD LLC, RL REGI-GA HAY DB LLC, RL REGI-GA MHU LLC, RL REGI-GA MPD LLC, RL REGI-GA RLR LLC, RL REGI-MO GMB LLC, RL REGI-MO MOSCOW MILLS LLC, RL REGI-MS Double H LLC, RL REGI-MS OCEAN SPRINGS LLC, RL REGI-NC CIL LLC, RL REGI-NC LITTLE WING LLC, RL REGI-NC MLD LLC, RL REGI-NC Mland LLC, RL REGI-NC RALEIGH LLC, RL REGI-NC SUGARM LLC, RL REGI-NM LLC, RL REGI-SC CTL LLC, RL REGI-SC LAKE E LLC, RL REGI-SC TDG LLC, RL REGI-SC TIG LLC, RL REGI-TN OAK LLC, RL REGI-TN SEVIERVILLE LLC, RL RES 2009-1 Investments LLC, RMF Alliance LLC, RMF Commercial LLC, RMF PR New York LLC, RMF Partner LLC, RMF SUB 1 LLC, RMF SUB 2 LLC, RMF SUB 3 LLC, RMF SUB 4 LLC, RMF SUB 5 LLC, RMV LLC, Raintree Village II L.L.C., Raintree Village L.L.C., Ral-Len BM LLC, Ral-Len LLC, Rannel Capital WeWork Series D LLC, Rannel Holdings LLC, Rannel Interests LLC, Rannel Investments LLC, Rannel Mortgage Investments LLC, Rannel Proprietary Investments LLC, Renaissance Joint Venture, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove II LLC, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove LLC, Reserve at River Park LLC, Reserve at South Harrison LLC, Rialto Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Rialto Credit Partnership GP LLC, Rialto Mezz Partners GP LLC, Rialto Mortgage Finance LLC, Rialto Partners GP II LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Debt LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Property LLC, Rialto Partners GP LLC, Rialto RSSF GP LLC, Riverwalk at Lago Mar LLC, Rocking Horse Minerals LLC, Rutenberg Homes Inc. (Florida), Rutenberg Homes of Texas Inc., Rye Hill Company LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada Holdings LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada LLC, Ryland Homes of California Inc., S. Florida Construction II LLC, S. Florida Construction III LLC, S. Florida Construction LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve South LLC, SPIC CPCO Inc., SPIC CPDB Inc., SPIC CPRB Inc., SPIC Del Sur LLC, SPIC Dublin LLC, SPIC Mesa LLC, SPIC NC Fremont LLC, SPIC Otay LLC, SPIC Springs LLC, San Felipe Indemnity Co. Ltd., San Lucia LLC, San Simeon Lennar LLC, Schulz Ranch Developers LLC, Seminole/70th LLC, Siena at Old Orchard L.L.C., Sierra Vista Communities LLC, Silver Springs Lennar LLC, South Development LLC, Southbank Holding LLC, Spanish Springs Development LLC, St. Charles Active Adult Community LLC, St. Charles Community LLC, Standard Pacific 1 Inc., Standard Pacific Investment Corp., Standard Pacific of Colorado Inc., Standard Pacific of Florida, Standard Pacific of Florida GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Las Vegas Inc., Standard Pacific of Orange County Inc., Standard Pacific of Tampa GP, Standard Pacific of Tampa GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Tonner Hills LLC, Standard Pacific of Walnut Hills Inc., Standard Pacific of the Carolinas LLC, Stoney Holdings LLC, Storey Lake Club LLC, Storey Park Club LLC, Strategic Holdings Inc., Strategic Technologies LLC, Summerfield Venture L.L.C., SunStreet Energy Group LLC, SunStreet Manager LLC, TCO QVI LLC, TICD Hold Co. LLC, TIH Hold Co. LLC, Talega Associates LLC, Temecula Valley LLC, Terra Division LLC, Terra/Winding Creek LLC, The Baywinds Land Trust, The Bridges Club at Rancho Santa Fe Inc., The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe Sales Company Inc., The LNC Northeast Group Inc., The Oasis Club at LEN-CG South LLC, The Preserve at Coconut Creek LLC, The Vistas Club at LEN-CG South LLC, Titlezoom Company, Treasure Island Holdings LLC, Treasure Island Member LLC, Treviso Holding LLC, Two Lakes Lennar LLC, U.S. Home Corporation, U.S. Home Realty Inc., U.S. Home of Arizona Construction Co., U.S. Insurors Inc., U.S.H. Realty Inc., UAMC Holding Company LLC, UB 2018C14 MOA LLC, USH - Flag LLC, USH Equity Corporation, USH LEE LLC, USH Leasing II LLC, USH Leasing LLC, UST Lennar HW Scala SF Joint Venture, VII Crown Farm Investor LLC, Venetian Lennar LLC, Vineyard Land LLC, Vineyard Point 2009 LLC, Vista Palms Clubhouse LLC, WCI Communities, WCI Communities Inc., WCI Communities LLC, WCI Towers Northeast USA Inc., WCI Westshore LLC, WCP LLC, WIP Lennar OHB LLC, Waterview at Hanover LLC, West Lake Village LLC, West Seattle Project X LLC, West Van Buren L.L.C., Westchase Inc., Westchase Ltd., Westfield Homes USA Inc., White Course Lennar LLC, Wild Plum JV LLC, Willowbrook Investors LLC, Winncrest Natomas LLC, Woodbridge Multifamily Developer I LLC, Wright Farm L.L.C., and YLRichards4Acres 2015 LLC.

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BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities on Friday evening issued orange and yellow alerts for possible geological disasters triggered by heavy rains in parts of south and southwest China.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the China Meteorological Administration issued an orange alert for geological disasters in the south of Guangdong from 8 p.m. Friday to 8 p.m. Saturday.

The two government departments also warned of risks of rain-induced geological disasters in parts of Fujian, Guangdong and Yunnan in a yellow alert.

Residents have been advised to take precautions, especially in areas with hidden dangers.

China has a four-tier, color-coded warning system for geological disasters, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. 
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is a leading global biopharmaceutical company with a long and impressive history of innovating and developing medicines that improve the lives of patients around the world. Founded in 1887 when William McLaren Bristol and John Ripley Myers purchased the Clinton Pharmaceutical Company, the company was initially named Bristol, Myers and Company. Its first nationally recognized product, Sal Hepatica, was released in the 1890s.

Bristol Myers-Squibb offers chemically synthesized drugs and biologics administered through injections or infusions to patients. The company's pharmaceutical portfolio includes a large number of well-known products. BMS's primary research and development sites are in New Jersey, California, Spain, Massachusetts, New York, Belgium, Japan, India and Massachusetts. The company's products sell to wholesalers and distributors around the world.

Bristol Myers-Squibb has a robust pipeline of investigational medicines in its pipeline. In addition, the company has established strategic collaborations and partnerships with various companies, successfully launching new products. These partnerships and investments generate portions of the company's revenue.

Bristol Myers-Squibb has acquired several companies over the years, including Medarex in 2009, ZymoGenetics in 2010, Inhibitex Inc. in 2012, Amylin Pharmaceuticals in 2012, iPierian in 2014, Flexus Biosciences in 2015, Cardioxyl in 2015, Padlock Therapeutics in 2016, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals in 2017, IFM Therapeutics in 2017, Celgene in 2019, Otezla in 2019, Forbius in 2020, MyoKardia in 2020 and Turning Point Therapeutics in 2022.

In 2005, the company divested individual consumer products and its subsequent consumer products businesses. In December 2014, the company received FDA approval for its cancer drug, Opdivo, used to treat skin cancers that do not respond to drug therapies. In 2019, the company divested its consumer health business, UPSA, to Taisho.

The company has also faced several scandals, lawsuits and investigations over the years, the biggest of which is the ongoing $1 billion lawsuit from Guatemala for the company's role in a 1940s experiment that infected hundreds with syphilis. In 2001 BMS faced an accounting scandal that resulted in a restatement of revenues from 1999 to 2001. In 2002, BMS faced a lawsuit based on illegally maintaining a monopoly on Taxol, a chemotherapy medication. The former head of the pharma group and the ex-CFO were indicted for federal securities violations in 2005. In July of 2006, an FBI raid on the company's corporate offices revealed that the company took steps to delay the release of a generic version of one of its drugs.

BMS began a significant restructuring in 2009, focusing on the pharmaceutical business and biologic products, productivity initiatives and cost-cutting. The U.S. attorney forced the company into oversight and appointed a monitor as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. Lou Schmukler joined Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2010 as global product development and design president.

In 2013, Forbes magazine ranked the company as the drug company of the year. Dr. Giovanni Caforio took the reigns as CEO in 2015. In 2017, reports began to surface that activist investor Carl Icahn took a stake in the company, widely seen as a signal for a potential future takeover.

As Bristol-Myers Squibb continues to experience success and growth, the company is committed to delivering innovative treatments to patients and staying ahead of the curve in the biopharmaceutical industry. With its focus on research and development and a long and rich history of delivering innovative medicines, BMS offers an excellent long-term investment opportunity.
Southern Cross Media Group Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation of audio content for distribution on broadcast and digital networks. It operates in two segments, Audio and Television. The company owns 99 radio stations in FM, AM, and DAB+ radio, as well as 34 regional radio stations; broadcasts 93 free to air TV signals in regional Australia; operates LiSTNR, an audio destination for consumers housing radio, podcasts, music, and news; and offers sales representation for open audio platform SoundCloud and Sonos Radio. It also provides social media, live events, and digital platforms that deliver national and local entertainment, and news content. The company was formerly known as Macquarie Media Group. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in South Melbourne, Australia.
2 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Tellurian in the last twelve months. There are currently 1 sell rating and 1 buy rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "hold" TELL shares. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in TELL, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.

View TELL analyst ratings or view top-rated stocks.
Unum Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial protection benefit solutions primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, and internationally. It operates through Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, and Closed Block and Corporate segments. The company offers group long-term and short-term disability, group life, and accidental death and dismemberment products; supplemental and voluntary products, such as individual disability, voluntary benefits, and dental and vision products; and accident, sickness, disability, life, and cancer and critical illness products. It also provides group pension, individual life and corporate-owned life insurance, reinsurance pools and management operations, and other miscellaneous products. The company sells its products primarily to employers for the benefit of employees. Unum Group sells its products through field sales personnel, independent brokers, consultants, and independent contractor agency sales force. Unum Group was founded in 1848 and is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
VMware, Inc. provides software solutions in the areas of modern applications, cloud management and infrastructure, networking, security, and workspaces in the United States and internationally. It offers VMware multi-cloud solutions, including VMware vSphere, a data center infrastructure that provides the fundamental compute layer; and vSAN and VxRail, which offers holistic data storage and protection options to applications running on vSphere; as well as VMware Cloud Foundation, a cloud platform that combines its vSphere, vSAN, and NSX with VMware Aria Cloud Management into an integrated stack that delivers ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds. The company also provides networking solutions, such as VMware NSX, NSX Distributed and Gateway Firewalls, NSX Network Detection and Response Engine, NSX Advanced Load Balancer, Tanzu Service Mesh, HCX, and VMware SASE; security solutions consisting of VMware Carbon Black Endpoint, Workload, and Container; and anywhere workspace solutions comprising Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management, Access, Intelligent Hub, Horizon, Mobile Threat Defence, and Digital Employee Experience Management. In addition, it offers application modernization solutions, such as Tanzu Application and Operations Platform, Tanzu Application Service, Tanzu Data Suite, and Tanzu Labs; and cloud management solutions, including VMware Aria Cloud Management, VMware Aria Suite, VMware Aria Universal Suite, and vCloud Suite. The company sells its products through distributors, resellers, system vendors, systems integrators, and contractors. VMware, Inc. has a strategic alliance with Amazon Web Services to build and deliver an integrated hybrid solution. VMware, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in residential real estate development and construction in the People's Republic of China, the United States, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom. The company develops residential projects, such as multi-layer apartment buildings, sub-high-rise apartment buildings, high-rise apartment buildings; auxiliary services and amenities, such as retail outlets, leisure and health facilities, kindergartens, and schools, as well as office, mixed-use, and commercial properties. It also acquires development sites through public auctions of government land and acquisitions of entities. In addition, the company provides property management services for its developments and other real estate-related services; offers landscaping, engineering and management, real estate consulting, leasing management, management consulting, and technical services; operates retail stores; and installs intercom systems. Further, it engages in the purchase, sale, lease, and brokerage of real estate; sale of construction materials; development and sale of robots; operation of internet platform for real estate property financing; and provision of electronic commerce and catering services. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.
Passengers wait for trains at the waiting hall of Chongqing North Railway Station in Chongqing, southwest China, Aug. 31, 2023. The 62-day summer travel rush officially concluded on Thursday. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- China has wrapped up a 62-day summer travel season, during which its railways handled a record number of passenger trips -- another sign of improving momentum in the world's second-largest economy.

China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. said the country's railways handled a record-high total of 830 million passenger trips from July 1 to Aug. 31 amid a boom in tourism, with parents and students eagerly embracing their first post-pandemic summer vacations.

The figure is higher than the 735 million trips recorded during the same period of 2019, and nearly twice of the 440 million recorded during the same period of 2022.

The highest number of passenger trips handled by the country's railways in a single day over the last two months was 15.69 million, according to the company.

To meet increasing travel demand, China's railways have tried to maximize their transportation potential and increase their capacities while improving services.

The country's railway operators arranged 10,269 passenger trains per day during this year's summer travel rush, up from 8,959 during the same period of 2019.

Cross-border railway passenger flows also surged, with the China-Laos Railway -- linking the Lao capital of Vientiane with Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province -- handling 26,000 passenger trips during the period.

The impressive passenger traffic data is further evidence that the recovery of the country's tourism sector and economic activity is picking up steam.

Domestic tourist trips this summer surpassed 1.8 billion in number, generating a total tourism revenue of 1.21 trillion yuan (about 168.52 billion U.S. dollars), according to the latest data from the China Tourism Academy.

The country's travel market this summer was significantly hotter than in the same period of 2019, with many popular destinations receiving their highest-ever numbers of tourists, according to the academy.

Compared with the summer of 2019, air ticket bookings to some popular domestic cities increased 40 percent, and hotel bookings surged 140 percent.

Dai Bin, president of the academy, said this was the hottest summer travel market seen in the last five years, boosted by unleashed pent-up demand and supportive policies for the tourism sector.

The tourism sector has become a bright spot in the country's continued economic recovery, with GDP growth picking up from 4.5 percent in the first quarter to 6.3 percent in the second quarter.

The country's purchasing managers' index for the non-manufacturing sector came in at 51 in August, standing well above the boom-or-bust line of 50 for an eighth consecutive month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday.

Analysts believe the growth momentum will continue improving as the effects of the country's pro-growth policies gradually filter through.

Amid efforts to boost domestic demand and sustain economic recovery, China has come to regard tourism as a key area to revive and expand consumption at home.

In a 20-point plan unveiled in late July to spur consumer spending, the country's top economic planner pledged to introduce favorable cultural and tourism consumption measures, develop rural tourism, and scale up financial support for the tourism sector. 
Weather Alert

...FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM CDT /10 PM EDT/ THIS EVENING TO 9 AM CDT /10 AM EDT/ TUESDAY... * WHAT...Sub-freezing temperatures between 21 and 27 degrees expected. * WHERE...All of southern Illinois, southwest Indiana, western Kentucky and southeast Missouri. * WHEN...From 9 PM CDT this evening to 9 AM CDT Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Frost and freeze conditions will kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...This hard freeze will bring an end to the growing season. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. To prevent freezing and possible bursting of outdoor water pipes they should be wrapped, drained, or allowed to drip slowly. Those that have in-ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above- ground pipes to protect them from freezing. &&
Guests visit an exhibition featuring former U.S. general Joseph Stilwell's life at the Stilwell Museum in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality Aug. 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

In another recent reply to a letter from the U.S.-China Youth and Student Exchange Association and friendly personages from all walks of life in the U.S. state of Washington, Xi stressed that the hope and foundation of the China-U.S. relationship lie in the people, and its future lies in the youths.

He hopes more youths from China and the United States can get to know each other, move forward together, become generational ambassadors of bilateral friendship, and continuously inject impetus into the development of bilateral ties.

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- "I am glad to see that General's dedication to friendship between China and the United States has been passed down to the fifth generation of his family," said Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday when replying to a letter from John Easterbrook, grandson of former U.S. General Joseph Stilwell.



Joseph Stilwell, a former U.S. general, served as commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. Throughout his 42-year military service, Stilwell made five visits to China and lived in the country for 12 years.

Stilwell was an old friend of the Chinese people, who gave active support to China's cause of liberation and progress and made positive contributions to the friendship between the two peoples, which the Chinese people will never forget, Xi wrote in the reply letter.

Easterbrook told Xinhua that his intention in writing the letter was to tell Xi that the Stilwell family has always been committed to promoting people-to-people friendship between China and the United States.

In the letter, he paid tribute to Xi's long-term support for cultural exchanges between the United States and China and expressed the Stilwell family's wish and determination to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

In his reply, Xi thanked Easterbrook for sharing the story about the friendly exchanges between General Stilwell and several generations of the Stilwell family and China. Xi said that from the Stilwell family, he felt the goodwill of the American people towards the Chinese people.

Marking the 140th birth anniversary of Joseph Stilwell, a series of commemorative events were organized in early August in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Over 150 attendees, including descendants of Stilwell, government representatives from both China and the United States, experts, and scholars, participated in these events. Easterbrook, in his 80s, delivered a video speech, and his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren were present in Chongqing.

Photo taken on Sept. 2, 2015 shows the image of Joseph W. Stilwell, in Beijing, capital of China.



Joseph W. Stilwell is the grandson of former U.S. Army General Joseph Warren Stilwell, who helped the Chinese government and people to fight against Japanese aggression. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday granted medals to 10 international anti-fascist fighters who fought for China in World War II. (Xinhua/Liu Jinhai)

"Chinese people never forget a friend," said Easterbrook.

Tao Yan, the curator of the Stilwell Museum in Chongqing, said reviewing the glorious history of General Stilwell who stood side by side with the Chinese people facilitates the inheritance of the precious friendship between the two peoples.

Easterbrook, who has visited China 17 times and had countless contacts and exchanges with the Chinese people, said he was deeply impressed by the way the Chinese people treat others.

"I have faith in the Chinese soldiers and the Chinese people, fundamentally great democratic, no bars of caste or religion, honest, frugal, industrious, cheerful, independent, tolerant, friendly, and courteous," Easterbrook read the quotes of General Stilwell to Xinhua.

"And I might add," Easterbrook continued. "We still see that in the Chinese people today."

Nancy Easterbrook Millward, John Easterbrook's daughter, said they feel very fortunate to introduce the Chinese culture and the Chinese people to their children "to really understand their great, great-grandfather's legacy in China."



Noting the children were able to meet some other children at their age in China, she said they were "hoping that is just the start of new friendships moving forward."

In his letter, Xi invited the Stilwell family to often visit China in the future, expressing his hope that Easterbrook and other members of the Stilwell family would continue to contribute to the development of friendship between the Chinese and U.S. people.

In another recent reply to a letter from the U.S.-China Youth and Student Exchange Association and friendly personages from all walks of life in the U.S. state of Washington, Xi stressed that the hope and foundation of the China-U.S. relationship lie in the people, and its future lies in the youths.

He hopes more youths from China and the United States can get to know each other, move forward together, become generational ambassadors of bilateral friendship, and continuously inject impetus into the development of bilateral ties.

Cascade Elementary School students show their Happy Chinese New Year cards made for Chinese President Xi Jinping, in the town of Orem in the U.S. state of Utah, on Jan. 21, 2020. (Xinhua)

"Through the exchanges, the friendship between the young people of China and the United States has grown, and the understanding and respect for each other deepened," said David Chong, founder and president of the U.S.-China Youth and Student Exchange Association.

The correspondence between Xi and his American friends has inspired people from various walks of life. "I'm very glad that the president heard about us because I want him to know how thankful I am and have a lot of gratitude," said Chancy Williams, a student from the Steilacoom High School in the U.S. state of Washington.

Recalling a trip to China in July, Williams said he enjoyed every moment in China, and the most unforgettable experiences were appreciating Chinese traditional operas, trying on traditional costumes, and learning to sing songs.

Ron Chow, co-chair of the U.S.-China Youth and Student Exchange Association, told Xinhua that he has been involved in youth exchange activities between the two countries for many years, and has been witnessing the genuine sincerity and friendship that the youths of both countries show towards each other.

He said he believes that the profound emotions between young people hold significant importance for the future development of the relationship between the two countries. Chow added that such exchanges can establish a strong bridge of friendship and sow countless seeds of friendship in the hearts of the American people.

When meeting with Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in June, Xi also said the foundation of China-U.S. relations lies in the people. "We have always placed our hope on the American people and wish all the best for the friendship between the two peoples," he said.

The interactions between Xi and his American friends, linking hearts across the Pacific, are just a microcosm of the broader scope of exchanges between China and the United States, promoting the stability of the China-U.S. relationship.

As Xi said in many speeches, "amity between people holds the key to sound relations between states."
On the Beach, Nevil Shutes 1957 book, was recently staged by the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) in a two-act adaptation by playwright Tommy Murphy (Significant Others, Gwen in Purgatory, Holding the Man). The show was directed by Kip Williams, the STCs artistic director.

Tai Hara, Contessa Treffone, Ben OToole and Michelle Lim Davidson in Sydney Theatre Companys On the Beach, 2023. [Photo: Sydney Theatre Company: Daniel Boud ]

Shutes story is set in the Australian city of Melbourne in 1963in other words, a few years into the futurefollowing a devastating nuclear war in the northern hemisphere, and what are the final months of human civilisation. All human life has been wiped out in North America, Europe, China and the Soviet Union, and a deadly radiation cloud is moving southward towards Australia.

City residents, along with the captain and crew of the visiting American nuclear submarine USS Scorpion, are preparing for their inevitable deaths with only state-sanctioned suicide pills to ease their final days.

Principal characters in the STCs production are Australian senior naval officer Peter Holmes (Ben OToole) and his wife Mary (Michelle Lim Davidson) who have a baby girl; Moira Davidson (Contessa Treffone), who falls in love with US submarine captain Dwight Towers (Tai Hara); and John Osborne (Matthew Backer), an Australian scientist.



Shutes novel was an immediate financial success in 1957, selling over a hundred thousand copies in the first weeks after its publication, and quickly becoming an international best seller. Twelve years after the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, millions of people around the world were deeply concerned about the possibility of nuclear war.

Nevil Shute

US director Stanley Kramer acquired the rights and the movie, shot in Melbourne and featuring some of Hollywoods greatsGregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkinswas released in 1959. It was a fictional scenario, Gardner said of the film, but my God, everyone in the cast and crew knew it [nuclear war] could happen I was proud of being part of this film.

Other film and television productions have since been made. These include a made-for-television version in 2000 with Armand Assante, Rachel Ward, and Bryan Brown, followed by a full-cast audio dramatisation in 2008. In 2013, Lawrence Johnston directed Fallout, a documentary about the production of the Kramers film.

The STCs staging of On the Beachthe first ever theatrical productionis timely and politically significant. Its four-week season at the 800-seat Roslyn Packer Theatre in central Sydney was well attended, indicating that Shutes frightening story still resonates, not just with those who read it in the late 1950s, but for a new generation.

In fact, the ongoing and increasingly public speculation by government and military officials about the possible use of nuclear weapons in the US-led NATO war against Russia in the Ukraine, make Shutes novel even more relevant than when it was released. Likewise, the Albanese governments deepening involvement in US-led preparations for war against China, with multi-billion dollar purchases of nuclear submarines and other deadly weaponry, and the hosting of major military exercises in northern Australia, is encountering growing popular opposition.



Underpinning Shutes book is his determination to raise awareness about the possibility and dangers of nuclear war. This is effectively presented in the opening pastiche of the STC production that gives a real sense of the impending danger that drives the authors narrative.

As audiences arrive and are seated, actors dressed in 1950s beach wear, gradually populate the stage in lackadaisical fashion. As they look upstage towards an imaginary sea, suggested on stage with the use of a huge white lightweight horizontal curtain. Subtle lighting changes occur as a gentle breeze develops, causing the giant curtain to flow, gently at first, then rising to a billow.

We hear a distant rumble and see a slightly out-of-focus image of an atomic bomb blast playing out behind the curtain which then slowly passes across the stage and the actors. It is a chilling and transformative moment, drawing in the cast and the audience, as they recognise that they are caught up in an unfolding tragedy.

Despite this powerful opening scene and the overarching high stakes of the story, many of the scenes that followed failed to capture or maintain this intensity.

STC marketing promoted its version of On the Beach as a vast, poetic and haunting story of community, dignity and love in dark times and one that highlights resilience, family love and communities rallying together in the face of the ultimate existential crisis.



Director Kip Williams says, This is undoubtedly a tragic story, but our version is also funny, charming, transporting and imbued with a sense of hope for the ways we, as a society, can circumvent the crises that are currently staring us in the face. On the Beach, he continues, is at its heart a piece about loss and learning to live on in the wake of grief.

This is an odd and somewhat complacent take on Shutes book, which was not about learning to live on in the wake of grief but the impending end of human civilisation, and, implicitly, how that possibility should be opposed.

On the flap of a 2010 edition of the novel, a Guardian reviewer rightly states, On the Beach played an important role in raising awareness about the threat of nuclear war. We stared into the abyss and then stepped back from the brink.

Rather than circumventing the crises currently staring us in the face or creating a sense of hope, as Williams suggests, Shute directly confronts his readers with the cataclysmic consequences of inaction.

As scientist John Osborne says in the original story, Dogs will outlive us. Mice will last a lot longer, but not so long as rabbits. So far as we can see, the rabbit has them all lickedhell be the last Theyll all go in the end, of course. Therell be nothing left alive here by the end of the next year. The most gripping scenes in the STC production were those that bluntly explored these issues.

The USS Scorpions reconnaissance trip to Cairns and the northern parts of Australia, and Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, is particularly effective.

Tony Cogin, Tai Hara, Elijah Williams in Sydney Theatre Companys On the Beach, 2023. [Photo: Sydney Theatre Company: Daniel Boud]

The submarine scenes involved a long jetty-like structure on the central revolving stage with a periscope dropping from the fly above. The stripped back minimalist staging put the focus on the ensemble of actors, who create real intensity during their perilous journey towards the radiation clouds.

This was even more disturbing during a later voyage to San Francisco, Seattle, and Santa Maria Island in the Puget Sound. Travelling cautiously to avoid possible wreckage and detritus, the crew and the audience are faced directly with the horrendous consequences of nuclear war. Without revealing too much more about the story, all those who once lived in those areas had perished.

Many other scenes in the play, however, especially those dealing with the community, family and love interests, were flat and strangely unmoving. Some were marred by a tendency, particularly in the first act to find moments of comic relief. This gave the impression that either the director or the playwright did not trust the audiences ability to handle the seriously tragic nature of the story.

The first act appears to have stuck closely to the books narrative, even using much of its dialogue, but the second act, which involved some reworking of the principal female characters, was significantly compressed and rushed.

Modification of the female characters in the STC production to modernise Shutes novel is problematic. For example, Moiras evolution from a racy, binge-drinking young woman to a reformed party-girl, placidly devoted to submarine captain Towers is not sufficiently drawn out or developed and is unconvincing.

Contessa Treffone and Tai Hara in Sydney Theatre Companys On the Beach, 2023. [Photo: Sydney Theatre Company: Daniel Boud]

Murphy says in the program notes that Moira and Mary take the stage with more agency than their literary counterparts no longer relying on the instruction of male characters.

Unsurprisingly the female characters in Shutes novel are stylistically outdated but Murphys script and its preoccupation with providing them with more agency, muddies the waters, diverting from the storys central focus.

The most problematic scene, however, in the STCs play was the decision to end the play with a small girl dancing around a tree, an implausible and simplistic attempt to inject a sense of hope.

By contrast the last moments in Shutes novel are genuinely moving and powerful. Moira sits in her car with a red box of suicide pills at her side, watching USS Scorpionthe last working ship left on the planet and carrying the man she lovessail off into the distance. The reader is reminded of T.S. Eliots The Hollow Men, which Shute quotes at the beginning of his book, This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but with a whimper.

That scriptwriter Murphy and director Williams are grappling with Shutes iconic work and the very existence of humanity after a nuclear war is to be commended. Their efforts, however, are uneven because the urgent warnings underpinning the novel are sidelined. Whether Murphy and Williams intend or not, the overall result is to suggest that nothing can be done to prevent such a catastrophe. Shutes original novel is not animated by a whistling past the graveyard sense of optimism but infused with genuine urgency and the need to prevent nuclear war.
ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) Commission has suspended Gabon from the pan-African bloc until normal constitutional order is restored in the country following the latest military coup.

The decision to suspend Gabon from the AU membership was made by the Peace and Security Council of the AU Commission during its latest meeting on the situation in the Central African country, the AU said in a statement issued late Thursday.

The council "decides to immediately suspend the participation of Gabon in all activities of the AU and its organs and institutions until the restoration of constitutional order in the country, in line with the relevant AU instruments," the statement read.

The council also called for the immediate release and guarantee of the human rights, personal integrity, safety and health of President Ali Bongo, his family members as well as members of his government.

It condemned any politically motivated arrests in the circumstances and stressed the importance of ensuring that all political detainees are processed through the judicial system as prescribed by the law of the country.

The council demanded the immediate restoration of constitutional order through the conduct of free, fair, credible and transparent elections that would be observed by the AU Election Observer Mission and the concerned region.

It also urged the Gabonese military to immediately return to the barracks and unconditionally return power to the civilian authority, and uphold their constitutional mandate and the principle of constitutionalism.

The council further urged the country's military to refrain from any interference in the political processes in Gabon, failing which, the council will take necessary measures including the imposition of targeted sanctions against the perpetrators of the coup.

The Gabonese military on Wednesday announced on television that they had taken power and put President Bongo under house arrest.

Gabon's national electoral body said earlier in the day that Bongo from the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party was reelected for a third term in Saturday's election. The military, however, canceled presidential election results and dissolved state institutions.

Bongo, 64, once served as minister of defense and other posts in the government. He was elected president of Gabon in 2009 and was reelected in 2016.

Several African countries, such as Cameroon, Angola and the Republic of the Congo, as well as regional and international organizations, have condemned the coup in Gabon.

The Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), the Central African sub-regional bloc, has "strongly" condemned the military takeover and called for immediate restoration of constitutional order in Gabon.

The CEMAC also called on stakeholders to "preserve peace and strongly urges them to prioritize dialogue."

Meanwhile, Chad issued a statement Wednesday, saying it was following the development in Gabon "with great attention and concern" and called for a meeting of the Economic Community of Central African States, a regional organization comprising 11 states in Central Africa.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday condemned the coup in Gabon. Guterres is following the situation in Gabon very closely, and notes with deep concern the announcement of the election results amid reports of serious infringements of fundamental freedoms, according to a statement. 
An inmate in Tennessee gave birth alone in her cell this week after requests to be taken to the hospital were denied by jail staff. Despite alerting staff on the medical pod in which she was being held that she was experiencing contractions and needed to go to the hospital, jail staff kept the inmate in her cell intermittently checking her condition for an hour until she gave birth.

In this March 28, 2018 photo, inmate Krystle Sweat talks with her son Robby, 10, on a video conference call as he visits her at the Campbell County Jail in Jacksboro, Tennessee. Inmates are not allowed face-to-face visits so visitors must make an appointment to book a one-hour slot in the jail's video conference room. Only through a screen and a handset will they meet each other. [AP Photo/David Goldman]



According to the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office news release posted on Facebook, the inmate alerted a deputy about her contractions at 11:31 a.m. Sunday morning. The deputy relayed the issue to a licensed practical nurse who did an initial assessment on the inmate. After a consultation with medical staff, the case was handed over to a registered nurse who did an additional assessment and ordered more tests. At 12:41 p.m., a deputy summoned to the inmates cell discovered she had delivered her baby alone. The mother and baby were transported to the hospital by EMS and were reported to be in stable condition as of Tuesday night.



The sheriffs office conducted an internal review of the incident, but the reason why the inmate was left alone in her jail cell while in labor and not taken to the hospital instead has not been disclosed, nor is it known whether jail staff will face discipline for this incident.



The population of women being incarcerated in Americas state prisons grew 834 percent in the last 40 years, double the rate of men in that period. And while initiatives over the last decade, including measures taken during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic, have reduced the number of men in prisons and jails nationwide, women are being decarcerated at a much lower rate.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative there were 1.9 million people incarcerated in the United States in 2023, a decline from the peak of around 2.3 million in 2009. Of those currently locked up, 173,000 are women, this includes 76,000 in jails, the majority of whom have not been convicted of a crime.



According to the Pregnancy in Prison Statistics (PIPS) Project, an estimated 58,000 pregnant women are jailed every year. Of those, between 5-8 percent enter the penal system pregnant. Thousands of babies every year are born in a system ill equipped to respond to the needs of pregnant and postpartum mothers and their infants.



Mandatory reproductive healthcare for incarcerated women in the United States only began in 1976 with the Supreme Court decision in Estelle v. Gamble which established that prisoners have a constitutional right to receive adequate healthcare including reproductive healthcare. Still, the quality of healthcare continues to vary significantly by jurisdiction, ranging from abysmal to nonexistent, as evidenced by number of cruel deaths of inmates suffering mental health crises reported by the WSWS earlier this year.



In an effort to address the lack of guidance for treatment of incarcerated women the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) were adopted in 2010.



As women are largely jailed for non-violent crimes, the Bangkok Rules propose alternative punishments for pregnant women such as the exemption, deferral, or substitution of sentences and non-custodial sanctions such as house arrest and electronic monitoring rather than jail time for pregnant women and mothers of young children.



However, only eleven countries have adopted these more humane consequences for pregnant offenders. For example, in Ukraine, pregnant women serving up to five years in prison can be discharged on probation until their child is seven years old. Georgia will suspend a sentence until the child reaches one year old at which point the prison sentence can be exempted or commuted. In Armenia, jail time is not given to women or caretakers with children under the age of eight years old.



In 2021, Minnesota became the first state in the United States to allow pregnant and postpartum women into community-based release programs. But it remains the exception as evidenced by recent cases of women giving birth alone in their jail cells.

In 2017, an inmate in Kentucky begged for help from jail staff before giving birth alone in her jail cell. In Colorado, a womans agonized screams went unanswered as she labored in the delivery of her son in 2018. A woman in Maryland cried for help for six hours while nurses on staff at the jail ignored her in 2021.



Despite being the wealthiest country in history and despite its leadership in the field of medicine, the US has the highest maternal mortality rate of any of the wealthy western countries. As reported by the WSWS, maternal mortality rates rose 40 percent in 2021 and have risen steadily since 2000 while rates have dropped in most other western countries. It should come as no surprise, then, that the US prison system proves indifferent to the lives of pregnant women and their infants.



Once a child is born in prison, the infant is taken from its mother and is placed with family or enters the foster care system. Prison nurseries, where the baby can remain in prison with its mother do exist but are rare. The American Psychological Society has found that the bond that forms between a mother and her infant is foundational to the emotional stability of the child.



Additionally, a report published last year by the Washington University School of Medicine revealed that brain development of infants born of mothers who lived in poverty is negatively impacted. The report states, Poverty and crime can have devastating effects on a childs healthsome environmental factors influence the structure and function of young brains even before babies make their entrances into the world.



The correlation of incarceration rates in general and poverty are undeniable. The health of the women giving birth in their prison cells alone would have fared little better outside of jail except they might have got themselves to a hospital at the first signs of labor. But the lack of adequate or any insurance prevents many working class women from seeking appropriate prenatal or postpartum care.



As we wrote: The effect of the income divide is exacerbated by the reactionary social policies of state and federal governments. Medicaid, the joint federal-state program providing health insurance for low-income families, drops expanded coverage for pregnant women 60 days after they give birth, although doctors advocate a much longer period of additional care and monitoring.



As the crisis of capitalism intensifies, the indifference of the ruling elite for the lives of the working class and toilers will only increase as evidenced by the complete collapse of the public health policy with the spread of the COVID-19 and the complete denial by the Biden administration that the pandemic still rages as school resumes and children are sent back into classrooms without any mitigation from the virus.



Recent remarks from Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed the intentions of the ruling elites with regards to the plights of the poor, sick, and elderly when he said that older people, the ill and disabled will fall by the wayside in the current surge of COVID-19.

Only the mobilization of the working class, independent of the capitalist political parties and the union bureaucracies will fight and win the right to high quality healthcare for everyone, not just those who can afford it.


About 1,200 workers and retirees participated in a Monday lunchtime protest at Colombo Fort Railway Station on August 28 to oppose the Wickremesinghe governments attacks on pensions and new anti-democratic amendments to the countrys existing labour laws.

The government is targeting the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employee Trust Fund (ETF) in line with domestic debt restructuring policies ordered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A section of the Colombo Fort Railway Station protest against government austerity on 28 August, 2023.

Protesters chanted Stop EPF/ETF robbery, Do not force people to pay the debt, Stop selling post and railway services, No to slave labour laws, Immediate wage rise to counteract the skyrocketing cost of living, and Allocate sufficient funds for education and health.

Organised by the Collective of Trade Unions and Civil Society Organisations, the limited protest was called to defuse rising working-class anger over the government attacks. The alliance includes the All Telecom Employees Union (ATEU), the Ceylon Bank Employees Union (CBEU), the Ceylon Mercantile Industrial and General Workers Union, the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) and the Workers Struggle Centre (WSC) led by the pseudo-left Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). Several other unions and non-government organisations from the Free Trade Zones (FTZ) also participated.

These unions, which have called similar stage-managed events before, have no intention of mobilising workers in a genuine political and industrial fight against the Wickremesinghe government.

On July 25, around 2,000 workers, most of them from the private sector, protested outside Colombo Fort Railway Station over similar demands against government austerity. That demonstration was organised by the UNITE trade union alliance, which includes the Inter-Company Employees Union (ICEU) led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union (FTZGSEU), and the FSP-led WSC.

Determined to prevent any confrontation with the government, the union bureaucracies deliberately restricted Mondays event to a lunchbreak protest, making it impossible for workers from outside Colombo to attend. If the unions had called a strike, tens of thousands of workers would have participated.



The protest was dominated by Samagi Joint Trade Union Alliance convenor Ananda Palitha. The alliance is connected to the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the main parliamentary opposition party. Until 2021, Palitha was a union leader in President Wickremasinghes United National Party (UNP).

Sri Lankan army troops mobilised against protesters in Colombo, on 28 August 2023.

Police and military personnel blocked protesters from marching towards the Central Bank premises, citing a Fort Magistrate court order prohibiting 24 people, including FSP leader Duminda Nagamuwa, Mujibur Rahman from the SJB, and Vasudeva Nanayakkara from the Freedom Peoples Alliance from entering certain parts of Colombo.

Police then organised a phone call between Palitha and a Central Bank official who agreed to meet five union representatives. Palitha rejected this but then later told the crowd: Ive now spoken to a higher officer at the Central Bank after we said that we did not agree with five [union representatives] but said we needed a discussion on proposals by 20 people who represent strong union alliances.

The charade was yet another cynical trap organised by the unions who continue to work behind the scenes assisting the government to impose its brutal attacks.

Before dispersing demonstrators, several union leaders addressed the crowd promoting the usual falsehoods that the government could be pressured into accepting workers demands.

ATEU president Jagath Gurusinghe demagogically declared that if the government does not fulfill workers demands, the struggle will only be ended after the government, including Ranil Wickremesinghe, are driven away.

CBEU assistant secretary Shamal Nilange said: If [the government] tries to touch the EPF, [we] as a working-class movement, together with the masses will organise a joint struggle.

Given that the unions who organised Mondays protest are committed to the IMFs demands, these threats are completely bogus.



Socialist Equality Party members distributed hundreds of copies of a July 26 World Socialist Web Site titled, Sri Lankan governments employment bill aims to abolish workers basic democratic rights and spoke with retirees, private sector workers, bank employees and postal workers.

A young National Savings Bank worker denounced the Supreme Courts recent dismissal of two fundamental rights petitions seeking an order to invalidate the governments attempt to reduce loans from the EPF/ETF funds. He accused Wickremesinghe of exerting influence on the court.

When WSWS reporters pointed out that the unions had not been able to pressure any concessions from the Rajapakse or Wickremesinghe governments, he replied: Yes, of course. We all, as a country together, chased away Rajapakse but now a parasite president has come to power. All politics are bankrupt. We demanded that the will of the people be allowed, but no such thing has materialised. This is a crisis of capitalism.

Protester holds placard reveling the health crisis in Sri Lanka at demonstration against the IMF austerity on August 28, 2023

A sales worker from the Associated Battery Manufacturers in Colombo explained that he was only paid 30,000 rupees ($US93) per month. Im a casual worker but came here to support the campaign. Seven or eight of us came from my work. We dont have a union. Ive been working there for one year and hope to be made permanent, he said.

A retiree spoke with WSWS reporters. He previously worked at the state-owned State Tyre Corporation and the State Fertilizer Corporation, both of which closed under a previous UNP government. He said that about 2,000 people lost their jobs at the Fertilizer Corporation, pointing out that the privatisation of state-owned enterprises has been implemented successive Sri Lankan governments.



Referring to the government cuts to EPF/ETF, he said: This is the peoples money, its our countrys wealth but will now be lost under the governments program. This is very dangerous, and we must protest this.

Every country where the IMF intervenes has gone bankrupt. I know what has happened to many countries in the world and especially to Greece. We must keep putting on the pressure. Ranil [Wickremesinghe] wants to continue with a dictatorship but we want to drive him away.
This week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gave an interview to the BBC in which he declared that older people, the ill and disabled will fall by the wayside in the current surge of COVID-19. Fauci was not warning about what would happen unless urgent action was taken. Rather, he was seeking to justify the Biden administrations policy of inaction and cover-up in the face of a new surge of the disease.

Faucis comments reiterate the declaration in January 2022 by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky that the fact that COVID-19 predominantly kills people who are unwell to begin with is encouraging news. The statements by both Walensky and Fauci implied that the lives of chronically ill and disabled people were less valuable than healthy ones.

Three years ago, Fauci would hardly have imagined that he could make such statements. In accepting a policy of simply letting the vulnerable die, he has suffered a complete moral collapse. He is capitulating to the fascist ideologues who have long advocated allowing the coronavirus to spread without limit.

More significant than his own personal evolution, however, is what his statements say about the Biden administration, which has adopted an unstated but nonetheless deliberate policy of social murder, targeting older, chronically ill and disabled people. It amounts to a form of homicidal eugenics, reminiscent of the Nazi regimes policy of murdering handicapped people.

Fauci was speaking under conditions in which wastewater data indicates that COVID-19 cases have more than tripled over the course of the past two months, while COVID-19 hospital admissions have more than doubled. This is the first surge after the Biden administration rescinded the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) declaration and stopped counting cases on May 11, with the aim of reducing public knowledge of the spread of the disease, leaving the United States essentially flying blind into the ongoing pandemic.

Asked, How serious could it get again, Fauci sought to downplay the dangers by asserting that he believes, but does not know for certain, that the present surge of COVID-19 will see fewer hospitalizations and deaths than in the past.

Fauci claimed, 96 percent or more of the population has some degree of immunity, either through prior infection or through vaccines, or both. He continued:

I doubt very seriously whether youre going to see the hospital and death surge that weve seen in the past, even if we get a surge of infections. Because theres enough fundamental community-level protection, that even though youll find the vulnerable will fall by the wayside, theyll get infected, theyll get hospitalized and some will die, its not going to be the tsunami of cases that weve seen.

Who are these vulnerable people, who will be left to die on the side of the road?

In the United States, approximately 45.4 percent of the population are at heightened risk of complications from COVID-19 due to having at least one of six comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, asthma, hypertension and/or cancer. When factors exacerbating the risk from COVID-19 like autoimmune diseases, obesity, an organ transplant or being over 65 are added, the list of groups that will be left to fall by the wayside grows to significantly more than half of the population and approaches two-thirds.

Fauci, who had for years been a target of fascist attacks for having advocated during the Trump administration for measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, has embraced the doctrine of herd immunity. This is the conception advocated by Trump in 2020 that if enough people get COVID-19, the virus will go away, and that the deaths of older people, the ill and the disabled are an acceptable cost of preserving the profit interests of major corporations.

The greatest argument against the proponents of herd immunity is the actual experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, which confirms the warnings made by the World Health Organization (WHO) in October 2020 that herd immunity is not a scientifically viable response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at that time. Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic. It is scientifically and ethically problematic.

To bolster his claim, the WHO director raised the prospectat that time hypotheticalthat people might become ill with COVID-19 twice, as well as mounting reports of what he said is now being described as Long COVID.

Three years after these statements were made, we know that reinfection with COVID-19 is not a notional possibility, but the rule. People in frontline positions, including teachers and healthcare workers, have reported being infected three, four or five times.

Each bout with COVID-19 can progressively damage major organ systems, including the immune system, the brain and the circulatory system. In other words, allowing COVID-19 to circulate freely steadily increases the population that Fauci describes as vulnerable.

Finally, when Dr. Tedros made these warnings, the ability of COVID-19 to mutate to overcome existing immunity was largely hypothetical. Over the next three years, a sea of new COVID-19 variants has shown that no amount of population immunity will prevent significant new surges of COVID-19.

Advocates of mass infection have repeatedly increased the share of the population that must be infected to supposedly allow the disease to return to manageable levels. First it was 50 percent, then it was 70 percent, then 80 percent, then 90 percent. Now, even as Fauci declares that virtually the entire population96 percenthas immunity to COVID-19, schools in the US are being shut down not as a preventive precaution, but because too many staff are ill to keep them open.

Shamefully, the WHO itself has repudiated its own condemnation of governments mass infection policy, ending its COVID-19 public health emergency declaration in May, and this week shutting down its weekly COVID-19 briefings.

The ruling classs strategy of forever COVID has produced a disaster. In the United States alone, over 1.1 million people are officially dead, and over 20 million more have had their health significantly damaged by Long COVID. Now, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging, while the new, highly-mutated BA.2.86 Pirola variant has begun to circulate globally.

For more than a year, the population has been told by the Biden administration, world governments and the media that the pandemic is over, that they can take off their masks and stop worrying about being infected. It will come as a shock that now, amidst a new surge in infections, they are being told that they should simply accept that they or their loved ones could get severely ill or die.

But this is the logic of the ruling class response to the pandemic, which is based on the subordination of public health to profit.

This policy of mass death and perpetual infection must be stopped! In every country, the demand must be raised for emergency measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 and to reject the position that it is endemic.

Healthcare professionals and scientists have a responsibility to speak out against this catastrophic policy. The population, which has been disarmed by the relentless propaganda of the ruling class, must be informed about the ongoing threat and mobilized to fight for a policy of global elimination and eradication.
In a bellicose move aimed at ratcheting up tensions with China, Australia and the Philippines have conducted wide-ranging military exercises over the past week, including combined air and maritime drills, amphibious landings and a mock invasion of an island.

Australian army and air force personnel and Philippines soldiers involved in Exercise Alon as a part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2023 in the Philippines. [Photo: Australia in the Philippines Facebook]

Exercise Alon began last week and concluded on Tuesday and was the first large-scale bilateral war-gaming operation between the Philippines and Australia. It was held amid a flurry of military exercises and war-gaming, particularly involving the US and Australia, but with other nations participating.

Whatever the precise constellation of participants, each activity has been aimed at solidifying US-led alignments ultimately directed towards preparing for war with China. That was particularly explicit in Alon, which was openly framed as being connected to the Philippines territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.

Since 2011, when the US launched its pivot to Asia, a vast military build-up directed against China, longstanding conflicts between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations over the South China Sea have been deliberately inflamed, transforming them into a potential flashpoint for major conflict. Alon was held amid a recent flare-up of tensions, which has seen several stand-offs between Chinese and Philippine vessels near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal.

Alon involved 1,200 Australian troops, a substantial deployment for the country, and 560 marines from the Philippines. A contingent of 120 US Marines also took part. Stationed in Darwin, Northern Australia, they have been described by leading American military figures and in think tanks as a key strike force for any conflict in the Indo-Pacific.

In addition to the personnel, significant military assets were mobilised. They included Australian warships the HMAS Canberra and frigate HMAS Anzac, along with two F-35 fighter jets and an Australian army Abrams tank. The Philippines deployed amphibious assault vehicles together with smaller military vessels.

Australian Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment and Armed Forces of the Philippines soldiers conduct a combined amphibious assault exercise during Exercise Alon as a part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2023 in the Philippines. [Photo: Defence Australia Facebook]

The centrepiece of the exercises was a major operation last Friday in San Antonio, a town in northern Zambales that faces the South China Sea. The full contingent of Australian and Filipino forces staged a mock invasion, retaking the area from an imaginary adversary. This included an amphibious landing, soldiers arriving via parachute and US Osprey aircraft to storm a beach and secure control of an area inland from it. The drills also included joint maneuvers simulating aerial combat.

The retaking of territories and islands has been a particular focus of a series of recent war games. That includes the massive Talisman Sabre military exercises in Australia last month, which featured a similar mock invasion, and the Exercise Predators Run over the past week, which have also involved area denial and recapture operations in northern Australia.

The focus of all is clearly on preparing for combat in the Indo-Pacific, which would centre on maritime warfare and littoral conflict around islands, reefs and other maritime features.

The implications are very direct in the case of the Philippines. Successive Philippines governments, encouraged by Washington, have railed against Chinas construction of artificial reefs and structures in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. In that context, the mock Alon invasion can only be interpreted as a trial run for an onslaught on the Chinese controlled features.

There are broader possible applications of the drills, however. US military strategists have repeatedly drawn attention to the importance of Chinas Hainan Island. It is the southernmost point of China, and hosts a significant military facility. In the event of a war between the US and China, control of Hainan would be crucial, potentially providing a launching point for attacks on the Chinese mainland itself.

In an indication of the importance of Exercise Alon, they were directly viewed by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and the Australian Labor governments Defence Minister Richard Marles.

Marcos openly placed the wargaming in the context of the territorial disputes and tensions with China. It is an important aspect of how we prepare for any eventualities, considering there have been so many events that attest to the volatility of the region, Marcos told a press conference.

Marles added: A whole lot of damage can be done to Australia before any potential adversary sets foot on our shores, and maintaining the rules-based order in Southeast Asia, maintaining the collective security of Southeast Asia, is fundamental to maintaining the national security of our country.

Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto (left) with Australian Deputy PM and HK Yu Australian Ambassador to the Philippines standing with Australian and Philippines soldiers involved in 2nd phase of Exercise Alon as part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2023. [Photo: @AusAmbPH]

That is a phony justification for the new defence doctrine that has been adopted by the Labor government.

As expressed in a Defence Strategic Review released earlier this year, it has dispensed with previous policies, under which the nominal purpose of the Australian Defence Force is the protection of the continental mainland and its approaches.

Now, the military is to develop impactful projection throughout the Indo-Pacific, including through the development of missile capabilities and the acquisition of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS. This has nothing to do with protecting Australia, but is aimed at furthering the US confrontation with China, for which Australia serves as the central attack dog.

Marles announced that Australia and the Philippines would begin joint patrols of the South China Sea, and would expand broader military cooperation. The patrols will inevitably increase the risk of a clash with Chinese forces. They occur in a context where, over the past decade, US and allied warships have repeatedly carried out freedom of navigation operations, which were, in fact aggressive incursions near and into waters claimed by China.

The close collaboration with Marcos is significant from two standpoints. Firstly, before his election in May 2022, and in the initial stages of his presidency, Marcos had indicated that tensions with China could be diffused. This reflected the balancing act that sections of the Philippines ruling elite have sought to adopt, fearful of the economic implications of all-out alignment with the US war drive against China.

But over the course of his presidency, Marcos has been brought on board. The highpoint of this shift was a joint announcement with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin of a further expansion of American basing in the country. This included the return to total operational capacity of five US basing facilities and the addition of four more to be used for forward deployment in the region against China.

Now, as elsewhere, Australia is functioning as a key partner of the US in solidifying the Philippines commitment to the anti-China press.

Secondly, the fawning over Marcos exposes the claims that the US campaign in the region has anything to do with the protection of democracy and human rights against an autocratic China. Marcos is an extreme-right wing figure, who has openly presented his presidency as a continuation of the dictatorial rule of his father in the 1970s and 80s. That included the imposition of martial law, political killings and mass roundups of opponents.

The fawning over Marcos parallels the red-carpet treatment that has been rolled out by the US and Australia to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His Hindu-chauvinist government has carried out such a crackdown on civil liberties that some rights organisations have questioned whether India can be described as a democracy in any meaningful sense.

Alon took place under conditions of several interlacing military exercises. Just prior to it, the US, Australia, Japan and the Philippines conducted joint naval drills. And as it was ongoing, Australia also hosted Operation Predators Run, with US Marines and the military forces of several regional nations in northern Australia.

Exercise Alon is the centrepiece of the Australian militarys Indo-Pacific Endeavour (IPE) 2023. That is a series of continuous military exercises and operations throughout the region, from July until the end of October. A July defence press release explained that Australian forces would visit fourteen countries in the region over the four months.

It stated: IPE supports the Australian Governments focus on deepening our diplomatic and defence partnerships across Southeast Asia and the Northeast Indian Ocean and reinforces Australias commitment to a peaceful, secure and prosperous region. IPE 2023 will conduct activities with Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Thailand and Vietnam.

That itinerary makes clear that while declaiming about Chinese expansion and aggression, it is, in fact the US and its allies, such as Australia that are going on a militarist rampage in the region.
The Texas Military Department and Mexican authorities reported an on-duty Texas National Guard member opened fire across the Texas-Mexico border last Saturday night, striking and injuring a 37-year-old Mexican citizen in Ciudad Juarez.

US National Guardsmen patrol as workers continue to deploy large buoys to be used as a border barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. [AP Photo/Eric Gay]

On the night of 26 August, a National Guard Servicemember assigned to Operation Lone Star discharged a weapon in a border-related incident, a spokesperson for the Military Department said in a statement. The incident is under investigation. More information will be made available as the investigation progresses.

According to El Diario, a Spanish language newspaper in Ciudad Juarez, Darwin Jose Garcia initially identified himself to police as a migrant attempting to cross into the United States. However, Garcia later told reporters he was practicing sport on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande around 8:50 p.m. while a group of nearby migrants braved the river. Garcia said he then heard gunfire and realized he had been shot in the leg, El Diario reported.

The shooting occurred near the Bridge of the Americas, which is adjacent to Mexicos Parque Publico Federal El Chamizal, a historic park used for outdoor recreation. La Verdad, a second news outlet in Juarez, reported Garcia was treated by paramedics at the scene before being transported to a local hospital. He was released shortly after.

In an email on Monday, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) confirmed state troopers responded to a call of a shooting involving a National Guard soldier along the US-Mexico border in El Paso. The DPS claimed the Texas Rangers are conducting an investigation of the incident, but no new information has been made publicly available.

Mexicos Foreign ministry said they have met with senior officials from the DPS and the Texas Rangers about the shooting and were told the soldier involved has been separated from his position until the investigation has concluded.

Governor Greg Abbotts office declined to comment on the incident and has referred all inquiries to the states military department. The US Border Patrol also refused to comment.

Saturdays incident marks the second time this year a Texas National Guard member has fired upon a civilian while deployed under the auspices of Abbotts Operation Lone Star and the third time in recent years that a soldier has fired their weapon while on duty at the border.

On January 13, trooper Angel Gallegos shot migrant Ricardo Rodriguez Nieto in the shoulder near Mission, just over 100 kilometers west of the industrial city of Matamoros. Gallegos claimed his service handgun accidentally discharged while he wrestled with Nieto. Nieto denied ever touching Gallegos and said the shot was fired from the kitchen into the living room of an abandoned house he and other migrants used for shelter. Testimony from other immigrants who witnessed the shooting corroborated Nietos version of events.

Notwithstanding, legal documents indicate the Hidalgo County District Attorney in Austin declined to present the case to a grand jury, citing insufficient evidence and unclear jurisdiction. Such an outcome can be reasonably expected for Saturdays shooting.

In January 2022, a Texas Guard member unloaded his M4 carbine into the engine block of a Chrysler 300 sedan driven by someone he thought was a smuggler in Laredo. The soldier told investigators that he fired his rifle into the car after the driver, who was arrested after abandoning his vehicle, attempted to run over another Texas Guard member.

Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, a multibillion-dollar state initiative, in 2021 to deter asylum seekers from crossing the Rio Grande along the 1,200-mile border Texas shares with Mexico. Abbott has overseen the construction of border barriers, including a sting of buoys in the Rio Grande. The launch of Abbotts program has coincided closely with the transformation of the Republican Party into an openly fascistic force in Americas political arena.

The dehumanization of immigrants, the overwhelming majority of whom are workers seeking an escape from profound poverty and violence, has long been a tool of American bourgeois politics. From the Chinese Exclusion Act to contemporary actions like the busing of migrants to Democratic-controlled cities, all reactionary campaigns against migrants are rooted in a hostility to the working class and an effort to shift the blame for social ailments away from the capitalist system.

Indeed, Saturdays shooting cannot be comprehended separately from last weeks Republican debate, where the GOP demonstrated its devolution into fascism, where Florida Governor Ron DeSantis boasted he would change the rules of engagement to allow border police to shoot on sight any migrants attempting to cross the border.
On Wednesday, a month after a military coup in Niger, the military ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba in Gabon, an oil-rich former French colony in central Africa.

A defaced billboard of Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba is seen on an empty street of Libreville, Gabon, Wednesday August 30, 2023 [AP Photo/Yves Laurent]

The coup in Gabon brings to eight the total number of coups Africa has seen since August 2020 and the subsequent withdrawal of French occupation troops from Mali. There have been two coups in Mali, three in its neighborstwo in Burkina Faso and one in Nigerand one in Guinea and in Sudan. All these countries except Sudan were former French colonies that even today are oppressed and exploited by French imperialism.

The Gabonese coup followed contested presidential elections, after which the National Electoral Commission initially announced that Bongo had won the elections with 64.27 percent of the vote.

The military thereupon launched a coup, annulling the election and declaring the dissolution of all the institutions of the Gabonese republic. The military commander who took power in Gabon, General Bryce Oligui Nguma, has been named a leader of transition by the military. He is to be sworn in as the interim president this coming Monday.

The military maintained the curfew, imposed four days earlier by the Bongo regime, after the election. Gabons borders are closed, and there is a nationwide Internet blackout.

The self-proclaimed Comite de Transition et de Restauration des Institutions (CTRI) junta announced on state television that Bongo, his family and his doctors were all under house arrest. It also arrested Bongos son and closest adviser, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, Bongos chief of staff Ian Ghislain Ngoulou, his deputy Mohamed Ali Saliou, another presidential adviser, Abdul Hosseini, and presidential spokesperson Jessye Ella Ekogha, and several top members of Bongos Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG).

It charged them with high treason against the institutions of the State, massive misappropriation of public funds, organized international financial embezzlement, forgery, falsification of the signature of the President of the Republic, active corruption, and drug trafficking.

Bongo, who has been under house arrest since the coup, said in an anonymous video that he doesnt know whats going on and appealed to his friends around the world to make noise.

In the streets of the Gabonese capital, Libreville, however, there were protests celebrating the fall of the brutal Bongo political dynasty.

The record of the Bongo family is a classic case of the incapacity of the bourgeoisie in countries of belated capitalist development to secure independence from imperialism. Alis father Omar Bongo became president in 1967, seven years after Gabon gained formal independence from French colonial rule in 1960. After the death of Omar Bongo in Gabon in 2009, his son Ali Bongo continued his fathers oppressive rule for 14 years.

Omar Bongo kept power by placing Gabons oil resources in the hands of foreign, primarily French oil companies. For decades, its oil industry was run by the French oil company Elf, now absorbed into Total Energy. Oil revenues were stolen by corrupt French businessmen and politicians, except for a small portion that was used to bribe the ruling clique around Bongo. This plundering of Gabons economy left broad layers of the Gabonese people in grinding poverty.

Even after the Bongo regime somewhat diversified its economic ties in recent decades, France still has about 400 troops stationed in Gabon for training and military support, including a base in Libreville to protect its extensive economic interests there.

Oil-rich, a member of the OPEC oil nations, Gabon produces about 181,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It is the eighth largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa. By assisting imperialism in plundering these resources, the ruling clique around the Bongo family amassed enormous wealth, buying up luxury properties in France, Morocco and other countries.

At the same time, living on less than 2 dollars a day is a harsh reality for many of Gabons citizens, with a third of the population officially living below the poverty line.

Only 20 percent of Gabons population owns 90 percent of its wealth. The unemployment rate in 2022 reached 21.47 percent. More than half of the population lives in the two cities of Libreville and Port-Gentil. In the crowded slums of Libreville, many migrant workers and local Gabonese live in absolute poverty. Thousands of people in Gabons urban areas lack reliable sources of food, water, or proper access to sanitation.

The Gabonese military junta has no solution to any of the social and economic problems facing workers, youth and the rural masses in Gabon and across Africa. Like the leaders of recent coups in other African countries, it emerges from an officer corps with a long tradition of close, incestuous ties with imperialism. It decided to oust Bongo in a sudden shift driven by concern over mounting mass anger across Africa against the NATO imperialist powers, particularly France, and their military operations.

Nguma, who is to serve as interim president, was in fact one of the pillars of Bongos security system, heading the Gabonese armys notorious, repressive Republican Guard Brigade. Since April 2020, he has headed this French-trained unit, which ensures the security of the president and key government and foreign institutions in Gabon.

Major powers internationally have criticized the coup but left open what relations they may develop with the CTRI junta in Libreville. Unlike the military juntas in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, the CTRI junta has not yet declared their intention to expel French troops deployed in Gabon.

France condemns the military coup in Gabon, government spokesman Olivier Veran told reporters in Paris. Veran said France was following the events in Gabon with great attention and that the results of last Saturdays presidential election should be respected.

The financial magazine LOpinion spoke bluntly as to the concerns in French ruling circles over the coup. The putsch in Gabon threatens the activities of some 85 French corporations that are present in the country, the magazine stated, adding that Gabon is a key supplier of critical raw materials. Uranium, manganese, oil  France stands to lose a lot in Africa, it wrote.

Britains Foreign Office said in a statement that the UK condemns the unconstitutional military seizure of power in Gabon and calls for the restoration of constitutional government.

Washington urged the military to protect civilian rule without explicitly condemning the coup. At the same time, it called the situation in the African country deeply concerning, with White House national security spokesman John Kirby declaring that the US remains a supporter of the people in the region, a supporter of the people of Gabon and of their demand for democratic governance.

The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council announced on August 31 the immediate suspension of Gabons participation in all activities of the AU, its organs and institutions.

The state-run daily Global Times of China, a major trading partner and infrastructure developer in countries across Africa, wrote: China calls for restoration of peace and order in Gabon. At the same time the West expresses concerns about self-interest. Military coups show the failure of regime and political reforms promoted by the West.

The coups across Frances former colonial empire are the product of over a decade of bloody NATO wars of plunder, including the 2011 NATO war in Libya, the 2013-2022 French war in Mali, and now the bloody NATO-Russia war in Ukraine. As anger surges among African workers and youth, military juntas are toppling unpopular African governments and demanding a renegotiation of their ties with France to expel its troops from their territory.

The critical political question is the turn to an independent, socialist-internationalist policy for the working class. This requires the unification of the struggles of the African working class and youth, across the artificial national boundaries created by the former colonial powers, and with the mounting struggles of workers in Europe and beyond, in an international movement against imperialism and war.
Leaders of Indias recently minted opposition electoral alliance are holding two days of meetings in Mumbai, concluding with a formal get-together Friday.

The alliancewhich claims to offer a progressive, democratic, and secular alternative to the nine-year-old, far-right government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu supremacist BJPis made up of more than two dozen parties. Prominent among them are: the Congress Party, till recently the Indian bourgeoisies preferred party of national government; the Trinamool Congress and the DMK, the ethno-regional parties that govern respectively West Bengal and Tamil Nadu; the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), caste-based regional parties that are major players in the establishment politics of the Hindi-belt states of the Gangetic Plain; and the Aam Aadmi (Common Mans) Party, a purported anti-corruption party that heads the government in Punjab and the National Capital Territory, Delhi.

All of these parties, beginning with the Congress Party, support and when in office have implemented the Indian bourgeoisies ruthless pro-investor agenda of deregulation, privatization, the promotion of precarious contract-labour employment and massive tax cuts for big business and the rich. They also all support Indias rapid military build-up and the Indo-US Global Strategic Partnership, through which New Delhi has been integrated ever more fully into American imperialisms military-strategic offensive against China.

Friday's meeting is the third conclave of the anti-BJP opposition alliance. At the second held in Bangalore on July 17-18, 26 parties agreed to contest the coming national elections jointly under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA banner. [Photo: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin]

None of this has caused the Stalinist parliamentary partiesthe Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Maoist Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberationthe slightest pause. They are among the most enthusiastic members of the opposition alliance and fully support its aim: providing the Indian bourgeoisie with an alternate, right-wing government-in-waiting.

The reactionary character of the opposition alliance, which has dubbed itself the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA, is underscored by the prominent role that is being played within it by Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, Indias third largest state, and his Janata Dal (United). From 1997 to 2014 and again from 2017 until August of last year, Kumar and his Janata Dal (United) or its predecessor, the Samata Party, were part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and its governments, first under Atal Vajpayee and then Modi. Meanwhile in Bihar, the BJP repeatedly served as the junior partner in JD (U)-headed coalition governments.

It was Nitish Kumar who convened and chaired the first meeting of the nascent alliance, held in Patna on June 23 and attended by 16 opposition parties. In recent weeks Kumar has repeatedly praised Vajpayee, the first ever BJP prime minister and like Modi a lifelong member of the Hindu supremacist RSS. This included publicly paying homage to Vajpayee at his memorial in Delhi last month on the anniversary of his death. By doing so, Kumar is signalling that the JD (U) retains other options if it is not given the prominence it believes is its due in the INDIA alliance.

The meetings in Mumbai are officially being hosted by Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, the head of one of two rival factions of the Shiv Sena, the fascistic party founded by his father, the notorious Mahratta chauvinist and communalist Bal Thackeray. While Nitish Kumar claims, however absurdly, to be an opponent of communalism, the Shiva Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) champions Hindutva, the noxious Hindu supremacist ideology to which the BJP and Modi adhere.

At this weeks meeting, the leaders of the INDIA alliance have said they will come up with a Common Minimum Program that will supposedly outline the main policies they would pursue were they to succeed in unseating the BJP and its NDA in the general election slated for spring 2024.

Hitherto, they have spoken only in the vaguest and most predictable terms about the social crisis that is ravaging India, deploring mass joblessness, endemic poverty and the nexus of government-big business corruption.

Some of the most important participants, such as the DMK, are, with the Stalinists support, pressing for INDIA to call for the extension of reservationaffirmative action-type quotas for Dalits and other historically oppressed caste groupsto the private sector. While touted as a blow for social justice and a counterpoint to the BJPs Hindu communalist appeals, the calls for a further expansion of the reservation system are deeply reactionary. They serve to divide the working class and embroil it in a fratricidal struggle for a more equitable distribution of the misery created by capitalism.

Any Common Minimum Program the opposition parties do propose is expected to say little about foreign policy. But it should be noted that the Congress Party has repeatedly attacked the BJP government from the right for not taking a more aggressive stance in the three-year-old border stand-off with China. Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has, for his part, called for a national boycott of all Chinese goods.

Fridays opposition conclave is also expected to broach the highly contentious question of seat-sharing, and it may name an official convenor, although the media is reporting some parties are opposed to this because of its potential impact on the future selection of a prime ministerial candidate.

A reactionary alliance of discredited parties

INDIA is a political fraud. It is a reactionary alliance of largely discredited capitalist parties, no less beholden to the bourgeoisie than the BJP, that are mired in corruption, casteism, regional-chauvinist politics and, notwithstanding their secular pretentions, communalism.

Significantly, at their second meeting held in Bangalore on July 18, the 26 parties in attendance adopted a brief resolution that condemned the hatred and violence being manufactured against minorities and went on to name Dalits, Adivasis (tribal peoples) and Kashmiri Pandits as targets. Omitted was any mention of Indias Muslims, who are subject to a relentless campaign of vilification and intimidation by the BJP and its Hindu right allies.

In Madhya Pradesh, Indias fifth largest state, the Congress Party is preparing for the state elections to be held later this year by trying to outflank the BJP on the right. It recently accepted within its ranks a Hindutva-espousing outfit named the Bajrang Sena. It is the Congress that has played the leading role in projecting the Shiva Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) as a progressive ally and valued INDIA constituent. One could go on and on.

The opposition alliance is born out of fear of a gathering storm of social opposition from below. Explosive often protracted struggles have erupted among workers across India against privatization, contract labour, the non-payment of wages and job cuts.

While the BJP trumpets Indias world-beating growth, the reality is India is riven by massive social inequality, with the richest 1 percent of Indians owning four times the wealth of the poorest 70 percent of the population.

The COVID-19 pandemic and now the economic shocks emanating from the war instigated by US-NATO against Russia in Ukraine have exacerbated hunger and malnutrition. According to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy, 7.9 percent of the population is unemployed. This in a country with no state income support for the jobless.

Through its relentless promotion of communalism, the BJP seeks to divert socio-economic anxiety and frustration away from any challenge to capitalist exploitation and split the working class.

While they adapt to and connive with the Hindu right, the opposition parties give voice to the fears of sections of the ruling class that the BJPs rabid communalism and escalating authoritarianism and lawlessness is dangerously discrediting and destabilizing the military, courts and other state institutions the ruling class depends on to enforce its rule.

The opposition alliance is also animated by fear of the BJPs drive to monopolize power in its own hands, including by running roughshod over parliamentary norms and Indias federal constitution. Following the example of Modi and his chief henchman, Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP treats its bourgeois political opponents as semi-treasonous, with repeated accusations they are conspiring with foreign forces to blacken Indias name or practising Muslim appeasement.

Although previous Indian governments have manipulated corruption charges and criminal investigations to target political opponents, the Modi government has taken this to a new level. In March, Rahul Gandhi, the de facto leader of the Congress Party and scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family dynasty that controls Indias Grand Old Party, was sentenced to two years in prison and stripped of his seat in parliament as the result of transparently trumped-up charges and politically motivated decisions by the courts in Gujarat, Modis home state. Last month the Supreme Court set aside Gandhis conviction, allowing him to return to parliament, pending the outcome of his appeal.

The Stalinistsa highly valued faction of Indias political establishment

Electoral support for the Stalinists and their Left Front has haemorrhaged over the past decade and a half as a result of their role in propping up the big business Congress-led UPA government and imposing pro-investor policies in the states where they have held office. Today the Stalinists lead the government in just one of Indias 28 states, Kerala, and between them the CPM and CPI have just five MPs in the 543-member lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha.

However, the Stalinists have played an important role in stitching together the ramshackle INDIA electoral bloc and are viewed, especially by the Congress Partywhich, having led Indias national government for the lions share of the last 75 years, has the most intimate ties to the bourgeoisieas a crucial constituent of the anti-BJP alliance.

The Stalinists are expected to provide the opposition alliance with desperately needed progressive colours. Even more importantly, through their trade union federations they continue to exert political influence over key sections of the working classinfluence that they will use to suppress the class struggle and divert the growing anger of workers and rural toilers behind the Congress and the INDIA alliance.

At a rally in Kolkata last monthpolitically led by the CPM-allied Centre of India Trade Unions (CITU) and in which numerous unions and union federations, including those affiliated to the Congress and other big business parties, participatedthe unions announced that their central goal is the BJP governments replacement by the INDIA alliance in the coming election. This was encapsulated in the slogan Remove Modi, Save the Country.

For more than three decades, the Stalinists have supported one right-wing government after another at the Centre and in the states in the name of fighting the fascist BJP. With the working class politically suppressed and prevented from advancing its own socialist solution to the capitalist crisis, the threat from the Hindu right has only grown.

Today, with the institutions of Indian capitalist democracy, like those around the world, visibly rotting on their feet, the Stalinists are intensifying their efforts to chain the working class to the Indian state and the Congress and a host of other right-wing caste-ist and ethno-chauvinist parties.

Workers and socialist-minded youth must chart an entirely different and opposed course. The struggle to defend democratic rights and defeat communal reaction must be based on the class struggle. It must be inextricably linked to the fight for social equality and against imperialist war and the Indian bourgeoisies predatory alliance with US imperialism.

It requires that the working class unite its manifold struggles and forge itself into an independent political power, rallying the rural masses behind it in struggle against Indian capitalism and all its political representatives and for a workers and peasants government committed to the socialist transformation of South Asia and the world.
At least 74 people were killed, including 12 children, in a horrifying fire that destroyed a run-down five-storey apartment building in Johannesburg, South Africa, early Thursday morning.

Medics and emergency workers at the scene of the deadly blaze in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday, August 31, 2023. [AP Photo/Jerome Delay]

The deadly blaze, the cause of which is currently under investigation, apparently began on the first floor and spread rapidly to the upper levels of the building, which was occupied by immigrant and homeless families in the city of more than 5.6 million people.

Reuters reported that the building was gutted, blackened by soot and still smoldering on Thursday as emergency services gathered around it and bodies lay covered in blankets on a nearby street.

Witnesses reported that people living in the building jumped out of windows and babies were being tossed from the third floor to others waiting below in the desperate effort to escape the inferno.

At a news conference, city officials and medical staff reported that, of the children who died, the youngest was a one year old. An undetermined number of people were still missing, and many bodies recovered were burned beyond recognition, they said.

Emergency services officials warned that the death toll could rise as they continued to search what was left of the building. Over 50 people were injured in the blaze, six of whom were in serious condition and taken to a local hospital.

The Associated Press (AP) reported on Thursday, Firefighters were making their way through the remnants of shacks and other informal structures that littered the inside of the derelict five-storey building in the heart of Johannesburgs central business district hours after the fire was extinguished.

The AP report continued, Smoke seeped out of the blackened building even though the fire was out, while twisted blankets and sheets hung like ropes out of shattered windows to show how people had used them to try and escape the flames.

Although authorities have yet to determine the cause, Mgcini Tshwaku, a local government official, told news media that initial evidence suggested it started with a candle. Inhabitants of the building frequently used candles for light and lit fires to keep warm in the winter cold, he said.

Eyewitnesses who watched the catastrophe unfold from across the street said they saw people throw babies out of the burning building and at least one of the deaths occurred when a man, who leapt from the third floor, landed head first on the sidewalk.

Survivors described occupants, who got trapped behind locked gates, at exits while there were no functioning fire escape routes. A witness who lived in the building next door told the television news channel eNCA he heard people screaming for help and shouting, Were dying in here.

No one knows how many were living in the building. Some estimates are that 200 people were residing there, while one government official said that 141 families were affected by the fire. Since many of the occupants were immigrants, identifying the victims and establishing who is still missing will be difficult.

Government officials initially claimed the building was occupied by squatters, but this was contradicted by Lebogang Isaac Maile, head of the Human Settlements department for Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, who said some of those who died were likely renting from or being extorted by criminal gangs.

There are cartels who prey on who are vulnerable people. Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rental from the people, Maile told Reuters.

The mayor of Johannesburg, Kabelo Gwamanda, told reporters the city had leased the building to a charity for displaced women but that it had ended up serving a different purpose. He did not give any further explanation of his comment.

Johannesburg is the richest city in Africa, but it is wracked with poverty, hunger and homelessness, particularly in its center. As the AP report states, Abandoned and broken-down buildings are common, and people desperate for some form of accommodation use them for shelter. City authorities refer to the structures as hijacked buildings and they have been a problem for years, if not decades.

Seeking to deflect responsibility for the disaster, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called it a wake up call regarding the citys housing crisis. The former trade union official and businessman, who is now one of the richest individuals on the African continent with a net worth of $500 million, also claimed the deadly fire was the product of apartment buildings being taken over by criminals, who then levy rent on vulnerable people and families who need and want accommodation in the inner city.

Ramaphosas comments are a cynical attempt to cover up what the fire reveals. Whatever the exact circumstances, the tragedy is clearly related to the massive social crisis in Johannesburg and in South Africa as a whole.

Those conditions are an indictment of the whole perspective personified by Ramaphosa and the African National Congress (ANC). The ending of racial apartheid in 1994 was the product of major social struggles by the masses.

But the ANC ensured that the outcome was the establishment of a new republic based on capitalism and an even more direct relationship with global finance capital.

According to the World Bank Gini Index, South Africa has a wealth inequality value of 63 percent, which means the top 1 percent of earners take home almost 20 percent of all income and the top 10 percent take home 65 percent of income. On the other hand, 90 percent of South African earners take home only 35 percent of all income.

This social evolution demonstrates that the ANCs nationalist and pro-capitalist program has resolved none of the social issues confronting the masses. Instead, it has enriched a tiny national bourgeoisie, while further impoverishing the masses, demonstrating that the fundamental social division is class, not race.

Tragedies such as the Johannesburg fire are not limited to the historically oppressed and underdeveloped countries. They are increasingly a world phenomenon, bound up with the global growth of inequality.

That was underscored by the Grenfell Tower inferno in North Kensington, West London, on June 14, 2017, which killed 72 people. In that catastrophe, which started on the fourth floor of the 24-storey apartment building, the deaths also included children and entire families, many of whom were immigrants. Many of the deaths were also because people were trapped in their flats with no way to escape the flames.

The Grenfell tragedy was also the direct result of government deregulation carried out by both Labour and Conservative-led governments over decades that put capitalist profiteering above the safety and lives of residents of the tower.

The deadly Johannesburg fire also recalls the Ghost Ship blaze in Oakland, California, on December 2, 2016. The fire at the former warehouse, which had been converted into an artist collective that included living spaces, killed 36 people and was the deadliest in the citys history.

The Ghost Ship fire was the product of a confluence of conditions all rooted in the capitalist system, which also appear to be factors in the Johannesburg disaster: soaring housing costs forcing people to seek low rents in substandard housing; property owners renting out old and poorly maintained buildings to maximize their income; and city officials leaving fire inspection understaffed and underfunded.
MOGADISHU, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Young activists from Somalia wrapped up a three-day training session in the capital of Mogadishu Thursday, calling for effective action to combat the negative impacts of climate change on vulnerable groups across the country.

The 22 young activists who spoke at the UN-backed training on the nexus between human rights and climate change said the country has been experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to climate shocks which have led to widespread drought and flooding, according to a statement issued Thursday evening.

"Floods which are a result of climate change destroy farms and damage crops, which leads to food insecurity and malnutrition," said Abdilatif Hussein Omar, executive director of Action for Environment, a civil society organization.

The training was part of a wider effort to help create a vibrant cohort of young Somali environmental activists. "The next step forward is actually to create a network of young climate activists that are coming from different sectors, from the academia, civil societies, media and student clubs so that they can continue advocating for effective climate change response in relation to human rights issues," said Abdifatah Hassan Ali, a human rights official with UN Assistance Mission in Somalia.

Noting that Somalia is one of the countries most affected by climate change, Ahmed Abdi Osman, a climate change official from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Somalia, said plans are underway to address the impacts. Some 8 million people in the East African country are in need of urgent assistance, with 6.5 million expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity and 1.3 million displaced due to conflict or climatic shocks, according to the UN.

Some of the participants noted that the training session would complement some of the advocacy already being carried out by young Somalis.

Suweyda Mohamed Abdi, chairperson of the Green Light Association, another organization that promotes environmental conservation and sustainable development in Somalia, said her organization is actively involved in activities to reverse the effects of climate change through awareness campaigns in schools and tree-planting exercises. "On our environmental campaigns we have made great strides and initiated weekly clean-ups at Lido Beach and this has been very successful," she said.

Participants were primarily made up of university students and academics and civil society representatives studying or working on climate change issues. They focused on a range of human rights topics interlinked with climate change, such as the right to a healthy environment. 
YAOUNDE, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen killed a police commissioner on Thursday in Cameroon's English-speaking region of Northwest, which has been ravaged by a separatist conflict, according to police and local sources.

Yves Angos Assilla, commissioner of Special Branch Police in Bamenda city, was ambushed and shot dead by gunmen in Ntamulung neighborhood, said a police official in the region.

"He was well-loved by the population and devoted to his duty. We are pursuing the terrorists who committed this abominable act," the official who asked not to be named told Xinhua by phone.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killing, but police said the attack was carried out by separatist fighters known to be operating in the city.

There has been fighting between government forces and separatist fighters in Cameroon's two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017 after separatists attempted to create an independent nation in the regions. 
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali has completed the initial phase of its total withdrawal from the West African country, a UN spokesman said on Thursday.

The last convoy from the mission, known as MINUSMA, left the Menaka camp in northeastern Mali on Aug. 25, arriving in Gao Wednesday, said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"Menaka was the last of the four MINUSMA bases scheduled for closure during the first phase of the mission's downsizing and definitive withdrawal from Mali, in accordance with the request of the transitional authorities," he said. "The temporary base at Ogossagou was closed on Aug. 3, followed by Ber on Aug. 13 and Goundam three days later."

The spokesman said that El-Ghassim Wane, the special representative of the secretary-general and head of the UN mission in Mali, reported that the timely conclusion of this first phase of MINUSMA's drawdown plan is the result of sustained work by UN teams and good coordination with the Malian authorities.

"He added that with these base closures, we have reduced our geographical footprint in Mali by 25 percent, and we are determined to persevere with this momentum to conclude the withdrawal by the end of the year," Dujarric said.

"Transitional authorities" was a reference to the military junta governing Mali since an August 2020 coup deposing President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. 
BANGKOK, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn has reduced former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's eight-year prison sentence to one year following his request for a royal pardon, the royal gazette said on Friday.

"Thaksin's contribution as a former Prime Minister benefited the country and the people. He accepted his crime and showed remorse," the royal command said, adding that "he is ailing and requires treatment from a medical specialist."

The 74-year-old former prime minister ended his exile of over 15 years and returned to Thailand 10 days ago, but was soon detained and faced an 8-year prison sentence on several charges.

However, shortly after his return, he was transferred from a Bangkok prison to a hospital due to health concerns.

Thaksin served as Thailand's premier from 2001 to 2006 but had been in self-exile abroad since 2008. 
George and Amal Clooney s shared ability to serve couple goals shows no sign of abating as their ninth wedding anniversary approaches.

The Clooneys made a striking appearance Thursday evening at the 2023 Venice Film Festival in Italy, where they attended the DVF Awards, designer Diane von Furstenbergs annual ceremony honoring extraordinary women.

In keeping with the events Venetian locale, the pair arrived by boat.

George and Amal Clooney sail into the scene in Venice.

George and Amal Clooney sail into the scene in Venice.

Amal wore a nude-pink Christian Dior slip dress designed by John Galliano. As for George, he opted for a black fitted suit but kept it cool with the top of his shirt collar unbuttoned.

Amal Clooney wears a flowing Christian Dior ensemble, crowned by her loosely waved brunet hair, as husband George escorts her in chic dark tones.

Amal Clooney wears a flowing Christian Dior ensemble, crowned by her loosely waved brunet hair, as husband George escorts her in chic dark tones.

This year, Amal was on hand to accept the DVF Leadership Award in recognition of her work as a human rights lawyer.

The evenings other honorees included Algorithmic Justice League founder Joy Buolamwini, actor Lily Singh and Amina J. Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of the United Nations.

The Clooneys draw photographers every step of the way in Venice.

The Clooneys draw photographers every step of the way in Venice.

In an interview with Time magazine last year, Amal spoke about her dedication to human rights cases, noting: Im responding to what I see happening in the world. A world where the guilty are free, and the innocent are imprisoned where the human-rights abusers are free, and those who report on the abuses are locked up.

Amal Clooney was in Venice to receive a DVF Leadership Award for her work as a human rights lawyer.

Amal Clooney was in Venice to receive a DVF Leadership Award for her work as a human rights lawyer.

As a lawyer, I can do something about that, she said. Or I can at least try.

As it turns out, Venice has sentimental value for the couple. They were married at the Aman Canal Grande resort in the city on Sept. 27, 2014. Guests at their ceremony included Emily Blunt, Cindy Crawford and Matt Damon.

The pair  who share 5-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella  own a villa on Italys Lake Como.

Amal Clooney was a guest of honor at the DVF Awards, designer Diane von Furstenbergs annual event to recognize extraordinary women.

Amal Clooney was a guest of honor at the DVF Awards, designer Diane von Furstenbergs annual event to recognize extraordinary women.

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Rose Dugdale has the kind of life story where, if she didnt happen to be a Marxist, it would feel tailor-made for a Hollywood film. The heiress of a millionaire English family, Dugdale was born into an easy life: finishing school, debutante balls, and a place in the rarefied halls of Oxford. But Dugdale rejected the wealth handed to her and, after an incident in which she attempted to steal 82,000 pounds worth of silverware and paintings from her parents estate, left England to become a member and leader in the Irish Republican Army, fighting to end British rule of Northern Ireland.

Baltimore, a new feature film starring Imogen Poots as Dugdale, occasionally jumps somewhat awkwardly through this womans path to radicalization, but the film, from writer, director, and editor duo Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, largely anchors itself on the nine-day sliver of time shes most notorious for. The film opens on Poots  in a red wig and smeared on makeup  lying motionless on the floor of a large estate, her hand covered in a bloody wrap. The sense of danger the image conveys proves an entertaining fake-out, as she quickly gets up and strides triumphantly out of the manor, where she leads us into what the opening titles refer to as the largest art theft in history.

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Its April 26, 1974, and Rose and her team of three IRA volunteers have just stormed their way into Russborough House, the Irish estate of English nobleman Alfred Beit (John Kavanagh). From the palatial home, the quartet stole 19 paintings from master artists like Peter Rubens and Johannes Vermeer. While Roses lover Eddie Gallagher (Jack Meade) heads off for their safe house in Baltimore (the small village in Southern Ireland, not the Maryland city), she and two accomplices Dominic and Martin (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Lewis Brophy, both playing stand-ins for IRA members who were never caught or identified) hole up in the seaside village of Glandore for a week with the paintings hidden in a rental cottage. Periodically, Rose heads to the local pub, where she puts on an amusingly ridiculous French accent and calls Irelands National Gallery of Art, demanding the release of several IRA members and political prisoners in exchange for the safe return of the paintings.

Most effective as a straightforward thriller, Baltimore plays a bit like a version of Reservoir Dogs where we actually see the heist, cutting between the raid on the home and the immediate aftermath, as Rose attempts to keep her head down and avoid authorities looking for her and her comrades. The home invasion scenes suffer slightly from this cross-cut approach, sapping momentum from the groups efforts to detain Beits family and his large staff of servants.

Thankfully, the story mostly rests on the period afterwards, where a restless Rose slowly grows consumed by paranoia and doubt. A few unnecessary scenes try and fail to add depth or texture to the largely anonymous Dominic and Martin, but theyre quickly scuttled off to Baltimore, leaving Rose  pregnant with a child by Gallagher  to evade the suspicions of the locals on her own.

As rendered by the film and by Poots layered performance, Rose is a woman consumed by her calling, as true a believer in the power of radical action as anyone can be, but also an empathetic person with a gnawing guilt regarding the ugly necessities of her work. Shes perfectly willing to threaten a family and tie up a child, but their bloody faces will appear in her nightmares afterwards.

Imogen Poots in Baltimore Telluride

Poots threads that needle well, never overtipping Roses vulnerabilities, but making them clearly legible to the audience, and the film is most engrossing when it allows her to showcase that inner turmoil. A standout sequence focuses on her fears that elderly neighbor Donal (Dermot Crowley) has her figured out, and seriously contemplates shooting him dead if it will buy her time. Visiting him with a hidden pistol, shes charming and lively, before retreating into the bathroom where she attempts to steel herself into pulling the trigger. Molloy and Lawlor, aided by a sparse but menacing score from composer Stephen McKeon, direct these sequences smoothly, building the tension that threatens to snap Rose at any moment.

Its when the film expands outside of this moment in her life that it begins to falter. Perhaps Roses journey to political radicalization is simply less interesting than the actions she takes when she gets there, but the film also isnt able to tell that story cleanly. The opening sequence, featuring overwritten narration from Poots that mercifully disappears for the rest of the movie, briefly covers Roses childhood, positioning her as a rebel from birth that disapproved of fox-hunting and turned her nose at the idea of visiting Buckingham Palace.

Thats likely accurate to the real Dugdale, but it renders future flashback scenes that flit through her time at Oxford and nascent political activity largely redundant, and the movie never pins down or conveys her growth as a radical. From a pacing perspective, most of the flashbacks feel randomly slotted in to the narrative, with little relation to whats happening within the driving storyline.

The film also strains when it aims to say anything about art; the paintings work best simply as plot devices, or symbols of the wealth and inequity Rose has dedicated her life to destroying. But the script somewhat halfheartedly adds a throughline about her relationship with art over the course of her life, and particularly the stolen Vermeer, Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid. A portrait of a woman and. a housemaid, its a perfect stand-in for the themes of class and inequity the movies dealing with. But Roses musings on the meaning of the piece, and fleeting suggestions that shes developing an emotional attachment to the stolen art on whole, dont quite ring true to who she is, or at least who she is as seen in the film.

Baltimore ultimately hinges on Poots to do most of the heavy work, and the consistently great actor is magnetic in the role, nervy and vulnerable but with a clear-eyed belief in her own convictions that makes her pop off the screen. If the movie isnt ever quite able to inspire the same devotion from the audience that Rose Dugdale has for her cause, watching a protagonist as compelling as her still makes for a thrilling 90 minutes and change.

Rating: B-

Baltimore premiered at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

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Blink-182 announced that three stops on the band's European tour had been postponed due to an "urgent family matter" that required drummer Travis Barker to return home to the United States.

The pop-punk band was initially slated to perform at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on Friday and Saturday, as well as two other planned shows in Belfast and Dublin. The band made the announcement on social media, including Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.

"Due to an urgent family matter, Travis has had to return home to the States," the post read. "The Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin shows are being postponed. More information in regards to his return to Europe and rescheduled dates will be provided as soon as available."

Hours before the band's announcement, Barker posted a series of photos to his Instagram story. It included a photo of a door labeled "prayer room" with a sign that said "all welcome"; a stained glass window at an altar; and a banner that said, "Together we pray."

Travis Barker shared these three photos  just hours before the band Blink-182 announced he had returned to the United States due to an

No further information was available. CBS News has reached out to Barker's representatives but has not yet received a response.

He and his wife, Kourtney Kardashian, are currently expecting their first child together.

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker attend the 64th Annual Grammy Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. / Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

The mother of three revealed she was pregnant in June with a handmade sign at her husband's concert declaring, "Travis I'm pregnant." Kardashian, 44, shared a video of herself on Instagram holding the sign and jumping in the audience as her husband performed on stage.

The sign's simple message in black lettering was apparently a callback to Blink-182's music video for "All The Small Things," where a fan held up the same sign as Barker walked past.

Since that day, she's routinely posted photos of her growing baby bump on her Instagram account.

Kardashian shares her other three children with ex-husband Scott Disick: Mason, 13, Penelope, 10, and Reign, 8.

Barker is also a father. He shares children Landon, 19, and Alabama, 17, with ex-wife Shanna Moakler. He is also the stepfather of 24-year-old Atiana Cecelia De La Hoya, Moakler's child from a previous relationship.

Kardashian and Barker tied the knot last year in a series of wedding celebrations.

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The band, set to perform in Scotland on Friday and Saturday, announced on Instagram that Barker had to return home to the United States

Blink-182 is postponing their European tour dates after drummer Travis Barker had to rush home for an urgent family matter.

The band shared the news on their Instagram account Friday morning, writing in a Story, "Due to an urgent family matter, Travis has had to return home to the States. The Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin shows are being postponed. More information in regards to his return to Europe and rescheduled dates will be provided as soon as available."

Its not clear what Barker, 47, has had to return home for. PEOPLE has reached out for comment.

The "All the Small Things" rockers were due to take to the stage at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland on Friday and Saturday, before traveling to Belfast and Dublin for further stops on their tour.

Emma McIntyre /AMA2020/Getty Images

Hours before the news was announced, Barker shared a series of snaps on his Instagram Story of him visiting a prayer room. After posting a picture outside the room, Barker then shared two photos inside the space, one of a stained-glass window and another of a blue banner reading, Together We Pray.



Travis Barker Instagram Blink-182's announcement

On Thursday, he had also posted a shot of the bands tour bus and covered up the license plate with the words, DONT TRUST ANYONE.

Barker is currently expecting a baby boy with his wife Kourtney Kardashian.

The couple announced their pregnancy news during the first Los Angeles stop of Blink-182s tour.

Larry Marano/Shutterstock Blink-182

While in the audience of the June 16 show, Kardashian, 44, held up a handwritten black and white sign reading, Travis Im Pregnant as a camera zoomed in on her in the crowd.

Barker and Kardashian shared a video of the moment on their Instagram accounts, and one of Barkers bandmates could heard saying, "Someone's having a baby!"

Travis Barker Instagram Travis Barker

The inspiration for the sign came from the bands music video for their 1999 track All The Small Things which features a fan holding up a yellow and black sign that also reads, Travis Im Pregnant.

And just weeks later the pair revealed the news that they're expecting a baby boy during a sex reveal party attended by their family and friends.

The bash had a music tour theme and guests were even given tour passes reading, "Baby Barker World Tour with Special Guest Kravis. All Access.

Matt Baron/Shutterstock Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker

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.

Barker is already dad to daughter Alabama, 17, son Landon, 19, and stepdaughter Atiana, 24, with his ex-wife Shanna Moakler. Meanwhile, Kardashian shares daughter Penelope, 11, and sons Reign, 8, and Mason, 13, with her ex Scott Disick.



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MANILA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Five Philippine government militiamen were killed and three others wounded in an ambush on Friday morning by suspected New People's Army (NPA) rebels in Quezon province, southeast of Manila, a military spokesperson said.

Dennis Cana, spokesperson of the military's Southern Luzon Command said the attack occurred around 7:00 a.m. local time while the government forces were on patrol in Tagkawayan town to investigate the presence of an undetermined number of NPA fighters.

The militiamen were members of the Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit, a paramilitary force helping the military in a counter-insurgency campaign against the NPA rebels.

Additional troops were also sent to the clash site to pursue the fleeing rebels, Cana added.

NPA rebels have been fighting the government troops since 1969. They concentrate their attacks on rural areas and have skirmishes with the military.

Military data showed that the NPA is estimated to have 2,000 members, significantly lower than its peak strength in the 1980s. 
Ceaselessly clueless cops in Pennsylvania shared a photo of Lil Uzi Vert when seeking the publics help for info on a suspected dog thief, despite the Pink Tape artist (and Philly native) having absolutely nothing to do with the alleged crime.

In an initial Facebook post, as since seen in reports from TMZ and Page Six, the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department shared what is clearly a photo of Uzi in an alert regarding a man who allegedly stole a puppy from Brookside Pups at Pine Mall.

Image via Facebook/Page Six

The original post reportedly remained live for "about 30 minutes" before being taken down. In a follow-up post, the department noted the error.

"The original photo of the male provided by the establishment was not the correct male," the Wilkes-Barre police department wrote, as seen below. "This current photo is the actor in question. We apologize for the error and any confusion."

Image via Facebook

Per TMZ, citing a store spokesperson, the suspect had made a photo of Uzi his profile picture on one of his social media accounts. When reached for comment by Complex on Friday, the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department put the blame on the store.

"It was an error on the part of the store loss prevention and was immediately corrected," a rep said in an email.

In a statement to Complex, a Roc Nation rep pointed out that police "should be embarrassed and ashamed for disparaging Uzi's character." See the rep's full statement below:

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Lil Uzi Vert was nowhere near Pennsylvania when this theft occurred, and the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department should be embarrassed and ashamed for disparaging Uzis character. This grave error couldve had significant repercussions on Uzis career and epitomizes how Black men can be wrongfully charged and arrested by police departments across the country. Uzi loves all animals and this serious mistake has deterred the apprehension of the kidnapper. Our collective hope is that the puppy is safely and promptly rescued.

While the 26-track Pink Tape is just two months old, Uzi has been teasing the potentially imminent arrival of even more new music, including the possible Young Thug homage, Barter 16.

Last month, Uzi expanded their Pink Tape Tour by adding seven new dates to the trek. New stops include second dates in Chicago, Atlanta, and more.
Nearly three weeks after abruptly showing the door to its on-air hosts, 910 AM in Detroit is switching to a conservative talk format.

Starting Tuesday, the radio station will be airing syndicated shows by current Fox News host Sean Hannity and former personalities at the cable news network Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly, among others, the station announced Friday.

Sean Hannity's radio show will be part of the new schedule for 910 AM in Detroit.

Another new name in the lineup, Justin Barclay, hosts West Michigan Live on WOOD-AM in Grand Rapids.

The station will have breaking news from ABC Radio and weather and traffic updates from Total Traffic & Weather Network.

It's another dizzying change for WFDF-AM, which went to all-sports syndicated programming on Aug. 14. Prior to that, the station had targeted Black listeners across metro Detroit with what was described as an urban talk format. It earned low ratings and was not included in a July 2023 ranking of Detroit's top 30 radio sources by Nielsen.

After being purchased by Kevin Adell in 2015, 910 AM Superstation, as it calls itself, drew attention for bringing in local hosts who'd been tied to various scandals and were not paid by the station.

If I just took a normal person and put them on the air, it would be boring. Were the go-to station for controversy. And theres no shortage of scandals, Adell said in 2016.

More: Detroit's 910 AM Superstation abruptly changes formats, lets hosts go via email

In Friday's announcement from the station, Adell pitched the new format as "an alternative to WJR, with a genuinely conservative point of view."

WJR-AM (760) airs syndicated conservative talk shows, including those by Mark Levin and Matt Walsh, but also has locally themed programming led by longtime WJR morning personality Paul W. Smith, former WXYZ-TV and WDIV-TV anchor Guy Gordon and Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom.

Detroit also has WDTK-AM (1400), a conservative talk station called "The Patriot."

Last month, Free Press contributing columnist Darren A. Nichols wrote that the end of the Detroit-themed programming on 910 AM left a void in the city because it was "the only radio station where people in the largest Black populated city in America could get some community news."

In his public statement, Adell said: "As the 2024 presidential election race heats up, 910 AM will be well positioned to provide all the important news and updates our community needs to stay informed on the latest hot topics and issues.

In May, the Free Press reported that Adell had sold his local TV station, WADL-TV, to Mission Broadcasting Inc., a Texas-based media group, for $75 million.

Adell also owns the Word Network, a cable TV station with a religious theme. He told the Free Press through a spokesperson in May that the Word Network and 910 AM Superstation were absolutely not for sale.

The federal government alleges that Adell owes property taxes to Oakland County and $17.8 million in estate and gift taxes from his inheritance of his late fathers estate. In a civil action filed in April, the federal government also sought a court order to sell Adells $3.7 million Bloomfield Hills house. Adell has disputed the charges.

The new 910 AM schedule will be:

5-6 a.m., Fox News Rundown

6-9 a.m., Justin Barclay

9 a.m.-noon, The Glenn Beck Program

Noon-3 p.m., The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show

3-6 p.m., The Sean Hannity Show

6-9 p.m., The Jesse Kelly Show

9-10 p.m., Bill OReilly

10 p.m.-1 a.m., Our American Stories

1-5 a.m., The Other Side of Midnight with Frank Morano

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit's 910 AM switching from local hosts to conservative talk
Elon Musk sept 1 Elon Musk sept 1.jpg - Credit: Chesnot/Getty Images

A hashtag campaign pushed by right-wing ideologues and rife with antisemitic content is trending on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, and being shown support by owner Elon Musk. Its a new low for a platform that has seemingly abandoned the fight against hate speech.

On Thursday, a number of accounts began tweeting #BanTheADL, calling on Musk to remove the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from the site. The ADL is a civil rights organization focused on combating antisemitism and extremism. Momentum for the action seems to have been stirred by a meeting earlier in the week between the ADLs national director, Jonathan Greenblatt , and Linda Yaccarino, in which the pair discussed how to curb the hate and toxic propaganda that have flourished on X ever since Musks takeover last year.

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I had a very frank + productive conversation with @LindayaX yesterday about @X, what works and what doesn't, and where it needs to go to address hate effectively on the platform. I appreciated her reaching out and I'm hopeful the service will improve. @ADL will be vigilant and  Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) August 30, 2023

Some of the ADLs most vicious, bad-faith critics took this opportunity to accuse the group  which Musk himself has criticized in the past  of stifling free speech. Among those who worked hardest to amplify #BanTheADL were mixed martial artist Jake Shields  who has railed against the nonprofit on social media for the better part of a year, at times alleging that they push children to be gay and trans  and Keith Woods, an Irish YouTuber with connections to prominent white supremacists including Richard Spencer and Nick Fuentes. The campaign also found allies in failed senate candidate Lauren Witzke, who has been known to push antisemitism; Andrew Torba, CEO of Gab, a web platform that caters to neo-Nazis; and Matthew Parrott, a co-founder of the Traditionalist Worker Party, a neo-Nazi group that helped to organize the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. At one point on Thursday, #BanTheADL was the number one trending topic on X.

#BanTheADL continues to dominate X. We all supported @elonmusk in his promise to restore free speech, but there is no hope of a free platform that collaborates with this anti-white hate group. Elon needs to listen to the people and stand up to the ADL! pic.twitter.com/Hvp6ZnDr5H  Keith Woods (@KeithWoodsYT) September 1, 2023

The hashtag predictably opened the floodgates to posts featuring antisemitic caricatures, stereotypes and conspiracy theories about how Jews have enslaved the rest of the world. 4Chan trolls rejoiced at the trend, throwing around slurs and offensive memes while speculating that normies are waking up and arguing that other prominent conservatives should name the Jew, or clearly and publicly express antisemitism.

Amid this flurry of extremism, Musk engaged with Woods, first by liking a post in which he falsely alleged that the ADL is financially blackmailing social media companies into removing free speech on their platform, then by replying that ADL has tried very hard to strangle X/Twitter. His evident enthusiasm for the attacks boosted them further while undermining Yaccarinos efforts to convince advertisers that X is working to rein in the sites hate accounts. (The day before, while celebrating the impact of the #BanTheADL campaign over on his Telegram account, Woods had shared a 2017 video of Richard Spencer in which the white nationalist declares, This is a moment to savor. We just achieved a great victory.)

Elon Musk likes my call to #BanTheADL



The people have spoken, we want free speech! pic.twitter.com/mM8ukjWEC8  Keith Woods (@KeithWoodsYT) September 1, 2023

ADL has tried very hard to strangle X/Twitter  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2023

Musk has been headed down this road for a while. The grudge against ADL in particular appears to stem from Greenblatts condemnation of his decision last year to reinstate Donald Trump on X. Then, in May, Musk likened billionaire George Soros  a perennial boogeyman for the antisemitic right  to a supervillain, claiming that he hates humanity. (Incidentally, Soros had just sold off a stake in Musks car company, Tesla.) Once again, the ADL took issue with his behavior, saying it would embolden extremists, with Musk firing back in a tweet that the ADL should just drop the A.' That same week, he bought into conspiracy theories suggesting that a mass shooter who killed 8 people in Allen, Texas, couldnt have been a white supremacist  and persisted in this view after police confirmed that the man had swastika and SS tattoos.

In early August, Musk further cozied up to the far right by raising fears of a genocide of white people in South Africa, the country where he was born. On Thursday, Musk reacted with evident alarm to a statement from Greenblatt on behalf of the ADL noting (accurately) that no such genocide is taking place, tweeting two exclamation marks. That material has fueled the absurd falsehood that the ADL is an anti-white hate group, repeated in many #BanTheADL tweets.

Needless to say, none of what the ADL does amounts to censorship, nor does the organization have any control over Xs moderation policies. To claim otherwise is to play directly into the antisemitic trope of Jews wielding outsize influence over major institutions. Moreover, while the group is not above criticism, and web companies are under no obligation to listen to its leadership, kicking them off the platform would hardly demonstrate the commitment to free speech that anti-ADL hardliners claim theyre fighting for. It also wouldnt do much to revive Musks already tattered reputation as a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist.

But perhaps none of that matters to him as long as he gets to punish his enemies while pandering to his extremist pals. Musk has come this far  whats one more disgrace?

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Jack Sonni , the ex-guitar player with Dire Straits, whose contributions can be heard on the bands 1985 release Brothers In Arms, one of the U.K.s all-time best-selling albums, died Wednesday (Aug. 30). He was 68.

Born Dec. 9, 1954 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Sonnis passion for music began at a young age, when he learned various instruments, including piano, trumpet and the six-string, which he mastered.

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Sonni furthered his career with a relocation to New York, and hed make his mark in the history books as the other guitar player in Dire Straits, a reference he was happy to share on his official biography.

Dire Straits lead guitarist is, of course, frontman Mark Knopfler, widely recognized by his peers as one of the finest to ever play the instrument. The two axemen reportedly met in a guitar shop, after which Sonni was invited to record parts for the bands fifth studio album.

The result was Brothers In Arms, which led the Official U.K. Albums Chart for 14 weeks, and reigned over the Billboard 200 for nine weeks. The album smashed records around the world, shifting an estimated 30 million copies worldwide, and won two Grammys (best music video, short form for the title track, and best rock performance by a duo or group with vocal for the Billboard Hot 100 leader Money For Nothing).

When the rockers embarked on a major world tour in support, Sonni wore a distinctive red coat. That tour, too, was a record-setter. In Australia, fans bought more than 950,000 tickets, a record that stood for decades.

Sonni played guitar synthesizer on album cut The Mans Too Strong and performed on stage with the band for the Wembley Stadium leg of the historic 1985 Live Aid concerts.

Following the birth of his daughters, Sonni calling time as on his career as a musician in 1988, instead pivoting to marketing. He went on serve as vice president of marketing for Guitar Center, a role that kept him connected with his beloved instrument.

Writing on his official site, Sonni described himself as a writer, musician, nomadic raconteur, father and grandfather who has taken to heart the reality in the hard-learned lesson that life is short. In life, he embraced the philosophy to live well and live now in pursuit of creating memorable moments with friends and family.

In recent years, he played alongside fellow alum on Dire Straits Legacy, born from our love and respect for the music of Dire Straits, and to bring the music to fans who have been starved of hearing it played live by the musicians who made it, for far too long, DSL wrote in a 2018 statement.

Sonnis cause of death has not yet been revealed.

Dire Straits leads tributes to the late artist. Rest In Peace, reads an official post. Another, from DSL, explains: Our beloved Jack has left a void in our heart and soul we will miss you so much, you are forever with us.



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2023 Rolling Loud Miami - Credit: Jason Koerner/Getty Images

Lil Uzi Vert was briefly and totally erroneously identified as the suspect in an alleged dog-napping case in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, Aug. 31.

On Facebook yesterday, the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department shared a post about a pup pilfered from a local pet store. It included details about the case, a picture of the stolen dog (a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy named Riku), the alleged suspects car, and the alleged suspect  only the last one was extremely incorrect.

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The initial post with Lil Uzi Vert was up on the Wilkes-Barre PD page long enough for the incident to be wildly commented on and screen-shotted for posterity. Eventually, the cops updated the post with an accurate picture of the real suspect and acknowledged the error.

Lil Uzi Vert mistakenly identified as Puppy Thief in Police bulletin  pic.twitter.com/IhFkUwvPVC  Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) August 31, 2023

The original photo of the male provided by the establishment was not the correct male, the cops said (Uzi, it should be noted, identifies as gender non-conforming and uses they/them pronouns). This current photo is the actor in question. We apologize for the error and any confusion.

The pet store from which the dog was taken, Brookside Pups, also issued a statement on Instagram Stories, suggesting how the photo of Uzi may have ended up being used. Wilkes-Barre police responded immediately, and issued a public alert via their Facebook page using available information on the suspect. The original post included an erroneous photo from the suspects social media but was promptly corrected. We wanted to make clear that the music artist Lil Uzi Vert was not involved in the theft of Riku the puppy. While the confusion in the photos used in the post was unfortunate, our focus is on the return of Riku.

But in a statement shared with Rolling Stone, the Wilkes-Barre police characterized the mistake as an error on the part of the store loss prevention and was immediately corrected by our police department.

Uzis reps at Roc Nation also issued a statement, blasting the cops over the mishap: Lil Uzi Vert was nowhere near Pennsylvania when this theft occurred, and the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department should be embarrassed and ashamed for disparaging Uzis character. This grave error couldve had significant repercussions on Uzis career and epitomizes how Black men can be wrongfully charged and arrested by police departments across the country. Uzi loves all animals and this serious mistake has deterred the apprehension of the kidnapper. Our collective hope is that the puppy is safely and promptly rescued.

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Its been 11 years since Mads Mikkelsen starred in Nikolaj Arcel s Danish period drama A Royal Affair, one of 2012s most raved about international films which also went on to an Oscar nomination.

Now, the countrymen are back together again with Venice competition title The Promised Land (Bastarden) which Magnolia acquired for U.S. distribution at script stage and which is already on the shortlist to be Denmarks Oscar submission this year.

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Mikkelsen plays impoverished captain Ludvig Kahlen who in 1755 sets out to conquer the harsh, uninhabitable heath of Jutland with a seemingly impossible goal: to build a colony in the name of the King. But the merciless Frederik de Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg) does everything in his power to drive the captain away. Kahlen will not be intimidated and engages in an unequal battle  risking not only his life, but also that of the family of outsiders that has formed around him.

In Venice this week, Arcel, who co-wrote the script with frequent collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen , told me that he wouldnt have made the film without Mikkelsen, a rare actor able to embody the level of complexity that the rigid Kahlen experiences, Arcel explained.

I caught up with both Arcel and Mikkelsen here on the Lido this week to discuss the film and their collaboration, as well as their different experiences in Hollywood during the years between A Royal Affair and The Promised Land. Read the Q&A below which has been condensed and edited for clarity.

DEADLINE: How did you guys come back together for Promised Land?

MADS MIKKELSEN: We never left each other.

NIKOLAJ ARCEL: Yeah, we never left each other, truly. We had a great experience on A Royal Affair and we kind of met a few times, we have a common friend in Anders Thomas Jensen whos the co-writer of this film, so we kept in touch.

DEADLINE: And why was this the project that got you two collaborating again?

ARCEL: I came upon this novel by Ida Jessen about three years ago and immediately when I read it, I felt it was a perfect film for me to make but also I didnt want to make it without Mads. This was always written for him and I dont think a lot of people can achieve that complexity of what that character goes through. I actually spoke to Mads before we even wrote the script, I was like hey we have this book, this idea, do you want to do this film? He said, Sure, if the script is good Ill do it.

DEADLINE: So was it kind of do or die? Like if Mads had said no, you wouldnt have done it?

ARCEL: For me it was. I didnt want to do it with anybody else.

MIKKELSEN: He said to start out by reading the book and I said no because I do know that from (the book to the script) is an entirely different journey and Id rather hear it from that imagination. You can always go back to the book and pick up little inspirations, but for me it was important to see what was the story he was telling.

DEADLINE: Did you veer very far from the book?

ARCEL: We did at times. One of the things I think we stayed very faithful to was the themes and the characters, thats something we really retained. But plot-wise, I think we changed a lot because the book is almost Tolkien-like in its infatuation with nature and the heath and at times, which is part of why I fell in love with it, spends chapter upon chapter describing flowers on the heath and the nature and the daily life. Of course the type of film I wanted to make and Anders wanted to make, and Mads ultimately, was not the very art-house-y version where everybody is walking around for hours, its not the Terrence Malick version, but rather something closer to my heart which is a little more driven storytelling and a love story, but every element was there in the book, we just probably contracted some stuff.

MIKKELSEN: But still gutsy enough, especially in the beginning. You know, spending time with a person in the elements and the changes of that character are very subtle. So thats really gutsy and thats also a beautiful part of the story.

DEADLINE: In terms of the elements, was shooting as brutal as it looks in the film?

MIKKELSEN: We had places where you could go and take shelter but its a main character of the film in a way, so the fact that its there is a giant helping hand for everybody, to feel like youre 12 or 11 hours out there with the wind  ruthless, no mercy. Thats nice to feel it, knowing I can at least eat something and knowing they didnt eat, just imagining that.

Mads Mikkelsen in The Promised Land

DEADLINE: You ended up pulling this film together fairly quickly

ARCEL: This was a fast film to get made, We pretty much financed it almost as we wrote it. I think it was two and a half years, it was quite fast in relation to how big of a film it is.

DEADLINE: Wherever do you find time, Mads?

MIKKELSEN: Im not that busy, but it can look like it. A few of my films have been quite visible but thats not always the case  youll have actors who are working twice as much as me but some of those films might go under the radar. I tend to have nice breaks of three-four months when I wrap something up. Ive always done that so its no exception here.

DEADLINE: Its been 11 years since A Royal Affair. In between, Nikolaj, you went and did The Dark Tower in the States. Mads, you took part in major franchises and continue to work between the U.S. and Denmark or Europe. Whats the significance of doing a Danish period piece for the two of you now?

ARCEL: For me and Mads its been very different. For me, the whole experience of working on a studio picture was not a very happy one. It was very different from here where its very much about your vision as a director and your film. Over there, at least within that kind of film, the sort of blockbuster studio film, its their film, its not yours. Youre just a hired hand and that was not a pleasant experience for me at times. I dont think I would want to do exactly that kind of film again. For me, it was such a great thing to return home and to work on a film that was purely mine and my passion and my vision and my themes and the characters that I love and the actors that I love. But for Mads, obviously, its just a choice of you can do whatever you want

MIKKELSEN: No, not really, but there is a big difference in the sense that, when they fall in love with, lets say an actor from over here, they might want to like shape your accent  can you do an American? Can you do a Brit? And then they say, ah I dont mind, I kind of like when you do that. So what they like is what they want to use. They say the same to the directors, but the second they put their feet on that soil, its like, We loved it, it was so special, can you do it more like these guys? That happens the second the budget is at a certain level.

ARCEL: I would certainly do an independent film in the U.S. any time, but I think a big studio movie I would probably shy away from. Every Danish director who has gone over there has come home screaming, Oh my God, what was that?! What happened? Where was my talent?

MIKKELSEN: Were so not used to it, right Its just a very different experience.

DEADLINE: On this film, youve not been affected by the current Hollywood strikes because its a Danish production and your U.S. distributor is an indie?

MIKKELSEN: No, were lucky this goes under the interim rules so were very grateful and happy that we can be here. Theres obviously some stuff that has to be fixed and we are all in favor of that.

DEADLINE: Mads, what specifically brings you back to Danish filmmaking? I imagine the collaboration is part of it

MIKKELSEN: Yeah, it is. I mean, we loved it last time, 10 years ago was a long time to wait but finally it happened, so absolutely. And then on top of that there was a story I really loved. So that brings you back. Its my friends, its my stories, its my language so its nice to be home.

DEADLINE: And its a great character. Hes a little bit difficult to like at certain times. Not as bad as de Schinkel

MIKKELSEN: (Laughs) No, I had that going for me. We were very aware. On paper, we knew exactly how the minimal steps of him kind of opening up to life, when they should happen. We got nervous obviously after shooting the same kind of energy, the same stubbornness  at the beginning we were like, should we give him a little heart, a little warmth? And then we realized we always have to draw back and say, No, trust what we have agreed upon, so that smile that opens up the sky will have that effect. If not, if we do it all the time, it wont happen. But that sometimes happens, like, I am booored of this guy.

DEADLINE: You guys and compatriots youve worked with have talked to me before about being part of a kind of close-knit filmmaking community in Denmark

MIKKELSEN: We are, but the community is growing. There is a generation that is coming up and they tend to work with each other and their own generation, so thats how it should be. But this one is small still, and its nice. Its an interesting thing for us to look at because I know all these guys, but to see how much they take care of each other and give feedback to each other even though they are films they would never make, that collaboration is very terrific.

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Cradling a bucket of freshly picked basil, Laura Seleski referenced a common refrain among farmers: It takes a lot of calories to produce the calories people consume.

After five years growing produce in California and Hawaii, Seleski understands the demands and rewards of farming as a career. But she wants to learn more. When it comes to acquiring the necessary skills to grow vegetables in the long term, "You hope you land at the right farm to learn the things you want to learn."

But the informality often associated with entering farming is changing. Seleski, who grew up outside Chicago, returned to the Midwest to work as an apprentice in organic vegetable farm management  the first program of its kind in the U.S. The Wisconsin apprenticeship has grown from three participants in 2019, its first year, to 18 this year.

Last year, the nonprofit National Young Farmers Coalition released a survey of more than 4,300 former, current and aspiring farmers ages 40 and younger. More than three-quarters were "first generation" in the industry, without prior farming experience.

On paper, Wisconsin's farming apprenticeship program has a relatively low barrier to entry for newcomers to the industry: It doesn't require any previous agricultural experience, and apprentices are paid an hourly wage as farm employees. FairShare CSA Coalition, the industry sponsor for the program, oversees a network of 22 farms statewide that grow organic vegetables and take in apprentices.

The two-year program costs about $700 total, or the cost of three required classes taken virtually through the Northeastern Wisconsin Technical College based in Green Bay.

But that doesn't mean it's easy, given broader issues within farming as a career.

"A lot of farmers don't feel like they're set up to succeed," said Sarah Janes Ugoretz, the apprenticeship program manager with the community-supported agriculture nonprofit FairShare CSA Coalition. "It's really fulfilling, and rewarding, but it's a difficult thing to do this as a career, long term."

As part of her doctorate degree in environment and resources, Janes Ugoretz researched the conditions that create positive labor experiences on vegetable farms.

The apprenticeship's focus on management is strategic, she said: It helps newcomers find their way into higher-paying jobs without having to take the leap of starting their own farm. It's all in the interest of building a workforce that has a better chance for long-term stability, with less turnover and burnout.

Finding affordable land, startup capital and housing, as well as paying for healthcare and student loans were among the top challenges among young farmers in the 2022 national survey. Those barriers to entry particularly affected farmers of color, the study found.

About half of the incoming apprentices this year are from out of state, Janes Ugoretz said. She hears from organizations outside of Wisconsin weekly with interest in growing similar programs. Currently, the apprenticeship can handle about 24 apprentices total, she said, which could grow if demand continues.

Organic farm apprentice Laura Seleski speaks about the valuable hands-on learning opportunities at Gwenyn Hill Farm in Waukesha on Tuesday, August 7, 2023.

Seleski is one of four apprentices working at the 430-acre Gwenyn Hill Farm near Waukesha, 15 of which are used to grow vegetables. While she's happy to be building a longer career in farming, she wants to see a stronger connection between food  how it is produced, where and by whom  and people who eat it.

"Our whole food system needs to change," she said.

Crop rotation, succession planting: the basics of managing a vegetable farm

Vegetable Production Manager, Liz Lyon, checks on the crop of roma tomatoes at Gwenyn Hill Farm in Waukesha on Tuesday, August 7, 2023.

A former apprentice, Liz Lyon now oversees the growth of more than 70 varieties of vegetables at Gwenyn Hill. It's her year-round job to figure out how to make those vegetables grow steadily for several months.

The task requires farmers to merge their knowledge about plants with business. The 2022 national survey found the "cost of production," or making enough money from a product, was a main challenge for young farmers.

One of the main ways Gwenyn Hill pays its bills is through CSA shares. For $600 upfront, customers pick up vegetables from the farm bi-weekly, from June to October. Weekly pickups cost $1,200. The farm has about 300 shares this season across various payment options, and also sells produce at a farmers market, to a few local stores and restaurants, and at its own "farmstand" store.

During the off-season, Lyon works with apprentices to recap how the previous growing season turned out and to set goals for the next. They plan for elements like the farm's crop rotation, or where seeds should be planted depending on the nutrients in the soil left behind from its previous crop. Green beans, for example, leave behind lots of nitrogen, one of sweet corn's favorite foods.

"You make a lot of very specific plans over the winter, but then you have to be really adaptable and be able to switch things up based on the weather, or a million other factors," Lyon said.

From February to June, farmers attend to seedlings in the greenhouse. Some plants prefer to be planted as soon after frost as possible, like tomatoes, and harvested as needed all summer. Others, like winter squash and potatoes, grow until early fall, when they are harvested in one go. Broccoli and lettuce are among the vegetables that are "succession" planted a few weeks apart throughout the summer to ensure a steady harvest for CSAs.

Apprentices track their learning against a set of curriculum overseen by the state. They are employed at least 32 hours weekly during the growing season; it's up to the farm whether to pay during the off-season. Apprentices are also paid for the 144 hours they spend on classwork through the technical college.

Garlic cures in the greenhouse at Gwenyn Hill Farm in Waukesha on Tuesday, August 7, 2023.

Wages average out to about $14 hourly across current apprentices in the program. Of the 22 farms where they work, 10 also provide housing.

As the program manager, Janes Ugoretz said she talks with potential apprentices upfront about housing and transportation, knowing those factors can act as a barrier to entry. Some farms are considering whether to subsidize the cost of employee housing using a stipend.

Apprenticeship aims to help fix retention, turnover in farming workforce

Organic farm apprentice Brian Randall tills the leeks at Gwenyn Hill Farm in Waukesha on Tuesday, August 7, 2023.

Growing up near Rice Lake, Brian Randall helped out on neighbors' and friends' dairy farms. After finishing a career in the Marine Corps, he returned to Wisconsin and began a farming apprenticeship.

On a Tuesday in early August, Randall spent the morning "hilling" leeks using a vintage red tractor. The process of pulling up soil around their stalks shields them from the sun, protecting the tender, white stalk used in cooking. Nearby, the farm's informal mascot, a Chilean terrier named Riley, watched Randall intently.

A variety of certified organic produce and flowers are grown at Gwenyn Hill Farm in Waukesha as seen on Tuesday, August 7, 2023.

It's this lifestyle  working close to the land, among animals and nature  that draws people to try farming. But running a successful business means retaining employees who stick around for the grittier, dirtier side of the job.

Linda Halley, Gwenyn Hill's general manager, said that's one reason the business decided to support the apprenticeship program: It attracts serious employees  like Randall  who are looking for careers. It gives the business a more stable influx of employees, rather than workers looking for a one-time fun summer job.

"First, it was like, 'Yeah, we want to train the next generation of farmers,'" Halley said. "Well, that's a fine statement to make, but are you doing it? And now we're doing it in a much more intentional way. And the program is helping us."

Riley, a Chilean Terrier rescue, greets visitors at Gwenyn Hill Farm in Waukesha on Tuesday, August 7, 2023.

Casual mentoring has always existed in farming, said Harriet Behar, the farmer services consultant with the Organic Farmers Association, a national nonprofit that advocates for expanded organic farming.

Behar spent 16 years running a farmer-to-farmer mentoring program, which is still operating today through the nonprofit Marbleseed. As more organizations have cropped up to support farmers, so too have programs that leverage the benefits of one-on-one mentorship to usher new workers into the industry, she said.

She's also managed an organic farm since 1989. The market is out there, she said: think local produce in grocery stores, farm-to-table restaurants and farmers markets. What's key is learning how to get started selling, sustainably.

"In farming, you have to love it," she said. "If you're just kind of doing it as, 'I'm going to make some money, it's kind of a job'  forget it.'"

Want to get involved?

Information about Wisconsin's organic vegetable farm manager apprenticeship can be found through the Department of Workforce Development tinyurl.com/yc3j229z or through the FairShare CSA Coalition at www.csacoalition.org/apprenticeship.

The FairShare CSA Coalition website includes a tool for finding CSA farms in Wisconsin at www.csacoalition.org/farm-search.

Information about Marbleseed's farmer-to-farm mentoring program in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota can be found at tinyurl.com/3pfcaxsm.

Cleo Krejci covers workforce development, job training and post-K-12 pathways for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You can reach her at CKrejci@gannett.com. Please consider supporting journalism that informs our democracy with a tax-deductible gift to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How to become an organic farmer: This apprenticeship program can help
In light of recent health-related incidents with Washingtons older set, including Senators Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein, media personalities and constituents alike have reignited concerns about aging politicians ability to serve. President Joe Biden , 80, has naturally not been immune to such scrutiny.

The presidents age has been a regular talking point within Fox News and other conservative circles since he first announced his candidacy for 2020, but as his 2024 reelection campaign begins heating up, concerns over Bidens mental and physical health five, six years down the line have been raised anew.

Speaking with Fox & Friends on Thursday morning, Piers Morgan thought he may have a solution: getting California Gov. Gavin Newsom back in the race.

When asked who the Democratic Party should hypothetically put forward in Bidens absence for 2024, Morgan said that the governors Fox News interview with Sean Hannity showed that he had the acumen to lead during particularly partisan, politicized times.

I always look to people who go into the lions den of the opposition. So I was very interested when Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, did Sean Hannity. And I watched that interview, and I thought that was very interesting and a bold and courageous thing for him to do, Morgan explained.

When they go into the lions den, theyve got that confidence, the conservative U.K. news figure continued. You may not agree with any policies that Newsom has, but if youre a Democrat voter and you look at Gavin Newsom against Joe Biden, youve got one whos young, fresh, dynamic and is prepared to go and debate the opposition  which, by the way, has Biden ever done Hannity? Has Biden ever come on Fox & Friends? Of course he hasnt.

Thats when Morgan turned his attention to hypothetically address Newsom directly: Youve gotta be looking at this saying, again, what is the best thing for the country? Do you really believe, Gavin Newsom, that Joe Biden is fit to serve another four years in office? And if you genuinely are honest with yourself, you know hes not  and therefore, the right thing to do is to run yourself.

Similarly, Morgan emphasized that Democrats across the nation need to ask themselves that same question.

The Democrats have got to look at themselves, right? Theyve got to work out, is this actually a good thing for the country? he said. Its very hard at the moment in these tribal, toxic, partisan times for people to take a position that puts the country before party.

He then cited a recent poll from The Associated Press that found that 69% of Democrats think Biden is too old to be effective for four more years.

Are they really going to say that in six years time, that if Biden was to run again and win, in six years time, hes going to be having his finger on the nuclear button and theyre going to feel comfortable about that? Morgan said. I think its a crazy state of affairs.

As TheWrap reported earlier this year, Newsom  widely speculated to run in 2024 if Biden were not to seek reelection  shelved his own presidential aspirations for 2024 and endorsed Biden in April.

Watch Morgans full Fox & Friends segment in the video above.

The post Piers Morgan Wants Gavin Newsom to Run for President Against Joe Biden: Its The Right Thing to Do (Video) appeared first on TheWrap.
Jenna Lyons says strangers think she looks "dirty" without realizing she has a skin condition in PEOPLE's exclusive look at Sunday's episode of 'The Real Housewives of New York City'

Jenna Lyons is nervous about her upcoming vacation.

In PEOPLE's exclusive clip of Sunday's episode of The Real Housewives of New York City, Lyons, 55, tells her brother that she feels abject terror" at the thought of wearing a bathing suit on an upcoming girls trip to Anguilla.

Im not going to be wearing a bathing suit. Its not happening, she says over drinks. Im literally going to be wearing, like, tweed pants and a blazer at the pool.

The reason? My skin, explains the fashion designer. The former J. Crew president has the genetic disorder incontinentia pigmenti, also known as Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome  which affects the skin, hair and teeth, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Bravo Jenna Lyons

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And for Lyons, it presents as bald spots, teeth that are missing or very small, and discolorations all over my skin. While it helped inspire her love of fashion, its also given her insecurities about her appearance.

The upcoming trip to Anguilla, she says, makes her think about her childhood in Palos Verdes, Calif.: I'm back in my California-in-a-bathing-suit days.

Does it still bother you after all this time? her brother asks. Is that why you dont want to do the bathing suit thing?

Related: Who Is Jenna Lyons' Girlfriend? All About Cass Bird

Yeah, totally. I dont want to be in front of them. They all are gorgeous, she says of her castmates. Im not being nice. Its the truth.

A little off the mark, he replies, but Lyons explains that exposing her body brings back bad memories of when she was a child struggling with peoples reactions to her discolored skin.

I know its a genetic disorder but most people dont, and people are like, Oh, youre dirty, or like, You have something on your skin,' and its likeI dont actually want to deal with that.

I still remember going to [Buena Park, Calif., amusement park] Knott's Berry Farm, I was like, wearing shorts and standing in line, and some girl behind me going, Ew, look at her skin. And I dont really want to do that on a vacation, the Love Seen creator says.

Bravo Jenna Lyons

Lyons reveals that the way she tried to manage her condition in the summertime was to isolate herself.

Every summer for as long as I could remember, I would like hibernate away from everybody else and get a tan, because when I didnt, in the sun it really looks magnified.

Related: RHONY Star Jenna Lyons Recalls Being Outed Before She Was Ready: It Was Shocking

People are always saying to me, Oh whats on your skin? Or, Oh, do you have a burn? So getting a tan kind of quiets the visual noise and it makes me feel better.

The new episode of The Real Housewives of New York City airs Sunday, September 3rd, at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo and is available on Peacock the next day.



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Half Strange has announced the complete lineup for its 2023 outback and metropolitan tour. Simona Castricum will join the touring party for a couple of shows in remote New South Wales, while Castricum, Ripple Effect Band and The Garbage & the Flowers have been added to the tour closer at Thornbury Bowls Club, on Wurundjeri country, in mid-October.

Half Strange is a collaboration between Melbourne indie label Dinosaur City and Adelaide DIY festival Half Strange, in partnership with Heaps Normal. The tour begins on Kaurna Land in Adelaide Hills before visiting the South Australian towns of Jamestown, Melrose and Hawker, and White Cliffs, Broken Hill and Silverton in New South Wales.

Ripple Effect Band  Loving and Caring

Castricum is the latest name added to a lineup that includes the likes of Emma Russack, Snowy, Workhorse, Punko, Danika, bodies of divine infinite and eternal spirit, Elmo Aoyama, Scraps and more. All eight Half Strange shows are open to all ages and tickets are available via a pay-as-you-can ticketing system.

Through our commitment to progressive music programming and billing with this years tour, I hope to empower the next wave of artists and arts-workers across regional and remote Australia for years to come, said Dinosaur Citys Jordanne Chant.

Half Strange 2023

Saturday, 23rd September  House Show, 3 Tembys Road, Norton Summit, Adelaide Hills/Kaurna Land SA

Snowy

Workhorse

Danika

Keeskea

Nathalie Pavlovic

Purr

Jess Johns Band

Tickets

Thursday, 28th September  Railway Hotel Motel, Jamestown/Ngadjuri Country SA

Scraps

Punko

False Colours

Great Statue

Tickets

Friday, 29th September  Jacka Brothers Brewery, Melrose/Ngadjuri Country SA

Emma Russack

Workhorse

Danika

Nika Mo

Silvia

Jess Johns Band

Tickets

Saturday, 30th September  Flinders Food Co, Hawker/Adnyamathanha Country SA

Emma Russack

Workhorse

Danika

Jess Johns

Tickets

Friday, 6th October  White Cliffs Hotel, White Cliffs/Barkindji Country NSW

Simona Castricum

bodies of divine infinite and eternal spirit

Punko

Scraps

Elmo Aoyama

Tickets

Saturday, 7th October  Palace Hotel, Broken Hill/Wilyakali Country NSW

Simona Castricum

bodies of divine infinite and eternal spirit

Punko

Scraps

Elmo Aoyama

Great Statue

Tickets

Sunday, 8th October  Silverton Hotel, Silverton/Wilyakali Country NSW

Emma Russack

Workhorse

Danika

Silvia

Tickets

Saturday, 14th October  Thornbury Bowling Club, Thornbury/Wurundjeri Country VIC

bodies of divine infinite and eternal spirit

Troth

00__

The Garbage & the Flowers

Ripple Effect Band

Simona Castricum

Scraps

Tickets

Further Reading

bodies song for new light is an Intimate Love Song for Many Voices

Ripple Effect Band Release Loving and Caring, An Emotional Tribute to a Departed Loved One

Half Strange 2023: Emma Russack, Workhorse Lead Lineup for Outback Gig Series

The post Simona Castricum Added to Half Strange 2023  A Music Tour from the City to the Outback and Back appeared first on Music Feeds.
COLOMBO, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka crossed the 900,000 mark this year on Aug. 30, according to the latest statistics released by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).

According to SLTDA, 900,708 tourists arrived in the country so far this year, which is an increase against 719,978 total arrivals reported for the entire year of 2022.

Sri Lanka's tourism industry is aiming to attract 2 million visitors in 2023.

Tourism, as one of Sri Lanka's leading foreign exchange earners, has suffered a setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and economic and political crises in the South Asian country. 
Studies from Canada and Sweden claim patients operated on by female surgeons are less likely to have adverse outcomes including death 12 months post operation

Getty Studies from Sweden and Canada suggest patients of female surgeons have better outcomes than with male surgeons.

Two new studies out of Canada and Sweden suggest that patients operated on by female surgeons are less likely to require follow-up care related to adverse outcomes including death within the 12-month period post operation.

A cohort study, published by the American Medical Association's monthly journal JAMA Surgery, and conducted on more than 1 million adult patients in Ontario, Canada between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2019, examined the surgical outcomes of patients who underwent one in 25 common elective or emergency surgeries.

The analysis demonstrated that at 90 days post surgery, 13.9 percent of patients operated on by a male surgeon experienced adverse postoperative outcomes, including death, readmission to a medical facility or post-operative complications, whereas within the same period, 12.5 percent of patients treated by a female surgeon experienced adverse reactions post surgery.

Additionally, the study showed that one year post surgery, those figures adjusted to 20.7 percent of patients treated by female surgeons experiencing an adverse post-operative outcome, compared to 25 percent of those treated by male surgeons.

Getty Patients treated by a female surgeon experienced fewer adverse reactions up to one year post surgery.

Related: 35-Year-Old Navy SEAL Turned Harvard Doctor Becomes NASA's First Korean-American Astronaut

The Ontario study also compared mortality rates within the same cohort, noting that 12 months post-surgery, 2.4 percent of patients operated on by a male surgeon died within one year of surgery compared to 1.6 percent of patients under the care of a female surgeon.

Dr. Christopher Wallis, a urologic oncologist at the University of Toronto and Mount Sinai who co-authored the study, told The Guardian, As a male surgeon, I think these data should cause me and my colleagues to pause and consider why this may be.

A second study also published by JAMA Surgery focused on 150,000 patients in Sweden who underwent a cholecystectomy, or surgery to remove one's gallbladder. The study, based on data from the Swedish Registry of Gallstone Surgery, was composed of 849 (33.3 percent) female surgeons and 1,704 (67.7 percent) male surgeons.

The Swedish study found that patients under the care of female surgeons experienced "fewer surgical complications" including bile duct injuries in elective surgery, while also having "significantly longer operation times," per the JAMA study, than their male counterparts.

Additionally, the study found that female surgeons who operated more slowly, were less likely to switch from laparoscopic, or keyhole surgery, to open surgery, and their patients experienced shorter stays in the hospital post-care.

Dr. My Blohm of Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, who co-authored the Sweden study, claimed the findings suggest that surgical technique and risk-taking behaviors might explain some of the gendered differences observed in surgical outcomes.

Related: Surgeon Fined $3,000 for Mistakenly Amputating the Wrong Leg on a Patient

In some countries, there is a general belief that male surgeons are superior to female surgeons, Blohm wrote JAMA Surgery. Interestingly, most previously published studies indicate that female surgeons are at least as good as male surgeons, or as in this case even slightly better.

Wallis claimed that while men and women differ in how they practice medicine, "embracing or adopting some practices" that are commonly used among female surgeons is "likely to improve outcomes" for patients under the care of male doctors.

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Since undertaking this work," Wallis told The Guardian, "I have certainly done this personally and would encourage my colleagues to do the same: use this as a moment for introspection.



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Read the original article on People.
Donald Trump and his various unindicted and indicted associates were livid on Thursday at Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp , and they flocked to various right wing media forums to complain. That includes one of Trumps lawyers, Alina Habba , who had an unusual defense of the 4-times-indicted ex-President.

He doesnt do whats popular or whats right, Habba said during an appearance Thursday night on Newsmax. Welcome to the resistance?

Now, to be clear, Habbas acknowledgement of the apparent facts was just a Freudian slip. She quickly clarified that she actually meant to say he only does the right thing.

Elected officials have to do whats popular, and sometimes not whats right, and thats a problem. Thats I think why people get nervous about Trump. He doesnt do whats popular or whats right or or I should should say he only does whats right, I should say, Habba said.

As we mentioned, Habba was there to complain about Kemp, so we ought to explain why: Because he shut down the latest attempt by Trumps allies to help him escape legal accountability.

Republicans legislators in Georgia are looking for any way they can to stop Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting Trump and 18 of his associates on charges stemming from their attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

To do so, theyre demanding a special session in order to  and this is not an exaggeration  manufacture an excuse to impeach her.

But Kemp shut that down decisively in a press conference earlier Thursday. Up to this point, I have not seen any evidence that DA Willis actions or lack thereof warrant action, Kemp said in part.

The bottom line is that in the state of Georgia as long as Im governor, were going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps and harms politically, Kemp added.

On Newsmax, Habba dismissed Kemp as someone trying to make a name for himself.

Watch the clip below:

Habba: I think thats why people get nervous about Trump. He doesnt do whats popular or whats right or or I should should say he only does whats right pic.twitter.com/RsuMv11k0J  Acyn (@Acyn) September 1, 2023

The post Trump Lawyer Defends Him by Saying He Doesnt Do Whats Popular or Whats Right (Video) appeared first on TheWrap.
Vivek Ramaswamy slapped the neocon label on every other challenger to Donald Trump seeking the Republican nomination, saying he and the former president are the only America first candidates who arent pushing the country toward World War III.

Ramaswamy appeared Friday on the Fox News show America Reports, where he responded to criticism from opponent Nikki Haley , whom he lumped in with former Bush administration senior adviser Karl Rove , and the other GOP hopefuls he says have earned the label.

Anchors John Roberts and Sandra Smith asked the 38-year-old entrepreneur from Ohio what distinguishes him from the other Republican challengers to Trump, a week after the candidates met for the first time on a debate stage in Milwaukee.

A real distinction, I think, is that Im the only candidate who is a non-neocon, Ramaswamy said. I believe in asserting American interests, but only where it advances the U.S. interest. Im very different from other candidates who would sooner send troops to defend invasion across somebody elses border than the invasion on our own southern border in this country.

The term neocons arose in the 1960s to describe hawkish, peace through strength conservatives who favor military intervention and preventative action. The label peaked with President George W. Bush and his advisers who pushed the War on Terror in the early Aughts.

I worry that many in the neocon establishment are quietly marching us into World War III, serious armed conflict with other nuclear powers, including the combination of the Russia-China alliance, Ramaswamy continued. I am the only candidate in the race who has pointed out the alliance and the threat it poses, and the clear plan to pull them apart from each other.

Ramaswamy said not only was his stance on American military involvement overseas a distinction  but that it might be among one of the only ones between the challengers to Trump.

Everybody agrees men should not be swimming in womens competitions, we agree on that, but foreign policy distinguishes me from the Karl Rove, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Chris Christie wing  and I think that debate is good for our party, Ramaswamy said.

Haley had criticized Ramaswamys views on Israel, then came after him again after he moved to clarify those remarks.

Is it true to say you are walking back some claims and walking back   Smith began to ask.

Not at all. Not at all, Ramaswamy said. Ive stood firmly for advancing American interests. Ive been very clear that our relationship with Israel, by the end of my first term, will be stronger than it has ever been because I will treat it as a true friendship, not a transactional relationship.  I have said we would back Israel fully, militarily. But I dont want our sons and daughters, U.S. troops to die in that conflict.

He also noted that every other Republican in the race [backs] a one-China policy, refusing to call Taiwan a nation.  Thats our current status quo with respect to China. I think its insufficient.

Finally, Roberts and Smith asked what, if anything, differentiates Ramaswamy from Trump.

Im 38 years old. I have fresh legs, he said. We are reaching the next generation of young Americans. That is why I can win this election in a landslide, in a way that no other candidate can.  I think this cannot be a 50 point won election. I think it has to be a landslide moral mandate like Ronald Reagan delivered in 1980. Thats what Im aiming to do in 2024.

But Smith pushed back: Does that mean you are directly aligned with his policies? I didnt hear a difference other than age.

We have some areas of differences but they are small, Ramaswamy replied. We are the America first candidates, everybody else embraces the neocon view.

Watch the entire exchange in the video above.

The post Vivek Ramaswamy Tells Fox News Hes the Only Non-Neocon GOP Challenger: Theyre Marching Us Into WWIII (Video) appeared first on TheWrap.
Viva Las Vegas!

Sin City continues to hold strong as the most popular place in the world to elope, according to a new study by Vegas-based Chapel of the Flowers.

The wedding chapel says it analyzed worldwide trends and Google search data from the past year to determine where couples from the United States are searching to elope.

Top 10 places to elope

The study came up with the top 10 most popular places to elope worldwide for American couples.

Without further ado, here they are:

Las Vegas Italy Scotland Ireland Spain Nashville New Orleans Iceland Greece New York City

Eloping in Las Vegas

The study says that Las Vegas receives 11,800 searches every month worldwide for terms like "Vegas elopement" and "elope in Las Vegas," and #Vegaselopement has 24,000 Instagram hashtags.

Many, many weddings have taken place among Las Vegas' little white chapels, with many an Elvis impersonator among the guests.

More: Taylor Swift and celebs at big Jack Antonoff LBI wedding: 'It was all fun'

Oh what a night! Frankie Valli, 89, marries 60-year old girlfriend in Las Vegas

Popular places to elope

The study says Italy placed second due to its range of historic and beautiful locales like Venice, Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Tuscany.

Scotland draws couples with its "breathtaking landscapes and historic castles," with destinations like the Isle of Skye, Loch Lomond and Edinburgh, while Spain has stunning historic architecture in cities like Barcelona, Seville and Madrid and beaches along the Mediterranean and Atlantic.

Four of the top 10, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans and New York City are in the United States, suggestions couples running away to wed don't always go too far from home.

Elopement trends

The study also says that searches for "elopement" are the highest on record, having significantly increased worldwide since 2004, while "elopement packages" have risen 186% since 2004.

It says that, according to Google Trends, the United States is the country most interested in elopement, followed by Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland.

The study also suggests that millennials are driving much of the interest, as a means to save money. According to trends from Pinterest, 66% of search for "elopement ideas" over the past year have been from people aged 25 to 34, with 88% of them being female.

Between navigating pandemic restrictions and the hassle of planning an elaborate celebration, more couples have been choosing to elope over recent years in order to save themselves time, stress and money," said Chapel of the Flowers CEO Donne Kerestic.

This study offers a fascinating insight into which locations are the most desirable for couples to elope worldwide, with Las Vegas unsurprisingly taking the crown.

Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. Reach out on Twitter: @ilanakeller; ikeller@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Las Vegas weddings: Top 10 places to elope for Americans
Warner Bros. is being sued by a crewmember on The Winchesters accusing the studio of ignoring safety rules when filming during dangerous weather conditions.

The Supernatural prequel show was shooting in Louisiana last year when filming was stalled by a heavy rainstorm, according to the complaint filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court. After the crew was instructed to continue filming, first assistant camera operator Bryan DeLorenzo says he was struck by lightning.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

The complaint accuses the production of negligence for violating rules pertaining to when a production must shut down if lightning strikes within a certain radius of the set.

After a series of delays due to the weather conditions, director John Showalter allegedly changed the scene for it to be shot in the rain. He directed the crew to continue filming despite DeLorenzo questioning whether it was safe.

Within ten minutes of this conversation, Plaintiff was standing next to a camera when a loud boom occurred, states the complaint, which is embedded below.

DeLorenzo says he saw a bright white light and then lightning struck him, knocking him unconscious. He was sent to the emergency room.

If lightning strikes within a 6-mile area of the film set, the production must immediately shut down and may not resume until at least 30 minutes after the lightning has passed, according to the suit, which cites safety procedures specific to the production.

Several days before the incident, DeLorenzo says he communicated with Warners production coordinator and safety officers about procedures to follow when shooting during bad weather conditions. They allegedly responded by telling him to purchase lightning detector products and weather apps.

DeLorenzo claims compensatory and punitive damages for physical injuries, pain and emotional distress, among other things. In the complaint, he names Warners, The CW Network and executive producer Jensen Ackles, who starred in Supernatural.

Warners didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Yorgos Lanthimos  whimsical, adult-themed gothic fable Poor Things, starring Emma Stone in a potentially career-defining performance, appears to be the big, early favorite at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. The film brought the house down at its first two press screenings ahead of its world premiere in Italy Friday night, with several moments of dark comedy becoming huge applause lines inside Venices Sala Darsena cinema.

Poor Things is Lanthimos first film since The Favourite, also starring Stone, which premiered to raves at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and went on to receive Oscar nominations for best picture and best director. Judging by the early reception in Venice, Poor Things looks certain to launch Lanthimos and Stone back into the middle of this years awards season conversation.

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An adaptation of a novel of the same name by Scottish author Alasdair Gray, Poor Things follows Bella Baxter (Stone), a young Victorian woman who has been crudely reanimated by a mad scientist (Willem Dafoe) following her suicide. Regaining her footing in the world, she runs off with a debauched lawyer (Mark Ruffalo) on a surrealistic odyssey of self-discovery and liberation. The film, which Stone also produced alongside Lanthimos, is set for a U.S. release from Searchlight Pictures on Dec. 8.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos will be doing press in Venice for his competition entry 'Poor Things' without his A-list cast of Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Margaret Qualley.

Lanthimos received a heros welcome on the Lido Friday afternoon, getting cheered into the press conference room for his first public discussion of Poor Things. A bracingly original confection, the new film leans into the off-kilter absurdist humor that made the Greek auteur a festival darling, while also blending some of the resplendent period detail of The Favourite with new elements of gothic horror and whimsy. (Stone, Dafoe and Ruffalo were absent from the Venice press conference, as they will be from the films red carpet rollout, due to the ongoing Screen Actors Guild strike.)

Lanthimos acknowledged the difficulty of summing up his new project, saying, Its very hard to describe. There have been many films throughout time that were unique and exceptional, but I guess maybe in our time, there arent many films like it, so its hard for me to say what it is.

But he added that the film feels very contemporary, despite its pseudo-Victorian setting, because of the way that it explores freedom and the way we perceive the world and the position of women in society.

Poor Things is also uncommonly sexually explicit for a U.S. studio film. Whether it will land an NC-17 or R rating remains an open question, but the experience of sex in its manifold forms and political circumstances is a central element of Stones characters empowering coming-of-age story.

Its weird, isnt it? Why is there no sex in movies anymore? Lanthimos said when asked how he and Stone handled the films frank and sometimes absurdist depictions of sex. Its a shame Emma cant be here to speak about it, because its weird that all of it will be coming from me, he added.

The director noted that it was an interesting part of the novel, with Stones characters freedom about everything, including sexuality.

It was very important for me to not make a film that was prudish, because that would be completely betraying the main character, Lanthimos explained. So we had to be confident, like the character, and have no shame  and Emma had to have no shame about her body and the nudity when engaging in those scenes. And she understood that right away.

Poor Things Searchlight Pictures

Poor Things is the fourth film Stone and Lanthimos have made together. He said the creative trust and shorthand they have developed over the years was helpful in how they communicated about the character and the sex scenes. He also said that although Poor Things is a sizable studio film  with Disneys backing  they were able to build the sets and light the scenes in a way that required very few people to be on set (as few as three people besides the cast) while shooting the sex sequences.

So that created a very comfortable, intimate environment, Lanthimos said.

Also, I have to credit Elle McAlpine, who was our intimacy coordinator, he added. In the beginning, this profession felt a little threatening to most filmmakers, but I think its like everything, where if you work with a good person, its great, and you realize that you actually need them. So, she made everything so much easier for everyone.

Further explaining the scenes explicit moments, he said: We sat down with Emma at some point and decided what kind of position we would do here, what kind of thing we do there, and whats missing  from the experiences of sex and the different desires people have  in order to make enough of a presentation of human desire and idiosyncrasies. It was important to all of us to have that be a part of the film and not shy away from it. And its also very funny sometimes.

Poor Things Searchlight Pictures

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AUSTIN, Texas  A shooting at a large shopping center in northwest Austin on Thursday left one person dead and 3 others injured, authorities said, the latest gun-related attack in the United States.

I would like to offer condolences to the families of the victims, in addition to the multiple witnesses that witnessed the tragedy here today," Austin Interim Police Chief Robin Henderson said at a news conference late Thursday, adding later that the suspected shooter was also killed in the attack.

According to the Austin Police Department, the shooting occurred at a business near The Arboretum, an outdoor shopping center. Police and medics were called to the area shortly after 5 p.m. local time.

Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, Austin-Travis County EMS announced on X, formerly known as Twitter. One adult was transported to a local trauma facility with "critical, life-threatening injuries," Austin-Travis County EMS added. Two people were evaluated for minor injuries.

Henderson said there was no information about a motive and that the relationship between the shooter and the victims was unknown. "There are limited details tonight," she said.

Henderson declined to say whether the shooting happened inside or outside a business at the shopping mall. She said other agencies, including the FBI and ATF, also arrived because of reports of an explosion at the scene but that investigators found no explosives.

'THE BAD YEAR CONTINUES': US on grim pace for gun violence, mass killings in 2023

'You must expect things like this'

A chef at Hanara Sushi and Grill in the Arboretum said he could not hear any gunshots.

Security came to us and said close the door, theres a gun shooting, said Daniel Kwak. It was pretty scary, he said. I didnt expect that there was a shooting going on around me.

Jeffrey Laartz, from Germany, said he saw all the activity from his hotel.

"I saw next to the Cheesecake Factory many police, and I thought it must be a bit more [than a police procession], and the helicopter flying around, for me, it was clear there must've been a shooting," Laartz said, according to KTBC-TV. "If you deal with guns, or you're allowed to have guns in the United States you must expect things like this."

Latest mass shootings in the U.S.

The Gun Violence Archive says at least 479 mass shootings have taken place in the United States this year. Mass shootings, defined as four or more people shot, differ from mass killings, defined as four or more people killed, in that many mass shootings do not involve deaths.

The Austin shooting is the latest incident in a wave of gun violence occurring across the country. Earlier this week, two people were killed and five others were injured after a morning shooting at a Louisville, Kentucky, in what police said appears to have started between restaurant-goers and people on the street.

Days later, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was charged with the murder of a faculty member who was shot and killed on campus, causing an hourslong lockdown and panic.

Contributing: Michael J. James, Thao Nguyen, John Bacon, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin, Texas, shopping center shooting: 1 killed and 3 injured
Convicted murderer who escaped from prison may attempt to flee back to Brazil: DA

Authorities believe a convicted murderer who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison may be attempting to return to his native Brazil, as the search for the inmate resumes for a second day.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, escaped from the Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township Thursday morning, officials said. He was recently convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally stabbing his former girlfriend in 2021.

He was set to be transferred to a state correctional institution in four weeks before he escaped, according to Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan.

PHOTO: In this photo released by the Chester County District Attorney's Office, escaped prisoner Danelo Cavalcante is shown. (Chester County District Attorney's Office via AP)

Ryan told reporters on Friday that authorities believe he may still be in the general area, though ultimately may be "heading south," citing past behavior. After fleeing the 2021 stabbing in Chester County, he was assisted by family and friends until his capture in Virginia a day later, she said.

"We have evidence to suggest that he was captured in Virginia but the ultimate goal was to go to Mexico and then to Brazil, which is his native country," Ryan said.

MORE: 'Extremely dangerous' convicted murderer escapes from Pennsylvania prison: DA

Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark said they have reached out to the Brazilian attache to inform them that Cavalcante has escaped custody. There is an active homicide warrant for his arrest out of Brazil relating to a 2017 murder, according to Clark, who said Cavalcante fled from Brazil to Puerto Rico and entered the U.S. illegally.

There is currently no evidence Cavalcante is getting any help from family or friends to evade capture following his escape from prison, the district attorney said.

Hundreds of police officers are assisting in the manhunt from agencies including Chester County detectives, Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Marshals Service. Canine units, drones and helicopters are also being deployed in the search.

Chester County Commissioners and the U.S. Marshals are offering a combined $10,000 reward in the case.

Pennsylvania State Police Capt. Robert Wagner urged residents to report anything suspicious while also warning that the escapee is considered "very dangerous."

"We need your help. Please check your cars in your outbuildings for any signs of criminal activity," Wagner said during Friday's briefing. "We ask that you also check your home video cameras. If you see any footage on there that's suspicious, please report it to us."

MORE: Jailers face mounting questions after string of suspected murderers escape

How Cavalcante escaped from the prison remains under investigation, Ryan said. He was last seen on Wawaset Road in Pocopson Township around 9:40 a.m. Thursday wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers, her office said.

He was described as being 5 foot, 120 pounds with black curly hair and brown eyes. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and speaks some English.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call 911 and to not approach if they see him.

"I think people need to be on high alert. This person is dangerous. He has killed someone, he is alleged to have killed another person," Ryan said. "So people need to take every precaution possible. Lock your doors, keep your eyes on your kids and keep your eyes on your neighbors and your friends."

Convicted murderer who escaped from prison may attempt to flee back to Brazil: DA originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A man recently convicted of murdering his former girlfriend in front of her two young children has escaped a Pennsylvania prison, officials said Thursday.

A manhunt was underway for 34-year-old Danelo Cavalcante, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole last week for stabbing 33-year-old Deborah Brandao to death in 2021 while her 7-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son were present, the Chester County District Attorney's Office said. He was awaiting transfer to a state facility when he escaped.

Cavalcante escaped Chester County Prison outside Philadelphia just before 9 a.m. on Thursday and a search of the area was being conducted, the office said. Police and prison authorities deployed helicopters and dogs to locate Cavalcante, Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell said. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, grey shorts and white sneakers, Maxwell said.

Danelo Cavalcante is considered an extremely dangerous man," District Attorney Deb Ryan said in a statement provided to USA TODAY.

Officials didn't say how Cavalcante escaped, but said he was last seen by an eye witness walking on Wawaset Road in nearby Pocopson Township almost an hour after his escape. The acting warden of the prison, Howard Holland, said Cavalcante "physically escaped," but said he didn't cut any fences to do so.

He's also wanted for a 2017 murder in his native Brazil, the district attorney's office said. The office announced up to a $10,000 reward for information on Cavalcante.

Danelo Cavalcante, 34, is seen in a photo provided by the Chester County District Attorney's Office. Officials said Cavalcante escaped from prison on Aug. 31, the week after being sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his former girlfriend.

'Depravity knows no bounds': DA warns escapee is dangerous

Ryan told reporters Thursday that Cavalcante has "nothing to lose" and said he may be capable of more egregious crimes.

He had been in a relationship with Brandao for about a year and a half and "engaged in a horrific pattern of domestic violence," leading up to the murder, Ryan said. Cavalcante stabbed Brandao 38 times in broad daylight, she said.

"His depravity knows no bounds," she said.

It took a jury just 15 minutes to convict Cavalcante of killing Brandao. Prosecutors said he was angry she planned to disclose the murder charge he was facing in Brazil.

When authorities showed Brandao's daughter a photo of Cavalcante to identify, she said, "Thats him, thats the guy that killed my mom... Please get him and put him in prison," the Pottstown Mercury reported in 2021.

Ryan also said officials are concerned Cavalcante may be helped by friends and family and warned they will also be prosecuted if that's the case. After the murder in April 2021, he was aided by others until he was apprehended in Virginia.

It's the second escape from Chester County Prison in a couple of months, officials said Thursday, though they wouldn't say whether the methods of escape were similar.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prison escape: Man just convicted of murder breaks out in Pennsylvania
The 15th BRICS summit unfolded against the backdrop of Johannesburg's bustling skyline, where world leaders convened from the 22nd to the 24th of August. Guided by the gracious host, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the summit welcomed dignitaries including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Notably absent in person, Russian President Vladimir Putin's virtual presence, prompted by an international warrant, found representation through Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

At the heart of discussions during the summit lay a tapestry of critical global concerns: the relentless grip of the COVID pandemic and its reverberations across economies, the inexorable march of climate change demanding sustainable development, intricate threads of international trade and investment, the perennial specter of security and counter-terrorism, and the ambitious canvas of expanding BRICS' membership.

During the summit's inauguration, Commerce and Industry Minister Ibrahim Patel painted an optimistic portrait as he addressed the BRICS Business Council. Patel underscored the transformation of Africa from being a mere resource supplier to a defining presence in the emerging global narrative. Amid the world's myriad challenges and crises, Patel urged attention to the gallant individuals confronting these trials, championing the potential for cooperative partnerships to fuel economic growth.

In contrast to the G7, a conclave of advanced economies centered around the United States, Japan, and the UK, BRICS has steadily advanced to assume the mantle of the voice for emerging economies. This trajectory challenges the Western dominance etched into global affairs. While a multitude of agendas vied for attention, the discourse revolved fervently around the enlargement of BRICS' membership.

A constellation of over 40 nations, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, has expressed aspirations to align with this dynamic consortium. Closely observed by observers, the anticipated expansion has been hailed by The Wall Street Journal as a force that will amplify BRICS' global sway. A closer inspection of the avenues of expansion reveals a fascinating confluence of factors that could potentially reshape the global political and economic landscape.

BRICS' meteoric rise is underscored by its population share, with more than 40 percent of the world's inhabitants residing within its member countries. Simultaneously, the International Monetary Fund has christened BRICS as stewards of a third of the global GDP. Furthermore, data from the World Economic Outlook highlights BRICS' ascendancy beyond the G-7 economies in terms of purchasing power parity as of 2023.

Born in 2009, BRICS has nurtured India and China into economic powerhouses, with projections from agencies like Goldman Sachs suggesting these nations might ascend to global economic summits. In this context, the discourse around the expansion of BRICS takes on layers of intrigue. Pundits muse on the prospect of an alternative bloc poised to counterbalance Western dominance, or to serve as a buffer against China's recalibration of its trade relations with the United States.

Among the champions of expansion are South Africa and Brazil, enthusiastic about the bloc's widening embrace. However, amidst these exuberant hopes, India stands firm, advocating for a delicate equilibrium between existing members, regardless of the entry of new entrants. As the summit's reverberations continue to resonate, the world watches with bated breath, eager to witness whether BRICS will indeed sculpt a new epoch in the grand tapestry of global diplomacy and economics.

BRICS Expansion Welcomes New Entrants, Mulls Common Currency

Prime Minister Modi's Best Gifts and Vision at the 15th BRICS Summit

BRICS Adds 6 New Countries: Argentina, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Egypt
Hawaii cultural figures lead community in 'healing' vigil following deadly Maui wildfires

A statewide, one-day vigil will be held today in Hawaii to aid in emotional and spiritual healing following the deadly fires that have devastated Maui.

As the sun rises over Maui, local cultural practitioners will guide the community in a chant to thank and recognize the sun for being a source of life.

As the sun passes overhead at noon, they will chant to recognize the creation of the Hawaiian Islands. And as the sun sets in the West, where it is believed the souls go when people die, they will chant to honor their ancestors and "those who have gone before us."

The vigil will foster healing through traditional ceremonies -- such as hula and pule, or dance and prayer -- for those in mourning, according to Maui-based kumu hula and Hawaiian elder Hokulani Holt-Padilla. More than 1,300 community organizations have committed to participating in the vigil.

At least 115 people were killed in the blaze and thousands of others have been displaced. Federal agencies are continuing the long road ahead toward recovery and rebuilding, while the community fights to meet the needs of its people.

Vigil organizer Kamana`opono Crabbe told ABC News the disaster response and humanitarian relief from across the country "has been tremendous" and has helped "alleviate a lot of what we call kaumaha. Kaumaha is this overwhelming sense of gloom and despair."

PHOTO: Lani Williams and her mother, Sincerity Mirkovich, hug Benny Reinicke, who saved them from the Maui wildfires. (ABC News)

Crabbe, who is also the executive lead for Rediscovering Hawaiis Soul initiative, said while other needs like financial and physical well-being have been front-and-center in the aftermath, the emotional recovery of the community should also be a priority.

"It's soul searching for us as a people and the real deep need for not just the relief effort for Maui, but to enter into prayer and ceremony, which is a very Hawaiian -- Kanaka Maoli -- tradition for us."

He added that different denominations and cultural groups also will be part of the effort, to show that the island and those beyond it are "unified in solidarity."

MORE: Families face waiting game in Lahaina back-to-school efforts after Maui wildfires

Holt-Padilla said people grieve in their own time, and their goal is to continue to provide a space for people to do so among their community members.

Theres an urgent need for prayer, cleansing, and reflection so that together, we can help Maui and Hawaii heal, Holt-Padilla said. This vigil will help to create a space for grief and healing and the opportunity for Hawaii to be united.

Organizers say the rituals are intended to honor and mourn those who have died and what has been lost, as well as to cleanse the land.

Commemorating aina, which describes the relationship between people and their land, is at the core of the day's events.

"We're Island people," said Holt-Padilla in an interview. "All of our living is within our view. Our world ends at the horizon. So we cannot drive to another state to get water. We have to live and survive and flourish in the place that you can see with your own eyes.

PHOTO: Keeaumoku Kapu hugs a community member at Lahaina Gateway Center in Lahaina, Hawaii on Aug. 13, 2023. (Mengshin Lin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The vigil, called "Kipuni Aloha no Maui: Embrace Beloved Maui," will take place at sunrise, 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. local time; then at noon, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and then at sunset, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Events will be held across the state on Maui, Oahu, Hawaii or The Big Island, and Molokai.

Those who wish to partake virtually can tune in live on ABC Honolulu affiliate KITV-4, Akak Community Media, KAKU 88.5 FM, Maui Stream, Na Leo TV, Hoike TV, Hawaii News Now, KHON-2, online on HawaiiSoul.org/Maui and on YouTube.

"While the road to recovery will be long, the outpouring of support from all of Hawaiis people and from those beyond our shores has been a bright spot and provides hope to build an even stronger Maui Nui and Hawaii," said Rediscovering Hawaii's Soul, a coalition of local community leaders that is co-hosting the vigil.

The vigil is backed by Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, as well as other officials across the Islands, including Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen, Kauai County Mayor Derek Kawakami and more.

Hawaii cultural figures lead community in 'healing' vigil following deadly Maui wildfires originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Shoppers in Texas no longer have to pay a sales tax on menstrual products, making the state one of the few in the nation to eliminate the so-called "tampon tax."

A new law that went into effect Friday eliminates the sales tax on feminine hygiene products including items like tampons, menstrual pads and menstrual cups.

In addition to menstrual products, the law, S.B. 379, also eliminates the sales tax on family care items including diapers, baby bottles, baby wipes, maternity clothing and breast milk pump products.

The law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in June, makes Texas one of nearly two dozen states that no longer charge a sales tax on diapers, according to the National Diaper Bank Network, a nonprofit organization.

Currently, over one dozen states still charge sales tax on menstrual products, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies, a nonprofit organization that works to end period poverty.

In those states, products like pads, liners and cups are considered non-essential items and are subject to sales taxes.

PHOTO: In this Aug. 16, 2019, file photo, boxes of tampons are shown on a supermarket shelf in Los Angeles. (Calimedia via Shutterstock, FILE)

Advocates for menstrual equity who oppose a tax on menstrual products say the taboo around menstruation and the lack of access to menstrual products hurts women economically because it costs them money for products and may keep them from attending jobs and school. Poor menstrual hygiene poses health risks for women, including reproductive issues and urinary tract infections.

Period poverty, when people cannot afford even the most basic of period supplies like pads and tampons, is an issue that affects women around the world, including the United States.

A 2019 survey of low-income women in St. Louis, Missouri, found nearly two-thirds couldn't afford menstrual hygiene products in the past year, and more than 1 in 5 said they had the same problem every month. The women said they instead had to use cloth, rags, tissues, toilet paper and sometimes diapers or paper towels, according to the report published in the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

MORE: CVS lowers price of period products by 25%, pays 'tampon tax' in some areas

In recent years, the push for menstrual equity has made progress, with states such as California requiring free period products in public schools and colleges.

Last year, the national drugstore retailer CVS announced it was reducing the cost of CVS Health branded period products by 25% in all CVS Pharmacy locations nationwide and would also begin paying the sales tax on feminine hygiene products in states where it still exists.

Texas Republican state Sen. Joan Huffman, a sponsor of the new Texas law, described menstrual products as "essential" to women's "health and well-being."

"Every woman knows that these products are not optional," Huffman said in a statement last year. "They are essential to our health and well-being and should be tax exempt."

MORE: Scotland becomes 1st nation to provide free period products for all

Texas' law eliminating sales tax on menstrual and baby products comes as the state continues to enforce several strict abortion laws, including one prohibiting all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, except in medical emergencies, which the laws do not define.

Under these bans, performing or attempting an abortion is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The law also allows private citizens to sue anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion.

ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab and Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.

Texas eliminates 'tampon tax' on menstrual products, sales tax on baby items originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
Ukrainian children are going back to school today but for the majority of them, that doesn't mean going back to class.

More than 40% of Ukrainian students will have to rely on online or hybrid learning due to the lack of bomb shelters in schools and the danger of air strikes, according to Save the Children.

In Kharkiv, where a metro station is being converted into a classroom to avoid the back-and-forth travel to bunkers, most learning will be in front of a screen.

"Unfortunately, the security situation in the city does not allow schools to open. And we, parents, understand that the safety of children is the first priority," Valentyna Bandura, a Kharkiv resident and mother of a school-age child, told ABC News.

"A school in the subway is starting to work in our city," Bandura continued, adding that they remain uncertain exactly how they'll make it work. "This is the first experience not only for our city, but for Ukraine in general," she said.

PHOTO: Pupils attend a ceremony held in a subway station to mark the beginning of the new school year, known as 'Day of Knowledge' in Kharkiv, Ukraine on Sept. 1, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukraine's Ministry of Education estimated that 1.7 million students will have limited in-person classes, of which one million will be fully online. That is because one out of four schools is not equipped with shelters that can accommodate all students and staff during air raid alerts, Ukrainian Education and Science Minister Oksen Lisovyi said last month.

MORE: Video Ukraine launches far-reaching drone attack inside Russia

Since the beginning of the war in February, 2022, 1,300 educational institutions in Ukraine have been damaged and 180 completely demolished. The schools that have survived Russian attacks in occupied territories, such as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, constitute too much of a target for children to attend in-person classes there.

There are some advantages to online learning beyond safety, such as allowing refugee students to join from their host countries. But e-learning comes with many challenges, of which two are lack of equipment and internet connection.

"We hope there will be no power outages And with just one tablet and two kids, someone will have to work on their phone at times," Bandura said.

Isolation, already a familiar situation due to COVID-19 and more familiar to families living in war zones, is another problem for children's well-being. "Keeping in touch with my classmates is quite difficult because we are used to spending time together in person," said Kateryna, Bandura's 14-year-old daughter. "But my class is friendly. In the summer, we saw each other several times."

"They spent time together and she really hoped that they would meet again in school, in their class," added Kateryna's mother.

MORE: Video Biden reiterates commitment to Ukraine at NATO summit

For those whose school is resuming in-person learning, there are sobering additional concerns. Offline learning is possible only with reliable shelters against attacks, which the government is increasing.

"Our school has a renovated bomb shelter, a separate room for each class, so in case of an air raid sirens, not only they can wait till they finish but also conduct half-time lessons, which was the case last spring," Oksana Hryshyna, the mother of a 13-year-old in Kyiv, told ABC News. "I hope there will be no need to change the format."

Hryshyna and her son decided together that he would attend classes in person, although the school offered online learning as well. "In wartime, who will assess what is safer on the territory of Ukraine? The option of studying abroad, at a school in another country, my teenage son rejected," Hryshyna said.

PHOTO: Pupils sing Ukraine's national anthem to mark the start of the new school year, known as the 'Day of Knowledge' in Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Sept. 1, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)

Preparing her son's backpack, Hryshyna followed the rules of the school: an office tablet, a pen, a pencil, and a notebook. But she also included water and snacks, as well as a charger and a power bank, in case students must remain in the shelter.

"Education is important no matter how difficult the times are," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter, after attending the celebration for the 125th anniversary of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. "Knowledge, education, and true competence  in good times, it is nearly impossible to win a competition without them, and in difficult times, there are no victories without them."

ABC's Natalya Kushnir contributed to this report.

Ukrainian students head back to school, but not to classrooms originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Florida guide Capt. Kevin Brotz has put hunters on plenty of big alligators in his day. By his count, it's somewhere around a thousand. In terms of sheer weight, though, none have come close to the 900-pounder that he and two buddies harvested on Aug. 25. According to records kept by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, itll likely go down as the second-heaviest gator ever harvested in the Sunshine State.

The owner and operator of GetBit Outdoors , Brotz went out last Friday with two of his longtime clients turned close friends, Carson Gore and Darren Field. Gore had some leftover tags from this years draw and had given one to Brotz. With the morning to himself, Brotz invited the two hunters to join him on a lake hed been wanting to explore near Orlando.

Gore and Brotz pull up on the hooked gator as Field prepares to throw the harpoon; Gore gets a close-up view.

I knew that area had potential, but I had never hunted this exact spot and I didnt know he was there, Brotz tells Outdoor Life. When we saw the gator, we spotted him a few hours into the hunt. I thought he was nine to 10 feet, maybe 11.

Getting the Hooks In

Over the next few hours, they played cat and mouse. Theyd see its head pop up and then disappear, only to resurface half an hour later. Using stout custom-made rods and 150-pound lines, they kept casting weighted treble hooks at the gator until Field got the first hook in it. To their surprise, the gator hardly budged. Even after Brotz got a second treble hook in it, the gator didnt seem to care and stayed on the bottom of the lake.

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Typically, you hook an alligator and hes gonna pull drag and spin the boat around just like a big fish would, Brotz explains. And when you hook them a second time, they really blow up.

Then Carson hooked him and he just kept crawling slowly on the bottom, Brotz continues. Thats when I knew in my gut: This is an absolute giant. This thing is a beast.

Capt. Kevin Brotz pries open the jaws of the 900-pound beast.

With three lines on the alligator, Brotz threw out a hand lineessentially a ropewith a buoy on one end and a 20/0 treble hook on the other. They were able to slowly bring the gator to the surface, where Brotz hit it with a harpoon directly in the eye. The gator still didnt blow up, and over the next three to four hours, they threw all the lines they had in the boat to try to get it back near the surface. When the alligator finally came up for air, Brotz wasnt quite prepared for what he saw.

I look on the opposite side of the boat not five feet away, and he porpoises up out of the water like a whale. I could see the top of his front shoulders, and he was three to four feet out of the water, he says. Were standing in the bottom of the johnboat, and Im only 5 foot 3, so I was eye-to-eye with what felt like a T-Rex.

Feeling the Fear

Sharing a 16-foot john boat with two grown men, Brotz says they had about two inches of freeboard at that point. And after seeing the beast they had on the other end of the line, he realized for the first time how precarious their situation was.

I really feltnot scared, like I needed to leave. But fear, as in: We need to play this smart because we could get in trouble quickly. If he had come up for air underneath us, or just happened to come over the side, were in the water and that boats sinking. Not in a good spot.

After some creative engineering, which involved cutting and splicing some lines, and using life jackets as buoys, they finally got the massive gator near the surface again. Brotz hit it with the bang stick a few times, and they spent the next half hour untangling the gator before they could drag it to the nearest bank. Then they faced the monumental task of getting the alligator in the boat without swamping.

Read Next: How to Cook a 12-Foot Gator: Alligator Recipes from a Florida Chef

They tried to pull him over the gunnel but quickly gave up. Eventually they were able to spin the boat around, get the gator on shore, and roll him up high enough so they could roll him back down into the tied-off boat.

Loading up the beast at the boat ramp.

It took a lot of cool, calm decision making to put it all together, Darren says. But I couldnt have been with a better crew.

Weighing the Giant Gator

It wasnt until the following morning that they were able to weigh the alligator. (Darren had a trip that evening and left the gator in a processors walk-in cooler overnight.) They used a trailer to haul it to a scrapyard, where it was hoisted up with a forklift and weighed on a certified scale. Brotzs official weight ticket showed 900 pounds.

If that weight holds up to scrutiny, it will make Brotzs alligator the second heaviest ever harvested in the state. FWC maintains a record of the top-10 largest gators that have been taken in the wild going back to 1977, and the heaviest on record weighed 1,043 pounds. There are five other gators on the top-10 list that weighed 800 pounds or more, but none have cracked the 900-pound mark. Brotz says he spoke with FWC on Friday to start the process of getting his gator certified and added to the top-10 list. After that, hell be getting a full body mount done.

It was an easy decision. Theres only one thing to do with a gator that big, Brotz says. He will live forever in the house as a reminder of the beast that he is.
Back in the day, most Americans got their pizza from either a cardboard box in the frozen-food aisle or a cardboard box delivered to their front door. But pizza in the United States has since had a glow-up, and many chefs with fine-dining backgrounds are now at the helm of their own pie shops.

Most of the notable pizza spots that you hear of today can trace their lineage to a group of chefs who changed the face of American pizza-making back in the 1980s and 90s, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. Those pizzaiolos are now household names in the culinary worldpeople like Chris Bianco, Anthony Mangieri, Peppe Miele, Peter Pastan, and Ruth Gresser.

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Bianco, the chef behind Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix and Los Angeles, is arguably one of the biggest names on the scene. He started slinging pies in the back of a grocery shop in 1988, and in 2003 he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest, becoming the first pizzaiolo to earn a regional chef medal. While he doesnt see himself as the leader of the artisanal pizza movementpreferring instead to place himself in a long lineage of pizza makersBianco was one of the first in the U.S. to take local and seasonal ingredients, along with classical techniques, and mesh them with pizza.

I guess I was blessed to be conscious and look around and notice that there were people making change and making better food, Bianco told the Post. I was lucky enough to have a little bit of a skill set.

A selection of pizzas from Una Pizza Napoletana

Back when Bianco and his brethren were first churning out their pies, they really only had word of mouth to rely on. But with the advent of the internet and social media, pizza making took off, and more and more people became interested in a world made up of high-quality dough, tomato sauce, and cheese. Younger chefs, in particular, saw pie shops as a cool place where they could flex their culinary muscles.

They are drawn to the excitement of the pizza business, Mangieri, the pizzaiola behind New Yorks Una Pizza Napoletana, told the Post. It seems from the outside like something thats got a lot of potential: Its exciting and sexy. Youre working with fire.

That led to a whole new set of pizza places, and now you can find a Neapolitan or similar-style pie practically anywhere you go. And even today, both the new guard and the old guard continue to innovate with their pies: Gresser, who launched Pizzeria Paradiso in Washington, D.C., back in 1991, told the Post that her craft continues to evolve.

Just imagine what the American pizza scene will look like another 30 years from now.

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In 2003, Heide Hendricks and Rafe Churchill, principals of the architecture and design firm Hendricks Churchill who are also married to one another, first set eyes on what would become Ellsworth, their family home in Litchfield County, Connecticut.

It would take another 15 years of driving past the 1871 farmhouse and dreaming of the possibilities but never imagining it might one day be theirs, as described in the introduction to their new book Our Way Home: Reimagining An American Farmhouse, out September 5, for the couple to buy it.

Shop Now Our Way Home: Reimagining an American Farmhouse amazon.com $65.00

During that time, Hendricks and Churchill had also added to their family, renovated three other homes, and built a successful design business upon the foundation of their authentic, warm, and subtly playful style and collaborative, unpretentious approach. That period of growth perfectly primed them to create their dream home at Ellsworth, which they have documented in beautiful and remarkably personal detail in their new book.

Chris Mottalini

Today, the house presents itself as a sanctuary of self-expression, yielding at appropriate moments to history and setting. Many of the rooms, furnished with an intentionally timeless mix of antiques and contemporary pieces, are cloaked in wallpapers that echo the environment and framed by painted millwork that accentuates rather than obscures existing eccentricities. Theres an undercurrent of excitement about the potential for discovery to the spaces, the style of which is certainly not for everyone.



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Which may be precisely the point.

Chris Mottalini

Hendrickss and Churchills story of Ellsworth is compelling not just for its beauty, but also for its deeply personal reflection on making a house a family home. Its a story over twenty years in the making and highly specific to their needs, desires and dreams. And while a 19th-century house in rural Connecticut with quirky trim may not appeal to all, the yearning for crafting our own havens, our own sanctuaries of self-expression, surely doesespecially if we allow ourselves time and space to reflect on what we really want.



In the algorithm-driven world in which we live, self-discovery of any kind has become harder and harder. Our own voices are perilously drowned out as we are inundated by streams of sameness, particularly on social media but increasingly on other platforms as well.

Specific to residential design, the so-called modern farmhouse style is perhaps the most egregious offender, with its white siding, black windows and sea of subway tile and Shaker cabinetry popping up everywhere, from Pinterest to the Presidio (could there be anywhere less agrarian than San Francisco?).

As real estate reporter Ronda Kaysen wrote in her thoughtful article in The New York Times, The modern farmhouse is the millennial answer to the baby boomer McMansion.dominating renovations, new construction and subdivisions in communities with no connection to farming.

Algorithms and the ensuing influencer-dominated echo chambers in which we now exist have not only given rise to design ubiquity but also stoked the instant gratification fire of American consumerism. When were honest with ourselves, all of us can acknowledge having experienced the following internal dialogue: So-and-so is everywhere, and I simply must have itNOW.

Christ Mottalini

Of course, nothing about creating a home is instantor needs to look the same for me as it does for my neighbors. Homes are repositories of memories and moments that comfort us with so much more than shelter, and they take decades, sometimes lifetimes, to cultivate. Further, what makes American neighborhoods, towns, cities, and even rural communities rich with culture and interest is the idiosyncrasies among usand our opportunity to share them with each other.

Perhaps its fitting, then, to look to a pair of artists with a shared appreciation for Yankee ingenuity, the value of artisan craft, and for freedom from convention, as described in the introduction to Our Way Home, for a remedy to the ills of design homogeneity sweeping across America. Here, five ideas from the story of Hendricks's and Churchills home for curing the modern farmhouse epidemic.

Start a reno by making a list of what you dont want to change.

Call it the first, do no harm approach to renovation. Henricks and Churchill mapped out their plans for Ellsworth by considering what they didnt want to amend about the 19th-century house, which needed quite a bit of work to bring it to current living standards. We definitely considered how our family would live in this house, but first we outlined for ourselves what not to do, Churchill says.

For example, they decided upfront they would not enlarge the 2,900-square-foot house, and even lopped off a small shed from the side of the house that had been used as an outhouse. The history is important to us, but most significant is how the house and immediate landscape influence each other, resulting in a beautifully respectful partnership, he adds.

Inside, the design duo navigated a delicate balance of updating the house for 21st century family life while making occasional sacrifices in honor of the bones of the house, says Churchill. Our most successful projects are those that keep the egos in check while learning how to live with an old house.

Christ Mottalini

Keep the character, skip the extra bathroom.

Among the bones of the house that Hendricks and Churchill decided to honor is a narrow, steep back staircase that drops from the second story bedrooms into the kitchenthe kind of thing that is usually removed in favor of adding more storage space or an additional bathroom, the book states. We kept this quirky detail because it really adds character to the kitchen. Its what makes an old house an old house, says Hendricks.

Leaving the stairs in place meant they had to forgo adding a third full bath, which would have would have been nice, but keeping up with two and a half is really enough, Churchill says. We figured that if youre staying with us, you must be a good friend and will accept that sharing a bathroom with our kids is just part of the experience.

The couple also left in place a few imperfect millwork details that had had been added over the years, such as scrollwork applied on the front halls exposed stair stringer. You cant help but think about the person who made it and what was going through their head at the time, says Hendricks. These kinds of details let the imagination run wild  whether the stories we come up with about them are true or not.

Chris Mottalini

Choose room colors that make you feel good.

Another element Hendricks and Churchill did not scrap was the houses existing floor plan, preserving its center hall orientation with rooms assigned distinct functions rather than bringing down walls to create an open plan. Despite many discovering with the perils of open plan living during the pandemic, the layout persists in modern farmhouses, which often feature great rooms designed for cooking, eating, living, working, and even exercise and are typically colorless. Whatever convenience or togetherness is gained from such a design comes at a cost: Lost is the opportunity to experience change in light and variety in color and view, all of which affects mood.

When designing the interiors at Ellsworth, Hendricks spent a lot of time thinking through when rooms would be used, during what seasons, and how light changed each to inform her color selections long before she made any decisions about furniture. For example, because the living room has the only fireplace in the house, Hendricks knew her family would use it most often during winter and thus chose a darker, moodier palette of greens, reds, and aubergine for coziness, and because they would look even better by firelight.

Hendricks also chose a darker scheme for the mudroomin this case a purple-gray. Using dark colors in an entry is a great strategy to adjust your eye from the outside. When you enter the mudroom on a bright day, your eyes immediately begin adjusting to the interior space. It sets a tone, and the next room you walk into automatically feels bigger and brighter, she says. Conversely, the [nearby] laundry room is a bright yellow. Its a happy yellow for a dreary task.

Chris Mottalini

Allow your home to evolve alongside with you.

Soulful homes, like their owners, are works in progressnot altars of instant gratification. Some of the most beautiful moments at Ellsworth are the result of tinkering and tweaking over time. Take the color scheme in the kitchen and its adjacent pantrya pastiche of light, medium, and indigo blueswhich is the result of a disagreement between Hendricks and Churchill that took years to resolve.

Hendricks chose Farrow & Balls De Nimes blue for the cabinets and beadboard, even knowing that blue is said to be an appetite suppressant, and a lighter Farrow & Ball shade, Borrowed Light, for the pantry. A few years in, Hendricks felt the kitchen to be too utilitarian in feel and Churchill complained the pantry color felt cold. To soften the kitchen, Henricks added a floral block print wallpaper (Soanes Dianthus Chintz) on the small wall spaces not covered in beadboard.

The pantry solution took a little more negotiation, creativity, and time. Rafe wanted me to consider changing the color, but I still really liked it. So we came up with the idea to take the darker blue from the kitchen and spill it in the pantry as if it came in from a flood and left behind a waterline. That was Rafes analogy when he was trying to sell me on the idea. And he did. It was a good collaborative moment. Now, the room stands as a testament to the art of compromise and the beauty that comes from waiting for the best idea to bloom.

Chris Mottalini

Fill your home with things that bring you joy.

Designed with color, pattern, furniture, and artwork meaningful to Hendricks and Churchill, Ellsworth is an original reflection of its owners. Its clear that while they were thoughtful and studious in their approach, the couple was never consumed by trends, resale, or even correctness. Instead, they made design decisions that reflect what they love and value. The rooms in turn invite guests and friends to learn their story and get to know them even better.

It was deeply important to the couple, for example, to pay homage to the surrounding landscape inside, so Hendricks chose wallpapers that relate to the property. Mark Hearlds Harvest Hare wallpaper in the dining room echoes the hares in the surrounding fields, while Marthe Armitages Chestnut wallpaper in the powder room is a nod to a Japanese chestnut tree in the front yard. A pine wallpaper by Fayce Textiles in the living room honors some white pines that had to come down to protect the house.

Hendricks furnished the house with a lively mix of antiques and vintage pieces, old hand-knotted rugs, and contemporary elements like lighting fixtures and artwhich together engage in a friendly banter-like dialogue, never too serious.

Whether its a bespoke piece crafted by some artisanal studio or a mass-produced object, it has to convey a message, preferably a humorous one, or provoke an emotion, says Hendricks about selecting pieces for her home. I like to imagine when Im designing and furnishing these spaces that Im making my mark in time  even after were gone, those pieces will tell the story of our time in the home.

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The federal government awards contracts for a vast majority of its textile production needs to factories that employ federal prisoners. Many of these prisoners make barely more than a dollar an hour and most of their earnings go back to the prison where they reside or to any child support or restitution still outstanding.

This may all sound like a convenient idea, but to Steve Lamar, president and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the words he prefers to describe it are slavery, forced labor, unfair competition and cheating the American worker, all thanks to loophole in the 13th Amendment.

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Federal Prison Industries has a number of different preferential advantages, Lamar told Sourcing Journal. Which means private companies are constantly losing business to the federal prison factory system.

What makes it worse, Lamar says, is that this destructive force hides, quite legally, behind the slogan Made in the USA, a requirement for all U.S. government textile purchases under the 1941 Berry Amendment.

[Prison factories] become one of the biggest obstacles to more Made in USA because a certain percentage of what [federal government] buys has to go to Federal Prison Industries, Lamar said. So right there, every time we look at expanding the ability of a government to buy something, FPI is going to be the first in line.

Pete Roberts, who launched his own jeans and boots factory in Farmington, Maine 10 years ago is a zealous defender of what it means to say Made in the USA. He, too, has harsh language for the FPI system.

Weve taken the moral high ground and turned a blind eye towards slavery, Roberts said. [We tell ourselves] the forced labor is happening in far-off lands; its not here, we dont see it, we dont talk about it, so it doesnt exist. But its actually happening in our backyard, too, in the form of prison labor.

But Benjamin OCone, a spokesperson with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, told Sourcing Journal that what goes on in the 140 participating FPI [which operates as a government-run business called UNICOR] is anything but forced labor. In fact, he says, theres a waiting list of hundreds of inmates who want to take part.

The UNICOR program is entirely voluntary, OCone said. To suggest the program is anything but voluntary would be false.

On the state level, a number of prisons use prison labor to help defray costs for the institution itself and to contribute to prisoners debts to society. Perhaps the most famous is jeans-maker Prison Blues whose garments are produced out of the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Oregon.

Jered McMichael is the second-generation owner of Correction Connection, the private business that sells Prison Blues. His company purchases the garments from EOCI / OCE and their program pays the Adult in Custody. He says he pays a prevailing wage to workers, who work entirely of their own volition and suggests that those who liken it to forced labor ought to spend a day talking to workers on the factory floor.

The truth is, when you talk to guys in custody, they have no problem with any of it at all, McMichael told Sourcing Journal. They realize theyre in prison, realize theyre paying a debt to society and they also realize its an opportunity to get out and do a job and if they maybe only get paid a dollar a day, thats not a problem for them.

McMichael added that hes found the program to be helpful in fighting recidivism and in helping inmates find stable employment when they get out.

Theres a stigma attached; its hard for these guys to get a fair shake sometimes, McMichael said. Youve got to think about stuff like technology, too. Some of these guys get out of prison and dont even realize the Internet has evolved to what it has.Not only that, they get to learn social skills they never have the opportunity to learn in prison.

Besides, McMichael said, the type of inmates who would prefer dishwashing or laundry probably arent going to be the sort interested in making jeans.

My passion is to try to help people and make a change and this program and the products they produceit does that, McMichael said. Thats one of the keys to the product and being able to keep costs low, unlike Levis or Wrangler, were one of the very, very few manufacturers that still source denim from the U.S.I strive to ensure that we keep that manufactured and sourced from the U.S. because its important.

Clothing made in prisons is technically able to call itself Made in the USA under the Berry Amendment that requires all Department of Defense orders to be American-made. With labor costs being the chief barrier to domestic manufacturing in the private sector, Lamar and Roberts dont believe prison-made clothing deserves to claim the distinction.

In our brand book it talks about about our Made in America is better than Berry because Berry isnt good enough, Roberts said. You can have all the uppers of your footwear completely sewn and constructed in another part of the world and then have them shipped here, stick a sole on it and call it Made in America. Thats Berry.

Making it even more difficult for Lamars clients to get government contracts is that some are listed as eligible only for small businesses with special preferences, such as women-owned, minority-owned, etc. Lamar said the caveat to all of those is that FPI is included as an eligible small business.

Every time you hear the government talk about their small business guides you always have to say and FPI because FPI is allowed to compete as a small business, Lamar said. The last four years, something like 85 percent of the [small business] contracts were FPI masquerading as a small business, so its pretty clear that there is an assault on our industry from FPI. And whats really frustrating is its within the confines of the Berry Amendment.

OCone says its simply not true to say UNICOR competes unfairly with private business. Among the reasons he cited were higher overhead costs in its factories because of additional supervision and training required, and more workers, which leads to less efficiency.

Our inmate workers can be secured in their housing units or called out at any time and for any length of time, depending upon the circumstances, OCone said. Environmental conditions, such as fog, can keep our inmates inside and away from the factory. Delays occur regularly during the day for counts, tool control procedures, pat searches, and other related security factors. Private industry can utilize methods of efficiencies which result in fewer workers and higher profit margins.

Since the passage of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2012 , UNICOR has been allowed to contract with private customers, provided that the products are currently, or would otherwise be, produced and/or assembled outside the United States.

Of that program, the FPI said through OCones e-mail: In FY 2022, FPIs repatration [sic] sales, based on 18 U.S.C. 1761(d), were $2,568,216. As for compliance with the FTCs Made in the USA standard, it depends on several factors and is a decision made by the businesses for whom FPI does contract manufacturing work, as the manufactured products are owned by them.

Aside from what he sees as unfair competition with the private sector, Lamar takes issue with the prison labor practice on moral grounds, namely the hypocrisy of the U.S. government boycotting clothes made in China by Uyghurs and other oppressed Muslim minorities. He says hes not trying to make a moral equivalency between the genocide in China and the compulsory labor of U.S. prisons, but, he insists, there is an undeniable and fundamental similarity.

There is a united front in the U.S. trying to prevent products made with forced labor from entering the United States, and at the same time, the U.S. Government provides preferential opportunities for products made with forced labor in the United States, Lamar said. Forced labor is slavery.

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Meta may add a paid subscription option to Instagram and Facebook in Europe, according to The New York Times. The ad-free tier is meant to address European Union (EU) regulations that have diminished some of Metas most lucrative data-collection methods. The company said in April that advertising in the EU made up 10 percent of the companys total revenue.

The move would be the first time Meta has deviated from its standard model of a single free platform supported by advertising (and associated data collection). The NYT says the company would continue offering free ad-supported versions of Facebook and Instagram in the EU. Its unknown exactly when the company would launch the ad-free tiers or how much they would cost.

Company insiders cited by the NYT believe offering a paid ad-free variant could help alleviate some European regulators concerns, even if few people use it. The optional tier could serve Metas interests in the region, they added.

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An ad-free option for European users would mark one of the most significant splits between consumer tech in the EU and the US. Meta and other social platforms have been forced to adapt as the GDPR and other regulations take hold. The EU fined Meta 1.2 billion in May for moving EU citizens' data to US-based servers. In addition, the company was fined 265 million in 2022 for failing to prevent millions of Facebook users mobile numbers (and other data) from being scraped and posted online.

This shows that tech companies are complying with the E.U.s digital regulations, suggesting that they remain beholden to governments and not the other way around, Columbia University law professor Anu Bradford told The New York Times.
Washington: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has issued a stark warning, asserting that the rise of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) could have "devastating" implications for the United States.

Greene's comments, made during an interview with Fox News, highlight her concerns regarding the collective influence and ambitions of these emerging economic powers.

Greene contends that the BRICS nations are coalescing to establish a "new world order" that directly competes with the United States. According to her analysis, these countries are actively working together to challenge the US's established dominance both within the global economy and international institutions.

Also Read: US to Deploy Advanced M1 Abrams Tanks to Boost Ukraine's Defense Against Russia

The Congresswoman characterizes this phenomenon as a genuine threat to US national security, emphasizing the need for the United States to take strategic measures to counterbalance it. Her proposed strategies include strengthening alliances with other nations and investing in the domestic economy.

Greene's remarks align with the perspectives of certain US policymakers who have previously voiced concerns about the ascent of BRICS nations. These policymakers argue that BRICS' increasing global influence could potentially challenge American hegemony.

However, it's essential to recognize that analysts hold diverse viewpoints on the matter. Some assert that the BRICS nations are not a unified and harmonious bloc; instead, they often engage in competition with each other. This internal rivalry can mitigate the extent of their collective impact on the international stage.

Moreover, the magnitude of the threat posed by BRICS to the United States remains ambiguous. While the US still boasts the world's largest economy and maintains a dominant military position, the ascendance of BRICS nations underscores the evolving global landscape. The United States can no longer claim sole superpower status and must adapt to this shifting reality.

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Additional Insights into BRICS:

Emerging Economic Powerhouses: BRICS is an acronym representing five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. These nations are characterized by substantial populations and dynamic economic growth.

Cooperative Endeavors: The BRICS countries have initiated collaborative efforts to enhance their cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, and finance. These efforts aim to strengthen their collective influence on the global stage.

Challenging US Dominance: In addition to economic cooperation, BRICS nations have endeavored to challenge the United States' long-standing dominance in both the global economy and international institutions.

The rise of BRICS nations presents a multifaceted and intricate challenge. It serves as a reminder that the global landscape is continuously evolving. While the United States faces heightened competition, there also exists an opportunity for collaborative engagement with BRICS countries. Such cooperation could contribute to the establishment of a more stable and prosperous global economy.

In conclusion, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's warning about the ascent of BRICS countries reflects concerns shared by some US policymakers regarding the evolving global power dynamics.

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The impact of BRICS on the international stage is a topic of debate, with differing viewpoints on the extent of their collective influence. The United States must navigate this shifting landscape by strategically engaging with BRICS nations, acknowledging the need for adaptability and cooperation in a changing world.
A not-for-profit health system in Maine has threatened legal action against a 15-year-old boy for shedding light on alleged patient safety issues in the paediatric ward of one of its hospitals.

Samson Cournane, a student at the University of Maine, started a petition advocating for an investigation into Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center last year, claiming conditions at the hospital were unsafe.

Mr Cournanes mother, Dr Anne Yered, had previously been fired from the hospital after reportedly voicing safety concerns to the hospitals CEO and president in 2020.

In the petition, Mr Cournane said his mother was threatened by hospital staff after raising concerns, with one hospital manager going so far as to show up in her backyard to confront her. Dr Yered subsequently claimed she was wrongfully terminated.

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Mr Cournane then began pushing for an investigation into the hospital, outlining problems in the petition, which was addressed to US Representative Jared Golden. He alleged that the medical director of the paediatric intensive care unit (ICU)  a former colleague of his mothers  finished just one year of a three-year critical care fellowship, and implied other hospital employees may be scared to come forward with safety concerns.

But the hospital filed a counterclaim  in response to Dr Yereds wrongful termination suit  accusing Dr Yered of starting the petition under her sons name. The counterclaim, shared with The Independent, says: This case is about a physician who was so angry about her termination from employment that she hatched a scheme to get back at her former employer by posting malicious, false, and defamatory statements about a former colleague harming patients on the internet, posing as or ghost writing for her teenage son.

Northern Light Health, which did not respond to a request for comment, is threatening whats called a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), which are illegal in Maine, Jay Diaz, senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), told The Independent. A SLAPP suit is generally thought of as a lawsuit brought by an entity that seeks to drag a speaker into court over their protected speech in order to silence them, Mr Diaz said. Its censorship by lawsuitThey create this power imbalance because you have this entity thats going to drag you into an expensive court proceeding and put you at risk of financial ruin.

FIRE sent a demand letter to Northern Light Health on 23 August, requesting that they disavow any intent to sue Mr Cournane for his public advocacy. Northern Light Health was asked to respond by 1 September; Mr Diaz said the company had not replied as of that afternoon.

Samson is a bright young kid, and just because hes 15 years old doesnt mean he cant form opinions and communicate his opinions to his public officials, Mr Diaz said. A large hospital conglomerate, a billion-dollar corporation, is trying to sue a 15-year-old into silence just because he advocated for an investigation and improved patient safety.

Mr Diaz said Mr Cournanes patient advocacy work did not start with the online petition he authored. First, Mr Cournane turned to his school to start a petition on campus, but that was going to be too expensive, Mr Diaz explained. However, a student counsellor who he spoke with offered to introduce Mr Cournane to hospital staff so he could voice his concerns directly. Samson didnt ask for it, but a student counselloron his ownconnected him to administrators at the hospital, Mr Diaz explained. They started up a correspondence where Samson was asking questions and not receiving answers. Mr Cournane was in contact with the hospitals head patient safety administrator, but when hospital staff realised they were communicating with a former employees son, Mr Diaz said, They called off all discussion about the issues he was concerned about. Essentially, he added, Mr Cournane was told by hospital representatives, Were not going to talk to you anymore.

Mr Diaz said that Mr Cournanes decision to advocate for an investigation into Northern Light Health was not based on his mothers termination. This was not just a topic of enormous public importance, but one of significant personal importance to him, he explained. As a minor, Mr Diaz added, if [Mr Cournane] got sick, the ambulance would take him straight to that paediatric [unit]. This directly affected him, his friends, and his siblings.

Mr Cournane, who recently started classes at the University of Maine and was not available for comment, said in a video released by FIRE that he was frustrated by Northern Light Healths counterclaim stating that his mother was responsible for his advocacy efforts. I felt very nervous, first of all, because it was something that I wrote, he said in the video. And then I felt sort of betrayed becausewhy are they taking it out on my mom instead of me?

In the video, Mr Cournanes father, John Cournane, spoke about his sons efforts to draw attention to the alleged safety issues outlined in the petition and the subsequent threat of a lawsuit against him. When he decided to do this and meet with university administration all on his own, I was very impressed, he said. I realised he must care about it a lot, that he was willing to go outside his comfort zone anddiscuss these issues with people, strangers, he didnt know. He went on to say he was concerned about what could happen if a lawsuit is filed. The threat of a lawsuit has had a tremendous effect on my family, he said. From the financial implications of it to the psychological, emotional uncertainties of whats going to happen  its really created a lot of stress about the future of our family.

Mr Cournane isnt the only person to have made claims against Northern Light Health: Last year, a federal jury awarded $3m to a former employee of the same hospital Dr Yered worked at who said he was fired due to racial discrimination, according to the Associated Press.

Additionally, a 2022 report from a nonprofit called Patients Rights Advocate found two Northern Light Health hospitals  including the one where Dr Yered used to work to be noncompliant with price transparency rules.

Mr Cournane said in the FIRE video that hes hopeful Northern Light Health will reconsider its position. Instead of threatening me and my momwe can actuallymake our healthcare system better, he said.
Wisconsinites are known for putting our own unique spin on words like "bubbler" and "ope," but how did the state itself get its unique name?

A Wisconsin State Historical Society essay says the name originated from the English spelling of a French version of a Miami tribe name for what's now the Wisconsin River. Scholars have concluded that the original Miami word meant "this stream meanders through something red," "it lies red" or "river running through a red place."

In his 2003 book "On Wisconsin: The Derivation and Referent of an Old Puzzle in American Placenames," historical linguist Michael McCafferty argued that this word, "meeskohsinki," was a reference to the red sandstone rock formations of the Wisconsin Dells.

Fr. Jaques Marquette was the first explorer to write down a name for Wisconsin in 1673.

A name for Wisconsin was first written down in 1673

The first time a word similar to Wisconsin's current name was written down was in June 1673 in a journal entry by explorer and missionary Fr. Jacques Marquette , the Historical Society says. Marquette referred to the river as "Meskousing."

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"The river on which we embarked is called Meskousing," Marquette wrote while on a canoe voyage with fur trader Louis Joliet.

Marquette wrote this journal entry around the time he and Joliet stayed for "several days with Menominee Indians on Green Bay and then in a town of 3,000 Miami, Kickapoo and Mascouten Indians in Green Lake County," the Historical Society writes.

After the explorers returned, Joliet used the name "Miskonsing" on a map that he drew in 1674. Then, when author Melchisedec Thevenot published news in French of Marquette and Joliet's voyage for the first time in 1681, he referred to the river as the "Mescousin."

This map of the then-new Wisconsin Territory was published in the Algoma Record Herald in 1836. Note the north and western borders include much of what is now northeastern Minnesota, including Duluth and St. Paul, and the borders stretch into what is now Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

A transcription error changed the way the state's name is pronounced

The modern pronunciation of Wisconsin's name actually evolved by mistake in 1674 when explorer Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, misread Marquette's elaborate cursive letter "M" as two letters, "Ou." In French, "oui" is pronounced like the English "W."

La Salle printed "Ouisconsin" onto maps. He later realized his mistake and tried to correct it in 1682, writing that some called the river "Ouisconsing, or Misconsing," but it was too late.

"Over the next two decades the letter 'M' completely disappeared as writers and mapmakers always called the river by some version that began with a vowel," the Historical Society writes. "For the next 150 years the river, and by extension our part of the world, was known as 'Ouisconsin.'"

Wisconsinites are now also known as "Cheeseheads." Here are some stockholders wearing cheesehead hats at the Lambeau Field shareholders meeting in 1998.

English speakers standardized Wisconsin's name and spelling

For more than 150 years, the Wisconsin River and the land surrounding it were known by some variation of "Ouisconsin," Wisconsin Public Radio wrote in 2019.

But as more English speakers traveled through and settled in the territory, it began being referred to by the anglicized spelling, "Wisconsin."

After the War of 1812, American soldiers and officials began traveling through the area, and some still used the French spelling, the Historical Society says. But in the 1820s, "large numbers of lead miners streamed into the area," and the U.S. government began using the "W" spelling in legal documents more and more.

According to the Historical Society, Wisconsin's modern name was first seen in print on Feb. 1, 1830, in the U.S. House of Representatives Journal. When Congress created Wisconsin Territory on July 4, 1836, the name became official.

View of the cliffs on Wisconsin River from Wisconsin Dells Boat Tour.

Other possible origins of Wisconsin's name

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, multiple attempts were made to determine the meaning of Marquette's "Meskousing." However, the hypothesized meanings were derived incorrectly from the Ojibwe language, not Miami, because the latter had not yet been mastered by modern scholars.

Another possible origin for Wisconsin's name was mentioned to WPR in 2019 by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay elder in residence and member of the Menominee tribe, Napos. He said he "was always told the name came from the Menominee word 'Weskohsaeh.'"

The first part of that word come from the word "Wis-cu," which Napos told WPR means "something good." The ending of "Weskohsaeh" is locative, meaning "'a good place to camp,' or 'to make a clearing' or 'to basically live.'"

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How did Wisconsin get its name?
An ongoing drought has revealed about 70 dinosaur tracks at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas.

The footprints, which date back about 110 million years, had been hidden under water and mud in the Paluxy River, which cuts through the state park, according to the Chron.com .

Experts think that the tracks, found in what is known as the state park's Ball Room site, belonged to two different species of dinosaurs. The three-toed tracks were likely from the giant carnivore Acrocanthosaurus, while the "elephant-looking" footprints were stomped into the ground by a massive long-necked Sauroposeidon.

Acrocanthosaurus was one of North America's largest predators during the Early Cretaceous period (145 million to 101 million years ago), with a length of about 40 feet (12 meters). Yet the long-necked Sauroposeidon , a genus of sauropod, dwarfed it, stretching approximately 100 feet (30 m) long and weighing a whopping 110,000 pounds (50 metric tons), according to the Natural History Museum in London.

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Related: Construction may have damaged 112 million-year-old dinosaur tracks in Utah

One portion in particular, dubbed the "Lone Ranger Track," is believed to be one of the longest dinosaur tracks in the world, according to a video from WKYC Channel 3 .

Officials from the Friends of Dinosaur Valley State Park, a nonprofit organization that supports the park, first spotted the tracks on Friday (Aug. 25) and announced that the prints were "the most tracks we have ever seen at this location," according to a Facebook post .

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"This is not normal for us, but due to two consecutive years of high temps and drought conditions it has given us the opportunity to uncover new tracks," Paul Baker, retail manager at the Friends of Dinosaur Valley State Park, told the Chron.com. "Once we receive a decent rain most of the tracks will be covered up again."

Members of the Dallas Paleontological Society plan to map and create casts of the tracks for future research purposes, according to the Chron.com.
Nearly one month after ravenous wildfires swept through the Hawaiian island of Maui, families, and individuals impacted by the natural disaster are still in need of extensive support. Over 100 people have died from the fires, hundreds remain missing or unaccounted for, and thousands more have been displaced. The Peoples Fund of Maui, launched by Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson with an initial donation of $10 million, aims to provide support for many of these affected residents.

I have been meeting with people throughout the community that were impacted by the fires over the last few weeks, asking what they most needed and how I could be of service, Winfrey shared in a statement. The main thing Ive been hearing is their concern about how to move forward under the immense financial burden. The community has come together in so many wonderful ways, and my intention is to support those impacted as they determine what rebuilding looks like for them.

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The fund will provide direct relief to individuals who are over the age of 18 and reside in Lahaina and Kula. The cash distribution will arrive in the form of $1,200 monthly payments. We are beyond grateful to be working alongside esteemed community leaders of Maui to launch the Peoples Fund of Maui, Johnson shared in a statement. These leaders are offering their guidance to ensure our fund can put money directly in the hands of those individuals most affected.

He added: To all who have already offered your help, thank you for your support and for those wanting to help now, your prayers and resources are a welcome assistance for those displaced within the Maui community. I also want to offer my profound gratitude to all the first responders, local organizations and every individual who has worked tirelessly on the ground responding to this crisis.

Elders, leaders, and residents within the community contributed to the creation of the fund, including Jason Momoa, Hokulani Holt-Padilla, Kealii Reichel, Brian Keaulana, Kaimi Kaneholani, Henohea Kane, Paele Kiakona, Ed Suwanjindar, and more.

As people around the world watched the catastrophic loss and devastation caused by the Maui wildfires, they also witnessed the great spirit and resilience of our Polynesian culture and the tremendous strength of the people of Maui, Johnson continued. Even in the most difficult of times, the people of Maui come together, and we risethats what makes us stronger.

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This article originally appeared on Yoga Journal

Last Thursday night, I unrolled my yoga mat in my small New York City apartment, sunk my hips toward my heels in Child's Pose, and heard it--the jangle of my poodle mix's collar as she hopped off the sofa. It had been a long day, and I wanted to dim the city's noise and find stillness in my practice. But my dog, Sukhi, had other plans.

Her paws hit the hardwood as she came at me from the other room while I took some slow breaths. By the time I was in Down Dog, there was a literal dog beneath me, rolling on her back in a blur of white fur. Sukhi always sparks joy in me, but tonight it was backlit with annoyance. I stepped over her to make my way to the top of the mat and she followed, romping near my toes. I moved through a Sun Salutation, trying to ignore her, but she was everywhere. I didn't know how to find my balance or move my body with anything resembling grace when her furry body was intercepting all my intentions.

I finally gave in, thinking I'd incorporate Sukhi into my practice by dropping her a kiss on my way from Plank to Chaturanga. Instead she bounded at my face. If yoga was about connection to others, Sukhi was really going for it.

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But what exactly is it about my yoga practice that draws her to me from whatever room she's in?

Group Practice

Friends have also mentioned that as soon as they start to set up for yoga, their animal friends come running.

"My dog always comes over and tries to get belly rubs when I practice," says Siri Newman, a Wyoming-based yoga teacher and practitioner.

"It's mostly endearing," says Lori Walker, a digital marketer and yoga practitioner, with a laugh. "Mostly."

"My pets zoom underneath me at top speed if I'm in Down Dog!" says Kathryn Chaya Lubow, a Southern California therapist and yoga practitioner.

Many of us have seen videos on social media of pets inviting themselves onto the mat as their humans practice. One post of a cute Australian Shepard practicing alongside her human has had more than 90 thousand shares on Instagram. (Was that the key? Getting your dog their own mat?)

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CivSjcmgX1O/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

It's almost uncanny. No matter where our pets are hiding, once yoga practice starts, they tend to wriggle themselves in our way. But why? And how do other practitioners handle the cute madness?

More Than Just Playtime

"Im not aware of any specific studies to evaluate this pattern of behavior in a scientific context, but I think there are a few possible explanations," says Christopher Pachel, a doctor of veterinary medicine and certified animal behavior consultant in Portland, Oregon, who also practices yoga.

"Many pets interpret their owner getting down on the floor as an invitation to play or to interact," says Pachel. "And for humans who routinely practice yoga, its only going to take a few repetitions of 'mat to yoga' for most pets to figure out that the unrolling of the mat is a predictor of floor time activity."

This helped me understand why setting up my mat and props brought Sukhi into the room from wherever she'd been hiding. It was almost as effective a way to get her to come to me as saying "treat!"

"Animals love to get involved with what you're doing," says Anthony Newman, dog behavior expert and founder of Calm Energy Dog Training. "They want to be included. And when you get on the ground, youre getting on their 'level,' literally and figuratively. Being down low and moving in ways that are non-confrontational, inviting, and playful (including showing your belly) takes you out of a 'leadership' position. Around that, dogs feel more free."

But it isnt only the act of getting on the floor or unrolling a mat that draws animals to their person. Beyond the physicality of the practice of yoga, there seems to be something...more.

Adaptive yoga teacher and founder of online studio Auzho Audrey L practices on a chair, sofa or bed. Her pup, Ruby, still wants to be part of it. "The weirdest thing has to be when I'm on the sofa during meditation. She just sits at my feet and stares. And when I go to my practice chair she always finds me there," says Audrey.

"Pets feel the shift in our energy," says Olivia LaBarre, an animal communicator, Reiki practitioner, and pet loss bereavement specialist. "Our animal companions are very aware of our emotions, nervous system states, and overall energy, and they sense the shifts that happen when we begin a practice such as yoga."

It seems a sense of ease and happiness in us is not only palpable to our pets but inviting. "I do suspect that some dogs and cats pick up on breathwork, calmer energy, a focused mindset that typically go along with a yoga practice," says Pachel. "They then seek out interactions with their caregivers at those times based on the positive vibes."

How interesting that the yoga practice--accessible and available to all--can be felt throughout the animal realm, not just by humans. Maybe I wasn't imagining it when I had thought my happier yoga vibes could be drawing Sukhi to the mat.

An Invitation

If animals can sense our energy, maybe we can use the practice of yoga to connect in new ways with our animal friends. Just as they affect us, we affect them. We can use the breathing and gentle movements to help calm our pets as we calm ourselves.

I keep going back to that old adage: what you resist persists. Framed that way, I took a second look at my practices with Sukhi. Instead of trying to rigidly adhere to my routine or urge her off the mat, I started to expand what my idea of a home yoga practice could be and challenge myself to take in Sukhi's presence in my practice, no matter how wildly she shows up. Rather than just step around the situation, I allow it to bring my focus back to me.

It's a different experience than practicing in a quiet studio for sure, but it lights my heart now that I've opened to it. And it reminds me of aspects of the practice that I'd become disconnected from. Perhaps it's a chance to be playful and to remind myself to take in the present moment and soften into it rather than hit a set number of Warrior poses. In the play is something profound.

When I adopted Sukhi from a Los Angeles shelter, she went without a name for two weeks. The staff had called her "Heidi," but that didn't seem to fit her. I wasn't sure what name would until my favorite Sanskrit teacher suggested Sukhi, related to sukha, which translates to "happiness" and "ease." Maybe that's exactly what we're intended to experience when we share our practice.

About Our Contributor

Sarah Herrington is a writer, poet, and teacher. She is the founder of OM Schooled kids yoga teacher trainings and Mindful Writing Workshops.

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Retail

Fast Retailing has announced leadership changes for its Uniqlo brand, effective Sept. 1. Board director and global CEO of Uniqlo, Daisuke Tsukagoshi, has been named executive director, president and chief operating officer. Executive director, chairman and president of Uniqlo Tadashi Yanai has been named CEO of Uniqlo, while retaining his positions as executive director and chairman. Yanai will also continue to guide the formulation and execution of management direction for the entire group in his position as the chairman, president and CEO of the company.

Brian Atwood

Fashion apparel retailer Express announced that Brian Atwood will join the company as creative director of footwear, overseeing womens and statement mens footwear. Additionally, he will debut Brian Atwood for Express, an exclusive shoe collaboration with the brand, launching immediately.

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Randolph Brodwin

Rack Room Shoes has named Randolph Brodwin as its new senior vice president and chief legal officer. In this new role, Brodwin will lead the companys legal team, overseeing a range of legal aspects including compliance, strategic development, litigation, commercial transactions, intellectual property, privacy and risk mitigation. With nearly three decades of corporate legal and business expertise, Brodwin is set to play a key role in guiding Rack Room Shoes through its next phase of growth.

Genesco, the parent company of teen fashion retailer Journeys, announced that Journeys Group president Mario Gallione has planned to retire at the end of the companys fiscal year, with an expected date of February 2024. During the transition, Gallione will become Journeys president emeritus. Mike Sypert has been named Journeys chief operating officer, responsible for aiding the transition of leadership as well as assuming day-to-day responsibilities for Journeys, Journeys Kidz and Little Burgundys business, including stores as well as websites in the U.S. and Canada.

Ross Stores has announced changes to its board of directors. George Orban will step down as chairman of the board while continuing to serve as an independent director. Michael Balmuth, currently a strategic adviser to the company, will return to the executive chairman of the board role. K. Gunnar Bjorklund will become lead independent director.

Brands

VF Corp.-owned streetwear brand Supremes creative director Tremaine Emory has left the company over allegations of systematic racism. VF Corp. confirmed in a statement to Sourcing Journal that Emory has indeed left, though strongly disagrees with Emorys characterization of the company and the handling of the Arthur Jafa project, which has been canceled. This was the first time in 30 years that the company brought in a creative director, VF Corp. said, and its disappointed it did not work out.

Designer Brands announced that William Bill Jordan, the president of the company as well as president of Camuto, will step down from his positions on a date that is expected to be on or before Dec. 1, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Erinn Murphy

Footwear brand Crocs has announced that Erinn Murphy was named senior vice president, investor relations and corporate strategy. Murphy will join the Enterprise leadership team, effective Sept. 5, reporting directly to the companys executive vice president and chief financial officer, Anne Mehlman.

Murphy joins the organization from the investment bank Piper Sandler. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the financial industry and a proven track record of research performance. Murphy built her career on Wall Street as an equity research analyst, leading Piper Sandlers global lifestyle brand coverage across nearly 30 stocks, including Crocs.

Textiles

Carbon-negative materials company Origin Materials has named Pam Haley as interim chief financial officer, effective immediately. Haley succeeds Nate Whaley in the role on an interim basis, pending the appointment of a long-term CFO following an extensive search and vetting process led by an executive search firm. Whaley will hold an advisory role within Origin through the end of the year to assist the company with the search for and onboarding of his successor.

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In September of 2022 I, like hundreds of thousands of other U.S. students, packed my bags and embarked on a study abroad year. Roughly 63% of college students expressed interest in study abroad in 2017, but only about 14.3% ended up actually going abroad. Things happen, life happens, and the idea of living in another country can seem daunting, but that shouldn't stop you from exploring, learning, and growing. Studying abroad is an invaluable experience that allows for more cultural sensitivity, less bias, mutual understanding, and more global awareness in all forms  whether it be new perspectives on historical and current events or simply a new hobby.

Ghana An Unconventional Choice

Ghana was not a conventional choice for a year abroad and I heard the same concerns echoed from important people in my life. It doesnt sound safe. What if you get hurt? Won't you miss your family? I never wavered in my decision to study abroad, but I did wonder if I had made the best choice because what if the things people were saying to me were true? Germany and Kyrgyzstan would've been different, but what if they were better? But that's exactly why I stayed steadfast in my choice. Ghana was a place many people had heard of, it's in West Africa, known as the Gateway to Africa, and despite being a small nation compared to its better-known neighbor, Nigeria, its business friendly government and name recognition are far reaching. But despite this, not many people have a real idea of what culture and life is like there. From the moment I stepped off the plane, my perception was already being challenged. I had read about the bustling streets and busy markets, but nothing had prepared me for witnessing them for myself, and then eventually becoming a normal, but never mundane, part of my life. Everything was so colorful and everyone was so welcoming. Meeting my host family for the first time 7 days after our arrival was nerve wracking. What if they didnt like me? What if I didnt live up to their expectations? But in spite of my fears, they were incredibly welcoming and willing to help.

My world started small and only got bigger and bigger. First it was my street and the store next to it, then the small food market down the road, then the mall, and eventually markets and restaurants all over the city. I had grown up in the same small town my whole life so I didnt have experience living and navigating a major city. My first real outing was to the Global Citizen Festival, a free concert to raise awareness for global issues, located at the iconic Black Star Square. It was amazing to see the intersection of culture with both American and Ghanaian artists performing.

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Finding a Rhythm, Embracing Culture Shock

Eventually, life fell into a rhythm. I started school  first at a local public school and then at a private school and eventually, I joined a gym and started going to yoga classes. School was a culture shock. The yearly schedule did not align with the U.S. school schedule and I was set to have 3 months off in the middle of my exchange, so I moved to a private school. There was an adjustment period  I had just made friends at my old school and had to go into a new group of peers and part of me was nervous that this group wouldnt be nearly as inviting, but I was welcomed with open arms. I chose the science track, so I took a number of elective science classes along with the core sciences, and history and english. The social environment was far different, students couldn't ask questions, lessons werent very engaging, and there was a strict student-teacher hierarchy. Days were long and often hard to get through, but that too was a learning opportunity. I figured out how I could make the most out of my day there. Being on the science track meant I had labs, allowing for time out of the classroom and hands-on experience. During breaks while people were studying for the WASSCE, Ghanas intensive graduation exams, I would handwrite email responses (there was a strict no technology rule) and read. It took some getting used to, but that too became a place of laughter, gossip, and lunchtime advice with friends

Having a social life like I did in the U.S. was difficult because I wasn't able to hang out with my friends from school as most of them were in the dorms and couldn't leave, and those that lived at home studied almost all of the time. So, I found different outlets. The other Americans on my program and I would go to restaurants, the mall, the markets, and all over the city on weekends. I initially started yoga in order to keep my flexibility and strength so I could return to all-star cheerleading when I got home but I found a group of women, both foreign and Ghanaian, who were an invaluable support to me. It was a place of discussion, I had struggled with the young people are seen, not heard aspect of Ghanaian culture, and this room of strong, career focused women allowed me to have a space where I felt my voice was heard. The community was incredibly uplifting and positive and provided an escape when I was not feeling my best.

Learning and Adapting to a New Culture

Host families were an integral part of my exchange and while they arent a part of every exchange and living with one had its challenges, the experience provided opportunities for personal and interpersonal growth. I started out in a host family that wasnt the best fit for me, but they were still lovely and more than willing to help me learn to adapt in such a new environment. Im not going to sugar coat my experience and say that everything with my first host family was sunshine and rainbows because frankly, it wasnt. I tore myself up about it but the experience allowed me to realize that people don't get along with everyone they meet, let alone are they able to live with them. After about a month and a half I switched host families and my new one was equally willing to help and go to bat for me. Our lives just meshed in a way that my other ones didn't. My host dad would always kill the bugs in my room, my host mom always had breakfast waiting for me in the mornings, and they would both make sure to tell me that I was their daughter even though I was only with them for 7 months and that I would always be welcomed back. Sure, we had our fair share of disagreements and miscommunications, but we were able to work past them and by the end of my exchange, we were like family. Even though my time in Ghana is over, I still keep in contact with my second host family!

So, if you are on the fence about traveling or studying abroad, go for it, take the leap, become a global citizen, and better our world!



Shannon-Sophia Halkias is a music student at Capital Area School for the Arts and will graduate in May 2024. She hopes to continue to inspire women and girls to create change and promote mutual understanding through education and experiences.
I hate seeing animals suffer.

Sasha Bulkley

Sasha Bulkley was on a bike ride in her Cedar Park neighborhood over the weekend when she noticed something alarming. Amidst record-breaking temperatures and drought, a pond near her house in the Austin suburb had shrunk to the size of a puddle.

Bulkley watched as turtles who once called the pond home attempted the dangerous journey across the road in search of water and food.

The self-described animal lover knew she had to do something. She called her husband and they loaded three turtles into their SUV and drove them to a lake about a mile away.

The next day, Bulkley was headed to a Pilates class when she saw two more turtles in the road.

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I stopped and realized there were many turtles spread across the sidewalk and in the grass making their way to the street, she told Southern Living. I had been keeping an eye on the pond because the water was getting concerningly low.

Sasha Bulkley

Using a plastic container, Bulkley was able to pick up 18 more turtles, which she relocated to the same pond. She then went back to make sure there werent any additional turtles in need of saving, and found even more.

I checked the area by the pond every morning until the water dried out, she said.

Sasha Bulkley

In all, Buckley rescued and relocated 33 turtles over the course of four days.

I hate seeing animals suffer and I especially hate seeing them run over. I even leave containers of water out in my yard to help animals stay hydrated in this heat. I just love animals and feel bad when I see them hurt or struggling, she explained. Its never a question in my mind to step in and help. In this case, the turtles were making their way out of the pond and into the street and getting run over because they could not climb the curb.

Bulkley told Southern Living that shes flabbergasted by the attention her rescue efforts have received.

I just hope this reminds people that they can step in to help, too, she said.

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Read the original article on Southern Living.
In the latest edition of the Sustainable Travel Index 2023, Europe emerges as the undisputed leader. The region secured the top 17 positions. The survey was conducted by Euromonitor. The leadership continues as Sweden maintains its hold on the first position. Finland closely trailed in second place and Austria secured the third spot. Uruguay surged into the top 20 for the first time, soaring an impressive 15 spots from its previous ranking.

The standout performers over the past five years have been Egypt and the Maldives, according to the survey. Egypts resilient tourism industry has outshone other markets. The North African nation bounced back from travel bans and the pandemic. This drove up the average expenditure per arrival. This surge in spending has translated into enhanced value creation through tourism, directly benefiting local communities. The Maldives has made remarkable progress, attributing its success to sustained efforts in bolstering sustainable tourism.

Leaders in Sustainable Tourism

Australia, Iceland and New Zealand have emerged as the front-runners in terms of sustainable tourism. These destinations, known for their longer visitor stays, reap the benefits of their commitment to sustainability. New Zealand leads the charge in regenerative tourism. According to Euromonitor, the country transcended conventional sustainability practices to establish a positive legacy for generations to come.

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European nations have long been proactive in championing sustainable tourism, striving to minimize the environmental impact of travel. For instance, Iceland has recently launched a campaign aimed at encouraging fewer, but longer, trips to counter the trend of mass tourism. This initiative seeks to promote a more responsible approach to travel.

Melbourne has secured the top spot in Euromonitors Top City Destinations Index for its outstanding sustainability endeavors. With a bold target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2040, the city has become a trailblazer in sustainable urban practices. Madrid and Seville in Spain follow suit as part of the Net Zero Cities initiative, a consortium of 112 European cities dedicated to similar objectives.

Melbournes accomplishments span a wide spectrum, including retrofitting buildings for reduced carbon footprint, transitioning to renewable energy sources and fostering green spaces. The city also is noted for hosting carbon-neutral events.

The Indicators

Our Sustainable Travel Index uses 56 indicators across seven pillars  Environmental, Social, Economic, Risk, Demand, Transport and Lodgings  determining the comparative performance of sustainable travel and tourism for 99 countries through scores and weightings to produce an overall ranking, Caroline Bremner, Head of Travel at Euromonitor International, said in a press release. There are three main types of indicators. The health of a destination relating to happiness, equality and social justice, then the specific impacts of tourism on the local environment, such as hotel energy use, followed by the general state of tourism, such as quality of infrastructure or dependency on international demand.

For her, the Sustainable Travel Index highlights green technology and digitalising the traveler journey as two sure-fire ways to help achieve the road to net zero.

Partnering with new start-ups in the green tech space could help pave the way for a greener and cleaner travel future, she said.
Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images / Shutterstock.com

There is no such thing as wasted learning, but given the astronomical cost of education, it would be a bonus if you could start your career off on the right financial footing with an appreciably paid internship.

See: 8 Passive Income Streams That Arent Worth It

Explore: 11 Best ChatGPT Plugins To Use for Making Money

If you opted to enter the fields of technology or finance, you might be able to earn more than many experienced workers in other fields, such as retail or hospitality. Interns at reputable tech firms like NVIDIA and Meta regularly earn more than $8,000 per month, while Stripe and Roblox pay talented newcomers to the industry more than $9,000 per month. Thats $108,000 per year  straight out of college.

But it would be hard to match an internship at hedge fund Citadel and Citadel Securities when it comes to income potential. A recent Fortune article reported that interns at Citadel earn $19,200 per month for a three-month internship. Thats roughly the same as the average annual salary in the U.S. ($59,428, according to Forbes). Except Citadel interns earn that much in three  not 12  months.

Citadel interns represent a select group of just 14 students, hand-chosen by Citadel leaders from a pool of 69,900 applicants. Most are pursuing degrees in math, coding and computer science. Interns are also judged on their social skills, including how well they collaborate and network within the organization. Some will go on to work in Citadel after graduation.

Related: The Highest-Paying Remote Jobs With No Experience

If you dont make the cut at the industry leader, however, you still have a chance to get a solid start on your financial future  or make a dent in those student loans  with a tech or finance internship. Using the median monthly base pay of salaries by current or former U.S.-based interns between Mar. 1, 2022 and Feb. 28, 2023, San Francisco-based job search and review site Glassdoor released its annual list of companies offering the highest-paying internships in the U.S.

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Here is Glassdoors list of the 25 Highest-Paying Internships in the U.S. for 2023 by company rank (and business sector) and average monthly salary:

The 25 Highest-Paying Internships in the U.S. for 2023

Stripe (Tech)  $9,064 Roblox (Tech)  $9,017 NVIDIA (Tech)  $8,280 Coinbase (Tech)  $8,206 Meta (Tech)  $8,160 Capital One (Finance)  $8,050 Credit Suisse (Finance)  $7,947 Bain & Company (Consulting)  $7,873 Amazon (Tech)  $7,809 EY-Parthenon (Consulting) $7,651 TikTok (Tech)  $7,619 Adobe (Tech)  $7,568 Snap (Tech)  $7,520 HubSpot (Tech)  $7,477 Splunk (Tech)  $7,375 LinkedIn (Tech) $7,360 Twitter (Tech)  $7,290 BlackRock (Finance)  $7,270 J.P. Morgan (Finance)  $7,188 McKinsey & Company (Consulting) $7,170 Uber (Tech)  $7,090 Citi (Finance)  $7,025 ServiceNow (Tech)  $6,989 Rivian (Automotive)  $6,988 Microsoft (Tech)  $6,934

Interns have had to adapt to an unpredictable labor market and changing workplace realities over the past few years, but those looking to gain experience and fulfil school requirements this summer will have plenty of appealing opportunities throughout all work sectors.

Not surprisingly, tech companies rule Glassdoors list of the highest paying internships, with no less than 16 tech companies scattered throughout the top 25. Also included are five financial institutions (Capital One, Credit Suisse, BlackRock, J.P. Morgan and Citi), three consulting firms (Bain & Company, EY-Parthenon and McKinsey & Company) and electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian.

Dawn Allcot contributed to the reporting for this article.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/average-salary-by-state/

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: $19K Monthly Internship? Citadels Coveted Gig and 25 More High-Paying Internships
Walmart is pushing its marketplace offering heavily in the retail giants latest battle to take e-commerce market share from Amazon. And like its chief rival, Walmart is hitting the ground running in expanding its fulfillment capabilities as the company on-boards more third-party sellers into its ecosystem.

While Walmart hasnt revealed how many third-party sellers are on its marketplace since the end of 2021, when it tallied 130,000 merchants, its clear that the retailers Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) offering has become a major draw. The number of sellers using WFS increased more than 50 percent in the second quarter, said executive vice president and chief financial officer John David Rainey in an earnings call.

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The Bentonville behemoth is extending WFS access to sellers who list big and bulky items such as canoes or trampolines. With the extension, sellers can now use WFS to ship multi-box items like patio sets.

These new services mean more items can carry the Fulfilled by Walmart tag, which the company says helps drive conversion. Sellers see on average 50 percent growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) when shifting items to WFS, according to Manish Joneja, senior vice president, Walmart Marketplace and Walmart Fulfillment Services, Walmart U.S.

Walmart is also enabling third-party sellers with a physical storefront to use Walmarts technology to power curbside pickup, or gain access to the companys network of delivery drivers to drop online purchases at customers doorsteps.

Walmart blazed a trail in pickup and delivery, perfecting the systems and technology needed to provide a great customer experience, said Joneja in a blog post. Now were bringing this expertise to sellers by standing up local pickup and delivery for sellers who have physical stores. Customers can pick up their items directly or have same-day delivery through our last-mile delivery network. This will lower sellers fulfillment costs, create new ways to convert sales and delight customers along the way.

The retailer also unveiled that it was opening up the marketplace offering in Chile to eligible cross-border sellers early next year, adding to the companys existing markets of Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

The mass merchant broke the news at its inaugural Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit, an event held Wednesday and Thursday in Las Vegas that drew more than 1,500 people from businesses that sell apparel, party supplies, jewelry and more on Walmarts marketplace.

In the blog post, Joneja described Walmart Marketplace as an endless aisle where sellers of all sizes can offer customers the items they need and love.

Walmarts expansion of WFS continually draws more comparisons to Amazons Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service, which enables sellers to store their products in Amazon warehouses, where company employees can pick, pack and ship the goods. Products under FBA are also Prime-eligible, which gives consumers access to free two-day shipping and ultimately benefits the merchant.

WFS already had no inventory minimums or maximums, but by eliminating weight limits for bulky products, Walmart gives itself a more even playing field with FBA, which had no weight or product dimension limits. Walmart also offers WFS without requiring recurring monthly fees for sellers, instead exclusively charging for the product sold via fulfillment and storage fees.

Walmarts marketplace has become a lucrative endeavor, in that it is expected to see $8.57 billion in sales this year, up 12.6 percent over last year, according to a June forecast from eMarketer. Last year, the marketplace made up an estimated 10.7 percent of Walmarts overall retail e-commerce sales.

The offering is still much smaller than Amazons, with eMarketer saying Walmart Marketplace will comprise 2.2 percent of total U.S. retail marketplace sales this year compared with Amazons outlandish 72.4 percent share.

Marketplace growth hasnt been the only beneficiary of Walmarts fulfillment ambitions, with the company seeing 24 percent e-commerce growth in the U.S., led by double-digit growth in store-fulfilled pickup and delivery.

According to CEO Doug McMillon, stores fulfill more than 50 percent of digital orders for Walmart.

The retail giant has also been on a massive automation kick over the past year as it fortifies its fulfillment network, currently updating all 42 U.S. regional distribution centers (RDC) as the chain modernizes its supply chain network.

Most recently, Walmart opened its first automated fulfillment center in Alberta, Canada in June, which expands two-day shipping to 97 percent of Canadian residents.

Click here to read the full article.
An Australian watchdog group claims that Qantas, the countrys national airline, sold thousands of tickets for flights it had already canceled or had no intention of flying.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission accused Qantas of engaging in deceptive actions by advertising tickets for over 8,000 flights the airline knew it would not run. The flights were offered between May and July 2022. Its unclear at this time how Qantas benefited from these transactions.

In filings with Australias federal court, the ACCC reports that tickets remained on sale for as little as two weeks, and at most 47 days, after the itineraries were canceled. The cancellations were not due to weather or extenuating circumstances, but issues well within Qantas control. The changes resulted from consumer demand, route withdrawals or retention of takeoff and landing slots at certain airports, ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in the statement.

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In their own statement, Qantas said they were taking the allegations seriously but would wait for their day in court to respond in detail. They did stipulate that the two months in 2022 was a time of unprecedented upheaval for the entire airline industry. Yet in August, Qantas reported record profits of $1.6 billion ($2.5 billion AUS) for the previous fiscal year. The company also received $1.7 billion ($2.7 billion AUS) during the pandemic from Australian taxpayers, an amount the company reported it will not be paying back.

During an interview with Australias public radio network on Friday, Cass-Gottlieb was seeking a record penalty of 250 million Australian dollars ($161 million) as a way of warning other companies against similar tactics. This is going to be an important test for us. We consider [previous] penalties have been too low, she said. We are going to seek a penalty that will underline that this is not just to be a cost of doing businessit is to deter conduct of this nature.
Bree Conklin was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder when she was 27-years-old.

It wasn't until 5 years later when a different doctor suggested she might have autism instead.

Conklin said the experience made her have greater empathy for people with autism and BPD.

When she was 27, Bree Conklin was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD).

The male doctor who diagnosed her while she was working in Germany said it was the cause of her meltdowns, self-harming behavior, and suicidal ideation. According to him, Conklin was also "seductive" and "manipulative" because she dated several men at once.

Conklin, however, didn't feel like she was intentionally misleading anyone. "Looking back now, I take things kind of literally, and I thought you can date several people at the same time and then decide which one you would like to be in a relationship with," Conklin, now 39, told Insider. "I would go on three or four dates in a day because I thought that's what adults are supposed to do."

Bree Conklin when she was diagnosed with BPD. Bree Conklin

After she was diagnosed with BPD, Conklin developed an intense interest in the subject, and bought several books on it. But after reading more about the mental illness, the diagnosis confused her even more.

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BPD is characterized by a severe fear of abandonment, mood swings, and patterns of unstable relationships, according to the Mayo Clinic. While Conklin identified with some symptoms like extreme mood swings and instability, she struggled to relate other ones. Many of the books also cited a lack of empathy and frequent lying as characteristics of the disorder, which she did not relate to.

Still, she stuck with the diagnosis for years, telling partners and friends that she had BPD and was seeking treatment for the disorder.

She was prescribed medication that made her symptoms much worse

To address her symptoms, Conklin was prescribed Abilify, an antipsychotic medication used to treat disorders like BPD and schizophrenia. But she said it made her experience frightening side effects.

"I didn't leave my house for three months, and I was convinced that if I ate anywhere, people were trying to poison me," she said. It wasn't until she got off the medication and started cognitive behavioral therapy that she felt better.

Her relationships suffered during this time period, too. She broke up with a partner of three years while she was on Abilify. Additionally, she said some people in her life kept their distance because "they would never put themselves in a position with borderline people ever again."

All of this made Conklin feel shame and guilt around her diagnosis. "I felt like I was being punished and that I didn't deserve to be around people, and I almost didn't want to because I didn't want to hurt anybody," she said.

It wasn't until five years after her initial diagnosis that she first learned she might be autistic  a moment she said made "everything fall into place."

She realized she might be autistic when she was pregnant

During her second pregnancy, Conklin began seeing a therapist who was puzzled by her BPD diagnosis. Instead, noting Conklin's sensory sensitivities, the therapist wondered if Conklin might be autistic. Conklin also had PTSD and trauma from her past, which the doctor thought might be making her symptoms worse.

At first, Conklin didn't know much about autism. But when she did her own research, she realized the symptoms explained everything she'd been going through.

"A lot of the classic BPD symptoms actually make a lot of sense when you see them through an autistic lens," Dr. Megan Neff , a psychologist who also was diagnosed with autism in her 30s, told Insider. For example, both BPD and autism symptoms include emotional dysregulation and mood swings.

Conklin also finally had an explanation for some of the symptoms that didn't seem to fit into her BPD diagnosis.

When alone, she often rubs her fingers together or makes "weird noises," something known as "stimming," as a form of self-soothing. She also noticed her moods dramatically worsened around her menstrual cycle, which is common for autistic people .

It took her two years of being on a waitlist to get a formal diagnosis. But Conklin described that time in between as life-changing.

"For once in my life, I felt like being kind and compassionate to myself," she said. She even encouraged another friend who was diagnosed with BPD to seek out another opinion  and that friend learned that she actually had autism and ADHD.

The experience made her realize how much stigma there is for both conditions

Bree Conklin

Neff said that both autism and BPD have stigmas, albeit very different ones.

Misdiagnosed autistic people continue to be judged and unsupported, which can lead to depression and suicidality. "Suicide rates and self-harm rates are much higher among the autistic population," Neff said.

Additionally, autistic women and gender-nonconforming people are more likely to be misdiagnosed . Neff said gender bias plays a huge role: Autistic men are more often depicted in media and stereotyped as scientific geniuses .

Meanwhile, for people who have BPD, there is also a lot of stigma. "Even within the mental health world, you'll still hear therapists say 'I don't want to work with someone with BPD,'" Neff said.

Conklin's experience made her see how differently people treated her with each diagnosis. The German doctor, for example, saw her as flirtatious and disingenuous because he thought she had BPD.

Conklin said being formally diagnosed as autistic improved how people treated her, compared to when she was diagnosed with BPD. After trying to get disability benefits for years when she said she had BPD, she was finally granted them with an autism diagnosis.

She also said her ex-husband stopped pursuing full custody of their son once he learned she was autistic and started expressing more patience with her as well.

On the flip side, people knowing she's autistic leads to her feeling infantilized. She recently had to get a colonoscopy done and the doctors wanted to "strap her down" before the procedure  something she said would only make her freak out more.

Conklin said her experience not only made her feel a lot of empathy for misdiagnosed autistic people, but also for people with borderline personality disorder.

Read the original article on Insider
Twenty-seven percent.

Thats the proportion of tests conducted on clothing collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in May that showed traces of forced labor-linked cotton from Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

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The results, which Reuters published Friday after obtaining them through the Freedom of Information Act, underscore the difficulties in keeping out the material as required by the nearly two-year-old Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act, or UFLPA.

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The tests were performed using a forensic standby called isotopic analysis, which can trace cotton to its point of origin by matching the samples concentration of stable elementsthink carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogenwith those of the purported environment.

While isotopic testing isnt a routine process for the agency, officials at individual ports can request tests if they receive allegations about particular shipments or suspect that the goods can be traced to Xinjiang, Eric Choy, CBPs executive director for trade remedy and law enforcement told the outlet in June.

This appears to be the case with the 37 garments that CBP examined in May, 10 of which returned as consistent with Xinjiang. Documents also note that its at least the third batch that officials have amassed as part of their enforcement efforts, with others obtained in December 2022 and this past April. Overall, 13 of 86 total tests, amounting to 15 percent, showed the same consistency with Xinjiang.

Reuters said that CBP had redacted most of the identifying information, such as the brands of the items that were tested. Their descriptions indicated a full range of cotton and cotton-containing apparel, including jeans, T-shirts, dresses, boxers and baby onesies.

It is in my view long overdue that the CBP uses this scientific method to provide independent determination of origin, said Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and one of the leading authorities on the Chinese Communist Partys crackdown on Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, which many, including the United States, have dubbed genocide.

I am not surprised how many products from Xinjiang are still entering the U.S., given the complexity of the supply chains and Beijings obfuscation strategies, Zenz added. This shows that much more needs to be done to effectively enforce the UFLPA.

The odds of contamination, even if companies assiduously avoid Xinjiang are high. The region contributes 90 percent of Chinas cotton, which in turn makes up one-fifth of the worlds total. Products grown and manufactured in Xinjiang can also be transportedor laundered, as Laura Murphy, a professor of human rights at Sheffield Hallam University, put itthrough third countries such as Bangladesh, India and Vietnam, further muddying their provenance.

Given the high rate of positive tests, it seems that companies are continuing to attempt to circumvent the UFLPA and are still not doing the due diligence necessary to make sure theyre not selling goods made with forced labor, Murphy said.

Since last June, when the UFLPA went into effect, CBP has detained 877 garment, footwear and textile shipments worth $36 million. Of these, 380 were ultimately denied entry, most of them from China and Vietnam.

CBP doesnt perform its own testing but has paid supply chain tracing firm Oritain $1.3 million since 2020 for its analysis, according to records obtained by Reuters, again through a Freedom of Information Act request. But the agency redacted the name of the vendor that tested the batches it collected in December, April and May and did not confirm whether it was Oritain that did so.

That such a process exists, however, is reassuring to Jewher Ilham, forced labor coordinator at the Worker Rights Consortium, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

I am glad that such isotopic tests are available for governments and companies to use for testing if a product on the rack contains cotton or other elements from the Uyghur region as this may mean there is a high risk the product is tainted by Uyghur forced labor, said Ilham, the daughter of jailed Uyghur academic Ilham Tohti. These test results highlight the importance of CBP enforcing high evidentiary standards for importers during the admissibility review process of UFLPA implementation.

Oritain, which is headquartered in New Zealand, has become a leading name in cotton forensics, particularly where UFLPA compliance is concerned. Nine Line Apparel, a T-shirt screen printer from Georgia, regularly uses Oritain to verify the origins of the blanks it purchases. Next Level Apparel, the wholesaler that failed one of these tests earlier this year, has also taken up with the firm on a long-term basis.

Same with Shein, which has faced mounting congressional scrutiny after a Bloomberg investigation uncovered traces of Xinjiang cotton in products purchased on separate occasions. The Chinese e-tail Goliath told Politico in June that thousands of tests that Oritain performed found that nearly 98 percent of its cotton did not come from Xinjiang. It also confirmed that it no longer sources cotton from China.

On Thursday, one year after the United Nations human rights office published a damning report about the litany of abuses occurring in Xinjiang, the agency said that it is still pushing for change.

The situation in Xinjiang remains of concern, the agency said in a statement. Laws and policies assessed in our report are still in place. We continue to stand by that, publicly and bilaterally.

Babur Ilchi, program manager at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., said that Reuters findings confirm what Uyghur organizations and researchers have been saying: that there must be greater due diligence to ensure that no Uyghur forced labor goods are entering any market.

It highlights a clear need for stronger enforcement and for Canada, the U.K. and the EU to avoid becoming a hot market for dumped Uyghur forced labor goods, he said. These goods are directly fuelling a genocide and should be locked out of consumer markets.

Click here to read the full article.
In the new book Young Queer America, photographer Maxwell Poth has gathered portraits and essays from 73 LGBTQ+ young people  mostly teens, but one as young as 9 years old  from across the United States. Through Poths lens and in their own words, these young people share stories of growing up and coming out as queer and/or transgender.

The result is its own snapshot of what its like to be LGBTQ+ and young in America today. Some, particularly in more liberal-leaning urban areas, found acceptance from their friends and family. But many, particularly in small-town America, face challenges like never before. If you live in a small town, it is still similar to how the community saw queer people a decade ago, attests Poth, who grew up in a Mormon household in Utah. To be honest, it may even be worse. Especially towards the trans community.

Young Queer America is dedicated to Stockton Powell, a Mormon teen from Poths hometown who took his own life; the last two portraits and essays are from his parents, Alyson and George. The dedication is a reminder of whats at stake for LGBTQ+ youth in a political and cultural climate that is increasingly hostile toward them. And for all the resilience and courage that shine through these pages, it is adults who must act to protect them. As George states in his essay, The loss of my son has ultimately provided fuel to raise my words and deeds, seeking to create a safe place, encouraging a community of deep love.

Ahead, Poth talks more about the young people featured in Young Queer America and how adults can help create safe spaces and community for them. Learn more about the book and the nonprofit it was born from, Project Contrast, which amplifies the voices of LGBTQ+ youth through storytelling, at ProjectContrast.org.

Samuel (he/him), 10 years old, Arkansas Its funny how school adults let you down more than lift you up in conservative places like Arkansas. They sometimes remind me of bullies too.

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This is a personal book for you. How did your upbringing inspire Project Contrast and your aim to photograph LGBTQ+ youth and tell their stories?

This is indeed a personal book for me. I was raised LDS [Latter-Day-Saint] and started coming out in a small religious community when I was in high school. It was very isolating. Eventually, I went back in the closet to finish [high school], struggled with suicidal thoughts, and struggled until I found community in Salt Lake City.

Five years after I graduated high school, I saw on the news that two young boys in Utah had taken their lives because they were gay. To even make it closer to home, one of those boys was a student at Bountiful High School, where I went to school. He was the same age as I was when I came out. He had the same teachers. Same neighbors. Same community as I did. And he didnt make it. It made me furious.

I thought to myself, How could I help these kids? Im a photographer. What can I do with my art to help these kids feel seen and loved? Then it all kind of just fell together. I met amazing queer kids in Utah. And together, we launched an art show to highlight these kids and share their stories. When I saw it making an impact on these queer teens lives, I knew I had to continue it all over the country.

How has the culture shifted since you were a teen a decade ago?

While the culture has shifted drastically in our country when it comes to acceptance, youd be surprised how much it has stayed the same. In my hometown, queer youth still feel unsafe. So the community and church have some explaining to do.

It varies depending on where you are in the country. I travel all over this country to work with these kids. I have been to the tiniest towns, and Id say that if you live in a small town, it is still similar to how the community saw queer people a decade ago. To be honest, it may even be worse. Especially towards the trans community.

Markus (he/they), 17 years old, Alaska Having a group of people who genuinely care about you, even when you dont care about yourself, is so important. It makes the experience of being yourself that much more special.

What did you learn about LGBTQ+ young people today that surprised you?

They surprise me every day. They are all so wise beyond their years. Every time I read one of their stories or share their advice to others, I am shocked at the wisdom they share. Sadly, they have to grow up faster than others and have to learn how to protect themselves at such young ages.

Was there a subject whose story particularly resonated with you?

Jeremiahs story really left an impact because, even though he was given a life filled with people who dont understand him or want him, he carries himself so well.

His father passed when he was young, doesnt speak to his mother, lost his grandmother, is being raised by his grandfather. He seems very isolated, but he has found his community where he lives. The way he smiles and finds such simple joy still is so pure. He could be sad and angry at the world, yet he tries to keep his head up and it shows.

Jay (they/them), 18 years old, South Dakota Honestly, getting kicked out was the best thing that could have happened to me; it forced me out of my comfort zone and into making the things Ive always wanted a reality.

Sadly, suicide is a recurring theme among your subjects. What do readers  and the broader public  need to know to address this crisis?

The simple answer is to love these kids with all your heart. Dont question them. Dont doubt who they are. It may be scary to support someone when you dont understand what they mean. Even so, show them they are loved and even try to introduce them to other queer people or centers.

How can we as LGBTQ+ adults help?

1. Vote

2. Help by donating to local/small LGBTQ+ centers. Transformation Project in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, ended up with over $100,000 last year at a fundraiser I attended. That amount of money in a place like that is like a million dollars to bigger cities. What may seem like smaller donations to us can move mountains in smaller places.

3. Educate others who may not understand and lead with love.

How do you hope your book makes a difference?

I truly just hope that it falls into the hands of struggling queer youth who need it. I want it to help a struggling parent understand their trans child, and I want this book to help educate others on the young queer community. That is all I want from it.

What advice would you give to LGBTQ+ youth who are struggling right now?

You have community everywhere. You arent alone. You may feel alone, but there are people even where you live that can help you feel seen and heard. You are loved.

Desmond is Amazing (they/them), 13 years old, New York Sometimes there are people in this world who do not agree with my fabulous lifestyle, but that is their opinion, and I am going to pay it no mind!

If youre experiencing thoughts of suicide, call the TrevorLifeline (866-488-7386) or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988).

This article is part of the Out September/October issue, which is now available on newsstands. Support queer media and subscribe  or download the issue through Amazon, Kindle, Nook, or Apple News.
After 70 years of touring, blues legend Buddy Guy plans to retire from the road following his "Damn Right Farewell" tour.

A concert this weekend featuring legendary blues artist Buddy Guy has been canceled, his management team announced Wednesday.

The octogenarian was set to perform Saturday at Silver Star Convention Center near Philadelphia, Mississippi, Pearl River Resort officials said in a news release.

The show was part of his "Damn Right Farewell" tour.

Due to an unforeseen necessary medical procedure, Buddy has been advised by his team to cancel his performance this weekend at Pearl River Resort," Guy's management team said. "We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to reschedule a new performance date in 2024.

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The Louisiana native is known for songs like "First Time I Met the Blues," "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Damn Right I Got the Blues."

Pearl River Resort officials said guests who purchased tickets through etix.com will automatically be issued a full refund. Anyone with questions should contact the ticket vendor's customer support link at support.etix.com.

As of Thursday, none of Guy's other concerts have been canceled, including a show in Tupelo on Sept. 15.

Other recent concert cancellations in Mississippi include:

Luke Bryan, who was set to perform Aug. 13 in Brandon, canceled the concert the day of the show.

Morgan Wallen also canceled his April show in Oxford at the last minute.

Do you have a story to share? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Buddy Guy cancels Pearl River Resort concert in Mississippi
Debbie McGee has opened up about being held hostage in Iran for 3 months (Getty Images)

Debbie McGee left Good Morning Britain hosts Kate Garraway and Richard Madeley stunned when she revealed that she had been held hostage in war-torn Iran for three months while working as a dancer with the Iranian National Ballet.

The 64-year-old wife of late magician Paul Daniels made the jaw-dropping admission while appearing on the ITV breakfast show on Wednesday.

The one-time Strictly Come Dancing star told how she and several other dancers were held captive after being herded into a block of flats.

She said: I have led a fairytale life but Ive also dealt with a lot of stuff. They all said, we didnt know you were a hostage in Iran.

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Surprised, Garraway replied: Well I didnt know that.

Pictured with husband Paul Daniels who died in 2016 (Handout)

Madeley then asked: How long were you a hostage for?

About three months, she replied. I worked for a ballet company and we were all, who were Western, were herded into a block of flats.

The boys had to go out at six in the morning and the only food we could get were from the bakers on the streets which were like flat pizzas, no butter or anything, and maybe some cans of things and maybe a few eggs.

There was a silver lining of sorts from it all as it resulted in her meeting Daniels.

Thats how I met Paul [Daniels]. I came back to England and needed a job, she explained.

McGee previously discussed her Iranian ordeal during an appearance on Pointless Celebrities in 2018.

Debbie McGee admitted that she took the gig in Iran for the money (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

She said: Well Id planned to stay for three years but if youve seen the movie Argo with Ben Affleck that was what I went through.

I was hidden in a house, I got stopped at the airport, I chatted up one of the customs guys who stamped my passport and I ran across the tarmac and escaped.

Asked why she joined the Iranian Ballet in the first place, McGee said: They were paying five times more than the National Ballet. It was the money.
"It's really given me the courage to tell my own story, which has been an incredibly healing process for me," Simon Kent Fung  host of the 'Dear Alana,' podcast  tells PEOPLE

Courtesy of Family Tenderfoot TV Alana Chen

As a teenager growing up in Colorado, Alana Chen  known by loved ones for her generosity and kindness to others  dreamed of becoming a nun.

But Alana's life came to a tragic end on Dec. 8, 2019, when she died by suicide at just 24 years. Now a new podcast, Dear Alana, explores the diaries she wrote as a young woman trying to reconcile her strong Catholic faith with her sexual identity  an exhausting challenge that drove her to conversion therapy.

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According to the podcast, Alana attended two church summer camps in Boulder when she was 13 years old: Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center on the University of Colorado Boulder Campus, where she met and soon entrusted a priest at St. Thomas Aquinas, who would eventually become her spiritual director.

With the help of her best friend, Alana began sneaking behind her mother's back to attend early evening mass at St. Thomas. Then, one day, she told her mom the truth.



"She just said, 'I'm sneaking out. I lied. I've been going to mass every day at 5:30, taking the bus,'" her mother, Joyce Calvo, tells PEOPLE.

"I just remember saying, 'Why? Why are you doing that?' She said, 'I love it,'" adds Calvo, who was shocked by her daughter's goal of nunhood. Although she hadn't been a religious person in her youth, Calvo's sobriety journey sparked the search for a spiritual home for family.

But Alana was hiding another secret: she was struggling with her sexual identity. At 14, Alana came out to the priest, who instructed her not to tell anyone, not even her family, according to the podcast.

Helena Gruensteid Simon Kent Fung

"[He] noticed me. He knew me. He knew I loved God. He knew I did not want to marry a man," Alana wrote in one of her journal entries. "He forgave my unspeakable sin. He took my defilement and buried it. 'You ought to pray the rosary everyday.' Later, he said, 'I better pray it five times per day to keep temptation away.'"

The priest did not return PEOPLE's request for comment, but the Archdiocese of Denver  where he is now a diocesan hermit, a monk-missionary, per his blog  says in a statement: "Commenting on specifics regarding Alana Chen is improper, but as the Archdiocese of Denver has previously stated, conversion therapy was never practiced. Trying to explain Alanas story with a simplistic explanation is unfair to her memory. We reject any practices that are manipulative, coercive, or pseudoscientific. Alana, and every person, is beloved by God and deserves to be treated with mercy, dignity, and reverence. We continue to pray with and for everyone who is affected by Alanas untimely death."

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center says in a separate statement: "Our deepest prayers and condolences continue for the Chen family, who experienced the tragic loss of their daughter, Alana. The St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center does not practice conversion therapy and remains against any form of coercion or manipulation. As Catholics, we reverence the dignity and free will of each and every human person and view every persons life as a beautiful gift from God. We strive to live and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and embrace the teachings of the Catholic Church."



Reflecting on the revelations in her daughter's journals, Calvo tells PEOPLE, "I love the Saints and Mary and Jesus, but [in] a lot of churches, I didn't like the language and how strict it was. That's why I was always church-hopping. But I was shocked [by] this, what he was doing, seeing her in private."



The journals and podcast claim Alana spent years seeking pastoral counsel and receiving conversion therapy treatment, practitioners of which "commonly use an array of psychosocially harmful techniques," according to the American Psychological Association.

Her nearly two-dozen journals explore the pain she experienced as a result of conversion therapy, which she publicly opened up about in The Denver Post in August 2019.

Related: Conversion Therapy Founder Opens Up About Coming Out as Gay: 'I Snapped Out of It'

"I felt a lot of shame and anxiety," Alana told the Post. "I couldnt sleep. I couldnt stop thinking about it. Was I going to hell? But I was still extremely faithful, and I felt like the church and the counseling was the thing that was saving me. The worse I got, the more I clung to it."

Alana said she eventually broke free from conversion therapy after a suicide attempt that led to her receiving professional mental health treatment.



"I was feeling so much shame that I was comforted by the thought of hurting myself," she told the newspaper of her heartbreaking mindset. "Ive now basically completely lost my faith. I dont know what I believe about God, but I think if there is a God, he doesnt need me talking to him anymore.

Four months after the Post interview, she vanished and was found dead by suicide. Nearly four years later, her life is the basis of the eight-episode podcast. In the series, host Simon Kent Fung explores his personal connection to Alanas story, the origins of conversion therapy and the death of a young woman who, according to Fung, "had it all."

Andy Wineman Alana Chen

"I learned about Alana's story in the news, like a lot of people did," Fung, a gay Catholic man, tells PEOPLE. "I think what stuck out to me was how devout and religious she was and her family's suspicion of the role that that community played, as well as the role that conversion therapy played in her disappearance and death."

Fung  who has worked in tech at Patreon and Google and as a designer at Time  says he "recognized very similar experiences in my own life with my faith community and with the subculture of the American Catholic Church that I was a part of."

Ashamed of his sexual identity, he spent "all of my twenties in various forms of conversion therapy in my attempt to become a priest," Fung says. During this period, he was taught that his sexuality was "the result of an underdeveloped bonding with my father and male peers and encouraged to deconstruct his attractions in order to connect them to trauma."

"I remember I was in a coffee shop and I just read [her story], and I was just sobbing in the corner by myself ... I couldn't believe that somebody had an almost identical story, at least from the way it was reported," Fung says. "I didn't know all the details."

Related: Utah Bans Discredited LGBTQ Conversion Therapy for Kids: 'This Measure Will Truly Save Lives'

Fung was then inspired to reach out to Calvo. "A couple of months later, we had our first phone conversation," he says.

He soon began traveling back and forth between Colorado and California to speak with Calvo, Alana's sisters and her friends, ultimately deciding to create the podcast.

"In the two years of making this, I had this incredible privilege of being able to read about Alana's inner life through the journals that her family provided me," he says.

As Fung learned about Alanas life outside of what was reported, the host began to understand who she was and the inner turmoil she went through.

"She had many friends [and] was kind of this all-star child and young person," the host says. "She was an ultimate frisbee champ. She was a top student, getting all the best grades. She was this extremely active kid in her church, but it was really when she was a teenager, an early teenager, that she became more serious about her faith and met a priest who offered to be her spiritual director."

Related: Woman Recalls Being Held Against Her Will During Gay Conversion Therapy as Teen: 'I Wanted to Die'

Alana "sought out conversion therapy" for the next seven years under the guidance of the priest and other spiritual leaders, hoping to "fix herself" to become a nun, according to Fung.

In addition, Alana pursued two years of individual counseling from the ages of 18 to 20 with a therapist she sought through her spiritual mentors and provided by the Archdiocese of Denver, Fung tells PEOPLE in a statement.

Alana attended meetings with Courage International, a Catholic ministry "whose founder explicitly encouraged conversion therapy and whose writings are based on conversion therapy theorists," he adds. Throughout her treatment, she was "consistently" directed to conversion therapy resources, blog posts and spiritual programs by spiritual mentors like priests and nuns, he claims.

Alana was even referred to a conversion therapist who was formerly on the board of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, the largest clinical network of conversion therapy practitioners, Fung says. In 2014, the organization rebranded as the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity, which did not return PEOPLE's request for comment.

The American Psychiatrist Association said it has been "opposed" to "any psychiatric treatment, such as 'reparative' or conversion therapy, which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or that a patient should change his or her homosexual orientation, since 1998.

Colorado is one of the 22 states, in addition to the District of Columbia, to ban conversion therapy for minors, per the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank.

However, Colorado's 2019 law, which was passed months before Alana died, may not have fully protected her  not only because she was over the age of 18, but also because the law doesnt touch pastoral counseling and only prohibits state-licensed medical or mental health care providers from the controversial practice, the Post noted.

Joyce Calvo Alan Chen, 3

Fung says "a lot of people are unaware" that conversion therapy is happening and that what's depicted in Hollywood is often far from the reality of what people experience.

"I think the podcast shows the ways in which conversion therapy doesn't have to look like a very Hollywood, physically violent form or very dramatized way," he adds. "It can look like talk therapy. It can look like it happened in a clinical setting."

"A lot of us go down the rabbit hole of believing these ideas and really struggling with what I call a triple shame," Fung continues. "First of all, the shame of being gay or feeling different in this way, the shame of feeling like you've had something horrible happen to you that makes you damaged in this way. Then the shame of not being able to change."

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"I just felt so damaged and broken," he shares of his experience with conversion therapy. "I think that's the impact and the harm that it has on people."



In order to stop conversion therapy, the host argues, its important to foster conversations within churches in a compassionate and sensitive way rather than an antagonistic, accusatory way.

Alana's story has paved the way for a new mission: the Alana Faith Chen Foundation, launched by her family to provide "financial support to LGBTQ+ [people] who are at risk of suicide so that they can receive the mental health treatment and therapy they need on their path to healing," per their website.

Courtesy of Family Tenderfoot TV Mother Joyce Calvo

Though Calvo says a priest and people at church would come up to her to tell her Alana was a "saint," she never wanted to put that pressure on her daughter.

Still, Alana "always wanted to help people," she says, and the foundation is a "beautiful tribute to Alana and keeps Alana's desires going.

Meanwhile, Fung hopes Alana's story and the podcast help others as much as they've helped him.

It's really given me the courage to tell my own story, which has been an incredibly healing process for me, he adds. I hope in hearing that, other people will feel similarly and will feel they're not alone.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.

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ruby-franke-arrested ruby-franke-arrested.jpg - Credit: Youtube

Mommy blogger and family influencer Ruby Franke has been arrested for aggravated child abuse after her son was reportedly found by neighbors wounded, emaciated, and asking for help, according to a police report obtained by Page Six.

According to the report, Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were both arrested on Wednesday after the child allegedly escaped from a window in Hildebrandts home in Ivins, Utah, and asked neighbors for help. Page Six reports that the child was asking neighbors at nearby homes for food and water, but people called the police after seeing remnants of duct tape on the childs hands and ankles. Arrest documents obtained by Page Six also state that when police arrived, the child appeared to be emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds.

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The condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Ivins EMS and transported to a local area hospital, The Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department said in a press release Thursday.

Franke is best known for her highly controversial YouTube channel 8 Passengers, where she documented her strict parenting techniques for disciplining her six children  like withholding lunch, removing bedroom doors, and threatening to throw away toys and clothes with sentimental value as punishments. The channel, which was removed from YouTube earlier this year due to unknown circumstances, had over 2.3 million followers. While it was live, commenters regularly accused her of abuse. NBC News reports that in 2020, viewers called Child Protective Services after Franke posted an 8 Passengers video in which her 15-year-old son claimed he slept on a beanbag for at least seven months. At the time, Franke defended the comment by saying it was her sons choice  and has been constant in defending her parenting style as necessary.

While police were examining the home, authorities reportedly found another emaciated child, who was also taken to the hospital, according to Page Six. According to AP, the two children were later identified as Frankes 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. Four other minors were taken into custody. The arrest report for Franke and Hilberant says that Franke was filming YouTube videos in the home days earlier and had knowledge of the abuse, malnourishment and neglect.

According to Page Six, Franke and Hildebrant are being held under suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse. Rolling Stone was not able to reach Franke or Hildebrandt for comment.

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Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

Getting into an elite, top-10 U.S. MBA program became dramatically easier in 2022. Will the window remain open for long?

In spring 2022, Poets&Quants reported that the window of opportunity to get into a reach business school in the United States had narrowed dramatically. Applications were up, acceptance rates were down, and yield  the percentage of admits who actually enroll  was on the rise across the board, all of which suggested that the leading MBA programs had fully recovered from the coronavirus pandemic and were returning to their normal, highly selective selves.

That was an assessment based on 2021 data. With 2022 data available in spring 2023 with the release of the U.S. News MBA ranking, its clear that declarations of the window closing were a bit premature.

At the elite B-schools of the top 50 U.S. MBA programs as ranked by Poets&Quants, acceptance rates have climbed back up, meaning more applicants are gaining admission even as class sizes have shrunk (in some cases severely). These elite schools (including all of the M7 schools), where applications plummeted in the 2021-2022 cycle, responded by admitting significantly more applicants (and watching their yield slip as more of those applicants enjoyed the luxury of choosing other schools).

Many lower-ranked schools, however, saw the opposite in 2022: They decreased their acceptance rates in 2022, in some cases dramatically. See tables below and the following pages for details.

And what will the 2023 data show? We will discover soon, as B-schools begin to release their class profiles this fall.

EIGHT OF TOP 10 B-SCHOOLS SAW MBA APPS DROP BY DOUBLE-DIGIT PERCENTAGES

Did the just-concluded 2022-2023 cycle bring a continuation of this trend, with acceptance rates continuing to go up at the top-ranked as the MBA faces pressure to evolve from digital and other competition? Or did the numbers snap back again? And what happened at the schools ranked below the top 10, where in some cases applications were up and acceptance rates down? We'll have to wait to find out, as most B-schools don't release admission data from their full-time MBA programs until the fall.

Story continues

As we await confirmation about what transpired in the recently concluded 2022-2023 application cycle, and as the 2023-2024 cycle officially gets underway, it's notable that 2022 acceptance rate data is remarkable for the encouragement it provides anyone considering an MBA at a top-10 school, every one of which saw their acceptance rate climb last year.

That includes U.S. News' No. 1 Chicago Booth School of Business, where the acceptance rate grew to 30.1% from 22.6%, an increase of one-third and the biggest jump in the top 10; and P&Q's No. 1 Wharton, where the rate grew to 22.8% from 18.2%, an increase of one-quarter. Notably, in 2021, none of the top-10 U.S. B-schools had acceptance rates over 30%; in 2022, three did, with Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business the highest at 33.4%. (Tuck, interestingly, is the only top-10 school that had a lower rate in 2022 than the last pre-pandemic year of 2019, when its rate was 34.5%.) Cumulatively, the top-10 acceptance rate climbed to 22.2%, just shy of the 22.3% recorded in the pandemic crucible year of 2020.

The clear cause of these climbing acceptance rates at the elite schools: a cratering of applications. Apps plummeted across the top 10, with eight of 10 schools seeing drops by double-digit percentages. Wharton's apps fell 13.9% from 7,338 to 6,319; Booth's fell 13.6% from 5,037 to 4,352; Stanford's fell 16.5% from 7,367 to 6,152. At Harvard, MBA applications declined 15.4% from 9,773 to 8,264; at UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business they dropped 17.1% from 3,841 to 3,183; and at Yale School of Management they fell 19.8% from 3,877 to 3,237. But the biggest decline was at MIT Sloan School of Management, where apps dropped by nearly a quarter, 24.8%, to 5,349 from 7,112.

A DIFFERENT PICTURE DOWN THE RANKINGS

The top schools responded to the loss of app volume by opening their gates a bit wider. But what about the rest of the top 25? For the second-tier schools, the outlook was not so dire, and their responses commensurate. Six of the 15 schools saw increases in applications: Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, Washington Foster Business School, Emory Goizueta Business School, Indiana Kelley School of Business, and Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. Of these, all but Cornell Johnson and USC Marshall decreased their acceptance rates from the previous year; Emory Goizueta's 16-point drop to 37.1% from 53.1% was among the most dramatic of any top-50 school, a decline of more than 30%.

And what about the top 50? Widening the lens, the average acceptance rate among all the top 50 U.S. business schools in 2022 was 31.2%  actually a bit lower than 2021's average rate of 31.8%.

Why the difference? Lower class sizes are one reason. A return to pre-pandemic admissions standards, including reinstatement of entrance exam requirements, is another.

NINE TOP-50 SCHOOLS HAVE ACCEPTANCE RATES BELOW 20%

Of the 10 lowest acceptance rates in the P&Q top 50, a remarkable four schools are ranked outside the top 25. After Stanford (8.6%) and Harvard (14.4%), the next-lowest rate is at Rochester Simon Business School, ranked No. 30, at 14.7%. MIT Sloan (14.8%) is next, followed by B-schools ranked 35th, 31st, and 33rd, respectively: Ohio State Fisher College of Business (15.1%), Arizona State Carey School of Business (18%), and Penn State Smeal College of Business (18.5%).

More noteworthy stats:

Highest acceptance rate in the top 10: No. 9 Dartmouth Tuck, 33.4% (in 2021: Tuck 29.5%)

Highest in the top 25: No. 25 Georgetown McDonough School of Business, 50.9% (in 2021: Georgetown 48.1%)

Highest in the top 50: No. 49 Utah Eccles, 61.6% (in 2021: BYU Marriott 60.7%)

Nine schools in the top 50 have acceptance rates below 20%; in 2021 there were 10. Twenty-four schools are below 30%; in 2021 there were 27. In 2020 there were only 18.

Acceptance rates went down year-to-year at 22 schools overall; last year we reported that this happened at 21 schools. Among the biggest drops was Emory Goizueta's, from 53.1% to 37.1%, but bigger declines occurred at Rutgers Business School (from 43.9% to 26.1%, 17.8 points) and Michigan State Broad College of Business (from 44.7% to 23%, 21.7 points).

And the biggest jump? That happened at another Michigan school, the Ross School of Business, which saw its acceptance rate climb 7.9 points to 28.1%.

See the next pages for more on acceptance rates, yield, class size, admits, and applications at the top 50 U.S. business schools.

AND DON'T MISS LAST YEAR'S STORY ON ACCEPTANCE RATES AT THE TOP 50 U.S. B-SCHOOLS and MBA APPLICATIONS AT THE TOP U.S. B-SCHOOLS: WHERE THEY'RE UP, WHERE THEY'RE DOWN

Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

Stanford MBA students outside class. Elena Zhukova photo

STANFORD'S YIELD FALLS FROM LAST YEAR'S ALL-TIME HIGH

Yield is a number that schools never report and that U.S. News and other magazines rarely calculate. But it's an important number because it shows the strength of a school's appeal for the select group of applicants who have gained admission. Typically, yield is in the 30% to 40% range, and 2022 was no different in that regard.

The way it was different: Far more schools saw their yields decline, and while the declines were mostly small amounts, they indicated that admits in 2022 exercised greater freedom to choose between available options. Forty-three B-schools saw their yields decline, including eight of the top 10; by comparison, in 2021, 45 schools saw their yields increase  also including eight of the top 10. Eighteen of 51 B-schools saw double-digit yield increases in 2021; in 2022, none did.

There is little surprise year to year over which schools will have the highest yield: It's usually Stanford or Harvard. Last year, Stanford recorded its highest-ever yield, 93.6%, and that was far and away the best of any P&Q-ranked B-school; this year the GSB saw its yield drop to 80.3%, while Harvard was one of two top-10 schools to see an increase, to a ranking-high 85.5% from 82.7%. (Yale SOM was the other, to 38.8% from 38.2%.)

More yield facts from 2022:

Lowest yield in the top 10: Dartmouth Tuck, 37.6% (in 2021: Yale 38.2%)

Lowest yield in the top 25: USC Marshall and Emory Goizueta, both at 28.9% (in 2021: Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, 35.7%)

Lowest yield in the top 50: No. 41 Maryland Smith School of Business, 23.9% (in 2021: Emory Goizueta, 34%, and Maryland Smith 34.2%)

Fifteen B-schools had yields above 50% in 2022, down from 20 in 2021. There were 10 in 2020 and 16 in 2019. Only five schools were above 60%, down from nine schools; three schools above 70%, down from five; and three above 80%, down from four. The highest yield in the lower half of the top 50 was at BYU Marriott School of Business, at 81.8%, though that can be explained by the extremely low tuition the Provo, Utah-based B-school offers Mormon admits. Otherwise the highest yield in the bottom 25 was at Arizona State Carey School of Business, at 66.7%. The Carey School also boasts the biggest yield increase year to year: 9.3 percentage points.

And the biggest yield drop? Minnesota Carlson School of Management, which saw its yield fall 15.1 points to 35.8%. See page 6 for more yield data for the top 50 MBA programs.

Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

The B-school with the lowest acceptance rate in the lower half of the P&Q top 50: Simon Business School at the University of Rochester at 14.7%. The Simon School is one of just four schools ranked 26-50 with a rate below 20%

CLASS SIZES SHRINK AT MOST MBA PROGRAMS

Most of the top 50 business programs in the U.S. saw a decline in enrollment in 2022. Compared to 2021 figures, only seven of 49 schools reported an increase in enrollment. And the declines were often dramatic.

UCLA Anderson School of Management dropped 50 seats in 2022, to 322. Duke Fuqua School of Business dropped 48 seats, to 399. UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business was down 44 to 247; MIT Sloan was down 42 to 408; Texas-Austin McCombs School of Business was down 50 to 220; and Emory Goizueta was down 52 to 113. The biggest decline in raw numbers was at UNC Kenan-Flagler, which dropped 54 seats to enroll 242 MBA students in 2022  but more dramatic still was what happened at Texas A&M Mays Business School, which shaved its MBA cohort by more than half, to 33 seats from 74; and at Pittsburgh Katz School of Business, which went down to 39 seats from 82.

Over a three-year period from 2020 to 2022, the biggest downturn in raw numbers has occurred not at a small program but at Columbia Business School, which has dropped more than 150 seats. This is despite actually adding spots in 2022. Meanwhile Harvard Business School, which has the biggest overall MBA program at 1,015 students, has reported the biggest uptick since 2020: 283 students.

See page 5 for more enrollment data for the top 50 schools.

Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

In 2021, none of the top-10 U.S. B-schools had acceptance rates over 30%; in 2022, three did, with Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business the highest at 33.4%

Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

Columbia has seen the biggest decline in MBA enrollment of any top-50 school since 2020: down 153 seats. However, CBS did enroll 15 more students in 2022 than the previous year

Acceptance Rates, Yield & More At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs

Harvard Business School boasted the highest yield in 2022: 85.5%. Brigham Young University Marriott Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business were second and third, both at just over 80%; no other school had as much as 70% yield, which is the percentage of admits who actually enroll

The post Acceptance Rates & Yield At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs appeared first on Poets&Quants.
Representatives of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were at a residence on Rerock Road in Burton on Friday afternoon possibly looking for connections to the mysterious June disappearance of Sophia Van Dam and her 2 -year-old son Matteo. The property is the residence of Jonas Jerry Washington Sr.

James Moss, an attorney for Washington Sr., said authorities also searched the property a few weeks ago and he (Washington Sr.) doesnt know why. Authorities, Moss said, havent been forthcoming with information. He (Washington Sr.) has been very open about it, Moss said. He doesnt know anything.

The propertys connection to the Van Dam case may have some association to Washington Sr.s son, Jonas Jerry Washington Jr., 24. Her family has said repeatedly Sophia Van Dam and Washington Jr. were in a relationship and they shared a rental residence in Sumter.

Several people with FBI markings on their shirts were seen leaving the property in a large four-door Ford truck midday Friday. It is unknown what time they arrived. Authorities also would not comment on what they were looking for or what brought them to that location. Rerock is a narrow gravel Road off Shanklin Road about 8 miles north of Beaufort. The area is heavily wooded.

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Jail records indicate that Washington Jr. also listed the Rerock Road property as his address.

Van Dam, 20, and Matteo, 2, disappeared in June. A June 24, 2023 text was the last time family members heard from her and days later they reported her missing to Sumter police. Van Dam, a Beaufort native, told her family she was returning to a house she rented in Sumter after spending time at the home of her parents in Beaufort. Her vehicle was located at the Sumter residence but, when police were dispatched, there was no sign of Van Dam or her son.

According to the incident report from the Sumpter Police Deparment, On 6/28/2023 law enforcement responded to 47 Wilson St. in the city of Sumter in reference to a welfare check on Sophia and Matteo Van Dam. Upon arrival, officers attempted to make contact at the residence with negative results. Officers then made contact with Sophias mother who advised she had not seen or heard from her daughter Sophia in several days. Sophias mother advised that she was concerned for Sophia and Matteos well being and wanted to report them as missing. Sophia and Matteo were entered into NCIC as missing.

The FBI, State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), Sumter Police and the Sheriffs Office announced earlier Friday that they would be conducting various law enforcement activities at different locations in Beaufort County Friday in search of the Beaufort woman and her young son.

Angela Viens, a spokesperson with the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office, said later that the law enforcement presence at the Rerock property was just one of the things were doing as part of our activities today.

Washington Jr. is currently in jail in Effingham County in Georgia, where he is awaiting trial related to June 2020 charges of possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of or attempt of burglary; attempting to elude a police officer and drug-related offenses, according to court records.

Washington Jr. was initially jailed on June 30 in Beaufort County for fleeing to evade arrest, trespassing and being a fugitive from justice related to the Georgia charges. Beaufort County Sheriffs deputies had gone to the residence on Rerock Road to assist Animal Control agents who were responding to a complaint. When they arrived, Washington Jr. allegedly fled with his sister in a vehicle. A police chase ensued, Viens said, and he was arrested after he jumped out of the car and ran to a house, authorities said.

At the time of his June 30 arrest, Washington Jr. was out on bond for 2021 charges in Beaufort County for possession of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime, kidnapping, larceny and burglary related to an alleged carjacking on Shanklin Road, court records show. He was released on June 24, 2021 on house arrest. The conditions of his release included that he attend work with his father and have no contact with the carjacking victims, according to Beaufort County court records.
A military coup thrust the Central African nation of Gabon into turmoil Wednesday, unseating the president  whose family had held power for more than half a century  just minutes after he was named the winner of a contested election.

Ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, also known as Ali Bongo, has faced accusations of election fraud and corruption since he began ruling the oil-rich but poverty-stricken nation nearly 14 years ago. Following the coup, residents in the countrys capital were seen celebrating and embracing soldiers on the street.

But much remains uncertain, with Bongo reportedly under house arrest, his son arrested, all borders closed and the government ostensibly shut down. International leaders have expressed concern and condemnation of the coup, some warning their citizens in Gabon to shelter in place.

Heres what you need to know.

How did the coup happen?

The militarys power grab began Wednesday, shortly after Gabons election authority said Bongo had been re-elected president following last weekends election.

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Men in army uniforms announced on national television that they had seized power. They said the election results were voided, all borders shut, and numerous government bodies dissolved, including both houses of parliament.

The coup leaders said Bongo had been placed under house arrest, surrounded by family and doctors. The ousted presidents son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, was arrested alongside six others for high treason.

A video aired by the Agence France-Presse news agency shows Bongo seated in what looks like a library, saying he was at the residence and didnt know what was happening. My son is somewhere, my wife is another place, he said.

It was not immediately clear under what circumstances the clip was filmed.x

Meanwhile, the junta named Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema  who was once the bodyguard of Bongos late father, the previous ruler of Gabon  as a transitional leader.

Speaking to French newspaper Le Monde on Wednesday, Oligui claimed Bongo was enjoying all his rights as a normal Gabonese citizen.

People celebrate following a military coup in Libreville, Gabon, on August 30. - Gerauds Wilfried Obangome/Reuters

Whats it like on the ground?

Videos of celebration in Gabon circulated online Wednesday, including footage of soldiers carrying Oligui on their shoulders and shouting president.

Residents in the capital Libreville were seen dancing on the streets, according to videos shared with CNN and posted on social media. In one video obtained by CNN, people can be seen shouting liberated! and waving the Gabon flag in the Nzeng Ayong district of the capital, alongside military vehicles.

Similar scenes played out in other parts of Gabon, including the second-largest city Port-Gentil.

Some members of the Gabonese diaspora also celebrated Wednesday, with students from Gabon gathering outside the countrys embassy in Dakar, Senegal.

I assure you that what the Gabonese people wanted was just for the Bongo PDG system to leave power, one student said, referring to Bongos political party, according to Reuters. Because as we said, 60 years is too much.

Gabonese soldiers hoist up Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema in Libreville on August 30, 2023. - Gabon24/AP

What comes next?

Its hard to say  and theres still a lot we dont know.

The junta will temporarily restore the countrys constitutional court, resume domestic flights and establish the institutions of the transition, a spokesperson said Thursday. The military is expected to swear in Oligui as transitional president before the constitutional court on Monday.

It also pledged to continue public services in the country, and to follow the countrys commitments domestically and internationally.

The military imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and national borders will remain closed until further notice, a junta spokesperson said. However, Oligui has ordered signal to be restored to international radio and television channels.

But questions remain over what will happen to the countrys leadership; what awaits Bongo and his family; and what the coup means for Gabons international standing and diplomatic relationships.

On Thursday, Gabons main opposition members expressed gratitude to the military  but called on it to resume the election process, complete the vote count and grant victory to Bongos main challenger in the election.

The opposition representative invited military leaders to talks, and to limit the consequences in the lives of our compatriots.

Who are the Bongos?

Ali Bongo, 64, took over from his father, Omar Bongo , who died of cardiac arrest while receiving treatment for intestinal cancer in Span in 2009, following nearly 42 years in office.

The elder Bongo came to power in 1967, seven years after Gabon gained independence from France.

He ruled over the small nation with an iron fist, imposing a one-party system for years and only allowing multi-party rule in 1991, though his party retained its grip on government.

Ali Bongo began his political career in 1981, serving as foreign minister, congressman and defense minister before becoming president in 2009, according to the Gabonese embassy website in the United States.

Gabon's then-President Omar Bongo Ondimba with bodyguard Brice Oligui Nguema and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on July 2, 2008. - Frederic SOULOY/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

But the Bongos have their fair share of critics, especially given the countrys enormous wealth gap. A French financial police investigation in 2007 found the Bongo family owned 39 properties in France, 70 bank accounts, and nine luxury cars worth a total of 1.5 million euros, according to Reuters.

Each of Ali Bongos three election victories has been deeply disputed, sometimes sparking violent nationwide protests. This weeks election has been decried by the opposition as fraudulent; Bongos team has rejected allegations of electoral irregularities.

Similarly in 2016, after Bongo was named the election victor, his main challenger said the decision by the countrys constitutional court to validate the contested result was biased. Another failed coup attempt against Bongo took place in 2019.

Gabon's ousted president Ali Bongo Ondimba appears in a video aired after the coup on August 30. - BTP advisers on behalf of the President's Office/AP

Why so many coups?

There have been multiple coups over the past three years in Africas former French colonies  Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Tunisia and now Gabon  that threaten a reversal of the democratization process the continent has undergone in the past two decades.

Coups in Africa were rampant in the early postcolonial decades, with coup leaders offering similar reasons for toppling governments: corruption, mismanagement and poverty, according to political analyst Remi Adekoya.

These justifications still resonate with many Africans today, he wrote for CNN in 2021  and in many countries, people feel these problems are worsening. All the while, the population is growing in the worlds youngest continent, intensifying already fierce competition for resources.

These conditions have helped drive more recent coups  with many young Africans disillusioned with allegedly corrupt leaders and ready for radical change, as seen by the celebrations in Gabon Wednesday, and similar celebrations after the Guinea coup two years ago.

What has the world said?

The Gabon coup has been widely criticized by other African nations and in the West. The African Union, representing 55 member states, condemned the coup and has suspended Gabon from participating in all of the groups activities until the restoration of constitutional order.

The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) also condemned the takeover and called for dialogue to return the country to civilian rule. It is expected to hold a meeting with the heads of state of member nations to discuss the path to follow regarding Gabon.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres also condemned the coup Wednesday, according to his spokesperson. Guterres expressed concern over reports of serious infringements of fundamental freedoms during the contested election, but urged all parties to respect the rule of law and human rights.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Wednesday the United States is strongly opposed to military seizures or unconstitutional transfers of power, and urged coup leaders to preserve civilian rule. He added: The United States stands with the people of Gabon.

The US embassy in Gabon advised its citizens in the country to shelter in place and limit unnecessary movements around town. Americans in Gabon should keep a low profile  avoid demonstrations  make contingency plans to leave  (and) have evacuation plans that do not rely on US government assistance, it said on its website.

The European Unions top diplomat said the bloc rejects the coup, though he said the EU shared deep concerns about how the electoral process was held. He said the EU currently has no plans to evacuate its staff based in Gabon.

Similar statements were made by other European nations including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain.

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Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis in a new brief seemed to imply that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows may have committed perjury in his unexpected witness stand appearance earlier this week, as he attempts to have his case moved to federal court. Willis, who recently indicted Trump, Meadows, and a slew of other co-conspirators for their efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 presidential election results, argued in a new filing that Meadows' testimony undercut his effort to remove the case to federal court.

"And after insisting that he did not play 'any role' in the coordination of slates of 'fake electors' throughout several states, the defendant was forced to acknowledge under cross-examination that he had in fact given direction to a campaign official in this regard," Willis wrote.

"The Court has ample basis not to credit some or all of the defendant's testimony," a footnote in the filing argued.

"Mark Meadows has a potential perjury problem," tweeted New York University Law Prof. Ryan Goodman, adding that Willis put "it in understated terms."

Mark Meadows has a potential perjury problem.



Fulton County DA puts it in understated terms in new brief. (DA uses it just for credibility.)



Meadows' testimony included false statement - his lack of "any role" in coordinating false electors



Was then forced to acknowledge it. pic.twitter.com/9akSvaHWlg  Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) August 31, 2023

Experts have already warned that Meadows' surprise testimony may blow back on Trump, as his defense was "precisely that point which Fulton County DA Fani Willis is trying to prove: that Trump was at the center of this entire criminal conspiracy," wrote Daily Beast reporter Joe Pagliery.

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"He now cannot ever say, 'I wasn't doing this for the president, I was acting on my own,'" concluded Peter Odom, a former prosecutor at the Fulton County DA's office, told The Daily Beast.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller's team, told MSNBC on Thursday that Meadows' testimony appears to have backfired.

"I don't think he is going to be found by the judge to be credible, and it's also the case that if you lie on one thing and the judge can throw out that testimony on that item, but also disregard your testimony altogether, he really, having reviewed everything now, I don't think comes off is a terribly thoughtful witness or terribly careful," Weissman said.

"He has a wonderful defense lawyer. I'm sure they tried to prepare him a lot. And it really showed that he was not terribly preparable, because he made a lot of mistakes in his testimony. I think he really hurt himself," he added, noting that Meadows' damning statement "is from the redirect examination. That's when his own lawyer got to ask him questions and he actually kept digging, and made it worse through his redirect examination."

Georgia State Law Prof. Anthony Michael Kries underscored Meadows' cross-examination as "one of the more dramatic moments in Monday's hearing."

"It took very little time between Meadows saying he wasn't involved at all in coordinating the electors scheme with campaign employees and the DA's office throwing the email showing that he did on the projector," he wrote on Thursday.

This was one of the more dramatic moments in Mondays hearing. It took very little time between Meadows saying he wasnt involved at all in coordinating the electors scheme with campaign employees and the DAs office throwing the email showing that he did on the projector. https://t.co/c05UJO02C8  Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) August 31, 2023

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

With the testimony previously dubbed a "high-risk gamble," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti argued that though the "potential upside" of Meadows' decision to take the stand was "significant," this "was the risk  that he got tripped up on the stand and testified falsely or locked himself into a problematic position."

This was the downside of Meadows decision to take the stand to try to move his criminal case to federal court.



The potential upside was significant, but this was the risk  that he got tripped up on the stand and testified falsely or locked himself into a problematic position. https://t.co/KeW6aRprvN  Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 31, 2023

"Trying to fool the judge is a bad idea," added MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang. "In an evidentiary hearing like Meadows' removal hearing this week, the judge is the fact finder, as well as the one who applies those facts to the applicable law. Judge Jones sits and judges the witnesses' credibility and trustworthiness."

In an evidentiary hearing like Meadows removal hearing this week, the judge is the fact finder, as well as the one who applies those facts to the applicable law.



Judge Jones sits and judges the witnesses credibility and trustworthiness.



Trying to fool the judge is a bad idea.  Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) September 1, 2023

Read more

about Mark Meadows
Canton City Health Commissioner James Adams listens during a community meeting held in June at Union Baptist Church in Canton to update residents about air quality around Republic Steel and a federal grant Canton recieved to add additional monitoring. Adams plans to retire by the end of January.

CANTON  The man who helped lead Canton through the coronavirus pandemic and has overseen the city's many public health services since 2008 plans to retire.

Canton City Health Commissioner James Adams intends to retire by the end of January. He said he could leave sooner if his successor is found quickly.

As I transition into this new phase of my life, I will forever carry the experiences of my time serving the Canton City community with me, Adams wrote in a letter to staff on Monday as he thanked them for their dedication during his tenure. It has been an incredible journey, and I am eternally thankful for the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of so many.

In an interview with the Canton Repository, Adams, 69, cited his age and his more than four decades working in public health as the primary reasons he plans to retire.

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Adams, a native of Indiana, started his public health career in 1977 with the Ohio Department of Health as a sanitarian who would train local health department employees and evaluate their inspections. He worked for the Lorain County Health Department as a sanitarian before being hired by the Canton City Health Department in 1985. Adams, who had a masters degree in public health, worked as the citys environmental health director for 20 years and as the director of administration for three years before being tapped as the health commissioner in 2008.

During Adams tenure as commissioner, the department earned national accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board and has changed how it views its role in the community. The department, which employs roughly 70 workers, still conducts inspections, hosts clinics and cites the people and businesses who violate health laws, but over the past decade, it also has taken on a greater role in addressing the social conditions that affect the overall health of the community, such as racism, discrimination and inequities in marginalized communities.

As an example, its THRIVE program (Toward Health Resiliency and Infant Vitality and Equity) seeks to identify and address the reasons why so many Stark County babies, especially Black babies, die before their first birthdays.

Adams and the city health department became much more visible to the public during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, as the department was tasked with taking the federal and state recommendations and applying them locally.

I am very appreciative that the community allowed us to help them get through COVID, and I mean that sincerely, Adams said. There is no way that Canton could have come through COVID without the people in the community allowing us to help them through that. I am appreciative of the trust that they put into us.

Canton Health Commissioner James Adams, left, with Mayor Thomas Bernabei speaks to reporters on March 11, 2020, after Ohio health officials announced that a Stark County patient was isolated at Mercy Medical Center after testing positive for coronavirus.

Who will be the next Canton City health commissioner?

The search for Cantons new health commissioner likely will begin in September.

To be the health commissioner the candidate must either be a licensed physician, dentist, veterinarian or chiropractor or must have a masters degree in public health or equivalent. The candidate also must have five years of leadership experience in a health field or public service organization, according to a new job description approved by the Canton Civil Service Commission earlier this month.

The new health commissioner likely will earn a higher salary than Adams.

On Monday, the Canton health board approved a new salary range for the position, increasing it from a pay range of $72,685 to $116,416 a year to the new range of $84,870 to $122,432 a year.

Canton Law Director Jason Reese, who had consulted with the board in an executive session before their vote, said the higher salary range puts the position in line with comparable city department leaders, such as the police chief, fire chief and water superintendent, and is intended to make the position more attractive to potential candidates.

Health board member Stephen Hickman opposed the higher salary range for the new health commissioner. He believes the board should have considered the commissioners salary as part of the departmentwide compensation overhaul the board has been discussing for the past three years.

Adams currently earns $77,890 a year. He said Monday that it is unclear whether he will receive a raise due to the new minimum salary for the position, which took effect immediately. Potentially complicating matters is that Adams technically already retired once. In 2017, he retired and returned to work for a salary that was $38,500 less than what he had been earning at the time.

On Wednesday, Rachel Forchione, director of Canton's Civil Service Commission, said she consulted with the city law department and confirmed that Adam's salary will increase due to the new salary structure. He will earn the position's new minimum amount of $84,870 a year, a nearly 9% increase from his current salary.

Adams said updating the department's employee compensation plan is one of his primary goals to complete before he retires. He also would like the departments offices to be remodeled before he leaves. The renovation would allow the department to expand its nursing clinic and improve the security of its entrance. Adams estimates that he has roughly $2 million of the $3.1 million project already secured. But he acknowledges that construction would likely take more than a year.

I dont think I can wait around that long, he said.

Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton City Health Commissioner James Adams plans to retire
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.  Johnson County Community College is hosing a job fair soon, trying to help the 865 workers laid off locally at Yellow Corp.

The trucking company later declared bankruptcy after years of financial struggles and growing debt.

Panasonic makes De Soto footprint even bigger

Democratic Kansas Congresswoman Sharice Davids , Workforce Partnership Executive Director Keely Schneider, and Small Business Development Center Regional Director Jessica Johnson talked to a small group of people at the Regnier Center inside the community college late Thursday morning.

A little over 50 employers I believe are going to be in attendance, Johnson said in an interview with FOX4 Thursday. Then theres going to be workshops and then people on hand to help with resume writing to really kind of bring full circle helping those get reemployed.

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The Yellow Re-Employment Job Fair is scheduled for 1-4 p.m. Sept. 7 at the Small Business Development Center, which is part of JCCC.

1,800 acres of Mormon-owned land up for sale in Lees Summit

AdventHealth, CommunityAmerica Credit Union, Evergy, Overland Park Police, WaterOne, UPS, Titan Technologies, Olathe Public Schools and other employers will be there.

Schneider said the first step a former Yellow worker needs to take after they were laid off is to file for unemployment through the state of Kansas, even if you live in Missouri.

If that business was actually in one of our counties like it was here, if the person lives on the Missouri side, it doesnt matter, Schneider said. We can still serve them.

Workforce Partnership can help people file for unemployment. Schneiders nonprofit can also help people look for work after a business lays people off in Leavenworth, Wyandotte or Johnson counties.

View Kansas City area job postings on FOX4

Sharice Davids was mentioning that there are a lot of people who have been working for Yellow for 20, 30 years, Schneider continued. They may not have had a job search for a really long time, so these new applicant tracking systems, applying online, that may be a very different thing for many people.

Yellow Corp. had a large facility on Roe Avenue, just south of Interstate 435. Its headquarters were there for the better part of 50 years before Yellow moved to Nashville last year.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
Update: Liftoff of Falcon 9 with 22 Starlink satellites at 10:21 p.m. EDT Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. A booster landing aboard a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean followed a short while later. Read our full post-launch story here.

It's another SpaceX Falcon 9 launch day.

SpaceX teams are on track to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with another batch of 22 of the company's Starlink internet satellites.

Liftoff of the Starlink 6-13 mission is tentatively slated for 10:21 p.m. EDT.

If teams need them, there are five additional launch opportunities throughout the four-hour launch window that extends until 11:29 p.m. EDT. Dismal weather conditions at the opening of the launch window are projected to improve gradually throughout the night.

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Follow FLORIDA TODAY's Space Team live launch coverage beginning 90 minutes before liftoff.

If schedules hold, this would become the Space Coast's 45th launch this year.

When is the SpaceX launch tonight:

Liftoff is tentatively set for 10:21 p.m. EDT, with a four-hour launch window on Thursday that extends until 11:29 p.m. EDT. Should teams need it, other launch opportunities are available around the same time, 24 hours later on Friday.

What is the weather outlook for the Falcon 9 launch:

Space Force forecasters last reported weather conditions to be 20% "go" at the opening of the window but should improve to 35% by the end.

"Though showers and storms will be possible at any point, more daytime heating will bring a maximum of activity in the late afternoon, with west-southwest flow focusing any ongoing activity towards the coast into the evening hours," forecasters with the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron said in a report Wednesday.

"Where exactly the boundary sets up along with any other trailing bands behind (Hurricane Idalia) will determine exactly how long showers and storms may be ongoing late Thursday evening and into the primary launch window," forecasters said.

The primary concerns for liftoff during the launch window were listed as a threat of anvil and cumulus clouds that could produce showers and lighting around the spaceport throughout the evening.

Here's everything else you need to know:

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 40 will host.

The payload is the company's next batch of Starlink internet-beaming satellites.

The 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket will follow a southeasterly trajectory threading between Florida and the Bahamas.

Rocket launch schedule: Upcoming Florida launches and landings

'World-class centrifuge': Draper building unique missile-testing facility in Titusville

If it launches on time, it will mark the Space Coast's 45th launch this year.

No local sonic booms with this mission.

The 130-foot first-stage booster will target a drone ship landing about eight minutes after liftoff.

When's the next launch from Florida's Space Coast?

The next Falcon 9 slated for liftoff from Florida will send another batch of Starlink satellites to orbit, but this time from NASA's Kennedy Space Center if schedules hold.

Though the company has yet to confirm its existence, federal filings have liftoff of SpaceX's Starlink 6-12 mission from KSC's pad 39A targeted to happen during a launch window from 7:37 p.m. to 11:37 p.m. EDT on Sunday.

Shortly after liftoff, that mission will also feature another drone ship landing. Space Coast residents shouldn't have any sonic booms to worry about this weekend.

Meanwhile, the launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket set to carry a national security payload will have to wait a while longer for its opportunity for liftoff. Late Monday, ULA returned the rocket back to the protection of the company's vertical integration facility, grounding the NROL-107 mission until sometime after the impacts of Hurricane Idalia.

"We will work with our customer and the range to confirm our next launch attempt, and a new date will be provided once it is safe to launch," ULA released in a statement Monday.

When these missions do launch, follow FLORIDA TODAY's Space Team live launch coverage beginning 90 minutes before liftoff. For the latest schedule updates, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Jamie Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her on X at @AlteredJamie.

Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX launch tonight: Everything to know before liftoff
Fans Are Furious With Martha Stewart For The 'Disrespectful' Cocktail She Made On Vacation

Earlier this week, Martha Stewart took to Instagram with what she thought was an innocent happy hour 'gram while traveling from Iceland to Greenland aboard a Swan Hellenic cruise. "We actually captured a small iceberg for our cocktails tonight," she wrote, alongside a slideshow of photos from the excursion.

However, fans weren't quite as thrilled over the iceberg cocktail as Martha herself. In fact, many called out the television personality for "disturbing" the glaciers.

"Martha the ice caps are melting dont put them in your drink," one user wrote.

"Martha I love ya. But werent you just talking about climate change with your wash out on your driveway in NY?" wrote another user. "Melting icebergs for a cocktail surely wont help. Im not even going to talk about the boat youre on and how that cant be good for climate change either."

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Several supporters came to Stewart's defense, though. "It's not like she's 'shrinking' the glaciers ," one person wrote. "They melt during summer. This block of ice would be water tomorrow anyways ."

Others simply joined the conversation with jokes. "If you cant find fresh icebergs for your cocktails store bought is fine," they added.

Comments were eventually disabled on the Instagram post.

Stewart's slideshow of photos included an up-close and personal look on the glacier expedition, which included snaps of the icebergs in their natural environment...as well as on a bar cart. Though Swan Hellenic did not respond to Delish's request for comment by the time of publication, the company website says that it adheres to "sustainability policies" dictated by local authorities.

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In June 2023, 16 young Montanans filed a constitutional climate lawsuit against the state of Montana, stating they had a right to a clean and healthful environment. The youth allege that the state of Montana, by supporting a fossil fuel-driven energy system that worsens the climate crisis, is violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, to seek safety, health, and happiness, and to individual dignity and equal protection of the law.

Article IX, Section 1 of the Montana state constitution reads, The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations. The young people received guidance from Our Childrens Trust law firm.

On August 14, 2023, a Montana judge agreed. Some say this ruling may have a long-lasting impact on other lawsuits in motion regarding similar constitutional rights in several other states. A similar case will soon be heard in Oregon.

FILE - Youth plaintiffs in the climate change lawsuit, Held vs. Montana, arrive at the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse, on June 20, 2023, in Helena, Mont., for the final day of the trial. A Montana judge on Monday, Aug. 14, sided with young environmental activists who said state agencies were violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by permitting fossil fuel development without considering its effect on the climate. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)

Nobel Peace Prize winner testified about climate change at trial

Steven Running, professor emeritus of ecosystem and conservation sciences at the University of Montana, and Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH, distinguished professor and John P. Holton Chair of Health and the Environment, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and co-winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, were at the June trial in Helena, MT. They are also members of the National Academy of Sciences and Medicine, respectively.

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Running testified about how human-caused climate change is amplifying the hydrologic cycle, whereby wet areas are getting wetter and dry areas are getting drier. Snowpack seasons are shortening resulting in the drying of mountain forests leading to increased intensity and frequency of wildfires, not just in Montana but in many areas of the country. Running described an increasingly dire situation of wildfires getting more severe and more frequent in western North America  causing health impacts across the nation  as heavy fossil fuel use continues to churn out emissions at levels that continue to accelerate global heating.

More: GOP can lead the way on climate change. The Republican debate shouldn't shy away from it.

Along with more severe wildfires, Montana is experiencing more extreme heat days, droughts, flooding, warming of rivers and streams, and declining winter snowpack. The namesake glaciers of Glacier National Park are melting. Specifically, Running noted that Montana air temperatures are rising 0.42degF per decade since 1950, and spring snowmelt is 2 weeks earlier since 1950. And Montana isnt the only state experiencing extreme weather events due to fossil fuel combustion.

One only needs to look at the catastrophic wildfires in Maui that started on August to see whats coming for many areas of the country that have failed to take aggressive action to address climate change impacts. It only takes a spark to start a deadly chain reaction that leads to tragedies like those experienced in Lahaina, Maui. Sadly, Hawaii isnt the only state experiencing the impacts of severe droughts. There are currently wildfires burning thousands of acres in Texas, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. And theres no end in sight unless we fully address the climate crisis.

FILE - Lead plaintiff Rikki Held listens to testimony during a hearing in the climate change lawsuit, Held vs. Montana, at the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse on, June 20, 2023, in Helena, Mont. A Montana judge on Monday, Aug. 14, sided with young environmental activists who said state agencies were violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by permitting fossil fuel development without considering its effect on the climate. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)

Young people already suffering from climate change

Patz observed other testimony at the trial that is important for young and old alike. Psychiatrist Lise Van Susteren testified that there are significant increases in anxiety, depression, despair and a growing feeling of anger and powerlessness among our young people. The mental health impacts are just starting to surface. Imagine the lasting impact that the Maui wildfires will have on generations to come. And there will be many more wildfires that will impact scores of people of all ages if we fail to act.

Pediatrician Lori Byron testified that wildfires, smoke conditions, and extreme temperatures can damage the lungs and brains of children, which are still developing, more than they can those of adults. She also described the emotional impact of experiencing such extreme conditions, testifying that they amount to adverse childhood experiences. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such experiences can have lifetime impact.

So what can we do? Lets start with our governments. Instead of streamlining approvals of new coal-generated power plants, look first to other energy sources. Solar. Wind. Nuclear. Geothermal. All are viable energy sources that will help all states grappling with very real consequences for climate change.

Jonathan Patz, left, and Steve Running.

Then, lets look at our own actions. Are there things we can be doing as individuals to reduce our carbon footprint? There are many things we can do to do our part to reduce the burning of fossil fuels.

Here are a few ideas from the UW-Madison Office of Sustainability.

When the 16 young people in Montana went up against the fossil fuel industry and bureaucracy, some thought it was a publicity stunt. But they prevailed due to the overwhelming climate science experts who have been warning everyone for years about the impacts. We hope the results of this trial can accelerate the political momentum needed to bring about a net-zero carbon emissions and climate stabilized world.

Steven Running is professor emeritus of ecosystem and conservation sciences at the University of Montana. Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH, distinguished professor and John P. Holton Chair of Health and the Environment, University of Wisconsin-Madison. They were co-winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gen Z is already suffering from climate change, harm to environment
(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. has added three executives to Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassys senior leadership team, two from the cloud-computing unit and one who leads the companys robotaxi subsidiary.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Dave Brown, Aicha Evans and Swami Sivasubramanian are joining what Amazon calls the S-team, Jassy said in a note to employees on Friday, which was also posted on the companys corporate blog.

Brown, a vice president with Amazon Web Services, oversees the companys Elastic Compute Cloud, or EC2. That set of services, essentially computing power for rent, is a core engineering group in AWS, the largest cloud-computing provider. He joined Amazon in 2007, among the first employees of an AWS development outpost in South Africa.

Evans has been CEO of self-driving car company Zoox since 2019. Amazon purchased it in 2020. She previously spent more than a decade at Intel Corp.

Sivasubramanian, another AWS vice president, oversees data and machine-learning teams, including those piloting the cloud units work in artificial intelligence. He joined Amazon in 2005, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Each are very strong leaders, play critical roles at the Company and exemplify so many of our leadership principles in how they lead every day, Jassy said.

Jassy added four leaders to the S-team in December.

Dave Limp, Amazons senior vice president of devices and services and an S-team member, recently announced he would be leaving the company, and his replacement has not yet been named.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
ARTS

Auditions for Spartanburg Youth Theatres performance of A Christmas Carol are 5:30  7:30 p.m. Sept. 5 or 6 at Chapman Cultural Center. Auditionees should only audition one of the two nights and may arrive at any time during the 2-hour block. SYT welcomes youth in grade 3  12 to audition. Audition requirements and details are at spartanburgyouththeatre.com/auditions.

Christmas Carol

Display Your Art  The Back Door Art Gallery in Fountain Inn has a kids art wall. Children ages 12 and younger can hang one piece of their art for free for one month. For specifications and contact information, visit backdoorartgallery.com.

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Art Classes for ages 6 and older are offered at A Cut Above Maker Space in Spartanburg. For cost, registration and details, visit acutabovemakerspace.com.

Fall art classes begin in September at GCCA  Greenville Center for Creative Arts. For details, visit artcentergreenville.org.

Voice, piano, and acting private lessons are offered from Kimilee Bryant Studio. For details, email kimileebryantstudio@gmail.com or call 864-280-9150.

South Carolina Childrens Theatre offers classes for grades pre-K  12. For details visit, scchildrenstheatre.org.

Spartanburg Youth Theatre offers classes for grades K4  12. Fall classes begin the week of Sept. 11. For full class listings and to enroll, visit spartanburgyouththeatre.com or call 864-585-8278.

Engage in music at the Lawson Academy of the Arts  Private lessons and group classes are offered for musicians of all ages and levels with instruction from Converse University professors and student-teachers. Learn to play piano or enroll in an ensemble. For details, call 864-596-9022.

Arts programs are at TR Makers. Programs include homeschool classes, Afterschool Makers Elementary (grades K5  5), Afterschool Art School (grades 2  6), and more. For cost and registration, visit trmakersco.org.

Music Adventure Classes are at 10 a.m. Mondays at Swamp Rabbit Cafe. Classes are geared for pre-K  K but all ages are welcome. The cost is $15 per class ($5 for each additional sibling) and includes a coffee and pastry. For details and registration, visit @musicadventure on Instagram or email musicadventureforkids@gmail.com.

FAMILY FUN, LEARNING, AND MORE

Registration is open for Hub City Robotics Club. Classes for ages 5  10 are the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month from September 2023  April 2024 at the Spartanburg Science Center. Visit spartanburgsciencecenter.org.

Roller Time Skating Academy offers fall group lessons beginning Sept. 11 at Roller Time Family Skate Center in Piedmont. For details, visit instagram.com/rollertimeacademy.

Denver Downs Fall Festival is Thursdays  Sundays Sept. 23  Nov. 12 at Denver Downs Farm. For details, visit www.denverdownsfarm.com.

Well Walkers is offered Tuesdays and Thursdays in September, except Sept. 21, at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The arena concourse will be open from 9 a.m.  1 p.m. for anyone who wants to have a temperature-controlled space to exercise. Each loop around the concourse is a quarter mile. Well Walkers is a free event with no registration or prior notice required. Free parking for participants is provided in the VIP lot at the arena, located off Church Street. For details, visit bonsecoursarena.com.

Well Walkers

Very Eric Carle: A Very Hungry, Quiet, Lonely, Clumsy, Busy Exhibit is open through Sept. 10 at the Upcountry History Museum. At this play-and-learn exhibit, visitors step into the pages of author and illustrator Eric Carles colorful picture books and experience them as artist and reader, while discovering and playing with five special insects from his well-known childrens books. For details, visit upcountryhistory.org.

Free admission for military  The Upcountry History Museum  Greenville County has joined museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums program, a collaboration that provides free admission to the nations active-duty military personnel and their families to museums throughout the summer. The program runs through Sept. 4. Find the list of participating museums at arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. For details, visit upcountryhistory.org.

The Book Nook is open at TCMU-Greenville. This whimsical space transports young readers into a fantastic magical forest, complete with tree-like bookshelves, reading nooks and an imaginary fireplace. The space houses a large assortment of books of varying age levels, languages and themes, allowing children to read independently or with their caregivers. It is a cozy spot to curl up with a good book. For details, visit tcmupstate.org.

Parents  The Music of Dirty Dancing is Sept. 8  24 at Flat Rock Playhouses Leiman Mainstage. Tickets are $52  $72 each. Student prices are available for ages 18 and younger. For details, call 828-693-0731 or visit flatrockplayhouse.org. Flat Rock Playhouse Leiman Mainstage is located at 2661 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock, North Carolina.

Italian Renaissance Alive is open at Biltmore Estate. The multi-sensory experience immerses guests in the beauty and brilliance of the greatest artistic period in history as it comes to life all around you. Large-scale projections with 360-degree views set to a powerful operatic score tell the story of artists and the time periods within which they lived. Italian Renaissance Alive features Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, Caravaggio and more. It continues through Jan. 7, 2024. For details and ticket information, visit biltmore.com/things-to-do/events/italian-renaissance-alive. Children ages 16 and younger are admitted free to Biltmore through Sept. 4 with an accompanying ticketed adult. This applies to two ticket types: the House & Grounds ticket and the House, Italian Renaissance Exhibition and 2-day Grounds ticket. For ticket options, visit biltmore.com/landing/ticket-options-for-summer.

Little Learners Club, available from the Greenville County Library System, is designed especially for children under age 5 to encourage the development of kindergarten readiness skills using the Palmetto Basics. Details are at greenvillelibrary.org/kids/little-learners-club.

Free Books  Greenville First Steps has launched a pilot of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in Greenville County. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is an early literacy program that mails free age-appropriate books each month to registered children from birth to age 5. Currently in Greenville County, children in 29690, 29611, and 29669can sign up for Imagination Library. Registration is available at ImaginationLibrary.com.

Story Time is at 10 a.m. Thursdays at Barnes and Noble at Greenridge. For details, visit stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2221.

Family Story Time for ages birth  5 is Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. at the Pendleton and Lander Memorial Libraries, Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. at the Powdersville Library, and Thursdays and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. at the Anderson Main Library. Visit andersonlibrary.org.

Preschool and Toddler Story Times are offered at Spartanburg Library locations. For details, visit spartanburglibraries.org.

Preschool Story Time for ages 3  5 is at 9:15 and 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays at the Anderson Main Library. Visit andersonlibrary.org.

Toddler Storytime for ages 18  36 months is at 9:15 and 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays at the Anderson Main Library. Visit andersonlibrary.org.

Preschool Storytimes for ages 2  5 are offered at the Pickens County Library. Call 864-850-7077 or visit pickenscountylibrarysystem.com.

STRIDES Systematic Tutoring, a nonprofit program, offers individualized tutoring for ages 6  20. instruction is available. In-person tutoring is available at seven locations across the Upstate or virtually with a smart phone, tablet or desk top computer. Scholarships are available. For details, call 864-246-9898 or stridestutor.org.

PARENTS

MOMS Club of Spartanburg and MOMS Club of Spartanburg-North offer support for all moms in the area. The groups have regular park plays, library visits, potlucks, mom crafts, kid crafts, book club, Moms Night Out, community service projects, seasonal activities and more. For more information email, momsclubofspartanburg@gmail.com or northspartanburgmoms@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: More for September  Arts, family fun, learning and more
Over half of Pueblo's current city councilors are running for mayor.

Councilor Lori Winner, who ran for mayor in 2018 and is not seeking an additional term for her at-large seat on council, is introducing an ordinance Monday that could prohibit that in future years.

If city council opts to place the ordinance on the November ballot and a majority of Pueblo voters approve amending the city charter, elected city officials would be required to resign from their position in order to run for another local, state or federal office.

The ordinance has a tight timeline to pass through council and amendments will be necessary at Monday's city council meeting to meet election deadlines in Colorado law.

Pueblo City Hall located at 1 City Hall Place.

Why Winner wants to introduce the ordinance

Winner was not on city council when she ran for mayor in 2018  but three city councilors were actively seeking to run Pueblos city government at the time.

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Two of those councilors, Dennis Flores and Larry Atencio, are also currently on city council and are running for mayor again. Council President Heather Graham and Councilor Regina Maestri, both of whom were first elected to council in 2021, are also running this year.

Winner told the Chieftain that having multiple councilors running for mayor heightens the political atmosphere in council chambers.

The current group of city councilors are distracted part-timers, Winner said.

Theyre trying to oversee this multifaceted city government and it doesnt work, Winner said. You need to either have a city manager thats keeping the cohesive team together, or you need all these politicians to settle down and work with the mayor  and the mayor needs to be willing to work with them as well and not be a bully.

Pueblo City Councilwoman Lori Winner speaks during a council meeting in December of 2022.

Pueblo city councilors are only compensated for some part-time work. Councilor Vicente Martinez Ortega sponsored an ordinance earlier this year to boost council pay for the first time in over two decades, but it was defeated in a 3-3 vote in April.

What would really be a great fix, Winner said, is if city and county government merged and a total of seven county-wide officials were elected and paid for full-time work.

The Chieftain reported in 2018 that Winner supported the idea of a resign-to-run law, but she was not on council at the time. Winner could have run for an additional term in 2017 for an at-large seat, but she opted not to because she was campaigning for the 2A ballot question that raised sales taxes to fund public safety measures.

Winner also opposed the recent extension of the public safety sales tax in November 2022, partially because she felt the city wasnt spending the money effectively.

Why Winners ordinance will face opposition

Flores told the Chieftain that hes planning on voting against Winners ordinance. He opposed the idea in 2018 and still does.

You dont want to dissuade good people from running if thats their passion and they shouldnt lose their existing seat, Flores said.

Dennis Flores announces his candidacy for mayor of Pueblo on the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo Veterans Bridge on Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Pueblo, Colo.

Flores said its unusual to have so many people on council running for mayor at the same time, but it doesnt mean that people cant do both jobs effectively.

He said that he puts a concerted effort into separating campaigning and his work as a city councilor, but the conversations he has with constituents while campaigning help inform his work on city council.

Graham told the Chieftain that Winners ordinance is rushed and she doesnt think that it makes sense. She noted that having experience in some city offices makes people more informed and qualified for other governmental positions.

Although the ordinance wouldnt be effective until after this election cycle, Graham said that city government wouldnt be able to function if four councilors would have been forced to resign because there wouldnt be a quorum.

Pueblo City Council President Heather Graham addresses supporters at her mayoral campaign kickoff at Brues Alehouse on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022.

Even though over half of councilors are running for mayor  Graham was the first to file with the city clerks office last year and the other councilors filed in recent months  Graham said that council has already been political for years.

She said that she makes a concerted effort to not mention her mayoral campaign during council commentary, but noted that other councilors are free to discuss whatever they want.

Winner said that shes introducing the ordinance at this time because she was previously occupied with working on the charter amendment to abolish the mayors office and have a city manager again. That amendment ultimately failed. She said that a resign-to-run rule would make aspiring or current career politicians reconsider running for mayor because they would have to think about it more before committing to the race.

If they were to resign to run, and they lost  which they will  its basically political suicide because they would have to wait for another city council position to be open, or theyd have to wait four years for the mayor position to be open again, Winner said.

Mayor Nick Gradisar, who's seeking an additional term as Pueblos first mayor in recent memory, told the Chieftain that its pretty weird theres four councilors running against him this year.

He said that the resign-to-run concept isnt a bad idea but said the ordinance is being introduced at the last minute and doubts that enough councilors will support it.

Mayor Nick Gradisar speaks to supporters during a formal announcement of his reelection bid for mayor at Zaragoza Hall on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.

How the ordinance would have to pass

Most ordinances Pueblo City Council considers require two readings at publicly-noticed meetings. The first reading of ordinances is usually included in the consent agenda, but councilors can pull individual items to discuss.

The resign-to-run ordinance is scheduled for a first reading on Mondays city council agenda.

Recently confirmed city attorney George Hypolite referred questions to city spokesperson Haley Sue Robinson, who said that council could vote to pull the ordinance from the consent agenda and amend it to be an emergency ordinance, but thats the only way the ordinance would be able to make this year's ballot.

The next regular city council meeting is scheduled for Sept. 11, but the deadline for Colorado county clerks to finalize ballot content is Sept. 8.

If a majority of councilors refer it to the ballot and city voters approve it in November, the measure would not be effective until January 2024.

A few other states have resign-to-run laws

Five U.S. states and several cities have laws that require public officials not seeking re-election to resign from their current positions if they want to run for another office.

Colorado Springs does not require candidates for mayor to resign before running, according to city spokesperson Vanessa Zink. However, the Colorado Springs city charter states that someone running for office needs to vacate their office after running for election, regardless of if they win the new office or not.

Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Texas and Florida require elected officials to resign from office before seeking most other positions. Floridas Republican-run legislature recently passed a new law changing the requirement that carved out a loophole for Gov. Ron DeSantis to seek the Republican nomination for president.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo council to discuss proposal requiring legislators to 'resign to run'
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will block the final declaration of this month's G20 summit unless it reflects Moscow's position on Ukraine and other crises, leaving participants to issue a non-binding or partial communique, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

Lavrov, who has served as President Vladimir Putin 's foreign minister since 2004, is due to represent Russia at the Sept. 9-10 meeting of the Group of 20 leading industrialised and developing countries in New Delhi.

Putin is not known to have travelled abroad since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March on suspicion of war crimes in Ukraine.

"There will be no general declaration on behalf of all members if our position is not reflected," Lavrov told students at the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

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The Kremlin casts the Ukraine war, which began when Russia invaded in February 2022, as an existential battle with an arrogant West that Putin says wants to dismantle Russia and take control of its vast natural resources.

The West denies any such intentions but says it wants Ukraine to defeat Russia on the battlefield and has imposed several rounds of sweeping economic sanctions in response to the invasion, which Russia calls a "special military operation".

Other leading powers such as China, India and Brazil have called for peace but also reserved the right to determine their own relationship with Moscow. China has accused the West of fanning the war by supplying Ukraine with weapons.

Lavrov said the West had raised Ukraine in meetings preparing for the summit, to which Russia had replied that "the issue is closed for us".

He accused the West of undermining international institutions by pushing its own agenda and suggested that, if consensus could not be reached at the G20 meeting, a non-binding communique could be issued by the G20 presidency.

"Another option is to adopt a document that focuses on specific decisions in the sphere of G20 competences, and let everyone say the rest on their own behalf," Lavrov said.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Felix Light; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Massive Turnout: More than 1.4 million Singaporeans cast their votes today, in accordance with the noon turnout update released by the Elections Department (ELD). (PHOTO: Yahoo Southeast Asia)

SINGAPORE  Over 1.4 million Singaporeans exercised their voting rights by noon on Friday (1 September), as the city-state begins choosing its ninth President from three candidates.

The Elections Department (ELD) announced in a noon update a turnout of 1,406,182, or about 52 per cent of eligible voters, with 1,264 polling stations across the island facilitating the election process.

There were long queues at some of the stations during the start of the polling process at 8am in the morning. For instance, the polling station at the Block 63 Lorong 5 Toa Payoh pavilion saw around 40 people queueing.

ELD said the queue situations have since improved at most polling stations, after it advised Singaporeans to cast their votes throughout the day, instead of joining the morning queues.

From swift process to senior concerns

James Soh, a resident of Toa Payoh Block 62, told Yahoo Southeast Asia that the morning voting experience was relatively swift for him. "I went in the morning because I was intending to go to Malaysia after that," he said.

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Another resident named Dennis expressed concern for the senior citizens' struggles during voting. He said, "There probably needs to be more chairs for the elderly folks living here. For those who are less mobile, the lines can be quite extensive.

"Some elderly individuals above the age of 60 are finding it tough and voicing complaints due to the lengthy queues."

Foo Kum Seng, 83, described the queue as "very long", and felt fatigued as he stood in line with a helper. "I waited for so long, standing up. Nobody gave me a chair, and I had to line up for so long," he said.

Other voters such as 70-year-old Shamla appreciated the presence of volunteers providing support to the seniors.

In the electoral proceedings, certain voters, such as 70-year-old Shamla, noted the efficiency of the process, highlighting the valuable assistance offered by volunteers to elderly individuals. (PHOTO: Yahoo Southeast Asia)

Technical glitches in e-registration system

The Straits Times reported technical glitches with the e-registration system at certain polling stations, including Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School, Block 9 Toh Yi Drive, and the Ministry of Education headquarters in Balestier.

ELD said the technical issues are "progressively being resolved", without offering further details.

Several prominent figures voted at different polling stations across Singapore, according to local media reports. Outgoing President Halimah Yacob arrived to vote at the polling station at Chung Cheng High School (Main) with her husband Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee around 8.15am.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching also cast their votes at Crescent Girls' School in Tanglin at 9.25am.

Around 9.15 am, presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian and his wife Tay Siew Hong arrived at the polling station at Anderson Serangoon Junior College. The former NTUC Income chief was also accompanied by his son and daughter.

Another candidate, former GIC investment chief Ng Kok Song, arrived at Katong Community Centre's polling station at about 10am. Accompanying him was his fiancee Sybil Lau, who had cast her vote at Cairnhill Community Club.

Singaporeans in Hong Kong urged to stay safe and cast early votes

Singaporeans residing in Hong Kong can still vote at the territory's overseas polling station on Friday, despite the approaching Super Typhoon Saola.

ELD has however advised them to stay updated with local authorities' advice before venturing outside.

Should these Singaporeans choose not to vote due to the impending typhoon, they can contact ELD to have their names reinstated in the Registers of Electors. Once their names are restored, they can participate in future elections if they meet the eligibility criteria.

At 2.40am on Friday, Hong Kong raised its No. 8 storm warning for Super Typhoon Saola, which is generating winds of 205kmh.

Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.

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NEPTUNE - The Ocean Grove beach is closed on Sunday mornings. According to the state, it's not supposed to be. But the private group that owns the land in Ocean Grove has not backed down, and the state has yet to do anything about it.

In August, the state Department of Environmental Protection issued a warning to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association stating it cannot limit access to its beaches on Sunday mornings, which the group says it does as a "quality-of-life-benefit" to the community.

But the association has continued to do so, prompting a group of residents to show up, beach chairs in hand, anyway. Now there are counter protestors too, though even the term "protest" is up for dispute.

"We have never protested. The people who you see on the beach, on Sundays before 12 p.m., are merely there to enjoy the beach with their friends and family as they are allowed to do under the law," said Shane Martins, a founder of local activist group Neptune United. "Enjoying the beach is not a protest, it is not an act of protest, it is not actively protesting. We are not breaking a rule, we are not shouting. Nothing."

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It's something of a stand off. The state hasn't taken any action. The association, which owns the boardwalk, isn't backing down. Labor Day looms.

How this started: NJ to Ocean Grove: You must open Sunday morning access to your beach. Ocean Grove: Nope

Michael Badger, president of the camp meeting association, said he responded to the DEP's warning and told the Asbury Park Press that the DEP has not issued a notice of violation or any fines. In any event, after this weekend, the Sunday morning closure goes away until Sunday of Memorial Day weekend next year.

"This Sunday, Labor Day Weekend, is the last operational Sunday of the 2023 season," Badger said. "We have not heard from them (the DEP). There have been no new letters written."

The state Department of Environmental Protections Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement sent the warning letter to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association informing it that the Sunday morning closures of the beach violates state regulations regarding beach access to sand and surf.

The warning letter states that the association cannot limit vertical or horizontal public access to any dry sand beach area under its permits with the department.

But on Sunday mornings this summer, the public has been barred access from the boardwalk to the beach in Ocean Grove, which is owned by the camp meeting association, until noon. Chains are used to keep the public from accessing the beach. A compliance check was done on Aug. 7, according to the letter.

'The Jesus business': Spring Lake Heights religious gift store rose from owner's faith

'God's Square Mile'

The association founded and owns the unincorporated community, located within Neptune Township. It was created in 1869 by Methodist clergymen and is noted for its Victorian-style homes and the Great Auditorium, which frequently attracts religious gatherings. It is commonly known by the nickname "God's Square Mile."

All the land in Ocean Grove is owned by the association except for the streets. Many (but not all) homeowners actually lease the land on which their homes sit. In the past, the association had police powers like any other municipality, forbidding vehicular traffic on Sundays, but a 1979 state Supreme Court decision changed that.

In regard to protests, Badger said "it would be better for everyone if this was allowed to be worked through the appropriate channels. The protests and counter protests on the boardwalk and beach don't build a constructive recreational environment that the people coming to Ocean Grove and the people who live in Ocean Grove hope to have.

"This process will be worked out and I am asking people to be patient," Badger said.

More on the fight: Religious symbolism on Ocean Grove beach badges challenged by locals

Martins, one of the founders of Neptune United, described a scene from the final Sunday in August where supporters of the association were counter protesting those Sunday morning beachgoers and police had to separate them.

"Neptune's slogan is 'Where Community, Business and Tourism Prosper.' The only tourism is Ocean Grove. Do you know how many families got there, saw these crazy people with signs screaming the Ten Commandments, literally (written) in red saying 'you're evil'? They're not bringing their kids on the beach. How is that welcoming?" Martins said.

He said two weeks ago, members of Neptune United encountered a family of 20 from Newark.

"They went (to Ocean Grove beach) from Newark to watch the sunrise, they had a two-week-old baby, they got there at 6 a.m. to watch the sunrise, at 8 a.m. someone kicked them off the beach, in their words saying it was 'church property and they weren't welcome until noon," Martins said. "I found them sitting on the boardwalk at 10 am.  because obviously they couldn't afford to buy another 20 daily beach passes to Asbury. Howe is the township okay with this behavior towards tourism?"

Business in town: Ocean Grove Trading keeps your clothes stylish for the Jersey Shore life

'We will be there'

Aliza Greenblatt who has lived in Ocean Grove with her husband since 2003 and has been going to the beach before noon on Sundays, said "we go out of our way to not make a scene near the pavilion" where Sunday services are held.

"We are very respectful, as we are as people, we are very respectful of the beach no matter what the time," Greenblatt said.

Greenblatt said they will continue to enjoy the beach.

"Until it starts snowing, or whenever. We will be there," she said.

Neptune United claims the association's actions violate all types of compliance on state and federal levels and their Green Acres tax exempt status should be revoked.

"(The association) does not care about diversity, they've dug their heels in and will not change anything. They're intransigent," Greenblatt said.

Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. @CharlesDayeAPP Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Beach closures standoff between residents, Ocean Grove Camp grows
[Source]

A lucky Thai factory security guard won the lottery after successfully fighting off a python that attacked him in his sleep.

What happened: Recounting the mind-blowing series of events to Thai media on Aug. 23, Sarayut Malachan, 68, said he managed to fend off the python after being bitten in the foot.

Seeking revenge: Malachan said the python was out for revenge since a few workers from the factory destroyed a tamarind tree, which was the snake's home, before the attack. Malachan and the workers found 10 eggs at the site, and the former claimed them and cooked them.

How he did it: Malachan, who claimed to have owned several snakes as pets in the past, told the media that he bit the snakes tail to save himself.

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"If I didn't fight, I'd be dead," he said. "I could barely breath. Since a python's weakness is its tail, just bite at it. I grabbed its tail and bit, and it let me go."

His luck continues: Shortly after saving his own life, the security guard discovered he had also won a local lottery. He had previously purchased 10 tickets for the Aug. 16 draw and ended up winning 3 million Thai baht (approximately $85,670).

Not the first time: Malachan shared that he has already won the lottery in the past. He is reportedly planning on doing good deeds to increase his chances of winning a local lottery on Friday.

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Three years ago, I wrote these words:

"If you are, or were, the owner of an iPhone 6 or and iPhone 7 (in any of their various iterations), and were running the operating system of 10.2.1 or later (which you likely were) ...

"...AND you were doing all this before Dec. 21, 2017...

"Have you jumped through all those hoops yet? Well Apple Inc. has some money for you."

There was another condition to getting what was, at the time, an estimated $25 from Apple. Applicants had to provide the serial number to the telephone(s) they owned.

And that 2020 article also cautioned that the settlement check soon would be forthcoming "in the absence of an appeal."

Which, of course, there was.

But now that appeal is over; there are no more appeals remaining. The checks will soon be on their way, and they may be for as much as "up to $90."

"Up to" being the operative phrase.

This long timeline started in early 2018, when 60 lawsuits were compressed into one class-action suit. Apple had come out with a new, robust operating system for the iPhones, and to make the batteries in the phones last longer, the company slowed down the speed of the phones. "Throttled" them, in terms of the class-action suit.

The problem was, the company didn't tell owners what was happening. And when "Batterygate" started to draw national attention, Apple said the problem could be corrected by simply upgrading the phone's battery. It was not being done so customers had to buy a new phone.

Nonetheless, Apple apologized while denying any wrongdoing and agreed to pay between $300 million and $500 million to end users.

Lonnie Brown

The "up to $90" depends on how many of the 3.3 million applications for refunds meet the requirements, an attorney representing the class-action side told reporters. The average payout will probably be closer to $60, the attorney said.

The $60 figure is after court costs and attorneys' fees have been taken out of the total settlement. According to the iDropNews website, "around $93 million of the total will be going to the lawyers as 'reasonable attorneys fees' for their work on the case.

Story continues

Thanks to the EU It might get easier to change your cellphone battery | Gadget Daddy

"To be fair, a consolidated class-action lawsuit likely has more than a few law firms and lawyers involved, but its still a lot of money."

The article added: "As usual, its the lawyers who are the real winners here."

At least the checks, as they say, are in the mail.

Lonnie Brown can be reached at LedgerDatabase@aol.com.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: As Apple 'Batterygate' class-action ends, checks could be in the mail
The driver of a tractor trailer who caused serious traffic backups when he struck an overpass on the Thruway Thursday received multiple tickets for his actions, state police reported Friday.

State police said the driver of the tractor trailer, who hailed from Hollywood, Florida, was driving south when the large steel tower he was transporting struck the South Broadway overpass in the village of South Nyack, causing significant structural damage.

According to police, the clearance for the overpass is 14 feet, one inch, while the tractor trailer and its load were determined to be oversized in height, measuring 17 feet, 6 inches.

A tractor trailer accident slows traffic on the New York State Thruway in South Nyack on Thursday, August 31, 2023. The So. Broadway overpass was closed due to the truck hitting the base of the overpass.

The driver of the tractor trailer, who was taken to Nyack Hospital for evaluation, was driving for the San Trans Inc. company out of Bartlett, Illinois, and did not have a permit to transport the oversized load on the Thruway. Police said he was issued multiple tickets for violating Thruway rules and regulations.

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The crash happened at 6:45 a.m. and caused significant traffic delays on the Thruway and other nearby roads while emergency bridge repairs were made. All lanes on the Thruway were reopened by 7 p.m. Thursday. The South Broadway bridge will remain closed until it undergoes a full inspection, according to the New York State Thruway Authority.

State police said the maximum allowable height on the Thruway is 13 feet, 6 inches, and that limit is strictly enforced.

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Mario Cuomo Bridge approach backups were caused by tall tractor, load
Donald Trump has moved to sever Georgia case from the defendants seeking a speedy trial, arguing that it would violate his right to a fair process.

President Trump moves the Court to sever his case from those of his co-defendants who have demanded a speedy trial ... and who have a scheduled trial date of October 23, 2023, lawyer Steven Sadow wrote in a filing on Thursday.

The filing states that the timeline wouldnt allow for the counsel to have sufficient time to prepare President Trumps case.

Requiring less than two months preparation time to defend a 98-page indictment, charging 19 defendants, with 41 various charges including a RICO conspiracy charge with 161 Overt Acts, Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, False Statements and Writings, Forgery, Influencing Witnesses, Computer Crimes, Conspiracy to Defraud the State, and other offenses would violate President Trumps federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law, Mr Sadow adds.

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Mr Trumps motion comes after two of his codefendants in the election subversion case have asked the judge to sever their trials from the rest of the accused  including the former president.

Lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro have both requested speedy trials in the case.

On Wednesday, they each formally requested that their cases be separated from the wider indictment, something that  if granted  would prevent Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from holding one trial for all 19 defendants at once.

DA Willis previously revealed her plans to hold one trial for all the accused this October.

In requesting speedy trials, Georgia state law now requires Ms Powell and Mr Chesebros trials to begin before early November. Judge Scott McAfee has already ordered Mr Chesebros trial to start on 23 October, while Ms Powells request is pending.

Mr Trump is against such a hasty timeline, employing his longtime legal tactic of attempting to slow things down and drag out the process until after the 2024 election.

But now, if the cases are severed, this could lead to delays in a wider trial for the remaining defendants, including Mr Trump.

The requests from Ms Powell and Mr Chesebro mark the first attempts from the defendants to try to break up the massive case into smaller individual trials. Their respective motions were filed on Wednesday as the defendants and the prosecution work to set the framework for the process.

Ms Powell and Mr Chesebro both deny all wrongdoing in the case.

In her filing, lawyers for Ms Powell said that she did not represent President Trump or the Trump campaign in connection to the 2020 election and didnt have an engagement agreement with Mr Trump or his campaign.

She appears on no pleadings for Trump or the Campaign, the lawyers wrote. She appeared in no courtrooms or hearings for Trump or the Campaign. She had no contact with most of her purported conspirators and rarely agreed with those she knew or spoke with.

Her insistence comes despite Mr Trump saying in the middle of November 2020, shortly after he lost the election, that he had added Ms Powell to his great team of attorneys working on legal challenges to the election results.

When Ms Powell subsequently shared bizarre conspiracy theories that millions of votes had been flipped in an international plot to take down Mr Trump, his campaign removed her from the legal team and announced that she was practising law on her own.

Now, her lawyers have also tried to distance herself from the other attorneys charged in the Georgia case, saying that she went her own way following the 2020 election and that many of her purported coconspirators publicly shunned and disparaged Ms Powell beginning in November 2020.

The filing also argued that her legal career had shown her adherence to integrity and the rule of law while pushing the baseless claim amplified by many on the right that retired General Michael Flynn was the subject of charges completely concocted against him by a politicized FBI.

Also on Wednesday, Mr Chesebros lawyers requested that the judge push Ms Willis to disclose the names of the 30 unindicted co-conspirators included in the indictment. Mr Chesebro was behind Mr Trumps plan to put forward fake electors to win the electoral college and he argued that he needs the identities of the individuals in order to prepare his defence in the case.

On Wednesday morning, Ms Willis filed a motion requesting that Judge McAfee advise the defendants in the case of the consequences of requesting a speedy trial, noting the demands on their procedural and evidentiary rights.

By filing their speedy trial demands in this case, the Defendants have personally, willfully and deliberately narrowed numerous options that would otherwise be available to them under Georgia law, the filing states.
SAN ANTONIO (Border Report)  A two-day binational conference began on Wednesday with leaders from the United States and Mexico earmarking future projects to spur economic development on the border, and trying to solve a water crisis that is plaguing both countries.

About 200 people attended the NADBank Summit 2023 hosted by the North American Development Bank  a bank that is owned by both the U.S. and Mexico. It finances green projects for economic development in communities on both sides of the Southwest border.

Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Esteban Moctezuma gave the opening keynote address and said both countries must collaborate as a region to promote industry and more jobs.

Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Esteban Moctezuma was the keynote speaker Aug. 30 at the NADBank Summit 2023 in San Antonio, Texas. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)

Trade and integration supports millions of jobs and supports social development on both sides of the border, but trade has not only an economic impact but a social and cultural effect, also, he said.

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But he said trade and development cannot occur if border communities do not have enough water to meet industry and residential needs. And he stressed that both countries must work together to solve this water crisis that has been worsening with the past two years of drought.

Water management will become a central pillar for our bilateral collaboration to ensure that the borders potential may provide opportunities for all, Moctezuma said.

It was a common theme heard throughout Day 1 of this two-day conference, which brought mayors of U.S. and Mexican cities, as well as investors, capitalists and federal and state officials.

U.S. International Boundary and Water Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner spoke on a panel with her Mexican counterpart, Comisionada Adriana Resendez Maldonado.

U.S. International Boundary and Water Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner, right, spoke on a panel with her Mexican counterpart, Comisionada Adriana Resendez Maldonado at the NADBank Summit 2023 in San Antonio, Texas. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)

Giner told the conference that Mexico currently owes the United States nearly 600,000 acre-feet of water from its tributaries that feed into the Rio Grande. Thats nearly two years worth of water allotments that Mexico is supposed to pay the United States.

The water allotments are owed in five-year installments, and so Mexico has time to make it up, according to the 1944 International Water Treaty. But as both countries are in the third year of this current cycle, she said its causing concern, especially among South Texas farmers, industries and community leaders.

Irrigators are starting to get very nervous again. Not only because of the impact to the irrigation industry in South Texas, which is a $1.2 billion industry, but also because they wont have the push water that is necessary to get water to the community, Giner said.

Resendez said Mexico is working to quickly repay the back-owed water and has implemented conservation efforts. They also are working with the U.S. side, and investors and looking into technologies that could increase water production in the future.

We are committed as a commission for our people and for our border to solve these issues, she said in Spanish.

The Rio Grande reached its lowest levels as drought conditions hit Zapata, Texas, on July 28, 2022. (Sandra Sanchez/Border report file Photo)

Giner said during the 2022 drought, the two dams in South Texas Amistad and Falcon  reached record lows. Amistad was at 25% capacity, and Falcon at 9%. But welcomed rains in August replenished reservoirs and tributaries and allowed the country to make a significant water payment.

But she said: Right now in Year 3, we still have only received about 39% of the water delivery.

NADBank is financing several water-related projects along the border, including an $81 million renovation of a sewage plant located on the Rio Grande in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, which has had broken pipes and spewed pollution for years in an area across from Zacate Creek, in Laredo, Texas.

Binational bank promotes green projects on U.S.-Mexico border

About $8 million in federal, state and local funds have been appropriated to renovate Zacate Creek and officials tell Border Report that fixing the plant on the other side of the river is important to drawing more visitors to enjoy the trails and birding facilities that will be put in on the U.S. side.

Binational funds to improve Zacate Creek border area

Patricia Hernandez, director general of Mexicos Asociacion Nacional de Entidades de Agua y Saneamiento (ANEAS) said currently there are more than 400 water-related projects totaling $650 million that need to be completed to meet the countrys water needs along the border.

Brooke Paup is chairwoman of the Texas Water Development Board (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)

Brooke Paup, chairwoman of the Texas Water Development Board, said her board will be traveling to the South Texas border town of Harlingen on Sept. 14 to see first-hand the water needs of the region.

Her state agency provides state funds for infrastructure lending throughout the state of Texas.

They will be hosting a board meeting at Harlingen City Hall in the morning, she said because we know that South Texas is the home of our food and our fiber and the water needs are very intense down in the area.

We are looking at every tool in the toolbox when it comes to water management strategies, she said.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
PENNSAUKEN - A Washington Township man was driving under the influence at the time of an accident here that killed one person and injured two others, police say.

Michael Tucker, 30, is charged in connection with a multi-vehicle accident that killed Angel Caraballo Sr., 76, of Camden, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

The crash occurred on Route 130 at Drexel Avenue in Pennsauken around 12:55 p.m. on Aug. 8, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Fatal crashes in four area towns Traffic accidents take deadly toll on South Jersey highways

Three of the crash victims, including one who had to be extricated from a vehicle, were taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

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Caraballo, who died at Cooper, was the father of three, a grandfather and a great-grandfather, an obituary said..

"Angel loved playing music and was extremely skilled at playing the guitar and the cuatro," it noted.

A cuatro is a small guitar popular in Caraballo's native Puerto Rico.

Tucker also was taken to a hospital for treatment after the crash. He currently is in Camden County Jail.

Tucker initially was charged with three counts of assault by auto. One charge was upgraded to death by auto after toxicology results on Aug. 24 showed Tucker's blood alcohol concentration had been above the legal limit.

The charges against Tucker are only allegations. He has not been convicted in the case.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Prosecutor's Detective Samuel Funches at 856-397-4000 and Pennsauken Police Officer Charles Brewer at 856-488-0080.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: jwalsh@cpsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Pennsauken traffic accident takes the life of Angel Caraballo Sr.
The White House on Thursday urged Congress to pass a short-term spending bill to avert a government shutdown and fund key programs as lawmakers inch closer to a Sept. 30 deadline.

Although the crucial work continues to reach a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills, it is clear that a short-term continuing resolution (CR) will be needed next month, a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement to The Hill.

As part of our responsibility to prudently plan for a short-term CR, OMB is providing Congress with technical assistance needed to avoid severe disruptions to government services in the first quarter of the fiscal year, the spokesperson added.

The Washington Post first reported that among the new funding requests made by the Biden administration are an additional $1.4 billion to fund nutritional aid programs for low-income families, as well as $1.9 billion for the Office of Refugee Resettlement to handle thousands of new arrivals from Haiti and Cuba.

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The administration is also asking Congress to let federal agencies spend more quickly to prepare for pandemics, process student loan applications and payments and review Social Security claims.

We urge Congress to include these anomalies along with the critical emergency supplemental needs the Administration transmitted earlier this month in any forthcoming CR, as they have done on a bipartisan basis many times in the past, the OMB spokesperson said.

Thursdays request is in addition to a roughly $40 billion supplemental spending request the White House sent to Congress earlier this month, which included $24 billion in military, financial and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.

The previous funding request also included a request for $12 billion in supplemental funds to ensure the Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough money to respond to natural disasters, as well as to handle future disasters. That figure has become even more pressing as the agency responds to wildfires in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia in Florida.

Congress must pass a funding bill before the end of September to avoid a government shutdown. The process could be painful once lawmakers return after Labor Day, with some House conservatives expressing an openness to a shutdown if Democrats do not agree to spending cuts.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is asking House Republicans to help him pass a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government beyond Sept. 30 as both chambers slog through the government funding process.

The House has cleared just one of 12 regular appropriations bills, while the Senate has not gotten any past the finish line. The House will be in session for just 11 legislative days until the end of fiscal 2023.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
[Source]

Broadway star Zachary Noah Piser has withdrawn from the leading role in the musical Tiananmen: A New Musical, just weeks before its debut in Phoenix, Arizona.

Pisers withdrawal announcement: The Chinese American actor took to Instagram to announce his withdrawal last Friday without offering any explanations. The announcement came as the actor was reportedly on a concert tour in China.

I have withdrawn from the musical Tiananmen, Piser wrote in a brief signed statement.

Speculations about Pisers decision: Although Pisers manager Dave Brenner told CNN that creative difference caused the actor to quit the Tiananmen musical, it is speculated that pressure from Chinese authorities might have played a role.

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More from NextShark: Charlotte man hurls death threat, racial slurs at Asian Market employees after being caught stealing

Wuer Kaixi, a protest leader who worked on the musical as a conceiver and creative consultant, believes the actor departed due to fear.

I believethe reason for his withdrawal is not creative difference, rather, simply fear. He was given pressure by Chinese authorities, Kaixi said. After 30 some years of censoring any information about Tiananmen, the Chinese government today is still extremely afraid of mentioning the atrocity they conducted.

A day before Pisers withdrawal, he was quoted on Playbill saying, I am zproud to bring this powerful story to life on stage. Having helped develop this piece since 2015 makes originating this role that much more meaningful.

More from NextShark: Good Samaritans Protect Asian Man Body Slammed in Broad Daylight in NYC

About the musical: The Tiananmen musical, which is directed by Darren Lee with Music Director Kevin White, is about the bloody 1989 crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijings Tiananmen Square that resulted in hundreds  if not thousands  of deaths. According to a press release, the musical is a vital reminder of the fragility of human rights and the importance of bravery and self-determination in the face of totalitarianism.

Jason Rose, the musical's lead producer, confirmed that the show will proceed as planned from Oct. 4 to 29 at The Phoenix Theatre Company.

This story needs to be told and will be told. Censorship and pressure will not carry the day. Our celebration of bravery for lovers of freedom will, Rose told CNN.

More from NextShark: Rifle, hundreds of ammo rounds found in Monterey Park shooters home; jealousy raised as possible motive

About Piser: Piser previously made Broadway history for becoming the first Asian American actor to take on the title role of Evan full-time in Dear Evan Hansen. Last year, he starred in the Broadway musical KPOP.

Pisers recent announcement highlights the complexities Western celebrities face when dealing with political sensitivities related to China.

More from NextShark: Man Who Attacked 2 Asian American Women in Baltimore Charged With Hate Crimes
Jasper Kenzo Sundeen's reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and community members through the Yakima Valley Community Fund. For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com.
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Dublin, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global UV Disinfection Equipment Market 2023-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global UV Disinfection Equipment Market is set to experience robust growth, with a projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.61% over the forecast period from 2023 to 2030.

Factors such as the eco-friendliness of UV disinfection, increasing government initiatives, and the cost-effectiveness of disinfection processes are driving the growth of the UV disinfection equipment market. UV disinfection presents a sustainable alternative to conventional chemical methods, as it produces no harmful byproducts or residues. This characteristic makes it a compelling choice for industries and government bodies seeking environmentally responsible solutions for water and air treatment.

Furthermore, the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and support for the reusability of UV disinfection devices have opened up opportunities for the market on a global scale. However, challenges related to limited efficacy and the specific effectiveness of UV technology against waterborne microorganisms have limited the broader potential of the global market.

Regional Outlook

The global UV disinfection equipment market encompasses regions including Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East and Africa.

Asia-Pacific is anticipated to witness the most rapid growth during the forecast period. The region's active efforts in wastewater treatment, driven by the scarcity of safe drinking water in countries like Vietnam and India, are contributing to the rising demand for UV disinfection systems. Additionally, the adoption of UV technology in countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea, along with the rise of UV tech startups, is further propelling the UV disinfection equipment market in the region.

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

UV Disinfection Equipment Emerges as Sustainable Alternative

Growing Government Initiatives

Cost-Effective Disinfection Technique

Story continues

Market Challenges

Limited Effectiveness of UV Disinfection Equipment

UV Technology Effective Against Waterborne Microorganisms

Market Opportunities

Implementation of UN Millennium Development Goals

Cost-Effective Disinfection Solution Enabling Water Reusability

Environmentally Suitable Disinfection System

Key Market Players

Prominent players in the market include:

Xylem Inc

Halma plc

Atlantic Ultraviolet Corporation

Australian Ultra Violet Services Pty Ltd

Germitec

Evoqua Water Technologies LLC

Danaher Corporation

Calgon Carbon Corporation

Osram Licht AG

Severn Trent plc

Evoqua Water Technologies LLC (formerly Siemens Water Technologies LLC) is a leading clean technology company specializing in wastewater treatment systems and solutions. The company's product range encompasses activated carbons, filtration, aeration, biological treatment, and more. Additionally, Evoqua provides services such as commissioning, maintenance, modernization, and more. Headquartered in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, USA, Evoqua has manufacturing plants across the globe.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/d1elhh

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




Despite financial markets being roiled by leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas, known as Lula, October 2022 electoral victory, there are signs that Brazils president will continue to support the countrys burgeoning oil boom. Even after Lula railed against what he described as the national oil company Petrobras excessive dividend and implemented a shock temporary oil export tax, the government continues to support Brazils economically crucial hydrocarbon sector. In a recent development, Lula backed Petrobras plan to drill in an offshore ecologically sensitive location near the mouth of the Amazon River. This has triggered a backlash around the globe, with deforestation of the Amazon rainforest accelerating under Lulas predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

There are signs, despite Lulas push to increase the states take from Brazils oil industry, that the country possesses the potential to become the world's fourth-largest oil producer. Since the first major offshore pre-salt oil discovery, the hydrocarbon output from Latin Americas largest economy has grown at a steady clip annually. Brazils petroleum industry regulator, The Brazilian National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP  Portuguese initials), recently reported record production for July 2023.

Source: ANP.

According to the agency, Brazil pumped an average of 3.5 million barrels of crude oil daily, which was 4.3% higher than a month prior and an impressive 18.6% greater than the same period a year earlier. Total hydrocarbon output also hit a record high for July 2023 of nearly 4.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, which is a 3.6% increase compared to a month prior and a whopping 17.5% higher year over year. Pre-salt petroleum production for July 2023 was responsible for 75% of Brazils total oil output compared to 75.5% for the equivalent period a year earlier. Those numbers attest to the considerable potential held by Brazils offshore ultra-deepwater pre-salt oil basins, which are responsible for driving such impressive and consistent production growth.

Story continues

Output from Brazils prolific offshore pre-salt oil fields will continue to grow at a steady clip. State-controlled Petrobras, where Brasilia owns nearly 37% of the company, as part of its 2023 to 2027 strategic plan intends to focus on developing its deepwater and ultra deepwater pre-salt assets. Brazils national oil company has budgeted spending of $78 billion between 2023 and 2027, with 83% of that amount earmarked for investment in exploration and development activities. Petrobras plans to allocate $41 billion of its total capital expenditure over that period to developing pre-salt assets. This Petrobras claims will boost oil production to 2.5 million barrels per day by 2027, a 19% increase over 2023, with 78% of that volume comprised of petroleum lifted from pre-salt fields.

The growing popularity of Brazils pre-salt oil in global energy markets is part of the reason Petrobras is focused on developing those assets. The rising need for lighter and sweeter forms of crude oil with low levels of contaminants such as vanadium saw the popularity of Brazils pre-salt Lula and Buzios grades soar in Asia. Lula has an API gravity of 29 degrees, making it a medium crude oil with 0.27% sulfur content, which means it is particularly sweet. Buzios, with an API of 28 degrees and 0.31% sulfur content, possesses similar characteristics. Those attributes make Lula and Buzios cheaper as well as less complex to refine into higher grade fuels than heavier crude with high sulfur content, which is typical of the petroleum produced in onshore South America.

Those reasons, along with ever stricter emission requirements around the world, triggered a sizable spike in demand for Brazils Lula and Buzios oil grades, especially from Asia, with Latin Americas largest petroleum producer a top-10 supplier to China. There was even a brief period, some years ago, when Lula and Buzios oil grades traded at a premium to the international Brent benchmark because of rapidly rising demand. Petrobras is focused on further developing the Buzios field, which is the second largest field responsible for 18.5% of Brazils total production, to the point where it will be the key driver of production growth for the state-controlled integrated energy giant and Brazil. Between now and 2027, Petrobras intends to install six additional Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Buzios field.

For the duration of the strategic plan, Petrobras plans to drill a total of 42 exploration wells comprised of two in Colombia, 24 in the Southeast Basins and 16 in the Equatorial Margin. It is that last drilling location that sparked considerable consternation in Brazil as well as globally and even provoked protests against the national oil company. Petrobras proposed exploring the offshore Foz do Amazons Basin near the mouth of the Amazon River. The integrated energy majors plans were rejected by Brazils environmental protection agency IBAMA, but President Lula and the attorney generals office are supportive of the companys plans despite Environment Minister Marina Silvas opposition.

This has sparked considerable international controversy. Colombias leftist President Gustavo Petro, who plans to ban oil exploration in his country, slammed the decision. Those events have triggered considerable consternation across the world regarding the potential for oil to damage nearby ecologically sensitive reefs and the biodiverse mouth of the Amazon River, which is already being impacted by the accelerating deforestation of the Amazon Basin. Even without Petrobras drilling in the Foz de Amazonas Basin, Brazil possesses considerable offshore petroleum resources, which will allow the country to expand its petroleum production.

Foreign energy companies are investing heavily in offshore Brazil. Shell and TotalEnergies, which are the second and fourth largest oil producers, respectively, commenced an exploration drilling campaign in June 2023. Industry low breakeven costs, which Petrobras claims average $33 per barrel for its operations, are attracting considerable interest from foreign energy majors. Those breakeven costs, which are among the lowest in South America, along with Brazils pre-salt oil having low sulfur and being cheaper as well as easier to refine into high quality low, emission fuels. Despite the fallout from Lulas attempts to boost the governments share of revenue from Brazils oil industry, there has been little to no material impact on petroleum investment in the country. For these reasons, Brazil, which is the ninth-largest oil producer globally, is on track to overtake Canada and become the worlds fourth-largest producer.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

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Today

Windy with a mix of clouds and sun. High 78F. Winds N at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 58F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.

Tomorrow

Mainly sunny. High 83F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph.
Cifoza: ce este, cauze, simptome, tratament

Cifoza este o curbura excesiva a coloanei vertebrale, care duce la formarea unei cocoase in zona superioara a spatelui. Aceasta poate fi o conditie congenitala, rezultata din malformatii ale coloanei vertebrale sau apare de-a lungul timpului, datorita unor boli sau a posturii incorecte. Cifoza afecteaza atat adultii, [citeste mai departe]
Stiri pe aceeasi tema

- Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu declared on Tuesday in Craiova that new discussions are scheduled this week in Brussels with European Commission officials on the new Public Pensions Law, reiterating that he would like the new act to go into effect as of next year.The head of the government said that

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- Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu announced that the Government is discussing on Friday the impact by the war in Ukraine on Romania's state budget, in order to later transmit the data to Brussels."We need to discuss today, with clear figures, which we already have, about the impact that the war in Ukraine

- AGERPRES special correspondent Florin Zafiu reports: Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu discussed on Friday in Brussels with European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen.One of the topics of the meeting concerned the reforms undertaken by Romania through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP),

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- In a message on Ukraine Independence Day, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu conveyed to Romania's war-embattled neighbors the best thoughts and full support for regaining their peace and freedom."For the second year in a row, Ukraine celebrates Independence Day fighting for freedom and the legitimate
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- Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu declared on Tuesday in Craiova that new discussions are scheduled this week in Brussels with European Commission officials on the new Public Pensions Law, reiterating that he would like the new act to go into effect as of next year.The head of the government said that

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- Marcel Ciolacu mai are programate si alte intrevederi cu inalti oficiali europeni. Este vorba despre presedinta Comisiei Europene, Ursula Von der Leyen, presedinta Parlamentului European, Roberta Metsola, si directorul general al SG Recover (Recovery and Resilience Task Force) din cadrul Comisiei Europene,

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This is the starting point of World Youth Day, but above all it is the starting point of our lives.

-Address of the Holy Father at the Welcome, World Youth Day 2023

Emmaline Lombardo 26 CLAS felt as though she had had been transported through both time and space.

The towers of the Lisbon Cathedral soared above, in the same spot they have for nearly a millennium of worshippers and pilgrims. Along the streets and alleys of the Old Town, Roman and Islamic ruins and countless religious and cultural sites created a striking contrast interspersed with the bustling modernity of the city, acting like a portal through time.

It was in this space, that space didnt exist for Lombardo, her fellow Villanova University students and leadership, and their Merrimack College companions for nearly a week in August, as they made pilgrimage to the 17th World Youth Day in Portugals capital. With 1.5 million other pilgrims, physical space was limited. But it was that proximity to millions of others of the same faith, from the far reaches of the world, that brought forth a palpable sense of togetherness.

You're stepping right back into the history of the faith and Church and youre stepping across faith as well, as the universal Church is concentrated in that one city, Lombardo said. That feeling of solidarity was, in the midst of this great community, a really wonderful experience.

Such is the goal of World Youth Day, the global gathering that takes place every few years where young people deepen their faith, experience the universality of the Catholic Church and commit their lives to Christ alongside hundreds of thousands of like-minded peers, according to the events website. In its 17 iterations since first being initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985, the event has welcomed roughly 26 million pilgrims to 14 different countries, with a 15th upcoming following the announcement of South Korea as the next host in 2027.

In early August, Villanova University, along with its sister school, Merrimack College in Massachusetts, sent a contingent to experience the event together as the only two Augustinian Catholic Institutions in the country. Villanovas group was led by the Rev. Kevin M. DePrinzio, OSA, PhD., vice president for Mission and Ministry and Abigail Gorman, assistant director for Service Immersion Programs at the St. Thomas of Villanova Center for the Common Good. Three students  Lombardo, Dane Litchfield 24 MTS and Gina Labricciosa 26 FCN  made the journey. Merrimack sent nine students, led by the Rev. Daniel Madden, OSA, 14 MA, a Villanova University alumnus himself.

It was a particular privilege to walk alongside Merrimack College, DePrinzio said. Fr. Dan and I had been wanting to do more things together with both schools, not only for our students, but also as a way to see how our two schools engage the Augustinian charism and how we might enrich each others work. St. Augustine holds as a value what he calls a mutual sharing of goods. Being at World Youth Day together, forming and strengthening relationships it was just that.

Student participants from both schools, meeting one another for the first time, lodged at the same hostel, intermixed to attend various events and explore the city and gathered each evening for group reflection. Friendships were formed immediately and strengthened with the new experiences of each day. The joint nature of the trip also created a special opportunity.

Having Father Kevin and Father Dan there, they brought the Augustinian lens to everything we encountered, Gorman explained. We focused on certain readings from St. Augustine, talked about the charism of the Augustinians and got to put them into practice. The emphasis on community, truth, unity, love  we talked about all of that every night. It was a unique way we got to experience World Youth Day.

St. Augustine speaks much about pilgrimage, that we are always on a journey toward God, Madden said. It's also a journey done together. Villanova and Merrimack being the only two Augustinian colleges allowed the students to see the uniqueness of being part of the tradition of the Order of St. Augustine. ... Even though the students were from different schools, there was a common bond, and they didn't see themselves as different.

Their experiences, however, were. Therein lies the beauty of World Youth Day. The overarching themes and purpose can be shared in community, with the opportunity for the individual to find ones own personal significance, meaning and spirituality.

For Litchfield, that meant partaking in the pilgrimage tradition of crawling nearly a mile on his knees while praying the rosary at Fatima  something he called a true spiritual gift  and hearing a song at the welcoming ceremony that had also played frequently when he attended World Youth Day in Panama in 2019.

That song that marked so much of my spirituality four years ago, he said. Hearing that song again was my little moment.

Lombardos spiritual connection came from wandering into the historic, picturesque churches of Lisbon many of which were open all night  and stumbling upon a Eucharistic adoration or candlelight vigil.

To come and see almost any church, come into the presence of Christ in a very visceral way and experience that presence, it was in those moments where I experienced the greatest spiritual graces, she said. [In Lisbon], where all this other stuff that was happening, I was able to reflect on it, to let it sink in.

As a trip leader, seeing students like Litchfield and Lombardo find their meaning gave Gorman hers.

It was special to be in this space, to see how this was affecting the students and what they were all individually getting out of it, Gorman said. I really appreciated sharing it with this special group.  It was beautiful to see.

***
The number of Chinese tourists who arrived in Hungary in January-July nearly quadrupled from the same period a year earlier, the Hungarian Tourism Agency said.

Budapest was the most popular destination for Chinese visitors, but the cities of Szentendre, on the outskirts of the capital, and Pecs, in the southwest, were also big draws.



Television shows have drummed up interest in Hungary among Chinese visitors, the agency said.



The number of South Korean visitors to Hungary also rose four-fold during the period, while the number of American tourists increased by 35%.



MTI Photo: Zsolt Szigetvary
The MNB has fined K&H bank Ft 20 million for failing to fully comply with rules on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the central bank and financial market watchdog said.

The KBC subsidiary failed to report numerous suspicious transactions and had inadequate customer due diligence practices.



The MNB emphasised the importance of complete and up-to-date records of lenders clients to manage risks related to money laundering and financing terrorism.



The MNB set deadlines for the bank to report on remedial measures.
Selecting a college and area of study can be an exciting rite of passage, but for many it is a time of anxiety and stress. Southeast Community College offers a variety of options and personalized attention to help prospective students through the process.

Our goal is to meet people where they are, regardless of their concerns, life stage and individual needs, said director of admissions Kat Kreikemeier. We are here to provide guidance and support through this important life decision.

Though virtual assistance is available, Kreikemeier highly recommends visiting the campus to get a feel for the college, faculty and students. Experiencing the campus in real life helps students see where and how they fit, said Kreikemeier.

Group events and individual appointments are available on the three SCC campuses: Beatrice, Lincoln and Milford.

For general information, Discovery Days are a good place to start. In addition to a campus tour, detailed information is provided about programs of study, student housing, how to pay for college and student activities. A panel made up of students and faculty answers questions and provides the perspective of those living the SCC experience every day. Discovery Days are especially helpful for those who have yet to select an area of study. The event includes a career development activity to help students identify what they are good at and what career options are a good fit based on their skills, interests and personality.

Career Days are ideal for those who have identified a general field of interest but need to unpack how that will translate into academic study and their eventual work life. Small-group events are held for construction, transportation, manufacturing and engineering technology, health care and technology. Faculty and SCC industry partners host the events to help prospective students understand the realities and opportunities of their career choice. The day includes a hands-on activity to give students a taste of the program, such as flying a drone, building a window casing, using a welder or testing a diesel process.

Prospective students who prefer an individualized experience are invited to schedule a one-on-one appointment with an admissions counselor. Appointments offer guidance based on the students goals and questions. Admissions counselors guide students to discover their career passion, answer questions about higher education and SCC, and discuss wraparound services such as mental health counseling, accessibility for people with disabilities and how to pay for college to ensure that the student has all the information they need to be successful.

For those not ready or able to visit the campus, the SCC website offers a virtual campus tour and a plethora of information about the admission process, programs of study and support services. An online career assessment tool is also available to help students identify a field of interest.

The admissions process is very personalized, Kreikemeier said. Even in a group setting, prospective students are assigned a representative to provide support throughout the day.

Southeast Community College offers real-world learning opportunities to help you turn your dreams into reality on your path to possible. For more information, click here.

This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com.
The Blue Angels vapor trails had barely faded from the skies from last weekends Lincoln air show when Offutt Air Force Bases 55th Wing announced the return of its own show next year for the first time since 2018.

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds will headline the Defenders of Freedom Air and Space Show on Aug. 24-25, 2024, said Maj. Bryce Neil, Offutts air show director.

It certainly is good news, both for military members and civilians, Neil said in an interview. It gives you a lot of pride, and a way to give back to the community.

The Offutt air show used to be a regular event in Bellevue, but a combination of catastrophe, construction and commitments prevented the 55th Wing from staging them for six of the past seven years.

The 2017 show was canceled because of the Wings heavy operational commitments that year. It was held in 2018, but the 2019 show was scrubbed because of flooding and the 2020 show because of the COVID pandemic.

The 2021 and 2022 shows werent held because the airfield was closed for a total reconstruction of its runway.

Lincoln had already announced its 2023 air show when Offutt reopened its runway last September. Neil said the 55th Wing partnered with the Nebraska Air National Guards 155th Air Refueling Wing in putting on last weekends event, which organizers said drew more than 300,000 people to the Lincoln Airport over two days.

Our committee kind of shadowed them, Neil said. We combined forces. It worked great.

Two Offutt-based aircraft, an RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance jet and an E-4B Nightwatch command-and-control plane, were on static display in Lincoln, which last hosted an air show in 2016.

In addition to the Blue Angels, flying acts including the Air Forces F-16C Viper team, Navy F-35C and EA-18G crews, World War II-era SNJ-4 and P-51 Mustang warbirds, and Lincoln stunt pilot Doug Roth in his single-engine Staudacher.

The Lincoln committee did a fantastic job, Neil said. Were switching gears already and working on the Offutt air show.

He said its necessary to start lining up vendors and volunteers for next years show already. Although the Thunderbirds already have signed on for 2024, other acts must still be lined up and signed to contracts.

Over the next six to eight months well be announcing more performers, Neil said.

Visitors next year will see a much different Offutt Air Force Base than when it last hosted an air show in 2018.

The following spring, a bizarre meteorological event caused massive flooding across Nebraska and western Iowa. The Missouri River overwhelmed two of the levees protecting Offutt and flooded about one-third of the base. Part of the runway was under water, and about 1.2 million square feet of office space inundated.

By August 2024, a post-flood reconstruction boom estimated at $1 billion will be in full swing. But Neil said it wont interfere with the air show, most of which takes place on a part of Offutt that wasnt touched by the flood.

Itll be seamless to the majority of the people who have been to the show before, he said. By the time they get here, theyll have a hard time noticing the construction.

The business community in Bellevue, which abuts the base, welcomes the return of one of the citys biggest annual draws.

It brings tens of thousands of people to town. Its a huge asset, said Diane Bruce, president and chief executive officer of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce. We will welcome it back to Bellevue with our arms wide open.

Photos: Blue Angels return to Lincoln for Guardians of Freedom Airshow
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday granted permission to Ireland-based lessor Jackson Square Aviation Ltd to inspect its aircraft leased to cash-strapped Go First.

This decision follows a similar observation made in the case of Engine Lease Finance BV  the first lessor to approach the tribunal  on August 18 wherein it had modified the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)'s July 26 order to permit the engine lessor to carry out inspection of four engines of aircraft leased to Go First.

Also read: Abu Dhabi Airports New Terminal-A Building To Get Operational From November

Disagreeing with a portion of the NCLT's ruling that restricted the lessor from inspecting the engines, the NCLAT had issued its own directive asking the Resolution Professional (RP) to schedule an inspection within 10 days.

Favouring Go First, the NCLT had refused to restrain it from using leased aircraft for its operations as they are essential for the airline to keep going. Challenging the NCLTs order, Jackson filed the plea against the RP of the airline, Shailendra Ajmera.

Earlier this month, the high court had said that scheduled maintenance does not encompass the operation of flights, and it restrained troubled Go First to continue with maintenance flights.

A bench of Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju said that the RP hasn't shown any sense of urgency or an immediate serious threat to the aircraft that would necessitate the RP to suddenly and unexpectedly operate them without prior notice.

"The respondent no.9/ RP of Go Airlines has also not been able to show any urgency or any grave imminent threat to these aircraft to suddenly and without any prior notice, compel the respondent no.9 RP to fly these aircraft," she had said.

"Prima facie, the term  scheduled maintenance cannot be understood to include flying the aircraft even if it is a non-commercial flight. Thus, respondent no.9/ RP of Go Airlines cannot be permitted at this stage, to continue with these handling/maintenance flights, the judge had added.

The high court rejected the argument put forth by the RP as "misconceived", where the RP claimed that Go Airlines had operated two out of the 10 aircraft, stating that these flights were actually part of the scheduled maintenance for an aircraft.

One of the lessors -- SMBC Aviation Capital Ltd -- filed an application submitting that disregarding the earlier directions of the court, the RP has flown two aircraft owned by the petitioners without courts permission.

On July 5, Justice Ganju had allowed aircraft lessors of Go First to inspect their aircraft at least twice a month and carry out maintenance. The plea argued that as per the above mentioned order, which directed that once the process of deregistration of aircraft has begun, the planes cannot be flown.

Counsel for the RP argued that there was an urgent need to make the aircraft flight ready according to the Resumption Plan approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on July 21, and the aviation regulator also required the airline to conduct handling or maintenance flights satisfactorily.

Justice Ganju, who had, on July 28, directed that status quo be maintained in respect of handling/non-revenue flights of the petitioner lessors aircraft till August 3, extended the interim order till further orders.

On the other hand, senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan appeared for the RP and said that they have preferred an appeal before the Supreme Court against the division bench's July 12 order refusing to interfere with Justice Ganju's July 5 order allowing lessors to carry out maintenance work of their aircraft on lease.
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified on Friday that the 93% of the Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation have been returned since May 19 order. Moreover, RBI again urged people to utilize the remaining period until September 30, 2023 to deposit and/or exchange the Rs 2000 denomination notes.

RBI had announced on May 19 to withdraw Rs 2000 denomination notes from circulation, although they remain legal tender. It urged customers holding Rs 2000 banknotes to deposit or submit at bank branches across India.

Data collected from major banks indicates that out of the total banknotes in 2000 denomination received back from circulation, about 87% is in the form of deposits and the remaining around 13% has been exchanged into other denomination banknotes, RBI said in the Friday circular.

According to data gathered from banks, 3.32 lakh crore worth of 2000 banknotes were returned from circulation up to August 31, 2023. Consequently, the amount of 2000 banknotes in circulation by August's end was a mere 0.24 lakh crore.

Customer can exchange Rs 2000 banknotes into bank notes of other denominations upto a limit of Rs 20,000 at a time at any bank starting from May 23, 2023. The facility is available till September 30, 2023. However, the central bank hasnt notified what will happen to these notes if someone fails to submit them in time.
New Delhi: India is galloping on the digital horse when its ingenious Unified Payments Interface (UPI) crossed 10 billion transaction marks for the very first time. Launched in India in 2016 by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI, the countrys very own developed real-time payment method, has grown in leaps and bounds in the last seven years.

Celebrating the historic occasion on Friday, NPCI shared the post on X account and said, It's 10 Billion+ transactions in August`23! Make seamless payments from your mobile in real-time with UPI.

Over 10.58 billion transaction count happened in August 2023 against 9.96 billion transaction count in July 2023, which is a 61% y-o-y growth. The payment service witnessed over 15.76 lakh crore transaction in August 2023 in terms of amount in rupees against 15.34 lakh crore in July 2023.

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnav also celebrated the moment by sharing a video of a road-side vegetable seller taking payment through UPI QR code. The video appeared to show when asked for QR code by the customer; the seller upturned the balance scales bucket where she sticked the sticker.

Brought under digital India mission to make the country a cashless economy, UPI changes the way of handling money by common people. The support and innovation given by private payment firms including Paytm, Phonepe, etc. boost the transactions in the country and make the service more effective and functional. Paytms soundbox, which gives voice confirmation of every transaction, turns out a game-changer by providing the trust and feasibility for both customers and merchants.

A lot of countries inlcuding the world bank, IMF have praised the country's ingenous technology. In effort to make UPI international, the country has done several tie-ups with friendly countries in the recent past to boost the real-time payment method. India and UAE agreed to start the payments via UPI.
Tirupati: S. Somanath, the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on Friday sought blessings at the Chengalamma Parameshwari Temple in Tirupati district in Andhra Pradesh for the success of Indias rocket mission to the Sun. Before the crucial launch of the Aditya L1 mission scheduled on Saturday, aimed at studying the Sun, Somanath visited the famous temple near the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. I came here to pray to Chengalamma Parameshwari for giving us strength to make this launch successful, he told reporters after seeking blessings. Earlier, a group of ISRO scientists had sought blessings at the Tirumala temple on Friday morning.

Somanath said the countdown has begun for the PSLV-C57 Aditya-L1 mission, which will be launched at 11.50 a.m. on Saturday. It will take almost an hour for the satellite to reach the required location and inject. The Aditya L1 mission is to study the Sun. It will take another 125 days to travel from Earth to the L1 point from where the satellite will look at the Sun, he said.

#WATCH | Andhra Pradesh: ISRO chief S Somanath offered prayers at Chengalamma Parameshwari Temple in Tirupati district, ahead of the launch of Aditya-L1 Mission



India's first solar mission (Aditya-L1 Mission) is scheduled to be launched on September 2 at 11.50am from the pic.twitter.com/cKjg4NUHKe  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023

Answering another question, the ISRO chief said the date for Chandrayaan-4 has not been decided yet. We will announce soon. Something is there, he said with a smile. On the Chandrayaan-3 mission, Somanath said that lunar rover Pragyan is working very well, moving around the Moon and doing rotations which will go on till September 3.

Earlier, some scientists from the space agency visited the Sri Venkateswara temple atop Tirumala hills on Friday morning and prayed for the success of the Aditya L1 mission . The Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed for providing remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth.

The first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun would be launched by a PSLV-C57 rocket. Its a common practice for the ISRO scientists to seek blessings at the famous hill shrine ahead of major missions. In July, they had performed 'puja' at the temple with a miniature model of Chandrayaan-3.

The Moon mission scripted history by successfully landing on the lunar surface on August 23, as India became the only country to accomplish soft landing on the Moons South Pole.
NEW DELHI: In a big move, the Centre on Friday announced that it has constituted a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of 'one nation, one election', according to news agency PTI. An official notification on the members of the panel will be issued later. The move comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.

What Is 'One Nation, One Election'?

The concept of 'One Nation, One Election' refers to holding simultaneous elections across the country. This means that elections for the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies across India will be held simultaneously, with voting presumably taking place around the same time.

Over the years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed strongly for the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, and the decision to task Kovind to look into it underscores the government's seriousness as a host of elections approach.

Assembly polls are due in five states in November-December and they will be followed by the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year. However, the recent moves by the government have thrown open the possibility of advancing the general elections and some state polls, which are scheduled after and with the Lok Sabha contest.

Moreover, the government's sudden move to call a "special session" of Parliament between September 18 and 22 despite making the agenda clear has triggered a lot of speculations.

"Special Session of Parliament (13th Session of 17th Lok Sabha and 261st Session of Rajya Sabha) is being called from 18th to 22nd September having five sittings. Amid Amrit Kaal, looking forward to having fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on X.

It will be the first such special session under the nine years of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government which had convened a special joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to mark the midnight GST roll-out on June 30, 2017. However, it will be a full-fledged session of five days this time with both Houses meeting separately as they usually do during sessions.

Generally, three parliamentary sessions are held in a year- Budget, Monsoon and Winter sessions. Sources said the "special session" could see parliamentary operations being shifted to the new Parliament building which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

With the government not spelling out its agenda, speculation swirled that the government may push some showpiece bills in the run-up to some key state assembly polls followed by the all-important Lok Sabha election.

Sources, including in the ruling BJP, spoke of the possibility of bills on simultaneous general, state and local polls, something Modi has assiduously pushed, and reservations for women in directly elected legislatures like Lok Sabha and assemblies. Both are constitutional amendment bills and will require passage with the support of two-thirds of members in both Houses.

The recent historic success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission and India's goals for 'Amrit Kaal' may be part of the wider discussions during the special session, which will come a week after the G20 summit meeting scheduled for September 9-10.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the announcement of the special session just three weeks after the end of the Monsoon session was aimed at managing "the news cycle" and countering the news about the ongoing meeting of INDIA parties in Mumbai and the latest revelations on Adani. The Monsoon session of Parliament ended on August 11.

The last time Parliament met outside its three usual sessions was --at midnight on June 30, 2017, to mark the rollout of GST. However, it was a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and was not a proper session. A six-day special sitting was held in August 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of India's independence.

Midnight sessions were also held on August 9, 1992, for the 50th anniversary of the 'Quit India Movement', August 14-15, 1972 to celebrate the silver jubilee of India's independence, while the first such session was on August 14-15, 1947 on the eve of India's independence.

(With PTI Inputs)
The Modi government surprised the public yesterday with an unexpected announcement that a special parliamentary session is scheduled to take place from September 18 to September 22. The reasons behind this decision have not been disclosed, but it is confirmed that the session will consist of five meetings. Although the specific agenda for the session remains uncertain, there is speculation within the BJP and official circles regarding potential significant initiatives by the Modi government.

"Special Session of Parliament (13th Session of 17th Lok Sabha and 261st Session of Rajya Sabha) is being called from 18th to 22nd September having 5 sittings. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to having fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament," said Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi.

One possibility is the initiation of steps to introduce simultaneous elections across the nation, while another is the consideration of the Women's Reservation Bill. Opposition leaders like West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar have already claimed that the NDA government may prepone the Lok Sabha polls. According to reports, while these are two of the many possibilities, opinions diverge on the feasibility of these options as suitable agenda items for a special session. Within the government, some argue that these choices could yield electoral benefits, but others dismiss them, particularly due to the current scenario of Opposition unity. Many leaders believe it seems unlikely that the Opposition would cooperate with the government in pushing through major legislation that too, months ahead of the key elections.

According to an IE report, the Winter Session of Parliament, normally held in November-December, might be postponed due to upcoming state elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram. The report also claimed that the special session has both domestic and international political implications. If this statement is to be believed, the statehood issue of Jammu and Kashmir can also crop up during the session, but all these are just speculations as of now. The Narendra Modi-led regime is known for maintaining utmost secrecy on strategic issues to be discussed in Parliament and that was evident when the bill to abrogate Article 370 was introduced in Parliament.

In recent times, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has made strong statements linked to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Taking back PoK has been one of the key poll planks of the BJP and it will be interesting to see whether any resolution comes up in Parliament related to this during the special session. The most recent instance of a special parliamentary session called by the Modi government was on June 30, 2017, to commemorate the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Mumbai: A day after the Narendra Modi government has called for a "special session of Parliament" to be held from September 18 to 22, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday attacked the central government for the move and said the special session of Parliament was not called when Manipur was burning adding that the country is "going towards dictatorship".

"Today, without asking anyone in the opposition, a special session of Parliament has been called. A special session of Parliament was never called even when Manipur was burning, during the COVID-19 pandemic, on the issue of China or over issues of demonetisation and migrant labourers," Kharge said while addressing a press conference after the INDIA alliance meeting.

"I don't know what is the agenda now. This is not the way to run the country. We are slowly going towards dictatorship," he added. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday informed that a five-day special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22. The agenda for this special session, however, was not revealed.

Congress President further stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will never work for the poor and that the aim of the INDIA bloc is to fight against unemployment, rising fuel prices and other public welfare issues.

"All parties conducted this meeting well. A structure was formed for the alliance during talks at my residence earlier, in the Patna meeting an agenda was set and now in Mumbai, everyone has kept their views before each other. Everyone has one aim - how to fight unemployment and rising fuel prices and LPG cylinder costs?" he said.

"They (BJP) first increased the prices and reduced the price marginally...I can say that Modi ji will never work for the poor. Yesterday, Rahul Gandhi showed a report on how Adani's income has increased," he added. After the meeting of the Opposition INDIA alliance, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Friday said that a resolution has been passed and four main committees have been formed.

"We have passed some important resolutions too. INDIA Alliance Coordination Committee - a 14-member committee - has been structured," Raut said.

The 14-member Coordination Committee and Election Strategy Committee includes KC Venugopal (INC), Sharad Pawar (NCP), TR Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Raghav Chadha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lalan Singh (JDU), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), one more member from CPI(M) to also be announced.

Earlier, the constituent parties in the Opposition INDIA alliance on Friday decided to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election together "as far as possible", said the alliance's resolution taken during its third strategic meeting being held in Mumbai.

The resolution also said that the parties will "organize public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance". The third formal meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA alliance began on Friday with the aim of coming up with an action plan for the next Lok Sabha Polls. The first meeting of the joint opposition was held in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18.
PATNA: As INDIA alliance hold its third meeting in Mumbai in which its likely that the alliance will announce the conveners post, the BJP State President Samrat Choudhary on Friday mocked at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying that he deserves the post of convener of tola (certain part of a village) of Bihar.

Choudhary said that there are 22 people who are contenders for the prime ministerial post in the INDIA alliance. Out of these 22 people, 17 are in the race for the post of convener. Only time will decide who will win the convener's and presidents posts of this Ghamandia alliance, Choudhary said.

As far as Nitish Kumar is concerned, he should get the post of convener of Tola (small village). He deserves this post and not of INDIA alliance's post, Chaudhary said.

Nitish Kumar is also considered as one of the prime contenders for the convener post of INDIA alliance and is considered to be instrumental in uniting the opposition parties.

The third crucial INDIA alliance meet is currently underway in Mumbai where after discussions many posts for the smooth conduct of the alliance are likely to be announced.

The BJP has alleged that all is not well within INDIA and they are fighting for the posts. The BJP has also alleged that the INDIA alliance will not be able to face Prime Minister Modi in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Members of Hollywood unions picket at Fox Studios in Los Angeles as their strike continues. bhings are looking up for organized labor on this Labor Day weekend. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

For decades, employers have felt free to trample workers' right to organize unions and engage in collective bargaining.

They've fired pro-union workers, threatened to close unionizing plants, subjected workers to surveillance and interrogations about their union activities, and posted menacing security guards around locations of union activity.

All these practices are illegal in the context of union organizing drives, but employers have engaged in them with impunity because the penalties have been almost nonexistent.

An employer is free to use the Boards election procedure, but is never free to abuse itit's as simple as that.

NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran

No longer.

On Aug. 25, the National Labor Relations Board issued a landmark ruling stating that whenever an employer commits an unfair labor practice while its request for a union election is pending, the board will order the employer to recognize the union without an election and move immediately to contract bargaining.

Union advocates believe the ruling, along with an NLRB decision the previous day streamlining unionization votes, will put the kibosh on employer behavior aimed at interfering with those votes or delaying them interminably.

That's the board's explicit goal. "An employer is free to use the boards election procedure," NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran said after the Aug. 25 ruling, "but is never free to abuse it  it's as simple as that."

The ruling underscores how the Biden administration has remade the NLRB to restore its traditional role as a bulwark for labor rights, following years in which that goal was eroded by Republican administrations (especially the Trump presidency) and Democratic inattention. The ruling was reached by a 3-1 party-line vote.

It also reflects a determination by the board's Biden-appointed general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, to reverse a series of rulings by the Trump-dominated board that had "overruled legal precedent," as well as older rulings she wished to "carefully examine."

Story continues

Read more: Column: Employers and governments aren't protecting workers from extreme heat. Unions might

The new ruling may sound legalistic, but in practice it's simple.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, passed in 1935, when a majority of a company's workers sign union affiliation cards, the company has two choices: recognize the union outright and proceed to bargaining, or ask the NLRB to run a union representation election.

It's during the run-up to elections that unions tend to lodge accusations of unfair labor practices against employers. Employers try to delay the elections as long as possible, "aiming to gain time within which to undermine the union," the board observed.

That's what happened in the case that produced the latest ruling, which was brought by the Teamsters against Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, a concrete mixing and hauling firm operating in Southern California and Nevada.

In late 2018, at least 207 of the firm's drivers, or 57%, signed authorization cards designating the Teamsters union as their bargaining representative. An election was scheduled for March 2019.

The company moved "quickly and aggressively" against the union, according to the NLRB. It hired the Labor Relations Institute, a prominent union-busting consulting firm, for more than $1.1 million. It ginned up a disciplinary case against a driver who was a leading union activist and eventually fired her.

It peppered workers with threats of what would happen if they unionized, implying that unionized plants would be closed, leaving the workers permanently unemployed. It forbade workers to talk to union representatives "on company time," including downtime.

Read more: Column: The carnage from the rollback of child labor laws is just starting

In all, the NLRB found Cemex to have committed "more than 20 distinct instances of objectionable or unlawful misconduct." These efforts bore fruit. The union lost the representation election.

The board found, however, that the company had effectively crossed "the fine line between lawful persuasion and unlawful coercion." It also found that several high-level company officials lied to the administrative law judge to hide the company's lawbreaking.

A Cemex spokesperson told me by email that the company was "disappointed" by the NLRB decision and was "evaluating next steps." The spokesperson said, We remain committed to providing the best working environment and to complying with all labor laws and fair practices" and the ruling "does not affect that commitment."







According to an NLRB standard implemented in 1949, the board could have ordered the company to recognize the union and start bargaining. But that standard, known as the Joy Silk rule after the textile mill that produced it, was abandoned in the course of a Supreme Court case in 1969.

Union membership in the private sector fell to 6% in 2022 from nearly 17% in 1983. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Under the original rule, an employer could refuse to recognize a union and demand an election only if it had a solid reason to doubt that the union had really achieved a majority, not merely to reject collective bargaining rights or to undermine the union.

The change left the board with only one real remedy against employer efforts to undermine unionization elections  to schedule a new election. That plays into employers' hands, because delays almost always work in their favor.

Indeed, NLRB statistics show that unfair labor practices soared after the Joy Silk rule was abandoned in 1969. Over the following decade, accusations of illegal firings increased from 8,122 to 18,313 and charges of illegal intimidation of unionization advocates from 947 to 6,493.

Read more: Column: Julie Su would be a perfect Labor secretary. That's why Big Business hates her

"The NLRB relinquished its capacity to effectively deter the commission of [unfair labor practices] during union organizing campaigns," Brian J. Petruska, a lawyer associated with the Laborers' International Union of North America, wrote in a 2017 study the board cited in its Cemex decision.

The NLRB's action surely contributed to the long-term decline of union membership, which has fallen in the private sector to 6% of wage and salaried workers in 2022 from 17% in 1983. (It peaked in the 1950s at about 33%.)

The Cemex ruling effectively restores most of the Joy Silk rule. The board found that the company "would likely meet a rerun election with a similarly aggressive union-avoidance strategy, similarly prone to stray into unlawful coercion."

Accordingly, it ordered the company to start bargaining with the union, with no formal election necessary. It also ordered the company to reinstate the fired driver, with back pay.

Although the Cemex case heralds the restoration of a long-overdue pro-labor outlook on the NLRB, that rests on a knife edge. As Harold Meyerson observed in The American Prospect, the board has just lost its ability to issue any decisions revising its rules.

That's because the term of one of the Democratic members, Gwynne Wilcox, expired on Aug. 27. Biden has nominated her to another term, but the Senate hasn't yet acted  and recently, even with its narrow Democratic majority, has shown itself to be willing to take an anti-labor stance, such as when Big Business challenges nominees to the Department of Labor. A confirmation vote is expected early this month, however.

Read more: Column: Senate's rejection of a Labor Department nominee is horrible news for American workers

By long-standing practice, the NLRB comprises three members from the president's party and two from the opposition, but one Republican seat has been vacant and the GOP has yet to offer a nominee. Until Wilcox returns, the board is bereft of a decision-making quorum. The Cemex and the previous decision were plainly timed to beat the end of Wilcox's term.

And if the GOP takes back the White House in 2024, Republicans are sure to undo all the progress made by Abruzzo and the current Democratic majority.

Meyerson is right to note that the Cemex ruling will strengthen the hand of the Teamsters, United Auto Workers and other unions undertaking strong organizing campaigns in the industrial heartland and in the union desert of the Southeast.

It's also a shot across the bow of the obnoxiously anti-labor Starbucks, which earlier was found by an NLRB judge to have committed "hundreds of unfair labor practices" in its fight against unionization drives by its baristas. The NLRB landed on Cemex like a pile of bricks, and that company was found to have committed only a couple of dozen violations. What's in store for Starbucks?

In general, there's reason to be optimistic about collective bargaining rights on Labor Day this year. But no reason for union organizers to take their eyes off the prize, either. Organizing opportunities like these don't come around often, or last forever.

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Zenzo, the leading provider of holistic and reliable pre-hospital care to patients, is poised to transform emergency medical care with its fleet of advanced 5G-enabled ambulances. The cutting-edge ambulances are equipped with advanced life-saving equipment and 5G connectivity, ushering in a new era of real-time data transmission, patient monitoring and top-tier emergency medical care. The first ever 5G enabled Ambulances were launched by the Chief Guest, Advocate Rahul Narwekar. The event was marked by key healthcare industry veterans like Ramdev Krishnan (Business Head, Digital Healthcare Solutions, Tata Communications), Dr Nitin Jagasia (Head - Emergency Medical Services, Apollo Hospital  Navi Mumbai), Dr Parag Rindani (Chief Executive Officer, Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd.), Ms Sweta Mangal (Director  Zenzo) and Ms Shaffi Mather(Founder  Zenzo).

Zenzos 5G-enabled ambulances are designed to meet the growing demand for quick and effective emergency medical services. These ambulances are designed to provide advanced medical care on the move, enabling immediate treatment during transit for improved patient outcomes, especially during critical situations with timely interventions. The technology enabler was TATA Communications which created a platform for integrating multiple medical equipment and the connectivity enables seamless data transmission, allowing experts to access critical information, diagnostics and medical records in real-time.

The 5G-enabled ambulances are equipped with major life-saving equipment including ventilators, defibrillators, ECG machines, multipara patient monitors, syringe pumps, and digital stethoscopes to deliver comprehensive and life-saving emergency care while en route to medical facilities. The 5G-enabled ambulances are equipped with high-tech equipment for constantly monitoring the patients vitals for immediate diagnosis and connecting with remote medical experts via video conferencing.

At Zenzo, we are committed to redefining emergency medical care, and we have the largest network of ambulances spread across India. We are taking a huge step towards providing advanced medical care on the go with our advanced 5G-enabled ambulances. Technology is playing a growing role in healthcare. By leveraging the power of 5G connectivity, we are empowering our medical teams to deliver real-time emergency medical care to patients. The 5G-enabled ambulances will be a game changer in the field of healthcare, said Shaffi Mather, Founder.

The 5G-enabled ambulances are equipped with high-tech equipment for constantly monitoring the patients vitals for immediate diagnosis and connecting with remote medical experts via video conferencing. The connectivity enables seamless data transmission, allowing experts to access critical information, diagnostics and medical records in real-time.

The 5G-enabled ambulances foster seamless collaboration among healthcare professionals from different disciplines, ensuring better care. Paramedics can get remote guidance from doctors for essential procedures. Further, by leveraging the Golden Hour, the critical period for beginning treatment, especially in the case of Cardiac patients, Zenzos 5G ambulance ensures better treatment outcomes through timely care and interventions. The use of technology also enables pre-arrival emergency room support for patients at hospitals.

Zenzo is also leveraging technology to make it easy for patients to reach it. The Zenzo Mobile App is a comprehensive solution that redefines the way Zenzo responds to critical situations. The revolutionary app offers a plethora of benefits, making it a game-changer in pre-hospital care. It comes with a user-friendly interface with easy navigation for quick booking of ambulances nearby, enabled with GPS tracking.

In addition, Zenzo also provides a range of ambulance services, including ambulance subscription, ambulance onsite, event ambulance, air ambulance, and mobile medical vans. Its offerings further extend to corporate health solutions such as medical rooms, telehealth consultation, occupational health centres, and wellness at the workplace. It also organises health check-up camps and provides medical training.

Sweta Mangal, Director, Ziqitza, said, Were very excited to start this emergency pre-hospital care service. To make sure our service is fast and seamless for the user, we also have the Zenzo App with which customers can book our services within seconds. They can book such services as Basic, Cardiac, 5G, Air or Train Ambulance and get timely medical help. We aim to make Zenzo a One-Stop Medical Concierge for holistic healthcare for corporates that includes Ambulance at Site, Wellness at the Workplace, telehealth services for Employees, Medical Rooms, Doctors on Site, Preventive Health Checkups and Occupational Health Centres, among others

With the largest network of ambulances across India, Zenzo guarantees reliable and widespread coverage, ensuring prompt and professional medical assistance as a trusted lifesaver, anytime, anywhere in India.

For Further details: please contact at Visakh.dayanandan@zhl.in

(This article is part of IndiaDotCom Pvt Ltds Consumer Connect Initiative, a paid publication programme. IDPL claims no editorial involvement and assumes no responsibility, liability or claims for any errors or omissions in the content of the article.)
The Shariah-compliant cryptocurrency Islamic Coin has announced plans to launch a Reg D public token this month via Republics OpenDeal Broker for both centralized and decentralized exchanges. The cryptocurrency promises liquidity provision, staking opportunities, and token rewards during the liquidity mining phase.

What Is Islamic Coin?

Islamic Coin, also known as ISLM is a new player in the world of cryptocurrency. It is a native currency of HAQQ, a community-run network, dedicated to empowering an ethics-first Shariah-compliant financial ecosystem. The Haqq blockchain is built on the Cosmos SDK. ICNetwork Ltd is the developer of the HAQQ Blockchain. ICNetwork Ltd is a privately financed technological enterprise founded by a group of blockchain and fintech entrepreneurs. Its founders include Andrey Kuznetsov, Alex Malkov, Mohammed AlKaff AlHashmi and Hussein Mohammed Al Meeza.

Islamic Coin-Web3 Partnership

Islamic Coin had earlier partnered with Republic Crypto, the Web3 advisory branch of digital finance firm Republic. The team behind the crypto planned to refine their market approach, tokenomics, DAO governance, and long-term value strategies. Islamic Coin's public token is currently scheduled for a September launch. The cryptocurrencys team said that the token launch will mean that retail investors will be able to participate in what used to be a project financed exclusively by large venture capital funds.

Islamic Coin Funding

Islamic Coin has already raised over $400 million, including funding from Alpha Blue Ocean's ABO Digital, DF101, Futurecraft Ventures, and Optic Capital. It's other project partners include exclusive integration with DDCAP Group, and an agreement with Holiday Swap, one of the world's largest home exchange platforms. As per the company, investment in Islamic Coin will be available to the public via liquidity staking, liquidity mining, and outright purchase of the token to benefit from its long-term appreciation.
Washington: Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has said that he would like to see the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war come to an end if Russia agrees to end its military alliance with China. Ramaswamy stressed that it is important to address the growing challenge posed by China and also that Russia does not fall into Beijing's lap,

Ramaswamy asserted on Thursday that if elected, he would achieve this goal by offering a "deal" with Moscow. US Presidential candidate for the 2024 elections told Fox News that as a US president, he would offer to freeze the current lines of control between Ukraine and Russia, make a hard commitment that NATO will not admit Ukraine into it and lift sanctions. In return, Russia would have to exit its military alliance with China, he said.

Very clear vision. I would do a deal that (Vladimir) Putin would say yes to but that actually advances American interests so that the United States wins. Here's what I would do, Ramaswamy said when asked how he would stop the war in Ukraine.

I would freeze the current lines of control. I would further make a hard commitment that NATO will not admit Ukraine to NATO. That's enough to get Putin to do the deal. But I will require something even greater in return, the 38-year-old multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur said.

Russia has to exit its military alliances with China. Right now, we're pushing Russia further into China's hands. The Russia-China military alliance is the single greatest threat that the United States faces today. And so just as Nixon did it in 1972, I'll do it in reverse," Ramaswamy said.

"Pull Russia apart from China, and by the way, get Russia to also remove its military presence in the Western Hemisphere. Get out of the Western Hemisphere. Reopen economic relations with Russia, that's how we do it, he added.

The Indian-American presidential aspirant said the reason why China is more valuable today is because the US has wrongfully cut off Russia from the West by bombing the Nord Stream one and two pipelines and also sanctioning Russia.

So if we can reopen the Western economic relations with Russia, Russia has less of a reason to be in partnership with China. There are also cracks in the armour of that relationship if you look closely, he said.

Russia actually sent weapons both to India and to Vietnam, both of which border China. They are sending a signal that China wants to build a railroad in northeast China to get to the ocean. Russia won't let them. So there are cracks in that armour now, he asserted.

Meanwhile, another Indian-origin Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley slammed Ramaswamy for his comments that he was against using US military force against Iran. We will not stop Israel from defending itself to the fullest capacity. And we remain supportive of Israel because they are our friend, Ramaswamy had told the Israel Hayom.

I think it's really important that the US not put our own men and women on the line in a war with Iran, when in fact, there's no reason for us to be in that kind of war now, and I don't think that's good for the United States, and I don't think that's good for Israel. But what we do need to do is to make sure that Israel is strong so that Iran isn't emboldened, Ramaswamy told the Israeli newspaper.

Vivek must have missed that the fanatical terrorist regime in Iran regularly calls for Death to America, Haley said in a statement. If he doesnt see a nuclear Iran as a threat to American security, then he should take his place beside AOC and the Squad and get nowhere near the White House, she said, referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a group of eight Democratic members of the US House of Representatives known as the Squad.
Georgia: In a significant development, the US State of Georgia has declared the month of October as Hindu Heritage Month citing the contribution of the vibrant 'Hindu American' community in the states progress. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp made the proclamation and stated that the month of October will be collectively celebrated focusing on the Hindu culture and the diverse spiritual traditions rooted in India.

Notably, October is a significant month for Hinduism, as it contains major Hindu festivals like Navaratri and Diwali. The Hindu heritage, culture, traditions, and values provide their followers invaluable solutions to many of life's problems and often serve as a source of inspiration, reflection, and contemplation for the millions of individuals who look to the teachings of Hinduism for guidance, the proclamation by Georgia Governor stated.

The proclamation added that Hinduism is the third-largest religion in the world with one billion devotees worldwide and approximately three million in the US. The vibrant Hindu American community has contributed tremendously to the vitality of the State of Georgia by enriching the lives of its citizens, the proclamation stated.

It added, During the month of October 2023, the Hindu community across the State of Georgia and across our great nation will collectively celebrate its heritage by focusing on its culture and the diverse spiritual traditions rooted in India.

The Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), a Hindu advocacy group in the US, has welcomed the move and thanked Governor Kemp for recognising the contribution of the Hindu community.

Georgia proclaims October as Hindu Heritage Month. Our thanks to Governor @BrianKempGA for this recognition. This was made possible by the untiring dedication of our friends at the Hindus of Georgia PAC. Hinduism has contributed greatly to the cultural milieu of America. It is gratifying to see Georgia recognize the contribution of Hindu Americans and Hinduism at the same time that California is targeting us with #SB403, the group said on X (formerly Twitter).

Notably, the Georgia Assembly, earlier this year, had passed the first-ever resolution condemning "Hinduphobia" making it the first-ever US State to do so. The resolution passed by the Georgia legislature citing 'Understanding HinduphobiaInitiative' described Hinduphobia as "a set of antagonistic, destructive, and derogatory attitudes and behaviours towards Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) and Hindus that may manifest as prejudice, fear, or hatred."
Ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit scheduled to take place in New Delhi on 9-10 September, CRPF has trained more than 450 drivers to work for the VIP transportation in the capital region. As per a report on PTI, the CRPF's VIP security wing have been trained to pilot the special left-hand driven and bullet-protected vehicles to ferry foreign dignitaries. A fleet of both bullet-resistant and non bullet-resistant Audi, Mercedes, BMW and Hyundai Genesis cars have been hired or purchased by the Union government to ferry 41 top foreign guests.

This dignitaries will be flying to India starting September 8, 2023 to participate in the G20 Leaders' Summit in Delhi next week, official sources said. These specially-trained drivers will take the premiers and leaders to their destinations in the national capital, like the main meeting venue of 'Bharat Mandapam' and the five-star hotels where the dignitaries will stay, they said.

As more than 60 vehicles have been specially pooled in to carry the VVIPs are left-handed, the CRPF VIP security wing has undertaken a special training to skill drivers for these cars as India has right-hand drive protocol, the sources said.

The force got some left-hand driven cars from Germany to train these personnel apart for about a month apart from skilling them to drive the bulky bullet resistant luxury cars. Since these vehicles are imported for the G20 Summit, they are mostly left hand driven due to their counrtry of origin, including Germany and South Korea.

Earlier, govt denied the media reports that they have bought 450 Audi cars to ferry the dignitaries during the G20 Summit. Instead, govt has leased cars from various companies for the 2 days event and will be returned back as soon as G20 is over.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the country's largest paramilitary force with over 3.25 lakh personnel in its ranks deployed for a variety of internal security duties. Its special VIP security wing with a strength of over 6,000 personnel guards 149 high-risk persons including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and the Gandhis - Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The force has deployed a total of 900 personnel, including these 450 drivers, for providing proximate security to the VIPs during the two days of the G20 Summit on September 9-10 and the one preceding day of September 8 when the heads of various nations will start arriving in the national capital.

This special G20 pool of the CRPF includes personnel who have earlier served in the Special Protection Group (SPG) that protects the prime minister and the counter-terrorist force National Security Guard (NSG). Official sources said the spouses of the dignitaries will be be guarded by the specially-trained men and women commandos of another paramilitary force - Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

The Border Security Force (BSF) has been tasked with providing the "contingency" carcade for the G20 Leaders' Summit, the sources said. Other central armed police forces like the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) apart from the 'black cat' commandos of the NSG have been deployed for securing the routes and venues of the summit in coordination with Delhi Police, they said.
New Delhi: Leaving audiences in awe and anticipation, the first look of actor Abhishek Banerjee from his upcoming film 'Stolen' has been unleashed. The striking image portrays the actor in a state of distress, with visible wounds, a battered appearance, a swollen eye, and haunting scars etched across his face.

This remarkable unveiling occurred on the grand stage of the Venice Film Festival, where 'Stolen' had its special premiere. Talking about the same, he says  'Stolen' is such an extraordinary film and it has been incredible working on it. It feels so special and I've immense gratitude to have received so much love for our film during its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The standing ovation that our film received was an unforgettable moment and has been the biggest reward as an actor."

He further mentioned: "Here we are unveiling the first look image to thank our audiences for all the love they are sending in for the film and each one of us. This film marks as Abhishek Banerjees first film as lead and it received a five-minute-long standing ovation after the screening. 'Stolen' narrates the tale of a five-month-old baby being abducted from her mother, and this incident draws the attention of brothers Gautam and Raman, leading them to face various challenges that test their relationships and convictions. Recently, the actor basked into two successful releases on the same day, Dream Girl 2 and Aakhri Sach, which are two totally different genre.

Meanwhile, on the work front, the actor will be seen in Stree 2 and Vedaa.
The auspicious Kajari Teej festival is just around the corner, and Hindu women are getting ready to celebrate this sacred occasion. Also known as Kajali Teej, Kajri Teej, or Boorhi Teej, this festival occurs on the Tritiya Tithi of Krishna Paksha during the Bhadrapada month. Devotees of Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati observe this festival by worshipping the deities, observing a nirjala fast (fasting without water), visiting temples, and more.

Additionally, women adorn themselves in new clothes, apply henna on their hands, wear jewelry, and pray for the long and prosperous lives of their husbands. If you plan to observe Kajari Teej, it's crucial to familiarize yourself with the date, auspicious timing, historical significance, and the festivities associated with this day. Heres all you need to know.

Kajari Teej 2023 Date And Shubh Muhurat:

Every year, Kajari Teej is celebrated after fifteen days of Hariyali Teej, three days after Raksha Bandhan and five days before Krishna Janmashtami. This year, Kajari Teej falls on September 2, Saturday.

According to Drik Panchang, Tritiya Tithi of Krishna Paksha of Bhadrapada month will start at 11:50 pm on September 1 and end at 8:49 pm on September 2.

Additionally, the shubh muhurat for performing Kajari Teej puja would be on September 2 from 7:57 am to 9:31 am. Meanwhile, the shubh muhurat during the nighttime will prevail from 9:45 pm to 11:12 pm.

Also read: Weight Loss: 10 Reasons Why Exercising Should Be A Part Of Your Daily Routine

Kajari Teej 2023 Significance and History:

In a tradition deeply rooted in North Indian states, particularly Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar, Hindus annually celebrate three significant Teej festivals. These festivities are marked by married women, who commit to a rigorous day-long nirjala fast, abstaining from both food and water.

The core essence of these Teej festivals revolves around married women's devotion to Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Through their prayers and fasting, they seek the well-being and prosperity of their husbands. Simultaneously, unmarried girls partake in these rituals with the hope of finding a suitable life partner.

Rooted in Hindu mythology, the origin of these festivals can be traced back to Goddess Parvati's unwavering desire to wed Lord Shiva. To fulfill her wish, she embarked on a journey of intense penance. Teej is considered a sacred occasion when devotees believe they can invoke the blessings of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, who symbolize the epitome of a harmonious married life, through worship and fasting.

Kajari Teej 2023 Celebrations and Rituals:

In the spirit of Kajari Teej, married women perform a series of traditional customs and rituals. These devoted women mark the occasion by melodiously serenading folk songs that express their temporary separation from their spouses. They also observe a rigorous nirjala fast, fervently praying to Lord Shiva and Parvati for the longevity of their husbands. Amidst a backdrop of diverse rituals and traditions, they perform a sacred puja, venerating the neem tree.

This auspicious day begins with devotees rising early to purify themselves through a ritualistic bath. Fasting women don resplendent new traditional attire and adorn themselves in shringar. They meticulously arrange clay idols of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati upon a vibrant red cloth, invoking them with heartfelt devotion. The worship continues with the offering of aarti, the lighting of incense sticks, and the illumination of lamps.

To honor this day, offerings comprising 16 things symbolic of married women are presented to Maa Parvati. Devotees also extend offerings of Bel leaves, cow's milk, Ganga water, and Dhatura to Lord Shiva. In addition to these rituals, devotees gather to listen to the enchanting tale of Shiv-Gauri's sacred union, deepening their connection to this cherished celebration.

(This article is intended for your general information only. Zee News does not vouch for its accuracy or reliability.)
NEW DELHI: In a big setback to former MP and senior Bihar politician Prabhunath Singh, the Supreme Court on Friday sentenced him to life imprisonment in connection with the 1995 double murder case. The SC ruling came a week after the top court convicted the Bihar politician in the case, overturning the orders of the trial court and the Patna High Court acquitting him.

Supreme Court sentenced life imprisonment to Bihar politician Prabhunath Singh in a matter pertaining to 1995 double murder case pic.twitter.com/1WmHpKB6nb  ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023

The apex court further directed the state government and the accused to award Rs 10 lakh each as compensation for the families of both the deceased and 5 lakhs for the injured. The top court also imposed a sentence of seven years imprisonment on Prabhunath Singh for the offence of attempt to murder under Section 307 IPC.

A bench of Justices S K Kaul, AS Oka and Vikram Nath had earlier held Singh guilty of culpable homicide amounting to murder for killing Daroga Rai and Rajendra Rai in March 1995 in Chhapra village of Bihar.

The bench also directed the state Home Secretary and DGP to ensure that Singh is ''taken into custody forthwith and produced before it on September 1 when it will hear the matter on the quantum of sentence to be imposed.

The Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court-III, Patna had by order dated October 24, 2008, acquitted Singh. This was upheld by the Patna High Court on December 2, 2021. Singh had allegedly opened fire on the victims on learning that they had voted for the Janata Dal. The former MP was then contesting as a candidate of the Bihar Peoples Party.

Prabhunath Singh is currently serving a life term in another murder case. He, along with his two brothers, was 2sentenced to life in prison in 2017 after a two-decade trial in the murder of former Janata Dal lawmaker Ashok Singh in 1995. Ashok Singh's wife had asked for the trial to be held on a neutral ground in Jharkhand, instead of Bihar.

Ashok Singh had defeated Prabhunath Singh in the Bihar assembly polls in 1995. He was killed in a blast at his official home in Patna soon after. Prabhunath Singh had allegedly said that Ashok Singh would be eliminated within 90 days of the election.
In a chilling revelation of youthful criminality, we unveil the perplexing world of Sameer, an 18-year-old who operates under the sinister alias 'Maya.' At an age when most teenagers are navigating the complex terrain of career choices and youthful dreams, Sameer has embarked on a path shrouded in darkness. Accused of four homicides, attempted murders, daring heists, and multiple violations of the Arms Act, his Instagram account provides an eerie glimpse into the enigmatic life he leads. This expose takes an even darker turn as we delve into the Bhajanpura Murder Case, unearthing the astonishing extent of his criminal activities.

The Digital Trail: Maya's Cryptic Online Presence

Maya's Instagram account serves as an unsettling portal into his shadowy existence. His posts paint a disturbing picture of a teenager who seems to relish the ominous persona he has adopted.

A Notorious Alter Ego: The Genesis of 'Maya'

Inspired by the character 'Maya' portrayed by Vivek Oberoi in the movie 'Shootout at Lokhandwala,' Sameer chose this alias to fuel his insatiable appetite for infamy. The name 'Maya' exudes an aura of danger and intrigue, aligning perfectly with his criminal ambitions.

A Trail of Infamy: Maya's Troubling Rap Sheet

Maya's criminal record reads like a script from a suspenseful crime thriller. At a mere 18 years old, he stands accused of four homicides, each one more audacious than the last. His alleged involvement in attempted murders, armed robberies, and numerous violations of the Arms Act paints a harrowing portrait of a teenager deeply immersed in the world of crime.

The Maya Syndicate: Reign of Terror

Maya has purportedly formed a gang consisting of 20 to 25 individuals, all willing to execute his perilous commands. This gang exhibits unparalleled audacity, consistently uploading videos on Instagram showcasing their criminal exploits.

A Quest for Notoriety: Maya's Dark Ambitions

Maya's single-minded ambition appears to revolve around etching his name into the annals of criminal history as a formidable 'don.' His recent release from juvenile detention has only fortified his determination, enabling him to continue evading the clutches of the law.

Transition to Adulthood: Confronting the Repercussions

With the onset of adulthood, Maya now finds himself within the jurisdiction of the law, facing increased legal scrutiny and harsher consequences for his actions. The Bhajanpura Murder Case, in which he is embroiled, signifies a pivotal juncture, as he can no longer rely on juvenile leniency.

The Graveyard Murders: A Stark Reminder

The Bhajanpura Murder Case serves as a somber reminder of the heinous crimes that have come to define Maya's gang. As investigations progress, the North East Delhi Police Department has revealed that this represents the fourth murder case with Maya as a primary suspect.

Conclusion: The Disturbing Saga of 'Maya'

Maya's narrative is one of extraordinary criminality, veering dramatically from the conventional dreams and aspirations of youth. As he grapples with the consequences of his actions, the world watches with a mix of morbid curiosity and apprehension. His journey serves as a chilling illustration of the potential darkness that can engulf even the most youthful minds, underscoring the importance of addressing the root causes that lead individuals down such perilous paths.
New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) is deploying frontline fighter jets, radars, anti-drone systems and surface-to-air missiles as part of its elaborate efforts to secure the skies of Delhi and neighbouring regions for the G20 summit next week, military sources said on Friday. The IAF has already set up a dedicated Operations Direction Centre (ODC) for coordinating various aspects of the arrangements with security agencies concerned, they said.

India is hosting the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 in its capacity as the current president of the grouping. The assets being pressed into service to secure Delhi's airspace as well as the flight path within India of various leaders include combat jets Rafales, Mirage-2000s and Sukhoi-30MKIs, the sources said.

Indigenously-developed NETRA airborne early warning and control systems as well as high-end surveillance equipment are among the key platforms that have been deployed already, they said. The missiles that have been deployed include Akash as well as the Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MR-SAM) systems.

Having a range of 70 km, the MRSAM, is a quick reaction, vertically launched missile designed to neutralise enemy aerial threats such as missiles, aircraft, guided bombs and helicopters. The Akash, with a range of up to 25 km, is a short range surface to air missile primarily used for protecting vulnerable areas and points from air attacks.

The IAF has also put all its air bases in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir on operational readiness as part of the overall security measures. The overall security measures are being coordinated with various other agencies concerned, the sources said.

"We are taking every possible measure to ensure full-proof security for the G20 summit," said an official on condition of anonymity. "We are deploying assets to deal with all sorts of threats including slow-moving targets to high-speed ones," the official added.

The security of the air space of Delhi and neighbouring regions are being primarily handled by the IAF's Delhi headquartered Western Command. However, assets of other commands are also being deployed.

A majority of G20 leaders including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have already confirmed their participation at the summit.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are also among the G20 leaders who confirmed their participation at the summit.

The G20 member countries represent around 85 percent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population. The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union (EU).
Customers are disparaging a new shopping cart design recently unveiled at a Kentucky Walmart.

The new carts are slightly taller and have cellphone and cup holders, according to the Mayfield, Kentucky stores social media post announcing the change.

The post shows a store associate wearing a nametag with Bobby printed on it demonstrating the cart's new features. The 30-second video, originally posted on July 23, has been seen more than 8,000 times.

And despite the apparent upgrades and additional features, some Walmart shoppers in this Kentucky town not far from the Tennessee border aren't big fans of the new addition.

Im short and I hate it, Jessica Washburn wrote in the comments section.

Short people share objections to Walmart's new cart on social media

In the comments of the social media post, customers complained about the height of the new cart, and some reported pain and discomfort after using them.

"Seniors are complaining the handle is (too) high. It's hurting (their) shoulders," Suzanne Stice commented.

Maddy Charleson uploaded a video on Tik-Tok showing that her vision was impaired by having her child in the cart.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Other Facebook commenters pointed out the security risks presented by having ones phone out in the open.

Sweet. Leave your phone accessible to thieves. Then go check yourself out. Gold star Walmart, Kris Glasson wrote.

Other customers noted that the new features might also aid in the spread of disease.

In a crime-free and germ-free environment in theory it would (be) a great idea but no thanks, Debbie Perry posted.

An unwanted shopping partner: Boa constrictor snake found curled up in Target cart in Iowa

New cart design liked by some, roll out unclear

The condemnation was not universal, with some customers writing in praise of the cart.

"Im 54 and love it. It felt comfortable to me pushing," Nancy Elisabeth Parks wrote. "I didnt mind the height of the cart at all, and enjoyed the phone holder."

The Mayfield store is the only location the carts have appeared. USA TODAY has reached out to Walmart on where the carts will be implemented and will update this story when the company responds.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Revamped Walmart shopping carts too tall for some customers' tastes
Mumbai: Leaders of the Opposition bloc INDIA decided to get into the poll mode and speed up plans to take on the BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with some stressing on the urgency to finalise seat sharing and come out with a joint agenda in a few weeks' time. Top opposition leaders, who met in Mumbai for a few hours in an informal setting on the first day of the third round of talks of their alliance on Thursday, emphasised that they must get their act together at the earliest and vowed to finalise a coordination committee along with four sub-groups to chalk out their election plans.

Sources said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told the leaders to give one name from their respective parties for being part of the coordination committee. The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would also unveil its logo on Friday, even though there were no discussions on it on Thursday.

The sources added that the opposition grouping should have a team of spokespersons who would speak on behalf of the alliance, as leaders of various parties have their own respective spokespersons. They said the leaders discussed the agenda of Friday's meeting which will begin at 11 AM, after which they would issue a joint statement and address a press conference jointly.

It was decided that a coordination committee will be formed after discussions, along with at least four sub-groups which include one to plan the joint programme of the alliance, another on preparing the action plan and handling social media, and one on research and data analysis to take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

Besides, sub-committees would also be set up for chalking out the joint campaign and rallies. A source said, there could also be a discussion on Friday on having a convenor for the alliance.

While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is learnt to have told the meeting that the bloc should come out with its manifesto by October 2, her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal called for finalising seat sharing among parties for the Lok Sabha polls by the end of next month.

Samajwadi Party's (SP) Ram Gopal Yadav is also learnt to have called for finalising seat sharing between parties in states early, saying there is no time left for the opposition alliance. In view of the convening of the special session of Parliament from September 18, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the opposition should be ready for all contingency plans to take on the NDA's surprise element strategy and gimmicks.

Most leaders agreed for early finalisation of poll plans for 2024 considering that there could be early elections, while stressing that there was no time left with them and mere meetings would not help.

Congress president Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee, AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, among others, participated in the informal talks.

National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, CPI(ML) Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, and RLD's Jayant Chaudhary, were also present at the meeting.

Thackeray hosted a dinner for the INDIA leaders after the meeting. The run-up to the meeting saw the Adani issue take centre stage with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi holding a press conference on the premises of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in suburban Santacruz where the INDIA bloc leaders had gathered.

Before the start of the meeting in the evening, Rahul Gandhi was seen chatting with Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Aaditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut, and Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Supriya Sule and Jayant Patil. Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar were also seen sharing light moments ahead of the meeting.

Earlier in the day, several leaders of the alliance said they have come together to save the Constitution and democracy in the country. Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad said the need of the hour is to strengthen the unity and sovereignty of the country and to protect the Constitution and democracy.

"The Modi government has failed to address the issues of poverty, unemployment and welfare of farmers. At the INDIA alliance meeting, we will work on evolving a common programme. We have to contest elections one-on-one (put up common candidates against the BJP)," the RJD leader said.

Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav said the 'Maha Gathbandhan' (grand alliance) came to power in Bihar last August and Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar decided to work on getting all like-minded parties on board for a larger opposition alliance.

"A year later, we are meeting in Mumbai for the third time as an INDIA alliance," he said. People wanted a proper alternative and the INDIA alliance is offering it, Tejashwi Yadav said, adding that people will give a befitting reply to "those who divide society."

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti said the youth were the strength of the country. "Leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh worked to give direction to the youth and set up institutions like JNU, IIMs, ISRO," she said.

RJD leader Jha said the alliance is working to unite the country. It is not just a coalition of parties but that of ideas, he said. Yechury claimed that people's response to INDIA has "unnerved" the prime minister and the BJP.
IMPHAL: At least five persons, including a tribal song composer and a Village Defence Volunteer, were killed and 20 others injured in Manipur's Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts during the past three days while gunfights between Kukis and Meiteis were still on till Thursday night, officials said. Sources said that the death toll in the incessant firing exchanges was six to seven in three days but officials were yet to confirm it.

The five slain people included L.S Mangboi Lhungdim, 50, who composed the song "I Gam Hilou Ham (Is this not our land?)" after the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3. His songs became a rallying cry for tribal unity. The dead also included VDV Jangminlun Gangte.

Firing was continuing in the foothills of Bishnupur and adjoining areas in Churachandpur district till late Thursday evening, after a fresh gunfight between two rival ethnic groups started early morning, police officials said in Imphal.

Two persons, who sustained splinter injuries during firing in Manipurs Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts, succumbed to their wounds on Thursday.

Police said that a youth, who sustained splinter injuries on his head from a bomb blast on Wednesday, died while he was being shifted to Guwahati hospital for medical treatment via Mizoram.

Another injured person of Wednesday's firing died on Thursday in Churachandpur district hospital, where he was undergoing treatment, a police official said. Defence sources said that in a prompt and effective response, the Army's quick action team foiled an attempted arson incident near Leimakhong on Thursday evening.

An army column near Chingmang village noticed flames and smoke emerging from a vacant house. Without delay, the personnel sprang into action, establishing a secure perimeter around the area.

Within a few minutes of the incident, three Army water bowsers reached the location, and the fire was controlled and extinguished. Meanwhile, combing operations are also being conducted, simultaneously, to apprehend those involved in the attempted arson.

The swift action by the Army prevented the house from being gutted and the flames spreading to neighbouring houses, a defence spokesman said.

A Manipur Police statement said that it is being circulated in various social media that Lonphai, Khousabung, Kangvai and Sugnu areas are under attack, and clarified that there has been no such incidents at Kangvai and Sugnu.

However, exchange of fire did occur at Lonphai, and Khousabung. Security forces deployed in the area responded and subsequently, the firing subsided.

The situation is tense but under control, it said. A separate police statement said that during the search operations, 20 bombs, three looted arms, 20 different types of ammunition, and 30 grams of gunpowder were recovered from Churachandpur.
Washington: Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and emphasised the role of India in deterring China in the Indo-Pacific region. He also stated that the US has also been a little bit less reliable than necessary, and he would like to shore that up as the President.

Ramaswamy was speaking at the PBD podcast on the 'Valuentainment' platform, where he was asked if the Ohio-based entrepreneur has any relation with PM Modi. Speaking at the podcast, Ramaswamy said, I don't know him yet, butthe morning before he came for his joint session (at US Congress) so I stuck around, one of the people had me as their guest and so I stuck around and heard his address. I have been impressed by him as a leader.

At the same time, I think that India is going to have to step it up a little bit. They havent really met the full level of military commitments that I'd like to see a little woefully on the trade relationship and you know understandably the US has also been a little bit less reliable than necessary. So I want to shore that up, he added.

Ramaswamy further said that having India as a reliable partner for the US is a further deterrent to Xi Jinping, adding that avoiding the war over Taiwan will be the most important thing in terms of foreign policy by the next US president.

If you want to think about a conflict situation with Taiwan, what people forget, is the Indian Ocean is where the Middle Eastern Oil supplies run through to get to China and so if India is actually a reliable partner that is a further deterrent to Xi Jinping even going after Taiwan. And I think I have probably the clearest vision of anybody in this race in either party Patrick of how to deter China from going after Taiwan while avoiding war over that island. And I think it's gonna be the most important thing the next president does from the standpoint of foreign policy, he further added.

The Republican leader stated that he would abandon the perception that the US is the moral arbiter of what happens in the world and will focus on advancing the interests of the American homeland.

I'm going to abandon the lie that I think we've told in the US at times that we're somehow a moral Arbiter of what happens in the world. What I'm going to say is the truth my job as US president is to advance the interests of the Homeland to actually take care of American citizens. I have a moral obligation to my fellow citizens to take care of them

He added, If I'm saying that oh this is about to fight for democracy in some random nation that banned 11 opposition parties and Consolidated State media into one arm we don't care beans about somebody invading another country in Africa no it doesn't make senseI'm in this to just Advance American interest then two parties can reach a deal that makes sense for both parties.

The Indian-American entrepreneur added that he is ready for the challenge of dealing with leaders like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, who are off the top of their game and have their best days behind them with some insecurities.

Notably, Ramaswamy has called the US support to Ukraine in the ongoing conflict with Russia disastrous. He has advocated for ending the war on terms with Moscow retaining parts of the Donbas region and Kyiv not joining NATO. He has pointed out the argument that Russian President Vladimir Putin must exit his military alliance with China to end the conflict, which will leave Beijing in a weaker position to invade Taiwan.

Notably, Ramaswamy had shot up sharply in GOP primary polls, standing tied with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at the second position. However, both candidates lag hugely behind former President Donald Trump who leads with 56 per cent, as per The Hill.

In another poll by RealClearPolitics, Trump is far out in front of the 2024 GOP race with 53.6 per cent support, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 13.5 per cent, and Ramaswamy at 7.3 per cent, New York Post reported. The next US presidential election is scheduled to be held on November 5, 2024.
The Union government today constituted a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of 'One Nation, One Election' which envisages the holding of general election and state Assembly elections simultaneously. The committee will explore the possibility of bringing legislation regarding it. A parliamentary standing committee, the Law Commission and Niti Ayog had earlier examined the 'One Nation, One Election' proposal and submitted reports on the subject. The government has decided to call a Special Session of Parliament from September 18-22 where it is speculated that the government could bring a bill for this proposal to take effect.

Soon, after the announcement, BJP national president JP Nadda met former President Ram Nath Kovind at the latter's residence in New Delhi. The meeting assumes significance as the Centre constituted a committee headed by the former President to explore the possibility of 'One Nation, One Election'. If the proposal comes into effect, elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies across India will be held simultaneously with voting taking place at the same time. The government has decided to call a Special Session of Parliament from September 18-22 where it is speculated that the government could bring a bill for this proposal to take effect.

Meanwhile, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minsiter Pralhad Joshi said on Friday that the report of the committee will be discussed in the Parliament and asked why the Opposition is scared of it. "There will be a discussion (on 'One Nation, One Election') in Parliament. why is the Opposition scared (about it)? Democracy is about evolution; India is the mother of democracy. This is part of evolution," Pralhad Joshi said.

"In this evolution, every new proposal that benefits the nation will be discussed. For now, a committee has been formed and they will give their suggestion and then a discussion will be held on the subject. There were simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies till 1967. Now there are polls every few months and it is a huge expenditure. This must be discussed," Pralhad Joshi added.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath speaking about 'One Nation, One Election' on Friday said that in a democratic set-up, with stability of government, speedy governance is needed for development and with this point of view, 'One Nation, One Election' is a commendable attempt. Speaking to ANI CM Yogi said, "For a rich democracy, political stability is really important and in a democratic set-up, with the stability of government, speedy governance is needed for development, with this point of view 'one nation, one election' is a commendable attempt."

Expressing his views on the policy, CM said, "We are happy that the committee formed for 'One Nation, One Election' is formed under the chairmanship of our former president (Ram Nath Kovind). "For this innovative initiative, I whole heartedly want to thank PM Modi on behalf of citizens of Uttar Pradesh," CM Yogi further added. Highlighting the importance of the proposal, Yogi Adityanath said, 'One Nation, One Election' is the need of the hour and it is important as elections which were being held time and again act as an obstacle in the path of development because election procedures take at least a month and a half's time which obstructs the development process. So it is important that Loksabha elections, Assembly elections and other kinds of elections be held at the same time."

Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Sushil Modi said, "...If the elections are held at a time, the pace of development will increase & will save the money spent on elections. The percentage of voters casting their votes will also increase. The country's voter is aware & knows whom to vote for..." Simultaneous elections for the state assemblies and the Lok Sabha were held till 1967. However, in 1968 and 1969 some legislative assemblies were dissolved prematurely followed by the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in 1970. This forced a change in electoral schedules for the states and the country.
In a significant development towards streamlining India's electoral processes, the central government has initiated discussions on the possibility of conducting simultaneous Lok Sabha (House of the People) and Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) elections across the nation. A special session of Parliament has been convened from September 18th to September 22nd to deliberate on this matter, emphasizing the government's seriousness about reforming the electoral landscape. Leading this initiative is a committee chaired by former President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, which will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of India's electoral system.

An In-Depth Look at "One Nation, One Election"

Simultaneous Elections on the Horizon

The concept of "One Nation, One Election" has long been championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This idea involves synchronizing Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly elections to ensure that they occur concurrently. While this proposal aims to reduce the frequency of elections and the associated costs, it also seeks to minimize the disruption caused by continuous electoral cycles. However, it is a multifaceted endeavor that requires comprehensive planning and coordination.

Former President Ram Nath Kovind to Lead the Way

Appointing former President Kovind as the committee's chairman underscores the government's commitment to exploring the feasibility of simultaneous elections. His wealth of experience and insights into the nation's governance will be instrumental in guiding the committee's deliberations. Although the government has not divulged specific details of the committee's agenda, it is widely anticipated that "One Nation, One Election" will be the central focus.

Challenges and Considerations

Elections Across India

India is known for its diversity, and conducting simultaneous elections across the entire country presents numerous challenges. With state assembly elections held at different intervals and Lok Sabha elections occurring every five years, aligning these electoral processes necessitates careful planning and constitutional amendments.

Rescheduling Elections

Several states have recently held legislative assembly elections or are scheduled to do so shortly. Coordinating the rescheduling of these elections to align with the proposed "One Nation, One Election" concept is a complex task. Balancing the interests of different states and political parties adds another layer of intricacy to the process.

Uniform Civil Code

During the special session, discussions may extend to encompass a broader spectrum of electoral and legislative reforms, including the presentation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill. The UCC seeks to unify personal laws governing various religious communities in India. While it has been a topic of debate and discussion for decades, its introduction during the special session would signify a concerted effort to drive legislative changes.

Conclusion: Shaping India's Electoral Landscape

The establishment of the committee led by former President Kovind marks a significant milestone in India's journey towards electoral reform. As deliberations unfold during the special session of Parliament, the nation will closely watch how these proposed changes will impact its democratic processes and the path ahead for "One Nation, One Election."
New Delhi: After having made a mark in both Bollywood and Tollywood, Rakul Preet Singh has recently been invited as the chief guest for the prestigious awards 'Hindustan Shikhar Samagam 2023' held in Kashmir. Taking to Instagram, the actress shared the diary of her Kashmir.

The actress shared the travel diary of her Kashmir visit on social media where she transports us to the divine beauty of Kashmir and shows the joyous mood. The leading actress interacted with the people of Kashmir and also shared her experience about the place and said, "The beauty of Kashmir should be experienced. I have shot for my film at Kashmir for 8 days, and it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The beauty of Kashmir, its food, and the way nature talks with us is simply amazing". She also explored the locales of the place and had a good time at the place and also gave us a glimpse into the "Hindustan Shikhar Samagam 2023'. Sharing the post on social media, she captioned,"Kashmir the joy of being in the lap of nature .."

Meanwhile, Rakul Preet Singh who had 5 prominent releases last year, has two big successful releases with 'Chhatriwali' and 'I Love You', will be seen in the Pan India Film Indian 2 alongside Kamal Haasan, and also has some interesting unannounced films in the filmography.

Rakul Preet Singh has gained immense popularity across various film industries. Since her debut, the leading lady has proved her mettle and has stamped her ability across various industries. Following her journey, she has worked with some of the biggest superstars of Bollywood and Tollywood.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi applauded Delhi Metro for its recent achievement of an increase in the number of daily passenger journeys. The appreciation from the PM came while addressing a post on X (Twitter) by Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs. Based on the data shared by the Union Minister on the social media platform, Delhi Metro's daily passenger journeys the pre-COVID figures achieving an all-time high.

Delhi Metro recorded 66, 18,717 passenger journeys on February 10, 2020, while the number increased to 68,16,252 passenger journeys on August 28, 2023. Sharing the update, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri wrote, "Green, efficient & affordable metro is Delhi's trusted mode of daily commute." He added, "Daily passenger journeys on @officialDMRC overtake the pre-covid figures to an all time high!"

Also read: Indian Railways: Jaya Verma Sinha Takes Charge As First Women CEO And Chairperson

Addressing the post PM wrote, "Wonderful news. Our Government will continue working to ensure our urban centres have modern and comfortable public transport."

Wonderful news. Our Government will continue working to ensure our urban centres have modern and comfortable public transport. https://t.co/fe6fXPwhGR  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 1, 2023

It is to be noted that, of the total 68.16 lakh passenger journeys in one day, the highest figures were recorded on the Yellow line with 18.55 lakh passengers followed by 14.47 lakh passengers on the Blue Line (Line 1) operating between Noida Electronic City and Dwarka Sector 21. While Red Line accounted for 7,65,059 journeys and the Airport Express Line Stood at 61,041.

The daily passenger journey data shared by the Union Minister shows the number of corridors used by a passenger to complete his or her journey. On the other hand, the ridership data shows the total number of tickets sold and metro cards used by the commuters to exit a station.
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Investors who take an interest in Pantheon Resources Plc (LON:PANR) should definitely note that the Executive Chairman, David Hobbs, recently paid UK0.16 per share to buy UK164k worth of the stock. We reckon that's a good sign, especially since the purchase boosted their holding by 58%.

View our latest analysis for Pantheon Resources

Pantheon Resources Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by David Hobbs is the biggest insider purchase of Pantheon Resources shares that we've seen in the last year. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (UK0.25), we still think insider buying is a positive. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.

The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

Pantheon Resources is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Based on our data, Pantheon Resources insiders have about 1.0% of the stock, worth approximately UK2.1m. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. We consider this fairly low insider ownership.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Pantheon Resources Tell Us?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. But we don't feel the same about the fact the company is making losses. While the overall levels of insider ownership are below what we'd like to see, the history of transactions imply that Pantheon Resources insiders are reasonably well aligned, and optimistic for the future. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Pantheon Resources (3 are potentially serious) you should be aware of.

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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.
Assyrian Patriarch on the Pope's Visit to Mongolia

Pope Francis' apostolic journey to Mongolia is "a welcome initiative" that also contributes to rediscovering "the well-documented and well-known history of Christianity in this country and among the Mongolian people". This is what the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Awa III, stresses to Fides in his reflections on the ecumenical importance of the Bishop of Rome's visit to the great Asian country. Pope Francis' visit to Mongolia - underlines Mar Awa - "is undoubtedly a welcome initiative, a visit to meet one of the smallest and most remote flocks in the world".

Furthermore, "although today the Catholic community in Mongolia is very small, we are reminded of the well-documented and known history of Christianity in this country and among the Mongolian people", the Patriarch continued, "from the annals of Church history we learn that the first encounter between the Church and the Mongol tribes is in fact due to the preaching of the Gospel by the missionaries of the Assyrian Church of the East. Already at the end of the 6th century, thanks to the monks of the Church of the East, Christianity began to spread among the peoples of the Eurasian steppe".

"In 1281", Patriarch Mar Awa III recalls, "the Assyrian Church of the East had a Turkish-Mongol Patriarch, Mar Yahb'Alaha III (1281-1317). At that time, the ecclesiastical presence of the Assyrian Church was very strong in what is now the Mongolian state and in the Chinese province of Mongolia".

Today - reports the Patriarch - "there is a growing awareness among the Mongols of their ancient Christian heritage, which dates back to before the arrival of Western missionaries in the early 13th century. Many in Mongolia today are striving to restore the ancient Church of their ancestors, namely the Assyrian Church of the East".

In a previous interview with Fides (see Fides, 5/12/2022), Patriarch Mar Awa referred to the peculiarities of the great missionary adventure of the ancient Church of the East, traces of which can still be found - the remains of churches and monasteries even in the Arabian Peninsula: "The missionaries of the ancient Church of the East," the Assyrian patriarch emphasized on this occasion, "were an 'army' of a spiritual nature. It was primarily monks and nuns who placed themselves in contexts shaped by other thoughts, by ancient cultures and religious mentalities. They wooed people's hearts with gentleness rather than dynamics of conquest. And then they helped local people find the graphic signs to put their languages and their spoken words into written form. And every urgency, every concrete problem of life became an opportunity to do good and become friends and with all people".
BERLIN TOWNSHIP  A passion for donuts was the inspiration behind the newest business now open on Main Street in Berlin.

Zach and Sarah Lee consider themselves donut connoisseurs. The couple has four children, and they have always loved sweet treats, especially donuts. Thus, the inspiration for the Blue Sky Cafe.

"When we vacation every year at Anna Maria Island south of Tampa, there is a little donut shop there that serves this style of make-your own donut," Zach Lee said. "We've been going there for seven, eight years. You come in, fill out a sheet of paper with the toppings and icings you want. During our two-week stay, probably 13 of those 14 days, we start off with a dozen of those donuts."

Lee always thought that concept would do really well back home in Berlin, both for the locals and the tourists.

"For the past seven years, we promised the kids that we would do this some day," Sarah Lee said. "We were just waiting for the right chance."

More: Local physician concerned about health risk of Tapee Tea - is it a miracle cure?

Zach and Sarah Lee have opened Blue Sky Cafe, an elevated donut cafe, on the second floor of the Atlee Building, a new construction at the corner of state Route 39 and U.S. Route 62 on Main Street in Berlin.

The time was right

In the summer of 2021, the land located at the intersection of state Route 39 and US Route 62 in Berlin that housed the historic Pomerene House became available and the Lees bought it.

"We thought this was the perfect spot for putting our little donut shop in there," Zach Lee said. "We're calling ourselves an elevated donut cafe. The donuts are the foundation of what we do, but we wanted great coffee as well. We both love coffee. We serve great coffee, but we're not a coffee shop. We sell mainly just drip coffee, pour overs and lattes, hot or iced."

"We bought the land with the intention of putting up the donut shop, but once we got into it, we realized it would be a waste of this prime (real estate) spot to just do that, so we started to expand our ideas to what all could go in here," Sarah Lee said.

The Atlee Building, located on Main Street in Berlin just southwest of the intersection of state Route 39 and U.S Route 62, features a salon/spa on the ground floor, a home store and donut cafe on the second floor, and five luxury suites on the third floor.

And the Atlee Building was born.

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A touch of history

"This is very much a passion project of ours," Zach Lee added. "I guess I would be the driver behind this, our first foray into food service. Tammy Miller is our manager. She's here every day."

Sarah Lee was working as an interior designer at S. Flynn Design & Build. They were looking for a place to open a home goods store, so they partnered with the Lees to build the Atlee Building, which now houses The Blue Sky Cafe and S. Flynn Home on the second floor, The Remedy Salon & Spa on the ground floor, and five luxury overnight suites on the third floor, called the Atlee Suites.

S. Flynn Home Store is located on the second floor of the new Atlee Building in downtown Berlin.

The Lees felt it is was important to preserve some of the historical significance of the Pomerene family.

The Atlee Suites hosted their first guests this summer, and the Blue Sky Cafe opened in mid-August. Throughout the three-story building, there are photos featuring the Pomerene family, commemorating the history. Doors from the second story of the original Pomerene House are being restored for the exterior of the suites, and replicas of the front doors were also specially made.

The Atlee Suites feature a convenient location, king beds, massive showers, jetted tubs, private decks, high-end furniture and fireplaces with incredible views both north and south.

The Pomerene Memorial plaque is being restored and will be placed out front of the building during the official grand opening, scheduled for sometime in October.

"Liz Beachy owns the Remedy Salon & Spa. We're real excited about her being down there. It's a great fit for our building," Zach Lee said.

So far, so good

"The feedback has been really good," he said. "People seem to really enjoy the concept. Our donuts are always fresh and quick. If you order vanilla with sea salt, that gets dipped when you order it. It's kind of an endless customization option for the donuts. And the kids love watching the process.

"Our goal is to make this a fun place to come," he continued. "It's also very convenient, making good use of technology. We have an online ordering system of grab and go."

Zach Lee displays the menu of the Blue Sky Cafe, a specialty donut shop located in the new Atlee Building in Berlin.

Blue Sky Cafe uses local suppliers for their sandwiches, including Doughty Valley Meats, Guggisberg Cheese and eggs from Bowman Farms of Fredericksburg and Paint Valley milk. The coffee supply is out of Ashland.

The Lees see the Atlee Building as a destination, where families can come in and hang out. They met in 2008 while students at Taylor University in Indiana. They lived in the Chicago area for 10 years. They moved home to Berlin in the spring of 2020, as Zach Lee went to work for the Hummel Insurance Group as their marketing director.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Donut connoisseurs open Blue Sky Cafe with S Flynn Design & Build
ALAMEDA, Calif. & NEW YORK, September 01, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eat Just, Inc., a company that applies cutting-edge science and technology on a mission to create healthier, more sustainable foods, today announced it has closed a new round of financing led by VegInvest/Ahimsa Foundation, a mission-aligned organization that supports companies striving to replace the use of animals in the food system and other industries.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901109546/en/

JUST Egg and GOOD Meat (Photo: Eat Just, Inc.)

The fresh funding will enable the alternative protein leader, which created one of Americas fastest-growing egg brands, made entirely of plants, and the worlds first-to-market meat, made from animal cells instead of slaughtered animals, to continue improving the quality and profitability of its products.

"We founded this company to take the animal out of the equation, and today, were proud to continue this vital work with an investor who has shown an unwavering commitment to this ideal. Our work is not easy and not certain, but it's what is required," said Eat Just co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick.

"Eat Just and its leadership in the industry play a critical part of building a kinder, safer food system. We're proud of this investment and the continued partnership to make products that consumers love without causing the harm inherent in animal agriculture," said Shaleen Shah, President, Ahimsa Foundation.

VegInvest/Ahimsa Foundation is a pioneer in partnering with innovative companies like Eat Just to remove animals from our food system. VegInvest/Ahimsa Foundations initial investment and partnership enabled JUST Egg to move from lab-scale to commercial launch and grow to the point of selling the equivalent of 400 million eggs, saving more than 14 billion gallons of water, 69 million kilograms of CO2e and 21,000 acres of land.

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JUST Egg is the dominant player in the plant-based egg space, accounting for more than 99% of the category, and brands repeat purchase rate remains strong at 51%. JUST Egg products are now available in more than 48,000 retail points of distribution in North America, including 4,000 new doors across major retailers year-to-date. Branded partnerships with other CPG companies have added an additional 10,000 points of retail distribution. Foodservice sales for JUST Egg grew 15% and 39% in Q1 and Q2 of this year respectively, with major airline, coffee chain and college and university launches.

GOOD Meat, Eat Justs cultivated meat division, received a landmark U.S. regulatory approval this summer, which allowed the companys chicken to be sold to American consumers for the first time in history. This builds on the firms first-in-the-world clearance and commercial sales in Singapore in late 2020. Now, the team is focusing on addressing key scale-up challenges with the goal of producing tens of millions of pounds of meat before the end of the decade.

About Eat Just, Inc.

Eat Just is a food technology company with a mission to build a healthier, safer and more sustainable food system in our lifetimes. The company's expertise, from functionalizing plant proteins to culturing animal cells, is powered by a world-class team of scientists and chefs spanning more than a dozen research disciplines. Eat Just created one of Americas fastest-growing egg brands, which is made entirely of plants, and the worlds first-to-market meat made from animal cells instead of slaughtered livestock. The company has been recognized as one of Fast Companys "Most Innovative Companies," Entrepreneurs "100 Brilliant Companies," CNBCs "Disruptor 50" and a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. JUST Egg has been named among Popular Sciences "100 Greatest Innovations" and Fast Companys "World Changing Ideas" and the history-making debut of GOOD Meat was heralded as one of 2020's top scientific breakthroughs by The Guardian, Vox and WIRED.

For more information on JUST Egg, visit https://ju.st/newsroom.

For more information on GOOD Meat, visit http://goodmeat.co/newsroom.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230901109546/en/

Contacts

Andrew Noyes

press@ju.st
Key Insights

The projected fair value for Flowtech Fluidpower is UK1.04 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

With UK0.94 share price, Flowtech Fluidpower appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value

Flowtech Fluidpower's peers are currently trading at a premium of 89% on average

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Flowtech Fluidpower plc (LON:FLO) 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 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 Flowtech Fluidpower

Crunching The Numbers

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. 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, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

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10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (, Millions) UK6.90m UK6.10m UK5.64m UK5.36m UK5.19m UK5.10m UK5.06m UK5.06m UK5.07m UK5.11m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Est @ -11.52% Est @ -7.65% Est @ -4.94% Est @ -3.04% Est @ -1.72% Est @ -0.79% Est @ -0.14% Est @ 0.32% Est @ 0.64% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 9.1% UK6.3 UK5.1 UK4.3 UK3.8 UK3.4 UK3.0 UK2.8 UK2.5 UK2.3 UK2.1

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = UK36m

The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 1.4%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 9.1%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = UK5.1m (1 + 1.4%)  (9.1% 1.4%) = UK67m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= UK67m ( 1 + 9.1%)10= UK28m

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 UK64m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of UK0.9, the company appears about fair value at a 9.4% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

dcf

The Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Flowtech Fluidpower 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 9.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.305. 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 Flowtech Fluidpower

Strength

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Weakness

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Trade Distributors market.

Opportunity

Has sufficient cash runway for more than 3 years based on current free cash flows.

Good value based on P/S ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Paying a dividend but company is unprofitable.

Moving On:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. 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. For Flowtech Fluidpower, we've compiled three important factors you should further research:

Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Flowtech Fluidpower (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about. Future Earnings: How does FLO'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.
Key Insights

Using the Dividend Discount Model, Yenher Holdings Berhad fair value estimate is RM0.90

Current share price of RM0.88 suggests Yenher Holdings Berhad is potentially trading close to its fair value

Yenher Holdings Berhad's peers are currently trading at a premium of 65% on average

How far off is Yenher Holdings Berhad (KLSE:YENHER) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Yenher Holdings Berhad

The Method

As Yenher Holdings Berhad operates in the food 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. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a company's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In this case we used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (3.6%). The expected dividend per share is then discounted to today's value at a cost of equity of 9.0%. Relative to the current share price of RM0.9, the company appears about fair value at a 2.7% 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.

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Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate)

= RM0.05 / (9.0%  3.6%)

= RM0.9

dcf

Important Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Yenher 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 Yenher Holdings Berhad

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.

Currently debt free.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Food market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Malaysian market.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

No apparent threats visible for YENHER.

Moving On:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Yenher Holdings Berhad, we've compiled three further factors you should consider:

Risks: Take risks, for example - Yenher Holdings Berhad has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of. Future Earnings: How does YENHER'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.
Sila Donaldson of Thai Taste Homemade slices cucumbers in her Evansville kitchen on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023.

EVANSVILLE  At least once, you've probably wished a gorgeous, exotic meal would appear in your kitchen, ready to eat, and you wouldn't have to cook it.

Now it can happen. Chef Sila Donaldson was born in in Ubon Ratchathani, a rural area in eastern Thailand, where she learned to cook homestyle meals alongside her grandmother. Today, she lives in Evansville and she'll come into your kitchen to prepare an authentic Thai dinner for you and your family or guests.

Donaldson came to the United States in 2009. At first she stuck with her career in hotels and spas, but she loved to cook, and when she moved to Evansville in 2016 she started working in restaurants. She was a cook at Spicy Thai Cuisine for two years and served at some Asian restaurants. After she had her second child, she decided restaurant work demanded more time than she could give.

More: Evansville-area food news: Here are 8 big bites of info for this week

"I told my husband Nick, 'I want to do this cooking thing, but I dont like the hours of the restaurants. Ive been there and done that. I want to have some free time, I want to cook the way I want it and pick the ingredients myself," she said. So she came up with the idea of Thai Taste Homemade.

What is Thai Taste Homemade?

Thai Taste Homemade is Donaldson's in-home cooking and teaching business. She comes to you and cooks dinner for your group, or can do personalized Thai cooking lessons.

"I wanted to offer something very unique so people could have real Thai home cooking," Donaldson said. "Ill go to their home and make a meal for them. It wasnt so much about making a bunch of money as connecting with people. There are a lot of people who have traveled to Thailand and want to have food the way it tastes there. But we can also tame the spiciness if you dont want it as spicy."

Pork larb with vegetable dressings, sticky rice inside woven containers and tapioca and mango desserts were part of a full meal served by Thai Taste Homemade on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023.

How does it work?

The customer arranges the details and a menu with Donaldson. She has a menu with choices, but she can always customize. She'll plate and serve for groups of up to 15. Larger groups will be served buffet-style.

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She brings her own cookware and, sometimes, her own dishes and serving ware, but this can change depending on the customers' wishes.

For a meal with two appetizers, two entrees and a dessert, her prices start at $55 per person. If the menu includes more premium dishes with seafood or other more expensive ingredients, the cost may increase.

Donaldson offers lunch or dinner meal, or if you are interested in learning authentic Thai cooking techniques, shell conduct a private cooking lesson for you. She does limit herself to three or four events a month, so space is limited.

More: New diner offers popular breakfast and more on Evansville's East Side

What are some of the menu choices?

Below are some of the dishes you may enjoy from Thai Taste Homemade.

Appetizers include:

A fresh spring roll with peanut sauce

Vegetable eggroll with sweet chili sauce

Dumplings such as Beef wontons or fried pork dumplings

Fried shrimp wraps

Goon sarong  large shrimp wrapped in vermicelli noodles and deep fried, served with sweet sauce.

Chicken satay skewers

Won ton bowls with minced meat bites (various types including pad kra pao beef and chicken larb.)

Pork Larb, a traditional Thai meat salad of ground meat seasoned with chilies, herbs and a tangy sauce was served by Sila Donaldson of on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023.

Soups and Curries include (among others):

Green and yellow curries with coconut milk, chilies, vegetables, and your choice of meat. The heat level can vary.

Massamun and panang curries with peanuts, herbs and special spices, and your choice of meat. Massamun curry is mild and contains potatoes.

Red curry with chili and coconut milk, vegetables, and your choice of meat.

Tom Kha Kai  Creamy chicken and coconut soup with herbs and vegetables.

Tum Yum  Hot and sour shrimp or chicken soup with herbs and vegetables.

Entrees include (among others):

Pad Kra Pao  Stir fried meat of your choice with chili, garlic, onions, and vegetables

Chicken with cashews  Chicken with cashews, bell pepper and onions in sauce

Pad Thai  Rice noodles with eggs, meat, bean sprouts and green onions

Curry Noodles  Coconut curry broth with noodles and meat

Fried rice  Both regular Thai fried rice and pineapple fried rice with yellow curry paste and grilled shrimp are available.

A Thai desert of tapioca pearls with sweet ripe mango and coconut jelly in coconut milk syrup was served by Sila Donaldson of Thai Taste Homemade on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023.

Desserts include:

Sago tapioca pearls in coconut milk

Ripe mango with sweet sticky coconut rice

Bananas in coconut milk

Coconut milk custard

Thai Taste Homemade

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Thai Taste Homemade will prepare a meal right in your kictchen
How to lower your risk from identity theft when you share personal information.

For expert advice on identity theft risks, Kiplinger interviewed Raj Ananthanpillai, founder and CEO of Trua, an identity verification and screening company. He has over 30 years of experience as a tech entrepreneur, and one of his companies helped develop TSA-Precheck for air traveler security.

Why is this a golden age of identity theft?

Everybody is giving away their Social Security number, date of birth or where they live, whether its to sign up for a gym membership or for discounts on groceries, because they think theyre getting something of value. But these companies are collecting your personal information. Not only does that put you at risk if the data is hacked, but companies may turn around and sell it to third parties. Some of this information is then stolen and bartered on the dark web  where users and website operators are anonymous and untraceable.

Companies are supposed to get your consent before sharing your information with third parties, but its on 13 to 15 pages of fine print that 99% of people cant understand, so they agree to the terms.

What should you do if a company asks for your Social Security number?

It depends on the company.

Social Security numbers were created to record wages and earnings for the IRS and to determine eligibility for government benefits. Somewhere along the line, people started using them to establish an individuals identity, and it has proliferated.

If the entity asking for your Social Security number isnt a financial institution, government agency or employer, you should ask why they need it, what they are going to do with it, how long theyre going to store it and whether they share it with any third parties. If theyre using your Social Security number for identity verification only, you should ask whether theres another way to establish your identity.

Is it risky to give a company your cell phone number?

Yes, because it may be used to commit fraud.

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These days, cell phone numbers are being used as a piece of verification data to prevent fraud in digital transactions. In addition, as online vendors collect cell phone numbers, they use them for marketing purposes, which means you may receive a lot of spam. They may also sell them to third parties that collect and barter them on the dark web. You can end up getting a lot of calls and texts from scammers who are trying to trick you into giving up personal information or downloading malware. Scammers may also try to use your cell phone number to access your online accounts.

How can we use ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI safely?

Never give one of these programs your personal information, such as your Social Security number, date of birth, mothers maiden name or even your work history. If you provide this kind of information to ChatGPT and ask it to write you a resume, for example, you never know where the information will go or whether its going to be used for a nefarious purpose. And with artificial intelligence, theres even more proliferation of information that could be hacked or stolen.

How can we safeguard our information, especially when companies say they need to verify our identity?

Get a reusable digital identity that you can use over and over again, either in person or electronically with businesses that offer it. A reusable verified digital identity, like the one my company offers, is an all-in-one ID proofing and authentication solution. Users provide some basic information and Trua verifies it  using government-issued identification, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, names, aliases, addresses and so on  and issues a reusable TruaID.

Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.
Digital coins in exchange for an iris scan: biometric imaging device Orb

LONDON (Reuters) - Increasing numbers of governments around the world are scrutinising Worldcoin, a crypto project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that was launched in July.

Almost 2.3 million people globally have signed up to have their irises scanned by Worldcoin's "orb" devices in exchange for a digital ID and free cryptocurrency.

Altman says its ID will allow users to, among other things, prove online that they are human, notably in a future world dominated by artificial intelligence.

Worldcoin has drawn criticism from privacy campaigners over its data collection. It has said the biometric data is either deleted or stored in encrypted form, and that it is "committed" to working with regulators.

Here's the latest on action taken by governments:

ARGENTINA

In Argentina, where Worldcoin says interest in the project is strong, the Agencia de Acceso a Informacion Publica (AAIP) data regulator said last month it was investigating Worldcoin over its collection, storage and use of personal data.

In a letter dated Aug. 7, the AAIP asked Worldcoin for information about the project, including mitigation of risks and the "legal basis for the processing of personal data."

BRITAIN

Britain's data regulator said in July that it would examine Worldcoin.

"We note the launch of Worldcoin in the UK and will be making further enquiries," the Information Commissioner's Office said.

FRANCE

France's data watchdog CNIL carried out "checks" at Worldcoin's Paris office this week, a spokesperson said on Aug. 31.

CNIL had previously said it was aware of the Worldcoin project and that the legality of its biometric data collection "seems questionable". GERMANY

A German data watchdog has been investigating Worldcoin since late last year due to concerns over its large-scale processing of sensitive biometric data, it said.

Financial regulator Bafin is also investigating the digital currency, according to German business daily Handelsblatt.

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KENYA

In August Kenya suspended Worldcoin's local activities while the government assesses potential risks to public safety.

A preliminary review had raised concerns, including that obtaining consumer consent in return for a monetary award bordered on inducement, the Communications Authority of Kenya and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner said.

PORTUGAL

Portugal's data regulator, the CNPD, has inspected Worldcoin's local data collection operation and been in contact with the Bavarian data protection authority in Germany, a spokesperson said.

The CNPD would make the outcome of its inquiry public "in due time," it said.

(Compiled by Elizabeth Howcroft and Tom Wilson; editing by John Stonestreet)
Australian Finance Group Limited (ASX:AFG) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. The analysts have sharply increased their revenue numbers, with a view that Australian Finance Group will make substantially more sales than they'd previously expected.

After the upgrade, the three analysts covering Australian Finance Group are now predicting revenues of AU$1.1b in 2024. If met, this would reflect a modest 5.7% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Before the latest update, the analysts were foreseeing AU$920m of revenue in 2024. It looks like there's been a clear increase in optimism around Australian Finance Group, given the nice gain to revenue forecasts.

Check out our latest analysis for Australian Finance Group

Notably, the analysts have cut their price target 6.6% to AU$1.78, suggesting concerns around Australian Finance Group's valuation.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. We would highlight that Australian Finance Group's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 5.7% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 12% p.a. growth over the last five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to see a revenue decline of 6.8% annually. So it's clear that despite the slowdown in growth, Australian Finance Group is still expected to grow meaningfully faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that analysts lifted their revenue estimates for this year. Analysts also expect revenues to perform better than the wider market. Furthermore, there was a cut to the price target, suggesting that the latest news has led to more pessimism about the intrinsic value of the business. Seeing the dramatic upgrade to this year's forecasts, it might be time to take another look at Australian Finance Group.

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Still got questions? At least one of Australian Finance Group's three analysts has provided estimates out to 2026, which can be seen for free on our platform here.

Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are upgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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.
Disaster vultures are investors who take advantage of people who lost their homes to natural disasters in order to turn a profit. Tyler Le/Insider

As Hawaii mourns its dead, investors are swooping in to make a quick buck

When disaster strikes, there are often two tragedies. The first, and most important, is the loss of life: Over 100 people died when wildfires burned across Hawaii in early August. Homes, cherished belongings, and local history were engulfed in flames. Thousands of locals were displaced, and there are still hundreds of people missing.

But the tragedy doesn't stop when the fires go out. The second tragedy is the exploitation of grief by investors looking to make a buck. While families are still mourning their loved ones and figuring out how to move forward, these disaster investors swoop in to buy damaged properties from locals. They purchase the cheap land and then wait to resell the properties after the lingering effects of the disaster have passed and property values increase. Critics refer to these real-estate players as "vulture investors" because they prey on grieving families.

In the Maui fire, more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed  86% of them residential homes. Before the fire, many of those properties would have been worth millions of dollars. But just a week after the devastation, investors began calling residents of Hawaii's destroyed townships to try to convince them to sell their homes for cut-rate prices. Concerned about predatory investors taking advantage of vulnerable families, Hawaii's governor, Josh Green, called for a moratorium on damaged-land sales in his first press conference after the fires.

The Hawaiian fires aren't the first time investors have trotted out this playbook  every time disaster strikes, the "vultures" come calling. When tornadoes struck Tennessee in 2020, destroying 771 businesses and residences, the Nashville Metro Council passed a resolution against predatory developers targeting residents who had lost their homes and offering to purchase plots for submarket rates. Hurricane Ian, which struck Florida last fall, also saw developers swarm vulnerable families, hoping to snap up destroyed properties for cheap.

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Climate disasters are growing more common and more destructive by the year. And after the initial losses subside, the profiteers inevitably arrive.

Strike early

The vulture playbook is pretty straightforward: Investors approach affected homeowners with an offer just days after tragedy strikes, hand them a prewritten contract, and try to reach an agreement on the spot. Once acquired, the investors turn around and resell the land for a higher price  sometimes without ever repairing the property.

After Hurricane Michael struck Florida in 2018, home sales rose significantly, allowing disaster investors to reap the rewards. K.C. Wilsey, FEMA

This strategy works because the value of disaster-struck land consistently bounces back  often within months of the tragedy. A 2021 study of the 20 most-expensive hurricanes on record showed that in each case, home values in disaster areas increased at a higher rate the year after the disaster  compared to the same area the year prior and the national average. The study found that the year after Hurricane Katrina destroyed nearly 850,000 homes, home values in New Orleans increased by 12% compared to the year before the disaster  and the gains were 9% above the US national average for the year. Home sales in areas affected by Hurricane Michael, which struck the Florida panhandle in 2018, killing 45 people and destroying 60,000 homes, also rose significantly in the months following the storm. And these gains have been shown to maintain their momentum for up to three years after disaster strikes. A 2019 Wall Street Journal report found that one investor who bought up properties damaged by Hurricane Michael was able to earn $10,000 to $15,000 per property  without doing any work on them. Another investor group bought up more than 600 properties after Hurricane Katrina, making an average of $20,000 per property, also without touching most of them.

Prices generally go up post-disaster because the area is suddenly hit by a reduced supply of habitable property, while the demand to live there stays the same. So as homes are rebuilt or the debris is cleared for a new structure, the plots become more lucrative. The rebuilt homes are also newer than the ones that were destroyed, which adds value.

This venture has the potential to be even more rewarding given the increasing frequency of natural disasters in the US. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information released a disaster report last year that found the US suffered 18 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2022, resulting in $165 billion in total damages. And this year is shaping up to be even more expensive. In eight months, there have already been 15 weather disasters, each with losses exceeding $1 billion.

For disaster investors, these increasingly common tragedies are an opportunity to win big, and the residents who have lost their homes pay the price.

Desperate situations

Even if there's an economic explanation for predatory investments, why would residents sell their homes for insultingly low prices? One obvious reason is that they simply don't have enough cash on hand to renovate their property back to a habitable state. For most families, their homes are the source of their wealth. According to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, American families consistently list their primary residence as their largest asset, with home ownership accounting for 30% of household wealth for non-white families. With most Americans having their money tied to their house, losing it to a wildfire or other natural disaster can be devastating.

Home insurance often covers wildfire and storm damage, but private coverage is increasingly more costly and more companies are dropping home coverage altogether as the number of natural disasters keep rising, something that has already happened to many homeowners in Florida and California. Those left with no insurance or inadequate insurance are forced to rely on tenuous government aid for funds to rebuild. But federal disaster relief is painfully slow to respond and often doesn't cover most of the costs. Individuals, renters, and homeowners are all, in theory, potentially eligible for disaster-relief aid. However, qualifying for aid involves a long and convoluted process. Generally, the Federal Emergency Managment Agency first refers homeowners to the Small Business Administration to apply for a home-disaster loan. These loans require applicants to show certain levels of creditworthiness and an ability to repay the loan with interest, meaning many lower- and middle-income households may not qualify.

Applying for FEMA aid can be a confusing and time-consuming process. And the average payout is only $8,000. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The next option is to apply for aid directly from FEMA  a process that requires several confusing and time-consuming steps. First, a presidential declaration of a major disaster is required, then residents must complete a self-assessment and application for relief. After that, FEMA officials conduct an inspection of damages and decide how much relief to provide. This process can take up to a month  and for other expenses like lodging reimbursements, people often wait up to two months for the funds. And other problems often arise: Inconsistent damage inspections, minimum damage amounts, and a confusing application process that has to be completed in a short time frame often leave disaster victims without the relief they desperately need.

In Puerto Rico, where thousands remained unhoused three years after Hurricane Maria struck, or in tight-knit areas like Lahaina, Hawaii, residents can face even steeper barriers to aid. Both Puerto Rico and Lahaina have a history of informal construction, meaning buildings often lack documentation, and homeowners can have a hard time proving property ownership. Given FEMA's strict proof-of-ownership requirements, many end up being unqualified to receive FEMA relief. The Urban Institute reported that "multigenerational family homeowners without active mortgages or who live in rural communities where a formal title is not readily documented are at a disadvantage."

The Government Accountability Office found that fewer than half of the applicants for relief under FEMA's Individual and Housing Assistance program between 2016 and 2018  most of whom were uninsured or had an income under $50,000  qualified for aid. For those who do qualify, the FEMA funds can be inadequate to cover the cost of rebuilding. Payments max out at $36,000 for home-rebuilding assistance and the average payout from FEMA is just $8,000.

After FEMA's 18-month funding period ends  assuming enough money has been approved by Congress  a last backstop is supposed to kick in through the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grants. The grants are for long-term rebuilding projects, but administration of the funds often takes nearly two years. A 2020 congressional report found that New York still had more than $700 million to be distributed from grants given after Hurricane Sandy in 2017.

This interlocking nest of confusing aid options leaves many people desperate and willing to wash their hands of the properties. Some families may look at the damage and decide it's better for them to sell their home and rebuild somewhere else with the money from the sale. But other families may feel forced to sell their home for less than it's worth just to bridge the financial gap between the destruction and the potential aid.

Given the threadbare relief options, an offer from an outside investor and a plane ticket to a new state may seem like a lifeline.

How to curb profiteers

Instead of being a boon for residents and towns that are trying to build, outside investment often changes the character of an area. New developments often include strip malls and luxury hotels that can replace working-class communities and previously affordable housing  usually without creating any new housing. And the profits that out-of-state investors make by reselling damaged properties comes at the expense of the struggling households that could have reaped those benefits.

One promising solution is a piece of legislation proposed in 2019, the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, that aims to streamline the process to receive HUD's block grants so that communities get relief more quickly. The bill, which passed the House but has yet to be put up for a vote in the Senate, would help relieve the pressure on homeowners to sell because they're out of funds to rebuild. In Hawaii, local grassroots organizing has provided a crucial cushion for people who lost their homes. Organic efforts have raised more than $12 million, and locals have even set up a home-sharing system where people have volunteered to host families who have lost their homes.

And while moratoriums on damaged land sales aren't a long-term, legally tenable solution, there are ways state officials might be able to deter disaster investors. For instance, a state "disaster-relief tax" could be applied to all sales of land occurring within a certain amount of time after a presidential declaration of a major disaster. The tax could serve as an indirect deterrent to disaster investors, and the revenue generated by the tax could be redirected into local relief efforts, helping other families who intend to remain in the area.

Since the climate crisis isn't going away, finding a solution is critical. As the threat of natural disasters increases, so will disaster profiteers.

Anthony DiMauro is a New York-based writer. His work has appeared in Bloomberg, Newsweek, L.A. Review of Books and elsewhere.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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.
It's common for many investors, especially those who are inexperienced, to buy shares in companies with a good story even if these companies are loss-making. But the reality is that when a company loses money each year, for long enough, its investors will usually take their share of those losses. Loss making companies can act like a sponge for capital - so investors should be cautious that they're not throwing good money after bad.

If this kind of company isn't your style, you like companies that generate revenue, and even earn profits, then you may well be interested in HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA). Now this is not to say that the company presents the best investment opportunity around, but profitability is a key component to success in business.

Check out our latest analysis for HSBC Holdings

HSBC Holdings' Improving Profits

HSBC Holdings has undergone a massive growth in earnings per share over the last three years. So much so that this three year growth rate wouldn't be a fair assessment of the company's future. So it would be better to isolate the growth rate over the last year for our analysis. Impressively, HSBC Holdings' EPS catapulted from US$0.66 to US$1.23, over the last year. It's not often a company can achieve year-on-year growth of 85%. The best case scenario? That the business has hit a true 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. Not all of HSBC Holdings' revenue this year is revenue from operations, so keep in mind the revenue and margin numbers used in this article might not be the best representation of the underlying business. EBIT margins for HSBC Holdings remained fairly unchanged over the last year, however the company should be pleased to report its revenue growth for the period of 28% to US$61b. That's progress.

Story continues

The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.

While we live in the present moment, there's little doubt that the future matters most in the investment decision process. So why not check this interactive chart depicting future EPS estimates, for HSBC Holdings?

Are HSBC Holdings Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

Since HSBC Holdings has a market capitalisation of UK113b, we wouldn't expect insiders to hold a large percentage of shares. But we are reassured by the fact they have invested in the company. Given insiders own a significant chunk of shares, currently valued at US$41m, they have plenty of motivation to push the business to succeed. That's certainly enough to let shareholders know that management will be very focussed on long term growth.

Is HSBC Holdings Worth Keeping An Eye On?

HSBC Holdings' earnings have taken off in quite an impressive fashion. That sort of growth is nothing short of eye-catching, and the large investment held by insiders should certainly brighten the view of the company. 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. So based on this quick analysis, we do think it's worth considering HSBC Holdings for a spot on your watchlist. Still, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with HSBC Holdings (including 1 which doesn't sit too well with us).

The beauty of investing is that you can invest in almost any company you want. But if you prefer to focus on stocks that have demonstrated insider buying, here is a list of companies with insider buying in the last three months.

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.
We have selected seven stories from this week's news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues.

A breakthrough in the production of a new two-dimensional (2D) material, which is the thickness of about one atom, is set to pave the way for the transition to next-generation semiconductors. Chinese scientists have managed to use the new semiconductor material to produce 12-inch wafers. The milestone could see them complement traditional silicon chips.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Read the full story here.

Tailei Qi, charged in the fatal shooting of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty member, appears at the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina, on Tuesday. Photo: AP alt=Tailei Qi, charged in the fatal shooting of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty member, appears at the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina, on Tuesday. Photo: AP>

The fatal shooting of a professor on Monday by a graduate student, both of Asian descent, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was greeted with anxiety and trepidation on Tuesday by members of the minority community over concerns it would only fan more stereotypes and racial hatred.

Read the full story here.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po created a buzz recently with a plan for more night bazaars, conferences and exhibitions to revive the city's lacklustre night economy. He said the government would work with various sectors to organise night bazaars to attract high-value tourists and spur spending.

Read the full story here.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo attends a press conference at the Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services near the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo attends a press conference at the Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services near the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Photo: EPA-EFE>

Story continues

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo hailed "an important beginning" for Beijing and Washington to manage tensions on Wednesday, while also calling on China to address market concerns for American firms.

Read the full story here.

Japan's pacifist Self-Defence Forces (SDF) cannot adequately defend the country and need more resources to intercept attacks and carry out counterstrikes, a top military general has warned, amid domestic debate about the changing nature of the nation's security situation.

Read the full story here.

Andrew Kwan is a Hong Kong ghostbuster who helps spirits move on from haunting homes and people. Photo: Jelly Tse alt=Andrew Kwan is a Hong Kong ghostbuster who helps spirits move on from haunting homes and people. Photo: Jelly Tse>

Andrew Kwan was born into the world of Chinese mysticism - his grandfather, from whom he learned his craft, was a fortune-teller at a temple and a Taoist. "When I started practising feng shui, I visited a lot of residences. Many people would complain about certain parts of their homes that were giving them a bad feeling or something a lot more disturbing. If it was a presence, I had to know how to deal with it."

Read the full story here.

Mainland social media has been outraged by shocking video of a woman giving birth inside a lift then calmly dumping her newborn into a rubbish bin. Photo: SCMP Compsite alt=Mainland social media has been outraged by shocking video of a woman giving birth inside a lift then calmly dumping her newborn into a rubbish bin. Photo: SCMP Compsite>

Shocking video footage of a woman in China giving birth to a baby inside a lift then throwing her newborn into a rubbish bin has outraged mainland social media.

Read the full story here.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Company Logo

Indonesian Construction Equipment Market

Indonesian Construction Equipment Market

Dublin, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Indonesia Construction Equipment Market - Strategic Assessment & Forecast 2023-2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Indonesia construction equipment market is expected to reach 40,137 units by 2029

Indonesia stands at the crossroads of strategic economic initiatives, exemplified by a USD 47.8 billion relief package devised to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic's economic impact. In alignment with the National Medium-Term Development Plan (2020-2024 RPJMN), the nation sets forth ambitious intentions to funnel USD 412 billion into the expansion of transportation, industrial, energy, and housing infrastructure by 2024.

Concurrently, the global commodities market's surge in prices sparks newfound vitality within Indonesia's mining sector. The resounding clamor for nickel, tin, and coal in 2021 reverberates in escalated mining pursuits, propelling a concomitant surge in construction equipment demand.

Against this backdrop of infrastructural aspirations and burgeoning mining ventures, Indonesia's construction equipment market gears up for a compelling growth trajectory in the forecast period. At the vanguard of this transformation are earthmoving devices, particularly excavators, poised to spearhead Indonesia's construction landscape.

With a landscape marked by resolute investment in public infrastructure and transportation grids, the Indonesian market anticipates a surging demand for these versatile workhorses. The nation's vigor for progress extends further as it marshals USD 407 billion toward a sweeping array of infrastructural projects, spanning airports, railways, roadways, highways, and bridges under the aegis of the Nation Strategic Plan.

This dynamic commitment earmarks funds for 200 diverse public-private partnership ventures, accentuating the dawn of an era defined by transformative growth. In parallel, the demand landscape echoes this momentum, underscored by a surge in public infrastructure endeavors - be it the extension of railway networks, the expansion of airports, or the revitalization of bridges and highways.

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As such, Indonesia's market reverberates with promise, poised to embrace an evolution in construction and infrastructure arenas throughout the upcoming year.

MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS

Government Investment in Public Infrastructure Projects Through PPP Model

The Indonesian government aims to invest USD 430 billion in infrastructure development projects from 2021 to 2024. There was a 20% rise in infrastructure investments from the last investment plan in 2015-2020.

The country's infrastructure development projects are mostly in the transport sector. Investment projects are divided into three sectors - road, rail, and port development, accounting for 29%, 22%, and 23%, respectively.

The Trans-Sumatra toll road project is one of the largest projects worth USD 33.7 billion and is in progress. China supports a key project - Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railways.

Growth in Metal Ore Will Drive Equipment Market

The mining industry will be one of the major contributors to Indonesian GDP in 2022. The industry accounted for nearly 5% in 2022. According to a report from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the mining industry witnessed a sharp growth in 2022; the industry's mineral export value reached USD 5.93 billion, a growth of 103% compared to 2021.

The iron ore industry recorded the largest growth among the mining and quarrying sub-sector, 25.78%, in 2022. Then the other mining sub-sector grew by 4.79%, and the lignite coal sub-sector grew by 3.64%.

Companies Focus on Digital Transformation to Tackle Chinese Competition



The level of competition among manufacturers in the Indonesia construction equipment market has grown due to a surge in demand for Chinese OEMs, which are available at lower prices & easy financing facilities.

Further, other OEMs in the country, such as Kobelco, Komatsu, Caterpillars, Hitachi, and Hyundai construction machinery, focus on continuous improvement in aftersales services, supported by digital technology.

Hitachi Construction Machinery launched the digital application of equipment performance monitoring and technical support system. The company also launches the spare parts e-commerce platform to enhance the customer experience.



Adoption of Electric & Hydrogen Fuel Technologies



There is a rise in environmental concern in the Indonesian market in 2022. Indonesian government aimed to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. This triggered the need for electric construction machinery in the market in 2022. Increasing government focus on carbon emission reduction in 2021 supported the demand for electric construction equipment.

Major construction equipment manufacturers such as Volvo Construction Equipment, SDLG, and XCMG launched electric and compact mini excavators in the Indonesia construction equipment market to tackle the growing demand in the market.



INDUSTRY RESTRAINTS

A Surge in Fuel Prices Impacts Building Material Prices and Hampers the Construction Projects

In 2022, the Indonesian government increased the fuel and oil prices in the market. The increase in fuel prices is expected to affect other commodities, including housing and property sectors. A rise in fuel prices will affect building materials such as iron, cement, sand, steel & bricks.

According to Central Statistics Agency (BPS), diesel prices increased by 37.8%, cement rose by 8.5%, asphalt increased by 15.3%, & steel roof prices fell by 3.85% in 2022.

The cost of construction projects of buildings for roads, bridges, & ports increased by 9.6%, followed by the cost of electricity, gas, water & communication center installations rose by 5.6%. The construction cost of residential building projects also witnessed growth of 4.2% in 2022.

VENDOR LANDSCAPE

SANY, Kobelco, Komatsu, Caterpillar, & Hitachi Construction Machinery are leaders in the Indonesia construction equipment market. These companies have a strong market share and offer diverse sets of equipment.

Manitou, Kubota, Toyota Material Handling & Kubota are niche market players. These companies offer low product diversification and have a strong presence in Indonesia's local market.

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 187 Forecast Period 2022 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (Units) in 2022 Units24014 Units Forecasted Market Value (Units) by 2029 Units40137 Units Compound Annual Growth Rate 7.6% Regions Covered Indonesia

VENDOR LANDSCAPE

Prominent Vendors

Caterpillar

Komatsu

Volvo Construction Equipment

Hitachi Construction Machinery

Kubota

SANY

JCB

Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co. Ltd. (XCMG)

Kobelco

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co. Ltd

Hyundai Construction Equipment

Distributor Profiles

PT Indotruck Utama

United Tractors

Multicrane Perkasa

PT. Airindo Sakti

PT. Sumitomo Construction Machinery

PT. Badak Prima Lestari

PT. United Equipment Indonesia

ALTRAK 1978

Other Prominent Vendors

Liebherr

Liu Gong

Yanmar

Sumitomo Construction Machinery

Takeuchi

Toyota Material Handling

Manitou

SAKAI

SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS

Segmentation by Type

Earthmoving Equipment

Excavator

Backhoe Loaders

Wheeled Loaders

Other Earthmoving Equipment (Other loaders, Bulldozers, Trenchers)

Road Construction Equipment

Road Rollers

Asphalt Pavers

Material Handling Equipment

Crane

Forklift & Telescopic Handlers

Aerial Platforms (Articulated Boom Lifts, Telescopic Boom lifts, Scissor lifts)

Other Construction Equipment

Dumper

Tipper

Concrete Mixture

Concrete Pump Truck

End Users

Construction

Mining

Manufacturing

Others (Power Generation, Utilities Municipal Corporations, Oil & Gas, Cargo Handling, Power Generation Plants, Waste Management)

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/3d4apy

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.

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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




One simple way to benefit from the stock market is to buy an index fund. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. For example, the Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY) share price is up 46% in the last three years, clearly besting the market return of around 24% (not including dividends). On the other hand, the returns haven't been quite so good recently, with shareholders up just 6.6% , including dividends .

So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 3 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Oppenheimer Holdings

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Over the last three years, Oppenheimer Holdings failed to grow earnings per share, which fell 11% (annualized).

Thus, it seems unlikely that the market is focussed on EPS growth at the moment. Given this situation, it makes sense to look at other metrics too.

Languishing at just 1.6%, we doubt the dividend is doing much to prop up the share price. You can only imagine how long term shareholders feel about the declining revenue trend (slipping at 0.03% per year). What's clear is that historic earnings and revenue aren't matching up with the share price action, very well. So you might have to dig deeper to get a grasp of the situation

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

Balance sheet strength is crucial. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of Oppenheimer Holdings, it has a TSR of 61% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

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A Different Perspective

Oppenheimer Holdings shareholders gained a total return of 6.6% during the year. But that was short of the market average. It's probably a good sign that the company has an even better long term track record, having provided shareholders with an annual TSR of 7% over five years. It may well be that this is a business worth popping on the watching, given the continuing positive reception, over time, from the market. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Oppenheimer Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Oppenheimer Holdings .

But note: Oppenheimer Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Value-focused investors are always on the hunt for stocks that are priced below their intrinsic value. One such stock that merits attention is Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA). The stock, which is currently priced at 24.57, recorded a loss of 2.92% in a day and a 3-month decrease of 15.2%. The stock's fair valuation is $45.79, as indicated by its GF Value.

Understanding the GF Value

The GF Value represents the current intrinsic value of a stock derived from GuruFocus's exclusive method. The GF Value Line on the summary page gives an overview of the fair value that the stock should be traded at. It is calculated based on three factors: historical multiples (PE Ratio, PS Ratio, PB Ratio and Price-to-Free-Cash-Flow) that the stock has traded at, GuruFocus adjustment factor based on the company's past returns and growth, and future estimates of the business performance.

Investing in Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA): Navigating the Thin Line Between Value and Trap

Walgreens Boots Alliance: A Potential Value Trap?

Despite its seemingly attractive valuation, certain risk factors associated with Walgreens Boots Alliance should not be ignored. These risks are primarily reflected through its low Altman Z-score of 1.75. These indicators suggest that Walgreens Boots Alliance, despite its apparent undervaluation, might be a potential value trap. This complexity underlines the importance of thorough due diligence in investment decision-making.

Decoding the Altman Z-Score

Invented by New York University Professor Edward I. Altman in 1968, the Z-Score is a financial model that predicts the probability of a company entering bankruptcy within a two-year time frame. The Altman Z-Score combines five different financial ratios, each weighted to create a final score. A score below 1.8 suggests a high likelihood of financial distress, while a score above 3 indicates a low risk.

Walgreens Boots Alliance: A Company Overview

Walgreens Boots Alliance is one of the largest retail pharmacy chains in the U.S., with over 8,500 locations. Nearly three quarters of Americans live within five miles of a Walgreens location. Roughly two thirds of revenue is generated from prescription drug sales; Walgreens makes up 20% of total prescription revenue in the U.S. Walgreens also generates sales from retail products (general wellness consumables and its own branded merchandise), European drug wholesale, and healthcare.

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Investing in Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA): Navigating the Thin Line Between Value and Trap

Breaking Down Walgreens Boots Alliance's Low Altman Z-Score

A dissection of Walgreens Boots Alliance's Altman Z-score reveals Walgreens Boots Alliance's financial health may be weak, suggesting possible financial distress. The Retained Earnings to Total Assets ratio provides insights into a company's capability to reinvest its profits or manage debt. Evaluating Walgreens Boots Alliance's historical data, 2021: 0.38; 2022: 0.42; 2023: 0.34, we observe a declining trend in this ratio. This downward movement indicates Walgreens Boots Alliance's diminishing ability to reinvest in its business or effectively manage its debt.

The EBIT to Total Assets ratio serves as a crucial barometer of a company's operational effectiveness, correlating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to total assets. An analysis of Walgreens Boots Alliance's EBIT to Total Assets ratio from historical data (2021: 0.03; 2022: 0.07; 2023: -0.05) indicates a descending trend. This reduction suggests that Walgreens Boots Alliance might not be utilizing its assets to their full potential to generate operational profits.

When it comes to operational efficiency, a vital indicator for Walgreens Boots Alliance is its asset turnover. The data: 2021: 1.44; 2022: 1.48; 2023: 1.43 from the past three years suggests a recent decline following an initial increase in this ratio. The asset turnover ratio reflects how effectively a company is using its assets to generate sales. Therefore, a drop in this ratio can signify reduced operational efficiency, potentially due to underutilization of assets or decreased market demand for the company's products or services.

Conclusion: Walgreens Boots Alliance - A Value Trap?

Given the analysis above, it seems that Walgreens Boots Alliance, despite its seemingly attractive valuation, may indeed be a potential value trap. The company's low Altman Z-score and declining ratios indicate potential financial distress and decreased operational efficiency. As always, thorough due diligence is essential before making any investment decision.

GuruFocus Premium members can find stocks with high Altman Z-Score using the following Screener: Walter Schloss Screen .

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Walgreens (WBA) announced CEO Roz Brewer stepped down Thursday, in what was described as a mutual agreement in a company statement on Friday.

"The Board of Directors and Rosalind Brewer have mutually agreed that Ms. Brewer will step down as the Companys Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board, as of August 31, 2023," according to the statement.

The company declined to provide more details about Brewer's abrupt departure, which comes just weeks after former chief financial officer James Kehoe's planned departure. There are now two top positions vacant at the retail pharmacy giant as it continues to shift to a focus on health services.

JPM analyst Lisa Gill wrote in a note Friday that the search for either the CEO or CFO should include a focus on healthcare  which Brewer, notably, did not have in her background.

"With WBA still in the midst of its healthcare-centric transformation, we view continued leadership uncertainty as adding to investor concerns. Given the companys focus on healthcare going forward, we would expect that either the new CEO and CFO (or preferably both) would have healthcare backgrounds," Gill wrote.

Evercore ISI analysts said in a note that while the move may have taken some by surprise, it makes sense as the company's broader health portfolio grows.

"With the increased focus on growing the Walgreens Healthcare segment as a growth vertical to offset the core businesss profit challenges (hopefully starting in FY24), it makes sense to retrench and search for a new leadership team with more extensive backgrounds in healthcare services," the analysts said.

Then-Starbucks COO Roz Brewer talks about the proposed redesign of a Starbucks store in New Jersey during the company's annual shareholders meeting in Seattle Wednesday, March 20, 2019. (Ted S. Warren/AP Photo, file)

A career in retail

Prior to taking the helm at Walgreens in 2021, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, Brewer served as chief operating officer of Starbucks (SBUX) from 2017-2021 and president and CEO of Sam's Club (WMT) from 2012-2017.

She oversaw Walgreens' transformation from a retail pharmacy chain to now providing a range of healthcare services. The company acquired a majority stake in VillageMD in 2021, which subsequently inked a $9 billion deal for medical group Summit Health.

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In addition, the company is building out a clinical trials service, aimed at increasing diversity in the space. It's an area Walgreens currently has a leg up, as competitor CVS (CVS) backed out earlier this year.

But like its competitors, Walgreens has had to contend with a decline in COVID-related demand, downgrading its outlook for the year. With waning demand for tests and vaccines, the company has returned to its pre-pandemic struggles of finding ways to increase prescription fill and get more customers in the door to buy front-of-store products.

Abrupt departure

The company declined to expand on the news, and the timing appeared to be a surprise.

Brewer had just wrapped up a leadership meeting Thursday, according to a post on LinkedIn, in which she gave no indication of the move. Brewer appeared to indicate staying with the company.

"I left the meeting energized and grateful for all our team members who each play such a critical role in delivering our vision to reimagine local healthcare. Our new fiscal year begins Friday, and Im excited for whats to come," she wrote.

On Friday morning, she wrote about the departure, saying it was one of the most difficult notes she has ever written.

"This decision did not come without great consideration for what is best for all of you, our shareholders, customers, patients, and my family. In the near-term, I will continue to advise the Board as they search for a permanent CEO with healthcare expertise," Brewer wrote.

The news pressured the company's stock Friday, with shares trading down nearly 7% in the session.

Follow Anjalee on Twitter @AnjKhem.

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Correction: A previous version of this article listed incorrect dates for Roz Brewer's employment with Sam's Club. We regret the error.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno attends a press conference in Tokyo Friday, Sept. 1, 2023. Japans government announced Friday it will impose sanctions against three groups and four individuals for supporting North Koreas missile and nuclear development program. (Kyodo News via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

TOKYO (AP)  Japans government announced Friday it will impose sanctions against three groups and four individuals for supporting North Koreas missile and nuclear development program.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Friday that the sanctions, in tandem with the United States and South Korea, are in response to North Koreas attempted launch of a spy satellite Aug. 24 and its firing of two missiles Wednesday, as United Nations Security Council resolutions ban any North Korean launches using ballistic missile technologies.

The additional sanctions, approved during Friday's Cabinet meeting, freeze the assets of the three North Korea-based hacker groups linked to cyberattacks  Andariel, BlueNoroff and Korea Expo Joint Venture  as well as four individuals, three of them based in China, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on two people: a North Korean and a Russian linked to a Moscow-registered firm accused of supporting the North's ballistic missile program.

Japan, the United States and South Korea have been stepping up their strategic three-way cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region to jointly deal with their shared concern of growing threats of North Korea and China.

Matsuno said Japans government strongly calls on the North to take concrete actions to respond to Tokyos proposal to settle the issues of abductions of Japanese nationals during the 1970s and 1980s by North Korea, along with its nuclear and missile programs.

He said relatives of the abductees are getting old and that Japan seeks talks between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as soon as possible.

North Korea has failed twice in recent months to launch a spy satellite. The nations National Aerospace Development Administration said it would make a third attempt in October.
Bezos' Blue Origin, founded in 2000, ran its first private space tourism flight in 2021 - AFP

Amazon has been accused of ignoring a glaring conflict of interest when awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in rocket contracts to a company owned by Jeff Bezos.

A lawsuit filed by an Amazon shareholder accuses the e-commerce giants board of acting in bad faith after handing a contract to Mr Bezoss rocket company, Blue Origin, after less than 40 minutes of discussion.

Amazon is planning to launch a vast network of more than 3,000 satellites that will provide internet access around the world.

As part of the plan, it must contract rocket companies to fire its satellites into space.

Amazon has already paid about $1.7bn to three companies, including $585m to Mr Bezoss Blue Origin. Its other contracts are with Frances Arianespace and United Launch Alliance.

The Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund, which is bringing the lawsuit, said the rocket launch contract was the second largest in Amazons history, after its $13.7bn takeover of Whole Foods.

The legal claim alleges the companys audit committee inexplicably did not consider awarding the contract to rival billionaire Elon Musks SpaceX, despite the rival companys track record for successful rocket launches.

SpaceX was not among the options presented to board members, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit argues the board had little role in negotiations. Instead, Mr Bezos and his team led the negotiations with a company he also owned, it is claimed.

The companys audit committee rubberstamped the transaction in January 2022 when Mr Bezos was still chief executive of Amazon, the suit alleges. Two months later, the deal was approved by the board.

The entire Amazon board, including Mr Bezos, are defendants in the case.

The lawsuit adds that, beyond the potential conflict of interest, there was not enough scrutiny of Blue Origins lack of reliability. The claim states the companys heavy lift rocket remains firmly rooted to the ground. Amazon has yet to launch a single satellite.

Story continues

While Mr Bezoss rocket company has launched half a dozen tourist flights to the edge of space, its current New Shepard rocket has not flown for over a year. The first launch of its larger New Glenn rocket is not planned until next year.

An Amazon spokesman said: The claims in this lawsuit are completely without merit, and we look forward to showing that through the legal process.

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.
Knight-Swift undergoes layoffs. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Knight-Swift Transportation, one of the largest trucking companies in the United States, is facing a tumultuous period marked by disappointing financial results and a bleak outlook for the year ahead.

As a response to these challenges, this week the company has conducted a series of layoffs affecting an undisclosed number of employees at the company, according to various sources.

These developments come on the heels of a second-quarter earnings miss and lowered full-year earnings guidance, which has prompted the company to take cost-cutting measures.

A source close to the company said the layoffs are set to be completed by the end of this week. Laid-off employees came from support departments including human resources, information technology (IT) and other ancillary support roles. IT roles affected included business analysts, scrum masters, quality analysts, product managers and project managers.

Another source within the organization that was affected by the layoffs indicated that roles directly related to the companys core business functions, such as drivers, driver managers, customer managers and customer-facing roles, were not impacted by the layoffs. Some in the affected departments were even offered roles back into their previous work in core business functions.

FreightWaves reached out to Knight-Swift (NYSE: KNX), but a company spokesperson declined to comment on the story.

Cost-cutting initiatives

These layoffs come in the wake of a challenging second quarter for Knight-Swift Transportation, which resulted in the company missing its Q2 earnings expectations and revising its full-year earnings-per-share guidance downward by 36%. A series of factors have contributed to this downturn, including anticipated weakness in truckload and intermodal rates, lower gains on equipment sales, and losses associated with the recently acquired carrier U.S. Xpress.

To address these financial challenges, the companys top executives, including CEO David Jackson and CFO Adam Miller, have recently voluntarily reduced their base salaries by 20% for the remainder of the year. This move is part of broader cost-cutting initiatives aimed at improving the companys financial position.

Story continues

Despite these temporary salary reductions, the executives received substantial compensation in the past year, totaling more than $11 million, including stock awards and other compensation.

Knight-Swift is focusing on diligent cost controls as it positions itself for future recovery. The layoffs, primarily in support departments, underscore the companys efforts to streamline operations and reduce costs.

Articles by Grace Sharkey

Read more

Coyote Logistics restructures, lays off unspecified number

Postal Service contractor to cut 1,000 jobs, close facilities in 3 states

Moving company WayForth laying off hundreds, closing operations in 8 states

The post Knight-Swift lays off employees after expressing market weakness appeared first on FreightWaves.
Unite Here Local 11 said LAX food workers might strike as early as this holiday weekend. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Workers at many of Los Angeles International Airport's shops and restaurants could join picket lines over the Labor Day weekend after voting overwhelmingly Thursday to authorize a strike.

The cashiers, dishwashers, cooks, bartenders and other food workers are represented by Unite Here Local 11 and voted to authorize a strike by a 99% margin, the union said. Polling stations were set up at various LAX terminals early Thursday morning where workers could cast their ballots throughout the day.

Airport food workers have been in negotiations for more than a year since their contract expired June 30, 2022. They are employed by Areas, a concessionaire at LAX operating concepts including Homeboy Bakery, Dunkin Donuts, Urth Cafe, California Pizza Kitchen and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

The union said some 450 airport workers employed by Areas might strike as early as this weekend. The strike vote puts added pressure on Southern California's tourism industry during a busy holiday weekend already rocked by picket lines at major hotel brands. Striking hotel workers are also represented by Unite Here Local 11.

The company criticized the union's push for strike authorization, arguing a lack of progress toward a contract is a result of the union rebuffing or ignoring the company's pleas to schedule bargaining sessions.

Read more: Striking Los Angeles hotel workers vow 'dirty rooms and nonstop noise' at downtown conference

Airport workers are demanding higher pay to keep pace with an expensive housing market and heavier workloads caused by depleted staffing during the pandemic. Their demands echo those of the thousands of other Southern California tourism workers who have picketed this summer.

Susan Minato, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, said the tourism industry "exploited the pandemic and continues to rake in profits while their workers, the ones who actually make all this possible, are left living paycheck to paycheck, one emergency away from homelessness," according to a news release Thursday night by the union.

Story continues

Workers all over the city have reached their breaking point, Minato said. "Its time the industry pays workers their fair share, and if workers have to strike to make that happen, they will.





Areas USA spokesperson Steve Duchesne said in an email Friday the company has made "repeated offers to meet directly with Unite Here Local 11 leaders in order to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement," to no avail.

"Regrettably, our offers to negotiate in good faith have been ignored as union leaders appear more interested in chasing headlines on other high-profile matters," Duchesne said. We are prepared to maintain labor peace and work toward a new labor agreement that will continue to deliver wages and health insurance benefits that our employees deserve."

He said the company's LAX dining concessions will be open for business over the holiday weekend, regardless of whether workers proceed with a strike.

Areas was founded as a catering and concessions business in 1968 in Barcelona and eventually grew its reach globally in the travel hospitality industry. The company has been owned by European private equity firm PAI Partners since 2019 and has about 23,000 employees.

Read more: Union calls for a boycott of Southern California hotels without contracts

Areas came to LAX in 2010 when the Los Angeles City Council approved three 10-year food contracts as part of a push to overhaul the selection of restaurants, beverage stands and gift stores at the airport. Soon afterward, in 2012, Areas secured a major 25-year contract at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. In March, the company won a 10-year $470-million contract at Hobby Airport in Houston.

The company's U.S. subsidiary is based in Miami. In total, Areas USA operates retail stores and restaurants in nine major airports.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Key Insights

Asia Media Group Berhad's estimated fair value is RM0.11 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Current share price of RM0.13 suggests Asia Media Group Berhad is potentially trading close to its fair value

Peers of Asia Media Group Berhad are currently trading on average at a 60% discount

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Asia Media Group Berhad (KLSE:AMEDIA) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present 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.

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. 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 Asia Media Group Berhad

Step By Step Through The Calculation

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. 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, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

Story continues

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM1.63m RM1.85m RM2.04m RM2.21m RM2.36m RM2.50m RM2.63m RM2.76m RM2.88m RM3.00m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 17.53% Est @ 13.33% Est @ 10.40% Est @ 8.34% Est @ 6.91% Est @ 5.90% Est @ 5.19% Est @ 4.70% Est @ 4.36% Est @ 4.11% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 9.5% RM1.5 RM1.5 RM1.6 RM1.5 RM1.5 RM1.5 RM1.4 RM1.3 RM1.3 RM1.2

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM14m

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 9.5%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM3.0m (1 + 3.6%)  (9.5% 3.6%) = RM53m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM53m ( 1 + 9.5%)10= RM21m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM36m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of RM0.1, 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

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 Asia Media Group 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 9.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.866. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

Looking Ahead:

Although the valuation of a company is important, 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 Asia Media Group Berhad, there are three fundamental items you should further research:

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

Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Tropicana Corporation Berhad fair value estimate is RM1.55

Tropicana Corporation Berhad's RM1.24 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate

Tropicana Corporation Berhad's peers are currently trading at a premium of 29,427% on average

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Tropicana Corporation Berhad (KLSE:TROP) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. 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. 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 Tropicana Corporation Berhad

The Method

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. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

Story continues

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM203.5m RM274.2m RM343.8m RM408.6m RM466.8m RM518.3m RM563.9m RM604.6m RM641.5m RM675.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 48.10% Est @ 34.74% Est @ 25.38% Est @ 18.83% Est @ 14.25% Est @ 11.04% Est @ 8.79% Est @ 7.22% Est @ 6.12% Est @ 5.35% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 15% RM177 RM207 RM225 RM232 RM230 RM222 RM210 RM195 RM180 RM165

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM2.0b

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 15%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM676m (1 + 3.6%)  (15% 3.6%) = RM6.0b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM6.0b ( 1 + 15%)10= RM1.5b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM3.5b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM1.2, the company appears about fair value at a 20% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

dcf

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. 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 Tropicana Corporation Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 15%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.703. 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 Tropicana Corporation Berhad

Strength

No major strengths identified for TROP.

Weakness

Shareholders have been diluted in the past year.

Opportunity

Has sufficient cash runway for more than 3 years based on current free cash flows.

Current share price is below our estimate of fair value.

Lack of analyst coverage makes it difficult to determine TROP's earnings prospects.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Moving On:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Tropicana Corporation Berhad, we've compiled three further factors you should assess:

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.
guvendemir / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Americans who lose money to scams are finding interesting ways to get their hard-earned dollars back.

In August 2023, GOBankingRates polled 1,141 Americans about whether they were reimbursed after losing money to a financial scam. Of respondents who experienced a scam and lost money because of it, 45% have been able to get it back in full.

See: 4 Red Flags as You Check Your Bank Statements Every Month

More: 3 Simple Steps You Must Take To Shield Yourself from Identity Theft

Sometimes scam victims are able to get their money back simply by filing a claim with their bank or payment service  but other times its not that easy. In the case you are about to read, getting money back from a fraudster meant thinking like a fraudster and beating them at their own game.

GOBankingRates spoke to Destiny Khongraj, who shared a story of how her boyfriend was scammed for sneakers on Instagram, and how her decision to go down a calculated social media rabbit hole helped him get the full amount back.

Scammed Buying Sneakers

During the Sneaker Hype of 2021, Khongrajs boyfriend and his friend were persuaded into purchasing Nike Dunks in bulk to resell for a higher price.

They found an Instagram page that looked legitimate to everyone, including Khongraj. The owner of the page had a decent amount of followers, lots of customer reviews and a number of likes per post that made sense for his following. He was seemingly selling a large amount of sneakers, including the Nike Dunks, for an insane deal.

I had a bad feeling, but he [my boyfriend] went through with the purchase via Cash App, Khongraj told us.

With his friend, Khongrajs boyfriend split a total of a little over $4,000 together, so each was scammed out of $2,000.

Read: 7 Frugal Habits That Arent Actually Good for Your Finances

Playing Along in the Scheme

After Khongrajs boyfriend and his friend realized they had been scammed and would not receive the sneakers or money back, they tried to report it to his bank. Khongraj said the bank was no help.

Story continues

Their next move was to start playing along with the scheme. They asked the Instagram scammer to make sure he got the payment by clicking a link. For this particular link, Khongraj said they used an IP tracking website that generates it so they could determine the scammers location.

Those familiar with fraud know better than to click any unusual links. In fact, 57% of respondents surveyed by GOBankingRates said they avoid these types of links to protect themselves from identity theft.

The Instagram scammer was not that bright and fell for the link, which showed he was in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Khongrajs boyfriend had been arguing with the scammer asking for information on the sneaker shipment. After being ignored multiple times, he let him know that they knew he was in Raleigh. This didnt scare the scammer enough.

So, Khongraj and her boyfriend found his personal Instagram account and were able to narrow down his location using a video posted on his Instagram Story highlight reel. Sharing this bit of information with the scammer scared him enough to block Khongrajs boyfriend on social media  but not enough to get his money back. After days of outreach, Khongrajs boyfriend gave up.

I was angry and decided to take matters into my own hands, said Khongraj.

Then one night at 2 a.m., after thinking through every possible scenario, she put her plan in motion.

Taking Drastic Measures

Khongraj knew the scammers $Cashtag on Cash App. She also knew one of his emails and a few of his Instagram usernames. She started by attempting to log into Facebook with one of the scammers emails and trying to connect a phone number.

After clicking the forgot password option, the last four digits of a phone number popped up. It just so happened that these digits matched the phone number of his friend who had apparently worked with the scammer and assured Khongraj and her boyfriend that he was a great person to work with.

Since the phone number matched, Khongraj searched for it in Cash App. A weird $Cashtag popped up under a username we had never heard of. I felt like I was getting somewhere.

Khongraj searched the same exact Cash App username on Instagram and found the profile of an older woman who sold jewelry. In the womans Instagram Story highlights, Khongraj found her directions for purchasing jewelry. These directions included the same $Cashtag username. This confirmed it was the same woman.

From here, Khongraj searched for the womans name on Facebook and found a public profile. After skimming her friends list for anyone with the same last name, she found four other profiles. Khongraj carefully reviewed the contenders and determined the scammer could be this womans grandson.

Big Risk, Bigger Reward

Did Khongraj know with 100% certainty that the scammer was this womans grandson? Maybe not quite 100%, but she listened to her gut feeling  which told her she was right.

The next morning, Khongraj called her boyfriend to share her theory. They decided to send the woman a message letting her know what was going on in hopes that it was really her grandson who scammed Khongrajs boyfriend. The scammer was also about to get a taste of his own medicine.

Khongraj and her boyfriend texted him from a different phone number with every detail they had at this point. The city the scammer lived in, his exit to work, the street he lived on, who his grandmother was, and his full name, which Khongraj found through Facebook. In their message to him, they demanded the full amount of money  $4,000  reimbursed by the end of the day. Otherwise, they would tell his grandmother and get the police involved.

After sending the message, Khongraj said the suspense killed them because they didnt know if this theory was true. However, 30 minutes later  they were proven right.

[The scammer] begged us not to involve the police and promised to send the full amount of money back by EOD, said Khongraj. After a few different payments, we had the full amount back by the end of the day.

What Should You Do If Youre Scammed?

Many people who experience a scam or are victims of a scam cannot afford to lose big amounts of money. For some people, even $20 is a lot to lose, let alone $4,000. And obviously, not everyone has enough social media savvy to track down their scammer on their own.

I would still always recommend contacting your bank first and attempting to file a report, said Khongraj.

If you sent money through a money transfer app, the FTC also recommends reporting this fraudulent transaction to the company behind the app. Ask them to reverse the payment. Those who have the app linked to their credit or debit card can report the fraud to their credit card company or bank and ask them to reverse the charge.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: I Lost $4,000 to a Financial Scam: Heres How I Recovered the Full Amount
When you see that almost half of the companies in the Energy Services industry in Malaysia have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 0.8x, Sapura Energy Berhad (KLSE:SAPNRG) looks to be giving off some buy signals with its 0.2x P/S ratio. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

See our latest analysis for Sapura Energy Berhad

What Does Sapura Energy Berhad's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

With revenue growth that's inferior to most other companies of late, Sapura Energy Berhad has been relatively sluggish. The P/S ratio is probably low because investors think this lacklustre revenue performance isn't going to get any better. If you still like the company, you'd be hoping revenue doesn't get any worse and that you could pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Sapura Energy Berhad.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The Low P/S Ratio?

In order to justify its P/S ratio, Sapura Energy Berhad would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 31% gain to the company's top line. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen the company endure a nasty 25% drop in revenue in aggregate. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should demonstrate some strength in company's business, generating growth of 3.9% as estimated by the four analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the broader industry is forecast to contract by 3.1%, which would indicate the company is doing better than the majority of its peers.

With this information, we find it very odd that Sapura Energy Berhad is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. It looks like most investors aren't convinced at all that the company can achieve positive future growth in the face of a shrinking broader industry.

Story continues

The Key Takeaway

It's argued the price-to-sales ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

Our examination of Sapura Energy Berhad's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior revenue outlook against a shaky industry isn't contributing to its P/S anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. There could be some major unobserved threats to revenue preventing the P/S ratio from matching the positive outlook. One major risk is whether its revenue trajectory can keep outperforming under these tough industry conditions. So, the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued, but investors seem to think future revenue could see a lot of volatility.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Sapura Energy Berhad (2 are potentially serious!) that you should be aware of.

If strong companies turning a profit tickle your fancy, then you'll want to check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



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By Joseph White and Ilona Wissenbach

DETROIT (Reuters) - Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius told Reuters the automaker's newest electric vehicle architecture, launching with the CLA compact electric sedan late next year, will target 30% to 35% more driving range for each kilowatt-hour of energy stored in the battery than the brand's current EVs.

Mercedes will also offer a lithium-iron-phosphate, or LFP, battery in the new CLA model lineup due to hit showrooms in early 2025, a first for any Mercedes EV, the CEO said in an interview.

With an LFP battery pack, Mercedes could offer a lower-priced model in a competitive segment currently dominated by Tesla. In China, the new CLA will also face competition from Chinese EV brands that use LFP batteries.

Mercedes will preview the future electric CLA with a prototype to be unveiled at the IAA auto show in Munich, Germany on Sunday.

The CLA prototype is a physical demonstration of Mercedes' strategy for closing the technology gap with Tesla and other new EV manufacturers.

Getting more driving range using less energy from the battery is the key target for the German automaker's future EV development, Kaellenius said.

"Efficiency is really the new currency when we go into electric vehicles," he said.

The new CLA is targeting power use of 12 kWh per 100 kilometers, and 750 km of driving range, Kaellenius said. That compares to the 17 to 18 kWh per 100 km in a EQA 350 compact SUV model Mercedes offers today.

A current Tesla Model 3 is rated at 13.1 kWh per 100 km.

At these levels of efficiency, the future CLA should be the electric equivalent of a car that consumes one litre of gasoline per 100 km of driving, Kaellenius said. The so-called one-litre car has long been an aspirational target for European automakers. Volkswagen's XL1 car achieved that benchmark, with a diesel-electric powertrain. VW sold only 200 of them.

Driving range remains a critical competitive benchmark in the EV market. Consumers can easily compare how far an EV can drive between charging stops.

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For manufacturers, the real competition is designing vehicles that can deliver more driving range with a smaller, less costly battery pack. Reducing battery costs is critical as Tesla and other EV brands have launched a price war to sustain sales growth in China, Europe and the United States.

"When you talk about the efficiency of an electric car, you optimize the whole system," Kaellenius said.

Mercedes has the added challenge of offsetting the power consumption of the high-powered Nvidia chips that will be used to control driver assistance, large infotainment screens and other systems in the CLA and future EVs, he said.

Mercedes engineers have been testing ways to improve EV efficiency using long road trips in a prototype vehicle called the Vision EQXX. That vehicle has pushed power consumption down as far as 8.3 kWh per 100 km, Mercedes has said.

For the Vision EQXX, "we gave the engineers no limits," Kaellenius said.

The production of CLA will have limits set by customers and the prices rivals are charging in an increasingly crowded EV market.

(Reporting By Joe White; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - Radio Fuels Energy Corp. (CSE: CAKE) (OTCQB: CKEFF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that the board of directors has appointed Bassam Moubarak as Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

Mr. Moubarak is a seasoned senior executive with over 15 years' experience in the mining industry. Mr. Moubarak currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Palisades Gold Corp, Chief Financial Officer and Director of Freeman Gold Corp and Chief Financial Officer of Nevada King Gold Corp.

Mr. Moubarak was Executive Vice President, CFO and Director of Gold X Mining Corp where he played a pivotal role in the sale of the company to Gran Colombia Gold Corp for $365 million and in raising over $35 million to acquire the option on the Toroparu project. Prior to that, Mr. Moubarak was CFO of Lithium X Energy Corp. where he played a key role in its sale to NextView New Energy Lion Hong Kong Limited for $265 million. Prior to that, Mr. Moubarak was CFO of Goldrock Mines Corp. where he was instrumental in its sale to Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. for $180 million. He was CFO of Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. where he was responsible for raising more than $120 million to develop and bring into production the Molejon Gold Mine. He also played a major role in the sale of Petaquilla Copper Ltd. to Inmet Mining Corporation for $400 million and negotiated the sale of Golden Arrow Resources Corporation's 1% net smelter royalty on Gualcamayo Gold Mine to Premier Royalty Inc. for $17.75 million. Furthermore, Mr. Moubarak has advised on several structuring transactions which include private company mergers and acquisitions, go public transactions and launching new mining ventures.

Mr. Moubarak is a Chartered Professional Accountant and was previously a senior manager with the international accounting firm Deloitte LLP, where he led audits of public companies and oversaw SOX 404 implementations with specific emphasis on the mining industry.

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The appointment of Mr. Moubarak follows the resignation of Arvin Ramos as Chief Financial Officer. The Company would like to thank Mr. Ramos for his contributions and wishes him well on his future endeavours.

About Radio Fuels Energy Corp.

The Company is a junior natural resource company focused on providing exposure to uranium and other commodities through the investment, acquisition, exploration, and development of projects and companies.

For further information, please contact:

Cejay Kim

President & Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (778) 886-1826

Email: cejay.kim@gmail.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179294
INDIAN RIVER  Stefanie Seaman, a manager at a McDonalds at 6153 M-68 in Indian River, was honored on Wednesday with the prestigious Ray Kroc Award.

Stefanie Seaman, a manager at a McDonalds at 6153 M-68 in Indian River, was honored with the prestigious Ray Kroc Award.

Seaman has been recognized as being in the top 1 percent of Restaurant Managers worldwide. This award recognizes her exemplary leadership, unwavering commitment and exceptional business results.

Seaman was presented with her award on Wednesday by McDonalds restaurant owner/operator Cynthia Villaire. She was awarded a cash bonus as well as a trip to Barcelona, Spain where she will be honored during the 2024 McDonalds Worldwide Convention.

Stefanie Seaman, a manager at a McDonalds at 6153 M-68 in Indian River, was presented with the Ray Kroc Award on Wednesday.

The Ray Kroc Awards, established in 1999 and named after McDonalds Corporation Founder, Ray Kroc, are presented every two years based on nominations from McDonald's franchisees and regional management.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Northern Michigan McDonalds manager wins prestigious Ray Kroc Award
octopus

Electricity and gas supplier Octopus is to take on 1.4m more household customers after it acquired Shells energy business in the UK and Germany.

The deal brings Octopuss total customer base to 6.5m homes, around one million behind Centrica-owned British Gas, the UKs largest supplier.

Octopuss customer base in Germany will grow to almost 300,000.

The deal, which is expected to be completed in the final three months of this year, also includes 500,000 broadband customers.

Shell customers will be contacted about the switch to Octopus once the deal gains regulatory approval.

Octopus, which is the only Which?-recommended energy supplier in the UK, had already grown significantly following the acquisition of Bulbs customers in October last year, adding 1.5m customers.

Greg Jackson, the chief executive, said: Following a stringent process, we are pleased to be acquiring Shell Energy Retail in the UK and Germany.

Octopus has proven that it delivers game-changing service whilst innovating and investing relentlessly towards a cheaper cleaner energy system.

Our commitment to customers is paramount and we will do whatever it takes to deliver the Octopus promise when we welcome these new customers too.

Octopus Energy, founded by Greg Jackson in 2015, expects the deal to conclude in the fourth quarter this year - Andrew Crowley

The sale to Octopus means Shell will exit the household supply sector after just six years.

The company first entered the UK home supply market in 2017 when it acquired energy and broadband provider First Utility and the firms 825,000 customers.

It later expanded its footprint with the acquisition of Green Star Energy and the Post Offices energy business, as well as agreements to take on some customers whose suppliers collapsed in the face of rising prices in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

Steve Hill, executive vice-president at Shell Energy, said: This agreement follows the announcement during our Capital Markets Day to divest our home energy retail business in Europe.

To drive performance, discipline and simplification, we are prioritising countries, projects, and routes to market where we can deliver the most value.

We will work closely with Octopus to ensure a seamless transition and continued high standards of customer service.

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.
Optimum Ventures Inc

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Optimum Ventures Ltd. (Optimum or the Company) (TSXV: OPV) is pleased to announce that Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd.'s ("Blackwolf") proposed acquisition of all of the outstanding securities of the Company by plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") was overwhelmingly approved at the Company's annual general and special meeting of securityholders held on August 31, 2023 (the "Meeting").



At the Meeting, Optimum securityholders were asked to consider and approve a special resolution regarding the proposed Arrangement (the "Arrangement Resolution"). No dissents were received by the Company and the Arrangement Resolution was approved by 100% of the votes cast by Optimum securityholders at the Meeting.

Pursuant to the terms of the Arrangement, Blackwolf will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Optimum (Optimum Shares), and, in exchange, shareholders of Optimum will receive 0.65 of a common share of Blackwolf (Blackwolf Shares) for each Optimum Share held. For complete details of the Plan of Arrangement, interested persons are directed to Optimums Information Circular filed on SEDAR+ ( www.sedarplus.ca ) on August 4, 2023 by Optimum under its company profile.

Closing of the Arrangement remains subject to court approval as well as other customary closing conditions. Assuming the timely completion of these conditions, Optimum expects the Arrangement to close on or about September 12, 2023.

About Blackwolf

Blackwolfs founding vision is to be an industry leader in transparency, inclusion and innovation. Guided by our Vision and through collaboration with local and Indigenous communities and stakeholders, Blackwolf builds shareholder value through our technical expertise in mineral exploration, engineering and permitting. Blackwolf holds a 100% interest in the high-grade Niblack copper-gold-zinc-silver VMS project, located adjacent to tidewater in southeast Alaska as well as five Hyder Area gold-silver and VMS properties in southeast Alaska and northwest British Columbia in the Golden Triangle, including the high-priority wide gold-silver veins at the Cantoo Property. For more information on Blackwolf, please visit the their website at www.blackwolfcopperandgold.com.

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About Optimum

Optimum is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company actively seeking opportunities in the resource sector. Its properties and projects are all located in British Columbia and the extensions of the Golden Triangle area of Northern British Columbia into Alaska. The Company has an option agreement with Teuton Resources Corp. pursuant to which Teuton has agreed to grant to Optimum the option to acquire an up to 80-per-cent interest in the Harry and Outland Silver Bar properties, located near Stewart, B.C.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Tyler Ross

Optimum Ventures Ltd.

Tel: (604) 428-6128

info@optimumventures.ca

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 news release. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release.

None of the securities to be issued pursuant to the Arrangement have been or will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities laws, and any securities issuable in the Arrangement are anticipated to be issued in reliance upon available exemptions from such registration requirements pursuant to Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable exemptions under state securities laws. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. 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 state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to the Arrangement, including statements with respect to the expected timing for closing of the Arrangement and completion of the consolidation.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at the time, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Although Optimum 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. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in Optimums most recent annual management's discussion and analyses, and in Optimums management information circular dated July 6, 2023, which have been filed with the Canadian securities regulators and are available on the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Optimum does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Such statements represent the current views of Optimum with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Optimum, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the following: treatment of the Arrangement under applicable competition laws and the Investment Canada Act; delays or risks associated with Optimum obtaining final court approval for the Arrangement; regulatory determinations and delays; any impacts of COVID-19 on the business of the Company; stock market conditions generally; demand, supply and pricing for gold and silver; and general economic and political conditions in Canada and other jurisdictions where the Company conducts business.




Osino Resources Corp.

Figure 1

Omaruru Lithium Project location relative to the Twin Hills Gold Project, other Osino projects and mines and deposits in the area.

Figure 2

Location map showing completed RC drill holes at Karlsbrunn Main

Figure 3

Detailed map showing location of mapped pegmatite occurrences at Omaruru

Figure 4

Regional Map showing encouraging first pass assay results at Bergers

Figure 5

Regional Map showing recent drilling (yellow dots) and proposed Phase 2 Exploration

Highlights



Prospect Resources completes Phase 1 earn-in at Osinos Omaruru Lithium Project, Namibia.

Assay results outlined a significant extension and thickening of the Karlsbrunn Main deposit root zone feeder system from surface, which remains open at depth to the northeast. Significant strike extension potential to the north of Brockmans requires follow- up. Intercepts from latest drilling include: 35m @ 0.85% Li 2 O from surface, including 5m @ 1.03% Li 2 O from 1m and 13m @ 1.04% Li 2 O from 12m (Karlsbrunn Main) 18m @ 0.88% Li 2 O from surface and 13m @ 0.79% Li 2 O from 21m (Karlsbrunn Main) 7m @ 0.84% Li 2 O from 16m, including 2m @ 1.46% Li 2 O from 16m and 2m @ 1.21% Li 2 O from 21m (Bergers NE)

Prospect has now earned a 40% project interest and will proceed with the Phase 2 earn-in at Omaruru.

Osino has the option to retain a 49% interest in the project through pro-rata equity contributions and regardless will be carried as a 15% holder in the event of non-funding, until DFS.





VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Osino Resources Corp. (TSXV:OSI) (NSX:OSN) (FSE:RSR1) (OTCQX:OSIIF) ("Osino or the Company) is pleased to report the completion of the phase 1 earn-in (Phase 1) on its majority-owned Omaruru Lithium Project (Omaruru or the Project) in Namibia by Prospect Resources Limited (ASX:PSC) (FRA:5E8) (Prospect) and announces that Prospect will proceed with the phase 2 earn-in (Phase 2).

Osino entered into an Earn-In and Shareholder Agreement (the Agreement) with Prospect in Q4 2022 whereby Prospect had the right to earn into a 40% interest in the Project upon completion of Phase 1 and can earn a 51% interest upon completion of Phase 2. Prospect can earn up to 85% interest in the Project with Osino carried until completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study (see Osino press release dated September 30, 2022). Omaruru is located 20km southeast of Osinos flagship Twin Hills Gold Project.

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Heye Daun, Osinos President and CEO commented: We are encouraged by the results of the Phase 1 program on our Omaruru Lithium Project. Prospect Resources recently completed drilling program has expanded the known lithium mineralisation in the area and identified several drill targets that were previously under cover. The success of the Phase 1 program sets the stage for potential new discoveries during the Phase 2 drilling campaign planned for Omaruru. We look forward to Prospects upcoming Phase 2 exploration activities and results as they become available into the next quarter. Osino shareholders will continue to benefit from exploration success at Omaruru while the Company remains focused on fast tracking its flagship Twin Hills Gold Project to production.

Project Background

The Omaruru Lithium Project is centred on the village of Wilhelmstal, east of Karibib in Namibia and covers 175 square kilometres (see Figure 1). The tenement is located near several advanced mining projects including Lepidicos Karibib Lithium Project and Osinos Twin Hills Gold Project.

Osino undertook an initial evaluation of the lithium potential of the Project from 2019-2021. This work included mapping, rock grab sampling and a 16 hole (1,942m) RC drill program in 2020. Prospect has advanced the Project since entering the Agreement with Osino in 2022, recently announcing a new lithium discovery from phase 1 drilling results (see Osino press release dated March 31, 2023).

Omaruru contains 60 visible outcropping LCT pegmatites, with historical artisanal workings for gemstones common throughout the tenement and considerable prospectivity for the identification of further lithium-enriched deposits occurring below cover in the region (see Figure 2).

The Project offers excellent potential to delineate a maiden lithium Mineral Resource and identify new deposits to build a project of sufficient scale, as well as establishing a strategic position in Namibia, providing an attractive growth pipeline in the battery minerals sector and continued investment in a desirable jurisdiction of sub-Saharan Africa.

Figure 1: Omaruru Lithium Project location relative to the Twin Hills Gold Project, other Osino projects and mines and deposits in the area





Figure 1: Omaruru Lithium Project location relative to the Twin Hills Gold Project, other Osino projects and mines and deposits in the area.

Follow-Up Phase 1 RC Drilling Program

Prospect completed its follow-up Phase 1 RC drilling programme at Omaruru (focussed on Karlsbrunn, Brockmans and regional prospects) in late June, with 27 holes completed for 1,839 metres. All assay results from this drilling have now been received and are reported in this release.

Karlsbrunn Main

Figure 2 shows the location of the RC drill holes completed at Karlsbrunn Main to date and the surrounding site infrastructure, including surveyed underground adit locations (yellow), outline of the mapped pegmatite for the lithium deposit, the historical surface disturbance and the interpreted strike of the mineralised root zone (the dashed purple line shows strike direction to the northeast).

It also outlines the anomalous lithia intersections returned from the vertical adits (in green text) that were recently reported by Prospect (refer ASX Announcement dated 26 April 2023), which outline the extent of high-grade mineralisation (~1% lithia) over a significant distance at Karlsbrunn Main.

Figure 2: Location map showing completed RC drill holes at Karlsbrunn Main



Figure 2: Location map showing completed RC drill holes at Karlsbrunn Main

Five holes for 345m of drilling (OMR045-OMR049) were completed at the deposit as part of the follow-up Phase 1 program (two holes were abandoned). Significant intersections returned include:

35m @ 0.85% Li2O from surface, including 5m @ 1.03% Li2O from 1m, and 13m @ 1.04% Li2O from 12m (OMR046)

18m @ 0.88% Li2O from surface and 13m @ 0.79% Li2O from 21m (OMR045)

The drilling was aimed at extending the deposits main root zone feeder system to the northeast. Drillholes OMR045 and 046 indicated a thickening of mineralization in this location and returned excellent widths of higher-grade lithium, with the system still open in that direction. Additional soil geochemical sampling in this corridor to the northeast will be undertaken as part of the Phase 2 exploration program, and drilling will then be employed to target potential buried extensions of the root zone in that region.

The lithium mineralization at Karlsbrunn Main appears zoned either side of an unmineralized quartz core, is dominated by lepidolite and petalite, and is hosted in a folded rock sequence of marbles and calc-silicates.

Bergers

The Bergers deposit is located about 4.5 km to the east of the Karlsbrunn Main deposit and consists of a central area of subdued outcropping lithium mineralization (see Figure 3). On 26 April 2023, Prospect announced the results of a geochemical soil sampling program over Omaruru, which included grids over interpreted, concealed pegmatites at Bergers NE and Bergers SW. The soil sample results were very encouraging and showed strong, cohesive anomalies in LCT pathfinder elements over both the geochemical grids at Bergers.

During the follow-up Phase 1 program, 431m of first-pass exploratory scout drilling was completed in seven (7) holes covering the Bergers NE and Bergers Central areas. The Bergers SW area was found to be too challenging to drill with a conventional RC rig and is planned to be targeted in Phase 2 using a more suitable machine for the hilly terrain.

The maiden drilling program completed over Bergers produced positive results, including 7m @ 0.84% Li2O (OMR032) from only 16m depth (at Bergers NE), where no pegmatite outcrop was visible, but had been inferred from the overlying soil geochemical anomalies (Figure 4).

This downhole intersection included two separate higher-grade zones of lithium mineralization in the form of petalite, that returned 2m @ 1.46% Li2O from 16m and 2m @ 1.21% Li2O from 21m. Further drilling is required down dip of OMR032, to determine continuity and widths of the high grade mineralization.

In addition, drillhole OMR037 at Bergers Central, generated 3m @ 0.71% Li2O from 25m, interpreted to be petalite mineralization. It also remains open at depth and will be targeted during the planned Phase 2 exploration program.

The limited scout drilling program completed for Bergers demonstrates the broader high-grade lithium potential for the Omaruru Project. It also shows that the geological mapping and follow-up soil geochemical sampling completed by the Prospect exploration team here were very effective first-pass lithium exploration techniques for wider use at Omaruru.

Figure 3: Detailed map showing location of mapped pegmatite occurrences at Omaruru





Figure 3: Detailed map showing location of mapped pegmatite occurrences at Omaruru

Figure 4: Regional Map showing encouraging first pass assay results at Bergers





Figure 4: Regional Map showing encouraging first pass assay results at Bergers

Brockmans

The Brockmans area was targeted by 10 holes for 712m during the follow-up Phase 1 program, with 7 holes positioned close to the previous high-grade intersection in drill hole OMR018 (6m @ 1.30% Li2O from 13m; see Prospect ASX Announcement dated 28 March 2023).

The drilling failed to extend the zone laterally, with only one hole (OMR027) returning an anomalous intercept of 2m @ 0.67% Li2O from 21m. This may indicate that that the higher-grade zone in OMR018 resulted from a thickening or flexure in the pegmatite intrusive there.

There remains a 500m section north of OMR018 at Brockmans that has not been drilled comprehensively to date and this area is considered a lithium target based on the thick pegmatite mapped in that locality.

The other three holes completed at Brockmans did not intersect anomalous grades of lithium, although holes OMR024 and 025, completed to test a geochemical soil anomaly at Brockmans SW, cannot yet be considered a definitive test of the prospectivity given the anomaly stretches over at least 200m of strike.

Karlsbrunn NE

Four short RC holes for 270m targeted a diffuse geochemical soil anomaly at this prospect, with two holes collared into the hanging wall marble host rock and two clipping the edge of the soil anomaly producing low-grade results.

The Karlsbrunn NE soil grid is planned to be extended in Phase 2 to better define that anomaly (for future drilling), which is located just over a 1 km northeast of Karlsbrunn Main (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: Regional Map showing recent drilling (yellow dots) and proposed Phase 2 Exploration





Figure 5: Regional Map showing recent drilling (yellow dots) and proposed Phase 2 Exploration

Geological Mapping

During the Phase 2 program, the area adjacent and southeast of Karlsbrunn Main is set to be geologically mapped and sampled in more detail, with early reconnaissance and satellite imagery over that region indicating the presence of numerous pegmatite swarms with potential petalite mineralization present (target location is delineated in Figure 5).

Geochemical Soil Sampling

Prospect completed detailed soil geochemical sampling at Omaruru over eight separate grids in January (results were reported in Prospect ASX Announcement dated 26 April 2023).

Follow-up drilling of lithium targets delineated from that work has proved that this early-stage exploration technique has been effective for Omaruru, using the LCT pathfinder elements analyzed.

The identification of blind, concealed lithium mineralization as petalite at Bergers NE and Bergers Central during the current drilling campaign is testament to its value being more widely employed at the Omaruru Project.

As such, the upcoming Phase 2 exploration work is set to expand and infill soil sample grids northeast and south of Karlsbrunn Main, and northeast of the original Spirit SW grid, where it adjoins the historical Spirit mine workings and has previously generated an intercept of 6m @ 0.72% Li2O (KBR010) in RC drilling completed by Osino Resources Corp. (see Prospect ASX Announcement dated 29 September 2022). A 700m section of intermittent pegmatite strikes NE-SW in this region and surface lithium mineralization is prevalent.

The new soil sampling work planned adjacent to Spirit is aimed at generating new concealed lithium targets in blind pegmatite deposits. Locations of the newly proposed soil sampling grids adjacent to Karlsbrunn Main and Spirit are shown on Figure 5 above.

Phase 2 Program

With completion of the Phase 1 earn-in to 40% of the Omaruru Project, the decision to move forward into Phase 2 earn-in has been taken by Prospect.

Planned Phase 2 exploration activities include:

Expand and infill geochemical sample grids at Karlsbrunn NE and Spirit.

Detailed geological mapping and sampling of the prospective region SE of Karlsbrunn Main.

Follow up mixed RC/RAB drilling of targets at Karlsbrunn NE after soil survey extensions.

RAB/light RC drilling infilling and extending anomalous results located at Bergers Central.

RC drilling to the north of Brockmans, where 500m of strike remains lightly tested.



Other drilling targets exist at Karlsbrunn Main to the northeast, where higher-grade lithium was recently identified in a root feeder zone in holes OMR045-046.

Bergers SW is a prospective target, but hilly terrain needs an alternative drilling solution (light RAB). Similarly, Petalite SW was also identified as a target by soil sampling but is yet to be drilled.

The main objective of the Phase 2 exploration program is to continue proving up strike extensions of existing or new, coherent indications of lithium-enriched LCT pegmatite deposits, with a focus on targeting higher grades and potential delineable Mineral Resources across the district within EPL 5533.

Earn-in Agreement Terms

Under the Agreement, Prospect has earned a 40% interest in the Project with a US$1M investment (Phase 1) and can earn a further 11% interest through a US$560,000 investment (Phase 2), totalling a 51% ownership in the Project.

Upon the completion of Phase 2 and having earned 51%, development funds are to be contributed on a pro-rata basis. If one party fails to contribute their pro rata share, their shareholding will be diluted. The minority shareholder will be diluted down to 15%, at which point their interest shall be free carried until the completion of the DFS.

During phase 3 of the Agreement (Phase 3"), if Prospects spending does not reach a minimum of US$500,000 within the 12-month period following Phase 2, either party will have the option to purchase the other partys interest for an agreed sum.

Qualified Persons Statement

David Underwood, BSc. (Hons) is Vice President Exploration of Osino Resources Corp. and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release and is a registered Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (Pr. Sci. Nat. No.400323/11) and a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101

About Prospect Resources

Prospect is an ASX listed company focused on the exploration and development of opportunities in battery and electrification metals in the sub-Saharan African region. The team at Prospect has a proven track record of value creation and systematic de-risking of early-stage projects. Prospect successfully advanced its flagship Arcadia Lithium Mine Project in Zimbabwe from exploration through to resource definition, early-stage economic valuation, definitive studies, offtake agreements and strategic project financing process. Arcadia was discovered by Prospect in 2016 and was ultimately sold to Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in early 2022, for approximately US$378M in cash.

About Osino Resources

Osino is a Canadian gold exploration and development company focused on the fast-tracked development of our wholly owned, Twin Hills Gold Project in central Namibia. Since its grassroots discovery by Osino in August 2019 the Company has completed more than 225,000m of drilling and has completed a suite of specialist technical studies culminating in the recently published Twin Hills Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") dated effective June 12, 2023. The DFS describes a technically simple and economically robust open-pit gold operation with a 13-year mine life and average annual gold production of over 169koz per annum.

Osino has a commanding ground position of approximately 8,000km2 located within Namibia's prospective Damara sedimentary mineral belt, mostly in proximity to and along strike of the producing Navachab and Otjikoto Gold Mines. The Company is actively exploring a range of gold prospects and targets along the belt by utilizing a portfolio approach geared towards discovery, targeting gold mineralization that fits the broad orogenic gold model.

Our core projects are favourably located north and north-west of Namibia's capital city Windhoek. By virtue of their location, the projects benefit significantly from Namibia's well-established infrastructure with paved highways, railway, power and water in close proximity. Namibia is mining-friendly and lauded as one of the continent's most politically and socially stable jurisdictions. Osino continues to evaluate new ground with a view to expanding our Namibian portfolio.

Further details are available on the Company's website at https://osinoresources.com/ and under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

On Behalf of The Board of Directors

Heye Daun, President & CEO

CONTACT INFORMATION

Osino Resources Corp.

Yaron Conforti, Corporate Development

yconforti@osinoresources.com

+1-604-687-2038

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 press release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the use of proceeds from the Company's future plans or prospects of the Company, including prospects for economic recoverability of mineral resources. 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 state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company does not undertake to update any forward- looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.








Oxford Industries (OXM) reported $420.32 million in revenue for the quarter ended July 2023, representing a year-over-year increase of 15.7%. EPS of $3.45 for the same period compares to $3.61 a year ago.

The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $428.47 million, representing a surprise of -1.90%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of -0.29%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $3.46.

While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance.

Since these metrics play a crucial role in driving the top- and bottom-line numbers, comparing them with the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated about them helps investors better project a stock's price performance.

Here is how Oxford Industries performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

Net Sales- Emerging Brands : $31.60 million compared to the $30.95 million average estimate based on two analysts.

Net Sales- Johnny Was : $52 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $54.13 million.

Net Sales- Corporate and Other : -$0.10 million compared to the $0.90 million average estimate based on two analysts. The reported number represents a change of -111.1% year over year.

Net Sales- Lilly Pulitzer : $91.30 million versus $91.33 million estimated by two analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +2.9% change.

Net Sales- Tommy Bahama: $245.40 million compared to the $250.06 million average estimate based on two analysts. The reported number represents a change of +0.6% year over year.

View all Key Company Metrics for Oxford Industries here>>>



Shares of Oxford Industries have returned -4.6% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -1.3% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

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Zacks Investment Research
Value-focused investors are always on the hunt for stocks that are priced below their intrinsic value. One such stock that merits attention is Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA). The stock, which is currently priced at 14.39, recorded a loss of 4.64% in a day and a 3-month decrease of 0.49%. The stock's fair valuation is $32.98, as indicated by its GF Value.

Understanding the GF Value

The GF Value represents the current intrinsic value of a stock derived from our exclusive method. The GF Value Line on our summary page gives an overview of the fair value that the stock should be traded at. It is calculated based on three factors:

Historical multiples (PE Ratio, PS Ratio, PB Ratio and Price-to-Free-Cash-Flow) that the stock has traded at.

GuruFocus adjustment factor based on the company's past returns and growth.

Future estimates of the business performance.

We believe the GF Value Line is the fair value that the stock should be traded at. The stock price will most likely fluctuate around the GF Value Line. If the stock price is significantly above the GF Value Line, it is overvalued and its future return is likely to be poor. On the other hand, if it is significantly below the GF Value Line, its future return will likely be higher.

Is Paramount Global (PARA) Too Good to Be True? A Comprehensive Analysis of a Potential Value Trap

Uncovering Potential Risks

However, investors need to consider a more in-depth analysis before making an investment decision. Despite its seemingly attractive valuation, certain risk factors associated with Paramount Global should not be ignored. These risks are primarily reflected through its low Piotroski F-score of 2, Altman Z-score of 1.05. These indicators suggest that Paramount Global, despite its apparent undervaluation, might be a potential value trap. This complexity underlines the importance of thorough due diligence in investment decision-making.

Piotroski F-score and Altman Z-score: Key Indicators of Financial Health

The Piotroski F-score, created by accounting professor Joseph Piotroski, is a tool used to assess the strength of a company's financial health. The score is based on nine criteria that fall into three categories: profitability, leverage/liquidity/ source of funds, and operating efficiency. The overall score ranges from 0 to 9, with higher scores indicating healthier financials. Paramount Global's current Piotroski F-Score, however, falls in the lower end of this spectrum, indicating potential red flags for investors.

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Before delving into the details, let's understand what the Altman Z-score entails. Invented by New York University Professor Edward I. Altman in 1968, the Z-Score is a financial model that predicts the probability of a company entering bankruptcy within a two-year time frame. The Altman Z-Score combines five different financial ratios, each weighted to create a final score. A score below 1.8 suggests a high likelihood of financial distress, while a score above 3 indicates a low risk.

Company Overview

Paramount Global is the rebranded recombination of CBS and Viacom that has created a media conglomerate with global scale. CBS contributed Showtime in addition to its television assets--the CBS television network, 28 local TV stations, and 50% of CW, a joint venture between CBS and WarnerMedia. Viacom brought several leading cable network properties, including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT, and Paramount. Paramount Pictures produces original motion pictures and owns a library of 2,500 films, including the Mission: Impossible and Transformers series. Paramount operates a number of streaming services, most notably Paramount+ and Pluto TV.

Is Paramount Global (PARA) Too Good to Be True? A Comprehensive Analysis of a Potential Value Trap

Analysis of Paramount Global's Profitability

Firstly, let's address profitability. One significant component of the F-Score is a positive return on assets (ROA). A closer look at Paramount Global's ROA reveals a worrying trend of negative returns. This indicates the company's inability to generate profit from its assets - a fundamental concern for any investor.

Let's delve deeper into Paramount Global's financial health by examining the decline in its return on assets (ROA) over the past three years. The data indicates 2021: 6.36; 2022: 6.05; 2023: -2.05, when expressed in percentages. Such a decrease is concerning, as the Piotroski F-Score penalizes companies with lower current ROA compared to the previous period. This ongoing decline highlights another potential risk associated with investing in Paramount Global.

Observing the financials of Paramount Global, it's important to note that the cash flow from operations over the trailing twelve months (TTM) stands at $-773 million, whereas the net income in the same period is significantly higher at $-1165 million. The Piotroski F-score considers this discrepancy as a potential red flag. The rationale behind this is that a company's operating cash flow is a more direct and less manipulated measure of its cash-generating ability than net income. Net income, while important, is susceptible to accounting treatments and non-cash items which can distort the true cash profitability of the company. If a company consistently shows lower cash flows from operations relative to its net income, it could indicate that the earnings quality is poor and the company might have difficulties sustaining its operations or financing its obligations, a fact which could negatively impact its financial stability and investor confidence.

Leverage, Liquidity and Source of Funds: A Worrying Trend

Is Paramount Global (PARA) Too Good to Be True? A Comprehensive Analysis of a Potential Value Trap

Examining Paramount Global's financial stability, there's a notable decrease in its current ratio over the past three years, as shown by the data 2021: 1.78; 2022: 1.47; 2023: 1.17, which is expressed as percentages. The current ratio is a key indicator of a company's short-term financial health, as it gauges the ability to cover short-term liabilities with short-term assets. A declining current ratio suggests that Paramount Global's liquidity and capability to manage immediate financial obligations are deteriorating.

Operating Efficiency: A Darker Picture

Examining the data provided: 2021: 662; 2022: 650; 2023: 651, it becomes evident that Paramount Global has seen an increase in its Diluted Average Shares Outstanding over the past three years. This trend signals that the company has issued more shares. While issuing additional shares can provide immediate capital for the business, it can also lead to the dilution of existing shares' value. This dilution occurs because the earnings of the company now have to be divided among a larger pool of shares, which could decrease Earnings Per Share (EPS). Consequently, if the company's earnings don't grow at a pace that matches or exceeds this share increase, it could lead to a reduction in the value perceived by existing shareholders, potentially impacting their investment returns. Hence, while additional share issuance may provide necessary capital, it is important to monitor its impact on shareholder value carefully.

Lastly, concerning operating efficiency, the Piotroski F-score examines changes in gross margin and asset turnover. Regrettably, Paramount Global follows a discouraging trajectory with a decrease in gross margin percentage over the past three years, as demonstrated by the data provided: 2021: 40.41; 2022: 34.66; 2023: 24.80 (expressed in percentages). This contraction in gross margin suggests that Paramount Global is grappling with either an escalation in the cost of goods sold or dwindling prices - both of which are inauspicious indicators for profitability.

In terms of operational efficiency, another key indicator, Paramount Global has unfortunately reported a declining trend in asset turnover over the past three years, as evidenced by the data: 2021: 0.50; 2022: 0.52; 2023: 0.53 (expressed in percentages). Asset turnover measures how effectively a company uses its assets to generate sales, and a decrease in this ratio can indicate a drop in efficiency. This could be due to various factors, such as underutilization of assets or a decline in the market demand for the company's products or services. Consequently, this downward trend in asset turnover implies that Paramount Global may need to revisit its operational strategies to improve the utilization of its assets and boost its sales volume.

Conclusion: Paramount Global as a Potential Value Trap

While the Piotroski F-score is not the only lens through which to view a potential investment, it is a robust and comprehensive tool for evaluating a company's financial health. Unfortunately for Paramount Global, its current score suggests potential troubles. This, combined with the company's low Altman Z-score, suggests that Paramount Global might be a potential value trap. Despite its seemingly attractive valuation, the company's negative return on assets, decreasing current ratio, and declining gross margin percentage are all concerning signals for investors. Therefore, it is crucial for potential investors to conduct thorough due diligence before making any investment decisions.

GuruFocus Premium members can find stocks with high Piotroski F-score using the following Screener: Piotroski F-score screener .

GuruFocus Premium members can find stocks with high Altman Z-Score using the following Screener: Walter Schloss Screen .

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Rationalstat LLC

According to RationalStat's newest industry analysis, the Global Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging market is valued at US$ 102.8 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach US$ 166.4 billion by 2030, rising at a CAGR of 6.1% over the forecast period of 2023 and 2030.

Wilmington, Delaware, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Market Definition, Market Scope, and Report Overview

Globally, the pharmaceutical sector is booming due to rising healthcare costs, advances in medical treatments, and growing populations. This expansion directly generates demand for pharmaceutical packaging solutions to store, safeguard, and distribute pharmaceutical items. Pharmaceutical research and development results in new drug formulations and therapies. These improvements frequently necessitate specialized packaging in order to maintain product purity and extend shelf life.

According to a deep-dive market assessment by RationalStat , the Global P harmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market has been analyzed on the basis of market segments, including on product, material type, application, packaging type, drug delivery mode and geography/regions (incl. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific) . The report also offers global and regional market sizing for the historical period of 2019-2022 and the forecast period of 2023-2030.

Market intelligence for the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market covers market sizes on the basis of market value (US$/EUR Million) and volume (Tons) by various products/services/ equipment, demand assessment across the key regions, customer sentiments, price points, cost structures, margin analysis across the value chain, financial assessments, historical and forecast data, key developments across the industry, import-export data, trade overview, components market by leading companies, etc.

In addition, the long-term sector and products/services 10-year outlook and its implications on the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market. It also includes the industry's current state  Production Levels, Capacity Utilization, Tech quotient, etc. Key information will be manufacturing capacity by country, installed base, import volumes, market size, key players, market size, dynamics, market data, insights, etc.

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Request A Customization: https://store.rationalstat.com/store/global-pharmaceutical-plastic-packaging-market/#tab-ux_global_tab

Global Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market: Segmental and Market Share Analysis

On the basis of product, Prefilled syringes and cartridges are increasing in popularity as the preventive method becomes more popular. Governments are looking at more ways to securely and efficiently move treatment from hospitals to the home.

On the basis of drug delivery mode, the oral drug delivery segment is expected to dominate the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market. On-body delivery devices or wearable injectors are also widely being adopted by consumers as these devices for pharmaceutical plastic bottle market players to increase their production capacity.





Report Synopsis

Report Metrics Details Base Year 2022 Forecast Period 2023-2030 Base Year Market Size US$ 102.8 Billion Market Size Forecast US$ 166.4 Billion Growth Rate 6.2% Key Market Drivers Rising Pharmaceutical Industry

Increase in E-commerce and Direct-to-Consumer Models Companies Profiled Gerresheimer AG

Amcor PLC

Berry Plastics Group Inc.

Aptar Group Inc.

Berk Company LLC

Pretium Packaging

Klockner Pentaplast Group

Comar LLC

Gil Plastic Products Ltd

Drug Plastics Group

Explore more about this report https://store.rationalstat.com/store/global-pharmaceutical-plastic-packaging-market/#tab-ux_global_tab

Competition Analysis and Market Structure

These players adopt various strategies in order to reinforce their market share and gain a competitive edge over other competitors in the market. Mergers & acquisitions, partnerships and collaborations, and product launches are some of the strategies followed by industry players. Some of the key developments in the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market include,

In April 2021, Amcor introduced a new AmSky blister system. It appears to be thermoformed blister packaging made of recyclable polyethylene to meet pharmaceutical packaging regulations.

Some of the prominent players and suppliers operating and contributing significantly to the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market growth include Gerresheimer AG, Amcor PLC, Berry Plastics Group Inc., Aptar Group Inc., Berk Company LLC, Pretium Packaging, Klockner Pentaplast Group, Comar LLC, Gil Plastic Products Ltd, and Drug Plastics Group, among others.

Get A Free Sample: https://store.rationalstat.com/store/global-pharmaceutical-plastic-packaging-market/#tab-ux_global_tab

RationalStat has segmented the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market based on product, material type, application, packaging type, drug delivery mode and region

Global Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market Value (US$ Million), Volume (Tons), and Market Share (2019-2030) Analysis by Product Plastic Bottles Caps & Closures Pre-fillable Inhalers Pre-fillable Syringes Ampoules & Vials Blister Packs Bags & Pouches Jars & Canisters Cartridges Others

Global Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market Value (US$ Million), Volume (Tons), and Market Share (2019-2030) Analysis by Material Type Polypropylene (PP) Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Others

Global Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market Value (US$ Million), Volume (Tons), and Market Share (2019-2030) Analysis by Application Solid Containers Dropper Bottles Nasal Spray Bottles Liquid Bottles Oral Care Others

Global Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market Value (US$ Million), Volume (Tons), and Market Share (2019-2030) Analysis by Packaging Type Flexible Packaging Rigid Packaging

Global Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market Value (US$ Million), Volume (Tons), and Market Share (2019-2030) Analysis by Drug Delivery Mode Oral Injectable Topical Drug Delivery Pulmonary Transdermal Ocular Nasal Others

Global Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market Value (US$ Million), Volume (Tons), and Market Share (2019-2030) Analysis by Region North America Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market US Canada Latin America Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Western Europe Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market Germany UK France Spain Italy Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe Eastern Europe Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market Russia Poland Hungary Other CIS Countries Rest of Eastern Europe Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market China Japan India South Korea Australia ASEAN Indonesia Thailand Philippines Vietnam Malaysia Rest of ASEAN Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Market GCC Saudi Arabia (KSA) United Arab Emirates (UAE) Rest of the GCC South Africa Nigeria Turkey Rest of the Middle East & Africa



For more information about this report https://store.rationalstat.com/store/global-pharmaceutical-plastic-packaging-market/

Key Questions Answered in the Pharmaceutical Plastic Packaging Report:

What will be the market value of the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market by 2030?

What is the market size of the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market?

What are the market drivers of the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market?

What are the key trends in the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market?

Which is the leading region in the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market?

What are the major companies operating in the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market?

What are the market shares by key segments in the global pharmaceutical plastic packaging market?

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Research Methodology

RationalStat has developed a state-of-the-art research methodology to crunch numbers and provide the best possible real-time insights to clients. We combine a varied range of industry experience, data analytics, and experts viewpoint to create a research methodology for market sizing and forecasting.

RationalStat combines a mix of secondary sources as well as primary research to assess the market size and develop a forecast. Key steps involved in accurately deriving the market numbers are:

Defining the problem by understanding the type of market and data required by the client.

Data gathering and collection through relevant paid databases, publicly available sources, company reports, annual reports, surveys, and interviews.

Formulating a hypothesis to create market numbers, forecasts, influencing factors, and their relevance.

Evaluating and analyzing the data by referring to data sources utilized and leveraged.

Validating, interpreting, and finalizing the data by combining the details gathered from primary and secondary sources with the help of experienced analysts.

To get any Deep Dive Insight on the Report- Raise a Query

About RationalStat LLC

RationalStat is an end-to-end global market intelligence and consulting company that provides comprehensive market research reports, customized strategy, and consulting studies. The company has sales offices in India, Mexico, and the US to support global and diversified businesses. The company has over 80 consultants and industry experts, developing more than 850 market research and industry reports for its report store annually.

RationalStat has strategic partnerships with leading data analytics and consumer research companies to cater to the clients needs. Additional services offered by the company include consumer research, country reports, risk reports, valuations and advisory, financial research, due diligence, procurement and supply chain research, data analytics, and analytical dashboards.

Contact

RationalStat LLC

Kimberly Shaw,

Content and Press Manager

sales@rationalstat.com

US Phone: +1 302 803 5429

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Polysleep

"SLEEP LIKE YOU'RE STILL ON VACATION."

The billboards for the "SLEEP LIKE YOU'RE STILL ON VACATION" campaign by Polysleep in Montreal.

MONTREAL, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Polysleep, the innovative local company focused on innovation and quality in mattresses, is proud to partner with Matelas Bonheur for a one-of-a-kind experience in Montreal. This exceptional collaboration aims to showcase Polysleep products in 18 Matelas Bonheur stores throughout the city, providing customers with a unique opportunity to discover the superior quality of our products while participating in a fun treasure hunt.



From August 30th to September 3rd, every day in each Matelas Bonheur store, a premium Polysleep pillow will be offered as a prize. In total, 90 Polysleep pillows will be awarded to lucky participants residing in the Greater Montreal area for their campaign "SLEEP LIKE YOU'RE STILL ON VACATION."

BTS





The billboards for the "SLEEP LIKE YOU'RE STILL ON VACATION" campaign by Polysleep in Montreal.

The Polysleep Treasure Hunt x Matelas Bonheur invites Montreal residents to visit one of the 18 participating Matelas Bonheur stores to try their luck. Participants will have the opportunity to discover Polysleep mattresses and sleep accessories while taking part in an entertaining game.

Join us in this unique adventure as Polysleep and Matelas Bonheur continue to innovate and create memorable experiences for the Montreal community. The Polysleep Treasure Hunt x Matelas Bonheur has begun, so get ready for an exceptional experience!

For more information about the Polysleep Treasure Hunt x Matelas Bonheur, please visit our social media channels.

About Polysleep

Polysleep is a leader in the mattress industry in Canada, dedicated to creating high-quality mattresses and innovative sleep accessories to enhance the quality of life for its customers. Founded on the principles of comfort, support, and durability, the Polysleep brand is known for its cutting-edge technology and commitment to excellence. To learn more about Polysleep, visit https://polysleep.ca/.

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About Matelas Bonheur

Matelas Bonheur is a renowned Montreal-based company that has been offering a wide range of high-quality mattresses and sleep products for many years. True to its mission of promoting quality sleep, Matelas Bonheur stands out for its expertise and exceptional customer service. To learn more about Matelas Bonheur, visit https://www.matelasbonheur.ca/

Victoria Bakos

Public Relations Manager

victoria@polysleep.com

514.629-4044

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3e33a9e3-9230-4f59-9e95-a62a5eaa7136




PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM), one of the largest home construction firms in the U.S., is once again entangled in a serious legal matter, this time involving allegations of gender discrimination and retaliation.

The Lawsuit In Question: Last Wednesday, Caitlin Overturf filed a lawsuit against PulteGroup, alleging violations of both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA).

Overturf, who worked as a Customer Care Manager II for the company until Oct. 2022, claims that despite her high performance reviews and ranking within the company, she was systematically discriminated against due to her sex.

The lawsuit accuses PulteGroup of passing Overturf over for promotions in favor of less-qualified male colleagues and subjecting her to unmanageable workloads without assistance. The suit further alleges that Overturf was placed on an unwarranted Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) in Sept. 2022, just a month before her eventual "unlawful constructive termination."

This isn't the first time PulteGroup has faced serious allegations. Just last month, the company was sued for racial discrimination in Michigan by Ryan Adams, a former employee. In that case, Adams contended that he was unfairly dismissed and subjected to a hostile work environment due to his race.

While the two lawsuits tackle different issues  race and gender  they both imply a concerning pattern of discrimination and call into question the company's internal culture. Could the new lawsuit indicate a broader problem within PulteGroup's corporate hierarchy?

The Retaliation Factor: Notably, Overturf's lawsuit also claims retaliation, alleging that PulteGroup attempted to blacklist her from future employment opportunities.

After resigning from PulteGroup, Overturf was offered a position with Randall Interior Finishes. However, that offer was rescinded following threats from PulteGroup to cancel contracts with Randall Interior Finishes if they went ahead with the hiring, according to the complaint.

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Read also: Share Sales, Harassment Allegations And Power Play: Turbulence Hits PulteGroup

Legal Ramifications: The lawsuit consists of four counts: two for violation of the FCRA (discrimination and retaliation) and two for violation of Title VII (sex discrimination and retaliation).

Overturf is demanding a jury trial for all issues and seeks damages.

As legal proceedings unfold, PulteGroup finds itself at a crossroads that may require significant introspection and reform should the allegations prove true.

Benzinga reached out to PulteGroup for comment.

Read next: PulteGroup Faces Severe Allegations Of Racial Discrimination In Michigan Lawsuit

Don't miss real-time alerts on your stocks - join Benzinga Pro for free! Try the tool that will help you invest smarter, faster, and better.

This article PulteGroup Faces New Lawsuit Over Gender Discrimination And Retaliation Claims, Adds To Growing Legal Troubles originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
ReneSola Ltd (NYSE:SOL) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript August 31, 2023

ReneSola Ltd beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.14, expectations were $0.1.

Operator: Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for Emeren Group Limited Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Please note that we are recording today's conference call. I will now turn over the call to Mr. Yujia Zhai, Managing Director of The Blueshirt Group. Please go ahead, Mr. Zhai.

Yujia Zhai: Thank you, operator, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our second quarter 2023 results. We released our shareholder letter after the market close today and is available on our website at ir.emeren.com. We also provided a supplemental presentation that's posted on our IR website that we will reference during our prepared remarks. On the call with me today are Mr. Himanshu Shah, Chairman of the Board; Mr. Yumin Liu, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Ke Chen, Chief Financial Officer. Before we continue, please turn to slide two. Let me remind you that remarks made during this call may include predictions, estimates and other information that might be considered forward-looking. These forward-looking statements represent Emeren Group's current judgment for the future.

However, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Those risks are described under Risk Factors and elsewhere and Emeren Group's filings with the SEC. Please do not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect Emeren Group's opinions only as of the date of this call. Emeren Group is not obligated to update you on any revisions to these forward-looking statements. Also, please note that unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned during the conference call are in US dollars. With that let me now turn the call over to Mr. Himanshu Shah. Himanshu?

Himanshu Shah: Thank you. Great to be here and good day to everyone. Strategically, Emeren is positioned well, and we do have a strong balance sheet. The two strategic acquisitions that we made 10 months ago in UK and Italy have been operationally accretive to our results. It says a lot about our disciplined acquisition methodology. Our equity buyback also has been accretive to our shareholder value. Out of our almost 5 gigawatt hour of storage pipeline and keen focus going forward, which is a step in the right direction. Our team is also executing well, as can be seen from our second quarter results. Now I would like to turn the call over to Yumin and Ke to talk about our operating results.

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Yumin Liu: Thank you, Himanshu, and thank you, everyone, for joining our call today. I will begin by presenting a high-level overview of our second quarter 2023 results followed by an in-depth discussion on our guidance. After that, Ke will provide a comprehensive review of our financial results for Q2. We delivered a strong quarter and made good progress on our key strategic initiatives. Q2 revenue grew 312% year-over-year to $33.8 million, driven by strong contribution across all of our business lines. Gross margin was 37.4%, driven by improving mix of higher-margin projects, particularly in Europe, where we are benefiting from a tailwind of high energy prices. These results show a net income of $8.3 million, which was a record high for us in the last five years.

concrete, building, work

PI/Shutterstock.com

In our project development business, building on our successful track record in Europe, we sold two major projects in Poland and Hungary for a total of 62 megawatts. Following quarter end in July, we successfully closed the sale of an 11.5 megawatts solar project to the Swiss-based energy company, MET Group. This marked our first major product sale in Germany and it represents a significant milestone for our company, and Germany stands as one of the four most renewable energy markets in the world. In addition, during the quarter, we saw strong revenue and margin contribution from our recently acquired solar farm in Branston, UK due to the favorable energy prices. These results giving us confidence in our IPP strategy in Europe. Further, in Q2, we executed on our storage pipeline strategy and began the monetization process of our storage pipeline with an inaugural 260 megawatts of battery energy storage system projects in Italy.

This effort was part of our recently announced strategic partnership with Matrix, divided up to 1.5 gigawatts of portfolio of battery energy storage system in Italy. These solar storage system projects add a new revenue stream with attractive margins to our business and we look forward to sharing further progress in our upcoming quarters. Over the past two years, the European market has been our top strategic priority and we are very pleased with the progress we have made thus far. We have a very strong pipeline here and it continues to represent Emeren's largest market opportunity going forward. In China, we continue to make progress in our realignment strategy to the rest of the world as develop, build, own or sell compared to the original strategy as develop, build, own as IPP.

Last quarter, we announced that we are refocusing our efforts to five coastal provinces that have the most favorable power prices supported by a strong economy and regulatory environment. We anticipate setting all of our solar assets outside of these five provinces and some in these five focus markets, which will help strengthen our balance sheet. In Q2, we successfully closed the sale of a portfolio of a rooftop distributed generation projects located in Henan Province, totaling 29 megawatts to CNNP Rich Energy, a prominent leader in the China's renewable energy sector. We anticipate on closing the sale of additional projects in the upcoming quarters in Henan and Hebei provinces. Looking to the remainder of the year, we expect strong performance driven by project sales and contribution from our recent acquisitions.

Our full year guidance for net income continues to be between $22 million to $26 million, with gross margin anticipated to exceed 30%. For revenue, we now anticipate results to be near the lower end of the previously stated range of $154 million to $174 million due to the project timing. Our net income guidance reflects impressive annual growth of approximately 300%, a milestone we are extremely proud of as our focus remains on profitability given the volatile nature of our top line due to the project timing. We expect our Q3 revenue to be between $27 million to $30 million and gross margin to be in the range of 35% to 38%. Regarding our solar development and storage pipeline, over the course of quarter, we conducted a comprehensive review of our global project pipeline and implemented a standardized tier system that spans across both development and storage pipelines.

This refinement has led to the establishment of a more rigorous requirement for projects that are reported in our pipeline. As a result, we will now track a report an advanced-stage and an early-stage pipeline metric. The advance-stage pipeline represents projects with a significantly high likelihood of successful completion, thus serving as a reliable predictor of our future revenue. Meanwhile, the early-stage pipeline metric encompasses projects for which we have determined a reasonable probability of success. At end of 2023, we anticipate an advanced-stage solar project pipeline of at least 3 gigawatts, of which we now anticipate monetizing approximately 400 megawatts of projects in 2023. Beyond 2023, we are targeting to monetize 500 megawatts to 600 megawatts a year.

In addition, we expect an advanced-stage storage pipeline of 6 gigawatt hours by the end of 2023. In conclusion, we are optimistic about our revenue growth this year and beyond, driven by a robust project pipeline. Our strong position in rapidly growing solar markets fueled by rising clean energy demand, increased PPA price and supportive government policies further boosts our prospects. With expertise in solar project development an extensive industry network, and solid balance sheet, we are making significant progress towards becoming a leading global solar company. We are committed to delivering the value for our shareholders. Now let me turn the call over to our CFO, Ke Chen, to discuss our financial performance. Ke?

Ke Chen: Thank you, Yumin, and thanks everyone again for joining us on the call today. I will now go over our financial results for the second quarter. Our revenue of $33.8 million increased 312% year-over-year and 163% quarter-by-quarter. The growth in revenue was mainly driven by strong project sales in Europe and our IPP assets. Gross profit was $12.7 million and gross margin was 37.4%, up from $1.6 million and 12.4% in Q1 2023 and up from $3.7 million and 45% in Q2 2022. . Gross margin was at the high end of our guidance range primarily driven by improved mix of higher margin projects, particularly in Europe. Operating expense were $7.6 million, up from $4.6 million in Q1 2023 and up from $3.9 million in Q2 2022. The increase in operating expenses primarily resulted from the recognition of $2.1 million onetime loss from the divestiture of our China rooftop products in Henan Province.

Net income attributed to Emeren Group Ltd common shareholder was $8.3 million compared to net loss of $0.2 million in Q1 2023 and a net loss of $0.2 million in Q2 2022. Diluted net income attributable to Emeren Group Ltd common shareholder per ADS was $0.14 compared to zero in Q1 2013 and zero in Q2 2022. Cash used in operating activity was $2.4 million, which was mainly for the continuous development of Poland and Hungary COD projects. Cash provided by investing activity was $0.1 million. Cash provided by financing activity was $1.2 million. In terms of our financial position, cash and cash equivalents at the end of Q2 were $60.5 million compared to $66.7 million in Q1 2023. Our net asset value or NAV is approximately $5.98 per ADS. Our debt-to-asset ratio at end of Q2 2023 was 10.1% compared to 11.3% at the end of Q1 2023.

Lastly, regarding our stock buyback program, we purchased approximately $1.4 million of our common shares during the quarter and plan to continue to execute on the program over the coming quarters, which has about $15 million remaining in authorization. Now we would like to open up the call for any questions. Operator, please go ahead.

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Q&A Session

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] One moment for questions. Our first question comes from Donovan Schafer with Northland Capital Markets.

Donovan Schafer: Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. I want to first start off with the storage pipeline because that really stood out for me with the target of hitting 6 gigawatt hours. At this point, that almost makes it seem in some ways even bigger than the solar pipeline, kind of depending on how you measure it. I mean I know that can only back up 6 gigawatts for one hour. So not really an apples-to-apples comparison. But so my first question is just the size of it. Does this reflect any kind of shift in strategy in terms of are you guys -- are you trying to -- are you moving towards being more of a storage developer than a solar developer or is a lot of this maybe combined? And my second question, following up on that is just a lot of this is around the storage market in Poland, it looks like.

You have the three gigawatts in your advanced-stage pipeline. So just is there something special about the market in Poland that makes it a good storage market? Do they have special incentives? Is it a high-demand market to get around grid congestion or securities concerns or what's making Poland such a big part of that?

Yumin Liu: Okay. Very interesting questions. Number one, I will say that the storage, we initiated the storage development, storage project development back to about 18 to 24 months ago. And in the US, at the start, as literally speaking, US market is a pioneer of the storage development, starting like 2015, '16. And Europe, we started also around 12 to 18 months ago on storage development. And we do see storage sector becomes a very strategic and important play for our whole company. I will not redefine the company as a storage company only, but it is a very important sector in our company. The second point is the major  two major markets we are developing storage in Europe are Poland and Italy. Even you did not ask, but Italy, just very recently, the government announced the full support to storage market, including upcoming clear policies how developers can develop and benefit from the support of the policies.

Poland has been a very strategic market, an important market for the company, too. One of the reason is Poland is moving from a centric of coal-fired production to a renewable energy country with the 80% plus percent of the coal-fired power production go into remote solar, wind and all other renewable energy. At the same time, they are in big demand of energy storage projects. That is why we committed to develop a base solar storage solar pipeline together with the storage pipeline. And we are confident that the country not only is in big demand but also, we see a big benefit developing those projects and provide good contributions to the company from those advanced-stage and early-stage storage pipelines.

Donovan Schafer: Okay. Thanks. That's helpful. And then I want to talk about the 29 megawatts of rooftop projects that were sold in China. And I guess linking that to, there is a $2 million loss on disposable of PP&E in the EBITDA reconciliation. So just was that -- was the loss -- that $2 million loss attached to that sale of projects in China? And if so, just if you can talk at all about what kind of drove the loss on that? Was it -- were these older projects from years past and solar panels may be more expensive? Were there some other factors? Just kind of -- and maybe if that is likely to happen with other assets in China? Just trying to kind of connect the dots there and understand it a bit better, that would be great.

Ke Chen: Yes, Donovan. First of all, we actually -- this deal are very good in terms of cash flow for us, and we sell at a very good price. But compared to when this was built more than three years ago, again, the cost at that time is much higher than the cost base. So that's because, again, accounting treatment. So that's a loss based on accounting treatment. But from a tax flow point of view, this is a very good deal for us, and we expect very good cash inflow for this project sales. And yes, we are expecting to continue to sell some of this legacy project to, again, attract some cash. But from an accounting point of view, we do expect some of these accounting losses.

Donovan Schafer: Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. And if I could just squeeze one more in on gross margins. Gross margins look really great for the quarter, and that was nice to see. And I imagine IPP revenue was about 30% of revenue for the quarter. I'm imagining this is sort of saying, okay, you've been building more of this IPP portfolio, you've got Branston, which has become a big part of it and then didn't have a strong contribution in Q1 because that's not a sunny time of the year. But now Q2 boom, here we see it. So I'm just curious if you can help us kind of separate out gross margins. What were -- do you have the information? Could you share what the gross margins were for the IPP business? Because I know those tend to be very high. And then if you strip that out, what would the gross margins be for the rest of the business, just excluding the IPP business?

Ke Chen: Yes. In Q2, you actually mentioned that Q2 is a good season for the silver generation. So again, IPP margin is very high, around about 70% gross margin. Our project development is over 30%. And also, again, we did mention these different servers gross margin, not also pretty high, above 50%. That's related to our Italy business.

Donovan Schafer: Well, the blended gross margin was --

Ke Chen: 37%.

Donovan Schafer: 37, so what kind of -- is it just that a lot of it was the 30% for projects? Because the numbers you gave, if you kind of combine all that, you think you'd even get into like the 40%. So is there -- is it the EPC services? Is that part of what kind of drags it down spend.

Ke Chen: Yes, the EPC revenue is over $8 million, but the EPC margin is very low.

Donovan Schafer: Yes. Is it sort of between 0% and 10%, but still positive. I mean was it positive for the quarter?

Ke Chen: It's 1%, almost breakeven.

Donovan Schafer: Okay. Got it. I know how that ties into all your models. So I totally understand that. All right. Thanks, guys. I'll get back in the queue.

Ke Chen: Thank you, Donovan.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Phil Shen with ROTH MKM. You may proceed.

Matthew Koranda: Hey, guys. This is Matt on for Phil. Thanks for taking the questions. First, I just wanted to get your outlook for energy pricing in the back half of the year and where you think that could go in 2024. And if you continue to expect to benefit from higher energy pricing?

Yumin Liu: Let me answer your question in two ways. One is the, for example, we do have our major contributor, 50 megawatts Branston project. We do have four-year PPAs starting from April 1st this year, going there all the way four years locked PPA with very favorable PPA price. All other talking about the merchant price in the European market, we see the current price is absolutely a lot lower than 12 months ago or even than like eight, nine months ago. Okay. Going to in the average country by country, about $70 to $90 per megawatt hour. But going into 2024, we do see the uptrend of the price going from the current number to as high as 25% to 40% higher compared to today, okay? That literally led us to believe our IPP strategy in Europe is absolutely sustainable, and we are applying our IPP strategy continuously in Europe.

Matthew Koranda: Okay. Great.

Yumin Liu: And then another point on this one is the demand for renewable energy, solar specifically, is so big in the Europe, and we have been seeing all those strong support from all the governments in Europe that will help on the demand side while when the demand is high, the price remains to be very, very good throughout the 2024 based on the forecast.

Ke Chen: Our Branston project, we signed full year PPA with a much, much higher price than current merchant price, so we'll benefit from that.

Matthew Koranda: Okay. Great. Thank you. I appreciate the color there. And then moving to the US utility-scale market just as a whole, we've been doing some work recently that there could be some slowing because some developers might be having difficulty accessing liquidity for project financing and working capital, resulting in some project delays. Are you seeing this at all? And if so, how big of an issue do you think this could be for the industry looking ahead?

Yumin Liu: Very good question. You are absolutely the expert on this one. We do see from Novator West Coast or East Coast, PJM, PG&E, all those utilities, they put on hold of their approval process for the interconnection queue, okay? That is also one reason that we mentioned that we have a lot tighter control on our pure system, qualifying our projects into the advanced tier or the one stage, okay? We absolutely consider that as part of our quality or of our customer base, okay? I do see that the speed of the development may get picked up sooner than later within the next six to 12 months in the US. We feel proud about one big thing we present today, which is a very profitable quarter because of our contribution from the European business. Our US is low as we see same as many other companies who reported in the last three, four weeks. But we reported today a very strong quarter, thanks to our balance, our strategic business operations in Europe.

Ke Chen: Again, I would like to add, again, we talked about this. We have a strong balance sheet. That's part of our competitive advantage. I believe we talked about this in the last quarter, we have deposits put refund deposits with this US utility projects. So again, we overdraw balance sheet, we can't compete to others. We can carry this out, and you will see the results our US results in the second half and next year.

Matthew Koranda: Okay, great. I appreciate the color

Ke Chen: Thank you, Matt.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Amit Dayal with H.C. Wainwright. You may proceed.

Amit Dayal: Thank you. Good afternoon , everyone. With respect to the storage pipeline, can you clarify if the solar pipeline and the storage pipeline are tied in some fashion? Just trying to see if -- when you are successful in converting your solar projects, does that also imply that you will convert the storage projects as well or are they really independent?

Yumin Liu: Very interesting question. We have two different portfolios when we talk about megawatt hours on the storage. One is the solar attached to solar called Solar Plus. But here, when me say that advanced-stage of the storage pipeline, the majority or almost all of them are independent storage projects. And those are not solar attached. And also, that is also a trend we are developing and in different countries, we have different strategy developing different sizes. And even in the different states in the US. We have different approach on the signs of the storage facilities. So but most of them are independent solar independent storage projects.

Amit Dayal: And you didn't see anything from storage in 2Q, right?

Ke Chen: No. Amit, actually, we talked about this last year, we started our storage initiative actually, in Q2, we already recognized revenue and profit. We talk about the Italy projects, as we continue to see this monetization in Q3 and Q4. Overall, this year, we expect between 8% to 10% of that profit will come in from the storage business. So we are very positive about our storage development here, and you will see more in the coming years.

Amit Dayal: Understood. Thank you for that. My other question was around the margin outlook. Some of them you've already addressed. But the 35%, 37% type margin levels, can this be sustained in 2024 also? Or can you help us maybe get some clarity on what are the drivers behind margins? Is it depending on whether IPP or project sales come through in different percentages for the quarter? Like just trying to see -- I know there is -- it's a fluid situation for you guys. But is 35% to 37% a little bit higher than normal? Or is that potentially going to be a normal level for you into 2024?

Ke Chen: Yes, that's a lower margin we are target. And again, obviously, it's between 27% and 30%. And again, because our -- later our project development, we focus on RTP NTPC and IPP model. So that -- we believe that will be our margin target going forward.

Amit Dayal: Thank you. That's all as for now, guys. I'll take my other questions offline. Thank you.

Ke Chen: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Pavel Molchanov with Raymond James. You may proceed.

Pavel Molchanov: Thanks for taking the questions. I remember, you have talked over the past year about looking at some new European countries to enter. I think maybe Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey, but it seems like you've remained focused on your existing geographic footprint. Can you talk about that?

Yumin Liu: Interesting question. We are continuously looking at new markets to expand our business in Europe. We are looking at the several country stuff, but it's a little bit too early to talk about it before we ink the deal in the European countries. But literally speaking, we are looking about three to four countries in Europe. As also, as I mentioned, we are also looking to expand our business into Australia, the Asia Pacific area. That's the plan. And also the plan is for both solar and storage as a combined strategic play for the company inside out.

Ke Chen: Pavel, I just would like to talk about storage because you probably know US storage markets relative to in advance compared to Europe. Europe, a little bit behind. And in Europe, UK is maybe number one right now, but the coming market is Italy and Poland, which we have leading positions. So that's why we focus on those two markets and to monetize or get the leadership in those two markets. That's why you see our storage pipeline increase quite a lot in those two countries.

Pavel Molchanov: Speaking of storage, we're watching battery costs coming down quite substantially. I would love to get your thoughts on the battery market and also if you're observing module prices down 30% according to some estimates in the last 100 days. Is that consistent with your analysis?

Ke Chen: Absolutely. We do see the CapEx from the two things you mentioned, that for example, today's price is over $300 and we do see that this price should be going down in the next 12, 18 months or even sooner to like at least 25%, 30% lower. And that is the first part of the story. And CapEx on the solar side led by module price decline, we do have since the -- you're right, about over 30% decline. But in the last three months, I will say, about 20%, 25% in general. It did not really happen too much in the US yet. But in Europe, actually, it happens even goes below the price we can purchase back to before COVID.

Pavel Molchanov: Why are European prices -- so there are no tariffs. But of course, that's always been true. Why do you think European module prices are so cheap right now?

Yumin Liu: I think oversupply has been built up the whole -- throughout the whole industry. No matter, it's modules are battery storage. And the oversupply will continue to be the case in the next, I will say, longer term, not only talking about 12, 18 months, will be longer. That drives the price either at a stabilized low or even go lower. But we feel very comfortable at this time as it is competitively pretty low as we feel comfortable about it.

Pavel Molchanov: Okay. Last question, your IPP revenue of $10 million in the quarter, but you sold some IPP assets. So will that number come down from current levels?

Yumin Liu: Yes and no. The one is that we talk about IPP portfolios. We have US, Europe and China. We sold the China one, okay? The US and literally mostly Europe will continue to be very strong. But China, we sold or will continue selling some Henan and Hebei provinces, the solar farms, the legacy ones is Henan and Hebei province, okay? I believe we talked about the government subsidies in those legacy solar farms. And that is one of the reasons we are considering are we implemented the sales strategy. But at the same time, we are also building new solar projects in China in the focus market, okay? We do see some, I would say, revenue coming down as we sold some in Q2, but the impact to the whole scheme is minimum.

Ke Chen: Yes. Pavel, whole year, the IPP revenue is still about maybe 20% of our total revenue.

Pavel Molchanov: Got it. All right. Thank you very much.

Ke Chen: Thank you, Pavel.

Pavel Molchanov: Thank you

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Donovan Schafer with Northland Capital Markets. You may proceed.

Donovan Schafer: Hey, guys. Thanks for allowing time for some follow-up questions. I wanted to just a little bit more into the Polish storage market, again, just because I know it seems like it looks like it's a very big opportunity for you guys. I know you have a legacy kind of relationships and you guys have been in the Polish market for a long time. But I'm curious if you can elaborate on like so to take a counter example. I know Spain, for instance, Spain is kind of notoriously a terrible market for storage because it doesn't have capacity markets. It doesn't have markets for things like voltage regulation or other ancillary services. So there's almost no financial incentive to do storage projects in Spain. So is Poland -- in the Polish market, do they have -- is it a capacity market?

Do they have these storage projects, someone an asset owner operating a storage project, can they get compensated for all these ancillary services? Or is it -- are there more just sort of like direct subsidies or something? Like what's the economic case for batteries and how that's structured in the market in Poland?

Yumin Liu: I think the Poland market, we know the demand is there. The utilities with the high demand of the renewable energy and transferring the 80% plus of the coal production to the more renewable energy, they absolutely in big demand of the storage. So that is the given. The second is we do know people are active purchasing or giving pretty good values of the storage projects, including we are even in the process of setting our first storage deal in Poland, okay? Going into the details of the what you just discussed, the revenue streams, I think the utilities and the government, they are developing the scheme as of now. And I think we expect that will be coming. Just simple as I mentioned, Italy, UK as a friend, but Italy will start immediately starting as early as next quarter.

And Spain, you are right. But that is why if you see our depth of the pipeline, we are very cautiously developing Spain storage market. But we are very committed. We are very confident that the Italy and Poland will become our two major storage market at least in the near term for the next six months or so in Europe.

Donovan Schafer: Okay. And then I also just wanted to ask because when you made the Branston acquisition, you also highlighted and talked about some of the additional assets you would hang on to as IPP assets in Europe. And so you've got 60 megawatts in Europe, I think 50 megawatts of that is Branston. So I know it's a small piece of things, like the remaining 10 megawatts. But if I recall correctly, I think, those were in Hungary. It might have been Poland, but you were going to -- and I don't think that PPAs, you were going to sell at the merchant price. So I know this could jump around a bit. But I'm just curious, can you share with us what kind of gross margins you're getting from the other outside of Branston from the other IPP assets? And if you're still planning on accumulating some of the ones in Hungary or Poland or other countries in the pipeline right now?

Yumin Liu: I think we explained before that we made a little bit revision of our strategy on IPP in Hungary as of the economic situation of the country. Although the country still maintained a BBB- credit rating, but -- we are -- and also we are active developing projects in the country, but we decided not to keep a big IPP portfolio in the country. So that is one part of the story. Another one is in Poland, we are -- we already started the construction of our IPP portfolio. The first under construction is a little bit less than 20 megawatts, including several projects as we are planning to build up and get them online in the Q1 next year, okay? So that is part of the portfolio, and this is less than we predicted. But there are many different considerations while we slow down a little bit of the IPP construction, including, as I mentioned, Hungary, the big change on the Hungary strategy, but also on the -- considering all the lower CapEx and also the target portfolio in Poland, we do face a little challenge of the interconnection.

So when we get interconnection approvals of our planned IPP assets, we will construct them. So our IPP strategy in Europe continues. As also as I mentioned, you talked about the price of other than Branston, Branston has a four-year PPA that will add another 3.5 years. But in other countries, for example, in Hungary, that is one of the countries where you see 2024 price will be around 30% or 35%, 40% higher as forecasted than the price today, okay? Similar to several other countries, we see about a minimum 20%, 25% tariff increase in the countries, in general, on a merchant basis.

Donovan Schafer: And does that get you to that like 70% kind of gross margin for assets like that? Or is it kind of we have to think about that differently?

Yumin Liu: I would think the merchant base, the Branston with a high PPA price for the four years, it definitely give us a good margin. And the -- in general, on a merchant basis, I think the average margin should be around 50%.

Donovan Schafer: And that's 50, 5-0 or 1-5?

Yumin Liu: 5-0.

Donovan Schafer: Okay. Fantastic. Okay. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. And I'll take the rest of my questions offline.

Yumin Liu:

.:

Donovan Schafer: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Seeing no more questions in the queue. That concludes our call for today. Thank you, everyone.

Yumin Liu: Thank you all.
SINGAPORE and MUNICH, Sep. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Supply chain resilience, digitalisation and sustainability are undisputedly the logistics topics of 2023 and are likely to have a lasting impact on the industry for years to come. Consequently, they are the main focus of the conference program of transport logistic Southeast Asia and air cargo Southeast Asia, which will be held in Singapore from November 1 to 3, 2023. The opening address will be given by Alvin Tan, Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Trade and Industry (Singapore), and Oliver Luksic, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport (Germany).

transport logistic Southeast Asia. Photo credit: MMI Asia Pte. Ltd.

From November 1-3, 2023, global and regional logistics decision makers will meet at transport logistic Southeast Asia and air cargo Southeast Asia, the international trade fair for transportation, logistics and air cargo which will be held for the first time this year in Singapore. With nearly 50 sessions in the conference program, daily exhibitor events and the special project cargo conference, the conference program offers the perfect opportunity to get up to date on the latest developments in the industry.

The conference program kicks off with a keynote speech on supply chain strategies by author and logistics expert Mark Millar. After the Covid 19 pandemic, the Suez Canal average and the Ukraine war, supply chains came under severe strain three times in quick succession, making rethought and crisis-proof strategies increasingly essential for companies. Other highlights in the program include country sessions by Singapore, Germany, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, which will take place on the first two days of the fair. On the Exhibitor Stage, companies from the logistics, sea and air freight sectors, such as DHL, dnata, Gebruder Weiss, Incheon International Airport, Jettainer and Singapore Airlines will provide practical insights into their sustainability and digitalisation strategies, among other things.

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Another highlight of the trade fair is the Project Cargo Conference, which will take place on November 3, 2023, in parallel with transport logistic and air cargo Southeast Asia. It will focus on the trends, challenges and opportunities in general cargo and heavy lift in Southeast Asia.

"With transport logistic and air cargo Southeast Asia, we have created a platform that promotes the development of logistics networks as well as business relationships between Southeast Asia and key global markets. In addition, the multi-faceted conference program we are organizing with our partners offers interesting insights into the Southeast Asian logistics market," says Michael Wilton, Managing Director of MMI Asia, Messe Munchen's regional subsidiary, adding, "With the Project Cargo Conference, we are also taking into account the fast-growing general cargo and heavy lift market in the region."

The events in the conference program are free of charge for all exhibitors and visitors of transport logistic and air cargo Southeast Asia. For an overview and more information on the conference program, visit https://transportlogisticsea.com.

About MMI Asia Pte. Ltd

A full subsidiary of Messe Munchen GmbH, MMI Asia established in Singapore in 1992, is now embarking on a significant growth and expansion program, bringing some of Messe Munchen's world leading brands to the Southeast Asia market. transport logistic and air cargo Southeast Asian editions are organized by MMI Asia Pte Ltd.

transport logistic exhibitions

The international industry network of transport logistic exhibitions consists of twelve events. In addition to the leading international trade fair transport logistic in Munich, transport logistic China is held every two years, alternating with it in Shanghai, China. In Turkey, Messe Munchen and EKO Fair Limited organize the logitrans International Transport Logistics Exhibition in Istanbul every year. Messe Munchen is organizing transport logistic Americas, which will be held every two years in Americas started in 2022 . From November 2023, transport logistic Southeast Asia will also be held in Singapore for the first time. At all trade fairs, the air cargo sector plays an essential role. As part of transport logistic in Munich, air cargo Europe is the world's largest air cargo trade fair, while air cargo China is the leading event in Asia, in addition, air cargo Southeast Asia is focusing on this segment in Singapore. air cargo India and air cargo Africa are independent trade fairs for the industry.

Messe Munchen

Messe Munchen is one of the leading exhibition organizers worldwide with more than 50 of its own trade shows for capital goods, consumer goods and new technologies. Every year, a total of over 50,000 exhibitors and around three million visitors take part in more than 200 events at the exhibition center in Munich, at the ICM  Internationales Congress Center Munchen, the Conference Center Nord and the MOC Veranstaltungscenter Munchen as well as abroad. Together with its subsidiary companies, Messe Munchen organizes trade shows in China, India, Brazil, Singapore, South Africa and Turkey. With a network of associated companies in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, and with around 70 representatives abroad for more than 100 countries, Messe Munchen has a truly global presence.

Contact: Crystal Wang Marketing Manager transport logistic Southeast Asia / air cargo Southeast Asia crystal@mmiasia.com.sg



Cision

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SOURCE MMI Asia
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday postponed its decisions on seven Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposals, including one submitted by BlackRock, the worlds largest asset manager.

Seven firms  BlackRock, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Wise Origin, VanEck, Bitwise and Valkyrie Digital Assets  published ETF applications in the Federal Register on July 19. The SEC was scheduled to rule on all seven applications by Sept. 4. However, the regulator postponed by 45 days meaning the seven firms will now have to wait until mid-October for a decision.

We fully expected delays on this round of spot Bitcoin ETF filings. Would have been a shock if they were approved this week, James Seyffart, research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, tweeted on Friday.

To the frustration of those in the crypto industry, the SEC can delay its verdict on ETF proposals for a maximum of 240 days, or about six months. The federal agency had already delayed its deadline on the proposal from Cathie Woods Ark Investment Management on Aug 11.

The SECs latest decision comes days after the District of Columbia Court of Appeals sided with Grayscale Investments, the manager of the worlds largest Bitcoin fund, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). The court overturned an earlier SEC decision preventing GBTCs conversion into a spot Bitcoin ETF.

District Court Judge Neomi Rao called the SECs denial of Grayscales proposal arbitrary and capricious in the review of the petition because the agency failed to clearly explain what distinguishes spot Bitcoin ETFs from already-listed futures ETFs.

Grayscale argued in an October 2022 legal update posted on its website that the SEC did not provide clear explanations for the rejection, violating the Administrative Procedure Act. The company also stated that the SEC decision was inconsistent with its approvals of Bitcoin futures ETFs.

Despite the SEC postponing the latest series of applications, Nigel Green, founder of financial management group deVere, said in a statement that Grayscales victory now makes spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. an inevitability.

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The courts decision destroys the SECs central argument for rejecting every spot Bitcoin ETF over the last few years. This win paves the way for Bitcoin ETFs, Green said.

Georgetown Universitys McDonough School of Business professor James Angel said before the courts decision that the SEC may even want to lose the Grayscale case, forcing them to allow all the ETF applications currently pending.

This would take the blame away from the SEC if and when Bitcoin has another crash or another crypto ice age, Angel said.

Bitcoins price rollercoaster pause

The news of Grayscales win triggered a surge in crypto prices. Bitcoin grew 7% shortly after the news to above US$28,000 on Tuesday. But the SECs subsequent delay in the seven other cases Thursday poured cold water on the sector, triggering a downturn to below US$26,000. Bitcoin fell 4.62% in the past 24 hours to US$25,988 at 3:45 p.m. on Friday in Hong Kong.

The sharp price swings reflect the industrys interest in Bitcoin ETFs. Ric Edelman, founder of the U.S.-based think tank Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, said that a green light from the SEC, if given, would cause an even greater upswing in crypto prices.

Around half of the nations financial advisors in the United States personally own Bitcoin, but only 12% are recommending Bitcoin to their clients, said Edelman. And the primary reason that advisors are not recommending Bitcoin is because there isnt an ETF.

Those advisors manage about US$8 trillion in investor assets, he added.

However, Georgetowns James Angel said that a spot Bitcoin ETF win will not be a long-term growth factor for the crypto market.

Investors already have an almost identical product with the futures-backed ETF, so I dont see a big long-term impact, said Angel. There will clearly be an emotional short-term rally when the approval comes out, but that will get lost in the noise in the long-term.

Sean Stein Smith, professor of economics at the City University of New York and founder of the Institute for Blockchain & Cryptoasset Research, said that the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs will have a positive impact on the wider crypto industry.

[Spot Bitcoin ETFs] will open the proverbial door for more product approvals and launches, including those that are related to Bitcoin as well as other crypto assets, Smith added.

So when will investors have access to spot Bitcoin ETFs from investment giants like BlackRock, Fidelity and Invesco?

Taking account of different possibilities and factors, it is more likely well see a batch of ETFs approved in the early half of next year, said Julian Klymochko, founder and CEO of Calgary-based investment solutions firm Accelerate.

I think a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. is a 2024 story. When in 2024 theyll launch, its to be seen, but I wouldnt be surprised to see it in the first or second quarter, said Klymochko. I think that things are going to be moving quickly. There are many, many companies that have applied for a spot Bitcoin ETF, so its certainly going to be a battle.

Crypto wild west: SEC sheriffs rules

The series of spot Bitcoin ETF applications from major U.S. firms was submitted in the midst of an ongoing crypto crackdown. Increased scrutiny over the industry by the SEC is based on the regulators claim that most cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin are securities. The federal agency sued Coinbase and Binance.US in July on the basis that the two exchanges offer unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrencies.

More recently, the SEC made its first enforcement action against non-fungible tokens (NFTs), charging media company Impact Theory with offering unregistered securities in the form of NFTs on Monday.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who has emerged as the crypto industrys main bogeyman, said at a Senate Appropriations Financial Services subcommittee hearing in Washington D.C. in July that the Wild West of crypto is rife with noncompliance.

Gustavo Schwenkler, professor of finance at Santa Clara University, said that Gensler and the SEC have reason to be concerned.

The existing ETFs track derivatives that are traded on strictly regulated derivatives exchanges. There are not that many derivatives exchanges that are closely monitored by the regulator, said Schwenkler. A spot Bitcoin ETF would track the Bitcoin price that is available across global crypto exchanges. There are a lot of them and many are not well regulated.

However, Megan Enright, spokesperson for Swiss digital asset manager 21Shares, said that material changes in the market over the past year or so mean that it is now better prepared for ETFs than it was in the past.

The market has matured, there is additional data supporting the efficiency of these markets and there are new surveillance sharing agreements that are being established between major crypto markets and traditional exchanges, Enright added.

In April, 21Shares refiled its application for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. with its partner, Ark Invest.
When a single insider purchases stock, it is typically not a major deal. However, when multiple insiders purchase stock, like in Boom Logistics Limited's (ASX:BOL) instance, it's good news for shareholders.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

See our latest analysis for Boom Logistics

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Boom Logistics

In fact, the recent purchase by Independent Non-Executive Director Damian Banks was not their only acquisition of Boom Logistics shares this year. They previously made an even bigger purchase of AU$203k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.15 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of AU$0.12. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.

Boom Logistics insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Boom Logistics is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Boom Logistics Insiders Bought Stock Recently

We saw some Boom Logistics insider buying shares in the last three months. Independent Non-Executive Director Damian Banks shelled out AU$23k for shares in that time. We like it when there are only buyers, and no sellers. But in this case the amount purchased means the recent transaction may not be very meaningful on its own.

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Insider Ownership

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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. From what we can see in our data, insiders own only about AU$354k worth of Boom Logistics shares. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. We might be missing something but that seems like very low insider ownership.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Boom Logistics Tell Us?

Our data shows a little insider buying, but no selling, in the last three months. The net investment is not enough to encourage us much. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. The transactions are fine but it'd be more encouraging if Boom Logistics insiders bought more shares in the company. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Boom Logistics and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Boom Logistics may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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.
Sheetz, the gas station and convenience store rival to Wawa, is close to opening its first location in Elkton, Maryland.

The store, located at Route 40 and Commerce Center Drive, is the closest Sheetz has come to the Delaware border. The company is targeting a Sept. 25 opening, according to a spokesperson, with an overall goal of opening in late September or early October.

With more than 600 stores, Sheetz is a stalwart of western Pennsylvania. Like Wawa, its "made-to-go" products like burgers, hot dogs and fries that are ordered at a touch screen have developed a cult following.

A Sheetz in Baden, Pennsylvania in January 2023. Sheetz is planning to open a store in Elkton, Maryland this fall about a mile from the Delaware border.

PREVIOUS REPORTING: Look out, Wawa. Sheetz, a top-class competitor, could soon be knocking on Delaware's door.

"They are extremely well respected in the convenience industry and retail overall," Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives for the National Association of Convenience Stores, told Delaware Online/The News Journal earlier this year.

Wawa and Sheetz have already crossed paths in Pennsylvania's Lancaster, Berks and Lehigh counties and both companies mix with Royal Farms in parts of Maryland. But so far, the First State has remained off-limits for Sheetz.

Industry observers told Delaware Online/The News Journal earlier this year that it's possible the Elkton store foretells an expansion into Delaware. Convenience store chains look to expand in "clusters" to take advantage of efficiencies of scale for distribution and hiring, as well as brand awareness. The Elkton store will be almost 40 miles from the company's nearest existing location in Maryland. The site is about 1 mile from the Delaware line.

Bob Sheetz founded Sheetz in 1952 when he purchased one of his father's five dairy stores in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The company grew slowly over the next three decades, achieving a store count of 100 by 1983.

Sheetz started to take on its modern identity in 1995 when Bob's son, Stan, became president. Stan Sheetz introduced touchscreen ordering and tagged on a "z" to many of the store's products (the current offerings include Sheetz Bros. Coffeez and Shweetz bakery).

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Sheetz employees do a cheer minutes before a store opening in September 2020.

WAWA: 2 new Wawas planned in Newark, including a drive-thru store, revamping I-95 interchange

Sheetz stores typically feature a large red canopy for a dozen gas pumps and a brick building with red detailing.

The Elkton store will be 6,100 square feet. It will have a drive-thru and indoor and outdoor seating, in addition to gas pumps.

Like knowing what stores, restaurants and developments are coming and going in Delaware? Join our Facebook group What's Going There in Delaware and subscribe to our What's Going There in Delaware newsletter.

Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Sheetz in Elkton is close to opening as company approaches Delaware
Promoting Tainan's 400th Anniversary Celebrations, Taiwan Lantern Festival 2024 and the Taiwan International Orchid Show in Tainan

SINGAPORE, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With the gradual reopening of borders around the world post-COVID, the global tourism industry is on the rise once more. Tainan in southern Taiwan has achieved remarkable success in promoting both domestic and international tourism. Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-Che led the city's Tourism Bureau in opening the Taiwan Pavilion at the 2023 National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) Holidays Travel Fair, showing his city's determination to attract visitors from Singapore. Tainan agricultural products including orchids and dried mangoes were given away as promotional gifts, as well as "Tainan 400" omamori amulets with a custom-designed logo of the Singaporean flag and the word "TAINAN."

Welcome to Tainan, Taiwan.

Mayor Huang thanked Taiwan's Tourism Bureau for inviting Tainan City to take part in this travel fair as a team. The event marked Tainan's return to Singapore after a hiatus of five years due to the pandemic. Singapore is an important market for Tainan's tourism. Tourism Bureau figures show that since restrictions on travel were relaxed last year, over 30,000 visitors a month have traveled from Singapore to Tainan, making a significant contribution to the local tourism industry. The city government has been in active communication with China Airlines to establish direct flights from Singapore to Kaohsiung, aiming to attract more Singaporean tour groups and independent travelers to Tainan. Mayor Huang also mentioned that Deputy Mayor Chao Ching-Hui led a team to Singapore at the end of July to promote Tainan's premium agricultural and processed products, and to engage with the Tourism Bureau's office in Singapore as well as China Airlines' Singapore branch and local tour operators. To introduce the region's diverse agricultural specialties to international visitors, the delegation made a special effort to promote Tainan's Xi Shi and Jin Huang mango varieties to Singaporean tourists and businesses during their August visit. In addition to this, the 2023 Taiwan International Orchid Show in March attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors and impressed many foreign diplomats in Taiwan. Tainan's exceptional orchid cultivation and wide range of colors were highly acclaimed. The upcoming 2024 Taiwan International Orchid Show will take place in Tainan in February, inviting tourists from Singapore to come and enjoy these diverse and beautiful flowers.

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Lin Kuo-Hua, Director of Tainan City's Tourism Bureau, said the theme of Tainan's exhibition booth at the travel fair is "400 Years of Tainan, Waiting to Meet You," promoting the "Tainan 400" anniversary celebrations in Singapore and highlighting the historical charm, creative arts and local cuisines that have made the city a top travel destination. In addition to taking part in the three-day NATAS Holidays Travel Fair, Tainan City's Tourism Bureau also attended travel industry networking events organized by the Tourism Bureau in Singapore and the Taiwan Tourism Association to introduce Singaporean tour operators to Tainan's tourism resources and the 2024 Taiwan Lantern Festival. The team also partnered with major shopping centers on Orchard Road to display the "TrulyTainan" ad campaign, effectively promoting Tainan to both industry partners and independent travelers.

The Tourism Bureau said that with the reopening of borders, many international tourists have begun to visit Taiwan once more. To support the central government's policies and capitalize on the post-pandemic travel boom, the Bureau has launched the 2023 Tainan City Incentive Plan for Attracting International Tourists. Recognized domestic travel agencies can apply for subsidies of up to NT$100,000 for group tours comprising at least four foreign tourists with a stay of at least one night in Tainan, from now until November 30. Additionally, in partnership with international travel e-commerce platforms KKday and Klook, the Bureau has introduced limited-time promo codes for overseas independent travelers starting from August 1. KKday offers over 4,000 promo codes for tourists to enjoy NT$50 off any Tainan travel product, while Klook provides a NT$500 discount for accommodation bookings over NT$3,000. These initiatives aim to encourage budget-conscious international travelers to plan a trip to Tainan in the near future.

The Tainan City Government will continue to host exciting events and welcomes both domestic and international visitors to experience the city's rich culture and unique charm. For more information on the latest Tainan tourist attractions and activities, please visit https://www.twtainan.net/ or https://www.facebook.com/traveltainan/?locale=zh_TW .

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/taiwan-pavilion-in-the-spotlight-at-natas-holidays-travel-fair-301915718.html

SOURCE Tainan City Government
(Bloomberg Law) -- Legislation aiming to hold social media platforms liable for addiction and other harms (S.B. 680) to child users was killed by a key committee Friday, the second year in a row this has happened.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The bill, authored by state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D), failed to overcome intense opposition from the tech industry that helped kill a similar measure last year. It would have let the attorney general and public attorneys file civil suits against social media companies for knowingly putting in addictive or harmful designs and algorithms, which could lead to a $250,000 penalty per violation plus litigation costs.

Last years effort died early during Californias suspense hearing process, where many bills that have significant fiscal impact tend to get killed swiftly and without debate. With a massive state budget deficit this year, the Skinner bill on Friday faced the same fate, as platforms like Meta Platforms Inc. and TikTok Inc. are facing more scrutiny from policymakers at both state and federal levels.

The bills death came despite State Attorney General Rob Bonta throwing his weight behind the bill late June, adding momentum.

A request for comment from Skinner was not immediately returned.

Some changes had been made throughout the legislative process in an attempt to address concerns from tech groups, who criticize the measure as an abridgment of free speech that could force social media platforms to close themselves or important content off to children.

One big key change early on was narrowing the right of action to only the state attorney general and public attorneys. The original version would have let parents sue social media platforms.

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More recent changes include doubling the number of days for companies to be in a safe harbor from the law. As long as a platform corrects an algorithm or feature within 60 days of a quarterly audit, it wouldnt be in violation of the law under the current bill.

Skinner also excluded encrypted direct messaging services from her bill. Some tech groups had brought up logistical concerns surrounding those services, as it would be not privacy-friendly and difficult to figure out whether messaging features had caused harm and addiction.

Even if the bill had passed, social media platforms were not likely to give up their fight against the bill. The Chamber of Progress, a tech industry coalition, recently pointed out that legal questions around a new California childrens online privacy law  which is facing a court challenge are similar to issues around the Skinner measure.

The federal courts skepticism toward the [childrens online privacy law] should be a warning light: If S.B. 680 becomes law this fall, California will once again find itself embroiled in an expensive legal battle over online expression, said Jess Miers, counsel for the Chamber of Progress.

To contact the reporter on this story: Titus Wu in Sacramento, Calif. at twu@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Swindell at bswindell@bloombergindustry.com; Andrew Childers at achilders@bloomberglaw.com

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
A second delivery driver has died in Texas amid record-high temperatures, just as the regulation of workplace heat safety enters a new legal limbo across the state.

A law eliminating several cities mandated water breaks for construction workers during heat waves took effect Friday, after the state appealed a judges Wednesday ruling finding the Republican-led measure unconstitutional. In the meantime, cities like Houston said they planned to continue enforcing their mandates while the case moves forward.

The wrangling comes days after Christopher Begley, a 57-year-old UPS driver of nearly 30 years, died at a hospital Sunday after collapsing during his route outside Dallas the preceding Wednesday, according to the company and union representatives. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. An autopsy report hasnt been released, but co-workers and local union leaders say they believe his death was heat-related.

It has been a deadly summer for workers across the country, including in Texas, which has seen some of the worst of this years climate-change-fueled heat waves. OSHA told NBC News it has opened investigations into more than 20 heat-related workplace fatalities in Texas this year alone.

Begley died less than a week after UPS workers approved a new five-year contract with historic heat safety provisions covering 340,000 employees. The protections  some of the best in the industry  include air conditioning and exhaust heat shields in new vehicles and more fans in package cars, but they will take time to phase in. Begley fell sick on the job on Aug. 23, the day after the vote approving the contract was announced.

We are saddened by the loss of our driver Christopher Begley and extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends, UPS said in a statement. We are cooperating with the authorities as they continue to investigate the cause of death. We train our people to recognize the symptoms of heat stress, and we respond immediately to any request for help.

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UPS said that a supervisor came to assist Begley after he collapsed and that he was provided with water and a cool place to rest but declined medical attention. After approving him to take the rest of the week off, the company was notified four days later that Begley had been hospitalized and later died on Aug. 27, a spokesperson said.

Garfield Hooper, a longtime co-worker and Begleys union shop steward at their UPS building said, Its been a real struggle for us in the southern region because of the heat. You never know how your body is going to react until it starts to go down.

Two months earlier, 66-year-old U.S. Postal Service mail carrier Eugene Gates collapsed on his Dallas route, during a June day when the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning, and later died. USPS acknowledged Gates death at the time, saying it was deeply saddened, but didnt comment on the circumstances. OSHA is investigating the fatality as potentially heat-related.

The agency lists over 70 industries, including delivery, construction, agriculture and many types of manufacturing, as high-risk for heat illness. Recent research has found that hotter temperatures significantly raise the likelihood of injury on the job  not just in outdoor settings but at indoor workplaces, too, like the nations fast-growing warehouses  including injuries that arent obviously heat-related.

Determining that heat caused a death can be difficult for medical officials who sign death certificates, said Kristie Ebi, a professor in the University of Washingtons Center for Health and the Global Environment who studies health and heat waves.

Official counts of people who die from heat and heat causes during a period of high temperatures are a significant undercount, she said, adding that heat can exacerbate many factors in workplace fatalities. Researchers have found excess deaths during heat waves to be an order of magnitude larger than what the official number is, she said.

Heat safety concerns have drawn increasing attention from Washington officials, primarily Democrats, as temperatures rise. But federal efforts to ramp up protections are racing against both the political calendar and the climate.

Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, held a news conference Thursday with acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to draw attention to workplace heat risks. It is not rational and it is not right to take workers water breaks and other protections away from them in the middle of a historic heat wave, he said, citing the policy dispute in his home state.

Casar, one of the lawmakers pushing to heighten heat safety measures on the Hill, was previously a labor organizer who campaigned for several of the water break ordinances that the Texas law targets. We should be providing workers with more protections, not fewer protections, he said.

Current federal workplace heat safety requirements are minimal, though OSHA recently made the issue a top priority through several initiatives, including ramping up heat-related inspections. The agency is also working on a heat risk prevention rule that would beef up enforcement, but that will take years to go into effect. In the meantime, state and local governments can pass their own measures, experts said, often far more quickly, as Oregon and Washington state did after the 2021 heat dome.

Heat waves are becoming longer, hotter and more frequent, Ebi said, but government and corporate decisions will affect how steeply heat-related deaths rise. The understanding of what heat does to our bodies is well known, she said. There are so many actions that can be taken to protect people during those periods.

A small number of city and county governments have created chief heat officer positions to improve those protections, including in Miami, Phoenix and Los Angeles. Ebi said she isnt aware of any such roles in Texas.

Essentially all heat deaths are preventable, she said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
In this article, we will be taking a look at the Top 20 Fruit Producing Countries In The World. If you are not interested in reading the details, head straight to the Top 5 Fruit Producing Countries in the world.

Regarding the world's bounty of fruits, certain countries like China, India, Brazil, and Turkey among others stand out as veritable orchards of plenty. These nations have harnessed their unique climates, fertile soils, and agricultural expertise to become global leaders in fruit production. From succulent citrus groves to sprawling vineyards and lush banana plantations to the sweet aroma of apple orchards, these countries satisfy their domestic demand and contribute significantly to the global fruit market.

Global Fruit Production Overview

In recent years, the global fruit production industry has experienced significant growth, with a rising demand for fresh and healthy produce from consumers worldwide. The top fruit-producing countries include China, India, the United States, Brazil, and Spain, responsible for producing a substantial amount of the world's fruit. According to recent financial statistics, In 2023, the Fresh Fruits market generated $674.5 billion in revenue, with an expected annual growth rate of 6.79% from 2023 to 2028 (CAGR).

However, there has been a growing trend towards producing exotic fruits such as avocados, pineapples, and mangoes, contributing to the industry's growth. Despite the industry's overall sustainability, concerns about using pesticides and other chemicals in fruit cultivation have been raised. As a result, many fruit producers have started implementing organic and sustainable farming practices to meet the growing demand for healthy and environmentally responsible produce. By doing so, they are not only ensuring the safety of consumers but also contributing to a more sustainable and eco-friendly future.

Challenges and Opportunities in Fruit Agriculture

Fruit agriculture stands at a crossroads, presenting formidable challenges and promising opportunities. Climate change is a significant hurdle, with erratic weather patterns such as droughts and floods imperiling fruit crop growth and yields. Adaptation to shifting weather is paramount for farmers seeking to safeguard their harvests.

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Another trial arises from the burgeoning call for organic and sustainable fruit production. An environmentally-conscious consumer base increasingly scrutinizes agricultural practices, favoring eco-friendly methods. However, the transition can be arduous for traditional growers who need more means to embrace sustainable techniques.

In the realm of Fresh Fruits, the market is poised to reach a volume of 303.70 billion kilograms by 2028, reflecting a robust 4.4% growth in 2024. On a per-person basis, the average volume in the Fresh Fruits market is projected to reach 33.14 kilograms in 2023. Amidst these challenges, an array of opportunities beckon in fruit agriculture. The exotic and specialty fruit sector is experiencing a surge in popularity as consumers seek novel and enticing flavors. Fruits like dragon fruit, kiwi, and pomegranate are reaching more households.

Furthermore, the rising demand for fruit-derived products like juices, smoothies, and snacks has created a burgeoning market. Fruit growers who can supply top-notch ingredients to food manufacturers and retailers are well-positioned. Recent financial projections indicate that the global fruit juice market, valued at $141 billion in 2021, is expected to grow to $182 billion by 2027, with an annual growth rate of 4.31% from 2022 to 2027, driven by the increasing appetite for health-conscious and natural beverages.

Leading Fruit Production Companies: A Overview of Key Players and Their Impact"

When it comes to fruit production, there are a few companies that come to mind. One of the biggest names in the industry is Dole plc (NYSE:DOLE), which produces a wide variety of fruits including bananas, pineapples, and berries. In 2022, Dole plc (NYSE:DOLE) reported a net revenue of $9.2 billion. Another major player is Chiquita, known for their bananas and other tropical fruits. Chiquita reported a net revenue of $3.1 billion in 2022. Both companies have a strong presence in the global market and are committed to sustainable and ethical practices in their operations.

Other notable fruit companies include Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc. (NYSE:FDP), Sun-Maid, and Sunkist. Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc. (NYSE:FDP) reported a net revenue of $4.4 billion in 2022.

These companies like Dole plc (NYSE:DOLE) and Fresh Del monte Produce, Inc. (NYSE:FDP) among others have built their reputations on producing high-quality fruits that consumers can trust. Whether you're looking for a healthy snack or ingredients for your favorite recipes, these leading fruit producing companies have got you covered.

Market Dynamics and Future Trends

The fruit market is a dynamic and ever-changing industry that continues to evolve with the changing times. In recent years, there has been a significant rise in the demand for organic and locally sourced produce, which has increased the number of organic fruit farms and markets, with organic fruit sales growing by 11% in 2020 to reach a total of $18.2 billion. In addition, there has been a surge in the demand for exotic fruits. This trend is expected to continue as consumers become more adventurous with their food choices and seek out unique and exotic flavors.

Technology has also played a significant role in the fruit market, with the rise of e-commerce platforms making it easier than ever for consumers to purchase fruits worldwide, creating a global marketplace for fruits, leading to increased competition and lower prices.

Looking to the future, it is expected that the fruit market will continue to experience growth and change with the rise of new technologies and changing consumer preferences. Regardless of these changes, however, one thing remains certain  fruits will always be essential to a healthy and balanced diet.

Top 20 fruit producing countries in the world

Steve Buckley/Shutterstock.com

Our Methodology

For our methodology, we have ranked the top fruit-producing countries in the world based on their number of fruit production in tonnes as of 2020. The data is taken from FAO.

20. South Africa

Total Fruit Production: 7,456,699 tonnes

South Africa is a prominent fruit-producing country known for its diverse and high-quality fruits, such as citrus, grapes, apples, pears, oranges, avocados, mangoes, papayas, and pineapples. Its mild climate and fertile soil create ideal conditions for fruit cultivation. The country's fruits are not only delicious but also highly nutritious. South Africa's vibrant fruit industry generates significant revenue, with the Fresh Fruits market reaching US$2.06 billion in 2023. This market is projected to grow annually at 5.79% from 2023 to 2028.

19. Ecuador

Total Fruit Production: 7,630,370 tonnes

Ecuador is a top fruit-producing country known for its diverse range of tropical fruits, including bananas, mangoes, pineapples, and papayas. It's renowned as the world's largest banana exporter, shipping over 300 million boxes annually, and is known for its exceptional taste and quality. Besides bananas, Ecuador also exports mangoes, pineapples, and papayas globally, prized for their sweetness and nutritional value. In 2023, the Fresh Fruits market in Ecuador is worth US$1.08 billion and is expected to grow annually at a rate of 1.79% from 2023 to 2028.

18. France

Total Fruit Production: 8,887,220 tonnes

France is a leading fruit producer globally, known for its rich soil, favorable climate, and advanced agriculture. Popular fruits include apples, pears, cherries, peaches, apricots, plums, grapes, and strawberries, with France ranking second in European apple production and fifth in global strawberry production. The country's fruit industry emphasizes safety and quality, making French fruits highly sought after worldwide. In 2023, the Fresh Fruits market in France is valued at US$12.53 billion, with an expected annual growth rate of 2.43% from 2023 to 2028.

17. Pakistan

Total Fruit Production: 9,825,573 tonnes

Pakistan, one of the top fruit producing countries in the world is a leading global fruit producer, renowned for its favorable climate and fertile land, nurturing fruits like mangoes, oranges, bananas, and guavas. As the world's fourth-largest mango producer, Pakistan is known for the exceptional quality of its fruits, in high global demand, boosting the economy and providing employment for millions. Pakistan's fruit industry also promotes health with nutritious options that prevent diseases and improve well-being, benefiting local and global communities. The 2023 Fresh Fruits market in Pakistan is valued at US$8.5 billion, with an expected annual growth rate of 7.30% from 2023 to 2028.

16. Thailand

Total Fruit Production: 10,098,175 tonnes

Thailand is renowned for its top-notch fruit production. They grow various fruits, including durian, mango, rambutan, pomelo, and longan, known for their sweet, juicy taste, vibrant colors, and unique shapes. This industry is a significant economic driver, generating over $4.6 billion in 2023 and providing employment for millions. Thai fruits are in high global demand due to their quality and freshness. Beyond economic benefits, they promote healthy eating habits packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that boost the immune system, aid digestion, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Thailand's fruit industry combines taste, visual appeal, and health benefits, making it a top choice for local and global consumers.

15. Colombia

Total Fruit Production: 10,521,546 tonnes

Colombia's fruit industry has significantly contributed to the country's economy. In 2023, the country's fruit market reached $3.9 billion in revenue, with the top exports of bananas, pineapples, and avocados. The fruit industry provides employment opportunities for many people, with many small-scale farmers benefiting from the government's support programs. With the growing demand for healthy and sustainable food products, Colombia's fruit industry is poised for continued growth and success in the global market.

14. Vietnam

Total Fruit Production: 10,616,559 tonnes

Vietnam which is also one of the most vegetable consuming countries, is a major global player in fruit production, capitalizing on its favorable climate and fertile lands to cultivate in-demand fruits like dragon fruit, mango, durian, and pomelo. These fruits are celebrated for their exceptional quality, thanks to advanced farming techniques and rigorous quality standards. This thriving industry significantly bolsters Vietnam's economy, offering employment to millions and generating substantial foreign exchange income. Remarkably, Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports soared to a record-breaking $2.7 billion in the first half of 2023, primarily driven by China's robust demand. Notably, durian took the lead as Vietnam's top fruit export, followed by dragon fruit, which recorded export earnings exceeding $303.1 million from January to May, marking a 10.7% increase compared to the previous year.

13. Nigeria

Total Fruit Production: 11,529,922 tonnes

Nigeria, a leading global fruit producer, boastsa diverse range of fruits like mangoes, pineapples, oranges, bananas, and watermelons. In 2023, the Fresh Fruits market in Nigeria is valued at a substantial $16.8 billion and is expected to grow annually by 11.55% from 2023 to 2028. This fruit industry significantly contributes to Nigeria's economy by offering employment to millions and generating export revenue. The government's support, including research and infrastructure improvement funding, aids the industry's growth. Despite challenges like storage and transportation, Nigeria's dedicated farmers continue to produce high-quality fruits locally and globally, positioning the country as a critical player in the global fruit market.

12. Egypt

Total Fruit Production: 14,733,617 tonnes

Egypt, one of the top fruit producing countries in the world stands 12th on the list, focusing on citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, grapefruits, mangoes, guavas, figs, and pomegranates. Egyptian farmers employ modern techniques to ensure high-quality, healthy crops, with a growing trend toward organic farming. This industry significantly contributes to Egypt's economy through both local consumption and global exports, with its strategic location facilitating exports to Europe, Asia, and Africa. Notably, Egypt is a significant exporter of citrus fruits, with oranges alone bringing in over $700 million in export revenue in 2021. The Fresh Fruits market in Egypt is valued at $14.18 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow annually by 10.27% from 2023 to 2028.

11. Philippines

Total Fruit Production: 16,482,063 tonnes

The Philippines is a major global fruit producer, celebrated for its diverse range of fruits, including mangoes, bananas, durian, and lanzones, all thriving in its tropical climate and fertile soil. Fruit cultivation is a significant livelihood for many, and the country's rich fruit abundance enhances its culinary offerings with local fruits as crucial ingredients. Notably, since the onset of COVID-19, Filipino consumers have embraced fresh fruits more, leading to a 36% increase in global new fruit imports to the Philippines, totaling $695 million in 2020. The Fruits and nuts market in the Philippines is valued at $5.05 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow annually by 7.32% from 2023 to 2028.

10. Italy

Total Fruit Production: 17,827,510 tonnes

Due to its ideal climate and fertile soil, Italy is a top global fruit producer, celebrated for its diverse range, including grapes, cherries, apples, pears, and citrus fruits. Known for premium quality, Italian fruits are prized worldwide for their exceptional flavor, texture, and freshness. The fruit industry is a vital economic driver, offering income and employment, especially in rural areas, with many small-scale farmers depending on it. Italy's fruit production also focuses on sustainable and organic farming practices to protect the environment and ensure long-term farm viability. In 2023, Italy's fruit exports exceeded 10 billion euros for the first time, reflecting an 8% growth in international markets.

9. Iran

Total Fruit Production: 18,963,596 tonnes

Iran is a top fruit producing country with a diverse range, including apples, grapes, pomegranates, and cherries. Its fruit production is for domestic consumption and international exports, contributing significantly to its economy. The government supports this industry through research, infrastructure development, and farmer assistance, ensuring its continued growth. Beyond its economic importance, fruits hold cultural and traditional value in Iranian cuisine and heritage. In 2021 Iran exported $146 million worth of tropical fruits, with India, Pakistan, China, Malaysia, and Turkey as the main destinations. The Fresh Fruits market in Iran is valued at $4.67 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow annually by 8.74% from 2023 to 2028.

8. Spain

Total Fruit Production: 19,471,070 tonnes

Spain is a top global fruit producer, known for its high-quality fruits like oranges, lemons, grapes, and peaches, thriving in its fertile land and favorable climate. It's a major contributor to the national economy, providing jobs and significant export revenue. Spain ranks first in mandarin production, second in watermelons, and third in strawberries globally. The Fresh Fruits market in Spain is valued at $11.29 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow annually by 2.27% from 2023 to 2028. In 2022, the value of fruit exports reached 8,843 million euros ($10.5 million), despite a 3% decrease, while vegetable exports dropped by 7% to 5.3 million tons.

7. Indonesia

Total Fruit Production: 22,743,965 tonnes

Indonesia excels in fruit production and stands 7th on the list, yielding diverse fruits like bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and renowned durians, which are widely exported. This industry offers employment to many and contributes significantly to Indonesia's economy. In 2021, Indonesia exported $80.4 million in tropical fruits, with China, Hong Kong, and the UAE as critical destinations. The Fresh Fruits market in Indonesia is valued at $20.64 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow annually by 7.69% from 2023 to 2028. With abundant natural resources and a favorable climate, Indonesia is set to remain a top fruit producer for years to come.

6. The United States

Total Fruit Production: 23,747,765 tonnes

The United States is a significant fruit producer known for its diverse range of fruits grown in various regions, from apples in the Northeast to oranges in Florida and peaches in Georgia. Favorable climate, fertile soil, and advanced agricultural practices contribute to high-quality fruit production. Besides traditional fruits like berries and grapes, the US excels in growing exotic fruits like avocados and papayas. Sustainability and innovation are critical focuses for the future of fruit production in the USA. In 2022, US fresh fruit exports reached $4.1 billion, though this was an 8% drop compared to 2021, with export volume down 13% from the previous year.

Click to see and continue reading the Top 5 fruit producing countries in the world.

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Disclosure. None: The Top 20 fruit producing countries in the world is originally published on Insider Monkey.
Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has experienced a 2.72% loss in its daily stock value and a 17.33% gain over the last three months. With an Earnings Per Share (EPS) (EPS) of 1.58, the question arises: Is the stock modestly undervalued? This article aims to provide an insightful valuation analysis of Comcast, guiding potential investors in making informed decisions.

Company Introduction

Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is a multifaceted company, owning networks capable of providing television, internet access, and phone services to 62 million U.S. homes and businesses. It also owns NBCUniversal and Sky, a dominant television provider in the U.K. Despite a recent loss, the stock has shown a 17.33% gain over the past three months. Currently trading at $45.49 per share, Comcast's market cap stands at $187.70 billion. The company's GF Value, a measure of its intrinsic value, is estimated at $53.97, suggesting that the stock is modestly undervalued.

Unveiling Comcast (CMCSA)'s Value: Is It Really Priced Right? A Comprehensive Guide

Understanding the GF Value

The GF Value is a proprietary measure that represents the intrinsic value of a stock. It is computed based on historical trading multiples, a GuruFocus adjustment factor accounting for the company's past performance and growth, and future business performance estimates. The GF Value Line, represented on our summary page, gives an overview of the fair value at which the stock should ideally be traded. According to our analysis, Comcast is modestly undervalued.

Unveiling Comcast (CMCSA)'s Value: Is It Really Priced Right? A Comprehensive Guide

Link: These companies may deliever higher future returns at reduced risk.

Evaluating Financial Strength

Investing in companies with sound financial strength significantly reduces the risk of permanent loss. Looking at Comcast's cash-to-debt ratio of 0.07, which is worse than 80.61% of 392 companies in the Telecommunication Services industry, the overall financial strength of Comcast is assessed to be poor.

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Unveiling Comcast (CMCSA)'s Value: Is It Really Priced Right? A Comprehensive Guide

Profitability and Growth

Investing in profitable companies, especially those with consistent profitability over the long term, poses less risk. Comcast, with a revenue of $120.60 billion and an EPS of $1.58, has been profitable 10 out of the past 10 years. Its operating margin of 19.11% ranks better than 76.49% of 387 companies in the Telecommunication Services industry, indicating strong profitability. However, Comcast's growth ranks worse than 78.01% of 332 companies in the same industry.

ROIC vs WACC

Comparing a company's Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) and the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) is another approach to assess its profitability. Over the past 12 months, Comcast's ROIC is 5.31, and its WACC is 8.15, suggesting potential areas for improvement.

Unveiling Comcast (CMCSA)'s Value: Is It Really Priced Right? A Comprehensive Guide

Conclusion

In conclusion, Comcast's stock is estimated to be modestly undervalued. Despite its poor financial strength, the company's strong profitability and modest undervaluation suggest potential for higher long-term returns. However, its growth ranks worse than most companies in the Telecommunication Services industry. For a more detailed financial analysis of Comcast, you can check out its 30-Year Financials here.

To discover high-quality companies that may deliver above-average returns, check out the GuruFocus High Quality Low Capex Screener.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Despite a daily loss of -3.79%, Molina Healthcare Inc (NYSE:MOH) has seen a 13.32% gain over the past three months. Its Earnings Per Share (EPS) currently stands at 15.78. The question remains: Is the stock modestly undervalued? This article provides an extensive analysis of Molina Healthcare's valuation, inviting readers to delve into the financial metrics and company data that could influence its stock's intrinsic value.

A Brief Overview of Molina Healthcare Inc (NYSE:MOH)

Molina Healthcare Inc offers healthcare plans primarily focused on Medicaid-related solutions for low-income families and individuals. Its health plans are managed by a network of subsidiaries, each licensed as a health maintenance organization (HMO). Besides its Health Plans segment, Molina also operates a Medicaid, Medicare, and Marketplace segment, representing government-funded or sponsored programs under their management information systems. The company's Medicaid plans receive revenue on a per-member per-month basis from state government agencies, while its Medicare Advantage plans receive revenue from managed care plans contracted with the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS). Molina also provides plans through health insurance exchanges.

At a current stock price of $310.12, Molina Healthcare Inc (NYSE:MOH) has a market cap of $18.10 billion. Its GF Value, an estimation of fair value, is $370.3, suggesting that the stock might be modestly undervalued.

Unveiling Molina Healthcare's True Worth: A Comprehensive Guide

Understanding the GF Value of Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH)

The GF Value offers a unique perspective on a stock's intrinsic value, calculated based on historical multiples, a GuruFocus adjustment factor considering the company's past performance and growth, and future business performance estimates. The GF Value Line provides an overview of the fair value at which the stock should ideally trade. If the stock price significantly deviates from the GF Value Line, it may indicate that the stock is either overvalued or undervalued, potentially impacting future returns. Based on this valuation method, Molina Healthcare's stock appears to be modestly undervalued.

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Given this undervaluation, the long-term return of Molina Healthcare's stock is likely to exceed its business growth. This presents a potentially lucrative opportunity for value investors.

Unveiling Molina Healthcare's True Worth: A Comprehensive Guide

Assessing the Financial Strength of Molina Healthcare

Before investing in a company, it's crucial to evaluate its financial strength. Companies with poor financial strength present a higher risk of permanent loss to investors. Metrics like the cash-to-debt ratio and interest coverage offer valuable insights into a company's financial health. With a cash-to-debt ratio of 3.69, Molina Healthcare ranks better than 68.42% of companies in the Healthcare Plans industry. Its overall financial strength is 7 out of 10, indicating a fair financial condition.

Unveiling Molina Healthcare's True Worth: A Comprehensive Guide

Profitability and Growth of Molina Healthcare

Consistent profitability over the long term often signifies a safer investment. Higher profit margins typically indicate a more promising investment compared to a company with lower profit margins. Molina Healthcare has been profitable 9 out of the past 10 years. Over the past twelve months, the company reported a revenue of $32.60 billion and an Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $15.78. Its operating margin is 4.74%, ranking better than 60% of companies in the Healthcare Plans industry. Overall, the profitability of Molina Healthcare is ranked 9 out of 10, indicating strong profitability.

One of the most crucial factors in a company's valuation is its growth. Companies that grow faster create more value for shareholders, especially if that growth is profitable. Molina Healthcare's average annual revenue growth is 27.8%, ranking better than 72.22% of companies in the Healthcare Plans industry. Its 3-year average EBITDA growth is 8.8%, ranking better than 64.71% of companies in the Healthcare Plans industry.

Return on Invested Capital Vs. Weighted Average Cost of Capital

Comparing a company's Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) and the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) offers another perspective on its profitability. ROIC measures how well a company generates cash flow relative to the capital it has invested in its business, while WACC is the rate that a company is expected to pay on average to all its security holders to finance its assets. Ideally, ROIC should be higher than WACC. For the past 12 months, Molina Healthcare's ROIC is 43.33, and its WACC is 7.93.

Unveiling Molina Healthcare's True Worth: A Comprehensive Guide

Conclusion

Overall, Molina Healthcare's stock appears to be modestly undervalued. The company's financial condition is fair, and its profitability is strong. Its growth ranks better than 64.71% of companies in the Healthcare Plans industry. To learn more about Molina Healthcare's stock, you can check out its 30-Year Financials here.

To discover high-quality companies that may deliver above-average returns, please check out the GuruFocus High Quality Low Capex Screener.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Rationalstat LLC

Global Vascular Patches market has been analyzed on the basis of market segments, including on type, application and geography/regions (including North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific)

Wilmington, Delaware, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vascular Patches Market Size with Modern Trends - Forecasts, and Share Analysis Till 2030

Global Vascular Patches Market size is projected to reach US$ 271.6 million by the end of 2030, up from US$ 147.9 million in 2023, and estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.9% over the forecast period of 2023-2030, according to the latest market report by RationalStat

Market Definition, Market Scope, and Report Overview

Innovative vascular patches have been created as a result of technological developments in medical equipment and surgical methods that offer increased biocompatibility, fewer problems, and better patient outcomes. Growing healthcare spending, particularly in developing nations, is enabling more people to undergo cutting-edge medical procedures like vascular surgery that call for vascular patches.

The demand for smaller, more accurate vascular patches that may be put through smaller incisions is driven by the push towards less invasive procedures, such as endovascular surgery.

According to a deep-dive market assessment by RationalStat, the global vascular patches market has been analyzed on the basis of market segments, including on type, application and geography/regions (including North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific) . The report also offers global and regional market sizing for the historical period of 2019-2022 and the forecast period of 2023-2030.

Market intelligence for the global vascular patches market covers market sizes on the basis of market value (US$/EUR Million) and volume (Units) by various products/services/equipment, demand assessment across the key regions, customer sentiments, price points, cost structures, margin analysis across the value chain, financial assessments, historical and forecast data, key developments across the industry, import-export data, trade overview, components market by leading companies, etc.

In addition, the long-term sector and products/services 10-year outlook and its implications on the global vascular patches market. It also includes the industry's current state  Production Levels, Capacity Utilization, Tech quotient, etc. Key information will be manufacturing capacity by country, installed base, import volumes, market size, key players, market size, dynamics, market data, insights, etc.

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Global Vascular Patches Market: Segmental and Market Share Analysis

On the basis of type, the biologic vascular patches category held the biggest market share of the worldwide vascular patches market mainly because of their advantages, such as convenience of usage and lower risk of infection after surgery.

On the basis of application, as a result of the increase in carotid endarterectomies performed globally, the carotid endarterectomy sector held the biggest share by application.





Report Synopsis

Report Metrics Details Base Year 2022 Forecast Period 2023-2030 Base Year Market Size US$ 147.9 million Market Size Forecast US$ 271.6 million Growth Rate 7.9% Key Market Drivers Increasing Healthcare Expenditure Especially in Emerging Economies

Rising Prevalence of Cardiovascular diseases Companies Profiled Lemaitre Vascular

Baxter International

Getinge AB

Braun

L. Gore & Associates

Artivion

Edwards Lifesciences

Terumo Corporation

Vascumed (Pty) Ltd

Celox Medical

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Competition Analysis and Market Structure

These players adopt various strategies in order to reinforce their market share and gain a competitive edge over other competitors in the market. Mergers & acquisitions, partnerships and collaborations, and product launches are some of the strategies followed by industry players. Some of the key developments in the global vascular patches market include,

In January 2022, Artivion Inc. was introduced as the renamed and rebranded CryoLife Inc. The company claims that the term is derived from the words "aorta," "innovation," and "vision."

In 2020, Twirla Transdermal System was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to Agile Therapeutics Inc., a women's healthcare company.

Some of the prominent players and suppliers operating and contributing significantly to the global vascular patches market growth include Lemaitre Vascular, Baxter International, Getinge AB, Braun, L. Gore & Associates, Artivion, Edwards Lifesciences, Terumo Corporation, Vascumed (Pty) Ltd, and Celox Medical, among others.

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RationalStat has segmented the global vascular patches market based on type, application and region

Global Vascular Patches Market Value (US$ Million), Volume (Units), and Market Share (2019-2030) Analysis by Type Biologic Vascular Patches Synthetic Vascular Patches

Global Vascular Patches Market Value (US$ Million), Volume (Units), and Market Share (2019-2030) Analysis by Application Carotid Endarterectomy Aortic Aneurysms Profundaplasty Others

Global Vascular Patches Market Value (US$ Million), Volume (Units), and Market Share (2019-2030) Analysis by Region North America Vascular PatchesMarket US Canada Latin America Vascular PatchesMarket Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Western Europe Vascular PatchesMarket Germany UK France Spain Italy Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe Eastern Europe Vascular PatchesMarket Russia Poland Hungary Other CIS Countries Rest of Eastern Europe Asia Pacific Vascular PatchesMarket China Japan India South Korea Australia ASEAN Indonesia Thailand Philippines Vietnam Malaysia Rest of ASEAN Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa Vascular PatchesMarket GCC Saudi Arabia (KSA) United Arab Emirates (UAE) Rest of the GCC South Africa Nigeria Turkey Rest of the Middle East & Africa



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Key Questions Answered in the Vascular Patches Report:

What will be the market value of the global vascular patches market by 2030?

What is the market size of the global vascular patches market?

What are the market drivers of the global vascular patches market?

What are the key trends in the global vascular patches market?

Which is the leading region in the global vascular patches market?

What are the major companies operating in the global vascular patches market?

What are the market shares by key segments in the global vascular patches market?

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Research Methodology

RationalStat has developed a state-of-the-art research methodology to crunch numbers and provide the best possible real-time insights to clients. We combine a varied range of industry experience, data analytics, and experts viewpoint to create a research methodology for market sizing and forecasting.

RationalStat combines a mix of secondary sources as well as primary research to assess the market size and develop a forecast. Key steps involved in accurately deriving the market numbers are:

Defining the problem by understanding the type of market and data required by the client.

Data gathering and collection through relevant paid databases, publicly available sources, company reports, annual reports, surveys, and interviews.

Formulating a hypothesis to create market numbers, forecasts, influencing factors, and their relevance.

Evaluating and analyzing the data by referring to data sources utilized and leveraged.

Validating, interpreting, and finalizing the data by combining the details gathered from primary and secondary sources with the help of experienced analysts.

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RationalStat is an end-to-end global market intelligence and consulting company that provides comprehensive market research reports, customized strategy, and consulting studies. The company has sales offices in India, Mexico, and the US to support global and diversified businesses. The company has over 80 consultants and industry experts, developing more than 850 market research and industry reports for its report store annually.

RationalStat has strategic partnerships with leading data analytics and consumer research companies to cater to the clients needs. Additional services offered by the company include consumer research, country reports, risk reports, valuations and advisory, financial research, due diligence, procurement and supply chain research, data analytics, and analytical dashboards.

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Vietnam Coffee Market Vietnam Coffee Market Production Volume Of Powder And Instant Coffee In 1000 Metric Tons Vietnam 2016 2021

Vietnam Coffee Market Vietnam Coffee Market Production Volume Of Powder And Instant Coffee In 1000 Metric Tons Vietnam 2016 2021

Dublin, Sept. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Vietnam Coffee Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Vietnam Coffee Market size is expected to grow from USD 472.61 million in 2023 to USD 706.06 million by 2028, at a CAGR of 8.36% during the forecast period (2023-2028).



Key Highlights

Vietnam has developed a well-established culture of coffee. The country hosts several companies engaged in not only the domestic trade of coffee but also have established their presence in foreign markets.

According to the Agency of Foreign Trade, Vietnam's coffee exports in February 2022 reached 130 thousand tons, worth USD 304 million, whereas compared to February 2021, they increased by 5.7% in volume and 40% in value due to an increase in consumption.

Vietnam is the world's second-largest producer and exporter of coffee. The country's coffee industry is expected to grow strongly over the forecast period as the population continues to expand at a rate of about one million people a year.

In the coming years, Vietnam's coffee industry is expected to grow strongly due to the ongoing expansion of the population in the country. Data from the World Bank indicates that the population of Vietnam in 2021 was 98,168,829, an increase of 0.85% from the population of Vietnam in 2020. Vietnam's population in 2021 was estimated to be 97,338,583, an increase of 0.90% from its population in 2019.

Positive economic growth, the growing employment rate among women, and the increasing disposable income of the young population contribute to the country's coffee market growth. Furthermore, people are becoming more sophisticated in their tastes, driving the country's coffee market.

Increased demand for consumer products and the food service industry from local and international players is also expected to fuel the market's growth.

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Vietnam Coffee Market Trends

Instant Coffee is Gaining Traction in the Market due to the Rising Demand

Busy lifestyles and longer working hours are likely to boost the convenience packaging formats of coffee, resulting in consumers switching from fresh ground coffee to instant coffee mixes across.

According to Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA), in 2021, the trend of domestic coffee, such as roasted coffee beans, ground, and instant coffee, has increased sharply. Additionally, the roasted, ground and instant coffee export of Vietnam increased and accounted for 12% of the country's total export.

Premiumization trends are expected to boost the market's growth in the country. With the increase in busy lifestyles among the millennial and working population in the country, coffee consumption among these age groups has increased drastically in the recent past.

Moreover, due to Vietnam's abundant source of Robusta coffee, which is the primary raw material for the production of instant coffee, this country has the potential to become the world's leading producer of instant coffee.

Due to this strong advantage, leading coffee producers in Vietnam are expanding their reach in the market with the introduction of new roasting and instant coffee manufacturing facility.

Changing Lifestyle Highly Influencing Coffee Consumption

Increasingly busy lifestyles and longer working hours are likely to strengthen appreciation for the convenience of this product type, which should lead more consumers to switch from fresh ground coffee or standard instant coffee to instant coffee mixes. Moreover, the category should also benefit as manufacturers continue to introduce stronger-tasting products that suit the traditional preferences of Vietnamese consumers.

Additionally, there is a rapid shift in the consumer style of the people. The domestic coffee market is becoming more vibrant and competitive every day, especially with the investment of big companies.

For instance, in October 2021, a new investment of USD 132 million was announced by Nestle Vietnam to double the capacity of high-quality coffee lines at the Nestle Tri An coffee factory in Dong Nai province. As a result of this investment, Nestle Vietnam Co., Ltd. has made almost USD 730 million in foreign direct investment.

Additionally, the increasing number of cafes and coffee culture in Vietnam is expected to boost the market during the forecast period. The growing interest in coffee consumption among the local population due to changing lifestyles greatly benefits the market.

Vietnam Coffee Industry Overview



The Vietnam coffee market witnesses high competition due to the presence of a considerable number of regional and global players. An advanced distribution network gives an upper edge to the manufacturers to expand their range of products suitable for various consumer needs.

Moreover, it is crucial for players to continuously innovate to operate and grow in the market due to the rapidly changing consumer demands and preferences. The Vietnam Coffee market includes the company profiles of Nestle, Bien Hoa Vinacafe Joint Stock Company, Len's Coffee LLC, Starbucks Coffee Company, Phuc Long Trading Production Company Limited, Anni Coffee.

A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

Nestle

Bien Hoa Vinacafe Joint Stock Company

Len's Coffee LLC

Starbucks Coffee Company

Phuc Long Trading Production Company Limited

Anni Coffee

Highlands Coffee

Coffee Beans and Tea Leaves

GLORIA JEANS

TRUNG NGUYEN

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Walgreens Boots Alliance said Friday that CEO Rosalind "Roz" Brewer is stepping down after less than three years at the helm of the global pharmacy chain.

Walgreens named Ginger Graham, an independent director on the company's board, as interim chief executive. Brewer, who is also relinquishing her seat on the board, will continue to advise the retailer while it searches for a permanent CEO, the company said.

Brewer assumed the top post at Walgreens in March of 2021. She previously served as chief operating officer and group president at Starbucks as well as president and CEO of Walmart-owned Sam's Club, among other corporate positions.

In announcing her exit, Walgreens credited Brewer with leading its efforts to quickly offer mass vaccinations during the pandemic.

"She built and led a team to stand up the technology for a vaccine scheduling system, created a safe operating model for store labor, and developed a plan to drive vaccine equity," said the company, which also highlighted Walgreens' strategic shift to focus more on offering health care services under Brewer's watch.

Steered company through opioid lawsuits

Brewer's tenure as CEO also saw Walgreens resolve litigation regarding its role, along with other major pharmacy chains, in the opioid crisis. In 2022, Walgreens agreed to pay nearly $5 billion over 15 years as part of a multi-state settlement, while more recently the company in May agreed to pay San Francisco nearly $230 million to settle a case over its distribution of the powerful drugs.

Opioids have been linked to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Brewer is exiting as Walgreens veers away from selling products to focus more on health care, said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, noting that the retail business "is simply not an area that Walgreens wants to pursue" to drive growth.

"Health care is a lucrative sector, and Walgreens is not wrong to see it as a major part of its future playbook," he said. "However, the new permanent CEO will need to remember that it is possible to invest in both health care and retail. It should not be an either/or decision."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Western Global Airlines Boeing 747-400, one of four in the fleet, takes off at Tokyo Narita Airport on Aug. 3, 2019. (Photo: Flickr/Alan Wilson CC BY 2.0)

The Department of Labor has asked the federal judge overseeing Western Global Airlines bankruptcy case to partially deny a motion dismissing all creditors claims during restructuring because it is investigating ownership for potential violations of federal law related to management of the companys retirement plan.

James Neff, his wife and the plans administrator are separately being sued by three current and former employees for alleged self-dealing while structuring a employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in 2020.

The Wednesday filing reveals for the first time that Neff and his partners are under investigation for selling more than a third of the company at a grossly inflated price, resulting in substantial losses for the ESOP. The Department of Labor said the transaction was prohibited under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 and that it doesnt want to lose its right to recover losses from parties involved in the bankruptcy.

Western Global Airlines struck a deal with certain creditors and lenders for $77 million in debtor-in-possession financing as part of its Aug. 7 bankruptcy reorganization plan. Such deals are designed to give the companys emergency financiers top priority over all other claims. Western Globals debtors are seeking to dismiss all claims from unsecured creditors. The Department of Labor said it doesnt object to the core terms of Western Globals proposed bankruptcy financing, just the part that would release the governments claims against Neff and related entities connected to the employee pension benefit plan.

Western Global, which began operating a year after Neff founded it in 2013, has 21 aging MD-11 and Boeing 747-400 freighters that are expensive to operate and maintain. The company is headquartered in Estero, Florida, and uses Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers as its home base.

Flight-tracking sites show that more than two-thirds of Western Globals fleet is not in service. It continues to fly missions for the U.S. military and other customers, but has struggled for business since the air cargo market began to collapse a year ago from its pandemic peak. The carrier this year lost contracts with Amazon and two other major customers. Lower cash flows made it difficult to service the companys high debt load.

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Neff, through an affiliated company, in June acquired about $140 million in distressed debt from lenders putting him first in line any claims of the companys assets.

The ESOPs purchase of Neff family stock was not permitted under ERISA, according to the Department of Labor. The statute prohibits fiduciaries from allowing plans to engage in transactions involving the sale or exchange of a property between the plan and an interested party, including the acquisition of a security on behalf of the plan. An exemption allows an employer to acquire securities for no more than adequate consideration.

In 2020, Western Global took on $447.5 million in debt to facilitate a loan to the ESOP, which it used to buy 375,000 Neff shares for $510 million. Neff retained control of the company and continued to serve as CEO with an annual salary of $400,000, according to court documents.

The Department of Labor said it estimates Neff and his family wrongfully received about $182 million more from the ESOP deal than their stock was worth, while maintaining a majority stake and control of Western Global. The calculation was based on comparing the values of Western Globals closest publicly traded competitors, Air Transport Services Group and Atlas Air (since privatized), which traded at an average of six times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), with 10% discount applied to Western Global for being less desirable.

Although the trustee of the ESOP approved the ESOP transaction, the Department of Labor has reason to believe the trustee was operating under a conflict of interest and may have breached its fiduciary duties in approving the ESOP transaction, the filing stated. Neff was aware of the conflict and possible breaches of fiduciary duty, it added.

The ESOP is obligated to repay Western Global 100% of the loan plus interest, which means the company owes Neff an additional $140 million, in addition to the $510 million already paid, based on his purchase of the secured loans.

Protecting secured bankruptcy creditors is appropriate, but Neff shouldnt be able to use the process to immunize himself and family trusts against claims arising from his participation in an illegal scheme, the Labor Department told Judge Karen Owens of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The lawsuit alleges the sale price for the ESOP was based on 20 times the companys fair market value and that when Western Global offered high-interest bonds because there were no takers, Neff bought the bonds himself and stuck the employees with heavily devalued shares.

More FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com

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NORFOLK  A Norfolk man who caused the overdose deaths of two women and raped a third after drugging her was sentenced Wednesday to two life sentences plus 20 years.

The term Norfolk Circuit Judge Tasha Scott handed down to 45-year-old Michael Ebong was the most she could give him under the law.

Ebong wasnt in the courtroom when the sentence was pronounced. About a half-dozen deputies wrestled him out of the room and into a holding cell after he became disruptive. The courtroom was cleared and reopened a short time later.

Defense attorney Thomas Reed told the judge after the break Ebong didnt want to return to the courtroom, and instead was left to listen to the proceedings through speakers in the holding cell.

Mr. Ebong will always be too dangerous to be free, Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Scott Miles told Scott in asking for the maximum sentence. (He) will be just as dangerous at 70 as he is at 45 from what we saw today.

Miles also pointed to a report written by a psychologist who determined Ebongs chance of re-offending was incredibly high.

Ebong testified during Wednesdays hearing and denied raping or drugging anyone. He also said he felt he had been railroaded by the court system and hadnt been given a fair shake. Scott cut off his testimony after he repeatedly failed to answer the questions that had been asked of him, and he began to tussle with deputies as they tried to lead him back to the defense table.

A jury found Ebong guilty last year of two counts of involuntary manslaughter, rape, and object sexual penetration at the end of a five-day trial.

All three victims had gone to Virginia Beach bars with friends and suddenly disappeared, according to testimony at trial. Prosecutors alleged that Ebong targeted each woman, somehow slipped them some drugs and then took them to his Ocean View apartment to sexually assault them.

Kelsey Paton, 30, and Sheena West, 36, overdosed and died sometime after arriving, but the third woman survived and testified at trial. She also testified at Wednesdays sentencing hearing.

The woman, who is not being identified by The Virginian-Pilot because she was the victim of a sexual assault, said she frequently has trouble sleeping, and when she does she often wakes up screaming. She rarely goes out to socialize anymore, she said, and is always checking the doors in her home to make sure theyre locked. Shes moved two times since the assault and was laid off from her job because shed become so unproductive.

Nothings ever going to be the same, the woman testified. My whole life stopped that day.

According to testimony at trial, West was at Central Shore on Shore Drive on Nov. 14, 2020, when she disappeared. Prosecutors showed jurors surveillance video from the restaurant that night showing her leaving with a man they argued was Ebong. The next morning, Ebong called 911 to report an unresponsive woman and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The next incident occurred in July 2021. Like West, Paton was out with friends when she disappeared. And just like in the West case, Ebong called 911 the next morning to report an unresponsive woman who was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Between those two incidents, Ebong took another women home in May 2021. The woman testified the last thing she remembered was being at Seaside Raw Bar at the Oceanfront with friends, and woke up the next day naked and extremely sick in a strange mans apartment. She eventually persuaded the man, who she identified in court as Ebong, to take her home.

The woman didnt report the incident until a couple of months later, when she saw a social media post about what happened to Paton. The post included photos of Ebong and his apartment.

Ebong was supposed to have been sentenced in December but the hearing was delayed after his lawyers informed the court hed been growing increasingly delusional since being convicted, making it difficult for them to prepare. The judge ordered a competency evaluation and ordered the case continued.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Christine Bauer is being heard.

A registered nurse who writes and records country music, the Fremont High School graduate recently got FM radio airplay for her new song, Crumble.

Now, Bauers looking forward to a lyric video of that song next month and is working on a song yet to be produced. Theyre more accomplishments for the 32-year-old young woman, who tells stories with her music.

A self-taught guitar player, Bauer was about 17 years old when she began writing songs. She graduated from FHS in 2009 and from the University of Nebraska Medicine College of Nursing in 2013. Shes worked as an emergency room nurse and more recently switched to postpartum care nursing.

While in college, Bauer, who also sings, began playing on the worship team at The Presbyterian Church of Fremont. She then started putting her music on line.

Music producer Paul Ray of Australia emailed Bauer in 2012, asking if he could produce music for her.

They released her first Extended Play musical recording in the summer of 2013. That EP called, Independence, had three songs. It includes the title song along with You and Me and Three Words.

Weve been releasing music together ever since then, she said, noting that includes a combination of digital albums, EPs and singles.

Bauer later met Sarah Harralson, a friend and co-writer out of Nashville, Tennessee. They started writing together in 2016 and, thus far have written about 100 songs together.

In 2019, they released a digital album called West of Me.

Probably the most popular songs on that album have been West of Me, Red Flag and Love on Lease, Bauer said.

The two women went on a West of Me tour together, starting at the TOAST Nebraska Wine Festival in 2019 at Valas Pumpkin Patch in Gretna. They then traveled through South Dakota and Montana.

We ultimately ended up on a vacation trip in Bozeman, Montana and got to go to Yellowstone as well. We performed at stops along the way, she said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bauer said she was an emergency room traveling nurse, primarily in the Midwest.

I was able to write more songs during that time and we started focusing more on releasing singles, she said.

In 2022, she and Harralson went to Key West, Florida. She played at Dantes Key West Pool Bar & Restaurant during the Key West Songwriters Festival with Harralson.

Since then, Ive been releasing singles, Bauer said. I would like to start playing at some wineries and festivals.

Shes promoting the song, Crumble, right now.

Crumble was a song I wrote pretty quickly, Bauer said. It was one of those songs that just writes itself. When I wrote it, it was a release of a lot of pent-up emotions.

She sent it to Ray right away.

I had a really good feeling about it, Bauer said.

Ray had the track produced in a couple months and they released it on July 28.

Crumble is a heartbreak song.

Its about being afraid to get into your next relationship after going through other breakups, she said.

The lyrics include: I dont want another broken heart;

It cant take it, not with all these scars;

The next time I fall, its gonna be a bad tumble;

I aint just gonna break, no, Im gonna crumble.

Her song has been noticed.

I got my first FM Radio airplay in the United States over in Wyoming  KIX 96.5 radio, she said. I got to do a telephone interview with their host, Jeff Rickett.

They talked how she got started in music and about nursing.

Bauer said people can hear her songs anywhere they listen to online music like Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and Pandora. She also has songs on YouTube.

She will have a video with Crumble lyrics coming out on YouTube next month. Shes also featured on one billboard on Interstate 80 near the 84th Street exit in Omaha and another billboard on I80 outside of Ashland this week. Another will be in Ralston for a month.

Bauer plans to go to Nashville in October to record a song with Grady Saxman, whos worked with country star Luke Combs. Shes also working on her next single, which Ray will produce.

Shes thankful for those who appreciate her music and for compliments and encouragement theyve provided.

Im always grateful for the people who come up and talk to me after performances and express that they like their music, she said.

More information about Bauer can be found at christinebauermusic.com.
Proposed policy changes for the Keene Memorial Library were criticized during Tuesdays meeting of the Fremont City Council, with two prominent local book removal activists complaining about the changes which have yet to be formally approved.

On Aug. 21, the Keene Memorial Library Advisory Board approved a series of changes to the city librarys policies. The new policies are not official until the city council hears the proposals and votes to approve them.

Included among the changes are a new library card system which differentiates between various age users of the library and that will allow parents to control the content their children can check out; an addition to the challenged and contested materials policy to add in-person interviews with patrons; and a change and distancing to the philosophies and adherence to the American Library Association standards.

Sandra Murray, a local business owner and grandmother who has been advocating for the removal of some sexual education and LGBTQ-themed books since December, addressed the council during the end of the month public comment session.

Now, they are changing their selection policy. The new policy has a facade of appeasing those who oppose their book choices, but they are simultaneously making it nearly impossible for any concerned citizen to contest or appeal their book choices, Murray said. They want us to come to the librarian personally to make a complaint. Well, they will see me there, but it wont be in private. I will expose this stuff to their employees and the public right there in the library. I have no problem with that. Why do they not want accountability? This is our library and our dollars. Those trash books they continue to purchase are paid for by who? Us, we the people.

Murray also said it was arrogance that only the head library director, Laura England-Biggs, and two other senior librarians can choose what books to purchase for the library.

The whole thing shows that the government of this city does not care about our children. You on the city council have failed the community. We are going to have to go to the next level of government to deal with this, Murray added.

Murray was joined by another frequent critic of the same types of books, local resident Scott Preston, who himself expressed disappointment with the proposed policy changes, but did support some of the proposals and changes.

Although there are some positives in the revised policies, there remains room for significant improvement and there are places where it is outright worse than the old policy. I liked the creation of a restricted check-out option for kids cards. Also, I appreciated removals of references to the American Library Association. The addition of restrictions on sexually explicit content for juveniles section was a welcome change, Preston told the council.

I would have liked to have seen some kind of limits or restrictions on young adult material as well, or at least a way for young adult books containing such material automatically moved to the adult collection. Authors and publishers are trying to push the envelope in regard to content, and if the library doesnt have active safeguards in place, the collection will be overwhelmed with content and messaging that does not reflect Fremont community standards.

Preston also said he was aware that city council members, city staff and library board members, want this controversy to stop, but he stressed the controversy will not end depending on the future of the library under possible new policies.

If the manual gets approved as it is, and these bad policies lead to bad books in the collection, you are going to keep hearing from me and others who want us to see our library stand up against an industry that is pushing an agenda on our kids, Preston added.

Former city council member Brad Yerger also spoke on the proposed changes to the library policies, but he mainly focused on his continued complaints about the librarys internet filtering policies and whether or not it adheres to the Childrens Internet Protection Act, also known as CIPA.

Yerger complained about the CIPA compliance for the sixth time in the past five months, repeating concerns he has expressed in both prior city council meetings as well as meetings of the librarys advisory board.

How does the IT department go about filtering and preventing adult content from being viewed, Yerger asked.

He also said that in his opinion, if adult content or what is considered pornography is not allowed on library computers, how books with that type of content would be allowed in a physical form in the hard-copy collection of materials. Because no responses are allowed from council members during public comment, Yergers questions were not answered.

The city council did not address the library policy proposals at the Aug. 29 meeting, and it is not known when the council will possibly schedule an agenda item to discuss, debate and possibly vote on the new policy tweaks in the future.

Until the new policies are approved by the council, the proposals are not in effect and the policy manual that was approved in March is what is used for all library business and protocols.
For the 14th year, the Ag Sack Lunch Program will again educate fourth grade students across Nebraska. With both in-person and virtual options available, the reach of students continues to grow from Omaha to Scottsbluff, while spreading education and awareness about Nebraska agriculture.

The in-person program provides students with a free lunch along with a 25-minute lesson regarding Nebraska agriculture. As many fourth-grade classrooms visit the Nebraska State Capitol, this is an opportunity to educate students about where their food comes from and gain an appreciation for the meals they eat each day.

While students enjoy their lunches, they will hear a presentation about the important role agriculture plays in Nebraskas economy, as well as the crops and livestock species that are raised in the state. The sack lunches consist of Nebraska-produced food items to emphasize the direct connection to Nebraska farms. Students also receive a deck of cards containing agriculture facts.

For classrooms that do not plan to visit the State Capitol, virtual presentations are available which include the same interactive presentation and deck of cards.

Reservations can be made online by visiting agsacklunchprogram.com.

The Ag Sack Lunch Program is sponsored by the Nebraska Corn Board, Nebraska Soybean Board, Nebraska Beef Council, Nebraska Pork Producers Association, Nebraska Poultry Industries, Nebraska Wheat Board and Midwest Dairy.
Fire officials from the Fremont Rural Fire Department are probing a massive fire that occurred on Wednesday night at the Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area, causing a huge pile of dead trees to burn for more than three hours.

No injuries were reported.

Glenn Koplin, public relations officers for the FRFD, said officials from the Fremont Lakes SRA and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission had created the giant pile of dead trees and were intending to burn it during the winter months.

Koplin said the fire was not ignited by any park or state officials, and the incident is under investigation.

The blaze occurred at the far western end of Military Avenue near the ADM grain elevator and south of the railroad tracks near the intersection of North Road by the entrances to Lake No. 11 and Victory Lake.

The chief talked to the State Lakes people and the State of Nebraska people, and when they had left for the day, it was not on fire, Koplin said. Nobody saw anything or observed anything. The incident is under investigation.

The blaze lasted for at least three and a half hours and required 25,000 gallons of water to extinguish, Koplin said. In addition to firefighters from the FRFD, Koplin noted that additional firefighters from the North Bend Fire Department assisted.
While gas costs still remain uncomfortably high, a steady decrease in pump prices in Colorado Springs may offer some relief as travelers set out for the last long weekend before the autumn cool-down begins.

As of Friday, the average price of a gallon of regular fuel in Colorado Springs was $3.858, about 15 cents cheaper than two weeks ago and about 7 cents cheaper than last week, according to AAA Colorado.

At an average of $3.855 per gallon, El Paso County is one of the top 10 cheapest counties for gas in Colorado, AAA data shows. But Colorado's average gas price sits at $3.943 as of Friday, about 13 cents higher than the national average.

During the summer months, the demand for crude oil within the U.S. and globally is typically high, AAA spokesperson Skyler McKinley recently told The Gazette. That is because people are going on more road trips this time of year, but also folks are hopping onto airplanes in numbers we havent seen since the pandemic.

While Labor Day weekend is a traditional last-hurrah holiday, its not of the same caliber as Fourth of July or Memorial Day as children head back to school and most summer vacations are behind them, McKinley said.

Even so, Labor Day travel is up both nationally and locally from last years holiday, as people show to be relatively undeterred by recent high gas prices, McKinley said.

I think relatedly and most interestingly in our data is that this has historically been a road trip holiday, and yet we're seeing surging demand for international travel, McKinley told The Denver Gazette.

McKinley said AAA is seeing a 44% increase in international bookings over the Labor Day holiday and an 82% increase in hotel bookings over last year, as well as a hike in domestic and international cruising.

GasBuddy, a fuel savings platform, on Thursday released its annual Labor Day travel forecast, predicting the average price of gas in the U.S. on Labor Day weekend will continue to fall to $3.75 per gallon, virtually identical to what motorists experienced for Labor Day weekend last year.

At the Colorado Springs Airport, over 28,000 passengers are expected to pass through over the weekend, with the busiest days of boarding and deplaning falling on Friday and Monday, according to airport senior communications specialist Dana Shield.

Thats up 3,200 total travelers  a 13% increase - from 2022, she said.

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Saturday is expected to be the lightest travel day with just over 3,000 enplanements, or roughly 6,000 passengers passing through, she said.

Those flying out of Denver can also expect a somewhat busier end-of-season holiday than last year.

Between Thursday and Sept. 5, more than 410,000 passengers are forecasted to travel through TSA checkpoints. Airport officials estimate the busiest days during the upcoming Labor Day holiday will also be Friday and Monday, which are expected to see more than 78,000 passengers move through security screening, a 6.2% increase from the same period in 2022, said officials in a news release.

Locals and out-of-towners hoping to stay and play in Colorado Springs over the weekend should remember that reservations are required to drive a personal vehicle up Pikes Peak or take The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway to the summit.

Hundreds of timed-entry reservations for the highway are available during the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday afternoon time slots, according to the City of Colorado Springs website.

Saturday morning slots are full, but Sunday and Monday still have many available as of Friday morning.

Visitors will have a two-hour window to enter the highway after the start of their reservation. This $2 fee is tacked on top of one-day usage fees related to the highway, which start at $15 per adult (or $50 per vehicle with up to five passengers). A discounted $5 fee is available for those using the North Slope Recreation Area.

Also as of Friday morning, most time slots for the cog railway are full Saturday and Sunday, but some early-morning and late-evening openings exist. Monday afternoon slots remain open, according to the website.

The Denver Gazette's Scott Weiser contributed to this report.
Richard Skorman moseyed into the empty dining area wearing a kitchen apron and K-95 mask.

I was slicing tomatoes, he said.

Even 45 years after he launched Poor Richards, a bookstore, pizzeria, gift shop and cafe in downtown Colorado Springs, customers can still find Skorman in the restaurant's kitchen  slicing tomatoes.

Skorman, 69, started the first iteration of Poor Richards in 1977 with a selection of used books and a menu of soups, sandwiches and salads almost completely prepared by him.

Over the years, Poor Richard's weathered low points like economic downturns and enjoyed high points such as the opening of a popular toy store. Most recently, Skorman's business battled challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through it all, Skorman continued to stay in the kitchen for the same reason his business lasted throughout the decades  passion. It's the same quality colleagues say he brought to the community when he was elected to the Colorado Springs City Council, a post from which he's stepping down next month to devote more time to his businesses.

I love our food, Skorman said. I think we keep trying to make it better and better, we use a lot of good, healthy ingredients, and in cases organic, but we feel  I feel  really proud of that.

Skorman learned his love of food from growing up in a Jewish family. And he got a taste of business being raised among a family of merchants.

His grandfather, Simon, started an Ohio discount store known as Miracle Mart. As a youth, Skorman worked in the family-run store serving customers popcorn.

You sold things at a low markup and high volume, you had people help themselves, you know, you just kind of cut open the boxes and people help themselves, Skorman said.

The store, one of the first of its kind, spread throughout Ohio with multiple locations.

A couple years into it, this guy named Sam Walton shows up and spent a week with my father and wanted to learn all about the business because he was going to open up a discount store in Arkansas.

Walton's store was called Walmart.

After growing up in Ohio, Skorman went on to attend Colorado College in the Springs. He was set on attending school in the West after watching the television show "Bonanza."

During his senior year in 1975, Skorman bought a collection of used books from a store he worked at that was going out of business.

Skorman built bookshelves out of ammunition cases from Surplus City for 29 cents each.

Some of them would have bullets in them, Skorman said.

He sold the books out of a house on North Tejon Street and his business model mirrored that of his family's discount store. Customers would help themselves, put cash in the cash box and calculate their own sales tax.

Two years later, in 1977, Skorman opened Poor Richards Feed and Read in the 300 block of North Tejon Street  a combination bookstore and cafe whose name he borrowed from Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac.

During those early days, Skorman would come in at 4 a.m. and chop vegetables. At the time, he employed two people. By the start of 2020, his business employed 50.

But his business growth didn't happen overnight. It took years of commitment to nurture it even in the face of hardship.

In 1982, Skorman's restaurant caught fire and the prospects of rebuilding looked bleak.

We were under insured ... significantly, Skorman said.

But the community wasnt going to let the downtown business disappear. Friends, neighbors, carpenters, painters, customers and even a famous poet whom Skorman cold-called came together to volunteer and raise funds to rebuild the store.

(Allen) Ginsberg came down for the opening of the store, Skorman said of the poet and writer. I paid him, but he came back for free to do a benefit for us for the fire.

At that time, part of Skormans space also was dedicated to a mini movie theater where he showed films with two 16 millimeter projectors.

I had a parrot there that used to scream in the middle of movies, Skorman said. ... something would happen in the movie and all of a sudden the parrot would just start screaming.

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With books, movies and food, Skorman continued to build up his little corner of Colorado Springs.

In 1986, however, Skorman pivoted his career and lifestyle in a quest for adventure. He sold the business and moved to New York City to write a book about independent films  "Off-Hollywood Movies: A Film Lover's Guide," which was published in 1990.

He would ride the subway carrying film reels to watch movies in his apartment and write about them.

Thats when he met Patricia Seator. Introduced through mutual friends, Seator became his film viewing partner and eventually his wife.

Skorman returned to Colorado with Seator so he could return to Poor Richard's. He bought back his business in 1992.

This time he brought a taste of New York City with him.

I fell in love with New York-style pizza, Skorman said.

He learned the craft of pizza making while training at the Pizza Emporium in Yonkers and introduced the thin-crust, hand-tossed pies to Poor Richards menu.

That wasnt the only addition to Poor Richard's; Seator joined Skorman as his business partner.

Today she runs the retail side of Poor Richard's, including the toys, books and gifts. Their business complex now is composed of Poor Richard's Restaurant, Little Richard's Toy Store, Rico's Cafe and Wine Bar and Poor Richard's Books and Gifts.

The best marriages are the marriages where you work things out  and learn how to be together, Seator said.

So we were very, very happily married and then we started being business partners, she said. And we kind of had to go through the whole process again, relating to business.

In 1995, the couple sold the theater side of their business to Kimball Bales, who owns Kimballs Peak Three Theater a few blocks south of Poor Richards, and Skorman and Seator opened a toy store instead.

We borrowed money, Skorman said. It was a little bit of a risk, but what saved us was Beanie Babies.

Customers would line up around the block during the wee hours of the morning waiting for the release of the latest collectables  stuffed animals that became a sensation in the 1990s.

Beanie Babies are what really created that whole successful toy store, Skorman said.

Poor Richards success continued throughout some of the toughest times, such as the Great Recession.

We were actually growing in 2008, because people were so devoted to their local bookstores, Seator said.

Customers rallied around the store during the COVID-19 pandemic, too, which forced business and restaurant owners to innovate.

For Poor Richards, that meant installing electric stone ovens, respacing restaurant seating and creating online retail. Skorman and Seator also plan to expand their outdoor patio to host live music, book signings and other events.

The two used the lull of the pandemic to implement some of those changes and reopened the restaurant Nov. 15 after a prolonged closure.

Each new horizon, however, brings new challenges.

That's why Skorman says he's stepping down in January from his City Council seat. He's served two stints totaling 12 years on the council, from 1999 to 2006 and from 2017 until now.

During that span, he gained a reputation as a supporter for open space and parks funding, wildfire mitigation, homeless services, affordable housing and the decommissioning of the Market Drake coal-fired plant in downtown Colorado Springs that many critics have called an eyesore.

"The leadership he has brought in those areas, as well as his passion for small business and for creating a more welcoming and inclusive community, I think of as hallmarks, in his professional career, both as a political leader and as a small businessman," said Susan Edmondson, the Downtown Partnership's president and CEO.

As a businessman, Skorman's won't be the only bookstore along downtown's busy Tejon Street retail and restaurant corridor.

The Tattered Cover, Colorado's largest independent bookstore and a Denver-area fixture for a half-century, plans to open a new location early next year at 112 N. Tejon St.

Despite Tattered Cover's arrival, Skorman and Seator are optimistic they'll survive the competition just as they've weathered the pandemic and poor economies.

We really believe that because we've had such loyal customers who have always supported us through hard times that, that will be the case when Tattered Cover opens, Seator said.

What we're concerned about," she said, "is providing the service that we always have, and continuing to have that relationship with our community that has always been very positive and has always been supportive of us.
An innovative program born out of the COVID-19 pandemic gives new meaning to the old proverb, waste not, want not.

Wastewater surveillance, which involves analyzing human feces for indications that people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, better known as COVID-19, has become world-shattering in a quieter way than the germ.

After nearly three years, the practice is now a vitally important means of tracking the highly infectious disease, experts say.

The science of identifying emerging bodily contamination days before people realize theyre sick is a silver lining amid the detrimental effects of the 21st-century pandemic, said Rick Johnson, laboratory manager for Colorado Springs Utilities.

Because you produce antibodies even before you start showing symptoms, those antibodies are processed through your body, your poop, and we can pick that up through testing techniques to give us an early indication of the virus, he said.

The pandemic gave us an opportunity to evaluate this technique, which could help us with other illnesses and challenges we have in the community.

The idea seems like its here to stay.

Federal funding is available for states to conduct COVID wastewater surveillance through 2025, said Allison Wheeler, waterborne disease unit manager in the Disease Control and Environmental Epidemiology Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The agency has received $9.4 million in federal funds from January 2021 through July 2023, with extensions expected, she said.

The money covers the costs of personnel, supplies, equipment and other expenses of the surveillance program.

While other countries have routinely tested wastewater for disease for years, its a fledgling practice in the United States.

Colorado was one of the early adopters of the technique, Wheeler said, and among the first to launch statewide monitoring after the pandemic began.

City-owned Colorado Springs Utilities was one of 17 initial utilities companies along Colorado's Front Range to band together in April 2020, following the onset of COVID the prior month, with the intent of determining trends in the population of how the virus was spreading.

With supply chain shortages, it was difficult to get materials and supplies at first, Johnson remembers, but that's no longer the case.

Even with COVID waning, the virus remains actively infectious, and samples continue to be extracted two times a week from Colorado Springs two wastewater treatment plants, one on East Las Vegas Street and one on North Nevada Avenue.

Its been pretty awesome to see all these communities and utilities come together and continue to work through this, Johnson said.

The program is voluntary, Wheeler said, and excludes septic-system users and utilities with fewer than 3,000 customers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend monitoring areas with fewer than 3,000 people, to avoid possible identification of individuals, she said.

Colorado State University initially did the testing, but now state-sponsored laboratories test the majority of the samples of excrement  about the size of a roll of quarters.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the lead authoritative agency throughout the pandemic, got involved in August 2020, as testing began to become cost prohibitive for individual utilities, and they needed assistance with funding, Wheeler said.

Each viral detection sample costs $60, she said, which does not include personnel and maintenance costs.

Over the years, the program has grown from the original 17 participant utilities to 64 of the states 523 permitted domestic wastewater facilities.

Higher-education campuses began testing excrement from specific dorms but some, including Colorado College, have since discontinued their involvement.

Collectively, participating utilities providers serve 70% of the states population, Wheeler said, which provides a healthy measure of whats going on in Colorado with COVID.

The benefit has been significant to state and local public health officials, and communities overall, she said.

The cool thing about this is that this is a community sample, so were able to capture data on asymptomatic and symptomatic (presence of COVID)  so we dont have to rely on clinic testing, which people arent really seeking anymore, Wheeler said.

Since many residents now use at-home COVID testing, the number of cases tracked by public health agencies no longer provides an accurate representation of the prevalence of the disease, Johnson agreed.

Thus, the health agencies are finding the data a lot more valuable, even now, he said.

The state public health department continues to compile surveillance results at https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/d79cf93c3938470ca4bcc4823328946b.

Researchers also are examining how utilities companies can watch for the presence of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and other respiratory pathogens.

Experts are developing and validating testing panels, Wheeler said, with a goal of launching additional testing in the fall, as the respiratory illness season begins.

Colorado and other states reported a trifecta of respiratory illnesses beginning last fall and extending into this winter season, with the flu, RSV and COVID-19 simultaneously hitting the population, which pushed many hospitals to capacity.

Knowing whats happening with different pathogens around the state enables communities to prepare and take precautions, Wheeler said.

Local health departments can alert the public and issue recommendations about social distancing, masking and vaccinations, which can be particularly important and helpful for people who are more at risk for illness, she said. The information also is helpful in determining which communities need more resources to help stop the spread, Wheeler said.

Said Johnson: This really does have value for the future; hopefully none of us have to go through this (a pandemic) again, but at least its another tool well have at our disposal that we didnt have before.

Colorado Springs Utilities plans to continue its involvement in the process, possibly even after federal funding expires, he said.

Weve all become virologists over the last few years, and its really an interesting science, Johnson said.
Find a bookstore to wander around while you escape fall's inevitable chill. While we're still having summer weather, you can use this list to help you flee the heat and daydream of autumn leaves with a good book in hand.

Read on to find the best bookstores around town, as determined by Gazette readers for the Best of the Springs Magazine. Many of the stores are independently owned and unique to the Colorado Springs area.

9. Books For You

Books For You opened over 30 years ago and has kept the same location for that duration. They offer "fine quality used books" and an emphasis on fiction, according to their website.

They're located at 1737 S. 8th St. You can read more about them on their website.

8. Arc Thrift Store

051023-dg-news-CasaBonita04.JPG A pedestrian walks past the temporarily closed ARC Thrift Store in the Lamar Station Plaza strip mall on West Colfax Avenue on Tuesday, May 9,

There are multiple Arc Thrift Stores around Colorado Springs, and each has a section for used books. You can find the closest location to you here.

7. Covered Treasures Bookstore

120419-tr-covered-treasures Tommie Plank opened Covered Treasures bookstore in Monument 26 years ago. She says her storefront book sales are growing as consumers grow tir

This bookstore opened in 1993, according to Covered Treasures' website. They expanded from one small room to three rooms full of new and gently used books.

Covered Treasures is located at 104 2nd St., Monument. You can learn more about them on their website.

6. Born Again Used Books

Born Again Used Books is "your local used Christian book and homeschool curriculum resource," according to their website.

They opened in 2004 and changed locations once since then. They are now located at 4810 Old Farm Drive.

5. Young Bookworms Bookstore

051322-fam-bookworms 3.JPG Young Bookworms, with self-published books and book-themed items including T-shirts and hats, facilitates and encourages creativity.

This bookstore provides the community with a wide selection of children's books, and also offers writing and publishing classes. They also have monthly subscription boxes for all reading levels.

They're located at 3604 Hartsel Drive. You can read more about what they offer on their website.

4. Barnes & Noble

Barnes Noble CEO Lawsuit A Barnes & Noble Booksellers store in Pittsburgh. Demos Parneros, the former CEO of Barnes & Noble is suing the bookseller for breach 

Barnes & Noble first came into existence in 1971 when the trade name was merged with an already existing bookstore in Manhattan. Since then, they have become the top book retailer in the United States, according to their website.

They have multiple locations in the Colorado Springs area. You can find the one closest to you here.

3. Hooked on Books

041123-news-books 1.jpg New Hooked on Books shop owner Joseph Shearer gets help from former owner Mary Ciletti, while unpacking a shipment of books on Monday, April 1

Hooked on Books opened their first location in 1982. They've opened a second location since then, making them the largest independent bookstore in Colorado Springs, according to their Facebook page.

They offer "Over 1/4 million books in stock, HUGE sci-fi/fantasy section, school-required reading in stock, rare, vintage and collectible books," according to the same page.

2. Tattered Cover Book Store Colorado Springs

061822-biz-tattered cover 1.JPG Piles of books wait to be put on shelves at the iconic Tattered Covers new location in downtown Colorado Springs on Friday. Tattered Cover, t

Tattered Cover first opened in Denver in 1971, according to their website. They have expanded to multiple locations around the Denver area (one is four stories tall) and one location in Colorado Springs.

The Colorado Springs store is located downtown and includes a full bar and cafe. It's located at 112 N. Tejon St.

Reader comments:

"A wonderful downtown book store and a great place to spend an afternoon with a coffee drink in the upper loft from their wine bar"

"Love the selection and their support of writers."

1. Poor Richard's Bookstore

kid author Alejandro Garcia, 9, talks about his book Seven Years Strange in January inside Poor Richards Bookstore where its being sold.

Poor Richard's opened in 1975 as Poor Richard's Used Paperbacks, according to their website. Since then, they've started selling a mix of used and vintage books. They've expanded even further to include a restaurant and a toy store.

Reader comments:

"Such a cozy, quirky place. Locals know about Poor Richard's and want to go to Poor Richard's."

"I love the feeling that I get when I walk into the store! Old fashioned and modern, all at the same time!"

"I love Poor Richards! One of my favorite places to shop for gifts."
Kind, creative, intelligent, thoughtful and compassionate. Those were a few of the words friends and family used to describe Kara Nichols on Thursday at the sentencing hearing for her convicted killer.

Earlier this year, Joel Hollendorfer was found guilty of manslaughter for killing Nichols, 19, and burying her body in the backyard of his family's property, where it wouldn't be discovered for nearly a decade.

Hollendorfer was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Thursday as Nichols' family and friends packed an El Paso County courtroom not only to speak about their loss, but to honor her memory.

"Kara was destined for greatness," Nichols' friend Autumn Hopfe told the court. "She made everyone feel included, and she was beautiful both inside and out."

"Knowing Kara was an honor and a privilege. She was the most vibrant person I have ever known," said Erin Wyrick, another friend of Nichols. "Beauty and kindness radiated off her. ... She saw the good in people."

Nearly 10 people gave impact statements to the court on Thursday, and nearly all talked about the lively and ambitious person Nichols was before she was killed by Hollendorfer, using words like empathetic, kind and compassionate to describe Nichols.

Kara Nichols' mother, Julia Nichols, did not attend the sentencing hearing but spoke with The Gazette afterward about her daughter, and the memories she has of her 11 years after her death.

"She was a creative, funny, feisty young woman," Julia Nichols said. "She was really social, the kind of person who always rooted for the underdog even at the expense of sometimes being a little too rebellious."

Julia Nichols said her daughter had big dreams, and that she one day hoped to work in a creative field, because she was someone who loved art, music and fashion.

"My husband would sit with her in the kitchen on the kitchen table and the whole table would be covered with paints, crayons, scissors, collage materials  you name it," Julia Nichols recalled of her daughter's love for the arts. "She was always doing little projects as a child."

While Thursday's hearing brought with it celebrations of who Kara Nichols was, it also brought condemnation of the perceived lack of justice she received through the investigation and Hollendorfer's trial.

Hollendorfer was originally charged with first-degree murder and tampering with a deceased human body, but the 12-person jury opted to convict Hollendorfer of manslaughter, a significant downgrade from first-degree murder.

Hollendorfer's defense attorneys argued at trial that Kara Nichols' death was an accident, caused in large part by Kara Nichols' heroin use, with the defense claiming that Kara Nichols died either of a heroin overdose or due to her being choked during sex, and becoming unable to resume breathing because of being high on heroin.

Nichols' family was very vocal on Thursday in their disagreement with those claims.

Paul Nichols, Kara Nichols' father, described the trial and verdict as a "miscarriage of justice."

"My 19-year-old daughter was murdered. ... I believe Joel Hollendorfer is guilty of murder in the first degree," Paul Nichols said. "I do not believe our daughter was accidently strangled to death. That is an affront to common sense."

Paul Nichols wasn't the only person to express displeasure with Hollendorfer's manslaughter conviction. Kara Nichols' brother, Terry Nichols, raised many of the same frustrations as others in court had previously.

"This trial was a miscarriage of justice characterized by victim blaming," Terry Nichols said. "This was a relentless campaign of slander and defamation of my sister. If the jury was working with all the facts, I have no doubt they would have returned a guilty verdict of murder in the first degree."

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Many who spoke in court on Thursday expressed their displeasure with the 24-year prison sentence Hollendorfer was set to receive, saying they would fight to ensure that he served every day of his sentence.

Even a current and a former detective for the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, both of whom worked on the Nichols' case, gave statements to the court, a highly unusual occurrence.

"I've never seen anyone with such a lack of remorse," former El Paso County Detective Tammy Gouiat said of Hollendorfer. "Shame on you, and shame on your family for hiding all your secrets."

Before Judge William Bain handed down Hollendorfer's sentence, he spoke about the case and the impact Hollendorfer's actions had on Kara Nichols' friends and family.

"In 25 years in doing this kind of work I have not seen as much pain in a family as I have seen in this case," Bain said. "You have seen the pain you have caused. ... You, one person, because of your conduct on one night have caused more than a decade of pain, agony and sorrow. Pain, agony and sorrow that will never cease."

Bain thanked members of the jury for their work on the case, and addressed some of the complaints made by Kara Nichols' family and friends that the court didn't allow evidence to be entered regarding Hollendorfer's previous criminal convictions and past allegations of domestic violence.

"The court is very confident that the Court of Appeals would have sent this (case) back if they had allowed past evidence to be introduced," Bain said.

Bain then sentenced Hollendorfer to 24 years in the Department of Corrections, a sentence that was not up for dispute because of Hollendorfer's status as a habitual criminal.

Any defendant in Colorado convicted of a crime with at least three previous felony convictions could be considered a habitual criminal and have their maximum sentence quadrupled. At a hearing last week, Bain ruled that Hollendorfer's four previous convictions in the 1990s were satisfactory to qualify him as a habitual criminal, turning his manslaughter conviction into a 24-year prison sentence, four times the maximum of six years usually allocated for a class-4 felony conviction.

Bain dismissed the charge of tampering with a deceased human body before the trial concluded because he ruled that the statute of limitations had passed.

Hollendorfer declined to make a statement to the court on Thursday on the advice of his attorney.

Speaking with reporters after Thursday's hearing, Wyrick said one of her last memories of Kara Nichols occurred in September 2012, when they sat on a swing set at a local park for hours, just talking.

"We just acted like teenage girls," Wyrick recalled. "It was a great memory, and I'll never forget it."

The memory that came to mind for Kara Nichols' mother was the time the two spent volunteering at the local humane society, and how Kara Nichols used to beg the supervisors to let her pet the puppies before heading home.

Of course, Julia Nichols said, that eventually ended with Kara Nichols picking out the family's first dog, which she would name Goldie for the dog's gold fur.

Hopfe recalled how when the two were kids Kara Nichols helped her "break out of her shell," and how they could talk for hours about anything and everything.

"No matter who you were she would make you feel like a superstar," Hopfe said. "I want everyone to remember her for the person she was."
Cross the line, pay the fine, warns the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Well, double white lines, actually.

New technology to detect when drivers weave in and out of express lanes is coming to the Denver metro area beginning Friday, according to state transportation officials.

The two express lane corridors where enforcement will start this week are C-470 from I-25 to Wadsworth Boulevard and I-25 from US 36 to E-470.

The Colorado Department of Transportation said it is common to see drivers cross over the solid lines into the express lanes when traffic slows or when trying to get around another vehicle already in the express lane. But vehicles may only enter or exit express lanes at points clearly designated with signs and dashed lines, the department said.

Violating means a hefty penalty.

$75 per violation  to be exact.

The new, first-of-its-kind system  which uses sensors, cameras and software that work together to identify vehicles that are weaving in and out of toll lanes  was deployed for the first time on the I-70 mountain corridor in June. Since its deployment on I-70, transportation officials said 6,455 fines were issued between July 21 and Aug. 28, collecting $143,800 in the process.

This technology is a game-changer, Tim Hoover, the agencys spokesman, said in a news release. It will not only help us identify and penalize drivers who are endangering themselves and others. We truly believe it will help save lives and make our roads safer for everyone.

Beginning Friday , drivers will get warnings for crossing the solid white lines and violating the express lanes rules, the state agency said in a news release.

Warnings will be sent to the registered address of the vehicle for the first 30 days to give drivers fair warning of the new enforcement mechanism.

Starting Oct. 1, the warning period ends and drivers who commit violations face civil penalties beginning at $75 if paid within 20 days of issuance. After 20 days, the fine increases to $150. According to CDOT, it takes about 10-12 days for a mailed notice to arrive. If two offenses are recorded on the same trip, it is just one violation, which will be noticed at $75.

Hoover told The Gazette that photographic evidence of the violation is included on the notice, and the states website also includes the photographic evidence and a map showing where the violation occurred.

If ignored, the fines can quickly pile up, state officials warned.

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Failure to pay will result in a default civil judgement, additional fees, collection action and possible vehicle registration hold. Civil penalties cannot result in an arrest, Hoover clarified.

The ultimate penalty is the registration hold  meaning license plates cannot be renewed until the fines are paid. People can dispute a violation by going to CDOTs website appeals page.

We will investigate the circumstances and provide the results by email, said Hoover. If you previously disputed a civil penalty and are not satisfied with the results of the dispute review, you can submit a request for hearing and answer to a complaint for toll evasion. If you are not satisfied with the results of the hearing, you can file an appeal with the county court.

More information regarding the appeal process can be found at the Colorado Judicial Branch webpage.

In a news release, the transportation agency explained the rationale behind strictly enforcing the no-crossing rule.

Weaving over the solid lines greatly increases the risk of a crash due to significant speed differentials between traffic in the express lanes and the general purpose lanes, the agency release. Motorists in all lanes dont expect cars to suddenly cross in front of them across solid lines and are often forced to respond quickly to an unexpected vehicle traveling at a different speed in their lane.

These violations threaten the lives of all roadway users, Hoover added. Drivers who have made a habit of breaking these rules will no longer be able to avoid the consequences of their unsafe actions.

On I-25 south of Castle Rock to Colorado Springs, the appearance of tolls had confused motorists the weekend of Aug. 19-20.

Technicians with the Colorado Department of Transportation were performing operational testing on I-25 express lane signs over the weekend, which led to belief that the agency had activated toll charges on the 18-mile stretch of freeway between Monument and Castle Rock, according to transportation officials.

A photo of an electronic express lane sign, taken by The Gazette on Sunday, displayed a toll fee of $1.75 to Larkspur and $2.75 to Castle Rock.

But Hoover clarified that the tolls have not been activated, and the final toll prices have yet to be decided upon.

We would never spring tolls on the public without warning, Hoover said. Well give the public multiple weeks warning before tolls go into effect.

When the commuter lane was added to the interstate in 2022, the transportation agency announced a testing period, during which toll fees would be waived. That testing period is still in effect as the state agency performs quality checks on equipment and conducts traffic studies to determine the ideal amounts to charge motorists, officials said.

If the tolls are too expensive, motorists wont use them often enough. But if prices are too low, nearly everyone will use them, negating their effectiveness as a faster alternative to regular lanes.

In 2022, the Colorado legislature passed HB22-1074, allowing the Colorado Transportation Investment Office to enforce Colorado express lanes rules using advanced roadway technology. For more information about Colorado Express Lanes, readers can visit https://codot.gov/programs/expresslanes.
The word from the Capitol this week is that state lawmakers might try again to legalize safe use sites  where addicts from the streets can get clean needles and expert oversight as they feed their deadly habit. Usually, via syringe.

Thats right; instead of fighting the scourge of addiction  a priority that, not long ago, enjoyed universal support  your local city hall or county government could wind up helping administer technically illegal, potentially lethal drugs such as heroin and meth.

To the harm reduction crowd, which seems to have the ear of this Legislature, it represents the progressive path to public health nowadays. In other words, enabling addiction rather than healing it.

At least one Colorado city, Denver, has an ordinance on the books permitting the sites. It was enacted in 2018.

But state and federal law bar the local policy from taking effect. During last springs legislative session, a state Senate committee voted down legislation that would have permitted safe-use sites statewide.

Now, an interim legislative committee is entertaining the idea anew. The Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Study Committee voted this week to draft legislation for consideration by the full Legislature when it convenes in January.

The committee still has to shape up its final list of bills to present to the 2024 session, and a safe-use bill might not make the cut. So, its a good time to throw cold water on a bad idea.

Theres no doubt Colorado is facing an addiction crisis. Its a major cause of crime and is fundamentally at root of much of the chronic homelessness on our streets. Addiction tears apart families, leaves addicts unemployable and ruins lives. It creeps into schools and undermines youths.

And thats not to mention addictions death toll; 920 Coloradans died from fentanyl overdoses last year  fentanyl being the deadliest drug in our state in recent years.

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Addiction is indeed at an epidemic level in Colorado  which is all the more why we must fight it, not feed it.

Safe-use sites provide users clean syringes and oversight by medical professionals. Addicts can shoot up illegal drugs without getting arrested, contracting hepatitis or overdosing.

Which means they can continue their steady descent into the self-destructive depths of addiction and its misery. And when they eventually perish on the streets, in agony  it at least will be with the blessing of local authorities. How nice.

Its not just the sites obvious ripple effects on the community that make them a nonstarter  how they foster crime; aid and abet the illegal drug trade by providing cover for pushers, and wreak havoc with nearby neighborhoods. Its the very nature of safe-use policies thats the biggest problem. Their premise is absurd to begin with.

To help perpetuate in any way one of the most crippling and destructive maladies in our society is cynical and cruel. Its as if to say the addicts are going to kill themselves anyway, so lets give them a hand  covered in a latex glove.

And heres the crux of it: Even the sites most ardent advocates acknowledge their only potential is in curbing the spread of infection and, on occasion, an overdose. What they dont do is cure addiction; they abet it.

Truly compassionate public health policy would seek to separate the addict from the deadly drug, ASAP. In practical terms, that means arrest for possession, followed by immediate diversion to rehab. Thats real reform. And it works.

The Gazette Editorial Board
Shoplifters are the winners

I do not understand how someone can enter a retail store, take expensive products and not pay, get arrested only to return a few days later to the same store, to resume their spree of shoplifting.

I understand this is a low priority for the police with the major crimes but prices are going up, and retailers might just close their doors out of frustration, like some of these major cities throughout the U.S. People complain about cost so the only ones that win are the shoplifters. They know they will not be held, even if they cant afford bail so they can go on.

Life is good for these people; maybe we are doing something wrong.

Larry V. Guerin

Colorado Springs

Colorado needs a Prop. 13

Russell Elsberry (Letters to the Editor Against Proposition HH, Gazette Aug. 20) got it right at the end of his letter by promoting the benefits of Californias Prop 13, a straightforward 6-page proposition (compare to SB303, the tax measure of more than 50 pages loaded with pork that passed in Colorado in May).

As a senior, I was compelled to write my state legislators and the governor when SB303 was being rammed through with the following plea, I need the protection modeled after Californias Prop 13, not another band-aid (SB303) to replace a band-aid (Galagher Amendment).

If your readers are not familiar with Prop 13, here is what I remember from 1978 when I was in college in San Diego:

Property values and taxes were ratcheting up as flipping and property management caught on (sound familiar?)

My grandmother was on a fixed income, and the ever-increasing property taxes were a burden on her.

Prop 13 limits the property tax to 1% of the base value (usually the most recent price) and perhaps more importantly limits any increases by county assessors to 2% annually.

After the Galagher repeal, Colorado seniors who could afford their homes 30 years ago and indeed might have paid them off will have to pay high taxes driven by the nouveau riche of the 2020s, wealthy immigrants from big-money states, out-of-state commercial property owners, and Chinese investors. And then what happens to our seniors?

I have not read the proposed Proposition 50, which Elsberry alludes to. If it puts something on the ballot similar to Californias Prop 13, to wit, limit the property tax to 1% of the base value and limit any increases by county assessors to 2% annually, and if it passes the special interest smell test, and if it follows the old army adage K.I.S.S., I may consider it.

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John Robinson

Colorado Springs

A multimillion dollar superstar

In regards to the article on Shohei Ohtanis elbow injury, why would a GM (Perry Minasian) be the one to comment on the diagnosis? If the article is accurate, after experiencing elbow pain, The Associated Press states that Ohtani insisted on playing in the nightcap even after the tear was discovered while running tests between games.

It is difficult for me to believe that any major league medical staff  or manager  would allow any player  let alone one of Ohtanis superstar status  play with a known injury of any kind regardless of a players desire to play. It was known that he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018, and I feel certain preservation of his arm was a priority for all parties involved in the Angels organization. Luke Zahlmanns article goes on to quote the GM stating he had cramps and was dehydrated and had come out of other games early. This last game he threw 26 pitches before exiting with what at first was arm fatigue, which quickly changed to his second UCL tear in 5 years! I agree that Ohtanis pressure to perform was only part of L.A.s aggression that bordered on malpractice.

If the second opinion confirms a 2nd UCL tear, it will be interesting to see who is held responsible for possibly altering the career of a multimillion dollar superstar.

P.J. Gardner

Colorado Springs

How horrifying is this?

We know the question Whats wrong with this picture? In reference to the picture of Leah Payne in a recent Gazette holding a sign that reads I HAD AN ABORTION wearing a shirt with the words ABORTION plastered all over it. Come on people, we all know what an abortion is. It is ending the life of a defenseless, innocent baby. At what stage of the pregnancy, first second or third trimester, doesnt change the fact. A mothers womb should be the safest place for a baby to live and grow. How terrifying and heartbreaking that we live in a world where this is not reality.

Our most helpless, our own children are not protected. And not by some random murderer on the street, no, and how horrifying is this? The murderer is the babys mother. Not only is this legal, it is accepted and fine with millions of people. How can this be?

The defense or excuse of Its my body is only a half-truth. Yes it is your body but not just your body anymore. There is a living baby who has become a part of it  by no choice of his/her own. Women want to have choice but are taking away the choice of another human being in making their choice. How is that right? The sign should read I KILLED MY BABY and the shirt should have the words KILL plastered all over it.

A little too brutal for you? Well thats exactly what abortion is. But I guess holding a sign and wearing a shirt with those words would make the person out to be a monster. So whats wrong with this picture? Everything!

Suzy Kemp

Colorado Springs
Colorado's congressional delegation on Thursday urged the Internal Revenue Service to stick with longstanding precedent by treating refunds issued under the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights as nontaxable income.

All but one member of the state's D.C. contingent signed on to a letter led by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, both Democrats, asking IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel to "resolve the current ambiguity" over TABOR refunds in response to guidance released Wednesday by the agency.

State officials warned the IRS against changing its policy on TABOR refunds following the publication of a notice covering various state income tax refund scenarios, with some emphasizing that it is unclear whether Colorado's unique situation is covered by the proposed rules.

The fresh controversy comes on the heels of a dust-up in February when the IRS initially told Colorado taxpayers to delay filing their 2022 income tax returns until the agency decided whether to tax refunds issued the previous summer by the state. Within days, the IRS announced there would be no change regarding TABOR refunds after the delegation unanimously called on the agency to stick with the policy in place for decades.

Colorado has routinely used a variety of mechanisms to refund excess revenue to taxpayers, as required by the 1992 voter-approved constitutional amendment. Recent forecasts estimate the state could refund more than $3 billion next year.

"The IRS has never treated TABOR refunds as income subject to tax," the lawmakers wrote in Thursday's letter. "The IRS's historical practice makes good sense in lieu of its traditional recognition of states' prerogatives to design and administer tax refunds. The IRS should not change course now."

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After urging Werfel, the IRS commissioner, "not to abandon 30 years of precedent," the lawmakers added they "hope you can resolve the current ambiguity so that Colorado's taxpayers do not face further confusion to say nothing of the nightmarish burden of an unprecedented tax."

In addition to Bennet and Neguse, the letter was signed by U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette, Doug Lamborn, Ken Buck, Jason Crow, Brittany Pettersen and Yadira Caraveo. U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who signed the delegation's joint letter in February, didn't sign the letter sent Thursday.

On Wednesday, Gov. Jared Polis released a sternly worded statement criticizing the new guidance as "absurd" and calling on the IRS to reverse course.

"Our administration strongly disagrees with the IRS guidance as it fails to factor in that TABOR refunds are returning sales tax dollars in addition to income tax dollars and fees that our citizens have already paid and therefore are an entirely legitimate tax refund and should not be subject to further state or federal taxation," Polis said.

State officials told Colorado Politics that they anticipate clarification from the IRS by early next week.
Myanmar seeks Chinese support to enhance technical high schools

Xinhua) 10:05, September 01, 2023

YANGON, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has shown keen interest in receiving technological assistance from China to bolster its technical high schools during the China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Education Cooperation Week, state media has reported.

"Myanmar has a great interest in receiving technological aid from China for its technical high schools," the Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday.

Education minister Nyunt Pe said Myanmar already had 51 technical high schools in its 50 districts and planned to open more technical high schools in 75 districts throughout the country, which are in need of technical support, adding the opportunity for China-Myanmar educational cooperation is enormous.

The ministry also has interest in facilitating study tours for Myanmar teachers to China and other ASEAN nations, aiming to foster university partnerships, teacher and student exchanges, and academic events in the region, the minister noted.

The minister also stressed the importance of educational cooperation between China and Myanmar, which will contribute to scholarship programs, Myanmar's education sector as well as the Myanmar society, the media report said.

The 2023 China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week kicked off on Tuesday in Gui'an New Area, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Democrats selected state Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet to replace Sen. Dominick Moreno, who is stepping down on Sept. 1 to join the the administration of Denver Mayor Michael Johnston.

A Democratic vacancy committee in Senate District 21 picked Michaelson Jenet on Thursday evening.

Michaelson Jenet, who has advocated for mental health legislation in the Colorado House, chairs the House Public Health & Human Services Committee. She also served on the education and legislative audit committees.

Michaelson Jenet won on the first ballot with 46 out of 55 votes cast. She defeated Lucy Molina, a community organizer who focuses on environmental issues.

Moreno, the Senate's majority leader, nominated Michaelson Jenet for the seat; Adams County Commissioner Steve O'Dorisio seconded it.

Michaelson Jenet has already filed to run next year for the Senate District 21 seat, which is based in Commerce City, as Moreno is term-limited.

Senate President Steve Fenberg congratulated Colorado's newest senator in a statement.

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I am thrilled to congratulate and welcome Senator-elect Michaelson Jenet, a leader in the House who has fought her entire legislative career to move her community and our state forward, to the Colorado Senate, Fenberg said. Adams County voters can rest easy knowing theyll continue being well represented by a strong voice in the Senate, and I look forward to working with Senator-elect Michaelson Jenet to build a stronger, safer and healthier Colorado for us all.

With her appointment to the Senate, Michaelson Jenet becomes the 20th current member of the General Assembly to gain a seat through a vacancy election.

She is expected to face Republican Frederick Alfred, Jr. in the 2024 general election.

Lawmakers will now focus on who will replace Moreno as majority leader, as well as who will take Michaelson Jenet's House District 32 seat, which will become vacant upon her resignation from the chamber.

Among those believed to be interested in the majority leader position are Sens. Janet Buckner, Robert Rodriguez, Faith Winter and Rachel Zenzinger. The election for the next majority leader is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 8.

Only one candidate has so far filed for the HD 32 seat  Manny Rutinel, formerly an environmental lawyer for EarthJustice who is now CEO and co-founder of Climate Refarm, which works toward encouraging farmers to transition to a plant-based food system .

Rutinel told Colorado Politics he intends to run for the vacancy, and, if elected, will focus on protecting the environment, advocating for working families, addressing the housing affordability crisis and improving public health and safety.
There's a new candidate training program in town.

Emerge Colorado spent 10 years as the state's premier training and recruitment organization seeking to get Democratic women elected into public office. But earlier this month, the national affiliate Emerge America cut ties with its Colorado chapter amid accusations of mismanagement.

Now, some of the former leaders of Emerge Colorado are launching Women Uprising, a new nonprofit to provide free training, mentorship and political resources to diverse progressive women.

We are committed to not only increasing womens voices in the halls of power but fundamentally changing the way power works for the benefit of our families and communities," said Lisa Calderon, former executive director of Emerge Colorado and leader of the new Women Uprising.

In addition to Calderon, Kristen Seidel and Mary Imgrund formerly of Emerge Colorado are joining Women Uprising as political director and communications advisor, respectively. Most of the new organization's board of directors also come from Emerge Colorado's former board, according to a Wednesday release.

This is the latest turn in a dramatic series of events surrounding Emerge Colorado and its parent organization.

On July 12, Emerge America sent a letter to alumni announcing it would dissolve its affiliation agreement with Emerge Colorado effective Aug. 19. The letter said the national organization investigated multiple complaints about the management of Emerge Colorado" and "their leadership team made an amicable resolution impossible."

Denver voters evenly divided over city's direction, consider homelessness top issue, new poll finds

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The letter did not detail specific complaints made against Emerge Colorado. Reporting from Colorado Public Radio and The Denver Post identified some of the allegations as an Emerge Colorado staffer making disparaging remarks about a sexual assault victim, and since-dismissed campaign finance complaints accusing Calderon of using Emerge polling for her own gain while campaigning for Denver mayor.

Calderon, in turn, accused Emerge America of trying to centralize its power over the independent state chapters and prevent local unionization efforts, calling the move a "hostile takeover" of Emerge Colorado. This is the first time Emerge America has ever cut ties with an affiliate group.

Emerge America said it will continue working in Colorado after terminating the existing Emerge Colorado group. But now, it won't be alone in its mission to bolster women in politics.

Separating itself from Emerge Colorado, Women Uprising said it will train women for free and include progressive candidates regardless of their political party affiliation, instead of just Democrats.

I've worked in Colorado politics for a long time where there are a lot of gatekeepers who keep progressive candidates from competing fairly against establishment candidates, said Kat Traylor, chair of Women Uprisings board of directors. We will train non-traditional leaders from communities that have historically been left out of the decision-making process with skills to uplift their communities.

The new organization will work in collaboration with the Colorado Working Families Organization and with financial support from the State Democracy Project.

Democrat Betsy Markey endorses Boebert challenger Anna Stout in 3rd Congressional District primary
Remember the old riddle that asks how far you can run into a forest? The answer is halfway, because after that, you're running out of the woods.

That's where Colorado's political juggernaut is poised.

Marking the precise midpoint between last year's general election and next year's state primary, Sept. 1 is the day when the next major election begins to draw ever closer than the last, receding one.

Of course, politics is a nonstop, year-round affair now. Colorado's calendar is crowded with elections, none of which can be considered minor or inconsequential.

From the Nov. 8, 2022, general election  when voters elected a governor, U.S. senator and a full slate of federal, state and county officials  to the state-level primary on June 24, 2024, Coloradans will have had a chance to cast ballots in numerous municipal elections, November's upcoming statewide off-year election and the presidential primary in March.

This spring, Denver and Colorado Springs elected new mayors, and in a couple of months on Nov. 7 Aurora voters will decide that city's direction, as will voters in cities, towns and school boards across the state. Statewide, voters will get to weigh in at the same time on Proposition HH, a controversial ballot question involving property taxes and the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Fast forward to March 5, and Colorado and at least 14 other states and territories voting for the major parties' presidential nominees on Super Tuesday.

The next main event, however, looms a few months later on the last Tuesday in June, when voters will pick the Republicans and Democrats bound for the November election for the U.S. House, the state legislature, county officers and district attorneys.

While it's still early  a lot can happen in the nearly 10 months until Colorado's 2024 primary  the contours of next year's statewide and congressional contests are already beginning to emerge.

Colorado's sparse 2024 election lineup only features a handful of races that can be considered competitive at this point, with a pair of U.S. House races topping the list.

It only happens every 12 years that state voters are faced with as few top-ticket choices as they'll have next year, when neither a U.S. Senate seat nor Colorado's executive offices  governor, attorney general, secretary of state and state treasurer  are up for election.

The state's 10 electoral votes will be on the ballot in the race for the White House, but barring the wildly unforeseen, they won't be up for grabs. Colorado has voted for the Democratic nominee in each of the last four presidential elections  including handing President Joe Biden a 13-point win over former President Donald Trump in 2020. There's no sign that might change next year.

Other than the presidential race, Colorado voters will only find a single statewide competition on their ballots next November, for the open University of Colorado Board of Regent's at-large seat.

The part-time, unpaid position rarely attracts the kind of attention it might next year when there won't be many other races vying for the spotlight  political news abhors a vacuum  but so far it isn't shaping up to be a barnburner.

In its current configuration, the nine-member CU board elects one regent from each of the state's eight congressional districts and a single regent at-large to six-year terms.

The race could hold at least symbolic importance for Colorado's beleaguered Republicans, since an at-large regent seat is the last statewide office won by a Republican nominee and the last statewide office held by the party.

Douglas County entrepreneur Heidi Ganahl, who lost last year's race for governor to Democrat Jared Polis, was the only Colorado Republican to come out on top on the statewide ballot in 2016 when she won the at-large regent's race. She held the office until after last year's election, when the at-large seat she occupied disappeared, a casualty of redistricting after Colorado gained an additional U.S. House seat and the number of at-large seats dropped from two to one.

Until a couple of weeks ago, Democrat Elliott Hood, a Boulder attorney who specializes in education law, was the only declared candidate for the remaining at-large seat. The seat is currently held by Democrat Lesley Smith, who is running for a state House seat rather than seek a second term.

A Republican named Dennis Smith, who lists a Denver address, filed paperwork to run for the seat in late August, but neither the state GOP nor other Republican regents were aware of his candidacy this week, so it remains to be seen whether he'll give Hood a run for his money.

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Leading Republicans have recently told Colorado Politics that they're working to recruit a regent candidate, so it's possible Smith could face a primary. While Hood has raised big bucks for the regent's race, it isn't too late for another Democrat to get in.

There's no doubt, however, that Colorado's two battleground congressional districts will take up any slack if the state's presidential and at-large regent's races turn out to be snoozers.

Ranked among the closest congressional races in the country last year, Colorado's 3rd and 8th districts  the former represented by Silt Republican Lauren Boebert and the latter represented by Thornton Democrat Yadira Caraveo  promise to be home to some of next year's most expensive and hard-fought U.S. House races. Both are considered key to determining which party controls the chamber after the election.

The two seats are considered toss-ups by national election forecasters and House Democrats' and Republicans' congressional campaign arms, and both look like they'll feature high-profile primaries.

In the 3rd CD, which spans most of the Western Slope and parts of Southern Colorado, Boebert, the state's most prominent Republican, is seeking a third term after winning her second by a mere 546 votes  the closest scrape nationwide in a House district  over Democrat Adam Frisch, the wealthy former Aspen city councilor who announced in February that he's seeking a rematch.

Boebert's and Frisch's fundraising has so far lapped the state's other congressional incumbents' and challengers'  Frisch has raised nearly $4.4 million and had almost $2.5 million on hand at the end of the last reporting period, while Boebert brought in a little over $1.5 million and had almost that much on hand  both are facing primaries so won't be able to bank everything for the home stretch next summer and fall.

Neither are strangers to primaries. Boebert first won the seat in 2020 after ousting five-term incumbent Scott Tipton in the GOP primary, and last year she prevailed by roughly two-to-one over then-state Sen. Don Coram, a moderate Republican from Montrose. Frisch won the 2022 nomination by the skin of his teeth in a three-way primary, defeating Pueblo community organizer Sol Sandoval by just 289 votes.

Frisch, who calls himself a conservative alternative to Boebert, drew a primary challenge a month ago from Grand Junction Mayor Anna Stout. She told Colorado Politics that she doesn't expect to match her rival's jaw-dropping fundraising, but instead plans to contrast her roots in the community and record in the district's second-largest city, behind Pueblo.

Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd jumped in the GOP primary in mid-August, backed by some of the old-fashioned Republicans who ruled Colorado a generation ago, including his campaign co-chairs, former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown and former state House Majority Leader Tim Foster, a former president of Colorado Mesa University.

Although the 3rd CD leans Republican, with GOP candidates historically running an average of 9 points ahead of Democrats among its voters in benchmark races, the Cook Political Report this summer moved the district to toss-up territory, citing Boebert's continued combative approach to politics, her close call in the last go-around and Frisch's massive fundraising lead.

Colorado's other sure-fire competitive congressional seat is also its newest, gained last year during redistricting due to the state's growing population. Covering parts of Adams, Weld and Larimer counties north of the Denver metro area, the 8th CD is nearly evenly divided between Democratic and Republican voters and has a history of going its own way, having favored Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.

Democrat Caraveo, a former state lawmaker, narrowly won her first term last year by a slim 1,632-vote margin over state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican.

It's nearly certain that Caraveo won't face a primary next year, but it's a different story on the Republican side.

The day after Kirkmeyer announced in mid-July that she wasn't going to run again in the district, Weld County Commissioner Scott James, a veteran radio host and then-chairman of the Weld County GOP, threw his hat in the ring, but he isn't expected to have the field to himself for long.

State Rep. Gabe Evans, a first-term Republican from Fort Lupton, is widely expected to launch his candidacy right after Labor Day.

Republicans tell Colorado Politics there's a good chance the former police officer and Army combat veteran will soon be joined in the primary by Steve Moreno, a former two-term Weld County commissioner and three-term county clerk and recorder, making for an competitive there-way race for the nomination.

Ernest Luning has covered politics for Colorado Politics and its predecessor publication, The Colorado Statesman, since 2009. He's analyzed the exploits, foibles and history of state campaigns and politicians since 2018 in the weekly Trail Mix column.
A preliminary hearing for the 19-year-old accused of planning a mass shooting at schools in Colorado Springs appeared in court virtually Friday afternoon, where attorneys requested the preliminary hearing be waived.

An attorney representing Lily Whitworth, previously referred to as William Whitworth, appeared in Elbert County Court in Kiowa and stated that she was requesting a hearing waiver for her client in hopes of continuing negotiations with the prosecution.

Whitworth is being held at the Elbert County jail, where Whitworth reportedly indicated to an employee in April a continued plan to commit a mass shooting at a school in Academy District 20, where Whitworth was a student at three schools for a total of nine months between 2014 and 2016.

At a hearing April 13, a judge raised Whitworth's bond to $750,000 from $75,000. The mandatory protection order conditions were also modified to include GPS monitoring and no contact with any public or private school property or institution in Colorado.

Whitworth, who is transitioning to female, was arrested March 31 and accused of planning a mass shooting when investigators found instructions on how to build homemade bombs and a whiteboard with the floor plan for Timberview Middle School in Whitworth's bedroom, according to arrest records obtained by The Gazette.

The affidavit states that Prairie Hills Elementary and Pine Creek High, both in Colorado Springs, also were listed as targets in one of Whitworths notebooks, which contained a detailed list of people to be killed. Investigators did not find any weapons in the home, but found a liquid that is used to clean firearms.

Deputies also found a manifesto with the names of mass shooters, political commentators and more while searching Whitworths home, according to the affidavit. A notebook was found with instructions on how to make firearms using a 3D printer and how to make homemade explosives. Whitworth admitted to watching a YouTube video on how to build a detonator, according to the affidavit.

Law enforcement originally responded to the home after Whitworth's sister reported Whitworth behaving violently and referring to school shootings.

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Deputies found Whitworth lying in bed, drunk, in a room piled with trash that had several holes in the wall, according to the affidavit.

When authorities asked why Whitworth wanted to shoot up a school, Whitworth said: No specific reason. Whitworth also admitted to being about a third of the way from doing it (committing a mass shooting), the affidavit states.

The prosecution did not object to the hearing waiver and agreed that negotiations with the defense are continuing.

Whitworth faces several charges of attempted first-degree murder after deliberation, attempted first-degree murder with extreme indifference, criminal mischief, menacing and interference with staff, faculty or students of educational institutions.

Whitworth will appear next in court on Nov. 6 for arraignment, but the prosecution noted that they may request an earlier hearing if an agreement is reached.

Whitworth appeared to court virtually from the Elbert County jail wearing an orange jumpsuit.
Bolan celebrated its Fall Event on Aug. 26, and in addition to the Linda Kenison Lindsay Memorial Bicycle race, church bazaar and pie and ice cream feed, visitors got a little education.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Barton #2 Schoolhouse on Main Street. Former students lined the front steps for a photo, and inside Lori Willert gave a presentation on the history of the schoolhouse.

"We've tried to have as many items as possible. Maps, clippings from past newspapers. Today, we announced the surprise that a teacher's desk had been acquired. It's original to the school," said Willert.

Among the most notable of artifacts is a stage curtain adorned with advertisements from local businesses of the time. Such curtains were most often used in opera houses. There, as patrons awaited a performance they could peruse offerings from entrepreneurs of all stripes. Bolan didn't have an opera house, however, and it is believed the curtain was sponsored by locals specifically for the school.

The Barton #2 Schoolhouse opened on the corner of 420th Street and Thrush Avenue in Worth County in 1923. It has survived by adapting during the intervening years, first becoming the Bolan Store and eventually assuming its current identity as the Bolan Schoolhouse and Cultural Center.

Barton Township was created in 1877, and by 1913 had nine country schools. The Barton #2 was located in section 19 on the southwest side. The building is believed to be the largest school in Barton Township with it's 40' by 40' classroom and accordion-style divider.

Doris (Bartz) Ralph lived just one mile east of the schoolhouse and says the schoolhouse sat on level ground with no hills to climb in any direction.

That's not to say every trip to and from school was easy. While Ralph and her older brother, Olan Bartz, usually rode a bicycle to school, in winter weather he'd pull her on the sled to the schoolhouse.

"It wasn't too far to go, and I remember we had an indoor toilet (at the schoolhouse)," said Ralph. "There was a cloakroom for boys and one for girls. I started in first grade, and Mrs. Bernice Huus was my teacher until I left in 1952. She was the only one I had. We never did split that big room in two the whole time I was there."

Over the years Barton #2 sometimes had one teacher for the whole group, and at other times duties were divided between two teachers, one for grades one through four, and one for grades five through eight. In spring of 1952, there was a bit of excitement when Mary Johnson and her students sat in with Barton #2 students after Barton #1 was struck by lightning and burned. The sharing of the building was brief, but friendships were forged that would last a lifetime.

In 1982, Phyllis (White) Young held a Barton #2 School reunion to honor Huus as the longest-serving teacher at the school, with an eight-year tenure. Young had been the caretaker of many of the artifacts from the schoolhouse since her father, Art White, had purchased the building in 1957 when it came up for sale after its closed. He moved the building to Bolan's Main Street and operated the Bolan Store until his death in 1964.

Ruth White transitioned the store into an antiques market until 1977, when she moved the business into her mother-in-law's recently remodeled home. The schoolhouse building transformed into a farm implement and feed store managed by Norm Johnson.

By 2002, Scott and Lori Willert bought the building and operated it as a seasonal craft and gift shop until 2007. In 2009, they donated the schoolhouse to the Bolan Schoolhouse and Cultural Center.

"I feel it's so nice that Lori Willert is keeping it up. Of course, it's different than I remember," said Ralph. "But I'm glad it's there for all of us to enjoy."

Bolan has an official population of 33 people. It's main street is a classic example of small town Iowa, with a wooden train depot playground in addition to the Schoolhouse and Cultural Center evoking memories of what rural life used to be like.
On Wednesday evening at the North Iowa Youth Center, area residents met to discuss the future of the Historic St. John Baptist Church, located at 715 Sixth St SW in Mason City.

Founded in 1919, parishioners worshipped in the basement of the property until Grant School, located where the empty Shopko building now sits, closed. When the school was deconstructed, churchgoers purchased building materials and hauled them over to the grounds to build the structure that stands today.

On Sept. 19, 1937, Reverend J.M. Eaves placed the cornerstone on the church. On that same day, another stone of significance was laid, as well. Near to the churchs cornerstone was placed a stone from the Hodgenville, Kentucky boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln, known to many as the Great Emancipator.

St. John Baptist Church has an expressive and expansive history in Mason City and especially the Grant neighborhood. Deacon Regan Banks is a former parishioner and champion of St. John.

We, as a community, need to decide what the future of this historic church is going to be. We only have a few years left for it to be structurally salvageable, so its time, he said.

Joining in the inaugural meeting were Historic Preservation Committee members, Mason City historians, property developers and concerned and interested citizens.

Property developers Tim Latham and Russ Hardy plan to walk through the building with carpenter Ron Yaggy. The trio will determine what portions of the structure need immediate attention as the group makes decisions regarding the retainer of a structural engineer and historical assessment prior to any repairs.

The next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 16 at the North Iowa Youth Center, 138 Fifth St SW, Mason City.
Iowa students proficiencies in math, reading and science did not change significantly in 2023 compared to last year, according to the most recent Iowa Department of Education report.

The department published results Tuesday from the 2023 Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP), an annual test for students grades 3-11. Most grades saw relatively small or no improvements in the English language arts assessment scores other than a 4% increase in sixth grade results. But mathematics scores, which had declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, increased by several percentage points for each grade.

For most grade levels, math proficiency rates have at least returned to roughly their 2019-2020 levels, with only grade 9 scores falling from 69% to 61% between the 2019 and 2023 tests.

Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow attributed the results and lack of learning loss to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds decision to reopen schools for in-person classes earlier than many other states during the pandemic.

Iowa prioritized keeping schools open and students in the classroom throughout the pandemic, and our students experienced minimal COVID-related learning loss compared to the nation. At the same time, statewide assessment results show that overall student proficiency is not significantly different from last year and concerning achievement gaps persist  Snow said in a statement. Together with educators and families, we will work to better serve students most in need of support and to accelerate learning so all students can succeed.

The achievement gaps are found when comparing the overall students scores with those of students who are learning English, have a disability or are eligible for free and reduced lunches, according to the department.

Students learning English score 37 to 51 percentage points lower on the statewide math tests than the overall student population. Those with disabilities scored between 33 to 50 percentage points lower in math, and students eligible for free and reduced lunches had scores 14 to 17 percentage points below the overall student population.

Snow said the department plans to use the data gathered from the assessments to help improve students learning, especially those in communities with large achievement gaps.

Though the assessments showed some areas for concern, the state Board of Education said Iowa is on a better track to educational recovery following the pandemic than many other states. The board met in June to discuss results from the Iowa assessment and National Assessment of Educational Progress. Jay Pennington, chief of the departments bureau of information and analysis services, said at the time that test results indicate that on average, students are performing similarly to what might have been expected had the pandemic not occurred.

Iowa fared fairly well , Pennington said. Iowa is one of six states that only saw significant decline in one area, we saw significant decline in eighth-grade math. All the other states had significant declines in two or more content areas.

But educators and advocates say the only way to improve test scores and close achievement gaps is by providing better funding for Iowas school system. In this years legislative session, lawmakers approved a 3% increase in per pupil funding for the 2024 fiscal year  resulting in $107 million more for K-12 public schools than the previous year. Democrats and education lobbyists called for a larger raise, arguing that the Republican-led Legislature had underfunded public education for years, but their proposals were shot down.

During session, Reynolds also signed into law her private school scholarship program. The program diverts $7,635 in per-pupil funding from the childs public school district to an education savings account (ESA). The funds can be used to pay for private school tuition and associated costs. More than 18,000 students had been approved to use the accounts for the 2023-2024 school year as of Aug. 8.

Reynolds and ESA supporters have said the laws provision giving public school districts $1,205 in funding for each private school student in their district will offset the lost per-pupil funding. Critics, however, have said the funding change will hurt public schools and their students.

Iowa State Education Association President Mike Beranek said in a statement that the most recent assessment results show the strength and resiliency of public school employees and students amid state government actions like the ESA program creation and the law to remove inappropriate materials from school libraries.

There will be achievement gaps so long as we have staffing shortages, inadequate funding, and mean-spirited attacks on our public schools, Beranek said. If the governor is genuinely concerned about lower test scores, she should shut down the private school voucher program that is diverting critical dollars away from public schools.

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A Cass County nursing home with a history of recent violations is facing possible fines for failing to protect residents from sexual abuse.

The alleged perpetrator is a male resident of Caring Acres Nursing and Rehabilitation in Anita. The mans known history of groping workers and residents had earned him the nickname Captain McFeelypants among the staff at the facility, according to inspectors.

Caring Acres was inspected by the state recently and cited for 12 state and federal regulatory violations related to the abuse of residents, the failure to implement policies on abuse, the failure to report alleged violations to the state, the failure to investigate or correct alleged violations, the inadequate treatment of pressure sores, insufficient or incompetent behavioral-needs staff, and several other issues.

According to state inspectors, the facility failed to protect at least two of its 32 residents from sexual abuse.

According to DIAL, facility records show that on Jan. 25, the homes director of nursing entered a female residents room to tell her it was time for lunch and found a male resident of the home leaning over the womans bed, groping her breasts and kissing her intimately. The director of nursing told the man to leave and asked the female resident whether she was OK and whether the encounter was consensual. The resident nodded in the affirmative, although its not clear from inspectors reports which question the woman was answering.

The director of nursing went to the male residents room and, according to the inspectors, educated him on the importance of consent and the fact that some people are not be able to make proper decisions for themselves.

Later, in talking to inspectors, the director of nursing acknowledged that neither resident was capable of providing informed consent for sexual activity. She also told inspectors that when she informed the administrator, he indicated there was no need to tell the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing (DIAL) of the incident.

A nurse aide told inspectors the male residents nickname among the workers was Captain McFeelypants because he was at times inappropriate with the staff. She told inspectors the man would also sit on the couch and grope female residents but he never would go past first base.

On Jan. 30, the staff reported that the man was found trying to get the resident from Room 206 to let him go up under her shirt.

On April 9, the man was found touching a female residents thigh, rubbing her shoulders and kissing her.

On April 16, he was seen sitting on a couch in the lounge, trying to get his hands up underneath another residents shirt, inspectors reported.

I told him, Get off, get off.

On the evening of July 17, a nurse aide walked into a female residents room. As she later stated in her written report, when she opened the door, she saw an undressed male resident of the home in the womans bed, on top of the woman. The man was in mid-thrust when both residents turned to look at me, the aide wrote in her report. The aide separated the two and summoned a nurse to the room.

The nurse did an assessment of the female resident, and facility records indicate that when asked what happened the woman reported the man had come into her room and said he wanted to do sex. She reported that she told the man, Get outta here, at which point he took off his clothes, took off some of her clothes, and lay on top of her.

I told him, Get off, get off, the woman reported.

The woman  who had Alzheimers disease, schizophrenia and severely impaired cognitive skills  was checked for vaginal bleeding and reportedly told the staff she didnt mind the encounter. The police were notified, as was DIAL.

During DIALs investigation of the matter, another resident of the home told inspectors she had seen the male resident touch a female residents breasts and genitals and had once seen him take his penis out of his slacks.

As a result of the recent inspection, the state has proposed a fine of $28,500. That fine is being held in suspension while the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decides whether to impose a federal penalty in place of the state fine.

CMS reports that in the past three years, it has fined the facility three times  most recently in March 2021 when a fine of $129,116 was imposed. Caring Acres currently has a one-star rating from CMS for both staffing levels and overall quality.

In January of this year, state inspectors cited Caring Acres for 16 state and federal regulatory violations  an unusually high number. The state proposed a $7,500 fine. Because the facility didnt appeal that penalty, the fine was automatically reduced 35% to $4,875.

Caring Age is owned by Anew Healthcare Operations of Blue Springs, Mo. The for-profit company operates 12 nursing homes in Iowa, Kansas and Missouri and is headed by Mark Hastings of Missouri. No one at the company responded to messages seeking comment Monday.

Earlier this year, Hastings applauded the Iowa Legislatures decision to provide $15 million in additional funding for owners of nursing homes, posting that it was heartening to see Iowas state lawmakers take action to address the financial burdens facing nursing homes  Overall, Iowas state lawmakers should be commended for their efforts to support nursing homes and protect access to long-term care for Iowans.

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Preliminary results from annual state accountability tests show that Virginia students academic achievement has remained largely stagnant since the previous school year.

The Virginia Department of Education has delayed releasing the test scores, despite its original tentative plans to release the scores on Aug. 17. This will be the first time in at least 19 years that the state education department publishes the results after August.

The Standards of Learning assessments are given in the spring of each school year to measure student achievement for various subjects in grades 3 through 8. The Richmond Public Schools division published the preliminary data online on Wednesday in an agenda for an upcoming School Board meeting, but the school system deleted it shortly after it was posted.

Last years test scores, compared to the 2021 results, saw major improvements, but this years test scores show relatively little change.

Across all grade levels statewide, there is no change in overall reading and writing scores, a slight dip in history scores, and meager improvement in science and math compared with last years results. Student groups that lost the most ground during the COVID-19 pandemic remain behind pre-pandemic pass levels.

Across all grade levels, 73% of Virginia students passed the reading exam, the same rate as last year, according to the preliminary data. Writing results also remained stagnant from 2022 to 2023, with 65% of students statewide passing both years.

Mathematics and science saw slight increases: 3 percentage points and 2 percentage points, respectively, with this years mathematics pass rate at 69% and the science pass rate at 67%.

History and social sciences scores fell by 1 percentage point to a 65% pass rate this year.

After promising growth in SOL results last year, the new SOL results reflect a stalling out, and cannot be an acceptable status quo given how far behind we are from pre-pandemic pass rates, said James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association.

Too many student groups who faced significant additional barriers to learning during the pandemic, particularly Black, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, special education, and English learner students, are still far behind pre-pandemic average pass rates on SOL tests. It doesnt have to be this way. We need leaders brave enough to make the bold investments necessary to resource our classrooms and move Virginia out of the bottom tier of state K-12 spending.

The VEA criticized the administration for delaying release of the test results.

According to the preliminary results, white students, on average, continued to see the most improvement and are now closest to recovering to pre-pandemic averages. English learners are the furthest away from their pre-pandemic pass rates in three out of the five major test categories.

State Superintendent Lisa Coons said in a newsletter on Aug. 17 that release of the test scores would be postponed because retake data and appeals are still being processed. Those factors are typically already factored into the release timeline.

A spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Education, who would not identify themselves, said via email:

VDOE releases the scores after all school divisions review their respective data to ensure that it is accurate and are given an opportunity to appeal. VDOE has given school divisions until [close of business Friday] to submit any requests for modification, and the Department has received requests for modification as recently as today. Once the appeals process has been completed, the Department will make the data publicly available.

A May 10 email from Coons to division superintendents shows that the deadline was in July. The original tentative plan was to publish SOL results Aug. 17.

The unidentified VDOE spokesperson did not respond to requests for clarification.
GREENSBORO  A Statesville man was arrested Wednesday in the Aug. 24 homicide of a woman in the Adams Farm community of Greensboro, Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers said.

Maliq Anthony Marshall-Hardy, 28, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 70-year-old Gwendolyn Davis Flood. He also is charged with attempted first-degree murder in the attack on her 28-year-old niece, Jessica Faith Perry, who was hospitalized for her injuries, sheriffs officials said.

Marshall-Hardy is being held without bond and faces multiple other charges, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

On Aug. 24, deputies responded at approximately 10:15 a.m. to 5600 Wellsley Drive West, which is where Marshall-Hardy had entered Floods home and was confronted by her. While stealing Floods vehicle, he ran over Flood  twice  causing fatal injuries to her, Rogers said.

Rogers said that during the altercation, Marshall-Hardy repeatedly stabbed Perry, who remains in stable condition.

Shes a fighter, Rogers said of Perry.

Floods vehicle was later discovered in Iredell County, Rogers said. There is no reason to believe that the man knew either of the women, he said.

Flood was a bus driver for Guilford County Schools until she retired Oct. 31, 2018. She was hired as a bus driver on Aug. 27, 1999, according to information provided by the school district.

Rogers said during a news conference Wednesday night that there will be a vigil to honor Flood that is open to the public at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Ragsdale High School.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to Floods niece and other family and friends, Rogers said in a statement. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Please accept our deepest sympathies.

Rogers thanked the State Bureau of Investigation Criminal Apprehension Team, the Greensboro and Statesville police departments, and the Iredell County Sheriffs Office for their assistance.

Rogers encourages residents to be vigilant if they see anything suspicious.

If you see something out of place, call us, Rogers said.

Sheriffs officials are asking anyone with information to call Detective D. Duncan at 336-641-5968 or Guilford County Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000.
NEW YORK  The federal government will, for the first time, dictate staffing levels at nursing homes, the Biden administration said Friday, responding to systemic problems bared by mass COVID-19 deaths.

While allies of older adults and those with disabilities sought such regulation for decades, the proposed threshold is far lower than many advocates hoped.

It also immediately drew ire from the nursing home industry, which said it amounted to a mandate that couldn't be met.

With criticism expected, the details of a promise  made with fanfare in President Joe Biden's 2022 State of the Union speech  were revealed ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend as many Americans turned away from the news.

"We are working to make sure no nursing home can sacrifice the safety of their residents just to add some dollars to their bottom line," the president said in a USA Today opinion piece.

The American Health Care Association, which lobbies for care facilities, called the proposal "unfathomable," saying it will worsen problems and cost homes billions of dollars.

"We hope to convince the administration to never finalize this rule as it is unfounded, unfunded, and unrealistic," said AHCA President Mark Parkinson, the former Democratic governor of Kansas.

The proposed rules, which now enter a public comment period and would take years to fully take effect, call for staffing equivalent to 3 hours per resident per day, just over half an hour of it coming from registered nurses. The rules also call for facilities to have an RN on staff 24 hours a day, every day.

The average U.S. nursing home already has overall caregiver staffing of about 3.6 hours per resident per day, according to government reports, including RN staffing just above the half-hour mark.

Still, the government insists a majority of the country's roughly 15,000 nursing homes, which house about 1.2 million people, would have to add staff under the proposed rules.

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, called the move "an important first step." CMS oversees nursing homes.

A senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, said the Biden administration was open to revisiting the staffing threshold once implemented.

"I would caution anyone who thinks that the status quo  in which there is no federal floor for nursing home staffing  is preferable to the standards we're proposing," said Stacy Sanders, an aide to Health Secretary Xavier Becerra. "This standard would raise staffing levels for more than 75% of nursing homes, bringing more nurse aides to the bedside and ensuring every nursing home has a registered nurse on site 24/7."

The new thresholds are drastically lower than those that had long been eyed by advocates after a landmark 2001 CMS-funded study recommended an average of 4.1 hours of nursing care per resident daily. Most U.S. facilities dont meet that threshold.

Many advocates said even that would be insufficient, not taking into account quality of life and simply determining the point at which residents could suffer potential harm.

After the Democratic president elevated the issue in his State of the Union speech, advocates were initially elated, expecting the most significant change for residents since the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987. That changed after a copy of a new CMS-funded study on the subject was inadvertently posted this week, claiming there is "no obvious plateau at which quality and safety are maximized."

Advocates said they felt betrayed by administration officials. As word of the proposal became public early Friday, some were even more blistering.

Richard Mollot, who leads the Long Term Care Community Coalition, called it "completely inadequate" and a blown chance of "a once-in-a-generation opportunity" that "flouts any evidence" of what residents need and fails to make good on the heart of Biden's promise. He begrudgingly acknowledged the 24/7 RN rule could bring small improvements to the worst facilities.

Still, calling the move "heartbreaking" and "nauseating," he said it would do more harm than good, putting a government imprimatur on poorly staffed homes and imperiling wrongful-death lawsuits.

"It is a tremendous dereliction of duty," he said. "We are continuing to allow nursing homes to warehouse people and to rip the public off."

Current law requires only that homes have "sufficient" staffing, but it leaves nearly all interpretation to states. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have their own staffing regulations. Some are so low that advocates say they're meaningless and, across the board, enforcement is often toothless.

The problem has long been apparent to front-line nurse aides  the low-paid, overwhelmingly female and disproportionately minority backbone of facility staffs  and to residents themselves, whose call bells go unanswered, whose showers become less frequent and who lie hungry, awaiting help with meals.

The coronavirus pandemic, which claimed more than 167,000 U.S. nursing home residents, brought the greatest attention to poor staffing in history.

In its wake, staffing grew even thinner. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows nursing homes have 218,200 fewer employees than in February 2020, when the first U.S. outbreak of the coronavirus arrived at a nursing home outside Seattle.

AHCA waged a relentless campaign claiming facilities were teetering, with Medicaid subsidies insufficient, widespread hiring issues and rampant home closures. Still, the profitability of homes has repeatedly been exposed and critics argued if they just paid better, more workers would come.

Jobs projected to grow the most in nursingand how that compares to other health care roles Jobs projected to grow the most in nursingand how that compares to other health care roles #5. Registered nurses #4. Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses #3. Nurse midwives #2. Nurse anesthetists #1. Nurse practitioners
What is it about our national motto, In God We Trust, that makes Democrats recoil as if theyd been poked with a red-hot branding iron?

A couple of weeks ago, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted down a proposal to inscribe our national motto on 10 government buildings. It would have cost about $40,000, which, compared to most government programs, is pocket change.

The initiative, presented by Commissioner James Upchurch, was defeated 6-2 on a party-line vote. All six nay votes came from Democrats; the two in favor, from Republicans Upchurch and Pat Tillman.

Although a few of the naysayers complained about the cost of the program, thats not a very persuasive argument. In fact, Upchurch offered to cover the cost himself. So, what accounts for the unanimous opposition of the boards progressives  and their fellow travelers on the left who penned letters in these pages?

Board Chairman Melvin Skip Alston claims to have been a supporter of the idea, until Upchurch told another local publication (the allegedly conservative one) that the national motto would remind us of the need to restore traditional values.

That was the last straw for Alston, who said he didnt want the program to become political. I told Commissioner Upchurch, Alston said, that I did not want to get caught up in right-wing ideology.

Wait a minute. Is belief in a higher power strictly the domain of conservatives? (We are talking about our national motto not some right-wing talking point.) Are traditional values also strictly the domain of the political right? To what traditional values does the chairman object? And, if any of Alstons Democratic colleagues disagree with him, shouldnt they stand up and say so?

Commissioner Kay Cashion voted against Upchurchs proposal because it isnt inclusive enough. We have to respect that the public is represented in many ways, she opined  meaning, presumably, that some citizens do not embrace Christianity. We dont want to offend anyone, of course. Perhaps we should simply disavow the nations creed, in order to be more inclusive.

There was a time, early in our history, when we celebrated what we had in common. Read, for example, The Federalist No. 2, written by John Jay, or look up Washingtons unapologetically assimilationist remarks on immigration. Conversely, in the modern era, we dwell on diversity and magnify that which divides us. We no longer expect anyone to conform to the dominant culture, or to Americanize. Bent on self-destruction, we have abandoned the nations unofficial motto: e pluribus unum, or out of many, one.

Letters to the editor in these pages echo Cashions sensitivity concerns. One writer argues that inscriptions about one god are simply divisive and wouldnt represent all of us. Another reminds us that the countys population includes people who hold varied religious beliefs or no religious beliefs whatsoever, and who are protected by the separation of church and state in our Constitution.

Thats debatable. The text of the Constitution says nothing about a separation of church and state. In fact, when the First Amendment was ratified in 1791, and for many years afterward, several states had established religions. Thomas Jeffersons private letter about a wall of separation has created much confusion about this.

Far more relevant are the views of the primary author of the First Amendment, a gentleman by the name of Fisher Ames. He was a devout Christian who believed the Bible should be the foundation of our republic, and that it should be studied in all public schools.

While serving as a congressman, Ames argued to his colleagues: Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a schoolbook? Its morals are pure, its examples are captivating and noble.

Ames would have scornfully dismissed the notion of a wall of separation between church and state.

Local Democrats have distanced themselves from our national motto and traditional values alike. Fisher Ames must be rolling in his grave.
A 35-year-old Helena man is facing federal firearms charges following an investigation and arrest by Helena Police Department, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Authorities state in the charges filed Aug. 3 in U.S. District Court in Helena that Justin Arthur Berger knowingly possessed a machine gun, a short-barreled rifle and silencers that were not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

If convicted of the most serious crime, Berger faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton confirmed Berger was a county detention center officer for about three years before resigning about two years ago.

"Berger was detained pending further proceedings," the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Montana, states in the Friday news release.

A jury trial in the case is set for Oct. 31 at 9 a.m. in the Missouri River Federal Courthouse in Great Falls.
URBANA  Eastern Illinois Foodbank is joining Feeding America and other network member food banks as part of Hunger Action Month this September.

The goal is to inspire people to take action and raise awareness of more than 100,000 neighbors in eastern Illinois facing hunger.

Donations made to EIF through Sept. 30, along with support from Champaign Asphalt Co., will provide twice as many meals to the communities EIF serves across 18 counties, including McLean, Livingston, Woodford, DeWitt, Ford Moultrie, Piatt and Coles counties.

Champaign Asphalt Co. has pledged to match donations during September up to $20,000, with a goal of raising $40,000 in honor of the food bank's 40th year of alleviating hunger.

Communities will also be wearing orange on Friday, Sept. 15, in honor of Hunger Action Day.

Visit eifoodbank.org for more information.
DECATUR  Two years into an apprenticeship with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, C.J. Williams has learned some important lessons to share with younger students.

Be ready, he told students in Ed Walton's building trades class at Eisenhower High School. Be dressed to work. Have your tools. Don't show up 'on time,' or 10 minutes early. Show up a half hour early. Don't show up with bad energy, slumping around, moving slow. The guys who get laid off first are the lazy ones.

Williams, 19, was one of Walton's students when he was in high school, and the trades are in sore need of young people to pursue a career as carpenters, plumbers and pipefitters, electricians, and heat and air technicians.

Apprentices must go through an application and interview process, but if accepted, they get paid while they learn, spending some of their time in classroom training and the rest working, as Williams is, and making good money doing it. After their apprenticeship, usually five years, they are certified journeymen.

Using the curriculum in his programs, Walton said, gives the students a head start to that goal when they graduate high school and apply for apprenticeships.

Williams said sometimes the apprentices are asked to do something like sweep up the floor on a job because the job site needs to be kept clean, and he's heard other apprentices complain about that, but he does not.

I'm making $23 an hour, no matter what, Williams told the students at Eisenhower. If you want me to sweep, I'll sweep all day.

For the program offered at Eisenhower and at MacArthur, led by Walton, students spend the first two weeks working exclusively on the curriculum approved by the national union's pre-apprenticeship program before heading out for hands-on experience on a job site, under the watchful eye of experienced professionals in the various fields. Students get exposure to all the trades, not just carpentry  Walton's specialty  so they can find the one that suits their talents and interests.

I wish you could do more than one trade, said Mark Uy, a senior, who spoke to Williams at length after his talk to the class. Uy's aunt is an electrician and he worked as an intern with the Decatur Public Schools' maintenance department over the summer. He's planning to pursue a career as an electrician, but he's interested in carpentry, too. He thoroughly enjoyed working for the district maintenance department and said it stoked his enthusiasm for a career in the trades. We switched out lights for LEDs, we did new carpet at Harris, we were working," he said.

The best part is, if you've got your friend with you and you ride by something, you can say 'I built that,' Williams said, while Uy chuckled and agreed.

Exposure to all the trades is important, said J.D. Miller, organizer/assistant business agent of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 146I. A large number of current trades professionals are approaching retirement age, or already there, and replacing them with young men and women is critical.

I think that's the beauty of Ed's program, Miller said. They're getting a variation of the hands-on experience in more than one trade. We can only give them what they choose, and if they choose us, they may think, 'It's not what I thought it was.' Touching on all of them is what Ed's been doing, and that's very important so they can have something in their head about all of them.

Anything that's going to teach the young people about getting into the trades and pursing a career will help. And it is a career, not just a job.

Most of the unions' contact with potential employees for pre-apprenticeships is through Workforce Investment Solutions, Miller said, though they are supportive of the high schools' programs. One of the appealing aspects of entering the trades is receiving an education without incurring debt  students earn money instead of spending it  and opportunities are there for the taking.

The next Workforce pre-apprenticeship class begins on Sept. 11, said Rocki Wilkerson, executive director, and applications are available online or at the Workforce office, 757 W. Pershing Road. Call 217-875-8751.

Right now, there's work everywhere, Miller said. It's kind of going crazy. We haven't seen work like this for quite a while. Everybody that we talk to and are affiliated with says they definitely need people.

19 photos of Decatur celebrating Labor Day 55 Chevy 1919 Labor Day parade A signed duty Carpenters Local 742 Dewitt Celebrates Firefighters march Fruits of labor Heavy equipment It's their day Labor Day parade Labor Day parade queen Made in America Mayor Rupp and Senator McCarthy Parade marshal Tug-of-war Union members march 1941 Labor Day parade Ladies Garment Workers The Decatur Labor Day parade
MATTOON  Police have arrested four juveniles after investigating a recent fight on a Mattoon school district bus.

The Mattoon Police Department reported in a press release that the four juveniles were processed for the offenses of aggravated battery and mob action. They were then transported to the Vermilion County Juvenile Detention Center.

School district officials reported in a press release that the fight occurred while this bus was transporting students at approximately 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

A bus paraprofessional quickly responded by moving to separate multiple students, the release said. The bus driver followed protocol by pulling over and immediately called for assistance.

Other school personnel and Mattoon police arrived on scene within minutes, the release said. A secondary bus was dispatched, and the officers assisted in the safe transfer of students to this vehicle to transport the remainder of them home.

All parents/guardians of students riding the bus were contacted by the transportation department, the release said. An ongoing criminal investigation is being conducted by the police department.

We are saddened by this incident. This is not a reflection of the school culture we are proud of at MCUSD2, said district Superintendent Tim Condron in the press release.

Condron also said, I am extremely proud of the two staff members on the bus for their quick action to maintain student safety. He also praised students who took steps to assist in protecting others.

We will continue to work with all students to help guide them in their decision making, the district said. School, parents and community can work together to make a positive impact on all our students.

The district reported that it appreciates the ongoing partnership with the Mattoon Police Department.

We would also like to recognize (Mattoon school district) staff and students for their assistance in the incident and investigation, the police department reported. It is not releasing any additional information at this time due to the case involving juveniles.
GARY, Ind.  A 5-year-old Chicago boy died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after he found a gun inside his relative's Gary home, police said.

A 32-year-old man told police he was given permission by the home's residents to visit and check on the boy and a 17-year-old Chicago girl while the adults were away.

The man told officers he arrived at the home early Wednesday after a night out and, believing he was alone, "he placed his handgun down and fell asleep," the Gary Police Department said in a statement.

He told the police he was "awakened by a loud noise and saw that the child was shot," the statement said. The man told police he believes the child had accidentally shot himself.

He drove the boy to a hospital, where he died from his injuries Wednesday morning.

Officers detained the man, who has not been charged as police continue investigating the shooting, Commander Samuel Roberts of Gary police said Thursday. He said investigators are reviewing evidence and asking the public to provide tips while they work to determine "if it was indeed an accident or something other than an accident."

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
DECATUR  Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, identifies herself first and foremost not as a Democrat or Republican, but as a trade unionist, she told Herald & Review earlier this year.

It makes some sense. After all, the first-term congresswoman spent 10 years working in the labor movement with the International Association of Firefighters and later the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Labor issues were also a cornerstone of her campaign and of her first eight months in office.

So, it came as little surprise that the trade unionist-turned-congresswoman was named grand marshal of the annual Decatur Labor Day Parade and Picnic that will be held Monday, Sept. 4.

Labor Day is such an important day for all of us to take a moment to thank those working people that do all that frontline work for us, whether it is providing food on our tables or stocking our shelves or tending to us when we're sick, Budzinski said in an interview earlier this week. And the fact that they would ask me to be the grand marshal is an incredible honor.

Amy Rueff, resource director for the Illinois AFL-CIO and treasurer of the Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly, said it seemed like an obvious fit to have Budzinski serve in the role, calling her one of the most labor-friendly congresswomen that we've had in a long time.

Rueff also highlighted Budzinski's role in in the passage of legislation raising the states minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2019. Budzinski, then a senior advisor to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, was the point person on the issue.

She knows what it's like to be a working person, Reuff said. She's not just a wealthy person that just jumped into the race because it was something fun to do. She really is doing it for the right reasons and she's doing it for the working men and women. That makes a huge difference for us.

Budzinski was elected last year, defeating Republican Regan Deering 56% to 44% to represent Illinois' 13th Congressional District, which narrowly stretches from East St. Louis to Champaign-Urbana, picking up Decatur and Springfield in between.

In her short time in Congress, Budzinski has earned praise for forging bipartisan relationships and focusing on issues important to the labor-heavy district such as workforce development. The first bill she filed, for example, addresses the job skills gap by providing $1,500 federal tax credits to small businesses that hire apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship workers.

Budzinski has also been effective at bringing home the bacon. According to an analysis conducted by Roll Call, Budzinski was the top Democrat in securing earmarks, which are funds directed by members of Congress towards specific projects.

I think that this district wants someone that is a workhorse not a show horse, that's going to have real, demonstrative results for the communities throughout central and southern Illinois, Budzinski said.

The labor movement and politics have always been intertwined. The theme of last year's parade was vote yes for workers rights, a nod to the constitutional amendment on the ballot last November giving workers a fundamental right to organize while preventing the enactment of right to work laws. It passed with more than half of those who voted in the election voting "yes" on the question.

The grand marshal of that parade was another politician: state Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield.

The theme of this year's parade is Empower Unions. Empower Workers.

Though the call to action is less direct this year absent an election, there should still be some political intrigue this year. Candidates seeking placement on the March primary ballot can start circulating petitions on Tuesday.

Not that the Decatur parade's grand marshal has anything to worry about.

Republican campaign officials privately concede that Budzinskis strong start, which followed a larger-than-expected 12-percentage point victory in the 2022 midterm election, has deterred would-be top-tier GOP candidates from challenging her in 2024.

So far, only two Republican candidates have filed paperwork to challenge Budzinski in 2024: Joshua Loyd, who lives nearly two hours south of the districts southern border in Carbondale; and Thomas Clatterbuck, a law student from Champaign. Loyd has just $1,586 cash on hand. Clatterbuck has yet to disclose his fundraising.

The National Republican Campaign Committee has also omitted Budzinski from its list of more than three-dozen Democratic incumbents it intends to target in 2024.

The parade kicks off at 10 a.m. in downtown Decatur with a picnic to immediately follow in Fairview Park. The latter event is free to union sponsors and $25 for everyone else.

The Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly plans to present $16,500 in grants from its charitable arm to various organizations and a $10,000 donation to the Richland Community College Foundation for veterans scholarships.

19 photos of Decatur celebrating Labor Day 55 Chevy 1919 Labor Day parade A signed duty Carpenters Local 742 Dewitt Celebrates Firefighters march Fruits of labor Heavy equipment It's their day Labor Day parade Labor Day parade queen Made in America Mayor Rupp and Senator McCarthy Parade marshal Tug-of-war Union members march 1941 Labor Day parade Ladies Garment Workers The Decatur Labor Day parade
1. "I always consider myself first and foremost to be a monk. A Buddhist monk. Dalai Lama comes after that."

1. "I always consider myself first and foremost to be a monk. A Buddhist monk. Dalai Lama comes after that."

The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his nonviolent struggle to win independence for Tibet. He has met with presidents, popes and dignitaries on every continent. Yet when asked to describe himself, he chooses arguably the humblest label, a monk.

Why? Hellstrom thinks it's because so much of what the Dalai Lama represents and how he lives his life is rooted in his daily practices of meditation, study and prayer  a spiritual routine shared by all Buddhist monks.

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The Dalai Lama travels extensively, but when he's home in Dharamsala, he keeps monk hours. He wakes up at 3 a.m., showers, and sits in prayer and meditation until 5 a.m., when he has a light breakfast and listens to the BBC World News. From 6 to 9 a.m., it's more prayer and meditation. When his workday is over, the Dalai Lama has tea at 5 p.m., followed by evening prayer and meditation and then bedtime at 7 p.m.

The Dalai Lama says that he relies on this monastic spiritual practice to keep his mind focused and to direct his actions.

"I myself am a Buddhist monk," he said at the Global Buddhist Congregation in 2011. "Every morning, as soon as I wake up, I remember Buddha and recite some of Buddha's teachings, sort of shaping my mind. Then the rest of my day I should spend according to those principles: being honest, truthful, compassionate, peaceful, nonviolent."

There's power in understanding that the warmth and compassion exuded by the Dalai Lama doesn't come naturally, but is a product of decades of daily mindful practice.

"Every day, he prepares himself mentally to be the kind of presence that everyone's expecting  100-percent present, focused and ready to be as compassionate and kind as he can be, no matter what happens," Hellstrom says.

Bonus quote: "I speak to you as just another human being; as a simple monk. If you find what I say useful, then I hope you will try to practice it."
By the time he was 8 years old, Chopin was fully writing his own compositions and performing for audiences in salons. By age 16, he had several original piano compositions of varying styles under belt, and his parents enrolled him in the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. After three years there, studying under Polish composer Josef Elsner, Chopin moved on again, thanks to his parents' recognition of his unique mastery and talent. In 1929, he made his debut in Vienna, and over the next few years, played for audiences throughout Poland, Austria and Germany. In 1832, he found a new home in Paris, France.

"The Chopin we know wouldn't have been if not for the superb upbringing of family, the high level of education he received from his insightful teachers, the influence of his friends and the general political and intellectual atmosphere in Poland before he left his home for Paris at the age of 19," Yoder says. "Franz Liszt said, 'the atmosphere in which Chopin saw the light of day and was brought up, like a secure and cozy nest, was filled with a sense of harmony, tranquility, and hard work; those examples of simplicity, piety and delicacy were always the most sweet and dear to him.'"

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In addition to Liszt, Chopin became close with other young composers, including Vincenzo Bellini and Felix Mendelssohn, but he soon discovered Parisian audiences weren't always prepared for his more delicate piano stylings since artists like Franz Schubert and Ludwig van Beethoven had reigned supreme prior to his debut. But soon, Chopin crossed paths with a wealthy banking family known as the Rothschilds, and new opportunities emerged as they introduced him to Paris' high society as a well-mannered and sensitive recitalist and teacher. It was during this point in his career that Chopin penned some of his most famous piano works including the "Ballade in G Minor," the "Fantaisie-Impromptu," "Nocturne of Op. 9" and "Nocturne of Op. 15," the "Scherzo in B-flat Minor, Op. 31" and the "Sonata in B-flat Minor, Op. 35."

" " This imposing monument to Frederic Chopin, designed in 1918 by sculptor Waclaw Szymanowski (1859-1930), stands in the upper part of Warsaw's Royal Baths Park. Jacek Kadaj/Getty Images

"Chopin's music was based on a classical tradition of composition and he always pledged his allegiance to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and others," Yoder says. "Often (as with his scherzos and sonatas), he adopted classical forms and poured into them a new spirit. His understanding of the fluidity of tempo in rubato, his sensitivity to the beauty of the sound in cantabile, his revolutionary approach to a technique based on naturalness and flexibility, and his aesthetics based on the honesty of sharing deep feelings characterizes his unique style and makes him a pioneer of new pianistic idiom."

A quick and general breakdown of Chopin's varying genres: He composed ballades (single-movement piano pieces), sonatas (solo pieces usually written in three or four movements), mazurkas (Polish folk pieces), waltzes (dance music in triple meter, often written in 3/4 time), nocturnes (composition inspired by the night), etudes (short compositions to demonstrate the skill of a player), scherzos (light, playful compositions), and many, many more styles.

"My favorite pieces by Chopin (and most likely his as well) are the mazurkas," Yoder says. "He wrote two concertos, four ballades, twenty-four etudes, but fifty-seven mazurkas. They were written by him throughout his life as a sort of diary. The mazurkas composed in Poland show direct influence of Polish folk music while the latest ones are more a recollection of it, but all of them result from his intimate connection with his source of his emotions  his family and friends as well as the country of his origin."
The unique characteristics of Greek fire, also known as sea fire, rendered it a formidable force in ancient warfare. It could not be extinguished by water, which only served to intensify the flames, causing anything it touched to catch fire. This made it particularly effective in naval warfare, where enemy ships were vulnerable to its relentless, burning grip.

Moreover, just the sight and sound of Greek fire could invoke terror among enemy forces, including the enemy fleet. The psychological repercussions of Greek fire were as significant as the physical damage it inflicted. The weapons devastating effects on enemy forces forced them to adapt their tactics and develop new ways to counteract its power.

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The ongoing battle for dominance in the face of Greek fires relentless power had a profound influence on the trajectory of ancient warfare, leaving a lasting legacy that continues to resonate in historical accounts as greek fire remained a formidable weapon.

Naval Warfare

Greek fire had a significant impact on naval battles, especially against Arab fleets, and revolutionized maritime warfare in the Byzantine Empire era. Initially used to protect Constantinople against Arab naval incursions, Greek fire was launched from tubes affixed to the prows of Greek ships, targeting enemy vessels. The tubular projectors added an air of mystery to the already enigmatic weapon.

In several pivotal naval battles, such as the Battle of Gallipoli in 1416, Greek fire proved itself as a formidable force on the high seas. The weapon was particularly effective during the First Arab Siege of Constantinople in 678 C.E. and the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople from 717-718 C.E., causing extensive damage to the Arab fleet and protecting the Byzantine Empire.

The profound impact Greek fire had on naval warfare is beyond measure. Its ability to devastate enemy fleets and thwart their advances changed the course of numerous conflicts, ensuring the survival of the Byzantine Empire and its capital city, Constantinople. The weapons potency and strategic advantage solidified its place in history as a game-changer in the realm of naval combat.

Siege Defense

Greek fire served not only as a powerful weapon in naval battles, but also as a practical means of safeguarding cities and fortresses from enemy assaults. It was utilized to incinerate siege towers and repel invaders, playing a major role in concluding the First Arab Siege of Constantinople in 678 C.E. The cheirosiphon, a hand siphon, was employed both offensively and defensively, with the intention of burning siege towers and protecting against adversaries.

The versatility of Greek fire in both naval and siege warfare made it an invaluable asset to the Byzantine Empire. Its ability to strike fear into the hearts of enemies and destroy their advances ultimately helped preserve the empire and the Western civilization it protected.
The author is a partner in the Maria Stein Animal Clinic, Maria Stein, Ohio.

My social media news feeds are about 20% updates from family and friends, 20% communication with other veterinarians about cases and practice, 40% a waste of time with someone trying to sell me something or convince me to accept their concept, and 20% words of encouragement or exposure to unknown facts or bits of history. From the last category came a post that I pondered for days.

An image was presented of a child that had collapsed from starvation in an East African country during the famines of the 1970s. Not far off, a vulture waited for the child to die. The photographer who took that image was acclaimed worldwide for his ability to capture the true state of human suffering. Back in the United States, the photographer was on a talk show where a caller asked what happened to the child. His reply was, I dont know. I had a plane to catch. The caller then remarked that there were two vultures at that location, and one of them had a camera.

How often do we have a plane to catch, so to speak, that we miss the opportunity to help those in our care?

Make it easy

Lameness has the potential to be that suffering we pass over in dairy cattle because it doesnt seem urgent and, on many farms, fixing it is inconvenient. If we make fixing lameness convenient, we are more likely to seize the opportunity to help a cow have less pain, be more productive, and have a longer life. Karl Burgi of Save Cows Network breaks down maintaining healthy hooves into three themes:

Find lameness early. Treat problems with consistency. Take steps to create a hoof friendly environment.

Locomotion scoring is a useful tool for getting a true picture of the lameness level on your farm, but I see few farms do this routinely. Certainly the cows that score 3 and 4 need immediate attention, but if those cows are still getting to the parlor, they may not be identified as needing help. Perhaps the herdsmans schedule is too full to have them watch a shift return from the parlor each week. I suggest we empower cow pushers to record the number of cows that need corrective action.

I write LM on the backs of cows that I observe with locomotion issues during herd check. The cows can then be sorted for a herdsman or hoof technician to work on their feet. The last cows into the parlor would be good candidates to watch for lameness, and your fetch list for a robotic milking system is a good place to start. The more lameness in the herd, the more cows there are to fetch.

Most farms have a regular schedule of hoof trimmer visits. The acutely lame cows really shouldnt wait for the trimmer if we can have someone available on a daily basis to give them the attention they need. For years, I was that person. Every farm should have facilities and training to address the acutely lame cows. The cow might just need a wrap on a hairy wart or an abscess pared out. Make sure those wraps come off in 24 hours, though.

Steps to cut lameness

Maintenance trims are part of prevention as they catch problems before they become chronic and correct hoof angles so that the heels are not down in the manure and the toes are balanced. Maintenance trims around 120 days in milk and at dry-off is adequate in most herds. Some herds have observed that when they trim three times a year, they have almost no clinical lameness.

The ability of the trimmer is important as someone who is untrained can do more harm than good. Most of the trimmers in our area have been through excellent training, so I am not called on as much to fill the lameness need.

Recording lesions can help identify causes and preventions. Creating a hoof friendly environment is also important. Cows with manure coated hooves have more lameness issues. Most alley scraper barns, some three row barns that are only scraped twice a day, and some flush systems are challenged by this.

Also, how much time do we force cows to be on their feet? We see more lameness when cows are out of their pen more than three hours per day in mattress barns or four hours in sand barns. Excessive lockup times can challenge foot health. Wearable technologies can reduce the time spent making more sick cows while we are looking for sick cows in the fresh cow pen.

Are the stalls designed with comfort in mind? Stalls are expensive, but so are cows, and standing cows have a greater risk for trauma.

Slippery, rough, and slatted floors can lead to hoof trauma. The ideal floor has narrow, shallow grooves 3 inches apart.

Sand is critical in maintaining healthy hooves. Many mattresses are sold, being advertised to be as good as sand. They may be in some measures but not all.

Cooling cows also helps them lie down. It only takes 15 minutes in a holding pen that is not well cooled to raise a cows internal body temperature by one to two degrees. It takes eight to 12 hours in a well-cooled barn to remove that heat. Then we do it again at the next milking.

Cows that have their internal body temperature raise by 1 to 1 1/2 degrees will stand up. They may cool down when standing and then lie down again, but on a hot day, they can lose three hours of lying time. That costs milk now and longevity later.

Footbaths are our best tool for preventing heel warts. They need to be changed frequently and be long enough that every foot gets dunked three times. Cow flow through them is greatly enhanced with high solid sides, and we have some farms that have doubles side by side, so one cow doesnt stop the whole show.

Lastly, there are places like travel alleys and holding pens where rubber on the floor can help reduce foot wear.

A lot can be lost

You leave major dollars on the table if you have a plane to catch rather than staying on top of lameness in your herd. Create a system to identify and address lameness, and look at your facility and operations from an hours of lying time perspective. You may have a veterinarian who is interested in comfort and lameness that can give you some observations.

A few years ago, we had a farm that moved cows into a new barn with many comfort features. The cows had activity monitors, and the dairyman called saying the cows are lying down 14 hours a day. Is that too much? he asked.

There were no vultures in the picture I took of that farm. Are there in yours?




CHARLOTTE  IRCAD North America (IRCAD NA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Atrium Health and a major anchor of The Pearl innovation district, announced today it has appointed Dr. Dionisios Vrochides executive director of IRCAD NA. Vrochides is a clinical professor of surgical sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Dr. Vrochides is an extraordinary clinical leader who understands how the intersection between education and innovation can lead to new discoveries, said Eugene A. Woods, chief executive officer of Advocate Health, of which Atrium Health is a part. He played an instrumental role in bringing IRCAD North Americas headquarters to Charlotte and Im confident that, under his leadership, IRCAD will be the destination in the United States for surgical education, robotics and the development of new techniques.

The leadership structure for IRCAD NA is designed for the executive director to manage the experiential training and rapid-cycle research and development center in partnership with a business and operations structure which will serve to grow and establish IRCAD NA.

IRCAD specializes in educating physicians from around the world in minimally invasive surgery and image-guided surgery techniques. It also features translational research laboratories and research and development units in computer science and robotics that design and develop tools for diagnosis, surgical planning and simulation aimed at improving and making surgical procedures safer. In addition to general surgery, IRCAD NAs training curriculum will include the latest techniques in cardiovascular, neuro- and orthopedic surgeries, among others.

Founded in 1994, IRCAD opened on the grounds of the University Hospital of Strasbourg, France, and currently has training centers in six countries: Brazil, China, France, Lebanon, Rwanda and Taiwan.

In 2022, Atrium Health announced plans to locate IRCADs North American headquarters in The Pearl, Charlottes new innovation district currently under construction at the intersection of Baxter and McDowell streets in midtown Charlotte. The Pearls first two buildings are slated to open in the spring of 2025.

IRCAD NA will anchor The Pearls Research Building 1, taking up approximately 100,000 square feet, and will be immediately adjacent to the Howard R. Levine Center for Education, home to the Charlotte campus of Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Dr. Vrochides has a long-standing history and well-established relationships with IRCAD and its global leadership, said Dr. Rasu Shrestha, executive vice president and chief innovation and commercialization officer for Advocate Health. Together with Advocate Health, Atrium Health and IRCAD leadership, he has already set a unique vision for IRCAD NA, which expands the education and training model beyond general surgery to offer education sessions and labs in the fields of cardiology, neurosciences and orthopedics.

IRCAD NA has already begun to attract innovative medical device technology and imaging companies from around the world, with multiple commitments in place. Additional partners are expected to join in the coming months. This type of business development activity is intricately aligned with the intent of The Pearl and the commitments that the innovation districts leadership has made to the Charlotte community to diversify the local and regional economy, attract new businesses and drive new job creation.

We anticipate IRCAD NA will attract thousands of top surgeons and their teams to Charlotte each year to train with top subject matter experts from all over the world and experience the latest surgical technologies and platforms, including advanced laparoscopy, robotics, image-guided procedures and, through the use of artificial intelligence, augmented surgical reality, said Vrochides. We also see tremendous potential, both independently and together with our partners, to drive innovation and rapidcycle research and development activities, which will improve surgical outcomes and help deliver better patient care. The Pearls collaborative, innovation-focused environment will magnify IRCADs potential to incubate new processes and technologies and swiftly advance them for the benefit of medicine everywhere and for all. I am deeply honored to have been selected to lead this remarkable program.

Vrochides received both a medical doctorate and a doctorate of philosophy from The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the largest university in Greece. He served his surgical residency at Brown University Program in Medicine, in Providence, Rhode Island, and completed his transplant and HPB surgery fellowship at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. He also obtained a masters degree in business administration at Queens University, in Charlotte.

Vrochides joined Atrium Health in 2015 and serves as chief of the systems transplant oncology section and vice chair of the department of surgery.

Vrochides has won multiple educational awards, including the Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. He previously served as president of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Societys USA Chapter and spearheaded Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Centers accreditation as the first ERAS Center of Excellence in the U.S.

The entire IRCAD France team would like to congratulate Dr. Vrochides, who has been appointed as the organizations executive director, said Professor Jacques Marescaux, a surgeon and the president and founder of IRCAD. He was indeed the first person to contact me personally and to participate in the development of this magnificent project, bringing the United States of America into the IRCAD family.

I am truly excited to have an accomplished and visionary surgeon like Dr. Vrochides boldly lead IRCAD NA forward into the future, said Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag, chief academic officer of Advocate Health, CEO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and executive vice president of health affairs at Wake Forest University. As a surgeon myself and a member of IRCADs executive committee, I look forward to working together with Dr. Vrochides to connect our learners at Wake Forest University School of Medicine with innovative and unparalleled training opportunities.

Freischlag is also a past president of the American College of Surgeons and chair-elect of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
On Aug. 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people from across the country came to Washington, D.C., to advocate for civil and economic rights for Black people.

Though there were several speakers, it was the last one, a 34-year-old Baptist preacher from Atlanta, who would forever change history with his, largely improvised, I Have a Dream speech.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told the crowd on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of that historic day which helped pave the way for major federal voting rights legislation, as well as the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act  thousands of people converged on the nations capital last weekend to continue fighting to make Kings dream of equality a reality for all people.

Chris Rey, who became the new president of Barber-Scotia College in July, spoke during the march, due to his role as the international president of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., one of the nations oldest historically Black fraternities, founded in 1914.

It was a surreal moment when I was walking up to the podium, Rey told the Independent Tribune. Knowing not only the historic moment that was taking place but knowing what actually took place, it was a lot of emotions.

I understood that at this point in my life and the roles that I have, its my time, he continued.

Struggle of a lifetime

In his short speech, a recording of which was shared with the paper, Rey invoked past civil rights giants, including A. Philip Randolph, who organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and former U.S. Rep. John Lewis  a close friend and mentor  who was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a speaker at the 1963 march, as he spoke about the urgent threats to American democracy.

This includes governors trying to rewrite the laws in your state because you are uncomfortable with Black history, which is American history, Rey said. He is likely alluding to new Florida teaching standards, supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which will teach students that some Black people benefited from slavery because it taught them useful skills.

Rey told the audience that, contrary to what some officials may believe, this was not a good thing for Black people as we did not benefit from slavery.

Another concern he raised were state legislators who have been gerrymandering their electoral districts to mute the will of the people. He said independent redistricting commissions should be the ones to redraw the districts used in congressional and state legislative elections.

He brought up his role as president of Barber-Scotia to advocate for the importance of historically black colleges and universities (HCBUs) across the country.

Let me be clear, HBCUs matter and they will always matter, Rey said.

Concluding his speech, Rey told the crowd that the struggle to ensure justice and peace for all people is still very much a work in progress, though he and his fellow Phi Beta brothers will continue to make their voices heard.

And until this nation fully recognizes the contributions of this beautiful melting pot called humanity, he said, we will march and we will protest because this is not the struggle of a day, this is not the struggle of a month, this is a struggle of a lifetime and the men of Phi Beta Sigma will march on.

Just like King, Lewis and the many others who pushed for change 60 years ago, Rey told the paper he is encouraged that new voices have emerged to continue advocating for a more just society.

I felt like this was my opportunity to make sure my generation knows that there are voices that are still pushing for them, Rey said.
Microsoft has announced it would be unbundling its Teams communication software from its Office suite, and making it easier for rival products to work with its offerings.

The company's move appears to be a bid to avoid fines from the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, which opened a formal probe in July into the bundling.

At the time, the EC said the investigation would examine whether Microsoft had breached the EU's competition rules "by tying or bundling its communication and collaboration product Teams to its popular suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365".

It said Microsoft had included Teams in its "well-entrenched cloud-based productivity suites for business customers Office 365 and Microsoft 365".

from Nanna-Louise Linde, vice-president for European government affairs, on Thursday, said the unbundling of Teams from Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites in the European Economic Area and Switzerland would take effect from 1 October.

"We will instead simply sell these offerings without Teams at a lower price (2 (A$3.35) less per month or 24 per year)," Linde said.

"We will do this for our core enterprise customers, which represent most of our commercial business in the EEA and Switzerland. Teams will still be available for new enterprise customers to buy standalone and separately at a list price of 5 per month or 60 per year."

Linde said Microsoft would enhance existing resources on inter-operability with Microsoft 365 and Office 365.

"...we have heard feedback that, given the broad capabilities of Microsoft 365, Microsoft could do more in terms of providing support and making development easier," she said.

"To help address these concerns, we will create new support resources to better organise and point application developers to the existing and publicly available APIs and extensibility in Microsoft 365 and Office 365 apps and services that connect with Teams."

Linde added that, additionally, new mechanisms would be created to enable third-party solutions to host Office Web applications.

The North American-based Coalition for Fair Software Licensing welcomed Microsoft's move, but said it was not enough.

The group's executive director, Ryan Triplette, said in a statement: "This announcement proves that Microsoft is capable of doing the right thing for its customers, but chooses not to unless compelled by regulatory scrutiny. As we noted in our comment to the US Federal Trade Commission, the tying of Teams to the Office Suite is not a regional or product-specific issue.

Microsoft has the power to flip a switch and offer its products separately, at any time and in any location it wants. However, unless the software giants entire restrictive licensing regime is unwound by regulators, it wont.

Microsoft uses restrictive software licensing tactics in the cloud to increase dependence on its products and limit choice for all customers. Making this change for a handful of European customers does not remedy the harms that the companys behavior places on customers worldwide or the market distortion that has already taken place.

Ultimately, [the] announcement is nothing more than a quick-fix that fails to address Microsofts broader, problematic conduct. This is why the Coalition for Fair Software Licensing requests that regulatory agencies around the world  including the FTC  open investigations into Microsoft.
MATTOON  Employees from the North American Lighting Mattoon plants approximately 80-person workforce gathered under a canopy on Thursday to share lunch as they celebrated their parent companys 40th anniversary.

The Mattoon plant, which opened in 2021, will need a bigger canopy for future celebrations as NAL, headquartered in Paris, makes plans to more than double the workforce at this still new facility in coming years.

Over the last year and a half, we have grown, and we plan to keep growing, said Plant Manager Kevin Blatnik, a Coles County native who has worked for NAL for 23 years. My experience with NAL is that it constantly grows.

To illustrate this corporate growth, NAL showed the gathered employees and guests a video about its history. Koito Manufacturing Co. of Japan started NAL in 1983 with its business partner to manufacture and distribute licensed automotive lighting products in North America.

NAL began with nine employees at a warehouse in Flora. The company reported that it generated $150 million in revenue during its first 10 years through its first plants, in Flora and Salem. NAL also now has plants in Paris and Muscle Shoals, Alabama as part of its facility network.

We are now projected to reach $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023, NAL, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koito, reported via this video.

NAL reported when it opened the Mattoon plant in 2021 in a warehouse building at 3501 Justrite Drive that it was consolidating its production of replacement service lamps into this new facility.

While leading a tour of the Mattoon plant, Blatnik said this facility is continuing to focus on replacement service lamps. He said they also recently have started adding production of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts, such an adaptive headlight component.

Blatnik said NAL has 80 workers in Mattoon and could eventually have 200 there as production grows. He said they have already rented 35,000 square feet of storage space at the former GE plant in Mattoon from Phoenix Investors for storing headlight housings and other materials.

Coles Together President Angela Griffin and Mattoon Mayor Rick Hall said during the celebration that local officials have been working to create an environment that attracts industries like NAL and provides support services, such as new housing, for those who will work there.

Griffin said Coles Together, which promotes economic development in Coles County, has heard good reports from NAL about its local employees.

They have been so pleased with the workforce here. They have been so pleased with the employees and thats why they continue to look for more opportunities for this site, Griffin said.

Plant Manager Blatnik told the gathered employees, We couldnt do it without you. You are the back of this plant. Well keep it growing and well grow together.

A bagel is born: Follow the path of a bagel through the Lender's Bagels factory in Mattoon A bagel is born: It starts with the dough A bagel is born: Made into rings A bagel is born: Rings are boiled A bagel is born: Rings are baked A bagel is born: Off to the next stop A bagel is born: Next stop, cutting machine A bagel is born: Making the cuts A bagel is born: Ready for packaging A bagel is born: Bagged and ready to be shipped A bagel is born: Bagged and ready to be shipped
CHICAGO  Residents of three South Side lakefront communities demanded information from city staff and elected officials Wednesday night about a soon-to-be reestablished migrant shelter off DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

The meeting at the Promontory restaurant days ahead of the shelters planned opening was the latest in a string of tense neighborhood forums in which residents have pushed back on hosting migrants in shuttered high schools and other city buildings.

The Lake Shore Hotel, located on the 4900 block of South Lake Shore Drive, hosted migrants between January and April, according to city staff. It will reopen within the week as one of many emergency facilities set up to relieve pressure on police stations and other ad hoc solutions to the mushrooming number of asylum-seekers from Venezuela and other parts of Central and South America.

About 200 people were on hand as residents questioned city officials about everything from whether new arrivals would be vaccinated and fingerprinted to how their children would be educated to the food they would eat to whether migrants were being housed in other parts of Chicago.

Other residents accused city representatives of being insensitive to their concerns about migrants who will be staying in the area, expressing fears that they would see an uptick in criminal activity, traffic and parking issues and the upkeep of the areas in which they were staying.

Adrienne Edwards, 48, said she and her neighbors had witnessed recent arrivals involved in illegal activity and asked who they should hold accountable for what they were seeing.

Theres been a lot of experience with disturbances in our communities, she said. (Our) current experience is totally different from the bullet points youve given us.

Deputy Chicago police chief Stephen Chung and newly seated Ald. Desmon Yancy, 5th, responded with a discussion of preceding incidents with migrants at the Lake Shore and what residents should do when they witness criminal activity, but Edwards was not satisfied with their answers.

You all are just tragically tone deaf to everything youre saying, she said.

Much of the dissatisfaction hinged on the level of services the city was providing to current residents, particularly in predominantly Black areas of the city.

Dee Walker of East Hyde Park, asked about the predominantly white, wealthy neighborhood of Lincoln Park and whether that area was hosting migrants. Are they being asked to give in the same way the South Side of Chicago is being asked to give?, she said.

Others asked about how the city was assisting residents who already live in the city and particularly those who are homeless or who have mental health difficulties.

Owen Lawson, 54, said hed passed homeless people sleeping under the Metra tracks on his way to the meeting. Will they have access to these facilities?, he asked.

Throughout the meeting, attendees applauded or shouted back at questions and comments they disagreed with. Yancy pleaded with the crowd for order multiple times.

We cannot have a conversation if people are not respectful, he said.

Gerry Bouey, 70, said hed come to the meeting in hopes of having a conversation and had been dismayed at the level of tension in the room. Theyre just screaming at each other, he said.

Lucy Ascoli, 81, asked about who would be running the shelter so she could contact them and help aid migrant families.

We believe every community should support the asylum-seekers, she said.

Ald. Andre Vazquez, 40th, who attended the meeting as a representative of Mayor Brandon Johnsons migrant task force, told the crowd that any neighborhood was entitled to more of an advance warning than what south lakefront residents had received about the coming migrant shelter.

He also promised the crowd that the city was working toward reopening mental health clinics, increasing job opportunities for Black youth and a unified shelter system for any Chicagoan without a place to live.

Shortly before the end of the meeting, Yancy invited residents to participate in the upcoming city budget process and express their opinions about other elements of Chicago government.

Where to house the waves of migrants that have been arriving in Chicago since last year has been a contentious question at times.

In the adjacent neighborhoods of South Shore and Woodlawn, residents have pushed back against the citys plans to house new arrivals in shuttered high schools.

Many migrants have spent their first days and weeks in Chicago sleeping on the floors of police headquarters, where theyve been transferred between stations to accommodate events like the Lollapalooza music festival.

In other cases, the city has relocated migrants out of police stations after complaints alleged that a CPD officer had had sexual contact with at least one migrant at a West Side police station.

In Pilsen, a newly formed aid group running a shelter at 21st Street and Racine Avenue said they would shut down the shelter Sept. 3 due to issues with manpower and getting the Illinois Department of Human Services to recognize the operation as a shelter.

The people who were staying at the shelter will have to go back to sleeping on police station floors, volunteers told the Tribune.
Q. Three years ago, I had constant tinnitus. As a professional musician, I found the ringing in my ears quite annoying. An examination found no cause for it, and the doctor didnt have any solutions for me.

I searched reliable websites such as the American Tinnitus Association and found some foods listed that might possibly help. One of them was pineapple. Since I like it, I gave it a try.

After about five days, my tinnitus was gone, and it has not returned so long as I drink pineapple juice daily. If I dont have any pineapple for a prolonged time, the tinnitus starts to come back. Fortunately, it goes away as soon as I return to a daily serving. Now I make sure to always have it on hand.

A. Thank you for sharing your experience. We used a different search strategy, combing the National Library of Medicine (PubMed) for medical studies, and found none. The American Tinnitus Association may have changed its website since you searched, because we found no mention of pineapple there, either.

Consequently, we dont know if eating pineapple, drinking its juice, or taking bromelain tablets derived from pineapple will help other tinnitus victims. On the other hand, pineapple is a tasty food and will do no harm. If someone else tries this approach, we will be interested in the results.

Q. Some people have asked you about the golden raisins in a popular arthritis remedy. I suspect the sulfur used to preserve their color may be somewhat beneficial, together with juniper derivatives in the gin.

In my veterinary experience, MSM, a sulfur-containing compound, helps animals who have been limping on sore joints.

I use golden raisins in gin. If I neglect to take this for a few weeks, my foot joint pain comes back. In addition, I take glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM and pectin to keep my foot and knee pain at bay. Since using this regimen, I have stopped considering a knee joint replacement, as I was several years ago.

A. Thank you for describing your complex regimen. We discuss multiple home remedies like gin-soaked raisins and pectin in grape juice in our book, The Graedons Guide to Alternatives for Arthritis. In addition, we cover alternative therapies like glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) and SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine). We appreciate the perspective from veterinary medicine, where glucosamine and chondroitin are sometimes found to be quite helpful.

You will find our publication, which also discusses drugs and herbs, in the bookstore at www.PeoplesPharmacy.com.

Q. When I first complained about vaginal dryness, my gynecologist didnt discuss any natural remedies. She immediately wrote a prescription for estradiol cream. It wasnt in my insurance formulary, so I had to pay full price.

After only one application, I had a very bad headache. My blood pressure shot up and remained high for weeks. I was afraid to use the cream again for fear of a stroke. Currently I take black cohosh, and that seems to reduce the dryness and discomfort.

A. Black cohosh (Actaea racemose) is a North American plant with a reputation for easing menopausal symptoms. A recent review of 22 randomized controlled trials of black cohosh extract found that it is more effective than placebo for improving overall symptoms of menopause as well as hot flashes (Menopause, July 1, 2023).
The state insurance commissioner has set April 8 as the hearing date for the N.C. Rate Bureaus proposal for a 50.6% dwelling insurance rate increase.

The bureau represents the insurance companies in the state and is not a part of the N.C. Insurance Department.

Insurance commissioner Mike Causey said in a statement on Thursday that it is now necessary to hold a hearing to reach a resolution that will make the most financial sense for our residents and insurance companies.

The filing covers insurance for fire and extended coverage at varying rates around the state. They are offered to non-owner-occupied residences of no more than four units, including rental properties, investment properties and other properties that are not occupied full time by the property owner.

The bureau submitted the proposal on July 13, 2023, and has requested than the rate increase go into effect on June 1, 2024.

It is very unlikely that the bureaus 50.6% rate hike will be approved.

In January 2023, Causey denied the bureaus 42.6% increase for 2023, approving instead a 9.9% hike that took effect June 1, 2023.

The state is divided into 38 dwelling territories, which can combine adjacent cities and adjacent counties.

The highest average premium increase in any North Carolina territory for the most recent increase was $31.

The hearing is set for 10 a.m. April 8 at 3200 Beechleaf Court in Raleigh. The hearing will be held unless the department and bureau are able to negotiate a settlement before that date.

State law gives the Insurance commissioner 45 days to issue an order once the hearing concludes.

Once the order is issued, the bureau has the right to appeal the decision before the N.C. Court of Appeals. A court of appeals order could be appealed to the N.C. Supreme Court.

Public comment on the bureaus 2024 request can be emailed to NCDOI.2023DwellingandFire@ncdoi.gov. Written comments can be mailed to Kimberly Pearce, Paralegal III, 1201 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1201.
The N.C. Attorney Generals Office said Thursday that a preliminary injunction has been granted against a Florida real estate business for what is alleged to be predatory service agreements.

The motion has been approved by Judge Mark Davis, a special Superior Court judge for complex business cases.

MV Realty of Florida was sued by Attorney General Josh Stein in March for marketing and selling these agreements. Stein is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions, restitution for consumers and other monetary penalties.

Davis said in his order that the state Justice Department will likely succeed on its allegations that MV Realty has acted in ways that have the capacity to deceive, and actually have deceived, homeowners in North Carolina.

Im pleased that Judge Davis agreed with our office that MV Realty cannot continue to take advantage of hardworking homeowners while this case continues, Stein said in a statement. This company has preyed on too many North Carolinians, and well do everything in our power to provide relief for the more than 2,000 victims and to make sure that they cant harm others in our state ever again.

Last week, Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law a bipartisan state House bill that aims to prohibit the use of predatory real estate service agreements. The law went into effect immediately.

House Bill 422  the Unfair Real Estate Agreements Act  was shelved for more than two months before resurfacing Aug. 15 in the gatekeeper Senate Rules and Operations committee.

HB 422s lead primary sponsor is Rep. Kyle Hall (R-Stokes), who has a portion of Forsyth County in his district and also is a Realtor. Senate bill sponsors included Republican Joyce Krawiec and Democrat Paul Lowe of Forsyth County.

A major focus of the legislation is addressing the business model of MV Realty.

According to Stein, his office has received more than 20 complaints about MV Realty, which began doing business across the state in August 2020.

The company has signed up more than 2,100 North Carolinians to its Homeowner Benefit Program  typically people who are facing financial hardships and are in need of cash.

According to the bill summary, several real estate companies have been using a predatory business model to target seniors and financially insecure homeowners with cold calls, even those on the Do Not Call registry.

One review of the lending practice determined that in the states four largest Multiple Listing Service areas  Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro-Winston-Salem and Asheville  there have been more than 2,000 homeowners that signed an agreement with one of these firms since fall 2000.

The companies offer to provide cash payments, typically less than $1,000, to homeowners in exchange for their agreement to exclusively utilize that companys services to list their property at any time over the next 40 years.

What bill sponsors say is concerning is that the signed contracts include a memorandum that is filed with the county that serves as a lien on the propertys title.

According to HB 422, it is unfair to an owner of residential real estate who enters into such an agreement or to other parties who may become owners of that real estate in the future.

The law declares that such an agreement is unfair if it is effective and binding for more than one year from the effective date.

It also provides consumers with the ability to recover damages, costs and attorneys fees that may be proved against the agent, service provider or person named in the agreement.
The University of Nebraska Foundation said it raised a record $354.5 million from more than 58,000 donors in its fiscal year that ended on June 30.

The donations, which came after the 2022 public announcement of the "Only in Nebraska" campaign, mark the fourth consecutive year annual giving to the NU Foundation has exceeded $300 million.

Last year, the foundation reported nearly 60,600 donors, a record amount, who gave a total of $300.6 million.

NU President Ted Carter called this year's amount "a tremendous achievement."

"I continue to be humbled by the remarkable support the University of Nebraska receives from both our private and public partners," Carter said in a statement.

Carter added that the results show NU's latest fundraising campaign resonates with university supporters: "It's about changing the lives of students, growing the workforce and sustaining a vibrant, competitive university that serves people in Nebraska and around the world."

The Only in Nebraska campaign has a goal of engaging with 150,000 donors to raise $3 billion to support NU students, faculty, academic and clinical programs, and the university's research enterprise.

As of June 30, the campaign has generated $1.96 billion from 129,787 unique donors.

The funds have benefited all of NU's campuses, clinical partner Nebraska Medicine, and the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis.

Brian Hastings, president and CEO of the NU Foundation, said the campaign's supporters "understand the power of a University of Nebraska degree."

"Our supporters are committed to ensuring a high quality, affordable education for Nebraska students and to investing in faculty who are an important source of intellectual capital for our state," Hastings said in a statement.

This year, donors helped create 112 new endowed funds and 56 new expendable funds to provide students with scholarships and other financial assistance, according to the foundation.

Top Journal Star photos for August 2023
With Nebraska Treasurer John Murante's last day on the job now set, Gov. Jim Pillen is accepting applications for those looking to replace him.

Murante announced his plans to resign last week in order to take a higher-paying job as the head of the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems. The 41-year-old Republican has served as state treasurer for five years, and his last day is on Sept. 18.

Pillen has indicated he intends to fill Murante's position as early as possible. People can apply until 5 p.m. Sept. 6, according to a news release.

Murante's salary as treasurer is $85,000 per year. The retiring head of the state's retirement agency, Randy Gerke, is paid more than $185,000 per year.

Murante has spent most of his career in state government. He was elected state treasurer in 2018 and was reelected last year. The state constitution limits treasurers to two consecutive terms. Before being elected treasurer, he served six years as a state senator.

The person appointed to replace Murante will finish the remainder of his term, which runs through 2026.

Applications can be submitted through the governors website or in writing to this address: Office of the Governor, P.O. Box 94848, Lincoln, NE 68509.

Top Journal Star photos for August 2023
The Nebraska Department of Economic Development is looking to narrow down over 300 applications for various Omaha revitalization projects that were submitted last year.

Department officials met with prospective applicants Tuesday afternoon in downtown Omaha to discuss new guidelines for the proposals. A set of eight categories were announced at the meeting, outlining what projects officials are looking for.

Over the course of two sessions, the Nebraska Legislature approved more than $400 million of combined federal and state dollars to go toward economic recovery projects in underserved areas of the state, primarily within North and South Omaha. Much of that funding has yet to be allocated to specific projects.

The projects were previously set to be selected by independent engineering firm Olsson, which received 367 project proposals in 2022. A follow-up bill that passed earlier this year  Legislative Bill 531  changed that process to call on the Department of Economic Development to decide which projects would receive funding, selecting from the applications that Olsson received.

Shereece Dendy-Sanders with DED said LB531 also required the department to create a grant program for the recovery effort, which necessitated that they ask applicants to resubmit their proposals instead of selecting them from Olssons submissions.

The department launched a website available at opportunity.nebraska.gov/programs/recovery. Applications will be available soon, but a specific deadline has yet to be solidified.

DED will update the webpage with additional information, including a link to the online application and application open and close dates.

A few projects were already identified and received funding through LB1024 last year, including about $26 million to be spread across projects elsewhere in Nebraska. Additionally, $20 million was allocated for affordable housing projects in Omaha, $30 million was dedicated to innovation hubs and $60 million was earmarked for a business park near the Omaha airport.

LB531 would increase the total amount going to the business park from $60 million to $100 million. The bill also identified a handful of other projects to receive guaranteed money, including $20 million for a Malcolm X museum and another $20 million for local health centers.

Top Journal Star photos for August 2023
Gov. Jim Pillen will lead a trade delegation to South Korea and Japan next week.

The group, which includes the state's Agriculture Director Sherry Vinton, other government officials and ag-related business representatives, plans multiple stops in both countries.

South Korea and Japan are tremendous consumers of Nebraska agriculture products, Pillen said in a press release. This visit will strengthen our already well-established partnerships.

The trade mission will include visits to hydrogen facilities, engineering corporations, and meetings with South Korean and Japanese officials.

Earlier this summer, a delegation of Nebraska businesses leaders and officials went to Vietnam for Pillens first trade mission.

Top Journal Star photos for August 2023
The United States now is in our strongest position yet to fight COVID-19 and the other respiratory illnesses responsible for most fall and winter hospitalizations, the new director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

Last year, an early and severe surge in respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, combined with influenza and COVID-19 to strain hospitals and clinics in a so-called tripledemic.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, who was appointed to lead CDC in June, said the U.S. now has more tools and more immunity to battle COVID-19.

Some 97% of adults have some protective immunity from COVID-19 from vaccination, prior infection or both, she said. But the strength of that immunity can wane over time, and the virus continues to change. In recent weeks, health officials have begun tracking a new lineage of the virus, called BA.2.86.

But the U.S. now has vaccines for all three viruses. An updated vaccine for COVID-19 is expected to be available in about two weeks. Its under review by the Food and Drug Administration and will go immediately to CDC for a final review.

Also new this fall is an RSV vaccine for adults 60 and older and a drug to protect infants and some toddlers from RSV. Both groups are most vulnerable to that virus. Flu shots, too, will be available for everyone 6 months and older.

But the important part is we have to use these tools, Cohen said.

Cohen emphasized that the new COVID-19 vaccine is tailored to the versions of the virus that are currently dominant in the U.S. Those are the ones responsible for recent increases in cases, hospitalizations and wastewater concentrations in many parts of the country.

Thats why were encouraging people to get it, she said.

Nebraskas latest wastewater report for Aug. 23, which the Omaha World-Herald obtained by request, indicated concentrations of virus particles statewide were at their highest point since late March and early April, when they were on the decline from last winters peak. The seven-day average of new hospitalizations for the virus was fewer than 10 and decreasing, according to preliminary data.

Meanwhile, Cohen said health officials are only seeing a handful of cases caused by the new BA.2.86 lineage, which accounts for less than 1% of cases, she said. Currently available tests will detect it, and treatments will work against it. Scientists still need to learn more about how the new vaccine will perform against it in terms of preventing severe illness and death, she said.

It looks like there will be effectiveness, she said, but again that is something we are learning from our scientists right now.

Vaccination continues to provide the best protection against hospitalization and death, she said. COVID-19 vaccines also reduce the likelihood of long COVID. Thats why its going to be important to continue to use vaccines, she said.

Immunity that wanes over time and a changing virus also is why the new vaccine is expected to become an annual shot, Cohen said.

Additional tools include rapid tests, which people need to use if they suspect theyre infected with COVID-19, so they can get rapid treatments, such as Paxlovid. Improved ventilation, proper hand hygiene and masks limit the spread of the virus, she said.

The nation also is in a better place when it comes to the numbers, Cohen said. While more than 15,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. last week, thats less than half the nearly 38,000 hospitalized at the same time last year.

And while the nations ability to detect COVID-19 is different since the end of the federal public health emergency in May, she said, a number of monitoring mechanisms remain in place.

Our ability to detect and monitor remains robust, she said.

When it comes to those who currently are behind on their COVID-19 vaccines, Cohen said, the best choice for most will be to wait and get the new one.

But those who are older or have serious, underlying health conditions may want to talk to their doctor about getting the current version now. However, if they get the current shot now, she said, they may not be able to get the new one for several months.

While noting that she didnt want to get ahead of the final federal reviews of the new shot, Cohen said she expects the new vaccine will be recommended for everyone six months of age and older.

Getting both COVID-19 and flu shots at the same time is considered a best practice, she said, if people want to get both in one visit. Those 60 and older who are eligible for the RSV shot should talk to their doctor about what other vaccines it should be combined with.

Unlike past years, she said, most people now will get COVID-19 vaccines where they get flu shots, at pharmacies and doctors offices.

Free vaccines will be available to the uninsured and underinsured through health departments, federally qualified health centers and some pharmacies, she said.

Top Journal Star photos for August 2023
1. Yes. If KHA cant continue to run it, the city should step in. Its a necessary asset to the area.

2. Yes. The city already uses it as a warming and cooling center. It would be a smart move.

3. No. It may be in the citys interest to help subsidize insurance for the center, but nothing more.

4. No. The city doesnt need the added burden of staffing and insuring the center. Its a bad idea.

5. Unsure. It may be seem like a good idea, but other options should be explored as well.

Vote

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On Aug. 18, Prime Ministers Fumio Kishida of Japan and Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea met with

President Joe Biden at Camp David to complete an historic accord.

The three nations will significantly expand trilateral military exercises. Seoul and Tokyo will also significantly expand communication and cooperation related to security.

This follows up on a March meeting in Tokyo between the leaders of the two Asia nations. At that time, they reached positive agreements on trade and security

Also in March, South Koreas foreign minister, Park Jin, announced that a foundation funded by Korean companies would compensate victims of forced labor during Japans occupation of Korea. U.S. President Joe Biden immediately praised this generous South Korea initiative.

The two nations share a complex, difficult history. Japans long-term occupation of Korea in the twentieth century, which continued until 1945, included forced prostitution of Korean women and more general exploitation of the population. Totalitarianism has now faded, but legacies and painful memories continue.

South Koreas Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that a comprehensive settlement of wartime compensation claims, reached in 1965, does not prevent individuals from seeking reparations. This opened the door for individuals to sue Japanese companies for compensation.

In reaction, Japan announced that special trade relations with South Korea would end. Japanese companies would have to make formal application, which can be quite cumbersome, for any technology-related deals with South Korea. South Korea retaliated. This dispute has been ended.

The two economies are world leaders in scale, production and overall effectiveness, but are notable for remaining surprisingly separate from another. This directly reflects their extremely difficult history.

South Koreas earlier chief executive, President Moon Jae-in, helped encourage the current progress. In August 2019, he took the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the death of South Koreas great leader Kim Dae-jung to underscore the importance of a 1998 Joint Declaration between Japan and South Korea, and the fundamental need for partnership.

Kims effectiveness in fighting South Koreas earlier harsh dictatorship marked him as a special target, and he survived at least five attempts on his life. One of the most dramatic incidents occurred in 1973, when South Korea government agents kidnapped him from a Tokyo hotel and took him to a ship, where they intended to kill him at sea.

Donald Gregg, the highly experienced U.S. Central Intelligence Agency station chief in South Korea, acted decisively. After a U.S. helicopter flew low over the ship, and Gregg intervened personally, and forcefully, kidnappers reluctantly released Kim.

Gregg, whose intelligence career dates back to training commandos during the Korean War, later served as U.S. Ambassador to Seoul during the George H.W. Bush administration and more recently provided outstanding professional leadership to the Korea Society based in New York City.

Ambassador Gregg was also national security adviser to Vice President Bush. Most of his career was spent with CIA. He personified the commitment and dedication of career professionals crucial to our success in the Cold War.

Kims courage and commitment to representative government were rewarded when this great leader was elected President of the Republic of Korea in 1997. Without hesitation, he moved to begin detente with the North Korea regime. This culminated in a dramatic summit meeting in 2000 with the leader of North Korea, beginning the fitful interchange with Pyongyang.

Kim Dae-jung received the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership, which resonates well beyond Korea.

Preoccupation with China should not distract from remarkable, positive developments in Asia.
A federal grand jury in the Western District of Wisconsin indicted two Coon Valley residents for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl Wednesday, Aug. 30.

Stanley J. Holte, 33, and Julia A. Lloyd, 40, both of Coon Valley, were charged by the grand jury. The indictment alleges the amount of methamphetamine involved in the conspiracy is 500 grams or more. The indictment further alleges the conspiracy operated from February through June.

Holte and Lloyd also are charged with maintaining a drug house for the purpose of distributing methamphetamine and fentanyl in Coon Valley. The indictment also charges that on June 12, Holte and Lloyd possessed 500 grams or more of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of $58,000 alleged to be proceeds of the drug conspiracy.

If convicted, Holte and Lloyd face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in federal prison on the two charges alleging 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. The charge of maintaining a drug house has a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

The charges against Holte and Lloyd are the result of an investigation by the Vernon and La Crosse county sheriffs offices, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Campbell, La Crosse and Onalaska police departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Anderson is handling the prosecution.
A 46-year-old La Crescent man faces charges after he allegedly drove the wrong way Aug. 25 on Interstate 90 in La Crosse County.

Jorge Gustavo Cubas was charged in La Crosse County Circuit Court with a felony count of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and misdemeanor counts of second-offense drunken driving and operating with a prohibited blood-alcohol content.

According to the criminal complaint, Cubas was driving eastbound on the westbound lanes of the highway when he came within 150 feet of striking a semi head-on shortly after midnight.

The complaint says Cubas came to a complete stop in the middle of the right lane after police initiated a traffic stop and was oblivious to going the wrong way. He allegedly refused to exit the vehicle, which delayed efforts to remove the vehicle from the roadway.

Cubas agreed to a field sobriety test, and the complaint says he showed multiple signs of intoxication. He reportedly told police he had been drinking at a tavern on French Island and believed he was headed westbound back to his residence. He refused to take a preliminary breath test. He was transported to a local hospital for a blood test and then taken to the La Crosse County Jail.

Cubas is free on a $1,000 signature bond. His next court date is a Sept. 13 calendar call.
Four teenagers have been charged in La Crosse County Circuit Court with entering a fireworks tent June 23 in La Crosse and stealing $1,700 worth of merchandise.

Kailtin Groth, 18, La Crosse; Justin M. Johll, 18, La Crosse; Danil Z. Eagle, 17, La Crosse; and Carter Logslett, 18, Stoddard, face felony counts of burglary. Groth also faces a misdemeanor count of bail jumping.

Eagle is being charged as an adult.

According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a parking lot at 4735 Mormon Coulee Road, where Skyline Fireworks leases space for its retail fireworks store. The store owners maintain a camper next to the tent, and a woman staying inside the camper was awakened by an alarm around 1 a.m.

The complaint says the woman shared a video with police that shows two people, later identified Groth and Johll, crawling underneath the tent, gathering up handfuls of fireworks and crawling back out. The video reportedly shows one of them talking through the tent to a person, later identified as Eagle, who was likely standing outside.

Police also obtained a video from All-Star Lanes. It reportedly shows three people outside the tent and a vehicle that pulled up next to the tent and turned its lights off before leaving a minute later. Police believe Logslett was the driver.

The woman posted photos of the break-in on Facebook and received a reply that identified one of the suspects as Groth. Police interviewed Groth at her home the following afternoon. Police said she admitted entering the tent and taking merchandise. She also identified the three other suspects, who were all arrested later that day.

The complaint says $1,700 worth of fireworks was reported stolen. Police recovered roughly half of the reported missing merchandise.

Logslett has a preliminary hearing set for Sept. 6. Groth and Johll have calendar calls set for mid-September. Eagles next court date has yet to be scheduled.
Eager students waved goodbye to their parents and ran through the school doors at Spence Elementary School for the first day of school on Friday.

Staff and a new principal, Dana Eide, greeted students and parents throughout the morning and welcomed the Mighty Mustangs back for the 2023-24 school year.

Im most looking forward to seeing the growth of the children (this year), Eide said. This staff is so amazing. They just wrap around each other and wrap around kids and make the potential for learning just phenomenal.

Teachers worked hard to learn some new curriculum this summer and are ready to put the resources to work, Eide said.

Previously, Eide was the principal at the middle and high school for the Blair-Taylor School District in Blair.

The new principal has experience in building curriculum, working with gifted and talented students and special education students.

My background is pretty diverse, Eide said. I have a real range so I can bring all of that to the table when we are just trying to wrap around kids and meet their needs. Hopefully that will be beneficial.

Spence Elementary is one of the potential contenders for closure and consolidation in the La Crosse School District. A facility advisory committee, made up of community members, is evaluating elementary schools to provide a closure and consolidation recommendation to the board of education.

Of course, (potential closure) is on peoples minds, but what were really going to do is just focus on this year, focus on the kids and just hope that things work out for the best, Eide said. The longevity of the staff here is really phenomenal, truly legendary. There is very little turnover, just a long-standing support system thats also really good for the kids.

Eide said she has fielded some questions from parents about a potential closure, especially since some were students themselves at Spence years ago.

Ive just felt that this is a very magical place, Eide said. Hopefully we can make the best of it.

Portraits from the first day of school at Spence Elementary La Crosse School District welcomes students on the first day of school. La Crosse School District welcomes students on the first day of school. La Crosse School District welcomes students on the first day of school. La Crosse School District welcomes students on the first day of school. La Crosse School District welcomes students on the first day of school. La Crosse School District welcomes students on the first day of school.
In an event that signals the beginning of a new chapter for Chippewa Valley Technical College, Dr. Sunem Beaton-Garcia will officially be inaugurated as the 11th president in a grand investiture ceremony on Friday, Sept. 15, at the CVTC Business Education Center in Eau Claire.

The college will host events throughout the week leading up to the investiture ceremony  a time-honored tradition in academic institutions. The event marks a significant milestone in the history of CVTC, highlighting its commitment to academic excellence, innovation, community engagement and lifelong learning.

The week of events, meant to honor the past and celebrate the future of the college, begins Sunday, Sept. 10, with a tailgate party and mobile lab showcase from noon to 2 p.m. at the River Falls campus. At this event, the public is invited to tour CVTC mobile labs and get a sneak peek at the newly renovated South Education Center. Beaton-Garcia will host a meet and greet during the event.

The public is invited to attend the tailgate party in River Falls, voices of the Valley Gallery Walk in Eau Claire and the Tribute Circle dedication in Eau Claire.

For dates, times and locations of events, visit www.cvtc.edu/investiture.
Winona Public Library is partnering with Winona County Health and Human Services to distribute early literacy kits during home health visits.

Funded by the Friends of the Winona Public Library, each kit includes materials to help caregivers connect with their child and spend time building literacy from the beginning. In addition to information about Winona Public Library and Winona County services, each kit includes two board books, songs and rhymes, and a dance scarf. The initiative aims to make positive early literacy development accessible to all families. Tricia Wehrenberg, youth services librarian, hopes the kits create time for families to bond in their childs early years.

Studies show 90% of a childs brain development happens in the first five years of life, Wehrenberg said. Striving for even 10 minutes per day of dedicated reading time with your child can truly make a difference in their language development. We hope this kit helps to create that space.

Working with maternal child health nurses for this initiative was a clear choice from the beginning, as they are the initial touchpoint for many new parents.

We are excited to help distribute the literacy bags to those in our community during our home visits, said Megan Musolf, a maternal child health nurse who partnered with Winona Public Library in the creation of this kit. Research has told us that there are a ton of advantages to a child developing early literacy skills. We as public health nurses will make it a priority to help caregivers understand the importance of instilling a love for literacy at such a young age.
Americans support saving the natural spaces they love. Since 1997, Mississippi Valley Conservancy has been doing just that for the people of southwest Wisconsin.

We are proud to share that our land trust accreditation has been renewed  proving once again that, as part of a network of over 450 accredited land trusts across the nation, we are committed to conservation excellence, said MVC Executive Director Carol Abrahamzon.

Abrahamzon went on to say the organization is stronger than ever for having gone through the rigorous accreditation renewal process. She said community support is what makes it possible.

The strength of the La Crosse-based nonprofit land trust means public places such as the La Crosse Blufflands, Sugar Creek Bluff, New Amsterdam Grasslands, Kickapoo Caverns, and Tunnelville Cliffs will be protected forever, making Wisconsins Driftless Area an even greater place for now and in the future. It also means thousands of acres of privately owned land will be permanently protected for the benefit of all.

We provided extensive documentation and were subject to a comprehensive third-party evaluation prior to achieving this distinction, said Abrahamzon.

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission awarded renewed accreditation, signifying its confidence that Mississippi Valley Conservancys lands will be protected forever. Accredited land trusts now steward over 20 million acres  the size of Denali, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Everglades and Yosemite National Parks combined.

Mississippi Valley Conservancy is part of a network of over 450 accredited land trusts that are united by their strong ethical practices.

The conservancy is one of 1,281 land trusts across the U.S. according to the Land Trust Alliances most recent National Land Trust Census. A complete list of accredited land trusts and more information about the process and benefits can be found at www.landtrustaccreditation.org.
Many may think of Labor Day weekend as a chance for a "last fling of summer." While it is that indeed, it is also important to remember and observe the roots of Labor Day.

The first holiday was celebrated Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. Some 10,000 workers assembled to march from City Hall to Union Square, after which they and their families gathered in Reservoir Park for a picnic, concert and speeches.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was the first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold." But many believe it was actually Matthew Maguire, a machinist, who proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as the secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York, according to the Department of Labor.

The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on Sept. 5, 1883, and by 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday. On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday.

But there can be no celebration of labor without equal recognition of the jobs laborers do.

"Labor" is part of our heritage, from the native people who had to fight for survival on the rugged prairie, to the pioneers who broke the tough ground and forced it to grow crops. While technological and scientific advances have made big changes in the way we live, life can still be a lot of work, regardless of our chosen profession.

This weekend we pause to honor American workers  including those who will be on the clock Monday while others enjoy the holiday. We celebrate those who have built this country's infrastructure, those who have contributed to bettering our society and those who faithfully do their jobs without daily thanks or praise.
Looks like its back to the drawing board for an eight-unit development proposal that sparked flooding concerns.

During the Aug. 21 city of Lake Geneva Planning Commission meeting, Mayor Charlene Klein announced that an application to develop eight duplex units on two parcels of land at 1120 S. Lake Shore Drive, in the Somerset subdivision, was withdrawn.

So there will not be a public hearing on this item, and the plan commission will be taking no action, said Klein.

Lakeside Living LLC, in Fontana, presented the development project at a July 17 commission meeting.

The proposal was to build four units on the south side of Tiffany Drive, and four on the north side. Each unit would have been about 3,700 square feet in size.

On July 17, Stephen Greenberg of Lakeside Living said the goal was to create something everyone could be proud of.

I believe what we are presenting you guys is a beautiful subdivision, he said.

But several neighboring residents expressed concerns that the plan would increase flooding.

Others who spoke July 17 were also worried that trees would need to be removed, that the the project would cause more sediment to enter nearby Geneva Lake and that the development would increase issues with traffic and parking within the subdivision.

He said he worked with several engineering companies to help address potential water drainage issues caused by the project.

Eva Larsen, of Landscape Construction Corp., in Richmond, Illinois, said several trees would need to be removed for the project to be built. However, other trees would be planted to replace them.

Were making sure that not only quality trees are going in there, but trees that are going to grow quicker, so it doesnt look like a new site very long, said Larsen.

But Kristen Freytag, of the Geneva Lake Conservancy Board, said the conservancy was against the project over tree removal and sediment concerns.

On July 17, the commission delayed a vote on project plans to discuss it further.

With the application having been withdrawn, a previously scheduled public hearing on the development was cancelled.
With opioid overdose deaths apparently down slightly last year in Wisconsin and Dane County, the state on Thursday said 15 agencies  including two in the Madison area  are getting a total of nearly $1 million to set up vending machines with fentanyl test strips and the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, or Narcan.

The state recorded 1,410 fatal opioid overdoses last year, according to provisional data, compared with a record 1,427 in 2021, the state Department of Health Services said. Dane Countys provisional total for last year is 118, down from a record 139 the year before.

The 2022 figures wont be finalized until fall, but they are the same totals state officials provided nearly a month ago, suggesting few or no additional reports for last year are still being processed.

More than 90% of last years opioid overdose deaths involved fentanyl or other synthetic opioids, similar to previous years, said Paul Krupski, policy director and acting opioid initiatives director for DHS. Many also involved cocaine and methamphetamine, he said.

Fewer than 100 fatal overdoses last year were known to involve xylazine, a tranquilizer seen increasing in some states, such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania. More than half of the deaths in Wisconsin were in Milwaukee County, Krupski said.

After opioid deaths went up significantly in 2020 and 2021 after a small increase in 2019 and a decrease in 2018, Krupski said it was a positive sign that the tally appears to have leveled off last year.

Hopefully, then, in the coming years, we can begin to see decreases, as we were seeing pre-pandemic, he said.

Madison Street Medicine and Monona-based Tellurian Behavioral Health are among the agencies getting money for vending machines to dispense free fentanyl test strips and Narcan, a relatively new approach to combating opioid overdoses.

If we can get these harm reduction tools into the hands of people who need it most, which are active drug users, then we know that were going to be saving lives, Krupski said.

The machines offer a more private way of getting the materials than having to talk to workers at an agency, he said.

Madison Street Medicine, which operates the citys tiny shelter homeless encampment, does medical and housing street outreach, and runs medical clinics at The Beacon and the mens shelter, will put up two vending machines. Tellurian, which provides various types of treatment for addition, will have one.

The state Department of Health Services announced the grants Thursday, recognized as International Overdose Awareness Day. The money comes from the federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant.

Twenty-six health departments and other agencies around the state were previously awarded a total of $2 million for vending machines. That money came from opioid settlement funds, for which the state health department has received about $40 million so far. Combined with the new grants, nearly 50 of the machines are expected to be available around the state soon.

The federal Health Resources and Services Administration on Thursday said it was awarding $300,000 to the Marshfield Clinic to help rural communities respond to overdoses and nearly $800,000 to the Family Health Center of Marshfield and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin to prevent and address neonatal exposure to opioids.
Opinion: To stabilize China-U.S. relations, more concrete moves needed

Xinhua) 10:32, September 01, 2023

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- During U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo's four-day visit to China, the two sides announced the establishment of new communication channels, a working group to iron out various trade disputes, and an export control information exchange to explain export curb reasons to each other.

They also agreed to maintain regular communication, meeting at least once a year, thus keeping the door open for further negotiation and cooperation.

Raimondo's visit, following a series of visits of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, has been widely regarded as an "ice-thawing" trip for China-U.S. relations which had hit rock bottom.

Prior to the visit, Washington had removed 27 Chinese entities from its Unverified List, a step applauded by the Chinese side.

The gesture shows that America has been reassessing its detrimental China strategy. Just as SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci said, regardless of whether the United States wants it or not, China has already become the world's top manufacturing country, and it's impossible for the U.S. enterprises to rearrange their locations in the short term.

The United States, he noted, should realize that China's rise is beneficial to the world -- reducing poverty population, enhancing global interdependence, and making the world more peaceful and prosperous.

That said, taking China as the "enemy" and imposing a lengthy list of sanctions against China is neither rational nor beneficial to U.S. employment and its consumers' welfare from the international trade perspective.

It is also Washington's wishful thinking to decouple from China as the global economy has become so deeply intertwined.

America's imports from China shrank after the tariffs and sanctions were introduced five years ago -- the U.S. efforts to shift trade to its allies had some results. However, trade between U.S. allies and China is rising, "suggesting that they are often acting as packaging hubs for what, in effect, remain Chinese goods," said British weekly The Economist.

As for Washington's chokehold on semiconductors, processor chips, AI and quantum computing protection citing so-called national security concerns, the short-sighted move will only incentivize China's technology industry to form a sense of responsibility and urgency to achieve self-reliance at an early date.

The world has entered a new phase of turbulence and change. China and America need to work in solidarity against daunting challenges such as sluggish economic recovery, weak and interrupted trade, financial instability, climate change and mounting debt. As Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng put it, the two sides should work in the same direction and lengthen the list of cooperation and shorten the negative list to stabilize China-U.S. relations, thereby joining hands to properly address such global issues.

During talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Raimondo voiced Washington's willingness to strengthen cooperation with China on artificial intelligence, climate change, and combating fentanyl. She also reiterated the pledge that the U.S. does not seek to decouple from China or hold China's economy back.

The time is ripe for the U.S. side to live up to its words.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

The Future Belongs to Those with Real Ideas

Aug. 31, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)A report from Grayzones Anya Parampil sums up the situation in the world today. Parampil, who covered the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg last week, spoke to a diplomat from host nation South Africa who had met with Acting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland during her July 29-Aug. 1 visit to South Africa. The diplomat, reported Parampil, said that Nuland and her team were demonstrably unprepared to grapple with recent developments on the African continent, and she quoted the diplomat that,  In over 20 years working with the Americans, I have never seen them so desperate. 

The diplomat was, on one level, referring to the military coup that had occurred in Niger on July 26, but was certainly referring more broadly to the significant shift underway across the Global South and across the world. That sentiment was best reflected at the Aug. 22-24 BRICS Summit, which took a major step towards a new global architecture, focused primarily on the development of nations and a renewed determination to never again be subjected to geopolitical or colonialist machinations.

In such a world, it is no wonder that Anglo-American geopoliticians are feeling a little desperate.

The same sentiment was also voiced by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in an Aug. 22 interview with Tucker Carlson, who insisted that a Ukrainian victory over Russia is a lie, its impossible, and that instead a new security architecture with Russia is required to attain peace in Europe into the future. When questioned about the difficulty of going against the U.S. on that issue, Orban reflected his germ of a new idea. Of course its better for Hungary to have good relations with the U.S., he said: Its a far nicer horizon to have a good relation, but even without that we can stand and we can survive, and we can grow.

Consider also Afghanistans new set of contracts signed for mineral extraction and processingthe largest since the Taliban took over in 2021. A nation that previously had been crushed under the weight of NATOs and Dope Inc.s twin policies of death, but which has now nearly banned its opium production. This will create thousands of jobs and significantly improve the economic situation of the country, said Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Aug. 31.

At the same time, it would be foolish to think that those who believe the world is theirs to control will simply relinquish that thought easily. Remember, this is the stuff that world wars are fought over, and very likely could ignite a thermonuclear World War III today. As the Anglo-American imperialists become more and more desperateespecially as they see the Ukrainian counteroffensive as a flopexpect them to ignite new crisis points.

That now appears to be the plan in regard to Crimea. Today, the head of the Defense Forces of Ukraine South press office indicated that the Crimea resistance movement is working to further disrupt water and energy supplies, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Virtually all targets in Crimea are legitimate for destruction, she said. Remember the June bombing of Kakhovka Dam, whose reservoir is the clean water source for Crimea, which is now becoming an emergency nearly three months later.

Tensions are also escalating on the Korean Peninsula and around China, as efforts mount to build a NATO-of-the-East. There are even U.S. moves to treat Taiwan as a fully independent country by using a new military assistance program. Far from defending democracy these actions are further pushing China into an overt military crisis.

The world is clearly at a moment of great transformation, where ideassuch as expressed at last weeks BRICS Summitpossess an unusually large power to change peoples and nations. This is the task before the historic individual, like yourself, today, to learn to wield actual and potent ideas, and deploy them in a meaningful way.

Towards this end, the Sept. 9 Schiller Institute conference will be a nodal point that everyone sentient should attend.
Brazils Amazon rainforest has long been home to small and mid-sized sustainable businesses. These companies use the areas nuts, fruits and other materials.

Now there is a push to increase the number of those businesses. And a new term has come about to describe these kinds of businesses: bioeconomy.

Marcelo Salazar has a drink company called Mazo Mana Forest Food. The business partners with communities that live from the forest and gather the nuts, cocoa beans, acai, mushrooms, fruits and other ingredients that go into the drinks. They have received financial support from an investment group in Manaus, Brazil. The hope is that the bioeconomy counters an economy based on forestry and ranching.

Leaders from Amazon countries used and heard the term repeatedly at an August meeting in Belem. The officials expressed interest for policies to protect the rainforest and provide paying work for tens of millions who live in it.

However, beyond general support for the idea, there was little agreement about what exactly a bioeconomy should look like. Salazar was on a team chosen by Brazils environment ministry to speak about the subject.

The idea is not new. It is the latest term for sustainable development, also called the green economy.

Besides the Brazil nuts and acai harvesters, people are making chocolate from native cocoa. There is a sustainable fishery for one of the worlds largest freshwater fish. A community of rubber gatherers is helping produce shoes.

The challenge is scale, Para state Governor Helder Barbalho said. His state is believed to be the only in Brazil that has a complete bioeconomy plan. Para is Brazils top producer of acai, yet its economy is far more dependent on iron ore exports to China. A large amount of land in Para is used by an estimated 27 million farm cows. The state emits more greenhouse gases than any Amazon country besides Brazil.

But when it comes to larger sustainable companies, there are few success stories. The best example has been skin product company Natura. Twenty years ago it started a product line using ingredients from traditional Amazon communities and family farms.

When the company started, local people were using ucuuba trees to make brooms. They greatly increased their earnings by leaving the trees standing and selling the seeds to Natura. The change helped conserve more than 2 million hectares of forest.

Natura bought goods from 41 communities  home to 9,120 families  who in 2022 received about $9 million.

Para States plan for the bioeconomy names 43 forest products that could be exported, including acai, cocoa, cassava, pepper, fish species and essential oils for skin products.

And the neighboring Amazonas state is creating a bioeconomy plan with financial support from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

But some earlier efforts reveal problems.

A state condom factory in the Amazon city of Xapuri opened in 2008. It was supposed to provide a market for hundreds of rubber-gathering families. But the factory closed 10 years later, after federal funding came to an end. Locals resorted to cattle ranching and today the area ranks high for deforestation.

Cocoa beans have also caused problems. The trees can be a way to let forest grow back where it has been cut down. But its appeal in places like the Ivory Coast and Ghana has meant massive deforestation to make way for the trees that earn more money.

Salazar, head of Mazo Mana, views his company as both social-minded and good for the economy. It keeps nearly 10 percent of its money for its partner community associations.

Salazar thinks the sustainable companies that succeed and grow big will be those with a mission to solve the Amazons problems. He says those companies will drive an economy that sees the value of the forest.

Im Dan Novak.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press.

__________________________________________________

Words in This Story

sustainable  adj. able to be used without being completely used up or destroyed

scale  n. the size or level of something especially in comparison to something else

greenhouse gas  n.

broom  n. a brush that has a long handle and that is used for sweeping floors

condom  n. a thin rubber covering that a man wears on his penis during sex in order to prevent a woman from becoming pregnant or to prevent the spread of diseases
Local air carrier Air Macau is struggling with the lack of crew members, especially pilots and co-pilots, the director of the company training department, Qi Yu, told government-owned media outlet TDM.

According to the figures cited in the report, the company currently employs 85 pilots and 80 co-pilots, -17.5% than in 2019. The airline is struggling to service existing pre-pandemic routes as well as expand into new routes.

According to Qi, although the company has already launched training courses for more pilots and co-pilots, it will take Air Macau up to two years to recover to the staff level of 2019.

At this first stage, the company has launched a training program for 10 new professionals, but Qi said that the plan is to increase the number of pilots working in the company to 90, and co-pilots to 95.

The plan launched in mid-August and is now accepting applicants until the end of October. They request candidates be Macau Permanent Residents with university degrees preferentially in Science or Technology, have a good command of written and spoken Chinese and English with a minimum TOEFL score of 71 or IELTS score of 6 or equivalent.

According to Air Macau, in the previous six recruitment and training rounds, the company recruited 41 people, 17 of which are currently working in the company. The other 24 are still undergoing training.
It was earlier claimed on a radio call-in show that bus drivers are only allowed five minutes for meals, despite the two local bus companies promising otherwise.

An audience member claiming to work as a bus driver called in to a show by TDM  Chinese Radio Macau and complained that there is not enough time for rest between each departure. He said this is because companies are fined by the government if buses arrive late to stops. Consequently, terminus directors will often put time pressure on drivers.

It was even claimed that on some occasions, drivers only had five-minute meal breaks because the preceding trip experienced a 25-minute traffic jam. On many occasions, drivers can only have a toilet break between two departures. It was also claimed that some drivers can only rest for 0.5 hours after working for five to six consecutive hours. The caller said he preferred if the Transport Bureau (DSAT) did not fine bus companies, which creates the knock-on effect of companies singling out terminus directors and terminus directors putting pressure on drivers.

In response to the claims, Lei Kai Kin, general manager at Transmac, S.A., revealed that rest time between each departure is set at 15% of the duration of the entire route. If a route takes 60 minutes, the subsequent rest time will range from eight to 10 minutes. The executive underlined that this is a firm rule. He also suggested that there are measures to cope with peak hours, such as deploying additional staff to assist with bus boarding, so drivers have more time to rest.

He insisted that the DSAT had not fined Transmac for congestion-triggered delays, nor had the bus company fined its terminus directors.

Leong Mei Ling, general manager at Transmac S.A., said that meal breaks for drivers last for at least 0.5 hours each. She also said that drivers have at least 15 minutes for rest between each departure.

Chang Cheong Hin, department head at DSAT, said that there are measures in place to ensure bus drivers have enough rest, and pledged that any complaints will be investigated.

Lau Nga Hong, division head at DSAT, revealed that bus companies have achieved improvements in bus waiting time over the past few years. In 2019, the average time was about 6.9 minutes. In 2022, it shortened to about 5.7 minutes. The second quarter of this year saw 5.4 minutes.
Although the issuing of typhoon signal number 8 is only expected for this afternoon or evening according to the forecast of the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG), several government entities have already started to prepare for the potential strength of Typhoon Saola.

In preparation for the super typhoon impacts, the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has removed all decorative items that had been installed for the mid-autumn festival later in September.

Yesterday, Air Macau and Air Asia have already started canceling some of their flights scheduled for today.

Similar measures are expected from other airliners as well as maritime transportation routes between Macau, Hong Kong, and the mainland.

At 11 p.m. last night, typhoon signal 1 was replaced by typhoon signal 3.

A yellow Storm Surge Warning is also expected to be issued today with the possibility of this warning being changed to orange later in the evening.

In Hong Kong, the citys leader, John Lee, said in a Facebook post that he had requested various government departments to plan ahead and urged residents to take precautionary measures.

Last night, the Hong Kong Observatory said it plans plans to issue a No. 8 typhoon signal between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. today, the third-highest warning under the citys weather system.

The observatory warned of squally showers, strengthening winds and a possible storm surge in low-lying areas of the crowded financial center.

In China, state media report at least 121 passenger trains are suspending service in anticipation of the arrival of Typhoon Saola.

People in areas of southern China were warned to stay away from the coastline and several cities delayed the start of the school year.

The suspensions on key lines running from north to south as well as on regional networks began yesterday and continue through Sept. 6, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Chinas National Meteorological Center said Saola was moving toward the coast at a speed of about 15 kph and was due to make landfall today in the southern province of Guangzhou with sustained winds of 119 kph and gusts of up to 220 kph.

The storm will then travel west down the coast into the Guangxi region before curving south out to sea between Saturday night and Sunday morning, gradually weakening as it goes.

The Guangdong city of Shanwei, closest to where Saola is expected to make landfall, ordered a halt to classes, transport and most economic activity until the all-clear is sounded. Other cities, including Shantou, Shanwei, Jieyang and Chaozhou, have ordered the start of the school year to be delayed until Monday. Regional airports have also suspended flights until the storm passes.

Typhoon delays

school year

The SARs Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) issued a statement calling on schools to postpone the start of the new school year, otherwise scheduled for today.

The DSEDJ said the start of the new year should instead be deferred to September 4 (Monday) to ensure students safety.

The bureau said the recommendation was made in collaboration with the education sector, relying on the fact that the impact on teaching will be minimal.

This measure applies to non-higher education schools in Macau.

The DSEDJ reminded all education institutions participating in the Continuing Education Development Plan to adopt measures to prevent wind and water damage, recommending institutions install waterproof gates in preparation, check the safety of buildings and school facilities, relocate equipment and monitor power systems to ensure safety.

IAM assures there is

enough food amid storm

The IAM has increased the supply of fresh produce before Typhoon Saola hits the city.

After the announcement by the weather bureau, residents were panic buying in some local supermarkets.

In a statement, the IAM said that the volume of vegetables incoming tomorrow will be about 310 tonnes, an increase of 60 tons compared to normal days.

The bureau also said it is working with Nam Yue to formulate an emergency plan, and has notified the vegetable supply center in the mainland and local wholesalers in advance to prepare sufficient quantities to increase supply.

Once the traffic is blocked due to bad weather, the cross-border transportation of fresh food will also launch contingency measures to ensure the stable supply of vegetables, meat and other agricultural products.

Saola passed just south of Taiwan on Wednesday before turning to mainland China, with the storms outer bands hitting the islands southern cities with heavy rain and strong winds.

The typhoon also lashed the Philippines earlier this week, without any reports of casualties so far. However, in the northern part of the islands, low-lying villages were flooded and nearly 50,000 people displaced, including 35,000 villagers, who fled to government-run evacuation centers. Seaports suspended inter-island ferry services due to rough seas, and more than a hundred houses were damaged.

Meanwhile, a second storm, Haikui, is brewing near Japans Ryukyu islands and will develop into a typhoon as it moves toward the Chinese coast, where it is expected to make landfall south of Shanghai on Sunday morning with sustained winds of 165 kph.
* City braces for super typhoon

* Fukushima ban | Oysters with mislabelled origin intercepted at airport

* Taste of Edesia

* More technological elements will be incorporated into programs offered at IFTM, president Fanny Vong told the press

* Data Protection Office: No report yet made over Sai Van Bridge car crash footage

* China logs over 82 million entry- exit trips during summer break

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Friday, September 1, 2023  edition no. 4321
The first giant pandas born in Germany celebrated their fourth birthday yesterday as the Berlin Zoo prepares to send them to China, a journey that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pit and Paule, who also are known by the Chinese names Meng Xiang und Meng Yuan, have been a star attraction at the zoo since their birth in 2019. Yesterday, keepers presented them with an ice cake made with apples, carrots and beetroot, and a side serving of snow.

While China for decades gifted friendly nations with its unofficial mascot as part of a policy of panda diplomacy, the country now loans pandas to zoos on commercial terms. Pit and Paules parents, Jiao Qing and Meng Meng, arrived in Berlin in 2017.

Florian Sicks, the zoos curator for mammals, said the young pandas belong to China and its Chengdu Panda Base, and officials hope the pair will travel there soon.

As a rule, this happens at age 2 or 3, Sicks said. Because of the pandemic, it was delayed a bit so that they are now celebrating their fourth birthday here, which we of course are very, very happy about. But at the moment, we assume that this will probably be the last birthday the two of them will celebrate here in Berlin.

Giant pandas have difficulty breeding and births are particularly welcomed. There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and a few hundred in captivity worldwide. MDT/AP
Technology will be more incorporated in programs offered at the local public tourism institute, the head of the institute told the press yesterday.

Having launched the Masters program in digital marketing and analytics this academic year, the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) is ready to incorporate more technological elements into its existing programs, such as those on hospitality and tourism management, IFTM president Fanny Vong assured yesterday. She also referred to the institute offering a Masters program in smart technologies.

The institute has welcomed 600 new students across all degree levels this academic year, which is its largest number in history. Vong disclosed that programs in hospitality management and culinary management are the most popular, while those in cultural heritage management are particularly popular with mainland students.

She hinted that IFTM is facing more fierce competitions with institutions around the globe. She believes more students are considering studying outside Macau after the resumption of normalcy post-Covid.

I think Macau students have always had the advantage of having a lot of choices, as far as going for further studies is concerned, Vong suggested. In the past, we had always seen students interested in trying various opportunities.

It was also revealed yesterday that certain facilities at the IFTMs Taipa Campus have been revamped during the summer holiday.

The agreement signing ceremony also took place yesterday between the IFTM and the official TOEFL and TOEIC representative office in Hong Kong. The agreement is for the third test center in Macau at the institute for the US English literacy test TOEFL.

Both parties have seen increasing demand for seats in the test, especially after the resumption of normalcy. TOEFL is key to the admission by many higher education institutions around the world.

With this said, students from the IFTM and other schools within the Greater Bay Area (GBA) will be able to enjoy the additional seats at the new test centers. Vong underlined that the test has a centralized registration system, meaning that all test-takers who intend to take it in Macau will be allowed to do so, regardless of their origins.

Kevin Chan, official TOEFL & TOEIC representative in Hong Kong & Macau and president of Smart Education, said on the sidelines of the signing ceremony that he expects the new test center to attract talents from across the GBA to Macau to take the test.

The citys other sectors will therefore benefit from the new test center. Chan added that there is a lot of competition for seats for the test in Hong Kong, meaning that it would be difficult for people from Macau to register to take the test there.

A decade or so ago, people from Macau could only take the test outside of Macau  the closest place being Hong Kong  if they had relocation needs.

To cope with the new test center, preparatory courses for TOEFL have also begun to better train test-takers, Vong added. She is also confident in the teaching quality of IFTMs faculty in these courses.
Fund investors are keeping more of whats theirs.

Fees for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds fell to a record low last year, according to Morningstar. Fund investors paid about $37 in fees for every $10,000 invested, down from $40 in 2021. Altogether, that saved them a collective $9.8 billion.

While that doesnt change the fact that many stock and bond funds stuck investors with losses last year, it means they at least werent even worse. Funds take out their fees whether prices are rising or falling.

Finding a lower-cost fund isnt a guarantee of better performance, but it means a fund has a head start on higher-cost rivals when it comes to after-fee returns, which are what count.

Investors have noticed, and theyre pouring into the lowest-cost funds as a result. The cheapest 20% of funds attracted $394 billion in net new investment last year, according to Morningstar. The remainder of the funds, meanwhile, saw $734 billion leave.

Index funds are a big reason for the lower expenses. They generally charge lower fees because theyre not hiring managers looking to pick the right investments to beat the index. By simply tracking the S&P 500 or another index, they charged an average of $12 in fees for every $10,000 invested last year. Thats down slightly from $13 a year earlier.

But even actively managed funds are seeing pressure on fees. Investors in those funds paid an average of $59 in fees for every $10,000 invested, down from $61 in 2021.

The Investment Company Institute, an industry group, has tracked a similar drop in fees through the years. It says economies of scale are also helping to drop expenses paid by individual investors, and cheap funds drawing more investment are enjoying the benefits.

When a fund attracts more investment dollars, its expenses for accounting, auditing and other services dont go up that much. That means those expenses can be spread out over more dollars, effectively lowering the costs per investor dollar for the group overall.

STAN CHOE, NEW YORK, MDT/AP
Sands Resorts Macao is participating in the Macao Week in Tianjin mega roadshow organized by the SAR government and being held on Golden Street, Heping District, Tianjin from August 31 until September 4.

In addition to participating in the roadshow and seminar, Sands Resorts Macao is co-launching the Macao Gastronomy Showcase: Taste of Macao to present Macaus famed culinary treasures.

Steve Zheng, assistant vice president of Destination Marketing, Sands China Ltd., said, We are delighted to participate in the Macao Week in Tianjin roadshow organised by the Macau SAR government, and introduce Sands Resorts Macaus rich offerings to residents, tourists and industry representatives in Tianjin, and promote Macaus unique culinary culture with a wide range of signature dishes.

Also, as part of the festival from now until September 10, the culinary teams of Pin Yue Xuan and The Manor, are presenting six specialty dishes at the dinner buffet at The St. Regis Tianjins Promenade.
The U.S. ambassador to Japan visited a city in Fukushima yesterday and had a seafood lunch with the mayor, talked to fishermen and stocked up on local produce to show they are safe after the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, backing Japan while criticizing Chinas ban on Japanese seafood as political.

Ambassador Rahm Emanuel ate flounder and sea bass sashimi with Soma Mayor Hidekiyo Tachiya, talked with local fishermen, and visited a grocery store where he sampled fruits and bought peaches, figs, grapes, flounder, sea bass and other produce from Fukushima prefecture.

All of his purchases will be served when his children visit him this weekend, Emanuel said in a telephone interview from his train back to Tokyo. We are going to all eat it.

As a father, if I thought if there is a problem, I wont serve it.

The release of the treated wastewater began last week and is expected to continue for decades. Japanese fishing groups and neighboring countries oppose it, and China immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood in response. MDT/AP
WASHINGTON  Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledged Thursday he took three trips last year aboard a private plane owned by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow even as he rejected criticism over his failure to report trips in previous years.

It's the first time in years that Thomas reported receiving hospitality from Crow.

In a filing posted on the federal judiciary's website, the 75-year-old justice said he was complying with new guidelines from the federal judiciary for reporting travel, but did not include any earlier travel at Crow's expense, including a 2019 trip in Indonesia aboard the yacht owned by the wealthy businessman and benefactor of conservative causes.

The report comes amid a heightened focus on ethics at the high court that stems from a series of reports revealing that Thomas has for years received undisclosed expensive gifts, including international travel, from Crow.

Crow also purchased the house in Georgia where Thomas's mother continues to live and paid for two years of private school tuition for a child raised by Thomas and his wife, Ginni.

The reporting by the investigative news site ProPublica also revealed that Justice Samuel Alito failed to disclose a private trip to Alaska he took in 2008 that was paid for by two wealthy Republican donors, one of whom repeatedly had interests before the court.

The Associated Press also reported in July that Justice Sonia Sotomayor, aided by her staff , advanced sales of her books through college visits over the past decade.

Supreme Court justices do not have a binding code of ethics and have resisted the idea that they adopt one or have one imposed on them by Congress. In the spring, all nine justices signed a statement of ethics that Chief Justice John Roberts provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Roberts acknowledged the justices can do more to address ethical concerns.

Neither the statement nor Roberts' comments assuaged Senate Democrats. The Democratic-controlled committee approved an ethics code for the court in July on a party-line vote.

The legislation has little chance of passing the Senate  it would need at least nine GOP votes, and Republicans strongly oppose it  or the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Elliot Berke, a lawyer representing Thomas, issued a statement defending the justice's conduct and taking aim at his critics.

"The attacks on Justice Thomas are nothing less than ridiculous and dangerous, and they set a terrible precedent for political blood sport through federal ethics filings," Berke said.

"Justice Thomas's amended report answers  and utterly refutes  the charges trumped up in this partisan feeding frenzy."

But two ethics experts who advised justices or nominees to the high court said it has been clear to them for years that travel on private planes must be reported.

"You report the free trips on the jets, the private jets, if you take them. I don't get this idea that, 'Gee, the rules changed on us.' That's just a lot of hogwash," said Richard Painter, who was the White House's chief ethics lawyer when Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts were nominated to the Supreme Court.

Painter now believes the court needs its own ethics lawyer as well as an inspector general to investigate possible judicial misconduct.

Stephen Gillers, whose advice has been sought by now-retired Justice Stephen Breyer, said in an email, "The failure to report private plane travel paid by a corporate donor has always been a glaring omission in the Thomas filings." One trip Thomas reported was to Crow's lodge in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. ProPublica reported that Thomas visits there every year.

The other two trips were to Dallas, where he spoke at conferences sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

Thomas noted that court officials recommended that he avoid commercial travel for one of the trips, in midMay, because of concerns about the justices' security after the leak of the court's draft abortion opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Other assets The justice also belatedly acknowledged that Crow purchased the home in Savannah, Georgia. Thomas and other family members owned the house, along with two neighboring properties. The sale was completed in 2014, but Thomas said he erroneously thought he didn't have to report it because "this sale resulted in a capital loss."
The large skull sculpture that had been in front of the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus for nine years was moved inside the museum Thursday because of concerns for its preservation.

Kirstin Pires, the museums spokesperson, said there were many reasons behind the move, including the wishes of the artist, 88-year-old Jim Dine.

He was definitely in favor of moving it inside, Pires said. It had been exposed to the weather and salt along East Campus Mall, and it had also had some vandalism to it over the years.

The large bronze skull titled Ancient Fishing by Dine sat outside the museums front entrance at 750 University Ave., near Park Street. It was moved into Gallery 13.

There, Pires said, it can be kind of in conversation with another Dine sculpture that also includes a skull.

The other one, The Plow, is a cottonwood-carved skull from which the Ancient Fishing sculpture was cast. Its in Gallery 3.

The free museum was founded as the Elvehjem Art Center in 1970 and became the Elvehjem Museum of Art in 1978.

It was renamed the Chazen in 2005 after university alums Simona and Jerome Chazen, chairman emeritus and co-founder of Liz Claiborne Inc., donated $25 million to the expansion. Jerome Chazen died in 2022 at age 94.

The original Elvehjem building is joined by a walkway gallery to the newer Chazen building, which when it opened in 2011 nearly doubled the museums size.

The Chazen is the largest collecting museum in the Big 10 and the second-largest art museum in Wisconsin, according to Chazen director Amy Gilman.

Galleries in the Elvehjem building are closed through 2024 while it undergoes a renovation, which includes a reinstallation in early 2025 of the museums entire collection, Pires said.

Usually, the museum has 1,700 to 2,000 objects on view, but about 970 objects were removed from the Elvehjem building before the work began, she said.

Nearly all of the museums 24,000 objects are under consideration for the reinstall, and staff are meeting about it next week, Pires said. The curatorial team has been thinking about it for years. It was delayed by COVID.

In 2014, Dine, one of Americas most legendary living artists, gave 67 of his pieces to the Chazen. Dine has been a longtime friend of Russell Panczenko, who was museum director then, and his wife, Paula McCarthy Panczenko, executive director of UWs Tandem Press.

Tandem Press, founded in Madison in 1987, is an internationally known publisher of fine art prints and has produced original art by Dine and other renowned artists.

Pires said the Panczenkos were at dinner with Dine and Russell offered him a behind-the-scenes tour of the Chazen building.

Jim, from Russells standpoint, was so impressed with what we were doing here and the education mission, that he offered this collection of his work across all kinds of timeframes, and across all different media, but all related because its his work, Pires said.

She said Dine has a studio in Paris and one in Walla Walla, Washington.

The loss of the skull as a public art piece drew criticism on social media that Pires was unaware of, but she noted that the pedestal for the sculpture is still in place. Its possible, she said, that it could hold art again once the current renovations are done on the Elvehjem building.
A Madison man was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison followed by six years of extended supervision for selling the drugs that killed a woman in May 2020.

Longtime drug dealer Ernest Brazzel, 69, pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide in the overdose death of 21-year-old Hailey Tracy.

During his sentencing hearing, Brazzel recounted 50 years of on-and-off drug addiction, claiming that, to his knowledge, Tracys death was the first caused by drugs he sold. Tracy had a son who is now 5, and Brazzel said his role in the boy losing his mother keeps him up at night.

I cant imagine this child growing up without his mother. I would give my life so she could be with her child, Brazzel said. It just weighs so heavy on my soul, and Im so sorry.

While the victims son was not at the hearing, many of Tracys family members were, including her mother, Tressa Parker.

Yesterday (the boy) asked his papa if he could get him a rocket ship so he could fly to heaven to see his mom, Parker said. He asks when she will come home from heaven all the time. Its absolutely the worst thing that Ive had to explain to a 5-year-old.

Parker asked that Brazzel receive the maximum sentence.

No amount of time can justify her life in my eyes, she said. To me there is no excuse for what happened to Hailey.

Assistant District Attorney Valerian Powell and defense attorney Peter Moyers agreed that no sentence could bring Tracy back or soothe her familys grief.

In a case that involves the death of a 21-year-old, you dont really have the tools to make it right. Its not like we can assign a number to Haileys life, Powell said.

Its cases like this that point out what a crude tool criminal law is. Itd be great if we could wave a magic wand and set things right, Moyers said.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ellen Berz characterized Brazzel as the top of the pyramid in this case. He did not sell the fentanyl-laced heroin directly to Tracy. Rather, he sold the drugs to Matthew J. Schramer, 28, of Fitchburg, who then sold them to another man, who provided them to Tracy. Schramer was sentenced to five years probation in April.

Schramer told investigators that hed gotten the drugs from Old Man E, who was later identified as Brazzel. The Dane County Narcotics and Gangs Task Force coordinated a series of controlled heroin purchases from Brazzel in the fall of 2020. Police arrested Brazzel after carrying out a search warrant for his apartment.

Berz also weighed Brazzels criminal history, which dates back to 1976, in her decision, objecting to his claim that this was the first time someone had died due to the drugs he has sold for five decades.

You were willing to risk people dying to make a buck, to get drugs for yourself, she said. Now I am not discounting the fact that those same people were, themselves, risking their lives and knew they were risking their lives. Anyone who does heroin knows that they are risking their lives ... they know that it is death in a syringe.

Public protection, she said, was among her top priorities in the sentence.

As soon as youre taken off the street, another person in a nanosecond takes your place, she said. It almost feels like a Sisyphean task. It does not mean, however, that we should give that up.

While Narcan can reverse opioid overdoses in the short term, these two treatments can help patients overcome addiction altogether While Narcan can reverse opioid overdoses in the short term, these two treatments can help patients overcome addiction altogether Methadone has been in use decades longer than buprenorphine While both are effective, the overdose risk of buprenorphine does not increase with higher doses While methadone is more tightly regulated, buprenorphine can be prescribed for at-home use
First lady Jill Biden visited Madison Thursday to promote early cancer detection and attend a fundraiser with state politicians, among other events throughout the day.

The visit capped a three-week run of national political figures, including President Joe Biden and Republican presidential nominees, seeking support in battleground Wisconsin as the 2024 campaign heats up. Its the second stop by the Bidens in the Madison area this year. The president visited DeForest in February to deliver his first public speech after the State of the Union address.

Jill Biden landed at Dane County Regional Airport early Thursday afternoon and first took an hourlong tour of an Exact Sciences laboratory.

The Madison-headquartered company makes cancer screening tests. Exact Sciences best-known product is Cologuard, an at-home screening test for colon cancer. The company has about 6,500 employees, roughly 3,000 of whom are in Dane County, Exact Sciences spokesperson Stephanie Spanos said.

The Exact Sciences tour highlighted the Biden administrations recent reboot of the federal Cancer Moonshot initiative, originally launched in 2016, which seeks to reduce the cancer death rate by half within 25 years and generally improve the lives of people living with the disease, according to the White House.

The first lady was joined by Exact Sciences CEO Kevin Conroy, chief laboratory officer Ana Hooker, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, former governor and Exact Sciences board member James Doyle, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison.

Conroy spoke about how Exact Sciences, in its desire to expand the reach of its screening tools, has a philosophy thats aligned with the Cancer Moonshot initiative.

Exact Sciences has seven clinical laboratories and a presence in five states.

Biden and Baldwin later attended a listening session at the Foundation for Black Womens Wellness, a Madison nonprofit that helps Black women secure health care services; locate community resources to improve well-being; access services that provide food, shelter, child care, personal safety, transportation and mental health support; and engage in health and wellness activities, according to its website.

Biden and Baldwin joined Gov. Tony Evers at a back-to-school educator appreciation event with the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers at Glacier Edge Elementary School in Verona, the White House said.

Biden ended her day in Madison at a fundraiser for Baldwin, who is running for a third Senate term in 2024.

State Journal reporter Alexander Shur contributed to this report.
Republican legislative leaders are poised to spend more than $1.8 million in taxpayer dollars on private attorneys to defend Wisconsins GOP-drawn legislative maps, according to contracts with three law firms.

Two lawsuits filed directly with the Wisconsin Supreme Court request new legislative maps ahead of the 2024 election. Both were filed last month, shortly after Justice Janet Protasiewicz was publicly sworn into office, giving liberals their first majority on the states highest court in more than a decade.

The complaints seek to undo a state Supreme Court decision last year that helped Republicans increase their majority in the Legislature and led to a supermajority in the Senate. Neither case challenges the states congressional maps.

The plaintiffs have asked that every Wisconsin legislator be on the ballot next year under newly drawn maps, including the half of state senators who otherwise wouldnt be on the ballot until 2026. Candidates elected to those Senate seats would serve two-year terms, with four-year terms beginning again with the 2026 election.

Under three contracts signed last month by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, Wisconsin taxpayers will be on the hook for more than $1.8 million in fees to outside attorneys who have been hired to defend the states existing maps  considered some of the most gerrymandered districts in the nation.

A contract with law firm Lehotsky Keller Cohn states total fees will not exceed $870,000, while a second, with Consovoy McCarthy and Lawfair, states that legal fees through Aug. 15, 2024, will not exceed $965,000.

A third contract, with Bell Giftos St. John, charges $450 per hour for attorneys time and $150 per hour for work by paralegals. The contract does not include a pay limit.

The contracts, first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, also require the Legislature to cover additional out-of-pocket costs.

In addition to the Republicans attorneys, the five Democratic senators named in one of the lawsuits have retained attorneys from Madison-based Pines Bach law firm.

Under that contract, partners in the firm would be paid $300 an hour while staff attorneys would receive between $200 and $250 an hour. The Aug. 13 agreement required a $50,000 deposit and a provision that rates may be increased with written notice, while third-party and travel costs will also be billed to taxpayers.

The cost to taxpayers could increase further if Democratic Gov. Tony Evers hires outside attorneys to intervene in the cases. The governor suggested he might join the lawsuit last month, according to the Journal Sentinel.

The litigation

The Wisconsin Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the states set of 10-year legislative and congressional maps early last year after Evers vetoed Republicans preferred maps in 2021.

After calling for maps that made minimal changes to previous legislative district boundaries, the Wisconsin Supreme Court selected Evers preferred legislative and congressional maps. But Republicans alleged the governors legislative maps included a racial gerrymander and appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nations highest court then struck down Evers legislative maps but accepted his preferred congressional maps. The Wisconsin Supreme Court then selected the GOP-drawn legislative maps.

During that process and in the months since, the Wisconsin Supreme Courts liberal justices have dropped hints about how they would conduct another redistricting process.

For one, if they accept the new cases, the liberal justices are unlikely to request that new maps closely conform to previous district boundaries. Additionally, the liberal majority could draw its own maps rather than choose from a selection of pre-drawn maps.

Call to recuse

Whats more, the Republican-controlled Legislature has requested that Protasiewicz recuse herself, arguing she has pre-judged the cases, which could result in more Democratic-friendly maps being drawn before the 2024 election.

Liberal attorneys have argued there is no legal or ethical obligation for Protasiewicz to step aside, despite her comments during the campaign that she thinks the current maps are rigged or because she accepted nearly $10 million from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

The attorneys have argued the U.S. Supreme Court made clear that judicial candidates can discuss political issues, and nothing she said indicates that she has prejudged the case.

Redistricting experts say the states political geography, with Republicans spread out over the state but Democrats concentrated in the states biggest cities, makes it unlikely that any new set of legislative maps would give Democrats a legislative majority. But they also say that Wisconsins maps are among the most gerrymandered in the nation and Democrats would likely win many more seats under nonpartisan maps.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Election advantages due to district mapping
Two Indian Americans were on the GOP debate stage in Milwaukee. This is not as unusual as it sounds. Three European prime ministers  of Portugal, Ireland and the U.K.  are of Indian descent. Indians in the West set off few alarm bells among most white voters: They are not associated with religious extremism, geopolitical rivalry or identity politics.

Indian Americans lead multiple large U.S. companies. We pride ourselves on being the model for all other model minorities.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old entrepreneur and GOP presidential candidate, is what you get when you let being a model minority define who you are.

Ramaswamys anti-woke opinions are, I suspect, genuine and deeply held. I can see how they could emerge organically from his background as an upper-caste, Harvard-educated, libertarian debate bro.

But atop this foundation, Ramaswamy is trying to build the same sort of populist facade that former President Donald Trump painstakingly constructed in the decade prior to his election in 2016.

On that stage in Milwaukee, it looked for a while like Ramaswamy was the right man in the right party. He followed the political model Trump had created  convince the poorly educated that you are a business genius who, despite being Ivy League through and through, shares their resentment of elites. Ramaswamy was almost better at this than Trump himself, and certainly better than the stiffer establishment figures to both sides of him.

Trump is not a business genius, and I doubt Ramaswamy is either. And Ramaswamys arguments and positions make about as much sense as Trumps.

But Ramaswamy has clearly identified a path to success, dissected its component parts and, with brazen and probably unwarranted confidence, pursued it more diligently and skillfully than his white peers. I hope his parents, at least, are proud.

Ramaswamy is in the right party because, well, just look at todays Republicans. The facade of success appears to be all you need to succeed. It certainly beats the substance of reasoned positions.

The other Indian American on stage, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, stood out because she seemed to want to talk about real issues  the national debt, U.S. alliances, finding a post-Roe consensus on abortion. She sounded sensible and prepared  a model minority for a different era  and no doubt failed to convert a single primary voter.

The Republicans are almost unique in Western politics. The U.K. Conservatives have their problems but are far more connected to reality than their American cousins. So are the Democrats. The Democratic candidate in recent years closest to Ramaswamy in vibe  Ivy League credentials, weird ideas, a business background  was Andrew Yang. Democrats did not warm to Yang in the 2020 primary, and even his campaign for New York mayor went nowhere.

Most Indian diaspora politicians are still more like Haley. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is, like Ramaswamy, a slight and anxious man of Indian descent with a background in finance. But his appeal was always that he was a serious chap who was going to balance the books.

In recent months, Sunak has half-heartedly tried to throw red meat to the Brexit-loving, migrant-hating Tory base. His attempts to pass for a Boris Johnson-esque populist have been widely mocked. Ramaswamy is betting he will have more luck with a Trumpian, substance-challenged GOP.

To their credit, both the Tories and the Republicans seem to have embraced diaspora Indians. It makes political sense. Many of us can be reflexively suspicious of government intervention, convinced it is designed to help other people, not us. When we look at our successes in the West, we tell ourselves that  as 2012 Mitt Romney would say  we built it, with minimal help from anyone else.

But Ramaswamy hasnt thought his strategy through. An enraged and resentful Trump comes across as authentic, even charismatic to many voters. His bitterness sounds believable to his base and entertaining to independents.

Ramaswamy  who may actually believe this stuff more than Trump does  is more likely to come across to the same group as slick and superficial. The white voters hes wooing will have a hard time believing that Asian Americans deserve to be that angry about a changing America. If the system is working so well for model minorities, whats your problem?

Centrist pundits wonder vaguely how it is that Ramaswamy seems more annoying to them than Trump. Most Asian Americans already know why. Ramaswamy, an unquestionably impressive student, will soon learn.
One of the reporters who works at the small Kansas newspaper that was raided by authorities last month filed a federal lawsuit against the police chief Wednesday.

Deb Gruver believes Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody violated her constitutional rights when he abruptly snatched her personal cellphone out of her hands during a search where officers also seized computers from the Marion County Record's office, according to the lawsuit.

That Aug. 11 search and two others conducted at the homes of the newspaper's publisher and a City Council member thrust the town into the center of a debate over the press protections in the First Amendment.

Cody has said little publicly since the raids other than posting a defense of them on the police department's Facebook page. In court documents he filed to get the search warrants, he argued that he had probable cause to believe the newspaper and City Council member Ruth Herbel, whose home was also raided, violated state laws against identity theft or computer crimes.

But the newspaper's publisher, Eric Meyer, has said he believes the identity theft allegations provided a convenient excuse for the search, and the police chief was really upset about Gruver's investigation into his background with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department before he was hired in Marion this year. Meyer has said he plans to file his own lawsuit.

Gruver  a veteran reporter with more than three decades of experience  said in a statement that by filing her lawsuit "I'm standing up for journalists across the country." She previously worked at other newspapers in Kansas, Wyoming and Indiana and has won awards for her reporting.

"It is our constitutional right to do this job without fear of harassment or retribution, and our constitutional rights are always worth fighting for," said Gruver, who had the words "Freedom of the press" tattooed on her right forearm the same day her lawsuit was filed.

The police department's investigation of the newspaper began after a local restaurant owner accused reporters of improperly using personal information to access details about the status of her suspended driver's license and her record that included a DUI arrest. A spokesman for the agency that maintains those records has said the reporter's search on a public website was likely legal.

The lawsuit says that the warrant expressly said that the search was supposed to focus only on equipment that was used to access those records, which was done by another reporter at the paper. But after Cody handed Gruver a copy of the warrant and she told him that she needed to call the publisher, he quickly grabbed her personal phone and took it.

"In seizing Ms. Gruver's personal cellular phone despite the seizure exceeding the scope of the unreasonable and unlawful search warrant, Chief Cody acted in unreasonable and unnecessarily violent fashion, causing injury to plaintiff's Gruver's rights and her person," the lawsuit said.

One of the officers even read Gruver, another reporter and an office administrator their Miranda rights even though they were never arrested.

After the search of the newspaper office, officers went on to search the home Meyer shared with his 98-year-old mother. Video of that raid shows how distraught his mother became as officers searched through their belongings. Meyer said he believes that stress contributed to the death of his mother, Joan Meyer, a day later.

Legal experts believe the raid on the newspaper violated a federal privacy law or a state law shielding journalists from having to identify sources or turn over unpublished material to law enforcement.
UW-MADISON | FBI UPDATE

The FBI has released new photos of what Leo Burt might look like at about 75 years old. Burt is the only suspect in the bombing of Sterling Hall at UW-Madison five decades ago who was never apprehended.

Burt is still wanted in connection with the 1970 bombing amid protests against the Vietnam War.

Age-enhanced photos of Burt, released by the FBI on Thursday, predict he would have grayed hair with a receding hairline. One of the photos shows him with round shaped glasses similar to the kind he was pictured wearing in a 1969 photo.

The FBI continues to offer a $150,000 award for information leading to Burt's arrest and warns F he may be armed and dangerous.

In the early morning hours of Aug. 24, 1970, Karl Armstrong lit a fuse to a 2000 pound bomb made of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil rate and fuel oil inside a stolen Ford Econoline van outside Sterling Hall, where the UW-Madison's Army Mathematics Research Center was located on three floors.

Armstrong had conspired with his brother, Dwight, David Fine and Burt in the bombing that killed 33-year-old physicist Robert Fassnacht, who had been working in the basement at the time on a project unrelated to the Army research.

The blast left the Army research center largely intact but damaged 26 other buildings on campus.

Burt was indicted about a week and a half after the bombing on federal charges of sabotage, destruction of government property and conspiracy.

The Armstrong brothers and Fine were arrested, but Burt has never been found. Burt was last confirmed to be seen fleeing through a rear window of a boarding house in Peterborough, Ontario, leaving behind a wallet with a fake ID with the alias "Eugene Donald Fieldston."

Please see BURT, Page A4

Karl Armstrong served seven years in prison after initially receiving a 23-year sentence, while Dwight Armstrong served three years. Fine was sentenced to seven years in prison but served three.

In 2010, the FBI released age-enhanced photos of Burt, then 62 years old.

The bombing was considered the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in the U.S. until Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

Sterling Hall was also the target of arson in April. The UW-Madison Police Department said it believed the fires, started in two first-floor classrooms, were intentionally set.
Idahoans value our public schools, as demonstrated by this weeks election  voters passed all but one education funding measure. Im grateful voters stepped up to deliver crucial resources to schools where funding from the Legislature is inadequate.

Still, the most notable result was the successful recall of two West Bonner School District trustees. The district offers a cautionary tale of the damage that occurs when far-right politicians seize power. And it reminds us that ongoing vigilance is required to defend against extremism at all levels of government.

In June, West Bonner trustees Keith Rutledge and Susan Brown voted to install a far-right politician with zero school administrative experience. This superintendent holds fringe views, including support for censuring curriculum and voucher schemes that siphon funds from public schools to private and religious schools. His lack of experience, coupled with his anti-public education ideology should have disqualified him.

Instead, Rutledge and Brown saw these as assets.

2 Magic Valley school districts get voter approval for tax-supported funding Voters approved levies for Castleford and Valley school districts, but Shoshone fell short of the 66% needed for its $8.2 million bond.

The superintendents first priority was personal gain. On top of a six-figure salary exceeding his predecessors, he asked for eye-popping perks like a personal vehicle, car insurance and free gasoline, a housing allowance, relocation reimbursement, and free meals. A red flag was embedded in his bizarre request for the district to cover legal costs for both himself and his wife.

Then came the mismanagement. Despite fierce opposition from the community, he advanced plans to combine the middle school and high school. He fired two administrators without cause (prompting a lawsuit) and replaced them with political allies, one of whom is the spouse of a vocal anti-Semite. The State Board of Education warned he lacked the credentials to hold the job lawfully and educators fled the chaotic district.

Fortunately, parents, educators, and business owners sprang into action. Working across party lines, they publicized the superintendents terrible leadership and the lack of transparency from Rutledge and Brown during the hiring and negotiations. Volunteers knocked on doors and built a homegrown recall effort, gathering enough signatures to put the trustees on the ballot.

Quote Extremist candidates campaigning today share the far-rights objectives: To sow chaos, bully teachers, and undermine our schools.

With massive voter turnout and by decisive margins, Rutledge and Brown were successfully recalled.

The efforts of the concerned residents were remarkable. Still, serious damage was done and the future of West Bonner Schools remains uncertain. In one of their final acts, the trustees amended the superintendents contract, making his removal more difficult.

It is imperative that Idaho avoids future calamities like this one.

In November, voters across Idaho will elect school board members. Extremist candidates campaigning today share the far-rights objectives: To sow chaos, bully teachers, and undermine our schools. Idaho voters must pay close attention to these races and vote for candidates who will protect and improve our schools, rather than tear them down.
When Wes Brown sought out children's books for his two young sons, he made sure to seek titles that reflected the family he and his husband were building.

He found that in one called "The Family Book," a 2003 picture book by Todd Parr. It depicts families of all kinds: the traditional nuclear family, but also families with one parent or step-parents, as well as adoptive families and same-sex parents like Brown and his husband.

But across the country, books and lessons that represent different families and identities are increasingly the target of conservative pushback  even when they're for the youngest of learners. Parr's book for preschoolers and early readers is often among those challenged by parents and activists.

"It is important my kids are definitely exposed to that," Brown said. "What these parents are really doing is demonstrating how fragile their worldview is, that a children's book is enough to shatter it."

Efforts to ban books have been surging at school and public libraries. Of the bans targeting picture books, about three-quarters are books that address LGBTQ+ themes and roughly half are stories that mention race, said Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America.

"There's legislation out there that could lead to felony offenses and criminalization, (teacher) decertification," Meehan said. "When you see this threatening environment, more and more we see educators responding in an overly cautious approach, and that shows up in how they think about their classroom libraries."

Objections to the titles often involve arguments that they are not age-appropriate. In some of the many challenges Parr's book has faced over the years, opponents have taken issue with a line that reads, "Some families have two moms or two dads," saying it was not suitable for young children.

Educators and free-speech advocates said the books often simply acknowledge the existence of different identities. That's crucial, they say, to help young children develop empathy and an understanding of themselves  especially for children whose families include people of color or LGBTQ+ relatives.

The disputes have spilled over into classrooms. In Wake County, North Carolina, a preschool teacher resigned last year after an uproar over flashcards that depicted LGBTQ+ families, to teach colors based on the characters' clothing.

In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, replaced the state's early childhood learning director in April over the use of a guide for preschool teachers. The governor denounced the guide as teaching "woke concepts" because of language about inclusion and structural racism.

The book comes from the National Association for the Education of Young Children  the nonprofit professional association for early childhood education, which accredits daycares and preschools. The fourth edition of the group's "Developmentally Appropriate Practice Book" says in part that children "begin to see how they are represented in society" in preschool and that the classroom should be a place of "affirmation and healing."

The Alabama official's ouster was the most prevalent example of how censorship and restrictions on teaching are extending beyond the K-12 sphere into early learning, said Leah Austin, president and CEO of the National Black Child Development Institute.

Research has found that children as young as 6 months old can perceive race-based differences. Limiting content denies children opportunities to learn about themselves, and to relate to other people, Austin said.

For young children, having access to books that interest them is also a crucial factor in becoming strong readers and battling disparities in literacy rates, said Michelle Martin, a youth and children's services professor at the University of Washington. Although the diversity of children's books has grown in recent years, representation is still lagging.

Martin recalled growing up in South Carolina, where her parents had to drink from segregated water fountains. As a child, she had little choice but to read books that depicted stories far removed from her experiences.

"There were really limited books that my generation had that reflected who we are," she said. "Those books are beginning to be much more widely published, and those are the ones that are being targeted."

In Florida, where Brown and his family live, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has pushed through legislation that bans mentions of gender identity and sexuality in classrooms for all grades, including public pre-K programs. Supporters of the law say parents, not teachers, should be broaching those subjects with their children.

For gay people of his generation, Brown recalled, building a family often felt like a remote possibility. When he and his husband first started dating in 2002, it was illegal in the state of Florida for gay couples to adopt a child.

"It was like a dream, but it's a dream that's so far off," he said. "It's like, 'I want to fly like Superman.' You don't even really think it's something you can have."

The couple revisited the question in their 30s and decided to pursue adoption. Brown said he and his husband know it is inevitable for their sons, now ages 5 and 7, to encounter questions about having two dads.

"These laws are actually not meant to keep people from talking about sexuality," he said "It is to prevent queer families from being talked about, the queer experience from being talked about. It is very much aimed at us."

These were the top 10 books people wanted removed from schools and libraries in 2021 1. 'Gender Queer' by Maia Kobabe 2. 'Lawn Boy' by Jonathan Evison 3. 'All Boys Arent Blue' by George M. Johnson 4. 'Out of Darkness' by Ashley Hope Perez 5. 'The Hate U Give' by Angie Thomas 6. 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' by Sherman Alexie 7. 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl' by Jesse Andrews 8. 'The Bluest Eye' by Toni Morrison 10. 'Beyond Magenta' by Susan Kuklin
Republicans have not talked about abortion as much as Democrats have in the fight for control of the legislature  but their money has.

In August, Gov. Glenn Youngkins Spirit of Virginia political action committee donated nearly $100,000 to a handful of candidates in competitive districts who support further restrictions.

Meanwhile, an auto shop owned by Del. Kim Taylor, R-Dinwiddie, and her husband has sponsored events and programs for a crisis pregnancy center whose board includes her husband.

In various Facebook posts, both Titan Auto & Tire and Grace Home Ministries have touted sponsorships from Taylors company to host fundraising events and repair work on the centers transportation vans and maintenance on the vehicles of center clients.

We are proud to support Grace Home Ministries, the auto shops Facebook page said in posts.

In a statement to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Taylor noted her experience when she was once a single mother following a divorce from her first husband. (The experience led her to connect with other single mothers for support.)

I have firsthand experience with the realities of being a single mother in a hard situation, so it was a natural choice for our business to support an organization committed to helping young mothers and ensuring that they have the resources they need, said Taylor, who faces Democrat Kimberly Pope Adams in House District 82, based in the city of Petersburg and Dinwiddie and Prince George counties.

When asked where she stands on abortion laws, Taylor said a woman should never be made to feel that her right to motherhood is being denied by circumstance and stressed her commitment to legislation focused on economic growth.

Clinics reporting increase in patients traveling farther

Grace Home Ministries is an affiliate of Heartbeat International  Americas largest network of crisis pregnancy centers that also operates internationally. According to Heartbeat Internationals website, centers under its umbrella do not recommend or refer abortions, abortion-inducing medications or birth control medications.

Grace Home Ministries specifically serves teens who experience unplanned pregnancies and offers a mentorship program during and after their pregnancy. Clients are offered counseling on adoption and if they choose to become parents.

While Grace Home Ministries is transparent about its mission, some other crisis pregnancy centers pose as medical or abortion clinics.

Crisis pregnancy centers are an optional resource for pregnant people where they can receive counseling and items like diapers or formula. Centers operate as nonprofit organizations and often have a religious affiliation. Some centers provide ultrasounds or testing for sexually transmitted diseases. They are not classified as medical centers so they are not subject to the regulations that abortion clinics and medical offices are.

Centers have faced scrutiny nationwide from abortion advocates who say the centers can mislead or be dangerous to some patients. Earlier this summer, a Massachusetts resident filed a lawsuit against a center for failing to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy, which is when an egg fertilizes outside of the uterus. According to the suit, when her fallopian tube ruptured a month after her visit to a center, it caused internal bleeding and led to emergency surgery.

In Virginia, a woman who escorts patients into a Bristol abortion clinic told The Times-Dispatch in June that patients seeking abortions sometimes did not trust that the clinic was real after previously visiting crisis pregnancy centers by accident.

In the last Southern state without an abortion ban, we cant afford Kim Taylors radical agenda, said Han Jones, interim director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.

Abortion is currently legal in Virginia for any reason until about 26 weeks of gestation. For later-stage abortions, three physicians must certify that continued pregnancy is life-threatening to the patient. With 16 abortion providers in Virginia and the state having the least restrictive abortion laws in the South, clinics are reporting an uptick in patients traveling farther to receive care.

Abortion on the ballot, either way

While Democrats continue to go on the offense against their GOP opponents over their differing stances on abortion access, Republican campaign messaging has often focused on the economy and parents having more influence in public education.

As Democrats have targeted Republicans in a series of ads for supporting abortion bans and restrictions, Republican advertising has attacked Democrats, calling them too extreme and claiming they are not tough enough on crime and favor higher taxes.

When asked about specific abortion laws, many GOP candidates have expressed support for a Youngkin-backed proposal that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of gestation with exceptions for rape, incest, and risk to life of the pregnant person.

While candidates frame it as allowing up to 15 weeks or almost four months, activists in support of abortion rights stress that a ban is a ban.

The status of access to the procedure will hinge on this years General Assembly elections.

During the 2023 legislative session, an array of bills to restrict or ban abortion  ranging from a Youngkin-backed 15-week proposal to life-at-conception bills  failed to become law. As Democrats vow to protect current law and try to enshrine it in the states constitution, many GOP legislators have now coalesced behind Youngkins 15-week idea or have not disclosed their specific positions.

Of the 140 seats in the legislature, a handful of races in competitive districts  like the Taylor-Adams contest  will determine partisan control of each chamber. Republicans currently control the House of Delegates, and Democrats control the Senate.
On Tuesday, the Marion City Council will hear a report from representatives of West Marion Inc. as part of the regular meeting for September.

The City Council will hold its first regular meeting for September at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Addies Chapel United Methodist Church, located at 201 Ridley St.

The first item on the agenda will be honoring the Citizen of the Month.

Next, the council members will consider the consent agenda. This consists of routine and non-controversial items that can be adopted with one motion of council.

The consent agenda includes approval of the Aug. 15 regular meeting minutes and Aug. 21 planning session minutes, authorizing the city to apply for state funding for the lead service line identification and replacement project, and adoption of the capital project ordinance for the First National Bank Building/City Hall renovation project.

After the consent agenda, the public comment period will follow. This is the time when the public can speak to council about any issue or item not on the agenda.

Council members will hear updates from West Marion Inc. They will consider a contract for the sewer asset, inventory and assessment grant project professional and engineering services.

Council members will consider a temporary street closure for the McDowell High School Homecoming parade and adopt a resolution accepting Governors Highway Safety Program grants.

City Manager Bob Boyette will give his report to council.
The McDowell Trails Association is ready to ring in fall and cooler temperatures with these events scheduled for the month of September.

The MTA hike scheduled for September will be a journey up the Bernard Mountain Trail, the newest G5 trail located near Old Fort. It will take place on Saturday, Sept. 9, starting at 9 a.m. The journey is a six-mile out-and-back hike that features roughly 900 feet of elevation gain and descent. The hike will also include a climb to a ridge with some views and return along the same path. The Bernard Mountain Trail is a short distance up the Point Lookout Trail from the Old Fort Trailhead on Old N.C. 70, and hikers are asked to meet at the trailhead at the time of departure.

Hikers are encouraged to bring water and snacks and wear sturdy shoes with good tread for a natural surface trail. This is a multi-use trail  hike and bike  so be on the lookout for descending mountain bikes.

Registration for the Bernard Mountain Trail will continue through Thursday, Sept. 7. Contact Steve Pierce at stevepierce50@gmail.com.

Trail Workday on Copper Ridge

Celebrate National Public Lands Day by stewarding Copper Ridge, one of our public trials in Old Fort, alongside several of our conservation partners and community members! The event will take place on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 9 a.m. at Hillman Beer in Old Fort, located at 78 Catawba Ave. Volunteers will meet at Hillman and will carpool to the trailhead.

From there participants will be split into smaller groups to tackle a variety of tasks including the beautification of the parking area, trimming along the trail corridor, improving the tread, weed eating, brush cutting, removing fallen trees, and more. The workday is expected to last around four hours before return to Hillman Beer Old Fort.

Tools, safety equipment and training will be provided by MTA based on the number of reserved parties willing to help. Water and light snacks will be made available. Volunteers are encouraged bring a daypack to carry water and tools, a change of clothes, closed-toed shoes preferably with ankle support, and long pants.

Other community partners participating in the workday includes Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, McDowell Tech Trekkers, G5 Trail Collective and the Friends of Fonta Flora State Trail.

To RSVP for the trail workday, click here.

For more information on the McDowell Trails Association, including events throughout the year, visit https://mcdowelltrails.org/.
At least 73 people died in a fire that devastated a four-storey building in central Johannesburg on Thursday August 31, the citys emergency services announced.

A further 52 people were injured, according to statements made to a local TV station by emergency services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi. The injured, some of whom suffered smoke inhalation, were taken to hospitals for treatment, he added.

The fire, which broke out on Wednesday night, has been extinguished and firefighters were busy searching for other possible victims on Thursday morning. Were going floor by floor in this search, Mr. Mulaudzi told the ENCA channel.

Rescuers were taking charred bodies out of the building and laying them on the street under sheets or blankets, as a journalist observed on the spot. The cause of the tragedy was not yet known. Police on the scene cordoned off the building, in front of which ambulances and fire trucks were parked.

This is a sad day for the city of Johannesburg. In over 20 years of service, I have never come across anything like this, said Robert Mulaudzi.

The building, a brick-red and white edifice with burnt-out windows according to TV images, is located in a deprived area of the former business district of South Africas economic center. Residents had settled in informally, according to the spokesman. Many people may have been trapped inside when the fire broke out, he estimated.
The Oujda public prosecutors office initiated, on August 29, an investigation based on the testimony of an individual who alleges to have been victim, along with 4 others, of a violent incident at sea, as per a judicial source that spoke with MAP.

The group of five, who were riding jet-skis, reportedly became lost at sea during a recreational trip, according to the same source.

The Public Prosecutors Office has directed the Royal Gendarmerie in Oujda to collect information on the incidents circumstances. The investigation involves conducting interviews with family members and entourage of the young individuals.

The Public Prosecutors Office confirmed to MAP that the investigation is ongoing.
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The number of patients with sepsis requiring mechanical ventilation, from the date of onset of sepsis to 30 days. Credit: American Journal of Critical Care (2023). DOI: 10.4037/ajcc2023299

An analysis of 10 years of health data showed that risk factors for needing mechanical ventilation changed for patients with newly diagnosed sepsis as more time passed after onset.

In the study, 13.5% of patients with a new diagnosis of sepsis required initiation of mechanical ventilation. More than half of these patients required mechanical ventilation within the first 24 hours after sepsis onset, while initiation of mechanical ventilation occurred after 24 hours in 47.4% of patients.

"Factors Associated With Initiation of Mechanical Ventilation in Patients With Sepsis: Retrospective Observational Study" examined 10 years of data from the University of Michigan Medical Center electronic health data warehouse. The analysis included adult patients with sepsis who were not receiving mechanical ventilation at sepsis onset. The study is published in the American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC).

Co-author Robert Freundlich, MD, MS, MSCI, is an associate professor, department of anesthesiology, and chief of the anesthesiology informatics research division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee. The research was conducted during his research fellowship in critical care at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

"Requiring mechanical ventilation is often a pivotal point for patients with sepsis, and their risk of respiratory failure may vary with time," he said. "Identifying patients at high risk and implementing targeted interventions in a timely manner has the potential to significantly improve outcomes."

A total of 35,020 patients met sepsis criteria, and 28,747 patients were eligible for inclusion after exclusion criteria were applied. The dataset spanned July 10, 2009, to Sept. 7, 2019.

Of all eligible patients, 3,891 (13.5%) required mechanical ventilation within 30 days after sepsis onset. Of these, 2,046 (52.6%) required mechanical ventilation within 24 hours of diagnosis. Mechanical ventilation was subsequently initiated for 441 (11.3%) patients from one to two days after sepsis onset, and for 312 (8.0%) patients from two to three days following diagnosis. The remaining 1,092 (28.1%) experienced late respiratory failure or required mechanical ventilation three to 30 days after diagnosis.

Patients requiring mechanical ventilation had higher baseline illness severity and a higher prevalence of 27 of the 35 comorbidities on the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index, which measures overall severity of comorbidities.

They also had a higher in-hospital mortality rate (21%) than patients who did not require mechanical ventilation (7%). Further analysis revealed that of the patients who received mechanical ventilation before but not after sepsis onset, only 35 (4% of 822) died prior to hospital discharge.

Factors that were independently associated with an increased likelihood that mechanical ventilation would be needed included race, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score and congestive heart failure. Risks decreased with time for the SOFA score and congestive heart failure and varied with time for four comorbidities and three culture results.

The researchers recommend future proactive studies focus on the effects of fluid resuscitation and other processes of care on the need for mechanical ventilation in this patient population. The use of noninvasive ventilation and high-flow nasal cannula may also impact the need for intubation and mechanical ventilation and should be evaluated.

More information: Robert E. Freundlich et al, Factors Associated With Initiation of Mechanical Ventilation in Patients With Sepsis: Retrospective Observational Study, American Journal of Critical Care (2023). DOI: 10.4037/ajcc2023299

Provided by American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A study led by the Cicely Saunders Institute at King's College London has found that while critical care admissions for people with dementia are going down, they are increasing during the last year of life.

The study included people with dementia identified from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, which covers four South London boroughs (Southwark, Lambeth, Croydon, Lewisham).

The researchers found that while the number of people with dementia admitted to critical care units has decreased over the years, there is a small increase in admissions for people with dementia in the last year of life. This study does not compare these trends with critical care admissions data for people without dementia in their last year of life.

Critical care admissions can be lifesaving, but a significant proportion of patients admitted to critical care will die in hospital. The one-year survival of people with dementia following a critical care admission is 48%, which is similar to that observed in general older populations. Careful consideration of care needs, a multidisciplinary approach and communicating with the patient and their families about preferences and end-of-life wishes are all vital for care planning during critical care admissions.

In the first study of its kind, the Empowering Better End of Life Care (EMBED-Care) team at King's College London and University College London were able to track critical care admissions of people with dementia in South London by linking data from the South London and Maudsley's Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) with national hospital records.

"As the number of people living and dying with dementia is increasing, understanding how we can provide high-quality, equitable care to people with dementia until the end of their lives must be a priority. Having access to data can give an insight into care experiences of people with dementia and help to shape and improve the quality of the care they receive. Better quality, nationwide data on the use and quality of dementia health care is an important next step to provide evidence that can inform service planning for people with dementia and improve their care," said Emel Yorganci, lead author and ESRC Ph.D. Training Fellow at King's College London.

Robert Stewart, Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology & Clinical Informatics, King's College London, and Academic Lead for the NIHR Maudsley BRC's Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) added, "While recognition of dementia by clinical teams has increased, skills and knowledge to deliver care for those who may be approaching the end of life are often lacking."

"Quality indicators such as the percentage of people with dementia who had a critical care admission in the last month and year of life, and the documentation of treatment and care preferences may drive improvements in care quality for people with dementia until the end of their lives."

Previous research from the Cicely Saunders Institute at King's College London has shown that eight out of ten patients diagnosed with dementia had at least one hospital visit in the last year of their lives, and a quarter of people with dementia visited an emergency visit in the final month before death.

The paper is published in Age and Ageing.

More information: Emel Yorganci et al, Survival and critical care use among people with dementia in a large English cohort, Age and Ageing (2023). Journal information: Age and Ageing
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During the experiment, trajectories of dendritic cells (blue) were projected over several hours, highlighting their robust directional migration. Credit:  Jonna Alanko/Science Immunology

When fighting disease, our immune cells need to reach their target quickly. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have now discovered that immune cells actively generate their own guidance system to navigate through complex environments. This challenges earlier notions about these movements.

The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science Immunology, enhance our knowledge of the immune system and offer potential new approaches to improve human immune response.

Immunologic threats like germs or toxins can arise everywhere inside the human body. Luckily, the immune systemour very own protective shieldhas its intricate ways of coping with these threats. For example, a crucial aspect of our immune response involves the coordinated collective movement of immune cells during infection and inflammation. But how do our immune cells know which way to go?

A group of scientists from the Sixt group and the Hannezo group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) addressed this question. In their study the researchers shed light on the immune cells' ability to collectively migrate through complex environments.

Dendritic cellsthe messengers

Dendritic cells (DCs) are one of the key players in our immune response. They function as a messenger between the innate responsethe body's first reaction to an invader, and the adaptive responsea delayed reaction that targets very specific germs and creates memories to fight off future infections. Like detectives, DCs scan tissues for intruders.

Once they locate an infection site, they are activated and immediately migrate to the lymph nodes, where they hand over the battle plan and initiate the next steps in the cascade. Their migration towards the lymph nodes is guided by chemokinessmall signaling proteins released from lymph nodesthat establish a gradient.

In the past, it was believed that DCs and other immune cells react to this external gradient, moving along towards a higher concentration. However, novel research conducted at ISTA now challenges this notion. Trajectories of dendritic cells over time as obtained from experiments (left) and simulations (right). Their directional bias to move as a unified front results from the collective action of individual cells locally internalizing chemokines. Credit:  Hannezo group/ Science Immunology

One receptortwo functions

The scientists took a close look at a receptora surface structure found on activated DCs called "CCR7." CCR7's essential function is to bind to a lymph node-specific molecule (CCL19), which triggers the next steps of the immune response. "We found that CCR7 not only senses CCL19 but also actively contributes to shaping the distribution of chemokine concentrations," Jonna Alanko, a former postdoc from the lab of Michael Sixt, explains.

Using different experimental techniques, they demonstrated that as DCs migrate, they take up and internalize chemokines via the CCR7 receptor, resulting in local depletion of chemokine concentration. With less signaling molecules around, they move further into higher chemokine concentrations. This dual function allows immune cells to generate their own guidance cues to orchestrate their collective migration more effectively. The video shows the collective migration of dendritic cells (magenta) over several hours. By consuming the chemokine CCL19, cells generate a dynamic gradient that guides them to move away from the source at the bottom. Credit:  Sixt group/Science Immunology

Movement depends on cell population

To understand this mechanism quantitatively at the multicellular scale, Alanko and colleagues teamed up with theoretical physicists Edouard Hannezo and Mehmet Can Ucar, also at ISTA. With their expertise in cell movement and dynamics, they established computer simulations that were able to reproduce Alanko's experiments.

With these simulations, the scientists predicted that the dendritic cells' movement not only depends on their individual responses to the chemokine but also on the density of the cell population. "This was a simple but nontrivial prediction; the more cells there are the sharper the gradient they generateit really highlights the collective nature of this phenomenon," says Can Ucar.

Additionally, the researchers found that T cellsspecific immune cells that destroy harmful germsalso benefit from this dynamic interplay to enhance their own directional movement. "We are eager to find out more about this novel interaction principle between cell populations with ongoing projects," the physicist continues.

Enhancing the immune response

The discoveries are a step in a new direction for how cells move inside our bodies. In contradiction to what was previously believed, immune cells not only respond to chemokines, but they also play an active role in shaping their own environment by consuming these chemical signals. This dynamic regulation of signaling cues provides an elegant strategy to guide their own movement and that of other immune cells.

This research has significant implications for our understanding of how immune responses are coordinated within the body. By uncovering these mechanisms, scientists could potentially design new strategies to enhance immune cell recruitment to specific sites, such as tumor cells or areas of infection.

More information: Jonna Alanko et al, CCR7 acts as both a sensor and a sink for CCL19 to coordinate collective leukocyte migration, Science Immunology (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.adc9584. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.adc9584 Journal information: Science Immunology
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Research participants wore a virtual-reality headset with embedded cameras that allowed them to see the actual food in front of them. This allowed them to interact with food in the real world while experiencing the sights and sounds of a virtual-reality restaurant. Credit: John Long

In 2020, more than four in ten people in the United States had obesity, an increase from three in ten people in the year 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To better understand eating behaviors and food choices that may contribute to obesity, researchers investigate the conditions and environments people encounter while eating in the modern worldlike smartphones, advertisements, and the company of others.

Now, researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development found that mixed reality, or the inclusion of real-world video footage into a virtual environment or vice versa, can simplify and improve the way this research is conducted.

With the support of the Center for Immersive Experiences, Travis Masterson, Broadhurst Career Development Professor for the Study of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at Penn State and assistant professor of nutritional sciences, and his graduate student, John Long, evaluated the use of mixed reality in eating behavior and food choice studies. They published their findings in Frontiers in Nutrition.

Laboratories, restaurants and virtual restaurants

Currently, eating behavior is most often studied in laboratories. Laboratories, however, are often sterile environments, unlike a restaurant full of people, sounds, sights, and smells.

Since not every laboratory can be turned into a realistic replica of an Italian restaurant or sushi bar, Masterson and Long said that mixed-reality can help researchers better emulate the real-world environments influencing eating behaviors, resulting in more accurate data. With the help of virtual-reality (VR) headsets and the ever-improving software behind them, scientists can simulate a specific environment instead of physically building one.

"Putting participants in these types of environments saves time and money," Masterson said. "Being able to conduct research in a way that promotes sustainability and cost effectiveness is key."

Masterson explained that this technology could also allow researchers to engage with communities who are often omitted in research.

"The mixed-reality headsets are mobile, so we aren't confined to a laboratory or participants who have the resources to travel to one," he said. "We could go out to a farmers' market in an under-represented town to conduct these studies, for example."

The promise of mixed reality

In VR, every aspect of the world that the user sees is computer-generated, even parts of their own body that enter their field of vision. Long explained that newer headsets can track a person's hands and then render a computer-generated hand in the virtual world. This is excellent for sustaining immersion in the virtual world, but it is not so helpful when real-life objects are a main component of the research, Long said.

A scene from inside the virtual restaurant. Credit: John Long

Small video cameras that are a component of the VR headsets, called pass-through cameras, allow for the inclusion of real objects in the virtual environment, creating a window to the real world. This creates the mixed-reality experience.

"The pass-through cameras scan for the user's hand and place a digital disk around it, which allows them to see their real hand within the virtual display," Long said. "They can also see the real food when their hand is near it. This way, the participants can easily interact with the food while still feeling immersed in the virtual environment."

The researchers explained that attempting to eat real food while seeing a computer-rendered hand, fork and meal is awkward for diners, even when everything is in the proper location.

Participants in the experiment indicated that the pass-through cameras made the process of eating while wearing a headset much smoother because they saw their real hand and the real food they were consuming within the virtual setting. Long explained that these cameras help to obtain results of eating behavior that mimic observations in the real world.

"If any aspect of the process was unnatural for the participants, the results of the study could be skewed," Long said. "The pass-through cameras make the experience as realistic as possible while securing results that more accurately reflect a real-world experience than if they were taken in a sterile laboratory without the virtual environment."

Testing the mixed-reality restaurant

For the study, the researchers recruited eight experts in eating behavior and sensory science to test a mixed-reality restaurant environment they had developed. The researchers refined the mixed-reality environment based on the participants' feedback, and then the participants evaluated the second version of the mixed-reality restaurant. During both sessions, participants ate a basic meal in Masterson's laboratory while wearing a VR headset.

When creating the initial virtual environment, the researchers started with a minimalistic depiction of a restaurant with some ambient sounds and, most importantly, real food for the participants to interact with. After receiving feedback from the participants, the team improved the virtual restaurant to avoid any distractions that would limit the ability to become immersed in the experience.

The team improved the scene's lighting and added virtual diners, more background noise, and restaurant-specific decorations. This way, the virtual restaurant felt less sterile and more like a real, bustling location. At the same time, the improved scene included many of the factors that typically affect a person's eating behavior in the real world.

"People can't work with an isolated or strange environment that doesn't feel authentic," Masterson said. "Seeing social interaction and even the environment outside of the restaurant makes the scene and the participants' interactions within it realistic."

The future of eating-behavior research?

Through this study and the participant surveys taken during the process, Masterson and Long confirmed that mixed-reality technology can elevate researchers' ability to assess eating behavior without doing costly research in an actual restaurant. Understanding the aspects of a setting that can influence a person's eating decisions is fundamental to creating a change in the population's health, the researchers said.

"What our lab has done is confirm the validity of a variety of tools that researchers can utilize based on the question they have," Masterson said. "Studying eating behavior is important in today's world, and mixed reality can make that a much easier and more sustainable process."

More information: John W. Long et al, The development of an immersive mixed-reality application to improve the ecological validity of eating and sensory behavior research, Frontiers in Nutrition (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1170311 Journal information: Frontiers in Nutrition
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Nematodes are pseudocoelomate animals, many of which are parasites of plants and animals. Credit: CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

Has the news about an Australian woman with a living, wriggling roundworm in her brain got you spooked?

After experiencing abdominal pain and night sweats that developed into forgetfulness and depression, the 64-year-old woman was sent to a hospital. An MRI scan did reveal something unusual in her brain, but the roundworm was not discovered until the surgeon peered into her skull.

Normally, this type of worm only infects snakes. This unprecedented discovery in a human surprised physicians and scientists alike, so it's natural for the rest of us to have questions, too. Could this type of roundworm pose a threat closer to home? Is this what the next pandemic looks like?

Here to address everyone's new worries about worms: UC Riverside experts on infectious roundworms, also known as nematodes. Two nematology professors and a professor of biomedical sciences weigh in on what happened in the Australian case, which worms pose a threat in California, and the best ways to avoid infections.

Simon "Niels" Groen is assistant professor of evolutionary systems biology in UCR's Department of Nematology. He typically studies the effects of plant chemicals on interactions between hosts and parasites.

Q: Now that it has been documented infecting a person, how concerned should the rest of us be about this worm?

A: Even though they're mostly found in pythons, from time to time they can end up in other animals. They've been recorded as infecting a koala, as well as rodents and now a human. This does suggest they can infect a wider range of species than the one they're normally associated with.

It is not known whether these parasites can generally infect humans more broadly, or even other species of pythons. More research is needed to learn that, and these knowledge gaps create the opportunity for us to be surprised by new infections. However, parasites and pathogens are usually relatively host specific.

This particular nematode's behavior is surprising. It was able to cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the nervous system. Few nematodes can do that in any host, human or animal.

Though there may be additional infections in the future, I don't think there is a reason to be very worried that this worm will start infecting a lot of people. The worm they found in this woman got through several barriers. They suspect there were nematode eggs on leafy greens that she foraged. Also, it has been reported that the woman was immunocompromised.

Normally, if we eat nematode eggs we'd release them in our stool, and nothing happens. For most species of nematodes, that's how we get rid of them. In many other cases, the human immune system takes them out.

Nematodes are among the most abundant animals on Earth, only a small fraction of them are parasites of humans, animals, or plants. However, the infectious ones can do a lot of damage.

Q: How did this woman get infected in the first place and how can readers avoid doing what she did?

A: It is suspected, again, that there were nematode eggs on greens harvested from an area near a lake, where the python hosts are common. If the woman in Australia had thoroughly washed the greens, she may not have become infected, though we're not completely sure.

Generally, washing your greens will get rid of the eggs. Wash your hands, and your greens, and definitely cook your meat and your fish. Eating sushi carries a risk, in this sense. Infectious nematodes can be found in tuna and salmon. We need a good food monitoring system to check for the occurrence of these worms and their eggs.

The FDA and the CDC advise that greens should be washed in running water. Although the best length of time the greens must be washed for has not been determined, I would perhaps follow the CDC's recommendation for washing hands, which is to wash for 20 seconds at least.

Don't panic. Just make sure to be clean. This was a unique occurrence. Pinworm, hookworm, and Ascaris are the ones we should generally continue to be vigilant against.

Q: Where do hookworm and pinworm show up?

A: Hookworm and a couple of other nematode parasites infect up to a quarter of the population in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Central and South America. There are some species that occur in Southern California, but typically they aren't as big a problem in our part of the world.

Pinworm, however, is common in children. While an infected person sleeps, female pinworms lay thousands of eggs in the folds of skin around the anus. People can experience anal itching and restless sleep. Then the worms can enter the gut after the eggs have hatched and infect the intestines.

The eggs can easily spread from child to child. Skin to skin or even skin to clothes contact can spread it. There are common compounds, benzamidazoles, that can treat this, although increasing roundworm resistance to these compounds is a phenomenon of concern.

Adler Dillman is professor of parasitology and chair of UCR's Department of Nematology. His laboratory studies host immune responses to parasites, and how parasites evade or suppress immunity.

Q: Given that occurrences of nematode infections are lower here than in some other places, is there a danger that people won't take precautions, or recognize infections when they occur?

A: It's true that most doctors aren't used to diagnosing this kind of thing. It's interesting. I've been teaching parasitology since 2015, and I typically have 200 students. I always ask them which parasitic nematodes we have in the U.S., and they're all under the impression that we don't have them here.

Take trichonosis, which is usually caused by eating undercooked meat, like pork. In some places like Alaska where people eat more hunted game meat like wolf or bear, there is a danger of contracting trichinosis.

Q: What other kinds of infectious worms pose a threat in California?

A: Officials in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties are concerned about a parasite of dogs. They contacted me last year to help them figure out where it's coming from. The parasite, Heterobilharzia americana, can cause dogs to get lethargic, lose their appetite, and even kill them in a matter of months if it isn't treated.

My students and I have pinpointed a portion of the Colorado River, where it crosses into the state from Arizona, in a town called Blythe. It's pretty wild because it was never known to be this far west.

Dogs are getting it because it's hot, so they're jumping into the water. The worm can penetrate the skin of the dog and enter the bloodstream. It then lays eggs that lodge in the liver, which can cause inflammation and liver failure.

There is some evidence to suggest it could transfer to humans and potentially cause liver damage, but this is not something that has been studied very much. Ethics and cost have limited study of these organisms in primates.

Prevailing wisdom is that if infected, humans might get itchy, but not have as severe an infection. Once in humans, our immune system usually takes them out. They generally don't get into our bloodstream. At least, that's what we believe for this particular parasite.

Emma Wilson is professor of biomedical sciences in UCR's School of Medicine, and associate dean of the school's graduate division. Her lab is primarily focused on the immune response in the brain following Toxoplasma gondii infection.

Q: Any advice for parents wondering whether their child has an infection?

A: Enterobius, more commonly known as pinworm, is the most common worm infection in the U.S. You may not believe this, but kids don't always wash their hands. They put their fingers in their mouths and transmit the eggs after scratching their backsides. To work out whether a child is infected you can use sticky tape overnight. When the worms crawl out of the anus, they get stuck, and you can observe them on the tape. I advise getting medication quickly to clear these parasites.

Q: Thoughts on other common worm infections?

A: Tapeworms are eaten in undercooked meat, especially pork. These are really large worms that lie in the gut, but don't cause much pathology. However, if the eggs that are shed in feces are ingested then they can get lost in the human hostjust like the python parasite. Those eggs hatch and the larvae can migrate to the brain. If that occurs, it causes significant symptoms. This is called neurocystercicosis. Adults that suddenly cultivate epilepsy may have this infection.

Pets can harbor worms, and it's really important for their health and human health to get dewormed regularly by the vet. Larval worms for these parasites can also get lost in humans and cause disease, so please deworm!
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Fluence correction factors for new formulations and commercial materials. (a) Vertebra bone tissue-equivalent materials (b) muscle tissue-equivalent materials. Reference dashed lines highlighted maximum tissue thicknesses of each target tissue a proton may pass through in a patient (4 cm for bone and 15 cm for muscle). Type A uncertainties are presented with each error bar. Credit: Physics in Medicine & Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/acb637

NPL scientists have worked on a range of projects that are set to significantly improve the accuracy of a type of radiotherapy treatment called proton beam radiotherapy. The benefits of this therapy include more precise targeting of cancer tumors without damaging surrounding healthy tissue. It massively minimizes the unpleasant side effects of radiotherapy, particularly in the case of pediatric patients, including cardiac failure, pulmonary fibrosis, and secondary cancers.

Proton beam radiotherapy is seen as a superior option to established forms of radiotherapy because the radiation can be confined largely to the tumor, minimizing the damage to surrounding healthy tissue. But in order to make the most of the treatment, the accuracy of the radiation dose from proton beam treatment must be similar to that achieved using existing radiotherapy treatments.

To achieve this aim, the team at NPL made three important breakthroughs:

producing their own highly accurate tool for measurement and assuring radiation dosage amounts called the Primary Standard Proton Calorimeter (PSPC)

developing new tissue-equivalent plastic materials to precisely imitate human tissue such as bone and muscle at the test phase

performing pioneering measurements to demonstrate a new form of radiotherapy called FLASH

Accurately measuring proton radiotherapy's absorbed radiation dose

To maximize the accuracy and consistency of radiation dose measurement in proton radiotherapy, NPL developed the Primary Standard Proton Calorimeter (PSPC) to directly measure the absorbed radiation dose in proton radiotherapy beams.

Radiation dose measurement always comes with a level of uncertainty, but NPL's PSPC reduces this uncertainty by more than half (0.9% instead of 2.3%) as reported by the international Code of Practice for radiotherapy dosimetry (TRS-398), making it more accurate than current international protocols.

With the PSPC, NPL ensures that cancer patients undergoing proton radiotherapy receive consistent and accurate radiation doses across different treatment facilities. This improves the chances of successfully treating the tumor and reduces variability in dose delivery to patients.

As the number of proton beam radiotherapy treatment centers in the U.K. and elsewhere grow, it becomes increasingly important to have consistent and accurate dose delivery between them all. NPL's PSPC is a critical tool in achieving this goal, ensuring that cancer patients receive the best possible treatment.

New test materials precisely mimic human tissue

The NPL team has also developed pioneering new plastic materials that mimic the radiation properties of human bone and muscle tissue for photon imaging and proton beam treatments. Existing test materials produce large uncertainties in proton therapy dosimetry resulting in relative differences in "range" of up to 8%. As such, these existing materials cannot be used to provide accurate quality assurance measurements for proton therapy dosimetry.

In contrast, the new materials developed by NPL closely mimic the properties of human tissue in a proton beam within a 1% to 2% accuracy: this makes them much more effective when used to support radiation dosimetry measurements for complex proton treatment plans and clinical trials. The novel tissue mimicking materials have been used to develop a device which mimics a head and neck patient for radiotherapy purposes. This research has been published in Physics in Medicine & Biology.

The plastic device is useful as it enables clinical centers to check and test the delivery of their proton therapy treatment without the need of a real patient. The device has internal detectors which enable the user to take dose measurements which can be compared to predicted values from treatment planning software. These tests provide clinical centers with confidence in the delivery of their proton therapy treatments to patients.

Identifying the ideal dose for new ultra-high dose FLASH radiotherapy technique

Using pioneering measurement technology, NPL scientists measured and standardized the ideal optimal absorbed dose for a potentially revolutionary form of proton beam radiotherapy known as FLASH.

The new FLASH radiotherapy (RT) treatment is as effective as current techniques but also prevents unnecessary damage to healthy tissue and considerably shorten the time that pediatric patients must spend in the hospital.

FLASH treatments can be delivered in fewer or even single deliveries in comparison to conventional radiotherapy which is often delivered in fractions over a period of about six weeks with the patient having to attend hospital on a daily basis.

Accurate dosimetry is essential to avoid errors that might result in a patient receiving an incorrect dose of radiation and less chance of successful treatment. Currently, any form of radiotherapy results in unwanted but unavoidable deposition of radiation to healthy tissue around the targeted tumor. Studies have shown that treatment using ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) radiation could significantly spare healthy tissue while also being at least as effective as treatments at conventional dose rates in controlling the tumorthis is known as "the FLASH effect."

The NPL breakthrough led to the first in-human clinical trial of FLASH RT in November 2020, which involved 10 patients at Cincinnati Children's Hospital's Proton Therapy Center in Ohio, U.S. The findings of the NPL team's research were published in scientific journal Scientific Reports in February titled "Absolute dosimetry for FLASH proton pencil beam scanning radiotherapy".

Ana Lourenco, senior scientist at NPL, said, "We are working with the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) in developing a new Code of Practice (CoP) for reference dosimetry of proton beams. The upcoming IPEM CoP, will utilize the NPL PSPC, and provide a direct absorbed dose to water calibration service for proton therapy beams.

"This significant development will reduce uncertainty in dose delivery, ensuring optimal tumor control and improved accuracy in proton therapy treatments. The establishment of consistent standards supported by the CoP will not only benefit patients within and between treatment facilities but also lay the foundation for the development of clinical trials in proton therapy."

NPL, Science Area Leader Russell Thomas said, "Our team at NPL are widely recognized as world leaders in areas of proton dosimetry, for a number of years we have worked to develop a deeper understanding of fundamental aspects of dosimetry for this type of beam which has culminated in us developing dedicated primary standard specifically for proton radiotherapy.

"Building on this, we are able to further refine the understanding of the response of ionization chambers used in the clinic. Combined with that, my team have developed protocols for auditing clinics, a vital aspect in ensuring patient treatments are optimally delivered, and have developed our own materials specifically to mimic the response of tissue, bone etc. in the proton beam. It is a privilege for me to lead such a dedicated and talented team of scientists whose work has a real impact in helping to improve outcomes and the quality of life of cancer patients."

Hannah Cook, higher scientist, said, '"Proton therapy dosimetry and audit development is very interesting and rewarding research. The aim of our work is to provide confidence to clinical centers offering proton therapy treatment within the U.K. and worldwide, with the hope to further improve cancer patient outcome."
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Protein concentration, SDS-PAGE profile and shellfish allergen-specific antibody reactivity of 11 crustacean and five mollusc SPT extracts from six different manufacturers. Protein concentrations were determined and the mean values from three replicates with the corresponding standard deviation are shown (A). The extracts were further analyzed by SDS-PAGE (B) and immunoblots using antibodies raised against shellfish allergens tropomyosin (C), sarcoplasmic calcium-binding protein (D), arginine kinase (E) and hemocyanin (F) from shrimp. The expected molecular weight of these four allergens is indicated in A based on.1 Different manufacturers are denoted by 1 to 6 and listed in Table S1, along with further species details. Credit: Allergy (2023). DOI: 10.1111/all.15853

Dr. Thimo Ruethers from James Cook University's Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM) and JCU's Tropical Futures Institute (TFI) in Singapore says that shellfish allergy affects up to 3% of the general population, is usually lifelong and commonly triggers anaphylaxisa condition that leads to respiratory collapse and can be fatal. In Australia, shellfish allergy is the number one trigger of food-related fatal anaphylaxis.

"Skin prick testing (SPT) is often the preferred first-line diagnostic approach. This involves a health worker placing a drop of allergen extract on the surface of the arm then pricking through it into the arm. If you are allergic to the allergen you will have a small, itchy swelling and a reddening of the skin after 10 to 15 minutes," said Professor Dianne Campbell from The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney.

But Dr. Ruethers warned that widely utilized allergen extracts in commercial SPT kits are generally not standardized, limiting the diagnostic value of results.

JCU's group leader Professor Andreas Lopata stated, "In 2019, we demonstrated considerable variability in effectiveness for 27 commercial SPT extracts for fish allergy. In the current study, using biochemical and immunological methods and mass spectrometry, we tested 11 commercial crustacean and five mollusk SPT extracts and found even greater, critical variability in their reliability." The research is published in the journal Allergy. Credit: James Cook University

The scientists concluded that some of the SPT extracts lacked the sufficient amount and diversity of important shellfish allergens, meaning test results could be falsely negative, putting lives at risk.

"Standardization of allergen extracts is urgently needed to improve the accuracy and reliability of SPTs. Also, improvements in blood tests, along with the development of region-specific allergen extracts with known quantities of clinically well-characterized allergen components, are critical to achieve considerable improvements in allergy testing," said Dr. Ruethers.

He said developing more reliable allergy diagnostics requires further interdisciplinary research and is urgently needed to safeguard allergy sufferers globally.

More information: Thimo Ruethers et al, Commercial shellfish skin prick test extracts show critical variability in allergen repertoire, Allergy (2023). DOI: 10.1111/all.15853 Journal information: Allergy
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: Monash University

Victorian women lag behind men on key health and well-being indicators, a new Monash University-led report has found.

The Victorian Women's Health and Well-being Snapshot found Victorian women's health was worse in every dimension relative to men.

Produced by the Monash Center for Health Research and Implementation (MCHRI), Monash University, it revealed that Victorian women reported declining health over time and poorer health compared to men.

Around two thirds of women reported poor physical health, physical functioning, low levels of vitality and poor mental health/mental functioning. Caring responsibilities also significantly and disproportionately limited women's opportunities for full time employment.

It is based on the representative data from the annual Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey.

The report is co-authored by MCHRI's Director Professor Helena Teede, leading women's health expert and health economist Professor Emily Callander, and big data and biostatistician lead, Associate Professor Joanne Enticott.

Professor Teede said an urgent conversation was needed on the declining health and well-being of Victorian women, linked to inequity. She said good health including physical and mental health, meaningful employment and a decent level of income allowed individuals to fully participate in and contribute to society.

"The opportunity for meaningful employment and a decent level of income allows individuals to contribute to society and to optimize health and well-being," Professor Teede said.

Professor Callander said low income and under employment were two primary determinants of poor health, and Victorian women lagged behind men in both.

"This report shows that more Victorian women are employed part time, or are underemployed than men," Professor Callander said.

"It also shows the significant annual income and superannuation gap between men and women in Victoria, which is directly related to access to health care and to adverse health outcomes."

The Victorian report found that overall, the percentage of Victorian women in full time employment was 18.6 percentage points lower than men, with only 27.4% working full time.

Far more women than men were working part-time and were not in the labor force at all.

There was also a $23,008 annual income gap between men and women in Victoria and a $53,062 superannuation gap from the recent national survey data in 2020.

The Victorian report follows the first Australian Women's Health and Well-being Scorecard: Towards equity for women. The national report found that at current rates it will take 70 years to reach full time employment equality with men, and more than 200 years to reach income equity.

Associate Professor Joanne Enticott said that addressing women's mental health is critical.

"In mental health and emotional well-being, some of the biggest gender health gaps are evident with over eight percentage points more women reporting mental health issues. In no other section of health would we tolerate such a big gender difference. Economic outcomes are clearly linked with well-being and mental health, so by addressing economic differences we can start to start to close the mental health gender gap."
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

Most people living with a terminal illness and approaching death need the assistance of a non-professional caregiver such as a family member, friend, or neighbor to provide physical, emotional and practical caring support. A project led by Flinders University's Research Center in Palliative Care, Death and Dying (RePaDD) has developed an effective online resource that can help ease the burdens facing these caregivers.

"A significant portion of these caregivers can feel overwhelmed, isolated and experience psychological, along with financial, distress. Caregivers can have unmet information needs and these can change across the caring period, so they need easy access to support materials," says Flinders University's Professor Jennifer Tieman, Director of RePaDD.

The Flinders team's research project undertook the development of the CarerHelp website (www.carerhelp.com.au) as part of a national collaboration led by St Vincent's Melbourne, University of Technology Sydney and Caregivers Australia. This open access online resource was designed for use by caregivers and families caring for a person who has palliative care needs.

Web metrics have demonstrated substantial use of these resources during the project test period. The CarerHelp website was released in October 2019 and attracted 5,701 users, 25,214 webpage views and 7,881 web sessions through the test period to 30 June 2020 (an average of 633 web users and 2802 web page views each month).

Sometimes, it can be difficult to know what goes into building a website, let alone one that deals with providing care and caring for someone in the last months and days of their life. A new research paper focuses on what lies behind CarerHelp website and the effectiveness of the develop and test program.

The study, "Who cares for the caregivers? CarerHelp: development and evaluation of an online resource to support the wellbeing of those caring for family members at the end of their life," by Jennifer Tieman, Peter Hudson, Kristina Thomas, Di Saward and Deborah Parker, has been published in BMC Palliative Care.

To best understand considerations for family caregivers supporting someone with a terminal illness, the researchers developed the CarerHelp online caregiver resource after conducting interviews and focus groups with caregivers to understand their needs and context of caring.

"Caregivers of people with advanced disease facing death have ongoing and changing information needs," says Professor Tieman. "Being able to identify their issues through consultation with caregivers has ensured trustworthy resources that are relevant to the caregiver group themselves."

The researchers identified caregiver needs for practical and psychological support, along with better education and strategies to improve communication. They then used a testing survey and usability assessment of the CarerHelp website to assess and optimize functionality before it was formally released for public use.

"Our study of currently available online resources suggested that while information available to caregivers is plentiful, much of that which is provided is general, disparately located, inadequately detailed and disease specific," says Professor Tieman.

The caregivers who were interviewed highlighted the need for helpful information on: services, symptom management, relationships, preparation for death, managing the emotional and psychological burden that often accompanies caring, and support during bereavement.

User testing and usability assessment of the prototype resource led to changes to improve the CarerHelp websitebut it also highlighted a lack of awareness about existing resources and the need for marketing and communication to address this problem by further promoting the CarerHelp website.

"CarerHelp's marketing strategy seeks not only to build brand awareness but also to utilize broker agencies including specialist palliative care services, care organizations and consumer groups who provide a bridge to caregivers who may not have had direct access or interest in online resources," says Professor Tieman.

More information: Jennifer Tieman et al, Who cares for the carers? carerhelp: development and evaluation of an online resource to support the wellbeing of those caring for family members at the end of their life, BMC Palliative Care (2023). DOI: 10.1186/s12904-023-01225-1
A crash report sent out on Friday shed light on a few more details about a pedestrian fatality reported in Missoula on Aug. 29.

A 71-year-old Missoula woman was driving a Toyota Camry on South Avenue West near 27th Avenue around 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday. While traveling west, a pedestrian collided with the front passenger side of the Toyota, according to a report from Montana Highway Patrol.

The pedestrian was previously reported to 911 for running into traffic, the report stated. The deceased woman was a 26-year-old Missoula resident. She died at the crash scene.

Alcohol, drugs and speed were not listed as suspected factors in the crash. The driver was not injured, according to the report. Missoula police investigated the collision.
A man accused of murdering two people in Superior on Aug. 27 entered pleas to two charges on Thursday.

Kraig W. Benson, 47, is charged with two felony counts of deliberate homicide. He pleaded not guilty to both in Mineral County District Court, according to court filings. Hes currently being held on a $5 million bond.

Prosecutors allege Benson shot and killed Jennifer Savage Benson, who was his wife, and Logan Gardner, a Superior bartender at the Four Aces Bar on Sunday evening.

He subsequently fled from the scene, according to court documents, and he was arrested by Missoula Sheriffs deputies on Petty Creek Road west of Lolo a few hours later.

Court filings show Benson requested to be held in custody at the Missoula jail. Bensons attorneys are Jamie Upham and Tony Burchell from the Montana Office of Public Defenders. Daniel Guzynski and Stephanie Robles are prosecuting for the state.

His next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 27.
The U.S. Forest Service this week announced a plan to log and thin nearly 8,000 acres on the Lolo National Forest immediately north of Seeley Lake along Highway 83.

In a cover letter announcing the project, Seeley District Ranger Quinn Carver said the project was granted an emergency action determination by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack because it takes place in two firesheds the federal government determined to be among the 250 most high-risk areas for wildfire in the nation. The determination allows the Forest Service to skip a step of the projects public approval process: soliciting and responding to formal objections before the project is finally approved and implemented.

But the agency is still seeking comments on the proposal, due by the end of Sept. 28. Comments can be submitted online via the projects webpage, fs.usda.gov/project/lolo/?project=64580, or mailed or hand-delivered to: ATTN: North Seeley Wildland Urban Interface  Highway 83, Seeley Lake Ranger District, 3583 Highway 83, Seeley Lake, MT 59868.

The agency announced the North Seeley Wildland Urban Interface-Highway 83 Project in a statement Sunday. Scoping documents, including descriptions and maps of proposed treatments, were uploaded online Aug. 25. Maps show the project hugging Highway 83 from Seeley Lake on the south to the Flathead-Lolo national forest border, near Summit Lake, on the north. Almost all of the work is proposed for along or immediately east of the highway, although some is proposed for the immediately west of the road. The overall project area spans 22,997 acres, but only 7,911 acres within that broader area is proposed for work.

That puts most of the project directly across from the Colt fire, which is currently burning on the Mission Mountains side of the highway between Summit Lake and Lake Alva. It has burned more than 7,000 acres this summer.

The primary goal of the project, according to Carvers letter and a scoping document, is to reduce wildfire, insect and tree disease risk in an area adjacent to development  a wildland-urban interface  by reducing forest density and the amount of certain vegetation found on the landscape. The project proposes to increase space between trees, create a shaded fuel break along the highway and three large clear-cuts, remove some understory and mid-story vegetation, and promote more fire-tolerant tree species such as western larch and Ponderosa pine instead of Douglas fir.

Carvers letter asserts that the work, where possible, will also maintain or improve habitat for grizzly bear and bull trout, two species protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, along with riparian and aquatic habitat. The work will also improve safety at campgrounds and other recreation areas, for which the project proposes hazard tree removal, and will provide wood products that contribute to local and regional economies and the sustainable supply of timber from National Forest System lands.

The scoping document outlines 7,911 acres of logging, thinning and burning. That includes 903 acres of clear-cut logging. Three large openings would be created: a 503-acre opening, a 303-acre opening and a 90-acre opening. The scoping document stated that retention of trees within the openings would favor Ponderosa pine and western larch.

Additionally, 11 miles of shaded fuel break would be created along Highway 83. The project also features 1,633 acres of intermediate harvest logging that retains larger trees of desired species; 1,987 acres of thinning younger timber stands; 578 acres of additional thinning; 247 acres of cutting, piling and burning vegetation; 416 acres of management work on developed sites; and 2,147 acres of vegetation management to restore acquired lands.

The scoping document additionally listed 18.5 miles of new road construction, of which 5 miles would be temporary and 2.5 miles would be on previously decommissioned roads. The project would decommission 5 miles of official road and 149 miles of unofficial roads not in the National Forest Road System. Ninety-six miles of unofficial road would come into the road system, and 75 miles of system roads would be maintained.

Emergency approval

Normally, people who comment on a project can later file formal objections before a project is finally approved. The Forest Service would consider and respond to objections with an administrative review of a project before a record of decision can be signed. A project can only be implemented once a record of decision has been signed. After that, the publics only recourse to alter or halt a project is to sue the Forest Service.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law gave Vilsack the ability to determine situations in which emergency action is necessary to achieve relief from hazards threatening human health and safety or to mitigate threats to natural resources on or adjacent to national forests, according to an internal Forest Service memo U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore sent in March 2023. The Forest Services 2022 Wildfire Crisis Strategy identified 250 high-risk firesheds across the nation. Vilsack declared all 250 firesheds an emergency, and he gave Moore the authority to grant emergency approval on projects aimed at reducing wildfire risk in those areas. Two of those firesheds are within the Seeley project area.

On Monday, prominent grizzly bear biologist and researcher Mike Bader said the maneuver was forest management by decree rather than science.

Just like the Bitterroot Front Project, Vilsack and the Forest Service are declaring a false emergency, he wrote. Missoula, Montana, is surrounded by Vilsacks high-risk firesheds and its a recipe for logging without laws and radical changes to our scenic backdrop.

Mike Garrity, executive director of Alliance for the Wild Rockies, disputed the Forest Services argument that the project would improve wildfire resiliency on the landscape. He wrote in a statement Monday, The best available science finds that the project is based on a false premise that forests are unnaturally thick.

Critics of the widespread forest treatments argue that the significant removal of vegetation  including live trees and brush and standing and downed dead timber  will actually promote wildfire spread by allowing uninhibited wind to whip flames through opened-up forest thats been dried by more wind and sun penetration. And some conservation groups worry that wildlife and habitat will be harmed by the removal of vegetation and the road-building and usage associated with the project.

Grizzly bears tend to die in or disperse from roaded forests, according to numerous studies collected by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. Grizzly sow and cub survival generally falls when the density of open roads surpasses 0.64 miles of road per square mile of land.

A body of science supports the idea that forest treatments  a regime of logging, thinning and burning  can reduce wildfire risk on a landscape and make firefighting efforts more successful.

Forest Service leaders and wildland firefighters often cite specific incidents in which forest fires are slowed down or reduced in severity upon running into areas where fuels, particularly ladder fuels, have been thinned. Clearing ground and ladder fuels, and constructing clear-cut fire breaks is a primary method of containing wildfire. But critics of large-scale forest treatments point out that large, aggressive wildfires often burn indiscriminately through treated and untreated forests.

But critics of widespread forest treatments can point to other studies that cast doubt on their efficacy, and on the idea that forests in western Montana used to be dominated by spread-out Ponderosa pine with frequent low-severity fire. Garrity cited a 2023 study that suggests the Forest Service has ignored research and other evidence showing that Montana was not historically dominated by frequent low-severity fire, and that high-severity stand-replacement wildfires in dense forest have historical precedent.

We have more fires because of climate change, Garrity wrote. We need to cut back on logging to fight climate change because forests are great climate sinks.
The body of a missing Colorado man was found in Glacier National Park on Friday.

Adam Fuselier, a 32-year-old man from Castle Pines, Colorado was found dead by National Park Service ground searchers at about 11 a.m. on Sept. 1, according to a news release from Glacier National Park.

His cause of death is still being investigated. Fuselier's remains were recovered on Reynolds Mountain, where park officials reported he was climbing. His body was transferred from the Logan Pass area to West Glacier by a U.S. Forest Service helicopter.

Fuselier's family last heard from him on the afternoon of Aug. 29. Rangers were alerted that he was overdue on Wednesday morning. They found his car at Logan Pass later that day.

The ground search for Fuselier began on August 30 in rainy, windy, and foggy conditions. Two Bear Air joined the search on Thursday as weather improved. On Friday morning a Forest Service helicopter joined air search operations along with more than 50 searchers and a dog team, the release stated.

"The park and Fuseliers family would like to thank visitors for calls to the tip line that directly contributed to finding Fuseliers remains," the news release stated. "Credible tips from hikers who had contact with Fuselier helped narrow the search area."

Park officials extended their condolences to Fuselier's family.
Missoula City Councilor Kristen Jordan in Ward 6 wants the city to do more for its homeless population, and she brought an idea forward this week for a rotation of small authorized campsites.

The proposal, aimed to be a pilot program for one year, takes some cues from the Authorized Camping Site the city operated last summer. But Jordan offered a few notable departures from that model, including the 35-person cap on occupancy and the lack of staffing or security currently outlined for the camps.

Things havent changed for a while, said Jordan, and we need to start thinking outside of the box about how were going to help our unhoused community.

Some members of that community and their advocates were supportive of Jordans measure. Unhoused Missoulian Clayton Shaya, for instance, suggested residents in the camps could volunteer to operate them. City council candidate Gwen Nicholson, running for Ward 1, also backed Jordans proposal.

The fact of the matter is, I think we need short-term solutions to kind of get us through this season, Nicholson said, and get kind of a foundation for folks.

Service providers who actively provide resources to the unhoused voiced tentative support as well, although there was concern among that community over the lack of supervision that could be present at the campsites.

Many other concerns emerged among the city councilors weighing Jordans proposal as well. Councilor Amber Sherrill in Ward 4 wondered how the occupancy cap would be managed without a designated camp operator. Jordan said the occupants would likely regulate the population by themselves.

Councilor Gwen Jones in Ward 3 asked about the citys liability for the designated sites. City Attorney Ryan Sudbury said it would be more prudent to advertise the sites as places where urban camping is not prohibited, rather than areas where homeless residents are specifically invited to reside.

Councilor Sandra Vasecka in Ward 6 wondered if providing services like needle collections would encourage drug use, but Jordan contended those resources would be preemptive and keep drug users safer than the alternative.

Councilor Stacie Anderson in Ward 5 wanted to know about campground rules from Missoula Public Health, and a representative from the department said those regulations require a campground operator. A private landowner who would take this project on would also need a license.

Councilor Mike Nugent in Ward 6 was curious how to contend with the conception that catering to the homeless population would increase urban camping, and Jordan cited point-in-time survey data indicating the homeless population count throughout Montana has remained stable over the past 16 years.

Although council ultimately didnt take any action on Jordans proposal Wednesday, some of Jordans colleagues expressed enthusiasm for the conversation. Councilor Daniel Carlino in Ward 3 had the impression Jordans proposal would contribute to fewer overall encampments in Missoula, along with cleaner camps and better Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion outcomes.

I think, just like with the ACS, said Councilor Mirtha Becerra in Ward 2, there could be some benefit and there could be some complications.
But is out-of-control local spending to blame for the impending tax hike? Or is there more at play in the calculations cutting into Montanans pocketbooks? Leaders from around the city and across the state disagree on the cause of rising taxes in Montana communities.

Read the full story at Missoulian.com. By Bret Anne Serbin, bret.serbin@missoulian.com

Two recent reports from the city highlight both the efforts to address the affordable housing crisis here and the scale of how many people are still grappling with finding a stable place to live.

The city of Missoula compiles a weekly urban camping report, although the word camping doesnt accurately describe the situation of people who are living unsheltered in Missoula due to a severe region-wide lack of affordable housing.
Two children, a boy and a girl, played in soil where nothing grows. The girl fetched a rotted board from the bone-colored ground.

It could have been a scene from a century long past, during an era when pollution from mining and smelting in Butte thrashed vegetation and aquatic life, and threatened the health of adults and children alike.

That legacy lives on.

The children played on the evening of Aug. 24 in a blighted area known to state and federal agencies as Northside Tailings. It is slated for Superfund cleanup sometime in the years ahead. An estimated 60,000 cubic yards of tailings, wastes and contaminated soils will be excavated and hauled to a repository.

Design work comes first. EPA anticipates design for Northside Tailings, Diggings East and other sites in the Silver Bow Creek Corridor will be completed by 2025.

A key and contentious design issue that has emerged this summer involves the potential use of what EPA refers to as onsite material and others call grey dirt or dirty dirt.

In essence, EPA and the Atlantic Richfield Co. have pitched using contaminated dirt that is onsite at places like Northside Tailings in Butte in the design for remediating the site.

This onsite material would be contaminated with metals but not contaminated enough to meet the criteria for removal to a wastes repository. The status of such dirt is, in effect, in a grey area.

The dirty dirt debate was alive and well Wednesday night during a meeting at the Butte Emergency Operations Center. EPA was represented by eight people in person and more online, but not KC Becker, the agencys Colorado-based regional administrator.

About 60 other people attended.

One was Don Petritz, a Butte resident whose grandchildren were on his mind. He referenced recent news about Arrowstone Park in Deer Lodge, where contaminants previously covered by a cap are leaching to the surface in bare spots, creating a risk of arsenic exposure.

Petritz said he found it ironic that one rationale for using onsite material touts fewer trips by haul trucks to a repository, with reduced consumption of fossil fuels and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, given that Atlantic Richfield/BP would be involved.

His voice caught with emotion when challenging EPA staff to look in the mirror and consider whether the use of onsite material would be protective if they and their family lived in Butte.

Petritz said he asks only that EPA do its job.

His comments, limited to three minutes, followed a presentation by Nikia Greene, a remedial project manager for EPA in Butte.

Greene said Butte has been called the Richest Hill on Earth because it is centered on top of an ore body. As a result, he said, metals are ubiquitous in the environment.

Its just not feasible to get rid of everything, Greene said.

He described the rationale for using onsite material and how, where and when it could be used. Three areas are under consideration  Buffalo Gulch, Northside Tailings and Diggings East. The material wont be used unless it will be protective of human health and the environment, Greene said.

The benefits include an increased pace of cleanup and increased efficiency, he said.

Potentially it could take 6,000 to 14,000 trucks off the street, improve public safety, reduce emissions, reduce damage to roads (and more), Greene said.

Neither he nor anyone else cited the potential cost savings to Atlantic Richfield of using onsite material.

Greene described other Superfund sites in the region where onsite materials have been used. They included the Parrot Tailings Project in Butte and the Clark Fork River cleanup.

Each project has some different criteria, different metals criteria, different backfill criteria, Greene said.

Later, Butte resident Evan Barrett used one of his two three-minute speaking opportunities to share a chart developed by the states Natural Resource Damage Program demonstrating how the contamination concentrations varied at those two sites from what is proposed in the Silver Bow Creek Corridor.

In a memorandum to EPA dated Aug. 18, NRDP offered feedback to EPA regarding a position paper it had drafted about the use of onsite material.

EPAs position paper noted, Material found onsite has also been reused at other remediation and restoration projects in Montana, such as the Clark Fork River site and the Parrot Tailings project.

NRDP did not dispute the reference but cited some key distinctions: However, the contaminant concentrations allowed in fill generated onsite at the Parrot Project and the Clark Fork Operable Unit are much lower than what EPA is proposing here.

Dramatically lower, in fact, based on the NRDP data. For the Clark Fork River Operable Unit, total contaminant concentrations were 484 milligrams per kilogram. For EPAs proposed onsite material fill the total would be 11,230 milligrams per kilogram.

In other words, Barrett said, the contaminant concentration for sites in the Silver Bow Creek Corridor could be 23 times greater than those at the Clark Fork Operable Unit. The contaminants of concern would be arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury and zinc.

Youre going to say its not additive, but its all going to be there, Barrett said.

He had reviewed EPAs recent onsite material position paper, which suggests that risk from metals is not calculated by summation and so to add up metals concentrations and suggest that the risk automatically follows that cumulative number is not accurate.

The EPA added that risk from each metal is determined individually based on toxicity profiles, dose and effects on human health.

Greene and other EPA staff advised the Wednesday night crowd that an 18-inch cover of clean soil would help ensure protection of health and the environment.

Mary Lou Fitzpatrick wondered whether 18 inches offers sufficient cover. In addition, she and others cited concerns about the recent removal of playground equipment at Stodden Park for a belated cleanup of toxic metals.

Later, Butte resident Bill Foley raised concerns about whether Dublin Gulch is being considered as a potential site for a wastes repository. A repository site has not yet been identified for contaminated soils from the Silver Bow Creek Corridor sites.

Id hate to be the last official trying to get re-elected saying I approved covering the Dublin Gulch with toxic slime, Foley said.

Taylor Gillespie, a regional spokeswoman for EPA, said Thursday that the agency does not know whether Dublin Gulch is being considered for such a site.

Greene responded.

He said Butte-Silver Bow County and Atlantic Richfield have taken the lead to site a repository. Neither responded Thursday afternoon to inquiries about Dublin Gulch.

EPAs role is to review and approve after it goes through the community engagement process, Greene said. Butte-Silver Bow and Atlantic Richfield are working to engage the local community as part of the repository siting process.

The relationship between EPA and many residents of Butte has been strained in recent months. It improved to some extent after EPA agreed to allow virtual public observation of some meetings previously closed to the public.

Wednesday nights meeting, run by a facilitator hired by EPA, remained civil throughout.

As the meeting wound down, Petritz proposed a sort of Golden Rule for the EPAs Superfund remediation in Butte.

Just treat us like you would want to be treated, he said.

EPA said it will accept written feedback about the potential use of onsite material for one week after the Aug. 30 meeting. Comments can be emailed to Charles Van Otten, vanotten.charles@epa.gov
A Helena woman will return overseas next week for missions that involve the people of Ukraine and Syrian refugees.

Valerie Hellermann, executive director of Hands On Global, will leave Sept. 4 and be gone for five weeks.

Hellerman said she will meet up with the team of her nonprofit group and attend a conference in the United Kingdom with international partners to discuss the current situation in Ukraine.

From there she will go into Ukraine and drop off orthopedic supplies to doctors in Lviv and then go to Turkey to work with Syrian refugees at Hatay, Turkey, on the Turkey/Syrian border. She plans to drop off supplies that will be used by Syrians in 13 refugee camps.

She said there are plans to have a mobile OB-GYN and a pediatric clinic.

Theres apparently a lot of sick kids, she said.

The 71-year-old Hellermann, who turns 72 on Sept. 7, said she was nervous about the trip to Ukraine because of the bombing.

She said she and her team will personally drop off the medical supplies to doctors in Lviv. She said she scuttled plans to make it an educational trip for other surgeons because of the heightened danger.

Hellermann said the length of this trip is similar to trips she has taken before.

Its long, its hard, I dont like being away that long, but it takes a while to set clinics up, the former nurse said.

Hellermann notes Syria has been in a civil war for more than a decade. She said a earthquake struck in February.

Her friends on the ground tell her it will be 10 years until things are back to normal.

She said she has assembled a team of 14, including doctors, nurses and three support personnel.

This will be Hellermanns fourth trip overseas to help the people of Ukraine.

She said Monday in a telephone interview that colleagues have told her there are a lot of injuries there right now. She said she will likely return in January, noting February will be the two-year anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Hellermann said she plans on blogging about her trip.

Hands on Global Inc., a nonprofit, primarily provides basic health care to underserved and refugee communities in remote locations.

To donate to Hands on Global, go to: https://handsonglobal.org/donate/
A Lewis and Clark County District Court judge on Thursday granted a summary judgment in favor of St. Peters Health, bringing an end to a bitter lawsuit filed by an oncologist who claims he was wrongfully fired by the hospital.

Judge Michael Menahan dismissed the claims of Dr. Thomas Weiner in a 31-page decision that found St. Peters Health officials followed proper due process when they suspended his medical privileges in late 2020 after reviews into patient care.

The Court finds Weiner has failed to satisfy his burden of producing sufficient relevant evidence that would allow a reasonable jury to conclude by a preponderance of the evidence that the SPH Defendants are not entitled to statutory immunity under HCQIA (Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986), he wrote.

Menahan said as a result, the defendants may not be found liable for damages with respect to the professional review actions and that Weiner could not recover compensatory or punitive damages.

We are pleased with the courts ruling, St. Peters Health said in a statement. We stand by our commitment to provide safe, high quality care for our community. Going forward, we will continue our efforts to build a gold standard cancer care program and deliver the very best experience for our patients.

Weiners attorney, Devlan Geddes, would not comment on the court's decision. He said Weiner did have the right to appeal. Weiner filed his lawsuit Dec. 10, 2020.

St. Peters had argued HCQIA provided legal immunity for professional review bodies in the belief the action included, among other conditions, that it was in the furtherance of quality health care and adequate notice and hearing procedures were afforded to the physician. Weiner argued that the immunity did not apply.

The legal fight spilled from the hospital corridors out into the community, where a couple of groups sprouted supporting Weiner. Most members were former patients or family members of former patients. They would carry signs and protest Weiners dismissal weekly in front of the hospital. They also posted yard signs and paid for billboards saying they supported Weiner.

In Feb. 2021, Menahan dismissed a lawsuit filed by some of his patients in support of Weiner, saying his removal caused canceled appointments, stress, anxiety and depression, among other damages. They also claimed St. Peters Health failed to notify them when it removed Weiner and did not assign other doctors to care for them.

Menahan said he lacked the jurisdiction to resolve the dispute at this time, and the claims must first be filed with the Montana Medical Legal Panel.

The trial was to be moved to Missoula County or to be heard in Helena by a jury of Missoula County residents. Menahan was to remain the judge hearing the case. A trial date had not been set.

Weiner joined St. Peters in 1996 and had served a chief of staff and chair of the Medical Executive Committee. According to court documents, Weiner was seeing an estimated 300 patients a week, or had nearly 15,000 patient contacts a year.

The hospitals peer review committee committee sent him a letter in February 2020, requesting an investigation into his patient care, Menahans decision states. This included concerns of manipulation of do not resuscitate status of patients without their consent, substandard care of patients for non-oncological medical issues, concern of application of end-of-life care for patients and continuing cardiotoxic chemotherapy in patients. St. Peters Health said Weiner had incorrectly treated a patient for lung cancer for 11 years before it was determined that the person did not have the disease at the time of death. The hospitals legal counsel said in court documents that it learned of alarming narcotic prescribing practices by Weiner.

The credentials committee met with him in October 2020 and said they planned to proceed with a suspension.

They noted a review of a treatment of a patient showed he prescribed chemotherapy without document evidence of malignancy and the patient died.

On Dec. 7, 2020, the hospitals board of directors voted to revoke his medical staff membership.

Since Weiner's departure, St. Peter's has affiliated with Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, saying this will give patients undergoing cancer and hematology care access to more options for treatment and provide top cancer experts.

And it hired Dr. Elizabeth Bigger, an oncologist, to replace Weiner.
As your Missoula County commissioners, we know a thing or two about the importance of partnerships. Over the years, weve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of city-county working relationships across Montana and have witnessed far too many examples of Montanas 56 counties where county and municipal relations are poor and unproductive. Thankfully, under the leadership of Mayor Jordan Hess, this is not the case.

The coordination, collaboration, and partnership between the city of Missoula and Missoula County are at an all-time high. In fact, because of the leadership of Mayor Hess, Missoula and Missoula County stand out as one of the best examples of local government teamwork in the entire state, which is important, since the challenges shouldered by local government have never been greater. Here are a few examples.

Several years ago, the three of us traveled to Washington, DC, with Jordan and others to make our case to Congress for infrastructure grant funding. We were successful, securing a $13 million federal BUILD grant that literally paved the way for housing in the area between Mullan Road and West Broadway  housing that is being constructed as we speak and will make a significant dent in our projected need for housing over the next twenty years. None of this happens overnight. But rather than wringing his hands, Mayor Hess is consistently willing to roll up his sleeves and get to work with Missoula County and community partners.

Mayor Hess brings a wealth of transportation experience to the city. He chairs the Metropolitan Planning Organizations Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee, which is the gatekeeper for federal transportation funds flowing into the Missoula urban area. His experience working in transit at the University, and on transportation with the city of Missoula, have demonstrated his willingness to work across jurisdictional lines with the county on projects that benefit all Missoulians.

And if you agree with us that passenger rail is a component of Missoulas transportation future, Mayor Hess is without a doubt the candidate to support. Mayor Hess has been a statewide leader on passenger rail expansion and he understands how important it is from an environmental, economic, and transportation equity standpoint to connect Missoula to the broader region and nation via rail. This is not wishful thinking. We recently traveled to Boise, Idaho, with Mayor Hess to participate in a meeting with the Federal Railroad Administration regarding potential reestablishment of Amtrak service through Missoula, and the presence of a Montana mayor  our mayor  in this discussion was critical.

We could go on with the long list of issues were tackling with Mayor Hess, from housing to houselessness, to climate change and clean electricity, to economic development and overhauling antiquated regulations and land-use codes. We obviously have a long way to go on some of these, but building upon our successes, in partnership with Mayor Hess, is key.

We consider a number of Mayor Hesss opponents our friends, and Missoula is blessed to have an abundance of good candidates running for office. That said, as we know from working with Mayor Hess on a daily basis, many of the initiatives his opponents embrace are not novel and are initiatives currently supported and being implemented by Mayor Hess.
HICKORY  A sea of pink and the roar of hundreds of students greeted a local assistant principal Friday to show her support as she battles breast cancer.

Ray Childers Elementary Assistant Principal Jordan Ferrell was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of March.

Since that diagnosis, the school where she teaches and her two sons attend school has thrown their support behind her the whole way, including by wearing pink every Wednesday.

But this week, that schedule was flipped around a little in hopes to surprise Ferrell with a special show of support.

School nurse Heather Richard said she saw another friend who was battling breast cancer get a visit from the Pink Heals North Carolina fire truck. Pink Heals is a nonprofit that helps support cancer patients and their families, both financially and at events where patients can sign the body of the pink fire truck.

She suggested it to Ray Childers Principal Erin Wall.

The earliest date the fire truck could come to Ray Childers was Friday, so Richard and Wall started brainstorming ways they could get the whole school to don their pink without raising Ferrells suspicions.

(We were) able to let our students know that today is September the first, and it was our kick-off for Relay for Life and to wear pink, Wall said. We were able to send out lots of emails to our staff to make sure they made some signs for Mrs. Ferrell.

She said Ferrell has been open and honest with the students at the school about her diagnosis and her battle.

We are trying to teach them how to care for others and how to have that empathy, Wall said.

When Friday rolled around, Wall said staff were trying to think of ways to keep her busy Friday afternoon while they could get everyone else lined up for an afternoon surprise.

I went to her sons kindergarten teacher (Thursday) and I said, I need for her to come do a read aloud in your classroom at this time, and to tell her that the rest of the office staff will also do read alouds in the following weeks, Wall said.

While Ferrell was busy reading a book to the kindergarten class, her coworkers were piling all of the other students into the bus garage where the Pink Heals firetruck was waiting.

Students smiled and giggled carrying their signs out of the school as their teachers lined them up around the fire truck, and once everyone had taken their places, the scene was set.

Hey Jordan, I have an issue in the bus lot, Wall called over a walkie talkie. I need you super quick.

Like that, she was off. Video captured by Burke County Public Schools staff showed Ferrell running down the halls thinking there was an emergency  only to be greeted by students and staff cheering her on.

It was overwhelming, Ferrell said. It was overwhelming love. I feel so blessed, I feel so lucky. I really am, to be here.

Ferrell recently found out one of her tumors now is gone, and shell have surgery in October.

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OMAHA, Neb.  The major freight railroads say a disagreement over whether they will be allowed to discipline some workers who use a government hotline to report safety concerns has kept them from following through on the promise they made in March to join the program after a fiery Ohio derailment prompted calls for reforms.

Unions and workplace safety experts say the idea of disciplining workers who report safety concerns undermines the purpose of creating such a hotline because workers won't use it if they fear retribution. Programs like this one overseen by the Federal Railroad Administration are especially important in an industry like railroads where there is a long history of workers being fired for reporting safety violations or injuries, experts say.

"Their opposition to this hotline  which only increases protection for public and workers  is just part of a decades-old effort to suppress reporting of injury and hazards so that they can appear to the public and regulators as safer than they are," said Debbie Berkowitz, who used to be a top-ranking official at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the Obama administration. "I mean, that's what this is all about."

The head of the Association of American Railroads trade group, Ian Jefferies, said Thursday in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that the railroads' concern is that the system could be abused by workers who try to avoid discipline by reporting situations a railroad already knows about to the hotline.

The rules of the hotline would provide immunity for workers who report any unsafe conditions the railroad doesn't know about, but the railroads want to be able to discipline workers in other situations.

"The crux of the current dispute centers on a significant nuance: situations where the employer is aware of a safety rule violation without any employee report  referred to as a 'known event'  but the employee reports the event anyway and therefore avoids discipline," Jefferies said.

For years, all the major freight railroads resisted joining the safety hotline because of this concern and because they believe their own internal reporting systems are sufficient. Meanwhile, railroad unions consistently said workers are reluctant to use the railroads' own safety hotlines because they fear retribution.

Amtrak and several dozen small railroads use the government reporting program, but none of the big freight railroads signed on to it.

The railroad trade group said a similar safety hotline used in the aviation industry allows workers to be disciplined if they report the same safety violation more than once in a five-year period. The railroads want a similar rule because Jefferies said "most if not all 'close call' events result from employees not adhering to established safety rules put in place by their employer, creating dangerous situations the consequences of which were narrowly avoided."

Rail unions bristle at that notion that workers are the problem. Vince Verna with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union said it's clear that firing more workers won't solve all the safety problems in the industry.

"This is really old-school, tired rhetoric that blames the worker for the failures that are inherent in all complicated systems. Blaming the worker is exactly what leads workers to not report unsafe conditions in the workplace," said Verna, who serves on the committee of labor groups, railroads and safety regulators who have been trying to find a way to make this program work ever since Jefferies announced the railroads would sign on to it. That group is set to meet again next week.

Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Warren Flateau said the railroads clearly need to do more to fulfill their promise to join the safety reporting program that would give workers several ways to report concerns, including an online option and an old-fashioned printed form that can be filled out anonymously.

Federal Railroad Administration chief Amit Bose told all the railroads' CEOs in a letter earlier this week that he believes participating in the program "will play a critical role in reducing risk across the railroad operating environment generally."

Earlier this month, the Transportation Trades Department coalition that includes all the rail unions sent letters to the CEOs of Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CPKC, Canadian National and CSX railroads urging them to follow through on their commitments to join the government hotline to help prevent another derailment like the one on Feb. 3 that generated a toxic black plume of smoke in East Palestine, Ohio, and forced thousands to evacuate their homes.

"Current federal data shows that approximately every three hours, there is a reportable injury. Approximately every eight hours, there is a derailment that reaches the FRA's reporting threshold of $11,500 in damage," said Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department coalition. "In other words, three times every day there could be another East Palestine. But we believe this program could help mitigate such future disasters."
RALEIGH  If current surveys are taken as predictive, the Democratic Party will nominate President Joe Biden for reelection next year, the Republican Party will nominate former President Donald Trump, and whoever wins will begin his term in 2025 as one of the most disliked politicians in American history.

How can this be? As Ive previously argued, our system of presidential primaries is broken.

It needs a major overhaul. But even if we were able to shuffle the primary deck  allowing states other than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina to go first, for starters  Im not sure wed get a different outcome.

Some partisans of The Big Guy or The Perfect Caller claim the public isnt really so sour on the frontrunner they champion, that its all a mirage, and that the political polls suggesting otherwise must be biased or misinterpreted.

Their claims are without merit. In a just-released Civitas Poll, my John Locke Foundation colleagues clarified the matter by posing a straightforward question to 600 likely voters in North Carolina: who would they like to see take the oath of office for president in 2025? Respondents were presented with five alternatives: Biden, Trump, another (unnamed) Democrat, another (unnamed) Republican, or someone from another party (also unnamed).

The winner, in a sense, was Trump. A plurality of 29% said they wanted to see him returned to the White House. Only 18% favored reelecting Joe Biden.

As for the rest, 18% wanted a different Republican, 20% a different Democrat, and 8% the standard-bearer of another party. The remaining respondents were unsure.

So, just 47% of likely voters say they want either Trump or Biden to be our next president. If these two men are the major-party nominees on next years ballot, most North Carolinians will be unhappy  a finding that makes me prouder than ever to be a native of the Tar Heel State.

Neither man possesses the honesty, temperament, and judgment to run the executive branch of the federal government. There is no need to hazard guesses about this matter. Both men have already demonstrated their inadequacies in the office.

Still, given that Trump currently retains enough support among likely primary voters to get the GOP nomination, and that Biden faces only token Democratic competition, the matchup most voters disdain appears to be the matchup they may well get.

For months now, the No Labels movement has been preparing for this eventuality. Led by a gaggle of former Republican and Democratic officeholders and activists  including those with North Carolina ties such as former Gov. Pat McCrory and former NAACP leader Ben Chavis  the organization states that if Trump and Biden are the major-party nominees, it is likely to place an alternative ticket on next years general-election ballot.

If so, North Carolina will be one of the states offering such an option. After some awkward foot-shuffling, the State Board of Elections voted earlier this month to approve No Labels as an official political party. Voters were already likely to see Libertarian and Green alternatives next to the Democratic and Republican nominees for president. Will they also be able to vote for, say, current U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia or former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman as the No Labels pick?

No one really knows  though many Democrats are certain that if No Labels exercises its insurance policy and supplies a presidential slate, that will guarantee a Donald Trump victory by pulling voters disproportionately from Joe Biden.

Im not certain of this, though I have my own reservations about No Labels. I dont fault the intentions of its leaders, some of whom I know and respect.

But when I examine its stated principles and goals, I dont see a coherent policy agenda for a potential administration.

The United States of America remains the greatest and most powerful country on the planet. It deserves a better president than Biden or Trump. Alas, how that can practically be accomplished remains unclear to me.
Both men grew up in union-strong families in union-strong cities.

The history of the region they call home includes tales of labor-related strife and strikes, of company goons and occasional violence, of unions fighting for better wages, benefits and working conditions.

Both men started working straight out of high school. Both became union carpenters.

On the cusp of Labor Day, both are grateful they did.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Labor Day holiday is rooted in the late nineteenth century, when labor activists pushed for a federal holiday to recognize the many contributions workers have made to Americas strength, prosperity and well-being.

John Kotka, 58, a son of underground miner Richard Kotka and his wife, Maxine, was born and raised in Butte. He became a Carpenters Union member 29 years ago.

Michael Ingram, 58, was born and raised in Anaconda. His father, Don Ingram, was a haul truck driver in the Berkeley Pit. His uncle, Gary Ingram, worked as a union carpenter. Michael joined the Carpenters Union in 1992.

Kotkas first job as a carpenter was in Gillette, Wyoming, where he worked on the non-union construction of tract houses. He said he learned a lot and made good money but wanted to return to Butte, where he was able to join the union as a journeyman carpenter because of his experience.

I always wanted to be a union carpenter because the wages were better, the health insurance was awesome, and there was a great pension, Kotka said.

In addition, the pride in workmanship among union carpenters was both attractive and well-earned, he said.

Union carpenters typically tackle commercial jobs that are more demanding and challenging than residential projects, Kotka said.

Ingram joined the union apprenticeship program after high school and worked for his uncle, Gary Ingram.

One of Ingrams first jobs involved framing for a huge water tank being built for West Yellowstone.

It was a challenge, he said. It was my first exposure to Symons (concrete forming systems).

The apprenticeship program was invaluable, Ingram said.

You get taught the right way to do things, he said. Youre working with journeymen who are doing it right, and you are learning from them.

Screw up once and its OK. Screw up again in the exact same way, and its not.

Those crusty old-timers, you know, they didnt give a damn if they hurt your feelings, Ingram said. You dont see guys like that anymore.

Ingram and Kotka both worked in years past for Butte-based Markovich Construction.

Kotka stayed with Markovich and said he is proud of projects the company has completed in recent years. They include a new airport terminal at Bert Mooney Airport, a new Veterans Administration clinic and the complex of buildings and cottages at the new Southwest Montana Veterans Home.

Kotka said he is especially proud of the Veterans Home, where he has worked as foreman.

It has been a great opportunity for me, he said. Very satisfying.

Kotka said he is grateful for his tenure with Markovich, a relationship that has spanned nearly 25 years.

Theyve done me well, he said. Theyve treated me right.

His son, Jonathan Kotka, is a union electrician.

Ingram works now for Kissock Construction and runs a crew at St. James Healthcare.

When the opportunity to work here came, I couldnt pass it up because of the working conditions, he said. Youre inside year-round. Theres no baking out in the hot sun all summer. Theres no getting up in the winter and working when its 10 degrees below zero and snowing sideways.

Both men feel union representation is a positive force for workers and society. And both believe most young people today do not know or understand how union advocacy in years past has helped secure such working pluses as better wages, a five-day workweek, an 8-hour workday, health benefits, assistance when injured or retired and safer working conditions.

The Clayton Act of 1914 declared, The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce.

Nationally, union membership and power have declined. In some cases, large unions have shot themselves in the foot by demanding especially steep wages, remarkably generous pension and health benefits and by padding payrolls.

Labor Day became a national holiday in 1894.

The colorful history of unions in Butte and Anaconda remains alive in each communitys soul.

Ingram and Kotka grew up and joined a union and are glad they did.

Im fortunate Ive been able to be in the union this long, Kotka said.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  Ohio authorities on Friday released bodycam video showing a police officer fatally shooting TaKiya Young in her car in what her family denounced as a gross misuse of power and authority against the pregnant Black mother.

Sean Walton, an attorney representing Youngs family, said the video clearly shows that the Aug. 24 shooting of the 21-year-old woman was unjustified and he called for the officer to be fired and charged immediately. Walton also criticized police for not releasing the video footage for more than a week after the shooting.

TaKiyas family is heartbroken, Walton said. The video did nothing but confirm their fears that TaKiya was murdered unjustifiably  and it was just heartbreaking for them to see TaKiya having her life taken away under such ridiculous circumstances.

A spokesman for the police union said calls to charge the officer before an investigation is complete are premature. The officer is on paid administrative leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation examines the shooting, which is standard practice. A second officer who was on the scene has returned to active duty. Their names, races and ranks have not been released.

Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford called the shooting a tragedy.

Ms. Youngs family is understandably very upset and grieving, he said in a written statement released Friday morning. While none of us can fully understand the depths of their pain, all of us can remember them in our prayers and give them the time and space to deal with this heartbreaking turn of events.

Youngs death follows a troubling series of fatal shootings of Black adults and children by Ohio police and numerous occurrences of police brutality against Black people across the nation in recent years, events that have prompted widespread protests and demands for police reform.

Youngs father, grandmother and other relatives watched the video before its public release and released a statement Friday through Walton.

It is undeniable that TaKiyas death was not only avoidable, but also a gross misuse of power and authority, the statement said. While viewing the video, the family felt a lot of anger, a lot of frustration, Walton said.

More than anything, there was  a sense of just devastation, to know that this power system, these police officers, could stop her and so quickly take her life for no justifiable reason.

The video shows an officer at the drivers side window telling Young she has been accused of theft and repeatedly demanding that she get out of the car. A second officer is standing in front of the car.

Young protests, and the first officer repeats his demand. Then both officers yell at her to get out. At that point, Young can be heard asking them, Are you going to shoot me? seconds before she turns the steering wheel to the right and the car moves toward the officer standing in front of it. The officer fires his gun through the windshield and Youngs sedan drifts into the grocery stores brick wall.

Officers then break the drivers side window, which Belford said was to get Young out of the car and render medical aid, though footage of medical assistance was not provided.

Walton denied Friday that Young had stolen anything from the grocery store. He said his firm found a witness who saw Young put down bottles of alcohol as she left the store.

The bottles were left in the store, he said. So when shes in her car denying that, thats accurate. She did not commit any theft, and so these officers were not even within their right to place her under arrest, let alone take her life.

Brian Steel, executive vice president of the union representing Blendon Township police, called Walton a modern-day ambulance chaser and criticized his characterization of the shooting as a murder while the investigation is still ongoing.

Steel said the case will almost certainly be presented to a grand jury for a decision on whether to file charges against the officer, but declined to say whether Youngs death was justified. The fact is (the officer) had to make a split-second decision while in front of a moving vehicle, a 2,000-pound weapon, he said.

Responding to criticism of the delay in releasing the video, Belford said it took time for his small staff to process it and properly redact certain footage, such as officers faces and badge numbers, in accordance with Ohio law.

He said the officers names cannot be released at this point because they are being treated as assault victims.

Youngs death is one of numerous deaths of Black adults and children at the hands of police across the nation that have drawn protests and demands for more accountability.

Young was expected to give birth to a daughter in November. Family and friends held a private vigil a day after Young was killed, releasing balloons and lighting candles spelling out RIP Kiya. An online effort to pay her funeral expenses has raised more than $7,000.

TaKiyas siblings, cousins, grandmother and father have rallied around her sons, 6-year-old JaKobie and 3-year-old JaKenlie, who dont yet understand the magnitude of what happened to their mother, Walton said.

Its a large family and TaKiya has been snatched away from them, Walton said. I think the entire family is still in shock.
A fee of a quarter-cent per bushel on initial grain sales goes into effect Friday to rebuild a state fund that protects farmers from dealer and warehouse failures.

That fee  along with participation fees for dealers and warehouses  is projected to generate about $6 million annually for the states Grain Indemnity Fund.

The fund has been in operation for about four decades and pays farmers for their losses if they are unable to collect payments from dealers or their grain from warehouses. It pays up to $300,000 per claim.

The fee hasnt been collected since 1989 because the fund has long had a balance in excess of a state-mandated $3 million minimum. The fee ceases after the fund surpasses $8 million.

Under previous law, its reinstatement was supposed to happen in July, but state lawmakers delayed the start for two months to allow dealers to adjust their accounting procedures to collect the fee. Proceeds are paid to the state quarterly.

State agriculture officials have sought in recent months to prepare licensed dealers  including farmer cooperatives  for the change.

Even with all the notifications, publications and informational meetings, theres still a lot of questions out there, said James Kennedy, the grain warehouse bureau chief for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. We still maybe have an uphill battle to make sure everybodys educated.

Larger dealers often use computer software to track their sales, but some still document them with paper.

Mark Walter, grain manager for NEW Cooperative, which is among the largest farmer cooperatives in the state, said his company paid an unspecified amount of money to have its software modified to accommodate the reinstated fee.

We are ready to go, he said. Our software got updated, and its just a matter of turning it on.

Kennedy said IDALS will ensure that the dealers are complying with the new requirement during its periodic examinations of the companies.

The indemnity funds balance is about $380,000. The balance had been declining for years, but that trend accelerated in the past two years when three grain dealers went bankrupt and couldnt pay all their debts to farmers.

The most recent was Global Processing Inc. in Kanawha, which specialized in organic and non-genetically modified soybeans. Soybean producers who dealt with Global filed claims that totaled about $3.4 million with the indemnity funds board, but the board rejected about $1.5 million worth of claims, mostly because they were for sales that were too old.

State law requires those sales to occur within six months of a failure, and some of the claims were for sales that happened up to three years ago.

Those farmers whose claims were denied can still recoup their losses through the companys bankruptcy proceedings. The state also attempts to recoup its indemnity fund payouts to farmers from the defunct companies.
Cynthia Nyamai has expressed optimism about discovering love in her forties. She emphasizes that her approach to love life is deeply rooted in spirituality, stating that her decision to marry will be driven by purpose rather than mere romance.

The media personality says her approach to love life is deeply rooted in spirituality, stating that her decision to marry will be driven by purpose rather than mere romance.

I will marry one day not because of romantic ideas only, it will be because my call, my purpose should be aligned with his. I will help him get to where he is meant to and he will also help me. A woman brings life, she explained.

Nyamai says she would only marry a King clarifying that this choice is based on alignment rather than material possessions.

Nevertheless, Cynthia Nyamai mentioned that her partner should be tall, dark, and handsome, sporting well-groomed facial hair, and exuding a pleasant fragrance.

I know my man has to be a king. I cant marry lower than a King and I know people will think it means property blah blah blah, but it is where they are in the spiritual things. Some things come naturally from working with God. As a prophet, I can only marry a King, so that he doesnt tear down my office and things that God has given me, she said in an interview.

Cynthia further delved into her process of healing, sharing that she has refrained from entering the dating scene due to the wounds from her past. She revealed feeling apprehensive, believing that some men intended to exploit and cause her pain.

You know we are hurt so much in our society that we begin to do things outside the order of God. I was okay, I even would not mind hurting men. It helped me to begin to separate myself from a lot of nonsense in my life that society has been teaching us. I am rebuilding my system, she said.

She recounted an incident from four years ago, during which she believes she received a message from God indicating that she wasnt prepared for marriage due to her perceptions of men.

During that period, Cynthia Nyamai was residing in Uganda.

I used to tell God to give me a man who on Fridays, will just be coming home, We have dinner after that I make a flask of tea we sit and we pray until morning.

God takes us through a journey. So God wakes me up in the morning he tells me, Lets have a date come to the balcony, send for Java and we enjoy.

I was living on a hill, looking at other hills and we started talking. He said I want to prepare you for marriage. I said God as I sit on this balcony, a hot guy will pass by a hot man, I will just see a tall man at the gate saying Excuse me Im lost. Wapi?! she joked.

The TV presenter mentioned that God guided her in learning how to ready herself for marriage.bShe mentioned that she received a message from God, telling her that she had been manipulating men.

I had to call many men in my life and apologize. And the funny thing is he started working on me. He said you are the problem, you are not ready for marriage. He said you think it is wisdom and you are clever. He was like apologize to all the men I had worked with, she said.

Cynthia Nyamai said that while she hopes to start a family, she is resolute in her decision to only marry upon hearing the guidance of Gods voice.
Pastor Dorcas Rigathi on Thursday shared with secondary school students the dangers of engaging in drug abuse following what she witnessed at a medical camp she opened for those in addictions in Mombasa County.

Speaking to students at Tudor Secondary School in Mombasa, Pastor Dorcas told them that she would not want them to end up in the drug dens, and having wasted their promising lives in addictions.

At the medical camp, the people have injected themselves everywhere with drugs, and the medics can hardly find somewhere to inject them for different medical procedures, she told the students.

Others who attended the medical camp had bruises on their bodies, charred lips, swollen parts of the body and red eyes. A majority were class eight dropouts, and others were university drop outs with no jobs.

This was the first school in the Coast Region that Pastor Dorcas took the Boy Child Preventive Program. Previously, she has spoken to students at the Alliance Girls, Dagoretti High and Kahuhia Girls and Moi Girls among others to help the young children, from a young age to say no to drugs and negative peer pressure.

Do not allow your life to be messed by alcohol, and drugs. You have a great destiny ahead of you, said Pastor Dorcas.

She was at the Tudor Secondary as the two-day medical camp, which attracted more than 1,000 of those in addictions, continued at the Railway Dispensary Grounds, a few kilometres from the school.

Nacada Officer Eric Omondi said that the Coast region was among those most affected by alcohol, and drug abuse, but they were working with schools to sensitize students on the dangers of drug use.

Bishop Joseph Maisha who was also present to encourage the students said, I have seen the heart of Her Excellency for the boy children. The boy children were completely forgotten, but it is now your time.

Area DCC Ronald Mwiwawi raised concern over the poor performance of schools in the Coast region, saying that when the announcement for the national examination results was made, students from the region would be among the poorest in performance.

It is unfortunate that when other parts of the country celebrate scoring many As, we have only one A. I urge the boys to focus on their studies, and say no to girlfriends. We are dealing with those addicted and living in the drug dens; keep away from Kenjaro and Magodoroni villages, said DCC Mwiwawi.

The medical camp, which attracted more than 1,000 from the neighbouring drug dens of Kenjaro and Magodoroni villages, with more than 75pc from the male gender were characterized by bruises on their bodies, charred lips, swollen parts of the body, and red eyes.

There were doctors, pharmacists, psychologists, counselors and nutritionists at the medical camp to offer the needed medical help to all who came. Tens of them expressed a desire to go for rehabilitation and change their lives.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has affirmed Kenyas commitment to upholding good bilateral relations with its partners.

He termed Kenya an investment destination and emphasized on the commitment to create a good business environment for investors.

The Deputy President spoke Thursday evening as he represented President William Ruto at the awarding ceremony of African Tech Challenge (ATC) VIII, a program sponsored by AVIC-INTL.

The Deputy President lauded AVIC International for the program that plays a key role in enhancing the technical skills of students pursuing technical courses in Kenya.

The Skills being learnt by the students will help the country in reducing the level of unemployment and reduce the poverty index in the country through cultivating the spirit of entrepreneurship as a way of encouraging innovation among youth in the country.

The DP urged the youth to take advantage of the youth-driven ICT potential to leverage innovations in artificial intelligence, robotics and other technologies to enhance productivity and competitiveness.

He lauded the program saying it lays strong emphasis on youth-driven ICT potential to support new age industries which leverage innovations in artificial intelligence, robotics and other technologies to enhance our productivity and competitiveness.
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Whether youre a novice trader looking to dip your toes in the market or an experienced professional seeking advanced trading tools, FBS has an account type for you. From Cent accounts to ECN accounts with raw spreads, traders can choose an option that aligns perfectly with their strategies.

User-Friendly Trading Platforms

FBS understands the importance of a seamless trading experience, and their choice of trading platforms reflects this understanding.

The broker offers the ever-popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platforms, both of which are lauded for their user-friendly interfaces, advanced charting tools, and customizable features.

These platforms empower Kenyan traders to execute trades with precision and confidence, even in the volatile forex market.

Educational Resources and Support

FBS demonstrates its commitment to traders success through its comprehensive educational resources and support.

Novice traders in Kenya can benefit from the brokers educational materials, including video tutorials, webinars, and articles, which cover a wide range of topics from basic trading concepts to advanced strategies.

This commitment to education sets FBS apart as a broker that truly invests in its traders growth.

Leverage and Risk Management

Understanding the importance of responsible trading, FBS offers varying levels of leverage to suit different risk appetites.

While leverage can amplify profits, it also increases the potential for losses. FBS takes a proactive approach by ensuring that traders have the tools and information needed to manage their risk effectively.

This approach aligns with the brokers mission to foster a sustainable and informed trading environment.

Efficient Deposit and Withdrawal Options

Smooth and hassle-free financial transactions are paramount in the world of forex trading.

FBS acknowledges this by offering a wide range of deposit and withdrawal options that cater to the needs of Kenyan traders.

Whether its through bank transfers, e-wallets, or local payment methods, FBS ensures that traders can efficiently manage their funds, enhancing the overall trading experience.

Dedicated Customer Support

A hallmark of a reliable broker is the quality of its customer support.

FBS shines in this department with its dedicated customer support team available 24/7.

Traders in Kenya can rest assured that any queries or concerns they might have will be promptly addressed, providing them with the confidence they need to navigate the forex market successfully.

Conclusion

In the competitive world of forex trading, FBS broker stands out as a beacon of excellence, particularly for traders in Kenya.

The commitment to responsible trading, efficient financial transactions, and top-notch customer support further solidifies FBSs position as a broker that genuinely cares about its traders success.

For Kenyan traders seeking a partner to navigate the complexities of the forex market, FBS broker emerges as an optimal choice, bringing with it a promise of empowerment, growth, and prosperous trading journeys.
Marijuana trafficking suspect, Nancy Kigunzu better known by her codename Mathe wa Ngara, will remain behind bars for the foreseeable future after she was denied bail on Thursday, August 31.

Mathe, along with three other co-defendants, faced charges of trafficking cannabis with an estimated value of Sh18.3 million at the JKIA Law courts. They faced another count of possessing funds that the state alleges are proceeds of crime. The specified amount is Sh 13.4 million, which is under the custody of the state.

The co-defendants are Teresia Wanjiru, initially misidentified as Mathe wa Ngara, and two individuals presumed to be minors, and were awaiting an age verification process ordered by the court.

Investigators established that one of them was 19-year-old Eugene Otiende Jumba, who was denied bail alongside Mathe wa Ngara.

The fourth co-accused is a minor; his file was transferred to the childrens court at Milimani Law Court. Given that no adult claimed responsibility for him, the court placed him under the care of Kabete Childrens Home.

Meanwhile, Teresia was granted bail of Sh50,000 on condition that she provide two contact persons, one of whom should be a blood relative.

Magistrate Njeri Thuku also directed Teresia to personally appear at the JKIA Probation office within seven days to submit a social report.

As for Mathe wa Ngara and Eugene Jumba, the magistrate agreed with the State that they posed a risk of fleeing due to their involvement in drug trafficking.

Prosecution has placed strong compelling reasons. It is not in the interest of justice to grant bond, the court said.

In their argument against the release of the suspects, the prosecution said they would interfere with witnesses and abscond court.

But the suspects, represented by Lawyer Danstan Omari, said they could not tamper with witnesses as all the witnesses were police officers themselves.

If the state is admitting that its own officers are going to be compromised, then this country will be a banana republic, Omari said.

He also mentioned that the nature of the offense is not as serious as murder or treason, where accused persons have been granted bail before.

During the hearing of the bail application on Monday, Mathe wa Ngara collapsed, forcing the magistrate to adjourn the session.

Before Ms. Kigunzus collapse, her lawyers Cliff Ombeta and Danstan Omari, were engrossed in a debate with State prosecutors regarding the whereabouts of her money, Sh13,474,520 to be precise.

The State informed the court that the funds are being held at the Central Bank of Kenya.

The mention of the minors case is scheduled for September 19, while Teresias case is set for September 4, 2023.
Wednesday, Aug. 23

0731  Report of a low-hanging wire on Hunt Avenue between Main Street and Railroad Avenue.

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1007  Report of a suspicious man blasting music in a car on Library Lane and then walking around.

1714  Report of a rattlesnake in a storage bin on a Main Street property.

Thursday, Aug. 24

0109  An officer noticed a broken sprinkler on a commercial property near Main Street. The officer left a note on the door.

0806  A homeless mans encampment near Adams Street was reportedly growing. The caller said the man has a truck with a camper shell thats always parked there.

1018  Police cited a driver for speeding near Deer Park/Main.

1040  Report of a car parked on Elmhurst Avenue since Aug. 1.

1529  Police cited an unlicensed driver near Vidovich/Main.

1532  Report of an ongoing problem the last three days with a man in a gray car racing down Sulphur Springs Avenue toward Main Street.

2344  Following a traffic stop on Spring Street, police arrested a 26-year-old Napa man on suspicion of DUI.

Friday, Aug. 25

0843  Report of a tree branch obstructing a 25 mph speed limit sign on Main Street between Fulton Lane and Crinella Drive.

1223  A man asked an officer if he could use the barbecues at Crane Park.

1409  Police cited a driver near Silverado Trail and Howell Mountain Road.

1535  Police cited a driver near Pope/Church.

2159  Police were told to be on the lookout for a pickup that had been involved in a hit-and-run in Calistoga.

2250  Police cited a driver on Main Street.

Saturday, Aug. 26

0100  Following a traffic stop at Silverado/Deer Park, police arrested two drivers on suspicion of DUI: a 25-year-old Middletown man and a 21-year-old Napa man.

0905  Someone tried to break into a Tainter Street home Friday night. Nothing was taken.

1251  A caller noticed a truck taking water from a fire hydrant near Spring Mountain Court. An officer contacted an employee who said his boss had attached a meter pump provided by the city. The water was being delivered to a residence on Spring Mountain Road.

1459  Someone flagged down an officer about a dog in a car on Main Street. An officer contacted its owner. The windows were partway down and the dog had water.

1506  Police cited a driver for a center turn lane violation on Main Street.

1550  Report of juveniles on bikes blowing dirt onto peoples houses on Dahlia Street. An officer talked to the kids.

1738  Report of a station wagon parked on the wrong side of Stockton Street. It was gone when an officer arrived.

1747  Report of two dogs, one in distress, inside a car parked on Hunt Avenue.

1847  Report of a reckless driver speeding and crossing over double yellows on Pratt Avenue.

2001  Police cited a driver near Main/Hunt.

2007  Police checked an occupied vehicle on Library Lane and told the occupant about St. Helenas ordinance prohibiting camping. The person was also cited for expired registration.

2124  A shirtless juvenile was running around in a pink mask on Charter Oak Avenue.

2138  Report of a drunk driver in a silver Infiniti on Silverado Trail. Following a traffic stop near the Pope Street Bridge, police arrested the 62-year-old San Rafael man on suspicion of DUI.

Sunday, Aug. 27

0211  An officer found two people sleeping in a car near the skatepark and notified them of the city ordinance prohibiting camping.

0736  A Sylvaner Avenue resident had left her back door open and believed something was in her closet. Police assisted.

0814  Someone left trash at the corner of Library Lane and Adams Street, behind the Robert Louis Stevenson sign.

0831  An officer checked in with an unhoused person on Adams Street.

1004  Report of a possible drunk driver at the corner of Deer Park Road and Silverado Trail. Police checked the area.

1749  Report of a restraining order violation on Spring Street.

1928  Someone asked to talk to an officer about an incident that occurred in Napa.

1939  Police cited a driver near Main/Vintage.

2100  Report of loud music on El Bonita Avenue. Officers contacted the people responsible and told them about the citys noise ordinance.

2159  Police checked on a pedestrian on Main Street and arrested the 31-year-old Napa woman on suspicion of public intoxication and violating probation.

2239  Medical aid on Colombard Court. The person was deceased. Police took a report.

Monday, Aug. 28

0645  Report of a reckless driver almost running off the road, last seen on Main Street.

1112  A person came to the police station asking for help with a civil issue.

1506  Report of a medium-sized white dog off leash near Pinot/Chardonnay. It was gone when police arrived.

1535  Report of a large dead bird near Tainter/Kennedy. Public Works was asked to pick it up.

1809  A Crinella Drive resident believed someone had broken into her backyard.

1933  Medical aid for a woman having trouble walking on Pope Street.

2039  Police cited a driver near Main/Spring.

2057  An officer spotted a fire at a commercial building in the 1200 block of Main Street. The fire department responded and put it out before it could spread.

2238  A woman asked to talk to an officer about a dispute with a neighbor. She was concerned about her safety and that of her family.

2325  A person was reported missing. An officer found the person a few hours later.

Tuesday, Aug. 29

0024  Report of an ongoing issue with loud talking and lots of noise on Brown Street.

0956  Medical aid for a patient at an Adams Street medical office.

1515  A vehicle that was left in neutral started to roll and hit another vehicle on Main Street. An officer helped the two vehicle owners exchange information.

1714  Police were told to be on the lookout for a white Toyota Yaris that had been involved in a hit-and-run in Calistoga.

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Napa County has hit a fire protection jackpot of sorts  it will receive a $37.5 million federal grant for fuel reduction and other wildfire prevention efforts.

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This grant will empower us to take significant strides in safeguarding our community for future generations, especially in the face of impending wildfires, Board of Supervisors Chair Belia Ramos said in a news release.

Christopher Thompson of the Napa Communities Firewise Foundation on Thursday called the grant critical to further fuel reduction efforts.

Money is coming from the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The county must provide an additional 25% match, or more than $9 million.

Half the grant goes to reducing hazardous fuels. Thompson mentioned projects in such places as lower Redwood Road near the city of Napa and the Deer Park, Coombsville, Berryessa Highlands, Calistoga, American Canyon and Lake Hennessey areas.

The other half of the grant can reimburse property owners for defensible space and ignition-resistant construction projects in areas with a high wildfire threat. This will be a cost-share program.

Napa County increasing wildfire fuel reduction contribution Napa County will up its wildfire fuel reduction contribution from $3 million to $6 million.

But, Thompson said, the grant doesnt end the need for dependable, local wildfire prevention funding. While grants are available to create fuel reduction projects, they dont pay to maintain them as vegetation grows back.

Were now going to roll out more fuel mitigation projects that we will have to maintain, Thompson said. And if we dont finance that maintenance, its like the work was never done in the first place. It all grows back and were back to square one.

Napa County in 2017 was hit by the Tubbs, Atlas and Nuns wildfires. It was hit in 2020 by the Glass and LNU Lightning Complex fires. Hundreds of homes, wineries and businesses were destroyed. County officials estimate about 60% of the countys land burned.

In response, the nonprofit Napa Firewise worked with Napa County Fire to create a five-year, $42 million Napa County Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The Board of Supervisors adopted the plan in 2021.

This plan called for creating specific shaded fuel breaks and clearing vegetation along evacuation route roads in areas throughout the county.

California insurance market rattled by withdrawal of major companies Two insurance industry giants pulled back from California's home insurance marketplace, saying that increasing wildfire risk and soaring construction costs prompted them to stop writing new policies in the nation's most populous state.

Napa Firewise is working on an expanded plan. Thompson said the five-year plan didnt include every project, but rather the projects most critical at the time.

The county took some heat in July 2021, when Sonoma County secured a $37 million grant from the same federal program and Napa County received nothing. Some in the wine industry questioned why Napa County hadnt even applied.

This time, Napa County both applied and is a grant winner.

I think it's definitely going to be helpful and its exciting Napa is pursuing funding opportunities such as these, said Michelle Benvenuto, executive director of Winegrowers of Napa County. We look forward to continue to collaborate with the county on wildfire efforts.

Napa County CEO Ryan Alsop commented on the grant in the county statement.

This grant amplifies our commitment to resilience  and will have a tremendous impact on our ability to drive and uphold investment in wildfire resiliency projects that bring value to our region in the years ahead, Alsop said.

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The Silicon Valley billionaire-backed plan to build a 21st century utopian city on agricultural land on the edge of the Bay Area has a name and a website featuring the first renderings of what the Solano County dreamland might look like.

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The initiative's name  California Forever  was unveiled on Thursday afternoon after a two-week period in which the group's acquisition of 55,000 acres in southeast Solano County has come under fire from politicians, farmers and environmentalists.

The first renderings from California Forever evoke a cityscape with a dreamy white stucco and red rooftop Mediterranean vibe that might be found in a Greek or Italian village. There are hillside neighborhoods stepping down to what must be the banks of the Sacramento River, kayakers tooling through lily pads and anglers fishing from the riverbank at sunrise.

There is an image of a city rising on a hill behind farmland, and some more urban scenes  pedestrians meandering through narrow streets of cafes and farmstands, workers installing solar panels, and what looks like commuters reading while waiting to board a streetcar.

The website leads with "starting a conversation about eastern Solano County" and promises "a chance for a new community, good paying local jobs, solar farms, and open space."

The website says that Solano County  "nestled between Sacramento, the Delta, San Francisco, and Napa Valley"  encapsulates the "diversity of California's landscapes and its people."

"It is the home of agriculture and green energy industries that sustainably feed and power our state, strong middle-class communities, and our nation's busiest Air Force base," the group states. "Eastern Solano County is also an area ready for a new community. We're excited to tell our story."

The website says that California Forever is the parent company of Flannery Associates, which has purchased more than 50,000 acres in Solano County.

"To date, our company has been quiet about our activities. This has, understandably, created interest, concern, and speculation," the group says. "Now that we're no longer limited by confidentiality, we are eager to begin a conversation about the future of Solano County  a conversation with all of you."

The website also names an investor who has not been named previously  venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, an early investor in Google, Slack and other companies. It also reveals that the Gabriel Metcalf, the former CEO of the San Francisco-based urban think tank SPUR, is part of the team behind the project. Other investors include Marc Andreessen, Patrick and John Collison, Chris Dixon, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Reid Hoffman, Michael Moritz, and Laurene Powell Jobs.

California Forever says it has conducted surveys and interviews with 2,000 Solano County residents, who have emphasized a need for "more opportunities to buy homes in safe, walkable communities," as well as good jobs, more money to improve schools, promote public safety and reduce homelessness.

While California Forever may have billions to invest in the project, it will face staunch opposition from some ranchers who argue that the city would disrupt the economy of a county that is 62% farmland. The project would also be inconsistent with Solano County's Orderly Growth Measure, which requires that all urban development take place within city boundaries, rather than unincorporated parts of the county. California Forever says it supports the Orderly Growth Measure, but will ask voters to support the development.

"The Orderly Growth Measure is the right approach to safeguard Solano, including our project, from sprawl and disorderly growth for many years to come," the group said.

See which areas in and around Napa have the fastest growing home prices __________________________________________________________________________________________ #7. Pope Valley, CA #6. Calistoga, CA #5. Angwin, CA #4. American Canyon, CA #3. Napa, CA #2. Saint Helena, CA #1. Yountville, CA
4.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Turkey

14 individuals were tortured, and 64 died on the move from Nagorno Karabakh. Foreign Ministry spokesperson

Council of Europe to prepare package of measures in response to refugee influx in Armenia

Mher Grigoryan and EU Ambassador exchanged ideas on regional developments

Minister of Defence had a meeting with the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of PRC

Yeremyan Projects has launched the regional first livestock complex in Tashir community

Rights of Karabakhs imprisoned former leadership are protected, Azerbaijan ombudsperson claims

Finance ministry: Armenia economic growth target will be maintained at 7% level in 2024

Elnur Mammadov: Most points in peace treaty have been agreed upon by Azerbaijan, Armenia

Statement: Alma-Ata Declaration has no mention of former union republics of ex-USSR

Dollar drops, euro rises in Armenia

Armenia defense sector capital spending planned in amount of around $1.4 billion in 2024

Lawyer: Maestro Sergey Smbatyan is acquitted

Premier: Armenia defense spending planned to be increased by 125% in 2024 compared to 2018

Armenia, Ukraine officials underscore Pashinyan-Zelenskyy first meeting

ReA15: 300 animation films, 30 guests from 40 countries, around 500 audience; Armenia international festival summed up

Russias Makhachkala airport resumes operations

Armenia's Pashinyan: There is serious progress in North-South motorway construction

Around 12kg narcotics attempted to be smuggled into Armenia from Iran

Armenia finance minister: Considerable part of 2.6 billion to be provided by EU is loan

Armenia official: We will not increase pensions, minimum wages in 2024

Armenia finance minister: National debt of more than $10 billion is safe

Pashinyan: Armenia government expects 7% economic growth in 2023

COAF secures 10M grant to transform education in Armenia's Syunik Province

RFE/RL: US supports EU monitoring mission in Armenia, embassy says

Hurricane Otis kills at least 48 people in Mexico

$135M to be allocated for needs of those forcibly displaced from Karabakh, Armenia PM says

Armenia nationals can now open bank accounts in Russia in simplified manner

Armenia MFA former spox shares video of Russian peacekeepers withdrawal from Karabakh

202-million-year-old dragonfly fossil discovered in UK

Armenia premier: I hope arrangements for opening border with Turkey will be implemented in near future

Pashinyan: Current world orders collapse is serious threat to Armenia

Armenia labor, social affairs minister is in Iran, memorandum to be signed on highly qualified workforce exchange

Armenia PM: 3 main principles of signing peace treaty with Azerbaijan have been agreed upon

Armenia defense minister attends Beijing Xiangshan Forum opening ceremony in China (PHOTOS)

Biden, Netanyahu discuss ongoing Israeli airstrikes in Gaza

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Genocide is being carried out in Nagorno-Karabakh today. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, stated in an interview with the VOA Armenian Service.

At the request of the Armenian side, he presented his expert opinion on the blocking of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan and the resultant catastrophic humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Reflecting on the five variants of the crime defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention, Ocampo singled out the creation of conditions for the extermination of a group of people, which does not even foresee the existence of casualties.

The 15 judges of the International Court of Justice unanimously decided that blocking the Lachin corridor poses an immediate threat to the lives of people living in Nagorno-Karabakh, he said.

In his opinion, the intentions of the Azerbaijani side are obvious. Baku continues to reject calls from the international community to reopen the Lachine corridor, ignoring the ruling of the International Court of Justice.

Luis Moreno Ocampo emphasized the use of the term "genocide" to alert the international community, especially the USA and France, which are engaged in the Karabakh negotiation process.

If we are dealing with a humanitarian crisis, then the international community can call for political talks, they can give other qualifications, but if it is genocide, then we have a different situation, he noted.

Referring to the discussion on the issue in the UN Security Council, and the fact that, apart from the Armenian side, no other country refrained from calling what happened a "genocide," Ocampo reminded that in the 1990s, during the Rwandan genocide, the UN Security Council was discussing "mass murders" while avoiding calling them "genocide."

According to him, countries do not want to recognize the genocide because in case of recognition, they have to resort to certain actions.

In the UN Security Council, each country defends its interests, but here they have no interest in that respect. Legally, everything is clear. It is complicated from a political point of view because the USA supports Azerbaijan in the conflict with Iran. Europe needs energy carriers coming from the region. So there are many political interests that influence the legal response, Ocampo said.

According to him, the United States, Russia, and France coming to an agreement on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh can put pressure on Azerbaijan and quickly achieve the reopening of the Lachin corridor.

It's the easiest way. If that doesn't work, of course there is the option of supplying the population with food via an airlift. But the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court believes that this is plan B.

As per the Argentinian lawyer, the United States has enough leverage to put pressure on Azerbaijan. At the same time, Washington simply cannot support Baku in exerting pressure on the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh because such a move would make the US an accomplice.

He drew attention to the fact that the problem is not only food, and the issue cannot be considered solved by delivering food once in an alternative way.

There is no reason that does not allow Azerbaijan to implement the decision of the international court, Luis Moreno Ocampo said.
The spokesperson of Charles Michel, President of the European Council, issued a statement regarding the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani issues. The statement reads as follows:

President Michel has continued to be intensely engaged in advancing the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process. His efforts over the past weeks, supported by Toivo Klaar, EUSR for the South Caucasus, have focused as a priority on addressing the humanitarian situation of Karabakh Armenians.

EUSR Klaar and President Michels team have been in frequent contact with Baku, Yerevan and representatives of Karabakh Armenians to work out a solution for unblocking access.

The current humanitarian situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly; it is imperative to take steps to address the needs of the local population.

European Council President Charles Michel has proposed a step-by-step approach which would reflect a sequencing in the full-fledged operation of the Lachin corridor and the opening of the Agdam route.

Sequencing of these steps and the type of cargo that would be delivered by each of these roads, as well as attendant procedures, have been the core of the recent discussions.

The EU strongly believes the Lachin corridor must be unblocked, in line with past agreements and the ICJ Order, and notes that the use of the Agdam road to provide supplies can also be part of a concrete and sustainable solution to the provision of urgent and daily basic needs. Discussions on these elements had started following the last meeting of the leaders in Brussels on 15 July 2023.

The EU side has also stressed the need for Baku to provide clarity to Karabakh Armenians in terms of procedures for their movements through Lachin corridor to and from Armenia.

In parallel, exchanges have also focused on restoring electricity and gas supplies to Karabakh Armenians as soon as possible.

Beyond the immediate situation, the EU side has stressed the need to address legacies of the conflict to facilitate a long-term sustainable resolution.

Dialogue between Baku and representatives of Armenians living in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast will be essential in this regard. The rights and security of Karabakh Armenians must be guaranteed and discussions on specific modalities should start as soon as possible.

The dialogue between Baku and the Karabakh Armenians needs to strengthen confidence and trust. To this end the EU has provided various suggestions for international support to this process, as well as for engagement on the ground to underpin the implementation of agreements reached.

All the above efforts have only one goal: ensure irreversible normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan for the benefit of all populations on the ground. It is now time for courageous compromise solutions, also in light of today's escalation.

The EU has been engaged with other international actors in these efforts, through regular personal contacts and exchanges of views on how best address the current unsustainable situation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia released a statement on Fridays actions by Azerbaijans armed forces in the direction of Gegharkunik Province of Armenia. The statement notes as follows:

On September 1, the armed forces of Azerbaijan opened fire on the positions of the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia located in the area of Sotk and Norabak in the Gegharkunik region, which resulted in casualties of 4 killed and 1 wounded. Azerbaijans armed forces also used mortars and UAVs.

During this period, the Republic of Armenia has repeatedly signaled that Azerbaijan, aiming at carrying out pre-planned military actions, deliberately and systematically is spreading disinformation.

The encroachments against the territorial integrity of Armenia, combined with the statements and bellicose rhetoric regularly made by the Azerbaijani side on various levels as well as channeled through various state media, are the continuation of Baku's aggressive policy aimed at settling existing problems and imposing its own will through the use of force and the threat of use of force.

Under the conditions of targeted calls and growing pressure to lift the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor, Azerbaijans provocation is also aimed at diverting the attention of the international community and avoiding the fulfillment of its obligations.

We strongly condemn this kind of aggressive behavior of Azerbaijan, which is accompanied by the factual siege of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh through the 8-month-long illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, and can seriously disrupt the efforts aimed at establishing stability and lasting peace in the region. The Republic of Armenia reaffirms its principled position that all units of Azerbaijans armed forces must be withdrawn from the sovereign territory of Armenia.

We call on the international community and the actors interested in real stability in the region to restrain Azerbaijans daily increasing maximalist behavior through the existing mechanisms and active and clear steps in order to prevent further escalation of the situation and to bring Azerbaijan to a constructive track.
Li Qiang to attend Asean summit in Indonesia

The premier will pay an official visit to Indonesia next week. File photo: AFP

Premier Li Qiang will attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) being held September 5-8 in Jakarta, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.



Li will also pay an official visit to Indonesia.



While at the summit, the premier will attend several meetings, including the East Asia Summit and a key meeting that includes Japan and South Korea. (Agencies)
Pope welcomed to Mongolia

Mongolian people greet Pope Francis in Ulaan Baatar. Photo: Vatican Media / AFP

Pope Francis was given an exuberant welcome to Mongolia on Friday on the first papal visit to the Asian nation, as he sent a message of "unity and peace" to neighbouring China in a bid to improve ties.



The 86-year-old pontiff's trip through Monday to the Buddhist-majority nation is a gesture of support for its tiny community of Catholics numbering about 1,400  but at the same time a strategic move to improve Vatican ties with Beijing and Moscow.



Francis arrived on Friday morning following a nine-hour journey from Rome, greeted by a line of Mongolian honour guards in traditional blue, red and yellow attire upon his arrival, along with foreign minister Batmunkh Battsetseg.



He then headed to the home of Bishop Giorgio Marengo, the Church's youngest Cardinal, where children waving the flags of Mongolia and the Vatican chanted "Long live the pope!"



Local children sang songs about "Mongolian happiness" as they waited for the pope, with lyrics declaring "Mongolia is full of freedom, peace, joy and a bright future".



Sister Aleth Evangelista said she and her fellow nuns felt "very blessed and fortunate to welcome the Pope in this country".



"Mongolia is a non-Christian country, most of the people are Buddhist and Shamanist, but the pope is here to foster peace and communion among all people," she said.



"I am quite excited that a worldly person like him would come to Mongolia, and it is a rare occasion," Khijigjargal Darisuren, a volunteer at the Saint Thomas church, said.



"I am very happy that we could meet him in person which is a rare treat for us."



The voyage is Francis' second to the region in a year after a September trip to Kazakhstan, underscoring the geopolitical importance of the sensitive area. (AFP)
Adidas, a renowned name in sportswear and lifestyle, has ventured boldly into the digital landscape with their latest initiative, Adidas /// Studios Residency by Adidas. Unveiled during Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul this September, this program marks the convergence of fashion, digital artistry, and blockchain. The inaugural art sale under this initiative is set to showcase diverse artistic talents, including Tokyos MonkeeMoto, known for game development, and Lebanese artist Adra Kandil, alias Dear Nostalgia, who has collaborated with luxury brands like Gucci and Chanel.

Adidas envisions the Residency as a platform to uplift digital creators and foster collaborations with tangible products in the future. Stacey King, headingCommunications and Activations at Adidas /// Studio, expressed her excitement, viewing this as a natural progression after their previous ventures into the Web3 space. The limited NFT collection, featuring 100 artworks for each artist and priced around $250 (0.15 ETH), will be exclusive to attendees of the Seoul event, accompanied by an Adidas hoodie. Additionally, open edition NFTs priced at about $50 (0.03 ETH) will be available for minting by enthusiasts from September 6 to 11.

This endeavor complements Adidass ALTS Ethereum NFT series, which recently collaborated with BAPE for exclusive sneakers with digital counterparts. As Adidas embraces its digital journey, Stacey King hints at more innovative projects. This ventures fusion of art, fashion, and technology reflects the evolving intersections between the digital and physical realms, redefining collaborations and artistic expressions in the digital age.
About 93 per cent of the Rs 2,000 banknotes have returned to the banking system since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in May decided to withdraw the high-value note from circulation, the central bank said in its latest update on Friday. The Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation as of August 31 stood at Rs 0.24 lakh crore, RBI said. The total value of Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation was Rs 3.56 lakh crore at the close of business on May 19, 2023 - when the RBI decided to withdraw the banknote. Thus, the total value of Rs 2000 banknotes returned to the system after the announcement on May 19 is to the tune of Rs 3.32 lakh crore, the RBI release said, citing data it received from banks. Data collected from major banks indicates that out of the total banknotes in Rs 2000 denomination received back from circulation, about 87 per cent is in the form of deposits and the remaining around 13 per cent has been exchanged into other denomination banknotes, RBI said. September 30 has been decided as the last date for the purpose of completing the exercise in a time-bound manner and to provide adequate time to the public. RBI may or may not revisit the September deadline based on the situation going ahead. People are requested to utilise the month of September to deposit or exchange their Rs 2000 banknotes to avoid any rush at the last moment. People can exchange or deposit their Rs 2,000 notes in bank branches and regional branches of RBI. A non-account holder also can exchange Rs 2000 banknotes up to a limit of Rs 20,000 at a time at any bank branch. On May 19, the RBI decided to withdraw the Rs 2000 denomination banknotes from circulation but said it would continue to remain as legal tender. However, RBI had advised banks to stop issuing such banknotes with immediate effect. The Rs 2000 denomination banknote was introduced in November 2016, primarily to meet the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner after the withdrawal of the legal tender status of all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes in circulation at that time. The objective of introducing Rs 2000 banknotes was met once banknotes in other denominations became available in adequate quantities. Therefore, the printing of Rs 2000 banknotes was stopped in 2018-19. (ANI)
PNN Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 1: The core and vital components of our everyday lives involve healthcare needs, especially in times of emergencies. Scenarios such as the Covid-19 pandemic, conflicts, and natural disasters necessitate the movement of essential healthcare resources, including medicines and medical equipment. The significance of medical supplies becomes paramount during crises, and effective logistics and shipping firms likeJassper Shippingplay a crucial role in ensuring the timely distribution of vital medical supplies, equipment, and medications to affected regions and healthcare facilities. Amidst the COVID surge, India gained globalrecognitionas a pharmaceutical hub by supplying COVID vaccines to over 150 countries. It's important to note that these medicines and vaccines were mainly provided to nations in the Global South. In April 2022, as a part of the vaccine partnership within the Quad coalition, India, along with its Quad counterparts - the United States, Australia, and Japan - collectively contributed two hundred thousand doses of Indian-made vaccines to Thailand. This underscores the increasingly urgent need for efficient and suitable shipping solutions, such as Jassper Shipping, to assist both individuals and nations in preserving lives and maintaining societal well-being. Jassper Shipping: Providing novel Healthcare logistics management Over time,Jassper Shippinghas learned that healthcare products have diverse qualities, like time sensitivity and specific temperature prerequisites, crucial for their effectiveness. This is especially significant for pharmaceuticals such as medications and vaccines. During the crisis, both shipping industry professionals andJassper Shippinghave noticed that life-saving medical equipment like ventilators and oxygen machines become even more time-sensitive. Because each situation has distinct requirements, it becomes essential to select a suitable shipping carrier. Utilising a range of freight methods enhances the swift transportation of essential medicines or vaccines that demand quick delivery. Logistics and shipping provider -Jassper Shipping, have adopted novel inventory models that reduce reliance on just-in-time strategies and prioritise safety stocks. This shift aims to establish consistent predictive planning across all supply chain phases.Jassper Shipping'sstrategic approach involves emphasising monitoring, while effectively minimising and managing logistics-related risks. This showcases the company's increased dedication to promoting supply chain transparency and internal data sharing. The incorporation of cargo visibility and remote Container Management technology proves invaluable for the pharmaceutical sector, offering real-time monitoring of container conditions from pickup to delivery. Additionally, through the utilisation of advanced technology and systems,Jassper Shippingoffers temperature-controlled environments tailored to specific pharmaceuticals, ensuring their efficacy and quality remain intact throughout the shipping process. Shipping solutions for healthcare industry In times of crises,Jassper Shippingmaintains the view that expediting and improving shipments can be accomplished through careful strategizing and optimal route choices. This entails considerations such as compliance with governmental regulations, guaranteeing accessibility, and acknowledging delivery time sensitivity. Discussed below are a number of solutions thatJassper Shippingconsiders instrumental in enhancing the shipping procedure: * Intermodal Shipping : During a crisis, intermodal shipping is extremely beneficial for moving healthcare products. This approach seamlessly integrates air, sea, and land transport to ensure fast and efficient delivery, effectively addressing timing, capacity, and temperature challenges. Jassper Shipping helps coordination of these networks facilitate the swift delivery of crucial medical supplies like medicines, medical equipment, and vaccines to affected regions. This preserves their quality and significantly enhances the efficiency of crisis response efforts. * Temperature controlled devices and real time data sharing systems : Essential for shipping healthcare products, effective logistics management integrates temperature-controlled devices and real-time data sharing systems. This targeted method guarantees that delicate medical items, such as vaccines and medications, consistently adhere to their necessary temperature range during the shipping process. Continuous real-time monitoring and control prevent deterioration and assure product effectiveness upon reaching the destination. Through the utilisation of advanced temperature-controlled logistics and real-time data sharing, Jassper Shipping protects healthcare goods from temperature fluctuations, thus securing their quality and effectiveness, and ultimately reinforcing the reliability of healthcare supply chains. * Collaborating with the government to expedite regulatory hurdles: Collaborating with the government is of utmost importance to expedite the resolution of regulatory hurdles in the healthcare product shipping process. Jassper Shipping ensures the establishment of partnerships between private enterprises and government bodies. This alliance aims to streamline bureaucratic protocols, ensuring the swift and unimpeded transportation of vital medical supplies. Through robust collaboration with regulatory agencies, the shipping and healthcare sectors can effectively navigate challenging situations, guaranteeing the on-time delivery of essential provisions to those in urgent need. Amidst global emergencies, healthcare demands become paramount. The swift and precise delivery of essential medical supplies, including medications and equipment, is vital for crisis response. India's proactive role in distributing COVID vaccines globally underscores this urgency, sparking the quest for innovative shipping methods. Expedited services and spacious sea cargo options, like those offered by Jassper Shipping, place specialized pharmaceutical logistical demands at the center stage, both operationally and strategically. These techniques enable rapid adjustments to unforeseen changes, employing simple and standardized procedures that are vital during crises. All players in pharmaceutical logistics, including Jassper Shipping, help streamline processes, boosting efficiency, agility, and digital integration via comprehensive platforms. The aim is to improve the oversight of delicate shipments through timely interventions. These strategic shipping approaches ensure product efficacy, efficient crisis management, and the integrity of healthcare supply chains. For more information, kindly visithttps://www.jassper.sg/ (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 Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 1: TVS Motor Company registered a sales growth of 4 per cent increasing from 333,787 units in August 2022 to 345,848 units in August 2023. Two-Wheeler Total two-wheelers registered a growth of 5 per cent with sales increasing from 315,539 units in August 2022 to 332,110 units in August 2023. Domestic two-wheeler registered growth of 7 per cent with sales increasing from 239,325 units in August 2022 to 256,619 units in August 2023. Motorcycle registered sales of 153,047 units in August 2023 as against 157,118 units in August 2022. Scooter sales registered a growth of 17 per cent with sales increasing from 121,866 units in the month of August 2022 to 142,502 units in August 2023. Electric Vehicles TVS iQube Electric recorded the highest sales of 23,887 units in August 2023 as against sales of 4,418 units in August 2022. Order book for TVS iQube Electric scooter continues to be healthy. International Business The Company's total exports registered sales of 87,515 units in August 2023 as against 93,111 units August 2022. Two-wheeler exports registered sales of 75,491 units in August 2023 as against 76,214 units August 2022. Three-Wheeler Three-wheeler of the Company registered sales of 13,738 units in August 2023 as against 18,248 units August 2022. TVS Motor Company is a reputed two and three-wheeler manufacturer globally, championing progress through Sustainable Mobility with four state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Hosur, Mysuru and Nalagarh in India and Karawang in Indonesia. Rooted in our 100-year legacy of Trust, Value, and Passion for Customers and Exactness, we take pride in making internationally aspirational products of the highest quality through innovative and sustainable processes. We are the only two-wheeler company to have received the prestigious Deming Prize. Our products lead in their respective categories in the J.D. Power IQS and APEAL surveys. We have been ranked No. 1 Company in /the J.D. Power Customer Service Satisfaction Survey for consecutive four years. Our group company Norton Motorcycles, based in the United Kingdom, is one of the most emotive motorcycle brands in the world. Our subsidiaries in the personal e-mobility space, Swiss E-Mobility Group (SEMG) and EGO Movement have a leading position in the e-bike market in Switzerland. TVS Motor Company endeavours to deliver the most superior customer experience across 80 countries in which we operate. For more information, please visitwww.tvsmotor.com. (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 Adani Group, the ports-to-power conglomerate, continued to bolster its market position on Friday as the group saw significant gains, particularly in its energy portfolio, leading to an increase in its market capitalisation by Rs 12,675 crore. The total market capitalisation of the 10 listed Adani Group companies reached Rs 10.62 trillion, up from Rs 10.49 trillion at the previous close. A market strategist at a leading domestic brokerage house stated, "The Adani Group's recent surge, especially in its power portfolio, exemplifies the renewed confidence and focus of the investor community on its potential instead. This interest isn't merely based on current performance but is also due to the Group's robust financials and strategic decision-making." "Even with recent media reports casting shadows, the market is largely brushing aside the negatives and pivoting to the future growth potential of the conglomerate. The Group's resilience and adaptability in these challenging times have set them apart," the strategist added. The Adani Group's power portfolio, in particular, showed strong gains, reflecting renewed domestic investor interest. Adani Power's shares increased by 2.79 per cent to Rs 330.25, taking its market cap to Rs 127,375 crore. Adani Green Energy's shares gained 1.94 percent with its market cap rising to Rs 149,960 crore. Adani Energy Solutions gained 1.59 per cent to Rs 92,017 crore in market cap. Adani Enterprises, the conglomerate's flagship, saw its share price rise by 1.27 per cent to Rs 2,450.05, and its market capitalisation increased to Rs 279,306 crore. Shares of Adani Ports also moved up by 0.92 per cent. The stock moves come amidst broader market recognition of the Adani Group's fundamental strengths and a diminishing focus on reports such as the Hindenburg and the recent OCCRP report. The Adani group has rejected these reports. According to the media, the regulator has already examined the funds named by OCCRP in the Adani probe. Despite these external challenges and media scrutiny, the Group's financial numbers are robust, reflecting operational strength and resilience. In Q1FY24, EBITDA of Adani's listed portfolio for Q1 FY2024 grew by 42 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 23,532 cr. The core infrastructure EBITDA registered a growth of 34 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 20,233 cr (86 per cent of the portfolio). AEL Infrastructure Businesses registered EBITDA growth of 96 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 1,718 cr (7 per cent of Portfolio). Cement business reported strong recovery on a Q-o-Q basis with cost optimization and operational synergies leading to improvement in margins EBITDA per ton increased from Rs 1,079 / ton in the March 2023 quarter to Rs 1,253 / ton in the June 2024 quarter. In FY23, the Adani Group reported a 36 per cent year-on-year rise in EBITDA to Rs 57,219 crore, further highlighting its capability to deliver robust profitability. GQG Partners, a US-based investment entity, has been notable for its consistent investments in the Adani Group over recent months. The firm initiated a Rs 1.87 billion dollars investment in March, added another Rs 500 million dollars in May, and acquired a further 1 billion dollars of Adani stocks in June. GQG Partners has been consistently increasing its stakes in Group companies. (ANI)
After receiving the nod from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Odishas Utkela Airport on Thursday welcomed its first flight.

The scheduled flight took off from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar at 7:15 AM on Thursday and arrived at Utkela Airport by 8:25 AM.

The same aircraft departed from Utkela at 8:50 AM and arrived at Bhubaneswar at 10 AM.

To welcome the flight, thousands of people and several leaders from Kalahandi district and Bhubaneswar gathered at Odisha's Utkela Airport.

Tukuni Sahu, Minister of Commerce & Transport Department became the first passenger to fly to Utkela from Bhubaneswar.

Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated the flight services virtually from Delhi while Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off the flight services from Bhubaneswar airport.

Kalahandi MP Basanta Kumar Panda, Bhawanipatna MLA Pradipta Kumar Naik and other officials welcomed the flight with their presence at Utkela Airport.

MP Basanta Panda and BJD Rajyasabha MP Sujit Kumar thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the vision.

Loksabha MP Basant Panda said, "Soon the runway will be extended up to 1,800 metres and 72 seated flights will fly to various places from Utkela Airport."

Scindia and his fellow central cabinet colleague, Gen (retd) VK Singh on Thursday inaugurated Odishas Utkela Airport and a direct flight between Utkela and Bhubaneshwar.

The inauguration event by the two ministers was conducted through video conferencing. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik joined from Bhubaneswar airport in person.

The Utkela airport in the Kalahandi district is owned by the state government. It has been developed as a regional airport under the Udan scheme of the central government at a cost of Rs 31.07 crore.

Utkela airport has a runway of length 917 metres (2,995 ft.) with a width of 30 metres. With the addition of Utkela Airport, Odisha now has five airports.

The newly inaugurated Utkela - Bhubaneshwar - Utkela flight route will enhance regional air connectivity and play an important role in the economic development of the region.

The operator would utilize 9-seater Cessna C-208 aircraft sanctioned under the UDAN scheme.

In his inaugural address, Jyotiraditya Scindia said that Utkela to Bhubaneswar air connectivity will reduce the time taken to travel by road which is nearly eight hours.

Elaborating further, the Minister said that this will be a new beginning for the Kalahandi region as economic activities will come up and generate a range of employment opportunities. (ANI)
"The festival of Raksha Bandhan was celebrated with great pomp at Badrinath Dham. Devotees offered Raksha Sutra to Lord Badri Vishal," media in-charge of Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee Harish Gaur told ANI on Thursday.

The temple was decorated with seven quintals of flowers by Nar-Narayan Seva Samiti, Kaithal in Haryana. The Samiti associated with the service works has also organized the Shrimad Bhagwat Katha from September 1 at Shri Badrinath Dham, he said.

The media in-charge further stated that about 11 lakh, 88 thousand 430 devotees have visited the Badrinath for darshan since the opening of doors on April 27.

Earlier last month, amid patriotic fervour and nationalistic spirits, the national flag was hoisted at the Badrinath Dham Temple to mark the country's 77th Independence Day.

Priests, temple authorities, and pilgrims from far and wide celebrated Independence Day at the holy shrine in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district with nationalist zeal and enthusiasm.

Legendary actor Rajinikanth had also paid a visit to Badrinath Dham last month and offered prayers to Lord Badri Vishal.The actor had also attended Lord Badri Vishal's evening aarti.

After the visit, the actor said that his mind was satisfied and overwhelmed after the darshan of Lord Badri Vishal. (ANI)
The deceased has been identified as Korsa Kosa, a resident of Silger village.He was working and living in Andhra Pradesh.

His family said that he was kidnapped by Naxals from Palaguda in Bijapur a few days ago when he went to visit his wife and family.

As per information, the Naxals killed him using a sharp weapon.

Upon receiving information, forces from Chintagufa Police Station went to the spot and recovered the body.

Post-mortem would be done at Dornapal Community Health Centre.

Further investigation is underway.

In July, a man was allegedly killed by Naxalites on suspicion of being a police informer in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district.

According to Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Narayanpur Hemsagar Sidar, the Naxals killed a village man after suspecting him to be a police informer in Village Rohtad of the Narayanpur district.

The information about the incident was received by the police at the Chhotedongar police station limits in Narayanpur district. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Member of Parliament (MP) Prabhunath Singh to life imprisonment in a matter pertaining to the 1995 double murder case. The order was pronounced by a bench of justices, including Sanjay Kishan Kaul, AS Oka, and Vikram Nath. The court directed Singh and the Bihar government to compensate the victims by paying Rs 10 lakh each to the deceased family and Rs 5 lakh to those injured. The apex court held Prabhunath Singh guilty in the murder case on August 18 and overturned the Patna High Court's order, which acquitted him earlier. On August 18, the court scheduled September 1 as the next date of hearing. Outlining the investigation done by the prosecution agency, the court noted that the investigation report shows how Singh used his power to influence the case in his favour, as he was a powerful person and a sitting MP of the ruling party. The top court had said that Prabhunath Singh is liable to be convicted under Sections 302 and 307 of the IPC for committing culpable homicide amounting to murder and an attempt to murder. The Court further noted that there was sufficient evidence to show his involvement in the case. "Accused-respondent no. 2 (Prabhunath Singh) is thus convicted under Sections 302 and 307 IPC for the murders of Daroga Rai and Rajendra Rai and also for an attempt to murder injured Smt. Devi," the top court said and directed the Secretary, Department of Home, State of Bihar, and the Director General of Police,Bihar to ensure that Prabhunath Singh (Respondent No. 2) is taken into custody forthwith. The court was hearing an appeal against the Patna HC order dated December 2021 confirming the judgement of the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court in Patna, dated October 24, 2008, acquitting Singh and others of all the charges. The case pertains to an incident that happened in March 1995. Two men were killed near a polling booth in Chhapra during the polls. According to the prosecuting agency, the men were allegedly shot dead for not voting as per Singhs instructions. An FIR was registered on March 25, 1995, at the Police Station Masrakh (Panapur) District Saran at Chapra in Bihar under Sections 147, 148, and 149/307 of the Indian Penal Code, 18601, and Section 27 of the Arms Act. Later on, Section 302 of the IPC was added, as two out of three injured people died during treatment. The said FIR was registered based on the statement of one of the injured Rajendra Rai, who subsequently succumbed to injuries. (ANI)
The Government of India has decided to organise a literacy week from September 1 to 8, 2023, to celebrate International Literacy Day for generating awareness among all the stakeholders/ beneficiaries/ citizens about the ULLAS (Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society)- Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram, the Ministry of Education said. According to the ministry, the week-long literacy campaign shall enable mass participation to inculcate a sense of Kartavyabodh and Janbhagidari in each and every citizen of the nation. This vision would popularise the scheme and help to attain the goal of making India fully literate. The literacy week would encompass a spectrum of activities followed by the celebration of International Literacy Day on September 8, 2023. "Another main objective will be to increase the number of registrations for learners and volunteers on the ULLAS mobile app," the ministry added. Students of government/aided schools, CBSE affiliated Schools, NVS, KVS, Teacher Training Institutions under NCTE, HEIs (Degree colleges/Technical institutions) under a University/AICTE, Scouts and Guides, NYKS, NCC, NSS Volunteers, Anganwadi Workers, Gram Panchayats, farmers, women, retired employee, ICDS/ One Stop Centres, Members of Schools Management Committees, Self Help Groups (SHGs), Neo-literates, Non-literates, etc., and citizen of country are going to partake in the campaign. A Centrally Sponsored Scheme ULLAS- Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram on Education for All (erstwhile termed as Adult Education), was approved by the Government of India for implementation during FYs 2022-27 in alignment with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. As per the ministry, the Scheme has five components, including Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, Critical Life Skills, Basic Education, Vocational Skills, and Continuing Education. The logo, slogan/tagline-Jan Jan Sakshar and popular name- ULLAS of Nav Bharat Saksharta Karyakram were launched by the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on July 29, 2023, in New Delhi during the celebration of the third anniversary of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. (ANI)
A day after the Narendra Modi government has called for a "special session of Parliament" to be held from September 18 to 22, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday attacked the central government for the move and said the special session of Parliament was not called when Manipur was burning adding that the country is "going towards dictatorship". "Today, without asking anyone in the opposition, a special session of Parliament has been called. A special session of Parliament was never called even when Manipur was burning, during the COVID-19 pandemic, on the issue of China or over issues of demonetisation and migrant labourers," Kharge said while addressing a press conference after the INDIA alliance meeting. "I don't what is the agenda now. This is not the way to run the country. We are slowly going towards dictatorship," he added. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday informed that a five-day special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22. The agenda for this special session, however, was not revealed. Congress President further stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will never work for the poor and that the aim of the INDIA bloc is to fight against unemployment, rising fuel prices and other public welfare issues. "All parties conducted this meeting well. A structure was formed for the alliance during talks at my residence earlier, in the Patna meeting an agenda was set and now in Mumbai, everyone has kept their views before each other. Everyone has one aim - how to fight unemployment and rising fuel prices and LPG cylinder costs?" he said. "They (BJP) first increased the prices and reduced the price marginally...I can say that Modi ji will never work for the poor. Yesterday, Rahul Gandhi showed a report on how Adani's income has increased," he added. After the meeting of the OppositionINDIA alliance, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Friday said that a resolution has been passed and four main committees have been formed."We have passed some important resolutions too. INDIA AllianceCoordination Committee- a 14-member committee - has been structured," Raut said. The 14-member Coordination Committee and Election Strategy Committee includes KC Venugopal (INC), Sharad Pawar (NCP), TR Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Raghav Chadha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lalan Singh (JDU), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), one more member from CPI(M) to also be announced. Earlier, the constituent parties in the OppositionINDIA allianceon Friday decided to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election together "as far as possible", said the alliance's resolution taken during its third strategic meeting being held in Mumbai. The resolution also said that the parties will "organize public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance". The third formal meeting of the opposition blocINDIA alliancebegan on Friday with the aim of coming up with an action plan for the next Lok Sabha Polls. The first meeting of the joint opposition was held in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday reserved an order on a plea challenging the Jammu and Kashmir High Court order relating to the allotment of the party symbol, plough, for the upcoming Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) election. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah reserved the order after concluding the submission by all the parties. The court said that it will pronounce the order on September 6. The Union Territory of Ladakh administration had approached the Supreme Court with an appeal against the decision of the J-K High Court. HC directed the UT to notify the allotment of the 'plough' symbol to the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference party for the upcoming Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council elections. Jammu and Kashmir National Conference has approached the High Court seeking to contest the upcoming elections of LAHDC on the allocated reserved election symbol, Plough. Jammu and Kashmir National Conference had submitted before the High Court that that being the recognized State Political Party under Section 29 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 read with the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968, it is entitled to contest the upcoming General Election of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) on allotted election symbol. Meanwhile, the Central government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it is ready for elections in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir any time now and the decision depends on the Election Commission of India and State Election Commission. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and Manipur government to ensure the distribution of basic supplies such as food, medicines, and other essentials to those affected by the Manipur violence so that no citizens are left without basic human facilities. The bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala on the removal of the blockade on National Highways and other areas preventing rations said that the manner in which the blockade is dealt with is under law enforcement. However, considering the humanitarian aspect of the matter, the government should explore all options including air-dropping of necessary items, the top court said. It asked the Centre and Manipur government to inform it about the steps taken by them on the next date of hearing. The matter was then posted for hearing on September 6. The apex court passed the directions after senior advocate Meenakshi Arora appeared for the judges committee constituted by it to deal with the humanitarian aspects of the issue. Arora said there are two issues first, blockades in the Moreh region of Manipur which had prevented people from getting basic rations and the second is an outbreak of chickenpox and measles in some relief camps. The bench also took into note the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that nodal officers have been appointed by Manipur and the Central government. It said that the committee set up by the apex court shall be informed about the nodal officers so that the committee could reach out to the government directly. The apex court also said that the government would have to take a call on the bodies lying unclaimed in the morgues as the same could spread diseases. Solicitor General, I think the government will have to take a call on the bodies in the morgues. They will just cause the spread of disease. Ultimately, the bodies have to be dealt with in a dignified manner, CJI said. The top court is seized of the cases relating to the violence in Manipur between Meitei and Kuki communities. The violence in Manipur between the Meiteis and the tribal Kuki, who are, erupted after a rally by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) on May 3. Violence has gripped the entire state for over three months now and the Central government had to deploy paramilitary forces to bring the situation under control. (ANI)
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee in a letter on Friday urged the state police to take strict action against rumours being spread about the ill health of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu. The official letter said, It seems that for the last few days, some mischievous elements are spreading various rumours regarding the health of the Honorable Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. On social media, these mischievous elements are even saying that the Chief Minister of the state Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu is running ill and is going abroad for a health check-up. Till the time he gets his treatment done abroad, the reins of the Chief Minister of the state will be handed over to someone else. The letter further added, We sincerely request you that the Chief Minister of the state is absolutely healthy and is working almost 16 hours a day to solve the problems of the people. No bulletin has been issued from the state government nor has any health expert made any such claim. Therefore, we sincerely request you to investigate such mischievous elements and take strict action against them so that those who are planning a planned conspiracy against the Chief Minister of the state can be exposed again, he concluded. (ANI)
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has seized several digital devices and incriminating materials during searches at multiple places in four states in connection with the conspiracy by the Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and the Teherik-e-Taliban to recruit and radicalise impressionable youth in India in order to spread terror in the country, the agency said on Friday.The seizures were made during multiple raids across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on Thursday. "A host of incriminating digital devices were recovered during the searches at three locations in Maharashtra and one location each in the other three states," said the agency.The NIA is examining the devices to track those involved in the conspiracy and thwart their efforts to destabilise the country through the unlawful and radicalisation plans and campaigns of the two terror outfits.As per the NIA, the raids were part of the NIA investigations in a case registered in April 2023 against two accused recruited earlier by these banned organisations. "The two were involved in a series of disruptive terror-linked activities, including transfer of funds abroad for the purchase of land in Afghanistan." NIA investigations have revealed that the duo were also involved in radicalisation of vulnerable and susceptible youth and their recruitment to the two organisations to further the activities of their terror fronts active in India. The agency further said that the entire conspiracy was aimed at spreading terror in India and disrupting its peace and communal harmony.While AQIS is a terrorist organisation striving to establish an Islamic state and an Islamic Caliphate in the Indian Subcontinent, Teherik-e-Taliban is an umbrella organisation of various Islamist armed terrorists groups operating along the AfghanPakistani border. (ANI)
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been given the status of a deemed-to-be university, announced Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday, adding that the step will help in getting opportunities for global collaborations. Institutions that are deemed to be-university enjoy the academic status and privileges of a university. Pradhan made the announcement at the 63rd Foundation Day Celebration of NCERT in New Delhi. "NCERT has been given the status of a Deemed-to-be-University. NCERT has established a formidable presence in research, actively shaped school education, teacher training, and adult literacy. NCERT on becoming a research university will offer opportunities for global collaborations and contributions to the global educational landscape," he said.NCERT was established in 1961 under the Society Act to assist and advise the government in the matter of school education. NCERT will be able to start new courses or programs in any field in their existing campus and approved off-campus centres. Currently, the graduate and post-graduate programs offered by NCERTs Regional Institute of Education (REI) are affiliated with local universities. He suggested developing small booklets on varied subjects that will provide the facts on the subjects like Indias COVID-19 management, Chandrayaan 3, etc. The new generations must be taught about the latest developments as well as Indian values and ethos. Jadui Pitara-a play-based learning-teaching material tailored for children in the age group of 3-8 years developed by NCERT, will come up as an instrument of change that will benefit 10 crore children of the country, he stressed. The Minister also inaugurated a new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory of the CIET on the occasion. "We should develop content in mother tongue. Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence labs should be set up in all 7 regional centres of NCERT. To make India the global hub of research and innovation, these centres should be equipped with the latest technologies from around the world with future-ready infrastructure," he added. Pradhan also mentioned that children of the country should be ready for the Industrial Revolution 4.0. During the event, the students of the Regional Institute of Education, Bhopal, also presented a skit on Jadui Pitara along with song performed in 22 languages. A short film was showcased during the function that highlighted several significant initiatives and achievements of NCERT. (ANI)
Taking to social media platform, 'X' (formerly Twitter), Sarma said, "Assam will soon become the countrys hub for medical education. We are on our way to have 2,000 MBBS seats and over 1,000 PG seats."

"3 newly built medical colleges have begun their academic sessions simultaneously. I joined the oath-taking ceremony in Nagaon," he added.

Earlier, the Chief Minister also said that the government's plan to establish a "cutting-edge health education ecosystem" will ensure accessible healthcare and abundant job opportunities to create a new health economy in the state.

His remarks came while addressing the third convocation of Srimanta Sankaradeva University of Health Sciences at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati, where 815 students were awarded degrees of commendation.

"Our ambitious plan to establish a cutting-edge health education ecosystem will ensure accessible healthcare and abundant job opportunities to create a New Health Economy. At the third convocation of the Srimanta Sankaradeva University of Health Sciences, we witnessed this transformative vision unfold," he said. (ANI)
Amit Shah will begin his two-day visit to Chhattisgarh today evening.

Home Minister Shah will hold a meeting with the BJP core group and review the election preparations, as well as issue an 'Aarop Patra' against the ruling Baghel government on September 2.

"He will release the 'Aarop Patra' against the government on September 2 at 11 am in the Deendayal Auditorium," party sources said.

"Amit Shah will review the election preparations by holding a meeting with the party officials as well as the party core group at the BJP state headquarters at 8 pm," sources added.

Earlier the Home Minister addressed a public meeting in Durg on June 22, then he visited Chhattisgarh on July 5 and 22.

BJP has already announced a list of 21 candidates and the second list of party candidates is likely to be released soon.

Chhattisgarh Assembly elections are to be held at the end of the year. (ANI)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that the number of medical colleges in Assam will increase to 21 by 2026-27. He said this while attending the opening ceremony of the first academic session of Nagaon Medical College at Nagaon. Speaking on the occasion, CM Sarma said that for the first time in 75 years of independence, the academic session of three medical colleges has started on a single day in the state. "The inauguration of the first-year courses of Nagaon, Nalbari and Kokrajhar medical colleges has marked the beginning of a new era in medical education in Assam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the medical colleges of Nagaon, Nalbari and Kokrajhar on April 14 this year along with AIIMS in Changsari, which were constructed with an expenditure of Rs. 1,800 crore," he said. "Before 2010, there were only three medical colleges in Assam. Jorhat Medical College was inaugurated in 2010 and five medical colleges were established during the last decade. Last year Dhubri Medical College was opened and today academic sessions of Nagaon, Nalbari and Kokrajhar medical colleges have been started," the Chief Minister added. The Chief Minister said that while there are 12 medical colleges in Assam today, the government is undertaking the construction of nine more medical colleges. "By 2026-27, Assam will have 21 medical colleges," he said saying that the construction of Tinsukia Medical College will be completed this year and medical colleges at Charideo and Biswanath Chariali would be dedicated to the service of the people by next year. He said that four more medical colleges would be completed by 2026-27. The Chief Minister said that the construction of two other medical colleges in Sivasagar and Karimganj districts will be undertaken this year. He said steps would be taken to build another medical college at Goalpara next year. The Chief Minister said that in 2014, the number of MBBS seats in Assam was 726. Whereas now it has stood at 1,500 with the increase in the number of medical colleges. "The number of seats in postgraduate courses has also increased from 395 to 722 so far," he said adding that the number of seats would be increased to 1,000 within the next two to three years. The Chief Minister also noted that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a new movement in the field of medical education has started across the country. "In 2014, there were 387 medical colleges in the country. This has increased to 596 during the last nine years. Accordingly, the number of MBBS seats in the country has increased from 51,000 in 2014 to 90,000," he said. He said that the medical colleges provide better treatment facilities than district hospitals. The presence of a cancer hospital, B.Sc nursing college and dental college turned the medical college premises into a treatment hub. Moreover, medical colleges facilitate better academic opportunities for students belonging to poor and lower-middle-class families. The Chief Minister said that the progress made in the medical sector in the state has brought about significant change in the economic, social and educational spheres of the state.Stating that medical students bear responsibility not only to the profession but also to society, Sarma urged them to serve the patients to the best of their ability and work for the benefit of humanity. MLAs Rupak Sarma, Jitu Goswami, Sashikanta Das, Commissioner & Secretary, Health, Education and Research Siddhartha Singh, District Commissioner Narendra Kumar Shah, Principal of Nagaon Medical College Mihir Goswami and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. (ANI)
The Supreme Court has stayed the operation of the Chhattisgarh High Court order which directed that the BEd candidates should be kept in abeyance from participating in the recruitment process for the post of Assistant Teacher and sought a response from the state government on the plea. A Bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra passed the order on August 29. The SC interim order now allows the BEd candidates to participate in the recruitment process for the post of Assistant Teacher. "Therefore to the said extent, we hereby stay the order dated 21.08.2023 passed by the High Court and clarify that the recruitment process, which was in progress prior to the date of the said interim order passed by the High Court, shall continue and the appointments, if any, made thereunder will however remain subject to result of the consideration to be made by the High Court in W.P.S No. 5788 of 2023," the court said. The court also clarified that the selected candidates shall be informed of the same by the Appointing Authority concerned. "In the meantime, notwithstanding the pendency of these petitions, the petitioners herein may also implead themselves before the High Court in the writ petition and if the High Court deems it fit to hear the parties and consider the writ petition on its own merits and in accordance with law, there shall be no impediment for the High Court to proceed on merits in the matter since these petitions are limited to the aspect of interim order," the court said. The court was hearing petitions challenging Chhattisgarh HC order dated August 21. One was filed by one Harishankar. While another plea was filed by Divya Bharti, who was represented by advocates Manoj Gorkela and Sitwat Nabi. The Petitioners claimed that they are aggrieved by the HC order dated August 21 and claimed that it is in complete violation of the Principles of Natural Justice and Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Article 14, Article 16 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The Petitioners are highly eligible and deserving of BEd candidates who have cleared the entrance examination of Teacher Recruitment Examination 2023 conducted by the Chhattisgarh Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (CGVYAPAM) under the then Chhattisgarh School Education Services (Educational and Administrative Cadre) Recruitment and Promotion Rules 2019 applicable for the post of Assistant Teacher (2019 Rules). The petitioner said that the High Court's impugned Order has tragically restricted and excluded the Petitioners from participating in the ongoing Recruitment Process of Assistant Teachers which is valid only from August 23, 2023, until August 30, 2023, as per the Counselling Notice. According to the petition, the Division Bench of the High Court vide order dated 21.08.2023 has passed the order wherein it has been held that "Considering the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the parties and also considering the law laid down by the Apex Court, the further recruitment process with regard to the candidates having BEd qualification for the post of Assistant Teachers shall be kept in abeyance with immediate effect and further, no final decision would be taken by the respondents in respect of such candidates till the next date of hearing. (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday launched 'Amrit Kalash Yatra' under the 'Meri Mati-Mera Desh' campaign, saying "it is not just a programme, but a medium to connect oneself with the future of the country". Under the event, every household, ward, and village will collect the Mitti (soil) or grains in a pot from September 1-30, following it up from October 1-13th at the block and later from October 22-27th at the state level, and finally, from October 28-30th these 7,500 pots will reach New Delhi. Launching the 'Amrit Kalash Yatra', Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will put soil from these Amrit Kalash in the Amrit Vatika created in Delhi in honour of our great "veers", which will keep on reminding every citizen that we must make India great during the period of Amritkal. Speaking at the event, the Minister said this programme can become a medium to make oneself a part of the process of making the country great and after 25 years when the present generation will lead a great India, then they will have the satisfaction in their mind that previous generation had helped make a very strong India. Noting that the event is happening at a time when India has completed 75 years of independence, Shah said the upcoming Amritkal and Sankalp Se Siddhi will put India at the forefront in every field globally by August 15, 2047. Shah further said, "India, as envisioned by our freedom fighters, will be created in the next 25 years." Shah said that the idea behind this programme is that every individual, family, citizen, and child should connect emotionally with the idea of creation of great India. Shah said that Prime Minister Modi has integrated several programmes into this initiative, and has provided every Indian with an opportunity to become part of the initiative. He said that a new series has been made of five programmes aimed at re-dedicating oneself to the country. Under these, programmes inscriptions have been installed in every village of the country, crores of citizens of the country have taken the pledge of Panch Pran which will pave the way to make India great, 75 trees have been planted in the celebration of Amrit Mahotsav under the Vasudha Vandan programme and honouring the heroes and hoisting the national flag has been done. Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the organisation of over 2 lakh programmes during the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav have once again awakened the spirit of patriotism in the entire nation and these programmes will conclude with Meri Mati-Mera Desh programme. He said that Prime Minister Modi had called upon all the countrymen from the ramparts of the Red Fort to take Panch Pran the goal of a developed India, to remove the mentality of slavery, to be proud of our traditions, to dedicate whole life for unity and integrity, and, to awaken a sense of duty in the mind of every citizen. Shah said that these Panch Pran are the highway to building a great India. He said that 23 crore houses, offices and buildings across the country were beautified with the Tricolour after Prime Minister Modi's call for 'Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan'. Shah said that the whole country joined the Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan by respecting the call of Prime Minister Modi and the result of this patriotic feeling was that recently our Chandrayaan reached the Shivshakti point on the Moon, which is a very proud moment for all the countrymen. He also said that the feeling of pride in the mind of every person in the country has arisen with the tricolour campaign in every house. Shah said that connecting every person with the future of the country, connecting his feelings with the progress of the country and connecting the efforts of every person with the progress and development of the country is the test of leadership and its responsibility. He said that the whole country is fortunate that after a long time, we have got such a leader like Prime Minister Modi, who is paving the way to make the country first in the world during Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Shah said that today our economy has moved from 11th to 5th position in the world and soon we will become the 3rd largest economy. He said that the self-confidence that has been awakened in the mind of every citizen of India has happened through such programmes. Shah further said that the confidence instilled in the minds of every Indian citizen through such programmes serves as inspiration for our courageous soldiers to carry out surgical strikes, empowers our scientists to develop the COVID-19 vaccine, and provides the courage for ISRO scientists to reach the Moon and the orbit of Sun. Many dignitaries including Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi and Ministry of Culture Secretary Govind Mohan were present on the occasion. (ANI)
Photo: MP Tracy Gray's office. Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray (second from left) helps feed firefighters during the recent wildfires in the Central Okanagan.

Thank you for supporting our community

It is with the utmost gratitude that I want to thank all responders and volunteers who helped save lives and protect and support our community during this very difficult time.

The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) is activated during a major emergency, where municipal and provincial representatives from our region come together to coordinate responses and resources, facilitate decisions and where all official communications regarding the emergency originate. Continue to follow cordemergency.ca for updates.

The EOC has been called a gold standard for emergencies in Canada.

We heard over and over at the news conferences how resources from various jurisdictions were working closely together to save lives and property. The day the state of emergency was declared in the City of Kelowna and the District of Lake Country, I formally requested to the federal emergency preparedness minister to take whatever steps were necessary to expedite requests of the EOC, and I continued to reiterate this.

I can say, on a personal note, I have seen civil servants and locally elected leaders from all levels of government communicating and working together during the emergency to keep people safe and get information out.

As we emerge from this immediate crisis, we have to recognize the great loss that will affect many for a long time. We have to remember most lost structures are homes. Not only will there be property and both personal and business financial losses, but supporting each others mental wellness will also be important.

Residents have been calm and overwhelmingly compassionate opening their homes and hearts. It was important for me to visit the emergency shelter at Prospera Place (in Kelowna) and the Emergency Support Services location at Royal LePage Place (in West Kelowna) to connect with organizers there.

Though there will likely be operational lessons learned, all staff and volunteers I spoke with were trying their hardest to serve and help as best they could.

It was an honour to volunteer at the Salvation Army Kelownas Emergency Disaster Services kitchen stationed at the firefighting base camp at UBC Okanagan, which fed hundreds of firefighters from our community and from outside our region.

While I volunteered beside someone whose family lost their home, I heard how many restaurants and caterers were donating substantial quantities of food and high-quality meals to feed to firefighters. Ive run into many people who, like myself, volunteered and supported the Central Okanagan Food Bank during the past week. I extend my thanks to you.

There are many stories emerging across the community of what Ive often called The Spirit of Kelowna-Lake Country. Thank you to the many cultural groups, worship centres, businesses and charities doing what they can to provide food and needed supplies to our community members. There will be an ongoing need at local food banks to maintain supplies and Ive heard one of the best ways to help people is to donate or volunteer at food banks and other local not-for-profits as they have distribution and organizational capabilities.

It will also be important to support our local businesses now more than ever. As well, if its possible to buy locally made products to donate, that helps the greater community even more.

My constituency office team is always here to help as best it can with any federal services. Thank you again to all civil servants, responders, community organizations, businesses and (residents) helping people in whatever ways they can. Stay safe and stay well.

If you need assistance with federal programs or have any thoughts to share, feel free to reach out, at 250-470-5075 or at [email protected].

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday asserted that there is no conflict among the parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliance. "This is an alliance not just of some 28 parties, but an alliance of 140 crore people. I have been noticing that there are forceful projections of infighting which is not there. I have attended three meetings of the alliance. I am saying with full responsibility that all meetings have been held in a very cordial atmosphere. There is no conflict," Delhi CM said. Delhi CM further said that no one here has come to get a post but to take India on the path of development. "Some big forces will try to break the INDIA alliance. Today, no one here has come to get a post but to take India on the path of development. I am sure India will come together which will become the cause of this government's end," he said. Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government Kejriwal said that this government is the most corrupt and arrogant government in the history of independent India. "Modi government is the most corrupt and arrogant government in the history of independent India. We are reading in international papers that the government of India is working only for one person who is taking money out of the country....These people have started to think of themselves above God," he added. Earlier in the day, the constituent parties in the Opposition INDIA alliance on Friday decided to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election together "as far as possible", said the alliance's resolution taken during its third strategic meeting being held in Mumbai. The third formal meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA alliance began on Friday with the aim of coming up with an action plan for the next Lok Sabha Polls. The first meeting of the joint opposition was held in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18. (ANI)
Speaking to ANI, Special CP Tiwari said, "All kinds of arrangements and precautions have been taken to ensure that no terrorist activities take place. Delhi Police has taken utmost care in making such a big arrangement."

"Delhi Police staff deployed for the G20 Summit have been given micro-level training. They have been repeatedly briefed about their duties and rehearsals are being conducted continuously," he added.

National Security Guard, Indian Air Force, Air Traffic Control, Delhi Police and other security agencies are working together to neutralize any kind of threat or drone attack during the G20 Summit.

This G20 conference is to be held on September 9 and 10 at Bharat Mandapam of Pragati Maidan.

During this, Delhi Police personnel will not be seen in a Khaki uniform but in a formal dress.

More than 1,500 Delhi Police personnel will be deployed outside Pragati Maidan.

Special CP Tiwari said that around 50,000 personnel will participate in this entire event.

To ensure that there is no lapse in the security of foreign guests, Delhi Police is continuously conducting rehearsals on the route from the airport to the hotel.

"110 QRT vans have been deployed in the New Delhi district where the G20 summit is to be held. The staff deployed in these will be equipped with modern weapons, from MP-5 guns, and Glock pistols etc.," a Delhi police official said. (ANI)
Criticizing the BJP government over police lathi charge on the protesting people for the demand of the Maratha reservation, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) leader Supriya Sule on Friday said that BJP government has cruelly cheated the society and they should apologize to the Maratha community for this. Taking to her X (earlier known as Twitter), she wrote "The police lathi-charged the protestors who were agitating for the demand of Maratha reservation. This is very outrageous." "The fact is that the BJP won votes by giving the illusion of giving reservation to the Maratha community, but the fact is that the BJP has not done anything except giving promises to the Maratha community in the matter of reservation, added the NCP leader. "Our position is clear on giving reservations to Maratha, Dhangar, Lingayat and Muslim community. But the BJP has consistently taken a stand to increase confusion in this regard. It is a matter of regret that reservation is not given in spite of the government of the same party and ideas in the center and the state," she further added in her tweet. Supriya Sule further said in her tweet that the BJP government has cruelly cheated the society by attacking the agitators of the Maratha community. BJP should apologize to the Maratha community for this. (ANI)
V.L. Kantha Rao who belongs to the 1992 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Madhya Pradesh cadre assumed charge as the new Secretary of the Ministry of Mines, on Friday, the Ministry of Mines said. Prior to this, he was serving as the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Telecommunications, a position where he played a key role in contributing towards AatmaNirbhar Bharat. He has been instrumental in the successful execution of initiatives under the Digital Communication Policy, Regulatory recommendations, International Relations and Universal connectivity. Rao has taken the charge of Secretary of Mines from Vivek Bharadwaj IAS (1989 Batch). Bharadwaj was instrumental in bringing major reforms in the mineral sector through the recent amendments to Mines and Mineral (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act & the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act. Furthermore, in his stewardship, the country has been able to identify 30 critical minerals. Rao is taking over the charge at a crucial juncture when the Ministry has big plans to auction Critical Mineral blocks, which are important in the context of the Energy Security of the country. Rao has a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. (ANI)
The opposition parties, united under the banner of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), concluded their third meeting in Maharashtra and adopted resolutions to collectively contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections while announcing that seat-sharing arrangements would be finalized as soon as possible through a spirit of give-and-take. Leaders from various opposition parties within the INDIA alliance engaged in intensive discussions, beginning yesterday and concluding today, where they formally adopted a resolution outlining their election strategy. The theme they have chosen for the elections is "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India" (India will unite, India will win) in an effort to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government. "We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible. Seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take," said the resolution. The resolution also said that the parties will "organize public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance". After the crucial third round of discussions, Bihar CM and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar said that The meeting (INDIA alliance) was conducted and everything went well. "Everyone held a press conference and put forth their views after the meeting. It was a good meeting," Bihar CM said. The next key meeting of the Opposition INDIA alliance will be held in the National capital, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) leader Supriya Sule said after the conclusion of the third meet in Mumbai. When NCP MP Supriya Sule was asked where the next meeting of the INDIA alliance will be held, she said, "In Delhi." When questioned again about dates for the meeting, she said, "When do you (media persons) want it to be held, we will hold it on those dates." Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav when asked about the face of the INDIA alliance said "Question is not about the face. What is delightful is that everyone has come together. If people from different ideologies have come together, I think the name will also come forth soon." After the meeting of the Opposition INDIA alliance, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut announced the 14-member Coordination Committee and Election Strategy Committee, the 19-member Campaign Committee, INDIA, a 12-member Working Group for Social Media, a 19-member Working Group for Media and an 11-member Working Group for Research have been formed by the Opposition bloc. The 14-member Coordination Committee and Election Strategy Committee includes KC Venugopal (INC), Sharad Pawar (NCP), TR Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Raghav Chadha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lalan Singh (JDU), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), one more member from CPI(M) to also be announced. The 19-member of Campaign Committee includes Gurdeep Singh Sappal, INC, Sanjay Jha, JD(U), Anil Desai, SS, Sanjay Yadav, RJD, PC Chako, NCP, Champai Soren, JMM, Kiranmoy Nanda, SP, Sanjay Singh, AAP, Arun Kumar, CPI(M), Binoy Vishwam, CPI, Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi, NC, Shahid Siddiqui, RLD, NK Premachandran, RSP, G Devarajan, AIFB, Ravi Rai, CPI(ML), Thirumavalan, VCK, KM Kadar Moidin, IUML, Jose K Mani, KC(M) and TMC (to give name later). Meanwhile, 12 members of the Working Group for Social Media include Supriya Srinate, INC, Sumit, Sharma, RJD, Ashish Yadav, SP, Rajeev Nigam, SP, Raghav Chaddha, AAP, Avindani, JMM, Iltija, Mehbooba, PDP, Pranjal, CPM, Bhalchandran Kango, CPI, Ifra Ja, NC, V Arun Kumar, CPI(ML) and TMC (to give name later). A 19-member Working Group for Media includes Jairam Ramesh, INC, Manoj Jha, RJD, Arvind Sawant, SS, Jitendra Ahwad, NCP, Raghav Chaddha, AAP, Rajiv Ranjan, JD(U), Pranjal, CPM, Ashish Yadav, SP, Supriyo Bhattacharya, JMM, Alok Kumar, JMM, Manish Kumar, JD(U), Rajeev Nigam, SP, Bhalchandran Kango, CPI, Tanvir Sadiq, NC, Prashant Kannojia, Naren Chatterjee, AIFB, Sucheta De, CPI(ML), Mohit Bhan, PDP and TMC (to give name later). Moreover, 11 members of the Working Group for Research include Amitabh Dubey, INC, Subodh Mehta, RJD, Priyanka Chaturvedi, SS, Vandana Chavan, NCP, KC Tyagi, JD(U), Sudivya Kumar Sonu, JMM, Jasmine Shah, AAP, Alok Ranjan, SP, Imran Nabi Dar, NC, Aditya, PDP and TMC (to give name later). Moreover, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asserted that it will be impossible for the BJP to win the polls if the parties unite as the INDIA alliance represents 60 per cent of India's population "This stage (INDIA alliance) represents 60 per cent of India's population. If the parties in the state unite it is impossible for the BJP to win. The task is to come together in the most efficient way possible," Rahul Gandhi said. He further said that today, two very big steps were taken, "Forming a coordination committee and the decision to expedite seat-sharing discussions-- are the two steps necessary to ensure that the INDIA alliance defeats the BJP." "I am confident that the INDIA alliance will defeat the BJP. The real work in this alliance is the relationships that are forged between leaders of this alliance," he further added. He further mentioned that the past two meetings have done a huge amount of work to build rapport and to ensure that we all work as one. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted that there is no conflict among the parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliance. "This is an alliance not just of some 28 parties, but an alliance of 140 crore people. I have been noticing that there are forceful projections of infighting which is not there. I have attended three meetings of the alliance. I am saying with full responsibility that all meetings have been held in a very cordial atmosphere. There is no conflict," Delhi CM said. Delhi CM further said that no one here has come to get a post but to take India on the path of development. "Some big forces will try to break the INDIA alliance. Today, no one here has come to get a post but to take India on the path of development. I am sure India will come together which will become the cause of this government's end," he said. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray announced that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will work under the theme 'Judega Bharat, Jeetega India' to contest Lok Sabha polls, adding that the seat-sharing arrangements for the INDIA bloc will be initiated immediately for different states. Elaborating about the resolutions passed in the third INDIA bloc meeting, Aaditya Thackeray said, "Today, INDIA parties passed three resolutions. One, we the INDIA parties hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible. Seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give and take." "Second, we the INDIA parties hereby resolve to organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance. Third, we the INDIA parties hereby resolve to coordinate our respective communications and media strategies and campaigns on the theme of 'Judega Bharat, Jeetega India' in different languages," he said while addressing the press conference after the INDIA bloc meeting. Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said that PM Modi over the 2014 poll promise of bringing back the black money stashed in Swiss banks and claimed to deposit Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of the people of the country which never happened. "...You must recall how they (BJP-NDA) came to power by lying and spreading rumours. They took my name as well as that of several other leaders' names that we have money in Swiss Banks. PM Modi said that he would come to power, get back money from Swiss Banks and deposit that money in the accounts of the people of the country. I too was lured by the offer...I didn't do the kind of evil corruption that is being done and facilitated by Narendra Modi," Lalu Yadav said. "I was also lured by this offer and opened a bank account. With the number of people in my family, 11 such accounts could have been opened. Multiply that to Rs 15 lakh and a lot of money should have come to the family by now," Lalu said. RJD chief further assured Rahul Gandhi that all parties will fight this battle unitedly. "Every one of us wants to fully assure Rahul Gandhi ji that we will fight this battle unitedly and seat sharing will also be finalised soon," he added. Moreover, Nitish Kumar said that Lok Sabha elections can be held before time. So, we all have to remain vigilant. "Elections (Lok Sabha) can be held before time. So, we all have to remain alert and all the internal communications have been done," Nitish Kumar said after the INDIA alliance meeting. He further said that the "Parties are working together unitedly. So, as a result of this, those who are at the Centre will lose. They will go away. Be assured," he said. "You (media) are captive right now. Once you are free from them, you - the press - will be liberated and you will write and speak what you think is correct. This is very important...They want to alter the history of the country. Together, we will not allow them to do this," he added. Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam spoke on the INDIA Bloc Meeting and said, "The main motive of today's meeting was to discuss how to make India free from the PM Modi-led government. We have announced our agenda too in the meeting today." CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said that we will go ahead on the basis of the concrete situation. "Wherever no adjustment is possible, a joint campaign will not be held there. Will the Congress party give up the contesting election in Kerala and handover everything to CPI(M)? It is not possible. We will go ahead on the basis of the concrete situation. We believe that there will understanding on the majority of the seats," he said. "The INDIA grouping has caused nervousness among communal elements. The NDA was reincarnated at the time of the Bengaluru meeting. It was forgotten for 9 years. Two days before the Mumbai meeting, the prices of gas cylinders were slashed to lure people. Now, a special session of Parliament has been called without any announcement about agenda. These are signs that they are nervous...INDIA grouping will be victorious in saving the constitution, secularism and democracy of the country," he said. Moreover, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said that, "They (joint rally of INDIA alliance) will be held soon. You will also get to know about the cities where they will be held. They will be held in all those cities where there will be electoral impact. All real electoral issues will be raised." "On the meeting of our alliance, senior leaders of the BJP used the term 'ghamadia'. This proves who is 'ghamandia'? They don't even like people coming together...I promise that we will not stop and we won't go on the wrong path...We will do everything to give a clean administration in the country..." NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on INDIA alliance in Mumbai. Furthermore, CPI leader D Raja said that "People want BJP to be removed from the seat of power in the interest of the country and the future. So, the political parties are aware of this. They are responsible and very sensitive to the expectations of the people and people should not be taken for granted because there is discontent against BJP." Attacking the central government for indulging in 'mitr-parivaarvaad', Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said that as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is getting stronger and moving ahead with unity the rival of the INDIA Alliance is getting worried adding that the opposition bloc is ready to fight against the tyranny of the Centre. "The third meeting (of INDIA alliance) was held and day after day INDIA is getting stronger. As we are getting closer and going ahead step by step, INDIA's rival is getting worried. I had said that we are all patriots and our unity is the unity of patriots. We have decided that in the upcoming election, we will fight against tyranny," he said. Uddhav Thackeray further said that the INDIA bloc will fight against the political gimmicks used by the BJP-led Centre. "We will fight against all 'jumlebaaz' (political gimmick) and we will also fight against 'mitr-parivaarvaad'. I had said in Bengaluru that India is my family and we are all Indians.During election, I heard 'Sabka saath, sabka vikas'. But after winning the election, all those who gave 'saath' were kicked out and 'Vikas' of one's friends was done. We will not allow this 'mitr-parivaarvaad' go on," he said. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray announced that the INDIA will work under the theme 'Judega Bharat, Jeetega India' to contest Lok Sabha polls, adding that the seat-sharing arrangements for the INDIA bloc will be initiated immediately for different states. "Today, INDIA parties passed three resolutions. One, we the INDIA parties hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible. Seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give and take," Aaditya said. "Second, we the INDIA parties hereby resolve to organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance. Third, we the INDIA parties hereby resolve to coordinate our respective communications and media strategies and campaigns on the theme of 'Judega Bharat, Jeetega India' in different languages," he said. Holding a press conference Bharatiya Janata Party slammed the INDIA bloc meetings and asserted that the alliance has no vision for the development of India, and their recurrent theme was to abuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "In the third meeting of the so-called alliance, there was no vision for the development of India, no roadmap for the upliftment of the poor, no strategy to address concerns of farmers or women and children. The most important is that there was not even an acknowledgement of the threat to India from terrorism, radicalisation and successionist forces...Their only recurrent theme is to abuse Shri Narendra Modi ji..." Meanwhile, Union Minister Piyush Goyal termed the INDIA alliance as 'anda' alliance and said "Ye INDIA alliance 'anda' alliance ban jayega" Union Minister Anupriya Patel said that a lot of pomp and show of the meeting takes place, it is discussed a lot but we saw that a coordination committee has been formed. "A lot of pomp and show of the meeting takes place, it is discussed a lot but we saw that a coordination committee has been formed. It is nothing big because all the parties have their representatives in it. But there is an old saying 'Zyada Jogi, Matth Ujaad' - the same is the situation at the INDIA alliance. As far as the seat-sharing is concerned, I think we can't see any solution to it. I think that by the time they find a solution, elections will have concluded," Patel said. Union Minister Bhagwat Karad said, "INDIA alliance has different parties coming together...I don't think it will stay for long." All top opposition leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray, and Arvind Kejriwal and others leaders attended the meeting. The third formal meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA alliance began on Friday with the aim of coming up with an action plan for the next Lok Sabha Polls. The first meeting of the joint opposition was held in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18. (ANI)
Three persons were arrested on Friday after a body was found with bullet injuries atthe Lucknow residence of Union Minister of State Kaushal Kishore in the early hours of Friday, police said. Deputy Commissioner of Police West Lucknow, Rahul Raj said that due to a dispute among themselves while gambling at Vikas Kishore's house, three youths together murdered the deceased identified as Vikas Srivastava. Earlier in the day, the body of a 30-year-old man with bullet injuries was found at the Lucknow residence of Kaushal Kishore and a pistol licensed to Vikas Kishore, the son of the union minister was recovered from near the body. DCP Rahul Raj said, "A person named Vinay Shrivastava was shot dead. A pistol has been recovered which belongs to Vikas Kishore. Further investigation is underway. A forensic team has arrived and we are also scanning CCTV visuals. An FIR has been registered in this case." The incident took place around 4 am today and an FIR was lodged based on a complaint by the brother of the deceased who alleged that Vinay Shrivastava was murdered, the police official said. Denying the possibility of suicide, the deceaseds brother said that Vinay's shirt was torn off indicating a scuffle between people present at the spot. "My brother Vinay Shrivastava has been killed at the residence of Union minister Kaushal Kishore. My brother was a friend of his son Vikas Kishore. Three people were present when the incident took place but I don't have any idea where Vikas was at the time of the incident. His licensed revolver was recovered by police from the spot," said Vinay Shrivastava's brother. Taking cognizance of the matter, the BJP MP who is the Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs said that Vinay was a good friend of his son, the matter is being investigated by police and persons involved will not be spared. According to the union minister his son was not present in the house when the incident took place. Vikas was extremely sad when he got to know about this, the deceased Vinay was a very good friend of my son," said BJP MP Kaushal Kishore. "The pistol that the police have recovered belongs to my son, Vikas Kishore. Police are conducting a thorough investigation. The culprits will not be spared, the minister added. (ANI)
Ahead of the assembly election in Chhattisgarh scheduled later this year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be addressing youth in the state capital Raipur on Saturday, an official statement from CMO said. The Wayanad MP will be addressing youth during a programme 'Rajiv Yuva Mitan Samellan' which will be hosted by the Chhattisgarh Government. The move is being considered as an act to win the trust of 4.43 lakh new voters of Chhattisgarh. To take stock of ongoing preparedness, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday evening along with the party state president Deepak Baij and others visited the venue and gave specific directives to the officials. Ahead of Rahul Gandhi's visit, Congress today released a series of allegations accusing the previous BJP government in the state of being indulged in numerous corruptions, including alleged Civil Supplies Corporation (CSC) scam, DKS scam and others. Besides, Congress leaders also accused the government at the centre of favouring Adani. Notably, Rahul Gandhi is continuously targeting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the centre over issues related to China allegedly encroaching on Indian land, allocation of mines to Adani, and funding of money in shell companies of Adani, Manipur and others. Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the Ladakh locals informed him that the Chinese have taken over the Indian land accusing the Central government of "betraying" the people of Ladakh. "I spent a week in Ladakh. I went to Pangong Lake right in front of where the Chinese are. I had detailed discussions, probably the most detailed discussions that any politician outside Ladakh has had with the people of Ladakh," Rahul Gandhi said. He also launched an attack on PM Modi-led government over allegations concerning the Adani group and accused the PM and BJP of being a nexus of corruption and demanded a probe into the Adani matter. "The nexus between the PM and one businessman is for every person to see. I mentioned in my press conference yesterday that the G20 is coming and India's credibility, our nation's credibility that the Prime Minister makes his position clear and begin an enquiry on what is happened with regards to Mr Adani," Rahul said. "The Prime Minister and the BJP are a nexus of corruption and that is the first thing that the INDIA alliance is going to demonstrate and prove. The idea behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is to extract money from the poor people of this country and transfer it to a limited few. So, we are going to propose a clear path to development," he added. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that children born out of "void or voidable" marriages can claim a right in their parents' ancestral property under the Hindu Succession Act (HSA). A Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra held that a child under Section 16(1) and Section 16(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) would be a legitimate kin under the HSA. According to Hindu law, void or invalid marriage is not enforceable in law or is unlawful. In a void marriage, no decree of nullity is required to annul the marriage. A voidable marriage has to be annulled through a decree. The verdict of apex court's verdict came on a plea relating to the legal issue of whether non-marital children were entitled to a share in the ancestral property of their parents under Hindu laws. The detailed verdict is yet to be uploaded on the Supreme Courts website. The case was referred to a larger bench in 2011 after a division bench of the apex court refused to follow past precedents and championed the cause of children born out of illegitimate marriages. The division bench had held that such children would have a right to any property that belonged to their parents, whether they were self-acquired or ancestral. It had, however, clarified that the childrens claims would be limited to the property of their parents and no other relation. The top court decided the issue of whether the share of such children is limited only to the self-acquired property of their parents under Section 16(3) of the Hindu Marriage Act. (ANI)
Goyal was taken into custody on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a long session of questioning at the central agency's office here.

He will be produced before a special PMLA court in Mumbai today where the ED will seek for his custodial remand.

The case is based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) earlier in May this year.

On Friday, the CBI registered an FIR against the Chairman of Jet Airways, his wife and others in an alleged bank fraud of Rs 538 crore.

Jet Airways (India) Limited, Naresh Goyal, his wife Anita Naresh Goyal, Gaurang Ananda Shetty and unknown Public Servant(s) and Private Person(s) were named as accused in the FIR.

FIR into the matter reads, "CGM of Canara Bank, Recovery & Legal Section in Mumbai, has submitted regarding alleged offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct committed by M/s Jet Airways (India) Ltd., Naresh Jagdishrai Goyal, Anita Naresh Goyal, Gaurang Ananda Shetty and unknown public servants and others causing wrongful loss of Rs 538.62 crores to Canara Bank."

"Forensic Audit conducted in the accounts of Jet Airways (India) Ltd revealed fraudulent features like diversion and siphoning of funds," it further read.

Earlier on Wednesday, the ED conducted raids in multiple cities including Delhi and Mumbai in the money laundering case against the former promoter of Jet Airways and his associates.(ANI)
Photo: The Canadian Press Supporters rally outside court as pastor James Coates, of GraceLife Church, is in court to appeal the bail conditions, after he was arrested for holding day services in violation of COVID-19 rules in Edmonton, Alta., on Thursday March 4, 2021. Pandemic-era public health charges have been dropped against the Edmonton-area pastor and church, as well as a central Alberta man who hosted a rodeo in protest of COVID-19 restrictions.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Pandemic-era public health charges have been dropped against an Edmonton-area pastor and church, as well as a central Alberta man who hosted a rodeo in protest of COVID-19 restrictions.

GraceLife Church pastor James Coates had been cited for violating public health orders by holding church services without following the gathering limits imposed by the provincial government.

However, Crown prosecutors say they had to quash the case against Coates and GraceLife after another court decision last month found the Alberta government under then-United Conservative premier Jason Kenney had improperly imposed the orders under the Public Health Act.

In that decision, the court found Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who was the provincial chief medical officer of health at the time, had not made the decision to impose the public health orders, instead leaving it up to cabinet of the Alberta government.

The case involved Calgary gym owner Rebecca Ingram and several others, who challenged public health orders on constitutional grounds and on claims that the orders were beyond the authority of the province's Public Health Act.

The judge in the Ingram case found the orders would have been constitutional had they been properly enacted by Hinshaw.

The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service said in a written statement that the Ingram decision made other cases, such as those involving Coates and anti-lockdown rodeo organizer Ty Northcott, unlikely to succeed.

"The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service reviewed the decision in Ingram v. Alberta and concluded there was no longer a reasonable likelihood of conviction in relation to Public Health Act charges involving the contravention of the disputed orders from the chief medical officer of health," the statement said.

"Where necessary, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service will apply to the Alberta Court of King's Bench for an order quashing the convictions on charges of contravening the COVID-related public health orders."

The province's Public Health Act doesn't allow those decisions to be made by politicians, and the Alberta Court of King's Bench ruled them invalid.

An Alberta court spokesman confirmed Thursday that charges have also been stayed against Northcott, whose family hosted a "No More Lockdowns Rodeo Rally" near Bowden, Alta., in May 2021.

John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, said Thursday that the Ingram decision was a "mixed result."

"The court ruling is good in the sense that it invalidates the measures and it brings an end to these prosecutions."

However, Carpay said the judge didn't delve into the "harms and benefits" of pandemic-era "lockdowns," and concluded that any Charter violations arising from the public health orders were justified.

"I've disagreed with her very publicly since the ruling was released," he said.

Lorian Hardcastle, an assistant professor specializing in health policy and law at the University of Calgary, said the dropping of pandemic-era charges against Coates and others was not unexpected, but frustrating.

"This church flagrantly disregarded the COVID rules and did so in a very public manner that encouraged others to break the rules," she said. "What we're seeing is all of this money that's been poured into these cases, all of the judicial resources that have been used on these cases is for naught because they're being dismissed."

Hardcastle said the Kenney government could have easily followed the proper process set out in the Public Health Act, or amended it to bring the orders into compliance.

She said it was repeatedly pointed out to the government by her and others that the orders weren't being properly imposed.

"They had to have known that they weren't following those legislative processes," she said. "And, of course, it also sends this message. It's been emboldening these groups who are anti-vax, anti-COVID-measures, anti-other-public-health-measures and they're being emboldened by these rulings and declaring these as a victory for them when really it's just a technicality."

Hardcastle said the Alberta government at the time would take credit for public health decisions when things were going well, but would defer to Hinshaw "when it was convenient."

"When things were going more poorly, sometimes they would thrust her into the spotlight and say, 'well, these are her recommendations,'" Hardcastle said. "So having it be unclear at times who is making decisions and who had the power to make decisions, I think served them politically.

"They very much threw her under the bus."

The Alberta Justice Ministry said in a statement that the "Alberta government is looking into what the Ingram v. Alberta decision means in relation to the Public Health Act, and in time will determine the best path forward."
The Supreme Court has posted for September 6 matter relating to the Cauvery water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra was informed on Friday that in pursuance to its August 25 direction, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) has submitted its report relating to the compliance of the Authoritys August 11 direction by Karnataka to release water so that 10,000 cusecs of water is realised at Biligundulu, Tamil Nadu. CWMA on Thursday filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court stating that a meeting was held and after that, Karnataka fulfilled the directions of CWMA by releasing a total of 149898 cusec of water at Biligundulu from August 12 to August 26. Earlier, the Supreme Court had said that it doesnt possess any expertise on this issue and sought a report from the CWMA on the quantum of release made by Karnataka. It had asked CWMA, which was meeting on August 28, to decide the release of water for the next fortnight in the Cauvery water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Authority in its affidavit stated, In the 22nd meeting held on August 11, it was decided that the State of Karnataka has to ensure releases from the Krishna Raja Sagara and Kabini reservoirs put together, so that the flows are realised at Biligundulu at the rate of 10000 cusec, starting from August 12 (8 am) for the next 15 days." "It is respectfully submitted that in the 85th meeting of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) held on August 28 and thereafter in the 23rd meeting of CWMA held on August 29, the Member from Kamataka informed that as directed by CWMA in its 22nd meeting held on August 11 to ensure realisation of flow of 10000 cusec at Biligundulu, for next 15 days, the State of Karnataka has fulfilled the directions of CWMA by releasing a total of 149898 cusec of water at Biligundulu from August 12 to August 26," the affidavit said. It further said that as per the decisions taken in the 23rd meeting of CWMA held on August 29, the CWMA directed the member from Karnataka to ensure the realisation of flows at Biligundulu at the rate of 5000 cusecs, starting from August 29 (8 am) for the next 15 days. Tamil Nadu government had approached the top court seeking direction to Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs of water daily per day from the reservoirs in Karnataka. Karnataka government had also filed an affidavit last week opposing Tamil Nadus application saying that application is based on an assumption that this year is the normal rain water year. The government said that Tamil Nadus application that Karnataka to ensure the release of 36.76 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) stipulated for September 2023 has no legal basis since the said quantity is stipulated in a normal water year and this water year being a distressed water year so far, it is not applicable. The application is based on an erroneous assumption that this year is the normal rainwater year, even though, rainfall is lesser by 25 per cent and inflow into four reservoirs in Karnataka was lesser by 42.5 per cent up to August 9 as recorded by the Cauvery Water Management Authority, Karnataka government stated in its affidavit. The matter has been a controversial issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for decades and they have been locked in battle over the sharing of water from the Cauvery river, which is a major source of irrigation and drinking water for millions of people in the region. The Centre formed the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) on June 2, 1990, to adjudicate disputes between Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry with respect to the water-sharing capacities. In its affidavit, the Karnataka government said that the urgency pleaded by Tamil Nadu on the grounds of saving standing crops is wholly misreading because the permissible area of the Kuruvai rice crop which started on June 12 and goes up to the end of September requires 32.27 TMC as estimated by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal which has not been modified by the Supreme Court in its Judgment in 2018. Tamil Nadu in its fresh application sought direction to the State of Karnataka to immediately release 24,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) from its reservoirs and ensure the availability of the specified quantity of water at Biligundlu on the inter-state border for the remainder of the month for meeting the pressing demands of the standing crops. It also urged the top court to direct Karnataka to ensure the release of 36.76 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) stipulated for September 2023 as per the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT)s final award of February 2007 that was modified by the Supreme Court in 2018. Tamil Nadu said Karnataka should make good the shortfall of 28.849 TMC water during the current irrigation year for the period between June 1 to July 31. It further asked the apex court to direct the Cauvery Water Management Authority to ensure that the directions issued to Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu were fully implemented and the stipulated monthly releases during the remaining period of the current water year are fully given effect to by the State of Karnataka. The application said that a direction was given to Karnataka on August 10 to release from its reservoirs 15,000 cusecs at Billigundulu on August 11 for 15 days. Unfortunately, even this quantum of water was arbitrarily reduced to 10,000 cusecs by the CWMA in its 22nd meeting held on August 11 at the instance of Karnataka. Regretfully, even this amount of 10,000 cusecs to be ensured at Billigundulu by releasing such quantum of water from the KRS and Kabini reservoirs has not been complied with by Karnataka, it added. Karnataka failed to fully implement the directions for the release of the stipulated quantum of 10,000 cusecs (0.864 TMC per day) as directed by CWRC, it said. Karnataka is duty-bound to release the Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as per the final order passed by the Tribunal as modified by this Court, the application stated. (ANI)
The agreement was signed on behalf of the UAE by Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the GCAA, and on behalf of Palau by Gustav Aitaro, Minister of State.

The agreements signing is part of the UAE's efforts to adopt an open skies policy to regulate air travel between the two countries, which will help create new commercial and tourism opportunities.

Al Suwaidi said that the UAE is committed to enhancing its cooperation with Palau through the air services agreement, which is expected to be finalised soon.

He also noted that the agreement will be a major step towards strengthening air transport services between the two countries, benefitting airlines and creating opportunities for new economic and commercial partnerships.

Aitaro expressed happiness at meeting with Al Suwaidi and working together to boost their cooperation.

The two sides are establishing the foundations of a successful partnership and enhancing and diversifying their countries economies, he added, stressing that the two countries share similar objectives, which include improving air connectivity to advance their economies and creating mutual economic and commercial opportunities. (ANI/WAM)
A high-level Kenyan delegation led by their Cabinet Secretary for Defence Aden Bare Duale, who is in India for three days, visited the Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) on Thursday. Chief Managing Director, GSL, Brajesh Upadhyay apprised Duale of the ship design, shipbuilding and ship repair capabilities of GSL. Kenyas Cabinet Secretary for Defence (CSD) took a keen interest in the modernised infrastructure capability of the shipyard as well as the diversified product range of GSL, which will find application in the maritime sector of Kenya. Kenyas CSD also expressed his desire for closer collaboration between Goa Shipyard Limited and Kenya Shipyards Limited, both Government-owned Shipyards in their respective countries, in the Indian Ocean Region. Kenya's Cabinet Secretary Duale arrived in New Delhi on August 28 on a three-day visit to India. He held talks with his Indian counterpart, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, at a bilateral meeting on August 29. Defence Minister Singh said collaboration between India and Kenya in sectors like trade, economy, education, health and people-to-people contact has grown from strength to strength. "Our collaborations in trade, economy, education, health and people-to-people contacts have grown from strength to strength. I am happy to note that both our countries worked closely in the UN Security Council in 2021-22 as non-permanent members. We thank Kenya for their support to the Indian candidature for their 2028-29 term also, Singh said. He said India has prioritized engagement with African nations. Our Prime Minister has written to all G20 member countries to include the African Union in G20 membership in the upcoming Leaders' Summit under India's presidency...." Singh said India has also extended its support for Kenya's secretary-generalship of IMO (International Maritime Organisation) in July 2023. Kenyas Cabinet Secretary also congratulated India for the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the lunar south pole. I am happy that India has become the fourth country globally to join the nations that have achieved that milestone. Congratulations! Duale said. This is the maiden visit of Cabinet Secretary Duale to India and the highest-level stand-alone political visit from Kenya since the new government assumed office in September 2022. "The visit is indicative of the importance India attaches to its relations with African nations and the growing cooperation between India and Kenya, in particular. It is expected to open new avenues for further strengthening defence cooperation between the two countries," a statement released by the Ministry of Defence read. India and Kenya are maritime neighbours with robust and multi-faceted partnerships, marked by regular high-level visits, increasing trade and investment and extensive people-to-people contacts. (ANI)
Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, marking the conclusion of two years since the end of the war in Afghanistan, has said that the US will continue to push to help resettle our Afghan allies. "We remain deeply committed to supporting the Afghan allies who fought by our sides and to helping those who are now building new lives outside their troubled homeland. We will continue to push to help resettle our Afghan allies, and I am proud that we have welcomed more than 115,000 Afghans who stood by our side to the United States over the past two years," Austin said in an official statement on Thursday. As we mark two years since the conclusion of the US war in Afghanistan, we salute the valour, patriotism, and selflessness of the American service members and civilians who fought and served there over the course of 20 years, he said. US soldiers finally left Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, a day before the deadline to wrap up operations in the country. Throughout Americas longest war, our troops showed great courage and compassion. My thoughts today are with all of the brave Americans who answered the call to duty after al-Qaedas terrorists attacked Americaincluding the Pentagon itselfon September 11, 2001, Austin said. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has called it the longest war in American history.He said that the US completed one of the biggest airlifts in history, with over 1,20,000 people evacuated to safety. That number is more than double what most experts thought were possible. No nation no nation has ever done anything like it in all of history. Only the United States had the capacity and the will and the ability to do it, and we did it today, Biden said, according to the White House. In the wars final days, the United States, along with its allies and partners, safely evacuated more than 1,24,000 civilians from Afghanistan, in the midst of the pandemic and in the teeth of danger, the official statement said. The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021 and imposed policies severely restricting basic rights--particularly those of women and girls. They dismissed all women from leadership posts in the civil service and prohibited girls in most provinces from attending secondary school. The Taliban have carried out broad censorship, limiting critical reporting, and have detained and beaten journalists, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). The Afghan economy collapsed after August 2021, as millions of people lost salaries when the US, World Bank, and other donors stripped the Central Bank of Afghanistan of its foreign assets and access to financial assistance. Over 90 per cent of the Afghan population faces serious food insecurity, along with a lack of medicine and a rise in malnutrition-related diseases. (ANI)
North Macedonias Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani has termed his first visit to India as a new chapter in political and economic cooperation between the two countries. Expressing his expectations from India, he said that there is a need for more Indian economy in our region. Osmani was interacting with the media on Thursday after the conclusion of 44th Sapru House Lecture on Policy of North Macedonia and Presidency of OSCE. When asked about his expectations from India, the North Macedonian minister said, I think there is a need for more Indian economy in our region. There is a complementarity between our economies, and today we discuss how we develop those platforms. So we bring those complementarities into concrete partnership and projects. North Macedonias Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is also the chairperson for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), while delivering his address said, My first visit to India marks new chapter in political and economic cooperation. Osmani also congratulated India for the successful landing of its moon mission, Chandrayaan-3. Let me at the beginning congratulate you on your technological masterpiece landing on the south pole of the moon, he said. After his address, he was asked about Indias strategic partnership with North Macedonia, to which he replied, If India and Greece have already established strategic partnership and we and Greece have signed agreement of strategic partnership few years ago, does that mathematically means that we and India are strategic partners as well? So this brings a triangle of strategic partners that could be put in use in practice. And I've discussed this option with my counterpart in Greece, but today as well in New Delhi, Osmani added. He also said, "For us India is an important partner. We attach great importance to deepening and strengthening our bilateral relations. Almost 30 years of friendship and partnership between "our nations have been formalised even strongly with the opening of our embassy here in India." He also spoke on the future ambitions of North Macedonia for India and about creating new mechanisms and platforms by coming together. I believe that there is a huge untapped potential of economic relations between India and North Macedonia and we discussed today with the minister of foreign affairs how we can create those mechanisms and platforms to bring businesses together, to bring people together and to unleash that economic potential between our two nations, Osmani said. Earlier on Thursday, Osmani met External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar in New Delhi. During his meeting with the Vice President, the North Macedonias Minister of Foreign Affairs discussed the warm relations between the two countries. H.E. Mr Bujar Osmani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia, called on the Hon'ble Vice-President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas today, posted Vice President on X. The North Macedonian Foreign Minister on Thursday arrived in New Delhi for a three-day official visit to India. On Friday, Osmani will emplane for Kolkata to visit the Memorial House of Mother Teresa to pay tribute to her life and mission. (ANI)
The Afghan refugees in Pakistan have criticised the delay in immigration cases and accused the Pakistan military of mistreating them for the past two years, Tolo News reported on Thursday. This situation has even caused some immigrants to commit suicide. Maryam Sadat, a citizen of Afghanistan, committed suicide on Wednesday in Islamabad. "Three of our young people have lost their lives in the last two months due to the lack of attention of the immigrant-receiving countries and their false promises, Tolo News quoted Mir Ahmad Rauf, the head of the Council of Afghan Immigrants in Pakistan, as saying. Zahir Bahand, a journalist said, "Afghan immigrants are struggling with mental health issues. If the international community does not pay attention to their cases, a great humanitarian disaster will occur in Pakistan. Some Afghan immigrants complained about the mistreatment of the Pakistani military and said that the refugees without immigration cards are detained by the military. "The immigrants are facing many problems due to not having Immigration cards, and the military detains them, Tolo News quoted Malik Awal Khan Miakhail, the head of migrants in the South Zone Council, as saying. The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR) said that the Afghan embassy in Islamabad is in talks with Pakistani authorities to solve the problems of Afghan migrants. According to the Deputy Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Abdul Rahman Rashid, the citizens of the country are arrested in Pakistan due to a lack of legal documents. "We have attachs there, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives are there, and we communicate through the consulates. The Afghans who were detained there were released by the attachs of the Ministry of Refugees and the Foreign Ministry, Rashid told TOLO News. Meanwhile, nearly 3 million citizens of the country are currently migrants in Pakistan, Tolo News reported citing data from the Taliban ministry. (ANI)
Laying emphasis on reviving the Black Sea grain deal, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has sent a new proposal to Russia, The Washington Post reported. The proposal aimed at getting its grain and fertilizer to global markets in hopes of reviving the deal that allowed Ukraine to ship almost 33,000 tons of grain at a time of growing global hunger. However, Moscow wasnt satisfied with the letter that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week. Speaking at a press conference Thursday after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Lavrov said he had given Ankara a list of actions that the West would have to take in order to resume Ukrainian shipments, The Post reported. Guterres told UN reporters on Thursday that he had written a letter to Lavrov with a set of concrete proposals, allowing to create the conditions for the renewal of the Black Sea initiative. We have some concrete solutions for the concerns allowing for an effective, or more effective access of Russian food and fertilizers to global markets at adequate prices, The Post quoted Guterres as saying. The UN chief further stated that a renewed Black Sea initiative must be stable and not move from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension. The original agreement for 120 days was extended once for 120 days and twice for 60 days. I believe that working seriously we can have a positive solution for everybody for Ukraine, for the Russian Federation, but more important than everything else for the world in a moment in which so many countries are facing enormous difficulties in relation to guaranteeing the food security of their populations, The Post quoted Guterres as saying to the reporters. Guterres said that he saw little prospect of peace in Ukraine before the General Assemblys annual meeting of world leaders starting September 18. He said thats why he stressed the need to take measures to reduce the dramatically negative impacts of this war in relation to the world. Meanwhile, Turkey's Foreign Minister said that his meeting with Lavrov, that Moscow was in preparation for an upcoming meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. Describing the grain deal as quite a complicated and laborious job, Fidan said when Erdogan and Putin get together they will take a more strategic and political view. Fidan is also due to meet with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was involved in the deals negotiations, on September 1. After the meeting, Lavrov had told reporters, As soon as talks turn into concrete decisions, well be ready to resume the Ukrainian part of the grain package that same day, The Post reported. Notably, the UN and Turkey brokered the deal in July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports. A separate memorandum between the UN and Russia pledged to overcome obstacles to Moscows shipment of food and fertilizer to world markets, according to The Post. The deal followed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict which sent global food prices skyrocketing because the two countries are major breadbaskets for the world. Earlier in July, Russia suspended the Black Sea grain initiative alleging that the Ukraine deal largely benefitted richer nations and that Russia still had difficulties obtaining financing, insurance and shipping for its fertilizer and grain shipments. Data from the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which organized the Ukraine shipments, shows that 57 per cent of the grain from Ukraine went to developing nations, with the top destination being China, which received nearly a quarter of the food, The Washington Post reported. (ANI)
After India and four other nations Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines registered strong protest over Chinas so-called standard map", Vietnam too rejected all claims by Beijing in the East Sea region in the Indo Pacific. Hanoi has strongly reiterated its consistent stance on the sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly), and resolutely rejected any maritime claims of China that are based on the nine-dash line in the East Sea, Vietnam-based news platform Vietnam + reported. The spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang on August 31 made the statement, while answering questions on Vietnams response to the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)s release of the so-called standard map 2023 which covers Vietnams Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. The issuance of the map as well as Chinas nine-dash line claim show a violation of Vietnams sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, as well as Vietnams sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its waters as stipulated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), Vietnam + quoted Hang as saying. Therefore, the sovereignty and maritime claims based on the nine-dash line as reflected in the map are void and violate international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS, she added. China, on August 28, released the 2023 edition of its standard map", incorporating the country's claims over the nine-dash line, thereby laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea. India lodged a strong protest against China, rejecting claims made by Beijing in the so-called "standard map" and saying they have no basis to claim Indias territory. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said such steps from the Chinese side would only complicate the resolution of the boundary question. After India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines also lodged strong objections to Beijings claims. However, in an attempt to appear unfazed, Beijing termed its publication of the so-called standard map as a 'routine practice' and asked the concerned nations to view it in an "objective and rational light". "Chinas position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear. The competent authorities of China routinely publish standard maps of various types every year, which aims to make standard maps available to all sectors of society and raise public awareness of the standardized use of maps," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a regular press conference today. "We hope parties concerned can view it in an objective and in a rational light," he said. This is not the first time that Beijing has employed such tactics. In April this year, China had unilaterally renamed as many as 11 Indian locations, which included names of mountain peaks, rivers and residential areas. (ANI)
Confirming the incident, Imran Kishwar, DIG (Investigation) in Lahore said there is an "involvement of a DSP," claiming the officer was arrested by the Anti Narcotics Force (ANF)

Speaking to Dawn, the DIG further said, We have constituted a high-powered committee of senior police officers to further expand the scope of the investigation into the illegal cross-border smuggling of the drug."

He stated that the committee would be led by Lahore SSP Internal Accountability (IAB) Tauqeer Naeem, with assistance from SP Crime Record Officer Aftab Phularwan and a DSP.

He stated that departmental action had already been taken against the police officer and that further action would be taken in light of the inquiry report, reported Dawn.

The entire incident came to light when a drone carrying 6 kgs of drugs, worth a million rupees, crashed on the outskirts of the provincial capital. According to sources, the situation was elevated to the prime minister amid reports that some individuals were smuggling drugs from Kasur to India through drones, Dawn reported.

The use of technology to smuggle narcotics raised red flags in the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), as seen by recent arrests in Pakistan. (ANI)
Police seized a replica handgun after officers spotted someone putting on a tactical vest in downtown New West.

The New Westminster Police Department reports that members of its crime reduction unit were conducting foot patrols in the 300 block of Agnes Street around 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30 when they saw a man putting on a tactical vest. The male was detained, and when police searched the vest they found a handgun inside one of the pockets.

Upon closer inspection, officers learned this was a very realistic imitation handgun, NWPD Sgt. Justine Thom said in a news release. From a distance, these imitation firearms can be indistinguishable from the real thing. Its fortunate that the crime reduction unit spotted this individual when they did.

According to the NWPD, police seized the vest and the handgun. The incident is still under investigation, and weapons-related offences are being considered.

The crime reduction unit is responsible for apprehending suspects who are wanted on warrants and following up on the police departments weekly crime priorities, as well as providing operational support to teams within the NWPD.

The New Westminster Police Department reminds residents to call 911 for emergencies and if they see something that causes them concern for the safety. For non-emergencies in New Westminster, call the police department at or 604-525-5411.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to release Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, Pakistan-based Geo News reported. Elahi had filed a petition against the NAB's move to arrest him in a corruption case. Lahore High Court Judge Amjad Rafiq announced the decision after Elahi was produced before the court, Geo News reported. During the hearing on Friday, Justice Rafiq warned NAB that the court will issue a warrant against the accountability body's director-general if Elahi is not presented before the court today. He said that a complete inquiry would be carried out into his arrest. Judge Rafiq said, "I am ordering to release Parvez Elahi on an immediate basis." Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Elahi said, "I thank God for the judge's order for my release and I thank everyone who prayed for me," Geo News reported. On August 29, the former Punjab Chief Minister approached the court to challenge his detention and said that his arrest breached theLHC's orders restricting the authorities from arresting Elahi in any undisclosed FIR or pending inquiry. NAB had accused Chaudhry Parvez Elahi of taking more than Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 1 billion as kickbacks through intermediaries in over 200 development projects in the Gujrat city of Pakistan during his second term as Punjab's Chief Minister, according to Geo News report. Initially, Elahi was arrested on June 1 outside his house in a PKR 70 million graft case connected to the embezzlement of development funds announced for the Gujrat district. Since then, he has remained in prison on various charges. PTI Vice President was released multiple times after the court's orders. However, he was immediately rearrested each time. On August 29, the Lahore Accountability Court extended the physical remand of Chaudhry Parvez Elahi till September 2, Pakistan-based ARY News reported. According to the details, Elahi was presented before the accountability court judge Sajid Ali Awan after completion of physical remand. In the court, the former Punjab Chief Minister said that he is 77 years old and a heart patient. However, he is not allowed to meet his family members and do therapy, ARY News reported. The National Accountability Board prosecutor requested the court to grant a 14-day physical remand to carry out a probe of his alleged corruption in 200 development projects in Mandi Bahauddin and Gujrat, according to ARY News report. (ANI)
The 20th edition of the India-US Military Cooperation Group (MCG) meeting was held on August 30-31 in Hawaii, US, with the discussions focusing on defence cooperation mechanisms between the two nations, the Defence Officials said. The meeting was co-chaired from the Indian side by Lt Gen Johnson P. Mathew and Lt Gen Stephen D. Skelenka, Deputy Commander of American Indo-Pacific Command. The discussions focused on new initiatives under the ambit of existing bilateral defence cooperation mechanisms & strengthening the ongoing India-US defence engagements, the Defence officials added. "The senior leaders discussed opportunities for continued integration to strengthen interoperability and #Readiness to maintain peace and stability in the #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific," the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command posted on X (formerly known as Twitter). According to the official readout of the 20th U.S.-India Military Cooperation Group the 20th MCG aimed at further strengthening military-to-military cooperation between India and the US in the Indo-Pacific Region and beyond. "This years engagement included senior leadership from U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to facilitate holistic discussion about the Indian Ocean region," the readout said. The U.S. and Indiaamongst the oldest democracies and the largest democracy respectively in the worldface many of the same challenges in the region; the MCG forum has once again facilitated rich, strategic discussion about how to address those issues, said Sklenka. The pace and trajectory of this strategic partnership is remarkable and buttressed by our shared values, trust and mutual respect for the rule of law. (ANI)
After Malaysia, Philippines and India, Nepal has become the latest of Chinas neighbours to object to the so-called standard map issued by Beijing and accused it of claiming their territory. Issuing a response to queries about the so-called standard map of China, Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday called on all neighbours to respect the map issued in 2020. On August 28, China released the 2023 edition of its so-called standard map", incorporating the country's claims over the nine-dash line, thereby laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea. Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs official spokesperson in a press release said, "Nepal stands firm and clear on its political and administrative map unanimously approved by the Parliament of Nepal in 2020. The Government of Nepal unequivocally believes that this map must be respected by our neighbors as well as the international community." It further said, "Nepal remains committed to resolve the boundary matters through dialogues and diplomacy." After China released its so-called standard map on August 23, India lodged a strong protest against Beijing and said they had no basis to claim Indias territory. In response to media queries, the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi said: "We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 "standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory." "We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," he added. The map released on August 28 by Beijing shows Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. The map also stakes claim over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea. The map also incorporates China's claims over the nine-dash line thus laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei have all claims over the South China Sea areas. Vietnam has also rejected all claims by Beijing in the East Sea region in the Indo-Pacific. Hanoi has strongly reiterated its consistent stance on the sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly), and resolutely rejected any maritime claims of China that are based on the nine-dash line in the East Sea, Vietnam-based news platform Vietnam + reported. The spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang on August 31 made the statement, while answering questions on Vietnams response to the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)s release of the so-called standard map 2023 which covers Vietnams Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. The issuance of the map as well as Chinas nine-dash line claim show a violation of Vietnams sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, as well as Vietnams sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its waters as stipulated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), Vietnam + quoted Hang as saying. Therefore, the sovereignty and maritime claims based on the nine-dash line as reflected in the map are void and violate international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS, she added. The Philippines rejected China's 2023 edition of its standard map, which includes the nine-dashed line (now a ten-dashed line) in their territory. Philippines Foreign Ministry in an official release said, "This latest attempt to legitimize Chinas purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)." "The 2016 Arbitral Award invalidated the nine-dashed line, the statement read, adding that maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the nine-dash line are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of Chinas maritime entitlements under the Convention". The Philippines called on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award. Malaysia also rejected the latest edition of the so-called standard map of China that lays claim to almost the entire South China Sea, including areas lying off the coast of Malaysian Borneo, Al Jazeera reported. Malaysia stated that the new map which clearly shows the nine-dash line, demonstrates Chinas unilateral maritime claims," adding that they overlapped with Kuala Lumpur's claims of its states of Sabah and Sarawak. In a statement, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said, "Malaysia does not recognise Chinas claims in the South China Sea as outlined in the 2023 edition of the standard map of China which extends into Malaysian maritime area," Al Jazeera reported. It further said, The map has no binding effect on Malaysia." (ANI)
Russian Ambassador to India, Denis Alipov said that the dialogue between India and China became very "complicated" following the Galwan incident. The Russian envoy said that India, Russia and China share a trilateral mechanism with each other, which had been quite active before 2020. Addressing an event at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) South Asia in Delhi today, Russian Ambassador to India, Denis Alipov said, "We have a trilateral mechanism between us - Russia, India and China...It had been quite active prior to 2020. But after the Galwan incident, the dialogue between India and China got very much complicated. But we are hopeful, we are very keen to continue with the trilateral format which, in our opinion, is very helpful to build the basis for the improvement of relations between India and China. This will certainly happen sooner or later..." Regarding the release of the so-called "Standard Map" by China, Alipov said it "doesn't change anything on the ground.." The envoy further said that he hopes for India, and China to reconcile the problems. The map released on August 28 by Beijing showsArunachal PradeshwhichChinaclaims as South Tibet andAksai Chinoccupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. The map also stakes claim over Taiwan and the disputed SouthChinaSea. The map also incorporatesChina's claims over the nine-dash line thus laying claim to a large part of the SouthChinaSea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei have all claims over the SouthChinaSea areas. India and China have been in a standoff for the past three years, with relations deteriorating at all levels due to tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The two sides have held 19 rounds of talks so far to address the boundary issues in eastern Ladakh since 2020, post the Chinese aggression there. Meanwhile, addressing the press event in the national capital, Alipov further spoke on India-Russia ties and said that both nations have developed a very close and diversified partnership. "We have never had any political problems between us, never tried to compare each other with other countries, and never advocated... We developed a very close and diversified partnership, supporting industrialisation...and advanced energy. Ultimately we have reached the current multi-dimensional, the special and privileged partnership between us," he said. On the G20 Summit, Alipov said, "Strongly support India's priorities and hopeful that outcome will be one India aspires for...The summit will be a huge success for India, the whole world..." "India's clout has risen very rapidly, not going back. India has to have a legitimate voice in the global economy, and politics, be it UN or Security Council," the Russian Ambassador said. (ANI)
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Sri Lanka on September 2-3 has been deferred due to "unavoidable circumstances", Ministry of Defence Principal Spokesperson A Bharat Bhushan Babu said. Rajnath Singh looks forward to visiting Sri Lanka at the earliest possible time frame. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, A Bharat Bhushan Babu stated, "Due to unavoidable circumstances the visit of Hon'ble RM to Sri Lanka stands deferred to a later date. Shri @rajnathsingh remains committed to strong bilateral cooperation between India & Sri Lanka. RM looks forward to visiting the island nation at earliest possible time frame." Rajnath Singh was scheduled to visit Sri Lanka from September 2-3 to review defence ties. During the visit, he was slated to talk with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. During the meeting, the two sides were due to review defence ties between India and Sri Lanka, the Defence Ministry said in a press release. "During the visit, Shri Rajnath Singh will hold talks with President & Defence Minister of Sri Lanka Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Mr Dinesh Gunawardena. The entire gamut of Indias defence ties with Sri Lanka will be reviewed during the meetings," the Defence Ministry informed in an earlier press release. India and Sri Lanka have a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic interaction and the relationship between the two nations is more than 2500 years old, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Trade and investment between the two nations have grown and there is cooperation in the fields of development, education, culture and defence. India and Sri Lanka share a broad understanding of major issues of international interest. (ANI)
In a landslide victory, Tharman earned 70.4 per cent of the vote, with former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song coming in second with 15.72 per cent.

Tan Kin Lian, the former NTUC Income chief, garnered 13.88 per cent of the vote.

Singapore held its first contested presidential election in 12 years. According to the Elections Department (ELD), more than 2.48 million ballots were cast in Singapore, with 50,152 votes invalidated, Channel NewsAsia reported.

After Tharman's victory, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued a statement congratulating him on his election as President-elect of Singapore in 2023.

"Mr Tharman has a long and distinguished record of public service. I have every confidence that he will carry out his duties as President with distinction," he said, according to Channel NewsAsia.

While launching his bid for the presidential race, Tharman pledged to be a "President for the new era" and a "unifying figure".

Tharman, an economist and a civil servant served mainly at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, before joining politics in 2001. He has served as Minister for Education and Finance and was Deputy Prime Minister from 2011 to 2019, according to CNA. (ANI)
In order to shelter Chinese President Xi Jinping's pet project 'Xiongan' from extreme weather, the country's province Heibei and its nearby regions witnessed massive devastation, The Washington Post reported. Xiong'an is a pet project of Xi Jinping, who has said that it would be a "city of the future" - a "socialist modern metropolis" far beyond Western capitals' imagination. When Typhoon Doksuri pounded northern China this month, dropping the most rain on Beijing, it wasn't just the capital that was in jeopardy. The inclement weather also put Xiong'an New Area, a gigantic development more than twice the size of New York City, in a problematic situation as well. The Chinese authorities reacted quickly, promising to safeguard the capital and Xiong'an, which has been under construction for the past six years, at all costs. Beginning July 30, authorities began utilising a network of dams and reservoirs to dump water from overflowing rivers into seven designated flood zones in Hebei, the province that surrounds Beijing. It was the region's largest flood-control effort in 60 years, The Washington Post reported. The Washington Post acquired visual evidence and firsthand testimonies that, while the endeavour diverted water away from Xiong'an and other metropolitan areas, it directly contributed to the devastation of rural communities in Hebei. Excessive flooding destroyed homes and livelihoods. In fact, more than 20 square kilometres of farmland near Xiong'an's high-speed railway station were still underwater on August 5 in one of the clearest examples. The notion that rural areas are better prepared to bear the brunt of flooding stems back to the 1950s and 1960s when the majority of the country's flood zones areas intentionally inundated to absorb excess water were established. However, such locations are not as thinly populated as they once were, The Washington Post said in its report. Despite restrictions intended to limit the number of residents living in flood zones, local governments have enabled communities in designated flood zones to flourish. Some residents interviewed by The Post said they were unaware they were in flood storage zones. Others claimed that government flood control personnel failed to alert them before their homes were submerged and all of their valuables were destroyed. More than a million people were relocated from their houses in China's Hebei province following a catastrophic storm earlier. Massive flooding stranded inhabitants, and washed away bridges and highways. Many of those evacuated in Hebei, an industrial and agricultural centre that is home to many of Beijing's commuters, were forced to abandon their homes in areas where officials discharged pent-up floodwaters that had overflowed reservoirs and rivers. (ANI)
Russian forces launched attacks against eight oblasts over the past day, killing two and injuring seven, local officials reported early on Sep. 1.

Russia launched two Kalibr missiles at Ukraine last night, one of which hit residential buildings in Vinnytsia Oblast, injuring three people according to Governor Serhii Borzov.

The other missile was shot down, the Air Force said.

In Donetsk Oblast, Russian attacks killed one person in Myrne, near Sloviansk, and injured one other, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported.

In Kharkiv Oblast, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said that Russian forces continue to focus their attacks on the areas of the region that border Russia and Russian-occupied territory.

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Russian forces used anti-aircraft missiles to strike central Kupiansk, injuring a 61-year-old man. A man was also injured when the village of Kopanka was shelled.

Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported 61 attacks over the past day in Kherson Oblast, killing one person and injuring another. The city of Kherson was shelled 14 times.

The Kherson Oblast Military Administration said that a tractor was blown up by a mine in Nova Kamianka on Aug. 31, injuring the 62-year-old driver. According to the military administration, 87% of the fields of the Kherson Oblast are still littered with Russian explosives.

In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian strikes injured a 52-year-old woman and a 67-year-old man in Huliaipole, while a 59-year-old man was hit by artillery in Orikhiv, Governor Yurii Malashko said.

Malashko added that Russian attacks hit 21 settlements across the region over the past day.

Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Sumy oblasts also came under attack but reported no casualties.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia delivers tactical nukes to Belarus, says military intelligence chief

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
12-Year-Old Boy Dies After Being Told To Run In Heat For Not Being Dressed Appropriately For P.E. Class | Pexels/Digital Buggu

The family of a 12-year-old boy who died after collapsing during a physical education class in the scorching heat said his teacher ignored him when he pleaded for a drink of water before his death.

According to NBC Los Angeles, Yahshua Robinson was outside with his classmates at Canyon Lake Middle School in Lake Elsinore, California. The students participated in P.E. class outdoors as the temperature reached the low-to-mid 90s.

The young boy reportedly passed out on Tuesday due to the scorching heat and was taken to a nearby hospital around 11 a.m., per the outlet. Robinson wasnt dressed appropriately for P.E. class and was punished by being forced to run for not having proper attire.

Family members say a teacher ignored a 12-year-old boy's pleas for help before he died after being forced to run during sweltering heat at Canyon Lake Middle School. https://t.co/v3y3ui1EMY  NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) August 31, 2023

His aunt, Amarna Plummer, said several students recalled Robinson feeling ill after running, and she said the teacher ignored his plea for help.

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He was reaching out to the teacher, saying he needed some water. He said he couldnt breathe. He was telling the kids this, Plummer said, according to NBC Los Angeles.

The 12-year-olds condition worsened, and he collapsed on the field. Emergency responders arrived at the scene and transported Robinson to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Plummer demanded answers from school officials after the teacher made her nephew run in the scorching heat as a punishment for not wearing his P.E. clothes.

Why would you have a child in his clothes  he didnt dress out  running a field? Plummer said.

Plummer said Robinsons mother is a P.E. instructor at another school in the district. Plummer said her sister had previously warned the schools administration about having children engaging in outside activities during high temperatures.

She informs the administration, Do not let any children go out today for P.E. And what happened? She gets a call he passed out on the field, Plummer said.

The district released a statement following the devastating news. It referred to Robinson as one of our students who died due to a medical emergency at one of our LEUSD campuses, NBC Los Angeles reported. Theyre also offering grief and counselor services for students.

For Plummer, she demands justice for her nephew and wants the school to be held accountable for his death.

This is terrible. It happened on somebody elses watch, she said.
A 12-year-old boy died after he was hit by a car on the way to a school bus stop, Florida deputies told outlets.

The boy was walking with his brother in Hyde Park, a western suburb of Jacksonville, towards their school bus stop on the morning of Sept. 1, deputies told Jax Today.

Along the way, a loose dog started to chase them, Jacksonville Sheriffs Office deputies told the outlet.

The two boys ran down the side of the road, and one brother stopped, deputies told WJXT.

The 12-year-old boy kept running before stepping into the road and oncoming traffic, deputies told the outlet.

The driver of a Chevrolet Cruze hit the boy, deputies told WTLV.

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Paramedics took the boy to the hospital, where he later died, deputies told the outlet.

The driver of the Chevrolet Cruze stayed at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation, deputies told outlets.

3-year-old fatally shot in car after 5-year-old finds gun, North Carolina cops say

10-month-old kidnapped, one killed during home invasion in Mississippi, police say

Sister and teen brother found shot dead on shoulder of Georgia highway, cops say

Duct-taped child begging for food, water led to arrest of family vlogger, Utah cops say
With reference to Ian Thompsons' question about water bombers, Canada has 106 serviceable water bombers as of this time of writing, and the Province of British Columbia has 20.

With all the major fires burning in our province and across Canada presently, it's obvious our resources are stretched fairly thin. Add to that the shortage of qualified pilots and there rests the conundrum.

Our federal government doesn't seem concerned with our lack of water bombers preferring to rely on other countries to come to our assistance.

Of course, this is the same government that spends minimal amounts on modern equipment to assist the men and women of our Canadian armed forces.

Why would they when they can rely on our big brother to the south of us to defend our sovereignty?

It seems to be the Liberal way, spend not on things that are important to Canadians but rely on other countries that already contribute their fair share to assist us.

I hope I've helped answer his question and apologize to those I've offended by my humble opinion.

Allan Widmeyer, West Kelowna
BROCKTON  The Brockton School Committee will meet in an emergency session Friday afternoon to "appoint new leadership" for the school department after officials learned of a "$14 million deficit," a visibly upset Mayor Robert Sullivan announced after a four-hour marathon closed-door School Committee meeting Thursday night.

"As mayor and a BPS alum and parent of a student in the BPS system, I'm extremely dismayed, collectively we are all dismayed, by the situation, and we are committed to ensure that we will rectify the situation, appoint new leadership and move forward with our strategy, our concise strategy, to delivery the best schools for our teachers, our staff, our students and, our course, our guardians," Sullivan, flanked by the entire School Committee, said during the press conference outside Brockton High School Thursday night.

Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan held a press conference after an emergency school committee meeting Thursday night, Aug. 31, 2023, to announce the committee will be meeting Friday to "appoint new leadership" for the school department after officials learned of a "$14 million deficit." Sullivan said Superintendent Michael Thomas had informed the committee he is on extended medical leave and did not attend the meeting.

Sullivan, who serves as an ex officio member of the School Committee, said that Superintendent Michael Thomas informed the committee he would "be out on an extended medical leave" and he did not attend Thursday night's closed-door meeting.

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Sullivan did not take any questions and did not explain what he meant by the $14 million deficit that was "recently brought to the attention of the Brockton School Committee."

Dozens of Brockton residents waited for hours in the parking lot while the committee met behind closed doors. People shared theories about what was happening and expressed concern for how it might affect students. School begins for grades 1-12 on Wednesday, Sept. 6. An emergency meeting of the School Committee is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Friday at the high school.

Wheres the money? What we know about Brockton Public Schools financial issue on Friday

When did the Brockton School Committee meet?

The School Committee's agenda for the more than four-hour meeting was listed as an executive session with two exemptions listed. Under state law, Massachusetts public boards must meet in open session except if they are meeting for one of 10 reasons.

Brockton Public School Superintendent Michael Thomas speaks at a press conference about the stabbing inside the Brockton Therapeutic Day School outside the Brockton Public Schools Crosby Administration Building on Thursday, March 16, 2023.

The exceptions cited on the agenda for the Thursday night's executive session were:

Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 30A,  21 (1)  To discuss the reputation, character, physical condition or mental health, rather than professional competence, of an individual, or to discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual.

Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 30A, s. 21(a)(2)  To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel.

There was a police presence at an emergency closed-door Brockton School Committee meeting at Brockton High School Thursday night, Aug. 31, 2023, after which Mayor Robert Sullivan announced officials had recently learned of a $14 million deficit in the school department, Superintendent Mike Thomas was on an extended medical leave, and the committee will be appointing new leadership for the school department.

How long has Mike Thomas worked for Brockton schools?

Thomas, who was appointed superintendent in 2019, worked as deputy superintendent between 2013 until his promotion.

After substitute teaching in Brockton for a year, Thomas was first hired by the district full-time to teach physical education at East Junior High in 1993.

Superintendent Mike Thomas speaks as Brockton High's new head football coach, Jermaine Wiggins, is introduced at Marciano Stadium on Friday, April 14, 2023.

Through his 28 years, he headed the physical education department at Brockton High, and then became an assistant housemaster and housemaster  positions like assistant principal and principal for each of the four "houses" that divide up the high school  before moving up to central office in 2010.

How much does Mike Thomas earn?

According to Brockton payroll records, in 2022, Thomas's gross pay was $271,132.

2 Brockton cops made more than $400K Here are the city's top 10 highest paid workers

Brockton schools in financial crisis causing major cuts

In May, Brockton Public Schools announced 130 layoffs of teachers and staff amid an $18 million budget deficit and plummeting enrollment  prompting hundreds of Brockton teachers to sign a petition decrying the job cuts.

Also in June, in a striking and highly unusual move, the Brockton School Committee announced Thomas would take on the additional role of co-principal of Brockton High School, sharing the role with Principal Cynthia Burns.

Then in June, Thomas announced the school department would be closing multiple buildings including phasing out one of the four Brockton High School buildings.

What we know about James Cobbs: The person who will be acting superintendent in Brockton

Brockton Schools Superintendent Michael Thomas responds to a parent during a School Committee Open Forum meeting held at the high school cafeteria on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.

"There are so many changes that need to happen," Thomas said at the time. "It's very important for me to be the person that leads it because that's how much I care deeply about Brockton High School."

'Chaos-bomb' Hundreds of Brockton High teachers sign petition decrying layoffs

Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @HelmsNews.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton mayor: School has $14 million deficit, superintendent on leave
Wilmington officials say improvements to ensure public buildings and rights-of-way are accessible to people with disabilities were "underway long before" Delaware's largest city hired a contractor to assess public spaces for ADA compliance.

The city in 2018 contracted with Bureau Veritas, a Maryland-based audit and certification services firm, to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all city properties to determine compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The review, completed in March 2020, unveiled over $15 million in improvements necessary to bring Wilmington's public buildings, parks and other structures into compliance.

The Louis L. Redding City/County Building's revolving door entrance, seen Wednesday, August 30, 2023.

"The city has been taking steps to address ADA compliance issues for a number of years. Thats why the buildings were rehabbed when we decided to remodel parts of City Hall and why we added as many ADA curbs and ramps as we did over the past six years," said John Rago, Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki's deputy chief of staff. "While the report will help us identify and address ADA issues, our efforts to comply with ADA standards were underway long before the study began."

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FOR SUBSCRIBERS: 'They want to be here': Delaware culinary program gets adults with disabilities cooking

Rago did not say what improvements have been made that address the concerns in the report, but indicated that the Louis L. Redding City/County Building on French Street was rehabilitated to provide ADA accommodations and, over the last six years, Wilmington has replaced more than 800 intersections with ADA standard curbs and ramps.

A pedestrian bridge spanning Eighth Street, located next to the Louis L. Redding City/County Building, seen Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. A city assessment studying compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act notes the bridge should have a ramp and conforming handrails for improved access.

Wilmington is now moving forward with an evaluation of sidewalk and alleyway accessibility. The analysis of both public rights-of-way and buildings and parks by Bureau Veritas costs $675,000, Rago said.

Our mission is to create a city where businesses invest and thrive, and our neighborhoods are safe and beautiful, Purzycki said in a news release. Ive often spoken of making Wilmington a more just city, a concept whose centerpiece is the idea that justice and respect are the principles that guide our actions and decisions each and every day. We are carrying out this assessment not merely because it is legally required, but because it is the right thing to do.

Why is this necessary?

The Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990 to ensure people with disabilities had guaranteed access to all programs and services provided by state and local governments.

A paver walkway in Wilmington's Christina Park, seen Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. A city assessment studying compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act notes the paved brick walkway's uneven slope among other areas in need of improvement in the park.

This includes ensuring areas of public accommodations and public facilities are accessible to those with disabilities, an aspect that has landed other public entities in court over the years.

The neighboring city of Philadelphia in May settled a federal class action lawsuit alleging its sidewalks violated ADA requirements, requiring it to make long-term improvements to its pedestrian infrastructure by installing and upgrading curb ramps all while posting regular reports on the citys progress.

ADA COMPLIANCE: Did DelDOT hide reason for $4 million project?

Where are the deficiencies?

The 2020 report identified more than 80 public spaces needing at least some type of work or improvement to bring Wilmington into ADA compliance  work that is estimated to cost a total of $15,365,512.

The Todd Memorial in Wilmington's Brandywine Park, seen Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. A city assessment studying compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act notes the memorial should have a ramp and handrails for improved access.

Those public spaces include parks, city office buildings, the Brandywine Zoo, playgrounds, fire stations and pump stations and pools. Issues range from inadequate handicap-accessible bathrooms and entryways to missing handicapped parking spots and handrails along designated pathways.

The Louis L. Redding City/County Building is among the top five public spaces noted in the report with accessibility issues, which is estimated to cost $1,049,890 to fix. Among the problems was the buildings lack of an ADA-compliant main entrance, which, at the time of the report, had only a revolving door with turnstiles, along with issues at other entrances and pathways to the building.

The Louis L. Redding City/County Building's revolving door entrance, seen Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

Other big-ticket improvements include:

Brandywine Park: $2,539,408

Christina Park: $910,538

Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park: $813,071

Brown-Burton-Winchester Park: $703,876

What work has been done?

Stairs leading to the upper parking lot in Christina Park, seen Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. A city assessment studying compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act notes a variety of improvements that should be made in the park, including, for instance, adding contrasting colors on the stair tread edges for greater visibility.

The report completed by Bureau Veritas gives a timeline for making improvements at each public space and prioritizes spaces based on use.

WHAT'S NEW: Brandywine Zoo in Delaware welcomes a baby pudu. Check out how cute he is.

The city/county office building, which has 207 identified ADA compliance issues, is the first space to be tackled. The transition plan places improvements at Brandywine Zoo  estimated to cost $538,347  in the third phase, just after work is finished at the city/county office buildings. The fourth phase prioritizes improvements at the William Hicks Anderson Community Center.

Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park in Wilmington, seen Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. A city assessment studying compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act notes several improvements necessary at the park, including better access to assembly and performance areas and signage for accessible routes.

Rago said the analysis will be used to help city officials plan and budget for ADA improvements, but noted work has been done to address compliance at the city/county building. It's unclear whether all work there has been completed, or if other public spaces identified in the report have also undergone renovations.

Bureau Veritas contractors will now begin assessing Wilmingtons public rights-of-way like sidewalks and alleyways for compliance. The evaluations have already started and will continue through late October, picking up again in 2024, city officials said.

Once the review is completed, contractors will provide a report on the accessibility of those public assets.

Got a tip? Contact Amanda Fries at afries@delawareonline.com, or by calling or texting 302-598-5507. Follow her on X at @mandy_fries.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Wilmington is focusing on ADA compliance. Assessing sidewalks is next
State Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference at the Houston Recovery Center on Oct. 26, 2021. Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune

The Texas House adopted 20 articles of impeachment against state Attorney General Ken Paxton in late May on a 121-23 vote, with 60 Republicans in favor as 23 opposed. Paxton was immediately suspended from office, without pay, upon approval of House Resolution 2377.

When the Senate adopted its rules for the trial, however, senators elected to hear evidence on 16 articles  holding four in abeyance that were largely related to 2015 criminal charges against Paxton for private business deals in 2011 and 2012. At the end of the trial, a majority of senators can vote to dismiss the four remaining articles, but if the motion to dismiss is rejected, the presiding officer will set a trial date on those four accusations.

With the Senate sitting as a court of impeachment beginning Monday, these 16 articles will form the basis of Paxton's trial:

Article 1, disregard of official duty

Paxton violated the duties of his office by failing to protect a charitable organization by directing employees to intervene in a lawsuit between the nonprofit Mitte Foundation and Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, a Paxton friend and political donor. Paxton harmed the Mitte Foundation in an effort to benefit Paul, the resolution said.

Article 2, disregard of official duty

Paxton misused his official power to issue written legal opinions to help Paul avoid foreclosure sales of properties owned by Paul and his businesses. Paxton concealed his actions by soliciting state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, to seek the attorney generals opinion as a straw requestor, the resolution said, adding that Paxton also directed employees to reverse their legal conclusions in ways that helped Paul.

Article 3, disregard of official duty

Paxton misused his official power to administer the states public information laws by directing employees to act contrary to the law on an open records request for Department of Public Safety documents and in another unspecified case.

Article 4, disregard of official duty

Paxton misused his power to administer public information laws to obtain previously undisclosed information held by his office for the purpose of providing the information to the benefit of Nate Paul, the resolution said.

Article 5, disregard of official duty

Paxton misused his official powers by violating the laws regarding how outside attorneys should be appointed. Paxton hired Brandon Cammack, a lawyer of five years, to investigate a baseless complaint made by Paul, who had accused federal and state investigators of improperly searching his home and businesses. Cammack responded by issuing 30 grand jury subpoenas in an effort to help Paul, the resolution said.

Article 6, disregard of official duty

Paxton violated his duties of office by firing or retaliating against employees in violation of the Texas Whistleblowers Act, which protects public employees who make good-faith reports of potentially illegal action to law enforcement.

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Paxton terminated the employees without good cause or due process and in retaliation for reporting his illegal acts and improper conduct, the resolution said. Furthermore, Paxton engaged in a public and private campaign to impugn the employees professional reputations or prejudice their future employment.

Article 7, misapplication of public resources

Paxton misused public resources by directing employees to conduct a sham investigation into the whistleblowers complaints, leading the attorney generals office to publish a lengthy written report containing false or misleading statements in Paxtons defense.

In August 2021, the attorney generals office issued an unsigned, 374-page internal report clearing him of wrongdoing in the allegations made by the fired employees.

Article 8, disregard of official duty

Paxton misused his official powers by concealing his wrongful acts in connection with the whistleblower complaints. To settle the whistleblowers lawsuit, Paxton agreed to pay them $3.3 million from public funds. The agreement conspicuously delayed the discovery of facts and testimony at trial, to Paxtons advantage and deprived voters of the opportunity to make an informed decision in the 2022 election for attorney general, the resolution said.

Article 9, constitutional bribery

Paxton engaged in bribery in violation of Article 16 of the Texas Constitution when he benefited from Pauls decision to employ a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair.

Paul received favorable legal assistance from, or specialized access to, the office of the attorney general, the resolution said.

Article 10, constitutional bribery

Paxton engaged in bribery in violation of Article 16 of the Texas Constitution when Paul provided extensive renovations to Paxtons Austin home. In return, Paul received favorable legal help from Paxtons agency.

Article 15, false statements in official records

Paxton made, or caused others to make, multiple false or misleading statements in his offices response to the whistleblowers claims in an effort to mislead the public and public officials. In August 2021, the attorney generals office issued an unsigned, 374-page internal report clearing him of wrongdoing in the allegations made by the fired employees.

Article 16, conspiracy and attempted conspiracy

While in office, Paxton acted with others to conspire, or attempt to conspire, to commit the crimes described in the other articles.

Article 17, misappropriation of public resources

Paxton misused his official powers by causing employees to perform services for his benefit and the benefit of others.

The committees investigators said Paxton had diverted employees to perform work that benefited Paul, costing the state at least $72,000 in taxpayer-funded labor. He also hired Cammack for $25,000.

Article 18, dereliction of duty

Paxton violated the Texas Constitution, his oaths of office, plus statutes and public policy against public officials acting against the public interest.

Article 19, unfitness for office

Paxton engaged in private and public misconduct, described in the articles, that indicate his unfitness for office, the resolution said.

Article 20, abuse of public trust

Paxton subverted the lawful operation of Texas government by using, misusing or failing to use his official powers and obstructed the fair and impartial administration of justice, bringing the attorney generals office into scandal and disrepute, which harmed the publics confidence in the states government.

These four articles were held in abeyance:

Article 11, obstruction of justice  Paxton abused the judicial process to thwart justice by causing protracted delays after a Collin County grand jury indicted him for securities fraud for soliciting investors in Servergy Inc. without disclosing that the McKinney tech company was paying him to round up investors. Those delays deprived the electorate of its opportunity to make an informed decision when voting for attorney general, the resolution said.

Article 12, obstruction of justice  Paxton abused the judicial process to thwart justice when Jeff Blackard, a donor to his campaigns, took legal action that disrupted payment of the prosecutors in the securities fraud case against him, causing a protracted delay in the case.

Article 13, false statements in official records  Before and after holding public office, Paxton made false statements to mislead the public and public officials by lying to the State Securities Board during its investigation of Paxtons failure to register as an investment adviser as required by state law.

Article 14, false statements in official records  Before and during his time in office, Paxton made false statements on personal finance statements required by Texas law by failing to fully and accurately disclose his financial interests on disclosure forms.



The Texas Tribune is answering reader questions about Ken Paxton's impeachment trial in our daily newsletter, The Brief. To share your question with us, you can fill out this form.

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Over five years after 18-year-old Able Kane was murdered in an attempted robbery at Oakwood Terrace, a judge gave the teen's killer 50 years in state prison.

Vincent Winchester was 16 years old on June 27, 2018, when he shot and killed Kane, and now the 22-year-old will stay in prison for at least 25 years, up to a maximum of 50 after a jury convicted him of second-degree murder.

"Ultimately here, it's trite to say this was a tragedy," Circuit Judge Coleman Robinson said just before issuing Winchester's sentence. "You pointed a gun at a guy who didn't have one, and you shot him, and you killed him."

Winchester convicted: Pensacola man convicted of murder in 2018 fatal shooting outside Oakwood Terrace

Brad Kane, father of slain Abel Kane, speaks during Vincent Winchester's sentencing at the Escambia County Court House in Pensacola on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. Winchester was found guilty of second-degree murder in the June 27, 2018 death of 18-year-old Abel Kane.

Per Robinson's sentence and Florida law, Winchester is required to serve at least 25 years in state prison; afterward, his case may go to a judicial review for release. Whether he gets out in 25 years, 50 years or somewhere in between, Robinson also ordered Winchester to serve 15 years of probation after the fact.

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Prior to sentencing, Kane's father, Brad, took the stand and told the court what his son meant to him, his family and his church, and what his son's death has meant every year since 2018.

"I miss him. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about him," Brad Kane said as he began to cry. "These last five years have been extremely tough, and I battled depression. Sometimes life doesn't seem fair, but today I want to tell you that no matter what the outcome is, God is in control."

Brad even brought a tri-fold poster board with dozens of photos of his son interacting with his family and his friends over the years, describing that he will never get to see his son's smile again.

Vincent Winchester enters the courtroom his sentencing at the Escambia County Court House in Pensacola on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. Winchester was found guilty of second-degree murder in the June 27, 2018 death of 18-year-old Abel Kane.

As if the death of his son didn't hurt enough, Brad also said the family no longer celebrates the birthday of Abel's grandmother Dolores, because the day he died was Dolores' 64th birthday. Instead, they travel to Abel's gravesite to mourn and celebrate his life.

Winchester has 30 days to appeal his sentence in Florida's First District Court of Appeal.

Kelijah Watson, who was 17 at the time, was with Winchester the night Kane died and was charged with robbery with a firearm. He took a plea deal and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, according to court records.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola's Vincent Winchester gets 50 years in Oakwood Terrace murder
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A healing balm that'll help treat an array of skin problems like hot spots, bug bites, cuts, rashes, abrasions, burns, surgical wounds and dry/itchy skin!

Promising review: "I got my puppy a couple of months ago, and he was having some serious skin issues. At first we were trying everything on top of multiple vet visits to see why he was rashing out and scratching (turns out he had a food allergy). With a combo of switching his food AND rubbing NDCs Organic Skin Soother, hes back to his normal self. The skin soother was easy to apply, and I could tell it helped relieve my pup. It also has a nice scent to it! I saw great results after three to four weeks."  Ashley C.

$14.95+ at Amazon

A microfiber cloth perfect for giving doggy paws a quick clean before they have the chance to walk inside the house

amazon.com

A microfiber cloth perfect for giving doggy paws a quick clean before they have the chance to walk inside the house

Promising review: "I love this thing! I posted photos of my dogs legs before and after a quick rub with the towel before coming inside. In one quick rub, it gets most of the water and mud off their paws and legs so no more muddy paw prints on my floors! Great shape. May seem weird, but its perfect for drying your dog! I have two poodle-mix dogs, and I use one towel to dry both their paws and legs when they come inside. Havent had the chance to use it when their whole bodies are wet, but I can only assume this will definitely do the job! I used to do two loads of towels a day anytime it would rain, but now I only need this one small towel! Will be purchasing another!"  Caitlin

Or a plunger to make the chore of cleaning your furry friend's paws a seamless process for both of you. No more worrying about the dirt they're gonna track around your floors after they come back inside

amazon.com

Or a plunger to make the chore of cleaning your furry friend's paws a seamless process for both of you. No more worrying about the dirt they're gonna track around your floors after they come back inside

To use, just add warm water to the top row of bristles, insert your pet's dirty paw, and gently move it in and out as the bristles clean the dirt. Then use a towel to dry their feet, pour away the dirt water, and voila! It comes in three sizes for petite to large dogs.



Promising review: "Best money I've ever spent on a dog with feet. We have a goldendoodle with curly hair and large paws, and a brand-new yard on the coast that is 95% sand. In the past three months, I've been wiping his paws ineffectively and spending most of my housekeeping time sweeping/vacuuming all the sand that he brings in. Our new veterinarian, upon hearing me whine about the situation, recommended I buy this product because she uses it with her own dogs. From the first time I used it, I was sold! It looks like one of those oversize water jugs you can get at a convenience store, with a fitted insert for paws and legs. I stuck my hand (and my kids') inside to try it out, and the bristles inside are very soft and will not hurt sensitive paw pads. I wish I'd found this years ago; it would have saved my sanity and my floors many times over. I've already recommended it to my friends and family who have dogs and understand the struggle."  Heather

$17.94+ at Amazon

A medicated shampoo that'll help fight off any parasitic skin infection your poor friend might be dealing with

amazon.com

A medicated shampoo that'll help fight off any parasitic skin infection your poor friend might be dealing with

Promising review: "Naturally, because of the ingredients, it has a strong smell. However, it does seem to leave my dog's skin feeling dry and provides good relief for her poor itchy skin. My dog, Molly, is a 9-pound mini dachshund whose little chest makes contact with the grass all the time, so her skin gets itchy and irritated. Ive been bathing her regularly with this shampoo, and it is giving her some relief. No more greasy, flaky skin. Her skin and fur are now dry and soft." Climbyourarms

$8.96+ at Amazon

A pet hair roller because everything about our little friends is absolutely perfect except for the fact that their fur and hair get on everything we own

amazon.com

A pet hair roller because everything about our little friends is absolutely perfect except for the fact that their fur and hair get on everything we own

Promising review: "Where has this been all my cat-loving life? Sticky rollers work fine for clothes, but this is the only product that has ever COMPLETELY removed all the cat hair from my bed. I have a long-haired, 20-pound tabby, and if you run your hands up his back a few times and fling the hair everywhere, it looks like it's snowing  he never stops shedding no matter what I do. After using the ChomChom, I can put on a black dress and roll around on my bed and not get a single hair on me. It's absolutely amazing. Everyone is getting one for Christmas, even if they don't have a pet. I don't care; it's THAT good." DH

$24.99 at Amazon

A topical lotion to provide relief from various common skin problems, thanks to ingredients like organic whole-leaf aloe vera and vitamin E

amazon.com

A topical lotion to provide relief from various common skin problems, thanks to ingredients like organic whole-leaf aloe vera and vitamin E

Promising review: "I was skeptical, but It actually works! My 8-year-old Pomeranian has black skin disease; I started placing this product on her, and her hair started to grow back. Within two months her whole body was covered with hair, which previously was naked. Yes, it does stink, but I just applied the product and put T-shirts on her and it worked."  Laura Miller

$31.95 at Amazon

A vanilla-mint toothpaste so you can reduce your pet's yucky mouth odors without having to endure the odors other dog toothpastes typically give off because of their meat flavor

amazon.com

A vanilla-mint toothpaste so you can reduce your pet's yucky mouth odors without having to endure the odors other dog toothpastes typically give off because of their meat flavor

Promising review: "I write this for Pabu, a Shih Tzu. The vanilla-mint flavor disappeared for a long time, and Pabu would refuse all other flavors. This arrived yesterday and he went right for the first lick. Happy breath and dental care again. Woo-hoo!"  Mikah

$11.14 at Amazon

A ScratchPad, a genius tool that'll allow your pup to file their own nails

ScratchPad / Etsy

A ScratchPad, a genius tool that'll allow your pup to file their own nails

ScratchPad is a small business based in Atlanta, Georgia that sells the ScratchPad, a fancy name for a nail file for dogs! This is available in three materials and four styles.



Promising review: "Highly recommend this product! After three months of challenges to cut the nails of our German shepherd, this product saved the day!!! We are now able to file his nails in a non-invasive way. Excellent customer service and fast international shipping." Michelle Rosenberg

$46.95+ at Etsy

A wrinkle paste to assist in cleaning out wrinkles, tear stains and tail pockets from your precious little buddy's body

amazon.com

A wrinkle paste to assist in cleaning out wrinkles, tear stains and tail pockets from your precious little buddy's body

Promising review: "Bought this for my 4-year-old, 70-pound English bulldog. Hes always had an odor from his wrinkles. Used it on his wrinkles two to three times, and the smell is completely gone. Ive been using wet wipes for years to clean the area, but it never got rid of the odor the way this wrinkle paste does. Ill be using this for a long time."  K & G

$31.99 at Amazon

An allergy immune supplement that serves two purposes: helping to prevent seasonal allergies and reactions, and supporting your pet's digestive health

amazon.com

An allergy immune supplement that serves two purposes: helping to prevent seasonal allergies and reactions, and supporting your pet's digestive health

Promising review: "Absolutely the best product. It saved my itchy goldendoodle! We tried changing his food, giving him Benadryl, using medicated shampoo, fish oil, everything you can imagine...nothing worked long-term. He was itching his face so badly, he would make himself bleed. Had sores and scabs all over his face and neck. I bought these because they had good reviews and I was desperate. It changed his life! He no longer scratches AT ALL! His coat looks great, and all of his sores are healed. Hes the happiest hes been, which makes me a very happy momma. He is also very picky and never eats treats...he eats these every time, so thats an added bonus!"  Darcie Nation

90-pack: $29.97 at Amazon

A wax-based cream for protecting and repairing your pet's paws from the cruel outdoors

amazon.com

A wax-based cream for protecting and repairing your pet's paws from the cruel outdoors

It helps to protect paws from the elements and harsh surfaces like sand, hot pavement, ice, and salt. It's good for mushing, hunting, or walking or before pretty much any outdoor activity! It contains vitamin E to help moisturize and heal wounds and keep paws healthy.



Promising review: "I have only had this two days, and I can say that it has already helped a lot. My dogs are with my significant other all day long, and he works on granite and rock. They had the most dried-out and torn-up feet because just the dust alone dries out their feet. On top of that, we take them running on dirt roads, gravel, and pavement. This is already helping out the severe drying and helping out with the small cracks when we put it on them in the mornings, since they spend most of the day outside. It's allowing those little ones to start healing. It protects their tender feet from the black hot pavement and anything else throughout the day."  Heather

$25.99 at Amazon

A Bissell pet pro vacuum-mop combo that can be used on both hard and wood floors and carpet to effectively clean stains and eliminate odors

www.amazon.com

A Bissell pet pro vacuum-mop combo that can be used on both hard and wood floors and carpet to effectively clean stains and eliminate odors

Promising review: "Im a big fan! After hours of researching and debating, I took the plunge and ordered it. I just used it for the first time today and Im in love. We just built a house with all tile floors  its very dusty from the new construction. My floors look amazing. If youre on the edge, just do it. We also have three dogs, and Im very pleasantly surprised. The amount of dirt and dog hair it picks up is impressive." kmjacobs

$269.59 at Amazon

A dental health powder you simply sprinkle onto your pup's food as if you're a magical fairy giving them the mystical gift of clean teeth and fresh breath

amazon.com

A dental health powder you simply sprinkle onto your pup's food as if you're a magical fairy giving them the mystical gift of clean teeth and fresh breath

Promising review: "I began to use this product on my Doberman at about 1 years old. He is now 4 years old, and the vet says his teeth and gums are amazing. I have never done any dental work with him and do not brush his teeth. He has fresh breath and no tooth decay or gum issues. I absolutely credit Perio Support for his healthy mouth and will always use it on my dogs."  HappytoGrill

$20.91 at Amazon

A citrus-scented urine remover, because in a perfect world, our pets would do their business where we trained them to

www.amazon.com

A citrus-scented urine remover, because in a perfect world, our pets would do their business where we trained them to

Promising review: "This product is amazing!!!! We have a Rottweiler pup and a Bichon pup and our house was feeling the PAIN! I tried everything and use to tell my wife, 'with all the science and technology in the world we still cant come up with something that gets rid of the dog mark smell!' This product does everything and more. Just ordered another round. We were about to throw away some furniture due to the smell and now after use we can keep it. Saved me hundreds. Well worth the money."  clayton s tonkin

$19.97 at Amazon

Related...
A shooting at a popular Austin, Texas, shopping center left two people dead and at least three others injured on Thursday.

The incident occurred around 5 p.m. local time near The Arboretum, an upscale outdoor shopping mall.

Law enforcement said the shooting happened at a business. Around 6:30 p.m., Austin Police said no individuals had been detained but that there was no longer a threat to the public.

According to police scanner information, officers originally responded to a report of shots fired and a bomb threat. Upon arrival, they found multiple people with gunshot wounds.

Units from the Austin Police Department, Austin-Travis County EMS, and the Austin Fire Department responded to the scene. The police bomb squad was called in to search the business for explosives.

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At around 7:30 p.m. local time, EMS said two people were pronounced dead at the scene and one person was transported to a hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries. Two others were injured after the incident and were being evaluated at the scene with minor injuries.

Police requested that the public avoid the area.

The shooting occurred less than a week after a racist shooter killed three at a Jacksonville, Florida, Dollar General store.
Overnight road incidents in Phoenix led to two deaths with police searching for a hit-and-run suspect in one case.

Around 2 a.m. Friday, officers responded to the area of 67th Avenue and Indian School Road about a crash where a vehicle was rolled over, according to Phoenix police. Officers found both crashed vehicles were at the intersection and located two injured female occupants of the rolled-over vehicle, police said.

Akua Mashavu Safiya Miggins, 36, suffered serious injuries and died at the scene, according to police. A man driving the other vehicle ran from the scene following the wreck before officers arrived, police said.

A preliminary investigation suggests the fleeing man's vehicle struck from behind the vehicle Miggins was in while it traveled westbound on Indian School proceeding 67th, according to police. Miggin's vehicle then hit a nearby pole and rolled over, police said.

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Anyone with information is asked to furnish an anonymous tip to Silent Witness at 480-948-6377 (WITNESS) or 480-837-8446 (TESTIGO) for Spanish. A reward will be paid for information leading to an arrest, police added.

Earlier, around 11:53 p.m. Thursday, officers responding to a call about a crash with injuries in the area of 15th Avenue and Bell Road in north Phoenix found Touraj Hosseinabadi, 41, with serious injuries, according to police. Hosseinabadi died at the scene, police said. The two vehicles that crashed remained on the scene, and impairment is not thought to be a factor, police said.

A preliminary investigation found Hosseinabadi was crossing the road as he disregarded a traffic signal and was struck by two vehicles, according to police. The case remains an ongoing investigation, police said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 2 dead in vehicular crashes in Phoenix; fleeing suspect sought in one
Four years after they met while working and volunteering a church thrift store, two Cambria women are launching their own secondhand shop  this one with an upscale twist.

According to Jackie Ludwick and Linda Giordano, Thrift by the Sea Style & Home specializes in carefully curated upscale items such as clothing, furniture, antiques and household products that are new or gently used.

Each item is displayed at the shop at 2450 Main St., on the eastern edge of Cambrias historic East Village district, in a way that showcases its uniqueness.

The shop will also sell items online.

We are women with champagne taste and beer budgets, and we have found so many priceless treasures that we hope to share with others, Giordano wrote in an email.

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Thrift by the Sea held a soft opening a couple weeks ago, and a grand opening celebration is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday.

Carefully curated clothing and shoes for men and women are for sale at the new Thrift by the Sea store in Cambria.

SLO County business owners met via nonprofit thrift shop

Ludwick started worked at Cambria Vineyard Churchs nonprofit ReCreate Thrift Store in the June of 2019, about a month before Giordano came aboard as a volunteer.

Ludwick managed ReCreate, relying on her background as the owner-operator of a Southern California screen printing and embroidery business.

At ReCreate, I wore many hats, depending on what the day (and the donors) would bring us, she said.

She scheduled the staff, organized the store, took in donations, priced the goods and hired a team of volunteers for various tasks, Ludwick said.

Linda Giordano, right, and Jackie Ludwick have opened their Thrift by the Sea store in Cambrias East Village area.

One of those volunteers was Giordano, who said her background as a letter carrier and community services coordinator for the National Association of Letter Carriers helped me to see that there are under-served populations in every city and town, even in Cambria.

Thrifting allows people everywhere to get items at discounted prices and keeps usable merchandise out of landfills, Giordano said.

For many thrift shoppers, its the thrill of the hunt, she added, which she learned to love at an early age when I would haunt the Army/Navy surplus stores for denim and other funky stuff to decorate with.

Ludwick, however, didnt catch the bargain-hunting bug until she started working at ReCreate.

Now Im hooked, she said.

Ludwick said that she and Giordano work very well together, and we enjoy meeting new people, making a professional partnership ideal.

A business arrangement with another person about the shop has ended, they said Wednesday.

Comfy chairs, pillows and art are among the treasures waiting for people to buy them at the new Thrift by the Sea shop in Cambria.

New resale store opens in Cambria

Giordano and Ludwick said they plan to be fussy about what theyll accept and put out for sale. Theyll give other thrift shops any donated items that dont meet their criteria.

Some of the items for sale in the shop Wednesday were a vintage typewriter, guitars, video games, colorful quilts and an antique clock.

Those things may not be here tomorrow, Giordano warned. Things have already been selling quickly.

The friends pledge to keep prices low, so others who make their living by buying and reselling items can make a profit, too, Giordano said.

A vintage typewriter, a book and lots of art were among the items available Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, at Cambrias new Thrift by the Sea store.

All clothing items for men and women are $6 each, with the exception of specialty items displayed on a separate rack, she said. Womens clothing sizes range from small to 3X.

Giordano and Ludwick said local people are welcome to drop off donations at the shop. The women will also help people who are downsizing or dealing with the estates of loved ones.

We wont do consignments, Ludwick said, but if people need help clearing out their homes, well be there to help. They can trust us to do what we say we will do.

Ludwick and Giordano can even provide free pickups in Cambria and San Simeon for those who are unable to bring in donations in person.

Fussy and budget-conscious shoppers will find collectibles, furniture, bedding and linens and much more at Cambrias new Thrift by the Sea shop.

How Thrift by the Sea plans to help community

According to Giordano, she and Ludwick will donate a portion of the money they make every month to the Cambria Community Council, which donates to more than 50 nonprofit groups in Cambria and San Simeon.

In addition, Giordano said, We are here to help those in dire need of usable items.

She and Ludwick plan to maintain a stock of sleeping bags, tents, clothing and personal hygiene products to give to unhoused people as well as residents displaced by fires, flooding or other disasters.

They will also donate prom dresses to services that provide special occasion attire to low-income teens.

We believe in giving back to our community, Giordano said.

The Thrift by the Sea shop in Cambrias East Village area is ready for people on the hunt for gently used or new bargains.

More about Thrift by the Sea Style & Home

Thrift by the Sea Style & Home is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

For details, call 805-203-5373 or 951-264-5923, or email jackie@thriftbythesea.com.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Twenty thousand doses of controlled substances were seized from two North Las Vegas businesses Wednesday, a release from Attorney General Ford said.

According to the release, the Office of Attorney General investigators, along with Homeland Security Investigations special agents searched two separate businesses in North Las Vegas on Wednesday, Aug. 30.

The two businesses searched were Super Botanica and El Cielito.

During the searches, investigators seized 20,000 doses of controlled substances, counterfeit pharmaceutical products, and mislabeled pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceuticals that are mislabeled or counterfeit can present serious dangers to

consumers, who may not know exactly what they are buying, Ford said. Getting these substances off the street is important for the health and safety of Nevadans. Im

proud of the work my investigators did and grateful for the help from Homeland Security

and Boehringer Ingelheim.

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According to the National Library of Medicine, falsified and substandard drugs may

contain toxic doses of dangerous ingredients and cause mass poisoning. Poor-quality

medicines compromise the treatment of chronic and infectious diseases, causing disease

progression, drug resistance, and death.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Hurricane recovery aid to the tune of $20 million will be available for Hudson Valley communities affected by Hurricane Ida two years ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday.

The announcement comes on the second anniversary of the storm, which devastated parts of the Lower Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island on Sept. 1, 2021. Westchester river towns bore the majority of the devastation, while Rockland, Orange and Dutchess County communities also experienced significant damage.

A cross lies on its side outside the First Baptist Church in Mamaroneck March 9, 2022. The church has been closed after it was severely damaged by several feet of flooding caused by Hurricane Ida in 2021. Rebuilding continues, and Rev. James E. Taylor is hoping that the church can reopen for services by Easter.

Last year, Gov. Hochul created the Hurricane Ida Recovery Action Plan to help communities and homeowners recover from the damage caused by the storm. Today, two programs from the plan opened to local communities and non-profits who will soon be able to provide assistance to residents.

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Of those funds, $15.6 million is allotted to the Repair and Reimbursement program, which will allow nonprofit organizations to "help homeowners make storm damage repairs and/or secure reimbursement for other repairs." According to the news release, "families that earn 80% or less of the Area Median Income will be prioritized for eligibility" and must provide proof of property damage.

The remaining $4 million will go to the Resilient Reinvestments program. This award will help local governments fund "community-resiliency projects" that will strengthen housing infrastructure.

As New York continues the relief effort following the devastation of Hurricane Ida, this critical funding will help thousands of New Yorkers rebuild their homes and create stronger, safer, and more resilient communities, the governor said. On the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Ida, I am reaffirming my commitment to supporting New Yorkers impacted by the storm and ensuring that our state is fully prepared for the next major weather event.

RuthAnne Visnauskas, commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, said she is looking forward to implementing the projects. Our Hurricane Ida recovery initiative will assist families impacted by the storm to make repairs to their home, as well as ensure we can better withstand extreme weather events in the future," Visnauskas said.

Randy Scott shows how high the water was at his door when it flooded from Hurricane Ida in Mamaroneck's Flats neighborhood, May 3, 2022. Scott escaped through his kitchen window after three neighbors banged on his window to get him to leave his apartment.

The Governor's Office said it expects the two remaining projects, the Affordable Housing Resiliency program and the Renters Resilient Housing program, to open in the next few weeks. Home and apartment renters and landlords of affordable housing will be able to apply for assistance to fund infrastructure reinforcements if their units were damaged in the storm or if they are worried about future damage.

Ten counties are eligible for assistance, including Dutchess, Rockland and Westchester, according to the news release. Requests for proposals are now open through the Ida Housing Recovery Program.

For more information about the recovery plan and eligibility requirements, visit Governor Hochul's website.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Hurricane Ida: Hudson Valley NY communities impacted eligible for aid
Photo: The Canadian Press Private vigil for 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young.

Ohio authorities on Friday released bodycam video showing the fatal police shooting of TaKiya Young, a young pregnant Black woman.

Young's family has seen the video, the family's lawyer said Friday.

The footage shows Young slowly accelerating toward the officer in her path as he yells for her to stop before firing the single bullet that ended her life.

Young, a 21-year-old from Columbus, was pronounced dead shortly after the Aug. 24 shooting outside a grocery store in the suburb of Blendon Township. Her unborn daughter did not survive.

The footage, which comes more than a week after her death, showed one officer at the drivers side window, repeatedly demanding that Young get out of the car.

Sean Walton, an attorney for the Young family, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the family grew frustrated with delays in the police department timeline of releasing body camera footage publicly.

He said the community will be outraged. She was an unarmed pregnant mother of two, he said. It goes beyond the unjustifiable.

Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said the delay resulted from a small staff trying to process the video and properly redact certain footage in accordance with Ohio law. The family will be able to review the video before it's made public, he said.

In a video statement a day after the shooting, Belford said two officers were helping someone get into a locked car when a supermarket employee told them several people were leaving with stolen items.

Young was among them, according to the employee, who pointed her out sitting in her car in the parking lot. She allegedly took bottles of alcohol without paying. One officer went to the drivers side of Youngs car and told her to stop and get out multiple times, Belford said, while the other officer moved to the front of the vehicle.

Young then put the car in gear and accelerated, Belford said.

The officer who was directly in the path of the oncoming car fired one shot through the front windshield, the chief said. The body camera footage Ive reviewed also confirms the officer was directly in the path of the car.

Police have not provided further details on the moments when Young was shot.

Her car continued about 50 feet (15 meters) before stopping on the sidewalk outside the grocery store. Officers broke the car window, pulled her out and began medical assistance with the help of an emergency room doctor who happened to be there, Belford said.

The two officers names, ages and races were not immediately released. They are on paid administrative leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation examines the shooting, which is standard in cases of police use of deadly force.

Young was expected to give birth to a daughter in November. An online effort to pay her funeral expenses has raised nearly $7,000.

TaKiyas siblings, cousins, grandmother and father have rallied around her sons, 6-year-old JaKobie and 3-year-old JaKenlie, who dont yet understand the magnitude of what happened to their mother, Walton said.

Its a large family and TaKiya has been snatched away from them, Walton said. I think the entire family is still in shock.

Family and friends held a private vigil a day after Young was killed, releasing balloons and lighting candles spelling out RIP Kiya.

Her grandmother, Nadine Young, described her granddaughter as a family-oriented prankster who was a loving older sister and mother.

She was so excited to have this little girl, Nadine Young said at a news conference Wednesday. She has her two little boys, but she was so fired up to have this girl. She is going to be so missed.

Im a mess because its just tragic, she said, but it should have never ever ever happened.
Another Tri-Cities area doctor has been charged with unprofessional conduct after he prescribed ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19, a use not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Wei-Hsung Lin, who practices in Richland, prescribed ivermectin to several patents in 2021, according to the Washington Medical Commission.

As previously reported, Dr. Michael Kwame Turner of Richland also has been charged with unprofessional conduct for prescribing ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19.

Turner is among four doctors who have filed a lawsuit against the Washington Medical Commission over its policies on COVID-19, including prescribing ivermectin.

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The Washington Medical Commission, the state agency that investigates physicians and physician assistants for unprofessional conduct, has adopted a position statement that says the commission relies on the FDA approval of medication for COVID-19 treatment as the standard of care.

As recently as Aug. 16, the FDA reiterated in a social media post that it has not authorized ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19, nor has the agency stated that it is safe or effective for that use.

Merck & Co., the primary U.S. manufacturer of ivermectin has told doctors that it has no scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect of ivermectin against COVID-19 and that safety data has been lacking in clinical studies conducted with COVID-19 patients.

The Silent Majority Foundation sues the Washington Medical Commission over investigations of doctors who prescribed ivermectin for COVID-19 prevention or treatment.

Lin works at a Kadlec Regional Medical Center clinic, and Kadlec said in a statement that it is aware of the alleged violation.

We are fully cooperating with the Washington state Department of Health and will continue to do so throughout their investigation, Kadlec said in a statement.

5 patients

Among five cases documented by the Washington Medical Commission, Lin prescribed ivermectin to a 69-year-old man during a virtual medical appointment.

The man had been released from the hospital several days before for treatment of a heart condition and was diagnosed with COVID-19 while in the hospital, but had no symptoms.

His wife, who was with him at the virtual appointment with Lin, had developed COVID-19 symptoms.

Lin prescribed ivermectin for the man and doubled the dose so his wife could also take ivermectin, but told her he could not prescribe it to her directly because she was not on record as having a telemedicine appointment, according to the charging document.

The couples son later cautioned them not to take the prescription. The couple did their own online research and found warnings about ivermectin for COVID-19 and information about negative side effects for people with heart conditions, according to the charging document.

In another case, a 67-year-old patient made an appointment with Lin with the apparent goal of getting an ivermectin prescription in case he got COVID-19.

Lin discussed the pros and cons of vaccination, but the patient did not want to be vaccinated. The patient did not fill the prescription for ivermectin that Lin gave him because his health insurance would not pay for it.

In another case, a patient, who was 37, made an appointment for symptoms that included a rash, body pain, weight loss and fatigue that she said started after her second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Lin prescribed ivermectin, even though the association between her symptoms and the vaccine were not certain and there was no record that other causes for her symptoms were considered, according to the charging document.

In a fifth case, he prescribed ivermectin to a 71-year-old woman with asthma who had tested positive for COVID-19 a day earlier in a hospital emergency room.

Lin told her ivermectin was an effective therapy and prescribed the drug without documenting that he discussed risks, benefits or alternatives to ivermectin, according to the charging to document.

The patient took ivermectin for four days and then was admitted to the hospital with severe COVID-19 infection and a form of respiratory failure due to pneumonia. She was released from the hospital about four days later.

In all five cases covered by the charging document, Lin did not record that he obtained appropriate informed consent for treatment with ivermectin from the patients, according to the charging document.

Informed consent would have included a discussion of possible alternative treatments and a discussion of the recognized risks, potential complications and anticipated benefits, including providing evidence supporting the use of ivermectin for a purpose for which it was not approved by the FDA, according to the charging document.

Yakima doctor fined

The Washington Medical Commission has restricted the license of a Yakima doctor, Richard S. Wilkinson, who was one of the four doctors who filed a lawsuit against the Washington Medical Commission over its stand on COVID-19.

It found that Wilkinson failed to meet the standard of care by prescribing ivermectin to seven patients for COVID-19 infections without documenting a sufficient rationale for prescribing the medication and without telling patients it was not approved by the FDA for COVID-19 treatment or prevention.

The commission also found that Wilkinson misrepresenting information about COVID-19, wearing masks and vaccines on his web-based blog.

The commission put his license to practice medicine on probation for five years. It also required him to pay a fine of $15,000, undergo a clinical competency assessment and complete continuing education, including on informed consent and medical decision-making

He has the option of filing an appeal in court.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning to three baby formula manufacturers after finding they violated quality-control practices.

On Wednesday, Aug. 30, the FDA sent warning letters to ByHeart Inc., Reckitt Benckiser Group's Mead Johnson Nutrition and Perrigos Wisconsin facility, after finding the companies failed to ensure their infant formula is not contaminated during the manufacturing process.

The three manufacturers produce the brands Enfamil, ByHeart, Parents Choice and store brand formulas, including Walmart, Sams Club, Costco and Target.

"You did not establish a system of process controls covering all stages of processing that was designed to ensure that infant formula does not become adulterated due to the presence of microorganisms in the formula or in the processing environment," the letters read.

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The letters were a result of FDA inspections following infant formula recalls by all three companies last year and will not result in a recall at this time, the agency added in the letters issued.

A spokesperson for Perrigo told TODAY.com in a written statement that the company has "been committed to meeting the needs of consumers, parents and caregivers  and the quality and safety of our products is our highest priority," adding that the letter Perrigo received "pertained only to its infant formula manufacturing facility located in Wisconsin, which Perrigo acquired from Nestle on November 1, 2022."

"As noted in the FDAs press release, we want to assure the public that all of Perrigos infant formula products available to parents and caregivers are safe for infant feeding, and FDA does not advise discarding or avoiding purchase of any particular infant formula," the spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for Reckitt and Mead Johnson Nutrition said in a written statement to TODAY.com that "the safety of babies is of the utmost importance to us and we can confirm that all of our infant formula products continue to meet the highest FDA standards for safety and quality.

"The FDAs communication is part of its enhanced regulatory oversight and does not relate to any new concerns or issues, as they reflect findings from previous inspections," the spokesperson continued, adding that to date there "are no safety or quality concerns with any Reckitt/Mead Johnson formula" and that "parents and caregivers can rest assured, our products can be used with confidence, and they dont need to do anything differently when shopping or feeding their infants."

ByHeart, Inc. shared a statement with TODAY.com, saying that they "commend" the FDA and support the "enhanced oversight."

"Providing safe and high-quality infant formula continues to be our top priority and we can assure our customers that no distributed ByHeart product has tested positive for contaminants," the statement reads. "There is no disruption to ByHearts manufacturing and we currently have three production plants across the US that are operating to meet the demand for our formula."

In 2022, the country experienced a severe baby formula shortage due to supply chain issues and after the FDA investigated Similac, Alimentum and EleCare for contaminated formula made at the Abbot Nutrition facility in Sturgis, Michigan, that allegedly left four infants hospitalized and two dead.

As a result, Abbott closed its Sturgis facility, crippling infant formula production and leaving retailers like CVS, Walgreens and Target to put limits on how much formula customers could obtain during a single purchase.

Due to increased demand and various supplier challenges, infant and toddler formulas are seeing constraints across the country," a spokesperson for Walgreens told TODAY.com at the time. "Similar to other retailers, we put into effect purchase limits of three per transaction on all infant and toddler formulas to help improve inventory. We continue to work diligently with our supplier partners to best meet customer demands.

In January 2022, parents and caregivers faced a 23% shortage in baby formula  in April, it rose to 31%, according to to Datasembly, a retail data analysis company.

The FDA concluded in part that Abbot did not ensure that all surfaces that contacted infant formula were maintained to protect infant formula from being contaminated by any source.

"After a thorough review of all available data, there is no evidence to link our formulas to these infant illnesses," a spokesperson for Abbott said in a written statement on May 11, 2022.

The Sturgis facility eventually reopened in late August 2022.

The FDA has not issued any recall in association with the warning letters issued to ByHeart, Inc., Reckitt Benckiser Groups Mead Johnson Nutrition and Perrigo on Wednesday, and does not expect any impact on baby formula supply.

The companies have 15 working days upon receipt of the letters to notify the FDA of "the specific steps" the companies have "taken to correct the stated violations, including an explanation of each step being taken to identify violations and make corrections to ensure that similar violations will not recur," according to the letters.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Three separate shootings sent three people to the Regional One Friday, according to reports.

Officials responded to a shooting victim in the 400 block of Crump around 2:30 a.m. A female was taken to Regional One in critical condition.

The location of the shooting was on I-40 West near the Jackson Avenue exit.

The Memphis Police Department found a shooting victim in the 600 block Breedlove after 2 a.m. A male was taken to Regional One in critical condition.

The shooting happened in the 1100 block of Faxon. Three to four suspects left the scene in a light blue compact SUV.

Memphis Police say at 6:45 a.m., a shooting victim arrived at Fire Station 36 in southwest Memphis. The male victim was taken to Regional One in critical condition.

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The shooting took place in the 500 block of Moccasin. The suspect reportedly fled the scene.

Anyone with information regarding any of these incidents is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
If war ever breaks out between the United States and China, the South China Sea is the most likely theater.

Chinas disputes with its neighbors over competing territorial claims in the sea, its threats to take back Taiwan by force, and the overall tension in the region after more than a decade of threats, harassment, and military buildups have set the stage for a conflagration in the South China Seawhether anyone wants it or not.

Here are three hypothetical scenarios that would see the sea become a battleground for two of the most powerful nations on Earth.

Scenario No. 1: Accidental War

YUMMIE DINGDING - Getty Images

In 2027, China pushes to expand its territorial claims to include Second Thomas Shoal , part of the Spratly islands and only 195 miles from the Philippines. Chinese Marines attempt to intimidate Philippine Marine Corps troops stationed on the beached landing ship BRP Sierra Madre by staging a live-fire exercise nearby, but the exercise is mistaken for an assault. Philippine Marines return fire, causing casualties, and Philippine warplanes damage a Chinese Type 071 amphibious landing dock. Poor damage control results in the loss of the large warship and heavy loss of life, an embarrassing incident that enrages the Chinese Communist Party.

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As both sides trade blows, the conflict expands to the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong conducting airstrikes on Philippine airfields and Chinese cruise missiles striking military bases across the archipelago.

The United States, invoking its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, sends a Marine Littoral Regiment and Marine Expeditionary Unit , backed up by two carrier strike groups and B-1 bombers based on Guam, to seize Chinese-held Subi Reef . U.S. and Chinese air and naval forces become directly engaged. The two powers are embroiled in an open-ended conflict that no one wanted and no one knows how to stop.



If war breaks out in the South China Sea, Mark Cancian, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, tells Popular Mechanics, the United States would be fighting at the very edge of its capabilities. The U.S. problem is that it doesnt have bases nearby. It would have to project power from Japan, Okinawa, Guam, or Australia, he says.

However, Cancian explains, the recent signing of agreements with the Philippines gives the United States access to nine bases. That could help a lot. If the Philippine government agreed, the United States could use the airfields and ports to exert control over the region. It would still be a difficult fight since China is much closer to the area than the United States.

Scenario No. 2: Taiwan Invasion

JONATHAN NACKSTRAND - Getty Images

China believes Taiwan, a self-governing island nation located 100 miles off its coastline, is a renegade part of China that needs to be brought back under Beijings control. In 2030, after two decades of building up an invasion force, the Peoples Republic of China commences an invasion of Taiwan.

The invasion gets off to a bad start, with inexperienced Chinese military forces struggling to accomplish what would be to any military a complex and difficult operation. U.S. forces suffer a setback when military bases in Japan and Guam are struck by Chinese precision guided munitions.

After one month the war isnt going anyones way: Chinese forces have established a foothold on the island but are unable to bring in reinforcements, due to American submarines sinking transport ships in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwanese forces are under constant bombardment and unable to drive the Chinese into the sea, and the U.S. cannot bring its heavy firepower, in the form of carrier strike groups and heavy bombers, to bear against Chinese targets.

As a means of pressuring China to stop the war, the U.S. Marine Corps, with support from the U.S. Army, embarks on an island-hopping campaign in the South China Sea. One by one, Chinas islandsstripped of air and naval support by the all-consuming fight over Taiwanfall under Marine Corps control. As the situation becomes more serious, Beijing is forced to siphon off forces from the Taiwan theater to deal with the advancing Marines. The ultimate goal is to force China to break off its invasion to save its holdings in the South China Sea, though privately U.S. commanders press to win in both theaters.



Is expanding the war to the South China Sea a viable strategy? Having the U.S. control the South China Sea would help only a little in a fight for Taiwan. Cancian says. Mainly, it would distract the Chinese and force them to send forces south instead of east to Taiwan. The main value of being able to control the South China Sea is to reassure regional allies and partners like the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Scenario No. 3: A Broken Distraction

AFP - Getty Images

In this last scenario, the Chinese Communist Party embarks on a foreign adventure to distract its citizens from worsening economic conditions.

Chinese military forces begin to intimidate and eventually open fire on Vietnamese forces shadowing Beijings survey ships in South China Sea waters claimed by both sides. The fighting escalates into a full-on air and naval conflict, though the land border between the two countries remains relatively quiet.

Vietnamese forces are spread thin by the countrys 2,140-mile-long coastline along the South China Sea, which is vulnerable to incursion by Chinas large navy. The Vietnamese Peoples Navy submarine Khanh Hoa scores a dramatic success with the torpedoing of the aircraft carrier Shandong, sending it and more than a thousand Chinese sailors to the bottom of the South China Sea.

What originally started as a limited military operation meant to rally the Chinese people around the country and party has now spiraled out of control. The sinking of the carrier results in the mobilization of the Chinese Army and the possibility that it could cross the border into Vietnam. In order to forestall the invasion, the United States warns it could enter the conflict on the side of Vietnam, using the Japan-based 7th Fleet to secure Vietnams sea flank. The Navy and Marine Corps prepare for a campaign to roll up Chinas islands in the South China Sea, but there is disagreement about what would happen next and how to terminate the war.

The Takeaway

A war in the South China Sea would be immensely destructive. It also might not initially involve the United States, but would eventually force Washington to take a stand, either on principle or in response to international treaty commitments.

A war could start with none of the participants having any idea of how it might endwith the specter of the U.S. and Chinese nuclear arsenals hovering over the battleground. If war does break out in the South China Sea, the entire world will hold its breath, and for good reason.

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As millions of Americans are expected to travel this Labor Day weekend, a watchdog report is shedding light on power outages at U.S. commercial airports and the steps being taken to prevent them from happening.

The findings from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) say 24 commercial service airports reported experiencing a total of 321 electrical power outages lasting five minutes or longer from 2015 through 2022.

Eleven of the airports reported having six or more outages over this timeframe.

The outages disrupted a range of services for passengers.

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The most common activity cited were the baggage handling and concessions, said Heather Krause, a Director for GAOs Physical Infrastructure team. But there were instances where gate and boarding, as well as check-in, communications, and flight delays and cancelations, were impacted as well.

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Passengers at the worlds busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, experienced the consequences of a power outage firsthand in December 2017.

That outage lasted nearly 12 hours and the GAO report said it led to roughly 1,200 flight cancelations and cost an airline $50 million.

The report said airports and the federal government are taking steps to improve electrical systems to prevent these kinds of outages.

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In some cases that includes installing equipment to generate additional backup power and making improvements to the electrical infrastructure.

The report also points out the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is assisting these airports and has grant programs available for infrastructure upgrades.

Ensuring the resilience of airports electrical power systems is a shared responsibility between FAA and the airports, Krause said. Both are taking steps to improve resilience.

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.
Four people are in custody after detectives say they led police on a chase Thursday afternoon that ended with their car  already linked to a kindnapping  crashing into another vehicle in Ft. Lauderdale.

Just before 3:30 p.m., Fort Lauderdale police detective Ali Adamson said officers were in the 3100 block of Davie Boulevard when they tracked down a group riding in a vehicle subject to two felony investigations: one stemming from a kidnapping in Miami; the other pertaining to a vehicle theft in Plantation. Officers tried to stop them, but to no avail. A pursuit ensued.

The vehicle ultimately crashed into another vehicle in the area of Southwest Third Street and Southwest 27th Terrace and four occupants bailed out of the car, Adamson said.

But they didnt get far, police noted. All four suspects were detained as of Thursday night.

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They were taken to Broward Health Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the vehicle they crashed into was also taken to the same hospital, but their condition is unknown.

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This report will be updated as more information becomes available.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says five Department of Juvenile Justice employees have been arrested following the death of a teen while in their custody.

The Dalton Police Department asked the GBI to investigate after Alexis Sluder, 16, of Ellijay, died while in custody at the Dalton Youth Detention Center in August 2022.

Authorities did not specify what Sluder was charged with.

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The GBI said a Whitfield County grand jury handed up an indictment against five DJJ employees tied to Sluders death and have been charged with the following:

Maveis Brooks, sergeant, age 35, of Calhoun, GA  2 counts of first-degree cruelty to children and 1 count of second-degree cruelty to children

Russell Ballard, cadet, age 62, of Chatsworth, GA  2 counts of first-degree cruelty to children and 1 count of second-degree cruelty to children

Rebecka Phillips, officer, age 45, of Chatsworth, GA  2 counts of first-degree cruelty to children and 1 count of second-degree cruelty to children

Monica Hedrick, nurse, age 62, Ringgold, GA  1 count of second-degree cruelty to children

David McKinney, Detention Center Director, age 53, of Rome, GA  1 count of second-degree cruelty to children

The GBI has not released Sluders cause of death or much other information about this case.

Friends and family of Sluder sent Channel 2 Action News a photo from Sunday, where they held a stand-in in Ellijay to mark the one-year anniversary of the teens death.

Friends and family of Alexis Sluder hold a stand-in to mark the one-year anniversary of the teen's death. (PHOTO: Paige Reid)

IN OTHER NEWS:
Are you tired of always trekking to your lash tech for extensions? Then, look into grabbing an eyelash serum. Eyelash serums amplify your natural lashes. Some are designed to thicken the lashes, while others are intended to increase their length, board-certified dermatologist and co-founder of PowerYourCurls, Hamdan Abdullah Hamed MBChB, told 21Ninety.

With the array of eyelash serums on the market, youll want to grab an eyelash serum that will enhance your lashes without irritation. You should be extra cautious about any product going in or near your eye, ophthalmologist and CEO of EyeFacts, Saya Nagori MD, told 21Ninety. Eyelash serums need to be applied on the lashline to be effective. So, its important to grab a serum that works with your eyes.

How Eyelash Serums Work

Eyelash serums typically contain a combination of ingredients that act on the lashes in different ways, Dr. Hamed said. According to Dr. Nagori, a majority of non-prescription serums moisturize and condition the lashes to make them appear fuller and longer. But, the ophthalmologist noted that there are serums with protein and collagenboth of which promote lash growth.

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Thickening agents, such as peptides and proteins, work by stimulating the keratinocytes (the cells responsible for creating keratin, which is the main component of hair) in the follicles to produce more keratin, Dr. Hamed explained. This results in thicker and more voluminous lashes.

On the other hand, prescription serums pack a serious lash-boosting punch. These need to be used under the careful supervision of your eye doctor because they can damage your eyes if used incorrectly, Dr. Nagori warned. The ophthalmologist continued to note that there is only one serum that has actually been approved by the FDA.

Are Eyelash Serums Safe

First things first, make sure your serum is safe to use on your eyes. If the packaging is at tampered with, opened, cracked, or has any other physical faults, dont use it. Expounding on safety, Dr. Hamed recommended that you also need to make sure that there is no discoloration or evidence of mold on any part of the packaging. He even noted that you should check under the stickers on the packaging, too.

Avoid any serum that is oil-based, Dr. Nagori warned. While some oils are good for our hair and skin, they can weaken your lashes and make them prone to breakage. The ophthalmologist also noted that its important to avoid serums with synthetic fragrances. They can cause eye irritation.

Choosing the Right Serum

Dr. Hamed said that, a consumer should look for an eyelash serum that contains the highest quality ingredients and is free of filler substances. The dermatologist explained that while many serums may claim to be natural, some natural ingredients can be harsh and irritating to the eyes. Make sure that the product you choose was lab-tested, and will only cause damage if used incorrectly.

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A handful of defendants have been sentenced to more than a decade of incarceration over their actions during the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Justice Department (DOJ) announced earlier this month that approximately 597 federal defendants have had their cases adjudicated and received sentences for their activity Jan. 6. About 366 individuals have been sentenced to periods of incarceration.

Many of those with the longest sentences include members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers  two far-right extremist groups whose members took to the Capitol to attempt to stop the votes of the 2020 election from being counted.

Two members of the Proud Boys  Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl  were sentenced Thursday for actions they took on Jan. 6. Two more Proud Boys, Dominic Pezzola and Ethan Nordean, are scheduled to be sentenced Friday while Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio will be sentenced next week.

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Here are five of the longest Jan. 6 sentencings so far:

Stewart Rhodes

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, center, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington, June 25, 2017 (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison in May, after being found guilty on conspiracy charges for his role in the Capitol attack.

Rhodes currently has the longest sentence of any Jan. 6 defendant. Judge Amit Mehta laid down the sentence at the time, telling the leader that he is not a political prisoner and that he is an ongoing threat and a peril to this country.

Rhodess sentence was also notable because he did not actually enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, but instead he directed his team via a walkie-talkie app as they entered the building in a stack formation.

The sentence was shorter than the DOJs ask for 25 years of imprisonment.

Joe Biggs

Proud Boys organizer Joseph Biggs walks from the George C. Young Federal Annex Courthouse in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 20, 2021, after a court hearing regarding his involvement in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Sam Thomas/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

Proud Boy Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in prison Thursday, making it the second-longest sentence for those convicted on charges related to the Capitol riot.

Biggs was found guilty of sedition and other felonies this year after prosecutors accused him of leading Proud Boys members to the Capitol. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly applied a terrorism enhancement to Biggss sentencing guidelines, which means that the defendant committed an offense that was calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.

I know I messed up that day, but I am not a terrorist, he said at the hearing Thursday.

However, Biggss 17-year sentence still falls short of what the government requested  33 years in prison. This was the highest sentencing request for any defendant tried in connection with the Capitol attack.

Zachary Rehl

Proud Boys member Zachary Rehl walks toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington in support of then-President Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Proud Boy Zachary Rehl, a former U.S. Marine, was handed a 15-year prison sentence Thursday afternoon after being convicted of leading a mob toward the Capitol on Jan. 6.

His sentence is now the third-longest sentence handed down to any Jan. 6 defendant. When he addressed the court Thursday, the former Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter president expressed regret that he let politics consume his life, which caused him to lose track of who and what mattered most.

Im done with politics, done with peddling lies for other people who dont care about me, Rehl said.

Like for Rhodes and Biggs, the sentence is also lower than what the government had requested, which was a 33-year sentence for Rehl. Kelly also applied a terrorism enhancement to Rehls sentencing guidelines, but the judge said the enhancements weight was weakened because there was no significant loss of life.

Peter Schwartz

In this image from a Washington Metropolitan Police Department officers body-worn video camera, released and annotated by the Justice Department in the Governments Sentencing Memorandum, Peter Schwartz, circled in red, is shown using a canister of pepper spray against officers on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (Justice Department via AP, File)

Peter Schwartz  a Kentucky man with an existing criminal record  received a 14-year sentence for attacking police officers with pepper spray and a chair while he breached the Capitol that day.

His sentence was handed down in May, which at the time was the longest among the hundreds of riot cases from Jan. 6. During the riot, he had armed himself with a wooden tire knocker and a police-issued super soaker canister of pepper spray. He had also thrown a lawn chair at officers, which prosecutors argued helped other rioters breach the Capitol.

Mehta sentenced Schwartz at the time, saying that he was a soldier against democracy.

You are not a political prisoner, the judge told him. Youre not somebody who is standing up against injustice or fighting against an autocratic regime.

Schwartzs sentence was shorter than what prosecutors had recommended, which was 24 years and six months.

Kelly Meggs

This artist sketch depicts the trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four others charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, in Washington, Oct. 6, 2022. Shown above are defendant Thomas Caldwell, seated front row left, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, seated second left with an eye patch, defendant Jessica Watkins, seated third from right, Kelly Meggs, seated second from right, and defendant Kenneth Harrelson, seated at right. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)

Oath Keepers Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs was sentenced in May to 12 years in prison, which so far is the fifth-longest sentence for any Jan. 6 defendant, according to the Justice Department.

He was sentenced alongside Rhodes, and he was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging duties and tampering with documents or proceedings.

The Justice Department announced in July that it would be challenging the length of both Rhodess and Meggss sentences, a rare move from the prosecutors.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
U.S. maritime authorities repatriated 59 migrants to the Dominican Republic on Thursday following the interception of two overloaded vessels in Mona Passage, which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, earlier this week.

The first incident happened on Tuesday when aircrew aboard a surveillance aircraft detected a suspect vessel approximately 15 nautical miles (17.2 miles) southwest of Mona Island, Puerto Rico.

The vessel was then intercepted by the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Confidence who embarked 42 adult migrants, all of whom claimed to be Dominican Republican nationals.

The following day another suspect vessel was detected. This time, a Customs and Border Protection aircraft located the vessel in waters northwest of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

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The vessel was stopped by CBP officials and members of the Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action. USCGC Heriberto Hernandez arrived later and embarked the group of 17 migrants, all of whom also claimed to be Dominicans, authorities said.

On Thursday, the crew of the USCGC Cutter Heriberto Hernandez transported all 59 adults to Dominican Republic territorial waters, where the repatriation of the migrants was completed to a Dominican Republic Navy vessel just off Puna Cana, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

Thursdays repatriations come just days after another interdiction of a smuggling vessel in Mona Passage.

Last Sunday, the crew of the USCGC Donald Horsley stopped a 25-foot smuggling vessel in the waters north of Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico. The vessel had 34 non-citizens on board. A biometrics review revealed that five of them were found to have prior records or behaved in violation of U.S. law.

On Monday, 29 migrants were repatriated to the Dominican Republic, while the other five were taken to Ramey Station in Puerto Rico for further processing.

Three of them are now facing charges for attempting to reenter the country after a previous deportation for a conviction, CBP officials said Friday.

Irregular migration voyages in the Mona Passage are highly dangerous and an unlawful means to enter the United States, said Cmdr. Gerard Wenk, Sector San Juan chief of response.

Anyone thinking of taking part in one of these voyages must understand that their life will be at risk, and when they are interdicted at sea or apprehended ashore, they will not be allowed to stay in Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, he added.

The U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted 64 irregular voyages in the Mona Passage and waters near Puerto Rico from Oct. 1, 2022 through August 28, 2023. Of the 1,965 interdicted migrants, 1,675 are Dominicans and 264 Haitians.


The city continued clearing Phoenix's largest homeless encampment known as "The Zone" on Friday morning, in the aftermath of a severe storm that raged the night before.

Many people living on the block had already left by Friday. The process was finished earlier than normal, and the street reopened to traffic before 9:30 a.m. In the weeks prior, the city interacted with 23 people on the block and 20 of them accepted resources. All 11 people the city interacted with on Friday accepted shelter, according to city spokesperson Kristin Couturier.

This was the eighth block cleaned since Phoenix began clearing out "The Zone," following a court order in a state court lawsuit, Brown v. City of Phoenix. The lawsuit was filed against the city by nearby residents and business owners claiming the encampment is a public nuisance. A final decision is still pending to determine what changes, if any, will be made to the preliminary order.

The block cleared was 10th Avenue from Jefferson Street to Madison Street, where many elderly people lived. The Justa Center, a nonprofit organization providing supportive resources for seniors experiencing homelessness, is located along the same street.

Aftermath of monsoon storm

'The Zone' was hit hard by Thursday night's monsoon storm. Many tents had tarps or other barriers ripped off of them and high winds scattered some people's possessions. A group of around four people were narrowly missed by a fallen palm tree, after it struck their tent in the high winds.

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Donte Walker, who was sitting on a couch inside the tent when the tree fell, said he would have been crushed if it had fallen one foot in the opposite direction. While no one was hurt, the tent was no longer usable, and his bike was broken.

"It almost hit our toes," he said.

Walker was looking for a place to stay on Friday after he said the storm kept him from getting any sleep the night before.

Stephenson McCoy said he didn't have a place to shelter from the rain until Antoin Applejacks Jackson offered to let him and several others stay in his tent to wait out the storm. McCoy said he was grateful to have people looking out for him.

'The community is here for them'

Homeless activists served breakfast and gave out clothing, Sept. 1, 2023, at Jefferson Street and 10th Avenue in Phoenix.

Early Friday morning, several community groups gathered to host a breakfast stand for people needing food, water or clothes. A table with coffee and breakfast casserole was available to those passing by and the many people in line to enter the Justa Center.

One organizer, Nick Anderson, said many of the people involved are at "The Zone" each week helping those who need it.

"We wanted to come out and show them the community is here for them," Anderson said.

In last week's sweep, two people were detained by police when Ninth Avenue south of Jackson Street was cleared. One, Sophia Dancel, is an advocate for people experiencing homelessness. Police booked her on suspicion of trespassing and resisting arrest after they said she refused to leave the block during the clear-out.

Dancel is the second person to have been arrested since the clear-outs began in May. She has not been formally charged in court.

Multiple activist groups are calling for those misdemeanor charges to be dropped, citing an ongoing U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the police department into retaliation and the use of excessive force. While Dancel is still awaiting possible charges, she is now allowed to be in "The Zone," something that was previously not permitted under her release guidelines, she said.

After weeks of mostly stagnant population counts in "The Zone," recent tallies have shown a slight dip in the number of people living there. At the start of August, around 700 people lived in and around The Zone, according to data from the Human Services Campus. Over the last three weeks, the number fell to around 550 people. That number could still fluctuate in the coming weeks.

Helen Rummel covers housing insecurity and homelessness for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at hrummel@gannett.com.

Coverage of housing insecurity on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Arizona Community Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix sweeps 'The Zone' homeless encampment for 8th time
Passengers on American Airlines flight out of Charlotte ended up having to loop back to Charlotte Douglas International Airport Friday because of a possible maintenance issue on the plane.

American Airlines flight 1616 was set to go to Kansas City and had just made it to the North Carolina state border when it had to turn around, according to a flight path map on FlightAware.com.

Channel 9 reached out to AA for information on why the plane had to turn around. A spokesperson said it returned to CLT due to a possible maintenance issue. The company didnt give information on what led to that decision.

SEE MORE: American Airlines flight experiences issues after taking off from Charlotte Douglas

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According to AA, the plane was able to land and taxi back to the gate under its own power. However, the company is getting a replacement plane to finish the trip to Kansas City.

A spokesperson for Charlotte Douglas International Airport told Channel 9 that the plane landed safely and there was no emergency response.

No injuries were reported.

(WATCH: American Airlines plane catches fire on Charlotte-Douglas Airport runway)
As Massoud walked down a Kabul street one cold Sunday morning, looking for a day job to feed his family, pickup trucks full of armed Taliban members stopped in front of him. He told CBS News the men aimed their AK-47s at him, he was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to an office of the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence.

For more than a month, Massoud's family had no idea where he was. They searched everywhere, including hospitals, until they arrived at the Taliban's intelligence department.

"After six weeks of searching, they found me at the Taliban's 040 intelligence department," Massoud told CBS News in a phone interview. He said during the first 15 days of his imprisonment, he was "beaten, struck with electric shock sticks, electrocuted, waterboarded and hanged upside down."

Taliban members ride in a pickup truck during a celebration of the first anniversary of the Taliban's return to power, August 15, 2022, in Kabul, Afghanistan. / Credit: Nava Jamshidi/Getty

His crime? Massoud worked for the U.S. military as an interpreter from 2011 to 2013, including a year spent working with U.S. Navy SEALs. (CBS News is not using the real name of Massoud or the other former interpreter interviewed for this story to protect them from possible retaliation.)

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"Don't want to see that horror again"

Massoud said that during interrogations, Taliban intelligence officers told him that, "with my help, the Americans have killed our people, and that I was still spying for the Americans."

"I told them, 'You have announced a general amnesty,'" Massoud told CBS News, but he was informed by the Taliban interrogators, "there is no amnesty for you people."

Massoud was finally released by the Taliban after more than three months of imprisonment, after his brothers signed two separate guarantees promising the Taliban they would bring him back to the intelligence agency if ever asked to do so. CBS News has seen the letters and other documents his family filed with Taliban officials while he was imprisoned.

"They can find me anytime they wish and put me back in the prison," he told CBS News. "I just don't want to see that horror again."

"Still in danger"

U.S. Army Sgt. Jordan David Johnson, who has since been honorably discharged, was Massoud's direct supervisor in Helmand province and has written to members of the U.S. Congress supporting his former Afghan colleague's application for a U.S. visa, but to no avail.

"Every time I hear from Massoud I feel guilty, because he is still in danger," Johnson told CBS News. "We told them that, 'You help us, and we will help you.' But now we are not, and that is wrong."

U.S. Army Sgt. Jordan David Johnson (right), who has since been honorably discharged, is seen during his deployment in Afghanistan's Helmand province, with his Afghan interpreter Massoud (top left) and others. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Jordan David Johnson

In a September 2022 letter to lawmakers, Johnson said he trusted Massoud then, "and I am proud to call him a friend today," adding that he did not believe the Afghan "poses a national security threat to the United States of America."

"They will come after me and my family"

Omar, 32, told CBS News that he worked with the U.S. military from 2008 until 2012 and was deployed alongside U.S. troops in eastern Paktia province. From 2012 until Afghanistan fell back into the Taliban's hands in August 2021, he worked on various projects with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

He was threatened many times for working with the U.S. and was injured in what he believes was an assassination attempt in 2014, after he filed for a U.S. visa.

Despite the threats, which he continued reporting to his supervisors at the embassy, Omar was informed that his U.S. Special Immigration Visa, or SIV, application had been rejected because documents he submitted previously had been deemed fraudulent. He believes it's because he failed a polygraph administered by U.S. officials eight years earlier, and that the process was unfair.

"They intentionally make you a criminal," he told CBS News. "You are only allowed to answer their questions with yes and no, and they don't give you a chance to explain."

Omar filed an appeal against the rejection of his application in mid-June and is waiting for a response.

He urged the U.S. government to "seriously look into our cases and take us into safety," adding that if it doesn't happen, "they will come after me and my family one day."

"Absurd that it takes so long"

During the 20-year war that followed the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans served as interpreters and translators, working shoulder to shoulder with U.S. troops and diplomats, risking their lives serving on the battlefield and communicating with locals.

These interpreters were essential to bridge the language barrier, but also to provide cultural context, gather intelligence, negotiate with tribal elders and build trust with local communities.

Massoud and Omar both applied for SIVs under a program created by the U.S. Congress in 2006 to offer legal pathways to the United States for Iraqis and Afghans who helped during the U.S. military operations in those countries. But the bureaucracy of the SIV application process has left many applicants frustrated, with little faith in the program.

Massoud said his application was rejected due to a lack of documentation from his supervisors, despite Johnson trying to help. He said he submitted the requested documents and has waited for more than 320 days with no update from the U.S. government.

"Every time Massoud submits all his documents and we think, 'now we are waiting for his visa to be approved,' then Massoud would contact me again saying, 'I need this and this document, because they keep changing the requirements,'" Johnson said.

"The SIV process is flawed and ridiculous and absurd that it takes so long. These interpreters, their lives are in danger," the former U.S. soldier told CBS News. "We don't do enough for them, and it's very frustrating."

The backlog, and work to improve a "vital program"

"We have surged resources to this vital program, significantly increasing the number of staff dedicated to it. We have reviewed every stage of the multiple step application process to streamline it wherever possible, consistent with U.S. law, and continue to look for areas to improve," a State Department spokesperson told CBS News.

The official said the steps had enabled the State Department to issue "nearly 34,000 SIVs to principal applicants and their eligible family members" from the beginning of the Biden administration until August 1, 2023.

As of the end of March, State Department figures show about 9,800 principal SIV applicants had cleared a major hurdle in the process, securing Chief Of Mission (COM) approval. Those individuals are "awaiting further processing and their eventual visa interview before being issued an SIV," the spokesperson said, adding: "We are working to process these cases as quickly as possible."

The State Department's figures show that another 69,000 principal applicants were undergoing the review process, and the spokesperson told CBS News that, historically, about half of the applications who reach that stage of the process do not end up qualifying for an SIV.

According to the figures, 3,241 Afghan applicants were "deemed unqualified to receive COM approval or had the approval revoked during the second quarter" of 2023.

"The Department will continue to ensure Afghan SIV applications are processed as quickly as possible in accordance with the statutorily required program parameters and national security requirements," the spokesman told CBS News.

A report issued this week by a State Department inspector general said, meanwhile, that according to the department's own estimation, as of April 2023, a total of "more than 840,000 principal and derivative SIV applicants remained in Afghanistan."

CBS News' Tucker Reals and Paulina Smolinski contributed to this report.

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(Bloomberg) -- Africa will seek to present itself as a solution to the global warming crisis in a declaration to be signed by heads of state on Sept. 6 at the inaugural Africa Climate summit in Nairobi.

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African leaders, under the auspices of the African Union, committed to tripling the proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources to 60% by 2030 compared with 2019 levels, according to a copy of the draft document seen by Bloomberg.

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Africas untapped renewable energy potential, which is 50 times the global anticipated electricity demand by 2040, the leaders said in the nine-page draft. The continent can play a significant role in keeping the rise in global temperature within the 1.5C objective, they said.

While it has abundant solar, wind and hydropower potential and is being touted as a future source of green hydrogen, almost half of Africas population, or 600 million people, are without access to electricity. Only 2% of global investment in renewable energy goes to Africa, the leaders said.

The AU wont comment on the Nairobi Declaration until its been discussed and adopted, spokesman Ebba Kalondo said by phone.

Green industries could be built and given that much of the continent is undeveloped, they could leapfrog the use of fossil fuels, according to the document.

Africa has the fundamentals to become a cost-competitive green industrial hub, the leaders said. Africa has a unique opportunity to pursue a much less carbon-intensive development pathway, if matched with timely finance and technology at scale.

They also emphasized the role Africas so-called carbon sinks  forested areas that absorb carbon  play in reining in climate change.

The declaration, to be presented at next weeks gathering in Kenya, will serve as the continents formal submission to the COP28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates in November. It was proposed that the Africa Climate Summit should be held every two years.

While offering to play a role in fighting climate change, the leaders bemoaned the impact emissions caused by developed nations are having on their countries and the lack of finance they are able to access to build renewable energy plants and strengthen infrastructure against extreme weather.

Warming Faster

Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world and, if unabated, climate change will continue having negative growth impacts on African economies, they said. Access to affordable climate finance remains one of the biggest challenges to climate action.

The declaration states that most assistance is in the form of loans, even though many developing nations battle debt burdens. It criticizes the European Unions planned Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism as being unfair because it will make the export of materials to the bloc from Africa powered by electricity generated with fossil fuels less competitive as charges will be imposed.

The leaders called for increased agricultural productivity and the allocation of more of Africas land and marine areas to conservation, as well as demanding a greater share of profits from carbon-offset projects.

The world needs to establish a new financing architecture that is responsive to Africas needs including debt restructuring and relief, they said.

There was little mention in the document of reining in Africas own fossil fuel industries. Nigeria and Angola are major oil producers and Senegal and Mozambique are on course to produce significant amounts of natural gas. South Africa relies on coal for more than 80% of its power.

--With assistance from Simon Marks.

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Companies across industries are hiring talent to help them develop and use generative AI.

The law firm Morrison Foerster and the Walt Disney Company are among those seeking AI skills.

Listings tend to offer base pay of over $100,000  with salaries going as high as $300,000.

AI developers, engineers, and consultants are seeing a lot of new job opportunities  even at companies outside the traditional tech world. And the pay is very good, with many AI-related job postings listing salaries of well over $100,000.

Companies are on the hunt for candidates whose knowledge of AI can help them use their in-house data more extensively  for instance, to make better predictions and decisions, said Aaron Sines, a director at the Austin-based tech-recruiting company Razoroo. One agriculture client was looking to potentially use AI to help estimate crop yields, he said.

"The demand for professionals with knowledge in AI research, machine learning, deep learning  it truly outpaces the available supply of candidates," Sines said.

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That means companies are offering salaries above six figures to attract experienced candidates: The base salary for AI researcher roles, even at non-tech companies, could range from $150,000 to $250,000, Sines said.

"There's certainly a scarcity, I think, and our clients are acutely aware of that, which inherently is driving upward pressure on compensation," he said.

A machine-learning-researcher role at the trading firm Jane Street indicated a salary range of $250,000 to $300,000, for example. Disney is looking to hire a senior machine-learning engineer with expertise in machine learning, algorithms, and statistical methods; the entertainment giant is offering an annual salary of $145,400 to $199,870.

Last August, the insurance company Travelers listed a data-engineer role that sought AI expertise, with a base pay of $113,900 to $188,000. The company's CEO, Alan Schnitzer, affirmed the company's push into AI on an earnings call the month the job was posted, saying that "we have a very significant number of our employees engaged on the objective of making sure that we're leading when it comes to AI."

AI-related roles don't always require engineering or coding skills.

The law firm Morrison Foerster is hiring an artificial intelligence and privacy analyst who it says will be responsible for monitoring the latest changes in the laws around AI usage and data privacy. The ideal candidate  who could make from $116,000 to $198,00 a year, depending on where the applicant is based has a law degree, analytical and foreign language skills, and previous work experience in the AI and privacy sectors, the listing says.

Companies across industries are even specifically including ChatGPT experience as a plus in job listings.

Last June, the healthcare firm Real Chemistry posted a job for a senior product manager with a "deep interest" in using generative AI  including tools such as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion  to build the company's product road map. The post listed a salary range of $150,000 to $175,000. That same month, Oliver Scholars, a professional-development nonprofit, was hiring a part-time summer history instructor responsible for teaching students how to use ChatGPT to aid their learning, its CEO, Danielle Cox, told Insider.

"We want our students to understand the opportunities and limits of this emerging technology," Cox said.

In May, the HR firm Scratch posted a job listing for a remote senior machine-learning engineer for a client. The position  which had a listed salary range of $120,000 to $185,000  required "familiarity with current AI tools" such as ChatGPT.

Read the original article on Business Insider
PARIS  Airbus Helicopters and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) agreed to start serial production of their jointly developed Light Armed Helicopter, Airbus said in a statement on Thursday.

Deliveries to the Republic of Korea Army of an initial 10 helicopters will begin in December 2024, with follow-on orders to continue into the next decade, Airbus spokeswoman Belinda Ng said in an emailed response to questions.

South Korea awarded a contract to KAI for the first batch of attack helicopters in December, with the deal valued at 302 billion won, or $229 million, according to the Korea Herald. Airbus declined to confirm the amount, with Ng saying there had been no official disclosure of the contract value.

The Light Armed Helicopter, based on the Airbus H155 platform, will replace the Korean armed forces aging AH-1S Cobra and MD 500 helicopters. KAI will produce the aircraft at its facility in Sacheon, South Korea, with Airbus Helicopters delivering the kits required for mass production. The agreement foresees a next phase of production ramp up, Airbus said.

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South Korea to develop electronic warfare aircraft, buy helicopters

The companies also agreed to extend their joint Korean Utility Helicopter program to cover a wide range of operational requirements for military and civilian markets. That follows the introduction of new KUH variants, including the Marine Attack Helicopter and the Mine Countermeasure Helicopter.

KAI is a long-time trusted partner with whom we have successfully developed several helicopter programmes, Matthieu Louvot, Airbus Helicopters executive vice president for programs, said in a statement. We are happy to strengthen this strategic partnership with these agreements, where we will secure the delivery of these two highly performing platforms for many years to come.

Airbus and KAI started their industrial partnership in 2006 with the KUH, followed by the development of the Light Attack Helicopter. The LAH prototype first flew in July 2019 and was qualified in 2022, after testing for combat suitability in all-weather conditions.

The companies also cooperate on the Light Civil Helicopter, like the LAH based on the H155 platform, with first deliveries in October 2022. KAI has sought to maximize common subsystems and parts on the civilian and military versions in a bid to reduce production and operating costs.

The Light Armed Helicopter, with a specified maximum take-off gross weight of 10,846 lbs, is powered by twin turboshaft engines from Safran, and will be equipped with a three-barreled 20mm turret gun, air-to-ground missiles and 70mm rockets.

The goal of the project was to develop a cutting-edge armed helicopter suitable for the modern battlefield, according to KAI.
Kyrylo Budanov , Head of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, has said that the drone attack on the Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft in Pskov on the night of 29-30 August was carried out from Russian territory.

Source: Budanov's comment for The War Zone; Budanov on Telegram

Quote from Budanov: "We are working from the territory of Russia [on the airfield in Pskov  ed.]."

Details: At the same time, he did not specify whether the attack was carried out by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine or by the underground resistance movement. He also refused to say what kind of drones were used and did not name their numbers.

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Assessing the combat damage to the aircraft, Budanov said that "two were destroyed and two were seriously damaged".

The War Zone also obtained a screenshot from the infrared camera of one of the drones used in the attack.

Photo: The War Zone

An image provided by a Defence Intelligence source shows the direct result of one of the strikes: it hit the same spot where the two aircraft were damaged.

The outlet suggested that fuel on board one of the planes caused the other two to burn completely, but "we can assume that the target was the same critical area".

The War Zone claimed that the bombs were dropped from drones operated by a local "dispatcher", which is consistent with Budanov's statement that it was a strike carried out inside Russia, probably very close to the base, and not using autonomous long-range drones.

Budanov noted on Telegram that the aggressor state used the aircraft to transport military cargo and personnel of the Russian airborne troops. "The fuel tanks and an important part of the wing spar, which are located in the upper part of the IL-76, were purposefully attacked," he stressed.

Previously: The Russian Volunteer Corps, which is fighting on the side of Ukraine, claimed responsibility for the attack on the airfield in Russia's Kursk region on 27 August.

Background:

On 31 August, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed the destruction of four Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft during a nighttime drone attack on Pskov.

On 21 August, Russian Telegram channels reported an attempted attack by an Armed Forces drone on an airfield in Kaluga Oblast. According to the Telegram channels, an unused aircraft was damaged. The governor of the oblast claimed that the UAV attack was repelled in Kirovo district and that there were no casualties or other damage to infrastructure.

On 19 August, drones attacked a military airfield in Novgorod Oblast of the Russian Federation, and at least one aircraft was reportedly damaged.

Later, the media reported that, as a result of the drone attack on the airfield, Ukraine was able to completely destroy a strategic nuclear bomber of the Russian Armed Forces for the first time.

Later, a Ukrainska Pravda source in intelligence said that two Tu-22M3 strategic bombers were completely destroyed in the attacks on the Soltsy and Shaikovka airfields, and two other aircraft were damaged.

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!






Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) argued in a court filing on Monday that he has the right to prosecute people who provide and facilitate travel for out-of-state abortion access.

The U.S. district court filing is a response to a lawsuit that was filed last month by two womens health centers and the Yellowhammer Fund  a group that provides funding and assistance to those seeking out-of-state abortions  against Marshall for his initial threats to criminalize those who provide transportation for people seeking legal abortions.

Nearly all abortions are banned in Alabama, and the Yellowhammer Fund argued in the lawsuit that criminalizing those who aid in out-of-state abortion access would impede on the groups freedom of speech, expression and travel, adding that it has forced them to stop their abortion fund out of fear of opening themselves up to prosecution, according to The Hill.

In the court filing on Monday, Marshall responded to the arguments brought up in the lawsuit and said that those who provide transportation for out-of-state abortion access can face criminal conspiracy charges.

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He cited Alabama law that says a conspiracy formed in this state to do an act beyond the state, which, if done in this state, would be a criminal offense, is indictable and punishable in this state in all respects as if such conspiracy had been to do such act in this state.

An elective abortion performed in Alabama would be a criminal offense; thus, a conspiracy formed in the State to have that same act performed outside the State is illegal, he wrote in the filing.

Marshall later disputed the lawsuits claim that such prosecution would violate freedom of speech, arguing that speech used to conduct a crime receives no constitutional protection. He also asked the judge to dismiss the case.

The conspiracy is what is being punished, even if the final conduct never occurs, he wrote in the filing. That conduct is Alabama-based and is within Alabamas power to prohibit.

The Yellowhammer Fund told HuffPost in an emailed statement that it is disheartened but unsurprised by the states response to the lawsuit, adding that AG Marshall is leading the charge to threaten those who help people access abortion, a charge that is massively unpopular with the citizens he was elected to serve.

Alabama has one of the countrys strictest anti-abortion laws, making it illegal at any stage, with the sole exception being to save the life or health of the mother. Some Republican lawmakers in the state are pushing for people who get abortions to be prosecuted for murder and assault, according to Rolling Stone.

Idaho was the first state to pass a law that explicitly criminalizes out-of-state travel for abortions, including assisting others with such travel, NBC News reported. Other states, including Oklahoma and Texas, where nearly all abortions are illegal, allow lawsuits against people who facilitate with abortion access within the states borders.

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The state of Alabama now says it is ready to try again to put Kenneth Smith to death. Smith has twice been convicted of murdering a woman named Elizabeth Sennett in 1988, in an apparent contract killing arranged by her husband..

On Nov. 17, 2022, Alabama officials tried to execute Smith by lethal injection, but were forced to abandon the attempt when the execution team failed repeatedly to insert the IV necessary to carry the lethal chemicals. That was the third time since 2018 that the state had failed to complete an execution.

Last week, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the state Supreme Court to set a new execution date for Smith. In an added twist to the Smith saga, Marshall told the court that this time the state intends to put him to death by nitrogen hypoxia, which Alabama added to its execution menu in 2018.

Unlike virtually all other nations that use capital punishment, which stick to one consistent method of execution, the U.S. has, for more than a century, engaged in a restless quest to find ever better ways to kill those who are sentenced to death. Since 1900, various states have carried out executions by hanging, electrocution, firing squad, the gas chamber and lethal injection.

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Now Alabama intends to add nitrogen hypoxia to the list.

According to a report in the Guardian, Alabama state Sen. Trip Pittman described nitrogen hypoxia as a "more humane option" for putting condemned prisoners to death. Pittman compared the method to the way that passengers on a plane may pass out when the aircraft depressurizes.

Michael Copeland, one of the country's leading proponents of nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, anticipated this claim several years ago in testimony before the Oklahoma legislature. He told the lawmakers that it would be a painless way to put someone to death.

"The condemned person," Copeland argued, "might not even know when the switch to pure nitrogen occurs, instead he would simply lose consciousness about 15 seconds after the switch was made. Approximately 30 seconds later, he would stop producing brain waves, and the heart would stop beating about two to three minutes after that."

Humane, painless and quick  these are the words used every time death penalty supporters market a new execution method. With the invention of new technologies for killing or, more precisely, with each new application of technology to killing, they have proclaimed previous methods to be barbaric, or simply archaic, and have promised a vastly improved solution.

For example, in the 1880s as New York considered replacing hanging with the electric chair, proponents assured state officials that "The velocity of the electric current is so great that the brain is paralyzed; is indeed dead before the nerves can communicate a sense of shock." They estimated that "the interval necessary for nerve communication with the brain at one-tenth of a second" and "that the electric discharge occurs in one-hundred-thousandth of a second, or 10,000 times more rapidly than nerve transmission."

In the early part of the 20th century, when states began to consider the gas chamber as an alternative to the noose and the electric chair, proponents claimed that it would produce death "without preliminaries" and "without the possibility of accidents." They said it would "leave the criminal little more to dread of the future than the common lot of all mankind."

And in 1977, when Oklahoma led the way in adopting lethal injection, its legislative sponsors assured their colleagues that executions by lethal injection could be accomplished with "no struggle, no stench, no pain." Such assurances have led judges and others to conclude that "lethal injection is at present the most humane type of execution available and is far preferable to the sometimes barbaric means employed in the past."

But these repeated promises have turned out to be hollow, without exception.

None of the advertised virtues of those execution methods have been realized in practice. Each new and supposedly improved method has had its crippling flaws and the record of botched executions using each method has left a trail of gruesome suffering in America's execution chambers.

That trail of suffering began the first time each new execution method was used.

If Alabama goes forward with its plan to kill Smith with nitrogen hypoxia, he would become the first person in the United States executed in this manner. He would join William Kemmler, Gee Jon and Charles Brooks Jr. as people with the dubious distinction of being the first to die by each new method of execution introduced over the last 125 years.

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Kemmler was the first person executed in the electric chair, Gee was the first to die in the gas chamber and Brooks was the first to die by lethal injection. Each was also the first whose execution was botched using those respective methods.

Before his August 1890 execution in Auburn, New York, Kemmler gave a short speech in which he wished everyone good luck. Then, according to a contemporaneous report, "Kemmler easily settled back into the chair ... turned calmly to the Warden and in such tones as one might speak to a barber who was shaving him, said calmly: 'Now take your time and do it all right, Warden. There is no rush. I don't want to take any chances on this thing, you know?'"

When the straps around Kemmler's body, face, arms and legs were properly in place, the warden ordered the electric current turned on. A moment later, Kemmler's body first convulsed and then became rigid as the electricity streamed through him.

The current was switched off, and Kemmler was checked by the attending physician. He was not dead. Sometime after he received the first shock, Kemmler began to drool, his chest heaved and he made strange noises. The warden ordered the execution to resume.

But this time, as the electricity pulsed through Kemmler's body, white smoke appeared and a "pungent and sickening odor" filled the death chamber. The execution lasted a total of eight minutes, and for more than half that time Kemmler received electric shocks of up to 2,000 volts.

In the case of Gee Jon, a Chinese national executed in Carson City, Nevada, in 1924, officials first tried to pump cyanide gas into his cell while he slept, but this proved impossible. His death in the gas chamber that was subsequently built was not pretty: He suffocated in a toxic cloud of poison air, and witnesses could faintly smell the gas as it leaked from the chamber.

Brooks, who was executed in Huntsville, Texas, in 1982, had been led to believe that lethal injection would produce a calm, painless, almost soothing death. But this first lethal injection was none of those things.

In a scene foreshadowing what Smith would experience four decades later when Alabama first tried to execute him, three technicians repeatedly failed in their efforts to insert an IV into a vein in Brooks' arm  splattering blood onto the sheet covering his body. During the several minutes it took for the drugs to take effect, Brooks reportedly looked forward in terror and let out a harsh rasp.

Unlike Kemmler, Gee and Brooks, Kenneth Smith was offered a choice of the execution method used to kill him. Smith said he would prefer to take his chances with nitrogen hypoxia. Given the horrors that inmates in Alabama and other death penalty states have experienced during recent lethal-injection executions, it is understandable that he would want to avoid dying by that method.

But nitrogen hypoxia, like electrocution, the gas chamber and lethal injection, is unlikely to deliver on its proponents' promises. As Joel Zivot, an anesthesiology and death penalty expert, puts it, "I think the nitrogen gas will not work  because even though the gas is inert, breathing it is going to be much more complicated and getting people to cooperate to breathe will be complicated."

Alabama's intended approach to killing Kenneth Smith promises to be just the latest episode in America's recurring dark dream of finding and perfecting an execution method that can deliver a dignified death. Whatever happens to Smith, it is long past time that we wake up and leave that dream behind us.

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from Austin Sarat on crime and punishment